The city could double the number of dedicated youth spaces across the city by the end of 2020 with $3.25 million, a new staff report says.

Following a specific push from Councillor Josh Matlow for 20 locations in existing city-run centres and libraries for youth programming and mentorship, city staff have developed a plan to deliver on the proposal.

If funded, 10 new spaces could be open this year and another 10 in 2020, says the staff briefing note tabled for consideration as part of ongoing budget discussions. The 10 spaces for 2019 include two new library youth hubs previously planned for 2019 and included in the budget. The additional eight spaces this year would cost $1.45 million, which is not currently in the budget.

Council has the final say on what gets funded at a special meeting next month.

If we choose to, we can provide safe and supportive spaces for youth across our city, Matlow said in an interview Wednesday. And let families know that their kids will have a safe and caring place to go after school. And we can do this by making a relatively small investment that could result in changing lives.

Any member of council who has said that they are committed to combating poverty, youth violence, making our communities safer and supporting young people and their families has no excuse not to support moving forward with this substantive and meaningful initiative.

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Staff say in their briefing note that Toronto Public Library staff and the citys parks, forestry and recreation division provide excellent youth programming. However, the note says, the citys overall approach to the expansion of youth spaces remains largely uncoordinated.

With additional funding, staff say the number of new spaces opened in 2019 can be increased to 10, surpassing the two new library youth hubs Mayor John Tory has vowed to see included in the 2019 budget.

In January, Tory said he would not support Matlows push for 20 new spaces, calling it a tough budget year and saying councils first responsibility is to continue existing initiatives. His spokesperson Don Peat reiterated that Wednesday.

One of the sites staff identified for 2019 is the Regent Park Community Centre, which currently has what the city calls a regular youth space, but could be enhanced with the funding to be a dedicated space, with more extensive hours, more staff and programming.

Its the same centre that was often visited by Mackai Bishop Jackson, the 15-year-old gunned down just up the street this past September on a day when the centre was temporarily closed because it was sheltering those displaced from the 650 Parliament St. apartment fire. Jacksons death has led to local residents and their councillor, Kristyn Wong-Tam, to newly decry the lack of space for youth in their community.

The citys 11 existing library hubs and 11 enhanced youth spaces are meant to provide a safe environment to hang out, do homework, receive tutoring and other mentoring, and participate in daily programs, such as dance workshops and science projects. Many of the spaces offer vital access to technology, like laptops and free Wi-Fi, and most opened so far have been in or near priority neighbourhoods, which more than other parts of the city face problems such as poverty, crime and a lack of opportunities for young people.

Have your say

York SouthWeston resident and community worker Paula Anneka Lynch told the budget committee last week the proposal for 20 new spaces needs to be in the budget.

During my elementary school years I often found myself in situations where I was in need of guidance and support, Lynch told the committee, saying she was often in trouble at school and misunderstood at home.

I found solace in community centres within my neighbourhoods and I was able to connect with youth who had similar experiences to my own, more importantly, I was able to express my opinions and my feelings to adult authority figures in a safe space that allowed for discussion, growth and learning opportunities.

Lynch  who recently graduated from university and still benefits from the support of her youth mentors in her career goals  stressed the need for safe and welcoming after-school spaces in keeping youths off of the streets, out of the cold and removed from unsafe situations.

Bill Sinclair, executive director of St. Stephens Community House, said he is completely in favour of expanding the number of dedicated youth spaces, which were modelled on the successful drop-in operated by St. Stephens. He said he hopes local communities mobilize to advocate for the spaces proposed in their wards.

I think its rare that such a small investment satisfies both the poverty reduction strategy, youth equity strategy and the newcomer strategy at the same time, he said of why council should adopt the plan as part of this budget.

This is a versatile tool in their tool box.

Staff proposed locations for new and enhanced youth spaces in 2019:

Mount Dennis branch (Ward 5)

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Driftwood Community Centre (Ward 7)

Chalkfarm Coommunity Centre (Ward 7)

Lawrence Heights Community Centre (Ward 8)

Regent Park Community Centre (Ward 13)

Parliament Street branch (Ward 13)

Thorncliffe branch (Ward 15)

OConnor Community Centre (Ward 19)

Albert Campbell branch (Ward 20)

McGregor Park branch (Ward 21)

In 2020:

Elmbank Community Centre (Ward 1)

Thistletown Community Centre (Ward 1)

Richview branch (Ward 2)

Jane Dundas branch (Ward 4)

Falstaff Community Centre (Ward 5)

Grandravine Community Centre (Ward 6)

Bloor Gladstone branch (Ward 9)

Scarborough Civic Centre branch (Ward 21)

Agincourt branch (Ward 22)

Scarborough Village Community Centre (Ward 24)OTTAWAQuebec wont be part of a working group the federal government wants to examine claims that Indigenous women have been sterilized against their will.

A spokesperson for Quebecs health minister confirmed on Thursday that the province last month declined an invitation to meet officials from the federal government, other provinces and territories.

Alexandre Lahaie, a press attache to Quebec Health Minister Danielle McCann, says the province is very sensitive to the issue of coerced sterilization and is already having talks with a number of First Nations in Quebec, noting that health care is within provincial jurisdiction.

In December, federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor and then Indigenous-services minister Jane Philpott contacted the provinces, territories and members of the medical community to form a group on what they called cultural competency in health care.

No doubt you have seen recent reports with troubling information regarding Indigenous women who report that they have been sterilized without their free and informed consent, the ministers said.

We also believe there would be merit to the establishment of a (federal, provincial and territorial) working group of senior officials to engage with Indigenous groups and national provider organizations on measures to improve cultural safety in health systems.

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On Jan. 31, Health Canada deputy minister Abby Hoffman told a parliamentary committee that many provinces have responded to the call and said the first meeting is early next month.

In a statement issued this week, Health Canada said it has received feedback from provinces and territories, but it did not indicate which responded or if they confirmed their participation.

Petitpas Taylors office did not comment directly on Quebecs decision to opt out, instead saying in a statement that sterilizing women without consent is a violation of basic human rights.

We are taking action to address it with provinces and territories, medical associations and others because it is simply unacceptable that this could happen, said press secretary Thierry Belair.

A senator who has been outspoken on the issue called Quebecs decision a lost opportunity, adding she hopes the province changes its mind.

It is too bad because if we all work together, we can hopefully come up with some solutions to collectively ensure this practice doesnt happen again, Sen. Yvonne Boyer said in an interview on Thursday.

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She also stressed that Metis, Inuit and non-status Indians have been subject to coerced sterilization along with First Nations women.

Boyer is hopeful the Senates human rights committee will soon agree to her pitch to study the scope of the issue nationally.

Read more about:EDMONTONIt started with a sputter and grew into a big, long train.

On Thursday morning, a convoy from Western Canada leaves Red Deer, Alta., midway between Edmonton and Calgary, Ottawa-bound to protest the federal government.

Jason Corbeil, one of the convoys co-ordinators, said 120 big trucks are scheduled to leave Gorts Truck Wash at 8 a.m., linking up with another confirmed group of 60 from southern Saskatchewan on Friday morning.

Nobody can peg a number on how many plan to participate in all. Organizers maintain that anyone is welcome to tag along, but Corbeil expects the count to range in the tens of thousands.

A second convoy departing from Fredericton, N.B., on Feb. 17 is scheduled to meet the western troop in Arnprior, Ont., 45 minutes outside Canadas capital, a day later to assemble before reaching their final destination.

The goal is to converge on Ottawa for a two-day demonstration on Parliament Hill beginning Feb. 19, drop a laundry list of complaints at the feet of the federal government, and make as much noise as we can while theyre in the House, Corbeil said.

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Come Tuesday, Corbeil added, a smaller group of trucks is slated to roll into the capital and close down Wellington Street for a rally.

While the grievances fuelling drivers vary, virtually all are united in opposition to an energy policy they believe will dampen the oil and gas sector. In addition to gripes with federal carbon pricing, which took effect this year, the convoy riders are opposed to Bill C-69 and Bill C-48, which would revamp the National Energy Board and the approval process for energy projects, and ban oil tanker traffic on British Columbias northern coast, respectively.

Share your thoughts:

On top of all of this, they want to see action on stalled pipelines, like the Trans Mountain expansion project nixed last summer by the Federal Court of Appeal, to boost the industry by getting more product to new markets.

Complicating matters is the story behind this particular convoy, which has gone through its own twists and turns along the way.

Originally organized online, under a Facebook group called Yellow Vest (Official) Convoy to Ottawa, this contingent was one of two gearing for the capital. The second, organized by a coalition of oil and gas advocacy groups that included Canada Action and Rally4Resources, had a similar timeline, route, and intentions.

And while both shared many of the same complaints on energy policy, those who align with the Yellow Vest movement in Canada tend to believe in a threat to Canadian sovereignty, specifically opposing the United Nations global compact for migration, a nonlegally binding, intergovernmental agreement that aims to regulate international migration.

However, the coalition explicitly denied any connection to the Yellow Vest convoy, and intended to proceed with its own plans until mid-January when a note posted to the formers online crowdfunding campaign decided the cross-country trek was no longer viable due to unexpected challenges associated with the event.

Not long after, the Yellow Vest convoy was rebranded as the United We Roll Convoy for Canada, organizer Glen Carritt said, due to what he considered a lack of professionalism in the Facebook group organizing the event.

Ive been doing the organizing and managing of the convoy from the start, he said. They removed me from the group, so I continued organizing on my own and we started our own page.

Although the last convoy standing is no longer officially operating under the Yellow Vest label, Carritt was clear to note that anyone, even those who identify with the movement, are welcome to participate in the effort  a 3,500-kilometre ride he intends to drive into the history books.

A brief and recent history of Alberta oil convoys

Dec. 16, 2018: Grande Prairie

RCMP estimate more than 1,500 people turned up in Grande Prairie, 450 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, for a rally in support of Albertas oil industry. The event was followed by a convoy of more than 600 vehicles in the city.

Organized by pro-oilsands groups Oilfield Dads and Rally4Resources, which claim government regulations are stifling Canadas oil and gas industry, the gathering also heard from Albertas Economic Development and Trade Minister Deron Bilous, who slammed the federal government for not doing more to support the provinces energy sector.

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Dec. 19, 2018: Nisku

Just south of Edmonton, a massive convoy of well over 1,000 vehicles drove around the hamlet of Nisku.

The cavalcade clogged overpasses on the QEII Highway, running between the hamlet and Edmonton International Airport, and backed up traffic to the city of Leduc, farther south.

The rally coincided with a visit from Conservative Party of Canada Leader Andrew Scheer, who was scheduled to speak at a town hall hosted by nearby businesses.

At the event, Scheer told the crowd that traffic congestion forced him to travel to the event by foot at one point.

We had to walk over the overpass because the convoy was so long and so big, said Scheer, who was met with applause and cheers from the audience.

While this convoy wasnt a Yellow Vest event, members of the movement were spotted outside the town hall in Nisku, clutching and clothed in signs calling for pipelines, an end to equalization payments, and Alberta separation.

After Nisku, the convoy moved north to Edmontons ring road, Anthony Henday Drive, just in time to jam afternoon rush-hour traffic.

Dec. 22, 2018: Bonnyville and Medicine Hat

While Nisku likely saw the largest pro-oil convoy in the Prairies to date, the weekend before Christmas saw multiple convoys spring up in the Prairies, from Alberta to Saskatchewan.

In Medicine Hat, 300 kilometres southeast of Calgary, police estimate 650 vehicles took part in a convoy that began on the Trans-Canada Highway east of the city and continued west to the weigh scales before turning around and dispersing.

Jerry Sabine, an organizer of the convoy in Medicine Hat, said trucks were driving slowly to show people their frustration over how slow business is in the oilfields.

(A similar event in Estevan, Sask., 250 kilometres southeast of Regina, saw around 450 trucks, police estimate.)

Jack Graham, a resident of Bonnyville, a six-hour drive north of Medicine Hat, said he organized a Yellow Vest convoy on Facebook to run up, down, and lap his hometown the same day. The proposal, he added, garnered 300 online registrations.

We ended up with over 800 (vehicles), Graham told Star Edmonton in January, and pretty much shut down the whole town.

The Bonnyville ride formed the first of a three-phase plan to deploy drivers to circle Edmonton the following month, and then join in the convoy to Ottawa in February.

Jan. 22, 2019: Edmonton

Starting from Lamont, Alta., 70 kilometres northeast of Edmonton, Grahams second Yellow Vest convoy was slated to run counter-clockwise on the Henday before turning back to the rally point.

With about 1,200 Facebook users expressing interest in the event, he expected a higher turnout than the first, and hoped for as many as 2,000 drivers to give Ottawa a glimpse of what was coming.

Concerned the procession could snarl traffic like the Nisku convoy did, Edmonton police issued a traffic advisory to drivers, and Alberta Health Services warned EMS crews to avoid the Henday since traffic congestion could hinder their ability to delivery emergency services.

This convoy, however, was much smaller, and barely made a blip on the citys radar, with approximately 50 vehicles in the train.

With files from The Canadian Press

Read more about:PRINCE ALBERT, SASK.A physician who has helped in the births of more than 10,000 babies in Saskatchewan has delivered a different bundle of joy.

Dr. Lalita Malhotra has donated $800,000 to the Victoria Hospital Foundation in Prince Albert to upgrade the communitys neo-natal intensive care unit.

Malhotra has practised medicine in the region for more than 42 years.

In 1975, she and her late husband Dr. Tilak Malhotra moved to Prince Albert, where he was the only pediatrician for 20 years.

The couple helped to deliver and care for mothers and newborns in Prince Albert and the north.

Prince Alberts current neo-natal intensive care unit can only take care of four babies at a time.

That is my pleasure that we can provide the same best care in all the world to all newborns, Malhotra said at a presentation Thursday.

(My husband) encouraged me always to do everything for the community.

Sherry Buckler, CEO of the Victoria Hospital Foundation, said the donation helped reach a $2.2-million fundraising goal within six months.

(CTV Prince Albert, The Canadian Press)MONTREALOttawa-based physician Emilio Bazile says food is running low for him and his 10-member medical team who have been trapped in southwest Haiti after protesters blocked major highways across the Caribbean country in an effort to pressure President Jovenel Moise to resign.

Bazile and three members of his group from the Maritimes are among more than 100 Canadians stuck in Haiti following violent protests that have claimed several lives over the past week.

Baziles team arrived in southern Haiti on Jan. 30 to provide medical care to locals. They planned to stay for 14 days, but by Feb. 7, he said, protesters had blocked major roads around the country.

The whole country is paralyzed, he said Thursday in an interview from Saint-Louis-du-Sud, about a six-hour drive from the capital, Port-au-Prince. You cannot go through because there are barricades throughout the national roads. We have been lacking in food. Because nothing is coming from Port-au-Prince. Nothing. We have been eating spaghetti.

The Canadian embassy in Haiti has been closed since Wednesday. But Bazile said he found out Thursday that the barricade on a route to the capital had been removed. He and his team hope they will be able to make it to the capital.

Its very risky, but it looks like Port-au-Prince is slowing down in terms of problems, he said. We want to go to the airport and stay there and sleep there.

Protesters are angry about skyrocketing inflation and the governments failure to prosecute embezzlement from a multibillion Venezuelan program that sent discounted oil to Haiti.

A team of 26 aid workers with a missionary group from Quebec are also among the scores of trapped Canadians.

Michel Bougie, vice-president of an evangelical Christian foundation that has been present in Haiti for 20 years, said his team had been scheduled to return home on Wednesday but they cant move. His foundations medical clinic is located in a walled compound in the village of Tiverny, about 200 kilometres west of Port-au-Prince.

All the roads in the country are blocked, Bougie said in an interview from Montreal. Its really a well-concerted effort to literally paralyze the country with the goal of destabilizing the government. Bougie said his team of doctors, nurses and other personnel are safe despite the violence.

The village itself isnt in danger, he said. He added that his group has experienced a coup detat, an earthquake and a hurricane in the past. Things can happen in this country, Bougie said. But they are people we love enormously.

Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante said Thursday that the city is recalling two employees who had been working on projects in Haiti. Its not an easy decision to make because obviously we want to be able to support the Haitian people, but at the same time we have a duty to protect our employees, she said.

The mayor said Montreal police officers who are in the country will remain there.

More than 100 other Quebecers are stuck in a hotel, unable to make it to the Port-au-Prince airport because of the protests. The only highway linking the all-inclusive Royal Decameron Indigo Beach resort to the airport is considered extremely dangerous, and people are staying off it. The hotel on the countrys Cote des Arcadins is about 75 kilometres north of the capital.

Air Transat, which sold package tours to the resort, says its flights between Montreal and Haiti are continuing, but it has been unable to provide safe ground transport from the resort to the airport. Christophe Hennebelle, vice-president corporate affairs for the airline, said he is hopeful it will be possible to get the stranded tourists to the airport in the coming days.

Marie-Christine Remy, said her mother, Terry Watson, and her mothers partner, Sylvain Limoges, were supposed to fly home with Air Transat last Sunday but could not make it to the airport. They were switched to a flight Wednesday but again could not get out.

Its really troubling, Remy said from Sherbrooke, Que. I called the Canadian government and they told me that it was best to stay at the hotel, which is safer. It is the highways that are particularly dangerous.

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Global Affairs Canada said in a statement Thursday it is providing consular advice to tour operators as they work to ensure that their clients are able to leave Haiti safely. We encourage Canadians who are in Haiti as part of a package vacation to stay in touch with their tour operators as the situation develops.

The department said it has people on the ground in Haiti to provide assistance to Canadian citizens despite the embassy closure. We will continue to evaluate the security situation over the coming days to determine what steps are necessary to ensure that our diplomats and their families are safe, it said.

Some tourists have told Quebec media that helicopter transport to the airport is available at a very high cost. Hennebelle said it would not be feasible to transport the people stranded at the resort by helicopter.

Read more about:VANCOUVERCanada should not be afraid to follow Australias lead in standing up to Beijing in policy and practice, say experts who have analyzed foreign relations for decades.

Ottawa has long prioritized economic gain over national security, worrying over the state of its relationship with the global heavyweight rather than voicing and defending its interests, say analysts.

The Australian experience shows that, over time, Beijing will make room for firmly drawn boundaries. A case in point is the 2018 overhaul of Australian national security and foreign interference laws that added 38 new crimes to the books. They cover, among other things, engaging in covert activity at the behest of a foreign power to influence politics and a ban on foreign political donations.

Then in February 2019, Australia blocked the citizenship application of billionaire Huang Xiangmo, a prominent political donor and former top lobbyist for Beijing, stranding him, possibly for good, outside the country where he had lived with his family for most of a decade.

Observers in both Australia and Canada said these developments constitute a clear signal meant to usher in a new, more muscular era for Australian national security in its response to potential threats from foreign actors, including its largest trading partner.

Despite sharp words from Beijing on the new, more hawkish stance, Beijing invited Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne to visit in November 2018, the first time in nearly three years an Australian holding that office had stepped foot on Chinese soil. Likewise, Australian Defence Minister Christopher Pyne visited China at the end of January 2019, even as reports confirmed that Australian writer Yang Hengjun was being held on suspicion of endangering national security.

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An expert in Asian security and international relations at La Trobe University in Melbourne said this suggests diplomatic relations between Australia and China are being reset, despite significant tensions over the new legislation, Huangs citizenship, and the imprisoned Australian writer.

To me it proves that if youre willing to just maintain your continuity of policy, not give in to pressure and dont feel you have to buckle because of a perceived risk of economic retaliation, China can accommodate that over time in the relationship, said Euan Graham, executive director of La Trobe Asia, who is charge of the schools Asia strategy.

Tensions between Western countries and China should be expected, Graham said, and its important to accept that reality as part of the narrative so we dont just dress things up in terms of ever-closer friendship and partnership, because that has failed to carry the public with it.

After extensive redrafting, Australias new laws passed with bipartisan support in parliament, suggesting heightened vigilance has become a permanent feature of Australias stance toward Beijing and other foreign powers.

Share your thoughts

Australias experience should be an example for us, not just because it is admirably clear-eyed, but because it shows a degree of self-confidence that we should emulate, David Mulroney, who was Canadas ambassador to China from 2009 to 2012, wrote in an email.

China commonly seeks to compel its adversaries to capitulate without a struggle, said Mulroney, who is now a fellow at the University of Torontos Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. We shouldnt be afraid to stick to our principles because well find that, despite its bluster, China is pragmatic and will seek to protect its own considerable interests in the relationship with Canada.

Conservative MP Peter Kent said both Canada and China have learned the hard way, that the Communist Party of China (CCP) will use the countrys economic might to meet its imperial objectives by leaning on both Western countries and developing nations.

Kent, who served as a federal minister and international executive co-chair of the China council under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, pointed to predatory economic policies in countries like Panama, where China made several major national investments in order to leverage the Panamanian government into cutting diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Kent characterized the move as loansharking to gain influence in Beijings bid to isolate Taiwan  a self-governing, democratic nation which China considers part of its territory  from international support.

Increasingly, during our years in government, we learned to be much more cautious about an increasingly aggressive, imperialistic, bullying Chinese government, he said.

Beijings growing economic influence signals a shift in world order, he added, which demands a change in Ottawas approach to engagement with China.

The issue of foreign influence and interference in the Canadian political sphere is another ongoing, slippery problem that successive governments have grappled with, Kent said.

I hope the Liberal government is finally realizing that China is not like our democratic partners, that China does not recognize the rule of law or a level playing field or treaties or contracts signed, and it is time to rethink, perhaps, that relationship in the way that Australia has.

But, he cautioned, with tensions between China and Canada escalating, now may not be the time to attempt redress with new legislation, which could be seen as a direct indictment of Beijing by an already-furious Communist Party.

The Dec. 1 arrest in Vancouver by Canadian authorities of Meng Wanzhou, CFO of star Chinese tech giant Huawei, outraged Chinese officials, who have since lobbed accusations of backstabbing and white supremacy at the Canadian government. In the following weeks, Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained in China in apparent retaliation for Mengs arrest, which observers have called hostage diplomacy.

Meanwhile, a federal review of the potential security risks posed by Huawei equipment in Canadas forthcoming 5G infrastructure is underway. Chinese ambassador Lu Shaye has warned of repercussions should Canada follow the example of New Zealand, the U.S. and Australia in banning the company from such projects.

But allowing national security to be overshadowed by the quest to appease an increasingly belligerent foreign power is what brought Canada to its current diplomatic impasse to begin with, argued Alex Joske, a researcher working with the International Cyber Policy Centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra.

This is really something that to some extent the West has brought on itself by tolerating misbehaviour and non-compliance to international agreements and public statements and promises from China for many decades now, said Joske, an expert in CCP influence, overseas Chinese communities and Chinese military technology.

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Because countries have historically taken this quite simple approach to engagement, where engagement itself was seen as a good, thats just led to a lot of countries downplaying  or not really looking closely enough at  cases where engagement is actually not contributing to their national interest.

But Paul Evans, director of the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia, said while he believes some areas of Canadian law need reform to address the challenges that face a modern nation-state, Australia is not the example to follow.

What I dont support is the Australian national legislation, he said, pointing to civil rights groups in the country who argue the new laws could be exploited by Australian officials looking to clamp down on domestic dissent by criminalizing protests or silencing opinions critical of government.

In particular, Evans worries Australias legislation risks blurring the line between citizens whose perspectives align with the Chinese government and those actively seeking to undermine the Canadian political process for the benefit of the Communist Party.

I think (such laws are) unnecessary in Canada, because we have certain antibodies, or antidotes, to Chinese influence activities here that are not perfect, but that generally (work) fairly well.

He pointed to numerous Chinese-Canadian communities that are finely attuned to identifying local players in organizations that work to realize Communist Party goals globally. They include the United Front, an offshoot of the CCP which works to influence local politics, the Chinese diaspora and foreign elites.

Huang Xiangmo, the Chinese national whose permanent residency was recently revoked in Australia, was chairman of the Australian Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China, which Australian analysts confirmed is the number one United Front organization within Australia.

The United Front is likewise active in Canada, according to Charles Burton, an expert on the foreign policies of Western nations toward China.

He said conversations around the limits and potential overreach of a Canadian legislation modelled on the Australian example would be challenging if not arduous.

But, he argued, difficult conversations are necessary given the charged and increasingly perilous nature of global relations, where the balance of economic power is shifting from the U.S. to China.

In the past, Canadian policy has been geared toward securing greater access to the Chinese market to promote Canadian prosperity and to reduce our dependence on the United States, said Burton, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institutes Centre for Advancing Canadas Interests Abroad. Meanwhile, the concerns of Canadians over issues such as Chinas human rights violations and pugnacious international conduct have been seen as secondary to the pursuit of expanding trade, he added.

The current conflict between countries does suggest that strengthening foreign policy now would not be politically prudent, Burton said. But once the Kovrig and Spavor cases are resolved, that would be the time to revise Canadas plan on how it should engage China.

Australias example also provides lessons in terms of how intelligence services can most effectively track, monitor and address foreign interference, said Wesley Wark, a security and intelligence expert who served two terms on the Prime Ministers Advisory Council on National Security from 2005 to 2009.

One of the real problems for Canada is for the last 17, 18 years, weve been obsessively focused with the question of terrorism, at home and globally, he said in an interview.

And because of that focus, weve paid much less attention, given much fewer resources, to dealing with both foreign intelligence on major state actors and foreign interference in terms of intelligence and espionage activities, said Wark, who is currently director of the Security and Policy Institute for Professional Development at the University of Ottawa.

Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former senior manager and senior intelligence officer with CSIS, said competing perspectives on what form new Canadian foreign policy laws should take is exactly the reason legislation is needed.

From a national security perspective, he said the Achilles heel of democracy is that governments constantly pursue reelection. Because political winds may shift every several years, policy can be overturned when leaders change.

This is not the case with China.

The Chinese government is there to stay. This allows them, with the central committee, to plan not only years ahead, but generations ahead  So agents of influence can be planted which will bear fruit only years from now. They have the capability to be patient.

Its a competitive advantage that short-sighted Western governments are hard-pressed to address through policy alone, he said.

The value of a law is that it survives regime changes. And while thrashing out new, potentially controversial legislation can take years, its a challenge that can  and must  be resolved, said Juneau-Katsuya.

Read more about:Everybody Knows

Starring Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Ricardo Darin, Carla Campra, Inma Cuesta, Barbara Lennie and Ramon Barea. Written and directed by Asghar Farhadi. Opens Friday at TIFF Bell Lightbox. 133 minutes. PG

Iranian auteur Asghar Farhadi spins serious yarns of doubt and tension.

With his new film Everybody Knows, set in Spain, hes got a kidnapping whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie  although it wouldnt rank as one of Christies finest teases, or Farhadis.

Real-life married couple Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem agreeably co-star, as they have in many other films, but this is an ensemble divertissement, chosen to open last years Cannes Film Festival. This is also the most mainstream movie yet for writer/director Farhadi, who has twice won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, for A Separation and The Salesman.

Everybody Knows begins like a rom-com: a wedding in a small village has reunited members of a far-flung family. There are squeals of recognition, warm embraces and happy chatter, all bathed in the golden light of Jose Luis Alcaines cinematography.

But the clock in the village bell tower ticks ominously  shades of the tower in Hitchcocks Vertigo  suggesting that time is running out for joyful concerns.

The wedding will reopen old disputes about land claims, personal loyalties and matters of the heart. Then the lights go out, someone goes missing, and simmering tensions go on the boil.

Cruz plays Laura, who has flown home from her adopted country, Argentina, leaving behind her husband, Alejandro (Ricardo Darin), who has work to attend to. But Laura has brought their two children: a teen daughter, Irene (Carla Campra), and younger son Diego, (Ivan Chavero). The bride is Lauras younger sister, Ana (Inma Cuesta).

During the wedding festivities, restless Irene flirts with studly local youth Felipe (Sergio Castellanos). He tells her something that sounds like a secret, but which he insists everybody knows: her mother was once in love with wealthy local vineyard owner Paco (Bardem), a smiling man possessed of more charm than his scruffy hair and casual attire might suggest.

Laura broke Pacos heart when she married Alejandro and moved away. Paco remained in the village, bought land for his vineyards from Lauras father (Ramon Barea), married a quiet schoolteacher (Barbara Lennie), and quietly made an excellent living for himself and his family.

Does Paco still carry a torch for Laura? This is one of many mysteries big and small dangled by Farhadi, who ratchets up suspense as methodically as that infernal ticking bell tower.

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There is also some unfinished business regarding how Paco obtained the land for his vineyards, a transaction he deems a negotiation while others view it as exploitation.

These squabbles pale in significance when the lights go out and a key figure vanishes. A ransom note later arrives by text: pay 300,000 Euros and dont go to the cops, or youll never see your loved one again.

This B movie turn may be more alarming to fans of Farhadi than it is to the people on screen. We are accustomed to more thoughtful unveilings of human acts and impulses than what we get from Everybody Knows, which lards in multiple plot twists, perhaps in the desire to give everybody in the large cast something to do.

But if this is a B Asghar Farhadi film, its still better than the A efforts of many other filmmakers.Its funny where the germ of a story can come from. It can be something you hear  an anecdote with not a lot of flesh on it, one that, maybe, you can hang something on.

It could even be a whisper, in this case, about a man in a small town somewhere in Mississippi who hauled up and shot another prominent citizen, but wouldnt tell anyone why. Even the promise of having the death sentence he was ultimately given commuted wasnt carrot enough to have him declare a motive. Either way, its a good story.

Im not sure if its true, but I sure stole it, Grisham says in a conversation ahead of a trip to Toronto where hell be interviewed on stage by another prominent American writer, John Irving, in an already sold-out event. Thats what writers do. Were always on the prowl for a good story or, in my case, a good issue dealing with the law or court system or legal system.

He thinks that his best books are issue-oriented. The Innocent Man, my only non-fiction book, certainly was a very gripping story  about some wrongful convictions in Oklahoma 30 years ago. It really disturbed a lot of people in a good way.

The Appeal talked politics  about judicial elections and how bad they are and what a bad idea they are and how people can be manipulated into voting for a candidate who has fooled them and tricked them with a slick PR campaign.

We remark on the echoes those comments have in current U.S. politics, about which, he says, the one word that comes to mind every day is embarrassing. It is just embarrassing that we are in this position in this country, adding its our fault; well get out of it one way or another.

That stuffs been happening in this country forever, Grisham says. Theres so much money involved in politics now that the voters rarely get a true picture of whos on the ballot. If youve got the money you can buy an election. Its a really sorry state of campaign finance laws that we have in this country and theres no effort, really, to fix them.

For a while  from 1983 to 1990  Grisham was himself a Democrat representative in the Mississippi state legislature, an experience he doesnt remember fondly. I got frustrated with the system  I couldnt wait to get out of it.

When I ask whether he was able to reach more people as an author talking about issues, than perhaps he could as a lawyer or politician, he says I write popular fiction  Im not changing the world here. I can bring awareness to something, I can get people wrapped up in an issue.

That said, he devotes a lot of time and money to a variety of charities and causes, including No Kid Hungry and The Innocence Project.

Grishams latest book The Reckoning, which came out in October, is a much more novelistic type of story than Grisham usually writes but in some ways, it brings together many of his other interests including politics and social justice. While he still brings in some of courtroom drama, he says, I wanted to be more serious and write about, not just lawyers and courtrooms, but families and dysfunctional families and the burden of inherited of wealth and the cruelty that people subjected others to, race relations  just a whole big mess of Southern Gothic fiction that I find fascinating.

It tells the story of Pete Banning, scion of an old Southern family and head of a cotton plantation that employs Black workers, offering somewhat better treatment than most, although the racism of the time still jars. Hes just back from the Second World War where he got captured by the Japanese and forced to endure the Bataan Death March, an infamous episode that took place in the Philippines.

In doing the research, Grisham says, I was not really prepared for the level of cruelty and suffering that the soldiers went through.

The story provides a way to fill out interesting structure: he starts with Pete shooting the local pastor. The middle portion of the book takes us to war with Pete  a way, perhaps, of explaining his motives?

Many of those men who survived the war focused on reasons to live they had back home  in Bannings case, a wife and family he adores  and Pete could never reconcile the fact that his wife had been unfaithful, Grisham says.

The ending deals with what the families  Bannings own and the murdered pastors  are left to deal with. Different though it is in terms of content and structure from most of his books, the author still knew where he was going. I dont like a lot of surprises, Grisham says, noting some writers will waste a year with a great idea before realizing its not going to work as a book.

It takes place in Canton, Miss., a place Grisham has come back to again and again. It was where his first book, A Time to Kill, featuring the young lawyer Jake Brigance, was set.

You write about what you know, he says noting that he would feel out of place writing about New York or L.A. I just know the terrain (of small-town Mississippi) and the people and the history  I know Southern lawyers, Southern law, Southern judges, and also I love the characters that are there.

Its also the first book Grisham has written that takes place before he was born in 1955. The Reckonings fateful events occur in 1946, which produced its own challenges. At times I didnt really feel comfortable with my setting because it was so long before I was born.

Its interesting that he talks about pushing beyond his comfort zone; it mirrors the journey he takes his readers on when he strays away from his usual legal thrillers  those are the bread and butter of the Grisham franchise, after all. Readers  and his publishers  expect one from him every year. Theyll cut me some slack if I do a non-fiction book like The Innocent Man or if I do something like The Reckoning. Theyll hang in there with me. But they want the legal thriller every year.

Theyre the types of books that made him famous, have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide, putting him in an elite commercial league of writers including Stephen King and J.K. Rowling, and contributed to a net worth estimated at $18 million (U.S.), according to Business Insider.

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He starts writing in January, and continues through to April cause its a good time to write. And I always finish by summer and publish in the fall. So every October, out comes the next legal thriller. Hes already well into the one for this year, which hell add to the more than 40 books Grisham, now 64, has already written.

Meantime, while hes keeping up his usual pace, he says I have every intention of going back, probably fairly soon, to do another big, thick book about Jake.

Itll be a trial of some sort. He doesnt have the story just yet, but he does have some ideas. It can start with a mere whisper, after all. Thatll make his diehard fans happy  going back where hes most comfortable, and giving his legions of readers exactly what they want.

John Grisham and John Irving chat at the Isabel Bader Theatre on Feb. 20; tickets are sold out.EDMONTONAlmost eight years ago, Capt. Anna Harpe was serving a nine-month combative mission in Afghanistan with the Canadian Armed Forces. The experience was difficult, she said, refusing to go into further detail.

Afghanistan, as a combat soldier, its a very different experience from everyday life in Canada, Harpe said.

On Wednesday morning, Harpe was part of a demonstration at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Centre in Edmonton showing how new virtual reality technology is helping military personnel work through post-traumatic stress disorder incurred from serving in difficult or combative missions in the Armed Forces.

With Col. Rakesh Jetly, the chief psychiatrist for the Canadian Armed Forces, by her side, Harpe was guided through an immersive, virtual reality experience that required her to walk on a treadmill-like machine with a tunnel projected on a large, curved screen in front of her. The tunnel led to a photo of a helicopter in combat, chosen by Harpe herself as an example of a scene she wanted to tackle from her time in Afghanistan.

While Harpe was never diagnosed with PTSD herself, the image she chose ignited feelings of fear, anger, and vulnerability. I felt a heightened sense of alertness, Harpe said. I was able to reconnect with certain memories that maybe Id forgotten.

This immersive form of psychotherapy has been hailed as a game-changer by Jetly, who said this new technology will help revolutionize the way PTSD is treated  rather than working through trauma on a couch in a muted psychotherapist office, patients can now walk through painful scenes, literally, guided by their therapist right beside them, all while being in a safe space.

The virtual environment can take them there in another way, Jetly said.

This approach to therapy is a recent development in combating the persistent problem of PTSD that plagues some members of the Armed Forces, as well as first responders and others, who have been exposed to difficult conditions.

Jetly points to Statistics Canada data, which shows that the development of PTSD in military personnel who have been deployed in Afghanistan is double compared to those who had not.

For Harpe, this form of virtual reality therapy, specifically known as 3MDR  motion-assisted, multi-modal, memory desensitization and reconsolidation  can be a constructive way to force someone into gently facing the fears their PTSD symptoms are rooted in.

To be able to face it over and over again, that gives you a sense of empowerment, Harpe said. Youre effectively facing your greatest fear in a safe environment.

3MDR technology is already being used in other parts of the world, from the United States, to the United Kingdom and Israel. Those behind its initial development, however, was the Dutch military, which began exploring the possibility of using virtual reality technology that was already used in physical therapy sessions for amputees, and developing it into a tool that can be used for mental health treatments.

Col. Eric Vermetten from the Netherlands is the pioneering force behind the project. He said the desire to tackle PTSD treatment came from the high rate of dropouts in available psychotherapy among the armed forces at the time, coupled with low rates of success. We said, We need to do better, Vermetten recalled.

After running a series of randomized control trials in the Netherlands using the 3MDR technology, Vermetten said the number of dropouts has been significantly lower. He credits the success of this form of therapy to a number of things  the nature of walking helps the patient explore their ideas more openly, and by having the power to choose the images they want to confront, patients feel more in control, that its about them, he said.

The 3MDR technology was unveiled for the first time in Edmonton on Wednesday during the launch event for the Heroes in Mind, Advocacy and Research Consortium (HiMARC), an initiative involving several groups, including local universities, military bases and hospitals, with the goal of advancing the health of military personnel, veterans and public safety personnel and their families.

Suzette Bremault-Phillips, the director of HiMARC and a member of the University of Albertas faculty of rehabilitation medicine, said a randomized control trial is set to begin in April, where the effects of the 3MDR technology will be studied on military personnel with PTSD in Alberta. The hope, she said, is that the technology is successful in helping patients bounce back and thrive again in their lives.

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Bremault-Phillips added that testing this technology on military personnel is only the beginning, with plans to expand its use to police officers and paramedics if its proven to be successful.

Correction  February 14, 2019: This article was edited from a previous version that misspelled Capt. Anne Harpes surname.

Nadine Yousif is a reporter/photographer for Star Edmonton. Follow her on twitter: @nadineyousif_

Read more about:LONDONThe British lawmakers that fought with Facebook Inc. executives throughout 2018 over the companys role in the spreading of fake news have begun a new investigation into addictive technology.

The investigators, which held their first evidence-gathering session Tuesday in London, are examining the role immersive and addictive technologies have on society, and particular on young children. Social media, video games, virtual reality, and the compulsive use of smartphones, are all in the spotlight.

Damian Collins, the senior policy-maker who spearheaded the fake news inquiry, said Tuesday that he was concerned technology companies werent transparent enough about how they use personal data, and that regulators dont necessarily have access to proprietary systems to check its being handled appropriately.

If you put too much sugar in a drink, theres a tax to pay for that, Collins said during his initial questions. Is it right that a technology should be run by an algorithm that rewards people the longer they play?

Andrew Przybylski, director of research at the Oxford internet Institute and one of the three academics that gave initial evidence, said it wouldnt be wise to make decisions about regulation based on such an analogy. Unlike a sugary beverage, which can be purchased and tested in a lab, he said, technology companies iterate products over time without the public ever really noticing, and so a different type of regulation would be needed in this case.

Przybylski, asked whether video-game publishers should issue broad warnings to customers of their products, warned that such notices would be highly subjective and risk alienating shoppers for the wrong reasons.

The pre-existing biases of researchers paint dramatically different pictures, he said. Theres a game like Fortnite that teenagers use more for socializing rather than running around killing, and by slapping an advisory on it we wind up taking away their digital water cooler because we scared their parents. Much more independent research was needed before issuing any kind of regulatory guidance, he said.

Sarah Jones, head of the Birmingham School of Media at Birmingham City University, said there was a role for government in overseeing the virtual-reality technology industry, but it was unclear how regulation would be implemented.

We havent got guidelines about how long we should be in a virtual reality experience for, she said. I dont think weve got enough data to know how it can impact people.

Other issues raised by the lawmakers included the use of loot boxes in videogames, and whether the public had enough knowledge about how their personal data was used by companies that develop them.

The committee investigating addictive technologies is made up of the same lawmakers that questioned a string of high-profile experts and executives last year in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, including whistle-blower Christopher Wylie, and Facebook executives Richard Allan and Mike Schroepfer.

In an interview in December, Collins said last years investigation directly influenced the planning for a followup inquiry.

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Through the course of that inquiry weve become increasingly interested in this whole issue around the ethics and social responsibility the companies have, he said, adding that the impact on mental health such firms products had was a priority to be understood.

There are lots of really important issues that came up in the inquiry that we thought merited a deeper investigation, he said.

Read more about:Canada Goose Holdings Inc. plotted its China expansion at an unfortunate time, but the coatmakers chief said theres nothing he can do about it.

Diplomatic tensions between Canada and China arose in December, due to the arrest of a Chinese telecom executive in Canada, which prompted some Chinese websites to call for a boycott of Canadian brands. Canada Goose opened its Beijing flagship store just a few weeks later  right before Apple Inc. cut its sales forecast, sparking worries about consumer spending in the critical Chinese market.

We leave politics to the politicians, Canada Gooses chief executive officer Dani Reiss said in an interview Thursday morning. Were really happy with our Chinese business plan and the way we plan to approach it. Its been executed really well.

Investors are less optimistic, perhaps because of wider macroeconomic problems back in the U.S., one of Canada Gooses largest markets. Retail stocks tanked Thursday after the U.S. Department of Commerce released data that showed sales fell unexpectedly in December  so much, in fact, that some analysts are questioning if the reports right.

Canada Goose shares were dragged down, falling as much as 11 per cent, even though it boosted its forecast for the year and global sales beat analyst estimates, rising 50 per cent last quarter.

China Plan

Canada Goose began its move into China last summer, planning to open a regional headquarters in Shanghai in addition to flagship stores in Beijing and Hong Kong. The maker of down jackets and parkas fit for arctic temperatures has been looking for new paths for growth since going public in 2017.

Read more:

Canada Goose to open new factory in Montreal, reports Q4 profit up from year ago

People robbed of Canada Goose coats at gunpoint in Chicago

Opinion | Daniel Bland: Canada Goose should outsource sewing to northern reserves

Luxury brands have been flocking to China, choosing to serve those valuable shoppers directly in their domestic market to mitigate exposure to ever-fluctuating tourist flows. U.S. luxury labels such as Coach and Ralph Lauren are opening more stores in China, too, and local demand for handbags and high-end spirits have fuelled growth at French conglomerate LVMH in recent months.

But just as Canada Goose entered the Chinese market, Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer at Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co., was detained in Vancouver at the request of the U.S. The Canadian government said in January that 13 citizens have been detained in China since Wanzhous arrest.

Coat Frenzy

Despite calls for a boycott of Canada Goose and other Canadian goods on Chinese websites and social media, Chinese shoppers lined up in the cold outside Canada Gooses downtown Beijing store when it opened in late December. Reiss said the country name still resonates well in China and elsewhere.

Canada Gooses partnership with Alibabas online Tmall has proven the right way to sell his coats to Chinese shoppers, Reiss said. Canada Goose is already a top selling brand in its category on the platform, despite only being available for just over a month, he said.

Theres a lot of noise out there in the headlines, but as you see in our results, we continue to grow our business significantly, and you see that in China and all of our geographies, Reiss said. Were just getting started in China.

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On a recent evening at the Beijing store, the madness from opening day had died down. Window shoppers filed past the mannequins as a cashier inside rung up $600 jackets. One shopper, who identified herself as Mrs. Hu, said she was surprised to see so many people decked out in Canada Goose, especially because its often not cold enough to warrant wearing the kind of coat they wear in Antarctica. She said any anti-Canada sentiment that may be out there wont last.

Canada diplomatic tensions are not an issue, she said. I mostly care about the product itself. The company is not to blame for the actions of the nation.

Read more about:A parliamentary committee will study the SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. controversy in Canada without hearing from key witnesses after Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus lawmakers rejected a broader investigation.

The House of Commons justice committee, on which the governing Liberals hold a majority, voted to study the ins-and-outs of remediation agreements  like that being sought by the company to settle its case  and the discussions between the office of the attorney general and government colleagues on the matter. They voted to hear from at least three witnesses, but not all those whom opposition lawmakers had proposed.

Wednesdays hearing in Ottawa came after Jody Wilson-Raybould resigned from Trudeaus cabinet amid a report that she faced pressure to intervene on behalf of SNC-Lavalin to solve a legal problem while serving as justice minister. The parliamentary ethics watchdog is also investigating the issue, which has dominated political debate at the start of an election year in Canada.

Throughout the nearly three-hour hearing, Liberals insisted they werent acting on behalf of Trudeaus office but consistently lowered expectations for the committees investigation. We are not here to replace what the ethics commissioner will do, Liberal lawmaker Iqra Khalid told the committee.

The controversy centres around whether Trudeau or his staff pressured Wilson-Raybould, who isnt on the committees witness list, to order Canadas federal prosecution service to grant the Montreal-based engineering and construction giant a remediation agreement that would resolve long-standing fraud and corruption charges out of court.

Wilson-Raybould was shuffled out of the justice portfolio in January, serving as minister of veterans affairs before announcing her resignation Tuesday.

The committee voted Wednesday to hear from witnesses including, but not limited to, her successor, David Lametti, and two other officials. Liberal lawmakers voted down efforts to add other names to the list, including Wilson-Raybould and several top Trudeau aides.

Trudeau said Wednesday he and Wilson-Raybould discussed the issue in September. I emphasized to her that the decisions she makes as attorney general, particularly in this matter, are her decisions and I was not directing or pressuring her, the prime minister told reporters in Sudbury, Ontario. If she felt she had received pressure, it was her obligation, her responsibility to come and talk to me and she did not do that in the fall.

Wilson-Raybould has hired a former Supreme Court judge to advise her on what she can say publicly now that shes out of cabinet.

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 (Canadian) in lost revenue, according to chief executive officer Neil Bruce. Lametti has signalled he may still ultimately intervene in the case.

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Read more about:Trichome Financial Corp., a company led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. alumnus Michael Ruscetta, is readying a $100 million (Canadian) war chest to dive into the business of debt financing for cannabis companies.

Toronto-based Trichome is planning to raise between $25 million and $35 million of new equity, adding to $15 million already raised by partners, managers and some investors, Ruscetta said in an interview at Bloombergs offices in Toronto. In the second quarter, the firm will also start raising $50 million for a fund that will co-invest with Trichome in cannabis debt transactions.

Debt financing has been relatively rare in the volatile pot industry, where companies have typically relied on equity to raise funds as traditional bankers shied away from the space. Some of the bigger cannabis companies are beginning to offer convertible debt. Canopy Growth Corp., Aurora Cannabis Inc. and Tilray Inc.  the industrys largest companies  have issued $1.3 billion of such securities, but they have yet to issue a straight bond.

In any sort of credit market, you know, youve got the banks and the bank loan market and the high yield market, and then the mezzanine market, you have private lenders. And so theres a whole ecosystem here, said Ruscetta, who was co-head of Goldman Sachs Canada Special Situations Group between 2006 and 2008.

Financing Supply

In the cannabis industry Weve got nothing, right? Were kind of at the very start of banks lending to the Canopys and Auroras, he added. But theyre kind of doing that because theres other business for them to get involved in them.

Trichome is already financing cannabis companies supply, taking receivables as a guarantee, he said. The company is seeking to expand into financing mergers and acquisitions and restructurings later on. Its targeting internal rates of return at around 15 per cent, though that could vary if leverage is added, he said.

Trichome, whose largest shareholder is pot brands company Origin House, plans to go public via a reverse takeover on the TSX Venture Exchange in the spring. The company will only lend to Canadian firms at first but is looking to develop a structure that will allow it to lend elsewhere, including the U.S. where pot is still illegal at the federal level, Ruscetta said.

Smaller Firms

The firms focus is lending to all cannabis firms except for the 10 largest producers, as they are already well supported by the banks, he said.

Trichome announced Tuesday it will proceed with the issuance of subscription receipts that turn into common shares once all the paperwork on the reverse takeover is complete, the company said in a statement.

Before joining Trichome in 2018, Ruscetta managed the RCM Special Situations Fund. He previously was managing director of Amaranth Advisors (Canada) ULC, a multi-strategy investment fund as well as investment banker at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.VANCOUVER - Tara Noland hosts dinner parties at her Calgary home at least once a month, plus for almost every Super Bowl and much more often over the holidays.

Entertaining at home instead of shelling out for pricey restaurant meals is often the advice given to people looking to reign in their spending. A full-blown dinner party with multiple courses, decorative centrepieces and signature cocktails can seem costly, but food bloggers for whom hosting is old hat say its possible to do for about $10 a person.

I think planning ahead is key, said Noland, who just celebrated the seven-year anniversary of her blog, Noshing with the Nolands.

The Calgarian starts to think about her events weeks in advance.

I think one of the worst things is having a dinner party and youre not participating in it because youre in the kitchen cooking.

Preparation can also result in savings if you scour for sales at grocery stores or even dollar stores for decoration.

A full-blown dinner party with multiple courses, decorative centrepieces and signature cocktails can seem costly, but food bloggers for whom hosting is old hat say its possible to do for about $10 a person.





Frozen turkey or chicken that can be slow cooked is easy to snag at a discount, said Idriss Amraoui, a 29-year-old in Montreal who runs the blog Broke Foodies.

He also suggests using cheaper and versatile frozen vegetables that can be whipped into a starter, like soup.

Its not necessary to do multiple courses though, and appetizers are often just a bonus when Amraoui hosts.

Entertainers can avoid being saddled with the whole food bill by asking guests to contribute a specific dish or turning the event into a potluck. In the event of the latter, Amraoui stresses guests must be aware its a potluck before theyre asked to commit.

I wouldnt tell you, Come have dinner at my house, and then tell you, Well, can you bring your potato salad? he said.

Lisa Boltons secret to affordable entertaining is creative grazing boards. The food stylist selects one killer cheese and loads of seasonal vegetables. Shell slice a fresh baguette and one artisanal salami into thin pieces to make them last longer.

Even dessert can come atop a board. Rather than buying a whole cake or baking something elaborate, Bolton opts to set out some chocolate bars, strawberriesand other treats.

A beautifully crafted board also eliminates the pressure for decor, she said, as it functions as a centrepiece.

If hosts want to serve a full meal instead, she suggests looking at brunch instead of dinner.

Eggs are pretty affordable, she said, though she tends to gravitate to a big bagel spread.

The biggest budget item though, depending on the crowd, may be alcohol. All three foodies estimated they could pull off a budget-conscious dinner party for $10 a head or less with the caveat of imbibing coming at an extra cost.

They diverge on the appropriate hosting etiquette to tackle that problem.

If youre hosting, youre hosting, said Bolton of her mindset. She tends to stick any bottle of wine brought by a guest into her cellar for future use.

Instead, shell serve one bespoke cocktail that can be diluted with juice to make more.

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Noland also creates a cocktail that shell serve guests right away, but said its OK to designate the event bring-your-own-beer or give guests inquiring what they can bring a specific type of alcohol, like a bottle of white wine.

When Amraoui hosts, he finds it important to have at least one bottle of wine on hand, but said the expectation shouldnt be for the host to supply an open bar.

I think that the guests usually without even asking will bring a bottle or two and you will end up with more alcohol than you need at the end of the evening, he said.

Follow @AleksSagan on Twitter.MONTREAL - The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court ruling that Bell Helicopter Textron Inc.s Quebec-based subsidiary pay Airbus SEs helicopter division $1.5 million for a patent violation.

The ruling includes $1 million in punitive damages and $500,000 in compensatory damages tied to its patent for the so-called Moustache landing gear.

The legal battle over landing gear has been raging since 2008, when Airbus Helicopters S.A.S.  then known as Eurocopter Group  launched court actions in Canada, France and the United States.

In 2012, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that Bell had copied the landing gear design for some of its light helicopters from Airbus, though Bell modified that design before applying it to any models on the market.

The court found only one of the 16 claims tied to Airbus Canadian patent to be valid, though it dubbed Bells design a slavish copy.

The 2012 decision states Bell  a Texas-based company with commercial helicopter production in Mirabel, Que.  had made plans to manufacture the skid gear and promoted sales of an upcoming model equipped with it  the Bell 429, now used by the Canadian Coast Guard.The ACME supermarket at 1150 Welsh Road in Towamencin is seen shortly after closing in 2018.Bart Jansen

Watertown Public Opinion

WASHINGTON  A federal judge concluded on Wednesday that Paul Manafort had lied repeatedly to federal prosecutors after having promised to cooperate in their investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The decision upends an agreement that Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, had struck with prosecutors before pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice. It means Manafort faces the prospect of a longer prison sentence.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in an order Wednesday that Manafort "intentionally made false statements" to the FBI and to prosecutors about his interactions with a Russian associate and other subjects.

Manafort pleaded guilty in September to two charges in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. His agreement with prosecutors called for him to cooperate with their investigation in exchange for the possibility of a reduced sentence.

Mueller sought to void the plea agreement in November after prosecutors alleged that Manafort had misled them about his interactions with a Russian business associate, his contacts with Trump's administration and other subjects. Manafort's lawyers mistakenly revealed that one of the lies he was accused of telling related to his sending polling data to a Russian associate during Trump's campaign.

Manafort's lawyers told Jackson that he did not intend to mislead to investigators, but may have forgotten the details of events during a hectic presidential campaign.

"Mr. Manafort did not lie," his lawyers said in a filing Wednesday.

Prosecutors had accused Manafort of lying to them about five subjects, ranging from his interactions with a Russian business associate to his contacts with the Trump administration.

Jackson ruled on Wednesday that Manafort had intentionally misled investigators about three of the five subjects. She ruled prosecutors had not shown that Manafort's misstatements to them about his contacts with people in the Trump administration were intentional.

But Jackson said she was persuaded that Manafrot had provided false information to the special counsel, violating his plea agreement. That means Mueller's office is no longer bound by the deal that would have required prosecutors to seek a reduced sentence.

During closed hearings about whether he breached the plea agreement for a shorter prison term, prosecutors alleged that Manafort lied about how many times he met with his co-defendant in the case, a Russian national, Konstantin Kilimnik, according to a partially redacted transcript of a hearing Feb. 4. Prosecutors contend Kilimnik has ties to Russian intelligence, which he has denied.

One of the meetings was Aug. 2, 2016, when Manafort met Kilimnik at the Grand Havana Room, a private club in a building then owned by Kushner Companies, including Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner.

This goes, I think, very much to the heart of what the special counsels office is investigating, Andrew Weissmann, one of Muellers prosecutors, told Jackson at the Feb. 4 hearing.

The meeting came two weeks after the Republican convention, which Weissmann said was an unusual time for somebody who is the campaign chairman to be spending time, and to be doing it in person. Weissmann said Manafort, his deputy Rick Gates and Kilimnik took the precaution of leaving the meeting by different doors.

Manaforts lawyer, Richard Westling, said the campaign chairman forgot about the meeting rather than trying to hide it. Manafort quit Trumps campaign Aug. 19, 2016, after revelations about his work in Ukraine, but Westling said he continued his relationship with Kilimnik.

He told the government all along he remained open to opportunities over there, Westling said of Manafort.

Westling said Manafort shared documents at the meeting that were difficult for the unfamiliar to understand. Westling called the information gibberish and said its not easily understandable.

Manafort met with prosecutors and FBI agents on 12 occasions, including three before entering the plea agreement. He also testified before a grand jury on Oct. 26 and Nov. 2. Prosecutors informed Manafort's lawyers on Nov. 8 that they "believed that Manafort had lied in multiple ways and on multiple occasions."

Manaforts guilty plea, along with a Virginia jury conviction in August, were for crimes related to his work with a pro-Russia faction in Ukraine. Sentencing for both cases has been postponed, awaiting the outcome of Jackson's decision about whether Manafort breached his plea agreement.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Judge: Paul Manafort lied to the FBI after agreeing to cooperate in the Russia probeKevin Hardy and Brianne Pfannenstiel

Watertown Public Opinion

As the field of presidential hopefuls landing in Iowa continues to grow, the three Democratic contenders most preferred by Iowans still aren't in the race.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke led the field in a December Iowa Poll, but none has formally announced their intentions yet.

"I think those are the big three that everyones waiting for," said Jeremy Dumkrieger, chairman of the Woodbury County Democrats.

While those three remain on the sidelines, a slew of other candidates have kept busy hiring Iowa staffers and holding rallies in their quests to unseat Republican President Donald Trump.

Presidential contenders Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, Tulsi Gabbard, Andrew Yang, Kirsten Gillibrand and Julian Castro all campaigned or will campaign in Iowa this month. Amy Klobuchar will visit Iowa just days after declaring her candidacy.

Enthusiasm building around the Democrats already running risks leaving behind candidates who are still flirting with potential runs. But Dumkrieger said Sanders and Biden both have plenty of name recognition and support from previous Iowa caucus bids that likely affords them more time to make a decision.

Many view O'Rourke, 46, who narrowly lost to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in November's election, as a "young rock star," he said.

But time may be running out on him and any other lesser-known candidates who want to compete in a very crowded field. Polling shows Biden and Sanders enjoy near-universal name recognition in Iowa, but ORourke is less known.

More:

'I think it's time for something new'

On Friday, local leaders shared the stage with Booker at a campaign forum in Waterloo, Iowa.

In the crowd, Waterloo Democrat Marna Creery liked what she heard from the New Jersey senator, but said she'd consider other young candidates like O'Rourke.

I hope Joe Biden and Bernie dont get in, said Creery, a retired postal worker who supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 caucuses. I think its time for something new. Im looking for fresh ideas.

O'Rourke, a previous three-term congressman, gained celebrity status as he propelled a long-shot campaign into a close contest against Cruz. Cruz won the Iowa Republican caucuses in 2016 before losing the GOP nomination to Trump.

While O'Rourke has not responded to invitations from local Democratic Party officials, he told Oprah Winfrey on Feb. 5 that he plans to decide whether to run by the end of the month.

"I've got to tell you, and you can tell, I'm so excited at the prospect of being able to play that role," he said.

Still, he has his work to do here: About a third of likely Democratic caucusgoers said they didnt know enough about him to form a favorable or unfavorable opinion of him, according to a December Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll. Just 4 percent of likely caucusgoers said Biden and Sanders were unknown to them.

A national poll from Morning Consult released this week showed Biden led with 29 percent of respondents choosing him as their preferred candidate for the Democratic nomination. He was trailed by Sanders and California Sen. Kamala Harris.

On Monday, the McClatchy news service reported that interviews with 31 Democratic operatives revealed deep pessimism about a potential Biden run. That story cited the former vice president's age (76), his policy baggage and the field of fresh faces igniting passion in the party.

Those concerns were echoed by others in Waterloo. Democrat Darcy Stoen, 51, of Evansdale, said she liked Biden because of his record as vice president and as a Delaware senator.

But his age worries me a little bit, said Stoen, who attended a Booker campaign event there Friday. If Biden runs, she said, shed like to see him pick a younger candidate like Booker as his running mate, and commit to serving just one term before handing over the reins to a new generation.

More:

'For me, it matters who can get people in the middle'

After Warren held a roundtable discussion on labor issues in Davenport, Iowa, Sunday evening, Nieel Aditya Shinde, 26, identified the Massachusetts senator as one of his top choices.

Since Bernie hasnt announced, I guess Im supporting Warren for now," said Shinde, of Bettendorf, Iowa.

He's drawn to both senators because they have targeted the nation's financial industries. He wants to see more regulation of the payday loan industry and see the federal government break up the nation's biggest banks.

Jason Humphreys, also of Bettendorf, identified Warren as his second choice behind Sanders. He said Sanders "set the standard" in 2016 by advocating for a $15 minimum wage, taking on Wall Street and lobbying against the influence of corporate donors and political action committees

"I would caucus for her and I would fight for her to be president," said Humphreys, 37, "but Im hopeful for Bernie.

At a stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Sunday, Robin Jackson Miller, 40, of Hiawatha, Iowa, said she saw similarities between Warren and O'Rourke.

"Hes just very inspiring and seems to be able to talk to people in a way that gets them interested in politics, gets them excited and gets them to care about things," she said.

At the same event, Kelly Kindl said she wanted to vote for a female presidential candidate. But she's also eyeing others, including O'Rourke, Harris and Buttigieg. But she's particularly interested in the former vice president.

"He might have a bigger draw, just because of his history in politics," said Kindl, 40, of Marion, Iowa.

'This thing's going to change a half a dozen times by caucus day'

Most presidential campaigns must start from scratch in building out an organization in Iowa. Biden and Sanders can lean on previous volunteers and organizers.

But staffing may be another question.

"People are excited about Bernie. They would love to work for him, but they need a paycheck," said Evan Burger, an organizer at Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement who worked on the Sanders campaign in 2016. "I dont think weve hit that point yet where people are going to have to start dropping off, but at some point were going to run into that."

He said he believes a core group of supporters and staffers will hold out for Sanders.

"It's not realistic and it's not fair to expect every single person who was with the candidate last time to be with them this time," said Pete D'Alessandro, who directed Sanders' 2016 Iowa caucuses campaign.

D'Alessandro said he had no insight on whether the independent Vermont senator would seek the Democratic nomination again.

"It's not too hard for me to wait an extra month," he said. "I have no problem with that. If he's in, I'm in."

He acknowledged that Sanders would struggle to match the magic of the campaign in 2015 and 2016. The silver-haired senator, now 77, arrived in Iowa in the last caucus cycle polling in the single digits, but gained enough support to nearly best Clinton. He lost the 2016 Iowa caucuses by one-fifth of 1 percentage point.

Previously, Sanders positioned himself as a more liberal alternative to Clinton, who was widely viewed as the favorite from early on. This time, he would have to compete with Warren and anyone else trying to court the Democrats furthest to the left, D'Alessandro said.

Instead of the two distinct lanes occupied by Clinton and Sanders in 2016, voters and the press may group this year's candidates into four or five distinct groups, he said. The the size of the field may lead some to downplay Iowa and focus on other early states like New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and California.

"Look, this thing's going to change a half a dozen times by caucus day," D'Alessandro said.

The 'biggest field in Iowa caucuses history'

At this point in the race, few Iowa Democrats have committed to one candidate, said Sean Bagniewski, chairman of the Polk County Democrats.

So he thinks it's possible that Sanders, Biden and O'Rourke all could join the race.

"If the mayor of South Bend, Indiana (Buttigieg) thinks he has something to offer, I'm pretty sure a former presidential candidate, a previous vice president and somebody who almost beat Ted Cruz think they can compete," he said.

Bagniewski doesn't expect the field to shrink soon. That's because he expects other potential candidates like Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and California Congressman Eric Swalwell also to enter the race.

"I don't know that it's going to be as big and broad as it is now," Bagniewski said. "But I think it's going to be the biggest field in Iowa caucuses history."

In some ways, the deep roster makes it easier for lesser-known candidates to put up a strong showing in the first-in-the-nation caucuses.

"It's whoever has the biggest minority," Bagniewski said. "Youre not looking to have 51 percent ... Youre just looking to have the biggest small group, which is unusual."

Contributing: Kim Norvell and Tony Leys, Des Moines Register

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: How long can Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Beto O'Rourke afford to wait to jump into 2020 race?Sarah Mearhoff

Forum News Service

PIERRE  South Dakota could begin to address the disproportionate rate of violence perpetrated against indigenous women thanks to a bill advanced by lawmakers on Tuesday.

Senate Bill 164 would amend current missing persons investigation guidelines for the Division of Criminal Investigation to include uniform procedures for reporting on cases of missing and murdered indigenous women of South Dakota.

The bills prime sponsor Sen. Lynne DiSanto, R-Box Elder, said she decided to pursue the legislation when she learned that, despite the fact that native women in some areas are murdered up to 10 times more often than the national average, data collection and reporting of these cases is often weak and convoluted thanks to jurisdictional questions on reservations.

Rep. Tamara St. John, R-Sisseton, is carrying the bill on the House side, and is a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate tribe. She said collecting this data can help spotlight and personalize an issue that has been neglected.

St. John said the bill is absolutely motivated in part because of stalled discussions in Congress on Savannas Act. Savannas Act is a bill previously spearheaded by former U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-North Dakota, and recently reintroduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, that would require the U.S. Department of Justice to standardize protocol and data collection on cases of missing and murdered indigenous people.

She said that the history of violence against native women goes back decades, and that she thinks stereotypes lead to a dehumanization of and lack of care for native women.

But, by collecting data on these cases and putting this light on it, I think we can make a huge difference, St. John said.

The bill passed the committee unanimously. It now goes on to the Senate floor for consideration.Wild elephants kill monk

CHACHOENGSAO: A Monk on the last night of a 19-day seclusion was killed by wild elephants near Khao Ang Ruenai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tha Takiab district.

deathanimals

By Bangkok Post

Thursday 14 February 2019, 10:11AM

Police and forestry officials with the body of Phra Prapop at the bak of the palm plantation in Chachoengsao. Photo: Bangkok Post

Phra Prapop Chanphaikhor, 35, of Sammadang monastery in Tha Takiab district (180km east of Bangkok), was found stomped to death a short distance from his crushed meditation tent at the back of a 15-rai oil-palm plantation on Wednesday morning (Feb 13), Pol Maj Surapisit Makngam, investigation chief at Tha Takiab, said.

Rescue workers took his body to Tha Takiab Hospital, where doctors said he had died at least 6 hours before his death was reported about 8.30am.

Phra Won Thongnoi, 76, of Wat Samed Nua in Bang Khla, told police that he, Phra Prapop and another monk from Samadang monastery, assisted by four laymen, had set up their tents and been in seclusion in the plantation since Jan 25.

On Tuesday night, all but Phra Prapop left the area behind the plantation. The 35-year-old monk wanted to stay there another night because it was quieter than the place near the plantation living quarters the other monks moved to.

On Tuesday morning, the other monk from Sammadang monastery returned to Phra Prapops seclusion site but found his tent smashed to pieces. Phra Prapops broken body was about 15 metres away, the 76-year-old monk said.

Thawee Sathuchart, 61, a former kamnan of tambon Tha Takiab, said the plantation belonged to a retired teacher, Samnao Limrak, and monks often went there to go into seclusion.

He said wild herds totalling about 200 elephants had been pillaging local plantations over recent years and had become increasingly fierce.

Forestry officials had tried to push them back into Khao Ang Ruenai Wildlife Sanctuary by setting off firecrackers. But the loud noise had not scared the animals away. It instead made them angry and even more violent, the former kamnan said.

Read original story here.Russian Consulate-General to open in Phuket this year

PHUKET: The Russian Federation is expected to open a Consulate-General in Phuket later this year to cater to the needs of the resident Russian expat community and Russian tourists alike, Russian Ambassador to Thailand Evgeny Tomikhin has announced.

Russiantourismimmigration

By Anton Makhrov

Thursday 14 February 2019, 10:45AM

For years Russian residents of Phuket had to fly to Bangkok to get the consular services they need such as replacing expired passports with the new ones. This is going to change in 2019. Photo: The Phuket News / file

Mr Tomikhin made his announcement last Saturday (Feb 9) in front of Russian reporters in the run-up to Diplomats Day, an event celebrated by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and its staff each year on Feb 10.

We are planning to begin work to open our Consulate-General in Phuket this year. That will give a boost to our diplomatic presence, Russias TASS agency quotes the Ambassador as saying. (See story here.)

Mr Tomikhin stressed that Phuket ranks high on the list of Thai locations with the biggest number of Russians resident abroad, alongside Bangkok, Pattaya, Koh Samui, Hua Hin and Chiang Mai.

The opening of the Consulate-General will be important from the standpoint of stepping up our efforts to protect the rights and interests of Russian citizens. Unfortunately, there are numerous consular cases here, Mr Tomikhin explained.

It is yet to be officially announced where the Consulate-General will be located and when exactly it will open its doors on the island.

We designate this year as very important for making all the ground work as there is a whole spectrum of procedures we have to go through from choosing a building, signing agreements on the use of it and assigning personnel [on the first stage] and then adapting the building to for the needs of our Consulate-General, Mr Tomikhin said.

There are quite a few technical issues that we are yet to solve together with our colleagues from Moscow as the process involves a whole range of departments [of Government offices] which usually oversee this sphere.

We strongly figure on a team of our colleagues from Moscow coming shortly and gradually starting to settle down. It would be amazing if the Consulate-General could start working already this year having all the necessary equipment and conditions, he added.

Russias plans to open a consulate in Phuket were first officially revealed two years ago in a statement by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), released ahead of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovs visit to Thailand. (See story here.)

Growing tourist arrivals were cited as the main reason for the Russian MFA to expand its presence in the Kingdom.

In July 2018 the Russian Federation made another step toward opening the long-awaited Consulate-General in Phuket, when Russian Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev signed an order for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to proceed with the plan.

In the meantime, a Russian Honorary Consulate opened last year on Koh Samui, one of the top destinations for Russian tourists and expats in Thailand.

According to the official data from the Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Russian arrivals to Thailand grew from 1.09 million in 2016 to 1.47mn in 2018.

In terms of arrivals to Thailand, Russian ranks as number one among non-Asian countries outpacing Australia, the US, the UK and all the countries of continental Europe. (See story here.)Patong Police Chief: Leave your valuables at home

PHUKET: Patong Police have issued a warning to tourists to look after their belongings after a Frenchwoman had her bag stolen at the Loma Park in Patong on Monday (Feb 11).

patongcrimetourismpolice

By Waranya Prompinpiras

Thursday 14 February 2019, 01:24PM

Beach-goers at Patong are urged not to leave their valuables unattended while swimming at the beach. Photo: Patong Municipality

Patong Police Chief Col Anotai Jindamanee told The Phuket News that the tourist notified police of the incident at about 2pm on Monday at Patong Police Station.

She explained that she had put her bag down in the playground of the Loma Park on Patong Beach. At about 1pm she went to swim in the sea with her 6-year-old son and when she came back to the playground she found that her bag was gone.

The woman reported that the bag contained "2,000-3,000 euros" (B70,000 to about B107,000), a passport and other documents, Col Anotai explained.

I would like to warn tourists who travel to Patong Beach to be extra careful with their belongings both during the day and night, Col Anotai stressed.

Where possible, tourists are encouraged to keep valuables in their hotel room safe box or leave them with hotel staff when going to swim. They should carry with them as little money as possible and only a copy of their passport rather than the original, he advised.

Col Anotai went on to explain that tourists also have the option of leaving their belongings at Bangla Police Box as there are police officers at the box 24 hours a day.

Tourists have to complete and sign a document stating what belongings have been deposited and must present the document to police upon retrieving their belongings."Extremely poisonous pesticides found in blood of pregnant women

THAILAND: On Wednesday (Feb 13), members of the Pharmacy Council organised a small public protest to demand an immediate ban on two herbicides, paraquat and glyphosate, and the pesticide chlorpyrifos by the end of the year in the interests of public safety.

Thursday 14 February 2019, 09:34AM

A farmer sprays his crops. Two herbicides and an insecticide have been targeted by civil society for an immediate ban. (AFP file photo)

In a statement released on Wednesday, council president Assoc Prof Jiraporn Limpananont said a ban would be in line with the internationally recognised precautionary principle on the control of hazardous substances, to protect farmers and consumers, and the principle of ensuring sustainable agricultural resources.

She said the three chemicals were extremely poisonous. A few teaspoons of paraquat were lethal. Researchers had found paraquat contamination in the blood of pregnant women, umbilical cords, meconium (a newborns faeces), water, plants and food.

Fifty-three countries had already banned its use, including the biggest producer of paraquat, China, she said.

Glyphosate was deemed a carcinogen (a substance that causes cancer) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Researchers had found it in mothers and umbilical cords. Many countries had banned it and the chemicals producer in Germany lost a major legal dispute, with nearly 10,000 lawsuits related to the weedkiller, Assoc Prof Jiraporn said.

Chlorpyrifos retarded childrens learning ability and had been found in the blood of pregnant women and umbilical cords. it was banned in many countries, including the United States, she said.

The three are still commonly used by Thai farmers in the cultivation of corn, cassava, sugarcane, rubber, oil palm, and fruits.

On Wednesday, members of the Pharmacy Council organised a small public protest to demand an immediate ban on paraquat, glyphosate and chlorpyrifos by the end of the year.

The governments ad hoc committee on hazardous substances was expected to make a decision on the matter on Thursday.

However, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is signalling the national committee on hazardous substances should delay the move to impose a total ban on the use of a controversial herbicide in farming to 2021.

On Tuesday, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Grisada Boonrach invited director-generals and other senior executives from his ministry  some of whom are members of the committee on hazardous substances  to discuss the ministrys position on the matter.

A source from the meeting said the ministry wants the ban on paraquat to be imposed in 2021 instead. For the time being, the ministry will issue an announcement to limit its import, and restrict its usage to very specific areas, the source told the Bangkok Post.

After the meeting, Mr Grisada said the ministry believes that no toxic chemicals should be used in the agricultural sector, and it will provide further recommendations to limit the use of the herbicides and their alternatives.

The committee, however, has full authority to make the decision on whether or not to ban them all, he said.

Last week, the governments committee, formed by the prime minister, forwarded its opinion on the use of the herbicides, as well as the results of a study carried out by the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT), which recommended a total ban.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Ombudsman last December submitted its suggestion to the national committee on hazardous substances, that it should ban paraquat by Jan 1, 2020.

Read original story here.Texas Tech hosted the annual Techspo to inform students about all on-campus resources at the Student Union Red Raider Ballroom at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Students participated in giveaways, raffles and more.This subscription will allow curernt subscribers of The News Guard to access all of our online Subscriber-Only content, including the E Editions area.

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Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0Lubbock, TX (79409)

Today

Mostly sunny. High 99F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Some passing clouds. Low near 75F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph.Mt. Pleasants lottery for medical-marijuana facility applicants is back on, with one more applicant added to the mix, after two court rulings Wednesday.

The lottery is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday (today) at Mt. Pleasant City Hall.

Isabella County Trial Court Judge Paul Chamberlain ruled that Green Peak Industries should be added to the lottery. The company filed a court case after the city denied its application.

In the second case, Chamberlain ruled in favor of the city and against plaintiff Deborah Cary, an applicant in the lottery who was arguing the city should not have allowed entities to file for approval for more than one piece of property.

The rulings mean the lottery, originally scheduled for Wednesday, can proceed.

We fought the good fight, Carys lawyer, James Higgs, said after the ruling. He added that they will decide whether to appeal.

Three applicants will be chosen in a random drawing to receive conditional authorization to open a provisioning center in the city. There will be 58 applications in the drawing.

The remaining applicants will go on a waiting list.

In the Green Peak case, the Lansing-based company wants to open a provisioning center at 502 N. Mission St. It argued that the city incorrectly denied its application.

At issue was whether the company needed to provide some documents that were filed with the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

This court finds that plaintiff properly complied with the ordinance and that the city must include plaintiff in the lottery in order to comply with the ordinance, according to Chamberlains ruling.

The ruling also states that in this case, there clearly is a real and imminent danger of irreparable injury. The city has rejected plaintiffs application. If the city goes forward with the random drawing, plaintiff will irreparably lose the opportunity to obtain a license to operate a medical marijuana facility in Mt. Pleasant or be put on a waiting list to obtain such a license.

We are pleased with the courts decision, Green Peaks lawyer, Jeffrey Klug, said after the ruling. My client is happy to participate.

The Cary case centered around her claim that allowing some entities to file multiple applications put her at an unfair advantage because she has only one application in, for property at 309 W. Michigan.

One entity has 10 applications in and another one has nine.

Her lawyer, Higgs, pointed out to the court the way the ordinance is worded, and that it says a person may apply for licensing to operate a facility within the city. He said that meant one application per person.

The city, represented by its attorney, Michael Homier, argued that the ordinance should not be interpreted that way. The ordinance does state that only one application per piece of property may be submitted.

Higgs argued Cary would be harmed (as in suffer a setback or damage) by the fact that the odds were against her winning one of the three spots.

Chamberlain asked if she would be harmed if she won a spot in the lottery. Higgs said no, but added that he had other potential clients who would be.

The judge later ruled in favor of the city.

Plaintiff has failed to show that she should prevail on merits, Chamberlain wrote in his opinion. The city is authorized under the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act to limit the number of medical marijuana facilities and adopt other ordinances relating to the facilities.

 The Act authorizes the city to adopt an ordinance to limit the number of each type of facility. The act does not require the city to do this in any particular way. Further, the Act allows the city to adopt other ordinances relating to facilities within its jurisdiction as long as such ordinances do not interfere with the Act or rules for licensing the facilities. The way the City of Mt. Pleasant has chosen to regulate medical marijuana facilities does not in any way conflict with the act, or other licensing rules adopted by the state. Further plaintiff does not allege that there as been a violation of the Act or other Michigan law.

Chamberlain also addressed the allegation that the a person wording in the ordinance means only one application per person.

When considering the plain meaning of the ordinance, this does not explicitly prevent the city from accepting more than one application per person. Additionally, as the city points out, plaintiff had the same opportunity as any other applicant to submit applications for multiple properties.

The lottery drawing is open to the public. It also will be streamed live on the City of Mt. Pleasants YouTube channel and broadcast live on Charter Cables Government Access Channel 188 in the Mt. Pleasant area.

Mt. Pleasants lottery for medical-marijuana facility applicants is back on, with one more applicant added to the mix, after two court rulings Wednesday.

The lottery is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday (today) at Mt. Pleasant City Hall.

Isabella County Trial Court Judge Paul Chamberlain ruled that Green Peak Industries should be added to the lottery. The company filed a court case after the city denied its application.

In the second case, Chamberlain ruled in favor of the city and against plaintiff Deborah Cary, an applicant in the lottery who was arguing the city should not have allowed entities to file for approval for more than one piece of property.

The rulings mean the lottery, originally scheduled for Wednesday, can proceed.

We fought the good fight, Carys lawyer, James Higgs, said after the ruling. He added that they will decide whether to appeal.

Three applicants will be chosen in a random drawing to receive conditional authorization to open a provisioning center in the city. There will be 58 applications in the drawing.

The remaining applicants will go on a waiting list.

In the Green Peak case, the Lansing-based company wants to open a provisioning center at 502 N. Mission St. It argued that the city incorrectly denied its application.

At issue was whether the company needed to provide some documents that were filed with the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

This court finds that plaintiff properly complied with the ordinance and that the city must include plaintiff in the lottery in order to comply with the ordinance, according to Chamberlains ruling.

The ruling also states that in this case, there clearly is a real and imminent danger of irreparable injury. The city has rejected plaintiffs application. If the city goes forward with the random drawing, plaintiff will irreparably lose the opportunity to obtain a license to operate a medical marijuana facility in Mt. Pleasant or be put on a waiting list to obtain such a license.

We are pleased with the courts decision, Green Peaks lawyer, Jeffrey Klug, said after the ruling. My client is happy to participate.

The Cary case centered around her claim that allowing some entities to file multiple applications put her at an unfair advantage because she has only one application in, for property at 309 W. Michigan.

One entity has 10 applications in and another one has nine.

Her lawyer, Higgs, pointed out to the court the way the ordinance is worded, and that it says a person may apply for licensing to operate a facility within the city. He said that meant one application per person.

The city, represented by its attorney, Michael Homier, argued that the ordinance should not be interpreted that way. The ordinance does state that only one application per piece of property may be submitted.

Higgs argued Cary would be harmed (as in suffer a setback or damage) by the fact that the odds were against her winning one of the three spots.

Chamberlain asked if she would be harmed if she won a spot in the lottery. Higgs said no, but added that he had other potential clients who would be.

The judge later ruled in favor of the city.

Plaintiff has failed to show that she should prevail on merits, Chamberlain wrote in his opinion. The city is authorized under the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act to limit the number of medical marijuana facilities and adopt other ordinances relating to the facilities.

 The Act authorizes the city to adopt an ordinance to limit the number of each type of facility. The act does not require the city to do this in any particular way. Further, the Act allows the city to adopt other ordinances relating to facilities within its jurisdiction as long as such ordinances do not interfere with the Act or rules for licensing the facilities. The way the City of Mt. Pleasant has chosen to regulate medical marijuana facilities does not in any way conflict with the act, or other licensing rules adopted by the state. Further plaintiff does not allege that there as been a violation of the Act or other Michigan law.

Chamberlain also addressed the allegation that the a person wording in the ordinance means only one application per person.

When considering the plain meaning of the ordinance, this does not explicitly prevent the city from accepting more than one application per person. Additionally, as the city points out, plaintiff had the same opportunity as any other applicant to submit applications for multiple properties.

The lottery drawing is open to the public. It also will be streamed live on the City of Mt. Pleasants YouTube channel and broadcast live on Charter Cables Government Access Channel 188 in the Mt. Pleasant area.MidSouth Bancorp, Inc., a bank holding company, through its subsidiary MidSouth Bank, N.A., provides various community banking products and services to commercial and retail customers in the United States. The company offers various deposit products, including interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing checking accounts, money market, savings accounts, investment accounts, and NOW account deposits, as well as time deposits, such as certificates of deposit; and commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, and consumer loans, as well as other loans secured by real estate. It also provides cash management services; and electronic banking services comprising remote deposit capturing services, Internet banking, and debit and credit cards. As of March 1, 2019, the company had 42 offices located in Louisiana and Texas, as well as a network of approximately 55,000 surcharge-free ATMs. MidSouth Bancorp, Inc. was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana.

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Linkedin Gisela Swaragita and Dian Septiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019 20:45 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a031795 1 SE Asia Philippines,Maria-Ressa,press-freedom,AJI,AICHR,APHR,libel-case,tax-evasion,Asia-News-Network Free

Regional press alliances and human rights groups have condemned the arrest of veteran Philippine journalist and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, which has sparked allegations she was being targeted over her news websites criticism of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

Ressa, 55, was arrested by plainclothes agents at her Manila office on Wednesday and spent the night in detention over charges referring to a report on a businessmans alleged ties to a then-judge on the nations top court. She was released on bail on Thursday, various news outlets reported.

The Asia News Network, a coalition of 22 leading news outlets from across Asia, expressed its concern regarding the arrest on Thursday, urging the Philippine government to refrain from any form of intimidation of the media.

Arresting a leading member of the journalistic community without any attempt to show that the allegations made in the article were false raises alarm and leaves us disturbed about the conditions under which members of our fraternity in the Philippines must operate, the group said in a statement.

Indonesias Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) also condemned the arrest, with the head of the group, Abdul Manan, calling it an attempt to silence journalists and media [that] criticize the government.

[We] urge the Philippine government to respect democracy and protect press freedom by ceasing to intimidate Maria Ressa and [retracting] the legal charges against her, Abdul said in a statement to The Jakarta Post.

Meanwhile, Malaysian lawmaker and the chairman of the group ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), Charles Santiago, said freedom of information was necessary to any functioning democracy as it safeguarded peoples ability to make informed decisions.

Governments need to recognize the vital role independent media outlets play and take all necessary steps to ensure a safe environment for journalists to work without undue interference, Santiago said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Indonesias representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Human Rights Commission, Yuyun Wahyuningrum, tweeted in support of Ressa: This arrest is inconsistent with Article 23 of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration that guarantees freedom of opinion and expression.

Article 23 of the declaration, which the Philippines has also signed, stipulates the right of every person to express opinions and includes the freedom to defend opinions without interference and to seek, receive and provide information, either verbally, in writing or through other means chosen by that person.

Rappler and Ressa have been hit with tax evasion charges and now a libel case after clashing repeatedly with Duterte over his deadly war against drugs that has killed thousands.

This weeks legal challenge was not the first blow for Ressa and her website. On Dec. 3 last year, Ressa was hit with five tax evasion charges. Prior to that, Rappler journalist Pia Randa had been banned from reporting from the Philippine Presidential Palace.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Karina M. Tehusijarana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019 10:17 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a0094ea 1 Politics Bawaslu,2019-legislative-election,2019-presidential-election,#2019GeneralElections,#2019PresidentialElection,212-Alumni,campaign-violation,2019-change-president,2019-Ganti-Presiden Free

The naming of opposition camp supporter and 212 Alumni Brotherhood (PA 212) chairman Slamet Ma'arif as a suspect for violating campaign rules has triggered questions about the Election Supervisory Agency's (Bawaslu) neutrality, or lack thereof.

Slamet, who is a member of the Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno campaign team, is alleged to have violated Article 280 of the 2017 General Elections Law for campaigning outside a schedule set by the General Elections Commission (KPU) by taking part in a mass gathering held by the PA 212 supporters in Surakarta, Central Java on Jan. 13.

In his speech at the gathering, Slamet mentioned the #2019GantiPresiden (2019ChangePresident) movement, which prompted Joko Jokowi Widodo-Maruf Amin campaign team member Her Suprabu to report Slamet to the Bawaslu, which later handed the case over to the police.

Prabowo campaign team members have raised questions about the validity of the case against Slamet.

"[The campaign team] will defend [Slamet] to the end," Gerindra Party deputy chairman and House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Fadli Zon said on Monday. "What happened is just administrative in nature; there's no need to criminalize it. [Jokowi's campaign team] also committed many violations that have not been followed up on."

Fadli also previously insinuated that the Bawaslu had been selective in picking which campaign suspected campaign violations to pursue.

"If [Jakarta governor] Anies Baswedan is interrogated for using a two-finger gesture than why aren't the [regents in North Maluku and West Sumatra] that have declared support for Jokowi interrogated as well?" he said last week.

The Jokowi campaign team has denied the allegations that the government had ever intervened with the Bawaslu or other law enforcement decisions.

"I object if every legal matter is called criminalization because we have all been reported [to law enforcement]," Jokowi campaign chairman Erick Thohir said on Tuesday. "The president has been reported, I have been reported."

The central Bawaslu headquarters has received 35 reports of presidential campaign violations since the campaign period began last September. Fifteen of the reports were filed against the Prabowo-Sandiaga team while 18 were filed against the Jokowi-Ma'ruf camp. One report did not name a defendant while one other was filed against both the Prabowo and Jokowi teams.

So far, none of the violations reported against either team have resulted in sanctions, with many not being registered at all because they did not constitute a prima facie campaign violation and others were halted for lack of evidence. The seven most recent reports are still currently being processed, with six filed against the Prabowo team and one against the Jokowi team.

Regional Bawaslu offices have recorded more suspected violations, with 2,153 presidential and legislative election campaign violations cataloged across Indonesia as of the end of 2018, with 1,363 of those violations being for campaigning without written permission from local authorities.

Very few of those have resulted in criminal proceedings, however. Nine legislative candidates have been named a suspect in criminal cases in relation to the campaign: four members of the opposition coalition and five members of the pro-government coalition. Slamet's case is the first presidential election campaign violation to be brought to court.

Bawaslu member Ratna Dewi Pettalolo said she did not know all the details regarding Slamet's case as it was being handled by the local Bawaslu Surakarta branch but denied that the Bawaslu was biased against either presidential campaign.

"We have a mechanism to process violations as transparently as possible and the decision on whether a violation constitutes a crime is made by Gakkumdu [Integrated Law Enforcement] team, which includes police and prosecutors," she told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. "So, it is not solely our decision."

Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) researcher Fadli Ramadhanil said it was not right to conclude that the Bawaslu was not neutral based on Slamets case.

"According to the 2017 Election Law, mass gathering campaigns are only allowed to be held 21 days before the quiet period, so if there's an indication that someone has violated that, then it must be followed up on," he told the Post. "The Bawaslu can only be said to be biased if it does not follow up on similar indications from the opposing camp, and I have not seen evidence of that so far."Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019 17:41 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a029391 1 National Ani-Yudhoyono,Susilo-Bambang-Yudhoyono,SBY,Sutopo-Purwo-Nugroho,cancer-patient Free

National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho has released a get-well-soon video for former first lady Ani Yudhoyono, who is now receiving treatment for leukaemia in National University Singapore Hospital. Bu Ani, maybe I am a nobody to you. But as a cancer patient I know how it hurts physically and mentally when the doctors diagnose us with cancer, Sutopo said.

Ibu Ani sakit itu tanda Allah sayang sama Ibu. Allah sedang menguji kesabaran, kekuatan dan taqwa kita. Bu Ani, harus tetap semangat, ikhlas, terus berdoa dan ikhtiar.



Jadi jangan menyerah dan putus asa. Harus yakin bisa sembuh, kuat dan sehat. Saya berdoa Ibu segera sembuh. pic.twitter.com/25FEu55MAE  Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (@Sutopo_PN) February 14, 2019

Sutopo, who became a media darling last year as he got on with his job spreading official information and combating hoaxes during the frequent major disasters in Indonesia despite being critically sick, had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and is now undergoing his eighth chemotherapy session.

The fact that Bu Ani has blood cancer means that God loves you. God is testing our patience, power and faith so that we continuously pray, ask for mercy, [so that God] lifts our pain without leaving any other pain, he said.

Sutopo also said Ani had to use this opportunity to adopt a healthier lifestyle, as well as to keep thinking positively.

Sutopo also greeted Anis husband, former president Susilo SBY Bambang Yudhoyono. Pak SBY and family have to be patient in taking care of Ibu Ani. Family is the main source of spirit, especially for cancer patients, he said. (gis)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Tehran, Iran  Thu, February 14, 2019 08:48 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a004b32 2 World #Iran,#attack,suicide-attack,IranianRevolution,revolution,bus,killing Free

A suicide attack on Wednesday on a Revolutionary Guards bus in southeastern Iran killed at least 20 people, the official news agency IRNA reported.

"The suicide attack on an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps personnel bus happened on the Khash-Zahedan road," IRNA said.

"This terrorist act happened a short time ago and according to reports at least 20 have been martyred and 20 have been wounded," an informed source told IRNA.

A picture released by the Fars news agency showed a hulk of twisted metal at the scene.

The Guards issued a statement confirming the attack. It said the troops were returning from the border.

"In this suicide attack a car filled with explosives blew up besides a bus carrying a unit of the Guards ground forces causing the martyrdom and wounding of a number of the protectors of our Islamic homeland's border."

The attack took place in the volatile southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan which has a large, mainly Sunni Muslim ethnic Baluchi community which straddles the border with Pakistan.

On January 29 three members of an Iranian bomb squad sent to the scene of an explosion in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan Baluchistan province, were wounded when a second device blew up as they were trying to defuse it, police said at the time.

And in early December last year two people were killed and around 40 others wounded in the port city of Chabahar, also in Sistan Baluchistan, in an attack which Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the time blamed on "foreign-backed terrorists" -- a reference to Sunni Muslim extremists.

The bloodiest attack in recent times to have hit Iran took place in September when assailants killed 24 people at a military parade in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.

In July at least 10 members of the Revolutionary Guards were killed when insurgents attacked one of their bases along the border with Iraq.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Marchio Irfan Gorbiano (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019 09:14 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a006818 1 Business avtur,price,Rini-Soemarno,statement Free

State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno has expressed hope that aviation turbine (avtur) fuel will be exempted from value-added tax (VAT).

The price of avtur has been blamed for high airline ticket prices. Hopefully the VAT for avtur will be abolished, said Rini in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The government slapped a 10 percent VAT on avtur for domestic flights while international flights are exempt from such taxes, as stated in Government Regulation No. 26/2005.

Rini added that the government was looking for ways to reduce the cost of avtur after Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan issued a decree on Feb. 1 that outlined the base price formula for avtur.

We are looking into our cost structure to find out if it follows the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministrys formula and whether we can reduce [the price of avtur], said Rini.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo had promised to discuss the increase of avtur prices with state-owned energy firm Pertamina after receiving complaints from tourism and hospitality players, who said the increasing prices of airline tickets was responsible for lower hotel occupancy rates.

Jokowi added that he would give Pertamina two options: either to lower the price of avtur, or the government would allow other firms to sell it, meaning Pertamina would have to relinquish its monopoly over avtur sales.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said she was open to revising the VAT to ensure the competitiveness of fuel prices compared to neighboring countries.

In terms of a level of playing field, we are open to matching [the VAT for avtur] with other countries such as Singapore and Malaysia, Sri Mulyani said as quoted by Antara.

Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said the increase in airline ticket prices had greatly affected tourism, particularly for those who relied on domestic tourists.

He suggested that should airlines want to increase their ticket prices, they should do so in a gradual manner. (bbn)The state Department of Education would better serve the communities for which it is responsible for by reviewing standards and seriously considering strengthening them to ensure they include a more robust education on the states racial history. Even better, schools can map positive paths by taking students on field trips to local historic landmarks.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14 2019

Instagram.com/alpantuni

The government and social media platform Instagram gave conflicting statements regarding the shutdown of an Instagram account that posted a comic strip depicting the struggles of a gay Muslim man living in a religiously conservative society.



The government claimed on Wednesday that the social media giant, which is highly popular among Indonesians, had removed the account after an outcry from Indonesian internet users, who have in the past few years been in the grip of a moral panic about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.



Only hours after the government made the announcement, Instagram issued a statement denying such a claim.



Instagram did not remove this account. There are a number of other reasons why an account may no longer be accessible, including, for example, if the account holder deleted the acc...Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Norman Harsono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019 18:06 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a02adb7 1 Business ride-hailing-service,Go-Jek,Grab,Grab-Bike,fares,transportation-ministry,Transportation,ojek-service Free

If the government increases the fares of ride-hailing services too high to please the drivers, it could turn away customers who find them no longer economical.

That's the finding of a study by the Research Institute of Socio-Economic Development (RISED), which concluded that more than 70 percent of current customers would cease using ride-hailing services if fares are set higher than Rp 2,800 (20 US cents) per kilometer.

At present, Go-Jeks lowest rate for ride-hailing services is Rp1,900 per km for long-distance rides in Jakarta, while Grabs lowest rate is Rp 1,800 per km under similar circumstances.

Short-distance rides in Jakarta go as high as Rp 5,000 per km with both providers.

RISED recommended the government set the minimum fare for online ojek (motorcycle taxis) at less than Rp 2,800 per km because higher fares may chase away 71 percent of current customers, according to its recent survey of 2,001 regular users.

Consumers are very sensitive in this ride-hailing business, RISED researcher Rumayya Batubara said.

A trip of 8.8 km using a ride-hailing service now costs Rp 19,000. The cost may increase to Rp 27,300 if the Transportation Ministry were to enforce a proposed minimal fare of Rp 3,100 per kilometer, as reported by several media outlets.

In others words, the proposed fare would make customers spend an extra Rp 7,900 each day on fares, whereas 48 percent of respondents said they were only willing to spend an extra Rp 5,000. Twenty-three percent said they were not willing to spend any more at all.

Thus, [the proposed] fare may cut consumer demand by up to 71 percent, said Rumayya.

Economist Fithra Faisal Hastiadi pointed out that such a drastic drop was possible because 40 percent of motorcycle ride-hailing customers were lower-income individuals who earned less than Rp 3 million monthly  less than Jakartas minimum wage of Rp 3.9 million.

For such low-income customers, the proposed price hike would increase the cost of transportation from at least 19 percent to 27 percent of their monthly income.

Whats clear is that this fare hike is politically incorrect, Fithra said.

He added if online ojek demand were to drop, it would also reduce the income of local businesses such as eateries and retailers that use ojek to deliver goods.

In addition, Rumayya explained that the survey was RISEDs response to a lack of media concern over how the Transportation Ministry's plan to raise minimum fares, announced late last year, would affect customers.

The ministrys land transportation director general, Budi Setiyadi, has promised that a regulation would be issued in March this year setting the ideal fare at between Rp 2,000 and Rp 2,500 per km, while the maximum would be Rp 6,000 km.

The ministry itself was responding to a series of rallies last year by ojek drivers who were demanding a minimum fare of between Rp 3,000 and Rp 4,000 per km because, they said, they could not live on the current rates.

However, Igun Wicaksono, a spokesperson for the rallying drivers, recently said that drivers were willing to accept fares of between Rp 2,500 and Rp 3,000 per km.

Zumrotin K. Susilo, a former Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) chairwoman, said she concurred with Rumayya and Fithra on the detrimental impact of the proposed rate hike on lower-income consumers, but she also expressed sympathy for the drivers.

She estimated that a fare increase of 20 percent from Rp 2,200 per km (RISEDs benchmark fare) to Rp 2,600 per km would be fair to both customers and drivers.

More critically, she said the government should require ride-hailing platforms to provide health and work insurance for drivers, which would improve their welfare without burdening the customers.

The problem is that the government is chasing the customers. It should chase the providers instead, she said.

Go-Jek and Grab, which form a duopoly in Indonesias online ojek market, have so far avoided paying drivers insurance and fixed wages by labeling them partners instead of employees. As employees they would receive compulsory worker protection under the 2003 Manpower Law.

Go-Jek spokesman Michael Reza Say told The Jakarta Post his company calculated fares based on consumer-side data such as purchasing power, buying behavior and geographical demand.

For the drivers, we provide competitive rates, incentives for the hardworking ones and other benefits, he said.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Rachmadea Aisyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019 10:51 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a00f979 1 Business Dragon-Land,industrial-estates,north-kalimantan,South-Korea Free

A private consortium led by a Korean company is set to invest approximately US$6.5 billion to build an industrial zone, a seaport and a coal-fired steam power plant (PLTU) in North Kalimantan.

The company, PT Dragon Land, announced on Wednesday it would develop a 5,664-hectare area within the Tanah Kuning-Mangkupadi international port and industrial zone allocated for mineral processing companies.

Dragon Land chairman Lim Yong said the project was backed by the South Korean government, which agreed to grant the Indonesian government $600,000 for the projects feasibility study.

Six firms have expressed their interest as partners to invest [in the project], Yong said in an exclusive interview with The Jakarta Post following a kick-off meeting between the company and officials representing both countries. They come from South Korea, Japan, Australia, as well as Europe.

Dragon Land director Santy said the project had acquired the necessary permits from the online single submission system.

After we finish the feasibility study and the environmental impact analysis, we need three to four years to build the seaport and less than three years for the PLTU, she said on the same occasion. Meanwhile, we would try to finish all the infrastructure for the industrial zone in under a year.

Chang Ki-Wook, director for port investment cooperation at the Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, said the $600,000 grant would allow Korean companies to operate in the industrial zone. Director for mining and energy infrastructure at the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister, Yohannes Yudi Prabangkara, said the project would create a new economic growth center outside of Java. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Ayee Macaraig (Agence France-Presse) Manila, Philippines  Thu, February 14, 2019 12:34 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a011be4 2 World #Philippines,#PressFreedom,journalist,Maria-Ressa,freed,bail,duterte Free

Philippine journalist Maria Ressa was freed on bail on Thursday following an arrest that sparked international censure and allegations she is being targeted over her news site's criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Ressa spent a night in detention after authorities arrested the veteran reporter at her Manila office Wednesday in a sharp upping of government pressure on her and her website Rappler.

The site and Ressa, 55, have been hit with tax evasion charges and now a libel case after clashing repeatedly with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte over his deadly crackdown on narcotics that has killed thousands.

"It's about two things: abuse of power and weaponisation of the law," an emotional Ressa told journalists as she stepped out of a Manila court where she posted bail.

"What we are seeing is death by a thousand cuts to our democracy," added Ressa, who was named a Time Magazine "Person of the Year" in 2018 for her journalism.

Ressa paid 100,000 pesos ($1,900), the sixth time she posted bail to avoid detention following a slew of charges.

International condemnation from dignitaries and press freedom and human rights groups has poured in since plainclothes agents appeared at Rappler to serve an arrest warrant on the charge that carries up to 12 years behind bars.

"The arrest of Maria Ressa is an outrage," said Committee to Protect Journalists Board Chair Kathleen Carroll. "She should be freed immediately and the Philippines government needs to cease its multi-pronged attack on Rappler."

Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright also stood by Ressa.

"The arrest of journalist @mariaressa by the Philippine government is outrageous and must be condemned by all democratic nations," Albright said in a tweet where she called Ressa a friend.

Duterte attacks on media

The libel case against Ressa and former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos, Jr. stems from a 2012 report written about a businessman's alleged ties to a then-judge on the nation's top court.

While investigators initially dismissed the businessman's 2017 complaint about the article, the case was subsequently forwarded to prosecutors for their consideration.

The legal foundation of the case is a controversial law aiming to crack down on online offences ranging from harassment to child pornography.

Ressa's team has argued the legislation did not take effect until months after the story was published and is not retroactive, however the government has countered that it is fair game because the story was updated in 2014.

"In essence in the contemplation of the law it is a new article because of the modification, republication," Markk Perete, spokesman for Department of Justice prosecutors, told AFP. "That is deemed as a new article."

Rappler concedes the story was updated, but notes it was to fix a typo and no substantive changes were made.

The businessman who sued Rappler, Wilfredo Keng, on Thursday welcomed the charges as he said the website "destroyed my reputation and endangered my life".

Duterte has lashed out at other critical media outfits, including the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper and broadcaster ABS-CBN.

He had threatened to go after their owners over alleged unpaid taxes or block the network's franchise renewal application.

Some of the drug crackdown's highest-profile detractors have wound up behind bars, including Senator Leila de Lima, who was jailed on drug charges she insists were fabricated to silence her.

Ressa insists the site is not anti-Duterte, saying it is just doing its job to hold the government to account.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Warsaw, Poland  Thu, February 14, 2019 09:39 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a00773a 2 World #USA,#Poland,US,Mike-Pence,HIMARS-system,purchase,NATO Free

The US and Poland finalised a deal on Wednesday for Warsaw to buy American mobile rocket launchers worth $414 million (365 million euros) as it lobbies Washington to boost troops on Polish soil.

"We are pleased to partner with you in Poland's national defence," US Vice President Mike Pence said in Warsaw as the deal was inked in an air hangar filled with Polish and US troops.

It means that "Poland is taking its place among the most capable and formidable nations in the world," he said, underscoring strong US ties with its NATO ally.

His comments were echoed by Polish President Andrzej Duda, who has lobbied Washington hard for a permanent US military presence in Poland.

The purchase will help strengthen "the defense potential of Poland and the Polish army but will also increase security in our part of Europe, on the eastern flank of the Atlantic Alliance," Duda said.

The first stage of the acquisition of "20 HIMARS systems" will go ahead in 2023, he said.

Pence and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are headlining a conference in Warsaw on security issues in the Middle East on Wednesday and Thursday that the US is co-hosting with Poland.

Made by US weapons giant Lockheed Martin, the HIMARS system can launch six guided rockets with a range of 70 kilometers (37 miles), or a single missile with a 300-kilometre range.

Increased US presence

It is already being used by 19 countries including the US and has been deployed in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State group, allowing US troops a precision attack ability even in poor weather when air attacks are hindered.

In March last year, Warsaw signed a $4.75 billion contract to purchase a US-made Patriot anti-missile system.

Poland's rightwing government has been pushing for the US to open a permanent military base on its soil, where nearly 5,000 American troops are already stationed on a rotational basis as part of NATO operations.

Pence confirmed later on Wednesday that "our two countries are discussing the parameters for an increased United States military presence in Poland" without going into detail.

He told Duda that he would be "carrying back your strong convictions regarding that to President Trump."

Pompeo told reporters visiting a US-led NATO battalion in northern Poland on Wednesday that Washington would "make sure" to have the "right" number and "mix" of troops in Poland in future without indicating when a decision could come.

Earlier on the same day, US ambassador Georgette Mosbacher told the Financial Times that a troop boost would be "significant" and would pass the "hundreds mark".

The US leads a multinational NATO battalion in Poland, one of four the alliance deployed to the region in 2017 to act as tripwires against possible Russian adventurism in the wake of Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Warsaw, Poland  Thu, February 14, 2019 16:14 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a020621 2 World #Israel,#Poland,BenjaminNetanyahu,USA,Arab-states Free

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Thursday as historic a Warsaw meeting where he is joining Arab states, saying they stood united against Iran and voicing hope that cooperation extends to other areas.

The opening dinner Wednesday night of the two-day, US-organised conference marked "a historical turning point," Netanyahu told reporters.

"In a room of some 60 foreign ministers representative of dozens of governments, an Israeli prime minister and the foreign ministers of the leading Arab countries stood together and spoke with unusual force, clarity and unity against the common threat of the Iranian regime," he said.

"I think this marks a change and important understanding of what threatens our future, what we need to do to secure it, and the possibility that cooperation will extend beyond security in every realm of life."

At the opening dinner at Warsaw's Royal Castle, officials said that Netanyahu spoke around the same table as senior officials of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain -- none of which have relations with Israel but all of which share Netanyahu's hawkish stance on Iran.

Israel only has diplomatic relations with two Arab states, neighbouring Egypt and Jordan.

Netanyahu also met one-on-one in Warsaw with Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah of Oman, where he travelled late last year. Oman has sought friendly relations with all regional players including Iran.

US Vice President Mike Pence and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are both attending the conference co-hosted with Poland, which is eager for strong ties with Washington in the face of the threat of Russia.

But most European powers are sending low-level representation, wary of the hawkish line on Iran by President Donald Trump who withdrew from an international accord on curbing Tehran's nuclear programme.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019 13:42 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a015c82 4 Business lrt-palembang,subsidy,central-government Free

The government has allocated Rp 123 billion (US$8.73 million) to subsidize the operation of a light rapid transit (LRT) in Palembang, South Sumatra.

Anywhere, mass public transportation gets subsidized. We want to talk to the provincial government to discuss the issue. There is a law that requires the government to provide a subsidy [for public transportation], said Transportation Ministry railway director general Zulfikri in Jakarta on Wednesday as quoted by kontan.co.id.

So far, these subsidies came from the central government.

Tickets for the 23.4-kilometer LRT Palembang currently cost Rp 5,000 (35 US cents) per trip, except for passengers who travel to Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin Airport, who must pay Rp 10,000 per trip.

The LRT reportedly transports about 4,000 passengers per day.

The subsidy was needed to encourage users of private vehicles to shift to the LRT, Zulfikri said, adding that this would need some time to accomplish.

The LRT Palembang started operating in October last year when the provincial capital cohosted the 2018 Asian Games along with Jakarta.

The LRT projects in Palembang and Greater Jakarta aim at addressing traffic congestion, Zulfikri said, adding that similar projects would be developed in other cities, including Medan, Makassar as well as several other cities in Java.

The government is now working toward shortening the trains headways, which is currently at between 24 and 28 minutes, he said.

Meanwhile, construction of the Jakarta LRT is now at 70 percent and is expected to be completed on April 21, Zulfikri said. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019 17:25 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a026667 4 National Tjahjo-Kumolo,Jokowi,PHRI,meeting,KPK,Lukas-Enembe Free

Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo says his ministry never issued a policy restricting any government offices from holding conferences and meetings at hotels, but he advised they be held in daytime.

Previously, Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) chairman Hariyadi Sukamdani protested against the minister instructing provincial administrations to not organize meetings at hotels during the associations anniversary gala dinner earlier this week. Hariyadi said such a policy would hurt the hotel industry across the country.

I never issued any regulation restricting meetings at hotels, the minister said on Tuesday, as quoted by Antara. He added that most meetings organized by his ministry were in fact held at hotels.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo responded to the complaint by immediately calling on Tjahjo to retract his statement.

The minister told me the issue had been settled. [The instruction] wont materialize, Jokowi said.

Tjahjo said he had told his subordinates to issue internal standard procedures for organizing meetings with regional administration officials to discuss regional budgets.

The instruction was issued in the wake of an alleged assault against two Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators at the Borobudur Hotel in Jakarta, where officials from the Papua provincial administration, including Governor Lukas Enembe, were holding a meeting with Papua Legislative Council (DPRD) members to discuss the provinces draft 2019 budget.

At the time, an administration staff member noticed that one of the two KPK investigators in the hotel was taking photographs of the officials. The Papua administration rejected the KPKs version of events. The incident is currently under investigation by the Jakarta Police.

The case broke because the KPK accepted a report on a budget meeting that night in a hotel. Therefore, a budget meeting should not be held at a hotel at night, as it might be perceived differently by other parties, Tjahjo said.

He suggested that such meetings be held in broad daylight in a ministry office. After the consultation meeting, regional administration officers would be allowed to spend the night at a hotel.

In late 2014, then administrative and bureaucratic reform minister Yuddy Chrisnandi issued a circular ordering all government bodies to use their own meeting rooms and banned them from renting meeting halls or other venues, except for meetings that required a large number of participants.

The circular was made at the request of President Jokowi, who aimed to slash the 2015 budget for the meetings and the travel expenses of government officials by Rp 16 trillion (US$1.1 billion) to Rp 25 trillion. The plan was met with opposition from the MICE industry. (kuk)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (Reuters) Dubai  Thu, February 14, 2019 18:36 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a02d069 2 World #Iran,#suicide-bombing,Iran,blames,US,Israel,suicide-attack Free

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blamed the United States and its regional allies on Thursday for a suicide bombing in southeastern Iran that killed 27 members of the country's elite Revolutionary Guards, Iranian state TV reported.

The force said on Wednesday a suicide bomber driving a vehicle laden with explosives had attacked a bus transporting members of the Guards in the province of Sistan-Baluchestan.

A militant Sunni Muslim group, Jaish al Adl (Army of Justice), which says it seeks greater rights and better living conditions for the ethnic minority Baluchis, has claimed responsibility for the attack, Iranian media have reported.

"The crime will remain as a 'dirty stain' in the black record of the main supporters of terrorism in the White House, Tel Aviv and their regional agents," Rouhani said.

Apart from Israel, Rouhani did not name the regional states he believed were to blame. Mainly Shi'ite Muslim Iran does not recognise Israel, which is a key US ally in the region and sees Tehran as posing an existential threat to its existence.

"There is a link between this crime ... and some regional and international spying and intelligence agencies," TV quoted Iran's top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as saying.

Khamenei ordered immediate action against those responsible for the attack.

In the past, Tehran has accused its main regional rival Saudi Arabia of backing Sunni militia groups who have carried out bloody attacks against Iranian security forces. Riyadh has denied the charges.

Repeating warnings made by senior commanders of the Guards, Rouhani said Iran was determined to bring justice to those responsible for one of the worst assaults ever against the Revolutionary Guards in years.

The assault, which wounded at least 13 people, took place in the province of Sistan-Baluchestan, which has a large, mainly Sunni Muslim, ethnic Baluchi community, which straddles the border with Pakistan.

Jaish al Adl has carried out attacks against the border guards from Pakistan since its founding in 2012. Iran has called on neighbouring countries to crack down on separatist groups.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Lee So-Jeong (The Korea Herald/Asia News Network) Seoul, South Korea  Thu, February 14, 2019 17:05 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a025238 2 World #SouthKorea,#Crime,Indonesian,arrested,cryptocurrency Free

A 22-year-old Indonesian man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly setting up and operating a virtual money mining program on dozens of college computers.

The man is suspected of having set up HoneyMiner, a program used to mine Bitcoin and Monero, on 27 computers in the common computer room of a college at the end of January, and of operating it for several days.

Song Young-seung, chief prosecuting attorney of the Ulsan District Court, issued an arrest warrant for the suspect as he was a flight risk.

The man enrolled in the college in 2014 and studied there until the first semester of last year before being expelled in September for failing to register.

He had allegedly installed and operated mining programs by using the colleges computer room even after his expulsion.The man was caught in downtown Ulsan on Sunday, as police had searched for him on charges of trespassing.

Police will investigate whether the suspect benefited from the mining of crypto currency and caused damage to the school.During the course of an initial interrogation, a detectives report said Keyser ultimately admitted that the necklace was his. But he said it got ripped off when he was being pulled out of the van by St. Johns boyfriend, Mac Kennard, after Keyser went to the home to get money to buy drugs for him.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Stefanno Reinard Sulaiman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019 15:03 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a01ce36 1 Business marine-fuel-oil,imports,cuts,ArcandraTahar Free

The government has estimated the country will save US$200 million a year by cutting marine fuel oil (MFO) imports after four private companies agreed to purchase the commodity from state-owned oil and gas holding company Pertamina, instead of importing it.

The four companies are publicly listed nickel miner PT Vale Indonesia, local fuel trader PT AKR Corporindo, fuel producer PT Cosmic Petroleum Nusantara and Batam, Riau Islands,-based fuel trader PT Yavindo Sumber Persada.

Vale will start [to buy MFO from Pertamina] from April as their previous contract [for MFO imports] ends in March, Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar said in Jakarta on Wednesday, adding that Pertaminas MFO supply was sufficient.

Based on the ministrys data, Pertamina produced 1.9 million kilo liters (kl) of MFO in 2018, while the annual volume of MFO imports from the four companies was around 400,000 kl annually and worth US$200 million.

Arcandra claimed that the measure would benefit both Pertamina and those four companies as the latter would get a cheaper MFO price than the imported MFO.

They had opted to import MFO [rather than buying from Pertamina], because previously there were hassles in the form of tenders and so on. Now we've resolved it by mediating the process. he explained. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019 17:26 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a027305 1 Business fish-export,shipment,transshipment,fisheries,maritime-affairs-and-fisheries-ministry,Japanese-companies,investment,JETRO Free

The government has invited Japanese companies to invest in fish shipment and cold storage services to take advantage of Indonesias growing fish production, especially in the eastern part of the country.

The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry held a meeting recently with 13 Japanese companies, including trading company Hanwa, temperature-controlled logistics company Nichirei Logistics Group and logistics transport provider PT Seino Indomobil Logistics Services.

The meeting was part of a visit organized by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), which assisted the companies in exploring investment opportunities in Indonesia.

After the meeting, Rifky Effendi, director general of product competitiveness at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, said the government was exploring opportunities to establish a transshipment hub for fish exports in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

"We are planning to develop direct shipment [infrastructure] in eastern Indonesia, such as in Makassar, he said in Jakarta.

Rifky said the lack of direct shipment had often hampered fish exports as fish from the eastern part of Indonesia should first be shipped to Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya, East Java, Bali or Jakarta before being shipped overseas.

By establishing a shipping hub in Makassar, the fish from the eastern regions can be directly exported to Indonesias main fish buyers, such as Japan and China.

Aside from visiting Makassar, the Japanese trade delegation was scheduled to visit Bitung and Manado, both in North Sulawesi, to explore opportunities to invest in shipment and cold storage services, Rifky said.

JETROs Jakarta office president director Keishi Suzuki said Indonesias fishing industry was attractive because the government had implemented stern measures, including a fishing moratorium and crackdown on illegal fishing, to protect marine resources in the archipelago.

Japanese investors see the governments move in making fisheries sustainable. Our investors will explore more business opportunities in the sector, Suzuki said.

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said earlier in the meeting that with the development of a direct shipping hub, Indonesia could further increase its fish exports, especially tuna, to Japan and other countries.

According to the ministry, Japan is the third biggest investor in the fishery sector in Indonesia after Singapore and the Philippines. Rifky said Japans investment in the fishery sector, mainly in aquaculture, fish processing and trading, stood at Rp 500 billion (US$35.6 million) as of 2017.

The ministry said fish production had been growing over the last three years. Its data shows that fish production in 2018 was 6.7 million tons of fish, a 5 percent increase from a year earlier.

As for fish exports, seafood products were worth $4.89 billion last year, an 8.18 percent increase from 2017. The products have been exported to various countries and regions, such as the United States, Japan, China, Europe and ASEAN.

The US is the biggest importer of Indonesias shrimp and tuna, while China is the biggest for squid and seaweed.

Rifky said Japan was also a big importer of Indonesia's shrimp and tuna.

Between January and November last year, shrimp and tuna exports stood at $312.66 million and $94.55 million respectively.

We hope that the Japanese will invest more so we can also increase our fish exports to Japan, he said. (das)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Kharishar Kahfi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019 17:11 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a025dc2 1 National Merdeka-Copper-Gold,Budi-Pego,hammer-sickle-memes,gold-mining,Tumpang-Pitu,Banyuwangi,East-Java,Sandiaga-Uno,Garibaldi-Thohir Free

Heri Budiawan had just returned to Sumberagung village in Banyuwangi, East Java around August 2010 after working in Saudi Arabia for 10 years, and he found that his hometown had changed much because of gold mining in the nearby Tumpang Pitu mountain range.

Before 2014, mining company PT Indo Multi Niaga had carried out exploration to find gold there. Everything changed around 2014 when the company struck gold and began the pre-construction phase for the gold mines. The permit also changed hands from Indo Multi to PT Bumi Suksesindo (BSI).

BSI, a subsidiary of PT Merdeka Copper Gold, took over mining operations in 2012. It has been running the mining operation ever since.

During the pre-construction phase in 2014, Heri, also known as Budi Pego, said residents spotted major changes to their environments landscape. He accused BSI of, among other things, flattening the mountain, clearing the forest and blocking the river that was the primary water source for the residents.

That was the beginning of our protest to the mining company, as well as my fight for my hometowns environment, Budi told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.

Read also: Activists call for postponement of environmentalist Budi Pego's imprisonment

BSI spokesperson Teuku Mufizar Mahmud dismissed such claims, saying the company had been working with the local administration to repair and construct roads leading to the mining complex. He added that the company had also implemented high water treatment standards to prevent the disruption of the local water supply.

We have also done forest and land rehabilitation, both permanent and temporary, in areas we cleared previously to increase land productivity and prevent landslides, Mufizar told the Post.

Before protesting the gold mining operation, Budi said he did not have much knowledge about the environment as he had not completed formal education in senior high school.

I just dont want people to get caught in an accident by using the roads that have been damaged by the companys heavy machinery and trucks, he said. Budi added that he later obtained knowledge about the environmental damage from a village head and fellow activists after getting involved in protests.

He said he was unintentionally seen as a leader of a protest movement by fellow residents because he headed several religious activities in the village. Budi said he was a member of Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, because he attended a madrasah tsanawiyah (Islamic junior high school).

Budi, who worked as a dragon fruit farmer after returning from Saudi Arabia, said the mining operation had also affected agricultural productivity in the area. After the gold mine began operation, he claimed there was a significant drop in the fruit yield during harvest.

This prompted him to get involved more in protests against the company, which ranged from demonstrations by residents and to a roadblock against BSI vehicles.

The fight, however, did not always end on good terms for Budi and fellow residents, as they were often slapped with criminal charges for their protests. In November 2015, eight residents were named suspects for allegedly damaging the companys property. Four of them were found innocent, while the others are still appealing the case at the Supreme Court.

Budi was the latest to join the line. In 2017, he was accused of displaying a banner with a hammer and sickle logo on it during a rally in opposition to gold mining. The court later found him guilty and sentenced him to four months in prison.

It was the first time that Budi learned that BSI was a subsidiary of PT Merdeka Copper Gold, a publicly listed mining unit of investment firm PT Saratoga Investama Sedaya and PT Provident Capital Indonesia.

According to Merdeka Copper Gold's and Saratoga Investama Sedaya's websites, several people sitting on their boards of commissioners are connected to the country's top politicians.

Budi said he had no idea how politically wired the company was.

I thought this was only a small mining company. I really didnt know there were powerful people behind the company, Budi said, laughing. Had I known it from the first time I launched the protests, I would have not gone this far.

Budi admitted his protest had affected his personal life, as well as his wife and two daughters. Because of the protests, I couldnt focus on tending to my dragon fruit farm. We only earn a small amount of money now.

Upon being released from prison in July 2018, he said his family had suggested he cut his protest activity because of the effects inflicted on the family.

However, I refuse to back down, because who else is going to fight for the environment?

After being sentenced to the additional four years in prison by the Supreme Court in November 2018, Budi and other activists have been fighting to prove the formers innocence in the case.

Budi was seen by many as an environmental defender thanks to his fight for the human right to a healthy environment, said Rere Christanto, the Indonesian Forum for the Environment director in East Java.

This string of legal cases is not only a blow for Budi and his family and environmentalism that fights for the rights to a healthy environment, but also for the Indonesian civil movement in general. Unfortunately, this is not the only case in the country, Rere said.

According to Protection International Indonesia, there were at least 104 cases of rights violations involving environmentalists and people defending their land from 2014 to 2018. Many of them have been sent to jail on what activists believe are dubious or legally flawed charges.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019 16:04 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a01f4e4 4 Business foreign,universities,hospital,investment Free

Investment Coordination Board (BKPM) head Thomas Lembang said on Wednesday that the government was considering to allow foreign universities and hospitals to operate in the country.

Large amounts of money was spent on these services abroad and the government also provides scholarships for students to study abroad, he said, adding that allowing foreign universities to open campuses in Indonesia would reduce the number of students opting who study in other countries.

This is expected to be implemented after the election [in April], Thomas said as quoted by kompas.com.

Under the scheme, foreign universities could own up to 67 percent of the shares for their campuses, he said, adding that universities could control up to 100 percent of the shares in campuses in special economic zones.

Thomas said there were a number of foreign universities that had expressed interest in opening campuses in Indonesia, particularly those from Australia.

In this sector, Indonesia is behind Vietnam and Malaysia, which have permitted foreign university campuses to operate for a number of years, he said.

There is Monash University Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. Thousands of our students go to Malaysia to study there. It drains our foreign exchange, he added.

Meanwhile, Thomas also revealed the governments plan to relax investment in the services, particularly in hospitals because the service sector employs more workers than the infrastructure sector.

Hospitals are still in short supply. Thousands of Indonesians go to Penang, Malaysia, annually to take advantage of their health services. By allowing foreign hospitals to operate here, we will get an international standard of service, save our foreign exchange and create jobs, he added. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019 17:44 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a029a81 4 Business coal-domestic-market-obligation,energy-and-mineral-resources-ministry,demand,increase Free

The Indonesian government is requiring coal miners to increase their allocation of coal for the domestic market this year to 128 million tons, an increase of 5.79 percent over 2018s requirement of 121 million tons.

Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry spokesman Agung Pribadi said in Jakarta on Wednesday that the increased domestic market obligation (DMO) was in line with the projected increase in demand.

The domestic demand for electricity and manufacturing will increase this year, said Agung as quoted by kontan.co.id, adding that more power plants would operate this year, boosting demand for the commodity.

Meanwhile, Mineral and Coal Director General Bambang Gatot Ariyono said on Wednesday that the government had agreed to a working budget (RKAB) for the mineral and coal subsector for 2019.

In the RKAB, the coal production target was set at 489.12 million tons, a 0.85 percent increase from the target of 485 million tons in 2017. However, the production realization is estimated to decline by 7.36 percent from 2018s 528 million tons.

Meanwhile, the 128 million ton DMO target is equal to 26.12 percent of the total production target in this years RKAB.

The ministry explained that 95.73 million tons of DMO coal would be used for electricity, 5.4 million tons for metallurgy, 1.49 million tons for fertilizers, 16.15 million tons for the cement industry, 3 million tons for the textile industry, 6.2 million tons for the paper industry and 14.500 million tons for brackets.

Last year, the government set a 121 million ton DMO coal target, however the realization reached just 115.09 million tons. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019 12:42 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a012331 1 Business Garuda-Indonesia,airplane-ticket-price-cut,tourism Free

Flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia announced on Wednesday that it had cut its ticket prices by 20 percent in response to complaints about the high cost of domestic air travel.

In addition to full service Garuda Indonesia, the Garuda Indonesia Group also operates low-cost carrier (LCC) PT Citilink Indonesia, Sriwijaja Air and NAM Air.

This is in line with the aspirations of the people and associations of some industries as well as guidance from the President about the need to decrease airplane ticket prices, said Garuda Indonesia president director Ari Askhara in a statement.

Garuda Indonesia Group believes the ticket price cut is in line with an intensive synergy among all stakeholders to maintain peoples access to air travel.

Previously, President Joko Jokowi Widodo called for the lowering of airplane ticket prices after receiving complaints from the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) about low occupancy rates in hotels, which it blamed on high airplane ticket prices.

The President also called on state-owned oil and gas holding company Pertamina to lower aviation fuel (avtur) prices, which was believed to be responsible for the high ticket prices.

Ticket prices were cut not only to boost tourism, but also to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and other industries that relied on air transportation, he said, adding that synergy among stakeholders was also needed to maintain the sustainability of the countrys aviation industry.

We assure that Garuda Indonesia Group is committed to maintaining the quality of its services with these competitive ticket prices, he added. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Paul Handley (Agence France-Presse) Washington, United States  Thu, February 14, 2019 10:01 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a00838f 2 World #USA,#Iran,US,intelligence,official,charged,espionage Free

The US Justice Department charged a former Air Force intelligence official Wednesday with spying for Iran, saying she exposed a fellow US agent and helped the Revolutionary Guard target her former colleagues for cyber attacks.

US officials said Monica Witt, 39, who worked a decade in Air Force counterintelligence, had an "ideological" turn against her country and defected in 2013, turning over information on US espionage operations against Tehran.

"It is a sad day for America when one of its citizens betrays our country," said Assistant Attorney General John Demers, announcing the indictment.

"This case underscores the dangers to our intelligence professionals and the lengths our adversaries will go to identify them, expose them, target them, and, in a few rare cases, ultimately turn them against the nation they swore to protect," he said.

The US also indicted four Iranians working for the Revolutionary Guard who, using information Witt provided them, targeted her former colleagues in US intelligence with malware and phishing scams in hopes of accessing their computer networks.

The Justice Department has issued arrest warrants for Witt and the four Iranians, who all remain at large. She is believed to be in Iran, officials said.

In a parallel action, the US Treasury announced sanctions on the New Horizon Organization, a Revolutionary Guard group that had invited Witt to Tehran in 2012, and a separate company tied to the hacking effort.

The indictments were dated February 8, but were unveiled Wednesday, on the opening day of a US-led conference in Warsaw, Poland aimed at boosting international pressure on Tehran.

Farsi language specialist

Witt's case appeared intertwined with that of Iranian-American television journalist Marzieh Hashemi, who was detained by US authorities in January during a visit to the United States and forced to testify before a grand jury in Washington, DC, where the Witt case was investigated.

The indictment said Witt was recruited during trips to Tehran in 2012 and 2013 with help from an unidentified "Individual A," a dual US-Iranian citizen whose description resembles Hashemi.

Witt served in the US Air Force from 1997 to 2008, becoming an agent in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, its counterintelligence unit.

A Farsi language specialist, she was deployed to the Gulf area several times on signals intelligence missions, according to the indictment, and had top security clearance giving her access to the identities of clandestine US agents and informants in the field.

After leaving the Air Force, she worked as a defense contractor, but by 2012 her politics had turned.

That year she travelled to Iran to attend an anti-America conference sponsored by the New Horizon Organization.

Later that year she worked with Individual A to make a video critical of the United States, and the two continued to communicate.

She wrote Individual A that she wanted to put her Air Force training "to good use instead of evil."

In February 2013 she again travelled to Tehran for another New Horizon conference, where she met with members of the Revolutionary Guard and told them she wanted to emigrate, the indictment said.

Wanted to 'do like Snowden'

But Iranians apparently remained suspicious of her, and she travelled to Afghanistan and Tajikistan, spending months trying to persuade Individual A that she was a genuine turncoat, while threatening to go to Russia and divulge her secrets to WikiLeaks.

In one message she wrote that she might "do like (Edward) Snowden," the former US intelligence contractor who in early June 2013 leaked thousands of documents on the operations of the National Security Agency.

Aided by Individual A, Witt eventually met Iran's ambassador in Tajikistan, who gave her money to fly to Dubai.

On August 28, 2013, she finally defected to Tehran, where she took the name Fatemah Zahra and, according to the indictment, began disclosing classified information to Iranian officials, including the identity of a covert US operative.

There was no detailed explanation of Witt's motives, although there was some suggestion in unconfirmed online records that she had begun to oppose the US wars in Iraq-Syria and Afghanistan.

"Witt's primary motivation appears to have been ideological. She decided to turn against the United States and turn her loyalties to Iran," FBI Executive Assistant Director Jay Tabb told reporters.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Shane Preuss (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14 2019

Since the Reform Era began with the downfall of Soeharto in 1998, Indonesia has undergone a process of decentralization, with a concerted focus on handing greater power and representation to people living outside Java. This policy has been pursued to address concerns that wealth, power and development have largely been concentrated on Java at the expense of other regions, especially the more remote.



There is, however, one area of government where this general trend has not been evident: the presidential election. This is because the president is elected by popular vote, which, it can be argued, gives added weight to the interests of voters in Java, as it is by far the nations most populous island  home to roughly 144 million of the countrys 261 million people, according to 2017 Home Ministry data.



Perhaps as a result, Indonesia has had a distinct lack of presid...Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019 13:10 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a014ac8 1 City Valentines-Day,florist,revenue,prohibition Free

A florist in Bogor Regency, West Java, spoke out about the effect of the city administration's call for its residents not to celebrate Valentine's Day, which it said was not part of Indonesian culture.

Johan Hasanudin, 23, a florist since 2013, said his shops revenue had decreased drastically on Valentine's Day since 2017. Before that, he was able to earn around Rp 4 million (US$271) during the celebration.

"In 2017, revenue decreased by half to around Rp 2 million. It continues to decrease each year," he said on Wednesday, adding that the drop was likely due to the administrations stance against Valentines Day.

Bogor Regent Ade Yasin has urged residents not to celebrate Valentine's Day.

"I believe that residents understand why. We call on residents not to celebrate [Valentine's Day] because that's not our culture," Ade told reporters on Wednesday as quoted by tribunnewsbogor.com.

The Bogor Education Agency has also distributed a letter, dated Feb. 12, to principals of junior high schools in Bogor, stating a similar suggestion.

"We call on each student in Bogor not to celebrate Valentine's Day. We will not punish those who do celebrate it, but it all depends on each parent. This letter was issued because [the concept of] affection [on Valentine's Day] does not fit the character-building sought by the Bogor administration," he said, adding that the letter was sent out each year. (sau)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Kharishar Kahfi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019 16:48 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a02564e 1 National Budi-Pego,Tumpang-Pitu,Supreme-Court,Merdeka-Copper-Gold,Banyuwangi,hammer-and-sickle,gold-mine,environmentalist,activist,activist-arrest,East-Java,Walhi,Sandiaga-Uno,Garibaldi-Thohir Free

Environmental activist Heri Budiawan, popularly known as Budi Pego, is continuing his fight to prove his innocence as incarceration looms over him after the Supreme Court sentenced him to imprisonment.

The 39-year-old gold mine critic could likely face imminent detention at the request of the Banyuwangi Prosecutors Office in East Java, after failing to answer his second summons deadline on Dec. 27. He now faces a third summons.

After issuing a third summons, prosecutors can request that Heri be forcefully detained whenever and wherever they want, the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) director in East Java, Rere Christanto, said recently.

Prosecutors have summoned Heri to execute a recent Supreme Court verdict against the activist. In November, a panel of judges at the Supreme Court sentenced Heri to four years in prison for violating the Criminal Codes articles on crimes against state security  far longer than the 10-month sentence handed down by the lower courts.

He was previously arrested because the police accused him of displaying a banner with a hammer and sickle logo during a rally to oppose gold mining in Tumpang Pitu, a mountainous area in Banyuwangi, East Java, which is believed to be prone to environmental degradation.

Read also: Had I known, I would have not gone this far: Farmer fights politically wired mining firm

Tumpang Pitu had been designated a protected forest area, but on Nov. 19, 2013, then-forestry minister Zulkifli Hasan, now the Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker and National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman, issued a decree changing the status of 1,942 hectares of the protected forest to production forest, paving the way for mining operations to begin.

A group of environmental activists, including those from Walhi, have made various attempts to postpone the execution of the courts ruling. Rere said they had sent letters to the Banyuwangi Prosecutors Office as well as the Attorney Generals Office, requesting them to postpone the imprisonment.

They argued imprisoning Heri would be invalid, as they had yet to receive a copy of the Supreme Courts verdict, thus violating a provision in the Criminal Law Procedure Code (KUHAP). This also hindered them from filing a case review request to the Supreme Court to challenge the verdict, Rere added.

In their efforts to prevent Heris imprisonment, the activists also reported the case to the Supreme Courts supervisory body and the Indonesian Ombudsman.

We are pulling out all the stops now because it will be much harder to prove Heris innocence once hes put in prison, Rere told The Jakarta Post.

Support has built for the activists, with hundreds of Sumberagung village residents  Heris neighbors  holding a protest at the Banyuwangi Prosecutors Office in December, demanding prosecutors postpone the imprisonment.

Things are currently at a stalemate, as the prosecutors office has yet to make another move against Heri. The offices general crime section head Budi Handoko said they had yet to issue a third summons as the office was waiting for orders from its superiors.

However, we will proceed with our plan to arrest him, as we have received the excerpt of the sentence. We argued that its sufficient to implement the sentence, Budi told the Post recently. He, however, did not disclose when the office would issue its final summons.

The Tumpang Pitu mountain range, which is located in Sumberagung, is considered to be the second-largest gold and copper reserve in the country, after Grasberg in Papua.

A 992-hectare gold mine complex is currently operated by PT Bumi Suksesindo (BSI) and PT Damai Suksesindo, two subsidiaries of PT Merdeka Copper Gold, a publicly listed mining unit of investment firm PT Saratoga Investama Sedaya and PT Provident Capital Indonesia.

According to Merdeka Copper Gold's and Saratoga Investama Sedaya's websites, several people sitting on their boards of commissioners are connected to the country's top politicians.

In 2006, the Banyuwangi regency administration granted a permit to PT Indo Multi Niaga to conduct mining operations in the area. The company then transferred the permit to Merdeka Copper Gold through its subsidiaries.

Members of the Banyuwangi community have opposed mining operations since 1997, claiming such operations had caused or would cause damages to local roads used by residents. They also expressed concern gold mining would affect the local water supply, as such mining operations are known to use huge amounts of water.

BSI spokesperson Teuku Mufizar Mahmud dismissed such claims, saying the company had been working with the local administration to repair and construct roads leading to the mining complex. He added that the company had also implemented high water treatment standards to prevent the disruption of the local water supply.

We have also done forest and land rehabilitation, both permanent and temporary, in areas we cleared previously to increase land productivity and prevent landslides, Mufizar told the Post.During the Reagan administrations Iran-Contra scandal, which revolved around the illegal sale of arms to Iran to help support rebels trying to overthrow a leftist regime in Nicaragua, Abrams pleaded guilty to two counts of withholding information from Congress as part of a plea agreement. He was pardoned by President George H.W. Bush in 1992.Victoria Beckham has officially announced the imminent launch of her beauty empire.

The fashion designer has taken to Instagram to share the news of her upcoming project with her 24 million followers, posting a video clip alongside the caption: "SO excited to announce that I will be launching Victoria Beckham Beauty later this year! Cannot wait to be able to share it with you!!"

The clip doesn't give much away in terms of a precise launch date or the details of what the line will entail, but according to WWD, the debut collection is set for release this fall. "I want to take care of women inside and out, providing them with the must-have items in makeup, skin care, fragrance and wellness that I feel I need in my own life," Beckham told the publication.

Read also: London Fashion Week: Victoria Beckham, Burberry headline

The news comes months after the fashion creative first teased her fans with the idea of a beauty line via a Facebook Live interview in which she revealed: "I'm actually developing my own color right now as we speak, and actually my own skincare and fragrance, too." And back in November, she rolled out her own YouTube channel to share beauty tutorials and styling tips with her fans and followers.

Of course, Beckham already has plenty of experience in the beauty industry, having previously teamed up twice with the makeup giant Estee Lauder on collaborative makeup collections that were inspired by her own beauty routine and travels. The collections launched in September 2016 and September 2017.

This year is shaping up to be a busy one for the designer, who is preparing to present her newest collection during London Fashion Week this month, following the launch of her debut spring athleisure series for Reebok back in January.Agnes Varda, the Belgian-born grande dame of French cinema, made her latest film Agnes by Varda to help bid farewell to her viewers, but the 90-year-old doesn't rule out making more movies.

Speaking hours before being awarded the Berlin Film Festival's Berlinale Camera award for lifetime achievement, Varda- director of La Pointe Courte (1955) and Vagabond (1985) - dismissed attempts to lionize her.

"I'm not a legend, I'm still alive," she exclaimed after the moderator at Wednesday's press conference introduced the "legendary" figure, seen as a founder of the French New Wave, one of the most influential movements in cinema history.

Her latest film shows her discussing her oeuvre before live audiences, with extracts from earlier films like the feminist classic Cleo from 5 to 7 spliced in. In between, she interviews the actors and cinematographers she collaborated with.

Read also: 'Let's climb!' Female stars call for equal pay in Cannes protest

"I'm very interested in other people," she said, "and in the film you saw a lot of people who have been so important to me... I have to prepare myself to say goodbye and go away."

The film also explores her later career as a visual artist, examining a series of video installations now on display in New York's Museum of Modern Art and the Cartier Foundation in Paris, as well as a series of sheds she built using endless spools of celluloids made redundant by the digital revolution.

A near-contemporary of giants of similar stature like Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut, Varda's career continues to the present day. Asked if Agnes by Varda was her final film, she said she might not be able to work until the age of 102.

"But so far so good."The 11th Global Space and Technology Convention (GSTC) is being held at The St. Regis Singapore hotel in Singapore from Feb. 14 to 15.

Hosted by the Singapore Space and Technology Association (SSTA), which focuses on developing Singapores space and related high technology industries, the convention aims to create a platform for Asian space industries and bring together leaders in the space field for a comprehensive overview in innovation and application areas, according to a statement received by The Jakarta Post.

Themed Pushing the Innovation Frontier, this years event will discuss various topics related to the space industry, including business opportunities, capital financing in space, disaster relief applications and space commercialization.

During the first day of the convention, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by SSTA and Space and Aeronautics Association of Indonesia (SAAI), a nonprofit organization that focuses on the development of Indonesias space technology industry.

Read also: Indonesian startup offers trip to watch Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft launch

Signed by SAAI president Rusmin Widjaja and SSTA president Jonathan Hung, the collaboration is expected to support the two countries industries and talent development programs related to aerospace and astronautics.

The MoU is also expected to lead to the creation of a platform for knowledge sharing related to the space industry, environmental protection initiatives and encourage technological innovations.

Various other events will also be held at the convention, such as those related to the Asian space industry and technology, including NewSpace Launchers and Missions, the Singapore Space Challenge (SSC) Award Ceremony and Start-up Pitching.

The latter will enable space technologies and satellite applications start-ups to pitch and share the information about their companies to a selected panel comprising industry experts and angel investors. (jes/kes)A "significant" number of artifacts has been recovered from Brazil's National Museum which was gutted by fire five months ago, devastating one of Latin America's most important natural history collections, according to the team of experts picking through the debris.

While the exact quantity saved "is difficult to establish" at this point, the team was encouraged by the finds, its leader, archeologist Claudia Carvalho, told reporters on Tuesday.

The museum's director, Alexander Kellner, said 2,000 items had been recovered and registered, but explained many were fragments of one item.

"Thanks to this success, we have an agreeable problem: we need a lot more containers because we don't have a lot of space" to store the finds, Kellner said.

He added that the museum, located in a park in northern Rio de Janeiro, soon planned to exhibit the recovered artifacts.

The National Museum fire on September 2, 2018 wiped out much of the collection, dealing a hard blow to the main showcase of Brazil's anthropological heritage and history.

Since then, dozens of anthropologists, archeologists and paleontologists have spent nine hours a day, six days a week combing through the ashes and charred structure of what used to be an imperial palace. The facade still stands, though all that was inside and most of its roof were destroyed.

Read also: Raging fire tears through prized Rio museum

Among the recovered relics are fragments of "Luzia" -- the fossilized, 12,000-year-old remains of a human considered the centerpiece of the musuem's collection.

There is also a five-ton meteorite called Bendego which survived the blaze. And some fragments of a dinosaur, Maxakalisaurus topai.

Carvalho admitted, though, that several collections were entirely lost, among them one that catalogued five million insects. What remained was able to resist the fire to some degree.

"We still need to evaluate that. There are collections of things we still don't know how much we will be able to recover," she said.

The painstaking search and recovery task is expected to continue throughout this year. At the same time, work is moving forward to rebuild the museum building.

Brazilian police are still investigating the causes of the fire.A talented young woman breaks free from an overly protective parent, explores her sexuality and forges her own, promising path in the world.

So far so conventional. But in 37 Seconds Japanese director Hikari chose to tackle a topic that, she said, audiences in her country were reluctant to embrace. Her protagonist, played by amateur actress Mei Kayama, has cerebral palsy.

"Every culture has something they don't want to talk about," Hikari, who goes by one name only, told Reuters. "People with a disability and their sexuality is definitely not something that people would talk about in Japan."

The film, one of about 400 showing at the Berlin Film Festival, has been well-received by audiences captivated by Mei's portrayal of 27-year-old Yuma Takada, a talented artist who wants to make her name in manga, or Japanese graphic novels.

Read also: Berlin festival aims for gender equality with half of films by women

A sympathetic magazine editor (Yuka Itaya) tells her her art is technically proficient but betrays her lack of worldly experience. Criticizing her depictions of sex as unconvincing, she tells the young, wheelchair-bound woman to lose her virginity and then return.

Handled less deftly, such a premise could be crass. But Mei's portrayal of an ambitious young woman throwing herself into the Tokyo night over the fearful objections of her mother (Misuzu Kanno) is by turns hilarious and tender.

"I feel like with this kind of movie oftentimes once it goes too far it becomes too dramatic. It's sometimes difficult to keep watching," said Hikari.After a year-long struggle, Roma actor Jorge Antonio Guerrero has successfully been granted a non-immigrant visa for the United States.

The Mexican-born actor gets his visa just as the awards season comes to an end, but Guerrero will get to take his seat at the upcoming Oscars.

People magazine confirmed that Netflix, who distributed Roma, worked alongside the US Embassy in Mexico on behalf of Guerrero, and was successful in securing a non-immigrant visa for the actor.

It was only a few weeks ago that Guerrero expressed his concern that he would miss the big night for Alfonso Cuarons film, Roma. The blockbuster landed 10 Oscar nominations  the most nominations at this years ceremony - including one for Best Picture.

Read also: 'The Favourite' rules BAFTAs with most wins, 'Roma' takes top prize

The successful cast involved in Roma is invited to the prestigious awards, and Guerrero assumed that his visa struggles would restrict him from attending. In 2018, he applied for a visa three times but was denied.

In an interview with Quien, Guerro said the first time he applied was at the beginning of last year. "Back then, I didnt have anything related to the movie and my intentions were just for tourism. But then I started receiving invitations from Netflix in October and November to attend red carpets and the Golden Globes.

Despite the actors evidence of respected award invitations and a letter from one of the movies producers, the US remained firm on its decision to deny his entry the first three times.

I brought a letter that they didnt want to read, to be honest, he said. In my second try, they said I was going to work and I told them no, I was going because I was invited. And this last try wasnt even memorable, it felt like the woman I spoke to was already a little angry.

The Oscars will air on Feb. 24 from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (geo/kes)Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum unveiled Wednesday the first ever exhibition of all of its Rembrandts, marking the 350th anniversary of the death of the prolific painter it dubs the "first Instagrammer".

The landmark exhibition featuring nearly 400 paintings, drawings and sketches aims to show how the Golden Age master's compulsive self-portraits and renderings of the world around him prefigure our modern world.

"Rembrandt was the first artist in history -- the first 'Instagrammer' one could even say -- to really capture the world around him," Rijksmuseum director Taco Dibbits told AFP.

"No artist made as many self-portraits as Rembrandt. He painted his family, he drew his friends, he went out into the streets, the countryside, and he even let us enter his own bedroom to where his sick wife was stretched out."

The exhibition will be a final chance to glimpse his masterpiece "The Night Watch" before the huge tableau is obscured by months of restoration work from July. But it is also a rare opportunity to see lesser works by Rembrandt Van Rijn (1606-1669).

"For the first time in history, the Rijksmuseum is showing every Rembrandt that we own: 22 paintings, 300 sketches, 60 drawings," said Dibbits.

Read also: Louvre Abu Dhabi introduces Rembrandt, Vermeer

Many of those are normally kept from the public because they are so fragile three centuries after their creation.

"Light makes the drawings fade, so we almost never show them. An exhibition like this only happens once in a generation."

Many visitors will simply relish the chance to admire the museum's entire Rembrandt collection including the self-portraits which follow him from fresh-faced man-about-town to dimly-lit, grizzled artist struggling with age and money problems.

But curators also hope the extensive collection will make them reflect on the social media-obsessed age.

"If I use words like 'selfie' and 'Instagram', it's because Rembrandt fashioned the way we look at the world and the way we take photographs," the director of the museum added.

"Without Rembrandt, we would still be painting or trying to paint pictures of gods and goddesses and scenes from antiquity. What he did was to make these extraordinary stories ordinary -- and make our ordinary lives extraordinary."Happy Death Day 2U, the sequel to Happy Death Day (2017), seems doomed from the start.

The conceit of Happy Death Day, written and directed by Christopher Landon, wears out its novelty in the sequel.

Like the film Groundhog Day or new Netflix series Russian Doll, Happy Death Day features a time loop in which the main character wakes up and relives the same day over and over again.

In Happy Death Day, Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe), at first a heavy-drinking, rude university student, wakes up and gets murdered by a masked killer, which restarts her day, forcing her to face the same killer.

The first thing Landon does this time around is explain the loop, which occurs as a result of a machine that Ryan Phan (Phi Vu) built with his friends Samar (Suraj Sharma) and Dre (Sarah Yarkin).

The machine manipulates time  it either slows it down or does something else.

In Happy Death Day 2U, an accident with the machine forces Tree to return to her loop from the first film, which means she loses her relationship with Carter (Israel Broussard). This is where Happy Death Day 2U picks up steam, as it not only gets Tree killed again, which slowly eats away at her health, but it makes her confront what she has lost in going back.

Trees adversary is less murderous and much kinder this time; from a dean (Steve Zissis) that tries to shut the machine down, to the reality that she has now. Rothe as Tree, who is forced to examine herself, showcases brilliant dramatic acting skills. This is a high point for a film that feels like a retread of the original.

Happy Death Day is a college-centric comedy. This makes its slasher billing a little misleading  it has all the trappings of a slasher but is not fully fleshed out as one. In the sequel, the comedy aspect is heightened.

One of the funnier scenes in the film has to do with the fact that Tree needs to figure out a specific algorithm that necessitates a montage in which Tree is constantly getting herself killed  from jumping off a helicopter in a bikini to drinking poison in public.

Leaving the time loop as too much of a mystery for a second time would have been a mistake, so Happy Death Day 2U does the right thing by offering a bit of an explanation.

However, the main conceit itself gets tiring fast.

It also does not help that, save for Tree, who exhibits growth, and the loyal Carter, none of the characters really stand out as a fully fledged.

There are reports that this series will get a third film and judging only from Happy Death Day 2U, which makes its own convincing case that the series has not overstayed its welcome, this is not exactly encouraging news. (hdt)A Saudi Arabian government app that allows men in the country to monitor and control their female relatives travel with the click of a button should be removed Google and Apples online stores, a US politician and activists said on Wednesday.

Human rights campaigners argued the tech giants are enabling abuses against women and girls in the ultra-conservative kingdom by hosting the app.

The free Absher app, created by the Saudi interior ministry, allows men to update or withdraw permissions for their wives and female relatives to travel internationally and get SMS updates if their passports are used, said human rights researchers.

       #_ pic.twitter.com/r2WiGdwej6   (@Absher) February 10, 2019

The app is available in the Saudi version of the Google and Apple online stores.

Part of the apps design is to discriminate against women, said Rothna Begum, an expert in womens rights in the Middle East at Human Rights Watch.

The complete control that a male guardian has is now facilitated with the use of modern technology and makes the lives of men ultimately easier and restricts womens lives that much more.

Neither Apple nor Google were immediately available for comment.

Apple CEO Tim Cook told U.S. public radio NPR yesterday that he had not heard of Absher but pledged to take a look at it.

Saudi women must have permission from a male relative to work, marry, and travel under the countrys strict guardianship system, which human rights groups have criticised as abusive.

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden has publicly called on both Apple and Google to remove it from their stores, arguing it promotes abusive practices against women in a Twitter post.

However, Suad Abu-Dayyeh, a spokesman on the Middle East for womens rights group Equality Now, raised doubts over whether the companies would take action.

Read also: Saudi women to start receiving divorce notice by text message

Power and money talks, unfortunately, without giving any attention to the violations of human rights, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

I really hope they take a concrete stand towards removing these apps but I am not really hopeful.

Saudi Arabia, one of the worlds most gender-segregated nations, is ranked 138 of 144 states in the 2017 Global Gender Gap, a World Economic Forum study on how women fare in economic and political participation, health and education.

Its guardianship system came under fresh scrutiny after Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun fled from her family and was granted asylum in Canada in January.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman indicated last year he favoured ending the guardianship system but stopped short of backing its annulment.

But any moves toward gender equality have been accompanied by a crackdown on dissent, including the arrest and alleged torture of women's rights activists as well as Muslim clerics.Teaming up with experimental pianist Sri Hanuraga, Barasuara guitarist Gerald Situmorang creates a captivating illusion of jazz improvisations in new album Meta.

Showcasing the peak of their skills, guitarist Gerald Situmorang and pianist Sri Hanuraga meld their intricate styles and appreciation to bring to life Meta, a collaborative album that plays on the concept of freedom.

Gerald prides himself on his trademark meticulously crafted music, each note highly tampered with and tweaked until it becomes a tight and tidy composition to behold. His mathematical plinking has graced his solo guitar records and enlivened his band Barasuaras music, where he shares his technical prowess on his signature red bass with fellow technical appreciator and bandleader Iga Massardi.

Personal endevour: Gerald Situmorang sees META as a personal pet project outside of his main work in Barasuara. (The Jakarta Post/Iqbal Yuwansyah)

Even with collaborative pieces as the one that he undertook with renowned pianist Sri Aga Hanuraga recently at the Salihara Jazz Buzz Festival, he chose to forgo the jazzy spirit of improvisation and instead worked with Aga to craft music the way he knows best.

At the festival, the two held their set over the weekend to celebrate the release of Meta. The album presents itself as an experimental jazz album, but one that seems less loose but still true to its sound.

While many jazz duos tend to let loose with their material and play in order to capture the spontaneity of performance, Gerald and Aga strived for the opposite with Meta.

Spontaneity is not the key here; it is the illusion of spontaneity.

During the concert and for much of the album, Aga utilized prepared pianos: pieces of masking tape, duct tape or clear tape were stuck onto the piano mallets inside the body to create different but unique sounds. Because the collaboration focused greatly on the use of overdubs, Raga also ran a working digital audio workstation (DAW) to help enhance the sounds and add to the songs even more.

Songs that Aga composed on the album, including Hyperreality and Thrown Words, appear to sound more modern and dissonant compared to Geralds compositions.

Such compositions, such as God of Dragons, still abided by a traditional guitar-dominated structure throughout the song, making Agas piano serve only as accompaniment. Other Gerald songs such as Opening a New Door oozed that soft jazz feel with more synchronized roles between both musicians.

Jazzing up: Guitarist Gerald Situmorang and pianist Sri Hanuraga showcase their jazz collaborations in the 10 tracks of META album. (GeSitLincah Records/-)

Gerald, on the other hand, stuck to his usual tools of acoustic and electric guitars, Pat Metheny style. Despite the music sounding improvised and free, every movement and note was planned tightly by Gerald or by Aga, creating the illusion of freedom behind careful control.

Naturally, were not improvisers in this concept. Everything has to be neat and tidy in every song, Gerald commented.

Because for me, that method simply works best: having control over the soundscape, form and rhythm. And that idea is expanded with the inclusion of the effects that Agas prepared piano brings.

It was during a spontaneous live session that Aga and Gerald met while playing at the now-defunct Red N White Jazz Club in Kemang, South Jakarta back in 2014. Both men would usually play together at the club, slowly melding their sounds and styles and mannerisms together. One of the songs off of META, Something New, had been around since this younger time.

When I heard that song, I knew that we could musically connect. I learned a lot from him in terms of how he writes music and how I could reinterpret his songs on the spot. It was liberating, Gerald explained.

Sophisticated tunes: Sri "Aga" Hanuraga is an experimental pianist trained under the Conservatorium of Amsterdam. (The Jakarta Post/Iqbal Yuwansyah)

But the pair only started to rehearse for the Meta sessions in December 2017, mainly because of both mens packed schedules: Aga had his time with the Sri Hanuraga Trio while Gerald went on Barasuaras extensive tours following the release of the bands debut album Taifun in 2015.

Setting up was rather tricky initially because the fact was that the guitar and piano are two instruments that can play harmonies. So one must know what the other is doing at all times to keep up together and not clash.

Harmonic or rhythmic clashes were at a minimum throughout their live performance, save for the occasional microscopic slip-ups that happen on stage, which is actually able to add to the music.

The Salihara Jazz Buzz Festival this year featured several other performers on its bill including Sengat band, the Iwan Hasan Progressive Jazz Ensemble, Tohpati Bertiga, Rafi Muhammad, Nikita Dompas and American experimental guitarist Eyal Maoz. The festival will run until Sunday.Derek Colvin, a senior assistant commonwealths attorney from Suffolk who was there to support the bill, said the legislation is needed because its not simple to give the same kind of notice of a search warrant that police officers usually do before entering a home or business.The chief curator of London Zoo probably has more experience of penguins than most. When it comes to love, he thinks we humans could learn a thing or two from them.

"I think there is something we can learn from penguins and other species in the way that they're tolerant of same-sex relations," Brian Zimmerman told the Thomson Reuters Foundation ahead of Valentine's Day on Thursday.

"Humans could take lessons from other animals as it is about survival at the end of the day and caring. We have a lot to learn from penguins."

London Zoo is currently home to three same-sex Humboldt penguin couples  two male and one female  out of a total of 95 penguins, a higher percentage than the 5 percent of the human population estimated to be LGBT+.

Examples of same-sex pairs at other zoos around the world are common. Earlier this year, two male penguins hatched an egg at a zoo in Australia.

Same-sex relations occur regularly amongst birds in particular, according to Zimmerman.

"Penguins are one example, but (it is common in) parrots and doves as well," he said.

Read also: Daddy cool: Same-sex penguin couple become parents

Penguins first arrived at London Zoo in 1865, 37 years after it first opened as a center for scientific study.

They have been housed since 2011 in 'Penguin Beach', which encompasses a 1,200 square meter pool and various forms of natural habitat.

The Penguin Pool, designed by Russian emigre architect Berthold Lubetkin, was closed in 2004.

For Zimmerman, same-sex animal pairs capture the public's imagination because they hold a mirror up to society.

"There are a lot of species where we haven't observed same-sex relations, but we are learning more all the time," he said.

"The more we study them, particularly in a zoo environment where we can spend more time getting to know the individuals, the more we learn that same-sex pairings are more common than we suspected."Whats the difference between Osaka-style and Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancake)?

Those keen to find out may want to swing by Japanese restaurant Chibo in the Gandaria City shopping mall, South Jakarta.

Founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1973, Chibo is best known for its okonomiyaki and teppanyaki (meat cooked on a hot steel plate). The brand currently has more than 60 outlets in Japan and other countries, including the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. On Jan. 27, Chibo opened its first outlet in Indonesia, bringing food enthusiasts closer to authentic okonomiyaki.

The Chibo restaurant at the Gandaria City shopping mall in South Jakarta sits 86 guests. (JP/Jessicha Valentina)

Offering a casual dining experience, the outlet has 86 seats, and each table is equipped with a teppan grill (iron griddle to cook food).

We serve Osaka-style and Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, Lowrenz Tanuwidjaja, COO of Jaddi Foods, the franchisor of Chibo in Indonesia, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, adding that the dishes would be cooked by the chefs at the teppan bar before being transferred to the tables.

With regard to the okonomiyakis styles, Lowrenz explained that Osaka-style dishes were cooked by mixing together all the ingredients, including shredded cabbage, flour and eggs, while the ingredients in Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki were layered.

We also have a special Indonesian okonomiyaki, comprising chicken, shrimp, birds eye chili and rice, added Lowrenz.

In addition to okonomiyaki, Japanese food lovers can also try teppanyaki, omusoba (Japanese fried noodles wrapped in an omelet), sushi and sashimi.

Sushi and sashimi are only available in Indonesia, said Lowrenz, adding that while the Indonesian outlet applied a similar concept to the original Chibo, it did not serve pork or lard.

Read also: Japan's Chibo to open 1st 'okonomiyaki' pancake shop in Indonesia

While visiting the restaurant, the Post reporter tried several dishes, namely the restaurants signature Chibo okonomiyaki, gyoza (Japanese-style dumplings), omusoba and teppan sirloin steak.

Its oddly soothing to see the chefs mixing and pouring okonomiyaki's batter on the teppan bar.

Chibos okonomiyaki is chock-full with ingredients, including cabbage, squid and sliced beef. (JP/Jessicha Valentina)

The okonomiyaki is bigger than similar dishes available at other Japanese restaurants. Since it's Osaka-style okonomiyaki, the batter is chock-full with ingredients, including cabbage, sliced beef, chicken and squid. Topped with the restaurants special sauce, the dish delivers tantalizing sweet and savory flavors.

Similar to okonomiyaki, the omusoba is huge, which makes it perfect for sharing. The chewy yet soft noodles are served with the restaurants special sauce, lending the sweet flavor to the dish.

The gyoza offers a crunchy but not greasy exterior. (JP/Jessicha Valentina)

As for the gyoza, the side dish appears to be different. Instead of folding the skin, it's made by pressing two gyoza skins together and cooked on the teppan grill, resulting in a crunchy but not greasy exterior.

The teppan sirloin steak is among the must-try dishes at Chibo, as the meat is juicy and tender. Furthermore, the teppan grill installed on the table helps guests get their desired level of doneness.

Chibo is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. On Fridays and Saturdays, the restaurant closes at 11 p.m.Images of a rare African black leopard have been captured in Kenya, the first verifiable record of the animal for nearly 100 years, researchers have said.

British wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas set up motion-sensitive cameras to capture the largely nocturnal cat in Laikipia Wilderness Camp in January.

"I'm able to set up a kind of studio-like lighting and just leave my cameras set up for weeks or months," he told Reuters.

Black leopards - or panthers - carry a gene mutation for "melanism" that makes their coats black, but the night-time infrared cameras used by Burrard-Lucas can reveal their spots.

While he was capturing stills, researchers from San Diego Zoo Global studying leopards in the area set up remote video cameras nearby, publishing their findings in the African Journal of Ecology.

Read also: Traversing the wild and wonderful safari capital of the world

"Collectively, these are the first confirmed images in nearly 100 years of black leopard in Africa," said Nicholas Pilfold of the San Diego team, also lead researcher for a leopard conservation program in Laikipia County.

Burrard-Lucas heard from a friend that a black leopard had been spotted in the area and, after contacting the landowners, headed off to set out his cameras near the animal's tracks.

"It's very dusty, so you can pick up tracks especially early in the morning after the night," he said. "You can see everything that's passed."

Scientists had assumed that a black coat was an evolutionary response to leopards moving out of the dense forests where their spots camouflage them, San Diego Zoo said in its statement. The discovery of a black leopard in a open, arid habitat in Kenya raises questions about that theory, however.Clocking in for work at Cetropolis, a high-rise business building in downtown Seoul, office workers literally have to do nothing other than, well, start working.

They have no entrance pass for security or card to swipe through a reader. All they need is their smartphones connected to the fifth-generation network. They enter through a door with face recognition and immediately start working at reserved desks after connecting their phones on a docking pad to a cloud computing system. No desktops or heavy desktop computers and cables are needed with the 5G virtual desktop infrastructure system.

The scene presented by SK Telecom at a press event Wednesday offered a glimpse into what future 5G-powered offices will look like, as the tech-savvy country is scrambling to capitalize on advanced technology to maximize productivity.

#SK  5G   5G AI  #New_ICT   #  .

 5G New ICT  --      .



https://t.co/r2pGpkXqXe pic.twitter.com/iZ6aWNIRYc  SK telecom Co., Ltd. (@SKtelecom) February 13, 2019

The office is designed to create hassle-free working conditions where people can just focus on their work, said Shin Sang-kyu, who oversees public relations at SK Telecom, upon unveiling the futuristic office.

Combined with 5G and information and communication technology, the smart office will help workers boost their productivity and achieve balance between work and leisure ... they dont have to be bothered with things unrelated to their work.

Since the countrys three major telecom companies -- SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus -- launched the 5G network in December last year, the telecom giants have been seeking to incorporate the new technology into everyday life.

The 5G-powered smart office is one of the examples in which the hyper-speed network can shape the business environment, as an increasing number of companies are trying to find ways to reduce the efforts to establish physical office infrastructure.

SK Telecom said while it will take time for the futuristic office to become as commonplace that seen in sci-fi films, progress is underway as the company is seeking to collect more data and reduce infrastructure cost.

Our priority this year is to gather data as much as we can. We have to consider the cost issue as our main clients will be small businesses. ... After advancing our service, we will approach our client with business plans, said an official from SK Telecom.

Read also: Indonesia to study Chinas offer on 5G technology development

SK Telecom workers demonstrate how to use the companys T-real telepresence,"the system designed to have an office meeting via augmented reality headgear.

Among other technology applied to the 5G smart office was a 5G walking-through system, where people can pass through the entrance via face recognition. Employees had been required to carry identification tags to get through security at the entrance.

Workers are also able to convene remote conferences similar to those seen in sci-fi movies. While not as advanced as creating holograms in the real world, attendees could talk to each others avatars in cyberspace.

All of these efforts are designed to open up workplaces regardless of workers physical location or rank, SK Telecom said. There were no barriers that separate workers from those with different responsibilities and higher positions.

We are trying to move beyond the concept of personal office to shared office, said Shin. Regardless of whether they are on business trips or at home, they will create productivity similar to those seen at the office.

Shin made the bold claim that the futuristic office has also improved working conditions. According to a survey of 300 SK Telecom employees working there, 80 percent of respondents said they had achieved better balance between work and leisure.

Some employee-friendly systems still need more time to be fully implemented, SK Telecom said. For example, AI-based seat recommendation systems need to collect more data before offering choices tailored to employees preferences.

There are also security concerns about desktop-free working environments where workers rely on smartphones and cloud services. Some worry individual data stored in the cloud could be vulnerable to hacking attempts and corporate surveillance.

SK Telecom, however, said that 5G virtual desktop infrastructure system can fend off such threats with advanced security systems. Not only can users capture screen images sent from smartphones, they can designate more reliable networks for work-related purposes.

Only with authorized fingerprints and PINs, the employees can access the virtual infrastructure system, Once we fully adopt network-slicing technology, we will provide more reliable security services, said Ryu Hee-jung, a manager at SK Telecoms working infrastructure business.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Devina Heriyanto (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019 12:49 861 acca405afacc7201380025f21a013244 1 Opinion #commentary,sexual-abuse,sexual-harrasment,Sexual-assault,UGM,Gadjah-Mada-University Free

It was a hot bright day in August 2018 and the clock had struck one. I had finished my lunch and was walking back to The Jakarta Post office when someone groped my breast and drove off.



I didnt see anything when it happened; I only felt it physically. Something pressed down on my breast in a way I did not want. Then I felt a kind of pain beyond the physical that pierced deep into my chest. It was as if the guy had grabbed my heart too, and I was left only with a void when he drove away.



I froze, and the friends I was with stopped talking. One shouted after the perpetrator, but too late. He was already out of sight. People on the street started looking at me. A security officer asked what happened.



Someone grabbed my chest, I said bluntly. He understood right away. Everyone did.



Only then did I understand what had happened. The tears started falling. They didnt stop when my friend hugged me, or when we continued to walk back to the office, or even when I opened my laptop at my desk and tried to get back to work. News after news item passed before my eyes without registering in my brain. The scene kept repeating in my head.



I was told to go home. When I got there, I cried my eyes out. The next day, I tweeted about the sexual assault and it went viral.



Months passed. Life went on. I thought I had gotten through the assault and put it behind me.



News about another sexual assault made headlines in subsequent days. The story of Agni, Gadjah Mada University (UGM) student, appeared on Nov. 5, 2018, in the UGM student magazine, Balairung. She was raped by a fellow student during a community service project on June 30, 2017, in a Maluku village. The story, which detailed the rape and UGMs initial response, caused a public outcry. The case dragged on while people stood with Agni in her fight for justice.



Then, on Feb. 4, 2019, the university announced that the case had been settled out of court. UGM dubbed it a peaceful settlement, which Agnis legal team quickly rejected. Outrage erupted again.



On Feb. 9 the Post published a story on Agnis battle to find justice in collaboration with BBC Indonesia, Tirto.id and Vice Indonesia. It was the first time Agni addressed the media directly. I was not directly involved in the coverage, but it was my job to promote the story on our social media channels.



An image formed in my head of Agni telling her story to the reporters, and I broke down. It reminded me of how, after my own assault, I had talked and recounted my story to other people.



I went home at about 5:30 p.m. that Tuesday, just like on any other day. The weather was fine and the traffic was lighter than usual. Yet my tears welled up on my walk home.



It turns out that I had not made my peace, after all.



The day after the assault in August 2018, the police contacted me and insisted that I report the incident. Accompanied by the Posts legal team, I filed a report with the Jakarta Police. Their initial response gave me hope. Police officers came to the office to speak with me and my friends as witnesses. They gathered CCTV footage and found that the perpetrator was wearing a face mask and dark clothing, and that his motorcycle did not have a license plate. They promised that they would track him down.



The case file was then handed over to the Central Jakarta Polices Womens and Childrens Protection unit in early October. I was summoned for questioning once. I sat in front of an officer, retelling my story yet again, while other officers chatted loudly behind me. Beside me were two women and a girl who were also telling their stories to another police officer.



The police also summoned another colleague who was with me on that traumatic day. After that, there was only silence. Somehow, that was to be expected.



Deafening silence is the norm when it comes to cases of sexual abuse and sexual assault in Indonesia. A survey by the Lentera Sintas Indonesia womens support group, Magdalene online feminist journal and change.orghas confirmed that over 90 percent of rape cases go unreported in Indonesia. Many factors account for this silence, including the persisting culture of victim blaming and the failure of law enforcement in resolving such cases.



Agni and I had both tried to speak up and fight for justice in our individual cases. We were equally disappointed. I was met with silence, while Agni was forced to accept the so-called peaceful settlement.



Perhaps the UGM management had confused silence with peace, thinking that the settlement would dampen the noise and criticism to preserve its reputation. Perhaps too many people agreed with this peace, thinking that at least the university had attempted to resolve the case. Or perhaps, our society has learned to live with the deafening silence for far too long.



I, too, had learned to accept the silence until the noise became too loud and disruptive. I am now reminded that silence is not peace, and it certainly does not equal justice, whatever that is.



Just like Agni, I believe I have lost my case. But to borrow her words: Im still in the fight for the greater goal and I still have high spirits. Im not giving up. Im not put out.



Agni, in Sanskrit, means fire. Her case has sparked outrage and rekindled hope in the fight against all forms of sexual abuse in Indonesia. May this fire never die.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Shane Preuss (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, February 14, 2019

Since the Reform Era began with the downfall of Soeharto in 1998, Indonesia has undergone a process of decentralization, with a concerted focus on handing greater power and representation to people living outside Java. This policy has been pursued to address concerns that wealth, power and development have largely been concentrated on Java at the expense of other regions, especially the more remote.



There is, however, one area of government where this general trend has not been evident: the presidential election. This is because the president is elected by popular vote, which, it can be argued, gives added weight to the interests of voters in Java, as it is by far the nations most populous island  home to roughly 144 million of the countrys 261 million people, according to 2017 Home Ministry data.



Perhaps as a result, Indonesia 

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.EDWARDSVILLE  Madison County Treasurer Chris Slusser is reminding taxpayers that the last day to pay before the countys annual delinquent tax sale is Friday- Feb. 15.

If you still have unpaid real estate taxes, the last day to pay will be Feb. 15, Slusser said. Payment must be physically received in our office by that date. The Treasurers office is open for business from 8:30a.m-4:30p.m., Mon-Fri.EDWARDSVILLE  As Edwardsvilles budget season continues to evolve, two more departments visited the citys bi-monthly finance committee meeting Tuesday to present their wish lists.

Police Chief Jay Keeven submitted the following capital items for consideration in priority order:

First, he asked for a new truck for his three community service officers (CSOs) to replace one that has more than 130,000 miles on the clock and is more than 15 years old. The new vehicle is estimated to cost $26,000. Keeven wants to rotate the current truck out of his fleet during the next fiscal year before a major part, like the transmission, fails, and maintenance costs begin to add up.

Next, he requested three new Ford Explorer SUVs for patrol purposes. The department maintains a fleet of 14 vehicles expressly for patrol duties. During this fiscal year, Keeven wants to replace three, older Ford Explorers, each of which will soon reach 100,000 miles. The price tag on the new Explorers is $40,000 each.

We have yet to purchase these vehicles as the state bid contract has not yet been awarded, he told the committee.

The older models will either be repurposed within the fleet or rotated out. He added that the cost of maintaining these high-mileage vehicles has proven to be high.

We currently have 30 officers assigned to 14 vehicles  two per vehicle for 12 vehicles and three per vehicle for two vehicles, he said. Tied to the new patrol vehicle request is another for three new mobile data computers ($3,750 each).

Keeven asked for 10 new portable StarCom 800 MHz radios as part of a plan to replace every department portable within the next four years. Last year, they bought the first group of 10 units. Each radio costs $3,100.

These purchases ensure we have adequate radios for new hires and to replace radios as older radios are decommissioned, he told the committee. He seeks to spread the purchase cost among the next four years to somewhat mitigate the burden on the departments annual budget.

Keeven said his department has an opportunity to join other county police agencies that use a middle-ware software conversion program called IyeTech. It permits automatic data uploads from the current electronic crash reporting system. It would cost $5,400 and Keeven said it would let his clerks repurpose their work hours toward addressing Freedom of Information Act requests and other required police department tasks.

Lastly, the chief asked for seven new in-car cameras ($6,000 each). Last year, the department upgraded to the latest version of the Arbitrator In-Car Camera system for 11 of its patrol vehicles thanks to a grant from the Illinois Training and Standards Board. Adding these seven cameras would allow the department to put them in the new patrol vehicles, if approved, and add one to each of the four school resource officer cars. Keeven noted that this purchase will only happen if the city is approved for the reimbursement grant again.

Bob Pfeiffer, director of parks and recreation, followed Keevens presentation. Pfeiffer submitted seven items for consideration in priority order.

First, he said a personnel lift to use at the Wildey Theatre and at other city locations is needed. It would cost $18,000. For example, such a device would make changing the theatres marquee a safer affair, he added.

A zero-turning radius lawnmower for mowing public facilities and parks would cost $17,000.

Next, Pfeiffer requested a new salt spreader to help maintain the parking lots at all public buildings and it would cost $7,500.

He would like a 50-horsepower utility tractor to maintain properties and haul materials. It would replace two, older units. The new one would cost $45,000.

Then he asked for an emergency generator to be installed at the Wildey, which carries a $54,000 price tag.

The final two items involve the citys field operations facility on M Street. A building conversion to LED lighting would cost $60,000 while expanding the garage carries the highest price, $435,000, and is lowest on his priority list.

The next finance committee meeting will be Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 4:30 p.m. at Edwardsville City Hall, 118 Hillsboro Ave.

Reach Charles Bolinger at (618) 656-4700, ext.31It costs about $1 million a year to keep the buildings operational.

That would be a huge expense for the city of Grand Island to undertake, especially given the fact there will be no redevelopment money from the state, he said.

Steele said the intent of DAS was clear, and that was to transfer title of the buildings to the city and then walk away and let the city alone determine the future use.

It was plain at the outset that the state wanted the city to take ownership of the buildings, with the city alone facing the extreme expense and difficulty of maintaining the buildings. That would have been a crushing financial burden for the city, especially given that the state will not provide any money for this task. My team and I decided we could not let the state take their problem and make it our problem, the mayor said.

His team, comprised of himself, City Administrator Marlan Ferguson, Assistant City Administrator Brent Clark and City Attorney Jerry Janulewicz, pointed out to DAS that an agreement was signed with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs when DAS took federal money to build the new veterans home in Kearney.NORWALK  As Roton Middle School students filed into school Wednesday morning, they were met with a pleasant surprise.

This is so sweet, one student said. This is the best, stated another. Who did this? asked a third.

Teachers watched as students approached their lockers, taking selfies amid a fleeting moment, while others spoke aloud, You are strong, you are beautiful, and you are talented, students said.

It took three parents five hours to post more than 550 Valentines Day hearts on students lockers on Monday night. School administrators said Wednesday morning they felt a sense unity in the hallways following a snow day Tuesday.

We were just trying to figure out what we could do to sort of brighten the kids day and to make them feel good about themselves, said Olga Zargos-Traub, parent of a seventh-grader and leader of the initiative. We came up with Lockers of Love to put inspiring messages throughout the entire school on their lockers with the hopes of, even if it makes one child smile, weve accomplished our goal of the day.

The school implemented a social-emotional curriculum on Feb. 1, which gives students the opportunity to talk about topics such as self-management, social skills, social awareness and self-care. Principal Joseph Vellucci said the initiative should improve school climate. Zargos-Traub and two others who helped decorate  Michelle Ruggeiro and Shiloh Adams  thought their effort was in line with the schools new initiative.

The decorations came a day before Valentines Day, and days after a 16-year-old Danbury High School student died by suicide. Zargos-Traub said students increasingly face social and emotional pressures influenced by social media and other factors. Eighth-grader Brynne Korzenik said academic pressures also play a role in mental well-being.

Nowadays theres a lot of pressure put on students to maintain good grades and do their best and I think this just kind of helped relieve some of the pressure, she said. I thought it was a really nice sentiment, just to put a smile on everyones face, because it definitely put a smile on mine and made me connect with other classmates.

Carly Cambareri, also in eighth grade, wore a You are special heart attached to her necklace as if to remind students further of their worth.

We were shocked because theyd never done that before and all the eighth-graders were like thats new, thats exciting, she said. To do something in middle school makes us feel good and makes us know the parents are involved with us and the school.

It was a small gesture but one that took a lot of work, said eighth-grader Sebi Schmitz. Vellucci and school counselor Natalie Tremonte said they knew the parents efforts werent in vain because the decorations were still up Wednesday afternoon.

I think those hearts are going stay there, Principal Vellucci said. I dont think students are going to pull them down.NORWALK  Victoria Butler discovered her love of crocheting more than seven decades ago as a teenager. At 93, she is still at, making afghans and other cozy creations for various social services agencies in the area.

When she was 15, her mother, a master of knitting and crocheting, decided to pass on the knowledge to her.

My mother loved crocheting and she used to make our socks and hats and mittens and she could do it in the dark, said Butler.

Butlers father died in 1931, leaving her mother an unemployed, single parent of six children.

We had to conserve on everything, Butler said, hence the reason she started crocheting clothing.

She had five sons and I was her only daughter. After our supper we would start crocheting, Butler said. Youd knit in the kitchen because thats where everything happened. The family lived at 6 Slocum St.

Over time, her technique has improved and her reasons for continuing the craft have shifted. Instead of using her gift to provide for her family, her focus has moved to supporting others.

It keeps my mother occupied, said Monica Miklos, Butlers daughter. The people who are receiving it, the ones Ive seen personally, are so grateful and its a good feeling to know people are enjoying the fruits of her labor.

With Mikloss help, Butler gifts the blankets to STAR Inc., Lighting the Way, an organization that supports her 51-year-old son Terry and other people living with intellectual and developmental disabilities. St. Matthew Church and Angelman Syndrome Foundation Upper Northeast Region, an agency that aids people like Terry, living with a complex neurogenetic disease, also receive the donations.

Barbara Fitzpatrick, director of STARs Birth to Three program, said Butlers creations are given to premature babies. When medical professionals refer babies to STAR, Fitzpatrick and other employees conduct an assessment to determine whether the child qualifies for STARs services. To expand their reach, STAR volunteers are now stitching together Butlers baby blankets and donating the revamped pieces to toddlers.

Its just turned into such a labor of love, Fitzpatrick said. Everyone is benefiting from it.

Sister Sally at St. Matthew Church said her relationship with Butler began six years ago when Butler asked if she could give afghans to babies.

She got to be so fast and ahead of us, so wed bring them to seniors, Sister Sally said. Babies at Malta House, people at the churchs food pantry and individuals living in nursing homes also receive, she said.

Aside from helping others, Butler said crocheting helps maintain movement in her fingers, which sometimes get stiff from arthritis and aging. At 93, the simple act of repetitive stitching has kept her brain and mental well being intact.Your teachers and professors were pulling your leg when they promised you'd use algebra, geometry, and calculus post-graduation.

The biggest issue with the way most of us were taught the more complex branches of math (and therefore find them useless now) is this: we were shown how to use them, but not why we should use them. Take trigonometry, for instance. If your experience with it is limited to assignments that required you to measure a two-dimensional triangle's angles, it makes sense that you find it irrelevant now. But if you knew how to apply that knowledge to, say, the construction of your new roof or a pilot's descent onto a runway, you might be singing a different tune.NORWALK  The Greater Norwalk Head Start hosted its inaugural art fair on Wednesday afternoon, featuring art created by the programs children and their parents. The theme, love and friendship, inspired art work including a homemade quilt, collages and paintings by 160 children.

The event, closed to the public, went from 2:45 to 3:45 p.m. at the organizations Ben Franklin Center, at 165 Flax Hill Road.WASHINGTON - As many as 20 Democratic presidential candidates will be invited to the party's first sanctioned debates this summer if they can meet new polling or grass-roots fundraising thresholds to qualify, the Democratic National Committee announced Thursday.

The expansive new qualification requirements are designed to allow an historically large group of candidates to make the stage at events that are likely to be split over two consecutive nights to accommodate the crowded field.

Candidates can qualify either by attracting campaign donations from at least 65,000 people, including at least 200 people from at least 20 states, or by registering at least 1 percent in three state or national polls from a list of surveys approved by the party.

The only way to qualify for early Democratic debates in 2015 was to register at least 1 percent in three national polls.

"Because of the size of the field and because it is early in the cycle, the polling requirements alone may not be enough," said a Democratic National Committee official, who requested anonymity to describe the plans.

The first set of debates will be broadcast in June by NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo, followed by CNN-sponsored debates in July. Both sets of debates will be broadcast on weeknights in prime time. They will be streamed online free, with no more than 10 candidates onstage at any one time.

Given the large primary field, Democratic National Committee Chariman Tom Perez has promised not to play favorites with positioning on the debate stage or by creating two tiers of debates based on polling, as Republicans did in 2016. Assuming a large field of qualifying candidates, the networks will oversee a process for randomly sorting the candidates onto the stages over two consecutive nights.

At least 11 major candidates have already announced their intention to run as Democrats for president, and there are more than 13 other current or former government officials who are still considering announcements in the coming months.

If more than 20 candidates qualify for the June or July events, preference will be given to candidates that meet both the polling and fundraising thresholds. Further sorting will be determined largely by polling numbers, said a party official.

Democrats have announced plans for at least 12 primary debates in the 2020 cycle, including six this year. After a break in August, the debates will continue on a monthly basis through the end of the year in states that will not be voting early in the primary process.

Another six debates will be scheduled in 2020, with events in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. The last debate will be in April of that year.

To gain access, candidates will have to avoid unsanctioneddebates, though they can participate in forums in which multiple candidates take turns appearing onstage.

The preparations contrast with the debate plan endorsed by the Democratic Party in the last campaign, which were widely criticized by rivals of Hillary Clinton for including only three debates in 2015.

President Donald Trump is likely to face rivals for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination, but the national party has disbanded its debate planning committee and has no current plans to stage an event.BRIDGEPORT  A Bridgeport judge on Wednesday afternoon ruled Infowars host Alex Jones has to submit to a sworn deposition in a defamation case brought against him by several family members of Sandy Hook shooting victims.

Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis also ruled Wednesday that the families can depose several other defendants in the case, including those critical to business operations at Infowars.

From the beginning, we have said that Jones knowingly peddled false and malicious narratives in order to make money at the expense of the Sandy Hook families grief, safety and security, said Josh Koskoff, one of the attorneys representing the families, in a prepared statement. Todays ruling moves us one step closer to proving this.

The ruling follows a decision that Jones has to turn over internal financial, business and marketing documents for Infowars. In late January, the Connecticut Supreme Court denied Jones appeal on that decision.

Jones attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

The local case against Jones alleges years of abusive and false statements that he and the other defendants developed and perpetuated claims that the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012, that claimed the lives of 20 children and six educators, were carried out by paid actors who faked the deaths.

The complaint alleges that Jones subjects the families and survivors of the Sandy Hook mass shooting to confrontations, harassment, deaths threats and attacks on social media.

Mark Barden, whose son Daniel was one of the 20 first-graders killed in the shooting, said Jones should have to answer for his actions.

It is far beyond time that he be held accountable for the pain his false narratives have caused so many and todays ruling brings us one step closer to doing that, Barden said in a prepared statement.

The plaintiffs in the case are several parents and family members of victims killed in the shooting. William Aldenberg, an FBI agent and first responder to the scene, also is a plaintiff.Suzanne Devine Clark, an art teacher at Deerfield Beach Elementary School, places painted stones at a memorial outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the anniversary of the school shooting, in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14, 2019.(Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo)

Year After Parkland Massacre, 17 Victims Remembered

PARKLAND, Fla.Hundreds of thousands of students and adults across Florida and beyond observed a moment of silence Thursday, Feb. 14, to mark the anniversary of the shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that left 17 people dead.

Its a permanent sore spot, said Fort Lauderdale High School junior Jake Lynch. Forever me going forward, Ill feel this day, and this time and those names. It reminds me of where I want the world to be.  From suffering better things come out.

The massacre on Feb. 14, 2018, inflamed the national debate over guns, turned young people into political activists and gave rise to some of the biggest youth demonstrations since the Vietnam era.

A moment of silence was observed at 10:17 a.m., though the shooting actually began around 2:20 p.m. School officials picked a different time because Stoneman Douglas students were being dismissed early to avoid being on campus at the hour of the attack. The decision to hold it at 10:17 a.m. was made in honor of the 17 slain.

Many Stoneman Douglas students arrived wearing the burgundy #MSDStrong T-shirts that have become an emblem of the tragedy. Outside, clear plastic figurines of angels were erected for each of the 14 students and three staff members killed.

Reporters were not allowed inside the school, but students were working on service projects, and grief counselors and therapy dogs were made available. Students could also receive massages and pedicures. An interfaith service was scheduled for later in the day at a nearby park.

I want to show respect to what happened, freshman Matthew Sabia said. The students who were here are probably sad and dont want to think too much about it. We dont really talk about it.

Many Stoneman Douglas students skipped school. For some it was too emotional; others did not want to be in the spotlight.

Alexis Grogan, a junior, said she was spending the day picking up beach trash, dedicating her work to those who died.

I survived something and I dont want to waste what I call a second chance at life because those who have passed dont get that, she said. We have to make a difference for them.

Classes were almost over last Valentines Day when authorities say 19-year-old former student Nikolas Cruz stormed the place with an AR-15 assault rifle and began shooting. Cruz, 20, is awaiting trial.

Victims families who have spoken publicly said they would spend the day quietly, visiting their loved ones graves or participating in low-key events like a community walk.

We dont need (the anniversary) to remind us what happened. We live with it every day, said businessman Andrew Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter Meadow died in the attack.

Schools elsewhere around the country and Florida took time to remember the victims.

At Ohios Boardman High, a chime rang 17 times. At Bethesda Chevy Chase High in Maryland, 671 white T-shirts were hung bearing the name of a teenager killed by gun violence last year. A Tampa high school honored the Parkland dead by releasing 17 white balloons.

By Terry Spencer And Adriana Gomez LiconJoseph Avellino, 34, of Cross County, Arkansas, was arrested on Feb. 11, 2019, for allegedly shooting his neighbor with a crossbow during a dispute. (Cross County Sheriff's Office)

Woman Shot in the Face With Crossbow Defending Teenagers

An Arkansas woman was shot in the face with a crossbow after stepping in front of her 14-year-old son and 15-year-old nephews.

Janet Partain said that she went to the home of her neighbor, 34-year-old Joseph Avellino, to confront him about stolen property.

I told him, Joseph I dont want you on my property no more, this and that. And he was like, Well Im going to shoot yall,' Partain told WREG.

Partain said that Avellino produced a crossbow and pointed it at the teens.

(He) was pointing the arrow at them and he fired a shot at one of them, and I pushed them out the way and I got hit, she said. I think I was in shock because once I got hit I said, I cant believe you almost shot that kid.'

Partain then hopped in her car and drove herself to the hospital.

It was an odd sight to see someone with an arrow in their face and theyre still conscious and talking to me, said Capt. Jeff Nichols with the Cross County Sheriffs Office

A picture shows a visible scar underneath Partains left eye with stitches inserted to hold the wound together after treatment.

A day after being shot, she was recovering in the hospital. My face is throbbing and I cant shut one of my eyes, she told WREG.

The Cross County Sheriffs Office said that Avellino was arrested on Feb. 11 after getting a call about the incident.

Deputies ascertained that the victim was shot in the face with a crossbow after an altercation, the office stated. Avellino was charged with first-degree battery and three counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, all felonies.

Arkansas woman shot in face with crossbow in Wynne https://t.co/oIQ8YGoZwG pic.twitter.com/QkXREAe6MV  THV11 (@THV11) February 13, 2019

Man Found Guilty of Attempted Murder With Crossbow

A British patient who wrongly blamed a doctor for his fathers death has been found guilty of attempting to murder the GP with a crossbow.

A court in St. Albans, England, found 46-year-old Mark Waterfall guilty in a three-day trial that weighed evidence, including testimony, that the accused shot Dr. Gary Griffiths after declaring You killed my father, I am going to kill you.

The crossbow bolt did not do lethal damage to the GP, according to a BBC report, because the doctors untucked shirt affected the trajectory of the projectile as it penetrated his abdomen.

Five days before the defendant shot Griffith, the GP had treated his father, Terence Waterfall, who complained of breathlessness. Griffith referred the father to a hospital to drain fluid from his chest, at which point it was discovered the man had a tumor in his lung. The following day, the father died.

The court heard that Waterfall, who suffered from an eating disorder and depression, blamed Griffith for his fathers death, according to a report in The Times.

During the trial, the South Oxhey, Hertfordshire, man admitted to a charge of wounding with intent and on Jan. 8 was found guilty of attempted murder.

I cant even get that right, lamented Waterfall, according to court testimony cited by the paper, after the wounded doctor pulled the crossbow bolt from his stomach and confronted the would-be killer.

I tried to persuade him to go to the police station round the corner, Griffith said, according to BBC, adding, I said I will come with you. The wounded doctor, who followed Waterfall out into the parking lot of the Suthergrey House Medical Centre in Watford, said his attacker claimed the GP had murdered his father. Griffiths also told the court that when Waterfall realized he had failed in his bid to kill him, the defendant looked dejected.

Waterfall claimed during the trial that when he entered the clinic on July 10 with a concealed crossbow, pointed it at the doctor and fired, he did not intend to kill but only to scare Dr. Griffith.

His sentencing was expected in February, with the judge saying the accused would face significant punishment.

From NTD NewsWilson-Raybould Resignation, SNC-Lavalin Scandal a Test of Canadas Rule of Law

China to be a keen observer of rule of law adherence as defence for arresting Meng

News Analysis

Allegations of inappropriate political interference in SNC-Lavalins prosecution and a former justice ministers resignation have the Liberal government reeling. Canadas adherence to the rule of law, which the Liberals have touted, faces a stern examination.

Conflict of interest arising from the intersection of the legal and political systems is one area that bears closer scrutiny. The ramifications are profound, as they could undermine Canadas position vis-a-vis China.

The dominoes started to tremble when The Globe and Mail reported on Feb. 7 that former minister of justice and attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould was pressured by the prime ministers office to intervene in the SNC-Lavalin case, which she reportedly refused. She was later demoted in a January cabinet shuffle.

In 2015, the RCMP charged SNC-Lavalin, a large Quebec-based construction firm, with bribing Libyan officials to secure government contracts. Criminal prosecution could have precluded SNC-Lavalin from Canadian business for 10 years. The SNC-Lavalin executives responsible for the Libyan incident are no longer with the firm, and its management has been pushing for a remediation agreement instead. SNC-Lavalins stock price is down over 35 percent in the last year, badly underperforming its peers like Aecon and WSP Global.

Obstruction of justicetrying to influence the attorney general to prevent prosecution of SNC-Lavalinis a crime, but it is permitted for the attorney general to intervene in criminal trials, so long as a public statement is issued in the Canada Gazette.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denied that he and his office ever directed the attorney general to make a specific decision regarding SNC-Lavalin, a large employer in Quebec. He welcomed the inquiry from the ethics commissioner.

Wilson-Raybould has been portrayed as the victim. While the opposition parties wanted her to clear the air about her interactions with the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) concerning the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, she has remained silent, citing solicitor-client privilege.

She was stuck between a rock and a hard place. She resignedto Trudeaus disappointmentfrom cabinet on Feb. 12 saying in a statement, I am in the process of obtaining advice on the topics that I am legally permitted to discuss in this matter. She will continue to serve as MP for Vancouver-Granville.

Pattern of Dismissal

Theres never a good time for a government scandal. But the timing of the SNC-Lavalin scandal is particularly poor considering Canadas deteriorating relationship with China after Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhous arrest in Vancouver.

Brian Lee Crowley, managing director of think tank Macdonald-Laurier Institute, says the SNC-Lavalin case is part of a disturbing trend in which Canadas adherence to the rule of law is being questioned. Two relevant cases are the prosecution of Mark Norman, the former Canadian Armed Forces second-in-command, in which the Crown is facing allegations of political interference, and the remarks by John McCallum, Canadas former ambassador to China, who suggested to China that a political deal could be worked out for Mengs release. Those remarks led to his firing.

To me theres starting to emerge a pattern of dismissal or disdain of the integrity of the legal system which goes right to the heart of rule of law, Crowley said in an interview, adding that it may provide fuel to Beijing to redouble its efforts to bully Canada into letting Meng go.

I think that China will be looking at this with great interest because it damages our ability to make the rule-of-law argument defence that was the making of Ms. Mengs detention, Crowley said.

The System vs. the Actors

The attorney general in those situations has a conflict of interest, said Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch and adjunct law and politics professor at the University of Ottawa, in an interview. Thats why one of the systemic solutions changes that should come out of this is that the attorney general should no longer be a member of cabinet; shouldnt be a politician.

A day after the Globe published its story, Democracy Watch sent a letter to federal ethics commissioner Mario Dion recommending an investigation into violations of the Conflict of Interest Act.

The system is the real scandal  actually encourages this kind of unethical and illegal behaviour, added Conacher. We allow the attorney general to step in and stop a prosecution. Why? Why would we allow a politician to step in and stop any prosecution?

But Crowley wouldnt go that far and believes it would be a mistake not to provide the attorney general with a certain level of discretion on criminal cases, given that any justification for involvement has to be publicly disclosed and in accordance with the law.

Im not sure that it would be a better system where the attorney general would be so insulated that important matters of public policy could not be considered, Crowley said. I think they should be considered as long as its all open and above board. I think thats where the SNC-Lavalin case fails the test.

The key issue is whether an improper attempt to influence the attorney general has been made. That would properly be a scandal, says Crowley.

But the conflicts of interest were multi-layered for Wilson-Raybould, says Conacher, in that if she said what happened, it would be untenable for her to stay in cabinet.

Thats why the system should not be that way so that the person isnt thinking about anything except what upholds the law, Conacher said.

And the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) isnt totally independent either since its head is appointed by the attorney general. The PPSC said the remediation agreement would be inappropriate in the SNC-Lavalin case.

The legal system is open to political influence, as per the Open and Accountable Government guide for cabinet ministersso long as it is not inappropriate political control. Conacher finds that unsatisfactory, as any intervention by the attorney general would be for political reasons.

For example, Mengs fate ultimately resides with the justice minister and attorney general who has the final say on her extradition after the legal process has concluded.



Conacher said somebody has to be accountable for those decisions and that accountability should reside within the legal system, not the political one.

The way to do that is remove ministers from making law enforcement decisions, he said.

It remains to be determined whether or not Wilson-Raybould, as justice minister and attorney general, was pressured by the PMO. A full statement from her about the events leading to her demotion and resignation is eagerly awaited.

Shes seeking legal advice about what she can say, so for me, it deepens the suspicion that I think properly hovers over this whole transaction, Crowley said. Its smelling worse and worse.

Correction: A previous version of this article inaccurately reflected the Feb. 7 Globe and Mail articles reporting on the January cabinet shuffle involving former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould in relation to the SNC-Lavalin case. The Epoch Times regrets the error.

Follow Rahul on Twitter @RV_ETBizPresident Donald Trump makes an announcement to reopen the government until Feb. 15, after 35 days of a partial shutdown, in the White House Rose Garden in Washington on Jan. 25, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

White House: Trump to Sign Border Deal, Declare National Emergency

UPDATE: The bill passed in the House on Thursday night, securing 300 to 128 votes, and will now head to President Trumps desk for signing on Friday morning.

President Donald Trump will declare a national emergency to secure funds for the physical barrier along the U.S.Mexico border, while at the same time, signing legislation to prevent another government shutdown from occurring, the White House said on Feb. 14.

The deadline to avoid a second partial federal shutdown is Feb. 15.

President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive actionincluding a national emergencyto ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

The President is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country.

The White House announcement came moments after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke on the Senate floor, saying he had just spoken to Trump, who was prepared to sign the bill. McConnell said he would stand behind the presidents decision.

He also [will] be issuing a national emergency declaration at the same time. I indicated Im going to support the national emergency declaration, McConnell said not long after 3 p.m. on Feb. 14.

Mitch McConnell says President Trump will sign border bill but declare national emergency https://t.co/eMiZVy7OGD pic.twitter.com/XvHhROTvaX  TIME (@TIME) February 14, 2019

BREAKING: Pres. Trump will sign compromise bill, will also issue national emergency declaration, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says. pic.twitter.com/MI9yFT26os  Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) February 14, 2019

The Trump administration will avoid the financial turmoil of about 800,000 federal workers working without pay or going on unpaid leave because of another partial government shutdown. But the national emergency declaration could create more complications, with potential lawsuits over Trumps authority as president to make such a move.

When asked if the White House is prepared for such legal challenges, Sanders said, Were very prepared, but there shouldnt be [legal challenges]. The presidents doing his job. Congress should do theirs.

She said the White House will make an announcement later with more details on the declaration.

Trump will sign a congressional deal that will bring almost $1.4 billion in funding for physical border barrierssignificantly less money than Trumps requested $5.7 billion in funding. Negotiators in Washington reached an agreement in principle on Feb. 12 to fund the government ahead of the deadline. The funding measure is through the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

Last year, the partial government shutdown that started days before Christmas broke records for being the longest in U.S. historya total of 35 days. Trumps determination to secure funding for the border wall and the refusal by Democrats led to the first partial government shutdown.

On Feb. 11, Trump went to El Paso, Texas, to make the case again that walls work in stopping crime. Democrats frequently argued that a wall is ineffective, with Pelosi going as far as saying it is immoral. In fiscal year 2018, almost 400,000 aliens were apprehended by Border Patrol after crossing the Southwest border illegally.

Trump had been the only side to offer a compromise throughout the first partial government shutdown. At the time, Democrats refused to budge from their initial $1.3 billion offer for border-security purposes, which didnt include funds for a border wall. Currently, about 654 miles of barrier exists along the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.Mexico border.British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves Number 10 Downing Street for Prime Minister's Questions in Parliament in London, England, on Feb. 13, 2019. (Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

UK PM May Loses Symbolic Brexit Vote in Parliament

LONDONPrime Minister Theresa May suffered a defeat on her Brexit strategy on Feb. 14, that undermined her pledge to European Union leaders to get her divorce deal approved if they grant her concessions.

In a show of muscle, hardline Brexit supporters in her Conservative Party decided to abstain, handing her an embarrassing, albeit symbolic, defeat as she tries to renegotiate her deal with the EU.

While it will not deter May from trying to secure changes on the most contentious issue of the deal  the Irish backstop  the vote does show that her pro-Brexit lawmakers are a major obstacle to passing any agreement.

May was absent from the House of Commons for the debate and the outcome of the vote, which deepened the sense of political crisis over Britains departure, more than two years after voters opted to leave the bloc by a margin of 52 percent to 48.

The crunch vote is now expected to come on Feb. 27, when May is due to return to parliamentand lawmakers who fear leaving without a deal could try to seize control of Britains departure from the EU.

Deal, No Deal, No Brexit?

The latest twist in the two-year negotiation to leave the EU underlines the rifts in parliament over how, or even whether, Britain should leave the bloc, its biggest political and trade policy shift in more than 40 years.

It increases the possibility of Britain leaving without a deal, a nightmare scenario for many businesses, but also of Brexit being delayed or potentially never happening at all.

Mays spokesman said she still believed parliament wanted her to keep pressing for changes to the Brexit deal: The government will continue to pursue this with the EU to ensure we leave on time on 29th March.

EU leaders, meanwhile, have repeatedly said there can be no substantive change to the legally binding withdrawal agreement containing the backstop, a guarantee that there can be no return of border controls between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland.

With trust in the prime minister at an all-time low, one Conservative pro-Brexit lawmaker said the government could no longer ignore eurosceptics views.

While the vote might not be of substantive importance, what it does do is to tell the government that they really cant take Brexiteers for granted, the lawmaker said on condition of anonymity.

With many Conservative lawmakers abstaining, the government defeat on its motion reaffirming support for Mays strategy was a heavy one, at 303 votes to 258.

Running Down the Clock?

The pro-Brexit European Research Group (ERG), several dozen strong, had said they would defy May unless she dispelled their concern that she might after all baulk at a no-deal exit.

Ministers were keen to shrug off the defeat.

The fact that ERG colleagues abstain is sending a message that they still want to find a way forward and find a solution, said Robert Buckland, the solicitor general.

ERG members say ruling out a no-deal Brexit would not only weaken Britains negotiating hand but also remove what, for many, is the desired end-point: the cleanest possible break.

But some Conservative and many opposition lawmakers accuse May of running down the clock, edging Britain closer to the exit date to try to force parliament into a choice between backing her deal or leaving without an agreement.

A majority of lawmakers agree with businesses, which say that outcome would be catastrophic for the worlds fifth largest economy: causing delays at ports, fracturing crucial international supply chains and hindering investment.

Opposition Labour lawmaker Alison McGovern said it was time to stop the clock on Brexit.

In any normal circumstances, this would be general election territory. It is clear that the prime minister cannot easily command a majority in the House of Commons, and that is central to our system, she told Reuters.

By Elizabeth Piper, Kylie MacLellan, and William JamesPolice walk sniffer dogs outside the Great Hall of the People during the closing session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing on March 15, 2018. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

2 Police Chiefs in Chinas Jiangxi Province Arrested on Corruption Charges

The heads of two local police stations in southern Chinas Jiangxi Province were arrested Feb. 11 on suspicion of corruption.

The first suspect, Chen Yunnan, was chief of Tonggu Countys Public Security Bureau and is a former deputy mayor of Jiangxis Tonggu County. The other, Liu Jun, was police chief of Yihuang County; he also previously served as the countys deputy mayor and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary. Both were charged with accepting bribes.

The investigation of Chen began Aug. 15 last year. In December, he was stripped of his Party membership and official appointments.

The official announcement said Chen had colluded with others to cover up the facts during the investigation of his case. Major charges against Chen include abuse of public office for personal profit, as well as receiving bribes in the form of money, gifts, and travel arrangements.

According to authorities, Chen often took advantage of his position to benefit those who bribed him, as he held powers of final decision in criminal investigation, project approval, project bidding, cadre selection, and official promotion.

Chen was also accused of violating the law during law enforcement and acting as a protective umbrella for organized crime. He accepted money from criminal bosses even when he was leading investigations into crimes committed by local gangs.

According to the Baidu search engine, which lists the resumes of many high level officials, Chen had worked in the public security system of Jiangxi Province for 21 years, from his first position in public security as a section chief of the secretariat division of the Yichun City, to the deputy mayor of Tonggu County and county police chief, where he worked from October 2016 to June 2018.

In addition, Chen is on the investigation list of the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, an overseas nonprofit organization that documents the CCPs campaign against members of the banned spiritual practice Falun Gong.

Chen participated in the persecution when he was the political commissar in the Domestic Security Division of the Yichun Citys police. Also on the list are Yuan Binwho is Yichun Citys deputy police chief and the director of Yichun Citys 610 Officeand six other local police staff.

The 610 Office is the informal name of Party-led executive commission that is tasked with coordinating and directing operations against adherents of Falun Gong and other faith groups.

According to an Aug. 18, 2018 report by Minghui.org, a U.S.-based website that tracks the persecution of Falun Gong in China, adherents in Yichun had been detained and sentenced for their faith. Some have lost their lives due to persecution.

Per a recent Minghui report (published in Chinese), Chen was actively involved with the nationwide knocking on doors police campaign that was launched in 2017 to uncover Falun Gong practitioners across China. Officers conducted broad sweeps of addresses where practitioners were suspected to be residing, in order to arrest or harass them.

To carry out the campaign, Chen ordered the formation of a special cross-departmental team to search local Falun Gong practitioners across all neighborhoods and all villages of Tonggu County.

Liu Jun was dismissed from his public security position on Nov. 15 last year. According to online rumors, he was also charged with judicial corruption. In China, police and judges cooperate closely under the guidance of the CCPs political and legal affairs system.

Liu had worked in Jiangxis police system for 33 years, following a similar career path as Chen Yunnan.

In addition to Chen and Liu, another 11 public security officials in Jiangxi Province are also currently under investigation, including the police chief of Ningdu County, the deputy police chiefs of Yihuang County and Pengze County, and chief judge of Yihuang County.

According to public announcement by the Chinese authorities, last year, more than 130 police chiefs and deputy police chiefs in the public security system were dismissed from office and subject to investigation, from the beginning of 2018 to Nov. 2, 2018.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been arrested and thousands are confirmed dead in the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong, which began in 1999 by order of then-Party leader Jiang Zemin, who believed the spiritual practice threatened the power of the CCP. In the nearly 20 years since, many officials in the public security system have been complicit in arresting and abusing Falun Gong practitioners.A banner reading "Re-elect Trump" and "Keep America Great!" was unfurled at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., on Feb. 13, 2019, leading to the banning of a guest. (Image from Radio Underland YouTube video of incident)

Trump Supporter Banned From Disneyland for Unfurling Keep America Great Banner

A Disneyland visitor was kicked out of the California amusement park after unfurling a large Trump 2020: Keep America Great! banner on the side of a riverboat.

Dion Cini, a self-described supporter of U.S. President Donald Trumps anticipated bid for re-election, displayed the banner at the Disneyland Park in Anaheim on Feb. 13 in what he told The Epoch Times was an act of guerilla marketing.

Now, Trump 2020 is splattered all over the internet, all over the news, all over everywhere, and all it cost me was a trip to Disneyland, which was actually kind of fun, Cini said.

The former Marine donned a red MAGA hat and posed for a selfie with fellow activist Bryon McComb in front of the Disneyland Resort sign. He said McComb helped him unfurl the banner on the Mark Twain riverboat.

Banned from Walt Disney World twice. Now banned from Disneyland once. Twice? Cini wrote in the post.

Banned from Walt Disney World twice. Now banned from Disneyland once. Twice? #OperationFlagDrop Gepostet von Dion Cini am Mittwoch, 13. Februar 2019

The incident was captured on video by a media group called Radio Underland and posted on YouTube.

Keep America Great

Cinia military veteran and self-described conservativemade headlines last November when he was banned from the Disney World park in Florida after he held up a smaller Trump 2020 banner while riding down Splash Mountain and then holding up a Keep America Great sign on Expedition Everest.

A Disney representative cited by CBS at the time said following the incident Cini was permanently prohibited from visiting any of the companys parks. Disney rules prohibit unauthorized events, demonstrations or speeches, or the usage of any flag, banner or sign for commercial purposes, or to incite a crowd.

Cini posted about his experience at the Florida amusement park, including a photo of himself with the banner and a citation he received from Walt Disney World.

Trespassed from all of Walt Disney World properties to include, but not limited to, Theme Parks, Water Parks, Resorts and Disney Springs, the citation reads.

Trespassed from WDW for holding a Trump 2020 banner on Splash Mountain.#OperationFlagDrop Gepostet von Dion Cini am Samstag, 10. November 2018

I do things differently, Cini said in a phone interview with the Washington Post in November. I do things that will go viral to support the president. Im trying to let other Trump supporters know that you dont have to go to rallies; you can do this on your own.

And in Anaheim on Wednesday, Feb. 13, Cini was at it again.

Im Back

Welcome to Disneyland, said the activist as he live-streamed his actions on Facebook, saying Thats right, Im back.

So in the next couple of minutes, were going to do an unfurlinglive on Facebook, he said, explaining that he felt emboldened by a recent case of a banner being displayed at a Disney property by what he said were staff members and guests.

This is in response to what I saw was a cast member and some guests walking around holding banners the other day at the Magic Kingdom, Cini said in the live-stream, adding, and the guests were interacting with the cast member, and they were both holding up the sign together, so I can only assume that now you can hold up flags and banners at Disney World and Disneyland properties.

Cini posted on his Facebook page a collage of images showing what appears to be Disney staffers and a guest holding a banner with the words Hi Trey written on it with black paint.

Disney now allows banners! Cini captioned the post. And according to their representative the NY Post, the content of the sign is irrelevant! Great news!

Disney now allows banners! And according to their spokesperson to NY Post, the content of the sign is irrelevant! Great news! #OperationFlagDrop Gepostet von Dion Cini am Mittwoch, 13. Februar 2019

So enjoy the show, itll probably be another big epic one, Cini said, adding, Id like to thank Disney for allowing us to bring back flags and banners back into the park.

Cinis hopes of being allowed to unfurl the banner were dashed, however, when he was met by Disney security guards and Anaheim police at the docking station. He said he was not arrested, however, but was asked to leave the facility.

It was pretty cut and dry, Cini told The Epoch Times. The Disney employees said Im trespassed, and not allowed back on the property.

Park officials told the Orange County Register that large banners, signs, and flags are not allowed, because they allegedly pose a safety risk to guests or other attractions.

We welcome all guests to enjoy our parks; however, demonstrations and the display of signs and banners are not permitted, parks spokeswoman Liz Jaeger said, according to the Register. This person has been previously warned, and we have taken appropriate steps to address his behavior.

But Cini said Disneys application of the no signs policy seemed inconsistent and said so to staff who were escorting him off the property, showing them photographs of the Hi Trey banner he referred to in his live-stream.

Youre not being thrown out because of the banner, youre being thrown out because you interfered with the show, Cini said Disney staff told him.

Asked about future flag drops or guerilla unfurlings, Cini said he keeps his cards close.

I dont tell anybody what Im doing or where Im going, he said, citing an opportunity that was destroyed because I gave people information ahead of time.

I can just assure you that once Trump announces the Keep America Great campaign, youre going to see me twice as much.

Disney is warned.Artist and sculptor Kunlun Zhang is pictured standing in front of his Painting Red Wall. Zhang said the painting is a realistic portrait of some of the torture methods used on Falun Gong practitioners incarcerated in China's forced labour camps. (The Epoch Times)

Tortured in China: Two Canadians Who Lived to Tell the Tale

Editors note: The Epoch Times is publishing a number of articles exposing the use of torture by the Chinese regime against the groups it targets, and the suffering and harm it causes to those subjected to it.

A simple trip back to China from Montreal to look after his elderly mother-in-law turned into a nightmare for Kunlun Zhang.

A Canadian citizen and an accomplished sculptor and art professor, Zhang was detained several times and subjected to mental and physical torture for practising Falun Dafa.

Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a meditation discipline that in the 1990s was praised by Chinese authorities for its health benefits. Back then the practice had 70 million to 100 million adherents, according to government estimates. Due to its immense popularity, however, it was targeted for persecution in 1999 by then-Chinese leader Jiang Zemin.

During his detentions, Zhang was brutalized with an electric baton to the point that he had trouble walking. He was also forced to sit straight on a low stool for long periods and watch propaganda films demonizing Falun Dafa.

The aim was to force us to give up our faith, said Zhang. Anyone who protested or tried to meditate faced a savage beating.

He said a police officer told him: We can do anything to you without being held responsible. If you die, we will bury you and tell everyone you committed suicide because you were afraid of a criminal charge.

Then they shocked me with electric batons all over my body and two policemen shocked me at the same time.  My skin was burned, my left leg injured to the point that I couldnt move it, and my clothes were torn in several places. I could smell my flesh burning. The pain was excruciating, he said.

During his detentions, he wasnt allowed any visits from family members, nor to make or receive phone calls.

In November 2000, Zhang was sentencedwithout a trialto three years in a labour camp. First, he was at the Liuchangshan Forced Labour Camp, but had not denounced Falun Gong despite being tortured, so he was transferred to the Wangcun Forced Labour Camp, notorious in China for the brutal treatment of prisoners. (It has since closed.)

The brainwashing sessions were intensified, and he was monitored 24 hours a day by a group of policemen who relentlessly tried to turn him against Falun Dafa.

After this went on day and night for a long time, I almost collapsed, he said. The psychological attacks were even worse than the physical torture.

Thanks to efforts by his daughter and others back in Canada, including then-Liberal MP Irwin Cotler and Amnesty International, Zhang was released after three months and returned to his adopted country where he could practice Falun Dafa freely.

But the psychological torture left lasting damage.

The continuous forced brainwashing, lies, and mental torment caused severe damage to my mind that never completely healed, and I will have to carry these wounds for the rest of my life, he said.

A Life-or-Death Struggle

When Lizhi He was transferred from a detention centre in Beijing to a prison a few hundred kilometres away in February 2001, he was already in rough shape.

An award-winning engineer, He was sentenced to three and a half years for practising Falun Dafa. He served seven months of that in the detention centre, and for the entire time he was kept in a dark cell. Every day he was forced to sit still on a low, hard board for long hours, and even the slightest movement would incur vicious beatings.

My underwear often got stuck to the festered skin on my buttocks resulting from being forced to sit on the board for so long, he said.

But the fever that began six weeks earlier after guards doused his naked body with freezing water in the middle of winter was his biggest challenge.

My face became deformed due to large pus blisters that covered my nose and around my mouth and eyes, he recalled. The extreme sharp pains in my chest and ribs made me hardly able to breathe or lie down for any sleep at night. I was struggling for breath and life, but each breath could trigger unbearable pains and convulsions.

For a few weeks I went through a life-or-death struggle.

At Qianjin Prison, a young policeman was assigned to He. My job is to get you transformedto make you give up Falun Dafa by whatever means necessary, the policeman told him.

He was far from boasting, said He. I soon became part of their 24/7 campaign to subject Falun Gong practitioners to severe torture until they renounced their faith.

In what He describes as running torture, he was forced to run outside in freezing temperatures to the point of collapse, then stand motionless until his sweat froze, then run and stand again, over and over.

At night he was put in isolation, deprived of sleep, and not allowed to use the toilet, while several prison guards took turns to torture him psychologically.

These were the dedicated sessions to work on my mind and destroy my spirit, said He, adding that a guard once yelled, Falun Dafa practitioners are NOT human beings!

The torture continued day and night, week after week, and soon caused me to cough up blood every day. I couldnt move a single step with my swollen legs and feet. Severe kidney problems nearly killed me. My breathing capacity was reduced so much that I couldnt even sneeze or yawn, he said.

In the summer of 2001, guards conducted a surprise search and found Zhuan Falun, the book of Falun Gongs main teachings, among Hes belongings.

He was immediately taken to a room, handcuffed with his arms behind his back, and forced to sit on the floor in a corner. Two guards then stepped on his legs to prevent him from moving and proceeded to attack him with electric batons.

My skin felt like it was being torn into pieces, with cracking sounds of shocks like continuous explosions, he said, adding that, as further punishment, he was deprived of sleep and food for several days.

Despite the brutality, He not only survived but remained strong in his faith and was able to come to Canada in 2004. His wife had already moved here while he was still in prison.

Safe in Toronto, he said he still finds the torture a nightmare to recall and also feels immense sadness for the untold numbers of Falun Dafa prisoners of conscience who have died.

Every time I think of fellow practitioners who were forced to disappear forever, my eyes are full of tears. Its heartbreaking.U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a member of the U.S. trade delegation to China, leaves a hotel in Beijing for talks with Chinese officials on Feb. 14, 2019. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Top US Trade Envoys to Meet Chinas Xi, No Decision on Deadline Extension

WASHINGTON/BEIJING The Trump administrations top two negotiators in trade talks with China will meet on Feb. 15 with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, but there has been no decision to extend a March 1 U.S. deadline for a deal, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Feb. 14.

The vibe in Beijing is good, Kudlow told Fox News Channel in an upbeat assessment of the U.S.-China talks that are set to conclude on Friday in Beijing.

The two sides are pushing to de-escalate a tariff war that has dimmed global growth forecasts, roiled financial markets and disrupted manufacturing supply chains.

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 March 1, increasing pressure and costs in sectors from consumer electronics to agriculture.

Although President Donald Trump said earlier this week that an extension of the deadline was possible if a real deal was close, Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, said the White House had made no decision on that.

I cant speak to that. No such decision has been made so far, Kudlow said when asked if there would be a 60-day extension.

The talks, scheduled to run through Friday, follow three days of deputy-level meetings to work out technical details, including a mechanism for enforcing any trade agreement.

China proposed in the talks this week to increase purchases of U.S. semiconductors to $200 billion over six years as part of a deal to ease American tariffs, a person briefed on the talks told Reuters. But the semiconductor proposal, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, was part of a recycled package of goods purchase offers that Beijing first presented in the spring of 2018, the source said.

The person also said little progress had been made so far this week on the most difficult issues involving U.S. demands that China make sweeping changes to curb forced technology transfers and industrial subsidies and to enforce intellectual property rights.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer opened the high-level talks at the Diaoyutai state guest house with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the top economic adviser to Chinese leader Xi.

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the negotiations had been progressing very well.

A Bloomberg report cited sources as saying Trump was considering pushing back the deadline by 60 days to give negotiators more time after the Chinese side requested a 90-day extension.

A source familiar with the talks told Reuters on Wednesday before the high-level talks began that the Chinese had not raised the idea of a 90-day extension.

Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of Chinas nationalist Global Times tabloid, also tweeted that speculation on an extension was inaccurate, citing a source close to talks.

Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters he had no information on the trade talks progress.

Trump has said he did not expect to meet with Xi before March 1, but White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders has raised the possibility of a meeting between the leaders at the presidents retreat at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she noted Trump had said many times he wished to meet with Xi, and that China was willing to maintain close contact with the U.S. side, but said she had no information to share on any visit by the Chinese leader.

Tested by the Trade War

The Chinese regime has offered few details about the state of negotiations this week.

Chinas January trade data released on Thursday showed imports from the United States fell 41.2 percent from a year earlier to $9.24 billion, the lowest amount in dollar terms since February 2016.

Exports to the United States also declined 2.4 percent to $36.54 billion, the lowest amount since last April.

Chinas trade surplus with the United States narrowed to $27.3 billion in January, from $29.87 billion in December.

Chinas soybean imports fell 13 percent in January from a year earlier, customs data showed, as a hefty duty on shipments from the United States, its second largest supplier, curbed purchases.

The United States has used tariffs as leverage to demand Beijing make major structural policy changes such as enforcing intellectual property rights.

While Chinese officials have repeatedly pledged to improve market access for foreign investors, few experts expect Beijing to agree to anything that would force fundamental changes to what Washington complains is its state-led approach to trade.

By David Lawder & Michael MartinaThen-House Intelligence Committee ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) arrives for a Democratic caucus meeting in the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Washington on Nov. 14, 2018. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The Real Reason for Expanded Investigations of President Trump

Commentary

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman of the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, announced Feb. 6 that his committee would be expanding its probe into the Trump administration.

The new investigations would explore whether any foreign actor has sought to compromise or holds leverage, financial or otherwise, over Donald Trump, his family, his business, or his associates, Schiff said in a statement.

The American people have a right to knowindeed, a need to knowthat the president is acting on their behalf and not for some pecuniary or other reason. That pertains to any credible allegations of leverage by the Russians or the Saudis or anyone else, Schiff said, according to CBS.

Credible? As in credible allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh? If the basis for launching criminal investigations was mere gossip and innuendo, everyone in Washington would be under investigation in perpetuity.

But Schiff has other reasons to pursue endless investigations of the Trump administration.

Media Deflection

As the country learns more about what transpired in 2016, it appears the collusion with the Russians involved Democrats, not the Trump administration. It also appears that House Democrats are launching investigations against the Trump administration to deflect media attention away from their own culpability in criminal acts, possibly up to and including treason, which could carry penalties of removal from office, fines exceeding $10,000, jail time, and even the death penalty.

Muellers latest indictmentthat of Roger Stonesuggests there was no collusion, stating, After the July 22, 2016 release of stolen DNC emails by Organization 1 [WikiLeaks], a senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact STONE about any additional releases and what other damaging information Organization 1 had regarding the Clinton Campaign.

If Russia was behind the release of the emails and the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians, there would have been no need to ask Stone if there was any more information to be disclosedthe campaign would have already known.

Even the left-leaning New York Times and Washington Post acknowledge that it was the campaign of Clinton and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) that paid for the Steele Dossierthe document use to justify illegal wiretaps against the Trump campaign.

And, there is a paper trail of collusion and networks involving Clinton and Russia.

As investigative reporter John Solomon wrote: As secretary of State, Hillary Clinton worked with Russian leaders, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-President Dmitri Medvedev, to create U.S. technology partnerships with Moscows version of Silicon Valley, a sprawling high-tech campus known as Skolkovo.

A donor to the Clinton Foundation, Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, led the Russian side of the effort.

The evidence shows the Clintons financially benefited from Russiapersonally and inside their charityat the same time they were involved in U.S. government actions that rewarded Moscow and increased U.S. security risks.

But there is more for the political establishment to be concerned about than just Democratic Party links to Russia.

Collusion Charade

We also know that former FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page texted each other saying well stop it and about an insurance policy in case President Donald Trump won the election. Its notable that in closed testimony before the House Intel Committee, Page said the messages mean exactly what they say, an effort to prevent Trump from taking office or efforts to unseat a duly-elected president.

We also know that in the summer of 2016, Steeles firm Orbis Business Intelligence, was retained by Fusion GPS, during which time, Steele produced 16 memos, with the last memo dated Oct. 20, 2016, as reported by The Epoch Times.

One final memo that Steele wrote on Dec. 13 at the request of [late] Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was given, along with the rest of the memos, to BuzzFeed by former McCain associate David Kramer, who also advised McCain to give a copy to former FBI director James Comey. Kramer later invoked his Fifth Amendment right to not testify to Congress in connection to his role in distribution of the fake Russia dossier to the FBI.

Objective analysis shows there was much collusion taking place, but it was done in a failed (and illegal) attempt to prevent Trump from winning the election and serving his full term as president.

The Epoch Times extensive coverage of the real questions surrounding alleged Russian collusion, dubbed Spygate, revealed (among other things):

At least one FBI lawyer didnt even read a FISA application before signing it.

The mainstream media is complicit in this charade.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe (who just began hawking a book, ostensibly for damage control) is under grand jury investigation.

Obama-era officials intentionally withheld information from the FISA court.

Former CIA Director John Brennan gathered foreign intelligence and spread it through the U.S. intel community.

Fusion GPS personally made a series of payments to several as-of-yet- unnamed reporters .

UK and Australian intelligence agencies were involved (which is why they desperately lobbied against Trump and declassified the FISA docs).

 Obama administration officials were complicit , and engaged in unmasking and intelligence gathering and dissemination.

This entire fantasy was fabricated by elites in the Washington political class who had a vested interest in Trump not becoming president.

Trumps campaign was seen as an opportunistic wedge in the election process, wrote Jeff Carlson for The Epoch Times. At the same time, and particularly as the viability of his candidacy increased, Trump was seen as an existential threat to the established political system.

And not only have all efforts to remove him failed, there are multiple investigations into those who orchestrated this charade.

The Department of Justices Office of the Inspector General has announced that investigations into the handling of the Clinton email probe and efforts against Trump in 2016 have been the subjects of ongoing investigations. Also, the U.S. attorney in Utah, John Huber, was tapped by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions to lead an investigation into similar issues.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein recommended the firing of Comey, which was the basis for the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. The Mueller investigation itself seems nothing more than a ruse to try and tie the hands of Trump and to hang a cloud of suspicion over his head, which mobilizes the Democratic Party and sways public opinion.

With expectations that the Mueller investigation is coming to an end (and no evidence of collusion), its imperative that bad actors keep attention away from them and on the president, which is why were now seeing new investigations from not only the Southern District of New York, but also the House Intel committee.

Rep. Schiffs histrionics amount to a public relations stunt, designed to further mislead his base.

Adrian Norman is a writer and political commentator.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.Texas Trophy Hunter Pays $110,000, Highest Ever Price to Shoot Rare Screw-Horned Goat

A Texan trophy hunter forked out $110,000 to shoot the endangered screw-horned-goatthe highest ever price to bag one of the few thousand remaining animals in the mountains of Pakistan.

Every year, a handful of licences are granted to trophy hunters as part of a scheme which supporters say paradoxically helped saved the rare Astore markhor from extinction after its population dropped to just a few hundred.

The markhor is the national animal of Pakistan.

Those licenses are usually bought by foreign trophy hunters who can afford the hefty price-tag, along with licenses for other rare game.

Footage has emerged on youtube of the moment Texas big game hunter Bryan Kinsel Harlan shot a markhor earlier this month, after paying the highest ever fee$110,000according to the Pakistani TV station Samaa.

This year, just four licences were granted to hunt the markhorfamed for its twisted horns.

The licenses are auctioned to the highest bidders.

Harlans tracking and hunting were recorded and shared in a montage video that has been posted on social media.

Cradling a gun on the mountainside, Harlan leans into the camera and says its 230 yards. The video cuts to two goats. As a shot rings out, the larger long-horned animal leaps into the air after an impact can be seen rippling along its flanks.

Harlan can be seen high-fiving someone in the group of men accompanying him on the hunt. The video then cuts to the men dragging the animals body up the mountain.

Harlan later poses behind the goat, patting its back.

It is an honour and privilege to be back in Pakistan, Harlan said, according to Samma. This is the third time I am in Pakistan. I have hunted almost all animals here. I saved the markhors for the last, he said. It was quite an adventure.

Markhors are protected by local and international laws like the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. The majestic animal can be found in Gilgit-Baltistan, Chitral, Kalash Valley, and Hunza among other Northern parts of Pakistan.

'This is the third time I am in Pakistan. I have hunted almost all animals here'  Gepostet von Daily Mail am Mittwoch, 13. Februar 2019

Markhors are prized for their famous horns, which can reach 45 inches in heightwith the record topping out at 60 inches over a century ago. Poachers have been known to target the animal to sell the horns into the Asian medicine market.

With estimates of a population of only around 6,000 in the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan, markhors are protected by law in Pakistan.

The other two Markhor killed this season were also shot by American trophy hunters, who paid $92,000 and $100,000.

American hunts a markhor in Chitral for $92,000.An American tourist has hunted a markhor in Chitral for $92,000.The Gepostet von National Parks Of Pakistan am Dienstag, 15. Januar 2019

Shooting markhors without a license also carries a high price tag. Last year, a poacher was ordered to pay $175,650 in compensation for killing two markhors and was sentenced to jail for two years, according to Dawn.

The National Parks of Pakistan said in a statement, Annually, four hunting trophy licenses are issued for markhor hunting and 80 percent of the money collected is distributed among the local community, whereas 20 percent is kept by the wildlife department.

The four licenses are granted for only one male and for overage markhors with specified conditions.

But some campaign groups, such as Born Free, are opposed to all trophy hunting. Born Free labels trophy hunting as a cruel throwback to a colonial past, arguing that it disrupts animal societies and has hidden knock-on effects for populations and ecosystems.

A post on Huntshack defends the practice of markhor hunting.

Despite the Disney images of the animal kingdom, these older males do not live out their golden years in peace, dying peacefully under a tree surrounded by a loving herd. Instead, they often die of starvation because their teeth are so badly worn down they can no longer feed properly, they become easy game for predators, or they are challenged, defeated and killed by the younger males, it states on its website.

According to discover wildlife, the United States legally imports 126,000 animal trophies every year, and the EU some 11,00012,000.

Countries take different approaches to legal trophy hunting. In Kenya, all trophy hunting has been banned since 1977, whereas South Africa allows trophy hunting of the Big Five species: the lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo.An oil well in the Permian Basin in Garden City, Texas, on Feb. 5, 2015. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Texas Oilers Give Trump Credit for Breaking Production Record From 1970s

Texas oil drillers congratulated themselves for breaking their 1973 production record by 20 percent in 2018. They gave a shoutout to President Donald Trump for rolling back regulation on the industry.

In 2018, 1.54 billion barrels of crude were pumped, which is 277 million barrels more than the year before, and about 20 percent more than the previous record of 1.28 billion set during the 1973 oil crisis, according to the 2019 State of Energy Report by the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO).

The rollback of unnecessary and overly burdensome regulations under President Trumps American Energy Dominance agenda has directly contributed to a more favorable regulatory environment, allowing domestic producers to increase exploration and production activity, the report stated.

In September 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed loosening regulations on methane leaks in the oil and gas industry, which would save the industry nearly $500 million by 2025.

Based on EPA data and estimates, the relaxed rules would lead to an increase of annual greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by about 0.02 percent and increase in volatile organic compounds emissions by about 0.09 percent a year.

The Obama administration introduced the more stringent rules in 2016, saying they would help meet the greenhouse gas reduction targets set by the president.

Steel Tariffs

While noting significant progress in rolling back Obamas onerous and unnecessary regulations, the report stated the industrys challenges include Trumps import tariffs on steel and aluminum, which are adding significant cost on a per-well basis and a punitive expense of tens of millions of dollars to some critical infrastructure projects.

Trump imposed the tariffs to punish China for dumping the metals as well as to rejuvenate domestic productiona major national security asset. Companies that cant get the materials they need domestically may ask for a waiver from the tariffs, though the administration had trouble clearing the massive queue of the initial waiver applications.

Oil Boom

Thanks to the expansion of hydraulic fracking, the United States became the worlds top crude oil producer in 2018, surpassing Russia and Saudi Arabia, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Independent oil and gas producers, who collectively drill up to 95 percent of the oil and natural gas wells in America, led the industry in this growth, the report noted.

Besides Texas, many other oil-producing states also boosted production in 2018, notably North Dakota (384 million to 443 million barrels per day), New Mexico (169 million to 226 million), and Colorado (105 million to 152 million). Production slightly decreased in California and Louisiana, according to the report.

The EIAs forecast for U.S. oil output, which averaged below 11 million barrels per day in 2018, will raise to nearly 15 million by 2027 and remain above 14 million through 2040 (pdf).

Though the robust U.S. production pushes oil prices down, the Saudi-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in December agreed, together with Russia, to cut output by 1.2 million barrels a day to force the price back up.

While medium-term trends pose some challenges, we still see a balanced oil supply/demand outlook this year, Bank of America analysts said in a Feb. 14 note. Brent [Crude] should average $70 in 2019, helped by voluntary (Saudi, Kuwait, UEA) and involuntary (Venezuela, Iran) declines in OPEC supply.

Oil prices have somewhat stabilized since January, oscillating in the low $60s per barrel of Brent Crude, the leading benchmark. U.S. producers need the price to stay above $50 to avoid losses on less profitable wells.

U.S. growth potential could be slowed if oil prices slide below our base case for extended periods but, as long as average prices stay above $50, positive U.S. production tendencies will persist, Rystad analyst Artem Abramov said in a Jan. 24 statement.

Prices at American gas stations stay below the average of $2.30 per gallon of regular, according to the AAA travel membership organization. Most southern states enjoy prices around $2 per gallon.

Industry

The American oil and gas industry added more than 45,000 jobs in 2018, moving the total beyond 880,000 and closer to the record high of more than 1,050,000 jobs in 2014, the TIPRO report stated.

The average wage in the sector is nearly $131,000 in Texas, which is more than 130 percent over the average private sector wage in the state.

Nationwide, the industry pays nearly $113,000 on averagedouble the private sector average.

Reuters contributed to this report.Part of the property where deputies found two young, malnourished children locked together in a dog cage near Rhome, Texas on Feb. 12, 2019. (AP Photo/KDFW-FOX4 News)

Texas Children Found in Dog Cage Placed in Foster Care

DALLASFour malnourished siblings, all aged 5 or younger, have been placed in foster care after authorities found them hungry and thirsty in a North Texas barn, two locked in a dog cage, and the others smeared with excrement, authorities said Feb. 13.

Law enforcement found the children Tuesday morning while responding to a domestic disturbance call at a property near Rhome, about 20 miles north of Fort Worth.

The three boys and girl were released from a hospital Tuesday evening and placed into foster care, a Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said. The agency did not say if the children have been placed together or split up.

4 malnourished children are in foster care after authorities found 2 of them locked in a dog cage and 2 more smeared with excrement in a North Texas barnhttps://t.co/DowvI4Y0bv  KTLA (@KTLA) February 13, 2019

Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said deputies found the oldest two kids locked in a 3-by-3 foot cage and the other two were filthy and only partially clothed. Akin called it the worst case of child abuse he has seen in his 44-year career.

Paige Isabow Harkings and Andrew Joseph Fabila, who are both 24, were each charged with four counts of criminal child endangerment and were being held in the Wise County Jail. His bond was set at $60,000 Wednesday afternoon, while hers was set at $75,000.

OMG  this kind of insane mistreatment of children happens in our country. Once again you need a license to go fishing but any sob moron sick mfer can have a baby https://t.co/UzInL7o2sD  J E Browne (@effiedog) February 13, 2019

Harkings was also charged with aggravated assault, and Fabila was taken to an area hospital to have numerous lacerations on his face treated before being jailed, the sheriffs office said in a statement. She is the mother to all four children, while he is the father of one, according to authorities.

The 4-year-old girl and the boys, aged 5, 3, and 1, are doing OK, according to Department of Family and Protective Services spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales. She declined to share details of their condition and treatment.

Texas children found in dog cage placed in foster care.https://t.co/rCxW4trpZQ pic.twitter.com/sQ7cDFlEde  WPEC CBS12 News (@CBS12) February 13, 2019

Akin said the children were starving and that a plentiful supply of food had been locked inside cabinets and a refrigerator in the barn. Deputies fed the kids and gave them water before taking them to the hospital, according to the sheriffs office.

Law enforcement and Department of Family and Protective Services staff are still investigating the case, Gonzales said.

Texas children found in dog cage placed in foster care https://t.co/Dc3jK2o2T5 pic.twitter.com/JixzhL0pdP  Newz Parot (@NewzParot) February 13, 2019

How to Report Suspected Child Maltreatment

If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected, contact your local child protective services office or law enforcement agency so officials can investigate and assess the situation. Most states have a number to call to report abuse or neglect.

To find out where to call, consult the State Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Numbers website.

The Childhelp organization also can provide crisis assistance and other counseling and referral services. Contact them at 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453).

Every year more than 3.6 million referrals are made to child protection agencies involving more than 6.6 million children (a referral can include multiple children), according to Childhelp.A boy in the United Kingdom was nearly blinded after a bully allegedly punched him in the face, causing his glasses to smash into his eyelid. (Google Street View)

Teen Nearly Blinded After Bully Hits Him in Eye, Shattering His Glasses: Reports

Warning: Graphic photos

A boy in the United Kingdom was nearly blinded after a bully allegedly punched him in the face, causing his glasses to smash into his eyelid.

The incident took place in February at the Merrill Academy in Derby, England, reported DerbyShireLive.

The father of the teen, Nathaniel Dryden, said his son might be scarred for life after the assault.

Father Michael Dryden stated: The school rang me to say that Nathaniel had been punched and was bleeding. When I saw what happened, I couldnt believe that someone could do that to my son.

Glass had to be pulled out of the Alvaston schoolboy's eye. Gepostet von Derbyshire Live am Mittwoch, 13. Februar 2019

Dryden said the doctor said his son would need more than a dozen stitches in his face, saying they pulled out a shard of glass.

Hes such a quiet and timid boy and I dont know why he warrants this abuse that he gets from a group of students at the school, he said. Hes doing well now, but hes not going back to school until the end of the term. He feels frightened to go back and unsafe.

His mother, Amanda, also issued a comment on the incident, calling out bullies.

Bullying is not acceptable by any means. You will not hurt my son anymore and I am so proud of you Nathaniel, she wrote. You have come out bigger and better than any of these idiots and you are so strong. We love you so much mate.

The teens parents said that he has suffered years of abuse at the hands of bullies at Merill Academy, including an incident on Jan. 25 where he was punched twice by another student a the school.

Dryden said the bullies filmed the alleged attack and posted it on social media. But the parents said the school didnt tell him, and they had to confront school officials about the matter after viewing the footage.

I went down to school and asked why I was not made aware of what happened. I was absolutely mad, the father said.

How can this have happened to my son and I was not made aware of it? he asked. Little did I know that another vicious attack was going to happen.

Dryden said that while the school has been supportive and absolutely great, he is concerned with the level of care and safety there.

A spokesperson with Derbyshire Police confirmed an investigation was opened into the alleged attack.

Paul Beedle, the acting headteacher at Merrill Academy, told the Mirror: I can confirm that a student was hurt following an isolated incident involving other students.

He said that such incidents are rare at the school, and this one has been dealt with under the schools behavior policy with parents kept fully informed of the outcomes.

Its not clear if the family sought legal counsel.

Bullying in the United States

According to Stop Bullying, a government group, 28 percent of students in the United States have experienced bullying while 70 percent of youth have seen bullying at school. Some 30 percent of respondents admitted to bullying in surveys, the group said. In one study, about 49 percent of students in grades 4 through 12 reported being bullied by other students at school at least once during the previous month.

The most common types of bullying are verbal and social. Physical bullying happens less often. Cyberbullying happens the least frequently, the group stated. Most bullying takes place in school, outside on school grounds, and on the school bus. Bullying also happens wherever kids gather in the community. And of course, cyberbullying occurs on cell phones and online.

The relationship between bullying and suicide is complex, according to Stop Bullying.

While the vast majority of young people who are bullied dont commit or attempt suicide, Stop Bullying said, research indicates that persistent bullying can lead to or worsen feelings of isolation, rejection, exclusion, and despair, as well as depression and anxiety, which can contribute to suicidal behavior.Members of the pro-democracy Civic Party carry a portrait of Gui Minhai (L) and Lee Bo during a protest outside the Chinese Liaison Office in Hong Kong on Jan. 19, 2016. (Bobby Yip/Reuters)

Sweden Replaces China Envoy in Furor Over Dissident Bookseller

STOCKHOLM Sweden said on Feb. 14 it had replaced its ambassador to China after her incorrect handling of unauthorized meetings that were intended to help free dissident bookseller Gui Minhai.

The Hong Kong-based, Swedish publisher of books critical of Chinas communist leaders was abducted in Thailand in 2015 and later appeared in custody in mainland China.

His daughter Angela Gui said this week she met with ambassador Anna Lindstedt and two businessmen in Stockholm in January, where she was advised to keep quiet about her fathers case while negotiations were proceeding.

Swedens Foreign Ministry said that wasnt an official meeting, and Lindstedt had now returned to Sweden, with an interim envoy sent to Beijing during an inquiry.

Neither the Foreign Ministry nor the Foreign Minister were informed until after the event, ministry spokesman Rasmus Eljanskog said in an emailed statement. As a consequence of the incorrect manner in which the said meetings were handled, we are now conducting an internal investigation.

Gui, 54, became a Swedish citizen after studying there in the 1980s. After the abduction, he was released in October 2017. But his whereabouts were unclear until January last year. when his daughter said he was seized by Chinese agents on a Beijing-bound train, in the presence of Swedish diplomats.

China later confirmed it had detained him again.

In her blog, Angela Gui said Lindstedt invited her to Stockholm to meet with two businessmen who could help secure her fathers release.

Outrageous Scandal

The businessman said, You care about Anna (Lindstedt), right? If you keep talking to the media, itll damage her career. You dont want her to come to any harm, do you?' she said in the post on the blog portal Medium.

In order for this to happen (negotiations), I was told I needed to be quiet. I wasnt to tell anyone, or say anything publicly about the case, she added.

Im not going to be quiet in exchange for  an arbitrary promise that my father might be released. Threats, verbal abuse, bribes, or flattery wont change that.

Chinas Foreign Ministry declined to comment, with spokeswoman Hua Chunying saying she knew nothing about Guis latest situation. On its website, Chinas embassy in Stockholm said it hadnt authorized anyone to engage with Guis daughter.

Guis original abductionalong with four others in the Hong Kong book tradefueled worries about interference from Beijing, despite guarantees of wide-ranging freedoms for the former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

The four others have since returned to Hong Kong. The United States and European Union have urged Guis release.

Sweden said it was continuing to seek Guis freedom, as Lindstedt faced scathing criticism for what the leader of Swedens Left Party called an outrageous scandal.

A Swedish ambassador has done the bidding of a dictatorship and tried to silence the daughter of a Swedish political prisoner in China, Jonas Sjostedt told local TV. I dont think we have seen a worse scandal in Swedish foreign administration for decades.

Lindstedt couldnt immediately be reached for comment.

By Simon JohnsonU.S. Customs and Border Protection officers stand next to newly-installed concertina wire halfway along the Camino Real International Bridge from Piedras Negras, Mexico, towards Eagle Pass, Texas, on Feb. 8, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Small Texas Town Readies for Migrant Caravan Amassed Across River

Hundreds of extra law enforcement and military personnel are shoring up Border Patrol efforts in case of a mass incursion

EAGLE PASS, TexasThe little border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, is the latest to be faced with the migrant caravan phenomenon.

Its neighbors to the east, in the states Rio Grande Valley, have become well-versed in so-called caravansthey get a caravans worth of asylum-seekers crossing illegally every day.

But Eagle Pass, with a population of around 30,000, has a smaller port of entry, with two international bridges and the capacity to handle only 16 to 20 asylum claims per day.

So the news of 1,800 migrants, mostly from Honduras, arriving across the river in Piedras Negras, Mexico, on Feb. 4 has resulted in an unprecedented show of force along the U.S. side of the Rio Grande.

Local Border Patrol agents have been augmented with additional agents from nearby stations; the Texas Department of Public Safety has sent troops; the Texas National Guard has entered the fray; and the local police and sheriffs departments are involved.

Now its a waiting game, somewhat of a Mexican standoff.

The old factory where the migrants are staying is more than three miles from the Eagle Pass port of entry and two miles from the closest part of the Rio Grande, making it seem unlikely that the group will be able to rush the border en masse, at least without transport assistance.

The camp is surrounded by Mexican military and federal police, so anywhere the migrants go would have to be condoned by Mexican authorities.

However, time will eventually run out. Mexico gave the migrants 30 days to transit through the country or apply for asylum in Mexico. With the Eagle Pass processing capability, it would take at least three months to clear all 1,800 migrants.

On top of that, the caravan migrants are not the only ones crossing into Eagle Pass to seek asylum.

The typical number of illegal alien crossings in the area doubled in the last two weeks of January, said Louie Wayne Collins, division chief of operations for the Del Rio Border Patrol Sector, which encompasses the Eagle Pass area.

And from that point, at the beginning of this migrant crisis earlier in the week, that doubled again, he said. [However], it has dropped off significantly since we have put our forces out here.

In the Del Rio sector, the number of family units and unaccompanied minors who were apprehended by Border Patrol after crossing the border illegally has increased by 364 percent and 66 percent, respectively, when comparing the first four months of the fiscal year, year-over-year.

As of Feb. 8, four days since the caravan arrived in Piedras Negras, no one who has crossed illegally or presented at the port of entry to claim asylum has reported that they are part of the migrant caravan, according to Paul Del Rincon, port director for Eagle Pass Customs and Border Protection.

Instead, the port is running at 150-percent capacity processing other asylum-seekers.

The thing about ports of entry, about these bridges, is that they were never designed to house people, to house 16, 20 people, or more, Del Rincon said. Ports of entry are locations where you present yourself for inspection, youre inspected and either released, or youre referred and inspected further in secondary, but soon after youre released. So never was it anyones plan to have people at ports of entry for that long.

Just that morning, Border Patrol rescued a family of five Honduransincluding a 1-year-old and 3-year-oldthat was attempting to cross the Rio Grande under the international bridge.

Those children were rescued in the middle of the river because they got out into the middle of the river and they couldnt go forward and they couldnt go backwards. It is treacherous. It is dangerous, Collins said. He said the family was not from the caravan.

Please, if I could say one thing to these migrants: Cross legally through the ports of entry, if you are attempting to claim credible fear, he said.

Collins reiterated that Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection agents dont process asylum claims. We only document the credible fear, turn them over to ICE, and from ICE, CIS [Citizenship and Immigration Services] handles that asylum process.

The Right to Protect Borders

Juan Andres Martinez grew up in Piedras Negras, but emigrated to Eagle Pass in 2000. Like many locals, its common to pop over to Mexico to visit family or go shopping. Martinez runs a martial arts academy in Eagle Pass, and with his brother, another one in Piedras Negras.

He said he has never seen anything like the caravan of 1,800, nor the U.S. or Mexican responses to it.

If they want to come aggressively to the United States, its going to be hard for them. Here in Eagle Pass, we feel safe because we have a lot of security right now, Martinez said. Theres some entity or somebody out there thats maybe giving them the idea that this border is much easier to cross when, in reality, its really not.

He said he is happy with the Mexican response so far. Keeping them in that one spot, giving them what they need. You know, theyre obviously not treating them harshly or cruellytheyre doing it right. And theyre doing the best they can for the United States on their end.

Martinez suggests the caravan came to Piedras Negras because it has become too dangerous to go to Tijuana.

I think [here] its safer from the cartels. Thats why they didnt want to go through Tamaulipasbecause of the cartels, he said.

In Piedras Negras, its a Los Zetas cartel faction called Cartel del Noreste that operates, according to Robert Bunker, an instructor at the Safe Communities Institute, University of Southern California.

They are in conflict with Zetas Vieja Escuela (Old School Zetas) who are a faction tied to a Gulf Cartel remnant, Bunker said.

Martinez said he supports President Donald Trumps efforts to secure the border.

I support what hes doing as far as stopping illegal immigration. Any state, any territory, any country has the right to protect its borders and only allow people in under the right circumstances, he said. We all have necessities. We all have needs. These people are coming here looking for a better way of life, but unfortunately, theres laws that need to be followed.

Called a Fake Mexican

Freddy Arellano, 18, is still in high school, but got into politics in 2016 after candidate Trump piqued his interest.

When I first heard him, it was his comments that he made about immigrants. And at that time, I had thought, Thats a very racist thing to say, Arellano said.

In kicking off his presidential bid on June 16, 2015, Trump said of Mexico: Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

Arellano, intent on becoming more involved in politics, decided to do opposition research on Trump.

And as I started researching his stances and his beliefs, I slowly realized, hes right. His views on immigration are the same views that Ive had growing up, he said.

He is now the youngest Republican county chairman in Maverick County, where Eagle Pass sits.

Before I knew I was Republican, I always thought I was a Democrat, Arellano said. But, as I started looking into the parties in 2016, thats when I realized my stance on immigration was more with the Republican Party.

Three of four of his grandparents came to the United States from Mexico legally. The fourth was born in the United States. His father is a Customs and Border Protection officer and so was his mother before she retired.

I dont believe that anybody should come here willy nilly. he said. And a lot of people were saying, Oh, youre racist and Youre a fake Mexican and Hispanic.

And I always respond with the same thing: I cannot be a fake Mexican if I was never a real Mexican because my allegiance is to the American flag and the American government. And not to the Mexican flag or the Mexican government, he said.

He said he has compassion for the plight of the caravan migrants, but at the same time we have 1,800 people that want to come here and most of them are going to be applying for asylumwith some crossing illegally. And obviously theyre not the ones paying for this, its us, the taxpayers that are doing that.

You know, we cant pay for all of this without it having to come from somewhere else. And when we have the VA the way it is right now, where we can better it with this kind of money that we could be saving, it would help out Americans that have fought for their country, as opposed to people that want to come here illegally.

Border Wall Funding

Trump is currently mulling over a bipartisan border security package that would put $1.4 billion towards 55 miles of border fencingless than the $5.7 billion he was asking for to construct 234 miles of fence.

The border fence funding resulted in the longest government shutdown in history after Democrats refused to provide any money towards a wall. If Trump signs the new bill, it will avert a second shutdown, which would be triggered on Feb. 15.

I dont want to see a shutdown, Trump said on Feb. 13. A shutdown would be a terrible thing. I think a point was made with the last shutdown; people realized how bad the border is, how unsafe the border is. I think a lot of good points were made, but I dont want to see another onetheres no reason for it. Were going to look at the legislation when it comes and Ill make a determination then.

Over the first four months of fiscal year 2019, Border Patrol apprehended more than 201,000 illegal aliens. The numbers are on track to reach 600,000 apprehensions for the year, whereas in fiscal 2018, just fewer than 400,000 were apprehended.

January border stats show a sustained, high volume of families & unaccompanied children from Central America illegally crossing along the [southwest] border, said Customs and Border Protection in a Feb. 8 tweet. Border Patrol agents encountered 58 large groups of 100 or more people so far this fiscal year, compared to 13 total in fiscal 2018.

The administration said the asylum system is being gamed by illegal immigrants who use it to gain access into the United States without any intention of turning up in court for their case ruling.

If an illegal alien is apprehended at the border and claims fear of returning to their home country, an initial screening gives them an 89-percent chance of being released into the United States. The chances are higher if an adult brings a child.

The largest group of asylum-seekers are from Central America, yet only 9 percent of those who then formally apply for asylum are granted such protections by a federal immigration judge, according to the Justice Department. Forty percent dont officially apply for asylum once they gain access into the United States. A further 31 percent dont turn up at their court hearing.

In fiscal 2017, Customs and Border Protection apprehended 94,285 family units from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador at the southern border. Of those, 99 percent remain in the country today.

Legal loopholes in the asylum system have bogged down the immigration court system, which has around 800,000 pending cases and no end in sight to the backlog.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the agency is doing what it can to combat the caravan phenomenon.

Such caravans are the result of Congresss inexcusable failure to fully fund a needed physical barrier and unwillingness to fix outdated laws that act as an enormous magnet for illegal aliens, Nielsen said on Feb. 5. This crisis wont be solved until we have comprehensive border security.

Meanwhile, in Eagle Pass, concertina wire, jersey barriers, and other impediment measures are being installed on the international bridges.

Force drills and joint exercises between the Department of Defense and Customs and Border Protection officers are being conducted to guard against a mass incursion.

We know theres migrant caravans out there at different points along the way. We do not know where they will hit the border, said Collins.Linda McMahon, administrator of the Small Business Administration, at her office in Washington on Jan. 4, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Small-Business Lending Gets Back on Track After the Shutdown

'Through better procedures and electronic processing, we were able to reduce our loan processing times by half," Administrator McMahon says

WASHINGTONLinda McMahon, administrator of the Small Business Administration, recently recounted her agencys efforts to deal with the partial government shutdown and natural disasters.

The recent partial shutdown had limited impact on government-backed loans. In the first two weeks following the shutdown, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) caught up on almost all loan applications, McMahon said.

The SBAs lending and guarantee programs stopped for a total of 20 business days as a result of the lapse, according to the administrator. During that time, the agency was unable to approve loans and accept new loan applications.

After the resumption of operations on Jan. 28, however, the SBA has made significant progress in processing loans, McMahon said at a Senate hearing on Oversight of the U.S. Small Business Administration, on Feb. 13.

In just two weeks, the SBA approved more than 4,700 loans amounting to more than $2 billion. Within five days following the shutdown, the agency also processed all surety bond applications for a total of $188 million in bond guarantees.

In all lending categories but one, our application volume is back to pre-lapse levels, she said, adding that there was still some backlog with SBAs 504 loans.

The administrator said such loans normally require a longer evaluation time, and she had to assign additional staff resources to manage the backlog.

SBA Loan Processing Times

Since she took office, improving the SBAs loan processing times was one of her key priorities, McMahon said.

By the end of 2018, through better procedures and electronic processing, we were able to reduce our loan processing times by half, she said. Thanks to the new system, the SBA can now process small loans within two to three days and regular loans within seven days.

These improvements and efficiencies have certainly helped us following the lapse, she explained.

The SBA had one of the largest percentages of workers furloughed as a result of the recent shutdown. Nearly 2,000 employees were affected by the lapse.

Small businesses comprise 99.9 percent of businesses in the country, employing about 48 percent of American workers. The SBA supports small businesses by providing guarantees for bank loans. Nationwide, SBA loan programs provided more than $30 billion to U.S. small businesses in the 2018 fiscal year.

Nearly 85 percent of SBA-backed loans are under lending program 7(a), which are commonly used for acquiring land, purchasing equipment, or working capital. The remaining loans are under the SBA 504 loan program, which finances the purchasing of fixed assets such as land, existing buildings, and long-term machinery.

SBAs Disaster Loan Program

The SBA also provides low-interest loans under a disaster recovery program to help businesses and homeowners get back on their feet.

When I look back on the last two years, the agencys work in responding to natural disasters stands out as an area that has touched many states, McMahon said at the hearing.

Learning from past experiences, the SBA identified various areas that needed to operate more effectively and efficiently. To respond to the hurricane events on time, the agency recruited more people and opened recovery centers. And to improve the efficiency of its operations, the SBA launched a new version of its disaster credit-management system, which enabled faster loan processing.

The agency helped more than 173,000 people with home and business loans totaling $8.8 billion for the major events over the past eighteen months, including five hurricanes and the California wildfires, said McMahon.

At the hearing, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) praised McMahons efforts after the tragedies in Maryland.

Your people were on the ground literally when the waters were still flooding. You were there immediately and provided tremendous assistance, he said.

Besides the loan programs, SBA offices and resource partners throughout the country provide counseling, training, and mentorship programs, and most of them are free to small-business owners.

In 2019, the SBA plans to launch an innovative interactive digital platform to provide learning resources for women entrepreneurs. The agency is also launching a leadership program for Veteran entrepreneurs in conjunction with the Veterans Affairs.A school bus evacuates students from Sue V. Cleveland High School after a shot was fired on the campus in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, on Feb. 14, 2019. (Russell Contreras/AP)

Shot Fired at Suburban Albuquerque High School

RIO RANCHO, N.M.A shot was fired on Feb. 14, on the grounds of a suburban Albuquerque high school. Police and school officials said no one was injured and a suspect was in custody.

The V. Sue Cleveland High School in the community of Rio Rancho was evacuated, police said, and worried parents rushed to the school after getting calls from their children. More than 2,500 students attend the high school.

Rio Rancho Police Chief Stewart Steele said that a male student suspected of using a handgun to fire the shot before school started had been taken into custody and was being questioned by authorities. They did not immediately identify a motive.

Rio Rancho Police said that a male student is in custody after reports of a shot fired call early Thursday morning. https://t.co/GP9ZE8pCdy  KTSM 9 News (@KTSMtv) February 14, 2019

While there were no injuries and students at the school were quickly evacuated, the incident still sent shockwaves through the sprawling suburb north of New Mexicos largest city, Steele said.

It was extremely scary, Steele said. We just thank God it ended the way it did.

He said the student, who has not been identified by authorities, had fled the school after opening fire and left the weapon behind. He was caught running away, authorities said.

All other Rio Rancho school campuses are secure and students are safe. Once again, Cleveland High school has been evacuated due to reports of a gun on campus. We will provide further information to parents at Cleveland as soon as possible. Thank you.  Rio Rancho Public Schools (@RRPS_EST1994) February 14, 2019

The shooting occurred around 7 a.m. before school was scheduled to start. Police believe the shot had been fired inside a hallway.

School officials said on Twitter that all students were safe, and the districts other schools were open. They did not know when classes would resume at V. Sue Cleveland High School.

confirmed that all students are safe and no one has been injured. The weapon involved has been recovered and the suspect is in custody. All other RRPS schools are open and in session. We thank parents for their help as we investigate this situation.  Rio Rancho Public Schools (@RRPS_EST1994) February 14, 2019

Kristy Berberich said outside the high school that her 16-year-old son called her immediately after students heard a gunshot.

I was worried sick but I knew he was safe, she said.

Police and school officials advised parents to stay away from the school and to await word on a plan to pick up students, who were taken to an arena about 3 miles from the school.

@ABQschools Superintendent just released a statement after this mornings incident at a Rio Rancho school #keepourkidssafe #concernedparent pic.twitter.com/96XWypZ4fp  Natassja Leyba (@NatassjaLeyba) February 14, 2019

In Rio Rancho, school buses shuttled students to the nearby event center as police cordoned off the school and blocked roads leading to the campus. While no details were immediately released about the suspect in custody or the circumstances of the gunshot, police planned a briefing later Thursday.

Accidental Shootings

Far fewer Americans fall victim to firearm accidents than some two decades ago, even though people own more guns, according to new data.

Accidental firearm discharges killed 486 people in 2017, down more than 50 percent since 1997, according to mortality data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Meanwhile, gun sales increased more than 80 percent between 1999 and 2017, according to The DataFace, a San Francisco data analysis company, which based its estimates on FBI background check data.Victoria Harris attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at California Center for the Arts in Escondido, Calif., on Feb. 13, 2019. (NTD Television)

ESCONDIDO, Calif.Victoria Harris, a real estate investor at Victory Investments in San Diego, was happy to attend Shen Yun Performing Arts for the first time at California Center for the Arts on Wednesday, Feb. 13. However, she said she was sorry she had not come earlier.

The performance is absolutely magnificent. It is a very beautiful expression of art, she said. Everything is excellent, precision, perfect, beautiful.

Shen Yun is the worlds top classical Chinese music and dance company. It was founded in 2006 in New York with the goal of reviving the 5,000 years of Chinas traditional, divinely-inspired culture and sharing it across the globe.

The name Shen Yun means the beauty of divine beings dancing, according to the company website. The performing arts company now has six equally large companies that tour the world simultaneously, bringing an all-new performance of dance, costumes, animated backdrops, singing, and music to over 150 theaters every year.

Harris, whose daughter danced ballet, said she could see the hours and hours of dedication and discipline that the Shen Yun artists put into honing their skills and preparing for the performance, especially having a live orchestra playing along with the dancers.

Im totally impressed, said Harris. Its absolutely one of the best performances that I have ever seen, and I have been to many, many performances.

A Rich Experience

The real estate investor said she learned from the emcees during the performance that many modern dance forms and gymnastics have roots in the unique movements of classical Chinese dance, which are thousands of years old. The dance form is one of the most comprehensive dance systems in the world, according to the website, and its the main feature of a Shen Yun performance.

Its beautiful that they are able to execute it so perfectly. Theyre very graceful, she said of the dancers.

Harris also enjoyed Shen Yuns mixture of traditional Western orchestral instruments with Chinese instruments, such as the pipa, erhu, and the gong. She said the orchestras music closely matched the theme of each dance vignette, at times becoming more intense and exuberant, while at other times becoming more relaxing and gentle.

Its beautiful. I had never seen, heard that before, she said. It has everything, to excite all the senses: the visual, the hearing.

Shen Yun also includes musical soloists, ethnic dances, story-based dances, a variety of traditional costumes, and an interactive digital backdrop, into which dancers seem to disappear or reappear, like magic.

The background is absolutely wonderful, the way  they incorporate the dance with the background. The colors, of course, are striking and absolutely marvelous, she said.

While watching the performance, Harris said she felt a profound feeling, as though Shen Yun leads people to the divine and encourages respect and gratitude for what has been given to people.

Especially the great talent that has been given to us through this art form, she said. Its very inspiring.

Overall, Harris said she appreciated the different stories within the performance, both light-hearted and serious. She could also sense a very positive energy coming from the stage.

A very uplifting energy, very light, no darkness. Very high vibrations from the art, she said.

With reporting by NTD Television and Sarah Le.

The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time and has covered audience reactions since the companys inception in 2006.Rosenstein Removed McCabe From Russia Probe After Appointing Special Counsel

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein removed then-Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe from the Russia investigation in May 2017 upon appointing special counsel Robert Mueller to take over the probe, according to a Feb. 14 statement by the Department of Justice.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) disclosed Rosensteins order in response to allegations McCabe made in a yet-to-be-aired interview with CBS, the content of which was partly revealed on Feb. 14.

The deputy attorney general in fact appointed special counsel Robert Mueller, and directed that Mr. McCabe be removed from any participation in that investigation, a DOJ spokesperson said in a statement.

The revelation is significant because, days prior to being removed, McCabe took the extraordinary step of opening an obstruction-of-justice investigation into President Donald Trump following Trumps firing of then-FBI Director James Comey on May 9, 2017. McCabe opened the obstruction investigation days after telling the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that he wasnt aware of any effort to impede the FBIs Russia probe.

Rosenstein recommended Comeys firing to Trump in a May 9, 2017, letter titled Restoring Public Confidence in the FBI (pdf). On May 17, 2017, Rosenstein appointed Mueller.

In the nine days between Comeys firing and Muellers appointment, a series of events occurred suggesting that Rosenstein wrested control of the investigation from McCabe. On May 11, as McCabe testified before the Senate intelligence committee, Rosenstein pulled the committee chairman and ranking member into a private meeting in a secure room. On May 16, one day before the appointment of the special counsel, Rosenstein met with Trump and Mueller.

We were interviewing replacements at the F.B.I. Did you know Mueller was one of the people that was being interviewed? Trump told The New York Times.  now what happens is, [Mueller] leaves the office. Rosenstein leaves the office. The next day, he is appointed special counsel.

In the upcoming CBS interview, McCabe doubled down on accusations against Rosenstein, including the previously-reported allegation that Rosenstein suggested wearing a wire to record Trump. McCabe also alleged that he attended meetings at the Justice Department to discuss if the majority of Trumps cabinet could be brought together to invoke the 25th amendment. The justice department denied the allegations in 2018 and issued another rebuttal in the Feb. 14 statement.

The deputy attorney general again rejects Mr. McCabes recitation of events as inaccurate and factually incorrect, a DOJ spokesperson said.

The deputy attorney general never authorized any recording that Mr. McCabe references. As the deputy attorney general previously has stated, based on his personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment, nor was the [deputy attorney general] in a position to consider invoking the 25 Amendment.

McCabes involvement in the Russia investigation predated the events in the spring of 2017 by months. McCabe played a key role in the counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign that started in late July 2016, in the midst of the presidential election season.

The investigation, Crossfire Hurricane, was tainted with bias and potential abuse of surveillance powers. Text messages exchanged by then-FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok, and his mistress, bureau attorney Lisa Page, demonstrated hatred toward Trump and support for Hillary Clinton. Page served as legal counsel for McCabe.

McCabe personally reviewed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) application for a warrant to spy on former Trump-campaign associate Carter Page. The bureau applied for the warrant using an unverified dossier of opposition research on Trump. The dossier was compiled by a foreign spy and ultimately paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Feb. 14 that in light of the to-be-aired interview, McCabe should appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer questions about his involvement in securing the FISA warrant.

After Mr. McCabes 60 Minutes interview, it is imperative that he, and others, come before [the Senate Judiciary Committee] to fully explain how and why a FISA warrant was issued against Carter Page and answer questions about what appears to be, now more than ever, bias against President Trump, Graham wrote on Twitter.

After Mr. McCabes 60 Minutes interview, it is imperative that he, and others, come before @senjudiciary to fully explain how and why a FISA warrant was issued against Carter Page and answer questions about what appears to be, now more than ever, bias against President Trump.  Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) February 14, 2019

McCabe was also Andy in the notorious insurance policy text message written by Strzok to Page. In the message, Strzok discussed an insurance policy in the unlikely event that Trump was elected.

Trump criticized McCabe in a pair of Twitter messages shortly after details of his yet-to-be-aired interview surfaced.

Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a poor little Angel when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoaxa puppet for Leakin James Comey. I.G. report on McCabe was devastating, the president wrote.

Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a poor little Angel when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax  a puppet for Leakin James Comey. I.G. report on McCabe was devastating. Part of insurance policy in case I won.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2019

Part of insurance policy in case I won, Trump added. Many of the top FBI brass were fired, forced to leave, or left. McCabes wife received BIG DOLLARS from Clinton people for her campaignhe gave Hillary a pass. McCabe is a disgrace to the FBI and a disgrace to our Country.

.Many of the top FBI brass were fired, forced to leave, or left. McCabes wife received BIG DOLLARS from Clinton people for her campaign  he gave Hillary a pass. McCabe is a disgrace to the FBI and a disgrace to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2019

The FBIs Russia investigation morphed into the special counsel probe. Since taking charge in May 2017, Mueller has not accused anyone of colluding with Russia. Strzok was removed from the special counsel team after Mueller was shown Stroks messages with Page.

Months after being removed from the Russia investigation, McCabe lied to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz about authorizing a self-serving leak to the media. The inspector general later issued a report about McCabes repeated lies. Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe in March last year based on the reports findings.

As of September 2018, a federal grand jury in Washington was investigating McCabes leaks, according to The Washington Post.CHIME, a radio telescope, was designed and built by scientists at the University of British Columbia, McGill University, the University of Toronto, the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and the National Research Council of Canada. (UBC)

Repeated Radio Signals From Galaxy 1.5 Billion Light Years Away Discovered: Scientists

Scientists have said that they have observed blasts of radio signals coming from deep in space.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada said theyve discovered the second so-called repeating fast radio burst (FRB) ever recorded, according to a news release published Jan. 9. The latest discovery brings scientists a step closer to figuring out where the pulses come from.

They said the finding provides new details about the puzzling yet brief radio energy from outside the galaxy.

Until now, there was only one known repeating [fast radio bursts]. Knowing that there is another suggests that there could be more out there. And with more repeaters and more sources available for study, we may be able to understand these cosmic puzzleswhere theyre from and what causes them, said Ingrid Stairs, a researcher at the university, in the news release.

She added that with the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) telescope mapping the entire northern hemisphere every day, were bound to find more repeaters over time.

Stairs added: Knowing where they are will enable scientists to point their telescopes at them, creating an opportunity to study these mysterious signals in detail.

The researchers said that studying the fast radio bursts is a difficult task because theyre rare and only occur once.

In the latest one, there were a total of 13 bursts detecting in summer 2018, said the universitys news release, saying the telescope wasnt running at full power.

The repeater, known as FRB 180814.J0422+73, is located about 1.5 billion light-years from Earth, astronomers told Space.com. Thats about twice as close as the other repeater, FRB 121102.

The repeating signals are brief but powerful phenomena, and they are estimated to be energetically comparable to the total output of the sun over 100 years, Space.com noted.

They only last a few milliseconds before disappearing and come from distance places in the known universe. The first was discovered in 2007.

When these bursts happen once only, its really hard to figure out what created them, Cherry Ng, with the University of Toronto, told The Verge. Now were showing, no, at least one other repeats.

The findings are just the beginning of CHIMEs discoveries, added Stairs. In the next phase, we plan to capture the full high-resolution data stream from the brightest bursts, which will let us better understand their positions, characteristics and magnetic environments. The next few years will be very exciting.

More Details

Were very excited to see what CHIME can do when its running at full capacity, said Deborah Good, a PhD student in physics and astronomy at UBC who is part of CHIMEs [burst] team.

At the end of a year we may have found 1,000 more bursts. Our data will break open some of the mysteries of [the bursts].

They spotted the bursts in a two-week period.

Whatever the source of these radio waves is, its interesting to see how wide a range of frequencies it can produce. There are some models where intrinsically the source cant produce anything below a certain frequency, team member Arun Naidu of McGill University said in a statement.

CHIME, a radio telescope, was designed and built by scientists at the University of British Columbia, McGill University, the University of Toronto, the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and the National Research Council of Canada.

Mysterious radio signals from deep space detected #FRB https://t.co/qNyycXXKkB  the mathematician (@geometerman) January 9, 2019

[We now know] the sources can produce low-frequency radio waves and those low-frequency waves can escape their environment, and are not too scattered to be detected by the time they reach the Earth, said Tom Landecker, a CHIME team member.

He added: That tells us something about the environments and the sources. We havent solved the problem, but its several more pieces in the puzzle.

The findings were published in Nature papers and can be accessed here and also here.Railroad Engineer Proposes to Railroad Attendant at Station Stop

Love persists, despite being apart for months at a time, with sometimes just a glance of each other through a window.

A railroad engineer who had less than two minutes to share together with his girlfriend, a railroad attendant, took the opportunity to express his wish to marry her. A camera crew ran along with him as he found his girlfriend waiting at the door of a train car, reported in a program titled A Date at 00:37, by Chinese state media on Feb. 10.

Hao Kang, pronounced How Kong, works as a railway engineer in Shaanxi Province, China. He comes from a small county bordering the Yellow River, as does his girlfriend, now fiancee, of four years.

Lei Jie, pronounced Lay Jyeh, is a railway attendant, whose work is similar to that of a flight attendant. Though they both work on the railway, they do not work on the same lines, and there is only one station where their two lines meetYulin station.

Even though Leis train will pass through Yulin four times a week at 12:37 a.m., the train is only scheduled to stop for eight minutes at a time. Chinese railway attendants are also not allowed to use cellphones while they work, so Lei can only send a message to Hao before her journey begins to his station, and has no way to contact him when she arrives.

On top of that, Haos break time is not rigidly set. It is not uncommon that the two can only meet once every few months. In a years time, even including when their vacation time is together, they can only spend about one week together in total.

Hao describes some of the rare times he gets to see her. As he sits in the drivers seat of the train he points out the small window, and with a wide smile describes how he can sometimes see her shadow in the window of her train as it passes by his.

Sometimes I can see her silhouette. But even when I see herI dont really see her, Hao said in the video. She works on the railway, and I work on it too. We maintain our affection through the railway. This is how we persevere.

Persevere they do, as Hao planned to propose to her during the most significant Chinese festival, the Lunar New Year.

The Proposal

That evening, Hao was off work and he arrived at the station ready to make his proposal. Leis train was late from snow on the tracks, and could only stop at the station for five minutes.

Lei told Hao that she would be in car number nine. However, since there were so many passengers that night, she was moved to car number one. Without her phone, she had no way to let Hao know of the change.

Hao ran up and down the station, looking for his girlfriend.

Luckily, with the help of the camera crew, Hao found Lei. Short of breath, he stepped into the loading doorway of the train car, and they took each others hands.

With smiles on their faces, they exchanged briefly about whether or not he had to get off the train. Then, suddenly and almost unseen by the camera, Hao slipped a small red box into Leis hands. He unzipped his jacket and handed her a package, giving her a hug. Be safe, Hao said to her, and he stepped off the train.

Hao stood on the station platform, facing Lei as she looked back at him as the warning bells of the trains departure sounded in the background. With his voice cracking and his shoulders tensed, he reminded Lei to close the door.

Lei then handed Hao a gifthand lotion. When you go, Ill go, Hao said. Lei, looking as if she was holding back tears, closed the door. They waved to each other as the train pulled away.

The meeting lasted only one minute and 52 seconds.

I didnt think that it would be so fast! Thank goodness you helped me find her, Hao said with a big smile and a chuckle. Theres a lot of things I didnt say. What I wanted to say to her wasMarry me. This year, I want to marry her. I didnt have time to say it.

However, Hao expressed his idea. In the car, Lei sat down and looked inside the red box, sniffling with tears. Inside, she found her engagement ring.

Video Transcription:

Hao Kang is a railroad engineer.

Lei Jie is a railroad attendant.

They work in different trains, but both go through the same station (Yulin)

Hao: Sometimes I can see her silhouette. But even when I see herI dont really see her. I can only look out of this small window. She also stands by a door, which also has a small window. Then the windows go by each other.

In 2018, with all of their time off together, they in total spent one week together.

Hao: She works on the railway, and I work on it too. We rely on the railway to maintain our feelings. And this is how we persevere.

Even during the Chinese Lunar New Year, they have to continue working.

In the early morning, when the train Lei Jie was riding stopped at Yulin, Hao Kang found her and gave her the ring that he had prepared.

Hao: Im not getting off.

Lei: You have to get off.

Hao: Im not getting off. Ill go with you to Shenmuji (the next station), Im not getting off.

Lei: You have to get off, hurry.

Hao: Im not getting off, its alright.

Lei: Shenmuji wont have a train soon.

Hao: Its alright, Ill take the freight train back. Im not getting off.

Lei: You have to get off.

Hao: Okay, I have to go. Be safe. Close the door. Close it

Lei: This is the lotion that I bought for you, you can use it.

Hao: When you go, Ill go.

Song: Because of Love by Eason Chen and Faye Wong 

Since the train only stops at Yulin for 5 minutes, Hao Kang didnt have time to say Marry me.

Hao: I didnt think that it would be so fast! Thank goodness you helped me find her. Theres a lot of things I didnt say. What I wanted to say to her wasMarry me. This year, I want to marry her. I didnt have time to say it.Renu, the eldest sister of Shamima Begum, holds her sister's photo while being interviewed by the media at New Scotland Yard in London on Feb. 22, 2015. (Laura Lean/PA Wire/Getty Images)

Pregnant Jihadi Schoolgirl Who Ran Away to Join ISIS Has No Regrets, but Begs to Be Let Into UK to Give Birth

A woman who fled London to join ISIS at the age of 15 said she has no regrets about joining the terrorist group but is now desperate to return to Britain so she can deliver her third baby there.

Shamima Begum, now 19 and in her ninth month of pregnancy, was interviewed by The Times of London after surfacing in a refugee camp in Al-Hawl, northern Syria.

Begum described her nearly three years in the jihadist caliphate, in what was at times a shocking conversation, such as when she talked about seeing beheaded heads in bins, but noted that it did not faze her.

The first time she laid eyes on the aftermath of a beheading was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield.

Im not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago, she told the interviewer, Andrew Loyd.

I Just Want to Come Home

Begum is due to give birth to her third child after her first two children died of starvation and illness in the conflict zone. The mother-to-be said she is desperate to return to the UK and have a decent life there with her baby.

I know what everyone at home thinks of me, as I have read all that was written about me online, she said. But I just want to come home to have my child. Ill do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child.

Begums elder sister Renu told ITV News, Im so relieved that my sister has been found safe and sound.

We are aware that she has been trying to get out, Renu said, but added that her family had lost contact with the jihadi bride for the longest time.

Renu pleaded for the British government to allow her sister to return to the UK.

Will Begum Be Allowed Back?

The British government has stepped up efforts to block ISIS affiliates from returning to the UK on grounds that they pose a threat.

In cases of individuals involved in combat operations and who may have committed atrocities, the UK government has used a controversial new power to deprive them of British citizenship. In 2017, the new legal authority was used to strip 104 people of their British citizenship, compared to 14 people in 2016.

The government said stripping citizenship is particularly important in helping prevent the return to the UK of dual-national British citizens involved in terrorism-related activity in Syria or Iraq.

The power has also been extended to lower-level extremists and criminals, including Rochdale grooming-gang members.

However, the UK government draws a distinction between people who have actually fought under the banner of ISIS and those who joined the terror group as supporters.

The BBC reported that Security Minister Ben Wallace has suggested that, in case of jihadi bridesunderstood to fall into the latter categorythe British government would consider helping them to come home.

He noted, however, that they would face the possibility of prosecution and a jail sentence for supporting a terrorist group.

Wallace said, as cited by The Telegraph, The message is to all the people out there. If you have been out there against the advice of the foreign office to go and engage in support or activities of terrorism, you should be prepared to beif you come backquestioned, investigated, and potentially prosecuted for committing terrorist offenses.

Scared Third Child Would Die

Begum said the deaths of her two children came as a shock. It just came out of nowhere, it was so hard.

She told The Times that when her son got sick and she took him to a hospital, [there] were no drugs available, and not enough medical staff.

Three months ago, at 8-months-old, the boy died. She buried her daughterwho was nearly 2 years old when she diedabout a month ago.

She said her decision to leave was in part because she was frightened that the child I am about to give birth to would die like my other children if I stayed on.

Thats why I really want to get back to Britain because I know it will be taken care ofhealthwise, at least, she said.

She added she could give birth any day now.

Couldnt Take It

Discussing what prompted her to flee the embattled village of Baghuz, Begum described herself as weak for leaving the terrorist group.

In the end, I just could not endure anymore. I just couldnt take it. Now all I want to do is come home to Britain.

Begum also said the oppression she faced within the ISIS organization had come as a shock. She added she thought the caliphate was nearing collapse.

I dont have high hopes. They are just getting smaller and smaller, she said. And there is so much oppression and corruption going on that I dont really think they deserve victory.

She told The Times that her husbandan ISIS extremist from Denmarksurrendered himself to Syrian fighters and is believed to have been killed.

Begum also described how one of her two school friends that had left the UK with herKadiza Sultanadied in a bombing.

The fate of the third girlAmira Abaseis unclear.

Still, the teenage mother-to-be insisted, I dont regret coming here.

Not Particularly Interested

In a move that made headlines in Britain, the trio of teenaged London schoolgirls left stable family backgrounds in February 2015 to join what has been described as a murderous jihadi cult.

Begum and Abase were both 15, while Sultana was 16, when they flew from Gatwick Airport to Turkey, after telling their parents they were going out for the day.

The girls later crossed the border into Syria.

Sir Peter Fahy, a retired senior police chief who headed a terrorism prevention program at the time the girls ran away, told BBC Radio 4s Today program that he could understand why the government was not particularly interested in facilitating Begums return back to Britain.

If the woman was showing complete remorse, he said, it would be completely different.

He said an operation to bring her back would cost taxpayers a vast amount of money and, once Begum entered the UK, additional police resources would potentially be needed to ensure her safety.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appears with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto (not pictured) at the foreign ministry in Budapest, Hungary on February 11, 2019.(Laszlo Balogh/Getty images)

Pompeos Central Europe Visit Challenges Chinas Ambitions to Influence Region

Align with the United States, or prepare to risk the security threats that come with accepting the Chinese regimes investmentsthat was the message U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo conveyed while on a four-day European tour of Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland that began on Feb. 11.

The three countries are members of Beijings 16+1 initiative to intensify cooperation with 16 central and eastern European countries, including in the infrastructure, finance, and technology sectors.

Since 2012, Beijings investments under the platform have totaled more than $20 billion, according to the initiatives official website. Chinese loans given to fund infrastructure projects, however, come with a caveat: the projects must use China-made materials.

Pompeo urged those countries lured by Chinas investments to consider the risks carefully, especially in regard to working with the embattled Chinese telecom giant Huawei.

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, Pompeo told reporters at an impromptu news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Budapest on Feb. 11.

Huawei is the worlds biggest telecom equipment manufacturerand a key player in the 16+1 project. The company lists on its website various projects in which it supplies these countries with telecommunication networks, railway telecoms systems, and digital platforms for businesses.

Security concerns over Huaweis relationship with the Chinese Communist Partyincluding that the companys products could be exploited by Beijing to conduct espionagehas sparked the U.S. administration to warn its allies against cooperating with Huawei in rolling out the next generation (5G) of mobile communications.

Pompeo pointed out that if Hungary were to use Huaweis system, it could hurt U.S. national security. That is, if that [Huawei] equipment is co-located where we have important American systems, it makes it more difficult for us to partner alongside them, he said.

Huawei already provides more than 70 percent of the Hungarian population with mobile telecommunication equipment and services, according to the companys website.

Pompeo delivered the same message to Slovakia and Poland.

Beijings Goals

The 16+1 Initiative is part of Beijing larger flagship foreign-policy project: One Belt, One Road (OBOR). In a five-year plan outlining OBOR goals from 2015-2020, Beijing proposed Warsaw to be the trading center for promoting trade between China and the other central and eastern European nations in 16+1.

China would finance local roads, railways, ports, airports, telecommunications, oil and gas pipelines, and other infrastructure projects. China would also cooperate with the 16 nations in developing the internet of things and big datasectors that the Chinese regime seeks to aggressively develop for its own national interests.

Observers have already seen the effect of Chinas influence in Hungary.

In April 2018, 27 of 28 EU ambassadors jointly released a report criticizing Chinas OBOR for flouting international transparency norms while furthering Chinese interests, according to German business newspaper Handelsblatt. The lone EU country that didnt participate was Hungary.

Huawei

All three countries that Pompeo visited are among Huaweis target markets. Poland, the largest economy in eastern Europe, is the companys most important market for 5G technology.

Huawei was the supplier for two of Polands largest 5G trials, one run by France-based mobile operator Orange-France Telecom, the other run by mobile operator T-Mobile, a subsidiary of the German firm, Deutsche Telekom.

But amid the international uproar over Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhous arrest and fraud charges, Huaweis expansion in Poland hit a snag.

After Polish authorities arrested Huawei executive Wang Weijing, and Orange employee Piotr Durbajlo in January over spying allegations, the companys future in that country seems doomed.

Media reported that Polish officials plan to ban Huawei from the countrys 5G network, while Orange announced in December that it wouldnt use Huawei for its 5G core networks in France.

Experts consider the Huawei ban in Poland a done deal.

Arresting a spy means end of the discussion, Reuters quoted a Polish official as saying on Jan. 24. I think the Chinese will not be present in 5G in Poland.

Grzegorz Malecki, a consultant from Polands Institute of Security and Strategy think tank, also believes the arrest of the Polish Huawei employee is significant.

[The arrest] has the potential to disrupt Polish-Chinese relationsso the reason behind this decision, taken at the highest governmental level, must have been more important than keeping a good relationship with China, Malecki told the Financial Times on Feb. 10.

Meanwhile, Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini told reporters on Jan. 30 that there has yet to be evidence that Huawei poses a security threat.

The politicians should be careful not to become a tool in a trade war or fight between competitors, Pellegrini said, referencing the United States trade dispute with China.Palestinian veterinarian Fayyaz al-Haddad holds the paw of the lioness Falestine after being declawed at the Rafah Zoo in the southern Gaza Strip on Feb. 12, 2019. (Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images)

Pictured: Lion Gets Claws Removed So Visitors Can Play With Her

New pictures show people playing with a lioness after it was declawed, prompting criticism from some.

Animal workers at Rafah Zoo in the Gaza strip blindfolded the lion as a veterinarian clipped off her claws with a pair of shears two weeks ago.

On Feb. 12, the vet sewed up the wounds and clipped the claws down further.

Workers were then photographed playing with the 14-month-old lioness as visitors watched.

Im trying to reduce the aggression of the lioness so it can be friendly with visitors, Mohammed Jumaa, 53, the owner of the zoo, one of the few in Gaza, told AFP.

Fayez al-Haddad, the vet who operated on lioness Falestine, said the procedure was done so visitors could interact directly with the beast.

The claws were cut so that they would not grow fast and visitors and children could play with her, he said. We want to bring smiles and happiness to children while increasing the number of visitors to the park, which suffers from high expenses.

A number of photographs show children watching as adults play with the lioness but none show the children themselves inside the enclosure or playing with her.

At least one child did touch the lioness. Anas Abdel Raheem, 12, said that he played with her. I am happy because I played with the lion and it did not bite me or tear my clothes, he said. My friends saw the pictures I posted on Facebook and WhatsApp.

Animal groups criticized the procedure, saying it wasnt natural.

Warning: Video contains graphic scenes.

https://www.facebook.com/FourPawsUSA/videos/2185599731703969/

For big cats, removing the claws is a particularly vicious procedure, which causes long-lasting damage, a group called Four Paws said in a statement sent to the Daily Mail. Natural behavior, such as grabbing food or climbing, is hardly possible without an animals claws. Since the amputation was not done in a proper vet clinic, the chance of infection is high.

Removing a lions claws is the equivalent of amputating the fingers of a human, the group said, calling the procedure in a Facebook post brutal mutilat[ion].

Four Paws said that the Rafah Zoo, which opened in 1999, should be shut down because of its deplorable conditions, noting that four newborn lions recently froze to death there.

From NTD NewsPresident Donald Trump (R) speaks to Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a state dinner in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Nov. 9, 2017. (THOMAS PETER/AFP/Getty Images)

Party Elders Said to Oppose Chinese Leader Xis Concessions in Trade Negotiations: Hong Kong Media

Party elders within the Chinese regime are opposed to the idea of making concessions to the United States during trade negotiations, a Hong Kong-based website has revealed.

Several information channels confirmed that the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) elders rejected the big concessions that [Chinese leader] Xi Jinping made in Argentina [during his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the G-20 summit], according to a Feb. 8 report by the Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy, which cited insider sources.

Party elders include retired officials who held national-level or vice-national-level roles, including former Party leaders Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao; and former premiers Li Peng, Zhu Rongji, and Wen Jiabao.

The Information Center further cited the sources as saying that Xi couldnt meet Trump before the March 1 trade-negotiation deadline because the Party elders didnt want Xi to make any concessions.

Even the promises that Xi made in Argentina may not be followed through, the sources said.

On Dec. 1, 2018, Xi promised that China would buy more U.S. products, and would label fentanyla deadly synthetic opioid that is often manufactured in China and smuggled into the United Statesa controlled substance. So far, China has resumed the purchase of U.S. soybeans since the G-20 trade truce.

There were previous hints of Party opposition.

On Dec. 18 last year, the CCP organized a conference in Beijing on the 40th anniversary of economic reforms initiated during former leader Deng Xiaopings rule. Xi gave a speech before Party members, attended by top leadership such as Li Keqiang, Wang Yang, and Wang Qishan, but oddly, no Party elders attended.

Ten years ago, when then-Party leader Hu Jintao held a similar conference to commemorate the 30th anniversary of such reforms, former leader Jiang Zemin, as well as retired elites such as Li Peng and Li Ruihuan, participated.

Whether previous leaders attend anniversary conferences is often an indication of how unified the CCP leadership is.

While former leader Jiangwho heads a faction opposed to Xis leadershipdidnt attend Xis speech, Xi did mention Jiang by name, among a list of Party members who contributed to the reform era, hinting that Xi may have incurred pressure not to upset the Jiang faction too much.

Shi Shi, a U.S.-based China affairs commentator, told the Chinese-language Epoch Times that Xi may have arranged the absence of Party elders to silence the opposition and prevent the elders from intervening in his rule.

Dissenting opinions within the Party are also evident in the continued delay of the Fourth Plenary Session of the Partys 19th Central Committee, an important conference where the Party elite decides on upcoming policies, was supposed to be held in autumn of 2018. While an insider told Reuters on Oct. 22 last year that the session would be held in November, it has yet to be held, and no date has been set.

The annual Lianghui, or two sessions of the Partys rubber-stamp legislature and political consultative body, the National Peoples Congress and Political Consultative Conference respectively, will commence next month. Another indication that the Party elite cant reach an agreement over key issues is that the plenary session has not been confirmed, said Epoch Times commentator Zhou Xiaohui. Those issues include the U.S.-China trade war, economic reforms, and officials promotions.

Meanwhile, Chen Pokong, an U.S.-based Chinese author and political commentator, told Voice of America in a Jan. 4 interview that his sources in China have said: [Since the Party amended its constitution in March 2018], the fighting within the Party has exceeded beyond what people can imagine. In some [CCP] meetings, officials are not allowed to take notes.

Wu Qiang, a former political science lecturer at Tsinghua University, told Radio Free Asia on Feb. 8 that Xi could face a political crisis that threatens his authority if he cant make a satisfactory deal with the U.S. before the Lianghui commences March 5.

I believe that those inside and outside of the Congress will doubt seriously Xis authorityThis worst-case scenario is a huge challenge to the Partys rule, Wu said.One of the USs Most Wanted Fugitives Is Believed to be Killed by Officers

The FBI tracked a man they think was one of the countrys Ten Most Wanted Fugitives to a North Carolina motel, where agents shot and killed him on Feb. 13.

The armed suspect was shot to death at a motel in the Raleigh suburb of Apex will be identified by state medical examiners but was believed to be 47-year-old Greg Alyn Carlson, the FBIs North Carolina office said in a news release. Authorities said he was wanted in connection with multiple armed sexual assaults including a burglary and sexual assault in Los Angeles last fall.

An FBI spokeswoman did not respond to messages asking whether the man exchanged gunfire with agents. Apex Police Capt. Mitch McKinney said his officers were contacted after the FBI raid to secure the scene. He said he had no information about the shooting.

Agents approached the room and tried to take Carlson into custody. Following an altercation over a gun, Carlson was shot to death by FBI agents, Paul Delacourt, assistant director of the FBIs Los Angeles office, said in a press conference.

Carlson, who the agency said had been linked by DNA to sexual assaults dating back to 2003, had previously been tracked to South Carolina, Alabama and Florida, the FBI said.

Authorities say Carlson committed a burglary on July 13, 2017, during which he attempted to sexually assault a woman while using a weapon.

In September, he was charged with assault with intent to commit rape, assault with a deadly weapon and burglary, and he was arrested by Los Angeles police.

Carlson posted bond and was released, then fled to Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. The FBI said investigators believe he then left the state in a car with a stolen gun and a significant amount of cash.

He was spotted in Hoover, Alabama, on Nov. 22 and led police on a high-speed chase, but officers called off the pursuit because of danger to the public.

Carlson was then spotted in Florida, first in Jacksonville on Nov. 28 and in Daytona Beach two days after that.

MMA Fighter Who Escapes Prison Van, Police Catches Him Soon After

In another case of criminals running from law enforcement, MMA fighter Cedric Joseph Marks, suspected in two murders, escaped from a prison van near Houston on Feb. 4.

Cedric Joseph Marks escaped from the van Sunday morning when guards with the Texas Prisoner Transportation Service stopped at a McDonalds in Conroe, about 40 miles north of Houston. Two guards in the van were transporting 10 prisoners, the Conroe Police Department said in a statement.

Cedric Marks was taken into custody after a nine-hour manhunt involving multiple law enforcement agencies, Montgomery County sheriffs Lt. Scott Spencer said in a tweet Sunday evening. Marks was found hiding in a trash can and surrendered without incident, Conroe police said on their Facebook page.

Police and the company have not commented on why the van stopped at the fast-food restaurant or how Marks escaped. Authorities have said the 44-year-old middleweight fighter was wearing leg, hand, and belly restraints when he managed to flee.

No guards or other prisoners were injured in the escape, Conroe police Lt. Dorcy McGinnis said Monday.

The search for Marks narrowed after surveillance video showed him near a business in Conroe, McGinnis said. He was found hiding in a trash can in a residential neighborhood less than a mile from the restaurant around 4:45 p.m.about nine hours after he escaped.

A person who answered a phone number listed for Texas Prisoner Transportation Service said Monday that no one was available to comment on the escape. The private company says on its website that all its transportation specialists have a minimum of two years experience in law enforcement, corrections or the military, and that the company treats all detainees as maximum security.

It is not clear which state or local authority contracted the company to transport Marks and the other prisoners.

Marks was being held Monday in the Bell County Jail on charges including capital murder, burglary and violating a protective order, according to online jail records.

He is suspected in the killings last month of his ex-girlfriend, Jenna Scott, and Scotts friend, Michael Swearingin, in the Central Texas city of Temple. Both disappeared on Jan. 4. Their bodies were found Jan. 15 buried in a shallow grave in Clearview, Oklahoma.A man demonstrates a holster at a gun concealed carry permit class put on by USA Firearms Training in Provo, Utah, on Dec. 19, 2015. (George Frey/Getty Images)

Oklahoma House Passes Gun Bill Removing License and Training Requirements

A bill that removes all licensing and training requirements for handgun owners has cleared the State House of Representatives in Oklahoma and is awaiting the governors decision to become law.

If the bill is approved by the governor, Oklahoma will become the 15th state to allow residents to carry firearms without a specific permitsometimes called constitutional carryhot on the heels of South Dakota, which passed legislation to lift restrictions on concealed carry of handguns two weeks ago.

Shortly after the Oklahoma bill passed in a 70-30 vote on Feb. 13, Republican state Gov. Kevin Stitt indicated that he would not be vetoing the bill.

The previous state governor had voted down a similar bill last year.

Under the proposed law, background checks would still be required, and, according to the local newspaper Tulsa World doesnt change where guns are allowed or, for the most part, who can carry them.

What this does is allow, as the Constitution states, that a person can carry a firearm without having to purchase that right, Republican state Rep. Kevin West told reporters, according to Tulsa World. The Constitution clearly states that we have the right to keep and bear arms.

Supporters of the bill said that the cost of training and licensing is an unconstitutional barrier to gun ownership.

The current cost of a 5-year license is $100 for 5 years. The mandatory training courses are available for $60.

West conceded that the bill, HB 2597, is not a pure constitutional carry measure, but was a permitless carry.

The Oklahoma state House is weighted 76-24 in favor of Republicans.

State Rep. Jon Echols (R-Okla.) said the bill actually increases the penalties for carrying them where they are not allowed.

Hypocritical and Plain Wrong

Stitt said in a tweet shortly after the bill was passed, I have said from the very beginning I would sign legislation that places Oklahoma in the ranks with 12 other states allowing Constitutional Carry. HB 2597 received overwhelming support in the House, and I applaud leadership for advancing a measure that supports Oklahomans #2A rights

I have said from the very beginning I would sign legislation that places Okla in the ranks with 12 other states allowing Constitutional Carry. HB 2597 received overwhelming support in the House, & I applaud leadership for advancing a measure that supports Oklahomans #2A rights.  Governor Kevin Stitt (@GovStitt) February 14, 2019

Gun control advocates, along with the state House Democrats said that the bill was hypocritical and plain wrong.

Before the vote, gun control advocates dropped off 2,400 signatures opposing the legislation, reported Fox News.

These are concerned moms all over the state that dont want to take peoples guns away but are very concerned for their children, their loved ones, Lauren Van Allen, with Moms Demand Action, told FOX affiliate KOKH-TV. They believe that if you have a gun, you should be well-trained, you should go through proper procedures just like you would with a car.

In January, South Dakota became the latest state to remove permit requirements on carrying and concealing handgunssomething supporters claim is implicit in the Second Amendment of the Constitution.

The bill was signed into law by Gov. Kristi Noem.

Our Founding Fathers believed so firmly in our right to bear arms that they enshrined it into the Constitution. Tomorrow, I will sign SB47 into law. This constitutional carry legislation will further protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding South Dakotans.  Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) January 30, 2019

The much-debated Second Amendment states: A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The 14 states that currently allow permitless concealed carry are: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Technically, Connecticut requires a concealed carry permit, according to the NRA, but since it generally grants them to all law-abiding citizens it is sometimes included on the list.Not a Wall, but the Down Payment We Need to Build One

Commentary

President Trump is getting the down payment on a border wall that he demanded from Congress, and hes going to make sure that the balance will be paid in full.

The $1.375 billion concession that President Trump just extracted from Democrats for new wall construction will not secure the southern border on its own, but it does represent a significant turning point in the fight.

For well over a month, congressional Democrats stubbornly refused to provide the funds our Border Patrol agents say they need to secure the border with strategically-located barriers. Democrats have built their entire electoral strategy on resisting the President and were deeply reluctant to give him that kind of a win on such a defining issue.

Thats why their capitulation is such a big deal. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi once joked that she would only agree to a single dollar to fund the wall, but now her own party has overruled her by offering nearly 1.4 billion times that amount.

When you buy a house, you put down 10 or 20 percent. What President Trump just got for the border wall is actually closer to 25 percent of the $5.7 billion he asked for at the start of negotiations, enough for 55 miles of brand new wall in addition to improvements to existing sections of the wall.

Its not everything we need to solve the humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border, but its certainly a start, and President Trump deserves all the credit. Every dime allocated for wall construction is directly attributable to the Presidents principled refusal to give in to Democrat obstructionism.

For decades, establishment politicians have been content to kick the can down the road, like they did in 1986 and 1990, when Congress reached agreements to offer amnesty and loosen immigration restrictions in exchange for promises to secure the border that were quickly forgotten.

As a result, American communities are still exposed to an unending flood of illegal drugs smuggled into the country by vicious criminal gangs, American citizens are still being killed by illegal aliens with criminal records, and human traffickers are still exploiting our vulnerable borders to inflict immeasurable suffering on migrants themselves.

That era ended the minute Donald Trump put his foot down and refused to sign a government funding bill that didnt include substantive measures to improve Americas border security. The longest government shutdown in history demonstrated the Presidents resolve beyond a shadow of a doubt, creating the conditions necessary for making the wall a reality.

First, the shutdown made it clear to both parties in Congress that they cant just run down the clock and wait for this issue to go away, because President Trump will never abandon his commitment to the American people that he will end the lawless mess on our border with Mexico.

In fact, the impasse only served to keep border security at the forefront of the national consciousness, denying lawmakers the opportunity to advance their other legislative priorities without taking some kind of concrete action to address illegal immigration.

Second, the Democrats obstructionist strategy showed that they are entirely uninterested in serious solutions on illegal immigration and border security. By squabbling over appropriations amounting to barely 0.01 percent of the federal budget, they showed the entire country that their obstinance has nothing to do with pragmatism, and everything to do with the Partys ideological commitment to mass, unchecked illegal immigration.

These two facts, both of which are now abundantly clear to the American people, will foment the political will to parlay this down payment into a full, paid off wall. Unlike previous efforts to secure the border, this issue will not fade from view so long as President Trump is in office for the next six years. Every funding bill and every major bipartisan negotiation from here on out will have further payments for the wall hanging over it.

Just as importantly, with the Democrats refusal to compromise on full display, the country will understand that the President is entirely justified if Congress forces him to take executive action to secure the remaining funds for the wall.

We finally have the down payment on our wall, but were still a long way from true border security. Donald Trump demonstrated tremendous political courage and an unwavering commitment just to get us to this point, and theres no doubt that hell do whatever it takes to keep the installment payments coming.

Bernard Kerik is a former police commissioner and Department of Correction commissioner in New York City.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.Northern Territory Government Denies Fault Over $10.5M Grant

Northern Territory Treasurer Nicole Manison has denied responsibility for the awarding of a $10 million-plus taxpayer-funded grant to a bottled water company shortly before it went broke.

The NT government has been under pressure in parliament this week to explain why the now defunct Infrastructure Development Fund it set up gave $10.5 million in taxpayer money to the company, NT Beverages.

The grant that was made 12 months ago is being presented in parliament by Opposition Leader Gary Higgins as an example of fiscal mismanagement and why the government is facing a financial crisis.

A report late last year showed the government was borrowing over $1.5 billion this year, or $4 million a day more than its income to meet costs.

Read More Merge of Southern Australia and Northern Territory Proposed Again Amid Financial Crisis

Independent MP and former NT Treasurer Robyn Lambley threatened on Wednesday to take the matter to the NT Independent Commission against Corruption unless Treasurer Ms Manison launched an investigation.

The treasurer conceded the IDF had failed but said her Labor government was merely following through on the previous CLP governments vision for it, which included it making independent decisions.

When it came to NT Beverages, that investment decision was independently made by the independent board (of NT IDF), she told parliament.

It raises some very big questions with regards to some of those decisions that were made there.

Very prominent people sat on that board.

However Ms Manison and NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner have so far refused to investigate or try to recoup the $10.5 million.

The NTs most powerful public servant, chief ministers department CEO Jodie Ryan was on the board of the IDF until it was shut down late last year.

Ms Ryan has blamed fund manager Infrastructure Capital Group (ICG) for the investment decision, which Mr Higgins said in parliament had also received $1.5 million from the government.

Former Labor deputy chief minister Marion Scrymgour said Ms Ryan should resign on Wednesday.

The other directors included chairman and ICG director Les Fallick, former Future Fund managing director Mark Burgess, former Macquarie Bank boss Bill Moss and James Paspaley, the head of the pearling giant Paspaley.

NT Financial Crisis

An independent report released on Dec. 14, 2018, said that NTs net debt is projected to increase tenfold from $3 billion in 2017-2018 to about $35.7 billion by 2029-30 if no action is taken.

The Territory budget is in structural deficit, meaning there is a fundamental imbalance between receipts and expenditures that is not related to one-off or short-term factors, the report said. This problem will persist in the absence of a plan for doing business differently.

The report explained that over the past 20 years, the NT incurred deficits in its budget, which has made it harder to budget and manage debts in the current economic downturn.

When the government came to power in August 2016, the Territory had been enjoying the highest level of untied GST revenue since the GST commenced in 2000-01, the report said.

However, in the following 18 months, encompassing the 2017 and 2018 Budgets, a total of $3.4 billion was wiped off the Territorys share of GST between 2017-18 and 2021-22, without a corresponding reduction in the Territorys expenditure needs.

NT currently receives $4.26 for every GST dollar raised, compared to SA getting $1.47 and WA receiving just $0.47.

The report urged that the government adopt a medium to long-term plan to balance its budget by no later than 2030.

Currently, there is no definitive plan, but the government is seeking public consultation, including input from industry and unions for help to address the issues.

By Greg Roberts. Additional reporting by Mimi Nguyen Ly.National Weather Service Issues Small Dog Warning Due to High Winds

High winds in Ohio and Pennsylvania reached such intensity that the National Weather Service issued an unusual warning telling dog owners to take caution when walking small dogs outside.

The Cleveland branch of the service issued an unofficial small dog warning for pet owners on Feb. 12 amid gusts of up to 50 miles per hour.

The branch told people, Hold on to your pooch!

Wind gusts 45 to 50 mph! A few trees may be blown down. Scattered power outages possible, it added.

Hold on to your Pooch!We have an unofficial Small Dog Warning Wind Advisory for northern #Ohio and NW #Pennsylvania this evening through Wednesday. Wind gusts 45 to 50 mph! A few trees may be blown down. Scattered power outages possible. #OHwx #PAwx #ThisIsCLE #CLEwx #NWS pic.twitter.com/9Az5E991cZ  NWS Cleveland (@NWSCLE) February 12, 2019

Small dogs have been blown away before. Back in 2009, a Chihuahua was picked up by high winds and blown out of sight of the owner, 72-year-old Dorothy Utley.

Joe Goldberg, manager of the Dixieland Flea Market, witnessed what happened.

I saw a flash, he told ABC. It lifted off. Gone.

Tinkerbell, the dog, was found after two days of searching about a mile away in the woods.

We were shocked when we found her, Utley told The Detroit News. You dont know how happy we were. We love her so much.

Its a Bird, Its a Plane, Its a  Chihuahua?!: Michigan couple says high winds blew their dog away from them. http://tinyurl.com/cst4oq  ABC News (@ABC) April 28, 2009

And in January of this year, a Chihuahua was blown into a body of water in England.

Gusts of 30 mph pushed the dog into the water and the dogs 21-year-old owner was unable to reach it. A volunteer swam out and retrieved the puppy.

It was rushed to a vet but did not recover.

The local agency, RNLI, told the BBC that the incident highlighted the potential dangers of walking dogs close to water and said owners should keep their animals on a leash and call for help if a dog does get pushed or fall into water.

Meanwhile, the heavy winds in parts of Ohio continued into Thursday, with wind speeds expected to sustain at 10 to 20 mph with gusts of up to 35 mph expected in the Cleveland area, reported WOIO. A wind advisory was in place until 4 p.m. local time.

While the gusts stayed strong, the weather was warming up with high temperatures in the upper 40s. Rain was expected to hit before dawn on Friday as a cold front moved in and brought a mix of rain and snow or possibly all snow.

The forecast called for freezing temperatures on Friday with wind chills in the 20s, with a dusting of snow expected over the weekend.

Two Sullivan residents wanted by police on animal cruelty charges https://t.co/u6Ut83vWcK pic.twitter.com/lxz0hqQmLk  Times Herald-Record (@recordonline) February 14, 2019

Pit Bulls Found Starved to Death

Two people were arrested by New York State Police troopers on Feb. 13 for alleged animal cruelty.

Troopers found two pit bulls starved to death in a vacant home in Fallsburg along with two cats that were emaciated.

The owners of the pets were identified as Miesha Bentley, 28, and Victoriano Moreira, also 28, both of Loch Sheldrake.

Investigation revealed that Bentley and Moreira agreed to care for the animals after their former owners could not keep the animals because of new apartment regulations, the New York State Police stated. Bentley and Moreira left the residence and left no food or water for the animals. A necropsy of the two pit bulls determined that they died from starvation.

Arrest warrants were issued for the pair, with each charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, a felony, and failure to provide sustenance, a misdemeanor.

From NTD NewsSupreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh attend the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol Building on February 5, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)

Mississippi Advances Abortion Ban After Fetal Heartbeat

Mississippi is working toward enacting one of the strictest abortion laws in the nation, in a race with other states to push a legal challenge to the more conservative U.S. Supreme Court.

The Republican-controlled Mississippi House and Senate passed separate bills Wednesday, Feb. 13, to ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, about six weeks into pregnancy. Efforts to pass similar bills are underway in Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee.

I see in this country that we protect sea turtle eggs and we protect other endangered species of animals with a greater degree of scrutiny and zealousness than we protect a child in the womb, Republican Sen. Angela Hill, a sponsor of the Mississippi bill, said as she fought back tears during a debate.

Anti-abortion legislators and activists believe President Donald Trump has strengthened their cause with his appointments of conservative Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Abortion opponents foresee the possibility that the high court might either reverse Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling establishing a nationwide right to abortion, or uphold specific state laws that would undermine Roe.

Mississippi enacted a law last year to ban abortion after 15 weeks. The only abortion clinic in the state filed a lawsuit and a federal judge declared the law unconstitutional. The state has asked a federal appeals court to overturn the ruling.

The House and Senate must agree on a single version to send to Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, who is in his final year in office. He said he would sign it.

Ive often said I want Mississippi to be the safest place for an unborn child in America, Bryant said Wednesday on Twitter.

This is an election year in Mississippi, with all legislative seats and statewide offices on the ballot.

Other than election-year political pandering, why did you bring this bill to the House of Representatives? Because you know it is going to be overturned by the courts, Democratic Rep. Steve Holland of Plantersville asked the House Public Health Committee chairman, Republican Rep. Sam Mims of McComb.

Mims said that he and some other House members feel strongly that life begins at conception.

In a November 2011 statewide election, Mississippi voters rejected a proposed personhood state constitutional amendment that would have defined life as beginning at fertilization.

The bills advancing Wednesday say abortions could be allowed after a fetal heartbeat is found if a pregnancy endangers a womans life or one of her major bodily functions. Both chambers rejected efforts to allow exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest.

Democratic Rep. Chris Bell of Jackson said an early ban hurts women: Can you imagine one of your loved ones being raped and having a child that looks like the rapist?

Democratic Sen. Deborah Dawkins of Pass Christian said many women may not know they are pregnant by six weeks. She also said a transvaginal probe might be needed to detect whether a woman has passed the cutoff point for abortion to be a legal option.

For a rape victim, a transvaginal ultrasound becomes another intrusion into their already violated body, and there are no provisions for the physician or health care provider to opt out of this invasive medical procedure, Dawkins said. Who thinks it is the role of the Mississippi Legislature to direct medical treatment methods for patients?

An Iowa judge struck down a similar law in that state last month.Manafort Lied to Prosecutors and Breached Plead Deal, Judge Rules

A federal judge in Washington ruled on Feb. 13 that veteran political operative Paul Manafort lied to prosecutors with special counsel Robert Muellers office and violated his cooperation agreement.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled (pdf) that there was enough evidence to show that Manafort lied on three topics, including his communications with his employee Konstantin Kilimnik. Jackson ruled that Manafort did not lie about his contacts with members of the Trump administration and Kilimniks role in an obstruction of justice charge.

The special counsel is investigating allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Mueller has not charged Manafort nor any other person with collusion.

Manafort chaired the Trump campaign for about three months before Trump fired him in August 2016.

While the ruling is split, it will still damage Manaforts chances of a lighter sentence, since Muellers prosecutors are no longer obliged to call for a lighter sentence. Manafort, 69, could face up to a decade in prison, according to sentencing experts.

Manafort lied about his discussions with Kilimnik concerning a Ukrainian peace plan, a proposal that would end U.S. sanctions on Russia. Manafort also lied about sharing polling data from the Trump campaign with Kilimnik.

The judge found that Manafort lied about his interactions with Kilimnik including about the sharing of polling data on the Trump campaign and their discussions over a Ukrainian peace plan, a proposal that envisioned ending U.S. sanctions on Russia.

Manaforts lawyers argued that their client never lied intentionally and underlined that he corrected errors in testimony when they were pointed out to him.

Manafort pleaded guilty in September to several charges unrelated to collusion, specifically money laundering, failing to register as a lobbyist for Ukrainian politicians, and obstruction of justice. In a separate case in Virginia, he faces sentencing for financial crimes, including failing to pay taxes on $16 million of income he earned for political work in Ukraine.

Manaforts lawyers have said he is suffering from depression, anxiety, and gout while in detention awaiting sentencing. Given his age and health issues, Manafort had been in a position to receive some leniency prior to Jacksons ruling, said sentencing expert Mark Allenbaugh.

That is gone now, he said. Manafort will serve a minimum of 10 years imprisonment, maybe more, for both cases.

Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker told lawmakers on Feb. 8 that Muellers investigation is nearly complete.

On Feb. 7, the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said that after interviewing 200 witnesses and reviewing 300,000 documents the committee found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Anonymous sources on the Senate intelligence committee did not dispute Burrs statement. The House intelligence committee also concluded last year that there is no evidence of collusion.

President Donald Trump has consistently criticized the Mueller probe as a witch hunt and a hoax. Trump instead claims that the Clinton campaign colluded with Russia, likely referring to the conclusions of the House intelligence committees investigation, which revealed, among other issues, that the Clinton campaign secretly paid for an opposition research dossier on Trump. The dossier was compiled by a former British spy using sources with ties to the Kremlin. The FBI used the dossier, without due verification, to obtain a surveillance warrant to spy on a former Trump campaign associate.

Reuters contributed to this report.James Harris Jackson in a still from surveillance footage, and his victim Timothy Caughman, 66, in a file photo. (NYPD)

Man Who Killed Another With Sword Sentenced to Life Without Parole

A Maryland man who was convicted of killing another man in New York with a sword was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

James Harris Jackson confessed to the killing, pleading guilty last month to first-degree murder and second-degree murder as an act of terrorism. In New York Supreme Court on Feb. 13, he apologized for killing Timothy Caughman, 66, with a Roman-style sword.

I just wanted to apologize to everyone who has been affected by this horrible and unnecessary tragedy, Jackson told Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Laura Ward, reported amNY. It never should have happened, and if I could do it all over again it never would happen, for sure.

The murder took place in Manhattan in March 2017.

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance attended the sentencing and spoke to the judge, quoting excerpts from a manifesto that Jackson penned that outlined his intentions of triggering a worldwide race war.

The racial World War starts today, Jackson wrote, according to Vance, reported the New York Post. This political terrorist attack is a formal declaration of global total war on the Negro races. They must be exterminated as quickly as possible.

Jackson also said other nations should help with the war because it was a complex logistical task. The manifesto has not been released publicly.

Vance said Jacksons conviction was the first in the state of first-degree murder as an act of terrorism.

White supremacist gets life for killing black man during sword attack https://t.co/4ju595sFcW pic.twitter.com/MvlqkaW3ay  New York Post (@nypost) February 13, 2019

White supremacist gets life for killing black man to start a race war https://t.co/9yqfzjcvbO pic.twitter.com/YVyKDkS7Z7  Reuters Top News (@Reuters) February 14, 2019

In the courtroom, Richard Peek, a cousin of Caughman, also read aloud a letter written by his niece.

Well never be able to share another family moment with Timothy, well never get to say goodbye to our loved one, well never know how much he truly suffered or how alone he felt in his last moments, Peek read. That is our life sentence. We get no parole either.

Jacksons lawyer told reporters after the sentencing that he served with honor alongside and under black people in the Army but a series of setbacks in his life broke him.

He simply could not find direction, said lawyer Fred Sosinsky, reported amNY. Its that type of person who is most susceptible to hate and terror.

A white supremacist from Baltimore killed a black New Yorker with designs on sparking a race war. He was sentenced today to life without parole. https://t.co/FCIMVTVilv  WBAL NewsRadio 1090 and FM 101.5 (@wbalradio) February 13, 2019

A white supremacist who killed a black man with a sword as part of an attack that authorities said was intended to incite a race war has been sentenced to life in prison without parole. https://t.co/N4Ajtc5cxL  AP Eastern US (@APEastRegion) February 13, 2019

Jackson served in the Army from 2009 to 2012 and was deployed to Afghanistan for about a year.

The veteran took a bus from Baltimore to New York City and eventually picked out Caughman, who was collecting bottles, stabbing him in the back and chest and dealing him fatal wounds.

After the killing, Jackson went to the bathroom of a nearby restaurant and washed off the blood.

Investigators told the Baltimore Sun they believe Jackson was thinking about carrying out other attacks but noticed his photograph in media reports and surrendered. He told investigators where they could find the sword.

From NTD NewsPrime Minister Justin Trudeau, at a brief appearance in Sudbury, Ontario, avoided a question about Jody Wilson-Rayboulds resignation on Feb. 13. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

Liberals Agree to Only Limited Hearings on Wilson-Raybould, SNC-Lavalin Controversy

OTTAWALiberals faced accusations of a coverup on Feb. 13 after they agreed to hold limited committee hearings into an allegation that former attorney general Jody WilsonRaybould was improperly pressured to help SNCLavalin avoid criminal prosecution.

Their short list of three proposed witnesses does not include WilsonRaybould, who resigned from cabinet on Feb. 12.

The five Liberal MPs on the House of Commons justice committee used their majority to block an opposition motion that would have seen the committee hear from nine key players in the controversy, including WilsonRaybould, current justice minister David Lametti, clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick, and senior aides in the Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus office, including chief of staff Katie Telford and principal secretary Gerald Butts.

The Liberals approved instead their own motion, which called on the committee to hear from just Lametti, Wernick, and the deputy justice ministeralthough more could be added next week after getting legal advice, behind closed doors, on what steps the committee needs to take to avoid interfering with two ongoing court cases involving SNCLavalin. The Montreal engineering giant has been charged with bribery and corruption involving contracts in Libya.

The Liberals defeated an attempt by New Democrat MP Nathan Cullen to strike a compromise of six witnesses, adding Butts and two other senior PMO aides who were heavily involved in the SNCLavalin file.

They also defeated a Conservative motion calling on Trudeau to immediately waive solicitorclient privilege, which WilsonRaybould has cited as preventing her from commenting on the allegation.

The Liberal motion calls on the committee to study the legal principles at the root of the controversyincluding the recently added Criminal Code provision that made it legal to negotiate remediation agreements in cases of corporate corruption, a form of plea bargain in which a company pays restitution, but avoids criminal prosecution that could bankrupt it.

The motion also included looking at the socalled Shawcross doctrine, which spells out the degree to which an attorney general may consult with cabinet colleagues about a prosecution.

That is not an investigation, that is simply going through the motions, Cullen said after the meeting, accusing the Liberals of battening down the hatches to prevent any truth from coming to light.

Liberals seem to think that this should be just a sort of study group, a book club to look at all sorts of interesting ideas about the law rather than the scandal thats right in front of Canadians.

Conservative MP Michael Cooper said the Liberals motion is part of a coverup and an attempt at creating a diversion with lengthy hearings on legal principles.

At the end of the day, this is really not that complicated. This is about the fact that certain officials in the PMO were alleged to have put pressure on the former attorney general to interfere in a criminal investigation, nothing more, nothing less  The Liberals arent interested in that. Theyre interested in covering this up.

Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault, who proposed the successful motion, defended the Liberals refusal to call WilsonRaybould to hear her side of the story. He said shes bound by a rule that prohibits a former minister from commenting on her previous portfolio and by solicitorclient privilege, noting that WilsonRaybould has hired a former Supreme Court justice to advise her on what she can say.

I think its important for Ms. WilsonRaybould to speak to Canadians on her own terms. It doesnt need to be something we do here at the justice committee, he said.

Trudeau, meanwhile, was sticking to his message that WilsonRaybould had a duty to speak up months ago if she had concerns about the way the government was handling the SNCLavalin case.

At a short appearance in Sudbury, Ont., Trudeau dodged a question about what reason WilsonRaybould gave about why she resigned from cabinet, leaving the microphone rather than answering.

WilsonRaybould was demoted to the veterans affairs post in a January cabinet shuffle. A Globe and Mail report, attributed to unnamed sources, last week alleged the PMO leaned on her to instruct the director of public prosecutions to negotiate a remediation agreement with SNCLavalin.

Trudeau has denied any improper pressure was put on WilsonRaybould and maintains she never mentioned any concern about that to him.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, who is touring New Brunswick, accused Trudeau of trying to paint himself as the victim in all of this, while publicly impugning [WilsonRayboulds] character in a way that prevents her from speaking for herself.

Federal ethics commissioner Mario Dion has initiated his own investigation into the matter, specifically whether theres been a violation of the Conflict of Interest Act.Kentucky Students Lobby for Protection of Free Speech

Student leaders from a group of taxpayer-funded Kentucky universities are urging state lawmakers to approve legislation to protect free speech on campus from administrators who inhibit free expression of ideas.

The students say state law needs to protect students from oppressive speech codes on campus, traditionally a place of learning and open discussion, that limit what they can say and violate their constitutional rights. Legislation defending free expression on campus is currently pending in the Iowa legislature.

In the letter sent Feb. 1 to four Kentucky state lawmakers, student leaders at the University of Louisville, University of Kentucky, Northern Kentucky University, Western Kentucky University, and Murray State University, asked the legislators to advance important campus free speech legislation aimed at safeguarding students First Amendment rights.

The letter was signed by 18 student leaders, including representatives of College Republicans, Young Americans for Liberty, and the Council on Post-Secondary Education.

Across the country, speech codes have been used against students of all parts of the political spectrum, the letter reads.

They have been used against students protesting capitalism and the National Security Agency. They have been used to silence students who wanted to advocate for gun rights and even First Amendment rights. They have been used against students who wanted to distribute copies of the U.S. Constitution on multiple campuses.

The students are advocating for bill SB 237, the proposed Campus Free Speech Protection Act, which they say was designed to prohibit public colleges and universities from limiting speech and expressive activity with unconstitutional speech codes, including policies that impose unconstitutionally restrictive free speech zones, according to a report by Campus Reform.

The Kentucky Senate passed SB 237 with significant bipartisan support, the letter states, but the House Education Committee failed to take action on the bill.

The free-speech advocacy organization, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), looked at eight public colleges in Kentucky and determined that only one had policies fully consistent with the First Amendment.

State Rep. Savannah Maddox (R) reportedly said she introduced her own bill, HB 254 or the proposed Campus Free Speech Act, a few days after she received the letter from the students.

Freedom of speech is the bedrock of individual liberty, and one of the most fundamental protections afforded within the Constitution, she said. Her bill was filed in an effort to ensure that this protection is preserved and promulgated at Kentuckys public universities.

Conservatives and more than a few liberals have long complained that U.S. college and university campuses arent the bastions of free speech that they used to be.

With the rise of political correctness, critics say a progressive paternalism has taken hold in university campuses, which in recent decades have become hostile to free speech. Instead of introducing new ideas to students, challenging their preconceived notions and letting them develop on their own intellectually, universities have tried to indoctrinate students and push a left-wing social justice agenda, critics say.

Ideas thought of as conservative have been shunned and those who utter them have been ostracized, and in some cases, punished. Conservative speakers have been jeered, silenced, and physically assaulted, sometimes with university police on the scene refusing to act. Even more moderate left-of-center thinkers have been attacked for not toeing the more radical progressive or neo-Marxist line on campus.

Campus administrations have been waging simultaneous wars on pronouns (and they have invented new pronouns), so-called microaggressions, and examples of cultural appropriation. They have insisted that trigger-warnings be provided in advance in case students might be offended by controversial or upsetting subject matter. They have provided what they call safe spaces, which have been defined as places intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, actions, ideas, or conversations.

But student activism against speech codes appears to be gradually paying off.

FIRE reports that on a nationwide basis speech codes are in retreat.

Although far too many colleges across the country fail to live up to their free speech obligations in policy and in practice, universities are gradually coming closer to embracing free expression on campus. This year, 28.5 percent of colleges surveyed maintain at least one severely restrictive policy that earns FIREs worst, red light rating, meaning that it both clearly and substantially restricts protected speech, but this is down from the 32.3 percent level from last year.Jayme Closs, 13, right, with her aunt Jennifer Smith, in a photograph taken one day after Closs escaped from captivity in Gordon, Wis., on Jan. 11, 2019. (Jennifer Smith)

Jayme Closs Thanks Supporters for Slew of Gifts, Donations

The 13-year-old Wisconsin girl who was held captive for 88 days before escaping while her kidnapper was out, thanked supporters for the numerous gifts and donations shes received.

Jayme Closss case attracted nationwide attention after police officers arrived at her familys home in Barron on Oct. 13, 2018, to find her parents shot dead and the girl missing. She wasnt found until she fled her captor on Jan. 10.

In a statement, Jaymes guardian wrote that Jayme and her family wish to extend their deepest gratitude for the incredible gifts and generous donations that she has received from all over the country and around the world.

Jayme greatly appreciates each and every gift, as well as the many cards and letters. The many kind words have been a source of great comfort to her, they added.

Packages from across the country have been arriving at the new home of Jayme, who is living with her aunt Jennifer Smith since her parents are dead.

Among the packages have been cash donations and gift cards. Everything is screened by the Barron County Sheriffs Office before being delivered to Jayme, according to Fox 9.

Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said that a homemade gift even arrived recently from Italy.

In one picture, approximately 20 packages are seen piled on a couch and a table inside Jaymes new house.

Packages piling up for #JaymeCloss in Barron. Organizers tell me gifts have been sent from all over. Cash donations, gift cards also coming in steadily. Still no official word on what FBI will do w/ the $50k reward though I have heard from many who feel it should go to Jayme. pic.twitter.com/sxVnsBatip  Paul Blume (@PaulBlume_FOX9) January 17, 2019

In addition to the packages, a fundraiser through the Closs family account at Sterling Bank was launched after Jayme was returned safe, while two others, one on GoFundMe and one on Facebook, have garnered over $50,000 each.

Angela De Andriano, one of Jaymes cousins, who started the GoFundMe fundraiser, said that shes increased the goal twice at the request of donors.

Each time I get close to a goal I have just like an overload of messages coming in, This isnt going to close is it? We would like to help.' De Andriano told Wisconsin Public Radio. And Im like, OK, nope it doesnt just close. You can go ahead and go on there and Ill just keep adjusting it.'

The donations ebb and flow but seem to spike when a new facet of Jaymes story is reported on.

Theres a lot of people out there that want to help and that are really concerned and following along as these hearings begin, and I think that Jayme has a lot of support from all over the world, De Andriano said.

On the fundraiser page, De Andriano said that the money would be directly delivered to the family.

Our family is working very hard to help out in any way possible. Whether it be that they use these dollars toward medical appointments, general care, or any other basic needs Jayme may have going forward; every dollar is a blessing, she wrote.

A recent picture showed Jayme enjoying a steak lunch with her grandfather with both smiling for the camera.

Robert Naiberg, the grandfather, said a few days after the escape that his granddaughter was good spirits.

Shes doing exceptionally well for what she went through, Naiberg said. Shes in exceptionally good spirits.

In the first picture shared after Jaymes escape, she was seen with her dog, Molly, and her aunt Jennifer Smith.

Jake Patterson, who authorities said admitted to kidnapping Jayme after killing her parents, was arrested shortly after Jayme escaped and is currently being held on charges of kidnapping and intentional homicide.

Patterson is expected to be arraigned on March 27, where he will enter a plea.

From NTD NewsFalun Dafa practitioners are shown in Masanjia labour camp watching a video meant to re-educate them during a propaganda tour arranged by the camp authorities on May 22, 2001. One of the tortures used on the practitioners involves handcuffing them awkwardly between bunk beds, and then yanking the beds apart, causing excruciating pain. (AP Photo/John Leicester)

Horrors of Chinese Torture Methods

With reports of psychological torture used against detained Canadians, The Epoch Times looks at the Chinese regimes use of torture

Editors note: The Epoch Times is publishing a number of articles exposing the use of torture by the Chinese regime against the groups it targets, and the suffering and harm it causes to those subjected to it.

TORONTOAlmost three years before Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained by Chinese authorities, Swedish activist Peter Dahlin suffered a similar ordeal in China.

The co-founder of China Action, an NGO that supported human rights lawyers in China, Dahlin was detained in Beijing in early January 2016, kept in captivity for 23 days, and subjected to intense interrogation.

Based on his own experience, Dahlin says Kovrigwho, like him, was captured in Beijingis likely being held in the same facility as he was: a four-storey, two-winged secret prison in the southern part of the city. Spavor, who is based in Northeast China, is probably being held in a different facility.

Both men were detained on what Beijing claims are charges of endangering national security, shortly after Canada arrested Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou on an extradition request from the United States.

[Kovrig] might even have the same two lead interrogators as I did, as it is not so common to have foreigners kept in these facilities, Dahlin told The Epoch Times.

He guesses Kovrigs days in custody are spent being grilled for hours by a good cop-bad cop interrogation duo across from his suicide-padded cell, with the sessions often going late into the night to ensure he doesnt get proper sleep.

When not in interrogation he will be in his cell, accompanied by two guards who keep a record of even his slightest move, such as turning over in bed, Dahlin adds.

The heavy curtains will likely be pulled over the window, so he will have no idea of time really, and lights are always on in his cell. The guards will watch closely, whether he is allowed to shower, which is rare, or use the bathroom. Its uncomfortable, but you get used to it rather quickly actually.

Kovrig and Spavor are allowed only limited access to Canadian consular officials and have been denied legal representation.

There have also been reports that the lights are kept on in their cells day and night, which is a form of torture in terms of sleep deprivation, said Farida Deif, Canada director at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Dahlin says in his case, besides being denied sleep, he was also threatened with a life sentence.

However, as bad as this mental torture may be, Dahlin says, the two Canadians have it much better than most held in these facilities who are not foreigners.

According to Patrick Poon, the Hong Kong-based China researcher at Amnesty International, people detained in China are often exposed to various kinds of torture and mistreatment.

Poon said Amnesty has received reports of detainees suffering beatings that go on for hours, or being tied tightly in a painful position on a tiger bench for long periods of time.

Forcing a person into such a position while being tied for such a long time can make the persons limbs suffer various kinds of injuries, he said.

When it comes to groups targeted by the Chinese regime for persecution, including Falun Dafa adherents, Uyghur Muslims, Tibetans, and others, the regime uses different kinds of methods to apply pressure, Poon adds. One example he cites is the so-called re-education centres, which are more like brainwashing centreswhere prisoners of conscience are exposed to various kinds of abuse.

Persecution and Torture

According to HRWs Deif, the Chinese regime uses any means at its disposal to silence anyone who is outside of being a blind supporter of the Chinese Communist Party.

Joel Chipkar, a Toronto-based spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Information Centre, said according to reports they receive, Falun Dafa adherents detained in China are tortured in a variety of ways, including being force-fed psychotropic drugs, sexual abuse including repeated rape, being tied in painful positions for days, being starved, being stripped naked and put outside in freezing cold for hours, and being shocked with electric batons, to name a few. In some cases, these prisoners of conscience even die due to torture, he said.

Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a meditation exercise based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. After it was made public in 1992, between 70 million to 100 million people took up the practice, according to Chinese government figures. However, this large following became a source of concern for then-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Jiang Zemin, who launched a large-scale persecution against the practice in 1999.

Chipkar said Falun Dafa adherents are persecuted because they want to protect their freedom to believe in their principles and practice their faith. He said since the CCP is atheist, they want to force adherents to renounce their faith.

The persecution of Falun Gong is so crazy that all a detained practitioner has to do is sign a piece of paper saying that hes not going to practice his faith any longer and hes allowed to go home. Its completely bizarre, he said.

Louisa Greve, a Washington-based director of external affairs for the Uyghur Human Rights Project, lists a number of abusive methods used against Uyghurs in custody, including beatings; death under torture has occurred in many cases.

Greve notes its important to recognize the psychological torture endured by the Uyghur Muslim minority group. It is a form of torture and spiritual harm to force Muslims to eat pork, for example, she said.

State kidnapping of children and keeping them forever is also a form of torture for the children and the parents and grandparents, she added.

A 2017 U.S. Department of State report says Chinese law prohibits physical abuse and mistreatment of detainees. However, the report notes, numerous people have reported being tortured while in custody in China.

Members of the minority Uighur ethnic group reported systematic torture and other degrading treatment by law enforcement officers and the penal system, the report says. Practitioners of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement reported systematic torture more often than other groups.

A 2015 Amnesty International report titled No End in Sight: Torture and Forced Confessions in China notes that use of torture in China remains rampant.

Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (other ill-treatment) have long been prevalent in all situations where authorities deprive individuals of their liberty in China, the report said.(L) Senator Pauline Hanson in the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Nov. 27, 2018. (Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images) (R) Senator Brian Burston addressing the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Nov. 28, 2017. (Michael Masters/Getty Images)

Hanson Savages Senator Over Physical Clash

Pauline Hanson says United Australia Party senator Brian Burston needs to get some anger management after trading verbal barbs and fisticuffs with her chief of staff.

The ugly physical clash occurred outside a formal dinner at Parliament House, just hours after Senator Burston and the One Nation leader accused each other of sexual misconduct.

I think its retaliation and its a shame this is happening in parliament, Senator Hanson told reporters in Canberra on Feb. 14. He really needs to go and get some anger management.

Bill Shorten said One Nation was once again descending into chaos.

It would be comic-except its not-its violence and unparliamentary conduct, the Labor leader told reporters.

Earlier, Ms Hanson laughed off claims she sexually harassed Senator Burston, who spectacularly left One Nation last year, saying: Im not that desperate.

But it was no laughing matter when Senator Burston came toe-to-toe with her adviser James Ashby on Wednesday night.

Senator Burston claims Mr Ashby approached him as he and his wife were leaving a function.

He claims he was injured when he tried to grab a phone Mr Ashby was waving in his face.

I told him to [expletive] off, Senator Burston told News Corp.

I lost it. I grabbed him and I pushed him up against the wall.

Senator Burston reported the incident to Australian Federal Police and supplied a photograph of his bloodied hand to News Corp.

Images later published elsewhere appear to show Senator Hansons office door smeared with streaks of blood.

The furore erupted after Senator Hanson on Tuesday night used parliamentary privilege to accuse an unnamed senator of sexually harassing at least six staff.

Senator Burston outed himself as the mystery alleged culprit, telling News Corp it was [expletive], going on to claim he left One Nation after being sexually harassed by Senator Hanson.

Right back when we had our first One Nation AGM at the Rooty Hill RSL (in Sydney in 1998), that was the first time she hit on me, he said.

He claimed Senator Hanson had once rubbed her fingers up my spine while listening to the national anthem and propositioned him after he was elected in 2016 at her home in Queensland and in Canberra.

I cant stop laughing about it, Senator Hanson told Sky News.

I might be 64  but I tell you what, Im not that desperate.

Mr Ashby claimed he was taking pictures of his boss leaving the function when Senator Burston attacked him.

Senator-staffer fight under investigation

Senate President Scott Ryan has launched an urgent investigation into an ugly fight between United Australia Party senator Brian Burston and Pauline Hansons chief of staff.

Senator Ryan has spoken to House of Representatives Speaker Tony Smith about the physical clash between Senator Burston and James Ashby outside a dinner at Parliament House on Wednesday.

We will be looking into this matter as a matter of urgency. We both regard this as a grave matter, Senator Ryan told parliament on Thursday.

The Senate president said if he didnt report back to parliament on Thursday for legal reasons, he would aim to address an estimates hearing on Monday.

At this stage I have received no formal information on it but we will be chasing this up in the course of this morning and I plan to speak to senators involved, Senator Ryan said.

He said a range of issues were raised by the incident including the use of media, assault claims, and potential privileges concerns around senators being prevented from going about their business.

Mr Ashby filmed Senator Burston in the lead-up to the altercation, which left the One Nation defector with a bandaged hand when he arrived at work on Thursday.

Images appear to show Senator Hansons office door smeared with streaks of blood.Half of Texas Rally Registrants Were Democrats, Trump Campaign Manager Says

President Donald Trumps rally in El Paso, Texas, on Feb. 12 drew the highest number of Democrats at any of the presidents campaign events since the 2016 election, according to Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale..

Out of the roughly 30,000 people who had registered online, 50 percent were Democrats, 25 percent were swing voters, and the remaining 25 percent were Republicans, according to RNC data. When registering, people submitted a phone number, which was used to match the person with party voting data.

Figures also revealed that an estimated 70 percent of attendees were Hispanic. The Feb. 12 rallyTrumps big push for a physical barrier along the U.S.Mexico borderwas held at The El Paso County Coliseum, which holds around 8,000 people. Tens of thousands were outside the arena, watching the event on screens.

The rally was the seventh event that Trump had held in Texas, and his first in El Paso since announcing his candidacy. It was a signature campaign-style rallyhis first since the November midterm electionsonly the Promises Made, Promises Kept banners had given way to banners reading Finish the Wall.

Latino support of the president has been something thats been overlooked, Parscale said. One key statistic was that two-thirds of all attendees had only voted in two or fewer of the past four presidential elections.

The El Paso rally had thousands of people from New Mexico The lefts narrative isnt working, Latinos support @realDonaldTrump in epic numbers, he said on Twitter.

The El Paso rally had thousands of people from New Mexico. 70% Hispanic. 50% Democrat. 25% Independent. 25% Republican. 25% Didnt vote in 2016. The lefts narrative isnt working, Latinos support @realDonaldTrump in epic numbers. https://t.co/UZYF6c8iud  Brad Parscale (@parscale) February 14, 2019

In subsequent posts, Parscale responded to some media reports that suggested only 6,500 people were inside the venue for the rally. Some also questioned the numbers outside.

I saw the clicker. 7950 people were inside the arena. 6500 seats, 1500 on the floor, he said.

We scan every ticket that came into El Paso. We know exactly who came in. My data is n=30968. This is a giant sample and shows New Mexico is in play for 2020.

#FakeNews We scan every ticket that came into El Paso. We know exactly who came in. My data is n=30968. This is a giant sample and shows New Mexico is in play for 2020. https://t.co/BQ2fdzObR7  Brad Parscale (@parscale) February 14, 2019

During the rally, Trump cited El Paso as a prime example of the success of border fencing, as the crime rate went down after the barrier was erected there. Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, sits across the border and has high levels of violence.

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.

Parscale told Axios on Feb. 14 that the data shows Trump is building a coalition that extends far beyond the traditional Republican base.

Latino Numbers Up

Trumps approval rating among Latinos shot up by 19 points, according to the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released in January.

The poll, conducted from Jan. 10 to Jan. 13, found that 50 percent of Latinos surveyed approve of the job Trump is doing. The same poll, conducted in December, showed the approval rating at 31 percent. Pollsters surveyed 1,023 adults by phone in the latest one.

Trump said the surveys findings reflect how important the wall is to Hispanics.

Wow, just heard that my poll numbers with Hispanics has gone up 19%, to 50%, he said on Twitter. That is because they know the Border issue better than anyone, and they want Security, which can only be gotten with a Wall.

A mid-October survey by the same pollsters in 2018 found only 27 percent approval among Latino voters. The surge came in the midst of the partial shutdown that began late December and indicates that Trumps Latino base strongly supports the construction of a border wall.The Google logo at the company's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo File)

Google to Invest $13 Billion in New US Offices, Data Centers

SAN FRANCISCOGoogle plans to invest more than $13 billion this year on new and expanded data centers and offices across the United States.

CEO Sundar Pichai announced the news in a blog post on Feb. 13, emphasizing the companys growth outside its Mountain View, California, home and across the Midwest and South.

2019 marks the second year in a row well be growing faster outside of the (San Francisco) Bay Area than in it, he wrote.

Google will build new data centers in Nevada, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, and Virginia. Pichai estimated the construction of the new centers will employ 10,000 workers.

Today were announcing that Google will be investing $13 billion in offices and data centers in the US this year. With this new investment, well now have a home in 24 total states, including data centers in 13 communities. https://t.co/IPZJNPXp5l  Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) February 13, 2019

It makes good political sense for Google to highlight its expansions outside coastal cities, said Center For Research and Analysis (CFRA) Research analyst Scott Kessler. United States legislators have paid increasing attention to Google and other big tech companies in the past year, and are considering passing privacy laws to regulate the companies reach.

Investing more widely across the United States could help it curry favor with federal politicians and officials, he said.

Google is focused on expanding its cloud-computing business, a market where it faces stiff competition from larger rivals Amazon and Microsoft.

The company will have a physical presence in 24 states by the end of the year. It currently has locations in 21 states, and is expanding into Nevada, Ohio, and Nebraska.

Google to invest $13 billion in new US data centers, offices https://t.co/mUbLXrrg3E by @stephcondoncbs  ZDNet (@ZDNet) February 13, 2019

Its expansion is likely also a way to attract new employees, Kessler said. Google will add an office in Georgia, and expand its offices in several cities including in Seattle and Chicago.

Google said it spent more than $9 billion on similar expansions across the country last year.

Google did not give an exact number of employees it expects to hire as a result of the 2019 expansions, but said it would be tens of thousands of full-time workers.

Google Opens New Office in Berlin With Eye on Expansion

BERLINAmerican tech giant Google has opened a new office in Berlin that it says will give it the space to expand in the German capital.

CEO Sundar Pichai said Jan. 22 the space means Google could more than double the number of Berlin employees to 300. Google currently has 1,400 employees in Germany.

Pichai says the city has long been a capital of culture and media. Now its also home to a fast-growing startup scene and an engine for innovation.

Thrilled to celebrate the opening of our new #Berlin office! (And shout out to Berlin-based artist Roman Lipski for his cool mural created with the help of #AI) pic.twitter.com/EKH797cMEK  Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) January 22, 2019

Google has faced regulatory headwinds in Europe, and was fined $57 million (50 million euros) in France, on Jan. 21, for alleged violations of European data privacy rules.

Google Central Europe vice president Philipp Justus didnt directly address the fine, but said Googles committed to transparency and clarity on what data is collected and how its used.George Washington and the Red Pill

Commentary

A description of George Washingtons transformation from gentleman planter to revolutionary patriarch of a nation could be a real-life template for Neo, the protagonist of The Matrix and a character likewise awakening to his seminal role as a revolutionary agent of liberty, after swallowing a red pill.

Washington, as an ambitious young man and Virginian gentleman, had sipped the sweetness of colonial lifedespite the vine of tyranny sending out ever more encompassing and invasive tendrils to imperceptibly envelop the unfettered trellis of liberty that Virginians had constructed for themselves.

In retrospect, it was an idyllic state, so like the intended Providence for men as to be almost dream-like.

Then, as liberty began to recede under the weight of tyranny, clutched by tendrils of taxation, legal bindings, and the exertions of monarchical force upon people of the coloniesup to and including the corruption of blooda maturing Washington began to awaken, through circumstance and the shared counsel of his contemporaries, to his part in casting off tyranny, to restore and secure the blessings of liberty for the budding nation and its posterity.

Thus, reluctantly, did Washington come to find himself, over the course of events in the dire, dark, and despairing winter of 1776, huddling with men in the field in some of the worst winter snow and bitter cold on record for the nation. Absent of sufficient rations, medicine, supplies, arms, treasure, comfort, or numbers, they clung tenuously to the shore of hope along the frozen western bank of the ice-caked Delaware River.

Celebrated patriot Thomas Paine, who had followed these American revolutionaries across their New Jersey retreat, famously wrote, These are the times that try mens souls.

Reeling from discouraging defeats, with the sour taste of retreat and even treason sharp on his tongue, while the Continental Congress bickered over particulars, while the remnants of the Continental Army withered by the hour in the depths of privation, with enlistments about to run out, and while American liberty itself hung precariously in the balance, an impulse began to emerge from deep within Washingtons breast.

In the lonely hours of the commander in chiefs greatest need, a primordial compulsion, innate and unyielding, unbidden yet familiar and universal to all men, arose to compel him to action: the intrinsic impulse to freedom.

Against all convention, against all odds, and even against much sober counsel, Washington would act.

With Washington in the vanguard, the revolutionaries crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night, in daunting, frightful conditions, to crush the monarchs hessian mercenaries garrisoned at Trenton the next morning.

A thousand of the enemy were captured, injured, or killed.

Full consummation of Washingtons impulse was near at hand, and the light of liberty once again began to flicker a little more brightly over the land. The general grew anxious to extend the moments initiative to full advantage.

The day before New Years Eve, he again crossed the Delaware from the westin even more desperate conditionsand issued a proclamation at Trenton that the Continental Army had returned, calling on the whole of the people to rise up against the enemy and drive them from the land. So it was on Jan. 3, 1777, that 1,500 continentals met a proportionate number of the enemy at Princeton.

The fighting became general, as the monarchs minions fought with the resolve of battle-hardened troops.

At a critical moment, an American brigadier was mortally wounded and his commanddespite reinforcement from militiawavered and fell back.

If liberty were not to be extinguished in America, there must appear someone nowright nowto redeem her.

Anyone who believes the affairs of mankind do not hinge upon the greatness of men has not long considered the achievements of George Washington.

On white horse, Washington galloped forward at the head of most of his men.

The Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union described what passed next: Amidst the flying musket balls Washington coolly assured his soldiers, Parade with us my brave fellows! There is but a handful of the enemy and we shall have them directly! Washington then led the militiamen forward to the front. He at one point was only 30 yards from the British lineeasy musket range.

One of Washingtons officers reportedly pulled his hat over his eyes, expecting to see the general shot from the saddle at any moment. Despite his proximity, Washington remained uninjured and his galvanizing presence stabilized the American line at a critical moment in the battle. Soon Washington, along with fresh reinforcements, [was] chasing the remnants of the enemys broken force through the fields and woods.

Washington biographer Harrison Clark described it thus: Washington himself came up with the greater part of his men. Charging ahead on his horse he rallied the Americans, telling them to hold their fire. The enemy shot first and there was a great cloud of smoke around the general. Then Washington called the order to charge and fire and the British lines broke. Washington and his cavalry pursued them, while others chased the enemy as far as four miles on foot.

Washington charged to the frontperhaps intuitively, perhaps consciouslyin realization of the moment of sacred conviction, the crucible test when a man girds up his loins to throw into the balance everything he ever had or can have, including every sinew and fiber of his being, at the cost of even his very life. In the close press of duty, renouncing without qualm or compunction that sweetness of partaking in family, friends, in even liberty itself, Washington committed himself resolutely to the course.

This decisive instant was Washingtons point of no return, his swallowed red pillthe selfless moment of his perfection as a man, as a patriot, as a leader; the moment of his sublime, solemn consummation. From this point forward, there would be no looking back.

George Washington was all in.

Soon enough, the creators gift of liberty to all people had been secured again for a time in America, and in that reality lay hope for all the world.

Later, after the dust of battle and the travail of years and precedent in consolidating a government of the people, by the people, and for the people had long settled in the new United States, a matured and reflective Washington gave us his final, priceless gift.

Solicitous as ever for the welfare of fellow citizens and for their posterity, Washington favored us with his hard-won wisdom and paternal counsel in his timeless Farewell Address To The People of The United States. It stands alongside the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, forming the seminal trinity of American political letters.

We ignore its sage dictums at our eternal peril.

Trajectory of awakening consummated, Washington passed from this earthly realm in 1799 as the venerated father of a grateful nation and the protector of liberty in America, taking his place among the immortal champions of the pantheon of freedom.

Citizens, should we each, in turn, fulfill the restored promise of liberty in our own trajectories, freedom shall ever live upon this earth.

Philip E. Brooks is an American writer, speaker, award-winning pilot, filmmaker, investigator, designer, and entrepreneur. He advocates for the return of George Washingtons Farewell Address To The People of The United States to public view. His great-grandfather, Joseph Woodell, was a first lieutenant in Gen. Washingtons revolutionary Continental Army in the Virginia campaigns of 1781. Brooks serves now in the Ministry of the Doers of the Word Baptist Church of Newbury, Ohio.



Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.Fusion GPSs Glenn Simpson: The Man Who Is Everywhere

Commentary

In the Spygate scandal that the country has been watching unfold for the past two years, theres one person who keeps surfacing: Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson.

Hes one of three former Wall Street Journal reporters who co-founded the political operative firm Fusion GPS in 2011. Along with Peter Fritsch and Thomas Catan, Simpson created the firm that keeps popping up in the most unexpected places.

To briefly sum up how Simpson and his Fusion GPS operatives were involved in every step of the Spygate scandal:

 Prior to Donald Trump winning the 2016 Republican nomination to run for president, the Washington Free Beacon was paying Fusion GPS for opposition research into Trump and several other GOP nominees. Once Trump secured the nomination, the Free Beacon dropped its contract with Fusion and had no further involvement.

 The Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) then stepped in and hired Fusion GPS to continue its opposition research into Trump. Its at this point that Simpson hired retired British MI6 agent Christopher Steele, who began compiling his dossier. To hide the relationship between the Clinton campaign, the DNC, and Fusion GPS, the money to pay for this activity was laundered through the Perkins Coie law firm.

 Simpson and Steele then established contact with both Justice Department (DOJ) and FBI officials, along with several media outlets, and, on behalf of the Clinton campaign, began presenting evidence that supposedly showed that Trump secretly colluded with the Russian government. Media outlets published articles that placed several Trump people under suspicion of being compromised or agents of the Russians, and the FBI began investigations into these targets.

 In July 2016, just prior to and then again immediately after the meeting at Trump Tower between representatives of the Trump campaignDonald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushnerand Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin, Simpson met with Veselnitskaya. This wasnt disclosed until he testified to Congress in 2018. It increasingly appeared that this meeting was an attempt by Fusion GPS operatives to set up the Trump campaign.

 Shortly before the 2016 election, the FBI made a show of disassociating itself from Fusion GPS, yet quickly created a secret back channel to the firm through top DOJ official Bruce Ohr, so that Simpson and Steele could continue feeding the FBI evidence for its Trump-related investigations.

And now? In the latest exciting installment of Where in The World Is Glenn Simpson? he turned up at a security conference in Colorado in 2018 chatting with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). At the time, Schiff was the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, and now, thanks to the Democrats winning control of the House in last years midterm elections, hes chairman of that committee.

Reporter John Solomon of The Hill stated in his Feb. 7 column that he was shown pictures of Schiff and Simpson talking together last July at the annual Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. What makes this meeting stand out is that Simpson was a key witness before Schiffs intelligence committee and other congressional panels, testifying in November 2017 and again in October 2018. As Solomon wrote in his report, theres no evidence that Schiff disclosed this contact with this key witness to the other members of the House Intelligence Committee.

It must be remembered that Schiff was among the most vocal in Congress in calling for former Attorney General Jeff Sessions to be investigated for Russian collusion because he failed to disclose hed had a brief chat with then-Russian ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak in a room full of hundreds of people at the Mayflower Hotel.

Schiff also called for then-Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) to be recused and investigated for not immediately disclosing to the committee information that he was shown about illegal unmasking of intelligence intercepts related to the Trump transition team in March 2017. Nunes opted to share that information with the White House first, and he was subsequently recused from the House committee and investigated for doing that. The investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing and he returned to chair the committee.

Now, serious questions have been raised about Schiff since he met with a key witness and failed to disclose it. Both men related, through spokesmen, that they had discussed nothing of any consequence when they met briefly by chance at the Aspen conference.

Didnt Sessions also just happen to briefly run into Kislyak at a public conference, yet that was turned into an issue to the point that Sessions had to undergo the ludicrous spectacle of having to come to testify to the congressional committees that he was, in fact, not working with the Russians to undermine the 2016 election.

What I find most interesting is the chain of events that led to these photos being shown to Solomon. Did someone just happen to be there to witness Schiff talking with Simpsonsomeone who also just happened to snap pictures of this meetingand then the photos didnt surface until someone just happened to show them to Solomon a few days ago? Thats either a lucky chain of happy accidents or these people have been under surveillance for some time.

Ive suspected for the past two years that, far from being passive and limiting themselves to merely complaining about the Mueller witch hunt on social media and in interviews, Trump and his people have been very proactive against the Spygate plotters. Theyve just been keeping their countermoves under wraps until the right time.

The Spygate plotters lost their surveillance ability when they were exposed and rooted out of the federal agencies one by one.

Instead, its the DOJ and FBI under the Trump administration, including DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who have been conducting their own investigations. What if the Spygate plotters themselves, as part of these investigations, have been under surveillance?

I am quite confident that corrupt officials at the DOJ and FBIusing what they knew was bogus, politically tainted propaganda as evidence' to launch investigations of Trump and his campaign peoplewould qualify as a domestic RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) case.

Lets see a show of hands. Who thinks Trump and Sessionseven though they were faced with a plot to overthrow a sitting presidentdidnt conduct investigations and apply for surveillance warrants on the Spygate plotters?

I dont think those pictures of Schiff chatting with Simpson last year at an undisclosed meeting were the product of a lucky accident.

Brian Cates is a writer based in South Texas and author of Nobody Asked For My Opinion  But Here It Is Anyway! He can be reached on Twitter at @drawandstrike.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.Former US Counterintelligence Agent Charged With Espionage

A former U.S. counterintelligence agent has been indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to deliver and delivering national defense information to representatives of the Iranian government, prosecutors said.

Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, who defected to Iran in 2013, allegedly assisted Iranian intelligence services to target her former agent colleagues inside the U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC). She is also believed to have disclosed the code name and classified mission of a U.S. Department of Defense Special Access Program.

Witt remains at large, and a warrant for her arrest has been issued. She is a former active-duty U.S. Air Force intelligence specialist and special agent of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. She first entered duty around August 1997 and had served continuously until around March 2008. After her separation from the Air Force, Witt was employed by the Department of Defense as a contractor in 2010, where she was issued high-level security clearances and was deployed overseas to conduct classified counterintelligence missions, according to a Department of Justice indictment unsealed on Feb. 13.

Monica Elfriede Witt is #wanted by the #FBI for her alleged involvement in criminal activities to include espionage & conspiracy to commit espionage. If you have info concerning Witt, contact your local FBI office or the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. https://t.co/f0OsA1hayy pic.twitter.com/eb4pe5UsEe  FBI (@FBI) February 13, 2019

The same indictment also charges four Iranian nationalsMojtaba Masoumpour, Behzad Mesri, Hossein Parvar, and Mohamad Paryar (the Cyber Conspirators)with conspiracy, attempts to commit computer intrusion, and aggravated identity theft. The four Iranians had targeted former coworkers and colleagues of Witt in the U.S. Intelligence Community in 2014 and 2015. They also remain at large.

The United States has designated the government of Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism each year since 1984, due to the countrys repeated and direct support for acts of international terrorism, including those that have targeted America and its allies.

With the use of fake social-media accounts, the Iranians deployed malware that would give them access to their targets computers and networks. They worked on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Monica Witt is charged with revealing to the Iranian regime a highly classified intelligence program and the identity of a U.S. intelligence officer, all in violation of the law, her solemn oath to protect and defend our country, and the bounds of human decency, said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers.

Target Packages

Witt traveled to Iran in Feb 2012 to attend the Iranian New Horizon Organizations Hollywoodism conference, an event sponsored by the IRGC, which aimed to condemn American moral standards and promote anti-U.S. propaganda, among other things.

She managed to re-enter Iran in August 2013 after communicating with an individual who had dual U.S.Iranian citizenship, referred to as Individual A in the indictment.

After her re-entry, Iranian government officials gave Witt housing and computer equipment, where she disclosed classified U.S. information to an Iranian government official. Witt also conducted research about USIC personnel whom she had worked with previously, creating draft target packages against her former colleagues.

Cyber Conspirators

The four Iranian nationals began a campaign targeting Witts former colleagues in late 2014.

As part of the campaign, Mesri registered and helped manage an Iranian company that conducted computer intrusions against targets inside and outside the United States. The identity of the company was known to the United States.

Between January and May 2015, the cyber conspirators used fake accounts and attempted to trick their targets into clicking links or opening files that would enable them to deploy malware on the targets computer. The group tested their malware, in some cases procured by Mesri, to gather information from target computers or networks.

In one instance, the conspirators created a fake Facebook account using information from the employees real Facebook account. Through this fake account, they managed to successfully add several of Witts former colleagues.Former UK Ambassadors Say Brexit Is National Crisis

LONDONMore than 40 former British ambassadors have written to UK Prime Minister Theresa May urging her to delay Brexit.

They warned on Feb. 14 that Britains exit from the EU has become a national crisis and that even if the deal May struck with the EU is passed, Britain would face endless uncertainty about its future.

The letter, signed by former ambassadors to United States, France, and Russia, was organized by the Peoples Vote, which is pushing for a second referendum.

The diplomats said that the best course of action for Britain would be to extend Article 50the plan under which a country leaves the EUbecause there is no possible deal that will be a sensible alternative to the privileged one we have today as members of the EU.

They wrote: If the Prime Ministers deal is passed in Parliament, it will not be the end of Brexit but will in fact mark the start of year upon year of negotiation and renegotiationtruly a Brexternity of endless uncertainty about our future for both citizens and businesses alike.

Our advice to Theresa May today is clear: We should not leave the EU when we have no clarity about our final destination. Instead we must use the mechanisms at our disposal, above all we must seek to extend the Article 50 negotiating period.

Brexit Fiasco

The letter concludes, Our countrys national interest must always be paramount. The Brexit fiasco has already weakened the UKs standing in the world. We strongly advocate a change of direction before it is too late.

Former Ambassador to the United States Sir Nigel Sheinwald declared his support for a second referendum for the first time with the publication of the letter.

May has continually insisted she doesnt support a second referendum.

On Feb. 13, European Council President Donald Tusk said the EU is waiting for Britain to present its proposals so that negotiations on the divorce deal could continue.New children's book co-authored by Karen Pence and daughter Charlotte Pence about the family's bunny in Colorado Springs, Colorado. On March 26, 2018. (RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

Florida Teacher Under Investigation After Reading Book About Gay Bunnies to First Graders

A Florida teacher is under investigation after reading an unapproved book about gay bunnies to first-grade students.

The book, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver presents A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, is meant to make fun of Vice President Mike Pences beliefs on homosexuality and gay marriage. The story follows Pences bunny Marlon Bundo who falls in love with another male bunny and they want to be together.

#Onlyon9: New at 6, Parents are hopping mad after learning that this book about 2 boy bunnies wanting to get married was read to first graders. Now the Seminole County Public Schools has launched an internal investigation over it.#WFTV @LastWeekTonight pic.twitter.com/JiSwilMXnT  Jeff Levkulich (@jlevkulichWFTV) February 12, 2019

The incident happened at Pine Crest Elementary School in Sanford, Florida, WFTV reported Wednesday. The individual is still a teacher.

Noah comes home one day and asks us if its OK for two male bunnies to get married, grandparent Kraig Hudson said, according to WFTV. I said, By our beliefs, no. But we do judge nobody.

One parent found reading the book overstepped boundaries between what a parent and teacher should teach.

Its not something that should be in an elementary school, Wendy Curry, whose son is gay, said to WFTV. Thats for me to decide at home, what I want to teach my child and what I feel they are able to handle.

Seminole County Public Schools Communications Officer Michael Lawrence said the investigation started Jan. 28 in an email to The Daily Caller News Foundation.

WFTV reported several parents complained to the district, but Lawrence said to TheDCNF he was aware of one complaint.

The Pence family has been vilified for their beliefs on homosexuality. Wife Karen Pence was bashed by various liberal groups for teaching at a Christian school which can refuse those who engage in homosexual or transgender behaviors.

LGBTQ advocacy group The Trevor Project announced Jan. 17 they were sending 100 of Olivers book to Karen Pences school.

Olivers book was published in 2018 following Marlon Bundos Day in the Life of the Vice President, co-authored by Karen Pence and daughter Charlotte Pence, according to The Hill.

By Neetu Chandak

Follow Neetu on TwitterJamell Demons, known by his stage name YNW Melly, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in Miramar, Fla., on Feb. 13, 2019. (Broward County Sheriff's Office)

Florida Rapper YNW Melly Who Sang Murder On My Mind Charged in Killing of Two Friends

A rising Florida rapper who publicly mourned the deaths of two close friends and called them members of one rap family has now been charged with their murders.

Jamell Demons, known by his stage name YNW Melly, was charged on Wednesday, Feb. 13, with first-degree murder in the killing of Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr., according to Miramar police. He was booked into Browards jail shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday, according to records cited by the Sun Sentinel.

Cortlen Henry, 20, an associate of Demons, has also been charged in connection with the slayings, according to the Miramar Police Department.

Demons and Henry are both being held at Broward County without bond.

Jamell Demons, aka YNW Melly & Cortlen Henry have been arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder, the police wrote in a statement, adding, the victims, Anthony Williams & Christopher Thomas Jr., were killed on 10/26/2018.

The investigation, supported by forensic evidence, has concluded that Demons shot and killed Williams & Thomas Jr. and that Demons and Henry staged the crime scene to resemble a drive-by shooting, authorities said.

Police believe Henry was the driver of the vehicle from which the victims were shot, Rolling Stone reported, while Demons was the gunman.

Jamell Demons, aka YNW Melly, and Cortlen Henry, aka YNW Bortlen, are accused of murdering two young rappers from the Treasure Coast. https://t.co/j7zfGnKLb7  Florida Today (@Florida_Today) February 14, 2019

I Am Turning Myself In

Both of the victims were friends with Demons and part of the same musical group, in which Williams went by the stage name YNW Sackchaser and Thomas was known as YNW Juvy. Demons wrote on Instagram Wednesday afternoon that he was turning himself in to police in connection with the deaths of his associates, but appeared to deny any involvement.

I am turning myself in today I want you guys to know I love you and appreciate every single one of yall, the Instagram post reads.

Demons wrote, a couple months ago I lost my two brothers by violence and now the system want to find justice  unfortunately a lot of rumors and lies are being said.

Then he called the victims part of the ynw Family, posting we want yall to remember its a ynw Family I love you @ynwsakchaser1 and @ynwjuvy.

In October, Demonss lawyer, Bradford Cohen, was cited by Rolling Stone as saying that his client was sad, hes upset, obviously. Those were his best friends.

The victims both featured in the Melly documentary video posted to YNW Mellys YouTube page. On-screen text at the end of the film notes that four days after the documentary was finished, YNW Melly and his friends were the target of a drive-by shooting in Miami, Florida. YNW Juvy and YNW Sakchaser were killed.

Demons was cited by the Sun-Sentinel as writing on social media just one day after the killings: They Took My Brothers From Me Over Jealousy I know yall watching over me  and after, they wanna see me break down and stop or in jail or a box

No motive has been released for the killings.

Murder On My Mind

The single Murder on My Mind went gold and debuted at No. 73 on the Billboard charts last year, according to Rolling Stone. The song has over 88 million views on YouTube and includes the lyrics, I didnt even mean to shoot em, he just caught me by surprise, I reloaded my pistol, cocked it back, and shot him twice. His body dropped down to the floor and he had teardrops in his eye.

Demons has a criminal history that includes charges of possession of marijuana and a firearm by a convicted felon, according to The Fader.

He spent a year in prison as a 16-year-old after he was involved in a shooting outside his high school, in which no one was injured, but he was charged with aggravated assault with a weapon.EU Toughens Foreign Investment Rules in Face of Beijings Attempts to Buy Sensitive Companies

BRUSSELSThe European Parliament has given the green light to tough new rules to block malicious foreign investments in an effort to prevent the Chinese government from buying strategically sensitive companies.

Representatives voted 50049 on Feb. 14 to approve the package of legislation, which for the first time will set EU-wide standards that overseas investors will have to meet.

The law was first proposed by the European Commission in 2017 amid growing concerns about Chinese investments in a number of strategically sensitive companies in areas including technology and the energy sector.

Under the plan, national governments still retain the ultimate power over whether to review or block investments, but the commission will be able to request information about cases of concern and issue advisory opinions.

Cecilia Malmstrom, the EU Commissioner for trade, said while Brussels maintains that the EU remains open to investment, a condition to remain open is to be able to trust that foreign investors cannot threaten strategic interests or security.

This has become even more important at the internal market where foreign investments in one member state can have an impact in another member state, Malmstrom said.

The Swedish official insisted the law doesnt specifically target China, but admitted that Beijings open attempts to invest in sensitive European companies was a major concern for most member states.

This legislation is totally neutral and non-discriminatory and it has to be, but it is no secret that if you follow the debate in certain countries right now that of course there is a question on China, she said.

China has also very clearly in their official documents and their long-term strategy said that investments in strategic infrastructure in foreign countries is a priority, so were aware of that.

She added that most of EUs allies around the world have taken similar measures, and it was a tool that has been lacking in the EU.

Franck Proust, a French member of the European Parliament who was the rapporteur for the legislation, said it was designed to stop EU countries getting into a relationship of dependency with China.

Canada gave its rare earth expectations over to China and when they wanted to work with Japan to export these rare earths, the Chinese prevented them doing so because of the ones that already exist in China. Thats the kind of situation we want to try and avoid, Proust said.

German representative Bernd Lange, who is chairman of the Parliaments International Trade Committee, added: We really have to be more proactive for our industry in the European Union and to defend their possibilities to be competitive compared to other regions of the world.

The new law will be enacted after member states sign off on it. EU capitals will then have 18 months to put screening systems in place, although officials expect many to act quickly once it is ratified.

According to a study by Bloomberg published last year, Chinese investment in Europe between 2008 and 2017 amounted to $318 billion, which is 45 percent more than it injected into the United States over the same period.

Giving evidence to the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee in May last year, Philippe Le Corre from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said Washington and Europe should work together to address the issue.

Although the U.S. and the EU do not always speak with one voice, they should coordinate and present a united front as Chinese capital continues to flow towards the European continent, Le Corre said.

The state-owned energy company China Three Gorges is currently trying to wrap up a $10 billion take-over of Portugals EDP-Energias de Portugal, in a case that has sparked concern about Beijings investments in key infrastructure.

Beijing is also funding a third of the costs of building a new nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point in southern England, with some British politicians voicing fears over the possible security implications.

According to Le Corre, the Chinese have targeted Europes biggest economies, investing $70 billion in the UK to date, $31 billion in Italy, $20 billion in Germany, and $13 billion in France.Election Watchdog Urges SCOTUS to Hear Census Immigration Case Before Administrative Deadlines

An election watchdog group is urging the Supreme Court to hear a sensitive case regarding a Census Bureau citizenship question before administrative deadlines to produce census forms and other necessary items transpire.

If the court process of determining the legality of the question drags on longer than the Commerce Departments June 2019 final deadline, then the question could be left off the nationwide census forms even if its found to be legal at a later date.

Time is running out to correct the errors of the trial court, said J. Christian Adams, president and general counsel of the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), in a Feb. 11 statement accompanying the groups new Supreme Court amicus brief.

The Commerce Department, which oversees the census, is being sued by the state of New York and more than two dozen other states and cities in the largest of six lawsuits opposing the Trump administrations reinstatement of the question on the once-a-decade national headcount.

A federal trial court judge at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered the question to be removed from the census last year, and the Supreme Court has been expected to decide the case ever since.

In his opinion, Judge Jesse M. Furman, an Obama appointee, said that New York and other co-plaintiffs plausibly allege that [Commerce Secretary Wilbur Rosss] decision to reinstate the citizenship question was motivated at least in part by discriminatory animus and will result in a discriminatory effect.

Furman cited an email obtained from President Donald Trumps re-election campaign that indicated the president had officially mandated the question, which, along with the presidents past rhetoric, the judge took to mean that Trump was personally involved in the decision.

However, Furman acknowledged that Ross still has broad authority over the census, regardless of Trumps alleged personal or political beliefs.

Adams, a former Department of Justice voting rights attorney, disagreed with the ruling entirely.

This error, if not corrected by this [Supreme] Court before the deadline for the printing of census forms, will have long-lasting effects. The opportunity to collect the data on the 2020 census, once gone, cannot be reclaimed, he said.

In a phone interview, a PILF spokesman reiterated that expediting the case is a point of major national interest.

If the question is not asked and the data is not collected, then you wont be able to accurately enforce the Voting Rights Act, the spokesman said.

The Department of Justice has argued that the question is necessary to obtain an accurate assessment of voting-age citizens, in order to properly enforce protections against voting discrimination under the Voting Rights Act.

Counting large numbers of noncitizens, DOJ attorneys said, would distort congressional reapportionment and state-level redistricting, which is based on census population statistics. The effect would dilute the voting power of African-Americans and other minority citizens, contrary to federal law.

But critics say the inclusion of a citizenship question would dissuade illegal immigrants from participating, which would significantly affect census figures in areas where illegal immigrants tend to live.

According to Pew Research, about six in 10 illegal immigrants live in just 20 urban areas, the largest portion of them residing in New York City and Los Angeles. These cities are typically dominated by the Democratic Party, and their enhanced populations allow for outsized federal funding and political clout in the U.S. House of Representatives, and by extension, the Electoral College.

In a pre-2016 presidential election analysis, authors Paul Goldman, a Washington Post columnist, and Mark J. Rozell, then-acting dean at George Mason University, determined that illegal immigration gives Democratic states an unfair edge.

They estimated that California would lose five House seats, and therefore, five Electoral College votes, if the states illegal immigrant population were eliminated from the census, especially since noncitizens cant legally vote in federal elections.

The distribution of these 435 [House] seats is not static: they are reapportioned every 10 years to reflect the population changes found in the census, they said.(L) Military vehicles carrying DF-26 ballistic missiles, developed to attack aircraft carriers, in Beijing on September 3, 2015; the United States aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson in Danang, Vietnam on March 5, 2018. (GREG BAKER/AFP/Getty Images; Getty Images/Getty Images)

Democratic Rep. Moulton Lays Out Partys Views on Defense

WASHINGTONIn an appearance at the Brookings Institution on Feb. 12, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) gave remarks billed as the House Democrats vision for the future of defense policy. He also hinted at a future for himself that may include a presidential run.

Moulton has the experience to command respect as a party spokesman on defense issues. He served as a Marine captain in the Iraq War and has a seat on the House Armed Services Committee.

Moulton cast himself as a vigorous critic of the present administration. At the same time, he took positions more hawkish than has been the Democratic norm, calling for an aggressive stance toward China, and for a recommitment by the United States to Syria.

He framed his prepared remarks as next-generation thinking about arms, arms control, and alliances. He spoke in terms of the great power competition of the United States with Russia and China, and he criticized the United States for being out of step with our competitors advances.

For example, he described NATO carrying out tank drills as a response to Russian cyber attacks toward their European and former Soviet neighbors.

You got the idea that Putin was sitting there and laughing about the United States response to their hybrid warfare in Eastern Europe in the form of tank drills, he said.

And Moulton related how the Chinese are focusing on advances in artificial intelligence and 5G data networks, while the United States builds more aircraft carriers.

He warned that Chinas rapid development of technology, both defense and non-defense is poised to leapfrog the United States technologically with investment in basic research, biotech, and artificial intelligence quickly eclipsing our own.

Pointing out that the cost of one U.S. aircraft carrier could supply China with 1,238 missiles capable of taking out that carrier, Moulton argued that the United States needs to reexamine that balance and its mismatched responses to Russias and Chinas growing technological threats.

Moulton proposed a renewed pursuit of arms control, not just with traditional weapons, but with new ones as well. Speaking specifically to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the United States and Russia, he described the impending U.S. withdrawal from it as an opportunity both to develop new cost-effective systems that were previously restricted under its terms, and to negotiate a new treaty that would include China.

Referring to his advocacy four years ago for a treaty that would have limited the proliferation of drones, Moulton declared back then, we were still far ahead of the rest of the world in that technology, and limiting them may have solidified that advantage. Gaining such advantages represents a principle we need to pursue, he said.

Regarding North Korea, he said the interests of the United States, North Korea, and China didnt align, and such alignment was necessary for denuclearization to be possible.

He called for a Pacific NATO to counter China.

In the Middle East, Moulton favors U.S. intervention. He described a situation that was more more disrupted and more disruptive than when the War on Terror began. Nonetheless, we cant simply abandon places like Syria without any plan, because  well just have to come back, Moulton said. For all of our wars, we need clear achievable missions, approved by Congress and transparent to the American people.

Moulton confirmed during the question-and-answer session after the speech that hes considering a presidential campaign run, as national security issues have to be part of the debate. His case for aggressively confronting Russia and China, and maintaining U.S. engagement in the Middle East, would firmly position him as a foreign policy hawk among the current Democratic presidential field and within an anti-war party.

However, his appeal as a national security candidate may prove limited to the more progressive, left-leaning Democratic primary electorate, which generally opposes foreign military interventions (most notably the Iraq War he served in).Chinas Tech Giants Introduce On-Farm Pig Face Recognition Technology

Chinese internet companies are trying to develop new technologies to solve food safety problems involving pork products. Most recently, they have come up with artificial intelligence (AI) pig raising.

There are about 430 million farm-raised pigs in China, according to Chinas National Bureau of Statistics, accounting for more than half of all farm pigs in the world.

As the worlds largest pork producer and consumer, keeping a healthy stock of pigs is important for the Chinese regime.

Chinese internet companies are now targeting this industry for tech modernization. Presently, Chinese internet company Netease is expanding its pig-raising subsidiaries, while tech giants JD.com and Alibaba just started to add technology-aided pig farming to their future company growth plans.

YingZi Technology Inc., an internet company based in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, was the first to develop pig face recognition technology, formally released in March 2018. Based on the features of each pigs ears, eyes, nose and other features, this technology is said to be able to uniquely identify each pig and set up an archive file for each of them.

According to He Jingxiang, the companys CEO, the purpose of this development is to ensure food safety by tracking the source of pork products.

Around the same time, at the Alibaba Cloud Technology Conference in March, the company unveiled the worlds first artificial intelligence pig-raising technology, jointly developed by company subsidiary Alibaba Cloud and farming company Sichuan Tequ Group.

The technology incorporates facial recognition with big data to analyze swine behavior, according to a company statement.

Then in June, Alibaba Cloud launched Agricultural Brain, a new technology which uses AI-supported imaging and speech recognition technology to help farmers monitor live pigs in real time. Each pig has its own archive file, including breed, age, weight, its ability to eat (an oft-indicator of the pigs health), exercise frequency, and more.

The developers of Agricultural Brain claimed that, by combining acoustic characteristics and infrared ray technology to detect temperature, this system is able to determine whether the pigs are sick. It monitors body temperature, as well as the pigs coughing and squeakingas an early detection and warning of a disease outbreak.

Alas, the technology did not come soon enough. In August last year, an outbreak of African swine fever broke out in northeastern China, which has since spread to practically all regions and provinces in the country. The disease is deadly for pigs but does not affect humans.

At the JD Discovery Conference held by JD.com in November, the company announced the establishment of a subsidiary, JD Farming and Animal Husbandry, and the JD Agricultural Research Institute. Collaborating with the China Agricultural University in Beijing, JD.comoriginally an e-retailer businesswill build an intelligent pig farm in Fengning County, Hebei Province.

At this farm, parameters such as air quality, temperature, and humidity can be monitored at any time. Meanwhile, JD.com will also employ its own developed pig facial recognition technology, which shows each pigs parents, its date of birth, breed, weight, growth status, and health condition.

The company claims that this technology can achieve precise control of the feeding amount, to ensure a balanced growth for each pig, and to prevent pig bullying. Here, pig bullying mainly refers to when some pigs eat much more than their reasonable share while the other pigs do not have enough to eat.

JD Agriculture and Animal Husbandry has also developed a so-called digital solution for pig farms called Shennong, which integrates AI, Internet of Things (IoT), and its computerized surveillance system.

Despite the newfangled technologies, agricultural experts have pointed out challenges to their enforcement. First, humans can stand still in front of an AI camera when taking a picture, but pigs would not easily do so. More importantly, human faces differ greatly from one another, while pigs look very similar in appearance.

Because they live in a dirty environment and can easily soil their faces, this could also make it difficult for the camera to identify them.

Chinese netizens were shocked and amused at this new technology. One of them suggested, Isnt it more convenient to attach a QR code on the pigs ear?

Someone also said, Making a label for each one is the simplest and cheapest solution to identify pigs.

In an interview with Radio Free Asia on Feb. 7, 2019, Beijing-based agricultural analyst Ma Wenfeng pointed out the root cause of Chinas food safety problem is not a technical issue, but the huge gap between the rich and poor. The rich and privileged classes can enjoy high-quality food, while the poor can only choose cheap food made with questionable food safety standards. Scandals often break out when Chinese businesses are exposed for using chemicals and other additives to lower costs that are detrimental to consumers health. In 2013, a crime ring was exposed for processing rat meat and selling them as mutton.Military vehicles carrying cruise missiles are displayed in a military parade at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on Sept. 3, 2015. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)

China Developing Space Weapons That Could Take Down US Satellites

Beijings continuous efforts to develop space-based capabilities are posing a grave threat to the U.S. military, according to a recent U.S. Pentagon report.

In a report titled Challenges to Security in Space published on Feb. 11, the Pentagon warned that despite Chinas official stance of advocating peaceful use of space, as it seeks multilateral agreements on non-weaponization of space at the United Nations, Beijing hasnt been practicing what it preaches.

The Pentagon said in no unclear terms that Chinas military, called the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), has historically managed the countrys space program, including for dual-usemeaning both military and civilianpurposes.

China continues to improve its counter-space weapons capabilities and has enacted military reforms to better integrate cyberspace, space, and electronic warfare into joint military operations, the report stated.

The most worrying threat is the Chinese capability to destroy U.S. satellites.

And Beijings pursuit of advancements in counter-space weapons is squarely targeted at the United States and its allied forces, according to the report.

These space capabilities are integral to the PLAs military operations. In a conflict, China would be able to blind and deafen the enemy by taking out the enemys various satellites critical for military communication, navigation, and early detection of missiles, according to the report.

And should China be involved in a conflict in Asia, Chinas space weapons could deter and counter a possible US intervention.

Destroying Satellites

The PLAs own analysis pointed out that destroying or capturing [U.S.] satellites and other sensors would render the U.S military incapable of using its precision-guided weapons, according to the report.

Based on Chinese scientific papers, the Pentagon concluded that China is developing laser weapons to disrupt, degrade, or damage satellites and their sensors. One likely scenario is that the weapons could disable infrared detection sensors that allow satellites to detect incoming missiles.

By 2020, China will likely field a ground-based laser weapon that can disable sensors on satellites in the low earth orbitmeaning within the distance of 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) from the ground, according to the report.

In addition to laser weapons, China also has an operational ground-based anti-satellite missile intended to target low-Earth orbit satellites, the report stated, adding that China has already formed military units that have started training with anti-satellite missiles.

Beijing currently operates 120 ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) systems, a fleet of satellites that can conduct surveillance, early enemy detection, and intelligence gathering. That number is only exceeded by the United States, according to the report.

The PLA owns and operates about half of these IRS systems that could support monitoring, tracking, and targeting of U.S. and allied forces worldwide, especially throughout the Indo-Pacific, the report added.

These systems allow the PLA to keep tabs on regional flashpoints where the Chinese regime has interests, such as the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, and the South China Sea.

But the dangers posed by Chinas space military capabilities do not end there.

Rick Fisher, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, said in an email interview that the PLA also controls Chinas planned space station, set for a 2020 launch, as well as the unmanned and manned lunar programs.

It can be expected that the PLA will derive dual-use benefits from its space station and from its Moon program, Fisher said.

The space station can be used for surveillance, while on the moon, China will bring weapons that can attack the Moon bases of other countries and perhaps their satellites in deep space orbits, he predicted.

The Pentagon report also detailed space threats from Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

In response to the report, Chinas foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, said at a daily press conference on Feb. 12, that the United States made unwarranted and utterly baseless comments on the space policies of relevant countries including China.

She also reiterated the Chinese regimes official stance that China opposes weaponizing outer space.

History of Weaponization

Despite Beijings official policies stating that its space ambitions are only for peaceful purposes, Mary FitzGerald, a research fellow at the U.S. think tank Hudson Institute, said that since at least 1996, Chinese military scientists have conceptualized the idea of space warfare: maintaining space dominance in order to succeed at space combat operations.

While speaking at a U.S. congressional hearing in March 2007, FitzGerald explained that Beijing has identified the U.S. militarys Achilles Heel: its reliance on the GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite system for high-tech operations. To take advantage of this weakness, Chinese military experts suggested engaging in anti-satellite warfare, including the use of high-energy (e.g., lasers) and kinetic (e.g., missiles) weaponsmentioned in the latest Pentagon report.

Beijings military goals were also evident in a space white paper published in October 2006. China would develop its space industry as a means for strengthening the countrys economic capability, technology capability, national defense capability, and national cohesion, as a strategic move to make the country great, the paper stated.

Sun Laiyan, the former head of the China National Space Administration from 2004 to 2010, also confirmed this stance during a speech at Beijing Jiaotong University in May 2007, noting that in the past decade, Chinas space military equipment has played an important role in shaping strategic deterrence and safeguarding the nations security.

Epoch Times staff member Cathy He contributed to this report.U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton arrives to address reporters as the Trump administration announces economic sanctions against Venezuela and the Venezuelan state owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S. on Jan. 28, 2019. (Jim Young/Reuters)

Bolton Speaks to El Salvador President-Elect About Predatory China

SAN SALVADOREl Salvadors President-elect Nayib Bukele spoke by phone on Feb. 13 with U.S. National Security advisor John Bolton, who said he requested cooperation to counteract what he called the predatory expansion of China.

Bukele, the first candidate not from the poor Central American countrys two civil war-era parties to win a presidential election in a generation, said that his government would be a strong U.S. partner to the United States.

The United States will find in El Salvador, not only an ally, but also a friend, Bukele wrote on Twitter.

Relations with Washington suffered under the outgoing government of the left-wing Faribundi Marti National Liberation front (FMLN), the party of El Salvadors former guerrilla movement, which established relations with China at the expense of Taiwan in August.

Bolton criticized the benefits that El Salvador received after establishing diplomatic relations with China.

We discussed ways to strengthen the U.S.-El Salvador friendship and to collaborate to restore democracy in Venezuela and counter Chinese predatory practices in the hemisphere, Bolton said.

A Bukele aide said last week that the president-elect was evaluating the value of its relations with China.

Diplomatic Switch to China from Taiwan

On Aug. 20, 2018, El Salvador announced in a nationally televised speech its decision to break ties with Taiwan and instead established relation with Chinas ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The decision has prompted an outcry from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. Tsai blamed pressure from the CCP for El Salvadors decision at a news conference on Aug. 21, saying that it was another example of how the Chinese regime has tried to exert pressure over Taiwan to reduce the island nations international recognition.

Taiwan is a full-fledged democracy with its own constitution, elected officials, and military; Beijing considers the island nation a renegade province that one day will be united with the mainland, by military force if necessary.

The Chinese regime has strategically established alliances with nations that have had diplomatic ties with Taiwanby giving large sums in loans and investmentsas a way to pressure them into recognizing only one China.

The United States keeps unofficial relations with Taiwan, a source of tension with the CCP.

By Nelson Renteria. The Epoch Times contributed to this report.Beijings Shadow Haunts Overseas Chinese Students in Canada

Recent events on campuses show the Chinese regimes reach into Canadian universities

TORONTORecent events on Canadian campuses highlight the pro-Beijing stance promoted among Chinese students that target groups persecuted by the Chinese regime.

The Epoch Times has obtained a copy of a statement in Chinese issued by the McMaster University Chinese Students and Scholars Association (Mac CSSA) and four other organizations that condemns an event held at the university in support of Uyghur Muslims persecuted in China, telling its members that it is asking the university to ensure that the dignity of Chinese students is not infringed upon.

The statement indicates that the Feb. 11 event, titled The Genocide of Uyghur MuslimsTalk by a Uyghur Survivor, was anti-China and its aim was to publicly promote East Turkistan secession, incite national hatred and attack the Chinese government, and raise funds for this purpose.

According to China analysts, CSSAs are used by the Chinese regime to control Chinese students and academics for the regimes benefit. On the online public profile of many of the CSSAs at different universities, such as the University of Toronto, it is indicated that they have been founded with the support of the Chinese Consulate. Online records show many CSSAs, including the one at McMaster, attending annual meetings of the student associations at the Toronto Chinese Consulate.

Chen Yonglin, a former Chinese diplomat who defected to Australia, said in a previous interview with The Epoch Times that Chinese student associations in almost all universities in Canada, the United States, and Australia are set up by the China Education Department and given funding by the regime.

The other four organizations that signed the statement are the McMaster University Chinese News Network, the McMaster University China Graduate Society, the McMaster University Chinese Professional Association, and the MELD Student Association.

In a separate incident, Chemi Lhamo, a University of Toronto Scarborough student of Tibetan ethnicity who shared news of being elected the president of the universitys student union on Instagram, had her account flooded with negative comments and vulgar insults for being vocal on Chinas suppression in Tibet.

A petition claiming to be initiated by students at the university aims to overturn Lhamos election as president because she advocates for a free Tibet.

Im well aware of Chinas long arm, how theyve crept their way into influencing academic institutions here in Canada via Confucius Institutes, Lhamo said in an interview with The Epoch Times. It became concerning when my loved ones had to read such harsh comments and were being affected emotionally.

Means to Guide Students Abroad

A Facebook page for the Feb. 11 event, organized by the McMaster Muslims for Peace and Justice and the McMaster Muslims Students Association, says one million Uyghur Muslims are being detained in re-education camps in Chinas Xinjiang region and invited people to join the event to learn more about the atrocities taking place and hear stories of the survivors.

The event page also has a link to a donation page titled Support Uyghur Orphans and Women in Turkey, referring to Uyghur women and children whose husbands or fathers have been either killed, sent to a concentration camp, or imprisoned by Chinese authorities and who have now settled in Turkey.

These funds will be delivered directly to Uyghur refugee women and children living in Istanbul, particularly in the neighborhood district of Zeytinburnu where most Uyghurs in Turkey reside, the donation page says.

A video of the event posted to Facebook shows a man swearing at the event host as he leaves.

The Mac CSSAs statement, issued on Feb. 13, says the groups have made representations to the relevant departments of the university requesting that they ensure university activities are in compliance with regulations and that the dignity of Chinese students is not infringed upon. It also says they have reported the event to the Chinese Consulate General in Toronto.

In a recent paper, Anne-Marie Brady, a professor at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and a global fellow at the Wilson Center, writes that CSSAs are one of the main means the Chinese authorities use to guide Chinese students and scholars on short-term study abroad.

Mehmet Tohti, a Toronto-based Uyghur human rights activist, says its not surprising that the CSSA would make such statements, as its attitude on human rights defenders is in line with the official position of the Chinese regime.

They are closely connected with the Chinese government. Whenever top Chinese officials come to Canada for visit, the Chinese consulate immediately reaches out to them and puts Chinese flags in their hands to come out and give a warm welcome to the Chinese officials, Tohti said.

Clive Hamilton, a university professor and author of Silent Invasion: Chinas Influence in Australia, says CSSAs are an integral part of the Chinese regimes apparatus to monitor the thoughts and behaviours of Chinese students abroad.

More recently, they have been at the centre of brazen attempts to close down free speech on Australian campuses by organizing online protests and calling in consular officials to pressure universities to discipline staff members who make statements contrary to Beijings position, Hamilton said in a talk in Ottawa late last year.

In 2017, the CSSA at the University of California-San Diego published a statement saying it had asked the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles for instructions on how to stop a scheduled speech by the Dalai Lama, Tibets spiritual leader, at the university.

A report by 32 scholars issued last year by the Stanford University-based Hoover Institute says that with the direct support of the Chinese Embassy and consulates, CSSAs sometimes report on and compromise the academic freedom of other Chinese students and American faculty on American campuses.

In his commentary, Hamilton explains that CSSAs are an integral component of Chinas United Front Work Departmentan agency of the Chinese regime tasked with expanding the regimes control of overseas Chinese communities and expanding the regimes influence abroad.

In the chart presented below, Hamilton outlines the organizational structure of Chinas United Front operations in Australia, and how it is connected to CSSAs. He says a chart for Canada would be similar as the organization operates in a similar structure in Canada.

The Epoch Times contacted Mac CSSA for comment but no response was received.

An earlier version of this article misstated the number of organizations co-signing the statement with the Mac CSSA. The Epoch Times regrets the error.Michael Ray McLellan sits in court for his first appearance on charges of kidnapping and murder of 13-year-old Hania Aguilar in Lumberton, N.C., on Dec. 10, 2018. (Andrew Craft/The Fayetteville Observer via AP)

Autopsy: Asphyxia Was Likely Cause of Kidnapped Girls Death

RALEIGH, N.C.A kidnapped and slain 13-year-old North Carolina girl likely died of suffocation or strangulation, but her cause of death couldnt be determined conclusively, according to an autopsy released on Wednesday, Feb. 13.

The states Office of the Chief Medical examiner ruled that Hania Aguilar died of undetermined violence. The autopsy found she most likely died of asphyxia because other causes of death were ruled out.

Former Robeson County District Attorney Johnson Britt has said that before Aguilars disappearance, DNA evidence linked McLellan to a 2016 rape. Britt said a DNA match from that rape was given to the sheriffs office, but deputies apparently didnt https://t.co/tvw2lUphyu  Donna Reed (@happyhomemaker2) February 14, 2019

Officials examined evidence that she was abducted and sexually assaulted before her body was concealed under water. The autopsy found evidence of sexual assault.

Due in part to limitations imposed by decomposition, the autopsy did not elucidate a specific mechanism of death, the autopsy report said. However, the totality of the circumstances and findings  indicate death by homicidal violence.

The medical examiners report said that her unclothed body was found on Nov. 27, face down under a folding plastic table that was also weighed down by a tire in a water-filled pit, about 12 miles from her home.

Hania was snatched from the front yard of her Lumberton mobile home on Nov. 5 after she went outside to wait for other relatives to come outside and take her to school.

According to investigators, Michael Ray McLellan, 34, of Fairmount, allegedly forced the girl into the familys green SUV, which the teen had started, and fled from the area. The vehicle was found within a few days, but Hanias body wasnt located until Nov. 27.

Federal and local law enforcement authorities mounted a massive search for the girl and pleaded with the public to come forward with tips or information that could lead to an arrest.

After the familys SUV was found, authorities have said the vehicle offered the first clues to connect McLellan, 34, of Fairmont, to the crime.

McLellans DNA was apparently submitted to the federal database after he was convicted in 2007 of a felony assault with a deadly weapon and first-degree burglary.

Michael Ray McLellan faces rape, murder and other charges in Hanias death. The public defenders office didnt immediately respond to an email asking if one of its lawyers was representing McLellan and could comment.

The handling of evidence in a related case prompted an internal sheriffs office probe and the departure of two investigators.

Former Robeson County District Attorney Johnson Britt has said that before Aguilars disappearance, DNA evidence linked McLellan to a 2016 rape. Britt said a DNA match from that rape was given to the sheriffs office, but deputies apparently didnt follow up before Aguilar was killed.

The sheriffs office announced in January that one investigator was fired and another had resigned after both were suspended due to the internal investigation.

Overlooked DNA evidence in 2016 rape case may have landed Michael McLellan behind bars before Hania Aguilars murder, DA says: https://t.co/R9OTv4fIz7 pic.twitter.com/7E1kyL3nm4  ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) December 12, 2018

By Jonathan Drew

Kidnapping

The number of reported missing children significantly decreased in recent years, according to a report (pdf) by the Department of Justice in 2017.

Missing children typically fall into five categories: kidnapped by a family member, abducted by a nonfamily perpetrator, runaways, those who got lost, stranded, or injured, or those who went missing due to benign reasons, such as misunderstandings, according to the report researchers.

Department of Justice researchers said in a separate report (pdf) published in 2016 that there were an estimated 105 children nationwide that were victims of stereotypical kidnappings, a number that was virtually the same as 1997.

Most kidnappings involved the use of force or threats, and about three in five victims were sexually assaulted, abused, or exploited, the researchers said.

Stereotypical kidnappings are defined as abductions in which a slight acquaintance or stranger moves a child at least 20 feet or holds the child at least 1 hour. Most victims were girls aged 12 to 17 and most perpetrators were men aged 18 to 35.The UK Government renewed its call on Sri Lanka, a country which has consistently backed UN resolutions for worldwide suspension of executions, to abolish the death penalty.

UK Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific, Mark Field, said the UK Government calls on all countries, including Sri Lanka, to abolish the death penalty.

The Sri Lankan Government is well aware of the UK and EU position on the death penalty and we hope the moratorium will be sustained, he said in UK Parliament when MP Jim Cunningham asked what discussions the UK has had with Sri Lanka on the latters decision to end moratorium on death penalty.

State Minister Field said Sri Lanka had been a consistent supporter of UN General Assembly resolutions calling for a worldwide suspension of executions since the first such resolution was proposed in 2007.

Earlier, the British High Commission in Colombo joined the EU delegation in lobbying the Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs Ministry to maintain this position in the December 2018 UN vote, supporting a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. In January 2019, after further reporting of the intention to restart the death penalty, our High Commission raised the issue with senior officials in the Sri Lankan Government, he said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)Bolivia's President Evo Morales (L) sings his national anthem as Chinese leader Xi Jinping (R) looks on during a welcome ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 19, 2018. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)

As Bolivia Leader Sets Himself Up for 4th Term, Chinas Influence Grows

A recent incident in Bolivia has demonstrated the repercussions of Chinas influence.

On Feb. 14, Bolivian newspaper Los Tiempos reported that an investigation by the Bolivian forestry authorities discovered that four local sawmills had been illegally exporting high-value timber species to China. Unnamed former and current employees at the agency, called the Forest and Land Audit and Social Control Authority, had been involved in the scheme.

They have now been placed under investigation.

Now, Chinese investment in Bolivia is under scrutiny, given its far-reaching political and social implications for the South American country.

Chinese Investment

Current Bolivian leader Evo Morales, who has been president since 2006, aligned himself with Beijing early on, just after he won the election and became president-elect.

In January 2006, while visiting China, Morales called Beijing an ideological ally and expressed his admiration for the Chinese communist regime, according to Spains daily newspaper El Mundo.

Another Spanish daily newspaper, El Periodico de Aragon, reported that Morales declared himself a great admirer of former Communist Party leader Mao Zedong and his proletarian revolution, noting that he had read Maos biography from a young age. Maos Cultural Revolution campaign in 1966which lasted until his death in 1976resulted in the deaths of millions of people.

Relations with China took off after Moraless visit. Bilateral trade between Bolivia and China grew significantly in 2008, according to a 2018 working paper published by the Global South Unit at the London School of Economics. Exports from Bolivia to China went from $16,000 in 1992 to $434 million in 2014, while imports from China grew from $7.5 million to $1.8 billion during the same period.

In 2018, China became Bolivias fourth-biggest trading partner, according to Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Chinese companies began doing business in Bolivia, including in the petroleum, construction, manufacturing, and telecommunications sectors. For instance, Bolivia secured a $251 million loan from Chinas state-run China Development Bank in 2013 to launch its telecommunications satellite Tupac Katari 1, according to Bolivian daily newspaper Pagina Siete.

In 2015, Chinas state-owned policy bank, the ExportImport Bank of China, agreed to provide $7 billion in loans to finance investments in Bolivia projects, including hydroelectric energy and rail infrastructure, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, Chinese telecom giant Huawei also has worked with Bolivias national telecom provider Entel, and private providers such as Tigo and Viva, according to Bolivian newspaper Los Tiempos. Huawei reported on its website in June 2018 that Entel has completed the deployment of its new cellular base stationsfor both 4G and 5G communicationscalled TubeStar.

And most recently, on Feb. 7, Chinese-listed construction and electrical engineering company Xinjiang TBEA Group was selected by the Bolivian government for a partnership on $2.3 billion worth of lithium projects, according to Reuters. TBEA Group would hold 49 percent stakes in a joint-venture with Bolivias lithium company YLB.

Beijing has sought worldwide access to lithiumone of the major components in electric car batteriesin order to supply its aggressive development of its domestic electric vehicle industry.

Chinese Influence

After years of Chinese investment, there are signs that Beijing holds a certain sway in Bolivia.

In 2016, Moraless ex-girlfriend Gabriela Zapata was involved in a corruption case that proved to be a big scandal for the leader.

Zapata was the commercial manager at the Bolivian branch of China CAMC Engineering, a subsidiary of Chinas state-run tool making and construction conglomerate China National Machinery Industry.

She was arrested in February 2016 as part of a corruption investigation. While charges related to her arrest were not made public at the time, CAMC had been awarded millions of dollars worth of contracts in Bolivia, including a railway project and a salt extraction and refinery plant.

In May 2017, Zapata was sentenced to 10 years in prison for money laundering, illegitimate contributions, and inappropriate use of public goods and services.

According to Bolivian newspaper El Deber, a court document showed that Zapata had lacked the necessary qualifications and work experience for her position at CAMC.

Moraless political opponents accused him of influence-peddling, according to AP, a charge Morales denied.

Another incident involving the United Nations also revealed Chinas influence on Bolivia.

On April 13, 2018, the United States, British, and French forces launched airstrikes against Syria, in response to a poison gas attack a week earlier, allegedly by the Syrian army, that killed at least 70 people in the Syrian city of Douma.

In response to the airstrikes, Russia called for an emergency meeting, proposing a resolution condemning aggression by the three countries, according to AP.

After a vote by the 15-member Security Council, eight countries voted against the Russian draft resolution while four countries abstained.

Russia only received votes from two countriesChina and Bolivia.

Bolivia Political Crisis

The country now faces a crisis, as Morales has set himself up for another term in office.

Bolivias constitution stipulates that presidents can only serve a maximum of two 5-year terms.

But in April 2013, a court ruling allowed Morales to run for office for a third term in October 2014. The court ruling stated that Moraless first term in office did not count toward the two-term limitation under the constitution because it was passed in December 2009, after Morales had already begun serving his first term.

In November 2017, another court ruling scrapped the presidential term limits. The courts decision paves the way for Morales to run for his fourth term in the general election to be held in October 2019.

U.S. Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) recently introduced a bipartisan resolution raising concerns about the countrys future. It is important for all parties to respect Bolivias Constitution, which includes term limits that serve as an important institutional check against corruption and abuses of power, Cruz said in a Feb. 1 press release by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, of which the senators are members.

They called for democratic principles and supporting the Bolivian peoples desire to maintain presidential term-limits.

The senators also noted that Bolivia had aligned itself with rogue and illegitimate regimes including Maduros in Venezuela.

In the ongoing political turmoil in Venezuela, the legitimacy of embattled Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro has been challenged by opposition leader Juan Guaido.

A number of countries have announced their support for the latter, including the United States, Canada, Argentina, and Brazil.

But Beijing has staunchly defended Maduro.The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics center in Boves, France, on Aug. 8, 2018. (Pascal Rossignol/Reuters)

Amazon Will Abandon Plans to Build Second Headquarters in New York

Amazon said on Feb. 14 that it will not move forward with plans to build a headquarters in New York after rising opposition from local politicians.

The company said it will not reopen the search process at this time. We will proceed as planned in Northern Virginia and Nashville, and we will continue to hire and grow across our 17 corporate offices and tech hubs in the U.S. and Canada.

Amazons statement on canceling plans to open a headquarters in New York City https://t.co/chYQfXWIxE pic.twitter.com/3VFPC6gRcB  The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) February 14, 2019

The company had begun considering alternatives last week. The online retailer has not yet acquired any land for the project, which would make it easy to scrap its plans, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters on Friday.

Amazon had announced it would create 25,000 jobs and build one of two new headquarters based in the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens, just across the East River from Manhattan.

The proposal ran into opposition from local politicians who opposed the $2.8-billion in incentives promised to Amazon in a deal secretly negotiated by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The company said, for Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term.

By David ShepardsonAlabama Math Teacher Accused of Raping 15-Year-Old Student

WEDOWEE, Ala.A high school teacher in Wedowee, Alabama, is accused of repeatedly raping a 15-year-old student.

Al.com reported on Feb. 13, that 30-year-old David Brenton Burkhalter has been arrested on charges including second-degree rape and sodomy. Wedowee police say they learned of allegations against the Randolph County High School algebra and geometry teacher last week. Its unclear who reported the allegations to authorities.

Alabama math teacher accused of raping 15-year-old student https://t.co/NIjp3bw2iV pic.twitter.com/V4igt9ovwG  New York Post (@nypost) February 14, 2019

Police say a multi-agency investigation determined the allegations were credible, and charging documents say the female student was raped by Burkhalter as recently as last month.

Burkhalter was being held at the Randolph County Jail. His bail has been set at $1 million. Court records do not show whether Burkhalter has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

Iowa Hotel Settles With Woman Who Was Raped Inside Her Room

DES MOINES, IowaAn Iowa hotel has settled a lawsuit with a New Jersey woman who was raped and battered after the front desk gave the attacker her room key.

Attorneys for Cheri Marchionda say the operators of the Embassy Suites Hotel in Des Moines agreed to a settlement before she was set to testify Wednesday. Terms were not disclosed.

According to court records, Marchionda was staying at the hotel as part of a business trip and was in the hotels bar when a man, later identified as Christopher LaPointe of New York, approached her. She rejected LaPointes advances.

She later awoke to find LaPointe in her hotel room touching her leg. He then battered and sexually assaulted her over several hours.

Police later learned that LaPointe had asked the front desk for and been given a key to Marchiondas room, without being asked to show proof that he was registered to the room or even a hotel guest. When he had trouble getting in because Marchionda had engaged the doors safety latch, LaPointe convinced a maintenance worker to disable it, telling the worker he had had a fight with his girlfriend and she had locked him out of the room.

Investigators say the maintenance worker let LaPointe in unaccompanied and left.

Iowa hotel settles with woman who was raped inside her roomhttps://t.co/CHI2qV76U7

Horrible!  Kim Guerino (@GuerinoKim) February 13, 2019

The Associated Press typically does not name victims of sexual assault, but Marchiondas attorney, Peter Villari, said she is revealing her name in hopes of serving as an advocate for hotel safety and sexual assault victims.

A Des Moines attorney for Hammons Inc. and Atrium TRS III, the operators of the hotel, did not immediately return a phone message left Wednesday. The Embassy Suites franchise and Hilton Worldwide had earlier been dismissed from the lawsuit.

Villari said his client suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from the attack, causing her to lose her executive sales job. Her doctor says shell need a minimum of six months treatment for her PTSD before she can begin working again.

Its been a long fight for this woman, Villari said. Shes very happy that its been resolved.In this June 26, 2011, file photo, an Airbus A380 performs during a demonstration flight at the 49th Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport, east of Paris. Airbus said on Feb. 14, 2019 it will stop making A380 superjumbo jets in 2021 after struggling to win clients. (Francois Mori/AP)

Airbus Abandons Iconic A380 Superjumbo as Sales Slump

TOULOUSE, FranceEuropes Airbus is scrapping production of the A380 superjumbo, with lackluster sales forcing it to abandon a dream of dominating the skies with a 21st century cruiseliner.

The worlds largest airliner, with two decks of spacious cabins and room for 544 people in standard layout, was designed to challenge Boeings legendary 747 but failed to take hold as airlines backed a new generation of smaller, more nimble jets.

Confirming a shake-up first reported by Reuters, Airbus said on Thursday, Feb. 14, the last A380 would be delivered in 2021.

The move comes after Emiratesthe largest A380 customer, was forced to reduce its orders for the iconic superjumbo after an engine dispute and a broader fleet review, opting to order a total of 70 of the smaller A350 and A330neo instead.

Without the anticipated level of demand from the Gulf heavyweight, Airbus said its assembly lines would dry up.

This was a joint decision. We cannot run after illusions and we have to take the only sensible decision and stop this program, Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders said.

Airbus said it would enter talks with unions in coming weeks over the 3,000-3,500 jobs potentially affected. Enders later said the company could not guarantee all would keep their jobs.

The jobs at risk are mainly in France and Germany but there could also be an impact in Spain and Britain too.

@EtonOldBoys @nannypicker British jobs at risk as Airbus announces it is to end production of A380 superjumbo jet pic.twitter.com/MgNk8fN0Xc  Sherman (@jasonking040) February 14, 2019

Airbus took a charge of 463 million euros for shutdown costs, but is expected to be forgiven some 1 billion euros of outstanding European government loans under a funding system that stands at the center of a trade dispute with Boeing.

Airbus shares rose 5 percent on investor relief that Airbus would close a long-running chapter of losses on the A380, also buoyed by stronger than expected 2018 results.

Airbus will produce 17 more of the planes including 14 for Emirates and 3 for Japanese airline ANA.

As part of the restructuring, Emirates placed a new order for 40 A330-900neo jets and 30 A350-900 aircraft, partially restoring a purchase of A350s which it canceled in 2014.

Responding to behind-the-scenes concerns from airline customers from Asia to Europe, Enders stressed Airbus would continue to support the A380 as long as it remains in service.

Leading Buyer Disappointed

Emirates, which had built its global brand around the A380 and Boeing 777 and which has 100 of the Airbus superjumbos in its fleet, said it was disappointed by the closure.

Following a review of its operations and in light of developments in aircraft and engines, @Emirates agrees with Airbus to

 reduce its A380 order book by 39 aircraft

 order 40 #A330neo & 30 #A350

As a result, A380 deliveries will cease in 2021

Release: https://t.co/hCyvPElB1O pic.twitter.com/S8t2KI3Ge4  Airbus PRESS (@AirbusPRESS) February 14, 2019

Emirates has been a staunch supporter of the A380 since its very inception, said Emirates Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum.

While we are disappointed to have to give up our order, and sad that the program could not be sustained, we accept that this is the reality of the situation, he added.

The decision came after Emirates failed to reach an engine agreement with Britains Rolls-Royce, which said on Thursday it noted the decision to shut down the program.

The A380 will remain a pillar of the Emirates fleet well into the 2030s, the airline said.

Emirates local rival Etihad of Abu Dhabi also disclosed it was cutting some Airbus and Boeing jet orders, highlighting growing questions over the growth of Gulf airlines.

Making its maiden flight in 2005, the A380 was a major step in Airbuss efforts to compete on equal terms with Boeing and challenge what had been a cash cow for its arch-rival.

But sales of the industrys largest four-engined jets have fallen due to improvements in lighter twin-engined alternatives, such as the Boeing 787 and 777 or Airbuss own A350.

What we are seeing here is the end of the large four-engined aircraft, Enders said after halting the program in his last major decision before stepping down in April.

There has been speculation that we were 10 years too early; I think it is clear that we were 10 years too late, he added.

The prospect of a premature halt to A380 production emerged last month as part of a restructuring of Emirates orders first reported by Reuters.

On Wednesday, Reuters reported that Airbus was poised to ax the superjumbo.

By Tim HepherKrueger also voiced her displeasure with Trumps perceived disruption in the WTO and addressed the presidents blockage of WTO appellate judges. One of the great successes of the WTO, she said, has been success in cutting down disputes by setting up a dispute settlement mechanism  a panel of judges to whom leaders can complain . The United States has won many more cases than it has lost, and this appeals court has generally worked for the advantage of Americans, she said.

Since 2016, however, the United States has blocked four of these panel judges from reappointment, leaving only three judges available. Trump, Krueger said, keeps firing and vetoing judges  and if he continues, it will ultimately close down this entire mechanism of dispute resolution.

Destroying this dispute settlement mechanism means that the rules have no force, Krueger said. If they have no force, then we have no international order and no rule and law in the international economic system. It wont all go away at once, but it certainly will deteriorate over time unless something can be done about it.

This, Krueger said, would also lead to American businesses running more often to the federal government for protection instead of working on problems internally by cutting costs.A College Station man faces felony drug charges after authorities say he was dealing THC oil from his home.

According to Bryan police, investigators suspected drug sales were coming from a home on Moss Street and executed a search warrant on the home on Tuesday. Authorities detained Damian Castle McVay, 25, and his wife while the house was searched.

Authorities said they found 84.5 grams of marijuana, along with pipes, a digital scale and plastic bags. Authorities also said they found butter laced with THC oil packaged in small increments, and seven THC liquid cartridges. The oil weighed 259.9 grams and the cartridges weighed 3.5 grams.

McVay is charged with manufacture of 260 grams of THC, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison, and possession of 3.5 grams of THC, a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. He is also charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession. He was released from the Brazos County Jail on $24,000 bond.Planet K, a Central Texas-based store that sells pipes, e-cigarettes, incense and a variety of other items, bought its storefront on Texas Avenue in July. Store employees have been selling merchandise out of the parking lot, though, since mid-September after a series of issues with permitting, zoning and paperwork at City Hall kept the business out of its building. AusPro Enterprises LP sued the city and the Zoning Board of Adjustment in November alleging that its building permits were being held hostage to an unconstitutional sign ordinance.

The suit came after the city denied the business application for the sign outside the Texas Avenue store and a subsequent request for a variance. The suit, filed Nov. 2, contended that the citys sign ordinance is unconstitutional because it treats signs differently based on content.

The San Antonio-based law firm representing the city defendants, though, said its reasons for any denial of permits werent solely related to the sign, and that the sign-related issues were structural in nature and not content-based. The citys answer to the lawsuit stated that Planet K also didnt seek permission for the sign before it was installed.

The business racked up numerous citations from the city relating to a lack of permits, many of which resulted from violations of the citys rules for itinerant vendors. Kleinman also refused to remove his sign or pay any of the citations. He said Tuesday that more information about plans for the business moving forward will be shared at a future date.Pat Tippitt, owner of Nans Blossom Shop, called it a love-hate relationship with the flower-heavy holiday.

We love it, but it just about kills us getting things ready for people, she said. But, we love to help them express their emotions.

Barksdale said even though it is a lot of work, it is gratifying to make somebodys day.

When someone comes in to get Valentines Day flowers, she said, she reminds them that it is not just for sweethearts.

I think my favorite part is encouraging dads to give flowers to their little girls, she said. I always tell them the first flowers a girl should get should come from her dad, and that sets a great standard of other future men that would be a part of her life.

Barksdale also wants people to remember that flowers can be for friends and for people who might be forgotten, such as widows who might think they will not get Valentines Day flowers again.

Its not just a sweetheart thing, she said. Think of others.By Erica Werner, Sean Sullivan, Damian Paletta (c) 2019, The Washington Post Feb 13, 2019 - 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 hes 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, Im not, Im not happy, Trump told reporters around midday at the White House, as he met with

Cabinet members.



Its not going to do the trick, but Im adding things to it, and when you add whatever I have to add, its all going to happen where were going to build a beautiful, big, strong wall, Trump said.



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.Offer a personal message of congratulations...

You'll find individual Guest Books on the page with each announcement. By sharing a positive thought you add happiness to the lives of those who are reaching a new life milestone. If you have an existing account with this site, you may log in with that below. Otherwise, you can create an account by clicking on the Log in button below, and then register to create your account.Steve Wildsmith was an editor and writer for The Daily Times for nearly 17 years; a recovering addict, he now works in media and marketing for Cornerstone of Recovery, a drug and alcohol treatment center in Blount County. Contact him at wildsmithsteve@gmail.com.Sri Lankas largest brewer has urged the government to come up with a foolproof mechanism to eliminate the tax revenue leakages stemming from non-declaration of full production volumes by spirits makers.



As is common knowledge, a number of players within the spirits industry dont declare their full production, thereby avoiding the payment of due taxes. We are made to understand that the resulting tax leakage is of a significant value.



Thus, a system to prevent such leakage is imperative and has our full and unstinted support. We trust the Excise Department willin consultation with the alcobev industry find a foolproof mechanism to eliminate this leakage, Lion Brewery (Ceylon) PLC (LION) said releasing its third quarter results, yesterday.



It is imperative that the mechanism so decided upon is indeed foolproof, is easy to implement and is not outdated in terms of technology.



It is also imperative that the mechanism is cost neutral to manufacturers and is funded entirely out of the anticipated gain in government revenue, the company added.



Meanwhile, Lion Brewery said the government revenue from the beer industry had grown by Rs.7 billion to Rs.25 billion in the first nine months of the 2018/19 financial year.



In November 2017, the government brought in a rational tax policy to tax liquor products based on the alcoholic content, ending a lopsided tax policy introduced in 2015, where hard liquor was taxed lower compared to beer.

Due to the discriminatory tax, the beer industry saw a volume contraction between 2014 and 2016, while the hard liquor volume increased by almost 27 percent, as the excise duties per unit of alcohol of strong beer surpassed that of hard liquor, estimates from Fitch Ratings showed.



During the period November 2015 to October 2017, LION suffered an earnings loss of Rs.7.6 billion, on account of the lopsided excise tax policy, excluding the losses that arose as a result of the floods and the resultant shut down during May to December 2016, the company said.



Meanwhile, for the quarter ended December 31, 2018 (3Q19), LION reported earnings of Rs.13.96 per share or Rs.1.1 billion, against earnings of Rs.5.22 per share or Rs.417.9 million recorded for the same period, last year. The sales for the quarter rose 41 percent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs.11.3 billion.



For the nine months ended December 31, 2018, LION reported earnings of Rs.30.20 per share or Rs.2.4 billion, against earnings of Rs.10.43 per share or Rs.834.2 million reported for the corresponding period of previous year.



The sales during the nine months rose 58 percent YoY to Rs.31.6 billion.



However, LION said the companys performance ended December 31, 2018 cannot be really compared since the operating conditions of the same period of the preceding year were significantly different.



The Carson Cumberbatch group owns 60.75 percent of LION shares both directly and through subsidiaries. Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Berhad owns 25 percent of the company shares as the second biggest shareholder.MILFORD - Francis Bunn Jr. passed away at Chestnut Park Nursing Home on June 22, 2021. He was the son of the late Francis L. and Lois (Day) Bunn. There will be no celebration of life for Fran. He would want everyone to spend time with their families making memories, doing what he loved best 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.Steinbach city council expressed interest on Tuesday night in arts and cultural idea submissions from the Steinbach Arts Council, but it appeared too soon to begin anew any discussion of a performing arts centre.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 14/2/2019 (861 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Steinbach city council expressed interest on Tuesday night in arts and cultural idea submissions from the Steinbach Arts Council, but it appeared too soon to begin anew any discussion of a performing arts centre.

Discussion of the need for a performing arts centre in the city was just one of several points raised as council met with SAC in committee on Tuesday night.

"This is going to be our 40th anniversary this year," Cindi Rempel Patrick, SAC's chief creative officer, noted.

"Forty years ago we had a 310 seat theatre in the SRSS. 40 years later we have a 310 seat theatre at the SRSS."

Rempel Patrick encouraged council that SAC was still ready to work alongside the city on performing arts centre plans, part of what she argued was important to quality of life in Steinbach.

"We learned a lot," Rempel Patrick added regarding performing arts centre project efforts in recent years.

Plans for a $24 million performing arts centre development were cancelled by city council in 2017.

"The project was simply too ambitious for what the council and other levels of government were willing to support, but we definitely know there was a private commitment to it," Rempel Patrick said.

She noted that five private donors pledged $3.1 million towards the performing arts centre plan and asked that council remember that as it considered future projects.

Mayor Earl Funk told The Carillon following the meeting that it was a good presentation but that any discussions remain "on the backburner" when it comes to a performing arts centre.

"At this point, not that I'm saying we don't need it, I just don't see that the city can go down that road at this point," Funk said, citing lack of provincial and federal funding as one obstacle.

He noted that the city is continuing to dedicate about $1 million annually to its recreation and culture reserve.

"We will be building facilities out of that. Exactly in what order, how we are going to do that...we'll be deliberating that," he said.

"We do have some plans going forward. At this point it's just premature to talk about them."

Rempel Patrick and SAC board vice-chair Audrey Hill also suggested part of what could help shape the city's vision for arts and culture would be the establishment of a cultural policy. The document could help guide arts-related projects both big and small.

While a major capital project maybe wasnt in the offing, council was interested in the idea of public art projects for the city. Mayor Earl Funk suggested that council would like to see five or six idea submissions from SAC to consider at its summer study session.

Public art has had mixed success in the last number of years.

Rempel Patrick noted the popularity of a piano painted by artists at Summer in the City and now placed at Clearspring Centre.

A large multi-coloured school bell, designed by retired educator J.D. Lees, was greeted with little enthusiasm by council when the Steinbach Heritage Committee project was proposed for placement on the grounds of city hall. Eventually it found its way to the corner of Reimer Street and Third Street at SAC in 2011.

Other more recent public art projects include the Canada 150 mosaic display which enjoys prominent placement at the Jake Epp Library.Interest Trends At 2019 Chicago Auto Show







CHICAGO (Feb. 14, 2019) - As the nation's largest auto show, the Chicago Auto Show serves as the venue where automotive and technology trends are identified, not just for the Chicago area, but for the nation. The more than 1 million square-foot venue features approximately 1,000 of the industry's latest cars, trucks and SUVs for consumers to peruse - and even test drive - throughout the show's 10 consecutive days.

Chicago Auto Show organizers use Meltwater, a media intelligence company, to monitor and assess trends in real time to learn what gets fans excited and talking on social media. This year, the 20 vehicle debuts sparked excitement and conversation among fans. Specifically, Subaru Legacy's hashtag #SubaruLegacy rose to the top with 919 individual tweets; #Tacoma came in second with 531 unique tweets. With the Meltwater software and general e-listening, show organizers have also identified that fans are buzzing about fast cars featured at the show including the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 and the comeback of the Toyota Supra, which was recently released for the 2020 model year.

"The Chicago Auto Show is perfectly positioned to harness the power of our crowds due to the show's sheer size," said Chicago Auto Show General Manager David Sloan. "Our social media team takes advantage of this enormous focus group to pull out trends that set the stage not just for Chicago, but for the country in general."

Undoubtedly, fans are talking. During the Chicago Auto Show's Media Preview, the show's official hashtag #CAS19 was the No. 1 trend on Twitter for the 7th consecutive year. At the halfway mark of the public show, #CAS19 garnered 65.3 million impressions on Instagram and 25.6 million on Twitter, with 10,200 social media posts - and counting.

Throughout the 10-day public show, fans are given plenty of chances to get into the action on social media, from Facebook Live videos, a Snapchat Snap 2 Win contest, an Instagram #instawinCAS campaign and a #SupercarSweeps, co-hosted by Wintrust. Attendees can also visit the show's BUZZHUB to check out real-time trending feeds on a 21-ft. social media wall, pose in front of enlarged hashtag letters and win instant prizes from the show's Social Squad.

Attendees can connect with the Chicago Auto Show's vibrant communities on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube for a virtual backstage pass to learn about the hottest cars, special events and contests. The show is open each day Feb. 9-18 from 10 a.m. through 10 pm., except for the final day of the show, Presidents Day, when it closes at 8 p.m.

For more information on the 2019 Chicago Auto Show, please visit www.ChicagoAutoShow.com.

###

About the Chicago Auto Show The Chicago Auto Show is the largest auto show in North America, spanning more than 1 million square feet of production, concept and exotic vehicle exhibit space. In addition to hosting multiple world and North American vehicle debuts, the Chicago Auto Show's First Look for Charity raises more than $2.5 million annually for 18 vital Chicago organizations in a single night. The 2019 public show is Feb. 9-18. For more information, visit www.ChicagoAutoShow.com or www.Facebook.com/ChicagoAutoShow.

About the Chicago Automobile Trade Association Founded in 1904, the Chicago Automobile Trade Association is one of the nation's largest metropolitan dealer organizations. It is comprised of more than 420 franchised new-car dealers and an additional 150 allied members. The group's dealer members employ about 19,000 people in the metropolitan area. The association has produced the world-famous Chicago Auto Show since 1935. For more information please visit www.CATA.info.February 13, 2019 NADA End-of-Day Auto News Recap: Ford-VW; BMW On Tarriffs; Rivian Electric Pickup Hopefull Seeks Big Bucks Investmeent; Tesla Spare Parts Spare

Partners Volkswagen AG and Ford Motor Co are at odds over how much the German automaker will invest in the No. 2 U.S. automakers self-driving vehicle unit, with Ford seeking at least $500 million, people familiar with the negotiations said. Analysts and investors have focused on the potential savings their alliance could generate, so any sign of problems in the negotiations is not welcome news.

Source: Reuters

BMW's North American boss has some tough words on tariffs, as automakers await a potentially pivotal decision on tariffs from the Trump administration. The U.S. Commerce Department is expected to deliver a report within days that many industry experts say could deem auto imports into the United States a threat to national security and seek tariffs as high as 25 percent on all vehicles imported into the U.S.

Source: CNBC

Rivian Automotive LLC is moving to gain an edge over bigger electric-car rivals before it even starts manufacturing plug-in pickups. The startup is in talks with General Motors Co. and Amazon.com Inc. about an investment that would value the company at $1 billion to $2 billion, people familiar with the matter said. If the deal closes, Rivian would get a partner in GM that brings manufacturing expertise ...

Source: Bloomberg

Gus Schmidt damaged the bumper on his Tesla Model 3 sedan in a low-speed collision and then had to wait three months for the repair shop to get the spare parts from Tesla and fix his car. The unusually long wait for a repair underlines a drawback of being a Tesla customer. Part of the problem is that Tesla, unlike other auto makers, doesnt have a network of hundreds of franchise dealerships to sell and service its vehicles.

Source: The Wall Street JournalVelodyne Lidars Sponsorship of Autonomous Vehicle Competition in China Advances Research and Development of Self-Driving Cars

BEIJING--At the 10th China Intelligent Vehicles Future Challenge (IVFC), Velodyne Lidar, Inc. sensors played a prominent role in enabling self-driving vehicles from multiple teams to navigate real and complex road traffic environments. As an IVFC sponsor, Velodyne had its industry-leading lidar sensors on 20 of the 27 participating teams, including the competitions winner, at the longest-running and most authoritative autonomous vehicle (AV) contest in China.

The IVFC, which took place in Changshu, Suzhou, China in November 2018, attracted a diverse group of teams looking to showcase their latest developments in AV technology. In addition to teams from university research institutes, innovative startup companies and vehicle manufacturers engaged in developing driverless cars participated in the competition. The challenge was hosted by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and organized by the Changshu Municipal Peoples Government.

The challenge included both real-road and offline testing of environmental perception. In the real-road test, the self-driving vehicles competed on urban roads, suburban roads, and elevated expressways. Vehicles navigated dense human-driving traffic flow and various adversarial conditions like GPS-signal loss, road construction, crossing pedestrians, and heavy rain.

The IVFC winner was the Pioneer team from the Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Xian Jiaotong University and Sunny Optical Technology Co., Ltd., which was equipped with one Velodyne Ultra Puck and two Velodyne Puck sensors. Velodyne will award the winners with one Velodyne HDL-64E and two Velodyne Puck sensors for future AV development.

The IVFC provides an excellent opportunity for our next-generation scientists and engineers to strengthen their research and development abilities in the field of autonomous vehicles and build new cooperative relationships with colleagues from throughout China, said Dr. Chi Zhang, Xian Jiaotong University, who was a referee in the 10th IVFC. This competition also involves instrumental verification for advancing our AV industry and having Velodyne, the lidar market leader, participate brings invaluable expertise and experience to this learning environment.

The Intelligent Vehicles Future Challenge has long had a leading role in promoting innovation and practical application of autonomous vehicle technology in China, said Wei Weng, Executive Director APAC, Velodyne Lidar. Velodyne feels privileged to work closely with the prestigious government, academic, business, and research organizations involved in the IVFC to advance the research and development skills of these creative engineers so they can contribute to accelerating the growth of the AV industry.

About Velodyne Lidar

Velodyne provides the smartest, most powerful lidar solutions for autonomy and driver assistance. Founded in 1983 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Velodyne is known worldwide for its portfolio of breakthrough lidar sensor technologies. In 2005, Velodynes Founder and CEO, David Hall, invented real-time surround view lidar systems, revolutionizing perception and autonomy for automotive, new mobility, mapping, robotics, and security. Velodynes high-performance product line includes a broad range of sensing solutions, including the cost-effective Puck, the versatile Ultra Puck, the perfect for L4-L5 autonomy Alpha Puck, the ultra-wide angle VelaDome, the ADAS-optimized Velarray, and the groundbreaking software for driver assistance, Vella.

Top-scorer Quinton de Kock admitted South Africa were caught off guard when Sri Lanka bowled them out for 235 on the first day of the first Test at Kingsmead on Wednesday.

Underdogs Sri Lanka, seemingly in disarray going into the match, reached 49 for one at the close to finish the day in a strong position.

Left-arm opening bowler Vishwa Fernando and right-arm seamer Kasun Rajitha, playing in their fourth and fifth Tests respectively, did the major damage. Fernando took four for 62 and Rajitha claimed three for 68.

We were a bit unaware of the new guys. I think they caught us off guard, said De Kock who made 80.

We had good game plans against (opening bowler) Suranga Lakmal but the two new guys were unseen before. They bowled really well, they didn't miss their lengths often and they made us work hard for what we got. Asked what specific problems Fernando and Rajitha caused, De Kock said: The angle of their bowling, the skills they had, their actions, the skiddiness, the bounce.

They are two solid bowlers and they will give us trouble throughout the series, so we will just have to keep our eyes open for them. Fernando got extravagant swing early in the day after new captain Dimuth Karunaratne won the toss and sent South Africa in, while Lakmal got steep bounce in an opening spell of one for six in seven overs.

Fernando arguably owed his place in the team to the fact that three of Sri Lanka's leading fast bowlers were missing because of injury.

But he produced a superb opening spell, having Dean Elgar caught behind and bowling Aiden Markram with a ball which swung back into the stumps.

Fernando said he enjoyed bowling in South African conditions compared to those in Sri Lanka, where he said fast bowlers tended to struggle on unhelpful pitches.

The ball was swinging in the morning, he said.

He had Dean Elgar caught behind for nought with his fourth ball and there was still no run on the board two balls later when an appeal for leg before wicket was turned down by umpire Aleem Dar, although replays showed he should have been given out.

By the time Karunaratne signalled for a review, the players were told they had taken too long -- although it was shown afterwards they were three seconds inside the permitted 15 seconds for a request.

It is the umpire's word, said Fernando.

The lapse proved inexpensive, however, as Amla was caught at second slip off Lakmal for three before Fernando produced the ball of the day to bowl Markram for 11.

South Africa were 17 for three at that stage. Temba Bavuma and Faf du Plessis put on 72 for the fourth wicket before Du Plessis was caught down the leg side off Rajitha for 35.

Bavuma looked the most assured of the South African batsmen but was run out for 47 off 68 balls, with seven fours, when a straight drive by De Kock richocheted off bowler Fernando's boot into the stumps at the bowler's end.

De Kock, batting at number six because South Africa picked five specialist bowlers, found himself batting with the tail. He hit 80 off 94 balls before he was last man out.

Sri Lanka lost Lahiru Thirimanne, caught behind off Dale Steyn for nought, but Karunaratne batted confidently to be 28 not out at the close, while new cap Oshada Fernando went on the attack when Du Plessis turned to spin bowling as the light faded to finish on 17 not out.

Sri Lanka have lost six of their most recent seven Tests and were disrupted by injuries and several changes in personnel, including the dropping of regular captain Dinesh Chandimal.Washington: US Republican Senator Ted Cruz's wants the El Chapo Act to be President Donald Trump's solution for funding his wall on the southern border with Mexico.

It comes as White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders suggested the border wall was necessary to stop El Chapo's 'reign of terror'.

The Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order (EL CHAPO) Act, was first introduced by Cruz, in April 2017 and reintroduced on Tuesday. It would divert billions in drug proceeds from cartel leaders to border security.

Ridiculed: White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders. Credit:AP

If passed, the out-of-the-box bill would seize any money forfeited in the criminal prosecution of Sinaloa cartel drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and reserve it for securing the border, including construction of Trump's promised wall.There's a supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, two hours outside Denver. It's the highest-security penitentiary in the United States. Since opening in 1994, no prisoner has escaped from the Administrative Maximum Facility - known as "the ADX" - one reason former members of federal law enforcement expect the Sinaloa cartel drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman will spend the rest of his life there.

"For him to escape, he would have to have a warden in his pocket," said a retired federal corrections officer, who spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity. "It's a very controlled environment. No one moves there without permission at all. No two inmates move in the facility at the same time."

The retired officer, who was assigned to ADX, described the entire penitentiary as a singular special housing unit. The Special Housing Unit (or "the SHU") is solitary confinement. Prison officials at ADX did not respond to a request for comment.

Guzman would be in rare company at the ADX, joining 400 male inmates and a roster of infamous convicted felons: Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber; Terry Nichols, the Oklahoma City bomber; Robert Hanssen, the traitorous double agent; and Zacarias Moussaoui, al-Qaeda operative and 9/11 conspirator.Loading The original withdrawal agreement she struck with the EU last year was rejected by Parliament in January. May then voted against her own deal, winning the backing of Parliament to return to the EU and to seek changes to the "backstop" designed to keep the Irish border free of checkpoints. The government believes that, if the backstop is given a time limit, or a unilateral withdrawal clause, or is replaced with a technological solution, then it could get the divorce deal through Parliament. But until now the EU has insisted it would not reopen the withdrawal agreement that it struck with the British government last November. This was May's 10th loss in the Commons. She lost by 258 to 303, deserted by both Brexit hardliners and pro-Remain MPs from her own Conservative Party in the Thursday evening vote.

She was not in the Commons for the vote, having been advised of the likelihood of a loss. A Downing Street spokesman put the blame on Labour, saying that by voting against the government's motion it was "in effect voting to make no deal more likely". However Corbyn said May needed to "tell us what the plan actually is". Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn called on Theresa May to admit that her Brexit strategy had failed. Credit:House of Commons "I was going to ask her to come to the despatch box now and admit that her strategy has failed," Corbyn said. "The government cannot go on ignoring Parliament or ploughing on without a coherent plan."

Loading Labour MP Chuka Umunna said an extension to the Brexit March 29 deadline was now "imperative", but it was hard to see how any Brexit plan would get a majority in Parliament without another referendum. The vote was preceded by a rancorous debate. Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay had told Parliament to "hold its nerve". "We need to send a clear signal to those in the European Union with whom we are discussing these issues," he said.

Brexiters were angry that the motion put forward by May for the vote endorsed the view that there must not be a "no deal" Brexit. Several MPs said this effectively tied her hands behind her back in negotiations. But Barclay disagreed, saying a "no deal" Brexit would still happen by force of law if the Parliament did not vote for a withdrawal deal. Shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer said there was a "casualness" about discussing the prospect of no deal. "[It is an attitude] that we can somehow, in a macho way, march off the cliff and it will all be fine; it will be so good for the country," he said.

Loading "We have to take action if we are serious about avoiding the calamity and catastrophe of no deal  it is obvious what the Prime Minister is up to. She is pretending to make progress while running down the clock. "The simple and painful truth is this: if there had been a viable alternative to the backstop, there would never have been a backstop." Conservative MP Ken Clarke said the idea of "going for the catastrophe of no deal on the arbitrary date of 29 March  is ridiculous". But the Parliament's attempts to make progress had turned into an appalling shambles, he said.Colombo: Sri Lankan prison authorities are recruiting two hangmen after the President pledged to end a 43-year moratorium on capital punishment and execute condemned drug traffickers amid alarm over drug-related crime in the Indian Ocean island nation.

Interviews of the candidates will be conducted next month and two will be hired, prison department spokesman Thushara Upuldeniya said on Wednesday.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena. Credit:AP

The advertisement that appeared in the state-run Daily News on Monday said applicants should have "an excellent moral character" and should pass a test conducted to check the "mind and mental strength."

The candidates must be Sri Lankan men between 18 and 45. Their monthly salary would be Sri Lankan rupees 36,410 ($285).Beijing: What's up on Beijing's Dongzhimen Outer street, the leafy wide boulevard through the diplomatic quarter, where ambassadors are dropping like flies?

Sweden's foreign ministry has confirmed that its ambassador to China, Anna Lindstedt, had been recalled to Stockholm on Wednesday and was under internal investigation.

Recalled: Anna Lindstedt,Sweden's ambassador to China. Credit:TT

It appears Ms Lindstedt had gone rogue, seeking to negotiate a deal to free Swedish citizen Gui Minhai from Chinese detention, bypassing the Swedish foreign ministry and instead engaging two Chinese businessmen.

Gui's daughter, Angela, blew the whistle on the operation this week after she objected to demands by the mysterious businessmen, made at a meeting in a Stockholm hotel, that she stop her public campaign for her father's release.Labor senator Jacinta Collins had announced a surprise departure from the upper house with a declaration that Christian social principles remain strong within her party despite talk of the waning of the Catholic right. Senator Collins, who is tipped to head the National Catholic Education Commission, used her valedictory speech to debunk the myth that she was one of a dying breed within Labor. Outgoing Labor senator Jacinta Collins. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Those who come to our great party, or broad church, from a base of Christian social principles are not disappearing, she said. In some respects we are stronger than during some periods over the last two decades  just look at the recent euthanasia debate.

It serves the interest of some on the far left and the far right of politics to dismiss and diminish us but I thank the many people, across a wide spectrum, who do not. Senator Collins has been one of the strongest voices within the party on social issues as well as a defender of federal funding for Catholic schools ahead of the federal governments offer of $4 billion to satisfy demands from private schools late last year. Her appointment as executive director of the NCEC is expected to be announced on Friday. Debates on religious freedom have often been led by conservatives within the Liberal and Nationals parties but Senator Collins used her speech to emphasise Labors support for the same principle. She quoted a chapter in the partys national platform, which states: Labor supports the appropriate protection of the religious freedom of all people.Thanks to liquor restrictions in his hometown and surrounding communities, David cant access the wine he favours, at least not in the amounts his body has become accustomed to drinking. His is a life of repetition. He wakes, he has a feed, hell probably walk around a bit, and he drinks. He'll pass out by early evening in the long grass opposite the courthouse, before waking the next day to do it all again. Broomes booze battle

Booze has been big news in Broome for decades. Broome's booze problems are long-standing, and not hidden from plain sight. Credit:Kate Hedley Sly grogging  a black market for alcohol  and the proliferation of drink-related crime and anti-social behaviour make regular headlines. It would be unfair to cite Broome as the only Kimberley town with an alcohol problem  these issues exist in areas all over the country  but it is the only town within hundreds of kilometres of many north-west communities where there are few prohibitive liquor restrictions, so many people come here to drink. This could change following recommendations made by State Coroner Ros Fogliani following the inquest into the suicides/sudden deaths of 13 children and young people in the Kimberley which propose restrictions on the purchase of takeaway alcohol across the entire region.

The hope is that tighter grog restrictions will lead to a decrease in the number of assaults, the high rate of domestic violence in Broome, incidents of child sexual abuse and neglect, self-harm cases, and suicides. Opinion has been divided on the recommendation, with Broome Shire President Harold Tracey accusing big players in the local liquor game, Coles and Woolworths, of impeding alcohol restrictions in an interview with the ABC. In January, Broome police instigated a 24-hour ban on the sale of full-strength alcohol following the serious assault of a woman at a local shopping centre. A meeting in town this week will afford liquor retailers a final opportunity to voluntarily implement restrictions before the local council will apply for mandatory restrictions. Rife with hopelessness

Thomas King has managed the Kullari Patrol for five years and has 'seen it all' on the streets of Broome. Credit:Kate Hedley If it was up to him, Kullarri Patrol manager Thomas King would ban alcohol altogether. This town is rife with people who live with a sense of hopelessness, Mr King says. For five years he has managed a service that picks up intoxicated people in Broome and takes them somewhere safe. This could be to their own home, a relatives home, the sober-up centre, or could simply mean rolling a passed-out drunk off the road and onto the footpath, out of danger.

The job we do is hard, Mr King said. Were on the frontline and witness horrible things. It breaks my heart. For more than 20 years the patrol has done its best to contribute to the community by moving alcohol-affected people away from the town centre. In the process of doing this staff witness shocking violence just about every day. They see first-hand the effects on children growing up in severe dysfunction, and they put themselves in the line of fire every time they hit the road in their van. Kullarris goals include diverting intoxicated people from contact with the police, reducing anti-social behaviour in public places, and minimising the resource impact on government and community services.

Loading The service is experiencing a peak right now with the wet season a traditionally busy time. During the wet people seem to come to Broome more frequently than they do in the dry, Mr King said. There are people who just come to drink. Its a big problem. Mr King is in favour of strict liquor restrictions for Broome.

Id like to see them ban alcohol, he said. Of course we know prohibition wont work, so I guess the other alternative is to have restrictions. Itll help curb the real serious offenders I suppose. But where theres a will theres a way. People will find their way around it sooner or later. Itll just make it that little bit harder. Sometimes, there is literally nowhere to take someone whos had too much to drink. The sober-up centre is closed on the weekends, and the new Aboriginal short-stay accommodation facility wont admit anyone who is intoxicated.

Loading So what is the Kullarri Patrol to do? All those beautiful babies There's a reason Margaret cant go to the Aboriginal short-stay accommodation centre. She has often had too much to drink.

Margaret, the sister of David who you met at the beginning of this story, moved to Broome to be closer to one of her sons. She has two boys. The other one is in prison. Her partner, Jason, has just got out of jail. Some days are hard, Margaret said. You get free food on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Other days you got to ask people for money for a feed. Whats not hard to come by is grog. The evidence of weeks and months of hard drinking is everywhere, not just at this block. Its hard to take a walk through Broome without stumbling over empty cans of Emu Export or spent bottles of cheap wine.

Elizabeth - "like the Queen" - has slept on the streets of Broome for more than two years. Credit:Kate Hedley The alcohol abuse endemic among these most vulnerable community members is just a symptom, though, of lives marred by grief, violence, displacement and trauma. Take away the alcohol and you still have broken people. Elizabeth finds it hard to talk about her own experience. The mother of four spends her nights sleeping on a bench in the courthouse grounds.

Its uncomfortable, but its across the road from the police station, so she says she feels safe there. Do you know two girls killed they selves? she asks me. Its not good. When I tell Elizabeth I know about the spate of suicides, and ask her what she thinks can be done to stop them, she falls silent for a while. I lost two boys, she finally says. My sister lost two of her babies. They do it by hanging, you know? The clothes line. The ceiling fan. I cant tell you any more.

Theres barely a woman I meet among those whove come to Broome to drink who doesnt share an agonising story from their past with me. They have been abused, some since infancy, and shunted around among relatives when their parents, usually just their mothers, could not care for them due to their own problems with alcohol. The cycle is now repeating itself; and repeating itself is all that will happen until someone  anyone  comes up with a long-term solution for these people. I dont know what the answer is, Elizabeth said. At 54 she thinks of herself as an old lady.

Loading I suppose people are trying to help us, she says. They should just worry about the kids, you know? I worry about the babies. All those beautiful babies. The fight of their lives As well as recommending further restrictions on takeaway alcohol sales in the Kimberley, the Coroner also suggested the state government considers the feasibility of a banned drinker register, and urged proper police resourcing to tackle sly-grogging.

Ms Fogliani also made specific mention of the Kullarri Patrol, and of similar services running in other Kimberley towns. Not only are patrols providing services on the front line, they are also operated by Aboriginal people, she wrote. It therefore offers one of the best ways of engaging and providing information to those who most need it. Recurrent and long-term funding for such patrols was another of the Coroners recommendations, one that would be welcomed by Mr King, who says he currently has to fight for every cent he receives. As for the likelihood of the WA government adopting the other recommendations surrounding liquor restrictions, who knows?Margaret River father Aaron Cockman says his new foundation aimed at finding new approaches to family separation has given him something to live for.

Mr Cockmans four children; daughter Taye, 13 and sons Rylan,12, Arye, 10 and Kadyn, eight were shot dead by the grandfather Peter Miles, who also murdered their mother Katrina and his wife Cynda at Forever Dreaming Farm in Osmington in May last year.

Aaron Cockman, father of four children that were murdered in WA, at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

He has now launched aaron4kids, a foundation working in collaboration with childrens advocacy group For Kids Sake to call for new approaches into preventing childhood trauma resulting from family breakdowns.

Mr Cockman visited Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday to launch the foundation. He's also set up an official GoFundMe page.A man purporting to purchase flavoured milk pulled out a sawn-off shotgun from underneath his shirt at a service station counter before fleeing with cash and cigarettes in a terrifying hold-up in in Melbourne's outer south-east.

The man, clad in a Furphy beanie and a Nina and Pasadena brand t-shirt, entered the Tooradin service station, on the South Gippsland Highway, about 3.15am on Tuesday morning.

The man, in his 30s, then strolled over to the fridge and selected what appears to be a strawberry-flavoured Big M before approaching the shop's the front counter.

He then asked the attendant for a packet of cigarettes, producing the sawn-off shotgun from underneath his shirt as the attendant's back was turned.Painters are about to begin a five-year project to completely repaint Brisbanes 79-year-old Story Bridge for the first time since it opened.

Work will begin after this year's Riverfire, at the culmination of the Brisbane Festival.

Brisbane City Council will next week call tenders for one of the citys biggest-ever paint jobs, repainting the kilometre-long bridge, including the iconic span over the Brisbane River.

Brisbane's Story Bridge to be repainted for the first time. Credit:Tony Moore

Though its paintwork has been touched up several times, it will be the first time the Story Bridge has been repainted entirely since it opened in 1940.Namibian Opposition Leader McHenry Venaani said their government must renegotiate foreign loans to avoid falling into the same trap as Sri Lanka and some African countries, the Namibian reported yesterday.

Mr. Venaani said foreign loan agreements that Namibia entered into, especially those secured from China, were badly structured, and do not necessarily benefit local people, despite a lot of opportunities that they created.

The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) leader made these remarks on Monday shortly after meeting Chinese ambassador to Namibia Zhang Yiming in Windhoek.

In an interview with The Namibian, Venaani said Chinese loan agreements with African countries and Namibia were badly structured, to a point where if a country defaults, it loses its natural assets to China.

He cited the example of Sri Lanka, which least out a port after failing to pay back Chinese loans.

Venaani said the government thus need to renegotiate foreign loans to avoid falling into the same trap as Sri Lanka and some African countries.

In general and in the African context, a lot of the loans from China have these tags that when they give you money, their companies must benefit from it, and our local industry and the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are not being propelled.

Some of these loans do not address the local beatification process, and we are saying that China need to open up and be truthful about their win-win situation, he said.

Meanwhile, Chinese Ambassador in Namibia, Zhang Yiming has said China does not have a hidden agenda with Namibia, but only wants to help the country develop, because we have already developed.

He added that his country maintains a foreign policy of not interfering in the internal affairs of any country, including Namibia.

We should support you now because we have developed. So, we don't have any hidden agenda, he added.The infinitesimal likelihood of Scott Morrison being given another term in the Lodge has ironically been boosted by the historic defeat of his party, on the floor of Parliament, this week.

The Liberals chance of winning is still probably akin to me climbing 100 Mt Everests before breakfast tomorrow morning.

The odds are massively higher for a dirty electoral fight, based on race.

The signs are already there. Christmas Island detention centre is to be reopened. Weve been put on alert to expect a tsunami of new boat arrivals.It was only when the Tharawal Aboriginal mens group in Airds started meeting every three weeks at the local Indigenous health service for lunch - with checkups for dessert - that many of its older and very doctor-shy members discovered they were very sick, with heart disease and prostate cancer.

Local elder Eddie Burge discovered his blood pressure was dangerously high when he saw a doctor at the Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation's Aboriginal Medical Service near Campbelltown.

Anthony Dargin, 22, kisses his one-year-old son Ivory after he gets immunisation shots at the Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation Aboriginal Medical Service in Airds. Credit:Kate Geraghty

Others tested positive for bowel cancer - doing the test at the centre instead of at home like most non-Indigenous Australians. Other friends found out they had bad tickers, said Mr Burge.

Before they started meeting at the centre, the men had to be dragged to see a doctor, said a female community member.Optus customers are concerned about a potential data breach after finding themselves logged in to what appears to be another customer's Optus account.

The company's social media pages were bombarded with complaints on Thursday afternoon, from customers who tried to access their own accounts but were logged in as someone called 'Vladmir'.

Optus customers are worried their data has been breached after the login issue.

One customer, Tommy Morgan, said he initially noticed the login page was constantly refreshing, every two seconds or so, before he could hit the login button.

Initially thinking it was an issue with his desktop, he tried three different computers and even attempted to use Chrome's incognito mode but the issue remained.Even in the best of circumstances, a cyanide plant would seem like a tough sell.

But amid flurries of a mystery particulate falling from the sky and an invasive stench so strong that some have considered moving, residents of Waggaman, Harahan, River Ridge and Kenner have risen up against plans by Cornerstone Chemical Co. to build a hydrocyanic acid plant in Waggaman.

Unlike the Jefferson Parish landfill, Cornerstones existing 800-acre facility on River Road has never been identified as a source of the noxious odors, and the particulate is thought by many residents to be coming from late-night barge-loading activity by other companies on the Mississippi River.

Still, amid those nuisances, the idea that the state Department of Environmental Quality could approve a new plant that would produce a substance popularly synonymous with a lethal poison has proven to be a bridge too far for many residents.

Melissa Taylor, a lifelong Harahan resident who lives there with her husband and four children, said she fears the two proposed 26,000-gallon storage tanks could leak, emit gas or even explode.

No one anticipates these catastrophes, but they do happen, she said. We all have children in this neighborhood; there are elderly people who live here.  How do we get out of here if (something) happens?

DEQ is accepting public comments on the $100 million project until Monday, but it is considering requests to extend that period, a spokesman said Wednesday. And with 800 comments submitted so far, all of which will have to be answered, it could be several weeks before a decision is made.

Hydrocyanic acid, a highly poisonous acidic solution of hydrogen cyanide in water, is used to make materials such as nylons and plastics.

It is a byproduct of another process at Cornerstone, the production of acrylonitrile  a toxic liquid used to make artificial fibers. Cornerstone is spending $20 million to upgrade the efficiency of its reactor, and the result is that it will produce less cyanide.

However, the proposed new plant would make enough hydrocyanic acid to offset that decline. Cornerstone is contractually obligated to provide the current amount to the end user, which is also located at the Cornerstone plant.

So despite the new production, Cornerstone says the net amount of hydrocyanic acid at the site will not increase.

The company notes that it has produced, handled and managed hydrocyanic acid at the site since 1953, and that all of what it produces is consumed onsite.

Taylor, who was one of several hundred people who turned out for a public hearing on the matter Tuesday, noted that there were far fewer residents living nearby in the 1950s. And while residents may not have been aware that hydrocyanic acid was being made at the plant all this time, she said that doesnt change the implications.

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If they were asking us if they could build a plant today, the response would be the same, she said.

Our eyes needed to be open, and they werent before, she said. Now that were aware, were watching and were looking.

Cornerstone is one of scores of industrial sites lining the banks of the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. And the growing concerns among Jefferson residents echo potentially more worrisome issues farther upriver.

In St. James Parish, a wall holding back a pen of acidic water has recently threatened to break, and a plant producing chloroprene in St. John the Baptist Parish faces a raft of lawsuits that allege it has sickened residents for decades.

While DEQ has publicly taken the Jefferson Parish landfill to task for a malfunctioning liquid and gas collection system that has been producing smelly gases, many residents and parish officials feel the agency has dropped the ball on investigating other potential sources of the odors.

And the agencys public statements about what it can and cannot do to figure out why flakes of particulate often fall from the sky at night have drawn the ire of many residents who  fairly or unfairly  see the agency as ineffectual.

Weve sort of lost faith in LDEQ, Taylor said, adding that she thinks the agency should deny the permit Cornerstone is seeking and deal with the things they already have to solve.

All plants have a legally allowed level of emissions. Cornerstone has been cited several times in recent years for violating its permit, including an August 2017 incident when a worker left a valve open, releasing hydrogen cyanide and sending him to the hospital.

We dont need any more air emissions, Taylor said. We already have enough risk; we already have enough with what we are dealing with now.

If the project is approved, it would create temporary construction jobs for 240 workers. The plant would be operational by 2022, creating 21 full-time jobs with an average salary of $80,000 a year, plus benefits, the company said.

Cornerstone, which is headquartered in Metairie, has about 500 employees. The Waggaman facility, which is known as the Fortier Manufacturing Complex, is also home to Evonik Cyro LLC, Dyno Nobel and Kemira Chemicals Inc.Black makeup is NOT the same as 'blackface.'

Thats the headline on a statement the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club put out Wednesday as leaders of the krewe aim to head off any criticism over its long tradition of Mardi Gras float riders blackening their faces.

The four-page statement, issued on the eve of Carnival amid a widening blackface scandal that has rocked the Virginia statehouse, focused on distinguishing Zulus tradition from the blatantly racist blackface of minstrel shows from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Shocking photographs periodically come to light exposing the fact that even some of our most respected citizens still engage in this racist behavior, reads the statement, which includes a now-infamous decades-old yearbook photo that has landed Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam in hot water.

Those who incorrectly compare our use of black makeup to 'blackface minstrelsy can first look to our name to dispel that notion, Zulu's statement reads.

Zulu parade costumes bear no resemblance to the costumes worn by blackface minstrel performers at the turn of the century. Zulu parade costumes more closely resemble and are designed to honor garments worn by South African Zulu warriors, the statement adds.

The statement also endorses the view that the krewes century-old tradition of members darkening their skin hails from black poverty in the post-Reconstruction South, when makeup (and not masks) was the only option available to Zulu members at that time.

The statement comes three weeks before hundreds of Zulu members and invited guests get set to roll on the morning of Fat Tuesday, delivering coveted painted coconuts to paradegoers.

Among them are expected to be more than 100 white riders, including invited sponsors.

While Zulu members estimate that perhaps 5 percent of the krewes membership is white, about 1 in 5 riders on its Mardi Gras floats are white.

They too are required to "black up" for the parade.

Zulus history makes it abundantly clear that nothing about the organization, including the black makeup, was intended to insult or degrade African-Americans, the statement reads. To the contrary, Zulu has always been about celebrating African and African-American culture, strength and pride.

Read Zulu's full statement below.

Can't see PDF? Click here.What are myths, really? More than just old Greek and Roman legends for which our Mardi Gras parades often were named, myths are stories that unite past and present, universal ideas and intimate experiences  or so New Orleans artist Nicole Charbonnet suggests in her new mixed-media paintings.

Art review: 'Bondye: Beyond and Between' In the 1960s, Tina Girouard was part of an influential group of New York avant-garde artists from Louisiana that included Lynda Benglis, Dicki

If the ideal forms of traditional Olympian deities belied their famously messy personal lives, Charbonnet cuts to the quick by mixing their iconic allure with a graphic goulash of modern grit and lurid innuendo. "Danae and the Shower of Gold" (pictured), based on Adolf Wertmuller's 1787 painting of the Greek princess ravished by the great god Zeus disguised as a golden mist, somehow unites the legends of the Roman poet Ovid with messy modern graffiti and seductive mass media imagery that blurs the boundaries between advertising and soft porn. In so doing, Charbonnet infuses the ephemeral with the eternal, and maybe a hint of the infernal.

Similarly, in "After Michelangelo," the ghostly image of one of the Renaissance artist's typically beefy, linebacker-esque torsos seems to be emerging from the painting's dense texture, a surface that recalls a crumbling wall replete with splattered paint and pockmarks that amount to a record of time's indignities over the ages. In "Amor Vincit Omnia  After Caravaggio," contemporary chaos sets the tone in a scene where splatters of pink paint overwhelm green figurative swatches, recalling the iconic graffiti-riddled anarchy of a St. Claude Avenue streetscape. "After Modigliani" is more demure, an imprint of a sly Sibyl etched into a sun-bleached Italian rampart, but "After Giorgione" is more frontal, a modern-day Venus as an assertive soft porn princess.

If the collective chaos of these works can seem disorienting at first, the way they really do appear to integrate the wild and colorfully humanistic aspects of the past with the digitally enhanced chaos of the present fulfills visual art's role as a stimulant to the integrative processes of the imagination, processes without which there would be no resilience, and consequently no healing.

Through Feb. 23. Arthur Roger Gallery, 432 Julia St., (504) 522-1999; www.arthurrogergallery.comFor your special Valentine, Istrouma High students are selling sweet-smelling candles the teens made themselves, all the while learning a lesson in dollars and scents.

More are coming, including Easter candles, and ones in Istrouma burgundy and gray. And perhaps candles in the colors for other schools.

The Baton Rouge public school wants to put its stamp on the local market for homemade  or school-made  candles.

Were going to take the city by storm, promises teacher Claude Booker, a retired ExxonMobil process technician trainer who is now imparting his petrochemical manufacturing knowledge to students at this Baton Rouge high school.

The school candle business is Bookers brainchild.

This was not part of the retirement plan, he said with a laugh.

Can't see video below? Click here.

For years while still at the energy giant, Booker volunteered at the high school. He said he was hurt when he learned that the historic high school had been closed and was happy to learn it reopened in 2017.

When he was hired last year to teach process technology, Istrouma High Principal Reginald Douglas urged Booker to find activities that would motivate the students.

Booker settled on candle-making. He didnt let the fact hed never made a candle before stop him. At ExxonMobil, they produced paraffin wax. Istrouma students, he thought, could take that wax and turn it into candles.

The process that they use to make (wax) is kind of similar to the process we use (at Istrouma) to melt it, Booker said. Teaching kids about heat and pressure are some of the basic concepts of process technology.

+4 Istrouma High supporters ring bells, beat drums in advance of school's reopening Wednesday If you live or work near 3730 Winbourne Ave. in Baton Rouge and you think youre hearing the pounding of drums, you probably are.

Room 116 in Building J is serving as the candle factory. Over the past month, the students made about 280 Valentines Day candles here, and Booker said the students have unfilled orders for about 100 more, which he hopes to wrap up next week.

The candle-making equipment on display ranges from special wax melters to donated bun warmers to small cylinders of PVC pipe, which are serving as molds. Bottles of liquid scent sit on one table. One bottle of vanilla scent is used in the white candles. While the other bottle, a scent labeled Love Spell, is used in the red candles; it smells like passion fruit.

Ebony Noah, coordinator of Istrouma's magnet program, prefers the sweet scent of the red candles.

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I love the smell, just being in that room, Noah said.

After the rectangles of paraffin wax are melted  that takes at least 90 minutes  the molten mix is heated in a water bath to about 190 degrees. First color, then the scent is added, before the hot liquid is poured into the PVC pipe molds. The molds then are slowly cooled to room temperature in the bun warmer, and finally the wicks are installed.

Sophomore Kirby Manchester, 15, estimates hes made nearly 100 of the candles. He remembers his first one, and his joy in its creation.

I was looking at this, thinking, I made this candle, Manchester recalled. I thought the candle would came out messed up, but it came out good.

Booker has enlisted the help of other teachers in the candle project. A home economics teacher plans to make aprons for student workers and help with selecting colors. The schools agriculture teacher is planning to carve wooden placeholders for the candles.

Shirnell Jackson is playing a bigger role. She will have the students in her entrepreneurship class develop a business plan for the school candle enterprise. She's been conducting preliminary research to get ready. She said she was surprised to find that seven out of 10 households in the United States use candles.

People dont realize how big the candle business is, Jackson said.

Istroumas candles vary in size, and initial pricing ranges from $3 to $5 per candle, though that may change. There are plans to set up an online store. For now, though, all sales are handled in person by calling the schools main office at 225-636-2686 or visiting the school at its 3730 Winbourne Ave. campus during school hours.

Istrouma is holding a promotional event at 11 a.m. Thursday to showcase the new Valentines Day candles. And the school has been spreading the word to parents and alumni through social media.

For the student consumers, Mom appears to be the most likely recipient of a new candle, though Mom may end up paying for it.

I got to go home and get some money from her, Derrica Morris, 15, a ninth-grader, acknowledged.

When asked if she is thinking of buying another candle for a special someone, Morris blushes in embarrassment.

Booker said some adults customers are ordering the red and white candles, with more amorous intentions. He knows. He's one of them.

Without a doubt, he said with a big smile.WASHINGTON (AP)  President Donald Trump will sign Congress' border security compromise, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday. The announcement removed the last ounce of suspense over the fate of a bill that would provide just a sliver of the money Trump wants to build a wall with Mexico but also would avoid a new government shutdown.

But McConnell also said Trump would quickly declare a national emergency. The president has said that move would give him power to divert money from other budget projects into wall building.

McConnell also said he would support Trump's emergency declaration. That was a turnabout for the Kentucky Republican, who like Democrats and many Republicans has until now opposed such a declaration.

Can't see video below? Click here.

The emergency declaration will inject the likelihood of fresh conflict between Congress and Trump over his efforts to build barriers along the boundary with Mexico. Opponents have said there is no crisis at the border and Trump is merely sidestepping Congress.

The Republican-controlled Senate began voting on the agreement Wednesday, and passage by that chamber and the Democratic-led controlled seemed certain.

Trump had signaled he would sign the bill but it was unclear until McConnell's announcement if he would do so, prompting some lawmakers to voice concern.

"Let's all pray that the president will have wisdom to sign the bill so the government doesn't shut down," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chiming in after a guest chaplain opened Thursday's session.

Trump's assent would end a raucous legislative saga that commenced before Christmas and was ending, almost fittingly, on Valentine's Day. The low point was the historically long 35-day partial federal shutdown, which Trump sparked and was in full force when Democrats took control of the House, compelling him to share power for the first time.

Trump yielded on the shutdown Jan. 25 after public opinion turned against him and congressional Republicans. He'd won not a nickel of the $5.7 billion he'd demanded for his wall but had caused missed paychecks for legions of federal workers and contractors and lost government services for countless others. It was a political fiasco for Trump and an early triumph for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

The fight left both parties dead set against another shutdown. That sentiment weakened Trump's hand and fueled the bipartisan deal, a pact that contrasts with the parties' still-raging differences over health care, taxes and investigations of the president.

Louisiana plans to issue March food stamps early to address gap created by federal government shutdown Louisiana families who rely on food stamps can expect their benefits a little ahead of schedule next month, as the state attempts to address a

The product of nearly three weeks of talks, the agreement provides almost $1.4 billion for new barriers along the boundary. That's less than the $1.6 billion for border security in a bipartisan Senate bill that Trump spurned months ago, and enough for building just 55 miles of barricades, not the 200-plus miles he'd sought.

Notably, the word "wall"  which fueled many a chant at Trump campaign events and then his rallies as president  does not appear once in the 1,768 pages of legislation and explanatory materials. "Barriers" and "fencing" are the nouns of choice.

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The compromise would also squeeze funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in an attempt to pressure the agency to gradually detain fewer immigrants. To the dismay of Democrats, it would still leave an agency many of them consider abusive holding thousands more immigrants than it did last year.

The measure contains money for improved surveillance equipment, more customs agents and humanitarian aid for detained immigrants. The overall bill also provides $330 billion to finance dozens of federal programs for the rest of the year, one-fourth of federal agency budgets.

Trump has talked for weeks about augmenting the agreement by taking executive action to divert money from other programs for wall construction, without congressional sign-off. He might declare a national emergency, which has drawn opposition from both parties, or invoke other authorities to tap funds targeted for military construction, disaster relief and counterdrug efforts.

Those moves could prompt congressional resistance or lawsuits, but would help assuage supporters dismayed that the president is yielding.

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who leads the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, told reporters "it would be political suicide" if Trump signs the agreement and did nothing else to find added money.

The measure was expected to be carried by pragmatists from both parties. Many of Congress' most liberal members were expected to oppose it, unwilling to yield an inch to Trump's anti-immigrant policies, while staunch conservatives preferred a bill that would go further.

"I made a promise to my community that I wouldn't fund ICE," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., a freshman who's become a face of her party's left wing and a leading proponent of eliminating the agency.

In SOTU address, Trump calls for end of resistance politics WASHINGTON (AP)  Face to face with emboldened Democrats, President Donald Trump on Tuesday called on Washington to cast aside "revenge, resis

Though Trump lost the highest-profile issue at stake, he all but declared victory Wednesday.

At the White House, he contended that a wall "is being built as we speak." Work on a small stretch of barriers is due to start this month in Texas' Rio Grande Valley under legislation Congress approved last year.

Swallowing the deal would mark a major concession by Trump, who has spent months calling the situation at the southern border a national security crisis. In private conversations, Trump has called the congressional bargainers poor negotiators, said a person familiar with the conversations who wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

Trump has repeatedly vowed Mexico would pay for the wall, a suggestion that country has spurned. His descriptions of the wall's size have fluctuated, at times saying it would cover 1,000 of the 2,000-mile boundary. Previous administrations constructed over 650 miles of barriers.

Facing opposition from Trump, Democrats lost their bid to include language giving federal contractors back pay for wages lost during the last shutdown. Government workers have been paid for time they were furloughed or worked without paychecks.

Also omitted was an extension of the Violence Against Women Act. Democrats say this will give them a chance later this year to add protections for transgender people to that law.

___

Associated Press reporters Catherine Lucey and Padmananda Rama contributed.The US government recently endured a month-long partial shutdown due to a partisan dispute over funding to build a wall on the countrys southern border with Mexico. While those on both sides of the issue were digging in their heels, I got to thinking about migration trends in Asia.



According to the most recent edition of the Asian Development Banks (ADB) Asian Economic Integration Report, Asia remains the worlds largest continental source of international migrants. Indeed, one in three migrants worldwide comes from the region.



The number of Asian migrants has grown steadily to about 87 million and the report notes that leading source countries of migrants to Asia are the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) with 5.2 million, the Russian Federation (3.8 million) and Bangladesh (3.7 million).



Primary drivers for the movement of such large numbers of people include conflict and the desire for better educational and economic opportunities. Another emerging driver of migration that has received more attention of late is climate change, the subject of a landmark ADB study.



The majority of Asian migrants are semi- and low-skilled workers such as maids, caregivers and manual labourers, including those working on construction sites. Skilled Asian migrants tend to move to advanced industrial economies outside the region.



But as Asian countries become more prosperous and host increasingly important economic centres, one can imagine that more skilled Asian migrants will stay closer to home in future years.



There are various developments opening the door to greater intra-regional migration. For example, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) envisions the free flow of skilled labour among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. This goal is slowly being realized through the granting of visas and work permits and negotiation of mutual recognition arrangements (MRAs) in areas such as engineering, nursing, architecture, medicine, dentistry and tourism.



However, an ADB study of skills mobility in the AEC concluded that several technical and political barriers at national and regional levels impede professionals from moving and practicing their profession in other ASEAN countries. Overcoming these impediments could yield real benefits.

Economist Mita Adhisti calculated that ASEANs overall economic growth could increase 7.1 percent by 2025 if member countries took steps to support migration, such as improving labour market information, providing language and skill training, simplifying administrative requirements and expanding MRAs to semi-skilled workers.



Demographically-driven labour shortages in high-income economies are creating new opportunities for migrants from developing countries in the region.



Australias Pacific Labour Scheme kicked off in July 2018 to allow citizens of Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu to take up low and semi-skilled work opportunities in rural and regional Australia for up to three years. The scheme will be expanded to more Pacific island countries as Australia hopes to fill labour gaps in towns and on farms and in the process stimulate greater economic activity away from the major coastal population centres. Beginning in 2019, Japan plans to begin issuing more than a quarter-million five-year visas for workers in 14 sectors that are experiencing serious labour shortages, including caregiving, construction, agriculture and shipbuilding. A separate new visa category for high-skilled workers will grant permission for long-term stays and the right to bring families into the country.



Australia and Japan are not the only countries in the region that will require more workers.



The Economist has reported that countries in East Asia will have to import 275 million people between the ages of 15 and 64 by 2030 to keep the share of the population at working age steady. Malaysia, Viet Nam, Singapore, Thailand and the PRC will need workers. Countries with a surplus of workers include Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines. Will Asias increasing trend toward regional integration in areas such as trade, equity and direct investment extend further into the continents labour markets? Time will soon tell.



(Bart Edes is Representative,

North America Representative Office of

the Asian Development Bank)Baton Rouge continues to grapple with how it should protect renters from retaliatory slumlords.

Metro Council members worked to hash out language for a new ordinance right up to the start of their meeting Wednesday but ultimately decided to work another two weeks to try to get it right.

Metro Council prepares to go after retaliatory slumlords who run 'deplorable' rental housing The East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council is preparing to go after slumlords after hearing Wednesday from renters about moldy apartments, cock

Ordinance sponsor Donna Collins-Lewis remarked she's probably gone through nine drafts, but the goal is to protect tenants who complain that their homes are not up to code. Collins-Lewis wants to protect whistleblowers from retaliation such as eviction or having their rents jacked up.

Many people living in substandard housing are elderly and can't afford to pick up and move if they lose their current housing, even if it's "a dump," Collins-Lewis said.

The gold standard would be to subject rental properties to regular inspections like restaurants, said Cashauna Hill, executive director of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, which also covers Baton Rouge.

The Collins-Lewis proposal actually sets a much lower bar, she said.

The city-parish is "radically out of step" with much of the country that assured protections for renters back in the 1960s and 1970s, said Maxwell Ciardullo, the Center's director of policy and communications.

Advocates packed the Metro Council chambers to back the renter protection proposal. Several spoke, and at least 53 others signed their silent support.

Property owners and real estate professionals supported protection for renters but worried about unintended consequences.

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One version of the ordinance would flip the legal system, requiring landlords to prove a problem didn't exist  a difficult position, said Herb Gomez of the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors. That was the organization's biggest concern with the ordinance, but he said the group would work with the city-parish on language.

Attorney Steve Myers said the proposal could create a loophole allowing renters to abuse allegations of code violation to freeze rent indefinitely when it would normally increase. And how will the city-parish grandfather older buildings that met old code but may not meet the current requirements, he wondered.

Property manager Michelle Rabalais said she sometimes has to evict people. She recalled telling a tenant to remove a Christmas tree still outside in May  and her resident physically attacked her.

Ciardullo said the people advocating for renter protection aren't worried about the properties managed by folks who came out to Wednesday's council meeting.

"This is an anti-slumlord ordinance," he said.

Landlords will still be able to evict people who damage property and don't pay their rent. The new changes would prevent evictions of people just for reporting legitimate health and safety concerns, Cairdullo said.

Renters and attorneys spoke of children falling in open holes, the presence of unsanitary pipes and elderly people being forced to sleep on a couch with the oven open in winter because their heat didn't work.

"Renters are afraid to tell their story for fear of retaliation," said Laquitta Bowers of the Foundation for Louisiana.

Councilwoman Barbara Freiberg was among those who kept tweaking the ordinance into Wednesday afternoon. She vowed to keep working but said she could not in good faith vote for a proposal she received the day of a meeting, much less for one she received less than an hour before the item was considered.

Freiberg successfully moved for a two-week deferral to continue work. Councilman Trae Welch said it may take even longer to craft the right ordinance to allow renters to feel safe voicing their concerns.Nine members of LSU's Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity are facing criminal accusations of hazing and other related offenses after its national organization  one of the oldest fraternities in the nation  announced the sudden closure of its LSU chapter last month.

The arrests came amid the university's ongoing quest for increased safety within its Greek system following the hazing death of an LSU freshman in fall 2017, which sparked widespread concern about unsafe practices and lenient penalties for the students responsible.

[Update, 12:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 15: Two more DKE members arrested; new details revealed in arrest warrants]

LSU spokesman Ernie Ballard III issued a statement Thursday morning confirming the nine arrests. He said they resulted from hazing incidents "that are alleged to have taken place in the fall of 2018." The counts range from misdemeanor principal to criminal hazing to felony second-degree battery.

"This type of behavior is unacceptable and at complete odds with what we expect from our students," Ballard said. "It does not belong at LSU."

DKE announced a decision to end its LSU presence in January  almost 100 years after the chapter was founded  because the organization said students had violated its hazing and alcohol policies.

Can't see video below? Click here.

"This is a sad day for the university, but one that illustrates the cultural shift occurring at LSU," Ballard said Thursday. "The quick action by the national DKE organization by revoking the chapter's charter and the cooperation of several witnesses in this investigation demonstrate a growing recognition that hazing and other harmful activities cannot be tolerated."

More than a year has passed since the hazing death of LSU freshman Max Gruver at a Phi Delta Theta ritual in fall 2017. That prompted increased scrutiny of LSU's Greek organizations as university officials found themselves scrambling to prevent similar tragedies in the future. Gruver was pronounced dead  his blood alcohol content more than six times the legal limit  after being forced to drink massive quantities of liquor.

Several students and former students were arrested and accused of contributing to his death, including one charged with negligent homicide. The chapter was banned from campus for the foreseeable future. A Catholic church group is now leasing the former Phi Delta Theta house.

Gruver's death prompted swift action from state legislators: the Max Gruver Act was signed into law in March 2018, boosting state penalties for people convicted of hazing or related offenses.

+7 See mugshots, arrest counts: LSU fraternity members arrested and accused of hazing Nine members of LSU's former chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon either have been or will be arrested and accused of hazing, authorities have said.

The students arrested Thursday will likely be the first from LSU whose cases could result in those harsher penalties.

Leaders of DKE's national organization said in announcing their decision to close the chapter that they acted "in full support of the Max Gruver Act and related anti-hazing laws" by filing a report with LSU police and passing along the findings of its investigation to university administrators.

That wasn't the first time DKE members had gotten in trouble, most often for displaying inflammatory banners outside their house, which have included offensive jokes about minorities and victims of gun violence.

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One that received a lot of attention referenced the mass shooting that has become known as the Kent State Massacre in the context of an LSU football win. The sign read: "Getting massacred is nothing new to Kent State." Members of the fraternity later issued an apology, saying that as young college students they "did not grasp the full scope of the tragedy."

And the chapter was placed under investigation in 2006 when police responded to reports of "suspicious activity" during initiation and found a goat inside the house. Members said it was their symbol and mascot but the incident raised questions about whether pledges were "forced to do anything with the goat," officials said at the time. The chapter ended up agreeing to an "introspection period" lasting two years, which included banning alcohol and animals from the house.

A former LSU student and DKE member was charged with misdemeanor simple battery in November after police said he pushed another student down two flights of stairs during a fraternity preview event in August 2017  just one month before Gruver's death.

The members arrested Thursday include Garrett Sanders, who's listed as the chapter president on its web page. He was booked into jail on two misdemeanor counts.

+2 LSU's Delta Kappa Epsilon chapter closes after investigation finds hazing, alcohol violations One of the oldest fraternities in the nation has closed its LSU chapter following an investigation that found students violated the organizati

Some of them have also been arrested previously in recent years, presumably while students at LSU. Ballard said all nine remain students for now pending the outcome of the university's internal investigation and discipline process, which will determine whether they'll be expelled.

Malcolm McNiece, of Baton Rouge, was arrested four months ago on counts of simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling. McNiece broke a side window of a residence, cut himself on the glass and bled all over the residence that he broke into, according to his arrest report. He then slept on the couch, woke up, logged onto the victim's computer, Googled his location and requested an Uber to pick him up.

As he walked out, McNiece grabbed an unknown amount of money off some furniture, the affidavit said. Police reported that all of his actions were recorded on security videos and that McNiece also left his wallet and passport on the front porch of the victim's residence. They identified him based on the belongings he left behind and because he used his email login to sign into the victim's computer.

McNiece bonded out of jail in November 2018 and court records indicate he hasn't been charged yet in the case.

Two other names on the list of students arrested this week also have prior arrests in East Baton Rouge, court records show.

Charles Brakenridge, of Ferriday, was arrested in 2015 on counts of driving while intoxicated and careless operation of a vehicle. He pleaded not guilty and then prosecutors dismissed the charges in March 2018.

Cade Duckworth, of Lafayette, was arrested in 2017 on counts of possession with intent to distribute after police found almost 70 grams of marijuana in a kitchen where Duckworth told police he had been. He bonded out of jail and no additional case filings have been listed since then, suggesting prosecutors chose not to move forward with charges.

Delta Kappa Epsilon was founded in 1844 at Yale University and is "one of the oldest and most prominent fraternities" in the country "known for producing outstanding gentleman, leaders and jolly good fellows," according to its website. It has had a chapter on LSU campus since 1923.

The fraternity has boasted several prominent members over the years, both in Louisiana and across the country, including Huey Long's son Sen. Russell Long, former Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster and former presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. The national organization has also gained attention in recent months due to the membership of U.S. Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose contentious confirmation process centered on allegations of sexual misconduct in both high school and college.

Ex-LSU student pleads not guilty to pushing volunteer down 2 flights of stairs at frat house A former LSU student and fraternity member accused of pushing another student down two flights of stairs during an August 2017 fraternity prev

The nine students arrested Thursday were booked into Parish Prison on the following counts:Questions are still being raised about how revenue from a new property tax will be used to build and fund the operations of a mental health facility in East Baton Rouge Parish.

Metro Council members had hoped a report from the mayor's office would provide some clarity on the Bridge Center's involvement in the operation of the proposed crisis facility.

But Chief Administrative Officer Darryl Gissel told Metro Council members on Wednesday that it'll take at least 30 more days before they'll see something in writing regarding the allocation of revenue from the 1.5-mill mental health tax and the stipulations of a proposed agreement outlining the operations of the crisis center.

"It seems sketchy, all over the place, because no one has a clear understanding of how this is going to go," Councilwoman Donna Collins-Lewis told Gissel and representatives from the Bridge Center. "We were told we'd have something to look at."

Gissel said a draft of a cooperative endeavor agreement is circulating but is awaiting review by the Parish Attorney's Office before it can be presented to the Metro Council for review.

The 1.5-mill mental health tax was championed by the Bridge Center, a nonprofit set up by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation to provide a crisis center where people who need urgent psychiatric care can be stabilized and receive treatment as an alternative to an emergency room or Parish Prison. The district attorney, police chief and coroner all supported the tax and sit on the Bridge Center board, as does the sheriff's jail warden.

Gissel and Bridge Center officials were told by Metro Council members that written plans might ease mounting concerns over an apparent lack of transparency and accountability related to the setup of the new facility.

Because the Bridge Center is a nonprofit and not a government agency, revenue from the tax can be allocated to the center only through a cooperative endeavor agreement.

Wednesday's night discussion spilled over from last month's debate in the council chambers on the topic. Some members of the public expressed concerns over how speedy the process was going and they wanted a say in how mental health is addressed in the community.

East Baton Rouge tax review includes questions on how to fund mental health center Baton Rouge leaders are struggling to come to an accord over how to collect local property taxes, including a longstanding millage for librari

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The Committee to Support Equitable Healthcare for All has argued in the past that the tax revenue should be allocated to an existing government agency like Capital Area Human Services, which they said has a narrower focus and is better suited to manage a mental health facility.

The committee has also questioned the Bridge Center's ability to manage the facility because the center's board lacked representatives with behavioral health experience.

The Rev. Alexis Anderson, a member of the committee, noted the Bridge Center was not the named provider when the tax was being sold to voters but it now appears to be the pick to secure the contract to manage the facility.

"We believe there should be a Request for Proposals where everyone has to be vetted to the public and the deal not be made in private meetings," Anderson told the Metro Council.

Earlier Wednesday, Jennifer Harding, head of the nonprofit Progressive Social Network, noted in a Facebook post the lack of information the Bridge Center has provided to the public: "If you go to the Bridge Center's website they have something listed as a 'business plan' but the very first page basically says this is not an actual business plan, if we had a business plan we would include the following, and we plan to make a business plan in the future.

"At the very least, tax funds shouldn't be released to an agency that has no plan," Harding said.

Mental health facility coming to Baton Rouge after voters approve tax in landslide On their second try, mental health and law enforcement advocates convinced voters to pass a property tax to fund a psychiatric crisis center.

Kathy Kliebert, chairwoman of the Bridge Center's board of directors, agreed to publicize minutes from board meetings going forward and to soon release a comprehensive plan outlining the scope of services the facility will provide and who it will partner with to do it.

She was joined Wednesday night by members from the center's 19-member board, which she said was recently revamped to add members with expertise in mental health issues.

"We're just in the early stage of the process," Kliebert said. "It's not like we're making decisions and not telling people. This is just a long process."June Davis, a carpenter by trade, cycles down 40th Street near Gus Young Ave., past a building bearing a painted mural of Harriet Tubman on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017, the first day of the annual celebration of Black History Month in the United States. Tubman was an American abolitionist and humanitarian who was born into slavery, but escaped and later made missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved families and friends, using the 'Underground Railroad' network of antislavery activists and safe houses. Davis said 'it's a very motivating thing,' to hear about the sometimes unsung contributions made by African-American people.Hulin Health opened its seventh urgent care clinic in Louisiana on Wednesday when it opened in Marksville.

Hulin opened its first SouthStar Urgent Care Clinic in central Louisiana and still plans to open others in Oakdale, Ville Platte and Bastrop. Located at 863 Tunica Drive East in Marksville, the clinic will be open seven days a week and treat patients of all ages with no appointment required.

The team is extremely excited to have the opportunity to serve the people of Marksville," said Clayt Hulin, founder and CEO of Hulin Health. "Marksville has long been a location that weve had interest in, and things aligned recently to allow us entry into that market. We are confident that once the folks in Marksville get to know us, they will come to trust us.

Hulin Health brand has urgent care clinics in New Iberia, Lafayette, Abbeville, Eunice and Opelousas.At least 34 Indian paramilitary soldiers have been killed in a bomb attack by militants on their convoy in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Police told the BBC that a car filled with explosives rammed a bus carrying the troops to the main city of Srinagar.

The Pakistan-based Islamist group Jaish-e Mohammad said it carried out a suicide bombing.

It is the deadliest attack on Indian forces in disputed Kashmir for years.

The blast took place on the heavily guarded Srinagar-Jammu highway about 20km (12 miles) from Srinagar.

"It's not yet clear how many vehicles were in the convoy. A car overtook the convoy and rammed into a bus with 44 personnel on board," a senior police official told BBC Urdu's Riyaz Masroor.

The official said the death toll might increase because dozens were "critically injured". The Central Reserve Police Force confirmed to the BBC that at least 34 of its personnel had been killed in the attack.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was a "despicable" and "dastardly" attack.

The AFP news agency said Jaish-e Mohammad had sent a statement to local media saying it was behind the attack.

Prior to Thursday's bombing, the deadliest attack on Indian security forces in Kashmir this century came in 2002, when militants killed at least 31 people at an army base in Kaluchak near Jammu, most of them civilians and relatives of soldiers.(BBC)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.Monarch butterfly on a purple cornflower in a photo taken at the Tyler Arboretum, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

(Photo by Derek Ramsey)Badfingers Ass was released in 1973. Painting of the album cover by Blaze Makoid, 1977. (Photo by Suzanne Cheavens/The Watch)Why it matters: Setting up shop in a region where you aren't welcomed is a lose-lose situation. Amazon was wise to pull out now and regroup rather than fighting politicians and residents that didn't want them around. The e-commerce giant can always select another host city if it is deemed necessary in the future.

Amazon on Thursday announced it has decided not to move forward with plans to build one-half of its second headquarters in New York City as originally planned.

Rumors surfaced last week suggesting Amazon was considering pulling out of the deal following unexpected pushback.

Amazon said that while polls showed that 70 percent of New Yorkers supported their plan and investment, several state and local politicians made it clear that they opposed their presence and would not work with them to build the type of relationship required to move forward with the project.

Interestingly enough, Amazon said it does not plan to reopen its search for another host city at this time. Instead, the e-commerce giant will move forward with existing plans in Virginia and Nashville and continue to hire across its 17 tech hubs and corporate offices in the US and Canada.

Amazons HQ2 was expected to bring 25,000 jobs and more than $27 billion in tax revenue to NYC over the next 25 years. Critics were concerned about the tax incentive being offered to Amazon and the possibility of rent hikes and increased traffic.

Second image via New York PostA hot potato: The last few months have seen several people launch lawsuits against Epic Games for allegedly using their dance moves in Fortnite without permission. Now, the company has asked the judge in one of these cases to dismiss the claim, arguing that no one can own a dance step.

Epic Games is being sued by BlocBoy JB, The Fresh Prince of Bel Airs Afonso Ribeiro, Russell Backpack Kid Horning, Orange Shirt Kid, and rapper Terrence 2 Milly Ferguson, for unauthorized use of their dances.

Epics attorney, Dale Cendali, wrote in a letter to the California Federal Court that 2 Millys lawsuit was fundamentally at odds with free speech.

No one can own a dance step, the motion reads. Copyright law is clear that individual dance steps and simple dance routines are not protected by copyright, but rather are building blocks of free expression, which are in the public domain for choreographers, dancers, and the general public to use, perform, and enjoy.

Epic also claims that the Swipe It dance emote in question is different from 2 Millys version. According to the letter, the rappers move, referred to as the Dance Step, features the torso, shoulders, and head facing forward while the ribs move side to side with the arm movements. The emote, meanwhile, involves the torso, shoulders, and head turning side to side with the arm movements, and the ribs remaining in place. 2 Millys move is also said to be performed at a significantly quicker tempo. "The works simply are not substantially similar," said Epic.

How the judge responds to the argument will likely affect the other lawsuits. While The Carlton Dance has been removed from Forza Horizon 4, Ribeiro has admitted he stole the move, though he lawyer says he didnt use the word in the legal sense. In the case of Orange Shirt Kid, his Orange Justice dance, originally called The Random, was submitted to Epic Games as part of a competition. It didnt win, but fans petitioned for its inclusion in Fortnite.Fed up: Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has had enough with robocalls. Today the Commish laid down an ultimatum to telecommunications carriers that they have one year to address the problem of spoofed caller IDs or face regulatory intervention.

This is not the first time Pai has gotten on Big Telecom to take care of the growing problem of robocalls. Back in November 2018, the FCC Chair sent letters to several providers asking that they implement a caller authentication system to combat call spoofing. He said they had until the end of the year to come up with something or the FCC would take action.

He didnt get the reaction he had hoped for since no carriers have implemented any measures and have only offered up excuses as to why they havent. Most claim they need more time than they were allowed. Granted a couple of months is not much time to develop and deploy such a system. AT&T, for example, says it wont be able to implement measures until 2020.

Pai issued his response to the excuses in an official FCC statement today along with another threat. Companies now have until the end of 2019 to set in place a robust caller ID authentication protocol or face FCC intervention.

American consumers are sick and tired of unwanted robocalls, this consumer among them, Pai complained. Caller ID authentication will be a significant step towards ending the scourge of spoofed robocalls. It's time for carriers to implement robust caller ID authentication.

"Calls traveling through interconnected phone networks would have their caller ID 'signed' as legitimate by originating carriers and validated by other carriers before reaching consumers."

The FCC said it was prepared to consider regulatory intervention if necessary. This intervention is likely to take shape as fines against carriers. The Verge notes, Congress has already introduced legislation that would allow the FCC to impose higher punishments against robocallers. However, even if passed, it is sometimes hard to enforce such fines against fly-by-night companies that reside overseas.

Addressing the problem at the provider level seems more practical and certainly has more teeth when violations occur. The solution suggested by the FCC is an authentication framework that it calls SHAKEN/STIR, which stands for Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs (SHAKEN) and the Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (STIR) standards.

SHAKEN/STIR, in a nutshell, authenticates telephone numbers as calls pass through different networks. This validation presumably eliminates the ability for a company to assign a different originating phone number as the call is transferred between carriers before reaching the customer.

As mentioned, AT&T says it will need until 2020 to implement such a system. Pai says it and others have precisely until 2020 to launch the solution. Well have to see where this goes come this time next year.From right: Plantation Industries Minister Navin Dissanayake, Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman Lucille Wijewardena and a Sri Lanka Tea Board official

Pic by Kushan Pathiraja

By Nishel Fernando

The government yesterday said it would contribute Rs.50 to the daily wage of every tea plantation worker, for a period of one year, which can only be described as a desperate measure to end the protracted plantation sector daily wage issue.



Plantation Industries Minister Navin Dissanayake told the reporters in Colombo yesterday that the Sri Lanka Tea Board (SLTB) funds to the tune of Rs.1.2 billion, given to the government as a loan, would be utilized for this purpose.



He said a decision in this regard was reached during a meeting he had with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last morning, as the plantation companies had conveyed the government that they were not in a position to further increase the plantation worker wages. Dissanayake expects to submit a Cabinet memorandum in this regard within two weeks and said the proposal would be included in the upcoming budget this April.

Sri Lanka has estimated 140,000 plantation sector workers.



Dissanayake said the proposed Rs.50 per worker would be in addition to the recently agreed total daily wage of Rs.750, which includes a Rs.700 basic daily wage. The latest wage agreement was formalised between the Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) and several plantation worker trade unions, last month.



However, several government ministers opposed the new wage agreement and insisted on the original demand of Rs.1,000 as the basic daily wage.

Sri Lanka this year targets US $ 1.6 billion from tea exports through renewed efforts towards replanting, maintaining the quality of the Ceylon Tea brand and the anticipated launch of the Rs.4.5 billion global promotional campaign this March.



Dissanayake said his ministry plans to allocate Rs.2.9 billion for replanting and infilling for the RPCs and tea smallholders, with plans to replant over 200 hectares of tea plantations in the country.



He said the funds from the tea promotion levy would be utilised for this purpose, after securing the necessary approvals from the Treasury.

The SLTB has estimated that as much as 50 percent plantation land managed by the RPCs is currently underutilised.



As a result, a special focus will be on the RPCs in tea replanting and infilling, to boost their yields.



Meanwhile, Dissanayake reminded the RPCs that they are ultimately accountable for the public for the management of the plantations, as these properties are owned by the state.



The RPCs have a responsibility to hand over the tea plantation in their original state. They (RPCs) are managers, not owners and the public are the real owners. There are some RPCs, which are acting as owners, he said. Dissanayake also announced that the government had decided to ban MCPA, which emerged as an alternative to the popular weedicide glyphosate.



Theres threat to the quality of Ceylon Tea emerging from the usage of MCPA. Hence, we have made a decision to ban MCPA altogether, he said.

He also said the director board of the Tea Research Institute of Sri Lanka, at their next meeting, would approve with the baseline sugar contents for individual tea types, to take legal action against the tea adulterates.



Sri Lankas tea exports declined 2 percent to 282 million kilogrammes in 2018, compared to 282 million kilogrammes exported in 2017, while the export earnings declined by a nearly US $ 100 million to US $ 1.43 billion.

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Apple plans to launch a subscription news service at an event next month, according to reports.

The service has been described as "Netflix for news," because it would let customers access an unlimited amount of content from publishers for a single monthly fee.

It will be based on a reworked version of Texture, the media subscription service Apple purchased last year.

The monthly fee for the service is expected to be about US$10.

"Apple is targeting consumers who are serious about the news and willing to pay for it," said Michael Goodman, a research director at Strategy Analytics.

"Apple sees service revenue as an important part of future revenue growth," he told TechNewsWorld. "This is another step towards making that vision a reality."

No Fear of Competition

Facebook has been the leader in social media news sites, with 43 percent of Americans getting their news from its platform. YouTube has been supplying 21 percent of Americans with their news, and Twitter has been the main news source for 12 percent of Americans.

However, the news offerings from Facebook and Twitter are no threat to Apple's plans, Goodman argued.

"Facebook and Twitter are free, so you're really comparing apples and oranges here," he said. "That's not to say users don't care about the news, but they support a different business model."

About 68 percent of American adults got news on social media at least occasionally in 2018, a Pew Research survey found.

Convenience was the most mentioned benefit of news on social media, with 21 percent of the nearly 4,600 respondents citing it as a factor. Still, 57 percent expected the news they saw on social media platforms to be inaccurate.

What Google is doing in the news space wasn't clear to Goodman. Google has been pumping money into publishers, but the real issue dogging media companies is the question of how much revenue they can garner from digital ads.

Google and Facebook account for two thirds of digital ads between them, according to eMarketer.

Hell No, Publishers Won't Go

Apple "is in the enviable position of being the device -- not just the app -- delivering news, giving it an advantage," Rebecca Wettemann, vice president of research at Nucleus Research, told TechNewsWorld.

Whether that will translate into more revenue for publishers is not clear.

Publishers have been balking because Apple reportedly wants 50 percent of the gross. The rest would be split among the publishers based on the amount of time readers spent on their sites.

Further, Apple's plans reportedly do not include sharing customer data, including credit card numbers and email addresses, with publishers.

"Apple's biggest challenge will be whether it can get the publishers on board," Goodman said.

"The publishers are not happy with the revenue split," he noted. "Where have we heard that before? In addition, they are ceding a lot of control to Apple, which could come back to haunt them in the future."

Apple reportedly has spoken with The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

Conde Nast, Hearst and Meredith -- founders of Texture, the media subscription service Apple bought last year, which will form the basis of the new service -- are expected to sign on.

Apple reportedly has been considering bundling the news service with other media subscriptions -- Apple Music and a new streaming TV service slated for unveiling this spring.

Apple has suggested that its partners can make 10 times more than they were making with Texture. The company reportedly told one publisher it could make about $2 million in the first year, but the publisher was skeptical about the figure.

Apple's existing service, Apple News, attracts about 90 million readers a month, and it's not yet clear how it will interact with the new premium service.

Publishers have not fared well with Apple News. Although it has increased their audiences -- by up to 400 percent in some cases -- their profits have not kept pace.

Slate makes more money from a single article running on its own site than from the 6 million page views it receives on Apple News in an average month, Slate writer Will Oremus calculated.

"Consumers who want the news will get a new source," Strategy Analytics' Goodman said. "A bigger question might be, what happens to Apple News?"

The main issue for consumers is how much bang they can get for their buck. Whether publishers or news distribution channels survive is of no consequence.

"For most consumers, the convenience of an all-you-can-eat service is likely to outweigh concerns about Apple strong-arming publishers," Wettemann observed.

"Unfortunately it will be tough for publishers to take the Taylor Swift route, given Apple's market share," she added.

Pop star Taylor Swift locked horns with Apple over the free trial version of the vendor's streaming service, arguing that artists should get paid for their songs in the service and refusing to let Apple stream her new album, "1989." Swift won.

Richard Adhikari has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2008. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, mobile technologies, CRM, databases, software development, mainframe and mid-range computing, and application development. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including Information Week and Computerworld. He is the author of two books on client/server technology. Email Richard.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday informed the Colombo Chief Magistrate that it is looking into the link between former TID DIG Nalaka Silva and musician Amal Perera and to also investigate if there was any dealings between the former DIG and Makandure Madush.

When the case against former DIG Silva and an Indian national, Marceli Thomas, who was arrested over an alleged assassination plot on President Maithripala Sirisena and some other VVIPs, was taken up in court, the CID informed the Magistrate that musician Amal Perera had met former DIG Silva on July 21, 2016.

When Amal Perera arrived at the former DIGs office, a police constable who was on duty at the time had asked him the reason for his visit. The former DIG had been furious at being asked such a question and had taken disciplinary action against him, CID official informed court.

Former DIG Nalaka Silva and Indian national Thomas were further remanded until February 27 by Colombo Chief Magistrate Ranga Dassanayake.

The Magistrate also ordered the CID to provide an update on the investigation being conducted into the claims made by Thomas stating that the court cannot keep him in remand without proper evidence of any wrong-doing.

Earlier, the CID informed court that it had received a report from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) regarding Thomas.

The CID also informed the court that it had received information regarding a famous drug dealer who had links to several TID officials, explaining that the person in question was currently locked up in the Welikada Remand Prison. (Yoshitha Perera)Seminole, FL (33772)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy after midnight. Low 71F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy after midnight. Low 71F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%.Tesina Jackson | Daily Press

If a stolen item is recovered, such as a firearm, authorities sometimes take custody of the property until the closure of the case.From left: Rajarata University Vice Chancellor Dr. B.A. Karunaratne, University of Sri Jayewardenepura Vice Chancellor Prof. Sampath Amarathunga, ADB Country Director in Sri Lanka Sri Widowati, University of Kelaniya Vice Chancellor Prof. D.M. Semasinghe and Sabaragamuwa University Vice Chancellor Prof. Sunil Santha

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and four Sri Lankan universities yesterday signed project agreements totalling US $ 145 million, under the ADB-funded Science and Technology Human Resources Development project, to foster science and technology in Sri Lankas higher education.

To achieve higher incomes and better standards of living, the Sri Lankan government aims to transform the country to a knowledge-based economy by 2025, with education playing a key role, said ADB Country Director in Sri Lanka Sri Widowati.



To this end, the project will help nurture a new breed of technology-oriented graduates equipped with skills and entrepreneurial spirit for the economy.

Widowati signed the project agreements on behalf of ADB while Vice Chancellors Prof. Sampath Amaratunge, Prof. D.M. Semasinghe, Dr. B.A. Karunarathna and Prof. M. Sunil Shantha signed for the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, University of Kelaniya, Rajarata University and Sabaragamuwa University, respectively.



Sri Lankas education system is facing several challenges in delivering quality learning relevant to the labour market, particularly in the science, technology and engineering subjects. Higher education opportunities as a whole are limited, with the gross enrolment rate at less than 19 percent much less than the 50 percent average for upper-middle-income countries.



Moreover, less than 20 percent of graduates are from the science and engineering subjects.



Although more than 60 percent of the undergraduates in Sri Lanka are female students, they overwhelmingly (about 82 percent) concentrate on liberal arts and social studies, where unemployment is highest. Encouraging more women to take technology disciplines will increase womens career opportunities in technical areas where wages are high.



A lack of investment, laboratory facilities, researchers and qualified academic staff are holding back the quality of teaching, learning and research. The existing degree programmes in scientific or engineering areas are more theory-oriented and lack practical applications of knowledge and skills.



The project will construct faculty buildings following green building standards, ensuring they are climate proofed, well equipped with laboratories and offer flexible spaces for different kinds of research and learning as well as facilities that help integrate female students and staff, such as day care centres.



Under the programme, the universities will develop a complete degree programme curricula incorporating industry inputs and aligned with international standards.



The project will also support the recruitment and training of academic staff for the new programmes. Staff performance management systems will be strengthened to continuously improve teaching and learning, student services and industry collaboration.



The universities will develop joint proposals with industry partners for research and development activities to resolve industry problems or come up with new products and services. In addition, the project will develop a future project proposed for 2021, focusing on the research and development capacity.



The government is expected to provide an additional US $ 20 million towards the project.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New York  Amazon is backing out of its plan to build a new corporate campus in New York City, according to The New York Times.

The tech giant planned to bring 25,000 jobs to Long Island City in Queens. In exchange, the state and city agreed to give the company $3 billion in incentives.

But the deal sparked opposition from some local lawmakers and activists who criticized the subsidies involved and Amazons track record on some issues, including union organizing.

The plan to build in New York came after an extensive search Amazon launched for a second headquarters location outside its home base in Seattle. The company ended up choosing to build two new sites, with the other in northern Virginia.

The company has been more warmly received there. It is also expanding in Nashville, Tennessee.

Amazon said in a statement that local opposition was the main reason it is dropping its New York City plans.

While polls show that 70 percent of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City, the companys statement said, according to the Times.

The firm did say it would continue to grow its presence in New York City, where it currently has 5,000 employees. Amazon also said it would not reopen its search for a new site and would simply proceed instead with existing major plans for Virginia and Nashville.

We are disappointed to have reached this conclusionwe love New York, its incomparable dynamism, people, and culture  and particularly the community of Long Island City, where we have gotten to know so many optimistic, forward-leaning community leaders, small business owners, and residents," the company said, according to NBC News.

Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-282-8598WASHINGTON  U.S. Rep. John Katko has set the dates for two additional town hall meetings as part of his effort to encourage a community discussion about the future of Interstate 81 in Syracuse.

He will host a public meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday (Feb. 19) at Liverpool Middle Schools cafeteria, 720 Seventh St., Liverpool. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. The discussion will be moderated by Salina Town Supervisor Colleen Gunnip.

The final meeting will be 6 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 21) at the Public Service Leadership Academy at Fowler High School, 227 Magnolia St., Syracuse. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. at the entrance next to the main parking lot on Magnolia Street. The discussion will be moderated by Onondaga County Legislator Chris Ryan.

The meetings will be the third and fourth Katko hosts in February about the future of the 1.4-mile stretch of elevated highway that carries Interstate 81 through downtown Syracuse.

Hundreds of people packed town hall meetings Feb. 4 in Auburn and Saturday in DeWitt to offer their opinions. The state is considering three options to replace the aging highway: a new elevated viaduct, a street-level community grid, or a tunnel that would carry traffic below downtown Syracuse.

Katko, R-Camillus, has declined to take a position on any of the proposals. The third-term congressman said he will seek federal funding for the option that receives support from the community.

In 2017, Katko was among six members of Congress from Upstate New York who urged Gov. Andrew Cuomo not to rule out the tunnel option  the most expensive  because of the estimated cost of $3 billion or more.

Katko said he has invited representatives from the state Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration to attend both meetings next week.

Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751Robert J. Spitzer is distinguished service professor and chair of the political science department at SUNY Cortland and the author of five books on gun policy, including The Politics of Gun Control and Guns across America. He is a panelist on WCNYs Ivory Tower.

Robert J. Spitzer | Special to Syracuse.com

Stockton Elementary School. Columbine High School. Sandy Hook Elementary School. Each of these otherwise typical schools found themselves unwillingly thrust into the national spotlight because of a mass shooting, forever placing them into the perverse pantheon of places linked to senseless mass violence. Each of these tragic events also spurred new calls for gun regulation, but to little effect. Added to this unwelcome list a year ago last Valentines Day was Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a disgruntled student killed 17 people.

Yet the Parkland shooting was profoundly different in one important way compared to past shootings. Instead of seeking privacy and some degree of anonymity, Parkland student survivors did the reverse: They seized the media moment to decry the failure of political leaders to act against gun violence, and ridiculed politicians common but empty post-shooting mantras like extending thoughts and prayers. For example, within hours of the shooting, President Donald Trump tweeted his prayers and condolences to the families of the victims. Student Sarah Chadwick shot back, I dont want your condolences. . . .Do something instead of sending prayers. A widely circulated image after the shooting showed an empty vehicle saying: Excellent news. The first truckload of your thoughts and prayers has just arrived.

Beyond their initial outcry, the students became the driving wedge of a nationwide movement that had clear goals: to keep the gun issue at the forefront of the nations consciousness; to mobilize young people to join the movement and register them to vote; to seek government legislative action; and to bring the issue into the fall elections. All of these efforts met with success, helped at least in part by the fact that in the past several years, national polls have reported an upswing in support for stronger gun laws. Within weeks of the shooting, two traditionally gun-friendly states, Florida and Vermont, enacted new gun measures for the first time in memory.

In 2018, 27 states enacted over 60 new gun regulations. Some of these measures found bipartisan support. For example, eight states enacted red flag laws that allow guns to be temporarily taken from a person considered to pose an imminent threat, subject to a subsequent hearing. Five of those laws were approved by Republican governors. Well-attended rallies that drew thousands were held throughout the country under the #NeverAgain banner. In Congress, two keystone bills championed by the NRA, to enact concealed gun carry reciprocity and to deregulate the purchase of gun silencers, stalled.

In the 2018 midterm elections, for the first time in history, gun safety organizations outspent the NRA in nationwide elections. Voters reported that the gun issue was their third most important issue concern (with that support leaning overwhelmingly toward stronger gun regulation), a higher ranking than had been seen in decades. Among swing district congressional races, 38 of 59 candidates embraced gun regulation, compared to only four of 36 in 2016. A study of political ads nationwide found an increase by a factor of 22 in pro-regulation ads in 2018 compared with 2014. As if to punctuate the impact of this shifting tide, Democrats introduced a bill in the new House of Representatives to establish uniform gun purchase background checks (around a quarter of gun purchases occur without any checks). This year, at least a dozen states are pressing ahead with new gun regulations, including New York.

To be sure, gun rights forces logged some victories as well. Conservative states continued to loosen gun regulations. Notably, early this year, South Dakota became the 13th state to abolish permitting to carry a concealed firearm. Several more states are considering the same action. Trump, elected with early and enthusiastic NRA backing, and the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate will likely block any new federal gun measures. And the addition of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court may have moved it closer to the gun rights camp. For the first time in a decade, the court has agreed to hear an appeal to a gun law (an obscure gun carry rule from New York City). The move is seen by some as an opportunity for the courts conservatives to expand Second Amendment rights.

The Parkland massacre that occurred on Valentines Day a year ago was preceded by another St. Valentines Day massacre  long known by that name  exactly 89 years earlier, in 1929. That event also horrified the nation, even though the eight men killed were Chicago gangsters murdered by a rival gang. Yet that event was an important catalyst to the enactment of the nations first (and successful) federal gun law, the National Firearms Act of 1934. It is too soon to know whether a similar result will follow Parkland, but the political landscape surrounding this controversial issue has without question undergone a profound shift.Syracuse, N.Y.  Syracuses public and private leaders are planning a $100 million reinvention of three big public housing projects and the neighborhood around them. Its a historic effort to turn worn-out, depressing stacks of apartments for the poor into a place of opportunity.

The city, Syracuse Housing Authority and Allyn Foundation are leading the effort to remake the East Adams Street neighborhood. The area includes the states oldest public housing project, Pioneer Homes, as well as McKinney Manor and Central Village. It is 118 square acres on 27 blocks; more than 1,000 units of public housing where more than 4,000 people live. It is all in the shadow of Interstate 81.

The massive complexes of brick buildings that date back to 1937 would come down. Theyd be replaced by modern housing that puts people receiving public assistance in the same units as people paying market rates.

It would raze a collection of homes that has kept people in poverty penned in on an island, separated from the city and opportunity.

It would try to replace it with a modern version of the old 15th Ward, once a vibrant black community with single-family homes and businesses. That neighborhood was bulldozed as part of the citys urban renewal strategy and the construction of I-81 in the late 1950s.

The area is home to some of Syracuse most entrenched and concentrated poverty. The crime rate is more than twice Onondaga Countys. The neighborhood elementary school is on the state list of failing schools.

The new neighborhood -- planned with Purpose Built Communities, a nonprofit organization that provides free services -- is designed to lift people out of that poverty. The organization, funded by a group including billionaire Warren Buffett, has worked with 21 other deeply poor neighborhoods across the country.

The plan for Syracuse is more than housing. It includes a better school, a preschool, commercial development and something residents have not had in generations: a true grocery. The dead-end streets would be reconnected. There would be more parks and businesses. And there would be families from all income levels. People receiving rent subsidies could live next to college professors, the planners imagine.

It sounds massive because it is.

This is not a quick fix, but it would be the largest transformation of Syracuse in the history of the city, said Meg OConnell, executive director of the Allyn Foundation, which has been working on the idea with the city and housing authority for three years.

In interviews with Syracuse.com|The Post-Standard, the group said it was finally ready to publicly discuss the plan.

We didnt want to put it out there and not deliver, OConnell said. The residents have been promised much that has fallen short, she said during a meeting with Syracuse.com that also included Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens and SHA Executive Director Bill Simmons.

When Mayor Ben Walsh mentioned Blueprint 15 in his State of the City address, this is the project he was talking about. That is the name of the nonprofit formed by the Allyn Foundation, the city and the SHA. It is named for the 15th Ward, the area group hopes to resurrect.

The board includes community heavyweights -- Syracuse University, SUNY Upstate, CenterState CEO, Syracuse City School District and Onondaga County. And it also includes neighborhood representatives: three residents of public housing, a representative of Tucker Baptist Church and one from Syracuse Cure Violence.

How does Purpose Built work?

The idea comes from the East Lake neighborhood in Atlanta. That was the first Purpose Built Community more than 20 years ago. When that neighborhoods redevelopment proved successful, a new nonprofit sprang up to help other communities do the same thing.

Purpose Built offers its services for free. But it chooses what communities to work with. So far, there have been 22 cities, including Syracuse.

This is not a short-term fix, said Carol Naughton, executive director of Purpose Built. But we think its the right outcome. Tinkering around the edges doesnt really change outcomes.

Naughton oversaw the redevelopment of East Lake. It was 542 units of public housing. She details the change: The poverty was deep. It had a crime rate that was more than 18 times the rest of the nation. The schools were failing: Fewer than 30 percent of the kids graduated from high school before the community was rebuilt.

Now, the crime rate has been cut by 97 percent, Naughton said. Nearly everyone who can work does, she said. Even among the deeply poor, incomes are five times higher, Naughton said. She said the high school graduates nearly 100 percent of the senior class and nearly all are also accepted to college.

Their schools are now among the highest-performing in the city: the elementary school is ranked sixth, the middle school is second, and the high school is the best in the city, Naughton said.

The transformation has been detailed on NPR, in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution and in news reports around the nation. The neighborhood was a war zone where the only industry was a thriving drug trade. Now, it is thriving.

The change didnt come cheaply or without conflict. The total cost was around $172 million of public and private money.

Some have criticized the East Lake revitalization as gentrification. There, residents involved in the planning process booted residents with felony criminal convictions. That is unlikely to happen in Syracuse, Simmons said.

So how did Syracuse make Purpose Builts cut? The support and leadership behind the concept in Syracuse made it clear that the community is committed for the long haul that transformation takes, Naughton said.

How the housing works

This is the footprint of a bold plan to remake the East Adams Street neighborhood, including three public housing complexes, into a new, mixed-income, mixed-use neighborhood.provided by Syracuse Housing Authority

No one is building new public housing projects anymore. Theres little support to fix them.

Were dying a death of a thousand cuts, said Simmons, of the SHA, which owns and runs the complexes in Syracuse. The apartments need expensive repairs. Most dont meet housing codes, he said.

Also, I-81 slices through Pioneer Homes. It comes so close to Simmons office that the windows shake from the traffic. The decision on how to replace the elevated highway creates two opportunities. The massive demolition and construction from the highway make it more sensible to remake the neighborhood now. Also, the highway project comes with federal environmental and economic development money.

The plan covers nearly half of SHAs 2,340 units of public housing. They would be replaced by mixed-income housing in smaller, more modern buildings.

Beyond that, the city would reconnect to a neighborhood that is near everything and yet an island. The two largest employers, Syracuse University and Upstate Medical University, are in walking distance. So is a newly bustling downtown. Now, the neighborhood is at the center of all of this but isolated.

The tenants have been represented to some degree in the early talks. The plan is to let them and the rest of the neighborhood drive some decisions about what the community looks like.

Simmons recognizes the residents have a long haul ahead. Some have been living in the same apartments for generations. For better and worse, those apartments will be gone. The housing authority has already been talking with local landlords about the need to find housing for tenants during construction.

But the construction also opens a door that has been closed for more than a decade in Syracuse and elsewhere: Section 8 housing choice vouchers. The waiting list for these vouchers in Syracuse has been closed for 10 years and there are still 3,000 people on it. But tenants whose buildings are going to be knocked down will get these federal rental assistance vouchers. They can be used anywhere in the U.S.

Including tenants

A neighborhood is first and foremost made up of the people, said Owens, the deputy mayor. From the beginning, the group has worked to involve tenants, she said.

When you get information out there that impacts people, and where they lay their heads, thats a huge deal, Owens said.

The Purpose Built model relies on tenant input. The point is not to gentrify a community to make it prosperous. Instead, the plan is to create a holistic neighborhood that lifts people up, said Naughton, of Purpose Built.

We need to make sure were hearing from the community and that the voice is authentic and large and guiding this work, she said.

Supreena Smalls, 60, has lived in McKinney Manor for 20 years. She raised her four children there. Now, she lives alone in the public housing apartment, but she often cares for her grandchildren there.

She is on the board of Blueprint 15. Better housing would be good, she said. But what would really be great would be a better school for her twin grandchildren, a neighborhood where she could take her grandkids for a walk, and a grocery store close by.

Smalls talks to residents about the project and has been at a recent tenants meeting where it was discussed. Some tenants are worried about being pushed out of their homes.

They explained thats not going to happen, Smalls said.

A world class school

Smalls really hopes for a better school. The neighborhood school, Dr. Martin Luther King Elementary School, is on the states list of the poorest-performing schools. It could be put under state control because it didnt improve enough last year.

State test results show the situation is dire: Only 4 percent of third-graders at the school were proficient in English and math. The numbers get worse in the upper grades.

The Purpose Built neighborhood model is built around cradle to college education. That means a quality preschool that feeds a neighborhood elementary school.

In the East Adams neighborhood, Blueprint 15 will work with the district to remake the Dr. King school. Jaime Alicea, the city schools superintendent, is on the Blueprint 15 board.

The new school would likely use a STEAM model, which has brought success in other Purpose Built communities. That means the school uses science, technology, engineering, the arts and math to build the curriculum. The learning would be more hands-on and project-based than traditional schools. The early focus is on language, literacy and social skills, Naughton said.

That $100 million price tag

There are no construction plans or even a footprint for the Syracuse plan. But based on other Purpose Built Communities, the cost wont be less than $100 million.

The money would come from several places.

Some would come from HUD, the federal agency that oversees public housing. HUD is encouraging communities to get out of the high-density public housing project business in favor of mixed-income developments of smaller buildings.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo supports the plan, OConnell said.

Private groups and nonprofits might kick in. The reconstruction of I-81 could bring some federal money.

The Allyn Foundation has paid for planning the Syracuse project and plans to pitch in a half-million dollars this year. It might put more money in later.

The Allyn Foundation and OConnell have been driving the early efforts. In 2015, the foundation grew after the Allyn family sold Welch-Allyn, its century-old medical device company in Skaneateles for $2.05 billion. Family members donated to the foundation $85 million from the sale. Since then, OConnell and the other family members have zeroed in on finding solutions to Syracuses poverty. The foundation is also behind the construction of a new $22 million building project on a problem corner of Salina Street that will provide mixed income housing and a food market.

OConnell, part of the Allyn family, is a graduate of Dartmouth College who had a previous career in social services. In 2012, OConnell was chosen as the interim president of Onondaga Community College, where she was the president of the board of trustees.

The East Adams revitalization is expected to take a decade.

The Blueprint 15 CEO likely will be hired this spring and will then hire a few more people. One will oversee the community engagement. The other will may oversee the school plan.

A master developer will be hired by spring to come up with the plan for the neighborhood and work with the nonprofit on finding the money.

If all goes as planned, New Yorks first public housing project, Pioneer Homes, would become the states first Purpose Built Community.

Marnie Eisenstadt is an enterprise reporter who writes about people, life and culture in Central New York. Have an idea or question? Contact her anytime: email | twitter | Facebook | 315-470-2246A survivor of clergy sexual abuse in Central New York filed a lawsuit against the Syracuse Roman Catholic Diocese, this afternoon after a new law lifted restrictions on such suits.

The Child Victims Act, passed in New York in January and signed by the governor today, gives victims until their 55th birthday to file civil suits against their abusers and institutions.

Kevin Braney, 46, filed his lawsuit hours after Cuomo at 11:25 a.m. signed the bill, which went into effect immediately. By 3 p.m., Braney had filed accusations against three priests who he says raped and molested him over about two years beginning in 1988. As a teenager, he served as an altar boy at St. Anns Church in Manlius.

The lawsuit is the first reported in the Syracuse diocese. It is likely one of the first filed in New York state under the new Child Victims Act.

Chancellor Danielle Cummings said the Syracuse diocese had just learned of the lawsuit and had not yet had time to review the claims. She declined to comment.

Braney last year rejected a $300,000 settlement offer from the diocese through a compensation program set up for victims. Braney said his goal is not a financial settlement but to expose abuses by individual priests and cover-ups by the Catholic church. He said hes committed to having a jury hear his claims.

Every day I get a step closer to justice, the further I get from the horrors of the past, he said.

Two priests Braney accuses in the lawsuit were named to the Syracuse dioceses list of clergy members with credible claims against them last year. Both are deceased.

A third priest, who is active, was previously cleared by diocesan officials and Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick of allegations brought forward by Braney.

Braney, represented by lawyers Jon Little and Jessica Wegg of Saeed & Little law firm in Indiana, accuses the diocese, Bishop Robert Cunningham and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops of sheltering and protecting problem priests in Central New York in a coordinated scheme to shield the church from lawsuits and financial liabilities.

The lawsuit accuses clergy members and administrators of negligence, conspiracy and fraud, contract breach, defamation and causing victims emotional distress. It accuses individual priests of assault, battery and false imprisonment.

The lawyers have filed the case as a class action lawsuit, which allows other victims to sign on.

Braney accuses a third priest

Braney first reported allegations of child sexual abuse to the diocese in 2013. A year later, one of his alleged abusers and former Bishop Ludden High School principal Monsignor Charles Eckermann was removed from ministry.

The diocese said at the time it was unable to determine the credibility of Braneys accusations against Father James Quinn, who was deceased. Both Quinn and Eckermann, who is also dead, appeared on the dioceses list of priests with credible allegations against them in 2018. (Read about another case involving Quinn, and how he was cleared in life, then blacklisted after his death.)

Braneys lawsuit includes claims against a third priest, Rev. Paul Angelicchio, who is currently pastor at St. John the Baptist Church in Rome, N.Y., according to the diocese website. A reporter left a message for Angelicchio at St. John the Baptist Church seeking comment. His personal attorney, Tom Murphy, said he had just learned of the lawsuit and declined to comment further.

Rev. Paul Angelicchio is pictured at right in this 2003 file photo taken during mass at Holy Family Church in Syracuse.

Braneys allegations against Angelicchio up until now have not been reported publicly, though the diocese suspended the priest in 2016, then cleared him of wrongdoing a month later.

On the same day the diocese announced he had been placed on leave in Dec. 2016, DA William Fitzpatrick said his office had investigated and determined there was no proof or evidence of wrongdoing by Angelicchio.

The diocese two weeks later said the allegations against Angelicchio were deemed unfounded and returned the priest to ministry. DA Fitzpatrick later wrote a letter to syracuse.com saying Braney was not a credible victim. Fitzpatrick said today he stood by his remarks in the letter.

Braneys lawsuit details about two years of alleged abuse, mostly by Angelicchio and Eckermann together at St. Anns in Manlius. He alleges Quinn assaulted him separately while visiting Eckermann at St. Anns during this time.

The lawsuit alleges the priests set up a torture room in the basement where a lot of the abuse occurred. Braney claims that Angelicchio took Polaroid photographs of the abuse, and Eckermann regularly threatened him with a gun, saying he would hurt the boys family if he resisted or told anyone. The lawsuit claims the frequent, violent sexual abuse often left Braney bloody and in pain.

Braney said he came forward later with his claims against Angelicchio after undergoing therapy and experiencing flashbacks.

I have PTSD. I have come to understand that its somewhat typical, how it all unfolded for me  you dont have control about how the flashbacks come, Braney said in an interview. Its a complex, messy situation.

Braney claims in the lawsuit he and other victims have been forced to endure additional abuse and manipulation as they attempted to report abuse to the diocese and get help paying for therapy.

The lawsuit says the church requires Braney and other victims who want therapy costs reimbursed to sign releases allowing the diocese to obtain clinical notes taken at therapy sessions.

Braney claimed when he first contacted the diocese, Syracuse officials were unwilling to pay for the PTSD treatment recommended by medical professionals because it exceeded their set rate and number of sessions. Braney, who now lives in Colorado, said he had to travel to Syracuse to discuss the payments with Bishop Cunningham, who then agreed to pay for additional treatment.

1984 file photoSYR

Suit claims Syracuse diocese allowed abuse to run rampant

The class action lawsuit attempts to show that the Syracuse diocese knew about problem priests but allowed them to continue working and living in the diocese in close proximity to children.

It references a letter from a nun who warns of abusive priests from Baltimore being shuffled into Syracuse and a syracuse.com article on the Tommy Coyne house where retired priests, including some known abusers, were provided housing by the diocese.

In this 1995 file photo, Rev. James F. Quinn speaks about the priesthood to students at Bishop Ludden High School.

The suit claims that prior to Braneys abuse, the diocese should have known to keep Eckermann, Quinn and Angelicchio away from children.

The lawyers point to evidence that Eckermann was sexually deviant and broke his vow of chastity when police officers spotted him repeatedly soliciting male prostitutes in Syracuse in 1984. A police officer told syracuse.com he recalled reporting Eckermanns behavior to the bishop at the time.

The lawsuit points to allegations against Quinn going back years. It claims at least one other victim, who is not identified, has reported abuse by Angelicchio to the diocese.

Braney accuses the diocesan officials and DA Fitzpatrick of failing to conduct a thorough investigation into his claims against Angelicchio in 2016. The lawsuit accuses the diocese of negligence for engaging in a pattern of discrediting, intimidating and silencing victims of priests.

Lawyers for Braney estimate there are hundred of survivors of clergy sexual abuse in the Syracuse diocese. Church officials have formally recognized 85 victims, who were invited to participate in a compensation program last year.

Its not yet clear whether the Child Victims Act will open the floodgates to lawsuits against the eight dioceses in New York state. When the legislature passed the bill, administrators for five compensation programs in the state said a majority of the 1,236 victims who had been offered settlements took them and agreed not to sue.

Just four in New York, including Braney, had rejected their offers at the time.

Do you have an experience to share about clergy sexual abuse? Contact reporter Julie McMahon anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1992OSWEGO, N.Y. -- Threats were made against a conservative student organization at SUNY Oswego after the group set a table in a student center that supported a wall at the southern border of the United States, according to a university spokesman.

The threats were made against Young Americans for Freedom, a group of young conservatives, according to a SUNY Oswego page describing student organizations.

YAF chair Tyler Toomey said the group submitted its request to set up a table two weeks ago because the deadline for federal funding to keep the government is Friday. Funding for a border wall is included in the proposed federal spending agreement that awaits approval by President Trump.

Might be snowy outside but thats not stopping leftist from getting heated at our Build The Wall Table! #YAFonCampus #WinWithYAF pic.twitter.com/lbqfPphNeG  YAF At SUNY Oswego (@YAF_Oswego) February 12, 2019

The group also posted a similar message on its Facebook page Tuesday morning.

The threats were released in a statement by the New York Republican State Committee:

There should be zero tolerance for threats of violence. This is a sad commentary on what is happening on college... Posted by New York Republican State Committee on Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Most of the threats included expletives or slurs, according to screen shots Toomey sent Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard.

Bro (expletive) make me wanna troop over there to grease them myself, one post said.

If you go to Oz & you havent violated that table as of yet you (expletive) idc, another said.

Somebody shoulda boomed at you (expletive), another post read, with two gun emojis at the end of it.

Another threat asked a student to pop on them."

Toomey and YAF alerted campus police and several campus administrators at 8 p.m. Tuesday night and again Wednesday morning. He said he met with campus police Wednesday but was disappointed he hadnt heard from the campus administrators he contacted.

According to a statement from SUNY Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley released Wednesday, violent threats were posted on social media against a properly recognized student organization and its members who were appropriately permitted to table in Marano Campus Center. Stanley did not identify the group that was threatened.

University police are currently investigating the threats and requested information from the social media host site. University spokesman Wayne Westervelt declined to specify what kind of threats were made or on which social media site they were made, citing the ongoing investigation.

Violent threats will not be tolerated and are not protected by freedom of speech, Stanley said in her statement. We will pursue offenders as soon as we become aware of threats of violence or other criminal acts."

Here is all of Stanleys statement:

Dear Alumni and Members of our Campus Community,

Yesterday, several violent threats were posted on social media against a recognized student organization and its members who were appropriately permitted to table in Marano Campus Center. University Police immediately opened an investigation and requested information from the social media host site. The site took down the posted threats and suspended the accounts. The on campus investigation continues. Violent threats will not be tolerated and are not protected by freedom of speech. We will pursue offenders as soon as we become aware of threats of violence or other criminal acts.

The principles of free speech and expression are fundamental to an open society. As an academic community, we know that the building blocks of learning are based on the quest for information and analysis in the context of open inquiry, skepticism and debate. While some ideas and opinions are vastly different from our own and may be an anathema to what we think and believe, I strongly encourage all students, faculty and staff who wish to rebut expressions of others to use their words and voices to add their experiences and understandings to the public "marketplace of ideas" that is the soul of SUNY Oswego. An ill-tempered and threatening response, even if provoked, may very well bolster those ideas you wish to debunk and may make you subject to judicial proceedings.

Please know we will continue to encourage all members of our campus community to embrace diversity in all its forms--diversity of people, thought and expression. And, we will remain vigilant about safety, encouraging anyone who feels unsafe or threatened to let us know.

Deborah F. Stanley

PresidentSyracuse, NY -- A former Air Force colonel must pay $150,000 for raping a 15-year-old girl 30 times during a 7-month period in 2015.

Andrew Green, now 52, of Jamesville, spent four months in jail on a statutory rape after pleading guilty. He became a registered (though not public) sex offender. He retired from the military after being arrested on rape charges.

State Supreme Court Justice Deborah Karalunas Wednesday ruled that Green must pay the victim $125,000 for past and future damages, as well as $25,000 to punish him for taking advantage of the underage victim.

Statements made by the defendant make it clear he is/was more interested in protecting himself than he is/was interested in protecting the victim, the judge ruled. He did not regret his acts. He regretted getting caught."

The victim, now 19, filed a lawsuit against Green in February 2017, accusing him of assault and battery. She opted for a judge -- instead of a jury -- to decide the verdict in civil court.

Karalunas ruled Wednesday that Greens actions amounted to battery because they were outrageous and shocking beyond all reasonable bounds of decency.

Lawyers Tim DeMore and Phil Dysert described the verdict as a win for the woman, because a judge had now ruled that her accusations against Green were credible. In criminal court, Green had pleaded guilty before the victim took the witness stand.

In her civil case, the victim testified that Green had sex with her 30 times in 2015. Thats far more than what prosecutors had known about when they accused Green of three statutory rapes in 2016.

There was also proof that Green and the victim had contributed to a Google Doc file that amounted to a script of what they should say if they got caught. The victim testified that she had lied to everyone about what happened because she didnt want Green to be hurt or suffer, the judge noted. She believed it was her fault.

DeMore said the girl had only disclosed the extent of the abuse to her therapist, which is why prosecutors werent aware of the other allegations.

But defense lawyer David Zukher argued that none of the sexual encounters were physically forced and suggested that the standard of someone being too young to consent did not apply in civil court. Green testified that he had sex with the victim nine times.

In her ruling, Karalunas said she found the victims account of 30 sexual encounters, not Greens account of nine, to be credible. She also rejected Zukhers argument that the age of consent didnt apply in civil cases.

Battery, the judge said, was defined as intent to cause bodily contact that a reasonable person would find offensive. Statutory rape fits the bill, she said.

In reading her 20-minute decision, the judge described in detail the relationship between the victim and perpetrator. Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard does not publish details that might tend to identify the victim of sexual abuse.

As rumors spread, the judge noted the victim was shunned and bullied at school. She was shunned and abandoned by almost all of her friends, suffered from anxiety and depression and shut herself in her room for months.

The victim lost a significant amount of weight and suffered from sleeplessness. She turned to self-mutilation, the judge said.

She continued to blame herself after starting counseling. But after a few sessions, she began to realize it wasnt her fault, the judge said.

Perhaps her darkest day was yet to come, though. The girl herself described what happened next at Greens criminal sentencing in 2017.

She recalled drinking herself into a stupor. She went down to a creek with her best friend. She drank two more bottles of beer she pulled out of a paper bag.

The only thing she remembered after that was being dragged out of the creek by her friend. She woke up in a hospital with a 0.14 blood-alcohol content.

In court Wednesday, Judge Karalunas described that incident as a possible suicide attempt. But that wasnt the extent of the trauma the girl suffered, she said.

The high-achieving student saw her grades plummet. She withdrew from extra-curricular activities. She turned to drinking and cutting herself.

In the years since the abuse, the victim continues to get counseling several times a month, the judge noted. Her mental condition is slowly improving.

But what Green did to her amounted to battery, the judge concluded.

Of the verdict, $100,000 will go to pay for past trauma, $25,000 will go toward future trauma and $25,000 is simply to punish Green for what he did, the judge said.Barbara Boyd Sturgill was a young lady living with her family in Austin, Texas, when she met a young airman who was stationed at Bergstrom Air Force Base. That young man was Richard F. Sturgill of Chilhowie, known by his friends and family as Dick. He and Barbara fell in love and married and embarked on a life together that would be an adventure filled with joy and excitement.

When Dick was honorably discharged from the Air Force, he and Barbara and their firstborn child, a daughter named Kathy, relocated to his hometown, where they would settle into a life together in this small Southwest Virginia town and raise their daughter and four sons, James V. (Pete), Daniel, Adam and Aaron. All of their children were born within six years.

Barbara and Dick married in 1956 and, in 1957, they moved half way across the country to Chilhowie and Dick entered the restaurant business, a career that would serve him well.BRISTOL, Va.  A Washington County woman is hoping her love of things from the past will spur a community movement to restore a historic landmark in the Benhams area of the county.

Sally Anne Mumpower Heltzel and her daughter, Ginny Shaver, have created a GoFundMe account as a way to help restore a vacant farmhouse that has been in the family for more than 100 years. The structure is believed to be one of the oldest houses in Washington County.

To Help To make donations to the restoration project, visit the website at https://www.gofundme.com/motherdaughter-restoration-project. For more information about the project, contact Sally Anne Heltzel at sallyh85@bvu.net and Ginny Shaver at gin412@hotmail.com.

This homeplace is a landmark for the Benhams community, and its so very sad to see the condition that it rests in today. We have come to realize the only way that we can restore this is to ask for help, wrote Heltzel last year on the online fundraising site.

So far, the mother and daughter project has only raised $30 with a $550,000 goal.

Were not giving up, said the 78-year-old woman with a mist of tears in her eyes. We hope more people will decide to help once they learn this landmark is right in their own backyards.

It is truly overwhelming and heart-wrenching seeing this house the way it is now compared to when our ancestors first built their family home, she said. In its time, it was considered modern and a bit of a mansion.

The restoration project is an emotional one, especially for Heltzel, whose grandfather William Hancher Mumpower, a Civil War veteran, built the wood-frame, two-story house for his family of six children from 1903 to 1906. A photograph of two of the children who died as infants still hangs on a wall in the house.

According to Heltzel, Mumpower was a prominent figure in the community and an excellent carpenter, farmer and miller for many years. He also dealt in real estate.

Its a little unnerving for some people to learn that my grandfather died in the house and was embalmed there, said Heltzel with a tinge of excitement in her voice.

The last habitant was Heltzels aunt, Bailey Mumpower, who never married and lived in the house until her death in 1993.

Since then, the ravages of time and numerous acts of vandalism have left the house in dire need of repairs in order to bring the house back to its original condition.

The mother and daughter say the restoration project is left to them since they have no close relatives in the area. Many of our distant relatives moved away years ago, she said.

There are many family names associated with the house  Booher, Mumpower, Smith and Moore, said Heltzel. But were the last of the kinfolk.

Their dream of fixing the house includes repairing the foundation, replacing the roof, repairing porches, replacing wiring and installing a security system, in addition to sprucing up walls and floors.

We would also like to fix the old spring house and washroom behind the house, where they washed clothes on an old wringer machine and by hand, said Shaver.

We have gotten estimates on restoring the property, and with all the damages, were figuring somewhere around $550,000 is needed to restore this place, the daughter said.

Thats a lot of money, and thats why we need help. There is no way we can do this alone. It costs so much more to restore than to build brand-new again, but this is history that we want to preserve, Shaver added.

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We dont intend to make a dollar off of this project, added her mother. We just want to preserve it for the future. Im just that way. I love to preserve history.

The elder woman said once the house is restored she hopes to convert it into a museum, of sorts, allowing the public to tour the early 1900s structure and learn about the way people lived back then.

It will be an asset to the community because this landmark will come alive for people to enjoy for years to come, Heltzel said.

This house has a lot of memories to share. I want the house to serve as a living memory for future generations to learn about the past.

Very few days in my childhood went by that I didnt visit that house. My family lived in a house across the road, and we took our milk over there and stored it in the cool springhouse in the evenings. Meals and late at night were special times for me. I remember watching heat lightning with my granny while sitting on the front porch, she related.

It used to be quite a showplace. My granny grew flowers and roses down the walk with a rose arbor at the front gate.

The house boasts a large kitchen, dining room, parlor and bathroom downstairs and four bedrooms upstairs.

Over the kitchen is a garret  a small living space at the top of the house. Thats where we aired dried green beans called leather britches, recalled Heltzel.

According to the mother and daughter, some of the original furniture is still in the house, including a dining room table built by her grandfather, a sideboard and a cupboard. A china closet that was hauled to the house on an oxen-driven wagon more than a century ago also would be used if the house is restored.

They would like to furnish the house with smaller original items that came from the house and purchase other period items to expand the exhibits.

This is what the house looked like before a storm came through in the 1970s and took two pine trees by the house, said Heltzel, as she scattered family photos across a table and began reminiscing.

I found a roll of film on an old Brownie Hawkeye camera in the house and had it developed. Many of these old pictures are from that roll.

Heres the front of the house. I always figured my grandfather built all those steps off the front porch for his daughters to walk down when they got married.

This is my favorite photo of the house when it was fairly new and timber from the farm was being hauled by wagon for some of the construction.

If this restoration happens, its going to bring back a flood of memories, said the mother.

I dont really believe in ghosts, but Ive often thought what my grandfather would think if he came back and saw his home in good repair.

I know for me, it would be a dream come true, Heltzel said.

I can just see the candles in the windows at Christmas.

To make donations to the restoration project, visit the website at https://www.gofundme.com/motherdaughter-restoration-project.

For more information about the project, contact Sally Anne Heltzel at sallyh85@bvu.net and Ginny Shaver at gin412@hotmail.com.

Carolyn R. Wilson is a freelance writer in Glade Spring, Virginia. Contact her at news@washconews.com.The Colombo Big Data Meetup community hosted industry professionals, big data enthusiasts, academics and students at the 13th Colombo Big Data Meetup held at the Virtusa auditorium, recently. The interactive sessions, powered by Virtusa, are aimed at apprising participants of the latest developments in Big Data tools and technologies.

Mr. Laxmikanth Malladi, Chief Technology Officer - NorthBay Solutions, who counts over 15 years experience in designing, implementing and managing data and analytic applications, delivered the keynote address at the event.

Shedding light on Big Data trends and demands, he gave an overview of the Big Data landscape and selection of tools available. He then moved on to Infrastructure and Data Stores for Big Data; Data Integration and Transformation;Governance and Data Security and Analysis. Concluded his session with real life scenarios, he shared several AWS/ customer use cases.

Mr. Malladis address was followed by a networking session with the senior leadership team from NorthBay Solutions who responded to questions from the audience and shared their views on Big Data technologies.

The quarterly Big Data meetup engaging and updating enthusiasts, students, academia and the industry on the latest in the world of Big Data since 2014.The Colombo Big Data Meetup community and the quarterly meetups have played a key role in bringing together close to 3,000 members from across these segments and making Big Data popular within the local IT industry.

Having identified the value of the forum and its role in bringing enthusiasts, students, academia and the industry together, Virtusa has been an active part of this forum, right from its inception.Such meetups are part of the companys ongoing efforts company to engage with university students and members of the academia. It offers internship opportunities to students from leading universities around the island, introducing them to merging technologies and helping them better understand the real world applications of what they learn. Senior representatives from Virtusa are also involved in shaping the curriculum of courses at several universities and also interact directly with students during their visits to campuses.

For more information on the Colombo Big Data Meetup and to stay informed about upcoming meetups check out their Facebook page at facebook.com/ColomboBigDataMeetup.CHILHOWIE, Va.  As he wiped tears from his eyes, Virginia State Police Sgt. Matthew Riley shared some of his fondest memories of Trooper Lucas B. Dowell, who died last Monday when authorities executed a search warrant in Cumberland County.

About 1,500 people  including representatives from dozens of law enforcement agencies from around the country  attended Saturdays funeral service in Dowells hometown of Chilhowie.

Riley, Dowells tactical team supervisor in Appomattox, shared the stage at Chilhowie Christian Church with several speakers and dignitaries. Dowell was a great storyteller and a wise-cracker, Riley and others said, and he often had a smile on his face.

Dowells humorous personality stood out in the department, but he was always ready to support his team and help the community, speakers said.

Riley, who was wrought with emotion as he shared stories about his friend, spoke about the first day he talked to Dowell about joining the tactical team. After giving a spiel about the unit, Riley said Dowell interrupted him, leaned forward, smiled and squinted his eyes.

Look, lets just get down to the heart of this thing, Riley recalled Dowell saying. Do I get to drive a tank? I said, No, you dont get to drive a tank, but youll get to drive a Bearcat if youre lucky. He stood up, twirled his fingers and said, Thats good enough for me.

Riley also shared the story about Dowells first time entering a residence while executing a search warrant near Lynchburg.

Before the mission, Riley briefed the team and then checked with each of them to make sure they knew their duties. He said Dowell didnt seem to have been paying too much attention.

Everything was going fine, until he reached Dowell, who had a grin on his face and a World War II helmet on top of his head, Riley said.

I said, Lucas, what is your role? Riley recalled.

Dowell looked at the team and responded by quoting a line from Saving Private Ryan, one of his favorite movies.

Keep the sand out of your weapons. Keep those actions clear. Ill see you on the beach, said Dowell, who then turned around and walked off. While his team laughed at Dowells antics, Riley said the trooper proceeded to enter the wrong vehicle.

VSP Superintendent Gary Settle, who called Dowell a hero, said it was humbling to see so many rows of officers in uniform during the funeral.

Settle said Dowell had great patience, remained calm while under pressure and found it easy to deal with people.

Since Dowells death, Settle said staff found a to-do list that Dowell had apparently created for 2019. It was posted on the bulletin board in his VSP residence.

It demonstrated that Lucas had a plan for his faith and for his family, said Settle.

Dowell vowed to play fewer video games, work out more and go to church and spend more time with his family, Settle said.

Dowell was a trooper that others could rely on.

Members of his [tactical] team felt safer with him there, Settle said. He was the guy fighting for what was right, the guy you wanted on your team when things got tough. Lucas is a hero.

Settle said he believes Dowell saved lives while authorities executed the search warrant on Monday.

Without a doubt, he saved lives of his tactical team members, Settle said.

Dowell told his tactical team members that he often felt safer with them than when he would work alone on a traffic stop.

He went in with his team, said Settle, pausing as he tried to compose himself. And it was his team that carried him out.

The superintendant said Dowells death has been difficult for VSP and the community.

Lucas death has weighed a little heavier on my heart. You see, it happened on my watch, Settle said.

Dowells sister Erica spoke during the service on behalf of the family.

She recalled attending a funeral last year with her brother in Chilhowie for a close friend. After the viewing, they returned home to talk about life.

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Lucas said, I want to do a better job of making the people I love know and feel how much I loved them, Erica Dowell said. Looking out over this crowd and thinking about all the love that has just been poured out over my mom, my dad and I for Lucas in the last four days, I believe even more strongly now that what I said to him then was the truth. I said, Lucas, you already do that.

She also expressed gratitude to the VSP for their outpouring of support to the family.

I can tell you that it has just made us more proud of the work that he did and the family he chose to join, she said.

Dowells body was transported in a tactical vehicle to St. James Lutheran Church Cemetery.

State troopers, deputies and police officers from numerous Virginia agencies, as well as troopers from across the country, including as far away as Utah, Arizona, California, and Washington also attended the services. Officers from major cities, such as Chicago, Dallas and New York, were also present.

Capt. Thornell King with the Georgia State Patrol and three other troopers from the Peach State traveled to Chilhowie to support Dowells family.

Although we may wear a different uniform, we are all one brotherhood, said King, referring to a common sentiment among attendees Saturday. All of our blood runs warm and red through our veins. Were just here to show support. Anytime we have a loss like this, its such a tragedy.

King noted that 15 law enforcement officers have so far been killed in the line of duty this year, including three in Georgia.

Its always a tragedy when we lose a brother, said King, commander of the GSP honor guard. Georgia State Patrol came down to show their support for the family of our brother.

King said the honor guard travels across the country to attend law enforcement funerals and support the families.

Im all the way from the Florida/Georgia line, but I would have driven anywhere to be here today to be with the family, King said.

Four troopers from the Tennessee Highway Patrols Fall Branch office also attended the service, said Sgt. Nathan Hall.

Its like one of our own, said Hall, who attended service at the church and then traveled in the procession to the cemetery.

The troopers from Tennessee gave Dowells family a THP flag, a challenge coin and a shadow box, Hall said.

Several troopers from New York, including four who previously worked in Virginia, attended the services.

Among those was Trooper Romel Arias, who currently serves in West Chester, New York, but previously worked in the Virginia Beach/Norfolk area with VSP from around 2011 to 2014.

It was good to be back in Virginia, he said, and to support a fellow brother in blue. Arias said it was good to see so many fellow law enforcement officers from so many different areas.

Im here to support my brother, he said, because were all bonded. We are all brothers. We bond together.

Pain suffered by one is felt by all, Arias said, and the loss of a brother is felt most deeply of all.

You feel the pain. You feel the hurt, he said. We are here to extend our condolences to the family. I bring those condolences from all the brothers in New York.

Numerous state dignitaries were in Chilhowie for the troopers funeral, including Gov. Ralph Northam and his wife Pam Northam; Virginia Chief of Staff Clark Mercer; Virginia Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian Moran; Virginia Deputy Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Ryant Washington; and Virginia Deputy Attorney General Victoria Pearson.

Other attendees included Virginia Sen. Bill Carrico, R-Galax; Virginia Del. Ronnie R. Campbell, R-Rockbridge County; and U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem. Carrico and Campbell are former state troopers.

Dozens of Chilhowie residents lined the streets Saturday to see the procession travel through town.

Its just a sad day, said resident Kathy Evans, who stood along Lee Highway with her husband, Morris Evans.

Kathy Evans said when her son served in Iraq in the military she often worried for his safety.

I feel for his mother, she said.

Like many Chilhowie residents, the couple, whose youngest daughter attended school with Dowell, placed their hands over their hearts as countless law enforcement vehicles passed. They stood a short distance from the Chilhowie Fire Department, which waved a large American flag over the two-lane highway.

Messages of encouragement and condolences were displayed on message boards throughout Chilhowie and other parts of the county the last several days.An Atkins Elementary School student is recovering after he was struck by his school bus Tuesday afternoon.

According to the Virginia State Police, two students crossed the road in front of the school bus after being let off on Dutton Road in Groseclose. When the bus pulled forward, a witness said, one of the students was found lying in the roadway.

Further investigation revealed the seven-year-old boy had been struck by the bus as it pulled forward. According to scanner traffic at the time of the event, the childs feet had been run over. The other student crossed the road safely and was not injured.

The injured child was transported to the Smyth County Community Hospital and later transported to the childrens hospital in Johnson City, Tenn., for treatment of serious, but non-life threatening injuries.

VSP said the 73-year-old male bus driver immediately returned to the bus stop once he had been alerted to what had happened.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.It was one mans obsession. And it was contained in more than 60 cartons which sat, alongside his ashes, in the sleep out where he read voraciously, where he inhaled hours of National Radio, where he died.

The cartons were a whole lifetimes reading for a reclusive, eccentric and gay man, a complex man, Colin Marshall of Te Puke.

Also a very beautiful looking man, says former wife Elaine Rickard. And a very clever man, could have been a doctor or a diplomat, but his sexuality got in his way at a time when it was very difficult being different. A man of great class.

And above all else, she still loved him dearly, this father of her four children. And I was still his very best friend.

But the books  everything from The Secret World of the Fly to The History of Ancient Europe volume 3, and Christine Clements The Pioneers, Settlers and Familes of Te Puke and District. Sixty plus cartons.

There was a pile of books a metre high on his bedside table. And a well-thumbed dictionary. And an Atlas. All his books were on shelves, says Elaine. And had there been an earthquake he would have been buried alive.

But what to do with them? Did she ask Colin before he died of congenital heart failure last September?

I always wanted to but I never could. It saddens Elaine to the point of tears. It would have seemed like we were wishing his life away. I loved him so much I couldnt do it. But I now wish that I had had that conversation.

But she did in a way. Because when two lovely men from Tauranga Rotary came to take the books away for their book fair, Elaine seized her moment. I told them I needed some time alone in the room because I needed to tell Colin what was happening to his books. His ashes were sitting on the bed.

And after the book fair, Colin Marshalls endowment to readers will adorn book shelves far and wide. What a legacy.

He was my husband for 25 years. Then he told me he was gay. I felt he needed to go live the life if he wanted it so we divorced.

Colin Marshall.

Colin moved into the sleep out at his fathers place next door in rural Te Puke. The orchardist  a reluctant one it seems - became absorbed in books, National Radio and pestering newspaper editors and local body politicians. He was an inveterate and rapier-like letter writer, even jousting with the politically incorrect ramblings of Rogers Rabbits who he accused of making fun of gays.

you are on the verge of being offensive.and that your jibes are rather cheap. Theyre cheap because you fire them from the comfort and security of the fortress of overwhelmingly majoritarian heterosexuality. Do I need to remind you of the power of imbalance?

And on a planned beach highrise at Papamoa  What a cheek, for a barrister to claim the moral high ground for defending his clients beachfront privilege from the effects of Papamoa Gateways developments next door! Since when did the rich and their hired guns give a toss about the experience of ordinary kiwis walking the sands of the coastal commons?

He was a man of conviction and conscience. A trained male nurse was the medic aboard Fri  which in 1973 led a flotilla of yachts in an international protest against atmospheric nuclear tests at Mururoa in French Polynesia. He went, explains Elaine, because he said there was really no one else. He was also a member of Greenpeace and Forest and Bird.

Colin Marshall saved every envelope that came into his sleepout. Shoe boxes of them. He would use them to jot down book titles and authors after hearing reviews on National Radio.

Some of his boxed up books.

Then this dux proxime accessit from St Kentigern College in Auckland would source them for someone he thought might be interested. But probably only after he had read it himself.

His heart started playing up, says Elaine. Arrhythmia. He had an operation and understood there was an 80 per cent chance of everything being alright. He was very unwell but we didnt think he would die.

Colin Marshall would tell everyone his wife saved his life. It was probably true. Because a lot of gays his age died of AIDS in the 1980s. They were out there having a wild time. But while he was with me he was behaving and he insisted I saved his life.

Imagine coming out gay in Te Puke in 1990  people wild cross the road, find it very difficult to deal with although he came across with great mana and respect.

Even then books consumed him. His one day out a week was to the Te Puke Library where he meticulously recovered books.

But now Colin Marshalls sleepout library has been dismantled and scattered for the greater good.

A book bought at the Tauranga Rotarys 32nd annual book sale opposite Classic Flyers on March 8,9 and 10 could well be a lasting gift from the consummate bibliophile  Colin Marshall, a man who loved books, who loved words, reading them and writing them and above all a man who treasured information and respectful exchange of opinion.

The sleepout.UPDATED 5.07PM : The fire north of Kaingaroa Village, in the Eastern Bay, is now out.

Three fire trucks are still at the scene there dampening hot spots.

At the height of the shelter belt blaze, there were two helicopters and seven fire trucks trying to bring it under control.

The fire is being treated as suspicious and police have been called to the scene, says Fire and Emergency New Zealand northern communications shift manager Daniel Nicholson.

One house that was near the blaze was evacuate, but the house hasnt been affected by the fire.

EARLIER:

UPDATED 3.01PM: Two helicopters are helping firefighters battle a large fire in the Bay of Plenty this afternoon.

Firefighters were called to the shelter belt blaze just after 2pm.

The fire is being treated as suspicious and police have been called to the scene says Fire and Emergency New Zealand northern communications shift manager Daniel Nicholson.

"We have a lot of trucks in attendance.

"The only thing Im not sure about is the actual size of the fire.

"I believe one home has been evacuated."

EARLIER:

A helicopter is being called in to help battle a fire in the Bay of Plenty this afternoon.

Several fire appliances have been called to the shelter belt blaze north of Kaingaroa Village, in the Eastern Bay.

There have been reports of people being evacuated from their homes as the fire is dangerously close to buildings in the area.

A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesperson says the fire is on the corner of Kennedy Road and Middle Road, north of the village.

The area is currently in a prohibited fire season, meaning hot and dry, fires are more likely to burn out of control and result in damage to vegetation or property, or loss of life.

At the scene?

Call 0800 SUNLIVE or email photos to newsroom@thesun.co.nzAlex Ashe, a technical advisor at Farmlands Te Puna, has been named Bay of Plentys Young Fruit Grower for 2019 at an awards dinner in Tauranga.

The practical competition took place last Saturday, 9 February, at Te Puke Showgrounds, where the eight competitors tested their skills and ability to run a successful orchard in a series of challenges.

These were followed by a speech competition discussing future disruptors to horticulture at the gala dinner last night.

Alex applied to compete in Young Grower because he enjoys a challenge, and saw an opportunity to develop new skills.

He also wants to promote horticulture as a career to younger generations, and feels that Young Grower is a great opportunity to do so.

Runner-up was Hamish McKain, an avocado / production manager at DMS Progrowers, while Emily Crum, an orchard manager at Prospa (EastPack) Te Puke, was third.

Alexs prize includes all-expenses paid to compete for the title of national Young Grower of the Year 2019 in Tauranga in October, as well as $1500 cash.

Alex also excelled in individual challenges, and especially impressed judges with his speech on future disruptors to the horticulture industry.

"It was such an enjoyable event because everybody was there to support each other," says Alex, "and everyone wants to help the youth of the industry do their best.

"Anybody who is looking to compete next year, give it a go; its a great event!"

Andrew Dawson, Chair of the Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Growers Upskilling Committee, says the 2019 event has again proven to have a high calibre of competitors.

"Congratulations to all of the contestants who displayed exceptional skills, as well as showing off the great variety of opportunities that are available in the horticulture industry."

New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated CEO Nikki Johnson says it's essential that young people are attracted to join the kiwifruit industry to achieve our forecasted growth.

"The Young Fruit Grower competition provides an excellent example of the different commercial, technical and scientific opportunities that the industry offers.

"I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of this year's competitors who have displayed the talent our industry has."

Horticulture New Zealand CE Mike Chapman agrees, and says that these competitions are a highlight of the annual horticulture calendar.

"As a Bay of Plenty local, I know that talented young people like Alex exist in our industry. The Bay of Plenty Young Grower competition shows the rest of the country what weve been saying all along; horticulture is a growth industry, and you can make an excellent career out of it if you put the effort in.

"Alex and the other contestants are exactly the kind of people the future of our industry will be based on, and its great to see them getting the limelight they deserve."

Alex will go on to compete in the national Young Grower of the Year competition, run by Horticulture New Zealand.

There, they will join the winners of the Nelson, Hawkes Bay, Gisborne, and Central Otago regionals, as well as a Young Vegetable Grower, to compete for the national title of Young Grower 2019, proudly sponsored by the Horticentre Trust.We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Please let us know what's going on!

Go to formSharnae Hope

Sharnaes Stance

If you put ice into a warm drink, it is guaranteed to melt.

This is a small scale model of what our planet is currently doing, and it is closer to home than we may think.

Global warming is a controversial subject; not so much on the topic of whether its happening, but where to pinpoint the blame.

Many climate scientists say there is too much blame on us, as its proven that natural weather fluctuations also cause record high and low temperatures and rainfall.

However, the pace that glaciers are receding is enough proof that we are the reason for things moving along at a scarily fast pace.

The proof is in the ice

New Zealand has eight main glaciers: Fox, Franz Josef, Tasman, Mueller, Hooker, Volta, Murchison and Douglas, but there are many more than that - around 3150 glaciers to be more accurate - and the majority of them are receding.

NIWA has been carrying out aerial surveys of more than 50 of the South Islands glaciers every year for more than four decades.

Researchers have painstakingly pieced together thousands of photographs of New Zealands Southern Alps to tell the story of our shrinking glaciers.

Since that first survey 40 years ago, scientists have detected a 30 per cent loss of ice.

To put that into perspective, its as if one-third of the Mount had corroded over 40 years while previously only corroding by a handful of dirt.

The last survey, in March 2018, also showed that last years summer marine heatwave resulted in one of the largest glacier melts observed since the survey began in 1977. And if this years summer is anything to go by, NIWAs next survey will top that record.

If thats not scary enough, the Tasman Glacier is also showing signs of significant damage.

This month the huge glacier, which is more than half the size of Tauranga, lost chunks of ice the size of skyscrapers as they fell into the ocean.

The pictures say it all. A tiny boat and a big, pale blue waffle-like piece of ice coming towards the tiny passengers. Its a stunning sight, but a terrifying thought.

Too far away to care

Although the cold for us Tauranga locals is something were not too fond of, ice plays an important part in daily living, even for us.

With each drop of ice, a glacier changes the environment around it, chipping away at the land and contributing to rising sea levels.

The ocean and many rivers and lakes are fed by this, but too much continuous melted ice could mean these changes are catastrophic for their ecosystem.

Many species will die out or become endangered and land will disappear at faster rates.

Temperatures will also rise even further, because without ice, less sunlight will be reflected into space and will instead be absorbed into the ocean.

In monetary terms, this will have a major effect on tourism, fishing and the agriculture industry, and your beach side business or house could end up in the sea.

Half of the oxygen we breathe is also made from plants in the ocean, which will die as the ocean salt levels dilute from all of the melting fresh water.

This is why we should care.

Its an avalanche effect, and we are hearing it loud and clear, but are we really doing enough?

Global warming isnt going to stop, just like nature doesnt stop, but maybe we can slow it down.Stay up to date on COVID-19

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Sponsored By: Arvest BankToday

Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 91F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 76F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.

Tomorrow

Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 91F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.TICKERS: NUAG; NUPMF

Source: Streetwise Reports (2/14/19)

A ROTH Capital Partners report presented and commented on the Canadian company's early-stage metallurgical findings.



In a Feb. 7 research note, Joe Reagor, a ROTH Capital Partners analyst, reported that New Pacific Metals Corp.'s (NUAG:TSX.V; NUPMF:OTCQX) initial metallurgical test results from its flagship Silver Sand project in Bolivia are "positive."

Specifically, Reagor indicated, recovery rates came in as high as 96.7% for sulphide material and 97.0% for transition material. The material was shown to be nonrefractory. "The grind requirements imply capital and operating costs on the lower end of the potential spectrum," he added.

Reagor pointed out that New Pacific Metals should be commended for conducting early-stage metallurgical testing, which helps derisk a project. The fact it did so when so many exploration companies opt not to also is "encouraging."

Looking forward, Reagor expects release of the subsequent set of drill results will be the next major catalyst for New Pacific Metals. Those data could help better determine Silver Sand's potential. Results from 97 holes from its 2018 drill program are pending.

ROTH has a Buy rating and a CA$3 per share price target on New Pacific Metals, whose stock is currently trading at around CA$1.97 per share.

[NLINSERT]

Disclosure:

1) Doresa Banning compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.

2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees.

3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.

5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of New Pacific Metals, a company mentioned in this article.

Disclosures from ROTH Capital Partners, New Pacific Metals Corp., Flash Note, February 7, 2019

Regulation Analyst Certification ("Reg AC"): The research analyst primarily responsible for the content of this report certifies the following under Reg AC: I hereby certify that all views expressed in this report accurately reflect my personal views about the subject company or companies and its or their securities. I also certify that no part of my compensation was, is or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this report.

An Associated Person owns debt or equity securities of New Pacific Metals Corp.

Shares of New Pacific Metals Corp. and Silvercorp Metals Inc. may be subject to the Securities and Exchange Commission's Penny Stock Rules, which may set forth sales practice requirements for certain low-priced securities.

ROTH makes a market in shares of Silvercorp Metals Inc. and as such, buys and sells from customers on a principal basis.

ROTH Capital Partners, LLC expects to receive or intends to seek compensation for investment banking or other business relationships with the covered companies mentioned in this report in the next three months.Iran sees itself as still a potential winner in Yemen, despite numerous defeats. For one thing, Iran still has a lot of support from leftist politicians in the West. This is partly resentment against the United States, which has always been the primary supporter of Saudi Arabia, and Gulf Arab oil states in general. Now the majority of legislators in the American Congress are willing to demand the U.S. halt military aid to Saudi Arabia. This is unlikely to pass into law but if it did it would be a major win for China, as well as Iran. The Saudis would be forced to seek other nations as a reliable weapons supplier and China has already proven itself capable of producing and selling (without any strings) modern weapons to the Gulf Arab nation. The best example is missile equipped large (Predator size) UAVs.

While the Iranian Information War campaign (with the help of Russia) to demonize the Arab coalition in Yemen, continues more Western analysts are pointing out that the main cause of civilian casualties are the Shia rebels, who deliberately use civilians as human shields. Arab armies will attack anyway but the Shia rebels are setting up those civilian deaths mainly to manipulate Western media. This has been more obvious during the current ceasefire. The main cause of ceasefire violations and dead civilians have been Shia rebels.

Iran desperately needs a win in Yemen because so far they are continuing to lose ground, both physically and psychologically. While the front lines around Red Sea port of Hodeida are static because of the ceasefire (which the Shia rebels violate over dozen times a day, usually with random firing towards the opposing forces or civilians) that situation has halted foreign aid shipments via this port and also halted major smuggling activities of Iranian weapons. In particular, the ballistic missiles are no longer getting in (broken down and later reassembled under the supervision of Iranian technicians). There is still some threat from Iranian UAVs, but while these are smaller and easier to smuggle in there appears to be a limited number of them left in Yemen because of the numerous air raids (in the last month) against bases they operate from. The Saudis are pleased that the ballistic missiles have been halted along with the brief recent incidence of armed UAV attacks.

Another major development in Yemen actually benefits everyone and that has been the defeat of AQAP (Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula). AQAP has few active members left in Yemen and the only remaining local support is from some separatist Sunni tribes in the south. In the south (Shabwa province) Yemeni special operation troops have been finding and raiding the few remaining rural AQAP hideouts. AQAP and their tribal allies have reached the point where tribal elders are willing to try convincing armed tribesmen not to work for AQAP. The effort to clear AQAP out Hadramawt, Abyan (Aden) and Shabwa provinces has been going on since late 2016 but became more intense since early 2017 when the United States increased its effort to find and kill key AQAP personnel, especially the many who were based in Shabwa. This was mainly done from the air using UAVs for surveillance and attacks using guided missiles and smart bombs. As a result of the air operations, the remaining AQAP groups became more vulnerable to detection and attack on the ground. There are also some ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) groups out in the hills and they will fight against AQAP as well as government forces. There seem to be no ISIL groups left in this region and not many AQAP but the search, and the occasional battles, continue.

Seeking to obtain some form of victory Iran has persuaded the Shia rebels to continue resisting, even as more and more factions in the Shia rebel coalition leave and either become neutral or join the government forces. Stalling on the implementation of the December ceasefire agreement (which involved Shia rebels withdrawing all their forces from in and around port area of Hodeida) only makes the rebels look more like the bad guys. Actually, the real villains are Yemenis in general, who have caused most of the economic, political and diplomatic problems the country suffers from. The civil war is a result of those problems not a cause. There is resistance to admitting that Yemen is a failed state, one of those areas (like Somalia and Afghanistan) that were never united for long and are basically several smaller entities that are not really interested in unity with their neighbors who are supposed to be their countrymen.

A Very Local Problem

One of the major problems for Yemen is the Yemeni inability to clean up its own massive internal corruption problem. In 2018 there was no perceptible progress, despite the increasing poverty caused by years of civil war and general mismanagement (by local and national leaders). In 2018 Yemen ranked 176 out of 180 nations in a worldwide survey of corruption. Thats basically unchanged from 175 in 2017. Progress, or lack thereof, can be seen in the annual Transparency International Corruption Perception Index where countries are 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 Yemen score is 14 (down from 16 in 2017) compared to 49 (49) for Saudi Arabia, 28 (28) for Lebanon, 28 (30) for Iran, 35 (32) for Egypt, 70 (71) for the UAE (United Arab Emirates), 62 (64) for Israel, 10 (9) for Somalia, 62 (63) for Qatar, 35 (33) for Algeria, 32 (31) for Mali, 43 (40) for Morocco, 43 (42) for Tunisia, 19 (20) for Chad, 34 (33) for Niger, 19 (19) for Angola, 26 (26) for Uganda, 56 (55) for Rwanda, 17 (22) for Burundi, 36 (36) for Tanzania and 35 (37) for Zambia, 34 (35) for Ethiopia, 27 (28) for Kenya, 24 (20) for Eritrea, 13 (12) for South Sudan, 16 (16) for Sudan, 61 (61) for Botswana, 72 (75) for the United States, 25 (25) for Cameroon, 40 (39) for Benin, 41 (40) for Ghana, 43 (43) for South Africa, 45 (45) for Senegal, 41 (40) for India, 72 (73) for Japan, 38 (37) for Indonesia, 57 (54) for South Korea, 18 (18) for Iraq, 41 (40) for Turkey, 16 (15) for Afghanistan, 33 (32) for Pakistan, 28 (29) for Russia and 39 (41) for China. A lower corruption score is common with nations in economic trouble and problems dealing with Islamic terrorism and crime in general. Yemens corruption score has changed for the worse since the 2011 revolution when it was 23.

February 11, 2019: The UN complained that the Shia rebels have, since September 2018, blocked access to 51,000 tons of grain the UN had stored in silos near milling equipment on the outskirts of Red Sea port of Hodeida. This grain will soon rot and be unsuitable for milling or human consumption. That grain is sufficient to feed nearly four million people for a month. The UN and the Yemeni government also complain that the Shia rebels refuse to implement the peace deal negotiated in December in Sweden. This deal called for rebel forces to withdraw from the Hodeida port area and allow aid shipments to resume. Iran backed Shia rebels are accused of stalling on the peace deal to get better terms. The UN also accuses the Shia rebels of refusing to admit they steal food aid or block it from reaching areas where the local tribes have turned against them. Meanwhile, the government is hustling to expand facilities in southern ports to handle the huge amount of cargo Hodeida, the largest port in the country, can handle.

February 9, 2019: In the south (Dalea province), Shia rebels raided a village and blew up the family compound of a local tribal chief who had turned against the rebels. The Shia have been moving more allies since late 2017 when former president Saleh turned against them (and was killed by rebels before he could escape to government-held territory.) The incident in Dalea led to three days of fighting between local tribal militias and Shia rebels. Yemen government forces went to the aid of the tribal militia and Saudi airstrikes supported that.

February 8, 2019: Saudi airstrikes hit suspected Shia rebel bases outside Sanaa where Iranian UAVs operated from. Similar airstrikes were carried out in January (on the 19th and 31st).

Morocco is withdrawing its forces (six warplanes and ground support personnel) from the Arab coalition force in Yemen because a Saudi TV network recently broadcast a documentary that cast doubt on Morocco claims to the Western Sahara territory that Morocco and Algeria have been feuding about for decades. Algeria tends to ally itself with Iran but tries to maintain good relations with Saudi Arabia as well. Morocco refused to get involved with the feud between Saudi Arabia and Qatar (an Iranian ally).

February 7, 2019: The Shia rebels said they would carry out the December 18th agreement to withdraw Shia forces from the Hodeida port area and allow aid shipments to resume after a few modifications to the deal were made. This did not work out and the Hodeida withdrawal is still stalled. However, the Shia rebels did agree to continue negotiating.

February 3, 2019: The Shia rebels agreed to meet UN negotiators on a UN chartered boat anchored off the port of Hodeida. Since January 2nd the Shia rebels had refused to meet with the UN officials because a local meeting place could not be agreed on.

January 30, 2019: In the north, across the border in southwest Saudi Arabia (Asir province) Saudi forces shot down another Iranian UAV being used by the Shia rebels.

Without any fanfare Saudi Arabia and the Shia rebels carried out a prisoner exchange. One Saudi prisoner was freed by the Shia rebels in return for seven Shia rebels. Efforts to negotiate a larger scale prisoner swap have so far failed, apparently because the Shia rebels are demanding too much.

January 29, 2019: In the Red Sea port of Mocha Shia, rebels are accused of using a bomb hidden in a motorcycle that went off in a market place and killed seven civilians. The Shia rebels lost control of Mocha in early 2018 and the government has been in charge since then.

January 27, 2019: In the northwest (Hajjah province), a Saudi run refugee camp was apparently hit by several mortar shells. Eight refugees were killed and 30 wounded. This was believed to be the work of Shia rebels. In 2018 Saudi troops finally drove Shia rebels out of the province, after more than two years of fighting. This province is on the Saudi border and largely populated by Shia. But many Saudis believe Hajjah province should be part of Saudi Arabia. At one time in the 1920s, a decade before the Saudi kingdom was founded, Saudi forces conquered Hajjah province. British threats caused the Saudis to withdraw but the Saudis never forgot. Another reason to take the province is to halt the smuggling that still takes place along the Red Sea coast.

January 23, 2019: Arab airstrikes hit two weapons storage depots south of the rebels held capital (Sanaa).

January 20, 2019: In and around the rebel-held capital (Sanaa), there were over twenty Arab airstrikes over the last 48 hours.

In central Yemen (Marib province), five foreign mine clearing technicians died when the vehicle they were riding in exploded. The cause of the explosion was one of the disabled mines they were carrying to a disposal site for destruction was not completely disabled and went off. Foreign mine clearing efforts have cleared over 500 mines so far but face a major challenge in the port of Hodeida where the Shia rebels have planted thousands of landmines as part of their effort to delay withdrawing from the port area and allowing foreign aid deliveries to resume. Landmines are outlawed for those who signed the treaty that did just that and generally, only outlaws still use landmines.

January 18, 2019: The UN released the results of an investigation into how Iran was supplying cash and other aid to the Shia rebels in Yemen. Iran was providing cargoes of oil, accompanied by false documents that make it possible to sell the oil as a non-Iranian product and they use that cash to provide military equipment for the Shia rebels. Many of these deceptions are directed at UN officials who monitor Iranian oil exports and the movement of aid to Yemenis lacking adequate food and other supplies.

January 17, 2019: Another leader in the Shia rebel coalition, Mohammed Al Kairaee, defected and made his way to Aden requesting protection from Shia death squads sent to kill him. Kairaee had long been an ally of former Yemeni president Saleh.The Indian Navy has begun receiving the twelve Do 228 maritime reconnaissance aircraft ordered in 2016. These new ones cost $30 million each and include surface search radar (out to nearly 200 kilometers) and electro-optical day/night sensors with a range of 40 kilometers, ELINT (Electronic Intelligence) sensors and digital communications. Each of these Do 228 maritime recon aircraft have a crew of six and usually stay aloft about eight hours per sortie and move at a speed of about 400 kilometers an hour.

The Do (Dornier) 228 is a German passenger aircraft that India builds under license. It is a 6.2 ton, twin turboprop aircraft that the Indian Coast Guard has long used for maritime reconnaissance equipped with at least a surface search radar. Before this new order, India had 24 of these naval recon models in service and it is popular with police and border patrol organizations as well. The new navy Do 228 are also equipped to communicate with nearby navy ships and UAVs to coordinate operations. The twelve Do 228s are an addition to the current forces of manned and UAV aircraft patrolling the sea areas off southeast India.

India already has a UAV base in the Andaman Islands, so as to patrol the eastern sea approaches to the Indian Ocean. The Heron 1 and II UAVs already there (and at bases on the Indian mainland) are mainly looking for smugglers and terrorists but are also equipped to spot and identify warships and surfaced submarines. The Andamans are a string of nearly 600 islands (most uninhabited), that are closer to Thailand than they are to India (which owns them). The islands extend 500 kilometers south nearly to Indonesia and thus cover traffic coming through the Malacca Strait, which is the primary passage for shipping headed for the South China Sea and West Asian ports. China warships regularly pass through this area on their way to join the anti-piracy patrol off Somalia or to visit African, Middle Eastern and European nations that trade heavily with China. India feels more secure if it is able to track Chinese warship traffic via the Malacca Straight. The new Do 228s are uniquely equipped to do that.Cutting diplomatic relations and sending ones ambassador back home are acts associated with declaring war, which is what makes Frances decision to pull their ambassador out of Rome very unusual to say the least. The rhetoric from the French side even gives off a sort of pre-war aroma declaring that the Italians have supposedly made unfounded attacks against French policy regarding migration and EU economics, but the main spark that lit the flame of this decision to call back the ambassador is related to Italian meddling in the yellow vest protests.

The wildly diverse and bloody yellow vest protests are continuing throughout France with no sign of stopping anytime soon. It is important to note that all protest movements including those with yellow vests are organized by someone. There has never been a time where 10,000 people randomly all chose to simultaneously go clean their local park. But with talented organizers and some marketing 10,000 can be swayed to show up and clean said park no problem.

The driving force(s) behind the yellow vest protestors seems to be either unknown to the public or so radically diverse (there are many different groups with very different beliefs who are all on the yellow side) that there is no single actor driving this movement across the country.

Of course, by default there have been accusations that Russia is behind the chaos. When in doubt (and in the West) always blame Russia and never your own anti-populist policies bringing ruin to one of the most prosperous nations on Earth.

At this point there is now an official boogeyman for France to blame and surprisingly it is not Russia, but Italy as Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio has met and openly been photographed with key players inside the yellow vest movement.

This is threatening to the EU establishment because it fully legitimizes and gives support from within the EU family itself to the protestors who theoretically want to overthrow the French government. Furthermore, busy politicians do not just like to meet up with protestors for the selfies, but to achieve goals. From the French perspective it seems as though the Italians (through their pow-wow) have been able to reach some sort of agreement with the yellow vests for something in return for the support necessary to keep the protests going or push them to victory.

This is all very similar to when the murderers row of Western politicians and bureaucrats descended on the Maidan protests happening in Kiev in 2013-2014. People like the late John McCain directly sent their message that they are here to support your just cause. Not only did this embolden the protestors to have the EU and US on their side but there was also direct coordination of a post-Maidan Ukraine going on behind the scenes. The zenith of this covert coordination being like the famous Nuland-Pyatt (F the EU) phone call where Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the US Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt basically laid out what the power structure of things was going to look like after the revolution and not surprisingly reality matched up with this phone call rather nicely.

This is why Italian support is a very worrying event for France and the EU status quo in general, because without backing from Washington and $5 billion for democracy the Maidan would have never have succeeded. Human beings require food and shelter, this is why many protest movements die. The government can simply outlast any protestors who just passively stand around with signs. Eventually they will get tired and hungry and just give up like the #OccupyWallStreet protests which swept across America but eventually fizzled out. Sleeping outside for months with no hope of victory is not a strategy for success.

When protesting becomes professional with funding from various NGOs and grants it is possible to keep the protest going on indefinitely as the organizers are essentially going to work every day.

Italy as an epicenter for EU skepticism may actually be willing to do whatever it takes to break apart the system while theres still time for Italy to remain both Italian and relevant in any sort of fashion. One anti-EU color revolution could be enough to break the Lisbon Treaty nightmare that Italy is under. But then again the media is firmly in the hands of the pro-Brussels side so achieving a definitive color revolution may be impossible.

Since the populist Italian political forces dont particularly hate Russia this means that for hardcore EU adherents that makes them obviously Kremlin trolls. No matter what actions the Italians make and no matter how independent those actions may (or may not) be, it is clear that Russia will get the blame again at some point later down the road.

For those in favor of the yellow vests this is your lucky day as official recognition and support gives them a much better chance of actually achieving something of value. For Russia, it is yet another crime to be accused of currently without any evidence.The lineup of Democrats who have already declared themselves as candidates for their partys presidential nomination in 2020 is remarkable, if only for the fact that so many wannabes have thrown their hats in the ring so early in the process. In terms of electability, however, one might well call the seekers after the highest office in the land the nine dwarfs. Four of the would-be candidates  Marianne Williamson a writer, Andrew Yang an entrepreneur, Julian Castro a former Obama official, Senator Amy Klobuchar and Congressman John Delaney  have no national profiles at all and few among the Democratic Party rank-and-file would be able to detail who they are, where they come from and what their positions on key issues might be.

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has a national following but she also has considerable baggage. The recent revelation that she falsely described herself as American Indian back in 1986 for purposes of career advancement, which comes on top of similar reports of more of the same as well as other resume-enhancements that surfaced when she first became involved in national politics, prompted Donald Trump to refer to her as Pocahontas. Warren, who is largely progressive on social and domestic issues, has been confronted numerous times regarding her views on Israel/Palestine and beyond declaring that she favors a two state solution has been somewhat reticent. She should be described as pro-Israel for the usual reasons and is not reliably anti-war. She comes across as a rather more liberal version of Hillary Clinton.

And then there is New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, being touted as the new Obama, presumably because he is both black and progressive. His record as Mayor of Newark New Jersey, which launched his career on the national stage, has both high and low points and it has to be questioned if America is ready for another smooth-talking black politician whose actual record of accomplishments is on the thin side. One unfortunately recalls the devious Obamas totally bogus Nobel Peace Prize and his Tuesday morning meetings with John Brennan to work on the list of Americans who were to be assassinated.

Booker has carefully cultivated the Jewish community in his political career, to include a close relationship with the stomach-churning Americas Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, but has recently become more independent of those ties, supporting the Obama deal with Iran and voting against anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) legislation in the Senate. On the negative side, the New York Times likes Booker, which means that he will turn most other Americans off. He is also 49 years old and unmarried, which apparently bothers some in the punditry.

California Senator Kamala Harris is a formidable entrant into the crowded field due to her resume, nominally progressive on most issues, but with a work history that has attracted critics concerned by her hard-line law-and-order enforcement policies when she was District Attorney General for San Francisco and Attorney General for California. She has also spoken at AIPAC, is anti-BDS, and is considered to be reliably pro-Israel, which would rule her out for some, though she might be appealing to middle of the road Democrats like the Clintons and Nancy Pelosi who have increasingly become war advocates. She will have a tough time convincing the antiwar crowd that she is worth supporting and there are reports that she will likely split the black womens vote even though she is black herself, perhaps linked to her affair with California powerbroker Willie Brown when she was 29 and Brown was 61. Brown was married, though separated, to a black woman at the time. Harris is taking heat because she clearly used the relationship to advance her career while also acquiring several patronage sinecures on state commissions that netted her hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The most interesting candidate is undoubtedly Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who is a fourth term Congresswoman from Hawaii, where she was born and raised. She is also the real deal on national security, having been-there and done-it through service as an officer with the Hawaiian National Guard on a combat deployment in Iraq. Though in Congress full time, she still performs her Guard duty.

Tulsis own military experience notwithstanding, she gives every indication of being honestly anti-war. In the speech announcing her candidacy she pledged focus on the issue of war and peace to end the regime-change wars that have taken far too many lives and undermined our security by strengthening terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda. She referred to the danger posed by blundering into a possible nuclear war and indicated her dismay over what appears to be a re-emergence of the Cold War.

Not afraid of challenging establishment politics, she called for an end to the illegal war to overthrow the Syrian government, also observing that the war to overthrow Assad is counter-productive because it actually helps ISIS and other Islamic extremists achieve their goal of overthrowing the Syrian government of Assad and taking control of all of Syria  which will simply increase human suffering in the region, exacerbate the refugee crisis, and pose a greater threat to the world. She then backed up her words with action by secretly arranging for a personal trip to Damascus in 2017 to meet with President Bashar al-Assad, saying it was important to meet adversaries if you are serious about pursuing peace. She made her own assessment of the situation in Syria and now favors pulling US troops out of the country as well as ending American interventions for regime change in the region.

In 2015, Gabbard supported President Barack Obamas nuclear agreement with Iran and more recently has criticized President Donald Trumps withdrawal from the deal. Last May, she criticized Israel for shooting unarmed protesters in Gaza, but one presumes that, like nearly all American politicians, she also has to make sure that she does not have the Israel Lobby on her back. Gabbard has spoken at a conference of Christians United for Israel, which has defended Israels settlement enterprise; has backed legislation that slashes funding to the Palestinians; and has cultivated ties with Boteach as well as with major GOP donor casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. She also attended the controversial address to Congress by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in March 2015, which many progressive Democrats boycotted.

Nevertheless, Tulsi supported Bernie Sanders antiwar candidacy in 2016 and appears to be completely onboard and fearless in promoting her antiwar sentiments. Yes, Americans have heard much of the same before, but Tulsi Gabbard could well be the only genuine antiwar candidate that might truly be electable in the past fifty years.

What Tulsi Gabbard is accomplishing might be measured by the enemies that are already gathering and are out to get her. Glenn Greenwald at The Intercept describes how NBC news published a widely distributed story on February 1st, claiming that experts who track websites and social media linked to Russia have seen stirrings of a possible campaign of support for Hawaii Democrat Tulsi Gabbard.

But the expert cited by NBC turned out to be a firm New Knowledge, which was exposed by no less than The New York Times for falsifying Russian troll accounts for the Democratic Party in the Alabama Senate race to suggest that the Kremlin was interfering in that election. According to Greenwald, the group ultimately behind this attack on Gabbard is The Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD), which sponsors a tool called Hamilton 68, a news intelligence net checker that claims to track Russian efforts to disseminate disinformation. The ASD website advises that Securing Democracy is a Global Necessity.

ASD was set up in 2017 by the usual neocon crowd with funding from The Atlanticist and anti-Russian German Marshall Fund. It is loaded with a full complement of Zionists and interventionists/globalists, to include Michael Chertoff, Michael McFaul, Michael Morell, Kori Schake and Bill Kristol. It claims, innocently, to be a bipartisan transatlantic national security advocacy group that seeks to identify and counter efforts by Russia to undermine democracies in the United States and Europe but it is actually itself a major source of disinformation.

For the moment, Tulsi Gabbard seems to be the real thing, a genuine anti-war candidate who is determined to run on that platform. It might just resonate with the majority of American who have grown tired of perpetual warfare to spread democracy and other related frauds perpetrated by the band of oligarchs and traitors that run the United States. We the people can always hope.

Photo: FlickrEarly deadlines are in effect for advertising and editorial submissions; submit materials by Thursday, July 1 (for the July 8th issue). Please call for details. Our offices will be closed Friday, July 2, to observe the holiday.SWIC College Fair

Southwestern Illinois College will host the annual Metro East Baccalaureate College Fair from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Feb. 24, in the Main Complex, Varsity Gym, 2500 Carlyle Ave., in Belleville.

High school and college transfer students will have the opportunity to speak to representatives from nearly 100 national colleges and universities. SWIC will also offer three workshops to help students navigate the financial aid and transfer processes more easily.

The college fair and workshops are free and open to the public. Save time and register in advance at StriveFair.com

For more information on the event and a complete list of schools, visit swic.edu or call 618-235-2700, ext. 5526.

Children's Choruses Concert

The Masterworks Chorale "Broadway Pops!" concert will be at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 24, at The Lincoln Theatre, 103 E. Main St., in Belleville.

The nostalgic venue will be reminiscent of the good ol days as the Chorale and Jazz Ensemble will perform Broadway hits. There will be a special appearance by the childrens chorus as well. Come early to hear the restored theater organ before the show and again at intermission.Why does David Nicklaus constantly rail against Missouri support of the film industry? Every time any state official suggests using funds to stimulate film industry activities in Missouri, Nicklaus tanks the very idea as a non-job-creating vanity waste of funds, and then dismisses the whole idea.

Might he be picking statistics that suit his prejudices? For instance, he cites permanent job creation. But what about the money that is spent on hotel rooms, meals, flights to our airport, set decoration, security, rent of filming spaces, and office space for the film production?

A movie is a big business spending millions of dollars that may not be creating full-time jobs, but it is similar to a convention, spending a lot of money for a while. For instance, film set decorators on "Up in the Air" spent thousands locally on fabrics and supplies for set decoration, furnishings for George Clooney's rented apartment, renting production office space, renting space at our airport, and more for months. Also, St. Louis received free publicity and exposure as well.The article "Disability services have improved across Missouri" (Jan. 28) showed that the state's services have risen to be among nation's best. However, this article fails to disclose crucial issues that people with developmental disabilities face.

The change in Missouris ranking for disability services from one of the worst to one of the best is due to high-quality services offered by community-based organizations. The same organizations are experiencing a direct support professional workforce crisis. This person assists a person with a disability to perform functional day-to-day tasks and is the lifeline for people with disabilities. Without these services, many people with disabilities would be warehoused in large institutions.With the November ballot initiative, Missourians exercised their voices and voted to legalize medical marijuana. This constitutional amendment requires Missouri to issue at least 192 total licenses to sell marijuana in a controlled setting, which works out to a minimum of 24 licenses in each of the states eight congressional districts.

But the question now is, who will be awarded these licenses? Will they be the typical corporate interests looking to dominate the opportunity, or will they be startups based in the communities that have been most affected by cannabis? Will they be companies based outside of Missouri, or local farmers and cannapreneurs with dreams and aspirations of creating a flourishing business in a booming industry?

This is where the conversation should include equity, but so rarely does.

An equity program would guarantee the allocation of a certain percentage of these licenses to minority entrepreneurs. In this case, particularly in neighborhoods negatively affected by the war on drugs, giving hope to communities and a sense of purpose to people who were once criminalized and who suffered disproportionately due to prohibition, intimidation and incarceration. The role of cannabis equity is to ensure a fair chance for individuals most affected, and for small businesses who are competing with larger corporate interests.Nearly nine weeks after the government shut down, Congress has finally reached agreement -- and cleared the path forward to pass -- on a package that will clear the decks on spending battles, and most importantly, spending deadlines, until the end of September.

In the form of 1,169 pages, the full spending package -- which is comprised not just of the border security agreement, but also the six remaining outstanding funding measures, is now public and ready to be voted on. House and Senate leaders believe they have plan to get that done in short order. At least that's the plan.

Bottom line: The Senate and House plan to pass the border security and broad spending package by Thursday night. That much, according to aides and both parties, in both chambers, is virtually assured at this point. The question remains will President Donald Trump sign the deal, which, at least on Capitol Hill, everyone is working under the assumption he will. But as everyone should be well aware by now, nothing is final until the President puts pen to paper on the bill.

With that in mind, just a word of caution: This is a very large piece of legislation, released at midnight, less than a day before the final vote Thursday, with a Friday deadline.Rief said he had been in contact with the flight tower at the St. Louis Downtown Airport in Cahokia all through the flight, but the fire department says it was never informed that a plane would be landing on the river.

On Thursday, Rief said he alerted St. Louis authorities that he would be flying again, but the fire department says firefighters never got the message. A smaller fire department response team was sent to the Chain of Rocks bridge in the morning when a call came in about a plane going into the water.

I think there was a miscommunication on several fronts here, said Mosby. But I dont think anything like this has happened before. Sometimes it takes an irregular incident to get agencies talking.

After the second round of confusion, Rief let the fire department know he would be flying five more times Thursday and promised to give them warnings when he would be landing on water in the area in the future.

Rief said he had scheduled the demonstrations after promoting the planes at the St. Louis Boat Show, held Feb. 7 to Sunday at Americas Center Convention Complex.

A regional spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration said the agency did not believe Rief was breaking any laws by flying in either area Thursday or Wednesday.

The false alarm came about 16 years after a true emergency landing on the Mississippi River north of downtown. In April 2003, two pilots in a small cargo jet ran out of fuel and had to land in the river. One of the men had a broken nose, but both survived a hard landing that wrecked the plane in the muddy current.

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.JEFFERSON CITY  After more than a year in political limbo, Missouri could be back on track to offer developers tax credits to develop low-income housing.

After nearly four hours of debate, members of the Missouri Senate voted to give preliminary approval to a plan that would offer an estimated $115 million in tax credits in the fiscal year beginning July 1.

That represents a hard-fought compromise over what had been first proposed by Sen. Dan Hegeman, R-Cosby, who had earlier supported a lower rate but faced backlash from developers who wanted more.

Under the plan, funding for the tax credits would be capped at 72.5 percent of what the state receives in federal tax credits. That amounts to a savings of more than $550 million over 10 years.

Hegeman said the higher number was needed to secure the votes.

It brought some support on that wasnt there before, Hegeman said. Were trying to get this program back up and running.The last was a reference to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., all voted yes, But Durbin and Blunt both said afterward that they were not happy with the process, and both had previously expressed regret that a conference committee was unable to come up with a broader fix of the nation's immigration problems.

Ten other Republicans  including some of the most conservative members of the Senate  joined Hawley in the no vote. They included Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, whom Hawley has identified as an early ally and mentor in the Senate.

Four of the five Democrats voting no are running for president: Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; Kamala Harris, D-Calif.; and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Critics of the "no" voters said that without approval, the government was headed for another shutdown. Both Blunt and Durbin stressed that while neither side was totally happy with the compromise, it was the best deal Congress could put together at this point to avoid another shutdown.

In the 300-128 House vote to pass the bill later Thursday, Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, was the only St. Louis-area member to vote no.On Thursday, Moehn said the utilitys 1.2 million electric customers will benefit from the work the company is planning.

Customer expectations are increasing every single day. Its such an essential service, Moehn said. Theres a lot of work ahead of us.

The Public Service Commission filing outlines how the company will work to improve reliability within its 24,000-square-mile service territory.

Among the highlights is a $1 billion expenditure on wind energy in 2020, as well as work to add more solar energy and battery storage in its distribution system.

The work also includes the installation of sensors and other equipment that can detect outages and speed restoration when service interruption occur. Ameren is touting technology called self-healing lines that will help limit or curtail outages.

Plans also call for the installation of 12,000 new utility poles that will be fortified to withstand severe weather.

Moehn said Ameren has already begun hiring employees to work on the various projects. A total number of jobs being created was not available.

This is going to create thousands of jobs, both direct and indirect, Moehn said.

The next step for Ameren is to hold a public meeting on the proposal. It is scheduled for March 4 in Jefferson City.

Daily updates on the latest news in the St. Louis business community. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.ST. LOUIS  Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged a St. Louis police officer with a misdemeanor civil rights violation.

The charges say only that on May 5, Officer Kenneth A. Grooms II "while acting under color of law, willfully deprived 'John Doe' of the right, protected and secured by the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution and laws of the United States, to be free from unreasonable seizure."

There is no other information in charging documents, and no lawyer is listed for Grooms.

A police spokeswoman said that Grooms was "currently employed pending the investigation," and referred other questions to the FBI.

A person with knowledge of the investigation said that Grooms' girlfriend got into a dispute with the John Doe at a restaurant, and called Grooms. He is accused of showing up and identifying himself as a police officer, handcuffing the man and driving him around in his car while berating him over the dispute.

Grooms then released Doe, the person with knowledge of the investigation said.

Shake off your afternoon slump with the oft-shared and offbeat news of the day, hand-brewed by our online news editors. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.ST. LOUIS  A three-day warrant amnesty program will be held March 4-6 in St. Louis Municipal Court.

Defendants with outstanding warrants for many types of city ordinance violations can show up in court on those days to pay fines without facing arrest. Once the warrant has been resolved, defendants will get a new court date or be put on a payment plan.

As in a similar program last year, the amnesty excludes people charged with driving under the influence, leaving the scene of an accident or with violations related to prostitution.

Bench warrants often are issued for the arrest of people who fail to show up for scheduled court appearances. Such defendants normally can be arrested and forced to pay for bail in addition to a fine for the initial charge.

The court, at 1520 Market Street, will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. March 4 and March 5 and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 6. Defendants should bring valid photo identification with their name on it.

"We encourage individuals who have not yet resolved a warrant to use this program as an opportunity to fulfill their obligations to the law without facing undue hardship," Court Administrator Richard Torack said.Mathis said she filed a complaint about the camera with the sheriffs office on Monday morning but claims an investigation began only after she talked with reporters.

Bissell said the sheriff, Dave Marshak, wrote the social media post himself Wednesday night to apologize for the actions of the deputy. Marshaks message was, in part:

While the deputies were familiar with the residence, and thought they may be back for the subject, it is not an excuse for the action(s) of covering the camera. Again, we offer no valid excuse for the actions of our Deputy.

Marshak called Mathis to apologize Wednesday night, about the time his apology was posted on social media.

We apologize for this incident, and we will address the issue to reduce the likelihood of this happening again, the departments Facebook post said. Again, no excuses from us, but a simple apology to the homeowner and our community. We will do better.

Marshak told the Post-Dispatch on Thursday that the investigation was wrapping up but not complete.

We take the actions seriously, he said. Its a personnel issue, and the deputy is still employed. He has been with us for a little more than a year after graduating the academy and has undoubtedly learned from this poor decision. Regardless, we expect more from our deputies, and will continue to work to build the confidence and trust of our community.

Shake off your afternoon slump with the oft-shared and offbeat news of the day, hand-brewed by our online news editors. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.We wanted there to be a good image of it in the main hallway, not tucked into the personnel division, Chief Jon Belmar said.

The county, with help from an anonymous benefactor, also is using a cadet program.

Belmar said he heard from chiefs across the country who were also struggling with recruiting.

Everybody is having to work harder than we used to, and theres a smaller group to choose from, he said.

He said his department was doing less traditional advertising such as billboards and buses, instead turning to social media platforms to plug its perks such as a starting salary of $52,800.

Many police recruiters are focusing on minorities, to more closely match the racial demographics of their areas. They are offering financial incentives to applicants who speak Spanish and recruiting on the campuses of predominantly black and Hispanic universities.

Many also are boosting salaries and benefits, offering signing bonuses, college tuition, take-home vehicles, health club memberships, and, in some cases, student loan forgiveness and child care assistance.

Starting salaries can vary widely, from mid-$30,000s to more than $60,000. Salaries for veteran officers can often exceed $100,000.When was St. Louis founded?

Some say St. Louis was founded Feb. 14, some say Feb. 15.

It hinges on the handwriting of Auguste Chouteau, who wrote about the founding about four decades after the fact. His 4s and 5s look similar, inspiring the debate. The first recorded celebration of the founding was held on Feb. 15, 1847, after Chouteau's death, but then one of his sons said his father had told him the first day was Feb. 14. Adding confusion is that someone changed "February" to "March" on Chouteau's memoir, but experts say that's unlikely.

A bicentennial celebration was held on Feb. 14, 1964. Since then, scholars have moved the thinking back to Feb. 15.Nevertheless, Donnersmarck has crafted an unparalleled masterpiece, a three-hour epic that leaves you wanting more. The setup is a brilliant way to explore the ways in which Nazi ideology destroyed families and generations to come within an intimate, human-sized scale. Its even more astonishing to consider the story is based in reality, even if Donnersmarcks script offers theories that have never been confirmed.

Kurt, who loses his beloved aunt at a young age, finds himself courting a comely fashion student, Ellie (Paula Beer), whose father, Professor Carl Seeband (Sebastian Koch), was an integral cog in the death machine that destroyed Elisabeth. The characters dont know this, and the simple, effective connection provides an unbelievable sense of tension that carries the entire affair.

The truth always comes out, so we might as well confront it. For Karl, that truth emerges in his art, at an avant-garde art school in Dusseldorf after defecting. Thrust into the world of post-modernism, where painting is declared a dead medium, he struggles to express himself. Urged by a professor to draw from his own experiences, Karl fully understands the words of his aunt: Everything thats true is beautiful. Whether its lottery numbers or newspaper photos or family snapshots, these things contain truth and therefore beauty.Mark Katzman has made a good living with commercial photography. His bread and butter comes from lifestyle images of happy families on cruises, rugged men at distilleries, dogs standing nobly on dramatic rock outcroppings. Beautiful pictures of people and places we want to be.

But as wonderful as the digital revolution has been for his work  easing the weight of luggage and immediately conveying success or failure  the St. Louis photographer feels the art has suffered.

I want to retain the craftsmanship in photography, he said this week. Sometimes with digital it gets too easy.

Todays photographs strike some as just digital matrices, made and gone quickly. The internet is changing photography really dramatically, Katzman said, noting that viewers dont always recognize superior work.

So Katzman and some of his contemporaries are getting their fingers wet, as he says. Putting their hands in the soup like he did while learning as a youth to develop photos in a darkroom.

Hes used the 19th-century wet collodion process (thrilling, but dangerous with cyanide) and is considering buying equipment to make daguerreotypes (expensive).State budget cuts have been particularly harsh in Oklahoma, where the general fund allocation for schools decreased by 28.2 percent in the decade ending in the 2018 fiscal year, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

The damage caused by funding shortfalls extends beyond teacher pay. The state has 54,000 more students than it did in 2008-09, said Rebecca Fine, an education specialist at the Oklahoma Policy Institute, yet the number of aides, secretaries, plumbers and other support staff has fallen by 391. The state also offers fewer fine arts and music classes than it did four years ago, Fine writes.

Organizers and advocates began campaigning years before strikes brought their struggles into the headlines. They were inspired by events like the Chicago teachers strike of 2012, where demonstrators won major concessions by framing their demands as part of a social and community movement aimed at improving the lives of students, Greene said.

They were arguing that it wasnt just about their own pay, she said. They were arguing about the need to confront the austerity measures pushed by mayors Richard Daley and Rahm Emanuel.Updated at 3:50 p.m.

Family owned JAB Holding Co., which has several coffee and restaurant brands, is planning to list the business that owns Keurig, Dr Pepper, Peet's Coffee and JDE coffee brands, the company said on Thursday.

"JAB has a very successful global Coffee and Beverages platform in Acorn, and we are envisioning taking it public in the next two-three years," JAB said in an emailed statement.

Its Acorn Holdings Unit is one of the company's largest, having acquired Dr Pepper Snapple last year in one of the most prominent consumer deals of 2018.

The business also includes brands such as Jacobs, Douwe Egberts, Tassimo, Gevalia, L'Or, Pilao and Kenco.

"A public listing would be in line with JAB's long-term philosophy to bring leading global consumer businesses to the public markets. However, we have not made any decision to trigger an IPO process now," the statement added.

The news comes after Germany's Lebensmittel Zeitung reported on Thursday that the company was mulling two initial public offerings in the next two to three years, but did not specify the brands under consideration.David Nicklaus David Nicklaus is a business columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow David Nicklaus 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

The slump in farm income has been going on for five years, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank's latest survey of agricultural bankers.

The bankers have reported declining farm income for 20 straight quarters. The latest survey was conducted in December, and the bankers expect farm income to decline in this year's first quarter too.

"We have heard rumors of large farms filing for bankruptcy," one Missouri banker told the Fed's survey-takers. "Farmers in our area still have crops in the field."

An Arkansas banker blamed the latest woes on trade policy: "Tariffs are beginning to take a heavy toll on local farmers and agricultural businesses in our region."

Previous surveys have generally predicted that farmland prices would fall along with incomes, but land buyers continue to defy those predictions. Cropland values rose 3.4 percent last year, the latest survey says, and pasture or ranch land is up 6.5 percent.

When asked about the health of the rural economy, two-thirds of the bankers predicted that conditions in their regions would stay the same in 2019, while one-third predicted that conditions would worsen.The Save Romania Union (USR) - PLUS Alliance is calling on President Klaus Iohannis to start a referendum on justice legislation, USR national leader Dan Barna said on Thursday adding that the former chief corruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi being asked to report to the magistrates investigation section on the day she was scheduled to be in Brussels is not accidental.

"There is nothing accidental about Mrs Kovesi being called exactly when she was going to Brussels to promote her candidacy. I do not think there is a good faith citizen in Romania who could imagine that this did not happen at the direct behest of [opposition national leader] Liviu Dragnea. Liviu Dragnea, [Senate majority leader] Tariceanu and [justice minister] Tudorel Toader are desperate, because a possible appointment of Mrs Kovesi as European prosecutor would refute all the poisoned rhetoric he has been spreading all over Romania for two years. Kovesi as a prosecutor would show all Romanians, the few who still believe in Liviu Dragnea, that what he does to Romania is called abuse, and what he has been telling Romania for two years are ordinary lies. It is not by accident that the Venice Commission has said very clearly in its recommendations that besides the criminal codes and justice legislation this special section investigating supposed wrongdoings of magistrates has to be discarded because in real life it is a political police that Mr Dragnea has built for himself and whose first victim is Mrs Kovesi these days. From this perspective, the USR-PLUS alliance is calling on President Iohannis to initiate a referendum on justice," Barna said at Parliament Palace.

He added that it is the best time for the Romanian society to have this debate, and the question for the referendum should be: "Do you agree that the criminally convicted persons should no longer be allowed to run for elected offices in Romania?."Minister-delegate for European Affairs George Ciamba had a meeting with Spanish State Secretary for European Affairs Marco Aguiriano on the sidelines of the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg and talked with him about aspects of the Brexit negotiations, informs a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) sent to AGERPRES.

Read also: Senior official Ciamba to discuss in Strasbourg strategic investments in EU, future of INF Treaty

The Spanish official wanted to know Romania's perspective on the main topics on the European agenda that were addressed during the discussions, given that it holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU.

The Minister-delegate for European Affairs presented the progress of discussions and the objectives of the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council on a number of priority issues, underlining the clear commitment to continue efforts to advance and close negotiations on as many legislative proposals as possible before the end of the European Parliament's work.

The discussions focused on the developments at the level of the EU Council on contingency measures in the context of the withdrawal negotiations of the UK from the European Union.

In this context, the Minister-delegate reaffirmed the particular importance of preserving unity between the Member States in support of the Agreed Withdrawal Agreement as well as the full commitment of the EU Council Presidency to support the continuation of the efforts in view of meeting the objectives set and protect the interests of European citizens, the cited source shows.

AGERPRES .Romania's Minister-delegate for European Affairs George Ciamba represented the European Union Council in a debate on security threats connected with the rising Chinese technological presence in the EU in a plenary session of the European Parliament (February 12-14), Romania's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) says in a press statement.

Ciamba was invited to express the views of the EU Council in the debate "Security threats connected with the rising Chinese technological presence in the EU and possible action on the EU level to reduce them," according to MAE.

He pointed out that cyber security has become a priority over the last years at the highest political level and a constant theme on the agenda of the European Union, with all European institutions paying special attention to it. "The Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU is making every effort to complete the measures under way, with the objective of increasing the European Union's resilience to growing cyber threats."

Ciamba gave assurances to the European Parliament on the importance that the Council attaches to technological development and security. "Cyber security is indeed one of the main challenges we are facing, as attacks are capable of causing serious economic damage and violating privacy and fundamental rights of citizens," the Romanian official pointed out.

He also mentioned an ambitious IT security package unveiled by the European Commission in September 2017, which was followed by a set of Council conclusions and an action plan for their implementation. George Ciamba stressed in his speech the need to act to enhance the EU's capability to prevent, deter and respond to cyber-attacks.

The Romanian official, as representative of the Romanian presidency of the EU Council, assured the European Parliament of instruments being enhanced to respond to potential risks that certain investments could bring to the security or essential interests of the European Union.

At the same time, Ciamba raised the issue of combating disinformation. He reiterated that the issue represents a priority for the Romanian presidency at the Council of the European Union and reinforced the need for in-depth cooperation among the member states, the EU institutions and the civil society to counteract this phenomenon.The Romanian presidency of the Council of the European Union has reached another provisional agreement with the European Parliament in fishery, informs a press release of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR).

The European Parliament and the Council of EU agreed on the Commission's proposal to decentralize and simplify the technical regulations, by involving the fishermen more in the decision-making process with respect to the best measures for a sustainable fishing, adjusted to their specific needs, mentioned the MADR release, which quoted the European Commission.

Minister of Agriculture Petre Daea brought to mind that this agreement is the 9th reached by the Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU in the agriculture and fishery field.

"Last night we scored another success of the Romanian presidency of the Council of the European Union, in the agriculture field: our team was congratulated by the European Commissioner for environment, maritime affairs and fisheries, Karmenu Vella, for reaching a new agreement between the Council and the European Parliament regarding the new fisheries technical measures," said Petre Daea.

The new agreement, which observes the Common Fisheries Policy and the Commission's programme regarding a better regulation, simplifies the technical measures that determine the conditions under which fishermen may fish and establish the type of equipment, composition of catches and how to treat unwanted catches.

The new regulations simplify the existing technical measures, which have become extremely complicated at European level during the years. The new regulations include provisions meant to protect the marine ecosystems, marine habitats and to limit unwanted catches.

The regulation include quantitative indicators to determine the efficacy of the technical measures meant to protect spawn, unwanted catches of mammals, such as whales, dolphins, porpoises and seabirds, as well as indicators to define the impact on the marine ecosystem. This is a new approach meant to offer a better picture of the results and an increased responsibility of the operators. The agreement is also an important steps for the cetaceans and seabirds, for it makes it mandatory for the member states to introduce new measures meant to limit unwanted catches of seabirds, whales, dolphins and porpoises in all the marine areas, when this is justified by scientific proof, reads the MADR release.

Moreover, the co-legislators agreed to introduce an interdiction regarding the use of electric pulse fishing starting on July 1, 2021, by ensuring a period of gradual limitation to allow the sector to adapt. The agreement also offers the member states the possibility of forbidding or immediately limiting electric pulse fishing in their coastal waters, mentioned the same release.The Romanian Presidency of the Council and the European Parliament reached on Thursday a provisional agreement on a Regulation establishing a European Labour Authority (ELA), the Council of the EU informed in a release.

The aim of this new body is to support member states in implementing EU legal acts in the areas of labour mobility across the Union and social security coordination. It will also provide information to employees and employers on complex aspects of cross-border labour mobility.

"This agreement is another important step to ensure a well-functioning EU labour market. The ELA will provide crucial assistance to the national administrations in the implementation of the relevant Union legislation. At the same time member states will only take part in ELA's activities on a voluntary basis," said Romania's Minister of Labour and Social Justice Marius-Constantin Budai.

When adopted, the regulation will provide for the following main activities of the new body: facilitating access to information on rights and obligations in cases of cross-border mobility for employees, employers and national administrations; supporting coordination between member states in cross-border enforcement of relevant Union law, including facilitating concerted and joint inspections; supporting cooperation between member states in tackling undeclared work; supporting member states authorities in resolving cross-border disputes.

The future regulation provides for a two-step mediation process: the first stage will involve a mediator from ELA and representatives of the member states concerned and might end with the issuance of a non-binding opinion. If no solution is found, the member states involved can agree to a second stage of mediation, inspired by the Conciliation board of the Administrative Commission for the coordination of social security systems. When a dispute relates to social security coordination, any member state concerned may request that the case is referred to the Administrative Commission. The Administrative Commission, in agreement with the member states concerned, may present the same request.

ELA will also bring together the technical and operational tasks of several existing EU bodies (EURES European Coordination Office, Technical Committee on the Free Movement of Workers, Committee of Experts on Posting of Workers and the European Platform on Tackling Undeclared Work). The aim is to establish a permanent structure, which ensures a quick responsiveness and continuity. It shall achieve improved and more efficient results on the basis of a strengthened cooperation.Chairman of the National Liberal Party (PNL) Ludovic Orban believes that the action undertaken by the Special Section for Magistrates' Investigation against former prosecutor-in-chief of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) Laura Codruta Kovesi represents "a political vengeance" orchestrated by Justice Minister Tudorel Toader, under the coordination of Social Democratic Party (PSD) Chairman Liviu Dragnea.

"In respect to the case of former prosecutor general and former head of the DNA Laura Codruta Kovesi, we believe that the action undertaken in her case cannot be placed under the coincidence mark, but rather under that of a political vengeance, orchestrated by Justice Minister Tudorel Toader, under the direct coordination of PSD Chairman Liviu Dragnea. Moreover, it seems a sign of despair the fact that the person conducting the investigation in Laura Codruta Kovesi case is the same one who was repeatedly proposed by Tudorel Toader as her successor at the DNA leadership, after the Justice Minister obtained Laura Codruta Kovesi's forced dismissal. So, there are already elements highlighting a serious conflict of interest in this case, all the more so taking into account that in the CSM [the Superior Council of Magistracy] plenary meeting Adina Florea herself stated: 'I was never an independent prosecutor.' If the political affiliation to the PSD of her family members shouldn't be normally questioned, through her behavior, as well as through the public positions expressed by members of her family, she proves an obvious political partisanship," Orban stated, according to a release sent to AGERPRES on Wednesday.

In his view, the action triggered by the Special Section for Magistrates' Investigation against the Romanian candidate to the leadership of the European Prosecutor's Office is not at a coincidental moment.

"The PSD-ALDE [the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats] established a structured politically controlled inside the justice system, in view of putting pressure on magistrates, intimidating them and getting vengeance in critical moments, in order to set them as examples for those who dare to conduct large-scale corruption investigations that might target the big fish of the day. Today, it's perspicuous the fact that this body takes action precisely in this regard. The special section was established despite the negative opinion of the Superior Council of Magistracy, despite the critical standpoints expressed within the Special Parliamentary Committee which debated the amendments brought to the Justice Laws, despite the criticism of the professional associations, of the parliamentary opposition and the civil society," the PNL Chairman stated.

He brought to mind that in the notification sent to the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR), the PNL underscored the unconstitutionality of setting up the Special Section for Magistrates' Investigation and they obtained the notification of the Venice Commission.

"The Venice Commission has expressed serious reservations regarding the establishment of this special section, highlighting the risk of becoming a tool of pressure and intimidation over judges and prosecutors, and this has been accentuated by the issuance of OUG No..90/2018," Orban said.

According to him, through the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) Report of November 2018, the European Commission (EC) requested "the immediate suspension" for the enforcement of the amendments brought to the Justice Laws and the subsequent emergency ordinances, including the rules regarding the establishment of the Special Section for Magistrates' Investigation.

The PNL Chairman also indicates the fact the the EC requested the implementation of the recommendations of the CVM, the Venice Commission and the Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO).

He reiterated that the PNL representatives in the EP are involved in a political lobby action to endorse the candidacy of Laura Codruta Kovesi at the helm of the European Prosecutor's Office.

Former DNA chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi announced on Wednesday evening that she received a subpoena, as suspect, from the Section for investigating crimes in Justice, being charged with abuse of office, bribe taking and false testimony. "It's very interesting that this subpoena comes prior to going to the European Parliament for hearings [for the chief prosecutor office of the European Prosecutor's Office]," Kovesi stated at Europa FM radio station.

She mentioned that the offenses she is accused of are to be brought to her knowledge, but she suspects that it regards the case revolving around the return to the Country of Nicolae Popa, who was the former head of Gelsor group.Elizabeth City, NC (27909)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 64F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 64F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph.A homecoming military ceremony was organised at Ostirii Palace in Iasi on Thursday for the Army Institutional Advisory Team (AIAT) returning from Afghanistan after its 8th deployment.

The team of officers was in Afghanistan for six months, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Marian Marius, and it is said to have accomplished its missions to the highest standard.

"The mission was to us, the military, a normal one. The challenge was representation. Each of the team members provided counsel, from the rank of colonel to even three-star generals. That was the novelty (...) Afghan soldiers are normal people who have begun to apply the procedures and advice they receive from coalition advisers. Instructions were exchanged, manuals were changed, structures were formed, all based on collaboration with these Afghan troops. Our mission was not us overhauling military education and training in Afghanistan as coalition members, but to advise them to be able to change their own instructions, regulations, with the aim being to have as few soldiers killed on the battlefield as possible," Commander Marius Marian, the head of the AIAT team, 8th deployment, told the press.

The Army Institutional Advisory Team is a multinational team with the main purpose of providing training and counselling on the organisational level to the coalition's partners in the Afghan armed forces and police in various fields such as personnel, operations and training, logistics, communications and IT.Former head of the National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) Laura Codruta Kovesi announced on Wednesday night that she has received a subpoena from the Judiciary Crime Investigation Section as a suspect, adding she is innocent and will go on with the procedure to take the helm of the European Prosecution.

Read also: Senior official Ciamba, Spanish State Secretary for European Affairs Aguiriano talk about Brexit

"I have been under a denigration campaign lately, which probably stems from some peoples' desperation because I filled the first spot in the procedure to becoming European Chief Prosecutor. I can tell you that tonight [Wednesday, ed. n.] after 20:00hrs a police officer came to my house and subpoenaed me on behalf of the Judiciary Crime Investigation Section, as a suspect for the crime of abuse of office, bribe taking and false testimony. It is very interesting that this subpoena comes exactly ahead of my going to the European Parliament for the job hearing," Kovesi told private radio broadcaster Europa FM.

Kovesi added that she won't give up her candidacy for the EU Chief-Prosecutor position and that she will go to Brussels for the European Parliament hearings.

AGERPRES .A team of experts from the European Commission was in Romania from Monday to Wednesday where it discussed with Minister of Agriculture Petre Daea and with the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA) specialists about establishing the most appropriate measures for the eradication of the African swine fever and reducing economic losses, a press release of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR) announced on Thursday.

The visit to Romania of the team from the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety with the European Commission was carried out following the request sent by the Romanian Minister of Agriculture, addressed to the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis. The European experts, accompanied by the ANSVSA representatives, traveled in the country, examining different situations onsite in order to establish the most appropriate measures against the disease.

In the opening of the talks, the Minister of Agriculture has made an account of the history of the disease since its onset in Romania, the presence of the African swine fever virus (PPA) in Romania being first signaled on July 31, 2017, in Satu Mare County. Since the first confirmed cases of African swine fever, the Romanian authorities have acted in line with Romania's contingency plan for PPA, the Ministry of Agriculture said.

The evolution of the disease has been and is constantly monitored through clinical and daily laboratory examinations, measures are being taken and actions are carried out according to circumstances, Agriculture Minister Petre Daea affirmed.

The European Commission representatives said they would work very closely with the Romanian authorities to get a clearer picture of the situation of the diseases evolution in order to identify the best solutions to the problems that Romania is facing and they will propose the supplementing of the funds aimed at combating this disease.

The Minister of Agriculture recalled that the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU will continue to facilitate the talks on African swine fever, given that Bucharest will host a ministerial conference on this disease, as well as other cross-border animal diseases that will establish the foundations of a scientific research forum hosted by Romania, the Agriculture Ministry's press release mentions.A team of experts from the European Commission was in Romania from Monday to Wednesday where it discussed with Minister of Agriculture Petre Daea and with the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA) specialists about establishing the most appropriate measures for the eradication of the African swine fever and reducing economic losses, a press release of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR) announced on Thursday.

Read also: Romanian economy outpaced by far EU28 in Q4 2018

The visit to Romania of the team from the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety with the European Commission was carried out following the request sent by the Romanian Minister of Agriculture, addressed to the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis. The European experts, accompanied by the ANSVSA representatives, traveled in the country, examining different situations onsite in order to establish the most appropriate measures against the disease.

In the opening of the talks, the Minister of Agriculture has made an account of the history of the disease since its onset in Romania, the presence of the African swine fever virus (PPA) in Romania being first signaled on July 31, 2017, in Satu Mare County. Since the first confirmed cases of African swine fever, the Romanian authorities have acted in line with Romania's contingency plan for PPA, the Ministry of Agriculture said.

The evolution of the disease has been and is constantly monitored through clinical and daily laboratory examinations, measures are being taken and actions are carried out according to circumstances, Agriculture Minister Petre Daea affirmed.

The European Commission representatives said they would work very closely with the Romanian authorities to get a clearer picture of the situation of the diseases evolution in order to identify the best solutions to the problems that Romania is facing and they will propose the supplementing of the funds aimed at combating this disease.

The Minister of Agriculture recalled that the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU will continue to facilitate the talks on African swine fever, given that Bucharest will host a ministerial conference on this disease, as well as other cross-border animal diseases that will establish the foundations of a scientific research forum hosted by Romania, the Agriculture Ministry's press release mentions.

AGERPRES .Blog Archive Apr 2010 (22) May 2010 (25) Jun 2010 (8) Jul 2010 (12) Aug 2010 (18) Sep 2010 (19) Oct 2010 (29) Nov 2010 (30) Dec 2010 (18) Jan 2011 (13) Feb 2011 (21) Mar 2011 (23) Apr 2011 (19) May 2011 (31) Jun 2011 (36) Jul 2011 (46) Aug 2011 (26) Sep 2011 (12) Oct 2011 (15) Nov 2011 (17) Dec 2011 (7) Jan 2012 (18) Feb 2012 (4) Mar 2012 (12) Apr 2012 (18) May 2012 (10) Jun 2012 (21) Jul 2012 (8) Aug 2012 (15) Sep 2012 (7) Oct 2012 (17) Nov 2012 (20) Dec 2012 (10) Jan 2013 (58) Feb 2013 (59) Mar 2013 (60) Apr 2013 (98) May 2013 (135) Jun 2013 (204) Jul 2013 (293) Aug 2013 (351) Sep 2013 (363) Oct 2013 (348) Nov 2013 (374) Dec 2013 (442) Jan 2014 (547) Feb 2014 (476) Mar 2014 (526) Apr 2014 (527) May 2014 (469) Jun 2014 (408) Jul 2014 (472) Aug 2014 (522) Sep 2014 (443) Oct 2014 (472) Nov 2014 (497) Dec 2014 (536) Jan 2015 (539) Feb 2015 (520) Mar 2015 (582) Apr 2015 (658) May 2015 (679) Jun 2015 (673) Jul 2015 (728) Aug 2015 (803) Sep 2015 (923) Oct 2015 (924) Nov 2015 (802) Dec 2015 (791) Jan 2016 (782) Feb 2016 (835) Mar 2016 (929) Apr 2016 (866) May 2016 (947) Jun 2016 (1044) Jul 2016 (882) Aug 2016 (1035) Sep 2016 (967) Oct 2016 (918) Nov 2016 (854) Dec 2016 (885) Jan 2017 (881) Feb 2017 (777) Mar 2017 (897) Apr 2017 (872) May 2017 (851) Jun 2017 (851) Jul 2017 (971) Aug 2017 (1040) Sep 2017 (998) Oct 2017 (1144) Nov 2017 (1046) Dec 2017 (838) Jan 2018 (873) Feb 2018 (769) Mar 2018 (885) Apr 2018 (809) May 2018 (827) Jun 2018 (820) Jul 2018 (840) Aug 2018 (854) Sep 2018 (844) Oct 2018 (852) Nov 2018 (870) Dec 2018 (912) Jan 2019 (919) Feb 2019 (827) Mar 2019 (957) Apr 2019 (913) May 2019 (1007) Jun 2019 (935) Jul 2019 (950) Aug 2019 (936) Sep 2019 (910) Oct 2019 (920) Nov 2019 (874) Dec 2019 (908) Jan 2020 (942) Feb 2020 (849) Mar 2020 (898) Apr 2020 (848) May 2020 (822) Jun 2020 (789) Jul 2020 (819) Aug 2020 (858) Sep 2020 (841) Oct 2020 (873) Nov 2020 (812) Dec 2020 (780) Jan 2021 (765) Feb 2021 (716) Mar 2021 (819) Apr 2021 (805) May 2021 (815) Jun 2021 (667)The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is sending out letters this week to manufacturers and retailers who sell products containing CBD oil, detailing what is legal to sell in North Carolina, according to a news release from the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Under federal Food and Drug Administration laws, CBD is considered a drug, said Joe Reardon, the department's assistant commissioner of consumer protection. North Carolina state laws mirror federal laws. This means that CBD cannot legally be added to any human food or animal feed that is for sale.

Health claims are also prohibited, including saying the product may prevent, treat or cure any disease, the release states. Not complying with this standard could result in embargo or seizure of products, the release states.

We are taking an educate before regulate stance with industry, Reardon said in the release. We know they may not be aware of the state laws regarding the addition of a drug to a food product. However, we reserve the right to be more assertive, as other states have been, if we need to be in the future. Our main concern is consumer health and safety with any product that falls under our regulatory authority.Melody Hager has grown up around crowns and sashes and music, all of which have played a large role throughout her life and continue to do so 99 cent introductory offer

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Rates are subject to change.State lawmakers want to change that. If they succeed, that could mean hundreds of costly new lawsuits against the Catholic Church.Countries & Areas

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Sam Shepard might not have been the first thing on our minds when we headed to Loreto Bay late last year. But when we walked past a stand downtown and spotted colorful wrestling masks, inspiration struck. And so it would be AZUL, a sequel of sorts to a short we shot here many, many years ago called MORADO.

New video just landed. Stark Insider Presents: Azul.https://t.co/XWTyFTk456  Stark Insider (@StarkInsider) February 12, 2019

We shot this one on a Panasonic GH5 (save for the post-credit segment which was shot on RED Dragon) and made liberal use of 4K/60 slow motion, which was then conformed to a 23.98fps timeline. That a mirrorless camera at this price point can offer this kind of performance is impressive. Once again I really appreciated the small size of the GH5, not to mention its rock solid durability.

But AZUL is about a journey. A transformation. Perhaps.

Ill be back with more soon on Stark Insider with exciting news about more upcoming film and doc projects. Cause The Beat will never stop.

For now grab your favorite beverage of choice and enjoy a trip to one of our favorite travel destinations a place called Loreto.

Short Film: AZUL

A women in a strange mask descends into a transformative journey.

Azul on IMDB

Featuring Loni Stark

Written & Directed by Clinton Stark

Shot on Location in Loreto Bay and Loreto, Baja California Sur, MexicoThe girl said she had sex with other men because Billy told her to and she feared him. On some occasions, she said, William Quinn would stay and video the sexual encounter.Devin R. Collett, 19, was fined $200 on a charge of no proof of insurance.

Natalie A. Castillo, 43, was fined $325 on charges of no proof of insurance, no valid registration and driving under suspension.

Vladimir Stirbu, 40, was fined $150 on a charge of disorderly conduct.

David L. Stevens, 55, was sentenced to 100 days in jail and fined $62 on a charge of third-degree assault.

Jan. 7

Mario Blanco, 41, was sentenced to five days in jail and fined $450 on a charge of possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, second offense.

Lawrence M. Callahan Jr., 28, was sentenced to 14 days in jail and fined $50 on a charge of false reporting and obstructing a police officer.

Lawrence M. Callahan Jr., 28, was fined $501 on a charge of possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and failure to appear.

Jan. 8

Charges of driving during revocation, driving under suspension and unauthorized use of a propelled vehicle against Jesus Cruz Jr., 23, were dismissed.SCOTTSBLUFF  The 2018-19 campaign at Western Sugar Cooperatives Scottsbluff factory will come to a close Monday, Jerry Darnell, Western Sugars vice president of agriculture-South region, said Wednesday.

Darnell said that re-hauls of beets from the Hemingford station will wrap up Thursday, and he expects the remaining beets in the Scottsbluff yard will be finished on Monday.

Were right where we want to be, but probably about a week ahead of normal, Darnell said.

The campaigns at Western Sugars Montana and Wyoming factories have also finished a week early.

Darnell said Western Sugars Torrington, Wyoming, factory is processing stored syrup into sugar, and Scottsbluff will begin processing its stored syrup starting next week.The Republicans on the committee wanted to approach the dispute the same way that a court would have approached other election cases. We have adopted a standard that is consistent with Supreme Court precedent, explained Deputy House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, a member of the committee. That would have resulted in a new election, because they could have shown that there might have been a different outcome, were it not for the election officials error.A Colorado man arrested after Scotts Bluff County Sheriffs deputies allegedly observed signs of a drug buy has been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

Scotts Bluff County District Court Judge Leo Dobrovolny sentenced Justin Knight, 28, of Brush, Colorado, Wednesday.

Knight was one of three men arrested on Jan. 11, 2018, after a deputy observed a man walking toward the bathroom of a Scottsbluff convenience store holding a large amount of cash and counting it. A few minutes later, a second man walked into and out of the bathroom, again counting a large amount of cash. The deputy then observed the two men pull into the parking lot of a neighboring business and stopped the vehicle, making contact with the men. The men said they were waiting for a third man, who was in the convenience store. Video surveillance showed the three men arriving together.

When deputies searched the vehicle, they reported locating 192 grams of methamphetamine, 92 empty plastic baggies, two digital scales that had white residue, a baggie containing 12 pills of an antidepressant and a handgun that had the serial numbers punched off it.Lincoln had full houses the whole time, and lost of kids got to come, she said. In Kearney we had a big snow Storm and still a ton of people were able to come out.

As the troupe has traveled, theyve also stopped at area schools to do outreach and workshops with some of the high school theatre programs.

We stopped at Scottsbluff High School and work with the Advance Acting workshop and the Intro to Acting students, Palic said. I was impressed. They really got into it.

Palic said that she has been re-reading Cathers novel back stage in-between her characters appearances, and she has noticed some differences.

Theres a lot to cover in the novel, with a lot of characters, she said. Our show has six actors and theres a lot that we didnt get to hit, but I think we really captured the essence of the story.

And there are parallels in the play to political discussions currently being had on the national level, especially surrounding immigration.In his State of the Union speech earlier this month, President Donald J. Trump announced a plan to end the HIV epidemic by 2030. The initiative would focus on things like diagnosis and treatment in 48 counties, as well as in Washington, D.C., and San Juan, Puerto Rico, which account for more than half of the nearly 40,000 new HIV diagnoses every year, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. None of the counties are in Connecticut.It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of my mother, Mary Jane (Sisson) Turner, 69, wife of the late Leo D. Turner, both formerly of Killingworth CT. Mom passed away on January 16, 2019 in Brooksville, FL. Where she and Leo retired to in 2012. Born Mary Jane Picard on January 9, 1950, in Garfield Plantation, Maine, she was the daughter of the late Valeric and Laura (McNamara) Morin. Mom loved life and the time she spent with family and friends, she liked going to the casinos, and was an avid bowler, but her heart and her world was me, and she spent countless hours at my sporting events watching me play softball, and other sports. Predeceased by her loving husband, Leo D. Turner, on January 13th, 2019. She leaves lasting memories and is survived by me her only child  Heather Sargent (David) of Deep River, CT. Step children: Guy (Jennifer) Turner of Chattanooga, TN. and Robin Wilcox of Middletown, CT. Five step grandchildren, three step great-grandchildren. A brother: Abel (Debra) Picard of Cromwell, CT. Her faithful K9 companion Jetta, many loving family and friends who had a special place in her heart. In addition to her parents and husband, mom was predeceased by her sister Ann O'Neill, and her brother Lonney Picard. Friends and family may call at Biega Funeral Home, 3 Silver Street, Middletown on Saturday, February 16, 2019 from 12pm. to 1pm. Service at the funeral home will be held at 1 p.m. A celebration of her life will immediately follow at Campagna Restaurant, 151 Marlborough Rd, Portland, CT. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in my mother's name: Mary Jane Turner, by calling the Chapter Health Foundation, HPH Hospice Strugill Care Center in Brooksville, Florida @ 813-871-8444. To share memories or express condolences online please visit www.biegafuneralhome.com. Biega's Funeral Home - Middletown 3 Silver Street Middletown 06457 860-346-1055 Website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 Lucille M. (Hogan) Flynn died February 8, 2019 peacefully with her family by her side. Born in Providence, Rhode Island, on April 17, 1929, she was the youngest child of Francis and Margaret Hogan. In 1950 she married her childhood sweetheart, Daniel E. Flynn. They raised their family in New England and settled in Vernon over 50 years ago. She was employed at The Rockville Public Library for over 40 years. The library brought her much joy, and she shared countless memories with her colleagues whom she considered her second family. The Rhode Island shore, baking, and spending time with her grandchildren were her passions.She leaves behind two sons, Robert and Daniel and three daughters, Carol, Mary-Pat, and Kerry, 15 grandchildren, and 6 great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her beloved husband Daniel, and her daughter Maureen. A celebration of her life will be held on Monday, February 18, 2019 with a mass of Christian burial beginning at 12 p.m. in St. Bernard Church, 25 St. Bernard Terrace, Rockville, CT and burial immediately following. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Maureen Fluckiger Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o East Catholic High School, 115 New State Road, Manchester, CT 06040, Attn: Development OfficeT he most romantic day of the year, allegedly, is coming and what better way to spend it than with your one true loveNetflix.

Its always been there for you. The streaming service provides comfort when youre bored, feeling unwell, stuck on a long commute or simply just in the mood for some good old-fashioned binging.

From old Richard Curtis classics to newer, and quirkier, releases, there is plenty of content to get through with a whole array of Hollywood stars to get you swooning.

So if youre coupled up or flying solo on February 14, here are some of the most romantic films Netflix has to offer

Valentines Day

Valentines Day (2010)

The 2010 film, which starred just about everyone from Bradley Cooper to Taylor Swift, received a fairly mixed review from critics  most of them negative. But the cheery quest for love tinged with a couple of sad moments follows a host of different people as they celebrate February 14.

Set out much like Love Actually (which only worked against it with fans), the stories in Valentines Day are all linked in some way, with a few that make you cringe, a few that are sappy and a couple that have their cry-worthy moments. Its perfect.

Crazy, Stupid, Love

Crazy Stupid Love (2011)

The film, which was released in 2011, put Steve Carell in the starring role as Cal Weaver, a recently divorced man still weepy from the breakdown of his marriage. But Cals encounter with Jacob Palmer, played by Ryan Gosling, sees him embark on a new journey of bachelorhood and teaches him to pick up women in bars, desperately searching for The Oneagain.

And no, it hasnt got anything to do with the Cheryl song now in your head.

Definitely Maybe

Definitely Maybe (2008)

Ah, the path of true love never did run smooth  especially with three different forks in the road.

In this film, little Maya  played by Abigail Breslin  wants to know the story of how her divorcing parents met, as told by daddy Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds). He recounts a romantic past with three different women.

P.S I Love You

PS I Love You (2007)

One for the weepy fans.

P.S I Love You doesnt have the happiest of narratives, kicking off with the death of Gerry (Gerard Butler), which leaves Holly, played by Hilary Swank, distraught.

As much as its a romance, the film  based on a book of the same name by Cecelia Ahern  is also about a young widows journey to opening up to love again, grabbing life and following it wherever it takes her.

The Notebook

The Notebook film trailer

Some say The Notebook, released in 2004 and based on a book by Nicholas Sparks, is the ultimate rom-com.

Starring Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling as young lovers Allie and Noah, the two are torn apart by circumstance but determined to find a way back to each other.

Love Actually

Love Actually 2003

Yes yes we know, its a Christmas film. But its rooted in romance so there is nothing to stop you firing up the Richard Curtis classic on Valentines Day.

The 2003 hit film follows nine different groups of people as they fight their way through the trials and tribulations of love at the most wonderful time of the year.

To All The Boys Ive Loved Before

To All The Boys I've Loved Before (2018)

The Netflix original, released last year, tells the story of a high school girl with several crushes who has to face reality when the love letters shes written get mailed out to the school.

Dear John

Dear John TrailerC omedian Bill Burr says the Royal Albert Hall is the most beautiful and iconic venue he has ever performed in - but admitted he found the tour boring as s***.

The US star, 50, will return to the setting in three months time after playing there in June, when he feared he would be yanked off stage due to his crass jokes.

The comic, who has appeared in numerous films and was corrupt lawyer Saul Goodmans henchman Kuby in Breaking Bad, told A-List he first visited the venue on a trip to London several years ago.

He said: We took a tour and my wife was like, Why are we doing this? This is so boring - a tour of a building! I said, Can we do something for me on this vacation? She laughs and says fine.

So we take this tour and it is boring as sh*t, the stories of the Queen this, the duchess this... But then we went into the arena and it just so happened that the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was practising.

They said, Why dont you come over here and sit down, over from the Queens box, and you can get a vibe of what its like to see a show. These guys were tuning up and all of a sudden they started to play and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard.

I turned to my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, and she started tearing up. I was like, F***! I should have given her the ring now! That would have been the greatest proposal ever!

He said of his summer show: So going out there with my crass jokes [at the June gig] after hearing that beautiful sound years earlier, I thought, Are they just going to come out here and yank me off-stage?

Im such a huge Led Zepellin fan, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and all those guys, and I just couldnt get past that fact that I was on the same stage that they had played. It is the most beautiful and iconic venue Ive ever played in.

Burr revealed that he has British and European ancestry, but wont be using an online genealogy service to trace his family tree.

He added: Im not going to send in my DNA to the internet like those other morons. If they want to make a robot copy of me, theyre going to have to work for it.J ames Argent has opened up about girlfriend Gemma Collins extravagant Valentines Day demands.

The TOWIE star revealed that the GC has been living up to her larger-than-life diva persona when it comes to her Valentines expectation, issuing her partner with a staggeringly expensive list of potential gifts.

Gemma is very romantic and shes a good laugh, Argent told the Sun Online. She definitely does like to be spoilt and she does have a few demands.

At the moment she wants a Burberry bag, she wants to stay in the White City Hotel, she wants to stay in the Dorchester, she wants 100 red roses, she wants fancy cards.

Demanding: Collins has something very specific in mind for Valentine's Day / Getty Images

The 31-year-old went on to joke that he would have to see how much money he has left following the Valentines extravaganza before he could even consider purchasing an engagement ring.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Collins was now charging 13,000 per hour for nightclub appearances following her high-profile stint on Dancing On Ice.

Gemma Collins - In pictures 1 /31 Gemma Collins - In pictures PA Gemma Collins on Instagram @gemmacollins1 Gemma Collins on'Celebs Go Dating' Channel 4 Gemma Collins on 'The Only Way is Essex' ITV Gemma Collins on 'I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!' in 2014 ITV/Rex Gemma Collins on'Celebs Go Dating' Channel 4 Gemma Collins on'Celebs Go Dating' Channel 4 Gemma Collins on 'I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!' in 2014 Rex Features Nominated: Gemma Collins and Danniella Westbrook are up for Tuesday's eviction along with Stephanie Davis Channel 5 Gemma Collins appearing on Celebrity Big Brother Channel 5 Gemma Collins arriving at the ITV Gala 2017 held at the London Palladium Getty Images Gemma Collins makes US TV on Wendy Williams after her Radio 1 Teen 2017 Awards fall Gemma Collins is helped by Amber Davies, Jamie Jewitt and Marcel Somerville as she falls on stage during the BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards 2017 at Wembley Arena Getty Images Gemma Collins makes fun of her Radio 1 Teen 2017 Awards fall on Instagram @gemmacollins1 Gemma Collins attending BBC Radio 1's Teen Awards 2017 PA Gemma Collins attending the European premiere of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets at Cineworld in Leicester Square in 2017 PA Gemma Collins appearing on Celebrity Big Brother Channel 5 Gemma Collins.in 'Sugar Free' ITV Gemma Collins on 'I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!' in 2014 ITV Gemma Collins on 'The Only Way is Essex' ITV Getty Images Exciting: the GC teased new plans for a trip to Los Angeles Getty Images 'Standing on ice': Gemma Collins was mocked by viewers ITV Rex Features ames Argent with Gemma Collins PA Channel 4 @gemmacollins1 @gemmacollins1 @gemmacollins1 @gemmacollins1 @gemmacollins1

Gemmas value and money-making ability has sky rocketed since Dancing On Ice  everyone wants to book her, a source told the Sun.

Shes now charging 13,000 an hour for nightclub appearances  thats 216 a minute if club promoters agree to it!

But shes The GC  shes not going to turn up for free.

Gemma Collins figured out which of her friends were selling stories

A further source claimed to the Mirror that Collins had been inundated with offers and that her market worth has shot up since she joined the show.

Argent recently revealed that he would like to drop seven stone in weight before potentially appearing on Dancing on Ice next year.

If I was to do Dancing On Ice next year Id want to lose seven stone, he told the Sun. By this time next year Id be a year and a half sober so Id be in a pretty good position to do it.L ondon girl who joined ISIS in Syria wants to come home

A pregnant teenager who fled London to join Islamic State in Syria as a schoolgirl has said she now wants to come home.

Shamima Begum, now 19, left the UK with two other friends from Bethnal Green in 2015 when she was 15 years old.

Speaking to The Times from a refugee camp in northern Syria, she said she is nine months pregnant and now wants to fly home.

Ms Begum described how one of her two school friends who left with her had died in a bombing.

The fate of the third girl remained unclear.

Brexit: PM faces Valentines Day revolt

Theresa May is facing the prospect of a Valentines Day revolt from hardline Conservative MPs in a key Brexit vote later today.

Eurosceptic Tories are threatening to oppose a Government motion which critics say effectively means a no-deal option will be abandoned.

Meanwhile Jeremy Corbyn is facing up to 10 resignations from Labour's top team if he fails to push the case for a new Brexit referendum, according to reports last night.

Judge rules Manafort lied to investigators

Paul Manafort intentionally lied to investigators in the Russia probe, a judge has ruled.

Mr Manafort made multiple false statements to the FBI, special counsel Robert Muellers office and a grand jury, the judge said.

The ruling was another loss for Donald Trumps former campaign chairman, who faces years in prison in two separate criminal cases.

Suicide blast kills 27 in Iran

A suicide bombing in south-eastern Iran has killed at least 27 members of the countrys Revolutionary Guards, state media said.

The attacker targeted a bus transporting personnel near the Pakistan border yesterday.

Sunni Muslim militant group Jaish al Adl claimed responsibility for the deadly blast.

Mars rover dead, Nasa confirms

Nasa has declared its 14-year Mars Opportunity rover mission as finished after the device died on the red planet.

The space agency made the announcement after it tried one last time to contact the probe, which had been silent since June.

Filmmakers protest Oscars broadcast plan

Top filmmakers have signed an open letter protesting a decision to present four awards during ad breaks of the Oscars ceremony.

Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee are among names to put their names to the letter.

It was announced on Monday that awards for live-action shorts, make-up and hairstyling, cinematography and editing would be handed out during breaks.

The move sparked an outcry and accusations that the Academy was disrespecting workers in those disciplines.

On this day

Circa 270: Saint Valentine was thought to have been martyred by Roman Emperor Claudius II.

1779: Captain James Cook, British explorer, was murdered by natives in Hawaii.

1822: Britain's postal services had to employ extra sorters as the fashion of sending messages to loved ones on Valentines Day continued to grow in popularity.

1929: The St Valentine's Day Massacre took place in a Chicago warehouse. Seven members of Bugs Moran's gang were gunned down, probably by mobsters from Al Capone's outfit.

1946: The Bank of England was nationalised.

1984: Britain's Torvill and Dean skated their way to a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, getting maximum points for artistic expression.A teenager who ran away from Britain as a 15-year-old schoolgirl to join the Islamic State group now wants to return home.

Here are some key questions her case raises:

What action might she face if she is allowed to return to the UK?

Home Office Minister Ben Wallace has said everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police.

Shamima Begum when she was 15 and fled to join IS / PA

This will determine if they have committed criminal offences, and to ensure that they do not pose a threat to national security.

"There are a range of terrorism offences where individuals can be convicted for crimes committed overseas," he said.

How could Ms Begum be treated by UK authorities?

Ms Begum was a pupil at Bethnal Green Academy in east London when she ran away to Syria in February 2015 with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, who also attended the school.

Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer who was instructed by the girls' families after they disappeared, said that British authorities should be reminded of former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe's position at the time.

Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana and Shamima Begum on Gatwick CCTV as the schoolgirls left for Syria / PA

Lord Hogan-Howe said that the girls would be treated as victims so long as they had not committed any further offences while in Syria.

How many British women and girls joined IS and how many have returned?

An absence of public Government data has led experts to warn the number of women and minors linked to IS thought to have returned has been significantly underestimated.

An estimated 850 people have travelled from the UK to support IS in Iraq and Syria, including 145 women and 50 minors, according to a report by King's College London released last year.

Of the 425 who have returned, only two women and four minors were listed.

Missing: Shamima Begum, 15, captured on CCTV at Gatwick Airport

Do they pose a threat?

Joana Cook, a senior research fellow at KCL who co-authored the study, said the researchers considered the women to be potential security threats based on several factors.

She said: "(These include) the physical security roles and related training that women have undertaken in IS-held territory, and the potential to transfer or apply these skills in other locations, or to pass these on to other people... including other women and their children."

What is left of Islamic State?

When Ms Begum left for Syria in 2015, IS had taken control of large tracts of northern Syria and northern Iraq.

Millions of people were living in territory controlled by the terrorist group, which had declared the creation of a caliphate.

Four years later, following a massive military campaign by regional forces assisted by foreign powers including America, Britain and Russia, IS territory has dwindled to a small village in eastern Syria.T he plea by the apparently unrepentant 19-year-old Shamima Begum to be allowed to back to Britain will dismay many people and has led to calls for her never to be allowed to return.

But the reality is that although the Government can, in certain circumstances, impose a temporary exclusion order on national security grounds it has a legal obligation to allow any British citizen, however unappealing they might be, to enter their own country.

The question of how Begum gets here remains far more uncertain.

Not only is the Government unlikely to be keen to assist her return, but there is also the practical problem that this country has no diplomatic relations with any of the factions in control of the various parts of Syria.

Terror trip: Two 15-year-old girls and a 16-year-old girl caught on CCTV at Gatwick travelling to Turkey / AP

Any attempt to extricate her would risk being seen as unlawful rendition, which ministers are determined to avoid. So Begum will have to find a way to Turkey or another country where UK officials could assist her.

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There is inevitably the possibility of prosecution if she does return. It was not an offence to go to Syria when she departed but she will be stopped and questioned if she re-enters the UK.

Any evidence that she has assisted in atrocities or was a member or active supporter of IS could see her put before a court. The sentence for being a member of IS, or supporting the group, is up to 10 years. A maximum life sentence awaits anyone convicted of preparing a terror act. This offence can be used against those with major or minor roles in a plot. Other offences that could be considered might include disseminating terrorist materials, terrorist fundraising and terrorist training. Any involvement in killings could lead to a murder charge.

One difficulty in Syria-related cases can be obtaining evidence. But social media postings made while in the warzone and evidence left behind on a computer or phone here can be used.

Another factor is Begums age. Any offence committed before she reached 18 would be treated more leniently by a judge.

If she is not prosecuted, many years of close monitoring are likely. Begum will be viewed as a security risk, both personally and as a possible inspiration to others. On top of this, there is the child she is expecting which might have to be taken into care.D onald Trump could declare a national emergency on the southern border of the US in a bid to get funding for his border wall.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the President has indicated he is prepared to sign the government funding bill but could declare an emergency at the same time.

Mr McConnell said that the Senate will soon vote on the bill that's needed to avoid a partial federal shutdown on Friday.

The measure would avoid another government shutdown, but would not include the $5.7 billion Trump wanted for the border wall with Mexico  instead offering just $1.375 billion for 55 miles of fencing.

The President spoke about his border security policy at a conference on Wednesday / Getty Images

Kentucky Republican Mr McConnell told the Senate: "I would say to all my colleagues that he has indicated he's prepared to sign the bill.

He will also be issuing a national emergency declaration at the same time, and I've indicated to him that I'm going to support the national emergency declaration.

So for all of my colleagues, the President will sign the bill, we will be voting on it shortly."

The row over wall funding is what caused the previous record 35-day shutdown earlier this year, which could have cost the US $3 billion and left 800,000 federal workers without pay.

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

Trumps proposal to declare a national emergency has prompted outrage among Democrats, who think it is not good for the President to do.

House majority leader Steny Hoyer told MSNBC: I think declaring a national emergency where there is no national emergency is not good for the president to do and not good precedent for future presidents.

Many Trump allies are unhappy with the bill, with Fox host Laura Ingraham labelling the document a 1,169 page monstrosity and saying it would green light more family units crossing illegally.

She added: Remember, @realDonaldTrump signed that #omnibus last year, on promise hed get his wall funding. They lied to him. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice.

Folks in Honduras or Guatemala thinking of joining a caravan and are just now hearing about this bill...of course are going to come.

Controversial commentator Ann Coulter also aired her views on the bill on Twitter, claiming it would ensure that not a single mile of fence will be built.

She added: National emergency wont help. Its over if he signs this bill!T he mother of a British teenager who fled to Syria to join ISIS has said she understands why people would not want her daughter back in the UK.

Shamima Begum's mother also said she did not know whether or not her own daughter was alive until she saw a bombshell interview with her daughter in the Times.

The Bethnal Green teen 19, ran away from London four years ago to Syria to join ISIS when she was still at school.

In the Times interview Begum revealed she wants to return to the UK to give birth after losing two children while in Syria.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Shamima's brother-in-law Mohamed Rehman said: Shes put us all though a lot of heart ache. Shes also gone through a very difficult time herself.

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Shamima's mother broke down when she heard her voice.

"Until the interview with her appeared in the newspaper we didn't know if she was alive or not. So you can imagine, this has come as a shock to us all.

At one stage we thought she was dead. There has been no contact with her in almost 2 years. Shamima's mum just cried and told her to come home.

(L-R) Kadiza Sultana, 16, Shamima Begum, 15 and Amira Abase, 15 going through security at Gatwick airport at the time they first fled to Syria

She promised to make her her favourite food. We want her to come back so that she can be re-educated. As a family we can't understand how her head was turned like this and why she thought going to Syria was a good idea.

He added he could understand why some people in the country did not support the return of his relative.

Security Minister Ben Wallace said the teen can return to Britain but will risk prosecution when she comes back.

Former Met Police Chief Superintendent Dal Babu said Begum's request needs to be dealt with in the context that she and the two other girls she fled with were groomed.

Speaking to Victoria Derbyshire, he said: The family want her back. These three girls were 15-year-old children who were groomed.

Former Met Police Chief Superintendent reacts to news IS schoolgirl Shamima Begum wanting to return to UK

They were on the internet, they were radicalised, their families had no idea whatsoever about what was going on.

Their families assumed they were getting ready for a wedding, but then they disappeared. We really need to understand that weve got 15-year-old children who were individuals who were groomed, and we see this happening on the internet all the time, unfortunately.

Womens Equality UK said: Shamima Begum was groomed as a child, forced to marry and bear children.

Past trauma isn't undone by arbitrary ideas of adulthood and our desire for remorse. The shameful response from government shows how little they have learned from recent Child Sexual Exploitation cases.

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said under our law she is entitled to return, but said she should the law should continue to take its course if she has committed offences.

He added: Though, one has to think that a 15-year-old, there may be an extent that she is more sinned against than sinning when she went out there.

I would be reluctant to be too harsh in charging, in this instance.

Britain's former counter-terrorism tsar said the east London schoolgirl will have to be accepted into the UK if she still only has British citizenship.A pregnant teenager who fled east London to join Islamic State in Syria as a schoolgirl in 2015 has said she now wants to come home so her baby can be taken care of.

Shamima Begum , 19, fled the UK with two other friends, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, from Bethnal Green, and said she has been living "a normal life" in the caliphate.

Speaking from the al-Hawl refugee camp in northern Syria, she said she was nine months pregnant and wanted to come home for the sake of her baby.

Ms Begum told The Times that she had two other children who had both died and described how one of her two school friends who fled with her had died in a bombing. The fate of the third girl remained unclear.

The teenager, who was 15 when she left Britain for Syria, told the newspaper: Im not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago and I dont regret coming here.

Leaving: Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana and Shamima Begum on Gatwick CCTV as the schoolgirls left for Syria four years ago / PA

She said she fled the caliphate fearing that the child she was about to give birth to would be killed, adding that she could not endure the suffering that staying on the battlefield would have involved.

In an interview with The Times Anthony Loyd, she continued: Now all I want to do is come home to Britain.

Missing: Shamima Begum, 15, captured on CCTV at Gatwick Airport

She and two fellow pupils left their homes and families to join a forth schoolgirl in Syria, Sharmeena Begum, who left east London towards the end of 2014.

The last three schoolgirls had travelled to Syria in February 2015 after deceiving their parents and siblings to make the journey to join the radical Islamist network.

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It was reported in May 2016 that Kadiza Sultana was believed to have been killed in an airstrike in Raqqa, the de facto capital of Islamic State. Ms Begum confirmed her death.

Ms Begum said the others had elected to stay on in the battle of Baghuz, telling The Times: They made their choice as single women. For their husbands were already dead.

The three schoolgirls each married an Isis foreign fighter, according to The Times.

Ms Begum said she had recently heard second-hand from other people that Miss Abase, and the other schoolgirl who left Britain in 2014, may still be alive.

When she arrived, Miss Begum was put in a house where jihadist brides-to-be waited to be married, she said.

Ms Begum was married 10 days after arriving in Raqqa in 2015 to a Dutchman who had converted to Islam. She claims her husband was later arrested, charged with spying and tortured.

She left Raqqa in January 2017 with her husband but her children, a girl aged a year and nine months old and a three-month-old boy, both died in the recent months. Her son had an unknown illness worsened by malnutrition, The Times reported.

Kadiza Sultana, then 16, at Gatwick Airport

The pregnant teenager said she had a "mostly" a "normal life in Raqqa, every now and then bombing and stuff".

Her husband surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters allied to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and she has not seen him since, it was reported.

Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer who was instructed by the Bethnal Green girls' families after they ran away, said he was "glad (Ms Begum) is alive and safe".

He said the authorities should be reminded of former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe's position at the time of their disappearance.

"The position of the Metropolitan Police was that they should be treated as victims, so long as they hadn't committed any further offences while they are out there," he said.

Mr Akunjee said he had spoken to the girls' families, who had "expressed the position that they want time and space to process what's happened".

Amira Abase

The Home Office said it does not comment on individual cases, although anyone who returns to the UK after travelling to IS territory faces criminal investigation and stricter laws are now in place.

Security Minister Ben Wallace said: "The UK advises against all travel to Syria and parts of Iraq. Anyone who does travel to these areas, for whatever reason, is putting themselves in considerable danger.

"Everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police to determine if they have committed criminal offences, and to ensure that they do not pose a threat to our national security.M Ps and senior law enforcement figures have voiced their support for the controversial return of ISIS bride Shamima Begum to the UK.

The Bethnal Green teenager ran away from London four years ago as a 15-year-old schoolgirl to Syria to join ISIS.

After a bombshell Times interview in which Begum revealed she wants to return to the UK to give birth on the NHS, MPs and other senior figures said she should be allowed to do so.

However security Minister Ben Wallace said Begum, now 19, can return to Britain but will risk prosecution when she comes back.

Former Met Police Chief Superintendent Dal Babu said Begum's request needs to be dealt with in the context that she and the two other girls she fled with were groomed.

Missing: Shamima Begum, 15, captured on CCTV at Gatwick Airport

Speaking to Victoria Derbyshire, he said: The family want her back. These three girls were 15-year-old children who were groomed.

They were on the internet, they were radicalised, their families had no idea whatsoever about what was going on.

Their families assumed they were getting ready for a wedding, but then they disappeared. We really need to understand that weve got 15-year-old children who were individuals who were groomed, and we see this happening on the internet all the time, unfortunately.

Womens Equality UK said: Shamima Begum was groomed as a child, forced to marry and bear children.

Past trauma isn't undone by arbitrary ideas of adulthood and our desire for remorse. The shameful response from government shows how little they have learned from recent Child Sexual Exploitation cases.

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said under our law she is entitled to return, but said she should the law should continue to take its course if she has committed offences.

He added: Though, one has to think that a 15-year-old, there may be an extent that she is more sinned against than sinning when she went out there.

I would be reluctant to be too harsh in charging, in this instance.

Britain's former conter-terrorism tsar said the east London schoolgirl will have to be accepted into the UK if she still only has British citizenship.

Lord Carlile told BBC Radio 5 Live if Ms Begum has not gained a second citizenship of another country she will be allowed back to her homeland because under international law it is not possible for a person to be made "stateless".

He added: "The law is that she has to be readmitted to the United Kingdom at some point if she has no other nationality.

"If she has acquired the nationality of another country, my view would be that we should not accept her back into the UK - but I don't believe that to be the case.

"So she will, if (she is) only a UK citizen, be allowed back, because it is not possible under international law for a person to be rendered stateless."

When asked if Ms Begum could be tried for treason he said: "The short answer to your question is 'no'."

Sir Peter Fahy, a former chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, told the Today programme that if Ms Begum returns, her safety must be considered.

He said: The biggest challenge if she did come back will be how the police will keep her safe and how she wouldnt be some sort of lightning rod for both Islamic and far-right extremists.

If she still holds those views, thats clearly going to be an enormous challenge and you can understand why the government is not particularly interested in facilitating her return.

Family concerns: Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana and Shamima Begum on Gatwick CCTV as the schoolgirls left for Syria / PA

Rushanara Ali, the Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, said at the time of the girls disappearance she fought for the home secretary, Theresa May, and the Turkish authorities to prevent the girls from crossing into the border into Syria.

Speaking today, she said: If it is the case that Shamima Begum is trying to return to the UK, it is now a matter for the UK police, security services and the Foreign Office, who will rightly need to consider public safety and our national security in cases such as these.Coast Guard officials say they are expecting that a salvage company will be raising a sunken sailboat that went down in Hamburg Cove off of the Connecticut River on Jan 26-27. One resident says that the boat is from Newport, Rhode Island and became submered in about fifteen feet of water due to heavy rain. The salvaging is supposed to happen at low tide early next week. Environmentalists have been worried the sunken vessel could lead fuel that might damage key fishery nursery/breeding ground, but authorities say no leaks yet. (Patrick Raycraft / Hartford Courant)J ihadi bride Shamima Begum can return to Britain but will risk prosecution, the security minister said today.

Ben Wallace stressed Begum, who left east London four years ago as a 15-year-old schoolgirl, had a right as a UK citizen to come back, but said there were consequences of travelling to Syria to support the horrendous Islamic State terror organisation.

The maximum sentence for supporting a proscribed terrorist organisation is 10 years. Other offences include membership of a proscribed organisation, which also carries a maximum 10-year term, and encouraging terrorism, which can lead to a sentence of up to seven years.

Begums family have told of their relief that she has been found alive.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan suggested that Begum, who is now 19, should not be allowed back into Britain if the security services believe that she poses a risk to national security or of committing terrorist offences.

Shamima Begum when she was 15 and fled to join IS / PA

Times correspondent Anthony Loyd found her in a crowded refugee camp in northern Syria after she had fled the last pocket of IS fighters two weeks earlier.

She has said she is nine months pregnant and wants to come back to the UK, but admitted that she does not regret travelling with two other Bethnal Green schoolgirls to join IS in early 2015.

Mr Loyds belief, having interviewed her, is that she is an indoctrinated jihadi bride. He warned against judging her too harshly, stressing she was a 15-year-old school girl when she left the UK and believes it is entirely possible that she could be rehabilitated in Britain.

Shamima Begum with Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana on Gatwick CCTV as the schoolgirls left for Syria / PA

However, former counter-terrorism police chief Sir Mark Rowley emphasised that the security services would now be making a cold, rational assessment of the intelligence and evidence to see if she had committed any offences, such as actively supporting a banned terror group.

Begum married an Islamic State fighter who was captured after they fled. Two of her children died of illnesses in infancy. She has also claimed to have seen beheaded heads in bins but said she was not fazed by it.

She told The Times: I dont regret coming here. Im not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago.

Shamima Begum, 15, captured on CCTV at Gatwick Airport

She also told the paper: The caliphate is over. Ill do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child.

She was one of three schoolgirls along with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase  from Bethnal Green Academy who left their families in February 2015 to join a fourth Bethnal Green schoolgirl, Sharmeena Begum, who is no relation to Shamima Begum, in Syria. She had left London the year before.

They each married an IS foreign fighter, according to The Times.

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Ms Sultana was reported to have been killed in an airstrike on Raqqa in May 2016, and Ms Begum said she had recently heard second-hand that Ms Abase and the other girl who left Britain in 2014 might still be alive.

Mr Wallace stressed he was limited in what he could say given possible legal implications.

But he told Sky News: As a British citizen she has a right to come home. But we are very clear that we dont do consular services in Syria. Its a highly dangerous part of the world.

Amira Abase fled to Syria with Ms Begum

She therefore has to make her way to Turkey or Iraq and then consular services are there.

But anyone who goes out to fight or support organisations such as Isis  dreadful, horrendous organisations  should expect to be investigated, should expect to be interviewed and should at the very least expect, potentially, to be prosecuted. Actions have consequences.

Stressing that IS had butchered thousands of people and inspired terror attacks in the UK, Mr Wallace added: We should not forget that the consequence of them going was to feed the caliphate. They helped support it logistically and helped give it some form of credibility to others back in the UK.

Kadiza Sultana, who also fled, was reportedly killed in an air strike / Metropolitan Police

Ms Begums elder sister Renu told ITV News last night: Im so relieved that my sister has been found, safe and sound. We are aware that she has been trying to get out. We lost contact with her for the longest of time. We are happy to know that she is okay.

Mr Loyd told Radio 4s Today programme: She is the 15-year-old schoolgirl who was groomed and lured to the caliphate, and four years later, with that background, she is an indoctrinated jihadi bride.

She was calm and composed but she was also in a state of shock. She had just come out of a battlefield, nine months pregnant, many of her friends dead and shes gone through air strikes and all the rest of it, so I wouldnt want to rush to judge her too harshly.

He added that she does not want her third child to die, but was worried that she will be separated from the baby and go to prison. Mr Khan stressed that the security authorities should question Ms Begum before she gets on a plane to Britain.

If we think someone coming to our country poses a danger to us ... its possible for us to stop that person getting on a plane and coming to this country, he said.

I would expect now that we know thats her intention, for the police and the authorities to look into this matter and make sure that we do what we can to keep ourselves safe but also to make sure that there is due process.

When the girls disappeared from east London, police stressed they were being treated as victims but Sir Mark said the approach will have changed.A former close aide of Donald Trump is facing a lengthy prison sentence after lying to investigators examining alleged collusion between the billionaires 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.

District Judge Amy Berman Jackson last night voided a plea deal that Mr Trumps one-time campaign chairman Paul Manafort, 69, struck with prosecutors after finding he intentionally made multiple false statements to the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller.

Manafort faces years in prison in two separate criminal cases stemming from Mr Muellers investigation. Its doom for Paul Manafort, said author and CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

Judge Berman Jackson said there was a preponderance of evidence that Manafort lied about his meetings with Konstantin Kilimnik, a business associate with alleged ties to Russian intelligence.

Robert Mueller is leading an inquiry into the Trump campaign's links with Russia / Carlos Barria/Reuters

Therefore, the Office of Special Counsel is no longer bound by its obligations under the plea agreement, including its promise to support a reduction of the offence level in the calculation of the US sentencing guidelines for acceptance of responsibility, she added.

According to Mr Mueller, who is leading the inquiry into the Trump campaigns alleged links with the Kremlin, Mr Manafort misled investigators about the number of times he met Mr Kilimnik to discuss the possibility of Washington lifting sanctions on Russia.

Investigators believe Manafort may have shared US polling data with the Moscow businessman. He is also accused of lying about $125,000 he received for legal bills in another unnamed Justice Department investigation.

Manaforts lawyers argued that he did not intentionally lie and corrected his testimony when the misrepresentations were pointed out. In August, a jury in Virginia found the veteran Republican operator guilty on eight counts of tax and bank-fraud related to his work as an unregistered foreign lobbyist.

As part of his plea deal in a separate case, Mr Manafort agreed to plead guilty to two counts of conspiracy. Although his deal with prosecutors has been revoked, he will not be able to retract his guilty pleas. His sentencing is scheduled for March 13.

The judges ruling throws the spotlight back on Mr Muellers long-running Russia inquiry amid speculation he may be reaching a conclusion.

Although Mr Trump has not commented directly on the development involving his former aide, he posted a tweet yesterday following reports that a Senate committee had found no evidence of any links between his campaign and Russia.A Chinese student who has been charged after throwing a cup of soybean pudding at a police officer said she did so because she was in a bad mood.

Zhang Jiale was charged with direct assault, disobedience and unjust vexation after she threw her dessert at a police officer in Manila.

Ms Zhang was at a train station in the Philippines' capital when she was told she would have to finish her treat before she could enter the station.

She could now face deportation and eventual blacklisting from the Philippines.

Police officer William Cristobal had a cup of taho thrown at him. / Mandaluyong Pulis / Facebook

The 23-year-old fashion design student was stopped by police officer William Cristobal on February 9 at the Metro Rail Transit.

According to local media outlets, she was stopped from going into the station because she was holding a cup of soybean pudding, known as taho.

Bottled drinks, water and liquid substances are banned from MRT stations in Manila.

When asked to finish her dessert before being allowed to enter the platform, Ms Zhang threw the taho at Mr Cristobal.

Local media reports she turned around to leave but was stopped by a security officer.

A Chinese student who threw her cup of soybean pudding at a police officer has been charged with direct assault, disobedience and unjust vexation. / Mandaluyong Pulis / Facebook

She was later charged and the BBC were told by Mandaluyong City Police they were unable to comment on what punishment she would face if found guilty.

She posted bail but was later detained again by the Bureau of Immigration on a separate charge of violating immigration laws. She now remains in detention in Manila, according to the broadcaster.

In an interview with GMA News, Ms Zhang said: "I was in a bad mood and I was not able to control my emotions. I really admit the mistake I made.T he Brexit coordinator for the European Parliament has been accused of trolling the UK after sending a Valentine's Day message to the EU.

Guy Verhofstadt wrote on Twitter: Roses are red, Violets are Blue, RT if you [heart] the EU as much as I do!

The post has been retweeted over one thousand times and has over one thousand likes.

Mr Verhofstadt was accused of top trolling by some of his followers.

One user said: Top trolling there Guy.

Helga wrote: OMG!

Others shared their love of the EU.

Roberta Ramsay said: I do, I do, I do! Happy Valentines Day from Scotland.

Sandra Riley said: Please don't blame all in England, there are many many of us with you.

However other people criticised Mr Verhofstadt.

European Parliament Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt was criticised by some people on Twitter / PA

Peter Wright said: I voted remain but lets not get carried away.

And another person replied with pathetic.

The Belgian MEP made the remarks after European Council president Donald Tusk said he wondered what the "special place in hell" looked like for those who promoted Brexit without a plan for carrying it out safely.

After retweeting Mr Tusks statement, Mr Verhofstadt said: Well, I doubt Lucifer would welcome them, as after what they did to Britain, they would even manage to divide hell.A mazon has dropped its plans for a major new HQ in New York after backlash from residents nearby the proposed site over tax breaks offered to the company.

The online retailer had proposed to build a $2.5billion premises in Long Island City, Queens, but residents and politicians alike expressed reservations over the plans.

As part of this plan, there were to be around $2.8billion in state and city incentives for the business.

Announcing the end of the plans, a statement from Amazon said: After much thought and deliberation, weve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens.

For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term.

We are disappointed to have reached this conclusionwe love New York.

The headquarters was set to be in Long Island City / Getty Images

Amazon had announced in November it had chosen the area for one of two new headquarters, with the other to be in northern Virginia.

The end of the plans, which would have created some 25,000 jobs, were a blow for Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had both lobbied in support of the project and competed against 200 metropolitan areas to secure it in the city.

The governor and the mayor had argued Amazon would transform the Long Island City neighbourhood into a high-tech hub and would spur economic growth.

Gov Cuomo complained in a statement Thursday that "a small group of politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community."

In its announcement, Amazon said it has 5,000 employees in the city and plans to increase that number though it does not plan to look for another headquarters location at this time.

It will continue with its move to build new offices in Arlington, Virginia, and Nashville, Tennessee.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, welcomed the abrupt end of the plans.

She said: "Today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers and their neighbours defeated Amazon's corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world.

Amazon faced fierce opposition over tax breaks, with critics complaining the project was an extravagant giveaway. Those opposed to the plan argued it would not provide much direct benefit to most New Yorkers.V egan activists in Britain are holding monthly vigils to "whisper" words of compassion to cows en route to the slaughterhouse.

Leicestershire Animal Save is among dozens of groups in the UK who bear witness of farmed animals sent to slaughter.

The organisation holds monthly gatherings at slaughterhouses including Foyle Food Group, Melton Mowbray, to offer cows "love in their final moments of life".

Founder Dina Aherne told the Standard the group stops trucks carrying the animals to the abbatoir for two to three minutes to "bear witness to the suffering of these animals".

She said she likes to "whisper" goodbye to the cows and "tell them I see them".

Ms Aherne said: "I like to look into their eyes and tell them that I love them, that we are sorry and we are doing what we can."

The group is part of a global campaign called the Save Movement, which started in December 2010 in Toronto.

There are now more than 560 groups throughout countries including Canada, the US, the UK and Australia.

"Our goals are to raise awareness about the plight of farmed animals, to help people become vegan, and to build a mass-based, grassroots animal justice movement," according to the organisers.

Ms Aherne, co-convenor for The Save Movement UK, said: "The group is based on a love, compassion based movement where we want to bear witness to the suffering of these animals.

"We gather at slaughterhouses and ask drivers to stop for us for two to three minutes.

"We say goodbye to them, and offer them love."

The activist added: "I like to whisper to the cows. I tell them I see them, that they are not just a number.

"I like to look into their eyes and tell them that I love them, that we are sorry and doing what we can. Others prefer to say nothing but it varies from activist to activist."

The group also documents the vigils to share on social media in order to raise awareness about animal welfare and the process of the food chain.

"There is a noticeable gap in the food chain," Ms Aherne said.

"It's easy to go to the supermarket and not think about the process that flesh went through to get there.

"So we show the masses that the 10 minutes of pleasure that you had in that steak actually had a face.

"It was sentient and it felt fear and love. It's about bridging the gap."

She added: "We have got so many plant based uptions that we don't need [to eat meat]."

Leicestershire Animal Save gathers at 8am for the peaceful vigils once a month.

Activists are told to avoid approaching trucks if cows appear in distress, Ms Ahern said.B affled Twitter users were left stumped after the Queen revealed a plaque commemorating the centenary of GCHQ containing two hidden codes.

Despite the spy agency giving out clues to deciphering the codes, many were still baffled by the secret messages.

The Queen unveiled the plaque on a tour of the intelligence agencys first base, which was opened at Watergate House, near Charing Cross, a century ago.

The hidden messages were included as a tribute to the code-breakers who founded the agency and the abilities of those who work for it today.

Jeremy Fleming, Director GCHQ with Queen Elizabeth II after she unveiled a plaque during a visit to Watergate House in London to mark the centenary of GCHQ / PA

Guesses included the symbols underneath several letters spelling out "hundred years," or the four underlined letters spelling "dees".

Boffins also suggested that "secret" could be spelled out in morse code using the method of highlighting.

The correct answers will be revealed on the GCHQ Instagram account tomorrow.

Despite their best efforts, many Twitter users were unable to crack either of the codes, with some managing one.

Richard Lindsay said: I only got one, Id be a rubbish spy.

Fred Nurk added: No idea. Perhaps that's why, despite my sitting endlessly in Pret Vauxhall gazing out at Vauxhall Cross, I have never once been given a cryptic crossword to solve.

While Megan Robertson joked: If I reveal them someone will probably shoot me.

The Royal Family also posted a puzzle on their Twitter account, with a scrambled cypher code of letters.

By working out that 100GS was 100th, brainy followers were able to crack the code and reveal that the message spelt Hello GCHQ it was great to be part of your 100th celebrations thank you for having us.

During her visit, the Queen also met Ruth Bourne, who worked as a bombe encryption device operator at Bletchley Park during the Second World War.A third man suspected of involvement in the nerve agent poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury has been identified as a high-ranking Russian military intelligence agent.

Investigative website Bellingcat named Denis Vyacheslavovich Sergeev as the third man, saying he was operating under the alias Sergey Vyachaeslavovich Fedotov in his part in the plot to poison the former Russian double agent.

Skripal, an officer in Russian military intelligence who betrayed dozens of spies to MI6, and his daughter Yulia were found slumped unconscious on a bench in Salisbury in March 2018 after being poisoned with the Novichok military-grade nerve agent.

The UK has accused two Russian GRU military intelligence officers of carrying out the attack.

Bellingcat said it had identified Sergeev as the third Russian agent who was also in Britain at the time and was suspected of being involved.

The pair said they were in Salisbury to see the cathedral / PA Wire/PA Images

"Bellingcat can now reveal the true identity and background of this GRU officer, who operated internationally under the cover persona of Sergey Vyachaeslavovich Fedotov," the website said.

"In fact, this person is Denis Vyacheslavovich Sergeev, a high-ranking GRU officer and a graduate of Russiaa's Military Diplomatic Academy."

Police at the scene in the centre of Salisbury / Getty Images

Bellingcat said the man was also in Bulgaria in 2015 when a businessman there was poisoned by an unidentified substance.

Roman Dobrokhotov, editor of Bellingcat's Russian reporting partner The Insider, told the Associated Press: "We are almost 100-percent sure he was a key figure in the Skripal operation - he is linked to the Bulgarian poisonings."

Britain has charged two Russians - known by the aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov - with attempted murder in their absence and Bellingcat was the first to identify the men as Alexander Yevgenyevich Mishkin and Anatoly Chepiga, both of whom work for Russia's GRU intelligence services.

Two Russians, who identified themselves as Petrov and Boshirov, appeared on Russian TV to say they were innocent tourists who had gone to Salisbury to see its cathedral.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any involvement in the incident, accusing British intelligence agencies of staging the attack to stoke anti-Russian hysteria.

A police officer also fell sick in the Salisbury attack, while two others - Dawn Sturgess, 44, and her partner Charlie Rowley, 45 - came into contact with the deadly nerve agent in the nearby town of Amesbury.

Ms Sturgess died in hospital in July, while Mr Rowley also suffered health problems after he was initially released from hospital.S heffields Lord Mayor Magid Magid has announced he will stand down at the local elections in May and wont be seeking a re-election when his current term ends.

The citys first Green Party mayor said he will be leaving to concentrate on new projects.

Mr Magid, a former refugee, was the youngest person to serve as mayor in the city at aged 29.

He said it had been an absolute honour and privilege to represent the Broomhill and Sharrow Vale ward.

Mr Magid introduced poets, musicians and comedians to entertain full council meetings and wore a different hat to each meeting he chaired, as a tradition.

He said: "One of the reasons I wanted to be a councillor was to play a more active role in my community and represent those voices that I believed weren't being represented in the council.

"Meeting so many amazing people and solving problems, to then see the impact it has on people, is truly fulfilling. It has been the most rewarding thing I have ever done.

"It's an absolute honour and pleasure to represent the amazing, dynamic, diverse ward of Broomhill and Sharrow Vale and work alongside so many incredible green councillors and volunteers. I will continue to do that to the best of my ability until my term ends in 2019.

"I have embraced the role and thrown myself into it wholeheartedly as not only the first Green Lord Mayor of Sheffield but also the youngest. It's been an honour and privilege so far and I will continue to work hard every day to make it a success."

In his future projects, Mr Magid said Sheffield will remain at the heart of his efforts.

He added: I have gained a lot of experience in the past couple of years that I would now like to use in other projects which means I won't have the time commit to being a councillor.

"As a result and after a lot of deliberation, I have decided not to put myself forward for selection as a candidate for the council elections in May.

"Regardless of what I do post-May I will always have my community and Sheffield at the heart of it.T he Duke and Duchess of Sussex were spending their first Valentines Day as a married couple apart as Prince Harry met with British armed forces in the Arctic Circle.

Harry is thousands of miles away from Kensington Palace in northern Norway where British armed forces are taking part in winter survival training in one of the planets harshest climates.

He was experiencing the countrys icy wilds when he meets British servicemen undergoing the gruelling Exercise Clockwork during a tour of their base.

The duke, who is due to become a father for the first time when his wife Meghan gives birth later this year, arrived with temperatures around freezing point for his visit to the Bardufoss air station, some 200 miles (322km) within the Arctic Circle.

Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex in Norway - In pictures 1 /16 Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex in Norway - In pictures PA Victoria Jones/PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA

Harry's trip marks the 50th anniversary of Commando Helicopter Force and Joint Helicopter Command deploying to the remote base, where military personnel are taught how to survive, operate and fight in the sub-zero conditions, as well as gaining experience of operating aircraft in severe cold weather and mountainous environments.

The multinational exercise, hosted by the Norwegian Armed Forces, comprises environmental flying qualifications, cold weather survival, and snow and ice driving courses.

The duke, in his role as Captain General Royal Marines, was meeting military personnel living and training at the base.

Harry was also seeing field tents, snow vehicles and a Quincey Shelter, a makeshift shelter built of snow in which the elite forces are able to camp.

Harry was appointed Captain General Royal Marines in December 2017, taking over the role from his grandfather the Duke of Edinburgh, who held the appointment for 64 years.

The duke already has experience of colder climates, facing temperatures as low as -35C on charity expeditions.

Harry meets with members of the British Armed Forces in the Arctic Circle / PA

Harry took part in treks to the North Pole in 2011 and South Pole in 2013 with Walking With The Wounded.

Lieutenant Colonel David West, officer commanding Exercise Clockwork, said: "We are celebrating 50 years of Exercise Clockwork today and are honoured to be able to welcome the Captain General of the Royal Marines to Bardufoss to mark the occasion.

"Harry is used to rigours of harsh climates and so will fully understand the dangers of trying to live and operate in such an extreme environment.

"Clockwork continues to deliver vital training for our people.

"It provides essential experience in flying and surviving in the extreme cold hundreds of miles inside the Arctic Circle.The lawsuit alleges a yearslong campaign of abusive and outrageous false statements in which Jones and the other defendants have developed, amplified and perpetuated claims that the Sandy Hook massacre was staged and that the 26 families who lost loved ones are paid actors who faked their relatives deaths. The lawsuit also accuses Jones of orchestrating a sustained attack that lasted for years, accusing shattered family members of being actors, stating as fact that the shooting was a hoax and inciting others to act on these malicious lies.C ollapsed bakery chain Patisserie Valerie has been brought out of administration by an Irish private equity firm, it has been announced.

The cash from Dublin-based Causeway Capital Partners has safeguarded nealy 2,000 jobs, with the firm taking over 96 Patisserie Valerie sites.

It comes around a month after the cafe chain was put up for sale following the discovery of a 40 million black hole in the parent company's accounts in October.

What is Patisserie Valerie?

Around 2,500 staff are employed by the chain Getty Images) / Getty Images

An upmarket chain of cafes best known for their range of cakes, the first Patisserie Valerie was opened on Frith Street, Soho in 1926 by a Belgian-born woman called Madame Valerie.

A new site opened on Old Compton Street after the original was destroyed in World War II, which was bought by the Scalzo brothers in 1987.

In 2006 the company had eight stores but now has 206 across Britain, employing 2,500 staff.

The business also owns brands Druckers, Philpotts, Baker & Spice and the Flour Power City Bakery.

What happened at Patisserie Valerie?

The company, which was floated on the AIM stock market in 2014, was worth 440m before the discovery of fraudulent activity in its accounts last year.

In May, the company reported a 28.8 million net cash position and entrepreneur Luke Johnson said it had a "strong balance sheet".

The patisserie was first established in Frith Street in 1926. / Henry Grant Collection/Museum of London

But directors became aware of "significant, and potentially fraudulent accounting irregularities" which the company said could lead to a "potentially material mis-statement of the company's accounts".

The firm then disclosed Mr Marsh had been suspended, before announcing it had suspended trading in its shares and launched an investigation.

Bosses then discovered HMRC had filed a winding up order against its main trading subsidiary, with HMRC seeking more than 1.14 million.

Mark Brumby, an analyst at Langton Capital, previously told the Standard: "Theres been some sort of fairy dust sprinkled on this companys valuation for some time.

Having a share price at 23 times earnings for a cake shop is just crazy. But nobody could have seen this coming. Clearly you have to be asking questions of the auditors.

The owner of Patisserie Valerie has suspended its shares / PA

A rescue plan was passed by shareholders in November, resulting in the issue of 15 million worth of new shares. PwC later found significant manipulation of its accounts.

Last month the firm's parent company, Patisserie Holdings, said the extent of accounting fraud meant it was unable to renew its bank loans with HSBC and Barclays, which left it no option but to appoint KPMG as administrator as it grappled with the fallout to try and save the brand.

At the time Patisserie Valerie traded from around 200 cafes. KPMG closed 70 stores, which resulted in the 920 redundancies. But restructuring talks broke down and the firm entered into adminstration.

Sports Direct tycoon Mike Ashley submitted an offer to buy the chain but withdrew before Causeway Capital's injection of cash saved 96 of the remaining 120 stores.

However the deal does not include outlets belonging to sister brands Philpotts and Baker & Spice. Food wholesaler A.F. Blakemore & Son has picked up all 21 Philpotts stores. Baker & Spice is to be sold separately.

The two deals fetched 13 million for the administrator. Patisserie Valerie was worth 440 million before it discovered the accounting fraud.

Mr Johnson is now no longer involved in the business.

Who is Chris Marsh?

Mr Marsh's credentials were listed in a presentation by the company shortly after it was listed on the AIM stock market.

It said Mr Marsh joined as finance director in 2006, and had worked with chief executive Paul May since 1998.

Mr Marsh is a chartered accountant and tax accountant, who has previously worked with financial giant EY.

The presentation stated that Mr marsh has 'advised many companies over the past 15 years in FD and consultancy roles,' and has previous experience at two AIM-listed companies,

Mr Marsh was arrested and later bailed. He was suspended from the company following the discovery of alleged "accounting irregularities".

He resigned from the company at the end of October last year.

Hertfordshire Police did not name the individual concerned but said a 44-year-old man from St Albans was arrested on suspicion of fraud by false representation.

The Serious Fraud Office confirmed it opened a criminal investigation into an individual at Patisserie Holdings, but has not given further details.

What will happen to Patisserie Valerie?

High-end bakery Patisserie Valerie is teetering on the brink of collapse / Getty Images

At the time, it was feared that unless the company secured emergency cash it would cease trading.

However today's buyout has saved 96 stores, which has safeguarded nearly 2,000 jobs.

Philpotts has been sold in a separate deal to A.F. Blakemore & Son, which runs hundreds of Spar supermarkets in Britain and distributes food and drinks to other shops, saving another 21 stores.2015

- February 17 - Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-olds Shamima Begum and Amira Abase leave their east London homes at 8am to travel to Istanbul in Turkey from Gatwick Airport.

Begum and Abase - who has not yet been publicly named - are reported missing by their families later the same day.

- February 18 - Sultana is reported missing to the police.

- February 20 - The Metropolitan Police launch a public appeal for information on the missing girls who are feared to have gone on to Syria.

It emerges the girls are good friends with another 15-year-old girl from their school, Bethnal Green Academy, who fled to Syria in December.

The Met expresses concerns that the missing girls may have fled to join Islamic State (IS).

Detectives reveal that Turkish Airlines did not notify police the three "straight-A students" were on the flight.

- February 21 - Four days after the girls went missing, police believe they may still be in Turkey.

Officers say they may have been able to intervene before the girls departed had they been notified by the airline

Prime Minister David Cameron says the situation is "deeply concerning", adding: "Our authorities will do everything we can to help these girls."

Police reveal Abase's identity, and families of all three girls appeal directly to them to come home.

It is revealed that at least one of the missing girls had Twitter contact with Aqsa Mahmood, who left her Glasgow home in November 2013 and travelled to Syria after becoming radicalised.

- February 22 - Abase's father Abase Hussen says his daughter told him she was going to a wedding on the day she disappeared.

Metropolitan Police officers arrive in Turkey, but refuse to confirm whether they are involved in the search for the teenagers.

- February 23 - Mark Keary, the head teacher at Bethnal Green Academy, says police found no evidence the missing students were radicalised there.

Mr Cameron says airlines and internet companies need to do more to prevent radicalised British teenagers travelling to the Middle East to join IS.

- February 24 - Turkish deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc criticises British authorities for taking three days to alert the country over the missing schoolgirls.

- March 10 - It emerges that the girls funded their trip by stealing jewellery. Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the national police lead for counter-terrorism, tells MPs: "We think it's linked to taking jewellery from one of their family members."

2016

- August 2016 - Sultana, 17, is reportedly killed in Raqqa when a suspected Russian air strike obliterates her house.

2019

- February 14 - Begum, 19, tells Anthony Loyd of The Times that she wants to return to the UK to give birth to her third child.

Speaking from a refugee camp in Syria, she adds she does not regret joining IS and that she believes, contrary to reports in 2018, that her other companion Abase is still alive in Baghuz.T he families of four young men who were murdered by Stephen Port hope a new BBC drama about the serial killer will shine a light on police failings over the killings.

Jack Taylor, 25, Anthony Walgate, 23, Daniel Whitworth, 21, and Gabriel Kovari, 22, were found dead near Ports flat in Barking from June 2014 to September 2015.

Port, 43, dubbed the Grindr killer, contacted his victims through online gay social networks and gave them date rape drugs before assaulting and murdering them. He was jailed for life in November 2016 after being found guilty of four counts of murder, three counts of rape and a string of other offences.

The BBC has now announced a major new drama, The Barking Murders, starring Stephen Merchant as Port, Sheridan Smith as Sarah Sak, the mother of Mr Walgate, and Jaime Winstone as Donna Taylor, one of Mr Taylors sisters. It aims to tell the story from the families perspective as they try to uncover the truth.

In a joint statement, the families of the four victims said: We all wished that this story didnt need to be told, but as so much has been written and said about Anthony, Gabriel, Daniel and Jack, we felt it important to contribute to what we hope will be an accurate portrayal of them as young men and not victims.

We also hope it will show the world the considerable failings of the Metropolitan Police in investigating the case.

Victims: Daniel Whitworth, 21, Jack Taylor, 25, Anthony Walgate, 23, and Gabriel Kovari, 22 / PA

The Independent Office for Police Conduct launched an investigation after Scotland Yard admitted missed opportunities to catch Port sooner. Initial investigations failed to recognise the men had been murdered, or link the deaths. Its report, which included an assessment of 17 officers, is due to be published after the victims inquests later this year.

Merchant said: This is a story that cant be ignored  how four young lives were lost and their families brave attempt to uncover what happened. Smith added: I love playing real-life characters  especially an inspirational woman like Sarah Sak  but with it comes responsibility.

Along with the other families, Sarah went through so much heartache and it would have been easy for her to just accept what she was being told by the police, but something inside made her keep fighting for her son.

Sheridan Smith will play Mr Walgates mother in the BBC drama / Dave Benett

The Met police declined to comment due to the IOPC investigation.M Ps take part in a key Brexit Commons vote today on the Prime Ministers EU withdrawal stance.

Theresa May is facing the prospect of a fresh rebellion from hardline Tory MPs as they look set to vote against the Government to try to keep the prospect of a no-deal Brexit alive.

The PM's critics argue that the motion effectively means she is abandoning a no-deal exit option and taking it off the table.

Aside from a vote on the PMs latest Brexit policy, there are a number of other motions and amendments being tabled today. Speaker John Bercow will decide which ones they will vote on later.

The motion on UK withdrawal is expected to begin at 11.30 while the vote will be at 5pm.

Theresa Mays motion

The prime minister has put forward a new motion which asks the House to reiterate its support for the approach agreed on January 29, when the Commons backed an amendment authorising Mrs May to go back to Brussels to negotiate the controversial Irish backstop.

Here's the official wording of the motion: "That this House welcomes the prime ministers statement of 12 February 2019; reiterates its support for the approach to leaving the EU expressed by this House on 29 January 2019 and notes that discussions between the UK and the EU on the Northern Ireland backstop are ongoing."

The House backed an amendment to prevent a no-deal Brexit on January 29 and this has angered Tories from the European Research Group because they believe that the wording of today's motion effectively rules out a no-deal.

Mrs Mays official spokesman said: What the motion reflects is the position the Prime Minister set out after those votes, which is that Parliament wants the UK to leave with a deal, but in order to do so it requires us to secure legally-binding changes in relation to the backstop.

No-deal is an eventuality we wish to avoid but one we continue to plan for. Does no-deal remain on the table? The answer is yes.

The SNPs motion on Article 50

The Scottish National Party has tabled a motion requiring the UK Government to begin immediate negotiations with the European Council to extend Article 50 by no less than three months.

Labours amendments

The Labour Party has tabled an amendment to the Government motion requiring Mrs May to either put her deal to a Commons vote by February 27 or allow Parliament to take control of the process.

Labour are set to table a motion requiring Mrs May to either put her deal to a Commons vote by February 27 / AFP/Getty Images

The Labour leadership is also set to back a proposal from backbencher Yvette Cooper, expected to be debated on February 27, that would require a vote by the middle of March on delaying Brexit.

Kenneth Clarkes amendment

Leading pro-Europe Tory Kenneth Clarke has tabled an amendment calling for MPs to be able to rank Brexit options in order of preference on a ballot paper under the alternative vote system.

Amendment on extension to allow for second referendumT heresa May suffered a crushing Valentines Day defeat in the Commons tonight after MPs voted down her latest plans for leaving the European Union.

The Prime Minister's motion endorsing the Government's approach to Brexit lost by 303 to 258, falling short by 45, after a row with the hardline European Research Group (ERG) of pro-Brexit Tories.

The group announced they had taken a "collective decision" to abstain shortly before the vote as furious members said supporting the motion would have amounted to an endorsement of efforts to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

Mrs May took part in the vote but was absent for the result. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn asked why she was not visible on the front bench after the votes were counted.

Defeated again: Theresa May leaves the Commons after the vote / PA

The wording of the Government's motion had called on MPs to reiterate their support for the approach set out in an earlier set of votes on January 29.

On that occasion, MPs voted for a Government-backed amendment calling on ministers to re-open negotiations with Brussels on the Northern Ireland backstop.

Downing Street said Thursday's defeat made a no-deal Brexit more likely, confirming that the option of crashing out on March 29 is still on the table.

MPs in the Commons following the vote on the PM's Brexit strategy / EPA

The PM was forced into an 11th hour concession to buy off a second potential rebellion, this time by pro-EU MPs demanding it publish confidential Government assessments of the damage that would be caused by a no-deal Brexit.

In another twist to the evening, dozens of Labour MPs appeared to have broken ranks by backing a Scottish National Party amendment calling for a three-month delay to Brexit.

The main focus of the drama was on members of the ERG who were furious that Mrs May put down a motion they believed amounted to an endorsement of cross-party efforts to block a no-deal Brexit.

John Bercow announces the results of the vote on the PM's motion / EPA

Although Conservative whips denied that was their intention, chief whip Julian Smith refused to back down and the dispute turned into a two-day deadlock.

Minutes before the crucial voting started at Westminster, the ERG announced it would abstain rather than vote against the Government, reducing the scale of her defeat but not sparing her.

Former Brexit Minister Steve Baker said in a statement: There has been a collective decision to abstain on the main motion if unamended.

Jacob Rees-Mogg's ERG group said it would abstain from voting on the Government's motion / Getty Images

Moments later former Business Minister Anna Soubry, a leading Remain campaigner, announced she was withdrawing her separate amendment after a meeting with ministers.

Ms Soubrys amendment would, if passed, have ordered the Government to publish the latest confidential Whitehall briefings to ministers on the impact of a no-deal Brexit.

A defeat would have been embarrassing for Mrs May, just as when the Government was forced to publish legal advice last year.

But Ms Soubry announced on Twitter she had struck a deal. Government has agreed to meet to identify and then publish the relevant papers detailing the devastating effect a No-deal Brexit will have on businesss and trade.

She added: No need to push my amendment to a vote.

Voting began on a Labour amendment put down by Jeremy Corbyn that called for the Government to either call a vote on its withdrawal plan by February 27 or hand control to Parliament to decide the next steps.

Labour amendment defeated by 16 votes

The was defeated by a tighter-than-expected 322 to 306, a Government majority of just 16, indicating that Labour was backed by Scottish nationalists and Liberal Democrats.

Then MPs voted on a Scottish National Party amendment tabled by Westminster group leader Ian Blackford, which sought to order the Government to negotiate an extension of at least three months to the Article 50 process.

It was defeated by 315 to 93, the latter number indicating that up to 50 Labour MPs had broken ranks by voting with their 35 Scottish rivals.

TODO: define component type apester

Labour MPs cheered after the Governments defeat on the main motion was announced.

Following the vote, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Mrs May needed to accept her strategy had failed and come forward with a plan that could bring people together to prevent the "catastrophe" of no-deal.

"The Government cannot keep on ignoring Parliament and ploughing on towards March 29 without a coherent plan," he said.

"She cannot keep on just running down the clock and hoping that something will turn up that will save her day and save her face."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn asked why Mrs May was not visible on the front bench / EPA

The rebellion went ahead despite a strong warning from International Trade Secretary Liam Fox that a defeat would undermine Mrs Mays credibility during negotiations on possible backstop concessions in Brussels.

He told them Parliament was not an "internal debating society" and went on: "Our European partners will be watching our debate and listening today to see if they get the impression that if they were to make those concessions, Parliament would definitely deliver on that."

Backbencher Lee Rowley said: "The Government is essentially asking me to vote for something tonight - taking no deal off the table - which isn't Government policy.

"We are all genuinely scratching our heads this morning asking what on earth they are doing.

A spokesman for No 10 said: "Jeremy Corbyn yet again put partisan considerations ahead of the national interest  and yet again, by voting against the Governments motion, he is in effect voting to make no deal more likely.

While we didnt secure the support of the Commons this evening, the Prime Minister continues to believe, and the debate itself indicated, that far from objecting to securing changes to the backstop that will allow us to leave with a deal, there was a concern from some Conservative colleagues about taking no deal off the table at this stage.

He said the Government would continue to seek changes to the backstop so that Mrs Mays deal could be put to another vote.J eremy Corbyn is facing up to 10 resignations from Labour's top team if he fails to push the case for a new Brexit referendum, it has been reported.

Frustrated MPs are said to have warned the partys leader they are prepared to resign if he fails to whip MPs to vote for a pro-referendum amendment.

Labour has already tabled an amendment to the Government motion requiring Theresa May to either put her deal to a Commons vote by February 27 or allow Parliament to take control of the process.

But now anti-Brexit MPs, junior shadow ministers and grassroots members have told The Guardian they are prepared to resign if Mr Corbyn does not also lend his support to an amendment that backs a fresh referendum.

Mr Corbyn has been facing conflicting opinions within the party on whether to back a second vote, with some frontbenchers making clear they would not back one.

Sir Keir Starmer renews calls for a vote on the customs union

But others, including Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer, have said the option of another referendum should not be ruled out.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has insisted that the option of a new Brexit poll remains on the table and he admitted that Labour's preferred scenario of a snap general election is looking unlikely.

The Labour leadership is also set to back a proposal from backbencher Yvette Cooper, expected to be debated on February 27, that would require a vote by the middle of March on delaying Brexit.

Commons Speaker John Bercow will choose which amendments will be selected for a vote on Thursday.

An amendment from Labour MP Roger Godsiff calls for an extension of the Brexit negotiation period to allow for a second referendum.

A cross-party initiative supported by Tory Anna Soubry and Labour's Chuka Umunna tells the Government to publish its most recent official briefing on the implications of a no-deal Brexit for business and trade.

And the SNP has tabled a motion requiring the UK Government to begin immediate negotiations with the European Council to extend Article 50 by no less than three months.

It comes as Prime Minister faced the prospect of a Valentines Day revolt from hardline Tory MPs in a key Brexit vote later on Thursday.T heresa May is facing the prospect of a Valentines Day revolt from hardline Tory MPs in a key Brexit vote.

Eurosceptic Conservatives are threatening to oppose a Government motion, which critics say effectively means the Prime Minister is abandoning a no-deal exit option.

The prime minister has put forward a new motion which asks the House to reiterate its support for the approach agreed on January 29, when the Commons backed an amendment authorising Mrs May to go back to Brussels to negotiate the controversial Irish backstop.

Here's the official wording of the motion: "That this House welcomes the prime ministers statement of 12 February 2019; reiterates its support for the approach to leaving the EU expressed by this House on 29 January 2019 and notes that discussions between the UK and the EU on the Northern Ireland backstop are ongoing."

The House backed an amendment to prevent a no-deal Brexit on January 29 and this has angered Tories from the European Research Group because they believe that the wording of today's motion effectively rules out a no-deal.

The latest showdown comes as European Council president Donald Tusk expressed frustration at a lack of progress in London.

He tweeted: "No news is not always good news. EU27 still waiting for concrete, realistic proposals from London on how to break Brexit impasse."

Donald Tusk: we're still waiting / AFP/Getty Images

And Dutch PM Mark Rutte told the Financial Times the Netherlands is already benefiting from businesses relocating from a "diminished" Britain.

In a bid to keep lines open with EU leaders, Mrs May spoke with French president Emmanuel Macron and Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday evening.

Under pressure: Theresa May / AFP/Getty Images

But she faces an immediate threat in the Commons as Tory Brexiteers expressed concern over the Government motion.

Many back the fact it reiterates support for the direction agreed on January 29, when MPs supported an amendment authorising Mrs May to return to Brussels to renegotiate the controversial Irish backstop.

Mark Carney: Brexit could be acid test for global economy

But members of the backbench European Research Group (ERG) say that it effectively endorses another amendment approved by MPs that day, which rules out no-deal but is not binding on the Government.

Though Mrs May is expected to be able to weather a defeat on the Government motion, such an outcome would be embarrassing as she seeks to get the EU to agree to changes regarding withdrawal proposals.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn is facing up to 10 resignations from Labour's top team if he fails to push the case for a new Brexit referendum, according to the Guardian.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell insisted that the option of a new Brexit poll remains on the table as he admitted that Labour's preferred scenario of a snap general election is looking unlikely.

Labour has tabled an amendment to the Government motion requiring Mrs May to either put her deal to a Commons vote by February 27 or allow Parliament to take control of the process.

The Labour leadership is also set to back a proposal from backbencher Yvette Cooper, expected to be debated on February 27, which would require a vote by the middle of March on delaying Brexit.

Commons Speaker John Bercow will choose which amendments will be selected for a vote on Thursday.

Leading pro-Europe Tory Kenneth Clarke has tabled an amendment calling for MPs to be able to rank Brexit options in order of preference on a ballot paper under the alternative vote system.

An amendment from Labour MP Roger Godsiff calls for an extension of the Brexit negotiation period to allow for a second referendum.

Whats next for Brexit as Leave date looms?

A cross-party initiative supported by Tory Anna Soubry and Labour's Chuka Umunna tells the Government to publish its most recent official briefing on the implications of a no-deal Brexit for business and trade.

And the SNP has tabled a motion requiring the UK Government to begin immediate negotiations with the European Council to extend Article 50 by no less than three months.

The Government suffered a heavy defeat in the Lords on Wednesday night as peers demanded a "meaningful vote" on the PM's Brexit deal before the end of the month.

The opposition motion, backed by 155 votes to 69, majority 86, also called on Mrs May to rule out a no-deal split with Brussels.S hadow chancellor John McDonnell should be utterly ashamed of calling Sir Winston Churchill a "villain" and should withdraw the comment, Boris Johnson has said.

The former foreign secretary, who wrote a book on the wartime prime minister, accused Mr McDonnell of not having "the slightest knowledge of history".

Mr Johnson wrote on Twitter: "Winston Churchill saved this country and the whole of Europe from a barbaric fascist and racist tyranny and our debt to him is incalculable.

"If John McDonnell had the slightest knowledge of history he would be aware that Churchill also had an extraordinary record as a social reformer who cared deeply for working people and their lives. JM should be utterly ashamed of his remarks and withdraw them forthwith."

Mr McDonnell made the comment in response to a sequence of quick-fire questions in an interview with Politico, one of which asked: "Winston Churchill. Hero or villain?"

His response made clear that he held the former PM to blame for sending in troops to help police deal with striking Welsh miners when home secretary in 1910.

Mr McDonnell answered with two words: "Tonypandy - villain".

Boris Johnson called for John McDonnell to withdraw calling Winston Churchill a "villain" / EPA

Churchill's reputation has long been tarnished for some on the left by events in the South Wales town of Tonypandy more than a century ago.

His decision to deploy a detachment of Lancashire Fusiliers to support police dealing with riots was followed by confrontations in which nearly 80 police and 500 civilians were injured and one miner died. His responsibility for the events is a matter of fierce historical debate.

The shadow chancellor's judgment on the man voted the greatest Briton in a BBC poll in 2002 sparked immediate controversy.

John McDonnell has sparked anger after his comment about Churchill / AFP/Getty Images

Tory MP Sir Nicholas Soames, grandson of the former Conservative prime minister, told the Daily Telegraph: "Frankly, it's a very foolish and stupid thing to say, surely said to gain publicity.

"I think my grandfather's reputation can withstand a publicity-seeking assault from a third-rate, Poundland Lenin. I don't think it will shake the world."

And Labour MP Ian Austin voiced his disagreement by posting a picture on social media of a figurine of the wartime leader he keeps at home.T he owner of the Westfield shopping centres today said it is reviewing its 1.4 billion new development in Croydon because of Brexit and structural changes on the high street.

Work on the centre, which is hoped to be the catalyst for broader regeneration, was due to start in September but is now not expected to begin until next year.

The plans for the scheme, being built jointly by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and property company Hammerson, were approved in November 2017 and got the green light from Sadiq Khan in January last year.

But the joint venture partnership has now said: There are challenges surrounding the UK economic and political outlook and the structural changes facing retail have put some UK retailers under pressure.

How the new scheme is planning to transform Croydon with with south Londons largest shopping centre

"We are reviewing the scheme to ensure it responds to changing retailer requirements and is appropriate for the future.

It insisted that it remains committed to the centre, which will have a John Lewis department store and a major Marks & Spencer branch, and still plans to open it in 2023.

An artist's impression of Westfield Croydon

The delays have frustrated traders and residents in a town that was badly scarred by the 2011 riots.

Retail analyst Nick Bubb said: Retailing is changing quickly given the inroads being made online.

"I suspect the developers are now having second thoughts about both the choice of anchors and the major space users in the centre.

The development is a key part of a wider 5.25 billion regeneration of Croydon, and the Whitgift centre there will be demolished to make room for Westfield Croydon.

It will provide 500,000 sq ft of retail space with more than 300 shops, and create 7,000 jobs. There will also be more than 600 new homes.T he mother of a schoolgirl whose death from an asthma attack has been linked to air pollution today backed thousands of children set to strike over climate change.

Pupils across London will miss lessons tomorrow as part of a UK-wide day of action against global warming. It will include protest marches and culminate in a demonstration in Parliament Square.

Some headteachers have said they will deal with pupil absences on a case by case basis, while the Government maintains children should only miss school in exceptional circumstances.

The strike was backed by Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah , whose nine-year-old daughter Ella died six years ago after a severe asthma attack followed by a seizure.

Ella lived 80ft from the South Circular in Hither Green

Ms Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, a former teacher, said of the protesters: I dont want them coming out of school every week but this is a public health crisis.

Her daughter Ella lived 80ft from the South Circular in Hither Green. Her death has been linked to unlawful levels of pollution, and last month the attorney general backed Ms Adoo-Kissi-Debrahs campaign for a new inquest.

Dr Millan Sachania, the headteacher of the independent Streatham and Clapham High School, said pupils and teachers would be organising activities so pupils can show solidarity with the protest.

He added: Weve advised pupils not to take part as theyre meant to be in school; its the law. We also want to know where they are, we need to know theyre safe and with people we trust.

Other parents said they were backing their childrens rights to join the protest.

Penny Hosie, a communications manager from Brockley, said she will join a march and her daughter Evie, 14, is considering it. She added: Sometimes drastic action is the only thing that will make people sit up and take notice.

The YouthStrike4Climate campaign was organised by activist groups including the UK Student Climate Network and the UK Youth Climate Coalition.The list that Cote released Sunday included 22 priests who were ordained in the Diocese of Norwich and were accused of abuse while working in the diocese. Among them are priests, such as Richard T. Buongirno and Thomas W. Shea, who were sued by multiple victims. There are also seven priests who belonged to religious orders and served in the diocese and 12 priests who served or resided in the diocese but were accused of sexual abuse while serving in another diocese. There were two priests  Louis Paturzo and Bruno Primavera  who spent time in both the Norwich Diocese and the Hartford Archdiocese.T he Duchess of Cambridge stunned admirers in a flowing evening gown as she arrived at a glittering charity gala at the Victoria and Albert museum.

Kate was in attendance at the 100 Women In Finance Gala Dinner where she is a patron of the networks philanthropic efforts.

She looked stunning in a blush Gucci gown, paired with a Prada raspberry clutch and glistening Oscar de la Renta heels.

The dinner at the Victoria and Albert Museum will raise money for Mentally Healthy Schools, a scheme which she spearheaded with Prince William.

The Duchess was greeted by Dr Tristram Hunt, Director of the Museum, which she is also a patron of.

Kate wowed at the Victoria and Albert Museum gala dinner / Getty Images

The gala marked the Duchess second night out in the last week, after attending the BAFTAs on Sunday with William.

She appeared hours after delivering a passionate speech to the Royal Foundations Mental Health Education Conference, where she said parents and parents must work together with teachers to support young people and steer them on the right path.

Kate, who has spent eight years working with charities she has met some of our leading experts in mental health, addiction, family breakdown, homelessness and education, says she believes many social problems can be traced back to childhood.

The royal mother-of-three told Mercers Hall: "As we have heard today, it is vital that we support teachers with their own wellbeing so that they can find the best level of care for all children, in their schools and communities in which they work.

No one of us however can make a difference alone.

I feel so passionately about working together and being here today has affirmed to me just how much already is being done, so thank you to all of you who are prioritising the importance of mental health and the importance of childhood development as a whole.

While Kate attended the glitzy gala, Prince Harry attended a reception with the England rugby squad to discuss the positive impact of rugby.

The event, which supported Try for Change  a programme to support disadvantaged young people - and the Jonny Wilkinson Foundation, took place at Kensington Palace.

Kate and William attend separate engagements in London

Prince William also made a public appearance on Wednesday, when he was named patron of The Passage, a homeless charity which he first visited with his mother in 1993.

Kensington Palace today released a picture of The Passages visitors book, showing where William had signed his name, alongside his mothers, on that visit.

William, who has also been patron of homeless charity Centrepoint, has said his visits to the centre as a child had left a deep and lasting impression.S ian Berry will be the Green Party candidate to challenge Sadiq Khan in the 2020 London mayoral elections, it was announced today.

Ms Berry, a Camden councillor and London Assembly member, came third in the 2016 race.

She will make land use central to her campaign, pledging to create a peoples land bank.

She said: The Green Party is the only party Londoners can trust to deliver on its promises.

Ms Berry is tipped to run on a joint ticket with co-leader Jonathan Bartley / Getty Images

She also said that planning the homes London needs should be put in the hands of Londoners.

Ms Berry said in a speech to supporters on Thursday: The Green Party has a proud history of getting results for London. When we make Londoners a promise, we deliver, and have made real changes even when we are not Mayor.

In 2016 we promised to give power to residents whose homes faced demolition, and we delivered on that promise. Now we pledge to give Londoners a say on land use in their city.

London Greens listen to what Londoners need and we act on it. Thats why we believe everyone in London should have an affordable, secure and warm home."

She added: "A Green Mayor would give Londoners control over how our city develops to provide the homes we need with a Peoples Land Bank, which would empower communities to find land and buildings currently going to waste and choose how to bring it back into use.

The Green Party has the answers to Londons biggest problems and were the only party Londoners can trust to deliver on its promises.

Ms Berry joins the race alongside Conservative challenger Shaun Bailey.

Shaun Bailey is the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London / Lucy Young

The former special advisor to David Cameron was announced as the Tory candidate last September.A woman who defrauded a former Financial Times journalist with Alzheimers out of 117,000 has been jailed.

Michelle Brathwaite, 48, of Notting Hill, posed as Sir Samuel Brittans friend and helper  claiming she had a Cambridge University degree  to gain his and his familys trust.

Sir Samuel was knighted in 1993 for services to economic journalism. He is the elder brother of late former home secretary Leon Brittan, who served in Margaret Thatchers government.

Between August 2016 and April 2017, Brathwaite transferred 117,000 from his bank accounts to her own. She used his American Express credit card to fund holidays and buy designer clothes.

Jailed: Michelle Brathwaite / City of London Police

Officers from City of London Police began investigating when they were notified by Sir Samuels bank of irregular card use.

Brathwaite was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, having admitted three counts of fraud and one count of theft in December last year.

During sentencing, judge Nicholas Loraine Smith described Brathwaite as "an extraordinarily dishonest and deceitful woman whose only intention was to steal his money and enjoy it.

Det Cons Alex Wilson, from City of London Police, said: Brathwaite abused her position of trust to steal thousands of pounds from a vulnerable man who thought she was there to help him.T he spy agency GCHQ will use artificial intelligence and quantum computing to save lives and provide the public with a new kind of security, the organisations chief told the Queen today.

Jeremy Fleming said the unprecedented rate of change in todays technology-driven world was unleashing amazing complexity for his spies to deal with.

But Mr Fleming said that the emergence of artificial intelligence and high-powered quantum computing would allow his staff to further improve their effectiveness in the cyber age.

The comments came as Mr Fleming, the director of GCHQ, escorted the Queen on a tour of the intelligence agencys first base, which was opened in Londons Watergate House, near Charing Cross, a century ago.

Queen Elizabeth II arrives at Watergate House in London / PA

During her visit, the Queen unveiled a commemorative plaque which contains two hidden messages, in a tribute to the code-breakers who founded the agency and the abilities of those who work for it today. Her Majesty and Mr Fleming also met the grandchildren of the agencys first head Alastair Denniston and those of two generations of code-breaking women, including Bletchley Park veteran Ruth Bourne.

They were also greeted by the young winners of the 2018 CyberFirst Girls competition, run by GCHQs National Cyber Security Centre.

Jeremy Fleming / PA

Mr Fleming said it was an honour for his organisation to be visited by the Queen, and vowed to ensure that his spies succeed in the race to remain ahead of our adversaries in the cyber age.

He added: Our work is not glamorous, or easily portrayed in film. But over the last 100 years it has saved countless lives, shortened wars, given Britain an edge, and solved or harnessed some of the worlds hardest technology challenges.

Its clear to us all that the world is changing at an unprecedented rate. Its more interconnected than ever before.

This is driving extraordinary opportunity, innovation and progress. Its also unleashing amazing complexity, uncertainty and risk.

To keep up in this digital era  to optimise the potential of technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing  we know we need to keep reinventing.

If we get this right  and Im confident we will  the prize is a new kind of security and intelligence mission fit for our second century.

GCHQ, originally known as the Government Code and Cypher School, was based at Watergate House between 1919 and 1921 before moving to Queens Gate in Kensington.A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a father was stabbed to death in south-east London.

Dennis Anderson, 39, died after a row erupted in a 24-hour convenience shop in Dulwich before he was knifed in the early hours of Saturday.

Police were called to Pay Less Food & Wine in Lordship Lane at 2.35am but Mr Anderson could not be saved and was pronounced dead at the scene half an hour later.

The Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday evening a 24-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of murder and taken to a south London police station.

A post-mortem examination held on Tuesday gave Mr Andersons cause of death as an incised wound to the neck, police said.

Friends of the victim paid tribute to the painter and decorator who had a teenage daughter. Luke Roche, 29, from Dulwich, described him as a very good man. He said: Dennis had been at a friends birthday party last night and must have been coming home. But I dont know what happened.

He loved his daughter. He was a family man and very popular, no one had a bad word to say about him. I honestly cant think of anyone hed had a fight with. He just wasnt part of that life.

A woman who asked not to be named said: He didnt have a bad bone in his body. He doted on his daughter and was very loving.

He used to party in the pubs in Lordship Lane. He was best friends with a load of boys who still live around here and all went to primary school together. Theyll be devastated.

Detective Inspector Domenica Catino, who is leading the investigation, said police were still appealing for witnesses despite an arrest being made.

"Although we have made an arrest, we still need to hear from anyone that may have been in the area on Sunday morning, she said. "Any information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, could really help our investigation.

"We are aware of speculation around the motive for this attack and can now confirm that the suspect approached Mr Anderson in an off-licence shop before an altercation broke out and the suspect delivered a fatal attack.

"Our top priorities now are to support Mr Anderson's family."D avid Beckham could face court for allegedly using his mobile phone while driving just months after a speeding fine against him was dismissed in court.

A member of the public reported the 43-year-old former England star to police and claimed he was making a call on his phone while driving in London in November.

A Met Police spokesman said: An allegation was made by a member of the public to the Met that on 21 November 2018 they saw a 43-year-old man on his mobile phone while driving his car in the area of Great Portland Street, W1.

The 43-year-old man has been sent a notice of intended prosecution.

Stuck in traffic: David Beckham poses for a selfie in the back of a car in September / David Beckham / Instagram

The Sun reports CCTV footage of the alleged incident has been obtained.

The newspaper said he was driving his 160,000 Bentley at the time.

The former England captain was accused of breaking the 40mph speed limit while driving along the A40 in west London last year. He was represented by celebrity lawyer Nick 'Mr Loophole' Freeman who successfully had the charge dismissed.

Beckhams latest case is set to go before Bromley magistrates in South London on March 19 as a paper hearing.F or most couples on Valentines Day flowers or chocolates? is the biggest question on their minds. But for some its deal or no-deal. There are an estimated 500,000 couples in the UK cleft by Brexit  where one has an EU passport, the other a British passport  and 130,000 of them live in London.

Were worried about the minimum income requirement for EU nationals, says Mary Atkinson, the Families Together campaign officer at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants. At the moment, the rules mean that British people who earn below 18,600 a year cant sponsor a visa for a partner from outside the EU. After Brexit, the Government wants to extend these rules to the half a million Brits who are in a relationship with an EU national. says Atkinson. Nobody voted for more loving families to be split up, yet that is what we fear will happen.

Today, Mayor of London Sadiq Khans London Is Open campaign is celebrating how love crosses borders. "London is open  and in London you are free to love whoever you want to love and be whoever you want to be."

We spoke to those waiting to find out their fate after March 29.

Susie Meisel, 34, German NHS worker, and Martin Hofschroer, 34, British (pictured above)

Martin: Crisis brings people closer together, and in this instance its made us re-evaluate whats important to us as a family. Weve invented our own language that incorporates both English and German words  were the only people who understand it.

Susie: I work at St Thomas Hospital and I look out on Big Ben every day. I feel emotional even thinking about Brexit. I got settled status because I work for the NHS. There was never a question, but it was odd to be placed on a list that separates you from everybody else. The feeling of suddenly being a foreigner in the place youve lived for so long was emotional. The uncertainty gets to me  its hard to make plans for the future. We both have careers here so we dont want to leave but we have to think about our daughter too, and what the repercussions will be for her. We could move to Germany but Im angry that I even have to think about it  what we want to do is stay in London.

Justyna Baffour-Asare, 39, Polish TFL worker, and Richard Baffour-Asare, 39, British, works at a Welfare to Work company

Justyna Baffour-Asareand Richard Baffour-Asare

Justyna: London is special for me because I met my husband here, and this is where we are raising our children. Ive learned a lot from my husband being a streetwise east Londoner  he is chilled and Im organised, on-the-go, and tend to stress. Ive learned how to be more relaxed, though I dont know what is going to happen when it comes to Brexit. When I found out about the referendum result, I felt unwelcome, and uncertain about the future. I got used to it. I still worry, but Im hopeful that I can stay, live and work. Brexit has made us stronger as a couple as we support each other more no matter what the outcome.

Richard: Whats great about London is the diversity and the way different cultures come together. We live in east London. Its become more diverse compared to when I was little, but London has always invited people from different backgrounds. My mum came here from Ghana, invited by the Government to study and work here. Its an inviting culture. The issue with Brexit is not knowing how it will affect us. It already affects my kids: my eldest daughter is eight and shes asking if Mummy will have to go back to Poland. She hears about Brexit on TV. She shouldnt have to worry about these things. We have to reassure her it will be OK.

Charlie Haste, 28, British mature student, and Olivia Larsson, 24, Swedish management consultant

Charlie Haste and Olivia Larsson

Charlie: We met at work  a consulting graduate scheme  in London. I can say snow and blueberries in Swedish, but we speak Spanish half the time. Olivia says the only thing Ive taught her about the UK is to visit Oxford and to drink better beer. It is difficult having to apologise on behalf of your country when you strongly disagree with the ongoing situation. It has meant that weve had to have serious what if conversations. If no-deal Brexit ends up being hostile towards non-British nationals, that will accelerate the leaving London time frame for us. Increasingly, I struggle to see why London should be regarded as more special than Paris or Madrid.

Olivia: Im Swedish-Spanish and grew up in a small town in Spain. So London offers endless possibilities of fun things to do by comparison. A lot of my friends moved here after university, and when I found a job, I joined them.

Julian Johnston, 69, French financial analyst, and Susanna Johnston, 69, British, retired

Julian Johnston and Susanna Johnston

Julian: Of American and French parentage, I first came to Britain as a teenager and stayed on for university, where I met my wife. Ive never had a UK passport. We have lived in London now for 45 years, ever since we married. In the great melting pot that is London, I have by now truly melted. I cant imagine wanting to live anywhere else. I tell people I will eventually move  in a box. I remember the bad old days, of having to report periodically, as a foreigner, to the local police station. That wont come back with Brexit. Or could it? Does anyone really have a clue about whats going to happen? I dont think my wife and I have very different views about Brexit, and Brexit isnt about to change our views of each other. I am now pushing 70, still working part-time, with people  all a lot younger than me  from all over Europe who have also made London their home. I remain determinedly optimistic, but it does sometimes take some determination.

Caroline Brearley, 35, British CEO of Mutual Attraction, and Christian Brearley, 39, Spanish banker

Caroline Brearley and Christian Brearley

Caroline: Christian is originally from the Canary Islands, where they have a much more chilled way of life and certainly dont rush as much as us Londoners. Thats been a useful trait after the referendum result. Theres a strong probability Christians work may move back to Spain. Dinner-table chat is far more boring and worrying. Working in the banking sector, my husband is very focused on the potentially negative impact Brexit will have on his job and on my business. When it affects our careers it affects our livelihood. We have a mortgage, nursery fees, a baby to think of. Its a worrying time and makes you both feel more anxious and stressed.

Anna Radcliffe, 28, British investment consultant, and Jan Splivka, 27, Slovakian credit sales consultant

Anna Radcliffe and Jan Splivka

Anna: No one seems to know what Brexit will mean for us. We are considering moving to Australia. But Brexit has made us feel more like Londoners than ever, because the city has remained so open. That said, its forced Jan to get a UK passport. London is where I grew up. Its where Jan went to university. Some of my oldest friends live here. For both of us, 99 per cent of our friendships from university are here. I wouldnt say weve learned anything too significant about each others cultures, except that in Slovakia normal tea means tea without milk.

Matt Legg, 49, British NHS manager, and Piotr Wlodarczyk, 31, Polish software product manager

Matt Legg and Piotr Wlodarczyk

Matt: Piotr knocked me off my feet. He worked as a cleaner back then. Most people who come from Poland do pretty menial work. He was a qualified lawyer in Poland but his English wasnt good and his confidence was quite low. I pushed him a bit. After Brexit we talked about whether wed get married so that he could stay, and we said we would if we needed to. But hes got a good job and he has work history. Brexit is awful, but since we realised he was OK we havent given it a second thought.

Kika Sroka-Miller, 33, British publisher, and Wybe Magermans, 41, Dutch

Kika Sroka-Miller and Wybe Magermans

Wybe: London is the best city in the world, and the morning after the Brexit vote was emotional. But I always say I moved to London, not Britain. Campaigns like the Mayors #LondonIsOpen are so important  the beauty and value of London is its diversity. People need to know what they could be losing.

Kika: I own my own business and the thought that there will be fewer young creatives coming into London is troubling. And I dont like borders or identity boxes at all.

Ruth Spivey, 39, British co-founder of Wine Car Boot, and Raphael Rodriguez, French wine buyer, 37

Ruth Spivey and Raphael Rodriguez

Ruth: Weve been together for three years. We met through our work in the wine industry, doing a blind tasting. It was liquid Brexit. English sparkling wine came up trumps, which was ominous. Brexit happened six months later.

Raphael: I never stop talking about Brexit. I like scrutinising the politics, the ins and outs, which drives Ruth a bit mad. As a Frenchman, you can imagine that I like taking the piss out of Brits about this. But it made me sad too, and its pissed me off  Ive been living in this country for 17 years  and that comes out in the jokes I make about the whole thing. Ruth, like many British people, doesnt want to talk about it too much. I like to say they want to play the ostrich, waiting for it all to be over.

Julie Langevin, 31, French environmental fundraiser, and Christopher Rich, 31, British lawyer

Julie Langevin and Christopher Rich

Chris: I learned French about 10 years ago and met Julie on a ski weekend, and since then weve had two children. My firm has an office in Paris and I considered living there, but London is an easier place to live. In Paris, if you hear non-French spoken on the Metro, you know it will be tourists. Whereas in London if you hear French-speaking people on the Tube, theyre probably French people living here.

Julie: I was really emotional after the referendum result: really angry, really sad. But what I learned from Chris was the keep calm and carry on mentality. Thats very British. Since the referendum we have had our second child, moved into a larger flat and considered applying for each others nationality  we are definitely moving towards an ever-closer union. My birthday is March 29, but were just going to try to get on with our lives. Our only plan for that day is our daughters school disco. We might dress her up in EU gear.

Patrick Ludde, 48, Luxembourger hair stylist, and Ian Morris, 60, British retail owner

Patrick Ludde and Ian Morris

Patrick: If it wasnt for the freedom of movement, I would not have moved to this country and I would not have met Ian. Brexit has caused me a lot of anxiety and uncertainty as to what will happen. It has affected our relationship because I feel very unsettled and often down. Thank goodness Ians the most patient and understanding husband.

Ian: Brexit is a huge mistake and I hate the division it has caused in the population. Im worried about the restlessness Brexit has caused in my husband. He feels less secure in this country than he did before. I was proud of being British because I always believed we lived in an inclusive society. I dont think thats the case any longer.F rom naff cards to ostentatious flower bouquets - Valentine's Day may be cheesy, but there's no doubting people love it.

Valentine's Day may be something that Chaucer made up nearly 700 years ago, but even today it's still heralded as the most romantic day of the year.

But what is Valentine's Day, and why do we celebrate it?

Here's all you need to know.

Everyone loves Valentine's Day / Shutterstock / Javier Brosch

Where did Valentines Day come from and who was Saint Valentine?

As with any long-standing tradition, the origin of Valentine's Day is particularly murky.

But it is possible to trace the day's origins to the Roman festival of Lupercalia, a spring festival which fell on February 15.

When Christianity was introduced, the Roman holiday moved to February 14 to coincide with a feast day in which Christians commemorated a number of early saints called Valentine.

Popular belief has it that one of these martyrs, Saint Valentine of Rome, was priest who defied an order from emperor Claudius in the third century AD by arranging secret marriages for soldiers forbidden to marry.

For that, Valentine was condemned to death and thrown in jail, but not before he performed a miracle by restoring sight to his jailor's blind daughter, to whom he later left a note signed "Your Valentine".

But it wasn't until the 14th century that Valentine's Day came to be associated with romantic love, when Geoffrey Chaucer honoured the engagement of King Richard II to Anne of Bohemia with a poem which quickly caught the public's imagination.

What are typical Valentines Day traditions in the UK?

Roses are a traditional gift for Valentine's Day / PA Archive/PA Images

Cards, flowers, chocolates, romantic mini-breaks, meals for two - you name it, anything even vaguely romantic will be looked upon fondly on February 14.

In fact, any romantic stereotype you can think of is popular on Valentine's Day - think teddy bears with saccharine love messages or anything heart-shaped.

The most romantic films of all time 1 /11 The most romantic films of all time When Harry Met Sally When Harry Met Sally has been winning over new generations of fans ever since being released back in 1989, and its appeal is still irresistible nearly thirty years on. Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal have unmistakable chemistry, and the film is rightly regarded as one of the greatest romcoms of all time. And whatever you do, have what she's having. Allstar/Cinetext/COLUMBIA Carol Critically-lauded romantic drama Carol stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara as two women who conduct a forbidden love affair in 1950s New York. Beautifully and beguiling adapted from Patricia Highsmith romance novel, it was even once voted the best LGBTQ+ film of all time at the BFI Flare festival. Notting Hill 1999s Notting Hill is one of the classic British romcoms: Richard Curtiss screenplay is sparky and soppy in equal measure and Hugh Grant delivers one of his best performances. In it, he picks up where he left off in Four Weddings and a Funeral, all stutters and twiddling with his glasses. Julia Roberts is cast perfectly, while Emma Chambers charmed as Grant's giggling, manic sister. My Best Friend's Wedding Julia Roberts proved herself as queen of the 90s romcom with My Best Friends Wedding. The film, also starring Cameron Diazm and Michael ONeal, may have a questionable premise  Roberts is trying to win over an old love, in front of his fiancee  but it is a pleasingly unvarnished look at how complicated love can be. The real star, though, is Rupert Everett; his turn is worth a watch alone. Romeo & Juliet Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes play the titular star-crossed lovers in Baz Luhrmanns stunning Shakespear adaptation. Its an unforgettable tale, and even if the ending isnt exactly cheery, its story of young love is as powerful and enduring as ever. 13 Going On 30 Jennifer Garner delivers a bright performance alongside a pre-Hulk Mark Ruffalo in this 2004 favourite. It's a classic body-swap comedy setup, with the pair playing childhood sweethearts who reconnect after Garners character is transported into the body of a 30-year-old woman. Its fun, sweet and a little silly  just the thing if you're getting tipsy on the fizz. Titanic If in doubt, stick with DiCaprio. Even for those who've seen Titanic over and over, the touching romance between Kate Winslet's Rose and DiCaprio's Jack is always worth revisiting  their scene together dancing to the Irish jigs fizzles as they dance grasping hands, eyes locked, lost in each other. The raft is a problem, though. Me Before You Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin star together in this touching film, which explores the central relationship between a carer and a man left paralysed by a motorcycle accident. Its a moving watch, in which the pair learn to enjoy life and find love in difficult circumstances. Brooklyn Saoirse Ronan plays a young Irish woman who finds love after moving to New York in this romantic drama from 2015. After her strict mother puts pressure on her to return to Ireland and settle down, she must make a choice between what is expected of her and what her heart longs for. Dirty Dancing The late, great Patrick Swayze stars as charismatic dance instructor Johnny Castle in the unforgettable Dirty Dancing. Jennifer Grey also delivers a top performance as 17-year-old dancer Baby, who falls head over heels against all the odds in this 1987 classic. Tipsily trying the famous lift is probably best avoided.  The Notebook Get the tissues out for this one. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams The Notebook is a weepy but uplifting romcom, which has been one of the go-to romantic films for couples everywhere since its release in 2004. The film is hardly subtle when it tugs at viewers heartstrings, but it remains one of the most epic cinematic love stories of recent times.

Valentine's Day cards have traditionally always been sent anonymously while trips to Paris to celebrate in the city of love are always popular.' Brexit? I was hoping I wasnt going to hear the word Brexit this morning, says Jonathan Anderson, settling into an expensive chair in his spanking new east London office. Every surface is considered, the polished concrete desks as yet uncluttered by computers, the premises so new that his 50-strong team hasnt even moved in yet. Despite his reluctance to hear the B word  or perhaps because of it  Anderson, 35, goes on to deliver an eight-minute monologue.

Brexit is a politically complex soup, he says, sipping on a Pret coffee. We live in a democracy and therefore when we vote for something we have to go for it. Ultimately, there are people in this country who do want to leave. I live in Norfolk part of the time, and I live in London; I also live and work in Paris. I can go to Norfolk, sit in a pub and hear the anger of people who feel theres nothing left to fight for. London is a bubble. We are a country in itself, inside a country, which in any democracy can become a problem because you can gaslight yourself with thinking that everything is fine in your city, when maybe in the rest of the country its not. There is a social problem in this country  a huge division between people who want to stay and people who want to go, but weve given both caricatures. This comes from leadership problems  on all sides  not just one party. Were living in a moment where the veil has been taken off, in which Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, which means governments throughout the world have to up the ante to be able to get noticed in a social media bombshell. So were ending up with this weird problem where the louder it is, and the more info were given, the more confusing it becomes. When I watch the news in Britain, with Brexit, Ive somehow got to pick through it to work out what the agenda is. Thats disturbing because ultimately whatever they decide in Parliament affects currency. It creates uncertainty, which is very difficult to become agile in. So yes, it does affect business, but at the same time I dont want to say its only about money. We got here because of the social problem, and we all have a responsibility to listen. Of course Id love to stay in Europe. I work in an industry that is incredibly elitist. Im very lucky, but at the same time I have a responsibility. I employ more than 50 staff, and my job is to make sure that we put stuff down the catwalk that sells, and that in turn employs people. If we started to be more supportive of our own industry, which does not mean closing the door on the rest of the world but supporting each other to understand what we are doing, then I dont think wed be in such a toxic environment.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mrs May.

It couldnt be more daft that JW Anderson is colloquially referred to by the fashion press as J-Dubz, a moniker that makes him sound like an east London rapper who has Tulisa Contostavlos on speed dial. For the real JW is a polymath in a Patagonia anorak, whose love of the arts saw him set up the Craft Prize at Loewe, the LVMH-owned house, which he has helmed since 2013, in addition to his own, which launched in 2008 as a menswear label and was followed by womenswear in 2010. Most designers might feel they had enough on their plate creating a staggering 14 collections a year (six to seven for JW Anderson, six to seven for Loewe), but not JW. Since its inception three years ago, Loewes Craft Prize has attracted more than 6,000 entries, unearthing a slew of new talent. He is equally supportive of young photographers: in 2013, he charged a then unknown Jamie Hawkesworth with shooting JW Andersons first advertising campaign, while his most recent Your Picture/Our Future photography competition attracted such a high calibre of entrants that he whittled down the strongest images and turned them into a coffee table book. Its really good that young people can go away with a fantastically edited version of their work. Its giving them a start. Were a brand that allows imperfection, he adds. Were not here to sell millions of handbags. I would rather help young people find a platform.

Actually, he does sell millions of handbags: according to Lyst, his Pierce bag was the most-searched of 2016, while his Puzzle bag for Loewe has been spotted on the arms of Beyonce, Julianne Moore, Sienna Miller, Kate Bosworth and numerous other influencers, none of whom he has ever tried to court. Rather than chasing celebrities, his success is derived from listening to  and trusting  his instincts. Which is harder now, because you have to get into a very exact tunnel vision. Theres so much competition. Theres probably a new [fashion] brand start-up every day of the year, globally.

Malak Kabbani

Ever since September 2013, when LVMH took a 46 per cent stake in his own-name label and hired him to helm the Madrid-based leatherware brand Loewe, Anderson has been a made man. In 2015, he was named both womenswear and menswear designer of the year at the British Fashion Awards  the first time anyone has won both categories  and has barely put a foot wrong since, beloved by critics for being avant-garde (he was doing androgyny long before the mainstream caught on) and beloved by customers for providing an alternative to the grammable logofest that characterises so much of modern fashion.

Loud is not always best, but at the moment youre trying to compete against the market share of noise, he says. Automatically, anything that is above a 3 billion brand is going to consume huge chunks of it. That is how the industry has changed. When youre a younger brand, it is even harder. There was this moment where social media was great for young brands because the big brands werent using it. JW Anderson could coexist, as an online platform, with our advertising, and speak to people, because it wasnt saturated. Now big brands can invest in it and, like magazines, buy market share. So it becomes harder for the smaller brands to exist in that system. Yes, Instagram was smaller five years ago, but it was effective. Now its too engaged. If you look at celebrities or big influencers, theyre like magazines now. They charge money. I dont think we talk enough about these things. Younger brands need help more than ever to be able to navigate that.

You have to reinvent your language  if you dont, its over.

Like most of us he has mixed feelings about social media. I go onto Instagram because I enjoy it. At the same time, I hate it. Sometimes, I think, Why am I looking at this? You have to do it because of your business but when you look online you start to realise your eye is only used to sensationalism, because its all backlit. I do feel that some people look at life and are like, Need to put a filter on, when the sky is just great as it is. Its as if the blue sky will never be blue enough.

Its partly as a reaction against this that Anderson champions craftsmanship. Craft is about detail, time and precision  not worrying about loudness. Yet even at the recent couture shows, where craftsmanship reaches its zenith, he says he noticed that not one person was looking at the clothes in front of them. Theyd already tricked their eye by looking through the camera. So when they go into store, theyre already disappointed.

Another modern phenomenon that worries him is what he calls recreational outrage. Were more excited about tearing something apart than building it up. We dont want to come up with solutions any more. Were all very angry at the moment, because we have no idea where were going. But we would rather be outraged by things instead of saying, How do we get a solution?. If fashion councils around the world were to communicate with each other and work out how, as an industry, to help each other, then we might be able to come up with solutions. But the nature of fashion is competition, so forget that.

Craft kit: backstage at the JW Anderson SS19 show

Did he inherit his solution-driven ethos from his parents? No. My fathers more fiery, whereas my mother is more sensitive towards people. I have a combination of the two. He remains close to his family: one of three children, his older brother now works for his label, while his parents, Heather and Willie, always sit proudly on his front row. Both still live in The Loup, a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. His father is frequently referred to as Irish rugby legend, Willie on account of his 27 caps.

Whether he inherited his drive and dedication from his sportsman father or not, it seems unlikely to desert him any time soon. When I do slightly reduce on anything, I feel like something is wrong, he says in response to my asking whether hes ever considered easing off the pedal a bit. I have amazing teams  its not just me. But I enjoy it. And I do feel I have a responsibility. If the brand doesnt work, then those jobs dont exist. How awful would it be if these people didnt have jobs? That is probably the thing that I find most petrifying, and the thing that drives me the most. Thats what fashions done to me. He pauses. Weve been going for 10 years. You have to reinvent your language  if you dont, its over. You can have major success with a bag, and then it disappears and you have to find the next one. Youve got to keep plugging away. I think my biggest fear of being in fashion is that I put out information that is not relevant any more. So I feel like if Ive got through 10 years, and am still here, then Im ready for the next 10. So are we, J-Dubz.

JWs fab five

THE SHIRT Loewe 625 (loewe.com)

THE EARRINGS JW ANDERSON 160 (jwanderson.com)

THE SKIRT LOEWE 995 (loewe.com)

THE BAG LOEWE Puzzle bag, 1,125 (loewe.com)P eople say it looks like kids stuff, which I think Im down with, says John Booth, 34, the illustrator/ceramicist/artist and fashion industrys favourite polymath.

Hes talking about his work, naive drawings of faces splashed with vivid daubs of colour that emblazon vases, plates, prints, blankets and T-shirts, but he could also be talking about the decor of his house. The place he rents in London Fields  a tiny two-up, one-down residence on a quiet road  is unassuming from the outside, but a Technicolor dream on the inside.

Cartoonish drawings and sculptures are grouped decoratively on every single surface, including a Shiva vase by Ettore Sottsass (more commonly known as the penis vase) that spouts three pink carnations. Ikea cabinets in mustard and cerulean sit opposite a mid-century chair by Enzo Mari, painted with kaleidoscopic radiance. I have a strong emotional response to bright shades, he says.

They have a really positive effect on me and its so nice to be surrounded by it all. Theyre joyous.

Technicolor dream: John Booth is surrounded by vivid hues at his home / Chris Tubbs

Joy is a feeling that shines through Booths work, from his cheeky illustrations that appeared on two seasons worth of Fendi T-shirts to the stripes of kingfisher blue and yellow that cut a dash across the rugs he designed for the art and interiors collective House of Voltaire (one of which is now pride of his place on his living room floor). Booth is a hot ticket. Since graduating from Central Saint Martins 10 years ago, he has worked as an intern for John Galliano, which he describes as an experience, sewn sequins for Ashish and created textiles for Zandra Rhodes (Ive never heard swearing like [Zandras]).

Most recently he was snapped up by Silvia Venturini Fendi, head of accessories and menswear at her namesake brand, to add his colour-bursting scrawl to T-shirts, backpacks and holdalls. He learned to make ceramics in 2015, taking an eight-week evening course for amateurs at Turning Earth in Hoxton. Now his head-shaped vases sell for 920 at Paul Smith stores. I feel its a bit much to call me a ceramicist, Booth says, despite the fact that he has clearly become one. Its unfair on people who train their whole lives. But I love the process of seeing my designs being turned into things.

Colourful furniture and cabinets / Chris Tubbs

The interiors of his rented place emanate a maximalist warmth that go cheerily against stuffy rules about feature walls and KonMarie-style tidying. I cant relate to the idea of decluttering, Booth says with a rebellious grin. But theres a difference between clutter and stuff, and I take loads of enjoyment from all the stuff I have in my home. I mean, it would be weird if I didnt like stuff, because thats what I make. Stuff.

Theres quirky humour in his designs, as well as in all of the objects on display around his open-plan kitchen/living room. I like modern-day versions of pop art, he says, also referencing the dynamic shapes and shades of the 1980s Memphis Group movement, and artists Sottsass, Peter Shire and Nathalie du Pasquier. His sculpture of a saw by the artist Matthew Smith, Hay vases in unicorn colours and clay pieces by his friend Sam Bakewell are offset surprisingly well by the magnolia paint on the walls  that classic hallmark of a rental property.

Booths vibrant, eclectic collection, including some of his own ceramics / Chris Tubbs

I would have gone for a bright white, but it was like this when we moved in, Booth says. Theres a subtle warmth to it, especially when the winter light is so low. The canary yellow Dulux gloss paint with which he impulsively covered his bedroom was bolder than he expected, but he says its gleam brings an inspiring shine that certainly wakes me up in the mornings.East Haven police Sgt. Joseph Mulhern, one of several officers who responded to Moores home, described meeting Moore on the landing of an exterior staircase that led into the second floor of her home. She had cut her wrists and was bleeding.I n the blissed-out Seattle winter sunshine, the glass and steel conservatories known as the Spheres that mark the entrance to Amazons head office seem to sweep you up off the pavement with the promise of a glimpse into the future  and a good time. It is 9am and battalions of Amazonians, laptops and lattes in hand, head into Day 1 Building  its always Day 1 at Amazon, to remind workers that rest is for wimps. Once inside, they splice and dice the quadrillions of bytes of consumer data that surge through the retail giants servers and crash on to our mobile phones, computers and Alexas and encourage us to shop, shop and then shop some more. People who bought this also bought Its optimistic, infectious stuff.

Walk the few blocks to Pine Street, Seattles main drag, however, and the mood is very different. The Westlake Center is so quiet that entering a shop feels like intruding on the retailers private grief. In Nordstrom Rack its 60 per cent off the designer gear that Nordstroms flagship store, two blocks away, could not shift. The only shop doing brisk full-price trade is Spains Zara.

It might not look like it but this corner of Seattle is ground zero in the biggest battle in fashion  an epic global struggle that will determine the future of the high street. Not the battle between bricks-and-mortar and clicks  Amazon and other e-tailers have already won that, as the dismal Christmas trading figures from M&S, Debenhams and House of Fraser in the UK showed. This is the battle for the new high street, part bricks, part clicks. And there are only two contenders for the $1.5 trillion prize  thats the global annual value of all clothing and footwear sales, online and bricks-and-mortar, excluding high fashion, according to Euromonitor International.

In the blue corner is Jeff Bezos, Amazons boss. Thanks to his whizzy algorithms, he knows who we are, where we live and what we buy. After years of concentrating on basics, such as underwear, T-shirts and sportswear, he is going upmarket, offering aspirational clothes and shoe brands, plus watches and jewellery on his newly redesigned Amazon Fashion site. (Note the capital F. Bezos is serious.) He wants to offer the lowest prices on earth and the biggest choice, coupled with sophisticated artificial intelligence, to persuade us to buy more, pricier togs.

Amazons boss, Jeff Bezos, spends more on research and development than any other CEO  $23bn last year.

In the red corner is Pablo Isla, chief executive of Zara, which has become the biggest clothing retailer in the world by first inventing, then perfecting, cheap n chic fast fashion. Inditex, its parent company, generates annual revenues of 25bn. No other high street retailers  not H&M, Uniqlo, J Crew, Gap or any department store  is big enough, nimble enough, or profitable enough to take on these titans. Its going to be quite a fight. As one fashion executive puts it: Jeff Bezoss new interest in our world has turned him into Voldemort. People talk about him in hushed tones.

Bezos has begun hostilities in a very un-Amazon way, by building bricks-and-mortar stores. A pop-up that appeared on Baker Street last year sold a mixture of traditional high street brands including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Puma and Levis, as well as Amazons recently created own-label collections: Truth & Fable (occasion wear), Find (street style fast fashion), Iris & Lilly (lingerie and swimwear), Meraki (high-end basics) and Aurique (athleisure).

Shoppers could buy goods in the store and take them away  remember that?  or scan the codes on product tags for home delivery. More shops, pop-up and permanent, are planned. Amazon has also opened its own studio in Hoxton where it shoots 500,000 images a year to display on its Fashion websites here and in France, Italy, Germany and Spain.

Online, Bezos has signed deals with Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Theory, Kate Spade, French Connection, 7 For All Mankind, Diane von Furstenberg, Levis, Ted Baker, LK Bennett and Nike. Many of these labels had previously avoided Amazon, fearing that its platform was not premium enough. They have signed up now because so many third party retailers were already selling their clothes on Amazon, says Luca Solca, a fashion and luxury goods analyst. They figured it would be better to engage and try to control how their products are sold.

Bezos spends more on research and development than any other chief executive in the world  $23bn last year, more than four times the entire BBC budget  which enables him to pioneer new services, both digital and analogue. The Echo Look is an Alexa combined with a camera. We can take a photo of an outfit and send it to Amazons Style Check tool for a second opinion based on current trends and what flatters you, courtesy of machine learning algorithms with advice from fashion specialists. He is developing an app that will enable Amazon Fashion to scour our selfies and online calendars  if we allow it to  and predict the clothes (for sale on Amazon) we may like for a particular event such as a business meeting or wedding. It will even use our selfies to create augmented reality images of what wed look like in the clothes. Prime Wardrobe allows us to order a box of clothes, shoes and accessories, try them on at home, send back what we dont like within seven days and keep what we do. Only then are we invoiced.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos / REUTERS

Zara is strong where Amazon is only just getting started. It has 2,127 stores globally and is making them a lot more fun. Isla has introduced augmented reality. A recent pilot scheme showed how customers can point their Zara smartphone app at shop windows and see the models brought to life in short films. Any of the looks in the films can be ordered directly on screen. In new hi-tech dressing rooms, information screens embedded into the mirrors offer multiple choices for combining pieces with other garments and accessories.

Zara was late getting online  it only started e-commerce in 2010  and knows it has to raise its game. Inditex recently opened 18 online stockrooms which means that next year Zara clothes will be available online almost anywhere in the world, making it the clothier with the largest reach. We want to make our collections available to all, Isla says. E-commerce now makes up 10 per cent of sales, up 40 per cent year on year, and that figure should double in the next three to four years.

How will the battle of the brands play out? In the US, Amazon has the edge. It does not publish sales by sector but analysts say its number one in clothing and footwear, with 35 per cent of the market. Europe is a different story. Here, Amazon has only 8 per cent of the market. In Britain, Amazon ranks a distant seventh in online clothes and shoes sales, with a 4.8 per cent market share, behind Next, John Lewis and Asos. The problem for Bezos in Europe is that Amazon is not seen as fashionable  a lesson he learnt painfully when he tried to persuade the likes of Gucci and Prada to sign up. They showed him the door. Being popular is not the same as being chic, one executive told him. To make matters worse, the mid-market consumers, whom Bezos has now been forced to target, are already well served by the websites of all the major European brands, as well as Asos, Boohoo, Missguided and Zalando.

Zara has the advantage that it makes the majority of its clothes in factories in or close to its headquarters in northern Spain, while Amazon subcontracts the manufacture of its own label collections. That means Zara can react faster to style trends, which, thanks to its vast store network, may be more current than Amazons. Fashion is about mood and emotion, things that algorithms find it hard to measure, says John Hooks, a British-born executive and consultant to the worlds biggest fashion brands.

Solca acknowledges Zaras strengths but argues Amazons greater size and scale may, over time, give it the edge. Amazon could develop a Zara model on steroids, combining gigantic databases, AI and sourcing skills to become invincible. Zara, he adds, faces structural challenges that Amazon can ignore. Isla has to keep his customers interested in cheap chic when responsible consumerism is on the rise in many markets. Gen Z  those born around 2000  find the idea of fast fashion or even buying anything new ridiculous. Many millennials  born around 1990  buy based on resale value and use sites like Vestiaire Collective and Grailed that trade in pre-owned clothes. Many consumers over 40 are busily Marie Kondo-ing their wardrobes. All Bezoss customers care about is low prices, choice and fast delivery.

Elaine Kwon, a former vendor manager at Amazon Fashion who now runs Chanlogic, an ecommerce business intelligence consultancy for fashion brands, says the duelling behemoths are well-matched. Zara was laughed at by the industry when it tried to become more fashion forward while remaining affordable. Amazon is testing how far it can push its utilitarian business model into the style sector. I call it the puberty phase, she laughs.E douard Louis, the vanguard of Frances new generation of political writers, poses a question without a question mark. Who Killed My Father takes the form of an intimate letter addressed to his father, who is lying on his deathbed at the age of 50. There is no mystery to his fathers state. Jacques Chirac destroyed his intestines. Nicolas Sarkozy broke his back. Francois Hollande asphyxiated him. And Emmanuel Macron starved him.

In his autobiographical, bestselling debut novel, The End of Eddy, Louis portrayed his relationship with his father  an aggressive alcoholic, with homophobic and often racist views  as strained. Yet here we see a new side to him. Louis, still only 26, reminisces about better times, when he found a photo of his younger father in a dress, or when they inexplicably laughed so hard that their sides ached.

His father came from a broken family, born into a culture of what now might be termed toxic masculinity, where the norm was for men to be violent and to suppress their emotions. He dropped out of school, took a manual labour job in the same factory as his own father, and despised authority. Your manhood condemned you to poverty, Louis writes.

Right, Left and centre, Louis condemns the political elites who humiliated people such as him. With little idea about the deprivation of communities such as his, they called his father lazy; they took away his medicine and slashed his benefits.

Voice of youth: Edouard Louis / Rex Features

For Louis, influenced by the theories of the philosopher Pierre Bourdieu about how power and culture are harnessed to exert control over the weak, the grotesque fact of politics is that it is a parlour game for people whose lives it barely affects. For his family, however, it was a question of life or death.

"This book offers an insight into the present division between those who succeed and those who are forgotten."

This book offers an insight into the present division between France and the West, between those who succeed in a global world and those who are forgotten. Louis believes President Macron is a leader elected by winners and he has criticised Macrons government for being excessively tough on the left behind. He has also defended the Gilets Jaunes movement for standing up for their rights. Every person who has insulted a gilet jaune has insulted my father, he declared on social media.

The story has a bittersweet ending. On his deathbed, Louiss father is transformed. Freed from the chains of his masculinity, he criticises Frances intolerance and recognises his sons success. People can change, Louis is telling us. 1789 this is not. But he has given his people a voice.T he New Iberia Blues by James Lee Burke (Orion, 20)

A crucified young woman is found nailed to a raft in Vermillion Bay; an escaped convict, said to have burned his wife and daughter to death, is spotted in the New Iberia neighbourhood. Is there a connection? Cajun crusader Dave Robicheaux is detrrmined to find out. The detectives investigations reintroduce him to charismatic Hollywood director Desmond Cormier, a local boy made good who is back in town to make a movie. Alafair, Daves stepdaughter, is soon hanging out with one of the producers. Only Dave and his faithful buddy Clete Purcel seem immune to the charms of La-La-Land. Then creepy hitman Mr Smiley pops up.

The New Iberia Blues, billed as Robicheauxs last case, is as much about films and mental flashbacks as fighting and fornication (of which there are oodles). Once again James Lee Burke has created a phantasmagoric fable set amid the rank luxuriance of the Louisiana bayous. Desperate Dave believes the dead roam the earth. Haunted, like Clete, by the Vietnam War, he has no doubt that evil exists. The fact that this gruesome, stunningly beautiful novel ends on a note of hope is testament to Burkes narrative genius. Lets hope Robicheaux comes back again soon.

The Lost Man by Jane Harper (Little, Brown, 12.99)

Once upon a time, Nathan, Cameron and the much younger Bub were close but, after the death of their abusive father, drifted apart. When Cam is found dead beside a stockmans grave on the familys vast cattle station in the hottest part of Australia, the two remaining Bright brothers are forced to reconcile and confront the past.

Did the ever-popular Cam  who married Nathans true love  let himself fry to death or did someone deliberately leave him there in the Queensland outback without water? The investigation is hampered by the fact that Nathan has been ostracised by the local community ever since he left his father-in-law stranded in the desert 10 years ago. The depressed divorce, a genuinely lost man, must ask awkward questions of himself and his family as they gather for the funeral on Christmas Eve.T he knowing glances of wealthy sitters in meticulous tiny portraits painted by Nicholas Hilliard between 1571 and about 1618 are mesmerising, leaping 400 years like a lovers dart. Set in precious mounts, these roughly 5cm tall watercolours on vellum or re-used playing cards were called pictures in little  miniatures today.

Their like had never been seen: the clear skin, sparkling eyes enlivened with white highlights; glistening curls; translucent jewels of coloured resin on burnished silver; ruffs of opaque white in reticulated three-dimensional layers. And they turned a youth from Exeter trained for seven years as a goldsmith into the foremost portrait painter in England.

Born in 1547, Hilliard became Queen Elizabeth Is personal painter for 32 years. His miniatures raised the perception of painters from jobbing jacks-of-all-trades to potential courtiers, and the reputation of English portrait artists from wooden to wondrous.

Elizabeth Goldrings engrossing, thickly illustrated biography shows that it was a rags-to-riches-and-back-again story. She gives a detailed account of Hilliards four-year sojourn in Europe, where he acquired French and a world-view, then of his London training, evoking the bustling streets where his father apprenticed him to royal goldsmith Robert Brandon, who provided plate for Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.

The apprentice Hilliard darted between richly appointed houses, the Jewel House and the Mint. Goldring explains that goldsmiths acted as bankers, and the ambitious lad must have soaked it all up. She argues that in 1571 the Earl of Leicester probably showed Hilliards little portrait of himself, destined for Catherine de Medici, to Elizabeth I. Hilliard soon became Elizabeths court limner (a decorative painter  a term previously used for manuscript illuminators), with a 40 stipend, plus 3 per miniature. He and his later Gutter Lane workshop also produced large oil paintings and designed royal seals, medals and coins. King James I granted him the same terms.

Despite exhaustive research the author cannot definitively explain how, in 1571, just two years after his apprenticeship ended, Hilliard was skilled enough to paint a (now lost) miniature of Elizabeth, which Leicester sent to France and which essentially began his astounding career.

In the painters important treatiseThe Arte of Limning (c1603), Hilliard claimed his was a divine gift, self-taught (having studied Albrecht Durers technique). Goldring rejects this out of hand, yet her findings cannot disprove a term which, after all, allows interpretative leeway. Given the sure-footedness of Hilliards draughting and painting, Im keeping an open mind. Soon called beloved by the queen, Hilliards portable portraits formed the worlds impression of her during her reign and beyond, and made him Elizabethan Englands supreme painter. His bold 1577 self-portrait in courtly dress sets the tone.

Lords and ladies: below, a portrait of Elizabeth I in 1572 by Nicholas Hilliard / National Portrait Gallery London

As well as numerous images of Elizabeth, he painted her court: Francis Drake, Walter Raleigh, romantic Essex. And the French Valois court, where he was sent to make a likeness of Elizabeths pock-marked potential husband, the Duc dAnjou. He also painted Anjous better-looking brother, Henri III.

Using delicate squirrel brushes mounted in tiny quills on wooden sticks, Hilliard made hair-thin strokes and dots, building exquisitely drawn and animated portraits that almost magically reveal character. His 1610-11 portrait of James I in the so-called Lyte Jewel portrays nervous anxiety and introspection in a dazzling display of virtuosity. Yet, as old Hilliard, he saw tastes turning towards his former pupil Isaac Olivers Italianate qualities and the greater use of shadowing to model.

Goldring leaves no doubt about the breadth and importance of Hilliards achievement and his ability to convey psychological depth. But alas that genius does not guarantee fortune. This superb book vividly conjures a costly dresser and spendthrift, terrible with money, litigious, and sometimes slippery with creditors. He made a disastrous early investments in gold mining, demolishing a 100 gift from Elizabeth I, and never quite clawed his advantage back. Patrons bailed him out of debt more than once, and his penultimate year was spent in Ludgate jail for debt. What humiliation for one who painted everyone who counted.O ne London museum is feeling flush after welcoming a 12th century three-seater toilet to its collection.

The ancient loo, which once sat above a cesspit close to Blackfriars, will soon go on display at the Museum of London Docklands, as part of the Secret Rivers exhibition opening later this year.

Alongside the original piece, a replica of the privy will be on show for museum guests to sit on and snap some selfies. A selection of toilet sound effects will accompany this interactive exhibit, with the hope of securing a few giggles in the process.

The far-from-bog-standard artefact once sat near the lost River Fleet, an offshoot of the river Thames, which ran from Hampstead Heath to Blackfriars.

Secret Rivers will feature a number of objects that reveal stories relating to the capitals waterways.

Notable pieces going on show include a number of weapons that have been fished out the Thames over the centuries  spanning from the Bronze Age to medieval times. They will feature alongside dog and cat skulls which were discovered in the River Fleet ditch.

Secret Rivers runs from May 24 until October 27 at the Museum of London Docklands.This Valentines Day Henry Holland didn't write a love letter to his new husband or adorable dog but, instead, to merino wool.

What The Woolmark Company does is a really good initiative, promoting the use of wool," Holland told the Standard. "Were very consciously trying to become much more sustainable in our practises, from the base clothes that we use to manufacturing techniques and merino is a really eco-friendly, fully biodegradable fabrication."

Noting that sustainability is growing increasingly significant in the industry, Henry added: Its an issue that is becoming very important to the younger generation, so I think the more people who enter into the creative industry the more its going to be at the forefront of their manifesto and how they want to approach their work.

House of Holland x Woolmark (House of Holland ) / House of Holland

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Although many associate merino wool with a good old-fashioned woolly jumper, Henry explored the versatility of the environmentally-friendly fabric, adding modern twists all bursting with House of Hollands signature playful and personality-driven aesthetic.

We wanted to create a collection with lots of different, newer ways of using wool as a fabric, he said.

House of Holland x Woolmark (House of Holland ) / House of Holland

The collection is brimming with different textures and iterations. A few of the highlights include two striking red heart hoodies, a sleek tailored suit and a wool denim two-set.

Although the collection has nothing to do with Valentines Day, it is fittingly adorned with love hearts, so we couldn't help but ask Henry which item he fell in love with at first sight? "The red tuxedo with the black satin lapel," he said.

House of Holland x Woolmark (House of Holland ) / House of Holland

As for which one you should wear on a date night? Oh, definitely the tight red dress.W hat should we do with Shamima Begum? She was the 15-year-old schoolgirl who stunned the nation by leaving Bethnal Green Academy with two other pupils to join Islamic State in Syria.

Thanks to a fine piece of investigative journalism by The Timess Anthony Loyd, we now know her fate. She has turned up in a refugee camp , having fled the final bloody stand of the brutal terrorist cult she spent four years with.

She cuts a pathetic figure, the mother of two already-dead children, pregnant with her third child and desperate to return to Britain. If she makes it here, she cannot be turned away. She is a British citizen, she was born here and holds no other passport.

We cannot make her stateless, nor should we expect other countries to deal with her. Imagine the outrage from the usual suspects if we in Britain were expected to look after another countrys citizen who came with her baggage.

We must handle our own home-grown problems.

The case for justice with Ms Begum is clear . She participated in one of the bloodiest and most dangerous terrorist movements the world has ever seen.

She was above the age of criminal responsibility when she started, and she continues to hold views that shock us  justifying the beheading of Western hostages and showing no sympathy for the mutilated bodies she saw of those captured in the international fight against IS.

Certainly, Ms Begum must face extensive police investigation and possible prosecution if she makes it back to these shores.

The case for compassion is harder to make but should be heard.

Our society allowed this schoolgirl to grow up in an environment here where extremist Islamist views went unchallenged, and let her be groomed by jihadists without the state protecting her.

We had responsibilities to Ms Begum, as a child of our country, and we failed her  just as she failed us. At the very least, we will owe a duty of care to her own child once it is born.

For this new-born infant will be an innocent British citizen  and need our help.

New cars for old

The Evening Standard supports Ulez, the Mayors clean-air initiative, the Ultra Low Emission Zone, because it is a serious attempt to deal with the problems of pollution that can shorten lives.

So we welcome the clean air summit today at Tate Modern where the London Mayor is  laudably  combining forces with city mayors from other parts of Britain to address the problem.

But the harsh reality is the 12.50-a-day charge for non-compliant vehicles will hit poorer drivers more; the rich can afford new cars.

So its good there is to be a 25 million fund for a scrappage scheme to help replace old cars with new; and another of 23 million for business vans, of which well learn more on Monday.

Trouble is, the charge applies from April 8, probably before those eligible for an upgrade can get one.

Thats not good enough.

Churchill: a true hero

John McDonnell had a specific reason for Winston Churchills supposed villainy  the decision he took as Home Secretary in 1910 to deploy the army against striking miners in Tonypandy, South Wales.

It dogged Churchill throughout his subsequent career and remains an infamous moment for the British labour movement. But a previous Labour shadow chancellor, Harold Wilson, showed a greater sense of perspective when, on the news of Sir Winstons death in 1965, he delivered a eulogy in Parliament as the then PM.

Conjuring up the sounds of Churchills life, he referred to the sullen feet of marching men in Tonypandy but went on to talk of the urgent warnings of the Nazi threat and the dawn bombardment of the Normandy beaches.

Churchill was, he said, a great leader of this country.Some other nuggets to digest. PatVal saved by the Irish. Who would have guessed that?

Here's our retail journo Laura Onita:

Collapsed cafes chain Patisserie Valerie was today bought out of administration by its top brass with cash from an Irish private-equity firm, safeguarding 2000 jobs.

The deal, inked after all-night negotiations, should see 96 of Patisserie Valeries 122 stores stay open. The terms of the deal with Causeway Capital were expected to be disclosed later today.

It is understood that Patisserie Valeries sister brands Philpotts and Baker & Spice, also owned by parent company Patisserie Holdings, are to be sold separately, with hundreds of jobs still at risk.

Chief executive Steve Francis, who joined in November after Paul May resigned, will stay at the helm of Patisserie Valerie, which appointed KPMG as administrator in January after discovering a 40 million accounting fraud in October. Francis said he was delighted to end a disruptive period of uncertainty for the business.

Ex-chairman Luke Johnson, who owned 37% of Patisserie, is no longer involved in the business. He pledged two 10 million loans to keep it afloat in November. PwC later found significant manipulation of its accounts. Since then, 71 outlets have been shut and 920 staff lost their jobs.R olls-Royce cushioned the blow from the end of Airbus A380 on Thursday after landing a major deal to supply 70 smaller planes ordered by Emirates.

The aerospace giant, a major supplier of the A380, will make engines for a batch of 40 A330neo aircraft and 30 A350s for the Middle Eastern carrier.

The A330neo aircraft is powered by the Trent 7000 engine and the A350 uses the Trent XWB engine. Rolls put no price on the contracts. It reports results on February 28.

Civil aerospace president Chris Cholerton said: The addition of Airbus A330-900 and Airbus A350-900 aircraft to the Emirates fleet will make the airline one of the largest users of Trent engines in the world and we look forward to continuing to support them and their customers.

The ordering spree offset a blow to Rolls after Airbus called time on the A380. Rolls will cut the number of Trent 900 engines supplied to major customer Emirates from 52 to 33 after the carrier reduced orders for the jumbo jet.

The Derby-based manufacturer will provide Trent 900 engines for another 14 Airbus A380s before production ends  taking the total Rolls-powered fleet for Emirates A380 to 33.

Emirates order cut has prompted Airbus to end production of the A380 by 2021. Emirates is the worlds biggest user of the A350 with 109 in the fleet.

Cholerton said the company was saddened by the demise of the A380.

In 2015, Rolls-Royce won a contract worth more than 6 billion to power Emirates A380 after the carrier ditched previous supplier Engine Alliance.

Airbus, based in Toulouse, said up to 3,500 jobs would be affected by ending production of the A380.

Launched in 2005, the A380 was designed to take on Boeings 747 jumbo with double-decker seating and nearly 550 seats. However orders were sluggish and carriers increasingly preferred to order smaller planes that were more fuel efficient and easier to sell out.S o, the administrators at KPMG have decided to shun Mike Ashleys bid for Patisserie Valerie and hand it to Causeway Capital, the private equity firm which has close links to KPMG.

That would be the same KPMG which audits Bread Holdings, also owned by Pat Vals former owner Luke Johnson. Say what you will about the quality of its sickly sweet cakes, you cant deny Pat Vals unerring ability to leave a bitter taste in the mouth.

The works of administrators are opaque at the best of times, called as they are to make a decent fee for themselves as well as maximising the salvage for investors, who in this case include Luke Johnson  not especially popular among the rest of PatVals creditors

Conflicts of interest are nothing new  both with the former directors who often appoint them, and the financiers such as Causeway who pick over the corporate corpses when the businesses are sold. But this one looks particularly whiffy. Expect Ashley to cry foul.

Never mind that, Causeway will doubtless declare. Were saving jobs and keeping nearly 100 shops open.

For now, perhaps. Retailers bought out of administration have a habit of lurching from one contraction to the next, each time triggering more lay-offs, closures and rent cuts for long-suffering landlords.

In fairness, PatVals new chief executive leading the buyout has a decent turnaround CV.

Steve Francis deserves a chance to see whats left in the black box that is Pat Vals accounts.

Perhaps a launch into Causeways home of Ireland beckons. After all, the private equity funds key investor, the state-funded Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, is instructed by law to invest on a commercial basis in a manner designed to support economic activity and employment in Ireland.

If a PaddyVal doesnt happen, taxpayers in the republic will be joining Ashley in objecting to this deal.

Too big a plane  so doomed to fail

The Airbus double-decker A380 is the embodiment of awesome engineering trumped by gruesome economics.

In a bid to compete with Boeings 747 jumbo jet, Airbus bet the future of mass air travel was hub-to-hub  with passengers wanting to fly from one capital city hub to another.

Twenty billion euros in development costs later, it turns out they were wrong. Passengers wanted flexibility about where they could fly and when. That meant more, smaller planes to airports often unable to cope with the vast A380.

With the A380s size came the need for four gas-guzzling engines that were only economical when the planes were full. Airlines struggled to fill the A380s they had, then found no second hand market for them either.

The A380 also never got going on freight, a saviour of the 747 in its latter years.

Emirates kept the faith, but no plane can rely on one airline. RIP.

More than just clever ads

Moneysupermarkets new-ish chief Mark Lewis is as clever as his Cambridge maths degree suggests. In the cut-throat game of price comparison websites, hes moving rapidly into mortgages, which could be a high-margin gamechanger for shareholders, and is providing its energy comparison kit to ING Banks smart money app Yolt.

Business-to-buisiness deals like Yolt may be less profitable per-transaction, but they will drive far more revenue through the Moneysupermarket engine, which pretty much all drops through to the bottom line.L eisure businesses in south London were spooked on Thursday as Southwark council confirmed it would look at introducing a late-night levy in the borough.

The council will launch a consultation from February 25 to May 19. Bars and venues open past certain hours would be charged a levy to fund extra security and police.

Councillor Victoria Mills, cabinet member for finance, performance and Brexit, said: "We want Southwark to have a thriving late night economy, but this must be balanced with the well being of our residents. She said: "The levy would be used to fund the work of the council and polices joint Night Time Economy Team, and any surplus would support other initiatives to provide a safe late night environment in Southwark."

Kate Nicholls, boss of trade body UK Hospitality, warned a levy could drive some firms out of business.

Nicholls said: Bars, nightclubs and pubs are already looking to the future nervously due to Brexit. With uncertainty so high and businesses so unsure about the future, its preposterous that the council is even considering this."

The areas nightlife includes superclub Ministry of Sound. Ministry chairman Lohan Presencer said: Music venues across the UK are already struggling. Pressure from incursive property development, licensing and increased business rates all impact on our commercial viability. As businesses we already pay business rates, VAT, corporation tax and employment taxes on behalf of our staff. It is completely unreasonable for us to have to shoulder the burden of an additional tax for services we are already paying for. Why not have a daytime levy as well, why are we different?

He added: If Southwark council truly values the night time economy and the contribution businesses like ours make to the vibrancy of our city, then they must reject this ridiculous levy as other boroughs have already done.

Murray Roberts, managing director at Beds & Bars which operate a number of venues in the borough, including Belushis near London Bridge, said: Late night levies are completely counter to what the Mayor of London wants to achieve with Londons 24 hour economy.

London boroughs to have adopted a levy include Hackney, which raises revenue from all businesses that are authorised to sell alcohol between midnight and 6am.P ROFITS are tumbling at AstraZeneca, but the shares enjoyed a bounce today as the City looked on happily at a strong end to the year and some good results from cancer treatments.

The drug giant saw profits slump 14% to 1.6 billion, but a very strong final quarter means the company can claim growth has returned.

Shares rose 5%, or 258p, to 5979p. That is, at least, above the 5500p a share offered by Americas Pfizer to take over the company in 2014.

Back then chief executive Pascal Soriot was facing the loss of patent protection on some of Astras best-selling drugs and urged by some to sell up. Today he said: Our new medicines performed particularly well across the therapy areas and the emerging markets business went from strength to strength.

The cancer arm in particular is on the up, with sales rising 50%. Cancer drugs Tagrisso, Lynparza and Imfinzi have all been a success.

Astra is bullish on the year end, predicting that profits will be up by a mid-teens percentage. That does assume that Brexit isnt a total disaster. Astra says it is well prepared for the fallout.P eople are not that bothered about chairmen who have to step down from the board having been in place for nine years. If they think about it at all, and this is probably doubtful, they will likely believe that nine years is quite long enough. It is time for someone else to have a turn.

In principle that seems right and particularly when the Financial Reporting Council, which makes recommendations on the Corporate Governance code, was fairly lenient about the rule. It thought nine years was enough, but did not actually enforce it to the letter if there was a good reason for the chair to stay on for a short period longer. It was enough that the rule was in place and was generally observed.

But last year the code changed. There were several reasons but in particular Sir Win Bischoff, its chairman, became exercised about some investment trust figures who were in place for 20 years or more.

Investment trust chairmen dont do very much  I was once touted to be one myself, which makes the point  so it was not really a big thing to worry about in the great scheme of things. The board has to present the accounts, which may be either glossy or cheap; it has to consider a dividend, which it generally tries to increase; there may be gearing to consider; and it should keep an eye on the discount so the companys shares are not underpriced.

But as long as the manager of the trust is doing a reasonable job there is not much else to worry about. Indeed even if the manager is doing a lousy job the board will often think that everyone has a bad patch, and generally give the manager the benefit of the doubt. Some times they are sacked though.

That said, some boards did overdo the hands-off approach and were taking no account of the guidelines. Hence there was a crackdown.

Now, however, it has consequences. This week Imperial Brands will begin its search for a chairman because Mark Williamson the incumbent has been on the board since 2007, and suffered an investor revolt at this months AGM.

Williamson had not only been there too long, shareholders said, but was also overboarding, or taking too many other board positions at other firms.

BlackRock, one of the largest institutional investors, was particularly vocal  it recently adopted a rule whereby it votes against board candidates who serve on three other public boards or one board if it is a second chairmanship. As a result Imperial had 18% of the votes cast against Williamson, and only stemmed the loss of many more by agreeing to address the issue.

Imperial continues to do well, but that apparently is not the point. Nor is it the case with Paul Manduca, chairman of Prudential. He is coming up to the time when he should be thinking of stepping down. But Prudential is in the throes of demerging, and he does not think it wise to step aside until that job is done and properly dusted. For a different chairman to step in, halfway through the process and with many loose ends to be tied, would make no sense at all, whatever the governance hawks say.

Unfortunately, however, no one knows when the Prudential demerger will be over. It is not quite in the lap of the gods, but there are shareholder votes and other things which can only be done at the half-year, or the full-year accounts, so it will probably go into next year. What is certain, however, is that when he does finally go, Manduca will be well past his nine years. He will be made an exception of, because no one wants a messy demerger on their hands.

But what about all the others? Roughly half the companies in the FTSE 250 will have to find chairmen in the next 12 to 18 months, as well as a high proportion of FTSE 100 companies, either because they are past their sell-by date or because the incumbent has another chairmanship elsewhere.

I dont think, when they were doing the governance thing, that the powers that be ever thought about this. It is all very well having fixed time limits, but you need to make sure you can find the candidates, or you simply make yourself look foolish.

One other thing. There is a major push to get women onto boards, and to an extent it has had limited success. But it is a further step to becoming chair and here few women have broken through. Now it will be even harder because of the nine-year rule.

Like it or not, women still have to prove themselves more than men do, and that takes time.W hen it comes to babies bath time, few products can be more iconic than Johnsons.

The number one baby brand in the UK with over 125 years of experience looking after babys bottoms, most of us will be familiar with the sight and scent of Johnsons most iconic products from our youth; from the yellow bottled no more tears baby shampoo to the pink bottled baby lotion.

Yet in recent years the company has suffered a significant decline in sales as millennial mothers switch to boutique brands that prioritise natural and organic ingredients.

This slump has been compounded by the fact the company faces thousands of lawsuits claiming that its talcum powder products caused cancer.

In July 2018 22 women in the US state of Missouri were awarded a record 3.6billion payout from Johnson & Johnson after they claimed the brands talcum powder led them to develop ovarian cancer. And then in mid-December of 2018, the companys shares took an event bigger hit (plunging more than 10%) after Reuters published a report that the company knew for decades about small amounts of asbestos in some baby powder.

Johnsons is appealing the claims and in a statement said: We are confident this verdict will also be overturned on appeal.

Appeals aside, the company recognises that the marketplace can be an even harsher judge, and have thus worked with 5000 parents to totally revamp and reformulate the entire baby care range in an attempt to reposition the 125-year-old brand and deliver products that better suit their needs.

As a brand, we are committed to rigorous testing and have worked tirelessly with scientists, paediatricians and dermatologists to create products as gentle as we want the world to be, says David Mays, Senior Director of Global Scientific Engagement at the brand.

Here are some of the major changes to note:

The packaging

The packaging of Johnsons baby products was iconic, and had barely changed in over 100 years, as this image shows:

However the packaging has been given a major overhaul for the first time, in order to be more convenient for parents. Bottles have been designed with pumps and more grippable designs, to make them easier to use while holding a baby.

The ingredients

Committed to using only ingredients that have a purpose, or benefit for baby skin within their products, Johnsons carefully considered every single ingredient in the range, rejecting over 400 ingredients during the reformulation. In fact, all the ingredients lists have been cut in half, with naturally-derived oils like coconut and cottonseed replacing ingredients like mineral oil.

The new range is also totally free from parabens, which are used as preservatives, (Johnsons actually removed these in 2015) and phthalates, often used to control a product's structure, (it removed these in 2009) and is now also entirely free from sulphates and dyes.

The dyes that had existed in the products (take the pale pink baby lotion for example) were never harmful, but they served no purpose, so they were removed. Instead colour is communicated through the new packaging. The baby shampoo is no longer a yellow liquid in a clear bottle, its clear liquid in a yellow bottle  still helpful for mums when searching a supermarket aisle, but a simpler formula for the skin.

Johnsons has largely managed to retain the iconic scents for which their classic products are known and loved, but all the fragrances are now formulated to be free of allergens, and instead of multiple skin conditioning agents, it now uses one.

Formulas

Johnsons has also worked hard on the feel of the products on the skin, with new formulations that are gentle and light to help stimulate the senses and enhance the bonding moments between parent and baby.

Baby wash products are also designed to leave less residue so that babies are not left so slippery at bath time.

The new range has also been split up into four Ages & Stages sub sections, to help parents easily navigate between the products within the four ranges. In addition to the originals category there is a range for newborns straight from birth, active babies on the move and independent toddlers.

A new range

As part of the baby range innovation, Johnsons is launching a new line of products specially designed for newborns delicate skin.

Called CottonTouch, the range (comprising a wash, an oil and a lotion), is blended with real cotton fibres and cottonseed oil, to enhance a parents gentle touch and improve the bonding experience with baby.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.Advocating for your pets health can be a real challenge. Animals instinctively hide their pain (a carry-over survivor skill from the wild), often making that initial clinical diagnosis difficult and consequently the treatment protocol too.

The good news is CBD is a non-toxic, non-pharmaceutical alternative that can bring relief for many ailments that plague our pets. The bad news? Pet owners across the country eager to broach the subject of BD with their veterinarian continue to be met with silence -- despite numerous trial studies and mounting anecdotal evidence demonstrating the efficacy of CBD oil to rapidly improve the conditions of pets suffering from anxiety, inflammation, seizures, and chronic pain while boosting the pet's immune system.

According to a survey of 2,131 participants conducted by VIN (Veterinary Information Network), 63 percent of veterinarians report having been asked about CBD oil for pets at least monthly, if not weekly or daily. More than 80 percent of those vets also report having never observed or received knowledge of any adverse reactions from pet CBD oil use.

Related: What You Need to Know About CBD for Pets

So why are veterinarians so averse to discussing CBD?

Though hemp-derived CBD is non-psychoactive, it was classified as a Schedule 1 Drug, even in states that have legalized cannabis for human medical purposes, until late last year. What this means is that vets could be penalized and potentially lose their license for advising pet owners on CBD oil. Few were willing to take the risk.

Fortunately a new law in California is bringing hope to pet parents, their beloved animals and their trusted pet physicians.

California veterinarians can now discuss cannabis.

On January 1, 2019 California became the first state to officially pass a law, AB 2215, which allows veterinarians to finally discuss cannabis with their clients.

Opening the doors to discussion about CBD oil with ones vet is great progress. However, according to the California Veterinary Board, this legislation only protects veterinarians from disciplinary action for talking about CBD oil with pet owners. It does not limit penalties for administering, advertising, selling, or having any paid affiliation with a company. Thus, California pet parents must do their due diligence when purchasing a pet CBD oil product to ensure that their product choice has been independently third party

tested for both potency as well as unwanted herbicides, pesticides and chemicals.

Related: How to Start and Market Your CBD Company

What about the other 49 states in the U.S.?

To date, California is the only state to have passed such a bill. The veterinary boards in Colorado and Oregon allow vets to discuss cannabis with their patients, though their rules fail to make a critical distinction between CBD -- a non-toxic, non-psychoactive compound derived from hemp -- and marijuana. To the layperson, marijuana and hemp derived CBD may be interchangeable words, but the dangerous conflation of these terms by state Veterinary Medical Associations remains a major barrier to progress.

To be clear, hemp refers to the male cannabis plant, which is rich in CBD and very low in THC. Marijuana refers to the female cannabis plant, which is rich in THC and very low in CBD. Marijuana produces what is commonly referred to as bud, and when consumed by animals, marijuana can indeed be highly toxic.

The Colorado Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) recognizes the interest of companion animal lovers and veterinarians regarding the potential benefits of marijuana therapies for a variety of animal medical conditions. The Oregon Veterinary Medical Examining Board (OVMEB) states Veterinarians may discuss the use of cannabis with clients, and are advised to inform clients about published data on toxicity in animals, as well as lack of scientific data on benefits.

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) published a document Cannabis: What Veterinarians Need to Know. It is a source for vets to learn about the clinical signs and treatment of acute marijuana toxicity, the effects of chronic marijuana exposure and other relevant topics.

Related: Hemp Oil vs. CBD Oil: What's the Difference?

The future of CBD for pets is nonetheless bright.

The passing of the 2018 Farm Bill on December 12, 2018 signals a huge win for the hemp community. While most clinical studies on Schedule 1 drugs are illegal, this bill removed licensed Hemp derived CBD from Schedule 1 status, legally enabling clinical studies on CBDs usage with pets.

Indeed, the future looks promising as more and more venerable institutions from NYU and Mount Sinai to Colorado State University, Cornell University and UC Davis embark upon studies that lend further credibility and research to the remarkable power of CBD oil to better our pets wellbeing. Hopefully, all 50 states will soon be on board with acknowledging the benefits of CBD and helping vets facilitate its use in our pet's preventative wellness regime and as an aid in treating debilitating conditions.

Related:

Why Is Your Veterinarian Still Reluctant to Discuss CBD With You?

This Week in Weed: New York City Cracks Down!

How to Finesse FDA Regulations and Successfully Market Your CBD Business



Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reservedFormer President George H.W. Bushs service dog, Sully, is spreading the love this Valentines Day.

The 2-year-old Labrador retriever delivered personalized valentines complete with his face at the Americas VetDogs facility in Smithtown, New York, according to a Facebook post the organization posted on Thursday.

The adorable video shows Sully carrying a bag with his mouth and approaching various appreciative staff members.

A poignant photo of Sully laying in front of Bushs flag-draped casket went viral in the days after the 41st presidents death last year.

Sully served as Bushs service dog since the summer, assisting him with opening doors, picking things up and getting help, Military Times reported.

The popular canine will begin working with veterans at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland later this month, CBS News reported.Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, lied to special counsel Robert Mueller, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.



Manafort "made multiple false statements to the FBI, the OSC and the grand jury concerning matters that were material to the investigation," including his contacts with his Russian associate during the campaign and later, Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote on Wednesday.

Read: Judge rules on Manafort plea deal

Jackson's ruling is another stunning turn in Mueller's efforts to uncover Russian interference in the 2016 election, as the first man the special counsel indicted then pursued as a potential cooperator for a year sees the end of any benefits he tried to gain through a guilty plea.

Manafort was convicted of various financial crimes in August, and then cut the deal to plead guilty to two charges of conspiracy and witness tampering in September.

In all, Jackson determined Manafort intentionally lied about $125,000 he received for the legal bills, about another unnamed Justice Department criminal investigation and about his interactions with his longtime Russian associate Konstantin Kilimnik while he was campaign chairman and later.

Jackson noted twice in her order that two of the topics Paul Manafort lied about, Kilimnik and payments he received for his legal bills were "material to the investigation."

Manafort is still bound by what he agreed to in the plea, so he will not be able to retract his guilty pleas. But the finding frees Mueller's office from its contractual obligations in the plea, like asking for a reduced sentence for him because of his cooperation.

Mueller spokesman Peter Carr declined to comment.

Manafort's lawyers have maintained that he did not intentionally lie.

The judge reviewed extensive transcripts and evidence that would give her a window into Mueller's work, and her ruling shows that Manafort's lies were serious enough to disrupt his cooperation.

Jackson said the special counsel's office did not fully show that he had "intentionally made false statements" on two fronts where prosecutors alleged he lied: about his interactions with White House officials or about Kilimnik's role in an attempt to influence witnesses, which Manafort admitted to doing in his plea.

Prosecutors have said they don't have plans at this time to bring additional charges against Manafort. But the finding Wednesday that Manafort misled prosecutors brings additional detractions into his upcoming sentencings. He will ultimately receive two sentences that could total decades in prison, one for the financial convictions and one for the guilty plea.

Jackson is scheduled to deliver the first sentence on March 13. Manafort has been in jail for eight months already.

The two judges who will sentence Manafort will weigh, among other things, whether he has accepted responsibility for his actions.

Prosecutors and the defense team hashed out what happened in Manafort's interviews at a four-and-a-half hour sealed court hearing last week, then again in a closed hour-and-45 minute hearing Wednesday afternoon.

During the first sealed hearing, prosecutors described an August 2, 2016, meeting Manafort had with Kilimnik, according to a transcript released later. At that 2016 meeting, prosecutors and the defense team conflict over whether then-campaign chairman Manafort discussed a plan with Kilimnik about Ukrainian peace, which could have had ramifications on US sanctions against Russia.

Some of the contact Mueller and news outlets have exposed since 2016 between Russians and Trump campaign officials have focused on sanctions, like the Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 with campaign leaders and Michael Flynn's calls with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.A Delta Air Lines flight traveling from California to Seattle had to make an emergency landing in Reno on Wednesday after the plane experienced severe turbulence.



Five people were injured in the flight, including three who needed be taken to a hospital with minor injuries, KOLO-TV reported.Here are three of my favorite things right now.

1. For Swingin Republicans Only!

Dear Legislators,

On behalf of Governor Ned Lamont, Im reaching out to invite you to a cocktail reception next Thursday at the residence in Hartford. This is an informal meet & greet for the Republican Caucus to get to know the Governor Unfortunately, no additional guests are allowed ..We hope you will join us on Thursday, February 14th 

This came from a Lamont aide, but we know wherefrom the idea springs.

SIGN UP: Get Colin McEnroes newsletter delivered to your inbox

Ned was doing that cute thing where he dances all over the mansion to Jump (For Your Love), and he thought, This would be so much more fun with, you know, other people.

But when you invite Republicans over to the residence, date-free, on Valentines Day, to play Massive Online Retailers of Cattan and other swell icebreaking board games, you look like Louis Tully, the accountant played by Rick Moranis on Ghostbusters.

Also, nobody who has ever been to the Governors Mansion wants to go again. The Governors Mansion has in common with the Playboy Mansion the word mansion and nothing else.

If the Governors Mansion were to be haunted by the ghost of a decapitated Victorian girl, everybody connected to the place would treat it as a step forward.

There goes Emily Jean! I love her.

Its so adorable the way she tucks her head under her arm when she runs down the hall.

Shes a breath of fresh air around here! Well, maybe fresh is the wrong word.

Anyway, when you invite Republican legislators to attend a Valentines Day party alone, its as if you think theyre social misfits who spend their days slouching outside gun shops and their nights staring feverishly at adult Breitbart sites. And I am personally aware of five or six instances where that is not the case.

2. At Last, Someone Willing to Fight for the Rich.

Do you remember that night down at Hitchingbrooke in Redding where Aunt Lavinia Squeerson was simply beside herself about the estate tax?

How is one to enjoy oneself while knowing that strangers will be going through ones estate some day? she wailed and no amount of brandy would calm her down.

That was when young Will piped up and told auntie that the first $3.6 million of her estate would not be taxed and that would go up to $5.1 million if she could wait a year before dying and $7.1 million if she could wait a year beyond that.

She grabbed his sweet young cheek with her bony hand and cried out, Dear Boy! $3.6 million is what I spent last year on medical care! For our pheasants!

Will said, Auntie, Mr. Stefanowski says hell do away with the estate tax!

That awful man who comes every week to oil Uncle Bridesheads metal fist? Auntie demanded. Whatever use can he be?

No! said Will. Hes a chap whos running for ... never mind, Auntie, Ill run for something up there and fix it myself!

I should have borne in mind that scenario when Will Haskell and Alex Bergstein were sworn in as Democratic senators from affluent Fairfield County districts. They seem to have highly specific ideas about who is in need of relief, and one of their early priorities is going after the estate tax which raises about $200 million, a number that will decline as the exemption level rises.

Its just not fair! The bloody poor people never have to pay this tax! And they get their groceries free or something. I believe I read that.

3. In 4 miles, on the left, The Least Penitent Christian Ever!

Faith is a deeply personal affair. But I have been studying John Rowland for a very long time, and I think its possible that no human being has spent as much time in the presence of Christian theology and gotten so little out of it.

To recap: In 2004, Rowland was sent scampering from the governors office, ahead of a legislative subpoena he didnt really feel he could honor. A House Select Committee had already revealed a comprehensive system of bribes and dirty deals that made Mordor look like a Model City by contrast.

Rowland went to prison, had a spiritual awakening, got out in less than a year and started giving inspirational speeches. But always missing was the moment in which the penitent full embraces his own slide into vile turpitude. I said unto the Lord, surely Father, you see me as like unto a foul-smelling greasy stain one might find on the back of a carpet being ripped up in an off-license establishment. For I am that stain and only with your forgiveness can I rise and be Febrezed.

Rowland never really liked the part of the story where he had to make a clean breast of his own personal evil. A writer named John Murray, brought in to rewrite Rowlands never published memoir, Falling Into Grace, described Rowland getting angry at him when that possibility came up.

In 2014, history repeats. Rowland gets caught running a scheme that involves hiding from the federal government the ways in which he is being paid by a congressional campaign. A jury of his peers finds him guilty on seven out of seven criminal counts related to the conspiracy. He goes back to prison.

Now hes out and giving spiritual lectures again. And according to some fine journalism by colleague Ken Dixon, he still does not do the whole standard thing where you acknowledge your crimes and beg forgiveness.

In fact, his new Christian takeaway is that he got screwed. Vengeful prosecutors thought he got off too easy the first and came back for more of his blood. Thats his spiritual message. I got screwed!

Maybe he really means it. If so, it would be a nice gesture if he let us make him a tourist attraction. Were going to need new revenue sources.

Colin McEnroes column appears every Sunday, his newsletter comes out every Thursday and you can hear his radio show every weekday on WNPR 90.5. Email him at colin@ctpublic.org. Sign up for his newsletter at http://bit.ly/colinmcenroe.A business plan is a written description of your business's future, a document that tells what you plan to do and how you plan to do it. If you jot down a paragraph on the back of an envelope describing your business strategy, you've written a plan, or at least the germ of one.

Business plans are inherently strategic. You start here, today, with certain resources and abilities. And you want to get to there, a point in the future (usually three to five years out), at which time your business will have a different set of resources and abilities as well as greater profitability and increased assets. Your plan shows how you will get from here to there.Almost 90 percent of Americans currently use at least one device, program or service that features an artificial intelligence (AI) component, according to a recent Gallup poll. AI is also viewed as a way to enhance productivity and efficiencies in a variety of business settings; that's why most current work in AI is focused on direct consumer services or manufacturing, warehousing and fulfillment.

Related: 5 Ways in Which Digital and Artificial Intelligence are Changing Work Dynamics

Yet AI's its potential applications go well beyond this narrow view. Nearly every industry, in fact, could benefit from utilizing AI, and those possibilities have barely been realized. This untapped potential creates the following wealth of opportunities for entrepreneurs, especially those willing to travel unexpected paths.

Health care

The use of AI in healthcare has practical applications that range from anticipating health needs to delivering preventive or medical care with unprecedented precision. Only a few companies have effectively incorporated AI into their systems, with amazing results. Surgical robotics systems, such as those designed by Intuitive, are becoming more responsive, with expanded capabilities to support minimally invasive treatments for a broader range of needs.

AI is also being applied to medical research. For example, Anixa Biosciences is utilizing artificial intelligence to fight the war against cancer. This company has developed a simple blood test that successfully identifies the presence of cancer with a 90 percent accuracy rate using an AI component. AI also plays a key role in Anixa's clinical trials, providing objective results and identifying subtle anomalies that might otherwise be missed.

What entrepreneurs should know: From research to diagnosis and treatment, the AI applications in healthcare have barely scratched the surface, leaving a wide field for entrepreneurs to enter.

Music and media

The song Not Easy by Alex Da Kid owes its origins to various AI processes. The musician used big data to determine the theme for the song, and IBM Watson Beat to select the musical elements that informed and inspired the hit tune. This was just the beginning. Content across other media forms will also be identified and shaped by AI, for categories ranging from films, television, and virtual reality to gaming systems.

Related: AI Is Transforming Healthcare as We Know It. Here's a Look at the Future -- and the Opportunities for Entrepreneurs.

What entrepreneurs should know: There is a need to create programs that can analyze the massive amounts of data available to create actionable information and develop the next blockbuster film or the next song that turns up on everyones playlist. This burgeoning application of AI has potential that is truly unmeasurable.

Cyber security

False positives are the biggest problem with todays cybersecurity programs. According to the Ponemon Institute, responding to false malware alerts costs U.S. companies $1.27 million each year in the man-hours needed to chase down these errors. What's more, being inundated with false positives means most companies investigate only a fraction of them. This allows true threats to slip into their systems undetected.

Innovative businesses, including Packetsled, utilize AI in their data security systems to eliminate this problem, saving clients time and money. Over time, this AI component learns and becomes effective at distinguishing a real threat from false ones. Another company, Darktrace, uses AI to identify threats that exist but dont trigger a cybersecurity alert, adding another level of protection.

What entrepreneurs need to know: Unfortunately, cyber-thieves have applied AI themselves: They've used it to launch effective attacks against targeted systems, resulting in a kind of AI cyber arms race. There is a need (and a demand) for products that can win this battle and protect data and other corporate secrets, creating huge opportunities for the right entrepreneurs.

Supply chain management

Supply chain management is the cornerstone of most of industries; and many supply chains are global, resulting in significant logistical challenges. A study by McKinsey determined that an AI-enhanced supply chain management system could reduce transportation-related costs by 5 percent to 10 percent and warehousing and supply costs by 25 percent to 40 percent. These numbers translate into significant savings.

Companies such as QiO deliver AI-enhanced specialized supply chain management which does much more than just managing each component. Its system also predicts maintenance needs and potential shortages, allowing companies to address problems before they occur.

What entrepreneurs need to know: People tend to forget that every link in a supply chain has its own supply chain. Developing a management system that recognizes this fact could incorporate alternate suppliers or monitor pricing in a way that could continually find the lowest-cost components, to take these systems to the next level. These opportunities provide interesting challenges for the right entrepreneurs.

Legal support

While legal professionals are needed to interpret the law and represent clients, one of their biggest expenses involves the staff hours required to review documents. Large corporations often struggle to manage multiple contracts, especially those that are updated and changed over time. AI programs, including Contract Intelligence, reduce these expenses by automating this process.

There are also legal AI systems for non-professionals. Apps such as DoNotPay and Sue Anyone apply AI to appeal parking tickets and manage divorces but they arent as user-friendly or accurate as consumers would like.

What entrepreneurs need to know: Several good AI systems have been developed for the legal industry but there is a demand for additional applications and better programs.

Related: 4 Lesser-Known Ways Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Business Today

The bottom line

AI can do so much more than help you order a pizza or run robotic factory workers. This technology stands on the cusp, ready to improve nearly every industry; and it offers a myriad of opportunities for entrepreneurs able to imagine and execute new applications for the future.

Related:

The Learning Landscape for 2019

AI Opportunities Abound, If You Know the Unexpected Places to Look

President Trump Signs Executive Order Establishing the 'American AI Initiative'



Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reservedSTAMFORD  Jackie Dudek is troubled about the house across the street.

She worries that things happening there signal an unwelcome future for the Newfield neighborhood she loves.

Cars are parked in the driveway, on the lawn, and in a bumper-to-bumper line along the curb in front of the house.

The number of people going in and out, Dudek said, appears to be too large for the 1942 house, listed in tax records as a two-family with four bedrooms and three bathrooms.

By contrast, the real estate website Zillow has two entries for the address that together list seven bedrooms, and one less bathroom.

One of the Zillow listings describes a newly renovated four-bedroom, second-floor apartment with a bathroom, plus a garage that can be rented for storage. The second listing describes a newly renovated three-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment. Neither is now for sale or rent, according to Zillow.

Dudek said she wonders about the basement, which tax records list as unfinished. Lights in the basement are often on at night, she said.

Last fall, when police responded to a report of a fight at the house, neighbors heard tenants say they sub-lease space in the house, Dudek said.

Tax records show the owner purchased the building in early 2017, about the time Mayor David Martin began seeking a second term and Stamford residents were showing up at City Hall hearings and neighborhood meetings to protest what they called excessive development and unchecked zoning violations.

Overbuilding and illegal housing are destroying the character of their neighborhoods, residents said.

Soon after Martin was re-elected that November, he posted his office number on the citys website and invited residents to call him to report zoning complaints.

Dudek called the mayor about the house on her street. Inspectors from Zoning, Building and other departments paid a visit, she said.

They found six men, a couple and a baby living on the second floor. The city made them move out, Dudek said. The owner had to have inspections and make some changes. But now its back in the same situation.

The house is not being identified because the owner has not been cited for violations. Attempts to reach the owner were unsuccessful.

Who to call?

Dudek said that over the last few months she visited the Zoning and Health departments to ask inspectors to revisit the house. She also called the Building Department, Dudek said.

Nothing got done, she said. I dont know who else to call.

Dont use a phone  use a form, said Ralph Blessing, who for two years has been chief of the Land Use Bureau, which is in charge of zoning enforcement.

Residents now may file complaints by filling out a form on FixIt Stamford, a service-request function on the citys website. In the left column of the home page, click on FixIt Stamford, then Housing Concerns, then select Zoning Enforcement.

Reports can be anonymous, or if people want to be kept in the loop, they can leave their contact information and get feedback on whats happening with the case, Blessing said. FixIt Stamford is still a work in progress  it handles complaints about all kinds of things  but the zoning part is working pretty well.

Requests are handled by land-use inspectors, a staff that is about to increase from three to four. After a delay prompted by budget constraints last year, the bureau has posted the job, Blessing said.

That will make a big difference, he added, but a change enacted in October is even more significant.

How it works

October was when the bureau, after spending most of last year working with elected officials and the law department to establish a process, began issuing citations to property owners who violate zoning regulations.

Its not 100 percent done  were still automating it, Blessing said. But when someone logs a complaint, an inspector visits the property and gets in touch with the owner. If theres no problem, fine. If we find a problem, we send a notice of violation.

The owner then has seven days to correct the problem. If not, the owner begins to get citations for $100 per violation per day. The owner has 10 days to appeal, and may request a resolution conference to set up a plan if more time is needed.

If the owner doesnt work with us, after 30 days we send it to a citation hearing officer. If the officer confirms that the fines we assessed are correct, we take them to court, Blessing said. Then a lien is placed on the property.

The bureau has a batch of requests before hearing officers now, including one in which an illegal business faces $20,000 in fines, Blessing said. After officers finish reviewing the cases, they will be sent to court, he said.

Power to cite

The process is still a little bit bumpy, but from a zoning perspective, were getting there, Blessing said. We made a lot of progress since the Board of Representatives gave us the ordinance that allows us to write citations.

Residents who want more information about what constitutes a zoning violation may visit the Land Use Bureau page on the citys website. It answers questions such as, Can I rent out a room in my house? The regulations say yes, but to no more than two people at a time, and the rooms cant have separate entrances or kitchens for exclusive use by boarders, according to the bureaus web page.

Other questions may be emailed to the bureau at ZoningEnforcement@stamfordct.gov. Residents may call the office at 203-977-4711, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Dudek said she didnt know about the Land Use Bureaus online reporting function, but she will fill out a form. A lot is at stake, she said.

You see this happening on other streets. It starts with something like this, Dudek said. I love my street and I dont want it to happen here like its unfortunately happening in other neighborhoods.

acarella@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2296.STAMFORD  Amazons announcement Thursday that it would abandon its plans for a new headquarters in Queens, N.Y., does not pave the way for another Connecticut bid for the much-touted HQ2 project, according to the company. But Gov. Ned Lamont has not given up on the e-commerce giant expanding in the Nutmeg State.

In the wake of the New York City projects demise, Seattle-based Amazon said it would not search for a second HQ2 site to complement its planned campus in Arlington, Va. But that announcement did not dash Lamonts hopes of an Amazon hub in Stamford. The new governors administration had earlier reached out to Amazon, as the New York proposal foundered.

If Amazon is still interested in a comparable facility in the NYC area, HQ2 or similar, Stamford is the place, Lamont said, in part, in a pair of tweets Thursday about the company. Today, we are coordinating with our federal, state and local bipartisan leaders to bring them up to speed on our efforts and ensure we are driving a single CT strategy. We, together as one state, are ready, willing and able to deliver a CT solution to Amazons needs.

Connecticut had bid on HQ2 in October 2017, proposing sites in Stamford and the Hartford area.

No Connecticut cities, however, made the shortlist of 20 areas for HQ2 that Amazon announced in January 2018.

I think the state of Connecticut will make any types of decisions as to whether to pursue this further or not with Amazon, Thomas Madden, Stamfords economic development director, said Thursday.

Lamonts single CT strategy message appeared intended to head off a repeat of 2017 when, in addition to the states application on behalf of Stamford and Hartford, other cities, including Danbury, and Bridgeport and New Haven as one, made their own pitches.

Danbury on Thursday re-posted on its Facebook page its tongue-in-cheek 2017 video pitch to Amazon. The new post asked Amazon to be its valentine.

That was preceded by Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton hinting in a recent interview on The Mack Talks podcast of the possibility of an Amazon initiative in northern Fairfield.

Amazon already has a sizable presence in the state. Last year, it employed about 2,000 in Connecticut, according to the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

It is eligible for up to $20 million in tax credits for its distribution center in North Haven.

Stymied in New York

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio had lobbied strongly to land the HQ2 complex.

Along with up to 25,000 jobs, the company had planned to spend $2.5 billion building its new offices in Queenss Long Island City section.

But Amazon faced strident opposition from a number of New York political leaders who objected to tax incentives of up to approximately $3 billion. Critics included U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; New York Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris and New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson.

At the same time, a Quinnipiac University poll released in December found 57 percent of New York City voters support having an Amazon headquarters. But they split on the incentives: 46 percent were in favor, 44 percent opposed them.

A number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City, the company said in a blog post Thursday. We are disappointed to have reached this conclusion  we love New York, its incomparable dynamism, people, and culture  and particularly the community of Long Island City.

The company already has 5,000 employees in the city and plans to grow those teams.

Connecticut state Rep. Caroline Simmons, D-Stamford, who is co-chairwoman of the Commerce Committee, suggested that an HQ2 plan would have been much more favorably received in her state.

Unlike the local representation in New York, we, as local officials, here in Connecticut would welcome Amazon and 25,000 jobs to our state, Simmons said. We know that many hardworking Connecticut families and residents would welcome those jobs as we continue to recover from the recession and are looking to fill jobs.

Amazon also confirmed Thursday that it would proceed with plans to build offices in Arlington, Virginia, and Nashville, Tennessee. The Arlington campus is expected to be the same size as the New York one, with about 25,000 employees. The Nashville office is expected to have 5,000 employees.

While I do hope that Amazon reconsiders and continues it search for a second headquarters, I would also encourage DECD, Stamford and other Connecticut cities to focus recruitment efforts on any company, mid-sized or other, with the potential to take advantage of all we have to offer here in our state, said state Rep. Fred Camillo, R-Greenwich, a member of the Commerce Committee. We must step it up if we are to once again make Connecticut competitive and economically stable.

This article includes reporting from Emilie Munson and the Associated Press.

pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; twitter: @paulschottGo to Andrew Kennedys new website and youll see this actor/writer/comedian is a man on a mission. The goal is lots of laughs, and he definitely gets them. But hes also promoting diversity though his comedy.

Actually, Kennedy promotes diversity simply by entering a room. The bilingual comedian, whose mother hails from Colombia, and whose father is British, bridges cultural boundaries by talking about his family and the many different people he has met, and continues to meet.

Kennedy had already lived on three continents by the time he was 13. He lived in Colombia, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Hong Kong and New Canaan. (Yes, right here in Connecticut.)

As a comedian, he has performed in United States venues from Lincoln Center to Gotham Comedy Club, and around the globe. His Comedy Central show was voted one of the networks top 20, and his appearance at the Montreal Comedy Festival led to offers from the WB and CBS for a television pilot about his life.

Kennedy was in Chile when we reached out to him via Facebooks Messenger app for some details about his show at The Danbury Palace on Saturday, Feb. 23.

So... what to expect from my show? A LOT OF NEW MATERIAL! he said. Im working on putting together a follow-up CD/download to my first album: Andrew Kennedy - Almost Black.

That first album came out in 2016. Kennedy, who lives in Southbury these days, said his new material is based on his life.

More Entertainment Entertainment Andrew Kennedy brings comedic voices to Danbury Palace

I got married to an amazing woman and the love of my life, Rebecca. We both graduated from New Canaan High School but had never met before 2016. Probably because when I graduated from New Canaan - she was 7. Life is a journey. Everything happens for a reason, and timing is IMPORTANT. Less stares pairing up with a female 11 years your junior when you are 48.

Kennedy said when he takes the stage at Danburys Palace he will talk about everything from traveling the world to race, marriage, parenthood, sex and the up-coming election. We live in a crazy world. Lets laugh about it, he said.

Opening the show will be Motts Pelazza. An actor and comedian from Stamford, Pelazza has performed at Carolines, Catch a Rising Star, and more, and was a finalist in New Englands Funniest Comic Competition. Motts has opened for Kevin Meaney, Rich Vos, Gilbert Gottfried and Kevin Nealon.

lkoonz@newstimes.com; Twitter: @LindaTKoonxCome 2023, NASA will have a new eye tracking the heavens and looking to solve some of the greatest scientific mysteries we know of.

That's thanks to a newly approved mission called Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer and nicknamed SPHEREx. The instrument is designed to tackle two key questions: how the universe evolved and how common some crucial building blocks of life are across our galaxy.

"I'm really excited about this new mission," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement . "Not only does it expand the United States' powerful fleet of space-based missions dedicated to uncovering the mysteries of the universe, it is a critical part of a balanced science program that includes missions of various sizes."

The SPHEREx instrument will be able to gather optical and near-infrared light from a mind-bogglingly large number of sources: more than 100 million stars in the Milky Way itself and more than 300 million other galaxies. It will manage to tackle two different but equally fundamental questions in those two different purviews.

All told, SPHEREx will scan through the whole sky and gather data in 96 different wavelengths of light. Within our Milky Way galaxy , SPHEREx will map water and organic molecules, which are both fundamental ingredients for life as we know it. And beyond our galaxy, it will look back into the very first moments of our universe. Scientists will be able to use its data to prioritize observing targets for other future space telescope missions, including the James Webb Space Telescope and the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope .

"This amazing mission will be a treasure trove of unique data for astronomers," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said in the same statement. "It will deliver an unprecedented galactic map containing 'fingerprints' from the first moments in the universe's history. And we'll have new clues to one of the greatest mysteries in science: What made the universe expand so quickly less than a nanosecond after the big bang?"

SPHEREx is slated for launch in 2023, is designed to last two years and budgeted to cost $242 million, not including launch costs.Three generations of NASA Mars rovers on display at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California: a model of the twin Spirit and Opportunity rovers on the left, the Sojourner rover's ground twin below, and a model of the Mars Curiosity rover on the right.

NASA has given up trying to make contact with its long-silent Opportunity rover on Mars, but the loss of the 15-year resident doesn't spell the end of Mars rovers.

Opportunity's successor, the Curiosity rover , is still trucking along, albeit on the opposite side of the planet, and two more rovers are scheduled to arrive in 2021, during the next window when Mars is most accessible from Earth.

Curiosity arrived in August 2012, designed to give scientists a better understanding of the habitability of Mars based on questions developed during the Mars Exploration Rover mission. That mission encompassed Opportunity and its twin, Spirit , which became stranded in sand in March 2010. [ Postcards from Mars: The Amazing Photos of Opportunity and Spirit Rovers ]

With Opportunity stymied, Curiosity is the only roving robot on the Red Planet, although the planet is circled by half a dozen orbiters . And NASA's InSight lander , a sedentary robot designed to study the interior structure of Mars, touched down in November to join the Martian science suite.

But there's far more to look forward to with two missions schedule to launch in 2020. NASA's Mars 2020 mission will include a yet-to-be-named but new and improved rover modeled on Curiosity's structure (as well as the much-anticipated helicopter ). The mission will land at Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021, looking for traces of ancient life on Mars. It should launch between late July or early August 2020.

Europe also has a Mars rover in the works, the newly dubbed Rosalind Franklin rover , which is scheduled to launch in about the same window as NASA's 2020 mission. It will also land in the spring of 2021, although the agency has not yet announced a firm date they are targeting. That rover will search for life and its traces within the top 6.5 feet (2 meters) of the Martian surface.

If all goes smoothly, that mission would make the European Space Agency just the second agency to safely touch down on the Red Planet, which is notoriously difficult to land on.Exolaunch, the German launch services provider formerly called ECM-Space, is preparing its most complex small satellite cluster to date.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA  Exolaunch, the German launch services provider formerly called ECM-Space, is preparing its most complex small satellite cluster to date.

This spring or summer, Exolaunch plans to send 40 small satellites, including a 16-unit cubesat for in-space transportation startup Momentus, into orbit on a Russian Soyuz rocket.

"The cluster is very diverse geographically," Jeanne Medvedeva, Exolaunch commercial director, told SpaceNews at the SmallSat Symposium here. It includes satellites from the United States, Canada, Germany, Finland, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, Israel, Australia, Russia, Ecuador, Thailand, Estonia and the Czech Republic.

Since its first launch in 2013, Exolaunch, a spinoff of the Technical University of Berlin, has helped send 54 satellites into orbit, ranging in size from one-quarter of a single cubesat to a 110-kilogram small satellite. Many of those were German spacecraft funded by the German space agency DLR, including the 20-kilogram TechnoSat and four eight-kilogram S-NET communications satellites from the Technical University of Berlin, the University of Stuttgart Institute of Space Systems' 110-kilogram Flying Laptop and Wuerzburg University's one-kilogram UWE-4 cubesat.

In 2019, Exolaunch plans to send more than 60 cubesats and microsatellites into space on multiple launch vehicles. To date, Exolaunch has sent cubesats and microsatellites to orbit on Soyuz rockets. The company is eager to begin working with other launch vehicle operators including the Indian Space Research Organization, Medvedeva said.

"We handle all the other work; the export license, logistics, visas for customers who want to come to the launch site," Medvedeva said. "We act as an essential interface between a heavy lift launch vehicle and a small satellite developer."

In addition to matching small satellites with suitable launch vehicles, Exolaunch developed its own line of deployers and separation systems for one to 16-unit cubesats and microsatellites in the 15 to 150-kilogram range.

Berlin-based Exolaunch has 25 employees and no external investors. "Maybe we will be open to investors in the near future," Medvedeva said.

Two well-known constellation startups, Spire Global and Iceye, are Exolaunch customers. Exolaunch has integrated more than 30 Spire Lemur cubesats on multiple launches with more planned for 2019. Exolaunch also will arrange launches in 2019 for at least two Iceye synthetic aperture radar microsatellites and manage those launch missions, Medvedeva said.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.With Love, From Space

Fall in love with space all over again with these romantic images from across the universe.

Astrophotographer Terry Hancock took this image of the Rosette Nebula taken under a full moon from western Michigan on March 16, 2014. [Read the full story.]

The Heart Nebula

This heart-shaped cloud of cosmic gas and dust is called the "Heart Nebula," or IC 1805. It lies about 7,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia.

A Stellar Proposal

What better place for two space lovers to get engaged than below the Milky Way? In this photo, astrophotographer Sergio Montufar proposes to his girlfriend, Barby, beneath the Milky Way in Cabo Raso, Argentina on Sept. 27, 2016. (She said yes!)

Pluto's Heart

NASA/APL/SwRI

An image of Pluto, taken by NASA's New Horizons space probe, features the smooth "heart" of the dwarf planet. This region is unofficially known as Sputnik Planum. [Pluto's Heart: A Cosmic Valentine in Photos]

Flower in the Ring Nebula

Harvard-Smithsonian CfA/JPL-Caltech/NASA

This flower-shaped cloud of cosmic dust and gas is a shell of material left over from dead, exploded stars. It is known as the Ring Nebula (also Messier Object 57 and NGC 6720), and it exists about 2,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra.

A Cosmic 'Valentine Rose'

NOAO/AURA/NSF

The odd planetary nebula, Sh2-174 is shaped like a rose floating in space. [Read the full story.]

Black Hole Ring

NASA/CXC/MIT/S.Rappaport et al, Optical: NASA/STScI

This image of the two galaxies that form Arp 147 shows a vast cosmic ring of stars (blue) and black holes (pink) as seen by the Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope. Another galaxy is also visible (vertical at left), as well as a bright star and quasar (pink object at upper left). This image was released on Feb. 9, 2011. [Read the full story.]

A Broken Heart in Space

Bob and Janice Fera

NGC 896 Emission Nebula in constellation Cassiopeia is located some 7500 light-years from Earth in the Heart Nebula. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers).

Heart and Soul

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA

The Heart and Soul nebulae are seen in this infrared mosaic from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The image covers an area of the sky over ten times as wide as the full moon and eight times as high in the constellation Cassiopeia.

Eye-Catching Rosette Nebula

A new image taken by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) shows the Rosette nebula located within the constellation Monoceros (the Unicorn). This flower-shaped nebula is a huge star-forming cloud of dust and gas in our Milky Way galaxy, about 4,500-5,000 light-years away.

Heart Nebula Image Terry Hancock

Astrophotographer Terry Hancock captured this image from DownUnder Observatory in Fremont, Michigan on Aug. 29 to 31, 2012. [Read the full story.]Georgetown, SC (29440)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds light and variable.Staff reports

South Bend Tribune

Youd think that lawmakers wouldnt hesitate on legislative action that enjoys widespread support and tackles a serious, stubborn health problem.

In Indiana, on the subject of raising the cigarette tax, youd be wrong.

Despite backing from a broad range of interests in the state, as well as from the public, legislators seem unwilling to move on House Bill 1565.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Cindy Kirchhofer, R-Beech Grove, would raise the states cigarette tax to $3 per pack.

Raise it for Health, a statewide coalition of 139 health, business, youth and community groups, contends that increasing the cigarette tax by $2 would significantly reduce smoking rates and also result in approximately $300 million in additional state revenue annually  new revenue that could be used to tackle other Hoosier health issues, such as drug addiction and infant mortality. The Indiana Chamber of Commerce sees the tax hike as a way to reduce smokings cost to the states economy.

And a recent poll indicates that the public seems solidly behind the idea. A Dec. 9-12 survey of 600 Indiana voters by Bellwether Research found 70 percent of Hoosiers favor a $2 per pack cigarette tax hike, if a portion of the money is spent on tobacco use prevention programs.

Bellwether President Christine Matthews, the one-time pollster for Republican former Gov. Mitch Daniels, notes that theres unusually high intensity in favor of raising the tax as more than half of poll respondents (51 percent) said they strongly support increasing cigarette prices.

Also worth noting for lawmakers afraid to vote for a tax hike: A majority of GOP respondents said even if a Republican legislator took a no new taxes pledge, and later voted in favor of raising Indianas cigarette tax, they still would support that legislator by a 54 percent to 36 percent margin.

Matthews says thats because voters dont view a hike in the price of cigarettes as a traditional tax and see it more as a user fee.

Polling results aside, passing a cigarette tax remains an uphill fight here in Indiana, says Bryan Hannon of the American Cancer Society. Hannon also chairs the Raise it for Health campaign. He says raising the tax will help Indiana raise its dismal health rankings. Indiana dropped from 38th to 41st among states in overall health. And smoking is a primary factor in that ranking.

Supporters of raising the cigarette tax will rally at the Statehouse for Advocacy Day on Tuesday. People will be invited to talk with legislators.

The truth is, Hoosiers have already spoken loud and clear about the need to raise the cigarette tax for healths sake. Its past time for elected officials to listen and take action.Jeff Parrott

South Bend Tribune

SOUTH BEND  Despite a city hearing officers order last week allowing the city to demolish the remaining buildings on the former Drewrys brewery site, its owner still hopes to persuade city officials to let him repurpose them for an urban food campus.

In a Tribune interview Wednesday, owner Steve Durkee, of Phoenix, described, for the first time publicly, his vision for the site at 1408 Elwood Ave.  using its existing buildings to grow vegetables and raise fish indoors. The estimated $8 million project, using aquaponics, would use powerful LED lighting and aquaponics to grow plants and farm fish in tanks, could employ up to 150 people, Durkee said. It would produce nutrient-dense food for the community in an environmentally friendly model that Durkee thinks could scale throughout the Midwest at abandoned industrial sites.

Durkee said he was unable to attend the Feb. 7 Code Enforcement hearing, where hearing hearing officer Michelle Engel imposed $10,000 in fines against Durkee for willful neglect to go with more than $50,000 in fines hes already accumulated. She also cleared the way for the city to proceed with the demolition and cleanup on its own at an estimated cost of $1.5 million.

Neighborhood residents and their common council representative, Tim Scott, have said they are tired of looking at debris from buildings that Durkee already has demolished. Code Enforcement had given him until Dec. 21, 2018, to remove the debris, but Durkee said Randy Wilkerson, the citys former code enforcement director, once gave him the impression that the debris could remain on site so that it could be used to fill in basements and holes, as well as reuse some of the bricks. Determining which underground spaces need filled will depend on how the site is redeveloped, Durkee said.

Durkee added that the city had signed off on the demolition works completion, which signaled to Durkee that it was acceptable for the debris to remain as long as needed during redevelopment, he said.

But on Wednesday Scott said he had never heard of such a verbal agreement with Wilkerson. Even if Wilkerson told Durkee that, it wouldnt be binding on the city, Scott said.

He could have come to the Code Enforcement hearing and spoke for himself, Scott said. It doesnt matter what Randy said, its whats in the Code Enforcement order.

In fact, the Feb. 7 order does not mention the demolition debris. Rather, it references demolition of the remaining buildings, along with some violations related to their appearance.

Durkee said he recently came to town with a Phoenix-based potential investor and showed him the site, and the man is interested in investing and helping to develop the urban food campus, which they would call Living Water. Durkee said he doesnt yet have funding for the project secured because potential investors have been scared off by lies about him from Scott and other city officials. But he said he has a network of potential investors and hes confident they will still support the project if the city allows the buildings, which he says are structurally sound, to remain.

Scott has previously said he doesnt want to see an industrial use on the site.

I want the site cleaned up, plain and simple, thats all I want and thats what the residents want, Scott said. He walked away from the demolition. No one has moved a brick or piece of rubble in two years.

Durkee said progress on the his project has been delayed because he had to spend more than $1 million, his familys life savings, to safely remove asbestos before demolition. He said the asbestos was more extensive than the city had told him it would be.

But Scott said it was Durkees responsibility as the property owner to assess any potential costs.

If it was my property, I would be the one responsible for the finances, the quotes, all that data, Scott said. I wouldnt base any of my decisions on what the city had said.South Bend Tribune Report

South Bend Tribune

SOUTH BEND  The University of Notre Dame on Thursday announced the formation of a committee of 13 individuals who will help advise on the display of the Christopher Columbus mural images that line corridor walls in the Main Building.

The Rev. John I. Jenkins, Notre Dames president, in January announced he had decided the university will cover the painted murals depicting the life and travels of the Italian explorer.

The murals, painted in the 1880s, have long attracted controversy because they depict Columbus as a beneficent explorer and Native Americans in stereotypical subservient roles. Some students, employees and alumni have protested the continued display of the murals.

Notre Dame for years has provided brochures near the paintings putting them in historical context and describing troubling aspects of Columbus life and career, including his role in transporting thousands of Native Americans to Spain to be sold in slave markets.

Because the murals are painted directly on the plaster of the walls, they will be covered by woven material, but it will be possible to display the murals on occasion, according to the university.

In January, Jenkins said the university would create a permanent display for high-quality, high-resolution images of the murals in a campus setting to be determined that would be conducive to study and understanding of the artwork. That campus location hasnt yet been decided.

Public recommendations and comments related to the committees work may be emailed to: president@nd.edu and they will be passed on to the committee, Notre Dame said Thursday.

The committee members are:Physical access control: Critical steps to ensure a smarter future

Steven Kenny, Axis Communications, looks at the benefits of physical access control systems within smart environments, and how knowledge gaps and dated methods can inhibit adoption. Physical security is becoming more dynamic and more interconnected, as it evolves. Todays modern access control solutions are about so much more than simply opening doors, with digitalisation bringing multiple business benefits, which would simply not be possible using traditional models. Digital transformation While the digital transformation of processes and systems was already well underway, across many industries and sectors, it is the transformation of physical security from a standalone, isolated circuit, to a network-enabled, intelligent security solution that brings many benefits to the smart environment. Yet, with more organisations now looking to bring their physical security provision up to date, there are many considerations that must be addressed to maximise the potential of access control and video surveillance. Not least of which is that connecting physical security devices to a network presents risk, so it is increasingly important for IT teams to play a role in helping to facilitate the secure integration of physical and network technologies, as these two worlds increasingly converge. Improved access control in smart environments These urban constructs are capable of reducing waste, driving efficiencies and optimising resources The smart city offers significant benefits, reflected in the US$ 189 billion that is anticipated to be spent on smart city initiatives globally by 2023. These urban constructs are capable of reducing waste, driving efficiencies, optimising resources and increasing citizen engagement. Technology, which is increasingly being incorporated to protect access points within the smart environment, can take many forms. These range from simple card readers to two factor authentication systems, using video surveillance as a secondary means of identification, right through to complex networks of thermal cameras, audio speakers and sensors. Frictionless access control During the COVID-19 pandemic, frictionless access control has provided an effective hands free means of accessing premises, using methods such as QR code readers and facial recognition as credentials to prove identity. Frictionless access control brings health and safety into the equation, as well as the security of entrances and exits, minimising the risk of infection, by removing the need to touch shared surfaces. Such systems can be customised and scaled to meet precise requirements. Yet, an increasing integration with open technologies and platforms requires collaboration between the worlds of physical security and IT, in order to be successful. Barriers to adoption Traditional suppliers and installers of physical security systems have built up a strong business model around their expertise, service and knowledge. Network connectivity and the IoT (Internet of Things) present a constantly shifting landscape, requiring the traditional physical security vendor to learn the language of IT, of open platforms, IP connectivity and software integration, in order to adapt to market changes and remain relevant. Many are now beginning to realise that connected network-enabled solutions are here to stay Those who cannot adapt, and are simply not ready for this changing market, risk being left behind, as the physical security landscape continues to shift and demand continues to increase. With end users and buyers looking for smarter, more integrated and business-focused solutions from their suppliers, it is clear that only those who are prepared will succeed in this space. Time will not stand still, and many are now beginning to realise that connected network-enabled solutions are here to stay, particularly within smart constructs which rely on such technology by their very nature. The importance of cyber hygiene Connecting any device to a network has a degree of risk, and it is, therefore, imperative that any provider not only understands modern connected technologies, but also the steps necessary to protect corporate networks. Cameras, access control systems and IP audio devices, which have been left unprotected, can potentially become backdoors into a network and used as access points by hackers. These vulnerabilities can be further compromised by the proliferation of connected devices within the Internet of Things (IoT). While the connection of devices to a network brings many advantages, there is greater potential for these devices to be used against the very business or industry they have been employed to protect when vulnerabilities are exploited. Cyber security considerations Cyber security considerations should, therefore, be a key factor in the development and deployment of new security systems. Access control technologies should be manufactured according to recognised cyber security principles, incident reporting and best practices. It is important to acknowledge that the cyber integrity of a system is only as strong as its weakest link and that any potential source of cyber exposure will ultimately impact negatively on a devices ability to provide the necessary high levels of physical security. The future of access control There is a natural dispensation towards purchasing low-cost solutions There is a natural dispensation towards purchasing low-cost solutions that are perceived as offering the same value as their more expensive equivalents. While some have taken the decision to implement such solutions, in an attempt to unlock the required benefits, while saving their bottom line, the limited lifespan of these technologies puts a heavier cost and reputational burden onto organisations by their association. The future of access control, and of physical security as a whole, will, therefore, be dependent on the willingness of suppliers to implement new designs and new ways of thinking, based around high-quality products, and to influence the installers and others in their supply chains to embrace this new world. Cyber security key to keeping businesses safe In addition, cyber security considerations are absolutely vital for keeping businesses safe. The integration of cyber secure technologies from trusted providers will provide peace of mind around the safety or corporate networks, and integrity of the deployed technologies. As we move forward, access control systems will become data collection points and door controllers will become intelligent I/O devices. QR codes for visitor management and biometric face recognition for frictionless access control will increasingly be managed at the edge, as analytics in a camera or sensor. The future of access control presents an exciting and challenging time for those ready to accept it, to secure it and to help shape it, offering a true opportunity to innovate for a smarter, safer world.Save the date and mark your calendar to experience a bit of Slovakia at Eastertime on Pittsburghs South Side. On Saturday, April 13, 2019, Prince of Peace Parish will host the 29th Annual Slovak Mass and Easter Customs Breakfast.

The celebration of Slovak religious culture begins at St. Adalbert Church, South 15th Street, with the recitation of the Holy Rosary at 10:45 a.m., followed by Mass at 11 a.m., with prayers and hymns sung in Slovak.

After Mass, everyone is invited to the Prince of Peace Parish Center, 81 South 13th Street, to sample traditional foods one might enjoy in a typical Slovak home on Easter morning paska (sweet bread), sunka (ham), kolbasy (sausage) sirek (cheese), hrin (beets and horseradish) and kolace (nut and poppy seed rolls).

Take some time to browse authentic Slovak treasures -- books, crystal, linens, dolls, pottery and costumesand learn a bit of the history, daily life and customs of our Slovak ancestors. Watch crafts people demonstrate their art, including decorating colorful Easter eggs (kraslice or pysanky), weaving palms or braiding bread.

Take home homemade nut and poppy seed rolls, paska and cookies, or purchase unique handmade or imported gift items.

Make plans to attend the 29th Annual Slovak Mass and Easter Customs Breakfast on Saturday, April 13 at Prince of Peace Parish. There is no charge for admission, but donations are sincerely appreciated.

For more information, to sponsor a table or to make a donation, call Connie Zatek at 412-657-6364.Mayor William Pedutos administration plans to launch a free book program for children from birth to age 5 with support from the Benter Foundation.

Legislation has been introduced to Pittsburgh City Council to accept $250,000 from the foundation to establish a pilot effort to introduce Dolly Partons Imagination Library program to the city. Since its inception in 1995 the program from the country music superstar has mailed more than 113 million books, for free, to children in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Studies of the Imagination Library have found that:

 Parents read aloud more to their children and were more comfortable reading as a result of the program.

 Parents believed their children were more interested in reading due to receiving the books each month.

 Participating children were excited when their books arrived in the mail monthly, addressed to them specifically.

 The positive views of the program and its impacts were present regardless of the demographic characteristics of the community or its participants, and longer program participation often resulted in more positive outcomes.

Once enrolled, a child receives a high-quality, age-appropriate book personally addressed to them until they reach the age of five. The Imagination Library is responsible for covering overhead costs, databases, a book selection committee, and monthly mailings. As an Imagination Library affiliate, the City of Pittsburgh would be responsible for covering the ongoing monthly costs associated with mailing each book, which costs $25 per child for one year, as well as enrollment and promotional activities.

Tiffini Simoneaux, manager of the citys Office of Early Childhood in Mayor Pedutos Bureau of Neighborhood Empowerment, is leading the citys enrollment in the program.

Research shows that early literacy experiences including access to books in the home are fundamental ingredients for future academic success. This program will enable young children throughout the city to build a home library of up to 60 books, Ms. Simoneaux said.

Once the funding from the Benter Foundation is approved the Office of Early Childhood will launch the first steps of the program, including outreach and communication plans, engaging with local organizations that work with young children and families, and the launch of program.

In addition to monthly mailing costs, the city would also use a small portion of the funding to pay for materials to advertise the program and for community outreach events to promote the program, largely in underserved areas of the city.

Were pleased to partner with the city of Pittsburgh and other community allies to help children develop a lifelong love of reading. Having your own books at home unlocks a new world of learning and language that can help Pittsburghs children thrive, said Bill Benter, president of The Benter Foundation.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PHILIPSBURG:---The Public Prosecutors Office has requested the Court to sentence suspect C.C.M. to 18 years in prison for the manslaughter of Natascha Schmidt on October 29, 2018, on Milton Drive in Dutch Quarter.

What started off as an argument between the suspect C.C.M. and former girlfriend L.M. ended in the tragic death of Natascha Schmidt. The suspect fired three shots. One shot to the head of Schmidt and thereafter two more shots were fired at three bystanders, Schmidts mother and a friend. They, fortunately, avoided the shots by ducking for cover on time.

The life of Natascha Schmidt was brutally taken from her on October 29, 2018. A mother notably, but not just a mother, a mother of 7 children. A mother who after a difficult time had finally been able to get her life back in order. This is by far the most significant aspect of this case, according to the Public Prosecutor.

In short four more persons were made victims in this case, by the actions of the suspect. This incident foremost did not only impact the lives of Nataschas seven children, but also many others in the community. Although the facts are all interrelated, this does not take away from the seriousness and impact it had on the various victims. Such incidents generate feelings of insecurity, surely in a small country as Sint Maarten or in a small village as Dutch Quarter.

The Public Prosecutor considers the attempted manslaughter on two of the three bystanders proven on bases of the (1) short shooting range, (2) the fact that there was a shot aimed at Schmidts head and (3) the fact that the accused, based on the manner in which Schmidt was gunned down, clearly had the intention to make her and others victims.

C.C.M. has placed the blame on Schmidt and claims self-defense, alleging that he had been attacked with a Taser. There is no mention of this on file and not one witness saw this Taser nor had the police found a Taser. Moreover, the suspect had no bodily abrasions that wouldve been sustained from a Taser.

The suspect has taken little responsibility for his actions. At several instances, he appeared sympathetic, but not entirely sincere. This is relevant to conclusions of C.C.M.s psychiatric report. The OM feels that C.C.M.s risk of reoffending is much higher than outlined in the psychiatric report. In this respect, the Public Prosecution Service has taken C.C.M.s high-risk diagnoses predominately into account in its arguments.



The suspect had a track record, in a previous case, for example, there were indications that the suspect fired shots at victim E. on February 16, 2016. Furthermore, C.C.M. was convicted for threatening former girlfriend K.F. on November 13, 2016, and also convicted for mistreating then girlfriend L.M. and L.M.s daughter D.M. both on June 18, 2018.

C.C.M. was just handed down the conviction for the mistreatment of L.M. on August 18, 2018, and just two months later on October 29, 2018, the tragedy occurred. For the old cases, C.C.M. received a 3-month suspended prison sentence and a suspended community service sentence of

180 hours. The Public Prosecution Service is now calling for full execution of this sentence, whereby community service should be executed as a prison sentence.

The judge will render his decision on March 6, 2019, at 8:30 am.

Prosecutor's Office Press Release.PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Telecommunications Stuart Johnson would like to congratulate the management, staff and producers/hosts of radio programs on World Radio Day 2019, today Wednesday the eighth edition since it was established.



Minister Johnson said that radio is a communication tool that informs and transforms and reaches the masses instantly.



The theme for World Radio Day 2019 is: Dialogue, Tolerance, and Peace.



The day according to UNESCOmarks a time where people around the world celebrate radio and how it shapes our lives. Radio informs, transforms and unites us. It brings together people and communities from all backgrounds to foster positive dialogue for change. More specifically, radio is the perfect medium to counter the appeals for violence and the spread of conflict, especially in regions potentially more exposed to such realities.



The Sint Maarten community fully understand the power of radio. During quiet times, we are informed and kept aware of developments taking place around us.



During the time of natural disaster which we are very much aware of, radio played a key role in the dissemination of information here and abroad.



I take this opportunity to commend once again all those in the radio broadcast field for their commitment and dedication to the Sint Maarten community especially before, during and after the passing of a hurricane as was the case with Irma back in September 2017.



Radio continues to be the mode of freedom of expression during many radio-talk-programs, and of course with that comes respect and tolerance and overcoming differences that may exists.



Congratulations once again as we celebrate the importance of radio on this day February 13, Minister of Telecommunications Stuart Johnson said on Wednesday.



February 13 represents the day the United Nations (UN) Radio was founded in 1946 and is now placed under the sign of the World Day of the radio.



The eight edition raises awareness among the general public and the media about the value of radio or to encourage decision-makers to develop access to information through radio, according to the UN.Sacramento: California Governor Gavin Newsom has set off a flurry of speculation after he said the state's consumers should get a piece of the billions of dollars that technology companies make by capitalising on personal data they collect.

California governor Gavin Newsom Credit:Bloomberg

The new governor has asked aides to develop a proposal for a "data dividend" for California residents but provided no hints about whether he might be suggesting a tax on tech companies, an individual refund to their customers or something else.

"Companies that make billions of dollars collecting, curating and monetising our personal data have a duty to protect it," the Democrat said in his first State of the State speech on Tuesday. "California's consumers should also be able to share in the wealth that is created from their data."

Tech companies, for example, sell the data to outside businesses that target ads to users. The European Union and Spain's socialist government last year each proposed taxing big internet companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon.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."Strasbourg: The European Commission has added Saudi Arabia, Panama, Nigeria and other jurisdictions to a blacklist of nations seen as posing a threat to the continent because of lax controls on terrorism financing and money laundering.

The move is part of a crackdown on money laundering after several scandals at EU banks but has been criticised by several countries including Britain worried about their economic relations with the listed states, notably Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman. Credit:AP

The Saudi government said it regretted the decision. "Saudi Arabia's commitment to combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism is a strategic priority", it said in a statement.

Panama said it should be removed from the list because it recently adopted stronger rules against money laundering.The Queensland premier has been questioned in State Parliament on whether she will halt the rollout of Queensland Healths integrated electronic medical record.

It follows relevations about the states public health clinicians detailing serious concerns with the projects fast-tracked rollout and the consequences for hospitals including patient safety risks.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is seen during Question Time at Parliament House on Thursday. Credit:Dan Peled/AAP

Dr Richard Ashby, the chief executive officer of eHealth Queensland and responsible for the rollout until late December, resigned two weeks ago for personal reasons after Queensland Health director-general Michael Walsh referred allegations of an undeclared personal relationship to the Crime and Corruption Commission.

Health Minister Steven Miles immediately ordered the halt of a second major eHealth Queensland digital project, the $200 million patient administration system replacement.A Liberal candidate for a marginal Sydney seat has called for more respect during the NSW election campaign after being left shaken by a verbal clash with an angry commuter at Revesby railway station.

Wendy Lindsay, who is standing for East Hills, said a woman abused her repeatedly and broke an A-frame election poster with a kick after objecting to her campaigning on Wednesday afternoon.

Blurry CCTV images of an incident between a commuter and the Liberal candidate for East Hills, Wendy Lindsay, at Revesby railway station. Credit:Sydney Trains

Police are investigating after receiving CCTV footage from the station.

Mrs Lindsay said she was handing out flyers with a volunteer when a woman leaving the station with a man objected to her campaigning.Australia's universities have breathed a sigh of relief after the Department of Defence failed to secure backing for sweeping new powers over international research collaboration.

Defence had sought to exert greater control over research partnerships because of national security concerns about sensitive and valuable technology ending up in the hands of foreign powers.

The department made the push in its submission to an independent review of the Defence Trade Controls Act by a former inspector-general of intelligence and security, Vivienne Thom, who knocked back the proposal in her report released on Thursday.

Universities and private research centres had expressed alarm at the Defence demands and Dr Thom acknowledged their concerns as "serious and legitimate".

The review does not support the broad approach implied by the recommendations in the Defence submission, she concluded.The history of white settlement in Australia has been marred by failure to take the views of Indigenous people seriously and Prime Minister Scott Morrison's response to this year's Closing the Gap report risks repeating that mistake.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison delivers the Closing the Gap speech. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

As in the previous 10 reports, this year's saw only limited progress against the seven long-term targets set in 2008 by the Rudd government for the process of bringing Indigenous people in line with the rest of the community.

Australia is on track to meet the targets for early childhood education and year 12 attainment but not the other five.

While Mr Morrison honestly accepted in his speech to Parliament that Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders were still not afforded the same opportunities as others, there was an implicit contradiction in his plan to change things.And so, the House of Representatives devolved into a vortex with no obvious meaning, and a senator was forced to admit hed smeared blood on the office door of One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.

Such a miserable end to the first week of the parliamentary year.

Thanks to Prime Minister Scott Morrisons decision to let Question Time drag on through the dreary afternoon in his apparent desperation to avoid losing a second vote in three days, the gobsmacking doings whirling around Hanson remained the sensation of the day.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday, at the end of a long week in Parliament. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Brian Burston, Hansons former One Nation senator and now Clive Palmers single United Australia Party senator, got the madness rolling the evening before by publicly claiming hed been propositioned several times over the years by Hanson, starting at a function in the delightfully named Rooty Hill RSL Club.Arthur Fadden wasted no time when the House of Representatives voted against his budget in October 1941. He knew two independents, Arthur Coles and Alexander Wilson, were moving against his young government and was not surprised when they voted with John Curtin to amend the budget by a single pound.

Crossbench MPs Kerryn Phelps, Julia Banks and Rebekha Sharkie celebrate after the bill passes the House of Representatives. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

When the vote was called the two independents, Coles and Wilson, crossed the floor to join the Opposition and the government was defeated, Fadden wrote. I returned my commission to Lord Gowrie and advised him to send for Curtin.

Thats it. Fadden, a country accountant before entering Parliament, told the tale in his autobiography without thundering about the vote or agonising over his fate. Lord Gowrie, the Governor-General, named Curtin the Prime Minister. Faddens public statement praised the complete patriotism of his successor.

Australians can only dream of that steadiness and civility in a Parliament that features hysterical scare campaigns on border protection, with the sideshow of the fisticuffs between fringe political parties in the Senate.The Senate President will scrutinise Wednesday night's fight between One Nation staffer James Ashby and United Australia Party senator Brian Burston, as the MP denies allegations he smeared blood on the office door of his former leader, Pauline Hanson.

After a day of heightened tension, Senator Burston and Mr Ashby  who is Senator Hanson's chief of staff  had a physical altercation near the Great Hall of Parliament House as the crossbencher left the minerals industry parliamentary dinner.

Senator Brian Burston in the Senate on Thursday morning. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Earlier on Wednesday, Senator Burston denied offering to "f---" a staff member to make her feel better, and retaliated by alleging Senator Hanson had twice sexually harassed him.

Scott Ryan, the President of the Senate, said he had already talked to his lower house counterpart, Speaker Tony Smith, and would be looking into the spat as more information emerged.Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten have laid out contrasting visions for the future of Indigenous affairs, agreeing on the importance of partnership with Aboriginal people but diverging on the best way to achieve results.

Releasing the 11th Closing the Gap report on Thursday  in which it was revealed only two of seven targets are on track  Mr Morrison said boosting access to education for Indigenous people would be his priority and bemoaned the "lofty goals and bureaucratic targets" that had long achieved mixed results.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison hands over the Closing the Gap report. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

He said the Rudd government's introduction of the Closing the Gap framework was well-intentioned and backed by action but "reflected something of the hubris of this place" and was a continuation of a fruitless approach.

"It was set up to fail. And has, on its own tests. And today I am calling that out. This was not a true partnership  not with the states and territories, or with Indigenous peoples themselves," Mr Morrison said in his address to the House of Representatives.Around midday on Wednesday, Dave Sharma, the man Dr Kerryn Phelps defeated last year to become the first non-conservative member for Wentworth, posted a statement to Facebook about the passage of the Medevac bill.

Mr Sharma will run again for the Liberals in Wentworth in this years federal election. He needed to tell voters what he thought about the controversial amendments, steered through Parliament under Dr Phelps leadership. The crossbench bill, which makes it easier to transfer asylum-seekers to Australia for medical treatment, represented a historic defeat for the government.

Crossbench MPs Kerryn Phelps, Julia Banks and Rebekha Sharkie celebrate. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Mr Sharma said he was disappointed by the bills passage, and that it weakened the deterrent border protection the Liberals re-established, "at considerable effort" after it was "recklessly dismantled" by Labor. The Liberals' policy is "what a compassionate and generous policy looks like, he said.

Mr Sharmas wording is crucial to his pitch to win Wentworth back for the Liberals at the next election - his emphasis on compassionate policy stands in contrast to the Scott Morrison-led rhetoric on strength.One of them is Anton Chekhovs 1896 metadrama The Seagull, which may not seem that modern (or, to those who havent thought about it, too much about Hamlet) but was a major game-changer in 20th century world theater. Chekhovs script quotes Hamlet directly twice, and deliberately alludes to it with its play-within-a-play scenes and its relationship between a broody artistic son and his imperious mother.A proposal to radically expand access to psychological therapy being considered by a federal government review would cost up to $2 billion to implement, new modelling shows.

Sydney University's Brain and Mind Centre has crunched the numbers on key recommendations in a report by the Medicare Benefits Schedule Review's mental health reference group - including new funding for people who are "at risk" of developing a mental disorder.

A recommended expansion in access to Medicare psychologists has been estimated at costing $2 billion.

It found the proposed changes - which would also lift the 10 session cap on therapy sessions for people without a condition, and extend rebates to carers of the mentally ill - would dramatically increase the amount the taxpayer hands to psychologists each year.

The modelling is based upon a 30 per cent increase in demand for psychology services over four years, with an alternative scenario - in which demand increases by twice the current projected growth rate - would cost an extra $1 billion.Asylum Seeker Resource Centre advocacy director Jana Favero said the government had control over any risk to the community because all those transferred would be in detention unless the Immigration Minister decided otherwise. The only reason somebody would be in the community would be if the minister approved it, Ms Favero said. So its complete fear-mongering, its disgusting and its not true. The government has claimed a heightened risk of new boat arrivals, announced the reopening of the Christmas Island detention and warned of alleged rapists and murders entering the country after the passage of the medical transfer bill. Victorian senator Derryn Hinch, who voted for the medical transfer bill after getting a briefing from security officials, said the agencies were concerned about more boat arrivals.

I think the governments talk about reopening Christmas Island and the flood of boats coming, thats doing more, I think, to stir the beast than anything that the crossbench or Labor are doing," he said. The government claim of 300 potential transfers, based on advice from the Department of Home Affairs, was in line with an estimate from an Australian doctor with experience on Nauru, Nick Martin, published last week. Manus Island, in Papua New Guinea, is home to several hundred refugees under Australia's care. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen But Dr Martin and others disputed the idea this number would arrive swiftly, given the time required for medical assessments and processing on Nauru. Will there be an immediate flood? Absolutely not, Dr Martin said.

One checkpoint, he said, would be the Overseas Medical Referral committee, a Nauruan government entity that was historically slow to approve the removal of asylum seekers from the island. The OMR will be a big stumbling block and it hasnt been addressed in the media coverage, he said. Dr Martin said his experience on the island in 2016 and 2017 included cases that took weeks or months to be processed through the OMR committee, which is not under Australian government control. The medical transfer bill allows two doctors to approve an application, which is then sent to a review panel and the Immigration Minister, who can reject the transfer on national security grounds and if the person had been convicted of a crime and sentenced to one year or more in prison. Human Rights Law Centre executive director Hugh de Kretser said the government estimates about the transfers were not realistic based on existing work to assess and support seriously ill people on Nauru and Manus.

There are currently around 70 people being supported through that process. There are a handful of people we are supporting who are critically ill and need an urgent transfer, he said. While the government has talked about doctors in Australia using Skype to make health assessments, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners believes doctors would have to go to the islands. Whoever is going to do this should go to Manus Island or Nauru and see what the conditions are on the ground, said RACGP president Harry Nespolon. That would be the minimum required if they are to do their job even vaguely properly.

The founder and president of Doctors for Refugees, Barri Phatarfod, said there had been 12 preventable deaths in the offshore system in the past five years and a new system was needed. "There are currently around 25 individuals in PNG hospitals who need urgent medical treatment not available offshore," she said. Loading "We know of one young man in PNG who has had epileptic seizures of unknown cause since July 2018 and there has still not not been adequate investigations performed to identify why is is still getting these. "There is a 23-year-old man referred by his doctor for coronary angiogram over six months ago. In Australia this would be done within three days.Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size It was a chaotic and confusing week in federal politics, in which the Morrison government suffered a historic defeat and Labor opened up a clear difference with the Coalition on the thorny issue of asylum seekers and border protection just three months from the election. But what exactly are the changes, how will they work and what happens next? The answers to many of these questions are contested by the major parties, and are likely to be debated all the way to polling day. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video What is this law fundamentally about? The law makes it easier for refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru to come to Australia for medical treatment. It takes control from bureaucrats and puts it in the hands of doctors. If two doctors recommend a transfer, the Immigration Minister must approve it  except in certain cases, explained later. There are about 1000 refugees and asylum seekers currently on the islands. Where did this all start? Refugee activists have pushed for changes to medical transfers for a long time, especially for sick children. Since 2013, about 900 people have been transferred to Australia for treatment  in many cases, only as a result of court action to challenge the government's refusal. Under pressure, the government had "quietly" transferred all children and their families off Nauru, but was opposed to any systemic changes.

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However, once independent MP Kerryn Phelps was elected at the Wentworth byelection and Julia Banks defected from the Liberal Party to the crossbench, there was an opportunity to use the hung Parliament to change the law. Crossbench MPs Rebekha Sharkie, Julia Banks, Kerryn Phelps and Cathy McGowan all voted for the bill. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen How did it happen? Even in a hung Parliament, it is hard to pass laws from opposition because the government still controls the agenda in the lower house. It takes an absolute majority of 76 votes to suspend standing orders and seize control. Labor and the crossbench had 75 at the most. But the Greens worked out that if they could amend a piece of the government's own legislation in the Senate - where the government doesn't control the numbers - those amendments would be automatically sent back to the lower house for a debate. Labor and the crossbench could then feasibly win that debate with a simple majority of 75 votes. Why did this emerge now?

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The government had a miscellaneous bill in the Home Affairs portfolio that came up for debate late last year. Independent senator Tim Storer put up the medical transfer changes as amendments to that bill, and they passed the Senate on the final sitting day of 2018. It then sat in limbo over the summer, waiting to come to the lower house. Shortly after Question Time on Tuesday, the bill arrived as a "message from the Senate". In a final attempt to prevent a debate, the government presented legal advice suggesting the amendments were unconstitutional (in short, arguing the Senate can't spend government money). It prompted an eleventh hour fix from Labor to make the doctors' panel unpaid rather than paid. The lower house ultimately voted to proceed with the debate, and to support the amendments. That meant the government had to vote against its own bill, and it became the first time since 1941 that a government was defeated on legislation in the House of Representatives. Is this change necessary? The government argues this bill is unnecessary because refugees and asylum seekers on Manus and Nauru already have access to adequate healthcare, chiefly through a contractor, International Health and Medical Services (IHMS). For example, IHMS has about 60 staff on rotation in Nauru - including 33 mental health staff - although they are not all there at the one time. The government says transfers to Australia are considered on a case-by-case basis and are granted if necessary. Advocates say the bill is needed because transfers should be decided by doctors, not the bureaucracy. They argue the appropriate healthcare is not available on the islands, and those seeking transfers are often forced into legal action because the Australian government won't let them come here. Dr Phelps, a GP, says "people are literally fighting for their lives through the courts to get the treatment that they need". Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says it is un-Australian to "have people in our care and not treat them properly and fairly". Who is affected by these changes?

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Labor made a last-minute amendment to the law that restricts it to the people currently on Manus Island and Nauru. Any asylum seekers who arrive on a boat and are put into offshore detention would not be eligible for a medical transfer under this legislation. Labor says this means the changes will not entice asylum seekers to jump on boats. Prime Minister Scott Morrison says this "nuance" will be ignored by people smugglers trying to sell people a boat journey to Australia. Defence Minister Christopher Pyne says it is "irrelevant" and a "mere technicality". He also argues it would be inconsistent and illogical to offer one level of medical treatment to the cohort currently on the islands but deny it to any future arrivals. What are the border security implications? This has been a key point of contention. Declassified advice from the Department of Home Affairs said the changes that were originally planned would remove the "third pillar" of Operation Sovereign Borders - regional processing. It also said asylum seekers who had decided not to make the risky journey to Australia might be encouraged to do so. But this advice was based on the first iteration of the bill, which was not restricted to the cohort of people currently on Manus and Nauru. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Labor did not seek or receive this advice when it first voted for the bill in the Senate late last year. It took a briefing on Monday, and subsequently made changes to the bill it had already voted for. Mr Morrison says any boat that arrives from now on will be Mr Shorten's fault. Labor says it is still committed to boat turnbacks and the changes do not weaken the border. Who gets to come here? Are we allowing criminals into the country?

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The law applies to all the asylum seekers sent by Australia to Manus Island and Nauru, regardless of whether they have been granted refugee status or not. Most of the thousand people who are still there are refugees, though some have been rejected and some never participated in the assessment process. Dr Phelps says about 70 people need urgent treatment, while the government says it is preparing to move about 300 people in the short term. The final version of the law gives the minister the capacity to reject a transfer on several grounds. Firstly, if they "reasonably suspect" that transferring the person involved would harm Australia's national security. Secondly, if the person has a "substantial criminal record" and the minister believes they would pose a danger to society. Under the Act, a person has a substantial criminal record if they have been sentenced to longer than 12 months in prison. The government points out that a person who has been charged with a serious crime but not convicted - or convicted but not sentenced - could still be transferred to Australia under the new law. The government has not said how many people on the islands are in that category. Attorney-General Christian Porter says the government is now "in a race against time" to check the circumstances of the thousand people on Manus Island and Nauru. Even if such a person were to be transferred, they would remain in immigration detention. Currently, transferees are initially put into held detention - not the community - but they can be released into community detention at the discretion of the minister. Australian Customs officials and navy personnel escort asylum seekers to Christmas Island in 2013. Credit:Reuters The government will also reopen the Christmas Island detention centre to accommodate some transferees - those whom Mr Pyne says are "very dangerous". However, it is still envisaged they would require some medical treatment on the mainland. They would remain in the custody of the immigration department. Which doctors get to decide?

AdvertisementMuch has been written about the impacts the fade of the mining boom had on Western Australias economy.

The states housing market plummeted, mining companies rolled out mass redundancies, consumer confidence shrank and migration to Perth began to decline as workers returned to their home towns.

Perth's Joint Development Assessment Panel receives dozens of major development project applications each year, but not all make it to construction Credit:Stefan Gosatti

In the central business district, the impacts were seen in office vacancy rates and struggling hospitality and retail sectors.

But what about the impacts we cant see, because they were never there?The Rottnest Island Authority failed to properly assess the risks to pedestrians who used the holiday destination's Army Jetty, or properly maintain the jetty, before it collapsed in October last year, a KPMG review has found.

The inquiry was first ordered by the state government when the South Thomson Bay jetty collapsed and injured a 63-year-old woman, a 48-year-old mother and her 11-year-old son, who had been fishing at the popular tourist spot at the time.

The mother, with a broken ankle, was forced to tread water while holding her unconscious son's head above the surface.

In the terrifying incident the older woman was trapped in the water for about an hour after her leg became pinned by crumbled concrete.A mining company has been fined $40,000 after two workers narrowly escaped death when a gantry crane crashed into their elevated work platform, 12 metres above ground.

The incident occurred in August 2015 at the Karara Iron Ore Project, about 200 kilometres east of Geraldton.

The incident occurred at Karara Iron Ore project Credit:AFR

The Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety said the two men working in the elevated work platform basket had to hold on a brace for impact after desperate attempts to get the attention of the crane operator failed.

The electricians were using the platform to repair a davit, a small crane used at the site, wen a scaffolder in a different work team started moving the 120-tonne capacity gantry crane.Mandurah mum Donna Anderson's two sons died less than two years apart, both from suicide.

Both were caught up in what she described as a "tsunami of loss"; an epidemic of young people taking their lives that swept through the Peel region from December, 2015.

Donna Anderson with photos of her sons Jake (left) and Hayden Langdon (right). Credit:Carla Hildebrandt/Mandurah Mail

Jake Langdon was 17 years old when he died in April, 2016, just days after attending a candlelight vigil for another friend who had taken his own life.

Ms Anderson said her other son, Hayden Langdon, took his own life in February last year.A former Donut King employee known to his friends as Teddy Bear is accused of trying to take down one of Australia's most notorious drug lords on the day he turned 21.

While celebrating with pavlova and soft drink inside Victoria's maximum security Barwon Prison on Monday it's alleged Teira Bennett and fellow inmate Eldea Teuira stabbed Tony Mokbel multiple times with improvised weapons as he walked past them.

Teira Bennett. Credit:Facebook

Teuira and Bennett, whose family is from New Zealand, now face attempted murder charges while Mokbel's family continue a bedside vigil as the 53-year-old recovers from emergency surgery.

Mokbel suffered multiple stab wounds to the upper body and was left bleeding from the mouth, head and chest during the alleged attack.A jailhouse letter from drug kingpin Tony Mokbel to legal authorities claims he is the victim of a "corrupt prosecution" involving his former barrister, now known as Informer 3838.

The letter is the first time Mokbel's view on the Informer 3838 scandal has been made public, and reveals he believes he has strong grounds to be released from prison.

Melbourne drug lord Tony Mokbel. Credit:Jason South

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald can also reveal that an hour before he was brutally stabbed by two inmates on Monday he had given his lawyer a list of 500 questions to be posed to Informer 3838 when she fronts the royal commission beginning on Friday.

But the likelihood of Mokbel's questions being put to Informer 3838 is also under a cloud after The Age and Herald reported on Thursday that she may no longer be compelled to appear at the royal commission.A former Sovereign Hill employee who grabbed a co-workers breasts without her consent has escaped a conviction after pleading guilty to sexual assault.

Mark William Burnett sexually assaulted the woman, aged in her 20s, while she was looking at costumes to get changed into at the outdoor museums Victoria Theatre.

Former Sovereign Hill employee Mark William Burnett has pleaded guilty to sexual assault Credit:The Courier

The incident occurred some time between September and October 2016.

The 43-year-old pleaded guilty at the Ballarat Magistrates Court on Thursday to one count of sexual assault."Marshall was like a marshal, a United States marshal, going from town to town dispensing justice. ... He came from a pretty nice life in Harlem and went out to a risky one. When he traveled through the South, there are these little towns where nobody had seen a black lawyer before. He worked alone. Some judges were members of the KKK. The juries are all white and are biased. It took courage to go in and try these cases.Craig McCulloch's family say the number of kind tributes shared has been "truly humbling" after the paramedic died when his ambulance crashed while racing to an emergency in central Queensland.

Queensland paramedic Craig McCulloch died when his ambulance crashed in wet conditions near Mackay. Credit:Queensland Ambulance Service

The 32-year-old father was farewelled at a memorial in Mackay on Thursday, two-and-a-half weeks after his death, which was described by an ambulance official as "the most tragic day" for the service.

"The McCulloch & Ball families would like to thank everybody from Queensland Ambulance Service ... and Queensland Police Service ... or their understanding and support," a statement from Mr McCulloch's family said.

"[We] also thank Qantas and Virgin for the compassion shown to us in changing flights and the people that were inconvenienced to accommodate us.The "battle for Birkdale" moved forward in Canberra on Wednesday, when a federal government authority gave the Redlands council preliminary agreement for an off-market sale of 80 hectares of bushland.

The Redlands community to Brisbane's south-east was rattled last May when the area was listed in the federal budget as excess land to be sold off as housing stock.

Federal government-owned land at Birkdale - which was being by Redland City Council as a possible university site - is being sold to developers. Credit:Google Maps/Alex Ellinghausen

There are two federal-government-owned parcels of land on Old Cleveland Road at Birkdale that the council wants as a future community education site.

One is owned by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and the adjoining block is owned by Air Services Australia.Attacks by an aggressive goanna have landed a man and the paramedic who came to help him in a Queensland hospital.

It was the second goanna attack in the state's south-east in the past three weeks, after a "very nasty and savage" reptile attacked an eight-year-old girl while she walked through a South Stradbroke Island camp ground on January 24.

Paul Smallhorn holds the goanna down to protect his peacocks. Credit:Nine News Queensland

In the most recent incident, Paul Smallhorn suffered deep cuts and scratches to his leg after he was attacked on his property in Toogoolawah, 120 kilometres north-west of Brisbane.

The responding male paramedic suffered scratches on his arm after the reptile also went for him.Malcolm Turnbull's book is heavily based on diaries he kept during his time in Parliament. Illustration: John Shakespeare Credit:

It would seem the number of publishers with an appetite for political memoirs has shrunk considerably after Melbourne University Publishing and Louise Adler parted ways.

But the progress on Malcolm Turnbull's tome, which is being shepherded into print by publisher Sandy Grant at Hardie Grant, is starting to generate interest.

Grant is tightlipped on the contents of the manuscript, but hes told us to expect less snark and more laughs.

Apparently contained within are some seriously amusing stories involving Defence Minister Christopher Pyne, a staunch supporter who recently described Turnbull as his Aslan.Sixty-three years ago on Friday, NSW Premier Joseph Cahill changed the face of modern Sydney as we know it.

The Labor leader launched the international competition to build "a National Opera House at Bennelong Point, Sydney" on February 15, 1956.

What the Sydney Opera House could have looked like.

It would take 17-and-a-half years years from that date to complete the winning entry by Danish designer Jrn Utzon, which put Sydney on the world map.

But what if the four judges had chosen otherwise?A 17-year-old boy has been charged over two stalking incidents near a train station in Sydney's west, the second allegedly resulting in an assault.

Police began investigating after a 31-year-old woman reported she had been stalked twice by the same person while walking along Leylands Parade at Belmore in December.

The first time, on December 8, she noticed a male walking closely behind her about 11pm.

She ran away, police said. But three days later the same youth allegedly stalked her again.

The second time, police allege, the teen grabbed the woman, covered her mouth, and tried to drag her towards a unit complex before she escaped and called for help.A major Sydney hospital will soon learn the outcome of a ministerial investigation into its handling of bullying and dysfunction allegations in one of its surgical departments amid rising outrage over the exploitation of junior doctors.

In November, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard ordered the probe into the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital's response to allegations of mismanagement surrounding the hospital's prestigious cardiothoracic surgery department.

No trainees will return to the cardiothoracic surgery department at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital until 2020. Credit:Michele Mossop

RPA has been barred from training aspiring cardiothoracic surgeons in 2019 by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) after a trainee doctor claimed he was the target of bullying and harassment within the unit. The college deemed the department an inappropriate environment to train junior doctors.

The ministry-appointed reviewers are expected to deliver their report into the latest case by the end of February.Although I doubt the integrity of the Coalitions claims, we already allow convicted violent people, Australian citizens, to access medical assistance in public hospitals from within the prison system without issue. - Mark Berg, Caringbah South It is possible that refugee boats have never stopped trying to come to Australia, but because on-water matters are withheld from the public we will never know. - Lorna Denham, Cardiff Heights Morrison reminds me of Chicken Little, running around the barnyard screaming : the sky is falling in! - Maureen King, Lane Cove I havent noticed an au pair influx after allowing the rules to be broken. - Zuzu Burford, Heathcote The LNP are replacing three-word slogans with three-letter ones: boo! - John Bailey, Canterbury

It's clear the word of the year debate has gotten people excited This word of the year theme in the letters is "just, like, so surreal" (Letters, February 14). - Geoff Eagar, Toowoon Bay "Nuance" is the buzz word for 2019. - Kerry Stratton, Wombarra How about "brand"? Rugby is not a brand, it is a game for goodness sake. - David Lloyd, Kincumber "To be perfectly honest" has a ring of truth to it. - Vicky Marquis, Glebe

Once aware of it it is possible to be driven to distraction by the currently very popular habit of inserting a second unnecessary "is" into a sentence. Watch for it. - Louise Dolan, Birchgrove "Collaborate" and its conjugations drive me to drink. It has come to mean the subjugation of individual thought and expertise to drudgery of group think and uninformed supposition. If you find this constant battering of "collaboration" stressing you out, the gurus have a simple answer: its your fault and all you have to do is adopt a "growth mindset" and be "resilient". - Marie Del Monte, Ashfield Sorry, Wendy, worse than being clients, we are now all customers.- Vicki Lazer, Katoomba The US "gotten" has become so past tense and out of date, it should be returned to the place of origin. - Joy Cooksey, Harrington

Where I work, everyone is constantly "excited", it seems. - Richard Tainsh, Potts Point I, too, am with Bill. I wince when I hear somebody say Shree Lanka instead of Sri Lanka (radio and television announcers are not exempt). - Michael Afaras, Henley It's "impordand" we get this right. - Dermot Browne, Marrickville Surely the most annoying word of the last couple of decades is "like". Will it ever fade out? - Mark Morgan, St Ives

As with many suggestions, words from the media are candidates for the word of the year. Mine is "talk us", as in "talk us through the story". - Richard Stewart, Pearl Beach My submission: "clear". We don't just say something anymore, we now  especially politicians  waffle the following: "I've made it very, very clear" or "it's abundantly clear". NB: It's either clear or it isn't. - Bob Macfarlane, Mirrabooka Can we please stop using the word "Oz", unless we are a wizard, and "granny" in front of "flat". My blood is boiling just writing them. - Ann Babington, Lambton New expressions, eh? The pity is that bloody good words bloody fall into dis-bloody-use. - Michael Harrington, Bonnet Bay We must accept that many words from my generation have "passed". - Sally Shepard, Nelson Bay

"Yuddah, yuddah": the new "blah, blah".- John Swanton, Coogee Indigenous gap is in the constitution The PM and his colleagues just don't get it ("Closing the Gap targets revamped", February 14). The real and more fundamental "gap" lies with the lack of constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australia and the dogged refusal to legislate a treaty. That's where rebuilding Indigenous Australia must start, not with pouring more money at the problem while shifting the deckchairs on the Titanic.

Rebuilding Indigenous Australia must start with a treaty that recognises the First Nation and lets them stand tall. The rest will flow naturally. - Gregory Vickas, Greenwich Homes for the needy Gladys Berejiklian and Pru Goward say they are making an effort to improve the situation for homeless people ("Berejiklian's push to halve homeless rate before 2025", February 14) Instead of trying to find out the root causes of homelessness, it makes more sense to just get on with building more social housing. By the time they work out the causes of homelessness there will be more people living in tents in public spaces. - Robyn Lewis, Raglan

How to stop crowding Your correspondent makes a telling point about population growth (Letters, February 14). But there is a mountain of evidence that fertility drops to sustainable levels in every society that empowers its women with numeracy and literacy, plus offers some form of social security safety net. Population growth is fuelled by poverty and social inequality. Education and social justice are its solution. Even if we achieved a stable global population tomorrow, the fish and insects and reefs and topsoil are still on the way out.

Because no matter how many are participating, our current economic system requires us to double our consumption of stuff every 30 years, just to avoid recession. - Dave Goldberg, Wrights Beach Comments about "tackling" climate change are nothing but pointless rhetoric. We should concentrate on learning how to live with it. Climate change is here to stay and will keep on doing its own thing, regardless. We are but passing by. - Ron Elphick, Buff Point Solidarity with people Your reporter claims I have "expressed solidarity with dictatorial regimes" in Syria and North Korea ("Sydney University sacks controversial lecturer over swastika image", February 14).

In fact, as I have written several times, solidarity is always with people and not governments. I do support Syria and its army, in face of the terrible war waged against that country. On North Korea, I have written nothing about the government. - Tim Anderson, Glebe That free pursuit of intellectual thought and debate is fundamental to the healthy democracy of which the university would wish to be a part. Perhaps there is more to the dismissal of Tim Anderson than revealed in the media but from a distance, it is difficult not to conclude that the university has failed to fight to uphold its charter of academic freedom. - Ross Drynan, Lindfield The freedom of humanities academics to practice their own professions is circumscribed by childish understandings of polite behaviour typical of middle class pretensions and typical of the public relations expectations of a customer driven economy. - Keith Russell, Mayfield West

Clive's clash with the law Illustration: Matt Golding Credit: Given his endless legal tussles, Clive Palmer's new theme song has to be I Fought The Law (and the law won) (Letters, February 14). - Nick Andrews, Vaucluse Bring Assange home Nice to read that Hakeem al-Araibi is safely back in Melbourne ("Inside the heroic campaign to bring Hakeem back home", February 13).

It is now time to bring back Julian Assange, who is not in good health and is one of our own. Who will have the guts to make this happen? - Jeannette Tsoulos, West Pymble Shadow of doubt The City of Sydney has misled the community on important planning issues ("Shadow cast over council", February 13). The Department of Planning will not allow larger buildings to overshadow the proposed Town Hall Square; nor has it refused to make the draft Central Sydney Planning Strategy public. In fact, the department has tried to work constructively with City of Sydney since 2016 to advance its strategy. The City has failed to respond, either to our concerns or our offers to resolve them. The Cockle Bay Wharf proposal won't overshadow any part of the proposed Town Hall Square before 4pm, on any day, and it won't contribute to overshadowing during summer. This is consistent with solar access protections for public open spaces within Central Sydney.- Marcus Ray, Deputy Secretary, Department of Planning and Environment

Callan Park madness As a relative of two captives  one who died  at the disgraceful Callan Park, I think objecting to doing something good there demonstrates the insanity continues ("Labor's Callan Park plan backfires", February 14). - Tony Doyle, Fairy Meadow Trusts tax rort to go Wealthy families can minimise the amount of tax they pay by using family trusts but regular pay-as-you-go taxpayers cannot (Letters, February 12). It works by income splitting. A high income professional can route his income through a family trust. He can then use that trust to "pay" $30,000 each to his two parents. Because both of his parents are retired, the trust distributions attract a low tax rate. Then, he can get his parents to pay the school fees for his children and  voila  tax-free private school fees. The majority of wealth in private trusts is held by the wealthiest households. Labor will stop wealthy people from artificially splitting up their income to minimise their tax.

What your correspondent calls a "tax grab" is, in fact, just putting more fairness into the system. We all know that most hard-working Australians don't have access to tax arrangements like family trusts  so why should high income people be able to reduce their tax in this way? - Kristina Keneally, Labor Senator for NSW A precious little visitor We have a fly in our apartment today. Lovely little thing. We put out food. We only have a couple a year ("'Disappearing everywhere': The great extinction happening under our noses", February 12) - Richard Letts, Sydney Gift worth giving Two gorgeous people and a place that shares dignity, respect and, most importantly, love ("Roses are red, Y-fronts for you", February 14).. - Pam Connor, Mollymook BeachJakarta: Indonesia will sign a trade and investment partnership deal with Australia in March, Indonesia's Trade Minister said on Thursday, three months later than expected and following diplomatic friction between the two countries over Middle East policy.

Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita told reporters that the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement would be signed at an Indonesia-Australia business conference.

Steven Ciobo, former trade minister, with his Indonesian counterpart Enggartiasto Lukita during free trade agreement discussions in Sydney in 2016. Credit:Cole Bennetts

Negotiations on the deal, which has been years in the making, were completed in August and it had been due to be signed by the end of 2018.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age reported in August that the two countries were poised to sign the agreement in November in what would have been a big political win for Prime Minister Scott Morrison.Connecticut Office of the Arts also announced grants to 15 state organizations in its ARTE-accessible program, which supports arts experiences for audiences of all abilities. Applicants were able to request $500 to $3,000. The grants total $42,521. The list follows.After 10 years of good intentions yielding disappointing outcomes, a new day has

dawned. I was heartened by the statement made by the Prime Minister yesterday on the

floor of Parliament. For the first time, I heard a genuine acknowledgement of why the Closing the Gap outcomes seem steeped in failure.

I heard an acknowledgement that until Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are brought to the table as equal partners, the gap will not be closed and progress will not be made. This is a view that our community has expressed for many years  a view I am encouraged has finally been

heard.

Closing the Gap Day shines a light on the issue of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage. Credit:Greg Newington

Historically, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community leaders have not been

equal decision-makers in steering attempts to close the unacceptable gaps between

indigenous Australians and the broader community. Our struggle as community-controlled organisations to even gain a voice at the table  let alone for governments to actually listen to us  has long been at the crux of the disappointing progress.

The lack of progress under Closing the Gap is the lived reality of our people on the

ground every day. They are being robbed of living their full potential. Sadly, attending the

funerals of people in our community  including increasingly young people taking their

own lives  is all too common.Pendant (2017) by Lisa Walker. Credit:Jacqui Shelton

For a jeweller, Lisa Walker isnt precious.

Attack your materials, she says, encouraging a group of Melbourne craft and design luminaries at a workshop held at a retrospective of her work at RMIT Design Hub.

You have to make [work] very quickly. I want you stressed. You have to work instinctively. Be nice or nasty. Polite or rude. If you get stuck, move on.

Anyone stuck can scan the gallery for inspiration: a stuffed toy squirrel riding a skateboard, for instance; or studio detritus and an eponymously titled transparent vessel, In Here is a Fart and a Pearl. These are just a few of the 52-year-old New Zealander's pendants that adorn the room.More than 20 per cent of Australian adults have very low literacy, numeracy and digital problem-solving skills and are the least likely groups to be engaging in adult education programs to reskill and upskill for a changing workforce.

"More than one in five Australians can at most complete very simple reading or mathematical tasks, such as reading brief texts on familiar topics or understanding basic percentages," a new report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has found.

More than one in five Australians can at most complete very simple reading or mathematical tasks, an OECD report says. Credit:Erin Jonasson

"Upskilling them will be crucial to maintaining and increasing Australia's competitiveness."

Adults with low skill levels are far less likely to participate in education and training than those with high-level skills. Only 23 per cent of low-skilled Australian adults are engaged in education, compared with 48 per cent of all adults.Loading

Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor Students at Charles Sturt University Carmel ORegan says that with highest number of online postgraduate students in the country, CSU has been able to offer education options to students who might otherwise have struggled to complete traditional university study.

Most can study their entire degree online or supplement digital coursework with short visits to one of the universitys nine campuses or regional study centres. Online students can also take residential modules, undertaking intensive hands-on coursework while staying on campus.

Because we have a lot of students who are in regional and rural areas, and a high percentage rate of students who are first in family, we can show that university is an opportunity for education that can improve your life, she says.

We need to be interactive and flexible enough to fit in with the rest of the life that our students have.

You might choose online because that is how you learn best, but it might also be because you have to fit in with family or location or work responsibilities. We work very hard in making it as good or better than they might experience on campus.

For Frances Brogan, the option of studying online was the reason she chose CSU when she began her masters degree in 2015.

A lot of it comes down to your personality and you obviously have to be quite disciplined and self-motivated but if you have that behind you, you can definitely take online study as an option.

I was able to work at 11pm when the kids were in bed, and I didnt have to try to juggle child care for them while I went to uni.

A more surprising advantage came in being able to connect with other students from diverse backgrounds.

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I was able to get a much broader perspective on nursing because I was engaging with students online who were from rural or remote locations, a Canadian student as well, so it gave me an opportunity to do something I would not ever have otherwise been able to do, she says.

Fellow CSU graduate Ofunneka Molokwu had an undergraduate degree already in pure chemistry from Nigeria but after moving to Australia decided she wanted to explore psychology.

I was always keen to understand human behaviour, I used to read books on psychology and I really wanted to understand why people do the things we do, she says.

When my daughter was almost two, we moved to Bathurst from Adelaide and I realised I could study psychology online. I could study and take lectures online and since my daughter was attending child care on campus, I could go to the residential school. It was pretty easy.

Through her course, she found a support network of other students, including many mothers also balancing study with parenting. While there were tough moments, Molokwu says, she was able to complete her course in four years and has just completed her honours in psychology  conducted mostly online as well.

Ive had the privilege of doing a degree in two ways, with my first degree spent on campus, and it is a lot easier if you are young and you can attend all the lectures, she says.

But if you have a family or are working, Id encourage online study. You need the motivation but it also pushes you to do more work as you have to help yourself.

The way we study and get qualified has never been more flexible. Online courses are opening up a world of opportunity for people to move ahead in their careers without having to make major lifestyle changes.

At Charles Sturt University (CSU) we want to help you discover your next career move through a study program that is going to fit around your lifestyle. Whether you want to advance or change your career, our postgraduate qualifications will get you there. Our flexible certificate, diploma, masters and Higher Degree by Research courses are delivered by industry-connected experts.

So when you study with the university that is the national leader in online postgraduate study you know youve made the right decision. We work with you to ensure your course is going to connect you to the opportunities youre seeking.

Discover your next career move with a flexible postgraduate qualification from CSU.Creating a global business is no mean feat. How do you know whether your product will be relevant in a different market? What pitfalls are you likely to experience? How much cash will you need to ensure success?

Jana Matthews says creating a global business is no mean feat.

The good news is that you dont have to be a billion dollar business to start exporting  even companies perceived as being small can win big in overseas markets. From Violet Crumbles to Sippy Cups, Australian business of all sizes are showing how international traction is within reach.

For companies considering expansion into new markets in 2019, its vital to do the market research, assess your readiness, and answer some tough questions.

Is going global an integral part of your strategy?The scale of the challenges confronting new AMP chief executive Francesco De Ferrari has been laid bare by the groups full-year result: They are many, varied and, if not yet existential, quite threatening.

At the very least, the AMP that starts to emerge at the end of what De Ferrari describes as a "transitional" 2019 year will be a lot smaller, much less profitable and still grappling with the haemorrhaging within its core Australian Wealth Management business cash flows.

AMP's new CEO Francesco De Ferrari says 2019 is a transitional year from which the group will emerge a smaller business. Credit:Bloomberg

The financial services royal commission, coinciding with the continued sector-wide structural changes in wealth protection that have resulted in AMP and three of the four major banks deciding to exit that sector, has inflicted severe and continuing damage on AMP.

AMP has almost resolved its wealth protection challenges by selling the division to Resolution Life in a $3.3 billion deal - although its reported results will continue to be marred by the implosion in its earnings (its really Resolution that is most exposed) and the need to prop up its capital position until the deal is completed towards the end of the September quarter.Suncorp is lifting its budget for natural disaster claims by $100 million and buying extra reinsurance to shield its business from wild weather, in part because climate change is causing more frequent extreme events.

In a result that was marked down by the market, Suncorp on Thursday reported a 12.5 per cent drop in cash earnings to $413 million, after a half of high natural peril claims, in particular the hail storm that struck Sydney days before Christmas.

As the financial services sector is rocked by the Hayne royal commission, Suncorp also said it may need to spend an extra $50 million in response to more regulatory costs, including any action from the regulator in response to the royal commission.

The hail storm that hit Sydney before Christmas helped blow out Suncorp's natural disaster claims. Credit:Wolter Peeters

Following a spate of natural disasters, the company will lift its natural hazard allowance by $100 million to $820 million next financial year, and buy an extra $200 million in reinsurance for natural disaster claims.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!Allan Hovda is a 3-time Norseman champion but he is not content to sit on his laurels. He has worked feverishly over the winter on his new QR PRsix Disc to make it as wind slippery as possible, and of course he is looking to make himself the smallest target for the wind. And despite reaching a 0.182 cDA (without the Roval disc) he knows that there is still room for improvement. The 32-year old Norwegian is 180cm tall and weighs 68kg and his Quintana Roo PRsix is a size 52cm, and we now will look closer at this trick setup, with SRAM Red eTap components, a Morf TriFold bar, a Specialized Roval tubeless disc, ENVE SES tubeless 7.8 front wheel and various other nice choices.

The black on black Quintana Roo PRsix Disc looks very mean and fast just sitting in place here. The saddle to pad drop for Hovda on this 52cm PRsix is 14.5 cm.

When the Morf TriFold bars* are folded in, this is what the wind sees.

The cockpit fully extended as seen from above.

The stealth QR bike again but this time with the bars in a cornering position.

Up close with the bars folded back, and the SRAM Red eTap brake lever.

The same setup again as seen from above. And the switching from one to the other position is very fluid.

Here is the lever that controls the position of the Morf TriFold bars.

The QR PRsix is gaining in popularity as a fast frame that is easy to deal with. All waterbottle cages on the bike are by the US brand XLab. The front ENVE SES 7.8 tubeless wheel is laced with a a 25mm Schwalbe Pro One tubeless tire.

Allan Hovda rides on 170m Praxis Zayante carbon cranks with 53/39 Praxis Cold Forged X-Rings. The chain is treated with a CeramicSpeed lube and the pedals are Assioma Duo Power.

Up close with the front disc brake of this Quintana Roo PRsix.

Hovda rides a Specialized Sitero saddle. Initially he used a King cage behind it, but he feels the XLab Gorilla cage does a better job keeping the bottle in place.

Here is a closer look at the Assioma Duo Power pedals.

The bike in its full beauty.

The Roval disc wheels is laced with a 25mm Schwalbe Pro One tubeless tire.

Allan Hovda uses Notio Konect as an aero stick

The bike with all water bottles in place.

The best CdA number of .182 was in full setup with this Kask Mistral helmet, but that was only slightly better than the Louis Garneau helmet he owns, and without the rear Roval disc wheel that had not yet arrived. The suit pictured is a Bioracer Speedwear Concept trisuit, but he will get a custom one soon. The LG TR-400 shoes will also likely soon be replaced.

* Morf Technology founder Frank Springett sadly died recently in a bike collision with a school bus. Details as to fault are however not known.When will somebody open a Jewish-style deli on Staten Island, so residents dont have to travel to New Jersey to visit Harolds?"

(Bennett Cohen is a New Springville resident.)A large contingent of police showed up at the hotel at about 4 a.m. Feb. 5 and took Morales out of his room in handcuffs as his family watched in fear, according to Berke. Morales wife was held in handcuffs for about an hour at the hotel, while other officers drive Morales to New Britain police headquarters, kept him for several hours and then concluded they didnt have the right man, Berke said.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  The great Amazon dream is over.

So what?

Amazon has announced that they wont be building their HQ2 facility in Long Island City, Queens, after all. Too much local opposition, despite the 25,000 jobs that Amazon titan Jeff Bezos promised to bring to the city.

What a shame.

Bringing Amazon here has pretty much been the only thing that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio have agreed on lately.

Then again, you have to wonder whenever the famously antagonistic Cuomo and de Blasio buddy up on something. Especially with regard to economic development and real estate. What are they really up to?

The Amazon demise highlights an interesting dynamic for Cuomo in particular, as strong anti-Amazon resistance came from state Senate Democrats, led by state Sen. Michael Gianaris of Queens.

The Dems are newly enthroned as the majority party in the Senate. Is this a harbinger of headaches to come for Cuomo? He could be longing for the days of the Independent Democratic Conference if hes not careful.

Staten Island knows about losing big-ticket stuff. We lost the New York Wheel. We lost NASCAR.

Like Amazon, NASCAR was also accustomed to getting salivating welcomes wherever it planned to build. It came as quite a shock when Staten Islanders told NASCAR to just hold on for a minute there. How much traffic would this racetrack generate?

But its easy to see why Amazon stirred such ire. Promising billions in tax breaks to a corporate giant already swimming in money will do that. Particularly these days, when the Democratic Party has lunged leftward, and has put taking the stuffing (and the money) out of plutocratic billionaires at the top of their list of things to do.

And lets be frank: These corporate promises of jobs and big economic windfalls rarely shake out as designed. So what are we really losing by bidding Amazon goodbye? New York is a fine place to do business. Why did we have to bribe Amazon to come here?

Cuomo had thundered that Democrats would have to answer to the voters if Amazon goes poof. But pro-corporate warrior isnt a stance thats going to play too well with the base, particularly if Cuomo wants to remain at least a little relevant in the 2020 presidential election.

Bezos must wonder how it all came to this. When did he become an enemy of the left? Hasnt he used his Washington Post newspaper to lead the charge against President Donald Trump?

Things havent been going well for Bezos lately. First came his crumbling marriage and the controversy over racy texts and nude pics he sent to his mistress. Now this. Democracy dies in darkness. And Amazon has died in New York.

Maybe he could PM with Facebook tycoon Mark Zuckerberg about how to handle precipitous falls from grace.

But dont feel too bad for Bezos. Theres any number of towns around the country that will no doubt roll out the red carpet for him. City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-South Shore) and community activist Mike Penrose have suggested Staten Island as an alternate HQ2 location.

Your move, Jeff.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police arrested six people ages 20 to 38 and confiscated over a hundred glassine bags of heroin in a pre-dawn raid of a home in Stapleton, authorities said.

The suspects include a 20-year-old man who has several cases pending in Criminal Court.

Armed with a search warrant, police entered the home on Wright Street near Thompson Street at about 5:30 a.m. on Feb. 8, according to the criminal complaint.

All six of the suspects were inside the studio apartment at the time of the search, which culled at least 105 glassine bags of heroin, according to the complaint.

Suspect Nyreem Leecraft, 20, allegedly was caught with one glassine bag of heroin inside his jacket.

Leecraft has seven other pending cases in Criminal Court for alleged offenses including weapons, drugs, larceny, robbery and assault, according to public records

Additional suspects identified in the criminal complaint include:

three men, Daiikwan Villanueva, 20, Steven Singleton, 38, and Erick Elvir, 29;

two women, Shavana Villanueva, 38, and Shaniqua Yamagata, 27.

All of the suspects are charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, according to public records.

Attorney Thomas Reilly said his client, Elvir, happened to sleep over at the home and there was nothing tying him to the drugs or the home.

Attorney Michael Cirigliano said that his client, Leecraft, doesnt live at the address, was not the target of the warrant and the case against him probably will be dismissed.

Based on public records, the Villanueva family lives at that address.

Attorney Howard Greenberg said that initially five of the six suspects were released without bail. His client, Daiikwan Villanueva, who is developmentally disabled, originally was given an amount of bail that the family was unable to pay.

Fortunately the case took a compassionate turn and the prosecutors agreed to release this poor kid without bail, Greenberg told the Advance. Now we await further proceedings and we gear up for a fight, if it is necessary from the outside.

Attorneys for the other suspects did not immediately respond to a requests for comments.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  A New Dorp man who lost four family members and was himself badly hurt in a horrific Pennsylvania car crash 20 years ago was arrested this week on child pornography charges.

Prosecutors allege Robert Ruggeri, 25, circulated kiddie porn and possessed a cache of the smut on his computer over a two-year period.

He was arrested on Thursday.

A criminal complaint alleges the computer contained 10 digital files with images of children under age 17 engaging in sex acts with younger kids and with adults.

Ruggeri loaned, delivered, transferred, published and circulated those images over the Internet between Nov. 23, 2016, and Dec. 12, 2018, alleges the complaint.

The defendant also admitted to using and possessing an email address associated with transmitting images and videos to a Dropbox account which contained videos and images of children under the age of 16 performing sexual acts, the complaint alleges.

Ruggeri was charged with 10 felony counts each of promoting a sexual performance by a child and possessing a sexual performance by a child.

The promoting charge carries a maximum penalty of 28 months to seven years behind bars on a trial conviction.

Ruggeri was arraigned Friday in Criminal Court and posted $2,500 bond, online state court records show.

Ruggeri returned to court on Wednesday for a brief conference.

Prosecutors did not extend a plea offer, and his case was adjourned to May 1.

The tall, bespectacled defendant, who was garbed in a dark blue suit and tie, did not address the court.

Afterward, Anthony A. Caronna, his lawyer, declined comment on the case.

Two decades ago, Ruggeris life took a tragic turn when he was 5.

His family was returning to the Island from a funeral in North Carolina on Sept. 22, 1999, when their minivan collided head-on with a tractor trailer on Interstate 78 in eastern Pennsylvania.

Ruggeris parents, grandfather and 4-year-old brother were killed.

The defendant and his 8-year-old brother survived, although Ruggeri suffered a traumatic brain injury, a punctured lung and severe leg injuries in the crash.

The Canadian truck driver involved in the crash was later sentenced in December 2006 to four years in federal prison on charges that he falsified log books to show more rest than he actually received, the Associated Press reported.

Ruggeri, who was hospitalized for more than a month, battled through his extremely serious injuries.

He graduated McKee High School in June 2011, receiving the Chancellors Remarkable Achievement Award, which honors graduating seniors who overcame great personal or academic challenges such as homelessness, illness and language barriers to earn their high school diplomas, the Advance reported later that month.

A member of the National Honor Society and Student Council, Ruggeri was on the McKee track-and-field team for a year and the robotics team for two years.

He earned a $40,000 academic scholarship to Hofstra University.

The accident hasnt changed my approach or attitude, Ruggeri told the Advance then. My drive is greater. It doesnt make me rethink how I do certain things, but I am definitely more determined to get them done.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- If youre from Staten Island or if youve lived here for a time, you know this: All roads lead back to Staten Island. Sometimes the road has some twists and turns, though. Lets travel a couple of them.

Both of them relate to the Advance Cookbook, a nice culinary link, so to speak. No kidding -- last year, Brad Niemcek from the Kickapoo Culinary Center & American Hazelnut Co. in Gays Mills, Wisc., hit on our contest as a result of a Google News Alert.

Not only did the hazelnut farmer question the nut-tastic caption on Virginia Ledwons recipe entry -- 2018 Advance Cookbook: Aunt Angies Nutty Struffala. But he also offered a piece of personal nostalgia with a story about his time in New York City.

He wrote in an email to the Advance, In the late 80s, ever in search of places to bicycle, I sometimes hauled my bike onto the Staten Island Ferry and pedaled around the Island. There just werent enough good places to peddle in Manhattan. Well, thanks to Brad and the internet, weve discovered an outlet for quality nuts, oil and flour direct from a hazelnut harvester himself, plus a fellow who still remembers the Forgotten Borough.

And in collecting recipes for the 2019 Cookbook -- and with Staten Island being the big small town that it is -- Douglas Apicella reached out from Glen Ridge, N.J., to see if his Red Snapper with Shrimp and Mushrooms was appropriate for the competition. As it turns out, Douglas is the chef and owner of Shells & Bones, a contractual chef service he established in 2018 after graduating from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.

What does this have to do with Staten Island?

Well, Chef Douglas, a professional, is not eligible for our hometowns 45-year-old recipe contest. (Were sorry.) But of course, theres always a Staten Island connection of which to be proud: His wife, Hilary Lane, hails from Emerson Hill. Hilary is the daughter of Connie and the late Bill Lane. And Connie now lives in St. George.

Queens native Douglas, 55, and I got to tawking." Turns out, he worked in the chemical and plastic business for 30 years and now, hes definitely taking a hobby and trying to make a go of it. Douglas now cooks professionally for showcases and wine/cheese pairings and conducts demos around the region. And his first gig was -- thats right -- on Staten Island.

His recipes a good one though. Here it is, along with its story.

Douglas explains how his wife and he visited a pal from Le Cordon Bleu, Paris.

[We] went to visit him in Mexico City where he lives and co-owns a restaurant and is the executive chef. He invited me to develop a recipe while I was observing his kitchen operations and said if it tasted good hed add it as a special at his restaurant, Douglas reports. Now, this recipe is featured at the pals Mexico City place, La Taberna del Chanclas.

So if youre ever a tourist in Mexico City, now you have another restaurant abroad with a Staten Island connection.

Douglas Apicella shares a shrimp recipe and a story

RECIPE: RED SNAPPER WITH SHRIMP AND MUSHROOMS

(Makes 5 servings)

INGREDIENTS:

3 to 4 red snapper, about 2 pounds each, filleted. Reserve head (gills and eyes removed) and bones

5 fresh clams, in the shell

5 jumbo shrimp, cleaned, heads and tails left on, shells reserved for stock

5 medium shrimp, cleaned, meat and shells reserved for stock (head optional)

15 button mushrooms, cleaned with stems removed. Reserve stems for stock

12 cloves garlic, cut in half, green central part (germ) removed. divided 10 for the garlic cream sauce and 2 for the stock.

Unsalted butter, 9 tablespoons

Olive oil, as needed

3.5 ounces (100 grams) all-purpose flour

1 cup white wine

3 cups heavy cream

2 ribs celery, diced

1/8 to 1/4 fennel bulb, diced

1/2 large onion, diced

3 ounces brandy - optional

4-5 thyme sprigs

2 bay leaves

5 parsley stems

Olive oil

6 peppercorns

Salt and pepper, to taste

Sweet paprika, seaweed or fennel fronds for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Make the garlic cream:

In a small pot boil garlic in water for 20 to 30 seconds to reduce bitterness. Strain out water, add cream and 1 to 2 sprigs of thyme. Heat without boiling on lowest setting for about 30-40 minutes, stirring frequently, checking for taste. Strain and discard solids.

For the roux:

Melt 7 tablespoons butter and add all the flour in a pan, whisking continually until it starts to smell like cake and/or reaches a blond color. Approximately 4 to 7 minutes

To make the stock:

Over medium-high heat, add olive oil to a stock pot. Sweat onion, about 2 minutes. Add shrimp shells, snapper bones and head, and medium shrimp meat and shells (optional). Stir and crush until shrimp turns dark orange. Flambe with 2 ounces of brandy and/or deglaze with white wine.

Add diced fennel, leek, celery, 2 to 3 parsley stems, 2 bay leaves, 2-3 sprigs of thyme, onion, reserved mushroom stems, 2 cloves crushed garlic and peppercorns to the pot. Add water to top of shells and bones. Add dash of salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for no less than 40 minutes. Pass through a strainer, discard solids and reduce until about 1/4 of the stock remains. Add salt to taste if needed.

For the veloute sauce:

Combine the warm, reduced stock and garlic cream in approximately a one to four ratio. Raise heat to medium-high. Add about 3 tablespoons roux. Whisk until smooth and to desired thickness is achieved. Whisk in  tablespoon butter to finish.

To make the mushrooms:

Heat olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat. When butter stops bubbling, add mushrooms and saute about 1 to 2 minutes. Flambe with 1 ounce brandy. Continue cooking until cooked through and no alcohol remains, about 2-3 minutes.

Prepare and cook the fish:

Make surface cuts on snapper skin with sharp knife, careful not to penetrate flesh so filets dont curl when they see heat. Season fillets with salt and pepper. Pan fry the fish presentation side (skin side) down in medium-to-high temperature olive oil.

Cook the shrimp:

In the same pan that you cooked the fillets, add some more olive oil and  tablespoon butter on medium-high heat. When butter stops bubbling add jumbo shrimp and saute until flesh begins to crisp, about 1 to 2 minutes on each side. Take care that the head is supported when flipping from side to side since they are fragile.

To complete the dish

When fully cooked, plate fish, shrimp and mushrooms. Finish by pouring warmed veloute sauce on dish elements as desired. Garnish with sprinkles of sweet paprika, a bit of seaweed and/or fennel frond.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- For native Staten Islanders, especially those from the East Shore, New Dorp Lane once served as the heartbeat of the borough, back when the 117 bus traveled past The Melody Club, Chinatown Restaurant, Martys Soda Shop, the New Dorp Butcher Shop, Aidas Bakery and Pinky & Jacks candy store.

To understand New Dorp Lanes past is to appreciate its future and potential as a restaurant row -- potential because it has arguably been in a little funk for the past two decades, with a heavy presence of nail salons on The Lane and new strip malls along Hylan Boulevard competing with better parking accommodations.

Yet its the charm of The Lane that attracts chefs and the food dreamers.

Giorgio Giove, owner of Pizzeria Giove, moved onto New Dorp Lane a few years ago because it had a small-town feel to it. Avi Shaiovici brought SoBol Acai Bowls & Beyonds second Staten Island location to the block because of its proximity to schools and its walk-ability.

Shaiovici said on the restaurants first day in early January, I think you have a mix of everything here. I like the diversity."

While such enterprising restaurateurs hope to drive the future of New Dorp Lane and make it Staten Islands next booming food destination, changing demographics and a new Asian influence are also poised to make a mark on the strips rebirth.

RESTAURANTS TAKING ROOT

To have a restaurant row, you need to start with a diversity of food options -- lots of them.

Luckily, one fact has been clear in the history of restaurants taking root along New Dorp Lane: Once a building becomes a restaurant, it doesnt usually go back to its old usage. The infrastructure is in place for a chef to easily set up shop.

Take the former post office at Clawson Street. It became King Chef for decades until new ownership established Jade Asian Bistro and redesigned the facade.

Before the Three Js (Joe, Jack and John Mansueto) moved to Great Kills, it lived at 201 New Dorp Lane, a building to beget Totos and its current resident, Crown Palace.

After the 39-year-old Chinatown Restaurant at 366 New Dorp Lane shut down, it rolled into a series of eateries that ranged from upscale Greek to Twisters, a curious merging of 1950s music and decor with 80s-style eats like stuffed potato skins and a deep-fried blooming onion. It is now Precious Island.

The entrenched plumbing, exhaust and firepit in place at 174 New Dorp Lane hails from its days as Nardinos, then Rugantinos, Johnnys, Jubileo and now Brioso.

Giacamos Pizzeria and Restaurant of Brooklyn will occupy the former digs of Villa Monte. And restaurant owners from around the Island have expressed interest in taking over the recently shuttered Dominicks Bakery, a corner property known to natives as Lemole Pharmacy.

Former New Dorp Lane retail spots now occupied by restaurants include SoBol Acai Bowls and Beyond and the soon-to-open ViVi Bubble Tea. Talk in the neighborhood is that 172 New Dorp Lane where B&A Jewelers lived for decades has been viewed by entrepreneurs looking to build a new restaurant.

FAR EAST FLAVORS

Ask some of the food service operators what they think about New Dorp Lanes future and they see a budding new Chinatown.

Indeed, there is a distinct Asian influence on The Lane with restaurant ownership and food themes with Crown Palace; Precious Island Tea Shop, which serves dim sum; Chikurin with its mix of Chinese food, sushi and dim sum; Jade Asian Bistros upscale fusion concept, and the aforementioned ViVi Bubble Tea. On the periphery of The Lane, the Asian influence continues at New Dorp Plaza with Vietnamese fare at Pho Rainbow and Nori Sushi.

Dim sum is the mainstay of the Precious Island Tea Shop menu, a new restaurant in New Dorp. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)

Nicole Li of Something Sweet recognizes the blossoming Asian community on Staten Island, particularly on the East Shore. She came to New Dorp Lane eight years ago when the longtime ice cream spot, formerly home to Seduttos, became available.

Lis sister-in-law was the one who spotted the location while working in the family business, the successful Fresh Tortillas. That, by the way, is the first Mexican restaurant in the neighborhood and one established by Chinese-Americans: Chinese-born Chun Qi Chen opened his tienda, Fresh Tortillas, on New Dorp Lane in 1999.

Angela Chow, a managing partner at Jade Asian Bistro, concludes the same about the influx of Asian business owners to the strip. While she feels her restaurants Chinese and Japanese food is distinct -- every dish has its own unique sauce and the sushi rolls contain mostly fish, not rice, she underscores -- the sheer number of restaurants in the neighborhood draws visitors to the area.

I think it should be all food on New Dorp Lane. I think they should rename it New Dorp Food Commons. People would come for food. Its about drawing more audience to New Dorp Lane, said Chow.

GETTING PATRONS TO NEW DORP LANE

Are there too many eateries on the drag?

One New Dorp Lane restaurant owner who asked not to be named lamented, We dont have enough guests right now. Business was typically slow most of the time in his place except on Friday and Saturday nights.

But Cake Chef James Carrozza of Piece A Cake and Cookie Jar of New Dorp is decidedly hopeful.

If more quality restaurants come, it will be a good thing, he said.

Councilman Steven Matteo, a founder of the New Dorp Merchants Group and Business Improvement District, launched a program to bring Staten Islanders to The Lanes restaurants in 2015 when the organization and the Staten Island Economic Development Corp. set in motion a well-orchestrated restaurant crawl.

The effort was a natural one with such a high concentration of eateries already in place with participants such as a Brioso, La Strada, Johns Deli (known for its hot roast beef), Pizzeria Giove, Piece A Cake, Taste of India II and Cantina Mexicana, a sit-down restaurant in the former digs of The Lane Diner.

I worked with local business owners to form the BID not just to help them succeed, but also so that they could have more control over the future of New Dorp Lane," said Matteo.

They now have the flexibility and the marketing expertise to adapt to the changing consumer market -- something they could not necessarily do as individual businesses working alone. New Dorp Lane is thriving, and that is a good thing. It has become a destination for Staten Islanders to shop, eat and obtain unique, local services, said the councilman.

Extra steam from Piece A Cake and Cookie Jar on New Dorp Lane comes on particularly frigid days. (Staten Island Advance/ Jan Somma-Hammel)

MORE RESIDENTS, MORE DINERS?

New Dorp architect Phil Rampulla appreciates the possibilities of The Lane.

I think its great as an urban planner because [restaurants] are busy at night when the retail businesses are closed. Theres plenty of parking. Its well lit. Its walkable. Its attractive, he said.

As for its future, Rampulla wants to see more residential use of the strip.

Id like see two to three stories above the stores. That would bring nighttime street life to New Dorp Lane, more demand for local retail services, which is slipping toward the nail salons. Its not exactly what it was 20 years ago, he added.

And the railroad, he said, should drive development upward into low- and mid-rise buildings.

We dont have a housing typology for young millennials and seniors because theyre leaving the Island. Were catching that demand in St. George," Rampulla said.

Dongan Hills, on the other hand, is dotted with three- and four-story apartment buildings because of the zoning and demand for apartments.

And it works, Rampulla said.Page Content



This is the third in a three-part series of articles on cannabis laws and court opinions. Today's article focuses on how marijuana is treated under state workers' compensation and benefit programs. The first article reviews different rulings on federal pre-emption of state marijuana laws, and the second part discusses workplace accommodations for medical marijuana use.

Although federal and state marijuana laws may conflict, many state laws support medical use of the drug in connection with disability and medical leave management. Beyond that, states may take different views of marijuana use with regard to workers' compensation and unemployment benefit programs. The law is still developing in these areas.

Workers' Compensation

With regard to workers' compensation programs, the question is twofold. First, can a workers' compensation claim be denied if an employee tests positive for using state-approved medical cannabis? Second, can an injured employee seek reimbursement for medical marijuana to treat a workplace injury?

Case law is sparse on the first question. Workers' compensation carriers will no doubt point to state statutes disqualifying employees with workplace injuries caused by intoxication, while employees will explain that any positive tests resulted from lawful, off-duty use. Courts must consider different burdens of proof under state law and the less-than-reliable means of pinpointing levels of "intoxication" from cannabis using testing techniques.

The second questionwhether an employee is entitled to be reimbursed for medical marijuana that is used to treat a workplace injuryis a new and evolving issue. In Bourgin v. Twin Rivers Paper Company, LLC, the Maine Supreme Court held that an employer was not required to pay for an employee's medical marijuana, as that would directly conflict with federal law.

A New Mexico appellate court, however, held the opposite in Vialpando v. Ben's Auto. Servs. & Redwood Fire & Cas., where an employer appealed a Workers' Compensation Administration order requiring it to reimburse an employee's medical marijuana costs. The court held that the state's workers' compensation law permits such reimbursement. Additional decisions in the state confirmed that marijuana is a medically necessary treatment and rejected federal pre-emption arguments against allowing reimbursement for cannabis.

[SHRM members-only how-to guide: How to Administer a Workers' Compensation Claim]

The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry issued rules excluding medical marijuana from the definition of "illegal substances" that cannot be used as treatment. So cannabis is now a reimbursable form of medical treatment in the state.

In California, the question remains unsettled as parties continue to litigate the seminal case of Cockrell v. Farmers Insur. and Liberty Mut. Insur. Co.

Unemployment Benefits

Employers that want to fire workers for using marijuana may wish to consider whether the employee will be eligible for unemployment benefits. The answer, once again, will depend on where the employee works.

In Braska v. Challenge Mfg. Co., a Michigan appellate court found that claimants holding medical marijuana cards pursuant to the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act who were fired for testing positive for marijuana use were eligible for unemployment compensation benefits.

By comparison, in Beinor v. Indus. Claim Appeals Office of Colorado, a Colorado appeals court held that an employee using physician-recommended marijuana to treat severe headaches could not receive benefits. Under Colorado's unemployment compensation laws, employees can't receive benefits if they are fired for testing positive for a nonprescribed controlled substance during work hours. Because a physician recommends, but does not prescribe, medical marijuana under Colorado law, the court held that unemployment compensation benefits were not available to the employee.

Tips for Employers

The laws surrounding marijuana legalization are complex and changing quickly. Employers looking to control employee use of the substance inside or outside of the workplace through drug policies and screening programs must observe both federal law and applicable state laws.

Employers should consider the purpose of their policies and keep them up-to-date as the national and international trends toward legalization continue.

Dean Rocco is an attorney with Wilson Elser in Los Angeles. Noelle Sheehan is an attorney with Wilson Elser in Orlando, Fla.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.Its important  the recognition that Hartford is 85 percent black and brown and a lot of folks that have been a part of the criminal justice system are also victims of the war on drugs, Councilwoman Claudine Fox, a co-sponsor of the measure, said. Its important for us as a city to honor the folks that live here and have lived through that, and make a statement as a municipality to move forward regardless of how things go at the state level.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.HERMITAGE  Ron Moore Jr. cried when he saw the news of two Hickory students who died in an accident on Interstate 80 Sunday night.

"What happened to these kids, I thought, 'That could be my kids. Or it could be one of our grandkids,'" Moore said. "Right away, I thought, 'I need to do a portrait.'"

Moore does not know the families or the girls personally, but he was touched by the tragedy.

He sat down and prayed and decided to sketch portraits of Alexis Myers and Danielle Nelson.

Moore started a few years ago sketching portraits of people who passed away.

He lives in Austintown, Ohio, and is known as the "Artist of Memories."

"I like to do artwork that creates memories or gets people to think," he said.

Some of the first portraits he created were of those killed in the Las Vegas concert shooting a couple years ago. He also sketched portraits of the Texas church shooting. Locally, he sketched the five children who recently died in a house fire in Youngstown.

Joe Ranelli says girls left their mark on Notre Dame, community HERMITAGE  Alexis Myers and Danielle Nelson's smiles are burnt into Joe Ranelli's memory.

Moore has Parkinson's disease and could not draw for years until he had a special brain surgery performed. This allowed him to start drawing again.

When he sits down to sketch a portrait, he asks God to give his hands the ability to do what needs to be done.

"Before I send it out to the family members, I ask God to allow it to be a blessing to the family that receives it," Moore said.

Moore contacted the funeral homes handling the arrangements for Alexis Myers and Danielle Nelson and was able to have the portraits delivered Wednesday afternoon.

Follow Melissa Klaric on Twitter and Facebook @HeraldKlaric, email: mklaric@sharonherald.comBlue said Kirkley-Bey approached him after an evening function at city hall last February and tried to kiss him and place his hands on her body, before smacking him across the buttocks. Kirkley-Bey denied touching Blue or acting inappropriately, but an outside attorney, hired by the city to investigate, found her testimony less than credible.Twenty couples marked Valentines Day by getting married in traditional cow-drawn wooden carts in Thailand.



The brides and grooms, including one European man with his Thai partner, rode on the traditional farming carriages through the country roads in Phetchaburi, southern Thailand today (February 14).



Footage shows happy couples, wearing beautiful Thai costumes, performing traditional rituals at the Na Phrom temple of Na Phan Sam district.



Newlyweds also made Thai desserts - which represented the long and happy love life - and were blessed with holy water by their relatives, making the ceremony lively and warm.



The Thai man speaking in the video, Prasit Ruamsin, the Chief Executive of the Na Phan Sam district, said that this festival had been held for three years.



He said: The culture of Thai wooden carts was a local wedding ceremony of our district. But it was about to be forgotten because new generations preferred a quick and easy modern ceremony.



So we promoted this traditional ceremony as a big festival for local and non-local to participate and we hope that more people would recognise the beauty of Thai traditional wedding.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This was the historic moment when the Airbus Beluga XL flew to the UK for the first time, and one lucky plane spotter saw it pass right above his home.



The Beluga made its maiden UK voyage today (February 14) from Toulouse, France to the UK.



The aircraft has flown over the Airbus UK factory in Filton, South Gloucestershire, followed by the Severn Bridge and finally landed at Hawarden airport near the companys factory in Flintshire, Wales.



The lucky plane spotter was tracking the plane from his home when he noticed it coming for him and ran out to go and see the aviation wonder.



He explained: "I watched the Beluga XL flight path on my PC when suddenly she turned towards Weston-super-Mare, not the expected flight path.



"I ran upstairs to see if I could spot her maiden flight and be rewarded with a flight directly overhead.



"She dipped her nose before heading towards Filton, Bristol to tilt her wings.



"[It's] such a beautiful design, however, my Chihuahua was not too pleased seeing a Whale flying across our house!



"A historical aviation moment. Amazing."OUTSIDE BAGHOUZ, Syria  Islamic State group militants clung to their last square mile of land in eastern Syria on Thursday with an unknown number of civilians trapped inside, officials said.

U.S.-backed forces conducted precision operations targeting the militants outposts in and around the village of Baghouz and worked to clear surrounding villages of remaining fighters, officials with the Kurdish-led forces said.

Thousands of people, including many foreign fighters and their families, have emerged from the area in the past few weeks amid ferocious fighting as the U.S.-supported Syrian Democratic Forces closed in from three sides.

They include scores of militants who surrendered to the SDF on Wednesday night, but the exodus of civilians has slowed to a trickle in recent days.

The battle continues but the pace has changed. ... There are advances but very slow, said Mervan, an SDF official who goes by the nickname the Brave.

He said SDF operations have focused mainly on the villages northeast axis, hitting posts held by Islamic State and its cells. He said the militants attacked the Kurdish forces the night before, hitting one of their vehicles and killing a number of fighters. The militants are using new thermal weapons, he said.

The forces are moving very slowly. They are not moving heavy weapons, very little unless guided and very precise, he said. The SDF official said he estimates 300 militants remain inside the enclave, and about 1 square mile remains in Islamic State hands.

Ciyager Amed, an SDF official, said it is difficult to differentiate between the militants and civilians stilled holed up in Baghouz, citing one reason why the advances have slowed down. Another official said tunnels were still being discovered.

The U.S.-led coalition said the SDF was conducting clearing operations of remaining Islamic State militants who are hiding among the local population, and detaining others attempting to flee with the civilians.

The capture of Baghouz and nearby areas would mark the end of a devastating four-year global campaign to end the extremist groups hold on territory in Syria and Iraq, their so-called caliphate that at the height of the militant groups power in 2014 controlled nearly a third of both Iraq and Syria.

Sarah El Deeb is an Associated Press writer.CULIACAN, Mexico  U.S. officials are hailing the conviction of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman as a victory for the Mexican people, but in the drug lords home state of Sinaloa, cradle to his powerful cartel, many residents say they dont expect violence and trafficking to abate.

As news that the Sinaloa Cartel kingpin will likely spend the rest of his life in a U.S. prison headlined Wednesdays newspapers in the state capital of Culiacan, most people took it in stride  though Guzmans family members in the mountains were said to be angered by the verdict.

For the crimes he committed, life in prison seems pretty fair. ... I mean, its not going to end the problem of narcotrafficking, said Mario Rodriguez, adding that he feels very unsafe in his city.

Sinaloa regularly posts homicide rates among the highest in Mexico, including 43.89 killings per 100,000 residents in 2017  well above the national average. The violence is often localized and often involves conflicts between rival gangs over street-level drug dealing.

I think this is going to continue with or without him, Rodriguez said. I think there are certain kinds of people, with a certain way of dressing, with certain kinds of vehicles that one avoids, because even though it seems like prejudice, they could be involved in something like that.

Guzman gained notoriety in Mexico and abroad for twice pulling off brazen escapes from maximum-security prisons in Mexico, presumably with the help of corrupt officials. Ballads known as narcocorridos were composed extolling his exploits as he evaded Mexican justice for years.

But many in Culiacan reject the outlaw myth associated with Guzman.

El Chapo is not a persona. He is a criminal, said Tania Venegas, also from Culiacan. Thats why drug trafficking will always exist, people see it as the easy path.

Guzman now stands to spend decades behind bars in a supermax prison south of Denver, and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador saw in him a cautionary tale.

Let this serve as a lesson to show that money doesnt buy true happiness, Lopez Obrador said Wednesday at a news conference. He mused that happiness is having a clear conscience and being at peace with ones self and others.

Lopez Obrador, who took office Dec. 1, says his anti-cartel strategy will not focus on hunting down kingpins and has launched a campaign aimed at persuading people not to break to the law. Its slogan: Were all going to behave.

In the Sinaloa mountains where Guzman was born and which he long used as a stronghold and hideout, news of the conviction spread quickly even in remote communities.

In Badiraguato, home to about 31,000 people and nestled in the drug-producing Golden Triangle region of northwestern Mexico, El Chapo is known to have provided jobs in the community. Locals say the municipalitys economy has collapsed since his most recent capture in 2016 and subsequent extradition.

Andres Villarreal is an Associated Press writer.WARSAW  Although it is absent from the stage, Iran is nevertheless taking the spotlight at a Middle East security conference co-hosted by the United States and Poland that has highlighted deep divisions between the U.S. and some of its traditional allies.

Amid uncertainty over its aims and questions about what it will deliver, the conference opens late Wednesday in Warsaw with some 60 nations in attendance. Yet, in an apparent test of U.S. influence and suspicions in Europe and elsewhere over the Trump administrations intentions in Iran, many countries arent sending their top diplomats and will be represented at levels lower than their invited foreign ministers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Vice President Mike Pence attended along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his counterparts from numerous Arab nations. But France and Germany are not sending Cabinet-ranked officials, and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is staying away.

Russia and China arent participating, and the Palestinians, who have called for the meeting to be boycotted, also will be absent. Iran, which is this week celebrating the 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution, denounced the meeting as a circus aimed at demonizing it.

In a bid to encourage better participation, Pompeo and others sought to broaden what was initially advertised as an Iran-centric meeting to include the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the fight against the Islamic State, and the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. That effort produced only mixed results, particularly with longtime European allies who are trying to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after last years U.S. withdrawal.

Pence will address the conference on a range of Middle East issues, Pompeo will talk about U.S. plans in Syria following President Trumps decision to withdraw U.S. troops and Trumps senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and his peace partner, Jason Greenblatt, will speak about their as-yet unveiled Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

On his way to Warsaw, Netanyahu made clear the conference is centered on Iran.

It is a conference that unites the United States, Israel, many countries in the world, many countries in the region, Arab countries, against Irans aggressive policy, its aggression, its desire to conquer the Middle East and destroy Israel, he told reporters.

Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, meanwhile, denounced the United States in a speech on Wednesday.

About the United States, the resolution of any issues is not imaginable and negotiations with it will bring nothing but material and spiritual harm, Khamenei said. He described any possible future negotiations as an unforgiveable mistake that would be like going on your knees before the enemy and kissing the claws of the wolf.

Matthew Lee is an Associated Press writer.MOSCOW  When the last Soviet tanks rumbled back home across a bridge on the border with Afghanistan 30 years ago, the withdrawal was hailed as a much-anticipated end to a bloody quagmire.

Since then, Moscows view of the war has changed radically.

As Russia prepares to mark Fridays anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal, many see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavor. Just like the ongoing Russian campaign in Syria, the Afghan war is widely perceived as a legitimate action against U.S.-backed militants.

And in a twist of history, Russia also has emerged as an influential power broker in Afghanistan, mediating between feuding factions as it jockeys with Washington for influence in a country where a U.S.-led coalition has been fighting for more than 17 years.

Ata Mohammad Noor, a former warlord who fought Soviet troops and served as governor of the northern Balkh province from 2004 to 2018, attended a meeting last week in Moscow that brought together former Afghan officials, opposition figures and the Taliban.

I dont think that Russia would like to repeat what it did in the past. Its totally different today, Noor said. On the other side, there have been 40 years of war in our country, and the Afghan people are all tired of war. People would support any country that would step forward to bring peace.

The statement carries particular weight coming from a man who played a key role in defeating the Soviet army, was badly wounded in combat, and proudly recalls how his mujahedeen fighters destroyed countless Red Army tanks and dozens of warplanes.

After the long U.S. involvement, Afghans are deeply critical of the coalition forces. Even those who fought in the 1980s give grudging credit to Moscow for leaving a legacy that outshines Washingtons. They point out that Russian left behind a strong and disciplined army and a 400-bed military hospital that is still among the countrys best health facilities. Some note that while communist President Najibullahs government was ruthless, it was not racked by the widespread corruption that has plagued Afghanistans U.S.-backed government.

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, driven by fears that the U.S. could try to establish a foothold next to Soviet republics in Central Asia after losing Iran in the Islamic Revolution. Moscows initial plans for a quick operation were derailed by fierce rebel resistance, and in the years of fighting that followed, the Soviet Union lost more than 15,000 troops, according to official data. Estimates of civilian casualties in that period vary widely, from more than 500,000 up to 2 million.

The Soviet intervention drew strong international condemnation and imposed a heavy burden on the struggling Soviet economy. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ordered the pullout amid his efforts to conduct liberal reforms and end confrontation with the West. Afghanistans communist government held for three more years, collapsing shortly after the December 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.

In Russia, many veterans blame Gorbachev for a hasty pullout that squandered the hard-fought gains, and they hold Russias first president, Boris Yeltsin, responsible for the demise of Najibullah.

Vladimir Isachenkov is an Associated Press writer.A mudslide on Bailey Road between Concord and the Keller Canyon Landfill has closed the thoroughfare in both directions.

The Pittsburg Police Department reported the closure Thursday afternoon, adding they don't yet have an ETA for its reopening.

RELATED: Two levee breaches reported near Highway 37 in Novato as rains pound North Bay

"Bailey Road is closed in both directions from Concord to the Keller Canyon Landfill," they wrote on Facebook. "CHP, Pittsburg PD and Pittsburg Corporation are on scene assessing the situation."

RELATED: When is the rain ever going to stop falling in the Bay Area?

Mudslides and flooding are occurring across the Bay Area as locals continue to deal with the effects of the storm system moving into Northern California.

One landslide, in Sausalito, caused a house to slide off its foundation and 75 yards down into another home. One person was trapped and eventually rescued in the early Thursday morning hours.

Temperatures are expected to continue to drop, causing hail, low-level snow and thunderstorms around the area, though rainfall over the next few days won't be as substantial as the previous few. See more weather coverage here.

SFGATE has reached out to the Pittsburg Police Department for more information.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.

A wet winter storm pulling moisture from the South Pacific soaked the Bay Area and delivered impressive rainfall totals from Tuesday night through Thursday morning. The so-called atmospheric river triggered mudslides and flooding throughout the region.

Venado, an unincorporated town under a lush canopy of redwoods in the mountains of Sonoma County, holds the record for the storm, measuring 12.44 inches in 48 hours. Venado, 10 miles west of Healdsburg, often records the highest rainfall in storms.In a Wednesday night tweet, President Donald Trump demanded that California return the federal funding allocated for the now-abandoned SF-to-LA high-speed rail back to the federal government, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom reiterated that the state has no plans to do so.

"California has been forced to cancel the massive bullet train project after having spent and wasted many billions of dollars," Trump tweeted. "They owe the Federal Government three and a half billion dollars. We want that money back now. Whole project is a 'green' disaster!"

Newsom called Trump's tweet "fake news."

"Fake news. We're building high-speed rail, connecting the Central Valley and beyond," he tweeted in response to the president. "This is CA's money, allocated by Congress for this project. We're not giving it back. The train is leaving the station  better get on board!"

RELATED: Gavin Newsom rebuts Trump in 1st State of State

The governor also trolled the president over his inability to receive funding for a border wall.

"Also, desperately searching for some wall $$??" Newsom asked.

During Newsom's first State of the State speech on Tuesday, the governor said he would no longer pursue his predecessor Jerry Brown's high-speed rail that would have connected San Francisco and Los Angeles.

"Let's level about the high-speed rail," he 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."

MORE NEWSOM: California Gov. Gavin Newsom Selling $5.9M Marin County Home

The project was recently estimated to cost $77 billion, and would not be completed until 2033. In its place, Newsom proposed building a high-speed rail between Bakersfield and Merced.

"Critics are going to say that's a train to nowhere, but I think that's wrong and that's offensive," he said. "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."

In order to finance the new project, Newsom said he would hold onto the $3.5 billion Congress originally allocated for the SF-to-LA rail.

"I am not interested in sending $3.5 billion in federal funding that was allocated to this project back to Donald Trump," he said.

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.How is a small business supposed to stay in business when it is possible for nearly its entire workforce to be out on leave for up to three months at a time? the NFIB said in testimony to the legislatures labor and public employees committee.In October, the company slashed its quarterly dividend and announced it was restructuring its power business after a larger-than-expected third quarter loss. Earlier that month, the company ousted its then-CEO John Flannery after only about a year on the job and replaced him with Larry Culp, who told investors it had become clear that GE needed to simplify its business structure.Officers with the East Central Narcotics Task Force had watched Cintron selling crack this month and in January, task force supervisor Sgt. Matthew Pace said. When Cintron was arrested Wednesday, he had about 12 grams of crack with a street value of about $400, Pace said. Police also seized an undisclosed amount of cash and two vehicles, an Acura and a Kia, he said.Litchfield (06759)

Today

Clear skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 52F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 52F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.More than 15,000 PG&E customers were without power as of Wednesday afternoon as a result of heavy rain and gusty winds that have come through the Bay Area and caused flooding, downed trees and other problems.



The storm, termed an atmospheric river by the National Weather Service, is expected to affect the region through Thursday, with scattered showers expected through at least Saturday.



The wet and windy conditions caused trees, limbs and other items to fall onto power lines and damage equipment. According to PG&E, where were 15,509 utility customers in the Bay Area without power as of 3 p.m. Wednesday.



The storm had caused the cancellation of 138 flights at San Francisco International Airport as of Wednesday afternoon, with more than 300 others delayed, airport officials said.







The Board of Trustees of the Dixie School District in Marin County voted Tuesday night against changing the district's name, trustee Marnie Glickman said Wednesday morning.



The group Change The Name, advocating to change the district's name, said the word Dixie is associated with segregation, white supremacy and segregation dating back to the Civil War era.



Opponents of the name change, We Are Dixie, argue the district was named after Mary Dixie, a Miwok Indian woman who had ties to James Miller who built the first schoolhouse in San Rafael in 1849.



The school trustees voted to reject each of the 13 petitions that contained a different name for the district, Glickman said. Each petition needed a majority approval from the five-member board.







All lanes of eastbound Interstate Highway 80 in Vacaville have reopened following a collision Wednesday morning between a pedestrian and a big-rig, according to the California Highway Patrol.



The big-rig killed a man who was walking in the slow eastbound lane of the highway around 7 a.m. The big-rig driver stopped at the scene.



The collision closed the far right eastbound lane. All lanes opened around 8:35 a.m.







Potential renters and buyers in San Francisco will now have access to the latest information about the city's low-lying areas prone to flooding before deciding to move into a property, following a vote by the city's Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.



Supervisors voted unanimously to require homeowners or landlords of city properties to disclose to buyers or tenants whether the property is within a flood risk zone.



The flood risk information is based on a new map created by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which identifies more than 4,000 properties that are vulnerable to storm runoff occurring during a 100-year storm -- a term used to describe an extreme storm that has a 1 percent chance of happening during any given year.







A Livermore-based business has been cited more than $242,000 for safety violations related to the death of a worker in the collapse of a trench in Daly City last July, California Division of Occupational Safety and Health officials said Wednesday.



Platinum Pipeline Inc. received citations by Cal/OSHA for 10 violations following the death of 33-year-old Abel Sauceda of Modesto in the trench collapse at a residential construction site at 1 Martin St. on July 27, 2018.



According to the workplace safety agency, the company instructed employees to continue grading the bottom of the trench without providing any protection, even after seeing the soil was unstable. A 14-foot-high excavation wall then collapsed, killing Sauceda.







A 47-year-old man was struck and killed by a truck in unincorporated Brookdale in Santa Cruz County on Tuesday afternoon, according to the California Highway Patrol.



The collision was reported at about 2:25 p.m. on Larkspur Street just east of state Highway 9.



The 47-year-old man, a Brookdale resident, was lying in the roadway and the driver of a 2010 Ford F-350 did not see him in time to stop and drove over him, CHP officials said.



The victim, whose name has not been released, was pronounced dead at the scene. The Ford driver, a 57-year-old Brookdale man, stopped at the scene and was not arrested, according to the CHP.







A man who gravely injured in a shooting in East Oakland earlier this month succumbed to his injuries Tuesday, according to police.



The man, an Oakland resident whose name has not been released, was found after officers responded at 10:04 p.m. on Feb. 5 to a ShotSpotter gunshot detection system alert of a shooting in the area of 54th Avenue and Holland Street, police said.



He was taken to a hospital and was listed in grave condition, then succumbed to his injuries at 4:17 p.m. Tuesday, according to police.







A man was seriously injured in a shooting in Oakland on Tuesday afternoon, according to police.



Gunfire was reported at 1:48 p.m. in the 1000 block of East 12th Street, police said. The victim suffered gunshot wounds to their head and back, but was listed in stable condition as of Wednesday morning.



There are two suspects in the shooting, but neither has been arrested, according to police.







No was injured in a shooting at a Morgan Hill bar at a bowling alley early Sunday morning but police are still searching for a woman who left the scene.



The disturbance was reported at 12:57 a.m. at Strixe Lounge, part of Morgan Hill Bowl at 650 Tennant Station. Police learned there had been an altercation inside the bar leading to a shooting in the parking lot.



The woman was leaving the area in a newer silver Honda Accord or similar vehicle when the shots were fired, according to police. No one was injured and there was no property damage reported.



Police detained several people, gathered witness statements, and obtained surveillance images of the woman, who is considered a person of interest in the case. Police released photos of the vehicle and woman Wednesday.







The Novato Library will remain closed because of the rainstorms in the region and unresolved leaks, Marin County Library Director Sara Jones said Wednesday.



The Novato branch at 1720 Novato Blvd. closed Dec. 1 for renovations of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. The library reopened Jan. 22 but roof leaks forced it to close on Feb. 2.



The library was to reopen this Saturday, but Jones said it will stay closed as a precaution for two more weeks to prevent damage from storms and unresolved leaks. The reopening is now scheduled for March 2.





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.Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is expected to talk about the record-setting housing construction boom in the city and the challenges the city's economy is facing as it tries to support its rapid growth during a mayors' breakfast on Thursday morning, according to the mayor's office.



"Challenges and opportunities" is what Schaaf will discuss at the San Francisco Business Times' Mayors' Economic Forecast breakfast, her spokesman Justin Berton said. The breakfast is being held Thursday morning at the Oakland Marriott City Center in downtown Oakland.



Burton said the mayor will also speak about the importance of the CASA Compact, which is a regionwide effort to increase housing in the Bay Area.



She and San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who's also expected to speak at the breakfast, support the compact.



Also speaking at the breakfast will be an analyst with Bank of America and a real estate expert from the University of California at Berkeley.



Only ticketholders may attend.







Matthew Muller, who was sentenced in federal court last year to 40 years in prison for the bizarre kidnapping of a Vallejo woman from Mare Island in 2015, was ordered Wednesday to stand trial in Solano County Superior Court on six felony charges in connection with the same case.



Judge Kim P. Tam held Muller, 41, over for trial for kidnapping for ransom, two forcible rapes, first-degree robbery of an inhabited dwelling, first-degree residential burglary and false imprisonment by violence.



Muller represented himself in court at the preliminary hearing, and he is scheduled to re-enter pleas to the charges Feb. 25.



In September 2016, Muller pleaded guilty in federal court to a federal kidnapping charge. The Solano County District Attorney's Office filed the state charges against him on Jan. 26, 2018.



Muller is being held under no bail in Solano County Jail.







With a major storm and "atmospheric river" hitting the Santa Clara Valley this week, San Jose city officials have undertaken several measures to protect residents from the disastrous flood conditions that caused over 11,000 people to evacuate in February 2017.



The Coyote Creek flood submerged mobile homes in the South San Jose neighborhoods of Rock Springs, William Street and Oakland Road, caused over $70 million in damage and overhauled local jurisdictions' approach to the Anderson Reservoir overflow.



Linda LeZotte, chair of the Santa Clara Valley Water District, said during a news conference Wednesday that there is no doubt Coyote Creek will flood into surrounding neighborhoods this year.



"With the type of storm we had last year, Rock Springs is gonna flood," LeZotte said. "It's a question of how do we protect the neighborhood people from devastation, personal devastation."



County agencies, the water district and the city have expanded their emergency notification system and are pursuing a combination of on-the-ground outreach and digital initiatives to alert residents during storms, along with riverbank infrastructure changes in the last year.







Four months into a pilot program by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to allow powered scooters back on city streets, a San Francisco-based scooter company says it's not giving up on being part of the program, even though its appeal was denied Tuesday.



Back in October, the SFMTA began its one-year pilot program and approved permits for two companies, Scoot and Skip. San Francisco-based Lime was one of ten companies denied permits, along with Spin and Jump.



At the time, Lime alleged that the SFMTA's permit system was flawed and sought to appeal the agency's decision. Spin and Jump also separately appealed their permit denials.



According to John Cote with the San Francisco City Attorney's Office, which handled the appeals for the SFMTA, a neutral hearing officer looked at the appeals and separately denied all three.



Spin's appeal was denied on Jan. 29, while Jump's was denied on Feb. 5. Lime's appeal was denied Tuesday, he said.







After charges were dropped earlier this month against a former and two current San Francisco sheriff's deputies allegedly linked to a jailhouse "fight club," Public Defender Jeff Adachi said Wednesday the jailhouse abuse continues.



According to Adachi's office, several of their clients say that they routinely suffer beatings and illegal strip searches at the hands of deputies at both Jail #2, located at 425 Seventh St., and Jail #5, located at 1 Moreland Drive in San Bruno.



Adachi's office Wednesday revealed a Jan. 16, 2019, letter to Sheriff Vicki Hennessy, in which Adachi files a formal complaint regarding what he says are "deplorable conditions at the San Francisco jail and ongoing and repeated misconduct by SFSD deputies."



Adachi alleges physical abuse against inmates happening at the San Bruno jail and unlawful strip searches happening at the Seventh Street jail.



According to Adachi's office, at least 15 allegations of abuse were made by inmates between September and November 2018.







Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf on Thursday is expected to talk about the record-setting housing construction boom in the city and the challenges the city's economy is facing as it tries to support its rapid growth, a spokesman for the mayor said.



"Challenges and opportunities" is what the mayor will talk about at the San Francisco Business Times' Mayors' Economic Forecast breakfast, spokesman Justin Berton said.



The breakfast is being held Thursday morning at the Oakland Marriott City Center in downtown Oakland.



Burton said the mayor will also speak about the importance of the CASA Compact, which is a regionwide effort to increase housing in the Bay Area.



She and San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who's also expected to speak Thursday morning at the breakfast, support the compact.



Also speaking at the breakfast will be an analyst with Bank of America and a real estate expert from the University of California at Berkeley.







A Flood Warning has been issued for the Guadalupe River starting in San Jose and heading north to where it meets the San Francisco Bay, according to the National Weather Service.



The warning was issued early Thursday morning as rain is expected to continue rising the river level from its 6.9-foot reading around 2 a.m. to 9.1 feet by 6 a.m., meteorologists said. The river reaches flood stage at 8.5 feet.



Meteorologists Ryan Walbrun said the warning effects the river north of its crossing with the Almaden Expressway in San Jose. Anyone living, working or outside near the river should expect flood conditions and be prepared to move to higher ground.



Meteorologists said once the river hits 7.5 feet, that is monitor stage and 8.5 feet is a minor flood stage, where the river overtops the Alma Avenue bridge into the Elks Lodge.



Motorists are advised to not drive into flooded areas.





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.Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili.

Global Automotive Power Modules Market is expected to witness exponential growth during the forecast period

Market Research Future published a Half Cooked Research Report Global Automotive Power ModulesMarket that contains the information from 2018 to 2023. The Global Automotive Power Modules Market is expected to progress with the CAGR of ~21% from 2019 to 2023.

Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 100 market data tables and figures spread in 88 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content & market synopsis on Global Automotive Power Modules Market Information from 2018 to 2023"

Access Report Details @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/automotive-power-modules-market-7302

Key Players:

The prominent players in the global automotive power modules market include STMicroelectronics (Switzerland), ON Semiconductor (US), Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), Fuji Electric Co. (Japan), Infineon Technologies (Germany), Renesas Electronics Corporation (Japan), Continental AG (Germany), NXP Semiconductors (Netherlands), Toshiba Corporation (Japan), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (Japan), and Rohm Semiconductor (Japan).

The power module, which plays a crucial role in minimizing power losses, increasing power density, extending mileage and improving battery efficiency, is considered an integral part of the automotive industry. To enhance vehicle efficiency, safety, and performance, power module component manufacturers and automotive OEMs are working together to develop power electronics for electric auxiliary components. The use of semiconductors in power modules is a key for achieving cost competitiveness in electric vehicle applications.

The major driving factors for the growth of this market are growing demand for advanced safety, convenience, comfort systems and battery management system, which are essential power modules in a vehicle, particularly in electric vehicle. Furthermore, rise in demand for autonomous vehicle and in-build comfort facilities are set to drive the global Automotive Power Modules market. Growing adoption of intelligent power modules in passenger vehicles is expected to further boost the growth of this market.

The technological advancements in automotive power modules device and improving economies from developing regions such as Brazil, UAE, Africa, Argentina, and India are providing an opportunity for the expansion of this market in these regions. Increased investments in new product development will enable strategic mergers and acquisitions of small startup companies, which will further enhance the global market during the forecast period. However, the major restraints for the global Automotive Power Modules market is increasing cost due to growing complexity in the component design and integration process for advanced vehicles.

The global Automotive Power Modules Market is estimated to witness ~21% CAGR during the period from 2018 to 2023.

Segmentation:

The global Automotive Power Modules Market is segmented on the basis of type, vehicle type, propulsion, and region. On the basis of type, the market has been segmented into Intelligent Power Module (IPM) and Power Integrated Module (PIM). On the basis of vehicle type, the market has been segmented into passenger car and commercial vehicle. On the basis of propulsion, the market has been segmented into ICE vehicle and electric vehicle, wherein electric vehicle the market is further sub-segmented in battery, hybrid, and plug-in electric vehicle.

On the basis of module type, the Power Integrated Module (PIM) segment is projected to witness a significant growth during the study period. This growth is attributed to the growing adoption in vehicles globally. In addition, the power integrated module enables design of small, efficient and reliable system in order to reduce vehicle fuel consumption and CO2 emission. Hence due to these features, this type of module is growing in this market.

On the basis of vehicle type, the passenger car segment is projected to hold the larger share in the Automotive Power Modules market from 2018 to 2023. This growth is attributed to growing uses of electronic content in passenger cars and increasing adoption of power module chips in powertrain, power steering, safety, and start stop system.

On the basis of propulsion, the electric vehicle segment is projected to witness faster growth during the review period. This growth is attributed to growing investment by the automakers for the expansion of electric vehicle market across the globe and the use of intelligent power module (IPM) in electric vehicles for the high functionality operations.

This research report provides insights into various levels of analysis, such as industry analysis and market share analysis for the leading industry competitors, along with their profiles. It also helps in studying the target segments by providing views on the emerging & high-growth segments. The market data comprises the necessary assessment of the competitive scenarios and strategies in the global automotive power modules market, including high-growth regions and/or countries, and political and economic environments. The project report further provides both  historical market values and pricing & cost analysis.State Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, introduced a bill Thursday that would authorize state officials to enter into an insurance policy that pays out when California has unexpected costs for disaster response.



The proposed California Disaster Insurance would function like home insurance, but it would allow California to pay a premium to an insurance company using a portion of existing emergency funds that would then trigger a payment to the state in the event of a disaster.



"You (the state) pay an annual premium and if a disaster strikes, after you pay the deductible the plan pays you back for your losses," Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said.



Dodd and Lara announced Senate Bill 290 in Sacramento Thursday morning. Both said state Treasurer Fiona Ma supports the proposed legislation.



California currently pays for wildfires with available funds, and California Disaster Insurance will come from the same sources, Dodd and Lara said.



California spent $947 million in 2017-2018 through an emergency fund for firefighting, more than $450 million than budgeted, according to Cal Fire.



Firefighting costs have overrun Cal Fire's emergency budget in seven of the last 10 years, and California has experienced 11 of the top 20 most destructive fires in its history since 2007, Dodd said.



"Rising wildfire suppression costs can strain California's financial resources and threaten cuts to critical programs," Dodd said.



"As climate change continues to contribute to devastating infernos, we need a strategy to reduce the pressure on state and community coffers. This bill would do just that, allowing the state to invest in an insurance policy to ensure budget predictability and reduce taxpayers' exposure to increasing costs associated with disasters, especially wildfire," Dodd said.



Dodd said the state will secure disaster insurance on terms that are beneficial to taxpayers and keep the public safe "without breaking the bank."



"This gives us a choice. If the premiums are too high, we walk away," he said.



The state of Oregon has purchased insurance protection against changing wildfire costs for nearly 40 years. Oregon has spent $61 million in premiums and received $102 million in insurance payments.



SB 290 only authorizes the governor, insurance commissioner and treasurer to enter into an insurance policy.



"Once we have the authority, we can develop a product that works for everyone. This (bill) is a first step," Lara said.



"We want to see if there is interest to engage insurers statewide in this policy," Lara said.



"The insurance industry will decide if they want to do this or not. I think there will be interest," Dodd said.



In a written statement, Treasurer Fiona Ma said, "This policy makes annual wildfire suppression costs more predictable, protecting the taxpayers from the volatility that has been seen over the past several years and creating budget stability and preserving other investments. It is time for California to be proactive and not reactive."



SB 290 must be in print for 30 days before it can be scheduled for a committee hearing.





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)



Four months into a pilot program by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to allow powered scooters back on city streets, a San Francisco-based scooter company says it's not giving up on being part of the program, even though its appeal was denied Tuesday.



Back in October, the SFMTA began its one-year pilot program and approved permits for two companies, Scoot and Skip. San Francisco-based Lime was one of ten companies denied permits, along with Spin and Jump.



At the time, Lime alleged that the SFMTA's permit system was flawed and sought to appeal the agency's decision. Spin and Jump also separately appealed their permit denials.



According to John Cote with the San Francisco City Attorney's Office, which handled the appeals for the SFMTA, a neutral hearing officer looked at the appeals and separately denied all three.



Spin's appeal was denied on Jan. 29, while Jump's was denied on Feb. 5. Lime's appeal was denied Tuesday, he said.



The hearing officer, however, did recommend that the SFMTA consider permitting Lime to participate in the second phase of the pilot program, which will begin in April.



On Tuesday, Lime officials said in a statement, "While the outcome of today's decision is disappointing, we look forward to continuing our work with the SFMTA, and working towards our shared, common goals.



"As a San Francisco-based company, Lime will continue to identify meaningful ways to benefit the local community and help ensure all corners of the city have access to green, equitable and affordable transportation. We will continue to innovate and provide new solutions to advance micromobility for all, and we remain eager to serve the people of San Francisco."



Cote said, "We're pleased Lime's appeal was denied. As every single one of these decisions has shown, the SFMTA conducted a fair process in awarding permits. The claim by Lime and other companies that the process was somehow unfair is simply not supported by the facts.



"We now have three decisions showing the process was fair, reasonable and transparent. The SFMTA awarded the initial permits to the companies that it determined had the best applications. Lime's proposal simply didn't measure up to the competition," he said.



SFMTA spokesman Paul Rose said that a decision to permit more scooter companies during the second phase has not been made yet.



"We're going to analyze how the first half is going before we make any changes to the second half," he said.



The scooter permit system was developed after the city's Board of Supervisors unanimously passed legislation in April requiring all companies operating powered scooters in the city to seek permits. The legislation was in response to a handful of scooter companies that had deployed hundreds of dockless scooters throughout the city in March 2018, drawing complaints from residents who said the scooters were often left on sidewalks and obstructed walkways.



The same month the pilot program began, Lime sought a restraining order in San Francisco Superior Court to block the program, but a judge denied it.



Lime currently operates in at least nine other Bay Area cities, including Oakland and San Mateo.





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.Tim Maloney/The Chronicle

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



After charges were dropped earlier this month against a former and two current San Francisco sheriff's deputies allegedly linked to a jailhouse "fight club," Public Defender Jeff Adachi said Wednesday the jailhouse abuse continues.



According to Adachi's office, several of their clients say that they routinely suffer beatings and illegal strip searches at the hands of deputies at both Jail #2, located at 425 Seventh St., and Jail #5, located at 1 Moreland Drive in San Bruno.



Adachi's office Wednesday revealed a Jan. 16, 2019, letter to Sheriff Vicki Hennessy, in which Adachi files a formal complaint regarding what he says are "deplorable conditions at the San Francisco jail and ongoing and repeated misconduct by SFSD deputies."



Adachi alleges physical abuse against inmates happening at the San Bruno jail and unlawful strip searches happening at the Seventh Street jail.



"As I expressed in our conversation, our clients are fearful of retaliation for coming forward with their complaints. Despite their fear, some are prepared to publicly come forward with their complaints if necessary. As their attorney of record, it is my ethical duty to seek the appropriate action and relief on behalf of my clients, who have suffered emotional and physical abuse at the hands of members of the Sheriff's Department."



According to Adachi's office, at least 15 allegations of abuse were made by inmates between September and November 2018.



In one case, a male inmate alleged a group of deputies knocked him down and then took turns kicking him while he was on the ground. He also said deputies twisted his arms behind his back, causing him to suffer swollen and bruised wrists.



The San Francisco Sheriff's Department was not immediately available to comment.



On Tuesday, during the city's Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Shamann Walton said he wanted to hold a hearing about the sheriff's department conducting its own investigation on the deputies charged for the alleged fight club, which ultimately led to the charges being dismissed.



Walton conceded that the sheriff's department "lacks an oversight body," and said he'd be calling on the city's Department of Police Accountability and District Attorney George Gascon, as well as Hennessy and Adachi, to report on how claims of abuse at the hands of deputies were being addressed.



"These and other incidents are reasons why we need to make sure that there's an independent body that investigates claims against the sheriff's department and we'll be calling a hearing to discuss data, and discuss what is happening with these cases and these incidents," Walton said.



On Feb. 1, the district attorney's office dropped charges against former Deputy Scott Neu and current deputies Eugene Jones and Clifford Chiba because the sheriff's department conducted its own criminal investigation into its deputies, unbeknownst to the Gascon's Office. During that investigation, sheriff's department investigators used immunized statements from the deputies, which is unlawful, and then later moved to destroy evidence showing the statements were taken illegally.



The allegations against Chiba, Neu and Jones first came to light in 2015, when Adachi said an inmate's family contacted him and said inmates were being forced to fight each other at Jail #4, located at 850 Bryant St., with deputies allegedly placing bets on the inmates.





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.DALY CITY (BCN)



Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and Assemblymember Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, have again introduced legislation to ban the sale of guns and ammunition at the Cow Palace in Daly City.



In addition to banning gun and ammunition sales, Senate Bill 281 introduced Wednesday would also transfer the state-owned venue's entire 68-acre property from the hands of the California Department of Food and Agriculture to a locally controlled joint powers authority, Wiener's office said.



The proposed Cow Palace Joint Powers Authority would then have full control over the site and would be responsible for designing a new strategy, including the construction of housing and mixed-use development.



Because the Cow Palace sits at the edge of Daly City's border with San Francisco, the CPJPA would have three members appointed by Daly City's City Council and three members appointed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.



The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors would also appoint one member, while the governor would also appoint one member to represent the state, according to Wiener's office.



In 2018, Wiener and Ting pushed Senate Bill 221 to ban gun shows at the state-owned venue, but then-Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed it.



"For decades, the Cow Palace has ignored the needs of our local communities around gun shows and our desperate need for more housing," Wiener said in a news release.



"This legislation will ban these gun shows once and for all. The community has also asked for a plan to turn the vast and largely empty land surrounding the Cow Palace into a more community centered space, including developing housing and mixed-use development. Yet, once again, the Cow Palace has disregarded the local community's requests," he said.



If passed this time around and signed by new Gov. Gavin Newsom, the bill would exclude gun buy-back events held by law enforcement agencies.





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.VALLEJO (BCN)



Matthew Muller, who was sentenced in federal court last year to 40 years in prison for the bizarre kidnapping of a Vallejo woman from Mare Island in 2015, was ordered Wednesday to stand trial in Solano County Superior Court on six felony charges in connection with the same case.



Judge Kim P. Tam held Muller, 41, over for trial for kidnapping for ransom, two forcible rapes, first-degree robbery of an inhabited dwelling, first-degree residential burglary and false imprisonment by violence.



Muller represented himself in court at the preliminary hearing, and he is scheduled to re-enter pleas to the charges Feb. 25.



In September 2016, Muller pleaded guilty in federal court to a federal kidnapping charge. The Solano County District Attorney's Office filed the state charges against him on Jan. 26, 2018.



Muller is being held under no bail in Solano County Jail.



The nationally publicized saga involving Denise Huskins and her boyfriend Aaron Quinn included a defamation of character lawsuit they filed against the Vallejo Police Department, which initially said the kidnapping was a hoax. Police later apologized to the couple.



Prosecutors in the federal case said Muller drove Huskins in the trunk of his car on March 23, 2015, held her hostage for two days and made ransom demands totaling $15,000. Huskins was released near her family's home in Huntington Beach on March 25.



Muller was arrested in South Lake Tahoe on June 8, 2015, after evidence, including a video of Muller and Huskins, was found at his mother's home.





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.OAKLAND (BCN)



Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is expected to talk about the record-setting housing construction boom in the city and the challenges the city's economy is facing as it tries to support its rapid growth during a mayors' breakfast on Thursday morning, according to the mayor's office.



"Challenges and opportunities" is what Schaaf will discuss at the San Francisco Business Times' Mayors' Economic Forecast breakfast, her spokesman Justin Berton said. The breakfast is being held Thursday morning at the Oakland Marriott City Center in downtown Oakland.



Burton said the mayor will also speak about the importance of the CASA Compact, which is a regionwide effort to increase housing in the Bay Area.



She and San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who's also expected to speak at the breakfast, support the compact.



Also speaking at the breakfast will be an analyst with Bank of America and a real estate expert from the University of California at Berkeley.



Only ticketholders may attend.





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 MATEO (BCN)



A San Mateo man was arrested Wednesday morning on suspicion of domestic violence after his girlfriend told police that he threatened her with a gun Monday night, police said.



Demarea Atkinson, 26, was arrested after a SWAT team served a search warrant at 5:15 a.m. in the 100 block of South Norfolk Boulevard in San Mateo.



Police said Atkinson was arrested without any trouble. He also allegedly choked his girlfriend.



The alleged domestic violence occurred at Ryder Court Park at 1625 J Hart Clinton Drive sometime before 9:15 p.m. when police were dispatched to the park.



Police said Atkinson's girlfriend told them she was able to get away from him and run for help following the threat and choking.



Police said they found evidence Wednesday morning that Atkinson had a gun in the alleged violence. Atkinson was taken to the county jail on suspicion of domestic violence, threats, brandishing a gun and carrying a loaded gun.



Police are encouraging residents to sign up for Nixle alerts to be warned of police activity in their area. Police sent out a Nixle alert Wednesday morning to tell residents they would be in their neighborhood.





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)



San Jose residents living near the Guadalupe River have been ordered to evacuate immediately as the waterway approaches flood stage early Thursday morning, according to city officials.



Residents who live between Willow Glen Way and Atlanta Avenue are advised to leave their homes with important documents, medicines and spare clothes.



"We don't anyone to be too alarmed, but we want them to be prepared," said city spokeswoman Rosario Neaves.

The city has opened an evacuation center Willow Glen Community Center at 2175 Lincoln Avenue in San Jose. Anyone not living in an immediate evacuation area is asked to remain in place but be alert to changing conditions. Neaves said city officials are watching the Ross Creek area, but no evacuations have been ordered for anyone living near that waterway as of 4:50 a.m.What's Included

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If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 319-352-3334 or email legals@waverlynewspapers.com.Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. A stray severe thunderstorm is possible. High 84F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight

Variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. Low 68F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.

Tomorrow

Cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 87F. Winds light and variable.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 319-334-2557 or email legals@bulletinjournal.com.The child custody battle of InfoWars host Alex Jones, already off to a raucous start after his attorney claimed Jones' radio appearances are simply "performance art," took an even stranger gastronomic turn Tuesday.

According to the attorney for Kelly Jones, ex-wife of the infamous radio host, Alex Jones said he couldn't remember "basic facts" about his children during a deposition because "he had a big bowl of chili for lunch."

The comment did not go quietly into the Twittersphere, where Jones was roundly mocked for his chili defense.

"I'm using this at work after lunchtime," one person tweeted. "'I'm unable to work right now. I had a big bowl of chili.'"

"Ah, yes. The lesser known cousin to meat sweats: the meat forgets," another chimed in.

Although the chili comment is certainly the strangest to emerge from the custody proceedings, it's been something of a circus in general. Jones, who is known for proliferating unfounded conspiracy theories like PizzaGate, is now arguing that his aggressive radio persona is merely for show.

"He's playing a character," Jones' attorney Randall Wilhite said. "He is a performance artist."

MORE: 'Infowars' host Jones disputes persona in custody dispute

Whether or not Jones is putting on an act, he's got one very important fan: the President of the United States. Donald Trump called into Jones' radio show during the Republican presidential primary to tell Jones his reputation is "amazing."

Kelly Jones is arguing that the InfoWars radio show demonstrates Alex Jones is "not a stable" father. Several clips from Infowars have been submitted as evidence.

Jonathan Tilove, who is covering the case for the Austin American-Statesman, reported that Kelly Jones' attorney stated that the children "were instructed by Alex Jones to record their mother for evidence against her in [the] custody case."

Kelly and Alex Jones have three children, ages 14, 12 and nine, who live with their father. Kelly Jones is trying to get full or joint custody of the children.As consumers, workers and communities push back against the seemingly boundless power and wealth of big tech companies, theyre starting to find it may be harder than it sounds to quit corporations that provide now-crucial services.

My colleague Kate Conger, who covers privacy, policy and labor for The Times Tech team, wrote about a Berkeley City Council proposal to boycott Amazon:

Under state law, no city in California is allowed to share data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But city officials have been left to determine how theyll comply with the law  and many cities are now scrutinizing the behavior of the tech companies they rely on for city services.

Richmond approved an ordinance in June that will end its contract with Vigilant Solutions, a data analytics company that does business with ICE. Other Bay Area cities, including Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda, are weighing similar proposals that, if enacted, could lead the cities to sever ties with tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft.

Berkeleys City Council is weighing a proposal to boycott Amazon in protest against the tech giants contracts with ICE and Customs and Border Protection. Given Amazons business relationships with these agencies, Berkeley should commit to finding ethical alternatives, two City Council members, Kriss Worthington and Cheryl Davila, wrote in a memo. The City Council is also scrutinizing its business with Microsoft and Thompson Reuters over the companies ICE contracts.

Were subsidizing these deportation policies, said Brian Hofer, a lawyer who has pushed cities to adopt legislation that limits their business relationships with tech firms that contract with ICE.

The Berkeley City Council is expected to debate the proposed legislation this month. Berkeley, which was at the forefront of the sanctuary city movement, relies on Amazon for a range of web-hosting and infrastructure services. Now, the city is struggling to align its sanctuary traditions with its digital needs.

Dee Williams-Ridley, the city manager, recommended against the boycott because it would be too costly for the city to move off Amazon.

Adoption of the proposed Amazon boycott would have a huge negative impact to the citywide operations, Williams-Ridley wrote in a memo reviewed by The New York Times.

The city uses Amazon to host housing and mental health programs, do cybersecurity, and to manage city documents. It also relies on other tech companies, such as Airbnb and Nextdoor, which in turn host their services on Amazon servers.

I sort of despair about what we can do at this local level, frankly, said Kate Harrison, a member of the City Council. If we identify a company involved in data brokerage for ICE, and we have an alternative, we should take the alternative. Its a balancing act.

Hofer said the impact would be stronger as more cities pass similar legislation and he hoped to bring the initiative statewide. Starting in Silicon Valley is important because of the regions connection to the technology industry, he added.

Its symbolic that were doing it here; were the same people that are creating the technology thats doing this, Hofer said.

Its ideological and not necessarily grounded in practicality, said Susan Wengraf, a City Council member. Its Berkeley, she added with a soft laugh. What can I tell you?

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.WASHINGTON  The Senate confirmed William Barr on Thursday for a second stint as attorney general, 54-45, handing oversight of the Justice Department  and its ongoing investigation into links between Russias interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign  to a seasoned Republican legal hand known for his expansive view of presidential power.

Barr previously served as attorney general from 1991 to 1993, under President George H.W. Bush.

Senators expressed hope that the installation of a conventional figure like Barr could return some stability to the Justice Departments 115,000 employees, after two years of intense battering by President Trump and his allies in Congress. The president lost confidence in his first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, early on, and after months of publicly scorning him for recusing himself from overseeing the Russia investigation, Trump installed Sessions chief of staff, Matthew Whitaker, as a temporary replacement in November.

Steady leadership at a time we need steady leadership to give a morale boost to the Department of Justice, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. and the Judiciary Committee chairman, said shortly before the vote. Somebody who will be fair to the president, but also be fair to the rule of law and protect the integrity of the Department of Justice.

But with special counsel Robert Mueller believed to be finishing his work, Barrs tenure is likely to be shaped by the same cross currents, and his decisions could have far-reaching consequences for Trump, the presidency and the department for years to come.

Barr assured senators during the confirmation process that he would not allow political interference to sway the departments work, but under pressure from Democrats, he would make no specific assurances to make Muellers findings public, foreshadowing a potentially caustic fight.

Divided over whether to accept his assurances, the Senate voted largely along party lines to confirm Barr.

Democrats seized on a lengthy legal memo that Barr wrote in June for the Trump administration and shared with Trumps outside legal team. It argued that the president wielded unchecked power to start or stop a law enforcement proceeding, and therefore Mueller should not be allowed to investigate whether Trump committed obstruction of justice by pressuring then-FBI Director James Comey to drop an investigation into a top aide.

Nicholas Fandos and Katie Benner are New York Times writers.PARKLAND, Fla.  Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High and other schools across the U.S. bowed their heads in a moment of silence and took part in volunteer projects Thursday to mark the anniversary of the shooting rampage that claimed 17 lives. But for many Parkland students, the tragedy was still so raw they couldnt bring themselves to set foot in the building.

Fewer than 300 of the 3,200 students at the high school showed up for what was only a half-day, with classes cut short so that the teenagers would not be there around 2:20 p.m., the traumatic moment last year when gunfire erupted.

Senior Spencer Bloom skipped school to spend the day with students from the history class he was in during the shooting. He said he struggles with panic attacks and feared he might have one if he went in to school.

Theres all this emotion and its all being concentrated back on one day, Bloom said.

The massacre on Feb. 14, 2018, inflamed the nations debate over guns, turned some Parkland students into political activists and gave rise to some of the biggest youth demonstrations since the Vietnam era.

Many Stoneman Douglas students arrived wearing the burgundy #MSDStrong T-shirts that have become an emblem of the tragedy. Outside, clear plastic figurines of angels were erected for each of the 14 students and three staff members killed.

A moment of silence was observed there and at other schools across Florida and beyond at 10:17 a.m., a time selected to denote the 17 slain.

Reporters were not allowed inside the school, but students packed lunches for poor children in Haiti as part of a number of volunteer projects undertaken to try to make something good come out of the tragedy.

Grief counselors and therapy dogs were made available along with massages and pedicures. An interfaith service was scheduled for later in the day at a nearby park.

The former student accused of opening fire with an AR-15 assault rifle in the Parkland attack, Nikolas Cruz, is awaiting trial. Cruz, now 20, had a long history of emotional problems and threats.

The massacre led some Parkland students to form the group March for Our Lives, which holds rallies around the country for tougher gun regulations and registers young people to vote.

Kelli Kennedy, Adriana Gomez Licon and Terry Spencer are Associated Press writers.NEW YORK  The New York Police Department is mourning a detective killed by friendly fire as officers confronted a robbery suspect with a long rap sheet who turned out to be armed with a replica handgun.

Detective Brian Simonsen, 42, was struck in the chest Tuesday night as multiple officers fired on the suspect at a T-Mobile store in Queens, Police Commissioner James ONeill said.

Simonsen, a 19-year NYPD veteran, was put in a squad car and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

This appears to be an absolutely tragic case of friendly fire, an emotional ONeill said. Make no mistake about it, friendly fire aside, it is because of the actions of the suspect that Detective Simonsen is dead.

Another officer, Sgt. Matthew Gorman, was shot in the leg during the chaotic scene. A passerby stopped and drove him to a hospital, where he was in stable condition.

The robbery suspect was wounded and hospitalized in stable condition. A police official identified him Wednesday as Christopher Ransom, 27, of Brooklyn. The official was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Ransom has been arrested at least 11 times since 2012, according to records. In 2016, police say he climbed over a gate and walked up to a desk at a Brooklyn police station while wearing a fake SWAT vest and police badge. He was charged with impersonating a police officer, but pleaded guilty to criminal trespass and was sentenced to 20 days in jail. There are no pending cases against him in the state court system.

On Tuesday, police swarmed to the store at around 6:10 p.m. after a 911 caller standing outside reported seeing the suspect  dressed in all black and carrying a duffel bag  take two employees to a back room at gunpoint, according to dramatic dispatch audio.

Simonsen and Gorman, who were both in plainclothes, were working on another case nearby when the call came over and arrived around the same time as patrol officers, ONeill said. At first, the front of the store appeared empty, he said.

Then a man matching the suspects description emerged from the rear of the store pointing at them what appeared to be handgun and police started shooting, he said.

Shots fired! Shots fired! an officer is heard yelling on the dispatch audio over a barrage of gunshots.

Michael R. Sisak, Stephen R. Groves and Michael Balsamo are Associated Press writers.Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP/Getty Images

HOUSTON  The nonprofit National Butterfly Center has asked a federal judge to stop border wall activity on its property as the Trump administration gears up to build new walls and fencing in South Texas and may soon win funding for more.

In a motion filed this week, center director Marianna Trevino Wright says heavy machinery has been driving through their property for a week, including a road grader accompanied by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicle. Wright alleged that someone had cut the lock on a center fence and replaced it with a lock belonging to CBP.WASHINGTON  Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort intentionally lied to investigators and a federal grand jury in the special counsels Russia probe, a judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jacksons decision was another loss for Manafort, a once-wealthy political consultant who rose to lead Donald Trumps 2016 campaign and now faces years in prison in two criminal cases brought in special counsel Robert Muellers investigation.

The four-page ruling hurts Manaforts chance of receiving a reduced sentence, though Jackson said she would decide the exact impact during his sentencing next month. It also resolves a dispute that had provided new insight into how Mueller views Manaforts actions as part of the broader probe of Russian election interference and any possible coordination with Trump associates.

Prosecutors have made clear that they remain deeply interested in Manaforts interactions with a man the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence. But its unclear exactly what has drawn their attention and whether it relates to election interference because much of the dispute has played out in secret court hearings and blacked-out court filings.

In her ruling Wednesday, Jackson provided few new details as she found there was sufficient evidence to say Manafort broke the terms of his plea agreement by lying about three of five matters that prosecutors had singled out. The ruling was largely a rejection of Manaforts attorneys argument that he hadnt intentionally misled investigators but rather forgot some details until his memory was refreshed.

The judge found that Manafort did mislead the FBI, prosecutors and a federal grand jury about his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik, the co-defendant who the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence. Prosecutors had accused Manafort of lying about several discussions the two men had including about a possible peace plan to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict in Crimea.

On Wednesday, Jackson found that in addition to his interactions with Kilimnik, there was sufficient evidence that Manafort had lied about a payment to a law firm representing him and about an undisclosed Justice Department investigation.

Chad Day is an Associated Press writer.(Photo via Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images).

Lyft driver Del Hedrick was dropping off a passenger at a Santa Rosa apartment complex at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night when suddenly, he spotted an unaccompanied toddler wandering alongside the road.

As he detailed in a video posted to his Twitter account, it was pouring rain outside and the 18-month-old baby was not wearing shoes or proper outdoor clothes. Hedrick called Santa Rosa police and took the child around the apartment complex, searching for an open door through which the baby might have escaped.A third fraternity affiliated with Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo, Kappa Sigma, is facing penalties for alleged hazing, which goes against the school's Greek Life policies.

The college's hazing policy is defined as "any activity that causes physical or emotional harm, degradation, or humiliation during initiation into a student organization." This includes assault and sexual harassment, beating, food or sleep deprivation, or otherwise embarrassing activities.

This specific incident, as school investigators found, involved an event where pledges were tested on the history of the fraternity and forced to do push-ups as punishment if they missed a question. Additionally, as the school's Mustang News reports, the fraternity held social events during the pledge process where minors could access alcohol.

RELATED: After hazing deaths, parents unite with fraternities to make change

The official charges outlined were "violations of alcohol, hazing and conspiracy to haze, health and safety, university policy and violation of law."

Kappa Sigma fraternity is suspended through June 15, 2019 (the end of the spring quarter) and will be on probation through spring 2020. According to the school's Interfraternity Council site, Kappa Sigma has 87 members. The fraternity declined to comment on the incident.

RELATED: Sonoma State fraternity banned until 2024 over hazing allegations

The fraternity is the third this school year to be penalized for hazing-related infractions. In January, Sigma Pi was suspended for underage drinking and hazing, though the specifics of the latter violation were not disclosed due to student privacy laws. Sigma Pi is suspended through June 15, 2019 as well, and will also be on probation through Spring 2020.

In October 2018, another fraternity, Lambda Phi Epsilon was discovered to have been forcing its pledges to engage in unsafe activities. The most egregious offenses, as Mustang News reported at the time, were knuckle push-ups that left students' hands bloody, late-night ocean submersion, and forced drinking. They were also found to have provided underage pledges with alcohol. As a result, the frat has been disassociated with the school for two years, or until past members have graduated.

Two additional fraternities, Tau Kappa Epsilon and Zeta Beta Tau were also placed on probation for alcohol-related offenses through the Fall 2019 quarter.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.SACRAMENTO  Gov. Gavin Newsom set off a flurry of speculation after he said state residents should get a piece of the billions of dollars that technology companies make by capitalizing on personal data they collect.

The new governor has asked aides to develop a proposal for a data dividend, but provided no hints about whether he might be suggesting a tax on tech companies, an individual refund to their customers or something else.

Companies that make billions of dollars collecting, curating and monetizing our personal data have a duty to protect it, the Democrat said in his first State of the State speech Tuesday. Californias consumers should also be able to share in the wealth that is created from their data.

A common misconception about tech companies is that they sell data to outside businesses. While data brokers like Acxiom and Experian do market databases of consumer information, tech companies typically guard user data jealously and limit direct access to it. But they do profitably mix their data with information provided by their advertising customers to tailor ads to users. Last year, the European Union and Spains socialist government each proposed taxing big internet companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon.

Common Sense Media, which helped pass Californias nation-leading digital privacy law last year, plans to propose legislation that would reflect Newsoms proposal, founder and CEO James Steyer said, without providing details.

Starting next year, Californias European-style privacy law will require companies to tell customers upon request what personal data they have collected and why, which categories of third parties have received it, and allow people to delete their information and not allow its sale.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, predicted in November that California would consider legislation that would send a shiver down the spine of tech companies.

He described the proposal as returning 25 percent of the value of an individuals data. It wasnt clear how the calculation would be made.

Warners office said Wednesday that he made the comment after speaking with Steyer. Warner is considering federal legislation requiring companies like Facebook of Menlo Park and Google of Mountain View to provide users with annual estimates of what their data is worth.

Axios calculated that the average Facebook user is worth $7.37 to the company, while a Twitter user is worth $2.83, and a Reddit user about 30 cents. The calculation basically divided the companies annual revenue by their monthly active users. That figure ignores a disparity between Western users, who are much more profitable for tech companies, and the rest of the world. In the U.S. and Canada, Facebooks average revenue per user is $109.77.

Steyer promised landmark legislation that will change the way people view the value and privacy of their online information. Most users dont realize that companies are taking your data at extremely detailed levels and selling it, he said.

Youre basically saying, Its my data. And if you do use it, I would like a portion of that because youre monetizing my personal information, Steyer said. Thats a big deal, and that will represent an enormous step forward for consumers in California and all across the country.

Facebook and Google did not immediately comment.

Newsoms office would not say who is leading his review. Newsom is open to constructive input from national experts and lawmakers, spokesman Brian Ferguson said in a statement.

The governors office pointed to proposals elsewhere that would put a tax on data, including one that died in the Washington state Legislature in 2017. That measure would have taxed receipts from the sale of state residents personal data at a rate of 3.3 percent. Given tech companies business models, which do not typically involve the actual sale of any data to third parties, its not clear that the proposed tax would have generated significant revenue.

Mahsau Daee of the Internet Association said the industry will look forward to reviewing the governors eventual proposal but that free and low-cost, data-driven online services offer Californians  and all Americans  enormous benefits.

Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, said Newsom is off to the wrong start on protecting consumer privacy.

They shouldnt be tricked into giving away their privacy for a small discount, he said in an email. Selling it for a few bucks isnt the answer and will make the problem worse.

Dan Goldstein, president of the digital marketing agency Page 1 Solutions, said a tax might not benefit consumers, while some sort of profit-sharing plan would likely return a pittance of a benefit to individuals.

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes last year suggested that users could band together to negotiate payments or that a data tax could be administered, similar to a fund that annually shares oil profits with Alaska residents.

Richard Holober, executive director of the Consumer Federation of California, hailed the proposal while alluding to the vast financial divide between rich and poor, particularly in California, which is struggling to address homelessness and an affordable housing crisis.

The governor previously asked Silicon Valley companies to match $500 million in state funds with their own low-interest loans for developers to build homes for middle-income residents in some of the states costliest areas.

We have such a disparity here with everyday Californians who are having trouble paying their rent or sending their kids to college, Holober said. California has created a very fertile land for these corporations to become fabulously wealthy, and they need to give back.

Newsoms announcement excited the lawmakers who wrote Californias privacy law, but they had no information about it.

Democratic state Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg called the proposal the next frontier of the online data and privacy conversation.

Assemblyman Ed Chau, D-Monterey Park (Los Angeles County), who is chairman of the Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection, said the proposal highlights the value of data, which has often been described as the new oil in this technological data-driven economy.

Chronicle staff contributed to this report.

Don Thompson is an Associated Press writer.Two and a half years after Oakland's Trappist Provisions morphed into an East Bay outpost taproom for Copenhagen brewery Mikkeller, the space at 6309 College Ave. is turning back the clock.

As revealed in a newsletter sent on Wednesday, Trappist Provisions, sister bar to The Trappist (on 8th Street in Oakland) and L (Walnut Creek), will officially open tomorrow.

RELATED: Sierra Nevada Brewing acquires Sufferfest, San Francisco brewer of gluten-removed beers

"Provisions returns," the email read. "That is correct Ladies and Gentlemen. The Trappist Provisions will be returning to 6309 College Ave. effective tomorrow. Please bear with us while we make our way through our transition."

As Berkeleyside reports, the team behind the bar felt it was time to get back to their Belgian roots:

"[We] wanted to return it to a Belgian-inspired beer bar and not be so focused on one particular brewery," said general manager Ruben Dominguez. "It really opens us up to the ever-growing world of beer."

RELATED: Oakland's Trappist Provisions becoming Mikkeller Tasting Room

Trappist Provisions was opened by Chuck Stilphen in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland in late 2012. Stilphen has operated The Trappist across town since 2007.

In 2016, shortly after Mikkeller opened a restaurant and taproom in downtown San Francisco and a satellite brewhouse in Los Angeles, Stilphen told the Chronicle it was time for a change for the College Avenue shop.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.

Talia Herman /

Several schools across the region closed Thursday because of relentless rain and flooding that caused power outages and made roads inaccessible.

In Marin County, at least 10 schools were shuttered: Bolinas Stinson School, San Domenico School, Nicasio School, Manor Elementary School, Tamalpais High School and all schools in the Shoreline Unified School District.It has become a political guessing game from California to Washington, D.C.: What exactly Gov. Gavin Newsom meant when he said Californias high-speed-rail project, as currently planned, would cost too much and take too long.

Was the new governor killing all but a 165-mile stretch of high-speed rail in the Central Valley  or was he reimagining the full bullet-train project in a more realistic way?

Newsom said that right now, there simply isnt a path to go from San Francisco to Los Angeles, as the plan was pitched to voters in 2008. But, the governor said in his State of the State speech Tuesday, we do have the capacity to complete a high-speed-rail link between Merced and Bakersfield.

What people heard depended on their feelings about the California project  and, in many cases, their party affiliation.

At the head of the line was President Trump, who wasnt buying Newsoms contention that high-speed rail is a dream deferred. Instead, he said the governor had killed it and he told the state to return $3.5 billion in federal funding that it must surrender if a first leg of the project isnt finished by 2022.

California has been forced to cancel the massive bullet train project after having spent and wasted many billions of dollars, Trump tweeted Wednesday night. They owe the Federal Government three and a half billion dollars. We want that money back now. Whole project is a green disaster!

Newsom replied with his own tweet that Trumps take was fake news and added, This is CAs money, allocated by Congress for this project. Were not giving it back.

However, Trump wasnt the only one who interpreted the speech that way. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy  a Republican who represents Bakersfield and has long opposed the project  tweeted congratulations after the governors address: The train to nowhere is finally stopped. This is the right move by Gavin Newsom.

Thats not what state Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, heard the governor say.

What I heard (Newsom) say is not that high-speed rail is off, Wiener said. What hes saying is that, Lets focus on the phase thats under construction, that we have the funding for. Then well work on extending it. 

San Francisco Assemblyman Phil Ting, a Democrat who leads the Budget Committee, agreed.

What he said was that he was going to accelerate the project, Ting said on The Chronicles Its All Political podcast.

Brian Kelly, the California High Speed Rail Authority CEO, took Newsoms remarks to mean that he reaffirmed our commitment to complete the environmental work statewide on the rail project and meet our bookend investments in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.

Kellys comments confused Bakersfield Assemblyman Vince Fong, a Republican whose district includes the proposed route. He opposes the project.

It sounded to Fong like Newsom was trying to have it both ways  appear to high-speed rail skeptics that he was killing a boondoggle, and to the projects fans that there is a way forward despite cost estimates that have more than doubled to $77 billion.

Those fans tend to include the Democratic Partys most progressive wing. The Green New Deal federal package of carbon-cutting suggestions from New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and allies includes a big dose of high-speed rail.

Is this the beginning, and hes building out the Central Valley portion first? Or is this it? Fong asked.

Because if high-speed rail is now a line that runs from Merced to Bakersfield, its no longer high-speed rail. It is fundamentally different than what was told to voters, Fong said.

In 2008, 53 percent of California voters approved issuing nearly $10 billion in general obligation bonds to build a rail line from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

If that version of high-speed rail isnt happening, Fong wants to halt the project  even though it is under construction in the Central Valley  and bring it back to voters to revote on this new project.

McCarthy doubts that a line going from Bakersfield to Merced would have the ridership to survive without taxpayer subsidies.

Ive always said we shouldnt have put the taxpayers money into this, McCarthy said Wednesday. I know the (Green New Deal) said we should have high-speed rail, but now we have Gov. Gavin Newsom saying it doesnt work.

But Newsom did not say that high-speed rail doesnt work. He said there isnt the money now to complete the original project.

The governor supports a statewide high-speed-rail system, as the voters approved, said Kelly, the High Speed Rail Authority CEO. Hes acknowledging we dont have full funding for that now, so hes saying, get trains on the ground where we can while we ready the rest of the state for the project and pursue more funding. Deliver and expand.

Newsom spokesman Nathan Click said the governor has not given up on the broader vision of the project of bullet trains from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Its about reprioritizing and refocusing, Click said. The reality is that the money has been identified already for that portion of the project in the Central Valley.

Once that portion of the line is up and running, Click said, there is a greater chance that more federal dollars and possibly private investment could surface.

But for now, Newsom will ask the Legislature to extend a March 1 deadline that the state rail authority had to present an update on its progress. The authority expects to reveal its revised plan for a Central Valley focus later this year.

Newsom faced a tough decision about what to do about high-speed rail. The state has already sunk billions into it, and construction is under way. But a state auditors report last fall said costs had ballooned because of bad decision-making, and warned that the state risked losing crucial federal funding if it couldnt speed up construction.

Plus, voters have become indifferent. Only 19 percent of likely voters surveyed in December said building a bullet-train line was a high priority, according to a nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California poll.

Newsom aides realized belatedly that his State of the State remarks had caused confusion. They sent out a memo of talking points to supporters afterward emphasizing that Newsom wants to complete the project  someday.

Were going to make high speed rail a reality in California, Newsom tweeted Tuesday afternoon as headlines about the death of high-speed rail started popping up online.

But even then, Newsom wasnt clear about the future.

We will continue our regional projects north and south. Finish Phase 1 enviro work, he tweeted. But that was a wonky reference to studies for the Bay Area and Los Angeles portions of the line that only the most fervent of high-speed-rail aficionados would get.

In his speech to lawmakers, Newsom began his high-speed- rail remarks by saying, Lets be real. A day later, real was still in the eye of the beholder.

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli.

Tal Kopan is The Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: tal.kopan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TalKopanWASHINGTON  House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, a close ally of President Trump, says the president doesnt need to take money from California flood control projects to build his wall  suggesting the White House wont redirect disaster prevention funds as had been considered.

I think theres other places the president can grab money, McCarthy told The Chronicle Thursday.

The Bakersfield Republican said he put a lot of time into ensuring that federal dollars were dedicated to flood control projects in Northern California and that theyre a good use of taxpayer money because you get return on investment.

McCarthy said thats something hes willing to communicate directly to Trump very often.

McCarthy rarely breaks publicly with Trump, with whom he has cultivated a close relationship. When Trump threatened last month to cut off wildfire relief to California, McCarthy put out a statement that avoided criticizing the president, saying only that he was committed to ensuring aid was sent to his home state.

Similarly on Thursday, McCarthy said Trump is the one that has been leading the charge for California wildfire prevention and water storage, and noted he flew with the president to tour the damage from last years devastating fires in Northern and Southern California. Trump has repeatedly blamed Californias forest management for wildfires, though experts point to a variety of factors including climate change as the cause of larger and more intense blazes.

The Chronicle obtained a document in January showing that the White House was looking at nearly $2.5 billion allocated for California projects being worked on by the Army Corps of Engineers as possible funding sources for the wall Trump wants built along the southern border. The projects included $177 million for building up levees and converting 3,000 acres of former salt ponds in the South Bay back into marshlands, and nearly $1.6 billion for flood control on the American River in the Sacramento area.

The White House said at the time that there were no plans for such funding diversions. But the possibility has resurfaced as Congress neared passage of a funding deal that would give Trump far less for his wall than he demanded when he initiated a record-setting, 35-day partial shutdown of the government.

Trump has said hes looking at adding things to the government funding deal and finding other money and authority to build the wall.

McCarthys comments downplaying the raiding of money for California come as he is settling into his new role in Washington, leading Republicans in the minority in the House. Although the 2018 midterm elections marked a promotion of sorts for the seven-term Republican to the top leadership spot in his party, they also brought on the loss of the House majority and decimated the California GOP. McCarthy lost seven of his California Republican colleagues as Democrats flipped those seats, defeats he attributed to a combination of Republicans being outspent and outplayed on election laws and to its inadequate messaging.

McCarthy said Republicans need to look at improving their pitch on issues such as education and the economy that are important to suburban districts.

The Republican Party has to sit back and say, Why did we lose? What needs to be changed? Did we not have the resources to put enough out? McCarthy said. I believe the next election will be different.

In his role in the minority, McCarthy is already counting victories in causing trouble for Democrats, including on a typically sleepy procedural maneuver called motions to recommit. Under them, the minority party can offer changes to a bill thats about to be passed. Theyre typically for show  an opportunity for the minority to come up with either a poison pill or a policy that in isolation looks bad for the majority to vote against.

McCarthy, however, has been advancing motions that Democrats find harder to dismiss. This week, after freshman Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota appeared to suggest that Republicans favored Israel because of influence buying by pro-Israel lobbies, McCarthy put forward a motion to recommit that denounced anti-Semitism. The House passed it unanimously.

But McCarthy says the aphorism that the minority can be more fun doesnt ring true.

Well, if I have a choice between the minority and majority, it will easily, 100 percent be the majority, McCarthy said. So no, I wake up every morning (thinking), What does it take to win the majority?

His tenure, along with Speaker Nancy Pelosis, marks the first time that two lawmakers from the same state have served as speaker and minority leader together. Coming to Washington in different generations and roles, the two havent had much of a working relationship and often joust as their parties leaders.

But McCarthy, who already has close friendships with Democrats he served with in the state Legislature, predicts that he and Pelosi will be able to forge an alliance on some California-specific causes.

I think well find times, especially when its California, well unite everybody together, McCarthy said. The issues that have come up so far havent been as much California because of the shutdown and others. ... Theres times were going to have real differences  but not everything is partisan.

Tal Kopan is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: tal.kopan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @talkopanWASHINGTON  A government funding deal that passed Congress late Thursday would block federal officers from arresting undocumented immigrants solely because they come forward to take in migrant children.

The constraint on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency comes after The Chronicle reported that the government had made scores of such arrests  including more than 100 people who were taken into custody from July through November despite having no criminal record. Immigrant and child welfare advocates had assailed the practice as endangering young people by keeping them in detention longer and by giving immigrants an incentive to conceal potential sponsors true identities.

The population of undocumented children in government custody skyrocketed to record levels as immigration officials investigated the potential sponsors.

The ban on arresting sponsors with no criminal record is included in a bill to fund roughly one-quarter of the government through September. The appropriations legislation is the product of weeks of intense negotiations to avert a repeat of the partial shutdown that began Dec. 22 and lasted 35 days.

The Senate and House both passed the bill Thursday, and the White House said President Trump would sign it.

House Democrats pushed strongly for the provision during negotiations over the funding package, said a Democratic aide who was not authorized to speak publicly about the talks. Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz offered the specific legislative language.

Arresting potential sponsors only ensures that children who flee dangerous circumstances will languish longer in overly crowded detention facilities, Wasserman Schultz said. Democrats agree, this cruel, immoral Trump trap does nothing to make America safer.

At issue is the process of finding homes for undocumented immigrant children who come to the U.S. by themselves or are separated from an adult at the border.

Those children end up detained in a national network of shelters until they can be released to an adult, usually a relative. The shelters are designed to be a temporary bridge for often-traumatized children to more stable homes, in which they can pursue their case to stay in the country legally.

To sponsor a child, adults have long had to go through background checks for any criminal history or other red flags that might endanger the child. Immigration status is not weighed as a risk factor.

But last year the Trump administration added additional layers of review, including working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to run fingerprints of potential sponsors. That caused concern within the immigrant community that sponsors, many of whom are undocumented themselves, could be ensnared in the administrations no-limits immigration enforcement. The revelation that ICE had in turn used that information to arrest potential sponsors, most of whom had no criminal record, confirmed that fear.

Under the administrations policies, the number of children in custody reached nearly 15,000, breaking records even after the government halted the practice it implemented last spring of separating families at the border. In December, the Department of Health and Human Services stopped requiring that every additional adult in a sponsors home be fingerprinted, a practice that had greatly slowed the process, keeping children detained longer. Since then, the number of children in custody has dropped to 11,500.

The government funding bill bars the administration from detaining or moving to deport undocumented immigrants based solely on information provided by Health and Human Services, which runs the unaccompanied children program , unless it provides evidence of a past child abuse-related felony or potential human trafficking.

Tal Kopan is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: tal.kopan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @talkopanSACRAMENTO  Two state lawmakers are taking another run at banning gun shows at the Cow Palace, hoping that a new governor who backed the idea earlier in his career will be more receptive than predecessors who have vetoed it three times.

The bill that Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblyman Phil Ting, both San Francisco Democrats, introduced Wednesday could also lead eventually to the end of all events at the Daly City arena and to the buildings demolition, to make way for housing.

Their measure, SB281, would ban gun and ammunition sales at the Cow Palace and transfer control of the 68-acre property from a state-appointed board to a joint powers authority consisting of San Francisco, Daly City and San Mateo County. The agency would be charged with finding developers to build housing and stores on the Cow Palaces land.

Were to the point where something has to change at the Cow Palace, Wiener said. Its a huge amount of land that is severely underutilized.

Supporters, including San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Supervisors Ahsha Safai and Shamann Walton, are optimistic that Gov. Gavin Newsom will back the proposal.

As San Francisco mayor in 2007, Newsom endorsed a ban on firearm sales at the Cow Palace. He has not weighed in on previous efforts to redevelop the property.

The governor firmly believes that permitting the sale of firearms and ammunition on state-owned property sends the wrong message and only serves to perpetuate Americas gun culture, Newsom spokesman Brian Ferguson said in a statement. While the governor has supported similar legislation in the past, the details and bill language matter and bills change at every stage of the legislative process. Should this bill make it to his desk, it would be given careful consideration.

Built in 1941 to provide a pavilion for livestock exhibitions, the Cow Palace has hosted everything from two Beatles concerts and two Republican National Conventions to an annual Christmas Dickens fair. It is a state agency under the Department of Food and Agriculture, meaning that any attempt to limit its use must be done through legislation.

Former Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, tried unsuccessfully in 2008 to compel the state to sell the property to Daly City for development. Three years later, another Yee measure to give several appointments on the state board overseeing the Cow Palace to the mayors of San Francisco and Daly City also failed.

Wieners bill opens the door once again to doing away with the Cow Palace, although he said it would be up to the new governing body to decide whether to raze the building.

The Cow Palace obviously has a storied history and there are benefits to having this large structure, Wiener said. But it hosts fewer events than it once did, he added, and the Bay Area badly needs housing.

Bulldozing the Cow Palace could create a new neighborhood that will benefit Daly City and San Francisco, Wiener said.

The bill is co-authored by Peninsula Democratic legislators Sen. Jerry Hill of San Mateo and Assemblymen Marc Berman of Palo Alto and Kevin Mullin of San Mateo. San Francisco Democratic Assemblyman David Chiu is also on board.

Bill Silverfarb, a spokesman for San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa, whose district includes the Cow Palace, called the venue a dinosaur and said its land, along the Caltrain corridor, would be a prime spot for homes and commercial space.

Gun shows bring thousands of buyers and sellers to the Cow Palace five times per year for a sort of flea market of firearms. There has been increasing pushback from the surrounding communities in recent years as mass shootings reignited gun control activism. A handful of protesters stood outside a gun show in April, the first since the February 2018 massacre of 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Fla.

We dont want to have a gun show in the heart of the Bay Area, Wiener said.

Cow Palace officials did not return a call seeking comment. Crossroads of the West, which puts on the gun shows, said last year that banning the events would mean losing $730,000 in revenue for the Cow Palace and more than $600,000 in sales taxes.

Three proposed bans have made it to the desks of former Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown in the past decade. All were vetoed.

The decision on what kind of shows occur at the Cow Palace rests with the local board of directors which, incidentally, represents a broad cross section of the community. They are in the best position to make these decisions, Brown wrote in a veto message last year.

Wiener said the board members, who are appointed by the governor, arent listening to community concerns.

Its nothing personal, he said. We have a severe disconnect.

Alexei Koseff is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseffIn an all-out effort to show that their disastrous showing in the November elections was a one-time-only outlier, GOP leaders are targeting the seven California Democrats who flipped Republican-held congressional seats for defeat next year.

Freedom or socialism  thats the choice in 2020, Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement naming 55 vulnerable Democrats his party is trying to unseat nationwide. We are hard at work recruiting strong, accomplished Republicans who will deliver our message of individual freedom.

Problem is, thats the same antigovernment message that helped flip 40 GOP seats nationwide and give Democrats control of the House. And with President Trump on the top of the ticket in 2020, thats going to be an even tougher sell in deep-blue California.

Democrats Josh Harder of Turlock (Stanislaus County), T.J. Cox of Fresno, Katie Hill of Agua Dulce (Los Angeles County), Gil Cisneros of Yorba Linda (Orange County), Katie Porter of Irvine, Harley Rouda of Laguna Beach (Orange County) and Mike Levin of San Juan Capistrano (Orange County) all won seats that in many cases Republicans had held for decades. Now they have the considerable advantage of incumbency.

We said all along that flipping those seven seats would be tough for Democrats, said Darry Sragow, a former Democratic strategist who publishes the California Target Book, which focuses on state political contests. But now that they have them, its the Republicans who have a very steep hill to climb.

Theres a reason incumbents of any party are tough to pry loose, Sragow added.

Once youre in Congress, you work very, very, very hard to gain the trust of your constituents, he said. That means making plenty of speeches to local groups and sending out a blizzard of emails about the great things being done for the district in Washington.

That trust is part of what GOP leaders are trying to short-circuit.

After freshman Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York came up with a Green New Deal that she called on Democrats across the nation to endorse, Republicans were quick to tie Democrats to the more controversial aspects of the plan.

Seizing on information in the congresswomans list of frequently asked questions, which was quickly withdrawn, a spokeswoman for the GOP congressional committee fired off emails asking whether Harder, Cox and Hill agreed with the socialist Democrats plan to ban air travel, ban fossil fuels and eliminate millions of jobs in the energy industry. The resolution introduced in Congress contains none of those things.

And where the Green New Deal website talked jokingly of ridding the county of farting cows, Republicans were happy to note that Coxs 21st Congressional District has the 12th-highest cattle population of any congressional district.

But while emails are cheap, campaigns arent. Republicans found themselves heavily outspent in 2018, with little hope that the situation will get better next year.

The Republicans just have so little in the way of resources, Sragow said. Democrats hold every statewide office, two-thirds majorities in both houses of the Legislature and a 44-to-24 percent voter-registration gap thats getting wider every year.

Its hard for them to recruit top candidates, and its hard for them to raise money for campaigns, Sragow said. GOP candidates who do sign on have to realize they may be on a suicide mission.

The details surrounding the 2020 contests dont make things any easier for California Republicans.

Democrats typically do better in presidential election years, which bring out more independent and occasional voters, who in California tend to vote Democratic. And with Trump on the top of the ticket, many of those voters are likely to show up to vote against the president and stay to back Democrats farther down the ballot.

A new poll by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found that 67 percent of California adults disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president, which doesnt bode well for GOP candidates who have little choice but to back their partys leader.

Theres no market for Trump in California now, and its hard to conceive how that will change by next year, Sragow said.

The best chance for a California Republican comeback may be in 2022. Midterm elections typically bring out a lower percentage of Democratic voters, and this one will feature congressional and legislative seats redrawn after the 2020 census.

Since Californias lines are redrawn by an independent committee, it wont be possible for Democrats to gerrymander the districts in their favor, regardless of how much they outnumber Republicans, Sragow said. The state will have a whole new dynamic, and its impossible to say what that will mean politically.

John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuthCarolyn Kaster / Associated Press

Officials and residents of Marin Countys Dixie School District had five hours of debate and a century and a half of history to think better of an unfortunate name. Apparently, they need more time.

Sure, the San Rafael districts name is a tribute to the Confederacys bloody pro-slavery rebellion against the United States, an affront to African Americans in a notoriously segregated area, and a historical and geographic nonsense with no identifiable upside. But changing the name after a mere 155 years, in the words of one Dixie-whistling school official, feels rushed.The new governor who loves the word audacious included a liberal dose of audaciousness in his first State of the State address. Gavin Newsom was so expansive in his policy mentions that even conservatives could not help themselves from applauding at times. He included references to such long-neglected issues as pension reform and revisions to the California Environmental Quality Act to promote housing construction. One Republican who could not be pleased with Newsoms speech: President Trump. Newsom used the occasion to announce that he was withdrawing National Guard troops from the U.S.-Mexico border and vowing to counter the division and xenophonia emanating from the White House. As our editorial on the State of the State noted, Californians need to get ready for a new governor with his own definition of bold. And that definition included significant cutbacks on predecessor Jerry Browns legacy projects: high-speed rail and the twin tunnels. Yet for those of us who have been following Newsom since he was mayor of San Francisco know all too well: His shortcoming was not in coming up with grand visions  he always had an abundance  but in the follow through. Its going to be interesting.

What were saying

That vision left the station: San Franciscos Transbay Transit Center is among the losers of Gov. Gavin Newsoms plan to scale back high-speed rail. Our editorial suggests the city should redouble its efforts to connect with Caltrain, or this might just be one very expensive bus station.

Will he or wont he? On Wednesday, President Trump was strongly hinting that he would hold his nose and sign the bipartisan compromise to avert another government shutdown. Our editorial suggested he should, even as he gets pounded on the right from conservative commentators such as his pal Sean Hannity, who called it a garbage compromise.

To Live and Learn in Dixie: It seems that Marin Countys Dixie School District needs a history lesson. The 1864 origins of its name leave no doubt that it was on the wrong side of history, then and now, as our editorial points out.

History lessons

Olivier Douliery / TNS

Did she or didnt she? Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., made it official in an interview on The Breakfast Club radio show: Indeed, she has smoked marijuana. And, yes, she inhaled. It was a long time ago, she added. This is not so much of a shocker  weve come a long way in the candor department since Bill Clintons I didnt inhale smokescreen  but her now full-throated support for legalization was a bit of an eye roller for those who have seen her duck the question for many years. Sometimes she would deflect by talking only about medical marijuana  or sometimes she would just laugh off the question as if it were absurd. In fact, as state attorney general in 2014, she hedged while her Republican opponent Ron Gold was the enthusiastic advocate of legalized pot.

Free Maria! From the Philippines comes the disturbing news that Maria Ressa, the award-winning and utterly fearless head of the online news site Rappler, has been arrested in what for all the world looks like a trumped-up libel charge. As I noted in a column after meeting her in Singapore last summer, Ressa had long been a target of harassment by the Duterte regime and its supporters. This champion of truth had been honored as one of Times persons of the year for 2018. Duterte & Co. need to know the world is watching.

John Diaz / The Chronicle 2018

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Letter of the Week

Francine Tompkins-Olivera of Berkeley offered this holiday-themed thought: Tuesday marked the 210th anniversary of the birth of our nations great 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. I suspect that if the Great Emancipator were alive today, he would be aghast to find our government housing asylum-seeking migrants and a president who engages in race-baiting and speaks of building a border wall. Sadly, the current occupant of the Oval Office will never understand this famous quote by Lincoln: A house divided against itself cannot stand.

And please check out our other letters of the day responding to this and other matters. You can send us a letter via this form.

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Just a reminder

The Chronicles editorials represent the collective judgment of our Editorial Board, which includes the publisher as well as the writers and editors from the opinion team. Our editors and reporters on the news side are not involved in those decisions (including election endorsements). They are charged with reporting fairly and objectively without regard to our editorial positions. It is one of the core values here at Fifth and Mission streets.

Opinion Central is a thrice-weekly newsletter from John Diaz, The Chronicles editorial page editor, and the rest of the Editorial Board. Follow along on Twitter: @sfc_opinionsMore relief for the heavy costs of college  fees, books, food and housing  could become available for California students under two bills introduced Thursday in the Legislature.

SB291 would set up a financial aid program specifically for community college students that would take into account the total cost of college attendance, not just school fees, when calculating the size of each students grant.

The true cost of attending college is clearly more than just tuition, said Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino (San Bernardino County), who introduced the bill co-authored by eight Democrats, including two from San Francisco  Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblyman David Chiu  and Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks of Oakland.

When nontuition costs like housing, food and textbooks are considered, community college is often more expensive for our lowest-income students to attend than other state universities, Leyva said, reflecting a 2017 study by the Institute for College Access & Success, an Oakland nonprofit.

Eloy Ortiz Oakley, chancellor of the state community college system, said he favors the bill because so few community college students receive financial aid for expenses beyond college fees.

Although the reasons arent clear, just 5 percent of community college students received a Cal Grant last year, compared with 39 percent of undergraduates at the University of California, and about 36 percent at California State University, according to Oakleys office.

AB542 would add 3,000 additional grants to the Competitive Cal Grant program for low-income students, which turns away thousands of qualified students, according to a statement by Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, D-Van Nuys, who introduced the bill.

For my family and so many others, Californias public higher education system was a ticket into the middle class, Gabriel said in a statement. We must ensure that our young people have access to the education they need to secure good jobs.

Neither bill specifies how much the Legislature would need to appropriate to fund the additional grants.

Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimovSCOTTSDALE, Ariz.  One number pops out from Gerardo Parras hitting splits: He has a .310 career batting average at what is now called Oracle Park, his second highest of any ballpark in which he has had at least 100 at-bats.

You dont find that very often, do you? manager Bruce Bochy said Wednesday.

Parra has not slugged all that well in San Francisco, but that is not his game. The Giants signed him Tuesday because he adds a good glove and arm. More important, he can play all three outfield spots  center in a pinch  and has the big-league experience that all of the other 40-man outfielders lack.

Parra signed a minor-league deal, but that appears to be a technicality because of a full 40-man roster. He is expected to be on the team.

You can tell he loves playing, Bochy said. He has a lot of energy. I talked to him a couple of days ago. Hes excited to be coming here and were excited to have him.

The Giants are not done shopping for outfielders, both in the Bryce Harper and non-superstar aisles of the market. ESPN has reported the Giants interest in center fielder Cameron Maybin as a possible right-handed complement to Steven Duggar.

Left and right: Switch-pitcher Pat Venditte threw his first bullpen session for the Giants to an unsuspecting catcher, minor-league invitee Hamlet Marte.

It was weird, Marte said. Everybody told me we had a guy who throws with both hands. I didnt know that was him.

Venditte threw a bunch of pitches right-handed, then left-handed, then right and left again.

He threw a lot of strikes from both sides, Marte said.

Cueto late: Johnny Cueto, who will be out for most or all of 2019 after Tommy John surgery, will report two days late Thursday because of a personal issue. Bochy said it is not related to his brothers recent arrest for an assault at the pitchers home in the Dominican Republic. Nor is it because of the death of his horse, Popeye.

Cueto shared a photo of the deceased animal on Instagram. Viewer discretion definitely advised.

Pitcher added: Cueto was placed on the 60-day injured list Wednesday to clear a roster spot for pitcher Trevor Gott, acquired for cash in a deal with the Nationals.

The Giants hardest-working employee this spring might be the one responsible for updating the 40-man roster, which changes almost daily as the new front office plays waivers roulette.

Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.Lauren Yee was running out of time. If she didnt solve three riddles in Chinatown before sunset  bargaining with a liquor store owner, shimmying with a lion dancer, and pitting her wits against a Sichuan face changer  she would lose her father.

Its the climax of her brilliant play, King of the Yees, which runs through March 2 at the San Francisco Playhouse, inspired by the time when her gregarious father, Larry, went missing.

Last week, I had a chance to chat with Yee about the role of Chinatown and what it means to be Asian American, in a panel moderated by Andrew Hsieh, editor of the Slant, a newsletter; Thi Bui, author and illustrator of the graphic memoir The Best We Could Do; Karen Mok, co-founder of the Cosmos, a womens empowerment organization, and Angela Yip, director of social justice at AAMPLIFY, a youth leadership organization.

No matter how good your parent-child relationship is, there are things they havent told you yet, Yee said before the show. When you see your parents every day, you dont ask, Hey, who is so-and-so? or Why, how did that happen? Theres a sense that theres always more time, but theres not.

Her words resonated with me, as did the tender yet complicated relationship between the father and daughter portrayed in the play.

In the opening scene, the character, Larry Yee, offers bottled water to everyone  which he has in ample supply  and even provides change to help an actress who needs to add more time to her parking meter. He makes a huge poster of his daughter, because shes one of three famous Yees, including the model ancestor from generations ago, from whom they are descended, and state Sen. Leland Yee (who falls from grace in the course of the play).

Like the father in Yees play, mine always had bottled water at the ready, and often when Id visit home, he would stock my car with quarters  just in case Id need them for parking.

After ZYZZYVA, the San Francisco literary magazine, published an excerpt of my novel, my father purchased a two-year subscription. Perhaps he hoped the editors would publish the rest of my book, and it reflected how much he believed in me.

At the dinner we didnt know would be our last together, I asked him about the classic Chinese novel The Water Margin: Outlaws of the Marsh, a rousing tale of banditry that he and his friends passed around in secret back when they were boys. The teachers didnt allow the book at school because it turned them wild, he said.

Id been reading it, too, and I fantasized about a book club of sorts with him in which I could also ask about his childhood in China during World War II and its aftermath.

My father also mentioned a road trip hed taken in graduate school, while on spring break, to see Martin Luther King Jr.

When the church pastors son had sought out volunteers, my father had raised his hand to go. I couldnt wait to ask him more about it. A week later, though, he fell and passed away soon after.

Yee and her father visited their familys ancestral village in Guangdong province  an expedition they might never have embarked upon, if she hadnt been doing research for the play. Its a place I never would have found without him, she said. You cant just put it into Google Maps.

In the process, she said she became closer to her father. Hes one of those people who is ubiquitous in Chinatown. He doesnt live there anymore, but he cant go more than two blocks without seeing someone he knows. Even still, hes one of those people who would rather put their energy out and highlight other people rather than say, Look at me.

With the play, she aims for the funny and the painful. The joy and the humor accurately reflect who my father is, and what Chinatown is  which is crazy, wonderful, frustrating, crowded, and noisy, and a lot of fun.

King of the Yees reminds us about the door in our parents  the one that leads to the past, to who they are. If we dont ask questions before its too late, if our parents pass away, the door could become a wall, sealing us off from their stories.

To paraphrase the father in Yees play: As long as someone remembers, it always remains true. The more you say it, the more it becomes true.

Vanessa Hua is a Bay Area author. Her columns appear Fridays in Datebook. Email: datebook@sfchronicle.comAn hour into my visit with Pietro Fonda and Suzanne George at their custom shoe storefront on Church Street, we were all in tears. Fonda, who turns 95 in April, was telling us about the night his brother Antonio, presumed dead in Auschwitz, arrived at the familys front door on the outskirts of Trieste. Fonda recalled hearing a voice outside the house use a nickname for the barking dog  a nickname only Antonio would know.

The great-grandfather took a moment and rested his weathered but immaculate hand on the counter, aligning a pen and a pair of eyeglasses while he composed himself. George, his co-worker of 20 years, buried her face in a tissue. Trails of mascara ran down my face. Fonda finished the story, laughing as he remembered Antonio  finally home  shoving food into his face while surrounded by sobbing relatives.

Fonda and George make an unexpected pair. Fonda, still with a full head of hair and even more eyebrows, looks like an older, even smaller Martin Scorsese. George has a fabulous mane of flowing red curls and the enthusiastic warmth of your favorite art teacher. Sometimes together and sometimes independently, they create bespoke custom and usually orthopedic shoes using the most traditional of methods and machines. Their shop, tiny and covered in dusty photographs and shelves of shoe leather, is open by appointment only.

Pietro Fonda has the amazing stories wed expect from someone whos survived nearly a century of life. Still an Italian citizen, he arrived in America in 1957 and settled with his family in New Orleans. A shoe repairman by trade, he worked in the back of a New Orleans shoe shop until he saved up $100 for a bus ticket to San Francisco. Once here, Fonda checked into a lonely hotel and got to work figuring out how to make enough money to bring his family across the country.

Each step along Fondas journey has been extraordinary. He seems to always find himself at the crossroads of history. He has beaten death repeatedly, having dodged both a severe childhood injury and Nazi bullets. He first worked in downtown San Francisco, repairing shoes for the likes of sculptor Beniamino Bufano. Later, he opened shop in the Fillmore district, working there until the citys redevelopment of the neighborhood forced him  and lots of other people  out.

But Fondas real claim to fame, the professional milestone that means the most to him, was making sandals for Mother Teresa. Decades ago, while sweeping the sidewalk in front of his shop, Fonda spotted two nuns from the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresas order with an outpost in Noe Valley. He struck up a conversation and eventually began making shoes for the nuns. When Mother Teresa came to town, he created custom orthopedic sandals for her. As it turned out, the famed nun, now officially a saint, was plagued by bunions.

A devoted Catholic and official lay missionary, Fonda met Mother Teresa a total of five times. Hes heard that a pair of his sandals are included in an exhibit in Calcutta, one of the few relics Mother Teresa left behind.

Back on Church Street, a passerby popped his head into the shop. Hed spotted a pair of Georges custom shoes in the window. These are beautiful, he announced. How much are they?

George happily explained that each pair of shoes they create begins with a process of connecting with the client, exploring their health needs and then creating a wooden replica of each foot before the custom design, including orthopedic insoles, begins. Which is to say, their shoes start at $1,750. The man thanked the pair and promptly left.

But Fonda and George have no shortage of clients. Customers come from all over the country and even from around the globe to score a custom pair of shoes.

Fonda emerged from the back of the shop carrying a giant pair of shiny red clown shoes. Up close, the shoes were stitched in flawless leather, created with patient love by Fonda and George on machines that are so old, no one but Fonda knows how to fix them when they break. Inside, the clown shoes are completely customized to the performer who wears them. They are, as clown shoes go, a work of art.

The shoemaker has no plans to retire. He works six days a week and anyway, he loves working with George. I like my job, Fonda grinned. I like problem feet.

Beth Spotswoods column appears Thursdays in Datebook. Email: datebook@sfchronicle.comThe San Francisco Sheriffs Department is conducting a sweeping internal investigation into allegations that several deputies severely beat inmates and conducted degrading strip searches.

Sheriff Vicki Hennessy said Wednesday that the investigation began Dec. 2 after an employee and the public defenders office brought the alleged abuses to her attention.

Were taking this extremely seriously, but we have a lot of work to do, she said. One of the last things we do is interview deputy sheriffs involved.

According to a report provided by Public Defender Jeff Adachis office, 15 men said they were assaulted or abused at the San Bruno jail, and 16 women said they were inappropriately strip-searched.

Among the allegations:

 One man said deputies knocked him to the ground and took turns kicking him.

 Another said he was dragged in handcuffs.

 Another man said he was beaten three times on the same day in September, and then taken to the hospital because he was bleeding from his ear.

 Some of the women said the strip searches were conducted in full view of male deputies.

 One said she was strip-searched twice in two days, and after the second occasion deputies took her clothes and transported her back to her cell naked.

Adachi filed a formal complaint with the Sheriffs Department last month, describing the jails conditions as deplorable, and the deputies treatment as ongoing and repeated misconduct, according to a copy of his Jan. 16 letter to Hennessy.

Adachi wrote that his offices clients are fearful of retaliation for coming forward with their complaints. Despite their fear, some are prepared to come forward with their complaints if necessary.

In a Jan. 31 response to Adachi, Hennessy disagreed with his description of the jails as deplorable but thanked him for his assistance in bringing details to her attention. Hennessy added that she is reviewing our inmate living area search policies to ensure best practices.

Hennessys five-person investigation team is reviewing hours and hours of video footage from the jails, and is prioritizing the more serious allegations, she said. Less than a dozen employees are under investigation, she added.

I have to keep an open mind, she told The Chronicle. I dont want to prejudge things  both for the inmates and for the deputies involved.

Adachi told The Chronicle that the nature and volume of the accusations should warrant an independent investigation or oversight.

Hennessy said she hasnt ruled out the option of an independent investigator.

San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton, meanwhile, has called for a hearing on the matter, which is tentatively scheduled for March 14 at the boards public safety and neighborhood services committee meeting. The supervisors are asking the Sheriffs Department for statistics on inmate complaints, for information on who investigates inmate complaints, and any actions taken.

Being in jail is a very vulnerable place to be, Adachi said. If youre attacked by a sheriffs deputy are you going to call the cops? We want to make sure that theres a process in place such that any complaints are investigated.

San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs Association President Ken Lomba said the union welcomes the investigation and full transparency, but questioned Adachis motives.

This is eerily similar to Jeff Adachis war on the democratic judges, he said in an emailed statement. Now he is attacking the Sheriffs Department as a possible means to fund-raise for the district attorneys race.

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidyWhile millions more Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers could now have their power intentionally turned off as part of a wildfire-prevention effort, the utility is also taking steps to keep blackouts as limited as possible, one of its key executives said Wednesday.

PG&E is expanding the power shutoff program it launched after the deadly 2017 fires, many of which were linked to its equipment. Now any of its 5.4 million electric customers could be in the dark at some point as the utility tries to prevent its power lines from starting more dangerous fires during periods of extremely dry and windy weather.

At the same time, PG&E is trying to contain the impact of its power shutoffs by installing more devices that allow it to more closely target the portions of its system that are de-energized, said Sumeet Singh, a vice president in charge of the companys community wildfire safety program.

Singh made the point at a San Francisco workshop on the wildfire mitigation plans that the states investor-owned utilities, including PG&E, submitted last week to the California Public Utilities Commission.

As he discussed PG&Es plan, Singh acknowledged that the companys decision to broaden the scope of planned outages inevitably means that customers who are not located in a high-risk fire area could lose power at some point. So the utility is installing additional sectionalization devices that will help lessen the impact of power shutoffs on customers who are outside high-risk zones but are served by power lines that run through them, he said.

Singh also outlined other elements of PG&Es wildfire prevention program, which includes removing 375,000 trees and managing vegetation more aggressively along 2,450 miles of power lines this year. PG&E says it is also installing 400 new weather stations and 70 fire-watching cameras this year  and many more in future years  among other efforts.

Asked if PG&Es recent bankruptcy protection filing will hurt the companys fire prevention efforts, Singh said it should not.

At this point, we do not foresee that, he said. We have a committed, unwavering focus on safety. ... We will continue to do our part, working in unison with the communities and customers on addressing this unprecedented level of risk.

PG&Es fire plan comes with high stakes, as the state has already blamed the companys power lines for a series of wildfires that tore through Northern California in 2017  though not the most destructive blaze from that year. The utility may also still be found responsible for last years devastating Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive blaze in state history.

The plan is also of great interest to the federal judge overseeing PG&Es probation arising from the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion, who is considering imposing his own sweeping wildfire-prevention proposal on the utility. The judge ordered PG&E to submit a copy of its wildfire mitigation plan to him as well last week, and comments from parties in the case are due next Wednesday.

The plan outlined by Singh was met with some skepticism at the commission workshop.

Elizaveta Malashenko, the commissions deputy executive director for safety and enforcement policy, questioned whether PG&E had the organizational capabilities to really do this much that fast with everything thats going on. She also wondered whether PG&Es focus on aggressive vegetation management could have unintended consequences, possibly increasing the fire threat if trees are haphazardly trimmed or cut.

I appreciate the scale of what PG&E is doing, but I think theres some concerns, on the other side of it, that its not just about numbers  its really about doing things right, Malashenko said.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

Singh said the companys fire prevention plan was based on what it had a line of sight into and assured it was taking steps to manage vegetation properly, including sending people out to review the work after its done.

One workshop attendee, Robin McCollum, criticized PG&Es entire approach to vegetation management. McCollum, who said he formerly supervised tree trimming for the Butte County government, told Singh he considered PG&Es vegetation management to have largely been a failure.

I think were at a point where we should have a paradigm shift in our thinking: Its not the vegetation that causes the problem. Its not the vegetation thats the enemy or the target, McCollum said. Its the wires  the bare wires  that are the hazard.

The commission has two more technical workshops planned this month and may hold evidentiary hearings in March. Commissioners intend to adopt the utilities fire plans before the start of the next wildfire season in June, though Malashenko cautioned against expecting too much immediately.

This is not going to happen overnight, she said in an interview. Theres only so much we can do in the next 90 days. I think a realistic expectation is that, from this first round of wildfire mitigation plans, we will establish a baseline and chart out a path forward to further improvements in the next cycle.

J.D. Morris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorrisRohnert Park has agreed to pay $1.2 million in a suit by a family whose home was illegally entered and searched by police, a case that also led to a court order requiring the city to train its officers in legal standards for home searches.

The case arose from a 2014 search in the Sonoma County community in which one police officer, following his departments standard practice, entered the home through the back door without a warrant while two fellow officers were talking to the owners at the front door.

A federal court jury found the search illegal in November and awarded the homeowners, Raul and Elva Barajas, $145,000 in damages, including $70,000 in punitive damages against the officer who entered at the back with his gun drawn. Last month, U.S. Magistrate Sallie Kim of San Francisco granted the couples request for an injunction requiring the Police Department to give its officers at least two hours of training on home searches, along with a written policy on legal searches and a copy of her ruling.

The city agreed this week to a $1.2 million settlement that includes the jury verdict and the fees and legal costs of the familys lawyers. Attorneys for the family said it may be the largest-ever settlement for an illegal search in California. They also said Rohnert Park had rejected a pretrial offer to settle the suit for $20,000.

In November 2014, three officers went to the home of the Barajas couple and their three children, including Edgar Perez, who was on probation for drug offenses, none of them violent. Two officers went to the front door and were met by the couple, who told them Perez was not home, according to the magistrates summary of the evidence. Meanwhile, the third officer, Jacy Tatum, went through a side gate and entered the home through a rear sliding door, with his gun drawn.

When the couple saw Tatum in the home, Kim said, they let the other two officers enter, and they looked in every room, saw Perez wasnt there, and left after 18 minutes. The magistrate also said one officer, asked to explain the search, had fabricated a story that an informant had told him six to eight months earlier that Perez had a gun and was selling drugs.

The trial also produced evidence that Tatum had entered through the back door 50 to 60 times while searching homes of people who are on probation for criminal violations, Kim said. Police can generally search probationers, their homes and vehicles without a court warrant, but Kim said said officers must still announce their presence, seek their consent before entering except in emergencies, and refrain from searching the rooms of other occupants of the home.

The case revealed systemic problems in the way that the city of Rohnert Park fails to train its police officers, the magistrate said.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@BobEgelkoNews for the Future

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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.The death at 96 of political extremist Lyndon LaRouche evokes memories of when "LaRouchies" were fixtures at Sea-Tac International Airport, and brought their conspiracy theories to local elections.

"Queen Elizabeth is a drug pusher. Everyone knows that," LaRouche told Seattle reporters when he brought one of his many campaigns to the Emerald City.

LaRouche had been part of the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party and anti-Vietnam War politics, but overnight went from far left to extreme right. He took a few Seattle area anti-war activists with him, in presidential bids that inspired one newspaper to headline: "Off, but running."

LaRouche was an advocate of population growth, and foisted off-the-wall theories on those urging restraints. He conjured up a theory in the 1970s that President Carter was plotting to infect the world with bubonic plague.

RELATED: Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones screams on Seattle streets

A trio of LaRouchies filed to run for the Seattle City Council, leading to the Municipal League's most unforgettable candidate interview.

It began with the standard question: What do you think is the most important issue facing the city of Seattle?

The LaRouchies responded in tandem: "The bubonic plague."

"I remember one LaRouchie running for the Port of Seattle (commission) who said the key issue was space-based ABM systems. She had moved to Seattle two months earlier," Ed Offley, former Seattle Post-Intelligencer writer, said in a post Thursday.

The airport LaRouchies were big on the accusation that the International Monetary Fund had created and spread the AIDS virus. It was never clearly explained how.

The LaRouche following erected a number of fronts. An early one was the National Caucus of Labor Committees. Another was a publication called the Executive Intelligence Review spread LaRouche conspiracy theories. The Fusion Energy Institute espoused LaRouche theories on the atom.

Shawn Crowley, a Seattle attorney, posted Thursday: "My first encounter with his cultists was when they were still under the banner of National Caucus of Labor (Committees) newly split from the Students for a Democratic Society. Thuggish and no sense of humor would be the kindest thing I would say about them."

The official-sounding National Democratic Policy Committee -- which had no connection to the Democratic Party -- was used as a front for LaRouchies running in Democratic primaries.

One managed to capture the Democrats' nomination for lieutenant governor in Illinois, causing the Democrats' gubernatorial nominee Adlai Stevenson III to leave his own party so as not to share a ballot line with the cult extremists.

"They built a nationwide election machine that fielded thousands of candidates in Democratic primaries in the mid-1980's, frequently picking up 20 percent of the vote and winning dozens of nominations for public office," Dennis King wrote in his book "Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism."

Executive Intelligence Review came to the defense of the beleaguered Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS) nuclear construction program in the early 1980s. LaRouche was a big booster of nuclear power.

ALSO FROM CONNELLY: O'Brien is fourth Seattle City Council incumbent not to seek re-election

The Review charged that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's energy writer and WPPSS critic -- the author of this remembrance -- had been put in place as part of a Soviet KGB effort to bring down nuclear energy.

LaRouche was even into music with a front called the Schiller Institute, named for the German philosopher Frederich Schiller, whose "Ode to Joy" was adapted in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

Hence, theme music used by an ugly, conspiracy cult became conductor German Wilhelm Furtwangler's evocative, romantic recordings of the "Glorious Ninth."

LaRouche would eventually become a cropper over his cult's fundraising practices. He was convicted of income tax evasion, mail fraud, and drawing money from credit card accounts of elderly followers. He served five years, and ran his 1992 presidential campaign from a prison cell in Minnesota.Legislation to mandate sex education across Washington is needed as a preventive measure against harassment, coercion and assault, advocates told a hearing Wednesday in Olympia.

Senate Bill 5395 generated hot debate on a snowy day in the state capital.

"The first time students come to campus should not be the first time they learn of affirmative consent, " argued Henry Pollet, a Western Washington University student.

RELATED: 'We need to catch up to the times': Series of sexual assault reforms introduced in Wash. legislature

State Rep. Vicki Kraft, a Republican from Southwest Washington, countered: "It's teaching young children how to have sex."

The legislation sponsored by Sen. Claire Wilson, D-Federal Way, would:

-- Make comprehensive, medically accurate sex education mandatory in all public schools;

-- Require that the curriculum be inclusive, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity;

Joel Connelly has been a staff columnist for more than 30 years. He comments regularly on politics and public policy. Joel Connelly has been a staff columnist for more than 30 years. He comments regularly on politics and public policy.

-- Teach affirmative consent as essential to sexual relations.

Parents would be able to opt out, but all districts would have to opt in.

"I wonder who is going to run for school board if local control is removed," argued Kenny Smith of Battleground, an opponent of the bill.

But Wilson, a veteran educator, argued that early knowledge guides wise decisions, which prevent young people from expecting unexpectedly.

"Most all I know, teens want to learn as much as they can plan for themselves and their future," Wilson said.

Aren Wright, an Olympia high school student, reported: "Our current curriculum tells nothing about how to report sexual harassment and assault."

Heather Maisen of King County Public Health, spoke of "positive effects" such as "reducing sexual activity" seen where sexuality health education is taught.

Sharon Hanek of Bonney Lake, countered with the question: "is anything broken?" Why change the law, she asked, at a time when the state is experiencing a decline in teen pregnancy.

RELATED: White House hopeful Inslee to Legislature: 'Be bold' and 'make history'

Planned Parenthood is backing SB 5395, on top of a successful 2018 election. For instance, Wilson ousted GOP Sen. Mark Miloscia, an outspoken social conservative and abortion opponent.

And Planned Parenthood argued strongly that sexual education should begin at a young age.

"In order to prevent sexual violence, coercion and assault, all young people need access to sex education that includes consent and healthy relationships, starting well before college and well before they become sexually active," said Courtney Normand of Planned Parenthood Votes.Amazon has decided not to build a new headquarters in New York, the Seattle-based online retail giant said Thursday.

In a statement, Amazon officials said their decision came as state and local politicians opposed the retailer's presence in Long Island City, Queens.

"For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term," the statement read.

RELATED: Get inspired: House where Jeff Bezos started Amazon listed

"We are disappointed to have reached this conclusion  we love New York, its incomparable dynamism, people, and culture  and particularly the community of Long Island City, where we have gotten to know so many optimistic, forward-leaning community leaders, small business owners, and residents.

"We hope to have future chances to collaborate as we continue to build our presence in New York over time."

The statement went on to say the company will not search for another HQ2 at this time, and will proceed as planned in northern Virginia and Nashville.

One critic of New York's HQ2 deal, State Sen. Michael Gianaris, spoke out to The New York Times.

"Like a petulant child, Amazon insists on getting its way or takes its ball and leaves," said Gianaris, a Democrat, whose neighborhood includes Long Island City. "The only thing that happened here is that a community that was going to be profoundly affected by their presence started asking questions.''

RELATED: Connelly: Amazon and Seattle -- We are ground zero of minimum wage movement

Amazon originally announced its decision to open a new headquarters in New York in November. The deal there included nearly $3 billion in state and city incentives, which drew fire from lawmakers in New York, according to The New York Times. Amazon promised 25,000 jobs and planned to spend over $2 billion to build its offices there.

Virginia, on the other hand, offered subsidies of about $573 million for 25,000 jobs, as well as city investments totaling $223 million, such as transportation improvements, according to The Washington Post.

Amazon currently has about 5,000 employees in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island.FLORENCE, S.C.  Two Florence One high schools will have at least one new assistant principal next year. The Florence One Schools Board of Trustees approved administratively recommended new hires during its June 17 board meeting. We are happy to have all of these administrators coming on board, said Florence 1 Schools Superintendent Richard OMalley. Administrators play a vital role in our school community and we look forward to the fresh ideas they will bring to their schools and the district.COLUMBIA, S.C.  Gov. Henry McMaster called on Florence leaders Wednesday to help spread the message to legislators about his plans for using the budget surplus, including improving education.

McMaster, state Sen. Hugh K. Leatherman and Florence Mayor Pro Tempore Frank J. Buddy Brand headlined the luncheon of the 2019 Florence County Legislative Day Wednesday afternoon.

McMaster used his speech to make a request of those attending the luncheon. He said he had asked the General Assembly to do three things regarding the budget surplus. First, McMaster asked those present to let their legislators know that they wanted to see higher teacher pay, that they wanted to see the creation of a rural school infrastructure fund to be used to attract businesses to the rural parts of the state, and that they wanted to see a refund from some of the surplus.

He said these three things would put the state in an even better place in terms of being able to attract businesses and continue to grow. McMaster said businesses wanted to see the state commit to improving its educational system and taking care of its residents.Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world -- for every 100,000 live births, 1360 women will die. In Norway, that number is just 5 women per 100,000 live births; in the US, it's 14, according to the United Nations Population Fund.

Why are so many women dying in Sierra Leone? The answer is simple: childbirth can be complicated and there are simply not enough health care providers to address the needs of this small West African country of 7 million people.

Before the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak, just 10 specialist surgeons were available in public hospitals, with about 150 doctors in total.

But there is hope: a new study of more than 1200 women who had C-sections in nine Sierra Leone hospitals shows that community health officers with surgical training are a safe alternative to medical doctors when it comes to outcomes for Caesarean sections. The study was conducted between October 2016 and May 2017, and has just been published in BJS, the British Journal of Surgery.

"Some of these hospitals have just one or two doctors for the whole district," said the study's first author Alex van Duinen, a Dutch medical doctor and PhD candidate at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). "Human resources are a major problem. Task sharing -- teaching community health officers to provide basic lifesaving surgeries -- can improve that."

Building acceptance in the medical community

Van Duinen's research is being conducted as part of his work with a non-profit organization called CapaCare, co-founded in 2011 by Hakon Bolkan, a surgeon at St Olavs Hospital and a postdoc at NTNU.

CapaCare offers a two-year training programme for selected community health officers (CHO), with the goal of teaching them to do surgeries such as Caesarean sections, appendectomies and hernia repairs.

After the two years of training, graduates also spend a year as an intern at one of the main hospitals in Freetown, after which they are given the position as a surgical assistant community health officer (SACHO). To date, 31 participants have graduated from the programme, with another 33 in training.

But CapaCare's work is not as simple as just producing qualified graduates -- Sierra Leone's medical community, health care officials and the population as a whole have to have confidence that the CapaCare graduates can perform surgeries at least as well as medical doctors.

This evidence has to be clear, and provide scientifically documented proof that the training works. So that's where van Duinen's research comes in.

Prospective study with a home visit

Other researchers have looked at the issue of task sharing for emergency obstetric care, mainly in East Africa, but most of these studies have been retrospective, which means that researchers essentially look for patterns in medical data that have already been collected.

Nevertheless, all of these studies show that task sharing can work well in places where there are just not enough doctors to go around.

On the other hand, a prospective study like that conducted by van Duinen and his colleagues is seen as much stronger support for the findings from the research.

Researchers in a prospective study decide which data to include before they collect it, which ensures data quality. The Sierra Leone C-section study also included a home visit 30 days after the birth, which allowed van Duinen and his colleagues to see how mother and child were doing in the period after discharge.

CapaCare

"We were able to check some of the outcome data," van Duinen said. "Home visits were one of the distinguishing factors of our study."

For example, one baby that had been recorded as a stillbirth in the hospital and one baby that had been recorded as a death were both found to be alive when the researchers did the home visits.

Three of the mothers and 28 of the babies who were alive when they left the hospital also died in the month after birth, which researchers wouldn't have discovered without this extra follow up, van Duinen said.

Not inferior to doctors

When all the numbers were tallied, the researchers found 16 postoperative maternal deaths, 15 treated by a doctor and 1 treated by a graduate of the CapaCare programme.

These numbers indicate that doctors may have worse outcomes. "Although our data suggest that patients treated by doctors and graduates were mostly similar, doctors may have treated more of the complicated patients," Van Duinen said.

The difference in the mortality numbers is also due to the fact that there were 50 doctors in the study compared to 12 graduated clinical officers. These 50 doctors performed 831 C-sections that were included in the study, or two-thirds, compared to 443 performed by the graduates. Of these surgeries, 85 per cent were done as emergency surgeries.

However, the mortality numbers and the number of emergency surgeries are "still very high," van Duinen said, but there are also reasons for that.

"There's a huge disincentive for women in the districts to come into the hospital to give birth," he said. "That's why the outcomes are so bad."

Very often, he said, women will wait until the absolute last minute to come in for care, because it may be too costly for them to both travel and get treated at the hospital. They may also be afraid of coming to the hospital because of concern of what they might find there -- it was not that long ago, for example, that Ebola-ravaged the country's health care system, during which more than 14000 people were infected and 4000 died.

When the researchers analyzed the numbers, they found that cesarean sections done by the graduates were not associated with higher maternal mortality 30 days after the surgery than cesarean sections performed by doctors.

"The message is that there is a slight difference in the two groups, because the doctors may get the more complicated cases, but overall we see that there is non-inferiority," Van Duinen said.

Kismet in the jungle

Just by chance, van Duinen has worked with CapaCare since the organization first started its training programme in 2011. That's because he was working at the time at Masanga Hospital, in Sierra Leone's Tonkolili province, as hospital director. Masanga Hospital has been the base for CapaCare's training in Sierra Leone.

The first week he was at Masanga, van Duinen met Bolkan with the first CapaCare student who was just beginning his training.

The idea of training non-doctor medical personnel to do emergency surgeries -- task sharing -- was already something he knew about. During his medical training in the Netherlands, he was sent to Malawi for an internship, where the practice is well established.

"I saw that task sharing could actually work, and then I met Hakon, and I said, 'Yes, of course, we have to do this! It works, I have seen it!'," he said.Most schoolchildren learn that the Earth has three (or four) layers: a crust, mantle and core, which is sometimes subdivided into an inner and outer core. That's not wrong, but it does leave out several other layers that scientists have identified within the Earth.

In a study published this week in Science, Princeton geophysicists Jessica Irving and Wenbo Wu, in collaboration with Sidao Ni from the Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics in China, used data from an enormous earthquake in Bolivia to find mountains and other topography on a layer located 660 kilometers (410 miles) straight down, which separates the upper and lower mantle. (Lacking a formal name for this layer, the researchers simply call it "the 660-km boundary.")

To peer deep into the Earth, scientists use the most powerful waves on the planet, which are generated by massive earthquakes. "You want a big, deep earthquake to get the whole planet to shake," said Irving, an assistant professor of geosciences.

Big earthquakes are vastly more powerful than small ones -- energy increases 30-fold with every step up the Richter scale -- and deep earthquakes, "instead of frittering away their energy in the crust, can get the whole mantle going," Irving said. She gets her best data from earthquakes that are magnitude 7.0 or higher, she said, as the shockwaves they send out in all directions can travel through the core to the other side of the planet -- and back again. For this study, the key data came from waves picked up after a magnitude 8.2 earthquake -- the second-largest deep earthquake ever recorded -- that shook Bolivia in 1994.

"Earthquakes this big don't come along very often," she said. "We're lucky now that we have so many more seismometers than we did even 20 years ago. Seismology is a different field than it was 20 years ago, between instruments and computational resources."

Seismologists and data scientists use powerful computers, including Princeton's Tiger supercomputer cluster, to simulate the complicated behavior of scattering waves in the deep Earth.

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The technology depends on a fundamental property of waves: their ability to bend and bounce. Just as light waves can bounce (reflect) off a mirror or bend (refract) when passing through a prism, earthquake waves travel straight through homogenous rocks but reflect or refract when they encounter any boundary or roughness.

"We know that almost all objects have surface roughness and therefore scatter light," said Wu, the lead author on the new paper, who just completed his geosciences Ph.D. and is now a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology. "That's why we can see these objects -- the scattering waves carry the information about the surface's roughness. In this study, we investigated scattered seismic waves traveling inside the Earth to constrain the roughness of the Earth's 660-km boundary."

The researchers were surprised by just how rough that boundary is -- rougher than the surface layer that we all live on. "In other words, stronger topography than the Rocky Mountains or the Appalachians is present at the 660-km boundary," said Wu. Their statistical model didn't allow for precise height determinations, but there's a chance that these mountains are bigger than anything on the surface of the Earth. The roughness wasn't equally distributed, either; just as the crust's surface has smooth ocean floors and massive mountains, the 660-km boundary has rough areas and smooth patches. The researchers also examined a layer 410 kilometers (255 miles) down, at the top of the mid-mantle "transition zone," and they did not find similar roughness.

"They find that Earth's deep layers are just as complicated as what we observe at the surface," said seismologist Christine Houser, an assistant professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology who was not involved in this research. "To find 2-mile (1-3 km) elevation changes on a boundary that is over 400 miles (660 km) deep using waves that travel through the entire Earth and back is an inspiring feat. ... Their findings suggest that as earthquakes occur and seismic instruments become more sophisticated and expand into new areas, we will continue to detect new small-scale signals which reveal new properties of Earth's layers."

What it means

The presence of roughness on the 660-km boundary has significant implications for understanding how our planet formed and continues to function. That layer divides the mantle, which makes up about 84 percent of the Earth's volume, into its upper and lower sections. For years, geoscientists have debated just how important that boundary is. In particular, they have investigated how heat travels through the mantle -- whether hot rocks are carried smoothly from the core-mantle boundary (almost 2,000 miles down) all the way up to the top of the mantle, or whether that transfer is interrupted at this layer. Some geochemical and mineralogical evidence suggests that the upper and lower mantle are chemically different, which supports the idea that the two sections don't mix thermally or physically. Other observations suggest no chemical difference between the upper and lower mantle, leading some to argue for what's called a "well-mixed mantle," with both the upper and lower mantle participating in the same heat-transfer cycle.

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"Our findings provide insight into this question," said Wu. Their data suggests that both groups might be partially right. The smoother areas of the 660-km boundary could result from more thorough vertical mixing, while the rougher, mountainous areas may have formed where the upper and lower mantle don't mix as well.

In addition, the roughness the researchers found, which existed at large, moderate and small scales, could theoretically be caused by heat anomalies or chemical heterogeneities. But because of how heat in transported within the mantle, Wu explained, any small-scale thermal anomaly would be smoothed out within a million years. That leaves only chemical differences to explain the small-scale roughness they found.

What could cause significant chemical differences? The introduction of rocks that used to belong to the crust, now resting quietly in the mantle. Scientists have long debated the fate of the slabs of sea floor that get pushed into the mantle at subduction zones, the collisions happening found all around the Pacific Ocean and elsewhere around the world. Wu and Irving suggest that remnants of these slabs may now be just above or just below the 660-km boundary.

"It's easy to assume, given we can only detect seismic waves traveling through the Earth in its current state, that seismologists can't help understand how Earth's interior has changed over the past 4.5 billion years," said Irving. "What's exciting about these results is that they give us new information to understand the fate of ancient tectonic plates which have descended into the mantle, and where ancient mantle material might still reside."

She added: "Seismology is most exciting when it lets us better understand our planet's interior in both space and time."Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a mental condition caused by a traumatic event. People with PTSD may experience intrusive memories, negative thoughts, anxiety and chronic pain. The condition is typically treated with a combination of psychotherapy, anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications.

It's this connection between mental health and pain that interests Imanuel Lerman, MD, associate professor at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, Jacobs School of Engineering and Qualcomm Institute, and a pain management specialist at UC San Diego Health and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System.

Lerman especially wants to know how the emotional pain experience may be influenced by the vagus nerve, which runs down both sides of our necks from the brainstem to the abdomen. The vagus nerve also plays a critical role in maintaining heart rate, breathing rate, digestive tract movement and many other basic body functions.

In a study published February 13, 2019 in PLOS ONE, Lerman and colleagues tested noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation as a method for dampening the sensation of pain.

"It's thought that people with certain differences in how their bodies -- their autonomic and sympathetic nervous systems -- process pain may be more susceptible to PTSD," Lerman said. "And so we wanted to know if we might be able to re-write this 'mis-firing' as a means to manage pain, especially for people with PTSD." Lerman led the study with Alan N. Simmons, PhD, director of the fMRI Research Laboratory at Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System and associate professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

The team used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to get a look at the brains of 30 healthy study participants after a painful heat stimulus was applied to their legs. To determine how the body's sympathetic nervous system responds to pain, they also measured the sweat on the skin of participants before the heat was applied, and at several points as the heat increased.

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Half the participants were treated with noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation for two minutes -- via electrodes placed on the neck -- approximately 10 minutes before the heat stimulus. The other half received a mock stimulation.

Lerman and colleagues report three main findings from this study. First, vagus nerve stimulation blunted peak response to heat stimulus in several areas of the brain known to be important for sensory and discriminative pain processing, as well as in emotional pain centers. The treatment also delayed the pain response in these brain regions -- pain-related brain regions were activated ten seconds later in participants pre-treated with vagus nerve stimulation than in sham-treated participants.

Second, the sweat measurements revealed that vagus nerve stimulation altered autonomic responses to painful heat stimulus. For participants pre-treated with vagus nerve stimulation, the sweat response decreased over time, in contrast to the sham-treatment group.

Third, vagus nerve stimulation dampened the usual brainstem centers critical for the fight-or-flight-type responses, which are also known to control the sweat response to pain.

"Not everyone is the same -- some people may need more vagus nerve stimulation than others to achieve the same outcomes and the necessary frequencies might change over time -- so we'll need to personalize this approach," Lerman said. "But we are hopeful and looking forward to the next steps in moving this approach toward the clinic."

Next, Lerman and colleagues will launch a Veterans Affairs Healthcare System-funded clinical trial in San Diego with military veterans, with and without PTSD. They want to determine if at-home vagus nerve stimulation can reduce emotional pain and underlying neural inflammation associated with PTSD. To learn how to participate, please call 858-552-8585.

Vagus nerve stimulation is a form of neuromodulation, an approach to pain management that also includes spinal cord and dorsal root ganglion (DRG) stimulation. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved noninvasive vagus nerve stimulator for the treatment of episodic and chronic cluster headache and acute migraine, as well as an implantable device for epilepsy. An implanted vagus nerve stimulator is now being tested in a clinical trial for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Side effects of implanted vagus nerve stimulation can include hoarseness, shortness of breath and nausea.The more crime that occurs along a student's way to school, the higher the likelihood that student will be absent, Johns Hopkins University researchers found.

By modeling the most efficient routes to school for Baltimore students, researchers found those who commute through areas with double the average amount of crime are 6 percent more likely to miss school. Even more crime-ridden routes to school led to proportionately more absenteeism. The findings, which demonstrate yet another way urban violence effects school outcomes, appears in the journal Sociological Science.

"Having to travel through dangerous streets is leading kids to miss school," said lead author Johns Hopkins sociologist Julia Burdick-Will. "Not showing up for school has important academic consequences and students who must prioritize their own personal safety over attendance have a clear disadvantage."

Researchers including Burdick-Will have shown that students exposed to violent crime have lower test scores and lower graduation rates. And chronic absenteeism has been linked to lower achievement, student disengagement and increased risk of dropping out.

Meanwhile families, especially those living in violent and disadvantaged neighborhoods, are increasingly choosing to send their children schools in different parts of town. But getting to these schools is often difficult. Many districts have cut back on traditional school busses and students must use public transportation. This means just showing up to school every day can mean long and difficult journeys through potentially dangerous streets, Burdick-Will says.

This is the first time anyone has attempted to gauge how neighborhood violence might influence school attendance.

Researchers first determined the quickest, most efficient route to school using public transportation for 4,200 first-time 9th-graders in Baltimore City public high schools. Then they linked those streets with crime data from the Baltimore Police Department.

The team found that students whose best route required walking or waiting for a bus in areas with higher violent crime rates had higher rates of absenteeism throughout the year. And the scary spots weren't limited to certain parts of town -- they were essentially all over the city.

The average student went to school in a neighborhood where 87 violent crimes were reported during the academic year, but lived in a neighborhood where 95 violent crimes happened during the same time. Students pass streets on public transit where 41 violent crimes happened and passed streets on foot where there were 27 such crimes.

The relationship between exposure to violence during the commute to school and absenteeism provides important insights into the ways urban violence links to low achievement and high school dropout, the researchers conclude. Not only are students stressed and traumatized by violence in their communities, they say, they're missing school because of it.

"What if the closest bus stop isn't safe and you need a ride to a farther stop. Then what if what ride falls through? Do you risk it or walk really far or do you just not go to school," Burdick-Wills says. "Missing an extra day of school a year doesn't sound like a lot but these things add up."

Co-authors included Marc Stein, an associate professor in the School of Education; and Jeffrey Grigg, an assistant professor in the School of Education.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).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.

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"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.

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"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.Pianist Joey Alexander and The Joey Alexander Trio will perform at Troy Music Hall on Friday, Feb. 15.Danvers, MA (01923)

Today

Mostly clear skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 58F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Mostly clear skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 58F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.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Rutland, VT (05701)

Today

A few passing clouds. Low 51F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low 51F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.Chandigarh, February 14: Hours after he was authorized by the State Assembly to take up with the Centre the issue of delay in SGPC elections, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said people had the right to early polls to the supreme body controlling the Gurdwaras. Talking informally with mediapersons outside the House, the Chief Minister termed the delay in the SGPC elections as wrong and unfair for the people of Punjab.

It was the democratic right of every Punjabi to vote in SGPC elections which cannot be denied by Union Government, he earlier said in the House, while responding to the issue that was raised by AAP MLA HS Phoolka. Amid protests by SAD and BJP members, the House authorized Captain Amarinder to raise the issue with the central government. The Chief Minister assured the House that he would meet the Union Home Minister soon to press for early initiation of the SGPC elections which were pending since 2016.

AAP MLA HS Phoolka

Since the Gurdwara Act was a national legislation, it was the bounden duty of the central government to hold timely elections to the SGPC, he said, seeking the permission of the Speaker, on behalf of his government, to adopt the resolution moved by the AAP MLA. Amidst protests by SAD and BJP MLAs, the Speaker put the resolution to vote, as a result of which the House authorised Captain Amarinder Singh to raise the issue with Union Government immediately.

As the resolution was put to vote, the members of ruling party and AAP welcomed it with thumping of desks. The Chief Minister later told mediapersons there was unanimity in the House on the issue as the elections were over due by three years. Only the Akalis and BJP were not in favour, he added.

Capt Amarinder authorized by House to raise SGPC poll delay issue with centre

To a question on the continuance of certain AAP members who had resigned, the Chief Minister said they continue to be members till their resignations are accepted. He had also resigned from Parliament in 1984 but continued to be a member for two months as his resignation had not been accepted, he recalled.New Delhi, Feb 14: Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party Thursday said it was unfortunate that there was no clarity in the Supreme Court judgement that delivered a split verdict on who controls services in the National Capital Territory. People of Delhi will continue to suffer, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj told reporters after the Supreme Court referred the issue of clarity on division of powers between the Delhi government and the Centre to a larger bench.

AAP says SC judgment offers no clarity

A two-judge bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, however, agreed on disputes relating to the Anti-Corruption Branch, setting up of a commission of inquiry, control over electricity boards, land revenue matters and appointment of pubic prosecutors.New Delhi, Feb 14: A poem on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by acclaimed Punjabi writer Nanak Singh which was banned by the British after its publication in 1920 has now been translated into English. Singh was present at Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919. He was 22 years old at the time. As the British troops opened fire on the unarmed gathering protesting against the Rowlatt Act, killing hundreds, Singh fainted and his unconscious body was piled up among the corpses.

Punjabi writer Nanak Singh

After going through the traumatic experience, he proceeded to write "Khooni Vaisakhi", a long poem that narrates the political events in the run-up to the massacre and its immediate aftermath. The poem was a scathing critique of the British Raj and was banned soon after its publication. Its manuscript was subsequently lost. After long years, the poem has been rediscovered and now translated into English by the author's grandson and diplomat, Navdeep Suri.

Banned poem on Jallianwala massacre now in English

It will be published by HarperCollins India next month to mark the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Featuring the poem in translation and in original, the bilingual edition is accompanied by essays by Suri, H S Bhatia and by Justin Rowalatt, whose great-grandfather, Sir Sydney Arthur Taylor Rowlatt, drafted the Rowlatt Act. Singh (1897-1971) is widely regarded as the father of the Punjabi novel. With little formal education beyond the fourth grade, he wrote an astounding 59 books and received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1962.The City of Carpinteria, SBCAG and Caltrans have secured funding to complete the Rincon Trail expansion.As a white heterosexual Appalachian male in a committed relationship to my God and to my wife, I have been depicted as a buffoon on TV since 1950s, ridiculed as stupid by late night hosts and had my leadership skills belittled by sniveling feminists as toxic masculinity. My Scottish heritage has been mocked and everyone who is not of Scottish descent wearing tartan is misappropriating my culture.

And you know what........... I got over it!

Racism, ethnic humor and unwanted sexual advances by both women and men have been around for centuries worldwide. But it was the zenith of stupidity for three unwise men to have engaged in this nonsense. It now entangles them with the same regurgitation of irrelevant bygone facts, totally appropriate at the time but now outlawed by thought police.

Mr. Northam incurs a heightened opposition for his concurrence to murdering the new born. As if his support for abortion was not bad enough, this view descends to the River Styx.

For as much as I dislike the political positions of these three unwise men and even though I did not vote for them, nor will I ever vote for them, they are my elected officials. As disgusting and repugnant as I find them, I will obey the law.February 10, 2019 Dr. Edward R. Clayton, Professor Emeritus of Virginia Tech University, of Blacksburg, Va., passed away suddenly Sunday, February 10, 2019, at age 80. We have lost a loyal friend, a respected scholar, a truly fine gentleman, and a man deeply and steadfastly devoted to his family. Ed's life was long and good and, in many ways, extraordinary. As a youth, he traveled throughout the world with his family who were actively engaged in international oil enterprises. He worked in the jungles of South America on oil rigs when he was only sixteen. Along the way, he developed a brilliant mind for mathematics and a deep respect for the fragile politics of a complex world. While still in his teen years, he was enrolled in the Colorado School of Mines, attended Oklahoma University and then went on to graduate from the University of Florida and complete his Ph.D. at Clemson University. While attending Oklahoma University, Ed met and married the love of his life, Carolyn Owens. Together they went to Bogota, Colombia, where he worked with his family in the oil industry. Later they lived in Germany while Ed served his country in the United States Army, continuing in the reserves for many years while teaching at Virginia Tech. Above all else, Ed was a dedicated and loyal husband and father. He cherished his familyhis parents; his wife of 60 years; his children, Ginger Clayton (David Long), Hunter Clayton (Ella Clayton), Reed Clayton Buckland; and his grandchildren, Brock, Ava, Afton and Peyton. They were the joy of his life. Ed's love of the outdoors, especially fishing, will long be remembered. He served the bass fishing community in so many ways. Serving as Director of the Virginia Bass Federation Region 4. A lifetime member of B.A.S.S. A past president of the Vinton Bass Masters, leadership in Black Hollow Bass Masters, Big Lick Bassmasters and current Director of Virginia Bass Federation Nation Region 10. All the while mentoring youth in the groups by contributing his time and sharing his love the sport, serving as boat captain and organizing tournaments to promote youth fishing. He was a dear friend, mentor, and father figure to everyone at Anglers Choice Marine for decades. He was instrumental in developing their bass fishing tournament trail. A legacy that lives on. The tournament trail now gives hundreds of anglers from the region a venue to enjoy the sport they love and engage in competition and most importantly camaraderie. Ed was a educator, an exemplary military officer, and a bass fisherman exemplar , always kind, seldom judgmental, and unfailingly supportive. His was a life well-lived, and he has left the world and it's people a far better place. It is with a heavy heart we say goodbye to Ed, for now. But he will be joining Carol and the family he loved so dearly in this life. It won't be long before he will looking for the best lakes to fish and the best mountains to climb. We who are left here, his friends, his colleagues, his fishing and hunting pals, his students, his family, we will all miss him. We will miss his compassionate heart, his gentle hand, and his modest manner. We will miss his upbeat outlook, his thoughtful approach, and his gracious style. There will be always be a vacant place in our lives that he once filled. But Ed Clayton has made our lives richer and more meaningful. For that, we are thankful. A special Thank You is owed to his dedicated friends that kept him in the fishing world as his health declined these last few years. You never left him behind. For that, we are eternally grateful to you. There will be no services, however the family will receive friends from 4 to 6 p.m., Sunday, February 17, 2019, at McCoy Funeral Home, Blacksburg.The Richmond list comes five months after Knestout announced that he would make the names of the credibly accused priests public, and after an atonement tour during which he held penitential Masses at nine churches throughout the diocese in an effort to apologize for the widespread abuse and cover-up.

To those who experienced abuse from clergy, I am truly, deeply sorry, the Richmond bishop said in a letter released Wednesday along with the list. I regret that you have to bear the burden of the damage you suffered at the hands of those you trusted. I am also sorry that you must carry the memory of that experience with you.

Im concerned about the victims

At least 50 dioceses and religious orders have released similar lists since the fall, including the Archdiocese of Washington, and about 50 others have committed to do so, accounting for more than half of the 187 Catholic dioceses in the country, according to The Associated Press.

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announced in October that his office had begun investigating sexual abuse within the two Virginia dioceses, as well as whether people in authority covered up the abuse.RICHMOND  Senior year for many high school students can mean a less rigorous academic schedule and more of a focus on social activities and looking forward to prom. Even if they want to graduate early, some Virginia school divisions dont allow for it.

Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, proposed incentives for school divisions to allow students to graduate from high school earlier. His SB 1587 would have allowed students to leave high school earlier without the schools loss of funding.

An education subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee was irked by the financial effect of the bill, which came with a financial contingency clause  linking enactment to funding in the budget. The panel killed the bill on a vote of 7-0 on Wednesday.

A school divisions funding from the state is tied to a measure known as average daily membership. Think of that as like a census. The number of students sitting in desks is counted at different points throughout the year.

So if a student graduates a semester or full year early, the school loses funding for that pupil. This creates an incentive for schools to create schedules in such a way that students have no choice but to stay for their entire senior year.RICHMOND  The General Assembly elected Judge Teresa Chafin, the sister of a state senator, on Thursday to fill a seat on the Virginia Supreme Court that will become open in September.

Delegates and senators cited Chafins judicial experience in electing her to a 12-year term. Sen. Ben Chafin, R-Russell, is her brother and former law partner.

Justice Elizabeth McClanahan announced last month that she would retire from the seven-member court effective Sept. 1, the date Teresa Chafin will join the high court. Because Republicans have the majority in both the House and Senate, they controlled who would be her replacement.

On the Senate floor, Ben Chafin remained in his seat but did not vote on his sisters election. Three Democrats  Jennifer Boysko, of Fairfax, Creigh Deeds, of Bath, and Mamie Locke, of Hampton  also remained in the room but did not vote. The Senate voted 36-0 and the House voted 97-0 to approve her judgeship.

Teresa Chafin served as a general district judge from 2002 to 2005, and then a judge in Tazewell County Circuit Court from 2005 to 2012.BRISTOL  The proposed Virginia House of Delegates budget would pull nearly $5 million from impoverished rural school districts and redistribute the funds to mostly wealthier areas, according to the Coalition of Small and Rural Schools of Virginia.

Lawmakers in Richmond presently have three spending plans: a governors budget that puts more money into the At-Risk Add On program aiding divisions with higher poverty rates, a House plan that would strip many of those funds away and apportion more lottery funds for education and a Senate version that also reduces total funding.

In the House budget, they increase the lottery funding at the expense of the At-Risk Add On, said Bristol Virginia Superintendent Keith Perrigan, who also serves as president of the Coalition of Small and Rural Schools of Virginia.

Lottery funds are allocated on a per-pupil basis, so divisions with more students receive more money.

Directly comparing the governors budget to the House version, the combined changes for fiscal 2019-20 equal a combined $4.89 million cut for some divisions. By contrast, Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Northern Virginia would receive $1.48 million and $1.37 million more, respectively.RICHMOND  A bill that would raise the reckless driving threshold collided with a General Assembly panel on Wednesday.

The bill from Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, would have raised from 80 to 85 mph the threshold for reckless driving in areas of Virginia where a 70 mph limit is posted. With little discussion, a subcommittee of the House Courts of Justice Committee voted down SB 1578 on a vote of 5-1.

Under Virginias driving laws, reckless driving is 20 mph over the speed limit. What Suetterlein was trying to address is more of an issue on the interstates, where speed limits may be set at 70 mph and going 11 mph over is considered a reckless driving offense.

If a police officer clocks a driver going over 80 mph in Virginia, that person faces a misdemeanor charge that can carry up to a year in jail or a $2,500 fine. Suetterlein said its likely the charge will get reduced, but faced with a harsh punishment, most people will pay for an attorney.

Suetterlein called the legislation common sense reform.

The bill passed on a bipartisan vote of 35-5 in the Senate.The commission, in its first vote, issued a recommendation against the rezoning, which prompted the developers to make changes.

Among those, which were included in the rezoning plan passed Tuesday, was a reduction of the building height from four to three stories. Due to the fact that the parking plan had remained unchanged, the floor reduction effectively increased the parking ratio to approximately one space per bedroom.

The parking ratio was previously at 75 percent and that figure was based on an expectation by the developers that a considerable number of tenants would not use cars. The previous parking plan, however, was among the list of concerns from neighbors.

Town council was almost equally split on whether to act directly on the concerns voiced by the Shenandoah residents or approve the rezoning to help control greater student sprawl issues in other single-family neighborhoods.

One fact noted by supporters of the rezoning is the existence of student housing near Green Valley Builders property at 1222 Patrick Henry Drive. The Collegiate Suites complex sits right across the street from the rezoned land, while Hunters Ridge Apartments neighbors the property to the east.[The veterinarian] will be out to the farm this week, ONeill wrote. If you are not happy with the goats being here, you are welcome to adopt them back. As of now they are all out in the field with the others and doing well.

On the morning of Aug. 22, ONeill texted Marti: You may adopt your goats back anytime, we would love that for all of you. Per our adoption policies all you have to do is have a place to legally keep them.

And later that morning, ONeill texted again: Im not going to put you in touch with our attorney as there is nothing to mediate. I hope you find a place to keep the goats so you can adopt them back.

ONeill, in an interview Tuesday, acknowledged shed sent those texts. (Marti, during interviews for this column, furnished me with a record of texts between herself and ONeill that stretched from June 8 to Dec. 13.)

But underlying those July and August communications was a rift that had grown between Marti Utter and ONeill over more than a month. That concerned a visit Marti and Chase had made to Harmony Farm on July 4, when they administered some mineral supplements to their former goats.A Lynchburg police officer will not face criminal charges for opening fire on a city man who police said pointed a rifle at the officer late last year, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Officer Michael Iazzi discharged his firearm Dec. 30 after responding to the 700 block of Norwood Street for a report of a violent trespasser. According to Lynchburg Commonwealths Attorney Bethany Harrison, Iazzi encountered two armed men when he arrived on scene, and one of the men raised his weapon toward the officer.

Iazzi shot twice at the suspect, who then fled the scene. The suspect  later identified as Malik JKwar Andrews, 22  was not struck by the gunfire and was not injured in the shooting. He was located and arrested about 20 minutes after the incident.

In a five-page report released Wednesday, Harrisons office said Iazzi was justified in his use of force and acted in self-defense and in defense of others when he discharged his firearm.

The report, which is based on an investigation completed last month by the Virginia State Police, said Iazzi arrived at the Norwood Street residence as Andrews argued with his father, Edgar Harvey, outside the home.CHRISTIANSBURG  Charges from an October bank robbery in Blacksburg will go to a grand jury, a judge ruled Thursday.

At a short hearing in Montgomery County General District Court, Adam Edward Tolley, 35, of Blacksburg, and his attorney Naomi Huntington of Christiansburg agreed that there was sufficient evidence to send charges against Tolley on to grand jury. The grand jury will decide if Tolleys case should be heard in the countys circuit court.

Tolley is charged with robbery, entering a bank armed to commit larceny, and using a gun to commit a felony, all stemming from an Oct. 24 robbery at First Community Bank on South Main Street.

According to police, a man whose face was obscured by sunglasses and a hood told a teller to give him money and left with an undisclosed amount of currency. Police circulated a security camera picture of the man, and soon announced that they had identified the suspect as Tolley.

Tolley was arrested a week after the robbery when the Pulaski County Sheriffs Office got a call about a suspicious person at a convenience store in Newbern.Despite a series of legal and regulatory road bumps, the Mountain Valley Pipeline remains on track to be completed by the end of the year, executives of the joint ventures lead company said Thursday.

I think where we are right now is where we are, until we have different information, Thomas Karam, CEO of EQM Midstream Partners, said during a teleconference to discuss 2018 year-end results with financial analysts.

EQM of Pittsburgh is one of five companies that make up Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC. It will foot $2.2 billion of the projects $4.6 billion cost and will operate the 303-mile pipeline, which will transport natural gas at high pressure from northern West Virginia to connect with an existing pipeline in Pittsylvania County.

Since work began last February with tree-cutting, Mountain Valley has run afoul of environmental regulations meant to control erosion and sedimentation at construction sites.

Two sets of key permits  one that will allow the pipeline to pass through the Jefferson National Forest and another for it to burrow under more than 1,000 streams and wetlands  were thrown out last year by a federal appeals court.Amazon canceled plans to build a campus in New York City with at least 25,000 high-paying jobs on Thursday because of resistance from local elected officials, unions and community activists who said a project initially hailed as an economic triumph was a lousy deal.

There are a number of folks on the ground who oppose our presence, Amazon spokeswoman Jodi Seth said. We dont think theres a path forward in terms of working with them over the long term..

A Virginia Tech spokesman wrote in an email that there were currently no changes to the schools plans for its $1 billion innovation campus in Northern Virginia associated with Amazons expansion there.

The company issued a statement shortly before noon saying it did not intend to reopen its search for a second headquarters at this time, but would continue with plans to put at least 25,000 jobs in Arlington in Northern Virginia and 5,000 in Nashville., Tennessee New York was scheduled to get 25,000 jobs under the original announcement in November, which split the 50,000 jobs for a second headquarters between New York and Virginia.FRIDAY

Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet

On its final North American tour, the ensemble will perform works spanning the late 19th and 20th centuries from composers Reicha, Hindemith, Tomasi and Taffanel. 7:30 to 9 p.m. Moss Arts Center, 190 Alumni Mall, Blacksburg. $25$55, $10 students and ages 18 and younger. 231-5300.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY

HArts on Main Festival

The event features exhibits of art, jewelry and photography by local artists during the day and ticketed concerts both nights from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in Great Road Hall. Fridays concert will feature the Classic Strings Duo and Scott Crawford, and Saturdays concert will feature Harry Lester & Loose Strings. Concert tickets cost $30 and are available at montgomerymuseum.org or at the Montgomery Museum. Friday, 1 to 7 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Great Road on Main, 100 W. Main St., Christiansburg. Free admission, with some ticketed events. 382-5644.

SATURDAY

Alpha Delta Kappa Craft and Vendor FairOne of the jazz worlds renowned Afro-Cuban percussionists is part of a duo playing Jefferson Centers Jazz Club on Friday.

Hand drummer Pedrito Martinez returns to the venue, for a Fostek Hall show with pianist Alfredo Rodriguez for two Jazz Club at Jefferson Center sets.

Later, Richmond-based salsa group Bio Ritmo returns to Fosteks sister venue, Fitzpatrick Hall, to fire up the annual Latin Dance party. Jazz Club attendees get $3 off admission to that show, with their Rodriguez/Martinez tickets.

Alfredo Rodriguez and Pedrito Martinez Duo

These two Grammy Award nominees go for an experimental vibe in much of the music we have seen and heard on videos. For example, Emaya begins with a synthesizer-harmonized vocal from Rodriguez, along with a synthesized bass line, before Martinez adds his tenor and the pair race into an up-tempo groove.

Martinez, whose own band played the Latin Dance Party in 2014, uses his hands on cajon, snare, hi-hats and cymbals to augment his conga array.

Get a look and listen at their musical interplay at youtu.be/CyV25pR8oL8.

Bio RitmoTaxi rates across state will increase mid-March

Cancun, Riviera Maya, Q.R.  Taxi fares across the state of Quintana Roo are set to increase for mid-March reports the Instituto de Movilidad en Quintana Roo.

Jorge Perez Perez, head of the Institute of Mobility in Quintana Roo made the announcement after a meeting with leaders of the states 17 taxi drivers unions that belong to Frente Unico de los Trabajadores del Volante.

It was a very productive meeting and we analyzed how the Law of Rights is and I have some proposals that I will send to the Ministry of Finance that will pass through the State Congress. It is about some adjustments that benefit everyone, he noted.

Perez says the increase in the taxi fare will take effect no later than March 15 throughout the state, adding that by the end of this month, adjustments will likely be made to the Rights Act to reduce the cost of some concessions.

The official explained that there are other items such as certifications and administrative issues that seem to be above what the taxi drivers should pay.

He explained that although they have a date set for the increase, they are still working out a percentage since there are 13,000 routes that have to be taken into account before making the decision which will include performance per kilometer, fuel, distance, profitability, etc.

Jorge Perez stressed the importance of continuing with this alliance between the Frente de los Trabajadores del Volante and el Instituto de Movilidad to work together for the benefit of the community and to provide a higher quality service with safer vehicles.It was also the Cuba of an oppressive dictatorship overseen by Fulgencio Batista and supported by American organized crime.

The many Cubans who supported Castro had not benefited from the tourism, casinos, bordellos, glamour, and romance that characterized the island. Instead, these interests  many with American support or ownership  exploited a people that the U.S. had pretended to liberate from Spain in 1898.

Yet, as Spanish control waned in the late 19th century and after the U.S. essentially took possession of the island in 1898, American corporate giants like United Fruit continued to run the island like a feudal colony.

So, the United States bases its blockade on a vision of Cuba frozen in the late 1950s when we feared the global spread of communism. In a series of unfortunate and shortsighted maneuvers, we found ourselves blockading an island the size of Ohio.

President Eisenhower demanded that Cuba not refine Soviet oil. Castro refused. Eisenhower cut off sugar purchases.

Castro nationalized U.S. industrial possessions, seized property, and ran to the arms of the Soviet Union.On Wednesday, Henrico County Sheriff Mike Wade announced that after nearly 20 years, he will not seek re-election. The 62-year-old Wade says it wasnt a snap decision, but rather one hes been mulling over for some time. Last October, during a routine physical, cancer was found in a kidney. The disease was successfully removed in December, but Wade told RTD reporter Sean Gorman, It makes you think about the future when something like that happens.

We certainly understand his thinking but we sure hate to see him go. Wade is a hometown hero. A Richmond native, he graduated from Benedictine High School in 1974. He joined the Henrico County Police Division in 1977, serving 22 years before being elected sheriff in 1999. He attended VCU, earning a bachelors degree in administration justice in 1986 and a masters degree in rehab counseling, alcohol and drug education rehabilitation in 1990.

During his tenure as sheriff, Wade has had a tremendous impact in the community. He made the sheriffs office more open and responsive to county residents. He has worked diligently to improve the lives of more than 15,000 county inmates, creating two nationally recognized drug rehabilitation programs  RISE and ORBIT  that have helped thousands overcome addiction and develop life and workplace skills.They Shall Not Grow Old  director Peter Jacksons touching and technically magnificent documentary  is well worth the watch. While the film was first released in 2018 to select audiences, on Feb. 1 it was released in theaters nationwide.

The film is a stunning look at what it was like to be a British soldier during World War I. Inspired by the 100th anniversary of the wars armistice, Jackson has taken ancient film footage and restored, colorized, and digitally updated it using modern computer techniques. The previously recorded voices of dozens of veterans who had shared their stories with archivists were looped in to match the footage. Sound effects such as cannon- and gunfire were added to give realism to the film.

Jackson and his wife and co-producer, Fran Walsh, have managed to bring antiquated film reels to life and have created a documentary that modern audiences can easily watch and understand. The film, made from the British perspective, takes no political stand and makes no commentary on the event. Rather, They Shall Not Grow Old only seeks to introduce us to the young men whose lives were ended or forever changed by the Great War.On Wednesday, the Diocese of Richmond released a list of 42 priests accused of sexually abusing children. The list contains the name of every priest on whom the church has received credible and substantiated allegations of abuse.

The same day, the Diocese of Arlington released the names of 16 accused priests, including one accused as recently as 2007. Eight names appear on both lists because the accused worked in both dioceses. (There are about 140 parishes in the Richmond Diocese, which spans most of the state. The Arlington diocese has 69 parishes located in Virginias 21 northernmost counties.)

Last August, the nation was stunned to learn of a Pennsylvania grand jury investigation that found 301 priests within the states six Catholic dioceses had sexually abused more than 1,000 children over 70 years. In the wake of that bombshell, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announced that his office, working with the Virginia State Police, was launching its own investigation into sexual abuse by clergymen in Virginia. Shortly after Herrings disclosure, The Rev. Barry Knestout, bishop of the Richmond Diocese, announced that the prelacy was hiring an independent entity to audit clergy files.She ultimately testified before the Diocesan Review Board, a group of mostly laypeople who deliberate on sexual abuse accusations within the church under the bishops supervision, and was found to be credible.

Over time, Ianni was able to find healing through connecting with other survivors and became a leader for SNAP. Since she has taken on the leadership role, hundreds of people who have been abused by clergy have reached out to her, she said.

Reached by phone Wednesday, Eugene Teslovic, one of the men named on the Richmond Dioceses list, denied having sexually assaulted a minor. Also reached by phone, Christopher Buckner, who was accused in 2007 and came to a mutual agreement with the diocese to retire in 2018, according to the diocese, said he had no comment. Attempts by the Richmond Times-Dispatch to reach other men named on the list were unsuccessful.

None of the names on the Diocese of Richmonds list appeared on the Virginia State Polices sex offender registry, nor in any lawsuits in U.S. District Court. The only name on the list to appear in a search for convictions in Richmond or the counties of Chesterfield, Henrico, Hanover, Goochland and Powhatan was John Leonards.In 2011, Rule stepped down from a Chesterfield County church after accusations of improper behavior with an adult. The diocese later cleared him in that instance.

At least two priests served at Our Lady Of Nazareth Catholic Church.

James Lee Rizer, who died in 1989, was an associate pastor from 1950 to 1952, according to the churchs website. The church is now in Roanoke County but was housed near downtown Roanoke at the time Rizer served there.

Dennis Paul Murphy served as associate pastor at Our Lady of Nazareth from 1974 to 1976, where he worked with students at Hollins and Ferrum colleges, according to news accounts. He was suspended from a Charlottesville church in 2004 after questionable behavior with teenagers, according to a Richmond Times-Dispatch article.

As late as 2015, Murphy accompanied Our Lady of Nazareth church members on a trip to Haiti, according to the churchs website. A woman who answered the phone at the church Wednesday referred inquiries to the diocese.

Eugene Teslovic had been pastor of Holy Name of Mary Church in Bedford from 1983 to 1985, the Associated Press reported in 2002. He was removed that year due to a 1977 incident in Portsmouth. Teslovic told the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Wednesday he did not sexually assault a minor.Schools will continue to operate in Virginia on Election Day.

The Senate Education and Health Committee on Thursday killed House Bill 1752 from Del. Paul Krizek, D-Fairfax, that would have required all public schools in the state to treat Election Day in November as a school holiday. The bill came as a recommendation from a special committee formed after the deadly Parkland, Fla., school shooting, which happened a year ago Thursday.

Krizek said he was disappointed that it didnt make it out of committee.

Its a simple thing. Its about doing whats right for our children and protecting them, Krizek said in an interview after the vote. It does make it safer for students to not have strangers walking around their schools on Election Day.

The bill cleared the House of Delegates in a 97-1 vote last month. It met a different fate Thursday when 11 Senators  seven Republicans and four Democrats  voted to kill the bill compared to four  three Democrats and one Republican  who supported the idea.The Virginia General Assembly has elected Court of Appeals Judge Teresa Chafin to an opening on the Supreme Court of Virginia. The process included some controversy because Chafins brother and former law partner, state Sen. Ben Chafin, R-Russell, lobbied his GOP colleagues on her behalf.

Sen. Chafin did not vote Thursday when the Senate voted 36-0 to elect Judge Chafin. The House vote was 97-0.

Judge Chafin is considered well qualified for the position and was on the appeals court prior to her brother being elected to the General Assembly.

She is a former Circuit Court judge who was installed on the Court of Appeals in 2012, a year before her brother was elected to the House of Delegates. He shifted to the Senate in 2014.

Sen. Chafins advocacy on behalf of his sister created buzz in his caucus and on Capitol Square, with some lawmakers privately saying it did not look good.

Teresa Chafin will replace Justice Elizabeth McClanahan, who announced in January that she is retiring Sept. 1. Chafins election will keep some geographical balance on the high court; McClanahan was the only justice from Southwest Virginia, which is where Chafin is from.A federal court gave final approval Thursday to the redrawn Virginia House of Delegates map that a court-appointed expert created to resolve the states long-running racial gerrymandering case.

In a 2-1 opinion, judges for the Richmond-based Eastern District of Virginia ordered the state to adopt the map created by University of California-Irvine political science professor Bernard Grofman. The map could boost Democrats chances of taking control of the House later this year by tilting six GOP-held districts toward Democrats and imperiling the re-election campaigns of two top Republicans.

Republicans had called Grofmans map legally indefensible, saying it attempts to give Democrats an advantage at every turn.

Judges Barbara Milano Keenan and Arenda Wright Allen rejected that assertion.

Nothing in the record suggests that Dr. Grofman acted with animus toward any incumbents, or toward any party, the judges wrote. We credit Dr. Grofmans contention that he constructed his proposals without regard to partisan outcome in the non-challenged districts, and that he treated all incumbents equally.Buck said the group and the department are looking for new sites or less expensive ways to make the land suitable.

The project is very much alive, she said. Its delayed, but there is still progress being made.

A new barn has been discussed for decades  even before the current stables building, located under the Chamberlayne Avenue overpass on Brook Road, was condemned 17 years ago. Since then, the concrete-block building has flooded twice.

The 45-acre site near Gillies Creek in Richmonds East End that was selected last year for the new stables was already owned by the city. The barn itself would cover about 3 acres and 10,670 square feet. It would have 12 stalls for horses, an open office area with work stations for eight to 10 mounted officers, and a conference room that could accommodate 20 to 25 people for equestrian training or educational tours, according to plans approved by the Richmond Planning Commission.

Glenwood Burley, who heads the Richmond Regional Mounted Police & Stable Project, a committee that helped select the site and sought to create a larger, regional squad of mounted police, said he was surprised by the cancellation notice. But he said he hopes it wont delay the project too long, calling the conditions of the current barn abuse.Authorities in Hanover County and the town of Ashland are investigating reports of Ku Klux Klan literature being thrown on private property last weekend.

Authorities said the white supremacist flyers appear to be from the Loyal White Knights, a KKK group based in North Carolina, and that theres little that can be done about what legally amounts to nothing more than a littering violation.

While there was nothing illegal regarding this, other than a possible trespassing or litter issue, our deputies did take note of the literature for informational purposes, said Sgt. James Cooper said, a spokesman for the Hanover Sheriffs Office.

Cooper said the sheriffs office received reports about the flyers being found in three Mechanicsville subdivisions. Ashland Police Department spokesman Chip Watts said someone in the 200 block of Berkley Street reported finding the flyer Saturday afternoon.

Watts said the flyer, which disparages African-Americans and promotes racist and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, was stuffed inside a plastic bag with birdseed.

It seems like the location was randomly selected and that it was thrown out of a moving vehicle, he said.In the many decades since he started woodworking in the 1950s, Graham said he has made and given away more than 21,000 wooden crosses. It might be to his church, to meetings he attends, to friends, or to total strangers. He said when he works on the crosses, he just feels happy.

I just feel like I have achieved a goal and am helping. I just hope it will help the individual that receives it and it will be very meaningful to them. If they dont have a church, I hope that would help them find one, he said.

Recently, he took a large batch of the crosses and some of his other creations to give to staff at the Powhatan County Sheriffs Office. He said he brought the gifts because of what they are being faced with this day and time.

I think about the loss of life and the tragedies they are faced with and think they deserve something like this, he said.

Sheriff Brad Nunnally said he has unknowingly had one of Grahams crosses for years  a gift given by the mans other daughter, Paula Bean, in thanks for helping her with a flat tire. He met Graham more recently, and when he found out what Graham does, welcomed him to the office. Nunnally said the gifts Graham brought were given to any office staff who wanted them and even some state troopers.Two restaurants in the Richmond region earned a AAA Four Diamond rating this year.

Lemaire restaurant at The Jefferson Hotel again was awarded the designation, which it has received since 2010.

Joining the list again for a third year is Shagbark, the restaurant in the Libbie Mill-Midtown development that chef Walter Bundy opened in June 2016.

Lemaire and Shagbark are among 13 restaurants in Virginia awarded the Four Diamond rating, AAA announced Thursday morning.

A total of 656 restaurants in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean received the rating this year, which is compiled from a combination of those who apply and those which AAA inspectors seek out as new and notable hotels and restaurants in the region, AAA said.

The Four Diamond restaurants in Virginia include the Fat Canary in Williamsburg; The Old Mill Room in Charlottesville; LAuberge Chez Francois & Jacques Brasserie in Great Falls; and three restaurants in Virginia Beach  Salacia, Terrapin and Zoes.

The Inn at Little Washington Dining Room earned the only Five Diamond designation among restaurants in the state. It is AAAs longest-tenured Five Diamond restaurant, earning its rating for the first time in 1988.Hes tall. Hes thin. Hes troubled. And he plays the guitar.

Might as well face it: We have no choice but to surrender to this scruffy, hazel-eyed dreamboat known simply as Guy, the misbegotten musician who powers the thrumming, restless engines of Once, Virginia Reps production of John Carneys award-winning 2011 musical.

Based on Carneys 2007 film of the same name, Once captures our romantic imagination right from the start, unfurling like a grand Irish tricolor flag as a host of talented instrumentalists  who double as the shows supporting cast  fill the November Theatre stage with frisky song and dance to situate us in modern-day Dublin.

A skilled six-string busker, Guy (Ken Allen Neely) pines for a girlfriend living in New York and finally decides to abandon his guitar for good. Theres no point to it anymore, he tells a young Czech woman he meets in a bar. Its got me nowhere.

But Girl (Katherine Fried) instead tries to buck up Guy, and after hearing that he works with his father in a vacuum-repair shop, she asks him to fix a broken vacuum she owns. She then offers to pay him by playing the piano.All the major auto manufacturers have vehicles on display at the auto show, including some 2020 models such as the German-made Audi e-tron not yet available in showrooms but available for preorder.

The e-tron, an SUV, is Audis first fully electric vehicle. Brenton Evans, general manager for Audi Richmond, said the dealership has taken five orders, which require a refundable $1,000 deposit. List price starts at just under $75,000.

Its on a reservation system. When you get to the front of the queue, they ask you for specifications, Evans said. The dealership expects to get a demonstration model in April.

Also on display at the show will be the 2019 Jeep Wrangler, the MotorTrend SUV of the year.

Sales of light vehicles  cars, sport utility vehicles and light trucks  topped 17 million for the fourth year in a row in 2018, said transportation industry expert George Hoffer, a professor emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University.Richmond-based Estes Express Lines, the nations largest privately held freight transportation carrier, has donated $1 million to charities chosen by the companys employees.

Estes employees voted on which charitable organizations would receive a portion of the donation, and the company delivered checks to 20 organizations through its freight terminals nationwide. The company held a breakfast reception on Wednesday at its corporate headquarters to connect representatives from the selected charities with the employees who voted for them.

The charities are all national organizations, but some have Richmond-area chapters.

Three charities received the largest amount of votes from Estes employees and got more than $100,000 each. Those are St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, the American Cancer Society and Wounded Warrior Project.

The company didnt provide specific donation amounts to the charities.

Other causes receiving sizable portions of the $1 million include Toys for Tots, the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Alzheimers Association. Also receiving donations were the American Red Cross, Meals on Wheels and Habitat for Humanity.MANSFIELD -- The son of Brandon Ewers' live-in girlfriend is one of three Mansfield men now charged with involuntary manslaughter in his death.

Ewers, 42, of 192 Boston Ave., was allegedly assaulted on Feb. 4 and was pronounced brain dead the next morning at OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital. He was kept alive on life support while organ donations were made.

After his death, Ewers' body was taken to Montgomery County for autopsy. Police said he had suffered head trauma.

On Tuesday evening, Mansfield police detectives arrested Henry Gassaway, 24, of 1615 Beal Road, Brandon Cole, 29, of 1648 Beal Road and Guy Mitchell, 26, of 471 Clearview Road.

Mansfield police Lt. Rob Skropits, head of the Major Crimes Unit, said the involuntary manslaughter charges were filed after consultation with the Richland County Prosecutor's Office.

According to the Ohio Revised Code, involuntary manslaughter occurs when someone "cause(s) the death of another ... as a proximate result of the offender's committing or attempting to commit a felony."

Skropits said Ewers' girlfriend, Amanda Cole, 49, also of 192 Boston Ave., was treated Feb. 4 at 9:35 p.m. at Avita Ontario Hospital, which contacted police and reported she had sustained suspicious injuries.

At the hospital, police met with Cole, who was confused and unable to advise officers how she was injured. Officers went to her Boston Avenue residence and found it was in disarray "with items thrown all over the living area."

Ewers was taken to the OhioHealth emergency room Feb. 4 by a friend and it was found he had been assaulted around 10:14 p.m. in the 100 block of Oxford Avenue.

Skropits said he didn't know if the assault on Ewers was in retribution for a possible domestic violence incident between Ewers and his girlfriend.

"(Amanda Cole) is unable to tell us what happened. She says she can't remember anything. Obviously, we can't ask Ewers," Skropits said.

Gassaway is the son of Amanda Cole, according to Skropits. Brandon Cole is a relative and Mitchell is a family friend, he said. All three were placed in the Richland County Jail pending a court appearance.

Skropits said the arrests were made based upon witness statements, the suspects' own statements and "detectives beating their feet on the ground."

Skropits declined to say if the three men admitted participating in the assault on Ewers.

"We received enough probable cause to make the arrests," he said.MANSFIELD -- The "Mansfield Rising" plan continues to gain momentum, as Richland County commissioners unanimously endorsed the plan at their Thursday meeting.

Commissioners made their decision after hearing a presentation from Maura Teynor and Allie Watson of the Richland County Foundation and Richland Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Jodie Perry.

The plan includes more than 30 ideas to gradually implement in Mansfield.

The women were among 15 local leaders assigned to create a city-wide plan after attending the South by Southwest Conference March in Austin, Texas, in March 2018.

Since completed in late 2018, the 67-page plan has been approved by the Richland County Foundation, Richland Area Chamber of Commerce, the Richland Community Development Group, the Richland County Regional Planning Commission, Destination Mansfield-Richland County and Mansfield City Council.

The plan is also to be presented to Downtown Mansfield Inc.

This support is crucial, Perry explained, as she believes the plan will need to spread beyond the initial 15 to be best executed. She asked the commissioners to consider how they can be involved as projects move forward.

Earlier this week, she said, the 15 conference attendees met to discuss which portions of the plan could be first implemented. They found that everyone was already working towards something, but together, they determined that developing a brand for Mansfield would be an immediate priority.

We're looking for early wins. We're looking for visible improvements. We're really looking to show the community that by the end of this year, we've accomplished something, Perry said. The plan is much bigger than a one-year plan, but we definitely want to make sure we're doing things this year.

The branding component of the plan need to be aspirational, but true, Perry said. The team intends to work with an expert and hopes to present a brand that will be adopted across organizational and perhaps city lines.

Commissioner, Darryl Banks said branding isnt something new, but believes previous brand statmengts like Fun Center of Ohio and Richland Countys Reason for All Seasons may not have been inclusive enough for all organizations to utilize.

Commissioner Marilyn John highlighted the importance of having everyone at the table for discussions on branding. She mentioned Shelby, Ontario, Bellville, Plymouth, Shiloh and others.

I do think a strong county seat lends to a strong county, and the other communities within the county benefit from a strong county seat. And as Shelby mayor, I experienced that and saw that first hand, she said.

She encouraged people with a negative perception of downtown Mansfield to come see it for themselves instead of relying on it's more-than-decade old reputation.

John also asked about Mansfield City Councils reactions to the plan.

City councils control the purse strings, so they can say yea or nay to projects, and they also sit on committees that can say yea or nay. They can clear roadblocks or present roadblocks, she said.

I'm not being critical, they have a role to play, but there is a getting on board, so I think it's important to make sure Mansfield, including their city council, is on board," John said.

Perry assured her that council is indeed on board. The Mansfield Rising plan was unanimously endorsed last week, and further, Perry said, the conversations she had one-on-one with council members were fruitful.

They left me feeling very optimistic. I don't think everyone's going to agree on every single idea in here, but that's not the intent of the plan, Perry said.

She said the 15 local leaders who created the Mansfield Rising Plan have spent hundreds of hours making and refining their ideas before their presentations.

The plan includes four guiding principles and more than 30 ideas in three sections. The guiding principles are: Downtown is everyone's neighborhood. Mansfield should have big city amenities with a small town feel. Sustainable change will be incremental. And place-making is economic development.

The sections are: Downtown is a place for living, downtown is a place for gathering and downtown is a place for business.

It's far exceeded any expectations I had. And in one of the biggest ways, I think it galvanized support from the public. ... I think it's given people hope that big things can happen here, Perry said.MANSFIELD -- Tickets will be available Monday, Feb. 18 for Richland Academy Dance Ensembles Spring Dance Concert.

This years performance will be Saturday, March 16 at 7 p.m., at Founders Auditorium OSU-Mansfield. Ticket prices are $15 for adults and $10 for students, seniors, and veterans.

Tickets can be purchased by visiting richlandacademy.com, the Richland Academy Facebook page, or by calling 419-522-8224. The Richland Academy Dance Ensemble, aka rade, is a pre-professional training company.

It is divided into four groups based on age and skill: rade, rade jr., radKidz, and radKidz2. The top company includes dancers from around the community: Chloe Walker, Madison; Kylee Dettmer, Clear Fork; Madeleine Weilbacker, Lexington; Rhapsody Howell, Mansfield Senior; Meiyan Timberlake, Ontario; Delaney OBrien, Ashland; and Laila Ramos, Mansfield Spanish Immersion.

This years performance will feature our students dancing an array of styles including: Classical Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Modern, student choreography pieces, and a very special senior solo by Rhapsody Howell.

The show will feature Vivaldis Concerto in D minor part 1, which has opened the show for the last nine years. You will also see an excerpt from the classical ballet Swan Lake. Erin Wolford, our newest dance instructor, will show off her choreographic style in a few jazz and tap numbers. Sarah Horrigan-Ramos is honoring the great choreographer, Paul Taylor, by presenting her own choreography based on his dance style.

The senior level dancers will amaze you with their performance of Marden Ramos new choreography; Mardens neo-classical style pushes his dancers to perform at their highest ability. Whether a group piece, duet or solo; his choreography, highlights each dancer, and will send the audience on an emotional journey through music and movement.

For more information about our events or to register for classes, call Richland Academy at 419-522-8224 or visit www.richlandacademy.com. Richland Academy, where anyone can explore the artist within at the corner of 4th and Walnut Street, founded in 1991 and is supported by the Ohio Arts Council.NANKIN - For kindergarteners, 100 days of school feels like an eternity. The concept of 100 years is almost unfathomable.

So when Bernice "Bunny" Wachtel came from The Good Shepherd to visit Mapleton Elementary School Tuesday, she may as well have been a celebrity.

The school's three classes of kindergarteners gathered in Kristen Leiby's classroom, wearing capes they had decorated to celebrate the 100th day of school.

They sat enraptured as Wachtel, who will turn 100 later this year, talked about her life.

"We are very excited and thankful for her visit," said Leiby, who got the idea to invite Wachtel from one of the school's cafeteria workers -- who also works at The Good Shepherd.

School was very different when Wachtel was the students' age.

"We had an old, old school with wooden floors that wouldn't be allowed now, and an old sink that would shoot up in your face," Wachtel said.

If kids behaved badly, they had to put their noses up against the blackboard.

The school had two outhouses rather than indoor bathrooms, so Wachtel (who will turn 100 in August) and her peers had to run outside in the cold or the rain if they needed to use the outhouse.

Wachtel talked about historical milestones she remembers, like The Great Depression and World War II, as well as about milestones in her own life, like her marriage and the birth of her kids.

Among her more recent memories, Wachtel was named the Senior Fair Queen at The Ashland County Fair in 2017.

Wachtel also shared stories and facts about Abraham Lincoln, as Lincoln's birthday was also Tuesday. Wachtel has always enjoyed studying and talking to others about Lincoln, and she told the kids she once had 300 books about the 16th president.On February 14, 1979, Adolph Dubs, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped at gunpoint, held hostage in a Kabul hotel, and killed in a botched rescue attempt.



Forty years on, the precise circumstances surrounding the death of the 58-year-old diplomat remain shrouded in mystery. Several questions remain unanswered, including who was behind Dubs' kidnapping, who fired the fatal shots, and whether the Soviet Union was involved.



The death of Dubs, a former charge d'affaires in Moscow, came at a critical time during the Cold War -- it was a year after communists seized power in Kabul and months before the Soviet Union sent in troops to prop up the Marxist government.

Author Anthony Arnold suggested that "it was obvious that only one power...would benefit from the murder -- the Soviet Union."

The incident prompted international shock and outraged the administration of U.S. President Jimmy Carter, which closed the U.S. Embassy in response, although it did keep a charge d'affaires. Months later, Washington began its covert support to the mujahedin, the Islamist guerrilla fighters who were battling the Kabul regime and would later fight the Soviet Army.



Room 117



On the morning of February 14, Dubs' car was stopped by four gunmen in Kabul as he was traveling to the U.S. Embassy. There were reports that at least one of the gunmen was dressed as a uniformed Kabul traffic policeman. Dubs' abductors took him downtown to the Hotel Kabul, now known as the Serena Hotel.



By noon, Afghan security forces had surrounded the hotel. Soon after, Afghan forces stormed Room 117, where Dubs was being held. After a brief exchange of fire, Dubs was found dead. The ambassador had suffered multiple gunshot wounds to his head and chest.



Two of the four gunmen involved in Dubs' abduction were also killed in the assault.



'Suppression Of The Truth'



Washington protested to Kabul, saying that Afghan forces stormed the building despite a warning from the U.S. Embassy "in the strongest possible terms" not to attack the hotel or open fire on the kidnappers while attempts were being made to negotiate Dubs' release.

In 1980, the State Department issued a report on its yearlong investigation into Dubs' death, attributing blame to Afghan authorities and Soviet advisers assisting them.



The State Department said that at least three Soviet advisers had played an "operational role" during the storming of the hotel.



Moscow acknowledged that its advisers were present but said they had no control over the Afghan decision to storm the hotel room. Kabul said Soviet advisers were not present.

Washington said it was also not able to reach Foreign Minister Hafizullah Amin for hours, a claim denied by Amin, who would later become the leader of the country.



The State Department report said Dubs died of "at least 10 wounds inflicted by small-caliber weapons."



The report said physical evidence in the hotel room, including weapons, had disappeared.

Afghan officials produced for the Americans the body of a third kidnapper who had been detained by police. Kabul also provided the corpse of the fourth kidnapper, who U.S. officials did not see at the hotel.



It is still unknown whether Dubs was killed by his abductors, his would-be rescuers, or a combination of both.

The State Department said the Kabul government's account was "incomplete, misleading, and inaccurate," with "no mention of the Soviets involved in the incident." The U.S. report concluded: "Sufficient evidence has been obtained to establish serious misrepresentation or suppression of the truth by the government."



Cold Case



The identities of Dubs' kidnappers were never revealed, and Washington, Moscow, and Kabul all have their own take on the incident.



Carter's national-security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, blamed Dubs' death on "Soviet ineptitude or collusion," according to his memoirs. He described the Afghan handling of the incident as "inept."

In the book Afghanistan: The Soviet Invasion In Perspective, author Anthony Arnold suggested that "it was obvious that only one power...would benefit from the murder -- the Soviet Union," as the death of the ambassador "irrevocably poisoned" the U.S.-Afghan relationship, "leaving the U.S.S.R. with a monopoly of great-power influence over" the Kabul government.

In the months after Dubs' death, Carter would dramatically draw down America's diplomatic presence in Afghanistan and cut off economic and humanitarian aid.



In Russia, the kidnapping was blamed on the CIA, which state media said wanted to provide an excuse for U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan.



Kabul claimed the abductors were members of a small Maoist group, while officials at the time also blamed the mujahedin.

The abductors had demanded the release of "religious figures" who they said were being held by the Kabul government.



In a newly published book, Afghanistan: A History From 1260 To The Present, author Jonathan Lee writes that U.S. officials suspected the communist government in Kabul was behind the incident "either in a naive attempt to discredit the Islamist resistance or to force the U.S.A. and NATO powers to disengage with Afghanistan."A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced a bill that would impose drastic new sanctions on Russia over its meddling in U.S. elections and aggression against Ukraine.

The bill, the latest congressional effort to push President Donald Trump to ratchet up Washington's response to Moscow, was introduced on February 13 by both Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

One of them, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, said lawmakers were determined to take action in response to Moscow's aggression in Ukraine, the humanitarian crisis in Syria, where Moscow backs President Bashar al-Assad, "and the steady erosion of international norms."

"One thing is increasingly clear: Moscow will continue to push until it meets genuine resistance," Menendez said.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a vocal supporter of the president but also a hawk on Russia, said in a statement that "our goal is to change the status quo and impose meaningful sanctions and measures against [President Vladimir] Putin's Russia."

"He should cease and desist meddling in the U.S. electoral process, halt cyberattacks on American infrastructure, remove Russia from Ukraine, and stop efforts to create chaos in Syria," Graham added.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on February 14 that the proposed legislation was drafted by U.S. senators with anti-Russian sentiments.

He also said the legislation flouted international trade rules and, if passed, would be an act of unfair competition aimed at helping U.S. business.

The measure is a tougher version of legislation the two lawmakers backed last year but which failed to pass in the Senate, which has a Republican majority.

The new bill may have a better chance of passing Congress now, either as a whole or as amendments to other legislation, in the face of growing bipartisan anger over Moscow's interference in other countries' affairs.

Trump's "willful paralysis in the face of Kremlin aggression has reached a boiling point in Congress," Menendez said in a statement.

The legislation sets out sanctions that would target Russian banks that support efforts to interfere in foreign elections; and individuals deemed to "facilitate illicit and corrupt activities, directly or indirectly, on behalf of Putin."

It would also include strict measures against Russia's oil and gas sector, including imposing sanctions against people who provide goods, services, or financing to support the development of crude oil in the country.

Trump would have to sign the bill before it became law.

In 2017, Congress passed a sanctions law known as CAATSA, with strong support from both Democrats and Republicans who overruled Trump's reluctance to impose punitive measures on Moscow.

With reporting by Reuters, CNN, and InterfaxKYIV -- Ukraine has taken the extraordinary step of deporting a senior cleric of the Moscow-aligned Orthodox Church and stripping him of his citizenship, marking a political escalation in the historic rift that has shaken the Eastern Orthodox world and further raised tensions between Kyiv and Moscow.



The move threatens to draw U.S. officials into the spat, since the Ukrainian-born Bishop Gedeon, whose given name is Yuriy Kharon, is said to hold U.S. citizenship.



"We have seen reports of a U.S. citizen's departure from Ukraine," U.S. Embassy spokesman Ray Castillo told RFE/RL in an e-mailed response late on February 14. He declined to comment further, citing privacy concerns.



Gedeon, of the Moscow Patriarchate church in Ukraine, had just touched down at Kyivs Boryspil Airport after a working trip to the United States when Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) agents detained him over accusations of promoting Russias military aggression against the country and holding a second passport, reportedly American.



After being held for hours overnight on February 13 and interrogated, the Ukrainian-born cleric was stripped of his Ukrainian passport and then put on a plane to Frankfurt early on February 14, Ukrainian authorities and Moscow Patriarchate officials said in official statements. Ukrainian authorities claimed he had lied about losing the passport but then found it on him during the interrogation.



The deportation of a senior member of the Moscow-aligned church in Ukraine is likely to inflame tensions over the simmering religious dispute that has seen the Russian Orthodox Church split from the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople after it approved the creation of an autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).



Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who led the push for a new Ukrainian Orthodox church "independent" of the Russian Orthodox Church and made it a key part of his reelection campaign, has said the move was done in the interest of national security.



The Moscow Patriarchate church, the Russian Orthodox Church's local arm, has been used as a tool by Russian President Vladimir Putin to spread propaganda and foment unrest in Ukraine, Poroshenko and Ukrainian church officials have claimed.

Clerics of the Moscow Patriarchate have spoken out in support of Russias annexation of Crimea and military intervention in the eastern Donbas region, and they have said that the Moscow Patriarchate is the only canonical church in Ukraine, comments that authorities in Kyiv regard as anti-Ukrainian.



At the same time, Poroshenko and Ukrainian Church officials, including the head of the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy, have called for restraint amid heightened tensions following the creation of the new church.

After clerics of the Moscow Patriarchate expressed concerns about the loss of church property and complained about pressure from authorities, Poroshenko and Epifaniy stressed there would be no forced takeovers of Moscow Patriarchate properties and no pressure applied to their priests.



However, they have publicly encouraged Moscow Patriarchate priests and parishes to peacefully convert to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and Poroshenko signed a law last month allowing for a legal path to do so. Roughly 300 of some 12,000 Moscow Patriarchate churches have joined the new Ukrainian church since it received independence last month, according to the Religious Information Service of Ukraine.



But in at least a dozen cases, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has conducted raids on Moscow Patriarchate churches and properties belonging to its priests on the grounds that they committed acts of "treason" and "incited religious hatred."



Some of those priests have been interrogated, according to Archbishop Kliment, a senior member of the Moscow Patriarchate who resides at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, one of Ukraine's holiest sites, where mummified monks rest in underground caves. He told RFE/RL in a recent interview that Soviet-era tactics are being used by Ukrainian authorities against his church.



In Bishop Gedeons case, upon his arrival in Kyiv, SBU agents escorted him to a holding room where they questioned him about remarks he had made regarding Russias actions in Ukraine, according to a statement on the Facebook page of the Moscow Patriarchate. The statement included a photograph of Gedeon standing in front of the entrance to the U.S. House of Representatives meeting rooms, where he had been earlier in the week for meetings.



A separate report shared by Kliments office cited the Russian Church as saying Gedeon, who previously lived for years in the United States, was also an American citizen and had sent a request to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and members of Congress to discuss the church issue in Ukraine.



Ukraine's Interior Ministry shared a video on Twitter showing part of the SBU's interrogation of Gedeon.

It was accompanied by a statement that said Gedeon had been put on a plane to Frankfurt.



Later in the video, the cleric is seen saying goodbye to members of his staff who had accompanied him on his trip while being escorted by Ukrainian border guards onto a plane. In a post on Facebook, he said his final destination was the United States but did not say which city. He added that he was "led to the plane by armed gunmen like a criminal!"



In the Interior Ministry video, just before boarding, the bishop turns to the border guards with a final message: "I'll be back."Taliban negotiators say they will meet U.S. representatives in Pakistan on February 18 as part of ongoing Afghan peace talks, although a State Department official said the U.S. team had not yet received an invitation to the talks.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on February 13 said the meeting would take place in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, a week before the two sides are scheduled to hold negotiations in Qatar on February 25.

"While we have noted the Taliban's public announcement, we have not received a formal invitation to any talks," a State Department spokesperson said.

Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said his side would also meet with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to hold "comprehensive discussions about Pakistan-Afghanistan relations."

As an Afghan neighbor and military power in the region, Islamabad would likely play a key role in any eventual settlement, and some 1.5 million Afghan refugees live in Pakistan.

Talks between U.S. officials -- including Zalmay Khalilzad, the special peace envoy for Afghanistan -- have intensified in recent months. Khalilzad and Taliban envoys have both said progress has been made, but U.S. officials caution that much work needs to be done before an agreement can be finalized.

Khalilzad is due to arrive in Pakistan on a six-country trip that also includes Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Qatar, and Afghanistan.

Talks have also been held in Moscow with some of the same figures, although Khalilzad has not attended those discussions.

The U.S.-Taliban talks are aimed at finding a negotiated end to Afghanistan's 17-year war.

The United States has been attempting to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table with officials in Kabul.

The Afghan government has been absent from the U.S.-Taliban talks, prompting anger and frustration in Kabul. The Taliban considers the Kabul government a Western puppet and has so far refused to directly negotiate with it.

U.S. negotiators are expected to press for a cease-fire between Taliban insurgents and Western-backed Afghan forces before any agreement on the withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign troops.

The Taliban has demanded that all foreign troops leave before a cease-fire is declared but have said they would accept nonmilitary foreign aid to help rebuild Afghanistan.

U.S. officials have said President Donald Trump wants to withdraw about half of the 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The president has already announced that the United States will withdraw all 2,000 of its troops from Syria, saying he wants to reduce U.S. involvement in costly wars.

U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan since an October 2001 invasion that brought down the Taliban government after it refused to hand over Al-Qaida members, including Osama bin Laden, blamed for launching the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The government in Kabul has struggled to contain the resurgent Taliban after a NATO-led coalition turned over military operations to Afghan troops and took a more-advisory and training role in the country.

With reporting by Reuters and APThe URL has been copied to your clipboard

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Thirty years ago on February 15, the last Soviet soldiers left Afghanistan after a disastrous operation to prop up a Marxist regime. It set off a chain of events still being felt today in Moscow, Kabul, and Washington.OKTYABRSKE, Ukraine -- Russian-imposed authorities in Ukraine's occupied Crimea region have detained three Crimean Tatar activists, according to a Ukrainian human rights group.

Crimean Solidarity said that officers of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) on February 14 detained Rustem Emiruseyinov, Eskender Abulganiyev, and Arsen Abkhayirov.

Their homes and the houses of their relatives in the central town of Oktyabrske were also searched, said the nongovernmental organization, which has members in both Crimea and Ukrainian government-controlled territory.

The FSB's branch in Crimea said the three activists were suspected members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir religious group.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is a global organization based in London that seeks to unite all Muslim countries into an Islamic caliphate.

The group can operate legally in Ukraine.

However, Russia's Supreme Court banned it in 2003, branding its supporters "extremists."

Rights groups and Western governments have denounced what they describe as a campaign of repression by the Russian-installed authorities in Crimea who are targeting members of the Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatar community and others who have spoken out against Moscow's seizure and illegal annexation of the peninsula in March 2014.Russia, Turkey, and Iran see the planned U.S. withdrawal from Syria as a positive step, President Vladimir Putin said after a summit with his Turkish and Iranian counterparts on February 14 in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.



Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Iranian President Hassan Rohani agreed during the talks that a U.S. pullout from northeastern Syria "would be a positive step that would help stabilize the situation in this region, where ultimately the legitimate government should reestablish control," he told a joint press conference.



But Putin said no big changes have been noted so far that would point to a U.S. withdrawal from Syria.



U.S. President Donald Trump announced in December that he will withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria.



Putin said Trump was trying to fulfill his election campaign promises by ordering the troop withdrawal, but that he was not always able to fulfill his promises because of what Putin described as internal political issues.



The top U.S. commander overseeing American forces in the Middle East said on February 9 that the United States is likely just weeks away from starting the withdrawal of ground troops from Syria.



Rohani told the news conference that the U.S. presence in Syria and other countries was not useful.

"America should reconsider its Middle East policy," Rohani told the news conference.



Several rounds of UN-sponsored negotiations in recent years have failed to end the fighting, which has killed more than 400,000 people, displaced millions, and devastated historic sites across the country.



Russia, Turkey, and Iran are all deeply involved in the seven-year Syrian conflict and sponsor separate peace talks in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana.



Putin said the next round of Astana talks on Syria will take place in late March or early April.



Putin has called on his Turkish and Iranian counterparts to continue working together "actively and consistently" on plans to stabilize Syria after the U.S. troop withdrawal.



All three countries have deployed military forces in Syria and have said they want a political solution that brings an end to the war.



Moscow and Tehran back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey and the United States back different rebel groups.



About 2,000 U.S. soldiers have been assisting a Syrian, Arab, and Kurdish alliance in the fight against militant extremists from the Islamic State extremist group.



Critics say Trump's announcement handed a victory to Russia and Iran. They also say a U.S. withdrawal will leave U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters at the mercy of Turkey, which considers them terrorists.



Speaking ahead of the Sochi summit, Erdogan said Turkey wants to move in coordination with Russia to establish what he called a "safe zone" in northern Syria.



Erdogan said Syria's territorial integrity cannot be guaranteed as long as the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish YPG militia remain in the area.



Earlier, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Ankara would need approval from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to create any safe zone in Syrian territory.



"The question of the presence of a military contingent acting on the authority of a third country on the territory of a sovereign country, and especially Syria, must be decided directly by Damascus," spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.



Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the three presidents would discuss the formation of a committee that would be tasked with drafting a postwar constitution for Syria.

With reporting by dpa, AFP, and Reuters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WARSAW -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has rejected as "outrageous" Iranian claims that the United States and its regional allies are to blame for a suicide bombing in southeastern Iran that killed 27 members of the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).



A militant Sunni Muslim separatist group called Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) claimed responsibility for the February 13 attack, but a day later, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tried to link the attack to a Middle East conference in Warsaw co-hosted by Pompeo and Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz.



In an interview in Warsaw on February 14 with RFE/RL's Radio Farda, Pompeo denied that the United States had anything to do with one of the deadliest attacks on Iranian security forces in years.

The Americans had nothing to do with this at all, Pompeo said.



Zarif will attend a February 15-17 security conference in Munich, where world leaders and experts will address a variety of topics ranging from climate change to international security.



Pompeo said that since Zarif is actually headed to Munich where many European countries will meet with him, I would ask those countries when they meet with Mr. Zarif to ask him, why he would say such an outrageous thing?"



In the interview, conducted while Pompeo was attending the Warsaw conference, Washingtons top diplomat said European leaders should press Zarif on his comments that linked the timing of the attack with the meeting in the Polish capital.

WATCH: The full interview with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by Niusha Boghrati of RFE/RL's Radio Farda





Sometimes [Zarif] is posited to be a moderate. It's not moderate to accuse the Israelis and the Americans of murder. That's not moderate, Pompeo said.



Tehran, which has described the Warsaw conference as an anti-Iran circus, has repeatedly accused the United States, Israel, and U.S. ally Saudi Arabia of backing Sunni militia groups that carry out attacks against Iranian security forces. They have denied the charges.

Pompeo told Radio Farda that the historic Warsaw meeting, attended by more than 60 countries, was aimed at creating peace and stability throughout the Middle East, including Iran, Syria and Yemen.



Washington and the European Union have been at odds over U.S. President Donald Trumps decision to withdraw from the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, which calls for Iran to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

EU states have sought to keep aspects of the deal in place, while France, Britain, and Germany two weeks ago launched a new mechanism to trade with Iran while bypassing U.S. sanctions against Iran.



Though differences of opinion exist over how to attack risks in the region, Pompeo said all understood the threat that the Islamic Republic of Iran presents to their citizens.



We gathered people here today. We made our case. And I am confident that we came out of here today more collectively able to deal with all of the threats that exist throughout all of the Middle East, he said.



Russia and China are not participating in the Warsaw conference -- neither are the Palestinians -- but Russian President Vladimir Putin held a simultaneous summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with Rohani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the future of war-ravaged Syria.



Pompeo denied the Warsaw conference was a Washington-driven effort, pointing out that even Israelis and Arabs sat together to discuss the threat that Iran poses.



But he also said the Trump administrations goal was clear -- change in Tehrans behavior -- though he stopped short of calling for actual regime change.



We ultimately want the Iranian people to have their voices heard. We want a change in the regime's behavior. We want them to act like a normal country, Pompeo said.



How these behaviors will be changed will be dealt with by the Iranian people. They'll make their voices heard. They'll assert their power.

Niusha Boghrati of RFE/RL's Radio Farda contributed to this reportTravelers are now being greeted with newly erected signs that say "Welcome To North Macedonia as they cross the Balkan country's border with Greece after Skopje officially notified the United Nations about its long-debated name change.

"May today be the beginning of a long friendship between Greece and North Macedonia," the foreign minister of North Macedonia, Nikola Dimitrov, said on February 13 in a tweet.

"We can't change our past, but we can and we will shape our future of friendship, partnership and cooperation," he added.

The UN confirmed on February 13 that it had been officially informed by the government in Skopje that the country's new name is North Macedonia.

At the UN, the country had been known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia because Athens objected to the use of "Macedonia," the name used for Greece's own northern region.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "welcomes this development, which settles the long-standing dispute between Athens and Skopje and demonstrates that even seemingly intractable issues can be resolved through dialogue and political will."

The UN announcement came after Skopje on February 12 said the country was officially renamed the Republic of North Macedonia under a landmark agreement to normalize relations with Greece that also allows North Macedonia to enter NATO.

As part of the agreement, North Macedonia's customs office must put the new name on road signs at all border crossings within three days. Plaques on offices must be replaced within four months.

The Interior Ministry is to begin issuing new passports by the end of 2019, while the central bank is scheduled to start issuing new banknotes by the beginning of 2020.

Dimitrov on February 6 signed a NATO accession agreement, a key step toward Skopje's becoming the military alliance's 30th member.

Greece's parliament was the first to approve the NATO protocol, and all other members are expected to follow suit over the next year.

Three other former Yugoslav republics -- Slovenia, Croatia, and Montenegro -- have become NATO members, joining other states in the region including Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania.

Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina remain outside NATO, but many in those countries have expressed hopes of joining the Western alliance.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa, and Balkan InsightBRUSSELS -- NATO is backing the full participation of the Afghan government in peace talks involving U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban representatives to end the 17-year conflict, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg told RFE/RL on February 14 in Brussels.



The Afghan government has been absent from the U.S.-Taliban talks, prompting anger and frustration in Kabul. The militants consider the Afghan government a Western puppet and have so far refused to directly negotiate with it.



"There's no way it is possible to have a lasting peace without the full involvement of the Afghan government and, therefore, we strongly support the efforts by [U.S. special envoy] Ambassador Khalilzad in his engagement with the Taliban to create the conditions to agree on an Afghan-owned reconciliation process," Stoltenberg told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO defense ministers.



"Of course, the Afghan government has to be part of that. There's no way you can have an Afghan peace process -- lasting peace -- without totally involving the Afghans, including the government," Stoltenberg said.



During recent talks in Qatar, U.S. officials and the Taliban both expressed some optimism over prospects for a deal.



On February 8, Khalilzad said he was "hopeful" a deal could be finalized before Afghanistans presidential election in July, but he cautioned there is still a "long way to go" before a final agreement.



U.S. officials have said President Donald Trump wants to withdraw about half of the 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.



U.S. forces have been in Afghanistan since an October 2001 invasion that brought down the Taliban government after it refused to hand over Al-Qaeda terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, blamed for launching the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.



The government in Kabul has struggled to contain the resurgent Taliban after a NATO-led coalition turned over military operations to Afghan troops and took a more advisory and training role in the country.



Stoltenberg said NATO is ready to help facilitate "an Afghan reconciliation, Afghan process," since allies "invested a lot in protecting [democratic] values" in Afghanistan.



"But the only way to do that is to make sure that we have an Afghan-owned reconciliation process, because peace is extremely important for human rights," Stoltenberg said.



Taliban representatives and an Afghan delegation led by former Afghan President Hamid Karzai held two days of talks in Moscow, with the militants continuing to insist upon the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan as a first step in the peace process.



The talks were "very satisfactory," Karzai said at the end of the February 5-6 gathering, which have been described by some as part of an "intra-Afghan" peace process, despite the absence of Kabul government representatives.



The gathering was strongly criticized by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.



Stoltenberg said that efforts to create a framework for an intra-Afghan peace process and reconciliation should be backed by everyone, including Russia.



"It remains to be seen whether the meeting in Moscow contributes to that," Stoltenberg said, adding, "NATO's focus is how we can provide maximum support to the efforts by the United States and Ambassador Khalilzad by continuing to provide support to the Afghan security forces, and also by giving political support to those efforts, because that's the only way to peace."NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has expressed NATO's strong support for U.S.-led efforts to end Afghanistan's 17-year war. Speaking to RFE/RL Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Mustafa Sarwar in Brussels on February 14, Stoltenberg said it remains to be seen whether parallel peace talks between the Taliban and Afghan opposition representatives in Moscow will also contribute to a future Afghan peace deal.U.S. acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has said that any potential U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan would be coordinated with other NATO members.



Speaking to reporters after a meeting on February 14 in Brussels with NATO defense ministers, Shanahan said "there will be no unilateral troop reduction" from Afghanistan.



His remarks came amid uncertainty about the timing and extent of a potential U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan that Taliban negotiators have demanded as a precondition to peace talks with the Afghan government.



"We came out of here much stronger and coordinated," Shanahan told reporters in Brussels about his talks with other NATO defense ministers.



The ministers on February 14 were discussing the future of NATO's Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan as Washington engages in efforts to negotiate a peace deal between the Taliban and the Afghan government.



U.S. officials have said President Donald Trump wants to withdraw about half of the 14,000 U.S. troops now in Afghanistan.



Shanahan said the ministers in Brussels discussed "how do we double down on support for Afghan national defense and security forces to put even more pressure on the Taliban?"



NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier that the alliance's mission in Afghanistan "remains a top priority."



"We strongly support the efforts to reach a political, peaceful settlement," Stoltenberg said.



The NATO chief also said "no decision has been taken about any withdrawal," adding that NATO allies would decide the future of the mission "together, based on conditions determined with the Afghans."



Before the Brussels talks began, U.S. special peace envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad briefed NATO ambassadors about developments that have occurred during several rounds of direct talks he has had in recent months with representatives of the Taliban's political office in Qatar.

The ministers on February 14 also discussed NATO's missions and operations in Kosovo and Iraq.

On Kosovo, Stoltenberg has said the ministers would "review the level of our support for the Kosovo Security Force after the change of its mandate."

Kosovar lawmakers in December voted to convert the 2,500-member Kosovo Security Force into a national army with some 5,000 personnel and more substantial weaponry.

But that move is opposed by Kosovo's ethnic Serbian minority, by Serbia's government in Belgrade, and by Russia.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and dpaA federal judge has ruled that President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, breached his plea agreement by intentionally lying to prosecutors and the grand jury as part of the special counsel's Russia probe.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on February 13 said a "preponderance" of evidence showed that Manafort lied on three different topics, including his communications with former business partner Konstantin Kilimnik.

Kilimnik, who was indicted last year on charges of witness tampering in Manafort's case, has been accused of having ties to Russian spy agencies, allegations he has denied. He is believed to be in Russia.

The judge ruled that, by lying, Manafort breached a previous plea deal with the Mueller team, which could put Manafort at risk of a significantly higher prison sentence. The judge said those "issues, which depend on the consideration of a number of additional factors, will be determined at sentencing."

Experts said Manafort's sentence likely would have been capped at about 10 years under the terms of the original plea deal. He is being held pending sentencing.

Manafort's attorneys had asserted that he did not intentionally mislead investigators but initially had forgotten some details, only to remember later.

Mueller's prosecutors have said discussions between Manafort and Kilimnik about a Ukrainian peace plan go to the "heart" of the Mueller probe.

In previous court documents, it was revealed that one of the topics discussed by Manafort and Kilimnik was a possible "Ukrainian peace plan."

The peace plan refers to the conflict that erupted in Ukraine in 2014, after President Viktor Yanukovych fled the country amid mass protests.

The United States and Western allies hit Russia with sanctions after Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and Moscow had sought to ease the punitive measures.

According to court filings, the peace plan was reportedly aimed at lifting the U.S. sanctions on Russia.

Manafort was convicted in federal court in Virginia in August of bank fraud and tax evasion connected to his work in Ukraine. He later pleaded guilty in a separate case to two counts of conspiracy.

In the February 13 ruling, the judge also said that the evidence backed Mueller's allegation that Manafort lied about sharing internal Trump team polling data with Kilimnik during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The judge said Mueller's team had not proven that Manafort intentionally lied on two other subjects.

Mueller is investigating whether there was collusion between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia, which U.S. intelligence agencies charge mounted an influence operation to sway the vote to Trump over his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

Trump denies he colluded with Russian agents, and Moscow denies interfering in the election to help Trump.WASHINGTON -- A Washington judge has ordered the city medical examiner to turn over dozens of autopsy records and other files in the investigation of Mikhail Lesin, the former Russian press minister who was found dead in a D.C. hotel room under suspicious circumstances more than three years ago.



The February 13 ruling came in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by RFE/RL, which has sought the files as part of its ongoing probe into Lesin's November 2015 death.

Once a powerful media adviser to President Vladimir Putin, Lesin fell out of favor sometime around 2012 and had largely been out of sight before his body was found in the Dupont Circle Hotel. Despite the official conclusion that his death was "accidental," suspicion has focused on whether he was killed to keep him from sharing information with the Justice Department.

Judge Hiram Puig-Lugo ordered the city by February 20 to turn over the files -- which include medical records, toxicology reports, e-mails, and other materials -- with certain information including names and personal details redacted.



In his ruling, Puig-Lugo rejected arguments by city lawyers that privacy interests of Lesin's family outweigh the public interest in the circumstances surrounding his death. And he chided city officials for what he said were overly broad arguments that turning over the documents that could compromise how D.C. city police, or even the FBI, conducted their investigations.



It was unclear whether the city would appeal the ruling. The plaintiff in the case is the author of this article.

Blunt-Force Trauma

Lesin's body was found in the Dupont Circle Hotel on November 5, 2015, just a few blocks from the White House. An initial report by the medical examiner's office the following March declared Lesin's death to be caused by blunt-force trauma, but said the manner of death was "undetermined."

But the final report, released in October 2016 by the U.S. Attorney's Office for Washington and city police, called his death accidental, caused by blunt-force injuries to the neck, torso, and lower upper extremities, "which were induced by falls." Acute ethanol intoxication was cited as a contributing factor.



The report was met with deep suspicion by business acquaintances and others familiar with the once-powerful, wealthy Kremlin insider who was instrumental in Russia's crackdown on independent TV and in the creation of the international broadcaster RT.



One person who had direct access to the hotel room where Lesin was found told RFE/RL in 2016 that it was physically impossible for him to have died alone in the room. Photographs released by police showed bottles of beer and liquor, stacks of dollar bills, and crumpled clothing on the floor. Associates of Lesin have argued that the Dupont Circle Hotel did not match his known tastes for expensive goods and lodging.



Prior to the Dupont Circle Hotel, Lesin had spent time at the posher Four Seasons Hotel in another part of Washington. According to the D.C. police report, officials at the Four Seasons had called the U.S. Secret Service on November 3 when Lesin appeared to be heavily intoxicated, and the Secret Service advised that a guard be posted at his door to prevent him from leaving. He checked into the Dupont Circle Hotel a day later.



There has been no public explanation why the Secret Service was contacted.

Russia Today

As Putin's press minister in the early 2000s, Lesin was instrumental in bringing the country's national TV channels under Kremlin control, primarily NTV, a channel known at the time for its hard-hitting journalism. He went on to set up Russia Today, the global Kremlin mouthpiece known today as RT.



Much of his wealth came from a private company he set up in the 1990s to sell television advertising on Russia's exploding TV-advertising market. That company, called Video International (VI), was later acquired by Yury Kovalchuk, the main shareholder of Bank Rossia, which has been closely linked to the Kremlin.



He lost favor with the Kremlin for unknown reasons sometime between 2012 and 2014, and he largely fell out of the public eye.



In 2014, a year before his death, Lesin had drawn the attention of the U.S. Senate, where one lawmaker had called on the FBI to investigate him for possible money laundering.



Lesin owned mansions in Beverly Hills, California, where his children and estranged wife live, and owned a yacht valued at $40 million. Months before his death, Russian media alleged that he was engaged to a Russian model much younger than him, and that she was pregnant with their child.



The whereabouts of the woman, identified as Viktoria Rakhimbayeva, is unknown.



Lesin was not known to be a regular visitor to Washington. But shortly after his death, it emerged that one of his reasons for being in the U.S. capital was to attend a scheduled gala fund-raiser at the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute on November 3, two days before his body was found.



One of the philanthropists being honored that night was the influential Russian banker Pyotr Aven. Lesin never attended the event.



Aven also attended a private event at the Atlantic Council, another Washington think tank, on November 4. According to a person with knowledge of that event, Lesin had sought to attend as well, but the organizers declined to include him.



One person in contact with federal law enforcement officials told RFE/RL that Lesin had been in contact with the Justice Department in the months leading up to his death. In March 2018, the website BuzzFeed quoted unnamed sources as saying that former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele had given the FBI a report stating that Lesin was bludgeoned to death by enforcers working for an oligarch close to Putin. The identity of the oligarch was not revealed in the BuzzFeed report.



Steele later became famous because of a series of memos detailing President Donald Trump's alleged connections to Russia. Known as the Steele Dossier, the memos were circulated among Washington reporters in late 2016, and published in full by BuzzFeed in January 2017.



In its December 2017 report, D.C. police said that Lesin had been drinking heavily in the days prior to his death. A month later, the FBI released a 56-page file on its investigation, including the work by forensic experts into the closed-circuit video footage of the Dupont Circle Hotel.



The FBI files also included 29 pages from report by the city medical examiner's office that were the basis of the official reason given by the city for his death. However, the pages were redacted almost entirely.

Russian officials have said little publicly about Lesin's death, aside from indicating early on that they expected U.S. law enforcement to provide full details.

Since his death, some of Lesin's assets have been gradually sold off. His yacht was sold in Florida in 2016.



In 2017, his two Beverly Hills mansions were listed for sale, at $23 million and $29 million. It isn't immediately clear if the homes have been sold yet.U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has called on Washington's European allies to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, saying that Iran is the greatest threat to peace and security in the Middle East.



Pence told an international conference on the Middle East that is being held in Warsaw that "some" of Washington's "leading European partners" have not been cooperative when it comes to confronting Iran.



"In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions," Pence said at the February 14 gathering.



Washington and the European Union are at odds over U.S. President Donald Trumps decision to withdraw from the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, which calls for Iran to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.



EU states have sought to keep aspects of the deal in place.



France, Britain, and Germany two weeks ago launched a new mechanism to trade with Iran while bypassing U.S. sanctions against Iran.



"It is an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU, and create still more distance between Europe and the United States," Pence told the Warsaw gathering.



Tehran has described the 60-country meeting sponsored by the United States and Poland as an anti-Iran circus.



Speaking at the conferences opening session, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States wants a "new era of cooperation to confront the challenges faced by countries in the Middle East.



"We want to bring together countries with an interest in stability to share their different views and break out of traditional thinking," Pompeo said.



"None of the region's challenges will solve themselves," the U.S. top diplomat also said. "We must work together for security."

Citing a list of regional challenges ranging from Iran, Syria, and Yemen to the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, Pompeo said, "No one country will dominate the discussion today nor will any one issue dominate our talks."

Earlier in the day, Pompeo said the world "can't achieve peace and security in the Middle East without confronting Iran."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is addressing the Warsaw meeting, told reporters that the event's opening dinner late on February 13 marked "a historical turning point."

"In a room of some 60 foreign ministers representative of dozens of governments, an Israeli prime minister, and the foreign ministers of the leading Arab countries stood together and spoke with unusual force, clarity, and unity against the common threat of the Iranian regime," he said.

However, many European countries sent only low-level officials, and European Union foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini is staying away.

Russia and China are also not participating in the Warsaw conference and neither are the Palestinians.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to hold a simultaneous summit in the resort of Sochi with Iranian President Hassan Rohani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the future of war-ravaged Syria.

At the Sochi summit, Putin on February 14 praised the Iranian president and thanked him for what he called "the contribution Iran has been making in resolving the Syria issue."



Putin also said there has been progress between Moscow and Tehran to improve trade relations.

Moscow views with concern "U.S. attempts to impose unilateral geopolitical interests through initiatives presented as opinions of the entire international community," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in comments carried by the Interfax news agency.



British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, the only senior official from a key European power to attend the Warsaw conference, said he wanted to focus on ending the conflict in Yemen.



A Saudi-led coalition is fighting against Yemen's Iran-backed Shi'ite Huthi rebels in an attempt to restore the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansur Hadi.

With reporting by AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa, and InterfaxIranian President Hassan Rohani has blamed the United States and its regional allies for a suicide bombing in southeastern Iran that killed 27 members of the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

"The crime will remain as a 'dirty stain' in the black record of the main supporters of terrorism in the White House, Tel Aviv, and their regional agents," Rohani said on February 14, a day after one of the deadliest attacks on Iranian security forces in years.

The IRGC says a suicide bomber on February 13 drove an explosives-laden vehicle into a bus that was transporting IRGC troops in Sistan-Baluchistan Province.

A militant Sunni Muslim separatist group called Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) claimed responsibility for the attack.

That group says it is seeking greater rights and better living conditions for Iran's ethnic Baluch minority.

Sistan-Baluchistan is a volatile area near Iran's borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan where militant groups and drug smugglers frequently operate.

The province is populated mainly by Sunni Muslim ethnic Baluchs.

Tehran has repeatedly accused the United States, Israel, and U.S. ally Saudi Arabia of backing Sunni militia groups that carry out attacks against Iranian security forces. They have denied the charges.

Rohani called on Iran's neighbors to assume their "legal responsibilities" and prevent "terrorists" from using their territory to prepare attacks.

"If this continues and they cannot stop the terrorists, it is clear -- based on international law -- that we have certain rights and will act upon them in due time," the Iranian president said, without elaborating.

Rohani made the remarks at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport as he was leaving for talks on Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Russia's Black Sea resort city of Sochi.

Iranian state television reported on February 14 that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was ordering immediate action against those responsible for the attack.

"There is a link between this crime...and some regional and international spying and intelligence agencies," Khamenei was quoted as saying.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal said Pakistanis were "shocked and grieved" by the attack.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and APRudy Giuliani, a personal lawyer of U.S. President Donald Trump, says Iran's government "has to go." He made the statement in an interview with RFE/RLs Radio Farda on the sidelines of a major Middle East conference in Warsaw, Poland. Iranian officials have called the meeting an "anti-Iran circus." Giuliani said he was speaking in his personal capacity and not as an official representative of the U.S. administration. Giuliani also spoke at a rally in Warsaw organized by the Iranian exile opposition group, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MKO or MEK), which was once listed by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist organization. He has acknowledged receiving payments from the group in the past.Posted Thursday, February 14, 2019 9:35 am

Americas drift away from our market-based economic system is perplexing. Equally, mystifying is the new push to replace entrepreneurs with government bureaucrats in planning and controlling services and products offered to us  the consumers.

Scrapping capitalism is a very bad idea. History shows that socialist and communist regimes dominated by strong-armed dictators, such as in Venezuela, and Soviet-style politburos are ripe for economic collapse and suppression of free speech and human rights.

Consider what existence was like in Poland when it was part of the oppressive Soviet communist bloc. A visit to the Solidarity Museum in Gdansk is a stark reminder of life in a police state under a system of rigid supervision, restricted freedoms and mediocrity. One of the museums displays is a series of empty grocery shelves, a haunting reminder of the time when poor working Poles had only a meager selection of rationed food, clothing and household supplies.

When Poland broke the communist shackles in 1989, economic and human freedom flourished. Free for the first time since World War II, Poland cast off its yoke of government domination in favor of an American-style free enterprise system.

Today, Polands gross domestic product is expanding. According to European Union statistics, its GDP growth reached 5.1 percent in 2018, the fastest growth rate since 2007. Among the leading growth factors was domestic demand, especially strong private consumption. In fact, today it is hard to distinguish between bustling American and Polish shopping districts.

U.S. economic growth was 3 percent last year and unemployment logged in at 3.7 percent. In December employers added 312,000 jobs and 2.64 million in 2018, the best year since 2015. Average hourly earnings rose 3.2 percent in 2018, their biggest full-year gain of the expansion.

Last years tax cuts combined with President Trumps regulatory relief and reshoring of American companies are priming our economic pump. The problem is skilled worker shortages with nearly 7 million positions unfilled  278,000 in construction and 493,000 in manufacturing.

This isnt a problem with our capitalist system. Our prosperity is the result of our creativity, innovation and competitive DNA. Hard work and ingenuity are rewarded in America.

Government intrusion doesnt work, and as Poles and Venezuelans know all too well, it leads to stagnation, shortages, higher prices and lost opportunities.

Poles see Ford Motor Co. as emblematic of the way our system works best.

When Ford leaders recruited Alan Mulally from Boeing in 2006, the legacy automaker was heading for a $12.7-billion loss. Poor management and an uninspired model line had Ford on the verge of losing its No. 2 sales spot in the U.S. to Toyota.

Mulally immediately took a risk and led the effort to borrow $23.6 billion by mortgaging all of Fords assets. At the time, the loan was interpreted as a sign of desperation, but is now widely credited with stabilizing Fords financial position.

Mulallys leadership resulted in one of the greatest turnarounds in history and it happened without a federal government bailout. Four years after Mulally arrived, Ford reported a $6.6-billion profit  the biggest in the sector that year.

It is puzzling to consider the path our nation may take in the next few years. Our elected leaders need to carefully study what is happening in Venezuela and what has taken place in Poland. As imperfect as Americas system is, it is still far better than other alternatives. The Poles are proving that.

Hopefully, Poland and America wont be two trains passing each other heading in opposite directions. Government constraint of markets, government picking winners and losers, and government edicts to consumers is a recipe for disaster.



Don C. Brunell is a business analyst, writer and columnist. He retired as president of the Association of Washington Business, the states oldest and largest business organization, and now lives in Vancouver. He can be contacted at theBrunells@msn.com.Romania's former chief anticorruption prosecutor has said a widely criticized Romanian agency tasked with investigating magistrates is attempting to harm her bid to become the European Union's public prosecutor.



Laura Codruta Koevesi headed Romania's National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) for five years until last year, when she was dismissed by the leftist government. She has challenged her dismissal in the European Court of Human Rights.



During Koevesi's tenure, DNA's conviction rates for high-level graft jumped across the political spectrum, drawing EU praise. She has now emerged as the front-runner for the newly established job of EU public prosecutor. The new EU agency will tackle financial fraud across the European Union.



But on February 12, just days after it was revealed that Koevesi was the leading contender for the post, the Section for the Investigation of Criminal Offenses, an investigative agency within the judiciary, subpoenaed her for hearings on February 15 as a suspect in a corruption case.



Koevesi was scheduled on February 15 to fly to Brussels, where she has an interview with the selection panel for the EU public prosecutor's post on February 26. The EU is expected to approve a candidate for the new post at the beginning of next month.

The investigative agency, which was created among a raft of legislative and personnel changes made by the ruling Social Democrats in the past two years, on February 14 denied that the February 15 subpoena for Koevesi was meant to prevent her from flying to Brussels for her EU job interview.



However, "I think [the summons] is a sort of revenge for the complaint I made at the European Court of Human Rights," Koevesi told television station Digi24 late on February 13. "The second reason is clearly an attempt to stop my candidacy for EU prosecutor."



The DNA's success has been regularly praised by EU institutions, while the government has come under steady criticism from Brussels over proposed judicial reforms that could weaken the independence of the justice system.



The European Commission and the U.S. Embassy to Bucharest have warned the investigative agency in Bucharest that its actions were being monitored.



"The [European] Commission is following the latest developments very closely. It is crucial that all candidates put forward by an independent selection panel are treated fairly," a spokesman told reporters in Brussels.

"We have confidence in Laura Codruta Koevesi's professional experience and we are supporting her efforts to seek professional opportunities within the international community," the embassy said in a statement for Romania's G4media.ro news site. "It is extremely disappointing for us to see yet another apparent attempt to discredit her. We wish her luck."



During Koevesi's time as head of the DNA, hundreds of dignitaries, elected officials, and business people were sent to prison after being convicted of corruption.



The governing coalition as well as influential business people and former politicians, some of whom went to prison for corruption, say the DNA colluded with parts of the justice system and the intelligence services, acting as a shadowy deep state.



However, Koevesi remains popular among a majority of Romanians, who see her as a symbol of the anticorruption fight. A rally in her support was announced for February 15 outside the government headquarters in Bucharest, the scene of huge anticorruption protests in 2017 and 2018.



Liviu Dragnea, the head of the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) and speaker of the lower house of parliament, has been convicted of abuse of power with the help of the DNA and has a second pending sentence for corruption.



The Romanian government, which took over the EU's rotating presidency for the first time last month, has made clear its opposition to Koevesi taking the job in Brussels.

With reporting by G4media.ro, Reuters, and AFPDUSHANBE -- A senior official in Tajikistan's Customs Service has confirmed that the authorities have confiscated and burned 5,000 evangelical Christian calendars ordered by a Baptist church in the Central Asian country.

Rahmonali Rahimzoda, who heads the enforcement branch of the Customs Service, told RFE/RL on February 14 that the calendars were confiscated at Dushanbe International Airport in December and later burned.

Rahimzoda said that the calendars contained "propaganda of an alien religion."

"Following the conclusion of linguistic experts in the Culture Ministry that found elements of propaganda of an alien faith, the calendars were confiscated," Rahimzoda told RFE/RL. "One can freely enter that religious group, but it is illegal to bring religious literature into this country without special approval from the Culture Ministry."

Representatives of Tajikistan's Church of Evangelic Christian Baptists said on February 13 that the calendars were "illegally" confiscated on the grounds that they quoted the New Testament of the Christian Bible.

They also said their church was ordered to pay a fine of 4,000 somonis, or about $420.

Church representatives said authorities told them the calendars were also confiscated because there were significantly more of them than the 200 registered Baptists in Tajikistan.

Tajikistan's law on religions, adopted in 2009, gives priority to the Hanafi school of Islam, to which 90 percent of the countries' population adheres.

The law bans the propagation of other religious faiths.

The Baptist church was established in Tajikistan in 1929 by believers who were exiled from Russia.

Before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, there were some 800 Baptists in the country.

Most of them left Tajikistan during the country's devastating 1992-97 civil war.

In 2004, unknown assailants shot dead Baptist pastor Sergei Bessarab in Dushanbe.

Bessarab had been actively trying to convert Tajik Muslims to his faith.

Investigators blamed Islamic extremists at the time, but there has never been an arrest in the case.The British-based open-source investigation group Bellingcat says that it has established the identity of an alleged Russian military intelligence officer who was in England when former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok.

"Bellingcat can now reveal the true identity and background of this GRU officer, who operated internationally under the cover persona of Sergei Vyacheslavovich Fedotov," Bellingcat said on February 14.

"In fact, this person is Denis Vyacheslavovich Sergeyev, a high-ranking GRU officer and a graduate of Russias Military Diplomatic Academy."



Bellingcat first published a report on February 7 saying that a suspected Russian military intelligence agent, who traveled under the alias Sergei Vyacheslavovich Fedotov arrived in Bulgaria just days before businessman Emilian Gebrev fell into a coma in April 2015 with symptoms of severe poisoning.



Bellingcat said Fedotov is also suspected of being involved in the British attack, having 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.



Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, 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. However, they have not identified a third suspect, and Bellingcat acknowledged: "It is unclear what [Sergeyev's[ role may have been, if any, in the preparation and execution of the poisoning operation."

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.

With reporting by Reuters and APThe URL has been copied to your clipboard

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Police in Pakistan accused a small boy of shooting at a police van. He was just 15 months old at the time of the purported incident. Senior investigators are now doubting it happened.MINSK -- Belarusian writer and Nobel Prize-winner Svetlana Alexievich says she believes an "atmosphere of violence" in the country contributed to the deadly school attack outside of Minsk earlier this week, in which two people were killed and two injured.



In an interview with RFE/RL on February 14, Alexievich said that people in Belarus hear justifications for violence and witness disrespect to human dignity on a daily basis, even from President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.



A 15-year-old boy in the town of Stouptsy, 65 kilometers southwest of Minsk, stabbed to death a female teacher and a 17-year-old student and injured two other students during classes on February 11.

Lukashenka, on February 12, blamed school authorities and the Education Ministry for the attack.



"Our schools are in a mess, a total mess! Something like that has never happened before. The district education authorities failed. The Education Ministry failed. There was no order in that school. Why?" Lukashenka said.



"Look at Lukashenka's behavior in public. He orders a minister to report faster, threatening him that 'otherwise you will leave this place hand-cuffed.' That is nothing but violence, disrespect to human dignity," Alexievich said.



She added that the tragedy was the result of an ongoing "inculcation on all levels of the belief that all matters can be solved by force."



"There is some kind of feeling of hatred in the air and people are being fed by that. That leads to the persuasion that all problems can be solved by violence, by a knife, by a gun," Alexievich said.



According to her, students are under pressure and also feel extreme forms of competition.



"In some cases, children are unable to accept others' success, and amid the spirit of common rudeness and arrogance they chose violence," Alexievich said.



Alexievich added that in Belarus today, nobody can find a way out of the atmosphere of violence.



"And not many even want to find such a way out. Everything is being solved by a shout, threats, the humiliation of an opponent. Our lives are being ruled by boorishness," Alexievich added.



The school attacks two victims were buried on February 13.



The attacker is in custody, facing life in prison because of his age. If he were 18 or older, he could face the death penalty. Belarus is the only country in Europe that practices capital punishment.ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A court in Kazakhstan has found the leader of a group that has raised concerns over problems faced by ethnic Kazakhs in China guilty of illegally leading an unregistered organization.

The court in Almaty issued the verdict against Serikzhan Bilash on February 13 and ordered him to pay a fine of 252,000 tenges ($670).

Bilash said he will appeal the ruling and insisted that his group, Atazhurt Eriktileri (Volunteers of the Fatherland), will continue to defend the rights of ethnic Kazakhs in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang.

He also said he will try again to register the group at the Justice Ministry.

Bilash pleaded not guilty as his trial started in Almaty on February 12.

He said his group, which he said had been active since spring 2017, was not a formal organization but a group of people concerned over the fate of ethnic Kazakhs in Xinjiang.

Nonetheless, he said that he sought to register it twice last year but that the Justice Ministry refused.

Bilash, who was born in Xinjiang, is a naturalized Kazakh citizen.

In recent months, he has organized several gatherings of ethnic Kazakhs from Xinjiang who settled in Kazakhstan and complained that their relatives were held in so-called reeducation camps in the Chinese region bordering the Central Asian country.

The United Nations said in August last year that an estimated 1 million Muslims from Xinjiang were being held in "counterextremism centers."

The UN also said millions more had been forced into reeducation camps.

Turkic-speaking, mostly Muslim Kazakhs are the second-largest indigenous community in Xinjiang after Uyghurs, and the region is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Hui, also known as Dungans.

Some 40 percent of the population of 22 million in the region that borders Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India are Han, China's largest ethnicity.

After Kazakhstan gained independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, many ethnic Kazakhs from Xinjiang and elsewhere benefited from Kazakhstan's state program on resettlement of ethnic Kazakhs into the country.

Many of them obtained permanent residence in Kazakhstan or Kazakh citizenship, but continue to visit their relatives in Xinjiang on a regular basis.

China is a major trading partner for neighboring Kazakhstan, where state-controlled media has generally avoided reporting about the internment camps.

In recent months, several demonstrations against the reeducation camps for Muslims were held in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia's Tatarstan region.

China denies that the facilities are internment camps.Blogger Truong Duy Nhat and his wife and daughter at Vinh airport in 2015

The wife of missing Vietnamese blogger Truong Duy Nhat is pleading with Vietnamese authorities to help look for her missing husband.

Nhat, a former political prisoner and weekly contributor for RFAs Vietnamese Service, vanished at a shopping mall on the outskirts of Bangkok after going the day before to the Bangkok office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Nothing has been heard of Nhat since his disappearance, and rights groups and members of the Vietnamese exile community say they fear he may have been abducted by Vietnamese police and taken back to Vietnam.

Nhats wife, Cao Thi Xuan Phuong, made her plea in the form of a letter to the Vietnamese central government, ministry of foreign affairs, police ministry, ministry of defense and the police department of the city of Da Nang, where the couple resided.

The letter, dated Feb. 9, was posted to Facebook by a friend of Nhat. His lawyer Tran Vu Hai confirmed the authenticity of the letter to RFAs Vietnamese Service.

According to the letter, Truong Duy Nhat left his hometown Da Nang more than one month ago without any reason.

It was reported that he went to the UNHCR office in Bangkok to apply for refugee status on Jan. 25, then he went missing on Jan. 26, the letter said.

Thailands government confirmed that they have nothing to do with the disappearance. Meanwhile there are rumors that my husband has been kidnapped by [a military intelligence unit] and escorted back to Vietnam in secret, Phuong said in the letter.

Right now we dont know what actually happened and we are very concerned about his safety and wellbeing, she said.

In addition to requesting help from the government, she also asked that the media both within Vietnam and in other countries pay close attention to her husbands case.

At the end of the letter she said she was authorizing Hanoi-based lawyer Tran Vu Hai to work with the government and other agencies on behalf of the family.

Information about Nhats sudden disappearance or possible kidnapping has not been confirmed, but Phuong asked [the central government and several other government agencies] for help, said Hai.

Those agencies, to me, are have a responsibility to help citizens in need. If [it is confirmed] that they had anything to do with Nhats disappearance, then they must answer [for it], he said.

The lawyer also said that he had been in contact with Nhat prior to his disappearance.

I can confirm that on Jan. 23, Nhat asked me to represent him in any circumstance, Hai said.

I did not know where he was, but he did contact me. After [he disappeared] his family asked me to do as he asked.

Nguyen Kim Binh of the Vietnam Human Rights Network said in December that Vietnam was detaining more than 200 political prisonerssurpassing figures tallied by Western human rights NGOs.

This figure includes the nearly 130 people convicted for participating in protests as of November 2018, receiving sentences of up to five years in prison.

Reported and translated by Viet Ha for RFAs Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Eugene Whong.Maung Kyaw, administrator of Kyauk Khot village, was killed by unknown assailants at his home in Minyba township's Tharyarkone village tract, western Myanmars Rakhine state, Feb. 12, 2019.

A village administrator was shot dead on Tuesday at his home in a township in western Myanmars violence-ridden Rakhine state, prompting speculation by local officials that the rebel Arakan Army, whose fighting with Myanmar forces has intensified in recent months, was behind the killing.

Maung Kyaw, administrator of Kyauk Khot village in Minbya townships Tharyarkone village tract, is the fourth person to be killed by unknown assailants in Rakhine since last September in what many believe to be attacks on people thought be informants by the two warring sides.

Police have not identified any suspects or possible motives for the shootings.

[He was] shot at four times, but hit only three times, Kyauk Khot village clerk Maung Tun Win told RFAs Myanmar Service, after learning about the killing from others.

I wasnt there when the incident occurred, and his home is far from mine, so we didnt even hear the sound of gunfire, he said. But villagers are frightened, and we hope it won't happen again.

Maung Kyaw and his family lived in a distant part of the village where they moved to set up a snack shop, said Mya Zaw, chief of Minbyas Myoma Police Station said.

He was alone at the time of the shooting by unknown gunmen, he said.

The investigation is still ongoing, Mya Zaw said. We cant say much since we havent got enough information.

Local residents said they fear for their safety amid the killings of civilians shot to death by unknown gunmen and an increasing number of landmine explosions during the more than two months of escalated conflict between Myanmar soldiers and Arakan rebel troops in the state.

Myanmar soldiers often search villages in active conflict zones, and the AA has issued warnings to local residents not to inform the national army about their activities, which has led some to believe that armed groups are responsible for the shootings.

RFA could not reach AA spokesman Khine Thukha for comment on Maung Kyaws killing.

Gunmen remain at large

Tun Aung Kyaw, a leader of the Arakan National Party (ANP), which represents the interests of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in Rakhine state, acknowledged the uncertainly surrounding the attackers identities since the killers in all four cases have not yet been determined.

We don't know exactly which group assassinated him, he said about Maung Kyaw. We now have about four people killed by gunmen in Rakhine.

Corporal Poe Lone, a member of the Myanmar Armys Military Security Affairs Unit and locally known as Sa Ya Pha, was gunned down last September.

Khin Than Maung, a founder and member of the central executive committee of the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) party, was shot dead at his home in Kyar Inn Taung village in Rakhines Myebon township on Dec. 24.

Speculation on social media suggested that the AA was behind his killing, because several weeks earlier, a number of AA supporters accused him of leaking information to the Myanmar Army, according to a report by the online journal The Irrawaddy.

At the same time, some AA backers accused Myanmar military intelligence officials of the murder by linking them to the act.

Maung Aye Thein from Ywar Huang village of Minbyas Pan Myaung village tract was gunned down on Jan. 22.

Its an unnecessary loss of lives, and the killings are unacceptable for the surviving families as well as from a rule of law aspect, said Tun Aung Kyaw.

Problems should be resolved in other ways even if its very upsetting, he said.

Reported by Kyaw Thu for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Nandar Chann. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.Residents of a coastal town in southern Myanmars Tanintharyi region demanded Wednesday that State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi take action against their government over complaints about corruption and poor administration by removing the chief minister and the minister of planning and finance.

During a three-day visit to the far-flung region, people at a gathering in the coastal town of Myeik asked her to fire Chief Minister Le Le Maw on grounds that she has abused her powers and has practiced nepotism in approving tenders for business opportunities that would make her relatives wealthy.

Le Le Maw is under investigation by Myanmars Anti-Corruption Commission, a 15-member body responsible for investigating graft allegations in the country.

Outside the hall, some people held signs calling for the removal of Planning and Finance Minister Phyo Win Tun and Aung Soe, chairman of the regional National League for Democracy (NLD), the countrys ruling party.

I always take these matters [from people] seriously, Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmars de factor leader who will be up for reelection in next years general elections.

As I said earlier, the reason I came here is to see things for myself, she said.

Po Anm, a member of the pro-democracy 88 Generation Peace and Open Society group in Myeik districts Kyunzu township, told RFAs Myanmar Service that government officials have not responded properly to local complaints about corruption.

Our complaints have been responded to wrongly, and the government machinery overall lacks efficiency, he said

Please look carefully into our complaints and make decisions to bring the government machinery back onto the proper path, he said, directing the comment to Aung San Suu Kyi.

Po Anm also said he was concerned that if the situation isnt remedied, people could stop backing the NLD.

Were worried that the party will lose the trust and support of the people, he said.

The state counselor responded that the purpose of her visit was to look into the complaints.

The NLD won all seats up for grabs in Tanintharyi in the last general elections in 2015, which the party won throughout the country by a landslide largely on the hopes the new government could tackle corruption and other economic and political problems that festered under decades of army rule.

If all these wrongs cant be corrected, then the NLD need not carry out any election campaign for 2020, one senior citizen told Aung San Suu Kyi.

The party needs to replace all the current cabinet members including Chief Minister Le Le Maw, he added. Only then will it be able to win the 2020 elections.

Aung San Suu Kyi told the man that the NLD is working in the interests of the country and not just to win the elections.

The state counselor will visit other parts of Tanintharyi, including the towns of Dawei and Kawthaung, in the next two days.

Myanmar students from Yadanabon University arrive for their trial on charges of arson and protesting without official permission at a courthouse in Amarapura township, central Myanmars Mandalay region, Feb. 13, 2019. Credit: RFA Students sentenced in Mandalay region

Corruption accusations and charges against regional and state government officials who are members of the NLD is not the only issue that Aung San Suu Kyi must address before the 2020 elections.

She and other officials are grappling with other types of other discontent among citizens who are raising their voices in peaceful public protest over several issues and increasingly being given heavy-handed punishments for various offenses.

A court in Amarapura township of central Myanmars Mandalay region, for instance, sentenced seven students from Yadanabon University on Wednesday to jail terms, including hard labor, for demonstrating to demand better security services following a students murder near their campus, those who attended their sentencing said.

During the Dec. 28 protest, the students burned paper coffins and portraits of former NLD lawmaker and current Mandalay region Chief Minister Zaw Myint Maung, Myanmars security and home affairs ministers, and university rector Maung Maung Naing.

The townships deputy police chief and the regional General Administration Department originally charged the students with criminal defamation under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code, arson under Section 435 of the Penal Code, and protesting without permission under Section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act.

Zaw Myint Maung had earlier promised leniency on the case, and the court on Wednesday dismissed the charges under Section 505(b).

The students, however, were sentenced to three months in jail with hard labor for arson and two months in jail for protesting without permission, to be served concurrently.

Ye Myo Swe, one of the students, pledged to continue their demand for better security once they were released.

The most important thing is the four suspects in the murder of student Soe Moe Hein are still at large, he said, referring to the student who was killed on campus on Dec. 25. So, forget about the rule of law, even those who are responsible for his murder remain at large, he said. Its worse for our universities.

How is the regional government going to take responsibility and ensure accountability for the death of students? Ye Myo Swe asked. They have jailed us now, but when we are free, we will continue our demands.

Protesting for their needs

Dain Daung of the Former Political Prisoners Network said that the students did not commit destructive acts of arson.

They were protesting for their needs, he told RFA. I realized that they were jailed because [the authorities were] not pleased with their protests.

Not everyone agreed.

I think the regional government had done its best, said Thet Maung, a university student who attended the trial. We have to recognize that. But what Ye Myo Swe said should be noted as well, and I share his view that security for students should be properly provided.

On Tuesday, Myanmar police injured 21 ethnic Karenni protesters in eastern Myanmars Kayah state when they fired rubber bullets and a water cannon at them to break up a demonstration against the inauguration of a statue of independence hero General Aung San in a public park.

The protesters objected to the statue because Aung San, father of Aung San Suu Kyi, came from the ethnic Bamar majority that dominates the country and because they believe that the current government should focus on equal rights for ethnic minorities.

The demonstrators also called for the resignation of the eastern states chief minister and the minister of planning and finance, who local residents believe are responsible for the creating the discontent over the statue.

Reported by Kyaw Lwin Oo, Khaymani Win, and Kyaw Tun Naing for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Nandar Chann and Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.Scholars and experts at the Asia Society have called for a 'course correction' in U.S.-China policy, with more initiatives to help the democratic island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.



The society's task force on U.S.-China policy warned on that bilateral ties are at a "dangerous crossroads," against a background of growing tensions and conflicts of interest.



The report identified regional security, human rights and "China's influence-seeking and interference abroad" as among the key issues in the relationship, calling on the administration of President Donald Trump to take steps to support Taiwan, amid calls from Beijing for the island's "unification" with the People's Republic of China.



"Washington must maintain a strong and credible military presence in the Western Pacific to convince Beijing that the United States still has serious military options," the report said, although it didn't recommend any shift in Washington's support for the One China policy, the principle under which the Chinese Communist Party claims Taiwan as its territory, for fear of precipitating military action by Beijing.



Instead, Washington should "assist Taiwan in developing asymmetric capabilities to hold off the massively superior mainland military until the United States can bring forces to bear."



The island's defenses should be shored up to withstand China's hugely superior military might, the report said, which was signed by 17-strong task force that included Susan Shirk, a former US deputy assistant secretary of state in president Bill Clintons administration, and Orville Schell, director of the Center on US-China Relations.



"Robust shore batteries, improved air defenses, mobile response units, and sea mines to counter landing craft can all pose major problems for an invading Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) force," the report said.



Trade talks

Former Taiwan naval officer Chang Ching, who works at the Society for Strategic Studies think-tank, said the report doesn't represent a significant departure from existing U.S. policy on Taiwan, and that rising cross-straits tensions are unlikely to affect ongoing trade negotiations.



"Washington knows that there are some very clear red lines on the Taiwan issue, and it lacks room to maneuver in the trade negotiations," Chang said.



"That's why [Taiwan] won't be used as a bargaining chip ... and cross-straits tensions won't have an impact on progress at the trade negotiations," he said. "This report from the United States is an articulation of its basic stance on the Taiwan issue."



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.



The Asia Society report called on Washington to risk Beijing's ire with more high-level official visits between the U.S. and Taiwan, and to support the island's bid for participation in international organizations and activities for which statehood is not a requirement.



"Beijing has further isolated Taiwan on the international stage by establishing diplomatic relations with five countries, which had to break relations with Taiwan," the report said, adding that China had also "refused meaningful contact" with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government led by President Tsai Ing-wen.



"It has exerted political pressure through Taiwanese businesses on the mainland and through Taiwan media owned by entrepreneurs beholden to China," the report said, adding that the PLA continues to conduct military exercises designed to threaten the island.



"Rising tensions across the [Taiwan] Strait and the emergence of a harder line in Beijing raise the risk of a confrontation between American and Chinese forces," it said.



Xi ignores Taiwan voters

Last month, President Tsai rejected calls from 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.



Tsai responded by asserting the right of Taiwan's 23 million inhabitants to decide their own fate through democratic means.



Hui Ching, research director at the Hong Kong Zhiming Institute, said Washington is neither Beijing's ally, nor its enemy, however.



"China's growing power, in particular, its growing economic power, means that there is currently more of a will in the U.S. to contain China than to cooperate with or trust it," Hui said.



"But that doesn't mean that they are going to get diplomatically or militarily involved in cross-straits politics, even to the point of a military conflict," he said.



Reported by Wen Yuqing for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.Posted Thursday, February 14, 2019 9:45 am

Centralia elementary school teachers are slated to learn their placements for the new K-6 configuration this Tuesday, Centralia School District Superintendent Mark Davalos announced at a special school board meeting Wednesday evening.

Im just glad its done, Davalos said after the meeting.

The Centralia School Board held a special meeting Wednesday evening where it approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Centralia School District and the Centralia teachers union, the Centralia Education Association (CEA). The MOU outlines how the teachers will be assigned to buildings and grades, as well as how they will be compensated for their time moving.

CEA co-chair Lauri Johnson said via text message that the CEA is agreeing to the MOU. Johnson and other CEA co-chair Kerri Kite-Pocklington will work with Kate Pothier, executive director of special education and Kristy Vetter, executive director of teaching & learning to place teachers. Johnson did not respond to request for comment after the meeting.

We are actually going to meet in here tomorrow, Davalos said during the meeting. We are going to run through this and actually do the assignments for all the K-6 teachers.  Teachers were sent a (memo) early this morning that describes the activity for tomorrow.

Davalos said that principals will meet with teachers Tuesday to go over the new placements.

The Centralia School District is constructing two new elementary schools to replace Fords Prairie and Jefferson Lincoln. In 2017, voters approved a $74 million bond to construct the two new elementary schools and for a full like-new remodel of the high school.

The elementary schools in the district are currently a K-3 and 4-6 grade configuration  Fords Prairie (K-3), Jefferson Lincoln (K-3), Edison (K-3), Oakview (4-6) and Washington (4-6). Students are set to move into the new schools this fall and all elementary schools in the district are changing to the K-6 model.Sweden's foreign ministry has recalled its ambassador to China after she was accused of holding a meeting with the daughter of detained Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai without official authorization.



Ambassador Anna Lindstedt returned to Sweden to face an investigation after Angela Gui published an account of the meeting on the blogging platform Medium.com.



An interim envoy has been sent to Beijing in her stead, the ministry said in a statement.



In her article, Gui recounted "a very strange experience in Stockholm" after she was contacted by Lindstedt, who set up a meeting with two unnamed businessmen to discuss her father's case.



"What I thought was going to be a meeting about the Swedish governments latest efforts to win my fathers release turned out to something quite different," she wrote, detailing a meeting in which her movements were restricted to a hotel VIP lounge.



During the meeting she was also quizzed about her personal life, and then asked not to speak out about her father's case if she wanted it to be resolved at an unspecified point in the future.



More than three years after he was taken to mainland China from his holiday home in Thailand under murky circumstances, Gui Minhaia Hong Kong-based publisher with Swedish nationalityis believed to be detained in the eastern port city of Ningbo on suspicion of "leaking state secrets overseas."



Sweden's foreign ministry said on Thursday that the meeting was unofficial, and that it knew nothing about it.



"The foreign ministry in Stockholm did not know about these events until the end of January, after the meeting had taken place," a spokeswoman told Reuters. "We have started an internal investigation."



Growing unease



Gui wrote of the meeting: "Nobody would tell me what was going on, or why it was [that] I had to be there," adding that she was offered only vague promises of help in return for her silence, and was escorted at all times during her stay of several hours, during which she was was repeatedly asked not to leave.



Despite a "growing feeling of unease," Gui played along until the businessmen made their plan clearer: for her to travel with them to China. They also told her they had "connections within the Chinese Communist Party."



"I was told I needed to be quiet," Gui wrote. "I wasnt to tell anyone about this, or say anything publicly about the case. I was also to stop all media engagement with it ... Ambassador Lindstedt, who was sat next to me, agreed to the plan."



When challenged by Gui about his credentials, one businessman then raised his voice at her, before threatening: "you have to trust me, or you will never see your father again," she wrote, adding that Lindstedt said China was getting ready to "punish Sweden" if Gui carried on with her advocacy for her father.



"Im not going to be quiet in exchange for a visa and an arbitrary promise that my father might be released. Threats, verbal abuse, bribes, or flattery wont change that," Gui said.

A spokeswoman for China's foreign ministry declined to comment, saying she "knew nothing" of the situation. China's embassy in Stockholm has previously denied authorizing anyone to meet with Angela Gui.



A weak attitude



U.S.-based legal scholar Teng Biao said Gui's account suggested that some foreign diplomats have been overly keen to please Beijing.



"It shows a weak and overly accommodating attitude to China among some Western officials," Teng said.



"A lot of countries are considering their economic interests and other political factors, so they daren't criticize China, to the extent that they totally capitulate to all kinds of unreasonable demands of the Chinese government."



"If this incident is allowed to pass by without the concern of the international community, this will set a very bad precedent, and many more countries will adopt appeasement policies towards China," Teng said.



Bei Ling, a former chair of the writers' group Independent Chinese PEN, said Sweden's handling of Gui's case had lacked transparency from the start.



"I strongly condemn the private contact and off-the-record actions by the Swedish ambassador to China, as recounted by [Gui Minhai]'s daughter," Bei said.



"I also strongly condemn the Swedish foreign ministry's behind-closed-doors, secretive, and back-channel approach to [Gui Minhai]'s case over the past few years."



Banned books



Gui Minhai was one of five Hong Kong-based booksellers detained by the Chinese authorities for selling "banned" political books to customers across the internal border in mainland China in 2015.



He disappeared under murky circumstances from his holiday home in Pattaya, Thailand, in October 2015, only to reappear in China "confessing" on video to a decade-old alleged drunk-driving offense.



Gui Minhai was "released" by the Chinese authorities in October 2017, but his daughter said he was still not free.



Instead, he was placed under various forms of control and surveillance in his birthplace, Ningbo, during which time he was reunited with his wife Jennifer, who is a German national.



Gui was suddenly redetained in February 2018 while en route by train to Beijing in the company of two Swedish diplomats. State security police said they suspected him of carrying state secrets to supply to overseas organizations, according to state media reports at the time.



Reported by Ng Yik-tung and Tam Siu-yin for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.More than a dozen newspapers have shut down in China since the beginning of the year, amid falling advertising revenues and ever tightening censorship by the ruling Chinese Communist Party.



At least 13 newspapers that rely on advertising revenue but are still subject to the government's strict censorship regime have folded, including the Beijing Morning Post, the Beijing Suburban Daily and the Heilongjiang Morning News, official party newspaper The People's Daily reported.



The Anyang Evening News and Zhangzhou Evening News titles have also been suspended.



Analysts told RFA that as commercial newspapers are increasingly squeezed by growing controls on what they can print on the one hand, and falling revenues and competition from social media on the other, government-run media are experiencing a huge boost resulting from their whitelisted status.



The skyrocketing popularity of smartphones and social media in recent years has led to sharp drop in circulation figures, with newspaper advertising revenues falling in China to 10.2 billion yuan in 2016, from 41 billion yuan in 2012.



Veteran Beijing journalist Li Xinde said many "market-oriented" papers are meeting the same fate, while papers under direct party or government control are subsidize by a system of compulsory subscriptions.



"In the internet age, traditional media have been negatively affected," Li said. "Because we have a system of media control, the media run by our party have relied on financial subsidies."



"One example is newspaper subscriptions," Li said. "Every year, the provincial government and the provincial propaganda department send out documents listing which newspapers to subscribe to."



The biggest names in state media, including party mouthpiece the People's Daily, are compulsory subscriptions, he said.



Regional official papers are also given handouts by local governments, enabling them to stray less into the red. The Guangzhou Daily, for example, was granted 350 million yuan in subsidies in 2016. Local governments also take out large advertisements to laud their own achievements.



Loyalty to the ruling party and to President Xi Jinping

Yang Shaozheng, a former professor of economics at Guizhou University, said the label "market-oriented media" is actually a misnomer in China, where all media are expected to show loyalty to the ruling party and to President Xi Jinping.



But he said the current economic slowdown is affecting newspapers that enjoyed little or no financial backing from official budgets, and the authorities have little incentive to do anything to save them.



"I think we can say that these closures are a good thing for the Communist Party," Yang said. "Because that way, they can draw the battle lines even tighter, and make sure all media speak with one voice: the voice of the party."



"They want to unify everyone's thoughts across the whole country," Yang said.



Beijing-based political commentator Zha Jianguo agreed that the government is able to provide a much-needed boost to its preferred media outlets at a time when newspaper sales are rapidly falling around the world.



"It is a characteristic of China that something that affects all media outlets affects party media least of all," Zha said.



The Beijing Youth Daily group also shuttered the Legal Evening News on Jan. 1, so as to concentrate on its social media output, according to separate media reports.



The paper, which once billed itself as "an urban evening newspaper with a legal flavor," had won itself a reputation for cutting-edge investigative reporting and in-depth features on crime and social issues. Its closure came after the sacking in of editor Wang Lin, who headed its in-depth features department.



The ruling Chinese Communist Party sent in a top official to make sweeping changes that led to the resignations of dozens of editorial staff, RFA learned at the time.



Wang's colleague Zhu Shunzhong had already been targeted by the Communist Party's powerful propaganda department, who had him taken on forced "vacation" last year after he posted messages it considered politically sensitive to his friends group on the social media app WeChat.



Some of the problematic content related to the targeting of hundreds of Chinese rights lawyers in a nationwide crackdown since , in particular the accusations of subversion that many faced.



Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.Cambodia must work during the next 18 months to destroy the opposition party at the local level before European Union trade sanctions come into effect, Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a phone call to government officers leaked to social media on Thursday.



Dismantling remaining networks of opposition to Hun Sens rule would prevent the now-banned Cambodia National Rescue Party from gaining strength to challenge the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party in future elections, Hun Sen said.



It would also remove support from exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who has vowed to return to Cambodia after more than three years abroad and who should now be ignored, the long-ruling prime minister said in the audio clip, which was posted on several Facebook pages in Cambodia Thursday morning.



To weaken [Sam Rainsys] popularity, it would be good not to respond to him, Hun Sen said. We dont need to talk so much about Sam Rainsy.



We already have warrants for his arrest, and we need to execute those warrants. If he resists, we will use all means that we have to eliminate any elements who oppose the government, he said.



And if Sam Rainsy verbally attacks Cambodias pro-government military and security forces, the soldiers and police must be patient and not respond, Hun Sen said, adding that Fresh News, a Cambodian media outlet sympathetic to the ruling CPP, can be counted on to reply.



Sam Rainsy must not be allowed to become the focal point of any future political negotiations with the CNRP brought about by international pressure, Hun Sen said.



'Facing tough problems'



On Tuesday, the European Commission, which coordinates trade policy for the EU, announced a period of monitoring that could lead to the temporary suspension of Cambodias preferential trade access to the blocs market under an Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme, citing a deterioration in the Southeast Asian nations labor and human rights record over the last year and a half.



Examples cited in the EC statement include the September 2017 arrest of CNRP president Kem Sokha on charges of treason and the dissolution of his party two months later by the Supreme Court, paving the way for the CPP to win all 125 seats in parliament in a July 2018 general election.



Any withdrawal of trade preferences would come into effect after 18 months from the EC's Feb. 12 announcement.



Cambodias government lashed out at the EU in a statement Tuesday, calling the decision unjust and suggesting that the bloc doesnt respect Cambodias sovereignty, because the EUs demands amount to political interference.



In his leaked phone call to government officers, Hun Sen said that if Cambodian trade preferences are withdrawn, this will make things easier for me, because then no one can ask me to pardon Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha.



We can control the local situation, he said.



Reached for comment, government spokesperson Phay Siphan refused to comment on the leaked audio.



I dont comment on leaked information, he said. I only comment on official statements.



Also speaking to RFA, Kim Soka Cambodian political commentator and frequent government critic now living in exile in Finlandsaid that Hun Sens comments on the audio show that he is trying hard to reassure himself in the face of sanctions that will hurt the whole country.



Hun Sen is facing tough problems on how to resolve the EBA issue, Kim Sok said.



Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Richard Finney.Posted Wednesday, February 13, 2019 11:28 am

The Centralia College Foundation announced this week that it will receive a $1.3 million grant from TransAlta to construct a new flexible trades building. The building will house training programs to meet industry needs, and is expected to be up and running fall 2020.

This will be a prime example of the college and the foundation working together to get this building built and then also partner with the industrial and business community in order to support these programs and the equipment that we are going to need for this building, said Christine Fossett, Centralia College Foundation executive director.

The Foundation will own the building, but work closely with Centralia College on the project. Steve Ward, vice president for finance and administration at Centralia College, said he expects to have students in the building for classes in fall 2020. Fossett said that means construction would begin this summer.

The Centralia College Foundation is very appreciative of the investment in the education of our students at Centralia College, said Peter Abbarno, President of the Centralia College Foundation. The Centralia College Foundation is committed to providing opportunities for students to achieve their academic and career goals. The Flexible Trades Building will provide a wide-range of possibilities to train skilled workers to compete in the local and global economies. We are excited to be at the forefront of expanding technical and vocational training opportunities in our community.

The grant is to construct a 12,000 square foot facility on the Centralia College campus. The Foundation and College are considering building the new facility near the technology building.

We dont have the exact layout of the building, said Centralia College President Robert Mohrbacher. I think the important thing is that a lot of the space will remain flexible. So say two-thirds of the building will be flexible space and we will move equipment in and out as we are doing training for specific industries or short-term programs, or things like that. About a third of it will be some built-in things that always stay in there.

The grant is specifically for the facility, but the Foundation and the College plan to secure additional funding for equipment. Ward said he expects the building to cost as much as $1.6 million. Ward said the College wants to prepare for large companies that come to the area and need local labor.

We have prospective employers that like to come in and they want to see a training space, Ward said. We dont know what those jobs and what that training is going to be. So we need to have a very flexible space where we can very quickly convert to training for potential employers that want to locate to the area. With the growth of the ports in the area and the development of IPAT (Industrial Park At TransAlta), in particular, we think that that is something we need to be prepared to do as they bring in these large companies that need to ramp up their labor real fast.

Jake Fay is the Centralia College dean of instruction for healthcare and industrial trades. He works with local industry partners and the high schools to create career pathways for Centralia College students. Fay works with all the high schools in Lewis County, a couple in Pacific County and a couple in Thurston County on articulation agreements. He said the building will be for new ventures.

We have been working with the local timber industry quite a bit, the mills, Fay said. They would like to see some sort of industrial maintenance type program that supplies them with what we would call millwrights. Thats probably one of the big ones. The other part of it is dealing with, or working with, the labor unions  so trying to create apprenticeship pipelines that are coming out of the high school systems.

The TransAlta Centralia Coal Plant is moving away from coal by 2025. One unit is set to shut down in December 2020, and another in December 2025. Through its Coal Transition Boards, TransAlta is investing $55 million in Lewis and South Thurston Counties.

A couple of the people in the community have found out about this and talked to me, Ward said. They keep emphasizing how needed this particular type of training and education is for our population.  There is a shortage of trained tradespeople out there.WINSTED  A free public workshop, know the risks. know the resources. kNOw Vape, is scheduled for Feb. 28, 12-1 p.m. at the Draper Learning Center at Northwestern Connecticut Community College.

Yale School of Medicine Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Dana Cavallo, Ph.D. is the guest speaker. She has conducted numerous studies regarding tobacco products with an emphasis on vaping, and will share her experiences as a researcher and clinician working with adolescents and young adults.

The focus will be on the potential health concerns, including nicotine addiction, flavor toxicity, and respiratory impairment from aerosol exposure, Cavallo said in a statement. There will be an opportunity to share ideas about this growing epidemic and develop ways to educate students on the truths about e-cigarettes to discourage initiation and encourage cessation efforts, she said.

Her discussion will also include the evolution of vaping and what is trending, with specifics around innovations with devices, the multitude of flavors, as well as a comparison of electronic devices and the traditional cigarette. Tobacco regulations and how they impact the vaping culture will also be explored.

The workshop is being presented by the NCCC Nursing and Allied Health Division and the Connecticut Office of Rural Health, whose offices are based at NCCC.

In December, the Connecticut Post reported that vaping use had spiked among teens, according to the National Institutes of Health, which reported that 37.3 percent of 12th-graders nationwide are taking part in some sort of vaping, in the past 12 months, compared with 27.8 percent in 2017.

Statewide, according to the Connecticut Youth Tobacco Surveillance, released by the states Department of Public Health, between 2011 and 2017, the percentage of high school students who had used e-cigarettes on one or more of the past 30 days increased from 2.4 percent to 14.7 percent. And between 2015 and 2017, the rate of current use more than doubled from 7.2 percen to 14.7 percent statewide.

The survey also showed that regular tobaco use is still at its lowest point in the survey, with only 3.6 percent of high school seniors smoking daily, compared with 22.4 percent 20 years ago.

The national statistics come from the 2018 Monitoring the Future survey, an ongoing study of substance use and abuse in American students. About 50,000 students in grades 8, 10 and 12 are surveyed each year. The results are collected by the National Institutes of Health.

Funding for the Feb. 28 presentation in Winsted is through a grant awarded by Southern Connecticut State University for tobacco use prevention and control. NCCC is instituting a smoke, vape and tobacco-free campus in 2019 and the SCSU funds have been instrumental in providing both cessation and informational services regarding tobacco and vaping use to students and the public.

To register for this free event, go to www.nwcc.edu/events/know-vapeTORRINGTON  Community Health and Wellness Center (CHWC), Torrington, has been recognized by the Business Council of Fairfield County for creating a healthy workplace and is being honored by its Healthy Workplace Employer Recognition Program.

The program is presented by the Business Councils Health, Wellbeing and Safety Roundtable, with the leadership support of USI Insurance Services and UnitedHealthcare of CT, Inc. and assistance from ConnectiCare and Aon.

Now in its 11th year, the Healthy Workplace Employer Recognition Program has become the premiere award in Connecticut. It was established to recognize the outstanding achievements of businesses and organizations in implementing employee health promotion and wellness programs. The recipient of a Silver Award, CHWC is one of 57 companies being honored for its employee wellness initiatives and achievements.

The center was nominated for the award by Sean K. Smedley, account executive with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Nominations are reviewed by a committee of professionals in a formal process using detailed criteria and standardized application materials to review initiatives that facilitate and encourage employee heath, enhance productivity, and ensure a healthy work environment.

Community Health and Wellness Center has been and continues to do more than most other employers, said, Smedley. They are continually seeking wellness seminars and activities for their staff.

Some of the health initiatives and activities CHWC has offered to its employees, all at no charge, include: chair massages, salad bar lunch, yoga mats and classes at area yoga studios, mindfulness and meditation training with a Zen monk, walking kits containing pedometers and water bottles, blood pressure screenings, MeYouHealth wellness app and wellness walking challenges, and a ecture by motivational speaker and author David A. OBrien

We are extremely honored that our program to enhance employee health and wellness has been recognized with such a prestigious award, said Joanne Borduas, CEO of CHWC. We formalized wellness initiatives as a benefit to our staff two years ago, and our program is coordinated by Dorothy Barrow, our human resources manager.

CHWCs employee health and wellness program is expanding in 2019. We are gratified that Harvard Pilgrim gifted us with an annual budget of $2,500 for our program the past two years, Barrow said. In light of our commitment to and success with our employee wellness initiatives, they have generously increased our budget to $5,000 this year, which allows us to do more for our employees to keep them on the wellness track.

The Community Health & Wellness Center of Greater Torrington is committed to keeping communities healthy. The center, its employees, volunteer practitioners, board members, officer, and independent contractors are deemed to be employees of the Federal Public Health and Human Services. In a compassionate, patient-centered environment, CHWC services are accessible and provided without discriminations, with cultural competence, and where all people matter regardless of their ability to pay.

CHWC offers and continues to develop a range of healthcare services for the underserved throughout northwest Connecticut, including medical, dental, chiropractic, and counseling services. It strives to achieve the reputation of provider of choice for affordable, high quality services that achieve positive patient outcomes in a welcoming and caring environment.

CHWC collaborates and advocates with other organizations to increase the regions capacity to meet the communities health and wellness needs. It is the only Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Connecticut to receive a Health Services and Resources Associations (HRSA) Health Center Program 2017 Quality Leader Award.

CHWC is located at 469 Migeon Avenue, Torrington, and 115 Spencer St., Winsted, with the following satellite locations: FISH of Torrington, 332 South Main Street, Torrington; Sullivan Senior Center, 88 East Albert St., Torrington; The Open Door Soup Kitchen, 160 Main Street, Winsted; YMCA Emergency Shelter, 480 Main Street, Winsted; Torrington Soup Kitchen, 220 Prospect Street, Torrington; and Oliver Wolcott Technical School, 75 Oliver Street, Torrington. For information, call 860-489-0931, visit www.chwctorr.org and on Facebook.Posted Wednesday, February 13, 2019 5:08 pm

Special election results show all six school district levies on Tuesdays special election ballot, as well as the levy for Lewis County Fire District 14 in Randle, passing by wide margins as of Wednesday afternoon.

We are very excited, said Onalaska School District Superintendent Jeff Davis. We had a lot of people working on the campaign.  Were pleased. It gives us some solid funding for the next three years and we can move forward and continue to offer the programs that arent covered by basic education.

The Lewis County Auditors Office is still collecting ballots, but as of 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, results show each measure passing by large margins. Six Lewis County school districts placed Replacement Educational Programs and Operations Levies on their ballots  Boistfort, Evaline, Mossyrock, Napavine, Onalaska and Toledo. Fire District 14 placed an Emergency Medical Services Regular Property Tax levy on the ballot.

Levies require 50 percent of the vote to pass in Washington. The Replacement Educational Programs and Operations Levies will fund programs outside of the state-funded basic education.

There are 14,705 registered voters in this election, and voter turnout was 41.69 percent, as of 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Evaline School District currently has the highest voter approval for the levy, with 71.43 percent of the vote.

As a result of the McCleary decision  in which the Supreme Court ruled that the legislature was not adequately funding K-12 education  there are more restrictions on local levy dollars for school districts. The majority of school districts in Washington state are now limited to collecting $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value from levies. Even if the levies pass, some school districts in Lewis County still expect a loss in revenue.

Napavine School District Superintendent Geoff Parks said, had the levy not passed, the school district would have begun looking at what programs it would have had to cut.

We would have gone for the April election, and tried to get the word out more and really break down what we may have to lose, Parks said. What we were doing this time is talking about the benefits of the levy.  If it didnt pass this time, we would have to break down as far as what we would have to do in 2020.  A big thank you to the Napavine community, the Citizens of Napavine Schools Committee. It was much needed.Posted Wednesday, February 13, 2019 7:01 pm

Fueled by diesel engines, elbow grease and ingenuity, the communities of East Lewis County began to dig out Wednesday, following a snowstorm that left thousands of residents without power, communication or transportation.

The scenes in the region Wednesday were stark  a massive snowplow disabled and leaning off the roadside, a house flattened by the weight of snow and splintered trees down along nearly every mile of road. Amid all that, with a state of emergency declared in the county, an army of state agencies, local crews and private citizens fanned out into the mountainous terrain that has been pummeled with snow for days on end.

It has literally been all hands on deck  and then some, said Bryan Watt, operations manager with the Lewis County Public Utility District.

With many routes closed to passenger vehicles, the roads of East County were tracked by workers from an alphabet soup of state and local agencies. Washington State Department of Transportation plow trucks cleared snow alongside Lewis County Public Works road graders, crossing paths with PUD bucket trucks on roads watched over by Washington State Patrol.

In Morton, local volunteers with shovels and a tractor dug out a buried police car downtown. Fire District members in Mineral walked around checking on residents and shoveling out driveways. Seemingly everyone with a plow, shovel, ATV or pickup truck was out doing what they could.

It could have been a lot worse, and the reason it wasn't worse is because of the type of communities we have here in Morton and Mossyrock, said Morton Police Chief Roger Morningstar. They just come out to help.  The lack of serious issues is a credit to our community.

The storm that brought heavy snow to the area Tuesday hit hard and fast, bringing conditions that many longtime residents said were the worst theyve ever seen. Wet, heavy snow brought down a massive numbers of trees, along with plenty of power lines. On Tuesday, power was out from Mossyrock to the east end of the county  about half of Lewis Countys geographical area. At the apex of the outage, more than 9,000 households were without power. Most telephone connections were out as well, and roads quickly become impassable.

On state Route 7 between Morton and Elbe, conditions degenerated quickly, with downed trees and spun-out semi trucks trapping a mile-long line of motorists for hours on end. Eventually, crews were able to clear a path and bring everyone to safety, but the road remained closed to passenger travel most of Wednesday.

There was so much snow so fast, it created absolute havoc up there, said Washington State Patrol Trooper Will Finn. It was really overwhelming for the troopers up there yesterday.  It wa a pretty hairy situation.

By Wednesday afternoon, route 7 was in better shape, with WSDOT, Public Works and PUD vehicles working along the road. The road was blocked for awhile as crews worked to clear a WSDOT snowplow that had careened into a snowbank and veered off the road. Jim Gerwig, a maintenance supervisor for the agency, said the state was hoping to get the road cleared Wednesday afternoon, before turning its focus to route 508, which remained impassable.

Theres so much tree debris, its mostly one lane weaving in and out, he said.

In Mineral, residents had been stranded for almost a day with the closure of route 7, and the power had been out for nearly 36 hours before returning Wednesday morning. Many residents were seen filling up fuel tanks at the Mineral Market to keep their generators powered.

Fire District 9 lieutenant Terry Boyet said responders in Mineral had been conducting wellness checks, shoveling snow and maintaining a community presence.

Weve been on call 24 hours (a day), he said. With the phone lines being down, weve manned the station since Sunday.

One house in Mineral collapsed under the weight of the snow, but thankfully it proved to be unoccupied. The fire station has remained open to the community, with a generator providing heat, as well as electricity for those with medical devices that need it. Residents were helping each other dig out and checking on vulnerable community members, knowing that Mineral was isolated from outside help.

Everybody pretty much takes care of everybody around here, said Mineral Market owner Chantell Suter.

That pitch-in spirit has been evident among official work crews as well. The PUD has received aid from utility crews in Cowlitz, Grays Harbor and Pacific counties. Its own crews have been putting in 30-hour shifts, trying to restore power. Its taken extreme measures to get to many of the downed lines, with many roads remaining impassable.

We had snow machines running yesterday, patrolling lines we have no access to, Watt said. We actually used snowshoes to get to one tower. That might have made history for us.

By Wednesday evening, much of the power to East County had been restored, with just more than 700 customers still without power. Many of those may take some time to fix, as the utilitys focus has been on primary transmission lines. House-by-house outages will be a painstaking project, and the PUD is expecting plenty of phone calls as residents notice their neighbors lights have come back on.

Weve still got a lot of line down, said communications liaison Cory Moses. We have our biggest populaces up and running, but we need to hear from people if they are without power. It helps us to be able to better find exactly where we need to be targeting.

The work thats been done so far has given PUD leaders a lot of admiration for their workforce.

Our employees pride themselves quite a bit on restoring power county-wide, and its really shown, said Watt. Pretty much every resource that we have that could be usable is in Morton.

Meanwhile, law enforcement has become a jack-of-all-trades position. Morningstar said his force has been conducting welfare checks, shoveling out residents, shuttling city employees to work and posting updates on road and power conditions.

Many auxiliary officers have pitched in to help, and the departments full-timers are working overtime. The departments Hummer has been a lifesaver, allowing officers to get around town in conditions that might have stuck standard police cars. On Tuesday, conditions were so bad at one point that even the Hummer had to be abandoned.

The snow made it almost impossible to get around town, Morningstar said. I was actually foot patrolling areas, because I didn't want to risk getting the Hummer stuck. At one point, the snow was up to almost my waist.

As hints of blue sky peaked out Wednesday afternoon, nearly every block of sidewalk in Morton featured residents wielding shovels and digging out. A Morton Police vehicle buried in snow drew half a dozen or so shovelers, along with a tractor, as Morningstar guided traffic. Across the street, a pair of volunteers flung snow off the roof of the Fire District 4 building.

As power and phone service came back to parts of East County Wednesday, and roads began to clear, agencies were hoping to get a reprieve for the workers who have been putting in many sleepless hours to restore service. Rain and possible snow is expected as the week continues, so its possible the regions problems arent over. But the residents of the areas mountain communities will be back at it with their shovels and chainsaws if Mother Nature strikes again.South Africa: SA making strides against rhino poaching

South Africas efforts to curb rhino poaching continue to produce results, with 2018 figures revealing that incidents had dropped to 769, down from 1 028 in 2017.

This, said the Department of Environmental Affairs, is the third consecutive year that South Africa has seen a decline in rhino poaching and the first time in five years that the annual figure is under 1 000.

Environmental Affairs Minister Nomvula Mokonyane has reported significant progress on the implementation of the Integrated Strategic Management of Rhinoceros covering the period 1 January to 31 December 2018.

The rhino strategy was adopted by Cabinet in 2014 and draws together the work of the Department of Environmental Affairs together with the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) Cluster Departments and Agencies.

The decline is not only indicative of the successful implementation of the Integrated Strategic Management of Rhinoceros approach countrywide, but also a confirmation of the commitment and dedication of the men and women working at the coalface to save the species, said Mokonyane.

A total of 421 rhino were poached in the Kruger National Park, 16.5% less than the 504 poached in 2017, and one was poached at Marakhele National Park.

Combating rhino poaching remains a national priority and as such, all the relevant government departments will continue their close collaboration to ensure that this iconic species is conserved for generations to come.

Although we are encouraged by the national poaching figures for 2018, it is critical that we continue to implement collaborative initiatives to address the scourge of rhino poaching, said Mokonyane.

During this period, 365 alleged rhino poachers and 36 alleged rhino horn traffickers were arrested across the country, while 229 alleged poachers were arrested inside and adjacent to the Kruger National Park, 40 more than the 189 arrested in 2017.

There are currently 318 rhino poaching-related cases on the court roll involving 645 accused and 897 charges. Two hundred and seventy-five of these cases are trial-ready, the department said.

Between January and December 2018, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) obtained convictions in 78 of the 82 cases that went to trial. The 78 cases involved 135 accused, all of whom were convicted of rhino poaching and related matters, and this translated into sentences of over 500 years imprisonment in respect of these guilty verdicts.

Elephant poaching increases

Meanwhile, the department said elephant poaching had increased in the past year, with 71 of these animal elephants poached in the Kruger National Park.

Specific risk areas have been identified and strategies to address the threat are being adapted and implemented. One elephant was killed in KwaZulu-Natal, which brings the total for South Africa to 72 elephant for 2018.

Government recognises that international cooperation remains a critical component of the overall response strategy, both at a regional and international level, to halt rhino and elephant poaching, and all related wildlife crime.

Apart from the good cooperation between all Security Cluster members, cooperation with private rhino owners is commendable and most beneficial to our efforts against poaching. This is complimented by the excellent support from the local industry, NGOs and South Africans at large.

As South Africa, we continue to engage countries where rhino horn seizures take place in order to request that samples of the rhino horn DNA be sent to South Africa for analysis, in line with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) resolutions.

This enables us to link these seized horns to poaching cases and live rhino or rhino horn stockpiles, thus providing key information to further support investigations and understand transit routes.

We are also proud as a country of our world-class DNA laboratory and bank against which we may compare rhino horn DNA and trace it to the exact cases of poaching or rhino in our country, Mokonyane said.

The department urged the public to report any suspicious activities around wildlife to its environmental crime hotline on 0800 205 005 or the SAPS number 10111.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.February 14, 2019 10:44 IST

Happy with her latest move, Indrani departed from Courtroom 51 with a spring in her step.

The woman who hopped up into the jail truck was a cheerful one.

Vaihayasi Pande Daniel reports from the Sheena Bora murder case.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

Wednesday, February 13, 2019, Indrani Mukerjea's sex was called into doubt in Courtroom 51 at the Mumbai city civil and sessions court in the Sheena Bora murder case.

Was she a female or a male?

Mrs Indrani Mukerjea? Mr Indrani Mukerjea? That would have been disconcerting for Peter.

Evidence was there for all to see -- she was looking becomingly feminine Wednesday in a pale melon-coloured sleeveless Lucknowi chikan kurta, matched with a carrot-coloured Fabindia chunni, red sparkling bangles, an orange bindi and brown jootis. But evidence, my dear reader, one has learned, is a very slippery commodity.

So why this confusion over her identity?

Is that a first?

Mukesh Gupta testified on behalf of Jet Airways for the prosecution as their Witness No 34. A prim, polite, particular man, belonging to the airlines's revenue and accounts department, Gupta looked very much like an accountant from afar; soberly dressed in a blue-grey-and-white graph shirt, black pants, black belt, black shoes and black glasses (nothing was in the red).

He spoke gently, and like a finance fellow too, in a modulated voice, answering carefully, systematically, his thinking processes probably in orderly Excel sheets too.

CBI Special Prosecutor Kavita Patil, in another of her starched white and black Bengali saris, capably and briskly took Gupta through his paces. He had been working for Jet Airways since 1993 and was in 2015, when he came in contact with this case, an assistant manager, revenue and accounts.

Khar police station, north west Mumbai, who did the initial investigation work in the Sheena Bora murder case, sent a request to the office of the airport manager at Mumbai, he said, asking for the details of certain passengers and flights in 2015.

From the airport manager's office the letter/request was directed to Gupta's accounts department. Gupta located the details from the information repository on the main server in 2015 and had it sent down to the office of Morgan D'Souza, the then airport manager. A letter, signed by D'Souza, was sent to the Khar police station, with the facts in it.

Patil helped Gupta put these pieces of information together as cogent testimony on Wednesday.

The notice from the Khar police station directed Jet to produce certain travel documents.

Patil: "Of? Names?"

Gupta: "Sanjeev Kushal Khanna. Shrimati Indrani Mukerjea."

The accountant located the ticket copies and the passenger manifesto for both passengers, he told Patil.

Patil checked if he could identify the document in which this information was contained.

Through a Q and A, between the prosecutor and him, Gupta explained that the information he had sourced in 2015 showed that there had been one ticket of Mr Sanjeev Khanna on Jet Airways Flt 9W2154 from Kolkata to Mumbai on April 24, 2012. And a second ticket on Jet Airways Flt 9W2151 from Mumbai to Kolkata on April 25, 2012.

Patil: "The third ticket?"

The court waited agog for Gupta's quiet reply. The third ticket would help establish the details of the alleged conspiracy between Indrani and Sanjeev that the CBI had outlined.

Gupta: "Miss Indrani Mukerjea."

CBI Special Judge Jayendra Chandrasen Jagdale confounded: "Miss?"

Twice-married "Miss Mukerjea" had travelled by Jet Airways Flt 9W2151 from Mumbai to Kolkata on April 25, 2012.

Patil enquired about the passenger manifesto.

Gupta said they were of the April 24, 2012 flight of 9W2154 and the April 25, 2012 flight 9W2151.

Patil instructed: "Tell the court about seat numbers of both the passengers. First Mumbai to Kolkata."

Gupta: "Mumbai to Kolkata Seat 17C for Mr Khanna... And for 'Miss' Indrani Mukerjea..."

More collective bated breath in the courtroom. Would Indrani have been sitting next to Sanjeev? Or maybe relaxing luxuriously in business class, with six costly inches more for her short legs?

Gupta announced: "Seat No 17B."

On his journey into Mumbai from Kolkata Sanjeev had travelled in Seat 13C. Sanjeev obviously prefers aisle seats and not looking out of plane windows.

Patil serenely pushed the point home a little more, for effect: "These seats 17B and 17C are adjacent to each other?"

Gupta: "Yes."

He additionally re-confirmed that the manifestos were for that "particular day" and that "particular flight."

The tickets for the April 25 flight of Sanjeev and Indrani had been booked the day before on April 24. That was in direct conflict with the information of another prosecution witness Julian Paul of Tuesday, whose chart of flights booked by his travel agency showed the flight of April 25 had been booked on April 21.

It was Indrani's lawyer Gunjan Mangla, in a gold-badla-speckled black kurta and white churidar, who handled Gupta's cross-examination on Wednesday. She did it in a decisive, swift, manner. You could easily follow the trajectory of her thought, as she ticked off box by box.

The punchline (no pun intended) was, of course, a surprise... wait for it.

She, like an advocate picking up a textbook case, while conducting a law class for greenhorn students on how to analyse and demolish a damning piece of evidence to put it in perspective, methodically first verified how Gupta knew that the letter between D'Souza and the Khar police station had been signed by D'Souza -- had Gupta actually seen the airport manager sign it?

He had not.

Had Gupta himself delivered the letter to the Khar police station. He had not.

Did he have any knowledge of how the letter was delivered to the Khar police station? He did not.

Had the actual letter been prepared by Gupta. He had not.

Did he have exact details of how the request for information came to him? Who had sent it? He did not.

Finally, Mangla, in a slick, clean, manner, stuck her long lawyer knife in and artfully twisted it: "Now Mr Gupta, the list of passengers given does it have the sex? M for male and F for female?"

Gupta agreed. But he was very alert now, his hands clasped together in front of him.

Mangla: "Kindly turn to page 6 (of the submission) where you said 17B was the passenger. Is it correct that the sex denoted (there) is M?"

Gupta ruefully: "Yes." He smiled.

Mangla, needlessly but effectively: "(So the passenger) must be a male?"

At the back in the accused enclosure 'Mr Indrani' was gleeful. A big smile was frolicking across her face, delighted, perhaps for once in her life, to be discovered a man.

Sanjeev 'Kushal' Khanna was also following the exchanges intently.

Someone from the benches suggested: "Exchange kiya?"

Judge Jagdale confused, but intrigued, was at loss for words. He turned to Mangla: "How are you challenging... what are you examining?"

Mangla simply said she was showing that the passenger travelling was a male and she was not opening up any further line of questioning/thought etc.

Lastly, she had two more queries for Gupta: Who had issued the ticket to Sanjeev and Indrani? And where had he sourced the presented information from -- from his own computer at Jet Airways or from the main server?

Mystic Travels had issued the ticket on April 24 for the 25th, Gupta read out slowly, perceptibly unfamiliar with the name. The accountant said the information had been accessed from the main server.

The lawyer, while closing the 'cross', declared that the letter from Jet to the Khar police station was "false and incorrect."

Mangla, through her cross-examination, had neatly dropped a telling trail of breadcrumbs, that twisted and turned wildly, that could lead one's reasoning in any direction. Had a request been received by Jet Airways from the Khar police station at all? Or had it worked the other way?

The information had been first elicited and then the paperwork put in its place?

How did the passenger in Seat 17B turn out to be a man if he was Indrani?

Or was the Indrani Mukerjea who travelled to Kolkata on April 25, 2012 a man?

Gupta would have surely had a thoughtful ride home to his flat in Bhayandar West, the township north of Mumbai.

Next, the long-awaited Prosecution Witness 35 was called to the stand: Mr Sameer Buddha.

Once an employee of INX Media, he is the director of marketing at Star Protection Private Limited and the brother of Suhail Buddha, a former Mumbai policeman, who once worked at Star India.

Mr Buddha, 41, who has had a bearing on this trial from the start, his name popping up at the strangest of moments, turned out to be a trim, balding man of medium height, sporting a close-cut moustache.

On first sight he did not come across as a very flamboyant type but an individual with a quiet presence, who if you passed on the street you might not pause to give a second glance.

Dressed in non-descript grey and black, he wore frameless glasses and a silver watch. His cell phone was in his left pocket. He stood in the stand with his hands behind his back and spoke in a clipped, impersonal but polished manner.

He told the court he had both a BSc (Mithibai College, Juhu Vile Parle, north west Mumbai) and an MBA (from the Narsee Monji Institute of Management Studies, Juhu Vile Parle, north west Mumbai).

The judge, looking up from his papers, wondered: "Suhail Buddha?"

Mangla pertly: "That's his brother, my lord."

His testimony, conducted by Patil was short. She enquired of Buddha if he knew Indrani Mukerjea and then if he knew the Mukerjeas's erstwhile driver and Accused No 3 Shyamvar Pinturam Rai.

Buddha stated he had worked for Indrani Mukerjea first at INX Services (from 2005) and then at INX Media (from 2007), for four years in all.

Buddha: "I know Shyamvar Rai as a driver. After I left INX Media in 2009 I met Shyamvar Rai in the year 2012. Indrani sent him for employment in my company, I had started my own company. Yes, she had called."

Obliging Indrani, Buddha offered Rai a job. "But he was expecting a much higher salary so I could not hire him. After a year in 2013 he came back to me and he was willing to work at my given salary. He didn't join as a full-time employee because he was not regular. I used to pay him as and when he used to come."

Buddha said the driver worked for him (or his company) till a little before Rai's arrest in August 2015, adding crucially, "He had gone on leave before that."

Patil determined if Buddha knew Sheena Bora. It seemed he had known her just peripherally -- as Indrani's "younger sister" -- having run into her at the INX Services office once or twice.

They had occasion to speak too, once on the phone in 2012 when Indrani put Sheena onto him. Sheena was in the market to buy a new laptop and needed Buddha's advice. He subsequently sms-ed the configuration of the laptop he suggested she purchase.

Buddha was asked to identify Indrani. He simply said, in a cool manner, that she was indeed in the room. He never looked towards her and they didn't exchange a glance. Some variety of iciness seemed palpable,

The cross examination of Buddha had to wait for another date when Indrani's lawyer Sudeep Ratnamberdutt Pasbola was available, as had been scheduled earlier.

The judge was still confused between the two Buddhas and perplexed about what needed to be asked of Buddha by the defence. "There is another Buddha?"

Mangla announced: "There are two Buddhas", and she said the defence had a lot to ask Sameer Buddha, as he looked on impassively, face blank, choosing to remain on the periphery, as if they were discussing some other Sameer Buddha, who was perhaps not in the room.

Mangla requested if she might ask Buddha just one question.

The judge assented.

Mangla: "Mr Buddha, do you possess a police uniform?"

Buddha first said he did and then corrected himself saying it was a home guard uniform and he left the Maharashtra Home Guards in March last year.

As soon as the hearing was over, Indrani came to the front of the courtroom. She was clutching some papers. A very expectant expression was playing on her face, her excitement was barely concealed, it bubbled below the surface. She said she had an announcement to make.

Her handwritten application -- she has an immaculate feminine hand (Take that Jet Airways) -- was then submitted to the judge by her lawyers and a copy provided to the prosecution.

It read: 'During the process of investigation the CBI had offered to conduct a lie detector test in 2015 October. It is correct to say that 2015 October, I had not given my consent to undertake the lie detector (polygraph) test.'

'It is pertinent to mention here is that I had not given my consent at that point because I was under tremendous pressure not to undergo the test.'

'I had succumbed to such pressure at that stage because I was in a state of shock, mentally disturbed and vulnerable and physically very unwell.'

'However, now I am emotionally more settled and I realise that I should have never succumbed to such pressure.'

'It is only right and proper in the name of justice that I undergo the polygraph test as out of the 200 witnesses, only 35 have deposed so far. The investigation is also still continuing...'

Indrani then 'most respectfully prayed' for permission to take the test. She also prayed for 'any other and further that this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the name of justice.'.

Indrani ended it with, in capital letters: 'For this act of kindness I am in duty bound and shall forever prayer.' Signed Indrani Pratim Mukerjea, though her girlish signature contained Bora in it.

It is now up to the judge and prosecution to agree.

Given that Indrani had refused the test before they can cite that as reason to refuse her now, especially since the case has gone to trial. Or that polygraph test evidence is not counted or essential

A polygraph test functions by measuring heart beat rate, respiration, blood pressure etc. Does perhaps its efficacy grow less over time?

Happy with her latest move, Indrani departed from Courtroom 51 with a spring in her step.

The woman, who hopped up into the jail truck, a few minutes later, in the courtyard below, her orange chunni and hair swinging, with three cops bringing up the rear, was a cheerful one.

At that moment, that oft-repeated phrase came tripping into one's head: There but for the grace of God go I.Last updated on: February 15, 2019 10:00 IST

Yadvinder Singh Bhamba was arrested for conspiring to send 400 people from India, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and other countries to the US.

P Rajendran reports from New York.

Kindly note image only published for representational purposes. Photograph: Kind courtesy Pixabay

Yadvinder Singh Bhamba caused some consternation when he was arrested for smuggling people to the US.

For, unlike most people in the criminal enterprise, Bhamba, who pleaded guilty to the charges against him, is an Indian national.

Bhamba's attorney Ignacio Fernandez de Lahongrais, who is from Puerto Rico, a territory of the US, said it was not unusual for people in the area to be involved in human smuggling.

"It is common for a person from the Dominican Republic (or other nearby countries) to come in (with smuggled people). What is not common is from a national from so far away (to be involved)."

Bhamba was arrested for conspiring to send 400 people from India, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and other countries to the US, thus circumventing the immigration process.

The people were transported to Puerto Rico and Florida between at least 2013 and August 2016.

According to the plea agreement Bhamba signed on, he admitted that he worked in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and other places, organising ways for these people to circumvent security and passport control, relying on corrupt officials along the way.

He also met some clients in various countries, including Iran and Hong Kong, worked with others to transport and house them, keeping track of payments in handwritten ledgers.

His team members also bore false names, with some not knowing their collaborators's real names. Bhamba also told them not to use their real names on the phone as they doubled up as boatmen, stash house operators, drivers and more.

'In some cases, members of the conspiracy provided travel assistance for aliens traveling from India through other countries including Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Iran, Panama, Venezuela, Belize, and Haiti to the Dominican Republic,' the agreement read.

'The Dominican Republic was used as a staging area, where aliens were housed before being sent to the United States. Members of the conspiracy operated stash houses in the Dominican Republic, or paid for hotel rooms to use as stash houses,' the agreement added.

'Members of the conspiracy arranged for boat captains to transport groups of aliens from the Dominican Republic to Florida or Puerto Rico.'

The boats were often old, unlicensed, unsafe and overcrowded, and at least one person died while being transported to the US.

The organisation charged Indians between $30,000 and $85,000 for travel, housing, basic necessities, fake documents and other services.

There were additional charges of $1,500 to $3,000 for those who landed in Haiti to go to the Dominican Republic.

Those who could not pay faced threats to themselves and their families in India, had their passports taken from them or were physically harmed.

Bhamba's guilty plea, includes one charge of conspiracy and 15 for illegally transporting 15 people who set out in January 2016 and were to reach Puerto Rico that July.

The boat carrying them lacked lights and navigational equipment, was painted black for concealment, and was permitted to carry just eight people not 15 passengers besides the crew when the authorities flagged it down.

Bhamba made calls to inquire about the boat which had not arrived yet, and commissioned one of his co-conspirators to make sure it had not sunk.

Investigations by the US justice department's criminal division and homeland security investigations led to Bhamba being arrested in August 2017.

Responding to a question, Nicole Navas, a DOJ spokesperson clarified that the case "involves human smuggling, not human trafficking."

Though an Indian national, Bhamba is no stranger to the US or the prison system there. He illegally entered the US when he was 20 or 21 years old, going in from Canada.

He lived in New York for 10 years, then California for another two before moving to New Jersey.

Around 1992, he began smuggling people to the US. After being caught for transporting 12 Indians to Florida state, he was convicted in 1999 and jailed for a year before being deported back to India.

In 2000, he returned to the US, calling himself Rajinder Kumar and tried to acquire a US visa.

By 2013, he was back to human smuggling. Other names Bhamba has used include Bhupinder Kumar, Atkins Lawson Howard, Robert Howard Scott (when using Western Union to pay a hotel used as a stash house), and the nickname Ruby.

Given the circumstances, the plea agreement that allows for five years in prison, was a good one for Bhamba, Lahongrais said.

"If there was a trial and he lost, assuming the government could have proven everything they sought to prove... he could have been exposed up to nine years," he said. "Mr Bhamba made the right decision. He should not have risked trial."

The quick resolution was not just right for Bhamba, he said.

"It was good for the government, too. Their evidence would have been challenged," Lahongrais said, pointing out that it would be a long and taxing process for the authorities.

Asked if Bhamba was happy with the decision, Lahongrais said a little wryly, "He is not happy. He is satisfied. He recognises he reached a common sense decision. He viewed the risk against him and he decided to reach an agreement."Source:

February 14, 2019 21:43 IST

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday said a response was expected from the Modi government to the attack on the Central Reserve Police Force personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in which 30 CRPF personnel were killed.

Speaking to the media in Nagpur, Bhagwat said, "It is a cowardly act, we strongly condemn it. We expect action in response to this incident."

"We have tolerated a lot and are still doing so, as seen from today's incident," he said. "They will get a reply (to the attack)," Bhagwat said.

The Hindutva organisation's general secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi strongly condemned the attack and said the RSS, an ideological mentor of the ruling BJP, is with the government and the security forces in this hour of crisis.

In a series of tweets, he also paid homage to the deceased CRPF personnel and expressed condolences to their family members.

"The attack is clearly a sign of desperation and frustration due to the clampdown on terrorism. The government should take stringent action against culprits at the earliest," Joshi said.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad, an RSS affiliate, blamed Pakistan, with its joint general secretary Surendra Jain seeking action against it.Last updated on: February 15, 2019 00:55 IST

The United States and other countries on Thursday condemned the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district and said they stand alongside India in defeating terrorism.

Photograph: Umar Ganie for Rediff.com IMAGE: The CRPF bus that was hit by blast.

The US Mission in India strongly condemns today's terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir. We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. The US stands alongside India in confronting terror and defeating it.

-- Kenneth Juster, US ambassador to India.

We denounce terrorism in all its forms&reiterate the need to combat these inhuman acts with decisive and collective response without any double standards. We express condolences to families of the deceased and wish a speedy recovery to injured.

-- Embassy of Russian Federation

We strongly condemn today's attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district and express our deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and to the government and people of India.

-- Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General

France has always been and always will be by India's side in the fight against terrorism in all its forms.

-- Alexandre Ziegler, French Ambassador to India

Our country remains steadfast in its commitment against terrorism of all forms and manifestations and maintains a zero tolerance policy against any kind of terrorist activities. Bangladesh would continue to work and cooperate with international community including India to eradicate the menace of terrorism.

-- Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh prime minister

The government of Nepal strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir today that has resulted in the loss of many precious lives. In line with its principled position, Nepal unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and believes that such heinous acts of terrorism cannot be justified on any ground.

-- Nepal Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Strongly condemn the suicide terrorist attack on the convoy carrying Indian security forces in Jammu and Kashmir today. I extend my prayers and condolences to the bereaved families of the dead and injured.

-- Abdulla Shahid, Maldives foreign minister

I strongly condemn the brutal terrorist attack in Kashmir's Pulwama district -- the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. I express my condolences to PM Modi and the families of police officers who lost their lives.

-- Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka PM

Shocked and saddened to hear of the terror attack in Kashmir. We strongly condemn this heinous attack and express our solidarity with families of victims, and people and government of India. Hope perpetrators will be brought to justice.

-- Tandi Dorji, Bhutan foreign ministerSource:

Last updated on: February 14, 2019 23:38 IST

Experts of the NSG and investigators of the NIA are being sent to Jammu and Kashmir to join the probe into the terror attack.

IMAGE: Firemen spray water on a road to wash away the blood stains at the site of suicide bomb attack at Lathepora Awantipora in Pulwama district of south Kashmir, on Thursday. Photograph: PTI Photo

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh Thursday assured the people of the country that the terror attack on a Central Reserve Police Force bus in Jammu and Kashmir, carried out by Pakistan-sponsored Jaish-e-Mohammed, will be avenged.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Security will meet on Friday morning to discuss the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir against the backdrop of the attack, sources said.

The meeting is likely to take place at 9:15 am on Friday, the sources said.

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) is headed by the prime minister, defence minister, home minister, external affairs minister and the finance minister.

In a statement, home minister Rajnath Singh said the central government is determined to foil the designs of those who want to disrupt peace through such a terror attack sponsored and sheltered by Pakistan.

"Jaish-e-Mohammed has carried out this terror attack. We assure the country that we will undertake whatever it takes to avenge this," he said.

Singh will be visiting Srinagar on Friday to take stock of the situation in the wake of the attack on the convoy that killed at least 39 CRPF personnel.

He will also hold review meetings with senior security and police officials to make ground level assessment and review further operational actions.

Singh has cancelled all his political engagements in Bihar Friday.

He called up Governor Satya Pal Malik, who apprised him about the prevailing situation in the state. Singh also spoke to National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Director of Intelligence Bureau Rajiv Jain and Director General of CRPF R R Bhatnagar and gave them necessary instructions, a home ministry official said.

In a tweet, Singh said, "Today's dastardly attack on CRPF in Pulwama (J&K) is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured."

The home ministry is also closely monitoring the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, which is currently under the President's rule.

Experts of the anti-terror commando force National Security Guard and investigators of the National Investigation Agency are being sent to Jammu and Kashmir to join the probe into the terror attack.

The decision was taken in view of the high number of casualties in the worst terror strike in the state since the Uri attack in 2016.

An NIA team with forensic experts is being sent to Srinagar to assist Jammu and Kashmir Police in forensic evaluation of the scene of crime, a home ministry official said.

Explosive specialists of the Black Cat commando force NSG will also join in the investigation into the attack, another official said.

Meanwhile, arrangements are also being made to airlift the mortal remains of the soldiers who lost their lives in the ghastly attack.

With ANI inputsLast updated on: February 15, 2019 00:55 IST

President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik and leaders across political parties condemned the killing of at least 39 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in a terrorist attack in Pulwama district on Thursday.

Here's what they said:

IMAGE: A scene of the spot after terrorists attacked a Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Goripora area of Awantipora town in Pulwama district, on Thursday. Photograph: ANI

Strongly condemn the terrorist attack in Pulwama, J&K. Thoughts and prayers with the families of martyrs and wishing an early recovery to those injured. The entire nation stands united in the fight against the forces of terror and evil.

-- Ram Nath Kovind, President of India

Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. Sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly.

-- Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

I'm shocked, outraged and deeply grieved (sic) by the barbarous attack on CRPF convoy in J&K. Our brave CRPF personnel died serving the nation selflessly, at the hands of cowardly terrorists and their sacrifice will not be forgotten.

My heart goes out to loved ones of each and every victim. I share their pain with all my heart. I sincerely hope that those responsible for this dastardly terror attack will be brought to justice and made to pay for this appalling act, that goes against every tenet of humanity.

-- Sonia Gandhi, United Progressive Alliance chairperson

Forces responsible for the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir are desperate and frustrated and just want to prove presence. Visibly it seems to be guided from across border as Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility.

-- Satyapal Malik, J&K Governor

Today's dastardly attack on CRPF in Pulwama (J&K) is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.

-- Rajnath Singh, Union home minister

Attack on CRPF in #Pulwama, J&K is cowardice & condemnable act of terrorists. Nation salutes martyrs & we stand united with families of martyrs. We pray for speedy recovery of the injured. Terrorists will be given unforgettable lesson for their heinous act.

-- Arun Jaitley, Union minister

I'm deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a CRPF convoy in J&K in which 10 of our brave men have been martyred and many others wounded. My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured (sic).

-- Rahul Gandhi, Congress president

Pained beyond words by the terror attack on our soldiers in Pulwama (J&K). It is an act of cowardice. My deepest condolences are with the families of our soldiers who have lost their lives. Our forces will remain firm against such acts of terror and defeat them.

-- Amit Shah, president, Bharatiya Janata Party

Terrible news coming from the valley. A number of CRPF soldiers are reported to have been killed & injured in an IED blast. I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved.

-- Omar Abdullah, former J&K chief minister



Disturbing news coming in from #awantipura . Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several have been injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?

-- Mehbooba Mufti, former J&K CM

We will definitely give befitting response to this cowardly attack. It will not go unpunished. We will avenge in all way possible.

-- Kiren Rijiju, Union minister of state for home

We condemn this cowardly terror attack. This is a crime against humanity. The sacrifice of our jawans will not go in vain. The entire nation should condemn this and support Indian government's fight against terrorism.

-- Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh chief minister

Saddened that 13 CRPF jawans became martyrs today in Pulwama. We salute our brave jawans and extend our solidarity and condolences to their families. Our prayers for those injured. We wish them a speedy recovery.

-- Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal chief minister

The cowardly attack on a convoy of CRPF and killing of Jawans in Awantipora, Pulwama district in Jammu and Kashmir is a condemnable act. My condolences to the families of the martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for India.

-- Sharad Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party chief

It's a dastardly act done out of desperation. I call to question those who while living in India and describing themselves as mainstream Kashmir politicians tend to be apologetic about these terror activities sponsored from across Indian soil.

-- Jitendra Singh, MoS PMO

I can very well understand the pain and grief of losing a loved one in the family. Not only the Congress party, but the entire country is standing shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave soldiers. But, we must also reflect and be concerned about the high number of casualties in Kashmir. We demand that this government take concrete steps to ensure such terror attacks don't happen in the future.

-- Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, AICC general secretary

We strongly condemn this cowardly attack, we extend condolences to the kin of the jawans who were martyred. This is the 18th big terror attack in the last 5 years under this Modi Govt. When will the 56-inch chest reply?

-- Randeep Surjewala, Congress leaderSource:

February 14, 2019 16:38 IST

Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy and his ministerial colleagues continued their dharna outside the Raj Nivas for the second day on Thursday protesting Lt Governor Kiran Bedi's "negative stand" towards his government' proposals awaiting her approval.

IMAGE: Puducherry chief minister Velu Narayanasamy and his ministers sleep outside L-G Kiran Bedi's house in protest. Photograph: @VNarayanasami/Twitter

Narayanasamy, his ministers and party MLAs had on Wednesday night slept on a pavement close to the Raj Nivas wearing black shirts. They have been demanding that that the Lt Governor accord sanction to 39 government proposals, including a free rice scheme.

Functionaries of different wings of the ruling Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam have also joined the protest.

Bedi left for New Delhi early on Thursday morning under tight security of the Rapid Action Force.

A source in the Raj Nivas said that she would return on February 20 and has invited the chief minister for discussion over the issues raised by him on February 21.

Asserting that their protest would continue till the government proposals were cleared, the chief minister said, "Even if it is not possible to immediately concede all the 39 pleas, the Lt Governor can give her nod to some of the important schemes including the free rice scheme and grants."

"When people's representatives are holding agitation in support of their charter of 39 demands since Wednesday seeking approval of Lt Governor, it is amusing indeed that Bedi had left for Chennai enroute Delhi," PWD minister A Namassivayam said.

"This shows that she does not respect the popular government. This is the height of her vanity."

IMAGE: Narayanasamy protest outside Puducherry Lieutenant Governor House. Photograph: ANI

On the helmet rule, Namassivayam said the government had asked the police not to be very stern against those not using helmets while driving two wheelers as awareness needs to be raised at least for a month before making the wearing of helmets compulsory.

He, however, clarified that they were not against the helmet rule as the Supreme court's directive to implement the rule should be complied with by all.

Meanwhile, barricades were erected around the Lt Governor's office to keep agitators at bay as a section of volunteers of different political parties raised slogans against the deployment of the RAF around Raj Nivas and at various vantage points.

Chief Minister Narayanasamy had led an agitation in front of the Parliament on January 4, demanding that the Centre sanction statehood for Puducherry and replace Kiran Bedi as the Lt Governor.

The Lt Governor and the government headed by Narayanasamy had been at loggerheads over various issues ever since Bedi assumed office in May 2016.Source:

February 14, 2019 23:12 IST

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday called off her first press conference after being inducted as a Congress general secretary, expressing grief over the deaths of 30 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in a terror attack in Kashmir.

The press conference was meant to wrap up her four-day visit to the state, the first after being appointed in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

This conference was called for political discussions. But when our jawans have been killed in a terror attack in Pulwama, I feel it would not be right if we have political discussions at this time," she told reporters at the press conference venue in Lucknow.

I want to tell their families that every single countryman is with them in their hour of grief, she said.

They should have faith... we are standing by them, she added.

A two-minute silence was also observed as a mark of grief.

The Congress leader has held a series of discussions with party workers over the past four days, with at least one session lasting through the night.

The Congress is trying to revive itself in the state where it faces a challenge from the Bharatiya Janata Party as well as an alliance of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.

Although the new AICC general secretary has faced the press briefly in recent days, this was slated to be her first formal interaction.

On Thursday, Priyanka Gandhi met leaders and workers from 11 Lok Sabha constituencies, including Varanasi, the seat won with a thumping majority by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014.

She also held meetings with party workers from Etawah and Farrukhabad, the state's Congress spokesperson Ashok Singh said.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, the AICC general secretary for western UP, also held discussions with workers from constituencies under his charge.

According to some participants at her meetings, many workers and local leaders told Priyanka Gandhi that the party should fight the elections on its own.

On Wednesday, the Congress had announced an alliance with a UP outfit, the Mahan Dal.Last updated on: February 14, 2019 12:31 IST

On the Valentine's Day, ace photographer Pravin Talan came up with an incredible series of wallpapers featuring our brave men and women in uniform.

The lensman has captured the stunning images of fire fighters, commandos from the Indian Army, the National Security Guard, the CoBRA, the Central Reserve Police Force, the Border Security Force, the Central Industrial Security Force and the Mumbai Police.

"I just felt we don't need to be inspired by them on only 26th January or 15th August, but think of them with fondness on every occasion in our lives," Talan says.

Witty captions juxtaposed with the stunning images capturing real life situations, these Real Heroes work in, make you fall in love with these courageous men and women all over again.Source:

February 14, 2019 21:10 IST

Photograph: Umar Ganie for Rediff.com IMAGE: A soldier stands guard at the site of attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, on Thursday.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday spoke to Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik and took stock of the situation in the state after the deadly attack on a Central Reserve Police Force convoy by terrorists, officials said.

He also cancelled all his political engagements in Bihar Friday and is likely to visit Jammu and Kashmir.

Home secy cuts short Bhutan visit, rushes back to Delhi Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, who reached Bhutan on Thursday on an official trip, is rushing back to Delhi after cutting short his visit in view of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said. Gauba had reached Thimpu this morning for a Home Secretary-level dialogue with his Bhutanese counterpart. He spoke to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh after the terror attack. "In view of the terror attack in Pulwama, the home secretary is rushing back to Delhi," a home ministry official said.

He called up the governor, who apprised him about the prevailing situation in the state. Singh also spoke to Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and Director General of CRPF R R Bhatnagar and gave them necessary instructions, a home ministry official said.

The ministry is also closely monitoring the situation.

In a tweet, Singh said, 'Today's dastardly attack on CRPF in Pulwama (J&K) is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.'

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama district when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in.

This is one of the worst terror strikes in the state since the Uri attack in 2016.

Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik has directed immediate enhancement of surveillance and review of the security management of all important installations and establishments in the state, in the aftermath of the terror attack.

He has also said such terror attacks will not deter the resolve of our security forces and people.

He has urged all the security forces' commanders to enhance surveillance on every front and directed the District and Divisional Civil and Police Administration to immediately review the security management of all important installations and establishments, an official spokesperson said.

Malik has conveyed his grief and sincere sympathy to the families of the brave soldiers, who lost their lives in the attack, and prayed for an early recovery of the injured, he added.

Expressing serious concern on the attack, the governor has observed that the forces responsible for insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir are desperate and frustrated and just want to prove their presence.

Visibly, it seems to be guided from across the border as terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed the responsibility, the governor said.

He added that such actions will not deter the resolve of our security forces and people, and we will finish these inimical forces to the last.Posted Thursday, February 14, 2019 11:51 am

State Attorney General Bob Ferguson has warned sheriffs and other law enforcement officials they could be held liable if they refuse to perform background checks on the purchase of semiautomatic rifles  a requirement of Initiative 1639  and those weapons are subsequently used to harm others.

A large number of county sheriffs around the state, including Rick Scott in Grays Harbor County and Robin Souvenir in Pacific County, have recently said they would not actively enforce the initiative based on what they see as a conflict with the right to bear arms in the U.S. and State Constitutions.

 In the event a police chief or sheriff refuses to perform the background check required by Initiative 1639, they could be held liable if there is a sale or transfer of a firearm to a dangerous individual prohibited from possessing a firearm and that individual uses that firearm to do harm, said Ferguson in a letter dated Feb. 12. In short, the taxpayers of your city or county assume the financial risk of your decision to impose your personal views over the law.

Fergusons letter singles out the background check portion of the initiative. The statements issued by Scott and other sheriffs did not address specific parts of the initiative, but rather its impact on a consitutional right to keep and bear arms.

There isnt a sheriff in the state that I am aware of that has said theyre not going to do the background checks, said Scott. Were all going to do that.

The initiative, passed last November with 60 percent of the statewide vote, raises the legal age for purchase of semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21, requires anyone purchasing such a firearm to take a firearms safety course and undergo a background check and requires guns to be secured and subjects gun owners to criminal charges if their firearms are used in crimes by someone else.

The law goes into effect July 1. In his letter, Ferguson said, Just like handgun purchases, local law enforcement officials are required to perform these background checks. As far as I know, no Washington sheriff or police chief has refused to perform these enhanced background checks for handguns. Why refuse to perform them for semiautomatic assault rifles?

That is part of the problem with the way (the initiative) was written, said Scott. There are portions of it where everyone with common sense is going to agree its a good thing to do. We intended to do that (the background checks) from the get-go.

Scott clarified the steps he, Pacific County Sheriff Robin Souvenir and other sheriffs across the state will take in regards to the enforcement of the gun control measure.

My deputies are going to document any complaint brought forward, like any other reported violation of law, said Scott. What I dont want them doing is making a probable cause determination in the field and take enforcement action based upon their own interpretation of the law. They will write it up and send it to (county prosecutor) Katie (Svoboda) if it warrants review. Our concern is the ambiguity of the law.

Scott said the impression that deputies are refusing to enforce a law is unfounded.

Enforcement actions will be determined after the investigation is complete and reviewed, said Scott. I havent talked to a single sheriff that said they werent going to do the background checks.

Ferguson said he is confident the initiative will stand up to any and all legal challenges, which are ongoing.

I will defend Initiative 1639 against any legal challenge, he wrote. My office defeated the legal challenge to the previous gun safety initiative passed by the people, and I am confident we will defeat any constitutional challenge to Initiative 1639 as well.

Ferguson concluded, As public officers, our duty is to abide by the will of the people we serve, and implement and enforce the laws they adopt. I encourage you to do so.Source:

February 14, 2019 10:35 IST

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday asked people to vote for an educated person for the prime ministerial post, instead of a Class "12th pass", indirectly referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"I want to tell the people that the position of the prime minister is very important. Last time, you made a 12th pass person the prime minister of India. This time don't make the 12th pass the prime minister. Search for a well-educated person," Kejriwal said at a dharna at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

"It is better when a literate person becomes the prime minister. The person who is 12th pass does not even understand which document he is signing. The second problem with him is that he does not consult anyone. He does what he wants to do," he added.

Talking about the political drama between the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government and the Centre, Kejriwal said that Prime Minister Modi wants to destroy BR Ambedkar's Constitution.

"If Kolkata Police Commissioner (Rajeev Kumar) had got arrested that day then a message would have gone to all governments and police force across the country that one needs to be worried about the Narendra Modi-led government now and not the state governments," Kejriwal said.

"BR Ambedkar made a Constitution which provided different powers to the state and central governments. Today Narendra Modi wants to destroy that Constitution. He wants to end democracy in this country. I salute Mamata Banerjee for what she did to Prime Minister Modi's CBI officials," he added.

Kejriwal later went on to compare Prime Minister Modi with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.

"Earlier, AAP had ruled Delhi for 49 days. During that time, corruption came to an end in the national capital. People were scared of taking bribes. Through the Anti-Corruption branch, we booked cases on big-big people in this country. After we came to power again, within four months Prime Minister Modi took over the Anti-Corruption branch through para-military and Indian Army," he said.Source:

February 14, 2019 21:01 IST

Heres the chronological list of all major terror attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir in the last two decades:

IMAGE: The scene of the carnage in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir. Photograph: Umar Ganie

August 26, 2017: Three Jaish terrorists storm the District Police Lines Pulwama, killing eight security force personnel, before the assailants were shot dead.

November 29, 2016: Three terrorists storm Army artillery camp at Nagrota in Jammu, killing seven soldiers, before the assailants were eliminated.

September 18, 2016: Four Pakistani terrorists storm an Army camp at Uri in Baramulla district, killing 18 soldiers, most of them who were in sleep. The assailants were also killed. The incident led to reprisal surgical strikes inside the Pakistan occupied Kashmir by Indian Army.

June 25, 2016: Terrorists open indiscriminate firing on a CRPF bus, killing eight jawans at Pampore on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

June 3, 2016: Terrorists target a CRPF bus at Pampore, killing two personnel before taking refuge in a government building. Two-day encounter ends with killing of three soldiers including two officers and the two assailants. One civilian was also killed.

December 5, 2014: Six heavily-armed terrorists storm an Army camp at Mohra in Uri. Ten soldiers were killed in the gun battle with the intruders, who were all shot dead.

June 24, 2013: Terrorists ambush a bus carrying unarmed Army personnel at Hyderpora in Srinagar. Eight soldiers were killed in the attack.

July 19, 2008: Ten soldiers were killed when terrorists triggered an IED planted by the roadside at Narbal on Srinagar-Baramulla highway on the outskirts of the city.

November 2, 2005: A suicide bomber blew up his car at Nowgam, near the private residence of then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, killing three cops and six civilians.

July 20, 2005: A suicide car bomber blew his vehicle by ramming it into a vehicle of security forces. Three security force personnel and two civilians were killed.

June 24, 2005: Nine army soldiers were killed in a car bomb triggered by terrorists on the outskirts of Srinagar.

August 4, 2004: Nine CRPF jawans were killed in a terrorist attack on their camp at Rajbagh in Srinagar. One terrorist was also killed in retaliatory action.

April 8, 2004: 11 persons were killed in a grenade attack by terrorists on a PDP rally at Uri in Baramulla district. The PDP was demanding opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road.

July 22, 2003: Eight soldiers, including a Brigadier, were killed in a terrorists attack on their camp at Akhnoor. Several other senior Army officers sustained injuries in the attack.

June 28, 2003: 12 soldiers, including an officer, were killed in a suicide attack by terrorists on Sunjwan Army camp. Two terrorists were neutralised.

May 14, 2002: In one of the biggest strikes on an Army installation, 36 persons were killed by three terrorists who stormed the Kaluchak Army Cantonment in Jammu. The assailants were also killed.

November 17, 2001: Terrorists storm a security forces base in Ramban (then part of Doda district), killing 10 security forces. Four terrorists were also killed.

October 1, 2001: Terrorists trigger a car bomb outside the old Legislative Assembly Complex in Srinagar. 38 persons were killed while three assailants were also eliminated.

August 10, 2000: Terrorists hurl a grenade at Residency Road in Srinagar. As the security officials assembled at the spot, they triggered a car bomb, killing 11 persons and a photojournalist.

April 19, 2000: The "human bomb" was used for the first time in Kashmir insurgency. Two soldiers were killed in the suicide car bomb at the Army headquarters at Badamibagh area in Srinagar.

November 3, 1999: Terrorists storm the Badamibagh Army headquarters, killing 10 soldiers including Defence Public Relations Officer Major Purshottam.Last updated on: February 15, 2019 00:05 IST

'You can't get emotional about it. The plan has to be deliberated, debated and options need to be looked at.'

'I am not saying sooner or later, but it can't be too late.'

IMAGE: The scene of the terror attack on the CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Kashmir, February 14, 2019. Photograph: Umar Ganie

Forty Central Reserve Police Force troopers were murdered in cold blood on the Jammu-Srinagar highway near Pulwama in south Kashmir.

In an unprecedented attack, a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide terrorist is reported to have driven an SUV packed with an estimated 200 to 300 kilos of explosives into one of the 78 buses ferrying CRPF troopers back to camp after spending their holidays at home.

A suicide attack involving a vehicle is the first of its kind in over a decade in the Kashmir valley.

To understand the security dimensions of the attack and its consequences, Rediff.com's Archana Masih spoke to Lieutenant General Deependra Singh Hooda (retd), who planned the September 28-29, 2016 surgical strike that followed the Uri terror attack 11 days earlier.

Is today's attack the beginning of a new trend of attacks in J&K?

I hope it is not a new trend, honestly. It is a terrible tragedy and probably the worst attack in Kashmir.

Vehicle-based suicide attacks are not easy to counter.

Apart from car bomb incidents in 2005, we haven't seen such a suicide vehicle-based attack in J&K. There have been fidayeen attacks on camps.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, the maximum casualties are caused by vehicle-based attacks.

These attacks are more reminiscent of attacks carried out in the Middle East and Pakistan. What precautions do we need -- because they seem to have come home to us?

I think we need to look very deeply into where such quantum of explosives came from. What was the source?

We also need to take a hard look at where the explosives are stored. There is so much of construction activity in J&K. There is a huge quantum of explosives in J&K because dams, etc are being built.

Investigation must be made to find out if there is a leakage or if it is coming from across the border, or from some other route.

Better equipment like explosive sniffers are needed. Increased checking of vehicles and better intelligence.

It is a new ball game.

2,500 CRPF personnel were travelling in 78 vehicles, can this be seen as a security and intelligence failure?

It is very difficult to say. To say that we will be able to counter each and every attack is extremely difficult and not even practical. I don't think we should jump to conclusions. Let the investigation be done.

From Pathankot to Pulwama, Jaish-e-Mohammad is seen as the architect of these attacks. Has Jaish become the ISI's terrorist arm in India?

It has certainly. A large number of attacks, especially these kinds of suicide attacks are being done by Jaish. The ISI is certainly propping up Jaish in a big way.

There were attacks in Pathankot, Tangdhar -- Jaish has emerged in a big way in the last 3, 4 years. The deadly attacks are being done by them.

What needs to be done?

I think we should stop saying that the situation is getting better. We need to take a reality check, wake up and smell the coffee.

We need to get serious about what is happening in Kashmir.

Last year, look at the number of security personnel killed...

91 security personnel were killed in 2018.

It is the highest in 10 years.

While we take selective figures and say we have killed so many terrorists, the fact is that we have lost so many personnel.

Ceasefire violations have increased, we have lost so many civilians. There is need for a reality check.

We have to look at both the dimensions. There is a huge external dimension with Pakistan's undiminished support. There is an internal dimension with more and more local recruits.

Earlier, the major attacks would be carried out by groups from across the border. This suicide bomber, I am told, was a local.

You say we need a reality check. In your opinion what needs to be done?

With Pakistan supporting terrorism, infiltration is continuing. Cross border firing is continuing.

There are major incidents along the Line of Control. We need to see how to deal with Pakistan. That is the external part.

Internally, there are more and more local recruits joining.

Each time a local recruit is killed, fresh ones join in. Radicalisation is increasing. There needs to be some steps put in place to counter it.

I don't see those real concrete steps.

Merely saying we have killed so many terrorists is not going to provide the answer.

In the last 2, 3 years, we have killed so many terrorists, but the situation doesn't seem to be improving.

Do we need to relook strategy? How we deal with Pakistan? I don't see a serious debate on this.

We need a reality check and then decide what needs to be done.

As someone who had his boots on the ground, what would some of those steps be?

Pakistan is carrying out what it is doing with impunity. Jaish is doing all this and we have not been able to get them (its founder Masood Azhar) declared an international terrorist organisation.

Internally, there is a wave of radicalisation, local support for these people is growing. Three years back, you did not have crowds of people coming out in support of terrorists.

How are you are going to appeal to civil society, how will you try to get some of these youngsters who have gone into terrorism back into the mainstream?

How will the divide between Jammu and Kashmir be bridged?

I think we need to get serious about this and say yes, there is a problem.

If you ignore it and say the problem does not exist and the problem is only Pakistan, then how are we going to search for solutions?

How do attacks like this affect the soldier in J&K?

I am not saying that morale will go down, but it is a setback.

We saw that in Uri. People were asking questions about what are we going to do. Are we just going to sit on our hands?

Soldiers, police personnel are getting killed, what are these lives going for?

Is this reason enough to launch another attack?

My personal sense is that there will be something. I don't see how this can be ignored.

After Uri, no terror organisation took the responsibility, now you have a terror organisation which stands up and says we have done it.

I don't see how that can be ignored at all and it is an organisation that is based in Pakistan.

What form and shape it will take, these guys will decide. My gut feeling is it can't be left unanswered.

Your gut feeling is that it will happen soon?

It has to be coolly thought of. You can't get emotional about it. The plan has to be deliberated, debated and options need to be looked at.

I am not saying sooner or later, but it can't be too late. My gut feeling is they will have to do something.

What is emboldening these terrorists?

There is radicalisation with a religious connotation.

Mothers of these terrorists are saying that they are blessed that their sons have sacrificed themselves.

They are borrowing techniques from outside like this vehicle-based attack.

There is a deep sense of anger and frustration among sections of the youth, whatever be the reason.

The emboldening is happening not only among terrorists, but even among the population. Earlier they would see the military and run away, now they pelt stones.

We need to get real and not merely say that all is well.Last updated on: February 14, 2019 08:58 IST

'I say Modi was India's last chance.'

'Because the kind of work this government has done -- I'm talking about physical delivery -- is fantastic, like no time in our history.'

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi walks on India's longest rail-cum-road bridge over the Brahmaputra river in Bogibeel, Assam, which he inaugurated on December 25, 2018. Photograph: Press Information Bureau

'It is delusional to think that India's economic potential can be realised if the Government of India is led by a 1990s-style coalition government,' writes Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri in his new book Delusional Politics.

Puri -- a member of the Indian Foreign Service who last served as India's permanent representative to the United Nations -- believes that the days of khichdi politics are now over and the proposed 'mahagathbandhan' is 'nothing more than an alliance of opportunists'.

In his book, Puri, minister of state for housing and urban affairs, discusses what leads to 'delusional decision-making' by 'public figures who seemed perfectly rational'.

Apart from India, he examines the cases of two other democracies -- the United States and the United Kingdom, with reference to the election and several decisions of President Donald John Trump in the former case while in the latter, to then prime minister David Cameron deciding to go for Brexit referendum.

"Yes, I think he (Modi) needs another 10 years. Because by then we will be a $10 trillion economy, per capita incomes would have gone up four times, and I think we're getting there," Puri tells Rediff.com's Utkarsh Mishra.

While talking about delusional political decisions, you have discussed Brexit, and some of the decisions taken by Trump. But in the chapter about India, you don't mention specific decisions by any prime minister that you consider as delusional. Why?

My India chapter is structured somewhat differently.

The fulcrum of that chapter is the fact that a party which was the vehicle of India to get its Independence, a party which ruled for a bulk of the 70 years of India's existence as an independent country now has decided to tie itself to the coat-tails of one family.

That itself is delusional. And that produces delusional politics.

And from there follow a number of consequences. One of the consequences is that the party is now facing an existential crisis.

And I make the prediction that in 2019 (the general election), it is going to have consequences.

Because democracy in India is deep-rooted. It is ingrained in the value system of the people.

And if you chose to define democracy in parochial terms as meaning only one family, then you are being delusional.

It's not that members of one family can't be talented, but from there are you proceeding to an assumption that talent is only confined to that (family)?

How is it that all your national efforts is defined only in terms of one family?

This has resulted in several distortions, the biggest one being their losing the ability to distinguish between what is private and what is public.

And because you've been in power so long, you think you've a right on all the resources of the State. That's something I find basically delusional.

The second aspect that comes out in that chapter is that you're being delusional if you think you can run India without catering -- as per the Antyodaya philosophy -- to the poorest of the poor.

Unless you answer the basic aspirations of the people, it's going to be very difficult.

And that's what the Modi philosophy of building toilets, giving gas connections, getting people to affordable housing (through) the Pradhanmantri Avas Yojna, Ayushman Bharat etc is doing.

There are parties within the National Democratic Alliance -- the Akali Dal, the Shiv Sena, the Lok Janshakti Party -- which are also led by only one family.

I think that's nonsensical. The Akali Dal is much older than the Badal family and there are already rumblings within the Akali Dal.

I think the argument you could make is that the Congress is not the only party in India which is dynastic, but that doesn't absolve the Congress party of lack of inner democracy.

Two wrongs don't make one right.

The limited point I'm making is, this is authoritarianism born of exclusion.

You want to keep everybody else out, you want to keep within the family, and you're not able to distinguish between personal property and public property.

And democracy is all about being able to take people along.

Talking about lynching incidents, you blame 'the culture of impunity prevalent in the Hindi heartland that has been allowed to go unpunished for seven decades'. However, data shows that there has been certainly a spike in cow-related violence after 2014 and 60 per cent of such incidents took place in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states.

Let me explain to you. Because there has been a culture of impunity for 70 years, people could do these things and get away, maybe for some time there was a feeling that they will not be questioned.

But the motivation in all these cases is criminal, it is not politically ideological. They thought they would get protection.

I say in my book that all these acts of criminality and bestiality should be condemned. One case is one case too many.

It's like communal riots. How can you justify a communal riot ever? And I can tell you that we are accused of being communal, but not a single communal riot has taken place in a BJP ruled state (since 2014).

When it comes to individual acts of criminality, it doesn't have to do with who is in power.

The issue is, when the incident took place, was there action to bring those culprits to justice?

And I think BJP-ruled states have a very good record of that.

What would you say about Union Minister Jayant Sinha garlanding the accused in a mob lynching case?

I would not comment on this incident because I think Jayant has already issued a statement.

I'm very clear that if somebody in public life acts out of lack of knowledge then it's a different thing.

But being in public life demands higher standards of decorum and public decency.

I would condemn all such acts (of lynching). And I don't think elements that indulge in this criminal behaviour should be allowed to go unpunished.

You say that while the Congress plays 'divisive politics', the BJP believes in Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas. But how does it explain the elevation of a divisive figure like Yogi Adityanath (born Ajay Singh Bisht) to the post of chief minister?

Yogi Adityanath is not a divisive figure...

But he has issued statements...

I seriously recommend you to go and visit him. He is one of those people who spent their lives devoted to social causes.

I know Yogiji very well. There is no point branding him divisive.

I talk in my book about fake narratives.

People have a habit of picking up one incident here and one incident there and then trying to do something.

Look at the law and order situation (in Uttar Pradesh) under Yogiji, and compare it with that under Akhilesh (Yadav) or Mayawati.

But the forces which don't want the law and order situation to be rectified will spread stories about divisiveness and so on.

In the same context, the Citizenship Amendment Bill (which will now lapse on June 3) kept Muslims out of the ambit of refugees or persecuted migrants who can be granted citizenship, which many say is a violation of Article 15 of the Constitution.

Look, I don't want to go into those issues because here we are discussing my book, and the Citizenship Amendment Bill is way past it.

Secondly, look at the context of some of these legislations. You have a number of Islamic countries around India where the minorities are persecuted.

If the motivation of the bill is to deal with persecuted minorities, those who are bringing the criticism should have their heads examined.

See what Mamata Banerjee is doing in West Bengal, you know all that.

Well, this is not part of my book.

But in your book you are critical of European Union nations for their 'complete disregard for human rights' of refugees who fled ISIS. So what would you say about India's approach towards the Rohingya migrants?

First of all, let us take the EU case. The EU closed its borders to people fleeing the violence in Syria. They just turned them away.

In our case the Rohingyas came here. Do you know you have districts in Jammu and Kashmir which have sizeable Rohingya population?

We have provided refuge to different people of different religions from the world for thousands of years. We are actually, in many ways, a country of refugees. It's only a question of drawing the line.

Let me tell you, India has been in the forefront of following the policy of non-refoulement.

We never say no to anybody. And therefore Rohingyas have come here in a very large measure. And as I said, they are here even in Jammu and Kashmir.

Look at the irony of it, people say that there are problems in Jammu and Kashmir and the Muslim population there is suffering.

How is the most persecuted minority in the world -- the Rohingyas -- coming all the way from Myanmar to Jammu and Kashmir and finding succour there?

So there's something about the false narrative.

Even in the most accommodative situation where you are providing succour to persecuted minorities from elsewhere, there's a national security environment.

Are you going to open your borders to anyone coming from any place? Don't you want a system of checks?

In the case of the EU, they don't allow them in at all. Here we've allowed them in.

And then we are giving money to Bangladesh and Myanmar to rehabilitate (them).

What is our line? Look if these are your people, you look after them. If you need any help from us, we will provide it.

It's not as if we're turning our backs on them.

Coming to trade, as someone who supports multilateral trading agreements and and as someone who is so critical of Brexit, what is your opinion about India keeping out of China's Belt and Road Initiative?

BRI is not a trading agreement. That is something India has done very well to stay out of.

China is using surplus capital to make investments for strategic purposes in other countries.

So India has done exceptionally well in keeping out of it.

Even in Pakistan, which is supposed to be an all-weather friend of China, they have second thoughts (about BRI).

There's been a backlash on many of these investment projects (in Pakistan).

You discuss at length the reforms the United Nations needs to address the challenges of the 21st century. What role can India play in that direction?

Also, the kind of enthusiasm that was expected of this government in trying to get a permanent seat for India at the United Nations security council was somehow missing in these five years.

First of all, India is an important player in the multilateral system. But systems lend themselves up for reform in periods of stability.

Just now what is happening in the world? I mean the election of the 45th president of the United States. He is questioning multilateralism at the fundamental ground.

Then you have Brexit, which is again a major disruption.

When Mr Modi got elected, certainly the most important thing here was the domestic economic development -- building homes for people, roads, ports etc.

There has been a very high foreign policy emphasis in the first term.

But no country has been able to spend enough time on security council reforms. That's also partly because of the global situation.

I personally believe that it not the correct time to talk about fundamental reforms in the security council, because you have a situation where there are major differences between the United States and China.

There are differences between the US and Russia, because of the alleged Russian meddling in the American elections. There is a major problem between the French and the British on other issues.

So I think you have to take the timing (into account). And I'm sure the timing will come when we are in our second term.

Meanwhile, when you're a $5 trillion economy, the world comes to you more easily than you go into the world. And your ability to contribute to global processes is also that much higher.

And as the US withdraws from the leadership role it once played on the world stage, the importance of India and China is growing. Do you see more confrontation between the two nations on global platforms in the coming days?

Confrontations don't take place by themselves. They take place when the ability to manage challenging bilateral situations is undermined due to a number of factors.

I think both India and China, and India certainly, have the capacity to manage that relationship in order to ensure that differences do not become problematic.

Look, there will be differences. These are two large countries, these are populous countries, these are countries growing. These are countries with differences of opinion, differences of interest, there are different strategic perceptions on issues.

So there will be differences. But we have to be able to manage those differences in order to be able to contain them and resolve outstanding issues.

And I think we have the capacity to do that.

Talking about delusional decision-making, can it be said that demonetisation was also a delusional decision? Now that almost all of the money has come back, critics say the exercise failed.

I have a very clear view on that. If you want to end the culture of impunity, large-scale corruption and other problems, you have no choice but to have demonetisation.

It's not the money which has come back. Somebody has put the money back. The taxman can at least know whether the money you've put is your money of somebody else's.

You've already won the battle.

All I'm saying is you look at the number of income tax assessees. Thanks to the efforts of this government the number of assessees has gone up.

Whenever you take a difficult decision, all the vested interests oppose you.

You not only have to take a decision but you also have to implement it.

You may argue that in the process of implementing demonetisation, some additional safeguards could have been taken to avoid hardships.

But for 70 years, black money was rampant in India.

I'm not interested in saying whether all black money has ended. But sure use of plastic money has increased tremendously.

Have we done enough? I don't know.

Demonetisation is one step. GST (goods and services tax) is another.

(Look at) RERA (Real Estate Regulation Act), for 70 years as an independent country we did not have a regulator in the real estate sector.

And the construction sector is 16% of our employment.

What does that mean? Agriculture is the largest (provider of employment), this (construction sector) is the second largest, so did not have any regulation for 30% to 35% of your economy.

I think those who criticise note ban as delusional -- including Dr Manmohan Singh who called it organised loot -- have a lot to answer for.

Yes, there were some hardships, but look at the situation now. I deal with the real estate sector, I know there's still some black money. But is it at the same scale (as earlier)? Not at all.

I think we got a handle on this black money thing, but there's still some distance to go. And it is happening slowly.

Why did you say that the 2019 elections are 'India's last chance'?

No, I say Modi was India's last chance.

Because the kind of work this government has done -- I'm talking about physical delivery -- is fantastic, like no time in our history.

I will tell about the urban sector. In the 10 years of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government you had (spent) something like Rs 1.5 lakh crores. In the period between 2014 and January 2019, we spent Rs 8.6 lakh crores.

Yes, I think he (Modi) needs another 10 years. Because by then we will be a $10 trillion economy, per capita incomes would have gone up four times, and I think we're getting there.

You don't see any challenge from a united Opposition?

Let's get serious. You have 11 Opposition parties there. Seven of them have active prime ministerial candidates. So you've one different prime minister for every day of the week.

But that's not the issue.

If you're like-minded parties, alliances will be predictable and stable.

But look at the history between the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, look at the relations between the Telugu Desam and the Congress. The Telugu Desam was born because of so-called Congress corruption.

SP and BSP were abusing each other. Same with the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress.

If you think these people can come together, I have serious difference of opinion.

First of all, you can't transfer your votes. If you and I form an alliance, doesn't mean your vote bank will agree with the alliance.

But even if they come together, I don't think it's a credible alternative.February 14, 2019 12:39 IST

'Her presence before and during the Lok Sabha election will electrify the political environment.'

Photograph: Arun Sharma/PTI Photo

"In Lucknow, the entire media was after Priyanka Gandhi in that road show, but when it came to speaking, only Rahul Gandhi spoke," points out Prashant Trivedi, a political scientist who specialises in the social development, political economy of land reforms and rural studies in Uttar Pradesh.

"Priyanka is charismatic and will galvanise workers, not only in UP but beyond. But results will only reflect in those constituencies where local leaders have their own organisations," Dr Trivedi tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih.

What impact is Priyanka Gandhi likely to have in UP politics?

She is a charismatic leader. Hopefully, she will be able to galvanise the Congress party, not only in UP but beyond.

Her presence before and during the Lok Sabha election will electrify the political environment. It will be a more interesting election to watch than 2014.

2014 saw a one sided carpet bombing by the BJP. This time it will be a multi-starrer campaign.

With Priyanka Gandhi's presence, 2019 will be a more interesting election to watch in UP.

What difference can she make in eastern UP, particularly Varanasi where the prime minister's popularity holds sway?

It is not necessary for Priyanka Gandhi to make a dent in the PM's popularity because the prime minister's popularity is getting dented otherwise also.

The issue of stray cattle is the biggest issue in the rural areas of UP. Two years ago, the Yogi Adityanath government closed abattoirs, legal or otherwise, which has resulted in manifold increase of stray cattle.

Farmers of all castes are finding it very difficult to protect their standing crop. They have spent winter nights in the field protecting their crops.

Small farmers blame the state government, but section of bigger farmers might think that this is created by the Yogi government and Modi can't be blamed. These issues are denting the mass base of the BJP.

Priyanka held meetings with block level workers late into the night till 5 am. Isn't it too late to try and pep up party workers to make them into a fighting force?

Parties depend on caste-based voter support. Yadavs for the SP, Jatavs for the BSP, Brahmins and upper castes for the BJP.

A particular caste forms the core of political parties. The Congress does not have that core neither does it have an organisation like the RSS or Left parties. At the same time they have local satraps who have their own networks.

The Congress performs well only in those constituencies.

Priyanka will galvanise people, but results will only be reflected in those constituencies where local leaders have their own organisations.

It is a damning comment on the oldest party in India that in a modern India it still pins its hope on the Family.

Is this culture of the Congress unchangeable?

Dynasty politics is a moral issue. It has no place in a democracy. But beyond that it doesn't have a real life effect on people.

In India, dynasties are not only confined to politics. They are in the corporate world and in other professions.

For some strange reason, dynasties are acceptable to people. Political parties are not fielding sons and daughters for losing the elections. They feel they have higher chances of winning and it seems to be coming true in many cases.

Dynasty politics is somehow culturally acceptable in India and all political parties are indulging in it. It is not going to change very soon.

IMAGE: Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi. Photograph: @INCIndia/Twitter

Do you think Priyanka will contest the election?

She may contest her mother's seat, one can't say.

The Congress would not like to raise any other person who has the chances to come parallel to Rahul Gandhi.

In Lucknow the entire media was after her in that road show, but when it came to speaking, only Rahul Gandhi spoke.

The Congress manages the show in such a way that the leader remains the leader. Nobody can come close to that.

Rahul Gandhi has himself travelled a long distance in these 15 years. After defeating the BJP in 3 states, even the BJP is not calling him 'Pappu' anymore.

Rahul and Priyanka have the potential to reach out to the people and placing an alternative for the people.

UP constituencies have been divided between Priyanka Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia. What is it about the make-up of eastern UP that this area has been assigned to her?

The Congress is not like any other party. It is a different kind of party. It does not have a pre-determined mass base. It is neither a cadre-based party.

The strength of the Congress is that it is acceptable to all sections of society.

The BJP propaganda in the last five years of a 'Congress mukt Bharat' never struck a chord with the people. You will not find an ardent Congress supporter or an intense Congress hater.

People agree or disagree with its policies, but don't hate it.

The party has a wider acceptability which is a strength of the party.

Jyotiraditya Scindia and Priyanka Ganddhi will concentrate on constituencies that they hope will be winnable for the Congress.

The party depends on local leaders in the absence of their own cadre. Wherever local leaders have good rank and file of workers, they give a good fight.

What is the rationale behind assigning Jyotiraditya to western UP and Priyanka to eastern UP?

I can't pinpoint the rationale behind it, but the party should not have confined Priyanka to a region. She has mass appeal, they could have used her in UP and beyond.

IMAGE: The road show in Lucknow, February 11, 2019. Photograph: Atul Yadav/PTI Photo

You say she is a mass leader, but she has nothing to show on her mark sheet.

You are right because she has not taken any responsibility, neither in the party or the government.

She has not delivered, but still whenever she has campaigned in the Amethi-Rae Bareli area, people know she can connect, which is a great strength for a party like the Congress, which depends on the charisma of its leaders.

She will be a great asset for the Congress party in the election.

By contesting all the seats in UP where the SP-BSP are in alliance, won't the Congress play the role of spoiler and ultimately benefit the BJP?

Once the Congress enters the fray, it has the potential to unsettle the BSP-SP equation.

It has the ability to dent into BJP votes by attracting the upper castes, particularly Brahmins who were traditional voters of the Congress before the 1990s.

It will attract Muslim voters from the mahagatbandhan also.

Won't it play the role of spoiler?

No. The voter will judge.

The anti-BJP voter will vary from constituency to constituency.

Wherever the Congress is capable of taking the BJP in a direct fight, it will mobilise votes for the Congress and where the mahagatbandhan will give a direct fight to the BJP, anti-BJP votes will focus on that (mahagatbandhan) candidate.

In how many seats is there going to be a direct fight between the Congress and BJP in your view?

8 to 10 seats. The mahagatbandhan is a very formidable force of social coalition. It is expected to do very well.

In the last five years, how has the political situation in UP changed?

In the last two years, the state government has become a liability for the central government.

Law and order, farmers, jobs, there is all round disappointment with the state government.February 14, 2019 17:40 IST

While the entry of 62-year-old Noel Tata, half brother of Ratan Tata, into Tata Trusts is being seen as a significant departure from the past within the salt-to-software conglomerate, Jehangir, a long-standing philanthropist is expected to add heft to Tata Trusts. On the other hand, Venkatarmanan would shift to another role within the group.

Tata Trusts, a cluster of charitable organisations controlling 66 per cent of Tata Sons, the holding company of the group, announced a series of top-level changes after a crucial board meeting on Wednesday.

The restructuring includes one exit and two fresh inductions into the trust.

R Venkataramanan (Venkat as hes often called) stepped down as managing trustee of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, while Noel N Tata, chairman of Trent and managing director of Tata International, and philanthropist Jehangir H C Jehangir have been brought in as trustees at the Sir Ratan Tata Trust.

The entry of 62-year-old Noel Tata, left, half brother of Ratan Tata, into Tata Trusts is being seen as a significant departure from the past within the salt-to-software conglomerate.

Noel is also brother-in-law of former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry.

Although there has been much talk earlier about Noels likely entry into the Trusts, it had so far proved to be a false alarm.

Before Mistry took charge as chairman at Tata Sons, Noels name had done the rounds as a contender too.

Shy and low-profile Noel, seen as a contrarian in personal life and in business, has focused on Trents profitability over scale, that other retail chains chased.

Observers believe its that trait which may take him places in future.

At Tata Trusts, sources said he may be inducted into other trusts under its fold as well in the months to come.

The second trustee to be inducted on Wednesday, Jehangir, 65, is currently overseeing the health care mission at Jehangir Hospital, Pune, as chairman.

Hailing from a Parsi business family, Jehangir, whos on the board of several other companies, is a long-standing philanthropist.

He's expected to add heft to Tata Trusts, according to people in the know.

While the new appointments made news, it was Venkats resignation that was being watched by whos who of India Inc.

Considered a Ratan Tata loyalist, Venkat had risen from the ranks and had assumed a position of power, managing all the trusts.

A recent order from the income-tax department had however put a question mark on his current role.

The I-T department denied tax exemption to Dorabji Tata Trust, the biggest under the Tata Trusts umbrella, over high compensation of the managing trustee.

The statement issued by Tata Trusts, chaired by Ratan Tata, on Wednesday just said Venkat had stepped down from his role following completion of a five-year term.

He will relinquish responsibilities as managing trustee on March 31.

It is learnt that Venkat would shift to another role within the group.

A formal decision on that is yet to be made. An official however denied that he could move to Tata Sons.

An international position is among the roles under consideration.

Sources also said that the structure of Tata Trusts may be altered with the CEOs position replacing that of a managing trustee.

The new CEO is yet to be appointed.

R Venkataramanan informed the chairman and the trustees of the Tata Trusts that he had been considering other options, given that he was completing five years as the Trusts executive trustee/managing trustee, and sought to be relieved.

"At the meeting of the trustees of the Tata Trusts held today, the trustees regretfully accepted his request, the statement said.

V R Mehta, trustee, Tata Trusts, said, Its a normal process of governance and there is nothing out of the ordinary about it.

After the I-T department cited a violation linked to the compensation paid to Venkat while withdrawing tax exemptions, there was a question mark on his continuation as managing trustee.

On the induction of two new trustees, Mehta said, We considered several names and finally decided on these two as these are prominent people.

Tata Trusts has set up a committee comprising Tata Trusts chairman and the recently appointed vice chairmen - Vijay Singh and Venu Srinivasan - to select a CEO.

"We will need a CEO to oversee all the path breaking work being done by the Trusts, a trustee said.

Family business experts lauded induction of Noel Tata as a trustee. Kavil Ramachandran, executive director of Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprises at the Indian School of Business, said,

To me bringing a Tata family member is very important in the sense that it reflects familys commitment to philanthropy.

"Its also important because the trustees are the custodians of the family wealth and the presence of a family member means the values remain intact.February 14, 2019 16:56 IST

After the government backtracked on its plan to impose Customs duty on pricier components, Samsung has decided to begin production of key mobile parts in Noida from April.

The countrys largest mobile component producer Samsung India is preparing to begin production of key components like display screens, touch panels and vibrator motors from April.

The move is significant as it comes after the government backtracked on its plan to impose Customs duty on those pricier components from February 1.

According to sources, the withdrawal of the February 1 deadline came as a breather for the company that had in the past one and a half years struggled to improve its share in the local smartphone market.

After it lost the top slot to Xiaomi in September 2017, it charted a comeback plan.

It heavily focused on India specific innovations and increased the scope of local value addition in handset production by moving towards complete-knocked down (CKD) manufacturing.

However, the governments abrupt change in the phased manufacturing programme (PMP) deadline, announced last year, hampered Samsungs plans to regain the top spot in the smartphone market.

For the first time since 2012, Samsung finished the calendar year 2018 at the second spot with 24 per cent share, behind Xiaomi (28 per cent).

Following the governments earlier notification that had advanced the deadline for local production - from FY19-20 to February 1, 2019 - Samsung, in a letter to the prime ministers office expressed deep concerns over sustainability of the local manufacturing unit.

The firm had said that the advancement of the deadline would hamper its production and export plans from the India unit.

Further, Samsung might have to stop production of some of its flagship models like Galaxy S9 and Note9, apart from a cut in export from India to 15 per cent of its total production from 40 per cent planned earlier, the letter said.

The firm is now set to manufacture those components at its Noida facility.

In July, the Korean manufacturer had announced a mega-expansion plan for the Noida facility in an extravagant ceremony with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its chief guest.

It planned to develop the plant as the worlds largest mobile manufacturing facility by expanding its production capacity to 120 million units of handsets a year by 2020 from 68 million.

Further, Samsung said it would increase exports from India and would invest Rs 4,915 crore.

According to the original PMP, firms may begin local production of display screens, touch panels and vibrator motors between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020.

But sources say the Centre may extend the deadline to April 1, 2020.

Industry bodies like India Cellular and Electronics Association and Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association had been lobbying for an extension in the original deadline, given many handset makers are yet to meet the previous deadline of 2017-18 and 2018-19.

Samsung is not resuming production of television in India.

Early last year, it had stopped producing TVs locally after the government imposed a 5 per cent import duty on panels.

Since then, the firm is importing fully-finished TV sets from its Vietnam facilities.

The firm imports from Vietnam without paying any import duty due to a free-trade agreement.

Until the government makes local TV production competitive, it is unlikely that Samsung India would resume production, said a senior executive with knowledge of the developments.

Oppo and Vivo likely to go the Samsung way Mobile phone makers Oppo and Vivo, both from Guanzhou-based BBK Electronics, are likely to follow their South Korean rival Samsung in making key components locally in the next one year. The move comes as the Centre deferred the imposition of duties on crucial parts, sources told Business Standard. Companies, it is learnt, had lobbied hard for the postponement of the import duty to April 1, 2020, instead of it being implemented on February 1, 2019. Samsung will begin making components from April 2020, once the duty kicks in. Production will start at its Noida facility, which is also its largest mobile phone manufacturing plant in the world. While mails sent to Oppo and Vivo elicited no response till the time of going to press, sources said the firms, like Samsung, had been pushing for the import duty deferment, saying it would hamper investment in a local ecosystem they were building. Oppo and Vivo, too, have manufacturing units in Noida. According to industry leaders, the postponement of the duty levy would give handset makers time to align their production plans with suppliers. Many would also have to find suppliers of those components while others may have to put up a plan in co-ordination with their existing suppliers, who would have to start producing parts. It is a step in the right direction, a senior executive from a smartphone company said. Vikas Agarwal, country head, India, OnePlus, said the next phase of manufacturing in the country would require a local base from where components would have to be sourced. All brands, including OnePlus, are looking at localisation seriously. We are talking with our suppliers and plan to increase the level of local value addition, Agarwal said. To put things in perspective, the government had decided to advance the phased manufacturing programme (PMP) for FY20 by two months, saying it would give Make in India a boost. PMP envisages converting India into an electronics manufacturing hub by making imports dearer. Since 2017, the government has increased Customs duty on mobile components, encouraging firms to manufacture these products locally. While the government claimed that the PMP schedule for FY20 was being advanced to coincide with the interim Budget, mobile phone makers had argued that they were unprepared to manufacture these components quickly, since they were expecting the levies to kick in from April 1, 2020. Pankaj Mohindroo, chairman of industry body India Cellular & Electronics Association, said that the focus should be on manufacturing components that were part of previous PMP programmes rather than adding new items to the list. Samsung had written to the Prime Ministers Office last month, saying that the advancement of the FY20 PMP deadline to February would hamper its local production and export from India. The firm also said it would have to stop production of some of its flagship models if the government went ahead with its move. Also, it would have to cut exports from India to 15 per cent of its total production from 40 per cent planned earlier.

Photograph: Andrew Kelly/ReutersLast updated on: February 14, 2019 20:32 IST

The XUV300, Mahindra's second compact SUV, is so packed with segment-firsts that it is sure to send shockwaves among competitors.

Text and photographs: Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com

Mahindra & Mahindra on Thursday launched a new SUV, the XUV300, which is a souped down variant of the premium model XUV500.

The sub-4 metre XUV300 comes in both petrol and diesel options, and the starting ex-showroom price is Rs 7.90 and Rs 8.49 lakh, respectively, and is powered by a 1.2-litre (petrol) and 1.5-litre (diesel) engine.

The company is expecting the new SUV to clock higher volumes that the XUV500 when launched in 2011, Chairman Anand Mahindra said at the launch and on the back of the rollout of Marazzo and Alturas G4 recently.

The sub-4 metre segment already has the likes of the EcoSport from Ford, Vitara Brezza from Maruti Suzuki and the Nexon from Tata Motors.

"The XUV brand when launched in 2011 was an inflection moment in our automotive journey. Today, as we launch the XUV300, we take the aspirational levels higher. Based on the X100 platform of SsangYong, the XUV300 is a global product that combines Korean technology with Indian innovation and finesse," Mahindra said.

Managing director Pawan Goenka said the new SUV is their latest offering in the next generation of aspirational vehicles, after the Marazzo and the Alturas G4.

The stylish and thrilling new XUV300 (XUV three double oh), as Mahindra calls it, comes with 30 hi-tech features and a maximum carpet area in any car in the segment, thanks to the altered suspension and long wheelbase.

A compact SUV which is aimed to make driving fun, it is also a first for an M&M to release another car in the same compact SUV segment where they already have the TUV300.

A smaller sibling of the XUV500, the XUV300 has many segment firsts.

The XUV300 has evolved from none other than the Mahindra-owned Ssanyong Tivoli which we first saw at the 2016 Auto Expo. Evolved as in it is a completely different avatar of the successful South Korean brand partner of M&M.

To make it a sub 4-metre SUV, Mahindra has reduced the XUV300's length from 4.2 to 3.9 metres. And by using its own engine and suspension, the auto maker has ensured it is a completely new car.

Here's taking a look at the car itself.

The chrome studded grille signature of Mahindra and the projector headlamps look good. And the vertical DRLs really do stand out.

At the back, too, the wraparound tail lights with part LED lamps are quite impressive to look at. And the rear skid plates can be made better with M&M's genuine skid plate extender.

The contrasting roof and the 17-inch optional spider alloy wheels stand out and although the boot space does seem to be compromised but that had to be done to get this car under the 4-metre category. Also, the high loading lip on the car might be a problem while loading heavy luggage.

The XUV300 launch in Mumbai was attended by (from left) Rajan Wadhera, president, automotive sector, Mahindra & Mahindra, Dr Pawan Goenka, managing director, Anand Mahindra, chairman, Mahindra group, and Veejay Nakra, chief of sales & marketing, M&M Ltd.

The XUV300 has a dual tone interior across all models and the instrument cluster has nice big bright dials, of which you can change the colours according to your preference.

A first for this segment is the dual-zone fully automatic temperature control which till now we have only seen in high end cars.

Also in the centre is the 7 touchscreen infotainment system with GPS navigation, Apple Car Play & Android Auto. It also displays an attractive ECOSENSE technology with social media connectivity, and micro hybrid system which helps save fuel in stop and go traffic and also improves driving.

And the first I have ever seen in any car in this segment is the tyre position display on the instrument cluster by which one can see the position of the tyres before getting off the vehicle. This is a big, big plus.

Neatly crafted are the stability and traction controls, start stop and parking assist buttons all within good reach of the driver. But the AC vents look and feel quite rigid.

On the door panels are the window winder buttons and the OVRM controls resting on a piano black base. Oh yes, the OVRMs can be warmed up in heavy rains so that one can view the cars behind us with ease. This, too, is a segment first. The cabin also has loads of cubbyholes and practical storage spaces.

The front seats are quite comfy, with enough lumbar support for a long tireless drive. And the XUV300 comes with a 6-speed manual transmission mated to a 1.5L Turbo Diesel Engine which gives a 300 Nm torque -- another first in this segment -- and also a 1.2L petrol engine which churns out 200 Nm of torque.

There are a lot many segments first features in the XUV300 which the competition might have to worry about now. To name a few: there are the parking sensors in the front, a variable steering wheel, disc brakes on all four wheels, cruise control, 7 airbags, sunroof and more...

This is a fitting sibling to the XUV500, an SUV of international quality made by Mahindra.

So how does Mahindra plan to have two compact SUVs in the race?

For the rough and tough they have the TUV300.

And for the tarmac, they now have the smaller Cheetah -- the XUV300!

The XUV300 has been launched in 3 variants each in diesel and petrol, at a price starting from Rs 7,90,000.

Coming in 6 colors here are what the variants cost:

Mahindra XUV 300 PETROL DIESEL W4 Rs 7,90,000 W4 Rs 8,49,000 W6 Rs 8,75,000 W6 Rs 9,30,000 W8 Rs 10,25000 w8 Rs 10,80,000 Optional pack for an additional Rs 1.19,000

Watch: Indian Racecar Driver Gaurav Gill drives the Xuv300 at its launch in Mumbai.Valentine's Day is coming up and we saved you the trouble of hunting down the best date spots in town. Here are nine Valentine's Day activities for couples including jazz, cocktails, karaoke and more.Posted Thursday, February 14, 2019 9:30 am

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.The Citizen Advisory Committee is currently faced with 88 potential projects and, is tasked with narrowing down the projects to submit a final list of proposed projects within the budget to the ACC Mayor and Commission by July.Traverse City, MI (49684)

Today

Isolated thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy after midnight with light rain possible. Thunder possible. Low 67F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Isolated thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy after midnight with light rain possible. Thunder possible. Low 67F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.This article originally appeared in RECOIL Issue 41

LONG SHOT WITH A LITTLE GUN

Little is a relative term. In relation to centerfire, rifle-caliber guns, the Nosler Custom Handgun makes it possible to take a long shot with a little gun. Designed for handgun hunting, the NCH is in a class of its own, as a rifle-caliber, bolt-action pistol. Two decades ago, Remington retired its version of a similar hunting handgun, the XP-100. So, the NCH is currently the only hunting handgun platform of its kind thats available direct from a manufacturer.

At first glance, the NCH is confusing. Its even more perplexing when you have one in hand, because you immediately realize its nothing like a pistol and vaguely resembles a rifle. But it serves a niche market of hunters who like to be challenged by medium to long-range shots with a rifle-caliber pistol.

To understand why the NCH is even a thing, I talked to one of the most-experienced handgun hunters in the world, Mark Hampton, and then put it to the test in the field. Having used a multitude of weapons for hunting, the NCH proved to be the most difficult for me to master. Once I figured out how to problem-solve this abstract pistol, hitting targets became easy and fun.

Handgun Rundown

Based around Noslers Model 48 short action, the NCH is a single-shot pistol, fed from a solid-bottom receiver. It looks like a rifle with the stock cut off, but theres much more to the engineering than that. The Nosler NCH is a product of a well-thought-out, high-quality, well-designed handgun, says Hampton. Nosler didnt cut any corners; they tried to get it right the first time, and I think they did.

Past the action, the NCH was developed from the ground up. The bedded action and free-floated barrel rest in a 6061-T6 bar stock aluminum stock. A cross-bolt safety prevents the trigger from being pulled when on safe, but is effortless to disengage with your trigger finger right before taking the shot, as long as you arent wrong-handed. A reversible safety may be offered in the future. The custom part of the NCH comes in the form of different Cerakote colors, barrel lengths, muzzle brake, fluted or non-fluted barrels, and six calibers to choose from.

Taking a note from the AR platform, the NCH pistol grip can be swapped out for any standard AR pistol grip. This is great because pistol grip preference is as personal as your choice of boxers or briefs. The NCH comes from the factory with a Hogue OverMolded rubber grip with generous finger groves.

Most rifles have noticeable recoil. Imagine that same amount of recoil, but without the additional contact point of the buttstock in your shoulder. Chambered in a rifle caliber, the NCH undoubtedly has recoil that has to go somewhere. Nosler engineers were wise to thread the barrel, allowing for a muzzle brake or silencer. Using a muzzle brake will mitigate some of the recoil, but it will be offensively loud. On my loaner NCH, I used a silencer.

But, Why?

Why would anyone want to hunt with a handgun? For the same reason some hunters choose a bow instead of a rifle; getting close to your prey is a rush and a challenge. Using a handgun to hunt is a middle ground between using a rifle or bow. The type of handgun you use determines how close you need to get to make the shot. For the NCH, the limitations are related to the caliber selected and your proficiency level.

In addition to hunting, there are dedicated competitions for long-range handguns. Silhouette pistol shooting is a game where old people shoot from contorted positions at metal targets shaped like animals. Targets vary in size and are usually placed out to 500 yards. Its these types of competitions that spawned unique freestyle shooting positions with names like the creedmoor or dead frog. Another type of competitive shooting for handguns like the NCH is the Annual MOA Long Range Cold Turkey Handgun Match in Sundance, Wyoming. Target distances start at 500 yards, advance to 750 yards, and finally end at 1,000 yards. This intriguing match proves how capable long-range pistols can be in skilled hands.

The Real Test

I was given the opportunity to go on an antelope hunt with the Nosler crew. My loaner NCH was chambered in 22 Nosler, and came with a case of 55-grain Nosler E-Tip. To put it into perspective, the caliber is roughly 12-percent more powerful than a 223; the muzzle velocity listed on the box was 3,300 fps.

A fixed four-power Leupold FX-II came mounted on the NCH. Eye relief on the scope is 18 inches, which I couldnt achieve without using a Picatinny cantilever riser. Some handgun hunters prefer to use a riflescope instead of a handgun scope so they can use more magnification. They knowingly put up with scope shadow and pull the trigger when the scope has an even amount of shadow all the way around. That fact shocked me because scope shadow affects the point of impact of your bullet, but if you have no choice but to have shadow, the best option is for it to be a perfect donut hole.

With the simple duplex reticle in the Leupold scope and the ammo being used, a 200-yard zero maximized the lethality of the handgun out to 300 yards without having to come completely off the target. At 100 yards, the hold was a little low, 200 was dead on, and at 300 yards, the hold was at the top of an 8-inch plate.

My first shots were humbling. Getting into a stable position, with minimal wobble, was extremely difficult. I did my research, and most handgun hunters either use a bipod and bag combo or shoot from a hunting tripod or sticks. I mimicked all the positions I found, minus the human-pretzel ones. Shooting prone was fairly stable, but knowing prone shots in hunting are rare, I was determined to shoot from an elevated position.

After trying multiple hunting tripods and shooting sticks and still not gaining enough confidence to consistently hit an 8-inch plate at 300 yards, frustration took over but my experience in precision long-range matches saved me. Borderline angry, but pleasantly challenged by this new gun, I locked it into the most stable elevated shooting device I know of  a Really Right Stuff tripod with the Vyce clamp. After putting the NCH on the RRS tripod, hitting that 8-inch plate became childs play. Some people say that putting the handgun on a tripod isnt sportsman-like, but when an animals life is at the receiving end, Ill always choose whats most ethical. An ethical shot is one thatll take the animals life as quickly and painlessly as possible. The stability of the RRS tripod was the most ethical option.

The Kill

Getting within 300 yards of a herd of antelope proved to be difficult. In Utah, there were areas of rolling hills that would suddenly open up to flat land. Antelope are observant, and it wasnt until the final day that we got close enough. We spotted a small group of antelope, with one buck that was 210 yards away. They didnt see us, so I quickly deployed the tripod and set up for the shot.

A single shot dropped the buck in his tracks; he didnt take another step. The Nosler E-Tip projectile went shoulder-to-shoulder, clipping both lungs, and was recovered inside the hide. Success.

Lessons Learned

I didnt expect the NCH to be such a challenge to shoot. After learning how to shoot it, I understand why theres a dedicated demographic of hunters who enjoy using a handgun. If I hadnt already been proficient in both pistol shooting and long-range rifle shooting, I wouldve been at a loss of how to use this weapon.

After the hunt, I discussed the difficulty of long-range handgun hunting with Hampton. I asked him what advice hed give to a new shooter who wants to start handgun hunting. I would strongly recommend getting a 22 rimfire pistol and put a handgun scope on it, said Hampton. Getting used to a handgun scope takes a lot of practice. Putting a handgun scope on a 22 rimfire saves money while giving a lot of trigger time. Its also good to practice in difficult shooting positions you might encounter in the field.

This wont be my last handgun hunt, but next time Ill opt for a larger caliber and a variable power scope. Having the ability to reach out farther is always a good option. The NCH is an impressive handgun that performed exactly as advertised; using it for hunting makes for a memorable and unique experience.

Visit https://www.nosler.com/Kate Gosselin says starring on her own dating show was an "exciting" and "awkward" experience.

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The 43-year-old television personality and her 18-year-old twin daughters, Cara and Mady, discussed her new TLC series, "Kate Plus Date," Tuesday at the Television Critics Association winter press tour.

"I knew what I wasn't looking for, but I couldn't articulate what I was looking for," Gosselin said, according to USA Today.

"They were strictly blind dates, but I didn't even know, really, their names, until minutes before."

"A lot of the awkwardness, uncomfortable terrified reactions came from the fact that they were hit or miss," she added.

"It's a very difficult concept, and this is a very real show in that I am really looking for someone."

"Kate Plus Date" follows Gosselin as she looks for love in New York. The mom-of-eight goes on a series of dates set up by matchmakers.

"I love to date on TV -- the safety it provides -- but I didn't realize how awkward I'd feel," she said. "It's hard to watch, exciting, awkward, fun and really rewarding."

FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS!

Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source!

Gosselin is parent to eight children -- Cara, Mady and 14-year-old sextuplets Aaden, Alexis, Collin, Hannah, Joel and Leah -- with ex-husband Jon Gosselin , from whom she split in 2009.

Cara and Mady said they support their mom's decision to start dating again.

"We've been nudging her to date for years," Mady said, according to E! News. "We're all, all eight of us, are so glad that she finally is."

"She deserves to be happy. Everyone deserves to be happy," she added.

"Kate Plus Date" premieres in June.,



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Nearby 809 W. Illinois StFaced with the opportunity to defeat the most unpopular president in modern times, its a wonder the Democratic Party is working to re-elect him. By the things they are discussing and, more importantly, failing to address, Democrats have recently elevated anti-Semitism, socialism, infanticide and a focus on diversity that is divisive rather than unifying. The smart candidate on their side, if there is one, should see this as a silver lining and reject such extremism outright.

Voters are questioning whether Kamala Harris is black enough, while she is threatening to take away peoples private insurance. Democrats now have problems with Israel, billionaires, prosecutors and even airplanes. Whats next?

The mostly liberal contenders in the Democratic primary seem to be content to let all of this rip. After all, they have yet to be challenged by moderating voices that could come with the entrance of Vice President Joe Biden or Mike Bloomberg or John Hickenlooper or Steve Bullock. But any candidate who wants to beat President Trump next year should distance him- or herself from the provocateurs imitating him. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar are the break-out stars of nearly all of the GOPs fundraising appeals these days. They have irritated a good number of their Democratic colleagues who have already had to answer for Omars anti-Semitic tweet and subsequent apology, whether Tlaib was speaking for her caucus when she promised her supporters were gonna impeach the m-fer, as well as Cortezs rejection of the ultra-wealthy and her Green New Deal subsidizing Americans unwilling to work and seeking to eliminate air travel. Combined, they amount to a Trumpian Trio in the Democratic Party -- defiance, outrage and publicity are priorities, but the facts arent always so important. Its clear to the more seasoned lawmakers around them that these Instagram darlings are just getting started.

But noisy neophytes arent the only problem Democrats have to contend with. The top three elected leaders in the Commonwealth of Virginia have given them plenty of headaches, and dont seem willing to resign and clean up their big mess -- of racist costumes and sexual assault scandals plaguing Gov. Ralph Northam, Attorney General Mark Herring and Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, respectively.

The revelation that white men partying in blackface arent just members of the GOP was the controversy that bounced Northams horrifying description of late-term abortion -- using the word infant -- out of the headlines, after it had been noticeably met with no push-back whatsoever from Democrats.

Last weekend Democrats considered derailing the spending deal and owning a new government shutdown by insisting on reducing the number of ICE detention beds, only to be rescued by -- you guessed it -- another consuming controversy as Omars tweet managed to take over the news.

The newly minted Minnesota congresswoman, who tweeted in 2012 about the evil doings of Israel and how Israel had hypnotized the world, played on an anti-Semitic stereotype of Jews buying political influence in her tweet swiping at Republicans, writing on Sunday, it's all about the Benjamins baby, before clarifying she was referring to the Jewish lobby AIPAC. It was swiftly denounced by Democratic leaders including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who issued a joint statement calling it offensive, forcing Omar to apologize. She did so unequivocally, but pushed back too, issuing a tweet including her statement with the words listening and learning, but standing strong. She also took another dig at AIPAC, stating, 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.

Both Tlaib and Omar have supported the BDS movement, boycott, divestment and sanctions meant to exact economic pressure on Israel for its treatment of Palestinians. Tlaib has said of the senators pushing a bill opposing the BDS, they forgot what country they represent. Ocasio-Cortez recently gushed about her phone visit with the leader of the British Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, who has established a reputation as an anti-Semite.

To combat this leftward drift they see growing among younger members of their party critical of Israel, some prominent Democrats started the Democratic Majority for Israel to educate voters, and they will launch a PAC later this year to influence primary elections. Democrats have been loath to publicly debate this rift and define criticism of the leadership and policies of Benjamin Netanyahu, who embraced President Trump and other Republicans, as distinct from statements and characterizations that are actually anti-Semitic. But party leaders are well aware that Trump doesnt do nuance, and neither -- it seems -- does the Trumpian Trio of the freshman class.

But Ocasio-Cortez did appear to have a learning experience this week, though time will tell if she truly learned from it. Her Green New Deal had an embarrassing launch, released prematurely (says AOCs office) with a description of a policy granting some form of subsidy to all who are unable or unwilling to work (her office later called the accompanying FAQ fact sheet a mistake when it was met with immediate criticism). The Green New Deal proposal itself was endorsed widely, including by several of the 2020 presidential candidates, who werent eager to answer questions about the mix-up. The goal of eliminating the use of fossil fuels would seem to eliminate overseas flights and prompted not just jokes from Trump but push-back from experts like Ernest Moniz, a nuclear physicist and secretary of energy under President Obama. Its just impractical. And if we start putting out impractical targets, we may lose a lot of key constituencies who we need to bring along to have a real low-carbon solution on the most rapid time frame that we can achieve, such as labor unions, Moniz told NPR.

Next year Trump is going to do all he can to divide Democrats and independent voters on Israel and socialism, abortion, immigration and air travel -- whatever openings they give him. The new agitators will no doubt be all too willing to oblige him, happy to become punch lines at Trump rallies. Democrats seeking to be the partys nominee, or influence the race next year, should step up now and disavow all of this before its too late.At the height of the #MeToo ferment over Judge Brett Kavanaugh, hundreds of Harvard and Yale law students shut down their classes to protest Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.ST. LOUIS  Puritanism, said H.L. Mencken, is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

In this historic river city, the unanimously socialist Board of Aldermen is driven by a haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be operating an innovative business that has not been regulated or taxed into extinction.

When I was born here in 1955, the city was densely populated. About 850,000 people were crowded into a tight urban space. Today the population within the same city limits is estimated below 300,000. The everyday scenes of my joyous childhood in north St. Louis have become post-apocalyptic moonscapes.

The wholesome attractions of more space and greenery and newer houses in the suburbs, as well as the destructive racism of white flight, were among the early reasons for the exodus from the city  an independent jurisdiction not belonging to any county -- into outlying St. Louis County during the late 1950s and 1960s. An entirely suburban enclave, St. Louis County from 1950 to 2000 grew from 400,000 to more than 1,000,000. Since the turn of the 21st century, the population of St. Louis County actually has shrunk and is now about 950,000.

Since 1950, the national population has more than doubled, from 152,000,000 to about 325,000,000. But the combined population of the independent City of St. Louis and surrounding St. Louis County today is about the same, or perhaps even smaller, than in 1950.

I left home in 1973 after high school for university studies out of state. Then I pursued a career in journalism and politics and public relations that led me to a long residence in the nations capital and later a fascinating six-year stint living in Saudi Arabia and working for the oil giant Aramco.

In 2015, when I reached Aramcos remarkably young mandatory retirement age of 60 (its a function of Saudi domestic demographics and social policy), I had to leave that company. I had other opportunities in Saudi Arabia, but home beckoned.

I persuaded my wife and our young daughter to agree to move back not to the East Coast but to my native St. Louis  a place they had never lived before. We all have a need for roots, and I want my daughter to experience the excellent quality of family and community and cultural and educational life that makes St. Louis, for all of its shortcomings, a treasure. We moved not to the suburbs but to an old neighborhood in the city.

We were aware of some of what would be in store for us in relocating to St. Louis. We knew very well about the hollowing out of the inner city and the stagnation of metropolitan growth. But we also were encouraged by signs of renewal, notably a much-hyped scene for development of start-up companies  at least of the glamorous kinds such as biotechnology.

We were not, however, quite prepared for some of the antagonism towards simple common sense and the benefits of free markets that we found in the case of petty but devastating local government over-regulation. As world travelers, we have been frequent and very satisfied guests in Airbnb accommodations. For ground transportation when we travel, Uber has been an indispensable convenience and money-saver.

It is hard to exaggerate the shock we encountered in 2015 in learning that Uber, Lyft and comparable enterprises were against the law in St. Louis and St. Louis County.

It was shameful that St. Louis was the last large metropolitan area in the United States to maintain an effective ban on Uber and Lyft. Local politicians were bought and paid for by the taxicab companies, and they refused to budge.

There was much more economic freedom in Saudi Arabia than in St. Louis!

Maybe there was more transparency, too. Some nights I lie awake and reproach myself: Why didnt I accept the offer from that chemical company in Riyadh?

It took action by the Missouri state legislature, dominated by rural free-market conservative Republicans, to pre-empt the Democratic machines anti-business local ordinances in metro St. Louis before Uber and comparable services were allowed to operate and provide their extraordinary benefits for transportation, employment, and increased income in my old home town.

Since 2015, Airbnb and comparable services have grown tremendously in Missouri  and the overwhelming majority of the business is in the city of St. Louis. This new industry provides unprecedented convenience and positive travel experiences for business and personal travelers. As the short-term rental industry in Missouri has grown exponentially, Airbnb has arranged to collect taxes for the state, the city of St. Louis, and other municipalities. The industry now is providing significant income to families as well as a great deal of revenue to the state and municipal treasuries. Already, the big revenue winner is the government of the city of St. Louis.

Good news, eh? Not for the St. Louis Board of Aldermen.

The aldermen are pushing forward a city ordinance that would effectively shut down Airbnb and other short-term rentals. Why? Who knows? Maybe they are sore about the state government pre-empting them from outlawing Uber. Or maybe its just an ideological consistency for doing everything wrong for the local economy.

The proposed city law  lets call it the Euthanize Airbnb Ordinance --would limit short-term rentals to 30 days per stay and 120 total days a year. The proposal also calls for annual city inspections and for violators to receive a maximum $500 fine, up to 90-days in jail, or both.

Want to become a Superhost in St. Louis? Better get a criminal defense lawyer and a bail bondsman, and prepare to go to jail anyway.

Airbnb hosts say the ordinance would put them out of business.

St. Louis Airbnb host Ivan Wine is unhappy about the threat of jail and the threat to his livelihood. He rents two rooms in his house. Its his only source of income during a dry spell of freelance work. He told St. Louis Public Radio hes worried about losing it all.

Id only be able to rent like two days, here and there, a month, he said. Yeah, it would not work. I wouldnt be able to do this. Airbnb would not be a viable option.

Working from home is my only real viable option," he said. "So, one of the things that concerns me with the whole legislation is that I would no longer be able to independently take care of my bills."

He wants to fight as a citizen lobbyist to save Airbnb from euthanasia, but he suffers from multiple sclerosis. He doesnt have the health or strength to fight for his interests. Neither jail nor destitution is a good place to go, with or without multiple sclerosis. Fortunately, the new grassroots group St. Louis Metro Airbnb Hosts is rallying to the cause.

Riding to the rescue in the state capitol is Republican Rep. Derek Grier, from an affluent suburb remote from the city. Airbnb is virtually nonexistent in his district, but he has the interests of the entire state  and even a cruelly unrequited love for the city of St. Louis -- at heart. He has introduced HB 473. Like the legislation that lifted the St. Louis ban on Uber, his bill would pre-empt St. Louis and any other Missouri municipality from regulating the short-term rental industry into extinction.

Killing Airbnb in St. Louis is insane and immoral for many reasons. One is that it would stifle rehabilitation and maintenance of our venerable but endangered housing stock, our beautiful architectural patrimony. Worse, it would rob income from working families that want to work even harder for the sake of their children and communities.

The plight of Ivan Wine shows that the Missouri General Assembly faces a stark choice. If it fails to pre-empt municipalities from euthanizing Airbnb, it should prepare to face higher costs for Medicaid and other welfare programs. For some, hosting an Airbnb is an enjoyable hobby. For many Missourians, it is the lifeline helping families and individuals make ends meet and keeping them off public assistance.

All city officials love tax revenue. The psychosis of the St. Louis aldermen is apparent in that they willfully would destroy a strong and growing source of city tax revenue in order to achieve something they desire even more than money: destruction of citizens freedom.

By way of analogy to the Interstate Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, the General Assembly of Missouri has a duty to citizens and taxpayers to promote common-sense freedom for small businesses. Missouri has problems of competitiveness already. Surely it will stagnate if it persists in being a patchwork of petty fiefdoms that strangle intrastate, and for that matter, interstate, commerce.

Lovers of liberty, economic opportunity and growth, and basic decency everywhere will have a cause to celebrate if the Missouri legislature decides to make some socialist aldermen, somewhere in St. Louis City Hall, unhappy.In late 2017, the revival of an idea over a decade oldthe Quadrilateral Security Dialoguecreated a wave of debate, concern and anticipation across the world. The Quad, as it is commonly referred toor, more precisely, Quad 2.0, as this is its second lifeis an informal dialogue between four of the worlds major democracies: the U.S., Japan, Australia and India.

Quad 2.0, like Quad 1.0, is a controversial yet important idea that has survived the test of time. The four members first major get-together was in December 2004, when they responded to the massive Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in a coordinated multilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operation. Following that, in 2007, the first informal meeting between the four happened on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Manila. Soon afterwards, the first naval exercise involving all the Quad members drew Chinese diplomatic protests, after which Prime Minister Kevin Rudd pulled Australia out of the exercise. Quad 1.0 fell into lethargy.

Its controversial because its perceived to be a way of containing China, which makes it unpopular among many of those who believe that China cant be contained. Other critics say that its an improbable platform for cooperation, especially in the area of defence, among such a diverse group. Concerns (and misconceptions) have also arisen among regional actors, particularly ASEAN, which is said to see the Quad as a way of bypassing its own centrality.

After a decade, the strategic environment has become more tense, and concerns about Chinas actions and position in the region, as well as globally, continue to deepen, justifying the revival of the concept. It was Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abes concept of a democratic security diamond, unveiled in December 2012, that first brought the Quad back to life. And in November 2017, Japanese Defence Minister Taro Kano gave an interview that again focused attention on the Quad idea.

Perhaps Quad 2.0 has received substantially more attention than is warranted by its meagre showing to date. Three meetings of officials (not even ministers) from the four governments have been held, without producing binding official joint statements. Yet, Quad 2.0 has become one of the most contested ideas in current geopolitics. Why?

To objectively answer that question, ASPIs latest Strategic Insights reportQuad 2.0: New perspectives for the revived concept, comprising a selection of pieces from The Strategistprovides a diversity of perspectives on the relationship between the Quad and a range of countries national and regional interests. The contributors shed more light on the prospects for the development of Quad cooperation and explain how the individual nations involved in the Quad, as well as regional actors that are concerned about it, will respond to the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Unlike Quad 1.0, Quad 2.0 seems to have gained bipartisan support in Australia. The governments 2017 foreign policy white paper confirmed Canberras strong commitment to trilateral dialogues with the U.S. and Japan and, separately, with India and Japan: Australia is open to working with our Indo-Pacific partners in other plurilateral arrangements.

India has been said to be the most ambivalent of all. The Strategic Insights report includes nuanced and diverse views from Delhi about how Prime Minister Narenda Modi is likely to approach Indias participation in the Quad. Indias vital interests in the Indian Ocean and Chinas activities in the area can make the Quad more compelling as a framework for strengthening Delhis security.

Official policy documents affirm the U.S.s full commitment to Quad 2.0 as one of Washingtons key security avenues. The Asia Reassurance Initiative Act, which President Donald Trump signed recently, reads in part:

(1) the security dialogue between the United States, Australia, India, and Japan is vital to address pressing security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region in order to promote

(A) a rules-based order;

(B) respect for international law; and

(C) a free and open Indo-Pacific; and

(2) such a dialogue is intended to augment, rather than replace, current mechanisms.

This raises a question about whether the U.S. government sees the Quad as part of the policy of confronting China, which has gained momentum after hardline national defence and national security papers, Trumps tariff war, and Vice President Mike Pences speech at the Hudson Institute calling out China as a strategic competitor.

Out of the many question marks that punctuate each Quad members national debate about the utility of the grouping, one thing is clear: their views remain barely coordinated.

This is apparent even to external observers. An original ASPI survey has shown that, despite the common view that ASEAN is suspicious about the Quad, ASEAN member states evince a wide range of dissimilar opinions and assessments of the value of security cooperation amid growing challenges. The disparate views among individual ASEAN member states, as well as the gap between political leaders and intellectuals in the region, reflect the complexity of the strategic environment today.

A key to the success of the Quad is its relationship with the Indo-Pacific concept. Quad 2.0 coincides with the promotion of the theme of a free and open Indo-Pacific (FOIP), also articulated (although not without differences) by the four partners, which adds to the general confusion. Because the Quad shares some of the principles that are supported by the FOIP, the two are often conflated. But while the FOIP advocates openness and inclusivity, the Quad is a minilateral, which by definition has exclusive membership and a limited and sharply focused agenda.

In each case, more conceptualisation is needed: both the FOIP and the Quad continue to suffer from a lack of clarity, and as a result are gaining limited external support.When Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Manila last November with multi-billion dollar promises of new aid and investment, many thought bilateral relations were set to reach new heights.

Less than three months later, relations are under extraordinary new strain as tensions spiral in the South China Sea over Manila's plans to refurbish long-neglected facilities on its claimed Thitu Island, the second largest naturally formed land feature in the contested maritime area.Public broadcaster SBS and production partner Blink TV have inked a five year deal to secure Australias place in the Eurovision Song Contest until 2023.





Australia has competed for the past four years in the worlds largest television music competition, however until now has been invited annually by the European Broadcasting Union.The news follows Australia's first ever selection show, Eurovision  Australia Decides, earlier this month. In the show, Kate Miller-Heidke and her song Zero Gravity were chosen to fly the flag for Australia at this years contest in Tel Aviv in May."SBS has been the home of the Eurovision Song Contest in Australia for 35 years and were thrilled by this invitation to become a more permanent member of the Eurovision Song Contest family. We will continue to showcase Australias amazing talent and diversity to hundreds of millions of people across Europe and the world. It highlights the power of music to bring people together  even from polar opposite sides of the globe. Thank you Europe! said Josh Martin, commissioning editor, SBS Executive supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest Jon Ola Sand said: We are delighted that Australia has become a more permanent member of the Eurovision Song Contest family. The Australians have long been huge fans of the event with a great number of loyal viewers year on year and when they were invited to participate in the 60th anniversary edition of the contest, we couldnt have imagined quite how popular their artists would become.It was a natural progression for us to agree to their inclusion as a participant for the next five years as they bring so much to the table and we very much look forward to welcoming them to Tel Aviv to perform, alongside the 41 other exciting participants in whats sure to be a fantastic celebration of music, added Jon Ola Sand. Eurovision Song Contest 2018 attracted around 186 million viewers worldwide and reached more than 2.9 million Australians on SBS, said the broadcaster.The channel, which began a 15-day ban on 13 February, stands accused by the NBTC of causing public confusion, inciting conflict in society, and threatening national security because it featured guests who were critical of Thailands military government, ahead of the national election on 24 March 2019.The suspension of Voice TV underlines the message that criticising Thailands military government prior to the elections is forbidden, said Brad Adams, Asia director of the New York based NGO Human Rights Watch. Thailands generals are showing they dont intend to ease their heavy-handed rule over the country to ensure a fair vote.The Committee to Protect Journalists also called on the country's military government to allow all media to report freely on the nation's politics.Voice TV is owned by Panthongtae Shinawatra, the son of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. It is aligned with the Pheu Thai party, which was ousted in the country's 2014 military coup and is reportedly competing in the upcoming elections. Voice TV has been targeted for censorship and punishment more than any other TV station in Thailand since the military came to power in 2014, claims Human Rights Watch. Authorities shut down the station for 26 days in 2014 and seven days in 2017. In addition, there have been 17 partial bans, in which authorities instructed the station to remove certain programmes, the NGO said.Thailands elections wont be considered credible if media outlets are gagged and critical commentary about military rule is prohibited, added Adams. The government should immediately uphold media freedom by lifting Voice TVs ban and ending further attempts to silence this and other media outlets critical of the junta.The 27th edition of the Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) is now midway through its six-day run, which will end on February 17. As usual, the first day was designated the Professional Day for trade visitors with the rest of the fair open to the public. And the timingcoming right at the end of the Chinese New Year holiday and the start of the school semesterseems to work very well.

Dual-career parents with leftover bonuses, which are traditionally given out by companies ahead of the major festival, and their children, flush with red packets (or monetary gifts) from doting elders, are prepared to spend. And in Taiwan, spending on educational materials and edutainment products has been trending up in the face of a dropping birthrate (which, at 1.13, is the third-lowest in the world). The fairs opening hours, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (and till 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday evenings), seem geared towards enticing parents to drop by after work or bring in the whole family to shop for more books.

Overall, the childrens book market in Taiwan is growing steadily. In the first half of 2018, a total of 17,171 new titles were released, of which 11% (or about 1,900 titles) were childrens and YA books. The number of childrens titles in the market has increased by at least 10% annually since 2016.

This growth has seen many publishers from different backgrounds jumping onto the bandwagon, said Sing-ju Chang, executive director of Hsin-Yi Foundation, which set up Taiwans first publishing house dedicated to picture books and learning materials for children back in 1971, and is credited for bringing in Eric Carle titles and the BookStart campaign. These publishers introduce diversity to the segment along with a stable of new writers and illustrators, which is inspiring and much needed to invigorate the industry and keep it innovative. But the piece of the pie that is the Taiwanese book market has not grown any bigger over the years, and so the question is always about survival and longevity.

For Chang, the immediate challenge lies in meeting the demands of children that are raised differently from the way many established publishers and I were raised. We also need to publish to meet their needs for the future, and their future is a vastly different world from ours.

Jerome Su, who publishes childrens books and language learning titles under the Bookman imprint, is doing brisk business with translated and original titles from Highlights for Children and Scholastic. English language materials remain popular, especially those offering new learning and teaching methods. Titles from Benchmark Education, Scholastic, and Teacher Created Materials, for instance, are in high demand over here.

Su also sees new topicson women justices (mostly due to the popularity of Ruth Bader Ginsburg) and weather (after so much talk about global warming), for instanceappearing in graded reader programs, which previously tended to focus on the classics. These new topics are most welcomed by Taiwanese parents and educatorsas are new STEM and STEAM courses.

The stability of the Taiwanese childrens book segment is the major factor pulling Paul Gerrish, U.K.-based sales manager of Childs Play, back to Taipei for his 23rd TIBE. Over the years, our great relationships with teachers, educators, and parents along with positive product reviews in various publications have turned us into a brand name here, said Gerrish, who sells both rights and original editions at TIBE. Interest in STEM titles and strong female characters is high, he added. Our four-title Rosas Workshop series by Jessica Spanyol, which will debut in May, is one such example. Then there is the focus on environmental issues, which has many booth visitors gravitating towards Phoebe Swans King Leonards Teddy.

Rising paper costs have seen Childs Play increasing its book prices for the first time in a decade, prompting its distributors in Asia to sign longer-term contracts that hold the prices for the next two to three years.

Pricing issues (due to higher manufacturing costs) have certainly turned publishers away from novelty titles, observed Laurence Richard, head of rights and co-edition sales at Bonnier U.K.. Interest in educational and nonfiction titles, i.e., STEM, was evident since last year. Our Animalium and Botanicum series by Katie Scott and Kathy Willis, respectively, have been selling well here, and I am seeing considerable interest in Colin Stuarts The Speed of Starlight at this TIBE, said Richard, adding that Bonnier author Britta Teckentrup is a recognized name in Taiwan, having sold three of her titles, The Odd One Out, There Are Fish Everywhere, and Wheres the Pair? For Richard, hearing directly from publishers and getting to know what they are looking for is of utmost importance. Keeping in touch with the many publishers who do not attend Bologna or Frankfurt is crucial, and this is why I am back at TIBE for four consecutive years now.

That need to be on the ground has also seen Delhi-based Offshoot Books returning to TIBE for a second visit. There is no way we can tap this market or region by sitting in our India office. Potential partners need to see our products and get to know the entire range, and not just view the catalogue online or communicate with us via emails, said chief editor Eman Chowdhary, who is in Taipei with international business development executive Maria Antony. A huge chunk of Offshoots publishing program revolves around educational activity books, such as Bard-It (on unique terms and phrases found in Shakespeares works), Social Not-Working (for the restless techies), and Tough It Out (on dealing with anger, bullying, dental hygiene, and school assignments). Our titles offer new learning and teaching methods that are exciting and interesting, which are exactly what students, educators, and parents are looking for, Antony added.

For foreign rights and sales manager Lara Clift at Leicester, U.K.-based Sweet Cherry Publishing, there is substantial interest in middle grade series, especially in classics such as Sherlock Holmes as well as new publication Danny Dingles Fantastic Finds, which is now published in 10 languages. In general, Clift finds that quality of content is very important to sophisticated Taiwanese publishers, and their selection methods seem similar to those employed by their Japanese and Korean counterparts. They are also more willing to try new topics and ideas, and will ask for recommendations. At the same time, these publishers are not partial to licensed stuff or brands, unlike in Hong Kong, and they prefer to do separate editions instead of bilingual titles, which are popular in the mainland Chinese market.

It has taken international rights director Nirmal Sandhu of Marco Rodino Agencywhich represents Scholastic U.S. at TIBEsome time to find the right translation partner for Dav Pilkeys Dog Man series. Middle-grade graphic novels in Taiwan tend to have a distinctive style, which is either the Japanese manga or the Korean manhwa type. So Dog Mans unique style, layout, and content requires a new positioning, and we will work with our partner, Hong Kong-based Crown Publishing, to produce the Traditional Chinese edition for both Hong Kong and Taiwan markets, said Sandhu, who brought two middle-grade books to TIBE: Kazu Kibuishis graphic novel Amulet and Christopher Paul Curtiss The Journey of Little Charlie, which just had a big auction in China. By and large, Sandhu added, the Taiwanese market is geared towards picture books, board books, and STEM-related titles. Many are asking for a different type of illustrated nonfictionhighly stylized and funand Mike Lowerys Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts and Valorie Fishers Now You Know series seem to meet their criteria. Sandhu also received a lot of positive feedback for Charlotte Agells Maybe Tomorrow?, a picture book about grief and friendship.

The Taiwanese market is always about illustrated nonfiction, according to Marco Rodino, managing director of his eponymous literary agency, who has visited TIBE since 1992. Taiwan was then the second biggest market in Asia after Japan, and its thirst for knowledge and books has never stopped. Even then, the publishers and readers were sophisticated and responsive to new trends, formats, and ideaswhether they were from the West or the East, said Rodino, adding that fiction remains the most challenging segment. And this is where we should be watching for growth: Are the young editors out there ready to take up and bring in middle grade and YA series for Taiwanese children? If they do, then more will follow in their footsteps.

For Rodino, Taiwan remains a dynamic, manageable, and accessible market that is mostly populated by independent publishers. All types of books work here: there have been no obvious failures nor are there any stand-out titles. This is an open market, and I always wish that more British and American publishersbig and smallwere here at TIBE to see, understand, and explore it.Zenlabs was created with the vision to spur innovation and create future-ready solutions. The team has successfully spurred associates to bring ideas that led to filing of 51 patents, fostering a culture of innovation and futuristic thinking in building customer centric solutions.

Zensar, a leading digital solutions and technology services company that specializes in partnering with global organizations across industries on their Digital transformation journey, announced that Zenlabs, its innovation hub has filed for diverse patents within two years of its launch. The Zenlabs team, has filed a total of 51 patents, focusing on ideas contributed by Zensarians globally and its team of in-house researchers. The key objective of Zenlabs is to build customer focused solutions across next generation technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Distributed Ledger Technologies / Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented (AR) & Virtual Reality (VR).

Commenting on the announcement, Sandeep Kishore, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Zensar said, Zenlabs was created with the vision to spur innovation and create future-ready solutions. The team has successfully spurred associates to bring ideas that led to filing of 51 patents, fostering a culture of innovation and futuristic thinking in building customer centric solutions. Our Return on Digital NeXT (New and Exponential Technologies) strategy is visible through the milestones achieved by Zenlabs.

According to Dr. Ullas Nambiar, Chief Technology Officer, Zensar, In all our interactions with customers, we see immense interest in co-innovating with us to address strategic business challenges with exponential technology. At Zenlabs we have been focused towards building an eco-system for co-innovation driven by business applications of disruptive technologies like AI, Blockchain and IOT. Patents filed by Zenlabs has helped us in delivering unique solutions for addressing business problems.

Zenlabs, located in Pune and Hyderabad is Zensar s centre for research and innovation (recognized by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research). Designed as a collaborative space for cutting edge technology teams to come together to devise, design and deliver consequential business and technology solutions. In-house researchers connect insights on customer trends with business insights and technology adoption, tying it all together with emerging technology solutions enabling the business objectives of our customers. The team comprises of research specialists and solutions architects, who build platforms in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, IOT, Conversational AI, Computer vision and Augmented reality.

A Snapshot of Ideas around which Patents have been



Predictive Stocking of

Smart Shelf

Personalized Office Noise Reduction System

Productive-Time Based Task Scheduling for Employees

Context based Prioritization & Response Scheduling for Personal Digital Communication

Please visit https://www.zensar.com/zenlabs for more information

About Zensar (http://www.zensar.com)

Zensar is a leading digital solutions and technology services company that specializes in partnering with global organizations across industries on their Digital Transformation journey. A technology partner of choice, backed by a strong track record of innovation; credible investment in Digital solutions; and unwavering commitment to client success, Zensar s comprehensive range of digital and technology services and solutions enables its clients achieve new thresholds of business performance. Zensar, with its experience in delivering excellence and superior client satisfaction through myriad technology solutions, is uniquely positioned to help its clients surpass challenges they face running their existing business most efficiently, helping in their legacy transformation, and planning for business expansion and growth through innovative and digital ways.

Follow Zensar via:

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About RPG Enterprises (http://www.rpggroup.com)

RPG Enterprises, established in 1979, is one of India's fastest growing business groups with a turnover of Rs 23000 Cr. The group has diverse business interests in the areas of Infrastructure, Tyres, Pharma, IT and Specialty as well as in emerging innovation led technology businesses.

PR Contacts (Global Headquarters - India):

Aradhana Prabhu

Public Relations

Zensar Technologies

+91-9765999749

aradhana.prabhu(at)zensar.com

PR Contact (US):

Julie Machnik

Director of Marketing

Zensar Technologies

508-621-4753

j.machnik(at)zensar.com

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements which 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, 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, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, withdrawal of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company.Eleanor Loiacono, professor in the Foisie Business School (center), encourages high tech companies to invest in neurodiverse employees. Including those who are neurodiverse in the high-tech workforce can contribute to a companys bottom line and societys call for greater diversity and inclusion." Eleanor Loiacono, Professor, Foisie Business School

A newly published academic paper by Worcester Polytechnic Institute researchers says that high-tech firms need to take advantage of the talents of a growing neurodiverse workforceincluding workers on the autism spectrum, and those with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), dyspraxia, dyslexia, and other conditionsin order to support neurodiversity and foster a more inclusive work culture.

The article, Building a Neurodiverse High-tech Workforce, published in MIS Quarterly Executive, says that high-tech companies may increase their success by recognizing and acknowledging neurodiversityvariations in neurological structure and functionas an aspect of diversity in the workforce, and encourages businesses to make their cultures more inclusive to neurodiverse employees.

I see so many talented young people being defined and limited by what others say they cant do, when in fact they have so much to offerwonderful abilities that make them a valuable asset to businesses and society as a whole, said Eleanor Loiacono, professor in the Foisie Business School and director of the IDEA Hub at WPI.

Overall, Loiacono and Huimin Ren, a PhD student in the Data Science Program, focus on five arguments to encourage high-tech companies to invest in a neurodiverse workforce:



Neurodiverse employees often have specialized skillsets not always found in neurotypical or normal employees, such as excellent concentration, logic, and visual thought.

A workforce with diverse perspectives can help companies create products for a varied consumer base.

A growing demographic of neurodiverse people allows companies to be attuned to workforce trends.

Neurodiverse workers think and problem solve in different ways, which can lead to greater innovation.

Companies that proactively employ neurodiverse people may avoid the need for external agencies to impose quotas.

Loiacono and Ren reviewed the web content and 30-day span of Twitter feeds of all the high-tech firms on the Fortune 500 list, noting the presence or absence of language related to neurodiversity and support of neurodiverse employees. Loiacono chose to focus on tech companies on the Fortune 500 list because they are more likely to attract and hire neurodiverse employees, in part, she says, because neurodiverse people possess skills and creative problem solving that are critical in high-tech jobs.

Their findings show that while all of the companies mentioned supporting diversity on the basis of religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc., none of them explicitly mentioned neurodiversity. Similarly, only 12 of the 39 Fortune 500 companies tweeted about or were associated with neurodiversity, with Microsoft having the most tweets, followed by Facebook and Amazon. The article also reported that of the 329 tweets the team searched, 57 (17 percent) related to advocacy of neurodiversity in the workforce, 186 (57 percent) mentioned recruitment of neurodiverse workers, and 62 (19 percent) mentioned information on conferences, talks, and advantages of developing a neurodiverse workforce.

The workforce of the future is changing, and so is business as we know it, Loiacono said. Companies, for their own survival, need to understand and appreciate the creativity and innovativeness a neurodiverse workforce can bring to competitive industries, such as IT.

Loiacono and Ren cite data from Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and Focus for Health, which shows that the number of neurodiverse people is climbing globally. In the United States, the percentage of 8-year-olds with autism grew by 150 percent between 2000 and 2018; worldwide, one in 160 children has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

People with neurodiversity, such those with ASP, ADHD, dyspraxia, and dyslexia, possess valuable skills and creative thought processes that are pivotal to a companys success. However, neurodiverse people are often overlooked or regarded as less valuable or odd by their peers. Neurodiversity remains generally unrecognized by employers.

Loiacono says that she hopes her research will help companies that are struggling with making their staff more neurodiverse.

Including those who are neurodiverse in the high-tech workforce can contribute not only to a companys bottom line and societys call for greater diversity and inclusion, it can help promote greater mental health within a society that is facing one of the greatest mental health crises it has ever seen, Loiacono said.

About Worcester Polytechnic Institute

WPI, a global leader in project-based learning, is a distinctive, top-tier technological university founded in 1865 on the principle that students learn most effectively by applying the theory learned in the classroom to the practice of solving real-world problems. Recognized by the National Academy of Engineering with the 2016 Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education, WPIs pioneering project-based curriculum engages undergraduates in solving important scientific, technological, and societal problems throughout their education and at more than 50 project centers around the world. WPI offers more than 50 bachelors, masters, and doctoral degree programs across 14 academic departments in science, engineering, technology, business, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts. Its faculty and students pursue groundbreaking research to meet ongoing challenges in health and biotechnology; robotics and the internet of things; advanced materials and manufacturing; cyber, data, and security systems; learning science; and more. http://www.wpi.edu

Media contact:

Jessica Messier, Public Relations Specialist

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Worcester, Massachusetts

508-831-5937; jmmessier(at)wpi.eduThe Ben-Adon Scrolls: a compelling survey of Christs impact on the world, is the creation of published author William E. Planck, a Korean War vet and ordained minister retired from an automobile plant. He is a great-grandfather and lives with his wife on the Indian Lake Nazarene Camp Grounds of Michigan.

Planck writes, The Dead Sea scrolls calls it the conflict between the Sons of Light and Sons of Darkness. We know it as a spiritual struggle between good and evil. Over the years, it has taken on many different identities, but the struggle remains the same. Which way should you go? There are no facts to set on, no escaping to the desert or a cave. The struggle is here. It is real, and we must deal with it.

The Ben-Adon Scrolls tells the story of just such a struggle. It is the story of a people who are exposed to the tale of the first three years of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, his crucifixion, his resurrection, and his ascension. Everyone has the same information, but the reaction varies according to their background, their conscience, and the dictates of their upbringing.

Pontius Pilate put the question to the chief priests when he freed Barabbas. What then should I do with Jesus called Christ?

This question has come down through the ages. It has been confronted by paupers, kings, and every other class of humanity.

This book will help you define or redefine your answer to this most important question. Some of the characters are fictitious and some are real, but they will all be affected by the conflict of their day.

This conflict is not over. It is just as present today as it was some 2,000 years ago, and everyone confronted by it.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, William E. Plancks new book is a wholly engaging study through imaginative and soundly researched fiction that peers into the turbulent hearts and minds of a people confronted with the bewildering gospel of Christ.

Readers who find themselves on the fence will deeply appreciate this biblical vox populi and its power to cut to the heart of true faith.

View a synopsis of The Ben-Adon Scrolls on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase The Ben-Adon Scrolls at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about The Ben-Adon Scrolls, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.Walden University celebrated its 61st Commencement on Saturday, January 19, 2019 in Tampa, Florida, with more than 1,300 graduates and 5,400 guests in attendance. Overall, Walden had 5,933 graduates joining its international network of alumni, which includes more than 132,000 members from 165 countries.

Erin Gruwell, author of The Freedom Writers Diary and founder of the Freedom Writers Foundation, served as the keynote speaker. She spoke of the positive transformation students undergo when exposed to creative and engaging teaching methods and encouraged graduates to use their education and experience to spark change in the world.

Ordinary beginnings can transform into extraordinary endings, said Gruwell. I feel like I'm holding up a mirror to my Freedom Writer students because you, too, have that same story. A story of grit, a story of determination, a story of taking a pain and making it a purpose. You are going out in the world to make it better because for each one of you that chose this beautiful family of Walden University, you did so because you deserve that dignity. You deserve that chance. You deserve that platform for the world to watch and listen. We hope that when you leave here today, you will stand up, speak up and light a spark. We want you to go and be social activists, change agents, catalysts for change and proud graduates.

Waldens nursing ceremony featured Dr. Ernest Grant, the newly elected president of the American Nurses Association (ANA), which represents the interests of the nations four million registered nurses. He encouraged graduates to consider their legacy and embrace the unexpected.

The road before you is an exciting one filled with potential, said Dr. Grant. I ask you to think about what you will do with your gifts and how you can bring the Walden mission of effecting positive social change to life. How can you seize every opportunity to learn, to grow and to better the lives of your patients, the conditions of your workplace or the profession of nursing? Make the most of this valuable education, and work hard to spot those little moments that can grow into great opportunities. You might not see your legacy now, but it is waiting for you to discover and nurture it.

Dr. Avon Hart-Johnson, Waldens 2018 Outstanding Alumni Award recipient and co-founder of DC Project Connect, spoke at the Doctoral Hooding Ceremony, where she urged graduates to create a vision of social change and be bold and innovative when addressing challenges.

You are the leader of your dream, said Dr. Hart-Johnson. What would your vision of hope look like if you could not fail? Embrace the unknown. It is a leap of faith, and it is the alternative to taking safe, small baby steps that require little sacrifice. This idea of hope requires that you dream big and unleash the visionary withinhope that can extend from the most populated cities around the world to vast and remote villages where people are looking towards you, Walden social change agents, as their vision of hope. You are poised to make great change in the world.

In addition to the ceremonies, graduates, faculty and staff were honored during commencement weekend, including:



Dr. David Takudzwa Zinyengere, a 2018 PhD in Public Health graduate from Harare, Zimbabwe, received the Harold L. Hodgkinson Award for his dissertation, Household Determinants of Malaria in Mutasa District of Zimbabwe. This award is bestowed upon a Walden student whose dissertation is judged as meeting the highest standards of academic excellence.

Dr. Shingairai Feresu, Dr. Chester Jones and Dr. Tolu Osoba, faculty members in the School of Health Sciences, received the Bernard L. Turner Award, which is given to the faculty dissertation committee of the Harold L. Hodgkinson Award winner.

Dr. Julie Evener, a 2019 Doctor of Education (EdD) graduate from St. Augustine, Florida, received the Frank Dilley Award for her doctoral study, Organizational Learning in Libraries at For-Profit Colleges and Universities. This award is bestowed upon a Walden student whose doctoral study is judged as meeting the highest standards of academic excellence.

Dr. Vicki L. Underwood, Dr. Beate Baltes and Dr. Caroline M. Crawford, faculty members in The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership, received the Rita Turner Award, which is given to the faculty doctoral study committee of the Frank Dilley Award winner.

Carolyn Klug, an undergraduate student in the School of Health Sciences from Mobile, Alabama, received the Academic Performance Award, which recognizes distinguished scholarship, service and citizenship in an undergraduate student who embodies the ideals expressed in Waldens core values and who is committed to serving humankind.

Christopher R. Davis, an MS in Leadership student from Mascoutah, Illinois, received the Citizenship Award, which recognizes distinguished scholarship, service and citizenship in a masters student who embodies the ideals expressed in Waldens core values, is committed to serving humankind and has effected positive social change during their graduate program.

Dr. Kim Wilson, a 2019 Doctor of Education (EdD) graduate from Rock Hill, South Carolina, received the Leadership Excellence Award for distinguished scholarship and mentorship. The award honors a students leadership contributions that have positively impacted the Walden community during the course of his or her graduate or undergraduate program.

Amber Cook, associate director of faculty outreach and support, received the Ann Rayner Academic Support Service Award for her outstanding work in the Academic Skills Center. This award is granted to a Walden or Laureate staff member who has contributed to Waldens success through their collaborative spirit and engagement in work and the positive impact it produces.

Dr. Mohamad S. Hammoud, a faculty member in the College of Management and Technology, is the recipient of the Presidential Award for Faculty Excellence, which recognizes a faculty member who demonstrates an unmatched dedication to the universitys mission and exemplifies the Walden educators role in empowering students to advance positive social change in their communities.

Faculty Excellence Awards were also presented to the following individuals:



Dr. Omar Clay, Center for General Education

Dr. Aimee Ferraro, College of Health Sciences

Dr. Mohamad Hammoud, College of Management and Technology

Dr. Lynn Wilson, College of Social Behavioral Sciences

Dr. James H. Miller, The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership

The Walden University community honors its graduating students twice a year at summer and winter commencement ceremonies, with many graduates and guests participating via live webcast.

About Walden University

For more than 45 years, Walden University has supported working professionals in achieving their academic goals and making a greater impact in their professions and communities. Students from the District of Columbia, all 50 states in the U.S. and more than 145 countries are pursuing their bachelors, masters or doctoral degrees online at Walden. The university offers more than 80 degree programs with over 385 specializations and concentrations. Walden University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission, hlcommission.org. It is also one of more than 70 institutions in 25 countries that make up the Laureate International Universities network. For more information about Walden, visit WaldenU.edu.

Media Contact:

Sabrina Ram

(443) 627-7495

sabrina(dot)ram(at)mail(dot)waldenu(dot)eduGuestroom at The Sound Hotel Seattle Belltown The hotels design drew directly from the Belltown neighborhoods deep roots in the arts and local music scene, mixed in with the natural beauty of the Puget Sound region, said David Watkins, general manager, The Sound Hotel. Warm, rich textures in our rooms offer visitors an authentic Northwest

The Hotel Group and Hilton announced today the grand opening of The Sound Hotel Seattle Belltown, Tapestry Collection by Hilton. Woven into the fabric of Belltown, one of Seattles most vibrant and centrally located neighborhoods, The Sound Hotel celebrates the sights, sounds and tastes that are unique to Seattle. It occupies the first 10 floors of the 42-story Arrive tower, one of the first mixed-use properties, featuring rental units, in the market.

We are thrilled to see The Sound Hotel open its doors as the brands first hotel in the Pacific Northwest, particularly in a city like Seattle that is known for innovation, great restaurants and a thriving arts scene, said Jenna Hackett, global head, Tapestry Collection by Hilton. Just as Seattle is one of the fastest-growing cities in America, Tapestry Collection continues to rapidly expand as The Sound Hotel also marks the collection brands first of many 2019 openings.

The Sound Hotel features 142 exquisitely designed guest rooms with expansive views of the downtown Seattle skyline and Puget Sound, a ground level restaurant, Currant Bistro, with an adjacent grab & go coffee bar. The hotel also has meeting and special event space ideal for small groups, offering unobstructed views of the Space Needle - one of a very small group of Seattle hotels with a view of this iconic landmark.

The hotels design drew directly from the Belltown neighborhoods deep roots in the arts and local music scene, mixed in with the natural beauty of the Puget Sound region, said David Watkins, general manager, The Sound Hotel. Warm, rich textures in our rooms offer visitors an authentic Northwest experience, while the artistic elements reflect Seattle as a bustling hive of creativity.

The hotels 7th floor Lupine Room offers 770 square feet of divisible meeting space, ideal for groups of up to 35. Featuring plenty of natural light, it can easily transform into an event space to accommodate an intimate gathering. In addition to the Lupine Room, Sound Bite Lounge is a relaxed, post-meeting gathering spot with a seasonal outdoor sundeck offering stunning views of the Space Needle.

Seattle chef turned food and beverage director Jon Langley worked closely with his team at Currant Bistro, the hotels 36-seat restaurant and bar, to develop a menu of small plates perfect for sharing. Dishes are heavily inspired by the flavor profiles of Spain, Italy and France and are simple, approachable and non-pretentious, utilizing the highest-quality local ingredients and classic preparation techniques. This menu is also complemented by a robust wine list of Northwest favorites, along with a sprinkling of labels from California, France and Italy, as well as a selection of expertly crafted cocktails.

Design firm Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA) immersed themselves into the hotels neighborhood, visiting local hotspots and meeting with the community, to create an authentic Belltown experience. Upon arriving at the hotel entrance, guests are immediately welcomed into an artists studio as stretched canvases, murals and finished concrete floors flow towards the reception desk. Guest rooms feature warm, wood-toned floors, echoing the feeling of a musician stepping onto a stage. Dark, moody bathrooms are reminiscent of backstage dressing rooms, with microphone lights, plush robes, metal accents and rich black linear tiles setting the perfect backdrop.

Artistic elements are also featured on the exterior of the hotel. Watkins commissioned Seattle graffiti artist Weirdo, a.k.a. Jeff Jacobson, to paint an original mural on an exterior brick wall facing several of the guest rooms, effectively turning those rooms into some of the most desirable in the hotel. This larger-than-life piece features Jacobsons signature vivid, post-Internet hyper-realism style and beautifully tells the story of The Sound Hotel through art.

Blending Seattles creative bedrock with its innovation boom, The Sound Hotel provides easy access to top Seattle attractions, coffee houses, night clubs and international dining for an experience that is always of the moment. Sitting adjacent to the iconic Cinerama and just a few blocks from landmarks like the Space Needle, Pike Place Market and the Amazon Spheres, The Sound Hotel is both a central launch pad for adventure and a stylish, comfortable place to recharge at the end of the day.

For more information on The Sound Hotel or to make a reservation, please visit https://thesoundhotelseattle.com/. For more news on Tapestry Collection by Hilton hotel openings and signings, visit newsroom.hilton.com/tapestry

###

About The Sound Hotel Seattle Belltown

Located in the heart of one of Seattles most vibrant neighborhoods, The Sound Hotel Seattle celebrates the sights, sounds, and tastes that are unique to Seattle. Its 142 exquisitely designed guest rooms occupy the first 10 floors of the 42-story Arrive tower. The hotel features the ground level restaurant Currant Bistro with adjacent grab & go coffee bar and a lobby pantry. For meetings, the 7th Floor provides the Lupine Room, 770 square feet of divisible meeting space ideal for groups of up to 35, as well as Sound Bite Lounge, a relaxed, post-meeting gathering spot with seasonal outdoor seating and unobstructed views of the Space Needle. The Sound Hotel is the first Tapestry by Hilton in the state of Washington and is managed by The Hotel Group.

About The Hotel Group

The Hotel Group is a nationally recognized, leading hotel management and investment company. Since its inception in 1984, THG has managed and/or owned over 125 properties in 25 states representing over 20 brands, managed the openings and transformational renovations of nearly 50 hotels, and has been the sponsor of Hotel Group Opportunity Funds, raising nearly $200 million in private investment to acquire 12 full service hotels.

About Tapestry Collection by Hilton

Tapestry Collection by Hilton, which launched in 2017, is a portfolio of upscale, unique hotels that caters to guests seeking approachable and authentic experiences. With plans for global expansion, every Tapestry Collection property has its own unique style, while giving travelers the peace of mind and reassurance associated with the Hilton name, in addition to the benefits of the award-winning Hilton Honors program. Learn more about Hiltons upscale collection brand at newsroom.hilton.com/tapestry, and connect with Tapestry Collection on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

About Hilton

Hilton is a leading global hospitality company with a portfolio of 16 world-class brands comprising more than 5,500 properties with nearly 895,000 rooms, in 109 countries and territories. Dedicated to fulfilling its mission to be the worlds most hospitable company, Hilton earned a spot on the 2018 worlds best workplaces list, and has welcomed more than 3 billion guests in its nearly 100 year history. Through the award-winning guest loyalty program, Hilton Honors, nearly 82 million members who book directly with Hilton have access to instant benefits, including digital check-in with room selection, Digital Key, and Connected Room. Visit newsroom.hilton.com for more information, and connect with Hilton on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.Terry Larkin, a US Navy veteran, volunteer fireman, and trucker who suffered a severed spinal cord when his rig hit black ice in 1992, has completed his book Butch and Sundance: The Return: a fast-paced and dialogue-rich western tale set in the frontier town of Baker City.

Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, Terry Larkins book is an engrossing read for fans of classical literature set in the American West. Butch and Sundance return to Baker City where Randy Larkin wants to rob a new bank just to prove it can be done.

Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchase Butch and Sundance: The Return at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional New York-based, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not overwhelmed with logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and the like. Its roster of accomplished authors and publishing professionals allows writers to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues to focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.Rob Reynolds, Executive Director and cofounder of TEL Library As part of the organizations efforts to encourage college study in rural districts, TEL works to make it as easy as possible for schools to adopt its dual-enrollment program.

TEL Library, a non-profit educational organization based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma has announced a new dual-enrollment initiative to provide affordable general education courses for college credit to rural high schools throughout Oklahoma.

More than half of all Oklahoma public school students belong to rural districts, said Rob Reynolds, Executive Director of TEL Library. Many of these districts are looking for affordable, flexible options for providing advanced learning opportunities for their students.

Reynolds explained that TEL is working with Excelsior College, a regionally accredited non-profit college, to provide transcripted, transferable college credit for its courses. Excelsior helps us to lower the entry-barriers to college study for rural high school students, he said.

As part of the organizations efforts to encourage college study in rural districts, TEL works to make it as easy as possible for schools to adopt its dual-enrollment program. TEL offers schools a catalog of courses that are available for college credit and that have been aligned with state standards. In addition, the organization provides all course materials, course instruction and grading, course administration and recordkeeping, and both course and technical support.

TEL is currently piloting its program with the Pawhuska school district in northern Oklahoma. According to Pawhuska superintendent David Cash, Its a no brainer really. Accessibility and affordability are the two biggest deterrents in rural public schools. TEL Library takes care of both of those issues.

Our goal, Reynolds said, is to make it truly affordable and easy for rural high school students to take their first college courses. We believe the best way to accomplish this is by having them begin college studies within the familiar context of their high schools. This allows them to take advantage of existing resources and to achieve significant savings for a college education.

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....TCA is one of the best organized groups...the participants are involved for the right reasons and have robust business backgrounds. They truly understand how to grow businesses. - Dan Sanker, CEO and founder, CaseStack

Tech Coast Angels (TCA) announced its sixth highest exit ever when Hub Group, Inc. recently purchased CaseStack for $255 million. This successful exit was unique in many ways: the exit had a very high return (15x); the length of time to exit was nearly 15 years from the time of initial investment; and CEO/founder of CaseStack continued to shepherd the company. from founding through to acquisition.

CaseStacks proprietary Software-as-a-service (SaaS) provides non-asset based logistics, supply chain, and less-than-load (LTL) shipping solutions to consumer packaged goods companies and warehousing firms. The companys fit with the Hub Group, a leader in freight transportation management, delivers great opportunities in the industry.

CaseStack had created an SaaS model that was a perfect match for customersand creating customerswell before SaaS was a trend, said Bill Collins, co-deal lead and TCA long-time member. Small but successful consumer companies like Celestial Seasonings and Hansens Sodas could manage their logistics without having to purchase and maintain software. What we saw back in 2003 was a unique, effective solution to a problem: one that would elevate to hypergrowth with an estimable answer for an emerging customer base.

Collins and the late Bill Hahn, co-deal lead, articulated the expected hypergrowth, and the pair successfully explained CaseStacks uniqueness and its expected customer base upsurge to other TCA members and investors for the Series A Round of $470,000 in 2003. The company went through additional funding rounds over the 15-year period, and also spun off another company, SupplyPike, that has an annual revenue of $2.0M, of which the initial investors benefitted.

The average angel investment-to-liquidity time is about seven years. Although CaseStack continued to thrive, grow customers, and succeed for 15 years between investment and sale  including topping Deloittes Fast50 list  this deal was also an exercise in patience. The majority of angels and VCs were surprisingly patient for the duration. Collins credits CaseStacks founder and CEO, Dan Sanker, as well as Hahn.

Dan Sanker inspired confidence and showed fortitude. Sometimes investors dont believe founders can go the distance, but Dan is unique: he has the right mix of passion, the insight and the leadership skills, said Collins. Bill [Hahn] continued to be an incredibly good liaison: as an observer on the CaseStack Board of Directors for twelve years, he regularly communicated developments and progress to the investors.

It was always a pleasure working with the Tech Coast Angels, said Sanker. TCA is one of the best organized groups and almost all of the participants are involved for the right reasons and have robust business backgrounds. They truly understand how to grow businesses.

About Tech Coast Angels:

Tech Coast Angels is one of the largest and most active angel investor networks in the nation, and a leading source of funding for seed-stage and early-stage companies across all innovation industries in Southern California. TCA members are accredited investors who individually invest in startup companies. Companies go through well-structured, transparent, and time efficient screening and due diligence. As founders and executive-level business leaders, TCA members provide companies with more than just capital; they also contribute counsel, mentoring and access to an extensive network of investors, customers, strategic partners and management.

TCA is a catalyst in the growth of the thriving Southern California entrepreneurial ecosystem of innovation. A recent Halo Report rated TCA as #2 nationally in a number of funded deals, and a recent analysis by CB Insights ranked TCA #1 out of 370 angel groups on Network Centrality and #5 overall in Investor Mosaic. Since its founding in 1997, TCA has invested over $218 million in more than 380 companies and has helped attract more than $1.66 billion in additional capital/follow-on rounds, mostly from venture capital firms. http://www.techcoastangels.comSurgical Theater is advancing medicine with virtual and augmented reality technology

Surgical Theater brings Virtual and Augmented Reality solutions for Skull Base Surgery to the Annual NASBS Meeting in Orlando, FL from February 15-16, 2019 at booth #110. NASBS provides neurosurgeons an opportunity to experience EndoSNAP  Endoscopic Surgical Navigation Advanced Platform, which features Precision VR models synchronized with endoscopic video and computer assisted navigation to create an intraoperative Augmented Reality solution. Precision VR seamlessly integrates throughout the patient treatment continuum, from the consultation, to surgical planning, and into the operating room.

Precision VR allows neurosurgeons, patients and their family to walk through the patients own anatomical structure. For example, the surgeon, patient and family can stand with an artery to their right, bony skull base structures at their feet, and with a look over their shoulder, they can observe the tumor. This immersive experience enables them to understand their pathology and their surgical plan.

Fellows and Residents will also have an opportunity at NASBS to participate in a virtual blackboard for practicing skull base approaches and advanced surgical techniques on patient specific virtual models. Walter Jean, MD, Professor of Neurosurgery at George Washington University Hospital will be hosting two sessions  February 15th at 3:45pm and February 16th at 3:45pm. Attendees interested in how VR can be applied to skull base surgeries are encouraged to take advantage of these sessions.

Surgical Theater is advancing medicine with virtual and augmented reality technology, said Moty Avisar, CEO and Co-founder of Surgical Theater. We are humbled by the opportunity to work with several expert skull base surgeons throughout the world including Dr. Walter Jean of George Washington University Medical Center, a true visionary in the discipline.

Precision VR combines leading-edge fighter jet flight simulation technology with advanced medical imaging such as MRI, CT, DTI and BOLD to create a 360-degree virtual reality reconstruction of the individual patients anatomy and pathology. Surgical Theaters 360-degree virtual reconstruction offers surgeons an additional perspective on treatment options and surgical plans, helping to facilitate a unique and unparalleled opportunity for patient and family engagement and surgical training.

Multiple leading institutions, including several pediatric hospitals have adopted Precision VR into their regular workflow including: NYU, George Washington University Hospital, UCSF Benioff Childrens Hospital, Stanford Medical Center, Houston Methodist, Mt. Sinai, University Hospital Case Western, Hackensack JFK Medical Center and Northshore University Health System. Stop by booth #110 at NASBS to learn more about Surgical Theaters Virtual and Augmented Reality solutions from the exam room to the operating room.

About Surgical Theater

Surgical Theater, the market leader in virtual and augmented reality healthcare services, is the first to combine cutting-edge fighter jet flight simulation technology with a patients own anatomy scans. Rendered from comprehensive combined modalities of CT, MRI as well as advanced post processing images such as DTI and BOLD, the 360 virtual reality fly-through is designed to allow surgeons to walk and fly-through a reconstruction of the patients own anatomy and pathology. Surgeons literally walk in the space between the white matter tracks and the tumor, being fully immersed, gaining unprecedented situational awareness and clarity of assessment. By simply turning their head, the surgeon can further explore the anatomy and plan the craniotomy, surgical path, trajectory, corridor, and the entire surgical strategy. This "walk-in" inside the pathology is proven to increase patient satisfaction improve patient engagement increase financial performance. Find out more at http://www.surgicaltheater.net and on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/SurgicalTheater

https://www.linkedin.com/company/surgical-theater/Elementary, Middle, High School and University students work together to package Valentine's Day gifts for widows of fallen Soldiers Serving our families of fallen soldiers teaches students the high cost of freedom.

Believe With Me remembers the widows of fallen soldiers on Valentine's Day with students sending them gifts through it's annual "An American Sweetheart" project. For many, Valentine's Day is a heart warming one when receiving a gift from their sweetheart, but for many of our widows of war, this day leaves them feeling lonely and forgotten. Believe With Me, an organization dedicated to bringing hope and help to America's families of fallen soldiers, takes the time each Valentine's Day to remember our Gold Star wives with a special token of affection through "An American Sweetheart." This year, the Florida based non-profit served nearly 400 Gold Star wives all across the country with students prepping and packaging American flag scarves to send to the widow in time for Valentine's Day.

Students gathered with veterans and other Gold Star family members for several hours as they looked through Believe With Me's massive notebooks filled with names and photos of the fallen and their families. They read off the names of the soldiers whose wives they were serving, and recognized the incredible costs of their freedoms and opportunities. Meticulously folding each scarf, placing proper stationary, closing the Valentine's envelope and carefully labeling each package with custom labels, students were excited to be sending the gifts as a surprise to many of the widows. Believe With Me has served each of these families with Christmas gifts this past December and the Valentine's Day gift will be the first one most of them have received since the death of their husband.At our core, Strategic is dedicated to helping people everywhere. Heart disease is the number one killer worldwide which makes the American Heart Association such a worthy organization to fundraise for, said CEO, Ryan Sasson.

Strategic Financial Solutions held its third annual Carnation Donation event to raise money for the American Heart Association (AHA) in honor of Heart Awareness Month. The company announced that it would sell $3 carnations to employee-owners and all proceeds would go to the AHA. All the money raised will be used to help fund innovative research for new treatments, provide programs and services for survivors and their families, and help lower the risk of developing heart disease and stroke.

At our core, Strategic is dedicated to helping people everywhere. Heart disease is the number one killer worldwide which makes the American Heart Association such a worthy organization to fundraise for, said CEO, Ryan Sasson. Our continued efforts to make physical health as well as financial health a reality for all Americans is something that we are extremely proud of and something that we will continue to dedicate ourselves to.

More than 300 carnations were purchased by the companys employee-owners for this critical cause which helped the company raise over $1,000 for the American Heart Association. The AHA has grown into the nations oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke.

I am incredibly proud to work for a company that is so focused on helping people, said HR Coordinator, Megan McEnroe. Its unique to work around people who take helping others so seriously. I see this every day at Strategic and am excited to be a part of it.

About Strategic Financial Solutions

Strategic Financial Solutions, a proudly employee-owned company, is a leading financial services company that provides comprehensive debt relief solutions for people in difficult financial situations. Through its personalized, tailored approach that includes debt consolidation loans and debt resolution programs, Strategic Financial Solutions has successfully resolved more than a billion dollars in debt for over 100,000 clients. For the last three years, Strategic Financial Solutions has been ranked as one of the Best Companies to Work for in New York State. Strategic Financial Solutions was named by Crains New York Business to its Fast 50 Companies list. The company has also been recognized by the INC. 500 company as one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States. More information can be found at https://stratfs.com/.

Contact:

Gary Foodim

Senior Vice President of Marketing

Office: (212) 810-4544

Email: gfoodim@stratfs.comStorageMart Indoor, Climate Controlled Self Storage The facility contains 639 climate controlled units and nearly 80,000 square feet of rentable space in a convenient location off Metcalf Avenue.

StorageMart, based out of Columbia, MO, announced today the opening of a new storage facility in Overland Park, KS. This is the fourth location in the area and the 32nd in the Kansas City metro area. The new facility, located at 15415 Metcalf Avenue, was constructed in 2017 and is a multi-story build offering exclusively climate controlled units. The facility contains 639 units and nearly 80,000 square feet of rentable space in a convenient location off Metcalf Avenue and 154th Terrace.

We look forward to expanding our footprint in this growing community, said Alex Burnam, Real Estate Acquisitions at StorageMart. This additional facility will serve to satisfy the demand for self storage in the Overland Park market, allowing us to continue providing best-in-class storage solutions for our customers throughout the area.

This new expansion is state-of-the-art, with large indoor loading bays so customers can load and unload unaffected by the weather. Other amenities include an onsite office, video surveillance, and keypad access to the building.

StorageMart started with a single store in Columbia, MO and has grown to be the largest privately-owned, family operated storage company in the world. StorageMart is led by the Burnam family, who have been in the storage industry for three generations. Dedicated to providing easy, clean, and friendly service to each and every customer, StorageMart is also committed to giving back to the many communities it calls home through their Store It Forward program. In 2018, the company donated more than $281,000 to charities, in addition to donating over $520,000 in free rent to charities throughout the US, UK, and Canada. Find out more at http://www.storage-mart.com.

Spaulding Youth Center is a leading provider of educational, residential, therapeutic and foster care programs and services for boys and girls from 5 to 21. The generous support of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation will make a significant impact on our organization and in the lives of the children we serve for years to come, said Susan C. Ryan, President & CEO of Spaulding Youth Center.

Issued through the Foundations Community Grants program, the grant offers multi-year operating support which will directly impact Spauldings programs and services.

The generous support of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation will make a significant impact on our organization and in the lives of the children we serve for years to come, said Susan C. Ryan, President & CEO of Spaulding Youth Center. Spaulding Youth Center is honored to be selected among other deserving Granite State nonprofits that work diligently to improve our communities. This unrestricted operating grant is an excellent way to help non-profits get this important work accomplished.

The grant presented to Spaulding Youth Center was made possible by gifts from the following New Hampshire Charitable Foundation funds: Coit House Fund, Fund for Children and Families, Jessie Gould Fund, John H. Pearson Fund, John Hungerford Fund, Rogers Family Trust Fund, Social and Community Services Fund and Thomas S. Gale Fund.

ABOUT SPAULDING YOUTH CENTER

Spaulding Youth Center is a leading provider of services for children and youth with neurological, emotional, behavioral, learning and/or developmental challenges, including Autism Spectrum Disorder and those who have experienced significant trauma, abuse or neglect. Services include academic, behavioral health, residential, foster care, health and wellness and family support. Spaulding Youth Center is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit. For information about Spaulding Youth Center, visit http://www.spauldingyouthcenter.org.

ABOUT THE NEW HAMPSHIRE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation is New Hampshire's statewide community foundation, founded in 1962 by and for the people of New Hampshire. The Foundation manages a growing collection of 2,000 funds created by generous individuals, families and businesses, and awards almost $40 million in grants and almost $6 million in scholarships every year. The Foundation works with generous and visionary citizens to maximize the power of their giving, supports great work happening in our communities and leads and collaborates on high-impact initiatives. For more information, please visit http://www.nhcf.org or call 603-225-6641.Seans thorough understanding of Smiths business practices and his expert knowledge of finance and risk management give him the stability to lead the companys financial activities

Smith, a global distributor of electronic components and semiconductors, today announces the appointment of Sean Evans to the position of Chief Financial Officer. Sean previously served as interim CFO of Smith since early 2018.

Sean will serve as CFO of Smiths worldwide affiliated group of technology companies, overseeing Smiths global finance, accounting, tax, treasury, and credit activities. He will work alongside the rest of Smiths senior management team to implement best practices and accelerate strategic initiatives to grow the companys suite of flexible service offerings and procurement strategies.

Before he stepped into his interim CFO role, Sean served as Smiths Vice President of Credit & Finance and Director of Credit. He brings twenty years of experience as a CPA in the risk management sector and five years in banking product sales with him to his new role.

There are so many new and interesting projects happening at Smith right now, and our accounting and finance teams play a major role in many of them, said Sean. Optimizing communication and interaction across departments is the key to successfully executing these projects and extending Smiths fundamental solutions to customers around the world.

Seans insight, patience, and keen eye for detail will aid him in supporting and strengthening Smiths diverse initiatives in his new role.

Seans thorough understanding of Smiths business practices and his expert knowledge of finance and risk management give him the stability to lead the companys financial activities, said Matt Hartzell, Smiths Chief Administrative Officer. As Smith continues to grow, we are excited to see how Seans efforts in the finance department will carry across to the rest of the company.

About Smith

Founded in 1984, Smith sources, manages, and distributes the electronic components that go into everything from mobile phones and computers to appliances and directional drilling systems. In 16 cities around the world, from Silicon Valley to Seoul, Smiths legion of employees communicates in 50 different languages and dialects and buys and sells components 24 hours per day, with global annual sales of $1.66 billion. Smith is always moving: helping manufacturers navigate market shifts; customizing supply chain solutions; testing components using cutting-edge technology. With testing and logistics hubs in Houston, Hong Kong, and Amsterdam, Smiths processes focus on critical issues, from quality management to counterfeit prevention and environmental safety. Smiths operations, purchasing, and sales worldwide are seamlessly integrated with the companys global IT infrastructure, offering real-time inventory and logistics visibility anywhere in the world. Smith is the leading independent distributor of electronic components and ranks number eight among all global distributors. Smiths Intelligent Distribution model adapts to ever-changing demands by providing reliable global electronics sourcing and logistics, regardless of distribution channel or locale. For more information, please visit https://www.smithweb.com, or, to reach a Smith representative 24 hours a day, please call +1 713.430.3000.Crab Trap by Landscape Structures Inc. The Crab Trap provides visual and tactile interest as well as fresh new climbing experiences.

Landscape Structures Inc., a Delano, Minn.-based commercial playground equipment manufacturer, has launched the new Crab Trap, a unique playstructure that challenges kids ages 5 to 12. With a plethora of opportunities to climb, crawl and hang out, the Crab Trap delivers open-ended play experiences that excite creativity and critical decision-making.

The Crab Trap is sure to keep kids engaged with its limitless climbing routes. In addition to the net climber surround, there are various levels of challenge designed inside the playground structure. With a healthy mix of the O-Zone climbers, climbing cables, a patent-pending braided belt and more ground-level climbers, the Crab Trap provides visual and tactile interest as well as fresh new experiences.

The Crab Trap delivers a cool aesthetic with a unique mix of materials. I-beams are available in a Hot Dip Galvanized (HDG) finish for a modern look or stay more traditional with the ProShield finish. And with the addition of playground components using rotationally molded polyethylene, recycled plastic lumber and texture rubber belting, this playground structure becomes a statement piece.

See the Crab Trap in action and learn more about this playground net structure at playlsi.com.

About Landscape Structures Inc.

Since 1971, Landscape Structures Inc. has been the leading manufacturer of commercial playground equipment in the world. Our employee-owned company designs community and school playgrounds that encourage kids of all ages and abilities to learn persistence, leadership, competition, bravery, support and empathy through play. We push the limitsof design, inclusion, playto help kids realize there is no limit to what they can do today and in the future. For a better tomorrow, we play today.Prize: Custom Marlin 1894 CST .357 Mag and Aguila Ammunition The #LeversWeLove contest is easy to enter. Share a photo or video of your favorite lever-action rifle and tell us why it's so special to you. Once you submit, you'll have a chance to share it out to friends and family who can vote for your submission!

Ranger Point Precision partnered with Mad Pig Customs to build the ultimate custom Marlin 1894 CST, Midwest Industries for an M-LOK handguard, and Aguila Ammunition. The #LeversWeLove contest is open to all U.S. citizens 21 years of age or older that can legally own a firearm. The contest will run from February 11, 2019 - February 28, 2019. To enter the contest or review the full contest rules, terms, and conditions, please visit https://www.rangerpointstore.com/contest

CONTEST PRIZE: Custom Marlin 1894 lever-action and 300 rounds of ammo ($2,400 value)



Marlin 1894 CST in .357 Mag / .38 Special with a stainless steel barreled action and threaded 16.5 barrel makes adding a suppressor fast and simple

Mad Pig Customs reduced the trigger to a light 3# pull

Mad Pig Customs slicked the action for quick handling

Mad Pig Customs beautifully jeweled the bolt

Mad Pig Customs two-tone stainless / sniper grey, Cerakoted all weather stocks and many of the parts in sniper grey

Mad Pig Customs installed the following parts:



Ranger Point Flyweight loading gate

Ranger Point M/94 Extractor Claw

Ranger Point self cleaning magazine follower

Midwest Industries M-LOK Handguard

Ranger Point RHINO picatinny rail with integrated backup rear sight

Ranger Point hammer extension

Ranger Point fiber optic front sight

Aguila Ammunition 300 rounds of .357 Mag or .38 Special

Note: Vortex optic, hand stop and suppressor shown in photos not included

All federal, state and local taxes associated with the receipt or use of any prizes are the sole responsibility of the winner. Transfer of the Prize shall be conducted through a federally licensed Federal Firearms License (FFL) dealer of Winners choosing. All firearm transfers will be conducted in strict compliance with all applicable federal, state and local laws.

About Mad Pig Customs

Mad Pig Customs LLC is a veteran owned custom gunsmithing shop located in Branford, CT. Operating since 2015, Mad Pig Customs specializes in Cerakote firearm refinishing and custom Marlin lever-action rifle gunsmithing. A combination of school trained gunsmiths and painters with a particular passion for Marlin rifles, we bring your ideas to life. Factory trained and certified in Cerakote application, Mad Pig is the premier Cerakote applicator in the region. Mad Pig Customs can be found at https://www.madpigcustoms.com or follow us on Facebook and Instagram @Madpigcustoms

About Ranger Point Precision

Ranger Point Precision LLC (RPP) is a family owned and privately held firearms parts manufacturer located in the Houston area in Cypress, TX. Founded in 2012 by President/CEO Adam Devine, the company has grown from Adams passion for firearms and mechanical engineering. Made in the USA, RPP designs unique and innovative performance parts for pistols and rifles including Marlin Firearms, Henry Repeating Arms, Winchester Repeating Arms, Steyr Arms and more. Ranger Point Precision prides itself on delivering unmatched quality products and world-class customer service. To learn more, please visit us at https://www.RangerPointStore.com or follow @rangerpointprecision on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Twitter.Professional Education's work in creating continuing education courses is phenomenal. - F. Brady, FNP(c), CWOCN, CFCN, BSN

Entrepreneurship is a new concept in patient care. Nurses, CNAs, Medical Assistants and other care givers wishing to move outside of institutional facilities can learn about an innovative business model breaking ground throughout the nation: private practices, or boutique practices such as foot care specialization.

Professional Education Co-Founder, Janet McCormick states, We believe our education supports the vibrant growth of this new model. We are very pleased to have the opportunity to support these practitioners within their communities and their patients who benefit. This new program offers information not readily available in traditional training of medical care workers.

Strategies for Entrepreneurial Nurses is a 5-module training program which covers topics important to the successful launch of a new practice such as:



Setting up your new practice

Choosing a location

Designing and equipping a treatment room

Supplies and disposables

Positioning the new practice in the community

Physician collaboration and referral  how to seek and obtain

Timeline for pre-opening activities

Developing and maintaining a growth curve

Booking for success

Much more

This course was developed as a companion course to the vital training necessary to meet a growing need in the U.S.: foot care! In researching an article, writer and educator McCormick was told by nurses she interviewed my nurse training stopped at the ankle. This lead to her surveying several nursing/med-surg textbooks and discovering for herself the truth of this statement. In fact, the textbooks averaged only a page or two of foot-specific anatomy, but no discussion of disorders, treatments or interventions. This then lead to the development of comprehensive training modules in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of feet. These modules are excellent preparatory learning for the foot care specialty certifications available in the nursing field. The natural progression is to a focus on foot care, and thus, boutique practices.

Per the CDC, diabetes has more than doubled in the last decade, with current estimates of 9.4% of the US population being diabetic, whether diagnosed or not.(1) This, along with the Boomers passing the threshold of elderly, who comprise approximately 25% of adult Americans, means there is a growing demographic of persons requiring safe foot care. The need for safe foot care for patients, not only in hospitals and clinics, but long-terms living facilities is critical. A new approach to providing this critical care is taking it out into the community in a private practicewhether brick and mortar or via travelling to the patients.

I have opened so many successful boutique businesses, that my checklists are pretty comprehensive, shares Co-Founder Karen Hodges. My background in business and finance helps keep the focus sharp and profitability attainable. McCormick and Hodges are often called in to consult new business owners as well as facilities desiring to add new foot care departments or clinics.

Nurse Practitioner, Fariba Brady, a graduate of the courses at Professional Education feels this training is essential to her work, As a clinician, we need this training and Prof-Eds work in creating continuing education courses for nurses is phenomenal. Hodges states, Fariba Brady recently went through the Strategies course prior to opening her own practice and told me she was thrilled since it covered so many things she hadnt considered.

Brady also praised the convenience of taking the course online I could log in whenever I wanted and didnt have to worry about travel planning or expenses. McCormick states, The courses also alleviates missing time at work and being away from family, another benefit to distance learning.

About Professional Education

McCormick and her partner, Hodges, have extensive experience in researching and developing training courses for licensed professionals. Both of them have taught in the classroom and online for many years and are deemed as experts in educating foot care providers. Their educational platform at http://www.prof-ed.com employs cutting edge Learning Management System (LMS) software which allows the students to view the materials 24/7 on any device, as long as there is access to the internet. Questions about the programs offered or inquiries about consultations may be directed to info(at)prof-ed.com or calling 239-220-5830.

(1) CDC National Diabetes Statistics Report  Diabetes Fast Facts https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/data/statistics/statistics-report.htmlTerry Marr, an ordained apostle and pastor at The New Life Community Church in Memphis, Tennessee, and The New Life Worship Center in Batesville, Mississippi, with her husband, has completed her new book When He Shall Appear: When The Hidden is Revealed.

As a retired registered nurse and as a pastor, I have held the hands of many, young and old, as they stepped into eternity, Terry Marr explained the inspiration for her book. At the end of these journeys, I have witnessed mixed emotionsfrom ambivalence and uncertainty to unimaginable fearas they crossed over into uncertainty and darkness. Still, there were others who seem to embrace the experience as a peaceful and blissful crossing over into the light of His presence, as they finally get to behold His face.

Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, Terry Marrs heartfelt collection of advice and wisdom draws from her experience in the medical field, as a wife, and from her knowledge of the Bible. Marr is also the host of a weekly television series called, His Alone where she shares her visions, dreams, and supernatural experiences. This book focuses on the end of life, and what happens to our souls when we die.

Like many of you, I have heard many talk about the rapture of the church and the Second Coming of Jesus as the premier event for all to behold his face, Marr continued. But what about the many who crossover every day?

Readers who wish to learn more about one pastors take on the end of life can purchase When He Shall Appear: When The Hidden is Revealed at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional New York based full-service publishing house that handles all 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.Insurance Agent Near Me We are confident that this tool will take away a major source of headache for both customers and insurance agents.

Frank Medina, a leading insurance broker in Houston today announced the launch of Insurance Agent Near Me, a free online tool that connects customers with reputable insurance agents in their vicinity. Recognizing a crucial gap in how people find and choose insurance agents, this tool provides an innovative solution to a search process that is traditionally hit and miss.

We wanted to do something that addresses the challenges that customers face in finding local insurance agents. With a lot of insurance services moving online, over 70% of customers search online when trying to find insurance products, said tool creator, Frank Medina. However, because most customers lack the time or expertise to study the different types of insurance policies available and decide exactly what they need, they still rely heavily on insurance agents for advice and guidance. The problem arises when they need to decide who is the right agent.

A Google search for insurance agent near me typically returns well over 400 million results and the first results on each page are usually for big name top national insurance carriers. This is a major irritation and source of frustration for many customers who are looking for local agents close to them. Having been in the industry himself for over 10 years, Medina knows that the frustration can go both ways. For local or smaller insurance agents, relying on search engine results means they do not have the visibility they desire in order to connect with customers. If they wish to compete with the major carriers, then they would have to invest thousands of dollars into online placement. Even then, there is no guarantee that they will show up on the first page organically within the first year.

Insurance Agent Near Me solves that problem by listing all the major insurance products that are being searched online daily and pointing customers to agents based on their proximity and relevance to the customers search terms. The tool uses a search algorithm based on users current IP address to determine which agents are nearby. Like a directory, it then lists only local agents with the product that customers search for.

Agents registered on the directory have access to a user-friendly dashboard where they create tailored listings that help customers find them for specific services they offer. Unlike general Google listings, insurance agents using the directory have the ability to include announcements, events, ads and even generate leads that show up in their inbox, all from using one dashboard. All listings are manually verified to ensure customers are connected only to reputable local insurance agents.

Insurance Agent Near Me is on its way to becoming the number one insurance agent directory, the go-to source for those seeking local, personalized listings rather than generic search results, said Medina. The company is also offering agents a 30% discount on annual membership plans good until February 19, 2019. The promo code can be found here by clicking on find my code.

To learn more about Insurance Agent Near Me, or to be listed in the directory, visit their website at https://insuranceagentnearme.directory."Flawless dependability is a determining factor in whether customers remain loyal to a brand, so manufacturers need to help customers who are currently experiencing vehicle problems and address these trouble spots on future models."

Its a continuing love story for most owners and their vehicles as overall dependability for three-year-old vehicles improves 4% from last year, according to the J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Vehicle Dependability StudySM (VDS), released today.

Vehicle dependability continues to improve, but I wouldnt say that everything is rosy, said Dave Sargent, Vice President of Global Automotive at J.D. Power. Vehicles are more reliable than ever, but automakers are wrestling with problems such as voice recognition, transmission shifts and battery failures. Flawless dependability is a determining factor in whether customers remain loyal to a brand, so manufacturers need to help customers who are currently experiencing vehicle problems and address these trouble spots on future models.

The study, now in its 30th year, measures the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100) during the past 12 months by original owners of three-year-old model-year vehicles. The 2019 study measures problems in model year 2016 vehicles. A lower score reflects higher quality, and the study covers 177 specific problems grouped into eight major vehicle categories.

Highest-Ranked Brands

Lexus ranks highest in overall vehicle dependability among all brands, with a score of 106 PP100. This is the eighth consecutive year Lexus ranks highest. Porsche and Toyota rank second in a tie with 108 PP100 each. Chevrolet and Buick round out the top five.

Chrysler is the most-improved brand, with a reduction of 65 PP100 since 2018. Other brands with strong gains include MINI (improvement of 34 PP100) and Subaru (improvement of 31 PP100).

General Motors Company receives five segment awards for the Buick LaCrosse, Buick Verano, Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Silverado HD and Chevrolet Sonic.

Toyota Motor Corporation receives four segment awards for the Lexus ES, Lexus GX, Toyota Camry and Toyota Tundra.

Following are additional key findings of the 2019 study:



Vehicle dependability improves but at a slower rate: The industry average for 2019 is 136 PP100, an improvement of 6 PP100 from last year, which is a lower rate of improvement than the 14 PP100 in 2018 compared with 2017.

Mass market brands outperform luxury brands in dependability for first time: Model year 2016 mass market brands average 135 PP100 compared with 141 PP100 for luxury brands.

German brands show notable improvement: Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen all improve this year. Along with Porsche, all Germany brands are better than the industry average, the first time this has happened in the 30 years of the study.

Most Dependable Model: The Porsche 911 is the highest-ranked model in the 2019 study. This is the first year that a Most Dependable Model has been awarded.

J.D. Power analysis shows that vehicle residual values can be significantly affected by long-term quality.

The used-vehicle market is where dealers can see increased profits this year, said Jonathan Banks, Vice President of Vehicle Analysis and Analytics at J.D. Power. Stocking dealership lots with vehicles having strong dependability scores will help support new-vehicle sales in the future, create a positive brand perception and drive foot traffic.

The 2019 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study is based on responses from 32,952 original owners of 2016 model-year vehicles after three years of ownership. The study was fielded in October-December 2018.

For more information about the U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study, visit http://www.jdpower.com/resource/us-vehicle-dependability-study.

See the online press release at http://www.jdpower.com/pr-id/2019024.

J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. These capabilities enable J.D. Power to help its clients drive customer satisfaction, growth and profitability. Established in 1968, J.D. Power has offices serving North America, South America, Asia Pacific and Europe.

Media Relations Contacts

Geno Effler; Costa Mesa, Calif.; 714-621-6224; media.relations@jdpa.com

Shane Smith; East Coast; 424-903-3665; ssmith@pacificcommunicationsgroup.com

About J.D. Power and Advertising/Promotional Rules http://www.jdpower.com/business/about-us/press-release-info

# # #

NOTE: Three charts attached.Marshall Lambert, President of Rene's Van & Storage

Renes Van & Storage, Inc. a family-owned business and Californias oldest licensed moving company, has had their fair share of success in the moving industry. They recently won the Best of Los Angeles Award for Best Moving & Storage - 2018 and celebrated their 85th Anniversary at the Santuari Restaurant in Toluca Lake. Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti even sent his congratulations.

Now, Marshall Lambert, President of Renes Van & Storage, is ready to share his expertise and explain what the exact benefits are to hiring a premier moving company. According to Lambert, No matter why it happens, moving from one place to another is one of the most difficult and stressful things that can happen to you. You might be moving due to personal reasons, you might be moving due to a better job offer in another state, but no matter why  moving is hard. When people decide to change homes, they have to relocate all their belongings to that place and they might have a ton of stuff that have to be moved. Sometimes, hiring a professional moving company is the only way to go about it.

Still not convinced? There are plenty of other benefits to allowing a professional moving company to help you during your time of need. First of all, there is less stress and less anxiety. Depending on what type of person you are, the stress that comes with moving can either get to you more or less. Second, you can save precious time. Moving companies will take charge of the entire moving process, arrange everything so you dont have to, and take everything you like from one point to another.

Moving companies take charge of the entire moving process, and that means packing as well, explains Lambert, whether you want everything packed, or certain things, moving companies will gladly pack all the stuff you want to move, so you dont have to. The advantage to that is that moving companies come with their own moving boxes and all their own supplies. Since they are professionals in the industry, they purchase quality packing supplies to protect your items. Movers buy material in bulk so you know you are getting a better product for a good price. Moving companies make visits to the hardware store a thing of the past.

Finally, moving companies can ensure your safety as well as your moving items. By hiring a moving company, you say goodbye to all the moving-related injuries that could happen to you while transporting heavy objects, like furniture or decorations. Moving professionals are so good at their job that they know the best way how to pack all the things in order to ensure the safest way to transport them, continues Lambert, moving companies are the best choice you have if you want your items to go from one point to another, the safest way possible.

Renes Van & Storage is located in an 88,000 square foot facility in Los Angeles, as well as having multiple on-staff installation specialists for high-valued items. We know life can be stressful and at times unpredictable, concludes Lambert, but Renes can make your move as seamless and stress-free as possible. You can count on us with our impeccable attention to detail and white glove service every step of the way. Its an investment definitely worth looking into."We are thrilled this year to be able to partner with CPAC to bring our students an unparalleled opportunity to prepare for the future at a critical time in our nations history. -Jerry Falwell, Jr. President, Liberty University

Liberty University is excited to announce it will serve as a satellite location for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, March 1.

The university will broadcast a livestream (in conjunction with its regular Convocation time, starting at 10:30 a.m. EST) to the main conference stage in Washington, D.C. Liberty will then welcome additional guests to the stage throughout the afternoon to present on a wide range of mostly nonpartisan topics (see agenda below).

All sessions will take place in the Vines Center and are free and open to the public.

Attendees must register online at http://www.liberty.edu/cpac, via telephone at (800) 628-7972, or by texting CPAC to 839-858.

The afternoon sessions will conclude with a two hour block of programming dedicated to honoring American veterans and the U.S. military.

Academy Award-nominated actor/director Gary Sinise will join with John Heubusch, the Executive Director of the Reagan Foundation and Library, to discuss the importance of supporting the people who defend our freedoms. Sinise is the Founder of the Gary Sinise Foundation, which creates and supports unique programs designed to strengthen and build the communities of defenders, veterans, first responders, their families, and those in need.

The university will have 2,500 copies of Sinises new memoir, Grateful American: A Journey from Self to Service, available for purchase. The books will be heavily discounted for Veterans and Active Military.

Other guest speakers will include Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin, and WWII veteran Edgar Harrell, one of the few remaining survivors of the USS Indianapolis.

All registered guests will have a chance to win an incredible door prize: a new Nissan Kick, courtesy of our sponsor Lynchburg Nissan. You must be present to win.

Since 1971, Liberty University has been devoted to promoting our American founding principles of self-government, free markets, and the Rule of Law, said Liberty University President Jerry Falwell. To do this, we regularly seek to offer guests and programs designed to allow our students to learn about, debate, and discover for themselves the value of our American freedoms. We are thrilled this year to be able to partner with CPAC to bring our students an unparalleled opportunity to prepare for the future at a critical time in our nations history.

Other confirmed guests appearing at Liberty throughout the day will include:

Kimball Hughes Public Relations (Kimball Hughes PR) started 2019 by adding five new clients that span the agencys expertise in insurance, financial services, professional associations and healthcare, among others.

After nearly 24 years in business, Kimball Hughes PR is a recognized communications leader in key market segments, said Gary Kimball, president and founder of Kimball Hughes PR. The addition of five new clients in a number of our specialty practices further demonstrates our hard-earned reputation and the results-driven work we deliver.

The agency had previously been retained by Rockville, MD-based Association of Immunization Managers (AIM) in early 2018 to conduct a comprehensive communications audit and develop a long-range communications plan. Since delivery of the plan, Kimball Hughes PR was invited by the association to help it execute that long-range communications plan in 2019.

In the financial services industry, Collegeville, PA-based Wesselt Capital Group, contracted Kimball Hughes PR to develop a range of thought leadership and other brand content for the organization. Additionally, Kimball Hughes PR was again awarded a contract to provide thought leadership and public relations services to Los Angeles-headquartered Insurance Industry Charitable Foundations 2019 Women in Insurance Global Conference held every other year in Manhattan. The agency represented this same conference in 2017.

In other industries, National Society for Legal Technology, based in Los Angeles, hired the agency to both develop thought leadership content as well as provide strategic public relations support. And K9 Resorts Daycare & Luxury Hotel, headquartered in Fanwood, N.J., has asked Kimball Hughes PR to introduce franchisees to new markets around the country through media relations and grand opening support.

About Kimball Hughes PR

Kimball Hughes Public Relations (http://www.kimballpr.com) is a results-driven public relations agency dedicated to serving the individual public relations needs of every client. Founded in 1995 by Gary Kimball, the agency provides innovative public relations, social media, brand content and crisis communications solutions to clients in industries that include insurance, finance, trade associations, hospitality, real estate, technology, healthcare, manufacturing and others. Visit us on Twitter (@kimballpr) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/kimballpr).

IMAGINE SUMMIT 2019 IMAGINE SUMMIT will be an opportunity to bring home the message of how a Hybrid Integration Platform redefines the future of ecosystem engagement, customer experiences and business innovation.

Axway, a leader in digital innovation, announces the return of its customer event, the IMAGINE SUMMIT. This year, the event will be split by region, with IMAGINE SUMMIT Americas taking place in Orlando, Florida March 4-6, while IMAGINE SUMMIT Europe will be held in Chantilly, France, just outside of Paris, March 21-22.

This years theme is Accelerating the future. Together. The events will focus on Hybrid Integration. Axway will release its next major version of the AMPLIFY Hybrid Integration Platform (HIP) at both the American and European venues.

IMAGINE SUMMIT will be an opportunity to bring home the message of how a Hybrid Integration Platform redefines the future of ecosystem engagement, customer experiences and business innovation, said Axway CEO Patrick Donovan.

IMAGINE SUMMIT participants will have the opportunity to learn about and share their own integration experience  via APIs, B2B Integration, Content Collaboration and Managed File Transfer  with their peers. Axway will also showcase its new integration platform as a service (iPaaS) capabilities that have been added to the AMPLIFY hybrid integration platform.

The events feature unique presentations from industry experts and visionaries, including Mark ONeill, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner, who will be the featured keynote for the Orlando venue. Mark will explore the complexities of a Hybrid Integration platform and why you need it for your business. In Chantilly, Massimo Pezzini, Distinguished VP Analyst from Gartner will be the featured keynote speaker. Massimo will answer the question Hybrid Integration Platform: Can you be in business without one?

Read more about the speaker lineup in Orlando and in Chantilly.

This years IMAGINE SUMMITs feature Ask the Experts, an opportunity for attendees to meet with experienced and well-informed Axway support staff on the expo floor. It will also offer one-on-one meetings with the experts. Plus, there will be pre-conference technical Learning Labs showcasing best practices, product tips, demos, as well as tricks of the trade.

Learn more about IMAGINE SUMMIT here.

About Axway

As a software company, Axway (Euronext: AXW.PA) helps our customers create exceptional experiences and opportunities by linking individuals, systems, businesses and ecosystems. Firmly rooted in our Managed File Transfer (MFT) and B2B Integration heritage, the AMPLIFY Hybrid Integration Platform combines traditional integration patterns with APIs to unlock data and increase its value; speed the discovery, use, and deployment of integrations for new audiences; and accelerate digital transformation. From idea to execution, Axways expertise in API management, B2B integration, content collaboration, and managed file transfer and have solved the toughest data challenges for more than 11,000 organizations in 100 countries.Michael J. Schaengold, chair of the Government Contracts & Projects Practice at global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, will participate for the tenth year in a row in Thomson Reuters Wests Government Contracts Year-in-Review Conference, Feb. 19-22, in Washington, D.C. Specifically, Schaengold will speak on 2018 federal statutory developments that impact government contracts on Feb. 20 at 8:30 a.m. Greenberg Traurig is an annual sponsor of the Year-in-Review conference.

According to Thomson Reuters West, the conference brings together more than 2,000 leading government contracts attorneys, executives, and government officials. The four-day event includes high-level, expert briefings regarding recent developments affecting government contracts and provides substantial networking opportunities.

Schaengold focuses his practice on government contracts litigation and counseling, and on litigation before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. His substantial government contracts dispute and bid protest experience includes litigation of major cases before the Government Accountability Office, the Court of Federal Claims, the Federal Circuit, and the Boards of Contract Appeals. He represents clients in disputes involving most major departments and agencies of the U.S. government and, in recent years, has focused on procurements involving the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Aeronautical and Space Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of State. He also has substantial experience in due diligence reviews and other issues related to the acquisition, merger, spin-off, or sale of government contractors. At the appointment of their respective Chief Judges, he serves on the Advisory Councils to the Federal Circuit and Court of Federal Claims. He has published more than 50 articles on government contracts, Federal Circuit, GAO, and Court of Federal Claims issues.

About Greenberg Traurigs Government Contracts & Projects Practice

Greenberg Traurigs Government Contracts & Projects Practice helps companies navigate the highly regulated acquisition and compliance processes of federal, state, local, and foreign governments and their agencies. The firms attorneys and governmental affairs professionals assist both experienced contractors and newcomers with a broad array of issues arising from, for example, sales of commercial off-the-shelf and customized products, services, and managed solutions to governments at all levels. The practice also focuses on meeting the transactional and U.S. regulatory needs of clients in the commercial, defense, aerospace, information technology, telecommunications, medical and health care, and other high-tech sectors.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP

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.

Georgia Manufacturing Alliance Celebrates 11 Years of Success "Our organization is now 325 members strong representing over 60,000 employees with six chapters across the state," said Jason Moss, CEO of the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance.

The Georgia Manufacturing Alliance (GMA) celebrated its 11th Year Anniversary on February 7th at the 1818 Club in Duluth. Over 100 industry leaders from around the state came to show support for GMA and its founder Jason Moss. A special resolution from the Governors office recognized the accomplishments of Mr. Moss and his organization citing that GMA provides a unique platform for our states manufacturing leaders to share best practices and secure and maintain strategic partnerships.

The Georgia Manufacturing Alliance began in 2008 with a core group of 15 manufacturers and service providers that saw a need to find local resources for their industry, said Mr. Moss They wanted to buy, sell and trade locally, but did not have the platform or resources to make the connections. Our organization is now 325 members strong representing over 60,000 employees with six chapters across the state.

Mr. Moss shared some of the GMA Highlights from 2018 which included:



Ribbon Cutting at new GMA headquarters

100 new members and 5 new annual sponsors  now reaching over 325 members statewide

17 Joint Industry Association of Georgia (JIAG) partners added

120 plant tours, educational workshops, and networking events throughout the state

BuyFromGA.com website developed to promote consumer-based products

Over 800 attendees at the Georgia Manufacturing Summit with keynotes from Gulfstream President, Mark Burns and Thrush Aircraft Vice President, Eric Rojek

4th Annual People of Manufacturing Awards

2 Editions of the Georgia Manufacturing Directory  Cited as the #1 resource guide for the manufacturing community

National and International Press Coverage - Atlanta Business Chronicle, Business RadioX, Cobb Business Journal, Gwinnett Daily Post, IndustrialSage, Marietta Daily Journal, Savannah News, Supply Chain NOW Radio, and Welding Journal along with many other media sources

Part of the proceeds from GMAs 10th Year Anniversary went to support the Veterans Empowerment Organization (VEO) which provides housing and resources for veterans in transition. VEO is GMAs charity of choice for 2019 and Dan Valentine, VEO Ambassador shared their vision for 2019. VEOs Self-Sufficiency Model which focuses on taking "Invisible Veterans" off the streets of our cities and placing them into a safety net of support that provides immediate and long-term housing, treatment and recovery for addiction, healthy meals, basic necessities, clothing, as well as, medical care, mental health counseling, life-skills training and workforce development support.

ABOUT GMA: The Georgia Manufacturing Alliance (GMA) is a membership-based industry organization founded in 2008 to support Georgias manufacturing community. GMA provides monthly plant tours, educational sessions, tradeshows, and unique networking opportunities designed to help make profitable business connections for its members. The Georgia Manufacturing Directory, Georgia Manufacturing Summit, Georgia Manufacturing Calendar, and BuyFromGa.com website are additional resources produced by GMA. To learn more about the organization, membership, and upcoming events, please call 770-338-0051 or visit their website https://www.GeorgiaManufacturingAlliance.com.Charles Blockson referred to Franklin County as a hazardous area of 100 miles which contained the most secretive, tangled lines of the Underground Railroad.

Franklin County Visitors Bureau invites all to experience African American history at the Franklin County 11/30 Visitors Center. African American history is American history. February puts a special focus on the African American history of America. On Saturday, February 23, the Franklin County Visitors Bureau is offering a virtual Underground Railroad Tour of Franklin County, 10 AM-Noon, and a special presentation of Hallowed Grounds by Dr. Arnold Hence, 1 PM-3PM, at the new 11/30 Center on the southwest quadrant of Memorial Square.

Identifying more than a dozen sites, the virtual Underground Railroad tour will help attendees understand why African American scholar and author Charles Blockson referred to Franklin County as a hazardous area of 100 miles which contained the most secretive, tangled lines of the Underground Railroad. Three sites are National Park Service Network to Freedom sites and includes a documented pathway across South Mountain, showcased in the Road to Freedom video. The video will be shown following the virtual Underground Railroad tour.

Dr. Arnold T. Hence has been taking pictures since the 8th grade when his mom gave him an old Polaroid camera, and making pictures for the past fifteen years. His photographic interests have been shaped by his life experiences. Dr. Hence retired as Executive Vice President of Forsyth Technical Community in January 2010 after serving 36 years in higher education. Since retiring he devotes more time and energy to photography, with one of his pictures having won a first place and judges choice award at the Dixie Classic Fair in Winston Salem, NC. His photographic interests for the past several years have included a growing civil rights and historic sites collection, landscapes, weddings, special events, and classic cars. He is a former juried member of the Winston Salem Craft Guild and former Board member of The Associated Artists of Winston Salem. He has had solo exhibitions at The International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro, NC and the Apple Gallery in Danbury, NC.

The entire event is free and open to the public and will take place in the Great Room on the second level of the Franklin County 11/30 Visitors Center. To ensure your seat, please register for this event on Eventbrite. Registrants on Eventbrite will receive a $5 discount, which can be used on upcoming Franklin County Visitors Bureau bus tours.

The Franklin County Visitors Bureau invites all to explore history, arts and architecture, recreation, natural beauty, fresh foods and the warm hospitality of communities like Chambersburg, Greencastle, Mercersburg, Shippensburg, and Waynesboro. Franklin County PA is located just north of the Mason Dixon Line and is an easy drive to Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Plan a visit at ExploreFranklinCountyPA.com, contacting 866.646.8060, or stopping by the new Franklin County 11/30 Visitors Center in downtown Chambersburg.For more than 25 years, Exhibitus has helped clients execute complex face-to-face marketing programs, lessening the challenges exhibit managers confront on a daily basis. At EXHBITORLIVE 2019, the company will cater to guests with conversation and an interactive demonstration of how Exhibitus expertise ensures clients enjoy Easy as Pie program success.

It is no secret that managing an exhibit program can be difficult, says Brad Falberg, President of Exhibits. From establishing goals, to creating an attention-grabbing design, to integrating engagement activities, then measuring the results, Exhibitus knows how to take a program to the next level and make it look Easy as Pie.

Falberg continued, Lets talk. We invite EXHIBITORLIVE attendees to stop by Booth #1433 to share program challenges over a slice of your favorite pie.

EXHIBITORLIVE, an industry-leading conference and expo for trade show and event marketing professionals, will be held February 24  28, 2019 at Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.

Presentations by Exhibitus

On Thursday, February 28th at 8:00 AM, as part of the Planning & Execution, Expanded Knowlege Track, Exhibitus Design Director, Matt Beck and Director of Marketing | Results Division, Lynn Reves, will lead a session entitled Apply Design Thinking to Improve Program Results  and Get the Credit You Deserve.

Also on Thursday, February 28th at 10:00 AM, Exhibitus Senior Account Executive Stacie BeVille will co-present, as part of the conferences Marketing & Sales, Expanded Knowledge track, Pay It Forward: Integrating Cause Marketing into Your Program.

Supporting Children

Each year, Exhibitus selects a non-profit organization to support as part of the EXHIBITORLIVE experience. For 2019, the company has chosen Feed My Starving Children, a non-profit that provides nutritionally complete meals specifically formulated for malnourished children (fmsc.org). Exhibitus guests and staff will help decorate a wall with pie slices that are each equivalent to 40+ meals.

It is expected that some 12,000 meals will be provided as a result of this effort. Over the past two years, Exhibitus charitable initiative, BeyondUs, has recruited volunteers to pack meals at events that resulted in more than 700 children being fed for an entire year.

Exhibitus

Driven by the philosophy Design Matters, Exhibitus is an award-winning, full-service exhibit house that offers custom and rental exhibits, innovative engagements and event measurement programs  all designed so global customers can inspire audiences and deliver measurable results.

Headquartered in Atlanta with offices in Chicago and New York, Exhibitus clients include AGCO, Cox Business, Georgia Pacific, Kawneer, Lexus, Mimaki, MBX Systems, Sandvik, Toshiba, Unifi, United Therapeutics and Verizon Wireless. https://exhibitus.com/Our Human Resources team is excited to hold this event to not only promote our open positions, but meet candidates who are interested in learning more about Estes Forwarding Worldwide. - Cherry Parker, Human Resources Manager

Estes Forwarding Worldwide (EFW), a leading domestic and international freight forwarder in the United States, recently announced that it will host a local job fair and candidate meet and greet in Richmond, Virginia where the corporate headquarters is located. The event will be held at the Four Points by Sheraton located at 9901 Midlothian Turnpike from 12-6 p.m. on Friday, February 22, 2019.

Our Human Resources team is excited to hold this event to not only promote our open positions, but meet candidates who are interested in learning more about Estes Forwarding Worldwide, said Cherry Parker, Manger of Human Resources at EFW.

EFW currently has open positions across many departments including its Truckload Brokerage division, and Sales and Customer Service departments. A subsidiary of Estes Express Lines, EFW boasts a comprehensive benefits package and a company culture that attracts those with a passion for people, service and leadership.

A complete listing of all of the open positions at Estes Forwarding Worldwide can be found at http://www.efwnow.com by clicking on Careers.

About Estes Forwarding Worldwide (EFW)

EFW is a leading domestic and international freight forwarder in the United States providing customized logistics solutions for clients around the world and across all industries via air, ground and ocean freight. A subsidiary of Estes Express lines and located in Richmond, Virginia, EFW is uniquely backed by Estes Express Lines extensive line haul network providing EFW clients with a hybrid transportation network The company has received industry awards including Specialty Carrier of the Year by Worldwide Express and Home Depot, Inc., E-Commerce Delivery Carrier of the Year by Walmart and recognition by Global Trade Americas as a leading 3PL to watch. To learn more about EFW, please visit the companys website at http://www.EFWnow.com.Xtalks Life Science Webinars By making it easier for engineers-to-operators to find and analyze data, DaVinci is projected to deliver significant productivity benefits as well as enable better performance of our assets and manufacturing processes.

DaVinci is a comprehensive data integration platform with embedded data visualization, analytics, and knowledge sharing capability that also provides the flexibility for users to bring their own data and tools to the platform via plug and play functionality. It also provides a shared workbench to conduct quick analytics on near-real-time data to gain timely insights on manufacturing processes.

By making it easier for engineers-to-operators to find and analyze data, DaVinci is projected to deliver significant productivity benefits as well as enable better performance of our assets and manufacturing processes. The program was created with a vision to expand the platform, tools, functions, and features to the entire manufacturing data end-to-end, from raw-material to drug product to the patient.

This webinar will talk more about Lillys digital journey through the DaVinci program in Making the Complex Simple. Infosys, who partnered with Lilly on this program to provide an integrated platform, will share insights from the technology provider perspective. To complete the story, participants will also hear an analysts point of view on the program, along with inputs on what the rest of the industry is doing to tackle manufacturing operations analytics.

Join Sagar Kolli, IT Director, Manufacturing & Quality at Eli Lilly and Company, Subhro Mallik, SVP, Head of Life Sciences at Infosys and Mike Townsend, Research Manager, Life Sciences at IDC in a live session on Wednesday, February 27, 2019 at 11am EST (4pm GMT) to learn more about the DaVinci program and newest trends in manufacturing operations analytics.

For more information or to register for this event, visit Drug Manufacturing Analytics  Making the Complex Simple.

ABOUT XTALKS

Xtalks, powered by Honeycomb Worldwide Inc., is a leading provider of educational webinars to the global life science, food and medical device community. Every year thousands of industry practitioners (from life science, food and medical device companies, private & academic research institutions, healthcare centers, etc.) turn to Xtalks for access to quality content. Xtalks helps Life Science professionals stay current with industry developments, trends and regulations. Xtalks webinars also provide perspectives on key issues from top industry thought leaders and service providers.

To learn more about Xtalks visit http://xtalks.com

For information about hosting a webinar visit http://xtalks.com/why-host-a-webinar/Valerie Daniels-Carter

Sponsored by AAA Michigan, and hosted by the Michigan Diversity Council (MIDC), this years Women In Leadership Symposium (WILS) will focus on one of the hottest trending topics in media/social media today, women empowerment.

Themed, Center Stage: Standing Out & Speaking Up, MIDC will hone in on empowering women to speak up for themselves and to speak up and empower one another. #SPEAKUP -- when demanding a seat at the table, when contributing ideas and solutions, when other women deserve to be praised, and more!

WILS will be held on Tuesday, March 19, 2019 from 7:30 a.m.  12:30 p.m. at The Dearborn Inn-20301 Oakwood Blvd., Dearborn MI, 48124. Tickets are $150.00 per person. Corporate tables are also available.

This event will also focus on workplace diversity and acceptance, the glass ceiling, breaking barriers, work-life balance and building a network. These are just a few of the discussion points MIDC will deliver in an effort to address strategically utilizing womens varying identities in achieving equity for all women.

This years keynote speaker, Dr. Valerie Daniels-Carter, is one of the most preeminent business owners in the United States. In addition to leading two of the largest fast-food brand operations in the US, she currently serves as a board member to the NFLs Green Bay Packers and is a minority owner of the NBAs Milwaukee Bucks. Breaking barriers and shattering the glass ceiling, Dr. Daniels-Carter is consistently recognized as the largest female-owned franchises in the country.

In 2017, the American Automobile Association (AAA) elected Dr. Daniels-Carter as the First Female African-American Chair, believing in her abilities to drive the association to improved platforms.

MIDCs 2019 Women In Leadership Symposium is designed to bring together a diverse mix of successful women leaders who, through the discussion of topics relevant to todays issues, will educate, inspire and encourage women to reflect on their own goals and status as they strive to advance within their organizations.

For registration, additional information and to learn more about the Michigan Diversity Council, please visit: http://wilsymposium.com/locations/2019-symposiums/2019-detroit/"Dimensions was the best solution for our researchers needs as it easily offers insights across the entire research landscape and we are most interested in a variety of data sources."

Digital Science announces an agreement with the Kazan Federal University that will provide Dimensions access to users across the institution. Dimensions is a novel research insights platform designed to break down barriers to access and discovery. With access to Dimensions, researchers at Kazan Federal University can now seamlessly explore the connections between over 141 million grants, publications, clinical trials, patents and policy documents.

Kazan Federal University was an early supporter of Dimensions and participated in the development partner program. As a member of the program, they shared valuable feedback and helped inform our development plans and roadmaps. By adopting the tool, the university aims to apply the interlinked data and metrics to analyze the future of science and identify current research trends.

"Dimensions was the best solution for our researchers needs as it easily offers insights across the entire research landscape and we are most interested in a variety of data sources. Additionally, the platform will aid in both collaboration and competitor analyses by providing access to data beyond publications," commented Ilshat Gafurov, Rector of Kazan Federal University.

"We are happy to collaborate with Kazan Federal University and support their organization innovation initiatives with a data discovery engine with both context and perspective, adds Igor Osipov, CEO Digital Science Russia and VP Academic & Government, EMEA.

About Kazan Federal University

Kazan University is one of the oldest universities in Russia - it celebrated its 210th anniversary in 2014. Today, Kazan Federal University is a dynamic modern University which participates in local and international cooperation, networking with academia and industry, boosting the region's human resources development, as well as top-level research and innovation in different areas. Learn more at https://kpfu.ru.

About Dimensions

Dimensions is a modern, innovative, linked research knowledge system that re-imagines discovery and access to research. Developed by Digital Science in collaboration with over 100 leading research organizations around the world, Dimensions brings together grants, publications, citations, alternative metrics, clinical trials and patents to deliver a platform that enables users to find and access the most relevant information faster, analyze the academic and broader outcomes of research, and gather insights to inform future strategy. Visit Dimensions' website at https://dimensions.ai and find us on Twitter @DSDimensions.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is a technology company working to make research more efficient. We invest in, nurture and support innovative businesses and technologies that make all parts of the research process more open and effective. We believe that together, we can help researchers make a difference. Visit http://www.digital-science.com for more information, Russian-language version is available at http://www.digitalscience.ru.We are excited by our continued growth in FY 2018. The growth was chiefly due to the acquisition of new customers, many of which are large enterprises, and the expansion of existing customers thanks to new features. - Dusan Babich, CEO and co-founder of Device Magic.

Device Magic, a leading global provider of mobile forms and data collection software, announced today that it once again demonstrated consistent, significant growth in fiscal year 2018. While remaining organically funded, the company reports experiencing over 450% three-year recurring revenue growth. In addition, Device Magic is expanding and recently moved its headquarters into a new space in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina to accommodate planned growth.

We are excited by our continued growth in FY 2018. The growth was chiefly due to the acquisition of new customers, many of which are large enterprises, and the expansion of existing customers thanks to new features, said Dusan Babich, CEO and co-founder of Device Magic.

To support the sustained growth, Device Magic moved the companys headquarters into a larger space in January 2019. In order to maintain growth, we need to scale our company. In 2018, we realized that we were in need of a larger workspace, and we are pleased to have that continue to be in downtown Raleigh, said Babich.

The software company also plans to nurture expansion by continuing its investment in top talent in 2019. For current position openings, visit the Device Magic sites Careers page.

Device Magic mobile forms software helps organizations replace legacy data collection processes and paperwork with secure, efficient processes using mobile devices. Its robust, stable platform is intuitive and easy to use, as well as IT-approved. Device Magic offers 26+ out-of-the-box integrations, in addition to its own API, and simplifies the automation of business processes through workflows and conditional formatting. In FY 2019, the company plans to release several new product features and enhancements for new and existing customers.

About Device Magic

Device Magic is a mobile forms software and data collection app used by thousands of organizations worldwide every day. We make it easy for businesses to eliminate paperwork, improve data quality and increase efficiency through mobile forms. As a result, Device Magic is a top-rated iOS app for mobile data collection. Device Magic continues to provide a unique company culture and has been named a 2018 Best Place to Work by the Triangle Business Journal, in addition to Company of the Year in CIO Applications' "Top 25 Field Service Solutions Providers - 2018." While remaining organically funded, the company reports experiencing over 450% three-year recurring revenue growth.American businessman, investor, and television personality, Daymond John, visits nonprofit Year Up Los Angeles to greet the incoming class with a motivational speech and Q&A. "Year Up is an incredible program, and one that I wish was available to me when I went through a hard period in my life when I was younger. The opportunities they provide are limitless, but start with the fundamentals of giving them a chance they otherwise would not have had." - Daymond John

American businessman, investor, and television personality, Daymond John, visited the nonprofit Year Up Los Angeles on February 11th to greet the incoming class with a motivational speech and Q&A.

Located on the campus of West Los Angeles College, Year Up Los Angeles provides motivated young adults with in-demand technical and professional skills training, college credits and internships at top companies in Southern California. The program is free for participants and includes a weekly financial stipend, as well as full access to college resources.

John is an original cast member of ABCs four-time Emmy Award-winning series, Shark Tank, where he is currently in the midst of his 10th season. John is widely recognized for his accomplishments as an entrepreneur and branding expert following the success of his groundbreaking lifestyle brand, FUBU. He was named a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship under the Obama Administration and is a two-time New York Times Best Selling Author, most recently for his book Rise and Grind. John remains committed to helping aspiring entrepreneurs, which landed him the affectionate nickname of The Peoples Shark. In recognition of his impact in the entrepreneurial space, John has been bestowed the NAACP Entrepreneurs of the Year Award, the Congressional Achievement Award for Entrepreneurship and more.

"Year Up is an incredible program, and one that I wish was available to me when I went through a hard period in my life when I was younger. The opportunities they provide are limitless, but start with the fundamentals of giving them a chance they otherwise would not have had," John said. "The time I got to spend on campus was amazing and I am so impressed by the amount of young people with vision and ideas they have, and have no doubt they will play a key role in bringing us our next wave of sharks."

Johns speech focused on his rags-to-riches success story to inspire Year Up students to pursue their dreams through sacrifice, hard work, and perseverance. He also shared his unique goal setting and achieving strategies to help empower students to make positive changes in every aspect of their lives for immediate and long-term success.

John is preparing to release his upcoming album, Shark Motivation, to inspire entrepreneurs and rising leaders like Year Ups young adults. According to John, Your goals, passions, and successes are based on your drive, hustle, and patience. The album aims to motivate your heart and mind to remain driven even when youre detoured.

The second single Boss Up will be out on February 20th, and the album is set to come out in spring 2019.

Since its launch in the fall of 2016, Year Up Los Angeles has helped more than 350 young adults access careers in business and technology at companies such as Hulu, Kaiser Permanente, Snap and Wells Fargo. A recent federally-sponsored Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) evaluation of Year Up showed a 53% increase in initial earnings for young adults randomly assigned to Year Up compared with similar young adults in a control groupthe largest impacts on earnings reported to date for a workforce program tested in a randomized controlled trial. Learn more about Year Up Los Angeles by visiting us on Facebook.

About Year Up

Year Up is an award-winning, national 501(c)3 organization that provides talented and motivated young adults ages 18-24 with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education. Through a one-year, intensive training program, Year Up utilizes a high-support, high-expectations model that combines marketable job skills, stipends, coursework eligible for college credit, and corporate internships at more than 250 top companies. Its holistic approach focuses on students' professional and personal development to enable young adults with a viable path to economic self-sufficiency and meaningful careers. Year Up has served more than 19,500 young adults since its founding in 2000, and will serve more than 4,000 young adults in 2018 across 21 U.S. cities in Arizona, Baltimore, Bay Area, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Greater Atlanta, Greater Boston, Greater Philadelphia, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, National Capital Region, New York City, Providence, Puget Sound, South Florida, and Wilmington. Year Up has been voted one of the Best Non-Profits to Work For by The NonProfit Times for eight consecutive years, and rated a 4-star charity by Charity Navigator for twelve consecutive years, placing them in the top 1% of tracked organizations.

To learn more, visit http://www.yearup.org, and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter: @YearUp"We are excited to focus on the complexities of B2B relationships at Monetize! Amsterdam and can't wait to hear from some leading B2B brands in the world" - Adam Dorrell, CustomerGauge CEO and co-founder

CustomerGauge, a Software-as-a-Service platform that helps clients improve and monetize the customer experience, has announced today additional speakers and a record number of registered attendees for its springtime CX conference, Monetize! Amsterdam.

Scheduled March 11-14th, Monetize! Amsterdam, now in its fourth year, will welcome more than 200 CX practitioners seeking best practices from other experts in their fields, network opportunities and inspiration to the city center venue, Compagnietheater.

CustomerGauge will also unveil a new category and solutions to its SaaS platform, primarily focused on the Business-to-Business (B2B) market, which will help companies focus on enhancing their customer experience with enterprise-scale relationships.

We are excited to focus on the complexities of B2B relationships at Monetize! Amsterdam and can't wait to hear from some leading B2B brands in the world.  noted CustomerGauge CEO and co-founder Adam Dorrell All large enterprises are challenged to deliver excellent customer experiences with large customers, be they partners or clients, and this area has really been underserved until now. The Monetize conference will help foster best practices in this area, as well as introduce new technology solutions that are tailored to manage the nuances of B2B relationships.

Along with the introduction of these next-generation B2B features, Monetize! Amsterdam is also welcoming a plethora of CX leaders from Salesforce, DHL Supply Chain, Eventbrite, G2 Crowd, Electrolux, Anheuser-Busch-Inbev, City of Amsterdam plus many others.

This years Monetize event is offering two different tracks: a four-day pass which includes a two-day crash certification course in everything from loyalty economics to CX program management prior to the conference & a main conference pass to an incredible lineup of speakers. Details at: https://customergauge.com/monetize-amsterdam-2019At the end of the day, this is the beer that we all want to drink. Its got the classic piney, dank, citrus hop character, with more fruitiness and softer mouthfeel from the yeast. Were stoked with how it turned out and we think our fans will love it, too. Its perfectly crushable.

Coronado Brewing Company is debuting Leisure Lagoon Hazy Pale Ale, the latest in its hop-forward lineup of year-round releases. Named for an inlet in Mission Bay, Leisure Lagoon is the companys first year-round hazy offering, following the success of its highly anticipated seasonal hazy, North Island IPA. Our fans cant get enough of hazy beers says Shawn Steele, Director of Brewing Operations, Coronado Brewing Company. We are excited to offer a lower ABV option that doesnt skimp on any of the bright and juicy hop notes that people have come to expect with this style.

Leisure Lagoon Hazy Pale Ale is a unique spin on the hazy trend. It combines the best of East Coast and West Coast pale ales, using classic West coast hops, then fermenting with London III yeast for a softer mouthfeel and accentuated fruitiness. The end result is brighter and juicier than a typical west coast pale ale, with pleasant bitterness and easy-drinking ABV. We spent a lot of time experimenting with different hop profiles and alcohol percentages, says Steele. At the end of the day, this is the beer that we all want to drink. Its got the classic piney, dank, citrus hop character, with more fruitiness and softer mouthfeel from the yeast. Were stoked with how it turned out and we think our fans will love it, too. Its perfectly crushable.

Leisure Lagoon Hazy Pale Ale will debut at Coronado Brewings three locations on Friday, February 15, in 16oz six-pack cans and on draft. The beer will hit broader retail availability later in February and will be available to buy in stores throughout Coronados distribution network. The company will also host an outdoor Leisure Lagoon Luau on Saturday, March 2, complete with luau-themed food, live music, and beer specials. For more information about Leisure Lagoon and the Luau, visit http://www.coronadobrewing.com. Stay Coastal. Cheers.

Leisure Lagoon Hazy Pale Ale:

Style: Hazy Pale Ale

ABV: 5.5%

Package: 16oz can six packs, draft

Release: Late February 2018

Availability: Coronados distribution network

Sales Sheet: https://bit.ly/2E6Lt0W

Label Copy:

A little bit East Coast, a lotta bit West coast, and 100% juicy! This hoppy pale ale is fermented with London III yeast for a cloudy, hazy finish. So, grab a floaty and join us on the Leisure Lagoon of hoppiness.

About Coronado Brewing Company

In 1996, when craft beer was still a foreign term and San Diego County was home to only a handful of breweries, the Chapman brothers Ron and Rick opened a brewpub in their hometown of Coronado. Today CBC stays true to their San Diego roots, brewing abundantly hoppy West Coast-style ales, which are available today in 14 US states and 12 countries. In addition to the long-established pub in Coronado, the company opened a tasting room inside its San Diego production facility in 2013, and a tasting room and restaurant in Imperial Beach, California in 2014. Coronado Brewing Company was honored in 2014 with one of the brewing industry's most prestigious awardsWorld Beer Cup Champion Brewery and Brewmaster for a Mid-Size Brewing Company.

Links:

Website: http://www.coronadobrewing.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coronadobrewingcompany

Instagram: @CoronadoBrewing

Twitter: @CoronadoBrewing

#MermaidSighting

#StayCoastalDeed Californias community property rights intersect to create legal consequences in divorce and death.

California is a community property state. Tip Sheet by Deed and Record discusses how real property is owned and how Californias community property rights intersect to create legal consequences in divorce and death.

Real property acquired prior to marriage or by inheritance is separate property. In a divorce, the non-owning spouse has no ownership of separate property. Separate property owned jointly by both spouses destroys the protection of separate property in a divorce but avoids probate on death of the first spouse.

Separate real property owned only in the name of the deceased spouse is distributed in probate court. If the deceased spouse had a will, distribution is as directed in the will. Absent a will or trust, the surviving spouse receives two-thirds of the real property if the deceased spouse has one child, or one-thirds of the real property if the deceased spouse has more than one child. If the separate property is owned by a trust created by the owning spouse, the real property is protected in a divorce and avoids probate administration on death.

Real property acquired during the marriage is community property. In a divorce the real property is owned equally by both spouses. On death of one spouse, community property owned either as joint tenants or as community property with the right of survivorship transfers to the surviving spouse without probate administration. But on the death of the first spouse there is capital gains consequence between these two options.

Real property owned as joint tenancy is presumed community property in divorce but separate property on death. On death this separate property presumption prevents a full mark up to fair market value of the real propertys capital gains tax basis. Because of this, the California legislature authorized a relativity, new method for married couples to own real property.

The new method is community property with the right of survivorship. This co-owner designation for married couples allows for the surviving spouse to take a step-up in basis to market value for 100% of the real property. Regardless how community real property is jointly owned, if the survivor takes no preventive action, the real property must be administered in probate court on the death of the surviving spouse.

How real property is owned and Californias community property rights intersect in real property to create legal consequences in divorce and death. Separate property protection in a divorce is lost under joint ownership, but probate is avoided on the death of the first spouse. Both spouses are equal owners of community property and have equal rights in divorce and death. The actual words on a deed of community property with the right of survivorship have favorable capital gains tax advantage to the surviving spouse.

This press release was authored by Mark W. Bidwell, an attorney located in Orange County, California. Office is located at 4952 Warner Avenue, Suite 235, Huntington Beach, California 92649. Telephone is 714-846-2888. Email is Mark@DeedandRecord.comWith more than 45 years in delivering affordable-luxury travel programs for individuals, families, and groups, we have the expertise and resources to remain on our high growth path that has driven us to an increase thus far year-over-year from 2018 to 2019 of more than 40 percent

Central Holidays today announced a significant increase in the momentum of bookings for 2019 and year-over-year growth in bookings of 43+ percent. The company is additionally sharing insight on some of the worlds most high demand destinations for travel to help boost travel agent business.

With more than 45 years in delivering affordable-luxury travel programs for individuals, families, and groups, we have the expertise and resources to remain on our high growth path that has driven us to an increase in revenue of more than 25 percent year-over-year from 2017 to 2018 and an even more impressive increase thus far year-over-year from 2018 to 2019 of more than 40 percent. The future is bright and Central Holidays is well positioned in the marketplace with a distinctive range of travel products and a highly engaged travel agent partner base. We look forward to introducing new initiatives that cater to travel advisors and their clients, continually demonstrating our commitment to the travel agent community and to providing customers with the travel experiences of their dreams, said Tewfik Ghattas, SGI Board Member.

Focused on long-term strategic priorities, the award-winning travel brand is very pleased to share that demand for some of the most popular destinations continues to increase  such as travel throughout Italy and Greece. This year the company is also seeing a marked increase in demand for travel to France once again. As well, the diversity of Latin America continues drawing more and more travelers and Central Holidays is meeting that demand with new programs that truly share the authentic cultures, customs, food, and experiences offered in each destination.

Further to these exciting trends, demand for travel to Egypt is increasing by leaps and bounds. From a tourism perspective, Egypt offers travelers not only iconic and intriguing ancient antiquities and a fascinating culture to explore  including many new excavations and recent finds that have been uncovered, but also fantastic beach resorts for relaxation and rejuvenation. Above and beyond other travel companies, Central Holidays is uniquely positioned to share this mesmerizing destination, backed by its parent company Sakkara Group International (SGI) that owns and operates an expansive fleet of Nile River cruise vessels, hotels and resorts, as well as a fleet of buses and limousines  and SGI maintains offices and comprehensive destination management services throughout Egypt to deliver the very best in travel.

The outlook for travel in 2019 is very positive and the travel industry should certainly be looking forward to even greater things to come, said Ghattas.

For sales inquiries, the companys dedicated travel industry sales team can be reached as follows:

Maria Di Rocco, CTC, MCC

Regional Sales Director, Northeast

Call: 973-901-4664

Email: mdirocco(at)centralholidays.com

Giovanna Cilia-Wheatley, CTC

Regional Sales Manager, Mid-Atlantic

Call 800-935-5000 ext. 5364

Email: gcilia-wheatley(at)centralholidays.com

Lynn Seleck, CTC

Regional Sales Manager, Southeast

Call: 386-871-0810

Email: lseleck(at)centralholidays.com

Margie Bell, CTC

National Sales Manager & Mid/Southwest Region

Call: 847-949-4890

Email: mbell(at)centralholidays.com

About Central Holidays:

Founded in 1972, Central Holidays is an award-winning travel brand that offers superior travel programs, value, and service to enchanting destinations across Italy, the Mediterranean, Africa, West Asia, Cuba, and Latin America. As true destination specialists, this leader in travel offers an expansive range of Independent, Escorted, Hosted, and Land/Cruise itineraries. Central Holidays presents a wide array of diverse travel opportunities including people-to-people experiences, educational and cultural programs, culinary travel adventures, and active vacations. Group Travel Experiences are a hallmark of the company, offering special interest travel, religious pilgrimages, and fully-customized programs. Their newest brand, Journeys by Central Holidays, was created to orchestrate tailor-made travel experiences that redefine luxury. Central Holidays remains at the forefront of the tourism and travel industry, offering distinctive travel programs that support brand promises of reliability, expertise, and flexibility. For more information, contact Central Holidays at 866-554-0165 or visit centralholidays.com.C.R. Hogan, a dedicated writer and author from Fort Worth, Texas, has completed her new book The Seducers: a gripping account that discusses the toxic nature of seducers and how to avoid and let go of them.

Author Hogan takes inspiration from her personal journey in life that exactly reflects a struggle for freedom from the shackles of seduction: The Seducers captures the heart as well as the mind of those seeking something real in order to break away from that which is ______. The Seducers revisits the ways to get back on track to the true meaning of life and love, showing how to break free of the seducers, giving strength and courage to place one foot in front of the other.

Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, C.R. Hogans potent opus contains resonant biblical scriptures that reinforce the message of resilience and faith in God to ensure ones total liberation from tempters of all kind.

Readers who wish to experience this spiritual work can purchase The Seducers at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional New York based full-service publishing house that handles all 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.ASM International presents Buehler with the 75 Year Partnership Award Ryan Milosh of ASM proclaims, As materials for aerospace, automobiles, electronics and medical devices evolve at a rapid pace for Industry 4.0, organizations like Buehler and ASM International lead the charge by offering equipment and training to meet the needs of cutting-edge organizations."

Buehler, An ITW Company and ASM International are celebrating 75 of continuous partnership in 2019. The pinnacle of this relationship is Buehlers continuous support of the ASM World Training Center in Novelty, Ohio through its innovations for metallography and hardness testing, solutions for the newest materials and participation in ASM International activities.

Ryan Milosh, ASM Chief Sales and Marketing Officer proclaims, As materials for aerospace, automobiles, electronics and medical devices evolve at a rapid pace for Industry 4.0, organizations like Buehler and ASM International lead the charge by offering equipment and training to meet the needs of cutting-edge organizations. Our partnership embodies the ongoing relationship of solutions providers with associations catering to the advancement of industry.

Dr. Mike Keeble, Buehlers US Laboratory and Technology Manager and a Director of the International Metallographic Society (IMS) notes, This longstanding partnership, includes Buehler equipment at the ASM Training Center, participation on the chapter level by Buehler employees and affiliations with the ASM Heat Treating Society, the IMS, and the Thermal Spray Society. In addition, Buehler recognizes excellence in Metallography and Material Science by endowing the ASM Francis F. Lucas Metallographic Award and the Jacquet Lucas Award. Our mutual investment in training laboratory technicians and custom material solutions impacts production of quality critical manufactured goods and hastens speed to market.

Buehlers metallographic preparation equipment the IsoMet High Speed precision saw, the SimpliMet 4000 duplex mounting press, the Wilson VH Series hardness testing equipment with automated DiaMet hardness testing software, and consumables are available at the ASM Training Center. It is Buehlers aim to continue to update the ASM Training Center with the latest sample preparation machines. ASM uses these new instruments in advanced metallography training courses designed to teach participants about high precision manufacturing and materials testing techniques. Customized metallographic solutions for new materials or processes are available at Buehlers Global Solution Centers.

ASM became known as the American Society of Metals in 1933 and expanded its scope to include composites, ceramics and electronic materials and became known as ASM International in 1986. Buehler was founded in 1936 by Adolph I. Buehler and led the way in developing the first metallographic equipment for the burgeoning automobile industry. In 2006 Buhler was acquired by ITW, a Fortune 200 company and in 2011 the Wilson line of hardness equipment also became part of the companys offering.

About ASM International

ASM International is the worlds largest association of materials-centric engineers and scientists. They are dedicated to informing, educating, and connecting the materials community to solve problems, improve materials performance, and support professional development. To learn more about ASM International, visit http://www.asminternational.org.

About Buehler

Buehler, An ITW Company, is a global industrial manufacturer of value-added sample preparation equipment, consumables and hardness testing equipment with related service businesses. The company innovates solutions and offers expert service and support throughout the materials preparation and analysis market. For additional information on the Buehler product offering please visit http://www.buehler.com or contact Buehler at marketing(at)buehler(dot)com USA 1-847-295-6500.

In 2006, Buehler was acquired by ITW, a developer and processor of engineered components, industrial systems and consumables. ITW is a global, Fortune 200 company with 51,000 employees across 56 countries. For additional information on ITW please visit http://www.itw.com .Billions of people around the world are asking themselves the question, Whats happening in our world? Now, author Ernie Hasler has set out to answer that very question, delving into the biblical prophecy unfolding in front of our very eyes and its implications for society today.

Haslers new book, Whats Happening to Our World? The Old Order is Collapsing testifies to the fact that, as the Bible predicted, the old order is making way for the return of Yeshua in the Second Comingall we must do is turn on the television to witness this happening.

Hasler points to phenomena such as Brexit, climate change, the election of Trump to the American presidency and the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine. Hasler also proves, through extensive biblical references, how our current state of affairs parallels the Second Coming as described in the bible.

I hope the book teaches readers how to walk the narrow path to becoming protected against the terrible woes to come, Hasler said. Yahwehs Salvation is coming and it is important for us to keep his Commandments as he taught them.

The U.S. Review describes Whats Happening to Our World?: People seeking a biblical interpretation of the seismic events taking place in the world today will be rewarded by Haslers analysis. He is straightforward in his approach and is not weighed down in scholarly ambitions or sophisticated theology.

Whats Happening to Our World? The Old Order Is Collapsing

By Ernie Hasler

ISBN: 9781546294917 (softcover); 9781546294900 (hardcover)

Available at the AuthorHouse Online Bookstore, Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the author

Ernie Hasler started working as an apprentice engineer with the Ministry of Defense at Royal Ordnance in Scotland at the age of 16 and enjoyed a long career focused in environmental affairs. In his spare time, he ran a small charity Plant Tree Save Planet starting womens tree nurseries in poor countries, mostly funded by himself and his two sisters. Year after year, he continues to fund tree planting through Trees for the Future and in 2016 funded the planting of over 20,000 trees. His ambition is to fund the planting of 100,000 trees in his lifetime. Hasler has been a voluntary trustee with Emmaus Glasgow for 21 years helping to take it from an aspirational concept to a functioning community of up to 27 previously homeless people. Emmaus Glasgow now also match his tree planting funding. 75 years of experience has taught him that supporting people with special needs on positive pathways is much more productive than punitive sanctions. To learn more about Hasler please visit https://www.erniehaslerbooks.com.Our industry has lost not only an icon, but a true gentleman, said Dan Rodowicz, general manager, Keyboard division, Yamaha Corporation of America. "I cant even imagine the number of peoples lives that are better because of the joy of making music that he introduced to them.

William Clifton Bill Boyce, Jr., who distinguished himself as a highly successful piano retailer throughout his remarkable 60-year career in the music products industry, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Saturday, February 2 in Bradenton, Florida. He was 78.

Bill was best defined as a tireless entrepreneur, savvy businessman, guiding mentor, devoted husband and wonderfully loving father. He, along with his wife Sandy, was the owner of and guiding force behind Palmetto, Florida-based Piano Distributors, one of the most successful piano store chains in the nation, with thousands of satisfied customers largely in the Southeast.

Born July 9, 1940, in Raleigh, North Carolina to William and Virginia Boyce, Bill grew up in Windsor, North Carolina.

His six-decade career in the music business effectively began in 1959 when, at the age of 19, he was invited by his uncle, Edwin Poole, a band director in North Carolina, to join his Raleigh piano store, E.R. Poole Music Co.

Bills initial calling was in the field of engineering, which he studied at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. He worked part-time in the store to pay for college, selling his first piano in 1959. He earned $40 a week plus a 3% commission on anything he sold.

Upon graduation in 1961, now earning $10,000 a year at the music store, Bill was approached by a recruiter for IBM, who offered him a starting salary of $5,400/year.

I told them I was making [more] in the piano business, Boyce told a reporter several years ago. I couldnt take the pay cut.

From that moment, Bill became a lifer in the piano business. He opened his first store, and eventually had a chain of full line stores in North Carolina under Bill Boyce Music. In 1962, he began selling both pianos and organs, renaming his business, Piano and Organ Distributors.

His excitement for sales escalated over the next few years, as he loaded pianos on vans, answering classified ads in the newspapers. He fell in love with Outside Promotions, working all the county fairs, and requiring each of his store managers to do at least one outside promotion a month. His sales motto: The Outside drives the Inside.

In 1982, Piano Distributors became an authorized dealer for Yamaha, the worlds largest manufacturer of musical instruments. To this day, the company continues to be the exclusive authorized Yamaha Piano Dealer in each of its multi-state markets.

Encore Performance

In 1993, Bill married his beloved wife, Sandra Sandy McCowen on the beach in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands and, semi-retired at the age of 52 now living in Durham, turned over the management of his North Carolina stores to his son, Cliff.

Bill and Sandy eventually moved to Florida in 1997 to relax and enjoy their new home on Sanibel Island.

However, the idea of retirement was short lived, as Bill quickly found that he had too much love and enthusiasm for the piano business to leave it all behind.

Yamaha had some influence over the matter, too. The global music company was so impressed with Bills success in selling its pianos in North Carolina the previous 20 years, that it offered the couple the proverbial deal you cant refuse.

He opened his first Piano Distributors store in Sarasota on April 1, 2001, and today, there are nine locations in Florida and Georgia, including a new store in Jupiter, Florida, which opened December 2018. Each location offers all Yamaha piano models including the Clavinova and the Disklavier reproducing piano, along with pre-owned fine brand pianos.

Yamaha has recognized Piano Distributors with a Top Dealer Award consistently since 2004. The company maintains an extensive outside promotion schedule, for which Yamaha recognized Piano Distributors as the 2018 Promotions and Outside Events Dealer of the Year in January 2019.

Our industry has lost not only an icon, but a true gentleman, said Dan Rodowicz, general manager, Keyboard division, Yamaha Corporation of America. Bill was always a man of his word. Beyond that, he mirrored the Yamaha mission of creating more music makers. I cant even imagine the number of peoples lives that are better because of the joy of making music that he introduced to them.

In addition to running Piano Distributors, Bill served as President of the National Association of Young Music Merchants (NAYMM), which prepares young professionals, ages 21-35, for greater leadership roles within the products industry through business, social networking and leadership development programs, such as industry mentoring. He also enjoyed many years with the KIG group.

With Bills passing, Piano Distributors is now led by Sandy Boyce and Frank Harvey, who was promoted to President of the company in 2016.

Bill is survived by his wife, Sandy; his son, Cliff Boyce; four daughters, Janet Sloan, Kimberly Sieli, Gay Leigh Boyce and Tracy Kolker, and 11 grandchildren.

A memorial service for Bill Boyce will be held in Florida at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the American Diabetes Association in Bills name.

The Boyce family would like to thank the entire music products industry for its support, love and strong belief in Bill, whose passion for and devotion to his work was legendary. They would also like to thank the staff of the Manasota Davita Dialysis Center for its kindness, help and support in providing Bills outpatient care, as well as extend its deepest appreciation to all their friends for their outpouring of love and support.

-END-Benefits are the single largest expense for employees each year so providing one on one support to assist employees in making the best decisions for them and their family remains a top priority for brokers, clients and their employees, said Megan Runci, Senior Sales Consultant, Hodges Mace.

Hodges-Mace, LLC, a benefits delivery innovator, announces two top employees will speak during the Workplace Benefits Renaissance 2019 Conference in Nashville, TN, at The Omni Nashville, February 20-22. Register here to attend.

Hodges-Mace Senior Vice President, Executive Sponsor, John Chase, and Omni Hotels Director of Benefits, Darrell Hart, (a Hodges-Mace client) will deliver the morning Keynote address on Friday, February 22. John and Darrell will present Benefits in Motion: A Living Case Study on Omni Hotels. During their session, they will share their multi-year strategy for achieving excellence in benefits enrollment and engagement for a diverse employee base. The audience will hear about current initiatives that are measurably enhancing the benefits experience for Omni Associates.

On Thursday February 21, Hodges-Mace Senior Sales Consultant Megan Runci will speak on the EBA Rising Stars: Our Future Leaders panel. Megan was recently named one of the Top 20 Rising Stars in 2019 by the editors of Employee Benefits Advisor (EBA). In 2018 Megan was named Top Sales Rep of the Month six times and generated more than $2.6 million in new revenue. EBA Editor in Chief Walden Siew will moderate the conference panel where Megan and two of her colleagues will share their individual stories about their rise to success.

Benefits are the single largest expense for employees each year (outside of buying a home or a car) so providing one on one support to assist employees in making the best decisions for them and their family remains a top priority for brokers, clients and their employees, said Megan.

Workplace Benefits Renaissance brings together 500+ brokers, agents and advisers to discover the latest strategic approaches, tools and technologies to grow their benefits practice. At Renaissance 2019, attendees learn from the most successful leaders in the benefits industry and make new relationships with people and organizations that help them achieve new levels of success and service.

About the Speakers

John Chase, Senior Vice President, Executive Sponsor  Hodges-Mace, LLC

John joined Hodges-Mace in 2005 and currently serves as Executive Sponsor to Sales and Operations, and is responsible for implementation and support to the firms largest clients. John was the first Hodges-Mace employee, and has held leadership roles in operations, client management, and technology including serving as Chief Information Officer until 2014. John has an extensive background in benefits administration and technology, enrollment operations, and group benefits. He interacts regularly with employers and consulting clients, including contacts in Human Resources, Benefits, and IT.

Darrell Hart, Director of Benefits  Omni Hotels Management Corporation

Darrell Hart is currently the Director of Benefits at Omni Hotels Management Corporation (since September 2017). Responsibilities include managing benefit plans for over 20,000 Associates. He is a strategic leader of benefits initiatives and plan designs that are considered leading edge. In his roles, he has directed the implementation of benefit plans and initiatives that added value to employees and held health care cost trends below industry norms. Mr. Hart has been accountable for the full range of benefit design, administration, compliance, and communication and vendor management of benefit plans for over 500,000 employees in his career.

Megan Runci - Senior Sales Associate. Hodges-Mace, LLC

Megan is an experienced strategy consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the insurance industry. A true star within Hodges-Mace, she started as an Account Specialist before moving into Sales. Megan is now one of the top sales performers excelling more than the firms most tenured reps. In 2018 she was one of Hodges-Maces top producers and was named Top Sales Rep of the Month six times. Most recently the editors of Employee Benefits Advisor Magazine named Megan one of the Top 20 Rising Stars of 2019. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from University of Tennessee-Knoxville - College of Business Administration.

About Hodges-Mace

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Hodges-Mace, LLC is a leading provider of benefit management software and services. Their portfolio ranges from small-to-mid-size companies and Fortune 500 enterprises in a variety of industries, including education, energy, gaming, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail. Hodges-Mace is a respected leader in the employee benefits industry and is dedicated to helping employees and employers make smarter benefits decisions through a blend of innovative technologies and intelligent service solutions. The company was named a 2018 Top 10 Cloud Solution provider by HR Tech Outlook Magazine. Employees voted Hodges-Mace One of the Best Companies to Work for in Georgia in 2016 and 2017. For additional information visit http://www.hodgesmace.com.Pat Riley Our goal is to identify the people who lead North Carolina - Ben Kinney

For the second consecutive year, Allen Tate Companies President and CEO Pat Riley has been named to the North Carolina Power 100, a list of the states most influential business leaders published by Business North Carolina magazine.

Our goal is to identify the people who lead North Carolina. In addition to corporate power, we looked for those making an impact on the broader community, said Ben Kinney, publisher, Business North Carolina.

Riley, who joined Allen Tate in 1992, leads the states largest residential real estate firm, based on closed sales transactions. Allen Tate Companies currently operates 47 local real estate offices in North and South Carolina and last year, joined forces with Pittsburgh-based Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, to form the largest independent real estate firm in the country.

In addition to his role as real estate royalty as dubbed by the magazine, Riley is well-known as a community and civic leader, and currently serves on the board of Best NC, a statewide non-profit coalition of business leaders committed to improving North Carolinas education system through policy and advocacy.

About Allen Tate Companies

Allen Tate Realtors is the Carolinas largest real estate company with offices in the Charlotte, Triad, Triangle and Upstate South Carolina regions. Allen Tate offers the advantage of hometown service with international capabilities and the latest in real estate technology and maximum marketing exposure. Visit http://www.allentate.com for more information.

Throughout the Summit, attendees will sharpen how they leverage data-driven decisions to drive competitive advantage while managing risk

Allegro Development Corp., the leading provider of next-generation commodity management software and advanced analytics, today announced the upcoming 2019 Allegro Global Customer Summit from March 3-7, 2019 in sunny Coronado, California.

The 2019 Allegro Global Customer Summit is an annual conference that provides opportunities for Allegros partners and customers from across the globe to learn the latest in CTRM and ETRM software advancements. In addition, attendees will gain valuable face time with industry peers, partners and Allegro employees.

This years event theme  The Era of Analytics  centers around the ability to harness the increasing volume, velocity, and variability of data sources through advanced analytics. Leading organizations know that in a rapidly changing and risky commodity market, leveraging big data drives competitive advantage.

Throughout the Summit, attendees will sharpen how they leverage data-driven decisions to drive competitive advantage while managing risk, said Michael W. Hinton, Allegro Chief Customer and Strategy Officer. Its a great feeling to see our customers grow their commodity trading and risk management capabilities as a result of the Allegro Global Customer Summit.

Registrants will have access to:



Exclusive face time with Allegro executives and product managers

1:1 health checks with account managers

18 region-specific, conference and breakout sessions

On-site technical and functional training

Private networking events

And much more!

Customers, employees, partners and other industry experts will have the opportunity to attend hands-on training, in addition to 18 conference and breakout sessions. Also, Allegros industry experts will provide insight into utilizing advanced analytics for commodity businesses.

During the conferences networking events, customers will learn from one another about what is working for them within the CTRM landscape. Ultimately, attendees will network with industry peers, gain major takeaways to maximize their current investments in Allegro and learn innovation strategies to guide potential future investments.

This is a unique, once-a-year opportunity for top energy and commodity professionals from all over the world to collaborate, said Allegro Chief Executive Officer Frank Brienzi. Im looking forward to our customers exploring which trends to focus on, while delving into how CTRM solutions help their respective industries and regions.

Another one of Allegros biggest initiatives is the strengthening of its partner alliances, which will also be highlighted at Summit. The Allegro Partner Program is the industry-leading partner ecosystem that consists of a global network of consulting advisors, complementary solutions, platform technology applications and trade service providers. The Partner Program brings together not only resources, but the expertise Allegro customers need to quickly return value from their investments.

Without Allegro's partners, the 2019 Allegro Global Customer Summit would not be the incredible experience it is. That said, Allegro would like to thank Accenture and capSpire, its Titanium Level 2019 Allegro Global Customer Summit Sponsors.

About Allegro Development Corp.

Allegro is the global leader in commodity management software and advanced analytics for companies that buy, sell, produce, or consume commodities. For over 30 years, Allegro has delivered position visibility, risk management, comprehensive controls, regulatory compliance and analytics through a forward-compatible, next-generation architecture that empowers commodity organizations to make data-driven decisions. Allegros proven CTRM software innovation and flexibility, coupled with a strong global network of industry partners and industry-leading analytics, makes its solutions the best on the market for full commodity portfolio management.

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Allegro has offices in Houston, Dubai, Jakarta, Singapore, London and Zurich. To learn more, visit Allegros website at http://www.allegrodev.com.EXPERT OBSERVERS

Most of the economists polled think better regulation can make banks put customers first. The rest think it will need more.



After three years and 35 polls, the Economic Society of Australia has received its first-ever unanimous response to a survey question.

It asked just over 50 of Australias leading economists to respond to this statement:

There is no way to significantly increase the degree to which Australian retail banks act in the interests of consumers.

Twenty did. All rejected the proposition that nothing could be done. But there was widespread disagreement about what should be done.

Most thought that regulations should be tightened and better enforced.

Mathew Butlins comments typify this more regulation approach:

The incentive structures for bank staff, from the top down, play a key role in shaping behaviour. A more complete set of performance measures linked to remuneration that strongly penalises behaviour not in the consumer interest would provide stronger incentives for better behaviour, especially when linked with reliable information on non-compliance going to management and ultimately the bank board and a requirement for both to take action.

A smaller group openly doubted that better regulations would help, because they were not confident that the current crop of regulators or politicians would be able to devise and properly enforce them.

Allan Fels gave the most damning response (with the highest word count) saying what was needed - among other things - was a radical improvement in the performance of the two main regulators, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

In particular they need a change of culture. This will prove to be harder to do than it sounds. People have been talking for over twenty years about the ASIC and APRA culture needing improvement.

Geoffrey Kingston called for mandatory minimum sentences for financial crimes, arguing that the courts were complicit in the maintenance of financial crimes by being reluctant to jail white-collar criminals.

Kingston and Joaquin Vespignani pointed to the monopoly power of the big four banks before then raising the hope that the big data revolution would democratise banking and re-empower consumers, an idea at the heart of the governments Consumer Data Right initiative.

Also targeting market concentration, Allan Fels, James Morley, and John Quiggin called for the separation of bank functions (with marketing separate from advice) or the breakup of banks themselves as happened in the United States under the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which separated investment banks from deposit-taking banks.

Gigi Foster called for foreign countries to send competent regulators to sort out Australians banking system, suggesting that Australian regulators were compromised.

John Quiggin called for a stand-alone no frills public bank modelled on New Zealands Kiwibank, something he hoped would rein in the expansion of the financial sector that began in the 1970s. But he added:

These proposals may be beyond the realm of political feasibility, which is why I have expressed only modest confidence in my view.

Quiggin and a substantial minority of those polled acknowledged that - uncomfortably for economists - many of the barriers to getting banks to behave better lay outside the realm of economics. Like well-meaning doctors, economists have been dispensing prescriptions that should work, while the patient continues to die.

But standard prescriptions have their place  among them removing commissions, imposing salary caps, imposing fee caps, revoking licences and setting minimum jail terms, all of which would change the balance of risks and rewards and help put money back into the pcokets of ordinary Australians.

Of course, even applying traditional economic prescriptions require political will.

Perhaps surprisingly for a group of dismal scientists, 20 of Australias leading economists believe that change is possible. It isnt the economics that is dismal, its the dearth of political courage to do whats needed.

Gigi Foster, Professor, School of Economics, UNSW and Paul Frijters, Co-Director, Wellbeing Program, London School of Economics and Political Science

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.GUEST OBSERVATION

The leaders of our banks and financial institutions are seen as the most self-serving in the nation, according to a national survey undertaken by researchers at Swinburne University of Technology.

More than a third (35.4%) of respondents believe banking and financial institutions show no leadership for the greater good. This score is slightly worse than public perceptions of the Federal Government, substantially worse than religious institutions and significantly worse than trade unions.

The results, from a nationally representative sample of 1,000 Australians, also repudiate the Australian Banking Associations claim a year ago that Australians believe banks are heading in the right direction.

And given this survey was done in December 2018, before the Banking Royal Commission had completed its work exposing misconduct in the financial services sector, its likely a future poll will show even greater community distrust of bankers.

Transparency and accountability are crucial

Our findings come from the initial results of the Australian Leadership Index, a new quarterly survey from the Swinburne Business School that measures and tracks community perceptions and expectations of leadership for the greater good across 13 societal institutions.

The index wont be officially published until later in the year. But given the important public discussion about corporate leadership in the wake of the final report of the banking royal commission, we think its useful to share a snapshot of our findings.

Consistent with other studies that highlight the importance of transparency and accountability to perceptions of trust, our research confirms the importance of these attributes to perceptions of leadership for the public good.

From a community perspective, leadership for the greater good occurs when leaders demonstrate high ethical standards, when they demonstrate transparency and accountability for their positive and negative impacts, and when they seek to balance the interests of multiple stakeholders, including the wider community in which their institutions are nested.

So, leadership for the greater good is reflected in what value leaders create, how they create value, and for whom they create value.

Unhappily, banking leaders are found wanting on all counts.

The importance of how value is created

But other institutions are also found wanting, with our results revealing a generalised pessimism about Australian leadership.

Our survey results shed light on where the public think leaders are failing and what the community expects of leaders and their institutions to serve the greater good.

Notably, creating economic value is not a highly regarded aspect of leadership for the greater good. This is not to say it is unimportant. But on its own it is insufficient.

What looms largest in the public mind when thinking about the greater good is the social value that institutions create, how ethically they create this value, and their transparency and accountability for positive and negative impacts.

Our research demonstrates that leadership for the greater good is as much about how leaders create value for their stakeholders  from their employees to their customers to society-at-large  as it is about what value they create and for whom they create value.

Its not hugely complicated.

And yet, as revealed by the endless, unedifying parade of misconduct in government, business, religious, sporting and other civil society institutions, community standards and expectations are too often observed in the breach.

In the wake of the banking royal commission, the Australian community has a golden opportunity for a thoroughgoing discussion about the leadership we need to protect and enhance the public interest.

We hope the Australian Leadership Index will contribute to that discussion, by making all our data freely accessible through a new data visualisation platform. This will enable easy tracking of how institutions are performing according to public perceptions of their impact on the public good.

Wise leaders focus on the greater good. It behoves all leaders to create this new culture of public leadership.

Samuel Wilson, Senior Lecturer in Management, Swinburne University of Technology

Jason Pallant, Lecturer of Marketing, Swinburne University of Technology



Timothy Colin Bednall, Senior Lecturer in Management, Fellow of the APS College of Organisational Psychologists, Swinburne University of Technology

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.Ludhiana, Feb 14 : The Punjab Police on Thursday said that all six accused in the gang rape of a 21-year-old woman in Ludhiana district have been arrested.

Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta told the media here that the three remaining accused were arrested from various locations in neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir.

Three accused had been arrested by the police earlier this week. A court in Ludhiana, 110 km from Chandigarh, on Wednesday sent the three accused to seven days' police remand.

The young woman was allegedly gang raped in Issewal area of Ludhiana district on February 9 night.

Those arrested so far include Jagroop Singh, Sadik Ali, Surma, Ajay, Said Ali and a juvenile.

The DGP said that police investigations have revealed that six men were involved in the gang rape of the victim when she was driving along a canal in a car with her male friend.

The victim had alleged that she was gang raped by at least 10 men after she and her friend were attacked and abducted.

Both were taken in their car to an isolated plot and the woman was gang raped while her friend was held captive. The couple were set free on Sunday. The police registered a case of rape under sections of the Indian Penal Code against the accused.

The police had earlier admitted that there were lapses by the local police in dealing with the matter.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Vijay Rattan was on Monday suspended for dereliction of duty as he had failed to investigate the matter seriously and did not inform his seniors about it after receiving a complaint oman in Ludhiana district have been arrested.

Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta told the media here that the three remaining accused were arrested from various locations in neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir.

Three accused had been arrested by the police earlier this week. A court in Ludhiana, 110 km from Chandigarh, on Wednesday sent the three accused to seven days' police remand.

The young woman was allegedly gang raped in Issewal area of Ludhiana district on February 9 night.

Those arrested so far include Jagroop Singh, Sadik Ali, Surma, Ajay, Said Ali and a juvenile.

The DGP said that police investigations have revealed that six men were involved in the gang rape of the victim when she was driving along a canal in a car with her male friend.

The victim had alleged that she was gang raped by at least 10 men after she and her friend were attacked and abducted.

Both were taken in their car to an isolated plot and the woman was gang raped while her friend was held captive. The couple were set free on Sunday. The police registered a case of rape under sections of the Indian Penal Code against the accused.

The police had earlier admitted that there were lapses by the local police in dealing with the matter.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Vijay Rattan was on Monday suspended for dereliction of duty as he had failed to investigate the matter seriously and did not inform his seniors about it after receiving a complaint about the incident, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) R.S. Khatra said earlier.

The accused had called up a friend of the rape victim's friend and demanded a ransom of Rs 2 lakh. The friend approached the police following the call but the police did not take immediate action.Rome, Feb 15 : Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Thursday denied he would be a candidate for the anti-establishment 5 Star Movement in the European Parliament polls in May to help revive its flagging fortunes.

"I am Prime Minister, not a candidate for the European elections. No one has suggested this to me and I have not had to turn anyone down," Conte told Milan-based Corriere della Sera.

Conte, a non-partisan university law professor is said to be close to the 5 Star Movement led by Luigi Di Maio, which governs Italy in coalition with Matteo Salvini's anti-immigrant League party.

Conte is often accused of being a "puppet" for his two deputies Di Maio and Salvini, who were unable to agree on who should be premier when the government was formed last year.

However Conte enjoys a level of popularity among Italians which his predecessors did not, according to an Ipsos poll published last month.Shillong, Feb 15 : Two tribal Khasi men were arrested and many people sustained injuries as Assam Police on Thursday resorted to baton charge in Umwali, a disputed area between Meghalaya and Assam, an official said.

The clash erupted after the Assam Police stopped workers of a firm, M/S Dhar Construction, from erecting electric poles and provide service connection in Umwali village. Assam claims that the area falls in its jurisdiction.

"There was a war of words between the villagers and Assam Police after the latter asked the workers of a private firm to stop erecting electric poles and provide service connections to the residents in Umwali village," B.J. Laloo, the district police chief of West Khasi Hills, told IANS.

Angered with the Assam Police's alleged high handedness, and the arrest of two tribal Khasi men, the villagers resorted to stone pelting, leading the police to baton charge.

"We are yet to get the exact details how many people were injured in the baton charge and the identities of the two arrested person," Laloo said, adding a Sub Divisional Police Officer and another police official from Langpih police station had rushed to the area to take stock of the situation.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said he has asked the district administration of West Khasi Hills to take up the matter with his counterpart in Assam's Kamrup district.

Langpih, which lies between West Khasi Hills and Assam's Kamrup district, has been one of the most volatile villages along the boundary between Meghalaya and Assam.

The 12 areas of difference include Upper Tarabari, Gizang reserve forest, Hahim, Langpih, Borduar, Boklapara, Nongwah-Matamur, Khanapara-Pilangkata, Des hdemoreah, Khanduli-Psiar area, Ratacherra and Blocks I and II.

The total area of difference is 2,765.14 square km, of which Blocks I and II cover 1,583.42 square km.Sindhanur : , Feb 15 (IANS) BJP President Amit Shah on Thursday accused Congress President Rahul Gandhi of betraying Karnataka's farmers.

"Gandhi promised to waive loans of all farmers across Karnataka. But his coalition government waived only Rs 1,000 crore out of Rs 41,000 crore promised by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy months ago," said Shah at a party meeting in the state's northern region, 400 km from Bengaluru.

"The BJP is progressing under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government announced Rs 6,000 per annum in the interim Union Budget for fiscal 2019-20 to farmers having 5 acres of land across the country," he said in his address to the members of the Shakti Kendra Pramukh Samavesh.

He also dared Gandhi to name the leader of 'mahaghatbadhan' (the opposition grand alliance).

Noting Kumaraswamy had said he became Chief Minister due to former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and not because of the people, Shah also mocked him for saying recently that he was working like a clerk owing to the Congress.

Shah is on a two-day visit to the state for pre-poll campaign ahead of the general elections.Kolkata, Feb 15 : Former army chief, Gen. Shankar Roychowdhury (retd) on Thursday blamed intelligence failure for the Pulwama terror attack and suggested some non-governmental Indian agency raise a "fidayeen" (suicide squad) against Pakistan to avenge such incidents.

"Obviously, there was an intelligence failure. They (the Indian military authorities) should not have sent such a big convoy of 70 trucks. They should not have done so many things.

"But now, they have to get this gang, or group, find out those who have perpetrated it, and eliminate them. That is what is to be done," Roychowdhury, who headed the Indian Army 1994-97, said.

He said like terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad is also an old outfit, and intelligence agencies have lot of information about them.

"The terrorists have to be tracked down, for which the intelligence agencies have to start working. It may be difficult to eliminate them at one go. They have to be hunted down one by one and killed," he said.

However, he said there might be complications if the terrorists have infiltrated from Pakistan.

"But I think, the perpetrators must have gone to some local hideouts," he said.

Asked whether he saw a Pakistan hand in the militant strike, he said: "I have always maintained that Pakistan has a role (in such incidents).. They have to be punished."

Roychowdhury said he has for long been advocating that India must raise a fidayeen squad.

"I have been saying we must also have our own fidayeen. But the government or the army can't do it. That's not their job. We have to devise some other way...

"We need a third party... a third group... some non-governmental agency which can take up the job. Unless we retaliate, respond in kind for every person we lose, these things will go on and on.

He said there were problems both in Kashmir and across the border. "So many groups can't come from across the border. Where did they make the weapons and bombs and transported them to the spot?"

But he discounted the theory that terrorism and talks cannot go together. "That is wrong. Terrorism and talks can go together. But for that, first we need to respond in kind, and then carry on the talks."

In the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 43 troopers and leaving the security established stunned.Pulwama: The site on on the Srinagar-Jammu highway where 20 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed and 15 others injured in an audacious suicide attack by militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Feb 14, 2019. All the in Image Source: IANS News

Pulwama: Pulwama: The site on on the Srinagar-Jammu highway where 20 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed and 15 others injured in an audacious suicide attack by militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Feb 14, 2019. A Image Source: IANS News

Pulwama: The site on on the Srinagar-Jammu highway where 20 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed and 15 others injured in an audacious suicide attack by militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Feb 14, 2019. All the in Image Source: IANS News

Srinagar, Feb 15 : In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 43 troopers and leaving the security established stunned.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the horror and released a video clip of the suicide bomber, a 'commander' identified as Adil Ahmad Dar, which it claimed was shot before the young man carried out the strike in Lethpora, about 30 km from here.

Even as a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and comprising the Home, Defence, External Affairs and Finance Ministers, was called for on Friday morning, the government said it was "firmly and resolutely committed to take all necessary measures to safeguard national security".

While precise details of the attack were still unclear, police sources said the suicide bomber-driven SUV came along the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bus when a 78-vehicle convoy carrying 2,547 security personnel was going from the transit camp in Jammu to Srinagar and rammed it into the bus around 3.15 p.m., triggering a deafening explosion.

So devastating was the attack -- one report spoke of 200 kg of explosives, including probably RDX, packed into the SUV -- that the CRPF bus was left a mangled heap, many of its occupants losing their limbs.

CRPF officials said the bus which was the main target of the militants was destroyed fully while another CRPF vehicle was partly damaged. "It is difficult to believe how anyone in that bus could have survived," said a police officer.

In a statement to a local news agency GNS, a caller claiming to be a spokesman of JeM said it was a 'fidayeen' (suicide) attack.

All the injured were shifted to the Army's 92 Base Hospital in the Badamibagh cantonment of Srinagar city. Some of them were in critical condition.

All traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway came to an abrupt halt. Senior police and CRPF officers rushed to the spot for a post-explosion analysis.

An officer said the CRPF and police would carry out a detailed investigation to understand the circumstances in which the attack took place.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in condemning the horror.

"The attack ... is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs," he tweeted.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was to visit Bihar on Friday, is set to reach Srinagar instead. Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba cut short his visit to Bhutan to rush to Srinagar for a high-level security meeting on Friday.

"Today's dastardly attack ... is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation," Rajnath Singh said.

The government, stressing that the "heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries", demanded that Pakistan "stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries".

New Delhi also reiterated its appeal to the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM Chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

This is the worst single attack in Jammu and Kashmir since a nascent Pakistan-backed separatist campaign began in 1989. It is also the worst attack carried out by militants after the one on the Uri Army camp on September 18, 2016 left 19 soldiers dead -- forcing New Delhi to launch 'surgical strikes' on terrorist camps in Pakistan.

Officials said the reason why so many CRPF personnel were on the move at one go was because the Srinagar-Jammu highway had been shut the past two days due to bad weather. The convoy left Jammu before dawn.Singapore, Feb 15 : A woman dressed as Captain Marvel, a man wearing a Spider-Man suit, another flaunting the golden glove of Thanos -- fans of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) gave "Captain Marvel" stars a welcome fit for a movie which not just celebrates woman power, but is also the first superhero film from the franchise to release since Stan Lee's death.

"Excelsior! Thank you Stan. 1922-2018," screens at the Sands Expo And Convention Centre, which hosted a grand fan event for "Captain Marvel", flashed in remembrance of the Marvel comic legend.

It was a sweet start to a Valentine's Day evening that the franchise's fans in Singapore would remember for a long time.

The gala became a celebration of everything to do with MCU. There were light sabres, shields, props, posters, figurines and more that fans carried to stand out in the crowd.

Eliciting loud cheers was Marvel veteran Samuel L. Jackson, who famously plays Nick Fury.

Jackson, along with Oscar winning actress Brie Larson -- the lead star of "Captain Marvel", and "Crazy Rich Asians" talent Gemma Chan, as well as "Captain Marvel" directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck were here for their only Asia stopover for the film's promotions.

Looking every bit red carpet-ready, the stars walked down a blue carpet while giving into fans' requests for photographs and autographs.

Brie, who exuded confidence in a black custom-made Oscar de la Renta ensemble with the Captain Marvel symbol strategically placed on her back, clicked selfies galore with fans who are excited to see her play MCU's first woman-led superhero film.

Of her role and her learning from it, Brie told the crowd: "Initially I thought there was no way I could ever live up to Carol Danvers, but getting to play her, I learnt so much about having self respect and self confidence and I value myself unapologetically far more than I did before this film.

"Now I get to share it with people from all over the world, which brings me into contact with all kinds of people which continues to grow and expand my knowledge about the world. Thank you and I am so happy to meet you."

Set in the 1990s, "Captain Marvel" is an all-new adventure from a previously unseen period in the history of the MCU that follows the journey of Carol Danvers as she becomes one of the universe's most powerful heroes.

(The writer's trip is on an invitation by Disney India. Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in)Chennai, Feb 15 : Union Minister and BJP's Tamil Nadu election in-charge Piyush Goyal and leaders of the state's ruling AIADMK on Thursday met to discuss an alliance for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Speaking to reporters at the airport on his arrival, Goyal said he was here to hold talks on an electoral alliance.

Goyal, accompanied by state BJP leaders, met the AIADMK leaders at an industrialist's house here.

Earlier in the day BJP President Amit Shah, speaking in the state's Erode, said the party would soon form a strong electoral alliance in the state.New Delhi, Feb 15 : The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday said that Finance Minister Piyush Goyal will address its Central Board on February 18.

In a late night statement, the RBI said that FM will address the Central Board of Directors in its customary post-budget meeting.

The RBI's Central Board of Directors consists of 18 members including Governor Shaktikanta Das.New Delhi, Feb 15 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday held a series of meetings with top security officials in wake of the Pulwama terror attack that killed at least 43 CRPF troopers and left the security establishment stunned.

His meetings came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked to him and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

The Cabinet Committee on Security will meet on Friday morning to discuss the terrorist attack and the security situation in the state.

Rajnath Singh met Central Reserve Police Force Director General R.R. Bhatnagar and NSA Doval to discuss the security situation. Sources said that Bhatnagar briefed the Home Minister about the Pulwama attack in detail.

The Home Minister will visit Srinagar on Friday to take stock of the situation and meet senior security and police officials to make a ground-level assessment and review further operational actions.

The Home Ministry also rushed teams of National Investigation Agency operatives and forensic experts to Jammu and Kashmir to carry out an investigation into the attack.

Arrangements were made to airlift the mortal remains of the killed troopers.

In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 43 troopers.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the horror and released a video clip of the suicide bomber, a 'commander' identified as Adil Ahmad Dar, which it claimed was shot before the young man carried out the strike in Lethpora, about 30 km from Srinagar.New Delhi, Feb 14 : From the US to Russia and from Sri Lanka to Bhutan, the world condemned Pakistan-backed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) attack on an Indian security convoy that claimed the lives of over 40 CRPF personnel.

"The US strongly condemns today's terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir," tweeted US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster.

"We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. The United States stands alongside India in confronting terror and defeating it."

Russian said it "condemns in the strongest terms the horrific terrorist attack in Kashmir's Pulwama district, which claimed precious lives of more than 40 CRPF personnel and left numerous people injured".

"We denounce terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and reiterate the need to combat these inhuman acts with decisive and collective response without any double standards," the statement said.

"May we express sincere condolences to the grieving families of the deceased and wish a speedy recovery to those injured."

In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 43 troopers and leaving the security establishment stunned.

The JeM claimed responsibility for the horror and released a video clip of the suicide bomber, a 'commander' identified as Adil Ahmad Dar, which it claimed was shot before the young man carried out the strike in Lethpora, about 30 km from here.

The External Affairs Ministry statement said "India is firmly and resolutely committed to take all necessary measures to safeguard national security".

French Foreign Minister M. Jean-Yves Le Drian also conveyed his condolences to the families of the victims and expressed his country's solidarity with the people and government of India in a message over Twitter.

Sri Lankan Prime Ranil Wickremesinghe also strongly condemned the "brutal terrorist attack" in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989.

"I express my condolences to @narendramodi and the families of police officers who lost their lives," Wickremesinghe tweeted.

In a message to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid condemned the attack and conveyed the Indian Ocean atoll nation's sympathy to the people and government of India.

"It was with deep shock and horror that I learnt of the bomb blast in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, that caused tragic loss of life and distress to many dozens of CRPF personnel. The Government and the people of Maldives join me in condemning this cowardly act of terror.

"At this time of sorrow and devastation, I wish to extend on behalf of the government and the people of the Maldives and in my own name, profound condolences and sympathies to your excellency, the government and the people of India, and especially to the bereaved families of the brave Indian Army," Shahid said.

He said that the Maldives "is fully committed to the fight against terrorism and will continue to work closely with India, and the international community in eliminating this global menace".

Bhutan Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji said that he was "shocked and saddened to hear of the dastardly terrorist attack in Kashmir".

"We strongly condemn this heinous attack and express our solidarity with the families of the victims, and the people and government of India," Dorji tweeted.New Delhi, Feb 14 : The Kashmir Police on February 8 had sent an intelligence input to the CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB, Army and the Air Force warning of a possible IED attack, according to a letter written by the state police Inspector General.

In the worst-ever attack since militancy erupted in the state, at least 43 CRPF personnel died and many others were injured on Thursday afternoon when a suicide bomber belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed rammed his vehicle packed with improvised explosive device (IED) into a bus carrying Central paramilitary force personnel.

The intelligence input, sent on behalf of the Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, asked all security agencies to "sanitize areas properly before occupying your place or deployment as there are inputs that IEDs could be used".

Headlined "extremely urgent", the letter accessed by IANS, was marked to the Deputy Inspector General of Central Reserve Police Force, South Srinagar; DIG CRPF, North Srinagar; DIG CRPF North Kashmir, Baramulla; DIG CRPF South Kashmir, Awantipora; DIG CRPF South Kashmir, Anantnag; DIG Sashastra Seema Bal, South Headquarters (Special Operations) Kashmir and all Senior Superintendent of Police of Kashmir zone.

The information was also shared with Inspector General, CRPF, Kashmir operations sector, IG CRPF, Srinagar sector, IG Border Security Force Headquarter Kashmir, all range Deputy Inspector Generals of Police of Kashmir zone, Brigadier General Staff (operations) at the Srinagar-based 15 Corps, the DIG Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the Air Force, , the Commandant Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and SSP, Armed Police, Control Room Srinagar.

The letter also mentioned that it should be for "all concerned".

Despite the early warning, the CRPF allowed its 78-vehicle convoy carrying 2,547 security personnel to go from the transit camp in Jammu to Srinagar -- a 270-km stretch.

A suicide bomber, affiliated with Pakistan-based JeM terror group, rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 43 troopers and leaving the security established stunned. The incident took place around 3.15 p.m., triggering a deafening explosion.

The JeM later claimed responsibility for the horror and released a video clip of the suicide bomber, a 'commander' identified as Adil Ahmad Dar, which it claimed was shot before the young man carried out the strike in Lethpora, about 30 km from here.

While precise details of the attack were still unclear, police sources said the suicide bomber-driven SUV came along the CRPF bus and rammed into it.

So devastating was the attack -- one report spoke of 200 kg of explosives, including probably RDX, packed into the SUV -- that the CRPF bus was left in a mangled heap, many of its occupants losing their limbs.

CRPF officials said the bus which was the main target of the militants was completely destroyed while another CRPF vehicle was partly damaged. "It is difficult to believe how anyone in that bus could have survived," said a police officer.

Jammu and Kashmir Police chief Dilbag Singh said it could have been a suicide attack. This was confirmed by other officials later.

This is the worst single attack in Jammu and Kashmir since a nascent Pakistan-backed separatist campaign began in 1989. It is also the worst attack carried out by militants after the one on the Uri Army camp on September 18, 2016 left 19 soldiers dead -- forcing New Delhi to launch 'surgical strikes' on terrorist camps in Pakistan.

Officials said the reason why so many CRPF personnel were on the move at one go was because the Srinagar-Jammu highway had been shut for the past two days due to bad weather. The convoy left Jammu before dawn.

(Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)Jammu, Feb 14 : The terror attack in which 43 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir has been condemned by two former Chief Ministers, while the Jammu traders' body called for a shutdown on Friday.

In the worst terror attack in the state since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway, killing troopers and leaving the security establishment stunned.

The Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), headed by Rajesh Gupta, has called for a shutdown in Jammu on Friday to condemn the attack and show solidarity with the the martyred troopers' families.

"This should open our eyes. If we continue to take beatings like this, then we are showing disrespect towards the martyred jawans," Gupta told IANS.

Condemning the attack, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted, "Terrible news coming from the valley. A number of CRPF soldiers are reported to have been killed & injured in an IED blast. I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved. #Kashmir."

Former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the attack. Mufti said in a statement posted on her Twitter page, "Disturbing news coming in from #awantipura. Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?"

Both Abdullah and Mufti took strong exception to a statement made by Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for the Prime Minister's Office.

Singh said on Thursday, "It's a dastardly act done out of desperation. I call to question those who while living in India and describing themselves as mainstream Kashmir politicians tend to be apologetic about these terror activities sponsored from across the Indian soil."

Reacting to Singh's statement, Abdullah said on Twitter, "Shame on this apology for a minister! Mainstream Kashmiri politicians condemned the attack hours before the PM even got around to saying anything. This man has the audacity to play politics with the dead & injured CRPF soldiers."

Mufti said on Twitter, "I beg to differ. As MoS PMO, prudence deems it necessary that you enquire about the security lapse. Instead you're using it as an opportunity to berate us. No regard for solemnity of the occasion. Why discredit us when the fault lies in your refusal to address the problem?"Hyderabad, Feb 14 : Dr. P. Raghu Ram, President-elect of the Association of Surgeons of India, and Director of KIMS-Ushalakshmi Centre for Breast Diseases, would be conferred the Honorary Fellowship of The Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) of Thailand.

The Fellowship would be conferred on the surgeon at the 44th Annual Congress of The Royal College of Surgeons of Thailand, in Pattaya in July.

Prof. Tanaphon Maipang, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Thailand, informed this in a letter to Dr. Ram.

With this Dr. Ram will achieve the rare distinction to be conferred FRCS from five Surgical Royal Colleges in addition to FACS from the American College of Surgeons.

He has obtained FRCS from the Surgical Royal Colleges in the British Isles (London, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Ireland).

"I am humbled and grateful for being handpicked by The Royal College of Surgeons of Thailand for this prestigious honour. I dedicate this award to my motherland, patients and family," said Dr. Ram.

In a career spanning 24 years, Dr. Ram established breast health centre, creating awareness about the importance of its early detection and implemented South Asia's largest population-based breast cancer screening programme.

He also set up a dedicated Breast Surgical Society to improve the art and science of breast surgery in the country.

The government conferred upon him Padma Shri in 2015. He is also recipient of Dr. B.C. Roy National award.New Delhi, Feb 14 : As a measure of support for India's cashew industry, the government is working on eliminating the import duty on cashew kernel, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu said on Thursday.

Addressing the Kaju India 2019 global cashew buyer-seller meet organised by the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI), he also said that under the new National Agriculture Export Policy, the government has identified specific agriculture export zones and clusters that are well connected with ports and airports in the country.

"The government reduced customs duty to 2.5 per cent on cashew kernel and is now working on 0 per cent import duty.

"The new agriculture policy has been jointly prepared by the ministries of Commerce, Agriculture, and Food Processing. The Commerce Ministry will also set up a series of centres in states to help farmers and exporters to brand and sell products to international market," he said.

According to CEPCI, India processes 17 lakh tonnes of raw cashew nuts per annum. Of this, around 9 lakh tonnes are imported, mainly from African countries.

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).

CEPCI Chairman R.K. Bhoodes said on Tuesday that in view of issues being faced by the sector, the Council 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 an 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.

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 African countries, 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.Srinagar, Feb 14 : The film fraternity condemned the dastardly terror attack in which 43 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday, terming it a "cowardly" act.

In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 43 troopers and leaving the security established stunned.

Filmstars like Akshay Kumar, Priyanka Chopra, Anupam Kher and Abhishek Bachchan took to the social media to send their prayers to the martyrs and their families.

Akshay said the incident can't be "forgotten." "Numb beyond belief at the dastardly terror attack on CRPF soldiers in Pulwama. May God give peace to their souls, and strength to their grieving families. Wishing the injured a speedy recovery. We can't let this be forgotten," he tweeted.

Priyanka wrote: "Absolutely shocked by the attack. Hate is never the answer! Strength to the families of the martyred jawans and the CRPF soldiers injured in the attack."

Expressing shock over the "terrible" news, Abhishek said: "Today when people are celebrating love, hate raises it's ugly head too. My thoughts and prayers for the martyrs and their families."

Kher said he is "deeply saddened and angry to know about the cowardly attack on the CRPF." "My heart goes out to the members of the family who have today lost a son, a brother, a husband or a father. Prayers for the speedy recovery of the injured."

Filmmaker Karan Johar tweeted: "My deepest thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the Pulwama attacks and their families."

Actor R. Madhavan wanted "revenge" for the cowardly attack. He said: "Who are these people who are celebrating a win after this dastardly and cowardly attack...is just condemning this enough...wipe out not just their smiles but their faces...show us our revenge, instill dismay and dread with the retaliation."

"Uri: The Surgical Strike" actor Vicky Kaushal said he is "shocked to hear the news." "My heart goes out to the families of the brave CRPF soldiers we lost today and praying for the speedy recovery of those injured," he said.

Actress Swara Bhasker slammed the responsible terrorist group and called them "monsters" and "evils." She wrote: "Shameful, tragic and shocking. Jaish-e-Mohammed has brazenly and shamelessly claimed responsibility. These monsters have no soul, no humanity. Pure evil. Why does this terrorist group have safe haven in Pakistan? Imran Khan? R.I.P. our brave soldiers, strength to the bereaved families."

Here's how some of the other celebrities reacted:

Arjun Kapoor: "Saddened and shocked to hear the cowardly attack on our CRPF Jawans in Pulwama. My heart goes out to their families."

Mohit Chauhan: "Very sad to hear about the Pulwama terrorist strike. R.I.P. the departed souls and I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured jawans."

Gul Panag: "Gut wrenching images coming out of Pulwama. We need to hunt down those responsible. And make sure there's fitting retribution. My deepest condolences to the families of the soldiers who lost their lives in this dastardly act."

Riteish Deshmukh: "Absolutely tragic news coming from Pulwama - Condolences to the families of the martyrs and prayers for the injured jawans. Cowards are at it again. Absolutely deplorable."

Diana Penty: "Terribly saddened to hear the news of the Pulwama attack. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families."Kolkata, Feb 14 : Dubbing Wednesday's meeting of major anti-BJP parties in Delhi as a "show-off", West Bengal Left Front chairman and CPI-M politburo member Biman Bose on Thursday said there was neither any scope for an all-India pre-poll pact, nor could there be a common minimum programme (CMP) before the Lok Sabha elections.

A number of political parties, including the Congress, got together in Delhi and decided to have a pre-poll pact and a CMP to defeat the BJP-led NDA in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

Dismissing the Delhi discussions in which the Left Front's bete noire and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee played a prominent part, Bose called it a mere extension of the inter-party coordination done on the floor of the House when Parliament is in session.

"There will be no pre-poll understanding. It is just a 'show-off'. You know, at times one has to show off. Never in the past has there been a pre-poll CMP. It is not possible," Bose said.

Pointing out that Wednesday was the last day of the budget session, Bose said: "Had Parliament session been over two days back, yesterday's programme would not have taken place."

On Banerjee's announcement that the leaders would meet again "on February 26, 27 or 28", Bose said: "Let them meet, then we will react."

The Opposition parties' meeting was held at the residence of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar following their "remove dictatorship, save democracy" joint protest in the national capital.

Apart from Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Banerjee, Telugu Desam Party leader and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah were present at the meeting.

The senior CPI-M leader said his party's electoral tactical line was to maximise the anti-BJP votes nationally and maximise the anti-Trinamool and anti-BJP votes in West Bengal.

"Our slogan is 'BJP harao, desh bachao; Trinamool harao, Bangal bachao' (Defeat the BJP and save the country; defeat the Trinamool and save Bengal)," he said.

Asked about the progress in the party's likely tie-up with the Congress in the state for the general elections, Bose said: "Discussions are on among the Left Front partners. Once they are over, we will be able to identify the seats where we have a fighting chance, and also identify seats where we stand the risk of finishing a poor third or a poor fourth."

Bose also said 17 Left parties in the state have started a nine-day campaign from February 12 demanding those involved in the ponzi scams be arrested and put in jail.

"As part of the campaign, we are holding small processions, meetings, street corner gatherings and submitting deputations to the district magistrates and the sub-divisional officers. In Kolkata, we will take out a rally on February 16 from the base of Lenin's statue," Bose said.New Delhi, Feb 14 : The Cabinet Committee on Security will meet on Friday morning to discuss the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack that killed at least 43 troopers and left the security establishment stunned.

The meeting is likely to take place at 9:15 a.m. on Friday, the sources said.

In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 43 troopers.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the horror and released a video clip of the suicide bomber, a 'commander' identified as Adil Ahmad Dar, which it claimed was shot before the young man carried out the strike in Lethpora, about 30 km from Srinagar.

The CCS is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Defence Minister, Home Minister, External Affairs Minister and Finance Minister are its members.Mumbai, Feb 14 : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed separate monetary penalties on three lenders -- Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Punjab National Bank -- over deficiencies in complying with regulatory norms.

A penalty of Rs 1 crore each has been slapped on the Bank of India and the Punjab National Bank, and a penalty of Rs 1.5 crore on the Oriental Bank of Commerce.

"The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed, by orders dated January 31, 2019, monetary penalty for non-compliance with various directions issued by RBI on monitoring of end use of funds, exchange of information with other banks, and on restructuring of accounts, on three banks...," the RBI said in a statement on Thursday.

"This action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the banks with their customers."New Delhi, Feb 14 : The India-US CEOs Forum on Thursday decided to set up working groups on financial services, healthcare and defence to suggest measures to accelerate trade and investment between the two countries.

Briefing reporters here following a meeting of the India-US CEO Forum, as well as the India-US Commercial Dialogue, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Secretary Ramesh Abhishek said that the 3 working groups would be set up in addition to the existing four on energy and environment, ICT, emerging technologies and digital infrastructure, entrepreneurship and inclusive growth, as well as on infrastructure and manufacturing.

While the Indian delegation was led by Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, the American side was headed by US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross took part in the talks via telephone as his flight to Delhi was cancelled due to bad weather.

According to sources here issues that have emerged as irritants in the bilateral trade relationship such as data localisation, e-commerce and the US decision to end the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) for Indian exports to America were not discussed during the Commercial Dialogue.

"The CEOs from both sides presented reports but these are not detailed and comprehensive as such. We would like to have CEOs from both the sides in each of these groups. They will work in more detail," Abhishek said.

The co-chairs of the US-India CEO Forum Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran and American Tower Corporation President James Taiclet.

According to an Indian Commerce Ministry release, both sides assessed the progress made during 2018 on the commercial track targets and appreciated the performance in the areas of standards, business climate, investment and travel and tourism.

"Both sides resolved to further expand and strengthen trade and commerce ties," it said.

"The CEO forum will come out with some joint recommendations on what the two governments can do to promote more economic and commercial relationship between the countries", Abhishek said.

"They suggested that while physical meeting may not happen all the time, there could be a meeting through video conferencing once in a quarter," he added.

The India-US bilateral trade is valued around $75 billion during the fiscal 2017-18.Visakhapatnam, Feb 14 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday laid the foundation stone for Data Centre and Technology Park of Adani Group in this port city.

The ground-breaking ceremony for the facility coming up at Kapuluppada was held a month after the state government signed an MoU with the integrated infrastructure conglomerate. Adani Group plans to support the development of the digital and energy infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh by investing over Rs 70,000 crore, over the next 20 years, which is expected to create over 100,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Naidu said that the ground-breaking of the Data Centre Park just a month after signing of the MoU is a record.

Under this MoU, Adani Group will set up three 1 gigawatt data centres. The centres with a 5 gigawatt solar park would be a first-of-its-kind 100 per cent renewable energy powered project in the world, Information Technology Minister Nara Lokesh said.

Lokesh said thses would be integrated with a cable landing station that will take advantage of the state's long coastline to help provide the needed global connectivity and redundancy that the country needs to manage its exponential growth of data.

Officials said the government, along with the Adani Group, will develop the hyper-scale data centre market in the state, positioning Andhra Pradesh as the east coast data centre hub for India and Southeast Asia.

Rajesh Adani, Managing Director, Adani Group and Sudipta Bhattacharya, CEO, Adani Group, North America and CTO, Adani Group were also present.New Delhi, Feb 14 : The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the partys highest decision-making body will meet on February 26 in Prime Minister Narendra Modis home state Gujarat to chalk out and finalise the roadmap for the Lok Sabha elections.

To be presided over by party President Rahul Gandhi, the meeting in Ahmedabad will also be attended by newly appointed General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi among other prominent leaders and office-bearers.

Besides the issues to be incorporated in the manifesto, the selection of candidates and electoral understandings both at the national and state levels will be high on the agenda.

With the Election Commission expected to announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha in the first week of March, the central leadership has instructed all the state units to finalise the respective candidate lists before the CWC meeting where the names will be finally approved.

The state units have also been asked to identify seats which can be given to prospective allies.New Delhi, Feb 14 : The public hearing in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case will commence from Monday before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

Jadhav, 48, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court for espionage in April 2017 following which India moved the ICJ. A 10-member ICJ bench restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav till the case was adjudicated.

Pakistan had stated that "Jadhav was not an ordinary person as he had entered the country with the intent of spying and carrying out sabotage activities" in Balochistan. India denies the charges.

Jadhav was apprehended on March 3, 2016 after illegally crossing into Pakistan from Iran, according to Pakistani officials. Indian officials say he was abducted from Iran and taken to Pakistan against his will.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar declined to go into the details of it.

"The oral proceedings on the International Court of Justice are commencing on February 18. India will present its case before the court. Since the matter is sub judice, it is not appropriate for me to state our position in public. Whatever we have to do, we will do in the court," he said in response to a question.

The ICJ will hold public hearings in the Jadhav case from Monday to Thursday, according to the ICJ website.

Pakistan claims that its security forces arrested Jadhav from restive Balochistan province on March 3, 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran.

However, India maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy.

Jadhav's sentencing had evoked a sharp reaction in India.

India had approached the ICJ for "egregious" violation of the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963, by Pakistan in Jadhav's case.Partnership Extends Gospel Radio to Some of Farthest Corners of World's Most Populous Muslim Nation FEBC makes Heartline programs available to network of local stations in remote parts of Indonesia, broadening audience for the good news among unreached communities



Contact: Ty Mays,

770-256-8710,

tmays@inchristcommunications.com



LA MIRADA, Calif., Feb. 14, 2019 /Christian Newswire/ -- A new partnership is extending FEBC's (Far East Broadcasting Company, www.febc.org) reach with the gospel into some of the most remote corners of Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.



Photo: FEBC is reaching more potential Indonesian listeners through a partnership with scores of local radio stations broadcasting the gospel to remote communities.



By making its programming available to 105 local Christian radio stations with limited resources, the global missionary broadcaster has been able to share the good news with more of the isolated people groups scattered across the country's 17,000 islands. Just 10 percent of Indonesia's 255 million population is Christian, with almost 90 percent Muslim.



Though most of the independent and church-run radio stations adding FEBC's "Heartline" broadcasts are local with limited programming - and in some cases using antennae attached to treetopsthey are extremely important because they are the only way of reaching people in their rural communities with the good news. While Heartline programs are streamed online, many people do not have reliable or affordable internet access to listen to them.



"This is a tremendous opportunity to help proclaim Jesus' love to people who have no other way of hearing about him," said Ed Cannon, FEBC USA's CEO and President. "We are delighted to be able to come alongside and strengthen and multiply the efforts of others who share our desire to make sure everyone gets to hear the good news."



Operating in Indonesia under the name of YASKI since 1969, FEBC has seven stations of its own that broadcast Heartline programs in Indonesian and six other ethnic languages: Buginese, Javanese, Makassarese, Minangnese, Sasaknese and Sundanese. The new partnership is broadcasting nearly 160 hours of programming a week in 20 provinces, and reaching some 170,000 additional listeners.



Though Indonesia officially allows freedom of religion, overt Christian content may be broadcast only between the hours of 7 p.m. and 1.30 a.m. The rest of the time, YASKI airs general-interest and pre-evangelistic programming that aims to create an audience for its gospel-based content.



YASKI receives scores of letters, emails and other responses from listeners each month. The correspondents share what they feel after listening to a program, what they thought and learned, ask questions, and even request prayer.



Among those who have contacted YASKI is a man raised a Muslim, but who "for a while didn't believe in any religion." Then he started listening to the Christian broadcasts and called the station's counseling center to ask for prayer.



"[A staff member] also accompanied our family to a local church," he said. "Now we are attending church regularly and my family serves God. Life is better with God because he is good."



"This sort of feedback is indicative of the hunger there is out there for spiritual truth in so many parts of Indonesia," said Cannon. "That is why we believe this expansion is so important. Some of the stations we are partnering with may serve only small communities, but the people there have no other way of hearing the gospel."



YASKI needs to raise approximately $380,000 to fund its expansion initiative, and hopes to add 20 more local stations in due course, furthering its reach even more.



Donations to the effort can be made at www.febc.org/indonesia.



FEBC (Far East Broadcasting Company, www.febc.org) was founded in 1945 to share the gospel in China. Today, more than 900 staff and 1,800 volunteers produce around 850 hours of programming each day, broadcasting across Asia, Russia, Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa. Programs in 124 languages air from 149 stations.



Share TweetNew Delhi, Feb 14 : The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) said Thursdays terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 43 security personnel were killed, was an act of desperation due to the growing clampdown on terrorism.

"The attack is a sign of desperation and frustration due to the clampdown on terrorism," RSS general secretary Suresh Joshi said in a statement.

Condemning the attack, the RSS asked the Narendra Modi government to take stringent action against the culprits at the earliest.

In the worst attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) bus on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway in Pulwama district, leaving the security establishment stunned.New Delhi, Feb 14 : Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Thursday said 147 girls and 32 boys from Nepal, the victims of trafficking, will be sent back to their country.

The Minister tweeted that the External Affairs Ministry has given permission to safely repatriate them to Nepal.

These Nepalese youths were being allegedly sent to Dubai via Myanmar when they were rescued in Imphal, Manipur.

The Minister had ensured that the detained youths were kept in safe houses. Rehabilitation programmes were also initiated for them by her ministry.Mumbai, Feb 14 : Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar will re-enter electoral politics by contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from Maharashtra's Madha seat, party leader Praful Patel said here on Thursday.

Addressing the media here after Pawar discussed preparations for the Lok Sabha polls with top party leaders, Patel said: "At the earlier meeting, we had requested him (Pawar) to reconsider his decision and agree to contest from Madha. He has accepted our request."

On Wednesday, IANS had first reported Pawar's plans to return to the electoral battlefield, after a senior state leader confirmed the development.

Patel also expressed optimism that the Congress-NCP-led Mahagatbandan would win 35 out of total 48 seats in the state.

At Thursday's meeting, the NCP has reportedly finalised the names of a majority of its Lok Sabha candidates.

"We (NCP and Congress) have come to an informal understanding about the allocation of seats. We are discussing it with other constituents of Mahaghatbhandan. We plan to declare all the candidates of the Mahagatbandan in a week or so," a senior party leader said.

A Rajya Sabha Member since 2014, Pawar had earlier been elected to Lok Sabha seven times.

Six terms out of these were from his home constituency Baramati in Pune but he shifted to Madha, created in 2008 after delimitation of seats was implemented, in 2009. He chose not to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and entered parliament through the Rajya Sabha.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ridiculed Pawar's decision, attributing it to "the NCP's realisation" that if he did not contest the polls, then the party would not retain even the four seats it bagged in 2014.

"The NCP is finding it difficult to retain even the four seats it had won in the last election. That's why Pawar has decided to contest," state BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari tweeted.

In 2014, in Maharashtra, the Congress and NCP had fielded 26 and 21 candidates respectively.

Of these, they won two and four seats respectively, in view of the strong BJP wave then.

Later in the 2014 Assembly elections, both contested separately and suffered another massive drubbing at the hands of the BJP and the Shiv Sena.New Delhi, Feb 14 : The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Election Commission to be flexible in facilitating the right to vote for armed forces personnel, including those of the central paramilitary forces, during general elections.

Declining to pass any other order as it was not necessary, the bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Sanjiv Khanna said, "It will be open to the Election Commission to introduce flexibility to enable the defence personnel to exercise their voting rights."

Even as some lawyers sought the introduction of electronic voting, Chief Justice Gogoi said, "We have a bunch of petitions which are seeking going back to (the old practice of) ballot paper and ballot box."

The court's statement came as it was argued that armed forces personnel become entitled to register as voters at the place of their peace posting, only if they are living with their families for a sufficient period of time or on a tenure of three years.

The petitioner, advocate Neela Gokhale, had contended that a large number of armed forces personnel were not able to exercise their right to vote as the period of 14 days from the last date of withdrawal of nominations and the polling day was not sufficient for postal ballot papers to be dispatched and returned after exercise of franchise by these personnel.

The counsel for the Election Commission told the court that they have introduced an electronic mode of dispatching the ballot paper which can be downloaded by use of a one time password and the ballot paper, after exercising the vote, could be sent to the returning officer through postal services including the Army Postal Service.

An advocate, appearing for one of the petitioners, said that there are 23 lakh armed forces personnel (including central paramilitary forces personnel) in all but there is no data to show as to what percentage of them have desired to exercise their franchise.Pulwama: The site on on the Srinagar-Jammu highway where 20 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed and 15 others injured in an audacious suicide attack by militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Feb 14, 2019. All the in Image Source: IANS News

Pulwama: The site on on the Srinagar-Jammu highway where 20 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed and 15 others injured in an audacious suicide attack by militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Feb 14, 2019. All the in Image Source: IANS News

Srinagar, Feb 14 : Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the killing of CRPF troopers in a suicide attack and blasted central Minister Jitendra Singh for "playing politics" over the bloodbath.

"I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured and condolences to the families of the bereaved," the National Conference leader tweeted after a suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a CRPF bus and detonated it.

"Jaish (Jaish-e-Mohammad) has claimed the blast as a suicide (fidaeen) attack reminiscent of the dark days of militancy pre 2004-05," Abdullah added.

After Minister of State Jitendra Singh in a tweet called "to question those who while living in India describing themselves as mainstream Kashmir politicians tend to be apologetic about these terror activities", Abdullah hit back.

"Shame on this apology for a Minister! Mainstream Kashmiri politicians condemned the attack hours before the PM even got around to saying anything. This man has the audacity to play politics with the dead and injured CRPF soldiers," he said.Erode : , Feb 14 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will soon form a strong electoral alliance in Tamil Nadu to contest all 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state, its President Amit Shah said on Thursday.

Addressing the members of the Handloom and Powerloom Associations here, he said the BJP is preparing its poll manifesto after gathering inputs from people across the country and he has come to get the views of the textile and handloom sector stake-holders.

The BJP chief also listed out various Central government schemes implemented for the textile sector.

Attacking the opposition parties, he said that DMK President M.K. Stalin accepts the leadership of Congress President Rahul Gandhi sometimes and does not at other times.

Later addressing the party cadres here, Shah termed the DMK-Congress alliance as an "alliance for corruption".

"The alliance between Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Congress is an alliance of parties following dynastic politics. It is an alliance of corruption to create wealth for their families.

"It is only the BJP which is known by its cadres and not by its leaders."

He said the BJP does not win elections by its leaders alone but by the hard work of the party cadres.

The nationwide mood is to re-elect Narendera Modi as the Prime Minister, he said.

Shah said there are two types of political camps that exist in the country now - the Rahul Gandhi-led Congress and DMK alliance and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) under Modi.

"I ask Stalin, you were a part of the Central government for 10 years. What did you do?" Shah asked, and answered himself that the DMK was involved in scams.

Citing achievements of the Modi government, he said that the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, during its 10-year rule, wrote off farm loans worth Rs 53,000 crore whereas the Modi government has announced the farmers income scheme whereby they will get Rs 750,000 crore in 10 years time.

"The Modi government gave huge relief to the small- and medium-sized enterprises by increasing the exemption from the ambit of Goods and Services Tax (GST)."

He also listed the other various projecervice carrier.

Do the lenders have the wherewithal and expertise to run a full-face airline with so many imponderables strewn in its path? Or will they try and stabilise the operations only to sell it or merge it later with another domestic carrier? For the moment, the government is saddled with two debt-laden carriers - Air India and now Jet Airways.

Through the conversion, the lenders will end up owning 50.1 per cent in the full-service carrier. That will bring down Naresh Goyal and Etihad Airways' stake by half to 25 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively, according to back-of-the-envelope calculations.

Jet, saddled with over $1 billion in debt, had a turbulent 2018 as competition intensified in the Indian airline market, the rupee depreciated and high oil prices squeezed margins. The rescue deal by Jet's lenders, led by State Bank of India, includes funding through a mix of equity infusion, debt restructuring and sale or leaseback of aircraft.

Jet will seek approval from its shareholders at a meeting on February 21 for conversion of its debt into 114 million shares. It currently has 113.6 million shares on issue. The plan gives lenders the ability to appoint nominees to the airline's board.

Jet said that after its approval, the plan will be presented back to the lenders as well as to an overseeing committee of the Indian Bankers' Association, the board of shareholder Etihad Airways and Jet's founder and chairman Naresh Goyal.

Abu Dhabi's Etihad, which owns 24 per cent of Jet, bailed out the Indian airline in 2013, paying $600 million for a 24 per cent stake in Jet, three take-offs and landing slots in London Heathrow and a majority share in Jet's frequent flyer programme.New Delhi, Feb 14 : India on Thursday strongly condemned the terrorist attack in Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan province that left 27 security personnel dead.

"Terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations, is condemnable and perpetrators of such crimes should be brought to justice expeditiously and without distinction. We extend our condolences to the families of the victims, the people and government of Iran. We wish speedy recovery to those injured," the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

A total of 27 Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) personnel were killed and 13 wounded in the terror attack in the Iranian border province on Wednesday, the Public Relations Department of the IRGC's Quds Headquarters said in a statement.

According to the statement, a bus carrying IRGC border guards who were on their way home after the end of a mission was targeted on Khash-Zahedan Road by a suicide bomber.Pulwama: The site on on the Srinagar-Jammu highway where 20 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed and 15 others injured in an audacious suicide attack by militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Feb 14, 2019. All the in Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addresses a press conference in New Delhi on Feb 14, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Pulwama: Pulwama: The site on on the Srinagar-Jammu highway where 20 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed and 15 others injured in an audacious suicide attack by militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Feb 14, 2019. A Image Source: IANS News

Kolkata, Feb 14 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee mourned the death of CRPF troopers in a terrorist attack at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.

"Saddened that 13 CRPF jawans became martyrs... We salute our brave jawans and extend our solidarity and condolences to their families. Our prayers for those injured. We wish them a speedy recovery," she tweeted.New Delhi, Feb 14 : The number of swine flu cases in Delhi continued to rise with 1,669 positive cases and seven deaths being reported till February 10, government figures released on Wednesday showed.

However, as per reports provided by the Centrally run hospitals in the national capital, deaths caused by swine flu were more in number than the data provided by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

While 10 deaths have been reported at Safdarjung Hospital apart from 72 confirmed cases of swine flu, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital also reported 10 deaths and 38 confirmed cases. Sir Ganga Ram Hospital registered nine deaths along with 107 OPD cases and 96 IPD cases.

However, when approached by IANS, officials of both the NCDC and the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) refused to give any clarification on the varying figures.

Overall, the number of deaths caused by swine flu in India has reached 312 in 2019 with the majority of the cases being reported from states like Rajasthan, Gujarat and Punjab. A total of 9,367 positive cases have been reported so far this year.

Gujarat has registered 55 deaths and 1,431 positive cases, while 30 deaths and 335 positive cases have been confirmed in Punjab.

To tackle the situation, the Health Ministry has deputed a Public Health Team to Rajasthan. Additional teams have been ordered to reach Gujarat and Punjab.

The Centre has so far supplied logistics (drugs, PPE kits, N-95 face masks) to Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Punjab.

According to the doctors, there won't be any immediate respite from swine flu as the temperature this year has remained low in addition to the occasional rain and hailstorms.

"The influenza virus H1N1, which is the primary cause of swine flu, spreads easily during winter and this year the temperature has remained low in the northern states. H1N1 is a seasonal virus which survives in certain temperatures," Naval Vikram, a doctor with the Medicine Department at AIIMS, told IANS.

Sanjeev Sinha, his colleague at AIIMS, said that adults and geriatric patients, who are already diagnosed with diabetes, cancer, chronic kidney or liver diseases, are more prone to catching the infection.

"Children also face high risk, as they are more exposed to the virus in places like schools and public places," he added.

The symptoms of swine flu are fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose and difficulty in breathing. Other symptoms may include body ache, headache, fatigue, chills, diarrhea and vomiting and blood-tinged sputum.New Delhi, Feb 14 : The Bharat 22 ETF issue has been subscribed over 10 times and the government will retain about Rs 10,000 crore as divestment proceeds from the additional offering period of the exchange traded fund.

Additional offering of Bharat 22 ETF was opened for a day on Thursday. The base issue size was fixed at Rs 3,500 crore.

The issue received overwhelming response from all categories of investors including retail investors. The issue was oversubscribed over 10 times of base issue size till 7 p.m. and received about Rs 40,000 crore. The government has decided to retain about Rs 10,000 crore as its divestment proceeds, said the Finance Ministry.

The government, struggling to fill the gaps in the disinvestment goal of Rs 80,000 crore, will use the proceeds for meeting the target in current fiscal which is at Rs 35,500 crore now without this proceeds.

Since its launch in November 2017, the government has raised Rs 22,900 crore through Bharat22 ETF through two tranches.

The government offered additional units of Bharat 22 Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) on Thursday. The follow-on offer of Bharat 22 ETF - comprising shares of 22 public sector companies - is as part of the disinvestment program announced by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), Ministry of Finance.

Thursday's follow-on offer is the third tranche of sale of the Bharat 22 ETF. The government planned to raise Rs 3,500 crore via sale of additional units of Bharat 22 ETF. The proceeds from the Bharat 22 ETF sale would help the government move towards meeting its disinvestment target of Rs 80,000 crore for the current fiscal year.

The S&P BSE Bharat 22 Index is designed to measure the performance of select companies disinvested by the central government according to the disinvestment program. It is a highly liquid index - more than 99 per cent of index constituents are available under Futures & Options (F&O), HDFC Securities said in a research note.

Launched in August 2017, the Bharat 22 ETF comprises six sectors (basic materials, energy, finance, FMCG, industrials and utilities) and is rebalanced annually.This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:New Delhi, Feb 14 : Virtually shutting the doors for an alliance with the Congress in her state, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said while there will be a pre-poll alliance of non-NDA parties at the national level to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, they may fight each other at the state level.

She said political compulsions vary from state to state and that West Bengal was her strong base just like Delhi was of the Aam Aadmi Party and Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan were of the Congress.

"We won't contest in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Similarly, West Bengal is our strong base, Delhi is Arvind's (Kejriwal)," Banerjee told reporters here.

She added that Kejriwal also wanted an alliance with the Congress but nothing was final. "Let Congress decide. AAP has agreed."

The West Bengal Chief Minister said political compulsions were different from state to state and there was recognition of that fact among the parties and she also respected those parties which could not decide about joining the alliance right away due to those compulsions.

She added that she was on the same page with Congress' Rahul Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party's Sharad Pawar, National Conference's Farooq Abdullah, Telugu Desam Party's N. Chandrababu Naidu and AAP's Kejriwal who all shared a common platform against the BJP on Wednesday.

"Congress has an alliance with Rashtriya Janata Dal, DMK and NCP already. If we count them all and a pre-poll alliance is made between all of us, it will be a big alliance," she said.

Asked if she would ally with Left parties, she said: "I don't know whether Left parties would join. I have not spoken to them."

The Trinamool Congress chief accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah of having sold the nation and of capturing all institutions including the media. She said the BJP was not coming back in power and that its "expiry date was over".

"For national interest, we want Modi and Shah to go out. For that, all political parties, all castes and creeds, and the whole society must unite. I am ready to sacrifice everything but won't let Modi to return," Banerjee said.

"Modi is not fit for the country," she said.

Calling demonetisation and Rafale deal "big scandals", the Trinamool leader said they would be exposed throughly after the BJP government is ousted.

She also rejected criticism that the proposed grand-alliance was pro-farmer and anti-industry, saying the two were like sisters who must walk together.

"We love industry and agriculture both. For the country to grow, they both need to grow and there should be a balance," she said.Bengaluru, Feb 14 : The Karnataka Assembly on Thursday passed the budget for 2019-20 amid ruckus by the opposition BJP over an attack on its legislator's house at Hassan, allegedly by workers of the ruling Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) on Wednesday.

"Sensing no let-up in the disruption of the proceedings by BJP legislators, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy moved the finance bill for the approval of the assembly by voice vote on the direction of Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar without debate," a senior official told IANS.

Kumaraswamy, who holds the finance portfolio, presented the budget on February 8 amid walkout by the BJP members on the grounds that the ruling JD-S-Congress government had lost "majority" as a few Congress legislators skipped the session last week.

The chief minister on Thursday also got the approval of the house for the Karnataka Appropriation Bill 2019 for vote on account, supplementary estimates and the motion of thanks to the Governor's address, added the official.

The vote-on-account will allow the state government to draw money for expenditure till July 31.

With the budget being passed, the Speaker adjourned the house sine die ahead of its concluding day on Friday, as there was no pending business, the official said.

With the BJP disrupting the session since Monday to protest a Special Investigation Team probe into the audio tape which allegedly revealing an attempt by BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa to lure away JD-S legislator Naganagouda Kandkur to his party and the JD-S attack on its legislator Preetham Gowda's house at Hassan, the assembly could not even debate the address by Governor Vajubhai Vala to a joint sitting of the legislature on February 6.

Protesting the budget passage without discussion, about 100 odd BJP members staged a walkout before the Speaker adjourned the session first till 3 p.m. and for the day.

Earlier in the day, a BJP delegation led by Yeddyurappa called on the Governor at Raj Bhavan and submitted a letter against the state government and the ruling JD-S for not acting against its workers who attacked its MLA's house at Hassan.

The JD-S workers were said to be enraged over Preetham Gowda's abusive remarks against their supremo H.D. Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy that were also recorded in the audio tape. Hassan is the Deve Gowda clan's home district and he is the sitting MP from there.

Yeddyurappa urged the Speaker to hold an inquiry into the attack and Ramesh Kumar has directed the state government to give protection to Preetham Gowda and his family and ensure safety of their house and property.New Delhi, Feb 14 : Congress President Rahul Gandhi will meet envoys of G-20 and neighbouring countries on Friday in a significant interaction ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

French Ambassador Alexandre Ziegler will also be attending the lunch at Taj Palace Hotel and there is speculation whether the Rafale deal with the French manufacturer Dassault Aviation will figure in the discussion.

Envoys from China, Sri Lanka and Nepal are likely to attend the interaction. The Pakistan envoy may not be invited.

Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, BJP's then Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had a similar interaction with envoys of EU and also met the British High Commissioner.New Delhi, Feb 14 : In a major move on Thursday, the government, through its bankers, undertook a backdoor nationalisation of Jet Airways Ltd.

With Jet agreeing to give lenders the majority stake by converting part of its debt to equity as the beleaguered airline battles a cash crunch, the lenders, most of whom are government-owned, are now the owners of the airline. And all this has been done at Re 1.

The question remains whether this is a bailout or backdoor nationalisation. After all, government-owned entities - banks and DFIs - are prima facie the new owners of the airline. In a move reminiscent of Kingfisher Airlines, which subsequently went belly up in 2014, lenders including SBI converted existing debt into the loss-making company's shares in 2011.

The Jet board, as part of a provisional resolution plan, agreed to allot 11.4 crore shares at an aggregate value of Re 1 to the lenders' consortium led by State Bank of India, according to the airline's stock exchange filing.

Through the conversion, the board of Jet Airways Ltd has approved an action plan by its lenders to resolve a near Rs 8,500 crore ($1.19 billion) funding gap, which will make them the largest shareholders of India's biggest full-service carrier.

Do the lenders have the wherewithal and expertise to run a full-face airline with so many imponderables strewn in its path? Or will they try and stabilise the operations only to sell it or merge it later with another domestic carrier? For the moment, the government is saddled with two debt-laden carriers - Air India and now Jet Airways.

Through the conversion, the lenders will end up owning 50.1 per cent in the full-service carrier. That will bring down Naresh Goyal and Etihad Airways' stake by half to 25 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively, according to back-of-the-envelope calculations.

Jet, saddled with over $1 billion in debt, had a turbulent 2018 as competition intensified in the Indian airline market, the rupee depreciated and high oil prices squeezed margins. The rescue deal by Jet's lenders, led by State Bank of India, includes funding through a mix of equity infusion, debt restructuring and sale or leaseback of aircraft.

Jet will seek approval from its shareholders at a meeting on February 21 for conversion of its debt into 114 million shares. It currently has 113.6 million shares on issue. The plan gives lenders the ability to appoint nominees to the airline's board.

Jet said that after its approval, the plan will be presented back to the lenders as well as to an overseeing committee of the Indian Bankers' Association, the board of shareholder Etihad Airways and Jet's founder and chairman Naresh Goyal.

Abu Dhabi's Etihad, which owns 24 per cent of Jet, bailed out the Indian airline in 2013, paying $600 million for a 24 per cent stake in Jet, three take-offs and landing slots in London Heathrow and a majority share in Jet's frequent flyer programme.Ludhiana, Feb 14 : The Punjab Police on Thursday said that all six accused in the gang rape of a 21-year-old woman in Ludhiana district have been arrested.

Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta told the media here that the three remaining accused were arrested from various locations in neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir.

Three accused had been arrested by the police earlier this week. A court in Ludhiana, 110 km from Chandigarh, on Wednesday sent the three accused to seven days' police remand.

The young woman was allegedly gang raped in Issewal area of Ludhiana district on February 9 night.

Those arrested so far include Jagroop Singh, Sadik Ali, Surma, Ajay, Said Ali and a juvenile.

The DGP said that police investigations have revealed that six men were involved in the gang rape of the victim when she was driving along a canal in a car with her male friend.

The victim had alleged that she was gang raped by at least 10 men after she and her friend were attacked and abducted.

Both were taken in their car to an isolated plot and the woman was gang raped while her friend was held captive. The couple were set free on Sunday. The police registered a case of rape under sections of the Indian Penal Code against the accused.

The police had earlier admitted that there were lapses by the local police in dealing with the matter.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Vijay Rattan was on Monday suspended for dereliction of duty as he had failed to investigate the matter seriously and did not inform his seniors about it after receiving a complaint about the incident, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) R.S. Khatra said earlier.

The accused had called up a friend of the rape victim's friend and demanded a ransom of Rs 2 lakh. The friend approached the police following the call but the police did not take immediate action.Chandigarh, Feb 14 : The Norwegian government has agreed to re-examine regulations requiring Sikhs to have passport photos with totally visible ears, Union Minister of Food Processing Industry Harsimrat Kaur Badal said on Thursday.

In a statement here, the Minister said that she made a request to the Norwegian government to address the concerns of the Sikh community relating to changes recently made in the regulations concerning passport photos by the Norwegian Police Directorate.

"I am thankful to the Norwegian government and Prime Minister Erna Solberg for heeding my request to re-examine regulations requiring Sikhs to get photographed with ears visible as it hurts Sikh sentiments. Ms Solberg has informed me that the said regulations are being reviewed," Badal said.

In a letter written to the Prime Minister of Norway, Badal apprised her about the challenges being faced by the Sikh community in Norway.

The Union Minister urged the Norwegian government to show sensitivity towards Sikh culture and identity "as the turban is not a clothing accessory or a hat but an integral part of the Sikh religion".

"The Sikh religion prohibits devout Sikhs to remove the turban from their heads in any circumstances and forcing them to do it completely or partly under any legal obligation would result in hurting their religious sentiments," she pointed out.

She said the regulation was implemented by the Norwegian government without granting a hearing to the Sikh community.

"Had inputs been taken from the Sikhs before implementing the new regulation, such a situation would not have arisen," she added.Damascus, Feb 14 : One of the three schoolgirls who left the UK in 2015 to join the Islamic State terror group has said that she has no regrets despite seeing "beheaded heads" in bins, but wishes to return to her home.

In an interview with the Times newspaper, Shamima Begum, 19, who is nine months pregnant, talked about the horrible sights she witnessed adding that they "did not faze her". However, she wanted to come home to have her baby, the BBC reported.

UK Security Minister Ben Wallace, without directly commenting on Begum's case, said on BBC's Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday that "actions have consequences".

He said that UK nationals choosing to come back to the country after travelling to the IS territory should expect to be "prepared to be questioned, investigated and potentially prosecuted for committed terrorist offences".

"People who went out there often as amateurs are now professional terrorists or professional supporters of terrorism, and we have to make sure we mitigate that threat should they come back," he said.

Speaking from a refugee camp in Syria, Begum told the newspaper that "the caliphate is over". She said that she had had two other children who both died over the last four years. She also told the daily how one of her two school friends who had left the UK with her died in a bombing. The fate of the third girl was unclear.

Bethnal Green Academy pupils Begum and Amira Abase, were both 15, while Kadiza Sultana was 16, when they left the UK in February 2015.

They flew from Gatwick Airport to Turkey after telling their parents they were going out for the day. Later they crossed the border into Syria.

After arriving in Raqqa, she stayed at a house with other newly arrived brides-to-be, she told the Times.

"I applied to marry an English-speaking fighter between 20 and 25 years old," she said. Ten days later she married a 27-year-old Dutch man who had converted to Islam.

She has been with him since then, and the couple escaped from Baghuz - the terror group's last territory in eastern Syria - two weeks ago. Her husband surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters as they left, and she is now one of 39,000 people in a refugee camp in northern Syria.

Asked whether her experiences of living in the one-time IS stronghold of Raqqa had lived up to her aspirations, Begum said: "Yes, it did. It was like a normal life. The life that they show on the propaganda videos -- it's a normal life.

"Every now and then there are bombs and stuff. But other than that..."

She said that seeing her first "severed head" in a bin did not faze her. "It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam. I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance."

"I'm not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago," she told the Times. "I don't regret coming here."

She always thought she would die along with her husband, who is in a prison. "I don't have high hopes. They are just getting smaller and smaller. And there is so much oppression and corruption going on that I don't really think they deserve victory," she added.Thiruvananthapuram, February 14 : A new survey by private news channel Asianet News in collaboration with AZ ahead of the upcoming lok sabha polls has found that former chief minister and congress leader Oommen Chandy is the most popular leader in Kerala even almost three years after the congress-led UDF suffered an ignominious defeat in the last assembly polls.

The congress veteran pipped CPI(M) stalwarts V S Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan in the popularity stakes. 24 per cent of the respondents named Oommen Chandy when asked who the most popular leader in Kerala was at present. Achuthanandan is the second most popular leader with 21 per cent votes followed by incumbent chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who got 18 per cent of the votes.

The survey results come even as speculation is rife that Oommen Chandy could contest the upcoming lok sabha polls either from Kottayam or Idukki.

Speaking to reporters in New Delhi on Thursday, however, Chandy quashed rumours of his contesting the lok sabha polls.

There is no situation at present that warranted me, an MLA, to enter the lok sabha poll fray. There are more than enough capable and popular leaders in the congress and within the UDF in Kerala to contest the polls, he said.

Chandy, however, added that he would throw his hat in the ring for the general elections only if the high command asked.

The survey also gives the UDF cause for optimism as it says that the coalition is expected to win 14  16 seats of the 20 up for grabs in the state with a vote share of 44 per cent.

The poll also predicts that the Sabarimala issue would play a major factor in the lok sabha elections. But it turns the popular perception that the UDF was the biggest loser in the Sabarimala issue with the CPI(M)-led LDF and the BJP hogging all the limelight on its head.

The survey finds that CPI(M) would suffer a backlash owing to the womens temple entry issue with 54 per cent of the respondents saying that chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan erred in his handling of the issue.

32 per cent of respondents opined that UDFs stance on the Sabarimala issue was right as against 26 per cent who favoured the CPI(M)s position.

The poll also finds that BJP is unlikely to reap the expected benefits from the Sabarimala agitation with the party predicted to win 0 -1 seat and only to marginally improve its vote share.New Delhi, Feb 14 : Strongly condemning the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 30 security personnel, the Congress on Thursday called the Modi-led BJP government the "weakest" and demanded concrete steps to prevent a recurrence of such attacks.

Condoling the deaths, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi demanded that the Modi government ensure the prevention of terror attacks.

"I can very well understand the pain and grief of losing a loved one in the family. I want to say that not only the Congress, but the entire country is standing shoulder to shoulder with the families of our brave soldiers," she said.

"But we must also reflect and be concerned about the high number of casualties in Kashmir. We demand that this government take concrete steps to ensure such terror attacks don't happen in the future," added Priyanka who is in the Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi also expressed grief over the attack which happened in Pulwama district when an explosive-laden van rammed into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway killing at least 30 troopers and injuring many others.

"I am deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir in which many of our brave CRPF men have been martyred and a large number wounded, some critically. My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala targeted the Modi government for its failure to counter "Pakistan-sponsored terrorism" and called it to be the "weakest government" in the history of independent India.

"This is the 17th big terror attack under Modi. Under his regime two of our soldiers were beheaded by Pakistani soldiers. There have been over 5,000 ceasefire violations by Pakistan in the last 5 years and over 440 soldiers killed alone in Jammu and Kashmir," Surjewala told the media here.

"The fact is, Modi government has neither been able to check Pakistan-sponsored terrorism nor been able to give any reply to it. Five years of incohesive and inconclusive policies and rhetoric is what the Modi government has given.

"The Modi government is the weakest in the history of independent India but we still urge it to not compromise national security," added Surjewala.New Delhi, Feb 14 : Argentine President Mauricio Macri will visit India from Sunday at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the External Affairs Ministry said on Thursday.

The three-day visit will provide an opportunity to the two sides to review progress in bilateral ties and to explore new avenues of cooperation.

Macri, accompanied by First Lady Juliana Awada, will be in India between February 17 and 19. On the first day in India, Macri will visit Agra.

Macri will meet President Ram Nath Kovind, who will host a banquet in his honour, and hold talks with Prime Minister Modi.

Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Emilio Monzo and other senior officials will accompany the President.

The main day of official engagements in Delhi will be on February 18. Macri will be in Mumbai the next day.

Modi visited Argentina for the G20 from November 30 to December 1, 2018 and met Macri there.

Bilateral trade at present is around $3 billion.

India exports mainly two-wheelers, iron and steel, agro chemicals, yarn, organic chemicals, bulk drugs and drug intermediates and motor vehicles, while Argentina exports to India mainly vegetable oils (soya bean and sunflower), finished leather, cereals, residual chemicals and allied products and pulses, said a Ministry statement.

Indian companies have made investments in IT, agro-chemical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic sectors in Argentina. The total Indian investments in Argentina are to the tune of $1 billion.Sharjah, Feb 14 : An Indian tourist couple was killed and five others from their family, including two children, injured after their speeding vehicle flipped over multiple times during a desert safari in Sharjah.

The couple, who were on their first visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for a family reunion, were being taken back after the safari when their vehicle crashed on Tuesday, the Khaleej Times said in a report on Wednesday.

Rohinibahen Vinodbhai Patel, 42, died on the spot while her husband Vinodbhai Patel, 47, suffered a cardiac arrest after the accident and died a few hours later at a hospital. The family hailed from Baroda in Gujarat.

An official from the Sharjah Police said the driver, who was from a private tour company, was speeding when he lost control over his vehicle on Al Nazawi Road in the Madam area around 10.30 p.m. He sustained injuries and had been hospitalised.

The family came to the UAE on February 8, said Rohinibahen's brother-in-law, Dipak Patel, a US citizen. He was the only member of the family who rode in another car during the desert safari.

According to the report, he had gone ahead of the other family members and got the shocking news when he asked their tour company where his family was. They were all hoping to enjoy a reunion as they had not seen each other for over 12 years, the daily said.

"Rohinibahen is my wife Vaishali's oldest sister. My wife, our kids - Charmi, 13, and Manav, 9 - and Rohinibahen's younger brother, Yogesh, and his wife, Meghna, formed the holiday group," said Dipak Patel.

"We went to Ferrari World Abu Dhabi and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and we were having a great time... We were supposed to enjoy this short trip in Dubai and return to India. I was going to head back to Chicago with my family on February 23," he added.

Yogesh's wife, Meghna, was in a critical condition, while Dipak Patel's wife, Vaishali, suffered a fracture on her hip and injuries on her neck and shoulders. The children suffered minor injuries.New Delhi, Feb 14 : Actor Naveen Kasturia says his upcoming social drama "Waah Zindagi" reflects the reality of the society.

Dinesh S. Yadav directorial "Waah Zindagi" is based on the concept of 'Make in India'. It revolves around a man's struggle to combat market occupancy by Chinese products to make Indians self-sufficient and improve their livelihood.

"Our film reflects what's happening in our country. It talks about certain things which are necessary to inform people. Our local people, artisans, craftsmen are suffering a lot," Naveen told IANS after the teaser launch of the film here on Thursday.

"I am glad that through our film we are promoting 'Make in India' initiative. I can't say that the film will bring a change in society or improve the conditions of our local manufacturers in a single day, but I am sure it will leave an impact to some extent," the actor added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the 'Make in India' initiative in 2014 with the aim to encourage companies to manufacture their products in the country.

Actress Plabita Borthakur is honoured to be a part of the film.

"I am fortunate to be a part of such film which deals in promoting this initiative," she said, urging people to use Indian manufactured goods "whenever possible".

"Waah Zindagi" also stars Sanjay Mishra, Vijay Raaz and Manoj Joshi. It is slated to release this March.New Delhi, Feb 14 : The attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday by terrorists in which about 30 troopers were killed is the second biggest attack on the paramilitary force in the last nine years.

Thursday's incident, believed to be a suicide attack, saw a van packed with explosives reportedly ram into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Lethpora town, about 30 km from Srinagar, killing 30 personnel and injuring many.

The incident took place when 2,547 CRPF personnel were going in a convoy of 78 vehicles from Jammu to Srinagar.

It was in Dantewada in Chhattisgarh that 75 CRPF personnel were killed in a landmine explosion set off by Maoists in April 2010.

On May 10, 2017, at least 25 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed after the Maoists attacked a convoy in Chhattisgarh's South Sukma region.Warsaw, Feb 14 : US Vice President Mike Pence has rebuked Washington's European allies over their efforts to shield their businesses from American sanctions on Iran.

Pence's comments came on Wednesday during a conference on the Middle East organised by the US in the Polish capital. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Trump's son-in-law and special aide on the Middle East Jared Kushner were also in attendance.

The Warsaw meeting was attended by leaders of over 60 nations, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But major European powers like Germany and France, party to the landmark 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, refused to send their top diplomats over fears that the summit was designed largely to build an alliance against Tehran.

Iran, Palestine, Turkey, Lebanon and Russia were also not present at the conference.

"A scheme set up by the EU (European Union) to facilitate trade with Iran was an effort to break American sanctions against Iran's murderous revolutionary regime," Pence said during the event.

"It is an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU and create still more distance between Europe and the US," he was quoted as saying by the Guardian on Thursday.

Washington's sanctions on Tehran were eased by the Obama administration but were re-imposed after Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement last year.

The US' move came despite the fact that independent monitoring agencies and the remaining signatories, which included China, Russia, the UK, Germany and France, insisted that Iran had upheld its side of the bargain, de-escalating its nuclear programme in exchange for the partial lifting of economic embargoes.

Pompeo on Thursday said that it was impossible to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran. "There are malign influences in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq," he added, referring to Iran-supported groups. "The three Hs: the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah - these are real threats.

"But you can't get peace in the Middle East without pushing back against Iran," he told the press alongside the Israeli Prime Minister on the second day of the summit.

Pompeo also thanked NATO and the European Union for joining the summit. He also hailed as "historic" a dinner that took place on Wednesday evening. "Arab and Israeli leaders were in the same room, sharing a meal and exchanging views," he said.

"They all came together for a single reason, to discuss the real threats to our prospective peoples emanating from the Middle East," said Pompeo.

He said action was needed on Syria, Yemen, proliferation, the peace process, terrorism, Iran, cyber security and humanitarian crises.

Netanyahu earlier thanked Pompeo, Pence and President Donald Trump's administration for "putting together an extraordinary conference".Islamabad, Feb 14 : Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday wrapped up its eight-year-long proceedings in the Memogate case against the country's former Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani, saying that now it is up to the state to decide whether it wanted to take action against him.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, disposed of the case after none of the petitioners - former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Qaumi Watan Party and several others - appeared before the court, Geo News reported.

The Memogate scandal erupted in 2011, when Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz claimed to have received an "anti-Army" memo from Haqqani, the then Pakistan envoy in Washington, for then US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen.

The memo sent by Haqqani allegedly mentioned a possible Army coup in Pakistan following the US raid in Abbottabad to kill Osama bin Laden. It also allegedly sought assistance from Washington for the then Pakistan Peoples Party government for "reigning in the military and intelligence agencies".

Hearing the suo motu case on Thursday, Justice Khosa said the apex court had nothing to do with the matter anymore but the state was free to pursue the case.

He said that the state of Pakistan was "not so weak" so as to be rattled by the writing of a memo. "...Pakistan's foundations are strong and we need not worry about such matters," he added.

In 2012, a judicial commission was tasked to probe the case and it concluded that the memo was authentic and authored by the former envoy.

The scandal was then taken to the Supreme Court by then opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and several others. It led to Haqqani's resignation and subsequent exit from the country.

In February 2018, the apex court issued an arrest warrant for the former ambassador. In an attempt to get Haqqani to appear in the court, the Federal Investigation Agency was reported to have approached Interpol later that month to issue red warrants for him.New Delhi, Feb 14 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday condemned the terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that left 10 troopers dead.

"Extremely shocking... I strongly condemn the terror attack on CRPF convoy in which many casualties are feared. India must stand united in this moment of grief," he tweeted.New Delhi, Feb 14 : BJP veterans, including L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, are likely to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, notwithstanding an informal bar on those above 75 years occupying ministerial and organisational posts.

A final decision in this regard would be taken by the party's Central Election Committee when it meets after the announcement of the election schedule, likely in the first week of March. Sources in BJP said the party leadership had given an informal green signal to these veterans.

They said the leadership wanted to persuade Advani (91) to vacate the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat for her daughter Pratibha but he is said to have turned down the proposal. Advani's stance was that having fought against dynasty politics throughout his career, he cannot compromise on it. Instead, he is keen on contesting the coming polls.

Advani, currently the oldest member of the Lok Sabha, has represented the Gandhinagar constituency since 1991 and has been winning all the last five general elections by a big margin.

In the 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP faced a tough fight from the Congress and its tally was restricted to 99 of the 182 Assembly seats. The party failed to open its account in districts like Morbi, Amreli and Gir Somnath while in Gandhinagar the BJP won five of the seven Assembly seats.

If Advani contests, he would become the oldest MP ever to fight the Lok Sabha elections after Ram Sunder Das of the Janata Dal-United, who won from Hajipur in 2009 at age 88 and vacated office at the age of 93.

Besides Advani, party veterans Murli Manohar Joshi (84), Shanta Kumar (85), Kalraj Mishra (77) and Bhagat Singh Koshyari (77) are also likely to be fielded in the Lok Sabha polls, the sources said.

Joshi, who won in 2014 from Kanpur, was the BJP President between 1991 and 1993 and has also represented Allahabad and Varanasi in Parliament. In 2014, he was shifted to Kanpur after the party decided to field Narendra Modi in Varanasi.

Advani and Joshi, considered three top leaders of BJP after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, did not find a place in BJP's highest decision-making body, the Parliamentary Board when the BJP President took charge. Instead he created a Marg Darshak Mandal that comprises Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Shah himself as well as Joshi and Advani.

Shanta Kumar has been representing Kangra constituency in Himachal Pradesh. The former Chief Minister of the hill state was first elected from there in 1989. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998, 1999 and 2014 from Kangra.

Mishra, the BJP's prominent Brahmin face in Uttar Pradesh, is representing Deoria in the current Lok Sabha. He was inducted into Modi's Council of Ministers as MoS independent charge of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises but dropped later on age grounds.

Koshyari, a former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, represents Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar constituency. He also served as a Rajya Sabha MP.

Sources in BJP said the party leadership had given the green signal to these leaders after taking their consent.

The change in BJP's position on veteran leaders is being seen as a move giving weightage to winnability of candidates than their age.

This also comes in the wake of opposition parties joining hands ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

The sources said the move was well calculated as the BJP does not want to trigger any controversy by denying the veterans a ticket.

"The age bar set by the party leadership is not official or written in its constitution. It is just an arrangement. As far as my knowledge goes, the age bar is not for contesting elections but for holding party and government posts," a top BJP functionary told IANS on the condition of anonymity.

(Brajendra Nath Singh can be contacted at Brajendra Nath Singh)New Delhi, Feb 14 : Calling the Supreme Court's verdict on the powers of the Delhi government to transfer officers "unfortunate" and "injustice to the people of Delhi", Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the order is against the Constitution and democracy.

Speaking to the media after the judgement, Kejriwal said the judgement says the elected government will not have the power to transfer officers.

"A question which arises is that if a government can't even transfer officers, how will it function," he asked.

Talking about the judgement, he said it is "very unfortunate and is an injustice to the people of Delhi".

"We respect the apex court, but the judgement is an injustice to the people who elected a government by giving 67 of the 70 seats (to a party)," he said.

He further said the party with 67 seats will not have the power to transfer officers, "but the party with three seats has the power to transfer officers".

In 2015 Delhi Assembly polls, the AAP won 67 of the 70 seats, while the BJP bagged only three.

Calling himself powerless, despite the major victory, he said the opposition party will appoint officers who will not work and not let them work.

"We are suffering from past four years."

"The ACB (Anti-Corruption Bureau) was under the Delhi government for 40 years, now it is not under it. What will I do if someone comes and tells me that there is some corruption? Do I have to approach the opposition party, the BJP, (and ask them) to take action (against the corrupt officer)? The opposition party is the one doing all the 'gadbad'," he said.

The AAP chief said, according to the judgement, the basic structure of the Constitution cannot be tampered. "But democracy is the biggest structure and if an elected government has no power, how will it function? What kind of democracy is this? The judgement is against the Constitution and democracy."

He also said that if for every file, "we have to protest at the LG's office for clearance, how will the government function?"

He said the real solution lies with the people.

"Statehood for Delhi will solve all these issues. In the coming Lok Sabha elections, don't vote for electing a PM. Give all the seven seats to AAP, so that in the coming five years, we will force the government to give statehood to Delhi," he said.

On former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit welcoming the court's verdict, Kejriwal said: "I respect Dikshit a lot. I want to request her that at times, the issue is big, the nation is bigger and for short term politics, such comments are not good."

He further said his government doesn't have even 10 per cent of the powers she had.

"She had all the powers. She also got the benefit of having Congress at the Centre, but despite that we did more work in four years than she did in 15 years.

"I want to request you, today it is my government. Tomorrow it may be your government. You will also need these powers. Talk for Delhi, its people and its government," the Chief Minister said.

A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a split verdict on the issue of transfer and posting of Delhi government officers.

While Justice A.K. Sikri said transfers and postings of joint secretaries and officers above will be in the domain of Lieutenant Governor, for those below them, the recommendation will be routed through the Council of Ministers of the elected government in Delhi.

However, Justice Ashok Bhushan differed saying that the Delhi government has no control over appointments. Transfer and appointment of "higher" officers will rest with the Centre, he added.Shillong, Feb 14 : Former Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Thursday said that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill would have been passed in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday by the BJP government if the Congress-led Opposition was not there.

"The Congress-led Opposition stood firm and remained as a strong wall, otherwise, they were determined to pass the Bill despite the 'tamasha' threats shown by NDA allies," the Leader of Opposition in Meghalaya Assembly told journalists.

"The whole country has seen how the Congress has stood firm in its commitment to protect the interest of the nation in general and the people of the Northeast, especially of the microscopic ethnic groups," he added.

Sangma claimed that the Business Advisory Committee of the Rajya Sabha had decided that the Bill should not be presented because it is "controversial" and "will cause disturbances in the whole Northeast".

"They (NDA government) again brought in supplementary list to introduce the Bill in Rajya Sabha. However, they could not got it passed because of the firm commitment of the Congress," he said.

Describing the allies of NDA and partners of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) as "wolf in sheep's clothing" the Congress leader said: "These people are shamelessly telling the people that we are with you. They are not with us but with the BJP.

"If these parties are with the people of the Northeast, they cannot be with the BJP. But they are and have been with the BJP even when the Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha," Sangma asserted.

"That was the time that they should say 'good bye' (to BJP) because of the anti-people agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), that is going to be disastrous for the nation. But these people are power-hungry and wanted to somehow cling to power whether it is BJP Chief Minister or ministers in Assam and other Chief Ministers," he further said.

"One MP from Nagaland, who belonged to the Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio's party (National Democratic People's Party), had voted for the Bill in Lok Sabha. Those who are part of the NEDA are for this Bill, including the Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister who said that Arunachal will not have problem because there is an Inner Line Permit. All these partners are wolves in sheep's clothing.

"They should have shown their true colour on the day when the Bill was passed in Lok Sabha but they did not, and these shameless people have been exposed now. I must say, these are the Judas who betrayed the people of the Northeast."

On the ruling National People's Party's threat to snap ties with the NDA if the Bill is passed in Rajya Sabha, Sangma said: "These people know that the Congress is in Rajya Sabha. We have told everybody that let them come in Rajya Sabha we will defeat them, and we have defeated them on Wednesday. If Congress was not there, they would have bulldozed. I have been reminding the people that the BJP wanted to rule the states because it wanted to maintain a majority in Rajya Sabha."

The contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8 will lapse on June 3, when the term of the present Lok Sabha ends, as the Bill could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha which was adjourned sine die on Wednesday, the last day of the Budget Session.

Various civil socie BJP, the BJP will get the benefit. In UP, if a third candidate is fighting apart from the SP and BSP, it will benefit the BJP. All parties should understand this."

Speculation has persisted about a possible electoral alliance between the Congress and the AAP in Delhi.

The meeting between Rahul Gandhi and Kejriwal was held on Thursday in the presence of other opposition leaders at the residence of Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar.Shillong, Feb 14 : Former Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Thursday said that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill would have been passed in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday by the BJP government if the Congress-led Opposition was not there.

"The Congress-led Opposition stood firm and remained as a strong wall, otherwise, they were determined to pass the Bill despite the 'tamasha' threats shown by NDA allies," the Leader of Opposition in Meghalaya Assembly told journalists.

"The whole country has seen how the Congress has stood firm in its commitment to protect the interest of the nation in general and the people of the Northeast, especially of the microscopic ethnic groups," he added.

Sangma claimed that the Business Advisory Committee of the Rajya Sabha had decided that the Bill should not be presented because it is "controversial" and "will cause disturbances in the whole Northeast".

"They (NDA government) again brought in supplementary list to introduce the Bill in Rajya Sabha. However, they could not got it passed because of the firm commitment of the Congress," he said.

Describing the allies of NDA and partners of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) as "wolf in sheep's clothing" the Congress leader said: "These people are shamelessly telling the people that we are with you. They are not with us but with the BJP.

"If these parties are with the people of the Northeast, they cannot be with the BJP. But they are and have been with the BJP even when the Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha," Sangma asserted.

"That was the time that they should say 'good bye' (to BJP) because of the anti-people agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), that is going to be disastrous for the nation. But these people are power-hungry and wanted to somehow cling to power whether it is BJP Chief Minister or ministers in Assam and other Chief Ministers," he further said.

"One MP from Nagaland, who belonged to the Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio's party (National Democratic People's Party), had voted for the Bill in Lok Sabha. Those who are part of the NEDA are for this Bill, including the Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister who said that Arunachal will not have problem because there is an Inner Line Permit. All these partners are wolves in sheep's clothing.

"They should have shown their true colour on the day when the Bill was passed in Lok Sabha but they did not, and these shameless people have been exposed now. I must say, these are the Judas who betrayed the people of the Northeast."

On the ruling National People's Party's threat to snap ties with the NDA if the Bill is passed in Rajya Sabha, Sangma said: "These people know that the Congress is in Rajya Sabha. We have told everybody that let them come in Rajya Sabha we will defeat them, and we have defeated them on Wednesday. If Congress was not there, they would have bulldozed. I have been reminding the people that the BJP wanted to rule the states because it wanted to maintain a majority in Rajya Sabha."

The contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8 will lapse on June 3, when the term of the present Lok Sabha ends, as the Bill could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha which was adjourned sine die on Wednesday, the last day of the Budget Session.

Various civil society groups and political parties in the northeastern states opposed the Bill saying that it would reduce the ethnic minority communities in the region once the Bill becomes an Act.

The Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to grant Indian nationality to people belonging to minority communities - Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians - in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India.New Delhi, Feb 14 : A recent European Union intelligence sharing exercise with India has revealed that Lockheed Martin, the US-headquartered company which manufactures the F-16 fighter jets, has been up to mischief mongering on the Rafale issue.

The Rafale jets, which India wants, is manufactured by the French aerospace company Dassault Aviation, a rival of Lockheed Martin.

That Lockheed Martin could be working in the shadows to sour the Rafale deal for India so that it could move in with its own deal was validated when Vivek Lall, Lockheed Martin's high-profile head of strategy and India operations, said that the company was in the process of finalising the sale of 200 fighters to India.

During the UPA regime, the government had signed an MoU for 126 Rafale fighter jets to replenish a major shortcoming in air defence preparedness because the Indian Air Force did not have quality fighter jets. When the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power, this deal was revised and an inter-government deal was struck to receive 36 fully-loaded Rafale jets. The controversy now raging in India is related to the pricing for the fighters negotiated by the NDA.

In December when the Rafale case came before the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi observed that processes were generally followed over the procurement. He also noted that the controversy had been triggered by comments by former French President Francois Hollande over the selection of the offset partner and that mere comments could not form the basis for a probe.

However, this has not prevented the Rafale purchase controversy from becoming a high-octane political battle between the Congress party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Repeatedly over the past few months and more stridently now in the lead-up to the Lok Sabha elections, Congress President Rahul Gandhi has led a no-holds barred attack on the government and the Prime Minister specifically on the issue. From the earlier public disinterest on the controversy, it is now now getting some traction -- the Congress party believes this could be possible because it has relentlessly raised the matter at all public forums.

Bringing up the case of the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) was said to be part of the orhestrated plan to present the case of the American companies while also appearing nationalistic. In the government's estimate, HAL's record is abysmal and it cannot be given a big responsibility like building fighter jets -- more so in the light of the safety record of MiG fighters purchased from Russia and made under licence from HAL.

The BJP-led government at the Centre believes -- and it is certain it has evidence of this -- that the Congress party is doing this as it has become a party to corporate rivalry between the US and French aerospace companies. For the record, Lockheed Martin is believed to have found a sympathetic ally in another US aerospace major, Boeing, which manufactures the F-18. Dassault has another rival in French manufacturer Airbus Industrie, which is associated with BAE for the manufacture of the Eurofighter. It is also angling for a fighter jet contract with India.

Rahul Gandhi's attacks on the government over the Rafale issue started after his visit to the US in August 2017 when he met several defence lobbyists, CEOs of US defence companies and Pentagon officials.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been obtuse in accusing the Congress of becoming a pawn in corporate rivalry. She made the comments during a recent seminar on 'India's strategic interest in the context of the Rafale deal'.

The government's efforts to trace the footprints of the dramatis personae at the forefront of the campaign to target the government over the Rafale deal has produced surprising results. It has found what it believes are eye-opening linkages between Prashant Bhushan, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie -- who filed a PIL in the Supreme Court accusing the Prime Minister of corruption in the deal -- and arms dealers and defence manufacturers. At least in one case, the linkages show deep connections between members of Shourie's family with aerospace companies, arms dealers and defence lobbies.

A deeper look found a correlation between the end of Shourie's dreams of being appointed Union Finance Minister and the beginning of his tirade against the Prime Minister on one issue or the other.

The government is also aware of the links between a top BJP leader's son-in-law and a French manufacturer. The son-in-law is said to be advising Rahul Gandhi and is believed to be making government documents available to him for the campaign against Rafale.

Lockheed Martin's alleged actions to work the political ecosystem to pull down the Rafale procurement deal also has a larger strategic context. Contrary to popular perception, the Trump administration is said to be extremely unhappy with India because the NDA government under Modi has been successful in building strong relationships with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.Aizawl/Agartala, Feb 14 : Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga on Thursday said if the Central government again brings the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) as a law in future, all political parties, NGOs and civil society of the northeast region would fight unitedly against such efforts.

"If the Central government once again brings CAB as law in future, all political parties, NGOs and civil societies of the northeast region would jointly fight against such efforts," The Chief Minister said while addressing a meeting in Aizawl.

Zoramthanga, who is also the President of the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF), appealed to the people, NGOs, churches and political parties to join hands and stand united in case there is a bid to reintroduce the CAB in Parliament.

"The CAB could not move in the Rajya Sabha following the collective protests of the people and all organisations of northeast India," he said.

The powerful Mizoram NGO Coordination Committee (MNCC) held a series of agitations including boycott of the Republic Day celebrations and demonstrations across the state in protest against the Bill. The MNF and the Young Mizo Association (YMA) were part of these movements.

In Tripura, the newly-formed Movement Against Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (MACAB) will hold a victory rally in Agartala on Monday.

MACAB Convener Sridam Debbarma told IANS that though the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government has failed to push through the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, it may try to pass it if it comes back to power in the upcoming general elections.

"We should unitedly block this in the upcoming election," he said.

Major political parties, NGOs and civil society groups are strongly opposing the Bill saying it will have a detrimental effect on the ethnic communities if it becomes law.

On January 8, amid strong opposition by various political parties, including the Congress, Left and Trinamool Congress, the Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to grant citizenship to migrants from six non-Muslim minority groups from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The contentious Bill is, however, set to lapse on June 3, when the term of the 16th Lok Sabha ends, as the legislation could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha which was adjourned sine die on Wednesday, the last day of the Budget Session.New Delhi, Feb 14 : A Delhi court on Thursday sent corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar to 14 days judicial custody in a money laundering case.

Special Judge Santosh Snehi Mann remanded him to the judicial custody as his Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody ended.

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 which was later extended.

The ED said Rs 200 crore was allegedly received in one of the bank accounts of a company of Talwar in Singapore and he was being probed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Talwar had fled to Dubai after 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.Bengaluru, Feb 14 : French aerospace major Dassault Aviation flew to India three Rafale fighters to participate in the 12th edition of Aero India 2019 air show from February 20-24, an official said on Thursday.

"Three Rafale aircraft have come on Wednesday to participate in the air show at our base here. Two of them will be on flying display and one on static display on the tarmac margins at the event," an IAF official told IANS.

The biennial international expo is being held at the Yellahanka base of the Indian Air Force (IAF) near the Bengaluru international airport.

The advanced fourth generation medium multi-role combat aircraft are in the service of French Air Force.

"Two of them will fly for practice from Thursday to Sunday in the afternoon, for rehearsals on February 18-19 and for business visitors and public from February 20-24 before noon and afternoon," said a defence exhibition official.

India is buying 36 of the twin-engine, delta wing multi-role Rafale to replace the ageing Russian-made MiG-21 fleet of the IAF over the next four years.

Besides Rafale, military and civil aircraft of different types have flown into the city for the mega event from the world over, including the US.

About 60 aerospace firms, including the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), IAF, DRDO-ADA, Army Aviation, Airbus and Boeing will showcase their aircraft for flying and static display.

Global aerospace majors, including, Boeing (US), Lockheed Martin Corp (US), Russian Aircraft Corp MiG (Russia) and Saab (Sweden), will be among the exhibitors at the event.Seoul, Feb 14 : US Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris said on Thursday that sanctions will remain in place until North Korea denuclearizes, as Washington and Pyongyang are preparing for their second summit later this month.

Harris was speaking at a forum in Seoul where he discussed the meeting that will be held between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27 and 28 to advance the dialogue on disarmament, Yonhap news agency reported.

"The US and our South Korean ally are in complete agreement that sanctions will remain until DPRK denuclearizes," he said in a statement.

"Our goal remains the same: To achieve our shared objective of a final, fully verified denuclearization of the DPRK as committed (to) by Chairman Kim in Singapore," he added.

Kim and Trump met for the first time in Singapore last year to discuss North Korea disarmament. During that meeting, Kim agreed to work towards the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula but with little clarity on how to achieve that long-elusive goal.

It is expected that the second summit will serve to refine differences and clearly agree on what kind of disarmament Pyongyang would be willing to carry out and in what terms it could comply, as well as to establish compensation measures from Washington, the report said.

Pyongyang has requested compensation such as aid, the lifting of sanctions and the signing of a peace treaty to end the state of war which still technically prevails over the Korean Peninsula since the end of the conflict that devastated the region between 1950 and 1953.

Harris said that North Korea could expect a "brighter, more secure and more prosperous future", if it fulfils its denuclearization promise.

He also credited South Korea's President Moon Jae-in for his role in the groundwork for peace, as well as Beijing.

"Without China's support on sanctions, we wouldn't have achieved (the) progress that we have made so far."

The envoy also used his speech to promote Washington's policy for a "free, open" Indo-Pacific. "Developments on the Korean Peninsula are an important part of the US commitment to a free, open Indo-Pacific. This is not just the US' interests but in all of our nations' strategic interests," he said.

"When we say open, we want all nations to enjoy open access to the seas and airways. And we want a peaceful resolution of territorial and maritime disputes, key to international peace," Harris added.New Delhi, Feb 14 : A Delhi court on Thursday granted interim bail to Dubai-based businessman Rajiv Saxena till February 22 in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar asked the businessman to furnish two sureties bond of Rs 5 lakh each and also sought a detailed medical report of Saxena from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday told the court it was not opposing Saxena's bail plea on medical grounds as he was cooperating in the VVIP chopper deal probe.

Saxena told the court he was suffering from radiating back pain, numbness and heaviness in legs, neck pain and other ailments. Despite this, he has been cooperating, he said.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) security agencies had picked Saxena from his Dubai residence 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 a corporate structure across the globe to launder money for payment to various political leaders, bureaucrats and Indian Air Force officials to influence the contract for supplying 12 VVIP helicopters in favour of AgustaWestland.

A non-bailable warrant was issued against Saxena after he did not join the investigation despite repeated summons.

Saxena's name was mentioned in a charge sheet filed against his wife, Shivani, who has been out on bail after being arrested by the ED earlier.New Delhi, Feb 14 : In line with late master painter S.H. Raza's vision of plural art, a group exhibition by 21 artists will celebrate individual voices of art, expressed on canvas.

The show, organised by the Raza Foundation, will run through his 97th birth anniversary on February 22.

'Individual Palettes' has been curated by veteran artist Rameshwar Broota, and features his young and old mentees. It opens for public at the Triveni Kala Sangam here on Friday.

For Broota, who has been heading the Art Department and Studio at the Triveni Kala Sangam since many decades now, and whose art oeuvre is full of experiments itself, the idea of mentorship is not one where artists are encouraged to clone the guru, but to find their individual voices.

"Raza sahab had a very plural idea of art, and despite being an abstractionist, he was open to figurative and non-figurative art. The exhibition brings together individual palettes, and that is how it relates to his vision," Raza Foundation Managing Trustee Ashok Vajpeyi told IANS.

"Each artist represented in this exhibition is highly individualistic and driven by a strong sense of self. (The selection) reflects their individual nature that is born out of the higher-calling of the aesthetic mingling with the quotidian," a note on the exhibition by critic-curator Georgina Maddox said.

Artists like Shruti Gupta Chandra, Vasundhara Tiwari-Broota, Valentina Churilova, Sanjay Roy, Meena Deora, Prathibha Singh, Vikram Nayak and Renuka Sondhi Gulati belong to a tradition of figurative painting and an evolved sense of humanism underpins their primary concerns.

Satish Sharma, Neerja Divate, Surendar Kaur, Prabha Shah, Honey Pandey and Rubikat Vohra are neo-abstractionists who unleash the spirit of inquisitiveness through a quest for the deeper subconscious truth that goes beyond a narrative style, Maddox wrote.

Anju Kaushik stands apart and her approach is one of abstraction through reclaimed objects.

The show, opened by eminent artist Paramjit Singh, will run from February 15 to 28 and is part of the third edition of Raza Utsav, an ongoing festival of visual arts, ideas, poetry, classical music and classical dance.Manila, Feb 14 : Maria Ressa, a high-profile Philippines journalist and Time magazine Person of the Year, was freed on bail on Thursday after having been detained overnight in connection with "cyber libel" charges against her news website Rappler.

The Chief Executive Officer and Executive Editor of Rappler posted bail of 100,000 pesos ($1,900) after she was accused of libel for an article published in 2012 -- four months before the law under which she is accused was enacted.

Rappler is critical of the government of President Rodrigo Duterte.

"The message is clear. It's an abuse of power, it's a weaponization of the law. Another line was crossed but if they wanted to scare me, this isn't the way to scare me," Ressa was quoted as saying by Efe news.

On Wednesday evening, Ressa was in the Rappler newsroom when plain-clothed officers from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) entered to hand-deliver her arrest warrant.

Although the order was signed by a judge on Tuesday, the authorities handed the document to her in the evening when most of the courts were about to close, therefore reducing the likelihood of posting bail.

A judge then refused the posting of bail, forcing her to spend the night in custody.

The Department of Justice presented cyber libel charges against Rappler, Ressa as its CEO and journalist Reynaldo Santos for a story published in May 2012 on businessman Wilfredo Keng.

So far, no arrest warrant has been issued against Santos, a researcher who no longer works for Rappler.

Three prosecutors from the Justice Department ruled last month in favour of Keng, who in October 2017 filed a complaint against Rappler's story, which was based on intelligence reports and linked him to illegal drugs and human trafficking.

Keng filed his complaint five years after the story's publication to the Office of Cybercrime at the NBI, which dismissed the case in February 2018 over lack of grounds and because the one-year deadline to file a libel complaint had expired.

However, the Justice Department reopened the case the following month based on a "continuous publication" argument as the report was still available online.

The cyber libel law under which Ressa was charged came into force four months after the publication of the story and was not retroactive, according to her lawyer J.J. Risini.

This is not the only judicial process facing Ressa. Last November, another arrest warrant was issued against her for five offences of tax evasion, both against Rappler as a company and against her personally.

Duterte has been vocal about his animosity towards Rappler, which he has accused of being financed by the US' Central Intelligence Agency, and in February 2018 banned Rappler reporters from the Presidential Palace.New Delhi, Feb 14 : The Finance Ministry has asked the six remaining public sector banks, currently under Prompt Corrective Action (PCA), to improve on seven parameters to get the government's support for coming out of the PCA framework.

"We have told these banks to improve upon net interest margins (NIMs), CASA (current account savings account), RWA (Risk Weighted Assets), NPA recognisation, divergence (disparity in loan recognisation), operating profit and non-core asset selling to be able to get our support for being out of the PCA," official sources said.

Earlier, a Finance ministry official had said all the six banks were expected to come out of PCA over the next two quarters or by June.

Out of a total of 11 banks put under PCA last year, three have already moved out while another two will merge with a stronger entity. This leaves six in the list of weak banks that also face restrictions on lending.

The recent recapitalization has taken care of the banks' tier-I core capital requirements. As per Basel III norms, all banks need to meet both risk-based capital minimum Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) requirement of 4.5 per cent and the target level CET1 requirement of 7 per cent.

The government had infused capital in banks that was used to increase provisions and lower the net NPA ratio enabling RBI to lift restrictions on the three banks - Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce.

Breaching net NPA ratio of 6 per cent is one of the conditions that trigger restrictions. The immediate impact of banks under PCA is loan growth is impacted since they cannot lend to below AAA rated corporates.

CASA ratio of a bank is the ratio of deposits in current and saving accounts to total deposits. A higher CASA ratio indicates a lower cost of funds, because banks do not usually give any interests on current account deposits and the interest on saving accounts is usually very low: 3-4 per cent.

Last year, while the government allocated Rs 88,139 crore for bank recapitalization (predominantly through recap bonds), Rs 52,311 crore was allocated to 11 PSU banks under PCA. Since then Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce have moved out of PCA and IDBI Bank has been taken over by LIC and Dena Bank is being merged with Vijaya and Bank of Baroda and are by default out of PCA.

The Reserve Bank has specified certain regulatory trigger points as a part of PCA Framework in terms of three parameters -- capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR), net non-performing assets (NPA) and Return on Assets (RoA), for initiation of certain structured and discretionary actions in respect of banks hitting such trigger points.

Recently, when BoI, BoM and OBC were taken out of the PCA, they were falling short of meeting the RoA norms. But since none of these banks have met the requirement for 'return on assets', it appears that the trigger has been diluted.

An official said the norm for RoA as per the PCA rules is that the bank should not make losses for two years straight, but a lot of banks will have to report losses for FY19 as well.

The banks under PCA are Allahabad Bank, United Bank of India, Corporation Bank, UCO Bank, Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank.

Under the PCA, banks face restrictions on distributing dividends and remitting profits. Besides, the lenders are stopped from expanding their branch networks and need to maintain higher provisions. Management compensation and directors fees are also capped.

The recovery plan, as presented by these banks, include cost cutting, reducing branches size, closing foreign branches, shrinking corporate loan book as well as selling risky assets to other lenders.

-IANS

ana/sn/mrChandigarh, Feb 14 : To remind the Congress government in Punjab led by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh about its pre-poll promise of giving smartphones to youth in the state, the Shiromani Akali Dal legislators on Thursday put up a stall of dummy smartphones outside the Punjab Assembly.

Led by senior SAD leaders Bikram Singh Majithia and Parminder Singh Dhindsa, the Akali Dal legislators offered the dummy smartphones, which had the photograph of the Chief Minister, to legislators of all parties who were entering the Assembly complex on the third day of the ongoing budget session here.

"We have put up this stall to remind the Amarinder Singh government about the promise of smartphones made to the youth of Punjab," Majithia told the media.

He said the Congress government has been in power for two years and had failed to fulfil its pre-election promise made in the party manifesto.

The Punjab government, which is under a debt of Rs 2.10 lakh crore, has recently announced that the process to provide smartphones to youth had started.

The SAD protest on the issue evoked sharp reactions from leaders of other parties.

Congress legislator Rana Gurjit Singh said the Akalis were indulging in antics as general elections were round the corner.

"People are not going to be impressed by such things. What were the Akalis doing when they were in power in the state for 10 years (2007-2017)," he asked.

AAP legislator Kultar Singh said that the Akalis were indulging in dramatics and were not bothered about problems being faced by the people in Punjab.

"The Akali Dal leadership did nothing for the state in its rule of 10 years. With what face are they raising such issues," Lok Insaf Party legislator Simarjeet Singh Bains said.

The Punjab cabinet in January approved modalities for providing smartphones to youth in the state. It said that graduating students of government schools, colleges and technical institutions will be covered in the first phase of the scheme.

The cabinet proposed that students would be required to submit self-certification stating that they do not already possess a smartphone.

The government said that the first batch of smartphones would be distributed in March.

The Congress had promised to provide smartphones to around 50 lakh youth before Assembly elections in February 2017.New Delhi, Feb 14 : The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that reports regarding security breach of data related to Aadhaar is incorrect and misleading as the strongest encryption technology has been used to store data which is impossible to decrypt.

"The technology used is 2048-bit encryption, which is the strongest one and it is impossible to decrypt and extract any information even if enrolment packets were accessible during transit to the UIDAI data centre," UIDAI told a bench of Justice S. Ravindra Bhat and Justice Prateek Jalan.

The bench was hearing a plea seeking exemplary damages for the losses caused due to leakage of Aadhaar data.

The plea was filed by Shamnad Basheer alleging that the dissemination of personal information of Aadhaar holders made it clear that the government is responsible for any breach of right to informational privacy.

In an affidavit, the government agecy said that Aadhaar data is fully secured at all times and for further strengthening of security and privacy of data, security audits are conducted on regular basis, and all possible steps are taken to make the data safer and protected.

It further added that there are multiple layers of security at physical level in UIDAI data centres and is being managed by armed Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel round-the-clock.

"The technical architecture of Aadhaar has been structured in such a way, so as to ensure clear data verification, authentication and de-duplication, while ensuring a high level of privacy and information security," the UIDAI said.

"UIDAI has taken all necessary safeguards, starting from providing standardised software that encrypts the entire data even before saving it to any disk; protecting data using tamper-proofing; identifying every operator in all and every enrolment; and identifying every one of the thousands of machines using an unique registration process, which ensures every encrypted data is tracked," read the reply copy filed by the UIDAI.

Countering Basheer's claim, the agency also said that the petitioner is trying to re-agitate the same issues which have attained finality before the Supreme Court and therefore the present petition deserves to be dismissed with costs.

It said that the petition is based on a mere assumption that the general public is likely to be aggrieved.

"In the entire petition, there is not even a mention as to how the petitioner is aggrieved by the actions of the UIDAI and how his constitutional rights have been violated to entitle him to damages claimed by him," the UIDAI said.

Adding that there is no merit in the application, UIDAI, in its reply, said: "The alleged facts (leakage of Aadhaar data) on the basis of which the petitioner has filed the plea are unsubstantiated statements and the information relating to the Aadhaar scheme has been grossly misreported and interpolated to mislead this court.

"The petitioner has pivoted his entire case around the misleading and unverified reports in the media regarding security breach of data related to Aadhaar, which is entirely denied as incorrect and misinformed."

The agency requested the court to dismiss the plea with cost as the petitioner has no locus standi to file this application.

The petitioner has said his constitutional rights have been violated due to the negligence of UIDAI.

Citing the top court's judgement, the petitioner said that when the state violates the constitutional rights of a citizen, courts may award compensation.

Basheer has also requested the court to appoint an independent committee comprising multiple experts to investigate the scope, extent of breaches and the magnitude of harm caused due to data leak.United Nations, Feb 14 : There may be a golden lining for India in the dark clouds of the tariff war waged by US President Donald Trump against China, and it is likely to increase its exports by as much as $11 billion if the proposed tariffs go into effect next month, according to the UN's trade arm.

Statistics for India obtained by IANS from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) show that the nation will benefit the most as a result of the tariffs proposed by the US on Chinese imports, increasing exports by $8.3 billion.

It will gain $2.65 billion from China's tariffs on US imports.

Explaining the effect of the tariff war on other countries, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, the head of UNCTAD's international trade division said recently: "The US-China bilateral trade will decline and be replaced by trade originating in other countries."

"Our analysis shows that while bilateral tariffs are not very effective in protecting domestic firms, they are valid instruments to limit trade from the targeted country," she had said while launching a study, Key Statistics and Trends in Trade Policy 2018, earlier this month.

As Trump announced a series of tariffs on imports totalling $250 billion from China last year, Beijing retaliated with tariffs on imports worth $110 billion from the US.

The two countries agreed in December to keep them in abeyance till March 1, while they try to negotiate a compromise that would bring down the US trade deficits. The trade negotiations are underway and could reduce the amount of tariffs and change the increases in exports projected for India and other countries.

The breakdowns for India - that is not in the published study, which is an overview - was provided by UNCTAD to IANS and they showed that chemicals and plastics will be the top sector benefiting from Chinese tariffs on the US, gaining about $1 billion, while on the US side it will be communications and office equipment with a gain for India of $2.44 billion.

India's exports of machinery is expected to go up by $2.4 billion because of US tariffs, and only $714 million because of China's tariffs.

Motor vehicles and transport equipment may benefit $442 billion from US tariffs and only $22 million from China's.

In various other areas, India's exports are likely to go up by $1.9 billion from US tariffs and $222 million because of China's.

According to the World Bank, India's exports to the US in 2017 were $46 billion, and to China the figure was $12.5 billion.

The study projected that European Union's exports will increase the most, capturing about $70 billion of the US-China bilateral trade, while Japan, Mexico and Canada will each benefit by more than $20 billion.

However, it warned that "while some countries will see a surge in their exports, negative global effects are likely to dominate" because of the "unavoidable impact that trade disputes will have on the still fragile global economy".

It said that economic downturn will have have an important effect on developing countries.

Despite the assertions by Trump that the tariffs will reinvigourate domestic US manufacturing, the study estimated that of the $250 billion in Chinese exports to be hit by US tariffs, only about 6 per cent will be captured by US firms, while about 82 per cent will go to businesses in other countries.

Similarly, of the $110 billion US exports to be covered by China's tariffs, only about 5 per cent will be captured by Chinese businesses and about 85 per cent will go to firms in other countries, the study said.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)Ajmer : , Feb 14 (IANS) Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the RSS of spreading hatred in the society.

Attending a national meet of the Congress Rashtriya Seva Dal, Gandhi said those wearing half pants and holding 'lathis' in their hands in the morning only spread hatred.

The reference was to the morning 'shakas' the RSS holds across the country.

But the Congress wants to change the country by spreading love and harmony, Gandhi said.

India was now waging an ideological battle, he said. On the one side, there was RSS and BJP who he alleged were spreading hated while the on other side there was an ideology that spread love and peace.

Gandhi attacked Prime minister Narendra Modi for repeatedly saying that there had been no progress in the country in the last 70 years.

Referring to a statement by Modi that the 'elephant' called India was sleeping before he became the Prime Minister, Gandhi said: "So he means to say that (Mahatma) Gandhi did nothing, Sardar Patel did nothing, Jawaharlal Nehru and Ambedkar did nothing. The Chief Ministers of states, the farmers, workers and people did nothing."

Gandhi said Modi had a notion that things changed in India only after he became the Prime minister.

His statements, he said, were an insult to each and every person in the country.

Gandhi apologized to members of Congress Seva Dal, admitting that they did not get the respect they deserved. "The Congress backbone is Seva Dal and not the Congress or NSUI," said the party chief.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot welcomed Gandhi at the Kishangarh airport.Washington, Feb 14 : US President Donald Trump's former election campaign chairman Paul Manafort breached his plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller by "intentionally" lying to prosecutors in the Russia probe, a federal judge has ruled.

Manafort "made multiple false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, special counsel and the grand jury concerning matters that were material to the investigation", including his contacts with his Russian associate during the 2016 presidential campaign and later, Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote on Wednesday.

Mueller is leading a probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.

The judge's finding about Manafort, 69, can add years to his prison sentence and came after a set of sealed court hearings, CNN reported. He was convicted of various financial crimes in August relating to his work as a political consultant in Ukraine.

A month later, Manafort pleaded guilty on September 14 to conspiring to defraud the US, violate lobbying laws and obstruct justice - by witness tampering - in connection with years of undisclosed work in Ukraine for a pro-Russian political party and former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

He then cut a deal to plead guilty to two charges of conspiracy and witness tampering in return for co-operating with Mueller's investigation.

In all, Jackson on Wednesday determined Manafort intentionally lied about $125,000 he received for the legal bills, about another unnamed Justice Department criminal investigation and about his interactions with his longtime Russian associate Konstantin Kilimnik while he was campaign chairman and later.

Jackson said that two of the topics Manafort lied about, Kilimnik and payments he received for his legal bills were "material to the investigation".

Manafort's actions mean Mueller's office "was no longer bound" by the plea agreement including prosecutors' promise to support a possible sentencing reduction for Manafort accepting responsibility for his crimes, according to the Washington Post.

Manafort is scheduled to be sentenced in DC on March 13. His lawyers claim that he did not intentionally lie.

"Manafort did not lie," they wrote in a redacted memo filed on Wednesday. "Despite the considerable efforts of the Office of Special Counsel ... it cannot prove what did not happen."

Manafort was seen as a potentially valuable witness for Mueller in his Russia investigation and potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow. He worked for nearly half a year on the campaign before resigning in August 2016 over revelations of his lobbying on behalf of the former Ukrainian President.

Manafort's former business partner, Richard Gates, who also worked on the Trump campaign, had also pleaded guilty and been cooperating in the investigation.

Gates and Manafort were two of six Trump associates to be charged in connection with the investigation. The special counsel had also indicted more than two dozen Russians for using social media and hacking to meddle in the election.London, Feb 14 : Veteran actress Maggie Smith is all set to return to theatre after a long gap of 12 years.

The 84-year-old will star in a new play "A German Life" by Christopher Hampton. It will be directed by Jonathan Kent, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

The "Harry Potter" fame actress will play the role of controversial real-life figure Brunhilde Pomsel in the drama.

Pomsel had worked as a personal secretary to Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister. She died aged 106 in 2017.

The play will be staged at the Bridge Theatre here later this year.

Smith's last stage appearance was in a 2007 production of Edward Albee's "The Lady From Dubuque". She has won multiple awards for her work, including two Oscars and multiple Golden Globes and BAFTA awards.Bengaluru, Feb 14 : Karnataka Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar adjourned the House till 3 p.m. on Thursday amid protests by BJP legislators against the attack on its MLA's residence in Hassan.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators walked towards the Speaker's podium and raised slogans against the attack on Preetham Gowda's residence by Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) workers in Hassan, about 180km from here.

JD-S workers had attacked Gowda's house by pelting stones on Wednesday after he allegedly bad-mouthed its supremo H.D. Deve Gowda, who represents the district in Lok Sabha.

Hassan is Gowda clan's home constituency.

BJP's state unit president B.S. Yeddyurappa urged the Speaker for a thorough probe into the incident.

"We have submitted a letter to Governor Vajubhai Vala on the stone pelting issue. Our legislator (Preetham Gowda) and his family were threatened by the JD-S workers," Yeddyurappa told the media earlier in the day.

Anti-government protests by the BJP have marred the state Budget Session, which began on February 6.Washington, Feb 14 : The US has charged a former Air Force officer with spying for Iran in an operation that targeted her fellow officers, according to an indictment unsealed in a federal court.

Monica Witt, who was also a former counterintelligence officer for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, defected to Iran in 2013, according to the indictment on Wednesday. She remains at large, CNN reported.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says that Witt, 39, was last seen in southwest Asia in July 2013.

According to the Department of Justice, Witt was targeted and recruited by Iran and after she defected, she allegedly revealed to Tehran the existence of a "highly classified intelligence collection programme" and the identify of a US intelligence officer, "thereby risking the life of this individual".

Witt is accused of sharing the US government secrets, including the name of agents and specifics of operations, with Iran as early as January 2012. In a charging document, investigators said she was deployed by the US to locations in the Middle East to conduct classified counterintelligence operations.

Four Iranian citizens were also charged with attempting to install spy software on computers belonging to Witt's colleagues.

"It is a sad day for America when one of its citizens betrays our country," Assistant Attorney General John Demers said.

Prosecutors said that Witt had been granted the highest level of US security clearance and worked in the US Air Force from 1997 to 2008.

The US Department of Treasury also sanctioned two Iranian companies - New Horizon Organization and Net Peygard Samavat Company - for their role in the plot.

Officials say that she sent a message to her Iranian contact in 2012 saying: "I loved the work, and I am endeavouring to put the training I received to good use instead of evil. Thanks for giving me the opportunity."

Witt, according to investigators, was recruited after attending two conferences hosted by New Horizon Organization, which was working on behalf of the Iranian National Guard's Quds Force to collect intelligence on attendees.

The FBI had earlier stated in its missing persons poster that Witt was working as an English teacher in either Afghanistan or Tajikistan, and had lived overseas for more than a year before vanishing.

While in Iran, she allegedly converted to Islam during a TV segment after identifying herself as a US veteran and delivered several broadcasts in which she criticized the US.New Delhi, Feb 13 : The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its ex post facto approval to the Registration of Marriage of Non-Resident Indians Bill, 2019 which was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

The Bill seeks to provide safeguards to Indian women who are trapped in fraudulent marriages with NRIs.

"The Bill provides for amendment of the legal framework to act as a deterrent to the erring NRI spouses and creating more accountability and offer protection against exploitation of Indian Citizens married to NRIs," Union Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.

Once the Bill is passed, marriages by NRIs would be registered in India or Indian missions and posts abroad, and necessary changes would be carried out in the Passports Act and Code of Criminal Procedure, an official statement said.

Goyal said the Bill would offer great protection to Indian citizens married to NRIs, and serve as a deterrent to NRIs against harassment of their spouses and benefit Indian women married to NRIs worldwide.New Delhi, Feb 13 : To give a boost to public transport infrastructure in Patna, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared a metro rail project for the city to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 13,365.77 crore.

The project envisages two metro rail corridors -- Danapur to Mithapur, and the Patna Railway Station to New Inter-state Bus Terminus (ISBT).

The project would be completed in five years.

As per the project plan, the Danapur Cantt to Mithapur corridor will pass through the heart of city and connect densely-populated areas like the Raza Bazar, Secretariat, High Court and Law University Railway Station, an official statement said.

The Patna Junction to ISBT corridor will connect Gandhi Maidan, PMCH, Patna University, Rajendra Nagar, Mahatma Gandhi Setu, Transport Nagar and ISBT.

"The metro will provide eco-friendly and sustainable public transport to residents, commuters, industrial workers, visitors and travelers," the statement said.

It said that the length of Danapur to Mithapur corridor is 16.94 km and comprises of 11 stations. The length of Patna Station to New ISBT corridor is 14.45 km comprising of 12 stations.

"The existing population of 26.23 lakh of Patna agglomeration area is expected to be benefitted by Patna Metro Rail Project directly and indirectly," the government said.

It added that the corridors would have multimodal integration with railway stations and ISBT station and also have a feeder network of bus, Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) and Non Motorised Transport (NMT).New Delhi, Feb 13 : A day after a hotel in Karol Bagh, here, was gutted by fire, it was business as usual for the hotel staff in the area who greeted gaily, but not without a smidgen of disbelief that made itself apparent at the very mention of the terrible tragedy.

The soot-smeared ghost of Arpit Palace Hotel was an object of curiosity for the passers-by. They stopped to gawk at the building, and felt sorry for those who perished in the early Tuesday morning fire, the worst such in 22 years.

Those who could escape the tragedy returned on Wednesday to collect their belongings from the locked down hotel, which was guarded by three-four constables. One of those who came back was Ishaan, a 25-year-old man studying in Delhi, who lost his mother in the tragedy.

Ishaan came to collect his mother's belongings with H. R. Shah, his mother's colleague, who too was staying at the hotel, but in a different room. Unlike Rubia Jusafbhai, Shah was lucky to escape the fire.

Shah told IANS they will perform Rubia's last rites at Nizamuddin later in the day.

The staff in nearby hotels -- the centrally-located area houses around 200 hotels -- greeted guests with a practised charm, but calmmed up at the mention of the fire.

Though they insisted there has been no significant dip in the business, nor cancellations, expressions of concern on their faces were discernible.

"Few of my guests cancelled bookings today. I cannot ask them why they did it -- the reason is obvious. It's bad for business. It shouldn't happen to anyone," owner of Hotel Metro View, located just few yards away from the ill-fated Hotel Arpit Palace, told IANS.

He refused to share his name, but emphasised none of the hotels in the vicinity were engaged in any illegal activity. However, he worried about "people having this attitude as if we are rogues."

A number of Hotel Arpit Palace evacuees took shelter in his hotel. "I offered them tea, coffee, let them use the bathrooms. I did whatever I could," he said.

He said crucial time was lost in the rescue work because of the police barricade, which blocked the entry to Gurudwara Road -- where the hotel was located -- from Pusa Road.

Due to the barricade, fire tenders had to take U-turn from Pusa Road to reach the Jhandewalan roundabout, from where they took the Arya Samaj Road to come back to the Gurudwara Road -- a journey that must have taken more than 10 precious minutes.

Screams from the blazing hotel shattered the silence of the night, recalled a theatre artiste from Assam who was staying in the nearby Hotel Mid Town.

"I was woken up by the screams. It was terrifying. When we went outside to see it was only smoke in the lane. Then I heard a loud blast, must have been a boiler or something. We were so scared that we wanted to leave at night only and packed our bags," said Kismat from Guwahati who had come with her group to perform at the National School of Drama.

In the beginning, there was a lot of smoke coming out of the building and the scream of a man shouting for help, she recalled. "Suddenly the fire accentuated and the man panicked and jumped from the fourth floor of the hotel to his death," she said.

Suresh Kumar, a 45-year-old IRS officer, jumped to his death on the day of his marriage anniversary. He was one of the 17 victims of the fire.

The blaze was second worst since the 1997 Uphaar cinema hall fire, in which 59 people were asphyxiated to death during the showing of 'Border'.New Delhi, Feb 13 : Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday hit out at Congress President Rahul Gandhi, saying he was distributing fake facts based on lies and misrepresentation of facts on the 36 fighter jet deal with France.

His remarks came after the government on Wednesday tabled the report of the Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) in Parliament which found that the deal was 2.86 per cent lower than the price negotiated by the UPA for 126 aircraft and also felt that the present capital acquisition system is unlikely to effectively support the IAF.

"Rahul Gandhi's lies have been exposed today. In the most shameless manner, Rahul Gandhi was distributing fake facts based upon lie, misrepresentation in the country," Prasad said, addressing a press conference at the party headquarters.

He said the life of lie is not long. "The Prime MInister (Narendra Modi), FInance Minister (Arun Jaitley) and Defence Minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) and all discussed issues in Parliament. And barring one or two, who had vested interests said that the Rafale deal was necessary," he said.

He said the serving Indian Air Force officers also said that for the safety of the nation, the Rafale deal was required.

"But Rahul Gandhi never discusses serious issues in Parliament as everything said there goes on record. He tells lies outside," he said.

Referring to the CAG report and the Supreme Court judgement on the Rafale deal, Prasad said, "Even two constitutional bodies have said that the process of procurement is clean and it is necessary for the safety of the nation."

He said the Supreme Court on December 14, 2018, had said that it interacted with the senior IAF officers who informed the court that India's adversaries had acquired the fifth generation stealth fighter and that India does not have a matching aircraft.

"The CAG report says for the last 15 years, no work was done. The procurement process was started in 2000. A request for proposal was made in 2007 and the bid was opened in November 2011," he said.

Hitting out at the then Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, the BJP leader said, "In 15 years, you cannot do any work. And then the deal was delayed again."

Attacking Gandhi, he said, "We had thought that Rahul Gandhi will go silent on the issue. But what I said yesterday I have to repeat today that the grandson of (former Prime Minister late) Indira Gandhi and son of (former Prime Minister late) Rajiv Gandhi will shamelessly tell lies we have not imagined."

"In the name of the dynasty he is on that post... there is no other qualificiation he has," he added.New Delhi, Feb 13 : A PIL has been filed in the Delhi High Court challenging the alleged "arbitrary and illegal" transfer of prosecuting officers of the Delhi government's Directorate of Prosecution and seeking departmental action against its director Pankaj Sanghi for "misusing" his powers.

Amiya Kumar Kushwaha New Delhi, Feb 13 (IANS) A PIL has been filed in the Delhi High Court challenging the alleged "arbitrary and illegal" transfer of prosecuting officers of the Delhi government's Directorate of Prosecution and seeking departmental action against its director Pankaj Sanghi for "misusing" his powers.

The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed by social activist Brij Mohan Sehgal through his advocate Haider Abbas.

As per law, prosecutors in the Directorate of Prosecution are deputed to conduct criminal cases in subordinate courts on behalf of the state and, unlike employees of other government departments, can be transferred only to the Food Safety Department and the Police Training College.

Sehgal in his plea said that 12 prosecuting officers have been transferred to other departments by the Director of Prosecution. "The arbitrary and illegal transfers/postings of prosecuting officers are being done by the respondent (Sanghi) in blatant disregard of the law, despite the fact that there is a shortage of prosecuting officers in the Directorate of Prosecution against the number of criminal courts in Delhi because of which the criminal justice delivery system suffers," Sehgal said in his plea.

The plea seeks the court's direction to withdraw the transfers and get the officers posted in criminal courts.

Sehgal said he was forced to move court after Sanghi did not pay heed to a representation by him on October 20, 2018.

In his plea, he has cited an RTI reply of November 24, 2018, which states that of the 12 prosecuting officers, two have been transferred to the Special Investigation Team, one to the Delhi Commission for Women, four to the Delhi Home Department, two to the Chief Minister's Grievance Redress Cell and three to the state Law Ministry.

In each district, at least 10 per cent over and above the existing sanctioned strength of Assistant Public Prosecutors (APP) are not in the common pool, because of which court work is affected in the absence of APPs, it adds.

Sehgal said that it was because of shortage of prosecuting officers in the Directorate that a prosecutor is assigned duties in two-three courts.

Several pleas about shortage of prosecutors in the city are pending before the court, he added.

Sources said the Directorate of Prosecution has 183 assistant public prosecutors, 102 additional public prosecutors and 13 chief prosecutors. It is in the process of recruiting 47 more prosecutors.

( can be reached at amiya.k@ians.in)New Delhi: People from Manipur stage a demonstration against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in New Delhi, on Jan 30, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Shillong/New Delhi, Feb 13 : People across the northeastern states rejoiced as the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, is set to lapse on June 3, when the term of the present Lok Sabha ends, as the Bill could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha which was adjourned sine die on Wednesday, the last day of the Budget Session.

In Shillong, activists of the Khasi Students Union (KSU) took out a victory rally soon after the Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die without the tabling of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

The contentious Bill has been opposed by several civil society groups and political parties in the region.

Members of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), led by former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, along with the activists of North East Student's Organisation (NESO), led by its Chairman Samuel Jyrwa, reached the residence of Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma in New Delhi to thank him for his concerted efforts to prevent the Bill from being passed in the Upper House.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8, seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to grant Indian nationality to people belonging to minority communities - Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians - in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India.

"It is indeed a great and emotional moment for all the citizens of the Northeast, as well as the country. Even the students' bodies, civil societies and NGOs stood together to oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Today the sentiments of the people, especially those from the Northeast, have prevailed. The voice of the people has prevailed. It is a great moment for each one of us," an elated Sangma told journalists.

Sangma also thanked all organisations concerned which came together to oppose the Bill for ensuring that the message from the people reached different leaderships at different levels.

Congratulating the indigenous people from the Northeast for "their united and concerted effort" in opposing the Bill, Jyrwa said, "NESO would like to take this opportunity to call this momentous occasion a 'moral victory' for the indigenous people of the Northeast. We could stall this Bill only because of the united and continuous movement of the people.

"This also shows that the government of India will not concede to our demands on a platter, but that we have to fight and struggle for the protection and survival of the indigenous people of the Northeast.

"NESO would like to give a strong warning to the government of India to not adopt or implement policies which are detrimental to the interest of the indigenous people of the Northeast," Jyrwa said.

Besides thanking Sangma and Zoramthanga, the Chief Minister of Mizoram, for their bold stand on the issue, Jyrwa also voiced his gratitude to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar whose party Janata Dal (United) even passed a resolution in its National Executive Council to oppose the Bill.

Jyrwa said the apex students' body of the indigenous communities will not forget all those people who were injured during this movement, especially in Tripura, Manipur and Assam. NESO saluted their bravery and wished for their speedy recovery, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently assured the people of the northeastern region that the Bill will not cause any harm to their interests.London, Feb 13 : UK's Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay on Wednesday downplayed the possibility of Prime Minister Theresa May seeking an extension to the negotiation period with the bloc in order to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

Barclay responded to questions on the BBC's flagship morning politics radio show after UK's chief Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins was apparently overheard in a Brussels bar saying that May would ask lawmakers to vote on whether they wanted to extend the negotiation period.

Declining to comment on the details of the recording, published by ITV News, Barclay said it was still May's policy to leave the bloc on March 29, two years after the Conservative Party leader triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which officially notified the EU of the UK's intention to leave and launched the negotiation period.

"It's not in anyone's interest to have an extension without any clarity," Barclay said.

In the recording, civil servant Robbins appeared to say the PM would in March give Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, the lower chamber of UK lawmaking, a choice to either back her withdrawal deal, which has struggled to make it through the Commons, or to extend Article 50, according to Efe news.

May's withdrawal deal, the result of over 18 months of negotiations with the EU, became lodged in the Commons after lawmakers rejected it by a historical margin last month then later passed an amendment to find legally-binding changes to the Irish backstop insurance policy on the open border in Ireland.

The backstop, one of the key pillars of the document, was rejected by right-wing Tories 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.

The clause is a safety net policy to ensure there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland if future talks with Brussels suddenly collapse.

In a Commons address on Tuesday, May was adamant that she can convince the EU to tweak the backstop, either by finding a so-called alternative arrangement, which the UK government was yet to specify, or by adding a fixed expiry date, or by granting the UK powers to unilaterally withdraw from it.

Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn accused the Tory leader of running down the clock on Brexit in a bid to get MPs to back her deal.

The EU has repeatedly warned that the withdrawal agreement would not be opened for further renegotiations - the bloc's institutions and remaining members states have already signed off on it.Jaipur, Feb 13 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is questioning Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress President Rahul Gandhi in a money laundering case involving the Bikaner land deal case, is learnt to have asked him the following questions on Tuesday (February 12):

(Vadra needs to reply in writing to the questions, which are translated from Hindi)

Question: How much partnership you (Vadra) and your mother have in the Skylight LLP?

Question: How much interferance does Maureen Vadra has in the company's transactions and management?

Question: What is the main business of your company?

Question: What is the main source of income of your company?

Whom did you authorise to buy the lands for your company?

Question: What was the role of the man in the Skylight Hospitality who was authorised to buy the lands for you?

Question: What the source of the the payment for buying the lands?

Question: Did Skylight Hospitality take any loan from anyone to buy those lands?

Question: What was the arrangement that your company had to repay the loans which it took to buy the lands?

Question: Your company bought the land at cheaper rate and sold it at very high rates. Did this happen to your knowledge?

Question: Beside Kolayat and Mahajan Firing range, where else did your company engage in sale and purchase of lands?

Question: How did your company utilise the profit it earned from selling the lands?

Question: When was the matter of forgery in buying and selling lands in Kolayat brought to your notice?

Question: After getting this information, what action did you take?

Question: What was your relationship with Mahesh Nagar, a Haryana Congress leader and a resident of Faridabad?

Question: Were Ashok Singh, a resident of Faridabad and Bikaner's Jaiprakash Bagarwa in your contact?

Question: Did you come to know about their arrest by the ED?

Question: How much land did your company buy out of the 1,422 bighas of land in Mahajan firing range and in Bikaner's Kolayat region?

Question: Through whom did your company buy the 275 bighas of land in Rs 79 lakh? What do you have to say about this?

Question: How much profit did your company make after selling the 275 bighas of land?

Question: With whom was the profit of land shared?

Question: Was the profit as per your expectation?Vadra was questioned for eight hours on Tuesday. He and his 75-year-old mother Maureen Vadra was accompanied to the ED office by his wife Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was recently appointed as Congress general secretary for eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Last week, ED had questioned Vadra for over 24 hours on three days -- Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday -- in a separate money laundering case in Delhi.New York, Feb 14 : The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the arrest of Maria Ressa, the chief of news portal Rappler, who was arrested earlier on Wednesday in Manila for an alleged "cyber libel" case.

"Freedom of the press is an essential pillar of democracy and Human Rights. The arrest in the Philippines of Maria Ressa, founder and executive editor of the news website Rappler, is an alarming development," CPJ said in a statement to the media It also called on the government to "immediately release" the journalist and "drop all charges" against her, Efe news reported. Rappler's investigative report linked Keng to alleged drug and human trafficking.

CPJ's board chair Kathleen Carroll said that "the arrest of Maria Ressa is an outrage", adding that "she should be freed immediately and the Philippines government needs to cease its multi-pronged attack on Rappler, its talented leader, and its brave staff".

The organisation said on Wednesday the letter was launched after its board of directors, made up of influential journalists, approved an exceptional resolution in a meeting held at their New York headquarters.

Ressa was arrested in her office at the Rappler headquarters in Manila, for a story published in May 2012 about local businessman Wilfredo Keng.

The Justice Department of the Philippines filed charges of "cyber libel" against Rappler, Ressa, as the portal's CEO, and investigative journalist Reynaldo Santos for the story published in 2012.

Three Justice Department prosecutors ruled in Keng's favour in January even though Keng filed his complaint five years after the report was published, even though the statute of limitations established by Philippine law for a defamation charge is only one year.

Rappler has been very critical of the administration of Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte. However, this not the only case pending against Ressa.

Last November, an arrest warrant was issued against her on five charges of alleged tax evasion. Ressa had posted bail at the time and the case is still pending trial.

The Philippine President has made no secret of his hostility towards Rappler, accusing it of being financed by the CIA and banning its reporters from the presidential palace in February 2018.Beijing, Feb 14 : The third round of negotiations between China and the US to end their trade war began on Thursday here as the parties planned to close their differences before March 1 deadline, media reports said.

Xinhua news agency confirmed the start of the high-level economic and trade consultations following a ceremony chaired by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The talks will conclude on Friday.

Several preparation meetings were held from Monday to Wednesday between members of the delegations.

Analysts believe that the parties are not likely to reach a final agreement in this third round due to Washington's demands.

The main problems posed by the US government are China's protection of intellectual property, its forced technology transfer, subsidies from Beijing to local companies that generate inequality with foreign companies, cyber theft, exchange controls and market access of the Asian giant, Efe news reported.

Earlier negotiations held in Washington in January-end though were said to have produced "important progress".

Although on Monday the US Treasury Department Undersecretary for International Affairs David Malpass answered "no" when asked by journalists whether the deadline to reach an agreement could be extended, the next day US President Donald Trump opened the door to the possibility.

"If we're close to a deal where we think we can make a real deal and it's going to get done, I could see myself letting that slide for a little while. But generally speaking I'm not inclined to do that," Trump said.

The US imposed tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, before Beijing retaliated with $110 billion of duties on US products.

Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed on a 90-day commercial truce on December 1, to allow for negotiations, suspending the increase in US tariff rates on $200 billion worth of Chinese products from 10 per cent to 25 per cent.New Delhi, Feb 14 : On Valentine's Day, Google doodled the star-crossed iconic character from "Mughal-E-Azam", Anarkali, made indelible in movie lovers' mind by the effervescent Madhubala who would have been 86 on Thursday.

"The Marilyn Monroe of Bollywood" as the Google blogpost said was raised in the slums of Bombay. She started supporting her family as a child star at the age of nine, before becoming a leading lady known for her elegance on screen.

Born in Delhi on this day in 1933, Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi was raised in a town located near the Bombay Talkies film studio, said Google alongside her iconic "Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya" dance "mudra" doodle created by Bangalore artist Muhammed Sajid.

Madhubala appeared in her first film as Baby Mumtaz. In 1947 she landed the lead role in "Neel Kamal", then just 14, taking her moniker that made her famous.

As her family's main breadwinner, she worked tirelessly to support her parents and four sisters. In 1949, she appeared in nine films, including blockbuster "Mahal" opposite Ashok Kumar, when she dazzled with a spell-binding breakout performance.

Her breathtaking appearance earned comparisons to Venus, although Madhubala flourished mostly in an understated style well suited for comedies, dramas, and romantic roles alike.

She fell in love with Dilip Kumar, her co-star in the 1951 romance "Tarana", which changed the course perhaps forever for the young girl, whose father-cum-manager interfered and made it a star-crossed pattern for the woman, who was yet to blossom.

The epic historical drama "Mughal-E-Azam" directed by K. Asif remains one of the most popular and expensive movies in Bollywood history; the Dilip Kumar-Madhubala chemistry was "undeniable and unforgettable".

With a tragically brief career Madhubala was billed "The Biggest Star in the World" in 1952 by Theatre Arts magazine, died on February 23, 1969 at the age of 36 after prolonged illness.

In 2008, she appeared on a commemorative postage stamp in India, where she is remembered by many as one of the greatest to ever grace the silver screen.

She had acted in over 70 films over the course of a tragically brief career. Her film "Chalak" opposite Raj Kapoor remained incomplete as she did not have the strength to continue.ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- (NYSE: TUP) Tupperware Brands President and Chief Executive Officer, Tricia Stitzel, will be presenting at the UBS Global Consumer and Retail Conference in Boston, MA on March 6, 2019 at 3:15 p.m. ET.

This presentation will be webcast and available on www.tupperwarebrands.com.

Tupperware Brands Corporation, through an independent sales force of 3.0 million, is the leading global marketer of innovative, premium products across multiple brands utilizing social selling. Product brands and categories include design-centric preparation, storage and serving solutions for the kitchen and home through the Tupperware brand and beauty and personal care products through the Avroy Shlain, Fuller Cosmetics, NaturCare, Nutrimetics, and Nuvo brands.

SOURCE Tupperware Brands Corporation

Related Links

http://www.tupperwarebrands.com

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading global payments provider, Klarna, released new research into consumers' shopper behavior  specifically amongst the Gen Z and Millennial generations. The research surveyed more than 1000 consumers, finding that consumers of all ages value seamless, personalized, and flexible shopping experiences.

Millennials And Gen Z Are Spending Big Online

Today, U.S. shoppers admit to buying clothes and accessories online an average of 10 times a year. For Gen Z shoppers, aged 16-24, this number increases to 18 times per year, with nearly a quarter (23%) of them admitting to shopping online 1-3 times per month. Millennials are shown to shop online 14 times per year and the 55+ age group, 8 times per year.

Purchasing Drivers

The outside world might tell us that the fashion industry is driven by celebs, influencers, and high end fashion, but the average American shopper is more likely to be influenced by items reaching the end of their life-span or seasonal sales. Men are frugal spenders, with two-thirds (60%) saying they are most likely to buy new clothes when an old item wears out  compared to 52% of women. U.S. shoppers also buy new clothes when there are seasonal sales (44%) and big events like a wedding (30%).

High fashion and celebs don't have as much influence as the industry might think; only 2% say they'll buy clothes because a celeb/influencer has worn it. This outlook differs for younger shoppers where social-influenced spending is key. For the 'want it now' Gen Z generation, 25% say they are most influenced to buy when they see an item trending which is likely to sell out and 26% when they've seen something on social media.

Online Consumers Demand Smooth & Seamless Shopping

Customers demand a simplified and smooth online experience. Not having a standout online/mobile browser, free/simple returns, and/or a seamless checkout experience will damage retailers' bottom lines. The top reasons for U.S. shoppers abandoning a purchase online are that the retailer does not have a decent returns policy (36%) and the checkout process took too long (31%).

Over two-thirds (66%) say a free and easy returns policy is one of the top 2 aspects that would improve the experience and 53% said a slow and expensive returns process would stop them from shopping with a retailer again. A flawed website functionality would also prohibit 61% of shoppers from repeat visit/purchase.

Letting Customers Try Before They Buy Could Encourage Higher Online Spending

Although shoppers are making purchase decisions online, they still miss being able to touch, feel, and see the product before buying. Almost half (46%) of U.S. shoppers say they like to touch and try items before they buy them, so they will tend to buy more expensive items in store. A third (29%) of shoppers prefer to browse for a new purchase online and then actually buy it in store. Enter the solution: sitting room to fitting room experiences  using solutions like deferred payment or Pay Later to help shoppers see their items before buying.

Payment Flexibility Removes Limitations for Luxury-Loving Consumers

U.S. consumers favor luxury and high-end items, but are often limited based on price point. Having more flexible payment methods would allow them to make these purchases. Nearly a quarter of shoppers (23%) say they have to save for several months before purchasing costly goods. This is highest amongst Gen Z and Millennials at 35% and 30% respectively.

22% of shoppers say they struggle to afford the latest trends and would like an option to pay in installments or pay later  increasing to 37% for Gen Z and 30% for Millennials. A third said having the option to pay for their online purchases in four equal payments would help them better manage their finances and a quarter (24%) said it would mean they could buy more high-end products they couldn't usually afford. A fifth (21%) said it would allow them to ultimately spend more.

Bricks And Clicks

73% of consumers think that shopping in-store offers a human experience that can't be replicated online. However, over half miss the personalized offers and discount codes they receive online and 55% think that shopping online is more convenient. Consumers want to bring some of the human touches to online shopping  34% want online chats so they can speak directly with a representative about an item before buying.

Online Retailers Look To The Future

49% of shoppers want technology that takes their measurements so they can be sure something will fit before buying. Nearly a quarter (24%) want augmented or virtual reality components  the ability to see items without trying them on (this number rises to 40% for Gen Z). 26% of shoppers want smart mirrors that make recommendations on what to buy based on what you try on. Ethics are important too  21% of U.S. consumers want tracking tech so they can see where their item came from and if it is ethically produced.

For more information, visit www.klarna.com .

About Klarna

It's all about smoooth (yes, with 3 ooo's). Klarna is Europe's leading payments provider and a newly-licensed bank, which wants to revolutionize the payment experience for shoppers and merchants alike. Founded in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2005, the fintech unicorn gives online consumers the option to pay now, pay later or over time - offering a trusted, frictionless and smoooth checkout experience. Klarna now works with 100,000 merchants to offer payment solutions to users across Europe and North America. Klarna has 2,000 employees and is active in 14 countries. www.klarna.com .

Media Contact

Rebekah Howerton

[email protected]

SOURCE Klarna

Related Links

http://www.klarna.com

TORONTO, Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - The Board of Directors of TMX Group Limited today declared a dividend of $0.62 on each common share outstanding, an increase of $0.04 or 7%, from the previous $0.58 per common share. This dividend is payable on March 15, 2019 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 1, 2019.



"We are pleased to announce another dividend increase for TMX Group, the fourth increase over the last ten quarters," said Lou Eccleston, Chief Executive Officer, TMX Group. "Our organization remains in continuous pursuit of our long-term strategy for profitable growth and to deliver increased value to shareholders. This increase reaffirms our commitment to align TMX's dividend payout ratio with our domestic and international peers."

TMX Group hereby advises that this dividend is designated as an "eligible dividend" for Canadian income tax purposes.

For the results of the quarter ended December 31, 2018 for TMX Group, please click on the following link: http://www.tmx.com/investor-relations/

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release of TMX Group contains "forward-looking information" (as defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation) that is based on expectations, assumptions, estimates, projections and other factors that management believes to be reasonable as of the date of this press release. Often, but not always, such forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "targeted", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", or variations or the negatives 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 not be taken, occur or be achieved.

Forward-looking information, by its nature, requires us to make assumptions and is subject to significant risks and uncertainties which may give rise to the possibility that our expectations or conclusions will not prove to be accurate and that our assumptions may not be correct. Such factors include, but are not limited to: market competition; economic conditions generally; adverse effects on our results caused by global economic uncertainties; regulatory constraints; the level of trading and activity on markets, and particularly the level of trading in TMX Group's key products; and the continued availability of financing on appropriate terms for future projects. A description of the above-mentioned items is contained under the heading Risks and Uncertainties in the 2018 Annual MD&A.

We have no intention to update this forward-looking information, except as required by applicable securities law. This forward-looking information should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

About TMX Group (TSX:X)

TMX Group's key subsidiaries operate cash and derivative markets and clearinghouses for multiple asset classes including equities and fixed income. Toronto Stock Exchange , TSX Venture Exchange , TSX Alpha Exchange , The Canadian Depository for Securities , Montreal Exchange , Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation , Trayport and other TMX Group companies provide listing markets, trading markets, clearing facilities, depository services, technology solutions, data products and other services to the global financial community. TMX Group is headquartered in Toronto and operates offices across North America (Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver and New York), as well as in key international markets including London and Singapore. For more information about TMX Group, visit our website at www.tmx.com . Follow TMX Group on Twitter: @TMXGroup .

SOURCE TMX Group Limited

Related Links

http://www.tmx.com

AMSTERDAM, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

In 10 years' time, the academic world will see new funding models, methods of collaboration, and ways of conceptualizing research and measuring its impact  all driven by advances in technology, an empirical study, conducted by information analytics business Elsevier and market research organization Ipsos MORI, showed.

Tech advances are also likely to make research practice and publication faster, and more open. Researchers can expect to benefit from greater career flexibility, better feedback on their work and improved reproducibility.

These are some of the findings presented in the new report, "Research Futures - drivers and scenarios for the next decade". The report is the result of a year-long, scenario-planning study, drawing on the opinions of more than 2,000 researchers globally, interviews with more than 50 expert stakeholders around the world (including futurists, publishers, funders and technology experts), and a comprehensive review of published literature.

The report lays out three plausible future scenarios showing how the world of research could transform over the next decade. These are [full summaries of each scenario are at the end]:

"Brave open world"  considers the rise of open science;

 considers the rise of open science; "Tech titans"  examines the growing influence and dominance of technology and technology companies; and

 examines the growing influence and dominance of technology and technology companies; and "Eastern ascendance"  considers a fragmented world in which China plays a key role.

"We are on the cusp of a new era, one that will transform the research information system. All of us within the research ecosystem share responsibility for creating together an environment in which science and research can continue to thrive," said Adrian Mulligan, Research Director of Customer Insights at Elsevier. "Our hope is that these scenarios based on empirical data will fuel considered decisions to help stakeholders navigate and prepare for the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead."

Sarah Castell, Ipsos MORI's Head of Futures, said, "We can't predict one single future, but the three scenarios we identified are each plausible, different and challenging to the status quo. All have their roots in innovations and cultural changes that we can see happening already. The way we produce knowledge through academic research is important to all of society. By carrying out this study, Elsevier and Ipsos MORI aim to put the research community in a better position to make decisions today and create a strong research ecosystem for tomorrow."

The report will be launched during a panel discussion at the annual AAAS Conference in Washington, D.C. on Friday February 15, 2019. More details here.

The summary report containing the scenarios, the six accompanying essays and a range of the underlying study results are available at: www.elsevier.com/connect/elsevier-research-futures-report.

Technical note

The study involved:

Literature review, and 56 expert one-hour telephone interviews, jointly conducted by Elsevier and Ipsos MORI.

Survey of 2,055 researchers worldwide, conducted by Elsevier using a random selection of respondents from Elsevier's Scopus database. The sample was profiled by country and subject specialty. Data were weighted to reflect the UNESCO distribution of researchers by geography.

Workshops with Ipsos MORI and Elsevier experts and invited research leaders from across the industry.

Scenario details

The three future scenarios featured in the report are more than just summaries of the main trends -- they are carefully-constructed, vivid stories, designed to help everyone in the research ecosystem anticipate the possible opportunities and challenges ahead.

Scenario "Brave open world"

Globally, state funders and philanthropic organizations have joined forces and pushed through the creation of platforms where the research they fund must be published open access. But the form of that OA varies by region; Europe is mostly gold open access, while North America and Asia Pacific are generally green open access. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence and technology mean these platforms are flourishing  they are interoperable, and content is easy to access and showcase.

Overall, global research and development (R&D) investment is holding stable. There have been regional shifts  intensity (i.e., R&D investment as a proportion of gross domestic product) has reduced slightly in North America. And although increases in R&D intensity in China have plateaued, overall R&D investment continues to rise as China's gross domestic product grows steadily. Funders in China, the West and in emerging markets have come together to establish shared goals for both basic research and some major applied challenges (for example, climate change, energy and food), which are now the key focuses areas of national funding agencies and philanthropic organizations. Funding for exploratory blue-sky research has reduced; the emphasis is on rapid development of practical solutions.

Scenario "Tech titans"

Industry and philanthropic foundations are the principal research funders, with far-reaching consequences for the research community. Some are feeling this impact more than others, for example, academic institutions with a focus on life sciences struggle with funding. There have been significant advances in machine learning with sophisticated artificial intelligence products driving innovation. This has led to large technology and data analytics companies becoming the curators and distributors of knowledge.

A number of countries are leveraging sophisticated and successful machine learning products in their research programs to address their own priorities and challenges. However, some sectors and states are struggling to adapt. Developments in artificial intelligence are rapidly transferred to industry, e.g., automotive, aerospace and medical technology, resulting in advances, but at the cost of jobs. A significant proportion of research is also carried out by machines, funded by tech company investments. In some research areas, roles, and even teams, have been replaced by automated processes.

Not all aspects of research are open; for example, where industry is funding research, key research data is not always made available so companies can retain a competitive and financial advantage.

Scenario "Eastern ascendance"

China's desire to transform into a knowledge-based economy has led to heavy public investment in research and development (R&D) and the systems and processes to capitalize on this in industrial and economic terms. As a result, China's level of R&D funding is proportionally much higher than the West's and continues to grow, changing the shape of scientific research. The sheer volume of investment by China, and other research nations in the region, has made the East a magnet for international researchers.

A lack of global alignment on grand challenges has resulted in inefficiencies in the international research system. Open science practices have been adopted in some countries and regions, but not all. Journal publishing is a mixed model of open access  gold and green  and subscription publishing. Individual research outputs can be accessed separately, but are always linked to the final article; for example, research findings, data and code.

Governments, industry and other research funders compete for scientific advantage through the controlled distribution and trading of data. When data is believed to hold no further commercial value, it is released so it can be linked back to its related research outputs.

In this world, alignment on tackling global societal problems proves difficult. Nations tend to tackle them in isolation, resulting in inefficiencies and a duplication of effort. Thanks to China's investment in R&D, the country is now firmly established as the global powerhouse of research. The quality and citation impact of Chinese research output has surpassed the rest of the world. Beijing and other major Chinese cities are proving hugely attractive to Western researchers. Individual nations are under pressure to retain the results of their science and technology investments for themselves, which causes rifts between internationally-collaborating institutes. Prestigious institutes in the US respond by reducing the number of projects they do in partnership with European institutes that have strong relationships with China.

About Ipsos MORI

Ipsos MORI, one of the world's largest and most innovative research agencies, works for a wide range of global businesses and many government departments and public bodies. It specializes in solving a range of challenges for its clients whether related to business, consumers, brands or society, with areas of expertise ranging from brand, communication, media, innovation and healthcare research through to customer experience, corporate reputation and social and political research. www.ipsos-mori.com

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a global information analytics business that helps institutions and professionals advance healthcare, open science and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support and professional education, including ScienceDirect, Scopus, SciVal, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, 38,000 e-book titles and many iconic reference works, including Gray's Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professionals and business customers across industries. www.elsevier.com

Media contact

Sacha Boucherie, Global Communications

Elsevier

+31-20-485-3564

[email protected]

SOURCE Elsevier B VCOPENHAGEN, Denmark and LONDON and NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Templafy , a global leader in enterprise template management and document creation announced today its selection as one of TNW and Ayden's top scale-ups as part of Tech5 2019.

Tech5 showcases the hottest young scale-ups in all European countries and Israel based on criteria like notable investment rounds, team growth, media coverage and overall social impact. The top-5 of each country is selected as part of the Tech5 and covered by and listed on TNW.

"We are very honored to be part of the Tech5 class of 2019," said Jesper Theill Eriksen, CEO of Templafy. "This not only validates all of the hard work we continue to do as a business, but it also reaffirms the strong impact we're making for our customers with the goal of solving document anarchy for all."

Templafy Co-Founder, Christian Lund, adds, "We're thrilled to be recognized as a top scale-up. Our product and people have proven to be valuable players in the enterprise SaaS space. Joining the Tech5 list is further confirmation that template management is a strong category."

In 2018 alone, Templafy more than tripled its revenue, raised an additional US$32 million and has now sold over 900K Templafy licenses worldwide. The Denmark-founded startup also won the grand prize as 'Startup of the Year' at the 2018 Nordic Startup Awards, proving to be a top player in the Nordic tech community.

Templafy will be attending the Tech5 Meetup on Founders Day, a day before the start of TNW Conference in Amsterdam, on May 8, 2019, where Tech5 alumni, top-tier investors, influencers, global press, and the 100 Tech5 companies will all come together to network and enjoy a full day of recognition and celebration.

About Templafy

Templafy brings custom company templates, brand assets, and best practice content together directly inside any office application, streamlining how users create on-brand and compliant documents, presentations, and emails. With Templafy, global businesses safeguard their brand integrity and increase productivity through a centrally governed, secure and easy to use platform.

Founded in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2014, Templafy's team leveraged more than 15 years of experience in template management and document automation to develop an enterprise cloud service solution which is now a global market leader within its category, validated by blue-chip enterprise customers on every continent.

For more information on Templafy's product and company, visit www.templafy.com , or follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/3585015/ or Twitter: @templafy

Media Contact:

Cara Lutz

312-561-2484

[email protected]

SOURCE Templafy

Related Links

https://www.templafy.com

JINING, China, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Spring Pharmaceutical Group, Inc. (OTCQB: CYIG) ("Spring Pharmaceutical" or the "Company") today announced its financial results for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2018.

Three Months Ended December 31, 2018 Financials Highlights

Total revenues increased by 13.3% to $19.49 million with growth in sales across all three product categories. Sales of acer truncatum seed oil were particularly strong, increasing by 23.6% to $5.08 million and accounted for 26.1% of total revenues.

with growth in sales across all three product categories. Sales of acer truncatum seed oil were particularly strong, increasing by 23.6% to and accounted for 26.1% of total revenues. Overall gross margin increased by 5.8% to 45.2%, as a result of increased contribution from the higher margin acer truncatum seed oil and decreased raw material, packaging and manufacturing costs.

Net income attributable to the Company was $4.34 million , or $0.15 per share, compared to $2.78 million , or $0.09 per share, for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

"For the fiscal third quarter ended December 31, 2018, revenues grew by 13.3% (or 18.2% as measured in RMB) to $19.49 million with growth across all three product categories while net income increased by 56.4% to $4.48 million, highlighting continuing momentum in our businesses," commented Mr. Tinghe Yan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company.

Mr. Yan continued, "More exciting was that we have started harvesting seed pods from our self-grown acer truncatum bunge tree bases since November 2018, leading to solid increase in both revenues and margin for our acer truncatum seed oil business for the fiscal third quarter. With the rest of the acer truncatum bunge trees at our 5,880 mu planting bases set to become commercially productive one after another in the next two to three years, we are well positioned to further grow and integrate our acer truncatum seed oil business. Looking ahead, we firmly believe that our self-grown planting bases, modern production facilities, strong R&D capabilities, combined with our powerful direct sales model, give us significant competitive advantages in pricing, production and distribution in the long run."

Three Months Ended December 31, 2018 Financial Results





For the Three Months Ended December 31, ($ millions, except per share data)

2018

2017

% Change Revenues

$19.49

$17.21

13.3% Gross profit

$8.82

$6.79

29.9% Gross margin

45.2%

39.4%

5.8% Operating income

$5.93

$3.78

56.8% Operating margin

30.4%

22.0%

8.4% Net income attributable to CYIG

$4.34

$2.78

56.4% Earnings per share

$0.15

$0.09

56.1%

Revenues

For the three months ended December 31, 2018, total revenues increased by $2.28 million, or 13.3%, to $19.49 million from $17.21 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The increase in total revenues was across the all three product categories with sales for acer truncatum seed oil was particularly strong. The increase in revenues in RMB was 18.2% which was partially offset by the RMB depreciation versus USD during the three months ended December 31, 2018.

Revenues from health care products increased by $0.55 million, or 8.4%, to $7.16 million for the three months ended December 31, 2018 from $6.60 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The actual increase in revenue in RMB was 13.4% as compared to the same period of the prior fiscal year, but 5.0% of the increase was offset by lower USD converted from RMB due to RMB depreciation. The increase in sales of the health care products was primarily due to the expansion of our customer base and the increase in online direct sales.

Revenues from Huoliyuan capsules increased by $0.76 million, or 11.7%, to $7.25 million for the three months ended December 31, 2018 from $6.49 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The actual sales in RMB for the three months ended December 31, 2018 increased by 16.8% compared to the same period of the prior fiscal year but 5.1% of the increase was offset by lower USD converted from RMB due to RMB depreciation. The increase in sales of Huoliyuan capsules was primarily due to the stabilization of market competition.

Revenues from acer truncatum seed oil products increased by $0.97 million, or 23.6%, to $5.08 million for the three months ended December 31, 2018 from $4.11 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The actual increase in revenue in RMB was 28.2% as compared to the same period of the prior fiscal year, but 4.6% of the increase was offset by lower USD converted from RMB due to RMB depreciation. The increase in sales of acer truncatum seed oil products was primarily due to the continuing promotions of acer truncatum seed oil at conferences, which highlighted the features and benefits of the product to our distributors and customers. Since July 2015 the Company has produced and sold acer truncatum seed oil extracted from the acer truncatum pods purchased from third party vendors. Approximately 10% of the Company's self-grown acer truncatum trees were harvested for production during the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2018, and the rest of the self-grown acer truncatum pods will be gradually ready for use in production during the next two to three years depending upon the timing of their harvest.

The sales of health care products, Huoliyuan capsules, and acer truncatum seed oil products accounted for 36.7%, 37.2%, and 26.1%, respectively, of total revenues for the three months ended December 31, 2018, compared to 38.4%, 37.7%, and 23.9%, respectively, for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

The following table summarizes revenues and gross profit by products for the three months ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively:





For the Three Months Ended December 31,



2018

2017



Revenues

($M)

Gross Profit

($M)

Gross Margin

(%)

Revenues

($M)

Gross Profit

($M)

Gross Margin

(%) Health care supplements

7.16

3.18

44.4%

6.60

2.94

44.5% Drugs (Huoliyuan capsule) 7.25

2.18

30.1%

6.49

1.99

30.6% Acer truncatum oil

5.08

3.46

68.1%

4.11

1.87

45.4% Total

19.49

8.82

45.2%

17.21

6.79

39.4%

Cost of Goods Sold

Cost of goods sold comprised primarily the cost of finished goods purchased from Shandong Yongchuntang, raw materials of our self-grown acer truncatum pods and pods that we purchased from third party vendors, and the manufacturing cost of acer truncatum seed oil products and Huoliyuan capsules. For the three months ended December 31, 2018, total cost of goods sold increased by $0.25 million, or 2.4%, to $10.67 million from $10.42 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The actual increase in RMB was 6.8%, but 4.4% of the increase was offset by lower USD converted from RMB due to RMB Depreciation. The increase in total cost of goods sold was due to increased sales and partially offset by decreased production cost of acer truncatum bunge seed oil products due to the using of self-grown acer truncatum pods with cost lower than the pods purchased from third parties.

As a percentage of revenues, total cost of goods sold was 54.8% for the three months ended December 31, 2018, compared to 60.6% for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The decrease in the percentages of the costs of goods sold to total revenues was primarily due to the decreased raw material, packaging and manufacturing cost for acer truncatum bunge seed oil products.

Cost of goods sold for health care products, Huoliyuan capsules, and acer truncatum seed oil products were $3.98 million, $5.07 million and $1.62 million, respectively for the three months ended December 31, 2018, compared to $3.67 million, $4.51 million, and $2.25 million, respectively, for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Gross Profit

Gross profit increased by $2.03 million, or 29.9%, to $8.82 million for the three months ended December 31, 2018 from $6.79 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. Gross profit for health care products, Huoliyuan capsules, and acer truncatum seed oil products were $3.18 million, $2.18 million, and $3.46 million, respectively, for the three months ended December 31, 2018, compared to $2.94 million, $1.99 million, and $1.87 million, respectively, for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Overall gross margin was 45.2%, with gross margins for health care products, Huoliyuan capsules, and acer truncatum seed oil products being 44.4%, 30.1%, and 68.1%, respectively, for the three months ended December 31, 2018. Overall gross margin was 39.4%, and gross margins for health care products, Huoliyuan capsules, and acer truncatum seed oil products were 44.5%, 30.6%, and 45.4%, respectively, for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The increase in overall gross margin was mainly due to the increased contribution from the higher margin acer truncatum seed oil products.

Operating Expenses

Selling expenses consist primarily of sales commissions, advertising and promotion, freight charges, and related compensation. For the three months ended December 31, 2018, selling expenses was essentially unchanged at $1.28 million.

General and administrative expenses decreased by $0.13 million, or 9.2%, to $1.31 million for the three months ended December 31, 2018 from $1.45 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The decrease in general and administrative expenses was primarily due to the decrease in legal fees and social security payments offsetting by the increase in consulting fees.

Research and development expenses were $0.30 million for the three months ended December 31, 2018, compared to $0.28 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. Our long-term goal is to utilize advanced biological technology to refine and extract the beneficial compounds in plants that have traditionally been known to have medicinal benefits, primarily gingko and acer truncatum bunge plants. As of December 31, 2018, the Company had a staff of 27 in its R&D department.

As a result of the foregoing, total operating expenses decreased by $0.12 million, or 3.9%, to $2.89 million for the three months ended December 31, 2018, from $3.00 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Operating Income

Total operating income increased by $2.15 million, or 56.8%, to $5.93 million for the three months ended December 31, 2018, from $3.78 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The increase in total operating income was mainly a result of increased gross profit as well as decreased operating expenses. Operating margin was 30.4% for the three months ended December 31, 2018, compared to 22.0% for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Income before Income Taxes

Interest income was $35,141 for the three months ended December 31, 2018, compared to $32,376 for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Income before income tax provisions increased by $2.15 million, or 56.4%, to $5.97 million for the three months ended December 31, 2018, from $3.82 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Net Income

Provision for income tax increased by $0.54 million, or 56.4%, to $1.49 million for the three months ended December 31, 2018, from $0.95 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Net income increased by $1.61 million, or 56.4%, to $4.48 million for the three months ended December 31, 2018, from $2.86 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

After the deduction of non-controlling interest, net income attributable to the Company was $4.34 million, or $0.15 per basic and diluted share for the three months ended December 31, 2018, compared to $2.78 million, or $0.09 per basic and diluted share, for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Nine Months Ended December 31, 2018 Financial Results





For the Nine Months Ended December 31, ($ millions, except per share data)

2018

2017

% Change Revenues

$59.07

$48.21

22.5% Gross profit

$25.81

$18.69

38.1% Gross margin

43.7%

38.8%

4.9 pp Operating income

$17.63

$11.47

53.8% Operating margin

29.9%

23.8%

6.1 pp Net income attributable to CYIG

$12.91

$8.82

46.3% Earnings per share

$0.43

$0.30

46.1%

Total revenues increased by 22.5% to $59.07 million with growth in sales across all three product categories. Sales of acer truncatum seed oil products were particularly strong, increasing by 76.9% to $15.03 million and accounted for 25.4% of total revenues.

with growth in sales across all three product categories. Sales of acer truncatum seed oil products were particularly strong, increasing by 76.9% to and accounted for 25.4% of total revenues. Overall gross margin increased by 4.9% to 43.7%, benefitting from increased contribution from the higher margin acer truncatum seed oil products and decreases in raw material, packaging and manufacturing costs.

Net income attributable to the Company was $12.91 million , or $0.43 per share, compared to $8.82 million , or $0.30 per share, for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Revenues

For the nine months ended December 31, 2018, total revenues increased by $10.86 million, or 22.5%, to $59.07 million from $48.21 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The increase in total revenues was across the all three product categories with sales for acer truncatum seed oil particularly strong.

Revenues from health care products increased by $2.12 million, or 10.6%, to $22.08 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2018 from $19.97 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The increase in sales of the health care products was primarily due to the expansion of our customer base and the increase in online direct sales.

Revenues from Huoliyuan capsules increased by $2.21 million, or 11.2%, to $21.95 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2018 from $19.75 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The increase in sales of Huoliyuan capsules was primarily due to the stabilization of market competition.

Revenues from acer truncatum seed oil products increased by $6.53 million, or 76.9%, to $15.03 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2018 from $8.50 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The increase in sales of acer truncatum seed oil was primarily due to the continuing promotions of acer truncatum seed oil at conferences highlighting features and benefits of the product to our distributors and customers. Since July 2015 the Company has produced and sold acer truncatum seed oil extracted from the acer truncatum pods purchased from third party vendors. Approximately 10% of the Company's self-grown acer truncatum trees were harvested for production during the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2018, and the rest of the self-grown acer truncatum pods will be gradually ready for use in production during the next two to three years depending upon the timing of their harvest.

The sales of health care products, Huoliyuan capsules, and acer truncatum seed oil accounted for 37.4%, 37.2%, and 25.4%, respectively, of total revenues for the nine months ended December 31, 2018, compared to 41.4%, 41.0%, and 17.6%, respectively, for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

The following table summarizes revenues and gross profit by products for the nine months ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively:





For the Nine Months Ended December 31,



2018

2017



Revenues

($M)

Gross Profit

($M)

Gross Margin

(%)

Revenues

($M)

Gross Profit

($M)

Gross Margin

(%) Health care supplements

22.08

9.80

44.4%

19.97

8.90

44.6% Drugs (Huoliyuan capsule) 21.95

6.51

29.6%

19.75

6.01

30.4% Acer truncatum oil

15.03

9.50

63.2%

8.50

3.78

44.5% Total

59.07

25.81

43.7%

48.21

18.69

38.8%

Cost of Goods Sold

Cost of goods sold comprised primarily the cost of finished goods purchased from Shandong Yongchuntang, raw materials of our self-grown acer truncatum pods and pods that we purchased from third party vendors, and the manufacturing cost of acer truncatum seed oil and Huoliyuan capsules. For the nine months ended December 31, 2018, total cost of goods sold increased by $3.74 million, or 12.7%, to $33.26 million from $29.52 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

As a percentage of revenues, total cost of goods sold was 56.3% for the nine months ended December 31, 2018, compared to 61.2% for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The decrease was primarily due to the decreased raw material, packaging and manufacturing costs for acer truncatum seed oil products.

Cost of goods sold for health care products, Huoliyuan capsules, and acer truncatum seed oil products were $12.28 million, $15.44 million and $5.53 million, respectively for the nine months ended December 31, 2018, compared to $11.07 million, $13.74 million, and $4.72 million, respectively, for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Gross Profit

Gross profit increased by $7.12 million, or 38.1%, to $25.81 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2018, from $18.69 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. Gross profit for health care products, Huoliyuan capsules, and acer truncatum seed oil were $9.80 million, $6.51 million, and $9.50 million, respectively, for the nine months ended December 31, 2018, compared to $8.90 million, $6.01 million, and $3.78 million, respectively, for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Overall gross margin was 43.7%, with gross margins for health care products, Huoliyuan capsules, and acer truncatum seed oil being 44.4%, 29.6%, and 63.2%, respectively, for the nine months ended December 31, 2018. Overall gross margin was 38.8%, and gross margins for health care products, Huoliyuan capsules, and acer truncatum seed oil were 44.6%, 30.4%, and 44.5%, respectively, for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The increase in overall gross margin was mainly due to the increased contribution from the higher margin acer truncatum seed oil.

Operating Expenses

Selling expenses consist primarily of sales commissions, advertising and promotion, freight charges, and related compensation. For the nine months ended December 31, 2018, selling expenses increased by $0.39 million, or 10.7%, to $3.98 million from $3.60 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The increase in selling expenses was primarily due to the increases in shipping cost and sales commission as a result of increased sales.

General and administrative expenses increased by $0.28 million, or 8.7%, to $3.50 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2018 from $3.22 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The increase in general and administrative expenses was primarily due to the increase in depreciation and amortization expenses, and legal and consulting fees.

Research and development expenses increased by $0.28 million, or 69.3%, to $0.69 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2018 from $0.41 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The increase in research and development expenses was mainly due to the increased cost of the materials used by the R&D department. As of December 31, 2018, the Company had a staff of 27 in its R&D department.

As a result, total operating expenses increased by $0.95 million, or 13.1%, to $8.18 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2018, from $7.23 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Operating Income

Total operating income increased by $6.17 million, or 53.8%, to $17.63 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2018, from $11.47 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The increase in total operating income was mainly a result of increased gross profit, partially offset by increased operating expenses. Operating margin was 29.9% for the nine months ended December 31, 2018, compared to 23.8% for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Income before Income Taxes

Interest income was $0.11 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2018, compared to $0.09 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. The Company also booked gain on disposal of acer truncatum bunge plants of $0.57 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2018.

Income before income tax provisions increased by $5.62 million, or 46.3%, to $17.74 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2018, from $12.13 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Net Income

Provision for income tax increased by $1.40 million, or 46.3%, to $4.44 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2018, from $3.03 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Net income increased by $4.21 million, or 46.3%, to $13.31 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2018, from $9.10 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

After the deduction of non-controlling interest, net income attributable to the Company was $12.91 million, or $0.43 per basic and diluted share for the nine months ended December 31, 2018, compared to $8.82 million, or $0.30 per basic and diluted share, for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2018, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $35.96 million, compared to $25.35 million as of March 31, 2018. Inventories was $3.58 million as of December 31, 2018, compared to $2.38 million as of March 31, 2018. The increase in inventories was mainly due to the increase in raw materials. Total working capital was $39.60 million as of December 31, 2018, compared to $28.08 million as of March 31, 2018.

Net cash provided by operating activities was $13.79 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2018, compared to $12.13 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. Net cash used in investing activities was $0.74 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2018, compared to $4.45 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year. Net cash provided by financing activities was $nil for the nine months ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

About Spring Pharmaceutical Group, Inc.

Based in Jining, Shandong Province and founded in January 1989, Spring Pharmaceutical Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the business of (i) distributing health care supplement products manufactured by Shandong Yongchuntang Group Co., Ltd. in the PRC, (ii) developing, manufacturing, and selling Huoliyuan capsules, a prescription medicine, (iii) developing acer truncatum bunge planting bases, and manufacturing and selling acer truncatum bunge seed oil in the PRC. Acer truncatum bunge plants are a species of maple tree. For more information about the Company, please visit http://www.yctgroup.com/.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements that are other than statements of historical facts. These statements are subject to uncertainties and risks including, but not limited to, product and service demand and acceptance, changes in technology, economic conditions, the impact of competition and pricing, government regulations, and other risks contained in reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All such forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, and whether made by or on behalf of the Company, are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and any other cautionary statements which may accompany the forward-looking statements. In addition, the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.

For more information, please contact:

At the Company:

Zecheng Shao, Vice President

Phone: +86-156-5377-2006

Email: [email protected]

Investor Relations:

Tony Tian, CFA

Weitian Group LLC

Phone: +1-732-910-9692

Email: [email protected]

SPRING PHARMACEUTICAL GROUP, INC. (FORMERLY KNOWN AS CHINA YCT INTERNATIONAL GROUP, INC.) CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (Unaudited)





THREE MONTHS ENDED



NINE MONTHS ENDED DECEMBER 31, DECEMBER 31,



2018



2017



2018



2017























Sales

$ 19,494,574



$ 17,211,156



$ 59,068,360



$ 48,212,805 Cost of Goods Sold (including

$3,922,496 and $3,623,226 from a

related party for the three months ended

December 31, 2018 and 2017,

respectively; including $12,098,816 and

$10,932,869 from a related party for the

nine months ended December 31, 2018

and 2017, respectively)



10,674,733





10,422,916





33,259,278





29,521,454 Gross profit



8,819,841





6,788,240





25,809,082





18,691,351 Operating expenses





























Selling expenses



1,278,446





1,278,544





3,982,927





3,596,983 General and administrative expenses



1,311,969





1,445,469





3,504,013





3,222,132 Research and development expenses



297,089





280,229





688,246





406,640 Total operating expenses



2,887,504





3,004,242





8,175,186





7,225,755 Income from operations



5,932,337





3,783,998





17,633,896





11,465,596 Gain on disposal of acer truncatum

bunge plants



-





-





-





573,092 Interest income



35,141





32,376





110,186





88,678 Income before income tax provision



5,967,478





3,816,374





17,744,082





12,127,366 Income tax provision



1,491,869





954,093





4,436,020





3,031,841 Net income



4,475,609





2,862,281





13,308,062





9,095,525 Less: Net income attributable to

noncontrolling interest



134,268





85,869





399,242





272,866 Net income attributable to the Company



4,341,341





2,776,412





12,908,820





8,822,659 Other comprehensive income (loss):





























Foreign currency translation adjustment



278,156





1,557,010





(9,384,322)





5,121,310 Comprehensive income



4,753,765





4,419,291





3,923,740





14,216,835 Less: Comprehensive income

attributable to noncontrolling interest



142,613





132,578





117,713





425,325 Comprehensive income attributable to

the Company

$ 4,611,152



$ 4,286,713



$ 3,806,027



$ 13,791,510































Earnings per common share





























Basic and Diluted

$ 0.15



$ 0.09



$ 0.43



$ 0.30































Weighted average number of common

shares outstanding





























Basic and Diluted



29,839,168





29,789,168





29,827,532





29,789,168

SPRING PHARMACEUTICAL GROUP, INC. (FORMERLY KNOWN AS CHINA YCT INTERNATIONAL GROUP, INC.) CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited)





DECEMBER 31,



MARCH 31,



2018



2018











Assets





















Current assets:









Cash and cash equivalents

$ 35,962,549



$ 25,353,360 Accounts receivable



180,894





174,558 Inventories



3,579,491





2,383,382 Purchase deposit to related party



1,195,399





1,412,864 Prepaid leases  current portion



858,659





741,583 Total current assets



41,776,992





30,065,747















Prepaid leases



1,107,793





641,349 Development cost of acer truncatum bunge planting, net



45,442,082





48,984,881 Plant, property, and equipment, net



14,492,277





16,793,413 Intangible assets, net



9,939,499





11,862,017 Deferred tax assets



85,620





200,387 Security deposit to related party



1,457,046





1,590,305 Total assets

$ 114,301,309



$ 110,138,099















Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity





























Current liabilities:













Accounts payable and other accrued expenses

$ 107,701



$ 372,782 Advance from customers



-





445,829 Taxes payable



2,073,578





1,164,198 Total current liabilities



2,181,279





1,982,809















Stockholders' Equity













Preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share; 5,000,000

shares authorized, zero shares issued and outstanding



-





- 12% Preferred stock, par value $500 per share; 45 shares

authorized, issued and outstanding



22,500





22,500 Common stock, par value $0.001 per share; 100,000,000

shares authorized; 29,839,168 and 29,789,168 shares issued

and outstanding at December 31, 2018 and March 31, 2018,

respectively



29,839





29,789 Additional paid-in capital



4,363,788





4,322,838 Statutory reserve



1,828,504





1,828,504 Retained earnings



107,356,757





94,447,937 Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)



(4,647,776)





4,455,017 Total stockholders' equity attributable to the Company



108,953,612





105,106,585 Noncontrolling interest



3,166,418





3,048,705 Total stockholders' equity



112,120,030





108,155,290 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity

$ 114,301,309



$ 110,138,099

SPRING PHARMACEUTICAL GROUP, INC. (FORMERLY KNOWN AS CHINA YCT INTERNATIONAL GROUP, INC.) CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited)





NINE MONTHS ENDED DECEMBER 31,



2018



2017 Cash Flows From Operating Activities:









Net income

$ 13,308,062



$ 9,095,525 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by

operating activities:













Amortization of development cost of accer tructum bunge planting



75,435





- Depreciation and amortization of plant, property and equipment



1,007,443





951,711 Amortization of intangible assets



951,318





949,886 Amortization of prepaid leases



659,787





654,324 Stock-based compensation expenses



41,000





- Deferred taxes



100,378





268,475 Gain on disposal of acer truncatum bunge plants



-





(573,092) Changes in operating assets and liabilities:













Purchase deposit to vendors



-





669,250 Inventory



(1,430,058)





2,286,222 Accounts receivable



(21,477)





962,842 Cash received from cancellation of lease



-





57,137 Prepaid expenses



-





(175,771) Prepaid leases



(1,376,345)





- Taxes payable



1,031,631





(1,034,267) Purchase deposit and accounts payable to related party, net



101,505





(1,996,995) Accounts payable and other accrued expenses



(239,579)





17,174 Advance from customers



(418,489)





- Net cash provided by operating activities



13,790,611





12,132,421















Cash Flows From Investing Activities:













Acquisition of property, plant and equipment



(91,582)





(2,125,638) Proceeds from disposal of acer truncatum bunge plants



-





2,129,638 Development cost of acer truncatum bunge planting



(651,092)





(4,457,916) Net cash used in investing activities



(742,674)





(4,453,916)















Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents



(2,438,748)





781,409 Net increase in cash and cash equivalents



10,609,189





8,459,914 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period



25,353,360





10,308,622 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period

$ 35,962,549



$ 18,768,536















Supplemental disclosures of cash flow information:













Cash paid during the periods for:













Interest

$ -



$ - Income taxes

$ 3,342,017



$ 3,495,744

SOURCE Spring Pharmaceutical Group, Inc."We are very pleased to enter into this licensing agreement with Arvelle, as it provides important validation of the global potential for cenobamate as a new treatment option for adults with partial-onset seizures," said Dr. Jeong Woo Cho, President and CEO of SK Biopharmaceuticals. "Arvelle's experienced leadership team and focus on CNS disorders make them the ideal partner to advance the development and commercialization of our compound in Europe."

Arvelle Therapeutics is a newly created company that received one of the largest initial financing commitments for a European-focused biopharmaceutical company from a global syndicate of investors that include NovaQuest, LSP, BRV Capital Management, Andera Partners and H.I.G. BioHealth Partners. Mark Altmeyer has been named President and CEO of Arvelle. Altmeyer brings more than 30 years of global biopharmaceutical experience to Arvelle. As President and CEO of Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., Altmeyer oversaw the growth of Abilify into a multi-billion-dollar product. Most recently, he served as President and Chief Commercial Officer of Axovant Sciences and previously led the neuroscience business unit at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Altmeyer is joined by a talented team of colleagues from Axovant with deep experience in CNS drug development and global commercialization. Arvelle intends to file a Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for cenobamate for partial-onset seizures in adult patients based on the data generated from SK Biopharmaceuticals' global clinical trial program.

"We launched Arvelle to bring truly innovative CNS products to patients suffering from serious neurological conditions and cenobamate is the perfect first pipeline product," said Altmeyer. "Given the data generated in clinical trials and the FDA acceptance of the NDA, we believe cenobamate has the potential to be an important antiepileptic drug treatment option for adult patients suffering from partial-onset seizures. We appreciate the support and validation of our investors and are very enthusiastic about our potential in the European market."

"We are very excited to invest in the talented team at Arvelle on this new venture," said Martijn Kleijwegt, Managing Partner of LSP. "SK Biopharmaceuticals has done an excellent job on the discovery and development of cenobamate and we believe that Arvelle is the right company to gain EU approval for cenobamate and ultimately bring it to patients in Europe."

About Cenobamate

Cenobamate (YKP3089) was discovered by SK Biopharmaceuticals and SK life science and is being investigated for the potential treatment of partial-onset seizures (also known as "focal seizures") in adult patients. Cenobamate's mechanism of action is not fully understood, but it is believed to work through two separate mechanisms: enhancing inhibitory currents through positive modulation of GABA-A receptors and decreasing excitatory currents by inhibiting the persistent sodium current.

Global trials for adults with partial-onset seizures are ongoing to evaluate cenobamate safety. An additional clinical trial is investigating cenobamate safety and efficacy for another form of epilepsy in adult patients.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted the filing of the New Drug Application for cenobamate for the potential treatment of partial-onset seizures in adults in February 2019.

Cenobamate is not approved by the FDA, European Medicines Agency (EMA) or any other regulatory authorities. Safety and efficacy have not been established.

About SK Biopharmaceuticals

SK Biopharmaceuticals is focused on research and development of treatments for disorders of central nervous system (CNS) and cancer. SK Biopharmaceuticals is an affiliate of SK Holdings.

SK Holdings continues to enhance its portfolio value by executing long-term investments with a number of competitive subsidiaries in various business areas, including pharmaceuticals and life science, energy and chemicals, information and telecommunication, and semiconductors. In addition, SK Holdings is focused on reinforcing its growth foundations through profitable and practical management based on financial stability, while raising its enterprise value by investing in new future growth businesses. For more information, please visit http://hc.sk.co.kr/en/.

Currently, SK Biopharmaceuticals is conducting basic research for the development of innovative new drugs at its research center in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, Korea. Further, the company is pursuing global clinical development and direct marketing through its U.S. subsidiary SK Life Science, Inc., in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, USA.

SK Biopharmaceuticals has a pipeline of eight compounds in development for the treatment of CNS disorders including epilepsy, sleep disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, among others. The first product the company is planning to commercialize, cenobamate (YKP3089), is an investigational compound for the potential treatment of partial-onset seizures in adult patients. The NDA for cenobamate for the potential treatment of partial-onset seizures in adult patients is currently under review by the FDA. For more information, visit SK Biopharmaceuticals website at www.skbp.com/eng.



About Arvelle Therapeutics

Arvelle Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company with the mission of bringing innovative solutions to patients suffering from CNS disorders. Arvelle is responsible for the development and commercialization of cenobamate, an investigational antiepileptic drug, in the European market. Arvelle is headquartered in Switzerland and received one of the largest initial financing commitments for a European-focused biopharmaceutical company with investments from a global syndicate including NovaQuest Capital Management, LSP, BRV Capital Management, Andera Partners and H.I.G. BioHealth Partners. More information is available at www.Arvelletx.com.

Media Contacts:

[email protected]

SOURCE SK Biopharmaceuticals

Related Links

http://www.skbp.com

PHOENIX, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Land conservation may seem like a simple enough formula: set aside land, then protect it. But climate change is complicating land conservation practices because of how it alters land over time. In particular, it is raising new questions about perpetual conservation easements  land preservation tools routinely employed by nonprofit land trusts and private donors.

A six-author team that conducted an unprecedented analysis of the structuring of conservation easements in the face of climate change has been awarded the 2019 Morrison Prize, a recognition established in 2015 and administered through the program on Law and Sustainability at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.

The Arizona State University Morrison Prize contest awards a $10,000 prize annually to the authors of the most impactful sustainability-related legal academic article published in North America during the previous year. The prize is named after its benefactor, Richard N. Morrison, who is also a co-founder of the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at ASU.

"We were delighted and honored to learn that our interdisciplinary research was awarded this year's Morrison Prize," said co-author Jessica Owley, director of the environmental law program at University at Buffalo  State University of New York. "ASU's reputation in environmental law and sustainability gives this award additional esteem and illustrates why the Morrison Prize has become the sought-after prize in our field."

The winning article  titled "Climate change challenges for land conservation: Rethinking conservation easements, strategies, and tools"  was co-written by:

Federico Cheever , a professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law who died during the final stages of the project, and to whom the article is dedicated;

, a professor at the Sturm College of Law who died during the final stages of the project, and to whom the article is dedicated; Adena R. Rissman , an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology;

, an associate professor at the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology; M. Rebecca Shaw , chief scientist for the World Wide Fund for Nature;

, chief scientist for the World Wide Fund for Nature; Barton H. Thompson Jr. , a professor of natural resources law at Stanford Law School; and

, a professor of natural resources law at Stanford Law School; and W. William Weeks , director of the Conservation Law Clinic at Indiana University's Maurer School of Law.

The Prize's winning authors analyzed more than 360 conservation easements (landowner agreement with a land trust or government agency to limit use of the land to further conservation efforts) and interviewed more than 70 land conservation professionals, finding that over-reliance on perpetual versions of these easements could actually thwart long-term conservation efforts. The article outlines steps organizations can take to improve conservation outcomes in their structuring of conservation easements.

This year's winning paper exemplifies the type of valuable work that the program and Prize seek to encourage in law schools across the United States. "As in past years, this year's winning paper was one that meaningfully advanced our understanding of how to better structure laws and policies to support and drive sustainability," said Professor Troy Rule faculty director of the Law and Sustainability program at ASU Law.

"We are particularly honored to receive ASU's prize because it recognizes the importance of sustainability and finding a way to make conservation work in the face of climate change," Thompson said.

The winning authors will accept the group's prize on May 10 at ASU Law when they give a presentation at the fifth annual Sustainability Conference of American Legal Educators.

About Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law

The Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University is one of the country's preeminent law schools. Ranked a top 8 public law school and #27 overall nationally by U.S. News & World Report, ASU Law is a leading provider of comprehensive and personalized legal education. The law school ranks Top 20 in the nation for job placement and No. 1 in the state for student outcomes. Located in a state-of-the-art building in downtown Phoenix, ASU Law is steps away from the legal, political, and economic heart of Arizona.

Media Contact

Karen Sung

[email protected]

480-727-9052

SOURCE Sandra Day OConnor College of Law at Arizona State UniversityBETHESDA, Md., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SANS Institute, the global leader in cyber security training, today announced its return to Texas for SANS Pen Test Austin 2019 (#SANSPenTestAustin) taking place April 29 - May 4. Hands-on immersion style course will teach students new pen testing/ethical hacking skills. Attendees also have the opportunity to test their skills during various challenges and earn coveted SANS Challenge Coins during Coin-a-Palooza.

According to Ed Skoudis (@edskoudis), SANS NetWars CyberCity Director and Faculty Fellow, "SANS Challenge Coins are not given, they are earned. Modeled after the military's use of Challenge Coins to signify membership in a team or club, SANS Challenge Coins represent great technical achievement and are treated with respect and honor. Earning a SANS Pen Test Challenge Coin is like gaining membership into a club of highly skilled professionals. When one coin holder sees the same kind of class coin that he or she has earned on another person's desk, that's a sign of a shared bond between the students."

SANS Challenge Coins are awarded to students earning first place in a penetration testing course capstone event. Each class has a different coin and includes a cipher etched onto the coin, challenging a student to break the crypto or encoding to reveal a secret. Coin-a-Palooza is unique in that it takes place only twice a year and allows students to earn coins for classes that they've taken in the past (but may have not earned a coin at). Coin-a-Palooza offers the opportunity for students to earn coins by participating, and doing well, in the SANS NetWars cyber range challenge.

SANS Pen Test Austin 2019 features 12 courses covering such topics as ethical hacking, web app pen test, mobile device security, wireless pen test, advanced exploit development, and digital forensics. Skoudis will teach his SEC560: Network Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking course, the flagship SANS course for penetration testing and must have training for every well-rounded security professional. Three exciting nights of SANS Core NetWars (CtF) will provide fun and an opportunity to build serious InfoSec skills. Attendees can also hone their skills while participating in SANS CyberCity Missions at NetWars - CyberCity.

For a complete list of courses and evening events, or to register for SANS Pen Test Austin 2019, visit: https://www.sans.org/u/NtA

About SANS Institute

The SANS Institute was established in 1989 as a cooperative research and education organization. SANS is the most trusted and, by far, the largest provider of cyber security training and certification to professionals at governments and commercial institutions world-wide. Renowned SANS instructors teach over 60 different courses at more than 200 live cyber security training events as well as online. GIAC, an affiliate of the SANS Institute, validates a practitioner's qualifications via over 30 hands-on, technical certifications in cyber security. The SANS Technology Institute, a regionally accredited independent subsidiary, offers master's degrees in cyber security. SANS offers a myriad of free resources to the InfoSec community including consensus projects, research reports, and newsletters; it also operates the Internet's early warning system--the Internet Storm Center. At the heart of SANS are the many security practitioners, representing varied global organizations from corporations to universities, working together to help the entire information security community. (https://www.sans.org)

SOURCE SANS Institute

Related Links

http://www.sans.org

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Risk Management Association is pleased to announce the addition of Thomas J. Parker, Midwest Relationship Manager, as part of an expansion that will allow it to provide valuable RMA support to more financial institutions throughout the heartland.

Parker will be based in the Chicago area and support RMA's member banks with assets of between $1 billion to $60 billion in the following states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. RMA Relationship Managers prove valuable partners to financial institutions by suggesting the best products, training, and materials to help their professionals thrive in an increasingly challenging economic and regulatory landscape. Parker, a native of Chicago, joins RMA from the banking sector.

His recent addition is part of numerous key personnel moves and investments in support of RMA's Vision 2020 effort to remain the authority on risk management in financial services through the strategic deployment of innovation, technology, and creativity.

"We are excited to have a knowledgeable and talented resource such as Thomas in Chicago," said RMA President and CEO Nancy Foster. "With Thomas on board, RMA is positioned to advance its support of the robust banking community in the Midwest."

To learn how Parker and RMA can benefit your institution, please contact Parker at (267) 205-3242 or [email protected], or visit the RMA website.

About RMA

Founded in 1914, The Risk Management Association is a not-for-profit, member-driven professional association whose sole purpose is to advance the use of sound risk management principles in the financial services industry. RMA promotes an enterprise approach to risk management that focuses on credit risk, market risk and operational risk. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, RMA has 2,500 institutional members that include banks of all sizes as well as nonbank financial institutions. They are represented in the Association by 18,000 individuals located throughout North America, Europe, Australia and Asia/Pacific.

SOURCE The Risk Management Association

Related Links

https://www.rmahq.org

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2019/PurpleAir-Recalls-Power-Supply-Units-for-Air-Sensors-Due-to-Fire-and-Burn-Hazards

Recall Summary

Name of Product: PowerStream Power Supply Units for Air Sensors

Hazard: The power supplies can overheat, posing fire and burn hazards.

Remedy: Replace

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled power supplies and contact PurpleAir for instructions on how to obtain a replacement power supply.

Consumer Contact:

PurpleAir LLC toll-free at 800-474-0696 from 9 am to 5 pm Mountain Time Monday through Friday, email at [email protected] or online at www.purpleair.com/recall for more information.

Recall Details

Units: About 4,200 sold in the United States (in addition, about 172 were sold in Canada)

Description:

This recall involves power supply units sold with PurpleAir PA-II and PA-II- SD air quality sensors with model number RKPO-UL052000C. The model number is located on the bottom side of the power adapter. The power adapters are black with a white label. They measure 4 inches long (including the mounting tabs) by 1-7/8 inches wide by 1-3/8 inches high. The air quality sensors are used outdoors by consumers to monitor air quality.

Incidents/Injuries: PurpleAir has received 27 reports of the recalled power supplies emitting sparks and/or smoke of which 18 are reports of property damage, including one report of a small apartment fire. No injuries have been reported.

Sold At: Online at www.purpleair.com and as free giveaways in communities from October 2017 to August 2018 for about $230 to $260.

Importer: PowerStream Technology, of Orem, Utah

Manufacturer: HK Anenerge Co., Ltd, of Guangdong Province, China

Manufactured in: China

In Conjunction With: Canada

Health Canada's press release is available at: lhttps://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2019/68788r-eng.php

This recall was conducted voluntarily by the company under CPSC's Fast Track Recall process. Fast Track recalls are initiated by firms, who commit to work with CPSC to quickly announce the recall and remedy to protect consumers.

About U.S. CPSC:

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical or mechanical hazard. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters and household chemicals  contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 40 years.

Federal law bars any person from selling products subject to a publicly-announced voluntary recall by a manufacturer or a mandatory recall ordered by the Commission.

For more lifesaving information, follow us on Facebook, Instagram @USCPSC and Twitter @USCPSC or sign up to receive our e-mail alerts. To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury go online to www.SaferProducts.gov or call CPSC's Hotline at 800-638-2772 or teletypewriter at 301-595-7054 for the hearing impaired.

CPSC Consumer Information Hotline

Contact us at this toll-free number if you have questions about a recall:

800-638-2772 (TTY 301-595-7054)

Times: 8 a.m.  5:30 p.m. ET; Messages can be left anytime

Call to get product safety and other agency information and to report unsafe products.

Media Contact

Please use the phone numbers below for all media requests.

Phone: 301-504-7908

Spanish: 301-504-7800

Recall Number: 19-064

SOURCE U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Related Links

http://www.cpsc.gov

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Phylagen, the San Francisco-based data analytics company building the world's largest environmental microbiome database, today announced $14 million in Series A financing led by Cultivian Sandbox, Breakout Ventures and Working Capital. The funding will be used to expand Phylagen's microbial forensics service and grow its microbiome database.

Phylagen has developed a microbiome analytics platform to provide unparalleled insights about global supply chains, empowering stakeholders to trace goods and materials to locations of origin such as exact factories, farms or warehouses. Each place and object on Earth has thousands of naturally-occurring invisible microbes, and the genetic information encoded in these microbes creates unique fingerprints for everything in the world, from food to textiles to counterfeit goods. Recent advances in bioinformatics and machine learning, combined with rapidly declining costs for DNA sequencing, have enabled Phylagen to digitize these microbial fingerprints and create a microbiome database that can be queried and probed for actionable insights for a wide variety of customers across numerous industries.

"The environmental microbiome is the largest untapped dataset on the planet," said Phylagen CEO Dr. Jessica Green. "Imagine swabbing the invisible dust on a new running shoe with a q-tip and being able to see where it comes from. The global microbiome provides a fundamentally new type of geospatial data that we are leveraging to build a more transparent world."

Achieving transparency in global supply chains is a growing priority across industries, as stakeholders are demanding more information about provenance. Globally, a significant proportion of materials and goods are sourced and manufactured in unauthorized locations that often have poor working conditions, unfair wages, reduced product quality and greater natural resource depletion. In response to this challenge, companies, governments and other organizations are spending billions of dollars annually to audit, secure, and improve the performance of their supply chains.

"Phylagen is a pioneer in microbiome data analytics, a discipline that integrates advances in machine learning and biotechnology to produce unprecedented insights into the global movement of products. Importantly, with this technology, there's no need to introduce artificial tracers into the production process," said Breakout Ventures Partner and CSO, Hemai Parthasarathy. "We are thrilled to support the outstanding team of scientists and entrepreneurs at Phylagen as they build this category-defining technology."

Phylagen's first product is a microbial forensics service that links goods to their site of origin, and its customers include large North American brands and retailers who are currently deploying the company's solution in manufacturing locations worldwide.

"Transparency is an important first step to ensure the ethical treatment of workers. Phylagen's technology provides novel insights for brands and organizations who need to access essential information about the origins of products," said Chemain Sanan, Working Capital Partner. "We are very excited to be joining Phylagen's journey as they pioneer the new frontier in supply chain traceability and transparency."

Phylagen is built on the internationally recognized research of Dr. Jessica Green, former Director of the Biology and Built Environment Center at the University of Oregon where she worked with architects and biologists to advance understanding of how microorganisms interact with each other, with humans, and with the indoor environment. In 2014, Dr. Green co-founded Phylagen with Dr. Harrison Dillon, co-founder of industrial biotechnology company Solazyme, to turn the global microbiome into a digital database.

"The potential applications of Phylagen's microbiome platform are vast and far-reaching, touching on industries from retail to agriculture," said Cultivian Sandbox Partner Dan Phillips. "Phylagen is bringing unprecedented capabilities to supply chain transparency, and we're excited to be joining them on this journey."

Phylagen is pleased to announce that Phillips, Sanan and Parthasarathy will be joining the company's Board of Directors as representatives of Cultivian Sandbox, Working Capital and Breakout Ventures. Also participating in the round were 3M Ventures, Dolby Family Ventures, Agfunder, Duck Investors, Blackhorn Ventures, J-Angels, Western Technology Investment and Arden Road Investments.

About Phylagen

Phylagen is a data analytics company based in San Francisco, CA, that's building the world's largest environmental microbiome database. Phylagen uses DNA sequencing and machine learning to turn the largest untapped dataset on the planet, the environmental microbiome, into insights for customers across industries. Phylagen is proud to count Cultivian Sandbox, Breakout Ventures and Working Capital among its investors. To learn more, please visit http://phylagen.com/ .

Contact: Jonathon O'Leary, BWK Public Relations, 929-341-0421

SOURCE Phylagen

Related Links

https://phylagen.com

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

NetCents Technology Inc. ("NetCents" or the "Company") (CSE: NC) (Frankfurt: 26N), is pleased to announce that it has released its Zero Confirmation and Risk Analysis technology that guarantees cryptocurrency transactions before they are confirmed on the blockchain.

"The delay in transaction approval is the biggest hurdle for card present, retail merchant and partner adoption. As it is right now, there is a delay for all cryptocurrency transactions, opening a window for transactions to timeout, fraud, and double spending," stated Clayton Moore, CEO of NetCents Technology. "The launch of this technology lines up with our POS and terminal integration and rollout. Being integrated with companies like Oracle and PAX, who alone has over 26 million terminals, the delay at the point of sale was something that we knew we needed to eliminate to instill confidence for retail merchants to begin accepting cryptocurrency and avoid transaction delays for the consumer."

In addition, the Company will be licensing this technology to cryptocurrency payment processors, retailers, and any business that is looking to validate a transaction before the transaction is confirmed on the blockchain. There are currently over 287,000 blockchain transactions per day that this technology can be applied to. With the wait time currently being the biggest hurdle for retail adoption, this technology eliminates that hurdle which the Company anticipates will further drive merchant and transaction growth.

The NetCents Zero Confirmation and Risk Analysis technology facilitates near-instant, risk-mitigated commerce, guaranteeing the cryptocurrency transaction before it is confirmed by miners on the blockchain. The technology provides a score for each transaction, guaranteeing the transaction against double spend, expiration, and other fraud. If the transaction passes the NetCents scoring algorithm, the transaction is approved with 0 confirmations. At launch, the Company will be using this technology for all Bitcoin transactions and will be rolling out for Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash transactions within the next 6-weeks.

This platform enhancement reduces the wait time at point of sale transactions which the Company has seen take up to 30 minutes. With Zero Confirmation and Risk Analysis, NetCents is now able to deliver near real-time confirmation for 98% of all Bitcoin transactions.

About NetCents

NetCents Technology Inc, the transactional hub for all cryptocurrency payments, equips forward-thinking businesses with the technology to seamlessly integrate cryptocurrency processing into their payment model without taking on the risk or volatility of the crypto market. NetCents Technology is registered as a Money Services Business (MSB) with FINTRAC, which ensures our consumer's security and privacy.

For more information, please visit the corporate website at www.net-cents.com or contact Gord Jessop, President: [email protected] .

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

NetCents Technology Inc.

"Clayton Moore"

Clayton Moore, CEO, Founder and Director

NetCents Technology Inc.

Suite 880, 505 Burrard St (Bentall 1),

Vancouver, BC, V7X 1M4

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Information

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include regulatory actions, market prices, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this press release

For more information, please visit the corporate website at www.net-cents.com

Contact:

Gordon Jessop, President / COO

[email protected].

604-676-5249

SOURCE NetCents Technology Inc.CHICAGO, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- NDG Student Living announces that OC Ventures has acquired Twin River Commons, a Class "A," student housing community serving the students at Binghamton University. The 371-bed student community consists of one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom luxury residences. The property is professionally managed by NDG Student Living.

Twin River Commons student housing community at Binghamton University

This is OC's third acquisition of a student property at a flagship SUNY school in the last year, previously acquiring Block20 at the University of Buffalo and Block75 at the University of Albany. With 1,282-beds in Upstate New York, OC Ventures is the second-largest, off-campus student housing provider in New York.

"The acquisition of Twin River Commons, a high-quality purpose-built student housing community in the Binghamton University market, further increases OC Venture's presence in the State University of New York (SUNY) system," said Steve Zhang, CIO of OC Ventures. "All three major flagship SUNY schools in Albany, Binghamton, and Buffalo are experiencing record-breaking freshman classes and total enrollment thanks, in large part, to the state's investment in higher education with their Excelsior Scholarship. With virtually no imminent on- or off-campus development in the pipeline, we believe our assets in all three markets are positioned to benefit from the improving strength of these markets."

Built in 2012, the property has large, furnished floor plans, full-size washers/dryers in every unit, modern stainless-steel appliances, and offers cable TV service and high-speed Wi-Fi. The community also boasts a fitness center, study lounges on every floor, a cafe, recreation room, courtyard with outdoor kitchen, and free tanning services.

Twin River Commons is the only purpose-built student housing property in downtown Binghamton and appeals to students attending Binghamton University and SUNY Broome. Adjacent to Binghamton University's downtown center in the heart of the city, students are within walking distance to many popular restaurants and nightlife and convenient access to the University's campus shuttle service.

"Twin River Commons has long been the premier choice for students at Binghamton University," said Jerry Wojenski, CEO of NDG Student Living. "OC has truly acquired a gem of a property. OC's decision to retain NDG Student Living as the property manager showcases our record of providing excellent service to our residents."

About OC Ventures: OC Ventures is a Chicago-based real estate investment firm specializing in student housing. The company is active nationally, focused on opportunistic investments. For additional information, contact Steve Zhang at [email protected].

About NDG Student Living: NDG Student Living is a New York-based student housing management firm. NDG manages over 2,400-beds in New York and North Carolina with plans to expand nationally. For additional information, contact Colton Price at [email protected].

SOURCE NDG Student LivingWASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Press Club and its nonprofit Journalism Institute is calling on the Philippine government to end its intimidation campaign against Maria Ressa, a journalist targeted for her investigations of official corruption in her home country.

Ressa, whose work has been widely honored by fellow journalists and press freedom organizations, was arrested earlier this week in the newsroom of Rappler, the online news site that she founded. The site is known for its critical coverage of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Ressa reportedly spent the night in custody before her lawyers were able to post bail Thursday.

"This represents the latest escalation of Duterte's efforts to stifle legitimate scrutiny of his government," said NPC President Alison Fitzgerald Kodjak. "We stand with Maria Ressa and our Philippine colleagues."

Ressa graduated from Princeton University and worked across Asia as a journalist for a number of outlets, including CNN, before founding Rappler in 2012. Her arrest this week on charges of "cyber-libel" comes just two months after she was taken into custody on charges of tax evasion.

The National Union of Philippine Journalists has condemned the actions as "a desperate move . . . to suppress the media." The U.S. Embassy in Manila called for the charges against Ressa to be "resolved quickly" according to "international standards of due process" in a Thursday tweet.

"We are dismayed that this kind of intimidation is happening in a country that claims to be a constitutional democracy," said Barbara Cochran, president of the National Press Club Journalism Institute. "We would hope that government, business and other leaders of democratic societies recognize this threat to free speech for what it is and use whatever influence they have on the Philippine government to end it."

One of the world's leading journalism organizations, the National Press Club represents more than 3,100 reporters, editors and professional communicators worldwide. Through its nonprofit Journalism Institute, it works to advance press freedom and grow journalism in the public interest.

Contacts: Kathy Kiely ([email protected] or 202-256-4748) or John M. Donnelly (202-650-6738).

SOURCE National Press ClubFREMONT, Calif., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A milestone moment in developing a converged 5G core network, addressing both fixed and mobile networks, has been reached after Broadband Forum delivered detailed recommendations to 3GPP.

The proposals made by Broadband Forum were created at the request of carriers that participate in both Broadband Forum and 3GPP and were developed after a comprehensive cycle of iterative feedback between the two organizations. The suggestions address the common interfaces for access networks and 5G core networks to support the convergence of wireline and wireless networks. Detailed recommendations on a number of interfaces in the context of fixed 5G have been passed on to 3GPP, which will allow its members to evaluate the interfaces that run between the 5G core and the fixed network. In addition to this, recommendations on signaling changes and enhancements were also provided, addressing how wireless access can be fully integrated into the 5G core.

David Aders, (Acting) Executive Converged Control Plane Engineering at Telstra Corporation, one of the operators which contributed significantly to the recommendations, said: "The Fixed Mobile Convergence vision is an important enabler for Telstra in line with our Network Technology vision to provide our customers with services that can span all access technologies in a consistent and unified manner. The alignment and collaboration between Broadband Forum and 3GPP are essential to delivering an ecosystem that is truly game changing and providing a globally supported framework for operators such as ourselves to develop many next generation services."

Alex Jinsung Choi, Senior Vice President Strategy and Technology Innovation at Deutsche Telekom Group, another operator that contributed significantly, said: "Our vision for 5G is to deliver a seamless experience for our customers across all their devices, whatever the access type. Implementing a converged and integrated core network is the key to unlock this converged services approach. We welcome this important contribution to ensure a globally standardized approach to achieve Fixed Mobile Convergence."

As part of its efforts to drive Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC), Broadband Forum is also developing a specification for a 5G Access Gateway Function (AGF) that adapts fixed access onto the 5G core, specifications for 5G-capable Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), and specifications which address the interworking of existing fixed access subscribers and deployed equipment into a 5G core that encompass a variety of deployment scenarios. This will enable the integration of wireless and wireline technologies, empowering operators to create powerful new converged service offerings.

"This is an exciting moment for the 5G market, as well as for Broadband Forum, 3GPP and their memberships," said Dave Allan, Broadband Forum's Wireless and Wireline Convergence Work Area Director. "As we reach this milestone in our work on Fixed Mobile Convergence, we are able to deliver the detailed feedback and recommendations which will drive the core convergence of fixed and mobile networks. In many ways this is just the beginning and, as Release 16 progresses and 5G further expands, our work with 3GPP will continue to ensure standardization of this new technology is successful. With 5G promising a variety of new and innovative applications such as autonomous driving and healthcare, this work is crucial to enabling converged operators to unlock these opportunities  empowering them to deliver a uniform experience to their customers irrespective of the access media type, technology, or appliance they are using."

The scope of the work in cooperation with 3GPP forms the backbone of a converged network, which will enable the efficient delivery of 5G services over various access networks, including fixed broadband access, WLAN, 3GPP-defined radios, Bluetooth and many more. This unlocks capabilities to access services provided by the 5G network using non-3GPP access  ensuring users can seamlessly switch between fixed and mobile networks without compromising their connectivity.

"Through our work on 5G, we are delivering a network for enhanced user experiences - enabled by ultra-fast data connections, an open and flexible architecture and mobility," said Georg Mayer, 3GPP Core Networks and Terminals Group Chair. "The recommendations from Broadband Forum allow us to develop a truly access agnostic and common 5G core network, which will allow seamless user and service mobility between 3GPP and non-3GPP accesses."

The new specifications developed by 3GPP and Broadband Forum  which will either form a part of or complement 3GPP's Release 16 specifications, due for publication at the end of 2019  marks the important role of the fixed network in supporting 5G. The joint work of the two organizations will continue in the run up to and following the publication of 3GPP's Release 16 specifications and will expand as 5G networks are built out and start to evolve.

Within Broadband Forum, further work has been carried out to address the design requirements of 5G and the technology enablers which will drive both mobile and fixed developments, as well as liaison with other industry alliances, including NGMN, which aims to address the functionality and performance of next generation mobile networks.

"Two years ago, ten of the world's biggest operators came to us with their concerns that the 5G infrastructure which was being developed would not let them take advantage of both their wireless and wireline networks," said Geoff Burke, CMO of Broadband Forum. "Today, we are able to deliver a set of recommendations which will not only address how the 5G core can be evolved to support the fixed networks of these operators but provide them with the capabilities to launch new innovative combined subscriber offerings."

For a summary of Broadband Forum activities in 5G fixed-mobile convergence, watch this video from Broadband Forum's Wireless and Wireline Convergence Work Area Director Dave Allan. To find out more about Broadband Forum, please visit: https://www.broadband-forum.org/.

About Broadband Forum

Broadband Forum is the communications industry's leading organization focused on accelerating broadband innovation, standards, and ecosystem development. Our members' passion  delivering on the promise of broadband by enabling smarter and faster broadband networks and a thriving broadband ecosystem.

A non-profit industry organization composed of the industry's leading broadband operators, vendors, and thought leaders, our work to date has been the foundation for broadband's global proliferation and innovation. For example, the Forum's flagship TR-069 CPE WAN Management Protocol has nearly 1 billion installations worldwide.

Broadband Forum working groups collaborate to define best practices for global networks, enable new revenue-generating service and content delivery, establish technology migration strategies, and engineer critical device, service & development management tools in the home and business IP networking infrastructure. We develop multi-service broadband packet networking specifications addressing architecture, device and service management, software data models, interoperability and certification in the broadband market.

Our free technical reports and white papers can be found at https://www.broadband-forum.org/.

Follow us on Twitter @Broadband_Forum and LinkedIn.

For more information about the Broadband Forum, please go to https://www.broadband-forum.org or follow @Broadband_Forum on Twitter. For further information please contact Brian Dolby on +44 (0) 7899 914168 or [email protected] or Jayne Brooks on +44 (0) 1636 704 888 or [email protected].

SOURCE Broadband Forum

Related Links

https://www.broadband-forum.org

HUDDINGE, Sweden, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Two new projects into clinic

October  December

Significant events during the quarter

The first patient was dosed in the phase II study with birinapant and Keytruda as combination therapy in colorectal cancer.

The first patient with advanced cancer in the liver was dosed with the company's drug candidate MIV-818 in a phase Ia study.

MIV-828 was selected as a candidate drug for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and other forms of blood cancer.

Dr Uli Hacksell was appointed new CEO of Medivir.

was appointed new CEO of Medivir. A reorganization, with the aim of focusing the internal resources on the company's clinical development projects, was carried out. The organization was reduced from 75 to a total of 17 employees.

In the quarter Medivir has recorded SEK 38.1 million as restructuring costs.

Financial summary

Net turnover totaled SEK 13.6 million ( 4.2 m ).

( ). The loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) totaled SEK -96.6 million ( -92.6 m ). Basic and diluted earnings per share were SEK -4.72 (-5.08) and -4.72 (-5.08) respectively.

( ). Basic and diluted earnings per share were (-5.08) and -4.72 (-5.08) respectively. The cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK -72.4 million ( -88.9 m ).

January - December

Financial summary

Net turnover totaled SEK 23.9 million ( 36.6 m ).

( ). The loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) totaled SEK -326.5 million ( -342.6 m ). Basic and diluted earnings per share were SEK -14.62 (-16.40) and -14.62 ( -16.40) respectively.

( ). Basic and diluted earnings per share were (-16.40) and -14.62 ( -16.40) respectively. The cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK -320.5 million ( -358.5 m ).

( ). Liquid assets and short-term investments totaled SEK 286,3 million ( 467.8 m ) at the period end.

Significant events after the period end

CFO Erik Bjork has decided to leave the company but will remain during a transition period. Process to recruit a new CFO has been initiated.

Conference call for investors, analysts and the media

The Year End report 2018 will be presented by Medivir's President & CEO, Uli Hacksell.

Time: Thursday, February 14, 2019, at 15.00 (CET).

Phone numbers for participants from:

Sweden + 46-8-505-583-55

Europe +44-33-3300-9030

US + 1-646-722-4957

The conference call will also be streamed via a link on the website: www.medivir.com

The presentation will be available on Medivir's website after completion of the conference.

For further information, please contact

Uli Hacksell

CEO

+46(0)8-5468-3100

Erik Bjork

CFO

+46(0)72-228 2831

CEO's comments

Medivir's reorganization is now complete. We have entered 2019 with a slimmed organization that has a clear focus on the exciting clinical projects.

An important event in 2018 was the reorganization that was presented in connection with me becoming CEO on October 15. To ensure that our resources are used where we can create the greatest value, we have concentrated our operations on clinical development. Fundamentally, the measures are based on the positive development of our clinical projects.

Through the redundancies, primarily within research and administration, the organization has been reduced from 75 to a total of 17 employees. The measures will free up resources for Medivir's clinical development projects as they are expected to reduce our cost base by about two thirds.

The most important task for Medivir is to develop and realize the value of our clinical development portfolio, which consists of four programs.

Remetinostat is Medivir's topical HDAC inhibitor being developed for the treatment of mycosis fungoides, the most common form of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, (MF-CTCL), a form of blood cancer that is primarily manifested in the skin. At the end of the year, we had clarifying and positive discussions with the FDA regarding the design of the phase III program for MF-CTCL. One successful phase III study is expected to be sufficient to enable a marketing approval for the treatment of patients with early stage MF-CTCL. At the same time, there are strict requirements regarding the design of such a study. Medivir is now further developing the phase III design based on the clarifications from the FDA. We intend to seek a partner for the continued development and commercialization of remetinostat.

In our collaboration with Stanford University School of Medicine in California, the first patient was dosed with remetinostat in their investigator-initiated phase II study on patients with basal cell cancer in early August.

Birinapant is a SMAC mimetic that is being studied for treatment in combination with MSD's anti-PD-1 treatment Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in patients with solid tumors. In October, an interim analysis of the phase I study comprising the first 12 patients in the study was presented. The analysis showed a positive safety profile and, in addition, an interesting efficacy signal was noted, since one of the patients with microsatellite-stable (MSS) colorectal cancer, a cancer form in which treatment with Keytruda alone rarely produces effect, achieved a confirmed partial response (according to RECIST 1.1) which remained at the last evaluation. The patient remains on treatment more than one year after the start of therapy. Three additional patients have had periods of stable disease lasting up to 18 weeks after the start of treatment.

The inclusion of the first colorectal cancer patient in the phase II part of the study took place just before Christmas.

MIV-818 is Medivir's nucleotide prodrug that is being developed for the treatment of liver cancer. In an ongoing phase I study, four patients have been included. The purpose of this first-in-human study is to study safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of MIV-818 in patients with advanced cancer in the liver, a fatal disease with very few available treatment options.

At the end of November, we were able to announce an exciting addition to the development portfolio as MIV-828 was chosen as a candidate drug for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and other forms of blood cancer.

At the end of the second quarter, we were able to present an acceptable safety and tolerability profile in our phase II extension study with MIV-711, Medivir's cathepsin K inhibitor for the treatment of osteoarthritis. Top-line results, presented at the end of July, showed that treatment with MIV-711 for a total of 12 months resulted in a continuing treatment effect on joint bone area growth and prevention of cartilage degradation. In August, the FDA published new preliminary guidance for the development of disease-modifying treatments for osteoarthritis. The FDA modified its previous approach to structural end-points and the new guidance discuss structural impact as treatment goals in clinical studies and how it could potentially be used for so-called "accelerated approval". Medivir continues to aim to establish a license or collaboration agreement for MIV-711.

The clinical projects have successfully moved forward. This shows that Medivir's research and development has consistently been of high quality. However, to ensure our ability to continue to develop and benefit from the potential that lies in our clinical portfolio, we chose to concentrate our operations and took measures that entailed announcing redundancies and reducing Medivir's preclinical research. Once again, I would like to thank our employees leaving the company for their valuable contribution to Medivir. They have worked loyally, diligently and professionally for Medivir, many for numerous years. We wish those who leave Medivir success in their future pursuits.

Medivir has now been turned into a organization with good ability to work virtually and with high flexibility. We have experience of both drug development and business development.

Medivir's increased focus on clinical development gives us a positive view of the future. I look forward to an exciting 2019.

Uli Hacksell

President and CEO

The information was submitted for publication at 08.30 CET on 14 February 2019.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/medivir/r/medivir-ab---year-end-report--january---december-2018,c2740500

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/652/2740500/990621.pdf YEAR END REPORT, JANUARY a" DECEMBER 2018 (PDF)

SOURCE MedivirIRVINE, Calif. and HERSTAL, Belgium, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MDxHealth SA (Euronext: MDXH.BR) today announces that it has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with LifeLabs to make SelectMDx, the Company's non-invasive liquid biopsy prostate cancer test, available in Canada. LifeLabs is a leading Canadian company that performs over 100 million laboratory tests per year to help diagnose, treat, monitor and prevent diseases, supporting over 19 million patient visits annually.

Under the terms of the partnership agreement, LifeLabs will serve as an exclusive distributor for SelectMDx in Canada. Liquid biopsy samples will be tested in MDxHealth's state-of-the-art clinical diagnostic laboratory in Irvine, California, and LifeLabs will reimburse MDxHealth for all testing services performed.

SelectMDx, the only non-invasive liquid biopsy diagnostic test available to selectively identify patients at increased risk of aggressive prostate cancer on the basis of two RNA urine biomarkers, has been shown to have a significant impact on initial prostate biopsy decision-making. Today, the standard of care to identify patients with prostate cancer is based on invasive, and often painful, prostate biopsies. However, these procedures are often inaccurate and unnecessary, with 80% of men undergoing a biopsy having no cancer detected, of which about 25% are expected to harbor indolent cancer missed by the procedure.

In Canada, about 60,000 prostate biopsies are performed annually, resulting in about 24,000 newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients per year, while leaving about 1.4 million at-risk Canadian men living with increased prostate-specific-antigen (PSA) levels. The Canadian Cancer Society estimates that, by 2030, the number of patients diagnosed each year with prostate cancer will increase to 42,000 from 24,000 today, mainly driven by an ageing population and lifestyle.

"We are very excited to partner with MDxHealth and to provide SelectMDx to our customers across Canada," stated Charles Brown, CEO of LifeLabs. "By making this innovative, non-invasive test available, we are improving the quality of prostate cancer diagnosis and delivering healthier outcomes for Canadians."

"With over 25,000 US patients tested with SelectMDx to date, the test is clearly gaining momentum to become the standard of care in diagnosing patients with increased risk for aggressive prostate cancer," said Dr. Jan Groen CEO of MDxHealth. "This partnership agreement with LifeLabs demonstrates our commitment to making SelectMDx widely available in North America and to offering a valuable and accurate alternative for patients at risk for prostate cancer."

About SelectMDx for Prostate Cancer

Of the nearly 2 million prostate biopsies performed each year, less than a third identify cancer. Most of these men could have avoided a painful and invasive prostate biopsy procedure, with its associated complications and costs. SelectMDx for Prostate Cancer is a proprietary urine-based, molecular diagnostic test that offers a non-invasive liquid biopsy method to assess a patient's risk for prostate cancer. SelectMDx helps identify men at increased risk of harboring aggressive, potentially lethal, prostate cancer who may benefit most from a prostate biopsy and earlier detection. The test delivers a negative predictive value (NPV) of 98% for clinically significant disease, helping to reduce the need for MRI procedures and invasive prostate biopsies by up to 50%, thereby reducing healthcare costs. The test has been included in the 2018 European Association of Urology (EAU) clinical guidelines.

About LifeLabs

LifeLabs is a Canadian-owned company with over 50 years of experience providing laboratory testing services to help healthcare providers diagnose, treat, monitor, and prevent disease in patients. In communities across British Columbia and Ontario, LifeLabs delivers cost-effective, convenient access to laboratory testing services essential for optimal outcomes in healthcare. LifeLabs employs approximately 5,400 professionally trained staff and delivers over 100 million laboratory tests, supporting over 19 million patient visits annually. In 2013, LifeLabs acquired BC Biomedical in British Columbia and CML HealthCare in Ontario making LifeLabs the largest community laboratory in Canada. LifeLabs is indirectly owned by OMERS Administration Corporation, whose interest is managed by OMERS Infrastructure Management Inc. In addition to being the first community lab to conduct non-invasive prenatal testing in Canada, LifeLabs is the first lab to provide online appointment booking for patients, non-fasting protocols and secure, online access to lab results for patients.

About MDxHealth

MDxHealth is a multinational healthcare company that provides actionable molecular diagnostic information to personalize the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The company's tests are based on proprietary genetic, epigenetic (methylation) and other molecular technologies and assist physicians with the diagnosis of urologic cancers, prognosis of recurrence risk, and prediction of response to a specific therapy. The Company's European headquarters are in Herstal, Belgium, with laboratory operations in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, and US headquarters and laboratory operations based in Irvine, California. For more information, visit mdxhealth.com and follow us on social media at: twitter.com/mdxhealth, facebook.com/mdxhealth and linkedin.com/company/mdxhealth.

For more information:





MDxHealth Dr. Jan Groen, CEO US: +1 949 812 6979 BE: +32 4 257 70 21 [email protected] CURA Strategies Casey Dillon US: +1 703-479-3644 [email protected]

This press release contains forward-looking statements and estimates with respect to the anticipated future performance of MDxHealth and the market in which it operates. Such statements and estimates are based on assumptions and assessments of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which were deemed reasonable but may not prove to be correct. Actual events are difficult to predict, may depend upon factors that are beyond the Company's control, and may turn out to be materially different. MDxHealth expressly disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements in this release to reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based unless required by law or regulation. This press release does not constitute an offer or invitation for the sale or purchase of securities or assets of MDxHealth in any jurisdiction. No securities of MDxHealth may be offered or sold within the United States without registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or in compliance with an exemption therefrom, and in accordance with any applicable U.S. securities laws.

NOTE: The MDxHealth logo, MDxHealth, ConfirmMDx, SelectMDx, AssureMDx, PredictMDx and UrNCollect are trademarks or registered trademarks of MDxHealth SA. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE MDxHealth

Related Links

http://www.mdxhealth.com

DALLAS, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Lone Star Funds today announced that it has completed the final closing for Lone Star Fund XI, L.P. ("LSF XI").

LSF XI is the firm's eleventh dedicated opportunity fund. Capital available to LSF XI totals approximately $8.2 billion, which includes third-party commitments and anticipated co-investments from associated entities.

Lone Star, a global private equity firm, invests on behalf of its limited partners, which include institutional investors such as pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, as well as foundations and endowments that support medical research, higher education, and other philanthropic causes.

Lone Star is highly disciplined and value-driven. Lone Star's opportunity fund series focuses on opportunities that emerge during periods of market dislocation, often providing liquidity to markets in the aftermath of a financial crisis, with an emphasis on businesses, sellers, and assets that require capital support and management direction to succeed post-crisis.

Since the establishment of its first fund in 1995, Lone Star has organized 18 private equity funds with aggregate capital commitments of approximately $80 billion.

The predecessor to LSF XI, Lone Star Fund X (U.S.), L.P. and Lone Star Fund X (Bermuda), L.P. held their final closing in November 2016, with aggregate capital commitments of approximately $5.5 billion.

Media contact:

Christina Pretto

212 849 9662

[email protected]

www.lonestarfunds.com

SOURCE Lone Star Funds

Related Links

http://www.lonestarfunds.com

LEGO Hidden Side includes a series of eight "haunted" building sets full of awesome functionality and secret surprises that, on their own, provide the build and roleplay fun of any LEGO play theme. Activating the bespoke AR app developed together with the theme brings the models to life, revealing a hidden world of interactive mysteries and challenges to solve. When combined, the two worlds make each other even more compelling and fun.

"Our years of experience pioneering the convergence of technology and physical play have taught us that kids expect exciting play experiences that move seamlessly between physical and digital worlds  something we call fluid play," said Tom Donaldson, senior vice president, Creative Play Lab at the LEGO Group. "At our core we focus on tactile building, but AR presents opportunities to enhance physical LEGO play with new action and mastery elements. We're breaking the mold of gaming-first AR play experiences to create a new type of play where the physical world actually influences the AR layer, instead of the other way around."

Core LEGO Building Experience

LEGO Hidden Side building sets deliver everything kids love and expect from a LEGO building experience  the challenge of the build, a detailed model with functionality, and minifigure characters set in a story-driven universe. Each model can be built as it appears by day  a school house, bus, or graveyard, for example  and has transforming functionality to become the haunted version of itself.

Truly Augmented Play

The app lets kids assume a first-person perspective to join lead characters, Jack and Parker, as they explore their hometown of Newbury, using their mobile phones to see and solve paranormal mysteries beneath the surface of their environment. Game play prompts kids to hold their phone up to the physical LEGO models and interact with various elements, or "points of possession," which release virtual ghosts that kids must then capture in the AR game to stop the haunting. Numerous scenarios create dynamic gameplay that requires kids to keep one hand in each world to progress the play.

Donaldson added, "As we have designed LEGO Hidden Side, physical manipulation of the LEGO models alters the AR experience, and the AR experience prompts new things to discover in the physical models, creating a deeply engaging reciprocal play experience in two worlds that has never been seen before."

The app also consists of a short digital game that kids can play independent of the building set.

LEGO Hidden Side marks the first time the company introduces one of its play themes as a service. After launch, the app experience will continue to expand with the addition of new ghosts, new game challenges, and randomization of gameplay so the experience is different every time kids play.

Donaldson noted, "We're leveraging some of the best elements of mobile games to keep the experience fresh, encouraging kids to return to their LEGO sets time and again to see what is different. With the thoughtful integration of LEGO building and AR technology, we can deliver a truly innovative play experience that taps into the everchanging landscape of fluid play, where children constantly find new moments and forms of play."

LEGO Hidden Side will be available globally in late summer 2019. Physical sets will range in price from $19.99 to $129.99 (USD). The LEGO Hidden Side app will be a free download from the App Store and Google Play.

For more information, visit www.lego.com/hidden-side

About the LEGO Group

The LEGO Group is a privately held, family-owned company with headquarters in Billund, Denmark, and main offices in Enfield, USA, London, UK., Shanghai, China, and Singapore. Founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, and based on the iconic LEGO brick, it is one of the world's leading manufacturers of play materials. Guided by the company spirit: "Only the best is good enough", the company is committed to the development of children and aims to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow through creative play and learning. LEGO products are sold worldwide and can be virtually explored at www.LEGO.com .

LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Minifigure and the brick & knob configuration are trademarks of the LEGO Group. 2019 The LEGO Group.

MEDIA CONTACT

Christopher Downing

415-260-7341 / [email protected]

SOURCE The LEGO Group

Related Links

http://www.lego.com

ANNAPOLIS, Md., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- TRACE, the world's leading anti-bribery standard setting organization, has launched a new online tool, the TRACE e-Gov Portal. The portal includes a comprehensive collection of links to country-level e-government services and resources of interest to businesses and their employees. As the only global e-government directory, the TRACE e-Gov Portal makes these resources easily available to companies doing business worldwide and promotes governments' efforts to streamline the provision of administrative services over the internet.

"The sheer number of interactions a company has with public officials drives up the risk of bribe demands," according to TRACE President Alexandra Wrage. "As more government services become available online, the need for such face-to-face interactions is reduced. By taking advantage of e-services, businesses can dramatically reduce their exposure to bribe demands."

Using the TRACE e-Gov Portal is easy, with a straightforward English-language interface that allows users to browse either by country or by category. The portal provides specific information regarding what links are available for each of the more than 90 countries currently in the database, and includes links to 15,000 government webpages covering areas such as procurement, customs and trade, immigration and travel, utilities and tax. The links are classified into categories and subcategories, providing users with ready access to the services they need across multiple jurisdictions from Albania to Uzbekistan. The site is designed with flexibility to allow the addition of new links as new e-government services are developed.

Given the evolving nature of e-government, TRACE welcomes updates and other feedback from national government agencies that wish to publicize the availability of their online services. We are grateful to the countries that have reached out to provide TRACE with a roadmap to their online services, emphasizing their commitment to offer and promote e-government resources. Comments and inquiries can be directed to [email protected].

The TRACE e-Gov Portal is publicly available at egov.TRACEinternational.org

About TRACE

TRACE is a globally recognized anti-bribery business organization and leading provider of cost-effective risk management solutions. Members and clients include over 500 multinational companies headquartered worldwide. For more information, visit www.TRACEinternational.org.

SOURCE TRACE

Related Links

http://www.traceinternational.org

"I couldn't have imagined a better way to cap my career than by serving the American Chemistry Council," Dooley said. "Over the past ten years I've had the opportunity to lead one of the country's most vital industries through historic and transformational change, including unprecedented economic expansion driven by the American shale gas revolution, passage of watershed environmental legislation to reform our country's chemical regulatory framework, and the creation of the industry's most comprehensive effort to tackle the issue of plastic waste in our environment."

Under Dooley's leadership ACC has achieved some of its greatest successes in recent memory. He led industry efforts in helping secure the historic "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" that included key provisions that improve and support a vibrant and competitive U.S. chemical industry and manufacturing sector. In 2016, following years of bipartisan negotiations, Mr. Dooley oversaw the passage and enactment of the "The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act," legislation which reformed the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 and ushered in a new era for U.S. chemical regulations. Prior to that, Mr. Dooley's leadership led to the reauthorization and reform of the Surface Transportation Board; a four-year authorization of the "Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards" program; and passage and enactment of the "Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act," providing industry a safe harbor against lawsuits when voluntarily sharing and receiving information on cyber threats and defenses.

"It has been an honor and a privilege to work with Cal, whose leadership helped the U.S. chemical industry elevate discussions about our business beyond politics, to one of partnerships," said ACC Chairman and Covestro Chairman and CEO Jerry MacCleary. "The board of directors looks forward to working with his successor to build on this success as the industry continues to demonstrate proven progress through superior performance," MacCleary added.

Prior to joining ACC, Dooley served as President and CEO of the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Products Association. Earlier, Dooley represented the 20th District of California as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1991 to 2004.

Dooley holds a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics from the University of California, Davis and a master's degree in management from Stanford University.

At the direction of ACC's officers, Korn Ferry's search will be broad, inclusive of proven leaders from diverse, yet relevant backgrounds, including politics and government, private industry, and association management.

http://www.americanchemistry.com

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) represents the leading companies engaged in the business of chemistry. ACC members apply the science of chemistry to make innovative products and services that make people's lives better, healthier and safer. ACC is committed to improved environmental, health and safety performance through Responsible Care, common sense advocacy designed to address major public policy issues, and health and environmental research and product testing. The business of chemistry is a $526 billion enterprise and a key element of the nation's economy. It is the nation's largest exporter, accounting for ten percent of all U.S. exports. Chemistry companies are among the largest investors in research and development. Safety and security have always been primary concerns of ACC members, and they have intensified their efforts, working closely with government agencies to improve security and to defend against any threat to the nation's critical infrastructure.

SOURCE American Chemistry Council

Related Links

http://www.americanchemistry.com

MIAMI, Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- JL Audio announced today that it will unveil its new M6 series of premium marine loudspeakers at an exclusive VIP party held in Key Biscayne, the evening before Miami International Boat Show. Available immediately, the M6 line features a variety of full-range speakers, subwoofers and tower speakers that offer a compelling combination of style, performance and durability.



"With M6, we have pulled out all the stops to deliver our best sounding, best looking marine loudspeakers ever," said Andy Oxenhorn, President of JL Audio. "Years of research and development have led us to this launch event, and we know that our customers will be excited to experience the incredible performance and design of M6."

M6 is acoustically engineered to reproduce powerful, low-distortion bass and evenly disperse smooth sound in an open-air boat environment. JL Audio's stringently tested, marine-grade materials withstand intense UV and saltwater exposure, combining with advanced design and manufacturing to deliver outstanding reliability. Great new styling and JL Audio's patent-pending Transflective LED illumination complete the package to establish a new benchmark for marine loudspeakers.

Beauty by design

The M6 series is designed to match the multitude of boat styles, ranging from luxury yachts to high-performance tow boats. Two grille designs are available: "Classic," featuring an all-white slat grille design and "Sport," which features a split-spoke grille design. The latter comes in two color schemes: Gloss White, or a beautiful, Gunmetal/Titanium dual metallic finish. JL Audio's Transflective LED illumination technology is available as an option on most models, providing a striking lighting effect, with no hot spots or reflections on the cone surface.

JL Audio also offers a sleek RGB controller (Model MLC-RW) that features a compact, mount-anywhere form factor and an easy-to-use, rotary knob for adjusting the speakers' illumination color and intensity. This RGB controller works seamlessly with M6 series speakers, as well as most other RGB lighting options installed on a boat.

Coaxial Loudspeakers

Every M6 coaxial loudspeaker starts with a long-excursion woofer designed with JL Audio's proprietary motor, suspension and cone modeling systems to yield superior frequency response, smooth mid-range dispersion and linear performance at all listening levels. Offered in three different sizes (6.5-inch, 7.7-inch and 8.8-inch), M6 coaxial speakers feature silk dome tweeters, appropriately sized (0.8-inch, 1-inch and 1.25-inch) to complement the varying frequency response limits of their respective woofers. Each of these tweeters is precisely tuned via a rear cavity that optimizes its mid-range extension to seamlessly transition with its matching woofer. The result is smooth, evenly dispersed sound throughout the critical crossover region, making the overall sonic presentation clean and clear.

Crossover networks are a critical part of the M6 coaxial speakers' acoustic design and are considerably more sophisticated than those used in most marine speakers. Each crossover network also employs an electronic tweeter protection circuit to minimize the possibility of tweeter failure. The multiple components required in these crossovers are laid out on a ring-shaped circuit board that is built into each speaker's terminal assembly, ensuring that the crossover is secured and protected from the elements.

Enclosed Loudspeakers

Ideal for wakeboard towers or other tubular structures, M6 Enclosed Coaxial Speaker Systems can also be mounted to decks and other flat surfaces. Like all JL Audio marine speakers, they are built to withstand intense UV exposure and a real saltwater-marine environment, delivering years of listening enjoyment. The 7.7 and 8.8-inch enclosures are precision-molded from JL Audio's special marine-grade polymer and feature a decorative, aluminum JL Audio logo cap on the end opposite the speaker. Each is designed to install with JL Audio's precision-machined clamp systems (sold separately and available to fit a wide range of pipe diameters or surface-mount applications). M6 Enclosed Coaxials are available in Gloss White or Satin Black enclosure finishes, with complementary speaker grilles.

Subwoofer Drivers

Offered in 8-inch and 10-inch diameters, M6 subwoofers continue JL Audio's tradition of building low-frequency drivers that impress, not only with their output capability, but also with the quality and balance of their sound. FEA-optimized motor and suspension designs are optimized for infinite-baffle installation (IB models), or for installation into small enclosures (W models). Each style rewards boaters with powerful, low-distortion bass that takes marine audio performance to new levels.

Engineered for Longevity

JL Audio's engineering team has optimized all M6 models for open-air boating environments. All materials, fasteners and assembly techniques are carefully engineered to ensure reliability and durability in real marine applications, including saltwater exposure. Component parts, materials and complete loudspeakers are subjected to rigorous environmental testing to exceed industry standards for corrosion and UV resistance.

JL Audio's complete M6 series includes the following models:

M6 Coaxial Speaker Systems: All models are available with Sport Grille (Gloss White/Gloss White or Gunmetal/Titanium) and Classic Grille (Gloss White/Gloss White), and can be optioned with Transflective RGB illumination.

M6-650X 6.5-inch marine coaxial system with 0.80-inch (20 mm) silk dome tweeters, 75W, 4 ohms MSRP: $429.99 - $479.99 M6-770X 7.7-inch marine coaxial system with 1.00-inch (25 mm) silk dome tweeters, 100W, 4 ohms MSRP: $499.99 - $549.99 M6-880X 8.8-inch marine coaxial system with 1.25-inch (32 mm) silk dome tweeters, 125W, 4 ohms MSRP: $599.99 - $649.99

M6 Subwoofer Drivers: All models are available in Sport Grille (Gloss White/Gloss White or Gunmetal/Titanium) and Classic Grille (Gloss White/Gloss White), and can be optioned with Transflective RGB illumination.

M6-8IB 8-inch infinite baffle marine subwoofer, 200W, 4 ohms MSRP: $249.99 - $279.99 M6-8W 8-inch small enclosure marine subwoofer, 200W, 4 ohms MSRP: $249.99 - $279.99 M6-10IB 10-inch infinite baffle marine subwoofer, 250W, 4 ohms MSRP: $349.99 - $379.99 M6-10W 10-inch small enclosure marine subwoofer, 250W, 4 ohms MSRP: $349.99 - $379.99 M6-8FES 8-inch enclosed marine subwoofer system, 200W, 4 ohms MSRP: $699.99 M6-10FES 10-inch enclosed marine subwoofer system, 250W, 4 ohms MSRP: $799.99

M6 Enclosed Speaker Systems: All models are available in Sport Grille (Gloss White Grille/Gloss White Enclosure or Gunmetal Grille/Satin Black Enclosure) and Classic Grille (Gloss White Grille/Gloss White Enclosure) and can be optioned with Transflective RGB illumination. Application-specific mounting fixtures are sold separately.

M6-770ETXv3 7.7-inch enclosed marine tower coaxial system, 100W, 4 ohms MSRP: $859.99- $929.99 M6-880ETXv3 8.8-inch enclosed marine tower coaxial system, 125W, 4 ohms MSRP: $1,149.99 - $1,219.99 ETXv3-CVR Gray neoprene, zippered cover protects ETXv3 systems during storage and trailering. Available for 7.7-inch and 8.8-inch ETXv3 enclosed loudspeakers.

The complete M6 series will be sold by JL Audio's car audio and marine dealers, and will also be incorporated into select new boats as original equipment by the following boat brands: Barker Boatworks, Berkshire, Blackwater, Boston Whaler, Chaparral, Cigarette, Contender, Deep Impact, Iconic, Manitou, MTI, Mystic, Nautique, Nortech, Premier, Sea Vee, Sportsman, Southbay, and Trifecta.

The M6 series joins the extensive list of JL Audio products built at the company's Miramar, Florida factory, with components sourced from the company's global supply network.

For more information about JL Audio, please visit www.jlaudio.com, or follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Click the following link for press kit materials: http://jlaud.io/M6LIT

About JL Audio:

Guided by a philosophy that great audio has real value, JL Audio develops innovative products that improve the audio experience on the go, in the home and in the studio. Committed to unique engineering and quality manufacturing, JL Audio operates three U.S. engineering facilities, and builds many of its home, car and marine loudspeaker products at the company's Miramar, Florida, USA factory, with components sourced from the company's global supply network. For more information, visit jlaudio.com or follow the company on Facebook or Twitter.

Media Contact:

Michael Farino

New Era Communications

Phone: (949)346-1984

[email protected]

SOURCE JL Audio

Related Links

http://www.jlaudio.com

CLEARWATER, Fla., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- (ISC)  the world's largest nonprofit membership association of certified cybersecurity professionals  today announced the founding of its Professional Development Institute (PDI) to combat one of the largest challenges facing the cybersecurity community today  a global shortage of skilled and trained professionals to defend organizations against the evolving onslaught of cyber threats. Provided as a free portfolio of course offerings to (ISC)2 members and associates, PDI will help enhance their skills and abilities by providing access to rich continuing professional education (CPE) opportunities that augment the knowledge they've gained throughout their careers.

"For 30 years (ISC)2 has been preparing cybersecurity professionals for our rigorous certifications, and now we're also investing in the essential learning that comes after certification," said (ISC)2 CEO David Shearer, CISSP. "The Professional Development Institute is a recognition that cybersecurity education is a lifelong journey, and that achieving professional certification, while important, is only one stop along the way. These new CPE opportunities are enriching and rewarding and provide valuable, topical insights that will help our members continue to grow and progress."

The multi-year strategy for PDI encompasses the addition of 18 new staff over the next two years, joining the more than 160 existing global employees of the association. These new staff will manage content development, curriculum building, quality control, communications, logistics and administration for the institute. The association will also build out a 765- square-foot video production studio in its Clearwater, Fla. headquarters to produce content for courses featuring leading cybersecurity professionals.

PDI builds on the successful 2018 pilot launch of three professional development courses provided at no additional fee to members and associates. Topics included GDPR for Security Professionals, DevSecOps and Building a Strong Culture of Security. Focus groups and member surveys provided insight into the professional development needs of security professionals and the results have and will continue to inform the evolution of PDI's curriculum strategy. Member subject matter experts will guide the development of the course material, supported by a team of highly-qualified adult education experts and creative professionals. This will enable (ISC)2 to develop a robust catalogue of CPE courses and offerings with the ability to continuously refresh that catalogue based upon clearly articulated member need. In 2019 alone there will be up to 30 new courses released as part of the portfolio.

Courses Designed for Working Professionals

PDI courses will help (ISC)2 members and associates enhance their professional skills through convenient, high quality education. Making the courses available in an easily-accessible online format will help members maintain a work-life balance.

"Cybersecurity is not a nine-to-five profession, and one of the biggest challenges facing our members is that it can be difficult for them to find time and opportunities to continue to enhance their skills while also dealing with a dynamic threat environment," said Shearer. "Time constraints and cost are two burdens that we're trying to alleviate for members and associates with PDI, while ensuring that these CPE opportunities have learning objectives that are clearly aligned with current industry challenges."

"There has been demand from (ISC)2 members for a wide array of professional development opportunities for education and CPE purposes. There are many such opportunities within the industry, but they are not readily accessible or only available at a significant cost, so I am very excited to see that (ISC)2 is offering these development programs," said James McQuiggan, CISSP, Product & Solutions Security Officer for Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Chapter President for the (ISC)2 Central Florida Chapter and (ISC)2 Advisory Council North America member. "I had the honor and pleasure to provide guidance for the content of one of the initial courses and shared my experience and expertise in its development, because I agree with the focus on practical application of security principles. Many of us who are (ISC)2 certification holders need opportunities like PDI to stay educated and up to speed on the latest threats, techniques and tools."

Courses are also available for a competitive price to non-members and the general public. To learn more about PDI and the courses now on offer, please visit: https://www.isc2.org/development.

About (ISC)

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, (ISC) is an international nonprofit membership association focused on inspiring a safe and secure cyber world. Best known for the acclaimed Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification, (ISC) offers a portfolio of credentials that are part of a holistic, pragmatic approach to security. Our membership, more than 140,000 strong, is made up of certified cyber, information, software and infrastructure security professionals who are making a difference and helping to advance the industry. Our vision is supported by our commitment to educate and reach the general public through our charitable foundation  The Center for Cyber Safety and Education. For more information on (ISC), visit www.isc2.org, follow us on Twitter or connect with us on Facebook and LinkedIn.

 2019, (ISC) Inc., (ISC), CISSP, SSCP, CCSP, CAP, CSSLP, HCISPP, CCFP, CISSP-ISSAP, CISSP-ISSEP, CISSP-ISSMP and CBK are registered marks, of (ISC), Inc.

Media Contact:

Brian Alberti

Corporate Public Relations Manager

(ISC)

[email protected]

(617) 510-1540

SOURCE (ISC)2

Related Links

http://www.isc2.org

TEL AVIV, Israel, February 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Eco Wave Power Technology Receives Industry Accolades

Earlier this week, MSN website published its list of the 30 most influential women of the 21st century. Eco Wave Power is proud to announce that Ms. Inna Braverman, the Founder of the company, has made it into the list and is featured as number 10, along with highly impressive and inspirational women such Oprah Winfrey, Serena Williams, Angela Merkel, J.K. Rowling, Hillary Clinton, Beyonce, Sheryl Sandberg and others (more info can be found in the following link: https://bit.ly/2RXDuql )

Prior to this accomplishment, Ms. Braverman was selected as "Tomorrow's Hero" by CNN and was featured in a list of "Females Changing the World" as published by Wired Magazine. Her life story was also documented in a Virtual Reality film produced & sponsored by Google, under the name "Female planet" (link to movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRtzWu5pfpQ)

Inna established Eco Wave Power at the age of 24 due to her personal journey. She was born in Ukraine in the fallout zone two weeks' prior to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. As a baby she nearly died of a seizure due to chronic respiratory arrest caused by the disaster; she was saved by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from her mother, a nurse. To her, that makes the quest for safe, renewable energy "personal".

Under her leadership, Eco Wave Power constructed its R&D power station in Jaffa Port, Israel, as well as a first grid connected power station in Gibraltar, which is currently the ONLY grid connected wave energy array operational in the world, selling electricity to the grid under a Power Purchase Agreement.

The Gibraltar power plant (co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund) is connected to the grid since 2016 and has become the world's longest grid connected array to date. The Gibraltar project receives significant attention as it positions wave energy as a viable & reliable renewable energy source.

Due to its pioneering aspect, the Eco Wave Power plant in Gibraltar received the Energy Globe Award given in collaboration with the United Nations for "Best Project in Gibraltar" ( https://www.energyglobe.info/gibraltar2018?cl=en&id=262742 ) & Eco Wave Power also received a Seal of Excellence from the European Commission.

Moreover, recently Eco Wave Power's technology was assessed by independent experts from Solar Impulse Foundation (led by Dr. Bertrand Piccard) for its technological feasibility, environmental and socio-economic benefits, and economic profitability, and was labeled as an Efficient Solution.

The Solar Impulse Foundation is selecting 1,000 solutions that protect the environment in a profitable way and awarding them the Solar Impulse Efficient Solutions Label. This label serves as a new and credible symbol that can be applied to products, processes and services, and serves as a guarantee of quality to those looking to implement clean solutions and affords a competitive edge to the innovators behind them. (For further info: https://solarimpulse.com/efficient-solutions/eco-wave-power)

Currently, Eco Wave Power holds projects pipeline of 160Mw and there is a growing demand for its technology.

David Leb, Founder of Eco Wave Power and the Company's Board of Directors have congratulated Ms. Braverman & the Eco Wave Power team and stated that: "We are very excited to keep moving forward in the path to constructing the first large scale wave farm in the world as this will be a game changer in the renewable energy sphere. According to the World Energy Council, wave energy can produce twice the amount of electricity that the world produces now. This means huge decrease in worldwide pollution rates and massive potential market share. We are looking forward to changing the world one wave at a time."

For further info, please contact Mr. Yair Rudick, Eco Wave Power's Business Development Manager at [email protected]. You can also visit our web site: http://www.ecowavepower.com

SOURCE Eco Wave PowerTORONTO, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Hydro One announced today, in accordance with the Hydro One Accountability Act, that it has posted its proposed executive compensation framework on the company's website.

This posting is now open for public comment and ultimately requires the approval of Ontario's Management Board of Cabinet (approval has not yet been received).

The new framework can be viewed at www.hydroone.com/compensation.

About Hydro One Limited

We are Ontario's largest electricity transmission and distribution provider with more than 1.3 million valued customers, over C$25 billion in assets and 2017 annual revenues of nearly C$6 billion. Our team of over 7,400 skilled and dedicated regular and non-regular employees proudly and safely serves suburban, rural and remote communities across Ontario through our 30,000 circuit km of high-voltage transmission and 123,000 circuit km of primary distribution networks. Hydro One is committed to the communities we serve, and has been rated as the top utility in Canada for its corporate citizenship, sustainability, and diversity initiatives. We are one of only six utility companies in Canada to achieve the Sustainable Electricity Company designation from the Canadian Electricity Association. We also provide advanced broadband telecommunications services on a wholesale basis utilizing our extensive fibre optic network through Hydro One Telecom Inc. Hydro One Limited's common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: H).

SOURCE Hydro One Inc.

Related Links

http://www.hydroone.com

OAKLAND, Calif., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Global people analytics and consulting firm Great Place to Work and Fortune have unveiled their annual ranking of the country's 100 Best Companies to Work For. The hotel and hospitality company Hilton, which excels in diversity & inclusion and creating a great place to work FOR ALL, claims the top spot for the first time in its fourth appearance on the list. This year's coverage also includes an additional ranking of the Best Big Companies to Work For that employ more than 100,000 people in the U.S.

The Top 10 of Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work for in 2019

"The 100 Best Companies to Work For are succeeding at creating an innovative workplace for all employees," said Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work. "Increasingly, corporate America is trying to figure out ways that companies can be drivers of innovation, and they've discovered that the first step is by focusing on their people. Among the 100 Best Companies, for every seven employees who feel empowered to innovate in their role, regardless of their title or position, there are only two employees who experience friction, compared to a 2:6 ratio for the national average."

Among the newcomers to the list this year are Red Hat (at No. 50), HubSpot (No. 64), the Zillow Group (No. 69), Farmers Insurance (No. 91), Bank of America (No. 92), and Box (No. 93).

The 100 Best Companies to Work For stand out because they focus on values, trust, innovation, financial growth, leadership effectiveness, and maximizing the full human potential of every employee. Read the full list here.

Findings from the 2019 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For:

91 percent of employees at 100 Best Companies say their company is a great place to work, versus a 57 percent nationwide average.

84 percent of employees at 100 Best Companies say they look forward to coming to work, versus a 42 percent nationwide average.

83 percent of employees at 100 Best Companies say that management actions match their words, versus a 42 percent nationwide average.

The Best Big Companies to Work For

In addition to the 100 Best Companies, Fortune has also published a ranked list of the largest employers with more than 100,000 employees who have received Great Place to Work certification.

The 100 Best Companies to Work For list is one of a series of rankings by Great Place to Work and Fortune based on anonymous employee feedback from Great Place to Work-Certified organizations.

About the 100 Best Companies to Work For

Great Place to Work based its ranking on a data-driven methodology applied to anonymous Trust Index survey responses representing more than 4.4 million employees at Great Place to Work-Certified organizations. To learn more about Great Place to Work Certification and recognition on Best Workplaces lists published with Fortune, visit Greatplacetowork.com.

About Great Place to Work

Great Place to Work is a global people analytics and consulting firm that helps companies produce better business results by focusing on workplace culture. Powered by more than 25 years of research, Emprising, its SaaS-enabled survey and analytics platform, gives companies access to the assessments, data, and reporting needed to build a high-trust, high-performance culture.

Read our new book: "A Great Place to Work for All: Better for Business, Better for People, Better for the World." Learn more on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Contact: Kim Peters: (415)-855-2574, [email protected]

SOURCE Great Place to Work

Related Links

http://www.greatplacetowork.com

In 1872, China was among the first global markets to receive Hennessy X.O, when the refined amber-hued spirit was dubbed the "Golden Elixir." Today, Asia continues to be one of the largest and most important markets for Hennessy's Prestige portfolio  X.O and Paradis Imperial. An encounter of two cultures, two traditions and savoir-faire, Hennessy celebrated the journey of this storied relationship through music, entertainment, cuisine and finely crafted Hennessy cocktails, bringing to life the brand's heritage, and its storied connection with Asia.

Hosted high atop Manhattan with 360-degree views, the glittering lights of New York City provided an enchanting backdrop to an evening that blended centuries-old traditions with contemporary elements. The festivities commenced with an intimate dinner attended by actors Jamie Chung and Bryan Greenberg. During the dinner, guests were treated to a special presentation of Hennessy Paradis Imperial, a precisely crafted Cognac of which on average only 10 of 10,000 eaux-de-vie of any given vintage are deemed eligible to become a part of this rare spirit. The dinner concluded with the unveil of artist Guang-Yu Zhang's Hennessy-inspired custom Lunar New Year artwork that beautifully fuses Eastern and Western symbolism. The custom artwork, along with a bespoke Paradis Imperial experience, was auctioned off onsite with proceeds benefitting the Asian-American Business Development Center, whose focus is to promote greater recognition of Asian American business contributions.

A high energy celebration followed dinner, seamlessly blending modern and traditional elements including calligraphers and a classic dragon dance, modernized with an LED light show, all set to a soundtrack by musician Alice Longyu Gao. And in the X.O Lounge, guests learned more about the tradition and history of Hennessy X.O, the world's first "Extra Old" Cognac that established the category in 1870, with specialty tastings and X.O served over ice.

Marking the biggest familial gathering in Asian culture, Lunar New Year, Hennessy's "East Meets West" event was held on Wednesday, February 13th, 2019 at The Bay Room & Manhatta in New York City.

Please visit Hennessy.com/US for more information. https://www.hennessy.com/us/life/

ABOUT HENNESSY

The leader in Cognac, Hennessy has shined around the world with its exceptional blends for more than 250 years. Built on founder Richard Hennessy's spirit of conquest, the brand is present in more than 130 countries. Based in the heart of the Charente region, Hennessy is also a steadfast pillar of the regional economy, the standard-bearer for a sector rich in expertise. The House's success and longevity are rooted in the excellence of its cognacs, each of which is born of a unique process of transmission from generation to generation.

The first wine and spirits house to be certified ISO 14001, Hennessy unites its capacity for innovation and the support of all of its partners to protect this exceptional area. As the crown jewel of the LVMH Group, Hennessy is a major contributor to French international trade, with 99% of production sold in export, and a worldwide ambassador for the French art de vivre.

Hennessy is imported and distributed in the U.S. by Moet Hennessy USA. Hennessy distills, ages and blends spanning a full range: Hennessy V.S, Privilege V.S.O.P, Hennessy Black, X.O, Prive, Paradis, Paradis Imperial and Richard Hennessy. Imported Cognac Hennessy 40% Alc./Vol. (80), 2019 Imported by Moet Hennessy USA, Inc., New York, NY

SOURCE Hennessy

Related Links

https://www.hennessy.com/us

DUBLIN, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

The "Global Air Traffic Control Equipment Market Size, Market Share, Application Analysis, Regional Outlook, Growth Trends, Key Players, Competitive Strategies and Forecasts, 2018 To 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global air traffic control equipment market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast from 2018 to 2026.



Generally deployed at air traffic control centers, air traffic control equipment help air traffic controllers to monitor and manage the speed, position, and altitude of aircrafts in assigned airspace. The chief purpose of air traffic control equipment is to expedite the flow of air traffic, prevent collisions, coordinate landing and take-off operations, and provide other requisite support to air pilots. Improving standard of living and ensuing rise in business and recreational air travels has increased the number air traveler's worldwide.



The chief purpose of air traffic control equipment is to expedite the flow of air traffic, prevent collisions, coordinate landing and take-off operations, and provide other requisite support to air pilots. This has compelled airport authorities to strengthen air traffic control center infrastructure in a bid to mitigate risk of mid-air collision, enhance operational performance, and achieve cost reduction. Advent of digitalization and advancements in microelectronics and data processing technologies are triggering replacement of conventional air traffic control equipment with the state-of-the-art variants.



In addition, aviation legislations worldwide have necessitated airport authorities to modernize their communication, navigation, and surveillance infrastructure, driving new air traffic control equipment installations. While developed economies including North America and Europe are projected to witness steady growth in revenue stream, Asia Pacific and the Middle East will register a considerable uptrend on the back of several upcoming airport projects and consequent demand for airport control center infrastructure.



Air traffic control equipment manufacturers across the globe are determined to build strong relations with the government and the concerned airport authorities since major portion of air traffic control equipment sales takes place through contracts.



For instance, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) recently awarded a US$ 141 Mn contract to Harris Corporation to upgrade India's air traffic management communications infrastructure. As a part of this contract, Harris Corporation will be responsible for enhancing security, upgrading network operations, and improve quality, performance, and reliability of India's air traffic management (ATM) network.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Preface

1.1. Report Scope and Description

1.2. Research Methodology

1.2.1. Phase I-Secondary Research

1.2.2. Phase II-Primary Research

1.2.3. Phase III-Expert Panel Review

1.2.4. Assumptions

1.2.5. Approach Adopted



2. Executive Summary

2.1. Global Air Traffic Control Equipment Market Snapshot

2.2. Global Air Traffic Control Equipment Market, by Equipment Type, 2017 (US$ Bn)

2.3. Global Air Traffic Control Equipment Market, by End-use, 2017 (US$ Bn)

2.4. Global Air Traffic Control Equipment Market, by Geography, 2017 (US$ Bn)



3. Global Air Traffic Control Equipment Market Analysis

3.1. Global Air Traffic Control Equipment Market Overview

3.2. Market Inclination Insights

3.2.1. Recent Trends

3.2.2. Future Outlook

3.3. Market Dynamics

3.3.1. Market Drivers

3.3.2. Market Challenges

3.4. Attractive Investment Proposition, by Geography, 2017

3.5. Competitive Landscape

3.5.1. Market Positioning of the Leading Manufacturers

3.5.2. Major Strategies Adopted



4. Global Air Traffic Control Equipment Market Value, by Equipment Type , 2016 - 2026 (US$ Bn)

4.1. Comparative Analysis

4.2. Communication Equipment

4.3. Navigation Equipment

4.4. Surveillance Equipment

4.5. Others (Training & Simulation Equipment, etc.)



5. Global Air Traffic Control Equipment Market Value, by End-use , 2016 - 2026 (US$ Bn)

5.1. Comparative Analysis

5.2. Defense

5.3. Commercial



6. North America Air Traffic Control Equipment Market Analysis, 2016 - 2026 (US$ Bn)



7. Europe Air Traffic Control Equipment Market Analysis, 2016 - 2026 (US$ Bn)



8. Asia Pacific Air Traffic Control Equipment Market Analysis, 2016 - 2026 (US$ Bn)



9. Rest of World Air Traffic Control Equipment Market Analysis, 2016 - 2026 (US$ Bn)



10. Company Profiles

10.1. Raytheon Company

10.2. Northrop Grumman Corporation

10.3. Frequentis AG

10.4. Searidge Technologies Inc.

10.5. NavAero Inc.

10.6. Becker Avionics Inc.

10.7. Lockheed Martin Corporation

10.8. Indra Sistemas SA

10.9. Advanced Navigation & Positioning Corporation Inc.

10.10. Harris Corporation

10.11. BAE Systems Plc

10.12. Thales Group

10.13. Cobham Plc



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5dc77f/global_air?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



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SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

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Vanuatu turns the Corner LETS USE THIS AS A SPRINGBOARD FOR THE FUTUREDUBLIN, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

The "Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market Size, Market Share, Application Analysis, Regional Outlook, Growth Trends, Key Players, Competitive Strategies and Forecasts, 2018 To 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The active pharmaceutical ingredient market was valued at US$ 152.6 Bn in 2017 and expected to reach US$ 273.5 Mn by 2026 at a CAGR of 6.7 % during the forecast period from 2018 to 2026.



The global active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) market shows fruitful growth during the forecast period from 2018 to 2026. The API is the active part of any drug that delivers its reaction. Many times a drug may contain few APIs and the reaction to a specific medication will rely upon the prescription of the dosage pattern, which changes from individual to individual. For instance, combination therapeutic treatments have various dynamic active ingredients to treat different side effects. TEVA Pharmaceuticals is one of the leading manufacturers of APIs in the global market having a vast portfolio of API products of around 300 APIs. Dr. Reddy's is also a leading API maker using more than 60 APIs currently.



North America to contribute maximum revenue share in the global active pharmaceutical ingredient market attributed to rising chronic diseases, higher adoption of prescribed drugs, demand for specialty drugs & biologics, increasing awareness, and rise in R&D for new drug formulations and development. In the current scenario, manufacturers present in the U.S. and Europe region are expanding their manufacturing capacity for APIs in the developing nations such as in India and China to cut expenses. This has made noteworthy changes in how these drugs are regulated, with more specific guidelines and regulations. For example, presently AstraZeneca Plc produce only 15% of their APIs in the U.S.



However, there are plans to end that small ratio and outsource all the manufacturing assembly in the Asia Pacific and Latin America market. Increase in healthcare spending is a global phenomenon, and this directly benefited the generics API market in recent years in the developing nations due to high demand and ease of access. However, the cost of enhancing process outline, higher cost of specialty API drugs, and stringent approvals regulations may act as a restraining factor to the overall development of the API market.



Improvement of new inventive API's and inorganic development through mergers and partnerships with smaller organizations additionally support the API market in the developing nations. Adoption of branded generic drugs & medications is growing exponentially in developing economies, for example, in India and China. In addition, rising utilization of specialty drugs expected to increase the pharmaceutical spending around the world.



Increase in demand for advanced therapeutics for treatment of alarming diseases, rising prevalence for chronic diseases and lifestyle diseases globally along with increasing purchasing power, beneficiary schemes for reimbursement are various factors fueling the demand for active pharmaceutical ingredient market in near future.



Key Market Movements:

Globally, the active pharmaceutical ingredient market expected to exhibit a profitable growth with a CAGR of 6.7% for the period from 2018 to 2026

Based on the API type, the synthetic chemical segment shows lucrative growth with increasing applications in the therapeutic treatment procedures.

The development of the worldwide active pharmaceutical ingredient is mainly contributed the high demand for innovative therapeutics, a rise in FDA approvals, for new molecules and drugs, and expansion of the manufacturing capacity in the overseas market.

In addition, new technology assessment in API manufacturing along with the existence of top API manufacturers & sophisticated healthcare facilities in the developed nations is further going to spur revenue growth during the forecast period.

Eastern Europe , Latin America , and the Asia Pacific to show promising opportunities and shows growing CAGR during the forecast period owing to rising manufacturing capacity for active pharmaceutical ingredient and dosage pattern for various treatment. Surging population & along with ease in availability of drugs and medications, and increasing healthcare spending in Russia , Brazil , India , China , and Japan may contribute to the growth of the market during the forecast period.

, , and the to show promising opportunities and shows growing CAGR during the forecast period owing to rising manufacturing capacity for active pharmaceutical ingredient and dosage pattern for various treatment. Surging population & along with ease in availability of drugs and medications, and increasing healthcare spending in , , , , and may contribute to the growth of the market during the forecast period. Major players in this vertical are Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Pfizer, Inc., Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis International AG, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Merck & Co., Inc. and AbbVie Inc., Lonza Group and others.

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1. Preface

1.1. Report Scope and Description

1.2. Research Methodology



Chapter 2. Executive Summary

2.1. Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market Portraiture

2.2. Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market, By API Type, 2017 (US$ Mn)

2.3. Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market, By Drug Type, 2017 (US$ Mn)

2.4. Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market, By Manufacturing Type, 2017 (US$ Mn)

2.5. Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market, by Geography, 2017 Vs 2026 (Value %)



Chapter 3. Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market: Market Dynamics and Future Outlook

3.1. Market Overview

3.2. Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Technologies: Future Trends

3.3. Current Scenario: Strategies Used for Shifting Manufacturing Plants Internationally

3.4. Challenges

3.5. Opportunities

3.6. Attractive Investment Proposition, by Geography, 2017

3.7. Major Agreements, Partnerships and Collaborations

3.8. Competitive Landscape

3.8.1. Competitive Landscape, by Key Players, 2017



Chapter 4. Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market, by API Type, 2016 - 2026 (US$ Mn)

4.1. Overview

4.2. Synthetic Chemical API

4.3. Biological API



Chapter 5. Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market, by Drug Type, 2016 - 2026 (US$ Mn)

5.1. Overview

5.2. Branded Drugs

5.3. Generic Drugs

5.4. OTC Drugs



Chapter 6. Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market, By Manufacturing Type, 2016 - 2026 (US$)

6.1. Overview

6.2. Contract Manufacturers

6.3. Captive Manufacturers



Chapter 7. Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market, by Geography, 2016 - 2026 (US$ Mn)



Chapter 8. Company Profiles

8.1. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

8.1.1. Business Description

8.1.2. Financial Information (Subject to data availability)

8.1.3. Product Portfolio

8.1.4. Key Developments

8.2. Pfizer, Inc.

8.3. Sanofi

8.4. Boehringer Ingelheim

8.5. Novartis International AG

8.6. Bristol-Myers Squibb

8.7. Eli Lilly and Company

8.8. GlaxoSmithKline plc

8.9. Merck & Co., Inc.

8.10. AbbVie Inc.

8.11. Lonza Group



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/rvfm5l/global_273_bn?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]



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SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

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ATLANTA, Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On Monday, Feb. 18, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) and Georgia Power will kick off work on their fifth major undertaking together as part of the Clear Roadside Project initiative in metro Atlanta to extend the distance between utility poles and traffic flow along portions of Peachtree and Roswell roads.

Approximately 100 existing poles will be relocated from near the curb to the back of the sidewalk along an eight-mile stretch of Peachtree Road from 14th Street continuing to Roswell Road at Windsor Parkway.

GDOT and Georgia Power will make every effort to limit lane closures related to the project, avoiding rush hour and heavy traffic-related events. Lane closures will be conducted according to GDOT standards and protocols and will conform to the GDOT-mandated timeframe outside of normal rush hours between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Work is scheduled to start Feb. 18 and continue over the next 12 months, with temporary lane closures occurring only in the areas immediately impacted.

Work to move the existing poles further back from the curb to create more space between utility poles and vehicle traffic is done to enhance roadside safety. GDOT and Georgia Power are committed to identifying stretches of roadway where the Clear Roadside Safety Project can be most effective.

Georgia Power will be communicating with customers, businesses, city and state officials, and other partners to ensure the safety of travelers, pedestrians and crews as it works to safely complete the project. Additionally, updates will be available via GDOT's 511 page.

About Georgia Department of Transportation

Georgia Department of Transportation is committed to providing a safe, seamless and sustainable transportation system that supports Georgia's economy and is sensitive to its citizens and its environment. For more information, visit www.dot.ga.gov.

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).

SOURCE Georgia Power

Related Links

http://www.georgiapower.com

Partnership marks Flower One's Entry into the Edibles Market

TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Flower One Holdings Inc. ("Flower One" or the "Company") ( CSE: FONE ) ( OTCQB: FLOOF ) is pleased to announce a new long-term licensing agreement and brand partnership with CannAmerica Brands Corp. ("CannAmerica Brands") ( CSE: CANA ) ( OTCQB: CNNXF ) for cannabis-product fulfillment in Nevada. CannAmerica Brands is a Colorado-based, marine-veteran-founded cannabis brand known for its line of top-tier cannabis gummies and edibles currently available in three states. Flower One is now licensed to manufacture, distribute and sell CannAmerica Brands' signature cannabis Fruit Juice Gummies and Super Soft Gummies to all cannabis retailers in Nevada. This agreement represents Flower One's official launch into the edibles market.

"Flower One is thrilled to welcome a true leader in edibles, CannAmerica Brands, to our suite of Brand Partners," said Ken Villazor, President and CEO of Flower One. "We are committed to providing Nevada retailers with reliable access to cannabis across the product spectrum and throughout the value chain. This news marks our official launch into the edibles market, showcasing Flower One's early capabilities to bring a diversity of products to Nevada at a scale that retailers can rely on."

"In anticipation of the growing number of retail locations in the state of Nevada, coupled with increased consumer demand, we wanted to partner with a large-scale producer in Nevada  and Flower One was the obvious choice," said Dan Anglin, Founder and CEO of CannAmerica Brands. "The footprint of Flower One's vast greenhouse facility is impressive, but perhaps even more noteworthy are the planned production capabilities of their 55,000 square-foot facility. It is something I've never encountered in my many years operating in the cannabis industry and has wonderful implications for the retail community, and subsequently for cannabis consumers. We're so excited about this new partnership with Flower One in Nevada; we see a long-term future with them as we continue to grow our iconic brand across America."

New variations of CannAmerica Brands' bestselling Fruit Juice Gummies and Super Soft Gummies products will soon be available for purchase in the state of Nevada. The Fruit Juice Gummies and Super Soft Gummies will feature new formulas that improve on CannAmerica's existing flagship products and will be categorized according to three flavour profiles: sweet (strawberry banana, peach, orange sherbet), sour (blue raspberry, cherry, bomb pop) and a sweet and sour combination. New, sleek packaging will also arrive this spring season in order to drive brand consistency across all of CannAmerica Brands' markets.

Today's Brand Partner announcement marks the conclusion of CannAmerica's existing licensing agreement with Nevada-based cannabis cultivator, Matrix NV. "We'd like to thank Matrix NV for helping us with our first-entry into the Nevada market and for the relationship that was forged," said Mr. Anglin. "Without a doubt, CannAmerica Brands will be working very closely with the Matrix NV team to ensure a smooth and seamless transition."

About Flower One Holdings Inc.

Flower One is sharply focused on quickly becoming the leading cannabis cultivator, producer and innovator in the highly lucrative Nevada market. Flower One owns and operates a 25,000 square-foot cultivation and production facility in North Las Vegas, with nine grow rooms, and owns the established NLV Organics consumer brand of cannabis products. The Company is also rapidly converting its 455,000 square-foot greenhouse and production facility, which is the largest in the State of Nevada, for cultivating and processing high-quality cannabis at scale. Combined, the flagship greenhouse facility and production facility (once fully operational) and the North Las Vegas facility provide Flower One with 480,000 square feet of capacity for cultivation and processing, production and high-volume packaging of dry flower, cannabis oils, concentrates and infused products. The Company is fully licensed for medical marijuana cultivation and production, as well as recreational marijuana cultivation and production in the state of Nevada and currently holds licensing agreements with their Brand Partners, Flyte Concentrates, Rapid-Dose Therapeutics' Quick Strip, Old Pal, Palms, HUXTON, and CannAmerica Brands.

Flower One's common shares are traded on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol "FONE" and in the United States on the OTCQB under the symbol "FLOOF." For more information, visit: https://flowerone.com

About CannAmerica Brands

CannAmerica Brands is a U.S. marine veteran founded and operated portfolio of cannabis brands with licensing agreements in the states of Colorado, Nevada and Maryland. The Company aims to maximize the value of its brands by employing strong brand management teams, marketing and licensing the brands through various distribution channels, including dispensaries, wholesalers and distributors, in the United States and internationally. The Company's core strategy is to enhance and monetize the global reach of its existing brands, and to pursue additional strategic acquisitions to grow the scope and diversity of its brand portfolio. For more information please visit www.cannamericabrands.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Information

Statements in this news release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed here and elsewhere in Flower One's public documents. When used in this news release, words such as "will, could, plan, estimate, expect, intend, may, potential, believe, should," and similar expressions, are forward- looking statements.

Forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, statements relating to the execution of the Company's strategy and intent to quickly become the leading cannabis cultivator, producer and innovator in Nevada, the scale and capacity of Flower One's cultivation, processing and custom pre-roll packaging facilities in Nevada, the Company's ability to distribute CannAmerica Brands' Fruit Juice Gummies and Super Soft Gummies to all cannabis retailers in Nevada and access the mainstream edibles market, the quality of the products distributed in Nevada, the continued growing number of retail locations in the Nevada and the increased consumer demand, the potentially long term of the licensing agreement with CannAmerica Brands, Flower One's ability to execute a rapid entry into Nevada's cannabis market [NTD. The statement goes a bit beyond, as the release states that FONE will reach every retailer, so I re-worded this and included it above.], the release of new CannAmerica Brands formulas and their potential improvement of CannAmerica Brands' product series, new potential packaging and the ability to drive consistency of all CannAmerica Brand products across North America.

Although Flower One has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, there can be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, including, but not limited to: dependence on obtaining regulatory approvals; investing in target companies or projects that are engaged in activities currently considered illegal under United States federal law; changes in laws; limited operating history; reliance on management; requirements for additional financing; competition; hindering market growth and state adoption due to inconsistent public opinion and perception of the medical-use and adult-use marijuana industry and; regulatory or political change.

There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, the results or events predicted in these forward-looking statements may differ materially from actual results or events.

Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release. Flower One Holdings disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law.

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR THEIR REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

SOURCE Flower One Holdings Inc.MIAMI, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- FlexFunds has announced the appointment of Emilio Veiga Gil as the new CMO, reporting to its CEO, Mario Rivero. Emilio will be responsible for leading the marketing function at a global scale, generating strategic initiatives to grow the business and the FlexFunds brand.

Over the past 20 years this successful executive, entrepreneur and advisor, has adopted a collaborative, teamwork-based approach for rapid, high growth situations in the financial services industry internationally.

Before joining the team at FlexFunds, Emilio began his career at PriceWaterhouse Coopers. In 1998 he was appointed Marketing Director for the Spanish market at Dean Foods Corporation, one of the world leaders in production and commercialization of dairy products.

In 2004, Emilio signed on as Head of Marketing at Caixa Galicia (now Abanca), one of the largest savings banks in Spain, with more than 5,000 employees and over 600 branches. In 2006, he joined the Marketing Department at MoneyGram International, where his responsibilities grew until becoming Senior Director for Latin America and Caribbean. Among his accomplishments, Emilio was instrumental to get the MoneyGram brand to achieve more than 80% of awareness in more than 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and the United States.

According to Mario Rivero, CEO of FlexFunds, "the asset securitization industry with global distribution is changing at a rapid pace. With the aim of continuing to deliver unique strategies in the industry, we believe that Emilio's appointment will be of great value to FlexFunds, thanks to his deep knowledge of the industry, as well as his experience and constant value creation in every project he has undertaken throughout his career."

Emilio is a graduate from prestigious institutions such as ESADE Business & Law school in Europe and The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business where he obtained his MBA degree.

For more information about FLEXFUNDS, visit us at www.FlexFunds.com

About FlexFunds

With over US$ 2.5 billion in total funded amount, and presence in the Americas, Asia and Europe, FlexFunds is a globally recognized service provider in asset securitization. Among its clients are financial institutions, hedge funds, alternative assets and portfolio managers, and real estate developers. Through its robust and versatile asset securitization program, FlexFunds is a flexible solution to raise funds by providing access to capital markets worldwide.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/815222/flexfunds.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/654333/FLEXFUNDS_Logo.jpg

CONTACT: Cecilia Bavio 305-582-7497 [email protected]

SOURCE FlexFunds

Related Links

http://www.FlexFunds.com

ELKHORN, Neb., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Fat Brain Toy Co., a nationwide leader in the specialty toy industry, and Vulli, maker of Sophie la girafe , are proud to announce a distribution partnership for North America, brokered by Anjar & Becker Associates, which revisits an iconic toy line from the 1970s and adds several new brand extensions. The companies reached an agreement just prior to the kickoff of the American International Toy Fair in New York City.

Timber Tots by Klorofil, (originally called TreeTots when distributed in the 1970s) is a new brand based on 3 universal values: Family, Nature and Magic which all appeal to both children and parents. A range that promotes imagination and interaction through countless stories to tell. This line of playsets, vehicles, and lovely animal characters also features a surprising  Pop and play  effect aimed at girls and boys from 18 months to 5 years.

Leading the line is the iconic and instantly recognizable Magic Treehouse. Several new additions including Mushroom Surprise House, Enchanted Park, Hazelnut House, Adventure Bus, and a cast of 4 Timber Tots families have been added to the line, which is sure to resonate with a wide neutral gender preschool audience.

"This was one of the most beloved toys of my childhood," said Karen Carson, Fat Brain Toys Co-founder. "Each time we've shown The Magic Treehouse to colleagues or friends, there is an immediate reaction of 'Hey! I had that as a kid and I loved it!'

Carson also explained, "There's an age gap in the marketplace for imaginative playsets. Timber Tots by Klorofil fills that space and we are so excited to introduce this magical line to the specialty toy industry. We know today's preschoolers and parents will fall in love with it."

Eric Rossi, General Manager of the French company, Vulli commented, "After a highly successful release in France in 2018, we are thrilled that Timber Tots by Klorofil has found a home with such a highly respected company as Fat Brain Toy Co. We have been very impressed by the Fat Brain Toy Co. team, their forward thinking for the brand and we look forward to a long and successful partnership in North America."

Jonathan Becker, President of Anjar Co. LLC said, "We're proud to facilitate the distribution of Timber Tots by Klorofil from the Makers of Sophie la girafe , and we're happy to represent Vulli again."

Patti Becker, CEO of Becker Associates LLC added, "We're thrilled to launch this wonderful brand in North America through Fat Brain Toy Co. We've been impressed by Fat Brain's team for many years and look forward to working closely together."

The Timber Tots by Klorofil line currently offers thirteen unique items, including playsets, vehicles, and figures. For more details, and to see the full line in person, visit Fat Brain Toy Co.'s booth, #6435, and Anjar Co. LLC & Becker Associates LLC booth, #947, at the American International Toy Fair, February 16-19, 2019 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.

Vulli, most famous for their Sophie la girafe  brand is excited to expand their international footprint with Timber Tots by Klorofil which delivers a clear message - " Nature is magic ". "This line depicts the magic of nature in an imaginative and playful manner. The adorable and collectible playsets and loveable cast of animal characters emote a wonderful sense about nature's magic, and brings a highly visual and pictorial designed brand to the imaginative play arena for all new generations of children. The magical pop and play function of each piece is an absolute magical experience for little ones," Rossi explained.

"By combining great design, innovative use of materials, and open-ended play, Fat Brain Toy Co. has created a successful formula for toys that look as great as they play, and Timber Tots by Klorofil is no exception," explained Carson.

About Fat Brain Toys:

Fat Brain Toys is one of the nation's leading independent toy companies. Unlike mainstream alternatives, Fat Brain Toys creates and curates quality toys, games, and clever gifts, and enables children to learn through pure, authentic play. Fat Brain Toys are available at leading retailers around the world, including their own website, www.fatbraintoys.com. Fat Brain Toys is a family-owned and operated company based in Elkhorn, Nebraska.

About Vulli:

Founded in 1945, and specializing at the beginning in mechanical toys, the Vulli Company has become an expert in the world of nursery items and early childhood toys. Located in Rumilly in Haute-Savoie, France and home of the famous Sophie la girafe  and Klorofil  brands, the company designs and creates products adapted to the different stages of child development.

About Anjar & Becker Associates:

Anjar & Becker Associates are award-winning, full-service global brand management, IP licensing, and consulting agencies. The company has licensed more than 800 products, resulting in over $2 billion of sales. Jim Becker, Anjar's Founder, was inducted into the TOY INDUSTRY HALL OF FAME in 2018, during Anjar's 50th Anniversary year. www.BeckerAssoc.com

FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Mark Carson at (402) 779-3181

or [email protected]

or Patti Becker at (203) 321-6813

or [email protected]

or Eric Rossi at (+33) 450 010 620

or [email protected]

SOURCE Fat Brain Toy Co.

Related Links

http://www.fatbraintoys.com

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Farmers Insurance has been named one of the 2019 FORTUNE "100 Best Companies to Work For," according to global research and consulting firm Great Place to Work and Fortune. Read FORTUNE's description of Farmers here: http://fortune.com/best-companies/farmers-insurance/

"We're pleased Farmers has achieved recognition by FORTUNE and Great Place to Work for our ongoing efforts to provide employees with a dynamic, engaging and culture-driven workplace," said Jeff Dailey, CEO of Farmers Insurance. "Our enterprise-wide commitment to diversity and inclusion, technology and innovation, as well as community engagement and volunteerism helps empower employees to make a positive impact on customers and in their communities."

Click to tweet: Farmers Insurance Named One of the 2019 FORTUNE Best Companies to Work For by Great Place to Work and @FortuneMagazine @GPTW_US @WeAreFarmers #100BestCos https://ctt.ac/tMVE9+

Placement on the 100 Best Companies to Work For list is based on survey feedback representing more than 4.3 million employees across dozens of organizations, with respondents rating their workplace culture on 60-plus elements of the workplace. These include trust in managers, compensation, fairness, camaraderie and workplace traits linked to innovation.

Farmers employees can enjoy a variety of benefits, including:

Time to recharge: Farmers promotes a healthy work/life balance allowing for time to relax, recharge and spend time with family and friends. Eligible employees are provided 19-34 paid days off per year depending on their tenure with the organization. In addition, in 2019, Farmers will observe nine and a half paid company holidays.

Farmers promotes a healthy work/life balance allowing for time to relax, recharge and spend time with family and friends. Eligible employees are provided 19-34 paid days off per year depending on their tenure with the organization. In addition, in 2019, Farmers will observe nine and a half paid company holidays. Health and wellbeing : Farmers offers a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, health savings and flexible spending accounts, life and accident insurance, short- and long-term disability, and wellness programs.

: Farmers offers a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, health savings and flexible spending accounts, life and accident insurance, short- and long-term disability, and wellness programs. Ways to give back : Farmers employees are encouraged to make a difference through Farmers-sponsored volunteer activities.

: Farmers employees are encouraged to make a difference through Farmers-sponsored volunteer activities. Opportunities to grow : Farmers invests in employees' professional development with on-the-job learning and mentorship opportunities. The Farmers Tuition Assistance program can help eligible employees reach educational goals.

: Farmers invests in employees' professional development with on-the-job learning and mentorship opportunities. The Farmers Tuition Assistance program can help eligible employees reach educational goals. 401(k): Eligible employees can plan for the future by joining Farmers competitive 401(k) Savings Plan immediately. The organization matches contributions dollar for dollar, up to 6 percent of employees' eligible pay, and the Farmers match is vested immediately. Additionally, Farmers makes an automatic 4 percent base contribution to the 401(k) Savings Plan based on eligible pay. This 4 percent base contribution has a three-year vesting period and is in addition to the plan's Farmers match amount.

Eligible employees can plan for the future by joining Farmers competitive 401(k) Savings Plan immediately. The organization matches contributions dollar for dollar, up to 6 percent of employees' eligible pay, and the Farmers match is vested immediately. Additionally, Farmers makes an automatic 4 percent base contribution to the 401(k) Savings Plan based on eligible pay. This 4 percent base contribution has a three-year vesting period and is in addition to the plan's Farmers match amount. Annual employee bonus: Eligible employees can receive a bonus for their work linked to individual and company performance.

"The 2019 100 Best are the leaders in creating the most innovative workplaces built on trust," said Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work. "Employees at these organizations feel valued, respected and heard, and are inspired to be their best selves because of the commitment these winning companies have made to creating a great workplace for all employees, no matter who they are or what they do for the company."

The Best Companies to Work For list is one of a series of rankings by Great Place to Work and FORTUNE based on anonymous employee feedback from Great Place to Work-Certified organizations. In 2018, Farmers Insurance was also ranked as a Best Workplace for Diversity by Great Place to Work and FORTUNE.

For more information or to explore open positions at Farmers Insurance offices around the country, please visit http://www.farmers.com/careers. To see the full list of the 2019 FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For, click here.

About Farmers Insurance

"Farmers Insurance" and "Farmers" are tradenames for a group of affiliated insurers providing insurance for automobiles, homes and small businesses and a wide range of other insurance and financial services and products. Farmers Insurance is proud to serve more than 10 million households with over 19 million individual policies nationally, through the efforts of more than 48,000 exclusive and independent agents and approximately 20,000 employees. Farmers Insurance Exchange, the largest of the three primary insurance insurers that make up Farmers Insurance, is recognized as one of the largest U.S. companies on the 2018 Fortune 500 list.

For more information about Farmers Insurance, visit Farmers.com, Twitter and Instagram, @WeAreFarmers, or Facebook.com/FarmersInsurance.

About The FORTUNE 100 Best Companies To Work For

Great Place to Work based its ranking on a data-driven methodology applied to anonymous Trust Index survey responses representing the view of more than 4.3 million employees at Great Place to Work-Certified organizations with more than 1,000 employees. To learn more about Great Place to Work Certification and recognition on Best Workplaces lists published with FORTUNE, visit Greatplacetowork.com.

About Great Place to Work

Great Place to Work is a global people analytics and consulting firm that helps companies produce better business results by focusing on workplace culture. Powered by more than 30 years of research, Emprising, its SaaS-enabled survey and analytics platform, gives companies access to the assessments, data, and reporting needed to build a high-trust, high-performance culture.

Read our new book: "A Great Place to Work for All: Better for Business, Better for People, Better for the World." Learn more at Greatplacetowork.com and on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Contact: External Communications

Farmers Insurance

818-965-0007

[email protected]

SOURCE Farmers Insurance

Related Links

http://www.farmersinsurance.com

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

"If this bill is enacted, expect the largest surge of unaccompanied minors this country has ever seen. If this bill is passed by Congress, President Trump must veto it."--Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)

The congressional funding bill to keep the federal government operating beyond February 15 includes a classic diversionary tactic. While the House and Senate conferees have everyone focused on the $1.375 billion allocated for construction of a portion of the border wall (sold as a huge concession by the Democrats), the bill contains a perpetual illegal alien amnesty.

Section 224(a) of the bill states that "None of the funds provided by this Act or any other Actmay be used by the Secretary of Homeland Security to place in detention, remove, refer for a decision whether to initiate removal proceedings, or initiate removal proceedings against a sponsor, potential sponsor, or member of a household of a sponsor or potential sponsor of an unaccompanied alien child"

In simple English, every new unaccompanied minor who arrives at our border will trigger an amnesty for multiple adult illegal aliens who are already in the country. The illegal aliens who will be eligible for protection from removal include not just actual sponsors, but those who might be potential sponsors and every member of their households.

If this bill is enacted, expect the largest surge of unaccompanied minors this country has ever seen. If this bill is passed by Congress, President Trump must veto it. Simply put, in exchange for a mere one-third of his already pared down border wall funding request, this bill will trigger unprecedented border chaos and amnesty for untold numbers of illegal aliens.

Contact: Matthew Tragesser, 202-328-7004

ABOUT FAIR

Founded in 1979, FAIR is the country's largest immigration reform group. With over 2 million members and supporters nationwide, FAIR fights for immigration policies that serve national interests, not special interests. FAIR believes that immigration reform must enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs, preserve our environment, and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced.

SOURCE Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)

Related Links

http://www.fairus.org

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, Sen. Nickie Antonio announced that she will reintroducewith bipartisan supportthe Ohio Fairness Act, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexuality, gender identity, and gender expression in employment, housing, and public accommodations. The bill would expand Ohio's existing nondiscrimination law to cover three new protected classes, offering legal protections for members of the LGBTQ community that do not currently exist on a state level.

Ohio is currently one of 29 states to exclude members of the LGBTQ community from its nondiscrimination law. On a local level, however, twenty Ohio cities (and one entire county  Cuyahoga) have extended their nondiscrimination laws to cover members of the LGBTQ community. And just last month, Gov. DeWine issued an Executive Order that maintained nondiscrimination legal protections for LGBTQ state employees. These strides are important, but they are not enough. LGBTQ Ohioans still face incredible discrimination, particularly in some of the most important areas of people's lives: at their jobs, in their homes, and in spaces otherwise open to the public. The Ohio Fairness Act would prohibit this sort of discrimination for all members of the LGBTQ community in the state.

Equitas Health applauds Sen. Antonio for reintroducing such an important piece of legislation and thanks her for her relentless effort to get this bill passed.

This legislative session marks the fifth consecutive session  spanning 10 years  in which Sen. Antonio has introduced the Ohio Fairness Act. "We look forward to working with her to ensure that this is the last time she will need to reintroduce this bill. All Ohioans deserve to live free from discrimination and the Ohio Fairness Act will help make that reality more achievable. Equitas Health supports the Ohio Fairness Act in full and will work diligently with our community partners to ensure its passage," said Bill Hardy, President and CEO of Equitas Health.

ABOUT EQUITAS HEALTH:

Established in 1984, Equitas Health (formerly AIDS Resource Center Ohio), is a regional not-for-profit community-based healthcare system and federally qualified community health center look-alike. Its expanded mission has made it one of the nation's largest HIV/AIDS, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) healthcare organizations. With 17 offices in 11 cities, it serves more than 67,000 individuals in Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia each year through its diverse healthcare and social service delivery system focused around: primary and specialized medical care, community pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, HIV/STI prevention, advocacy, and community health initiatives. In 2019, the Buckeye Regional Anti-Violence Organization (BRAVO) became a part of Equitas Health.

The Equitas Health Pharmacy & Prizm magazine operate as social enterprises for Equitas Health; 100% of profits are reinvested back into the organization's programs and services.

For more information, visit www.equitashealth.com or find them on Facebook or Twitter.

CONTACT:

Laura Mesones, 614-987-5239

[email protected]

SOURCE Equitas Health

Related Links

http://equitashealth.com

WHEELING, Ill., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Elenco, the maker of the award-winning Snap Circuits products, announces a new line of educational toys under the brand name TEACH TECH, with a focus on hands-on, building fun. The first offerings within the TEACH TECH line feature robotic kits, including products that explore renewable energy and coding. Following the Learn by doing philosophy found in all Elenco products, TEACH TECH enhances play quality with an emphasis on Do-It-Yourself building to boost confidence and critical thinking skills. Products within this line will appeal to all who enjoy using their hands to build and tinker and then bring their creations to life with movement, coding and programming. Future-minded kids can also investigate alternative power sources with kits that highlight solar, hydraulic, wind, or air power.

TEACH TECH unveils two innovative, coding robot kits at New York Toy Fair, as well as other electronic and alternative energy kits:

Tobbie II Kids can build a robot, then code and program with MakeCode or Phython Editor. With 6 legs and a fully-rotational body, Tobbie includes motor, infrared sensors, buzzers, and BBC Micro:bit. Bluetooth-controlled and user-friendly. DIY and Coding in one kit!



Kids can build a robot, then code and program with MakeCode or Phython Editor. With 6 legs and a fully-rotational body, Tobbie includes motor, infrared sensors, buzzers, and BBC Micro:bit. Bluetooth-controlled and user-friendly. DIY and Coding in one kit! Mech-5! Truly innovative- screenless coding. A mission-based STEM coding robot with a mechanical coding wheel, instead of a computer. Mech-5 is "unplugged"  a new concept of coding without a computer or app. Just snap coding buttons onto the coding wheel to initiate movement such as forward, backward, turn, spin, or pause. Screenless coding

Elenco will officially introduce the TEACH TECH brand and unveil Tobbie II and Mech-5 at this year's New York Toy Fair, with demonstrations of TEACH TECH's green energy and other mechanical-robotic kits within the line. TEACH TECH will be available in all Elenco's retail channels, including specialty stores, larger retailers, and online retailers. The official product launches for Tobbie II and Mech-5 are slated for Summer 2019.

New in Snap Circuits

Green Energy! In line with the focus on renewable energy evident in the Teach Tech line, Elenco also introduces Snap Circuits GREEN ENERGY  a reboot of the popular Snap Circuits GREEN  updated with new parts and content for today's exploration into alternative energy concepts, including electric cars, windmills, and hand-generated power. Perfect for environmentalists and future engineers!



In line with the focus on renewable energy evident in the Teach Tech line, Elenco also introduces  a reboot of the popular Snap Circuits GREEN  updated with new parts and content for today's exploration into alternative energy concepts, including electric cars, windmills, and hand-generated power. Perfect for environmentalists and future engineers! Toy Of The Year! SNAP CIRCUITS BRIC: Structures, released in 2018, is a Toy Of The Year Finalist! BRIC combines SNAP CIRCUITS with ordinary building bricks to make endless combinations of construction and circuitry. Winner of KAPi BEST EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT award at the Consumer Electronics Show, ASTRA Best Toys For Kids, and the inaugural recipient of the Seriously STEM award.



SNAP CIRCUITS BRIC: Structures, released in 2018, is a Toy Of The Year Finalist! BRIC combines SNAP CIRCUITS with ordinary building bricks to make endless combinations of construction and circuitry. Winner of KAPi BEST EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT award at the Consumer Electronics Show, ASTRA Best Toys For Kids, and the inaugural recipient of the Seriously STEM award. STEM-Approved! Elenco is proud to announce that their award-winning SNAP CIRCUITS line of educational products and toys has earned the STEM APPROVED Trustmark from STEM.org. In addition, Elenco has partnered with STEM.org for the upcoming SNAP CIRCUITS GREEN ENERGY kit. STEM.org's mission is to make quality STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education accessible to all. For more than 15 years, STEM.org has been at the forefront of the global, Pre-K  12th grade STEM education movement.

About Elenco: Family owned and operated for over 45 years, Elenco has provided educational/STEM products, along with hobby and test equipment to consumers and schools. Elenco's award-winning SNAP CIRCUITS products teach kids to have fun learning electricity, engineering, circuitry and more. The award-winning SNAP CIRCUITS brand has been endorsed by educators globally and used in schools, libraries, museums, after-school and homeschool programs, STEM and Maker programs, and at home. Elenco WEmake line includes educational, D.I.Y kits and tools that teach soldering and other basic electronics concepts and skills. Elenco is also the North American partner for world-renowned toy brands including Engino Construction and Edu-Toys Science Kits, and more. Broadly distributed through a wide-range of retail channels, Elenco products can be found wherever fun, innovative, science-based activities are sold.

Our Mission: Our mission is to provide quality, innovative toys and educational products that are fun, affordable, engaging, and designed to instill a passion for learning and creating. We're committed to inspiring imagination, invention, and exploration. We believe the best way to learn is by doing.

Visit www.elenco.com or Elenco's Toy Fair press kit.

Elenco will exhibit at New York Toy Fair  Booth #3165.

SOURCE ElencoCHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) has posted its fourth-quarter and full-year 2018 financial results in a news release available on the company's website at the following link: duke-energy.com/investors.

Lynn Good, chairman, president and chief executive officer, and Steve Young, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will discuss the company's financial results and other business and financial updates during an investor presentation at 10 a.m. ET today. The call can be accessed via the investors' section (duke-energy.com/investors) of Duke Energy's website or by dialing 888-254-3590 in the U.S. or 323-994-2093 outside the U.S. The confirmation code is 9977760. Please call in 10 to 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time.

A replay of the conference call will be available until 1:30 p.m. ET, Feb. 24, 2019, by calling 888-203-1112 in the U.S. or 719-457-0820 outside the U.S., and using the code 9977760. An audio replay and transcript will also be available by accessing the investors' section of the company's website.

Duke Energy

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) is one of the largest energy holding companies in the U.S., with approximately 29,000 employees and a generating capacity of 49,500 megawatts. The company is transforming its customers' experience, modernizing its energy grid, generating cleaner energy and expanding its natural gas infrastructure to create a smarter energy future for the people and communities it serves.

The company's Electric Utilities and Infrastructure unit serves approximately 7.6 million retail electric customers in six states  North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Its Gas Utilities and Infrastructure unit distributes natural gas to approximately 1.6 million customers in five states  North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. Its Commercial Renewables unit operates a growing renewable energy portfolio across the U.S.

A Fortune 125 company, Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2018 "World's Most Admired Companies" list and Forbes' 2018 "America's Best Employers" list.

More information about the company is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center includes news releases, fact sheets, photos, videos and other materials. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Media Contact: Catherine Butler

24-Hour: 800.559.3853

Analysts: Mike Callahan

Office: 704.382.0459

SOURCE Duke Energy

Related Links

http://www.duke-energy.com

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- DataPath, Inc., a leading developer of technology solutions for benefits administration, announced the launch of direct billing functionality in its cloud-based Summit platform. The enhancement further expands Summit's billing and benefits administration capabilities, in conjunction with COBRA and retiree billing.

"TPAs can use Summit to collect premiums for group health benefits, individual marketplace payments, union dues, or whatever billing their clients need, in addition to managing FSAs, HSAs, and COBRA," explains Greg Licata, DataPath's chief product officer.

The launch of direct billing adds another key piece to DataPath's Summit platform, following the release of COBRA in November 2017, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) in March 2018, and retiree billing in January 2019.

Launched in 2014, Summit is the industry's only cloud-based solution designed specifically for the seamless administration of consumer directed healthcare (CDH) accounts, including Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs), and HSAs, COBRA and billing.

"We want TPAs to take their businesses to new heights with our powerful and efficient benefits administration platform," DataPath President and CEO, John Robbins, Jr. explains. "With Summit, they can accomplish everything they need in a single solution."

About the company: DataPath, Inc. is a privately-owned software developer headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Since 1984, DataPath has been creating solutions for the administration of consumer-directed healthcare accounts, COBRA, and billing. The company is also an end-to-end card and payments processor. Learn more about Summit.

Media Contact: Erin Carlile, [email protected]

SOURCE DataPath, Inc.ABUJA, Nigeria, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As Nigeria goes to the polls on 16 February 2019, fears are growing that interreligious and inter-ethnic tensions could erupt into violence during and after the elections.

In a powerful demonstration of interreligious solidarity, Christian, Muslim and other religious leaders of the Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace have come together to call on their communities to "exercise restraint, vote wisely knowing that our votes will count."

"If at all we should fight, let us fight hunger, disease, corruption and poverty," said HRH Abdulfatah Ementumah in the video statement.

The religious leaders together said that the elections are not a matter of religion, nor should Nigerians vote along religious lines. Instead, they called on their communities and followers to cooperate for a violence-free election and to advocate for peace between all religious and ethnic communities for the sake of all Nigerians.

The Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace

The religious leaders featured in the video are: Elder Uzoaku Williams, Alh. Ibrahim Yahya, Stella Francis, Apostle Nyeneime Andy, Rev. Peter O. Agogo, HRH Abdulfatah Ementumah, Rev Apostolic Mother Julia Akerele, Imam Fuad Adeyemi, Isa Muhammad Maishanu, Hajiya Amina Omoti and Bishop Dr. Sunda Onuoha.

The Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace is a Nigerian national interfaith and intercultural dialogue forum made up of representatives of major religions in Nigeria and supports initiatives that promote peaceful coexistence among the different religions and ethnic groups.

KAICIID in Nigeria

The International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) seeks to support dialogue in Nigeria by establishing dialogue spaces, teaching dialogue skills, and supporting local initiatives that bring communities together. Active dialogue platforms like the IDFP are key in bringing together different religious leaders and communities to prevent conflict and promote mutual respect and peace.

SOURCE The International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID)

Related Links

https://www.kaiciid.org

M12-backed enterprise software startup earns coveted "co-sell ready" status accelerating joint go-to-market activities globally

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Cerebri AI, an enterprise software startup using proprietary artificial intelligence technology to generate next best actions that increase revenue and reduce operating costs, today announced the company has achieved "co-sell ready" status with Microsoft's exclusive One Commercial Partner (OCP) program.

"Earning co-sell ready status with Microsoft is a tremendous opportunity for Cerebri AI as our Concurrent Advanced Reinforcement Learning software is a perfect pairing with Azure," said Jean Belanger, Cerebri AI Co-founder & CEO. "We look forward to collaborating closely with the OCP team globally to bring even more value to their Fortune 500 accounts."

As a key element of Microsoft's go-to-market strategy, partnering with a select group of independent software vendors (ISVs) to accelerate Azure adoption has proven extremely effective. In their most recent fiscal quarter Microsoft's commercial cloud revenue increased 48 percent year-over-year to $9 billion. Their industry-leading IP co-sell program which rewards 40,000 Microsoft sellers for selling third-party solutions is a "runaway success" according to Gavriella Schuster, Microsoft Corporate Vice President, One Commercial Partner. The co-sell program Cerebri AI is joining generated $8 billion in contracted revenue since its launch in July 2017. According to Schuster, "Our partners are reaping the benefits and seeing co-sell deals close nearly three times faster, projects that are nearly six times larger, and drive six times more Azure consumption."

Traditional top-down approaches to sales, marketing and brand management stop short of considering each individual customer's unique journey. Using cloud computing, Cerebri AI applies advanced machine-learning models to massive customer data sets and builds from the bottom up, with one customer journey measuring commitment to the brand, in real time, across channels, and at scale. Given a specific KPI, the Cerebri AI software predicts which customers are most likely to act to meet that KPI and when; and what action must be taken now based on their current commitment to the brand and their overall customer journey. Cerebri AI runs on Microsoft Azure on a SaaS basis behind corporate firewalls, ensuring maximum security and quality for both the data inputs and the next best actions generated by the machine-learning models.

Companies that license the Cerebri AI software acquire a powerful automated tool for dynamically monitoring not only brand value, but also identifying next best actions that accelerate growth while simultaneously reducing costs. A UK-based nationwide automotive retailer recently achieved 7x their baseline conversion to sales results using a Cerebri AI email campaign, which had the additional benefit of reducing the total number of emails sent by 90%  an increasingly important consideration in the GDPR era.

About Cerebri AI

Cerebri AI enables enterprises to individually measure customer brand commitment then take actions that raise revenue and reduce costs, across all channels, in real time, at scale. Cerebri AI's SaaS product uses reinforcement learning to measure the value of every customer interaction  sales, marketing, service  from the customer's point of view, generating the first truly actionable measure of customer experience. Backed by M12 (formerly Microsoft Ventures), the company is headquartered in Austin with offices in Toronto and Washington, DC, and 80% of the company's 50+ employees are in data science and software roles. To date, the team has filed ten patents pertaining to the Cerebri AI way. In addition to the Microsoft co-sell program, Cerebri AI is also an active member of the Mastercard Start Path network. To learn more, visit cerebriai.com.

SOURCE Cerebri AI

Related Links

https://www.cerebriai.com

NETANYA, Israel, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE: CEL) announced today that an Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (the "Meeting") of Cellcom Israel Ltd. (the "Company") will be held on Thursday, March 28, 2019, at 4:00 p.m. (Israel time), at the offices of the Company, 10 Hagavish Street, Netanya, Israel. The record date for the Meeting is Monday, February 25, 2019.

The agenda of the Meeting is as follows:

(1-4) re-election of Ami Erel, Sholem Lapidot, Ephraim Kunda and election of Gustavo Traiber as directors;

(5-6) election of Varda Liberman and Shmuel Hauzer as external directors;

(7) appointment of Keselman & Keselman, a member of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, as our independent auditors; and

(8) consideration of our audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018, which we expect to file with the SEC on Form 20-F prior to date of the Meeting.

Quorum

Two or more shareholders holding in the aggregate at least one-third of the outstanding voting power in the Company, present in person or by proxy and entitled to vote, will constitute a quorum at the Meeting.

Voting Requirements

Items 1-4 and 7 require the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the voting power present at the meeting, in person or by proxy, and voting on the matter.

Items 5-6 require the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the voting power present at the meeting, in person or by proxy, and voting on the matter, provided that either (i) at least a majority of the shares of non-controlling shareholders or who do not have a personal interest in the approval of the election of the external director (other than a personal interest that is not the result of the shareholder's connections with a controlling shareholder) voted at the meeting vote in favor of the election of the external director (disregarding abstentions); or (ii) the total number of shares among the shareholders described in section (i) above voted against the election of the external director does not exceed 2% of the aggregate voting rights in the Company.

Item 8 will not involve a vote.

Proxy statements and proxy cards for use by shareholders that cannot attend the meeting in person will be sent by mail, on or about February 28, 2019, to the Company's shareholders that hold shares registered with the American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, including shares held via Depository Trust Company (DTC) members other than the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Clearinghouse. Shareholders that hold shares via the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Clearinghouse may access the proxy statement and a form of Hebrew ballot via the following websites: http://www.magna.isa.gov.il and http://maya.tase.co.il .

About Cellcom Israel

Cellcom Israel Ltd., established in 1994, is a leading Israeli communications group, providing a wide range of communications services. Cellcom Israel is the largest Israeli cellular provider, providing its approximately 2.825 million cellular subscribers (as at September 30, 2018) with a broad range of services including cellular telephony, roaming services for tourists in Israel and for its subscribers abroad, text and multimedia messaging, advanced cellular content and data services and other value-added services in the areas of music, video, mobile office etc., based on Cellcom Israel's technologically advanced infrastructure. The Company operates an LTE 4 generation network and an HSPA 3.5 Generation network enabling advanced high speed broadband multimedia services, in addition to GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks. Cellcom Israel offers Israel's broadest and largest customer service infrastructure including telephone customer service centers, retail stores, and service and sale centers, distributed nationwide. Cellcom Israel further provides OTT TV services, internet infrastructure and connectivity services and international calling services, as well as landline telephone services in Israel. Cellcom Israel's shares are traded both on the New York Stock Exchange (CEL) and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (CEL). For additional information please visit the Company's website http://investors.cellcom.co.il.

Company Contact Investor Relations Contact Shlomi Fruhling Ehud Helft Chief Financial Officer GK Investor & Public Relations In partnership with LHA [email protected] [email protected] Tel: +972-52-998-9735 Tel: +1-617-418-3096

SOURCE Cellcom Israel Ltd.

Related Links

http://investors.cellcom.co.il/

The company's 8th factory is expected to create more than 650 new jobs over next two years

TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Canada Goose (NYSE/TSX: GOOS) today announced that it will open its second factory in Quebec and eighth wholly-owned manufacturing facility in Canada, a testament to its continued commitment to keep production of its core down-filled jackets in Canada. Located in the Chabanel area in Montreal, Quebec, the 115,000 square-foot factory will be operational and employ more than 100 people by the end of March 2019 with an expected 650 new positions at full capacity by the end of 2020.

This new production facility follows shortly after the company's successful opening of its manufacturing facility in Boisbriand, Quebec in 2017 which today is home to more than 500 new employees. The factory will be equipped with the latest in wireless manufacturing technology driving increased real-time efficiency and each sewer will have a tablet for digital guidance on operational execution. The facility will produce a full range of the Canada Goose collection which is sold in over 40 countries around the world.

"We continue to raise the bar for what it means to be a leader in Canadian apparel manufacturing and we are thrilled to be doing that in the province of Quebec. We are not just opening offices or putting up a masthead  we are helping to rebuild the cut and sew industry here by creating meaningful new careers for hundreds of people. We are incredibly proud to be making this investment in the community and continuing to grow our in-house capacity," said Dani Reiss, President & CEO, Canada Goose.

In cooperation with Montreal International, the official economic development and promotion agency for the greater Montreal region, Canada Goose will expand its national sewing training school program within the new facility. The training school will provide sewing skills training for prospective hires and upon successful completion, trainees will graduate directly into full-time employment opportunities at Canada Goose. To date, more than 800 employees across the country have successfully completed the training program, moving into key production roles including sewing machine operators, line supervisors and production managers. Additionally, training courses in French will be provided for employees onsite.

In the last four years, Canada Goose has expanded its manufacturing footprint and today also include three sites in Winnipeg, three in the Greater Toronto Area, and one in Boisbriand, Quebec. Canada Goose is recognized for employing approximately 20 per cent of the cut and sew labour force across the country and has more than doubled the number of manufacturing workers it employs since 2017.

About Canada Goose Inc.

Founded in a small warehouse in Toronto, Canada in 1957, Canada Goose has grown into one of the world's leading makers of performance luxury apparel. Every collection is informed by the rugged demands of the Arctic and inspired by relentless innovation and uncompromised craftsmanship. From Antarctic research facilities and the Canadian High Arctic, to the streets of New York, London, Milan, Paris, and Tokyo, people are proud to wear Canada Goose products. Employing more than 3,400 people worldwide, Canada Goose is a recognized leader for its Made in Canada commitment, and is a long-time partner of Polar Bears International. Visit canadagoose.com for more information.

SOURCE Canada GooseLOS ANGELES, Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, FilmLA released a new report prepared by its research division. The 2018 Television Report offers an overview of the current production landscape for U.S. based television series and new TV projects (i.e. pilots). In addition to quantifying California's capture of this economically important business, the report assesses some of the trends shaping series production across broadcast, cable and digital networks.

"This report highlights the incredible economic value that television production creates, and helps explain why California's many competitors are eager to win this business," observed FilmLA President Paul Audley.

By FilmLA's count, over the past two years, 467 live-action scripted series were produced by U.S. studios for the domestic market, making the 2017-18 development cycle the most productive FilmLA has observed. The number of live-action scripted series in production increased nearly 10 percent from 2016-17 to 2017-18. All the annual series count growth is attributed to digital networks.

The influence of digital streaming services on original content development is a major focus of the report. The number of digitally distributed original series in production has increased 2,314 percent since 2010-11 on a series count basis. Digital series now comprise nearly one-fifth of all new TV projects (i.e. pilots) tracked by FilmLA.

The number of new projects ordered "straight to series" also remains high. Only four percent of new projects were ordered this way eight years ago; in 2017-18, 36 percent of new shows were ordered straight-to-series.

Among all established production centers, California stands out as the leading destination for scripted TV. For 2017-18, 176 of 467 tracked series were produced in California, for an industry-leading 38 percent share of activity by show count. FilmLA estimates the economic value of this activity to California at more than $6.8 billion per year. Other locations are also seeing benefits from television production; series were produced in 57 different jurisdictions in 2017-18, spanning 21 U.S. states and 33 countries.

The California Film & Television Tax Credit Program, which is available for use by pilot projects and shows picked up for series, is driving considerable job benefits for the state. According to data shared by the California Film Commission, the current crop of state-incentivized TV series in production sustains more than 10,000 cast and crew jobs and tens of thousands of work opportunities for background performers.

California also remains competitive when it comes to attracting new projects (or pilots). FilmLA's report reveals that in 2017-18, 159 new projects were produced across the globe. Of those projects, 65 (21 one-hour, 44 half-hour) were filmed on California streets and stages. California's top competitors for this work include the state of New York (with 21 projects), and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia (with 17 projects), and Ontario (with 10 projects). Outside California, competing jurisdictions are more likely to attract projects that are one-hour, vs. a half-hour, in total running duration.

"Los Angeles is best equipped to support these projects long-term, and our efforts are focused on keeping the environment a welcoming one for filming," Audley added.

The 2018 Television Report, along with other reports from FilmLA Research, are available for download here (registration required):

https://www.filmla.com/our-services/research/

About FilmLA

FilmLA is a not-for-profit organization and the official film office of the City and County of Los Angeles, among an ever-increasing roster of local municipalities. FilmLA works to streamline and enhance the on-location filmmaking process for communities and content creators, to ensure the Greater Los Angeles economy continues to thrive. Our services include expedited permit processing, comprehensive community relations, film policy analysis and more. Learn more about us at www.filmla.com.

SOURCE FilmLA

Related Links

https://www.filmla.com

BALI, Indonesia and SHANGHAI, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On February 14, 2019, Burning Rock held the signing ceremony and announced the closing of the Series C financing totaling RMB 850 million. The financing was led by GIC, followed by LYFE Capital, CMB International Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV), Sequoia Capital China and T&Brothers Capital. This is another meaningful financing round after Burning Rock completed the RMB 300 million Series B financing in 2016 (Sequoia Capital, LYFE Capital, CMB International Capital and Legend Star).

The proceeds will primarily be used for early cancer detection product development and sales and marketing force expansion for the companion diagnostics business. Burning Rock will continue to lead cancer genetic testing industry in China, build an international leading tumor precision medicine brand and allow more people to benefit from genetic testing. The signing ceremony was attended by the investor representatives including, Mr. Goh Chin Kiong, Co-head of GIC's North Asia Direct Investment Group for Private Equity, Mr. Zhao Jin, founding partner of LYFE Capital, Mr. Rong Jing, Executive Director of CMB International Capital Management (ShenZhen) co. LTD, and Mr. Shu Weilin, partner of T&Brothers Capital.

Founded in 2014, Burning Rock focuses on NGS (Next-Generation Sequencing) diagnostics solutions for precision medicine in oncology. Currently, it has three core businesses: cancer patient companion diagnostics, early cancer detection, and cancer genome big data ecosystem. Burning Rock maintains its leading position in innovative technology, clinical product design and quality control system.

Burning Rock's efforts and success in compliance have also been widely recognized. In 2018, Burning Rock-CTONG laboratory was one of the first laboratories to pass the technical review of "NGS laboratory" of National Center for Clinical Laboratories, becoming the only clinical laboratory to have obtained all three official recognitions from China's NGS laboratory authority, US CLIA and CAP. In addition, Burning Rock obtained China's first cancer NGS reagent kit approval issued by NMPA (National Medical Products Administration).

The founder and CEO of Burning Rock, Mr. Han Yusheng said at the signing ceremony, "Tumor precision medicine is based on precise diagnosis. As more and more new targeted drugs and immunotherapy are available in the market, NGS-based companion diagnostics has become essential for better cancer treatment solutions. The market has witnessed more than 100% CAGR in the past three years and the fast growth will continue in the next three years. On the other hand, early detection is the ultimate solution if we want to extend the overall cancer survival period and improve survival quality significantly. Thanks to the development of epigenetics and NGS, Burning Rock was able to develop early detection technology using DNA methylation assay based on NGS platform more than two years ago, and some promising progress has been made since. Meanwhile, due to the big data generated from precise cancer companion diagnostics, as the leader of this industry, Burning Rock has established a genome big data ecosystem that connects doctors and pharmaceutical companies. The ecosystem will be likely to connect patients in the future. The new financing provides a financial guarantee for Burning Rock's rapid expansion in the above three areas. We appreciate the recognition from our investors."

Mr. Choo Yong Cheen, Chief Investment Officer of Private Equity at GIC, said, "As a long-term investor, we believe in the adoption of precision medicine in the future of cancer treatment and seek to work with leading players in the field to provide better treatment for cancer patients. Since its inception, Burning Rock has built a strong team with extensive experiences in R&D, sales and marketing. We hope Burning Rock to continue to uphold its standards and achieve more breakthroughs in cancer screening and diagnostics."

Mr. Zhao Jin of LYFE Capital expressed his consistent support for Burning Rock, "As an investment fund dedicated to the medical industry in China and the US, this is the third time LYFE Capital has invested in Burning Rock, which demonstrates our confidence in the prospect of the company. In the past few years, we have seen the progress and success of Burning Rock as well as the vision and ability of the founder Mr. Han Yusheng and his core team. Burning Rock is a promising cancer NGS diagnosis company and will enjoy long-lasting success."

Mr. Rong Jing of CMB International Capital also recognized Burning Rock's achievements over the past few years, "Burning Rock enjoys technological advantages and has a diversified product portfolio, which satisfies clinical needs. Furthermore, it always strives to make NGS diagnosis accessible to more patients. Currently, Burning Rock has established the highest industry standards in each respect. CMB International Capital participated both Series B financing and Series C financing without any hesitation. We believe that Burning Rock will surely maintain its leading position while advancing the development of China's tumor precision medicine, and it will grow into an international leading brand."

About Burning Rock

Founded in 2014, Burning Rock Biotech specializes in NGS (Next-Generation Sequencing) diagnostics solutions for precision medicine in oncology. Thus far, Burning Rock has developed 32 products for different cancer types and clinical applications.

Besides providing NGS test services in an LDT model, Burning Rock also pioneers in providing one-stop NGS platform solutions and enabling high-quality NGS tests at hospitals' pathology labs, which will benefit more patients in the long run. With the first NMPA (National Medical Products Administration)-approved NGS kit in China, strategic collaborations with Agilent, PerkinElmer, Illumina, Qiagen, and numerous pharmaceutical companies, Burning Rock is dedicated to developing innovative and reliable NGS diagnostics products to benefit cancer patients.

About GIC

GIC is a leading global investment firm established in 1981 to manage Singapore's foreign reserves. A disciplined long-term value investor, GIC is uniquely positioned for investments across a wide range of asset classes, including equities, fixed income, private equity, real estate and infrastructure. In private equity, GIC invests through funds as well as directly in companies, partnering with its fund managers and management teams to help world class businesses achieve their objectives. GIC has investments in over 40 countries and has been investing in emerging markets for more than two decades. Headquartered in Singapore, GIC employs over 1,500 people across 10 offices in key financial cities worldwide. For more information on GIC, please visit www.gic.com.sg.

About Lilly Asia Ventures

Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV) is a leading biomedical venture capital firm, with offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Palo Alto. Our vision is to become the trusted partner for exceptional entrepreneurs seeking smart capital and to build great companies developing breakthrough products that treat diseases and improve human health.

About LYFE Capital

Founded in 2015, LYFE Capital is a dedicated healthcare fund with $720 million USD assets under management. We are actively seeking healthcare companies with exceptional management teams and expansive vision geared towards global markets.

About CMBI

Incorporated in Hong Kong, supported by the mainland and targeting in global market, CMB International Capital Corporation Limited+ ("CMBI") is an integrated financial institution providing comprehensive and professional services, wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Bank ("CMB").

SOURCE Burning RockSAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Bridge Bank today announced three leadership changes within its technology and equity fund resources banking groups. The leadership changes will result in being more closely aligned with the company's strategic plan as Bridge Bank and its technology and equity fund resources banking groups continue to grow.

Blake Reid, senior vice president, based in Bridge Bank's technology banking group, located in Atlanta will oversee the Southeast region and Matt Klinger, senior vice president, based in Bridge Bank's technology banking group located in Reston, Virginia will oversee the Mid-Atlantic region. Blake and Matt will also continue to be responsible for creating flexible debt financing solutions for companies in a variety of technology sectors and supporting the group's continued growth and reputation as a leading technology lender.

Guy Simpson, senior vice president of Bridge Bank's technology banking group has been promoted to senior vice president, managing director of Bridge Bank's equity fund resources (EFR) group. Guy will now oversee the entire EFR group and promote its continued growth both in Silicon Valley and across the country. The EFR group was founded in September 2015 as a central hub for the venture capital and private equity communities building on Bridge Bank's success as a leading technology and life sciences lender.

"With the continued growth of our technology banking group in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, I'm proud to be placing Blake and Matt in their respective positions. Both have contributed greatly to the success of Bridge Bank over the years," said Tim Boothe, president of Bridge Bank. "I'm also confident, that in his new position, Guy will continue to lead our EFR group to significant future achievements along their current path of accelerated growth."

Blake Reid can be reached at (470) 639-1677 or by email at [email protected].

Matt Klinger can be reached at (703) 547-8198 or by email at [email protected].

Guy Simpson can be reached at (703) 345-9308 or by email at [email protected].

About Bridge Bank

Bridge Bank, a division of Western Alliance Bank, Member FDIC, helps business clients realize their growth ambitions. Founded in 2001 in Silicon Valley, Bridge Bank offers a better way to bank for small-market and middle-market businesses across many industries, as well as emerging technology companies and the private equity community. Geared to serving both venture-backed and non-venture-backed companies, Bridge Bank delivers a broad scope of financial solutions including growth capital, equipment and working capital credit facilities, sustainable energy project finance, venture debt, treasury management, asset-based lending, SBA and commercial real estate loans, ESOP finance and a full line of international products and services. Based in San Jose, Bridge Bank has eight offices in major markets across the country along with Western Alliance Bank's powerful array of specialized financial services. Western Alliance Bank is the primary subsidiary of Phoenix-based Western Alliance Bancorporation. One of the country's top-performing banking companies, Western Alliance has ranked in the top 10 on the Forbes "Best Banks in America" list for four consecutive years, 2016-2019. For more information, visit bridgebank.com.

SOURCE Bridge Bank

Related Links

http://www.bridgebank.com

Today's positive results, which include 40.2 g/t over 2 m in hole BA-19-09 and 20.7 g/t over 1.5 m in hole BA-19-07, confirm the extension of the North and Rivage Zones in a west-southwesterly direction by an additional 100 m, with mineralization encountered within 150 m of surface. These recent drill holes also confirm the easterly plunge of the mineralization. Visible gold is observed in smoky quartz veins and is associated with sphalerite which is typical of the Gladiator Deposit zones.

Bonterra has also extended the newly discovered Titan Zone 60 metres to the East with a drill intercept of 7g/t Au over 2 m in hole BA-19-01. The mineralized zone consists of quartz vein and stockworks with visible gold hosted in a major shear zone. The Titan Zone shows a lot of similarities to the Gladiator Zones and remains open in all directions.

Drilling highlights:

Hole From (m) To (m) Length* (m) Grade (g/t) Zone BA-19-01 444.3 445.4 1.1 4.9 Titan 1

565.0 567.0 2.0 7.0 Titan 2











BA-19-07 103.6 105.1 1.5 20.7 North











BA-19-09 142.4 143.9 1.5 7.3 Rivage

153.3 155.3 2 40.2 North

*Stated lengths are core width as drilled, true widths vary and average between 60 and 80 percent of drilled widths. Core axis angles of the intersection contacts and surrounding rock units average 55 to 70 degrees.

Greg Gibson, Interim CEO, states: 'These recent results continue to demonstrate that the Gladiator Deposit has yet to reveal its full potential. Whether the drill step-outs are 100 metres or 2 km, our technical team manages to identify gold mineralization where it is anticipated. We will keep pushing in the next weeks to include all drill results in the upcoming mineral estimate."

Please see http://www.bonterraresources.com/en/gladiator/maps-sections for updated long section and cross section.

Bonterra Resources Quick Facts:

Control of three high-grade gold deposits (Gladiator, Barry and Moroy) and significant regional targets

100% ownership of the Urban-Barry Mill, the only permitted gold mill in the region

Strong shareholder base including Eric Sprott and Kirkland Lake Gold

Property-wide NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate underway to include the Gladiator, Barry and Moroy deposits

Quality Control and Reporting Protocols

The Company uses a rigorous QA-QC analytical program according to industry standards. The analytical results were done by pyroanalysis (A.A.) at the Company's laboratory. Blanks, duplicates and certified reference standards are inserted into the sample stream to monitor laboratory performance. The Company's QA-QC analytical verification program requires that a minimum of 10% of the samples be audited at an independent laboratory. Theses audit assays were sent to ALS laboratory located in Val-d'Or, Quebec. The results of the audits are consistent with those obtained.

Qualified Persons

Pascal Hamelin, P.Eng., VP Operations, is the Qualified Person under NI 43-101, responsible for reviewing and approving the technical information contained in this news release.

Cautionary and 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 press release contains "forward-looking information" that is based on Bonterra's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections. This forward-looking information includes, among other things, statements with respect to Bonterra's exploration and development plans. The words "will", "anticipated", "plans" or other similar words and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Bonterra's actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, but are not limited to: uncertainties related exploration and development; the ability to raise sufficient capital to fund exploration and development; changes in economic conditions or financial markets; increases in input costs; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; technological or operational difficulties or inability to obtain permits encountered in connection with exploration activities; and labour relations matters. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect our forward-looking information. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking information. Bonterra disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Bonterra Resources Inc.

Related Links

http://www.bonterraresources.com

LUXEMBOURG, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- One year on from the launch of their successful blockchain/cryptocurrency fund of funds, the Luxembourg-domiciled and CSSF registered AIFM; Block Asset Management Sarl, have created the Blockchain Multi-strategy Certificate.

The open-ended tracker certificate is listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange (Wiener Borse) and will track the performance of their Blockchain & Crypto Fund. The underlying Fund invests in a carefully selected portfolio of blockchain/cryptocurrency investment funds using a unique five-prong investment approach: exposure to tracking/index, trading, mining, lending and ICO/STO funds. This diverse selection of managers has a combined AUM of over US$1bn.

Block Asset Management's founders and directors, Manuel E. De Luque Muntaner and Kevin Ballard, said that they are "thrilled to be able to bring to market a listed blockchain and crypto focused certificate that will allow global asset managers and institutional investors to access this exciting and dynamic asset class."

Mr. Ballard stated, "After a year of marketing our Blockchain & Crypto Fund of Funds, a year which included hosting Blockchain & Crypto conferences in Montevideo, Sao Paulo and Panama City, as well as presenting at events such as The Malta Blockchain Summit and The Isle of Man Blockchain Summit, we found that feedback on our diverse approach and rigorous multi-layer due diligence was overwhelmingly positive, however, Asset Managers required a listed note or certificate for ease of purchase. Also, in order to access Swiss Asset Managers, we required Swiss Fund representation. Via the tracker certificate, we have broken down these barriers and provided the solution."

Mr. De Luque Muntaner, Block Asset Management's Founder & CEO, added, "Given the performance of the crypto market in 2018, and after the bull run of 2017, investors remain hesitant despite current market conditions offering what many in the space see as a buying opportunity. Difficulties remain in selecting a single strategy or manager. This is compounded by a lack of funds that offer diversification, liquidity or any material performance history. By providing a more diverse investment opportunity, Block Asset Management provide an intelligent solution to the concerns investors have when they consider this exciting new space."

Block Asset Management believe that we are in the early adoption stage of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, and that investor demand, particularly institutional which is yet to enter the market, will increase dramatically as much needed regulatory framework is introduced, further enhancing values.

Daniel Vegue Dominguez, Block Asset Management, Partner & CSO, highlights the importance of institutional players coming to the space, providing a most stable and robust industrial blockchain layer, stating, "Institutional inflows to the sector will be aided by Fidelity Group's announcement that they will be providing crypto custody, clearing and trade execution services from 2019. We will also see the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in partnership with Microsoft, launch their own regulated global ecosystem for digital assets this year in the form of BAKKT. It is also widely expected that 2019 will see the first Bitcoin ETFs approved by the SEC. Only time will tell the impact these events will have on the market, but Block Asset Management hold a very positive medium to long-term view."

Block Asset Management has already received substantial commitments from global asset managers and family offices ready for the launch of the Blockchain Multi-strategy Certificate and we continue to actively seek further investment. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.blockassetmanagement.com.

Investor Relations

Block Asset Management Sarl

+44 7624 353305

[email protected]

Visit us on social media:

Twitter

LinkedIn

SOURCE Block Asset Management

Related Links

http://www.blockassetmanagement.com

CAMBRIDGE, England, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Blighter Surveillance Systems Ltd (www.blighter.com), a British designer and manufacturer of electronic-scanning (e-scan) radars and surveillance solutions, is supplying its Blighter B400 series E-scan micro Doppler ground surveillance radar to Dat-Con Defence for deployment along the Indian border.

The Blighter radar was supplied to and deployed by Dat-Con Defence during 2018 as part of the Indian Government's Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS). CIBMS is designed to establish a multi-tier security ring  ground surveillance radar, thermal cameras, unattended ground sensors, seismic vibration systems, fences and fence protection systems  to protect the country's long international borders.

Dat-Con has integrated the Blighter radar, cameras and other sensors into its own command and control (C2) system. Sensor information from its C2 system is integrated with the CIBMS system to alert quick response teams (QRTs) of the Indian Border Security Force for action. Dat-Con has partnered with in-country Pune-based Ador Powertron for this pilot project.

Stane Plaskan, CEO of Dat-Con Defence, said: "The Blighter B400 micro Doppler radar is best-in-class as was demonstrated when it outperformed all the other radars in an Indian Government-sponsored trial. Also, we know that this radar is highly effective in difficult terrains  such as mountains, plains and coastal areas, as it has been deployed for many years now along the 250 km Korean DMZ, in what is considered one of the world's most mountainous countries with environmental extremes of -30C in winter and a humid +40C in summer."

The Blighter radar's wide elevation beam was a key feature for the Indian CIBMS project as it ensures that the radar can operate effectively in all terrains allowing the hills, mountains, plains, riverine territories and marshes to be scanned simultaneously, without the need to tilt the radar. The wide beam also provides detection of low flying manned and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and drones.

The solid-state passive electronically scanned array (PESA) radar detects small and slow-moving targets, even in cluttered environments, due to the radar's coactive frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) micro Doppler fast-scan processing. The radar delivers a 24x7x365 all-weather persistent surveillance capability. It can detect and track a walking person at 11 km (6.8 miles), a crawler at 4.6 km (2.9 miles) or a large moving vehicle at 25 km (15.5 miles) and then cue a camera system to follow and identify targets.

Mark Radford, CEO, Blighter Surveillance Systems, said: "This is our second contract win for pilot projects linked to the Indian border security CIBMS initiative - further proof of the quality of our ultra-reliable, zero-maintenance Blighter B400 series radar."

Blighter Surveillance Systems has now sold hundreds of its E-scan ground surveillance radars across 35 different countries. It has systems deployed along the Korean demilitarised zone (DMZ), on the US Southern border, in several Middle Eastern countries, and now in India too.

Blighter Surveillance Systems delivers an integrated multi-sensor package to system integrators comprising the Blighter radars plus cameras, thermal imagers, trackers and software solutions. Its ITAR-free systems are used worldwide in commercial, government and defence markets in area and asset protection for national border security, homeland security, critical infrastructure protection such as oil and gas facilities, coastal surveillance, and in military applications.

Dat-Con Defence will be showcasing the Blighter B400 series radar at The International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX 2019), at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), Abu Dhabi, UAE, (Stand 10-B15: Slovenia Pavilion), from 17 to 21 February 2019.

Blighter Surveillance Systems will also be exhibiting at SCTX 2019, the Security & Counter Terror Expo (Stand I-61) at London Olympia from 5 to 6 March 2019.

For more information about Blighter products, please visit www.blighter.com, telephone +44 1223 491122 or email [email protected].

Media photo: http://www.blighter.com/images/images/pr/2019/blighter-b400-series-radar-selected-by-dat-con-defence-for-indian-border-security-pilot-high-res.jpg

About Dat-Con Defence (www.dat-con-defence.com)

Founded in 1992, Dat-Con Defence offers specialised mobile and stationary observation and surveillance solutions for coastal and land border control. In addition, the company provides system integration, development of electronic applications and custom measuring and multimedia equipment. Dat-Con Defence has established partnerships with market leaders in radar systems, thermal imaging, optics, measuring equipment and communications. The company has ISO 9001 quality management certification, as well as ISO 27001 certification for information security management systems. Dat-Con Defence is based in Polzela, Slovenia.

About Blighter Surveillance Systems Ltd (www.blighter.com)

Blighter Surveillance Systems is a world leading designer and manufacturer of electronic-scanning radars and surveillance solutions. Its maintenance free solid-state micro Doppler radars are deployed in 35 countries to deliver round the clock all-weather protection along borders, for coastal facilities, at military bases, and to guard critical national infrastructure such as airports, oil and gas facilities and palaces. The radar products include the Blighter A400 series for air security/drone detection, the Blighter B400 series for ground surveillance, the Blighter C400 series for coastal security, the Blighter B202 Mk 2 man-portable radar system for rapid, mobile deployment and the Blighter Revolution 360 radar system for vehicle mounted solutions. Blighter Surveillance Systems Ltd. is based at Great Chesterford on the outskirts of Cambridge, England.

SOURCE Blighter Surveillance Systems

Related Links

http://www.blighter.com

BOSTON, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Aspera, the leading provider of Software Asset Management (SAM) solutions, is excited to share that they were named a January 2019 Gartner Peer Insights Customers' Choice for Software Asset Management Tools.

Gartner defines Software Asset Management Tools as tools [that] automate many of the tasks required to maintain compliance with software licenses, thereby controlling software spending.

"We're honored to be named a January 2019 Customers' Choice for Software Asset Management Tools. Customer-first is one of our core values. Aspera is committed to providing world class SAM solutions and services that support an outstanding customer experience," said Olaf Diehl, Business Unit Manager of Product Management & Marketing. "We continue to innovate while we execute on our product roadmap to meet the needs of our customers, and are grateful for the feedback they share with us on Gartner Peer Insights."

Read more Aspera customer reviews on Gartner Peer Insights.

About Peer Insights:

Peer Insights is an online platform of ratings and reviews of IT software and services that are written and read by IT professionals and technology decision-makers. The goal is to help IT leaders make more insightful purchase decisions and help technology providers improve their products by receiving objective, unbiased feedback from their customers. Gartner Peer Insights includes more than 70,000 verified reviews in more than 200 markets. For more information, please visit www.gartner.com/reviews/home.

Gartner Peer Insights Customers' Choice constitute the subjective opinions of individual end-user reviews, ratings, and data applied against a documented methodology; they neither represent the views of, nor constitute an endorsement by, Gartner or its affiliates.

About Aspera

At Aspera, we simplify the complexity of your software licenses. For two decades, we have helped hundreds of enterprises and over 50 Fortune 500s to assess cost and risk within their IT environments. Our solutions for Software Asset Management track all the big vendors, such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP to cover every environment from servers and desktops to cloud and mobile.

For more information, please visit www.aspera.com.

For more information, please contact Nicole Panas, [email protected].

SOURCE Aspera

Related Links

http://www.aspera.com

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE:ARCH) announced today that it has commenced development of a new, world-class longwall mine in Barbour County, West Virginia, that will produce an estimated three million tons of premium, High-Vol A coking coal annually for sale into an undersupplied global marketplace.

The new mine, Leer South, will be similar in virtually every respect to Arch's existing Leer longwall mine, and will operate in the same 200-million-ton reserve base as the Leer operation. The Leer mine is widely regarded as one of the lowest-cost, highest-quality and highest-margin coking coal mines in the U.S. coking coal industry.

"We are excited about this new project, which we view as transformational for Arch Coal and its shareholders," said John W. Eaves, Arch's chief executive officer. "With the addition of Leer South, Arch will greatly enhance its portfolio of world-class coking coal assets, and cement our position as the premier global producer of High-Vol A coking coal. We believe there is significant, unfulfilled global demand for High-Vol A coking coal generally, and our Leer brand specifically, and are already engaged in discussions with leading steel producers around the world that are eager to secure additional volumes of our Leer-brand products."

The company plans to sell the output from the Leer South complex principally into the 300-million-metric-ton-per-year seaborne coking coal market. Steel market consultants expect solid demand growth for seaborne coking coal over the next 10 years, driven by substantial steel sector growth in India and other rapidly emerging Asian economies. At the same time, we believe that global coking coal markets remain under-supplied following years of under-investment, with few large-scale projects  particularly in high-quality coking coal reserves  contemplated in coming years. Premium High-Vol A coals, such as those produced at the Leer complex, face a particularly tight supply outlook. With average seaborne coking coal demand growth projected at 1.5 percent per year, and assuming a modest annual depletion rate of 2 percent at existing mines, seaborne coking coal markets will require the installation of 10 million tons of new mine capacity annually, or a total of more than 75 million tons between now and 2025.

"We believe that Leer South's projected position in the first quartile of the U.S. coking coal cost curve  coupled with its extremely high product quality  will enable us to achieve highly attractive margins, an excellent return on investment, and a rapid payback across a range of potential market environments," Eaves said.

With their high fluidity and superior plasticity, High-Vol A coking coals can facilitate the inclusion of a wide range of coking coals and even petcokes in a steel mill's coke blend, while reducing coking times and delivering a stronger and more homogeneous finished coke product. Leer-brand coking coal has the significant, added advantage of high coke strength after reaction, or CSR, which results in an even stronger finished coke product. Arch estimates that the global supply of High-Vol A or equivalent coals totals less than 25 million tons per annum.

Arch expects to invest approximately $360 million to $390 million over the next three years to develop the mine, with the longwall scheduled to start up in late 2021.

"Given our outlook for continued strong cash generation, along with other steps we have taken to increase liquidity, we expect to fund 2019 expenditures for the new development with internally generated cash and cash on hand," Eaves said. "Even with the projected increase in our 2019 capital spending budget, which includes approximately $90 million related to the Leer South project, we expect to have the capability to continue our share buyback program at similar levels to 2018 should we opt to do so."

Given the company's exceptionally strong balance sheet, minimal debt level and overall net cash position, and subject to then-current coal market conditions, Arch may consider a variety of alternatives after 2019, including debt financing or utilization of existing borrowing capacity should those options be deemed advantageous.

In addition to its plans for Leer South, Arch announced that it would be transitioning its Mountain Laurel operation from longwall to room-and-pillar mining at the beginning of 2020, and moving the Mountain Laurel longwall equipment to Leer South at that time.

"We view this transition as beneficial in multiple ways," said Paul A. Lang, Arch's president and chief operating officer. "First, Mountain Laurel's still-extensive reserve base is increasingly well-suited to room-and-pillar mining, which is expected to deliver greater operational flexibility, higher product quality and a modestly lower cost structure. Second, the redeployment of the longwall equipment to Leer South will lower the capital requirements for the new project by around $35 million and further enhance our expected return on investment. Third, we see great value in expanding further our high-margin High-Vol A production while maintaining a value-creating position in High-Vol B markets via a reconfigured Mountain Laurel operation."

As indicated previously, Arch expects Leer South's product quality, selling price and cost structure to be comparable to those of the existing Leer mine. Given that fact and based on current market conditions, Leer South would expect to capture a cash margin of around $90 per ton on seaborne coking coal shipments, and to fully recover its capital investment in roughly 18 months upon achieving full production rates.

Following the transition to room-and-pillar mining, Mountain Laurel expects to produce approximately 1.3 million tons of High-Vol B coking coal annually. While that is roughly 20 percent lower than the mine's 2018 output, Arch expects Mountain Laurel's per-ton costs to decline modestly and its product quality to improve following the transition. The transition will not result in the layoff of any of Mountain Laurel's outstanding workforce, as they will be repositioned in the new room-and-pillar mine plan.

In addition to the redeployment of existing longwall equipment from Mountain Laurel, Arch has further reduced Leer South's projected capital needs via plans to expand and utilize the preparation plant and select other facilities at the company's Sentinel Mine, which is also located in Barbour County. When fully operational, Leer South will employ nearly 600 highly skilled and highly trained employees.

"We view today's announcement as a tremendously positive development for Arch Coal, surrounding communities, and the state of West Virginia as a whole," Lang said. "The new Leer South operation will provide exceptional career opportunities for nearly 600 West Virginians directly, and many times that number indirectly, and be a cornerstone of the regional economy for decades to come. Just as importantly, Arch is committed to ensuring that Leer South achieves the same exemplary, industry-leading standards of mine safety and environmental stewardship for which Arch has long been known."

Arch expects to produce between 6.6 and 7.0 million tons of coking coal in 2019  of which nearly 60 percent will be High-Vol A quality  and to maintain a similar level of production through 2021. In 2022, Arch's total coking coal production is expected to approach 9 million tons annually, with 75 percent of that total expected to be High-Vol A coal. With the start-up of the Leer South longwall, Arch expects the average, per-ton operating cost for its coking coal portfolio to decline meaningfully, which will drive higher margins in all market environments.

Concurrent with this release, Arch distributed a slide presentation on the Leer South project that can be found in the "investor" section of archcoal.com.

U.S.-based Arch Coal, Inc. is a top coal producer for the global steel and power generation industries. Arch operates a streamlined portfolio of large-scale, low-cost mining complexes that produce high-quality metallurgical coals in Appalachia and low-emitting thermal coals in the Powder River Basin and other strategic supply regions. For more information, visit www.archcoal.com.

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains "forward-looking statements"  that is, statements related to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," or "will." Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. For us, particular uncertainties arise from changes in the demand for our coal by the domestic electric generation and steel industries; from legislation and regulations relating to the Clean Air Act and other environmental initiatives; from operational, geological, permit, labor and weather-related factors, from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and other tax reforms; from the effects of foreign and domestic trade policies, actions or disputes; from fluctuations in the amount of cash we generate from operations, which could impact, among other things, our ability to pay dividends or repurchase shares in accordance with our announced capital allocation plan from future integration of acquired businesses; and from numerous other matters of national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. For a description of some of the risks and uncertainties that may affect our future results, you should see the risk factors described from time to time in the reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Arch Coal, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.archcoal.com

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and PARIS, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- 6WIND, a high-performance networking software company, and Advantech, a leading global provider of intelligent systems, today announced a white box Border Router bundle for Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The new bundle gives ISPs the choice of 1 to 100G virtual routers (vRouters) combined with a right-sized x86 server to fulfill Border Router requirements through white box networking. Advantech is offering demonstrations and appointments with 6WIND at Mobile World Congress Barcelona.

The White Box Border Router for ISPs

The 6WIND and Advantech Border Router bundle fulfills the promise of white box networking by integrating 6WIND's vRouter software appliances with Advantech's commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) servers, giving ISPs an alternative to expensive, proprietary hardware routers.

6WIND's vRouter offers ISPs a complete Border Router software suite for bare metal and virtual machine (VM) deployments. It delivers high performance BGP links to upstream traffic and OSPF links to downstream traffic, IPv4/IPv6 IP Forwarding, Dynamic Routing, NAT, Firewall and High Availability. Management options include a CLI and NETCONF/YANG-based APIs for integration with third-party network management solutions.

Advantech's x86 server family offers ISPs pre-configured and configurable options to meet all-size network requirements. The following servers are available today to provide a Border Router bundle range as follows:

Entry-Level: Advantech FWA-2012

The FWA-2012 offers up to 20 Gbps of throughput based on an 8 or 16-core Intel Atom Processor C3000. Six integrated GbE copper ports and two 10GbE ports available on a plug-in Network Mezzanine Card (NMC) provide sufficient wireline connectivity and throughput for entry-level border router deployments.

Mid-range: Advantech FWA-3050

The FWA-3050 offers up to 60 Gbps of throughput. It brings Intel Xeon class processing to the product range with the latest Intel Xeon Processor D-2100 system on chip series. Already verified as an Intel Select Solution for uCPE, the FWA-3050 enables eight GbE copper ports and two or four 10GbE ports out of the box. An additional Network Mezzanine Card (NMC) slot adds 10, 25 and 40GbE connectivity for scalable performance.

High-end: Advantech FWA-5070

At the high end where throughputs of up to 120 Gbps and beyond are required, Advantech's FWA-5070 single socket design is equipped with the latest generation of Intel Xeon Scalable processors and offers four NMC slots, which can be configured from a wide choice of NMCs supporting 1, 10, 25, 40 and 100 GbE interfaces. The single socket approach with up to 28 cores offers customers economies of scale over dual socket designs at lower power budgets while meeting the workload demand for high-end routing throughputs.

Special Telecom Requirements: SKY-8211

The SKY-8211 is designed to fit in short-depth server racks used in some telecom applications. It can operate in environments with limited space and high ambient temperature constraints. Hot swappable powers supplies and power connectors are positioned at the front of the server, allowing installation in transmission equipment racks where no service access is available from the rear. Architected around a single-socket Intel Xeon Scalable processor, the SKY-8211 covers throughputs starting at 80 Gbps in two variants: SKY-8211B: 8x 10 GbE, 24x 1 GbE ports and SKY-8211F: 16x 10 GbE, 8x 1 GbE ports.

"White box networking is taking center stage as ISPs consolidate physical network functions onto more open, off-the-shelf universal platforms based on Intel Architecture," said James Yang, Vice President Advantech Networks and Communications Group. "These fully validated, pre-configured Border Router solutions supported by 6WIND will help streamline service provider deployment and simplify the white box supply chain."

"6WIND and Advantech have worked together for over a decade to give the industry white box networking solutions for a range of Service Provider requirements," said Eric Carmes, Founder and CEO of 6WIND. "Our new Border Router bundle responds to ISP requests to combine 6WIND's software pedigree with Advantech's server expertise for a ready-to-run alternative to proprietary hardware routers."

Visit Us at Mobile World Congress Barcelona, February 25  28, 2019

Visit Advantech's Meeting Room at Hall 5 Stand 5L16MR for a white box Border Router demo. Register here to schedule an appointment.

6WIND vRouters

6WIND's vRouters include Turbo Router and Turbo IPsec software packages with license options from 1G to 100G throughput. Built with DPDK (Data Plane Development Kit) for networking performance, 6WIND's vRouters scale up to 12 million packets per second per core of IP Forwarding and 18 Gigabits per second per core for IPsec VPNs.

About 6WIND

6WIND's networking software solves performance and time-to-market challenges for Service Providers, Enterprises and OEMs. The company's flagship vRouter technology is available in software appliance, source code and hypervisor networking form factors optimized for cost-effective hardware, such as Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) servers. 6WIND is based near Paris, France with regional offices in China and the United States. For more information visit: http://www.6wind.com.

About Advantech

Founded in 1983, Advantech is a leader in providing trusted, innovative products, services, and solutions. Advantech offers comprehensive system integration, hardware, software, customer-centric design services, embedded systems, automation products, and global logistics support. Our mission is to enable an intelligent planet with embedded computing products and solutions that empower the development of smarter working and living. With Advantech, there's no limit to the applications and innovations our products make possible. For Telecom and Networking markets, Advantech provides business-critical network compute platforms to leading communication service providers and networking equipment manufacturers. Advantech's standard and customized products are embedded in OEM equipment that the world's communications infrastructure depends upon. http://www.advantech.com/nc.

Company Contact: Advantech Contact: Kelly LeBlanc Paul Stevens VP of Marketing for 6WIND Marketing Director, Networks & Phone: +1 (408) 508-6732 Communications Group [email protected] Phone: +33 (1) 4119 7575

[email protected]

SOURCE 6WIND

Related Links

http://www.6wind.com

Approximately 70 grants, up to $500 each, will be awarded to teachers and librarians whose proposals demonstrate creativity and a desire to make learning fun. Decisions will be emailed to all applicants in May, allowing educators to plan for the 2019  2020 academic year. "For over three decades, it has been our privilege to support the vision of the most innovative teachers and librarians, who inspire students to read joyfully, think creatively and support one another with generosity," says Deborah Pope, Executive Director of the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation.

Since 1987, the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation has provided over $1,000,000 in support of EJK Mini-Grant programs spanning the 50 states and U.S commonwealths. The Foundation welcomes Mini-Grant proposals focusing on any subject or discipline. To learn more about EJK Mini-Grants, and to see the criteria for application, visit Ezra Jack Keats Mini-Grants .

"With the deadline fast approaching, I encourage all creative educators who want to put their new ideas into action to go online and apply for an EJK Mini-Grant now," adds Pope.

Following is a description of an outstanding 2018 Ezra Jack Keats Mini-Grant program, an exciting example of the work supported by EJK Mini-Grants:

An EJK Mini-Grant made it possible for Native American students from three different schools in Lincoln County, Oregon to meet together to carve personal totems during Ghas-Tv-Xvm (Deeni language for "The Places We Go.")

This special event, led by Crystal Taylor, Lincoln County Indian Education coordinator and Liz Fox, IB Research & Curriculum Assistant at Newport High School, resulted in the carving of 22 separate clay totem pieces, which were assembled into four totem poles, each standing almost six feet tall. Taylor and Fox are working on the installation of the totem poles with the tribal headquarters along the Oregon coast.

Says Fox, who is a potter, "It was amazing to see how quickly the students caught on to sgraffito, an ancient carving technique. Clay is such a great vehicle for expression and their totems are a beautiful reflection of their native culture."

"The EJK Mini-Grant enabled us to make the connections between our native community and art in a very public way, and to buy the supplies and tools we needed to make this happen. The students worked collaboratively on tasks while also expressing their individuality with a focus on how the totem collection would present an overall theme to the community."

About the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation

Founded by Ezra Jack Keats, one of America's greatest children's book authors and illustrators, the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation fosters children's love of reading and creative expression by supporting arts and literacy programs in public schools and libraries through the EJK Bookmaking Competition and Mini-Grant program; cultivates new writers and illustrators of exceptional picture books that reflect the experience of childhood in our diverse culture through the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award; and protects and promotes the work of Keats, whose book The Snowy Day broke the color barrier in children's publishing.

The Snowy Day was adapted by Amazon as a holiday special, which earned two Daytime Emmys, including Outstanding Preschool Children's Animated Program; and was used as the subject of a set of Forever stamps issued by and still available from the United States Postal Service. To learn more about the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, visit www.ezra-jack-keats.org .

Keats. Imagination. Diversity.

For more information, please contact Sheree Wichard, [email protected].

SOURCE Ezra Jack Keats Foundation

Related Links

http://www.ezra-jack-keats.org

WATERBURY, Conn., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE: WBS), the holding company for Webster Bank, N.A. and its HSA Bank division, announced today that its board of directors has scheduled the corporation's annual meeting of shareholders at 4:00 p.m. EDT, April 25, 2019 at the New Britain Museum of American Art, 56 Lexington Street, New Britain, Connecticut.

The record date for shareholders to vote at the meeting is February 28, 2019.

About Webster

Webster Financial Corporation is the holding company for Webster Bank, National Association and its HSA Bank division. With $27.6 billion in assets, Webster provides business and consumer banking, mortgage, financial planning, trust, and investment services through 157 banking centers and 316 ATMs. Webster also provides mobile and online banking. Webster Bank owns the asset-based lending firm Webster Business Credit Corporation; the equipment finance firm Webster Capital Finance Corporation; and HSA Bank, a division of Webster Bank, which provides health savings account trustee and administrative services. Webster Bank is a member of the FDIC and an equal housing lender. For more information about Webster, including past press releases and the latest annual report, visit the Webster website at www.websterbank.com.

SOURCE Webster Financial CorporationWASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Center for Journalists will honor Martin "Marty" Baron, executive editor of The Washington Post, with a prestigious award recognizing his long career as a media leader committed to truth and the highest standards.

Baron will receive ICFJ's Founders Award for Excellence in Journalism at the organization's 35th Anniversary Awards Dinner on Nov. 7 in Washington, D.C. At the event, ICFJ recognizes journalists whose work has made an outstanding impact on society.

CNN lead political anchor Wolf Blitzer will be master of ceremonies at the gala event.

"Marty Baron has set the standard for investigative journalism that tackles tough issues and speaks truth to power," said ICFJ President Joyce Barnathan. "In these challenging times for our field, he stands out as an unparalleled editorial leader."

Baron has held top positions at five of the nation's most influential newspapers  The Post, the Boston Globe, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and the Miami Herald, where he began his career in 1976. At the helm of The Post for the past six years, he has overseen print and digital new operations and a staff of more than 800 journalists. Prior to that, he was editor of the Globe for 11 years.

Newsrooms under Baron's leadership have won 14 Pulitzer Prizes, seven of them at The Post. These include a public service award for revealing secret surveillance by the National Security Agency.

At the Globe, his journalists won six Pulitzers, most notably the public service award in 2003 for the Globe's groundbreaking investigation that revealed the Catholic Church's pattern of concealing sex abuse by priests. That investigation later became the subject of an Academy Award-winning movie, "Spotlight."

The ICFJ Awards Dinner is Washington, D.C.'s top international journalism event, attracting about 600 media luminaries and supporters. At the gala, ICFJ will also honor the winners of the Knight International Journalism Awards. To learn more about ICFJ's 35th Anniversary Awards Dinner or how to become a sponsor, please visit our dinner page.

About the International Center for Journalists

ICFJ empowers journalists to deliver trustworthy news essential for vibrant societies. Working at the nexus of journalism and technology, we build the expertise and storytelling skills of reporters worldwide. We promote high-impact journalism that leads to better lives.

SOURCE International Center for Journalists

Related Links

http://www.icfj.org

For digital marketers to harness the power of social networking, it is vital to understand how to encourage communication about products, brands, and companies. Most studies of so-called "electronic word-of-mouth" (E-WOM) have focused on how it influences recipients of promotional messages. Professor Choi and his team wanted to explore why and how an individual might share promotional messages in the first place.

"We devised our study to test whether sharers consider how soon a purchase might occur," explains Professor Choi. "We also anticipated that the design of the ads, specifically whether it uses images or text, could influence whether it is shared." Since social media users can select the message recipient for their sharing behavior, the researchers focused on the effects of the strength of social ties on E-WOM.

The team selected undergraduate students to participate in their research, recognizing that social media use in Korea is highest among people in their 20s. At the start of the experiment, students read a scenario about moving either next week or next year. They were then shown furniture ads, either in pictures or words, and asked whether they were likely to recommend it to their friends and the general public via social media.

The team found that consumers were more likely to share promotional messages with their strong ties. Furthermore, purchase timing, as well as ad format, also influenced whether the user would share the message.

The study's findings provide valuable insights for marketers in the digital age. As users are more likely to share ads with friends, one strategy is to foster online communities of consumers to develop stronger relationships between them. Marketers should also focus on matching advertising designs with how soon the product might be purchased. As Professor Choi explains, "Product photos should motivate sharing for frequent and imminent purchases, whereas ads for infrequent and delayed purchases are more likely to be shared if they feature abstract text."

Appearing in the journal Internet Research, the study's contribution was recently recognized by the publisher, with Professor Choi's work being Highly Commended in the 2018 Emerald Literati Awards.

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2014S1A5-A2A0101-5688).

Reference

Authors: Yung Kyun Choi1, Yuri Seo2, and Sukki Yoon3 Title of original paper: E-WOM messaging on social media: Social ties, temporal distance, and message concreteness Journal: Internet Research DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IntR-07-2016-0198 Affiliations: 1 Dongguk University, Republic of Korea 2 University of Auckland, New Zealand 3 Bryant University, USA

*Corresponding author's email: [email protected]

About Dongguk University

Dongguk University, founded in 1906, is located in Seoul, South Korea. It comprises 13 colleges that cover a variety of disciplines and has local campuses in Gyeongju, Goyang, and Los Angeles. The university has 1300 professors who conduct independent research and 18000 students undertaking studies in a variety of disciplines. Interaction between disciplines is one of the strengths on which Dongguk prides itself; the university encourages researchers to work across disciplines in Information Technology, Bio Technology, CT, and Buddhism.

Website: http://www.dongguk.edu/mbs/en/index.jsp

About the author

Yung Kyun Choi (PhD, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA) is a professor in the Department of Advertising and PR at Dongguk University, Seoul, South Korea. His research interests include message congruency effects, consumer behavior in virtual social environments, and cross-cultural advertising effects. He received the Best Reviewer Award from International Journal of Advertising and more recently was Highly Commended in the 2018 Emerald Literati Awards. His work has appeared in leading advertising and marketing journals. He served as President of Korean Scholars of Marketing Science (KSMS) from 2016 to 2018.

SOURCE Dongguk UniversityThe Global Director of Media Arts at worldwide advertising collective TBWA, and founder and Chairman of TBWA\Media Arts Lab, will move into an advisory role as Chairman Emeritus of the agency he founded in 2006 to serve Apple and to embody his vision of an agency that impacts culture, rather than just "makes ads."

"The years I spent doing this thing called 'advertising' have been fun: challenging, rewarding, maddeningsometimes painfulbut mostly, joyful. And I wouldn't trade a day of it." Clowan original Chiat\Day partner and one-time TBWA\Worldwide Chairmanmused, in his "Love Note to Advertising," released today.

Clow continues to work on a personal film project that tells the story behind some of the most famous and culture-altering advertising in history, recalling his 50 years at Chiat\Daythe people, the workand retelling how they did it.

He will also remain involved in the agency's social-impact group, For Good, based in Los Angeles, where he will advise on select projects for clients who share his commitment to the planet and the people (and animals) who inhabit it.

"Don't do the right thing," he challenged the agency, the advertising world, and clients, on TBWA\Chiat\Day's 50th anniversary in 2018. "Do the brave thing. Do the thing that doesn't just defy the status quo, but reshapes it, forever."

Clow actually announced his retirement to the agency, alumni and close friends in October 2018, at a party on Jay Chiat's birthday, part of the year-long "Chiat\Day 50" celebration. His decision to formally share the news with the industry on Valentine's Day is a nod to Jay Chiat's unconventional custom of sending Valentine's Day cards to staff, colleagues and clients, instead of the expected, "Season's Greetings," typically dispatched during December holidays.

Clow's career, that started at Chiat\Day in LA, spans five decades. It tells a story of "doing the brave thing," with disruptive campaigns that epitomized "California cool." He took Chiat\Day's creatively audacious style of advertising global when he helped lead the successful merger with TBWA, crystallizing the agency's reputation as the destination for creative professionals who want to do groundbreaking, iconic work.

"Lee will always be our creative conscience," said Troy Ruhanen, President and CEO, TBWA\Worldwide. "He has given so much to our company and to our industry. His challenge to us, to do the brave thing, to Disrupt, will continue to be our North Star. We all love you, Lee."

"Lee is one of the most talented and visionary leaders in our industry," said Chairman and CEO of Omnicom Group, John Wren. "Over the past five decades, he has built a foundation of creative excellence for the TBWA network that has distinguished the agency among its peers. On behalf of the Omnicom family, I would like to thank Lee for his invaluable leadership and significant contributions to our group."

There's perhaps no better example of Clow's impact on the industry than his 30-plus-year partnership with Apple. From the launch of Macintosh in 1984, to the now-famous "Think Different (Here's to the Crazy Ones)" campaign that launched the rebirth of Apple in 1997. During the past two decades he helped orchestrate Apple's moves, into music with iPod and iTunes with the celebrated "Silhouettes" campaign, into phones with the category-redefining iPhone and then, creating the "campaign of the decade," "Get a Mac (Mac versus PC)." Then, he helped Apple forge a whole new category with iPad. Most recently, Clow led the creative teams that launched Apple Music into the world, and worked on the introduction of Apple Watch.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, added: "During his long partnership with Steve and Apple, Lee told powerful visual stories that elevated new technologies with the passion, creativity and ingenuity that define our own humanity. He helped Apple carry itself through times of challenge, and his work inspired audiences to look beyond the horizon as an exciting future came into view. Lee's body of work over five decades hums with cleverness, warmth and enthusiasmand there is no doubt that it will inspire and motivate generations of 'Crazy Ones' still to come."

In 2018, Adweek named TBWA its "Global Agency of the Year," recognizing its strong global relationship with Appleone of the industry's longest-running, and most prolific, creative partnerships.

The agency will continue to serve Apple around the worldled by Global President of TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Katrien De Bauw, and by Global Chief Creative Officer, Brent Andersonand to set global creative standards. In 2018, Media Arts Lab won 64 awards: for the launch of HomePod, with its Cannes Lions Grand Prix-winning film, "Welcome Home"; for the evolution of its "Shot on iPhone" campaign into long-form content across the globe (notably, the film, "Three Minutes," in China), and into social media, with @apple; and for its "Behind the Mac" campaign (including an animated short for Apple's holiday campaign called, "Share Your Gifts").

"In constantly pushing ourselves to reach the creative standard he set, we are better than we ever could imagine being," said Brent Anderson, adding that, "So we'll do just as he always asked us to do: 'Make it smart. Make it beautiful. And have fun.'"

Clow often credits his artful, freethinking, creative style to his California roots. To celebrate his outstanding contributions to the creative community, and his love for his hometown, the agency has established a scholarship at the College of the ArtsSchool of Art at Clow's alma mater, California State University Long Beach (CSULB). Additionally, all proceeds from his film project will go into a college fund previously established in Clow's and Chiat's names at Art Center College of Design, which was created to assist low- and middle-income students with tuition fees and costs.

Also, TBWA agencies in Los Angeles will continue to honor Clow's impact on the Southern California creative community by partnering with Turnaround Arts: California, a national, public-private partnership that leverages the arts to spark transformation in the state's highest-need schools. Agency leaders and staff will work with Turnaround Arts educators on programs that will bolster the creative skills of teachers and students, including hosting workshops focused on graphic design, coding and creative problem-solving.

Clow is a member of the One Club Hall of Fame, the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame and the Museum of Modern Art's Advertising Hall of Fame, and has been honored by the Clios with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and by Cannes Lions with the Lion of St. Mark. Clow was also inducted into the American Advertising Federation's Hall of Fame and the American Marketing Association's Hall of Fame.

About TBWA\Worldwide

TBWA is The Disruption Company: the cultural engine for 21st century business. Named Adweek's 2018 Global Agency of the Year, we create disruptive ideas that locate and involve brands in culture, giving them a larger share of the future. Our collective has 11,300 creative minds across 275 offices in 95 countries, and also includes brands such as AUDITOIRE, Digital Arts Network (DAN), eg+ worldwide, GMR, The Integer Group, TBWA\Media Arts Lab, TBWA\WorldHealth and TRO. Global clients include adidas, Apple, Gatorade, Henkel, Hilton Hotels, McDonald's, Michelin, Nissan, and Singapore Airlines. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

About Omnicom Group Inc.

Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (http://www.omnicomgroup.com) is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom's branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.

SOURCE TBWA\WorldwideAdvocates will seek support of two youth suicide prevention initiatives: SB 707 establishing a Youth Suicide Intervention and Prevention Advisory Committee and SB 52/HB 2765 requiring each school district to adopt a policy on student suicide prevention for students in kindergarten through grade 12. Advocates are also urging support for HB 2667 establishing an Adult Suicide Intervention and Prevention Coordinator within the Oregon Health Authority and SB 141/HB 2621 requiring the Oregon Health Authority to establish a statewide mental health crisis support access line for individuals experiencing behavioral health crises.

"Becoming a suicide prevention advocate helps to give a voice to so many who feel voiceless, and together we are able to educate those who may not have been personally impacted by suicide. By taking our personal stories in relation to suicide loss or suicidal ideation, finding the hope within the darkness, and then sharing that hope with others who are struggling, we will save lives - including my own," said Angela Perry, AFSP Oregon Chapter Board Chair.

The Oregon State Capitol Day is a special day for all who have a connection with or a personal story around the topic of suicide. Volunteers will meet with their state legislators and share their stories about why they participate in this advocacy effort, giving a human face to this important health problem. Advocates hope that by sharing their stories, they will help legislators understand that state investments in mental health and suicide prevention can save lives.

AFSP Oregon Chapter advocates are part of a larger national movement of AFSP volunteer advocates who will be visiting over 40 state capitols across the United States in 2019 to bring best practices in suicide prevention to state legislators and their staff. To learn more about AFSP's advocacy efforts, visit here: https://afsp.org/our-work/advocacy/.

On average, one hundred twenty-nine (129) Americans died by suicide each day in 2017, and 90% of those individuals had a diagnosable mental health condition at the time of their death. AFSP volunteers will urge state lawmakers to be the voice for the thousands of Oregon residents affected by suicide each year.

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide. AFSP creates a culture that's smart about mental health through education and community programs, develops suicide prevention through research and advocacy, and provides support for those affected by suicide. Led by CEO Robert Gebbia and headquartered in New York, with a Public Policy Office in Washington, D.C. AFSP has local chapters in all 50 states with programs and events nationwide. Learn more about AFSP in its latest Annual Report, and join the conversation on suicide prevention by following AFSP on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

SOURCE American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Related Links

http://www.afsp.org

"We look forward to expanding our footprint in this growing community," said Alex Burnam, Real Estate Acquisitions at StorageMart. "This additional facility will serve to satisfy the demand for self storage in the Overland Park market, allowing us to continue providing best-in-class storage solutions for our customers throughout the area."

This new expansion is state-of-the-art, with large indoor loading bays so customers can load and unload unaffected by the weather. Other amenities include an onsite office, video surveillance, and keypad access to the building.

StorageMart started with a single store in Columbia, MO and has grown to be the largest privately-owned, family operated storage company in the world. StorageMart is led by the Burnam family, who have been in the storage industry for three generations. Dedicated to providing easy, clean, and friendly service to each and every customer, StorageMart is also committed to giving back to the many communities it calls home through their Store It Forward program. In 2018, the company donated more than $281,000 to charities, in addition to donating over $520,000 in free rent to charities throughout the US, UK, and Canada. Find out more at http://www.storage-mart.com.

Contact: Sarah Little, [email protected]

SOURCE StorageMart

Related Links

http://www.storage-mart.com

SELBYVILLE, Del., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The SD-WAN market is expected to grow from USD 700 million in 2018 to USD 17 billion by 2025, according to a 2019 Global Market Insights, Inc. report. The industry growth is driven by the extensive adoption of SD-WAN solutions, which will unburden the organization with an expensive legacy infrastructure maintenance. The traditional WAN infrastructure relied on expensive hardware appliances to provide connectivity to remote locations. By deploying SD-WAN solutions, organizations can reduce those expenses.

SD-WAN Market size is set to exceed USD 17 billion by 2025; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.

Another factor accelerating software-defined wide area network market growth is the increased adoption of cloud-based platforms. The solutions help enterprises to connect remote users and devices directly to the cloud and ensure that the connections are secured. These solutions enable them to reduce the network complexities of managing dynamic workload and provide improved network visibility.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2214

Furthermore, the penetration of smart IoT devices in various business verticals, including healthcare, manufacturing, telecom, and retail has increased the network complexities and security risks. SD-WAN solutions help to address the complexities of the IoT infrastructure and also improve the network visibility for managing connected devices to reduce security risks. The penetration of AI-enabled SD-WAN solutions will also contribute toward software-defined wide area network market growth. Machine learning algorithms are widely used for WAN optimization, enabling network administrators to analyze the WAN traffic and automatically reroute the traffic for the selected connection.

The physical appliance segment held a major portion of the SD-WAN market having an industry share of around 75 percent in 2018. Physical appliances contain most of the SD-WAN functionality in the appliance itself, including firewalls, dynamic path routing, and WAN optimization. These appliances are the initial choice of SD-WAN adopters as they contain basic functionalities and advanced security in a single product that can be implemented on-premise.

Managed services in the SD-WAN market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 65 percent from 2019 to 2025. The demand for these services is expected to accelerate as organizations are outsourcing the implementation of their WAN infrastructure to managed service providers to reduce the complexities associated with the in-house WAN deployment. Managed services enable them to reduce their operational costs as the majority of the network functions are outsourced to third-parties. These factors are expected to drive the demand for managed services in the market.

The on-premise deployment model is expected to hold the majority of the software-defined wide area network market share as this model enables IT architects of organizations to construct their own WAN infrastructure and develop network policies according to their needs. The premise-based models enable enterprises to ensure that their networks are running securely and give them direct control to handle the security aspects of the infrastructure.

Browse key industry insights spread across 300 pages with 362 market data tables & 31 figures & charts from the report, "Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) Market Size By Component (Solution [Physical Appliance, Virtual Appliance], Service [Training & Consulting, Integration & Maintenance, Managed Service]), By Deployment Model (On-premise, Cloud, Hybrid), By Application (IT & Telecom, BFSI, Healthcare, Retail & Consumer Goods, Government, Manufacturing), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, China, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand [ANZ], South Korea, Southeast Asia, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, South Africa, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel), Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2019 - 2025" in detail along with the table of contents:

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/software-defined-wide-area-network-sdwan-market

The manufacturing market is expected to exhibit the highest growth rate of over 60 percent from 2019 to 2025. The software-defined wide area network market growth is attributed to the growing popularity of IoT platforms. As sensors and smart devices are widely used in manufacturing facilities, the manufacturing companies require solutions, which can provide exceptional network visibility for managing those endpoints. SD-WAN solutions enable manufacturers to simplify the network management and prioritize network traffic to ensure that business-critical applications get the required connection. As the use of IoT devices and communication technologies in the manufacturing industry continues to rise, the demand for these solutions to support the connectivity across manufacturing facilities will increase.

The SD-WAN market in Asia-Pacific will show the fastest growth rate of over 61 percent over the forecast timeline. The market growth is driven by the growing adoption of cloud-based infrastructure by enterprises to achieve agility and improve application performance. The enterprises are adopting solutions to improve their network performance and reduce the complexity associated with the existing WAN infrastructure. Another factor accelerating software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) market growth in the region is the adoption of network virtualization technologies to reduce the operational costs and enhance the automation of networks. For example, in December 2017, China Telecom selected ZTE for the provisional cloud resource pool pre-commercial trial SDN project. Under the collaboration, ZTE provided China Telecom with a full series of SDN solutions to support the need for automatic resource pool deployment and resource pool interconnection while managing construction costs.

Make an Inquiry for purchasing this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2214

Browse Related Reports:

Network Automation Market Size By Type (Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), Data Center Networks, Cloud Networks, Wireless Networks), By Component (Software [Intent-based networking, SD-WAN, Network Automation Tools], Service [Professional Service, Managed Service]), By Network Infrastructure (Physical Network, Virtual Network, Hybrid Network), By Application (Manufacturing, Telecom & IT, Healthcare, Energy & Utilities, BFSI), By Deployment Type (On-Premise, Cloud), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, China, Japan, Australia & New Zealand [ANZ], South Korea, India, Taiwan, Brazil, Mexico, GCC, South Africa), Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2018  2024

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/network-automation-market

Software Defined Networking (SDN) Market Size By Component (Solutions [Physical Network Infrastructure, SDN Controller, SDN Applications], Services [Professional Services, Managed Services]), By End-Use (Enterprises, Cloud Service Provider, Telecom Service Provider), By Application (BFSI, Consumer Goods & Retail, Government & Defense, Healthcare, Manufacturing, IT Enabled Services), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, GCC, North Africa), Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 - 2024

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/software-defined-networking-sdn-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.

Contact Us:

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Corporate Sales, USA

Global Market Insights, Inc.

Phone: 1-302-846-7766

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Global SD-WAN Market Size

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) Market Size

SOURCE Global Market Insights, Inc.

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McConnell joins SJU from fellow Jesuit institution Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, where she has held a number of progressively responsible leadership positions across the university, most recently serving as dean of the College of Business, Influence and Information Analysis since 2012 and as associate provost for academic affairs since 2017. In addition, she served as the interim dean of the College of Health and Human Services from 2016 to 2017. She has a strong track record of interdisciplinary collaboration, program innovation and growth, faculty development, budget management and the formation of strategic partnerships.

"Dr. McConnell is the right chief academic officer for Saint Joseph's to help us realize the high aspirations of our strategic plan and move the institution forward," says SJU President Mark C. Reed, Ed.D. "She is a strategic thinker, innovator, collaborator and action-oriented leader who is committed to excellence and mission. As we diversify our academic portfolio, open a new school, forge partnerships and raise the national profile of Saint Joseph's, she is exactly the academic leader we need at the helm."

McConnell's business acumen and wealth of experience have honed a sharp understanding of the economic model and financial complexities of higher education. As business dean, she tripled graduate enrollments through creative and market-responsive program development. Since 2006, she has served as a member of Rockhurst's planning and budgetary committee. Additionally, McConnell led accrediting and reaccrediting efforts across professional schools.

"Cheryl's legacy at Rockhurst University will be felt for a long time," says Rockhurst President Thomas B. Curran, S.J. "She helped transform the generation of students she taught, thoughtfully and successfully partnered with faculty and staff colleagues, and journeyed with alumni, trustees and civic leaders in multiple efforts to improve the quality of life in the Kansas City region. Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley will now be significantly enriched by her presence and work as she transitions from being a 'Hawk' in the Midwest to her new home on Hawk Hill on City Avenue."

McConnell, who will join the accounting faculty at SJU, received a Ph.D. in higher education administration from Saint Louis University and bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting from Wichita State University. Additionally, she completed the Institute of Educational Management, a two-week immersion and leadership experience for senior-level higher education administrators, at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Prior to her academic career, McConnell was a senior accountant at former Big 5 accounting firm Arthur Anderson.

About Saint Joseph's University

Founded in 1851 in the Jesuit tradition of academic excellence, Saint Joseph's University is a top-ranked Catholic University that provides a rigorous, student-centered education. With a total enrollment of 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students, SJU offers a wide array of academic programs designed so that each graduate enters the world with a competitive resume and global perspective. This is achieved through intense academic study led by thought-leading faculty scholars, a comprehensive campus experience and robust study abroad, service-learning, internship and co-op programs. Upon graduation, nearly 100 percent of students are employed, pursuing advanced degrees or volunteering in prestigious service programs. A member of the Atlantic 10 Conference, SJU offers 20 Division I intercollegiate men's and women's sports. SJU alumni  over 68,000 strong  provide a powerful network that spans the globe.

SOURCE Saint Joseph's University

Related Links

http://www.sju.edu

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The US Air Force has awarded a $50,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to Robbins-Gioia, LLC (RG). Under this contract, RG will assist in exploring more effective and efficient ways to support Air Force business operations and refine the development of requirements supporting the information technology across all 38 mission areas.

"We're excited to be able to support the Air Force in achieving its mission to modernize their business systems to support the continuing needs of the warfighter," said Brad King, CEO of Robbins-Gioia. "Our rigorous and commercially proven approach melds perfectly with the DoD BCAC [Business Capability Acquisition Cycle] to accelerate continuous modernization of business systems while avoiding the risks and pitfalls of 'big bang' implementation programs. The RG solution focuses on consistent delivery of high value, measurable, and sustainable outcomes across Air Force mission areas."

"The decision by the Air Force to choose RG as a provider of these services is a testament to RG's 38-year history of program leadership in systems modernization for Defense and commercial customers," said Jeff Philippart, Director, Defense Business Unit. "Our unique LINKProcess methodology combined with RG's legacy of Program Management and Agile delivery excellence provides a robust framework for elicitation, validation, and collaboration to document and manage complex requirements. The RG framework accelerates prioritization, modernization, and innovation of systems and business processes."

LINKProcess is RG's proven methodology that leverages three decades of commercial and Government experience for the capture and management of business requirements into a common and dynamic repository. Combined with expert facilitation and ViRGIL, the Virtual RG Innovation Lab, it augments traditional requirements management with the evaluation and maturation of new ideas and innovations as part of a structured program aligned with the overarching goals of the Air Force.

At RG, we partner with our clients to test and refine every solution to meet their exact needs. We take pride in tackling complex management challenges with fresh and innovative insights and in transforming our clients' vision into reality.

This release does not constitute or imply an endorsement of a particular vendor or its products and services by the Department of Defense or Department of the Air Force.

Media Contact:

Liam Speden

Robbins-Gioia, LLC

[email protected]

www.teamrg.com

SOURCE Robbins-Gioia, LLC

Related Links

https://www.teamrg.com

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- RDD Pharma, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on development and commercialization of innovative therapeutics for anorectal and lower gastrointestinal disorders, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Fast Track status for RDD-0315 for the treatment of fecal incontinence in spinal cord injury patients. Fast track is a designation by the FDA for an investigational drug for expedited review to facilitate development of drugs which treat a serious or life-threatening condition and fill an unmet medical need.

"Receiving Fast Track designation for RDD-0315 is indicative of the high unmet need that currently exists for the nearly 300,000 individuals with spinal cord injury, the majority of which as a result also suffer from fecal incontinence, which significantly impacts morbidity, mortality and quality of life," said Dr. Nir Barak, Chief Medical Officer and Founder of RDD Pharma. "We are pleased to have the first clinical trial of RDD-0315 ongoing in the U.S. and look forward to initiating a Phase 2b study later in the year. We believe RDD-0315 has the opportunity to be the first drug treatment option for patients with spinal cord injury and associated fecal incontinence."

RDD-0315 is a topical gel containing an alpha-agonist which contracts the smooth muscle of the anal sphincter. Positive Phase 2 results evaluating the safety and efficacy of RDD-0315 for the treatment of fecal incontinence in spinal cord injury patients have previously been reported with a statistically significant reduction in the number of fecal incontinence episodes at both 8- and 12-hours post-administration.

About RDD Pharma

RDD Pharma is a privately held specialty pharma company focused on development and commercialization of innovative therapeutics for anorectal diseases and lower-gastrointestinal tract disorders. The company has two clinical stage products which serve significant unmet needs. RDD-0315 is currently in Phase 2 development for the treatment of fecal incontinence in spinal cord injury patients. RDD-0315 has received Orphan Drug status in the E.U. and Fast Track designation in the U.S. RDD-1609 is being developed for the treatment of Pruritus Ani. Symptoms range from mild to intense and can last for a significant duration of time in some patients, and depression can result when the condition is severe and persistent. RDD Pharma is also exploring other potential therapies for anorectal and lower gastrointestinal disorders for future clinical development. For more information, please visit www.rddpharma.com .

This work is supported by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs through the Spinal Cord Injury Research Program under Award No. W81XWH-17-1-0523. The U. S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, 820 Chandler Street, Fort Detrick MD 21702-5014 is the awarding and administering acquisition office. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of RDD Pharma and are not necessarily endorsed by the Department of Defense.

Contact:

Al Medwar

Executive Vice President, Global Operations

RDD Pharma, Ltd.

[email protected]

SOURCE RDD Pharma

Related Links

http://www.rddpharma.com

TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Orvana Minerals Corp. (TSX:ORV) (the "Company" or "Orvana") announced today that, at its annual shareholders' meeting (the "Meeting") held on February 13, 2019, the individuals noted below were elected as directors of the Company. The report on proxies provided by the Company's transfer agent indicated the following:

George Darling received 75,650,005 votes (representing 99.56% of votes cast); Alan Edwards received 75,646,005 votes (representing 99.55% of votes cast); Alfredo Garcia Gonzalez received 75,646,005 votes (representing 99.55% of votes cast); Ed Guimaraes received 75,646,005 votes (representing 99.55% of votes cast); Sara Magner received 75,646,005 votes (representing 99.55% of votes cast); and Gordon Pridham received 75,646,005 votes (representing 99.55% of votes cast).

Mr. Gordon Pridham was re-appointed as chairman of the board of directors; Mr. Juan Gavidia was re-appointed Chief Executive Officer; Ms. Nuria Menendez was re-appointed Chief Financial Officer; and Mr. Binh Vu was re-appointed Secretary, immediately after the Meeting.

The Company also reports the re-appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the Company's independent auditor.

For full voting details please see Orvana's voting results as filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com .

About Orvana Minerals Orvana is a multi-mine gold-copper-silver company. Orvana's operating assets consist of the producing El Valle and Carles gold-copper-silver mines in northern Spain and the producing Don Mario gold-silver operations in Bolivia. Additional information is available at Orvana's website (www.orvana.com).

Cautionary Statements - Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements in this information constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, potentials, future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "believes", "expects", "plans", "estimates" or "intends" or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "are projected to" be taken or achieved) are not statements of historical fact, but are forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements herein relate to, among other things, Orvana's ability to achieve improvement in free cash flow; the potential to extend the mine life of El Valle and Don Mario beyond their current life-of-mine estimates including specifically, but not limited to in the case of Don Mario, the mining of the Cerro Felix deposit, the processing of the mineral stockpiles (including the implementation of the SART circuit) and the reprocessing of the tailings material; Orvana's ability to optimize its assets to deliver shareholder value; the Company's ability to optimize productivity at Don Mario and El Valle; estimates of future production, operating costs and capital expenditures; mineral resource and reserve estimates; statements and information regarding future feasibility studies and their results; future transactions; future metal prices; the ability to achieve additional growth and geographic diversification; future financial performance, including the ability to increase cash flow and profits; future financing requirements; and mine development plans.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. The estimates and assumptions of the Company contained or incorporated by reference in this information, which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to, the various assumptions set forth herein and in Orvana's most recently filed Management's Discussion & Analysis and Annual Information Form in respect of the Company's most recently completed fiscal year (the "Company Disclosures") or as otherwise expressly incorporated herein by reference as well as: there being no significant disruptions affecting operations, whether due to labour disruptions, supply disruptions, power disruptions, damage to equipment or otherwise; permitting, development, operations, expansion and acquisitions at El Valle and Don Mario being consistent with the Company's current expectations; political developments in any jurisdiction in which the Company operates being consistent with its current expectations; certain price assumptions for gold, copper and silver; prices for key supplies being approximately consistent with current levels; production and cost of sales forecasts meeting expectations; the accuracy of the Company's current mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates; and labour and materials costs increasing on a basis consistent with Orvana's current expectations.

A variety of inherent risks, uncertainties and factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, affect the operations, performance and results of the Company and its business, and could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results expressed or implied by forward looking statements. Some of these risks, uncertainties and factors include fluctuations in the price of gold, silver and copper; the need to recalculate estimates of resources based on actual production experience; the failure to achieve production estimates; variations in the grade of ore mined; variations in the cost of operations; the availability of qualified personnel; the Company's ability to obtain and maintain all necessary regulatory approvals and licenses; the Company's ability to use cyanide in its mining operations; risks generally associated with mineral exploration and development, including the Company's ability to continue to operate the El Valle and/or Don Mario and/or ability to resume long-term operations at the Carles Mine; the Company's ability to successfully implement the SART circuit to process the current oxides stockpiles at Don Mario; the Company's ability to acquire and develop mineral properties and to successfully integrate such acquisitions; the Company's ability to execute on its strategy; the Company's ability to obtain financing when required on terms that are acceptable to the Company; challenges to the Company's interests in its property and mineral rights; current, pending and proposed legislative or regulatory developments or changes in political, social or economic conditions in the countries in which the Company operates; general economic conditions worldwide; and the risks identified in the Company's disclosures. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements and reference should also be made to the Company's Disclosures for a description of additional risk factors.

Any forward-looking statements made in this information with respect to the anticipated development and exploration of the Company's mineral projects are intended to provide an overview of management's expectations with respect to certain future activities of the Company and may not be appropriate for other purposes.

Forward-looking statements are based on management's current plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions and, except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements made in this information are intended to provide an overview of management's expectations with respect to certain future operating activities of the Company and may not be appropriate for other purposes.

SOURCE Orvana Minerals Corp.

Related Links

www.orvana.com

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla., Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- NTE Energy will soon open an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, as the independent power producer expands both its customer base and its influence across the Carolinas.

Located on the 27th floor of Charlotte Plaza, the 1,854 square-foot office will serve as a satellite office for NTE staff working with the company's Carolina customers. Currently, NTE provides power to 12 municipalities and electric co-operative customers across the Carolinas, including four new communities that began service from NTE on January 1  Greenwood and McCormick, South Carolina; and the North Carolina communities of Concord and Kings Mountain, which is home to NTE's 475-megawatt Kings Mountain Energy Center.

"As more and more communities across the Carolinas recognize the economic and environmental benefits of receiving cleaner, more affordable power from NTE Energy, it made sense for us to open an office in Charlotte," said CEO Seth Shortlidge, who noted that NTE currently has offices in Boston and St. Augustine, Florida. "NTE is a very customer-focused company, and this new Charlotte office will help us provide the personal, responsive service our Carolina customers deserve and have come to expect from us."

The Charlotte office will provide meeting space for NTE staff engaged in the multiple development projects the company has underway in North and South Carolina. NTE is currently constructing a 475-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant in Reidsville, North Carolina and is developing a 1,500-megawatt plant in Anderson County, South Carolina. The company is also developing the Fayetteville Solar Energy Center, a 30-megawatt facility that will provide communities served by NTE with an affordable source of clean, renewable energy through NTE's SolarSelect program.

Current plans call for the NTE Charlotte office to be ready for occupancy by the end of February, Shortlidge said, with a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony to be held shortly thereafter.

About NTE Energy

NTE Energy is a leading independent power producer, providing communities and other wholesale customers with reliable, low-cost, environmentally responsible energy solutions. Through its affiliates, the NTE team develops electric generation and transmission facilities, executing all aspects of project development from initial market and site evaluations to permitting, financing, construction and operation. For more information about NTE Energy, visit www.nteenergy.com.

SOURCE NTE Energy

Related Links

www.nteenergy.com

BOSTON, Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Boston-based professors and business experts Tucker Marion and Sebastian Fixson have done with their new book "The Innovation Navigator: Transforming Your Organization in the Era of Digital Design and Collaborative Culture" what business authors have not done in over a decade: written a groundbreaking new book that will change how businesses act.

Professor Tucker Marion and Professor Sebastian Fixson

In The Innovation Navigator, Marion, a Northeastern University Professor, and Sebastian Fixson, a Babson College Professor, explore four innovation archetypes, that they call modes  "specialist," "venture," "community," and "network"  which feature prominently in the expanding innovation landscape. Specialists employ technologies to achieve entirely new solutions and superior product performance. New corporate ventures lower the barriers for employees to self-select into entrepreneurial projects while reducing the constraints of bureaucracy. The community brings new sources of knowledge by expanding past the firm's boundaries, dramatically increasing the number of participants. The network creates partnerships and ecosystems that create innovations that could not be developed by individual companies alone.

"The emergence of digital design and a collaborative culture have fundamentally altered how firms, and people, approach the innovation process," the authors, who both started as mechanical engineers, wrote. "In the predigital design era, most new product and service development was conducted by individuals and organizations holding the relevant expertise, and most collaboration either occurred inside of firms or was governed by market-based transactions between firms. Today, aided by digital design and fabrication tools on the one hand and new forms of collaboration via social networking communities and collaboration/sharing tools on the other, the 'innovation landscape' is marked by new forms of participation and ownership, with new participants entering new markets and new arrangements of collective innovation."

The two major forces  digital design and a collaborative culture  form a "perfect storm" that substantially expands the innovation landscape, and in this new innovation landscape, four distinct regions are emerging. Each of these regions calls for its own innovation management approach (i.e., its own innovation modus operandi). Each of these innovation modes comes with different but significant ramifications for users, consumers, communities, vendors, and firms themselves. The locus of expertise is shifting from the human expert to the tools, allowing the experts to push technology frontiers outward in the traditional regions of the new innovation landscape, while enabling non-experts to participate in some activities like never before, especially in the venture and community modes. At the same time, whereas economic transactions will remain the main form of exchange in the traditional regions, they are complemented by social exchanges in the other modes, especially the community mode, with significant challenges for designing incentives and ownership regimes.

The good news, of course, is that this creates an opportunity-rich environment for firms to innovate. The expanded landscape, and the new innovation modes that come with it, create an environment which more ideas of higher quality can seed innovation funnels, where new engineering tools allow the vetting of more mature concepts earlier in the process, where new actors can help develop solutions, and where innovation networks can lower costs and barriers to entry. This means more ideas from more sources, the potential for better ideas, and ways to radically reduce the investment needed to bring them to market. The bad news is that this also creates some new demands and hurdles. Managers need frameworks for navigating and understanding how to harness the power of this new landscape. In this book, the authors attempt to show that there are many opportunities to leverage this new landscape, but all four innovation modes exhibit their challenges. They encourage firms to explore these different modes but to do so with clear expectations and a firm grasp of the risk and reward potential.

"The Innovation Navigator" guides the reader in exploring and exploiting these different modes of innovation. Individual chapters provide key insights into the inherent opportunities and challenges from a number of vantage points: from the impact on organizational resources to the role of incentives. The book also provides a framework for how firms can leverage dynamic mode shifts and multimode strategies. Firms across the industrial spectrum are profiled, from new additive manufacturing companies such as Formlabs, community-based solution providers like Forth, to traditional firms exploring new modes like GE Appliances and their FirstBuild initiative. "The Innovation Navigator" will assist executives in building the capabilities for peak performance in this new innovation landscape.

In the end, the authors developed their frameworks to help managers and executives take advantage of the tremendous opportunities that present themselves in each of the new modes of innovation. In the early chapters, they discuss some history behind the development of the two forces which are expanding the innovation landscape. Then they dive into the individual innovation modes, with an eye toward giving practical advice on how to approach the unique benefits and challenges of each mode. Finally, they discuss how they can use these modes together to great effect.

"In this book, the authors discuss how two forces  digital design and a collaborative culture  are moving us from the pre-digital age into the digital era," wrote Ric Fulop Founder and CEO, Desktop Metal, Inc. in the book's Foreword. "In this new era, these two forces are paving the way for transformative breakthroughs, not only in the speed with which we can prototype, but in the designs themselves and how they are manufactured. These new opportunities will reshape how firms approach design, development, and manufacturing and how they organize themselves and involve others in the process. Cloud-based CAD (computer-aided design) to facilitate distributed collaboration, design optimization via generative design, real-time engineering analysis, increasingly fast and near-net-shaped custom prototyping and production 3D printing, and exponential growth of collaborative communication platforms like Slack are examples of this trend. The pace is breathtaking. We are living in an exciting time, and those that best implement these new technologies and platforms will have a competitive advantage."

Professor Marion has over 20 years of experience in product design, development and commercialization. Prior to entering academia, Tucker held product development and manufacturing positions in the automotive industry including Visteon Corporation and Ford Motor Company. His expertise centered on bringing electronic systems from business case through manufacturing and production ramp. He has also started or co-founded several start-ups where he led the design, engineering and development products ranging from consumer products to industrial systems. Products where he led the design and development effort have appeared in Popular Science, the New York Times, and others. Tucker has significant expertise in the development of electronic modules, sensors, and systems. He regularly consults with technology firms on improving their innovation processes.

Professor Marion joined Northeastern in 2007, where he developed core graduate courses for the new School of Technological Entrepreneurship. In 2013, he led the development and launch of the new Master's of Science in Innovation program and currently serves in the following roles: Entrepreneurship & Innovation Group Coordinator for Academic Programs, Director of the Innovation Masters programs, Co-Director of the Institute for Global Innovation Management. His custom executive education classes include design thinking, rapid design and development, corporate entrepreneurship, innovation strategy, and revitalizing organizational growth starting with empowered, entrepreneurial teams.

Sebastian Fixson is Professor of Innovation & Design at Babson College. He also served as the founding Faculty Director of Babson's Master of Science in Management in Entrepreneurial Leadership (MSEL) program from 2014-2017. Trained as both an engineer and a social scientist, Dr. Fixson concentrates his research work on creating knowledge to help organizations build innovation capabilities. His recent research investigates how innovation performance is impacted through the underlying problem structure, through choices in process governance (open vs. closed innovation), through the use of digital design tools, and through the use of innovation practices such as Design Thinking. Results of his research workflow directly into his teaching and advising activities. Dr. Fixson teaches on the subjects of innovation, design, and operations management to audiences across all programs (Undergraduate, MBA/MS, Executive Education) at Babson and around the world.

Prior to joining the Babson College faculty in 2008, he has taught at the University of Michigan's Industrial and Operations Engineering department, MIT's Sloan School of Management, and Northeastern University's School of Technological Entrepreneurship. Dr. Fixson collaborates with industrial partners in various formats, ranging from joint research projects, to teaching, advising and consulting, to speaking engagements. Dr. Fixson's work has appeared in books and journals such as Concurrent Engineering, Creativity and Innovation Management, Design Management Review, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, Journal of Operations Management, Journal of Product Innovation Management, MIT Sloan Management Review, Research Policy, Research-Technology Management, Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, as well as online outlets such as Harvard Business Review online.

To purchase a copy of "The Innovation Navigator: Transforming Your Organization in the Era of Digital Design and Collaborative Culture," go to Amazon.com or better bookstores nationwide.

Media Contact:

Bob Newman

Phone: 617-952-1470

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Professor Tucker Marion and Professor Sebastian FixsonDES MOINES, Iowa, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MakuSafe ("MakuSafe" or the "Company"), the safety technology leader, announced that the Company closed its nearly $3 million seed round.

This brings the total funds raised by the Company to nearly $4.5 million. Funding has come from a number of capital groups, including EMC Insurance Companies, Next Level Ventures, and The Best of the Midwest. The Company plans to use the capital to hire key personnel and to scale the manufacturing of MakuSafe's proprietary technology.

MakuSafe has developed a sophisticated system for gathering real-time environmental and human motion data to identify workplace risk. The MakuSmart cloud platform uses machine learning to process millions of data points gathered by wearable armband devices invented by the Company. Jason W. Gross, Vice President of Strategy & Business Transformation at EMC Insurance Companies stated, "Our agents and policyholders count on EMC to provide insurance products and, at the same time, help policyholders mitigate and manage their risks. That's why we are investing in and partnering with companies like MakuSafe that are leveraging new technology and analytics to make our workplaces and workers even safer."

Each day, more than 1,000 employees worldwide lose their life to a workplace accident. In the United States alone, well over $1 Billion is paid out each week in worker's compensation claims. With the data gathered from the wearable devices, MakuSafe customers can gain deeper insights into their workforce and operations, resulting in mitigating workplace risks and reducing worker compensation claims.

"For several years we've been conducting tests in facilities around Central Iowa and using the results of those tests to fine-tune our product," said MakuSafe CEO and co-founder Gabriel Glynn. "We're truly excited about the progress we've made and are looking forward to getting through the manufacturing process so we can begin to provide product to awaiting customers." Scott Hoekman, Principal of Next Level Ventures commented, "Next Level Ventures could not be more excited to invest in MakuSafe. In addition, MakuSafe is creating a product which incorporates hardware, software, worker safety, and insurance. This intriguing combination really resonates with Iowa's growing startup ecosystem as well as two of Iowa's core industries - manufacturing and insurance. And with this financing we are eager to see MakuSafe accelerate its growth and bolster its innovative solution."

This past Fall, MakuSafe was selected to pitch at The Best of the Midwest, an angel capital event that took place in Des Moines, IA. Accredited investors from around the Midwest pooled money together and collectively picked which participating startups would receive investment. MakuSafe was selected for investment from the group. "Plains Angels and the Angel Capital Association - The Best of the Midwest group, is proud to invest in MakuSafe. They not only have a great business outlook but their product will save lives and limit accidents," said Mike Colwell, Co-Manager of Plains Angels.

"Access to Angel and Venture Capital is a vital part of a healthy startup ecosystem, especially for startups tackling large-scale problems that require extensive engineering," said Glynn. "We are delighted to have found financial support from investors here in Central Iowa and around the Midwest. Raising nearly $4.5 million dollars is no small task, but in doing so we can serve as yet another example of a growing and maturing startup ecosystem in the Heartland."

About MakuSafe

MakuSafe is a Software as a Service (SaaS), Data, and Analytics company based in America's Heartland. Our mission is to improve worker health, safety, and productivity while reducing worker's compensation claims and mitigating workplace risks. Founded in West Des Moines, Iowa in 2016 by Gabriel Glynn and Mark Frederick, MakuSafe has developed proprietary wearable technology that gathers real-time environmental and motion data from workers. Our cloud platform, MakuSmart, then uses machine learning to identify high-risk trends in the facility. The portal auto-records near-miss leading indicators, proactively targets loss control resources to specific conditions & occurrences, and streamlines compliance reporting. Learn more at https://youtu.be/vy8VB8stx4A (video) and https://makusafe.com/news

MEDIA CONTACT:

Eric Olson

515.453.2105

[email protected]

SOURCE MakuSafeSALISBURY, Md., Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A grand unveiling event is set for Wednesday, February 20th to showcase the multi-million-dollar designer remodel of award-winning senior living community Lakeside At Mallard Landing. The event will be held on location at 1109 S. Schumaker Drive, Salisbury, MD 21804 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Attendees will get first look at the state-of-the-art community remodel while enjoying live music, a champagne tower, personalized photo-booth, and chef-prepared gourmet appetizers.

You're invited on February 20th, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. to celebrate our designer remodel! We will have live entertainment, a retro champagne tower, and other surprises you won't want to miss!

The remodeled building consists of spacious, nicely-appointed apartment homes, Grand Clubhouse amenities, and access to their signature award-winning Lifestyle Programs: Sensations gourmet dining, Celebrations activities and events, Dimensions health and personalized fitness, Connections transportation, and more. Lakeside At Mallard Landing offers residents worry-free living with activities and event options to preserve an independent, active lifestyle in addition to Assisted Living and Memory Care residences.

The community offers residents a continuum of care in the heart of Salisbury, Maryland. Rich in local history and appreciated for its world-class amenities, Salisbury is an amazing area for residents to enjoy their retirement years.

"This grand remodel has been a culmination of efforts from many people and we are excited to unveil these world-class renovations to the community," says Richard J. Hutchinson, CEO of Discovery Senior Living. "Today's seniors want a different kind of living option. Our design, lifestyle programs, and resort-style amenities are specifically crafted to meet the growing demand in Salisbury."

Lakeside At Mallard Landing is one of 53 communities across the United States owned, managed and operated by award-winning Discovery Senior Living, an industry leader in first-class senior living communities.

About Discovery Senior Living

Discovery Senior Living is a family of companies which includes: Discovery Management Group, Discovery Development Group, Discovery Realty Group, Discovery Marketing Group and Discovery At Home, a Medicare-certified home health care company. With almost three decades of experience, the award-winning management group has been developing, building, marketing and operating upscale, luxury senior-living communities across the United States. With a flourishing portfolio of more than 8,500 existing homes for seniors, Discovery Senior Living has become a recognized industry leader in creating world-class resort-style communities. The corporate office is located at 27599 Riverview Center Blvd Suite 201, Bonita Springs, FL 34134. For more information, please visit www.DiscoverySeniorLiving.com.

For all media inquiries contact:

Hayley Corbett

Regional Marketing Manager

239.908.2921

[email protected]

Related Files

LML-0018-Rendering Brochure_Aug 2018.pdf

SOURCE Discovery Senior Living

Related Links

http://www.DiscoverySeniorLiving.com

BEIJING, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 20, 2018, China's private space launch firm, LandSpace, announced that it had closed the series B+ round of financing at 300m RMB ($43m USD), led by China Growth Capital with Zhongji Investment, 36Kr, Juzhuo Capital and others, bringing the total raised by LandSpace to over 800m ($115m USD). The purpose is to create a new commercial aerospace ecosystem consisting of the development, production and testing of the new liquid rockets.

LandSpace launches Zhuque-1 in north-central China's Gansu province on October 27 2018 Wayne Shiong, Partner of China Growth Capital

Wayne Shiong, Partner of China Growth Capital (CGC), a leading investor, said, "Following the recent successful landing of the robotic spacecraft, Chang'e-4, on the far side of the moon on 3 Jan 2019, we are confident in the growth of the Chinese aerospace industry for the coming decades. Private firms like LandSpace can add value by becoming a beneficial market supplement to traditional state-owned firms. LandSpace can greatly shorten the R&D time of small and medium-sized liquid oxygen methane engines in China and effectively reduce the cost of commercial launches in the future."

This financing round of LandSpace will be mainly for the R&D of the 80t liquid oxygen methane engine "Tianque" (TQ-12) and the medium-sized liquid launch vehicle "Zhuque 2" (ZQ-2); both are flagship products of LandSpace. The trial run of short nozzle state thrust chamber for engine "Tianque" (TQ-12) has been completed by the end of September 2018. It is expected that the test run of the whole system will be completed in the first half of 2019. The medium-sized liquid launch vehicle "Zhuque 2," which is developed based on the engine "Tianque" (TQ-12), is planned to have its maiden voyage in 2020.

Zhang Changwu, CEO of LandSpace, believes the privately held firm's remarkable progress is attributed to a clear commercialization strategy and strong technical team. In the future, LandSpace will adhere to its true and tested technical strategy and continue to contribute to China's aerospace industry. LandSpace will focus on R&D, manufacturing and supply chain management, in order to meet the needs of the upcoming commercial launch in 2020.

About LandSpace

LandSpace Technology Corporation Ltd. is a Chinese private aerospace enterprise engaged in the R&D and operations of launch vehicles. Focusing on small and medium scale commercial aerospace application market, LandSpace is devoted to the development of Liquid-fuel Rocket Engines (LREs) and low-cost commercial launch vehicles with independent intellectual property rights.

About China Growth Capital

China Growth Capital is a leading early-stage venture capital firm in China with an extended interest in Silicon Valley. The firm funds seed to Series B in fintech, enterprise tech and Internet consumer sectors. Since its founding in 2006, China Growth Capital has grown to manage 8 Billion RMB (approximately 1.2 Billion USD) in asset under management across its different RMB and USD funds, with close to 300 portfolio companies. In addition to spaces technology, China Growth Capital has also recently invested in industries such as enterprise software, fintech, medtech, argritech, e-commerce and artificial intelligence etc.

Contact us for more information:

www.chinagrowthcapital.com/en

Media Contact:

Kaitlin Zhang

+86 10 8589 3858

[email protected]

SOURCE China Growth Capital

Related Links

http://www.chinagrowthcapital.com

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Inova Payroll, Inc., one of the top-10 privately-held payroll and HR companies in the United States, announced today it has acquired One Source Payroll, an Irving, Texas, company that provides payroll, time and labor, human resources, and ACA compliance to more than 300 employers throughout the country.

"Through this transaction, we not only continue the steady growth that has landed us on the Inc. 5000 list for the past three years, but we also gain an accomplished team of payroll and HR professionals who provide the level of service that aligns with our corporate values," said Inova's President and CEO Farsheed Ferdowsi.

One Source Payroll's owner and co-founder, Shelly Mueller, along with her late husband, started the company in 2004 with the goal of taking extra time to work with clients to solve their payroll and human resource problems and offer tailored solutions at a reasonable price, distinguishing them from the larger national providers.

"It was extremely important to me to find a company with the same commitment to service we've pursued at One Source Payroll for the past 15 years," said Mueller. "Farsheed and the team at Inova have demonstrated that they take great care with their clients and I look forward to being part of the team."

"In addition to service and strategy alignment, our two companies line up from a technology perspective," said Ferdowsi. "The integration with Inova will be fairly seamless for both One Source employees and their clients, which is a top goal for Shelly and me."

The One Source Payroll office is the first Texas office for Inova, which has six offices in Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. In 2017, Inova recapitalized and merged with Atlanta-based Payroll Strategies.

About Inova Payroll

Combining a dedication to employer success with innovative service and technology, Inova Payroll provides smart payroll, HR and benefits solutions to employers across the United States. The company's services range from simple payroll for businesses with a few employees to robust human capital management solutions for those with 1,000+ employees. For the past three years, Inova Payroll earned a spot on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies. Inova Payroll is headquartered in Nashville with five additional offices in Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. For more company information, call 888-244-6106 or visit inovapayroll.com.

SOURCE Inova Payroll

Related Links

http://www.inovapayroll.com

SUZHOU, China, Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovent Biologics, Inc. (Innovent) (HKEX: 01801), a world-class biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and commercializes high quality innovative medicines for the treatment of oncology, autoimmune and other major diseases, today announced that the first patient has been dosed in a Phase I clinical trial of IBI101, a recombinant fully human anti-tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 4 (anti-OX40) monoclonal antibody.

In this Phase I clinical study, the tolerance, safety and primary efficacy of IBI101, either as monotherapy or in combination with Tyvyt (sintilimab injection), an anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) antibody, will be evaluated. The study comprises two parts, namely a Phase Ia study with IBI101 as monotherapy and a Phase Ib study with IBI101 in combination with Tyvyt. Patients with advanced solid tumors who have failed standard treatments will be enrolled in the study.

"The Investigational New Drug (IND) application of IBI101, indicated for patients with advanced solid tumors, was approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on 5 Dec, 2018. The mechanism of IBI101 is different from that of anti-PD-1 antibodies. IBI101 stimulates the OX40 pathway so as to activate effector T cells, thus enhancing the anti-tumor immune reaction," commented Professor XU Ruihua, Director of Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Hospital. "Worldwide clinical research on anti-OX40 antibodies is limited so far. We are looking forward to the study results of IBI101."

"Innovent, a China-based company, was established with an ambition to serve global patient needs. We are dedicated to exploring the most advanced research areas in cancer immunotherapy and providing innovative medicines that improve lives around the world. The initiation of Phase I study of IBI101 and dosing of first patient have again demonstrated our efforts and commitment. We truly anticipate further breakthroughs so that more patients will potentially benefit in the future," said Michael Yu, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman.

About IBI101

IBI101 is a recombinant fully human anti-OX40 monoclonal antibody developed by Innovent with independent intellectual property rights. Pre-clinical data confirms that IBI101 has a clear mechanism of action that enhances the activation of effector T cells and mediates the clearance of regulatory T cells, thus inhibiting the growth of tumor cells. The IND application of IBI101 was approved by the U.S. FDA on 5 Dec, 2018. Agonistic OX40 candidates are expected to be used in combination with our anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody, Tyvyt (sintilimab injection), and other immunomodulating agents in our R&D pipeline to meet the unmet medical needs of cancer patients. At present, there are no approved monoclonal antibody therapeutics against the same target across the world.

About Tyvyt (sintilimab injection)

Tyvyt (sintilimab injection) is an innovative drug jointly developed in China by Innovent and Eli Lilly and Company. Innovent is currently conducting the clinical studies of sintilimab injection in the United States. Tyvyt (sintilimab injection) is a type of immunoglobulin G4 monoclonal antibody, which binds to PD-1 molecules on the surface of T-cells, blocks the PD-1/ PD-1 Ligand-1 (PD-L1) pathway and reactivates T-cells to kill cancer cells. Tyvyt (sintilimab injection) is the only PD-1 antibody in China branded by both a local biopharmaceutical company and a global pharmaceutical company. Tyvyt (sintilimab injection) has been approved by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for relapsed or refractory classical Hodgkin's lymphoma (r/r cHL). Currently, more than twenty clinical studies of sintilimab injection, including seven registration studies, are ongoing to evaluate the efficacy of sintilimab injection on other solid tumors.

About Innovent

Inspired by the spirit of "Start with Integrity, Succeed through Action," Innovent's mission is to develop and commercialize high quality biopharmaceutical products that are affordable to ordinary people. Established in 2011, Innovent is committed to developing, manufacturing and commercializing high quality innovative medicines for the treatment of major diseases such as cancer. On October 31, 2018, Innovent was listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited with the stock code: 01801.HK.

Since it was founded, Innovent has developed a fully-integrated platform which includes R&D, CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls), clinical development and commercialization capabilities. Leveraging the platform, the company has built up a robust pipeline of 20 innovative assets in the fields of oncology, ophthalmology, autoimmune, and cardiovascular diseases. Fourteen have entered into clinical development, four have entered Phase III clinical trials, two monoclonal antibodies have their New Drug Application (NDA) under review and one, Tyvyt (sintilimab injection), is now approved for relapsed or refractory classical Hodgkin's lymphoma (r/r cHL).

Innovent has built an international team of advanced talents in high-end biological drug development and commercialization, including many overseas experts. The company has also entered into strategic collaborations with Eli Lilly and Company, Adimab, Incyte, Hanmi and other international pharmaceutical companies. Innovent strives to work with all relevant parties to help advance China's biopharmaceutical industry, improve drug availability to ordinary people and enhance the quality of the patients' lives. For more information, please visit: www.innoventbio.com.

SOURCE Innovent Biologics, Inc.ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. aviation is courting catastrophe by making drones so accessible to untrained, unskilled, less-than-serious "pilots" who treat them as toys, veteran LeClairRyan aviation attorney Mark A. Dombroff warns in a new column at AviationPros.com.

Mark A. Dombroff

"My fear is that, sooner or later, an illegally operated drone will cause a catastrophic aviation accident," writes Dombroff, an Alexandria-based member of the national law firm and co-leader of its Aviation Industry practice. "If that happens, it will most likely be at an airport and involve a plane either taking off or landing, with potentially devastating consequences for the drone business."

In the column ('Could 'Toy' Drones Ground the Commercial UAS Sector?'), Dombroff cites a raft of disturbing events involving illegally operated Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) as growing proof of the need for tighter regulations.

In the run-up to the 2019 Super Bowl, he notes, federal law enforcement agents confiscated at least six drones operating in violation of FAA regulations. The pilots in question reportedly told FBI agents they were unaware of federal airspace rules, and an FBI spokesman complained to the press of law enforcement officers' high level of frustration with the presence of illegally operated drones near the stadium.

The Super Bowl incidents, Dombroff notes, came after warnings about drones recently forced the cancellation of 43 flights at the international airport in Newark, N.J., and caused a 33-hour closure at London's Gatwick Airport. "These were hardly the first such events involving errant dronesfrom the one that crashed into the upper deck at Petco Park stadium in San Diego, Calif., to the drone that collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over New York Harbor," Dombroff writes.

In the column, the attorney lauds federal regulators' efforts to stave off accidents by running public service announcements and even watching drone pilots' YouTube videos and contacting these operators about FAA violations. Nonetheless, it is clear that among the thousands of regular folks who buy drones every year, a significant percentage are either unwilling or unable to follow the FAA's complex rules, Dombroff says.

"What will the skies be like as the number of drone usersresponsible, irresponsible and everything in betweengrows into the millions?" he asks. "My view is that within 10 years (much sooner if we see a truly catastrophic accident) drones will not just be technically defined as aircraft; they will be treated as such in all respects and under penalty of law."

That would spell the end of today's relatively freewheeling approach to recreational or hobbyist usage. Instead, all UAS operators would be required to obtain and maintain FAA certification. Dombroff believes the FAA "will require all UAS operators to demonstrate actual proficiency in flying these aircraft and to pass written tests proving their ability to understand and follow the rules for safe operation of drones in our joint airspace."

In all likelihood, the FAA will also drop its emphasis on promoting the growth of UAS and instead focus on more aggressive enforcement, Dombroff asserts. In the best-case scenario, none of this will occur as a reaction to a catastrophic accident. Instead, today's close calls will awaken lawmakers, regulators and aviation stakeholders to the dangers posed by an ever-growing cloud of hobbyist drones in U.S. airspace, he writes.

"While manufacturers, retailers and everyday consumers will surely grouse about the loss of mass-market 'toy' drones," the attorney concludes, "this will be a tiny price to pay if the outcome is preserving our vitally important commercial UAS sector and maintaining the incredible safety record of American aviation."

The full column is available at:

https://www.aviationpros.com/aircraft/unmanned/blog/21068157/could-toy-drones-ground-the-commercial-uas-sector

About LeClairRyan

As a trusted advisor, LeClairRyan provides business counsel and client representation in corporate law and litigation. In this role, the firm applies its knowledge, insight and skill to help clients achieve their business objectives while managing and minimizing their legal risks, difficulties and expenses. With offices from coast to coast, the firm represents a wide variety of clients nationwide. For more information about LeClairRyan, visit www.leclairryan.com.

Press Contacts: At Parness & Associates Public Relations, Bill Parness, (732) 290-0121, or Lisa Kreda, [email protected]

SOURCE LeClairRyan

Related Links

http://www.leclairryan.com

BROOKFIELD, Wis., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hydrite Chemical Co., an integrated manufacturer and supplier of industrial chemicals and related services, is pleased to announce that it will be celebrating its 90th anniversary in February of 2019.

Hydrite's First Tank Car- Hydrite has been providing creative solutions for 90 years. Hydrite Celebrates 90 Years

On February 6, 1929 Hydrite started as a supplier to the tanning industry in Milwaukee, Wisconsin which was a hotspot for tanneries, one of which was supplying the leather harnesses used by the U.S. Armed Services. When the Great Depression hit, the previous owners of Hydrite were looking to sell the company. Seeing an opportunity, Wayne Thompson and Richard Honkamp left their jobs in 1935 and purchased a majority share in Hydrite.

Without the risk that Wayne Thompson and Richard Honkamp took, Hydrite would not be the company that it is today. The evolution from a chemical distributor to a chemical producer was a major turning point for the success of the company and allows Hydrite to continue to expand its business. Today, Hydrite is one of North America's largest independent distributors and manufacturers of specialty and industrial chemicals.

In 2019, Hydrite looks forward to events throughout the year to celebrate its 90th anniversary. We are especially excited about the release of a new company video which is a continuation of Richard Honkamp's book, "Success Has Been Fun," and highlights the history of the company.

Paul Honkamp, Chief Executive Officer, commented, "Thanks to everyone who has made the past 90 years so successful. We would especially like to thank all our employees, customers, and suppliers who play such a crucial role in the success of the company and allowed us to reach this milestone. We are looking forward to the years to come."

Hydrite has developed a reputation within the industry for providing the distinct combination of excellence in chemical manufacturing and distribution with the most comprehensive level of technical expertise available. To learn more, visit www.hydrite.com or call (262) 792-1450.

About Hydrite Chemical Co.

Hydrite, a family-owned company established in 1929, is one of the largest independent providers of chemicals and related services in the United States. Headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin, Hydrite has a network of manufacturing facilities, warehouses, and laboratories located in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, California, and Texas with nearly 1,000 employees in 25 states. Hydrite owns and operates a private fleet of over 255 units including tractors, van trailers, tankers, and railcars.

Hydrite offers expertise in chemical distribution and manufacturing, food and dairy sanitation, organic processing, liquid sulfites, foam control, water treatment, and compliance management services.

With over 5,000 items in its product portfolio, Hydrite's dedicated chemists, engineers, and technical service staff have extensive knowledge and experience in solving the most challenging formulating problems. Hydrite has a strong commitment to quality and customer responsiveness, and offers superior products and innovative solutions.

Media Contact:

Maggie Honkamp

262.792.2363

[email protected]

SOURCE Hydrite Chemical Co.

Related Links

http://www.hydrite.com

Beginning at 10 a.m. in Playa Vista, the parade route will pass several of the city's landmarks including The Santa Monica Pier, Rodeo Drive and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. During the route, there will be one planned 20-minute stop at Abbott Kinney Boulevard in Venice, where viewers can take pictures with the parade cars. After the parade, the cars will return to the Petersen at around 1 p.m. and be displayed on the third floor of the museum parking garage.

Viewers positioned around the designated parade route will see the 1951 Chrysler Camera Car once owned by billionaire movie mogul Howard Hughes; the Volkswagen Type 2 Microbus from the 2006 American comedy-drama "Little Miss Sunshine;" the 1998 Volkswagen New Beetle Convertible from the second installment of the Austin Powers franchise "The Spy Who Shagged Me;" the 2002 Jaguar XK-R Stunt Car that was the anti-hero car in the 2002 James Bond flick "Die Another Day;" the Chrysler Imperial Parade Phaeton, which belonged to President Dwight D. Eisenhower; the Honda S2000 from "2 Fast 2 Furious;" and other iconic Hollywood vehicles.

"The Petersen would not be what it is today without the steadfast support of the Los Angeles community," said Petersen Automotive Museum Executive Director Terry L. Karges. "For 25 years, we have strived as an organization to captivate the hearts of Angelenos, igniting within them a passion for the automobile. Because Hollywood is such an important aspect of our community, the parade will serve as a fun tribute to the industry on which Los Angeles was built upon."

For more information about the Petersen Automotive Museum, please visit www.Petersen.org .

About Petersen Automotive Museum

The Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charity. The Museum is located at 6060 Wilshire Boulevard (at Fairfax) in Los Angeles, California, 90036. Admission prices are $16 for general admission adults, $14 for seniors, $11 for children ages 4 to 17. Active military with ID, personal care attendants and children under four are admitted free. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For general information, call 323-930-CARS or visit www.Petersen.org .

Contact: Heather Buchanan  Kahn Media

818/881-5246 [email protected]

SOURCE Petersen Automotive Museum

Related Links

http://www.petersen.org

Some of its current shareholders are leading names within the Spanish angel investors community, including Carlos Domingo, Cabiedes & Partners, Vincent Rosso, Francois Derbaix, Andreas Mihalovits and institutions such as Bankinter's Venture Capital Fund.

Startupxplore aims to diversify its portfolio by continue to co-investing next to Spain's leading accelerators, including Seedrocket, Lanzadera , corporate innovation platform Plug&Play and Wayra .

Some of the highly vetted companies that were able to raise funds via the platform include Lola Market, corporate travel company Triporate and glassy.pro , a waterproof wearable maker for the surfing community whose round was funded in over two hours.

"Venture capital hasn't changed in a relevant way in the past 50 years, and we believe new spaces are necessary for companies to meet capital in current open and technology markets," explained Javier Megias, Startupexplore's CEO.

The company's operation is authorized and regulated by Spain's National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

Its funding success rate surpasses a 94% rate and its dealflow is powered by a tech platform that allows them to manage and analyze hundreds of companies.

"We were born to disrupt the current VC model by applying crowdfunding tech stack to Venture Capital while offering a solid revenue model to our investors," Megias stated.

Among the top capacities of the platform, Startupxplore provides its users with an intelligence and exploration service and other management software tools for their investors.

Startupxplore is targeting 100k to 500k seed deals and wants to help grow tech and innovative companies that have the potential to transform their industries and be market leaders.

For the immediate future, the company has decided to explore investing in further European countries without leaving the Spanish market aside, which is home to 25% of European fastest growing companies in a a secure and predictable framework.

About Startupxplore

Startupxplore is an equity crowdfunding platform that operates as a Digital VC. They launch highly curated investment opportunities in top startups to a +14K investors community (distributed across Europe), where they also invest their own money and also a lead investor with a proven track record is also investing.

Startupxplore has Europe's highest funding success rate (>94%), and leverages it's technology (investor's dashboard, dealflow analysis, shares manager, automated dataroom) to scale its operations in a cross-border fashion.

SOURCE StartupxploreROCKVILLE, Md., Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Kidney Fund is marking the 30th year of its Clinical Scientist in Nephrology Program in 2019 with the announcement of two research fellowships awarded to Olivia Alison Potok, M.D., a research fellow in nephrology at of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and Pablo Garcia, M.D., a research fellow in nephrology at Stanford University.

Dr. Potok and Dr. Garcia join a distinguished roster of top nephrology researchers who have received early-career support from AKF through the Clinical Scientist Nephrology Program. Since 1989, this program has funded researchers whose work is designed to improve diagnosis, treatment and outcomes for patients living with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Both fellowships will begin July 1.

"The research that Dr. Potok and Dr. Garcia will conduct promises to produce important insights with practical applications in the clinical setting," said LaVarne A. Burton, AKF president and CEO. "Over the past 30 years, the American Kidney Fund has granted research fellowships to 43 brilliant young nephrologists with one overarching goal: improving the care and treatment of patients with kidney disease. These nephrologists have, in turn, gone on to become leaders in the field and mentors to new generations of scientists studying kidney disease."

Dr. Potok's 2019-2020 American Kidney Fund Clinical Scientist in Nephrology Fellowship is funded with support from Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. Her research will focus on better understanding how two common markers used to estimate kidney function relate to aging and body composition. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), the most common test for kidney function, can be calculated using different markers in a patient's blood. Dr. Potok will study how discrepancies in these markers correlate with muscle mass and frailty in older patients.

"Akebia is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for patients with kidney disease. We are proud to support the AKF Clinical Scientist in Nephrology Programa program that for 30 years has encouraged the most talented and driven young nephrologists to dedicate their careers to clinical research," said John Butler, president and CEO of Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. "With over 30 million people in the U.S. living with kidney disease today, we need to do all we can to advance research, and the CSN program is one of the most effective tools for doing so."

Dr. Garcia's research seeks to better understand the causes and prognosis of primary tubulointerstitial kidney disease, a disorder in which the spaces between the kidney tubules become inflamed for unclear reasons. This inflammation frequently results in permanent scarring and kidney damage. Infections, drugs and environmental toxins can cause tubulointerstitial kidney disease and this type of kidney disease tends to affect young otherwise healthy people in Latin America. Dr. Garcia plans to survey people in high-risk areas and study kidney biopsies from affected people as part of his research.

Dr. Potok began her fellowship with the UCSD Division of Nephrology-Hypertension in July 2016. She completed her medical school training in France at Universite Paris V Rene Descartes and a family medicine residency at Faculte de Medecine de Strasbourg. After moving to the United States, she completed her internal medicine residency at the University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia.

Dr. Garcia is a first-year nephrology fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine Division of Nephrology. He received his medical degree from the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala and spent two years doing clinical research on CKD of unknown origin in Guatemala. He underwent clinical training in internal medicine at Rutgers/Saint Peter's University Hospital in New Jersey before joining Stanford's fellowship program.

The CSN program strives to improve the quality of care provided to kidney patients and promotes clinical research in nephrology. It enhances the training of nephrologists who want to pursue an academic career and whose primary professional commitment is to scholarship in the provision of patient care.

About the American Kidney Fund

As the nation's leading independent nonprofit working on behalf of the 30 million Americans with kidney disease, the American Kidney Fund is dedicated to ensuring that every kidney patient has access to health care, and that every person at risk for kidney disease is empowered to prevent it. AKF provides a complete spectrum of programs and services: prevention outreach, top-rated health educational resources, and direct financial assistance enabling 1 in 5 U.S. dialysis patients to access lifesaving medical care, including dialysis and transplantation. AKF holds the highest ratings from the nation's charity watchdog groups, including Charity Navigator, which includes AKF on its "top 10" list of nonprofits with the longest track records of outstanding stewardship of the donated dollar, and GuideStar, which has awarded AKF its Platinum Seal of Transparency.

For more information, please visit KidneyFund.org, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

SOURCE American Kidney Fund

Related Links

http://www.kidneyfund.org

DENVER, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On Valentine's Day, good things often come in pairs. For Diego Pellicer  Colorado, a couple of years have been good to the West Alameda location. Valentine's Day marks the store's second anniversary and another important reason to celebrate: triple digit growth. Diego Pellicer Worldwide, Inc. (OTCQB: DPWW), the premium marijuana brand and retail development company, today announced the Denver licensee's location has reported an astounding 111% year-over-year growth from Jan. 2017 to Jan. 2019.

"It's a winning combination: outstanding customer service, premium marijuana and competitive prices. Clearly, Diego Pellicer  Colorado has struck a chord in the cannabis marketplace, demonstrating how Diego Pellicer Worldwide licensed tenants bring a world-class experience to customers," said Ron Throgmartin, chief executive officer, Diego Pellicer Worldwide, Inc. "We congratulate Diego Pellicer  Colorado's team on its success. With our leadership, branding model and experience, we look forward to helping other retailers and operators experience such prosperity."

Innovation, Cannabis Expertise and Collaboration

To better serve its increasing customer base, Diego Pellicer  Colorado recently introduced an app for Android where customers can order from current, in-store inventory, browse the product photo gallery, take a virtual tour of the store, get instant notifications of product specials and stay connected via Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. The app can be downloaded directly at https://co.diego-pellicer.com/android/

"Whether it's the convenience of ordering online or offering a new, premium product category, we are constantly working to make the Diego shopping experience a pleasure for our customers," said Nicholas Jack, chief retail officer, Diego Pellicer  Colorado. "We stay current with the market trends out here in Colorado and work hard to ensure we carry what's in demand." Strong relationships with vendors allow Diego Pellicer  Colorado to consistently offer the most premium flower and cannabis products the industry has to offer, the moment the products are available to the public.

About Diego Pellicer Worldwide, Inc. (OTCQB: DPWW)

Diego Pellicer Worldwide, Inc. is the premium marijuana brand and management company. In addition to its branded locations in Colorado and Washington, the company actively seeks to develop and manage high-end, turnkey cannabis retail stores. When federally legal, DPWW is positioned to become a national, vertically integrated marijuana company. To learn more about how to become a branded Diego Pellicer retailer, cultivator or investor visit www.Diego-Pellicer.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements contained in this press release may be construed as "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). The words "estimate," "project," "intends," "expects," "anticipates," "believes" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions of the Act. These statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected on the basis of these statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company also undertakes no obligation to disclose any revision to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

SOURCE Diego Pellicer Worldwide, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.diego-pellicer.com

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CommonBond, a leading financial technology company, announced that it has signed $750 million in lending capacity from Goldman Sachs, Citibank, Barclays, BMO, and ING. The financings enable CommonBond to capitalize on its position as an industry leader by supporting the growth of its refinance and in-school student lending businesses. CommonBond has closed over $4 billion in financings to date.

In addition to growth, this lending capacity reflects significantly lower cost of capital for CommonBond, improving the company's borrowing spreads and advance rates. The company's senior bonds in securitization deals have been rated AAA since early 2018. Top banks look for consistently strong financial and credit performance and proven ability to execute in capital markets when they extend lending capacity.

Through these financings, CommonBond continues to fulfill its promise of providing competitive rates, simple options, and award-winning customer care to even more people with student debt in the U.S. These funds enable CommonBond to match increased demand for its student loan platform and introduce new products in 2019 to help students pay for school.

"From the start, we have set out to build the highest levels of trust with our customers and our capital partners," said CommonBond CEO and co-founder David Klein. "Access to this level of capital, and at a lower cost, is a testament to the platform we've built, the quality of our members, and the success of our capital markets program. We're thrilled to have some of the world's top banks recognize that, and work with us in a way that ultimately benefits the consumer. Our goal is to make student loan debt one less thing to worry about, and these financings help us deliver that."

Since the company launched nationally in 2013, CommonBond has established itself as a trusted service and valued voice in the student loan space. In addition to its capital partnerships, the company has inked a number of consumer-facing partnerships with banks and insurance companies in the last year. These partnerships allow financial institutions to fill their "Millennial product gap" by offering CommonBond student lending products to new and existing customers.

This announcement follows a period of significant growth for CommonBond, which originated over $1 billion of loans in 2018 and has originated over $2.5 billion since its national launch in 2013. CommonBond also recently acquired NextGenVest, an AI-powered financial platform for Gen Z, further solidifying its commitment to providing consumers with the resources needed to understand the nuances and costs of higher education.

For its innovative approach to higher education financing and disciplined growth, CommonBond was named one of Fast Company's 50 Most Innovative Companies, as well as one of TIME's 50 Genius Companies in 2018.

About CommonBond

CommonBond is a financial technology company on a mission to give students and graduates more affordable, transparent, and simple ways to pay for higher education. The company offers refinance loans to college graduates, new loans to current students, and a suite of student loan repayment benefits to employees through its CommonBond for Business program. By designing a better student loan experience that combines advanced technology with competitive rates and award-winning customer service, CommonBond has funded over $2.5 billion in loans, partnered with over 300 corporate clients, and currently serves over 100,000 members. CommonBond is also the first and only finance company with a "one-for-one" social mission: for every loan it funds, CommonBond also funds the education of a child in need, through its partnership with Pencils of Promise. For more information, visit www.commonbond.co.

SOURCE CommonBond

Related Links

https://www.commonbond.co

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF) is pleased that our funding of both early research and ongoing studies on rapid acting antidepressants has helped lead to the development of a new medication for treatment resistant depression.

"The FDA panel's recommendation of Esketamine as a new medication for treatment resistant depression is welcome news for people and their families who are impacted by depression," said Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein, President & CEO of BBRF.

Since 1996, BBRF has awarded 90 grants totaling more than $6.5 million to fund research on rapid acting antidepressants conducted by scientists in the United States and abroad. One of these scientists is BBRF Young Investigator Carla M. Canuso, M.D, of Johnson & Johnson/Janssen R&D, whose paper, "Esketamine Reduced Suicidal Thoughts Within Hours of Treatment" published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in July 2018, was cited as one of the top 12 advances in psychiatric research from a BBRF-funded scientist in 2018. Among other scientists in the field who have received BBRF funding is Dr. Carlos A. Zarate, of the National Institutes of Mental Health, who was one of the early pioneers in the study of ketamine for the treatment of depression.

The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation awards research grants to develop improved treatments, cures, and methods of prevention for mental illness. These illnesses include addiction, ADHD, anxiety, autism, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, depression, eating disorders, OCD, PTSD, and schizophrenia. Since 1987, the Foundation has awarded more than $394 million to fund more than 4,700 leading scientists around the world, which has led to over $3.9 billion in additional funding. 100% of every dollar donated for research is invested in our research grants. The Foundation's operating expenses are covered by separate foundation grants.

For more information: The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

SOURCE Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

Related Links

https://www.bbrfoundation.org

SELBYVILLE, Del., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- UK biomedical refrigerators and freezers market is estimated to witness significant CAGR of 3.5% during the coming years. The growth is attributable to rising geriatric population prone to several chronic diseases leading to increasing demand for surgical procedures thereby escalating the industry growth. Moreover, the focus of industry players on R&D activities to enable modifications in the biomedical refrigerators and freezers to sustain competition will stimulate business growth.

Blood banks segment of biomedical refrigerators and freezers market accounted for 38% revenue share in 2018 owing to increasing number of blood banks in developed and developing countries.

Global Biomedical Refrigerators And Freezers Market will surpass USD 3.5 billion by 2025; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. Extended use of biomedical refrigerators in the process of drug discovery is one of the major factor driving the biomedical refrigerators and freezers market growth in the coming years. Development of new drug and its introduction into the market is a lengthy procedure involving numerous clinical trials and studies. Biomedical refrigerators and freezers play a significant role in the storage and protecting these drugs, and sensitive ingredients for continuity of research. Growing disease burden and rising demand for advanced treatment will positively influence biomedical refrigerators and freezers industry growth over the forthcoming years.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/822

Furthermore, the high demand for organ transplants, blood transfusions, biopharmaceuticals, and cellular therapies will favor industry growth. The rise in the number of blood banks, research laboratories, hospitals, diagnostic centers, and educational institutes should further escalate the adoption of biomedical refrigerators and freezers thereby boosting business growth. However, the high cost of equipment coupled with the growing use of refurbished equipment may hinder biomedical refrigerators and freezers business growth during the analysis period.

Browse key industry insights spread across 175 pages with 258 market data tables & 7 figures & charts from the report, "Biomedical Refrigerators and Freezers Market Size By Product (Plasma Freezers, Blood Bank Refrigerators, Lab Refrigerators, Lab Freezers, Ultra-low Temperature Freezers, Shock Freezers), By End-use (Blood Banks, Pharmacies, Hospitals, Research Labs, Diagnostic Centers), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, China, Japan, India, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt), Application Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2019  2025" in detail along with the table of contents:

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/biomedical-refrigerators-and-freezers-market

Plasma freezers segment held the largest revenue share of 31.0% owing to substantial wide-ranging applications of plasma and its products. Faster cooling and storage benefits offered by plasma freezers will propel segmental growth over the forecast timeframe. Moreover, increasing demand for this equipment in the clinical laboratories should augment business growth.

Blood banks segment is estimated to show lucrative CAGR of 4.5% over the forecast timeline due to a surge in demand for blood and blood components. The increasing number of accident cases demand large amounts of blood supply, thus augmenting the blood banks segmental growth. The growing adoption of biomedical refrigerators and freezers for storage of blood at optimal conditions in blood banks thereby will escalate segmental growth.

U.S. market size accounted for USD 1.0 million in 2018 and will witness similar growth over the analysis period. An increasing prevalence of chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiac disease, and respiratory disease increases the demand for personalized medicines. should further drive regional business growth. Furthermore, favorable government initiatives in the region coupled with advancements in technology and the presence of well-developed healthcare infrastructure will prove beneficial for the regional business growth.

Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/822

Browse Related Reports:

Biopreservation Market Size Forecast to 2024

Global Biopreservation Market surpassed USD 4 billion in 2017 and is expected to witness around 13.4% CAGR from 2018 to 2024 owing to the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases such as cardiac, renal diseases, diabetes, and obesity.

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/biopreservation-market

Ultra-low Temperature Freezers Market Size Outlook to 2024

The Ultra-low Temperature Freezers Market crossed USD 150 million in 2016 and is anticipated to witness growth of over 4.5% CAGR from 2017 to 2024 impelled by rising incidences of cancer, infectious diseases and growing adoption of personalized medicines.

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/ultra-low-temperature-freezers-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.

Contact Us:

Arun Hegde

Corporate Sales, USA

Global Market Insights, Inc.

Phone: 1-302-846-7766

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Related Links

Biomedical Refrigerators and Freezers Market size

Read Our Exclusive Blog

SOURCE Global Market Insights, Inc.

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DALLAS, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- During the month known for love, BERKEYS Air Conditioning, Plumbing & Electrical is opening its heart to those in need. During February, Berkeys is launching its 1st Annual "Share The Love" charity campaign, culminating with a "winner" receiving a new American Standard Heating/Air-Conditioning System.

Dallas-Fort Worth residents are encouraged to visit www.berkeys.com/sharethelove/ and nominate a qualifying friend, family or neighbor. In March the winning recipient will receive the new HVAC system, complete with removal of old unit, installation and warranty.

Deadline for nominees is Feb. 28. Depending on the flow of submissions, Berkeys may choose to extend the deadline. Updates will be made via its Facebook page, and information will also be emailed to all those that submit a nomination.

"By nominating someone to receive this gift, it can change a person or family's life by providing a comfortable living environment through something we all take for granted: air conditioning in the summer and heating in the cold weather," says Berkeys' President, Jamie Wooldridge. "When your air conditioning or heating isn't working right, or not at all, life at home can be very unpleasant and even harmful to your health in high heat or super cold temperatures."

The idea for "Share The Love" was born from the experience of Berkeys' technician, Dustin Bryant, who years ago received help from a stranger when facing adversity.

"That person that helped Dustin told him, 'One day you'll be in a position to help someone else in a tough spot," Wooldridge says. "Now, with help from our community and our partner, we'll find that special someone and pay it forward."

Berkeys, which recently received the Angie's List "Super Service Award" for the seventh consecutive year, is proud to team with American Standard Heating and Air Conditioning for its "Share The Love" campaign.

BERKEYS

BERKEYS Air Conditioning, Plumbing & Electrical was founded in 1975. The company, headquartered in Southlake, serves the greater Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. BERKEYS is licensed, insured, offers 24/7 emergency service and is a member of the Better Business Bureau. BERKEYS can be reached at http://www.BERKEYS.com or 817-481-5869. Licenses: TACLB84522E | Ronald Bevins M-17865| TECL30739

Media Contact:

Michelle J. Lamont

214-228-9135

[email protected]

SOURCE BERKEYS Air Conditioning, Plumbing & Electrical

Related Links

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NEW YORK, Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CB Insights today named Anodot to the third annual AI 100 ranking, showcasing the 100 most promising private artificial intelligence companies in the world.

"After being named to the AI 100 in 2018, last year's honorees raised nearly $4.5B across 45 deals with 6 going on to be valued at $1 billion or more," said CB Insights CEO Anand Sanwal. "The data we compiled on this year's nominees, ranging from their customers to their patents to their CB Insights' Mosaic scores, revealed 100 AI companies that are driving transformation across a number of industries and which are taking on a variety of large societal issues ranging from disaster management to cancer diagnosis to detecting fake news. We expect these companies will see similar levels of momentum and progress in 2019 and are excited to continue to track their progress."

In addition to disrupting core sectors including healthcare, telecommunications, semiconductor, government, retail, and finance, the 2019 AI 100 companies are revamping the broader enterprise tech stack. These companies span the globe, from the US, UK, Israel, Japan, China, Germany, Sweden, and Canada, and are supported by more than 680 investors from 29 countries.





"We are honored to be recognized by the 2019 CB Insights AI 100 for Anodot's advancements in AI/ML solutions," said David Drai, CEO and Co-Founder of Anodot. "As we continue to grow globally, Anodot's autonomous analytics will consistently provide customers with real time anomaly detection and root cause analysis, instantly delivering essential alerts on business incidents every time."

Through an evidence-based approach, the CB Insights research team selected the AI 100 from over 3,000 companies based on several factors including patent activity, investor quality, news sentiment analysis, proprietary Mosaic scores, market potential, partnerships, competitive landscape, team strength, and tech novelty. The Mosaic Score , based on CB Insights' algorithm, measures the overall health and growth potential of private companies to help predict a company's momentum.

Anodot helps top enterprises all over the world leverage machine learning based anomaly detection to achieve more predictable results. By swiftly pinpointing the scope and source of problems within massive amounts of data, Anodot's patented algorithms ensure faster-time-to detection and root cause analysis that traditional BI tools and dashboards can't deliver. Headquartered in Israel and the US, Anodot gets to the root of business issues related to sales and revenue assurance, risk, compliance and operations by processing huge volumes of data in real time, reducing time to detection and resolution.

Quick facts on the 2019 AI 100:

As of EOY 2018, these emerging private companies have cumulatively raised $9.4B across 375 deals.

across 375 deals. Eleven companies have reached a unicorn valuation of $1B or more.

or more. Over 680 unique investors from 29 different countries have backed the companies in this year's cohort.

Over 680 US patent applications have been filed by the AI 100.

Twenty-five previous honorees were featured on this year's list, in addition to 75 new companies.

Eight countries are represented on the ranking, and the majority of the companies are based in the United States .

The AI 100 Companies (in alphabetical order):

4Paradigm

ABEJA

AEYE

Agari Data

AI Foundation

AI.Reverie

AiFi

Anodot

Applitools

AppZen

Area 1 Security

Arraiy

Arterys

Atomwise

Automation Anywhere

Behavox

Benson Hill Biosystems

BioCatch

Bouncex

Butterfly Network

C3

Cerebras Systems

Dataiku

DataRobot

DataVisor

DeepMap

DeepScale

DefinedCrowd

Demisto

Descartes Labs

Dremio

Drive.ai

Eigen Technologies

Element AI

Face++

Falkonry

Fortem Technologies

FullStory

Gamalon

Gauss Surgical

Gong

Graphcore

H2O.ai

Habana Labs

Horizon Robotics

Hover

HyperScience

IDx

Insitro

Iris Automation

Jask Labs

Kebotix

Landing.ai

LawGeex

LeanTaaS

mabl

Machinify

Mapillary

Medopad

Mighty AI

Mindstrong Health

Mist Systems

Momenta

Mythic

New Knowledge

Nexar

Niramai

Nuro

One Concern

Onfido

Orbital Insight

OWKIN

Paige AI

Perceptive Automata

PerimeterX

Pony.ai

PROWLER.io

Qventus

Sense

SenseTime

Shape Security

Shield AI

Sift

Signifyd

SigOpt

Skyline AI

SparkCognition

Syntiant

Tamr

Taranis

Textio

ThinCI

Trifacta

TwentyBN

UiPath

Unbabel

Vectra Networks

Viz.ai

YITU Technology

Zymergen

About CB Insights

At CB Insights, we believe the most complex strategic business questions are best answered with facts. We are a machine intelligence company that synthesizes, analyzes and visualizes millions of documents to give our clients fast, fact-based insights. Serving the majority of the Fortune 100, we give companies the power to make better decisions, take control of their own future, and capitalize on change.

Contact:

Hyeri Kim, PR Manager

[email protected]

+1 212-292-3148 ext. 3020

About Anodot

Anodot's Autonomous Analytics platform leverages advanced machine learning techniques to constantly analyze and correlate every business parameter, providing real time alerts and forecasts, lowering time to detection and resolution. Our leading-edge, patented technology is trusted by clients in industries ranging from eCommerce to fintech, adtech, telco, gaming and more.





Anodot is headquartered in Silicon Valley and Israel, with sales offices worldwide. To learn more, visit us at http://www.anodot.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Contact:

Molly Meller

+1-732-865-3998

[email protected]





SOURCE Anodot

Related Links

http://www.anodot.com

DUBLIN, Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

The "5th Annual Translational Microbiome Conference - Industry" conference has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

As the official conference of The Microbiome Coalition (TMBC), the Translational Microbiome Conference was the first microbiome conference in the field to focus exclusively on the hurdles and challenges to commercial success in the space.

Once again, the conference will bring together the leading microbiome companies working to successfully commercialize microbiome-based diagnostics, therapeutics, adjunct therapies and direct-to-consumer services and products across a range of therapeutic areas, from gut to skin and beyond. Expanding on this core focus year on year, we continue to offer informative, hands-on workshops, panels sponsored and directed by industry to focus on your concerns and tightly curated content that goes beyond the usual infomercials to provide tangible and useful insights to how your peers are addressing their commercial approach to the space.

Entering its 5th year in 2019, the meeting will continue to focus and build on the challenges and hurdles that companies working in the microbiome space will have to recognize and navigate in order to successfully commercialize their products.However, we are responding to requests by attendees to include more basic research, ensure more work beyond the gut is incorporated into the agenda and expanding our prior parallel tracks on nutrition and consumer products.

Topics

With a broad focus spanning multiple disease states (oncology, dermatology, inflammatory disorders, among others) attendees will have the opportunity to hear the leading companies discuss the work they have underway and how they are meeting these challenges head-on to apply recent discoveries to a variety of disease processes, restoration of health and improved outcomes.

Subject matter will include:

Animal Models

Bioinformatics Challenges

Intellectual Property Management

Investment Deals and Approaches

Pharma Deals in the Microbiome Space

The Need for Standards

Why Attend?



Partnering Software & Meetings

Easily schedule meetings with our partnering system in order to maximize your time at the event. Schedule one-to-one meetings in advance and stay connected after the event.



Industry-Leading Speaking Faculty

Our tightly curated content provides tangible and useful insights to how your peers are addressing their scientific, clinical and commercial approach to the space.



Network With Industry Colleagues

One-to-One meeting space, breakfasts, extended breaks, luncheons and receptions provide attendees with multiple opportunities to connect with colleagues in the space.



20+ Exhibitors/Service Providers

Meet with and/or re-connect with exhibitors and service providers and learn about the latest tools and resources driving the field of microbiome science.

Who Should Attend:



Organizations:

Academic Institutions, Bioscience Companies, Pharma Companies, Diagnostics Companies and Investors

Job Titles:

VPs, Directors, Heads, Scientists, Professors in following areas:

Microbiome/Microbiota basic research

NGS (Next Generation Sequencing)

Molecular Diagnostics

Autoimmune Disease Therapeutics

Infectious Diseases

Metabolic disease, Obesity, Diabetes

Genotyping

Genomics

Genomic Profiling

Biomarkers

Immunology Innate or Adaptive Immunity

Bioinformatics

Data Management

Data Analysis

Molecular Biology

Diagnostic & Clinical Applications

Prenantal Diagnostics

Vaccines

Microbiology

Food/Nutrition Science

Gut-Brain Axis Researchers

Venture Capitalists

Biotech Entrepreneurs

Academic Licensing or Tech Transfer Officers

Business Development/In-Licensing

FDA regulation

Clinical trials

Epigenetics

Metagenomics

High-Throughput Technologies

Data Analysis

Data Storage

Cloud Computing

Statistical Genomics

Agenda:



PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

APRIL 16, 2019



2:30 pm Workshop I

Microbiome NGS and Hands-on Bioinformatic Data Analysis with Strain Level Resolution



Workshop Leaders: Nur Hasan, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Cosmos ID; Arne Materna, Ph.D., VP Product, Cosmos ID



3:15 pm Workshop II

Patenting in the Microbiome Arena



Workshop Leader: Mark Fitzgerald, Ph.D., Partner, Nixon Peabody LLP



5:30 pm Workshop III

What Investors Want, What Investors Notice and Value in a Pitch - The Secrets to Successful Venture Pitching



Workshop Leader: Lakshmi Balanchandra, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Entrepreneurship, Blank Center for Entrepreneurship, Babson College, Founder, Women's Venture Capital Network



MAIN SESSION



APRIL 17, 2019



7:15 am Registration/Continental Breakfast



7:45 am Chairperson's Opening Remarks

Mollie Roth, JD, Executive Director, The Microbiome Coalition



8:00 am Keynote Address: Microbial life at Scale: Applications, Analytics and Lessons Learned From the Food Supply Chain



Kristen L. Beck, Ph.D., Research Staff Member, Sequencing the Food Supply Chain, Almaden Research Center, IBM



MAIN TRACK

8:30 am Biological, Chemical and Spatial Drivers of Microbiota Structure and Function: Therapeutic Implications



Elliot Friedman, Ph.D., Senior Research Investigator, Division of Gastroenterology, Technical Director, Microbial Culture & Metabolomics Core, PennCHOP Microbiome Program, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

9:00 am Rapid Product Development: From Concept to Consumer Product



Martha Carlin, Chief Executive Officer, The BioCollective

9:30 am The Skin is NOT the Gut: Optimizing DNA Extractions and Amplicon Sequencing for the Skin Microbiome



Kelly N. Haas, Ph.D., Post Doctoral Scholar, Dermatology Department, University of California Davis

10:00 am Networking/Refreshment Break

10:30 am A Targeted, Point of Care Solution for Microbiome Analysis



Alicia Scheffer-Wong, Ph.D., Founder & CEO, Floragraph

11:00 am Lessons Learned: Translating Metagenomics into Clinical Routine



Nur Hasan, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Cosmos ID

11:30 am Panel Session: Enhancing the Power of the Microbiome Through Partnership



Moderator: Edward Burd, Ph.D., Head of Regulatory Affairs, Rebiotix

Panelists:

Lars Enstrand, MD, Ph.D., Director, Center for Translational Microbiome Research, Karolinska Institutet

Malcolm Kendall, CEO and Co-Founder, Microbiome Insights

Lindy Bancke, Pharm.D., Head of Clinical Development, Rebiotix

Greg Fluet, Chief Business Officer, Rebiotix

NUTRITION TRACK

8:30 am Bringing Probiotic Products from Bench to Market in the U.S.



Duffy MacKay, ND, Senior VP, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs, Council for Responsible Nutrition

9:00 am Supporting Infant Development by Supporting the Developing Microbiota



Arthur Ouwehand, Ph.D., Technical Fellow and Research Manager, DuPont Nutrition & Health

9:30 am Perspectives on Future Success for Probiotics



Mary Ellen Sanders, Ph.D., Principal, Dairy and Food Culture Technologies



10:00 am Networking/Refreshment Break

10:30 am Panel Session: Probiotics: Aligning Science and Government Regulatory Requirements on a Path to Market

In this panel session, the following topics will be covered:

What traits to look for when selecting strains for probiotic applications - how to select beneficial strains

FDA regulatory path (GRAS) for probiotics

How to progress product candidates from in vitro and in vivo testing into clinical investigation

Interpretation of the clinical microbiome/probiotic data

Moderator: Maciej Chichlowski, Ph.D., PMP, Principal Scientist, Reckitt Benckiser

Panelists:

Duffy MacKay, ND, SVP, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs, Council for Responsible Nutrition

Arthur Ouwehand, Ph.D., Technical Fellow & Research Manager, DuPont Nutrition & Health

Mary Ellen Sanders, Ph.D., Principal, Dairy and Food Culture Technologies

11:15 am Use of the Probiotic Lactobacillus GG in Managing Food Allergies in Infants



Jon A. Vanderhoof, Attending Physician, GI/Nutrition, Boston Children's Hospital, Senior Lecturer in Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, University of Nebraska College of Medicine



11:45 am The First 1000 Days: Babies, Nutrition & Gut Health



Elisabeth Bik, Ph.D., Director of Science, Astarte Medical



12:15 pm Luncheon



1:15 pm Of Microbes and Monoamines: Stepping Stones from Dysbiosis to Psychiatric Disease



Stephen Skolnick, Translational Gerontology Branch, National Institutes on Aging, National Institutes of Health



1:45 pm Type 1 Diabetes: Primary Prevention Therapeutic Programs and First Pre-Autoantibody Biomarker Based on Association Between Autoimmunity and Dynamics of Amyloid-Producing E. Coli



George Tetz, MD, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Human Microbiology Institute



2:15 pm The Human Microbiome: Towards Future Diagnostic and Clinical Solutions



Madhu Jasti, Scientist III R&D, Thermo Fisher Scientific



2:45 pm Strategies for Approaching FDA for Your First Clinical Trial



Nicole Rempel, MS, MBA, Director of Regulatory & Strategic Development, Clinipace

3:15 pm Networking/Poster-Viewing/Refreshment Break



3:45 pm Developing Products to Unlock the Promise of the Microbiome in Health and Disease: A Novel Approach, Challenges and Common Opportunities



Alison Lawton, Chief Executive Officer, Kaleido Biosciences



4:15 pm Panel Session: Confronting False Truths: On the Way to an IND, Is It Best to Avoid the FDA or Engage Early and Often?



Moderator: Nikole Kimes, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Siolta Therapeutics

Panelists:

Lee Jones, Founder, President and CEO, Rebiotix

Susan Stewart, JD, Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs & Quality, Kaleido Biosciences

Nicole Rempel, MS, MBA, Director, Regulatory and Strategic Development, Clinipace



5:00 pm The Asian Gut Microbiome: A New Therapeutics Discovery Opportunity



They have strategic partnerships with Hong Kong University and the Genome Institute of Singapore. In this presentation Jonathan will discuss the following:

How is the Asian gut microbiome different than the Western gut microbiome

How does fecal microbiota transplant yield new drug discovery opportunities

How the Asian gut microbes work in global population

Jonathan Krive, Co-Founder, CEO, AsiaBiome



5:30 pm Cocktail Reception



APRIL 18, 2019



7:30 am Continental Breakfast



8:00 am Keynote Address: Understanding the Role of the Microbiome in Cancer Immunotherapy



Jennifer Wargo, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Surgical Oncology, Division of Surgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center



8:30 am Immuno-Oncology and the Microbiome



9:00 am Immuno-Oncology and the Microbiome



9:30 am Networking/Refreshment Break



10:00 am Panel Session: Immuno-Oncology and the Microbiome



10:45 am New Modeling Tools to Predict Dynamics of Microbial Ecologies

Vanni Bucci, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Bernat Olle, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Vedanta Biosciences



11:15 am Statistical and Computational Tools for Functional Microbiome



Hongzhe Li, Ph.D., Professor of Biostatistics and Statistics, Chair, Graduate Program in Biostatistics, Director, Center for Statistics in Big Data, University of Pennsylvania



11:45 am From Conceptualization to Launch: A Case Study of a GI Microbiome Modulator



12:15 pm Luncheon



1:15 pm A Survivor's Perspective: The Bigger Picture of the Patient Journey



1:45 pm Beyond Bacteria: Harnessing the Virome to Improve Our Understanding of Human Health and Inform Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications



2:15 pm Microbial Signatures of Gut Wellness Through Multi-Study Integratlon of Human Stool Metagenomes



2:45 pm Networking/Poster-Viewing/Refreshment Break



3:15 pm Panel Session to be Announced



4:00 pm The First 1000 Days: Babies, Nutrition and Gut Health



4:30 pm End of Conference



Please check back in the coming days for additions to this agenda.



For more information about this conference visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/j9t2g8/5th_annual?w=5

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

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Ghana shortlists vendors for nuclear power plant Ghana's efforts to generate power from nuclear technology has reached anEuro 2020: Spain devour Slovakia to qualify with Sweden A Martin Dubravka howler helped Spain to an emphatic 5-0 win over Slovakia as

Please wash your hands before sex Remember a year ago when everyone had to re-learn the proper way to wash their

Relentless Menzgold customers beg Speaker over locked up funds The Coalition of Former Menzgold Customers on Tuesday called on Speaker of

Ghana shortlists vendors for nuclear power plant Ghana's efforts to generate power from nuclear technology has reached an

Sports Ministry to order closure of venues where clubs flout Covid-19 protocols The Ministry of Youth and Sports has issued a caution to Clubs that it wouldMERRILL [mdash] Florence Collins, 89, formerly of Merrill, N.Y., died Friday, June 24, 2021, at the Plattsburgh Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, Plattsburgh. Born on Sept. 17, 1931, in Ellenburg, N.Y., she was the daughter of Carl A. and Blanche (Bombard) Ormsbee. She was married to WilliaNow that COVID-19 cases are declining and the majority of Minnesotans have received vaccinations, what activities are you most looking forward to resuming this summer?

You voted:A GoFundMe page has been started for the father of the 23-month-old whose remains were found Saturday and whose mother officials charged with murder.

The page identifies the father as Daniel Griner Sr. and describes him as a registered nurse working two jobs. The campaign had reached $7,300 of its $10,000 goal as of Thursday.

Attempts to reach Griner Sr. were unsuccessful.

Nakira M. Griner, 24, of Bridgeton, was charged Saturday with murder, endangering the welfare of a child, desecration of human remains and tampering with evidence in the death of Daniel Griner Jr. She told police she struck her son because he wouldnt eat nor listen to her, according to the criminal complaint.

Griner initially reported her son had been abducted Friday night, leading to the launch of a child abduction search aided by city and State Police, prosecutors and bloodhounds from the New Jersey State Park Police.

The boys remains were found about 3 a.m. Saturday in the yard of Griners home in the first block of Woodland Drive. According to the complaint, the childs burned and dismembered remains were found buried under a shed.ATLANTIC CITY  Sister Jeans Kitchen, the charitable food assistance program that was evicted from an unsafe building last week by city officials, still does not have a home or a clear idea of where it might go.

The Rev. John Scotland, executive director of the Friends of Sister Jean Webster Inc., the nonprofit that operated the kitchen inside Victory First Presbyterian Church at Pennsylvania and Pacific avenues, said his organization is still working with city and state officials on a long-term solution. The charity was forced to vacate Feb. 7.

We are still making progress on relocating, he said Thursday.

Scotland did not provide details as to what was discussed during a meeting Feb. 6 at City Hall with representatives from the city, the state Department of Community Affairs and the Atlantic City Initiative Project Office. But he said it was made clear that a proposed move to the former St. Monicas Catholic Church was not going to happen because Mayor Frank Gilliam Jr. was adamantly opposed to the idea.EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP  Police are warning the public about an increase in thieves stealing from unlocked cars.

There were 176 reported thefts from cars in the township in 2018, and there have been 52 vehicle burglaries thus far in 2019, according to a post on the departments Facebook page Wednesday.

The department said there may be significantly more that have not been reported.

Theyre going from car to car to car in the neighborhood in the middle of the night, Lt. Robert Gray said.

Gray said thieves have targeted more condensed neighborhoods across the township, including those along West Jersey Avenue south of Mays Landing, the Shires, LaCosta Lakes, Oak Forest and Equestrian Estates.

Police said thieves will take anything of value including change, CDs, GPS units, laptops, wallets, E-ZPass transponders, garage door openers and anything else left in the car.

Not necessarily are they going to get into a bunch of cars, but they can try 100 door handles and see, Gray said.

They recommend residents lock their cars, even when parked in front of their homes, and that they remove all valuables and keys from their cars. Police also are patrolling these areas for suspects.Garcia presented to the board at the start of the meeting following an hour-long executive session. Last year, the district passed a $64.6 million budget for 2018-19 that used $3 million in funding from surplus. He said next years budget will have a third of the available surplus.

Thats whats driving the difficulties in that budget is the fact that there is less excess surplus in 2018 compared to 2017, he said.

Despite the looming financial struggle, Garcia noted the district had only one finding in its 2018 audit: a deficit in the food service budget, which is a carryover from previous years.

According to Garcia, the deficit stands at $384,000. Thompkins said it is much less than the $1.9 million deficit that came about in 2006 due to a change in budget rules requiring salaries and health benefits for cafeteria workers to come from the food budget and not the general fund.

He said that is when the district privatized.

Garcia said that for the past few years, the cafeteria generated a surplus, which chipped away at the deficit, but that last year, the program broke even.PLEASANTVILLE  Students at the Washington Avenue School are learning about papier-mache through a $4,000 arts grant from Young Audiences Arts for Learning of New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania, one of two grants the school received this year.

The grant allows the school to introduce students in Tara Bachs art classes to the medium through a 13-week residency with artist Molly Gaston-Johnson that began in December.

Students will observe and learn from a professional artist and, as we create large props for our spring musical, students will have the opportunity to reflect on the impact of visual arts on the performing arts. This is an opportunity for students to experience the creation of exciting collaborative sculpture and installation from mostly recycled materials, teaching them lessons in construction, craftsmanship and sustainability, Bach said.

A second $5,000 grant from the organization allows for several art-related assemblies with a language arts focus. The first assembly in January was titled Stories and Songs in the African Oral Tradition.This school year, 513 young, undocumented immigrants were able to attend college because of $1.6 million in aid provided through the state.

The Higher Education Student Assistance Authority on Thursday announced the fall 2018 participation of so-called dreamers  those who came to New Jersey illegally as children  in a financial assistance program signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy in May. More aid will distributed for the spring 2019 semester, according to a HESSA spokeswoman.

This financial assistance offers these New Jersey students a life-changing opportunity, said David J. Socolow, HESAAs executive director. The successes of these first 513 students, who are now attending county colleges, state colleges and universities, and independent institutions around the state, will have a positive impact on countless additional lives.

+2 Atlantic Cape, Cumberland and Ocean to participate in free college pilot Three local community colleges will be part of a pilot program to offer free two-year post-sWhether you think of Valentines Day as heartwarming or cringe worthy, there is no escaping it. Love is not only in the air, its in every drug store aisle, bank tellers window, even at your dogs vets office.

Rather than escape it, embrace it.

Weve rounded up some unique ways to make the most out of Valentines Day, whether its because you love someone else or simply yourself.

ATLANTIC COUNTY

Cook up something hot

They say the way to someones heart is through the stomach. So why not spend the most romantic night of the year cooking with your S.O.? From 6-9 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 14, the Claridge Hotel is offering couples class on preparing lobster bisque. In addition to the joint cooking experience, the evening includes a three-course buffet and two alcoholic drinks per person. Tickets are $59 per person and can be purchased on Eventbrite.com where you can also find more information. The event takes place in the South Hampton Room on the sixth floor. The Claridge is at 123 S. Indiana Ave., in Atlantic City.

Marry him/her all over againpts20190214019 Handel/Dienstleistungen, Politik/Recht

Federal Competition Authority initiates investigations against Amazon after Austrian Retail Association complaint

Suspected abusive terms and conditions on the amazon marketplace are in sight of the BWB

Vienna (pts019/14.02.2019/13:55) - Big bang in domestic eCommerce: Today the Federal Competition Authority decided to initiate an official abuse trial against Amazon, to prove the terms and practices of Amazon towards traders on the online marketplace amazon.de.

Five terms and behaviors of Amazon in focus of formal investigations

Amazon is by far the largest online retailer in Austria and also operates the largest online marketplace. Many retailers must rely on the reach of Amazon's marketplace for online sales.

Amazon acts as a gatekeeper to the domestic consumers. This dual role as largest retailer and largest marketplace holds the potential to handicap other traders on the platform.

The presumed abusive terms and conditions include:

- Groundless and sudden blocking of trader accounts

- Obligation to disclose purchase prices

- Adding of incorrect shipping information towards merchants through amazon

- Unsubstantiated loss of product rankings of traders and

- Court clauses that complicate a lawsuit.

Until a final legal decision is made by the cartel court the presumption of innocence applies.

Austrian Retail Association acts as complainant

The Federal Competition Authority proceedings were triggered by numerous complaints from traders about the unfair business practices by amazon, which have been collected over several years by the Austrian Retail Association - spokesman and partner of the Austrian retail industry.

"For three years now, we have been showing where the problems are located. Ever since, politics has not been able to regulate the market meaningfully, despite all the efforts. At the end of 2018 we as first Association in Austria decided to lodge a complaint with the Federal Competition Authority to get the ball rolling." - Rainer Will, CEO of the Austrian Retail Association.

"Today is the day, the Federal Competition Authority officially initiated investigations. We as the complainant are very pleased about this fundamental and groundbreaking decision and will continue to work hard for 'Fair Commerce' in online shopping." - Rainer Will.

Aussender: Handelsverband Ansprechpartner: Gerald Kuehberger Tel.: +43 1 406 22 36 77 E-Mail: gerald.kuehberger@handelsverband.at Website: www.handelsverband.at

(Ende)Excellency, Highly Esteemed Mr. Vice President,

Honourable Minister of National Defence,

Esteemed Madam Second Lady,

All Distinguished Guests, headed by Madam Ambassador of the United States,

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen!

We are delighted to welcome Mr. Mike Pence, Vice President of the United States, together with Mrs. Pence, to Warsaw. We are pleased that the visit of the Vice President - connected, of course, with the Middle East conference, which will very soon begin here - features first and foremost a political component and that of bilateral relations between our countries, between Poland and the United States.

See also: President: Binding decisions on increased US military presence soon President Duda: HIMARS system will boost Poland's security President: Thank you very much for your presence

Today, for a few hours we were able to visit important topics of interest to us, which are currently the most relevant in the field of Polish-US relations, and pertain to our allied and economic cooperation.

However, our meeting today began with a very symbolic moment, when Minister Mariusz Baszczak signed an agreement on the future supply of HIMARS artillery rocket system to Poland. As I hope, they are to be one of the most important elements of this revolution in the Polish defence and military infrastructure, which we have been conducting for several years now under the motto of modernization of the Polish army. This is state-of-the-art equipment from the United States, which I believe will serve to strengthen our security.

I am delighted that together with the Vice President and our Spouses we were able to meet with our servicemen and women who were present today, serving in the Polish Armed Forces and the United States Army. A very pleasant meeting, but also a very symbolic element, showing the American military presence in Poland under the auspices of the North Atlantic Alliance and the alliance between our countries.

We also talked to the Vice President about the American military presence. I am very pleased, because Mr Vice President said that American soldiers and officers in Poland and those who have already been to Poland have a very high opinion of the conditions offered to them here. That they are - in short - satisfied with their stay and service in Poland; that these are conditions that they consider absolutely appropriate.

I am glad that they are satisfied with the cooperation with the Polish military and civil authorities. I am pleased that this cooperation is working very well. I hope that our joint efforts to increase the presence of the United States Army in Poland will soon bring results. The first binding decisions will soon be taken on these matters - this is to be expected.

We also talked about other issues that are clearly indicated in the declaration on enhanced strategic cooperation that we signed with President Donald Trump in Washington. To be more specific: we were talking about cooperation in the field of energy, including economic cooperation.

Energy cooperation is a very important topic in our mutual relations. Today we have already signed a number of contracts for the imports of liquefied natural gas, i.e. LNG, to our terminal in Swinoujscie. Work is currently underway to increase storage capacity of this terminal. We hope that the works will be completed and will bring the expected and planned effect of increasing its capacity to over 7 billion cubic meters of gas annually. And that a large part of the gas supplied to Poland will come from the United States. We are also planning further investments in this area, the intention that I signalled to the Vice President.

We have also talked about the development of gas interconnectors in our part of Europe, i.e. security of gas supplies. Moreover, we have also spoken about energy security with regard to other energy sources - such as electricity. I have signalled that Minister Piotr Naimski will be discussing this subject in the United States with the US Secretary of Energy Mr. Rick Perry, soon, on 11 March.

These discussions will include the topics of cybersecurity, of cooperation in the field of gas energy, but also on cooperation in the field of electricity. So, these are the important topics, the areas where we will be implementing enhanced partnership in the near future. We have also covered the subject today in our talks with Mr. Vice-President.

Obviously, we also spoke about general business cooperation. Poland is currently developing at a very good pace. The results are even better than expected and better than predicted by analysts from various global agencies. So the situation is very good, and I believe that further American investments and our Polish business investments in the United States will also help to promote this positive situation.

We have, of course, also talked about issues relating to cybersecurity, which are now in the focus world-wide

I would like to emphasise once again that I am very pleased with the important visit of the Vice President to Poland, with the occasion to meet the highest representatives of the American administration, following my own visit to Washington last year, and the earlier visit of President Donald Trump to Warsaw, which we all remember very well.

I hope that our contacts this year will be very intense, Mr Vice President, because this is a special year: a century of diplomatic relations between Poland and the United States - between Poland, which was reborn in 1918, and the first world power which at that time recognised Poland as a reborn state, namely the United States of America, in 1919. Following President Wilson's declaration, this was yet another beautiful gesture of the United States towards the Polish state, something that we all remember to this day. I hope that this year in our relations will also be a special one.

Once again, I would like to thank the Vice President and the Second Lady of the United States for their presence in Poland. I hope that it will be a fruitful visit for the Vice President, and for both of you also a successful and good visit to our country.

Thank you very much.National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, on Thursday urged party members to work hard to deliver no fewer than three million votes for President Muhammadu Buhari on February 16.

He gave the challenge while addressing party members and supporters at a stakeholders meeting in Ikeja.

The voter register presented by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to party leaders, shows that Lagos the highest number of registered voters with 6.5 million.

Mr Tinubu, who spoke mainly in Yoruba, said APC in the state could not afford not to deliver on the promise of overwhelming votes for the president.

He said the president trusted in him and party members to win resoundingly in the state, urging party men to do their best to meet and exceed expectations.

Mr Tinubu reiterated his commitment to Mr Buharis re-election, saying he would give his all, including spending his personal resources to ensure his victory.

I want you our party members to go all out and vote massively for President Muhammadu Buhari.

You must deliver at least three million votes or more to the president to show that the whole state is firmly for him.

I have been made the co-Chairman of the APC presidential campaign committee because of the trust in me and party members to always deliver votes.

We should justify that trust and give our best for Buhari and Osinbajo on Saturday, he said.

Mr Tinubu urged party members to mobilise other residents in their neighbourhoods to vote for the president.

He challenged all members to ensure that APC wins in all the polling units across all the wards on Saturday.

The party leader said election coordinators had been appointed to mobilise votes for APC across the state, and urged them to deliver on the assignment.

Mr Tinubu said party executive members were automatic coordinators in their respective areas, urging them to get results.

He promised that all members would be compensated based on the results they delivered in their respective areas.

Mr Tinubu urged members to shun electoral malpractice as the party was not known for such.

The party leader also urged party members to eschew all acts of violence, but conduct themselves peacefully before, during and after the election.

He expressed confidence that the president would not only emerge victorious in the election, but would win resoundingly.

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Mr Tinubu said the governorship candidate of the party in the state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, would take the state to greater heights and urged residents to vote massively for him on March 2.

He urged members to stand with Mr Sanwoolu the same way they supported him during the last primaries.

The party leader said issues concerning the primaries had been resolved, promising all those who could not get tickets that they would be compensated with appointments.

Mr Tinubu commended the state Deputy -Governor, Idiat Adebule, for her loyalty to the party, saying that attribute was expected of every party man.

The party leader said the deputy governor stood with the party when it mattered, urging women in the party to follow her example.

He said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) represents ineptitude and urged Nigerians to reject the party at the polls.

Contributing, Mr Sanwo-Olu said the APC was passionate and committed about a better and greater Nigeria and Lagos.

He urged residents to vote massively for Mr Buhari on Saturday and for him on March 2, for the delivery of more democratic dividends.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mrs Adebule; a former Minister of State, Musiliu Obanikoro; a former Commissioner of Transportation in the state, Kayode Opeifa; and South West Women Leader of the party, Mrs Kemi Nelson, were some of the prominent party personalities at the meeting.

Prominent members of the partys Governors Advisory Council (GAC), including Abayomi Finnih and Tajudeen Olusi were also among hundreds of party men at the meeting.

(NAN)Chevron Nigeria Ltd (CNL) says it has invested over N20.6 billion in the execution of about 600 projects and programmes in its area of operations since 2005.

Esimaje Brikinn, its General Manager (Policy, Government and Public Affairs), said this on Wednesday during the official handing over of a cottage hospital built by the Egbema-Gbaramatu Communities Development Foundation (EGCDF).

The project, sponsored by CNL/Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), was handed over to the state government amidst jubilation by community members in Oporoza, Warri South-West Local Government Area.

Mr Brikinn who was represented by Sam Daibo, Area Manager, CNL Warri Office.

He applauded the partnership among EGCDF, Delta State, CNL/NNPC JV and other stakeholders in the execution of the hospital and other projects.

He said the hospital would improve the quality of life of the people in the community.

The general manager thanked the state government and the traditional rulers for creating an enabling environment for CNL and NNPC to operate.

He said the development had enhanced the implementation of the General Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) model and other social investment programmes.

Mr Brikinn also lauded the leadership of EGCDF for fulfilling the spirit and objectives of the GMoU.

CNL has invested over N20.6 billion in the execution of about 600 projects and programmes in our area of operations in line with the GMoU prescriptions since 2005.

We believe that our business success is tied to the progress and prosperity of the people we collaborate with and the communities where we work.

Our desire is to continue to have an open, honest and transparent relationship with the government and the communities where we operate.

The improvement on the GMoU concept called GMoU+ has been assisting the company to monitor and evaluate the impact of the GMoU on host communities and focuses on business development and economic empowerment programmes, he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls another cottage hospital sponsored by CNL though EGCDF in Tsekelewu community, Warri North, was handed over to the Delta government on Tuesday.

The hospitals are aimed at ending stillbirths, maternal mortality and other ailments in the riverine communities.

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State was represented by Tam Brisibe, the Chief of Staff in Government House, Asaba, the state capital.

Mr Okowa commended the stakeholders for doing a good job.

This is one government that has taken development to all parts of Delta, before now people would have said because of the terrain they cannot do certain things, he said.

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(NAN)A group of ex-armed militants led by Victor Ebikabowei, alias Boyloaf, on Wednesday, endorsed Nigerias president, Muhammadu Buhari, for re-election.

Mr Ebikabowei, once notorious for the long-run militancy in Nigerias oil-rich Niger Delta, made the endorsement ahead of the polls on Saturday.

A source close to Boyloaf had told PREMIUM TIMES four other ex-militant leaders were part of the endorsement move.

The source mentioned Government Ekpemupolo, or Tompolo as he is more widely known; Ateke Tom, now traditional ruler; Bibrope Ajube, also known as General Shoot-at-Sight; and Farah Dagogo.

However, none of the four men mentioned by the source was present at the press conference addressed by Boyloaf in Port Harcourt on Wednesday. And at least two of them  Tompolo and Mr Dagogo  have denied their involvement.

PREMIUM TIMES have not been able to verify if the other two  Mr Ateke and General Shoot-at-Sight  consented to the endorsement yet.

In a statement to PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday, Mr Dagogo, who is the Peoples Democratic Partys (PDP) candidate for the Bonny/ Degema Federal Constituency election, reaffirmed his support for his partys candidate and Mr Buharis main challenger, Atiku Abubakar.

As an astute and grounded politician, my support and dedication are geared towards ensuring the total victory of all PDP candidates including our presidential candidate, Alh. Atiku Abubakar, Rivers State Governor, Chief (Barr.) Nyesom Wike, among others, said Mr Dagogo

He added that his name was included to attract public sympathy for Mr Buhari, owing to my popularity and the unfailing love the people of the Niger Delta have for me as a shining light among the youths.

Similarly, Tompolo, through a spokesperson, Paul Benimibo, said he was not aware of the endorsement and that he had not been in touch with Boyloaf since 2015.

Tompolo is presently troubled with the way and manner his kinsmen in Gbaramatu Kingdom are being harassed and intimidated by President Buhari military on daily basis, said the spokesperson, quoted by a local newspaper, Gbaramatu Voice, on Wednesday.

He wondered why his principal would back Mr Buhari: To further kill his kinsmen?

Tompolo is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over money laundering allegations.

Why we endorsed Buhari

In his address on Wednesday, Boyloaf said the crux of our resolution, following consultations, was to prioritise the interest of the Niger Delta.

Our interest is presently being served by the present administration which has shown more resolve to engage with the critical issues of the Niger Delta beyond the surface dressing of the past, said Boyloaf.

He added that: In the past, politicians would always throw money at the Niger Delta problem but this has not taken us anywhere. The Niger Delta in spite of its wealth has continued to remain the poorest region of the country in spite of the dominance of a single party.

He identified the sustenance and reform of the amnesty programme, first initiated by late President Umaru YarAdua, the Ogoni cleanup programme, improvement of the local through a commitment to the development of modular refineries, and Infrastructural projects, such as the East-West Road, as the motivational variables for the endorsement.

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He said the amnesty programme in the focused on palliatives using stipends to pacify the youth of the region, once involved in militancy.

(Under Mr Buhari), We have seen a resolve to reform the programme in such a way that focuses more on the human capital side over the routine welfare and palliative payments, said Boyloaf.

This is what progress means to us and this is the type of programme we would align with and encourage.

He added: All of these achievements find expression in a 20-point plan for the Niger Delta which has been presented to us by the Petroleum Minister, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu. The plan also covers the need for government and Oil companies working in our region to create at least a 100,000 jobs yearly. The plan for the Niger Delta is what we need now for a more sustainable future.

As witnesses to the commitment of this government to these issues that we have presented over the years through various fora and the tangible achievements we have seen as it concerns our region over the last four years, we have decided to endorse the government to continue beyond 2019.

The Niger Delta is a region where Mr Buharis main challenger, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, is expected to record a clear win.

Apart from being traditionally a PDP home, Mr Abubakars core campaign vow to restructure the country to allow states have greater responsibilities and control of resources appeals to the region, long drawn in agitations for resource control and more development.

However, the endorsement of Mr Buhari by the ex-warriors who wield some influence in the region may swing some votes across the states in the region to APC.

But, for a professor of Political Science at the University of Ibadan, Osisioma Nwolise, the endorsement may not count much to anything.

I dont believe in politics of endorsement or adoption, said Mr Nwolise, speaking with PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday.

That some people adopt a candidate or you see crowds may not translate to results. Many are paid. You only know what people have chosen to do by checking the results after the election.ADVERTISEMENT

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has engaged 15, 577 ad hoc staff for the conduct of the forthcoming general election in Zamfara.

INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state Asmau Maikudi disclosed this while briefing Election Observers on Thursday in Gusau, the state capital.

Mrs Asmau said the ad hoc staff were recruited from universities, federal agencies and National Youth Services Corps (NYSC) members among others.

She said they would serve as Returning Officers, Collection officers, Supervisory officers, Presiding officers among others.

They have been well trained to make them conversant with election materials and procedures.

Each of them has been provided with a hand book containing explanation on his duty responsibility during the election, Asmau said.

She assured that the commission would conduct free, fair, credible and acceptable election in the state.

The News agency of Nigeria (NAN) report that the meeting was attended by local and international observers who identified themselves with INEC to observe the general election in the state.

(NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it has accredited 426 journalists to cover the February 16 and March 2 general elections in Kaduna State.

Kaugama Abdullahi, INECs Resident Commissioner for Kaduna State, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Kaduna.

Mr Abdullahi said journalists from both broadcast and prints, representing local, national and foreign media organizations, mostly resident in Kaduna State, had been issued with tags and kits to allow them cover the two elections.

He, however, cautioned the reporters against releasing unverified information, adding that his office and the INEC media officers are always on hand to verify all relevant information required by the journalists before going to press.

Verifying information before going to press, he said, would reduce tension and avert crisis during and after the polls.

The commissioner urged journalists to participate fully as the electoral body was working hard to ensure the polls were free, fair and credible.

Journalists are part of the process, we urge them to get involved fully to ensure that the process is credible.

But they should make sure they verify their information from authorized personnel before going to press, Mr Abdullahi said.

NAN reports that, reporters of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Voice of America (VOA), Radio France International, Radio Iran, and Radio Germany (DW) were among International media accredited for the polls in the state.

Others include reporters and Cameramen representing major national Prints and Broadcast Media houses across the country.

They include: the NTA, FRCN, Channels Television, TVC, AIT, CORE TV, and the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Others are: Kaduna based Liberty TV and Radio, DITV Kaduna, Kaduna State Media Corporation (KSMC) as well Nagarta Radio.

Also accredited are reporters from different radio/FM stations and those of online media and bloggers.

Meanwhile, the INEC official said that 2,608 local Elections Observers have also been accredited to participate in the polls.

Mr Abdullahi said the observers are representing 76 NGOs, CSOs, Faith Based organizations and other interest groups in the state.

(NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will not consider any Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Zamfara, saying they do not have records.

This was disclosed by the states Resident Electoral Commissioner, Asmau Maikudi, at a press briefing in Gusau on Wednesday.

We have no plans for any IDP camp in Zamfara State during the coming general elections because we have no record on the existence of any IDP camp.

We have, however, in collaboration with security agencies made arrangements to provide adequate security to all areas with security challenges.

It is a known fact that out of the 14 local government areas of the state, only Gummi and Bakura Local Government areas have less security challenges and we have the assurance from the security (agencies), she said.

She also explained that those who recently migrated to other areas due to security reasons may be chanced to vote in the presidential election because the smart card reader recognizes state and polling units.

Where there were serious security challenges, the electorate would be moved to a more secure environment close to them so that they could exercise their voting rights, she said.

Ms Maikudi said a total of 2,020 persons with disabilities had been registered and issued with their Permanent Voter Cards(PVCs), adding that 1,717,128 eligible voters were registered in the last registration exercise in the state.

She said over 50,000 unclaimed PVCs that were in the commissions custody would be taken to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sokoto, for safekeeping until after the 2019 general elections.

She reassured the stance of the commission for a free, fair, credible and acceptable election and urged all stakeholders to join hands with the commission in order to achieve it.ADVERTISEMENT

Forty-four political parties in Borno State on Thursday signed a Peace Accord, to ensure peaceful conduct of the forthcoming election in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the accord was signed by representatives of the parties and their candidates under the supervision of the state command of the Nigeria Police Force.

The Commissioner of Police, Damian Chukwu, said the signing of the accord was critical toward ensuring orderliness and peaceful conduct of the election.

Mr Chukwu explained that the accord would be binding on all candidates contesting the election in the state.

He disclosed that the command had recorded cases of violence, thuggery and assaults during the parties primaries and electioneering campaigns, adding that petitions before the command were been investigated.

Mr Chukwu noted that the command had provided a level playing field to political parties and their candidates in pre-election activities, stressing that same gesture would be extended to the parties and their candidates during election.

According to him, the command has deployed special detective unit to entertain and investigate petitions on acts of violence during and after election.

The commissioner called on political parties and their candidates to shun acts capable of disenfranchising the electorate, warning that defaulters would be sanctioned.

Yahaya Imam, the State Director, National Orientation Agency (NOA), said political parties occupied supreme position above their candidates, stressing that candidates must respect the pact signed by the parties.

Mr Imam commended the police for the accord, adding that the measure was imperative to ensure conduct of peaceful election in the state.

Also, Mukhtar Abdallah, the Chairman of the states chapter, Independent Political Advisory Committee (IPAC), said political parties had agreed to work together to ensure conduct of peaceful election and enhance peace building process in the state.

The event was attended by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner (INEC) in the state, Muhammad Magaji; representatives of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), the British Council, Election Observer Groups, community and religious leaders, the military and other security agencies.

(NAN)The governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, on Thursday, reacted to the ambush on his campaign convoy by suspected Boko Haram insurgents.

Mr Shettimas campaign convoy came under attack on Tuesday evening while traveling along Maiduguri  Gamboru road.

At least, four civilians and a soldier died in the bloody attack after some suspected Boko Haram insurgents dressed as soldiers infiltrated the convoy and suddenly opened fire on them.

Mr Shettima returned from his campaign trip to Gamboru last night and was received by a sea of supporters who thronged the Government House in Maiduguri to sympathise with him.

In a press statement issued by his spokesman, Isa Gusau, the governor expressed condolence to the families of those who lost their loved ones during the attack.

The governor said he would be visiting the bereaved families later on Thursday to empathise with them.

Mr Gusau also said three persons lost their lives.

The Civillian-JTF sources had told journalists that two other bodies were recovered yesterday, which brought the total death toll to five.

However, the governor said he has not been given full security briefing on the attack.

The statement reads:

Governor Kashim Shettima mourns, with the deepest thoughts and heartfelt condolences, the demise of some fellow citizens, brothers, associates and loyal supporters following an unfortunate ambush of some vehicles in his convoy by suspected insurgents on Tuesday evening along the road to Gamboru, headquarters of Ngala local government area.

While the Governor is expecting full security briefing to get accurate information on the incident, (a) preliminary report on Wednesday, confirmed the killing of three persons during the attack, which principally aimed to attract local and global media attention in order to sustain propaganda strategy and to instil fear in citizens and gallant troops.

Governor Shettima, who returned at night yesterday, will today (Thursday), meet families of those affected by the attack. The Governor will also meet some security heads to review the incident and more importantly, to continue his determined collaboration with all security agencies and volunteers in remaining committed to the ongoing fight against Boko Haram.

The unfortunate incident will not make the Governor have doubt in the capacity of the gallant and patriotic personnel of the Nigerian armed forces who have dedicated their lives fighting for peace and the freedom of Borno people.

The Governor has absolute confidence in the armed forces and given his access to raw updates, he is aware of the successes being recorded by the armed forces despite Tuesdays and previous attacks by the insurgents. For one success recorded by the insurgents, the armed forces record dozens against them.

The Governor remains optimistic and urges citizens to be calm, prayerful and supportive of the Nigerian armed forces and volunteers through means that include (as they have been doing) the sharing of useful information.

Tuesdays incident happened while the Governor was on his way to Gamboru in continuation of campaigns for the Presidential and national assembly elections coming up on Saturday.

The Governor had left Maiduguri on Tuesday morning and stopped for campaigns in Mafa and Dikwa local government areas before heading to Gamboru where he passed the night and returned to Maiduguri on Wednesday.

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He had on Monday traveled to Damasak, headquarters of Mobbar local government area in northern Borno. Before then, he had previously held campaigns in most parts of northern Borno including Monguno where he spent the night. He had also been to all the nine local government areas of southern Borno including Chibok, Gwoza, Askira-Uba, and Biu where he spent days.

The Governor extends his deepest gratitude to friends, associates, and other well-meaning Nigerians that have shown concern over the incident.ADVERTISEMENT

President Muhammadu Buhari has appreciated former President of the United States, Bill Clinton, for his continuous support for Nigeria and the growth of her democracy.

The president, who took a telephone call from President Clinton Wednesday night, described him as a friend of the country and commended him for his constant support for the peace, stability, and progress of Nigeria under a democratic dispensation.

President Buhari also assured him of his commitment to free, fair and credible elections in the weeks ahead, presidential spokesperson Femi Adesina said in a statement Thursday.

President Clinton, who regretted his inability to visit the country to witness the signing of the final peace accord before the general elections, wished Nigeria well as her citizens go to the polls.

Cancelled trip

Mr Clinton was expected to be in Abuja on Wednesday to attend the signing of a peace accord between Mr Buhari and Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The event was organised by the National Peace Committee (NPC) led by Abdulsalami Abubakar, former military head of state.

Mr Clinton was also expected to hold meetings with the two presidential candidates.

On Monday, Angel Urena, Mr Clintons spokesperson, said the visit had been cancelled because it 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 said.

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.

The announcement came after Mr Buharis campaign organisation accused the U.S. of interfering in the forthcoming elections.

In a statement, the spokesperson for the campaign council, Festus Keyamo, accused the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington, of overstepping his diplomatic brief.The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused President Muhammadu Buhari as well as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of planning to use the PVCs of dead voters to shore up votes in the coming elections.

The partys National Chairman, Uche Secondus made the accusation on Thursday at a World Press Conference which marks the end of Presidential and National Assembly campaigns in Abuja.

His accusation comes barely 24 hours after the Chairman of the main opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC)  Adams Oshiomhole, alleged that the electoral commission is working for the PDP.

Mr Oshiomhole was reacting to allegations by the PDP that the APC is behind the fire incidents in INECs offices in different states of Nigeria.

He had cited the commissions decision to ban APC from presenting candidates in Zamfara State as evidence of INECs alleged collusion with the PDP.

PDPs accusations

In a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Secondus said the abuse of PVCs is the evidence of bad faith by those managing the election and the government of the day.

The voters register contains the data of dead voters. Permanent Voters Cards for dead voters were printed and distributed nationwide.

Government data show that the gross death rate in Nigeria is 12.5 per 1000 lives. We have evidence that over 1,050,051 dead voters will vote in this election.

The decision that dead voters will cast ballots has been taken by INEC and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The idea of ghost voters is consistent with the nature of this virtual President, he said.

He also accused the electoral commission of manipulating the voters register as he said it (INEC) did not, in fact, do a cleanup of the register of voters before it published it.

In previous INEC administrations, this eventuality was mitigated by administrative arrangements wherein a voter did accreditation in the morning and voted in the afternoon  so if a voter wanted to vote twice, say at A and B, they would have to go to A and get accredited, then go to B and also get accredited, and then go back to A to vote and the then go to B to vote  an onerous regimen that prevented cultivating.

In the new continuous voting regime, this administrative support measure has been disposed of specifically to facilitate multiple voting by a huge number of APC voters, he said.

Mr Secondus also said there has been a coordinated approach to register foreigners as voters, mainly from Niger and Cameroon.

That, he said, is why INEC has established so many polling units along the border with Cameroon and Niger  despite the fact that population data does not justify the move.

He accused the APC of spending extravagant amounts for advertisement, billboards and rally.

Misuse of State Resources

He said despite resources being deployed to set up an electronic system to announce results, this has been ruled out by INEC.

Mainly because the president himself has refused to sign the law that would have made this possible. The plan is to announce results in the way it was done recently in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the winner was declared the loser and the loser was declared the winner.

According to Mr Secondus, sources close to the PDP, say the APC, in conjunction with INEC, through their ICT situation room has concluded plans to manipulate the outcome of Saturdays election in some ways.

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By deliberately corrupting the INEC voters register to induce voters suppression in PDPs stronghold operations areas with the aim of disenfranchising voters through corrupting of their names on the voters register.

He said the strategy is to create artificial problems wherein at least four registered voters can be disfranchised in PDP stronghold areas.

The target is to adequately limit the estimated members of PDP who would want to vote in their areas.

By disrupting Internet services and jam(ming) cell tower coverage ostensibly to prevent Nigerians from covering the elections via social media.

He said there is also confirmed intelligence showing that critical PDP players in this election are to be earmarked, arrested and quarantined to a particular location to give way for the elections to be rigged.

The other intelligence, he said, shows that some para-military and military operatives particularly the Army and Police have been produced in large numbers for use by civilians during the voting period.

By sending faulty card reader machines to certain identified PDP strongholds and record a deliberate slow screening of voters to frustrate and discourage them.

They have packaged large sums of foreign currency to induce voters and security and INEC operatives.

We also have on good authority that all the electoral frauds via the ICT which the APC has mapped out are being coordinated by a highly placed government official with the help of some foreigners inside an apartment in the government house and other locations in Kaduna state, he said.

He said the Buhari-led administration is determined to subvert the impartiality of security agencies.

He also said the government recently moved some of its personnel to areas along the border, where they will be employed to create violence, stuff ballots, and aid non-Nigerians to vote in a predetermined manner.

Demands

The PDP chairman called on the ruling government to respect the will of the people.

He urged INEC to call an immediate meeting of the political parties participating in the presidential election to appoint representatives drawn from the parties that will oversee their work.

He asked the electoral commission to clean up their voters register and retain for accreditations and voting during the elections only credible voters register.

For the security agencies, he asked that they remain unbiased, fair and transparent.

He also asked them to stop unwarranted harassment and intimidation of the opposition.ADVERTISEMENT

Nigerias attorney general and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami, has written to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) asking it to accept candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for various offices in Zamfara State.

The letter dated February 13, 2019, was personally signed by Mr Malami.

In a separate letter with the same date, APCs national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, forwarded names of APC candidates from the state, asking the commission to accept them.

It is not clear if both letters have been delivered to the electoral commission as they were shared by persons close to Mr Malami and Mr Oshiomhole.

In his letter, Mr Malami also requested for extension of time to allow Zamfara chapter of the party to catch up.

The justice minister said he based his recommendation on Sections 38 and 39 of the Electoral Act.

He said by the provisions of the sections, INEC is in a position to grant an extension of time for the Zamfara State chapter of the party due to unforeseen delays.

He also called the attention of INEC to a decision of the Court of Appeal in Sokoto of Wednesday which, he claimed, upheld the validity of the Zamfara State candidates.

Consequently on the above, INEC is invited to comply with judgment of the Court of Appeal by admitting the results of the APC Zamfara state primaries and to also comply with the provisions S.38 of the Electoral Act which empowers INEC to postpone the election of the governorship, National Assembly and House of Assembly elections, Mr Malami wrote.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier clarified the alleged ruling of the appeal court on Wednesday. Contrary to the attorney generals claim, the appeal court did not rule on the substantive matter of whether APC should be allowed to have candidates in Zamfara, the court simply dismissed an appeal by an interested party after the appellant withdrew the case.ADVERTISEMENT

Editors Note: This updated report nullifies our earlier breaking news on the appeal court decision. The court gave no directive to INEC.

The Court of Appeal in Sokoto did not order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept candidates from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara State.

This development differs from our earlier report which suggested that INEC has been ordered to accept candidates fielded for various positions by the party in the state.

Rather, the three-member panel of the court gave an order through Justice Jummai Sankey dismissing a suit filed by a member of the House of Representatives, Aminu Jaji.

The suit was challenging the ruling of a high court of Zamfara State which ordered INEC to accept candidates from the APC.

Mr Jaji, one of the governorship aspirants of the APC, approached the court of appeal to inform it of his decision to withdraw the suit. Following his request, the court dismissed the suit based on its rules and the request of the plaintiff.

A certified copy of the dismissal, which was cited by PREMIUM TIMES, reads:

It is ordered as follows:

That the appellant, having met all the conditions for the withdrawal of the appeal as set out under order 11, rule 1. This appeal under No CA/S/23/2019 is hereby dismissed pursuant to order 11, rule 5 of the court of appeal rules 2016.

Mr Jaji asked the Sokoto Division of the Court of Appeal to nullify the judgement by the Zamfara State High Court which had directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to accept candidates from the APC.

At about the same time as the Zamfara high court ruling, another high court in Abuja also ordered INEC not to accept candidates from the governing party in the state.

INEC announced that it decided to comply with the order of the Abuja court.

INEC had declined to accept APC candidates in Zamfara State because, according to the commission, the party failed to meet the deadline for holding primaries.

Ibrahim Dosara, a spokesperson for Abdulaziz Yari, governor of Zamfara State, had, in a message sent to PREMIUM TIMES, claimed that by Wednesdays dismissal, the judgement by the Zamfara State High Court stands.

He also claimed that the appeal courts decision means the court gave INEC the order to include Zamfara State APC candidates in the forthcoming election.

Contrary to Mr Dosaras claim, however, the appeal court only dismissed the suit but gave no ruling. This means both the earlier Zamfara high court ruling and the contrary Abuja court ruling still exists with INEC choosing to obey the latter.ADVERTISEMENT

ECOWAS has deployed 200 election observers across the six geopolitical zones of the country ahead of Saturdays presidential and national assembly elections.

This was made known at a briefing by the ECOWAS Election Observation Mission to Nigeria on Thursday in Abuja.

The ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Francis Behanzin, noted that a pre-election fact-finding mission had been to Nigeria in November 2018 ahead of the elections.

Mr Behanzin explained that the fact-finding mission included high-level representatives of the ECOWAS Commission who met with relevant stakeholders in the electoral process and urged them to support peaceful and credible elections.

Based on the recommendations of the pre-election fact-finding mission a five-member core team of Long-Term Observers were deployed on Jan. 13 to observe the phases of the electoral process leading up to the elections.

This core team was joined by additional 27 Long Term Observers from Jan. 26.

In furtherance of our commitment to the process, a total of 200 Short-Term Observers are ready to be deployed in all the six geopolitical zones in the country to support the long term mission on the Election Day, he said.

The commissioner encouraged observers to be attentive, strictly follow the observation codes and guidelines and give their full commitment to the mission.

The Head of the mission, former Liberian President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, tasked observers to be proactive in the discharge of their duties.

Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf said their commitment would contribute to building the confidence and trust of the electorate in the democratic process in Nigeria and the region.

She added that the outcome of the mission would undoubtedly serve as a yardstick to measure the credibility of the elections.

It is in this spirit that we should all see this onerous task as very important which should be diligently and meticulously done without compromise.

She also urged political parties and leaders to conduct themselves in a manner that contributes to a peaceful, free, fair, credible and transparent election, as has been done previously in the country.

In the case of Nigeria, the current election is being held on the heels of nagging security challenges and tense political environment.

We are, however, confident that Nigerias strength and resilience, as well as with the support of friends, will go through this process in the most successful manner.

We should remain mindful of the fact that the onus to hold peaceful, free and fair elections rests with the Nigerian people themselves, she said.

(NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Thursday concluded his campaign tour in Adamawa State, with a call on people of the state to appreciate the emergence of their own and vote for him.

He said as son of soil, there was no need for him to campaign at home, but would rather urge his kinsmen not to disappoint him on Saturday.

Mr Abubakar reiterated his pledge to address the problem of insecurity, unemployment, poverty and other challenges militating against the development of the country.

In his remarks, the National chairman of PDP, Uche Secondus, also urged the people of Adamawa to prove their love for Mr Abubakar and the party, adding that their son was a tested and trusted candidate that had what it took to change Nigeria for the better.

Mr Secondus also tasked INEC, security agencies and all stakeholders, to ensure the conduct of credible elections.

PDPs Atiku Abubakar campaigns in Yola, Adamawa State. [PHOTO CREDIT: Official twitter handle of Atiku] PDPs Atiku Abubakar campaigns in Yola, Adamawa State. [PHOTO CREDIT: Official twitter handle of Atiku] PDPs Atiku Abubakar campaigns in Yola, Adamawa State. [PHOTO CREDIT: Official twitter handle of Atiku] PDPs Atiku Abubakar campaigns in Yola, Adamawa State. [PHOTO CREDIT: Official twitter handle of Atiku]

In his remarks, the Adamawa gubernatorial candidate of PDP, Umaru Fintiri, said if elected as governor, he would ensure free and compulsory education in the state.

The two wives of Mr Abubakar, Titi and Ruqqaya, who also spoke at the rally, pleaded with the people to vote for their husband.

(NAN)Barely 48 hours to the 2019 General Elections, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Federal Capital Territory Council (FCT) on Thursday embarked on `Peace Walk to canvass violent-free election in the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Peace Walk started from the Council Secretariat and terminated at Nugget Hotel with a `Talk Show organised by Living Foundation, an NGO.

Journalists during the walk held placards with different inscriptions such as Enough is Enough, Ballot not Bullet, Peace Engender Prosperity, Say No to Election Violence, among others.

The theme of the Talk Show is: The Search for A Nigerian President of Our Dream.

The National President of NUJ, Chris Isiguzo, said the walk became necessary because of the need to have a peaceful election and democratic transition.

Mr Isiguzo said Nigerians should take the general election seriously and avoid acts that would jeopardise the democratic process.

Boycotting the election or disrupting internet service during the election will portray to the world that we are not serious with democracy; the world is watching Nigeria at the election period.

Let us try as much as possible to carry out a clean process to have the best election in the political history of the country.

It is time to take the bull by the horn by casting our votes for the preferred candidate of your choice that will lead us in the next four years.

If you collect bag of rice, garri, salt or money to cast your votes, just know that those things will not provide good roads, medical care or quality education for you and your children.

I want to urge all journalists to be part of the democratic process as you go to cover the elections, ensure that you also cast your vote, he said.

The NUJ national president also stressed that the union was in constant touch with all the security agencies in the country to provide adequate security for journalists during and after the elections.

Mr Isiguzo stressed that the era when journalists would go cover election and suffer arrests was over, adding that the union had taken steps to ensure that all journalists were safe.

We shall be monitoring events in the 36 states of the federation and FCT as we Think Election, Think Peace.

The NUJ Chairman, FCT Council, Emmanuel Ogbeche, admonished journalists across the country to ensure that they stayed alive to report the stories.

Journalists should desist from writing fake news and content that are not factual.

Journalists should avoid collecting money from politicians to mislead the country and world; we must protect Nigeria and our democracy

The lives and safety of Journalists matter a lot to this country; I believe that security personnel are our partners in progress and with God, the election will be successful, Mr Ogbeche said.

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Meanwhile, the organiser of the event, Frank Okechukwu, a pastor, said the essence of the programme was to sensitise the public about the need to elect credible candidates to lead the country.

He said taking gratification from politicians to vote was a wrong thing that will hunt the voters for the next four years.

Mr Okechukwu called on electorate to vote without sentiment to ensure that God-fearing leaders emerged in the 2019 general elections.

NAN reports that the event attracted journalists and stakeholders within and outside the FCT.

(NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

The International Institute for Humanitarian Law has described the recent suspension of the chief justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, as an attack on the Nigerian judiciary.

Cyprian Edward-Ekpo, the registrar of the group, spoke during a chat with journalists in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Wednesday.

He called on the international community, the Nigerian Bar Association, and all Nigerians to stand up to the actions of the president.

It is unfortunate that we have a country of docile people, said Mr Edward-Ekpo, a law professor.

This kind of thing cannot happen in any developed country. Such a president would have been impeached. If the president can wake anytime, any day and breach constitutional procedures without recourse to law is very sad.

Mr Onnoghen was suspended last month by President Muhammadu Buhari over allegations of illegal declaration of assets; his replacement, Tanko Mohammed, was immediately sworn in.

Mr Edward-Ekpo, who is also the pro-term director, Institute of Law Research and Development of the United Nations, also described the raid of judges homes by operatives of the State Security Service as a calculated attempt the All Progressives Congress-led government to intimidate the judiciary.

He likened the governments actions to the Nazi Movement by Germanys Adolf Hitler.

Mr Ekpo said his forthcoming book titled, Law in Tears: Lego-Nihilism and Systemic Decimation of Supremacy in Nigeria, would further expose abuse of human rights and the rule of law in Nigeria.

Since the assumption of office by President Mohammadu Buhari Court orders and judgments are not being complied with, he said.

We have well over 200 judgments we have in our disposal chronicled by the International Institute for Humanitarian Law in Nigeria ranging from the High Court to the Supreme Court that have not been complied with.

There is no reasonable investor that can invest in a country that does not obey court orders because your investment cannot be guaranteed.

The purpose of this book is to create an awareness to the citizenry that the anti-corruption mantra is just a mere doctrine used as a guise to destroy the rule of law. As a matter of fact, the worst form of corruption is the refusal to obey court orders which is the centre of arbitration.

Mr Ekpo warned that a judiciary that is not free from intimidation is compromised and cannot make independent decisions but instead will only incubate the canker-worm of corruption in the country.ADVERTISEMENT

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reacted to a letter written by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the Zamfara State debacle.

The National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, described the letter as a ploy by the ruling All Progressives Party (APC) to make the judiciary take legal action in its favour.

The minister earlier wrote to INEC asking it to accept candidates of the APC for various offices in Zamfara State.

The letter dated February 13, 2019, was personally signed by Mr Malami. He also requested for extension of time to allow Zamfara chapter of the party to catch up.

The justice minister said he based his recommendation on Sections 38 and 39 of the Electoral Act.

The electoral commission had declined to accept APC candidates in Zamfara State because, according to the commission, the party failed to meet the deadline for holding primaries.

Request illegal

However, Mr Secondus, in a statement, said the AGFs request is not backed by law.

The AGF letter is part of APCs design to arm-twist INEC and judiciary to take illegal action in their favor. What the AGF is seeking is not backed by law.

The AGF is an interested party on this matter and has no moral right to advice INEC.

The inability of the APC to field candidates due to self-inflicted crisis when other parties did within the stipulated period for the election is not covered by section 38 & 39 of the Electoral Act 2010 which the AGF is relying on his dubious advice, he said.

The PDP chairman called on INEC to follow the dictates of the law and continue in its plan to achieve a credible election.

He warned the electoral commission as well as the federal government against stealing the election.

According to him, stealing this election is stealing the future of the youth of Nigeria and stealing the future of this country. It will subvert the promise of Nigeria.

He also urged citizens to perform their duties and protect their right to a decent future.

If we allow the Government and INEC to continue on their way, we are guaranteed another false start, and tragically that means a Nigeria that does not work. A Nigeria that never leads. A Nigeria whose resources are wasted in perverted uses, he said.ADVERTISEMENT

President Muhammadu Buhari has disassociated the federal government from the comment made by the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai that Nigerian forces will kill foreign soldiers who intervene militarily in the countrys election matters.

Mr Buhari, in a live broadcast to the nation on Thursday evening, assured members of the diplomatic community and foreign election observers of their safety and protection.

I want to assure all Nigerians, the diplomatic community and all foreign election observers of their safety and full protection.

Any comments or threats of intimidation from any source do not represent the position of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the president said.

Although the president did not mention Mr El-Rufai by name, the Kaduna governors statement had been criticised by many Nigerians and the opposition.

Those that are calling for anyone to come and intervene in Nigeria, we are waiting for the person that would come and intervene, they would go back in body bags, Mr El-Rufai had said.

The governors explanation that his call was not in any way a call for violence did not deter critics from condemning it. European Union observers reacted to the statement by saying they were in the country to observe the elections at the request of the electoral commission, INEC. The presidency had also earlier defended the Kaduna governor, saying it was satisfied with his explanation.

The February 16 presidential election is expected to be hotly contested, and there are fears of violence and election fraud, with the opposition repeatedly accusing the ruling party of plotting to rig the polls.

On Wednesday, the national chairman of the ruling party, Adams Oshiomhole, also accused the INEC of working for the main opposition party, PDP.

Mr Buhari has repeatedly committed to a free and fair poll and the presidency has warned against any attempt by other nations to meddle in the countrys internal affairs.

In his Thursday broadcast to the nation, the president once again assured Nigerians that the government would ensure the elections take place in a secured and peaceful atmosphere.

It was indeed such free, fair and peaceful elections that made it possible for our government to emerge, despite the fact that we were contesting against a long-standing incumbent party.

 And as your president and a fellow Nigerian, I ask that you come out and queue to fulfil this important obligation you have to yourselves and your fellow citizens  and to our common future, Mr Buhari said.

The president appealed to Nigerians, especially the youth, not to take to violence during the elections.

I urge you all as good Nigerians to take up personal interest in promoting and maintaining peace in your respective neighbourhood during the elections.

This is not a time to allow personal, religious, sectional or party interest to drive us to desperation, he said.The convoy of the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, was on Tuesday ambushed by Boko Haram gunmen while on his way to campaign in a remote border village, eyewitnesses said.

The attack occurred along the Maiduguri-Gambu road which leads to Chad Republic.

The governors spokesman, Isa Gusau, confirmed the incident but did not provided details at the time of this report.

At least five persons including a soldier were reportedly killed in the attack.

The governor, who is contesting for a senatorial seat in Saturdays election, is also the campaign director general of his partys governorship candidate, Babagana Umara.

According to sources close to the campaign council, the governors convoy set out for Gamboru-Ngala late Tuesday evening with the plan to pass the night in the border town that was once under the control of Boko Haram.

The convoy, however, came under attack by the Boko Haram shortly after it got to a village called Logomani, about 20km from Dikwa town.

How Attack Happened

According to some of the civillian-JTF operatives, who often provide the largest number of security personnel on such trips, the gunmen that attacked were on two gun trucks.

One civillian-JTF source said they thought the gunmen who packed by the road side were soldiers providing security for the governors movement.

They were all dressed as though they were soldiers and they packed their cars by the road side, said the civillian-JTF source who asked not to be named.

The witnesses said the Boko Haram gunmen watched until more than half of the vehicles in the lengthy convoy, including that of the governor, had passed by before they drove out and joined the convoy as well.

We though they were soldiers and we even waved at them and one of them on the gun trucks waved back at us, said the source.

The trucks they were driving bore the colour of military vehicles and they were putting on military fatigue.

One of the civillian-JTF operatives added that after the the Boko Haram attackers joined the convoy, they continued to drive alongside other vehicles for about 5km before they suddenly increased speed ahead of the vehicles behind them.

We noticed they increased speed and suddenly, the two vehicles spread to the sides of the road and began to open fire on oncoming vehicles.

The source said the most affected in the attacked convoy were members of the civillian-JTF who were coming from behind.

There was thick dust because the road was untarred. Everyone was running for dear life, including we the civillian-JTF.

The source said the only soldier that was killed was the one that stood his ground and opened fire on the Boko Haram attackers to allow people escape into the bush.

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Three people including the soldier were killed and many persons were also missing.

About 10 vehicles including patrol trucks of the civillian-JTF were also taken away by the ambushing gunmen.

Two other corpse were found today (Wednesday) while many of those that went missing, including a permanent secretary, later showed up after wandering in the desert.

Other members of the Borno APC who arrived Maiduguri late Wednesday evening said the campaign team proceeded to Gamboru-Ngala where they passed the night and continued with the campaign throughout Wednesday.

SOLDIERS WARNING IGNORED

Some of the civillian-JTF members who arrived Maiduguri Wednesday evening also informed PREMIUM TIMES that the soldiers in Dikwa town had warned the governor and his convoy against advancing to Gamboru-Ngala at that late hour.

Dikwa is 73km from Maiduguri and is located along the way to Gamboru-Ngala.

The soldiers initially said they wont open the way for us to advance because it was 6 p.m. and Boko Haram usually carry out attacks at that time along that axis.

But the campaign officials insisted that they should be allowed to proceed. A hot argument ensued until the governor later intervened and said the road be opened.

The soldiers grudgingly opened the barricade leading to Gamboru-Ngala but they did not follow us.

The attack occurred at Logomani, a deadly hideout of Boko Haram about 22km from Dikwa town.

Governor Shettimas convoy later arrived Maiduguri at about 7 p.m. on Wednesday after attending the campaign in Mafa and Dikwa.

The governor who was received by sympathisers did not make any comment on the incident. The party chairman, Ali Dalori, addressed supporters for their loyalty even as he told them not to relent in the campaign until victory is achieved for the party.

The governors spokesman, Mr Gusau, informed our reporter via a text message that he awaits some clarifications before issuing a statement.

Attachments areaSeven months after it denied an opposition presidential aspirant the use of a public space, the Abuja management approved the same venue for President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling party.

The authorities of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Thursday allowed the All Progressives Congress (APC) to use the Eagle Square in Abuja for its presidential rally.

The authorities had in August 2018 denied Rabiu Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano State, the use of the same venue for the declaration of his presidential bid.

Mr Kwankwaso at the time was a major presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party.

The venue had initially been approved for him and he had made the necessary payments. However, about a day to the rally, he was told he could not go ahead.

The Abuja authorities who manage the Eagle Square said then that the decision to deny Mr Kwankwaso the venue was because his rally was scheduled for a work day.

We are sorry to inform you that the event can no longer hold on the said date because it is a political event and the 29th of August, 2018 happens to be a work day, as it would disrupt the usual workflow of the Federal Secretariat.

Letter of rejection preventing Kwankwaso from using the Eagle Square for his presidential declaration.

Although Mr Kwankwaso and many observers believe the decision was political, the Eagle Square management claimed its initial approval of the venue to Mr Kwankwaso on a work day was an oversight.

We apologise for the oversight on our part to note the date in relation to the nature of the event. We regret every inconvenience caused by this, part of the letter addressed to the Kwankwaso Campaign Organisation read.

Mr Kwankwaso, a senator, was thus forced to use another venue for his formal presidential declaration.

Ignore rule For Buhari

The Abuja administration would, however, ignore its rule for the president and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

On Wednesday  a work day  the APC held its Abuja presidential rally at the Eagle Square.

As expected, the rally caused discomfort to workers at the federal secretariat and other persons working close to the Eagle Square. Some commuters who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES said routes along that axis were blocked at the time of the campaign.

The APC rally was attended by the president and top party leaders including the party chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, and Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello.

At the rally, Mr Buhari pledged to continue his fight against corruption. He also vowed to probe the alleged $16 billion spent by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration on power projects.

Ex-President Obasanjo, an ally of Mr Buhari in the 2015 elections, is now one of the most vocal critics of the president. He has thrown his weight behind Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate.

Abuja Authorities Keep Mum

When contacted on the reason for allowing the APC rally on a work day when it barred Mr Kwankwasos, the spokesperson for the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Richard Nduul, declined comment. He simply said We dont have a responsibility for any rally. So, I cannot say anything.

Similarly, the FCTA minister, Mohammed Bello, through his spokesperson, Abubakar Sani, declined comment. He said questions should be referred to the management of Integrated Facility Management Services.

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Please contact the facility managers, he said in response to a text message sent to him.

Calls made to the telephone numbers provided by the facility managers in their own official documents did not go through on Wednesday.

Baseless Excuse

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the excuse of a work day provided by the facility managers is baseless, strengthening the claim that the decision was political.

Apart from approving it for the APC rally on Wednesday, the same venue has in the past been released for other political activities on weekdays.

On July 10, 2018, a work day, the Eagle Square was approved for a political rally by the Buhari Youth Organisation.

Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. [PHOTO CREDIT: Pulse.ng]

Also similar to Mr Kwankwaso, then-candidate Muhammadu Buhari on October 14, 2014 (a Wednesday, work day) officially declared his intention to contest the 2015 presidential election at a political rally at the same venue.The withdrawal of Obiageli (Oby) Ezekwesili, a former Nigerian minister from the presidential race, has pushed farther any quest for a female Nigerian president.

Mrs Ezekwesili withdrew from the presidential race last month shocking her teeming supporters.

For the record, no woman has emerged president, vice president or even an elected governor in the 19 years of Nigerias recent democracy.

Since 1999, women have not reached 10 per cent representation in government, a Fact Sheet by Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) shows.

When will Nigeria ever produce a female president? This quest was reinvigorated ahead of the 2019 elections. With 91 political parties now, women had a better chance compared to their five previous outings at the presidential polls.

In 1999, no woman contested as only two candidates, Olusegun Obasanjo of the Peoples Democratic (PDP) and Olu Falae of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), slugged it out. Mr Obasanjo emerged the winner.

However, 2003 remains womens best attempt at occupying Aso Villa. Of the 20 presidential candidates, two were women  Sarah Jubril of the Progressive Action Congress, (PAC) and Mojisola Adekunle Obasanjo of the Masses Movement of Nigeria, (MMN).

Mrs Jubril scored 157,560 votes, the highest any woman has ever got in a presidential election in the country.

Since then, the fortunes of women dwindled at the presidential polls. In 2007 and 2011, only one woman contested. The poor run continued in 2015 where Oluremi Sonaiya, was the only female in a crowd of 14 presidential candidates.

Hope rose in 2019. Of the 144 presidential and Vice-presidential candidates expected to run, 28 women are on the list as either the candidate or running mate.

Even though she joined the race late, Mrs Ezekwesili added steam to the quest for a Madam President.

Testing The Waters

Many believe women in the presidential race are only there to test the waters and not actually contesting, an assumption the former minister would vehemently dispute.

From the moment she declared for the presidency under the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Mrs Ezekwesili secured a spot for women among top contenders.

She was the only female candidate selected to participate in the major presidential debate organised by the Nigeria Election Debate Group and the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria.

Candidates who partook in the presidential debate. [PHOTO CREDIT: Channels Twitter handle]

Quite frankly, she did not let her guards down throughout her campaign until she bowed out from the race a few days after the debate which held on January 19.

Mrs Ezekwesili indeed has a track record to lead the charge for women in the presidential race. The 56-year-old spent the better part of her political foray helping others implement their policies by applying her vast experience in chartered accounting and International Law and Diplomacy.

She started off in the Olusegun Obasanjo administration as the pioneer head of the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit (aka Due Process Unit).

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It was in this position that she earned the sobriquet of Madam Due Process for the outstanding work she led a team of professionals to do in sanitising public procurement or contracting at the federal level in Nigeria.

Mrs Ezekwesili was the architect of the Bureau for Public Procurement legislation, the NEITI legislation, and the new Minerals and Mining legislation during her six and a half years stint in government.

She was appointed Minister of Solid Minerals (Mines and Steel) in June 2005 during which time she led a vibrant reform programme that led to Nigerias global recognition as a credible mining investment destination.

The former presidential candidate of Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), was also the chairperson of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and led the first ever national implementation of the global standards and principles of transparency in the oil, gas and mining sector.

In June 2006, Mrs Ezekwesili was appointed the Federal Minister of Education, holding this post until she took up her World Bank appointment in May 2007.

Theatrics of Obys Withdrawal

Recognized both locally and internationally for her exploits in and out of government, Mrs Ezekwesili must have secured herself a spot among the few greatest women Nigeria ever had.

However, away from that euphoria, the staggering reality of her rather precipitous decision to pull out only 23 days to the D-day snowballed into a cold war between the former minister and the ACPN.

Moments after she announced her withdrawal from the race, which she said will help build a coalition to defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), her now estranged party ironically adopted the president, Muhammadu Buhari of the APC, as its candidate.

The party alleged that she only used it as a platform to secure a ministerial appointment and that she had party properties still in her possession, including cash donated for her campaign. The former World Bank leader would vehemently deny these allegations.

The foregoing however put to test the seriousness of Mrs Ezekwesilis candidacy in the first place and would further allude to the just to test the waters cliche for women in the presidential race.

Her supporters would have loved her to see the race through even if she did not win, just like Sarah Jibril, Nigerias first female presidential candidate both at the primaries and main elections, having contested to be president on four separate occasions.

Sarah Jibril, former special adviser to the president on ethics and values.

A professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Jonah Onuoha, described Mrs Ezekwesilis withdrawal as embarrassing and suspicious, saying she must have been working for another party all along.

Tope Fasua, the candidate of the Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP) and a participant of PACT before the arrangement crumbled, remained indifferent despite the call by Mrs Ezekwesili to form a coalition.

Tope Fasua writes on digital tyranny involving people like Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey.

Mr Fasua suggested that Mrs Ezekwesilis call may be an attempt to achieve a certain predetermined goal.

Mrs Ezekwesili pioneered the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) advocacy group for the release of the Chibok girls and later dropped her leadership spot at the BBOG for her presidential position.

As much as she would try to justify her reasons for stepping aside, her last minute change of mind will have little or no impact as the duration for withdrawal elapsed last November, according to INEC, the election umpire.

What will trail her political career and perhaps, serve as a reference point to the quest for a female Nigerian president in future is the drama around her withdrawal.

Again, the presidential polls already appear to be another tale of misrepresentation for women. Just like Mrs Ezekwesili, other women have also withdrawn from the race at the last minute even though their names will still appear in the ballot.

While the candidate of the National Action Council (NAC), Rabia Hassan Cengiz on Saturday said she stepped down to support the Mr Buhari, Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies, the candidate of Mass Action Joint Alliance who withdrew earlier is now backing Atiku Abubakar of the PDP.

Eunice Atuejide, the candidate of the National Interest Party, is perhaps the only known female candidate still gunning for the top job.

What is left to be seen however is how she would face the glaring odds in a male-dominated contest, three days from now.

This project is powered by Centre for Development and Democracy (CDD) with support from Ford Foundation. The initiative is aimed at enhancing issue-based campaigns ahead of the 2019 general elections.ADVERTISEMENT

The Ethiopian government on Thursday disclosed that 45,875 prisoners have been pardoned in the past nine months.

The prisoners were granted amnesty following the ratification of an amnesty bill by the Ethiopian House of Peoples Representatives (HoPR), the Ethiopian parliaments lower house, in June 2018, state affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate (FBC) reported.

According to the Ethiopian Federal Attorney-General, among the large number of prisoners that have benefited from the amnesty law include political prisoners, journalists, and former Ethiopian government officials.

In addition to the large-scale release of prisoners, the law also granted an amnesty to exiled Ethiopians, who were for decades considered as terrorists with arrest warrant on their name, to return to the country and pursue political life in a peaceful manner.

Among the released terrorism-related convicts include the former prominent rebel leader, Andargachew Tsige, a British citizen of Ethiopian origin.

Tsige had served a prison sentence since June 2014, for leading and directing an outlawed rebel group Patriotic Ginbot 7 (PG7), based mainly in Ethiopias former archrival Eritrea.

Tsiges release, which the attorney general said was on a special amnesty rationale, followed the Ethiopian governments announcement to release former high-profile Ethiopian government officials and other political prisoners.

Among the former Ethiopian government officials whose cases dropped over the past year also include Melaku Fanta, the former Director-General of the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority with the rank of a Minister.

And also his deputy, Gebrewahed Woldegiorgis, who was arrested in 2013 together with 11 other individuals suspected of involving in large-scale corruption.

RelatedNews No Content Available

The Ethiopian government said the amnesty programme was aimed at national reconciliation and unity.

The amnesty programme has seen the release of thousands of prisoners and others under investigation since Abiy Ahmeds election as Prime Minister of Ethiopia in April 2018.

The Ethiopian government characterised the mass prisoner release programmes as part of its efforts to widen political space by creating national consensus and reconciliation.

(Xinhua/NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

Nigerians will go to the polls on Saturday, February 16, to elect a new president and members of the National Assembly for another term of four years. Governors and members of state Houses of Assembly are to be elected later on March 2.

As the elections hold, Nigeria, Africas most populous nation, would be hitting a milestone. It would be 20 years since the country began enjoying its longest streak of democracy ever. The Nigerian military handed over power to civilians on May 29, 1999.

Below are the figures that watchers of this years elections need to note.

1) According to the figures recently released by INEC, there are currently

84,004,084 registered voters compared to 67,422,005 in the 2015 elections.

2) The number of polling unit is 119,973, while the results will be collated in 8,809 wards.

3) The North-West has the highest number of registered voters with 20,158,100 registered voters while the South-West zone, which comprises Ekiti, Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Osun, and Oyo states, comes second with 16,292,212 registered voters.

4) The South-East has the lowest number of states with 10,057,130 registered voters. The North East 11,289, 293 registered voters, while the South-South has 12,841,279 registered voters; followed by the North-Central, with 13,366,070 registered voters

5) Lagos has 6,048,156 registered voters, while Kano comes second with 5,149,070 voters.

6) With a total of 754,394, Bayelsa has the lowest number of registered voters, which is lower than that of the Federal Capital Territory which has a total voter population of 952, 815.

7) 91 political parties are participating in the 2019 general elections.

8) 109 Senate seats will be contested by 1,904 candidates, while the 360 seats in the House of Representatives will be contested by a total 4,680 candidates.

9) The 991 State Constituency elections will be contested by a total 14,583 candidates.

10) A total of 814,453 ad-hoc staff have been recruited by INEC nationwide ahead of the elections.

11) 116 local observer groups have been accredited by INEC. There are 28 foreign observer groups for the elections.

12) A total of 72 Presidential candidates and another 72 Vice-Presidential candidates are expected to run for the February 16 presidential elections

13) A total of 2,412 governorship and deputy governor candidates are contesting in the governorship polls holding March 2.

14) The Senate approved a total sum of N189,207,544,893 for the conduct of the 2019 general electionPR-Inside.com: 2019-02-14 23:14:18

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2019 / For the six months ended December 31, 2018 ("Q2 2019"), revenue increased to $1,522,470 from $1,300,441 in the corresponding period in fiscal 2018 ("Q2 2018"). Electricity generation for the six months was above average whereas in Q2 2018 generation was at record lows. Electricity sales for Q2 2019 were $184,141 higher than in Q2 2018.The net income for Q2 2019 was $21,710 as compared to the net loss of $391,611 for Q2 2018. The increase in net income for Q2 2019 as compared to the net loss for Q2 2018 is primarily due to higher electricity sales partly offset by lower engineering consulting revenue. Net income per share in Q2 2019 was $nil as compared to a net loss per share of $0.01 in Q2 2018.The capital expenditures in respect of the development of run-of-river hydro projects in British Columbia for Q2 2019 was $63,223 as compared to $72,585 for Q2 2018. The Power Division was most active on the proposed 4.3MW Newcastle Creek Project (the "Newcastle Project") and 5MW McKelvie Creek Project (the "McKelvie Project").At December 31, 2018, the Company had a cash balance of $375,694 as compared to $1,131,414 at June 30, 2018. The total loan principal outstanding to the Canadian Western Bank was $14,258,185 at December 31, 2018 as compared to $14,539,990 at June 30, 2018. Loans payable at December 31, 2018 included a current portion of $7,652,125 and a non-current portion of $6,606,060.Subsequent to the end of the second quarter, on January 11, 2019, the Supreme Court of British Columbia affirmed the Board, effective November 2nd, 2018 to be Tanya DeAngelis, Richard McGivern, Daniel J. Russell, Swami Sundarrajan, Cecilia Tam, and Danny Sgro.The company is a run-of-river hydro developer, operator and engineering firm. The company wholly owns or has a proportionate interest in a net total 12 MW of operating facilities in British Columbia, and a Vancouver Island grid connection and utility carrying on business as Kyuquot Utility. The company also has 9.4 MW of construction ready run-of-river projects, and applications and land tenures on another 24 potential hydroelectric sites totaling over 150MW of installed Capacity in British Columbia."Daniel J. Russell"___Daniel J. Russell, President & CEO400  1444 Alberni Street, Vancouver B.C. V6G 2Z4Phone (604) 688-8271 Fax (604) 688-1286E-mail: daniel.russell@russellindustries.com Web Site: www.synex.com Forward-looking Information - Synex includes forward-looking information in this press release within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information included in this press release reflect the current expectations of Synex management regarding future growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as "anticipates", "believes", "budgets", "could", "estimates", "expects", "forecasts", "intends", "may", "might", "plans", "projects", "schedule", "should", "target", "will", "would" and the negative of these terms and other similar terminology or expressions have been used to identify the forward-looking information, which includes, without limitation: any forecasts with respect to financial performance and capital expenditures and the nature, timing, benefits and expected costs of future hydroelectric project development.Forward-looking information involves significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Certain material factors or assumptions have been applied in drawing the conclusions contained in the forward-looking information. These factors or assumptions are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations generally, including those identified from time to time in the forward-looking information. Such risk factors or assumptions include, but are not limited to: changes in economic conditions, risks associated with the construction and operation of hydroelectric facilities and changes in government policies. Synex cautions readers that a number of factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking information. These factors should be considered carefully and undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information. For additional information with respect to certain of these risks or factors, reference should be made to the continuous disclosure materials filed from time to time by Synex with Canadian securities regulatory authorities. Synex assumes no obligation or intention to update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.Additional Information - This press release should be read in conjunction with Synex's Management Discussion and Analysis and Consolidated Financial Statements. This and additional information can be accessed at www.synex.com and under Synex's company profile on www.sedar.com SOURCE: Synex International Inc.PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-14 14:18:27

According to a new report by Future Market Insights titled Pressure Bandages Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012  2016) and Opportunity Assessment (2017  2027), the global pressure bandages market is estimated to grow from US$ 186.5 Mn in 2017 to US$ 257.4 Mn by 2027 end. This reflects a CAGR of 3.3% over the forecast period 2017 2027. The global market represents absolute $ opportunity of US$ 5.1 Mn in 2018 over 2017 and incremental opportunity of US$ 70.9 Mn between 2017 and 2027. North America is currently the most lucrative regional market for pressure bandages, followed by Western Europe and APEJ. However, in terms of annual growth, the Latin America pressure bandages market is anticipated to experience the highest CAGR of 3.9% during 2017-2027.Global Pressure Bandages Market: OpportunitiesPenetration of orthopaedic treatments in emerging economies including Asia Pacific and MEA is still not as widespread as compared to North America and Europe. This is owing to low awareness regarding advanced wound management and associated risk factors amongst the general as well as obese populationThe retail e-commerce channel has gained significant attraction from consumers in the last few years, and is expected to show rapidly increasing adoption over the forecast period. Sales of pressure bandages through e-commerce have also increased in the last few years with e-commerce companies providing attractive discounts to their customersRequest to View a Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1966 Global Pressure Bandages Market: Forecast by Product TypeOn the basis of product type, the global market for pressure bandages is segmented into short stretch bandages, long stretch bandages and multi-layer compression systems. In terms of value, short stretch bandages are likely to dominate the market throughout the period of forecast, while the long stretch bandages segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment during 2017-2027.Global Pressure Bandages Market: Forecast by ApplicationSegmentation by application includes lymphedema, leg ulcers, deep vein thrombosis and others. The leg ulcers segment is expected to be the most lucrative market for pressure bandages, with an attractiveness index of 1.9, while lymphedema is expected to remain the least attractive in the global market in revenue terms over the forecast period.Global Pressure Bandages Market: Forecast by Raw MaterialThe different segments by raw material include cotton, latex, polyester, and others. Cotton dominated the pressure bandages market in revenue terms in 2016, and the trend is projected to continue throughout the forecast period.Global Pressure Bandages Market: Forecast by Distribution ChannelOn the basis of distribution channel, the global pressure bandages market is segmented into retail stores, online stores, hypermarkets & supermarkets, pharmacies and clinics. Retail stores and online pharmacies segments are expected to reflect an attractiveness index of 1.8 over the forecast period. The retail stores segment accounted for a market share of 41.4% in 2016.Request to Browse Report Customization @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/customization-available/rep-gb-1966 Global Pressure Bandages Market: Forecast by RegionThe seven key geographies of North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, APEJ, Japan and MEA have been covered in this report. North America dominated the pressure bandages market in revenue terms in 2016, and the trend is projected to continue throughout the forecast period. MEA and Japan are expected to remain least attractive in the global market in revenue terms, with a market attractiveness index of 0.2 over the forecast period.Global Pressure Bandages Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in the global pressure bandages market profiled in the report are BSN Medical (Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget SCA), Smith & Nephew, 3M Inc., Medtronic Plc., Cardinal Health and ConvaTec Inc.PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-14 20:22:45

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Medical Alert Systems Market report provides in-depth statistics and analysis available on the market status of the Medical Alert Systems Manufacturers and is a valuable method of obtaining guidance and direction for companies and business enterprise insider considering the Medical Alert Systems market. It contains the analysis of drivers, challenges, and restraints impacting the industry.Medical Alert Systems are the devices that are used to summon assistance by healthcare personnel or individuals in time of emergency, through a panic button in the form of a pendant or a wristband worn by the user. These devices include Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS), Nurse Call Systems (NCS), Ambulatory Auto Alert Systems and Automated Airborne Flight Alert System and so on.Request for Sample Copy Of this Report @ https://www.healthcareintelligencemarkets.com/request_sample.php?id=27526 Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers Philips Lifeline, ADT, Tunstall, Greatcall, Alert-1, Connect America, Bay Alarm Medical, Life Alert, Rescue Alert, Mobile Help, Medical Guardian, LifeStation, Galaxy Medical Alert Systems, Lifefone, Better AlertsMarket Segment by Countries, coveringChinaJapanKoreaTaiwanSoutheast AsiaIndiaAustraliaMarket Segment by Type, coversLandline TypeMobile TypeStandalone TypeMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoInside the HomeOutside the HomeFor more Information and Enquiry Click Here:The study objectives are:To analyze and research the global Medical Alert Systems status and future forecast, involving capacity, production, value, consumption, growth rate (CAGR), market share, historical and forecast.To present the key Medical Alert Systems manufacturers, capacity, production, revenue, market share, and recent development.To split the breakdown data by regions, type, manufacturers and applications.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends, drivers, influence factors in global and regions.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.Buyers will get up to 30% discount on this report Click Here:If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About Us: At HealthCare Intelligence Markets, we supply markets intelligence reports in the domain of personalized drugs & diagnostics after going through a rigorous research process. The healthcare industry is constantly evolving as trends are getting replaced at a rapid pace. These new trends along with the changing demands of patients and healthcare organizations, are collectively contributing to the development of the global healthcare industry. The reports made by us are updated on a regular basis to cover the latest developments in the industry. Our workforce is comprised of seasoned market research professionals who can also provide customized report as per the exclusive needs. HealthCare helps clients decode the future to be more successful and innovative.PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-14 14:19:52

The global demand for advanced sensor technology has been on a steady rise over the last few years, owing to a growing need for biopharmaceuticals brought about by a rising prevalence of chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Increased demand for biopharmaceuticals has necessitated the manufacturing of sensor products and this is likely to positively impact revenue growth of the global measurement technology in downstream processing market. Future Market Insights presents a comprehensive forecast of the global market for measurement technology in downstream processing in a new report titled Measurement Technology in Downstream Processing Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012  2016) & Opportunity Assessment (2017  2027). Besides a historical market valuation for the period 2012 to 2016 and detailed revenue projections for the period 2017 to 2027, the report also provides useful information on the key market dynamics  growth drivers, revenue inhibitors, current and predicted market trends, as well as opportunities for manufacturers  with an objective to provide the report audience with pertinent qualitative and quantitative insights on the market.According to the forecast presented in the report, valuation of the global measurement technology in downstream processing market is anticipated to increase from an estimated US$ 3,772.4 Mn in 2017 to about US$ 6,827.9 Mn by the end of the forecast period in 2027. This reflects a CAGR of 6.1% in terms of value during the period of study.Sensors Dominant Product Type in the Global Measurement Technology in Downstream Processing MarketThe global measurement technology in downstream processing market is segmented on the basis of product type into Sensors, Transmitters and Controllers, Sensor Housings, Cables and Connectors, and Buffers and Standard Reagents. Sensors are the widely adopted product type with an increased market share throughout the forecast period. Conductivity sensors and cell density sensors are two of the fastest growing sensor types. In 2017, the market volume of the sensors segment was pegged at 4,165.4 (000 units) and this is expected to increase to 8,094.9 (000 units) by 2027 end.Request to View a Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-5922 Single Use to Remain the Most Preferred Modality in the Global Measurement Technology in Downstream Processing MarketOn the basis of modality, the global market is segmented into Single Use and Reusable. The single use segment is the fastest growing modality type with a CAGR of 6.9%.Biopharmaceutical Companies the Fastest Growing End Users of Measurement Technology in Downstream ProcessingThe global market for measurement technology in downstream processing is segmented based on end user into Biopharmaceutical Companies, Food & Beverage Companies, Contract Manufacturing Organisations, Contract Research Organisations, Academic and Research Institutes, and Others. Biopharmaceutical companies are the largest end users of measurement technology in downstream processing, and this segment is slated to register a CAGR of 7.2% during the forecast period  the highest among all the end user segments of the global market. Food & beverage companies are the second largest end users of measurement technology in downstream processing, and this segment is expected to reach a market valuation of US$ 2,273.2 Mn by 2027 end.Western Europe Largest Regional Market for Measurement Technology in Downstream ProcessingThe report studies the performance of the global measurement technology in downstream processing market across the key geographies of North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. The Western Europe regional market is the largest in terms of revenue, with an estimated market valuation to the tune of US$ 2,677.1 Mn by the end of 2027. However, the Asia Pacific Excluding Japan measurement technology in downstream processing market is projected to witness the fastest growth rate of 8.3% between 2017 and 2027.Request to Browse Report Customization @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/customization-available/rep-gb-5922 70% of the Global Measurement Technology in Downstream Processing Market Comprises Tier 3 PlayersThe report profiles some of the tier players operating in the global market such as Applikon Biotechnology, Inc., Broadley-James Corporation, Endress+Hauser AG, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Hamilton Company, Mettler-Toledo International, Inc., PendoTECH, PreSens Precision Sensing GmbH, and Sartorius AG. Just about 8% of the global market is represented by Tier 1 players.QY Reports has added an innovative data of Global Artificial Intelligence in Internet of Things (IoT) Security market this research report gives a clear image of the global Artificial Intelligence in Internet of Things (IoT) Security market industries to understand its framework. A competitive analysis of the global Open-Source Learning Management Systems Software market is provided on the basis of various key players

Global Artificial Intelligence in the Internet of Things (IoT) Security Market

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QY Reports has added a new intelligence statistical report titled as Global Artificial Intelligence in Internet of Things (IoT) Security Market status, forecast and size to Artificial Intelligence in Internet of Things (IoT) Security which gives a detailed outlook of the various factors that enable the growth of the market. It also states about the insights stretched into various sectors that pose drivers, restraints and opportunities which further helps the markets pace in the forthcoming years.Ask for Sample Copy of Complete Report: https://www.qyreports.com/request-sample?report-id=97608 This surveyed report accumulates wide-ranging statistics acquired by proving the research methods and getting the information from trusted sources within the businesses. It also consists of expert estimations to provide readers with a much stronger point of view in terms of the Artificial Intelligence in the Internet of Things (IoT) Security global market.Get Avail Special Discount on this report now @ https://www.qyreports.com/ask-for-discount?report-id=97608 This study report on Global Artificial Intelligence in Internet of Things (IoT) Security market throws light on the crucial trends and dynamics impacting the development of the market, including the restraints, drivers, and opportunities. The report talks about the competitive environment prevailing in the Global Artificial Intelligence in Internet of Things (IoT) Security market worldwide. The report lists the key players in the and also provides insightful information about them such as their business overview, product segmentation, and revenue segmentation.Inquiry before Buying@ https://qyreports.com/enquiry-before-buying?report-id=97608 Top Key Players Including:NXP Semiconductor (Freescale)Cypress SemiconductorMicrochip (Atmel)SemtecNeocortecQorvoSilicon LaboratoriesTexas InstrumentsMarvellARMSTMicroelectronicsInfineon TechnologiesGeographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions,United StatesEUChinaJapanSouth KoreaTaiwanOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share, and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoWi-Fi IoT ControllersBluetooth IoT ControllersZigBee IoT ControllersOthersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of an Internet of Things (IoT) Controllers for each application, includingHome ApplianceHVAC MonitoringFire/Gas/Leak DetectionRemote ControlsOthersGet Complete Report: https://www.qyreports.com/payment-form?report-id=97608PR-Inside.com: 2019-02-14 07:08:30

Growing need for broadleaf weed regulation will continue to be the key driver to the demand for dicamba globally. The global dicamba market is foreseen to witness healthy growth, reaching a value worth US$ 313.3 Mn in 2016. North America may outpace the largest dicamba market i.e. Europe, in terms of Y-o-Y growth.Use of dicamba as an herbicide for controlling broadleaf weed in domestic, commercial, and non-commercial applications, will remain the primary factor fuelling the demand. Farmland maintenance is the most prominent driver to dicamba market growth. In addition to easy usage and widespread availability, rising need for food safety and security, and growing awareness about efficient crop protection, are likely to favour the growth of the dicamba market, especially in developing countries. Surging need for maximum crop yield without losing facing significant loss is also identified to be one of the important market drivers. Steadily increasing exports from China are foreseen to push the market growth further.Request For Report Sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2556 A number of modern agricultural practices involve replacement or combination of glyphosate with dicamba, which may create lucrative opportunities. Moreover, wide acceptance of integrated pest management is also expected to spur the consumption of dicamba. The U.S. EPAs recent approval for the usage of a non-volatile dicamba-based herbicide by Monsanto is now considered to be a major booster to dicamba market growth. Emergence of innovative applications of dicamba in addressing multiple weed destruction will be another critical factor pushing the market.Drift damage caused due to the volatility of dicamba can remain a longstanding challenge to the market growth. Similarly, reported cases of illnesses and allergies in humans post-exposure to dicamba, will remain a major barrier to mass adoption. Strict regulations regarding approval is another key factor expected to restrain the market growth.With revenues beyond US$ 265.0 Mn in 2016, agriculture will continue to lead the market in terms of application, with over 84% market value share. Lawn and turf segment is also expected to register a remarkable market share of over 12% in 2016. While the Y-o-Y growth of agriculture segment is projected to be of around 8.7% in 2017 over 2016, that of the lawn and turf segment is estimated at 7.3%.Regionally, Europe is currently the largest market for dicamba. However, it may witness a slight decline post-2016. This region is likely to account for over 26% market share in 2016, whereas the revenues can reach beyond US$ 83 Mn. A higher growth rate is expected to be registered by North America, possibly accounting for almost 24% share of the market value in 2016. In 2017, Europe will exhibit a strong Y-o-Y growth of 7.7% over 2016, whereas that of North America is projected to be of 9.2%.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC): https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-2556 BASF SE, E I du Pont de Nemours & Company, Monsanto Co., The Dow Chemical Company, Bayer AG, Nufarm Limited, and Syngenta AG are some of the leading companies competing in the global dicamba market. Recently, DuPont and Monsanto Co. announced a multi-year dicamba supply agreement, confined to North America.Globally increasing prevalence of hip, knee and other bone replacement surgeries is expected to drive bone cement mixers market. In United States, approximately 2.5 million hip replacement surgeries and 4.7 million knee replacement surgeries were carried out contributing significantly to bone cement mixers market.

Bone Cement Mixers Market

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Bone cement is mixture of solid and liquid components to form bone like structure for usage in human body. Bone cement is used to replace a structure of bone which is damaged or to fill the void space created due to various conditions affecting bone. Bone cement mixers are used to mix different components (solid and liquid) while preparing bone implant used in different kind of surgeries. Antibiotics are often incorporated along with solid and liquid component for mixing in bone cement mixers. Bone implant are mostly used in shoulder, hip, knee, and elbow replacement surgery. In case of fractured vertebra bone cement is injected into the affected site filling the void space and reducing stress on other vertebras. Bone cement mixers are used for preparing moist mass which is then shaped into desired size and shape. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is widely used bone cement in world. Apart from widely used Polymethyl methacrylate, there are various kinds of bone cements used like calcium phosphate cement (CPC) and glass polyalkenoate cement (GPC) are used in different orthopaedic and dental applications.Bone Cement Mixers Market: Drivers and RestraintsGlobally increasing prevalence of hip, knee and other bone replacement surgeries is expected to drive bone cement mixers market. In United States, approximately 2.5 million hip replacement surgeries and 4.7 million knee replacement surgeries were carried out contributing significantly to bone cement mixers market. Furthermore, increasing prevalence of arthritis worldwide is expected to drive bone cement mixers market. Increasing prevalence of joint problems, obesity and geriatric population is expected to drive bone cement mixers market significantly. Advancing technology in bone cement mixers is expected to drive the market. Increase acceptance about bone cement interventional therapy in bone related surgeries further contributes to bone cement mixers market. Various evolved techniques in bone cement mixers and bone related surgeries are driving the market. Whereas, various adverse events (like bone cement implantation syndrome, infection pain and loss of function) reported after use of bone cement in different surgeries expected to restrain bone cement mixers market. Biocompatibility of bone cement is often checkpoint in usage of bone cement in different kind of surgeries.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-7096 Bone Cement Mixers Market: SegmentationGlobal bone cement mixers market can be segmented on the basis of product type, mixing technique, end user and geographyBased on product type bone cement mixers market is segmented as:Bench-Top Bone Cement MixersPortable Bone Cement MixersBased on mixing technique bone cement mixers market is segmented as:Vacuum MixingHand MixingBowl MixingBased on end user bone cement mixers market is segmented as:HospitalsAmbulatory Surgical CentersSpecialty ClinicsBone Cement Mixers Market: OverviewGlobal bone cement mixers market is expected to grow significantly attributing to increased prevalence of bone and joint surgeries. Increased prevalence of obesity and geriatric population with complaints regarding joint pain is further contributing to bone cement mixers market. By Product type, bench-top cement mixers segment is expected to dominate the bone cement mixers market. By mixing technique, vacuum mixing technique devices expected to dominate bone cement mixers market. As per one national survey carried out in U.K. 94% of surgeons prefer vacuum cement mixers. By end user, hospital segment is expected to dominate bone cement mixers market attributing to higher convenience. Bone cement mixers manufacturers are focusing on research and development for developing advanced mixing technique devices.Bone Cement Mixers Market: Regional OutlookGlobal bone cement mixers market is majorly dominated by North America due to higher number of hip and knee surgeries performed. Europe is next most lucrative bone cement mixers market attributing to availability of advanced technologies and increased intervention of bone cement in handling joint related surgeries. Asia-Pacific is next major emerging bone cement mixers market attributing to emerging economies like India and China with huge residing population. Middle East and Africa remains least lucrative bone cement mixers market due to low adoption rate.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-7096 Bone Cement Mixers Market: Key PlayersSome of the global key players operating in bone cement mixers market are Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc., Smith & Nephew plc, Stryker Corporation, DJO Global, MDM Medical ltd., Murray; William M., Summit Medical, Ltd., Corin, Amplitude, Baumer and others.The Global Artificial Skin Market Report includes a comprehensive analysis of the present market. The report starts with the basic Global Artificial Skin Market overview and then goes into each and every detail.

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The Artificial Skin Market products are promptly increasing globally and is enhancing the demand by the users in the market. The materials used in this market are environmental friendly. Artificial skin is normally obtained from the collagen and the body easily absorbs it and it also helps in generating new skin on the part that is affected. Continuous research works are being made by several market players for the development of the new technology in the Artificial Skin Market regeneration, which includes the development of the autologous spray on the skin. The epidermal layer is the outer layer that acts as the bodys major barrier against uncertain conditions.The global Artificial Skin market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of +21% during the period 2019-2025.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 Artificial Skin Market.Get Sample Copy of this Report @Top Key Vendors in Market:Stratatech Corporation, Doctors Health Press, Mylan N.V., Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. Smith & Nephew and Mallinckrodt plcThe increase in the cases of the burn accidents and other road accidents that leads to fire and injuries contributes positively to the growth of the regenerative artificial skin market. Other factors such as an increase in the skin diseases, increased rate of acid attacks, and other body surgeries attribute positively to the growth of the market. There are certain factors that restrain the growth of the regenerative artificial market which include the regulatory approvals for the surgical procedures, the adoption by the body by regaining the natural structure.Ask for discount@Globally, areas such as, like North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa are examined to take great decisions in businesses. Effective policies are included in the report which gives tremendous response to scale up the businesses. The statistics included in the report gives accurate data of drivers, restraints, and opportunities, which helps to balance the growth of the existing and upcoming industries of Artificial Skin Market.For more Information @About Research N Reports:Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Where counting on a legitimate board company for your selections will become critical. Research N Reports specializes in enterprise evaluation, marketplace forecasts and as a result getting great reports overlaying all verticals, whether be it gaining angle on modern market situations or being in advance inside the cut throat Global opposition.Antibody Library Technologies Market

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Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.comAssociate Consultant800-961-0353

Demand for antibody library technologies is expected to surge, as the arrival of advanced antibodies and their display technologies continue to reduce complexities of life science and biotechnology research. Persistence Market Research (PMR), in its latest report, projects that the global antibody library technologies market revenue will increase at a CAGR of 4.4% between 2016 and 2024. Some of the latest antibody library design and selection methods enable easy identification of any MAB with any specificity, which is why pharmaceutical companies are increasingly making use of such technologies in their facilities.Owing to the limitation and shortcomings of the conventional molecular display technologies, medical research organizations are now shifting towards new age display less technologies, capable of isolating antibodies up to subnanomolar affinities.  Analyst, Persistence Market ResearchRequest for Report Methodology @: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/11155 Global Antibody Library Technologies: Key Market TrendsAs the market becomes more competitive, players aim to offer additional services complementary to antibody libraries.Consolidation between technology developers and drug development organizations in order to increase the consumer base has been identified as a prominent trend in the global market for antibody library technologies.Widespread adoption of cell-free display platform will persist throughout the forecast period, owing to the compact nature of such contemporary display platforms. For instance, the popularity of cell-free ribosome display technology has grown significantly amongst end-users in recent years.Highlights of the Report IncludePhage display to remain as the predominant antibody library technology in 2017 and beyond. Moreover, constant technological advancement is expected to support its widespread adoption in the medium term. Phage display was the first in vitro technology developed for antibody selection and is extensively used by scientists all over the world. In 2016, sales revenue of phage display technology reached US$ 68.0 Million and is likely increase at 5% CAGR over 2024. Based on application, antibody library technologies are primarily used in drug discovery programs. Nearly US$ 81.3 Million worth antibody library technologies were purchased for drug development purposes in 2016. Meanwhile, biopharmaceutical companies remain the major end users of such technologies and are expected to create an incremental opportunity of US$ 44.Mn between 2016 and 2026 for the market.Amongst all the key regions, the antibody library technologies market in North America accounted for a massive revenue share of 57.5% in 2015. This is primarily due to the favorable government initiatives for development of cost-effective monoclonal antibodies in the US, which is driving the demand for antibody library technologies in the region. North America will continue to be most lucrative market over the forecast period followed by Europe and APAC.Request to Sample Report @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11155 Some of the leading companies profiled in the PMR report include MorphoSys AG, Dyax Corp., Abzena Plc., XOMA Corporation, AvantGen Inc., Creative-Biolabs, AbCheck s.r.o., Philogen S.p.A, Adimab LLC, Invenra Inc. AnaptysBio, Inc., Abwiz Bio Inc., Abgent Inc., Vaccinex Inc., and AxioMx Inc. Collaborations and cross-licensing have been key market strategies for many of these companies having operations across the globe.As regular readers know, I am a fan of law enforcement. I think systemic racism is bullshit, and police officers conduct is admirable, or at least defensible, in an overwhelming majority of cases. See, for example, this post and this one. I am unequivocally on the side of law enforcement.

But a few cops, unfortunately, are rotten. We saw that here in Minnesota with Mohammed Noor, who shot an obviously harmless woman who dialed 911, for no apparent reason. Something even worsebut for the fact that no one diedhappened in Glendale, Arizona in 2017 when police officers accosted a car full of people who were parked in a hotel lot and, perhaps, not up to much good. But we never learned anything about that, because one of the cops went straight to the authoritarian shtick, and then to the taser. In the end, a guy who never did anything wrong was tased 11 times, including on his private parts after having his pants pulled down.

He was charged with a crime or two, as was his wife, who allegedly struck a police officer over the head with a water bottle. If she did it, good for her. It was the least she should have done, under the circumstances. Here is the video, compiled by a local TV news station from body and dash cam cameras:

Was that sickening to watch, or what? Happily, most people who go into law enforcement are altruistic and want to serve their communities. Unfortunately, some arent and dont. People like the officers involved here should be viewed with contempt and subjected to legal penaltieslike Mohammed Noor, if he doesnt die of old age before coming to trial.

Today, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, a solid conservative, urged re-opening the investigation into the tasing fiasco. He is right. Lets investigate and punish where punishment is due. Watching the video, it seems blindingly obvious where that is.Neomi Rao is President Trumps highly-qualified nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit. Weve written about her here and here.

Democrats are determined to block Rao. She is what they despise: a brilliant conservative minority group member and potential future Supreme Court nominee. To make matters worse, her professional focus has been the administrative state, on which Democrats rely to reshape America without the consent of its people.

To bring Rao down, Democrats found articles Rao wrote when she was a college student. The Dems focus, in particular, on statements about date rape on college campuses.

Rao was unequivocal that anyone who rapes a drunk female should be prosecuted. She also said, however, that female students could reduce their chances of being raped by not getting drunk. A good way to avoid a potential date rape is to stay reasonably sober, she advised.

This is just common sense. Its advice parents should give their college-age daughters, especially if they drink.

Rao in no way excused male students who commit date rape. To the contrary, she strongly condemned them. She merely pointed out that female students will be less vulnerable to date rape if they drink less.

Nonetheless, Democrats, led by the dreadful Kamela Harris, blasted Rao for her statements on date rape. No surprise here. This is what Democrats do.

Unfortunately, Harris and her crew were joined by Republican Joni Ernst, a new addition to the Judiciary Committee.

I wrote about Ernsts addition to the committee here. I noted that her qualifications for this particular committee were less than stellar. It seemed to me that Ernst was added to the committee in response to criticism, arising from the Kavanaugh hearings, that there were no female Republican members of the committee.

Ernst was only marginally outdone by Kamala Harris in attacking Rao for her college writings. Ernst expressed concern regarding messages we send young women everywhere. But Raos message was a salutary one  stay in control. As Heather Mac Donald says, one might have thought that a message of empowerment was a good one to send, but perpetual female victimhood is better, apparently.

Ernst went on to say that young women need to feel comfortable sharing the experiences theyve endured. Apparently, this entails making them feel comfortable about getting blind drunk so that, in case their date rapes them, they may be more willing to report it. Again, I agree with Mac Donald:

[W]hy not arm females with ways to stay free of allegedly ubiquitous male predators, such as telling them not to get black-out drunk? Ernsts charge that Rao had somehow inhibited females from sharing the experiences theyve endured implies that females can only share their experiences in a context of uncritical feminist victimology. To acknowledge the complicated tangle of desire, confusion, cultural expectations regarding easy sex, and embarrassment about saying no that gives rise to drunken hook-ups is incompatible with the simple feminist morality play of helpless female and toxic male.

Rao doesnt need Democrat support to be confirmed. However, she cannot afford to lose female Republicans. Normally, the concern here centers on Sens. Collins and Murkowski. In this case, though, Sen. Ernst became the main problem. If she votes against Rao, the nomination is in trouble.

Rao was therefore forced to fall on her sword. She apologized for perfectly reasonable statements made decades ago. Ernst appears to be mollified, though its not yet clear how she will vote.

But even if Rao is confirmed, Joni Ernst has helped the Democratic left achieve two things. First, they have injured Rao, decreasing the likelihood that, down the road, she will be nominated for the Supreme Court.

Second, they have strengthened the lefts hold on the culture. As Mac Donald says:

Every time a public figure repudiates a previous challenge to politically conformist thought, he solidifies the grip of that thought on public discourse. He gives credence to the idea that non-orthodox statements of reality are so patently offensive that they disqualify their holders from respectable office tout court. Mere citation of those statements is enough. . . . [W]hile Rao may squeak by the political censors this time, the longer-term prognosis for breaking the grip of progressive ideology on elite institutions is not good. If any mention of females co-responsibility for drunken hook-ups causes a terrified dash for the exits, even more fundamental questions of culture and agency will become further off limits.

Thanks, in part, to Joni Ernst.Rep. Ilhan Omars exchange with Special Envoy for Venezuela Elliott Abrams yesterday consumed less than five minutes, yet it warrants close scrutiny (C-SPAN video below). As a newly installed member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee doing her thing, we see the devolution of the Democratic Party.

Omar begins by calling Abrams Mr. Adams. She pretends to deep knowledge about him, launching an ad hominem attack on Abrams for wrongdoing dating back to the Iran-Contra affair during the Cold War, yet she cant pronounce Contra in the question written for her by some Communist staff member. She then refused to let Abrams respond to the personal attack on him. That was not a question, she says. Thank you for your participation. This is all in the first 73 seconds.

When Abrams answers no to Omars absurd question about a 40-year old massacre in El Salvador, Omar responds, Ill take that as a yes. Its an upside down world.

Monica Showalter explicates the full exchange in a useful American Thinker post here. After the El Salvadoran detour, Monica points out, Omar slid into Russian propaganda talking points, warning that Venezuelas democrats were going to stage massacres and she wanted to know if hed be happy about those. Seriously, thats straight from Russian propaganda talking points, derived from its Ukraine war

Monica observes: [A]fter all that ignorant crap about El Salvador, blaming the U.S. for some decades-old civil war crime it had nothing to do with, [Omar] finally get[s] to her issue about Venezuela: The horrible danger from  Venezuelas opposition. Never mind the starvation, never mind the people fleeing, never mind the ruined institutions, never mind the dining out on zoo animals. In Omars addled mind, the big risk in that country is  Venezuelas democrats.

Monica quotes Ron Radoshs conclusion: Omar obviously believes that the United States is an imperialist and reactionary nation that by its very nature abuses human rights Its not just the Jewish people whom Omar hates. Shes not too fond of the United States either.

Lets go to the video. This is worth your time.

JOHN adds: Omars line on Venezuela may mirror Russian talking points, but I think the more salient fact is that it also is Irans line. Irans mullahs are close allies of the Chavez/Maduro regime and Iran, like Russia and China, has refused to recognize Juan Guaido as Venezuelas interim president and has denounced him as a right wing extremist. I think Omar is most likely taking her marching orders from Irans mullahs.We now know what many have long suspected: the Deep State, in the person of the leadership of the FBI and the Department of Justice (to whom we can add John Brennan at the CIA and others) plotted to ensure that Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 election. When that effort failed, they schemed to remove Donald Trump from the presidency. Failing that, they successfully saddled him with an endless investigation that was designed to groundlessly delegitimize his administration through lies, leaks and innuendoes. That effort continues today.

We will have much more to say about this, but for now Byron York sums it up well:

There are new revelations about what took place in Washington during the extraordinary period from May 9, 2017, when President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, to May 17, 2017 when Trump-Russia special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed. The short version is: The reports were true. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein really did discuss wearing a wire to secretly record the president. Rosenstein and others did discuss invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office. And the FBI did adopt an aggressive new investigation strategy, targeting the president himself, almost instantly after the Comey firing.

***

Its just like we thought all along, said one House Republican upon hearing the news. If McCabes account is true, it confirms what we thought, that Rod Rosenstein was serious when he talked about wearing a wire and invoking the 25th Amendment. Rosenstein should be under oath answering our questions. We need to know who was in the room and what was said.

Someone should be doing hard time.Democrats have hoodwinked Republicans on the border compromise legislation that would end the dispute over funding the government. Thats the most charitable interpretation of what has happened. Its possible that the Republicans who agreed to the deal know about the landmines that will undermine the Trump administration and simply dont care.

Mark Krikorian blows the whistle. He writes:

The bill is disappointing in many respects, but if it had been as advertised earlier, it might have been tolerable. But my fears that senators Durbin and Leahy would trick the Republican conferees (none of whom knows the first thing about immigration policy) were realized. Standing out among the many distasteful provisions are two poison pills that I hope the Republican committee members either didnt know about or didnt understand.

What are the poison pills? The first is a restriction on where the fence can be built. Krikorian points out:

[T]he bill allows the fencing to be built only in the Rio Grande Valley Sector in South Texas. Its surely needed there, but real barriers are also needed elsewhere, such as the parts of the Arizona or New Mexico borders where theres only vehicle fencing.

Why did the Democrats insist on this limitation? Krikorian explains:

The bill states: Prior to use of any funds made available by this Act for the construction of physical barriers within the city limits of any city or census designated placeDepartment of Homeland Security and the local elected officials of such a city or census designated place shall confer and seek to reach mutual agreement regarding the design and alignment of physical barriers within that city or the census designated place. In other words, local governments would have an effective veto over whether barriers would be constructed. And which party controls all local government in South Texas?. . .Rio Grande City is the least Democratic community in the area, and even there voters supported Hillary Clinton in 2016 by more than three to one.

So will any fencing at all be built with funds authorized by this bill? Krikorian is doubtful:

Add to [the geographical restriction] the bills prohibition on border barriers in a range of public parks and spaces  such as the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge, the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, La Lomita Historical Park, or the National Butterfly Center  and the 55 miles of new fencing supposedly provided for in the bill might never get built at all.

Krikorian considers the second poison pill even worse:

Section 224 states: None of the funds provided by this actmay be used by the Secretary of Homeland Security to place in detention, remove, refer for a decision whether to initiate removal proceedings, or initiate removal proceedings against a sponsor, potential sponsor, or member of a household of a sponsor or potential sponsor of an unaccompanied alien child. In other words, this would mean that ICE cannot detain or remove anyone who has effectively any relationship with an unaccompanied minor  either because theyre sponsors, in the same household as sponsors, or even just potential sponsors (or in the household of potential sponsors!) of such a child. Theres already a huge incentive to bring a child with you if youre planning to infiltrate the border, because kids cant be held more than 20 days, according to the Flores agreement, and we dont separate parents from kids, so if you sneak across with a kid in tow, youre released into the U.S. The new provision would create an incentive for illegal aliens already here to order up kids from Central America as human shields against deportation. After all, 80 percent of the sponsors of unaccompanied children are in the country illegally in the first place  usually parents or other relatives paying criminal gangs to bring the kids to the U.S., knowing that the likelihood that theyll be repatriated is virtually nil.

What a disaster. Republican negotiators have disgraced themselves.

What is to be done? I agree with Krikorian:

The president should make clear his earlier willingness to sign the package was based on the summaries that had circulated, not this specific language. The responsible thing to do now would be to pass a continuing resolution (extend spending at current levels) for a week or so, to avoid another partial government shutdown but give lawmakers time to actually go over the thing carefully and pull out the poison pills.

If Trump instead signs the bill as is, he too will have disgraced himself.The Washington Examiners Naomi Lim reports that yesterday the House passed an amendment to a resolution with a message to Ilhan Omar: In rare vote, House sends a message on anti-Semitism to Ilhan Omar. We have Rep. David Kustoff (R., Tenns.) to thank for this:

The House on Wednesday unanimously passed a broad condemnation of anti-Semitism days after Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., received widespread criticism over her comments on Israel.

The language, which does not mention Omar by name, was approved 424-0 using a legislature procedure that lets the minority party make a last-minute motion to change legislation just before its passed. The procedure almost never works for the minority party, in part because the minority usually tries to make radical changes to the bill that the majority quickly rejects.

On Wednesday, however, Republicans used the so-called motion to recommit vote to call for the addition of language to a resolution that states it is in the national interests of the United States to combat anti-Semitism at home and abroad.

With an unfortunate rise in anti-Semitism and attempts to delegitimize Israel, the United States House of Representatives must emphasize the importance of combating anti-Semitism and reject all movements that deny Israels right to exist, the amendment states.

The sponsor of the language, Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., indicated the language was aimed at Omar, who has been criticized by both parties for comments they say amount to anti-Semitism.

This horrific anti-Semitic tone being taken by some Members of Congress must come to an end, Kustoff said. The language I offered affirms the United States interest in combating anti-Semitism at home and abroad, something my colleagues on both sides of the aisle should and must support. I am proud to stand today in solidarity with my Jewish community as this hate has no place in our country.

The House easily approved the proposal, marking the first time in several years that the motion to recommit worked.Gwendolyn Prebish, 29, of Hatboro, faces trial on charges of drug delivery resulting in death, involuntary manslaughter and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance in connection with the overdose death of Michael Pastorino, 32, of Willow Grove.@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.I felt like I was part of their ceremony. It was fantastic. All that the judges put into this, it just makes it so special, said Deborah Buthusiem, mother of the groom

Pull QuoteBill Cosby booking photo after he was taken into custody to begin serving his 3- to 10-year prison term on sexual assault charges.Sidebar

Mumps FAQ from the Gallatin City-County Health Department

What is mumps?

Mumps is a viral disease characterized by swelling of the parotid or salivary glands along the face, neck and jaw. The swelling can last from two to ten days. The incubation period (time from when you were infected to when you have symptoms) is 12-25 days. Other symptoms, in addition to the swelling around the neck and jaw, include fever, malaise (tiredness) , muscle aches and headache. Up to 25% of people with mumps may have few or no symptoms.

How does the mumps virus spread?

Mumps is spread by droplets of saliva or mucus from the mouth, nose, or throat of an infected person. Saliva can pass from one person to another when they share straws, spoons, forks, cups, cans, bottles and even lip gloss. Mumps is also commonly spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes, and a non-infected person inhales respiratory droplets that contain the virus.

How soon after infection do symptoms occur?

Symptoms usually occur 16 to 18 days after infection. The time between infection and illness can be as short as 12 days or as long as 25 days.

When can mumps be spread?

A person with mumps is most contagious before symptoms even appear. People with mumps are usually contagious from two days before to five days after the jaw/neck swelling starts.

How can a person with mumps avoid spreading it to others?

 Stay at home for five days after symptoms (salivary gland swelling) begin (required by Montana ARM 37.114.501), avoid school, work, social gatherings, and other public settings.

 Dont share eating or drinking utensils.

 Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. If you dont have a tissue available, cough or sneeze into your upper sleeve or elbow, not your hands.

 Wash your hands frequently with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand cleaner.

Is there a vaccine to prevent mumps?

Yes, the mumps vaccine is given on or after a child's first birthday. In the United States, it is usually combined with measles and rubella vaccines, together known as MMR (measles, mumps and rubella). A second dose of mumps vaccine is recommended before children enter school (when they are four to six years old.) People who receive two doses of mumps vaccine are much less likely to develop mumps than those who have one dose or none.

Can people who have been vaccinated still get mumps?

Yes, for every 100 people vaccinated, 80 to 90 of them will be fully protected, but 10 to 20 are at risk for the disease. Though mumps vaccination cannot protect everyone, the vaccine greatly lowers the number of people who get sick when exposed to the virus. If a community maintains a high vaccination rate, the risk of exposure declines too. And while vaccination cannot protect everyone from developing mumps, people who get mumps following vaccination are at lower risk of problems and usually experience a more mild case.

How do I reduce my chance of getting the mumps?

People who have 2 doses of MMR are presumed to have immunity to mumps. Also, people born before 1957, people who have laboratory confirmation of the disease and people with positive titers (blood tests that can determine if a person has immunity) are also presumed to have immunity.

What should I do if I think I (or my child) was exposed to mumps?

If you are exposed to mumps and have been vaccinated, you are less likely to develop the disease. Two doses of MMR is required for enrollment in Montana schools. If your child has a religious or medical exemption for the MMR vaccine, they may be excluded from school until such time as it is safe for them to return, possibly 25 days or longer.

What should I do if I have symptoms?

If you or your child develops swelling along the face and neck along with a fever, please stay home from work, school, sports and all public gatherings for five days after symptoms start. You should seek medical care to be properly diagnosed.

Is there a treatment for mumps?

There is no cure for mumps, only supportive treatment (bed rest, fluids, and fever reduction).

How is mumps diagnosed?

Mumps is diagnosed by a combination of symptoms along with lab tests (either throat swab, blood and/or urine sample). Your health care provider will determine the appropriate test for diagnosis.

What problems can mumps cause?

 The vast majority of mumps cases do not lead to serious complications.

 The mumps virus can cause inflammation of the central nervous system, but the resulting illness (viral meningitis) is usually not serious. Headache and stiff neck may occur in up to 15% of people with mumps.

 Males who are past puberty may experience orchitis, or testicular inflammation. It causes pain, swelling, nausea, vomiting and fever. The affected area may remain tender for weeks. Approximately half of patients with orchitis experience some atrophy of the testicles, but they rarely lose the ability to produce sperm.

 Some women may experience inflammation of the ovaries or breasts from mumps.

 Deafness, in one or both ears, occurs in approximately one person out of 20,000 who develops mumps.

Why are some students not immunized against mumps?

Montana state law allows parents or guardians to claim medical or religious exemptions from state immunization requirements. This provision in state law allows students with these exemptions to attend school without the required vaccines.

What can be done to protect students who are not immunized against mumps?

Health department officials will be assessing students immunization status and may decide, as allowed by state law, to exclude unimmunized students from school in order to protect the safety of the student and limit spread of the disease. If this action is taken, Health Department staff will contact parents directly to discuss this course of action. The good news is that guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease control has determined that unimmunized students can return to school immediately if they are vaccinated against mumps.

Why are some students being excluded from school after children who have had the mumps have returned?

People with mumps are contagious until 5 days after the parotid swelling starts. They need to stay home for those 5 day but can return to school on day 6. Since mumps has a long incubation period(12 days) other students who were exposed will not develop symptoms until 12 days after exposure and as long as 25. That is why unvaccinated students will need to stay out of school for up to 25 days after the latest diagnosed case.

I know a child is unvaccinated but was back in school, why are they allowed back in?

The guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC says unvaccinated students can be readmitted immediately after they are vaccinated.

Is mumps a serious disease?

Mumps can be serious, but most people with mumps recover completely in a few weeks. While infected with mumps, many people feel tired and achy, have a fever, and swollen salivary glands on the side of the face. Others may feel extremely ill and be unable to eat because of jaw pain, and a few will develop serious complications. Men and adolescent boys can develop pain or swelling in their testicles, which rarely results in sterility. Inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord (meningitis) and loss of hearing can also occur, and in rare cases, this hearing loss can be permanent. The most serious complication is inflammation of the brain (encephalitis), which can lead to death or permanent disability.

I've been told that I need to stay away from people while I'm sick with mumps. What does that mean and why does it matter?

When you have mumps, you should avoid prolonged, close contact with other people until at least five days after your salivary glands begin to swell because you are contagious during this time. The time it takes for symptoms to appear after a person is exposed to the virus can range from 12 to 25 days. You should not go to work or school. You should stay home when you are sick with mumps and limit contact with the people you live with; for example, sleep in a separate room by yourself if you can. Staying home while sick with mumps is an important way to avoid spreading the virus to other people. People who are infected with mumps dont get sick right awayit can take 2 to 4 weeks for them to show signs of infection.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."My vision for Guam  after July 21  is to get back to normal as possible," Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero said in her remarks at an economic forum h Read moreWASHINGTON  Soybeans account for less than 1 percent of all the goods and services the United States sells the rest of the world.

But somehow the humble legumes are upstaging weightier, thornier issues as the Trump administration tackles trade disputes with China, the European Union and other trading partners. Critics worry that focusing on getting foreigners to buy soybeans and other U.S. goods is a distraction from pushing them to make deeper economic reforms that would offer longer-lasting benefits to the United States.

The outsize importance of soybeans  mostly used as animal feed but also consumed by humans in everything from General Tsos Tofu to soy lattes  was apparent again recently in two days of U.S.-China trade talks.

The worlds two biggest economies didnt make much progress on their differences over the aggressive tactics  including cybertheft  that Beijing is allegedly using to challenge U.S. supremacy in cutting-edge industries like driverless cars and artificial intelligence.

But to the presidents delight, they did agree on one thing: In an unexpected deal that even surprised the top U.S. trade negotiator, China said that it would buy 5 million metric tons of American soybeans over an unspecified period.

"China as a sign of goodwill has agreed to purchase a tremendous, massive amount of soybeans," Trump told reporters.

He said he had consulted with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and learned that "our farmers are extremely happy."

"Its a nice kind of olive branch," said Peter Meyer, head of grain and oilseed analytics at S&P Global Platts.

Tough tech issues

Soybeans, which accounted for just $21.5 billion of $2.4 trillion in U.S. exports in 2017, seem to be punching above their weight in U.S. trade policy.

Farming is one of the few areas in which the United States sells more to the rest of the world than it buys, China included. Powerful lobbies represent American agricultural interests in Washington. And farmers tend to be enthusiastic Trump supporters.

The emphasis on soybeans has drawbacks, critics say. In the confrontation with China, for example, it diverts attention from the tough tech issues that divide the worlds two biggest economies and may decide whether Beijing or Washington presides over the economy of the future. And it implies that the Chinese might be able to avoid substantive concessions on their economic policies simply by agreeing to buy more American stuff and putting a dent in the massive U.S. trade deficit with China. That amounted to $336 billion in 2017 and was likely higher last year.

"Theres confusion about what the administrations objectives are," said Rufus Yerxa, president of the National Foreign Trade Council and a former U.S. trade official.

In a recent letter, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and fellow Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Sherrod Brown of Ohio warned Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that any deal with China should force Beijing to end the abusive practices that put U.S. tech firms at a competitive disadvantage and to enact fundamental economic reforms that would make the Chinese market more accessible to U.S. and other foreign firms.

An agreement that settles for Chinese purchases of American goods, intended to narrow the trade deficit, would be viewed on Capitol Hill as "an abject failure," they wrote.

Hitting where it hurts

Soybeans have taken a prominent place in previous Trump administration trade talks. The United States and the European Union at least temporarily backed away from a potential trade war over cars last July when the Europeans agreed, among other things, to load up on American soybeans.

Americas trading partners are well aware of the outsize influence farmers enjoy in Washington. When Trump last year started slapping import taxes on Chinese goods and on foreign steel and aluminum, they targeted their retaliation on the American Heartland, imposing tariffs on soybeans and other farm products.

Chinas soybean tariffs had a devastating effect. Before the trade hostilities erupted last year, China bought nearly 60 percent of the soybeans the United States exported. Then the tariffs kicked in: In the first 10 months of 2018, U.S. soybean exports to China dropped to 8.2 million metric tons from 21.4 million metric tons a year earlier  a 62 percent freefall, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The backlog of unsold soybeans also pushed down U.S. prices, spreading more pain in farm country.

"We need some good news," said Blake Hurst, a soybean and corn farmer in northwestern Missouris Atchison County and president of the Missouri Farm Bureau.

So Hurst and other farmers welcomed Chinas decision to buy American beans. But their relief is limited. Hurst worries its a one-time purchase and not the resumption of business as usual.

China bought 31.7 million metric tons of American soybeans in 2017 and 36.1 million in 2016. Five million metric tons doesnt do much to fill the gap.

"Its still woefully short of what they used to do," said Ron Moore, who grows corn and soybeans in Roseville, Ill., and serves as chairman of the American Soybean Association. "Were not there yet."

Change can be good

Even after U.S.-China trade tensions ease, soybean industry consultant John Baize said it might be a good idea for the U.S. and China to scale back their soybean trade. The economic and geopolitical rivals are likely clash again over issues such as trade, Taiwan and Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea. Soybeans could once again be held hostage.

So Baize says the U.S. should sell more to other markets  such as Southeast Asia, Pakistan and Egypt  where demand for soybeans is growing as people earn more money and eat more meat, increasing the need for animal feed. Meanwhile, China should buy more from alternative suppliers like Brazil that probably arent potential adversaries, he said.

"We will wind up with more reliable customers, and they will wind up with less-disruptable suppliers," he said.ZUMBROTA, Minn.  Entrepreneurs Jayne and Dean Bredlau have dealt with many problems while trying to make their fresh produce business bloom, but a recent trademark claim from a restaurant chain blindsided them.

Lawyers for Los Angeles-based Sweetgreen, a chain of more than 90 healthy eateries, sent a cease and desist letter to the Bredlaus, telling them they must stop using the name My Sweet Greens MN for their small fresh vegetable business.

"It couldnt have come at a worse time," said Jayne Bredlau, who left her regular job in August to work on My Sweet Greens full-time. "Its pretty overwhelming."

Other than having "sweet" and "green" in their names, the two businesses are not similar.

Sweetgreen, recently valued at $1 billion, has restaurants in major coastal cities like New York, Boston and Santa Monica, Calif. Its closest in the Midwest is about 350 miles away in Chicago. The company launched and registered its trademark in 2007.

Sweetgreen charges between $9 to $14 for its salads made with fresh produce.

My Sweet Greens was started in Zumbrota with about $7,000 of personal savings and uses a greenhouse built with free and scavenged materials to grow sweet peas, arugula, radishes and other greens.

They sell about 90 to 100 pounds of greens a month in the Rochester, Northfield, Winona and Faribault areas.

The Bredlaus started their business in 2016, after purchasing an Internet domain and searching for any other businesses with a similar name.

My Sweet Greens started to get traction last year, selling their greens at farmers markets, food cooperatives and directly to restaurants.

Then the Sweetgreen letter rolled in like a dark cloud over My Sweet Greens sunny plans for 2019.

Sweetgreen is demanding that the Bredlaus stop all use of "Sweet Greens" in its name and branding.

"Sweetgreen is concerned consumers will erroneously conclude that your business and its offerings are associated with, or sponsored or endorsed by, Sweetgreen," wrote Sweetgreens attorney Colette Ghazarian.

The Bredlaus are talking to their own lawyer to determine their next step.

Bill Ryan, a partner at Rochesters Dunlap & Seeger law firm who is not connected to the case, says this type of situation is not unusual.

"If you have a registered mark, you need to be diligent about enforcing it or it could get diluted losing the benefit, otherwise it can become generic, like Kleenex," he said to explain why Sweetgreen would pursue a tiny Minnesota business.

Sweetgreen challenged another small business, Virginia-based Sweet Leaf, in 2012. That case went to court and Sweet Leaf agreed to re-name itself Sweet Leaf Community Cafe to resolve the dispute at that time.

Ryan says the on the surface, this case boils down to a "fact question" of the likelihood of the similarity of the names confusing the average consumer.

Beyond the direct legal challenge, theres the expense of taking it on to court. Sweetgreen has the money to fight it for a long time, while My Sweet Greens MN doesnt have resources like that.

"Win, lose or draw, whats certain about this stuff is the cost and thats what scares most smaller folks away," said Ryan.Political Reporter

Caitlin Byrd is a political reporter at The Post and Courier and author of the Palmetto Politics newsletter. Before moving to Charleston in 2016, her byline appeared in the Asheville Citizen-Times. To date, Byrd has won 17 awards for her work.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.The Coast Guard base in Charleston, and areas around it, can get swamped by the combination of tide and rain that floods Lockwood Boulevard near its docks. File/StaffCharleston, SC (29403)

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The White House put out a lengthy statement marking the first anniversary of the Parkland shootings, but the statement never mentioned guns or gun violence.

Read the statement from Trump as sent to PoliticusUSA:

One year ago today, a horrific act of violence took the lives of 14 students and 3 educators in Parkland, Florida. On this somber anniversary, we honor their memory and recommit to ensuring the safety of all Americans, especially our Nations children.

The day after the tragedy in Parkland, I told the Nation that school safety would be a top priority for my Administration. We took immediate action, committing ourselves to a sacred vow to do everything in our power to ensure that evil does not stalk our children on the playgrounds or in the hallways of our Nations schools. Within days, I convened a listening session at the White House, during which young men and women, joined by family and friends, recounted stories of survival and heroic acts of bravery and remembered those lost to senseless violence.

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We learned a lot that afternoon, exchanging many strong ideas on preventing violence in our schools. These important suggestions resulted in the creation of the Federal Commission on School Safety to consider recommendations spanning a broad range of topics important to protecting our students and securing our schools. Carson Abt, a survivor and now a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, suggested that we need to ensure that all schools have the resources necessary to institute active shooter protocols and drills. Julia Cordover, another Parkland survivor, asked that my Administration take action to ban bump stocks. Alaya Barnett, a student at Friendship Technology Preparatory Academy in Washington, D.C., suggested improvements to counseling services for victims of bullying. And Sandy Hook mom, Nicole Hockley, urged enactment of the STOP School Violence Act, which authorizes $1 billion over the next ten years to prevention programs and reporting systems nationwide.

We have made tremendous strides. One month after that important meeting, I signed the STOP School Violence Act and Fix NICS Act into law. The Departments of Education and Health and Human Services began the process of expanding health and other services to low-income public elementary and secondary schools. The Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation also convened a School Safety Summit that discussed how to better identify troubled students, conduct threat assessments, and institute anonymous reporting systems. Additionally, my Administration has completed a regulatory process, which it had started in October of 2017, to ban bump stocks.

On December 18, 2018, the Federal Commission on School Safety released a compelling 180-page report directly addressing many of the ideas exchanged last February at the White House and in listening sessions, panel discussions, and field visits held all across the country. The report offered nearly 100 diverse and evidence-based policy recommendations, ranging from use of Extreme Risk Protection Orders to improved mental health and counseling services in our schools. To protect against acts of violence on school grounds, the Commission also recommended a structure of interagency and intergovernmental collaboration, strengthening the working relationship between educational personnel, law enforcement, and State and local leadership.

Melania and I join all Americans in praying for the continued healing of those in the Parkland community and all communities where lives have been lost to gun violence. We reaffirm the bonds of faith, family, community, and country that unite us as one Nation. Today, as we hold in our hearts each of those lost a year ago in Parkland, let us declare together, as Americans, that we will not rest until our schools are secure and our communities are safe.



Trump has failed America on gun violence

Trump talked about school safety, but he never mentioned what it is that makes schools less safe. The White House had nothing to say about how easy it is for someone with bad intentions to get high powered weapons that are only designed to kill human beings. Must of Trumps statement was a cover his backside list that hides the fact that this president and his administration have done nothing about gun violence and mass shootings.

Trumps idea of school safety is mouthing NRA talking points about having more guns in schools.

The White House statement represents the epitome of Trumps failed presidency. Trump is incapable of leading, oblivious to popular will, and forever beholden to those who installed him in the White House.110 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

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By Benjamin Long

NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation)  Democrats pushed on Tuesday for a nationwide paid family leave system in the United States, the only developed nation that does not guarantee pay to workers taking time off to care for children or other relatives.

The proposal would establish a national insurance program to provide workers with up to 12 weeks paid leave per year for the birth of a child, adoption or to care for a seriously ill family member.

The lack of paid family leave takes a particular toll on women who tend to care for children and aging relatives, and the proposed Family Act would bring national policy in line with other countries, supporters say.

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The United States is one of only five nations that have no guaranteed paid maternity leave, the other four being Lesotho, Liberia, Papua New Guinea and Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, according to the World Policy Analysis Center, a research group at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Family leave legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Congress in previous years but been unsuccessful.

Now, with Democrats controlling the lower House of Representatives and a record 127 women in the House and Senate, it could have a fighting chance, said Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, a sponsor of the bill.

Now we have a majority. We have a real shot at getting this passed, and I am so optimistic we can get this done, said Gillibrand in a statement.

Gillibrand recently announced her intention to seek the Democratic Partys nomination for president.

Guaranteed paid leave exists in a handful of states but not on the national level.

President Donald Trump has voiced support for six weeks of paid leave but his proposal does not cover care for sick family members.

Opponents say paid leave could be too costly for small businesses to shoulder.

Supporters of the Family Act say it could be funded through paycheck deductions at an average weekly cost of $1.50 to workers.

Its shameful that America has lagged behind for so long on paid maternity leave, Toni Van Pelt, head of the National Organization for Women, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The Center for American Progress, a Washington-based policy institute, estimates more than $20 billion in U.S. wages are lost each year due to workers lacking access to paid family and medical leave.

One in every four U.S. mothers returns to work 10 days after giving birth, according to Paid Leave for the United States, a group promoting family leave.

(Reporting by Benjamin Long; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst ((Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, womens and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org) ((Benjamin.Long@thomsonreuters.com)1.9k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

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The Senate voted to confirm William Barr to be attorney general, even though Barr has not committed to releasing the Mueller report.

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) joined with Republicans in supporting the nomination.

In floor remarks on Wednesday, Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) summed up why Democrats opposed the Barr nomination:



Certainly, Mr. Barr is intelligent. Certainly, Mr. Barr has experience; in fact, he already did the job. And let me say that Ive always respected his public service and believe him to be a good man. But what so many of us find so lacking in Mr. Barrs nomination in this time around is his fundamental lack of awareness about the moment were in.

Only a few months ago it was uncovered that he authored an unsolicited memo to the Justice Department criticizing  criticizing  the Special Counsels investigation. He wasnt involved with the Justice Department in any capacity at the time. He was a private attorney. He could not have had access to any of the facts of the case. And yet he decided to write this memo, which in addition to making un-evidenced claims about the investigation, outlined an extremely broad  in my judgment, overreaching  vision of executive power. Writing that memo showed poor judgment and worse, it showed bias  at a time when the country cannot afford either in its Attorney General.

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The memo alone, I felt, was disqualifying at a time when we have a president who scorns the rule of law.

William Barr Must Release The Mueller Report

Trumps own former lawyer is floating the idea that the Mueller report will never be written, much less released. William Barr has been vague and evasive about whether or not he will protect the Special Counsel investigation and release the report. Barr auditioned with Trump for the job, and he has the appearance of an attorney general that will not stand up to the president.

The nation has gone way past the point of being disappointed in Republicans for not standing up for their country and the rule of law.

Senate Republicans are going to pay for putting Trump first and country last. Mitch McConnells crew of Trump enablers will pay for what they have done to this nation in the name of partisan politics.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Former deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe has dropped a bombshell revelation about the actions of the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2017 in the wake of former FBI Director James Comeys firing.

60 Minutes host Scott Pelley appeared on CBS This Morning, today and said that McCabe told him in his 60 Minutes interview (to be aired Sunday) that the DOJ had meetings in May of 2017 to discuss whether Donald Trumps cabinet could be rallied to oust him from power.

The most illuminating and surprising thing in the interview to me were these 8 days in May There were meetings at the Justice Dept, in which it was discussed whether the VP and a majority of the cabinet could be brought together to remove the POTUS under the 25th Amendment

"The most illuminating and surprising thing in the interview to me were these 8 days in May There were meetings at the Justice Dept, in which it was discussed whether the VP and a majority of the cabinet could be brought together to remove the POTUS under the 25th Amendment" pic.twitter.com/cs0gBdYoSB  CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) February 14, 2019

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There were meetings at the Justice Department at which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment, Pelley revealed today.

In the 60 Minutes interview with Pelley, McCabe also discussed Department of Justice investigations into the president.

NEW: In his first interview since being fired, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is telling @60Minutes why he opened up investigations involving President Trump.

NEW: In his first interview since being fired, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is telling @60Minutes why he opened up investigations involving President Trump. @ScottPelley reports: pic.twitter.com/wGmtcPFyvq  CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) February 14, 2019

The CBS This Morning co-hosts inquired of Pelley about the atmosphere in the White House at the time of Comeys firing:

What did he say about friction in the White House after Comey was fired?

Well he tells the story of the president repeatedly in meetings and phone calls, trying to convince McCabe that everyone at the FBI wanted Comey fired & everyone was very happy about that.

What did he say about friction in the White House after Comey was fired? "Well he tells the story of the president repeatedly in meetings and phone calls, trying to convince McCabe that everyone at the FBI wanted Comey fired & everyone was very happy about that." @ScottPelley pic.twitter.com/ywvG0AQcwB  CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) February 14, 2019

The commentators who have read McCabes book said that he speaks very candidly about his feelings for the president. It appears that McCabe is not holding back anything in his assessment of the man who forced him out of one of the top law enforcement jobs in the country.

In fact, according to his book, McCabe feared he would be ordered to stop investigating Trumps ties to Russia after the firing of Comey. In one passage he describes his interaction with the president after he fired the former FBI director, according to excerpts published by The Atlantic.

McCabe wrote:

After Comeys firing, the core of my concern had to do with what might happen to the Russia case if I were to be removed. Was the work on solid ground? Were there individuals on whom we should consider opening new cases? I wanted to protect the Russia investigation in such a way that whoever came after me could not just make it go away.

McCabe said he immediately got his DOJ team together for a series of meetings about the Russia investigation. In the first meeting he was interrupted by what he called a bizarre phone call from the president. On the call, McCabe wrote, Trump insisted on coming to the FBI offices to speak with investigators in person.

Clearly Donald Trump was very paranoid about the Russia investigation, and all of his actions prove it. He was being investigated by people in the DOJ who report to him, and he clearly abused his power by intimidating and ultimately firing some of these people.

What McCabes book shows is that Donald Trumps vice president and cabinet, along with the DOJ, have considered removing him from office. Clearly the former DOJ official is correct: Donald Trump is indeed A Threat to America, and to the very constitutional framework upon which our country is built.Advertising

Fox News guests and hosts had a big laugh Thursday morning at the smaller tax refunds being received by millions of Americans.

Most working people who have filed 2018 tax returns so far have been surprised at getting smaller tax refunds  or owing more in taxes  after they had assumed their refunds would be bigger because of Trumps tax cut bill.

Charles Payne, the host of Making Money with Charles Payne on the Fox Business Network, was a guest on Fox & Friends to discuss the situation faced by the people who are upset about seeing a big decrease in their tax refund. The segment opened with the statistic that there has been an 8.4 percent decline in the average tax refund compared to 2018.

Payne explained to the Fox & Friends hosts the reason for the decline:

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Heres the thing: For the most part, the IRS is telling everyone that they just simply did not make the proper adjustments on their withholdings at the beginning of the year. So they have been making all of this money.

He then clarified that the mistake in withholding was made by either the employees or their employers. But Payne insisted that the IRS was not to blame, saying:

IRS actually put a lot of memos out. They even made it pretty easy to go on their website and figure it out. This was at the beginning of last year. Of course most people didnt do that.

While people were obviously seeing fatter paychecks they were still counting on that refund they always got, which is interesting because, you kind of hinted at it, that we would allow the IRS to have like a $2,000 loan, our money, right? Hold on to it because we overpaid.

So people should probably consider making these adjustments anyway, unless you want to give the IRS two or three grand of your money to hold for a year. Maybe they can make the interest on it and you wont.

Co-host Brian Kilmeade then pointed out a flaw in Paynes reasoning:

But heres the problem: There are certain things that are gone forever and that is, in these blue states  in Illinois, in New York as well as Los Angeles, New Jersey (forget Los Angeles, also California)  you can no longer write off state and local taxes. So thats gone.

Payne acknowledged Kilmeades observation and claimed:

These states have put themselves in a bad predicament because they have taxed their residents, they have created these obligations, they have made these promises and they need to find out some of the taxes that they can probably address rather than going back to the government and asking someone in Mississippi to subsidize a millionaire in New York Citys  to subsidize their mortgage. Its ridiculous.

What these Fox News commentators have done is blamed Americans for a problem that they did not create. The problem of not withholding enough taxes was created by the IRS and the Trump administration.

The IRS adjusted the paycheck withholdings of all American workers at the beginning of 2018 to make it appear that they were paying less in taxes by getting more take-home pay. The Trump tax bill also eliminated major tax deductions, such as state and local taxes, which were used by middle class workers.

Once again Fox News is covering up for the missteps of the Trump administration.

CLICK HERE to watch the Fox & Friends panel defend the GOP Tax Scam.2.8k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

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Its bad enough that the human embodiment of a YouTube comment section  Donald Trump  is president of the United States.

More frightening, however, is that many of his supporters believe his presence in the Oval Office was an act of God.

According to a brand new Fox News poll, 55 percent of white Evangelical Christians  one of Trumps strongest voting blocs  believe God wanted this president to beat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

Overall, 25 percent  still a scary number  believe a higher being favored a Trump presidency. A combined 76 percent say they either dont believe or are unsure of whether God made Trump commander-in-chief.

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Screenshot via Fox News:

More from Trumps favorite news network:

Over half of white evangelical Christians, 55 percent, feel God put Trump in office. That drops to 36 percent among Protestants and 20 percent among Catholics. Trump voters are nearly six times as likely as Clinton voters to believe God wanted Trump to win the election (46 vs. 8 percent). The results are nearly identical among Republicans (45 percent) and Democrats (9 percent).

The stunning polling data comes after White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Christian Broadcasting Network that, yeah, God was a Trump superfan.

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 thats why hes there, Sanders said with what I assume was a straight face.

No version of God would support Donald Trump

No matter how you slice it, there is no version of God that would approve of the person or president Donald Trump is and has been his entire life.

This is a man who repeatedly screwed workers and dodged taxes consistently throughout his business career. His only concern through it all has been himself.

He is a thrice-married man literally on tape bragging about how he is proud of the ease with which he can sexually assault women. More than a dozen women have come forward accusing him of sexual misconduct.

He has even paid off women  including porn star Stormy Daniels  to keep quiet about the affairs he had with them. Those payments are part of multiple crimes that his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, has implicated him in.

All of this goes without mentioning the fact that Trump is a serial liar. Throughout his presidency, he has spewed thousands of falsehoods without batting an eye.

Donald Trump is an amoral con man. The idea that God is cheering his presidency would be laughable if so many of his supporters didnt believe it.

Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook and Twitter3k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

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Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, essentially removed any remaining hope Paul Manafort might have for a presidential pardon.

According to the Democratic congressman, the reason Manafort lied to investigators is that he was still holding out for a pardon from Donald Trump.

I think [Manafort] clearly felt that he couldnt maintain any possibility of a pardon if he was honest about what kind of a relationship the campaign had through him with this Russian intelligence-linked individual, Rep. Schiff said.

Following the congressmans logic, it will be nearly impossible for Manafort to receive a get out of jail free card from Trump now that his lies have been exposed in court.

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Video:

Adam Schiff says Paul Manafort lied to investigators because he was holding out for a Trump pardon. #ctl #p2 #maddow pic.twitter.com/JOu2kJcUbq  PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) February 14, 2019

Schiff said:

[A Trump pardon] certainly is a concern, because if there was ever a president to abuse the pardon power, its likely to be this one. I think Manafort was trying to play it both ways. He wanted to angle for a pardon with the president. At the same time, he knew he could get stiffed by the president because the president, after all, doesnt care about Manafort or anyone else. He cares about Donald Trump. And so he wanted at the same time to try to minimize his sentence and reduce his exposure there and still hold out the prospect of a pardon. But I think he clearly felt that he couldnt maintain any possibility of a pardon if he was honest about what kind of a relationship the campaign had through him with this Russian intelligence-linked individual.

Paul Manafort shot himself in the foot

Instead of cooperating fully with investigators, Manafort made two mistakes: 1. Convincing himself that he could get away with his lies; and 2. Thinking that Trump would save him.

In taking that approach, Manafort has made matters much worse for himself.

Not only did he increase his odds of spending the rest of his life behind bars, but he has essentially removed any chance he might have had left of receiving the presidential pardon he was angling for.

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GOP Sen. Susan Collins may claim  still  to be a pro-choice moderate who will vote to protect womens rights, but MSNBC host Ari Melber destroyed that myth on Wednesday.

According to Melber, Collins vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court was the final straw that sealed her legacy as an anti-abortion right winger.

She still claims, even now, that shes doing her part to keep the court pro-choice against all this evidence, the MSNBC host said, adding that Collins can claim shes pro-choice all she wants, but facts matter.

Video:

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Melber said:

Note that Sen. Collins has some experience with a pattern here. Were going to show it to you. Because she backed Trump and voted to confirm Gorsuch as well as Kavanaugh, just like she voted to confirm Alito. As for Thomas, the fourth vote, well she wasnt even in office yet. Now, there are potential legitimate arguments for that kind of voting record. For pro-life candidates, their answer is, yeah, these are the pro-life judges they want. And for some traditionalists, to be fair, the answer is yeah, but the Senate vets judges and shouldnt try to pre-engineer their future votes on the court. Thats a different defense. Sen. Collins claims neither of those defenses. She still claims, even now, that shes doing her part to keep the court pro-choice against all this evidence. Responding to Kavanaughs new opinion, she cites this as a, quote, very careful dissent, as proof the idea he would still repeal Roe is, quote, absurd. Is it? We asked Sen. Collins office whether point blank she views Kavanaughs ruling as a limitation on abortion access, which it is, and a narrowing of Roes protection or not. She did not reply to those questions today. But if last fall anyone was unclear how then-Judge Kavanaugh would approach abortion laws on the Supreme Court, the answer is now clear. Facts matter.

Susan Collins anti-choice record pre-dates her Kavanaugh vote

Its not just Collins vote to confirm the anti-choice Kavanaugh that makes her a fraud. Her record was clear well before she sold out and confirmed him to the Supreme Court last year.

As Ari Melber pointed out, Collins also voted in favor of Trump-appointed Neil Gorsuch and George W. Bush-appointed Samuel Alito.

Both of those Supreme Court justices joined Kavanaugh last week in voting to restrict a key abortion protection. Luckily, Bush-appointed Justice John Roberts sided with the majority of the court and blocked the restrictive law from taking effect.

Ultimately, one thing is clear: Sen. Collins is neither moderate nor pro-choice. If the Supreme Court justices she voted to confirm had their way, they would overturn abortion rights in a heartbeat.

In 2020, the voters of Maine have a chance to replace Susan Collins with a Senator that will mean it when they say theyll protect womens rights.

Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook and Twitter1.6k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

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The Social Security Expansion Act would force the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share into Social Security, increase benefits for all recipients, and increase COLAs.

The Social Security Expansion Act was introduced by U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), along with Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR).

Here is the summary of the bill:

Sen. Cory Booker said, When Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law close to 84 years ago, he called it a cornerstone in a structure which is being built but is by no means complete. Social Security is still that cornerstone, still the bedrock of that commitment we make to each other. But it needs to be strengthened in order to better meet the needs of our nations seniors. This bill does just that by increasing benefits and making sure the wealthiest pay their fair share.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats said, It is time to expand Social Security, not cut it. At a time when more than half of older Americans over the age of 55 have no retirement savings, our job is to expand Social Security to make sure that everyone in this country can retire with the dignity they have earned and everyone with a disability can live with the security they need.

Rep. DeFazio (D-OR) said, As a trained gerontologist, I have devoted my career to protecting programs and benefits vital to seniors. It has always been and continues to be my highest priority to protect Social Security. In the face of future funding challenges, we need common sense solutions in order to fully protect this vital program. It is incomprehensible that while Social Security is in financial crisis, we are allowing millionaires to stop paying into the program this week. I am proud to introduce legislation to address this disparity, increase benefits for seniors, and protect the program from partisan cuts.

The Expand Social Security Act is about setting an agenda for 2020 and beyond

The bill isnt going to pass in 2019. If it did get through Congress, Trump would never sign it into law. This legislation is about putting down a marker on the Democratic Partys position on Social Security in the 2020 election. Voters can see a clear contrast. Congressional Republicans and Trump spent their two years in total control of the federal government dreaming of cutting and privatizing Social Security.

Democrats are telling the American people that not only will they protect Social Security, but they will also fight to expand it.

Protecting Social Security is no longer enough. It is time to expand the program to help those who need it most.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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The reporting on Wednesday that a federal judge has determined Paul Manafort deliberately lied to Robert Muellers team is just the latest piece of evidence in the growing collusion case against the Trump campaign.

As PoliticusUSA reported via Reuters, Judge Amy Berman Jackson in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found there was a preponderance of evidence that Manafort lied on three different topics, including his communications with his former business partner Konstantin Kilimnik.

Manaforts relationship with Kilimnik, a Russian political operative, has been under intense scrutiny in recent days.

According to The Washington Post, Manafort and former Trump campaign deputy Rick Gates met secretly with Kilimnik in New York in August 2016 to discuss a peace proposal for Ukraine, a critical piece of achieving Russias ultimate goal of lifting economic sanctions.

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As David Corn of Mother Jones told Chris Matthews on Wednesday, This is the collusion. I mean weve had examples of public collusion. This is private collusion.

Video:

David Corn says Paul Manaforts recently revealed secret meeting with Russia during the campaign was collusion. Full stop. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/muinlxpf5g  PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) February 14, 2019

Corn said:

This is the collusion. I mean weve had examples of public collusion. This is private collusion.  A few days before the meeting, Kilimnik sent Manafort an email saying our friend wants to talk to you. He has messages for about the future of his country. This is regarded as a reference to Oleg Deripaska, an oligarch very close to Putin. So Manafort says fine, Ill see you Tuesday, fly in and Ill meet you. So he was responding to a request basically to meet with an emissary of Oleg Deripaska.  Why does he lie to Mueller and the others?  This is what Manafort says. You know, we talked about this plan to bring peace in the Ukraine that could lead to the lifting of sanctions. But he tells Mueller we didnt talk about it again after that meeting. One of the lies that hes been charged with here, or found to have lied, is that he continued to work on that plan with Kilimnik through the election, after the election, into 2018. So here was Manafort trying to work on a pro Russia initiative while he knew Russia was trying to help Trump. So if it is not an explicit quid pro quo, you have to believe theres a lot of nodding and winking going in that meeting and afterward.

The Trump campaign colluded with Russia

Collusion with Russia during and after the 2016 campaign is no longer a question. It didnt just happen, but it involved some of the highest-ranking officials on Trumps team up to and including the president himself.

As David Corn said on Wednesday, [Trump] was colluding with the Russian disinformation campaign to deny [the Russia attack] was happening.

He took an oath to defend this country and he has not defended it against this attack from Russia and, in fact, he helped the attack occur by denying it was happening. And now we have this collusion  between his campaign chairman and an emissary of one of Putins closest oligarchs, Corn added.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to gloat over GOP Sen. Richard Burrs assertion that the Senate Intelligence committee has found no direct evidence of collusion with Russia.

But as Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell said on Thursday, We have very good circumstantial evidence that the Trump team, the family, the businesses were eager to work and were working with the Russians while the Russians were helping them.

In a court of law, thats enough, the Democratic congressman said.

Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook and TwitterAdvertising

(Reuters)  Former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe wrote a confidential memo last spring recounting a conversation that provided significant behind-the-scenes details on the firing of former FBI director James Comey, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The Times reported that McCabe had turned in his memo to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating whether Moscow colluded with President Donald Trumps campaign to meddle in the 2016 U.S. election. Comeys firing is one part of Muellers inquiries into whether Trump tried to obstruct the investigation.

McCabe and the Justice Department declined to comment to the Times.

The Times reported, citing several people familiar with the discussion, that in the document McCabe described a conversation at the Justice Department with Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein after Comey was abruptly fired. Rosenstein had played a main role in Comeys May 2017 dismissal, writing a memo in which he rebuked Comey over his handling of an investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the election campaign.

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But in the meeting at the Justice Department Rosenstein added a new detail: that Trump had originally asked him to reference Russia in his memo, The Times reported, citing the sources familiar. Rosenstein did not elaborate on what Trump had wanted him to say, according to the newspaper.

Trumps lawyers have cited Rosensteins involvement in Comeys firing as proof that there was no effort to obstruct justice, the Times reported.

The Times reported that Trump wanted Rosenstein to mention that he was not personally under investigation in the Russia probe, but Rosenstein did not include the reference. Until his dismissal, Comey had been leading an investigation into the Trump campaigns possible collusion with Russia.

The Kremlin has denied meddling in the election and Trump has denied that there was any collusion between his campaign and Moscow officials.

(Shalini Nagarajan in Bengaluru; editing by Grant McCool)CHEYENNE  The Wyoming Department of Workforce Services Cheyenne Workforce Center launched a new monthly job fair seeking to connect local job seekers with employers. The fair, called "Workforce Wednesdays," will take place on the second Wednesday of each month at the Cheyenne Business Center.

Denise Rodriguez, Business Representative for the Cheyenne Workforce Center, says the first of the series of job fairs featured 11 local employers and had a turnout of more than 40 job seekers. "The first of our Workforce Wednesday job fairs had a great turnout," Rodriguez said, "employers told us they appreciated having a smaller, local job fair, and were enthusiastic about attending future fairs." Rodriguez also said the smaller venue made potential employees more comfortable, and provided ample opportunity for conversations with employers.

Businesses attending the Workforce Wednesday job fairs will all be hiring. Some of the industries actively recruiting include: healthcare, education, energy, customer service, maintenance and food service. Each month a new slate of local business will be in attendance.

Job seekers attending the fairs are encouraged to bring resumes and dress for interviews. The next Workforce Wednesday job fair will be held on February 13.

Businesses looking for employees may register for upcoming job fairs by calling the Cheyenne Workforce Center at 307-777-3700..

The Cheyenne Workforce Center also will also be hosting skill-building workshops on the first Wednesday of each month, to help prospective employees with cover letters, resumes and interview skills. Interested parties may call the Cheyenne Workforce Center at 777-3700, for more information.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.Men pray at Mart Shmony Church, an orthodox church in the northern Iraqi town of Bartella, Iraq. Two years after it was liberated from Islamic State militants, only a fraction of Christian residents have returned to Bartella. Many fear intimidation by the towns population of Shabak, a Shiite Muslim ethnic group who dominate the militias that now run Bartella.

 AP Photo/Fay AbuelgasimOn a recent morning, Adam Levine, historical consultant to the Philadelphia Water Department, drives along Valley Road in Merion, pointing out a small, scenic stream.

Mill Creek courses through the front yards of the stately homes here, contained by stone walls that rise up from the creek bed. Some houses have wooden footbridges that cross over the gap; others have flagstone patios perched on the banks.

The stream starts half a mile north of the Merion stop on SEPTAs Regional Rail line, bubbling out of a spring by a cul-de-sac. It flows south along the Paoli-Thorndale tracks, toward Overbrook. Follow past that and it curls southeast, through its namesake neighborhood in West Philly, until it meets the Schuylkill.

Except you cant follow Mill Creek much further without Levines help. Just by Overbrook station, it flows into the mouth of a large pipe and becomes a sewer. From there, it runs underground. Starting in 1869, it was hijacked to serve as an artery for the citys growing sewer system.

Mill Creek is one example of what happened to hundreds of miles of streams in Philadelphia (and across the country) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were conscripted into service of the citys 3,000-mile drainage system. Sometimes, streambeds natural valleys provided a cradle for pipes; other times, they were rerouted. That complicated environmental-meets-developmental history is the subject of Levines illustrated lecture at the Wagner Free Institute of Science on Feb. 20.

Little streams in developed areas have never been really respected, Levine says. Even the parts of Mill Creek that remain above ground were carefully shaped by Merions designers.

Normal streams dont have stone walls and they dont flow on concrete. They dont flow into sewer pipes and disappear.

He steers out of the 1920s-era development and heads down Merion Road toward the city line, past the Merion Botanical Park, which the creek passes through unobstructed. Can you guess why it was called Overbrook? he asks dryly as he waits for the light at City Avenue.

Levine gets out of the car at the Regional Rail station and walks up the platforms ramp. Mill Creek runs just to the right, then vanishes into the arch of a large pipe, tastefully embedded into the hillside with old stone walls. On a snowy morning, under a frosted-glass sky, you could be forgiven for thinking this passes for pretty. A faint cloud of water vapor floats up from where the freshwater stream flows into the pipe. Because sewage is warm, Levine notes.

From here, Mill Creek  now the sewer  runs underground, gathering wastewater and stormwater from the homes and businesses hooked up to its pipeline, carrying it toward a treatment facility. (That wasnt always the case: A boy fell into the stream around Overbrook in 1969 and washed all the way to the Schuylkill. He lived.) Before it was buried, it was fed by other tributaries, also appropriated for infrastructure and covered up.

But just because it isnt visible doesnt mean Levine cant follow it. For 20-plus years, hes managed the Water Departments extensive archives. He has pored over city maps for much longer than that. And as the editor of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Societys magazine and the author of two Philadelphia gardening books, he claims a far better-than-average knowledge of nature and history. Often, all it takes for him to track a stream-based sewer system is to look at the streets.

When youre in the city and you think youre in a valley, you probably are in a little creek valley, even if theres no creek there, he says as he straps himself back into the car.

Maybe youve never thought, Im in a valley. Pay attention to the slopes of the streets, especially if theyre winding, Levine says. He drives on Upland Way toward Lebanon Avenue, patiently noting the roads topography along the way. Its even easier to notice if youre on a bicycle.

After pipe was laid, the valleys would be leveled with fill. Land wasnt smoothed out completely, just enough to build on, Levine says as he navigates south on 59th Street, over Lancaster Avenue. He begins working his way east, toward the Mill Creek neighborhood.

For the most part, streets were built on the land above sewers. That was not the case for all parts of the Mill Creek sewer, especially for a five-block area near 51st and Brown Streets. In 1961, four rowhouses on Funston Street collapsed there, burying seven people and killing three.

When he nears the area, Levine circles around a series of empty lots, a swath of nothing, he says. The city bought the land from property owners after the incident. He recalls a set of keys he found in the Water Department archives that he couldnt identify for a long time. He eventually figured it out. It was the keys to all the houses on this diagonal that were over the sewer that had to be torn down.

By the 1920s, the city realized it was more expedient to leave streams as they were. Thats why Northeast Philadelphia, which was developed later, has more tributaries  Byberry Creek, Wooden Bridge Run, Axe Factory Run  that flow above ground. From the time of buying up the land, then building the pipe, burying the stream, filling it, and then the neighborhood being built around it  it would sometimes take decades.

Driving around with Levine can feel like falling down a Philly rabbit hole. As he tracks Mill Creeks path to its end, at 43rd Street, he takes conversational diversions: the desire of early-20th-century city planners to create more diagonals in Phillys grid; the fate of the Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital mens and womens facilities; the claustrophobia one can develop when walking in a sewer (a story for another time).

As he passes by rowhouses, bodegas, cafes, and salons, he summons a pastoral image of old West Philly: mostly farmland, some woods, unfettered streams. Once industry came to the area, it used the water for power or, in the case of textile factories, for bleaching and dyeing. And they would of course dump the polluted water right back in the creek.

Even then, little streams didnt get respect.

From Stream to Sewer: A History of Philadelphias Landscape, 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Wagner Free Institute of Science, 1700 W. Montgomery Ave., free with registration, 215-763-6529, wagnerfreeinstitute.orgThe Trump administration has been on a spree of environmental rollbacks, including air and auto emissions. Its next target: lightbulbs.

All those specialty bulbs consumers flock to for nostalgic or decorative appeal  think Edison, globe, candelabra  were to face new efficiency standards in January 2020 under an Obama administration rule that would likely make the incandescent bulb an artifact. The reason: old-style bulbs are notoriously inefficient, requiring more energy and therefore contributing to greenhouse gases and climate change, a priority of the Obama administration.

But this month, the Department of Energy proposed continuing to exempt certain types of lighting.

It all boils down to definitions.

Everyday bulbs are classified as general service lighting. But some lighting with more specialized uses, such as reflector bulbs common in recessed lighting, and globe, flame and three-way bulbs, had been defined differently by the federal government, thus making them exempt. The Obama administration, however, said they should be redefined as general lighting and subject to the same efficiency standards as all other bulbs starting in 2020.

As a result, most lighting would have to achieve a new standard of at least 45 lumens per watt. A lumen is a measure of brightness and a watt is a measure of power.

Trump administration officials disagreed and said the previous administration misconstrued the law. Its proposal would keep the current exemptions.

This is another senseless and illegal Trump administration rollback that will needlessly hike our energy bills and spew tons more pollution into the air, harming the health of our children and the environment," said Noah Horowitz, director for Energy Efficiency Standards at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a nonprofit environmental advocacy group.

The NRDC says keeping the current definition would cut nearly in half the number of bulbs expected to be energy efficient in 2020. The group said that amounts to 2.7 billion light sockets still using older technology.

Horowitz said it amounts to $12 billion annually in energy costs consumers would have saved by switching to LEDs, equating to the energy use of all the households in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. That translates to about 34 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, he said.

The push for energy efficient lighting stretches back to the oil shocks of the 1970s. But light emitting diode bulbs (LEDs) didnt hit the mass market until 2007, when Congress mandated standards that would make lighting overall three times more efficient by 2020. At the time, Congress told the DOE to look at the rule again in 2014 and determine whether certain types of lighting should be exempt.

The Obama administration decision not to exempt incandescent and halogen bulbs was backed by environmental groups such as the Sierra Club. But it was opposed by interests such as the National Electrical Manufacturers Association.

The adjustment to federal requirements that light bulbs achieve an efficiency of 45 lumens per watt has taken time. The more lumens a bulb emits compared to the power it uses means it is more efficient.

An incandescent bulb produces about 14 lumens per watt of power used. However, a modern LED produces about 84 lumens per watt.

New standards for most general lighting were phased in by 2014, as part of the transition away from incandescent bulbs, in use since 1879. Incandescent bulbs were not expressly banned, but still subject to the new standards. Those twisty-looking compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs), though not as efficient as LEDs, do meet the standard, though they have become less popular.

The DOEs own data show sales of LEDs have grown steadily, especially since the cost per bulb has dropped in recent years to below $2, sometimes as low as $1, for general lighting. Currently, a major chain store is selling an eight pack of 60-watt equivalent LED bulbs for under $10 online.

But some decorative incandescent lights enjoyed a resurgence for nostalgic appeal, such as Edison bulbs, which have an old-timey, distinctive shape and glowing filaments, and can cost considerably more than LEDs. Now, however, LED manufactuers are coming up with similar designs.

Environmental groups say the rollback proposal is typical of the Trump administration.

Rules governing lighting efficiency are administered by the DOEs Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The proposal to withdraw the rule was made Feb. 6, hours after Daniel Simmons was sworn in as head of that office.

Environmental groups note Simmons has a background working for a think tank backed by the fossil fuel industry and he opposed the U.S. joining the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gases and slow climate change.

The DOE has set a public hearing in Washington for Feb. 28 on withdrawing the Obama-era definition and said it will be broadcast online as a webinar.WASHINGTON (AP)  Even before seeing a final deal or agreeing to seal it, President Donald Trump labored on Wednesday to frame the congressional agreement on border security as a political win, never mind that it contains only a fraction of the billions for a "great, powerful wall" that he's been demanding for months.

Trump is expected to grudgingly accept the agreement, which would avert another government shutdown and give him what Republicans have been describing as a "down payment" on his signature campaign pledge.

He said Wednesday that he's still waiting on lawmakers to present him with final legislative language before making a decision. But he's not waiting to declare victory, contending at the White House on Wednesday that a wall "is being built as we speak."

Indeed, work on a first barrier extension  14 miles in Texas' Rio Grande Valley  starts this month, approved by Congress about a year ago along with money to renovate and strengthen some existing fencing. But that's a far cry from the vast wall he promised during his campaign would "go up so fast your head will spin."

Sounding like he was again in campaign mode, he told a law enforcement group on Wednesday, Its going to be a great, powerful wall.  The wall is very, very on its way.

Carried away by his own enthusiasm, perhaps, he added, "You are going to have to be in extremely good shape to get over this one. They would be able to climb Mount Everest a lot easier, I think."

White House officials cautioned that they had yet to see final legislative language, which bargainers all but completed late Wednesday. And Trump has a history of balking at deals after signaling he was on board. But barring any major changes or late additions, he was expected to acquiesce, according to White House officials and other Republicans close to the White House who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Trump and his aides have also signaled that he is preparing to use executive action to try to secure additional money for the wall by tapping into existing federal dollars without any congressional sign-off so he can show supporters he's continuing to fight. That could lead to resistance in Congress or federal court.

But assuming there are no surprises in the final text, I think hes going to sign it, conservative Rep. Mark Meadows (R., N.C.), a close ally of the presidents, said Wednesday. He warned, though, that it would be political suicide if Trump signed the deal and then failed to take action to secure additional funding for the wall using his executive powers.

Swallowing the deal would mark a major concession by Trump, who has spent months insisting the situation at the southern border represents a national security crisis that demands an impregnable wall. He also had insisted he would accept nothing less than $5.7 billion for the barrier  a demand that forced the 35-day partial shutdown that left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks and Republicans taking the brunt of the blame. There is no appetite for a repeat.

The tentative deal lawmakers reached this week would provide less than $1.4 billion for border barriers while keeping the government funded through the end of September. While some conservatives, Fox News commentator Sean Hannity among them, have balked at the deal, other allies of the president have urged him to sign it and move on.

In private conversations since the deal was first announced, Trump has complained, calling the committee members poor negotiators, said a person familiar with the conversations who was not authorized to speak publicly. He has also made clear that he wanted more money for the wall and has expressed concern the plan is being framed as a defeat for him in the media.

There is also little doubt the deal will pass Congress, barring eleventh-hour surprises, with "no" votes most likely coming from liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans. Democratic leaders are selling it as solid compromise that will keep the government open.

At a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Trump said he wasn't "thrilled" or happy with the deal, but made clear that, if he does sign the legislation, he is strongly considering supplementing it by moving money from what he described as less important areas of government.

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.

Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill all but completed finishing touches on the legislative text.

Facing opposition from Trump, Democrats lost their bid to make sure employees of federal contractors receive back pay for wages lost during the last shutdown. Federal workers have been paid for time they were furloughed or worked without paychecks.

Also not making the bill was a simple extension of the Violence Against Women Act. Democrats say this will give them a chance later this year to rewrite the law by including protections for transgender people.

Trump kept his cards close, telling reporters he would be taking "a very serious look" at the final text once the White House receives it and watching for any "land mines."

Lawmakers need to pass some kind of funding bill by midnight Friday to avoid another shutdown.

Meanwhile, active-duty troops from dozens of U.S. military units around the country are flowing to the southern border as part of the latest plan to send 3,750 new forces to help with surveillance and install more wire barriers.

As of this week, the military had installed about 105 miles of wire along the border and planned an additional 140 miles of the concertina wire. The bulk of that will be in California and Arizona, in locations between ports of entry that are identified by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as vulnerable.

Many of the troops who have been serving on the border mission are going home. The number there is expected to go up to more than 4,300.

Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Jonathan Lemire, and Andrew Taylor contributed to this article.President Donald Trump will sign a funding bill to keep the government open and simultaneously declare a national emergency at the United States-Mexico border, an effort to bypass Congress to build his long-demanded wall, the White House announced Thursday.

Passed by the Senate Thursday afternoon, the bill would fund nine federal departments until the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30 and avert another shutdown. The White Houses declaration comes a day before a short-term federal funding bill  which ended a 35-day partial government shutdown in January  was scheduled to expire.

The bill provides $1.375 billion to build 55 miles of new barriers along the border  far short of the $5.7 billion Trump initially demanded for 200 miles of wall. It will also fund 40,520 beds to detain immigrants entering or in the U.S. illegally.

The House is slated to vote on the legislation Thursday evening.

President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take another executive action  including a national emergency  to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders wrote on Twitter. The President is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country.

What happens in a national emergency?

Under the National Emergencies Act of 1976, the president has the power to declare a national emergency, which would enhance the chief executives power in order to act quickly in a crisis.

However, the act does not provide a definition or requirements for a national emergency.

According to a December 2018 study from the Brennan Center, a non-partisan public policy and law institute, the declaration would provide Trump with more than 100 emergency powers, including the ability to shut down or take over radio stations, suspend American bank accounts, and waive a law prohibiting the testing of chemical and biological weapons on human subjects.

While some legal precedent points to allowing Trump to use a national emergency to build a border wall, the move will almost certainly incite a court battle, Elizabeth Goiten of the Brennan Center told the New York Times.

Under the National Emergencies Act, Congress can end a national emergency through votes in the House, Senate, and a signature from the president.

Given that the Senate is under Republican control, and overriding a veto requires two-thirds majority from both houses, this is considered an unlikely outcome.

Overall, 58 national emergencies have been declared since the act was passed, with 31 still in effect. George W. Bush issued several national emergency declarations in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and Franklin D. Roosevelt declared a national emergency to authorize the interment of U.S. residents and citizens of Japanese descent during World War II.

Legislators slam emergency declaration

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle promptly decried the possible declaration of a national emergency Thursday afternoon.

Democratic senators and presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey, who launched his 2020 bid earlier this month, both quickly condemned the move, with Harris calling the border wall the presidents vanity project.

Meanwhile, Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) told reporters she thought calling a national emergency was a mistake on the presidents part, while Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) called the legislation a massive, bloated, secretive bill.

Pelosi says she may file legal challenge

Minutes after Sanders announcement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters she may file a legal challenge against a declaration of a national emergency, but will consider all options.

House Democrats announced Thursday night that they were preparing a joint resolution disapproving Trumps border wall, which is expected to easily clear the Democrat-controlled House and force Senate Republicans to vote on the divisive issue.

This is a gross abuse of presidential power, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.) told the Washington Post. This is an attempt to overturn the basic constitutional doctrine of separation of powers. Congress has the power of the purse. It cannot be tolerated.

Sanders told White House reporters that we are very prepared (for legal challenges), but there shouldnt be."

On Senate floor, McConnell says Trump will sign bill, declare emergency

The first indication of the presidents plans came from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), who described what the Trump had told him on the Senate floor earlier Thursday.

Ive just had an opportunity to speak with President Trump...he has indicated he is prepared to sign the bill. He will also be issuing a national emergency declaration at the same time, McConnell announced during a vote on the Senate floor.

Staff writer Rob Tornoe contributed to this story.WASHINGTON (AP)  A key House committee approved a bill Wednesday to require background checks for all sales and transfers of firearms, a first step by majority Democrats to tighten gun laws after eight years of Republican rule.

The House Judiciary Committee voted in favor of the bill, 23-15, sending it to the House floor. If approved by the full House, the bill would be the most significant gun-control legislation approved by either chamber of Congress in at least a decade.

Democrats have pledged additional gun legislation, including restrictions on high-capacity magazines and a measure to allow temporary removal of guns from people deemed an imminent risk to themselves or others.

Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.) called the background checks bill long overdue to address a national crisis of gun violence that claimed nearly 40,000 lives in 2017.

"Our country is awash in guns, and we have the shameful death toll to show for it," he said.

The vote on the bill came after a contentious, daylong hearing in which Republicans offered a series of amendments, all of which were blocked by Democrats. Republicans said they were ready to offer additional amendments when Nadler shut off debate around 8 p.m., 10 hours after the hearing began.

Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, the panel's senior Republican, called Nadler's action "disturbing" and said it did not bode well for the two-year congressional session.

"If this is the way the chairman wants to begin this session of Congress, I really wonder where we go from here" and whether the two parties can work together, Collins said.

But Democrats said Republicans were delaying a vote on the bill because they oppose universal background checks for gun purchases.

This isnt a debate, its a show, said Rep. Val Demings (D., Fla.). She called universal background checks for all gun sales common sense and said, Lets move forward.

As if to demonstrate her point, freshman Rep. Greg Steube (R., Fla.) displayed a large cup that read, The Second Amendment is my gun permit. Steube was among several Republicans who tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill.

Fellow freshman Rep. Madeleine Dean (D., Pa.) said lawmakers know background checks work, that they save lives, and yet we need to close loopholes that allow some private purchases and transfers to be made without background checks.

Instead of working with Democrats, "Republicans are adding more loopholes, which is shameful," Dean said.

Republicans pushed to allow exceptions for victims of domestic violence and transfers among family members, but were dismissed by Democrats.

Rep. Lucy McBath (D., Ga.), a freshman whose son was killed by gun violence, said she has been working on gun legislation since his death more than six years ago.

"As a survivor of gun violence myself, I refuse to let my colleagues stand here and devalue the importance that this bill has," she said.

Wednesdays vote came a day before the one-year anniversary of the high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 people.

Rep. Ted Deutch (D., Fla.) said that while the bill cant bring back any of those killed in Parkland or other shootings, it will help reduce gun violence. If this legislation prevents one person wishing to do harm to others with a gun from doing that, it will be something we can be proud of, he said.In his first television interview since being fired last year, former top FBI official Andrew McCabe told 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley that he and other high-ranking Department of Justice officials seriously discussed invoking the 25th amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office in the days following the firing of former FBI director James Comey in May 2017.

They were counting noses, Pelley explained on CBS This Morning on Thursday. "Not asking cabinet members whether they would vote for or against removing the president. But they were speculating, this person would be with us. That person would not be, and they were counting noses in that effort.

This was not perceived to be a joke, Pelley added.

Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who attended the meetings and was overseeing the FBIs investigation into Russian meddling during the 2016 campaign, suggested he could wear a wire during a meeting with Trump. In an excerpt of a contemporaneous memo McCabe wrote after the meeting, obtained by the New York Times, Rosenstein determined the group would need a majority or 8 of the 15 cabinet officials" to proceed. McCabe also wrote that Rosenstein suggested in the meeting that Jeff Sessions and John Kelly, then the attorney general and secretary of homeland security, respectively, might support the move, according to the Times.

Rosenstein, a Philadelphia native, has denied the characterization that his offer to wear a wire was serious, telling the president in October 2018 the suggestion was sarcastic, according to Rudy Giuliani, the presidents personal lawyer.

In an excerpt of his 60 Minutes interview, McCabe also revealed he was responsible for ordering an obstruction-of-justice probe of the president over fears the FBIs investigation into Russia would vanish after the president fired Comey.

"I wanted to make sure that our case was on solid ground and if somebody came in behind me and closed it and tried to walk away from it, they would not be able to do that without creating a record of why they made that decision, McCabe said, adding he was concerned Trump might have won the election with the aid of Russia.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told CBS in a statement that McCabe opened a completely baseless investigation into the president. On Twitter, Trump called McCabe a disgrace to both the FBI and the country.

Eight days after Comey was fired, Rosenstein appointed special counsel Robert Mueller to oversee the investigation into any links between the Trump campaign and Russia. That investigation is ongoing, but has already resulted in the indictment of 34 people  including six former Trump advisers, the latest being longtime advisor Roger Stone. McCabe, the FBIs former deputy director, temporarily served as acting director after Comeys firing.

McCabe was less than two days away from his retirement from the FBI when he was fired by Sessions in March 2018 over accusations of misleading Justice Department investigators. The Justice Departments inspector general issued a report stating McCabe lacked candor during interviews about whether he was the source of information published by the Wall Street Journal ahead of the 2016 election. McCabe said his firing was part of the Trump administrations effort to undermine the FBI.

This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally," McCabe said in statement

McCables full interview will air on 60 Minutes on CBS Sunday evening.Bathrooms at Starbucks stores will be open to anyone who needs to use them following the controversial arrest of two black men at a Philadelphia location last month.

Starbucks executive chairman Howard Schultz addressed the controversy and "kind of loose [bathroom] policy" during a Q&A session called "The Role and Responsibility of a Global Company" moderated by the Washington Post's David Ignatius at the Atlantic Council, a think tank in Washington, on Thursday.

"In terms of the bathroom, we're going to have to make sure that  we don't want to become a public bathroom, but we're going to make the right decision 100 percent of the time and give people the key, because we don't want anyone at Starbucks to feel as if we are not giving access to you to the bathroom because you are less than," he told Ignatius, according to a transcript of the conversation on the Atlantic Council's website. "We want you to be more than."

The arrests sparked protests, apologies and plans for racial-bias training for Starbucks employees, set for later this month. On May 29, the company will close its stores for an afternoon so employees can undergo a racial bias training.

"That curriculum and that education is the beginning, not the end, of an entire transformation of our training at Starbucks, which, in addition to everything we do operationally, will stay inside the company," Schultz said.

>>READ MORE: Philadelphia Starbucks case: What we've learned since the arrests

The company is also producing a documentary with Stanley Nelson, who directed the 2010 civil rights film Freedom Riders, "to make sure that people understand this is not a marketing thing," Schultz said during the conversation, which was also streamed on C-SPAN.

Philadelphia officials said they were "pleased" with the bathroom change.

Over the last two weeks, the company has told employees that while policies "are still under the 90-day review," the workers should "ensure all customers coming in feel welcome."

Schultz's comments came about a month after two black men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, were arrested at the Starbucks at 18th and Spruce Streets while waiting for a business associate. During an appearance on ABC's Good Morning America in April, Nelson said he first asked to use the bathroom but was denied access because he wasn't a customer.

The two were arrested after a manager called police, reporting that the men refused to leave after she told them they could not stay in the store without buying anything.

"Two gentlemen in my cafe are refusing to make a purchase or leave," she said in the 911 call, made about 4:40 p.m. April 12.

Minutes later, a radio dispatcher said a "group of males" was "refusing to leave." Shortly after, a man can be heard saying that a "group of males" was "causing a disturbance" before requesting backup as well as a supervisor.

>>READ MORE: Would you have spoken up during Starbucks arrest of two black men? White teachers at a Delaware County school debate

An incident report obtained by the Inquirer and Daily News said the two men cursed at the Starbucks manager and refused to leave after officers repeatedly asked them to. It also accused the men of insulting police by saying, "Cops don't know the laws," and "Y'all make 45G a year."

Twitter user @MissyDePino shared a video on their arrest, which prompted boycotts and protests.

Earlier this month, the city announced that it had reached an agreement with Nelson and Robinson, agreeing to pay them $1 and to set up a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs. Separately, Starbucks announced that its agreement with the men included a "financial settlement" for an undisclosed sum as well as "continued listening and dialogue between parties and specific action and opportunity."

"Looking at how we took a negative and turned it into a positive, that's really all we want," Robinson told GMA anchor Robin Roberts during an interview after the agreements were announced. "Not to focus on the negative, but just to focus on positive outcome."Starbucks became the center of controversy after two black men were arrested at one of its Philadelphia stores, sparking cries of racism, public apologies, and an internet meme.

The incident  captured on video and widely shared on Twitter by @MissyDePino  shows the two men taken away in handcuffs on Thursday after refusing to leave the store at 18th and Spruce Streets because they hadn't purchased anything. They were meeting real estate investor Andrew Yaffe, who is seen in the video attempting to get authorities to explain what exactly the men had done wrong. The manager who called the police has left the store pending an investigation, according to the company.

>>READ MORE: Starbucks to close all U.S. stores May 29 for racial-bias training after arrests in Philadelphia

There have been days of protests outside the location, with Sunday's protest led by Asa Khalif, a prominent Black Lives Matter activist in Philadelphia. An image of Khalif, pictured with a bullhorn inside the store across from a stoic employee, taken by Inquirer and Daily News photographer Michael Bryant, has been widely circulated on social media, often with snarky commentary.

>>READ MORE: Philly looking into other incidents at same Starbucks where two black men were arrested

>>READ MORE: For black cafe patrons, Starbucks arrests raise concerns and interest in black businesses

Bryant, a staff photographer for more than three decades and 2007 Pulitzer Prize finalist, wanted to clear up a few rumors. Here are the facts surrounding the viral image:

When it was taken: The picture was taken around 12:30 p.m. Sunday, when Khalif announced that the crowd of protesters would be moving inside the store. The store was open for business at the time, and one or two customers inside decided to leave. "Today, this space is now secure, secured by the people," Khalif said through the bullhorn inside the store.

What was happening: Bryant said his wide-angle lens makes it look as though Khalif is yelling directly at the employee, but that's not the case. Khalif addressed the entire crowd and spoke with Starbucks regional vice president Camille Hymes during the protest. Bryant said the event was rather quiet; conversations were held. There was no screaming or yelling.

What the photographer was thinking: "When I shot the photograph, I did not think at all about Zack [the Starbucks employee] being white," he said. "I thought of him being a corporate representative of Starbucks. [It had] nothing to do with his race."

Who the Starbucks worker is: The Starbucks employee is named Zack, according to his apron. Some on social media have falsely identified Zack as the manager who placed the 911 call resulting in the arrest of the two men. Zack was not that manager, a spokesperson for Starbucks confirmed Tuesday.

What Bryant says about the viral photo: "To me, [the photo] is basically what America's about  it's a chance to right a wrong," Bryant said. "If you have a problem with something, you go to the corporation or person or whatever and basically state your opinion."

The memes: Here are some of the images that have been circulating on social media:HARRISBURG  The longtime chief of security for the Pennsylvania Senate has resigned after he was accused of harassing two female subordinates, allegedly sending inappropriate text messages, including at least one with a sexually graphic photo, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Justin Ferrante stepped down Friday amid an ongoing investigation into the complaints, Senate officials confirmed Tuesday.

His departure came as the Inquirer and Daily News and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had been asking Senate employees questions about the allegations.

Ferrante declined to comment Tuesday. A resident of York County, he had worked for the Office of Senate Security since 1999, becoming director in 2004, according to a resume on LinkedIn. His salary was $78,542, state records show.

The Pennsylvania Capitol, like many statehouses across the nation, is facing a rising tide of workplace misconduct and sexual-harassment claims. State Sen. Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery) last month stepped back from his bid for Congress after misconduct allegations emerged. And Rep. Thomas Caltagirone (D., Berks) came under fire after reports that House Democrats secretly paid nearly $250,000 to settle a sexual-harassment claim against him.

The Senate's security office, which consists of about 15 people, works to ensure that the chamber's sessions occur safely and without interruption. It reports to the Senate's secretary and parliamentarian, Megan Martin, who is appointed by the chamber's leadership, in this case Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson). Martin did not respond Tuesday to messages left in her office.

The Senate in recent months hired the law firm of McNees Wallace & Nurick to investigate complaints by two women about Ferrante's behavior, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss a sensitive personnel issue.

According to the sources, one complaint came from Ferrante's deputy, Sue Salov, who told the law firm that he texted her inappropriate graphics and cartoons, as well as a picture of male genitalia.

He also allegedly once asked her, via text message, whether she wanted to view his genitalia to improve her mood, and during another phone call asked if one of her friends would show him her breasts, the sources said.

Salov declined to comment.

Keah Tingler, a longtime Senate security receptionist, told the law firm that Ferrante had on multiple occasions sent her photos of feces after visiting the bathroom during work hours, the sources said. When he returned to the office, he would sometimes throw a wet paper towel at her, the sources said.

He also asked her whether she would like to touch his testicles as he would prepare his appearance for the Senate's session, the sources said. Tingler also alleged he would sometimes ask her to roll on the floor.

Tingler declined to comment.At 17, Katherine Commale already knows what it's like to have strangers beg for her autograph, to be profiled on TV news shows, to be featured in books and greet adoring crowds of kids.

And yet most Americans have never heard of the Downingtown teen, a rising senior at Germantown Academy.

It's a different story 8,000 miles away in Taiwan, where the tale of how Katherine started raising money for mosquito nets in African villages when she was 5 and became a spokesperson for a U.N.-affiliated philanthropy called Nothing But Nets has made her a hero  a phenomenon she didn't fully realize until she and her family visited there this month.

In the Asian island nation of 23 million people, elementary students read about Katherine's childhood charity campaign while parents seeking to raise exceptional children learn her story from a viral YouTube video. She's even featured in a board game beside the Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai.

"I am not Malala whatsoever," said Katherine, somewhat bemused by her celebrity on the other side of the globe. It's an unexpected chapter in a story that began a dozen years ago with the humanitarian instincts of an innocent child and a fateful push of the TV remote.

The PBS show that Katherine's mother, Lynda, watched that night in 2006  Malaria: Fever Wars  depicted people fighting the mosquito-borne disease blamed for millions of deaths in Africa and elsewhere. The next morning she told Katherine about the program; the little girl was particularly troubled to hear that a child died from malaria every 30 seconds.

Lynda Commale recalled that Katherine "started counting 30 seconds. She looked up at me with fear and also annoyance. I totally switched the conversation"  to things they could do to help, like donating nets that surround a child's bed each night, when mosquitoes are active.

"Why can't we send bed nets?" Katherine asked. Soon, Katherine and her younger brother Joseph were making a diorama out of a pizza box, using tiny dolls to represent an African family living in a hut. Later, they devised a more elaborate act with her brother dressed as a large, furry mosquito.

They took their show to Sunday school, then to other churches, and finally to the United Methodist Church convention. When that first effort ended, Katherine and her family sent $1,500 to the United Nations Foundation to purchase mosquito nets, typically $10 apiece. "They called," her mother recalls, "and said, 'Who are you people?'"

The same documentary had prompted then-Sports Illustrated writer Rick Reilly to launch his own campaign for African malaria aid through the U.N. group  he called it Nothing But Nets. Katherine and her family were invited to the official launch in New York on her sixth birthday.

The next few years were a whirlwind. Katherine came up with an idea for hand-decorated gift cards as Christmas stocking stuffers that told the recipient a mosquito net had been donated on their behalf. They generated about $8,000 a year.

When Katherine was 10, she attended the first Malaria Awareness Day at the White House, and later a Clinton Global Initiative event where she met President Bill Clinton. He mentioned Katherine's story to his daughter, Chelsea, who included it in a book called It's Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going!

Although Katherine's frenetic pace slowed as she entered middle school and high school, her fame was rising halfway around the world.

Around the time Katherine was in middle school, reports of her efforts inspired the Taiwanese author Kuang-Tsai Hao to write a book about children who changed the world. The tome  entitled Today and later republished as Hero 365  became required reading for elementary school students in Taiwan. Then Hao talked about Katherine in a TedX Taipei video on how to raise exceptional children; it's since been viewed online more than 1.8 million times.

In an email, Hao said he was so impressed with Katherine. "She was so small and did something big, while kids at her age are playing," he wrote.

In March, Katherine got an email from the Maria Social Welfare Foundation, a service organization for people with disabilities in Taiwan. The group asked if Katherine and her family could come this spring and deliver a kind of Ted Talk for kids called a HERO Talk.

Foundation spokesperson Amy Yu said they hoped the Commales would inspire Taiwanese children to do more charitable work. They were especially eager to hear how Lynda championed her daughter at such a young age.

"Katherine's work has changed millions of lives, and this cannot be done without the strong support of her parents," she wrote in an email.

Katherine said she was at first nervous about the long flight and speech request, but any qualms were put to rest by the red-carpet treatment they received.

The 70-minute talk to about 3,000 kids and teachers  "it wasn't about the nitty-gritty of malaria, but teaching service," Katherine said  was a big hit, especially with Taiwan's vice president, Chen Chien-jen, who presented Katherine with a Global Charity Ambassador Award.

The next day, Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan's president, welcomed Katherine's family to the presidential palace with other children honored for volunteering. During the meeting they exchanged small gifts with the "very warm" leader of the island nation; the Commales gave her a Nothing But Nets T-shirt, and, of course, a mosquito-net donation card.

During the rest of the visit, the family tried to pack in sightseeing between interviews on Taiwanese news shows. But what stayed with Katherine the most was her nonstop interactions with everyday Taiwanese who pressed her for autographs.

For Katherine, the trip was a reminder that the adventure that began that morning at her kitchen table isn't over, despite raising an estimated $2 to 3 million for Nothing But Nets and seeing the malaria rate of deaths decline from every 30 seconds to every two minutes.

"I've never received so much kindness and love, not only from Hero Foundation but the students that I met," said Katherine, who's been corresponding with many of the 400 Taiwanese kids who friended her online. "I had hundreds of students come up and give me hugs. I never thought of myself as a celebrity. To see them idolizing me like that was really overwhelming and humbling."

>>SEE MORE: Photos of Katherine Commale's life, fundraising for mosquito nets in African villages.A City Council hearing on Department of Human Services this week served a good purpose, even if it might have been held for the wrong reason. The hearing was called by Councilman David Oh to discuss whether the threshold for reporting suspected child abuse should be lowered and guidelines be altered to allow more objectivity.

The question was prompted by Ohs own experience; while practicing martial arts, Ohs young son fractured his collarbone. At the hospital, Oh was surprised when a social worker asked to talk to the child alone as a part of an investigation into possible child abuse. The Ohs were cleared of all wrongdoing.

As upset or affronted Oh might have been from this experience, a wiser person might have come away from the experience grateful the system worked, not raise questions about whether we should ask healthcare providers to be less vigilant -- a move that DHS argues is not possible since the reporting guidelines are written by the state.

Still, the hearing was ultimately useful as an opportunity to get a current picture of the state of DHS and the well-being of the citys children. The hearing focused not on how investigations start, but how they end. In too many cases in Philadelphia, DHS involvement leads to having a child removed from his or her family.

Our city had the highest rate of child removal of all large metro areas in the country as of 2017. According to DHS, children were removed from 739 families in fiscal year 2018. Over 12,500 families were investigated.

Its not that parents in this city abuse their children more than in other places. According to testimony by Kara Fink, professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania, in fiscal year 2015, only 9 percent of children entered the foster care system for physical abuse compared to 23 percent due to neglect. Out of all the kids that are in foster care in Pennsylvania, 14 percent entered for inadequate housing, These removals raise important flags about the stress points in the citys families, especially those in poverty  which can often be confused for neglect.

In fact, its a disturbing coincidence that the city with the highest poverty rate also has the highest child removal rate. We should be striving to make sure the two are not connected, and add a new level of urgency to supporting families in need, such as increasing the citys stock of affordable housing. The city also needs better addiction treatment options, since 50 percent of removals are due to a parents addiction,

Many advocates argue that we should be providing legal representation to parents who face their child being removed from their house. That gives parents a fair chance to make their case in front of a judge and prevent a removal. The city adopted a similar process last year for low income tenants facing eviction.

Removal of children from their family because of a lack of money or social services blames the victim instead of addressing deeply rooted problems that impact our children. Providing legal representation is a step that would promote fairness in the system.On Feb. 6, prosecutors from the Office of the U.S. Attorney in Eastern Pennsylvania joined with prosecutors from the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington in an attempt to block a group of privately funded citizens from establishing the first-in-the-nation safe injection facility in Philadelphia. Last year, Philadelphia city officials gave the OK for the Safehouse nonprofit to establish the site. Recently Pittsburghs mayor expressed an interest in allowing the same in his city. In the last year, leaders of Seattle, Denver, and New York City have also shown an interest. Yet it is the position of the Department of Justice, expressed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last summer, that it violates federal law to permit and facilitate the use of federally banned substances, and the Feb. 6 lawsuit seeks a preemptive opinion from a federal judge. This obstruction of a method of harm reduction that has been shown for decades to save lives and reduce the spread of disease is shameful and medieval.

Harm reduction strategies begin with the realistic, nonjudgmental premise that there has never been and will never be a drug-free society. Akin to my professions credo  First, do no harm  harm reduction seeks to mitigate the harms caused by black-market drugs, fueled by drug prohibition. Instead, it aims at reducing the spread of disease and death from drug use.

Safe syringe programs, endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the American Medical Association, reduce the spread of HIV, hepatitis C, and other infectious diseases. One form, needle-exchange, has existed in the U.S since 1988, and has reduced the spread of HIV by up to 58 percent. Unfortunately, once they exchange their needles, no one is around to rescue a user in the event of an overdose. And users eventually can sell or share the replacement needles and syringes.

Supervised injection facilities, also called safe consumption sites or safe injection sites go a step further. They ensure needles dont subsequently get shared or sold because they are used under supervision and returned after use. More importantly, staff are close by with the overdose antidote naloxone at the ready if needed, and nudge users into rehab programs. The Lancet reported a 35 percent drop in overdoses resulting from the safe injection site in Vancouver, British Columbia. About 120 safe consumption sites exist throughout Europe, Canada, and Australia. Canadas first facility, called Insite, opened in the Downtown Eastside district of Vancouver in 2003.

The Canadian Medical Association Journal reported on Vancouvers experience with safe injection sites: Twelve weeks after Insite opened in September 2003  the average daily number of drug users injecting in public dropped by nearly half while the average daily number of publicly discarded syringes and injection-related litter also fell significantly.

And a report on the Swiss program begun in 1996 concluded, Injecting rooms have enabled the adoption of less hazardous injecting practices, reduced the number of overdose deaths, minimized the nuisance to the community of injecting in public places and probably reduced HIV transmission  Some [intravenous drug users] have entered treatment as a result of attending injecting rooms.

Critics view safe consumption sites as flouting the law, express discomfort with what they see as government sanctioning of intravenous drug use and other illegal activities and argue that these sites do little to deter illegal drug use. While these concerns are understandable, extensive evidence put forth in my recent policy analysis shows these sites save lives by reducing overdose deaths, by reducing the spread of deadly diseases, and by reducing the threat of violence against drug users.

Many of our inner cities are plague-ridden with people suffering from IV drug addiction. More and more of them are responding to the overwhelming evidence that safe consumption sites save lives. If the goal of the federal government is to reduce the deaths and diseases that result from illicit drug abuse, it should get out of the way of those who can make that come to pass.

Jeffrey A. Singer, M.D., practices general surgery and is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.One year ago, a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., killing 17 students and staff members and injuring 17 others. Sadly, a year has come and gone, and I fear that as the headlines faded, so has our resolve as community members to confront the national epidemic of gun violence as the public health threat it is.

As a pediatrician who works in an emergency department, I am reminded daily of how firearm violence impacts my patients and our communities. The presence of gun violence in many of the hospitals where I and my fellow physicians work is as ingrained as the scrubs we wear and the stretchers that wheel into our emergency departments every day. My colleagues and I could share numerous stories of caring for the victims of gun violence. Unfortunately, the families in our communities could tell even more. These are not abstract victims in a news headline. They are real people who represent a public health epidemic we must do more to prevent.

Stories are powerful, but we need data to take a public health approach to this epidemic. For too long, federal policy has prevented the funding of research by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how to prevent firearm injuries and fatalities.

With congressional action, that could soon change.

More than 80 national medical, public health, and research organizations recently urged the House of Representatives to provide $50 million in funding to the CDC to conduct public health research into gun-violence prevention. Among these groups are the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Physicians, and our own Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia.

When it comes to numbers, heres some of what we do know: In 2016, there were more than 38,000 firearm-related fatalities in the United States. In 2016, an average of 13 young people (ages 10 to 24) died every day from firearm homicide. Here in Pennsylvania, the firearm mortality rate is 12 per 100,000 people -- slightly higher than the national average and higher than any of our neighboring states. Whats more, almost half (532) of all firearm-related injuries in Pennsylvania that year occurred in Philadelphia County.

Whichever story or statistic speaks to you, it is clear we need to know more about this issue. The foundation of a public health approach is rigorous research that can accurately quantify and describe the facets of an issue, thereby identifying opportunities for saving lives and preventing injuries. Federally funded public health research has a proven track record of success, such as reducing deaths caused by motor-vehicle crashes, smoking, or sudden infant death syndrome. We need to apply this same approach to improving gun safety and reducing firearm-related injuries and deaths.

Despite repeated assurances from federal officials that nothing in federal law precludes CDC support of this public health research, without dedicated funding, this critical research simply will not happen. As a community, we need to rise to the occasion and ask our representatives and senators to support $50 million in funding for gun-violence prevention research. We must renew the sense of urgency we had a year ago. Too many lives have been taken by gun violence even since then, and it should not take another tragedy to act.

Christian D. Pulcini, M.D., MEd, MPH, FAAP, is a pediatric emergency medicine fellow at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia.Last week, the House Judiciary Committee began to consider legislation that would require a universal background check for all transfers of firearms. Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.) intoned that Congress must at last take real action to address this [gun death] crisis. Committee member Mary Gay Scanlon (D., Pa.) added: Were at a critical moment where we can save the lives of thousands of Americans, and if we can, I think we must.

The proposed legislation would expand the present system of background checks for commercial sales of firearms to include, with limited exceptions, all transfers of firearms by private individuals who arent in the day-to-day business of selling guns. It appears to be premised on the belief that background checks are a useful means to keep guns out of the wrong hands. But are they?

Under current law, commercial firearms vendors must hold a license issued by the federal government and must conduct a background check on anyone attempting to buy a gun.

A purchaser must verify in writing and under penalty of law that, among other things, he is not under criminal indictment; a convicted criminal; a fugitive from justice; a drug addict or user of controlled substances; an adjudicated mental defective; someone who had been committed to a mental institution; someone who was dishonorably discharged from the Armed Forces; or subject to a court order restraining him from stalking, harassing, or threatening his child, intimate partner, or child of such a partner. He must also verify that he has never been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, has never renounced his U.S. citizenship, and is not here illegally.

All of the foregoing sworn information is then checked against the FBIs records. If the purchaser is cleared by the FBI, then the sale may be completed.

Such background checks and transfers can be expensive. For example, in the Philadelphia area, owners will spend between $50 to $100. The amount to be charged is not consistently regulated across states.

But the proposed legislation would require that, subject to certain exemptions, transfers or even temporary loans of firearms by private gun owners to others must be made through a federally licensed firearms dealer. For example, if a private gun owner were to give or loan a firearm to a close friend for home defense, that would require a trip and payment of a fee to a federally licensed dealer.

On its face, the proposed requirement of universal background checks would clearly burden gun ownership by law-abiding citizens. But would it materially reduce the number of gun deaths? Three recent studies indicate no.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2017 there were 39,773 firearm deaths. Of these, the CDC found that 23,854 were suicides. The remaining deaths were classified as either homicide (14,542),unintentional (486), undetermined (338), or legal intervention/operations of war (553).

In other words, 60 percent of the firearm deaths were self-inflicted.

Will universal background checks keep guns out of the hands of people contemplating suicide? And, even if they had that effect, will they reduce the number of suicides? Or will persons determined to kill themselves resort to some other lethal means?

Last year, researchers at Johns Hopkins, University of California-Davis, and New York University medical schools, with Universidad Mayor in Chile, published a study of the effect of Californias comprehensive background checks on that states suicide and homicide rates. Examining data pertaining to suicides and homicides committed with firearms from 1981 to 2000, they found that after implementing its background check law in 1991, the state did not see a net change in either the suicide or homicide rate. To the extent that the rate of suicides fluctuated yearly, they found that changes in the rate of firearm suicides were similar to changes in non-firearm suicides.

In January 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau issued a report titled Source and Use of Firearms Involved in Crimes: Survey of Prison Inmates, 2016. It provides a statistical analysis of where and how state and federal prison inmates obtained firearms that they either possessed or used in the commission of their crimes.

Of the prisoners who used firearms in committing crimes, such as murder, robbery, and burglary, 1.3 percent obtained their guns from a retail source. Among those who possessed a firearm during their offense, 0.8 percent obtained it at a gun show. Instead, the most common source of firearms for these prisoners had been the "off the street/underground market, whose participants were likely not complying with background check laws.

If these studies are correct, it appears that background checks for commercial sales have neither reduced the number of gun deaths, nor kept firearms out of the hands of criminals. So, why should we expect universal background checks to produce a different result? And why should Congress impose yet one more regulatory burden on 90 million law-abiding gun owners who pose no demonstrable threat to their fellow citizens?

George Parry is a former federal and state prosecutor who practices law in Philadelphia. He is a regular contributor to the American Spectator and blogs at knowledgeisgood.net. kignet1@gmail.comThomas J. Leidigh, 94, of Southampton, a founding partner of the Philadelphia engineering firm Keast & Hood Co., died Sunday, Feb. 3, of complications from Parkinsons disease at ACTS Southampton Estates, a senior facility in Bucks County.

A practical problem-solver, Mr. Leidigh devised solutions to complex design issues in his work at Keast & Hood. He collaborated with the noted architect Louis I. Kahn on many projects and completed hospital, government, and academic buildings such as the Richards Medical Research Laboratories in West Philadelphia. He also worked on a 15-year renovation of City Hall and the statue of William Penn atop it.

Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Leidigh grew up in Fox Chase and Quakertown. He was a 1942 graduate of Central High School and a 1949 graduate of what is now Drexel University. His major was civil engineering.

Starting in 1943, during World War II, he served in France and Germany as an Army draftsman with the 406th Infantry Regiment, 102nd Infantry Division. He was honorably discharged in 1946 with the rank of technician fifth grade.

Mr. Leidigh worked briefly as a civil engineer for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in Pittsburgh and in Clarksburg, W.Va., before returning to Philadelphia.

In 1953, Mr. Leidigh and four others founded the structural engineering firm Keast & Hood. When two of the partners died in a plane crash while returning from a job site in 1963, and a third man not on the plane died of natural causes, Mr. Leidigh and Nick Gianopulos were left to rebuild the company.

They invited Carl Baumert to join them, and the triumvirate led the firm from the 1960s through the mid-1990s. Mr. Leidigh retired in 2007. With his death, all the founding partners are gone.

Thomas J. Normile, an engineer who joined the firm in 1996 and is now a partner, called Mr. Leidigh the unsung hero of Keast & Hood.

Tom was definitely the quiet, brilliant mind behind the scenes, he said. Nick was the public face of the firm. Tom was the guy who was making it work. Like so many partnerships, there are front guys and back guys. Tom was the engineer, the tinkerer, working the numbers and figuring out the details.

Normile said Mr. Leidigh had an uncanny ability to dissect engineering problems into their basic elements, which made solutions so much easier.

Keast & Hood rose to prominence through its collaboration with Kahn, whose buildings were characterized by powerful, massive forms that often reflected the uses within.

One such building, completed in 1965, was the Richards lab on the University of Pennsylvania campus, in which utilitarian functions such as stairs and pipes were set off from offices and laboratories in four towers.

That was the period during which the firm became the go-to engineers for a discerning level of architecture, Normile said. Kahn is the name you revere.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the firm specialized in historic preservation. One high-profile project was City Hall, which needed cleaning, marble restoration, and repair for the Calder statue of Penn atop the building.

At one point, as a gag, the firms board of directors ascended to the platform around Penns hat to hold a meeting. A photo taken that day shows Mr. Leidigh and his partners wearing hard hats.

A willing mentor, he worked with future architects as an architectural department structural critic and lecturer at Temple Universitys College of Engineering Technology.

He spent many summers in Ocean City, N.J. He was an active member and volunteer at Bustleton United Methodist Church, and a former president of the Engineers Club of Philadelphia.

His wife of 64 years, Jean MacMillan Leidigh, died in 2014 at age 89. A son, Thomas James Leidigh, also died earlier.

Mr. Leidigh is survived by sons Richard and Robert; three grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; two nephews; and a niece.

A memorial service will be held at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24, at Southampton Estates, 238 Street Rd., Southampton. Burial will be private.Happy Valentines Day! Whether youre filling your day with candy and rom-coms or just waiting to take advantage of day-after sales, you may develop a sweet tooth from reporter Catherine Dunns look at how local chocolatiers hone their craft. If you can read it without craving a cocoa-covered something, you are have more strength than I do. In honor of the holiday, weve also got a peek at modern dating you wont want to miss this morning, including why the meet-cute is no more.

Reading this online? Sign up here to get this newsletter delivered to your inbox every morning.

 Aubrey Nagle (@aubsn, morningnewsletter@philly.com)

Theres probably no better day on the calendar to remember that making chocolate is an art. A very yummy art. To learn new tricks of the trade, chocolatiers know just where to go: a candy show put on by 101-year old Philly organization.

If youre looking to buy the good stuff (for a special someone or just yourself) youll want to hit up some of the regions specialty chocolate shops.

These days, though, Valentines Day is about more than chocolate and flowers  like dumpling tours and self-care parties.

The modern dating scene is likely in the palm of your hand: todays singles scorn meeting in person in exchange for swiping on their phones. When they do look for love online, some are looking specifically for other leftists.

A downside to digital dating: too often (to the tune of $143 million last year) singles are scammed out of their money.

Is there hope in the real world? Apparently on Ninth Street and in Philly restaurants, you can find love the old fashioned way.

Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is set to announce a plan to address the PFAS water contamination that has tainted drinking water and groundwater in communities nationwide.

The five-point plan will include looking at creating a drinking-water limit for the chemicals and adding the chemicals to a list of hazardous substances.

In our region, 70,000 residents in Bucks and Montgomery Counties were among the first in the nation to discover their drinking water had been contaminated for decades.

What you need to know today

Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly

What a great question, @ashleigh_erin. 

Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and well pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout out!

Thats Interesting

Opinions

At our border, we did not find a national security emergency, but we did find a humanitarian crisis. We saw dozens of women and children in windowless holding cells, sleeping on benches and cement floors with no room to walk between their bodies, and no place for the children to play.  U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon on her recent trip to the U.S.-Mexico border.

History isnt therapy, and teaching only feel-good stories about the LGBTQ community is a formula for distortion, not education, writes University of Pennsylvania professor Jonathan Zimmerman.

The way we think about accessibility needs to change, writes Imani Barbarin, Communications Director for Disability Rights Pennsylvania: it isnt charity, its the law, and it means safety for everyone.

What were reading

Your Daily Dose of | Nostalgia

Do you remember Zoo Keys? The Philadelphia Zoo is bringing back the beloved little pieces of plastic that unlock insider secrets about the animals throughout the park.Philadelphia voters this spring will have the chance to vote to strike the word councilman from the citys Home Rule Charter, a move backers say will make the document that serves as a local constitution more inclusive.

City Council on Thursday unanimously passed legislation allowing for a ballot question that will ask voters whether they approve of such an amendment to the charter. The amendment would, on a handful of occasions, change the words councilman to councilmember, councilmen to councilmembers, and councilmanic to council.

For example, the sentence one councilman shall be elected from each councilmanic district would read one councilmember shall be elected from each council district.

The changes are meant to ensure the document is inclusive toward women and people who are nonbinary, or who dont identify as man or woman, according to Councilman Derek Green, who sponsored the legislation. Aides to Green said the question is expected to appear on primary ballots this May.

The move is part of a push nationwide to remove gendered references from employment titles, largely to better embrace nonbinary and transgender workers who may identify outside the gender binary. For example, some restaurants explicitly use server rather than waiter or waitress. Other organizations have changed the words chairman or chairwoman to chair.

Amber Hikes, executive director of the Mayors Office of LGBT Affairs, called the move monumental" during the public comment portion of Councils session Thursday.

Titles such as councilman create an environment in which women and nonbinary people have to carve out space for themselves in ways that men do not, she said, adding: This legislation gives transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary people a chance.

Green said he introduced the bill last year after attending a National League of Cities conference when he noticed local legislators there were referred to as councilmember instead of a gender-specific term. When he returned to City Hall, he started noticing inconsistencies within Council: Some signs use gendered terms, others dont. Plaques on the floor of City Council read councilmember, but some members and their staffs have business cards that read councilman or councilwoman.

Its also just about being consistent throughout our code in reference to how we define people, Green said. Words have meaning.

While the amendment would change the language related to Council, it wouldnt remove the term chairman, which appears a handful of times in the charter and code in relation to various boards and commissions. Kyra Harris, Greens spokeswoman, said he intends to introduce additional legislation addressing that term pending the adoption of this first change in May.

Changing the Council-related terms, she said, is important to accomplish before the next Council is seated. All 17 seats are up for election this year.

Talks in 2019 about gender-neutral titles are a whole different conversation compared with 10 years ago, said Denise Brown, executive director of the Leeway Foundation, a Philadelphia-based grant-making organization that supports women, nonbinary, and transgender artists and cultural producers. The foundation developed a guide for organizations to better support women and LGBTQ communities.

She added that its important that Council, as a workplace and government entity, is inclusive within an organizational context.

You really have to find a way to make it part of the organizations culture and values, she said, and that really is what helps you make the shift.

Jasper Katz, a legal intern in the Mayors Office of LGBT Affairs, testified in favor of the legislation last week before the Committee on Law and Government. Katz, who speaks frequently about issues related to gender and identity, is nonbinary and uses the pronouns they/them.

Katz said the simple change will show women and people who are transgender and nonbinary that they are not only a part of this city and a part of this government because its required, but also because were needed and were wanted.

Communicating that to folks who often dont hear that message is critical and incredibly powerful, Katz said.

Other workplaces in Philadelphia have embraced gender-neutral titles, including some schools with nonbinary teachers. Maddie Luebbert, an English teacher at Kensington Health Sciences Academy, uses the pronouns they/them and at the beginning of this school year started using the gender-neutral honorific Mx. (pronounced mix) in the classroom.

Luebbert, 25, said the vast majority of students had no problem with the adjustment.

Im really passionate about being authentic and honest with my students, Luebbert said. Using the title is not only beneficial to me, but its actually showing students at a much younger age what the possibilities are and just building empathy for other people.

Likewise, Alma Sheppard-Matsuo, who identifies as nonbinary and genderqueer and uses the pronouns they/them, uses the honorific Mx. while teaching English at Murrell Dobbins Career and Technical Education High School. Sheppard-Matsuo, 31, voiced support for Councils move to neutralize gendered references, and said its part of a conversation thats opened up more.

More places are maybe having some policy or conversation shift, Sheppard-Matsuo said, but theres still a lot of pause, because gender identity can be all over the place with visibility. So actually implementing that policy or those conversations is still taking some time.Responding to water contamination that has affected communities across the country, including in Bucks and Montgomery Counties, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pledged Thursday to create new drinking water limits for harmful chemicals for the first time in more than two decades.

Unveiling the agencys plan in Philadelphia, acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the EPA also would propose more testing to determine whether PFAS contamination is more widespread than currently known.

Critics, including members of Congress and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, immediately questioned whether the plan would address quickly enough the issue of exposure to PFAS, which have spread from military bases into water supplies, are present in many household products, and have been linked to health issues.

By the end of the year, Wheeler said, the EPA will take the first steps toward setting a drinking water limit for two types of PFAS under the Safe Drinking Water Act. He did not say how long the process might take, but it could be years. The agency also plans to list PFOS and PFOA  two types of PFAS  as hazardous substances, a step that could help hold polluters accountable for cleanup costs.

We are doing this because of the importance of this issue in so many communities around the entire country," he told a news conference at the agencys Center City office. "The action plan commits EPA to take important steps that will improve how we research, monitor, and detect PFAS.

The EPA has been under mounting pressure from the public and elected officials to act, as residents from the Philadelphia suburbs and communities across the country learned they had been drinking PFAS-contaminated water, and demanded health testing and cleanup funding.

What the EPA laid out this morning is what I have been demanding for over three years, said Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.). Though optimistic, I have watched this administration and the one before it be all talk and no execution. .  I intend to hold the EPA accountable for the promises they made today.

It remains unclear how restrictive the EPAs proposed maximum contaminant levels (MCL) would be; the current nonbinding EPA health advisory has been criticized by scientists as too lax.

To be honest, the agency has not set a new MCL since the [Safe Drinking Water] Act was passed in 1996, so were charting a little new territory," Wheeler said. "Were moving as quickly as we can.

A stricter, enforceable drinking water limit from the EPA could make the federal government responsible for even more areas of cleanup, while a limit at the same level or looser than the current guideline would essentially let the military or others off the hook for remediation.

Officials in New Jersey, which has taken its own steps to set statewide drinking water limits for PFAS, expressed disappointment in the EPAs plan.

The Trump administration is leaving millions of Americans exposed to harmful chemicals for too long by choosing a drawn-out process that will delay establishing a federal maximum contaminant level," the state DEP said Thursday in a statement.

Lawmakers and activists alike said they would carefully watch whether the EPA makes good on its goals. Sen. Tom Carper (D., Del.) said the proposed plan would kick the can even further down the road. The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will hold a hearing on the EPAs plan in the spring, said Sen. John Barrasso (R., Wyo.), who called the plan only a first step and said the EPA needed to take decisive action.

This plan fails to do what science, community leaders, and elected officials demand: set a maximum contaminant level and enforce nationwide drinking water standards, said Rep. Madeleine Dean (D., Pa.), a member of the recently formed congressional task force on PFAS.

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, were contained in firefighting foams used by the military for decades  including at the former bases in Warminster and Willow Grove  and were widely discovered in 2014 to have leached into drinking water and groundwater near military bases nationwide. Though in-depth health studies by the federal government are still needed, the chemicals have been connected to problems including cancer, high cholesterol, and reproductive problems.

The announcement comes after EPA administrators traveled to affected communities in 2018 and pledged they would attack the issue. Elected officials, residents and environmentalists have said the federal government should have taken major action much sooner.

Some states, including New Jersey, have already started creating their own drinking-water standards that are much stricter than the EPA guideline. The military has pledged to clean up drinking water only in places where the water supply contains more PFOA and PFOS than the EPA guideline suggests is safe, but has said it would comply with future standards set by the EPA or by states.

Wheeler said the EPA would use states standards where they are lower than the EPA advisory level in working with those states. He also said he believed the agencys current health advisory level was a safe level for drinking water."

The plan was also announced at simultaneous news conferences in the other nine EPA regions. Wheeler, the agencys top official, chose Philadelphia to make his announcement. It was streamed live and drew a crowd that included Philadelphia-area residents affected by contamination.

If you had a child or you had a grandchild drinking water that several states said was unsafe, would you feel that your action plan is moving fast enough to protect the American people? Joanne Stanton of the BuxMont Coalition for Safer Water asked Wheeler. He said he believed it was.

Wheeler also said the EPA was working with the Department of Defense and continuing to help communities clean up using the advisory level. He said the EPA is testing groundwater in areas where the chemicals were used.

The agency plans to make recommendations for groundwater cleanup to prevent further spread of the chemical into drinking water and propose requiring public drinking water systems to test for the chemicals, he said. It will also increase monitoring of the chemicals in the environment and expand research on PFAS, including human health effects, cleanup options, and new technologies for removing PFAS from drinking water.

Americans count on EPA every time they turn on their faucet, Wheeler said. Through these actions that I mentioned we are stepping up to provide the leadership the public needs and deserves.

Politico reported last month that the EPA would not pursue a drinking water limit for the chemicals, which drew outrage from environmentalists and elected officials and prompted suggestions that PFAS could be an issue in Wheelers confirmation to the administrator post.

In Bucks and Montgomery, tens of thousands of residents were affected by tainted drinking water and drinking wells were shut down due to the contamination. Tests suggest PFAS is no longer present in the water in Horsham, Warrington and Warminster Townships, which made up the epicenter of the crisis, but recent blood testing revealed high levels of the chemicals in residents bloodstreams.

An analysis by the Inquirer found that the chemicals are present in drinking water in at least 22 other towns in the suburbs of Philadelphia; PFAS is likely to continue to spread until the groundwater and soil at the bases are completely remediated, experts say.

Stanton, who grew up in Warminster, said after the announcement that she was disappointed action will not be taken immediately.

Im happy theres an action plan, but I believe its going to be too little, too late, she said. Weve been exposed [to the chemicals in our water] for a long time.A drug bust in Coatesville took a surprising turn when police discovered a 3-foot-long alligator during the search of a home.

Authorities also found heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana, more than $5,000 in cash, and drug packaging materials, a discovery that led to the arrests of three men.

Irvin Gotti Hawkins, 31, of Coatesville; Aki Gathright, 35, of Philadelphia; and Tyrone Jackson, 40, of Columbia, Pa. were sent to Chester County Prison, officials said Thursday. The gator was sent to the Brandywine Zoo.

Drug dealers will do just about anything to project an image of danger in order to protect their drugs and cash, Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan said in a statement. Some drug dealers use pit bulls or snakes. These drug traffickers kept an alligator in the house.

On Feb. 8, the three men were at the Gibbons Avenue home as authorities executed a search warrant. Each of them, police said, had drugs and drug paraphernalia.

Authorities said the men told investigators the alligator in their kitchen was a caiman, a species of Central and South American reptile that is shorter in length than some others. Authorities later determined the creature to be an American alligator, which can grow to measure 8- to 10-feet long as an adult.

The gator was taken to the Brandywine Zoo in Wilmington, where it will spend the summer as an education animal, authorities said. After that, it will be moved to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park in Florida.

We will provide care for the alligator and ensure its healthy during its stay with the zoo, Brandywine Zoo xirector Brint Spencer said in a statement.

A judge set bail for Hawkins, who rented the home, at $250,000; for Jackson, $75,000; and for Gathright, $50,000. All three men await preliminary hearings on Feb. 20.

No attorney for Hawkins was listed on court documents. Attorneys for Gathright and Jackson could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The men all faces charges of drug trafficking and related offenses. Under Pennsylvania law, there is no criminal charge for possession of an alligator, authorities said.

When we execute a drug search warrant, we never know what we will find," Hogan said. Sometimes it is an armed drug dealer. Sometimes it is the drug dealers terrified family. On this day, it was an alligator.HARRISBURG  Republicans who control the state Senate have for months been quietly paying the legal bills of the chambers onetime security chief, who resigned in late 2017 amid allegations that he had sexually harassed two female subordinates, including texting them photos of genitals and feces.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnatis office signed off on paying at least $23,355 to cover the legal expenses of former security director Justin Ferrante, who is being sued by the women for harassment, according to documents obtained through a public records request.

The arrangement, described in a letter of engagement marked confidential, raises questions about why the Senate is footing the bill for lawyers to defend a former employee whose alleged misconduct did not involve his official duties.

In an interview this week, the Senates top lawyer, Drew Crompton, said the decision to cover Ferrantes legal bills was a difficult call, but one ultimately guided by the chambers policy on paying for legal services.

Among the factors he and others considered, he said, was that the Senate, along with Ferrante, is also named as a defendant in the womens lawsuits, and that some of the allegations the two made are likely not accurate.

We wrestled with this for a good period of time," said Crompton, who also serves as Scarnatis chief of staff, adding that they are reserving the right to change our minds.

Jennifer Storm, the states victim advocate, bristled when told that the Senate had decided to pay Ferrantes legal bills before the facts in the case could be adjudicated. She said the case highlighted the need for the legislature to vote on numerous bills to strengthen anti-harassment policies in state government, including provisions to help victims feel safe when reporting harassment. The bills have languished for months.

Im a little hard-pressed to understand where the Senate feels obligated to cover legal bills of a former employee when sexual harassment is not part of his official duties, said Storm, whose office provides services and advocates for victims. Moreover, its a slap in the face of these two women.

Wayne Ely, the lawyer representing the two women, did not return a call seeking comment. Ferrante has denied all allegations of wrongdoing or misconduct, according to a recent legal filing in his case.

The Senate is not footing the legal bill for the women bringing the harassment suits, Sue Salov and Keah Tingler. Salov, the security forces assistant director, still works for the Senate, and has alleged in her lawsuit that the chamber tolerated and perpetuated a culture that allowed for harassment and discrimination. Tingler retired on disability last fall after she said she suffered a nervous breakdown.

The two women believe their professional lives were derailed after reporting Ferrantes behavior, according to sources familiar with their cases.

The Senates policy doesnt directly address whether the chamber should use taxpayer money to fund legal bills for current or former employees accused of harassment. Ferrante resigned in December 2017 amid an investigation into the harassment allegations.

The 1-page policy, last updated in 2008, says former employees can be covered for actions taken in good faith and in their official capacity. It also says that leaders can approve payments for workers who have information regarding activities under investigation.

Crompton said several passages in the policy are relevant to Ferrantes case, but would not identify them. The policy is meant to be read in its entirety, he said.

Records turned over by the Senate show that Crompton signed off last year on paying the York-based CGA Law Firm to represent Ferrante in the lawsuits by the women. Salov and Tingler filed separate lawsuits, and both are wending their way through federal court in Harrisburg.

Last week, Ferrante switched attorneys. He is now represented by the Scranton-based firm of Myers, Brier & Kelly. In a statement, his new attorney, Daniel T. Brier, said the Senates decision to pay Ferrantes legal bills is entirely appropriate given Mr. Ferrantes former position and the nature of the claims asserted  which we contend are baseless.

Both lawsuits name as defendants Ferrante, the Senate, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Senate has separately hired a different law firm, McNees Wallace & Nurick, to represent it. That firm handled the initial investigation, in late 2017, into Salovs and Tinglers allegations.

During that investigation, according to sources, Salov told the law firm that Ferrante texted her inappropriate graphics and cartoons, as well as a photo of male genitalia.

He also allegedly once asked her, via text message, whether she wanted to view his genitalia to improve her mood, and during another phone call asked if one of her friends would show him her breasts, the sources said.

Tingler, a longtime Senate security receptionist, told the law firm that Ferrante on multiple occasions had sent her photos of feces after visiting the bathroom during work hours. When hed return to the office, he sometimes would throw a wet paper towel at her, the sources said.

He also asked whether she would like to touch his testicles as he would prepare his appearance for the Senates session, the sources said. Tingler also alleged he sometimes would ask her to roll on the floor.

Crompton said his office takes allegations of workplace harassment seriously and has worked incredibly hard to be accommodating in handling such cases. This case, he said, presents a unique set of circumstances.

I dont know if it sends a message, Crompton said of the decision to pay Ferrantes bills. I didnt make this determination, along with others, trying to send a message.It would be the last time Carmen and Hiram the Rooster Montalvo entered the dining room as royalty.

The married couple in their 70s, crowned last Valentines Day as Norris Square Senior Community Centers queen and king of love and friendship, were finishing their yearlong responsibility and were ready Thursday to turn over their duties  visiting seniors in their homes and in hospitals, and leading fund-raising for the center  to the 2019 king and queen, Wilson Santiago and Maria Pacheco.

Pacheco, chosen by the centers regulars, said this seemed like a divine calling.

This is a responsibility that I love to have, because Ive been given the gift of service, said Pacheco, 65, who worked as a geriatric nurse for 17 years in Puerto Rico, New York City, and Philadelphia. Valentines Day is known in Spanish as el Dia del Amor y la Amistad, or the Day of Love and Friendship, which is where the title of the royal couple comes from.

There are about 200 regulars at Norris Square, sometimes referred to as the United Nations, with members from such places as Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Peru, and other Latin American and Caribbean countries.

At a morning party of dancing, raffles, and food, about 150 visitors dressed up in stylish hats, floor-length gowns, bright jewels, and dancing shoes, including Olga Iris Perez, 75, who has been visiting Norris Square with her husband, Daniel, 86, for the last 15 years to play dominos and draw and paint.

Others, like Edgardo Melendez, 59, said he comes to avoid being alone at home. I come for the exercise, the volunteer work, and the understanding I find in all the friends Ive made here," he said.

Bethzaida Butler Lopez, director for the center, said its important to keep older people engaged and not isolated.

They have so much to offer, and need to stay active in this stage of their lives, Butler Lopez said.

The Norris Square Senior Community Center, part of Catholic Social Services, opened in 1973, offering social programs and activities in both Spanish and English for the elderly in North Philadelphia.

Wearing a peekaboo fascinator, Inocencia Lugo, 77, said she cherishes the girl-talk she has with the other women about their daughters and grandkids.

My mother-in-law used to come here, and now I keep that tradition, Lugo said.When South Jersey art teacher Julia Mooney kept showing up for school wearing the same gray dress every day, colleagues and students began giving her the side-eye about her attire.

Mooney kept it up for 100 consecutive days to send a message about eco-sustainability, image, and social acceptance. By the end, more than a dozen fellow teachers and a few students had joined in for the final three-day stretch, which ended Wednesday.

With applause from her coworkers, who gathered for a photo at William Allen Middle School in Moorestown, Mooney marked the end of the campaign, but not the end of her quest to promote healthy lifestyles that protect the environment. She plans to turn the dress into a new fashion statement.

I think I made my point, Mooney, 34, said after school in her art room. I just like to get people thinking.

Her campaign, known as one outfit 100 days, began in September, at the beginning of the school year, and caught attention around the country and and abroad. Some teachers in her South Jersey school district, including her husband, Patrick, a high school history teacher, joined in.

A student, Sofia Rubcich, a second grader at Baker Elementary, joined, too. She wore the same dress  a blue top with a gold sequined heart and attached skirt. Because she wore her outfit on weekends, she hit the 100-day mark in January.

Im glad I did it, Sofia said Wednesday. I feel like I am more aware of picking up trash from the ground and taking care of the Earth.

Kelly Gartland, an art teacher, also completed the 100-day challenge. Gartland plans to keep wearing the same outfit, a blue denim dress, until the end of the school year.

But there were skeptics. Many came around this week, however, and accepted Julia Mooneys invitation to participate for three days this week by wearing the same outfit  17 teachers at her school did just that and loved it. Mooney said several students did their own version of the challenge, such as wearing the same sweatshirt for several days.

We thought she was crazy at first, said Jennifer Neidig, a fellow art teacher, who donned a black shirt and black pants for three days. Now we realize she made a big impact on all of us.

Science teacher Spring Williams said her eighth graders called her a rock star because of her outfit  black pants, a magenta shirt, and a black studded jacket. She said she wore the same outfit to support Mooney.

Mooney wanted her students and others to become more aware of how much they consume, often due to peer pressure to buy the latest fashions, and find ways to reduce their environmental impact. She also wanted to show them a cultural connection between art and social activism.

She didnt use class time to talk about her project, but it crept up casually in discussions among her seventh- and eighth-grade students. She used her Instagram account oneoutfit100days," which has nearly 3,000 followers, to document the project and help students and others learn about her sustainability message.

Moorestown High math teacher Beth Glennon joined the campaign for 69 days, until December. The mother of four boys, including a set of triplets, raided the polo shirts her sons left behind when they went off to college.

Glennon, 47, said the experience forced her to clean out her sons closet, but she was happy to wear her own outfits again. Her attire drew little reaction from her students, she said.

The big takeaway is how little anyone cares what I wear, Glennon wrote. Im still the same HS teacher trying to get my students to love math.

Mooney posted almost daily about her campaign, with a countdown to Wednesday, and became a media sensation with an appearance on Good Morning America. During a visit to Uganda in October, Mooney took a second dress identical to the one that she has been wearing and gave it to a global health care fellow. She also left behind some of the clothing she took for the trip.

Curiosity-seekers had the same question for Mooney about the dress: Do you wash it?" (She did.) She also wore an apron to protect her garment from stains, and occasionally added a colorful scarf or cardigan to slightly change her look. She recently added floral embroidery to embellish the dress with a new look. Mooney wore other clothes on the weekend.

She purchased the dress for about $50 from Thought Clothing. She selected the dress, made from hemp, a durable fabric, partly because the London-based company encourages customers to wear garments more than once before washing, repair rather than replace items, and give away unneeded clothing.

Mooney admits that it was hard at first wearing the same dress.

I was getting sick of it, she said. But now a part of me is like, I have to figure out what Im wearing on Friday, she said with a smile.

Mooney plans to take the dress apart, and attach a floral skirt to the top and a cream-colored sleeveless bodice to the bottom to create two dresses. It is all part of her message to others to consume less and use what you have.

At home with their three children, Mooney and her husband also practice sustainability. The family raises chickens in their backyard and grows vegetables. Julia makes the kids clothes or buys second-hand items at consignment stores.

Now that the campaign is over, Mooney plans to hold a free clothing swap from 7 to 9 p.m. on March 10 and 11 at New Covenant Community Church, 255 Edgewood Ave., Audubon. Donations may be dropped off at the church March 8 and 9.This story is part of a collaboration with ProPublica.

The seven months between Alexander Parkers and Krisha Schmicks engagement and wedding day were filled with excitement, the prelude to a life and family they couldnt wait to build together.

The high school sweethearts never imagined their big day could be derailed by a judges phone call to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But thats exactly what happened on May 23, 2017, when the couple ventured to a courtroom in Camp Hill, across the river from Harrisburg, where they were to be married by District Judge Elizabeth Beckley.

Parker was born in Guatemala in 1996 and adopted as an infant by a U.S. couple, and is a legal permanent resident. He applied for a green card in 2017, and had an identification card supplied by the Guatemalan consulate with him on his wedding day.

When Parker presented the ID card to Beckley and her staff, the judge allegedly told him he wasnt free to leave the courthouse and contacted ICE, according to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.

ICE officers soon arrived, ushered Parker into a separate room, and asked about his immigration history while they checked his fingerprints in a scanning device, according to the lawsuit. The investigation was short-lived; the officers confirmed that Parker was a lawful permanent resident and that they had no reason to detain him.

>> READ MORE: In Pennsylvania, its open season on undocumented immigrants

The episode was first highlighted in No Sanctuary, a 2018 investigation by the Inquirer and ProPublica that found that the Philadelphia ICE field office  which encompasses Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia  was the most aggressive in the country, arresting more immigrants without criminal convictions than any other region, thanks in large part to cooperation from Pennsylvania state police and other members of law enforcement.

In response to the No Sanctuary stories, state police recently adopted policies that forbid troopers from asking questions about citizenship during traffic stops, or detaining or arresting foreign nationals for simply being undocumented.

>> READ MORE: For cops who want to round up illegal immigrants, Pennsylvania is a free-for-all

This should have been the happiest day of Alex and Krishas lives, Reggie Shuford, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said in a news release. Instead, it turned into a nightmare, because this judge took it upon herself to act like an ICE agent in response to Alexs national origin and perceived race.

Beckley did not respond to a message left with her office on Thursday.

After stating that she believed Parker was in the United States illegally, the judge initially refused to preside over his wedding to Schmick. But the couple had already paid a fee, and once Parker was cleared by ICE, they decided to go through with the ceremony.

Beckley apologized, according to the lawsuit, and married them. A few days later, the couple discovered that Schmick was pregnant.

Theyve since moved from Carlisle, Pa., to Kissimmee, Fla., where Parker told a reporter he feels safer from people like the judge that would try to do anything to have me deported.Results of a police search of a cell phone will not be introduced as evidence in a murder case because prosecutors contend two Philadelphia homicide detectives conducted the search without a warrant.

In a hearing Thursday, Patricia Cummings, supervisor of the district attorneys Special Investigations Unit, which investigates alleged police misconduct, told Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara McDermott that prosecutors had no choice but to concede the cell-phone evidence in the case of Marquise Noel.

Cummings said prosecutors had carefully reviewed video that showed Detectives Freddie Mole and Joseph Murray looking at a black LG flip phone inside Penn Presbyterian Medical Center on Feb. 11, 2018. She also said prosecutors had interviewed the detectives about what they were doing with the phone and found their explanations not credible.

Text messages on the phone linked Noel to a fatal shooting earlier that day in Southwest Philadelphia, Anthony Voci, the district attorneys homicide chief, told the judge. Although the evidence cant be used against Noel, Voci said prosecutors would be prepared to try Noel on murder charges in June based on other evidence and further investigation. Regardless of what evidence can be produced at trial, we do not stick our head in the sand when it comes to ... justice and the protection of the public, Voci said.

Gregory Pagano, an attorney representing the detectives, said Thursday that Mole and Murray, in a meeting earlier this week with Cummings and others in the District Attorneys Office, had told them the truth.

Pagano, who attended that meeting, said Mole had the phone at the hospital and was trying to put the older-model flip phone into airplane mode, pursuant to best practices in law enforcement, so that someone could not remotely erase information. He said that at one point, Mole had called Murray over to look at the phone to see if it was in airplane mode. Pagano said they were not conducting a search of the phone.

Noels attorney, Bill Davis, has argued that the cell-phone messages were the only real evidence that prosecutors had against his client. He argued Thursday that without the messages, prosecutors dont have sufficient evidence to keep Noel, 22, of Southwest Philadelphia, in jail.

The judge ruled that she would hold a supplemental preliminary hearing Feb. 25 to hear other evidence to decide whether Noel should remain locked up.

The case drew media attention after Cummings and District Attorney Larry Krasner, a former defense attorney who sued police 75 times, filed a motion Dec. 20 detailing the alleged unconstitutional cell-phone search and seeking to disqualify Davis from the case.

Prosecutors contended that Davis had sought a plea deal so that the hospital video would not be made public and the detectives depicted would not be embarrassed or their careers jeopardized. They alleged that Davis behavior resulted from his firms having a contract to represent police officers accused of misconduct.

Davis, who had obtained the hospital video, has said there was no such quid pro quo. He has said that during Dec. 19 phone conversations with Voci about the video, Voci had first suggested a plea offer for Noel in the mitigated range of the sentencing guidelines for third-degree murder.

Davis has said he told Voci that he knew the detectives and that if he and Voci could resolve this case without destroying anyones life or career, that I would like to. Davis told McDermott at a hearing Jan. 18 that he didnt ask for the video to be kept confidential.

The detectives were at the hospital Feb. 11, 2018, to investigate the fatal shooting of Tafari Lawrence, 23. Noel was there for a gunshot wound to a leg, having arrived by private vehicle. He told detectives he was shot in a location different from that of the fatal shooting.

Authorities contend that the cell phone, found in a bag at the hospital, was Noels. Davis has said he has seen no evidence that the phone was his clients.

Murray obtained a search warrant for the phone later that day. At a preliminary hearing in April, Mole testified that he didnt search the contents of the phone until after he was back at Police Headquarters and had gotten the search warrant.IOWA CITY, Iowa  It was around 9 p.m. and freezing, as we trooped over a solid-ice sidewalk and into a strangers house, when I really started understanding how campaigning in Iowa works.

I walked in with a handful of other reporters, past a pile of shoes by the door, and was shunted into the kitchen, the only area that had any space left.

I had no idea whose home it was, but, standing by a tray of cookies, I was left looking at their childrens artwork on the walls and pizza coupons on the fridge, while one room over, a U.S. senator, Cory Booker, made the case for why he should become the most powerful person on Earth.

It felt crazy that this was part of the process of choosing a president, but also reassuring.

There was no campaign money or super PAC or TV ad that could help Booker here. The New Jersey Democrat was face to face with dozens of ordinary voters, and the only person who could make his case was he.

This is normal, Janelle Rettig told me.

A one-time field staffer for Bob Dole who came to Iowa in 1988 and never left, she said she had personally met every president since Ronald Reagan, except Donald Trump. These gatherings, she said, were a chance to ask candidates about policy, but also to measure their personalities. How do they interact with a crowd? How do they treat people?

Before the Iowa caucuses next January, she said, Booker will probably have to vacuum someones floor to show hes the real deal.

We take our time. We interview them, said Rettig, 53, a county supervisor in Johnson County who has been a Democrat for two decades. Its fun to be an Iowan.

There are plenty of people, of course, who grate at the Hawkeye States outsize role in deciding presidential nominations. The state is largely rural and 91 percent white, hardly reflective of the broader countrys demographics or geographic variety. The weight of the caucus contests there means that some Iowa priorities, like support for corn-based ethanol, enjoy political protection whether or not the ideas are sensible national policy.

On the other hand, someone has to go first, and in about 48 hours in Iowa, I saw bald eagles flying overhead four times. If that doesnt scream America, Im not sure what does.

Bookers campaign swing began early Friday in a church basement, then zipped to a community college and an African American museum, each event an hour-or-two drive from the last one. There were also private meetings and behind-the-scenes maneuvering by his aides (its still politics) before he arrived at a house in a quiet neighborhood with a suburban feel.

In the living room were a handful of local politicians  one mayor wore the kind of gold name tag youd normally associate with a hotel receptionist  but mostly everyday people who cared about government policies and took their vetting seriously. Several I met were getting degrees in health-care fields. One taller man punctuated Bookers comments with his own exclamations.

They asked about the cost of prescription drugs, about public schools, college debt, and Medicare for All.

Booker had answers for each topic, as he did at every stop, but his overall pitch hinged more on restoring a sense of unity and positivity in America than any specific policy.

This is much more than an election. This is about hope, he said as his time ran down and his voice faded. I am running for president to call us together so we can speak with a chorus of conviction.

That was good, Rettig told me. But not enough.

Thats a message we need. We cant run on fear, she said after Booker finished, as guests extracted shoes from the pile and walked carefully into the night.

But she also expected more.

That was all great, but thats not what Im looking for, she said. I expect when he comes back, well get more details.

And if not?

If people stick to the inspirational speech, theyre usually not a great candidate, she said. I dont see the world in rose-colored glasses.

She allowed, however, that Booker was introducing himself, trying to leave a good first impression before possibly delving deeper into policy.

After all, Iowans expect him to come back. Rettig figures that caucus-goers try to see each candidate four to five times. Shell read their books. Shell make a handwritten chart of where they stand on the key policies.

And take note of how readily they work that vacuum.Since October, Vince Benedict was in a two- and then three-way tug of war with institutions that should be safeguarding his health. Instead, they were making him sick.

I never cease to be amazed at how poorly American business treats its customers, says Benedict, 78, of Collegeville, Montgomery County.

The Air Force veteran and retired broadcast executive thinks he deserves better than what he got after he was a customer of the emergency room at Phoenixville Hospital.

He was rushed to the Chester County hospital on Oct. 18, 2017. His blood pressure was through the roof, he tells me, because a doctor had given him a steroid shot for back pain, not realizing Benedict is a diabetic. Steroids can explode blood sugar levels.

Benedict spent two days in the hospital. He recovered and was discharged.

On Aug. 8, 2018, Benedict received a final notice from the hospital saying he owed $1,850.56 for treatment the previous October. The final notice  he says it was the first bill he had received  also threatened to turn his account over to a collection agency. That rattled him.

To protect his credit rating, like a schmuck I paid the bill, Benedict tells me, adding that he called the hospital for a statement of charges, but received only a list of meds.

Benedict then called the hospital and his insurance company, Humana. In a 53-minute conference call, neither the hospital nor the insurer acknowledged fault, but it was agreed the hospital would send a bill to Humana, which would pay it.

That did not happen. Benedict wisely kept copies of all correspondence among himself, Humana, and Phoenixville Hospital. That was my military training, he says, but frustration was making his blood pressure go up again. Thats when he turned to me for help.

To get this straightened out, I had to find out who had dropped the ball.

Citing privacy laws, a Humana spokesperson told me she couldnt comment. But Benedict had a November 2018 letter from Humana telling him it informed the hospital that your bill has been adjusted to $590. The correct co-payment.

The math tells you Phoenixville owed Benedict a $1,260.56 refund, which would be the $1,850.56 he paid minus the $590 co-pay. He received that letter in early November, but by February, still no check.

The bastards know they owe me the money, they admitted they owe me the money, and they dont send me the money, Benedict fumed. Its aggravating.

Meanwhile, Humana submitted paperwork to Maximus Federal Services, an independent review contractor.

Surprise, surprise. In a letter dated Dec. 24, Maximus agreed with Humana, finding that Phoenixville Hospital owed Benedict $1,260.56.

I brought all this to Susan Graham, the hospitals director of public relations.

As soon as I saw October 2017  the month Benedict was treated  I knew what had happened, Graham told me.

That was the month Tower Health took over Phoenixville Hospital from Community Health Systems, resulting in numerous system and operational snafus, Graham said

A check to repay Benedict was being cut even as we spoke, she told me.

A couple of days later, a happy Benedict held the long-delayed check.

His faith in American business is not fully restored, but receiving the check brought his blood pressure down to the normal range.If a foreign adversary announced to the world that it had a new arsenal of destructive nuclear weapons and threatened the imminent doom of the United States, what would we do? Push for a peace deal that would limit and hopefully end the atomic threat? Invest heavily in missile defense?

If you were running the state of Pennsylvania, youd probably propose a brand-new radioactivity tax  the more rads, the more tax dollars flowing into Keystone State coffers  and scheme to spend all that new revenue on 15 million protective suits, or a giant glass dome to save Altoona.

That sounds crazy, but how else to describe the ironically named Restore Pennsylvania, Gov. Wolfs newest plan for taxing the states robust fracking industry. It proposes a severance tax to pay for a bridge repair here and some sewage treatment there  and would lock in fossil-fuel production just as the rest of the world is focused on the all-too-real planetary threat of climate change.

You will never collect enough money to make up for all the devastating harm that fracking imposes on communities, Maya van Rossum, longtime leader of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network told me  reflecting growing grassroots frustration with the lack of urgency in Harrisburg over climate change. All you are doing is building up a set of constituents who really want to see fracking happen  because they want the money.

Climate change is having a moment in early 2019  a pre-apocalyptic moment. Just ask the residents of Novaya Zemlya, a remote Russian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean which has been overrun by more than 50 polar bears fleeing the melting sea ice that they used to habitate, before the mercury soared and the ice melted. Its the kind of end-of-the-world scenario you used to see in Hollywood I Am Legend-type thrillers, not real life. Same thing in Australia, where temperatures in their January summer down-under soared as high as 120 degrees, as overheated bats fell from trees and pictures of dead horses in a dry gully shocked even the most jaded internet readers.

In Washington, the rising din of climate-catastrophe news and the almost weekly drumbeat of grim scientific reports about melting glaciers or rising sea levels has created a belated-but-badly-needed sense of urgency  at least among some people. The Green New Deal  a broad but sweeping blueprint to all but end carbon pollution in the United States by 2030  was unveiled by first-term phenom Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey and immediately triggered the type of debate over environmental policy that had been drowning in the coal-lobbyist swamp of the Trump administration.

In an era of gridlock, the Green New Deal is the most ambitious proposal to come out of the nations capital at least since LBJs Great Society of the 1960s and possibly since FDRs New Deal itself. It calls for eliminating fossil-fuel use as much as technologically feasible," making every American home and office energy-efficient, and  most controversially  sweeping social and political changes needed to make it happen. (You can, and should, read the whole thing here.)

Americas Republicans  who havent had a genuine good Big Idea since the 14th Amendment  are losing it over the Green New Deal, in part because of AOCDS (AOC Derangement Syndrome), and are claiming it would turn America into the next Venezuela. But its a little ridiculous to fine-comb obsess over every detail of the plan. Its meant, in the now-famous words of the conservative pundit Salena Zito, to be taken not literally but seriously  a powerful statement that climate change needs the same energetic, all-in response that America gave World War II or the Great Depression, back when we were a country that did stuff.

Meanwhile, theres doing stuff ... and then theres Harrisburg. Its got D.C.-style gridlock in reverse  a Democratic chief executive and an increasingly ultra-conservative legislature. That Democratic governor, Tom Wolf, has made a doomed proposal for a severance tax on oil-and-gas production (Pennsylvanias the only big energy-producing state that lacks one) an annual winter event to compete with Punxsutawney Phil. But in the age of global warming, his idea is starting to look like a Brown Old Deal.

Ever see a poll where a GOP incumbent is pitted against a generic Democrat, That would be Gov. Wolf: An environmentalist whos also an incrementalist. Running for re-election last year, he told the Inquirer editorial board: We are moving  I think  into a sustainable energy future. The question is, what are we doing in the meantime?

In that meantime, Wolfs ecological policies  you can read my longer take on this from last fall  have been a mix of the good (a moratorium on new oil-and-gas leases in state parks and forests, some belated help for solar), the bad (a willingness to play ball with GOP demands for looser regs) and the ugly (pipeline boosterism, even as the risks of those pipelines become more apparent,) He also recently signed an executive order to reduce the states greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050  which makes Restore Pennsylvania even more puzzling.

From an environmentalist point of view, Restore Pennsylvania reflects the state of play in 2014, when there was more anger about how Big Oil and Gas had campaign-contribution-bought its way out of taxes, and not the moral crisis over climate change that exists 2019. Restore Pennsylvania is more of a revenue-raising plan than any kind of green deal, new or old; it seeks to bring in a not-inconsiderable $4.5 billion over four years to, in the words of a newspaper headline, corral sewage, attack blight and boost internet speeds and would get Mexico ... oops, I mean, fracking companies to pay for it.

Im all for corralling more sewage. But the thing about Restore Pennsylvania which makes it the anti-Green New Deal is that the concept locks in fossil-fuel production in the Keystone State, both philosophically  the idea demands the fracking tap keeps flowing to feed the tax meter, because, hey, that sewage doesnt corral itself  and literally: The fine print calls for helping more factories plug into natural gas and to make Pennsylvania a world leader in manufacturing with ethane, even though ethane pollution from fracking is contributing to smog that is worsening global warming.

The states established environmental groups have tread lightly so far  most, after all, have long urged Pennsylvania to impose a severance tax  but increasingly there is concern about Pennsylvanias lack of bold vision on climate. Joe Minott of the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council told me this proposal would absolutely lock Pennsylvania into fossil fuel dollars for decades to come.

Grassroots environmental groups that have been fighting fracking on ground level for the last decade are even more cynical about Restore Pennsylvania. Karen Feridun of Berks Gas Truth, whos been sharply critical of Wolfs environmental policies, said its provisions such as taking some of the severance-tax dollars to hook up factories or schools to natural gas are really diabolical.

Benjamin Finnegan, a 22-year-old Philadelphia-based organizer for the Sunrise Movement  the youth-oriented activists who made headlines last fall when Ocasio-Cortez joined them for a sit-in at now-House Speaker Nancy Pelosis office  pointed out to me that the infrastructure work in Restore Pennsylvania include flood-mitigation projects, even as floods are being made worse as a result of burning the fossil fuels that fund the program.

The plan, Finnegan told me, is really a joke. Thats harsh, but I cant really fault the 20-somethings and teenagers who are flocking to groups like the Sunrise Movement for their frustration with the baby-boomers-and-older like Wolf or Pelosi  who spoke dismissively of the green dream, whatever they call it  who claim to be environmentalists but dont share their sense of urgency.

This state  which, by the way, produces 1 percent of the worlds greenhouse gases  doesnt need Restore Pennsylvania nearly as much as it needs a Green New Deal of its own. Its not so much a question of legislation  the GOP-controlled legislature wouldnt pass a Green New Deal, but it wont pass any plan from Wolf  as a matter of vision, of Pennsylvanias leaders promising todays youth that this will become the moral equivalent of war. Thats a better choice than bunkering down and praying that you can mitigate the floods, sweep away the dead bats and fight off the roving bands of polar bears.

This months action: BYO fork. I promised at the start of 2019 that Id write a climate change column at least every month  so far, so good. I also promised to offer, each time, a tip on some small (or not so small) thing you can do to reduce greenhouse-gas pollution. That prompted an email from a long-time journalist friend back in Birmingham, Tom Gordon, who sent me a picture of a small cutlery container that he brings with him when he goes out, especially for fast food. Hey, it takes energy to manufacture all of those forks, let alone sporks  then truck them to a landfill. And who needs 'em?

Read last months climate change column: Why the fate of this tiny Louisiana island is the worlds most important news story of 2019Since the Boy Scouts began accepting girls into their ranks this month, thousands of girls across the country have rushed to claim the title of scout.

Among them are 17 girls who have formed the first all-female troop in Chester County. They join more than 4,300 other girls across the country who are now part of Scouts BSA, renamed from the Boy Scouts.

Our girls in our troop, theyre trailblazers," said Melissa Pendill, scout leader of Chester Countys Troop 19. They just want an opportunity, and its available, so theyre grabbing it.

There are now more than 200 female scouts in BSA troops in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. And by next year, the Boy Scouts of America  Scouts BSAs parent organization  will welcome its inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts. The opportunity  and challenge  to become an Eagle Scout was traditionally unavailable to girls and is a big draw for many who join the new troops.

The decision to admit girls, made in 2017, came after a years-long push for gender inclusivity, scout leadership said. And it came against the backdrop of declining membership for both the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Before the change, the Boy Scouts had membership of around 2.3 million, while the Girl Scouts reported 1.7 million members.

The scouting evolution was not without contention. The Girl Scouts at one point accused the Boy Scouts of a covert campaign to recruit girls into its membership, fundamentally undercutting the Girl Scouts. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan, the Girl Scouts are seeking to prevent the Boy Scouts rebranding to Scouts USA with the inclusion of girls.

While girls are now free to participate in both scouting groups, the Girl Scouts insist that they offer the worlds single best leadership development experience for girls."

The girls of Troop 19, for their part, welcomed the opportunity to join Scouts BSA and were among the first in the nation to do so.

We wanted to get going as soon as possible because theyre not getting any younger," said Pendill, the troop leader.

Girls who join Scouts BSA are required to take part in all-female troops. The girls of Troop 19, who list hiking, camping and rock climbing among their hobbies, say they have found a group where they feel comfortable. It is, by all accounts, a different experience than the Girl Scouts, which historically emphasized stereotypically feminine pursuits such as cooking and sewing, although the organization also awards badges for many other skills, including archery, public speaking, and screenwriting.

"I feel like I found people that understand me, said Lily Rohner, 10, a newly minted scout of Troop 19.

On a recent evening at Troop 19s first official meeting, the girls were working to master the art of knot tying.

Brianna Rossi, 13, concentrated on tying a square knot as one of the requirements in her quest to earn the scout rank of Tenderfoot and its accompanying badge. To do that, scouts must show that they have the skills required for camp outings. They must be able to help pitch a tent, prepare meals, demonstrate proper use of a knife, saw and ax, administer simple first aid, properly fold a U.S. flag, and have the physical ability to do a series of exercises, including push-ups and sit-ups.

Many of the girls, some of whom are also Girl Scouts, have the ultimate ambition of becoming an Eagle Scout, the crowning achievement for Boy Scouts, said Pendill.

Shes wanted to be an Eagle Scout since she was 5, Mike Rohner, an assistant scoutmaster for Troop 19, said of his daughter, Lily.

Other girls hope to take that a step further by also winning the Gold Award, the highest title available to Girl Scouts.

For now, the scouts are starting less ambitiously, learning to camp, tie specialized knots, and improve their physical fitness. So far, Pendill said, theyve hiked more than seven miles and learned to chop firewood.

Their enthusiasm about everything is amazing, Pendill said of the troop. "Its so contagious. They realize that this is a moment in time, and theyre a part of it.For two lovebirds, this Valentines Day week held a rather extra-special occasion.

On Wednesday morning, Temple Universitys live mascot, Stella, said I do to her longtime sweetheart, the big-eyed Sherlock, whom shes lived alongside for the last seven years at the Elmwood Park Zoo.

The two great horned owls hosted a casual backyard wedding at their Norristown home, officiated by longtime pal Noah, the bald eagle mascot of the Eagles.

She was very demanding, and luckily everything turned out great, and it was all up to par for Stellas tastes, says maid of honor and Elmwood Park Zoo educator Rebecca Oulton, who refers to Stella as a big diva in a video capturing the special day.

Little Munchkin, an eastern screech owl who also lives at the zoo, served as flower girl, while fellow eastern screech owl Zeppelin played the role of a flower boy.

Stella and Sherlock are rescued birds that were rehabilitated and cannot be released back into the wild.

They now each serve as ambassadors of their species and help to educate kids about the natural world, says Laura Houston, director of education at Elmwood Park Zoo.

Houston notes that the two both have bold personalities, and while youll never find them cuddling, once nighttime falls, Stella and Sherlock spend much of their time hooting back and forth at one another.

Temple has officially declared their lifelong anniversary date as Owlentines Day.Theres an old saying, When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on. In other words, before you give up, take matters into your own hands and try a little harder.

As a psychology researcher , I believe this adage applies to relationships, too. Before you let go, look for the knots that might save you from accidentally letting a great relationship slip from your grasp. Relationship science suggests that the problem is that people tend to overemphasize the negative and underappreciate the positive when looking at their romantic partners.

If you could build the perfect relationship, what would it look like? Perhaps more importantly, how does your current relationship stack up? Expectations for todays relationships are higher than ever . Now that relationships are a choice, mediocrity isnt acceptable. Its all or nothing, and no one wants to settle .

The secret to avoiding settling seems simple: have high standards and demand only the very best. Researchers refer to people who are pickier than others and always want the absolute best possible option as maximizers . Their counterparts are satisficers  those satisfied once quality surpasses a minimum threshold of acceptability. For them, good enough is perfectly fine. As long as their relationship exceeds their predetermined benchmarks for high quality, satisficers are content.

Maximizer personalities will tend to exhaust all options and explore many possibilities to secure the flawless partner. You might think that sounds ideal, even noble, almost like common sense. But there are hidden downsides. Call it the myth of maximization, because the research reveals that maximizers report more regret and depression and feel threatened by others whom they perceive as doing better. Maximizers also experience lower self-esteem and less optimism, happiness and life satisfaction. And they prefer reversible decisions or outcomes that are not absolute or final.

See the problem? In long-term relationships, people tend to prefer more of a til death do us part approach rather than a 'til I find something better tactic. Overall, the implication for your relationship is clear: The continuous pursuit of perfection could be fine for a car, but in your relationship it may result in failing to recognize the truly great relationship thats right in front of you for what it is. Impossibly high standards can make an excellent relationship seem average.

You may also undervalue your relationship by being too quick to identify imperfections, notice the negatives and find problems. Blame what psychologists call the negativity bias, which is a tendency to pay attention to the bad or negative aspects of an experience.

In other words, when your relationship is going well, it doesnt register. You take it for granted. But problems? They capture your attention. The bickering, insensitive comments, forgotten chores, the messes and the inconveniences  all stand out because they deviate from the easily overlooked happy status quo.

This tendency is so pronounced that when a relationship doesnt have any major issues, research suggests that people inflate small problems into bigger ones . Rather than be thankful for the relative calm, people manufacture problems where none previously existed. You could be your own worst enemy without even realizing it.

Time to recalibrate. The key is separating the critical from the inconsequential in order to distinguish minor issues from real problems. Identifying the true dealbreakers will allow you to save your energy for real problems, and allow the minor stuff to simply fade away.

Data from a representative sample of over 5,000 Americans, ranging in age from 21 to over 76, identified the top 10 relationship dealbreakers :

1. Disheveled or unclean appearance

2. Lazy

3. Too needy

4. Lacks a sense of humor

5. Lives more than three hours away

6. Bad sex

7. Lacks self-confidence

8. Too much TV/video games

9. Low sex drive

10. Stubborn

Beyond that list, there are certainly annoyances that can become dealbreakers in otherwise generally healthy relationships. And if your partner disrespects, hurts or abuses you, those are behaviors that shouldnt be ignored and should rightly end your relationship.

In a follow-up study, researchers asked participants to consider both dealbreakers and dealmakers  that is, qualities that are especially appealing. When determining whether a relationship was viable, it turned out the dealbreakers carried more weight. The negativity bias strikes again. The fact that people tend to focus more on the breakers than the makers is further evidence that were not giving some aspects of our relationship enough credit.

To help you better appreciate your partners good qualities, consider the qualities individuals find most desirable in a marriage partner.

What have you been missing in your relationship? Surely there are boxes that your partner checks that youve neglected to notice. Start giving credit where credit is due.

In fact, some studies suggest you should give your partner even more credit than she or he might deserve. Instead of being realistic, give your partner the benefit of the doubt, with an overly generous appraisal. Would you be lying to yourself? Sure, a little bit. But research shows that these types of positive illusions help the relationship by decreasing conflict while increasing satisfaction, love and trust.

Holding overly optimistic views of your partner convinces you of their value, which reflects well on you  youre the one who has such a great partner, after all. Your rose-colored opinions also make your partner feel good and give them a good reputation to live up to. They wont want to let you down so theyll try to fulfill your positive prophecy. All of which benefits your relationship.

Its time to stop being overly critical of your relationship. Instead find the knots, the parts of your relationship youve been taking for granted that will help you hold on. If you know where to look and what to appreciate, you may just realize there are a lot more reasons to happily hold onto your relationship than you thought.

Gary W. Lewandowski Jr. is a professor of psychology at Monmouth University. This article first appeared on TheConversation.com.Some volunteers, such as Sashai Roberts and Tijuanda Riddick, are teachers who work a full school day, and then stay late to cook dinner with some of their students. Others, such as Barbara Brown, Susan Munafo and Jane Pupis, are retired teachers who loved their careers so much that they now volunteer to teach cooking to 10-year-olds.

Some, such as Denette Stetler and Elena Levitan, are avid cooks who want to share their love of food and cooking. Others, such as Mother of Divine Grace principal Jane Lockhart and Wiggins Elementary teacher Edith Bobb, are admittedly neither accomplished cooks nor adventurous eaters. They are learning right along with the kids.

These are just some of the volunteers, 65 across the region, who make up the wonderful community that has collectively dedicated thousands of hours to teaching urban schoolchildren to prepare easy, affordable meals over the last five years as part of My Daughters Kitchen healthy cooking program. Most of them are Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com readers, who read about the program and wanted to get involved.

My favorite moments are when I overhear the students talking to each other about how they love cooking class, said Levitan, who volunteers at the TeamUp Philly after-school program at the Universal Daroff Charter School. One student last semester turned to her friend and said This is so much fun  I wish we had cooking class every day.

We start our sixth year this week, and for the next eight weeks, we will be cooking dinner and then sitting down to share it with children in 32 schools, mostly in Philadelphia and Camden. The students will be learning to make simple, healthy suppers with fresh ingredients, following recipes created to feed a family of six on a budget of $20 a meal. Along the way, the kids learn how to chop, measure, saute and roast, and perhaps most important, how to prevent slicing a finger or setting the kitchen on fire.

The program, which was inspired by a request from my own daughter for healthy, easy, cheap meals, also includes some basic nutrition lessons. The goal is to convince these fifth graders how easy it is to cook for themselves and their families, by showing them how delicious healthy dinners can be and how eating right can prevent such diseases as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.

According to the surveys completed by students in the program last fall, we have had a good measure of success: 94 percent reported learning new ways to cook.

I love hearing the kids talk about helping their parents with meal prep, said Marjorie Cutler, a teacher who has taught the classes at Cramer Elementary in Camden for four years. They are also more adventurous with foods they havent had before.

Indeed, 78 percent reported that adults trust them more with a knife, and 55 percent reported cooking more for themselves than before they took the class.

When Levitan and her students look back on the last class, the students are always surprised by, and so proud of, how their skills and confidence have grown in a short time, she said.

Pupis, and Munafo have volunteered at Loesche Elementary in Northeast Philadelphia for four years, and they treasure that final meal when the kids cook for their families and friends. The kids feel the success, Munafo said. The parents are always so appreciative, said Pupis.

This semester, well prepare healthy takes on such familiar favorites as breakfast biscuit sandwiches, and homemade chicken noodle soup. But we will also introduce new dishes, flavors and vegetables the kids may not have tasted before, such things as Moroccan stew with squash and quinoa, and shakshuka, a spicy Mediterranean one-pot meal with poached eggs.

Its so rewarding to see these kids trying something new, said Welcome Furber, a volunteer at St. Augustine Academy in Norristown. My students were so sure they werent going to like the eggplant last semester, she said. They were so surprised. It was great to hear them say, Wow, this is really good!

My Daughters Kitchen cooking program was built by these dedicated volunteers, but it could not have grown and flourished without the support and funding of Vetri Community Partnership, the nonprofit started by Marc Vetri and Jeff Benjamin. The staff there formalized and perfected the structure of the classes I started at St. Martin De Porres in 2013; coordinating the schools and volunteers and nurturing the growth of the program all along the way. Last December, however, the Vetri nonprofit decided to discontinue its support after this semester. I thank them for all they have done. I am currently in discussions with other nonprofits, foundations and funders to make sure this valuable program continues. I welcome your suggestions and ideas.

As of this spring, we have enrolled nearly 2,000 students since the program began. We have prepared more than 1,600 home-cooked meals and logged more than 8,700 volunteer hours. More than $228,000 has been donated to support this program. Our most heartfelt thanks to all those who have donated and who continue to give. Since last October, $31,000 has been donated, including $25,000 from the Rite Aid Foundation KidCents; $1,500 from Mary and Emmanuel Rosenfeld Foundation, $1,000 from the Cameron Foundation; and $1,000 from John and Marianne Egner Charitable Foundation, as well as other generous individual donors.

Mostly important, in the last survey, 90 percent of students reported that they learned making meals that are good for them is easy and fun. I so hope we can keep teaching more kids this simple, vital, empowering life skill.

Off to the kitchens!

Contact Maureen Fitzgerald at mydaughterskitchen@gmail.com. Read reports about previous classes at philly.com/mydaughterskitchen.In the beginning, it was simply an idea: A South Korean-born professor of religion wanted to bring quality Korean food to an American audience.

John Choi and his daughter, Jen, this week open a Philadelphia branch of Crunchikn, a version of the Korean snack shops they founded in Ocean City, N.J., in 2017, in a former diner at 212 S. 11th St. in Washington Square West. The menu includes twice-fried Korean fried chicken as well as oven-baked Korean chicken, rice bowls, dumplings, fresh fruit drinks, and an arancini-like rice ball called a Crunch Ball.

John Choi, who immigrated to the United States three decades ago, shuttled between a university in South Korea and seminaries in New Jersey. All the while, he took food seriously. He said he saw a lot of good food served within Korean communities in the United States, but did not see much outside.

After taking a chefs training course, he retired and decided to go the restaurant route.

But he needed help. His daughter Jen, meanwhile, had finished a graduate degree in public health at Johns Hopkins University and was doing research.

I did the whole immigrant child path, where you go to college and you go back to grad school and you pursue an academic career, said Jen Choi, 30, who grew up in Edison, N.J. Thats not the answer for everybody.

She said she was ready to start a new job, and I realized Id rather work with my family than with a big corporation.

The Chois found a space in Ocean City, N.J. Before opening in 2017, they experimented. John Choi enlisted help from food scientists in Korea to help them nail down their recipes and techniques. They continue to travel back to Korea to develop upgrades.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday.Draped in a knee-length gray-and-white Chinchilla fur, the Grammy-winning artist Wyclef Jean roamed the aisles of South Philadelphia High Schools auditorium Wednesday afternoon, taking questions from any student bold enough to ask, and freestyling in four languages. Students eyes were fixed on the Fugees founder  some of whom seemed perplexed by who he was..

Jean was in South Philly to present a $50,000 grant from Toyota in partnership with the VH1 Save the Music Foundation that will be spent on technological upgrades to aid students in beat-making, songwriting, audio engineering, and DJing. While other schools have received grants for traditional musical instruments, Southern is the first to receive a music technology grant through the program.

When Jean first took the stage, students turned to each other asking about his claim to fame, but that chatter ceased when Jean mentioned the Young Thug song named in his honor.

When yall are listening to Young Thug, and his song is called Wyclef Jean, I am Wyclef Jean, he said to audience cheers.

He told the students of how he came from the New York City projects, eating government cheese, to watching his name being announced as a winner at the Grammy Awards.

Education is important, Jean told the audience of about 600 students. Sounds corny, dont it? You have to be educated for this new world. If not, youre going to get robbed in the worst way.

The secret to making it is, you got to do it the right way. You cant use the 'hood for [an] excuse, Jean said.

After the school-wide ceremony, Jean chatted with about 30 music students in a classroom workshop, where he broke down the pianos C-chord into numbers, and even invited senior August LaReyy to transform the beat in his head into a reality on new equipment.

Unlike many of his peers, LaReyy, 17, knew who Jean was, and was speechless when he called him to the front of the class.

As a child, LaReyy listened to the Fugees Killing Me Softly With His Song with his parents often, but never imagined that hed be shoulder to shoulder with Jean.

About four years ago, LaReyys father died, inspiring him to pursue his dream of becoming a music producer. Working alongside Jean just boosted my motivation, he said.

He actually got to know who I am as a music producer, like music producer to music producer, goat to sheep," LaReyy said. It was really amazing how he gave me attention. Music artists nowadays dont even do that, he said, but Jean did. That was really crazy.  My dad would be so proud.

The grant is a part of the #ToyotaGiving campaign, which has donated $160,000 to four schools through a partnership with the VH1 foundation by providing under-privileged schools with musical instruments and supporting music education programs.

VH1 has partnered with the School District of Philadelphia for more than a decade, said Frank Machos, executive director of the districts Office of the Arts and Academic Enrichment, so when the opportunity to apply for a music technology grant arose, it just made sense.

Machos said its really important for us in Philly to really expand our music programs to reflect our kids and to reflect the music industry today.Under the bright lights of the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center, past the booths filled with hand-decorated truffles from Vermont and chocolate-covered pretzels from New Jersey, the classes for chocolate makers were about to begin.

A small group sat among rows of long white tables, pen and paper at the ready. One woman was getting ready to open a chocolate shop in Middletown, N.Y., after winning an economic development grant. A mother of two children with food allergies, from Mifflin, Pa., had plans to develop a soy-free line of chocolates. A couple from southwest Virginia had been in business with a store called Cocoa Trail Chocolates for about a year and a half.

Theyd all made their way, early one Sunday morning, to the Philadelphia National Candy, Gift and Gourmet Show. Held twice a year, in September and January, the shows winter edition is timed for after the Christmas holiday rush, as chocolatiers turn their focus to Valentines Day and Easter. If you make or sell chocolate for a living  whether you need ingredients, equipment or packaging, or advice on how to troubleshoot a finicky confection  this is the place for you.

Whats the best chocolate? Thats very easy: its what you like, said Joe Crevino, a New Jersey-based software consultant turned chocolate consultant. He much prefers telling people that his job title is the latter; they light up. Chocolate is a very decadent and mystical thing, he said.

The seminar room, cordoned off from the trade show floor, continued to fill as the morning agenda skipped along. A pastry chef demonstrated how to decorate with cocoa butter. A lawyer presented on succession-planning for small-business owners. A representative for Blommer Chocolate Co., a large supplier, pointed out emerging flavor trends  bee pollen, butterscotch, Japanese citrus  with cautionary reminders to know what your customers want and to stay true to your brand.

The candy show, which started in the 1940s, is put on by the 101-year-old Retail Confectioners Association of Philadelphia (RCAP). The port citys ready access to sugar and cocoa, and to a flow of immigrants bearing recipes and techniques from Europe, helped popularize Phillys candy trade, going back to the 1800s.

Its a business that evolved along with neighborhoods, said Tony Walter Jr., who co-owns Lores Chocolates, near Independence Mall, and whose father worked for Peanut Chews-originator Goldenberg Candy Co. When the neighborhoods had butchers and bakers, they had chocolate makers.

A copy of RCAPs original charter hangs in Lores. The association made camaraderie easy among store owners. It was formed to help one another out  if you needed help with equipment, or if you needed help with a recipe, said Joe Lees, owner of Casani Candy. The Pennsauken-based distributor  founded in Philadelphia in 1865  supplies retail shops with such sweets as gummy bears, Swedish fish, and hard candies.

When his father, Jack, who ran the candy show for more than two decades, died in October, Lees estimates that hundreds attended the service, many from the candy business. Its a very close-knit organization, he said.

Today, RCAP has about 350 members throughout the United States, catering to everyone from retailers with one shop to those with seven or eight stores.

Revenue across the chocolate store sector  which includes such big names as Sees Candies and Godiva, as well as smaller independent operators  was estimated to grow 1.1 percent in 2018, to about $1.6 billion, according to market research firm IBISWorld. (Beyond the specialty market, Nielsen estimates Americans bought $11.1 billion worth of chocolate in the last year from grocery stores, drugstores and other large outlets.)

Chocolate makers say RCAP members support each other in a way that sets the industry apart from others. This is not like the corporate America Im familiar with, where people are willing to stab you in the back to move forward, said Carol Freedman, of Carols Creative Chocolatez in Somerville, N.J.

She spent almost 30 years working for her fathers company  which built microbiological research equipment  before switching directions, with her now business partner Tony Brokenborough. Freedman credits RCAP with encouraging her early forays in confectionery  such as making impressionistic chocolate paintings  and says she owes a lot to Crevinos advice on handling the misbehavior of chocolate, which is ever susceptible to heat and humidity.

Its a difficult confection to work with, Freedman said. Chocolates going to do what chocolates going to do. Last year, the Daily Meal website named her store the best chocolate shop in New Jersey.

Freedman always learns something new from an industry show. Maybe she spots a tool that will make her day easier. Maybe she hears about a good growing season for cacao in a particular region, or samples chocolate she hasnt tried before.

But, when its so easy to just research stuff on the internet, RCAP has to keep making the case that attending a candy show in real life is worth it.

In our industry, there are many mom-and-pop stores that really have to pick and choose their battles of where they can spend their time and their money, said RCAPs president, Paul Esposito, whose family opened Victorias Candies in Hazleton, Pa, in 1934. And our goal is to make our two candy shows the most attractive shows they can attend.

To that end, the association has lately put more emphasis on offering education and training at the shows. Last year, it moved the larger September candy show from Atlantic City to Hershey, Pa.  a change that encouraged more attendees to make a family vacation out of it, Esposito said.

Esposito credits the show with helping him expand his own business into the wholesale market. Dozens of different chocolates line his exhibition booth, and he now supplies 60 other candy stores along the East Coast, and in the Midwest. Last September, he opened a new, 16,000-square-foot facility to keep up with demand.

A few steps from Espositos booth, Dale Sheehan, once a dancer with the Rockettes, recounted how she and her late husband, who had worked in the circus, started Kellys Kandy in the 1970s, and named it for their two daughters: Kelly and Kandy.

Now three generations run the Collingdale, Pa., shop, and Kandy Hughes, herself a former dancer, sits on RCAPs board. The family still uses a chocolate enrobing machine they bought years ago from the Giambri family  of Giambris Quality Sweets  and they still make the mint recipe they learned from the proprietor of Lucilles Own Make Candies.

Its a nice industry to be in, Hughes said.Staff reports

The Petoskey News-Review

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6 New Revised Standard Version

Kathy and I were traveling south though Ohio to pick up our new puppy. We left a day early because the weather forecast for Michigan was a major snow and ice storm the next day.

Kathy had discovered that Ohio was going to have moderate to heavy rain. I said, We can handle some rain far better than snow and ice. And we were off.

The rain was a little more than I expected. Deep into Ohio, my smartphone made a screeching sound. Then a voice bellowed out, Flood warning! You are in a flood warning area!

That got my attention, but we rationalized our situation by noting we were on a highway, not on some dirt back road. About an hour later, we went up a hill, crested it and started down the other side.

There I saw vehicles in the distance with multicolored lights flashing. They were not moving. We and the cars behind us came to a stop at the base of the hill. To my left, a torrent of water was cascading down the hill and then onto the road and into a river.

I got out and went to where a man was standing next to his truck and said to him, This doesnt look good. See how quick I am in an emergency?

He replied, They will be shutting this road down on both ends. I saw a car hit that water and get shoved so hard it almost ended up in that river.

We had to double back and find another way to our destination.

I had been warned, but instead of stopping and learning more of what was going on, I trusted my own limited understanding of weather and hills and rivers and roads.

Would it not be great if there were something, oh, like a book that had helpful information on how to avoid some of the problems we run into in life? A book with simple wisdom that would point us in the right directions so as to miss the floods of life.

Oh, wait, there is a book and we know it well. The trick is to follow it. By the way, check out Proverbs. Some good stuff there!Staff reports

The Petoskey News-Review

PETOSKEY

Chili supper, guest speaker at Epsilon

PETOSKEY  Epsilon United Methodist Church is hosting a chili supper from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, at the church. All are invited.

Epsilon also welcomes Dixie Cosier, who will be the guest speaker at the 11:30 a.m. service Sunday, Feb. 17.

The church is located at 8251 E. Mitchell Road.

Songfest celebrates Pete Seeger

PETOSKEY  Pete Seegers 100th birthday will be celebrated at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, in a concert hosted by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Petoskey.

Led by composer/guitarist Jim Scott, who knew Seeger well and collaborated on many projects with the folk legend, participants will raise their voices for the causes Seeger championed and remember the great contributions to our American heritage he made in his 94 years of life.

The concert will be in the Chapel of Our Guardian Angels, 812 Petoskey St.

All are invited and donations are suggested on a sliding scale of $10-$20. Students and children are welcome free of charge.

For more information, visit unitarianpetoskey.org.

BOYNE CITY

Intelligent life on other planets to be discussed

BOYNE CITY  Whether intelligent life exists in other places in the universe, and what the search for that life is revealing, will be discussed at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 17, at Lifetree Cafe.

The program, Were Not Alone? The Search for Intelligent Life on Other Planets, features a filmed interview with Dr. Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute and author of Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientists Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

One-third of the population believes some of the thousands of UFOs people report seeing each year are alien craft, said Shostak, who is optimistic that his search for alien intelligence will one day pay off.

Participants in the Lifetree program will have an opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences related to the topic.

The program is free of charge.

Lifetree Cafe is in the First Presbyterian Church, 401 S. Park St. Use the Pine Street entrance.

For more information, call (231) 582-7983 or email Lifetree@fpboyne.org.

Next session on The Mass set

BOYNE CITY  The series on The Mass with Bishop Robert Barron continues at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 17, at St. Matthew Parish, 1303 Boyne Ave.

The topic is Preparing for Sacrifice as the series begins to look at the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Come and join in the discussion with the sacramental preparation parents for this instruction on the Mass.

All students preparing for the initiation sacraments also will have their classes at the same time.

The Little Rock Scripture Study group will begin its winter group study at noon on Monday, Feb. 18, at St. Augustine Parish, 2347 Grove St., Boyne Falls. This session, the group will be studying Second Corinthians. Participants are asked to bring a lunch.

For more information, call (231) 582-7718.

CHARLEVOIX

See All The People series continues

CHARLEVOIX  Greensky Hill Indian United Methodist Church continues the See All The People worship series.

Using stories from Lukes gospel, the series explores four different crowds and how Jesus was always able to see all the people  not just the favored or privileged.

At the 10 a.m. service on Sunday, Feb. 17, the Rev. Jonathan Mays will offer a message entitled, The Expectant Crowd, from Luke 6:17-26.

Pastor George Pamp is preaching at 5 p.m.

The church offers a free breakfast from 9-10 a.m. every Sunday in Susan Hall. The church also serves a potluck dinner each Sunday at 6 p.m. The community is invited for both weekly meals and attendance at church worship services is not required.

The 180-year-old hewn-log church and Susan Hall Reception Center are located at 08484 Green Sky Hill Road in Charlevoix.

For more information, contact Mays at (231) 459-8067.

Unwavering message presented

CHARLEVOIX  On Sunday, Feb. 17, Community Reformed Church of Charlevoix continues the series, Ancestry.God.

The message is titled Unwavering and will be based on the Book of Ruth.

Sunday morning services are at 8:30 and 10:15 with nursery available at each service. Kids worship activities for preschool through fourth grade are offered during the 10:15 service.

The church is located at 100 Oak St.

For more information, call (231) 547-9482 or visit www.communityreformed.net.

HARBOR SPRINGS

Orders being taken for homemade pasties

HARBOR SPRINGS  The Harbor Springs United Methodist Church is taking orders for homemade pasties through Monday, Feb.18.

Pasties will be made fresh daily Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 25, 26 and 27, and will be available for pickup from 3-5 p.m. those same days.

All sales are preordered by calling the church office at (231) 526-2414. Price is $7 each for a 12-ounce pasty of ground beef and pork, potatoes, carrots, rutabaga and onion in a flaky homemade crust.

Profits will be shared by both Alanson and Harbor Springs United Methodist churches as a fundraiser to support the operations and missions of our congregations. Order soon as the maximum of 700 pasties is quickly reached.Staff reports

The Petoskey News-Review

GAYLORD  The Michigan State Police (MSP) is requesting the publics help in locating a 22-year-old man wanted for one felony count of third-degree child abuse and one felony count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

MSPs 7th District Fugitive Team is assisting the Montmorency County Sheriff Department and MSP Gaylord post in the search for Vinnzenz Neil Waynee, according to an MSP press release.

Waynee is described as 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs approximately 140 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Law enforcement believes Waynee is in Northern Michigan and is known to frequent the Petoskey, Gaylord, Atlanta and Mio areas.

As a felony warrant has been issued, anyone helping Waynee avoid arrest will be charged with assisting/harboring a known felony fugitive.

According to Michigan law, anyone convicted of that charge is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 4 years or a fine of not more than $5,000, or both.

Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of Waynee is asked to contact the Michigan State Police Gaylord Regional Dispatch, non-emergency line, at (989) 732-5141 (refer to the MSP Fugitive Team), the press release said. Information will remain confidential and callers may remain anonymous.Jeremy Speer

(989) 732-1111

GAYLORD  He still has his sense of humor.

Thats what Mike Turnbull said about his son, Jonathan, a U.S. Army captain, who is back in the states and being treated at a military hospital following Jonathans serious injury in a Jan. 16 suicide bombing in Syria that killed at least 16 people, according to the Associated Press.

Hes still showing the sense of humor hes always had, Mike Turnbull said. With brain injuries, you pray for continued healing of the mind and body.

Prayer has been a constant for Mike and Sandy Turnbull, and their family and friends and churches across Gaylord since word about the bombing traveled back to Jonathans hometown. Jonathan, a 2005 Gaylord High School graduate and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy West Point, was transported to a U.S. hospital in Iraq following the attack, then to a hospital at a base in Germany and finally to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

We are thankful for the outpouring of support and the prayers that have been lifted up, Mike said. We are thankful God spared his life because others were not. He has a plan for us.

Jonathan, whom his father said was in peak physical condition before the attack, is on the mend. He is now able to speak and communicate and just started speaking in sentences a few days ago. His wounds are improving.

Still, there is a long way to go and the healing process is going to be long with ups and downs.

The Turnbulls have encouraged the community and its churches to pray for Jonathan at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. each day. Mike said he cant think of a church that hasnt prayed for his son, and that the family is thankful.

While Mike said it is has not been easy for any of Jonathans family, they take comfort in their Lord. He points to Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Going through life on your own without knowing where youll be at the end feels hopeless, Mike said. (We) live a life where you have a piece of mind and know your God is in control.

Mike said he and Sandy are heartbroken as Jonathan was in the midst of success and had had big plans, including with his wife, Samantha, and his son.

What advice would Jonathan give to the people of Otsego County?

To be thankful for the country we live in and the freedoms we have, Mike said.

Mike said a story that stands out is what Jonathan was wearing when he was injured  a remembrance bracelet for U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. David Day, a fellow GHS graduate, who died in action in 2011 in Afghanistan.

That shows what (Jonathan) thinks about Gaylord and other people as well, Mike said.

Those interested in writing to Jonathan can send letters to Mike, who will pass them to his son:

Mike Turnbull

P.O. Box 4054

Gaylord, MI 49735Sean Miller (231) 439-9394 semiller2@petoskeynews.com

The Petoskey News-Review

PETOSKEY  The Petoskey News-Review recently welcomed two new faces to its advertising team.

Elijah Brumback and Jason Biskner together bring years of experience and, with less than two weeks under their belts on the job, are looking forward to each of their responsibilities with the News-Review and related publications.

Biskner, who has previous experience working with specialty publications, will be solely working on the News-Reviews Home Life magazine.

I come from a background handling advertising sales and content for another lifestyle magazine, he said. In that sense this is a great fit.

Biskner moved to the area in 2011 with his wife and two children, and is looking forward to spending more time in the area through his position while having the flexibility in this job to be in and out of the office to talk to, and get to know, people in the community.

Brumback, the other new addition to the advertising team, has spent most of working life inside of marketing, advertising, public relations and journalism.

I originally went to Grand Valley State University for journalism and then working in Grand Rapids at a small business publication, Brumback said.

Brumback then spent time working in different aspects of media through advertising and marketing in California and New York before making the decision to move back home to Michigan last year.

In his new position, Brumback can help in arranging a broad mix of advertising opportunities. He believes his background can only help further the News-Review in its advertising goals and looks forward to working with new clients.

It means a lot to be back home and working here, he said. As a journalist at heart, I have always wanted to support the journalism landscape, and I think I can help with that and in turn support the paper with my background.

Together, Brumback and Biskner have spent less than a months time in their positions with the newspaper. However, News-Review advertising sales manager Jennifer Foley sees promise in both of them.

They are great additions to our sales team. They give great effort, have very positive attitudes and are excited to build relationships with the clients they serve, she said.

To top that all off, they are two of the most genuine and likable people youll find. I couldnt be more excited to have such high-quality, character people join our team.Staff reports

The Petoskey News-Review

GAYLORD  Police officials are asking for the public's help in locating a man who is wanted on child abuse and sexual assault charges.

According to a news release issued Thursday by the Michigan State Police post in Gaylord, troopers from that post and the Michigan State Polices 7th District Fugitive Team are assisting the Montmorency County Sheriff Department in the search for Vinnzenz Neil Waynee, 22, who is wanted for one felony count each of third degree child abuse and third degree criminal sexual conduct.

Waynee is described as 5-foot-9, 140 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Police believe he is in Northern Michigan and especially known to frequent the Petoskey, Gaylord, Atlanta, and Mio areas.

Police officials noted that, because a felony warrant has been issued for Waynee, anyone who assists him in his attempts to avoid arrest may be charged with assisting/harboring a known felony fugitive.

Police ask anyone with information as to Waynee's whereabouts to contact the Michigan State Police Gaylord Regional Dispatch, non-emergency line, at (989) 732-5141 (refer to the MSP Fugitive Team). Information will remain confidential and callers may remain anonymous.Sean Miller (231) 439-9394 semiller2@petoskeynews.com

The Petoskey News-Review

BOYNE CITY  A lifetime of fishing and a love for the outdoors keeps 90-year-old Alex Wolff young at heart and working with his hands to create one-of-a-kind bamboo fly-fishing rods.

Wolff keeps busy following his passions from the lakes and rivers to his basement, where he creates his rods step-by-step.

It all kind of started so many years ago when my wife was taking some fly-tying courses at what was Boyne City Hardware, Wolff said.

It was one of those things where all the guys got together and someone came in with a bamboo rod. I was already making plastic rods and though I would give bamboo a try.

Wolff dove right into the rod-making process and got together with some rod builders in Pennsylvania and took a weeklong class for an introduction to bamboo rods.

Its the beauty and aesthetics of the bamboo that reels Wolff in and has kept him making rods for decades.

Theyre so beautiful and functionally different than your graphite or fiberglass rod, he said. I consider bamboo rods the best of the best. The hardest part of making them is parting with them and selling them.

A typical bamboo rod has many steps and the process, from start to finish, takes Wolff about a week.

The first step in making a rod is taking raw bamboo and striking the edge of it with a knife to create a run down the shaft of the rod. You are able to steer the split and get strips of bamboo to shape and cut down.

Wolff creates six equal triangles to make a hexagon rod and has a process to taper and shape the rod the way he wants it and, step-by-step, Wolff examines each piece.

You test everything and once you have each split you can start putting them together and check for seam lines. That (seam lines) is a big no-no in the rod-making world, said Wolff.

If everything is up to Wolffs standards, he then glues the pieces together and starts assembling the rod.

While everything is drying, he goes to work on his handmade cork handles to accompany the rods.

The best cork comes from Portugal, but the winemakers get it first, Wolff said jokingly.

Wolff, from start to finish, enjoys making his handmade rods and seeing it through to completion.

He typically sells about five per year and shows them in some of the local art and farm markets and even still fishes with his own rods to this day.

I dont get out as much as Id like to anymore, but I used to be an avid fisherman and still enjoy it and using these rods, he said.Congratulations, members of the Pennsylvania Legislature, for succeeding in pulling the old bait and switch on us.

A few months back you, once again, dangled the idea of property tax elimination in front of us all, like a carrot on a stick. Of course, the proposition has gone absolutely nowhere. Now, to get us all to forget about that, you are toying with the idea of legalizing marijuana. Not only are you considering it, you are sending out your Lt. Governor to listen to the public. You really think the 25 people you can cram into the Newport Public Library can speak for the 12 million of us? They say marijuana is a gateway drug. You say that there is an opioid epidemic. Will you please make up your mind about what is good for us and what isnt? I suppose if marijuana is legalized it is incredibly important that you raise the minimum wage, otherwise we are going to see a rash of break-ins and burglaries.

And congratulations on finally taxing those evil, capitalist natural gas companies.

And I sleep so much better at night knowing that women who leave their newborns to drown in human feces are not only free but learned a trade on my dime. If only they'd finally eliminate my property taxes once and for all, I'd send a check each year to ensure rapists walk out of our prisons more educated than when they were dragged in.

GERALD KOLVA II, Gratz Borough, Dauphin CountyAs the superintendent of the Moshannon Valley School District in rural Clearfield County, I wanted to express concerns with both the current process for distributing school safety grant money, and the proposed cut to school safety funding in the Governors budget proposal.

For far too long, Pennsylvania has created winners and losers in school funding, but that argument can be made another day; providing school safety funding on a competitive grant basis is just bad politics and bad governing. I commend Senators Wayne Langerholc and Mike Regan, and all who prioritized school safety, for their efforts to bring funding to make our school, and others in the Commonwealth, safer, it was certainly a step forward. But should schools compete for safety, and even more concerning is how is the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency [PCCD] going to award the winners?

A recent statement from PCCD asked school districts to go back and prioritize their grant requests because they have roughly $40 million in available funding and the requests totaled $318 million. What do District Superintendents tell the families in their communities when a grant is not funded  that PCCD doesnt think our students safety is that important! What about when the list comes out of successful recipients, and wealthier districts who probably have the resources to fund projects without the grant money, are named as winners?

School Safety needs to be funded in a sustainable block grant process based on financial need, not political power, and certainly not fashioned as a competition. I hope and pray for the sake of Moshannon Valley students and our need for increased mental health supports in a community with limited local resources, where nearly 7 in 10 students receive free and reduced lunch, where we have made safety a priority for the past decade, that the legislature sees that $318 million request number as a call for help from school districts, as a recognition that perhaps schools have not received the funding necessary through our antiquated distribution system. More importantly, I hope they see that fostering competition for school safety is flawed in its thinking.

Parents, guardians, families, and more importantly, our students deserve leadership that provides some level of safe school support to all, and while the $25,000 each district received from the Act 44 money is something. If they distributed the entire $60 million in the same fashion, every district would have received closer to $75,000 and if sustainable, could make a difference. But on a competitive basis where some districts will receive millions of dollars, and the vast majority receive nothing, how much safer are our students?

The governor, in less than one year, proposed to reduce the school safety line item from $60 million to $45 million. My question then becomes what does that say to Pennsylvanias families about the importance of our childrens safety?

Lets work together to make Pennsylvania a leader in education, a leader in school safety and a leader in school funding.

--

Dr. John W. Zesiger is the Moshannon Valley School District superintendent.A state police trooper fatally shot a man while responding to a call of one brother stabbing another, Pennsylvania State Police said.

Troopers were called to a domestic dispute between the two brothers in the first block of Staymen Drive, Menallen Township just before 5 p.m. Wednesday, police said.

Michael Drayer, 34, was attacking his brother Jesse Lynn Drayer, 40, with a large knife, police said. Though Michael Drayer had already stabbed his older brother, he continued to chase him on foot down Aspers Bendersville Road to the intersection with Carlisle Road.

Jesse Drayer flagged down a passing pickup truck and jumped into its bed in an attempt to hide from Michael Drayer, but troopers arrived on scene at that time, police said.

Jesse Drayer got into the police vehicle, seeking refuge from his brother, but the younger man followed him inside the cruiser, knife still in hand, police said.

Troopers ordered Michael Drayer to surrender, but the orders were ignored, police said. When Michael Drayer continued his attack, a trooper fired his weapon and hit Drayer.

Police said troopers immediately tried to help Drayer until EMS arrived, and he was transported to Gettysburg Hospital where he was pronounced dead by the Adams County Coroner.

Jesse Drayer is in stable condition at York Hospital, police said.

The trooper involved in the shooting was not identified by police, and is on administrative leave pending an internal investigation, police said.

The Troop H Major Case team is investigating the shooting and will provide their findings to the Adams County District Attorneys Office, police said. The DA will determine if the shooting was justified.A high school student near Philadelphia has been charged with attempted homicide after police say he shot a classmate in the neck during a marijuana deal.

Haverford High School student James McCauley, 17, was arraigned Wednesday night in connection with the shooting that injured 18-year-old Marquis Mays, Action News 6 ABC is reporting.

Reports indicate Mays and a friend had met with McCauley and two friends to buy an ounce of marijuana in a car on Tuesday, and when one of McCauleys friends became touchy, a fight broke out.

As Mays tried to get out of the car, McCauley fired a shot, striking Mays in the neck, police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause, according to reports.

Mays is in the hospital in critical condition, and McCauleys lawyer, Christopher Koschier, told the judge the shooting was in self-defense, according to reports.

"When you get down to it, you're talking about an ounce of marijuana and then shooting somebody over that is ridiculous," Haverford Township Police Chief John Viola told 6 ABC. Police say they recovered a stolen Springfield .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun believed to be the gun used in the shooting, according to reports.

McCauley is in the George Hill Correctional Facility on $1 million cash bail.Harrisburg and Steelton-Highspire school districts are among the 10 districts with the highest habitual truancy rates in Pennsylvania, under a new definition used for the first time in the 2017-18 academic year.

Act 138, passed by lawmakers in 2016, defined truancy as three unexcused absences in a school year for students ages eight to 17. Habitual truancy was defined as six or more unexcused absences within a school year for those students. All of Pennsylvanias 500 school districts were directed to use the new definition to report their truancy rates to the state beginning in the 2017-18 academic year.

Harrisburg School District reported a 54.09 percent habitual truancy rate, meaning "3,531 of the 6,528 students were habitually truant during the 2017-18 school year, said Pennsylvania Department of Education spokesman Eric Levis.

Steelton-Highspire, with 1,328 students in 2017-18, reported a habitual truancy rate of 43 percent, documents show.

By comparison, the average habitual truancy rate across the state is estimated at 12 percent. In Dauphin County, most school districts reported a habitual truancy rate of well under 10 percent.

Students cant learn if they dont show up. Addressing the root causes of truancy is the aim of the law, educators say. But to do that, you have to know how big the problem is.

Theres a million-dollar difference between having a high school diploma and a college degree, said Steelton-Highspire Superintendent Travis Waters. When people dont get a high school diploma, they will deal with worse health outcomes, and then theres the whole criminal justice system. People who arent educated get involved in the criminal justice system at higher rates. This is something for all of us to be concerned about, and not just the school or the family when kids arent getting their education."

Truancy has long been a concern in the Harrisburg School District. Two years ago, 500 Harrisburg High School students were suspended for having too many unexcused absences. The former principal said she wanted to alert district parents and guardians to the problem. At least 100 of those students served one-day suspensions as punishment.

Heres a look at truancy rates reported in past years:

 2005-06: 25.27 percent habitual truancy rate; 8,918 students enrolled

 2009-10: 43.40 percent habitual truancy rate; 8,306 students enrolled

 2016-17: 48.39 percent habitual truancy rate; 6,227 students enrolled

Harrisburg City School District has seen an increase in its habitual truancy rate, according to Pennsylvania Department of Education documents.

K-12 parent engagement, as well as intentional and innovative educational partnerships between school and home are key, District spokeswoman Kirsten Keys said.

The district ascribes to the motto Attendance every day. All day. Your education matters, Keys said.

It must become the credo and core belief of every parent and family with children in our district, she added.

Harrisburg officials said they are utilizing every resource available to them to undo a mindset they often encounter: missing school isnt a big deal.

Among resources, the district adheres to its truancy intervention plans, Chief Academic Officer Jaimie C. Foster said.

Each school provides daily proactive phone calls from school to home to address concerns regarding student attendance, Foster said. Also, per Pennsylvania School Code, all schools maintain Truancy Intervention Plans with students who are considered chronically absent. These plans are most successful when parents and guardians commit to working with their childs school.

In addition to the plans, Harrisburg is trying to incentivize and encourage daily attendance, Student Services Supervisor Marianne Peters said.

Schools also recognize students who have perfect attendance for the month, and some are beginning to recognize students and parents for these efforts, Peters said.

Another strategy  in conjunction with the Every Student Succeeds Act  is outreach. The Harrisburg Public Schools Foundation and Lamar Advertising created a campaign designed to increase awareness of daily school attendance, Superintendent Dr. Sybil Knight-Burney said. The federal Act quantifies public education using a set of measured metrics, such as reporting chronic absenteeism, to evaluate students overall academic performance.

Harrisburg City School District has partnered with Lamar Advertising to promote a campaign to improve attendance. District officials said it's free advertising.

We also established an Attendance Task Force to help improve school-wide systems of support and accountability, Knight-Burney said. We are hopeful that these strategic and comprehensive efforts will help bring about a much-needed paradigm shift in how parents, guardians, families and the community at large view the importance of consistent school attendance at every grade level. Being physically present in school every day, all day is essential for student achievement and success beyond high school. Attending school regularly and engaging in the learning process is the Districts expectation for every student.

Harrisburg officials work with the districts Pupil Services Department, Office of Student Services, and school-based staff to engage monthly review and analysis of student truancy, Foster noted.

This is done to ensure accuracy, consistency, and needed support to maintain effective attendance, Foster said.

Many districts that have high habitual truancy rates are those that also have a large percentage of students who are considered economically disadvantaged. That is not a coincidence, experts say.

There are many reasons why a student may miss several days of classes, said Richard Steele, executive director of the Juvenile Court Judges Commission. They may need to take care of a sibling, or feel they need to earn money for their family.

Districts that have high poverty rates arent dealing with students who skip classes in the traditional sense, Waters said.

There are kids who will miss school because they work until midnight to help support their families, he continued. Or students may miss classes because they are homeless, dont have basic necessities, or lack motivation.

Like in Harrisburg, truancy has long been a concern in Steelton-Highspire:

2005-06: 20.51 percent habitual truancy rate; 1,321 students enrolled

2009-10: 31.85 percent habitual truancy rate; 1,237 students enrolled

2016-17: 42.93 percent habitual truancy rate; 1,421 students enrolled

Steelton-Highspire used a program called "Check and Connect" as a way to retain students who are at risk for becoming habitually truant.

Not only was the state definition of habitual truancy clarified in 2016, but Act 138 also changed school code by requiring districts to focus on prevention and early intervention efforts. For example, some districts trying to combat truancy have resorted to charging students or their parents or guardians with a summary offense, or revoking a students driving privileges.

Missing one day can affect achievement, Waters said. One of the issues discussed a year and a half ago, with district judges, was instead of fining parents  its not a great solution  is to offer parent training classes.

School districts were tasked by the state under Act 138 to offer school attendance improvement conferences as a way to take a proactive approach to unexcused absences by offering the student and their parents or guardians an opportunity to address the underlying causes of the students' absences.

Kids cant see you have to attend school for 180 days, Waters said. They think, I miss 7 or 8, whats the big deal? Research shows truancy has a negative impact on learning. We have a good number of kids who miss 10 days of school or more.

Waters explained he wants to create a centrally located community resource center, where students and parents who may need help with babysitting, laundry, food, or dealing with trauma, can get assistance.

Steelton-Highspire hired a new social worker last year to work with students who are perceived to be at risk for truancy and has been using a program called Check and Connect, Waters continued.

Both have produced results.

Thirty-one students successfully completed the program in 2017-18 and are no longer considered at-risk for missing classes, Waters noted. Thats a 65 percent success rate, he said.

There are currently 49 students in the Check and Connect program, Waters confirmed.

The program matches students with a mentor or counselor whose goal is to keep education a priority for students. Students who go through the program are enrolled for two years.

Mentors Check attendance and academic performance regularly, and Connect with students about progress, goal setting, and problem solving, and make themselves available to listen to personal concerns. Mentors promote cooperation between families, schools, and services to enhance communication and deepen student support, according to the programs website.

Dauphin County has indicated an interest in expanding the Check and Connect program within the Harrisburg School District, said Leah Hannah, vice president of strategic development for Pennsylvania Counseling Services, which runs the Check and Connect program.

We did start in Rowland Academy in 2016, Hannah said. We started at the end of the school year in April or May. There was a 79.5 percent success rate in the first two years of the program for students who went through it and were discharged from the program.

When a district has exhausted ways to encourage students to return to the class room, then the courts come into play. A parent or guardian, or the student, depending on his or her age, can be issued a citation for a summary offense, said Steele, of the Juvenile Court Judges Commission.

Truancy is a concern to the courts because of what it often leads to, Steele said. Truancy issues often are a precursor to crime. Its certainly not a positive factor.

Act 138, passed by lawmakers in 2016, is a better approach to fixing habitual truancy, Steelton-Highspire Superintendent Travis Waters said.

Despite the 2016 push to rewrite how schools approach truancy, a district magistrates presence is still valued in some school districts.

We do find success in using our District Magistrate when dealing with students in conjunction with our third-party intervention specialists, Albert Gallatin Area School District Attendance Director Gary M. Serock, Jr. said. If we use the third-party agencies alone, it seems to go in one ear and out the other and we find many parents wont consent to their services, as students need parental consent. But, if we can start using our magistrate in Act 138 meetings, once per month, and giving the parents an option to comply in the home, whereas we need the parents to hear the message as well, or face a citation, it seems to have a lasting effect and parents usually comply. Connellsville School District is using this approach and its working out wonderfully.

PennLive researched Safe Schools reports, and found several school districts reported astronomically high truancy rates in 2017-18. School officials in those districts were contacted to confirm the accuracy of rates reported to the state.

In addition to Albert Gallatin Area School District, several other school leaders said they anticipated a higher habitual truancy rate under the new reporting definition, however, officials in Berwick, Conestoga Valley, Duquesne, Dunmore, East Stroudsburg, McKeesport, Midd-West, Panther Valley, Juniata County, Tussey Mountain and Southern York school districts said their rates werent even close.

Most said they didnt input the proper data using statewide technology used to report performance metrics to the state department of education, noting that they didnt use the new Act 138 definition.

Truancy rates reported by other central Pennsylvania schools range from 2.00 percent to 22.74 percent in 2017-18.

Harrisburg School District resident and retired educator Barbara Hunt Conrad recently approached the citys school board to warn them that they must take the statistics seriously.

She cited state Department of Education data showing that 30 percent of the districts elementary school students dont attend school regularly.

We are losing our students before they even enter first grade, she said.The Pennsylvania Senate has been quietly paying the legal bills of the former security chief who resigned over allegations of sexual harassment against two female subordinates, the Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting.

According to the report that followed a public records request, Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnatis office paid at least $23,355 to cover the legal expenses of Justin Ferrante, who resigned in 2017 and is being sued by the two women.

Senate lawyer Drew Crompton told the Philadelphia Inquirer that it was a difficult call to cover Ferrantes legal bills, but it is one that falls in line with their policy of paying for legal services.

He said one of the factors that led to the decision is that the Senate is also named as a defendant and some of the allegations are likely not accurate, according to the report.

You can read the full report here.

Ferrante has denied all allegations, the report indicates.HARRISBURG  Some described it as a fortress. Others are nostalgic for its quirky charm. And still others just remember it as a leaky, drafty, mouse-infested mess.

For more than 50 years, the old brick building just past the overpass at 812 Market Street in Harrisburg housed The Patriot-News.

But now, its just a memory and a pile of rubble.

The building, purchased by Public School Employees Retirement System, has been undergoing a slow demolition since October.

PSERS officials said they were conducting a study of what will be done with the property.

Built in 1953, the building was home to The Patriot-News until 2010, when the newsroom and other departments moved to the current location on Technology Parkway in Hampden Township.

The vacant building was purchased first by a New York commercial real estate company, Twenty Lake Holdings in June 2017 for $644,286. L & B Realty Advisers LLP, a Dallas-based real estate investment advisor, then purchased the building from Twenty Lake Holdings for $1.6 million on Dec. 20, 2017, according to Dauphin County records. PSERS announced in January 2017 that L & B Realty Advisers LLP made the purchase on its behalf.

While The Patriot-News has been out of the old building for nearly a decade, and the focus has shifted in that time from print towards PennLive.com and the companys growing online presence, its still not easy for some to see this deconstruction of the past.

It makes me super sad, said senior sales manager Kelly Gambini, who has been here since 1994. Everything now feels so sterile compared to what buildings like that were.

She remembers the old woodwork and the authentic newspaper feel. She also remembers the grittiness and having to store snacks in plastic containers because of the mice. But that all added to its charm. Its character.

Others wont miss that character at all.

If youre talking about the building, I dont have any fond memories, said retired assistant managing editor Skip Wachter, who started working here in 1985. If youre talking about working at The Patriot-News, it was the people. I thought it was a great place to work. I stayed there for 32 years.

The buildings idiosyncrasies dont have the same resonance with Wachter. He doesnt miss dashing around the newsroom on rainy nights, placing trash cans on desks to catch water leaking through the ceiling while trying to assemble the next days paper.

The people. The accomplishments that we achieved together. Those are the things that stand out, he said. The friendships.

But for others, its a mixed-up medley of feelings  a pinch of treasuring the past and a dash of excitement for what the future holds.

Cate Barron, vice president of content, remembers seeing the old fortress of a building when she first came to work for The Patriot-News in 1987. It was perfect for a newspaper  editors along the sides, reporters in the middle, copy boys running in between -- but its also a part of the past.

Its yesterdays news.

But still.

You have to feel nostalgic about it, especially when theyre tearing it down, she said. You can shed a tear or two.Under mounting pressure to identify clergy accused of sexual misconduct, New Jerseys five Catholic dioceses opened their files Wednesday and released the names of every priest and deacon credibly accused of sexually abusing a child over multiple decades.

There are 188 names on the lists from the five dioceses. Of those, more than 100 are dead.

The lists include 63 priests and deacons accused in the Archdiocese of Newark, 57 in the Diocese of Camden, 30 in the Diocese of Trenton, 28 in the Diocese of Paterson and 11 in the Diocese of Metuchen. (One priest was listed on both the Newark and Paterson lists.)

The full list of named priests and deacons is at the bottom of this post.

In an effort to do what is right and just, we are publishing the names of diocesan clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors in the Archdiocese of Newark. This list of names is the result of an extensive review of archdiocesan records dating back to 1940. All names were previously reported to law enforcement agencies, said Cardinal Joseph Tobin, head of the Archdiocese of Newark.

Dioceses around the country have been releasing similar lists of accused priests in recent months. New Jersey is the first state in the nation where every diocese in the state released its lists on the same day.

The dioceses voluntarily released the lists, though the release comes as New Jerseys attorney generals office has set up a task force to investigate priest sexual abuse and look into whether the Catholic Church improperly handled allegations of abuse.

While this is a positive first step towards transparency and accountability, I hope this spirit of openness continues during the course of our ongoing investigation and in response to our requests for records and information, said Gurbir Grewal, the states attorney general.

Despite the recent actions by the dioceses, our investigation remains ongoing because no institution or individual is immune from accountability, Grewal added.

The five dioceses have already collaborated to create a new compensation fund, unveiled earlier this week, to pay alleged victims settlements in exchange for not filing the lawsuits against the church.

The lists of accused priests include many who have died, in addition to those removed from ministry and stripped of their standing as clergy. However, most of the lists include little information about what the priests were accused of and whether they were moved from parish to parish or permitted to continue to serve with children after they were accused.

Several of the dioceses also failed to list which parishes the accused priests served in, making it difficult for parishioners to look up their churches.

In the Diocese of Trenton, a spokeswoman said church officials are still working on adding information to its list, which only included the name of the accused priests, their dates of birth, ordination date and their current status.

As of today, we are still in the review and verification process, which is why Bishop OConnell has been clear in presenting this as a preliminary list. We will update the list as soon as possible, said Rayanne Bennett, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of Trenton.

The Diocese of Paterson said it also plans to add the locations where priests served to its list.

We anticipate that the list on the website will be supplemented in the ensuing days, once we are satisfied with 100 percent accuracy," said Richard Sokerka, a spokesman for the Diocese of Paterson.

Some of the names on the Archdiocese of Newark list include:

--Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former head of the Archdiocese of Newark and the Diocese of Metuchen, is the highest-ranking priest on the list. McCarrick stepped down from ministry and gave up his cardinal title last year after he was accused of sexual misconduct with several priests and seminary students and the abuse of minors. He is awaiting a church trial.

--Rev. John Capparelli, who was ordained in 1980, was accused of repeatedly groping teenage boys in the 1970s and 1980s while active in ministry. He later worked as a public school math teacher in the Newark school district after he was removed from ministry. He agreed to the revocation of his teaching license in 2013.

--Rev. Michael Fugee, who worked in parishes in Newark, Rochelle Park, Short Hills and Wyckoff, was removed from ministry in March 2014 by the Vatican for repeatedly defying a lifetime ban on working with children. Fugee was accused of attending youth retreats and hearing confessions from minors despite signing a court-sanctioned decree forbidding such activities. His case was outlined in a report in The Star-Ledger in April 2013.

--Rev. Peter Cheplic, who was accused of molesting four teenage boys in the 1970s and 1980s. He repeatedly denied the accusations, but the Archdiocese of Newark removed him from ministry in 2006. In 2013 ,The Star-Ledger found Cheplic living with at least seven other alleged sexual predators in a Rutherford retirement home.

To help bring healing to the victims and restore trust in the leadership of the Catholic Church, the Archdiocese of Newark has released a list of those members of the clergy with credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors: https://t.co/uVSJP74Cab  Newark Archdiocese (@NwkArchdiocese) February 13, 2019

The release of the lists come after New Jerseys five dioceses  Newark, Camden, Paterson, Metuchen and Trenton announced Monday the establishment of a victim compensation fund and counseling program for victims of sexual abuse by clergy and other church employees.

The New Jersey attorney generals office began an investigation last year into how the states five dioceses handled sexual abuse allegations. The attorney generals task force has set up a hotline-- (855) 363-6548 -- for alleged victims to report abuse.

The lists included only the names of priests and deacons who worked within the New Jersey dioceses. The names of other New Jersey clergy members accused of abuse, including Jesuit priests, Benedictine monks and those who worked at schools and organizations run by religious orders are not expected to be included on the lists.

Tobin said the release of the New Jersey dioceses lists is part of big changes in the church.

The disclosure of this list of names is not an endpoint in our process. Rather, it is an expression of our commitment to protecting our children, and a new level of transparency in the way we report and respond to allegations of abuse. We must protect our children, first, foremost and always, Tobin said.

Some critics said they were pleased to see the Catholic Church opening up its files on abuse allegations, but they were skeptical church leaders were being truly transparent.

"Given the vast number of priests named as sexual abusers and the span of time in which the sexual abuse took place it is fair to state that the archdiocese and dioceses in New Jersey have forgotten how to be moral and kind with children, said Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston attorney portrayed in the film Spotlight. He has represented more than 50 alleged victims of sexual abuse in cases against the Catholic Church in New Jersey.

State Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, a long-time advocate for victims of abuse, who has also pushed to eliminate New Jerseys limits on civil lawsuits involving child sex abuse complaints against priests, wondered whether some priests may be left off the lists.

I think this list is decades overdue, Vitale said. Im appreciative that theyve revealed these names, particularly for those who may have been their victims. Time will tell whether this list is complete.

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Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.The second stop on Lt. Gov. John Fettermans statewide listening tour to gauge interest in legalizing marijuana in Pennsylvania was much like his first, with overwhelming support from the standing-room-only crowd in Mechanicsburg on Wednesday.

Roughly three-quarters of the 150 or so crammed into the ballroom at the American Legion Post 109 in Mechanicsburg favored its legalization. For comparison, the tours first stop in Harrisburg on Monday, revealed in a show of hands from the crowd that support there was even stronger at four to one.

On this Cumberland County stop on the listening tour, those who want to make pot legal in Pennsylvania cited several reasons. Some expressed a desire to limit governments involvement in peoples lives and others want to make it more affordable for people who want it for medical reasons.

But opponents made their objections known as well. In fact, the first two speakers who stepped up to one of the two microphones set up at the front of the room were against it.

Gene Arnold of Lower Allen Township, a former police officer, said he has two nephews who are cops in Colorado who told him that state went downhill after recreational use was made legal there.

I am against it, he said. Its an addictive drug and we already have enough problems.

The next man who spoke said while he supported legalizing medical marijuana, he is against broad legalization that he sees as a gateway drug that will lead to more sexual assaults, mass shootings, child abuse and other societal problems.

Its just another attempt to lower our standards, and we should not bow to those who will profit by this, he said.

Paul Maulfair Jr., who lives in Middletown, said while some argue that marijuana is safer than other drugs, safer does not mean safe. Not legalizing any additional recreational drugs is far safer.

But for the few who called it a gateway drug and cited research that spoke of the negative societal and health effects, supporters of legalization werent buying it.

Im going to be honest. Ive smoked marijuana since I was 17. Im 64 years old. I never used another drug in my life. It is not a gateway drug," said Sandra Webb of Mechanicsburg, drawing applause. She said she is eligible to get a card to buy medical marijuana in Pennsylvania but I cant afford it. I think marijuana should be legalized.

Ron Lyter, a 66-year-old retired plumber and pipefitter, said he has used marijuana since he was 15. Throughout his career, he worked on multi-million dollar projects and showed up for work and raised a family.

The idea that were going to become a dumb society, I personally cant see it, he said. Im very pro. Its time. Lets do it.

Joe Mandrusiak shared that he is a longtime Republican and opposes recreational use of marijuana. But he added he finds it hypocritical to be for limited government and oppose something that should be a personal choice for people, whether they want to smoke it or not. So he is for it.

Russ Matthews of the Harrisburg area, who has worked in the drug and alcohol counseling field for three decades, said he has treated alcoholics as well as methamphetamine, heroin and crack addicts. He said he found marijuana to be the least harmful drug of any of them.

I believe we are making criminals out of innocent people and it does not need to happen, he said, admitting he smoked marijuana in college and still graduated with honors. There are people who do get lost in it, but there are many people who get lost in alcohol and narcotics.

Fetterman, who has been outspoken about his support for marijuana legalization, made it clear at the outset of the session  as well as during the session when someone challenged him about his view  that his position on the issue is not why he was there.

The audience remained mostly respectful of others who held an opposing view of legalization and the tone of the conversation remained civil. Afterward, Fetterman said thats what he finds encouraging.

People have different opinions and thats what this tour is all about, he said.

The listening tour is bringing into focus where Pennsylvanians stand on an issue that is gaining momentum across the country, including neighboring New York and New Jersey. Both states have signaled interest in legalizing recreational marijuana use sometime this year.

But even if the listening tour leads Gov. Tom Wolf to the same conclusion, any legalization bill will likely face an uphill battle in the state Legislature. Leaders of the House and Senate Republican majorities have made it clear they oppose the idea.

A stop on the listening tour in Perry County was postponed on Tuesday due to the winter weather that hit the area that day. But Fettermans Chief of Staff Bobby Maggio said it has been rescheduled for 6 to 7:30 p.m. Feb. 20 at a different location than where it was to be held. The session will take place at the firehall in New Bloomfield , 71 Soule Road.

In the meantime, the lieutenant governor is heading to western Pennsylvania on Monday and Tuesday with planned stops in Washington and Greene counties.

He plans to hold at least one town hall in every county in the state on his listening tour before sharing his findings with Gov. Tom Wolf, who he said would decide what we do with it moving forward.

Those unable to attend a listening tour session or didnt want to speak publicly about their views but want to offer their input on the issue of marijuana legalization can do so using this form on the governors website.WILLIAMSPORT - A Lycoming County man still will not legally hunt with his grandchildren because of a misdemeanor conviction more than 40 years ago.

U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann Wednesday refused to restore the right of Terry E. Laudenslager of South Williamsport to possess firearms.

Laudenslager pleaded guilty in 1976 to three counts of receiving stolen property (three used television sets) valued at $1,250. He was placed on three years' probation and assessed $300 in costs.

In his suit against former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and another government official, he called his situation unique in that he has been a law-abiding citizen with no history of violent behavior, is employed and he would not pose any danger by possessing a firearm.

He pointed out he sold his guns immediately after being convicted and has not been in trouble since.

He said he wanted to possess firearms for self-protection and so he could hunt with his grandchildren.

That Laudenslager was convicted of a non-violent crime and he was not sentenced to prison weigh in his favor, the judge wrote.

But, Brann ruled although the crime to which he pleaded guilty was a misdemeanor it carried a maximum prison term of five years.

The state Legislature denoted the crime as the most serious of the misdemeanors with that sentence, he said.

An exclusion from the prohibition on owning guns is an offense classified by a state as a misdemeanor that is punishable by a jail sentence of two years or less.

The court also cannot consider passage in time, the judge wrote, citing other court decisions.

Brann, who was required to consider how other states classified a similar crime, said 38 have a maximum sentence that meets the threshold of a traditional felony.

Only 13 states classify receiving stolen property valued at $1,250 as a crime punishable by a term of less than two years in prison, he said.

Laudenslager contended preventing him from owning a firearm due to his 1976 misdemeanor conviction violated his Second Amendment right to bear arms.

He cannot buy a gun legally because he would have to answer yes to the question that asks if he was convicted of a crime for which a judge could have imposed a sentence of more than a year, he said.WILLIAMSPORT - The credibility of testimony by a co-defendant will be a factor whether jurors find a Williamsport man guilty of killing a man and his mother on Halloween night in 2016.

Joseph Coleman

The trial of Joseph Sentore Coleman Jr., 37, began Wednesday in Lycoming County court with defense attorney Robert Hoffa telling jurors the credibility of Casey N. Wilson will be an issue in "this horrible case because two people are dead."

Wilson pleaded guilty in January to third-degree murder for his role in the murder of Shane Wright, 25, and Kristine Kibler, 50, in a half of double in the 600 block of Poplar Street.

His plea agreement requires him to testify against Coleman, which he did Wednesday, and a third defendant, Jordan Adonis Rawls, 37, whose trial is scheduled for April.

First Assistant District Attorney Martin Wade inferred in his opening statement Rawls was the triggerman.

He pointed out Coleman had left the house before two shots were heard and he later berated Rawls for shooting the two.

The prosecution alleges Rawls, Coleman and Wilson, who are being held without bail, planned the home invasion because Wilson needed money to pay off a debt.

Wilson claimed Rawls and Coleman were aware Wright sold marijuana and Molly, a synthetic psychoactive drug.

Wade told jurors that prosecution evidence will show this is what transpired that night:

Wilson drove the other two to Poplar Street and went inside to be sure the back door was unlocked and the women and children were upstairs.

He returned to the vehicle and Coleman and Rawls, both wearing masks, went into the house.

Wilson drove them from the area and disposed the gun that was found three days later in bushes elsewhere in Williamsport.

Wright was shot in the head at the front door and his body partially concealed a magazine that fit the handgun.

Kibler was discovered at the top of stairs to the second floor with a child on her chest. She was shot in the abdomen and died three hours later.

Jurors were shown marijuana and drug paraphernalia found in the dwelling.

Coleman, who was arrested in Harrisburg, is charged with homicide, conspiracy, robbery, attempted robbery, tampering with evidence, possession of an instrument of crime and receiving stolen property. His trial is expected to last into Friday.

A charge of convicted felon not to possess a firearm was severed, so jurors are unaware Coleman has a record.

His December trial on that charge ended in a mistrial because a judge found the relationship between Coleman and his public defenders could not be repaired. Hoffa then was appointed for the murder trial.

Clinton County Senior Judge J. Michael Williamson, who is assigned the case, two weeks ago denied a defense motion to dismiss the charges because Coleman's speedy trial rights had been violated.

The judge blamed the delay on a backlog in the judicial system in Lycoming County, saying "no common sense is applied to scheduling cases."

Also in December, Coleman was found guilty in U.S. Middle District Court on a charge of illegal possession of a weapon by a felon.

That charge stemmed from the sale of a 9mm pistol in May 2014 and was unrelated to the homicide.Accused of sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl, a Carlisle man now faces multiple felony charges.

The mans girlfriend, police said, was the 4-year-olds babysitter.

Brian K. Rowe, 53, of Carlisle has been charged will felony counts of aggravated indecent assault of a child, unlawful contact with a minor, aggravated indecent assault of a person younger than 13 and corruption of minors, online court documents show.

According to a criminal complaint filed by Carlisle Borough police, the assault was called into investigators about 7:06 p.m. Dec. 17, when the girl reported it to her parents.

Police said they spoke to the girls mother, who told them the 4-year-old had disclosed that Rowe sexually assaulted her on a living room couch. The girl later told investigators the same, police said.

Rowe was described by police as the live-in boyfriend of the girls babysitter.

Police said the girl first told her father about the reported assault, and she then was taken to an area hospital to be evaluated.

Online court documents show that Rowe was arraigned on his charges last week before Magisterial District Judge Jonathan R. Birbeck. He is to appear for a preliminary hearing at 11:15 a.m. Feb. 20.

As of Wednesday afternoon, online court documents showed that Rowe remained incarcerated in Cumberland County Prison unable to post bail.The agriculture industry is facing a workforce shortage and Gov. Tom Wolfs administration hopes to address it with the Pennsylvania Farm Bill, a proposal that is being described as historic.

This multi-faceted $24 million package includes a variety of measures aimed at cultivating future generations of farmers and providing assistance to help new and beginning farmers.

The average age of a Pennsylvania farmer is 56 years old, Wolf said during a Thursday news conference on the 170-acre South Londonderry Township farm of Frank and Virginia Graybill.

Looking to a group of blue-jacketed FFA members, Wolf said, And its getting higher every year which is why its so important for you to want to be farmers.

Lawmakers hailed the Farm Bill proposal as the first time in generations that agriculture was given some focused attention in a governors budget proposal. The package includes low-interest loans, grants, tax breaks and other measures to attract a new crop of farmers in Pennsylvania.

Wolf said his administration doesnt have all the answers to filling the nearly 75,000 job vacancies in the agriculture and food industries over the next 10 years. But he said engaging in a conversation with experts in the agricultural industry could produce some.

If we want these kids to think about a career in farming, we need to make sure we are reaching out to them earlier and more effectively, Wolf said. its a step we have to take so more of our kids in those blue jackets as well as 4-H think about farming and agriculture as a viable lifelong professional pursuit.

The farm bill provides $500,000 to reestablish a program to fund agricultural and rural youth organization to increase awareness of agricultural issues within the state as well as another $500,000 to improve childhood nutrition while increasing exposure to agriculture.

Rep. Martin Causer, R-McKean County, who chairs the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, said it could be something as simple as helping our children understand where our food comes from could spark long-term interest in agriculture.

Along with spurring interest in agricultural careers among young people, Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said another initiative in the farm bill package is putting $2 million into an agricultural business development center.

The package includes a measure that would offer a tax break for beginning farmers. Qualified farmers could acquire preserved farmland without having to pay the realty transfer tax.

Noting the state has preserved more than 5,200 farms since it developed its farmland preservation program in 1988, more than any other state in the nation, Redding pointed out 20 percent of those farms have changed hands once already. While the preference is for farms to stay in the family, thats not always possible.

By exempting them from the realty transfer tax, he said it would allow new and beginning farmers to purchase those preserved farms  and do so at a lower cost.

The proposed Farm Bill expands on a 10-year strategic plan prepared by the Department of Agriculture and Team PA that looks at the needs and opportunities in the states food and agricultural industry, which has a total economic impact to Pennsylvania of $135.7 billion.

The investments were talking about here today in the Pennsylvania Farm Bill ensures out industry will grow and thrive, said Sen. Judy Schwank, D-Berks County, who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee.

Another piece of the package includes providing $3 million in low-interest loans and grants to assist farmers in implementing best management practices. Yet another would invest $5 million into a rapid response disaster readiness account to be able to move quickly to address agricultural disasters and contain an outbreak or threat, such as the spotted lanternfly or avian influenza.

The bulk of the $24 million needed to fund the initiatives in the farm bill will come out of money redirected from other programs within the proposed $163.2 million agriculture department budget as well as through the Commonwealth Finance Authority, said department spokesman Shannon Powers. Additionally, $3 million proposed for a Resource Enhancement and Protection Tax Credit program is reflected in a reduction in anticipated tax revenues.

Among other components in the farm bill is one that seeks to bolster Pennsylvanias agricultural role in meeting the demand in the growing organic food market. This push for organic farming causes consternation among conventional farmers.

Some question whether it is sustainable for large-scale farming operations. Dairy farmer Frank Graybill, who hosted the news conference on his farm, said, Im not an organic-minded person and Id like to think we produce healthy food. Im not opposed to it but it almost puts us in the light that were not producing healthy food.

But Wolf and Schwank said the idea behind this initiative is to not to shift over completely to organic farming. Rather they see it as another opportunity in the states agricultural industry for farmers to help meet a growing demand for organic products and sell them at a premium price.

The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau overall is supportive of the package, said spokesman Mark ONeill.

It looks like it should be beneficial and hopefully it will be, he said. The last four years for our farmers with low commodity prices and the dairy industry in disarray, anything that can help boost the potential for higher sales or more opportunities we certainly support.

* This story is updated to indicate the proposed sources of funding for the farm bill programs.A Latino man who claims his wedding day was irreversibly tainted when a Cumberland County district judge called immigration officials to investigate him filed a federal lawsuit over the incident Thursday.

The main defendant in Alexander Parkers case is District Judge Elizabeth Beckley, whose bailiwick is on the West Shore.

Parker is represented in the U.S Middle District Court case by the American Civil Liberties Union. The suit itself can be seen as yet another skirmish in the nations current intense debate over immigration.

The ACLU claims Parkers constitutional protection against discrimination was violated when he and his then-fiance Krisha Schmick, went to Beckley to be married on May 23, 2017.

Parker, 22, was born in Guatemala, was brought to the U.S. as a potential adoptee when he was 8 months old and has lawful permanent resident status, the suit states.

However, when he sought to get married, Beckley refused to accept his only photo identification, an identity card provided by the Guatemalan consulate, the ACLU contends. It says Parker had no problem when he used the ID to obtain a marriage license.

Beckley and another unidentified official told Parker he could not leave the judges office, the suit states. Parker claims Beckley told him she believed he was not in the country legally and called U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to investigate. She also refused to perform the marriage ceremony.

Hours later, ICE confirmed Parker was a legal resident. Parker and Schmick then decided reluctantly to go forward for the sake of convenience and have Beckley marry them.

Still, the suit states, Having their wedding performed by a judge who assumed Mr. Parker was unlawfully in the country irreversibly tainted what should have been a joyous occasion.

An attempt to reach Beckley for comment on the suit was not immediately successful Thursday. Her judicial district covers Camp Hill, Lemoyne and Wormleysburg. Last year she was elected vice chair of the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board.

In general, judges are legally immune from lawsuits regarding their official actions. Judge John E. Jones III, who is presiding in over the Parker suit, will have to determine if the ACLU can pierce that shield.

In a statement released with the suits filing, Parker said, it was unacceptable and scary for us to be treated differently because Im Latino and was born in Guatemala. He is seeking unspecified financial damages. He and his wife now live in Florida.

Through this lawsuit we want judges and other local officials around our state to know that civil immigration enforcement is not their job, that it undermines their duties as public servants of the commonwealth and that it makes our communities less safe by creating fear of local law enforcement and courts, said Golnaz Fakhimi, an immigrant rights attorney with the ACLU of Pennsylvania.

The Beckley-Parker encounter was first outlined in a story ProPublica published last year citing cases where state and local officials appeared to be assisting ICE in immigration enforcement. The news site also claimed Beckley preempted the wedding of a Tajik couple by calling ICE on the groom and his best man.Police in Harrisburg have charged a 14-year-old boy with rape stemming from an incident they say happened at a school in December.

The boy is accused by police of raping a 15-year-old girl somewhere at Rowland School. The 14-year-old is currently being detained at a juvenile detention facility awaiting a hearing.

Due to both individuals being juveniles, police said they will not be releasing any additional details.

A reporter reached out to Harrisburg School District for comment, but was referred back to the Harrisburg Police Department.The alligator found inside a South Coatesville, Pennsylvania, home during a February 8 drug bust has been moved into the Brandywine Zoo in Wilmington, Delaware.

The 2-foot-long, juvenile American alligator is now in quarantine at the zoo, which is operated by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

It will be available as an educational animal at the zoo through the summer and then be moved to the St. Augustine, Florida, Alligator Farm and Zoological Park, an Association of Zoos and Aquariums-approved facility that loans alligators to the Brandywine Zoo for its summer exhibit.

The zoo is temporarily closed through the end of February, while construction and improvement projects are made to the campus in Wilmington.

Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan asked the zoo to take in the alligator, noted Brandywine Zoo Director Brint Spencer, who commented, We will provide care for the alligator and ensure it is healthy during its stay with the zoo.

The alligator was discovered February 8 as police in Chester County executed a search warrant at a home in Coatesville, and seized heroin, crack cocaine, suspected fentanyl, more than $5,000 in cash and drug packaging materials.

Police found the alligator living in the kitchen of the residence.

When we execute a drug search warrant, we never know what we will find, said Hogan. Sometimes it is an armed drug dealer. Sometimes it is the drug dealers terrified family. On this day it was an alligator.

He explained, Drug dealers will do just about anything to project an image of danger in order to protect their drugs and cash. Some drug dealers use pit bulls or snakes. These drug traffickers kept an alligator in the house.

Three men were charged with drug trafficking and related offenses following the raid: Irvin Gotti Hawkins, 31, of South Coatesville; Aki Gathright, 35, of Philadelphia; and Tyrone Jackson, 40, of Columbia, Pennsylvania.

There is no separate charge for possession of an alligator under Pennsylvania law.

We do not regulate possession of American alligators because they are non-native species, explained Mike Parker, communications director for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, which regulates native reptiles in the state.

Commission personnel also are sometimes called to deal with alligators released illegally into the waters of the state.

Here are reports on some of those illegally released alligators:The PA Media Group  The Patriot-News and PennLive  will honor 20 high school seniors as the Best and Brightest to represent the potential of the class of 2019.

This is our 27th year of honoring these exceptional students.

The deadline to enter is less than a month way. The deadline is March 8, 2019. Applications can be mailed to our office at 2020 Technology Parkway, Mechanicsburg, 17050 or dropped off in person at our office in Hampden Twp. A postmark of March 8, 2019, is acceptable.

Recipients are featured in The Sunday Patriot-News in May and in a photo gallery, videos and profiles on PennLive. Students, families and school officials also are invited to an awards reception.

To be eligible, a senior must have at least a B or 3.0 grade point average although a grade point average below 3.0 because of extenuating circumstances does not preclude participation.

Seniors must attend a public or independent high school or be home-schooled or attend cyber school in Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry or York county. Local residents attending schools in other counties or states are not eligible.

Selection is based on academic achievement, extracurricular activities and service to school, peers and community as well as an autobiographical essay and two letters of recommendation.

In the essay, students are asked to address any challenges they have faced.

Educators assist in semifinalist selection and leaders from business, the arts, education, faith, government and the community choose the 20 finalists.Patna: Senior Congress leader and former party state president Prof. Ram Jatan Sinha quit the party on Wednesday joined Janata Dal  U along with hundreds of his supporters.

Sinha was inducted into the party by JD-U state president Vashisht Narayan Singh in the presence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and national vice president Prashant Kishor.

At a function at the Samrat Ashok Convention Center in Patna, Kumar welcomed Sinha into the party saying he was giant in the field of education and his inclusion in the JD-U would help the government in formulating its education policies in the coming days.

Bihar, under the leadership of Nitish Kumar, is developing by leaps and bounds so I have decided to help him in any way I can, particularly in the field of education, Sinha said.

Nitish Kumar returned the favor by praising Sinha effusively.

Ram Jatan Sinha is not an ordinary person. He has been active in politics from his college days and has served effectively as the principal of Patna Science College. He is a former legislator and ex-Education Minister of Bihar. He would be a big asset in the JD-U, the Chief Minister said.Patna: After losing his legal battle to keep his government-provided bungalow on 5 Deshratna Marg in Patna, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejaswi Yadav on Wednesday vacated the sprawling home and shifted into equally large home located on 1 Polo Road.

Workers started to arrive early on Wednesday morning to move Yadavs belongings to his new home. All political banners and his name plate were removed along with the security guards posted at the steel gate.

After the last truck left the building, Yadav handed over the key to the Building Construction Department officials before taking a short drive to his new home.

As recalled, the Nitish administration had been trying to get the former Deputy Chief Minister to vacate the bungalow on the ground that it was allocated to the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar and since he no longer occupied that position, he was required to vacate it for the new Deputy CM.

Yadav, reluctant to do so, approached Patna High Court but it took the side of the government. He then knocked the door of the Supreme Court that not only turned down his appeal but also slapped a fine of Rs. 50,000 on him for wasting the apex courts valuable time.Patna: Former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi is once again feeling slighted by his political allies who do not reckon he deserves a bigger slice of the pie knowing he literally is a one-man party with most of his senior leaders already jumping the ship and joining hand with either Congress or Janata Dal  U just months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

At the meeting of the partys core committee in Patna on Wednesday, Manjhi, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief, claimed more seats within the Mahagathbandhan saying he would not be content with seats that are less than the number of seats given to Upendra Kushwahas Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP).

We are a much bigger party with our current expansion and we deserve the same number of seats that RLSP gets, if not more, the HAM leader, whose entire political career was built on the issue of reservation, said.

If his party does not get equal number of seats as Kushwaha, then he would be forced to look into other options available to him, he said.

Manjhi, in an attempt to get more seats, said that he has scheduled a meeting with imprisoned RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav on February 23 to discuss fair and equitable distribution of seats within the Grand Alliance.

We should not be considered any less than other members of the Grand Alliance. Our party is bigger than RLSP and VIP so we should get more seats than them, he said.

It may be recalled that Manjhis top two lieutenant Brishan Patel and Danish Rizwan recently resigned from the party after internal bickering erupted with all three accusing the other of some sort of impropriety or financial irregularity.

The name of the new state president will be announced on February 18, he further said.Patna: Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, speaking at a function to mark the death anniversary of former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur, took a shot at Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejaswi Yadav saying while Thakur, at the time of his death, did not even own a brick house or a bank balance, the 28-year old son of Lalu Prasad Yadav was already an owner of more than 30 'benami' properties in Bihar and elsewhere.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, paying tribute to Thakur at the Bihar Industries Association (BIA) meeting hall in Patna on Sunday, said that it was ironical that someone who was barely 28 years old and had no experience in politics but was the owner of more than 30 properties acquired by illegal means was going around swearing by the name of a veteran socialist like Karpoori Thakur who did not own a concrete house or even a bank balance at the time of his death after being in politics for nearly 50 years.

"He talks about late Thakur as if he is a devout follower of the former Chief Minister's ideals when the facts say otherwise," he said.

Reacting to the RJD's outburst at the 6th India Field Regional Commonwealth Parliamentary Union Conference at Gyan Bhawan in Patna on Saturday that earned the rebuke of Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Modi said that it was a classic case of 'chor ke darhi mein tinka' (guilty conscience reaction).

"I did not mention the name of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav but the RJD leaders were too quick to assume I was talking about him and why not? It is a fact that Yadav is a convict and is a jail bird," he said adding those who created ruckus in front of leaders from all the states should clarify whether Yadav was languishing in jail on corruption charges or was a 'satyagrah' prisoner.

"These people, after looting the state exchequer for 15 long years and pushing the state into an economic abyss, embarrassed Bihar once again yesterday when they created a scene before delegates from all states. People of Bihar will never forgive them," the Deputy Chief Minister said.Or Looking for Love (advice) in all the Wrong Places*

I once had the occasion to oversee a study on the topic of Buddhism and Love. The question, pondered my student, was what is the ideal Buddhist romantic relationship?

At hand we had:

books written by and for contemporary Westerners about Buddhist practice tons of historical material and scholarly works, and actual Buddhists from various backgrounds to talk with about the subject.

The contemporary books had plenty of relatively good, if not platitudinous, advice: love yourself before you can love someone else, generate compassion, accept change, recognize our need for community and companionship, etc, etc.

Then we went to the scholarly works and early texts. There we had a problem. The ideal romantic relationship in most of those was: dont have one. The householders life is dusty and crowded, warned the Buddha, make your home at the base of a tree  alone, or with wise friends.

And so it goes for nearly all of Buddhisms 2500 years. The big names, saints, bodhisattvas, etc are well over 90% unmarried monastics and well over 90% male.

One could look at one of the jatakas  past life stories of the Buddha, often presented as morality tales  such as the tale of Prince Vessantara, when the bodhisattva (Buddha-to-be) perfected the virtue of generosity by literally giving away his children and then his wife  in the happy ending, the bodhisattva gets his wife and kids back. And part of the story is that abandoning his wife and kids was tremendously difficult; but this only highlights the bodhisattvas even more tremendous devotion to the goal of awakening. The story of the Buddhas (final) life is similar: at the age of 29 and after just having a child with his wife, he leaves them both to seek awakening. The upshot again, of course, is that he finds awakening and teaches the path to his son and, eventually, reluctantly, to his former wife.

The appropriately often-cited Sigalovada Sutta, sometimes referred to as the discourse on lay ethics, has this to say of husband/wife relations:

In five ways, young householder, should a wife as the West be ministered to by a husband: (i) by being courteous to her, (ii) by not despising her, (iii) by being faithful to her, (iv) by handing over authority to her, (v) by providing her with adornments. The wife thus ministered to as the West by her husband shows her compassion to her husband in five ways: (i) she performs her duties well, (ii) she is hospitable to relations and attendants (iii) she is faithful, (iv) she protects what he brings, (v) she is skilled and industrious in discharging her duties. In these five ways does the wife show her compassion to her husband who ministers to her as the West. Thus is the West covered by him and made safe and secure.

How romantic. Be courteous. Do not despise. Be faithful. I suppose feminists might find an ounce of good in handing over authority to her and yes, finally with #5, something resembling what we today seek in romance: bling.

For her part, romance is reduced to protecting that bling, being faithful and hospitable, and not one but two items relating to her duties. Perhaps one of these was said with a wink and a nod? (Note: from a scholarly perspective, thats not out of the question, as Richard Gombrich has argued in What the Buddha Thought that in at least one sutta the text refers to something in the physical presence of the Buddha to which he gestures; however this is lost in redaction by those concerned simply with getting the words right.)

Even in one of the great love stories of early Buddhism, the marriage of King Pasenadi and Queen Mallika, we find much to scowl over. For one thing, Mallika is his favorite queen, meaning there are many. And at the time of her death, the king and the Buddha were sitting together and upon hearing the news the king sat there miserable, sick at heart, his shoulders drooping The Buddhas response was to explain that all the sorrow the king feels ultimately is for no good later using her story to reflect on death and decay. You can find an outstanding exposition on Mallika and the lives of other Buddhists in Buddhists: Understanding Buddhism Through the Lives of Practitioners (highly recommended!).

In any case, we dont get much from the texts to help lovelorn Westerners. Later texts, with dakinis and tantric consorts are no better with women magically appearing, helping the man on his spiritual journey, and then disappearing. And do see the great Bodhisattvas Way of Life by Shantideva if you are interested in even stronger words condemning sexual attraction  written by a monk for monks.***

Finally, we tried talking to a few of those actual Buddhists. Here we hit new speedbumps. For one thing, these are not things one tends to talk about with strangers. So it takes a little work. But then stories come out like, Do I love my husband? Asked of an elderly woman, Ive never thought about it like that. I mean, he works fairly hard and doesnt drink too much. So yea, I guess I love him.

Based on my studies/experience**, in the vast majority of Asian history, marriage was and is a matter of pragmatic necessity, not personal fulfillment in the way we know it in very recent Western history.

The bad news is that little in Buddhism is aimed explicitly at developing and maintaining good romantic relationships, so were left with scraping together otherwise wonderful Buddhist principles like compassion and gratitude and acceptance and letting go and repackaging them for the romantic West. This, some commentators point out, either cheapens Buddhism or simply co-opts its buzz-words for non-Buddhist ends.

The good news is that this might force us to rethink the way we go about looking for the one. And we can still find and enjoy love with an understanding of the whole Buddhist picture, which includes seeing the nature of death and decay in your partner and at times  not always, mind you  visualizing him or her as a pile of rotting flesh, guts, blood, and bones.

Now go have a Happy Valentines Day.

2019 update: As noted below, this is a 2016 post; and while I cant add much more from a scholarly/historical perspective (see the comments in the original for some good additions and ideas), I can add one anecdotal bit of hopeful advice. This arose out of a reflection I had last summer while traveling in China (my 4th trip there) and thinking about the ways that living and traveling in a foreign culture can expand our sense of our self by giving us outside or alternative viewpoints.

That is, as an American (white and male at that), I was raised to take my/our way of life as the default and all others as variously different. In China this year I was confronted with the many ways that China does things that make America look like the different one. In reflecting on this I took a sort of third view [though still deeply embedded in American upbringing, etc and embedded in these experiences in China], I saw the dynamic interplay of societies influencing and being influenced by one-another, neither privileged neither different.

And, odd as that may sound, I simultaneously reflected on how love can do the same: as we move out of being single and maybe even beyond the first phase of infatuation with our partner (like being a mere visitor in a new place). Experientially, I moved out of being just me and into a larger dynamic experience. So perhaps Buddhism doesnt have the greatest range of advice for us in the 21st century seeking love; but maybe love can show us certain truths in Buddhism, in this case the truth that any kind of self we might have is truly illusory.

* 2016 original version of this post.

** If you know of good studies on Asian and/or Buddhist Asian in particular notions of marriage, please let me know. My experience is based largely on my anecdotal evidence living and traveling in six Asian countries and interviewing individuals from about six more. Upon further searching I did find and read Cultural perspectives on romantic love by K.K. and K.L. Dion Personal Relationships, 3 (1996); A Cross-Cultural Perspective on Romantic Love by W.R. Jankowiak and E.F. Fisher Ethnology, Vol 31, No. 2 (Apr 199) and a few other works, but while these support a clear disparity between Western (Individualistic) cultural notions of love and Asian (Collectivistic) notions, they are hardly definitive.

*** Amod Lele, who has done extensive study of Shantidevas work, suggested in my original post that his work isnt cleary just for monks, noting that certain translations might make this less clear.

(photo adapted with changes from photo by Flickr user Wonderlane)Lets just start here (H/T to Killer Mike for the inspiration), with Republican President Ronald Reagan addressing the nation in mid-November 1986:

Our government has a firm policy not to capitulate to terrorist demands. That no concessions policy remains in force, despite the wildly speculative and false stories about arms for hostages and alleged ransom payments, we did notrepeatdid not trade weapons or anything else for hostages, nor will we.

You can probably guess whats coming next even if you dont know what happened. Per Ronald Reagan in an address to the nation on March 4th, 1987:

A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me thats true, but the facts of the evidence tell me it is not.

Welcome to the Reagan Era! Where patently absurd, contradictory and utterly Trumpian sentences like my heart and my best intentions still tell me thats true, but the facts of the evidence tell me it is not are taken at face value. That quote trying to convince you that words dont mean anything may be the best piece of evidence we have that Trump is the logical direction the party of Reagan was always going to turn in its dying days.

No presidential administration in modern history (including Trumpfor now) earned as many indictments as the Reagan Administration, and this is where we connect this heinous presidency to yesterdays major event, where Representative Ilhan Omar showed a war criminal complicit in a legally recognized genocide the exact amount of respect he deserved.

Watch all of this.

Because Trump is the (de-)evolutionary Reagan, Elliott Abrams is back in the news because Secretary of State Mike Pompeo named the disgraced/pardoned ex-convict as Trumps special envoy to Venezuela, a country stuck in the middle of a power struggle between a socialist leader (who has been ruling via emergency decree for most of this century) and the U.S.-supported insurgency of Juan Guaido.

From 1981 to 1989 and from 2001 to 2009, Elliott Abrams served in two Republican administrations, earning titles like assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs and deputy national security adviser for global democracy strategy. What those vague normalcies of governance paper over are the actual jobs Abrams worked on.

Elliot Abrams was a major architect of the American support for the Salvadoran government in the 1980s, which, along with its affiliated death squads, massacred upwards of 70,000 people in a country the size of New Jersey. As Jon Schwartz noted in his must-read recap of Abrams career in The Intercept, the equivalent number of deaths in the U.S. would be almost 5 million.

Abrams said that if we take the attitude dont come to us until youre perfect, were going to walk away from this problem until Guatemala has a perfect human rights recordreferencing (whether he meant to or not) what is sparsely known as the Silent Holocaustwhere the (U.S.-backed) Guatemalan government massacred between 45,000 and 60,000 adult Guatemalan Mayans between 1980 and 1985 (I say adult because that grotesque figure doesnt include crimes against humanitymultiplelike the Rio Negro massacres where 5,000 children were explicitly targeted and murdered by this U.S.-backed government).

Bringing this full-circle to the Reagan quotes at the top of the article, Elliott Abrams advocated for a full invasion of Nicaragua, was questioned about his activities surrounding Iran-Contra, lied, pleaded guilty to two counts of withholding information, and was later pardoned by Republican President George H.W. Bush after he lost the 1992 election.

watergate is such a strong part of the public consciousness because it has a modestly happy ending, whereas iran-contra is a hundred times more revealing about power in America and its hardly ever told  chris hooks (@cd_hooks) May 8, 2018

Representative Ilhan Omars interrogation yesterday in congress, plus Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez setting Twitter video records by using her time this last week to highlight the corruption baked into our system, demonstrate the vast generational divide in politics. The last generation of politicians largely avoided rocking the boat with their donors and have mostly played nice with war criminals like Elliott Abrams because people like him are supposed to be respected statesmen who have spent a lot of time in government, and so it would be in poor taste to embarrass them about their pastespecially with the whole nation watching.

This incoming generation of politicians doesnt give a shit about niceties for the sake of being niceespecially when it comes to war criminals. They are there to work the job. People like Elliott Abrams have brought an abomination upon humanity, and they should be disgraced and held up as an example of the shameful past we intend to avoid in the future.

Ilhan Omar has shown more political courage in the past week on the topic of the state of Israel using AIPAC to lobby D.C. (I am Jewish and I took zero offense to her assertion that a lobbying organization pays to lobby Congress) and this Elliott Abrams interrogation than almost the entire Democratic Party of the last 40 years combined. This four-plus minutes of direct, purposeful questioning from a refugee to a war criminal feels like what we would positively classify as American, and it gives me hope that there is a better, more accountable future ahead of us.

Jacob Weindling is a staff writer for Paste politics. Follow him on Twitter at @Jakeweindling.The EU and US share the view about the role Iran should play in the Middle East, but we are concerned about the potential outcomes of Iran's nuclear programme, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said at the start of the Middle East conference in Warsaw on Thursday.

In his opening address on the second day of the Middle East conference, Czaputowicz said that the time has come to give a new impulse to security issues in the Middle East.

"Stabilisation of the region, putting an end to ongoing conflicts, ensuring coexistence of cultures and building inclusive societies are all great challenges," the Polish foreign minister said.

Among the sources of conflicts in the region, Jacek Czaputowicz named efforts by some leaders to retain power at all cost, religious fundamentalism, lack of tolerance and systemic factors such as tipping the balance of power.

Czaputowicz expressed concerns over "reports on the non-constructive role" played by Iran in the region. "We also strongly condemn this country's activities outside its borders, including in Europe, which has met with additional sanctions from the EU," Czaputowicz added, referring to Iran's alleged assassination plots on EU territory.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who also opened the conference, said the meeting was aimed at ensuring cooperation and peace in the Middle East.

Pompeo said the Warsaw event was a historic meeting as he expressed satisfaction with the number of NATO and EU members taking part.

The Polish foreign minister said that "Poland has a special right to serve the international community as a place for dialogue."

Czaputowicz also pointed out that as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, Poland has "a special duty to get involved in actions designed to maintain and ensure peace."

The minister named a number of Poland's peacekeeping and allied initiatives in the Middle East, suggesting that "Poland has never remained indifferent towards the needs of Middle Eastern societies." (PAP)

jd/ ej/BLOOMINGTON  After more than 27 years in prison, Donald Whalen was given a new trial Wednesday morning in the 1991 brutal beating and stabbinIn August of last year, the Boston Globe called on newspaper editors across the nation to issue editorials denouncing President Trump's claim the media are the enemy of the people. Breathlessly, this newspaper heeded the call and gave us the predictable, group-think editorial.

Instead, The Pantagraph should have conducted a self-examination. The editor should have donned his journalism hat and asked why Trump would make this claim, why so many agree and, why trust of mainstream media polls abysmally.

The Feb. 3 edition of The Pantagraph provides examples about which the president is speaking. It is full of liberal, Democrat bias. Here are but a few:

An AP story on the Virginia governor and his racist photograph doesn't even bother to mention he's a Democrat. Another story quotes an actress on a CBS show, centering on the shooting of a black man by a white cop, as saying  unchallenged  "There is an epidemic (of) black men being systematically killed."

Half a page on Trump's declining approval numbers? Did Obama get that treatment? There is a story on someone thinking about running a story on Christian school indoctrination. Examples of indoctrination in public schools abound  ever see one in this paper?

The edition was just one instance of Pantagraph bias. One-sided, man-made, global warming stories are constant. Political cartoons are almost exclusively anti-Trump. Syndicated op-eds making claims video has proven to be lies (ex., the Pitts op-ed on Jan. 29) are still published.

Enemy of the people? Apparently, half of us.

Brad Lucey, Bloomington

Love 4 Funny 3 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1SPRINGFIELD  A Republican state lawmaker has proposed legislation to impose new restrictions on access to late-term abortions.

Rep. Patrick Windhorst, a freshman from Metropolis and a former Massac County states attorney, proposed to outlaw the procedure in Illinois once the fetus becomes viable, except when a womans life or major bodily function is threatened.

This bill is an effort to protect the life of an unborn child after the point when they can survive outside the womb, when basically youre just talking about an issue of location  when the child is deemed protected by the law or not, he said. Now, obviously theres going to be times when there may be a serious physical health reason that would justify the procedure, and thats why that exception is included in the law.

According to his measure, a medical emergency and major bodily function includes normal function of the immune, digestive, neurological, respiratory and circulatory systems, among others.

His bill does not provide an exception for protecting the mental health of the mother.

My hope would be that there would be a limitation on late-term abortions for only when it is truly a medical emergency for the woman to protect her life, or serious physical health, he said.

The bill specifies a doctor who violates the act would be committing a felony, which is also part of current state law, and could lose his or her license. It also creates an avenue for the woman, her husband or the womans parents to file a lawsuit and receive financial awards for psychological and physical injuries.

Julie Lynn, manager of external affairs for Planned Parenthood of Illinois, said the vast majority of abortions occur very early during a pregnancy. When they occur later, it is almost always because a womans health or life is at risk, or because the child cannot survive.

There is no such thing as an abortion up until birth. Its simply not how medical care works, and its frankly irresponsible to imply that it is, she said.

Democratic lawmakers filed legislation Wednesday, after announcing intentions to do so at a news event in Chicago, to repeal Illinois abortion law and replace it with more up-to-date language.

Their effort follows Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzkers pledge to make the state the most progressive state in the nation for access to reproductive health care, according to his spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh.

A spokesman for the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union called Windhorsts legislation dangerous. His organization supports the Democrats effort to ensure that these medical decisions are between a patient and a doctor, not between a patient and a politician.

Windhorst also is a sponsor of legislation to repeal a law that allows for tax dollars to be spent on abortion procedures that was signed into law two years ago.

This legislation is House Bill 2384.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0PARKLAND, Fla.  The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre a year ago renewed the national debate on guns and school safety, turned some victims' parents and surviving students into political activists and at least temporarily ended the local sheriff's career.

But Thursday's anniversary will primarily be about remembering the 14 students and three staff members who died in the third high-profile mass shooting in Florida since 2016. An interfaith service will be held at a Parkland park, near the school, to remember the victims.

Many Stoneman Douglas students arrived on campus Thursday wearing headphones and the burgundy #MSDStrong T-shirts that have become an emblem of the tragedy.

Outside the school, angel stakes for each of the 17 victims bordered the school's landscaped sign. While absenteeism was expected to be high Thursday, freshman Matthew Sabia said he attended to show support and participate in activities.

"I want to show respect to what happened. The students who were here are probably sad and don't want to think too much about it. We don't really talk about it," he said.

Classes were almost over last Valentine's Day when authorities say a 19-year-old former student arrived on campus and began shooting. The rampage left 14 students and three school staffers dead.

Jogger Kara Cannizzaro stopped Thursday morning to pray at the memorial outside the school. She says "every single person of the community has been affected by this."

Students also will perform service projects and observe a moment of silence and a non-denominational, temporary temple will open in neighboring Coral Springs for people to pay their respects. The structure will later be burned in a purification ceremony. Security throughout the community and at schools will be high.

"We don't need (the anniversary) to remind us what happened. We live with it every day," said businessman Andrew Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter Meadow died in the attack. He met with President Donald Trump at the White House after the shooting and became an adviser to Gov. Ron DeSantis and his predecessor, Rick Scott. Other fathers like Fred Guttenberg and Manuel Oliver have become active in Democratic politics.

And victims' relatives from both sides helped lead the successful push to remove Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel. DeSantis suspended the Democratic sheriff last month, citing incompetence in his handling of the shooting. Israel is fighting the suspension in the state Senate and says he will try to win back the office in next year's election.

The massacre also led some Stoneman Douglas students to form the group "March for Our Lives," which holds rallies nationwide calling for tougher gun regulations and toured the country registering young adults to vote.

"It was the kids themselves that made Parkland an unusual shooting," said Adam Winkler, a professor at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law and gun rights expert. Just in Florida, 49 people died in the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando and five died at Fort Lauderdale's airport in 2017. There have been other notable mass shootings across the country during that period  at a Las Vegas concert, a Pittsburgh synagogue and a Texas high school. But none resonated politically like Stoneman Douglas.

"What we haven't seen is a mobilization of the students in quite the same way," Winkler said.

But Thursday will be mostly a day to push aside politics. Victims' families who have spoken publicly say they will spend the day quietly, visiting their loved one's grave or participating in low-key events like a community walk.

"We are going to simply reflect and remember," said Tony Montalto, president of the victims' families' organization, Stand With Parkland. "That is the best thing." Montalto's 14-year-old daughter Gina died in the shooting.

At Stoneman Douglas, students will mark the tragedy by working on service projects. They also can receive mental health counseling and visit therapy dogs. Volunteers will provide massages and manicures.

Mickey Pope, the district's chief of student-support services, said the staff worked with mental health counselors, community groups, the victims' families and others for four months to devise a plan they believe will honor those killed and allow students and staff to mourn.

Still, many Stoneman Douglas students are skipping school. For some it's too emotional; others don't want to be in the spotlight.

Alexis Grogan, a junior, said she'll spend the day picking up beach trash, dedicating her work to those who died.

"I survived something and I don't want to waste what I call a second chance at life because those who have passed don't get that," she said. "We have to make a difference for them."

In Coral Springs, San Francisco-area artist David Best will open "The Temple of Time," which at 1,600 square feet (150 square meters) represents the indefinite period it will take for the community to come to grips with the slayings. It's an Asian design with a spire roof that has intricate designs cut into it.

Best rejected naming it "The Temple of Healing" because he said that is impossible for the victims and their families. Since 2000, he has built such temples worldwide, including in Northern Ireland for those killed in political strife and in Nepal for the 2015 earthquake victims. Like those structures, the Stoneman Douglas temple will be burned along with whatever mementos, writings and art that mourners leave behind. That ceremony will happen in May.

Most construction materials and other expenses are being paid by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's public arts foundation, but neither Best nor his workers are paid.

"When the smoke goes up and the flames go up, it will have a great meaning," said volunteer Tony Bianco, an Army veteran and artist from Coral Gables,

___

Associated Press Writers Kelli Kennedy in Fort Lauderdale and Lisa Marie Pane in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this report.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0BLOOMINGTON  Relatives of a man killed by gunfire in October gathered Wednesday to call for an end to the shootings that claimed nine lives locally in 2018 and to mark the first anniversary of the shooting that left 17 dead at a Florida high school.

For Dameca Kirkwood, the pain has not subsided in the 106 days since her 27-year-old son Trevonte Kirkwood was gunned down on a sidewalk on North Oak Street in Bloomington.

Kirkwood fought back tears as she recalled the phone call telling her of her son's injuries. The tears flowed as she remembered "the double whammy" of having to tell her son's 5-year-old daughter the horrific news.

To "the cowards" who killed her son, Kirkwood had a message: "You will be brought to justice." If justice is not achieved on earth, "they will meet their Maker," she said.

The event was organized by family and supporters of the Kirkwood family.

One year ago Thursday, the nation recorded its deadliest high school shooting after a lone gunman killed 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. The number of victims surpassed the 1999 massacre at a high school in Columbine, Colo.

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The mass shooting in Florida was the catalyst for renewed calls nationwide for changes in gun laws  many of those calls coming from new organizations and student-led campaigns.

Laurie Bell, with Moms Demand Action, said bad weather forced the group to reschedule the gathering from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. Valentine's Day and the first anniversary of the Parkland shootings seemed a fitting time to surround Dameca Kirkwood with love and support, she said.

"Only when we have justice for Trevonte can he rest in peace," said Bell.

Pat Turner, a minister with Center for Hope Church and candidate for the Normal City Council, held Kirkwood's hand as she delivered her remarks "as a mom to a mom, offering love and support."

Kirkwood's death is "a call to all of us," said Turner, "to wake up, a call to realize the challenge before us, a time to really move into action in a way we've never done before."

The group released a bouquet of red, heart-shaped balloons after closing remarks from the Rev. Mollie Ward, chaplain for Advocate BroMenn Medical Center in Normal. Ward asked people to take multiple steps forward until they were huddled on the top steps, surrounding Kirkwood's mother in a group embrace.

The problem of gun violence is not limited to mass shootings in places far away from the Twin Cities, Ward reminded the crowd. Everyone is connected as neighbors and must look out for each other, she said.

Contact Edith Brady-Lunny at (309) 820-3276. Follow her on Twitter: @pg_blunny

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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.BLOOMINGTON  A Family Dollar in Bloomington was robbed at gunpoint Tuesday night, police said.

At 8:24 p.m., officers were dispatched to the store at 1512 W. Market St. where a suspect had entered the store and pointed a gun at an employee, demanding money.

The suspect is described as a black male, approximately 6-foot tall with a slim build. He was wearing black clothes and had his face partially covered, according to Bloomington police.

He took an undisclosed amount of cash and fled on foot. No injuries were reported in the robbery.

It is not yet known if there is any connection to a rash of recent armed robberies in the Twin Cities. Twelve robberies have occurred since Dec. 8; an arrest has been made in one. Police have said one individual may be responsible for at least seven of those.

Were going to investigate this as a single incident, said John Fermon, public affairs officer for the Bloomington Police Department. But he added the department isnt ruling out the possibility that this robbery could be related to previous ones.

Police have nicknamed that suspect the Business Bandit, and described him as a black male, 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 8 inches tall with a medium build. In several of the incidents, the suspect was wearing a black hooded jacket with button or snap pockets on the front sides of the coat.

Anyone with information on the Family Dollar armed robbery is asked to contact BPD Detective Steve Moreland at 309-434-2359 or smoreland@cityblm.org.

To remain anonymous, call McLean County Crime Stoppers at 309-828-1111.

Contact Kelsey Watznauer at (309) 820-3254. Follow her on Twitter: @kwatznauer.

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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.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During her first State of the State address, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer gave special attention to the state of Michigan's roads, drinking water and education.

In a speech titled "Michigan: The Home for Opportunity," Whitmer spoke at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing on Tuesday night regarding the state's infrastructure, educational quality and environmental wellness.

Early in her address, Whitmer spoke on the urgency of reforming Michigan's infrastructure, specifically its roads.

"We have crumbling bridges with hundreds of temporary supports holding them up  buses of school kids and families travel over them and under them  hunks of concrete have slammed through windshields," Whitmer said. "By one estimate, the vehicle damage from our roads costs the average motorist $562 a year in repairs  we're paying a road tax that doesn't even fix the damn roads. That's money that could go toward childcare, rent, college tuition or retirement savings."

Whitmer encouraged all Michigan residents  from families affected by the unsafe conditions to business owners whose bottom lines are being impacted  to post their photos and stories to social media with the hashtag #FTDR.

She also highlighted challenges facing the state's educational system, including poor performance on third-grade literacy and the decline in child literacy among all age groups. Whitmer plans to address the crisis in job skills, by establishing the MI Opportunity scholarship, which will fund a two-year community college degree, or help reduce the cost of a four-year degree by providing two years of financial assistance to qualified students.

Whitmer also touched on the issue of water quality in Michigan and how it is being impacted by contaminations of PFAS (per-and-polyfluoroalkyl substances) that have been found in lakes, rivers and water systems in more than 70 communities across the state.

"This problem may not have commanded the same kind of national attention as the situation in Flint, but it is just as urgent," she said.

Member of the Michigan State Senate including Midland native Sen. Jim Stamas were pleased with Whitmer's address.

"Gov. Whitmer did a very nice job in her first State of the State  I think she came across very well," Stamas said. "I was very pleased to see that she continues to talk about the items that we've been working on for the last eight years, which is continuing to make sure that Michigan families have jobs, continue invest in education and the work force, continuing to improve the roads and put more dollars towards roads and solving the Michigan no-fault insurance issue."

Stamas did however think that Whitmer could have gone into more detail about the process it will take to actually put her plans into action.

"(Whitmer) put forward a lot of interesting ideas, but there was not a lot of detail in some of the programs that she's presenting with how we actually implement them and pay for them," Stamas said.

Newly-elected state Rep. Annette Glenn, of Midland, echoed some of Stamas' thoughts in a press release, saying that she looks forward to working with Whitmer to increase student reading-ability, bringing down the cost of car insurance and fix the roads, all of which, Glenn said, can be done without raising taxes.

"I hope (Whitmer) will be open to reducing the tax burden on Michigan residents  it's one thing to talk about fixing roads, spending more on schools and starting new programs  it's another thing to pay for them," Glenn said. "We have a responsibility to step outside the Lansing bubble and make investments in the services Michigan families depend on without increasing their tax bill. I'm committed to fighting for the values most important to Michigan families: honest and transparent government, responsible fiscal management and strong local communities."The Jobs for Michigan's Graduates program at Windover High School recently welcomed 31 new members into the organization's Career Association through its annual Initiation and Installation (I&I) Ceremony.

The event brought together public and private sector stakeholders, including school officials, and community members, to celebrate the incoming JMG students. JMG is a program of Youth Solutions Inc., a statewide youth opportunity organization equipping young people with the skills needed to overcome barriers and win in education, employment, and as citizens. Together with Windover High School, they run the JMG programming in Midland.

Jobs for Michigan's Graduates and its national affiliate Jobs for America's Graduates are proven game changers in education and youth employment. Over its 36-year history across 33 states, JAG has doubled the rates of employment and post-secondary education for poor and disadvantaged youth and tripled the rate of full-time employment compared to their counterparts.

The I&I Ceremony is the official induction of the programs' leadership. Windover JMG students elected to leadership roles include Haley Hammond (president and social media chair), Alex Laughton (vice president), William Conklin (secretary), and Cora Coin (historian).

Career Association leaders are responsible for planning year-round community service events, making programming recommendations, representing the program at state and national leadership events, and competing in employability skills competitions. In his role as the Career Association vice president, Conklin has found JMG helpful with his planning and self discovery.

"As a member and officer, I have found out so much, not just about the organization, but also about myself," he said.

Many community members were present to support the Career Association, including state Sen. Jim Stamas of Midland, who has been supportive of Jobs for Michigan's Graduates programming and Windover High School.

The students also welcomed several guest speakers. Andrea Foster, Community Programs manager at Little Forks Conservancy, ensured students that, "Your ability to work through problems and come out on the other side will get you so much farther in life than the person who is given everything they need to survive already. They don't have to work for it as hard as you all have, but believe it or not, you have the upper hand. You already have so many more tools in your kit than those more privileged."

Foster's address allowed students to see that their hard work in school and the JMG program, as they break through their barriers, is worth the outcome.

Gina Wilson, the principal of Windover High School, also spoke during the ceremony.

"Windover High School is so fortunate to have the partnership with Jobs for Michigan graduates. It gives students the opportunity to learn and build skills around college and careers," she said. "But more than that, the leadership skills students garner are truly priceless."

Windover and JMG are now in their second year of partnership, while the program has been running statewide for 10 years.Every family story begins somewhere, and the story of the Farmer family begins in Delaware in the Native American village of Little Creek Hundred near Dover. Josiah Farmer was Delaware Indian and mulatto. (Mulatto was the historic term for a person of mixed race, specifically black and white. The term, used here because it appears in census records, is generally not used today.) While there are no known photos of him, family awareness of his mixed-race identity was passed down to his children and suggests that one of his ancestral parents was of European origin.

While the Delaware Indians lived a peaceful life in their villages along the river, policies of the U.S. government threatened their land and their lives through the Indian Removal Act (1830) and programs for Indian Relocation. Slavery was a menace and the Underground Railroad was active in helping people of color escape to freedom in Canada.

Around 1850, Josiah Farmer left their village near Dover, Delaware, with his wife, Elizabeth, and three children (Abel, 7; John, 5; and Sarah, 1). He traveled by covered wagon with two other families of Delaware Indians - the Perkins and the Dean families - and first headed to Canada where black and indigenous families had fled previously. By 1860, the public record indicates they returned to the U.S. and resided in Nankin, Wayne County, Michigan, where Josiah Farmer purchased land, established a working farm and expanded his family. Josiah was a young free man in his 30s and his household as documented in the U.S. Census of 1870 included five daughters and five sons. His two older sons, John and Abel, occupied a separate residence in Detroit and worked in a tile plant. It is also notable that the U.S. Census of 1870 identifies the family as white. People of color with lighter skin faced less discrimination and sometimes passed for white.

The Farmer Brothers in Midland County

Josiah's son, John Farmer, married Elizabeth Highgate in Canada in 1872 and started their family. Elizabeth was the younger sister of Aaron Highgate who had moved his family from Canada to Midland in 1882. This connection is likely what brought the Farmers to Midland's Ingersoll Township in 1893, where John purchased 40 acres of land and established a working farm. By 1884, they had a full household with eight children ranging from their oldest son James, age 21, to baby Earl.

And here the story of the Farmer brothers and their families in Midland begins to take root.

Stephen Luther Farmer and Cora Wells Farmer -- Their story

John's younger brother, Stephen Farmer, was born in 1863 in Wayne County. The Farmer family history shows that Stephen was first married to Mercy Barbara Hatfield on April 10, 1899. The Hatfields were a mixed family in Midland -- Joseph Hatfield was a person of color and his wife, Phillopina Schmidt Hatfield, was white of German ancestry. For whatever reasons, the marriage of Stephen and Mercy did not survive and the couple were divorced.

Stephen returned to Wayne County where he met and married Cora Bell Wells on June 20, 1900. In 1901, Stephen and Cora Farmer joined Stephen's older brother John in Midland, acquiring a 40-acre farm in Ingersoll Township. Their farm was located at 1718 Patterson Road at Gordonville Road, just next to John's 40 acres. Later, Stephen's brother Eugene Farmer purchased 40 acres on the other side; so together the Farmer brothers owned 120 acres of farmland. The family collaborated in their farming enterprise, growing wheat and alfalfa to sell on the market. The brothers prospered.

By 1910, Stephen Farmer and his wife, Cora Wells Farmer, had five daughters: Frances, 8; Katherine, 7; Mary, 4; Louisa, 3; and Grace, a baby. The Farmer household was also home to Cora's mother, Frances, and Cora's brother, Joseph, with his two children. In 1916, Stephen and Cora Farmer were blessed with twin boys, Raymond and Robert.

'Because we were colored'

Stephen Farmer worked in partnership with his two brothers to run their large working farms of 120 acres. However, despite their economic success and business in farm products, their families experienced the community prejudices of the day "because they were colored people."

While Stephen Farmer did seasonal work at The Dow Chemical Co. in Midland, he was denied full-time employment there. In the early 1900s, it was the company policy to limit full-time hires to white males. Stephen and Cora Farmer were very aware of this prejudice toward residents of color in the town of Midland. By Cora's description, "people were not hateful or anything, but there were many things which colored people were not allowed to do; and many times, we were treated unfairly." As a result, Stephen did not allow their children to go into town. If there were things they needed like shoes, he measured their size and purchased them himself. In this way, he offered some protection to his children from the direct experience of prejudice.

A neighbor remembers the kindness of Stephen Farmer

Alberta Dodge grew up on a neighboring farm in Ingersoll Township, and shared her memories of Stephen and Cora Farmer. Alberta knew the Farmer family and had attended Crane School with Grace, Robert and Raymond. She remembered Stephen Farmer as a man who was quiet, independent, industrious and progressive.

"Stephen Farmer purchased a tractor and was the first farmer in Ingersoll to use this machinery on his farm," she said.

Stephen frequently loaned his tractor to neighboring farmers to lighten their work in plowing the fields. Sometimes Stephen worked along with Alberta's father and other neighbors in clearing their fields. Additionally, Alberta credits Stephen Farmer with saving her life when she had the flu as a child and could not breathe. Stephen came to their home to help with some herbal applications which he had prepared. The treatment worked, and young Alberta recovered. To her, this kind act serves as a powerful testimony to Stephen Farmer's character, especially since he ministered help to her to survive the same illness that had recently taken two of his daughters, who died in the flu epidemic of 1917.

Stephen Farmer died in Ingersoll Township in 1939 at age 76. For almost 20 years after his death, his wife, Cora, continued to live on their farm with her daughter Louisa and sometimes other relatives. Cora Wells Farmer passed in 1958 at age 84. She is buried in the Midland Cemetery with her husband, Stephen, and three of their children. When she died, the Farmer family home on Patterson Road, which was originally built by her husband, Stephen, in 1900, was renovated and sold.

Learn more about Cora Wells Farmer in the second part of this family story in two weeks. You can also learn more about John Farmer's wife Elizabeth Highgate's family in a presentation by Tawny Nelb on Feb. 21. Tickets are available through the Midland Center for the Art's box office.

-- Dr. Betty Jones is a volunteer with the Midland County Historical Society. The MCHS shares a historical perspective of the community each month.Beaverton City Council members talked water and a sewer price increases as well as retaining its city attorney at Monday's meeting.

Beaverton residents will see a water and sewer cost increase in May after a unanimous vote by the council.

City manager Heath Kaplan said officials hope to have a town hall meeting to talk about the increase and why it's needed. The hike is expected to go into effect May 1.

"They haven't gone up in a while," said councilwoman and former mayor Nila Frei. "We have to keep up with costs."

Kaplan said the hike is needed because the city is not collecting enough to pay for its debt.

Depending on meter sizes, the rate increase is from $6.41 up to $42.81 for monthly charges for wastewater commodity and base charges.

The water rate will rise from $50.76 to $57.10. Kaplan said the proposal is only raising the base rate on the amenity. Depending on residents' meter size, the amount could be as much as a $36.24 increase.

Kaplan said most residents will see the smaller increases.

Council members also updated a retainer agreement with city attorney Tara Hovey. The council will pay Hovey $900 annually. That includes unlimited calls to her by city officials. She is paid more when attending meetings, reviewing documents, consulting on legal issues, etc.

"She's done a fantastic job," Frei said.

Kaplan also addressed the change in trash pickup from Friday to Tuesday. The city switched from Waste Management to Republic Services for trash collection. Residents began receiving Republic's blue bins Monday. Kaplan said residents need to set out their green Waste Management bins to be picked up.

In other business, council members made a move toward moving into the new city council building, which is the former library on Saginaw Street. It was vacated when the Beaverton Library moved into the Beaverton Activity Center. The council discussed the fiber optics and internet it will acquire in the new building.

Kaplan said they hope to move into the building during the summer.

The council also addressed the failing police car used by school resource officer Steve Cingano. Beaverton Police Chief Brad Davis said the tires must be inflated every other day and while it was at the Department of Public Works, the battery boiled over.

"It could have burned the DPW again," Davis said.

A new Chevrolet Tahoe is on order for Cingano and is expected in late May or early June.The Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy invites the public to attend the 7th Annual Osprey Awards for Conservation Excellence.

The Osprey Awards is the SBLC's annual fundraiser, and is designed to recognize key people, organizations, or businesses in the community who have taken exemplary steps for conservation. For six years running, the event has sold out and has had a warm reception from the public. The event will be held at Curtiss Hall on the campus of Saginaw Valley State University on Feb. 21. Doors will open at 6 p.m. with the program to begin at 6:30 p.m.

Guests will enjoy music, dinner, a raffle contest, and a special film highlighting work completed by the SBLC in 2018. A brief message from Dana Muscott, city manager of Bay City, and Timothy Novak, Saginaw County treasurer, will highlight municipal partnerships with the SBLC on exciting projects to make our community a better place.

The SBLC will also recognize a variety of groups and individuals who have played an important role in the 2018 projects, and who uphold the SBLC's own mission: "To conserve land and water resources to promote sustainable communities and a higher quality of life in the Saginaw Bay Watershed." This year's winners and speakers will specifically highlight the community building aspect of our mission. Awardees for this year include Brianne Kennedy, First Ward Community Center, and Riverfront Saginaw.

Kennedy is being recognized as the SBLC's volunteer of the year. She was a mainstay on the SBLC's volunteer work crews that helped remove literally tens of tons of dumped trash from vacant property in the City of Saginaw this past year. Without dedicated volunteers like Kennedy, projects like the Pollinator Project would not be possible. Kennedy joined the SBLC on nearly every single public volunteer opportunity that was hosted this past work season.

The Pollinator Project is an ambitious, multi-year initiative to clean up 1,500 vacant, blighted lots in the City of Saginaw, owned by the Saginaw County Land Bank. The project includes coordinating the removal of trash, getting rid of noxious, invasive weeds, and providing expanded habitat for pollinator species in the form of wildflower plantings and low growth flowering lawns.

First Ward Community Center has been a rock of stability in the Northeast neighborhood of Saginaw for nearly 90 years. It is being recognized for its strong partnership on the Pollinator Project as well as assisting with their DNR Summer Youth Employment program. The SBLC shares their goal "to make a positive difference in people's lives," and the SBLC was fortunate to work with them this past year. In addition to their assistance in the City of Saginaw, they were able to do work on the McLean Nature Preserve in northern Bay County to remove invasive vegetation and open up access to two of the preserve's ponds.

Riverfront Saginaw is one of the leading groups in helping invigorate the riverfront area of Saginaw. A coordinated effort across multiple units of government, non-profits, and the private sector, Riverfront Saginaw has moved mountains to build momentum in its community. New campaigns to spread the word about good things happening on Saginaw's Riverfront, monument signage to build awareness of energy and excitement there, and coordinated assistance and expertise for positive projects all characterize this important organization. With the investments made by the SBLC in the Janet H. Nash Riverfront Preserve and blight reduction work around Saginaw, recognizing the efforts of Riverfront Saginaw brings light to a place on the move and the leaders willing to take us there.

Additional opportunities for those wishing to get involved with the Pollinator Project and other volunteer opportunities with the SBLC will be posted in the spring.

The Osprey Awards are supported by the philanthropy of the Morley Family Foundation, the presenting sponsor of the event. Further sponsorship support is being provided by ITC Holdings, Inc.; the Michigan Sugar Co.; Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe; Consumers Energy; Catholic Federal Credit Union, Saginaw Valley State University, Frankenmuth Bavarian Inn; Chippewa Nature Center; and Covenant HealthCare. Additional support and raffle gifts have been provided by Avram Golden Gallery, Chippewa Nature Center, Cyclefit, Little Forks Outfitters,The Stable, Star of the West, Sushi Remix, Thelen Subaru, and the Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy Board of Directors.

The Osprey Awards has been a successful community outreach and fundraising event for the SBLC for six years and has attracted a growing audience. Attractive raffle prizes include Patagonia luggage, framed photography, a YETI cooler, and other outdoor-themed items.

The SBLC hopes to raise more than $20,000 for its conservation work. For more information about the event, or to purchase tickets, visit www.sblc-mi.org/ospreys. Tickets are $50 each. Tables of eight can be purchased at a discounted rate of $350. Patron Sponsorships are also available to individuals for $150 which includes two tickets and special recognition in the event program.Midland High School students are organizing an event to address domestic violence and sexual assault across the globe.

The public is encouraged to participate in a One Billion Rising walk at 4 p.m. Friday at Midland High School, 1301 Eastlawn Drive. After a 1.5-mile walk, participants are welcome to warm up with soup and coffee, provided by Live Oak Coffeehouse.When the tall ship fleet arrives in Bay City July 18-21 for the community's celebrated maritime festival, the city by the Saginaw Bay will earn another accolade: longest, continuously serving host port in the Great Lakes. This year's Bay City's Tall Ship Celebration Festival will mark the seventh consecutive time Bay City has hosted the tall ship fleet.

Bay City has also won the coveted "Port of the Year" award from Tall Ships America for four of the previous six festivals, more than any other host community in all of North America. And when the fleet arrives on July 18, it will include iconic ships that have enchanted people for generations.

The Fleet

Returning to Bay City for the first time since a six-year long, $20-plus million restoration, Nova Scotia's famous tall ship Bluenose II will be a highlight of the festival this year. The iconic ship whose image graces the Canadian dime hasn't been seen in Bay City since the first Tall Ship Celebration festival in 2001. The ship is a faithful replica of the original Bluenose schooner that was launched in 1921 and was undefeated in international racing competition for 17 years.

The Barque Picton Castle will make her way back to Bay City following her seventh world circumnavigation voyage featuring stops in Panama, Galapagos, Pitcairn, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Bali, Reunion, South Africa, St. Helena and the Caribbean. Picton Castle visited Bay City just once in 2006 and will be the largest Class A vessel in the fleet this summer.

New to the Great Lakes and the Bay City event is the 95 ft. long Santa Maria, an authentic replica of Christopher Columbus' flagship. Santa Maria is a sister ship to El Galeon Andalucia, the popular Spanish galleon that visited Bay City in 2016. She was built in Spain and launched in 2018. While her design is authentic, Santa Maria was constructed using modern techniques. Her hull is fiberglass covered in wood. Perception is a 68 ft. schooner owned by a new Michigan-based organization, Michigan Challenge Traditional Sail Training based in Traverse City. Perception was built in New Zealand and launched in 1985. Her former owner sailed her from New Zealand to Australia, Brazil, the Galapagos, the Caribbean and Portugal. Today she is a sail training vessel for Gold Star teens (children of fallen military heroes); the children of deployed, wounded, or ill veterans; grieving youth; and veterans and their families.

Other returning vessels include the Pride of Baltimore II, a 157 ft. Baltimore clipper, and Madeline, a 95 ft. gaff topsail schooner from Traverse City, perennial favorites at every Bay City event since 2001. The sail training vessel St. Lawrence II from Toronto, Canada, a 72 ft. brigantine, was last seen at Tall Ship Celebration in 2001. The Denis Sullivan is a 137 ft. 3-masted schooner from Milwaukee, WI and the Flagship Niagara is a 198 ft. brig from Erie, PA that will join the Bay City fleet for the third and fourth times, respectively.

Bay City's own tall ships, the 85 ft. schooner Appledore IV and the 65 ft. schooner Appledore V will offer a full schedule sail away trips during the festival. Visit www.tallshipcelebration.com for tickets or for more information.

Each visiting vessel in the tall ship fleet are paid an appearance fee for their participation. In 2019, total appearance fees are expected to exceed $255,000.

The Michigan Sugar Company has taken the helm of the 2019 Tall Ship Celebration festival as presenting sponsor. Eight Great Lakes Bay Region companies are returning as major/ship sponsors, Huntington Bank (also as FirstMerit and Citizens Bank), Ascension St. Mary's of Michigan, Independent Bank, Wildfire Credit Union, Consumers Energy, McLaren Bay Region, Chemical Bank and D.H.T., a multi-faceted transportation company based in Reese.

www.tallshipcelebration.comGoose Creek, SC (29445)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.Ottumwa, IA (52501)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. A few storms may be severe. Low 68F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. A few storms may be severe. Low 68F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.Oskaloosa, IA (52577)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. A few storms may be severe. Low 68F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. A few storms may be severe. Low 68F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%.The Portland City Council voted 3-2 Wednesday to withdraw the city from the Federal Bureau of Investigations anti-terrorism task force, citing a deep distrust in the programs ability to root out terrorism while upholding residents civil rights.

Wednesdays vote also represents the first major policy victory for Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, a long-time criminal justice reform advocate who was sworn onto the council in January. She had pledged a withdrawal from the task force would be among her first priorities in office.

When we talk about one Portland, a Portland where everyone is respected, we cannot in good conscience continue our engagement with the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Hardesty said.

The decision to withdraw was close, with Commissioners Amanda Fritz, Chloe Eudaly and Hardesty voting in support and Mayor Ted Wheeler and Commissioner Nick Fish opposed.

"I cannot support a policy that appears to value politics and ideology over the safety of Portland," Wheeler said. He called Wednesdays in-or-out decision a false choice that did not take into account commissioners ability to modify the citys agreement with the FBI to add new oversight measures and allay concerns of misconduct.

If working alongside our intelligence and law enforcement partners is no longer the plan, what is the plan? Wheeler said.

Fritz, Eudaly and Hardesty said they were not convinced city membership in the task force was to Portlanders benefit.

There is no evidence that participation has made Portland safer, Fritz said.

Do you feel safer today than you did five years ago? Eudaly asked the audience at City Hall. I dont.

Membership in the Joint Terrorism Task Force gives select Portland law enforcement officials access to federal agencies information about potential terrorist activities in the area. The officials review hundreds of tips each year, assess threats and open investigations that occasionally lead to prosecutions. The groups most high-profile case during Portlands membership involved the 2002 arrests of the Portland Seven, a group of locals who attempted to join an al Qaeda cell.

But with Wednesdays vote, Portland now has 90 days to leave the task force. That means two Portland Police Bureau officers within the bureaus Criminal Intelligence Unit who are assigned to the task force will be given other work.

The pull-out is the latest twist in Portlands on-again, off-again relationship with the FBI group, which the city joined in 1997, left in 2005, rejoined partly in 2011 and fully rejoined in 2015.

Law enforcement officials have said Portlands membership in the task force is an essential component in the local fight against terrorism. Renn Cannon, special agent in charge of the FBIs Portland field office, and U.S. Attorney Billy Williams in recent weeks pleaded with the mayor and commissioners to stay in the program.

In a statement issued Thursday, Williams called the decision to withdraw a mistake that defies logic" and a politically-expedient broadside against the federal government over the safety and well-being of Portlanders.

In a pre-recorded video message to the city council, Portland Police Chief Danielle Outlaw said leaving the task force was not in the best interest of our citys public safety and that she feared Portland police officers would become walled off from valuable information about terror plots.

A driving force behind the citys decision to withdraw once again was testimony from residents and civil rights activists who said the Joint Terrorism Task Force unlawfully targeted Muslims and people of color for surveillance and immigrants for deportation  actions they say spurred members of those groups to become fearful of law enforcement and view the FBI in an irredeemable light.

Members of the city council also expressed skepticism the task force was acting within the bounds of state and local laws. They said occasional reports from the FBI about task force work were threadbare, and lacked the transparency officials need to feel comfortable with the arrangement.

That doubt was brought into full view Tuesday, when the mayor and commissioners held a public briefing with Cannon, Williams and other officials.

In a remarkable exchange during that meeting, Hardesty asked Williams if he believes in Oregons sanctuary law, which bans local law enforcement agencies from assisting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents if a suspect's only offense is residing in the country illegally.

Williams responded that federal officials are not required to follow Oregon law. When Hardesty said Williams could not selectively support some Oregon laws and not others, he retorted, Thats your opinion, commissioner. Hardesty responded, And Im entitled to have one, I guess.

During Wednesday evenings vote, a majority of the commissioners said they remained unconvinced to put their faith in the local-federal partnership.

Trust is not earned by saying You can trust me, Fritz said.

Wheeler said he accepts that the city will withdraw from the task force and pledged the city will rise to the occasion to protect Portlanders in what ways it can, even if it must do so from the sidelines.

-- Gordon R. Friedman

GFriedman@Oregonian.comThe Portland Japanese American Citizens League urges Portland City Council to vote in favor of pulling the Portland Police Bureau out of the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Wartime hysteria fanned the flames of fear and hatred after the Pearl Harbor attack. False rumors  sensationalized by media or vote-seeking politicians  can overwhelm and contradict evidence-based analysis.

Our government lied to us. There was no fifth column activity. There was no evidence any Japanese American was working with the Japanese military. Despite those facts, an executive order paved the way for the complete removal of the Japanese American population from the West Coast. This lie was used all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which bought the justification of military necessity.

On Sept. 11, 2001, America had another catastrophic attack. Thousands of New Yorkers lost their lives by the Islamic terrorist group Al Qaeda. Suddenly we are facing a new enemy, and we should not let fear guide our policies. In the aftermath of this attack, the U.S. created the Department of Homeland Security, which at its foundation has constitutionally questionable practices.

Local police and government need to uphold our constitutional protections. Their role is to work with the local community, build trust and maintain local law. We have a new administration and new concerns people are being targeted for surveillance now  not on ethnic heritage but on religion or political affiliation. We are also concerned about JTTFs lack of transparency and accountability. We cannot let this happen again. #NeverAgain is now.

Marleen Wallingford, Portland

Wallingford is the Portland JACL PresidentBy Finn Jacobson and Penelope Spurr

Jacobson is a member of Youth of Oregon United. Spurr is a member of Students for Change.

Three hundred and sixty five days have passed since a young man walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, pulled the fire alarm and murdered 17 people with an AR-15 in the surrounding chaos. As high schoolers, we felt the grief that shook the entire nation and the responsibility to prevent another shooting like Parkland. In Oregon, we channeled our fear and frustration into statewide marches, from Hood River to Bend to Salem. We wrote articles to legislators, administrators and fellow students, advocating a unified goal of safe schools.

Marching and writing established a presence, but we still sought to achieve tangible, concrete change. We could not make posters, rally and go home. That alone would not bring us the safety we needed. So we went further and spent months researching policy. We reviewed Oregons current law, like the Extreme Risk Protection Order passed in 2016 and House Bill 4145, the Boyfriend Bill, which passed last May.

We reviewed laws in other states: Connecticut, New York and California, states that took responsible measures after mass shootings. We pinpointed critical legislative gaps that Oregon had not yet filled. And ultimately, we found that Oregons handful of effective gun violence prevention measures were eclipsed by a greater vulnerability.

For example, we found that Oregons statutes regarding storage and background checks were still vague. Noting these concerns, we continued our research and combined other states progress with Oregons gaps. In January, our work came to fruition as Senate Bill 501, a six-point gun violence prevention bill. The bill requires permits to purchase a firearm, enforces safer storage, requires loss or theft reports, limits magazine capacity, establishes waiting periods and requires ammunition background checks similar to those of firearms.

While advocating SB 501, we've talked with various legislators, many of whom stood by our side at the March for Our Lives and sang The Times They Are A Changin with us. At first, nearly all reacted the same way, praising our efforts and expressing support. But since the bill became public, many of these legislators have backed into silence. Perhaps thats because they are intimidated by the gun lobby. But this only accentuates the relevance of our message.

To the legislators who supported us at first, but now hide, remember that our opposition is not a firearm owner. Our only opposition is a Parkland-esque shooting.

This past year also has brought a wave of personal threats and hate mail from the gun lobby. Becoming the NRAs priority has essentially placed a target on our backs, but we feel that we must stand our ground and speak the truth in order to continue a critical conversation. The discomfort of polarization is necessary to ensure our safety.

To the legislators who represent firearm owners, do not back away either. You were elected to handle exactly this kind of polarization. SB 501 seeks to establish sensible regulation, and its success will require open discussion.

More than 300 days have passed since the March for Our Lives, and yet Americas students still live in fear. With every shooting, lockdown drills feel less like drills and more like practicing our last moments. Our teachers have told us to grab sharp objects for self-defense. Our peers have sent their parents final words.

To the legislators who have questioned our credibility as students, we invite you to join us in a lockdown.

Today, we grieve for our dead peers. We grieve for the young lives that were unpredictably and horrifically cut short. We grieve for the dreams that were left unachieved and for the families who continue to mourn. We cannot paint over our past with thoughts and prayers. It is time -- and has been for nearly 20 years -- for legislators to address gun violence and stand up for our safety.

And to any legislator who is fearful, skeptical or unwilling to do so, remember: The students of Oregon are watching.

Youth of Oregon United, Students for Change and March for Our Lives Oregon are planning to hold a student lobby day on Monday, Feb. 18, at the Oregon Capitol.Warning: Graphic imagery in photo below.

A McDonalds worker who says she has repeatedly complained to management to no avail about a female co-worker who has kicked, hit and ridiculed her over the past year filed a $10,000 lawsuit against her employer Wednesday.

The last straw? Amber Harrisons attorney says it came last week, when the co-worker used a half-dozen sausage stickers to form the shape of a penis and stuck the graphic depiction to Harrisons back.

The lawsuit says after Harrison discovered the McPenis imagery stuck to her, the co-worker followed her around the workplace and teased her with the image. The 21-year-old called her grandmother from the Salem restaurant crying uncontrollably, according to the suit.

Jill Pollard, McDonalds owner operator, declined to comment on the pending litigation. But Pollard said: The safety of our crew and guests are a top priority.

This photo shows the stickers that were affixed to Amber Harrison's back while on the job at a Salem McDonald's, according to her lawsuit.

Harrison works at the McDonalds at 4020 Commercial St. Southeast and has been an employee for two years, the suit says. She makes a little more than minimum wage and hasnt quit because she needs the income, said Portland attorney Michael Fuller.

Harrison has repeatedly told her alleged harasser to stop, but that hasnt quelled the problem, Fuller said.

The co-worker "seems to fit the profile of a schoolyard bully, Fuller said.

McDonalds management has sat idly by, the suit alleges, and has said her co-worker is too valuable to the company to fire. The suit claims McDonalds is negligent in failing to take action.

The suit doesnt name the alleged harasser or list her as a defendant.

The lawsuit was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, noting McDonalds does business there. Read the suit here.

-- Aimee Green

agreen@oregonian.com

o_aimee

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.Updated Feb. 14

Federal law enforcement officials have launched a multi-agency investigation into cases involving students from Saudi Arabia who vanished while facing criminal charges, possibly with the help of their government, according to Oregons senior U.S. senator and his staff.

Sen. Ron Wyden learned of the probe Wednesday during a meeting in his office with Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan, an aide to the lawmaker told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

The pair spoke for roughly a half-hour about the disappearance of Saudi nationals from Oregon and elsewhere throughout the country while they faced trial or prosecution, the aide said.

McAleenan informed Wyden at the meeting that his agency and other departments within the Trump administration are now investigating how the students fled the U.S.

I am confident that he is taking this issue seriously, Wyden, a Democrat, said of McAleenan in a statement. I urged him to proceed aggressively.

A Customs and Border Protection spokesman declined to comment on the investigation. The State and Justice departments did not respond to requests for comment.

Wyden began asking questions about the Saudi students after an investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive. The newsroom has found cases in at least eight different states where students have fled the U.S. after being charged with serious crimes, including manslaughter and sexual assault.

In Oregon, the suspects include two accused rapists, a pair of suspected hit-and-run drivers and one man accused of having a trove of child pornography on his computer. All five of the Oregon cases involved young men studying at a public college or university with assistance from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the time of their arrest.

In at least four of those cases, the Saudi government paid the defendants bail and legal fees. Three surrendered their passports. Federal law enforcement officials confirmed at least two returned to Saudi Arabia.

The Oregonian/OregonLive is now tracking these cases around the country and will be sharing its findings in real time. [View our interactive map above]

Wydens meeting with McAleenan comes a month after the senator asked the Customs and Border chief to begin investigating the disappearances in Oregon.

Wyden, who sits on the Senates Select Committee on Intelligence, has also formally sought answers from the State and Justice departments as well as the FBI about the Saudi fugitives. He has not received a response from any of the three.

Last week, fellow Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, who sits on the Senates Foreign Relations Committee, met with Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan to discuss the missing Saudi students, his office said.

Senator Merkley is raising this issue at the highest levels of government, Sara Hottman, a spokeswoman, told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

He and Wyden singled out Saudi Arabia last month in a pair of bills targeting foreign consulates that help their citizens escape criminal prosecution in the U.S.

The proposed legislation, which explicitly cites the Persian Gulf kingdom and two of the Saudi nationals who vanished in Oregon, would require the federal government to investigate such disappearances, prevent them from happening again and punish the Saudi government for its suspected role.

The Saudi government on Thursday offered its most forceful denial yet of allegations that it has helped Saudi students studying in the U.S. skip bail and leave the country.

The notion that the Saudi government actively helps citizens evade justice after they have been implicated in legal wrongdoing in the U.S. is not true, the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., told CNN in a statement.

Contrary to some media reports, Saudi diplomatic missions in the United States do not issue travel documents to citizens engaged in legal proceedings.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632When recently retired Rep. Deborah Boone began pushing a bill in January to prevent news media fishing expeditions for public records, people wondered what she meant.

An example of the types of requests Boone says have bothered her: one that yielded 1,800 pages of her own correspondence, released to The Oregonian/OregonLive days before the bills introduction.

The records show the lawmaker using her state email account to intercede with state agencies on problems that affected her family.

In one email, she asked for help resolving a billing issue at her home from a utility lobbyist who wanted her help on the states climate change bill.

Senate Bill 609 was introduced by Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, on Boones behalf. It would require Oregonians requesting public records like police reports, public contracts and workplace safety inspections to first provide a good reason why they want the documents. Oregon records law currently does not require people to justify their requests.

Boone has since said shes asked Johnson to let the bill die in the face of vocal opposition.

A 2012 photo of then-Rep. Deborah Boone, D-Cannon Beach.

Boone, a Democrat who represented Cannon Beach and the North Coast until January, told The Daily Astorian she wanted only legitimate requests to advance. She didnt say what would constitute a legitimate request or who would decide.

Boone said in an interview this week that she had already asked for the bill to be drafted before receiving The Oregonian/OregonLives records request. But she said the newsrooms request concerned her, questioning the cost and necessity of producing the emails.

The taxpayers had to pay a Legislative Counsel employee to sift through them all, Boone said.

A reporter requested Boones emails during a soon-to-be-released 18-month investigation examining the role that corporate campaign donors play in shaping environmental policy statewide.

At the time of the request, Boone had declined to comment about why she raised money in 2018 after announcing her retirement from the Legislature. With no active campaign to pay for, the donations appeared to be attempts to influence or reward her votes.

The newsroom requested Boones emails with the campaign donors. Boone now says any checks that arrived were not a result of active fundraising on her part or had not been deposited yet when she announced her retirement in January 2018.

The content of the former representatives emails underscores why Oregons public records law exists. The law allows the public to see what their elected officials are doing, even when its not what those officials would choose to reveal.

Last January, Boone asked Ted Case, executive director of Oregons association of rural electricity providers, for input on the states emerging legislation to cap greenhouse gas emissions.

The 2018 legislative session was about to begin, and there was a push to get the bill through. (The cap-and-trade legislation ultimately died and is now before the 2019 Legislature.) Lobbyists were rushing to secure loopholes for their members.

Case told Boone he wanted to ensure an exemption for the West Oregon Electric Cooperative, which provides power in Boones district, including to her home in rural Hamlet.

My board meets next week to discuss the bills, Case told Boone. Well come by and see you!

Thirteen days later, Boones campaign account recorded a $500 donation from Cases association.

A month later, Boone ran into trouble transferring her name onto her late husbands account with West Oregon. She turned to Case, the utility lobbyist. You have been a marvelous legislator and a great friend. I'm on it, Case responded.

A utility board member soon gave Boone an apology -- We do our best not to screw things up, but sometimes it seems otherwise -- and asked whether Boone would be interested in a seat on West Oregons board. She did not pursue the position.

In a written statement, Case said his inquiry on Boones behalf was a service I provide to any Oregonian who has questions about their electric co-op.

The keywords that the newsroom used in its request for Boones emails inadvertently turned up exchanges with people who were not campaign donors.

Boones daughter, Wendy, asked for her moms help in 2017 when the Oregon Health Plan was slow to pay for prescriptions at the Rinehart Clinic, a small nonprofit medical clinic in Wheeler where she is chief financial officer.

Hello Rep Boone : ), her daughter wrote in her email to Boones state account. Rinehart is having issues getting OHP to pay Can you assist us?

Boone told The Oregonian/OregonLive she had an aide call the state health authority to find out what was happening. I never pushed it, never, Boone said. The issue was on its way to being resolved before the call, Boone said. But she acknowledged, It mightve looked to you like I asked for a favor and got it.

Wendy Boone also asked for her mothers help when her daughter was rejected by Oregon Promise, a state financial aid program for community college. The lawmakers legislative aide sent an email to the state Department of Education, noting that the issue affected a member of Boones family.

Rep. Boone would like to know why the student did not qualify, her aide wrote. Rep. Boone has also heard from others who are having the same problem. Could you please let us know as soon as possible what, if anything, can be done about this?

The legislative director for the Higher Education Coordinating Commission explained that the student had missed a deadline and could reapply the next year. But the agency official also wanted to know: What other problems had the representative heard about?

Boones aide didnt say.

Both the lawmaker and her daughter told The Oregonian/OregonLive that their emails were routine inquiries from a state representative on behalf of a constituent. Thats not asking for a favor, Deborah Boone said. Thats what we do: We contact state agencies and people in them.

The information received provided the clarification I was seeking, and that was the end of it, Wendy Boone said.

In Deborah Boones comments to the Astorian, she said she was aware of media requests to lawmakers taking time and money to fulfill. The process could go easier if reporters would just be honest and say, This is what Im trying to get at. I get that they want to be vague to capture everything, but maybe they dont have to.

After a media outcry, including a harshly worded editorial in the Astorian, Boones records bill appears dead. She says she told Johnson the bill wasnt worth it.

I said, If its going to be like this, I dont want to do it, Boone told the newsroom. I dont want to cause more stress and strain on her office. I said, Im not going to die on my sword for this one.

-- Rob Davis

rdavis@oregonian.com

503.294.7657; @robwdavis

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.UPDATED July 26, 2019: Gresham womans body recovered from river in Pennsylvania

***

A Gresham woman who moved to Pennsylvania late last year was killed and reportedly dumped into a river, according to a report.

KATU-TV reports Haley Lorenzen, 24, moved to northeast Pennsylvania in November after forming an online relationship with Phillip Walters  whos now accused of killing her.

Walters reported her missing in late December, according to local police cited by KATU. A woman who was also dating him told authorities he killed Lorenzen, according to court documents cited by the news station.

Police said the woman found her dead in Walters apartment, according to the news station. She allegedly helped Walters get rid of her body by dumping it in the Susquehanna River.

Walters, 31, was arrested and accused of murder, according to KATU.

Lorenzens body hasnt yet been recovered, the news station reports, and her family in Gresham went to Pennsylvania to help with the search and recovery.

A dinner to raise funds to help cover expenses connected to Lorenzens disappearance and death is set for March 23 at a Gresham church. An online crowdfunding account has also been established. And KATU reports people can donate to the cause at U.S. Bank branches by referencing the "Haley Lorenzen Benefit Fund."

-- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.Douglas County has agreed to adopt new policies to improve medical care of jail inmates, ensure cells are kept clean and prisoners have access to showers, clean clothes and feminine hygiene products, according to a court settlement.

The county also agreed in the settlement to cover $25,000 in attorney costs for the plaintiff, Terri Carlisle, a Roseburg woman who had sued the county and its contracted jail medical provider, alleging mistreatment during her sixth-month stay in jail in 2015 on a conviction for driving under the influence of intoxicants.

In 2017, the ACLU and the Criminal Justice Reform Clinic at Lewis & Clark Law School filed a federal lawsuit against Douglas County and the contractor, Correct Care Solutions, on behalf of Carlisle. On Thursday, the ACLU filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against Douglas County, but Correct Care Solutions remains a defendant.

As a society we say we use jails to hold people accountable for crime, said Kelly Simon, staff attorney at the ACLU of Oregon. But all too often, people in jails and prisons are made to suffer in violation of basic human rights and constitutional protections. Nearly every day, we hear from people who are incarcerated or from their loved ones about lack of needed medical care, mistreatment and poor conditions in Oregons county jails and state prisons.

I hope the settlement is a signal that the Douglas County Jail and sheriff are willing to hold themselves accountable, although we continue to have serious concerns about their commitment to these values, Simon said.

While in jail, Carlisle, then 57, was moved for six days to a booking cell as punishment after a cell search revealed she had salt, a pencil sharpener, fingernail clippers, ibuprofen, a stool softener and a single nerve pain pill for which she had a longstanding prescription, according to the ACLU. She was accused of hoarding medication.

According to the jail, guards found contraband in Carlisles cell, including medications not prescribed for her. The jail discovered one or more loose Neurontin tablets in her cell that posed a risk to her health and the safety of others, and she refused to undergo further evaluation with a jail doctor to consider alternative medication, attorney Tessan Wess, representing Correct Care, wrote in court documents.

The Correct Care doctor discontinued Carlisles pain medication  ibuprofen and nerve pain medication  for the remaining two months of her sentence despite her pain, her complaints to staff and a plea from her longtime family doctor, according to Carlisles lawyers.

Carlisle also said the jails intake cell was crowded with up to 12 women and was hot, filthy, and the smell was so bad it was difficult to breathe, according to a blog post she wrote. She said she and the other women were denied showers and had to eat next to the toilet where women vomited and had diarrhea. She said the women had to beg for toilet paper, and one woman bled onto her clothing and had to wait a number of hours for feminine hygiene products and clean clothes.

We were left in our own mess for hours at a time, Carlisle wrote in the blog . I went six days without a shower. I was denied phone calls or outgoing mail.''

Under the settlement, the Douglas County Sheriffs Office agreed to conduct and document weekly meetings between the jail commander and the medical staff, reduce intake cell capacity from 12 to nine, document how often people in its care are allowed to shower and how often holding cells are cleaned.

The jail also must ensure access to feminine hygiene products upon request and at no cost to prisoners. Oregon lawmakers are currently considering House Bill 2515, which would require free access to such products in Oregon jails and prisons.

In addition, Douglas County must prevent private medical contractors from abruptly discontinuing prescription medications without appropriate review and authorization, a practice the ACLU described as widespread by private medical jail providers.

The lawsuit and settlement are filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.More than 200 employees at a Clackamas County grocery distribution center will lose their family-wage jobs when the facilitys owner closes it and two other Northwest warehouses.

Supervalu will replace large distribution centers near Milwaukie and in Auburn and Tacoma with two huge facilities in western Washington  one in Ridgefield and one in Centralia.

We think its a bad decision. Its a loss for Oregon, said Gene Blackburn, secretary and treasurer for Teamsters Local 206, which represented 200 workers who will lose their jobs at Supervalus warehouse near Milwaukie.

That facility had been owned and operated by Unified Grocers, formerly United Grocers, which sold to Supervalu in 2017. The distribution center serves independent grocers around the region.

Supervalu hasnt said how many people will lose their jobs altogether but Blackburn said there are many others working in the Clackamas facility who arent represented by his union, plus hundreds more workers in the Auburn and Tacoma facilities slated for closure.

The Oregon jobs typically paid $25 to $27 hourly, according to Blackburn.

They were good paying, family-wage jobs that supported families in the community, he said.

A letter Supervalu chief executive Sean Griffin sent to employees last week, obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive, indicates that Supervalu will build a new distribution center in Centralia and add nearly 500,000 square feet to an existing facility in Ridgefield.

The letter doesnt indicate a time frame for the closures but one affected employee said he was told the layoffs will take effect this spring.

Supervalu spokesman Jeff Swanson said his company will offer incentives for workers to stay employed at the existing warehouses until the new facilities open and said they can transfer to the new distribution centers if they want.

We obviously would welcome our associates staying with the company and are talking with them about what those opportunities might look like going forward, he said in a phone message.

For most employees that would likely mean relocating. The Clackamas County facility is more than 30 miles from Ridgefield; Centralia is more than 50 miles from Tacoma and nearly 70 miles from Auburn.

Unemployment rates are near historic lows in both Oregon (4.1 percent) and Washington (4.3 percent). But layoffs have continued in both states when individual businesses falter or consolidate into larger organizations.

Many of Supervalus Clackamas County employees had been with the company for years, according to the Teamsters Blackburn, and had planned their careers in expectation of being able to retire from the company. Now, he said they feel like the rug has been pulled out from under them.

Were certainly hope they reconsider, Blackburn said. I think (the chance of that) is remote, but I think its the right thing to do.

-- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699Faster, more flexible, more powerful and with superior process safety. Nuremberg, 29th November 2010 - Completing an order within 2 days, which previously would have taken one week, is the best way to demonstrate the advantage of the newly organized and expanded prototyping section at our site in Nuremberg. With the merger of the tooling and prototyping machine shops, and by moving next door to the labo-ratory and component inventory, we London, UK: Last month, media agency, We Are F celebrated their first anniversary since beginning their mission to aid female entrepreneurs in and around London. Founders, Federica Pecis and Federica Attanasio, experienced a roaring start in 2018 and are looking to continue this momentum right into 2019 and beyond. We Are Fs first year was one of tremendous success for even established agencies. This year alone, the company won several prestigious Future Of Automatic Door Locks Market: Recent Industry Activity Focus on Key Players like Assa Abloy, Samsung, Allegion, Kwikset (Spectrum Brands), MIWA Lock, Master Lock (Fortune Brands), Adel, August, Etc.

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Up Market Research offers a latest published report on Global Automatic Door Locks Market Research Report 2019 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 105 pages which highly exhibit on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability.Request Sample Copy Of this Report @Automatic Door Locks 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. It 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 Scuba Diving Fins Market global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 2018  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.The 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 Automatic Door Locks Market analysis & forecast 2018- 2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Region- wise Analysis Automatic Door Locks Market covers: North America Europe China Japan India Southeast Asia Other regions (Central & South America, Middle East & Africa)For More Information On This Report, Please Visit @The Major Players Reported In The Report Are: Assa Abloy Samsung Allegion Kwikset (Spectrum Brands) MIWA Lock Master Lock (Fortune Brands) Guangdong Be-Tech Adel August Honeywell Jiangmen Keyu Intelligence Tenon Locstar Probuck Guangdong Level Intelligent LockGlobal Automatic Door Locks Market: Product Segment Analysis: Electronic Cipher Locks Fingerprint Locks Remote Locks OthersGlobal Automatic Door Locks Market: Application Segment Analysis: Household Commercial OtherThe Report Covers In- Depth Analysis As Follows: Chapter 1 Overview of Automatic Door Locks Market Chapter 2 Global Market Status and Forecast by Regions Chapter 3 Global Market Status and Forecast by Types Chapter 4 Global Market Status and Forecast by Downstream Industry Chapter 5 Market Driving Factor Analysis of Automatic Door Locks Market Chapter 6 Automatic Door Locks Market Competition Status by Major Manufacturers Chapter 7 Automatic Door Locks Market Major Manufacturers Introduction and Market Data Chapter 8 Upstream and Downstream Market Analysis of Automatic Door Locks Market Chapter 9 Cost and Gross Margin Analysis of Automatic Door Locks Market Chapter 10 Marketing Status Analysis of Automatic Door Locks Market Chapter 11 Report Conclusion Chapter 12 Research Methodology and ReferenceRequest Complete TOC Of this Report @Automatic Door Locks 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 Automatic Door Locks Market: Key Stakeholders: Manufacturers Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream VendorsIn this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Automatic Door Locks Market 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 Automatic Door Locks Market and its commercial landscape. Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by your competitors and leading organizations. To understand the future outlook and prospects for Automatic Door Locks Market analysis and forecast 2018- 2025.Avail Discount On this Report @Customization of the Report:Up Market Research provides free customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. 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: Automatic Door Locks Market  Global Market Status & Trend Report 2013- 2025 Top 20 Countries Data Automatic Door Locks Market  North America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Automatic Door Locks Market  South America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Automatic Door Locks Market  Europe Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Automatic Door Locks Market  EMEA Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Automatic Door Locks Market  Asia Pacific Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Automatic Door Locks Market  China Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Automatic Door Locks Market  India Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Automatic Door Locks Market  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.Future Of Global Weatherstrip Seal Market: Recent Industry Activity Focus on Key Players like Cooper Standard, Toyoda Gosei, Hutchinson, Henniges, Nishikawa, SaarGummi, Kinugawa, Hwaseung, Tokai Kogyo, Etc.

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Up Market Research offers a latest published report on Global Weatherstrip Seal Market Research Report 2019 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 120 pages which highly exhibit on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability.Request Sample Copy Of this Report @Global Weatherstrip Seal 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. It 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 Scuba Diving Fins Market global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 2018  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.The 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 Global Weatherstrip Seal Market analysis & forecast 2018- 2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Region- wise Analysis Global Weatherstrip Seal Market covers: North America Europe China Japan India Southeast Asia Other regions (Central & South America, Middle East & Africa)For More Information On This Report, Please Visit @The Major Players Reported In The Report Are: Cooper Standard Toyoda Gosei Hutchinson Henniges Nishikawa SaarGummi Kinugawa Hwaseung Tokai Kogyo Guihang Jianxin Zhao's Xiantong Haida Hebei Longzhi Qinghe Yongxin Hubei Zhengao Qinghe HuifengGlobal Weatherstrip Seal Market: Product Segment Analysis: EPDM TPE PVCGlobal Weatherstrip Seal Market: Application Segment Analysis: Passenger Car LCV HCVThe Report Covers In- Depth Analysis As Follows: Chapter 1 Overview of Global Weatherstrip Seal Market Chapter 2 Global Market Status and Forecast by Regions Chapter 3 Global Market Status and Forecast by Types Chapter 4 Global Market Status and Forecast by Downstream Industry Chapter 5 Market Driving Factor Analysis of Global Weatherstrip Seal Market Chapter 6 Global Weatherstrip Seal Market Competition Status by Major Manufacturers Chapter 7 Global Weatherstrip Seal Market Major Manufacturers Introduction and Market Data Chapter 8 Upstream and Downstream Market Analysis of Global Weatherstrip Seal Market Chapter 9 Cost and Gross Margin Analysis of Global Weatherstrip Seal Market Chapter 10 Marketing Status Analysis of Global Weatherstrip Seal Market Chapter 11 Report Conclusion Chapter 12 Research Methodology and ReferenceRequest Complete TOC Of this Report @Global Weatherstrip Seal 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 Global Weatherstrip Seal Market: Key Stakeholders: Manufacturers Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream VendorsIn this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Global Weatherstrip Seal Market 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 Weatherstrip Seal Market and its commercial landscape. Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by your competitors and leading organizations. 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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: Global Weatherstrip Seal Market  Global Market Status & Trend Report 2013- 2025 Top 20 Countries Data Global Weatherstrip Seal Market  North America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Global Weatherstrip Seal Market  South America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Global Weatherstrip Seal Market  Europe Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Global Weatherstrip Seal Market  EMEA Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Global Weatherstrip Seal Market  Asia Pacific Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Global Weatherstrip Seal Market  China Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Global Weatherstrip Seal Market  India Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Global Weatherstrip Seal Market  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.Finance Software Market Projected to Deliver Superior Revenues during the Forecasts- 2026 |Top Vendors; Intuit, Sage, SAP, Oracle (NetSuite), Microsoft, Infor, Epicor, Workday, Xero, Yonyou, Kingdee, Acclivity, Tally Solutions Pvt

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Financial software or financial structure software is special application software that records all the financial activity inside a business organization. Simple benefits of this system not only comprises all the modules of accounting software like accounts payable, accounts receivable, ledger, reporting modules and payroll but also to explore alternative investment choices and calculate statistical relationships. Geographies of the system may vary depending on what type of business it is being used for. Typically, the objective of the financial software is to record, classify, analyze, compile, interpret and then present an accurate and updated financial dates for every transaction of the business.For Sample copy of this Report:Companies Profiled in this report includes: Intuit, Sage, SAP, Oracle (NetSuite), Microsoft, Infor, Epicor, Workday, Unit4, Xero, Yonyou, Kingdee, Acclivity, Tally Solutions Pvt. Ltdand othersAbout Finance software Market:The newest report from Prof Research on the Global Financial Software market report states that the market valued $XX million at the end of 2019 and is estimated to value $XX million on completion of 2026. At the end of the forecast period, the worldwide Financial Software industry is expected to reach the revenue of $XX million, growing at a steady CAGR of +7%. All the values along with substantial amount of statistics have been include in the global Financial Software market research report.The Financial Software market report including the overall industry analysis of the market including the size of the market in terms of both value and volume. The report additional includes the various segmentation of the Financial Software market by type, application, and region. Complete and accurate market projections of the Financial Software have been provided for the customer to make effective business decision to make the most of the market trend. It is imperative to understand the market dynamics, and hence the report includes detailed information about the Financial Software market such as the latest news, updates, surveys, and SWOT analysis.Access Complete Report @:North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Europe have been examined on the basis of different aspects such as, Finance software. It offers regional analysis based on different segments of the global Finance software market. The research report offers a brief Finance software timeline for the various segments. Furthermore, it offers forecast based on the Finance software analysis. To understand the sales structure of this global Finance software market, it offers a hierarchy of global Finance software market sector. In briefings to offer a perfect idea of market different graphical presentation techniques have been used for curating this research report. New research study on global Finance software comes with an analysis of market dynamics such as Drivers, Restraints, and opportunities.Highpoints of the report:-Wide-ranging background analysis including assessment of parent market-Major Changes in Market Trends-Market division to second or third level-Old, current and projected size of the market in terms of both value and quantity-Reporting and evaluation of current industrial developments-Market Share and Strategies of Major Players-Appearing Position and Regional Markets-Objective evaluation of market trajectory Recommendation for strengthening market penetrationFinally, researchers throw light on manufacturers responsible for increasing the sales in the worldwide Finance software market. These manufacturers have been inspected in terms of the manufacturing base, contact details, and competitors. The report describes the definitions, specification, and classification of the global Finance software market.Table of ContentsGlobal Finance Software Market Research Report:- Finance Software Market Overview- Economic Impact on Industry- Market Competition by Manufacturers- Production, Revenue (Value) by Region- Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions- Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type- Market Analysis by Application- Manufacturing Cost Analysis- Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers- Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders- Market Effect Factors Analysis- Finance Software Market ForecastGet Discount on This Premium Research now @:The demand within the global market for Finance software industries has been rising due to the several approaches like Finance software. It comprises different features of the businesses and represented by using numerous graphical presentation techniques such as graphs, charts, pictures, and diagrams.If you have any special necessities, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About usThe Research Insights  A global leader in analytics, research and advisory that can assist you to renovate your business and modify your approach. With us, you will learn to take decisions intrepidly. We make sense of drawbacks, opportunities, circumstances, estimations and information using our experienced skills and verified methodologies. Our research reports will give you an exceptional experience of innovative solutions and outcomes. We have effectively steered businesses all over the world with our market research reports and are outstandingly positioned to lead digital transformations. Thus, we craft greater value for clients by presenting advanced opportunities in the global market.Contact usThe Research InsightsRobin(Sales Manager)+91-996-067-0000sales@theresearchinsights.comE-commerce Automotive Market Size Detail Analysis focusing on Key Players like Napa Auto Parts, Denso Corporation, Amazon, E-bay, Auto Zone, and Advance Auto Parts

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The E-commerce Automotive Market research report assembled by Market Study Report, LLC, provides a succinct analysis on the recent market trends. In addition, the report offers a thorough abstract on the statistics, market estimates and revenue forecasts, which further highlights its position in the industry, in tandem with the growth strategies adopted by leading industry players.E-commerce Automotive Aftermarket is estimated to surpass USD 30 billion by 2025; according to a new research report.Request a sample of this premium report at:Napa Auto Parts, Denso Corporation, Amazon, E-bay, Auto Zone, and Advance Auto Parts are among the prominent participants in e-commerce automotive aftermarket. Partnerships and collaborations with online aftermarket players are among the strategies adopted by the industry players to enhance their visibility. For instance, in 2016, Hella Group collaborated with online auto-parts supplier, iParts.pl in order to expand its product line.The global e-commerce automotive aftermarket is projected to accumulate substantial revenues over the coming years owing to increasing electric vehicle sales along with the rising prevalence of motor collisions. According to a recent forecast, electric vehicle ownership is estimated to increase to nearly 125 million by 2030, primarily backed by the policies that promote the purchase of clean-running cars. This indicates a big jump from 2017 when 3.1 million electric vehicles were in use, as per estimates by the International Energy Agency. Amidst stringent regulatory backdrop adopted by various nations, EV sales are projected to elevate.Global e-commerce automotive aftermarket is expected to generate a demand of over 1 billion units till 2025. Increasing age of vehicles across the globe, specifically in developed countries coupled with shifting consumer preference towards online purchase of auto components will primarily drive the industry growth over the forecast timeframe. Changing style preferences of consumers and increasing customizations in vehicles will further strengthen the industry penetration.Steering and suspension is anticipated to dominate the e-commerce automotive aftermarket share over the forecast timeframe. This can be credited to rising demand of components such as control arms, coil springs, and bearings. Availability of numerous options at reasonable price and choice will positively impact the product demand. Spark plugs are expected to exhibit over 21% CAGR till 2025 owing to recommendation of vehicle manufacturers for product replacement after every 30,000 miles. Increased accident rates along with cheaper product availability as compared to its counterparts will further propel the segment's growth.Online platforms have gained prominence among the automotive aftermarket industry players to launch their auto-parts portfolio. The manufacturers are increasingly launching their products on online platforms through third party retailers such as Amazon, and eBay or via their own online portals, positively impacting the industry growth. However, lack of efficient standardization for e-commerce businesses may lead to easy counterfeiting of products, posing a threat to the industry growth over the forecast timeframe.Rising production of electric and hybrid vehicles across the globe has resulted in increased complexity of the intricate parts. This has led to increased production of automotive aftermarket parts owing to proliferating Do-It-For-Me (DIFM) customers. The e-commerce automotive aftermarket players are forced to expand their portfolio, to cater to the rising demand, inducing immense potential to the industry till 2025.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:Third party retailers are likely to account for highest revenue share crossing USD 29 billion by 2025. Rising popularity of these retailers such as eBay, Amazon, etc. will primarily drive the industry growth. High revenue generation can also be attributed to the distinct services. Moreover, provision of benefits such as same day delivery will further strengthen the e-commerce automotive aftermarket penetration.Also, plunging battery costs are making electric vehicles attractive to drivers. The growing demand for electric and hybrid vehicles is set to result in the complexity of vehicle parts, which will encourage automakers to extend their product portfolio by opting for products from the e-commerce aftermarket. Thus, the rising demand for eco-friendly rides will boost the global e-commerce automotive aftermarket over the foreseeable years.Furthermore, the increasing number of car accidents is another significant driver pushing the global e-commerce automotive aftermarket. Although the United States saw a slight decline in the number of car crashes in the first half of 2018, it still witnessed a total of 17,120 crashes. As a matter of fact, car accidents generate huge demand for replacement parts. Owing to which, the American Honda drove up its web sales in the collision repair industry by teaming up with online parts dealers and auto body shops to make the process of buying replacements parts a convenient and simple affair. The increasing number of car collisions is slated to further augment the global e-commerce automotive aftermarket.Direct to customer will exhibit approximately 21% CAGR from 2018 to 2025. This can be attributed to high brand loyalty of the customers and provision of appropriate service facilities. The automotive aftermarket players such as Bosch are expanding their online platforms to enhance their visibility among the customers.B2C will account for maximum revenue share crossing USD 13 billion over the forecast timeline. Shifting preference of customers towards online purchase of these auto-parts will primarily support the industry dominance. This can be attributed to the cost effectiveness of the online portals as compared to conventional stores. Fast query solving, and provision of technologically advanced products will further escalate the revenue generation. B to big B will exhibit over 19% CAGR owing to provision of benefits such as fast delivery services.North America e-commerce automotive aftermarket is anticipated to exhibit a CAGR of approximately 17% by 2025. Well established internet infrastructure will pave stable growth prospects to the region's growth. Presence of prominent e-commerce leaders such as Amazon will strengthen the industry growth over the coming years. Asia Pacific is likely to exhibit considerable share of over USD 9 billion over the coming years. The substantial revenue generation can be attributed to growth in automobile industry along with rising internet penetration across the region.More Details on this Report:About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report LLC4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Blog:Surgical Microscopes Market Emerging Trends And Technology is expected to reach US$ 1,452.4 Mn in 2025 from US$ 578.5 Mn in 2017. The surgical microscopes market is estimated to grow with a CAGR of 12.4% from 2018-2025

Surgical Microscopes Market

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Surgical microscopes market is segmented by type, application and end user. Global surgical microscopes market, based on the type was segmented into wall mounted, table top, ceiling mounted, and on casters. The surgical microscopes market, based on application was segmented into oncology, urology, ophthalmology, gynecology, plastic & reconstructive surgeries, dentistry, ENT surgeries, neurosurgery & spine surgery. Based on end user, the global surgical microscopes market was segmented into hospitals and outpatient facilities.The global surgical microscopes market is expected to reach US$ 1,452.4 Mn in 2025 from US$ 578.5 Mn in 2017. The surgical microscopes market is estimated to grow with a CAGR of 12.4% from 2018-2025.Get PDF sample copy of research report:An in-depth analysis of various regions would provide a clear understanding of current and future trends so that companies can make region specific plans. To track and analyze competitive developments, such as product launches, agreements, partnerships, collaborations, and acquisitions in the global Surgical Microscopes market.The List of Companies1. Olympus Corporation2. Novartis AG3. Topcon Corporation4. Leica Microsystems5. Haag Streit Holding AG6. Alltian (Wuzhou) Co. Ltd.7. Keyence Corporation8. ARI Medical Technology Co. Ltd.9. Carl Zeiss Meditec AG10. Takagi Seiko Co. Ltd.Surgical microscopes also referred to as operating microscopes are optical microscopes that are specifically designed for their use in surgical setting. These microscopes are typically designed to perform microsurgical techniques. The use of these microscopes are found in various medical verticals that includes dentistry, ophthalmic surgery, plastic and reconstructive surgeries, cancer surgeries, ENT surgery, urology and others. The bright field and fluorescence microscope used in microsurgeries and other minimally invasive surgical procedures offers a clear view of the inaccessible and small parts of the human body to the surgeons that are otherwise not visible through a naked eye. The report would be of an interest to various stakeholders operating in the surgical microscopes market. These stakeholders include hospitals, research institutes and clinical research organizations, consulting firms, authorities framing reimbursement policies, manufacturers of medical devices and others.Get discount on this report@The objective of the study is to describe, define, and forecast the surgical microscopes market by type, application, end user and region. The report also provide detailed information regarding the major factors influencing growth of the market (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and trends). The report helps to analyze market with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and contributions to the overall market.A complete analysis of the competitive landscape of the global Surgical Microscopes market is provided in the report. This section includes company profiles of market key players. The profiles include contact information, gross, capacity, product details of each firm, price, and cost.Key benefits- To track and analyze competitive developments, such as product launches, agreements, partnerships, collaborations, and acquisitions in the global Surgical Microscopes market. To forecast the size of the market segments with respect to four major regional segments, namely, north america, europe, asia pacific, and the rest of the world (latin america and the middle east & africa).The report analyzes factors affecting surgical microscopes market from both demand and supply side and further evaluates market dynamics effecting the market during the forecast period i.e., drivers, restraints, opportunities, and future trend. The report also provides exhaustive PEST analysis for all five regions namely; North America, Europe, APAC, MEA and South & Central America after evaluating political, economic, social and technological factors effecting the market in these regions. The report also includes the profiles of key surgical microscopes manufacturing companies along with their SWOT analysis and market strategies.Major factors about the report: global Surgical Microscopes market overview economic impact on market market competition global Surgical Microscopes market analysis by application industrial chain, sourcing strategy and downstream buyers marketing strategy analysis, distributors/traders global market effect, factors, analysis global market forecastReason to buy:Save and reduce time carrying out entry-level research by identifying the market growth, size, leading players and segments in the global Surgical Microscopes markethighlights 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 Surgical Microscopes market, thereby allowing players across the value chain to develop effective long term strategies Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging market 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 client products, segmentation, pricing and distribution Examine the political, economic, social and technology impact of the five regions namely: north america, europe, asia pacific, middle east & africa and south & central america.For MoreDownload PDF Sample:About usThe 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 committed to providing highest quality research and consulting services to our customers. We help our clients understand key market trends, identify opportunities, and make informed decisions by providing market research solutions at an affordable cost.The Insight Partners,Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comWebsite:Future Growth of Automotive Gesture Recognition Market Size Global Analysis by Key Players - Harman International, Delphi Automotive PLC, Sony Depthsensing Solutions, Melexis, Continental AG, and eyeSight Technologies Ltd

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The automotive gesture recognition market study composed by Market Study Report, LLC, exhibits a comprehensive analysis of the growth trends present in the global business scenario. The study further presents conclusive data referring to the commercialization aspects, industry size and profit estimation of the market. The study also illustrates the competitive standing of leading manufacturers in the projection timeline whilst incorporating their diverse portfolio and regional expansion endeavors.Increasing vehicles demand with technologically advanced features including enhanced navigation and gesture-based infotainment systems are expanding the automotive gesture recognition market over the forecast timeframe. Incorporation of advanced sensors and electronics into the vehicles for improving the overall driving experience will further expand the business penetration till 2024.Request a sample of this premium report at:Few of the players in the automotive gesture recognition market place include Harman International, Delphi Automotive PLC, Sony Depthsensing Solutions, Melexis, Continental AG, and eyeSight Technologies Ltd. Other notable players include Texas Instruments, Intel, Visteon Corporation, and Synaptics Incorporated. Industry participant are continuously innovating their product portfolio and introducing innovative technologies for gaining edge over the competition. For instance, in 2017, Continental AG launched an advanced HMI system that enable superior haptip feedback, multi-finegr gestures, and handwriting capabilities, positively influencing their industry share till 2024.Increasing adoption of electronic components in vehicles for complying to stringent government norms associated with vehicle safety and emission are supporting the industry expansion. Usage of gestures for controlling various operations within vehicles including changing music, answering phone calls, and control the navigation are further strengthening the industry growth.Industry participants are continuously investing in R&D to improve the gestures and improve the overall efficiency of the system for enhancing the overall driving experience. For instance, Hyundai is working on an eye-tracking based gesture control system for its HCD-14 vehicle. Further, the system allows for easier control of multiple operations including smartphone connectivity, audio control, infotainment and HVAC operations, positively influencing the automotive gesture recognition market share.Higher costs associated with the acquisition and maintenance of these systems may hamper the automotive gesture recognition market growth over the projected timeframe. Further, the requirement for high precision sensors and components for detecting gestures under diversified lighting conditions may limit its adoption till 2024. However, industry participants are introducing low cost solutions for budget vehicles for increasing the system demand, lowering the overall cost and meeting the economies of scale.Automotive gesture recognition market share form touch-based systems accounted for the highest volume share at around 69% in 2017. This dominance is attributed to the increasing usage of such systems in multiple models across various price range. Proliferating usage of capacitive touch screens for controlling multiple car features including music control, phone connectivity, and HVAC controls further strengthens the business expansion.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:Hand or fingerprint authentication was valued at over USD 1,400 Million in 2017. This dominance is credited to the proliferating usage of these systems owing to easier operation and incorporation of IR sensors and cameras supporting the segment share. For instance, in 2015, BMW launched the 7-Series model line-up with improved hand and fingerprint sensing technologies for controlling multiple car operations, thereby contributing to the overall automotive gesture recognition market expansion.Multimedia, navigation, and infotainment systems showcased a significant growth rate at around 44% over the study timeframe. Increasing trend towards providing customer comfort along with the requirement for advanced navigation facilities supports the industry expansion. Further, the proliferation of advanced connectivity applications including Android Auto and Apple CarPlay offering higher quality multimedia and navigation content within the vehicle, further accelerates the segment penetration till 2024.PCVs accounted for more than 2,500 units in 2017 and is expected to continue its dominance over the projected timeframe. This can be credited to the increasing automotive sales across the globe. Improving living standards along with proliferating disposable income further supports the industry share over the projected timeframe. Increasing sales of luxury and premium vehicles with advanced electronic systems along with the availability of multiple models at varied price range further supports the business expansion over the forecast timeframe.Europe accounted for over 43% revenue share in 2017 owing to the presence of major automobile companies focusing on introducing advanced infotainment systems in their products for improving the driving experience. Further, supporting government regulations for introducing multiple safety standards for vehicles as standard is further supporting the industry expansion till 2024. For instance, the European Commission announced the mandatory fitment of technologies including e-call technology and automated emergency services in automobiles, thereby providing a positive outlook for the industry growth.More Details on this Report:About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report LLC4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Blog:Social Commerce Market Trend to 2025 Facebook, Pinterest, Tencent, Twitter, Weibo, Alibaba, Etsy, Fab, iQIYI, LinkedIn, PayPal, Qwiqq, Qzone, Reddit, Renren, Tumblr, Yahoo!,

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Social commerce is a subset of electronic commerce that involves social media, online media that supports social interaction, and user contributions to assist online buying and selling of products and services.The social commerce market statistics estimates that in terms of geographic regions, APAC will be the major revenue contributor to the social commerce market throughout the forecast period. The increasing internet penetration and the rising purchasing power of the middle-class population have made APAC the fastest-growing market for social commerce. This will positively influence the social commerce market size.During 2017, the laptops and PCs segment accounted for the major shares of the social commerce market. Factors such as the availability of a wide screen and the assistance of viewing multiple screens at once to compare the prices offered by the competing social commerce websites, will contribute to the growth of this industry segment in the coming years. This in turn, will have a positive impact on the social commerce market growth.In 2018, the global Social Commerce market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during 2019-2025.This report focuses on the global Social Commerce status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the Social Commerce development in United States, Europe and China.The Competitive landscape of the Social Commerce Market profiles the key players participating in the global Facebook, Pinterest, Tencent, Twitter, Weibo, Alibaba, Etsy, Fab, iQIYI, LinkedIn, PayPal, Qwiqq, Qzone, Reddit, Renren, Tumblr, Yahoo!,. The report also details the market positioning, strategies, and revenue procured by each of these manufacturers.Get sample copy of this report:Geographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, coveringUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaCentral & South AmericaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoLaptops and PCsMobilesTabletsE-readersInternet-enabled TVsOn 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, includingB2BB2CC2CThis report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Enquire about this report @The study objectives of this report are:To analyze global Social Commerce status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players.To present the Social Commerce 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 Social Commerce are as follows:History Year: 2014-2018Base Year: 2018Estimated Year: 2019Forecast Year 2019 to 2025For 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.Request a Discount this report:@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Global Antifreeze Market Size Brief Analysis by Top Key Players - Chevron, Kost USA, Shell, Total, Exxon Mobil, Ashland Inc, PETRONAS, Castrol BASF, Sinopec, Dow and DuPont

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The Antifreeze market research report framed by Market Study Report, LLC, delivers a thorough analysis of the industry trends influencing the global business scenario. In addition, the report offers definitive information pertaining to the commercialization aspects, revenue estimation, and market size of the industry. The report overtly defines the status of key players in the competitive landscape while including their portfolio and geographical expansion endeavors.Antifreeze Market is likely to surpass USD 7.5 billion by 2024; according to a new research report.Request a sample of this premium report at:In 2016, the overall antifreeze market was consolidated with major players constituting close to 50% of the market share. Major antifreeze market players are Chevron, Kost USA, Shell, Total, Exxon Mobil, Ashland Inc, PETRONAS, Castrol BASF, Sinopec, Dow and DuPont. Prominent players are investing significantly into their R&D facilities to broaden its customer base. For instance, Kost U.S.A., began manufacturing the all-new STP, which is automotive and heavy-duty lines of antifreeze at their manufacturing plant in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was intended in order to improve its existing product portfolio, to upscale its customer base globally.Strong commercial air traffic flow in Asia Pacific and the Middle East will positively influence the overall antifreeze market by 2024. For instance, revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) in Asia Pacific and the Middle East was 6.3% and 6.2% respectively in 2016. This trend is majorly due to improving socio-economic factors of people in Asia Pacific countries including India, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia. In addition, as per Boeing estimates, the global airplane fleet will double its as of now by 2033. Therefore, increasing airplane fleet in the near future will subsequently boost the global antifreeze market by 2024.Volatility in raw material prices is will be a major restraining factor for antifreeze market by 2024. Propylene glycol and ethylene glycol, are petroleum derivates and are the key raw materials used for manufacturing antifreeze. Henceforth, wavering petroleum prices may hinder the global coolants market by 2024. Furthermore, toxic nature of product is probable to obstruct the overall antifreeze market by 2024. Nevertheless, rising product use to improve engine performance in vehicle will generate plentiful opportunities for coolants market by 2024.Propylene glycol-based antifreeze market is projected to witness gains of over 6.5% during the forecast time period. This is owing to its less-toxic nature compared to ethylene glycol-based antifreeze and henceforth makes it preferable across several end-user industries including automotive, industrial and aerospace. Stringent laws imposed by regional regulatory bodies against use of toxic material across the aforementioned industries to help save human life and environment has triggered use of non-toxic material. These trends will drive demand for propylene-based coolant which will subsequently propel antifreeze market in the coming years.Coolant market for Hybrid Organic Acid Technology (HOAT) is likely to rise close to CAGR of 6% in the coming years. It is a hybrid of Inorganic Acid Technology (IAT) and OAT and use carboxylate salts which are mainly organic acid salts. Additionally, it contains sodium silicate which is an excellent aluminum protection additive. However, silicates are abrasive to antifreeze pump seals and silicate containing coolants are not preferred by manufacturer. Henceforth, this technology includes silicates in a lesser concentration compared to conventional green IAT coolant and henceforth will help drive antifreeze market by 2024.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:Antifreeze market for industrial heating/cooling is projected to rise at a CAGR close to 5% during the forecast timespan. Growing population along with rising economy in the Asia Pacific has led to industrialization which will drive product demand and in turn will boost coolants market by 2024. Product possess excellent properties which is designed to protect copper, brass, solder, cast iron, steel and various other metals commonly found in industrial cooling/heating system. The aforementioned trends will help attain promising gains to coolants market by 2024.North America antifreeze market was close to USD 750 million in 2016. This was mainly due to strong automotive and aerospace industry mainly in the U.S. For instance, total vehicle sales in the U.S. were 15.53 million units which reached 17.85 million units by the end of 2017. Additionally, Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul providers (MRO's) for aircraft industry in the region spent USD 20 billion. This move was intended to maintain the overall performance and safety standards. Coolants play a significant role in maintaining engine's performance by reducing the excess heat generated which otherwise, may cause severe damage to engine components. The above-mentioned trends will help make significant contribution to the antifreeze market by 2024.More Details on this Report:About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report LLC4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Blog:IoT Gateway Market Key Player Analysis By Siemens Ag, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd, Fujitsu Ltd, Sierra Wireless, Inc, Eurotech Spa, Cisco Systems, Inc, Hp Corporation, Dell Technologies, Inc

IoT Gateway

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The IoT Gateway is developing and expanding at a significant pace. The IoT gateway is considered as physical device or software program which serves as the immediate connection point between cloud & controllers, sensors, and intelligent devices. All the data going to the cloud or vice versa, goes through the intermediate gateway, that could be either a hardware appliance or a software program. An IoT gateway cloud also be denoted to as an intelligent gateway or a control tier. The market growth is primarily driven by surging demand for IoT enabled devices along with personalized technologies. Moreover, the growth in internet connectivity, uninterrupted rise in requirement of smartphones & other related devices, and enhancement in the utility of wireless sensors & its networks are considered some of the key factors fueling the growth of the market. However, complex designing of the IoT gateway along with lack of skilled professionals is acting as restraining factor for the development and growth of IoT gateway market.Request a sample of this report at:The regional analysis of Global IoT Gateway Market is considered for the key regions such as Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America and Rest of the World. North America is the fastest growing region across the world in terms of market share. Whereas, owing to the countries such as China, Japan, and India, Asia Pacific region is anticipated to be the dominating region over the forecast period 2018-2025.The objective of the study is to define market sizes of different segments & countries in recent years and to forecast the values to the coming eight years. The report is designed to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the industry within each of the regions and countries involved in the study. Furthermore, the report also caters the detailed information about the crucial aspects such as driving factors & challenges which will define the future growth of the market. Additionally, the report shall also incorporate available opportunities in micro markets for stakeholders to invest along with the detailed analysis of competitive landscape and product offerings of key players. The detailed segments and sub-segment of the market are explained below:The major market player included in this report are: Siemens AG, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd, Fujitsu Ltd, Sierra Wireless, Inc, Eurotech SPA, Cisco Systems, Inc, HP Corporation, Dell Technologies, IncBy Node: Smart Watch, Camera, RADAR, Thermostat, Actuator, Smart Tv, OthersBy Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Ethernet, Z-Wave, Others.Enquire about this report @By Component: MCU, FPGA, Sensor, Memory, OthersBy Application:, Wearable Devices, Healthcare, Automotive & Transportation, Building Automation, Industrial, Consumer ElectronicsBy Regions: U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, China, India, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, Rest of the WorldTable of ContentsChapter 1.Executive SummaryChapter 2.IoT Gateway Market Definition and ScopeChapter 3.IoT Gateway Market DynamicsChapter 4.IoT Gateway Market Industry AnalysisChapter 5.IoT Gateway Market, by ApplicationChapter 6.IoT Gateway Market, by Deployment ModeChapter 7.IoT Gateway Market, by Regional AnalysisChapter 8.Competitive IntelligenceChapter 9.Research ProcessAccess Full Summery @Related report:Global Industrial Iot Gateway Market 2018 by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023Global Industrial Iot Gateway Market Professional Survey Report 2018About 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Interceptor Missiles Market Research Report 2019-2024, by Range, By Region, by Technology - Key Players Raytheon Co., Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co., Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Aerojet Rocketdyne

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Rising threats from enemy countries across the globe will primarily drive the interceptor missiles market share over the forecast timeframe. Various countries across the globe are purchasing these missiles to overcome these threats.Excessive high manufacturing cost may hamper the industry growth and will also limit the new entrants to establish their business. Moreover, countries are hesitant in purchasing these missiles due to the frequent technological advancements that makes the existing technology obsolete which in turn will restrain the market, posing a challenge before the industry participants.Get Sample Copy of This Report @Increasing defense budget of various countries across the globe will further escalate the revenue generation. For instance, in 2016, U.S. defense budget was more than USD 604 billion and is likely to increase by 2018. Similarly, in November 2017, EU decided to increase the defense budget since its 23-member states signed a commitment. Increasing defense budget will lead to rise in purchasing power of the countries, propelling the industry growth over the coming years.Company profiled in this report based on Business overview, Financial data, Product landscape, Strategic outlook & SWOT analysis: Hexcel E.I. DuPont de Nemours LMI Aerospace Solvay Group BASF SEMake an Inquiry for purchasing this Report @Market by Technology:PAC-3 technology accounted for around 30% share in 2016 and is anticipated to continue its dominance over the next eight years. This can be attributed to rising demand across the globe, especially in developed countries including the U.S. In January 2012, the U.S. army signed multiple contracts worth USD 921 million for PAC-3 missiles and related systems. High implementation of these missiles by the countries including Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Qatar will further have a significant contribution towards the substantial revenue generation.HQ-19 missiles are likely to grow rapidly, exhibiting over 40% CAGR till 2024 owing to wide adoption of these missiles since 2017. They are continuously being implemented as a replacement for HQ-9 technology. These missiles have a range of about 500 kms and are equipped with a kinetic kill vehicle which in turn will further support the industry growth over the forecast timeframe.Market by Surface:Surface to air is anticipated to capture maximum revenue share, accounting for nearly USD 12.5 billion by 2024. High usage of these missiles for defense against enemies will primarily drive the industry growth. Moreover, substantial revenue generation is attributed to easy deployment of these missiles on the ground. Provision of benefits such as portability and light-weight will propel the industry players to indulge in their manufacturing, further supporting the industry dominance till 2024.Market by Range:Missiles of range up to 125 kms will showcase dominance in the industry, capturing over 65% volume share over the forecast timeframe. this can be credited to high demand of missiles such as Iron Dome, SM-3, and PAC-3 that conform to this range. Iron dome is highly prominent in Israel. Similarly, PAC-3 has high demand, especially from MEA, further impacting the industry growth positively.Market by Region:MEA is likely to dominate the global interceptor missiles market, generating a demand of over 1,300 units by 2024. High deployment of these missiles owing to continuously rising enemy threats will primarily support the regions dominance. Various countries are collaborating with major industry participants to enhance their defence capabilities. For instance, Qatar and UAE may sign a deal with Lockheed Martin for Patriot missiles. Moreover, UAE is the first foreign buyer of interceptor missiles after signing deal worth USD 3.4 billion with U.S. Department of Defense.Europe is expected to exhibit over 7% CAGR till 2024 owing to rising sales of interceptor missiles across the region. For instance, in 2017, Poland purchased 208 PAC-3 MSE missiles for strengthening their defense power. Moreover, the country is expected to purchase 24 surface to air SM-3 missiles in 2018. High adoption of these missiles from Sweden and Romania will further contribute to the industry growth.Browse Report Summery @Raytheon Co., Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co., Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, and Aerojet Rocketdyne are among the prominent participants in interceptor missile market. New product developments and partnerships are among the major strategies implemented by these competitors.Interceptor missiles are used by military forces across the globe for the protection of their country and strengthen their defense power. Rising enemy threats in various regions across the globe will drive the industry growth. Regular upgradations in these missiles have further paved opportunistic ways for the industry participants. The industry is highly consolidated with few players capturing the global revenue share.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:Crawler Crane Market 2019 By Regional Manufacturers Terex Corporation, Liebherr Group, Konecranes, Escorts Limited, Link-Belt Cranes, Palfinger AG, Sany Group

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The crawler crane market is witnessing demand for low-level access units, niche machines, and customized choices. Growing installation & maintenance activities for the upgrade of fire stations, street lights, glasswork, and other associated infrastructure coupled with increasing organization of several events such as concerts, corporate events, and festivals, are driving the need for these machines across several regions.Crawler Crane Market size is set to exceed USD 3 billion by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. The shipments are expected to grow at a CAGR of over 4%.Request for a sample copy of this report @The Asia Pacific crawler crane market is witnessing a high adoption in the construction and mining sectors and expected to grow at a CAGR of over 5% from 2018 to 2024. Global companies are expanding their business operations in the region by collaborating with local manufacturers. For instance, in December 2016, Jekko s.r.l. collaborated with Lee Hyun Soo and Dennis Shin for establishing a new subsidiary, Jekko Korea in Seoul.Countries including India, China, and Japan are adopting advanced automated technologies in industrial sectors for enhancing their business operations. The escalating infrastructure development projects in countries including India will favor the crawler crane market growth.Crawler Crane Market, By Capacityo Below 50 metric tonso 50 to 250 metric tonso 250 to 450 metric tonso 450 to 650 metric tonsCrawler Crane Market, By Applicationo Rentalo Constructiono Miningo Oil & Gaso EnergyMake an inquiry for purchasing this report @Increasing utilization of crawler cranes in the energy sector is anticipated to drive the crawler crane market growth. These machines offer heavy lifting operations at the nuclear and renewable energy sites and facilitate the operators in handling the materials efficiently. Several manufacturers have developed energy sector-specific machines that witness a high demand. For instance, Manitowoc has launched a wind power crane, Grove GTK1100, that is used for wind turbine operations such as erection and construction. Additionally, the crawler crane market is witnessing growth opportunities due to the increasing infrastructure projects across the globe.Economic growth across the globe, especially in China, India, and Southeast Asian markets, has led to a better infrastructure demand. Growing building & construction spending due to a rise in per-capita disposable income along with enhanced infrastructure in Asia Pacific and Latin America will drive the crawler crane market. Growth in Latin America will be led by an increase in infrastructure spending, mainly transportation and energy, closely followed by spending on non-residential structures. The key areas of construction growth in emerging economies are social, transport, energy, defense infrastructure, and government accommodation.Browse report summery @High maintenance costs and initial investments are the major factors hindering the crawler crane market development. The high cost is discouraging several business manufacturers and OEMs from deploying high-end machines. Companies consider that investments for automated equipment must meet the global quality and manufacturing standards. In addition, the cranes are available on lease from the manufacturers at a lower price than the newer machines. Instead of procuring a new equipment, several customers commonly prefer renting equipment, which is anticipated to hamper the market.The strong distributor relations aid companies in gaining a competitive advantage and understanding the demand for any new products in application segments. This helps companies in the crawler crane market in efficiently marketing new product lines and expanding the customer base. In July 2018, The Liebherr Group announced the opening of the companys new headquarters in Virginia. The new facility developed a production & workshop unit to support Liebherrs construction, concrete, and cranes division.Major players in the crawler crane market include Terex Corporation, The Liebherr Group, Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd., XCMG Group, The Escorts Group, Komatsu Ltd., Sany Group, and Manitowoc. Companies including The Escorts Group, Furukawa UNIC Corporation, and Terex Corporation sell their equipment through specialized construction equipment distributors and construction firms across the globe.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:Male Infertility Market Expected to Claim $301.5 Million Value by 2020 : DNA fragmentation industry to grow with highest rates during forecast period

Male Infertility Market

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According to National Institutes of Health in the U.S. there are approximately >2 million infertile couples of which about 40% accounts to male infertility. The most common type of male infertility is the idiopathic infertility and infertility due to varicocele. The basic treatments involved in male infertility are surgery, treatment for problems in intercourse, hormone treatment and ART technology.Male Infertility Market Report, published by Allied Market Research, forecasts that the global market is expected to garner $301.5 million by 2020, registering a CAGR of 5% during the period 2014-2020.Request Sample/ TOC Report @There is a steady increase in the global infertility rates both in the developed and developing nations. The changing life style, delayed pregnancy and aging are few of the factors driving the global infertility cases. The report excludes basic male infertility treatments such as surgery, treatment for problems in intercourse and hormonal treatment. The report focuses on male infertility and its treatment techniques with focus on drugs and devices. There are various techniques that are used in the diagnosis of the male infertility such as DNA fragmentation, oxidative stress, CASA (computer assisted semen analysis), sperm penetration assay, sperm agglutination and microscopic examination. The DNA fragmentation is an emerging technique which has already gained popularity and is accepted as a routine technique in the developed countries. The technique is yet to gain popularity in the developing regions and yet to be used as a routine technique due to the cost hindrance.Infertility in male is characterized by various infertility related problems such as low sperm count, presence of low motile sperm or azoospermia. The various causes of male infertility include stress, consumption of alcohol or drugs, smoking, obesity, environmental toxins, etc. These factors also act as driving factors of the male infertility market. When an individual is diagnosed with infertility, the person undergoes immense stress, embarrassment and guilt, which would further intensify the infertility problem. This is a major limitation of this market. The opportunity for the growth of this market is the increase in awareness levels among men and rising trend in medical tourism.Send Enquiry on this report @The male infertility market is segmented based on techniques, namely DNA fragmentation, oxidative stress analysis, sperm agglutination test, sperm penetration test, microscopic examination, computer assisted semen analysis and others. The DNA fragmentation would be the highest revenue generating market by 2020 and is also expected to have the highest CAGR during the analysis period, when compared to the other segments in the techniques market. This is due to the accuracy level the test provides in identifying the level of infertility by measuring the level of DNA damage.The key companies profiled in the report are ASKA Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, ZydusCadila Healthcare Limited, Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Pantarhei Bioscience B, Cordex Pharma, Inc., Merck Serono, Halotech DNA SL, SCSA diagnostics, Andrology Solutions.Male Infertility Market Segments covered in the report:By Techniques DNA Fragmentation Technique Oxidative Stress Analysis Microscopic Examination Sperm Penetration Assay Sperm Agglutination Computer Assisted Semen Analysis OthersFor More Info Visit @About usAllied Market Research, a market research and advisory company of Allied Analytics LLP, provides business insights and market research reports to large as well as small & medium enterprises. The company assists its clients to strategize business policies and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.Allied Market Research provides one stop solution from the beginning of data collection to investment advice. The analysts at Allied Market Research dig out factors that help clients to understand the significance and impact of market dynamics. The company amplies clients insight on the factors, such as strategies, future estimations, growth or fall forecasting, opportunity analysis, and consumer surveys among others. As follows, the company offers consistent business intelligent support to aid the clients to turn into prominent business firm.Contact: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:2019 Global Hand Account Market Growth Analysis | By Key Players Deli, M&G, GuangBo, TRNFA, Kinbor, Longe, CARQ, Nakabayashi, KAISA, George Willsons, Leuchtturm1917

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The global market size of Hand Account is $XX million in 2017 with XX CAGR from 2013 to 2017, and it is expected to reach $XX million by the end of 2023 with a CAGR of XX% from 2018 to 2023.Sample PDF Copy@There are 3 key segments covered in this report: geography segment, end use/application segment and competitor segment.For geography segment, regional supply, application-wise and type-wise demand, major players, price is presented from 2013 to 2023. This report coverss following regions:*North America*South America*Asia & Pacific*Europe*MEA (Middle East and Africa)The key countries in each region are taken into consideration as well, such as United States, China, Japan, India, Korea, ASEAN, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, CIS, and Brazil etc.For end use/application segment, this report focuses on the status and outlook for key applications. End users also can be listed.For competitor segment, the report includes global key players of Hand Account as well as some small players.Buy Now@The compnaies include:Deli, M&G, GuangBo, TRNFA, Kinbor, Longe, CARQ, Nakabayashi, KAISA, George Willsons, Leuchtturm1917, GAGIE, Sabo, Faramon, DAYCRAFT, Moleskine, Midori, Umi, Duga, Kinbor, Bandari, Plus, KOKUYO, Geeyea et al.The information for each competitor includes:*Company Profile*Main Business Information*SWOT Analysis*Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin*Market ShareAbout Us:Research Reports Inc. is one of the leading destinations for market research reports across all industries, companies, and technologies. Our repository features an exhaustive list of market research reports from thousands of publishers worldwide.US / Canada Toll Free: +18554192424, UK :+4403308087757 | Email: info@researchreportsinc.comCloud GIS Market - Growth & Industry Revenue By Top Key Players CartoDB, Esri, HEXAGON, GIS Cloud Ltd., Mapbox, OpenStreetMap, Apple Inc., Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, and Bing Maps

cloud geospatial information service

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The cloud geospatial information service (GIS) is a web-based information system that generates data in the form of maps, which help businesses to analyze and optimize their operations. It provides media-enriched location information at any place and at any given time. This method requires less time to share, analyze, and publish data. The cloud GIS uses a virtualized platform that is beneficial for a scalable and elastic environment. Real-time optimization of operations is the key advantage of cloud GIS.Easy data access drives the global cloud GIS market. However, the low internet penetration in Asia-Pacific restrains this market growth. The ability to easily migrate towards cloud GIS presents a major opportunity for market expansion.Download report sample at:The global cloud GIS market is segmented based on end user and region. Based on end user, it is divided into telecommunication, utilities, government, and natural resources. Based on region, it is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.The global cloud GIS Market is dominated by key players such as CartoDB, Esri, HEXAGON, GIS Cloud Ltd., Mapbox, OpenStreetMap, Apple Inc., Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, and Bing Maps.Key BenefitsThe study provides an in-depth analysis of the global cloud GIS market and current & future trends to elucidate the imminent investment pockets.Information about the key drivers, restrains, and opportunities and their impact analysis on the market size are provided.Porters Five Forces analysis illustrates the potency of buyers and suppliers operating in the industry.The quantitative analysis of the market from 2017 to 2023 is provided to determine the market potential.For purchase enquiry at:Cloud Gis Market Key Segments:By End UserTelecommunicationUtilitiesGovernmentNatural ResourcesBy RegionNorth AmericaoU.S.oCanadaoMexicoEuropeoUKoGermanyoFranceoRussiaoRest of EuropeAsia-PacificoChinaoIndiaoJapanoAustraliaoRest of Asia-PacificLAMEAoLatin AmericaoMiddle EastoAfricaKey Market Players Profiled In The ReportCartoDBEsriHEXAGONGIS Cloud Ltd.MapboxOpenStreetMapApple Inc.Google MapsOpenStreetMapTRANBERGAbout Us:Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions. AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.Contact:David Correa5933 NE Win Sivers Drive#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesToll Free: +1-800-792-5285UK: +44-845-528-1300Hong Kong: +852-301-84916India (Pune): +91-20-66346060Fax: +1?855?550-5975help@alliedmarketresearch.comWeb:Private Security Services Market 2019 Global Analysis By Key Players  G4S, Securitas AB, ADT Corporation, Llied Universal, US Security Associates

Private Security Services Market

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On  Private Security Services Market 2019 Global Analysis By Key Players  G4S, Securitas AB, ADT Corporation, Llied Universal, US Security Associates.Private Security Services Industry 2019Description:-The Private Security Services industry has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, Private Security Services market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of *% from XXXX million $ in 2014 to XXXX million $ in 2017, The analysts believe that in the next few years, Private Security Services market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2022, The market size of the Private Security Services will reach XXXX million $.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comThis Report covers the manufacturers data, including: shipment, price, revenue, gross profit, interview record, business distribution etc., these data help the consumer know about the competitors better. This report also covers all the regions and countries of the world, which shows a regional development status, including market size, volume and value, as well as price data.Besides, the report also covers segment data, including: type segment, industry segment, channel segment etc. cover different segment market size, both volume and value. Also cover different industries clients information, which is very important for the manufacturers.Sections:-Section 1: FreeDefinitionSection (2 3): 1200 USDMajor Player DetailG4SSecuritas ABADT CorporationLlied UniversalUS Security AssociatesSISTOPSGRUPBeijing BaoanOCSGroupICTS EuropeTransguardAndrews InternationalControl RisksCovenantChina Security & Protection GroupBrinksProsegurSecomTyco InternationalSection 4: 1200 USDRegion Segmentation (1980-2017)North America Country (United States, Canada)South AmericaAsia Pacific Country (China, Japan, India, Korea, Australia)Europe Country (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden)Other Country (Middle East, Africa, GCC)...Enquiry About Report @Table Of Contents  Major Key PointsSection 1 Private Security Services DefinitionSection 2 Global Private Security Services Market Major Player Share and Market Overview2.1 Global Major Player Private Security Services Business Revenue2.2 Global Private Security Services Market OverviewSection 3 Major Player Private Security Services Business Introduction3.1 G4S Private Security Services Business Introduction3.1.1 G4S Private Security Services Revenue, Growth Rate and Gross profit 2014-20173.1.2 G4S Private Security Services Business Distribution by Region3.1.3 G4S Interview Record3.1.4 G4S Private Security Services Business Profile3.1.5 G4S Private Security Services Specification3.2 Securitas AB Private Security Services Business Introduction3.2.1 Securitas AB Private Security Services Revenue, Growth Rate and Gross profit 2014-20173.2.2 Securitas AB Private Security Services Business Distribution by Region3.2.3 Interview Record3.2.4 Securitas AB Private Security Services Business Overview3.2.5 Securitas AB Private Security Services Specification3.3 ADT Corporation Private Security Services Business Introduction3.3.1 ADT Corporation Private Security Services Revenue, Growth Rate and Gross profit 2014-20173.3.2 ADT Corporation Private Security Services Business Distribution by Region3.3.3 Interview Record3.3.4 ADT Corporation Private Security Services Business Overview3.3.5 ADT Corporation Private Security Services Specification3.4 Llied Universal Private Security Services Business Introduction3.5 US Security Associates Private Security Services Business Introduction3.6 SIS Private Security Services Business IntroductionSection 4 Global Private Security Services Market Segmentation (Region Level)4.1 North America Country4.1.1 United States Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.1.2 Canada Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.2 South America Country4.2.1 South America Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.3 Asia Pacific Country4.3.1 China Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.3.2 Japan Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.3.3 India Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.3.4 Korea Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.3.5 Australia Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.4 Europe Country4.4.1 Germany Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.4.2 UK Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.4.3 France Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.4.4 Italy Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.4.5 Spain Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.4.6 Sweden Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.4.7 Europe Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.5 Other Country and Region4.5.1 Middle East Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.5.2 Africa Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.5.3 GCC Private Security Services Market Size and Market Segmentation (Industry Level) 1980-20174.6 Global Private Security Services Market Segmentation (Region Level) Analysis 1980-20174.7 Global Private Security Services Market Segmentation (Region Level) AnalysisSection 5 Global Private Security Services Market Segmentation (Type Level)5.1 Global Private Security Services Market Segmentation (Type Level) Market Size 1980-20175.2 Global Private Security Services Market Segmentation (Type Level) AnalysisSection 6 Global Private Security Services Market Segmentation (Industry Level)6.1 Global Private Security Services Market Segmentation (Industry Level) Market Size 2014-20176.2 Different Industry Trend 2014-20176.3 Global Private Security Services Market Segmentation (Industry Level) AnalysisSection 7 Private Security Services Market Forecast 2018-20227.1 Private Security Services Segmentation Market Forecast (Region Level)7.2 Private Security Services Segmentation Market Forecast (Type Level)7.3 Private Security Services Segmentation Market Forecast (Industry Level)ContinuedBuy 1-user PDF @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.Veterinary Clostridium Vaccine Market Distribution Channel 2019: Bayer AG, Bimeda, Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH., Ceva , Eli Lilly and Company, Intervet Inc., a subsidiary of Merck & Co. Inc., Sanofi, Virbac, Zoetis,

Veterinary Clostridium Vaccine Market

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The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Veterinary Clostridium Vaccine Market sales by showing all the figures in the historic and base year while also showing what the approximate figures are going to be in the forecast years of 2019-2026.The report also provides with a deep explanation on what the market definition, classifications, applications, and engagements are. By making it clear on how the key players and brands are moving in terms of their sales, import, export and revenue and what their actions are in terms of their recent product launches, their researches, their joint ventures, merges, and accusations.The report consists with all the company profiles along with the market drivers and restrains with the help of SWOT analysis.FREE | Get sample copy of this report @The Global Veterinary Clostridium Vaccine Market is expected to rise from its initial estimated value of USD 494.65million in 2018 to an estimated value of USD 715.37 million by 2026 registering a CAGR of 4.72% in the forecast period of 2019-2026. This rise in the market can be attributed to the rising in animal adoption, increase in occurrence of injuries and diseases in animals, and the technological advancements.Key Developments in the Market: In May, 2018, Zoetis acquired Abaxis, a Leading Global Provider of Veterinary Point-of-Care Diagnostic Instruments to enhance its presence in veterinary diagnostics, This will increase its presence in veterinary diagnostics approximately 10% compound annual growth over the last three years and this can also provide a new platform for growth that Zoetis can accelerate with sales of its products in more than 100 countries. In June, 2016, Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim signed an agreement Sanofis Animal Health and Boehringer Ingelheims Consumer Healthcare Business. After this acquisition, Boehringer Ingelheim becomes the second largest animal-health company and it will bethe top provider worldwide of parasiticides and vaccines for both production animals and pets.Companies Mentioned:Bayer AG, Bimeda, Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH., Ceva , Eli Lilly and Company, Intervet Inc., a subsidiary of Merck & Co. Inc., Sanofi, Virbac, Zoetis, Inc., Aratana Therapeutics, Inc., ARKO Labs, CanFel Therapeutics, CEVA Logistics, Hygieia Biological Laboratories, Nuovo Biologics,LLC, Valneva SE,.Table of Contents1. Introduction2. Market Segmentation3. Market Overview4. Executive Summary5. Premium Insights6. Global, By Component7. Product Type8. Delivery9. Industry Type10. Geography10.1. Overview10.2. North America10.3. Europe10.4. Asia-Pacific10.5. South America10.6. Middle East & Africa11. Company Landscape12. Company Profiles13. Related ReportsGet Detail TOC@Market Analysis:-Global Veterinary Clostridium Vaccine Market,By Animal Species (Bovine, Ovine, Caprine, Swine, Poultry, Others),Distribution Channel (Veterinary Clinic, Veterinary Hospital, Veterinary Research Institute, Retail Pharmacy),Geography (Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, South America and Middle East & Africa)  Industry Trends & Forecast to 2026Major Insights of the Report:-1. Market Penetration: Comprehensive information on the product portfolios of the top players in the Veterinary Clostridium Vaccine market.2. To gain insightful analyses of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the Veterinary Clostridium Vaccine and its commercial landscape3. Market estimates of all the key segments, sub-segments, and the regional markets throughout the forecast period4. Product Development/Innovation: Detailed insights on the product approvals, R&D activities, and product launches in the Veterinary Clostridium Vaccine market5. To understand the future outlook and prospects for Veterinary Clostridium Vaccine market analysis and forecast 2019-2026.For More Information On This Report @About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact:Data Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.comHand Tools Market 2027 | Apex Tools Group, Snap-On, Klein Tools, Akbar Tools Ltd., Wera Tools, Channellock, Inc., JK Files (India) Limited and Kennametal Inc.

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Research Report Insights (RRI) delivers key insights on the global hand tools market in its latest report titled Hand Tools Market by 2027. The long-term outlook on the global hand tools market remains positive, with market value expected to increase at a CAGR of 3.9% by 2027. Among application, the household & DIY segment is expected to expand at a significant CAGR in terms of value over the forecast period. Among product type, the metal cutting tools segment is anticipated to witness higher CAGR in terms of value over the forecast period. Global sales offhand tools is estimated to be valued at US$ 15,642.8 Mn by the end of 2017, witnessing a Y-o-Y growth of 3.9% over the year 2016. North America is estimated to account for a value share of 33.3% in the global hand tools market by 2017 end and it is anticipated to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period.Hand Tools has been identified as one of the most profitable and consistently performing industry despite being low profile. Use of hand tools is largely affected by the demographic conditions with majority of consumers utilizing hand tools for several DIY (do it yourself) and remodeling activities. On the other hand, in industries use of hand tools has been largely characterized by companies looking for state of art technology to produce high quality products. To respond to the needs of industries, producers are aggressively focusing towards product innovation to satisfy the needs of different customers. One of the several areas of product innovation where companies are primarily focusing is ergonomic design of hand tools to make it more precise and comfortable to operate. Industrial expansion worldwide is primarily driving the demand for hand tools since adoption of hand tools for several maintenance purpose is continuously increasing. Further, emerging demand of hand tools from automotive repair and maintenance industry has also witnessed the growth of high precision hand tools.Request For Report Sample:However, the global hand tools market is expected to face certain challenges. Consumer shifting preference towards power tools mainly due to fast and easy operating feature is primarily restricting the growth of the market. Moreover, raw material price rise is also identified as the challenge for the companies to maintain price quality ratio of hand tools primarily during shifting trend toward adoption of power tools. The segment is anticipated to account for a market value of more than US$ 9,000 Mn in 2017 and is anticipated to be valued in excess of US$ 12 Bn by 2027 end, expanding at a CAGR of 3.9% during the projected period.Segmentation analysisOn the basis of product type, the general purpose tools segment is anticipated to continue to dominate the market in terms of value over the forecast periodOn the basis of application, the industrial segment is anticipated to dominate the market in terms of value. This segment accounted for 59.9% value share in 2015Request Report Discount:On the basis of sales channel, the online sales segment is expected to be the most attractive in terms of CAGR index. The growth of this segment is due to rising penetration of e-commerce and increasing demand for cross border products among consumers.In terms of sales channel, retail segment is expected to dominate the market throughout the forecast period. Mass merchant retailers selling product at price below industry average in order to drive their sales is primarily fuelling the growth of this segment.Regional analysisNorth America and Western Europe are estimated to collectively account for 63.8% value share in the global hand tools market by the end of 2017. The North America hand tools market is expected to remain dominant over the forecast period. Although power tools are continuously replacing hand tools in North America and Western Europe, increasing product innovations and companies aggressive expenditure in R & D is expected to propel the growth of the market. Mexico is expected to hold dominant revenue share in the Latin America hand tools market over the forecast period. This is primarily due to higher per capita consumption of hand tools. Sales of hand tools in APEJ is expected to increase to US$ 3,916.8 Mn by 2027 end from US$ 2,186.0 in 2017.Vendor insightsThe report highlights and presents the market value share of some of the top companies operating in the global hand tools market such as Stanley Black Decker, Apex Tools Group, Snap-On, Klein Tools, Akbar Tools Ltd., Wera Tools, Channellock, Inc., JK Files (India) Limited and Kennametal Inc.Report Analysis:About Us:Research Report Insights (RRI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver a host of services including custom research reports, syndicated research reports, and consulting services which are personalised in nature. RRI delivers a complete packaged solution to clients; this combines current market intelligence, technology inputs, statistical anecdotes, valuable growth insights, 360-degree view of the competitive framework, and anticipated market trends.Contact Us:Research Report Insights (RRI)42 Joseph StreetPort carling P0B 1J0Muskoka, Ontario1Phone - +1-631-721-4201Website:Email: sales@researchreportinsights.comIQF Fruits Market 2026 | Group Limited, Uren Food Group Ltd., Danone, Rosemary & Thyme Limited, Hindustan Unilever Limited,

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The demand for individual quick freeze (IQF) fruits is largely influenced by the prominent wellness and health trends in the world. Also, the rising occurrence of pancreatic disorder due to overconsumption of poorly-preserved fruits is expected to stimulate the demand for IQF fruits among consumers globally. In2016, the global market for IQF fruits is anticipated to close in on US$ 8.0 Bn in terms of revenues, surpassing consumption of over 2.3 Mn tonnes of volumes.To asses optimal growth opportunities of the global IQF fruits market, Research Report Insights (RRI) provides key market perceptions in the report titled, Global Market Study on Individual Quick Freeze (IQF) Fruits: Industry Analysis and Forecast 2016-2026. According to the report, the market value of the global IQF fruits market reached US$ 7.4 Bn in 2015, and is expected to grow exponentially in 2016 and beyond.Request For Report Sample:Growing awareness on the health benefits of consuming fruits with nutritional additives is one of the major factor driving the growth of the market. The consumption of natural and organic fruits assorted with artificial ingredients is surging, which has resulted in a positive impact on the demand for quick freeze fruits. However, the growth of the global market will face challenges owing to the lower acceptance of IQF fruits as an alternative for conventional fruit preservation processes.By product type, the global market for IQF fruits is expected to exhibit dominance from strawberry segment. Strawberry additives will account for more than US$ 570 Mn revenues, while blueberry additives will be adopting a y-o-y growth rate of 10% and increase their revenue share by 2016-end. Increasing consumption of berries in preparation of smoothies and other fruit drinks will also influence the product growth in 2016 and beyond.On the basis of the buyers, the groceries and wholesaler outlets will continue to account for substantial share in the global market value. Dairy product manufacturers are also expected to increase their demand for IQF fruits in order to develop new edible and drinkable products. In 2016, cake shops and confectionary outlets will emerge as one of the key contributors for rising consumption of IQF fruits.Request Report Discount:The global market is further segmented on the basis of geographic regions, wherein North America is estimated to lead as the most lucrative region for the expansion of the global IQF fruits market. In terms of volume, North America shall solely account for consumption of more than 850 thousand tonnes of IQF fruits by the end of 2016, resulting into a y-o-y growth of 5.9% over 2015. Western Europe is also expected to join North America as one of the leading regions, procuring market value of US$ 1.3 Bn in 2016.The key fruit suppliers and consumer companies in the global market for individual quick freeze fruits include, Dirafrost Frozen Fruit Industry NV., Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited, Uren Food Group Ltd., Danone, Rosemary & Thyme Limited, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Nestle S.A, and Milne Fruit Products Inc., among others.The global IQF fruit market is projected to expand at a 6.5% CAGR in terms of revenues, during the forecast period 2016-2026. The global individual quick freeze fruits market is anticipated to be value at US$ 14.8 Bn by end of the forecast period.Report Analysis:About Us:Research Report Insights (RRI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver a host of services including custom research reports, syndicated research reports, and consulting services which are personalised in nature. RRI delivers a complete packaged solution to clients; this combines current market intelligence, technology inputs, statistical anecdotes, valuable growth insights, 360-degree view of the competitive framework, and anticipated market trends.Contact Us:Research Report Insights (RRI)42 Joseph StreetPort carling P0B 1J0Muskoka, Ontario1Phone - +1-631-721-4201Website:Email: sales@researchreportinsights.comPlayground Equipment Market will be Valued at US $5920 million by 2022 | Global Key Players (PlayCore, Playpower, ELI, Henderson, Kompan)

Playground Equipment Market

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BusinessIndustryReports have new report on Global Playground Equipment Market 2019-2022. The report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends. The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.This Report covers the Major Players data, including: shipment, revenue, gross profit, interview record, business distribution etc., these data help the consumer know about the competitors better. This report also covers all the regions and countries of the world, which shows a regional development status, including market size.Get Sample Copy of this Report @Playground Equipment market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of 9.60% from 2750.00 million $ in 2015 to 3620.00 million $ in 2018, market analysts believe that the next few years, Playground Equipment market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2023 , The market size of the Playground Equipment will reach 5920 million $.Playground equipment refers to equipment intended for use in the play areas of parks, schools, childcare facilities, institutions, multiple family dwellings, restaurants, resorts, and recreational developments, and other areas of public use. With the development of social economy and improvement of living standard, the demand of playground equipment constantly increased in these years. The playground equipment manufacture industry has an expected future; the markets will still growing over time. So in the next few years, playground equipment production will show a trend of steady growth.Key Players:1 PlayCore2 Landscape Structures3 Kompan, Inc.4 Playpower5 ELI6 Henderson7 E.Beckmann and more..........Purchase this report online with 125 Pages, List of Tables & Figures and in-depth Table of Contents on Global Playground Equipment Market Outlook 2019-2022 @The report covers the Segments and sub-segments of the Global Playground Equipment Market by:Regions:1 North America Country (United States, Canada)2 South America3 Asia Country (China, Japan, India, Korea)4 Europe Country (Germany, UK, France, Italy)5 Other Country (Middle East, Africa, GCC)Product Types:1 Monkey Bars2 Sandbox3 Climbing Equipment4 Swings and Slides5 Balance EquipmentIndustry Segmentation:1 Commercial Playgrounds2 Adult Outdoor Fitness Equipment3 Theme Play SystemsGrab Your Report at an Impressive Discount @Key questions answered in the report include:1 What are the key factors driving the Playground Equipment market?2 What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the global Playground Equipment market?3 What are the challenges to Playground Equipment market growth?4 Who are the key vendors in the global Playground Equipment market?5 What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global Playground Equipment market?6 What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the global Playground Equipment market?Table of Content:1 Playground Equipment Product Definition2 Global Playground Equipment Manufacturer Share and Market Overview3 Manufacturer Playground Equipment Business Introduction4 Global Playground Equipment Market Segmentation (Region Level)5 Global Playground Equipment Market Segmentation (Product Type Level)6 Global Playground Equipment Market Segmentation (Industry Level)7 Global Playground Equipment Market Segmentation (Channel Level)8 Playground Equipment Market Forecast 2019-20229 Playground Equipment Segmentation Product Type10 Playground Equipment Segmentation Industry11 Playground Equipment Cost of Production Analysis12 ConclusionAbout us:BusinessindustryReports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined  we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media ContactBusiness Industry ReportsPune  Indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940Global Finance Cloud Service Market Growth Analysis, Challenges and Industry Key Players  Alibaba,AWS,Eze Castle Integration,Fujitsu,Google,IBM | 2019-2025

Global Finance Cloud Service Market 2019-2025

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Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Global Finance Cloud Service Market Size, Status and Forecast 2019-2025" To Its Research DatabaseDescription:-The cloud is a major part of todays digital agenda more and more financial service organizations are adopting the cloud to deliver innovation, customization and security to generate a unique competitive advantage.In 2018, the global Finance Cloud Service market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during 2019-2025.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the global Finance Cloud Service status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the Finance Cloud Service development in United States, Europe and China.Request for Sample Report @The key players covered in this studyAlibabaAWSEze Castle IntegrationFujitsuGoogleIBM (Red Hat)Jack Henry & AssociatesMicrosoftOracleRackspaceVMwareMarket segment by Type, the product can be split intoSaaSIaaSPaaSMarket segment by Application, split intoBankSecurities CompanyInsurance CompanyOthersMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaCentral & South AmericaThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze global Finance Cloud Service status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players.To present the Finance Cloud Service 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 Detailed Report @Major Key Points in Table of Content:1 Report Overview1.1 Study Scope1.2 Key Market Segments1.3 Players Covered1.4 Market Analysis by Type1.4.1 Global Finance Cloud Service Market Size Growth Rate by Type (2014-2025)1.4.2 SaaS1.4.3 IaaS1.4.4 PaaS1.5 Market by Application1.5.1 Global Finance Cloud Service Market Share by Application (2014-2025)1.5.2 Bank1.5.3 Securities Company1.5.4 Insurance Company1.5.5 Others1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered2 Global Growth Trends2.1 Finance Cloud Service Market Size2.2 Finance Cloud Service Growth Trends by Regions2.2.1 Finance Cloud Service Market Size by Regions (2014-2025)2.2.2 Finance Cloud Service Market Share by Regions (2014-2019)2.3 Industry Trends2.3.1 Market Top Trends2.3.2 Market Drivers2.3.3 Market Opportunities..12 International Players Profiles12.1 Alibaba12.1.1 Alibaba Company Details12.1.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.1.3 Finance Cloud Service Introduction12.1.4 Alibaba Revenue in Finance Cloud Service Business (2014-2019)12.1.5 Alibaba Recent Development12.2 AWS12.2.1 AWS Company Details12.2.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.2.3 Finance Cloud Service Introduction12.2.4 AWS Revenue in Finance Cloud Service Business (2014-2019)12.2.5 AWS Recent Development12.3 Eze Castle Integration12.3.1 Eze Castle Integration Company Details12.3.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.3.3 Finance Cloud Service Introduction12.3.4 Eze Castle Integration Revenue in Finance Cloud Service Business (2014-2019)12.3.5 Eze Castle Integration Recent Development12.4 Fujitsu12.4.1 Fujitsu Company Details12.4.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.4.3 Finance Cloud Service Introduction12.4.4 Fujitsu Revenue in Finance Cloud Service Business (2014-2019)12.4.5 Fujitsu Recent Development12.5 Google12.5.1 Google Company Details12.5.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.5.3 Finance Cloud Service Introduction12.5.4 Google Revenue in Finance Cloud Service Business (2014-2019)12.5.5 Google Recent Development12.6 IBM (Red Hat)12.6.1 IBM (Red Hat) Company Details12.6.2 Company Description and Business Overview12.6.3 Finance Cloud Service Introduction12.6.4 IBM (Red Hat) Revenue in Finance Cloud Service Business (2014-2019)12.6.5 IBM (Red Hat) Recent DevelopmentContinued......Leave a Query @About Us:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Contact Us: Sales@Wiseguyreports.Com Ph: +1-646-845-9349 (Us) Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (Uk)Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) Market to achieve tremendous growth by 2023 with Worldwide Key Players like Merck & Co., Inc., Adenium Biotech ApS, AstraZeneca, MedImmune and more

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) Market

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This report studies the Global Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) Market status and outlook of Global Market 2018. The report begins with the overview of Industry Chain structure, and describes industry environment, then analyses market size and...Market ScenarioVentilator-associated pneumonia is a type of lung infection caused to patients who are on ventilators. Ventilator-associated pneumonia is caused mainly due to lung disease, neurologic disease, and trauma to critically ill persons. Diagnosing VAP requires aggressive surveillance combined with the radiographic examination, bedside examination, and microbiologic examinations of respiratory secretions. Growing Intensive Care Unit Admissions due to rising prevalence of respiratory diseases, rising number of ICU beds and high incidence of traumatic injuries provides favorable backgrounds for the market to grow. According to CDC in 2013, there were 2.8 million traumatic brain injury visits to emergency department and hospitals. The emergency department visits of brain injury patients increased by 47% from 2007. Thus, increasing incidence of TBI drives the growth of the market. Furthermore, increasing geriatric population is likely to fuel the market to grow. According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2015, 47.8 million people were 65 years or older, and in 2060, 98.2 million are expected to be 65 years or older. Such increasing trend in the geriatric population provides favorable backgrounds for the market to grow.Get Sample Copy @However, factors such as expensive diagnostic tests, high ventilator charges, inappropriate reimbursement scenario, risks associated with ventilators are expected to restrict the market growth during the forecast period.SegmentationOn the basis of region, the global Ventilator-associated pneumonia market is segmented into the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. The Americas is sub-segmented into North America and South America. The North American region is further segmented into the U.S. and Canada. The European region is divided into two, namely, Western Europe and Eastern Europe. Western Europe is further classified into Germany, Italy, France, the U.K., Spain, and the rest of Western Europe. The Asia Pacific region is sub-segmented into Japan, China, India, Australia, the Republic of Korea, and the rest of Asia Pacific. The Middle Eastern and African region is sub-segmented into the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, and the rest of the Middle East and Africa.The global Ventilator-associated pneumonia market is segmented on the basis of diagnosis, mode of treatment, and end-user. The Ventilator-associated pneumonia market, by diagnosis categorized into Clinical Examination, Radiological Examination, Microbiological Analysis and others. Microbiological Analysis is further sub-segmented into Blood and pleural fluid cultures, Nonquantitative or semi-quantitative airway sampling and Quantitative cultures of airway specimens. Mode of treatment segment is segmented into Homecare, Hospital care, and others. On the basis of end-user, the market is segmented into Hospitals & Clinics, Research centers, Ambulatory Care Centers and Emergency Medical Services (EMS).Regional Market SummaryThe Ventilator-associated pneumonia market is dominated by North America owing to the rising geriatric population within the region. The U.S. Census Bureau projected that in 2060, 19.7 million would be of age 85 or older. This influences the growth of this market in this region.Asia Pacific was projected to be the fastest growing region for the global Ventilator-associated pneumonia market in 2017. The rising geriatric population, increasing healthcare expenditure and growing respiratory disorders in Asia is expected to drive market growth in this region. According to The Asian Development Bank (ADB), the geriatric population in Asia is estimated to reach 923 million by 2050. Thus, this provides favorable backgrounds for the Ventilator-associated pneumonia market to grow.It is estimated that Europe stood second in the global Ventilator-associated pneumonia market owing to increasing prevalence of lung diseases. According to European respiratory society, more than 50% of deaths are due to lung diseases. Thus, increasing prevalence of lung diseases in this region influences the growth of this market in this region.The Middle East and Africa holds the least share in the global Ventilator-associated pneumonia market due to the presence of stringent government policies, poor economies, under-developed healthcare infrastructure and low penetration of healthcare services, especially within the African region.Key playersSome of the key players for the global Ventilator-associated pneumonia market Merck & Co., Inc. (U.S.), Adenium Biotech ApS (Denmark), AstraZeneca (UK), MedImmune (US), Nabriva Therapeutics AG (Austria) and other.Browse Complete 110 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with Respective Tables and Figures @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Gastrointestinal Stents Market Five Years Forecast Skeleton With Key Companies Cook Medical, Ella-CS, Endo-Flex, Diagmed Healthcare, Micro-Tech

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Market players are focusing on inorganic strategies such as mergers, acquisitions, or collaborations to increase their foothold in the market. For instance, in May 2018, Olympus a company that designs and delivers innovative solutions for medical and surgical proceduresentered into an agreement with M.I. Tech, a company that designs stents and other devices. Under this agreement, HANAROSTENT, biliary and esophagus stents rolled in the EndoTherapy product portfolio of the company. The displacement of the stents is a major issue faced after the stent is been placed. Targeting these issues, in 2017, W. L. Gore & Associates, the manufacturer of Gore Viabil short wire biliary endoprosthesis stent, launched anti-migration assurance program, under which device will be replaced within a period of one year if it migrates.Growth of the global gastrointestinal stents market is expected to be fuelled by increasing product launches with novel technology by key players in the market. For instance, in 2013, Cook Medical Inc. received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for biliary stent, adding to the line of controlled-release gastrointestinal tract. Moreover, Evolution biliary stent incorporates patency design, to prevent migration of stent after its insertion. Furthermore, in 2012, Boston Scientific Corporation launched WallFlex, biliary Transhepatic Stent System for the treatment of benign biliary strictures.Get HOLISTIC Request Sample Copy Of This Business Report:Companies are focusing on manufacturing stents with biodegradable material to eliminate stent removal procedures. However, implantable products are subjected to stringent regulations, and this is expected to hinder growth of the gastrointestinal stent market. Moreover, complication associated with gastrointestinal stent implantation is also expected to be major factor leading to low adoption of these device.Increasing prevalence of urological and gastrointestinal disorders are propelling demand of gastrointestinal stents during the forecast period. According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2015, number of adults diagnosed in U.S. with ulcer in digestive tract are 14.7 million, comprising 6% of the total adult population. Moreover, according to American Cancer Societys estimation for year 2018 suggests that 9,220 new cases of colon cancer are expected to be diagnosed in the U.S. Moreover, increasing number of patients with gastrointestinal tumors is also adding to patient pool that can be subjected to gastrointestinal stent implantation.Download the PDF brochure: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.ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email:sales@coherentmarketinsights.comComprehensive Report on Glass Tempering System Market 2019-2025 | Recent Trends and Growth Opportunities | Focusing Top Key Players like: Mappi International Srl, Luoyang North Glass Technology Co. Ltd, Glasstech Inc

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UpMarketResearch offers a latest published report on Global Glass Tempering System Market Industry Analysis and Forecast 2019-2025 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 90 pages which highly exhibits on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability. The report contains basic, secondary and advanced information pertaining to the Glass Tempering System global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 2019-2025.Get Sample Report with Complete TOC @Glass Tempering System 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. It 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 Glass Tempering System global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 2019 - 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 visit@The 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 Glass Tempering System market industry analysis & forecast 2019-2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Region-wise Analysis Global Glass Tempering System Market covers: North America Europe China Japan India Southeast Asia Other regions (Central & South America, Middle East & Africa)The key players covered in this study Mappi International Srl Luoyang North Glass Technology Co., Ltd Glasstech IncGet Sample Report with Complete TOC @Market segment by Type, the product can be split into Chemical Treatment Controlled Thermal ProcessesMarket segment by Application, split into Automotive Industry Electronic Industry Building and ConstructionThe Report covers in-depth analysis as follows: Chapter 1 Glass Tempering System Overview Chapter 2 Global Glass Tempering System Market Competition by Manufacturers Chapter 3 Global Glass Tempering System Production Market Share by Regions Chapter 4 Global Glass Tempering System Consumption by Regions Chapter 5 Global Glass Tempering System Production, Revenue, Price Trend by Type Chapter 6 Global Glass Tempering System Market Analysis by Applications Chapter 7 Company Profiles and Key Figures in Glass Tempering System Business Chapter 8 Glass Tempering System Manufacturing Cost Analysis Chapter 9 Marketing Channel, Distributors and Customers Chapter 10 Market Dynamics Chapter 11 Global Glass Tempering System Market Forecast Chapter 12 Research Findings and Conclusion Chapter 13 Methodology and Data SourceGrab Best Discount Price @Global Glass Tempering System Market Industry Analysis and Forecast 2019-2025 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.Key Reasons to Purchase: To gain insightful analyses of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the Global Glass Tempering System Market Industry Analysis and Forecast 2019-2025 and its commercial landscape Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by your competitors and leading organizations To understand the future outlook and prospects for Glass Tempering System market industry analysis and forecast 2019-2025.Customization of the Report:UpMarketResearch provides free customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. Get in touch with our sales team, who will guarantee you to get a report that suits your necessities.About UpMarketResearch: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Extra Virgin Avocado Oil Market 2019-2025 | Estimated By Top Key Players Sesajal, Yasin, Bella Vado, Chosen Foods, Grupo Industrial Batellero, La Tourangelle

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UpMarketResearch offers a latest published report on Global Extra Virgin Avocado Oil 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 @Extra Virgin Avocado Oil 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 Extra Virgin Avocado Oil 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.Extra Virgin Avocado Oil 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 Extra Virgin Avocado Oil 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 Extra Virgin Avocado Oil market analysis & forecast 2018- 2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Region- wise Analysis Global Extra Virgin Avocado Oil 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: Sesajal Yasin Bella Vado Chosen Foods Grupo Industrial Batellero La Tourangelle Avoolio Ahuacatlan Avocado Oil Mt. Kenya Fresh Avocados Kevala Bio Planete Hain Celestial Group Da Gama Avocado Oil Cate de mi Corazon Tron Hermanos Proteco Oils Westfalia Aconcagua Oil & Extract Olivado Grove Avocado OilGlobal Extra Virgin Avocado Oil Market: Product Segment Analysis: Food Grade Medicine Grade Beauty and cosmetics GradeGlobal Extra Virgin Avocado Oil Market: Application Segment Analysis: Edible Oil Cosmetics & Skin Care ProductsRequest for View Summary of this Report @Extra Virgin Avocado Oil 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 Extra Virgin Avocado Oil Market: Key Stakeholders: Extra Virgin Avocado Oil Manufacturers Extra Virgin Avocado Oil Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Extra Virgin Avocado Oil Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream VendorsIn this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Extra Virgin Avocado Oil 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 Extra Virgin Avocado Oil Market Analysis and Forecast 2018- 2025 and its commercial landscape. Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by your competitors and leading organizations. To understand the future outlook and prospects for Extra Virgin Avocado Oil market analysis and forecast 2018- 2025.Avail Discount On this Report @Customization of the Report:UpMarketResearch provides free customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. 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: Extra Virgin Avocado Oil - Global Market Status & Trend Report 2013- 2025 Top 20 Countries Data Extra Virgin Avocado Oil - North America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Extra Virgin Avocado Oil - South America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Extra Virgin Avocado Oil - Europe Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Extra Virgin Avocado Oil - EMEA Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Extra Virgin Avocado Oil - Asia Pacific Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Extra Virgin Avocado Oil - China Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Extra Virgin Avocado Oil - India Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Extra Virgin Avocado Oil - 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.Connected Worker Market Profound Impact on the Market over 2028(Segmentation of the connected worker market based on type of solution: Worker Productivity Worker Safety Worker Compliance Workforce Analytics)

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The continuous changes in the digital world have revolutionized the overall human experience. It has become essential for every business organization to use digital technology that can help them increase their productivity, improve efficiency and lessen the non-productive workers. In order to achieve high-profit margins and higher productivity, the organizations have started to adopt connected worker solutions that can help them stay connected to their labor. The connected worker solutions help the companies to ensure their workers safety, track them remotely and achieve better regulatory compliance. The connected worker market is expanding since the connected worker solutions are helping companies to be aware of the unexpected accidents happening in the field. The connected worker also assists in tracking workers while reducing the chances of errors and increasing efficiency. The increased visibility in the process work status provided by connected worker solutions has triggered the adoption of the connected worker in the market.Vendors in the connected worker market are focused on developing more solutions under connected worker that can help organizations track their work and increase worker productivity, thereby helping them improve profit margins. Increasing research and development by vendors in the market in order to add new functionalities to connected worker solutions protfolio are key trends in the market.Click here to subscribe Sample @Connected Worker Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe connected worker eliminates the manual processes through which the chances of errors caused by paper-based systems reduces, thereby helping the labor to correctly and safely execute their tasks. The connected worker also helps in enhancing the efficacy of workforce and operational metrics. Such factors are driving the growth of connected worker market. The connected worker solutions provide real-time data through which the organization can gain visibility into safety and health. The connected worker solution also includes workforce analytics that allows decisions to be taken based on data analysis. Such factors are further stimulating the progress of connected worker market.The cost of implementing the connected worker solutions is very high since it requires specific infrastructure to be set up and also requires various devices to connect to labor. Such factors are hampering the adoption of a connected worker in the market. Also, there are chances of fraud if the physical devices used in connected worker gets hacked, which may result in inappropriate delivery of content. Also, the devices involved in the connected worker environment requires high internet connectivity. Such factors are furthermore restraining the growth of connected worker market.Connected Worker Market: SegmentationThe connected worker market can be categorized on the basis of the type of solution, deployment type and industry. On the basis of the type of solution, the worker safety type in the connected worker market is expected to have a high growth rate due to the increasing concern of labor working at remote sites. On the basis of deployment type, the adoption of cloud-based deployment connected worker is anticipated to grow due to low cost and high scalability and flexibility offered by the cloud. By industry, the fire and safety and real estate and construction industry in the connected worker market are expected to grow.Segmentation of the connected worker market based on type of solution:Worker ProductivityWorker SafetyWorker ComplianceWorkforce AnalyticsSegmentation of the connected worker market based on deployment type:CloudOn-premiseHybrid NetworkSegmentation of the connected worker market based on industry:AgricultureReal estate and constructionFire and SafetyManufacturingTransportation and LogisticsOil and GasMiningOthersConnected Worker Market: Competitive LandscapeExamples of some of the key players operating in the connected worker market are Honeywell International Inc., Oracle Corporation, Intel Corporation, Wipro Limited, Accenture Plc., Avnet, Inc., SAP SE, Vandrico Solutions Inc., and Nagarro.Request/View TOC@Regional OverviewThe connected worker market is segmented across North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, China, SEA and others of APAC, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to be a large market for connected worker as a majority of the Connected Worker vendors such as Google Corporation, Honeywell International Inc. and Intel Corporation are based in the region. The increasing requirement of staying connected to labor at work settings that are out of reach of communication networks, which is driving the adoption of connected worker solutions in European countries, such as Germany and UK. The growing popularity of connected worker in developing regions, such as APEJ, Latin America and parts of Africa, are characterized by the increased spending connected devices in the regions. Rising disposable income among people in the countries mentioned above is likely to increase the scope of penetration of connected worker in these regions in the near future.The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the connected worker 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 market segments such as geographies, application and industry.The Connected Worker market report covers exhaustive analysis on:Market SegmentsMarket DynamicsMarket SizeSupply & DemandCurrent Trends/Issues/ChallengesCompetition & Companies involvedTechnologyValue ChainRegional analysis includes:North America (U.S., Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru)Western Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K, Spain, BENELUX, Nordic, Eastern Europe)CIS and RussiaAsia-Pacific (China, India, ASEAN, South Korea)JapanMiddle East and Africa (GCC Countries, South Africa, Turkey, Iran, Israel)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 marketChanging market dynamics in the industryIn-depth market segmentationHistorical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and valueRecent industry trends and developmentsCompetitive landscapeStrategies of key players and products offeredPotential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growthA neutral perspective on market performanceMust-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprintGrow Your Business From Expert Advice:About USFact.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; thats why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsRohit BhiseyFact.MR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:Blog:Read Industry News at -Uterine Fibroid Treatment Devices Market size and Key Trends in terms of volume and value 2018-2026

Uterine Fibroid Treatment Devices Market

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Uterine fibroid is the benign tumor of the womans uterus formed of smooth muscle that are found on the wall of the uterus i.e within the wall of uterine wall or can attach to the uterine wall. Uterine fibroid grow as a single tumor or in clusters and these uterine fibroid can lead to pelvic pain, excessive menstrual bleeding, and frequent urination. Uterine fibroids majorly develop in 50% of women, which have led to increased rate of hysterectomy i.e. removal of the uterus.Download PDF Brochure Of This Research Report @Uterine fibroid is developed in women that often have a family history of fibroids. The uterine fibroid is formed and grown in response to the stimulation by hormone estrogen that is produced naturally in the body. Various types of uterine fibroid treatment are available in the market due to technological advancements, which include minimal invasive surgical treatment that help to control the growth of uterine fibroid. Uterine fibroid can be treated by both surgery and medications, the surgery include for treatment of uterine fibroid are hysterectomy, cryosurgery, myomectomy, uterine artery embolization, and MRI-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound.Uterine Fibroid Treatment Devices Market  DriversIn UK, uterine fibroid was diagnosed to 30,929 people at NHS hospital by hospital consultants in year 2012  2013, which is expected to drive the Uterine Fibroid Treatment Devices Market growth. According to National Uterine Fibroids Foundation in 2010, an estimated12 hysterectomies were performed in the U.S. every 10 minutes and around 600,000 hysterectomies were performed annually in the U.S. out of which around 170,000  300,000 were performed due to uterine fibroids, which is expected to support growth of the Uterine Fibroid Treatment Devices Market in near future.Furthermore, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the U.S. around 53,028 women were diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2014, which supports growth of the uterine fibroid treatment. Advancement in uterine fibroid treatment such as, minimal invasive treatment for fibroid is also expected to boost the Uterine Fibroid Treatment Devices Market growth. For instance, in 2015, FDA approved the use of Sonablate 450 by SonaCare Medical. This device is mainly indicated for trans-rectal High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) ablation of prostatic tissue.Uterine Fibroid Treatment Devices Market  Regional AnalysisOn the basis of regional segmentation, the global Uterine Fibroid Treatment Devices Market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. North America is expected to dominate the market due to increased prevalence of uterine fibroid in women present in the U.S. According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the U.S. an estimated 9,727 women died from uterine cancer in 2014, which is propelling demand for uterine fibroid treatment in the U.S.For More Information @Asia Pacific region is also expected to witness significant growth in uterine fibroid treatment in near future due to growing healthcare awareness within the population in economies such as China and India. Whereas, advancement in uterine fibroid treatment such as, minimal invasive treatment, embolization procedure, myomectomy and hysterectomy are also expected to support growth of the Uterine Fibroid Treatment Devices Market worldwide in near future. For instance, MyoSure by Hologicreceived CE Mark in Europe, MyoSure system is a minimally invasive hysteroscopic treatment option that is quick and convenient removal of tissue, which include range of fibroids and polys.Uterine Fibroid Treatment Devices Market  Competitor AnalysisKey players operating in Uterine Fibroid Treatment Devices Market includes Advanced Surgical Concepts, PLLC, Boston Scientific Corporation, CONMED Corporation, CooperSurgical, Inc., Ethicon, Inc., Hologic, Inc., Medtronic, Plc, Olympus Corporation, PENTAX Medical, and Stryker Corporation.Uterine Fibroid Treatment Devices Market TaxonomyBy Technology TypeSurgical techniques,Hysterectomy,MyomectomyLaparoscopic techniques,Laparoscopic Myomectomy,MyolysisAblation Techniques,Microwave Ablation,Cryoablation,Ultrasound Ablation,High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU),MRI-guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS),Other Ablation Techniques,Embolization TechniquesBy Mode of TreatmentInvasive Treatment,Minimally Invasive Treatment,Non-Invasive TreatmentBy End UserHospitals,Clinics,Ambulatory Surgical CenterBy RegionNorth America,Europe,Asia Pacific,Latin America,Middle East,AfricaRequest For Customization @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. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comBioabsorbable Stents Market Analysis & Outlook to 2022 | Becton Dickinson and Company, Boston Scientific Corporation.......

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Bioabsorbable stents function like normal medical stents. The main difference between regular stents and bioabsorbable stents is the material which is used in their manufacturing; bioabsorbable stents use material which is easily absorbed in the body.The growth of the global bioabsorbable stents market is influenced by factors such as rise in cardiovascular surgeries on a global scale, lower treatment cost, and exact stent placement. These factors are reinforced with technological developments, which are again intensifying thereby fuelling the growth of the global bioabsorbable stent market. However, there are certain limiting factors which offer challenge to the growth of the global market, such as possibilities of complications during insertion or post surgery and less awareness about bioabsorbable stents.Request to View a Sample Copy of This Report @The global bioabsorbable stents market is poised to reach a value of around US$ 350 Mn by the end of 2022 and is anticipated to grow at a robust CAGR during the period of forecast of 2017 to 2022.6 Forecast Highlights on Global Bioabsorbable Stents MarketBy product type, polymeric stents segment is expected to dominate the global market. As of 2017 statistics, this segment reflected a higher market share of 57.6% thus portraying dominance and is expected to continue to dominate the global market throughout the forecast periodPolymeric-coated metallic stents product segment is anticipated to reflect the highest growth rate to register an exponential CAGR of 12.2% throughout the period of forecast 2017-2022. This segment is also poised to gain the highest BPS by the end of 2022Europe region is the most lucrative region and dominates the global market. This region is poised to grow at a significant CAGR during the forecast period. North America region is anticipated to show the highest growth rate to register a CAGR of 10.2% throughout the period of forecast of 2017-2022Hospitals segment by end user shows higher market share of 62.1% and also grows at a higher growth rate during the forecast period. Following this segment, cardiac catheterization labs segment has secured second place with respect to market share and growth rate throughout the forecast period of 2017 to 2022Coronary artery disease segment by disease indication is anticipated to grow at a significantly higher growth rate to register a CAGR of 10% and also poised to hold higher market share thereby dominating the global market. This segment is also expected to gain higher BPs by the end of 2022Slow absorption rate segment by absorption rate is poised to register a CAGR of 10.3% throughout the period of forecast of 2017 to 2022 and also portrays dominance by reflecting a higher market share during the forecast periodRead Comprehensive Overview with Methodology of Report @The report has also profiled key leading players in the global bioabsorbable stents market, which would remain active through 2022. These include players like Lepu Medical Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., Becton Dickinson and Company, Boston Scientific Corporation, Kyoto Medical Planning Co., Ltd., Tepha, Inc., REVA Medical, Inc., Elixir Medical Corporation, BIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG, Amaranth Medical, Inc., and Abbott Laboratories.About UsFuture Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.FMIs research and consulting services help businesses around the globe navigate the challenges in a rapidly evolving marketplace with confidence and clarity. Our customized and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. We continuously track emerging trends and events in a broad range of end industries to ensure our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.Contact UsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comBlog:FMI Blog:Web:IoT Sensors Market Projected Worth $ 22,150.0 Million by 2026 | Companies are Siemens, Honeywell, SmartThings, Digital International, Trimble Inc., Monnit Corporation, Robert Bosch GmbH, NXP Semiconductors, Libelium,

IoT Sensors Market

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The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the IoT Sensors Market sales by showing all the figures in the historic and base year while also showing what the approximate figures are going to be in the forecast years of 2019-2026.The report also provides with a deep explanation on what the market definition, classifications, applications, and engagements are. By making it clear on how the key players and brands are moving in terms of their sales, import, export and revenue and what their actions are in terms of their recent product launches, their researches, their joint ventures, merges, and accusations.The report consists with all the company profiles along with the market drivers and restrains with the help of SWOT analysis.FREE | Get sample copy of this report @IoT Sensors Market was valued at USD 5,050.0 million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD 22,150.0 million in 2025, growing at a healthy CAGR of 32.9% for the forecast period of 2018 to 2025. The upcoming market report contains data for historic year 2016, the base year of calculation is 2017 and the forecast period is 2018 to 2025.Companies Mentioned:Robert Bosch GmbH, NXP Semiconductors N.V., Infineon Technologies AG, Libelium, Broadcom Inc., Analog Devices, Inc., TE Connectivity Ltd., TDK Corporation, Omron Corporation, Sensata Technologies, Inc., Texas Instruments Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Siemens AG, General Electric Company, SmartThings Inc., Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Sensirion AG, Digital International Inc., STMicroelectronics N.V., Trimble Inc., Monnit Corporation, and many more.On May 2017, Siemens AG acquired Enlighted Inc., a provider of smart IoT (Internet of Things) systems in buildings. This acquisition expanded Siemens smart IoT products and derived its digitalisation in multi-sensor-based IoT platform.Table of Contents1. Introduction2. Market Segmentation3. Market Overview4. Executive Summary5. Premium Insights6. Global, By Component7. Product Type8. Delivery9. Industry Type10. Geography10.1. Overview10.2. North America10.3. Europe10.4. Asia-Pacific10.5. South America10.6. Middle East & Africa11. Company Landscape12. Company Profiles13. Related ReportsGet Detail TOC @Market Analysis:-Global IoT Sensors Market,By Type (Accelerometers, Temperature Sensors, Gyroscopes, Magnetometer, Pressure Sensors, And Light Sensors & Others),Network Technology (Wired And Wireless),Application (Consumer Electronics, Building Automation, Healthcare, Automotive, Industrial, And Retail & Others),Geography (North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East And Africa)-Industry Trends and Forecast to 2025Major Insights of the Report:-1. Market Penetration: Comprehensive information on the product portfolios of the top players in the IoT Sensors market.2. To gain insightful analyses of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the IoT Sensors and its commercial landscape3. Market estimates of all the key segments, sub-segments, and the regional markets throughout the forecast period4. Product Development/Innovation: Detailed insights on the product approvals, R&D activities, and product launches in the IoT Sensors market5. To understand the future outlook and prospects for IoT Sensors market analysis and forecast 2019-2026.For More Information On This Report @About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact:Data Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.comPolycarbonate Sheets Market Projected Worth $ 2.23 billion by 2026 | Companies are AGC, Plazit-polygal, Dumax Brasil , Arla Plast, Brett Martin Ltd, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical America, Evonik Industries AG,

Polycarbonate Sheets Market

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The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Polycarbonate Sheets Market sales by showing all the figures in the historic and base year while also showing what the approximate figures are going to be in the forecast years of 2019-2026.The report also provides with a deep explanation on what the market definition, classifications, applications, and engagements are. By making it clear on how the key players and brands are moving in terms of their sales, import, export and revenue and what their actions are in terms of their recent product launches, their researches, their joint ventures, merges, and accusations.The report consists with all the company profiles along with the market drivers and restrains with the help of SWOT analysis.FREE | Get sample copy of this report @Polycarbonate Sheets Market is expected to reach USD 2.23 billion by 2026, from USD 1.50 billion in 2017 growing at a CAGR of 4.50% during the forecast period of 2018 to 2025. The upcoming market report contains data for historic year, the base year of calculation is 2018 and the forecast period is 2019 to 2026.Companies Mentioned:Airex AG, Arla Plast, AGC, Brett Martin Ltd, MITSUBISHI GAS CHEMICAL COMPANY, INC, Covestro AG, Evonik Industries AG, Excelite, Gallina India., Isk Plastik. Tum haklar sakldr., Koscon Industrial S.A, Palram Industries Ltd., Plazit Polygal, SABIC, SafPlast Innovative, Safplast Company, The Dow Chemical Company, TEIJIN LIMITED., Trinseo, and many more.Table of Contents1. Introduction2. Market Segmentation3. Market Overview4. Executive Summary5. Premium Insights6. Global, By Component7. Product Type8. Delivery9. Industry Type10. Geography10.1. Overview10.2. North America10.3. Europe10.4. Asia-Pacific10.5. South America10.6. Middle East & Africa11. Company Landscape12. Company Profiles13. Related ReportsGet Detail TOC @Market Analysis:-Global Polycarbonate Sheets Market,By Type (Multiwall, Corrugated, Solid and Others),By End-User (Electrical & Electronics, Building & Construction, Automotive & Transportation and Others),By Geography (North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa)Major Insights of the Report:-1. Market Penetration: Comprehensive information on the product portfolios of the top players in the Polycarbonate Sheets market.2. To gain insightful analyses of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the Polycarbonate Sheets and its commercial landscape3. Market estimates of all the key segments, sub-segments, and the regional markets throughout the forecast period4. Product Development/Innovation: Detailed insights on the product approvals, R&D activities, and product launches in the Polycarbonate Sheets market5. To understand the future outlook and prospects for Polycarbonate Sheets market analysis and forecast 2019-2026.For More Information On This Report @About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact:Data Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.comAnti-venom Market to Surpass US$ 729.9 Mn Threshold by 2026 With Leading players - Pfizer, Merck, Bharat Serums, Rare Disease Therapeutics Inc., Vaccines Limited, CSL Limited

Anti-venom Market

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Global Anti-venom Market, by Animal Type (Snake, Scorpion, Spider, and Others), by Anti-venom Type (Monovalent and Polyvalent), by Distribution Channel (Hospital, Retail Pharmacies, and Others) and by Region (North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa) was valued at US$ 504.9 Mn in 2018, and is projected to exhibit a CAGR of 4.7% during the forecast period (20182026), as highlighted in a new report published by Coherent Market Insights. Increasing approval and launch of new anti-venom is expected to support global anti-venom market growth over the forecast period.For instance, in October 2018, Silanes Laboratories received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its new anti-venom namely ANAVIP. Anavip {Crotalidae Immune F(ab)2 (Equine)} is an equine-derived antivenin indicated for the management of adult and pediatric patients with North American rattlesnake envenomation.For In depth Information Get FREE Sample Copy of this Report at:Major players operating in the anti-venom market include:1. BTG plc.2. Laboratorios Silanes3. CSL Limited4. Pfizer, Inc.5. Merck & Co., Inc.6. Bharat Serums7. Vaccines Limited8. Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation Ltd.9. Vins Bioproducts Limited10. Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd.11. Rare Disease Therapeutics Inc.In 2018, Rare Disease Therapeutics, Inc., a partner of Silanes Laboratories launched Anavip in the U.S. market. Launch of such novel product is expected to increase access of quality anti-venoms for cases of snake bite.Various universities focuses on research and development activities for the development of novel anti-venom for various type of animal bite. For instance, Calorx Teachers' University is developing an anti-venom for treatment of snake bite, currently the product is in Phase 2 clinical trial. Presence of such new product in pipeline is expected to support anti-venom market growth during the forecast period.Key players in the market are involved in strategic mergers and collaborations with various companies and organizations in order to develop novel anti-venoms and to gain major anti-venom market share and some are collaborating to increase awareness in key regions regarding use to anti-venom.For instance, Rare Disease Therapeutics Inc. in collaboration with Instituto Bioclon, S.A. de C.V. and Laboratorios Silanes, S.A. de C.V. is developing an anti-venom, Analatro, for treatment of black widow spider bites in patients who could be treated within 24 hours of symptom onset. Launch of such novel products in the market is expected to support market growth in the near future.Furthermore, in April 2018, Seqirus (a subsidiary of global biotechnology company CSL Limited) entered into new partnership to save the lives of people bitten by venomous snakes in Papua New Guinea (PNG), with the PNG Department of Health, the Australian High Commission, and the Charles Campbell Toxinology Centre (CCTC), at the University of PNG. As per the partnership, Seqirus Pty Ltd will provide an annual donation of 600 vials of snake and marine creature anti-venoms to PNGBrowse 35 Market Data Tables and 30 Figures spread through 175 Pages and in-depth TOC on Global Anti-venom Market By Animal Type (Snake, Scorpion, Spider, and Others), by Anti-venom Type (Monovalent and Polyvalent), by Distribution Channel (Hospital, Retail Pharmacies, and Others), and by Region (North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa) - Global Forecast to 2026To know the latest trends and insights prevalent in the anti-venom market, click the link below:Key Takeaways of the Anti-venom Market:-The global anti-venom market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 4.7% during the forecast period (2018  2026), owing to frequent product launches and approvals, and robust pipeline of novel anti-venoms-Asia Pacific anti-venom market is expected to account largest market share, owing to high incidence of snake bite in region such as India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Australia. For instance, according to the data published by Journal of Pharmacology & Clinical Toxicology, in June 2018, in Bangladesh around 623.4 cases of snake bites are reported per 100,000 person annually.-Approval and launch of new anti-venom in the U.S. is expected to support growth of the North America anti-venom market during the forecast periodAbout 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At 6.5% CAGR, Asia Pacific Dental Implants Market to Reach 915 Mn USD by 2024: Osstem Implants, Danaher Corporation, Zimmer Biomet and Henry Schein

Dental Implants Market

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The Graphical Research report Asia Pacific Dental Implants Market analysis based on Product, Material, End-use, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook, Application Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2018 - 2024.APAC Dental Implants Market size is set to surpass USD 915 million by 2024. Rising prevalence of edentulism in developing countries such as India and China will drive the market growth. Edentulism is a major contributor of disease burden for oral health problems in the Asian countries. As per recent studies by government organizations, prevalence of edentulism in China accounted for 8.9% whereas India accounted for 15.3% in 2017. Additionally, increasing number of baby boomers aged 65 years and above suffering from oral disorders will further boost demand for dental implants in the coming years.Request for a sample of this research report @Rising dental tourism in APAC will propel business growth. Low cost of dental treatment in developing countries such as India and China will lead to increase in number of patient visits for dental procedures. Such factors will increase affordability leading to remarkable market growth. However, limited reimbursement and lack of skilled professionals in emerging countries will impede business growth over the coming years.Parallel-walled dental implants segment accounted for USD 149.7 million in 2017 owing to superlative versality of the implants. Parallel-walled implants render excellent aesthetic benefit, thus increasing customer demand. Furthermore, these implants utilize digital technology such as CT and CAD/CAM for improved navigation and imaging. Aforementioned factors should boost segmental growth in forthcoming years.Titanium dental implants accounted for more than 72% market share in 2017. Strong mechanical properties, excellent biocompatibility and high strength are major factors making it a preferable choice of biomaterial for fabrication of dental implants. Such beneficial features of titanium implants will augment segmental growth.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Hospitals segment contributed over USD 160 million in 2017. Increasing number of multi-specialty hospitals throughout the country offering dental care services and specialized treatments will augment segmental growth. Additionally, rising prevalence of gingival or periodontal diseases among adults aged 45 years and above in developing countries will spur patient visits to hospitals thereby, propelling segmental growth.India dental implants market will grow at a lucrative 7.4% CAGR over the forecast timeframe. This growth is attributable to increasing prevalence of oral disorders along with rising dental tourism in the country. High disposable income, changing demographics, rising healthcare expenditure along with affordable prices of tooth implants in India will act as positive contributing factors for market growth in the substantial years.Some of the established market players in Asia Pacific dental implants market are Osstem Implants, Danaher Corporation, Institut Straumann AG, Dentsply Sirona, Zimmer Biomet and Henry Schein. Industry players are adopting geographical expansions and new product launch to expand market share and product portfolio. For instance, in August 2016, Zimmer Biomet introduced TSVT & TSVM-1 HA dental Implants, having advanced features. This new product launches will help in expanding firms product base.Browse key industry insights from this 2018 report @Segments We Cover:APAC Dental Implants Market Statistics, By ProductTapered implants, Parallel walled implantsAPAC Dental Implants Market trends, By MaterialTitanium, ZirconiumAsia Pacific Dental Implants Market Growth, By End-useHospitals, Dental Clinics, OtherThe above information is provided for the following countries:Japan, China, India, South Korea, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, OtherAbout 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:Bone Growth Stimulator Market with Current Trends Analysis, 2018-2028

Bone Growth Stimulator

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A latest report by Fact.MR projects the global bone growth stimulators market to account for revenues worth US$ 1,477.2 Mn in 2017. The market is estimated to exhibit a steady expansion during the forecast period. Various devices are developed for bone growth stimulation therapy, which are being highly demanded on the back of growing cases of accidental bone injuries across the globe.Rise in R&D Funding by Private Organisations to Propel Growth of the Global Bone Growth Stimulator MarketBone growth stimulators facilitate multi-level fusions in bones with high efficiency, playing a pivotal role in spine fusion aftercare of patients. Medical studies are revealing positive outcomes of utilizing electrical bone growth stimulators for spinal fusion process. With a number of favorable government initiatives, coupled with heavy investments made by several private organisations, there has been a robust increase in research & development activities associated with new treatment methods and product development. For example  the North American Spine Foundation, and American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons are contributing to the development of spinal implants & devices by raising funds for R&D activities, and conducting training programs for physicians worldwide.Request Sample Report @North America to Remain Dominant in the Global Bone Growth Stimulator MarketNorth America will continue to be dominant in the global bone growth stimulator market. Sales of bone growth stimulators are expected to account for the largest revenues in North America, expanding at the highest CAGR through 2022. Europe will remain the second most lucrative market for bone growth stimulators. The market in Middle East & Africa (MEA) will continue to register a sluggish expansion through 2022.Bone growth stimulation devices will remain sought-after among products in the global market. Revenues from sales of bone growth stimulation devices will account for over half share of the market during the forecast period. In addition, sales of platelet-rich plasma bone growth stimulator, and bone morphogenetic proteins are expected to exhibit the fastest expansion registering similar CAGRs through 2022.Hospitals & Clinics will Remain the largest End-Users of Bone Growth StimulatorsBased on end-users, sales of bone growth stimulators in academic and research institutes are expected to register the highest CAGR through 2022. Hospitals & Clinics will continue to be the largest end-users of bone growth stimulators, accounting for the highest share of the market over the forecast period. Home care is expected to remain the second most lucrative end-use segment in the global bone growth stimulators market.Bone growth stimulators are expected to find the largest application in the cases of delayed union & non-union bone fractures, with sales poised to reach US$ 763.4 Mn by 2022-end. Sales of bone growth stimulators in oral & maxillofacial surgeries will account for the lowest revenues during the forecast period, based on application.Request/View Toc@Competition TrackingThe report has also profiled key players in the global market for bone growth stimulators, which include Ossatec Benelux B.V., Elizur Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Arthrex, Inc., DJO Global Inc., Stryker Corporation, Bioventus Inc., Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc., Medtronic plc., and Orthofix International N.V.Table of Content Covered in this report are:Chapter 1. Global Bone Growth Stimulator Market - Executive Summary. 12Chapter 2. Global Bone Growth Stimulator Market Overview. 142.1. Introduction. 142.1.1. Global Bone Growth Stimulator Market Taxonomy. 142.1.2. Global Bone Growth Stimulator Market Definition. 142.2. Global Bone Growth Stimulator Market Size (US$ Mn) and Forecast, 2012-2022. 152.2.1. Global Bone Growth Stimulator Market Y-o-Y Growth. 152.3. Global Bone Growth Stimulator Market Dynamics. 152.3.1. Drivers. 152.3.2. Restraints. 152.3.3. Trends. 162.4. Supply Chain. 162.5. Cost Structure. 16Speak To Research Analyst for Detailed Insights @Chapter 3. Global Bone Growth Stimulator Market Analysis and Forecast By Product. 173.1. Global Bone Growth Stimulator Market Size and Forecast By Product, 2012-2022. 173.1.1. Bone Growth Stimulation Devices Bone Growth Stimulator Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022. 173.1.1.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region. 173.1.1.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region. 193.1.1.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region. 193.1.2. Platelet-Rich Plasma Bone Growth Stimulator Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022. 203.1.2.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region. 203.1.2.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region. 223.1.2.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region. 223.1.3. Bone Morphogenetic Proteins Bone Growth Stimulator Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022. 233.1.3.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region. 233.1.3.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region. 253.1.3.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region. 25Access This Report @Chapter 4. Global Bone Growth Stimulator Market Analysis and Forecast By End-User. 274.1. Global Bone Growth Stimulator Market Size and Forecast By End-User, 2012-2022. 274.1.1. Hospitals & Clinics Bone Growth Stimulator Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022. 274.1.1.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region. 274.1.1.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region. 294.1.1.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region. 294.1.2. Home Care Bone Growth Stimulator Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022. 304.1.2.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region. 304.1.2.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region. 324.1.2.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region. 324.1.3. Academic & Research Institutes and CROS Bone Growth Stimulator Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022. 334.1.3.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region. 334.1.3.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region. 354.1.3.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region. 364.1.4. Other Bone Growth Stimulator Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022. 364.1.4.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region. 364.1.4.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region. 384.1.4.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region. 39Chapter 5. Global Bone Growth Stimulator Market Analysis and Forecast By Application. 405.1. Global Bone Growth Stimulator Market Size and Forecast By Application, 2012-2022. 405.1.1. Delayed Union & Nonunion Bone Fractures Bone Growth Stimulator Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022. 405.1.1.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region. 405.1.1.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region. 425.1.1.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region. 425.1.2. Spinal Fusion Surgeries Bone Growth Stimulator Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022. 435.1.2.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region. 435.1.2.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region. 455.1.2.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region. 455.1.3. Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeries Bone Growth Stimulator Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022. 465.1.3.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region. 465.1.3.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region. 485.1.3.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region. 495.1.4. Other Applications Bone Growth Stimulator Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2022. 495.1.4.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region. 495.1.4.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region. 515.1.4.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region. 52And Continue...About FactMRFactMR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFactMR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:Follow Us on Linkedin:U.S. Medical Marijuana Market : Worldwide Study on Top Players | Canopy Growth, Aurora Cannabis, Inc., Medical Marijuana, Inc., GW Pharmaceuticals, Aphria, Inc., CanniMed Ltd., Tilray, Emerald Health Therapeutics, and United Cannabis

U.S. Medical Marijuana Market

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California medical marijuana market is estimated to grow at 13.7% from 2018-2024. Medical marijuana is legalized in California since 1996. The manufacturing, distribution, transportation, and sales of medical marijuana is completely legal in California, thereby boosting the market growth in the coming years.New Hampshire medical marijuana market is forecasted to expand at 24.1% CAGR during the forecast period. New Hampshire ranked second in the country for the highest opioid overdose rate. With the legalization of medical marijuana, it will result in improvement of health outcomes for individuals suffering from pain, thereby driving the segment growth in the long run.Prominent industry players in U.S. medical marijuana market include Canopy Growth, Aurora Cannabis, Inc., Medical Marijuana, Inc., GW Pharmaceuticals, Aphria, Inc., CanniMed Ltd., Tilray, Emerald Health Therapeutics, and United Cannabis. These companies are opting for strategic mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships to expand their geographic reach, and product portfolio, hence resulting in improved position in the overall market.Request sample copy of this report @The U.S. medical marijuana pain management market segment is forecasted to grow rapidly at 13.3% CAGR during the forecast period. Growing cases of chronic pain which is the most common cause of long-term disability in the United States will drive the segment growth. In addition, the U.S. population has been using marijuana for pain management as compared to other traditional opioids which have lethal side-effects.The U.S. topical medical marijuana market segment valued USD 179.3 million in 2017. Increased number of companies are manufacturing lotions and creams that are absorbed through the skin for localized relief of pain and inflammation. Furthermore, topical route of administration is preferred by most of the patients as it results in maximum therapeutic benefits without the cerebral euphoria associated with other delivery methods.The U.S. medical marijuana dispensaries market segment will expand at a robust 13.3% CAGR over the forecast period owing to presence of number of legal dispensaries operating in a most of the states. With each state legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, more and more dispensaries are being set up in the country, hence propelling the market growth of the segment.Make Inquiry about this report @U.S. Medical Marijuana Market size is set to exceed USD 8.0 billion by 2024; according to a new research study published by Global Market Insights, Inc.Growing prevalence of chronic pain associated with neurological disorders, cancer, HIV/AIDS, and arthritis will drive the U.S. medical marijuana market. The preference of marijuana over opioid medication is also boosting market revenue in the U.S. as opioids are associated with various side lethal side effects. Therefore, the demand for medical marijuana is continuously on an upsurge in various U.S. states, thereby accelerating market sales.Medical marijuana programs in the U.S. have continued to develop, and most of the states have started to approach medical marijuana from the perspective of public health rather than from a recreational use prospective. Various states in the U.S. have demonstrated positive public health outcomes through the application of medical marijuana, hence boosting the marker size.The U.S. medical marijuana pain management market segment is forecasted to grow rapidly at 13.3% CAGR during the forecast period. Growing cases of chronic pain which is the most common cause of long-term disability in the United States will drive the segment growth. In addition, the U.S. population has been using marijuana for pain management as compared to other traditional opioids which have lethal side-effects.The U.S. topical medical marijuana market segment valued USD 179.3 million in 2017. Increased number of companies are manufacturing lotions and creams that are absorbed through the skin for localized relief of pain and inflammation. Furthermore, topical route of administration is preferred by most of the patients as it results in maximum therapeutic benefits without the cerebral euphoria associated with other delivery methods.The U.S. medical marijuana dispensaries market segment will expand at a robust 13.3% CAGR over the forecast period owing to presence of number of legal dispensaries operating in a most of the states. With each state legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, more and more dispensaries are being set up in the country, hence propelling the market growth of the segment.U.S. medical marijuana market research report includes in-depth coverage of the industry with estimates & forecast in terms of revenue in USD million from 2013 to 2024, for the following segments:U.S. Medical Marijuana Market by Application Pain Managemento Neuropathic Paino Cancer Paino Others Muscle Spasms Nausea Anorexia Seizures OthersU.S. Medical Marijuana Market by Route of Administration Inhalation Oral TopicalU.S. Medical Marijuana Market by Distribution Channel Dispensaries OnlineThe above information is provided for the following U.S. regions and states: North Easto Connecticuto Maineo Massachusettso New Hampshireo Rhode Islando Vermonto New Jerseyo New Yorko Pennsylvania East North Centralo Illinoiso Michigan South Atlantico Delawareo Floridao Marylando Washington DC West North Centralo Minnesota Pacific Centralo Alaskao Californiao Hawaiio Oregono Washington Mountain Stateso Arizonao Coloradoo Nevadao New Mexicoo MontanaGlobal 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.Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comBlog :Medical Marijuana Market : Worldwide Study on Top Players | Canopy Growth, Aurora Cannabis, Inc., Medical Marijuana, Inc., GW Pharmaceuticals, Aphria, Inc., CanniMed Ltd., Tilray, Emerald Health Therapeutics, and MedReleaf Corp

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Canada medical marijuana market is estimated to expand at 32% CAGR from 2018-2024. Presence of large number of medical marijuana companies such as Aurora Cannabis, Inc., Aphria, Inc. and CanniMed will enhance growth of the region. In addition, Canada is one of the countries that has completely legalized the production, sale and consumption of medical marijuana, thereby boosting sales in the coming years.Germany medical marijuana market valued USD 805.5 million in 2017. Germany, being the largest economy of the European Union, have started covering medical marijuana patients. This move has resulted in maximum patient enrolments for health insurance reimbursements, hence augmenting Germany medical cannabis industry growth.Request sample copy of this report @Prominent industry players in medical marijuana market include Canopy Growth, Aurora Cannabis, Inc., Medical Marijuana, Inc., GW Pharmaceuticals, Aphria, Inc., CanniMed Ltd., Tilray, Emerald Health Therapeutics, and MedReleaf Corp. Companies are opting for innovative strategies such as mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships to expand product portfolio, as well as enhance geographic reach for improving their position in the overall market place.Medical marijuana pain management market segment is estimated to expand at 36% CAGR during the forecast period. Growing number of population affected with pain all around the globe is propelling the segment growth. In addition, medical marijuana has become an increasingly widespread alternative to traditional pain-relieving opioids which have lethal side-effects; thus, various advantaged associated with the use of cannabis for medical purpose will augment the medical marijuana pain management market growth.Topical medical marijuana market segment valued USD 349.1 million in 2017. Increase in demand for marijuana topical creams, ointments and patches for the treatment of various skin-related conditions will boost the demand for the same. Moreover, rising epidemiology of skin diseases with rapidly increasing ageing population will also lead to the marijuana demand proliferation.The medical marijuana dispensaries market segment will witness substantial growth, expanding at a robust 36.2% CAGR over the forecast period. Increasing number of dispensaries set-up in various countries for the sale of legal medical marijuana products will create ample market growth opportunities in the near future.Make Inquiry about this report @Medical Marijuana Market size is set to exceed USD 55.0 billion by 2024; according to a new research study published by Global Market Insights, Inc.Growing demand for marijuana application in the treatment of chronic pain caused by neurological disorders, cancer, HIV/AIDS, and arthritis will drive the global medical marijuana market growth. Moreover, increasing preference of marihuana over opioid narcotics that cause various side lethal side effects will accelerate medical cannabis demand over the coming years.The global burden of pain-related diseases increased tremendously affecting more than 1500 million people worldwide; therefore, more cannabis approval for medical purpose are on horizon. With increasing number of product approvals in various regions across the globe, the medical marijuana industry size will expand significantly in upcoming years.Medical marijuana market research report includes in-depth coverage of the industry with estimates & forecast in terms of revenue in USD million from 2013 to 2024, for the following segments:Medical Marijuana Market by Application Pain Managemento Neuropathic Paino Cancer Paino Others Muscle Spasms Nausea Anorexia Seizures OthersMedical Marijuana Market by Route of Administration Inhalation Oral TopicalMedical Marijuana Market by Distribution Channel Dispensaries OnlineThe above information is provided for the following regions/countries: North Americao U.S.o Canada Europeo Germanyo Italyo UKo Czech Republico Franceo The Netherlandso Rest of Europe Latin Americao Argentinao Chileo Peruo Colombia Rest of the Worldo Australiao IsraelGlobal 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.Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comBlog :Medical Marijuana Market Will Exhibit Significant Growth at a CAGR of 35.4% till 2023 | by Aurora Cannabis, Cannabis Sativa, GW Pharmaceuticals plc, United Cannabis, Emerald Health Therapeutics, etc

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According to Market Research Future, the Global Medical Marijuana Market to provide readers with a clear view of the markets likely growth trajectory over the coming years. The report utilizes historical trends of the Global Medical Marijuana Market and present statistics to derive.Medical Marijuana Market - SynopsisGlobal Medical Marijuana Market is forecasted to expand remarkably at a CAGR of over 35.4% during the forecast period of 2018-2023. Medical marijuana or medical cannabis is the unprocessed marijuana plant or its extracts that are used to treat the symptoms of various diseases and other medical conditions.Marijuana consists of chemical components cannabinoids, which can be used as medicine to treat the symptoms caused by illness. Medical marijuana plant or extract of the plant is used for the treatment. The increasing number of chronic diseases, rising acceptance of medical marijuana in healthcare and increasing research and development activities are the major factors driving the growth of the global medical marijuana market. Additionally, increasing U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals for drugs containing cannabinoids are contributing to the growth of the market. For instance, in June 2018, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Epidiolex (cannabidiol) [CBD] oral solution for the treatment of epilepsy.The stringent regulatory environment for product approval, increasing use of marijuana for recreational use and side effects caused by long-term use of marijuana are likely to hinder market growth during the forecast period.Request Sample Copy atKey Vendors:The key players profiled by MRFR that are operating in the global medical marijuana market are Canopy Growth, Aurora Cannabis, Inc., Cannabis Sativa, Inc, GW Pharmaceuticals plc, United Cannabis, MGC Pharma, Aphria, Inc., Tilray, Emerald Health Therapeutics [Canada] Inc., GBSciences, Inc., CanniMed Ltd., Medical Marijuana, Inc, Cara Therapeutics, and Greengro Technologies.Segmentation:The global medical marijuana market has been segmented on the basis of application, route of administration and distribution channel.On the basis of application, the market has been classified as Alzheimers disease, cancer, mental health conditions, multiple sclerosis, muscle spasms, glaucoma, and human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). Mental health conditions are differentiated into schizophrenia and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).The route of administration segment has been further divided into oral, topical, inhalation and sublingual. The topical segment has been classified into ointments, lotions, creams, gels, and poultice.The market, by distribution channel, has been segmented into dispensaries and online platforms.Industry Updates:In January 2019, it has been announced by the Arkansans Department of Health that the patients who are approved for purchasing medical; marijuana will receive patient cards by February 2019.In January 2019, it has been announced that within next few days residents in Ohio will be able to purchase marijuana for medical purposes.In January 2019, Trulieve, Florida's largest and first medical marijuana provider, has signed a deal to bring high-end edible marijuana products to Florida and will soon be made available for the registered medical marijuana patients in the form of cannabis chocolates, granola bars, honey, fruit leather, olive oil and more.Medical Marijuana Market - Regional Analysis:The market in the Americas is expected to dominate the global medical marijuana market during the forecast period owing to the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, increasing number of cannabinoid drug approvals by regulatory authorities, and increasing expenditure on research and development of medical marijuana. The European market is expected to be the second-largest due to the favorable policies implemented by government and regulatory authorities and increasing applications of marijuana in healthcare. Moreover, the market in Asia-Pacific is anticipated to be the fastest-growing during the forecast period owing to the increasing number of mental disorders and increasing expenditure on healthcare research and development. The market in the Middle East & Africa is likely to account for the smallest share of the global medical marijuana market. The market growth in this region can be attributed to the rising acceptance of medical marijuana in the treatment of illness and favorable government policies.Browse Complete 85 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with Respective 30+ Tables and Figures atAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.ContactMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune  411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comErectile Dysfunction Drugs Market Analysis (2019 - 2025)| Apricus Biosciences Inc., Cristalia Produtos Quimicos Farmaceuticos Ltd., Bayer AG, Dong-A Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Meda Pharmaceuticals

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A market research report is a perfect tool for digging deep into critical aspects of the global Erectile Dysfunction Drugs market and closely understanding factors that influence its growth. Our research analysts are experienced enough to provide you with the right information about the global Erectile Dysfunction Drugs market to help your business propel forward in the coming years. What makes us different from other market researchers is our high level of analysis that helps you to identify key opportunities available in the global Erectile Dysfunction Drugs market. The report provides every bit of information about the global Erectile Dysfunction Drugs market related to major market segments, vendor landscape, geographical growth, and other significant factors.We deliver market intelligence according to your requirements. This report can be customized as per your business needs. We meet client expectations with the help of our peerless pre-execution, execution, and post-execution engagement models. Our analysts offer quantified B2B research on market threats and opportunities. They also provide qualitative analysis of the global Erectile Dysfunction Drugs market.Get PDF template of this report:Competitive AnalysisUsing the competitive analysis offered in the report, players can gain a sound understanding of certain behaviors of other market participants. This equips them to make the required changes in their marketing strategies and improve their business tactics to strongly position themselves in the global Erectile Dysfunction Drugs market. With the detailed mapping of the vendor landscape, the report highlights highly competitive areas of the global Erectile Dysfunction Drugs market. The report also talks about the nature of the vendor landscape and the reasons supporting it. It profiles some of the prominent names in the Erectile Dysfunction Drugs industry.The following Companies as the Key Players in the Global Erectile Dysfunction Drugs Market Research ReportApricus Biosciences Inc.Cristalia Produtos Quimicos Farmaceuticos Ltd.Bayer AGDong-A Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.Meda Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Eli Lilly and CompanyPfizer, Inc.S.K. Chemicals Co. Ltd.Vivus, Inc.The scope of the Report:Get a detailed segmentation of the global Erectile Dysfunction Drugs market according to the type of product and application. The report also covers important technologies used and services provided by leading companies of the global Erectile Dysfunction Drugs market. It provides details about the latest industry trends observed in different market segments. By providing market forecasts of each segment in terms of volume and revenue, the report enables market players to focus on high-growth areas of the global Erectile Dysfunction Drugs market.Global Erectile Dysfunction Drugs Market by TypeViagra (sildenafil citrate)Cialis (tadalafil)Levitra/Staxyn (vardenafil)Stendra/Spedra (avanafil)Zydena (udenafil)Vitaros (Alprostadil Cream)OthersGlobal Erectile Dysfunction Drugs Market by ApplicationHospital PharmaciesPrivate ClinicsDrug StoresRetail PharmaciesE-CommerceGet Complete Report in your Inbox within 24 hours( USD 2900 ):A market research study is incomplete without regional analysis, and we are well aware of it. That is why the report includes a comprehensive and all-inclusive study that solely concentrates on the geographical growth of the global Erectile Dysfunction Drugs market. The study also includes accurate estimations about market growth at the global, regional, and country levels. It empowers you to understand why some regional markets are flourishing while others are seeing a decline in growth. It also allows you to focus on geographies that hold the potential to create lucrative prospects in the near future.Regions Covered in the Global Erectile Dysfunction Drugs Market:The Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries and Egypt)North America (the United States, Mexico, and Canada)South America (Brazil etc.)Europe (Turkey, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.)Asia-Pacific (Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia)Few of the questions answered through the report(1) How will the global Erectile Dysfunction Drugs market performance during the forecast period? What will be the market size in terms of value and volume?(2) Which segment will drive the global Erectile Dysfunction Drugs market? Which regional market will show extensive growth in the future? What are the reasons?(3) How will the market dynamics change because of the impact of future market opportunities, restraints, and drivers?(4) What are the key strategies adopted by players to sustain themselves in the global Erectile Dysfunction Drugs market?(5) How will these strategies influence market growth and competition?About Us:QYResearch always pursuits high product quality with the belief that quality is the soul of business. Through years of effort and supports from the 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 the consulting industry.ContactRutuja KarwaQY Research, INC.USA: +1 6262 952 442China: +86 1082 945 717Japan: +81 9038 009 273India: +91 9766 478 224Emails  enquiry@qyresearch.comWeb Adult Milk Powder 2019 Global Market Key Players  Abbott, Nestle, Anlene, Fasska, Anchor - Analysis and Forecast to 2025

Adult Milk Powder Market 2019

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Adult Milk Powder Market 2019Adult milk powder is mainly marketed for providing nutrition, such as necessary vitamins and minerals, for the adult group.Adult milk powder, targeted at the adult, provides the nutrition supplement for the group. Global leading milk powder manufacturers are actively expanding their adult milk powder business. Some leaders, like Abbott,Nestle, commonly launch specific brand for specific region.Consumption of adult milk powder mainly concentrates in Europe. In 2016, the consumption volume of adult milk powder in the region reached 104385 MT, holding 28.53% market share globally. The second consumer is USA, with 18.42% share. Global consumption of Adult milk powder increased from 306127 MT in 2012 to 365880 MT in 2016 with the CAGR of 4.56%.As for adult milk powder suppliers, each supplier owns their key sales regions. Abbott places USA as their first sales place, while many suppliers from Australia and New Zealand take China as their key market. Adult milk powder suppliers should play attention on the local region consumption characteristic and provides appropriate products to consumers.Adult milk powders offer people in various life stages with different nutritional requirements. With the improvement of life quality, more and more people lay emphasis on their health and nutrition, stimulating the demand of dairy products.The global Adult Milk Powder market is valued at 3890 million US$ in 2018 is expected to reach 5080 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 3.4% during 2019-2025.Request a Sample Report @The following manufacturers are covered:AbbottNestleAnleneMurray GoulburnRegilaitYiliFasskaYashilyVreugdenhil DairyAnchorGMPFeiheTaturaAusino ProductsWondersunAble Food Sdn BhdMengniuAnmum MalaysiaSegment by RegionsNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSegment by TypeWhole Milk PowderSkim Milk PowderSegment by ApplicationAge 18-35Age 35-55Age >55Complete Report Details @Table of Contents Analysis of Key Points1 Adult Milk Powder Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Adult Milk Powder1.2 Adult Milk Powder Segment by Type1.2.1 Global Adult Milk Powder Production Growth Rate Comparison by Type (2014-2025)1.2.2 Whole Milk Powder1.2.3 Skim Milk Powder1.3 Adult Milk Powder Segment by Application1.3.1 Adult Milk Powder Consumption Comparison by Application (2014-2025)1.3.2 Age 18-351.3.3 Age 35-551.3.4 Age >551.3 Global Adult Milk Powder Market by Region1.3.1 Global Adult Milk Powder Market Size Region1.3.2 North America Status and Prospect (2014-2025)1.3.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2014-2025)1.3.4 China Status and Prospect (2014-2025)1.3.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2014-2025)1.3.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2014-2025)1.3.7 India Status and Prospect (2014-2025)1.4 Global Adult Milk Powder Market Size1.4.1 Global Adult Milk Powder Revenue (2014-2025)1.4.2 Global Adult Milk Powder Production (2014-2025)..7 Company Profiles and Key Figures in Adult Milk Powder Business7.1 Abbott7.1.1 Abbott Adult Milk Powder Production Sites and Area Served7.1.2 Adult Milk Powder Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.1.3 Abbott Adult Milk Powder Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.1.4 Main Business and Markets Served7.2 Nestle7.2.1 Nestle Adult Milk Powder Production Sites and Area Served7.2.2 Adult Milk Powder Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.2.3 Nestle Adult Milk Powder Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.2.4 Main Business and Markets Served7.3 Anlene7.3.1 Anlene Adult Milk Powder Production Sites and Area Served7.3.2 Adult Milk Powder Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.3.3 Anlene Adult Milk Powder Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.3.4 Main Business and Markets Served7.4 Murray Goulburn7.4.1 Murray Goulburn Adult Milk Powder Production Sites and Area Served7.4.2 Adult Milk Powder Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.4.3 Murray Goulburn Adult Milk Powder Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.4.4 Main Business and Markets Served7.5 Regilait7.5.1 Regilait Adult Milk Powder Production Sites and Area Served7.5.2 Adult Milk Powder Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.5.3 Regilait Adult Milk Powder Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.5.4 Main Business and Markets Served7.6 Yili7.6.1 Yili Adult Milk Powder Production Sites and Area Served7.6.2 Adult Milk Powder Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.6.3 Yili Adult Milk Powder Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.6.4 Main Business and Markets Served7.7 Fasska7.7.1 Fasska Adult Milk Powder Production Sites and Area Served7.7.2 Adult Milk Powder Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.7.3 Fasska Adult Milk Powder Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.7.4 Main Business and Markets Served7.8 Yashily7.8.1 Yashily Adult Milk Powder Production Sites and Area Served7.8.2 Adult Milk Powder Product Introduction, Application and Specification7.8.3 Yashily Adult Milk Powder Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019)7.8.4 Main Business and Markets ServedContinued..Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaSoft touch Polyurethane Coatings Market In-depth Analysis of Key Players viz-a-viz RPM International Inc., The Sherwin Williams Company, PPG Industries Inc.

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The global soft touch polyurethane coatings market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 7.2% during the forecast period (20152025), according to a new report titled, Soft Touch Polyurethane Coatings Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2015 - 2025.Key Factors Driving the Global Soft touch Polyurethane Coatings MarketSoft touch polyurethane coatings find wide-ranging applications in automotive and aircraft interior components, interior wood surfaces (furniture, trim, doors) and consumer electronic devices such as mobile phones, TV, laptop and computer cases. These coatings also find applications in cosmetic cases and kitchenware.Over the last decade, increasing consumer demand for fuel-efficient vehicles and various environmental regulations regarding carbon emissions has influenced automakers to opt for lighter materials. Most metal interior components of automobiles are being replaced by plastic materials, such as Acetonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS). These plastic materials need to be coated in order to have organoleptic properties. This increased use of plastics in automobile interiors has led to an increase in demand for soft touch polyurethane coatings as a suitable option, owing to properties such as resistance to yellowing, scratching, abrasion and chemicals. Soft touch polyurethane coatings are widely used in the automobile industry to coat interior components such as arm rest, door trims, airbags compartments, steering wheel and front panels.Request Sample Report @Government regulations and environmental concerns around the world is influencing coating industry players to develop coating with low or no volatile organic content (VOC). Until recently, solvent-based, two component system, was the most widely used coating. However, it has high VOC content as compared to water-based coating. Water-based low VOC content coating is formulated using low molecular weight polymers and reactive diluents. This has led to increase in development of water-based PU soft feel coatings customised as per requirements in various end-use industries such as automotive, wood & furniture and electronics.The global soft touch polyurethane coatings market is segmented on the basis of base type, product type and end-use industry.On the basis of base type, the global soft touch polyurethane coatings market is segmented into water-based and solvent-based soft touch polyurethane coatings.Among base types, the solvent-based soft touch polyurethane coatings segment accounts for a major share in the global market. However, water-based soft touch polyurethane coatings segment is expected to gain traction and expand at highest CAGR in terms of value over the forecast period. Key players in this market are also shifting their focus from solvent-based to water-based soft touch polyurethane coatings due to the stringent environmental regulations pertaining to limit the volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. In Asia Pacific, solvent-based soft touch polyurethane coatings are mainly preferred.Browse the full "Soft Touch Polyurethane Coatings Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2015 - 2025" market research report atOn the basis of product type, the global soft touch polyurethane coatings market is segmented into 2K and UV coating systems. Each of this product type is further segmented in water-based and solvent-based coatings.On the basis of end-use industry, the global soft touch polyurethane coatings market is segmented into transport and automotive, electrical and electronics, wood and furniture and others (measuring devices, packaging).In 2014, the transport and automotive segment accounted for the 37% market value share. Most industries such as automotive, electronics and packaging are much focused towards offering products with improved surface properties such as warm touch and rich look. These properties play an important role in buying behaviour of customers. Increasing disposable income in developed and developing countries is driving consumer spending on high end premium goods.Key playersin the global soft touch polyurethane coatings market include PPG Industries Inc., AkzoNobel N.V., RPM International Inc., The Sherwin Williams Company, Aexcel Corporation, Axalta Coatings Systems Ltd., Sokan New Materials and Jotun AS.Request Report Methodology @Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.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:Aortic Aneurysm Market key investment pocket for leading players 2018-2028 : Terumo and Medtronic, Endovascular Technology Corp, Lombard Medical Limited and Lombard Medical Technologies GmbH, Cryolife

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Portrayed as a silent killer by medical experts, instances of (abdominal) aortic aneurysm are underpinned by hypertension, atherosclerosis, infection of aorta, and diseased aortic blood vessels. Besides smoking and tobacco consumption, hyperlipidemia, aging and a strong family history of CVDs and/or hyperlipidemia are cited as the key risk factors associated with aortic aneurysm condition, raising the demand for treatment of aortic aneurysm.Competition Analysis: Global Aortic Aneurysm MarketLeading aortic aneurysm market players such as Terumo and Medtronic are focusing on strategic acquisitions and mergers involving relatively smaller companies, in an effort to capture new geographical territories, and enhance product portfolios. Research indicates that domestic/regional manufacturers of aortic aneurysms continue to capitalize on the benefits driven by a lower price point of stent grafts, over multinational brands.RequestSample Copy of the Report @Endovascular Technology Corp., a MicroPort Scientific Corp. subsidiary, recently acquired shares in Lombard Medical Limited and Lombard Medical Technologies GmbH. The deal was intended to push the acquirers efforts in commercialization of their two new stent-graft technologies, viz. Altura and Aorfix.A leading distributor of preserved cardiac tissues and vascular transplant applications, Cryolife Inc., acquired JOTEC GmbH, a recognized brand in the vascular implants space.In the backdrop of inadequate availability of advanced endovascular management of thoracic aortic aneurysm, MicroPort Endovascular (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. accomplished research in the development of a multi-functional stent graft with aortic dissection repair capability. The launch of Castor, the worlds first-ever branched stent graft that simultaneously supports aortic arch repair, along with that of the descending aorta and left subclavian artery. Castor recently received the CAFDA (China Food and Drug Administration) approval to be launched in the Chinese aortic aneurysm market.Dynamics: Global Aortic Aneurysm MarketDramatically rising rate of lifestyle disease prevalence and constantly expanding smoking population worldwide, collectively elevate the risks of aortic aneurysm. With geriatric population expanding at a progressive rate, the demand for aortic aneurysm treatment is likely to experience more prominence in the years to come.Sustained tobacco consumption is another strong reason responsible for towering demand for treatment of aortic aneurysm. Advent of technology pushing the potential of endovascular surgical procedures is also cited as a high impact factor associated with the performance of the aortic aneurysm market. A relatively spiking number of FDA approvals for devices and treatment technologies used in aortic aneurysm treatment is one of the predominant factors favoring growth of global aortic aneurysm market.Request TOC of the Report @High Availability of Treatment for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm to Support Market GrowthAn increasing number of instances of abdominal aortic aneurysm occurring at juxtarenal or infrarenal part of lower abdomen has been prominently highlighting the need for abdominal aortic aneurysm treatment in the market. On the other side, the prevalence of thoracic aortic aneurysm has been growing at a relatively steady pace, and thus fueling the demand for aortic aneurysm treatment at a moderate pace. However, introduction of advanced technology enabled products in the thoracic aortic aneurysm segment is likely to contribute to the performance of aortic aneurysm market in the years to come.Launch of High-tech Stent Grafts to Assist Revenue Growth of Aortic Aneurysm MarketCatheters that are used for occlusion and blood vessel expansion typically account for additional expenditure adding to the overall treatment costs. Whereas, stent grafts that are consistently influenced by design innovations driven by technological advancements, which is encouraging new product launches such as aortic aneurysm stent grafts with in-built imaging and delivery catheter  in turn, pushing prospects of aortic aneurysm market.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Aortic Aneurysm Market Continues to Witness Significant Expansion across North AmericaNorth America has been a key investment pocket for leading players in aortic aneurysm market owing to a significant number of abdominal aortic aneurysm cases, early technology adoption, high acceptance of cutting-edge technology enabled products, and a progressive market scenario for strategic collaborative agreements between key players. Tightening regulatory framework in the US is governing quality of new launches, ultimately favoring the growth of aortic aneurysm market, further complemented by the overall reimbursement scenario for surgical aortic aneurysm procedures. While the US Medicare Policy covers over 70% of the treatment costs, a contrary medical reimbursement scenario in developing countries is restricting penetration of aortic aneurysm treatment.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.comNorth American Floor Adhesives Market likely to be US$ 1,097.9 Million opportunity during 2018-2023

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Stratview Research announces the launch of a new research report on North American Floor Adhesives Market by Material Type (Epoxy Adhesives, Polyurethane Adhesives, Acrylic Adhesives, Vinyl Adhesives, and Other Adhesives), by Application Type (Tile & Stone, Carpet, Wood, Laminates, Vinyl Flooring, and Others), by Technology Type (Water-based Adhesives, Solvent-based Adhesives, and Other Adhesives), by End-User Type (Residential, Commercial, and Industrial), and by Region (the USA, Canada, and Mexico), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2018-2023This report, from Stratview Research, studies the North American floor adhesives market over the period trend period of 2012 to 2017 and the forecast period of 2018 to 2023. The report provides detailed insights into the market dynamics to enable informed business decision making and growth strategy formulation based on the opportunities present in the market.The North American Floor Adhesives Market: HighlightsThe North American floor adhesives market is projected to reach an estimated value of US$ 1,097.9 million in 2023. The upward trajectory of the floor adhesives market in the region is likely to continue with attractive growth opportunities in the entire ecosystem of the market in the coming years. Growing North American construction industry, an increasing consumption of adhesives in North America, increasing usage of water-based adhesives in order to reduce VOC emissions, replacement of mechanical fastening systems with adhesives, and ability of adhesives to bond dissimilar materials are the driving factors that are burgeoning the growth of floor adhesives in the North American market.Click here for table of contents:-OrRequest a sample here:-The market dynamics of floor adhesives in North America is different than that of other parts of the world. The region has an overall high penetration of adhesives in flooring applications as compared to Asia-Pacific, which is the largest flooring adhesives market. Also, the per capita consumption of floor adhesives is quite higher in North America as compared to that of Asia-Pacific.The North American floor adhesives market is segmented based on the material type as Epoxy Adhesives, Polyurethane Adhesives, Acrylic Adhesives, Vinyl Adhesives, and Other Adhesives. Polyurethane adhesives currently dominates the North American floor adhesives market, driven by its higher usage in wood flooring applications. Acrylic adhesives are likely to witness the highest growth during the same period, owing to their increased usage in LVT flooring and carpet applications.Based on the application type, wood flooring is likely to be the dominant application type in the North American floor adhesives market during the forecast period. There is an increasing usage of adhesives instead of mechanical fastening systems in the wood flooring application. Wood flooring requires more adhesive content per square feet, which further elevates the demand for adhesives in the segment. Vinyl flooring application is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period, driven by an increasing demand for luxury vinyl tiles (LVT) in North America.The North American floor adhesives market is segmented based on the technology type as Water-based Adhesives, Solvent-based Adhesives, and Other Adhesives. Water-based technology currently dominates the North American floor adhesives market. The technology type is also likely to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period, driven by stringent regulations regarding reducing VOC emissions in order to create safer environment.Based on regions, the North American floor adhesives market is further segmented as the USA, Canada, and Mexico. The USA is likely to maintain its leading position in the region during the forecast period, whereas Mexico is expected to witness the highest growth in the foreseeable future.The supply chain of this market comprises of raw material suppliers, floor adhesive manufacturers, dealers & distributors, and flooring installers. Some of the major floor adhesive suppliers in North America include Arkema Inc. (including Bostik), Ardex GmbH, Bona AB, H.B. Fuller Company, Mapei Corporation, Roberts Consolidated, and W.F. Taylor Co., Inc., and Sika AG.Report FeaturesThis report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights on the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report: Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis Market trend and forecast analysis Market segment trend and forecast Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc. Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities Emerging trends Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players Key success factorsThe North American Floor Adhesives Market is segmented into the following categories.North American Floor Adhesives Market by Material Type: Epoxy Adhesives Acrylic Adhesives Polyurethane Adhesives Vinyl Adhesives OthersNorth American Floor Adhesives Market by Application Type: Tile & Stone Carpet Wood Laminate Vinyl Flooring OthersNorth American Floor Adhesives Market by Technology Type: Water-based Adhesives Solvent-based Adhesives Other AdhesivesNorth American Floor Adhesives Market by End-User Type: Residential Construction Commercial Construction Industrial ApplicationsNorth American Floor Adhesives Market by Region: The USA Canada MexicoAbout Stratview ResearchStratview Research is a trusted brand globally, providing high quality research and strategic insights that help companies worldwide in effective decision making.400 Renaissance Center, Suite 2600, Detroit, Michigan, MI 48243 United States of AmericaSeed Cotton Humidifier Global Market Research Report 2025

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Seed Cotton Humidifier Report by Material, Application, and Geography  Global Forecast to 2022 is a professional and in-depth research report on the world's major regional market conditions, focusing on the main regions (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific) and the main countries (United States, Germany, united Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and China).Access more details about this report at:The report firstly introduced the Seed Cotton Humidifier basics: definitions, classifications, applications and market overview; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures, raw materials and so on. Then it analyzed the world's main region market conditions, including the product price, profit, capacity, production, supply, demand and market growth rate and forecast etc. In the end, the report introduced new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.Purchase a copy of this premium research report at:The report includes six parts, dealing with:1.) Basic Information;2.) Asia Seed Cotton Humidifier Market;3.) North American Seed Cotton Humidifier Market;4.) European Seed Cotton Humidifier Market;5.) Market Entry and Investment Feasibility;6.) Report Conclusion.Inquire further details about this report at:About Research 2 Reports:Research2Reports Market Research Company offers custom syndicated market research reports with market analysis, consulting services Market research reports by Research2Reports depends on survey analysis covers a magnitude of factors, industry research, market size, forecasts, financial growth, pricing trends, competitive insights of market segmentsContact Us:Organization: Research2reportsOffice No. 212/213, B Block 2nd Floor,Parmar Chambers,Sadhu Vaswani Road, Pune  411001Phone Number: 020 - 2612 6969Email: info@research2reports.comRead More Industry News:Research 2 Reports offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Office No. 212/213, B Block 2nd Floor,Parmar Chambers,Sadhu Vaswani Road, Pune  411001Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Devices Market Vision by 2023 with Industry Drivers like Resumed, Philips Healthcare, Fisher & Paychex, 3B Medical, Apex Medical, Apria Healthcare, Armstrong Medical

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Industry Report Global Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Market Research Reportprovides detailed insight covering all important parameters including Development Trends, Challenges, Opportunities, Key Manufacturers and Competitive Analysis.CPAP Devices Market  OverviewContinuous positive airway pressure therapy is most widely recognized treatment for obstructive Sleep Apnea that utilizes continuous mild air pressure.These devices are utilized to keep the airways open during sleep and furthermore to control the yield pressure keeping the airflow pressure constant.GET PREMIUM SAMPLE COPY @High prevalence of sleep disorders, growing awareness of sleep apnea & related comorbid conditions such as high blood pressure, & obesity have led to increased demand for continuous positive airway pressure devices.Similarly, advances in technology such as use of oxygen devices, improved mask design and oral appliances are expected to provide support and propel the growth of the global continuous positive airway pressure market.Recently, FDA clears Worlds Smallest CPAP, ResMed AirMini, expected to boost CPAP market growth. Portable AirMini offers ease-of-use and comfort for travelers and additional revenue opportunities for home medical equipment providers.ResMed announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared ResMeds AirMini, the worlds smallest continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device. ResMeds tiny yet fully-featured AirMini, is designed as a secondary CPAP, making it easier for people to continue their sleep apnea therapy while traveling.As an addition to ResMeds industry-leading Air Solutions portfolio, the AirMini offers multiple benefits to home medical equipment providers supporting increased therapy compliance & convenience for their patients, & incremental revenue opportunities.ResMed AirMini is the portable travel CPAP patients and home medical equipment providers have been waiting for, and company look forward to bringing it to market. It fits easily in carry-on luggage even in the seatback pocket on the plane & delivers all the best-in-class comfort features patients need to get the best sleep.There are many big players in the Global Continuous Positive Airway Pressure market such as:Resumed (Asia)Philips Healthcare (US)Fisher & Paychex (NZ)3B Medical (US)Apex Medical (Taiwan)Apria Healthcare (US)Armstrong Medical (UK)BMC Medical (China)Cardinal Health (US)Curative Medical (US)As the market seems to be attractive, growing and profitable, at the same time market has witnessed intense rivalry among existing competitors.OBTAIN REPORT DETAILS WITH TOC @CPAP Devices Market  Regional AnalysisGeographically, CPAP devices market has been divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. The CPAP devices market is currently dominated by the Americas, accounting for more than half market share, followed by the Middle East & Africa region & the Asia Pacific region.In the Americas, the U.S. was the largest revenue contributor because of the increased diagnosis of sleep apnea in patients. Similarly, Asia Pacific expected to witness higher growth in CPAP devices market due to increasing disease prevalence in the countries like India & China.The market will typically witness a strong growth rate in countries such as the Germany, Spain, U.K., Italy & France.The CPAP devices market in the U.K. is developed and well-established, & is comparatively it is easier to enter the market for new players, making the positive airway pressure devices market in the country more prominent than in any other European countries.The growth of this market in Europe is due to well-defined regulatory guidelines and increasing prevalence of sleep apneaSome Points from TOCChapter 1. Report PrologueChapter 2. Market Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope of the Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 LimitationsChapter 3. Research Methodology3.1 Introduction3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research3.4 Market Size EstimationChapter 4. Market Dynamics4.1 Drivers4.2 Restrains4.3 Opportunities4.4 Challenges4.5 Macroeconomic Indicators4.6 Technology Trends & AssessmentChapter 5. Market Factor Analysis5.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis5.1.1 Bargaining Power of SuppliersTOC ContinuedGET DISCOUNT @About Us:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Office No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaAnticoagulants Market 2025 | Baxter International Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Merck & Co., Inc., AstraZeneca plc, BioVascular Inc., Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company,

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Anticoagulants are utilized to take out the danger of blood clumps in the body. Anticoagulants prevent the platelets from clinging to each other and coagulating proteins from restricting together. These are usually utilized in the treatment of DVT (deep vein thrombosis), atrial fibrillation, pneumonic embolism as well as managing moderate and high danger of stroke.Anticoagulants are essentially segmented as warfarin, therapies, LMWHs (low molecular weight heparins), DTIs (direct thrombin inhibitors) and factor Xa inhibitors. Of these, the heparin is an injectable anticoagulant broadly utilized in hospitals for fast anticoagulation. LMWHs are directed about two times every day as subcutaneous infusions to care for DVT. These are more advantageous to utilize in contrast to heparins, as LMWHs could be self-infused at home. Warfarin is generally prescribed as a component of long-haul anticoagulant treatment for patients with atrial fibrillation to help diminish the danger of stroke by over 60%.The worldwide market for anticoagulants is segmented on the basis of several types of anticoagulant drugs as well as applications. In terms of the types of anticoagulants, the worldwide market is categorized into Dabigatran (Pradaxa), Betrixaban, E Eliquis (Apixaban) Rivaroxaban (Xarelto), as well as doxaban, The application category is additionally subcategorized into heart valve replacement, DVT, myocardial infarction, cardiac arrhythmia, coronary artery diseases, and cardiovascular diseases.Request For Report Sample:On the basis of geography, North America regional market for anticoagulants is considered to foresee a huge market attractiveness. This is mainly a result of augmented awareness regarding remedial applications of anticoagulants in ailment management in the region. The U.S. is believed to be the foremost regional market for anticoagulants in North America, trained by Canada. In Europe, the U.K., France, and Germany account for the majority of the overall market shares of the anticoagulants. The Asia anticoagulant market as well is anticipated to reflect higher growth pace over the approaching five years to come. This is due to a bunch of market players are establishing production facilities in the region. In addition, the increasing populace is, in addition, boosting up the overall market expansion in the region. Japan, China, and India are considered to remain the quickest expanding markets in Asia for anticoagulants.The growing geriatric populace is the foremost driver for the worldwide market for anticoagulants. In addition, rising investment in the pharmaceutical sector for R&D activities as well as the introduction of innovative oral anticoagulants drugs have boosted the market growth. Recently Daiichi establishes anticoagulant Lixiana, an OD tablet for enhancing medication compliance in patients. Moreover, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Pfizer, Inc. have offered fresh studies for Eliquis(apixaban) clinical as well as real-world data.Request For Report TOC:On the other hand, strict regulations arranged by a variety of governments impede the expansion growth of the worldwide anticoagulants market. Recently, US FDA holds up approving for AndexXa for thought review of the data. On the other hand, FDA green-lights Bayer Xarelto 10 mg once daily dose for extended treatment of venous thromboembolism. In addition, the danger of complications and side-effects related to the consumption of oral anticoagulants, in addition, impedes the expansion of the worldwide market for anticoagulants. Growing figure of mergers and acquisitions of drug production companies is a foremost trend of the worldwide market for anticoagulants, for instance, Espero Pharmaceuticals and Armetheon plans to merge for developing cardiovascular medications.The foremost market players active in this market are Baxter International Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Merck & Co., Inc., AstraZeneca plc, BioVascular Inc., Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Eli Lilly and Company, Pfizer, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline plc, Genentech Inc., Novartis AG, and SanofiReport Analysis:Research Report Insights (RRI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver a host of services including custom research reports, syndicated research reports, and consulting services which are personalized in nature. RRI delivers a complete packaged solution to clients; this combines current market intelligence, technology inputs, statistical anecdotes, valuable growth insights, 360-degree view of the competitive framework, and anticipated market trendsResearch Report Insights (RRI42 Joseph StreetPort carling P0B 1J0Muskoka, Ontario1Phone - +1-631-721-4201Website:Email: sales@researchreportinsights.comOrg Chart Software Market Competitive Analysis 2024: Canva, Gliffy, Creately, Ingentis Softwareentwicklung GmbH, SmartDraw Software, Lucid and OrgChart Hosting Pty Ltd

Org Chart Software Market

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Org Chart Software market report acts upon systematic gathering, recording and analysis of data for the concerns linked to the marketing of goods and services and thereby serve the ICT industry with an excellent market research report. The report can be used by both established and new players in the industry for complete understanding of the market. Additionally, Org Chart Software report has been structured by keeping in mind all the foremost aspects of the market research that put forth market landscape simply into focus.The statistics have been represented in the graphical format for an unambiguous understanding of facts and figures. Assessment of potential market for new product, knowhow of consumers reaction for particular product, figuring out general market tendencies, knowing the types of customers, identifying dimension of marketing problem and many other scopes are carefully evaluated through this Org Chart Software report. SWOT analysis has been used throughout the report which helps emphasize on the global key manufacturers, market definition, description and analysis of the market competition landscape. Expert solutions combined with potential capabilities prepare this Org Chart Software market report to be outperforming for the ICT industry.Key Manufacturers Analyzed In the Study: Canva Gliffy Nevron Software LLC Creately Ingentis Softwareentwicklung GmbH SmartDraw Software Lucid OrgChart Hosting Pty LtdRequest a Sample Copy of this Report @The Asia-Pacific will occupy for more market share in following years, especially in China, also fast growing India and Southeast Asia regions.North America, especially The United States, will still play an important role which cannot be ignored. Any changes from United States might affect the development trend of Org Chart Software.This report studies the Org Chart Software market status and outlook of Global and major regions, from angles of players, countries, product types and end industries; this report analyzes the top players in global market, and splits the Org Chart Software market by product type and applications/end industries.Market Segment by Type: Org Chart Software Cloud Based Web BasedMarket Segment by Applications: Org Chart Software Large Enterprises SMEsClick to View the Full Report TOC, Figure and Tables @Table of Content: Org Chart Software Market1 Org Chart Software Market Overview2 Manufacturers Profiles3 Global Org Chart Software Market Competition, by Players4 Global Org Chart Software Market Size by Regions5 North America Org Chart Software Revenue by Countries6 Europe Org Chart Software Revenue by Countries7 Asia-Pacific Org Chart Software Revenue by Countries8 South America Org Chart Software Revenue by Countries9 Middle East and Africa Revenue Org Chart Software by Countries10 Global Org Chart Software Market Segment by Type11 Global Org Chart Software Market Segment by Application12 Global Org Chart Software Market Size Forecast (2019-2024)13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixMake an Enquiry before Buy @Report focal-point Drivers and restrains of the market Key developments in the market In-depth market segmentation Detailed overview of parent market Changing market dynamics of the industryNote: If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.About Research for Markets:Research for Markets indulges in detailed and diligent research on different markets, trends and emerging opportunities in the successive direction to cater to your business needs. We have established the pillars of our flourishing institute on the grounds of Credibility and Reliability. RFM delve into the markets across Asia Pacific, North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa.Contact:Mr. A NaiduResearch for MarketsTel: +44 8000-4182-37 (UK)Email: alan.naidu@researchformarkets.comActive and Modified Atmospheric Packaging Market 2024 | Amcor Limited, Bemis Company Inc., LINPAC Packaging Limited, Coveris Holdings S.A, Sealed Air Corporation, Berry Plastics Corporation, Ilapak International, S.A

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You bought a couple of fresh fruit packets today and save them for a super healthy dinner on the next day. But when you open those packets to gulp your favorite fruit treat, all you get is musty, malodorous, watery fruits that you cannot even think of holding in your hand, let alone eating them. Right, fruits were fresh and packaged when you bought. You even kept them in the refrigerator. What went wrong? The packaging. It matters a lot when it comes to preserving freshness of foods.AMAP: The Future of Food PackagingFresh foods need a certain atmospheric condition to remain fresh for long. Technological advancements in the recent past have effectively delivered a few sustainable food packaging techniques, which promise to keep foods fresh for longer than conventional packages do, without compromising on their palatable and nutritional value. One of such innovative, breakthrough technologies is active and modified atmospheric packaging (AMAP).Request For Report Sample:Fruits, vegetables, dairy products, other perishable foods such as fish and meat, and some minimally processed foods always required a reliable packaging technique that would stretch their shelf life, keeping the original freshness, nutritional quality, and taste intact. AMAP is so far the most efficient technology for perishable foods. Studies suggest that the MAP technique astonishingly extends the shelf life of aforementioned foods - around 13 fold, compared to conventional packaging. In addition to extending shelf life of food products, AMAP renders a pleasing visual appeal to packaged foods, and eventually reduces wastage of food. The flexible packaging material consumes lower energy and raw material, reducing overall ecological footprint.The ConceptSince active and modified atmospheric packaging actually modifies the air inside the package to meet ideal atmospheric needs of food products, it effectively maintains the initial fresh state of foods for much longer, abating their natural deterioration. Modification of air inside the package however involves a set of gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and some others, such as inert gases.The mixture of gases and atmosphere inside a particular product package depends on a variety of factors  type of product, temperature requirement, gas permeability, and material of the package. The atmospheric requirement of respiring foods, such as vegetables and fruits is entirely different from that of the non-respiring products, including fish, meat, cheese, and dairy. AMAP modifies the in-package environment through adaptation of packaging permeability to product respiration levels. The atmosphere thus created results in elongated shelf life of packaged foods.Request For Reprot discount:Market ProspectsActive and modified atmospheric packaging market is currently growing at a steady pace, and the revenues will reach US$ 17.0 Bn in 2016. By 2024 end, it is expected to surpass US$ 25.0 Bn. In order to capitalize on proliferating demand for AMAP technology from food manufacturers, processors, and end-use consumers, leading players in the active and modified atmospheric packaging industry are increasing investments in the technology R&D. Mergers and acquisitions are currently trending in market, along with strategic vertical integration.Although the market is currently dealing with a few restraining issues, such as packaging material recyclability and higher initial costs involved in packaging process, market studies indicate an impressive growth of the industry within the next few years. Latest innovations, including self-respiring trays and self-venting microwave packs will further take market to new heights.Some of the leading players in the global market for active and modified atmospheric packaging are Amcor Limited, Bemis Company Inc., LINPAC Packaging Limited, Coveris Holdings S.A, Sealed Air Corporation, Berry Plastics Corporation, Ilapak International, S.A., Winpak Limited Company, and ULMA Packaging, S. Co.Report Analysis:Research Report Insights (RRI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver a host of services including custom research reports, syndicated research reports, and consulting services which are personalized in nature. RRI delivers a complete packaged solution to clients; this combines current market intelligence, technology inputs, statistical anecdotes, valuable growth insights, 360-degree view of the competitive framework, and anticipated market trendsResearch Report Insights (RRI42 Joseph StreetPort carling P0B 1J0Muskoka, Ontario1Phone - +1-631-721-4201Website:Email: sales@researchreportinsights.comGlobal Curved Smart TV Market Research Report 2019 | Industry Growth, Share, Trend, Segmentation and Top Key Players  Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, TOSHIBA, Philips, Xiaomi, Haier Forecast to 2025

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Global Curved Smart TV Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Curved Smart TV - Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers and Analysis of Top Key Players to 2025 To Its Research DatabaseGeographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (M USD), market share and growth rate of Curved Smart TV in these regions, from 2012 to 2023 (forecast), coveringNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Global Curved Smart TV market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingSamsung ElectronicsLG ElectronicsSonyPanasonicSharpTOSHIBAHisenseTCLSkyworthChangHongKONKALetvPhilipsXiaomiHaierGet Sample Report of Curved Smart TV Market@On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoBelow 60 inch60-70 inchAbove 70 inchOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of Curved Smart TV for each application, includingHome UsePublic UseIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Complete report with Comprehensive table of contents@Major Key Points in Table of ContentGlobal Curved Smart TV Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 20231 Report Overview1.1 Definition and Specification1.2 Report Overview1.2.1 Manufacturers Overview1.2.2 Regions Overview1.2.3 Type Overview1.2.4 Application Overview1.3 Industrial Chain1.3.1 Curved Smart TV Overall Industrial Chain1.3.2 Upstream1.3.3 Downstream1.4 Industry Situation1.4.1 Industrial Policy1.4.2 Product Preference1.4.3 Economic/Political Environment1.5 SWOT Analysis4 Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis4.1 Samsung Electronics4.1.1 Samsung Electronics Profiles4.1.2 Samsung Electronics Product Information4.1.3 Samsung Electronics Curved Smart TV Business Performance4.1.4 Samsung Electronics Curved Smart TV Business Development and Market Status4.2 LG Electronics4.2.1 LG Electronics Profiles4.2.2 LG Electronics Product Information4.2.3 LG Electronics Curved Smart TV Business Performance4.2.4 LG Electronics Curved Smart TV Business Development and Market Status4.3 Sony4.3.1 Sony Profiles4.3.2 Sony Product Information4.3.3 Sony Curved Smart TV Business Performance4.3.4 Sony Curved Smart TV Business Development and Market Status4.4 Panasonic4.4.1 Panasonic Profiles4.4.2 Panasonic Product Information4.4.3 Panasonic Curved Smart TV Business Performance4.4.4 Panasonic Curved Smart TV Business Development and Market Status4.5 Sharp4.5.1 Sharp Profiles4.5.2 Sharp Product Information4.5.3 Sharp Curved Smart TV Business Performance4.5.4 Sharp Curved Smart TV Business Development and Market Status4.6 TOSHIBA4.6.1 TOSHIBA Profiles4.6.2 TOSHIBA Product Information4.6.3 TOSHIBA Curved Smart TV Business Performance4.6.4 TOSHIBA Curved Smart TV Business Development and Market Status4.7 Hisense4.7.1 Hisense Profiles4.7.2 Hisense Product Information4.7.3 Hisense Curved Smart TV Business Performance4.7.4 Hisense Curved Smart TV Business Development and Market Status4.8 TCL4.8.1 TCL Profiles4.8.2 TCL Product Information4.8.3 TCL Curved Smart TV Business Performance4.8.4 TCL Curved Smart TV Business Development and Market Status4.9 Skyworth4.9.1 Skyworth Profiles4.9.2 Skyworth Product Information4.9.3 Skyworth Curved Smart TV Business Performance4.9.4 Skyworth Curved Smart TV Business Development and Market Status4.10 ChangHong4.10.1 ChangHong Profiles4.10.2 ChangHong Product Information4.10.3 ChangHong Curved Smart TV Business Performance4.10.4 ChangHong Curved Smart TV Business Development and Market Status4.11 KONKA4.12 Letv4.13 Sony4.14 Panasonic4.15 Sharp12 Market Forecast 2019-202412.1 Sales (K Units), Revenue (M USD), Market Share and Growth Rate 2019-202412.1.1 Global Curved Smart TV Sales (K Units), Revenue (M USD) and Market Share by Regions 2019-202412.1.2 Global Curved Smart TV Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate 2019-202412.1.3 Asia-Pacific Curved Smart TV Sales (K Units), Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2019-202412.1.4 Asia-Pacific Curved Smart TV Sales (K Units), Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2019-202412.1.5 Europe Curved Smart TV Sales (K Units), Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2019-202412.1.6 South America Curved Smart TV Sales (K Units), Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2019-202412.1.7 Middle East and Africa Curved Smart TV Sales (K Units), Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2019-202412.2 Sales (K Units), Revenue (M USD) by Types 2019-202412.2.1 Overall Market Performance12.2.2 Below 60 inch Sales (K Units), Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2019-202412.2.3 60-70 inch Sales (K Units), Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2019-202412.2.4 Above 70 inch Sales (K Units), Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2019-202412.3 Sales by Application 2019-202412.3.1 Overall Market Performance12.3.2 Home Use Sales and and Growth Rate 2019-202412.3.3 Public Use Sales and and Growth Rate 2019-202412.4 Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Profit12.4.1 Global Curved Smart TV Price (USD/Unit) Trend 2019-202412.4.2 Global Curved Smart TV Gross Profit Trend 2019-2024Continued................Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd: Pune  411028: Maharashtra,: Ph: +91 841 198 5042Connected Healthcare Market 2019: Top Key Players are Accenture, IBM, SAP, GE Healthcare, Oracle, Microsoft, Airstrip Technology, Medtronic, Allscripts, Boston Scientific, Athenahealth, Cerner, etc.

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Connected Healthcare Market 2019 Report analyses the industry status, size, share, trends, growth opportunity, competition landscape and forecast to 2025. This report also provides data on patterns, improvements, target business sectors, limits and advancements. Furthermore, this research report categorizes the market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.Get Sample Copy of this Report@Scope of the Report:The global Connected Healthcare market is valued at xx million USD in 2018 and is expected to reach xx million USD by the end of 2024, growing at a CAGR of xx% between 2019 and 2024.The Asia-Pacific will occupy for more market share in following years, especially in China, also fast growing India and Southeast Asia regions.North America, especially The United States, will still play an important role which cannot be ignored. Any changes from United States might affect the development trend of Connected Healthcare.Inquire more or share questions if any before the purchase on this report @Europe also play important roles in global market, with market size of xx million USD in 2019 and will be xx million USD in 2024, with a CAGR of xx%.This report studies the Connected Healthcare market status and outlook of Global and major regions, from angles of players, countries, product types and end industries; this report analyzes the top players in global market, and splits the Connected Healthcare market by product type and applications/end industries.Market Segment by Companies, this report covers Accenture IBM SAP GE Healthcare Oracle Microsoft Airstrip Technology Medtronic Allscripts Boston Scientific Athenahealth Cerner Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia) South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia) Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, covers Telemedicine Home Monitoring Assisted Living Clinical MonitoringMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into Diagnosis and Treatment Monitoring Applications Education and Awareness Wellness and Prevention Healthcare Management OthersOrder a copy of Global Connected Healthcare Market Report 2019 @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Connected Healthcare market.Chapter 1, to describe Connected Healthcare Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Connected Healthcare, with sales, revenue, and price of Connected Healthcare, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Connected Healthcare, for each region, from 2013 to 2019;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2019;Chapter 12, Connected Healthcare market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2019 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Connected Healthcare sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceAbout Us:Research Reports World is the credible source for gaining the market reports that will provide you with the lead your business needs. At Research Reports World, our objective is providing a platform for many top-notch market research firms worldwide to publish their research reports, as well as helping the decision makers in finding most suitable market research solutions under one roof. Our aim is to provide the best solution that matches the exact customer requirements. This drives us to provide you with custom or syndicated research reports.Contact Us:Name: Mr. Ajay MoreEmail: sales@researchreportsworld.comOrganization: Research Reports WorldPhone: +1424 253 0807/+44 203 239 8187Nutraceutical Supplements Market 2019: Share, Demand, Size, Trends, Development, Opportunity, Growth by Top Key Players (Abbott Laboratories, Glanbia, Herbalife Nutrition, Koninklijke DSM, Pfizer, Amway, DowDuPont, BASF, Bayer etc.)

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Nutraceutical Supplements Market 2019 Global Industry research report offers you market size, industry growth, share, development trends, product demand, investment plans, business idea and forecasts to 2025. This report highlights exhaustive study of major market along with present and forecast market scenario with useful business decisions.Get Sample Copy of This Report atDevelopment policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions North America, Europe, Japan, China, and other regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America, Middle East & Africa etc.)At company level, this report focuses on the production capacity, ex-factory price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer covered in this report.This report focuses on Nutraceutical Supplements volume and value at global level, regional level and company level. From a global perspective, this report represents overall Nutraceutical Supplements market size by analyzing historical data and future prospect.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions North America, Europe, Japan, China, and other regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America, Middle East & Africa etc.)Inquire more or share questions if any before the purchase on this report @Key Companies Analyzed in this Report are: Abbott Laboratories Glanbia Herbalife Nutrition Koninklijke DSM Pfizer Amway DowDuPont BASF Bayer Global Nutraceutical Supplements Market report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through analytical research, market survey and observations) and secondary research. The report also features a complete focused on qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain, growth aspects, utilization ratio and manufacturing capacity.Segment by TypeCapsulesLiquidsTabletsPowder & GranulesOthersSegment by ApplicationSupermarkets and HypermarketsConvenience StoresDrug StoresHealth & Beauty StoresOnline StoresPlace a Direct Order Of this Report @Major Points Covered in Table of Contents:1 Nutraceutical Supplements Market Overview2 Global Nutraceutical Supplements Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Nutraceutical Supplements Production Market Share by Regions4 Global Nutraceutical Supplements Consumption by Regions5 Global Nutraceutical Supplements Production, Revenue, Price Trend by Type6 Global Nutraceutical Supplements Market Analysis by Applications7 Company Profiles and Key Figures in Nutraceutical Supplements Business8 Nutraceutical Supplements Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Marketing Channel, Distributors and Customers10 Market Dynamics11 Global Nutraceutical Supplements Market Forecast12 Research Findings and Conclusion13 Methodology and Data SourceAbout 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 UsRuwin MendezVice President  Global Sales & Partner RelationsOrian Research ConsultantsUS: +1 (415) 830-3727 | UK: +44 020 8144-71-27Email: info@orianresearch.comVessel MRO Industry 2019-2025: Key Companies Analysis with Market Opportunities (BAE Systems, General Dynamics, Huntington Ingalls, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, URS Corporation, Saab etc.)

Vessel MRO Market

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Vessel MRO Market 2019 Research Report studies the current industry status, size, share, trends, growth opportunity, competition landscape and forecast till 2025. This report also provides data on patterns, improvements, target business sectors, limits and advancements. Furthermore this research report categorizes the market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.Get Sample Copy of This Report atVessels are differentiated from civilian ships by their design and purpose. Such ships are damage resilient and armed. Naval vessels MRO is crucial for sustaining and extending the life of a vessel. It comprises maintenance, overhauls, routine checks, inspections, repairs, and modifications carried out on a vessel and their components. MRO services assure the safety and airworthiness of naval vessels.This industry study presents the global Vessel MRO market size, historical breakdown data (2014-2019) and forecast (2019-2025). The Vessel MRO production, revenue and market share by manufacturers, key regions and type;The consumption of Vessel MRO in volume terms are also provided for major countries (or regions), and for each application and product at the global level. Market share, growth rate, and competitive factors are also evaluated for market leaders BAE Systems, General Dynamics, etc.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions North America, Europe, Japan, China, and other regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America, Middle East & Africa etc.)Inquire more or share questions if any before the purchase on this report @Key Companies Analyzed in this Report are: BAE Systems General Dynamics Huntington Ingalls Industries Northrop Grumman Lockheed Martin Raytheon URS Corporation Saab Global Vessel MRO Market report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through analytical research, market survey and observations) and secondary research. The report also features a complete focused on qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain, growth aspects, utilization ratio and manufacturing capacity.Vessel MRO Breakdown Data by TypeEngine MRODry Dock MRORegular Maintenance MROComponent MROVessel MRO Breakdown Data by ApplicationSurface WarshipSubmarinesSupport VesselsPlace a Direct Order Of this Report @Major Points Covered in Table of Contents:1 Vessel MRO Market Overview2 Global Vessel MRO Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Vessel MRO Production Market Share by Regions4 Global Vessel MRO Consumption by Regions5 Global Vessel MRO Production, Revenue, Price Trend by Type6 Global Vessel MRO Market Analysis by Applications7 Company Profiles and Key Figures in Vessel MRO Business8 Vessel MRO Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Marketing Channel, Distributors and Customers10 Market Dynamics11 Global Vessel MRO Market Forecast12 Research Findings and Conclusion13 Methodology and Data SourceAbout 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 UsRuwin MendezVice President  Global Sales & Partner RelationsOrian Research ConsultantsUS: +1 (415) 830-3727 | UK: +44 020 8144-71-27Email: info@orianresearch.comGlobal Cell Culture Media Market 2019  Huge Market Growth Till 2024: Life Technologies, Corning (Cellgro), Sigma-Aldrich, etc.

Cell Culture Media Market

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Cell Culture Media MarketCell Culture Media are used to provide nutrients for cells growth in research, diagnostic and manufacturing applications. Typical cell culture media contain a mixture of defined nutrients dissolved in a buffered physiological saline solution. In cell culture, media are used to facilitate the growth of cells. Media are water-based liquids that can be provided in liquid or in dry powder format. Dry powder media has to be hydrated with water or with process liquids. Process liquids are water-based buffers and saline solutions which facilitate the cell culture process and ensure that the cell culture environment remains at a constant pH.More Insightful Information | Request a Sample Copy @Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversLife Technologies, Corning (Cellgro), Sigma-Aldrich, Thermo Fisher, Merck Millipore, GE Healthcare, Lonza, BD, HiMedia, Takara, CellGenix, Atlanta Biologicals, PromoCell, ZenbioMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America , Middle East and AfricaMarket Segment by Type, coversClassical Media & Salts, Serum-free Media, Stem Cell MediaMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoBiopharmaceutical Manufacturing, Tissue Culture & Engineering, Gene Therapy, CytogeneticEnquire Here to Get customization & check discount for report @Manufacturing cost structure:The Cell Culture Media Market report also studies the manufacturing cost structure and presents the various details such as raw material, overall production process, and the industry chain structure. Every region key factors are provided which is attracting this market towards growth. The report also elaborates on the opportunities the emerging markets of Asia Pacific and Latin America offer and Globally.Important Facts About Cell Culture Media Market Report:-This research report reveals Cell Culture Media business overview, product overview, market share, supply chain analysis, demand and supply ratio and import/export details.-The Industry report features different approaches and procedures endorsed by the Cell Culture Media market key players to make vital business decisions.-Cell Culture Media market depicts some parameters such as production value, Cell Culture Media marketing strategy analysis, Distributors/Traders and effect factors is also mentioned in this Cell Culture Media research report.Key questions answered in the report include:What will the market growth rate of Cell Culture Media market in 2024?What are the key factors driving the global Cell Culture Media market?Who are the key manufacturers in this market space?What are the market opportunities, market risk and market overview of the Cell Culture Media market?What are sales, revenue, and price analysis of top manufacturers of this market?Who are the distributors, traders and dealers of this market?What are the this market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global Cell Culture Media market?Access Complete Report with TOC, Tables and Figures and Major Companies Profile:Reasons for Buying this Report:1.To gain insightful analyses of the Cell Culture Media Industry and have comprehensive understanding of the global market and its commercial landscape2.Assess the production processes, major issues, and solutions.3.Market strategies that are being adopted by leading respective organizations4.The report gives specific analysis for rapidly changing dynamics of this Industry.5.To understand the future outlook and prospects for the this market with Marketing & Price (Price and Margin, Factors of Price Change, Manufacturers Gross Margin Analysis)About Us:Reports Monitor is a market research and consulting company that provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries including Healthcare, Technology, Chemicals, Materials, and Energy. With an intrinsic understanding of many business environments, Reports Monitor provides strategic objective insights.Contact UsJay MatthewsDirect: +1 513 549-591481 (U.S.)+44 203 318 2847 (U.K.)Email: sales@reportsmonitor.comStructural Insulation Panels Market Growth Factors and Key Players Analysis  Kingspan, Romakowski GmbH & Co. KG, Lattonedil Spa Milano, Isopan

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MarketStudyReport.com Adds New Structural Insulation Panels Market 2018  2024 research report providing information and data By Product, By Skin Type, By Application, By End-Use, Industry Analysis, Regional Outlook, Growth Potential, Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast spreading across 500 Pages with table and figures in it.North America is projected to exceed USD 200 million by 2024. The constant development of the business in the regional economy, along with its openness to imports, has provided an impetus to the international trade scenario for these products. The region is expected to witness growing investments towards house refurbishment and repair. Additionally, the growing infrastructure development owing to high economic growth and expanding immigrant population in the region is expected to support business growth.Request a sample of this report at:Structural insulation panels industry size is driven by rapid technological advancements in the construction industry. These technologies consist of various precast, modular, and prefabricated building structures, specially designed for residential and commercial sectors. Additionally, a growing population and rising consumer concerns regarding energy-saving building materials will drive industry development. Developing economies including Brazil, India, China, and Mexico will significantly trigger product development due to a large consumer base along with a shifting trend for modern building installations.Wall panels dominated the overall industry and is expected to witness highest growth over the forecast period. Substantial reduction in the construction time of wall and labor cost are key factors supplementing product penetration. The factory-built SIPs eliminate the need to cut the material on job site which eliminates delays and enables quick interior finishing. Substantial reduction in the construction time of wall and labor cost are key factors supplementing product penetration.The residential sector accounted for over 50% of the market share by 2024 and will continue to maintain its dominance over the forecast period. Infrastructural expansion is a major factor that will drive the use of SIPs in the residential market during the forecast timeframe. Socioeconomic development along with housing subsidies by governments will positively impact the market expansion. Household renovations have observed a strong demand in the past and are anticipated to witness significant gains over the forecast timespan. Affordable housing schemes along with the expansion of zero-energy homes supported by regional authorities are expected to provide a profitable opportunity for manufacturers.Glass wool is expected to witness significant growth owing to increasing demand for thermal and acoustic insulation. Strong applications scope for reducing the energy consumption of buildings, offering a conducive environment and reducing fuel utilization will positively support product penetration over the forecast timeline. It is widely used in attics, critical opening spaces, and wall cavities. Amplified growth of new housing developments and overall building construction expenditure will drive industry gains.Request a discount on standard prices of this report at:The global structural insulation panel minerals market is highly competitive owing to the presence of a few dominating companies including Kingspan, Romakowski GmbH & Co. KG, Lattonedil Spa Milano, and Isopan. Their prime initiatives to improve the market share include new product launches, geographical expansions, R&D investments, and mergers & acquisitions. This helps them explore the untapped market potential. Companies are also focusing on implementing forward and backward integrations across the value chain.Table of Content:Chapter 1 Methodology & ScopeChapter 2. Executive SummaryChapter 3. Structural Insulation Panels Industry InsightsChapter 4. Structural Insulation Panels Market, By ProductChapter 5 Structural Insulation Panels Market, By Skin TypeChapter 6 Structural Insulation Panels Market, By ApplicationChapter 7 Structural Insulation Panels Market, By End UseChapter 8. Structural Insulation Panels Market, By RegionChapter 9. Company ProfilesFor More Details On this Report:Related Report:Global Structural Insulation Panels (SIPs) Market 2018 by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023A Structural Insulation Panel (SIP) is a form of sandwich panel used in the construction industry. SIP is a sandwich structured composite, consisting of an insulating layer of rigid core sandwiched between two layers of structural board, used as a building material. The board can be sheet metal, plywood, cement, magnesium oxide board (MgO) or oriented strand board (OSB) and the core either expanded polystyrene foam (EPS), extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), polyisocyanurate foam, polyurethane foam or composite honeycomb (HSC).About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report LLC4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Blog:ART Market 2018-2024:Cooper Surgical, Cook Medical, Irvine Scientific and Thermo Fisher Scientific

ART Market

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Assisted Reproductive Technology Market size is set to exceed USD 32.5 billion by 2024.Rising prevalence of infertility will act as high impact rendering factor for growth of assisted reproductive technology market.According CDC data, nearly 6.1 million (about 10%) women in the U.S., 15-44 years old face difficulty in getting or staying pregnant. Factors such as heredity, late child bearing and changing lifestyles are the major risk factors that lead to infertility should escalate demand for assisted reproductive technologies.Request for a sample copy of this report @Delayed childbearing is one of the prominent factors leading to growing adoption of ART, especially in European region. Demand for ART has increased significantly in women aged over 40 years in Denmark, France and Norway. Lower cost of ART in developing nations such as China and India will facilitate technology adoption rate. Furthermore, increasing disposable income and changing social factors will positively impact industry expansion during the forecast period.Rising awareness about assisted reproductive technology will assist in assisted reproductive technology market growth. Understanding and having knowledge about success rate of ART technology will augment technology adoption rate over the coming years. However, high cost of ART procedure will restrain industry growth to certain extent during the analysis period.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Frozen non-donor procedure segment is estimated to reach over 11 billion by 2024. Minimal invasiveness coupled with cost effectiveness in comparison to other procedures will drive frozen non-donor segment growth. Female partner is not required to undergo fertility drug stimulation or egg recovery protocols in this technique resulting in cost effectiveness will drive segment growth over the projection period.In-vitro fertilization technology segment dominated the industry in 2017 and is anticipated to grow by 3.9% during the forecast period owing to high adoption rate of this technology. In-vitro fertilization allows fusion of sperm and egg outside the body. Furthermore, it escalates probability of pregnancy, thereby leading to high success rate will drive segment growth over the coming years.Browse Report Summery @Fertility clinics end-use segment is estimated to reach over 17.8 billion by 2024. Advancements in assisted reproductive technology coupled with growing demand for infertility treatments will drive fertility clinics segment during the forecast period. Higher accessibility and shorter treatment duration in fertility clinics will positively impact industry growth.U.S. assisted reproductive technology market is estimated to grow by 4.0% during the forecast period. Increasing number of people suffering from infertility problems coupled with high technological adoption in the country will drive U.S. market. Moreover, increasing number of fertility clinics providing ART treatment should positively impact industry growth.Cost effectiveness along with increasing infertility issues will drive India assisted reproductive technology market during the forecast period to reach over 2.0 billion by 2024. Increasing adoption of in-vitro fertilization coupled with rising number of healthcare facilities such as fertility clinics will drive Indian market during the forecast timeframe.Assisted Reproductive Technology Market, by Procedureo Fresh Donoro Fresh Nondonoro Frozen Donoro Frozen Nondonoro Embryo/Egg BankingAssisted Reproductive Technology Market, by Technologyo In-vitro fertilization (IVF)o IVF with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)o IVF without ICSIo Artificial Insemination - Intrauterine Insemination (AI-IUI)o Frozen Embryo Replacement (FER)Few notable players operating in assisted reproductive technology market are Cooper Surgical, Cook Medical, Irvine Scientific and Thermo Fisher Scientific. Industry players are resorting to strategies such as acquisition and new product launch to sustain industry rivalry. Companies are focusing on developing cost-effective products to gain competitive advantage in developing regions such as Asia Pacific.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:2027 Industrial Radiography Market Future Scope led by Major Players - Bosello High Technology SRL, COMET Holding AG, FujiFilm Holdings Corporation, General Electric, Mettler-Toledo International

Industrial Radiography Market to 2027

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2019-2027 Industrial Radiography Market Global Status and OutlookIndustrial Radiography is used to inspect the defects in the metals parts as well as the welding parts of the machines ensuring the durability and safety of the product. Further, in the industrial radiography, the testing is done in a non-destructive manner. On account of unique physical properties of the X-ray s and Gamma rays, they can penetrate and also exit into various materials including carbon, steel, and other metals. For the safety of the employees, the radiography equipment is always sealed with the shield to protect the user from radiation. Ionizing electromagnetic radiation is used in industrial radiography for observation, evaluation, and analysis of the subject being tested.Industrial Radiography Market to 2027 - Global Analysis and Forecasts by Technique (Digital Radiography and Film-based Radiography); End-User Industry (Petrochemical & Gas, Power Generation, Manufacturing, Aerospace, and Automotive & Transportation)Get Sample Copy atKey Industrial Radiography 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, the key development in the past five years.Key Companies mentioned in this report are-1. 3DX-RAY Ltd.2. Anritsu Corporation3. Bosello High Technology SRL4. COMET Holding AG5. FujiFilm Holdings Corporation6. General Electric7. Mettler-Toledo International Inc.8. Nikon Corporation9. PerkinElmer, Inc.10. Shimadzu CorporationThe "Global Industrial Radiography Market Analysis to 2027" is a specialized and in-depth study of the industrial radiography market with a focus on the global market trend. The report aims to provide an overview of the global industrial radiography market with detailed market segmentation by technique, end-user industry, and geography. The global industrial radiography market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the leading market players and offers key trends and opportunities in the market.Have Queries? Ask us atKey Benefits- To provide detailed information regarding the major factors (drivers, restraints, opportunities, challenges, and trends) influencing the growth of the global Industrial Radiography market To forecast the size of the market segments with respect to four major regional segments, namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World (Latin America and the Middle East & Africa)The report provides a detailed overview of the industry including both qualitative and quantitative information. It provides an overview and forecast of the global industrial radiography market based on the deployment type and end-user. It also provides market size and forecast till 2027 for overall industrial radiography market with respect to five major regions, namely; North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South America (SAM). The industrial radiography market by each region is later sub-segmented by respective countries and segments. The report covers the analysis and forecast of 18 countries globally along with the current trend and opportunities prevailing in the region.Besides this, the report analyzes factors affecting 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 namely; North America, Europe, APAC, MEA, and South America after evaluating political, economic, social and technological factors affecting the industrial radiography market in these regions. Further, the report also includes ecosystem analysis for the Industrial radiography market.Buy this Report atAbout 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.Contact us -Contact Person : Sameer JoshiPhone : +1-646-491-9876Email Id : sam@theinsightpartners.comUrinary Catheters Market to 2025- Leading Players Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Urocare Products, ConvaTec, Cure Medical, Medical Technologies of Georgia, Bactiguard, Coloplast Hollister

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The urinary catheters market is aimed to describe, define and estimate the forecast for market size of the urinary catheters till 2025. The report strategically analyzes macro and micro-markets to entail the major factors impacting the growth of the global urinary catheters market. The market report for urinary catheters is appropriate to cater the needs and demands of various stakeholders that include manufacturers, distributors and suppliers of urinary catheters, public and private hospitals, academic medical centers and teaching hospitals, privately practicing physicians and surgeons, medical institutes, research centers and other academic hostilities, and ambulatory surgical centers.The major players operating in the market of urinary catheters include Boston Scientific Corporation, Medtronic, Urocare Products, Inc., ConvaTec Inc., Cure Medical, LLC, Medical Technologies of Georgia, Bactiguard, B. Braun Melsungen AG, Coloplast, and Hollister Incorporated among others.Get sample PDF copy at:The global urinary catheters market estimated to grow at a CAGR of 8.6% during the forecast period from 2018 to 2025. The market for Urinary Catheters was valued at USD 2,526.8 Mn in 2017 and is estimated to reach US$ 4,811.0 Mn by 2025.The global urinary catheters market is segmented on the basis of product, application, gender, end user and geography. On the basis of product, the market is segmented into intermittent, foley, and condom catheters. On the basis of application, the market is segmented into spinal cord injury, urinary incontinence, bladder dysfunction, and benign prostate hyperplasia. Based on gender, the market is segmented into male and female. On the basis of end user, the global urinary catheters market is segmented into long term facilities, hospitals and others.North America is expected to be the dominant region in the global urinary catheters market. This dominance is primarily driven by the increasing prevalence of various diseases where catheterization is majorly required, rapid growth of the geriatric population, increasing number of hospitals, increasing number of surgeries, and favorable reimbursement policies. According to United States Census Bureau (2017), the number of people aged 65 and above was 47.8 million in 2015 and it is estimated to increase to 98.2 million by 2060. This ageing population is more susceptible to spinal cord injury (SCI), urinary incontinence, and benign prostate hyperplasia. On the other hand, Asia Pacific is expected to witness significant growth in the market owing to factors such as increasing focus of market players developing novel products at affordable prices, developing healthcare infrastructure and rising advent of medical tourism and significant prevalence of chronic kidney diseases.The global urinary catheters market is highly competitive and driven by large number of novel product launches and approvals. For instance, in September 2016, CompactCath introduced a small and discreet intermittent catheter for patients that demand short-term or long-term bladder management such as spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis and others.Buy Now at:Reason To BuySave and reduce time carrying out entry-level research by identifying the growth, size, leading players and segments in the urinary catheters 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 global urinary catheters market, thereby allowing players across the value chain 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 security interest with respect to client products, segmentation, pricing and distributionAbout 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.533, 5th Floor, Amanora Chambers,Amanora Township, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comLaxman Pai, Opalesque Asia:

Global pension fund assets fell 3.5% to $40.1tn at the end of 2018 from $41.56tn in 2017, the third worst showing in 20 years.

According to a report from Willis Towers Watson Investments, the US is the largest pension market followed, at significant distance, by Japan and the UK. Together they account for over 76% of all pensions assets.

During the last ten years, the fastest growing pension markets have been Australia (10.2%), Chile (10.2%) and Hong Kong (8.5%) in USD terms. France and Japan have had the slowest rates of growth in USD terms since 2008 (0.1% and -0.7% respectively).

While the top ten US pension funds represent 8.4% of total assets, the top ten Japanese pension funds account for 69.1% of total assets. This is largely explained by the Government Pension Investment fund that represents 46.6% of Japan's pension assets.

In the UK, the top ten pension funds represent 16.9% of the total UK pension assets. Among them, 11.3% are private pension funds and the 3.9% are state-sponsored pension funds.

According to the study, equities allocations in the seven largest markets dropped to 40% from 60% over the past two decades as pension funds put more money into alternative assets.

The seven markets accounted for 91% or $36.55tn of global pension assets last year, led by the US with a 61.5% share, or $24.71tn.

The Global Pension Assets Study covered 22 major pension markets (the P22), which now totals USD 40,173 billion in ......................

To view our full article Click hereCrazy Fortune Casino Review

Founded in 2017 and operated by Danguad Limited, Crazy Fortune Casino is a gambling site based on the themes from the Chinese mythology. Featuring a license issued by the Government of Curacao, this online casino offers players a plenty reason to join, from the imaginative playing environment to the selection of the highest quality slots and table games available in the market.

Casino Software

Like a majority of online casinos these days, Crazy Fortune features an instant play platform available to players through their internet browsers, regardless of whether they play from a desktop computer, tablet, or a mobile phone of their choice (Android, iOS, etc.).

The site grabs the players' attention the moment they land on the home page thanks to a unique design featuring motifs from the Chinese mythology. Done in red and golden overtones, the Crazy Fortune site certainly leaves an impression with the golden dragon symbol hinting at good luck and prosperity.

Apart from the visually impressive design, the Crazy Fortune platform also offers a very intuitive and player-friendly navigation system, with games divided into relevant categories and a number of additional filters, allowing to list games by alphabetically, according to their overall popularity on the site, or by their respective providers.

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Game Selection

The casino features a very nice range of slots and table games provided by leading industry game suppliers. Players will find titles by the likes of NetEnt, Microgaming, Betsoft, Play'n GO, GameArt, iSoftBet, Xplosive, Pragmatic Play, Quickspin, and more. Live Dealer games are provided by several suppliers, including Evolution Gaming, Ezugi, and HollywoodTV.

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As with most casinos, slots take up the main role at Crazy Fortune Casino. Interestingly enough, the operator doesn't offer any of the big-name progressive slots, but there is a nice range of Betsoft jackpot titles, like Greedy Goblins, At the Copa, and It Came From Venus. Additionally, players can also try their luck with iSoftBet progressives, which aren't available at that many online casinos. Some of the more popular games to try are certainly Mona Lisa Jewels and Lucky Leprechaun.

Of course, this is just a small excerpt from the overall offer at Crazy Fortune. There are hundreds of different slots available for play, including many of the hugely popular titles such as Steam Tower, Koi Princess, Immortal Romance, Starburst, Dragon Dance, Spartan Heroes, etc.

Video Poker & Table Games

Fans of video poker are bound to have a good time at this online casino. There are nearly all of the video poker variations available, including Jacks or Better, Deuces and Jokers, Bonus Poker, Tens or Better, All American, Deuces Wild, and much more. Additionally, there are a few video poker games featuring progressive jackpots, which will certainly pique the interest of true game aficionados.

The selection of table games at Crazy Fortune Casino is also quite impressive, with more than a 100 different variations of the most popular games like blackjack, roulette, baccarat, craps, Caribbean Stud, Casino Hold'em, and more.

It is worth noting that their offer of Live Dealer games is richer than at most online casinos thanks to the partnership with three different providers. Those looking for something different should definitely check their HollywoodTV thematic tables.

Welcome Bonus

Crazy Fortune Casino offers a rather simple and straightforward welcome bonus to all new players making their first deposit. A good thing about the bonus is that players need to manually take it from their cashiers after making the first deposit, so those who prefer to play just with their own funds will not experience and problems.

Banking

The casino offers a standard list of deposit and withdrawal methods that should meet the needs of most players. These include Visa, MasterCard, NETELLER, Skrill, Astropay, CASHlib, bank transfers, and Paysafecard.

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Supported currencies include EUR, USD, AUD, CAD, and Swedish krona.

Customer Support

The customer support team at Crazy Fortune is available to players via the email contact form and the Live Chat facility. Whatever method you choose, you can rest assured the support will do their best to answer your questions promptly and professionally, and help you resolve any and all issues as soon as possible.FUGASO Strikes Groove Gaming Deal, Releases Three New Slots

Published February 14, 2019 by Mike P

The ICE 2019 exhibition saw FUGASO release three brand new slots and also secure an international distribution deal with Groove Gaming.

FUGASO (Future Gaming Solutions) had a busy exhibition and conference at ICE Totally Gaming 2019, with the iGaming developer and software provider hitting the headlines for a number of reasons at the start of February.

FUGASO Makes Groove Gaming Deal

One of the first is that FUGASO struck a global distribution deal with Groove Gaming, which is a company specialising in the aggregation of software. In turn, Groove Gaming then shares the software with online gambling operators that are in need of content.

Since establishing in 2016, Groove Gaming has been able to secure a variety of slots, tables, jackpots, and other games from an array of experienced software providers. At a glance, some of the current Groove Gaming partners are comprised of NYX, BetSoft, Merkur, Playn GO, Habanero, Evolution Gaming, and Extreme Live Gaming.

Groove Gaming operates with a global reach due to the company holding operating licences with Curacao eGaming, the Malta Gaming Authority, and the UK Gambling Commission. The company can provide operators with a variety of other services, such as the ability to report business intelligence, provide customer support, and process payments from players.

New FUGASO Slots Released

ICE 2019 is also notable for being the debut year that FUGASO has appeared at the event. Leading up to the occasion, FUGASO was forthcoming in revealing that a handful of new slots would be revealed to the developers existing catalogue of slots, which are fully compatible with HTML5 devices.

Trump It Deluxe leads the way as a satirical take on a certain political leader operating among a cast of global politicians. Another new release with an edge is Stoned Joker, which taps into the rising cultural relevance of marijuana. Lastly, Super Hamster was made as a fun slot where a pet has aspirations to blast off into outer space.Some actions by Indian government inconsistent with democratic values: Top US official

Who is Lina Khan, the new US antitrust watchdog?

US: Connecticut becomes the 19th state to legalise recreational marijuana law, with sales aimed for May 2022

Why the United States observes Black History Month in February

International

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Washington, Feb 14: Every February, the United States observes the Black History Month to celebrate the achievements of the African-Americans.

In this tradition which is in practice since 1976, the feats of people belonging to the community are focused upon through various social platforms.

South Korea confirms that US, N Korea would continue summit talks next week

But why is February, the second and shortest month of the year, is chosen for this?

There is a history behind this. The Black History Month had started as "Negro History Week", a label that was made popular by historian Carter G Woodson (1875-1950), who is also the founder of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History (earlier called Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and renamed in 1973), in 1926.

One of the first scholars to study African-American history, Woodson was concerned to see many textbooks and historical documents ignored or minimised contributions made by the black personalities.

Woodson, therefore, started raising awareness of these stories in the second week of February. His association also joined him in this mission.

The reason for Woodson to choose the second week of February is that the birthdays of two famous anti-slavery personalities - Abraham Lincoln (Feb 12) and Frederick Douglass (Feb 14) fell in that week.

Proposed US law to end Green Card country-cap to benefit Indians on H-1B

This tradition gradually won popularity and soon, the occasion to observe the feats of the African-Americans stretched to cover the entire month of February.

In 1976, the then US president Gerald Ford made Black History Month official urging all to make use of the opportunity to honour the achievements of black Americans in every field of endeavour in the country's history.

Later, other countries like the UK, Canada and Ireland also started observing the special month.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 16:52 [IST]Why everyone so obsessed with Mars? Why spend so much time and money?

Space News: Mars may have underground volcanic activity

International

pti-PTI

Washington, Feb 13: Mars may have volcanic activity below its surface, according to scientists who argue that without an underground source of heat it would not be possible for the Red Planet to host liquid water.

Previous research has suggested that liquid water is present beneath the south polar ice cap of Mars. According to the study published in the AGU journal Geophysical Research Letters, there needs to be an underground source of heat for liquid water to exist underneath the polar ice cap.

Researchers from the University of Arizona in the US suggest recent magmatic activity -- the formation of a magma chamber within the past few hundred thousand years -- must have occurred underneath the surface of Mars for there to be enough heat to produce liquid water underneath the kilometer-and-a-half thick ice cap.

[Yet another stunning selfie of NASA's Curiosity rover from the surface of Mars]

On the flip side, the team said that if there was not recent magmatic activity underneath the surface of Mars, then there is not likely liquid water underneath the ice cap. The presence of liquid water on the Red Planet has implications for potentially finding life outside of Earth and could also serve as a resource for future human exploration of our neighbouring planet.

Mars has two giant ice sheets at its poles, both a couple of kilometers thick. On Earth, it is common for liquid water to be present underneath thick ice sheets, with the planet's heat causing the ice to melt where it meets the Earth's crust. In a paper published last year in Science, scientists claimed radar observations detected evidence of liquid water at the base of Mars's south polar ice cap.

[After landing on Mars, NASA's InSight mission sends back stunning images]

However, that study did not address how the liquid water could have gotten there. Researchers first assumed the detection of liquid water underneath the ice cap was correct and then worked to figure out what parameters were needed for the water to exist. They performed physical modelling of Mars to understand how much heat is coming out of the interior of the planet.

One plausible heat source would be volcanic activity in the planet's subsurface. The magma from the deep interior of Mars rose towards the planet's surface about 300,000 years ago. It did not break the surface, like a volcanic eruption, but pooled in a magma chamber below the surface. As the magma chamber cooled, it released heat that melted the ice at the base of the ice sheet.

The magma chamber is still providing heat to the ice sheet to generate liquid water today. The study proposes that there could have been more recent underground volcanic activity. If there was volcanic activity happening hundreds of thousands of years ago, there is a possibility it could be happening today, researchers said.

PTIWon't hesitate to take any action, says HM Rajnath Singh

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, Feb 14: Condemning the Pulwama terror attack, which left around 40 jawans martyred, in strong terms, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday confirmed that the attack was carried by Pakistan backed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). The Home Minister said the government will not hesitate to take any action.

"The attack was carried out by Pakistan backed Jaish e Mohammed. A strong reply will be given and I assure the people of the country this. The country pays tribute to the brave jawans who were martyred. Whatever response needs to be given, we will not hesitate," Singh told news agency ANI.

Rajnath Singh will go to Srinagar tomorrow. A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security will be held tomorrow in the national capital. NIA and NSG teams will also head for Kashmir to aid the police in probe.

[From mason to fidayeen: Why Jaish picked a local for the Pulwama suicide attack]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday condemned the terrorist attack at a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in strong words and said "sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain".

[Jaish bomber released a chilling video before striking at Pulwama]

Around 40 jawans were killed and several injured when a suicide bomber rammed a Scorpio car laden with over 300 kg of explosives into a CRPF convoy in Awantipora town of Pulwama district today. The Jaish-e-Mohammad bomber, a Kashmiri local who carried out a suicide strike on a bus carrying CRPF jawans, had loaded his vehicle with over 300 kilograms of explosives.

Adil Ahmad Alias Waqas, a resident of Pulwama, was the man driving the car that rammed the 55-seater CRPF bus. Such a car bomb suicide attack is happening after several years.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 22:35 [IST]Suicide not murder says Mamata Banerjee on death of BJP leader

Wife, girlfriend come to blows as BJP MLA is left red faced

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Mumbai, Feb 14: A BJP MLA from Maharashtra's Yavatmal district was left red-faced after his wife and a woman he is allegedly living with fought at a function to mark his birthday.

The incident took place at Pandharkawda in MLA Raju Todsam's Assembly constituency, Arni, Tuesday night.

The legislator himself was roughed up by some people during the incident, a police official said.

Todsam's wife is a primary school teacher and they have two children. The MLA is currently living with another woman, a BJP worker, but has not divorced his wife, sources close to him said.

His supporters had organised a Kabaddi tournament at Pandharkawda Tuesday to celebrate his birthday, where the two women came face to face.

No major terror attack in recent years claims BJP MP

After the tournament was inaugurated and Todsam cut a cake, his wife and the other woman got into a spat which turned into a scuffle, sources said.

Todsam himself was roughed up by some people when he tried to pacify the two women, prompting the policemen who were present there to use baton-charge to rescue him, sources added.

Todsam's woman friend sustained minor injuries and was admitted to a hospital, they added.

However, a police official said no FIR or a complaint had been registered by either woman so far.

Todsam or other local BJP functionaries could not be reached for comments.

Incidentally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address a gathering of women self-help groups at Pandharkawda on February 16.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 6:25 [IST]Vijay Mallya has applied for another route to stay in the UK, says lawyer

Why aren't banks taking money I offered: Vijay Mallya responds to PM Modi's remarks

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Feb 14: Fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his apparent reference to him in the PM's last speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

In a series of tweets on Thursday, Vijay Mallya pointed out to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech in Parliament referring to those who have fled the country after allegedly committing financial crimes.

"The Prime Ministers last speech in Parliament was brought to my attention. He certainly is a very eloquent speaker. I noticed that he referred to an unnamed person who "ran away" with 9000 crores. Given the media narrative I can only infer that reference is to me," he tweeted.

PM Modi's last speech in 16th LS: 'Conversations with Kharge helped stir my thought,' says PM Modi

"Following on from my earlier tweet, I respectfully ask why the Prime Minister is not instructing his Banks to take the money I have put on the table so he can at least claim credit for full recovery of public funds lent to Kingfisher," he said.

"I have made the offer to settle before the Hon'Ble High Court of Karnataka. This cannot be dismissed as frivolous. It is a perfectly tangible, sincere, honest and readily achievable offer. The shoe is on the other foot now. Why don't the Banks take the money lent to KFA ? (sic)" he asked.

I have made the offer to settle before the HonBle High Court Court of Karnataka. This cannot be dismissed as frivolous. It is a perfectly tangible, sincere, honest and readily achievable offer. The shoe is on the other foot now. Why dont the Banks take the money lent to KFA ?  Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) February 14, 2019

"Am appalled to say the least at the media reports on the Enforcement Directorate claims that I hid my wealth ! If there was hidden wealth how could I put approximately 14,000 crores worth of assets openly in front of Court ? Shameful misleading of public opinion but unsurprising (sic)," he posted.

Am appalled to say the least at the media reports on the Enforcement Directorate claims that I hid my wealth ! If there was hidden wealth how could I put approximately 14,000 crores worth of assets openly in front of Court ? Shameful misleading of public opinion but unsurprising.  Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) February 14, 2019

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his last Parliament speech on Wednesday had referred to an unnamed person (apparently Vijay Mallya) who "ran away" with Rs 9,000 crore. "The ones who have run away..is crying that I (Vijay Mallya) ran away with Rs 9000 crores, but Modi has taken back Rs 13,000 crore.

Last year, Vijay Mallya had offered to pay back the loan he owed to Indian banks in full as a UK court was hearing a matter over his extradition.

Arun Jaitley, who is currently undergoing treatment in US, had earlier said that they were another step to get Mallya home.Why has the Lankan MPs links to Kasargod come under the ambit of the Indian agencies

When PM Modis tweet helped MP man find his soul mate from Sri Lanka

India

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Bhopal, Feb 14: Mostly, tweets from politicians lead to more debates and controversy than not. But here is an instance where a tweet from a politician led two individuals, from different countries, find their soul-mates in each other. And the politician is none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It all happened when Govind Maheshwari, a 26-year-old man from Madhya Pradesh, had liked a tweet from Modi in 2015, just a year after he took office. The same tweet was also liked by a 25-year-old Sri Lankan woman called Hansini Edheerisinghe.

Govind was curious to know the woman who was as passionate as him about PM Modi and he started to search more about Hansini. Soon, he found her online and the duo started chatting.

Soundarya Rajinikanth, Vishagan Vanangamudi tie the knot; Celebs, politicians make a beeline

A friendship followed and it blossomed into love and eventually ended up in marriage. After communicating over text and video calls for two years, the duo met each other in 2017.

The cross-nationality marriage took place on February 10, four years after Govind and Hansini discovered each other on the Twitter feed of the Indian PM. Hansini said it's two different cultures but they will manage.

MP: Hansini Edirisinghe,a Sri Lankan national,& Mandsaur's Govind Maheshwari tied the knot on Feb 10.They became friends on Twitter in 2015,communicated over text&video calls for 2 yrs before finally meeting in 2017.Edirisinghe says "2 different cultures but we'll have to manage" pic.twitter.com/6kOT9hCU1D  ANI (@ANI) February 13, 2019

The marriage took place in a small village in MP's Mandsaur district called Kurchrod. Hansini convinced her family and decided to enrol in a physiotherapy course in India which will give Govind time to complete his graduation in engineering.

A counter tale for India's big fat weddings: Andhra IAS officer gives son's marriage for Rs 18k only

Hansini is from a Buddhist family and it was reportedly happy about its daughter finding her soul mate in a vegetarian family.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 8:39 [IST]Valentine's Day: These cafes are offering free shots, desserts for burning your ex's pic

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Feb 14: Well, if you are feeling sad and repeatedly thinking about your ex and while the rest of the World is celebrating Valentine's day on February 14, then visit these cafes which is offering free drinks and desserts encouraging bitter lovers to sweeten up this Day.

In Bengaluru, Koramangala's RoundUp Cafe is inviting guests to burn their ex's photo for a free dessert. Yes, you read it right. Just like the Shahid Kapoor's famous scene in 2007 hit Jab We Met.

The cafe took to its Instagram page to inform the party goers of their unique offer.

Valentine's Day 2019: What world needs is love, peace and concern for humanity

"Take the excitement of valentine's day to next level as we present to you the ultimate dare. Get FREE dessert if you Burn your Ex's picture on Valentine's day!"

In Delhi, this bar Gastronomica Kitchen & Bar in M-Block Market, GK- I, located in South Delhi is offering free shots to anyone who will burn their ex's photograph and then flush it. Get rid of blast from the past and get drunk.

In America, popular restaurant chain Hooters is giving you a chance to forget your ex in exchange of 10 boneless chicken wings. In the offer, you can choose to "Shred, burn, bury or darts" your ex's pic.

Know what's gratifying? Destroying a pic of your ex.... and getting 10 free boneless wings for it (when you buy any 10). Only question is: Shred. Burn, Bury or Darts?  https://t.co/jpVZHfKCTl #ShredYourEx #ValentinesDay pic.twitter.com/TTMrY6KH3O  Hooters (@Hooters) February 11, 2019

On Valentine's Day, Google dedicates Doodle to Madhubala

Sounds like a good idea. Isn't? So, if you want to get over your burning heartbreak, it's time to forget them!

Happy Valentine's Day!Sacrifices of security personnel won't go in vain': PM Modi on dastardly' Pulwama attack

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, Feb 14: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday condemned the terrorist attack at a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in strong words and said: "sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain".

Twenty jawans were killed and 40 injured when a suicide bomber rammed a Scorpio car laden with over 300 kg of explosives into a CRPF convoy in Awantipora town of Pulwama district today. The Jaish-e-Mohammad bomber, a Kashmiri local who carried out a suicide strike on a bus carrying CRPF jawans, had loaded his vehicle with over 300 kilograms of explosives.

"Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly," Modi tweeted.

Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 14, 2019

BJP president Amit Shah also expressed profound grief over the loss of lives in the attack.

"Pained beyond words by the terror attack on our soldiers in Pulwama (J&K). It is an act of cowardice. My deepest condolences are with the families of our soldiers who have lost their lives. Our forces will remain firm against such acts of terror and defeat them," Shah tweeted.

Pained beyond words by the terror attack on our soldiers in Pulwama (J&K). It is an act of cowardice. My deepest condolences are with the families of our soldiers who have lost their lives. Our forces will remain firm against such acts of terror and defeat them.  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) February 14, 2019

[Pulwama attack: All jawans on bus feared dead, 20 bodies identified]

"Spoke to Home Minister Rajnath Singh Ji and other top officials regarding the situation in the wake of the attack in Pulwama," Modi said in another tweet.

The suicide bomber, Adil alias Waqar, a resident of Pulwama was driving a Scorpio vehicle. He rammed the vehicle into the bus and it is suspected that there were more than 300 kilograms of explosives in his vehicle as a result of which the impact was such.

[From mason to fidayeen: Why Jaish picked a local for the Pulwama suicide attack]

The incident at Pulwama is the worst since the 2001 attack on the legislative assembly complex. The suicide bombing was the handiwork of the Jaish-e-Mohammad and officials say that it was timed with the death anniversaries of both Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 19:11 [IST]Russian AK-47/203 (Kalashnikov) rifles manufacturing factory to come up in UP's Amethi

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Feb 14: The PM Narendra Modi led central government cleared 7.47 Lakh iconic Kalashnikov atomatic rifles to be built by Ordnance Factory Board and Russian Joint venture firm for the Indian Army. The plant for the same will be set up near Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.

The joint venture is in response to Ministry of Defence (MoD)'s request for Information (RFI) for procurement of 650 000 assault rifles of 7.6239 mm caliber under 'Make in India' program. The Russian share in the JV as per the provisions of the Indian law is going to be 49.5% with the OFB share being the majority 50.5% of the registered capital.

Why do we continue to use weapons of the 1990s, Hizb commander asks Pakistan

Russia has been pushing for signing this deal since last October when Indo-Russia summit had taken place in New Delhi. Followed by India-Russian intergovernmental commission meeting on military technical cooperation in December where it was decided that the Kalashnikovs will be made in India under Make in India initiative of the government. As had been reported earlier, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu co-chaired the meeting.

About Kalashnikov rifle:

A Kalashnikov rifle is any one of a series of automatic rifles based on the original design of Mikhail Kalashnikov. They are officially known in Russian as "Avtomat Kalashnikova" ("Kalashnikov's Automatic Gun"; Russian:  ), but are widely known as Kalashnikovs, AKs, or in Russian slang, as a "Kalash". They were originally manufactured in the Soviet Union, primarily by Kalashnikov Concern, formerly Izhmash, but these rifles and their variants are now manufactured in many other countries.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 9:22 [IST]RRB ALP Technician Result 2018: CBT 2 answer key to be released today

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Feb 14: Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) is expected to release RRB ALP CBT 2 Answer Key at 1:00 pm, on February 14, 2019. The answer key will be released online, on the official website of zonal RRBs. Candidates will be able to download it from the official website.

There is no official notice that the RRB ALP CBT 2 answer key will release today. However, the candidate login for RRB ALP CBT 2 displays, "The login to form will be available only between 14-02-2019 13 Hours 00 Minutes to 17-02-2019 23 Hours 55 Minutes". Hence, it is expected that Railway Board will release RRB ALP CBT 2 answer key today.

The answer key for each candidates will be unique. It will display all the questions that appear in the exam, along with correct answer and the answer marked by the candidate. Candidates can use the answer key for RRB ALP CBT 2 to calculate marks in the exam. To do so, the candidates need to allocate 1 marks for correct answer and deduct 1/3 marks for incorrect answer.

IBPS SO Scorecard 2019 out, how to check

The second stage Computer-Based Test (CBT) was held by the Railway Recruitment Boards or RRBs of Indian Railways. The RRB ALP CBT as held in the month of January and February 2019.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 12:35 [IST]Was RDX used in the Pulwama attack?

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, Feb 14: Explosive substance RDX may have been used in the terrorist attack on the CRPF convoy in South Kashmir's Pulwama which left around 40 jawans martyred, say reports.

If security agencies confirm that RDX has been used then it is a matter of serious concern. RDX has not been used in any terrorist attack in Kashmir in over a decade. Terrorists have mostly relied on Ammonium Nitrate based explosives in Kashmir in recent years.

Another reason why it is a matter of grave concern is that RDX is not easy to make when compared to Ammonium Nitrate. If RDX was indeed used, then it must be ascertained how it entered Kashmir. Whether it was smuggled across the border, or was it made locally. If made locally then how were the raw materials procured. These are few of the questions that the probing agencies will have to ponder over.

[Pulwama attack: Around 40 CRPF jawans martyred; NIA team to leave for Kashmir tomorrow]

Around 40 jawans were killed and several injured when a suicide bomber rammed a Scorpio car laden with over 300 kg of explosives into a CRPF convoy in Awantipora town of Pulwama district today. The Jaish-e-Mohammad bomber, a Kashmiri local who carried out a suicide strike on a bus carrying CRPF jawans, had loaded his vehicle with over 300 kilograms of explosives.

What is RDX?

RDX is an organic compound, a white solid without smell or taste, widely used as an explosive. A more powerful explosive than TNT, it was used widely in World War II and remains common in military applications. It is considered as a military grade explosive.

RDX was widely used during World War II, often in explosive mixtures with TNT such as Torpex, Composition B, Cyclotols, and H6. RDX, when exploded in air, has about 1.5 times the explosive energy of TNT per unit weight and about 2.0 times per unit volume.US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster

The US condemned the terror attack and said it stands alongside India in defeating terrorism. "The US Mission in India strongly condemns today's terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir. We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims," US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster tweeted.

[Sacrifices of security personnel won't go in vain': PM Modi on dastardly' Pulwama attack]

Russia, while condemning the terror attack, stressed the need to combat such "inhuman acts" with decisive and collective response without any double standards. "We denounce terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and reiterate the need to combat these inhuman acts with decisive and collective response without any double standards," a Russian Embassy statement said.

French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler

French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler said France most firmly condemns the heinous attack perpetrated in Jammu & Kashmir. "France has always been and always will be by India's side in the fight against terrorism in all its forms," he said.

[Won't hesitate to take any action, says HM Rajnath Singh]

Germany strongly condemned the heinous terrorist attack, saying stands by its strategic partner India. Australia, Turkey and Czech Republic also condemned the horrific terror attack. India's neighbours Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives also expressed solidarity and vowed to combat the menace of terrorism jointly.

Maldivian President Ibrahim Solih

"I strongly condemn the deadly terrorist attack in Kashmir today killing at least 40 people. We send our thoughts and prayers to those affected. The Maldives will continue to work with India and the international community to combat terrorism in our region and the world at large," Maldivian President Ibrahim Solih said.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in a message through the country's High Commission, here, said her country remains steadfast in its commitment against terrorism of all forms and manifestations and maintains a zero tolerance policy against any kind of terrorist activities. Bangladesh would continue to work and cooperate with international community including India to eradicate the menace of terrorism, she said.

Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering

"Deeply saddened by the news of the horrific terrorist attack in Kashmir. Bhutan strongly condemns terrorist attack of any nature. Our prayers are with the grieved family and we are following the situation closely," Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering said.

[From mason to fidayeen: Why Jaish picked a local for the Pulwama suicide attack]

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena expressed sadness over the dastardly terror attack, saying the world must condemn such brutal terrorist attacks and take effective action to prevent such incidents in future.Going slow on Hafiz Saeed, looking up to Azhar, Pak is only worsening its case at FATF

Pulwama attack: India rises pitch to get Masood Azhar declared as global terrorist

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, Feb 14: In the wake of dastardly attack on CRPF convoy in South Kashmir's Pulwama which left around 40 jawans martyred, India on Thursday reiterated its demand that the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar be declared as terrorist.

A Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the bus in which the CRPF personnel were travelling. The vehicle belonged to 54 battalion of the CRPF. The blast reduced the bus to a mangled heap of iron and body parts could be seen strewn around the area.

"This terror group is led by international terrorist Masood Azhar, who has been given full freedom by Government of Pakistan to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity," MEA statement said.

"We reiterate our appeal to members of international community to support proposal to list terrorists, including JeM Chief, as a designated terrorist under 1267 Sanctions Committee of UN Security Council and ban terror organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan," it further said.

[Pulwama suicide strike worst since 2001 J&K legislative assembly fidayeen bombing]

Masood Azhar is accused of several deadly terrorist attacks in India, including one on the Uri military base in Jammu and Kashmir in 2016, in which 17 security personnel were killed. China, being a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, has repeatedly blocked India's move to get Azhar declared as global terrorist.

The US, Britain and France all back India to designate Masood Azhar a terrorist under the Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

[From mason to fidayeen: Why Jaish picked a local for the Pulwama suicide attack]

India has always faced the Chinese block when it came to Azhar. China has said that it will not support the ban. China, while defending the terrorist, has argued that the issue lacks "consensus" among the members of the UN Security Council as well as the "directly concerned" parties - India and Pakistan.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 23:48 [IST]Pulwama attack: Congress questions Modi govt's policy on terrorism, Pak

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, Feb 14: The Congress on Thursday trained its gun on the PM Modi-led government at the Centre over the terrorist attack on a CRPF convoy in South Kashmir's Pulwama which left around 40 jawans martyred.

The Congress accused the Narendra Modi government of "failing" to check terrorism emanating from Pakistan and remaining a "mute spectator" to attacks on security personnel, after 39 CRPF men were killed in a suicide attack by Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pulawama district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Terming the attack in Pulwama as an "act of cowardice", Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala questioned the government policy on terrorism and Pakistan and said the Prime Minister should not compromise on national security.

This is the 18th major terror attack under the very nose of Modi government...every day our jawans are martyred on the borders facing terrorists coming from Pakistan or in skirmishes and attacks that happened unprovoked from Pakistan Army. Yet our government remains a mere spectator, he said.

[Jaish bomber released a chilling video before striking at Pulwama]

"Almost 5,000 ceasefire violations have taken place unprovoked by Pakistani Army yet Modiji remains mum. 448 jawans have been martyred in Jammu and Kashmir alone while 280 civilians have died in Pakistan sponsored terror attacks ...yet unfortunately Prime Minister has more faith in the dreaded ISI which is the benefactor, protector and harbinger of terrorism and invites them to investigate Pathankot Air Base attack," he alleged.

He urged the Modi government not to compromise on national security "in this fashion". The Congress spokesperson alleged that it was the most "weak" government in the history of India which has "utterly failed in defending India's borders and in checking terrorism coming from Pakistan".

[From mason to fidayeen: Why Jaish picked a local for the Pulwama suicide attack]

He also slammed Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju's remarks there has been no major terror attack in the country in the last four-and-half-years due to the action of intelligence agencies.

"The tragic part is that the home minister of the country is most ill-informed and that is the reason why terrorist outfits and terrorists including the ISI and the Pakistan Army continue to act unabated. Is it not true there have been 17 major terror attacks across Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab? Does the minister not have this much of general knowledge. Does the minister not know that his colleague replied in Parliament and said that the number of skirmishes and ceasefire violation have doubled in 2018 compared to 2017," Surjewala said.

Around 40 jawans were killed and several injured when a suicide bomber rammed a Scorpio car laden with over 300 kg of explosives into a CRPF convoy in Awantipora town of Pulwama district today. The Jaish-e-Mohammad bomber, a Kashmiri local who carried out a suicide strike on a bus carrying CRPF jawans, had loaded his vehicle with over 300 kilograms of explosives.

OneIndia News with PTI

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 22:09 [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

Priyanka Gandhi cancels Lucknow press conference in the wake of Pulwama attack

India

oi-Vikas SV

Lucknow, Feb 14: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, who was supposed to interact with the media to today in Lucknow, cancelled her press briefing in the wake of terrorist attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama, which left around 40 jawans dead.

"We won't be discussing politics today because of the Pulwama attack. We shall now maintain two minutes of silence for the martyrs," Priyanka Gandhi said.

Priyanka, who has been given charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, has been in Lucknow since Monday to prepare the party for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. On Monday, she launched the campaign with a massive roadshow for 'Mission UP', in her first ever visit to the state since her brother Rahul Gandhi named her as the party's general secretary last month.

[Pulwama: Suicide bomber drove Scorpio with 300 kgs of explosives into CRPF bus]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday condemned the terrorist attack at a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in strong words and said "sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain".

Around 40 jawans were killed and several injured when a suicide bomber rammed a Scorpio car laden with over 300 kg of explosives into a CRPF convoy in Awantipora town of Pulwama district today. The Jaish-e-Mohammad bomber, a Kashmiri local who carried out a suicide strike on a bus carrying CRPF jawans, had loaded his vehicle with over 300 kilograms of explosives.Unlock Uttar Pradesh: Malls and restaurants to reopen from today; What is open, what is not?

OP Rajbhar likely to quit Yogi cabinet, offers resignation

India

oi-Vikas SV

Lucknow, Feb 14: Days after threatening to leave the NDA, Om Prakash Rajbhar, who is the general secretary of BJP ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), has resigned from his post of backward class welfare minister of Uttar Pradesh.

In January, Rajbhar had stated that the SBSP will switch to the Opposition if its demand of sub-quota in the existing OBC reservation was not met, said reports. He had reportedly threatened to severe ties if 27 per cent reservations for the OBCs are not divided further into three separate categories.

Om Prakash Rajbhar has been constantly troubling the BJP government in the state demanding split in the reservation quota. Rajbhar minister had given an ultimatum to the BJP and 100-days' deadline to the BJP government in the state. If his demands are not met in 100 days, he will snap his ties with the UP government and the BJP.

[Congress trying to forge alliance with smaller political parties in Uttar Pradesh]

Om Prakash Rajbhar tweeted his resignation letter to Yogi Adityanath expressing disappointment that the people from the backward classes were being ignored and discriminated upon by the BJP government in the state.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 18:42 [IST]No major terror attack in recent years claims BJP MP

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

New Delhi, Feb 14: Asserting that infiltration through international borders had come down due to the Army's surgical strikes, BJP national vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe asserted that no big terror incident had taken place in the country in the last four-five years.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP said after a long time, the country had a government, under which no one was questioning its topmost leaders' credibility.

"Everybody knows about the surgical strikes, due to which infiltration through the international borders has come down. We have done this not only on the western border, but in the east also. In the last four to five years, no big terror incident took place in the country," he said at a BJP event.

1962 incidents of ceasefire violations by Pakistan: MEA

Sahasrabuddhe added that the middlemen were removed from the defence corridor and India had started manufacturing different arms and ammunition.

"For the last couple of years, people wanted to have a police memorial in the memory of those officers who had lost their lives. Our government has formed it. Our party has opened a museum for Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose to throw light on his life," he said.

Referring to the achievements of the NDA government since 2014, Sahasrabuddhe said, "We have honoured our promises. Now, if there are no middlemen in government organisations, then that has happened because everything has become online."

"Every government organisation has been told that if they want to buy anything, it will happen through a bidding process after putting it on online portals," he added.

The government had also given reservation to the economically weaker sections of the society, the BJP leader said.

He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a new direction to the country's foreign policy through development diplomacy when the International Solar Alliance was formed.

The government made roads in Arunachal Pradesh as earlier, it was very difficult to travel to the north-eastern states, the MP said, adding that the Kaziranga National Park was infiltrated by Bangladeshis, but steps were taken to make it free of infiltrators.

"We made a law, under which whoever rapes a minor girl will get the capital punishment," he said.

Radicalisation, terror in Valley, India's biggest concerns

Former MCD mayor Arti Mehra said the BJP was a party that believed in internal democracy and people had accepted that it could lead the country in the right way.

"We have three high-tech LED chariots in Delhi, running in all the seven (Lok Sabha) constituencies, where we have placed suggestion forms through which people can reach us and give their views," she said.

Around 7,500 boxes were placed across the country, including around 200 in Delhi, Mehra said, adding that the process was started on February 5 and would end on March 5.

"The target is to reach 10 crore people," she said.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 6:00 [IST]Money over cause: How the naxal movement is collapsing

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 14: The surrender of Oggu Satwaji alias Sudhakar was a big shot in the arm for the security agencies.

This is the second big incident after the surrender of Narasimha Reddy in 2017. In both these surrenders, it became clear that the ideology of the naxalites was fading.

The surrender of Sudhakar is an important one considering that he was pat of the central committee and politburo, the highest decision making body of the CPI (Maoist). Apart from being part of the decision making team, he was also a strategist. Sources in the Intelligence Bureau say that his surrender will deal a blow to the plan by the naxalites, who are looking to revive their activities in south.

Sources also tell OneIndia that he is likely to get more naxalites to the surrender table.

The source further adds that one of the key reasons for his suicide was that he was disgruntled with the ideology of the Maoists. Several naxals have over the past few years surrendered citing a similar reason. They say that the ideology of the naxal movement has completely changed and today it is more about extortion and blackmail rather than fighting for a cause.

Another one bites the dust: Why surrender of India's top naxal Sudhakar is a big deal

This comes in the wake of a major change that was made in the naxal hierarchy recently when Muppala Lakshman Rao alias Ganapathy who was heading the naxalites since 2004 was replaced by Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju. Rao took over as the chief of the CPI (Maoist), which was formed in 2004, following the merger with the Peoples' War Group, CPI (Marxist-Lennist) and the Maoist Communist Centre of India.

Commenting on the developments, a senior official tells OneIndia that this was in the offing since the past one year. Many had been leaving the outfit on the ground that they were unhappy with the ideology. Most had said that they were disgruntled and hence wanted to quit the outfit.

Further the naxalites were also facing heavy losses in several of their bastions. Home Ministry records speak about the reduction in the geographical spread of the naxalites all these factors in fact led to a change in leadership. More importantly the naxalites decided to go with a combat man at their head and this could signal that they would look to get more aggressive.

Officials say that the change in leadership has not exactly helped their cause. Many have come forward complaining about the ideology that is being followed, while also adding that the naxals are today more driven towards money rather than the cause.

Sudhakar too tells the police that there has been a major shift in the ideology of the naxal movement. It has become more political and the agenda of some in the urban areas is what is being followed. There is no longer a cause that is being fought for, he also added.

Police sources say that Sudhakar was a major leader of the naxalites and he is expected to get more persons to surrender in the days to come.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 5:53 [IST]'Modi promised loan waiver to farmers, but wrote off bank dues of his industrialist-friend'

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Feb 14: In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi alleged that he made an empty promise of loan waiver to farmers, but wrote off bank dues of his industrialist-friends.

Addressing a two-day meet of the All India Congress Seva Dal in Ajmer, Rahul said that every section of society, be it farmers, youth or small-scale traders, suffered under the Modi government and they should get justice. When the Congress returned to power in Rajasthan, the state government waived farm loans, Gandhi said. The prime minister made an empty promise of loan waiver to farmers, but wrote off bank dues of his industrialist-friends, he charged.

PM acting like Anil Ambani's middleman: Rahul Gandhi targets Modi over Rafale deal

Rahul Gandhi said that while the prime minister "insults" him, his family and the Congress party, he had hugged Modi in Parliament. "Hatred can be defeated only by love. He has hatred and the love in me countered that hatred," the Congress president said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is scheduled to address a rally in Rudrapur in Uttarakhand, was held up at the airport for about four hours as his helicopter could not take off due to inclement weather. The prime minister, who landed at the airport around 7 am, began his onward journey around 11:15 am when the weather improved.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 15:50 [IST]BSP to contest assembly polls in three states on its own: Mayawati

Mayawati attacks Congress amid speculation of rethink on alliance

India

oi-Deepika S

Lucknow, Feb 14: BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday launched an all out-attack on the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh over a recent incident of accused in cow slaughter being charged under the National Security Act.

She drew arallel between the Congress government with that of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh and questioned, "what's the difference?"

"The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh like BJP slapped atrocious NSA (National Security Act) against Muslims for cow slaughter. Now the UP BJP government booked 14 Aligarh Muslim University students under notorious sedition charges. Both are example of state terror and condemnable. People should decide what is difference between the Congress and BJP government," Mayawati tweeted.

National interest can be ignored for sake of 'chowkidar': Mayawati targets Modi

This is not the first time that Bahujan Samaj Party chief attacked the Kamal Nath-led Congress government.

"The people of Madhya Pradesh are feeling relieved now as the BJP government has gone from here. However, the initial functioning of the newly elected Congress government isn't satisfying people either. The government's oppression still prevails in the state," Mayawati had said.

Before the state assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, the BSP had denied forming a pre-poll alliance with the Congress, however, the party later extended support to help the Congress to form the government in the state, and also to keep the BJP out of power.

Recently, Madhya Pradesh government has imposed NSA on five people for cow slaughter and illegally transporting cattle. CM Kamal Nath has been accused of indulging in soft-Hindutva and has initiated many cow welfare schemes in the state.

A total of 14 students from AMU were booked under sedition charges after they entered into a confrontation with a TV channel crew over reports of a visit by AIMIM lawmaker Asaduddin Owaisi.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 14:09 [IST]LG vs AAP: After SC verdict, Arvind Kejriwal asks,'What kind of Democracy is this?'

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Feb 14: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday dubbed the Supreme Court verdict as "unfortunate" and said that it was an injustice to the residents.

"We respect the apex court but this is injustice to the people. What kind of democracy is this? How can Delhi progress if the government is forced to sleep at L-G's office and protest to get developmental work done," he said.

Executive power over Delhi: SC delivers split verdict

Meanwhile, hitting out at the apex court judgment on Delhi-Centre power tussle, Senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh asked if the Supreme Court doesn't pronounce a verdict without consulting Modi government.

Meanwhile, the Delhi unit of the BJP on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court judgement and said it removes ambiguities in the powers of the Delhi government. There should no scope for "confusion or conflict" and the AAP government should humbly accept the Supreme Court judgement, Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta said. "

LG vs AAP: After SC verdict, AAP tweets popular dialogue,'Tarikh pe tarikh, lekhin insaaf nahi mila'

A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court while hearing the Delhi government versus Centre case was split on services but agreed on Centre having control over the Anti-Corruption Bureau in Delhi, in a major setback for Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party. The services issue has been sent to a larger bench.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 13:27 [IST]Will enact law to protect Sabarimala Ayyappa temple's customs if voted to power: UDF

Sabarimala issue pending in Supreme Court, nothing to be debated now: CM Pinarayi Vijayan

Kerala: Devotees throng to Sabarimala temple for five-day monthly 'puja'

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 14: Devotees throng to Sabarimala temple which has reopened for five-day monthly 'puja' in the Malayalam month of Kumbhom.

The temple would remain open for five days till February 17 for the monthly pujas during the Malayalam month of Kumbam, temple authorities said.

Several special rituals including 'kalabhabhishekam', 'sahasrakalasam' and 'laksharchana' would be performed during the five days, they said.

Sabarimala temple reopens for five-day monthly 'puja'

Even as the hill temple opened its doors, many pilgrims, fearing violence over the entry of women into the shrine, opted to keep away from the pilgrimage. Footfall at the temple was low on the first day of the shrine's doors being opened.

Though no prohibitory orders have been clamped down in and around the shrine, the entire area from the base camp to 'Sannidhanam'(temple complex) is under tight police security.

The temple and its base camps had witnessed violent clashes between police and traditionalists during the 64-day annual pilgrimage season that ended on January 20. More than 10,000 people were booked in connection with the violence.

On September 29, 2018, the Supreme Court had struck down a rule that disallowed girls and women in the 10-50 age group from entering the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 11:43 [IST]Pulwama attack: Over 40 CRPF jawans martyred; NSG, NIA investigators to join probe

India

oi-Deepika S

Srinagar, Feb 14: In a ghastly incident, over 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and several others injured after a suicide bomber of the Jaish-e-Mohammad rammed his vehicle into the bus in which they were travelling at Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir.

News agency ANI quoted Advisor to the Jammu and Kashmir K Vijay Kumar as saying that "Death toll in Pulwama attack is around 40".

Some reports suggest that the death toll could cross 40, it may rise to anywhere between 42-44.

Hectic meetings were held in the national capital till late on Thursday evening. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval over phone. Home Minister Rajnath Singh will rush to Jammu and Kashmir on Friday. Singh also spoke to Special DIB, IB Director and NSA Ajit Doval. As per latest reports, the Cabinet Committee on Security will meet at 9:15 AM on Friday. Singh will leave for Srinagar after attending the meeting.

Experts of the anti-terror commando force National Security Guard (NSG) and investigators of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) are being sent to Jammu and Kashmir to join the probe into the terror attack in Pulwama in which at least 40 CRPF personnel were killed, officials said on Thursday.

Some reports had earlier suggested that the death toll could be anywhere between 25-30, but the toll just kept going up. It must be recalled that the bus into which the Fidayeen attacker rammed his Scorpio has been totally obliterated.

The attack is likely to send tensions between India and Pakistan soaring. Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik said the fact that Jaish owned up to carrying out the attack indicated that Pakistan may have had a hand in it. Former CIA analyst Bruce Riedel also told PTI that the 'self-proclaimed involvement of JeM in the attack raises serious questions about the role of the ISI in supporting the masterminds of this operation'. Pakistan has, however, denied any link with the attack, and lashed out at Indian media for linking Islamabad with it.

A Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in. The vehicle belonged to 54 battalion of the CRPF. The IED blast reduced the bus to a mangled heap of iron and body parts could be seen strewn around the area, the agency reported.

"There were 70 vehicles in the convoy and one of the vehicles came under attack. The convoy was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar," said CRPF (Operations) IG Zulfiqar Hassan adding that the Jammu and Kashmir police have taken over the investigation into the terror attack.

Jaish bomber released a chilling video before striking at Pulwama

Militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the blast and said it was a fidayeen attack carried out by a local youth. Police identified the terrorist as Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama. He joined the Jaish-Mohammed in 2018, PTI quoted officials as saying.

The terrorists did not target the security car ahead of the bus. The plan was to only target the CRPF bus.

Jaish-e-Mohammad claims responsibility

The Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The police are also looking at whether any local support was provided.

Militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the blast and said it was a fidayeen attack carried out by a local youth. Police identified the terrorist as Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama. He joined the Jaish-Mohammed in 2018, PTI quoted officials as saying.

J&K: At least 17 students injured in blast at private school in Pulwama

Reports suggested that the incident occurred after alleged terrorists triggered the blast while the CRPF personnel were travelling in a vehicle through the Srinagar-Jammu highway.

Pulwama attack is being described as one of the worst attack on the forces in recent times. In the Uri attack, the army has suffered the most number of deaths.

The 2016 Uri attack was an attack by four heavily armed militants on 18 September 2016, near the town of Uri in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. With 19 deaths, it was reported as "the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir in two decades".Chidambaram will be in Parliament tomorrow, says Karti after SC grants bail to his father

INX media case: Indrani likely to be called to appear in-person on her plea to become witness

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Feb 14: Former INX Media director Indrani Mukerjea may be called to appear in-person in Delhi court on hearing on her plea to become a witness in the money-laundering case involving the company. She may also be connected to Delhi's Patiala Court via video conferencing from Mumbai's Byculla jail for approval. The next date of hearing in the case is February 28.

Indrani had filed an application from jail in November, 2018. Indrani was taken to the Delhi court last year where she gave her confessional statement and later sent a letter proposing to become an approver in the case.

Former INX Media director Indrani Mukerjea had filed an application to become a witness

INX media case: P Chidambaram appears for questioning before ED

Earlier, the son of former finance minister P Chidambaram, Karti Chidambaram, had denied ever meeting Indrani Mukherjea in connection with the INX Media deal.

In February, 2018, Karti Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI at Chennai airport in connection with the same case.

An FIR filed by the CBI on May 15, 2017 alleged irregularities in the clearance given by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to INX Media to receive funds from overseas. This amount was about Rs 305 crore in 2007 when P Chidambaram was the finance minister in the UPA government.

INX Media was once owned by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, the prime suspects in the money laundering case. Karti is connected to the INX Media bribery case regarding various clearances given to the company.

According to investigative agencies, INX Media showed a transaction of Rs 10 lakh named against Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd, a firm which is allegedly indirectly owned by Karti, as management consultancy charges towards an FIPB notification and clarification.

It has been alleged that Karti Chidambaram took money from INX Media and used his influence and power to manipulate a tax probe against the company regarding a case of violation of FIPB conditions to get investments from Mauritius.

Aircel Maxis case: CBI court extends interim protection of Karti, P Chidambaram

Indrani Mukerjea, a former media baron who is facing charges of killing her daughter Sheena Bora, wants to turn approver in the INX media case and has moved an application before a Delhi court.

Interestingly, Indrani had given a statement under Section 164 of CrPC claiming Karti had demanded Rs 10 lakh from her and her husband Peter Mukerjea to grant undue favours in INX Media.

With Karti's denial, the agency will now have to come up with evidence to back their allegations.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 12:50 [IST]From mason to fidayeen: Why Jaish picked a local for the Pulwama suicide attack

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Srinagar, Feb 14: The Jaish-e-Mohammad released a chilling video of its suicide bomber, who struck on a CRPF bus at Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir in which over 20 jawans were martyred.

Adil Hussain Dar, a resident of Pulwama, Kashmir says in the video that he had joined the Jaish a year back and also added at the start of the video that by the time everyone sees it, he would dead.

Pulwama suicide strike worst since 2001 J&K legislative assembly fidayeen bombing

According to the police, he has been missing from his home town of Gundibagh, Pulwama since 2016. He is said that to have joined the Jaish sometime in late 2017. He had dropped out from school and had been working as a mason.

Security officials say that it is after a long time that one is coming across a local who became a suicide bomber. This was a clear ploy on part of the Jaish to show that the locals of Kashmir are ready to go to any length to fight against the Indian establishment.

Official sources also say that Adil was highly radicalised before he was picked for the mission. Initial inputs suggest that he had been preparing for the mission since the past six months. He was highly radicalised and hence agreed to carry out this attack.

Jaish bomber released a chilling video before striking at Pulwama

The Jaish normally uses its Pakistani fidayeens for such major attacks. However there has been a diversion this time around and the terror group picked a local for the strike. This move also comes in the wake of some local terrorists complaining that they are not used for the major missions.

Further in the past few months the recruitments have dropped dramatically. It may be also recalled that recently Baramulla had been declared terrorist free. With such developments, the Jaish may have decided to pick a local to send across a strong message to the others not to give up the fight against the Indian establishment, experts feel.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 18:55 [IST]Dharna outside Kiran Bedi's residence: Puducherry CM sleep outside Raj Nivas

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Feb 13: Chief Minister Velu Narayanasamy on Wednesday staged a protest outside the Raj Bhawan, the official residence of Governor Kiran Bedi alleging she was misusing her powers and also interfering in the day-to-day activities of the government.

He and his party leaders conducted a sit-in agitation in front of the Raj Nivas to condeman Bedi's alleged interference in the running of the government and stalling of welfare schemes.

Protesting outside the Raj Bhawan wearing black clothes, Narayanasamy alleged that Bedi was forcing upon the law-abiding citizens rules such as compulsory wearing of helmets and others.

He is lying says Bedi on Pondy CM's allegations on CSR funds

His protest came after Kiran Bedi hit the road two days ago and advised two-wheeler owners to wear helmets. While Kiran Bedi wanted the helmet rule for two-wheeler riders to be implemented at one go, Narayanasamy wanted the implementation in phases.

The Chief Minister said that people of Puducherry people are law-abiding citizens and nobody should impose rules upon them forcefully. He also urged that the helmet enforcement rule by Puducherry director general of police S Sundari Nanda should be taken up in a phased manner

Extending his support, MK Stalin spoke to Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy and expressed his support towards him.

Bedi has been at loggerheads with the Puducherry government on various issues with Narayanasamy accusing her of delaying clearance to welfare schemes and bypassing the elected government.

Don't meet officials when assembly in session: Puducherry CM to Kiran Bedi

Earlier, Kiran Bedi took to Twitter to criticise the Chief Minister for stalling enforcement of helmet rule.

"When there's no culture of wearing a helmet in Puducherry and its CM keeps stalling enforcement and every 3rd day there's a fatal accident, due to non-wearing of a helmet, where does one begin? Give up or take it in one's own hands as well, alongside challenging enforcement agencies?" she wrote on Twitter on February 10.In Pics: PM Modi meets J&K Leaders to chalk out future course of action

'Deeply disturbed': Politicians across parties condemn Kashmir terror attack

India

oi-Deepika S

Srinagar, Feb 14: In a major terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, at least 18 CRPF jawans were killed on Thursday. The attack took place in Goripora area of Awantipora town in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. This is the biggest terror attack in the state in recent memory.

The terrorists first triggered a high-intensity IED blast and followed it up with firing, reports said. PTI, meanwhile, reported that a terrorist identified as Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus, which was reduced to a mangled heap of iron.

Jaish bomber released a chilling video before striking at Pulwama

Dozens were injured as well in the biggest attack of 2019. Death toll could rise further, officials said. The Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group has claimed responsibility for the terror attack.

Politicians from across parties expressed their shock at the terror attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama today.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi called it a "cowardly attack". "I'm deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a #CRPF convoy in J&K in which 10 of our brave men have been martyred and many others wounded. My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured," he wrote in a tweet.

Im deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a #CRPF convoy in J&K in which many of our brave CRPF men have been martyred and a large number wounded, some critically. My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 14, 2019

'Terrorists will be given unforgettable lesson for their heinous act', tweets Union Minister

Attack on CRPF in #Pulwama, J&K is a cowardice & condemnable act of terrorists. Nation salutes martyred soldiers and we all stand united with families of martyrs. We pray for speedy recovery of the injured. Terrorists will be given unforgettable lesson for their heinous act.  Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) February 14, 2019

Jammu and Kashmir politicians Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah were among the first to condemn the attack. "No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?" People's Democratic Party chief and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti tweeted.

Disturbing news coming in from #awantipura . Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several have been injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?  Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 14, 2019

"I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved," National Conference leader and former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted.

Terrible news coming from the valley. A number of CRPF soldiers are reported to have been killed & injured in an IED blast. I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved. #Kashmir  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 14, 2019

Kashmir terror attack: Over 20 jawans killed, 35 injured in Jaish attack on CRPF convoy

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her condolences to the families of the CRPF soliders who were killed. "Saddened that 13 CRPF jawans became martyrs today in Pulwama. We salute our brave jawans and extend our solidarity and condolences to their families. Our prayers for those injured. We wish them a speedy recovery," she tweeted.

Saddened that 13 CRPF jawans became martyrs today in Pulwama. We salute our brave jawans and extend our solidarity and condolences to their families. Our prayers for those injured. We wish them a speedy recovery  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 14, 2019

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the country must stand united in this moment of grief. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, his Rajasthan counterpart Ashok Gehlot and BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra also expressed their sadness.

Extremely shocking news coming from Pulwama (J&K). I strongly condemn the terror attack on CRPF convoy in which many casualties are feared. India must stand united in this moment of grief  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 14, 2019

Former Army chief VK Singh said "every drop will be avenged"

As a soldier and a citizen of India, my blood boils at the spineless and cowardly attacks. 18 brave hearts from the @crpfindia laid down their lives in #Pulwama. I salute their selfless sacrifice & promise that every drop of our soldiers blood will be avenged. #JaiHind  Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) February 14, 2019

Vice President of India condemned the "dastardly terrorist attack" on the CRPF personnels in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.

Shocked by the dastardly terrorist attack in which CRPF personnel were martyred. My heartfelt condolences to bereaved families and prayers for speedy recovery of the injured. @crpfindia  VicePresidentOfIndia (@VPSecretariat) February 14, 2019

Condemning the "cowardly attack" on the CRPF personnels in Pulwama, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala paid homage to the martyred, while flayin the Modi government for its "comrpomise" on national security.

Condemn the cowardly terror attack on our jawans in Pulwama, J&K today.



Our homage to the 18 brave hearts who made the supreme sacrifice & condolences to their family.



Uri, Pathankot, Pulwama- the terror list & compromise of National Security by Modi Govt continues unabated.  Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) February 14, 2019

Deeply saddened, says Naveen Patnaik

Deeply saddened by the martyrdom of so many @crpfindia #jawans in terrorist attack in #Pulwama district of #JammuAndKashmir. Strongly condemn the cowardly act and condolences to the bereaved families.  Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) February 14, 2019Delhi CM Kejriwal sends file of doorstep delivery of ration scheme to Lt Gov once again

Congress has more or less ruled out an alliance, says Arvind Kejriwal

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Feb 14: The Congress has "more or less" ruled out an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday, a day after he had participated in a meeting with opposition leaders, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Responding to a question on an alliance with the Congress, he said it has "more or less ruled out the alliance (with AAP)".

Asked whether the AAP was more eager for an alliance with the Congress, he said the BJP would benefit in a three-cornered contest.

LG vs AAP: After SC verdict, Arvind Kejriwal asks,'What kind of Democracy is this?'

Moving forward on a united anti-BJP front for the Lok Sabha elections, top opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee Wednesday agreed to work together to prepare a common minimum programme to oust the Modi government and to consider forging a pre-poll alliance.

The meeting, hosted by NCP president Sharad Pawar at his residence here, also saw Congress chief Gandhi and Kejriwal coming together for the first time.

Mamata Banerjee announced that the opposition parties had decided on a pre-poll alliance to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP. On the question of an alliance in Bengal and Delhi, she said it has "not been decided yet".

PTI

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 15:03 [IST]CM could have asked to meet instead of dharna, says Kiran Bedi

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

Puducherry, Feb 14: Puducherry LG Kiran Bedi, who is currently in Chennai, told reporters that CM V Narayanasamy is on dharna outside Raj Bhavan for no reason.

Speaking about the ongoing dharna by Narayanasamy, Kiran Bedi, said, " He (CM) wrote me a letter on 7th Feb on 36 issues some of which don't exist or have been settled. I received it on 8th. Yesterday, he sits on a dharna saying he demands a reply. The letter didn't say that 'if you don't reply by 13th Feb, I'll sit on a dharna'."

"I wrote him ( Puducherry CM ) a letter that 'you are welcome to come and see me on 21st Feb at 10 am,as I'm on a tour till 20th starting today. I'll return on Feb 20 midnight. And tell me what could be more right.'He is still sitting there. He isn't allowing people to wear helmet, " Bedi said.

Letter to HCM:

He could have asked to meet instead of sitting on a dharna.He writes a letter and demands a reply by resorting to a blockade of RajNivas.Totally avoidable, causing huge inconvenience to general public. pic.twitter.com/ZHdycWZWyq  Kiran Bedi (@thekiranbedi) February 13, 2019

Kiran Bedi was talking to reporters on the sidelines of Think Edu Conclave being held in Chennai organised by the The New Indian Express.

Dharna outside Kiran Bedi's residence: Puducherry CM sleep outside Raj Nivas

Raj Nivas was totally surrounded by CM and his agitators. Bedi tweeted that none could move out or visitors could come in. Also, staff too was blocked from returning to office. An absolutey unlawful situation of law makers turned law breakers.

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 14:17 [IST]BJP workers fear being targeted over campaign to display party flags on homes: West Bengal unit

India

pti-PTI

Kolkata, Feb 14: The BJP's country-wide 'mass mobilisation' campaign asking partymen to display party flags on their homes and vehicles has led to apprehension in its West Bengal unit that party workers and sympathizers may be targeted by rival TMC especially in areas with a history of political violence.

State BJP leaders said Thursday that workers from various districts have conveyed that they will be "vulnerable to TMC's reign of terror" if they reveal their political affiliation, a charge dismissed by the ruling party in West Bengal which accused the BJP of trying to foment communal violence in the state.

The BJP campaign 'Mera Pariwar, Bhajapa Pariwar' was launched by party president Amit Shah in Gujarat on Wednesday and seeks to cover over five crore houses by March 2 before the announcement of the Lok Sabha poll schedule.

As a part of the campaign, the party's Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh and many other senior state BJP leaders have unfurled the party flag at their homes and put party stickers on their houses and vehicles.

Lok Sabha polls: Despite Assembly debacle, BJP to win 16 seats out of 25 seats in Rajasthan

"We have asked our party workers and supporters to hoist party flag at their homes and put stickers on their houses and vehicles. We are receiving a huge response," Ghosh said.

However, according to BJP sources, its leaders have received communications from party workers in various districts of the state wherein they have expressed their inability to take part in the programme as it might "reveal the identity" of party sympathizers and leave its workers at the grassroots levels vulnerable to "violence from TMC".

"We have told everybody to take part in the programme. Our workers are not afraid of anyone, despite the reign of terror and the threat of being implicated in false cases. But if in some areas someone is facing any problem then he should refrain from taking part in the campaign for the time being and take part in it later," Ghosh said.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the BJP are engaged in a bitter political battle in West Bengal. BJP president Amit Shah has set a target of winning more than 23 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, while TMC organized a mega rally of opposition parties here on January 19 and gave the call to oust the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

The BJP which had put up a good show in last year's Pancahayat polls and had emerged as the main challenger of TMC in the state, has lost several of its workers in the last year's panchayat poll violence. Hundreds of BJP workers are still homeless in various parts of the state, party leader claim.

"We had received huge votes in areas which were once considered to be TMC stronghold. Now if our party sympathizers take part in this campaign they will get identified. We don't want that, their safety and security is also of prime concern for us," another senior state BJP leader said.

Reacting to BJP's allegation, TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said people of Bengal stand with Mamata Banerjee and BJP is "living in a fool's paradise" if it thinks it has a huge support base in Bengal.

Chatterjee said "In terms of popularity and vote share, TMC is way ahead of its rivals in the state. We don't believe in politics of violence. Their(BJP's) attempts to create communal violence in the state will be defeated by the people of Bengal," he said.

PTIName, patronage of PM Modi enough to win UP polls says aide

BJP leaders submit memorandum to Governor over attack on BJP MLA's residence

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

Bengaluru, Feb 13: BJP delegation led by BS Yeddyurappa met Governor Vajjubhai Vala at Raj Bhawan and submitted a memorandum over the incident of stone-pelting at the residence of BJP MLA from Hassan.

State BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa said, "We have submitted a memorandum to the Governor over the incident of stone-pelting at the residence of Preetham Gowda (BJP MLA from Hassan) and manhandling of his family. We will also send a memorandum to Home Minister Rajnath Singh."

JD(S) workers pelted stones at MLas residence in Hassan reportedly over a remark he made against ex-PM HD Deve Gowda in an audioclip. MLA's supporter was injured in the stone pelting.

Hassan BJP MLA's supporter injured in stone pelting by JDS workers

Karnataka tweeted, "Attack on Hassan BJP MLA Preetham Gowda's house and his family members by JDS goondas exposes how @hd_kumaraswamy & his party men r running riots in the state.

Kumaraswamy is heading & sponsoring goonda elements in Karnataka & pushing the states towards anarchy."

Attack on Hassan BJP MLA Preetham Gowdas house & his family members by JDS goondas exposes how @hd_kumaraswamy & his party men r running riots in the state.



Kumaraswamy is heading & sponsoring goonda elements in Karnataka & pushing the states towards anarchy.  BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) February 13, 2019

Preetham Gowda, is featured in the latest audio clip. This is the first time MLA Gowda is making derogatory comments about former PM HD Deve Gowda and his CM son HD Kumaraswamy in the leaked audio. The voice, believed to be of Preetham Gowda, is telling a JDS MLA's son that "Deve Gowda would die soon and Kumaraswamy is unwell". He even adds that "JDS will be history soon".

Meanwhile, BJP workers to stage a statewide protest against the coalition government over the attack.Anil Ambani can't clear Rs 550 Crore in dues, but has money to invest in Rafale: Ericsson tells SC

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Feb 14: Telecom equipment maker Ericsson India on Wednesday alleged in the Supreme Court that the Reliance Group has money to invest in the Rafale jet deal but they were unable to clear its Rs 550-crore dues, a charge which was vehemently denied by the Anil Ambani-led company.

Anil Ambani told the top court that with the failure of its assets sale deal with elder brother Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio, his company has entered insolvency proceedings and is not in control of the funds.

Reliance Communications (RCom) told the court they had tried to move "heaven and earth" to ensure Ericsson gets its due but was unable to do so due to failure of assets sale deal with Jio.

Ambani, Reliance Telecom chairman Satish Seth and Reliance Infratel chairperson Chhaya Virani, were present in the courtroom for two consecutive days in pursuance of contempt notice against them.

A bench of justices R F Nariman and Vineet Saran, after hearing the arguments of all parties, reserved its verdict on three contempt applications filed by Ericsson against Ambani, Seth, Virani and chairman of State Bank of India for not clearing its dues.

After failure to pay debt, RCom to go for insolvency resolution process

Allegations and counter-allegations flied thick and fast during the nearly day-long hearing in which senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for Ericsson, demanded the court order forensic audit of Reliance and other companies to unveil the alleged fraud committed by them.

"They have money to invest in Rafale but cannot pay us our Rs 550 crore dues. They do not want to commit to the undertaking given to the Supreme Court. Somebody, who cannot pay Rs 550 crore to us is there in every conceivable deal," Dave said.

Referring to RCom's statements made to the stock exchange on August 23 last year, about the sale of assets to Reliance Jio for around Rs 5,000 crore, Dave alleged RCom's stock prices rose by 2 per cent in a single day which totalled thousands of crores, but the company had not bothered to pay Rs 550 crore to Ericsson.

"Now, they claim that they did not receive any money from deal mentioned in August 23 last year statement to the stock exchange. May be the gentleman has sold the assets without payment to his elder brother. But we don't know how much shares they sold by the evening after the stock prices rose by 2 per cent," he alleged.

Dave alleged these are a kind of scams and even the joint lenders forum led by SBI and the banks have acted in conspiracy to protect Anil Ambani.

"We (Ericsson) have come to India to do business. We brought latest technology to Indian market. We are operational creditors. If banks keep protecting them then how can we do business. They fly in private jets and live in mega houses but they cannot return me Rs 550 crore. This is impacting us," he said and sought direction to SBI chairman to disclose on oath about the money received by RCom from assets sale.

Ericsson claimed RCom committed gross and wilful contempt by violating two orders of the apex court and not committing to the undertakings given by directors and Ambani.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Anil Ambani, said there was no violation of the undertakings given in the top court and National Company Law Appellate Tribunal and there was no willful defiance of any order.

He said NCLAT order of May 30 last year was conditional which said, if RCom fails to pay Rs 550 crore in 120 days to Ericsson then the insolvency proceedings would start automatically.

"The payment of Rs 550 crore to Ericsson was subject to sale of assets to Reliance Jio. There was a deal with Jio for sale of assets for Rs 18,000 crore which includes Rs 5,000 mentioned in the statements given to stock exchange. This deal did not took off with Jio," he said.

Rohatgi said RCom tried its best to make the deal happen but unfortunately talks failed in the apex court itself when Jio refused to take its past liability.

He said after sale of tower and other infrastructure to Jio, the company received Rs 780 crore which went straight away to the assets monetisation escrow account maintained by SBI.

"That Rs 780 crore was paid to Department of Telecom as an annual subscription to keep the spectrum licence alive," he said and added that RCom had earmarked payment of Rs 550 crore to Ericsson from the sale of spectrum to Jio for Rs 975 crore but that deal also did not fructify.

He said they have paid Rs 118 crore in apex court registry and Rs 129 crore have come to a trust and retention account with SBI as income tax refund and Rs 134 crore more as IT refund has to come in coming days.

"I can't say anything as after the start of insolvency proceedings everything goes. If the court thinks appropriate then it can direct SBI to release that amount in favour of Ericsson," Rohatgi said.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Seth and Virani, said, "The allegation of Ericsson that we made money from 2 per cent gain in stocks, then we must say that the day we went into insolvency proceedings we lost Rs 15,000 crore".

He said Ericsson is just an operational creditor, much below in pecking order of priority and court cannot pass order in its favour.

Advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, appearing for SBI chairman, said he did not violate any court orders as he was made party only in the third contempt petition filed by Ericsson.

He said there were no orders from the court or NCLAT that if RCom does not pay to Ericsson then "we will have to have pay".

The court on October 23 asked RCom to clear the dues by Dec. 15, 2018, saying delayed payment would attract an interest of 12 per cent per annum.

PTI

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 9:15 [IST]Amid Rafale row, V K Singh raises questions over HAL's condition, capability

India

oi-PTI

Pune, Feb 14: Amid controversies surrounding the Rafale deal, Minister of State for External Affairs General V K Singh has raised questions over the "capability and condition" of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to manufacture good quality fighter planes.

Talking to reporters here, the minister defended the Rafale deal, saying the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France was necessary to enhance the Indian Air Force's capabilities.

"Look at the condition of HAL. Our two pilots died. Sorry to say, but the programmes at HAL are running late by three-and-a-half years...parts of aircraft are falling off on the runway. Is this capability? On the other hand, we say that HAL is not getting the (Rafale) work," he said.

CAG Rafale report: Modi's deal cheaper by 2.86% than UPA's era

The minister was referring to the death of two pilots in a crash of Mirage 2000 trainer aircraft in Bengaluru on February 1. The aircraft was on an "acceptance sortie" after an upgrade by the HAL.

On claims by the Congress that the Modi government had favoured industrialist Anil Ambani's firm in the Rafale deal, the former Army chief said, "In Rafale case, it is the French, who decided the offset firm. The objective of the offset is to allow the industry to thrive here...if their firm is not satisfied with HAL, it is their decision...it is not the decision of the Indian government."

The opposition is trying to rake up the Rafale issue as a counter to the Bofors deal, he said referring to the Rs 1,437-crore deal between India and Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors in 1986 for supply of 400 units of 155-mm Howitzer guns for the Indian Army.

"In the 60s, we came up with an indigenous design of Hindustan Fighter 24 - Marut. But the Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), which was assigned to develop an engine for the aircraft, failed to do so and we had to look at importing the engine," he said.

In order to get the engine, India approached the US, who gave an "oversparred" engine, leading to the death of many pilots, he said.

"We had to scrap the programme. But later, the French approached us and our government allowed them to have a look at a static aircraft. Then they clicked several pictures of the aircraft and on that basis the series of Mirage aircraft started," he said.

"Had the then government compelled the GTRE to develop the engine, the country would have got its own aircraft and with advancements in technology, the country's indigenous aircraft would have been better than Rafale," he said.

"If they are accusing the present government on the Rafale deal, then the blame for the failure of HF-24 should go to the then government and I would like to call it treason as the entire data of HF-24 was wiped off without anybody's knowledge," he said.

CAG Rafale Report: Audit notes IAF did not define ASQRs properly

Matters related to national security should not be politicised, the minister said, adding that India requires these 36 (Rafale) aircraft, in the absence of which the capability of the Indian Air Force will be hampered.

"It was necessary to purchase these 36 aircraft as the capabilities of the Indian Air force were depleting. If we keep pulling each others' legs, we will cause a major loss to the defence of the nation," he said.

On talks with Pakistan, the minister said when Modi became the prime minister in 2014, India showed a positive gesture to improve relations with the neighbouring country through dialogue.

"Our stand since 2014 was very clear as talks and terror activities cannot go hand-in-hand. Even today, we are firm on our stand," he said.

PTI

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Story first published: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 11:36 [IST]Articles Sorry, there are no recent results for popular articles.

Images Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images.On Feb. 5 I watched the State of the Union speech. What struck me as I looked at the faces of the members of the House and Senate was the difference between the Democrats and Republicans; mainly, who was represented and who wasnt.

The Democrats were white, African-American, Asian, Hawaiian, Middle Eastern or simply the faces of America. Most of the Republicans were white. The most striking difference was the number of women in each party. In fact, while the Democrats elected over 100 women at the midterms, the Republicans lost 10 women to Democrats. Consider this, who is represented by each party?

Melinda Turille, Omaha

Elizabeth Warrens ancestry

I am writing to clarify the issue at hand regarding U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warrens Native American heritage.

When she wrote American Indian on the Texas bar application, she was only stating what her family represented to her of their ancestry. That statement was made long before DNA ancestry/heritage tests were readily available. She honestly believed that she was of Native American ancestry and her recent DNA test did show that she had Native American ancestry.The following editorial appears on Bloomberg Opinion.

Americans may be largely unaware of the extreme and pervasive dangers facing American Indian and Alaska Native women. According to a National Institute of Justice study, more than half have been sexually assaulted. More than a third have been raped  a proportion more than double that of white women. For girls and young women aged 15 to 24, homicide is the third leading cause of death. And thousands of American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls have simply gone missing.

It is a crisis that has been too long ignored. The federal government funds police services, criminal investigation, detention facilities, tribal courts and more. But the assistance has been stretched too thin to bring crimes against women under control.

One underlying problem is that many tribal law enforcement agencies are severely understaffed, yet need to police vast territories. The Navajo reservation, with roughly 350,000 residents on 17 million acres across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, has fewer than 200 police officers and 30 criminal investigators. Thats a police-to-population ratio significantly lower than the national average. Yet the reservations murder rate is many times higher than the average.WASHINGTON  It seemed like an ad-lib when President Donald Trump added a few words last week to his prepared State of the Union remarks, calling for increased legal immigration.

I want people to come into our country in the largest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally, Trump told the nation.

But speaking the next day in the Oval Office with correspondents from regional newspapers, including The World-Herald, the president reiterated his support for increased legal immigration and acknowledged that was a change in his approach to the issue.

The presidents words are at odds with the administrations previous policy positions, which have included proposals to further limit legal immigration.

As a candidate, Trump decried the practice of employers laying off workers and having them train their replacements brought in from overseas.WASHINGTON  Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., is taking another shot at expanding concealed-carry capabilities for off-duty and retired law enforcement officers.

Our communities have entrusted these professionals to keep us safe, and their expertise does not vanish when their uniforms are taken off, Bacon said Wednesday at a press conference touting his legislation.

At issue is a 2004 law Congress passed to allow current and retired law enforcement to keep their firearms with them even as they travel from state to state.

But supporters say some states have sought to restrict the privileges or have interpreted the law in ways that restrict them.

Bacon said his legislation would clarify and expand the exemptions so that active and retired officers can carry guns on state, local and private property otherwise open to the public, as well as at national parks and other venues.

The legislation would allow them to carry in gun-free school zones.

Bacon said he was alerted to the issue by Omaha-area law enforcement officials who identified it as a top priority.Clohessy has raised similar issues in other dioceses, including in Kansas City last month. On Wednesday, he and SNAP supporter Gordon Peterson of Omaha said the Omaha Archdiocese should publicize the four priests names and assignment records to protect vulnerable people now and reach out to any unknown victims who might exist.

Our position is that when it comes to the safety of kids, there should be no hairsplitting or ducking and dodging, Clohessy said.

He said the four priests with Omaha ties are Thomas B. Laughlin, Alphonsus Ferguson, James E. Kelly and Michael Patrick Nash.

Laughlin admitted to sexually molesting dozens of boys for decades before he was convicted of molesting two boys and sent to prison in the 1980s, according to news reports. The newspaper the Oregonian reported that Laughlin was one of Oregons most notorious pedophile priests. Laughlin reportedly lived in Omaha for several years until his death in 2013.

In a 2014 lawsuit against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, a Minnesota man accused Ferguson of raping him when he was an altar boy in Hastings, Minnesota, in the 1950s. Ferguson died in 1973. He reportedly belonged to a religious order in Omaha.They said that LB 276, if passed, would discourage startup businesses, which are usually structured as LLCs, from locating in Nebraska and might result in people paying taxes twice on the same income  income derived in Nebraska and income earned in other states.

By passing this bill, youre saying that Nebraska is closed for business, said Michael Cassling, whose family has a health care software business in Omaha. I want to see the state of Nebraska grow, but LB 276 will mean loss of people, loss of jobs and loss of companies.

Several representatives of other businesses, such as Omaha Steaks, Tenaska and Crete Carriers, also opposed the bill.

Stacy Watson, who testified on behalf of the Omaha and Lincoln Chambers of Commerce, said that the tax break wasnt that unique to Nebraska and that other states do the same thing and just word it differently. She predicted that if LB 276 is passed, Nebraska shareholders in such companies would move to another state to avoid the higher taxes.Young was sentenced to two years in jail with all but 30 days suspended. He was placed on probation for two years. If Young violates the terms of his probation, he could serve two years in jail.

He is forbidden to train, care for or board animals while on probation. He was ordered to pay about $4,800 in restitution to the victims.

After sentencing, Young and his attorney, William Bracker, exited the courtroom while the dog owners in attendance grew angry.

Can I trade the money for more jail time? I dont need the money, one said to Strait as he left the room.

Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber spoke with reporters afterward. He said animal neglect and abuse laws in Iowa  and the scope of the case itself  were frustrating for the victims and the prosecution.

We dont have a lot of tools in the toolbox for cases like this, he said, noting that the penalties for animal cruelty are typically fines and rarely involve a jail term.

Wilber said he recently spoke with an Iowa state senator about possibly introducing a bill to toughen punishments for such crimes.It is winter, which in most years means it is also flu season, a time of year that many school administrators dread.

Some years are worse than others, but every year when the flu season arrives, we see big hits to our attendance, says Robert Cooksey, head of schools for Concordia Lutheran Schools of Omaha. No matter what we do in terms of cleaning and personal space, once someone comes to school with the flu, it is going to spread. In a typical winter, one or two schools in Omaha have to close because of the number of students and teachers out sick with influenza.

But influenza isnt the only preventable disease showing up more frequently in middle and high schools in the past few years.

Just this past year, we had a case of whooping cough (or pertussis) at Concordia Junior-Senior High School, and we were not alone, Cooksey says. We worked with the Douglas County Health Department to manage it, and thankfully, no one else was infected. It has become a more frequent occurrence in Omaha and elsewhere.

Several school districts across the region, including Papillion-La Vista South and Ralston Public Schools, reported cases of pertussis in 2017 and 2018.The oldest remaining exhibit of the Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium has closed and will be replaced by concessions, restrooms, a play area and a public plaza.

Red Barn Park, a petting zoo that opened in 1966, is closed. Animals have been relocated to other parts of the zoo, primarily the Childrens Adventure Trails, which opened last summer a stones throw to the south. Carousel Plaza will open on the Red Barn site in spring 2019, the zoo announced Monday.

The zoo initially planned to overhaul the 2-acre space years from now, but new construction in the area and increased traffic have expedited the need for new facilities in that area.

A lot has changed around this area of the zoo, said zoo Director Dennis Pate. We have added the splash ground, the Meadowlark Amphitheater, the train station is here, theres a tram stop here, Stingray Beach is here, Sues Carousel is here  theres a lot of activities down here.

Carousel Plaza is budgeted at $7 million and will be slightly larger than the footprint of Red Barn Park. Demolition should begin this spring or early summer.For nearly six years, he did not have a name, just a number: QNK002.

To receive food, water, any sort of assistance, he and the hundreds of other men detained in Manus Island detention centre in Papua, New Guinea, had to give their assigned number to the guards. It was meant to dehumanize and punish him and the others held on the island seeking refuge in Australia, he said. They were meant to be kept secret, hidden from the eyes of the rest of the world, he stated.

But Abudul Aziz Muhamat, QNK002, told a packed house of human rights activists and supporters in Geneva, that despite this bureaucratic dehumanisation, he and his fellow refugees retained their names, their humanity and their hope. Muhamat is the 2019 winner of the Martin Ennals Award for human rights defenders. In accepting the award on behalf of those he left behind on Manus Island, he said winning it is a chance to highlight the suffering of refugees everywhere.

"This award means a lot. Today the international community recognises our existence, our struggle, our fight," he said. "And they lead us to believe in hope for another day."

Muhamat is a human rights defender who campaigns for the rights of himself and other refugees caught up in the Australian offshore immigration system. He fled conflict in Darfur, Sudan and in October 2013, he was forcibly transferred to Manus Island as part of Australias offshore refugee policy, when the boat he was on was intercepted by authorities.

Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore called the award and the ceremony a chance to show solidarity with human rights defenders the world over.

"In these extraordinary laureates and nominees  in their example we have a human face for courage," Gilmore said. "It is their work that places compassion and justice at the heart of public participation. It is their action that puts not complaint and wound but solutions  rooted in human rights answers to human wrongs."

Two other finalists for the award were also honoured at the ceremony. Marino Cordoba Berrio from Colombia, has fought for the rights and welfare of the Afro-Colombian community for decades. And Eren Keskin was the third nominee. The lawyer from Turkey has fought for the rights of women, Kurdish people and the LGBT+ community for more than 30 years. She was unable to attend the ceremony in Geneva because the Turkish government refused to give her documents to allow her to travel.

Defending the rights of others

Muhamat has spent the last few weeks in Geneva, meeting with human rights and refugee organizations, as well as the press. He told the stories of Manus Island, the lack of resources, access to medical care or decent food. He talked of the lack of livelihood, of hundreds of men spending months and years on end, trying to find ways to fill their days and find hope to survive to the next. Muhamat told these stories to remind everyone that the people on Manus Island and Naru exist.

He met with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, whom he said was receptive to his stories and gave him a message of his own: We are not giving up on you and you, nor are we giving up on your friends.

"This is the message I am going to take back with me to tell people we are not just a number," he said. "People are calling our names. People are still believing in us that we are human beings and we have a dignity."

And Muhamat said, he will return to Manus Island, rather than remain in the relative comfort of Geneva. He said he realizes it is hard for people outside to understand, but his life, his purpose is back on the island, with his friends, providing hope, fighting for dignity.

"I came here to share the message" Muhamat said. "And I want to go back to that dehumanisation to make sure that the dehumanisation will no longer continue. So my presence on Manus Island and in that prison, it will only bring hope back to people."

22 February 2019The Slieve Bloom Mountain Bike trail in Offaly and Laois is set to benefit from a 10 million cash injection.

The trail is part of a multi-county Coillte-led project to get a slice of the 62 million Rural Regeneration and Development Fund announced by Michael Ring Minister for Rural and Community Development.

A total of 10,262,900 will be split between the Slieve Bloom Trail and similar projects around Ireland.

"This flagship national project will develop international standard Mountain Biking Trails which will provide recreational, health and tourism benefits. The locations include: Slieve Bloom (Offaly & Laois); Collaney (Sligo); Ballyhoura (Limerick & Cork); Ticknock/Ballinastoe (Wicklow & Dublin)," said a statement.

Coillte is leading the development of all the projects and the Laois-Offaly trail has the support of local authorities in both counties.

Minister Ring's Department believes the development of the national mountain-biking project will create recreational facilities in four locations across seven counties, promoting economic tourism potential in the process

The announcement took place in Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan where Minister Ring was joined by Heather Humphreys TD, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation and Sean Canney TD, Minister of State for Community Development, Natural Resources and Digital Development.

The aim of the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund aims to revitalise rural Ireland by supporting self-sustaining projects in towns and villages with a population of less than 10,000.

This Fund is a clear demonstration of Project Ireland 2040 in action and is further evidence of this Governments commitment to rural communities. These investments will have a transformative effect on many rural towns, villages and outlying areas.

These projects are ambitious and strategic in nature. The funding will transform communities by delivering projects in sectors such as tourism, agri-food and recreation. After today, every county in the country will be benefitting from the Rural Fund," said Minister Ring.

Failte Ireland has today welcomed the announcement of Government funding for tourism projects. Orla Carroll, Director of Product Development at Failte Ireland was present for the announcement.

This funding will greatly enhance attractions throughout rural Ireland which will boost visitor numbers to the regions and support local job creation in the tourism sector," she said.

Coillte has already completed part of the Slieve Bloom project which is set to be open for business in 2019.

A total of 66 projects will be allocated funding of the 62 million announced by Minister Ring. It is being awarded as part of the 1 billion Rural Regeneration and Development Fund which is a component of Project Ireland 2040.Independent TD for Offaly, Carol Nolan, along with other independent TDs Mattie Mc Grath and Michael Collins have said their meeting with the CEO of the Private Security Authority, Mr Paul Scallan, has given rise to serious concerns about the capacity of the state to effectively sanction unlicensed security personnel.

The group had organised the meeting to try and address the apparent lack of sanctions for those who engage in aggressive acts of intimidation while purporting to be linked to licensed security operations.

According to Deputy Nolan the meeting was organised as part of our wider engagement with all stakeholders involved in the repossession of homes or property, including farms.

"We specifically discussed how those repossessions are conducted. Overall we had a very constructive engagement, where significant amounts of detail relating to acts of violence carried out by rogue operators and indeed some licensed operators, was put to the CEO of the PSA by Mr Jerry Beades on behalf of The New Land League," she said.

"The elected representatives' over-riding concern at the meeting was to try and ascertain what can be done at a legislative level to try and strengthen protections for families and communities who experience threats, aggression and even assaults at the hands of those claiming to have legitimate authority."

"It was made absolutely clear that the current provisions of The Private Security Services Act 2004, which is the primary legislation under which the Private Security Authority operates, is grossly inadequate and needs to be urgently revised or amended," Deputy Nolan said.

"We are aware that the Board of the PSA contains representatives from an Assistant Garda Commissioner as well as the Minister for Education and Skills and the Minister for Justice and Equality."

"In light of that, it is highly unlikely that government is not aware of the scale of the problem that exists," she added.

"What we are calling for is thorough, sector-wide public consultation on this issue so that the experiences of families and ordinary people who have experienced intimidation can be fed into any changes that may emerge."

"At present, these people are operating as if it is the Wild West and that has to stop. If that includes the PSA being given more sanctioning or investigative powers then so be it, concluded Deputy Nolan.For the past 17 years, the people of St. Marys, a small town in Canadas Newfoundland, have had to put up with the pungent smell of fermented seafood sauce at an abandoned nearby factory. In the summer, the stench gets so bad that some residents bar their homes and leave to stay with their relative, because its so hard to breathe.

In 1990, a Vietnamese immigrant opened the Atlantic Seafood Sauce factory near St. Marys, with the goal of producing a kind of fermented seafood sauce that is very popular in Vietnamese cuisine. Things were off to a good start, but just 4 years down the line, the owner, a man named Sanh Go, started complaining that Canadian regulations were killing his business. In the year 2000, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspected the factory and concluded that the sauce was produced in unsanitary conditions. Two years later, the Atlantic Seafood Sauce factory closed for good, but its giant vats of fermenting fish parts and seafood sauce have remained there ever since, causing a big stink.

Photo: Zeshalyn Capindo/Unsplash

These past 10 years, its been getting worse each year because of the smell, resident Juliette Lee told CBC. And its now is also causing health problems, because you cant breathe when its so pungent.

Lee lives right next to the abandoned seafood factory and says that whenever her grandchildren come to visit, she makes them wear masks to protect them from the potentially toxic compounds in the air. And in the summer, when the smell makes breathing almost impossible, she and her husband pack up and go to live with her kids, 100 km away.

Theres times I have to leave my home and go out to my sons or daughters, because you cant bear the smell here, because I have to bar up my house so the smell dont get in it, the woman said.

When the smell starts I have to come in, close our windows and our doors, and stay in, like a prisoner, a prisoner in my own home, St. Marys resident Muriel Whelan added.

Photo: CBC/YouTube

For the past 17 years, the vats of fermenting fish parts have been rotting away inside the closed Atlantic Seafood Sauce factory. Some time ago, they started leaking, with the smelly concoction spilling on the floor, going into the drains, and coming out the sides of the building and into the ocean. At one point, someone plugged the drains with cement, so now the pungent contents are leaking onto the factory floor, with nowhere to go. Its estimated that the floor is covered with 2-4 inches of rotting seafood sauce.

A few years ago, authorities found a private company willing to go into the abandoned factory and clean the 150 vats inside. However, they were stopped by environmental agencies after dumping several containers of potentially toxic materials into the ocean. Since then, the community of about 400 residents have been trying to find an alternative.

The representative of a cleanup company that considered taking up the project told St. Marys deputy mayor, Steve Ryan, that it was one of the worst sites they had ever encountered.

I think he told me he was almost 30 years in the business. And he was taken aback a little bit by theres so much waste here and theres no rodents What he told me kind of scared me. He said: Rodents know when something is toxic,' Ryan recalled.



The fact that whenever government workers come to inspect the factory they wear hazmat suits and protective masks isnt exactly reassuring to the people of St. Marys either, as they worry about the potential health consequences of breathing the pungent fumes for such a long time.

Finding a company willing to go into the abandoned seafood sauce factory and clean up the place has proven difficult, and those that will even consider the challenge are asking for more money than the town can afford to pay. One companys bill was estimated at more than $700,000 Canadian dollars ($528,000).

The town of St. Marys has recently asked for financial assistance from the Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment, but a previous application has been rejected before, so theyre not getting their hopes up. One things for sure though, the rotten sauce has to go soon, because its a serious health hazard.A dog owner in China ended up in the hospital after his excited husky jumped all the way from the 2nd floor of his house to greet him, landing on his head and breaking his neck.

The 67-year-old man, surnamed Liu, was returning to his house in Yongzhou City, Chinas Hunan province, on Monday, after visiting some relatives, when something heavy fell from above and landed on the back of his head. Liu was knocked down and rendered unconscious by the impact, and his family immediately called an ambulance. Speaking with Sina News about the incident, Liu recalled that his first thought after waking up in the hospital was that the wall of his house had collapsed on top of him, but he later learned that he had been hit by his pet husky. Apparently, the 60-pound pooch was so excited to see Liu come home that he jumped from the second floor of he house, landing on top of him.

Photo: Sina

On the sixth day of the New Year, we were returning home together, Liu told Sina News. Just when we were about to reach the front door, we were suddenly stunned by something falling from the sky.

Liu ended up at the First Peoples Hospital of Zhangzhou City, where a spine exam revealed that the impact of the dog hitting his head had caused a cervical spine fracture. The 67-year-old will now have to undergo surgery to his spine to fix the damage, but claims that he doesnt blame the dog. Still, to make sure that this sort of accident doesnt happen again, the mans family have chained the dog in the yard.

Photo: Sina

The mans daughter told reporters that the whole family was shocked to see the pet husky they had adopted only a few months ago jump for six-seven meters above and land on her fathers head.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the over-excited dog was not injured in the fall.The small town of Belushya Guba, in northern Russia, is in a state of emergency, with locals afraid to leave their houses because of dozens of polar bears roaming the streets in search of food.

Located on one of the two islands that make up the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, Belushya Guba is home to roughly 3,000 people, many of whom are terrified to leave their homes and send their kids to school, because of the dozens of bears running around in the streets and even entering buildings in search of food. While polar bear sighting arent exactly uncommon in the remote town, the scale of this invasion is reportedly unprecedented. Over 52 sightings have been reported in only three days, with up to 10 bears seen in the settlement at any given time.

Photo: video screengrab

I have been in Novaya Zemlya since 1983, but there have never been so many polar bears in the vicinity, local administrator Zhigansha Musin told Russian news agency TASS on Saturday. He added that the hungry animals had also taken over a military garrison where they literally chase people.

The people are scared, they are frightened to leave homes and their daily routines are broken, Alexander Minayev, the deputy head of Novaya Zemlya, told TASS. Parents are afraid to let the children go to school or kindergarten.

Polar bear activity in and around Belushya Guba started increasing in December, and the animals have reportedly become more aggressive ever since, attacking people and entering residences.

Polar bears are considered an endangered species in Russia, and despite the threat they currently pose to the people of Belushya Guba, the government has refused to issue licenses to shoot the most aggressive specimens. Instead, a team of experts and a special task force have been sent to the island to monitor the situation and protect the local population. However, killing some of the bears may be a last resort, if scare tactics prove unsuccessful. Fences and loud noises, such as gunshots and car horns have so far failed to keep the animals away.



While the reason for this polar bear invasion is still unclear, many specialists are convinced that it is linked to global warming and dwindling sea ice. Polar bears spend most of their time on ice sheets hunting for seals, but the ice recedes during warmer months, they invade inland in search of sustenance.

Its sort of like, you go to a restaurant and the restaurant is closed, Andrew Derocher, a professor at the University of Alberta who studies polar bears in the Arctic, told Motherboard. So where do you go? You keep wandering until you find one thats open.On Friday, Feb. 22, Nobel Laureate David J. Wineland will offer a public lecture at Tuskegee University on the topic of optical atomic clocks.

The lecture, to begin at 9:45 a.m. in the universitys Kellogg Conference Center, is open to the public, and area students, faculty, and members of the scientific community are encouraged to attend. Channapatna S. Prakash, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will moderate the program.

Winelands groundbreaking experimental methods that enable the measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems were honored with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2012, which he shared with French physicist Professor Serge Haroche.

Currently, Wineland is the Philip H. Knight distinguished research chair and research professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Oregon in Eugene. His work has included advances in optics, specifically laser cooling trapped ions and using ions for quantum computing operations.

His previous group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado, was the first to laser cool ions in 1978. In 1995, they created the first single atom quantum logic gate and were the first to quantum teleport information in massive particles in 2004 (concurrently with a group in Innsbruck, Austria).VALLEY  Six people were arrested and charged last week on drug-related offenses.

Melissa Morgan Huddleston, 42, of Valley; Hezekiah Randal Terran Morgan, 18, of Valley; Larry Love, 27, of Valley; Ricky Lewis Banks, 37, of Valley; Daniel Allan Noon, 30, of LaFayette; and Lorena Lavon Nicole McWhorter, 31, of Cusseta, were all arrested on Thursday, Feb. 7, by members of the Region D Drug Task Force and Chambers County SWAT Team, according to a news release from the Valley Police Department.

Each suspect was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), second-degree unlawful possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and illegal possession of prescription drugs.

All six suspects were taken to the Chambers County Detention Facility.

The morning of Feb. 7, law enforcement officers used a search warrant at 205 Combs Street in Valley.

Officers seized a Mossberg 817 Rifle, a Bryco .380 Pistol, methamphetamine, marijuana, prescription medication, and drug paraphernalia (smoking pipes, rolling papers, baggies, scales), read the statement from Valley police on Thursday.A 15-year-old male Auburn Junior High School student was arrested and charged Thursday afternoon after an unexpended bullet was found on school grounds, according to the Auburn Police Division.

"Out of an abundance of caution, police personnel then searched and located a firearm," reads a news release from Auburn police.

The student was charged with misdemeanor unlawful possession of a firearm and was removed from the school.

Additional felony charges are possible, according to Auburn police Chief Paul Register.

The student will be detained pending a detention hearing, Register told the Opelika-Auburn News.

Police did not release information on where the bullet was found on school grounds, but said the unused bulled was located by law enforcement officials.

Further investigation lead to the identification and the arrest of the student around 1:30 p.m. Thursday by Auburn police, according to a news release on Thursday afternoon.

The incident remains under investigation. No other information was released Thursday afternoon.Two decades ago, this bridge in the Swiss Alps did not exist. Instead, a glacier allowed hikers to cross the valley. A warming climate melted the ice. Its retreating edge is visible in the distance. Now the Swiss have a plan to make use of the valley left behind.

For hikers looking for a daylong outing in central Switzerland, the Trift Glacier bridge is a popular destination. Its a short gondola ride from the village of Gadmen, followed by a few miles trek up a rocky path overlooking a granite gorge.

Those who successfully fight off a case of nerves  the slender cable-and-plank bridge is more than 500 feet long and 300 feet in the air  are rewarded with spectacular views. But the Trift Glacier itself is hardly to be seen. Its leading edge has retreated rapidly this century, leaving an opalescent lake behind.

The Trift is a casualty of climate change, one of tens of thousands of glaciers around the world that are shrinking as the earth warms. Melting glaciers are adding to rising sea levels and causing floods, and will eventually mean less water for drinking and agriculture.

But glacial retreat will also have an impact on hydropower, as glaciers shrink to the point where meltwater flows start to decline.

That may strain energy supplies, since, worldwide, about 16 percent of electricity is generated by flowing water.

Austria Germany Kramsach Italy Innsbruck Austria Germany Telfs Italy Bolzano Merano Trento Switzerland Austria Italy Liechtenstein Chur Switzerland Italy Switzerland Bellinzona Milan Trift Glacier Aletsch Glacier Oberaletsch Glacier Bitsch Thun Italy Vercelli Switzerland Aosta Montreux Turin Chamonix France Italy Lake Geneva Geneva France Chambery 10 Miles Austria Germany Kramsach Italy Innsbruck Austria Germany Telfs Italy Bolzano Merano Trento Switzerland Austria Italy Liechtenstein Chur Switzerland Italy Switzerland Bellinzona Milan Trift Glacier Aletsch Glacier Oberaletsch Glacier Bitsch Thun Italy Vercelli Switzerland Aosta Montreux Turin Chamonix France Italy Lake Geneva Geneva France Chambery 10 Miles Austria Germany Kramsach Italy Innsbruck Austria Germany Telfs Italy Bolzano Merano Trento Switzerland Austria Italy Liechtenstein Chur Switzerland Italy Switzerland Bellinzona Milan Trift Glacier Aletsch Glacier Oberaletsch Glacier Thun Italy Vercelli Switzerland Aosta Montreux Turin Chamonix France Italy Geneva France Chambery 10 Miles Austria Germany Kramsach Italy Innsbruck Austria Germany Telfs Italy Bolzano Merano Trento Switzerland Austria Italy Liechtenstein Chur Switzerland Italy Bellinzona Milan Trift Glacier Aletsch Glacier Oberaletsch Glacier Thun Italy Vercelli Switzerland Aosta Montreux Turin Chamonix France Italy Geneva France Chambery 10 Miles Austria Germany Kramsach Italy Innsbruck Telfs Merano Trento Austria Liechtenstein Chur Switzerland Italy Bellinzona Milan Trift Glacier Oberaletsch Glacier Thun Vercelli Aosta Montreux Turin Chamonix Italy Geneva France Chambery 20 Miles Austria Germany Kramsach Innsbruck Italy Telfs Bolzano Trento Austria Chur Switzerland Italy Bellinzona Milan Trift Glacier Oberaletsch Glacier Vercelli Switzerland Aosta Turin Chamonix Italy Geneva France Chambery 20 Miles The Alps have more glaciers than any other part of Europe. Among Alpine countries, Switzerland has the most. They feed hydropower dams and generating plants throughout the mountains. The plants provide more than half of the countrys electricity.

One of those plants is fed by meltwater from the Aletsch Glacier, the longest in the Alps. The water collects behind the Gebidem arch dam, built 50 years ago. Then it travels 2,000 feet down the mountain through a tunnel to the generating plant.

Even the plant itself is carved out of the mountain.

The water spins turbines attached to generators.

Thick cables carry the electricity to the grid.

All told, hydropower plants like this one, in the town of Bitsch near the Rhone River, supply 60 percent of Switzerlands electricity. (By comparison, the United States gets about 7 percent of its electricity from hydropower.)

Rain and melting snow are often the main sources of water for hydropower, but in Switzerland and many other countries the melting of glacier ice is an important contributor. And those glaciers are now melting fast.

In Switzerland, where the Alps are warming faster than the global average, most of the countrys 1,500 glaciers have retreated every year since 2001; many are expected to all but vanish by 2090. The great melting was especially bad in 2017, when 20 monitored Swiss glaciers lost about 3 percent of their volume because of a dry winter and an extremely hot summer. Last year was bad as well, according to Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland, which tracks changes.

When we designed the first power plants in Switzerland in the middle of the last century, we didnt talk about climate change, said Florian Widmer, an executive with Alpiq, a Swiss power company that is the largest shareholder in the Bitsch plant. Now, he said, companies like his must plan for a future of little or no glacial meltwater.

The Aletsch, 14 miles long and up to 3,000 feet thick, could lose 90 percent of its ice by 2100.

For now, accelerated melting in many glaciated regions, including the Alps, is increasing stream flows and filling reservoirs faster, leading to greater electricity generation. In Switzerland, for example, a recent study showed that loss of glacial mass because of the warming climate has increased hydropower production by 3 percent to 4 percent since 1980.

Today, we benefit from glacial melting, Mr. Widmer said.

But eventually the ice will retreat so much that stream flows will decline and power production will drop. Reduced glacial meltwater will also affect the timing of peak flows to many hydroelectric plants, forcing power companies to adjust output seasonally.

Although climate forecasts suggest that, in coming decades, Switzerland might make up for some of its lost ice with increases in rain and snow, retreating glaciers are expected to lead to as much as a 5 percent decline in electricity production in some regions of the country.

Already, the need for environmental flows  releasing some water from dams to maintain the ecological health of a river  cuts into hydropower production. And Switzerland faces another problem of its own making: Amid widespread public opposition to nuclear power following the 2011 Fukushima accident in Japan, the Swiss government has pledged to gradually phase out the countrys five reactors. Those reactors provide nearly all the rest of Switzerlands power, and they are especially important in winter, when hydropower production drops and energy demand increases.

The governments energy strategy calls for increases in wind, solar and geothermal power, which currently make up a small share of electricity production.

But the Swiss are also counting on hydropower companies to expand production, even though glacial meltwater will eventually decline. Climate change offers opportunities, like here at the Oberaletsch glacier, near the Aletsch.

Oberaletsch Glacier New tunnel New power plant Existing tunnel Existing power plant Bitsch Visp Oberaletsch Glacier New tunnel New power plant Existing tunnel Existing power plant Bitsch Visp Oberaletsch Glacier New tunnel New power plant Existing tunnel Existing power plant Bitsch Visp Oberaletsch Glacier New tunnel New power plant Existing tunnel Existing power plant Bitsch Visp Oberaletsch Glacier New tunnel New power plant Existing tunnel Existing power plant Visp Oberaletsch Glacier New tunnel New power plant Existing tunnel Existing power plant Visp A quarter-century ago, the Oberaletsch had about half a cubic mile of ice. Put another way, thats more than 13,000 of these cubes, each with enough ice to fill 1,800 shipping containers. By 2000, the glacier had lost 7 percent of its ice. By midcentury, ice loss could be 70 percent of the original volume.

When glaciers grow and advance, their abrasive power  the weight of massive amounts of ice mixed with rock debris  carves valleys in the landscape. As glaciers retreat, these valleys are exposed. Some of them may be ideal sites to collect and store water for hydropower.

Swiss researchers have studied the countrys glaciers and, using radar, the underlying bedrock, with an eye to locating potential new reservoirs. Were looking at what is going to be the future topography, said Robert Boes, an engineer and director of the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

Other criteria are evaluated as well, including potential construction costs, how much energy could be generated and whether the quantity of sediment  retreating glaciers leave a lot of that behind as well  would harm turbines or cause other problems.

At the Oberaletsch there is a suitable spot below the glaciers leading edge, or tongue. Although it is still covered by up to 650 feet of ice, by the middle of the century the ice is expected to be gone and a long, thin lake will appear in its place. That will collect meltwater from what remains of the Oberaletsch, as well as runoff from rain and melting snow.

Engineers with Alpiq have proposed building a new generating plant at the existing Gebidem dam reservoir and tunneling up to a spot under the Oberaletsch where the lake will form. Everything, including the plant, would be inside the mountain to reduce the visual and environmental impact. Mr. Widmer said that the company was in discussions with government agencies about the project.

Water from the Oberaletsch would generate electricity at the new plant. Then it would flow to the existing plant and make more electricity there.

At the Trift Glacier, the ice that once filled much of the valley is already gone, replaced by a natural lake. Another hydropower company has plans to make it even larger.

We saw 10 years ago that it was a lake, said Daniel Fischlin, chief executive of the company, Kraftwerke Oberhasli, or KWO. That started the idea  theres a really narrow place, and there you can build a dam.

The dam would be built in the narrow gorge at the outlet of the lake. The structure would be higher than the existing bridge.

As with the Oberaletsch project, the water would travel by tunnel to a new generating plant farther down the mountain.

The reservoir and plant would serve as backup power, in effect, for periods when electricity shortages threaten to destabilize the power grid.

It will be like insurance that you can operate for several days, Mr. Fischlin said. Such sources of additional power will increasingly be needed as Switzerland moves away from nuclear power and as climate change alters precipitation amounts and patterns.

After four years of discussions with environmentalists, ending with an agreement, KWO has begun the permitting process. Construction could start by 2022 and be finished by 2030.

By then, even less of the glacier will remain.Foreign Workers Learn Skills, Then U.S. Jobs Move Overseas

H-1B visas have also been used to bring in temporary foreign workers from outsourcing companies, mainly from India, who study the jobs of Americans and then teach employees of those companies overseas how to do them. The jobs are then moved abroad.



For four weeks this spring, workers from the global outsourcing company Tata Consultancy Services, or TCS, shadowed employees at the headquarters of Toys R Us in Wayne, N.J., taking screen shots of computers and detailed notes on how they did their jobs.

By late June, the TCS workers had produced thorough manuals for the jobs of 67 people. They then returned to India to train TCS workers to take over and perform those jobs there. The Toys R Us employees in New Jersey, many of whom had been at the company for more than a decade, were laid off.

This fall, the New York Life Insurance Company also laid off workers, and before they left, they were required to teach foreigners on H-1B visas how to do their work, so that the jobs could be moved out of the United States. One accountant said a worker from India made an exact digital recording during the day as he performed his job. At the close of business, the recording was sent to India, where workers practiced mimicking the accountants tasks.

Its all just repeating exactly what we have been doing, he said.We are encouraged that partner nations see the value in taking responsibility for the appropriate disposition of their citizens who chose to travel to Syria and fight ISIS, said Garrett Marquis, a spokesman for the White Houses National Security Council, who declined to address specific countries.

Additionally, reports last month indicated that France is close to deciding whether to bring back about 130 of its detained citizens, including men, women and children. Other European countries with large numbers of detained citizens, including Germany and Belgium, are said to be closely watching how Paris will decide, with an eye toward echoing it.

In a statement to The New York Times, Frances Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs made clear that the withdrawal of American forces from Syria had forced it to deal with the detainees.

In light of developments in the military situation in northeastern Syria and American decisions, and in order to ensure the security of French people, we are exploring all options in order to prevent these potentially dangerous individuals from escaping or dispersing, the statement said.

Christopher P. Costa, a former National Security Council senior director for counterterrorism in the Trump administration, said the new willingness by nations is a positive sign for a dilemma that has few good answers.

States dont always think that this president is predictable in many ways, so if we can enjoy countries taking on ownership of detainees, that is a good outcome of accelerating withdrawal of U.S. forces, said Mr. Costa, now the head of the International Spy Museum in Washington.

Countries have different reasons for their reluctance to take back Islamic State detainees.

Most are rooted in security concerns about people who may be difficult to successfully prosecute and imprison with lengthy sentences. Even those who pose little or no security risks may be hard to reintegrate into society because of their ideology or wartime experiences, and children who had been part of ISIS through no fault of their own are likely to be stigmatized.CAIRO  The Egyptian Parliament approved sweeping measures on Thursday that would allow President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to extend his rule until 2034, further entrenching his authoritarian rule and enshrining in law the militarys dominance over the country.

The vote by Parliament, whose workings are quietly managed by Mr. el-Sisis intelligence agencies, sets in motion a fast-moving process of constitutional change that could culminate in a referendum within three months. The referendums approval is seen as a foregone conclusion.

The changes formally confirm what has become evident to many Egyptians for years: The sweeping euphoria of 2011, when protests led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, has given way to an even harsher brand of strongman rule under a leader who also intends to rule for decades, and perhaps for life.

Washingtons unquestioning embrace of Mr. el-Sisi, whom President Trump has called a great guy, emboldened the Egyptian leader to act with little fear of American pushback.LONDON  A 19-year-old woman who left Britain in 2015 to join the Islamic State and who says she is nine months pregnant has told a reporter that she fled the last remaining village held by the terrorist group in Syria and wanted to return home.

But the woman, Shamima Begum, faces an uncertain future, with no clear answers about how she would get home to east London, or about whether Britain would try to prosecute her for terrorist offenses if she did.

Speaking to a reporter for The Times of London in Al Hawl refugee camp in northeastern Syria, Ms. Begum said she had left the village of Baghuz, the last speck of land under Islamic State control in Iraq and Syria, as Kurdish-led forces allied with the United States closed in. Her Dutch husband, an Islamic State fighter whom she married soon after arriving in Raqqa, Syria, surrendered to Syrian fighters allied to the Kurdish-led forces.

Ms. Begum said that she had lost two children  an 8-month-old son and a daughter who was nearly 2  to illness and malnutrition in recent months, and that she feared for her unborn child.LONDON  Thousands of young people in Britain are expected to abandon their classrooms and take to the streets on Friday to join a growing movement to protest the lack of action on climate change.

Inspired by a 16-year-old Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, who cut class on a weekly basis last year to stage sit-ins outside Swedens Parliament, young climate campaigners are planning to walk out of British schools, colleges and universities across 40 towns and cities on Friday.

Ive always had a strong fascination with the environment, and Ive always been aware of climate change and sustainable living, but when I saw thousands of kids around the world striking for the cause it inspired me to start my own, said Anna Taylor, 17, a co-founder of the UK Student Climate Network, which is coordinating the strikes.

The global movement, known as the Youth Strike 4 Climate, gained momentum last October following the publication of a landmark report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warning that humanity had just 12 years to avert the consequences of catastrophic climate change, with worsening food shortages, rising sea levels, floods and wildfires.STAMFORD, England  The Conservative lawmaker Nick Boles stood at the altar of a 15th-century church last week, gazing out at the people who held his political future in their hands.

They were lingering at the back of the church: a cluster of men and women in their 60s, mostly white-haired and wearing sensible coats. They were the leaders of the local conservative association, the ones deciding whether to expel Mr. Boles from his seat for trying to block a no-deal Brexit. Party leaders see the threat of no-deal as a key lever in last-minute negotiations with the European Union.

He has let us down badly, said Philip Sagar, chairman of the Grantham and Stamford Conservative Association. I cannot vote for someone who is selfish, said Matthew Lee, the leader of the District Council.

On Monday, the leaders of the local conservative association voted to start a protracted process that could result in deselection, which would prevent him from seeking re-election as a Tory. His fate is being watched closely as a bellwether of whether the Conservative Party will go on to purge other members who do not support the partys Brexit strategy.WARSAW  Vice President Mike Pence used an American-convened conference on Middle East security to lash out at Washingtons three closest European allies on Thursday, accusing them of trying to break American sanctions against Irans murderous revolutionary regime.

Mr. Pence delivered his critique of the allies, Britain, France and Germany, in an address at a Warsaw conference organized by the Trump administration. It was a remarkable, open breach with the European nations that, along with the United States, had negotiated the 2015 nuclear accord.

All three nations argued that President Trump made a grave error in abandoning the treaty last year, saying that the Iranians were in compliance even as they continued to conduct missile and space rocket tests that were not covered by the accord.

To the Europeans, it is Mr. Trump  not the Iranians  who was the first to break the agreements terms. Since then, they have been trying to persuade the Iranians to continue to comply with the deal, under which Tehran gave up 97 percent of its nuclear material and agreed not to produce any significant quantities of nuclear fuel until 2030. American intelligence agencies told Congress late last month that the Iranians were still in compliance.It has to be more, he said.

Mr. Shanahan, a former Boeing executive, is stuck between President Trumps rhetoric and the long shadow of Mr. Mattis, a retired Marine general who resigned from his position in December.

In his resignation letter, Mr. Mattis wrote of his firm belief that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships, and pointed to the divide between him and Mr. Trump on that score as a reason for stepping down.

Mattiss departure was an earthquake, said Jim Townsend, who served as a deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy under former President Barack Obama. Now NATO is looking to see whether Mr. Shanahan is going to be someone closer to the mold of Mattis or be more like what comes out of the White House.

On Thursday, after meeting with defense ministers about the NATO training mission in Afghanistan, Mr. Shanahan said there would be no unilateral troop reduction, when asked by reporters about allied concerns about a rapid withdrawal.

Even before he flew to Brussels, his trip this week tested his skill in international affairs, starting with a stop in Afghanistan to meet with President Ashraf Ghani, who objects to being excluded from peace talks involving the Trump administration and the resurgent Taliban. He traveled to Iraq and met with Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, days after Iraqi politicians reacted angrily to Mr. Trumps talk of keeping American troops in that country to watch Iran.

Mr. Trump has praised Mr. Shanahan, the deputy secretary under Mr. Mattis, and said that he could be running the Pentagon for a long time. But the president has not nominated him  or anyone else  to be defense secretary, and Mr. Shanahan has started to draw fire from some lawmakers who consider him to be out of his element.

On Tuesday, Senator James M. Inhofe, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he did not think Mr. Shanahan would be nominated and that he lacked the humility of Mr. Mattis.BEIJING  Sweden said it was investigating its ambassador to China after she was accused of arranging unauthorized, secret talks between the daughter of a Swedish bookseller detained in China and two Chinese men who had offered to help free him, but instead pressured her to keep silent.

The back-room talks over the bookseller, Gui Minhai, were held in late January at a hotel in Stockholm, his daughter, Angela Gui, said on Wednesday. She said she grew suspicious of the two businessmen as they asked bizarre questions and offered vague assurances, while wine flowed freely.

Ms. Gui accused the ambassador, Anna Lindstedt, of arranging the talks without authorization from the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The ministry said on Wednesday that it had opened an internal investigation into Ms. Lindstedt, and that an interim replacement for her had been installed pending the outcome.

I placed my faith in a senior official and was rewarded with abuse, threats and an offer of assistance from two men who were clearly unqualified to help and appeared to have other agendas, Ms. Gui said in an emailed comment about the meeting. I would like the ministry to explain how this byzantine situation arose.Brexit is not only on the desk of the Dutch minister, but it is something that everybody has to deal with, said Dirk-Jan Vermeij, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is essential that entrepreneurs prepare for all Brexit scenarios, including no-deal.

The Netherlands is clearly trying to allay any concern about how its companies will be affected by Britains divorce from the trading bloc: The country is one of Britains top trading partners, and the Dutch economy could lose out on 10 billion euros, or $11.3 billion, worth of trade because of Brexit, according to the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.

In terms of the countries exposed to Brexit, the Netherlands is one of the biggest, John Springford, deputy director of the Center for European Reform in London, said on Thursday by phone.

No-deal Brexit would be the largest hit, but all of the different scenarios are going to entail some sort of economic cost, he added.

In spite of the warnings the Netherlands issued to its businesses over the possible negative impact of Britains departure from the European Union, the Dutch are also positioning themselves to benefit from it.

The Dutch government has been selling itself as an alternative for firms based in Britain that are looking to keep their operations in the trading bloc, and it recently boasted that it was in talks with 250 companies about moving.

Britain, for its part, is steeling itself for the loss of some international business as one consequence of Brexit.LONDON  Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday suffered another significant defeat over Britains tortured exit from the European Union when a fragile truce within her Conservative Party collapsed, exposing fault lines in Parliament that are slowly widening as the deadline for leaving approaches.

By a margin of 303 to 258, lawmakers failed to support a motion endorsing the governments battered strategy for Britains withdrawal, or Brexit, ignoring a warning from one minister that doing so could worsen Mrs. Mays chances of securing changes that could make her unpopular exit plan more palatable.

The latest defeat has no legal implications but is another in a numbing series of setbacks for Mrs. May, whose proposals for leaving the bloc were rejected by a historic margin last month and who needs concessions from Brussels before bringing a revised deal back to Parliament.

Mrs. May has assured European negotiators that she can get a majority for a revised Brexit plan, if they make some concessions. But this latest show of disunity from lawmakers, and rebellion from within her own party, appeared to confirm suspicions that legislators cannot coalesce around any plan they can accept.TORONTO  For a Canadian prime minister who has tied his legacy to improving the state of Indigenous people in the country, the Valentines Day photo would seem a picture-perfect re-election campaign poster: Justin Trudeaus face cupped in the hands of his justice minister and attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould.

Ms. Wilson-Raybould was a powerful regional chief of First Nations on Canadas west coast, an advocate for Indigenous rights and a lawyer. The photo of her and Mr. Trudeau was confirmation that a new postcolonial Canada was being built.

A year later, Ms. Wilson-Raybould has resigned from Mr. Trudeaus cabinet, after being moved from the post of justice minister to minister of veterans affairs, widely considered less influential. And now Mr. Trudeau is under attack from Indigenous groups, who say her treatment raises questions about his commitment to righting the wrongs of the past.

Ms. Wilson-Rayboulds resignation came a week after a Canadian national newspaper reported, on anonymous sourcing, that either Mr. Trudeau or his staff had pressured her to back off the corruption and bribery prosecution of a prominent, Montreal-based engineering company, SNC-Lavalin.And they spent a lot of money. Chinese visitors pumped 11.5 billion Australian dollars, or $8.1 billion, into the economy in the same period, accounting for more than a quarter of spending by international visitors, according to government statistics.

Australians are greeting the travelers with signs, menus and brochures translated into Chinese  but also a degree of confusion, skepticism and sometimes racism.

We spent four days traveling with a group of tourists, and spoke to others along the way. Many of the visitors had connections to Australia, including relatives who had moved there for work or school. Others were here for the clean air, warm weather and wildlife or to tick off seeing the Sydney Opera House from their bucket list. (The group visited seven different locations to snap photos of the Opera House and nearby Harbour Bridge.)WELLINGTON, New Zealand  On Saturday, an Air New Zealand plane bound for Shanghai abruptly turned around in circumstances that remain unclear. Days later, the launch of a much-promoted tourism initiative planned between China and New Zealand was canceled, purportedly because of scheduling issues for Beijing, despite being planned for years.

The incidents have raised concerns that New Zealand is the latest target of Beijings scorn, a worrying prospect for a country that relies on China for 15.3 billion New Zealand dollars, or more than $10 billion, of its export trade, the most goods it sends to any country.

New Zealands prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, on Wednesday admitted challenges in her countrys relationship with China but denied that those ties were deteriorating. Her remarks came in response to claims by commentators and her political opponents that New Zealand was experiencing retaliation because it had joined other Western nations by taking a tough stance against the Chinese technology company Huawei.

The perception in Beijing is that New Zealand now has uncharacteristically joined the U.S. in containing China by trying to contain its technology companies  and they are prepared to retaliate, said David Mahon, a New Zealand businessman who runs the investment management firm Mahon China and has lived in Beijing for 34 years.Every step, every destination, I love you.

To spite the murderous traditions, I love you.

You are pious, your kisses are your prayer.

You are different, your kisses are your protest.

You are not afraid of love, of hope, of tomorrow.

I kiss you amid the Taliban, you are not afraid!

KABUL, Afghanistan  The poet Ramin Mazhar, who wrote these lines in Farsi, was barely 5 years old when the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to topple the Talibans oppressive regime.

In the 18 years since, Mr. Mazhar and an entire generation of largely urban Afghans have grown up with all the basic liberties, including freedom of expression, that the Taliban had erased. But as American diplomats push for a deal with the Taliban to end the long war, Mr. Mazhars generation has been gripped by fear that those liberties could be at risk.

Even Valentines Day has taken on a tinge of protest. In the Afghan tradition, love is often expressed through flowery poetry. This year, artists and activists like Mr. Mazhar are using Valentines Day to offer verses of a different sort, raising their voices against any potential erosion of rights.In that time, fire tore through the cheap polystyrene mattresses that the teenage girls had been given to sleep on, searing their flesh and muting their cries with noxious smoke.

The girls, who had broken no laws and posed no threat to society, were victims even before the fire. As survivors of sexual abuse, violence or abandonment  often at the hands of their own families  the government had assigned them to the institution for their own safety. In theory, the world outside posed the greatest threat to them.

These are girls who had been abused, sometimes raped, by members of their own family, said Norma Cruz, the director of Survivors, a group representing the families of nearly two dozen victims. These girls were placed there for their protection.

The Escape

Hogar Seguro Virgen de la Asuncion was created for children with nowhere else to go. Opened in 2010, it housed boys and girls from infancy to 17 in a gated facility on the edges of the capital, Guatemala City.

Escape had long been a theme of the home. Between September and November of 2016 alone, more than 90 children ran away, according to prosecutors who have charged more than a dozen officials in connection with the fire.

Local journalists had recounted harrowing reports of abuse inside the home as far back as 2013  rotten food, filthy bedsheets that caused skin diseases, violent orderlies.

Then, in February 2017, another batch of children began planning their own escape.

It began on Valentines Day, when the children were allowed to mingle. Scores of boys and girls agreed on a day to flee, but word of the plot began to leak. Around lunchtime on March 7, two girls faked a fight in the cafeteria, drawing the orderlies into the fracas.PARIS  French airstrikes this month in support of Chads longtime autocratic ruler, Idriss Deby, have raised a familiar question: Has France really left behind decades of deep involvement in African politics?

Frances foreign minister this week defended the strikes against Chadian rebels before a handful of puzzled members of Parliament who wondered why the country was again propping up an ironhanded African dictator  albeit one whose relatively efficient military is considered vital in the fight against terrorists.

French officials have brushed aside these qualms, insisting that it was Mr. Deby himself who invited the French. The strikes took place between Feb. 3 and 6, destroying 20 rebel pickup trucks and stopping a rebel advance, the French military said in a statement.

French analysts have been sharply critical of the intervention in Chad.

How can we convince the Europeans to have a decent policy in Africa, when we do this in Chad? asked Roland Marchal, a leading expert on the country at Sciences Po university.One of the ways that we found that people resist is through satire and irony and parody when theyre in oppressive situations, because it gives the cover of, Im making fun of you, but this is just a big joke in case you get angry, Dr. Vaz-Deville said. They blackened their already-dark skin to say, You white people are putting on white powder and coming from some mythical European space, so in the same way were going to darken our faces even more and say we come from a magical mystical place in Africa.

Either way, the eventual inclusion of white people in Zulu, which Mr. Becknell said began in the late 1970s, amped up the complication.

For years, a New Orleanian who saw a white man in blackface on a Zulu float was likely to assume that the rider was either a member or an invited guest of a person of color. Instead of a boorish racist, that white person was likely to be perceived as a racial progressive, one who openly celebrated integration.

So it is with Dr. Lutz, who for 13 years served as the city health director and forged lasting friendships with black colleagues, one of whom sponsored him for membership in the mid-1980s. He is probably one of about 10 white men, out of 525 regular members, said Zulus president, Elroy James.

Earlier this week, Dr. Lutz stopped by the members lounge of Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club on North Broad Street, the only white face in a crowd of about 30 men. (The club is all-male, but women are involved in a number of its activities.)

He was immediately greeted with warm pats on the back and cries of Doc!

In a city over-blessed with good places to have a drink, the members-only Zulu lounge is among the best of them. There was a kind of eased-back, space-age funk on the sound system, the ambience was inviting and cheerful, and the back wall exploded with vibrant photos of Zulu kings past in spectacular glittering costumes. Some were in black face and some were not. Among them was Louis Armstrong, who reigned in 1949.

Most members hewed strictly to rules forbidding them to talk publicly about club business without the consent of the president. But a number of them said the blackface masking was purely positive  a way to honor tradition and the working men, locked out of white Mardi Gras, who had invented the practice long ago.That is another way of how the Iowa Civil Rights Act has been pulled into a case specifically in the state of Iowa, Daniel Hoffman-Zinnel, the executive director of One Iowa, an advocacy group for L.G.B.T. rights, said in an interview on Thursday.

It takes time for culture to catch up to policy, he said. The time is now for things to happen.

A Department of Corrections spokesman, Cord Overton, said on Thursday: The department is working with the Office of the Attorney General to review the courts decisions, and we are evaluating our options going forward.

He did not immediately respond to emailed questions on Thursday about possible changes to policy. The other defendants named in the lawsuit, Patti Wachtendorf, a prison warden, and the Department of Administrative Services, could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Vroeghs lawsuit described a lifetime of gender identity milestones. Assigned the female gender at birth, he knew he was male since he was 7 years old, the lawsuit said. In the third grade, he started using the name Jessie, which sounded like a traditionally male name, it said. Mr. Vroegh said in the interview that he derived the name from the one he was given at birth.

In 2000, he presented as male in the way he dressed and cut his hair, the lawsuit said.

Mr. Vroegh started working for the Correctional Institute for Women, a prison in Mitchellville, Iowa, in 2009 as a registered nurse, which he described in the interview as a fulfilling job. I loved working with the ladies who I took care of in the prison, he said.

He also had supportive colleagues, some of whom attended his wedding to his wife, Jackie Vroegh, in 2010, he said.

In 2014, Mr. Vroegh received a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, was given medical treatment and was advised to socially transition to living full-time as a male in every aspect of his life, the lawsuit said. He started using hormone therapy, asked others to use male pronouns when speaking to or about him, and started to use public restrooms for men, according to the lawsuit.Mr. Northam has been mocked for the revelation that he was only now reading Roots by Alex Haley and The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates. His comments that the first Africans brought to Virginia 400 years ago were indentured servants did nothing to help his case. And one of the first major pieces of legislation that lawmakers passed after the blackface controversy was a tax bill  now headed to the governors desk for his signature  that was strongly criticized by black legislators for providing few benefits to poor Virginians.

That was a missed opportunity, said Delegate Lashrecse Aird, a black lawmaker from the Petersburg area.

Mr. Northam faced increased pressure to step down after he admitted that he had darkened his face to dance like Michael Jackson in a contest in the early 1980s. Some of the political pressure has since shifted toward the two other Democrats next in line to replace him: the lieutenant governor, Justin E. Fairfax, who has been accused by two women of sexual assault; and the attorney general, Mark Herring, who acknowledged that he had worn blackface for a costume around the same time as Mr. Northam had.

The next official would be Kirk Cox, the Republican speaker of the House. You can see out of the blocks it has been difficult for him, Mr. Cox said of the governor. Leading any effort at racial reconciliation would be a challenge for the governor, Mr. Cox said pointedly, while hes in office.

[For more coverage of race, sign up here to have our Race/Related newsletter delivered weekly to your inbox.]WASHINGTON  The Senate confirmed William P. Barr on Thursday for a second stint as attorney general, handing oversight of the Justice Department  and its investigation into links between Russias interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign  to a seasoned Republican legal hand known for his expansive view of presidential power.

Mr. Barr was sworn in hours later, beginning a new chapter for a department that has been battered by criticism from President Trump. The president lost confidence in and publicly scorned his first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, after he recused himself from overseeing the Russia investigation. The department was further rattled when Mr. Trump installed a relatively inexperienced loyalist, Matthew G. Whitaker, Mr. Sessionss chief of staff, as a temporary replacement in November.

Mr. Barr faces an array of challenges, not least retaining the confidence of both Mr. Trump and Congress as he steers the department through the anticipated conclusion of the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, and the question of whether and how to make any report from Mr. Mueller public.

Morale has suffered among the departments 115,000 employees amid accusations that its work has been politicized. And Mr. Barr will presumably want to put his own stamp on the administrations agenda following Mr. Sessions, who for all his problems with the president pushed successfully to put in place conservative policies on civil rights, voting rights, immigration, drugs, policing and crime, among other issues.Good Thursday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today.

_____________________

 Close to reluctantly accepting a spending deal to avert another government shutdown, President Trump sought to reassure supporters that he would not give up on his build the wall pledge, saying he had options that most people dont understand.

 Mr. Trumps border wall has taken a back seat in Congresss budget negotiations, which instead have focused on the record number of immigrants in detention.

 A federal judge found that Paul Manafort, the onetime chairman of the Trump campaign, repeatedly lied to prosecutors after agreeing to cooperate with the special counsels Russia investigation. The multiple untruths could lead to a longer sentence.WASHINGTON  The Trump administration defended itself on Thursday amid a barrage of criticism from angry taxpayers who are disappointed that they are receiving smaller tax refunds after the 2017 Republican tax cuts.

The slimmer refunds, which are down about 8.7 percent from the same period a year ago, have been seized on by opponents of the tax cuts and Democratic lawmakers as proof that the Republican tax law did little to help average Americans.

On Thursday, the administration rolled out fresh data to try to explain to taxpayers that their 2018 refunds were smaller because they received most of their tax cut in the form of bigger paychecks last year.

Most people are seeing the benefits of the tax cut in larger paychecks throughout the year, instead of tax refunds that are the result of people overpaying the government, a Treasury Department spokeswoman said. Smaller refunds mean that people are withholding appropriately based on their tax liability, which is positive news for taxpayers.In 1991, you pleaded guilty to two counts of withholding information from Congress regarding your involvement in the Iran-contra affair, for which you were later pardoned by President George H. W. Bush. I fail to understand why members of this committee, or the American people, should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful. If I could respond to that  It wasnt a question. On Feb.  It was an attack  That was not, that was not a question. That was  I  I reserve the right to my time. It is not  It is not right  That was not a question  that a member of this committee can attack  On Feb. 8  a witness who is not permitted to reply. That that was not a question. Thank you for your participation. On Feb. 8, 1982, you testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about U.S. policy in El Salvador. In that hearing, you dismissed as communist propaganda report about the massacre of El Mozote in which more than 800 civilians, including children as young as 2 years old, were brutally murdered by U.S.-trained troops. During that massacre, some of those troops bragged about raping a 12-year-old girl before they killed them  girls before they killed them. You later said that the U.S. policy in El Salvador was a fabulous achievement. Yes or no, do you still think so? From the day that President Duarte was elected in a free election to this day, El Salvador has been a democracy. Thats a fabulous achievement. Yes or no, do you think that massacre was a fabulous achievement that happened under our watch? That is a ridiculous question, and I will not  Yes or no? No. I will  Im sorry, Ms.  take that as a yes. Im not going to respond to that kind of personal attack, which is not a question. Yes or no, would you support an armed faction within Venezuela that engages in war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide, if you believe they were serving U.S. interests, as you did in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua? I am not going to respond to that question. Im sorry. I dont think this entire line of questioning is meant to be real questions. And so I will not reply.The Democratic National Committee on Thursday unveiled the criteria for participation in the first two presidential primary debates, splitting the debates across two consecutive nights to accommodate an already sprawling field of candidates.

Party officials, anticipating a rush of candidates eager to grab a spot in the nationally televised forums, created a new set of standards that would accommodate a maximum of 20 candidates. To qualify, a candidate must either reach 1 percent in three approved polls or raise money from at least 65,000 donors in 20 states, with at least 200 unique donors in each state. Each candidates slot will be selected by a random drawing.

The criteria will apply only to the first two debates, scheduled for back-to-back weeknights in June and July, allowing the committee to update its requirements as the field shifts. NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo are sponsoring the first debate, and CNN will host the second, with specific dates and locations to be announced in the coming weeks.Building a border wall. Its the holy grail of President Trumps immigration policy. The United States will not be a migrant camp, and it will not be a refugee holding facility. It wont be. But at the border, theres a kind of chaos unfolding that a wall might not fix. The Trump administrations hard-line stance on keeping migrants out is pushing asylum seekers to take remote and dangerous routes into the United States. Heres how this is playing out. The border stretches nearly 2,000 miles, and these are the official ports of entry. More than 650 miles already have barriers installed. Fences, barbed wire or vehicle barricades. Over the years, thats pushed people to try riskier routes to get across. And since 2014, more families have been arriving. And many of them are seeking asylum, a human right protected by both U.S. and international law. The Trump administrations hard-hitting crackdown includes a tactic called metering. Documents ready. Entering through an official border crossing is one way to request asylum. But thats become more difficult under Trump. The practice of metering allows border agents to limit the number of asylum seekers that are processed each day by delaying them from setting foot into the U.S. We can see it in action here, at the Paso del Norte crossing in El Paso, Texas. Officers are standing right at the border, trying to intercept people before they get to the border station. This tactic is deliberate. Once people reach U.S. soil, they have the right to claim asylum. But if they never cross the border, they have to come back another day. Metering is not new. But the Trump administration has taken it to a new level. Were metering, which means that if we dont have the resources to let them in on a particular day, theyre going to come back. So theyre going to wait their turn. But as the government is limiting asylum seekers, theyre still funneling people to these same ports of entry to seek asylum. Instead migrants seeking asylum will have to present themselves lawfully at a port of entry. This is creating bottlenecks. Here, in Tijuana, is a vivid example of how metering plays out. Thousands of migrants are stuck. Human rights observers say that some are camping in squalid and dangerous conditions. The situation is leading migrants to try riskier routes through desolate terrain, where theyre at greater risk of dehydration and other illnesses. Theyre showing up in places like Antelope Wells, N.M. Its extremely remote and mountainous. Antelope Wells is part of the El Paso border area, which has seen a dramatic increase in the number of families crossing far away from official border stations. As you can see here, this increase happened right when the practice of metering expanded. And many are crossing in groups of 100 or more, like this one that arrived in January. But these remote outposts lack facilities, especially to deal with children. 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin and her father crossed here on Dec. 6, where they encountered Border Patrol. They were brought to a nearby outpost, where Jakelin got sick. It took an overnight journey with multiple stops, including a 94-mile bus ride and an air ambulance evacuation to get her to the childrens hospital in El Paso. Her condition worsened, and she later died. 12 days later, another father crossed the border in the El Paso area with his 8-year-old child. Felipe Gomez Alonzo was in custody for six days. He died from the flu on Christmas Eve. Border Patrol officials say that theyre not equipped to deal with all of this. Our infrastructure is incompatible with this reality. Our Border Patrol stations and ports of entry were built to handle mostly male, single adults in custody, not families or children. But the practice of metering is forcing people through more remote routes, in turn overtaxing these far-flung outposts and putting a strain on officers. Its also leading to ever-more-dangerous consequences for migrants.CHICAGO  Fellow inmates battered Jason Van Dyke, the white former Chicago police officer convicted of murdering a black teenager, shortly after his arrival at a federal prison in Connecticut this month, Mr. Van Dykes lawyers and his wife said.

Mr. Van Dyke, who was sentenced in January to nearly seven years in prison in the 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald, was transferred last week from an Illinois prison to the federal penitentiary in Danbury, Conn. Mr. Van Dykes lawyers said he suffered injuries to his face and was bruised, but was expected to recover.

Were just asking that Jason Van Dyke be allowed to serve his time, said Daniel Herbert, one of Mr. Van Dykes lawyers, at a news conference on Thursday. Hes a tough man. Hell go in there and serve his sentence and keep his mouth shut. But he needs to be protected, because he cant protect himself in there.

Federal prison officials confirmed that there was an assault resulting in minor injuries on Feb. 7, but they did not answer questions about his lawyers account of the attack or the reasons for Mr. Van Dykes transfer to the Connecticut prison. Illinois prison officials confirmed that Mr. Van Dyke, who was convicted in state court, had been transferred out of state custody, but they declined to provide any other details.Leer en espanol

Welcome to Crossing the Border, a new limited-run weekly newsletter from The New York Times. Like what you see? Send this newsletter to a friend. If someone forwarded it to you, sign up here to have the next issue delivered to your inbox.

Crossing the border can be done in a rental car, inching northward from, say, the tumult of Tijuana. It can be done on foot, over the walkway that runs in a southern direction from Laredo, Tex., to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. I spent four years as a reporter based in Mexico and two in Arizona, and Ive stood on stretches of the border with one boot in one country and the companion in the other.

With the border so much in the news these days, and with New York Times correspondents spending so much of their time crisscrossing back and forth, we figured wed offer readers the chance to spend some time there, too.

Follow along and youll get a more nuanced sense of the long line between Mexico and the United States. Its neither as terrifying nor as trouble free as its portrayed.

 MARC LACEY, National editorIn New York, public polling as recently as last week showed that a majority of New Yorkers supported the states deal with Amazon. But Amazons opponents among community groups, unions and public officials were fierce, and they held the power to stymie the deal.

In the short time since Amazon first announced its search for a new headquarters in 2017, the political climate in a liberal city like New York has also turned decidedly against big corporations (Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose district includes part of Queens, hailed the defeat of Amazons corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world).

What is perhaps most revealing, however, lies in the package Amazon will take from Virginia. Company officials said many times over the past year that subsidies werent the primary driver of its decision, although the premise of the public auction seemed to be that few would believe them. In fact, Amazon rejected the biggest offers on the table. It didnt take the $7 billion, or the $8.5 billion, or the $9.7 billion.

Amazon chose Virginia, even when Maryland offered it access to the same labor market for 10 times as much money. The other differences between the two bids  Maryland offered a far less desirable site  are precisely the kinds of details that matter more. Virginias offer was relatively modest and straightforward, with subsidies for each high-paying job created in the coming years, and a grant from Arlington County tied to growth in local hotel tax revenue.

Virginia also pledged to invest about $200 million in improving infrastructure around Amazons campus, but thats money that will directly benefit local residents as much as Amazons employees.

That package still angers some Virginia residents who believe that one of the worlds richest companies doesnt need any incentives at all. But its a comfort to critics that the windfall is so far from their worst Amazon fears. If Amazons goal was to get the locations many people expected it to choose anyway to pay as much as possible, that is not how the story ended.

Amazon wanted to be in Northern Virginia, but the region was savvier than most about its incentives. Amazon wanted to be in New York, but its push for incentives  and insistence on secrecy along the way  directly undermined the deal. The politics of all of this grew even worse once New Yorkers realized they would pay so much more for the same prize in Virginia.One mans trash really can be another mans treasure. At least thats the lesson you might take from Stomp, the durable New York-based stage show that has become a long-running institution in a city where sticking power can be hard to come by.

About to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its New York premiere, Stomp has endured, not thanks to high-priced sets and effects, but from wielding everyday objects like brooms, garbage cans and wooden poles to create a wordless percussive explosion onstage. And lets not forget the 150 or so performers who have smacked their way in and out of its cast. (On March 3, some alumni will join the current cast in the two performances, followed by a private party.)

Stomp is the brainchild of Luke Cresswell, 55, and Steve McNicholas, 63, who still maintain creative control. (Blue Man Group, another downtown mainstay, was sold to Cirque du Soleil in 2017.) And while they have expressed interest in branching out  in 1997, Mr. McNicholas told the Times, Were kind of trapped, because we dont feel we can walk away from it  Stomp has come to define their lives.NEW DELHI  Indias government has proposed giving itself vast new powers to suppress internet content, igniting a heated battle with global technology giants and prompting comparisons to censorship in China.

Under the proposed rules, Indian officials could demand that Facebook, Google, Twitter, TikTok and others remove posts or videos that they deem libelous, invasive of privacy, hateful or deceptive. Internet companies would also have to build automated screening tools to block Indians from seeing unlawful information or content. Another provision would weaken the privacy protections of messaging services like WhatsApp so that the authorities could trace messages back to their original senders.

The new rules could be imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modis government anytime after the public comment period ends on Thursday night. The administration has been eager to get them in place before the date is set for this springs national elections, which will prompt special pre-election rules limiting new policies.

Civil liberties groups and other critics said the changes would violate constitutional protections for free speech and privacy and put India in the same league as autocratic countries like China and Russia. Some of them suggested that the Modi administration was rushing to adopt the regulations so it could more easily pressure the tech platforms to remove social media posts by political opponents in the coming election.This Valentines Day, T asked five writers to compose a love letter (of sorts) to an actor or fictional character who has been nominated  or, in one case, passed over  this year for the 91st Academy Awards. Here, the writer Hilton Als, who curated the exhibition God Made My Face: A Collective Portrait of James Baldwin, on view now at David Zwirner gallery, shares a letter to the actor Rachel Weisz, who earned a nomination for best supporting actress for her role as Lady Sarah in The Favourite.

One of the more difficult aspects of life in Manhattan is finding a way to cope with acquaintances who toil in what is commonly referred to as the arts but who, despite producing plays, movies, books and the like, fail to make art. While talent or a lack thereof is certainly a factor when it comes to all this, what separates the true artist from the artist in name only, is a certain fearlessness, the ability to put one foot in front of the other without exactly knowing where they will land but trusting that the imprint they make will be distinctive, and look real in an imaginary world.Members and some residents wants the council to adopt an ordinance against cooperating with the federal immigration agency.

Kennebunk Post

"We are trying to tell the narrative of our town as a whole, all the pieces that makes us who we are today."More subversive are the minimalist and impeccably haute plates designed for Instagram by Chef Jacques La Merde (@chefjacqueslamerde, the alias of the Toronto-based chef Christine Flynn) made up almost entirely of junk food, such as Velveeta foam, spherified Gatorade and Doritos crushed into a decorative soil. At the opposite end of the spectrum are the struggle plates highlighted by the account @cookingforbae, memorializing the failures of home cooks: plasticky processed cheese slices wilted over French fries, perhaps, or octopus tentacles swarming from the cavity of a chicken (a picture that was, indeed, reposted by a Chinese Instagrammer with the hashtag #darkcuisine). While the satire of these accounts isnt particularly profound  you get the point after a few posts  they share the same mission as dark cuisine, gleefully undermining the idea of conventionally beautiful (and therefore worthy) food.

A similar interrogation takes place at the Disgusting Food Museum, which opened in October 2018 in Malmo, Sweden, and recently mounted a two-month exhibition in Los Angeles. The collection of 80 items from 41 countries includes the likes of salty licorice from Scandinavia, sticky natto (fermented soybeans) from Japan and funky huitlacoche (a fungus that feeds on corn) from Mexico. Viewers are invited to sample certain dishes, with a complimentary barf bag in hand, just in case. I want people to question what they find disgusting, the lead curator, Samuel West, a Swedish clinical and organizational psychologist, has said.

Still, the museums self-proclaimed disgusting holdings cite China more than any other country. Among the delights attributed to the nation are an anemic-pink coil of bull penis and rice wine infused with the corpses of baby mice, neither of which is actually consumed on a regular basis, and hardly the equivalent of the museums American contributions: root beer and Pop-Tarts. Even within China, some diners might look skeptically at mouse wine and call it dark cuisine; as Gao pointed out, China is so vast, whats happily eaten in one province might be shunned as strange in another.

Rodgers, the maker of the stargazy pie that won fame in China, wondered, in a 2017 conversation on her blog with the Chinese-cookbook author Fuchsia Dunlop, why her dish had caused such a fuss. Dunlop replied, You are just getting a taste of what its like the other way round  the way the West routinely levies mockery at Eastern dishes. Earlier this decade, an online report on CNN placed pidan, or century egg, a snack and ingredient beloved in China and throughout Southeast Asia  the egg preserved in slaked lime until the whites brown and the yolks turn green  on a list of the worlds most revolting  foods. Pidan is enshrined at the Disgusting Food Museum, too. The American chef David Chang addresses such prejudice directly in the title of his Netflix series Ugly Delicious (2018). In sampling regional delicacies from Japan, China, Mexico and the American South, he argues not simply that seemingly ugly dishes can, in fact, taste good, but that ugliness itself is a sham: a cultural construct. When Chang, who is of Korean descent, was growing up in Virginia in the 1980s, his peers thought the food he ate at home and brought for school lunches was gross, as hes recalled. Now, they clamor for similar dishes at his 12 restaurants worldwide. Eating, one of the most basic human acts, can separate as much as connect us.

But consider again the stargazy pie. For diners from both East and West, whole sardines on a plate, however beady-eyed, would be unlikely to inspire dread; nor would a pie with an untroubled crust, seafood tidily tucked beneath. Its the sight of the fish gasping to escape their pastry tomb that startles and thrills. The dish belongs to a category of food that compels us in part by repelling us  and draws us now perhaps more than ever, in an age when were relentlessly inundated with images of gorgeous food, when social medias fantasy record of the way we eat is a ceaseless slide show of ingredients arrayed and lit down to the last centimeter.

Stargazy pie makes no accommodation for contemporary notions of what looks delicious or makes a dish an object of status or desire. Its liberatingly unbeautiful; it doesnt hide what it is. Instead, it offers the starkest, simplest, most comforting vision of how to live: Here is fish, here is pie. Lets eat.

Photo assistant: Matthew Bernucca. Stylists assistant: Stephanie Redhead. Octopus: Shipwreck Seafood, Brooklyn, N.Y.Back in the day, Donald J. Trump was known to study New Yorks larger-than-life figures, swashbucklers like George Steinbrenner and Frank Sinatra, to develop the swagger he wanted to have as he rose in prominence. And then there was John Gotti, the crime boss.

I know that they knew each other, said his daughter Victoria Gotti, on a recent evening over home-cooked dinner at her mansion in Nassau County, N.Y. Light from a fireplace spilled onto the Tuscan columns and dark-wood-paneled walls of a rococo den, while a likeness of her father grinned inside the frame of a nearby oil painting.

With a dollop of rigatoni in veal Bolognese on her plate, Ms. Gotti, 56, formerly a columnist for The New York Post and David Peckers Star magazine, recalled a particular churning of the citys tabloid underworld.

I was working at The Post and Trump asked me to do a piece on the Atlantic City fiasco, she said, referring to one of the future presidents failed casinos. He was upset at how The Daily News perceived it and wanted to go on the record, so he called me and I went to his office. Id seen him in passing and he always was very generous, hed either pick up a bill or stop at the table. But then he said to me: Your dad and I, weve been in each others company. We know a lot of the same people.El Espace is a column dedicated to news and culture relevant to Latinx communities. Expect politics, arts, analysis, personal essays and more. Lo mejor? Itll be in Spanish and English, so you can forward it to your tia, your primo Lalo or anyone else (read: everyone).

In the 1999 Colombian telenovela Yo Soy Betty, la Fea, viewers were introduced to the character of Beatriz Betty Pinzon Solano: a brilliant, accomplished woman in her mid-20s who is held back professionally because of her looks. Betty, played by the actress Ana Maria Orozco, had a unibrow, braces and blunt bangs. She wore oversized red framed glasses and unflattering clothes, and her voice was raspy in a swallowed-a-frog kind of way. In the telenovela, Betty struggles to find employment, despite her graduate degree in economics, so she ends up accepting a position as a secretary at a fashion company. There, she falls in love with her handsome boss, Armando, who, despite his initial revulsion, falls for her too.

Bettys story struck a chord with viewers, in Colombia and elsewhere. Betty, la Fea has spawned remakes all over the world: In Mexico, there was La Fea Mas Bella, starring Angelica Vale. In the United States, America Ferrera won an Emmy for her starring role in Ugly Betty, which ran on ABC for four seasons . Production companies in Spain, Greece, the Philippines, Brazil and Thailand have all released their own versions. And last week, Telemundo premiered its own reboot, Betty en NY.

Im a huge fan of the original. So huge that I refused to watch Ugly Betty when it aired on ABC. It could never match up, I thought. Betty was different from other female novela protagonists of the 90s and early aughts, because she was distinguished by her intellect rather than her looks. And despite the social barriers she faced as a result of others superficiality, she never felt bad for herself. Instead, she and her friend Nicolas Mora even made light of their circumstances. In the very first episode of the Colombian original, Nicolas, joking about the challenges of finding a job, says they should try out for the circus. Betty, in a fit of laughter, adds that they could be hired to scare the lions into behaving.That should do the trick. But if the president argues that the jars are harmless or merely kitsch, send her a link to the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University. Our country has produced  and continues to make  troves of racist objects. Her collectibles are no exception.

Image Credit... Christoph Niemann

Too Close

My mother-in-law and her boyfriend purchased a home in our small neighborhood, despite our stated objections. We are socially active with our neighbors, and my mother-in-law told us that they intend to be, too. I anticipate lots of well-intentioned questions about their arrival. Is there a polite way to say that their move was made against our wishes? Pretending to be happy about it compounds my irritation and makes me feel disingenuous.

ANONYMOUS

I totally get your annoyance. But fortunately, you will not be testifying in front of Robert Mueller (or otherwise under oath) when you answer your neighbors questions about your in-laws. Better to be opaque than poison the well against family members in advance. (I might feel differently if your neighbors were close friends.)

Say, Well see how it goes. And try to mean it. Your mother-in-law and her boyfriend seem unconcerned with honoring boundaries. On the other hand, who are you to prevent them from buying their dream home? Now that the moving vans are pulling up, focus on creating respectful barriers between your households. (Visits by appointment only!) And if youre going to say anything about your new neighbors to the old ones, aim for optimism.

Divided by Dogs

Weve had two good friends move within a four-hour radius of our house. We were thrilled about it and looked forward to having them over for weekend visits. When we invited our first friend, he asked if he could bring his dog. We said no. He declined our invitation. The same thing happened with our second friend. She cited the expense of a dog sitter, even though she does very well financially. Is there a way to encourage our friends to visit without their dogs?Namibia is famed for its deserts, including the worlds oldest, a vast expanse of undulating, scorched sand dunes occasionally visited by an ethereal fog. But around 300 million years ago, Namibia was frozen and located near the South Pole, smooshed against what is now South America within the emerging Pangea supercontinent.

There, it was a superhighway for fast-moving ice, as glacial fragments slipped away from a colossal ice cap in southern Africa, and carved signatures in the underlying rock as they sped into what is now Brazil. The two countries today are separated by roughly 3,500 miles of Atlantic Ocean. But a team of researchers reported last month in PLoS One that they had pieced together a picture of this ancient flow of ice between the two landmasses.

The key piece of evidence came in the form of lacerated Namibian hills formed long ago by the migration of glaciers and icy rivers. This study features descriptions of some of the oldest of these ice-formed sculptures, and it is the first time they have been described in southern Africa.

Trying to identify such ancient features in the geological record is a tremendous challenge, said James Lea, a lecturer in glaciology at the University of Liverpool who was not involved in the study. But if the findings are confirmed by additional field work, he said, their preservation represents a minor miracle, and provides a fascinating insight into the behavior of a largely lost ancient glacial landscape.In the 17th century the French mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes built a bridge between the algebraic and geometric realms when he devised the Cartesian system of coordinates. (He also classified six primitive passions: wonder and love, hatred and desire, sadness and joy.)

[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]

Suss  occupying three-dimensional space, defined by the coordinates x, y and z  also incorporates a more recent concept: extreme points, or singularities, which are their own subject of study in the field of algebraic geometry.

If you look at the shape of the heart, you will see one peak on the bottom, and another peak on the top, said Andreas Daniel Matt, a mathematician and the director at Imaginary. (The peak at the top is indented.)

In general, a singularity typically corresponds to a jump in an otherwise continuous process. In physics, its a point with an infinite value. The Big Bang singularity is the biggest singularity in the history of the universe. In general relativity, a singularity is the heart of a black hole from which one would never emerge.

A naked singularity, by contrast, would be more forgiving (although its not thought to actually exist in nature). Roughly, a naked singularity is one you could fall into and you could escape from, said Roger Penrose, a mathematical physicist at the University of Oxford, who has an article on singularity theorems in the forthcoming book Topology and Physics.For two years, Steve McGee and Dennis Kenney shared a one-bedroom-plus at Chelsea Landmark on West 25th Street, with nearly 900 square feet that included a dining room and an extra half bathroom. The monthly rent climbed into the high $6,000s.

Mr. McGee, who came to New York from the Midwest for work, totted up the amount he had spent on rent in his seven years in the city. It was in the vicinity of $500,000.

I did not want to keep putting my money in the hands of a landlord instead of contributing to something I would own, said Mr. McGee, 50, an executive whose office is in Union, N.J. I could be well on the way to having a nice amount of equity.

Mr. Kenney, 41, who is from Boston and spent years moving among New York rentals, was especially eager to set down roots. A few years ago, he found himself teaching performing arts on the Gulf Coast of Florida and planning to buy a home there. Thats where he met Mr. McGee, returning with him to the city.Only a handful of Democrats in Congress (and just one Democrat-adjacent presidential contender) identify as socialist, but they appear to be the chief targets of President Trump as he faces a confident Democratic opposition in the House of Representatives. We are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country, he said in his State of the Union address two weeks ago, declaring that America will never be a socialist country.

The White House actually presaged this strategy last October, just before the midterm elections, in a report from its Council of Economic Advisers. They cite calls for single-payer health care and higher tax rates as evidence that socialism is making a comeback in American political discourse, with, they argue, dire consequences for the American economy. Next came the presidents address to Congress. And this week at a rally in El Paso, Tex., Trump went after the radical left, blasting a caricature of progressive climate policies. I really dont like their policy of taking away your car, of taking away your airplane flights, of Lets hop a train to California, he said, bizarrely adding that under the Green New Deal resolution introduced by liberal Democrats, Youre not allowed to own cows anymore.

The clear expectation is that many or most Americans will recoil at any hint of socialism, either on principle or because of its association with Venezuela, which the administration has tried to elevate as a major adversary. That might have been true in Trumps cultural and political touchstone , the 1980s, when Ronald Reagans hard-line anti-Communism defined American foreign and domestic policy. But in 2019, the Cold War is long over. The Soviet Union is a memory. And there is no comparable global ideological struggle over economic systems that might give weight to Trumps rhetoric. Theres not much fear to monger. Instead, the presidents decision to make socialism his opponent might have the opposite effect, potentially bolstering the movement and its ideals.

Because the Cold War is well in the rearview mirror of history, the United States also has a growing cohort of voters with no experience of its political environment. Thirty-five percent of voters in the 2018 elections were born in November 1973 or later, according to exit polls from CNN. The oldest in that group would have been teenagers during the fall of the Berlin Wall; the youngest were born nearly 10 years afterward. Making the ground even less fertile for the socialist charge is the fact of the 2008 recession, which produced worsening views of capitalism, especially among young Americans, who showed growing receptivity to views such as basic health insurance is a right for all people and basic necessities, such as food and shelter, are a right that the government should provide to those unable to afford them. In truth, these ideas fit well into the modern history of capitalist governance. But the politics of the past 10 years have given them a left-wing tinge.PHILADELPHIA  I remember the first time I saw a teenager die. He came to Temple University Hospital in the back of a police cruiser with three bullet holes in his chest. He was wearing bluejeans that had turned red.

The nurses cut them off and threw them at the end of the bed. The bluejeans that were no longer blue dangled for a while, eventually falling into the puddle of blood collecting underneath them. After nothing more could be done to save him, the bed that held his thin body was rolled away, leaving streaks of blood across the floor.

As a first-year medical student, this image haunted me. I think it always will.

Over and over, young Americans from Parkland, Fla., to North Philadelphia are carried into ambulances and the back seats of police cars and rushed to a hospital. The emergency room nurses and doctors lift them onto stretchers. If they are awake, they may ask if theyre going to die. The doctor tells them no.

Once inside, the trauma team yells out locations of holes in their body. The medical student tapes paper clips to each bullet wound so that theyre visible on X-ray. If the heart stops, doctors break through the sternum with a mallet and a chisel.The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram, and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.To the Editor:

Re How Silicon Valley Puts the Con in Consent (editorial, Feb. 3):

Fewer than five clicks. Thats all it takes to change privacy settings on your favorite social media or streaming service. Youd be hard pressed to find a brick-and-mortar service that gives its customers the same granular control over their information as internet companies offer.

Theres no denying that terms and conditions are long and complex; no one wants to read through 30 pages of fine print. But the internet didnt invent lengthy contracts. We encounter and agree to them all the time, including when we purchase airline tickets or car insurance, join a supermarket loyalty program or sign up for a gym membership.

Online platforms, unlike most traditional business, proactively create contextual tools that help people better understand and control their privacy settings. Contrast that with cellphone carriers selling our location to bounty hunters or magazine publishers selling our subscription information to data brokers.

Companies across every sector of the economy collect and use consumer data. Thats why we support an economywide federal privacy law that requires real transparency and meaningful control over how data is collected, used and shared.To the Editor:

Re Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Headquarters (nytimes.com, Feb. 14):

Amazon doesnt like democracy. When people start asking tough questions, it cant take the heat.

In 2017, Amazon paid $0 in federal income taxes . Jeff Bezos is the richest man on the planet. This is not a company that needs several billion of our tax dollars as a bribe. Amazon projected that it would employ more than 25,000 people in its so-called HQ2. Google plans to expand to some 20,000 employees in New York City without a public subsidy .

Opponents of the project were asking questions that Amazon didnt like answering. Is it wrong to ask this giant company if it planned to fight unionization? Or to ask why the City Council was cut out of the planning process ? These are reasonable questions. Amazon was intent on being the master  but New Yorkers have a different idea about the future of our city.

Peter Hogness

Brooklyn

To the Editor:

It was sensible to give Amazon large tax breaks in exchange for its huge investment. Thousands of quality jobs would have been created, thereby generating fresh tax revenues in perpetuity. And successful investments tend to attract more investments. Conversely, anti-development policies reap what they sow. New York City will lose much more than just Amazon for years to come.

A relatively small gaggle of entitled citizens, unions and servile politicians shouldnt have been able to destroy this precious opportunity.Donald Trumps foreign policy has mostly been shambolic, but credit where it is due: Other than the stunning folly of the announced withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria, where they could help check Tehrans regional ambitions, he has gotten Iran mostly right.

Americas withdrawal from the nuclear deal has not led Iran to resume its nuclear program (despite some gesturing to that effect). A tougher U.S. tone is likely behind the sharp drop in Iranian harassment of U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf. The resumption of sanctions has put Iran under acute economic stress.

Most importantly, ordinary Iranians know where to pin the blame. Last summer, social media captured Iranian protesters chanting Death to Palestine, No to Gaza, no to Lebanon, and Leave Syria and think of us. These are people sick of going hungry and unpaid while singing the Death to America theme song.

The overarching goal of Western policy cannot be to appease Iran into making partial and temporary concessions on its nuclear program, purchased at the cost of financing its other malignant aims. The goal must be to put an end, finally, to 40 years of Persian night.

This should not be a military campaign. But it can be a campaign of economic pressure, to put Irans leaders to a fundamental choice between their ideological ambitions and the needs of their people. It can be a campaign of diplomatic pressure, to underscore that a regime that routinely flouts the rules of civilized countries cant be treated as one itself. It can be an intelligence campaign, to continue to expose and subvert Irans efforts to acquire and field strategic arms.

Above all, it has to be a human-rights campaign. Liberals and progressives should not find it difficult to join conservatives in championing the rights of women in Iran, particularly women removing their headscarves in public and courageously facing the consequences. Nor should it be difficult for liberals and conservatives alike to call attention to the plight of Irans political prisoners, much as both sides were once moved to action by the plight of political prisoners in the Soviet Union or China or South Africa.

Back when there was an idea of something called the free world, led by the United States, Americans cared about such things, and were willing to act. It is not too late for Americans to do so again, when so many are still in the dark.

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Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.Here is one example of that, supposedly: The Joko governments decision to dissolve Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, a pan-Islamist political organization that supports the creation of a worldwide caliphate. Another purported sign of the governments anti-Islam bend is a subpoena that was issued two years ago against Rizieq Shihab, an imam from the Islamic Defenders Front, whom the police suspected of sexting and violating anti-pornography laws.

The voices of Islamic groups have seemed amplified of late, but, to be honest, they have been sounding for quite a long time, both in politics and throughout society. The 1998 Reformasi movement, which ended Suhartos 32-year dictatorship and brought democratization, didnt just allow for political liberalization; it also opened up a space for Islamic political ideas.

The Prosperous Justice Party, formerly known as the Justice Party, was born from on-campus spiritual groups, but it now openly promotes the application of Islamic law. PAN, at first an inclusive nationalist party, has moved closer to conservative Islamist groups. Amien Rais, one of PANs founders, doesnt hesitate to call it the party of Allah  and to call Mr. Jokos Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle the devils party.

In the late 1990s, when you went to a public school, you rarely came across a female student or teacher who was wearing a head scarf; today, its the opposite. Same for employees in government offices. Of course, this doesnt mean that these women necessarily support the political opposition, and it cant be assumed that they are conservative, much less radical. The head scarf might be a simple expression of individual piety. Still, the trend cant be ignored either.

Regional ordinances to accommodate Shariah law have multiplied, the result of the relative autonomy of some regions. The specifics vary, ranging from the call for city officials to wear Muslim dress to the ban on the sale, distribution and consumption of alcohol. More absurd  and more frightening  are the movements for underage marriage and against vaccines. Both are quite shrill, and both use religious explanations to justify their stances: Early marriage prevents adultery, the popular cleric Ustaz Arifin Ilham has said, and according to one fatwa, vaccines are not halal. Idioms like hijrah  meaning to improve ones life by conforming to Islam  are heard more and more frequently.

With the Islamization of Indonesian society now evidently being mobilized toward political ends, Mr. Joko must proceed with caution. Yet he may have gone too far.

To give a good impression to Muslim voters, Mr. Joko has been presenting himself as a pious leader who worships diligently. He has even become a prayer imam and makes frequent visits to Islamic boarding schools. He has also closed his eyes and ears to certain cases brought on religious grounds, knowing that any statement could inflame grass-roots Muslims.Forty percent of our land is farmed or ranched, which is to say, the soil is basically conscripted as a food factory. The food system is already pervasively shaped by the Farm Bill, which spends nearly $15 billion per year on subsidies and $10 billion on conservation measures, deeply shaping what farmers grow and where, and tending to benefit large, industrially oriented operations. Food production can be much less carbon-intensive with changed practices in cropping, fertilizing, irrigation and waste management, many of them well suited to small farming. Moving in that direction, though, would require rattling the cage of big American agriculture.

As with energy, getting lawmaking involved wouldnt be new. It has taken years of agricultural policy to get us into this mess. Getting out of it is a question not of whether lawmaking also produces economic policy and jobs, but of what kind.

The Green New Deal isnt the only approach, of course, but its broad ambitions mark out the ground where future climate fights will happen. Because reshaping our environmental impact means reworking our economy, there will inevitably be competing visions about who deserves to benefit and what kind of economy we should build. Centrist proposals will concentrate on promoting investment in new technologies, with profits going, pharma-style, to private researchers and manufacturers.

If Trumpist nationalism outgrows its climate denialism but survives to fight again, it will double down on supporting national energy industries and denying the ethical responsibilities of global interdependence by building border walls against climate refugees. To the left of the Green New Deal, there will be louder calls to nationalize fossil fuels in order to leave them in the ground. (A carbon tax would be compatible with any of these visions, depending on who paid it and how the revenues were spent.)

Curiously, the idea that environmental policy could ever be separated from the larger economic order, or from fights over fairness, is recent, a product of an unusually technocratic period in American politics. Arguing for the Clean Air Act on Earth Day 1970, Senator Edmund Muskie, Democrat of Maine and the laws lead drafter, insisted that mans environment included the shape of the communities in which he lives and that the only kind of society that has a chance was a society that will not tolerate slums for some and decent houses for others, rats for some and playgrounds for others, clean air for some and filth for others.

For Senator Muskie, environmentalism meant that no neighborhood or job should be toxic. In the three years that followed, the country adopted the most ambitious and effective environmental legislation in its history, including Mr. Muskies Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. Mr. Muskies approach remains a model of visionary environmental lawmaking. Like much new radicalism, the Green New Deal is good sense rediscovered.

Jedediah Britton-Purdy (@JedediahSPurdy) is a professor of law at Columbia and is the author, most recently, of After Nature: A Politics for the Anthropocene.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.But it is neither the trials revelations nor its central figures stature that makes it a turning point in the history of drug trafficking and organized crime. What this trial has, in my view, revolutionized forever is the relationship between criminal groups and what we call in Italian pentiti  penitent ones, or cooperating witnesses.

I have been reporting on organized crime in Italy and around the world, including Mexico, for decades. In my time, I have observed some clear rules. One of those is that cooperating witnesses have been seen by criminal organizations as unforgivable traitors.

In every mafia, from Naples to Sinaloa, omerta, the code of silence, has been essential to keeping the organizations business and structure intact. It is also the standard by which an associates reliability and honor are measured. No one ever imagined gaining criminal respect by snitching. Betrayal has always been punishable by death  of the informant, of the informants family. Salvatore (Toto) Riina, head of the Cosa Nostra in Sicily, famously ordered the killing of all pentiti and their descendants unto the seventh generation. One of the Cosa Nostras most barbarous acts was the 1996 murder of Giuseppe Di Matteo: kidnapped when he was 12, held prisoner for 18 months, then strangled and dissolved in acid, because his father had become a states witness and was revealing information about the assassination of a judge.

Killing an informants family has the dual function of punishing the traitor and warning his associates what will happen if they follow his example. This practice was also popular in Mexican drug cartels. One example among many: In 2008, twin brothers Margarito and Pedro Flores, major distributors for the Sinaloa cartel in the United States, began cooperating with American authorities. The next year, their father was kidnapped in Mexico. His body was never found, but a message at the site of the abduction confirmed that he had been taken because his children were snitches.

By the same token, if any relative of a boss  even an in-law or a distant cousin  becomes an informant, it has typically left an indelible stain on the bosss criminal reputation, enough to end his career and heap shame on his family.Justice Stephen Breyers majority opinion in Whole Womans Health was a pointed rebuke to the Fifth Circuit for failing to subject the Texas law to adequate scrutiny. The appeals court had simply deferred to the Legislatures claimed objective of protecting womens health and had in fact barred any consideration of whether the law would actually do so. In fact, Justice Breyer wrote, the law conveyed minimal if any health benefit and would actually harm women by forcing longer waits and more crowded conditions in the remaining clinics that could meet the needless admitting privileges requirement.

Judge John W. deGravelles of Federal District Court in Baton Rouge applied the reasoning of Whole Womans Health in issuing a permanent injunction against Louisianas identical law. His ruling followed a six-day trial at which he took testimony on the sustained but fruitless efforts by the doctors to get admitting privileges; evidence on this point takes up 14 of the 63 pages of his opinion, issued in April 2017. Observing that it provides no benefits to women and is an inapt remedy for a problem that does not exist, Judge deGravelles concluded that this law, like the Texas law, placed an undue burden on womens access to abortion.

The Fifth Circuits 2-to-1 decision overturning that ruling is a breathtaking piece of work. We are of course bound by Whole Womans Healths holdings, announced in a case with a substantially similar statute but greatly dissimilar facts and geography, Judge Jerry Smith wrote for himself and Judge Edith Clement. What can that sentence  indeed, that premise  possibly mean? That Whole Womans Health concerned Texas while this case was about Louisiana? Thats like saying that the Supreme Courts decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, recognizing a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, applied only to male couples and not to lesbians because it was a male couple who brought the case. (Its worth noting that in the immediate aftermath of Whole Womans Health, the Alabama attorney general dropped the states appeal of its admitting privileges law, which had been struck down in Federal District Court. While I disagree with the high courts decision, there is no good faith argument that Alabamas law remains constitutional in light of the Supreme Court ruling, was the states lawyers honest appraisal of the situation.)

The Fifth Circuits contorted explanation for why the Supreme Courts close fact-bound balancing analysis in Whole Womans Health wasnt relevant to Louisiana succeeded only in showing that Louisiana women would in fact be worse off than the women in Texas, where most major cities still have at least one abortion clinic (many Texas clinics did not reopen after the Supreme Courts ruling). The two judges who formed the Fifth Circuit majority also tried to show that the doctors could have obtained admitting privileges if only they had tried harder, a conclusion flatly refuted by the findings at trial but embraced by Justice Brett Kavanaugh in his opinion last week, dissenting from the Supreme Courts vote to grant a stay of the Fifth Circuits decision. Justice Kavanaugh said the doctors should keep trying.

The dissenter on the Fifth Circuit panel, Judge Patrick Higginbotham, dissected the majoritys opinion and said the appeals court was repeating the very mistakes for which the Supreme Court had called it out in the Texas case. When the full Fifth Circuit took up the question of whether to rehear the case as a full court, six judges said yes and nine said no. Four of the nine were recent Trump appointees (the fifth Trump appointee on the court, Kyle Duncan, was recused). The law was scheduled to take effect last week. It will remain on hold for some months, as least, as the plaintiffs, represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, file their formal Supreme Court appeal and the state gets the chance to respond.

While it takes the votes of five justices, a majority of the court, to grant a stay, as it did in this instance, adding a case to the courts docket for a decision on the merits requires only four votes. Its highly likely the court will grant review; if it doesnt, the stay dissolves automatically and the law takes effect.

How will the Supreme Court decide the case?Despite my boast at the start of this column, I dont claim omniscience about what comes next. The chief justice voted to grant the stay, in my estimation, because to have silently let the Louisiana law take effect without Supreme Court intervention would have been to reward the defiance that Ive described here. When it comes to a full review on the merits, its a different game.Raymond K. Price Jr., a cerebral, pipe-smoking speechwriter for President Richard M. Nixon who helped write the first and last words of his presidency, his Inaugural Addresses and his resignation speech, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 88.

His former lawyer Zenon B. Masnyj said Mr. Price had had a stroke and died at Lenox Hill Hospital. He lived in Lower Manhattan.

Mr. Price was the editorial page editor of The New York Herald Tribune when it closed in 1966, and when he joined Nixons nascent second presidential campaign the next year, he brought with him the sort of moderate Republicanism that had characterized that newspapers opinion pages.

His loyalty to Nixon was never-bending, even though he later admitted that he had been deceived by the president on aspects of the Watergate cover-up at the time it happened.When Miss Susan B. Anthony heard of Mr. Douglasss death, at the evening session of the council, she was very much affected. Miss Anthony has a wonderful control over her feelings, but to-night she could not conceal her emotion. Despite her seventy-five years, she immediately announced her intention of going to the Douglass homestead, near Anacostia, and had actually started, when some of her friends, fearful that the journey, with its quota of bad roads, and the excitement of a visit to the presence of death would have a bad effect on her, used persuasion to such an extent that she finally consented to defer the trip until to-morrow. She was very much averse to returning to the stage in Metzerott Hall, contending that it would appear unfeeling for her to do so, but as a number of the more distinguished members of the council were absent, she agreed to take her accustomed place to the right of the presiding officer.

Miss Anthony and Mr. Douglass formed an intimate friendship when both resided in Rochester, N.Y., and that friendship had continued for many decades. One incident in connection with her relations with Mr. Douglass was recalled by Miss Anthony. During the early days of the anti- slavery agitation Miss Anthony and her venerable associate, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, appeared at an anti-slavery meeting in which Frederick Douglass was taking a prominent part. Women were not welcome as public speakers in those days, and Mr. Douglass had agreed to read an address prepared by Mrs. Stanton. His rendition of her written remarks did not suit that lady, and, stepping forward, she took the paper from his hands with the remark, Here, Frederick, let me read it. And she did so, thus marking the initiative in the appearance of women as actors in public gatherings.

At to-nights meeting of the Womens Council Mrs. May Wright Sewall announced the death of Mr. Douglass. There was a murmur expressing surprise and sympathy, and then the council settled down to the business of the evening.

The Slave Who Ran Away

Career of the Most Representative African America Has Produced

Frederick Douglass has been often spoken of as the foremost man of the African race in America. Though born and reared in slavery, he managed, through his own perseverance and energy, to win for himself a place that not only made him beloved by all members of his own race in America, but also won for himself the esteem and reverence of all fair-minded persons, both in this country and in Europe.

Mr. Douglass had been for many years a prominent figure in public life. He was of inestimable service to the members of his own race, and rendered distinguished service to his country from time to time in various important offices that he held under the Government.Upon returning to the Air Force, Mr. Fitzgerald continued to be excluded from examining the projects of contractors like Lockheed and Boeing. But he learned of financial abuses through others at the Pentagon and often worked with the staffs of Senator Grassley and Representative John Dingell, Democrat of Michigan (who died on Feb. 7), to set up oversight hearings.

Mr. Fitzgerald also sued Nixon and other White House aides in 1978 for $3.5 million in damages. Court documents  in a separate case on presidential immunity filed by Morton Halperin, a former national security aide  revealed that Mr. Nixon had quietly paid Mr. Fitzgerald $144,000 to drop damage claims against him if the Supreme Court ruled that the former president was financially liable for actions he had taken while in office.

But in a 5-4 decision, the Court ruled in 1982 that presidents were entitled to absolute immunity from civil damages.

Arthur Ernest Fitzgerald was born on July 31, 1926, in Birmingham, Ala., where his father, Arthur, was a metal and wool patternmaker and his mother, Grace (Montgomery) Fitzgerald, was a farmer and homemaker. After serving in the Navy, he attended the University of Alabama and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering.

He took a job with the Air Force in 1965.

He had a friend who had started working for the Air Force while J.F.K. was in office, Ms. Fitzgerald-Greene said in a telephone interview, and he alerted my father to the things they could do to save money in the military.

Mr. Fitzgeralds early work at the service earned him its nomination for the Department of Defenses Distinguished Civilian Service Award in 1967. He received many other honors, including the Paul Douglas Award for Ethics in Government in 1986 from the University of Illinois. He retired in 2006.

Knowing that his relentlessness and public candor had hurt him within the Pentagon, Mr. Fitzgerald helped create a safe place for other whistle-blowers  he called them his closet patriots  to leak unclassified documents without their identities being made public. In 1981, he, Dina Rasor and Anne Zill started the Project on Military Procurement, which in 1990 was renamed the Project on Government Oversight, or POGO.Representative Nadler could face a primary from Lindsey Boylan, a former economic development adviser to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. She said she was considering a run after watching the 2018 midterms, as these women decided not to wait their turn because it was never going to be their turn.

I just cant justify having my daughter watch me sit on the sidelines, she said.

A huge X-factor in any Nadler primary would be the billionaire activist Tom Steyer, who has pushed for the impeachment of Mr. Trump. Mr. Steyer has already polled the popularity of impeachment in the district and is launching a $200,000 direct mail, television and digital ad campaign this week urging Mr. Nadler to begin impeachment hearings in his committee.

In the Bronx, Representative Jose E. Serrano, in Congress since 1990, could face a challenge from Councilman Ritchie Torres, a 30-year-old often described as a rising star, who said he is weighing a run. Mr. Serrano, 75, almost faced a primary in 2018: Ms. Ocasio-Cortez initially filed paperwork to run against him before refiling days later against Mr. Crowley.

Two other Democratic New York City congresswomen who faced primary opponents in 2018, Representatives Yvette Clarke and Carolyn Maloney, expect challenges again. Ms. Clarke, who won with only 53 percent of the vote, is likely to face a rematch with Adem Bunkeddeko, the Harvard-educated son of war Ugandan refugees who has signaled he plans to run again.

Were at a moment of reckoning. Some people get it and some people dont, Mr. Bunkeddeko said. Maybe someones seventh term is the charm? he added of Ms. Clarke. But most of us arent holding our breath.

Ms. Clarke said she had reorganized her district office following the 2018 close call and is aggressively selling her progressive credentials in the more gentrified and liberal parts of the district, such as Park Slope. I definitely will not be caught by surprise, she said.Forty-two gunshots  all fired by the New York City police  rang out Tuesday night outside a cellphone store in Queens. The fusillade, which lasted only 11 seconds, left Detective Brian Simonsen dead. His partner, Sgt. Matthew Gorman, was struck in the thigh.

The men had been responding to a report of an armed robbery. As they retreated from the store, they were shot by their fellow officers.

Last night, the authorities were still trying to piece together exactly what happened.

Police Commissioner James P. ONeill called the incident an absolutely tragic case of friendly fire. Chief of Department Terence A. Monahan said, This is the worst thing that we go through as a department.

New York City police officers are rarely killed by friendly fire  the last such incident occurred in 2009. These deaths are rare, in part, because of the extensive training the police undergo, retired police officials said.

The paradox of policing is that youre always preparing for this, but youre never ready for it, said Eugene ODonnell, a retired New York police officer who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan.[What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.]

Amazon on Thursday canceled its plans to build an expansive corporate campus in New York City after facing an unexpectedly fierce backlash from lawmakers, progressive activists and union leaders, who contended that a tech giant did not deserve nearly $3 billion in government incentives.

The decision was an abrupt turnabout by Amazon after a much-publicized search for a second headquarters, which had ended with its announcement in November that it would open two new sites  one in Queens, with more than 25,000 jobs, and another in Virginia.

Amazons retreat was a blow to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, damaging their effort to further diversify the citys economy by making it an inviting location for the technology industry.

The agreement to lure Amazon to Long Island City, Queens, had stirred intense debate in New York about the use of public subsidies to entice wealthy companies, the rising cost of living in gentrifying neighborhoods, and the citys very identity.For one, theres a major bus stop in the middle of Insurgentes where streetcars once ran. For another, the movie theater that plays a key role in the film had been demolished, replaced by a shopping center. And many of the businesses were no longer the same.

Cuaron explored the option of substituting a similar-looking street in a smaller city for Insurgentes. But while there were locations with more period buildings, none carried the same big-city heft.

It had a certain cosmopolitanism that I couldnt find in any other place, he said in a phone interview.Another day, another Oscar controversy. But this time, will the academy budge?

Thats the question many in Hollywood are asking after the Oscars announced that in a bid to shorten the length of the Feb. 24 show, the winners in four categories will be rewarded during commercial breaks, then their acceptance speeches will be edited into a montage shown later in the broadcast.

The affected categories are cinematography, editing, live-action short film, and makeup and hairstyling, and the decision to change the way they are presented has roiled the industry in the days leading up to what is supposed to be Hollywoods most celebratory night.

The American Society of Cinematographers issued a stinging critique Wednesday in the form of an open letter signed by dozens of industry figures, including Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, as well as some of the nominees in the affected categories, like the Never Look Away cinematographer Caleb Deschanel and Bohemian Rhapsody editor John Ottman.

Relegating these essential cinematic crafts to lesser status in this 91st Academy Awards ceremony is nothing less than an insult to those of us who have devoted our lives and passions to our chosen profession, said the letter. We consider this abbreviation and potential censorship to run contrary to the spirit of the academys mission.In Happy Death Day, a 2017 slasher variation on the classic time-loop comedy Groundhog Day, a prickly but engaging college student, Tree Gelbman, had to solve her own murder in order to stop reliving the day it happened. Once that was done, the minimally witty movie implied that shed live in a less dodgy fashion than that which got her killed, over and over again, in the first place.

The cosmic conditions that created this fix were not explained in that picture. But, boy, are they ever in the sequel Happy Death Day 2U, written and directed by Christopher Landon, who directed the original film and penned several films from the Paranormal Activity franchise. Turns out a student experiment in the quantum physics lab is responsible for shifting realities, and Tree soon finds herself catapulted back to her death day. Under different conditions this time, one of them happy: In this dimension, her beloved mom is still alive.

But she is still going to die every day. While the first film worked a relatively simple solve the mystery and save your life challenge, here Tree uses her predicament as a grand self-help course, not unlike Bill Murrays character in Groundhog Day and his piano lessons.High on music and hot with the thrill of discovery, A Tuba to Cuba swarms with shiny happy people.

Directed by T.G. Herrington and Danny Clinch, this joyous, wide-ranging account of a New Orleans jazz bands 2015 visit to Cuba is crammed with fascinating facts and toe-tickling tunes. Its myriad voices, humble despite their extreme musical gifts, guide a journey to forge new connections and untangle the musics Afro-Caribbean roots.

Everyone has a story to tell, a tradition to illuminate or a musical style to lay claim to, and the filmmakers weave these diverse threads into a colorful blanket of sights, sounds and spirituality. A mini urban opera emerges from the percussive rhythms of street life, and complex beats spring from the simple slap of a hand on a wooden seat. The movie exudes such an abundance of pleasure, talent and fellowship that we barely notice the poverty that backgrounds many of its scenes. Instead, it seems more logical to ponder why a neighborhood with its own conga organization isnt on top of everyones house-hunting list.Ms. Cao found that most of the people she met shared that concern over authenticity, that question of what makes a real Asian.

It kind of indicates theres only one real truth, but talking to them made me realize that theres no one way to be Asian or American  or just a person, Ms. Cao said. Its so important for us to embrace our differences.

Other interviewees agreed: Mathew Luce, who was adopted from Indonesia and lives on Roosevelt Island, doesnt take insults or ignorant comments to heart. Im proud that Im Asian, and Im proud that sometimes I act white, he told Ms. Cao. Its just me. Thats how I grew up.

Una, whose parents asked that her last name not be published, was only 9 when Ms. Cao photographed her at home in Brooklyn. But she had been wondering about her identity for a while. With her familys support, she already had contacted a Korean adoption agency to search for her biological parents, but she was told she was too young to open her case.

If she cant find them, she told Ms. Cao, she would be content knowing she tried.

Ms. Cao hopes to expand the photo essay to include people of other ethnic backgrounds. She said adoptees might not feel the need to address race at home, but when they grow up and step into society, race is just a thing that nobody can escape.

Her project has also helped Ms. Cao come to terms with her own identity. Im not trying to force myself to fit any categories, she said. Now I think Im really comfortable, just knowing that nothing can take away from my Chinese roots.3. Anthony Borges, 16, received five bullet wounds as he barricaded a classroom door to protect other students. What physical and emotional challenges has he faced since then? How has he tried to overcome them? How are Anthonys challenges similar or different from the ones faced by others interviewed in the article?

4. Jammal Lemy, 21, became politically active after the shooting. What types of activities has he helped to organize and what impact have they had? How does Jammal respond to adults who say You cant. Youve got to have realistic hopes and dreams?

5. Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin was killed in the shooting, said: What happened to Joaquin happens every single day. This is not about Joaquin only. This is not about Parkland only. This is not about Florida only. What does he mean by this statement?

6. On the day of the one-year anniversary, Sarah Lerner, a teacher at Stoneman Douglas, says she will try not to watch the news. I just need to be. What does she mean by this? What are other ways the survivors interviewed in the article plan to observe the day?



Finally, tell us more about what you think:

 What can be learned from the Parkland shooting and its aftermath one year later? How does the article change your understanding of the tragedy? Have the events of the year affected your perspective on the power and voice that young people have?

 How did your school and community address the tragedy? Did the shooting lead to changes that you know of? Do you feel any safer in your school today?

 What did you learn from the personal stories of the nine Stoneman Douglas community members profiled in the article? Is there a particular portrait that affected you most? What particular passage, quote or photo stands out to you?

 Anna Crean, 16, one of the Parkland shooting survivors, said:

One day they released a bunch of video footage from the shooting. We watched it together. Every time something gets put out there, people get very upset, but people need to see it.

Do you agree with her? Why is it important to look at and remember what happened in Parkland that day no matter how upsetting it may be? Have we done enough to remember and honor the victims and survivors of the shooting?

 Ms. Kramer and Ms. Harlan highlight some of the changes in gun laws and policy since the shooting:

State legislatures, both Republican- and Democratic-controlled, passed 76 gun control laws in the past year  from bans on bump stocks and caps on magazine sizes to new minimum-age requirements and expanded background checks. Among the victories for gun control advocates was an omnibus bill in Florida that raised the minimum age to purchase a firearm in the state to 21 and extended the waiting period to three days. In all, more than half the states passed at least one gun control measure in 2018, with Washington and New York joining the trend in 2019. ... But at the federal level, any momentum for change was quickly stymied by partisan gridlock. Republican leaders in Congress remained silent as their Democratic colleagues called, once again, for changes in the wake of a mass shooting. The White House flip-flopped on promises to raise the minimum age to purchase rifles and to enforce universal background checks. And the N.R.A. pressed lawmakers, including the president, to give priority to the interests of gun owners.

How do you view these changes? Do you feel that they are enough? Why or why not? Are there additional changes you would like to see prevent future gun violence and school shootings?

Related Articles:

For Parkland Survivors, a Year of Political Gains and Unresolved PainCouples migrated to Times Square this week for the annual Times Square Valentine Heart celebration. Some got married, others made surprise proposals or renewed their vows.

The event, in its 11th year, started in 2009 with a giant heart sculpture, and now includes a design competition. This years winner was Reddymade, founded by Suchi Reddy. The firm created an 18-foot-tall X that is on display until Feb. 28 at Duffy Square, at 46th Street and Broadway.

The very first installation was a giant heart by Gage/Clemenceau Architects.

The Valentines Day sculpture was originally an attempt to have an alternative to the Rockefeller Christmas tree, said Tim Tompkins, the president of the Times Square Alliance. The focus was really Times Square as a place of design. We also wanted to draw attention to it being a great place to have a date.

Once the sculpture was showcased, alliance staffers spotted people kissing or getting married in front of it. Others saw wedding photos taken on the nearby ruby-red stairs.On Saturday evening , a small group of German coal miners  in full gear, from headlamps to black boots  marched into Times Square to sing a song. The mens coal-streaked faces were somber as they clutched their dust-smeared white overalls and sang the Steigerlied, the traditional miners song with origins in the 16th century, to a small, somewhat confused crowd of onlookers.

Was it a protest? A political demonstration? A happening?

No: It was Part 1 of a two-part fashion week event.

The miners came from Bottrop, a city in western Germany, where the countrys last coal mine closed in December, marking the end of an industry that played a vital role in Germanys postwar economic success.

Facing unemployment, some planned to retire early; others would be retrained through government programs for different jobs: on railways, in power plants and for airplane manufacturers. But they were in New York because a small German fashion brand had come up with a different idea.SYDNEY, Australia  The chef O Tama Carey is blessed with a number of remarkable origin stories. She was conceived, she said, on the banks of the Mulgrave River in Queensland. Her unusual one-letter first name came from the imagination of her father, who told her it stood for omitama, a Japanese word that he translated as precious jewel. (The real explanation, she said, comes down to having hippie parents.) And her restaurant, Lankan Filling Station, in Sydney, sprang from a series of dinners  some of Australias first pop-ups  that celebrated Ms. Careys Sri Lankan ancestry.

An island nation with a population of multiple ethnic and religious groups, Sri Lanka has historically served as an important trading post for India, Indonesia and other Southeast Asian cultures. The countrys cooking has absorbed the flavors of the broader region, as well as influences from periods of Portuguese, Dutch and British settlements and colonization. The Sri Lankan diaspora is much larger in Australia than in the United States, and though the cuisine isnt a sizable part of our dining culture, it is far better represented here than in America.

Lankan Filling Station takes that representation and amplifies it, putting it into a trendy urban context with all the necessary accouterments: cocktails, natural wine and a narrow, moodily lit, crowded room that thrums with energy.

Ms. Carey grew up in Adelaide; her mother, who is from Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, immigrated to Australia with her family as a teenager. During Ms. Careys childhood, her mother rarely cooked Sri Lankan food, except when she held dinner parties. Those meals, and the food Ms. Carey ate when visiting her grandmother in Perth, gave her a solid connection to her heritage.Underneath, the flesh is juicy, with its own generous measure of salt and secret seasonings, if not quite as potent as the skins. Online recipe hacks typically deploy garlic and Chinese five-spice to approximate the skins fervor. Spicy Chickenjoy is even better, both marinade and breading infiltrated with some form of chile  flagrant but not searing, just enough to jack up the pulse.

Every order of Chickenjoy comes with gravy, whether you order a side of mashed potatoes or not. This makes sense given the elevated place of condiments in Filipino cuisine, although my mother, who grew up in Cotabato City in the southern Philippines, prefers to dunk a drumstick in ketchup or the Filipino enhancement of it, bolstered with banana  sadly not stocked here.

Mr. Tan Caktiong, the son of poor Chinese immigrants, is now a billionaire, and 150 Jollibees are set to open in the United States within five years. Like the Manhattan store, many will be outside immigrant enclaves, waylaying diners with limited knowledge of Filipino food.

These newcomers may be slightly baffled by the Jolly Spaghetti. It looks Italian, with its blanket of ragu, but under the ground beef are nubs of hot dog and ham, and the presiding note is sweet. Its fairly mellow, as Filipino spaghetti goes, with more of an earthy counterpoint than other versions of the dish Ive tried. (That includes an anemic McSpaghetti, the McDonalds take, in Manila years ago.) But it may not bridge the cultural divide.Strictly speaking, Maryland style didnt mean as much back then as it does now, said Max Lents, a founder of the Baltimore Spirits Company, which makes a Maryland-style rye.

The fuzziness around the definition of Maryland rye may be exactly the point. Before social media, before Prohibition, before the Pure Food and Drug Act and the modernization of distilling, inconsistency was a given. Maybe it was even prized.

Rye grain was prevalent in the Mid-Atlantic, so distillers used that. But if there was corn growing nearby, they used that, too. Before laboratory-grown yeast emerged in the 20th century, they developed their yeast cultures from whatever happened to be floating in the air nearby. Those might make the whiskey taste dramatically different from an identical batch made a few miles away.

And even where there was consistency in a flavor profile, that likely changed over the years, as new rules and changing consumer tastes forced the industry to shift. At different points in time there were different understandings of what Maryland rye was, and even then it depended on who you talked to, said Ms. DeFlitch, of Wigle Whiskey.

In other words, one reason to celebrate Maryland rye is that no one can quite agree on what the term meant: It demonstrates the diversity within whiskey regions, as in local food styles more broadly, before the mid-20th century.

Trying to overdefine something doesnt actually carry on that tradition, Ms. DeFlitch said. Instead, distillers should embrace the uncertainty. The more inspiration we have today, the better.Want climate news in your inbox? Sign up here for Climate Fwd:, our email newsletter.

WASHINGTON  The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday said it will start work by the end of the year on a long-awaited plan to set national drinking-water limits for two harmful chemicals linked to cancer, low infant birth weight and other health issues.

But environmentalists and Democratic lawmakers criticized the plan, saying it in effect delayed desperately needed regulation on a clear public health threat from chemicals that are commonly used in cookware, pizza boxes, stain repellents and fire retardants.

E.P.A. officials described their proposal as the first-ever nationwide action plan to address the health effects of human-made chemicals known as poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFASs. There currently no federal regulations on the production or monitoring of that class of about 5,000 chemicals, which are manufactured and used in a wide variety of industries and products. Studies have shown that they can linger in the human body for years, causing harmful health impacts.

The PFAS action plan is the most comprehensive action plan for a chemical of concern ever undertaken by the agency, said Dave Ross, E.P.A.s assistant administrator for water, in a telephone call with reporters on Thursday. Andrew Wheeler, the E.P.A.s acting administrator, who is now President Trumps nominee to head the agency, called the plan a pivotal moment in the history of the agency.The Teamsters union, which has been trying to organize workers at the warehouse, said the closing was retaliation against employees who publicized incidents of sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination. The groups organizing efforts there have been underway since 2017, when a worker collapsed and died of cardiac arrest on the warehouse floor.

In October, The Times reported that six women had miscarriages after lifting heavy boxes at the warehouse and being denied breaks from physically intense work. Some of the episodes occurred while the warehouse was operated by another company, New Breed Logistics, which XPO bought in 2014.

Workers at the site lift boxes weighing up to 45 pounds. The facility does not have air-conditioning, and indoor temperatures in the summer can rise past 100 degrees.

They are just cutting and running and closing the place instead of addressing the problem of pregnancy discrimination and sexual harassment, Jim Hoffa, the Teamsters president, said in an interview. Mr. Hoffa said the Teamsters were considering filing a formal complaint about the warehouses closing with the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that handles labor disputes.But interviews with over a dozen workers revealed a deep-seated disillusionment with the recovery and the quality of jobs emerging from it.

The changes in labor laws weakened job protections as well as earnings. With millions looking for work, employers could offer lower salaries, making it harder for people to regain or maintain living standards.

Mrs. Navarro and her husband were among the better off. With degrees in law, management and business, she owned the events promotion company, employing around 50 people on and off for projects.

In 2006, some of her clients suddenly stopped paying. Two years later, as the financial crisis hit, she had to close shop. She found a managerial job at a nonprofit foundation that paid 2,500 a month, less than before but enough to help maintain the familys lifestyle.

Then the foundation went under in 2012  the same year the labor legislation went into force. Mrs. Navarro could not find a new job. Because the foundation had required her to register as self-employed, a tactic that allows employers to avoid paying high social taxes, she received no unemployment compensation.

Her husband lost his job the same year and collected unemployment benefits as he looked for work. He eventually took over a charcuterie stand once owned by Mrs. Navarros father in a dimly lit produce market, becoming self-employed. But his sales are down because other Spaniards, too, are economizing. Mr. Alvarez now earns 1,000 a month but, after taxes and social security, takes home only about a third of that.A former Goldman Sachs banker implicated in a multibillion-dollar fraud in Malaysia will return to the United States to face the criminal charges against him, his lawyer said in an email on Thursday.

Roger Ng is accused of helping his boss at Goldman launder money and bribe officials from two countries as part of the banks work for a Malaysian state-owned development fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB.

Mr. Ng planned to waive an extradition hearing on Friday and return to the United States, according to his lawyer, Marc Agnifilo. Mr. Agnifilo said his client intended to plead not guilty when he appeared in federal court in Brooklyn. He added that Mr. Ng did not have any agreement to cooperate with prosecutors.

Mr. Ng was arrested in Malaysia in November. The charges against him relate to an alleged scheme by the countrys former leaders to loot 1MDB, which used Goldmans investment banking services to issue $6 billion in bonds meant to fund infrastructure projects in the country. But the former prime minister Najib Rizak and his family, along with Jho Low, a young financier in their inner circle, spent a large portion of the money on jewels, jets and artwork instead.FRANKFURT  The once seemingly unstoppable German economy had the slowest growth of any eurozone country except Italy at the end of 2018, according to data published on Thursday that brought the impact of President Trumps trade war into stark relief.

Germanys economy did not grow at all in the years final quarter, and it barely avoided sliding into recession, the government statistics agency said.

One reason for the slowdown was conflict over trade. American tariffs are hurting German steel makers sales, and Germany is also experiencing collateral damage caused by a trade war between China and the United States.

The economic data was bad news for the rest of Europe. Germany has the regions largest economy, and it typically sets the pace for the rest of the eurozone. The country has often helped haul its neighbors through periods of crisis, but it may no longer be able to play that role.Good Thursday. Want this by email? Sign up here.

Say hello to JPM Coin

JPMorgan Chase this morning announced the first cryptocurrency to be rolled out by a major U.S. bank.

How will it be used? The new tokens, each of which represents a U.S. dollar, will help settle some payments between the banks clients. CNBC reports that the new digital coin will enter testing in a few months. It will facilitate a tiny fraction of its wholesale payments business.

Whats the point? Money sloshes back and forth all over the world in a large enterprise, Umar Farooq, the head of JPMorgans blockchain projects, told CNBC. Is there a way to ensure that a subsidiary can represent cash on the balance sheet without having to actually wire it to the unit? That way, they can consolidate their money and probably get better rates for it.

It also gives JPMorgan first-mover advantage. This will be one of the worlds first real-world crypto applications for banking, and the biggest move into the sector yet by an American lender. It also sets the bank up for a future in which crypto could be an integral part of the financial sector.Amazons surprise announcement on Thursday that it was canceling its planned expansion to a new corporate campus in New York was greeted with celebration by local activists and politicians who had opposed the deal, and frustration by local officials  and more than a few real estate agents in Queens  who had eagerly anticipated an influx of well-compensated tech workers.



For some, Amazons decision will represent a political failure, in which officials and local labor leaders blew a once-in-a-decade chance to bring thousands of high-paying jobs to New York.

For others, it reflects the hubris of one of the worlds most valuable companies, which sought billions of dollars in tax incentives it didnt need, and then got cold feet when local organizers and officials objected to that largess.

But more than anything, the battle poses a challenge to one of Amazons bedrock beliefs: that being loved by customers is all that matters.The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Voices: We shut down the government for 35 days, we put America through this crisis, we jeopardized our economy  for what? said Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, a Democrat, who was part of the committee that negotiated the budget deal. Totally unnecessary.

Paul Manafort lied, judge rules

President Trumps former campaign chairman breached a plea agreement by lying multiple times to prosecutors, a federal judge decided on Wednesday. Mr. Manafort pledged in September to cooperate with the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The judge said Mr. Manafort had lied about his contacts with a Russian associate during the campaign and after the election.

Whats next: The decision could lead to a harsher punishment for Mr. Manafort when he is sentenced next month on two counts of conspiracy. He also awaits sentencing for eight other counts in a related fraud case.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.

Were Supposed to Care

Stephen Colbert admitted that hes happy to see President Trump and Congress apparently nearing a border security deal, which would help avert a government shutdown. But he said that he wished he could press reset on the political conversation.

Were supposed to care whether Trump won and Nancy lost, or Trump caved and Nancys dancing in the end zone, he said. But nothing  nothing  that has happened in government in 2019 has affected anyone. Wheres the infrastructure bill? Wheres the immigration bill? Wheres the fix on health care? We are celebrating  or supposed to be celebrating  that theyre close to a deal to achieve the absolute minimum: having a government!One of the two men interviewed by the police in connection with a reported attack on the Empire star Jussie Smollett has appeared on the show, a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department said late Thursday night.

The two who were questioned are brothers, according to Anthony Guglielmi, the spokesman. He added in a brief phone interview that the police had searched their homes on Tuesday. The two are currently not considered suspects, the spokesman said, adding that interviews would continue on Friday. He said he did not know what role the one man played on the Fox show.

Smollett said late last month that he had been assaulted by two men yelling homophobic and racial slurs in downtown Chicago. He told Good Morning America in an interview broadcast Thursday morning that he was pissed off by the attack and those who doubted his story, which is being investigated as a possible hate crime.

Hours after the segment was broadcast, the Chicago police said they were interrogating two men believed to be the persons of interest seen in surveillance video images released in late January.During a month when some of the biggest headlines have been about a billionaires extramarital affair and a politicians tweet that many took to be anti-Semitic, PEN America has announced a festival that aims to address the narrowing gap between public and private life.

The PEN World Voices Festival 2019: Open Secrets, taking place in New York from May 6 through May 12, will bring together an abundance of noteworthy writers to discuss the gap and how it has manifested itself in culture, society, literature and politics. Some of the minds the festival has enlisted include the writer and editor Dave Eggers, the novelist Joyce Carol Oates, the poet Sonia Sanchez and the journalist Sue Halpern.

The writer and activist Arundhati Roy will deliver the festivals flagship talk, the Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture, which in the past has been delivered by luminaries including Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Salman Rushdie.

We take what is essentially a very intimate activity of writing and reading and place it in a public sphere, said Chip Rolley, the festivals director.They are haunting drawings: black, white and Latina women, most of them youthful, with bright lips and lined eyes, staring plaintively at the viewer.

The women were etched in chalk pastel by the man who says he killed them, in a spree he says began in 1970 and continued for decades. If verified, that would make him among the most prolific serial killers in American history.

The F.B.I. says Samuel Little, now 78 and serving consecutive life sentences for three murders in Los Angeles in the 1980s, has confessed to 93 murders across the country. He targeted marginalized women, including prostitutes and addicts, whose deaths sometimes went uninvestigated, the agency said.

Although investigators believe his confessions, they have so far matched only half to unsolved murders. He says he did not know many of his victims names  only in some cases did he know a first name or nickname  which has made identification difficult. The authorities hope that the drawings they released Tuesday, which Mr. Little made while he was in custody, will help match names to his accounts.FRANKFURT  The United States assailed the European Union on Wednesday for adding American territories to its dirty money list, opening a new rift in a relationship that has grown increasingly fractious amid disputes over trade and Iran sanctions.

Four United States territories, including Puerto Rico, were added to a money laundering blacklist that will require European banks to apply greater scrutiny to transactions in those regions. That prompted an angry rebuke from the Trump administration, which criticized the methodology used by the bloc to add those regions and said American officials were not consulted ahead of their inclusion.

The blacklist lumped Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam and the United States Virgin Islands with the likes of North Korea, Libya and Yemen as havens where drug dealers, terrorists and corrupt dictators can launder ill-gotten gains.

Saudi Arabia, which leads the Riyadh-based Terrorist Financing Targeting Center with the United States, was also added to the list despite its efforts to demonstrate that it is cracking down on illicit financial activity. That decision could further complicate Europes relations with the kingdom, which already faces scrutiny for its role in the murder of a dissident Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, has made combating illicit financial activity a priority and has twice visited the center since it opened in 2017.The wall or the steel barrier. They can have any name they want. But we have to have it. President Trump often repeats the same things when talking about why he wants a southern border wall. The crime. Drugs. American jobs. While there is little evidence these problems are caused by unauthorized immigration or that any of this will be helped by a wall, he has remained steadfast. I will build a great, great wall. You need that wall. We can do without a wall. But as the fight over border security has dragged on, heres how hes expanded his argument. Hes always said it was about securing the border. But recently, Trump has emphasized that he believes building the wall is the moral and compassionate thing to do. This is the cycle of human suffering that I am determined to end.  And he says a wall will benefit people on both sides of the border, addressing what he is calling  This is a humanitarian crisis, a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul. But Democrats say the current situation at the border was escalated by Trumps policies. A challenge that President Trumps own cruel and counterproductive policies have only deepened. So who does Trump think will benefit? Over time, Trump has named many groups that he says will benefit from a wall. It started as the  American worker. And then expanded to  Legal residents. And  And our vets. Our immigrant communities. Asian-Americans. Hispanic-American communities. African-American workers. Its also what our professionals at the border want and need. How will Trump pay for the wall? After some discrepancies regarding the walls price tag  $6 billion. Probably $8 billion. Maybe $10 or $12 billion. $18 billion. $5.7 billion for a physical barrier. Trump has modified his claim that Mexico is going to pay for the wall. Mexico  will pay  for the wall. 100 percent. Its gone from  They dont know it yet, but theyre paying for it. To  It may be through reimbursement, but one way or the other Mexico will pay for the wall. And  The border wall would very quickly pay for itself. And finally, what will Trumps wall look like? Trumps vision for the wall itself has also changed over time. Early on, Trump said the wall would be  Its going to be a Trump wall. Its going to be a real wall. An impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful  A serious wall. This is a wall thats a heck of a lot higher than the ceiling. Its going to be made of hardened concrete and its going to be made out of rebar and steel. Now, its sounding more like this: I never said Im going to build a concrete  I said Im going to build a wall. Just so you know, because I know youre not into the construction business. Steel is stronger than concrete. Its a new design, highest technology. Walls that you can see through. It will be a steel barrier rather than a concrete wall. So, will his latest push end with a wall? Theres still a tough political fight ahead.WASHINGTON  Brock Long, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency who was praised for his agencys response to Hurricane Harvey but sharply criticized for its handling of Hurricane Marias devastation of Puerto Rico, announced on Wednesday that he would resign.

Mr. Longs tenure was also punctuated by a controversy that had nothing to do with storms. The inspector general at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, found in September that he had improperly used government vehicles to travel between work and his home in North Carolina, where his wife and two sons live.

In a statement announcing his departure, Mr. Long noted that in his two years leading the agency, FEMA had handled more than 220 declared disasters, including during several hurricanes that caused profound damage in Texas, in Puerto Rico and along the East Coast.

While this has been the opportunity of the lifetime, it is time for me to go home to my family  my beautiful wife and two incredible boys, he said. As a career emergency management professional, I could not be prouder to have worked alongside the devoted, hardworking men and women of FEMA for the past two years. The agency declined a request for an interview.WASHINGTON  The House voted unanimously on Wednesday to condemn anti-Semitism and all attempts to delegitimize and deny Israels right to exist, adopting language put forth by Republicans who have spent weeks trying to paint two freshman Democrats as anti-Semites and dozens of other Democrats as their enablers.

The surprise vote attached the nonbinding resolution to an unrelated measure demanding an end to American support for Saudi Arabias war in Yemen. Republicans, taking advantage of a procedural rule that permits them to move to send a bill back to committee, attached the anti-Semitism language to the motion.

Democrats, led by one of their most prominent Jewish members, Representative Eliot L. Engel of New York, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, accepted it. Every member of the House voted in favor, except for two Republicans who voted present: Representatives Justin Amash of Michigan and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who said the measure should not clutter a War Powers Resolution. (Republicans agreed that the bill would not be sent back to committee.)

The anti-Semitism resolution comes two days after Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the entire Democratic leadership condemned Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, and forced her to apologize for a Twitter post in which she insinuated that American support for Israel is fueled by money from donors and pressure from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobbying group known as Aipac.Well be releasing gang members. Well be releasing individuals convicted of domestic violence and drug crimes, said Matthew Albence, deputy director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We will not be able to respond to as many calls as we do today. And in fact, in many of these calls, were going to tell them, Just release them, because we have no choice.

Democrats point out that more than a quarter of current ICE detainees are not subject to mandatory detention under the law.

Both Republicans and Democrats are citing competing data to claim that the new budget proposal advances their goals. Heres what the plan really says:

Why has the border wall taken a back seat?

Months of brinkmanship between Congress and the White House over the border wall have distracted from the issue of detention, which has now reached a breaking point, with the authorities being urged by the White House to arrest more immigrants than they can currently afford to detain.

With little support for a robust border wall on either side of the aisle within Congress, Republicans and Democrats have moved on to detention, which is also expensive, and has implications for recent border crossers as well as immigrants with firmly established roots in the United States.

Why are so many people being detained?

Mr. Trumps strict enforcement agenda has pushed the population of detained immigrants to the highest levels in history, with the authorities sweeping into immigrant-heavy locales to arrest vast numbers of the undocumented, as well as immigrants who have violated the terms of their visas (usually through criminal convictions), making them deportable.A man on the F.B.I.s Ten Most Wanted list was shot and killed by an agent during a predawn raid at a hotel in North Carolina on Wednesday, ending an 18-month search that spanned four states on opposite ends of the country.

The suspect, Greg A. Carlson, 47, was wanted in connection with an armed burglary and attempted sexual assault in Los Angeles in July 2017. The agency said in an announcement publicizing his placement on the most wanted list last year that he should be considered armed and extremely dangerous.

John A. Strong, the special agent in charge of the F.B.I. field office in Charlotte, N.C., said Mr. Carlson was found after a local police officer spotted a suspicious vehicle early Wednesday in the parking lot of the WoodSpring Suites in Apex, N.C., a few miles west of Raleigh.

The officer ran the cars license plates and determined it to be the car associated with Mr. Carlson and listed on his F.B.I. wanted poster. The officer alerted the F.B.I., which sent an agent to the hotel and determined that Mr. Carlson was in a room there.The Roman Catholic bishop of Covington, Ky., released an investigative report on Wednesday that he said showed a group of high school students from his diocese did not instigate a widely publicized encounter with a Native American man outside the Lincoln Memorial last month.

Our students were placed in a situation that was at once bizarre and even threatening, the bishop, Roger J. Foys, said in a statement with the report. Their reaction to the situation was, given the circumstances, expected and one might even say laudatory.

Bishop Foys said the report realized his hope that an investigation would exonerate the students.

The diocese hired a private detective agency that developed a detailed account of an encounter that was captured on video and quickly became a lightning rod for political and racial tensions in America.

The mostly white students, many of them wearing Make America Great Again gear, were in Washington on Jan. 18 to attend an anti-abortion March for Life rally when they intersected with a Native American man, Nathan Phillips, and others from an Indigenous Peoples March. Nearby, a group of black Hebrew Israelites were shouting slurs at the boys and Native Americans on the scene.All he had to do was convince the judge that he was only kidding, and he would probably be released.

But this was not long after the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., and no one was in the mood for jokes. The judge agreed that he should be held for 14 days while we continued observing him. The law allows for a longer hold if a patient is too delusional or disorganized to manage his food, clothing and shelter, but this patient had no trouble with that.

As his discharge date crept closer, our best hope was for law enforcement to show up and arrest him. But the detectives had a lot of interviews left to do, and the dark-web browser history to sort through, before they could bring any charges. They were counting on psychiatric treatment to dissipate the threat.

So finally we turned to a rarely used statute in California that allowed us to keep him for up to six months because he posed a danger. In 10 years, I remember it being used only once before. It requires a higher standard of proof than the usual commitment, and if the patient requests a trial, a 12-member jury has to agree that he is enough of a threat to justify being held involuntarily for so long.

His public defender, his psychiatrists and the detectives investigating his case decided it was worth pursuing. If nothing else, it would give us more time to come up with a plan to maximize the supervision he would have in the community after he left.

It has been six months, and so far it seems to be working. We arranged for intensive outpatient services so a therapist could go see him every day, and he checks in weekly with a mental health court. He finished his high school diploma online and now works while attending community college. For the first time, he has friends. He lives in a group home a few miles from my family.

Ive written before that the mental health system cant stop mass shooters. Neither can law enforcement. But this patients story gave me hope. Potentially dangerous people usually fall into the gap between the systems, a gap deepened by patient privacy laws and the information firewalls they foster. There is typically little communication between doctors and law enforcement to plan for their discharge. But this time we were able to close the gap between the hospital and the courts by weaving a net of support that connected them, and connected our patient.Last week, Congress held its first hearing on gun violence prevention since 2011. This week, the House Judiciary Committee is poised to approve a bipartisan bill to requiring background checks for all gun purchases, a proposal that represents one important step toward keeping deadly firearms out of the wrong hands. However, its also likely this bill wont get a hearing, let alone a vote, in the Senate.

That chambers majority leader, Mitch McConnell, needs to explain to all of us who have survived a shooting or lost someone to gun violence why the Senate wont even vote on such a bill even though theres been over half a million gun deaths since 2000, the year I was born.

And Americans should truly reckon with why this epidemic of gun deaths is treated so differently from any other health crisis in our country.

Imagine for a moment that all these gun deaths were caused by something else widely feared: airplane crashes. Theres no universe in which we wouldnt see it as a national emergency worthy of our undivided attention.

In fact, 2017 was a remarkable year in aviation. No one died in a commercial airplane crash, meaning it was safer for me to fly than it was for me to go to high school. It would take hundreds of completely full Boeing 737 flights crashing without survivors to total the number of people who died by guns in America in just 2017.

If even a handful of such crashes occurred, the government would declare a national emergency. All 737s would be grounded, there would be an independent commission created to investigate the crisis, and Boeing would be called before Congress to answer for its failures.

So why then dont more than 30,000 gun deaths in a year rise to the level of a national crisis for Americas conservative leaders?Blackface as a harmless prank in the 1950s and early 60s is considerably more palatable than blackface some 20 years later, after the civil rights movement. That Ralph Northam and his friends didnt understand the implications of racial caricatures in 1984 speaks volumes about their cultural I.Q. and common sense.  Patricia Horgan, Sauk Rapids, Minn.

In this era of perfection, blackface is the moral equivalent of participating in a lynching. Theres a solid body of contemporary evidence on which to judge the governor of Virginia and were going back 35 years? At the same time, the most egregious lout gets to sit in and pollute the White House. Whatever happened to proportionality and common sense?  Harry Gikling, America

At my daughters school event a couple of years ago, kids dressed up like historical figures. One was portraying Jesse Owens and  you guessed it  smeared shoe polish all over his face. Whether its the 1950s or 2010s, well never get past this until we all agree that blackface is not appropriate and pass that message along to the next generation.  DMH, South Maryland

I remain humiliated by my own ignorance

I moved to New York City from a racially homogeneous life. My parents were racist and homophobic. In elementary school, I got into an argument with another kid and I called him black, which to me was the worst insult ever. My teacher, who was black, was gentle and used it as a teaching moment. I will remember and be embarrassed about that forever.

I think Gov. Northam will get sympathy because my story isnt unique. His record and those close to him should show the truth of the man he is now.  Jay, West Coast

In 1967, my class presented the play, You Cant Take It With You. With no apparent soul searching, and theater tradition backing her up, our director used blackface to turn white teens into comedic black servants. The dress rehearsal was a howling success, but the next day our director told us that some audience members had objected and that she was discarding the blackface and toning down the parody of black people. I remain humiliated by my ignorance. Laughing at black stereotypes or actors in blackface seemed acceptable in the 60s and I shudder to think how long it took for that to change.  StandStrong, Vermont

It is never O.K. to say it is O.K.

I firmly believe that we will never see the shunning and removal of those in office who support policies that dehumanize and mistreat people of color. We will just have to make do with these glaringly apparent, undeniable examples of racist behavior, like people wearing blackface. White people can at least see that for what it is while they continue to ignore and deny the more pernicious forms of racial oppression.  Wilma de Soto, Philadelphia

We need to pay attention to the utterly demeaning, inhumane treatment of black Americans, but also to the more frightening fact that our country is as divided as ever. Im disturbed by so many of the comments I have read, claiming all sorts of rationalizations for racist behavior and thinking. The past is present, here and now. Why provide the same old I never saw this, never worried about it, never saw what was wrong with it excuse? It is never O.K. to dress in blackface. It is never O.K. to entertain in a way that dehumanizes another race. And it is never O.K. to say it is O.K. This is the tip of the iceberg all right.  Dina Pomeranz, New York

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.David Forden, an American intelligence officer who helped a highly placed Polish colonel deliver vital secrets for eight years during the Cold War, including advance warnings that may have helped prevent a Soviet invasion of Poland, died on Feb. 12 in Alexandria, Va. He was 88.

The cause was complications of Alzheimers disease, his daughter Sara Gay Forden said.

Mr. Forden was a Polish-speaking former Warsaw station chief for the C.I.A. who had returned to the agencys headquarters in Langley, Va., when, from 1973 to 1981, he oversaw the flow of Warsaw Pact military secrets conveyed by Ryszard Kuklinski, a colonel on the Polish Armys general staff and a liaison with Moscow.

Colonel Kuklinski gave Washington a heads-up that the Soviets were poised to invade Poland, as they had invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, if the Poles failed to squelch growing dissent. President Jimmy Carter publicly warned them not to and mustered diplomatic pressure.

In December 1981, Colonel Kuklinski warned the United States that the Polish government was about to impose martial law to crush Solidarity, the grass-roots dissident movement. The warning enabled Washington to better assess the implications of military maneuvers in and around Poland.Pacific Gas & Electric, the California utility that faces billions of dollars in wildfire damages, hopes to use its bankruptcy to reduce its liabilities and emerge a more stable company.

But the companys management and board of directors might not have all that much control over the outcome.

Before a bankruptcy judge has even had a chance to delve into PG&Es financial problems, investors, lawmakers, regulators and customers are trying to exert authority over the utility and shape its future.

The latest

BlueMountain Capital, a New York investment firm that owns PG&E stock, said on Wednesday that it had recruited 13 people to replace the companys directors, though it did not name them. The move came days after PG&Es board said it was also seeking to replace at least half of its current group of 10 members .Yemen: The U.S. House voted to end military support for Saudi Arabias war in Yemen, a rare move to limit presidential war powers that turns up pressure on the Senate to do the same.

France: A private Facebook group that included many male journalists was behind waves of online humiliation aimed at women in journalism.

Apple: A former senior lawyer at the tech giant who oversaw its insider trading policies was himself accused of insider trading. Separately, the company is under pressure, along with Google, to pull an app in Saudi Arabia that allows men to track female relatives.

China: A film by the prominent director Zhang Yimou that is set during the Cultural Revolution was abruptly withdrawn from the Berlin Film Festival for technical reasons  a term often used as a euphemism for Chinese government censorship .

Indonesia: An Instagram account that featured a comic strip with gay Muslim characters disappeared days after Indonesian officials derided it as pornographic and threatened to block the entire social media platform  underscoring the rise of the countrys hard-line Islamic movement.

Opportunity: NASAs Mars rover is dead after exploring the planets red plains for 14 years. It was the longest-lived roving robot ever sent to another planet.

Plastic is forever: More than 20,000 people in Britain have purchased a plastic engagement ring that costs about a pound. Perfect for Valentines Day, maybe? Some women welcome them as placeholders for a ring they can pick out.Thank you for reading The Cascadia Advocate, the Northwest Progressive Institutes journal of world, national, and local politics.

Founded in March of 2004, The Cascadia Advocate has been helping people throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond make sense of current events with rigorous analysis and thought-provoking commentary for more than fifteen years. The Cascadia Advocate is funded by readers like you and trusted sponsors. We dont run ads or publish content in exchange for money.

Help us keep The Cascadia Advocate editorially independent and freely available to all by becoming a member of the Northwest Progressive Institute today. Or make a donation to sustain our essential research and advocacy journalism.

Your contribution will allow us to continue bringing you features like Last Week In Congress, live coverage of events like Netroots Nation or the Democratic National Convention, and reviews of books and documentary films.

Become an NPI member Make a one-time donationTo Whom It May Concern/Readers of the Northwest Missourian,The Show-Me State recently became the nations first to pass legislation stopping the use of the word meat on food labels for products that do not contain livestock or poultry.The patronage hiring culture so deeply rooted in Lake County politics seems to be rearing its ugly head again.

The Lake County Council should be working to keep that culture in check rather than emboldening a fellow councilman's effort to perpetuate it.

Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez is right to push back against it.

Newly elected Lake County Councilman Charlie Brown should check any notion he has of seeking a police job for the son of close friend and disgraced former Lake County Surveyor George Van Til.

That hiring request, and a probe Brown is attempting to launch into the sheriff's hiring practices, came to a head at this week's Lake County Council meeting.

A heated argument between Martinez and Brown during that public meeting ensued.

Brown is attempting to get Martinez to turn over the list of all eligible candidates for county police vacancies.

Martinez rightly argues that no one outside of his office is entitled to those personnel documents, which are exempt under the Indiana open records laws.The Kenworth jackknifed, traveled west and hit a guardrail on the right side of the road. The semi and trailer rolled onto their left sides and came to rest blocking the right and middle lanes, police said.

De Ford, who was driving a 2019 Peterbilt and box trailer owned by Time Transport Inc., was unable to slow down to avoid Handler's truck and crashed into the Kenworth's undercarriage and rear axle, police said.

The Peterbilt ran off the road and crashed into an outside guardrail, blocking all lanes of southbound I-65.

A service dog was located at the crash scene and reunited with Handler at the hospital, Indiana State Police said.

Police said the Peterbilt was removed from the road, but removal of the Kenworth was expected to take more time.

The semi and trailer needed to be set upright, and diesel fuel spilled during the crash needed to be cleaned up.

While much of the wreckage had been cleared Wednesday evening, one southbound lane on I-65 remained closed, state police said.

Roads remained slushy and slick in some spots early Wednesday afternoon; however, sunshine and rising temps made for much clearer roads the rest of the day.HOBART  St. Mary Medical Center Cancer Care Center is offering a free, six-week Cancer Transitions class for survivors who are moving from treatment to the post-treatment phase at St. Mary Medical Center, 1500 Lake Park Ave. The classes will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. beginning Feb. 28 and continue each Thursday through April 4. Cancer Transitions is a program of the Cancer Support Community and Livestrong. It is open to cancer survivors who have been out of active treatment for at least three weeks up to two years. Each class will focus on an important aspect of survivorship including exercise, emotional health and well-being, nutrition, medical management beyond cancer and other topics. Expert panelists include an oncology certified nurse, nutritionists and fitness experts who will discuss topics like stress management, training in relaxation and individualized approaches to exercise and fitness. Classes are two hours in duration and include a period of light customized fitness activity. Each participant will receive a free pedometer, workbook, educational brochures and handouts. To register, contact Roxy Karnes, Cancer Care Services manager, at 219-947-6060.As police tried to restrain Keeble, he allegedly kicked wildly, hitting an officer in the knee. Police decided to transport him to an ambulance, at which the 22-year-old continued to allegedly resist, wildly swinging his arms to get free and hit the same officer multiple times, police said.

Keeble was eventually restrained on a gurney in an ambulance, and a spit hood was placed on him for the medics' safety, according to the report.

His mother told police her son asked her to take him to a friend's house in Highland as she was out running errands. However, the task turned into armed robbery.

Keeble demanded that his mother take him to a Chase Bank to withdraw money so he could run away.

Following a discussion over an airsoft gun the 22-year-old took from his brother, Keeble allegedly pulled up his shirt exposing his front waistband and displaying a black handgun, saying to his mother, This one is real.

Police later identified the weapon as a handgun modeled after a Beretta M9, according to reports.

The mother then drove to the bank in Munster. When she arrived, Aidan Keeble allegedly showed her a knife he had hidden and put it in his sleeve.Snyder's contempt for the government prosecution, however, was evident.

Following the reading of the verdict, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen and others discussed Snyder's decision to waive a jury hearing on the forfeiture of $13,000 resulting from the bribery conviction.

Van Bokkelen, who said he had never dealt with the issue in a similar way, asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson for advice.

Snyder asked the judge why he was asking the government prosecutor for advice and not Snyder's own attorney.

"It's really hard to take his word for anything," Snyder said, directing his comment toward Benson.

Unlike during Tuesday's closing arguments, which saw a packed courtroom of Snyder's friends and family, only a handful of family members and friends were present when the verdict was read Thursday.

Snyder said the jurors saw beyond the allegations in the towing-related bribery charge, which led to an acquittal on that charge.

He said he will continue to fight the conviction, presumably through appeal.

One of his attorneys, Jackie Bennett, said during the afternoon courtroom session they have "reserved a number of issues for appeal."MICHIGAN CITY  After handing his father a syringe loaded with heroin and then finding him dead with the needle still in his arm, Joshua Wozniak withdrew money using his dad's debit card and drove to Chicago to buy more heroin, police said.

It wasn't until eight hours later at 12:23 p.m. Jan. 24, after removing all signs of the drug use from the house, that Wozniak called 911 to report his father's death, according to newly filed court documents in the case.

After Larry Wozniak's body was removed from the rural Springfield Township residence, Joshua again used his father's debit card to withdraw money and made another trip to Chicago to purchase heroin and returned to use it before winding up arrested on unrelated charges early the following day, police said.

He has been charged under a new state law of causing the drug-related death of his father.

A plea of not guilty was entered on the young's man behalf to the Level 1 felony count of dealing in a controlled substance resulting in death and he was appointed a public defender based on a review of the distribution of his late father's estate, according to court records.

Police said a family member of Larry alerted them to the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.Valparaiso attorney Jon F. Schmoll, who represents the Salka family, was in federal court with attorneys defending the school district. Shirley Campbell, who cannot afford an attorney, joined the court proceeding by telephone. Christopher Campbell was absent.

Shirley Campbell told the court Wednesday she filed for bankruptcy and won an order in 2017 discharging her from such claims. Schmoll said Wednesday no one notified his clients of a bankruptcy judgment. He will research the matter to see if that bars his suit against her.

The magistrate said he would arrange to have Christopher Campbell join the next pre-trial hearing April 11 by telephone as well.

Two years ago, Christopher Campbell wrote the Porter Superior Court, after the suit was first filed, stating his mother shouldn't be blamed because she wasn't home when he he took her Suburban out for a drive.

In the note, he blamed Andrew Salka for talking on a phone and reading papers when he walked out of a wooded area and into the roadway just before the accident. He also stated neither he nor his mother have much money to compensate the Salkas.

Tensions between the two families erupted Jan. 8 when Christopher Campbell was sentenced in Lake Criminal Court in Crown Point. Family members of the Hebron man insulted the teen's mother, stormed out of the courtroom and called the Campbell's defense attorney a profane name.

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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.He and his siblings, ages 11 and 10, told police Nguyen stops by just long enough to drop off food on occasion and then cannot be reached by phone, according to a police report.

A school official reported the children have been heating the home with three space heaters and sometimes the oven turned on with the door left open, police said.

"Mom hasn't been home for a very long time," the 10-year-old girl reportedly told police. "She's gone for months at a time."

Police said when they located Nguyen, she said she had been at the Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, Michigan. She denied the claims of her children, telling police, "I come home after they sleep and leave before they get up."

An employee of a nail salon where Nguyen worked told police she was supposed to be working on the day of the police visit, but did not show up, which they said was typical behavior for her, according to the police report.

The eldest son told investigators he has been caring for his younger siblings "for as long as he can remember," according to the police report. "He added he cooks their meals, cleans the house and makes sure they get all of their chores/homework done."CROWN POINT  A Griffith man was sentenced Friday to 2.5 years in prison followed by 2.5 years in a work-release program for shooting another man in 2014 in East Chicago.

Javier A. Zavala, 35, pleaded guilty last year to felony battery resulting in serious bodily injury for repeatedly shooting another man June 15, 2014, at a residence in the 3900 block of Deodar Street.

Zavala and the victim allegedly tussled over the defendant's girlfriend, according to The Times archives. The victim threw an object at Zavala's car, and Zavala responded by shooting him in the abdomen, leg and right forearm.

Battery resulting in serious bodily injury is a Class C felony under the old criminal code. It is typically punishable by two to eight years in prison, but parties agreed Zavala would face a maximum six-year sentence under the terms of the plea agreement. The state agreed to dismiss remaining charges of aggravated battery and battery committed with a deadly weapon.Students, faculty and chaperones were to depart Oct. 17, 2014, but Pruitt exchanged the tickets so she and her daughter could depart Oct. 19, with no explanation given, the audit says.

Pruitt also inappropriately used a district credit card to upgrade the seats at a cost of $358, records state.

State seeks triple damages

When the FBI questioned Pruitt about her May 2016 stay at the Omni Los Angeles Hotel, she said she generally charged everything, excluding hotel and flight expenses, to her personal credit card, and then submitted receipts to her secretary for reimbursement, court records say.

She admitted the school paid twice for the Los Angeles trip, but she said it was not done intentionally or maliciously."

The State Board of Accounts' costs for the audit were $3,531, the suit says.

The district sustained a total loss of $3,664 as a result of Pruitt's actions, the lawsuit alleges.There'll be a mix of interesting films on the roster this weekend at Gary's Glen Theatre.

The 8th annual Film Festival, hosted by William L. Johnson, will be presented Feb. 15 and 16 at The Glen Theatre, which is owned and operated by the African American Achievers Youth Corps. Inc.

Johnson is a graduate of Gary's Emerson School of Visual and Performing Arts and brought the fest to the Region for the first time eight years ago. His mission with the fest was that he wanted to do something specifically for Gary.

"We want to bring films that are produced or directed by African Americans or are about African American issues featuring black actors," said Vernon Smith, who is the director of the film festival and is the Achievers Board chairman.

The event will star two feature films and a variety of shorter works.

Smith said they're hoping to draw about 600 people this year for the fest. It's had positive feedback through the years, he added.

According to Smith, he said he hopes film fest fans will be impressed by the "quality" of films that will be presented during the two-day event.Mark Spencer, director of Garys West Side Theatre Guilds A Soldiers Play, can now cross off an item on his directorial to-do list with his staging of the acclaimed drama.

This is a piece that has long been on my bucket list, he said. I made a promise to myself that, before retirement, this is a piece that I wanted to produce.

Opening Feb. 15 and running through Feb. 24, Solders tells the story of a group of African American men coping and revealing long-held resentments and perspectives in the wake of a murder at an Army fort in Louisiana in 1944.

Penned by American playwright Charles Fuller, whose credits include fellow celebrated works such as Zooman and the Sign, The Brownsville Raid and In the Deepest Part of Sleep, Soldiers made its stage debut in 1981. A year later, it received the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

The play was also adapted for the big screen in 1984, directed by Academy Award winning director Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night, Fiddler on the Roof). Denzel Washington, Robert Townsend and David Alan Grier are among the cast members of the film, which was nominated for Best Picture Oscar and Golden Globe Awards.Deborah Haddad, director of Valparaisos Memorial Opera Houses staging of Shrek: The Musical, expects audiences of all ages to walk out smiling after experiencing her production.

When Im watching them put it all together, I think that its a happy show, she said. Its a fun show and I think everybody  parents, kids  are going to love it. Its a nice way to start out the year.

Opening Feb. 15 and running through March 3, Shrek is the tale of the title character, a blue Ogre who, along with his partner-in-crime, Donkey, seeks to win the heart of Princess Fiona, who holds a secret from Shrek and all from their fairy tale land.

Taking its cue from the 2001 animated big screen smash featuring celebrated vocal performances by Mike Meyers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz, Shrek was adapted for the stage in Seattle in 2008 before making its way to Broadway later that year.

Featuring songs such as Story of My Life, The Goodbye Song and Big Bright Beautiful World, Shrek was nominated for eight Tony awards, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. Additionally, its soundtrack received a Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.This is the perfect next step in the expansion of our Toyota Heavy Duty line, said Jeff Rufener, president of Toyota Material Handling USA. Hoist has been a great manufacturer of heavy-duty equipment for years and brings a group of passionate, talented associates that will help us in our role as a full-line equipment supplier. We are excited about the future of Hoist Material Handling.

Hoist moved to Northwest Indiana from Bedford Park, Illinois, in 2016. The company had been looking to expand because of growing sales, but was landlocked in Bedford Park, where it has retained a manufacturing satellite office. The Indiana Economic Development Corp., Regional Development Authority and the city of East Chicago provided financial incentives nearing $15 million to assist in the relocation, which often has been touted by local economic development officials as a major coup.

Hoist Material Handling will be led by Vice President and General Manager Dan Kossow, Vice President of Engineering Bob Miller, Vice President of Sales Stu Jacover and Vice President of Operations Ryan Delaney.The Rail Supply Chain Summit returns to Chicago in May for its ninth annual edition, which will discuss "Emerging Opportunities for Rail & Water."

Keynote speakers are scheduled to include executives and officials from Cargill, the Illinois International Port District, Florida East Coast Railway, Port Los Angeles, Anacostia Rail Holdings, the law firm Jones Walker, BNSF Railway, supply chain manager BluJay Solutions, Kansas City Southern Railroad, the Waterways Council Indiana, the port planning firm Vickerman & Associates and the Illinois Corn Growers Association.

The speakers and sponsors will also tour the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor, summit organizer Mary Elisabeth Pitz said.

"Port Director Ian Hirt has five fully funded projects to present," she said. "We will definitely have a spotlight on Northwest Indiana."

The daylong summit will be held May 9 at the Union League Club, 65 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago. It will include breakfast, lunch, networking opportunities with senior executives and a closing reception. Hundreds of business people in the rail, water, intermodel and shipping sectors are expected to attend.

For more information or to register, visit mep-associates.com, email mpitz@mepitzassociates.com or call 312-750-9150.

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The business news you need With a weekly newsletter looking back at local history. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.Section 232 tariffs of 25 percent on all foreign-made steel and stronger steel market conditions helped lift domestic steelmakers' fortunes last year.

Steel shipments, the amount of steel sold to customers, rose by 4.8 percent year-over-year in 2018, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. The Washington D.C.-based trade association reported that U.S. steel mills shipped out 95.27 million net tons of steel last year, up from about 90.88 tons in 2017.

In December, American steel mill shipped 7.8 million tons of steel, according to the AISI. That was down 0.4 percent as compared to the 7.83 million tons shipped in November but up 6.5 percent as compared to the 7.32 million tons shipped in December of 2017.

In the final month of 2018, shipments of hot-rolled sheets rose by 2 percent while shipments of cold-rolled sheets and hot-dipped galvanized sheets and strip both declined by 6 percent.

Growth in shipments helped U.S. Steel nearly triple its annual profit to $1.1 billion last year and ArcelorMittal USA post its best year since 2007. The multinational Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, one of the Region's largest employers, grew overall profit by 12.7 percent to $5.1 billion.

Both U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal forecast that strong market conditions would carry into 2019, but cautioned that, while volumes remain robust, steel prices have been softening for months.

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The business news you need With a weekly newsletter looking back at local history. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy."Community Hospital has already had two Medicare audits and an independent audit for rehabilitation claims during this same time period that showed greater than 95 (percent) compliance, and we strongly dispute the audit methodology used by the OIG. Community Hospital will be immediately appealing the OIG findings."

OIG recommended the hospital return the $22 million to Medicare, as well as "any additional similar overpayments received outside of (the) audit period," and "strengthen controls" to ensure future compliance.

"This amount is grossly excessive and imposes an unreasonable burden upon Community Hospital that may have dire consequences for its future operations," hospital CEO Luis Molina wrote in response to the OIG's draft, adding that finalizing the report would "improperly harm Community's reputation and finances, jeopardizing its patient care mission and its ability to continue serving the health care needs of the community."

The report is a recommendation to HHS officials, who will make a final determination. There are five levels to the Medicare appeals process, the report states, and a provider does not have to return any money until after the second level of appeal.The House Public Policy Committee withheld voting on a controversial bill that would limit second trimester abortions after hours of heated debate that dragged into the evening Wednesday.

House Bill 1211 would make performing dismemberment abortions on a living fetus during or after the second trimester a level 5 felony, which would be punishable by up to six years in prison. The only exception is if the pregnancy poses a serious health risk to the woman that would result in substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.

All other anti-abortion laws the General Assembly passed since 2013 have been blocked by federal judges.

Laws in the nine states banning the procedure are only in effect in Mississippi and West Virginia. The others are on hold because of legal challenges in Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.

The bill, authored by Rep. Peggy Mayfield, R-Martinsville, graphically defines a dismemberment abortion as when a fetus is extracted from a woman one piece at a time by using clamps or scissors to slice, crush or grasp a body part.

The procedure, medically defined as a Dilation and Evacuation (D&E) procedure, is the most common method for a second trimester abortion. Still, it remains rare. This procedure made up 0.35 percent of the 7,778 abortions performed in Indiana during 2017, according to the state department of health.

The baby is literally ripped limb from limb? Jesus Christ, Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, said during the hearing.

The House Public Policy Committee withheld voting on the bill after listening to more than three hours of testimony from both sides and getting into heated debate among the members Wednesday afternoon. During the hearing, Rep. Dan Forestal, D-Indianapolis, said he was disappointed in the repeated use of the graphic language throughout.

The comments today are very hyperbolic, he said. I have heard torn apart limb by limb probably 14 times.

Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, which opposed the bill, stated the term dismemberment is not medical, and lawmakers are using the word to invoke fear and stigmatize womens healthcare. The organization believes the bill is another attempt to criminalize womens medical decisions and undermine health professionals.

A local pediatrician, Tracey Wilkinson, was faced with the decision to have a second-trimester abortion after she found out her unborn child had possible life-threatening birth defects. This was a decision she thought she would never have to make, she said, and that choice should remain private.

I struggled to think about how this would impact my family, Wilkinson said. At no point was there space for my representative to be involved with my decision.

Dr. Katie McHugh, an obstetrician and gynecologist (OB/GYN), said she and other physicians want to offer all options, and HB 1211 would ban the safest procedure that can be performed in the second trimester. She said the alternatives may be painful and cause complications, including terminating the fetus before a D&E, which is permitted under the bill.

What I advocate for is for women to have a choice, McHugh said. By taking medical decision out of the hands of women  and instead putting them in the hands of politicians, it is extremely dangerous.

Indiana Right to Life and National Right to Life take the position that dismemberment abortion is barbaric.

To think about other children  to be pulled limb for limb, it just breaks my heart, Ryan McCann, of the Indiana Family Institute, said.

Dr. Kathy Altman, a retired OB/GYN who previously performed dismemberment abortions, testified against the bill. She graphically described the procedures she performed, including making sure to count all the body parts she pulled out. She explained the many possible dangers and complications that come from the surgery, such as accidentally crushing the womans bladder or pulling a bowel out.

It always made me a little nervous doing these, Altman said.

The other piece of HB 1211 includes more specific lists of complications that may rise from an abortion, which Mayfield said were more vaguely defined last session.The legislation also allows for the woman who received an abortion banned by the proposed law and experienced complications, her parents or a prosecuting attorney can petition for an injunction against a physician. The woman, the father or the parents of a female under 18 who received an abortion that caused her death, can sue a doctor for damages under the bill as well.

Emily Ketterer is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.BRUSSELS/COPENHAGENThe European Union reached a provisional deal on Feb. 13, on new rules governing import gas pipelines including Russias planned Nord Stream 2, in a move that cast doubts over the projects current operating structure.

Adding to uncertainty is Denmarks potential ban of the pipelines planned route through its territorial waters and threats by the United States to sanction it if it goes ahead.

The draft law calls for all import pipelines to meet EU energy market rules by not being directly owned by gas suppliers, applying non-discriminatory tariffs and transparent reporting and allowing at least 10 percent of capacity to be made available to third parties.

Exceptions are only possible under strict procedures in which the Commission plays a decisive role, the Commission said.

EU Commissioner Arias Canete, responsible for energy, said that Europe was closing a loophole in its laws as its dependency on natural gas imports increases.

The new rules ensure that EU law will be applied to pipelines bringing gas to Europe and that everyone interested in selling gas to Europe must respect European energy law, he said in a statement.

The draft law could slow but not stop the project, led by Russian state energy firm Gazprom in partnership with five Western firms  Germanys Uniper and BASFs Wintershall unit, Anglo-Dutch firm Shell, Austrias OMV and Frances Engie.

Nord Stream 2 has divided the EU as Eastern European, Nordic and Baltic Sea countries see the 1,225 km (760 mile) pipeline, which is already under construction, as increasing EU reliance on Moscow, while those in northern Europe, especially Germany, prioritize the economic benefits.

Denmark faces a foreign policy quandary as it has to decide whether the pipeline can go through its territorial waters after it passed new legislation on pipelines allowing it to ban Nord Stream 2 on foreign policy and security grounds.

Moscows military posturing in and around the Baltic Sea has rattled nerves in the Nordic states.

Denmarks Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen, who has been urging for a common European stance, said on Tuesday the blocs agreement on new rules was positive.

However, he cautioned that Denmarks decision on the route would still be based on a broader assessment of the project in relation to its defense, security and foreign policy interests.

I would like to emphasize that nothing the Russians are doing is currently pulling towards an approval.

In case of a Danish no, the project would still be likely to go ahead as the consortium has applied for an alternative route that would avoid the Nordic states territorial waters.

The deal reached by representatives of the European Commission and parliament and the 28 member states should lead to a new law in the coming months. EU countries would then have nine months to transpose it into national law.

By Alissa de Carbonnel and Alexandra HudsonThe tension over vaccines started years ago, the teen told The Washington Post on Sunday, after he began to notice his mother posting anti-vaccination videos on social media. His friends were getting vaccinated. So what was happening in his house?

Lindenberger read scientific papers and journals. He pulled up Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studies on his phone at the dinner table, hoping his mother would relent and get him and his four younger siblings - now ages 16, 14, 5 and 2 - vaccinated.

"I looked into it, it was clear there was way more evidence in defense of vaccines," he said. His mother resisted and claimed there were autism risks from vaccines, a common argument used by anti-vaccination groups that has been widely debunked.

His mother, Jill Wheeler, was angered by his pursuit, she told Undark, an online science magazine. "It was like him spitting on me," she told the site, "saying 'You don't know anything, I don't trust you with anything. You don't know what you're talking about. You did make a bad decision and I'm gonna go fix it.' "

Wheeler did not respond to a request for comment.LINCOLN  Some Nebraskans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for food stability will see their benefits arrive early on their electronic balance transfer cards again in March. Typically, benefits are delivered to SNAP recipients between the first and fifth of each month, depending on the last digit of their Social Security numbers, but all certified SNAP households will receive their next issuance March 1.

The United States Department of Agricultures Food and Nutrition Service, which provides SNAP funding to states, has indicated that it does not want SNAP recipients to go more than 40 days without receiving additional benefits, said Matthew Wallen, director of the Division of Children and Family Services, which administers Nebraskas SNAP program. The early March issuance is to meet that request, after February benefits arrived on EBT cards before Jan. 20.

The February early issuance was due to the partial federal government shutdown. The early March issuance will proceed, regardless of whether the federal government shuts down when the continuing resolution currently funding federal operations expires Friday. Benefits will continue to be issued throughout March as additional recertifications and new applications are processed.The commissions work will highlight commemoration activities across the country including the August opening of a

at Fort Monroe National Monument, a partnership between the Fort Monroe Authority and the National Park Service. Additional events and programs are in development by the NPS, other agencies, and partner organizations. As plans are finalized, the commission hopes to have an online resource where the public can learn more about how to participate in the commemoration.Ebenezer Baptist Church Gary Tarleton, NPS

February 13, 2019

Contact: Rebecca Karcher, 404-787-3377

ATLANTA- The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park will host a special African American History Program that will take place at the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in the Heritage Sanctuary, located at 407 Auburn Avenue, NE Atlanta, Georgia, on February 23, 2019 from 2:00 PM to 4:30 PM in the Heritage Sanctuary. In partnership with the American King Foundation and the Alveda King Ministries, the program will feature a Youth panel discussion on Why we must know our history and be prepared to Bridge the Gap between our past and our future. The program will also feature a performance from songstress Kristen Glover from Madison, Alabama, who recently performed at the King Centers 36th annual Salute to Greatness Awards Gala. Mrs. Glover has traveled throughout the United States and Internationally, leading gospel music workshops and singing as a lead vocalist or soloist.

 The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park is committed to providing youth with an opportunity to learn about the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stated Superintendent Judy Forte, and through partnerships such as the the King Foundation and Alveda King Ministries, the park has provided training and career experiences to hundreds of young people in becoming responsible stewards of the nationss natural and cultural resources.

This event is free and is a part of an ongoing series of public program offered by the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park.February 11, 2019

The National Park Service is in need of short-term housing near Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore for the summers seasonal workforce of park rangers, guides, maintenance workers, and research aids.



Summer employees often have difficulty in finding suitable short-term housing. Most of the employees are college students or people just starting their careers and have limited budgets. Many apartments will not lease or rent for less than six months or a year and the park's summer employees typically work less than that starting in May. Most employees will be looking for temporary, (two to six months), housing, preferably furnished apartments or rooms with cooking privileges.



Persons interested in receiving referrals for summer renters from Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore should contact Administrative Support Assistant Florida Harris, at 219-395-1772.February 12, 2019Andrew White, 307.739.3431

MOOSE, WY Grand Teton National Park staff are preparing for another significant winter weather event. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for the area which forecasts winds from 15 to 20 m.p.h. and gusts over 30 m.p.h. tonight and tomorrow. This wind, compounded with snowfall, is expected to cause limited visibility and drifting snow.



With this forecast in mind, park staff caution travelers that Highway 26/89/191 between Moose and Moran junctions is anticipated to be in No Unnecessary Travel status beginning around 10 p.m. tonight or as conditions dictate. If conditions deteriorate, this stretch of highway may close beginning in the early morning hours and continuing for much of the day or longer.



Grand Teton Deputy Superintendent Gopaul Noojibail emphasized the importance of safety in the parks response to winter road conditions. Public safety is our highest priority and we will plow Highway 89 between Moose and Moran as long as it is safe to do so. If the road does close, we will reopen it as soon as we can clear the snow and we will continue to keep the public informed as conditions change.



Travelers on park roads are encouraged to plan ahead before beginning their trip. Drivers should always check the weather forecast and current road status before departing. Grand Teton road information can be found by calling 307.739.3682. Frequent users of Highway 26/89/191 are also encouraged to sign up for Wyoming Department of Transportations 511 Notify system at https://www.wyoroad.info/511/511NotifyAnnouncement.html.



The coming winter weather is also a good reminder for travelers to double check the status of their road emergency kit to ensure they have the essentials to survive a few hours stranded in winter weather. As road closures can sometimes prevent people from returning home for the night, it is also advisable to pack a change of clothes and other items to spend a night away.



The anticipated weather comes on the heels of another snowstorm which forced the closure of the highway between Moose and Moran for approximately 24 hours beginning Monday afternoon. The closure was necessitated by high winds which reduced visibility to zero and caused significant drifting between Teton Point Turnout and Snake River Overlook. Park staff were successful in plowing out drifts as high as five feet Tuesday morning and extricated a semi-trailer truck that violated last nights closure and became stuck. The road reopened at about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.



Drivers are reminded that road closures are put in place for their safety when roads truly become impassable. Though driving conditions are often reasonable around the closure barriers in Moose and Moran, the conditions on the exposed stretch of highway in between are much worse.

Winner of the 2019 annual pass photo contest Photo courtesy of JK Putnam. Used with Permission.

February 12, 2019

Contact: Christie Anastasia, 207-288-8806

BAR HARBOR, MAINE The National Park Service has selected a photograph by J.K. Putnam of Southwest Harbor, Maine, as the winner of Acadia National Parks 2019 annual entrance pass contest. The photograph portrays a pair of barred owls photographed in Acadia National Park. The photograph will appear on thousands of annual entrance passes purchased by visitors from all over the country. As a show of thanks, Mr. Putnam will receive credit for his photograph and a 2019 Acadia Annual Pass displaying his winning photo.

We are excited to have received a multitude of entries from 17 states as well as from locations such as Canada and Mexico, said Superintendent Kevin Schneider. We want to thank everyone who submitted and shared their amazing images of Acadia National Park.

The Acadia National Park annual entrance pass is available for purchase after May 1st at locations listed on the Fees & Passes Acadia National Park website https://www.nps.gov/acad/ planyourvisit/fees.htm.

The NPS retains 80 percent of the fees collected from entrance pass sales to invest in critical improvements that directly benefit visitors at Acadia National Park, including maintaining and enhancing visitor facilities. The entrance pass revenues are also essential for funding the operation of the Island Explorer bus system, which serves Acadia and its surrounding communities. The NPS uses the remaining 20 percent of fees collected from entrance passes to benefit other sites in the National Park System.WILLIAMSPORT - A Harrisburg man was arrested after police investigated an allegation that he was selling cocaine to many of the college residents at the 900 block of Vine Avenue.

Williamsport Bureau of Police Officer Joshua Bell was patrolling the area on September 26, 2018 when he received a tip from Penn College Police Department that there had been frequent foot and vehicle traffic at a residence at 946 Vine Avenue. Bell knocked on the door and when tenant Dakota Cleveland opened it, he observed drug paraphernalia in plain view, according to the affidavit. Cleveland, 20, admitted that he had cocaine and marijuana inside.

After executing a search warrant, police found 36 grams of cocaine worth $1,400, approximately $2,800 in cash, packaging materials for cocaine distribution and a firearm, according to the affidavit.

Cleveland was taken into custody and told police he began purchasing cocaine in March 2018 from a man known as "Sunny" whom police found out was Robertson. Cleveland told police he had purchased three ounces of cocaine for $2,700 on that day and had already allegedly sold approximately 1.5 ounces to Penn College students and friends.

Through their interview with Cleveland, police found out that Robertson would frequently travel to the Vine Avenue residence to sell cocaine. Cleveland alleged that almost every college residence on Vine Avenue was involved in some form of drug trafficking and that Robertson allegedly trafficked narcotics in this area. Police also learned that Robertson reportedly told Cleveland he wanted to use his connection in Harrisburg who has a CDL license "to bring large quantities of cocaine into Williamsport from Harrisburg," according to the affidavit.

Cleveland was charged with several counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and possession of a controlled substance. He is out on $125,000 unsecured bail.

After an investigation, charges of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and possession of a controlled substance were filed against Roberston in January of 2019 at the office of District Magistrate Christian D. Frey. He was remanded to Lycoming County Prison in lieu of $150,000 bail.There was more encouraging news Wednesday when White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said that bill writers were still tinkering with the legislations language and that the president was waiting for a final version. She added that while the president isnt fully happy with everything in the bill, there are some positive pieces of it.

I hope he signs the bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told The Associated Press. McConnell joined other GOP leaders in selling it as a necessary compromise that represented a major concession from Democrats.

While Trump has suggested that he doesnt think another shutdown was going to happen, he has also made clear that, if he does sign the bill he is strongly considering supplementing the congressional compromises allocation for the wall by moving money from what he described as less important areas of government.

We have a lot of money in this country and were using some of that money  a small percentage of that money  to build the wall, which we desperately need, Trump said.Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

During the 30 days in jail - set to begin March 1 - Young must qualify for a work release program, prove he has employment and adhere to other measures.

Should Young violate the terms of his probation, he could serve two years in jail.

Young is forbidden to train, care for or board any animals while on probation. He was ordered to pay about $4,800 in restitution to the victims.

Young had also requested a deferred judgement, which would possibly have wiped the charges from his record if granted. Strait denied him.

You will have a criminal record. The sentence I believe is appropriate as I expect you to pay back every dime of the restitution and any possible civil suits, Strait said.

After sentencing, Young and his attorney, William Bracker, exited the courtroom while the victims grew angry.

Can I trade the money for more jail time? I dont need the money, one of the victims said to Strait as he left the room.

Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber spoke with reporters afterward. He said animal neglect and abuse laws in Iowa - and the scope of the case itself - were frustrating for the victims and prosecution.A film shoot planned for Thursday night (Feb. 14) on St. Bernard Avenue will include simulated gunfire, according to a news release from the New Orleans Mayors Office.

The gunfire, part of filming for Queen & Slim, will take place from about 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the 1200 and 1300 blocks of St. Bernard. Those blocks sit between Marais and Henriette Delille streets, just off North Rampart Street in the 7th Ward.

Orleans Parish sheriffs deputies will be on-hand to help facilitate and oversee safety during filming, according to the Mayors Office.

The Universal-backed Queen & Slim, with a script by Lena Waithe, features a couple who go on the run after a traffic stop turns violent. The film stars Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Widows) and Jodie Turner-Smith (Nightflyers, Neon Demon) and is set to continue production in the New Orleans area through March 22.

Residents with concerns are urged to contact the production company, Royalty Productions, before the simulated gunfire occurs so crew members can accommodate residents needs, the news release states.

Anyone with questions or concerns should call the production company at 323-252-9091.

Laura McKnight covers crime and breaking news for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. NOLA.com | The Times-Picayunes Mike Scott contributed to this report.New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell asked Gov. John Bel Edwards last month to give the city $75 million immediately to deal with its infrastructure needs. She also requested the governor assemble a working group, tasked with addressing how the state will find this emergency funding to help its drainage, drinking water and sewage system problems.

That group had its first meeting to work on short-term solutions. A long-term fix isnt part of its current focus, according to the governors office.

The mayors plea for money comes after she received a cold reaction to her longer-term proposal to redirect a portion of dedicated hotel, motel and restaurant taxes from tourism-related purposes to city infrastructure. Edwards and leaders in the Louisiana Legislature oppose the idea.

New Orleans has experienced frequent street flooding and frequent boil-water advisories in recent years, issues that local officials have said will take far more resources than the city has on hand. Local property tax increases and service fee increases are a tough sell for the mayor, given recent billing and management issues at the Sewerage & Water Board.

... (T)he City of New Orleans is seeking an immediate $75 million influx of cash to ensure we are able to meet our current infrastructure needs and address the next disaster before it happens, Cantrell said in a letter to the governor dated Jan. 30.

Cantrells letter asked the governor to form a working group to identify short and long term solutions to these funding concerns." That group met for the first time Wednesday, but will primarily focus on coming up with the $75 million the mayor has requested immediately, according to his spokeswoman Christina Stephens.

The governors office has not yet provided the names of the people who are part of the working group.

Money should not be taken from tourism for infrastructure needs: Billy Nungesser

The Governor and Mayor Cantrell have had a private discussion and our staffs also met last month, Stephens said in a written statement last week. Weve been having productive talks and were going to bring some additional stakeholders and experts into the conversation to help inform the process.

Cantrell did not specify in her letter how the $75 million would be used. Her office later said it would be spent on Sewerage & Water Board work and obligations: paying contractors, covering its portion of major Uptown drainage improvements, upgrading a turbine that cant run in cold weather, and modernizing its power system.

Its not clear where the state would get the $75 million if leaders chose to grant Cantrells wish. Louisianas capital budget funds infrastructure work around the state, but there is a long line of projects waiting for that money. Other possible state sources are being considered by the working group, said Matthew Block, the governors executive counsel. Stephens said it is likely that several streams of funding will be used to help New Orleans.

Sewerage & Water Board shifts money, borrows from itself to pay millions in vendor bills

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Cantrell is working on multiple fronts to secure the money needed for the citys infrastructure. State Rep. Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, said he, state Rep. Neil Abramson, D-New Orleans, and Sen. Eric LaFleur, D-Ville Platte -- who oversee taxes and budgets for the Legislature -- were invited to meet with the mayor recently. Business and tourism industry leaders from New Orleans also attended the meeting, he said.

The talks between Cantrell and the legislators also included longer-term solutions for New Orleans infrastructure needs.

Edwards and the Legislature would have to approve any plan from the mayor that redirects tax dollars spent on tourism to infrastructure -- as the mayor is proposing over the long term. So far, several state officials, including the governor, have been critical of that proposal from the mayor.

Senate President John Alario, R-Westwego, considered the most powerful legislator, said he would not be inclined to sign off on redirecting tax dollars from tourism. He said the money helps boosts New Orleans economy by attracting more conventions and events to the city.

Furthermore, some of the tax money is used to fulfill the states obligations with the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans. If it was redirected to the citys infrastructure, the state would have to find funding elsewhere for those agreements. Alario said some legislators, particularly those from North Louisiana, wont want to take money from health care and higher education to cover the Saints and Pelicans needs.

I would be very reluctant to give that money away, Alario said.

New Orleans should regain lost hotel tax money to fix drainage and roads, watchdog group says

In discussing New Orleans infrastructure challenges last month, Edwards also brought up the Saints and the looming contract negotiations the state has to keep the team in Louisiana. The football franchises contract expires in 2024.

Youve got to make sure that is a competitive venue in light of what the country looks like today, the governor said. We are going to have to make some improvements at the Superdome in order to make that happen.

Alario said he would be willing to consider another solution where more state money went toward New Orleans infrastructure problems, but added theres already a lot of competition for that money.

The state highway system has a $14 billion backlog, Louisianas coastal restoration plan needs more resources and several drinking water systems in small towns in the state arent safe. If the state starts giving money to New Orleans to take care of local problems, other local governments are likely to make similar requests, Alario said.A new Gallup poll shows that President Donald Trumps job approval rating has jumped from 37 percent to 44 percent since the end of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

Trump's overall approval rating hasn't been this high since October when his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was sworn into office. It's just 1 percentage point short of the personal highs he hit in the first week of his term in January 2017 and after his meeting with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un in June 2018.

The poll is based on telephone interviews conducted Feb. 1-10 with a random sample of 1,016 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia

The survey calls began less than a week after Trump signed legislation to end the 35-day shutdown and open negotiations for funding a border wall he apparently won't get through Congress.

The public approval rating for Congress remains at 21 percent, unchanged from January.

This #NeverTrump commentator has second thoughts | Opinion

The pollsters said "Trump's job approval rating was up significantly throughout the survey field period, including in the days before and after his Feb. 5 State of the Union address. Accordingly, it is more likely that his decision to end the shutdown was the primary factor in his improved rating."

The Gallup analysis concluded that the "latest increase in approval is mainly the result of political independents' improved opinions of Trump. Between the late January and February polls, independents' approval of Trump rose six points, to 38 percent. At the same time, Republicans and Democrats held steady at 89 percent and 5 percent, respectively."

But the pollster said Trump's higher approval rating "also reflects an increase in Republican party identification from late January, which has expanded the base of Republicans."

That led MSNBCs Joe Scarborough to blame Democrats overreach for giving Trump the bump.

Democrats can't afford any more unforced errors, he said, because all they are doing is making the once unthinkable now possible and that is the election of Donald Trump in 2020. They've got to play smarter.

Thats not the whole story, but Morning Joe is on to something. The hard pull to the left by the new Democrats in Congress and their announced candidates for the presidential race is not comforting to a lot of centrist and moderate voters.

Scarboroughs list of unforced errors covers a lot of ground.

"You can talk about the botched rollout for the Green New Deal," he said, "you can talk about the anti-Semitic statements that one member said; you can talk about what's going on in Virginia, the blackface controversies there; you can talk about the late-term abortion celebrations in the New York Legislature.

"You can talk about a lot of these different things that, again, give Donald Trump a reason to say, don't look at the mistakes that I've made, look at these extremists. I'm here to protect you from the extreme Democrats."

Scarborough, who was elected to four terms in Congress as a conservative Republican from Florida, says he has seen it before from the other side of the aisle.

"I know of what I speak," he said, "because Bill Clinton got elected in 1992 with 43 percent of the vote. People like me got elected in 1994. We immediately went too far right, and what did we do? We re-elected Bill Clinton."

As Mitch Landrieu demurs, admirers expound

There is still a long way to go  628 days  and a lot of things to happen, but Scarborough isnt wrong about Democrats overreach and missteps improving Trumps prospects. He has a path to re-election.

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.For much of the past quarter century, Jefferson Parish has withered in the bottom third of Louisianas public school systems. Its current grade is a C and its performance score 70.6 on the states 150-point scale, ranking it 50th of 70 school systems.

Can it reach an A in just five years? Thats the earnest goal of the Jefferson School Board, which this week unanimously committed itself to a comprehensive strategic plan drafted by new Superintendent Cade Brumley.

It is your plan to own, our plan to execute, Brumley told the board Tuesday (Feb. 12). And its going to take everyone to get this done.

The 13-page framework lays out 2024 goals for every aspect of Louisianas largest school system. Among them: boosting Jeffersons performance score to 100, raising the 71.8 percent graduation rate to 90 percent and having every third- and eighth-grader perform at grade level.

I think theyre all attainable, School Board member Mark Morgan said Thursday. The most difficult one is to be an A-rated system because its a moving target: The better you do, the higher they raise the bar.

Thats a familiar progression for big business, and one that has challenged Jefferson schools. But Morgan, a 15-year member of the School Board, said he doubts Jefferson has ever had a strategic plan for its schools.

Strategic plan for Jefferson Parish public schools has high expectations

Jefferson Parish families enroll a higher percentage of children in private schools than all but seven of the 3,142 counties in the United States, which some say leaves a big chunk of the local population disinterested in public education. The School Board has cycled through four superintendents in 16 years, with business interests and the teachers union often at odds.

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

Last year might have marked a turning point, however. The School Board hired Brumley from DeSoto Parish, the 2018 election campaigns saw less business-labor friction and voters replaced four of the nine board members.

The last step is to engage the community in a way it hasnt been since the 1970s, Morgan said. Public education is really the foundation of a strong community.

Two taxes too much, Jefferson Parish School Board decides

That notion will be tested May 4, when the School Board asks voters to raise property taxes by $27 million a year for employee pay. Of nine parishes in the New Orleans area, Jeffersons starting pay for teachers now ranks seventh; it would jump to second if the tax is approved.

Read the strategic plan:

. . . . . . .

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Jeffersons performance score ranks it 51st of 75 Louisiana public school system. In fact, it ranks 50th of 70 Louisiana systems.

Drew Broach covers Jefferson Parish politics and education, plus other odds and ends, for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Email: dbroach@nola.com. Facebook: Drew Broach TP. Twitter: drewbroach1.The initial reports of rampant sexual harassment in the restaurant industry ensnared some of the best-known names in the food business, notably Mario Batali and John Besh. Disrupted television careers, closed restaurants and cries to divest swiftly followed.

The more tangible impact of the #metoo movement, which morphed into a cultural phenomenon a year and a half ago, was the silence it broke.

Some people dont even understand what abuse is, and it warrants conversation, said Ashtin Berry, a local food and beverage activist. Women have been taught survival is about not speaking up.

The spotlight on abusive behavior previously accepted as normal would lead to more open dialogue on the subject, which would educate the public, shame wrongdoers straight, validate victims experiences and transform the culture in toxic restaurant workplaces.

That was the idea, anyhow. Accumulating evidence suggests too many people in power remain either incapable or unwilling to embrace the move toward candor and accountability triggered by #metoo. Recent stories of allegedly violent sexual misbehavior by top executives at CBS and Google  not to mention at the upper levels of government and churches  only reinforce suspicions that members of the executive class are guided by a compulsion to protect their own.

More specific to the restaurant industry, The Washington Post reported last month how the chef Jayro Cruz, arrested for the sexual assault of two women (he admits to assaulting four more), fell through the justice systems cracks, while he continued his employment by some of D.C.s most prominent restaurateurs.

And then there is the case of Sucre.

In August, the local bakery and sweet boutique, which operates three New Orleans-area retail stores, a French Quarter restaurant and a wholesale business, announced the resignation of its chef and co-founder, Tariq Hanna, offering no details. In December, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune published an investigation in which multiple current and former employees say Hannas departure was preceded by accusations of sexual harassment and power abuse.

Sources described Hanna, who was married during his 12-year tenure at the company (hes now divorced), preying on young female employees for sex; having intercourse with employees during work hours and on company property; and holding topless pool parties attended by female employees at his Uptown home. Several women who say they had sexual relationships with Hanna shared communications that appeared to support their allegations, including that Hanna pressured employees to keep quiet about his behavior.

Hanna declined comment after being informed of the allegations nature. (He declined to comment for this story, too.) Sucres CEO, Hans Baumann, also refused to talk, citing a busy holiday schedule. Sources told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune Sucre managers were aware of Hannas harassment for years prior to his departure.

In the early days of #metoo, such reports generally prompted companies under scrutiny to release statements of contrition, adorned by promises to redouble efforts to create safe work environments for employees. Condemnation from business partners often followed.

Thats not what happened with Sucre. The companys official response to the Hanna matter remains a few paragraphs of legalese that doesnt mention the chefs name. Company employees say management has yet to hold a staff meeting addressing sexual harassment since Hannas departure in August. In response to questions about that claim, a Sucre spokesperson emailed a statement saying that managers hold regular meetings with staff during which all store policies are discussed and addressed at length.

A predictable, but risky, response

Regardless of how you parse Sucres statements, none include a hint of regret for having played host to what over a dozen current and past employees say was a theater of abuse. The companys decision to limit its remarks to what amount to lawyered claims of innocence is predictable, experts say, but also unwise and potentially damaging.

An organizations response to harassment allegations should ideally demonstrate its willingness to talk about these things in the open, said Stefanie Allweiss, co-founder of the New Orleans based human resources company Gotcha Covered.

People think if you talk about one accusation its going to invite a whole bunch of others, Allweiss explained. I tell people, if you end up getting 100 complaints, you should feel lucky, because you can take care of it internally. Employees dont want to be on the front page of the news.

A spirit of candor still flourishes in pockets of the local restaurant community, where #metoo has spurred dialogue  conducted online, at conferences, in activist group meetings  that has brought overdue attention to an array of struggles faced by the hospitality industrys labor force.

Last week, Resistance Served, a conference co-produced by Berry and Kisira Hill, offered programming on the contributions of African-Americans to the culinary arts and their marginalization within the restaurant business.

But the push to eradicate harassment from the workplace is, according to many in the local restaurant community, much stronger among low-level employees than it is among managers and owners who hold the most power to hasten improvements. Lending a sympathetic ear to victims is uncomfortable work, as is holding offenders accountable, particularly for behavior that had previously been deemed acceptable.

Meg Maloney, a lead organizer with the activist group New Orleans Hospitality Workers Committee, said she often receives harassment complaints from workers who only feel comfortable talking about abuse on their own turf.

Food and restaurant news in your inbox Every Thursday we give you the scoop on NOLA dining. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

I make a lot of home visits, she said. Its about validating people in their experiences, because theyve been told the treatment theyve received is acceptable. So much of the work we do is teaching people that its not acceptable and they deserve better.

The crushing cost of taking a stand

The fear of being blacklisted is more frequently cited by local restaurant workers today than it was prior to the October 2017 publication of the Besh investigation. Part of the chilling effect, they say, comes from the perceived lack of public support for victims whove spoken up.

I dont think Ill ever work in that industry in this town again, said Lindsey Reynolds, who spoke on the record about the harassment she says she experienced while working at Beshs company, now called BRG. The irony is too rich and I cant handle it sometimes, given how outraged the city pretended to be.

One of the things thats well known in the field is the cost of standing up and making a challenge is usually just crushing to the person, said Sally Kenney, Director of the Newcomb College Institute, Tulane University. Its not just managers who push back, she said, but other workers, too. Its like solitary confinement.

Workers and harassment experts agree that the threat of ostracism would be greatly diminished if more organizations would publicly express disapproval of egregious harassment when its publicly aired. The business communitys silence about the Sucre revelations suggest that kind of support is becoming the exception rather than the rule.

Sucre products are sold  and prominently displayed - at Louis Armstrong International Airport and Whole Foods Market. When asked to respond to the harassment claims, a spokesperson for the airport, which scuttled plans to put two BRG restaurants in the new airport terminal, provided a statement that did not address the questions. A representative of the airport vendor that sells Sucre products was similarly evasive.

Whole Foods, a company that includes team member growth and happiness among its core values, didnt respond to multiple requests for comment about its business relationship with Sucre.

A spokesperson for Tabasco, which is currently partnered with Sucre on a co-branded king cake, responded to questions about the harassment allegations with a full-throated endorsement: Sucre is a celebrated New Orleans institution and our recent collaboration supports the ongoing hard work and creativity of their talented staff.

By contrast, NOLA Brewing Company president Dylan Lintern said he is very troubled by Tariq Hannas alleged behavior in light of NOLA Brewings partnership with Sucre in a pastry-themed beer series. Its certainly not consistent with NOLA Brewings ethos or culture, Lintern said in an email.

The reluctance of companies to make even a statement as mild as NOLA Brewings is evidence of the influence of lawyers and public relations professionals in the #metoo era, said Laura Beth Nielsen, a professor of sociology and Director of the Center for Legal Studies at Northwestern University.

People are worried about what hasnt been proven in a court of law, Nielsen said. But those are the standards of putting someone in jail. They arent the standards for choosing who to do business with.

Allweiss believes restaurateurs who choose silence over leadership in the fight against harassment are missing an opportunity.

Your customers want to know youre treating your employees well, she said.

Gotcha Covered recently introduced an HR Seal of Approval it will award to companies that achieve certain human resources benchmarks, including participating in annual training sessions for full staffs. The first seal was recently awarded to the chef and restaurateur Susan Spicer.

An obstacle to progress, Allweiss said, is a community of experienced restaurateurs who dont believe they need enlightening.

Ive heard comments too often like, Ive been in this business for 40 years, and these employees are transient anyway, Allweiss said. Im like, Have you ever thought about why you cant keep employees?

Berry, the local activist, believes companies who regard #metoo as a public relations problem, as opposed to a moment of reckoning over basic human rights, are shirking their responsibilities to their communities.

Every company is scared because theyre listening to PR people and theyre listening to lawyers, she said. I think theyre waiting for (#metoo) to go away. And to be a little bit honest, Im worried that it will.Update: NOPD said Thursday night that Guy had been located and was transported to a hospital for treatment.

Police were searching Wednesday night (Feb. 13) for a man reported as a runaway patient from a local hospital.

Caleb Guy, 21, was committed to the hospital for psychiatric treatment but escaped the facility about 1 p.m. Wednesday, the NOPD said.

Guy is known to exhibit violent and physically aggressive behavior, with hospital staff describing him as a possible danger to himself and others, said NOPD spokesman Aaron Looney.

The hospital from which he fled is in the NOPDs 6th District, which includes parts of Uptown, roughly from the Pontchartrain Expressway to Napoleon Avenue, along with part of Gert Town (map).

He was last seen wearing a maroon scrub shirt and green scrub pants.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Caleb Guy is asked to immediately call NOPD 6th District detectives at 504-658-6060.

Laura McKnight covers crime and breaking news for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.The charges have been dropped against a Long Beach, Miss., man accused of by Kenner police of raping a young boy.

Michael Ladner, 38, was booked Feb. 12, 2019, with two counts of first-degree rape of a victim under the age of 13 and aggravated assault, said Lt. Michael Cunningham, spokesman for the Kenner Police Department.

But the Jefferson Parish district attorney's office refused the charges because of insufficient evidence on Jan. 30, 2020, according to court records.

10 Georgia tourists arrested on drug, gun charges at Terrytown Airbnb: JPSO

Ladner had been accused of raping a child between the ages of 3 and 5 years old, Cunningham said. Ladner was known to the boys family, according to authorities.

The rapes occurred in Kenner and were reported to authorities by boys mother. She learned of the assaults in September 2018 after the child confided in a medical professional, according to Cunningham. A detective investigating the case obtained a warrant for Ladners arrest on Feb. 2, 2019.A 9-year-old Marrero boy has been killed in a shooting, a spokesman for the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Department said Thursday morning (Feb. 14).

Update: Boy killed in accidental shooting; cousin arrested

Authorities did not release any details about the shooting, including the location, the time or the circumstances. JPSO has scheduled a press conference for 11 a.m. Thursday to release more information.

Carlie Kollath Wells is a morning reporter at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Have an early-bird tip? Send it to her: cwells@nola.com or Twitter @carlie_kollath.A bank robber in Maine slipped on ice and fell while making his getaway, spilling his loot and gun in a parking lot in front of a state trooper, authorities said.

The incident played out Tuesday morning (Feb. 12) in Waterville, where a man robbed the Bangor Savings Bank.

Police said the suspect, Jason Mackenrodt, 38, of Waterville, fled the bank, ran across Upper Main Street and into the parking lot of Ming Lees Restaurant. There, he hit a patch of ice and went down, spilling the cash and a gun from his jacket onto the pavement, according to police.

Mackenrodts tumble took place in front of Maine State Police Special Agent Glen Lang, who happened to be sitting in his car in the parking lot, police said. Lang tackled the suspect and placed him in custody.

Wind swept the money across the parking lot, prompting some citizens to scramble to gather up the cash and return it to responding officers, police said.Nine members of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity at Louisiana State University have been arrested in Baton Rouge in connection to hazing activities, according to a statement released by LSU on Thursday (Feb. 14).

We can confirm that nine members of the LSU chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon, or DKE, have been arrested and booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison for hazing-related activities that are alleged to have taken place in the fall of 2018. This type of behavior is unacceptable and at complete odds with what we expect from our students. It does not belong at LSU, according to a written statement from Jason Droddy, LSUs interim vice president for strategic communications.

The arrests follow the closure of the LSU chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity in January. LSU last month said the Delta Kappa Epsilon International Fraternity conducted an investigation into the LSU chapter in response to allegations of hazing and alcohol policy violations, prompting the national organization to disband LSUs chapter.

Droddy on Thursday morning said LSU Police were dutifully informed of the incidents by the national organization and initiated the investigation, which concluded with Thursdays arrests.

LSU Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity closes, citing hazing allegations

The students listed below were arrested:

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Charles Eugene Brakenridge, 23, of Ferriday. Booked on one misdemeanor count of principal to criminal hazing and one misdemeanor count of criminal hazing - representative duty to report.

The Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, also known as Deke, is one of the nations oldest fraternities since its founding at Yale University in 1844, according to the fraternitys website. The Greek Life organization claims to have more presidents among its membership ranks than any other fraternity nationwide. The fraternity was recently in the national spotlight due to the membership of U.S. Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh, who underwent a controversial confirmation process amid allegations of sexual misconduct during his time in high school and at Yale.

This is a sad day for the university, but one that illustrates the cultural shift occurring at LSU," Droddy said. The quick action by the national DKE organization by revoking the chapters charter and the cooperation of several witnesses in this investigation demonstrate a growing recognition that hazing and other harmful activities cannot be tolerated.

John Bel Edwards signs bill to make hazing a felony act

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.Fifteen people have been arrested, including a 22-year-old from New Orleans, accused of reckless and illegal driving of dirt bikes, motorcycles and ATVs across the city on Mardi Gras last year, Louisiana State Police said.

On Thursday (Feb. 14), state police identified suspects who participated in 2018s New Orleans Bike Life Mardi Gras Day Ride Out. They face charges including simple burglary, attempted simple burglary, vehicle theft, and the manufacturing, distribution, transportation and possession with intent to distribute controlled dangerous substances, LSP said.

Investigators also seized seven guns  two that were stolen and one that was used in a New Orleans homicide  eight stolen dirt bikes, ATVs and motorcycles, and various amounts of illegal narcotics.

One year ago, on February 13, 2018, more than 150 people on dirt bikes, ATVs, motorcycles and trail vehicles organized two complete shutdowns across Interstate 10 West over Orleans Avenue and a second one over Conti Street, LSP said. The participants of the street gang recklessly drove their vehicles, disrupted traffic flow, intimidated over motorists, evaded police and assaulted officers while trying to escape arrests, LSP said.

More than 100 ATVs, dirt bikes hit local streets illegally during Mardi Gras event

During the investigation, which is ongoing, Louisiana State Police identified 100 motorists in total  nearly half of them from Louisiana  from the Ride Out. Police issued arrest warrants for people across 18 states for charges including felony aggravated obstruction of highway of commerce, reckless operation and simple obstruction of a highway.

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Before the Ride Out on Mardi Gras 2018, state troopers stopped several people illegally and recklessly driving dirt bikes and ATVs in the French Quarter and Central Business District, police said. Many of the bikes were previously reported stolen from dealerships in smash-and-grab type burglaries in several parishes across Louisiana, including from East Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Terrebonne parishes. Bikes also were reported stolen from dealerships in Alabama, Texas and Mississippi.

Troopers arrested 22-year-old Jerrell Maxon Jr. of New Orleans on May 18, 2018 and suspect he was a ring leader in the dealership burglaries across Louisiana and Mississippi.

In a news release, Louisiana State Police said the Ride Out participants placed citizens in potentially deadly situations in New Orleans and troopers are monitoring and discouraging reckless driving during this years Mardi Gras.

If you know of anyone planning a Ride Out or you witness this reckless behavior, we encourage you to call 911 or *LSP (*577) and report it to law enforcement.

NOPD plan to 'crack down' on illegal ATV, dirt bike rides in the worksJefferson Parish Sheriffs Office deputies responding to reports of gunfire and a woman screaming over the weekend at a Terrytown residence eventually arrested 10 Georgia residents on drug and gun charges.

3 arrested after man shot in fight at Grand Isle motel

In addition to the arrests, investigators seized four handguns, a rifle, marijuana and ecstasy from the home in the 500 block of Terry Parkway, which the suspects said they rented through Airbnb, according to Capt. Jason Rivarde, spokesman for the department.

The incident began just after 1:30 a.m. Sunday (Feb. 10) after the 911 center received complaints about gunshots and the sounds of a woman screaming coming from the residence, the Sheriffs Office said.

Four deputies responded, but they got no answer when they knocked at the door identified by callers. They did, however, notice a loud disturbance coming from the house next door and headed over, authorities said.

When the occupants of the neighboring house opened the front door, the smell of marijuana drifted out and deputies spotted a handgun lying on the living room coffee table, the Sheriffs Office said. Because of the weapon, drugs and the number of people inside, deputies had everyone exit the house and detained them.

A narcotics detective called to the scene obtained a warrant to search the house. Deputies seized a total of five guns, including a rifle, about 40 grams of marijuana and 85 doses of ecstasy, the Sheriffs Office said.

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All of the occupants of the house claimed they didnt know who the drugs belonged to, authorities said. Quintin Stephens, 35, of Atlanta, Ga., told deputies that he and his friends rented the house for $1,700 for the weekend, according to a Sheriffs Office report.

Stephens and Rodsheka Rowe, 24, of Morrow Ga., admitted firing guns just outside the front of the residence, the Sheriffs Office said. Stephens said he did so to celebrate his birthday. No one was reported injured by the gunfire.

All 10 occupants of the house were arrested and booked into the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna with possession of marijuana, drug possession with the intent to distribute and use of a firearm in connection with drug activity. They are as follows:

Quintin Stephens

Stephens and Rodsheka Rowe were also booked with illegal use of a weapon, the Sheriffs Office said.

All 10 suspects were still being held at the jail on Wednesday. Bond for Stephens and Rodsheka Rowe was set at $280,500.

Bond for Jacauivious Jackson was set at $25,000. No bond information was available for Bryant Dix. The remaining suspects were being held in lieu of a $180,500 bond.A Plainfield man admitted he was involved in the shooting that took the life of another man in 2015.

Jordan Robinson, 25, of Edison pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter in the death of 24-year-old Anthony Bowles of Plainfield according to Union County Prosecutors Office.

Jordan Robinson 25, of Edison

Officials did not indicated if Robinson was the shooter, but said investigators were speaking with additional people.

Prosecutors representing the state say they will recommend Robinson serve 23 years in prison.

Two innocent bystanders, a 33-year-old woman and a 6-year-old girl were also shot, though Bowles was the intended target, according to the prosecutors office.

The 6-year-old girl was taken to another hospital for emergency treatment of wounds, and the 33-year-old woman was treated at the scene.

Plainfield Police found the three suffering from gunshot wounds when they arrived at 300 block of Evona Avenue on the afternoon of Nov. 15, 2015, and transported them to local hospitals.

Bowles died shortly after arriving at Robert Wood Hospital in New Brunswick.

Robinson was arrested in Matawan about two weeks later and held at Union County jail on $1.5 million bail.

Authorities at the scene of an active homicide investigation on the 300 block of Evona Avenue in Plainfield.

A reward of $10,000 that leads to additional arrests is also being offered by The Union County Crime Stoppers.

Tips can be given anonymously by phone at 908-654-TIPS (8477), via text message by texting UCTIP plus a message to 274637 (CRIMES), or online at www.uctip.org.

Taylor Tiamoyo Harris may be reached at tharris@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @ladytiamoyo Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.Unruly NJ Transit passenger Can you believe her This passenger on a crowded NJ Transit train wouldn't move her bag off the seat, and the other riders were having none of it. http://nj-ne.ws/vLcEfLO Posted by NJ.com on Thursday, February 14, 2019

Update: Watch woman finally get ejected from the train.

Who deserves a seat on a crowded NJ Transit commuter train, a handbag or passengers who are standing?

A woman refused to take her bag off a seat on a crowded NJ Transit train Wednesday, and got a social media spanking after angry commuters posted videos of her standing her ground -- or rather, her seat.

The incident happened on a Trenton-bound Northeast Corridor line train Wednesday evening, which was delayed 25 minutes due to police activity, an official alert said.

The unidentified woman can be seen in the video refusing to move her bag after a conductor and other passengers ask her to, looking at her phone, and dismissing the request to put her bag on an overhead rack. Other passengers can be heard saying the train was standing room only.

The woman can be heard telling others that she doesnt want anyone sitting next to her, calling a passenger disgusting and saying I dont want your bed bugs, I dont want your smell (near me).

Youre not disabled, youre not pregnant, she tells another woman.

When an official asks her to move the purse, she yells, Dont put your hands on my stuff!

When train 3955 arrived at Newark Penn Station last night, New Jersey Transit Police asked the woman to exit the train to discuss the situation. Train 3955 was then able to depart the station, NJ Transit spokeswoman Lisa Torbic said Thursday.

The woman did not cooperate with police and left on her own, Torbic said.

No one was angry at (NJ Transit), said Thaedra Frangos, a passenger on board the train who recorded the incident. (We were) just irritated with her inability to act like a normal person on public transportation.

Overall -- kudos to NJ Transit conductors and transit PD, Frangos said. This could have escalated very quickly into something much worse.

Passengers taking up seats for handbags, shopping bags and luggage are a pet peeve of commuters who post photos on Twitter of offenders under the hashtag #trainjerk and #GarbagePeopleOfNJTransit. Facebook has an entire group documenting bad behavior.

Like other transit systems, NJ Transit has tried to run courtesy campaigns over decades, discouraging behavior such as hogging seats.

We encourage customers to make every seat available by placing bags on their laps or on overhead luggage racks and complying with the direction of train crews, Torbic said Thursday.

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com . Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry . Rob Jennings contributed to this report.

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Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.New Jersey commuters used to being jammed into a waiting area theyve nicknamed the pit in New Yorks Penn Station will get some much-needed breathing room.

Gov. Phil Murphy joined Amtrak and NJ Transit officials Wednesday to announce the expansion of NJ Transits Seventh Avenue concourse in Penn Station.

The plan, officials said, is to build out the congested concourse into waiting areas currently occupied by Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road riders (they are moving from the subterranean station to the more spacious Moynihan Station across Eighth Avenue).

NJ Transit commuters now crowd into the pit, a sunken waiting area in the Seventh Avenue concourse where they wait to see what tracks their trains will depart from. There are about 88,990 NJ Transit commuters at Penn Station every day, so one delay can result in crowding that can reach claustrophobic conditions.

The waiting room makeover will cost approximately $6.5 million, which is being funded on a 50/50 basis between Amtrak and NJ Transit, said Jason Abrams, an Amtrak spokesman. Construction is expected to start late spring or early summer, he said.

Amtrak and the LIRR plan to move their waiting areas to Moynihan in 2021. After that happens, NJ Transit also plans to redesign the Main Eighth Avenue Concourse, Murphy said. The revamp will also include a refreshed ticketed waiting room, better platform access, and improved street level entrances, he said.

The new waiting area will give NJ Transit riders easier access from Eighth Avenue and more space to navigate their way through the busy concourse, according to Kevin Corbett, NJ Transit executive director.

Its a first step for commuters rather than squeezing in the corner (of Penn Station), Corbett said.

The project will be partly financed by back-payments NJ Transit owes Amtrak for rent and use of the Northeast Corridor line and Penn Station and other costs. Murphy estimated those payments  money former Gov. Chris Christie stopped payment on in 2017 after a rash of derailments in Penn Station  to total about $182 million.

In addition to the new Penn Station waiting area, the back-payments will also go toward repair projects on the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak officials said.

Amtrak is committed to investing every nickel of it in New Jersey," said Anthony Coscia, Amtrak board chairman.

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com . Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry . Rob Jennings contributed to this report.

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Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.WASHINGTON  New Jersey isnt exactly juiced up by Cory Bookers decision to run for president, according to a new poll.

And it may have something to do with Chris Christie.

A new Monmouth University poll released Thursday showed Bookers job approval rating declined to 48 percent from 54 percent in April. His disapproval rating climbed to 38 percent, his highest ever, from 31 percent in April.

And only 36 percent of his home-state residents think their Democratic senator would do a good job as president, as opposed to 42 percent who dont.

Bookers numbers slipped in part because Republicans and independents turning against him as he increased his national profile, said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

And he said theres another factor: New Jerseyans distaste for former Gov. Christies unsuccessful presidential run in 2016 may have rubbed off on Booker.

Booker has become better known to his constituents over the past two years, but his presidential bid and elevated national profile may have worn off some of the sheen," Murray said. Part of the problem could be that New Jerseyans havent fully recovered from Christies run four years ago.

New Jersey residents, however, were less enthusiastic about Christies decision to run than Bookers.

Twice as many N.J. residents, 15 percent, said Booker had a decent chance to be president, compared with 7 percent who said the same about Christie in 2015. While 26 percent dismissed Bookers chances to be his partys nominee, 40 percent four years ago said there was no way Christie would be the Republican standard-bearer.

The home-state sentiment isnt quite, Run Cory, Run," Murray said. "But when you take into account how the last big presidential campaign rubbed many New Jerseyans the wrong way, its a decent endorsement for Booker.

While recently signed legislation dubbed Cory Bookers Law would allow him to simultaneously run for president and for re-election as senator in 2020, only 21 percent said he should do both.

Almost two-thirds, 66 percent, said he should not seek another term in the Senate if he is the Democratic presidential nominee. Even a majority of Democrats, 57 percent, agreed with that sentiment.

Booker got much better numbers in a separate poll of voters in New Hampshire.

More than 6 in 10 New Hampshire voters planning to cast ballots for a Democrat in the nations first presidential primary next year have a favorable impression of Booker, with less than 10 percent viewing him unfavorably in a the poll by the Saint Anselm College Survey Center in New Hampshire.

And almost 90 percent of Democrats have heard of Booker, who visited the state in October and again in December. He is scheduled to return this weekend.

Bookers 60.9 percent favorable rating trailed only former Vice President Joe Biden (80 percent), U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders from the neighboring state of Vermont (65.3 percent), and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California (62.5 percent).

Neil Levesque, executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, described both Booker and Harris as already well-known and well-liked."

The Monmouth poll of 604 New Jersey adults was conducted Feb. 8-10 with a margin of error of 4 percentage points. The St. Anselm survey of 258 registered voters who said they would participate in next years Democratic primary was conducted Feb. 6-9 with a margin of error of 6.1 percentage points.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.A bill signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in November aimed at cracking down on untraceable guns is under fire in federal court, where a coalition of gun rights advocates is claiming the new law is unconstitutional.

At the center of the suit is New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewals effort to block the publication of digital design files allowing anyone with access to a 3D printer to make their own firearms. Its not a new predicament for Murphy and Grewal, who have caught the ire of Second Amendment supporters in a state known for restrictive gun laws.

But things took a strange turn this week.

Authorities are now investigating a mystery arising out of the lawsuit: Somebody, somewhere, impersonated them and issued a broad takedown notice to a company that provides technical support for the gun groups website, state officials claim in court documents. The IP address of that somebody came from the Slovak Republic, though officials suspect that was a ruse to cover their tracks.

The gun group, Defense Distributed, has been in Grewals sights since last July, when authorities in New Jersey and several other states took legal action to block the group from making 3D gun schematics widely available online after the group reached a settlement with President Donald Trumps administration allowing them to do so.

Those efforts had limited success. While the plans remain available online for those who know where to look, Defense Distributed took them off its own website pending the outcome of multiple lawsuits. Grewal pledged to go after anyone making 3D-printable gun plans available in New Jersey.

Earlier this month, Defense Distributed and a coalition of other gun rights and free speech groups filed a new lawsuit, however, accusing Grewal of conducting a censorship campaign" and claiming the attorney general wants so desperately to abridge the Second Amendments right to bear arms that he will do so by blatantly abridging the First Amendments freedom of speech.

The suit claimed Grewal hadnt just gone after their 3D-printable gun plans. He had gone after their entire website.

In a statement published at CodeIsFreeSpeech.com, the group claimed it had received yet another of Grewals Orwellian take-down orders and was seeking a restraining order from a federal judge to stop the harassment.

In court papers, the group cited a February 2 notice from Cloudflare, its network provider, detailing a complaint made by the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General using contact information associated with the offices Division of Criminal Justice.

You shall delete all files described within 24 hours or we will be forced to press charges in order to preserve the safety of the citizens of New Jersey, the request said, according to court records.

The group also set up additional web addresses for the same site, making a political point with the URLs GurbirGrewalisaTyrant.com and PhilMurphyisaTyrant.com. The statement said the group would not be cowed by New Jerseys attempt at censorship.

But state authorities say that while they have sought to block Defense Distributed from publishing the 3D-printable gun files, the takedown request at the center of the suit is a work of fiction.

A letter from Grewals office to the judge handling the case noted they had referred the matter to the U.S. Attorneys Office for investigation, saying the takedown request likely came from an impersonator using a proxy to mask their identity online. A sworn statement from a detective at a state cyber crimes unit claimed the request came from an IP address in the Slovak Republic.

A spokeswoman for Grewal said the restraining order request was tabled Wednesday while Defense Distributeds attorneys look into the offices claims. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys Office said it had received the AGs referral and was reviewing it.

An attorney for Defense Distributed did not return a message seeking comment, and an e-mail inquiry sent to the group Wednesday was not returned. Another group represented in the suit, the Firearms Policy Coalition, said in a statement their legal team was conducting an investigation into the statements and claims made by the attorney general.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for March 20.

Its unclear what effect the strange episode will have on the underlying case, which challenges Grewals efforts to block the 3D-printable gun files. It also questions whether a bill signed by Murphy in November  which more broadly bans ghost guns, which are firearms that can be assembled with untraceable components at home  is constitutional.

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter.

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Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.There is a 75-foot pile of dirt mixed with construction garbage slouched across a residential two-acre plot in Vernon in Sussex County. The townsfolk fear that there is hazardous material lurking beneath it  demolition waste such as like brick, asphalt, rebar, metal piping, treated wood, which can poison their wells.

It makes you wonder: Wouldnt it be handy if there were a state agency that could inspect the contents of the pile and address the fears of the citizenry? Maybe one that prioritizes things like environmental protection and public health?

The truth is, the Department of Environmental Protection usually takes these concerns seriously, but it doesnt seem to want to wade into the Vernon matter deep enough to reduce the townships pulse rate.

The agency has refused to conduct significant testing, because it does not consider it a solid waste dump  merely soil and relatively small amounts of brick and block, an assessment that is hard to make from its safe distance. The locals only know that on most days, when the parade of heavy dumpsters rumbles in and out of 3 Silver Spruce Road, the pile resembles the face of the moon.

I was there recently, Mayor Harry Shortway said, and I picked up a three-foot piece of asphalt.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer is just as wary: No matter whose responsibility, it confounds me that we arent addressing something that could put peoples health at risk.

After months of effort, Gottheimer got DEP commissioner Catherine McCabe to visit the site in December, but he found that they spent most of that time haggling over the legal definitions of solid waste and de minimus.

Construction waste is in the eye of the beholder, but the DEP believes its definition is inviolable. The agency monitors the site, yet it claims it has no probable cause to physically inspect the property or collect testing samples.

Besides, violations of soil controls are enforced on a county and municipal level, DEP points out.

If only. Vernon actually acquired a stop-work order because the dump owner has failed to submit a soil erosion and sediment control plan. But that owner  who pled guilty to six counts of illegal dumping in New York in 2017  has ignored the order because Vernon cops dont have the authority to stop the trucks.

Our Legislature should find a way to address such loopholes, given that corruption in the disposal industry has been endemic to New Jersey for decades. Just two years ago, the State Commission for Investigation issued a report on construction debris and found rampant abuse, with contaminated dirt turning up in unapproved sites, out of the sight of DEP regulators.

Among the SCIs key findings: Bulk amounts of tainted material wound up in locations subject to run-off into creeks and other waterways and quite possibly was passed off as properly recycled topsoil.

The Senate Environmental Committee meets today to discuss a bill that would regulate the industry more tightly, by mandating licensing requirements and background checks for the so-called dirt brokers.

But that doesnt solve Vernons immediate problem, or address the SCIs finding that it takes years to reconcile the effects of construction debris on the environment.

The Committee must widen the aperture on this issue.

Shortway has a laundry list of measures that would give Vernon the necessary enforcement authority, and he hopes to share them with bill sponsor Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex) today.

Such as: As long as the DEP considers this a local matter, give the local cops the power to enforce stop-work orders. Allow county and local police to stop trucks and inspect their manifest based on probable cause. Find out how New York does it. Make it a crime to deliver construction debris to residential areas.

Lawmakers must demand better. Its time to change this states reputation as a dumping ground.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.By Bob Menendez

It took less than six minutes for the shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to fire more than 100 rounds from his semiautomatic assault-style rifle, killing 17 students and educators and wounding 17 more. Yet one year later, high capacity magazines that make it possible to fire 30, 60, or even 100 rounds without pausing to reload remain on the shelves and for sale online. Its well past time for that to change.

This week, I reintroduced the Keep Americans Safe Act, which prohibits the sale of large capacity ammunition of more than 10 rounds. This legislation is as simple and commonsense as it gets. It does not take away anyones Second Amendment rights, but rather limits how much military-style firepower we make available in civilian life. This is about protecting the freedom of all Americans to go to school, see a movie, or visit their place of worship without fear of dying in our nations next mass shooting.

High capacity magazines are not designed for hunting, recreation, self-defense or protecting your home. They put lives at risk and are often used to out-gun our brave police and first responders. They come in many different shapes and sizes and attach to many different kinds of firearms, but what they all have in common is the explicit purpose of maximizing casualties  and gun industry profits. As gun manufacturers realize they can only sell so many guns to so many people, theyve increasingly marketed accessories to consumers that increase the lethality of the guns they already own.

The corporate interests behind the NRA oppose sensible limits on magazine size  even though we know such measures can save lives. Consider the 2011 mass shooting in Tucson. During the split second it took for the gunman to reload, bystanders managed to subdue him. And in 2012, several children at Sandy Hook Elementary were able to escape when the shooter paused briefly to reload his AR-15. During a mass shooting, every second counts.

Prohibiting large capacity ammunition was a key component of the assault weapons ban I voted for in 1994 during my very first term in Congress. Yet, since that laws expiration in 2004, high capacity magazines have become a gruesome hallmark of mass shootings across America from Newtown and Parkland to Orlando, Las Vegas, and in so many other communities torn apart by gun violence. Likewise, it is common for law enforcement to find high capacity clips at crime scenes in neighborhoods terrorized daily by gun violence. Reducing the prevalence of large capacity ammunition in our streets begins with limiting magazine size in our stores.

Earlier this week, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution remembering those lost during the Parkland massacre. But honoring the memories of gun violence victims demands more than symbolic gestures  it demands action. While the Keep Americans Safe Act is just one of many steps we as a country must take to fix our broken gun laws  including reinstating the assault weapons ban, expanding background checks and prohibiting anyone on the Terror Watch List from buying a gun  it is a step worth taking because it is a step that saves lives.

I have championed legislation to limit magazine size for years, including after the Aurora shooting in 2012, when Alex Teves, of New Jersey, found himself in Colorado and in the crosshairs of a deranged gunman with an arsenal of weapons, high capacity clips, and explosives he assembled all in accordance with the law.

Many years and too many tragedies later, we are finally seeing a groundswell of Americans tie their votes to lawmakers willing to stand up to the gun lobby. As the new Democratic House majority answers the peoples call for tougher gun laws, I will continue pushing my Republican colleagues in the Senate to join in common cause.

It is time for Congress to put saving American lives above protecting gun industry profits. Manny Oliver, a father from Parkland who lost his son to gun violence, recently told me that a shooter doesnt stop to ask you what political party you represent before pulling the trigger.

And we must not stop in our fight for commonsense gun safety laws that actually keep Americans safe.

Bob Menendez is a U.S. senator representing New Jersey.Kims barely seated, but he already has to run

Our Washington correspondent Jonathan Salant reported the other day that the four New Jersey Democrats who won formerly Republican seats in Congress last year have targets on their backs.

I could almost see the outline of the targets on their suit coats as I walked the halls of Congress last week with two of them, Jeff Van Drew and Andy Kim.

Both come from districts in the southern half of the state won by Donald Trump in 2016. Meanwhile Trumps gearing up for the 2020 presidential race at the same time as a slew of Democratic candidates. That means that, even before the new Congressmen learn their way around the halls, they must start planning their re-election bids.

In Van Drews case, hes fighting that battle through his tried-and-true practice of positioning himself as the most conservative Democrat in his district, which is the southernmost in the state.

When I spoke to the 36-year-old Kim, who is new to elective office after a career in the State Department, he also emphasized his bipartisan bona fides.

When I was out in Afghanistan working as an adviser to General Petraeus, no one asked me if I was a Republican or a Democrat, he said. We just tried to get things done.

One of the main things he wants to get done in the Third Congressional District, which includes most of Ocean and Burlington counties, is to protect and expand the role of its largest employer, Joint Base McGuire-Dix Lakehurst.

This is a major priority of mine, he said. The base is our largest employer in the district and thats the major reason I joined the Armed Services Committee.

In another move toward pragmatism, he said, he joined the Small Business Committee.

I chose that because my district is very much a small-business district, he said.

Both of those sound like good steps toward re-election. But there are a lot of land mines for a guy who won his seat by a margin so tiny that it took a week to get a final count of the votes.

Among them is health care. Thats a tough issue for a candidate in a district with a large number of senior citizens who rely on Medicare.

The last Democrat to hold the seat, the late John Adler, was one of the few Democrats to vote against Obamacare in 2010. Adler did that after he found that his town halls were being mobbed by seniors who aired their fears that Obamacare would lead to Medicare cuts.

But opposing Obamacare cuts both ways. The Republican whom Kim defeated in November, Tom MacArthur, found that out when his efforts to repeal parts of Obamacare made him the subject of relentless attack ads by the Democrats.

A big difference between the two South Jersey freshmen is that Van Drew has joined a couple of centrist caucuses, while Kim has joined the most left-wing caucus in Congress, the Progressive Caucus.

That caucus has supported Medicare for All. Kim has not signed on for that bill. But its the sort of thing that could alienate the same seniors who were worried that Obamacare would lead to Medicare cuts.

At the moment, Kims pushing a more centrist position on health care. He is among those calling for Medicare to bargain with the pharmaceutical companies to bring down the price of prescription drugs.

The No. 1 issue I heard out on the campaign trail was allowing Medicare to be able to negotiate prescription drug prices, he said. They have to pay hundreds of dollars out of pocket every month because Medicare has to pay so much more for prescription drugs.

Thats an issue that Trump has mentioned as well, so theres room for compromise there, Kim said.

But other issues popular in the Progressive Caucus seem designed to alienate the voters in a district that went for Trump in 2016 by a 51-45 margin.

The two co-chairs have endorsed the Green New Deal put forward by ultra-liberal Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Kim has not taken a position in favor of it.

But the attack ads practically write themselves. Perhaps thats why the Democrats who join the Progressive Caucus tend to be those who have safe seats.

Kim occupies what looks like the most unsafe seat of the five freshman Democrats in New Jersey on the hit list put out by the National Republican Campaign Committee.

Kims spokesman Anthony DAngelo cautioned against reading too much into his membership in the Progressive Caucus. DAngelo said Kim will be joining other caucuses as well.

I think hes going to make a decision by the end of the month, he said.

As a Rhodes Scholar, Kim is no doubt a quick learner.

I suspect hell soon learn how quickly things can swing when youre in a swing district.City officials have approved asking the state of New Jersey for $64.5 million in funding to reconstruct the Wildwood Boardwalk.

The Press of Atlantic City reports that the plan includes rebuilding the nearly 100-year-old boardwalk with a concrete understructure and hardwood decking. It also lists upgrading infrastructure including fiber optics, sewer and water piping.

The plan argues that revenue from state tourism taxes largely comes from the Boardwalk. Mayor Ernie Troiano says he hopes the funding is approved because there is no way I can tax the people.

State Sen. Bob Andrzejczak, whose district includes Wildwood, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

If approved, construction on the project could begin in the fall.

The city says it will continue to search for funding from other sources.The Senate resoundingly approved a border security compromise Thursday that ignores most of President Donald Trumps demands for building a wall with Mexico but would prevent a new government shutdown. The White House said Trump, as hes suggested for weeks, would quickly declare a national emergency and perhaps invoke other executive powers to try to shift money to wall-building from elsewhere in the federal budget.

House passage and Trump's signature were assured, which for now would stamp a bipartisan coda on a nasty melee that's dominated the initial months of power sharing in Washington.

The specter of the national-emergency declaration has produced widespread opposition in Congress, but Trump is under pressure to soothe his conservative base and avoid looking like hes surrendered in his wall battle with Congress.

At the White House, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump would sign the bill and take other executive action, including a national emergency. She added, The president is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country.

Trump had demanded $5.7 billion to start building more than 200 miles of wall. The bipartisan agreement provides under $1.4 billion  enough for just 55 miles of new barriers and fencing.

An emergency declaration and other assertions of executive power to access money are expected to prompt lawsuits and potential votes in Congress aimed at blocking Trump from diverting money, which could conceivably reach billions of dollars. White House aides and congressional Republicans have suggested Trump might tap funds targeted for military construction, disaster relief and counterdrug efforts.

In a surprising development, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would support Trumps emergency declaration. That was a turnabout for the Kentucky Republican, who like Democrats and many Republicans has until now opposed such action.

Democratic opponents of a declaration have said there is no crisis at the border and Trump is merely sidestepping Congress, while Republicans have warned that future Democratic presidents could use the move to force spending on their own priorities like gun control.

But lawmakers from both parties were openly relieved to forestall a fresh federal shutdown and put the border security battle  at least this phase of it  behind them.

Meeting with reporters, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, warned that legal action aimed at blocking Trump's emergency declaration was an option, but she stopped short of saying it would definitely occur.

"The president is trying to make an end run around Congress," said Pelosi, D-Calif. She added, "It's not an emergency what's happening at the border It's a humanitarian challenge to us."

No. 2 House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., was more definitive. "House Democrats will challenge this irresponsible declaration," he said in a statement.

The Senate approved the border security deal by a lopsided 83-16 tally. The House planned to vote on passage in the evening.

Trump's signature will end this stage of a raucous legislative saga that commenced before Christmas and was ending, almost fittingly, on Valentine's Day. The low point was the historically long 35-day partial federal shutdown, which Trump sparked and was in full force when Democrats took control of the House, compelling him to share power for the first time.

Trump yielded on the shutdown Jan. 25 after public opinion turned against him and congressional Republicans. He'd won not a nickel of the $5.7 billion he'd demanded for his wall but had caused missed paychecks for legions of federal workers and contractors and lost government services for countless others. It was a political fiasco for Trump and an early triumph for Pelosi.

The fight left both parties dead set against another shutdown. That sentiment weakened Trump's hand and fueled the bipartisan deal, a pact that contrasts with the parties' still-raging differences over health care, taxes and investigations of the president.

Notably, the word "wall"  which fueled many a chant at Trump campaign events and then his rallies as president  does not appear once in the compromise's 1,768 pages of legislation and explanatory materials. "Barriers" and "fencing" are the nouns of choice.

The pact would also squeeze funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in an attempt to pressure the agency to gradually detain fewer immigrants. To the dismay of Democrats, it would still leave an agency many of them consider abusive holding thousands more immigrants than it did last year.

The measure contains money for improved surveillance equipment, more customs agents and humanitarian aid for detained immigrants. The overall bill also provides $330 billion to finance dozens of federal programs for the rest of the year, one-fourth of federal agency budgets.

The agreement was expected to be carried by pragmatists from both parties. Many of Congress' most liberal members were expected to oppose it, unwilling to yield an inch to Trump's anti-immigrant policies, while staunch conservatives preferred a bill that would go further.

"I made a promise to my community that I wouldn't fund ICE," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., a freshman who's become a face of her party's left wing and a leading proponent of eliminating the agency.

Swallowing the deal would mark a major concession by Trump, who has spent months calling the situation at the southern border a national security crisis. In private conversations, Trump has called the congressional bargainers poor negotiators, said a person familiar with the conversations who wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

Trump has repeatedly vowed Mexico would pay for the wall, a suggestion that country has spurned. His descriptions of the wall's size have fluctuated, at times saying it would cover 1,000 of the 2,000-mile boundary. Previous administrations constructed over 650 miles of barriers.

Facing opposition from Trump, Democrats lost their bid to include language giving federal contractors back pay for wages lost during the last shutdown. Government workers have been paid for time they were furloughed or worked without paychecks.

Also omitted was an extension of the Violence Against Women Act. Democrats say this will give them a chance later this year to add protections for transgender people to that law.A group of student activists at Rutgers have delivered a petition urging top university officials to revoke the tenure of a professor who was largely cleared of sexual misconduct allegations, but remains under investigation for allegedly retaliating against his accuser, a graduate student.

Signed by nearly 700 people, the petition, delivered Tuesday, comes in response to the Rutgers Business School in Newark reinstating Professor Nabil Adam this semester after a 14-month administrative leave.

The university concluded last spring the 2017 complaint amounted to a he said, she said situation, but faulted Adam for failing to fully cooperate with the investigation and other extremely troubling behavior.

Eight students representing a new organization calling itself End Assault at Rutgers also pressed the universitys Board of Governors at its meeting in New Brunswick to rethink how sexual harassment and sexual misconduct claims are handled.

Their goal is to eliminate the current barriers that survivors at Rutgers University face when seeking justice," said Olivia Wischmeyer, a student, reading from the petition. Given the current climate surrounding the #MeToo movement it is time for Rutgers University to take a proactive stance in institutional accountability in cases of sexual misconduct.

The students said they seek an independent body to investigate future claims to remove the potential conflict of interest of the university investigating itself. They also want to see accused faculty placed on unpaid leave during the investigation.

Mark Angelson, a member of the Rutgers board, thanked Wischmeyer for her articulate remarks but declined further comment.

Members of the Board of Governors meeting in New Brunswick listen as Olivia Wischmeyer reads a letter from the group End Assault at Rutgers calling for the termination of Prof. Nabil Adam who has been accused of sexual misconduct. February 12, 2019 (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Adam returned to campus for the spring semester last month but he is not scheduled to teach, according to Peter Englot, senior vice chancellor for Public Affairs and Chief of Staff at Rutgers University-Newark.

Dr. Adam is returning as a professor emphasizing research, Englot told NJ Advance Media.

As was previously reported, Dr. Adam was permanently relieved of his responsibilities as Vice Chancellor for Research and Collaborations on May 22, 2018, after the Office of Employment Equity appeal process concluded, Englot said. He would not say whether Adam was otherwise disciplined, calling it a confidential personnel matter.

The student, who has requested anonymity, filed the retaliation complaint and a civil lawsuit against Adam and members of the Information Technology Department at the Business School for allegedly interfering with her PhD studies and creating a hostile work environment.

Members with the group "End Assault at Rutgers" (standing) listen as Olivia Wischmeyer reads a letter during the Board of Governors meeting calling for the termination of Prof. Nabil Adam who has been accused of sexual misconduct. February 12, 2019 (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media

Adams attorney, Bruce Atkins, did not respond to an email and a telephone call seeking comment. Adam also did not respond to an email from NJ Advance Media.

Atkins perviously has said his client did nothing wrong, never had anything more than a professional relationship with the student, and was himself victimized by the students stalking and terrorizing."

The graduate student, then 29, accused Adam, 75, of coercing her into unwanted sexual contact after she became his research assistant and he became her dissertation adviser. The student said she grew infatuated with Adam, and engaged in an 18-month relationship with him in which she became so dependent on the married professors affection and attention that she attempted suicide by swallowing sleeping pills in July 2017, she said.

While the university did not find evidence to substantiate the womans claims of sexual assault, the investigator, Carolyn M. Dellatore the Office of Employment Equity associate director, criticized Adam for refusing to take a DNA test. The student turned over a pair of pants stained with what she claimed to be the professors semen.

Dellatore also faulted Adam for failing to notify Rutgers the student had threatened to commit suicide on multiple occasions and that she was stalking him. In her complaint, the student admitted she grew obsessed with Adam. The report contains a sample of the barrage of texts and email messages she sent him, with some demanding he leave his wife or she would hurt herself.

It is astounding that he would not report her behavior to university administration, Dellatores report said.

Rutgers announced it was reevaluating its investigative procedures involving sexual harassment following an NJ Advance Media investigation in October that detailed multiple cases by professors that Rutgers had refused to investigate. The university formed a 40-plus-member committee that will make recommendations for improvement.

The activists requests several seats on that panel, according to the petition. They also urged the university to conduct an annual climate survey on sexual harassment in every academic department and publish its results.

Rutgers spokeswoman Dory Devlin said students are already a part of the committees work "to prevent sexual harassment and enhance transparency in our processes."

The University takes all complaints of sexual harassment seriously and offers counseling or other support to alleged victims, according to Devlins statement. The University investigates complaints thoroughly and seeks to resolve them in manners consistent with all applicable state and federal laws and university policies.

Tell us your experiences with allegations of sexual harassment in New Jersey: Heres how to share your story.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio.A New Jersey school district has reversed its decision against participating in an annual American Legion coloring contest due to concerns about the image provided.

Board of Education President Sharon Scarpelli said Monday that Glen Rock was opting out of the statewide contest for fourth and fifth graders due to the display of guns in the coloring page.

The Record reports that Superintendent Bruce Watson said he received multiple emails in response and will now allow the pictures to go home for parents to decide if children should participate.

The picture features three uniformed soldiers carrying guns and a rifle near a soldier's boots in what's known as the "battlefield cross."

Watson says he intended no disrespect and may have had too much concern for the impact of the picture.The trucks come seven days a week, neighbors say, in the light of day and in the dark of night.

Loaded with dirt, construction debris, rebar and who knows what other unknown waste, they travel on narrow, windy roads and dump their dirty cargo on a private piece of property in Vernon Township, in the most rural part of the state.

Over the past 10 years in the far northern part of the state, a new mountain has slowly taken shape: a sprawling waste pile that now consumes two acres and rises seven stories tall. Its a towering plateau of dirt and fill in the middle of a secluded neighborhood.

No one can say what exactly is in the pile or if it poses a danger to the community. But when it rains, the waste turns to mud and spills its mysterious brew onto neighboring properties, potentially polluting the groundwater that feeds wells, critics claim.

But despite pressure from residents, local officials and a congressman, no local, county or state officials have been able to stop the trucks from coming and dumping their waste.

Its described as a dirt pile, but its really a waste mountain, said Rep. Josh Gottheimer,( D-5th Dist.), who has been voicing the growing concerns of neighbors.

As the pile grows, so does the desperation of people in the neighborhood. In recent weeks, they have become more forceful in fighting the problem, holding protests and rallies, calling legislators and speaking out.

Last month, on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, more than 50 people gathered near the property to protest. That rally came after Rep. Gottheimer, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Catherine McCabe, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 2 head Pete Lopez visited the site in December.

Since the protest, neighbors say theyve seen state officials testing dirt that spilled off the pile and onto other properties. And just last week, about 25 people rallied in front of the DEP branch office in Cedar Knolls.

Vernon township police received more than 190 calls involving Joseph Wallaces property on Silver Spruce Drive, where the pile is located, from October 21, 2015 to November 20, 2018. Of those calls, at least 180 were related to complaints about the dumping.

Still, one unanswered question remains. How was this all allowed to happen in the first place?

Site of alleged illegal dumping operation in a residential neighborhood off Silver Spruce Drive. Vernon, N.J. Dec 3, 2018. (Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Rising Tension

To Wallace, a former auto mechanic who owns the property where the mountain of construction fill and dirt grows by the day, it is much ado about nothing, he said.

I live here. I have nine dogs of mine that run the property, Wallace said. If I thought there was something in there that was going to harm anything, I wouldnt.

He dismisses the notion that there is any contaminated or unsafe material in the artificial mountain. Everything being brought in, he insists, is clean. Yet he acknowledged he has convictions in New York on multiple counts of illegal dumping.

Vernon, a small town of about 20,000 people, is nestled in an idyllic valley along the New York border in the heart of New Jerseys Highlands region. Outside of Sussex County, Vernon is probably best known as the home of Mountain Creek, New Jerseys largest ski area. Wallaces property sits in a neighborhood of five homes centered around a private road called Silver Spruce Drive. Its a quiet, heavily wooded area sheltered from busier streets, surrounded by other neighborhoods.

The stream of dump trucks coming to Silver Spruce dates at least to 2011, when Wallace says he began trucking in material to repair property damage from Hurricane Irene. By 2014, he had pulled back from his mechanic work and was increasingly reliant on excavation and landscape work for income, he says. Since then, the number of dump trucks has surged.

The trucks careen down Vernons winding mountain roads, including the aptly named Breakneck Road and County Route 515, one of the steepest roads in the state. Every time a truck turns onto Silver Spruce, it drives past a large silver sign with red letters announcing STOP WORK ORDER IN EFFECT NO FILL MATERIAL.

Last May, a dump truck flipped in Vernon after the trucks brakes had failed while traveling down the areas steep declines, according to a New Jersey Herald report. The accident injured one person. Though the driver did not say he was headed to the Wallace property, the wreck further convinced residents that a tragedy could happen at any time.

But the trucks are not the neighbors main concern.

All of Wallaces neighbors use wells for their drinking water. For them, uncertainty about what may be in the pile means uncertainty about what may be leaching into the surrounding groundwater from the waste pile.

Water that was running off Wallaces waste pile and onto a neighboring property was tested last August by Mike Furrey, the head of Vernons Environmental Commission. The test results showed the water contained 78 parts per billion of lead; the federal drinking water standard is 15 parts per billion, according to Furrey.

Lead exposure, even in tiny amounts, can cause health problems. Furrey said that lead does not occur naturally in surface water or groundwater, so the contamination must have come from the pile.

Furrey has tested the wells of Wallaces neighbors. So far, no wells have shown high lead levels. And state officials have called into question the quality of the runoff water test revealing high lead levels.

A single test of roadway runoff that was provided to the DEP by Mr. Wallaces neighbor in October 2018 does not provide reliable evidence, due to the lack of information showing that reliable sampling protocols and methods were employed in obtaining and analyzing the sample, McCabe wrote in a letter to Gottheimer last month.

But that has done little to allay the worries of neighbors.

Jenny Higgins, one of Wallaces neighbors, said that she takes her youngest son to a friends house to bathe, and has taught her two older boys to take quick showers to reduce exposure to water that she doesnt trust.

Higgins, who brought her family to Vernon in 2014, said that if she had known about the dumping, she never wouldve moved in.

Neighbors have turned to local, state and federal officials for help. Wallaces dumping has become a fixture of the public comment portions of Vernon town council meetings and Sussex County freeholder meetings. Dozens of complaints have been called into the DEPs hotline.

The outcry stretches beyond Sussex County. On Thursday, Vernon Mayor Harry Shortway testified before the state Senate Environment and Energy Committee in Trenton to tell state lawmakers about the situation as they consider new solid waste regulations for New Jersey. And the neighbors have found a powerful ally in Rep. Gottheimer, who has become a champion of their cause.

The first attempts to address the pile came in 2014, when the Sussex County Soil Conservation District took the rare step of issuing a stop work order to Wallace. Since then, Wallace has been fined $75,000 for violating that order.

It was not the first time Wallace has faced fines. Hes pled guilty to six counts of illegal dumping in New York in 2017 and he faces heavy penalties for more than 70 municipal summonses.

Through all of this, Vernon residents and officials have been pleading with the DEP to step in and at least test the material in Wallaces pile for any possible public health effects.

If this soil was not contaminated, Im sure that they would have taken it somewhere much closer to where it came from instead of hauling it all the way up here to Vernon, Charles Voelker, Vernons business administrator, wrote in a complaint to the DEP on April 21, 2018.

Public records show that the DEP has been receiving complaints about Wallaces dumping since at least 2014. In response, the state has made multiple visits to the site and has sent a few warning emails to Wallace.

[DEP] inspectors continue to investigate 3 Silver Spruce Drive, known as the Wallace Property, to ensure compliance with state environmental regulations, DEP spokesman Larry Hajna told NJ Advance Media in a statement. Inspectors from various compliance and enforcement units within DEP have been to the property on more than 20 occasions over the past four years and continue to monitor the property.

The DEP has repeatedly told local officials that the dirt pile is not a state issue and that it doesnt believe Wallace is violating any state regulations.

The [DEP] should be ashamed of themselves, Shortway said. They have criticized and insulted the county and this township, and our residents. They do not do their job.

Beyond citizen complaints and requests from local officials, the most intense source of pressure on the DEP has come from Gottheimer.

For months, the congressman has questioned the DEPs response.

You cannot just truck in and dump solid waste and create a waste mountain and put the community at risk, Gottheimer said.

The congressman first sent a letter to the DEP last August, asking the department to conduct sample testing of the pile. Since then, the congressman has gone back and forth with DEP Commissioner McCabe.

A New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection official views the site of an alleged illegal dumping operation in a residential neighborhood off Silver Spruce Drive. Vernon, N.J. Dec 3, 2018. (Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Meanwhile, concerned citizens have organized. A Facebook group called Sussex County Residents Affected By The Landfillhas more than 1,600 members as of Feb. 11.

Martin ODonnell, a leader of particularly active group of about 80 residents called Vernon PAID, said that the group has raised more than $2,000 since the start of January. Yard signs and t-shirts made by Vernon PAID are an increasingly common sight in town.

Then on Feb. 8, about 25 members of the group rallied in front of the NJDEPs branch office in Cedar Knolls to protest what they see as a lack of action by the state.

Vernon is the town that New Jersey forgot, said Joe Sireno, a Vernon resident, while he held a sign that morning.

Shortway is worried about what might happen if no one is able to stop Wallace.

Our residents are so frustrated, and we dont want anything escalating to violence, Shortway said.

Joseph Wallace is allegedly running an illegal dumping operation in a residential neighborhood off Silver Spruce Drive. Vernon, N.J. Dec 3, 2018. (Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Taking advantage

Wallace purchased his home on Silver Spruce Drive in 1999. He used to be the owner of auto mechanic shops in town that are now closed, and he once provided towing services for the Vernon Police Department. Today, Wallace said that landscaping and excavating projects are his main sources of income.

According to Wallace, the pile on his property began growing in the early 2000s, as he moved dirt around on his own property while flattening other sections.

But the dirt pile really began to grow, Wallace said, after Hurricane Irene drenched New Jersey. Wallace said that he had a significant wash-out on his property, and that he took advantage of an emergency order signed by formed Gov. Chris Christie to make repairs.

Wallace said the DEP told him in 2011 that he was allowed to bring in dirt and fill for his pile under the emergency declaration. To Wallace, this permission from the state holds authority over any local actions.

As far as Im concerned, [the DEP] up here said I can do it, Wallace said. As far as Im concerned, Vernon is down here. So Im going to do what [the DEP] said.

At this point, Wallace said anything he adds to the pile is for stabilization --- even though he says he doesnt have any engineering plans.

He added that hes almost done working on the pile, though he wont give a timeline for completion.

In response to questions about the criticism from neighbors and officials, Wallace said he believes that he has been vilified in town. He describes the Vernon police department as being made up of politicians. And he thinks that the actual politicians in town are searching for ways to force him out of Vernon.

When asked about his previous convictions in New York on multiple counts of illegal dumping, Wallace said he only pled guilty because he didnt want to fight the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, an agency he called organized crime.

A dump truck at Wallace's property on Silver Spruce Drive in Vernon, N.J. Dec 3, 2018. (Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Wallace will not say where he is getting the dirt from.

However, Jamie Keenan, a woman who said she lived with Wallace for five years before moving to the village of Florida, New York, said Wallace was getting paid to take the truckloads of dirt, and then getting paid again by selling it to people looking for fill.

Keenan said that when Wallace began, he was making $150 for every truck that unloaded at the property.

Hed get paid more to take the ugly dirt, Keenan said. Bricks, concrete, stuff like that.

Wallace flatly denies that he gets paid to take fill in, insisting that the opposite is true: he is paying for the dirt.

But he is making money moving dirt elsewhere, he said, because his primary source of income is his landscaping business.

Wallace has told the DEP where some of the fill originated and has given state inspectors lab-work to prove that the stuff hes moving in is clean. The DEP has on occasion questioned the quality of this analysis, public records show, but the paperwork ties Wallaces pile to dirt from the site of a Costco in Wayne, a commercial development in Queens and even John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Some of Wallaces neighbors have followed dump trucks to and from Wallaces property, tracking them from a gas station in Mansfield that was swapping out underground storage tanks, a water facility in Plainfield and a construction site in North Bergen.

Site of alleged illegal dumping operation in a residential neighborhood off Silver Spruce Drive. Vernon, N.J. Dec 3, 2018. (Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Shortways biggest fear is that Wallace will one day simply take off, leaving the massive pile to be dealt with by the town.

Meanwhile, Wallace is in foreclosure.

On Dec. 18, Sussex Superior Court Judge Robert Brennan decided that Wallace, who is more than $600,000 behind on his mortgage, will lose his home in order to make up the debt to the bank.

If that happens, no one is quite sure what will happen to the massive dirt pile that Wallace has spent so many years building at the property.

This story was updated at 4:00 p.m. to reflect that Vernon Township Mayor Harry Shortway testified before the state Senate Environment and Energy Committee on Thursday, Feb. 14.

Michael Sol Warren may be reached at mwarren@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MSolDub. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.Asbury Parks waterfront developer reiterated during a public presentation Wednesday that its members-only pool club will be open to anyone who can afford it  still no word on what those fees will be, though  and who join before the clubs 350 to 400 slots fill up.

And with the club proposed by Manhattan-based developer iStar appearing to be within the guidelines of a 2002 waterfront redevelopment plan still in effect, city council members told the 200 people assembled in the Asbury Park High School auditorium that there was little they could do to stop the plan from moving forward, other than filing an expensive and shaky lawsuit that they the taxpayers would fund.

But those realities dont mean the idea of a private waterfront club that will separate the haves from the have nots doesnt hurt, especially in a place with a history of segregation dating back to its 19th Century founding as a shore resort where African Americans were welcome in jobs serving white tourists, but not as equals side by side by the sea.

So even after iStar assured the council that the clubs ivy-covered facade would rise just 15 feet above the sidewalk on Ocean Avenue, and that its 218 by 77-foot enclosure would be on private property west of a newly rebuilt boardwalk, more than 30 people still lined up to voice their opposition to or discontent with the plan during the meetings public portion.

About two thirds of the speakers were white, most defending what they said were principles of diversity and equality that had drawn them to or kept them in Asbury Park, a Monmouth County city of 16,000 becoming as well known for its diversity of race, class and sexual identity as for its vintage resort architecture, music venues and association with Bruce Springsteen. One of them was Katherine Healey, who in her last trimester of pregnancy stood at the microphone with one hand resting on her belly.

Racism and classism are alive and well in our country, said Healey, asserting that, with the elevated poverty level of Asbury Parks African-American community, the class separation inherent in a pool club with membership fees would be tantamount to racial segregation.

You have a pool club already at the Asbury Ocean Club, Healey said of iStars 17-story condominium tower set for occupancy this spring. Let us have our space.

A large crowd turned out at Asbury Park High School on Feb. 13, 2019, for a developer's presentation on a private pool club proposed for the city's north end.

There were members of the Surfrider Foundation, a group concerned with environmental impact and beach access, who feared the club might create the perception of a private beach on the sand behind it.

However, iStar officials made clear that the club, with its roofless enclosure surrounding a 25 by 100-foot freshwater pool, would not even have an egress point on its eastern wall facing the water, and would be separated from the beach and surf by the boardwalk.

Officials also stressed that the redevelopment plan calls for construction of a public pool within 18 months of the private clubs completion.

About a third of the speakers were people of color, mainly black. Several spoke from their own stinging experiences of segregation or from stories passed down by family members. A few recalled the Ink Well, also known as the Jump Off, a patch of sand at the citys southern end where decades ago black bathers barred from northern beaches were forced to swim near the citys storm water outflow pipe.

One speaker, Pam Lamberton, read a letter from the Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell, 86, a contemporary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and veteran of the Civil Rights movement, who wrote of his experience as a college student in the 1950s working in Atlantic City, which was similar in many ways to Asbury Park.

Much to my surprise, the hotels in which I worked, and the restaurants where I washed dishes, pots and pans, would not accept blacks as customers, wrote Caldwell. Fast forward. Asbury Park in 2019, a city that boasts of its racial, ethnic, cultural and economic diversity, is on the verge of expanding its already evident economic segregation by building beachfront private pool clubs?

Another retired minster, the Rev. Dr. Herbert P. Phoenix, of the Ferry Avenue United Methodist Church in Camden, had driven up to the meeting in Asbury Park to warn that the private club would sew lasting divisions.

Exclusion is hurtful, Phoenix told the council and iStar officials. Its damaging. It will be damaging to every resident in this room. Whether they are taxpayer or a renter or a visitor or an out-of-towner looking to visit.

There was a solitary speaker in favor of the club, Tom DeSeno, a 55-year-old personal injury lawyer who now lives in the Georgia section of Freehold Township, but grew up in Asbury Parks West Side neighborhood. While its now predominantly black, DeSeno said the West Side was thoroughly integrated when he grew up, with working-class Italian, Polish and other European-American families living alongside African Americans.

DeSeno admonished the crowd to embrace the economic diversity that the pool clubs members would add to the city.

Maybe its time people like us open our hearts and accept rich people, said DeSeno, who was booed by a few crowd members.

Following Wednesday nights presentation, the council will now schedule a vote on whether it considers the project to be consistent with the redevelopment plan. If it does, iStar will submit a more comprehensive application for approval by the city planning board. If approved, iStar said construction would then take 12 to 18 months, meaning the club would not open until the 2020 or 2021 summer season.

Before the meeting, about a dozen members of a group known as Save Asburys Waterfront, stood outside the schools main entrance holding signs with messages including, Dont build a wall on Asbury Parks northern waterfront, linking the pool club to President Donald Trumps signature campaign promise.

Brian Cheripka, vice president for land development at iStar, during a presentation of plans for a members-only pool club in Asbury Park on Feb. 13, 2019.

Brian Cheripka, iStars senior vice president for land development and the companys point man in Asbury Park, thanked people for coming out, particularly the handful of Asbury Park High School students, even though they had spoken out against the private club.

Addressing the crowd near the end of the 3-hour meeting, Cheripka tried to assure residents that his company was committed to their city, and he understood their sensitivities in light of the citys history, even if they were beyond his purview.

He said the pool club fees had not been set, and would be dictated by the market when the club opens, probably 12-18 months after its final approval, or the start of the first summer season after that. He even suggested there could be a range of membership options or entrance fees, ranging from annual or shorter term, even daily.

I really cant speak to a lot of the things that people brought up tonight about the past, but I can address the future, Cheripka said. Our goal is to redevelop the waterfront and deliver on promises that were made long before our time.

Opponents of a members-only pool club proposed for Asbury Park's north end demonstrated outside Asbury Park High School Wednesday, where the city's waterfront developer, iStar, made a presentation on the club.

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.Edison firefighters rescued a unconscious woman from her burning mobile home on Wednesday morning, officials said.

The woman had apparently collapsed from smoke inhalation when firefighters arrived at Edison Mobile Estates on Route 1 around 11:30 a.m to find flames and black smoke pouring out, according to Deputy Fire Chief Andy Toth.

Firefighters carried her outside and began to treat her until emergency workers arrived to bring her to JFK Medical Center. The blaze was quickly extinguished.

An update on the womans condition was not immediately available. The cause of the fire is being investigated.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.When the Newark Archdiocese released a list Wednesday of more than 60 priests and deacons who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors, dozens of former priests who spent time in Hudson County were named.

Forty-two priests and deacons with Hudson County connections  nearly half of whom had never been publicly accused of abusing minor  appear on the list.

Here are 42 men:

Jorge Batista: Ordained 1983; St. Paul of the Cross (Jersey City), St. Nicholas (Jersey City), St. Augustine (Union City), St. Anthony of Padua (Union City), and St. Joseph of the Palisades (West New York); the archdiocese said there is one credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor against the now deceased priest.

John X. Bergeur: Ordained 1945; St. Anthony (East Newark); the archdiocese said there is one credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor against the priest, who has since died.

John C. Bouton: Ordained 1949; Immaculate Conception (Secaucus); the archdiocese said there is one credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor against the now deceased priest.

Michael Campanlonga: Ordained 1962; Stevens Institute of Technology, Holy Rosary Academy (Union City); two brothers alleged that Campanlonga sexually assaulted them between 1967 and 1968 while he served as an assistant pastor at St. Anthonys Church in Northvale. He was permanently removed from ministry in 1993 and later moved to Florida.

John Capparelli: Ordained 1980; Our Lady of Fatima (North Bergen); accused of groping teenage boys and photographing them in compromising positions. He was permanently removed from ministry and stripped of his standing as clergy.

James A. Carey: Ordained 1936; Christ the King (Jersey City) and St. Michael (Jersey City); the archdiocese said there is one credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor against the priest, who has since died.

Robert Chabak: Ordained 1972; Ss. Peter and Paul (Hoboken); the archdiocese said there are multiple credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors against the priest, who was removed from ministry in 2004. He was accused of abusing a teenager for three years beginning shortly after his ordination.

Peter Cheplic: Ordained 1972; St. Henry (Bayonne), St. Lawrence (Weehawken), St. Aloysius (Jersey City); accused of drugging and molesting four teenage boys in the 1970s and 1980s, and removed from ministry in 2006. He has denied the allegations.

Dennis Cocozza: Ordained 1975; St. Henry (Bayonne); was removed from the Church of the Assumption in Roselle Park in April 2002 after he was accused of misconduct. The archdiocese said Cocozza, who is no longer alive, has one credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor against him.

Absalom Coutinho: Ordained 1972; St. Nicholas (Jersey City); at least two people accused Coutinho of molesting them, as far back as 1977, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He has been permanently removed from ministry.

Arturo Crespo: Ordained 1994; St. Bridget Church (Jersey City); the archdiocese said there is one credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor against Crespo, who has since been removed from ministry.

Joseph DiPeri: Ordained 1956; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Jersey City); the now deceased priest was removed from ministry in New Jersey in 2003 after the archdiocese learned he had been credibly accused of molesting a teenage boy in the 1970s at Chaminade College Preparatory High School in California.

Edward Eilert: Ordained 1964; St. Vincent de Paul (Bayonne); accused of abusing multiple victims, including a 2002 accusation that he sexually abused a teenage girl in the 1980s. He has since been removed from ministry.

David Ernst: Ordained 1954; Ss. Joseph and Michael (Union City); the archdiocese said there are multiple credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors against the priest, who died in 1988. Ernst was one of nine priests accused of child sexual abuse whose cases were settled by the archdiocese in 2004.

Joseph P. Fagan: Ordained 1937; Our Lady of Grace and St. Joseph (Hoboken), Christ the King (Jersey City); the archdiocese said there is one credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor against the priest, who died in 2004.

John Flanagan: Ordained 1941; chaplain at St. Francis Hospital (Jersey City); the archdiocese said there is one credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor against the priest, who has since died.

Lawrence Gadek: Ordained 1955; Assumption (Jersey City); the archdiocese said there are multiple credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors against the priest, who was removed from ministry and stripped of his standing as clergy.

Robert Gibney: Ordained 1954; St. Cecelia (Kearny); the archdiocese said there are multiple credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors against the priest, who died in 2012. He was accused of abusing a child from 1961 to 1963 at Sacred Heart in the Vailsburg section of Newark.

Augustine Giella: Ordained 1950; Our Lady of Sorrows (Jersey City); he died in 1992 while awaiting trial on child molestation and child pornography charges.

Alan Guglielmo: Ordained 1968; Immaculate Conception (Secaucus), St. Mary (Jersey City), St. Aedans (Jersey City); served as chaplain at St. Mary Hospital in Hoboken and Hudson Catholic High School in Jersey City, as well as spiritual director of CYO Hudson in Jersey City; the archdiocese said there is one credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor against the priest, who was removed from ministry.

Eugene Heyndricks: Ordained 1981; St. John Nepomucene (Guttenberg); sentenced to two years probation in 2003 after pleading guilty to soliciting sex from a 16-year-old male prostitute in Montreal. The archdiocese said there are multiple credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors against Heyndricks, who is no longer alive.

Gerald Howard (formerly Carmen Sita): Ordained 1976, St. Aloysius, 1976-82; convicted of sexually molesting a 17-year-old boy and drug-dealing while a priest at St. Aloysius. After a name change, he pleaded guilty to forcing two 14-year-olds and a 15-year-old boy into sex acts between May 1984 and September 1987 in Boonville, Missouri. Howard was permanently removed from ministry and is currently serving concurrent 12-year sentences in a Missouri prison.

John Komar: Ordained 1964, St. Joseph (Bayonne), Our Lady of Fatima (North Bergen), Jersey City Medical Center chaplain; charged in 2003 with viewing child pornography on his work computer at Englewood Hospital, where he served as a chaplain. After his arrest the Rev. Theodore Osbahr, who served with Komar at St. Josephs Church in Bayonne, called Komar a very good person ... a very good priest," according to The Record of Bergen County. He is deceased. A JCMC spokeswoman said Komar was never an employed chaplain at the hospital.

Francis T. Maione: Ordained 1965, Holy Family (Union City), Our Lady of Grace/St. Joseph (Hoboken); the Archdiocese of Newark lists one credible accusation of sex abuse of a minor. He has been permanently removed from ministry.

Robert Marotta: Ordained 1963, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Jersey City), St. John the Baptist (Jersey City, 1987-88), Our Lady of Libera (West New York), Immaculate Conception (Secaucus), Our Lady of Victories (Jersey City), St. Cecilia (Kearny); the Archdiocese of Newark lists one credible accusation of sex abuse of a minor. He is deceased.

Kenneth Martin: Ordained 1977, St. Andrew (Bayonne); one of multiple credible accusations came from Mark Crawford and his brother, who said they were abused as children when Martin was associate pastor at St. Andrew. Martin was permanently removed from ministry. The Star-Ledger reported in 2013 that Martin was working for NJ Transit as a conductor.

William McCann: Ordained 1925, St. Aloysius (Jersey City), Ss. Peter and Paul (Hoboken); the archdiocese said there are multiple credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors. He is deceased.

Daniel Medina: Ordained 1998, St. Aloysius (Jersey City); charged in 2004 with first-degree sexual assault that occurred in 1999 and pleaded guilty in 2008 to a reduced charge of fourth-degree child endangerment. His case drew media attention because of the delay by the archdiocese in alerting parishioners, even after alerting Catholic officials around the country. He was permanently removed from ministry.

John Morel: Ordained 1955, St. Michael (Jersey City), Holy Family (Union City), Our Lady of Assumption (Bayonne); the archdiocese said there are multiple credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors; he is deceased.

Robert Morel: Ordained 1969, St. Joseph (Jersey City); the former pastor pleaded guilty to a harassment charge and was sentenced to six months of probation after he was accused of fondling an 18-year-old male parishioner in 1993. There were other accusations, including one in a federal lawsuit by a man who said Morel abused him over an eight-year period. He is deceased.

Thomas Mousley: Ordained 1976, Boys Town (Kearny); the archdiocese said there is one credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor against the former deacon. He was permanently removed from ministry.

Michael OBrien: Ordained 1977, Our Lady of Sorrows (Kearny), Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Jersey City), St. Anthony of Padua (Union City); the archdiocese said there is one credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor. He is deceased.

Jesus Orlando Rengifo: Ordained 1984, St. Joseph of the Palisade (West New York), St. Paul of the Cross (Jersey City); ); the archdiocese said there is one credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor. He was permanently removed from ministry.

Joseph Rice: Ordained 1977, St. Mary (Jersey City); the archdiocese said there are multiple credible accusations of sexual abuse of a minor, including an allegation that he and two other priests sexually abused a teenage girl they met through a Union County church youth group in the 1980s. He died in 2014.

Mario Salazar: Ordained 1979, St. Joseph of the Palisade (West New York), St. Mary (Jersey City); the archdiocese said there are multiple credible accusations of sexual abuse of a minor. He is deceased.

Thomas Stanford: Ordained 1979, deacon at St. Pauls Church (Jersey City); multiple credible accusations, including that he sexually abused a boy over a two-year period between 1977-79, after the boy came to him for help as a victim of sexual abuse. Stanford has been permanently removed from ministry.

Edward Stanley: Ordained 1931, St. Mary (Jersey City); the archdiocese said there is one credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor. He is deceased.

Robert Stauffer: Ordained 1964, Our Lady of Assumption (Bayonne); the archdiocese said there is one credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor. He was permanently removed from ministry and died last year.

Gerald Sudol: Ordained 1980, St. Ann (Polish, Jersey City), chaplain at St. Francis Community Center (Jersey City), Holy Rosary (Jersey City), Padre Pio Friary (Hoboken); among multiple credible allegations is one that he sexually abused an altar boy while he was assigned to a church in Ridgefield Park in the 1980s and 1990s. Sudol stepped down from his position as priest in residence at Our Lady of Czestochowa Catholic Church in Jersey City in August 2018. He has been permanently removed from ministry.

Robert Svec: Ordained 1954, St. Henry (Bayonne), Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Jersey City), St. Mary Star of the Sea (Bayonne), St. John the Baptist (Jersey City, 1968-77), St. Vincent De Paul (Bayonne); there are multiple credible accusations of sexual abuse of a minor, the archdiocese said. He is deceased.

Michael M. Walters: Ordained 1981, St. John Nepocene (Guttenberg); multiple credible accusations, including one in which Walters was accused of sexually abusing a boy when he was pastor at the Guttenberg church in the 1990s. The accusers attorney represented six five other alleged victims of Walters, The Jersey Journal reported in a 2016 story.

Robert Zasacki: Ordained 1967, St. Brigid (North Bergen); was removed from the St. Paul (Minnesota) archdiocese in 2002 after a credible accusation that he sexually abused a youth in the early 1970s in the Newark archdiocese. He died in 2008.A fourth person has been arrested in the stabbing of a Guttenberg man who was lured to a location in Hoboken on Feb. 5, authorities said.

Esmild Valera-Perez, 19, of North Bergen, was arrested at his home on Feb. 9 at 10:30 p.m. by Hoboken detectives John Quinones and Adam Colon and Police Officer Michael Aviles, with assistance from the North Bergen Police Department, Hoboken police Lt. Edgardo Cruz said.

Valera-Perez was charged with aggravated assault, conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose.

According to earlier reports, the victim was lured to the area of Adams and Clinton streets by a former acquaintance. He was then approached from behind by Angulo, Rodriguez and Valera-Perez, and tried fleeing, but he was tripped, Cruz said.

He was then assaulted and stabbed at least 10 times in the area of 11th and Clinton streets, Cruz said.

Two man, Alexis Angulo, 18, and Jason Rodriguez, 20, and a woman, Santos Gonzalez, 18, all of Guttenberg, were charged earlier this month with aggravated assault for the attack. Angulo and Gonzalez were arrested hours after the attack. Rodriguez was arrested last

Apparently, the planned assault was not well thought-out. According to three criminal complaints, the victim knew all of the people involved and identified all of them for the police. No motive for the attack was provided.BAYONNE  Police responded to a report of gunshots fired Wednesday night in the area of West 18th Street where, three days earlier, a man was shot and hospitalized, authorities said.

Just before 9 p.m. Wednesday, officers responded to West 18th Street between Avenue C and Kennedy Boulevard after shots were reportedly fired, police Lt. Eric Amato said.

No injuries were reported, and no victims or shooters were located, he said.

The investigation is "being actively pursued" by the department's detective bureau, Amato said.

The incident comes three days after a man was shot near Avenue C and West 18th Street. Police on Monday morning said a man in his 30s was found at 438 Ave. C with apparent gunshot wounds.

The police could neither confirm nor dispel if Wednesdays incident is connected to the previous shooting.

Both incidents remain under investigation and no suspects have been identified in either case, Amato said.

The victim was reportedly in stable condition.Less than a week after Extra host and South Orange native A.J. Calloway was suspended from his job due to allegations of sexual misconduct, those women who accused him are beginning to speak out.

A lengthy report from The Hollywood Reporter features interviews with several accusers. Jeannie Delgado told THR she was offered a guest room in Calloways New Jersey home in 2009 when roads were too icy for her to drive home.

I thought it was not a big deal, Delgado told The Hollywood Reporter. "Im thinking this is the guest room. It turned out to be his bedroom. He closed the door behind him. He basically closed the door, locked it and tried to kiss me. I was like, No, no, no. Then he went for my pants. He flipped me over, grabbed my hands, held them behind my back. ...Im 5-foot-2, 110 pounds. Hes 6-foot-4, and I dont know how much he weighs. He proceeded to rape me. When I tried to get up, he pulled me back down and bear-hugged me. That was for hours. I lay there crying the whole time. When the sun came up, he raped me again.

Calloway, via an attorney, denied all allegations of misconduct to The Hollywood Reporter.

Another accuser, who asked that her real name not be used, told The Hollywood Reporter about how Calloway raped her when she was 19 at his West Hollywood hotel room.

He grabbed me, very forceful. I tried pushing him away. I fought him. He was too strong," the accuser, who went by the pseudonym Daisy in the story. "He took the phone out of the wall. He tossed my phone and purse across the room. It was just never-ending. Hed be in me, and I was able to get him out of me, off of me, but he was too strong.  He kept yelling, You dont want me! At a certain point I gave up. Thats the part that haunts me the most. I was just crying.

Those are just two stories of several that The Hollywood Reporter detailed in the report.

Warner Bros. Television, which produces Extra, said on Feb. 9 that Calloway had been suspended. The studio said that upon becoming aware of allegations against Calloway, it had begun an internal review that found nothing to suggest that Mr. Calloway has ever engaged in workplace misconduct. But, Warners added, in light of additional allegations brought to our attention, we are expanding our ongoing inquiries.

Calloway attended St. Benedicts Prep in Newark and Howard University in Washington D.C. He joined Extra as a correspondent in 2005 and became a co-host in 2017. According to his official Extra biography, he is married and has three children.

Jeremy Schneider may be reached at jschneider@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @J_Schneider. 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.Hey, Amazon. Its Newark. We heard about your break-up with New York today ... on Valentines Day of all days! And we just wanted to say, were here for you. Anything you need.

Like, anything.

And we know youre newly single, but maybe we can get a cup of coffee and catch up. Or start talking about us again. You know, building part of HQ2 in Newark.

Now, we didnt want to say anything, but we saw your relationship trouble brewing from across the river. Sheesh! It seemed like those cranky New Yorkers were complaining as soon as you picked Long Island City over the Brick City back in November. Protests in the streets! Politicians threatening to veto the deal! You said yourself in the statement on Thursday announcing the split that those politicians made it clear they wouldnt "work with (Amazon) to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project.

We hate to say we told you so but ... we told you so.

We said back then that New York wouldnt appreciate you. That youd just be seen as just another massive company in a massive city. We knew they wouldnt understand what they could have with you.

Okay, we may have said some things we didnt mean in the heat of the moment when you picked New York over us. We said we should have known that the whole nationwide search was really just a farce, a bait-and-switch. We said who the hell needs you (between bites of our Nastos ice cream).

Newark needs you, Amazon. We need those tens of thousands of jobs for the state. We called you the economic engine this long-struggling city has been looking for, injecting jobs and commerce where its needed most, and we meant that. That hasnt changed.

And look, we know youre still seeing Arlington, Va., where the other half of HQ2 was going to be built before the break-up  which, damn, reminds us that you picked TWO cities over us! But its cool. We can make it work. We can share. Were not the jealous type. We are willing to do whatever makes this work. Have you ever heard of a throuple? A three-way couple? Well, now you have. Lets make it happen.

Back when you made your choice in November, we said we were cancelling our Amazon Prime. Well, we never did. We always held out hope that you were just a two-day delivery away from realizing that you belong in Newark.

So hop on that PATH train, Amazon. Newark is still waiting for you.

Jeremy Schneider may be reached at jschneider@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @J_Schneider. 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.The list spans nearly a century. It reaches across every corner of the state. And it reveals a tangled web of abuse allegedly carried out by scores of priests, some of whom were apparently shuffled from parish to parish.

The five Catholic Dioceses release of 188 priests and deacons who were credibly accused of sexually abusing children reverberates across generations of Catholics both in New Jersey and across the country, once again confronted with disheartening allegations against church leaders amid an ever-deepening scandal.

Even as details remain scant, an analysis of the information released by the Catholic Church Wednesday reveals what many expected  that in New Jersey, and, as has been shown elsewhere, allegations of sexual abuse date back decades and come out of every diocese and dozens of parishes.

Here are some of the key takeaways from our reporting, thus far.

Hundreds of victims

While very few details have been released about how many people came forward with abuse allegations, data shows 57 of the clergymen named by the church Wednesday have multiple accusers.

Taken with others that have a single accuser and the nearly half for whom no information was released, there are at least 245 alleged victims. The actual number is likely far higher.

A look at what we know about the men accused of sexual abuse within the Catholic church

100 years of alleged abuse

The priests and deacons named by the church were ordained between 1915 and 2017, showing that the issue of sexual abuse in the church is not a recent phenomenon.

Since priests generally serve for decades, it is likely that Catholic Church in New Jersey has had someone within the church potentially abusing children since before World War I.

Endless movement

All but the Diocese of Trenton released information on the parishes, schools and other church-associated groups served by those accused of abuse.

Data shows priests and deacons were shifting between parishes at a constant rate, ping-ponging around the state, country and the globe before dying or being forcibly removed from the ministry. From what information is currently available, dozens served at least ten separate parishes during their career with the church.

Clusters of problematic priests

The data, which is not complete, also shows some parishes were served by more than half a dozen separate clergymen accused of abusing children.

The groupings take different forms. Some, like at Holy Trinity in Westfield, show parishes that were served by accused priests, with more than one accused priest serving the same parish at the same time. Immaculate Conception in Camden had nine accused priests or deacons who were ordained within slightly more than two decades of one another, indicating several were likely to be serving the parish at the same time.

A focus on the 60s and 70s

Another striking element of the data is how many priests and deacons were ordained in the same generation.

Though the data spans more than a century, 111 of those named were ordained in the 1960s or 1970s  nearly 60 percent.

Help us fill in the blanks

The information released by each of the Dioceses is inconsistent and incomplete. We want you to help us fill whats missing.

Were asking anyone with knowledge of these officials to fill out a short survey (attached below) to help us point to some of the information we dont yet know so we can more completely report this story.

Weve already heard from more than 50 people who have supplied valuable information as we piece this puzzle together.

Weve also heard from people who believe there are clergy not on this list that should be. If youd like to speak to us about someone, please email our secure tip line at tips@njadvancemedia.com or by using one of the many secure communication options we offer at nj.com/tips.

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NJ Advance Media reporters Carla Astudillo, Blake Nelson, Erin Petenko, Disha Raychaudhuri and Yan Wu contributed to this report. Stephen Stirling may be reached at sstirling@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @sstirling. Find him on Facebook.A Blackwood motorist was arrested early Wednesday after crashing his van during a police pursuit, authorities said.

Shortly after midnight, Mantua Township Police learned of a convenience store burglary in neighboring Washington Township and Mantua Patrolman Brian Hauss began checking businesses in the Glassboro Road area.

Police soon learned the suspect in the Washington Township job was driving a white Econoline van, and when Hauss spotted a vehicle matching that description heading onto Route 55, he tried to stop it.

The driver, later identified as 45-year-old Michael T. Neild, fled and Hauss gave chase, police said.

The pursuit continued into Camden, where police say Neild lost control of his vehicle and crashed on an exit ramp. No injuries were reported.

Neild was arrested at the scene, charged with eluding and placed in Salem County Correctional Facility.

The vehicle was impounded for further investigation regarding the burglary.

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.Newsfrom Japan

Kathmandu, Nepal, Feb. 14 (Jiji Press)--A restaurant in Nepal is serving customers handmade "soba" buckwheat noodles, which are made from fresh buckwheat flour grown locally and prepared with skills acquired in a now-defunct village in Nagano Prefecture, central Japan.

The restaurant in Kathmandu, which opened in 1996, has been passing down the art of soba making acquired from the village of Togakushi, now part of the city of Nagano, for over 20 years and continues to impress noodle-loving Nepalese people.

An official of a soba restaurant in Togakushi, who had ties with people in the former village of Toga, currently part of the city of Nanto in Toyama Prefecture, central Japan, once visited the Nepalese capital.

The village of Toga had forged sisterhood ties with a Nepalese village that produced buckwheat, thanks to the late Akio Ujihara, a soba researcher and a professor emeritus at Shinshu University, acting as an intermediary.

Following the official's visit to Kathmandu, two Nepalese men received soba training for some 10 months in Togakushi and then brought the authentic taste back home.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]We are saddened to announce the passing of Peter S. Petrosian on June 16, 2021 in Cumming, Georgia. This year, Peter turned 69 years of age and celebrated his 36th wedding anniversary to his wife, Beth (Balise) Petrosian. Peter was the son of George and Alice (Mooradian) Petrosian who passedNORTH BRANFORD  Fire Marshal Bert Bunnell inspected North Branford High School Thursday and found that, in terms of fire safety, conditions in the building were good overall.

The inspection came after a reporter asked Bunnell about the use of portable heaters seen in a classroom. Those devices represented part of an effort to cope with the schools heating problems, which previously were detailed by the Register.

Portable heaters are allowed in schools under the proper safety conditions, Bunnell said, and local fire marshals have discretion to decide where use is appropriate.

A portable electric heater must be used in accordance with the manufacturers instructions, and it cannot be plugged in via an extension cord, Bunnell said. Devices should be located at least three feet from combustible materials and in an area where they cannot be easily knocked over, he added.

Portable oil-based heaters must be equipped with certain safety features, Bunnell said. According to section 11.5.2.1 of the Connecticut Fire Prevention Code, Kerosene burners and oil stoves shall be equipped with a primary safety control furnished as an integral part of the appliance by the manufacturer to stop the flow of oil in the event of flame failure.

Bunnell said he conducted a standard inspection that lasted more than an hour, noting that he found three portable heaters: two in a classroom and one in the library area. All were plugged directly into outlets and located away from combustibles, he said, though one had to be moved because it blocked a secondary means of egress, an issue that was addressed immediately.

Of the three portable heaters, two were electric and one was oil-based, Bunnell said, but he deemed them all safe for use. Overall, Bunnell added, the school was doing a good job with heater use.

Bunnell noted the high schools phenomenal support staff, who handle maintenance problems. When it comes to fire safety, nobody wants an issue, he added.

Superintendent of Schools Scott Schoonmaker declined to comment Wednesday. He could not be reached for comment Thursday, after the inspection.

meghan.friedmann@hearstmediact.comAs big data companies such as Facebook and Google come under scrutiny for collecting and selling customers personal information, so is the state of Connecticut.

A new bill introduced by state Reps. Fred Camillo, R-Greenwich and Brenda Kupchick, R-Fairfield, would limit the disclosure of voter registration data  which includes things birth date, home addresses, party affiliation and more  and prohibit the sale of that data for commercial use.

Connecticut is the only state in the country that allows for the sale of voter registration data for commercial purposes, a vestige of the states strong Freedom of Information Act long before electronic privacy became an issue.

The main thing is a lot of people are worried about their information being sold, Camillo said. Especially with the hacks going on. You dont want to make it real easy for the hackers, and anything that makes it a little bit harder I think is a good thing.

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill introduced similar legislation last year, but the bill died without a vote.

Im happy to have the support of Representatives Camillo and Kupchick for the privacy concepts I raised last year, and I look forward to working in a bipartisan manner to protect the privacy of Connecticut voters and bring Connecticut in line with the majority of states, Merrill said Friday in a written statement.

Under freedom of information laws, the state is required to make public all voter registrations and the information included on them. In addition, the state sells a database of the information for $300.

Currently, the only way to remove voter data from public records is to un-register to vote  although in an age of online records, the data never really goes away  or in extreme cases, through the Safe at Home program run by the Secretary of the States office. That program is a partnership with the states domestic violence crisis centers and allows victims to use the state office as their mailing address for registration purposes.

The only way into the program is through a domestic violence crisis center.

Hillary Long, who lives in Southport, has been working with Camillo on the legislation, and started the website ctvoterprivacy.org to help get the word out.

People are going to register to vote thinking they are just registering to vote, they dont think there are any negative ramifications for voting in the state of Connecticut, Long said. Its just really important that people know about this.

Colleen Murphy, executive director of the state Freedom of Information Commission, said in written testimony last year that the agency opposed the law as it was proposed. But she said at the time the commission was not against working with lawmakers on a way to reduce privacy risks while still upholding the publics right to information.I hope to inform people about the smoking in condos and apartments that filters into all units with secondhand/thirdhand smoke. I am sure there are many who do not realize their smoking is causing a health problem for others.

Please go to the website, ct.gov/dph, and read what the state of Connecticut has issued about the problem. Put in secondhand smoke under search in Department of Public Health-Smoke Free Housing for Condos. I cant believe with all the information on the website that there is not a law to ban smoking in these units. No air purifier will remove the smoke, the only way is to ban smoking.NEW HAVEN  A survey conducted by the Yale College Council found that while most undergraduates are happy to be studying at Yale University, they are far from satisfied with how easy it is access to mental health services.

The council issued a report, written by Ohshue Gatanaga, a sophomore, and Katherine Du, a first-year student, which was the first undertaken since 2013. It was first reported Thursday by the Yale Daily News. Since 2013, the university has added two new residential colleges and 800 undergraduates. Yale Mental Health and Counseling, offered free to undergraduates, also serves graduate and professional students.

Students who go to the mental health service for counseling are given an intake appointment and then an appointment with a therapist. Although this process may seem simple, the sheer volume of students trying to access these resources has made wait times excessive, the report states. The time between signing up for an intake appointment and receiving an actual therapy session can range anywhere from a few weeks to months.

According to the Mental Health and Counseling website, Students requesting an appointment are given an initial time for evaluation within two to four weekdays. Following this initial appointment, most students are able to be connected with their therapist typically within a couple of weeks. Appointments are available Monday-Friday between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm.

Saloni Rao, president of the Yale College Council, said thats simply not the case. Its hard to quantify. She said while someone who is threatening self-harm may be seen quickly, the vast majority of students wait a ridiculous amount of time.

She said she recognized that increasing the clinical staff is a long-term issue. Hiring five new clinicians is not going to happen overnight, she said.

Rao said another problem raised in the survey is that there is not a clear system to access Yales mental health fellows, clinicians who are assigned to each residential college. She suggested office hours so that students could stop by with issues. This system exists but isnt carried out with consistency in all of the colleges. It barely exists in some of the colleges, she said. What we want to do is create a framework for student engagement that students could easily plug into to find out how to make an appointment or to ask what service would best fit my needs.

Happy at Yale but not with services

On a seven-point scale, 82 percent of students rated their happiness at Yale as at least a 5, with a plurality of 37 percent scoring Yale at a 6. The report also credited an increased number of student clubs that focus on mental and emotional well-being, including Mind Matters, Peer Wellness Champions, Project LETS, the Yale Layer, Mental Health Educators, and the Yale Undergraduate Mindfulness Education Initiative.

However, out of 2,181 students who answered, 48.7 percent believed that Yale does not do enough to take care of students mental health. The lack of communication about resources available largely accounted for that, according to the report, which noted that there are mandatory sessions about sex and consent practices, there is none for mental health.

Students had mixed responses to how well they knew about peer resources, but, aside from those who are assigned to them, first-year counselors, and communication and consent educators, who hold mandatory sessions, few used these resources, the report said.

Also, 46.4 percent disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement that there is at least one faculty/staff member that I can go to in order to talk about my mental health, such as a residential college head or dean or their professors.

Mental Health and Counseling received higher marks in terms of whether students would seek help there, with 48 percent saying they likely or very likely would, but just 36 percent rated the quality of care as good or very good.

Twenty-one percent agreed that Yale has enough mental health resources for its students and 54 percent disagreed or strongly disagreed that The length of time I waited before receiving help was reasonable, relative to the urgency of my condition, according to the report. A student in a focus group said the most important aspects MH&C could work on were expansion and diversification, and communication of available resources, the report said.

Waiting times are a serious concern for students, a majority of whom said it took more than a week before they received an intake appointment, another week or more before they were assigned to a therapist and still another week or more before their first appointment with the therapist.

The authors concluded: Combined, it may take students more than a month to receive actual, quality treatment. Amidst academic and extracurricular challenges, students who take the initiative to maintain their mental well-being may become discouraged. A long wait time may also prevent students with more severe mental health conditions from receiving essential treatment. Further, students who hear about negative experiences at MH&C may feel less inclined to seek treatment.

The report stated that the most significant change between the last report in 2013 and the 2018 survey was that fewer students are using the professional mental health service, with the number falling from 39 to 28 percent. This may be due in part to the recent student expansion of Yale College, with no matched expansion of MH&C staff, causing MH&C to only be able to serve the same capacity of students as before, the report said.

The Mental Health and Counseling website lists 35 professional staff members, led by Dr. Lorraine Siggins, who is retiring in June after 30 years as director of Mental Health and Counseling. Eighteen are medical doctors, five are licensed clinical social workers and the rest have doctorates in psychology or a Ph.D. degree.

In its recommendations, the report stated that resources should be made available in more places, such as cultural centers, similar to Harvard Universitys Lets Talk program. It pointed out that the Good Life Center and the Asian American Cultural Center do offer professional help. It also suggested having therapists available in places such as the residential colleges to avoid the perceived stigma of going to Mental Health and Counseling.

The report recommended partnering with the Connecticut Mental Health Center to increase awareness of mental health concerns among students and to increase the staffs diversity of race, language and gender preference. It also said Yale should be specific about how it will respond to specific concerns.

Columbia Universitys Counseling and Psychological Services offers information for students about not only couples counseling, individual counseling, and support groups, but also specific treatment options for first-generation students, as well as students with Religious and Spiritual Concerns, Body Image Concerns, Sexual and Gender Identity Issues, and Veterans Concerns, the report said.

The report said Yale should make it easier for students to seek help from professionals outside the university and to standardize policies for receiving deans excuses when they are sought for mental health reasons, as there are for physical health.

The Register has requested comment from Yale spokeswoman Karen Peart. Check back for updates.

edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com; 203-680-9382.NEW HAVEN  A woman who allegedly came to the city to buy cocaine pleaded guilty to a drug trafficking charge, according to federal authorities.

Latoya Mckreith, 36, of Chicopee, Mass., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to one count of conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with intent to distribute, 500 grams or more of cocaine, according a release from the office of Connecticut U.S. Attorney John H. Durham.BRANFORD  At the end of the month, a sweet little piece of Branford that has been a big part of peoples lives for more than four decades will became another memory of days gone by.

Lynns Restaurant & Delicatessen will close Feb. 28 after 41 years in business on East Main Street  kissing goodbye some customers who have been with them so long their names are on plaques on the wall adjacent to their favorite tables.

Sisters Lynn DeMusis-Grady and Helen Borrelli, who have spent much of their lives working at Lynns  and took over ownership when their mother, Ethel DeMusis, retired a few years ago  said its time for them to move into a new phase of their respective lives.

Its just time, said DeMusis-Grady, 54  after whom the restaurant was named when she was just a girl  who lives these days in North Branford. Its time for a new journey. Its time for a new venture in life. Im going to be selling real estate full-time.

Borrelli, 61, of Branford, has had less involvement in the business since running into some heart issues last February. But she has come back to work as she, her sister and their longtime staff wind down the restaurant that their mother and father, the late Matthew Babe DeMusis, started as a Dairy Mart in 1978.

Babe DeMusis passed away in 2008. These days, Ethel DeMusis spends winters in Florida, but she does come in when shes home  and her portrait hangs on a pillar, along with a photograph of her tending her roses.

A third sister, Roseann Pandolfi, isnt involved in the restaurant.

Borrelli recalled Lynns humble beginnings in its original location at 365 E. Main St.

But then my mom decided she was going to make some sausage and peppers  and that was it, she said.

Suddenly, people were waiting in line for food.

In 2003, what was then Lynns Dairy moved up the street to its current location adjacent to the Motel 6 at 318 E. Main St. They planted some parsley, basil and cilantro out back  and theyve been serving breakfast and lunch and catering to the Branford community ever since.

When their last week in business rolls around later this month, theyre going to try to make it fun, as it ought to be.

Were going to have a party all week  a celebration, said DeMusis-Grady.

After 41 years of serving the Shoreline, were going to have Champagne and mimosas ... and cherish all those memories, said Borrelli. Were leaving on a high note.

In the meantime, DeMusis-Grady urged customers to come in and use any gift cards they have.

The sisters  and their children  have literally grown up in the restaurant.

They also have two employees, Jona Moughty and Cheryl Velardi, who have been with them for 24 years and 21 years, respectively.

Borrellis daughter, Maria, 27, used to work here when she was 13, Borrelli said. Then she went to Quinnipiac. Then she went to law school. Now she works as a lawyer.

Borrellis son, Nick, 23, used to help Lynns out when it served food at the Branford Festival.

DeMusis-Gradys son, Chuck DeFilippo, 25  now a writer  also worked there at one point.

Their extended restaurant family grieved with them when DeMusis-Gradys daughter, Nicole DeFilippo, died of viral myocarditis, a rare heart virus, at age 16 in 2006  and theyve all come together over the years to raise money for charity in Nicoles name in the wake of that loss.

And throughout all the years Lynns has been open, I couldnt imagine working with anybody else, Borrelli said with a glance at her sister  and our mother!

Longtime customer Bud Milles of Branford has been a customer since at least 1980 or so, and theres a good chance hell be there to keep them company  at a table that bears a brass plaque that reads, This Table Reserved for Bud Milles  when they close.

Another nearby table is reserved for longtime customer Jon Jay Kirby.

On Wednesday, he was there, as usual, at his corner table with his daughter, Nancy Flanagan, eating his favorite  a roast beef sandwich.

I usually split a sandwich with him, although I like their salads, said Flanagan, who grew up with Borrelli and DeMusis.

Yeah, I could cry, Flanagan said, starting to tear up just a bit. Theyre like family every day. ... Its just a special place that will be very missed.

Milles said he stops by Lynns to eat not every day, but two or three days a week.

Why?

Because theyre friendly and theyve got good food! he said. Good food, good service, decent prices.

Moving on

Asked what hell do when Lynns closes, Milles said, Well find someplace else. But weve seen a lot of places close over the years, he said.

As he spoke, Borrelli stopped by a nearby table and Milles, 85, asked her, You gonna auction off the chair? I want this chair!

Borrelli responded, Im going to give you the the plaque off the wall!

While only two customers have plaques on the wall, many others have been coming to Lynns for years.

Mark Almeida, who lives in Westbrook but works a sales job in Branford  and stops in for lunch at Lynns about once a week  will miss the place.

Theyre just friendly, he said.

Almeida, who on Wednesday ordered his favorite  chicken cutlet on a hard roll with a scoop of tuna salad on the side  loves the familiarity of the place, as well.

Tina knows exactly what I want, he said. When Im in our Branford office, I come here.

Across the room, retired North Branford teachers Rosemary Cinquanta and Brenda Karsmarski were just finishing their traditional every-Wednesday lunch at Lynns  although they often are joined by other friends, as well.

Theyve been coming here almost every week since they retired in 2000 and 2001, respectively.

For them the attraction of Lynns all these years is fairly simple.

Theyre very friendly and the food is good, said Cinquanta. We know Helen and Lynn  and we know their mom, and they all know us by name at this point. They know what we like and dont like, she said.

Theyll be missed, said Mike Dougherty of Branford, who was eating lunch there Wednesday and said he has been going there at least since it moved to the current location. Hes kind of partial to the chicken cutlet sandwiches.

What does he like best about it?

The people behind the counter, said Dougherty, who is in the air compressor business. Comfortable food, comfortable setting, good people.

Its sad to see long-established natives, people who live in this area, who have had such a community identity, leave, he said.

mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.comNEW HAVEN  An East Haven police sergeant who testified Wednesday in the opening day of LeRoya Moores double-murder trial said, I could smell death as he came upon the bodies of Moores two young children in their home.

The three-judge panel hearing the case watched a police body camera video in which an officer is heard saying Both kids are down! and The children are dead.

Sgt. Joseph Mulhern said he and other members of the East Haven Police Department went to Moores home at 541 Strong St. on the afternoon of June 2, 2015, to do a welfare check after Moores friend called police to report she had received a letter from Moore indicating she might harm herself.

Mulhern testified he met the friend at the driveway of Moores home and they were able to reach Moore on the friends cellphone. Moore agreed to come outside and soon afterward she walked out onto a second-floor platform with a metal stairway.

We immediately saw she had harmed herself, Mulhern said. He recalled she had cuts on her arms and wrists.

After police escorted Moore down the stairway and members of the East Haven Fire Department attended to her wounds, she was asked about her children: Daaron, 7, and Aleisha, 6.

She said her kids would be on the first floor, Mulhern testified.

Because the first-floor doors and windows were locked, Mulhern and at least one other policeman went back up the stairway and entered the house through the second-floor door.

We got in about 10 or so feet, he said, and we were overwhelmed by a natural gas smell.

Mulhern said they quickly backed outside and alerted Fire Department personnel, who turned off the gas from outside. Mulhern then went back inside.

When he could not find the children on the second floor, he went downstairs and immediately could smell death.

Following the odor, Mulhern walked into the front living room.

What did you see there? asked Senior Assistant States Attorney Stacey Miranda.

Two bodies on the floor, Mulhern said. Two juveniles.

Did you know they were dead? Miranda asked. Mulhern said he did, just based on my experience.

When Miranda asked whether it appeared the bodies had been there a long time, he said, Yes.

Moore, now 39, dressed in a gray sweatshirt and blue jeans, showed no emotion during the testimony. She also had no noticeable reaction to the graphic description of the state of the bodies by an associate state medical examiner.

Moores attorneys, Senior Assistant Public Defender Scott M. Jones and Supervisory Assistant Public Defender Jennifer Bourn, are expected to use a mental health defense.

Moore is charged with two counts of murder. New Haven States Attorney Patrick Griffin Wednesday morning informed Superior Court judges Elpedio N. Vitale, Brian T. Fischer and Jon C. Blue the two risk of injury charges had been dropped. This came after Jones objected to those two counts, saying they appeared to be lesser included offenses. During a court recess, Griffin declined to say why the prosecution team had dropped the two charges.

Moore was taken by police to a psychiatric hospital the day her childrens bodies were found. A week later she was arrested. She is being held in lieu of $2 million bail.

In the body camera video, Moore was shown being led down the stairway. She had a dazed expression.

Mulhern quoted her saying of the children: I saved them. He noted she also said: Can we just go?

The video captured a series of shouted remarks between the officers on the scene, interspersed with their coughing as they encountered the gas: Hey guys, weve got a gas leak, then You cant breathe, and She says she harmed her children.

The officers asked Moore: Where are your kids? and then came the exclamations: Both kids are down! and The children are dead.

Under Scotts cross-examination, Mulhern said he and two other members of the Police Department were treated at the scene for gas inhalation and all three were taken to the hospital.

The first witness Wednesday was Moores longtime friend who had received the alarming letter the day the bodies were discovered. The friend said she knew the children so well that they called her Auntie.

The friend, who cried throughout her testimony, said that after reading the letter she called Moore. She said she was tired.

When the friend said she was coming to her house, Moore reportedly replied: I wont open the door.

The friend recalled driving to Moores house and finding all the doors and windows locked. She called 911.

The friend testified that when Moore came out of the house with the police, I asked her about the kids. She said they were sleeping.

Moores friend also recalled receiving a message from her stating: I love my kids too much to watch them suffer.

The friend told Moore: You are the perfect mom, always and forever. Youve come a long way. Im so proud of you. Keep up the good work.

Under questioning by Jones, the friend said she and Moore had discussed Moores struggles and challenges. The friend said Moore had three jobs, including one at a Yale dining hall and another at the bookstore of Gateway Community College.

Jones asked her whether Moore had talked about her suicide attempts. The friend said she couldnt remember.

The friend said they spent less time together after Moore started dating Michael Moore, the father of the two children. I remember her saying she and Michael had a big fight.

Moores older son, Dominic White, also testified. He said the night before the bodies of the children were discovered, she texted him to say: My car is not working. I am at work.

White said he was standing on the front porch of Moores home as he tried to contact her. I got a strong smell of gas. But he could not get inside.

I was knocking, I was calling, trying to see if she was at work and everything was fine, he said.

The final witness Wednesday was Dr. Gregory Vincent, an associate in the office of the states chief medical examiner. He performed the autopsies on both children the day after their bodies were found.

Vincent said Daarons cause of death was acute intoxication of diphenhydramine, which has the brand name Benadryl. He said Aleishas cause of death was acute intoxication from diphenhydramine and alcohol. He said the manner of death for both children was homicide.

Vincent stated Aleishas blood alcohol level was above the legal limit for an adult operating a motor vehicle.

Vincent said both bodies showed signs of decomposition, including the presence of insects and bloating. He said they had been dead for at least 24 hours when they were found.

Could it have been three, four or five days? Scott asked. Yes, Vincent replied.

randall.beach@hearstmediact.comMILFORD  A lawyer representing the family of Maren Sanchez in a lawsuit alleging school officials should have prevented her killing says the city is grasping at straws in an effort to escape responsibility.

Last month, the City of Milford asked the judge handling the case to reconsider an earlier ruling denying a request to throw the case out of court. The citys request was based on a recent state Supreme Court decision.

Quite simply, the Supreme Courts holding ... is irrelevant to the Courts denial of summary judgment, David Golub, the Sanchez familys lawyer, wrote in a Feb. 6 memo opposing the citys request.

Sanchez was stabbed to death by classmate Christopher Plaskon in April 2014 at Jonathan Law High School after she turned down his invitation to the prom.

The lawsuit says that in November 2013, Sanchez reported to the high school guidance department that Plaskon was emotionally disturbed and threatening to commit suicide or acts of serious self-harm with a knife, and she believed it was important for high school personnel to prevent him from engaging in potentially violent conduct.

The main issues in the case are whether school officials had discretion in responding to Sanchezs warning within the school districts Suicide Prevention and Intervention Procedure, and whether more of an intervention would have prevented her killing.

State law shields municipalities from liability if employees are negligent in performing discretionary acts, but not necessarily for negligence in the performance of mandatory acts.

In a Jan. 4 memorandum, Judge Barry Stevens did not accept the argument by the city that Plaskon intended to kill Sanchez and that there were no actions the school system could have taken to prevent it.

The city says a Jan. 22 Connectiut Supreme Court ruling means the judge should reconsider since it clarifies the legal principles in the case.

In that case, an East Haven cop investigating a possible domestic violence incident in a vehicle couldnt verify the owner of the car had a valid drivers license, but declined to order it towed and instead drove the man home.

The owner then returned to his vehicle and drove it away, after which he got into an accident with another man who sued the town for damages.

A jury ruled in favor of the plaintiff, but the appeals court decided the case should have been thrown out because the officer wasnt obligated to order the mans car towed.

In Milfords new motion in the lawsuit, the city says last weeks state Supreme Court ruling  upholding the appeals courts reversal in Ventura v. East Haven  illustrates why school officials had discretion while responding to Sanchezs complaint.

In the Feb. 6 memo, Golub said the recent Supreme Court doesnt apply to the Sanchez familys lawsuit.

Aside from being a case involving governmental immunity, Ventura is wholly inapplicable to the issues decided by the Court in this case in its decision denying summary judgment, Golub wrote. There is no basis for defendants Motion for Reconsideration.

In a reply to that memo filed Feb. 8, the citys lawyer, James Tallberg, says the judge should reconsider his ruling because it could prejudice Milfords right to assert the discretionary nature of, and governmental immunity from liability for school officials not doing more to intervene after Sanchez raised concerns about Plaskon.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for Feb. 19.

ethan.fry@hearstmediact.comWeddings are joyous occasions-until you get the bill. According to financial site WalletHub, the average spends over $33,000 on a wedding, and growing wedding industry is worth about $81 billion. But some places are more expensive than others.

WalletHub compared 182 U.S. cities to find "the cheapest and most convenient wedding destinations that also promise a memorable day." The site looked at factors like average wedding cost, venues, event spaces per capita and hotel availability.More than two years after former General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt moved the companys headquarters to Boston from Fairfield, GE announced Thursday that it has told Massachusetts officials it is not proceeding with a planned new headquarters and will fall about 550 jobs short of the 800 it had promised.

Under new CEO Larry Culp Jr., GE will return $87 million in incentives Massachusetts had awarded in exchange for the headquarters relocation.

GE said it was formally dropping plans to build a 12-story office tower on the city's waterfront. The company will keep its headquarters in downtown Boston in a pair of historic buildings that trace their heritage to the New England Confectionery Co.

The Boston Globe was the first to report about GEs intentions.

It amounts to a bitter pill for both Massachusetts and Connecticut, with Immelt leaving GE the year after the move as the conglomerate braced for billions of dollars in losses. Those were driven in part by lingering costs absorbed by the GE Capital subsidiary in Norwalk, stemming from the mortgage market collapse a decade ago and inadequate reserves for a prior insurance business.

Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-Wilton, said, Weve known theyve been troubled for a long time. But at the time (GE announced its move to Massachusetts), they had a lot of very specific things to say about Connecticut, and I guess they certainly didnt feel at the time that Connecticut was a propitious environment for them.

Lavielle said of GEs departure from Connecticut, Im not sure what that says about (former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy), because clearly he was not successful in finding any way to entice them to stay here. ... Obviously, their business hasnt gotten any better.

Immelts successor, John Flannery, would last only a year, with GEs board hiring the Danaher Corp. veteran Culp, as the first outsider CEO in GE history, to help the company find a path to growth in its industrial roots.

Culp has moved to shed digital, health technology and other GE areas of focus that Immelt had pursued, while considering a sale of its share of the Baker Hughes oil and gas infrastructure business, and scrutinizing the $13 billion acquisition of Alstoms energy businesses that Immelt had made a centerpiece of his tenure.

This month, the French government fined GE $57 million for filling just 25 of the 1,000 jobs it had promised to create there in exchange for the 2015 approval of the Alstom purchase, through which GE picked up Alstom operations in the United States as well, including the Hartford area.

I dont think I would ever say, even on my last day here, that we have found all the skeletons, right? Culp said in a conference call two weeks ago with investment analysts. With a lot of fresh eyes  and its not my fresh eyes, weve got a new (general counsel), weve got a new controller ... were going to be as open and transparent as we possibly can, when we find things.

General Electric added 2,000 U.S. employees last year to give it 106,000 in all, its first increase since 2014 when it exited the year with 136,000 employees. In Norwalk, the company has consistently reported a workforce of about 1,400 people.

GEs original incentives from Boston and Massachusetts totaled more than $150 million, not including incentives executives received as assistance to purchase homes in moving there from Connecticut and other locations.

In the months after Immelt reached the deal, Malloy maintained that the cost to Connecticut would have been too high to convince GE to stay put. Malloys newly installed successor, Gov. Ned Lamont, has indicated he does not plan to rely on big incentive packages to convince companies to grow in Connecticut.

 Dan Haar, Emilie Munson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

 Corrected from an earlier version for a typo in the spelling of United States.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulmanThe Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) reported oil production in Texas totaled a record 1.54 billion barrels (bbl) in 2018 which surpassed a previous record of 1.28 billion bbl set in 1973.

If Texas were a country it would be the fourth largest oil producer after the USA, Saudi Arabia and Russia. Texas passed Iraq and Iran in oil production.

There has been some talk about the US stopping oil and gas production. If such an energy policy were attempted, it is clear that Texas would secede from the USA to continue producing oil and gas.

The second largest producer of oil in 2018 was North Dakota (443 million bbl), followed by New Mexico (226 million bbl), Oklahoma (187 million bbl), and Alaska (175 million bbl). Total natural gas production in Texas was 8.8 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in 2018, compared to 8 Tcf produced in the previous year. The second largest producer of natural gas last year was Pennsylvania (6.1 Tcf), followed by Alaska (3.2 Tcf), Louisiana (2.7 Tcf) and Oklahoma (2.3 Tcf).

The U.S. oil and gas industry employed 880,681 professionals in 2018, an increase of 45,354 jobs compared to 2017. The industry paid a national annual wage averaging $112,712 last year, more than double average private sector wages. Payroll in the U.S. oil and gas industry totaled $99 billion in 2018, an increase of 6 percent from the previous year. Additionally, total U.S. goods and services purchased in 2018 by the oil and gas industry exceeded $530 billion.

In 2018, Texas led the country in oil and gas industry employment with a total of 352,371 jobs, an increase of 26,706 jobs from 2017 numbers.

The oil and gas independent producers drive the energy economy directly benefiting Texas and its residents. Between 2010  2018, total state taxes and state royalty payments paid by the oil and gas industry in Texas exceeded $100 billion. These funds have continued to support all aspects of the state economy, including schools and education, infrastructure investment, water conservation programs and first responders, to name a few. Additionally, Texas is home to approximately 2.5 million mineral owners, of the 12.5 million mineral owners in the U.S., with oil and gas royalties generating billions of dollars for Texas families last year.

The 2019 State of Energy Report is at this link.TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2019 /CNW/ - BMO Capital Markets today announced that it has hired the Honourable Scott Brison as Vice-Chair, Investment & Corporate Banking. In this role, Mr. Brison's primary responsibilities will include senior client coverage and business development. He will be based in Toronto and report to Peter Myers, Global Head of Investment & Corporate Banking.

"Scott's tenure in the Canadian government, combined with his deep knowledge of global economic issues and his experience in the private sector as an entrepreneur and investment banker, make him a valued addition to our firm," said Mr. Myers. "We welcome him to BMO Capital Markets."

Mr. Brison was elected to Canada's House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Kings - Hants (Nova Scotia) in seven general elections and has more than 20 years of government experience. He was first elected to Parliament in June 1997 and has held numerous key roles, including serving as the President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government from 2015 to 2019, as Minister of Public Works and Government Services from 2004 to 2006 and as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister (Canada-U.S.) from 2003 to 2004. Among other achievements, he helped lead regulatory competitiveness reform, including deepening cooperation with the U.S. through the Regulatory Cooperation Council.

Mr. Brison has been a member of the Trilateral Commission and was named by the World Economic Forum as one of its "Young Global Leaders". In 2010, he was awarded the Order of San Carlos by the President of Colombia in recognition of his contributions to the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

About BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets is a leading, full-service North American-based financial services provider offering corporate, institutional and government clients access to a complete range of products and services including equity and debt underwriting, corporate lending and project financing, mergers and acquisitions advisory services, securitization, treasury management, market risk management, debt and equity research and institutional sales and trading. With approximately 2,700 professionals in 33 locations around the world, including 19 offices in North America, BMO Capital Markets works proactively with clients to provide innovative and integrated financial solutions.

BMO Capital Markets is a member of BMO Financial Group (NYSE,TSX: BMO) one of the largest diversified financial services providers in North America with $774 billion total assets as of October 31, 2018.

SOURCE BMO Financial Group

For further information: Media Contacts: Amanda Robinson, Toronto, [email protected], (416) 867-3996Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report writes, "So far, the 34 Senate contests on the ballot in 2020 feature 12 Democratic incumbents and 20 Republican incumbents: GOP U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts of Kansas and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee have announced that they will not seek reelection" She adds, "Only one incumbent - GOP U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas - has a war chest over $5 million."

And it is very possible Cornyn might draw a very competitive challenger, one with 100 percent name recognition in the state. According to Politico, "Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer met with former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke last week to discuss a possible 2020 Senate campaign against GOP Sen. John Cornyn, according to a source familiar with the meeting." And if O'Rourke doesn't do it, another presidential aspirant, former Housing and Urban Development secretary and San Antonio mayor Julian Castro, could always shift races. Cornyn certainly learned from the 2018 Senate race between O'Rourke and Sen. Ted Cruz that the margin between a Republican and a Democratic Senate victory is much narrower than previously believed.

Meanwhile, there are a batch of other Senate pickup opportunities for Democrats. The most vulnerable Republicans would be Susan Collins of Maine, who is under renewed heat for her support for Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh and the misbegotten notion that he would defend Roe v. Wade; Cory Gardner of Colorado, which has become a reliably blue state in presidential years; and Martha McSally of Arizona, who lost her Senate race in 2018 and was then appointed to the late John McCain's seat after John Kyl had briefly stepped in.

And speaking of Arizona, McSally got some bad news this week when Mark Kelly, the husband of gun-violence victim and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords announced that he will run.

Also, don't forget Georgia, where the Democratic Party's new rock star, Stacey Abrams, may challenge Sen. David Perdue, a dependable Trump apologist whose claim to fame is his effort to reduce legal immigration. Throw in Sen. Thom Tillis, N.C. - who will be running in a presidential swing state that was trending blue before Democrats' 2016 debacle - and you can easily get to half a dozen possible Democratic pickups. The best shot for Republicans to pick off a Democratic seat is in Alabama but, beyond that, there are no hot prospects.

And all that is before Republicans get to the overarching problem: President Donald Trump at the top of the ticket. With the House in Democratic hands, the job of circling the wagons around Trump (including the rubber-stamping of his nominees) has fallen to the Senate. While Senate incumbents usually enjoy a reputation distinct from the president of their party, in this case their sycophancy comes with a price: Their political future is now inextricably bound with Trump's.

If Trump is polling around 40 percent, the final report from special counsel Robert Mueller is damning, and the economy, as many experts predict, has cooled off, you do wonder whether Republican senators might be more inclined to turn on the president, pressuring him to step down (with the implicit threat of impeachment proceedings hanging over them). That's getting ahead of things, however.

Presently, the concern for Senate Republicans should be: What, other than the shutdown, the attempt to end the Affordable Care Act and passage of the unpopular tax cut can they claim to have accomplished? Judges, I suppose. But that alone is unlikely to save them if Democrats have the wind at their backs.

- - - Rubin writes reported opinion for The Washington Post.Congress lopsidedly approved a border security compromise Thursday that would avert a second painful government shutdown, but a new confrontation was ignited  this time over President Donald Trump's plan to bypass lawmakers and declare a national emergency to siphon billions from other federal coffers for his wall on the Mexican boundary.



Money in the bill for border barriers, about $1.4 billion, is far below the $5.7 billion Trump insisted he needed to build a wall along the Mexican boundary and would finance just a quarter of the 200-plus miles he wanted. The White House said he'd sign the legislation but act on his own to get the rest, a move that prompted immediate condemnation from Democrats and threats of lawsuits from states and others who might lose federal money or said Trump was abusing his authority.

The uproar over what Trump would do next cast an uncertain shadow over what had been a rare display of bipartisanship in Congress to address the grinding battle between the White House and lawmakers over border security.

The Senate passed the legislation 83-16, with both parties solidly on board. The House followed with a 300-128 tally, with Trump's signature planned Friday.

Both margins were above the two-thirds majorities needed to override presidential vetoes, though one wasn't expected and lawmakers sometime back a president of the same party in such battles.

Lawmakers exuded relief that the agreement had averted a fresh closure of federal agencies just three weeks after a record-setting 35-day partial shutdown that drew an unambiguous thumbs-down from the public. But in announcing that Trump would sign the accord, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also said he'd take "other executive action, including a national emergency,"

In an unusual joint statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said such a declaration would be "a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract" from Trump's failure to force Mexico to pay for the wall, as he's promised for years.

Pelosi and Schumer also said "Congress will defend our constitutional authorities." They declined to say whether that meant lawsuits or votes on resolutions to prevent Trump from unilaterally shifting money to wall-building, with aides saying they would wait to see what he does.

Democratic state attorneys general said they would consider legal action to block Trump. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello told the president on Twitter "we'll see you in court" if he makes the declaration.

Despite widespread opposition in Congress to proclaiming an emergency, including by some Republicans, Trump is under pressure to act unilaterally to soothe his conservative base and avoid looking like he's surrendered in his wall battle.

The abrupt announcement of Trump's plans came late in an afternoon of rumblings that the volatile president  who'd strongly hinted he'd sign the agreement but never definitively  was shifting toward rejecting it. That would have infused fresh chaos into a fight both parties are desperate to leave behind, a thought that drove some lawmakers to seek heavenly help.

"Let's all pray that the president will have wisdom to sign the bill so the government doesn't shut down," Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said after a chaplain opened Thursday's Senate session.

Moments before Sanders spoke at the White House, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took to the Senate floor to announce Trump's decisions to sign the bill and declare an emergency.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters there were two hours of phone calls between McConnell and the White House before there were assurances that Trump would sign. In a surprising development, McConnell said he would support Trump's emergency declaration, a turnabout for the Kentucky Republican, who like many lawmakers had opposed such action.

Democrats say there is no crisis at the border and Trump is merely sidestepping Congress. And some Republicans warn that future Democratic presidents could use his precedent to force spending on their own priorities such as gun control. GOP critics included Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who said emergency declarations are for "major natural disasters or catastrophic events" and said its use would be of "dubious constitutionality."

White House aides and congressional Republicans have said that besides an emergency, Trump might assert other authorities that could conceivably put him within reach of billions of dollars. The money could come from funds targeted for military construction, disaster relief and counterdrug efforts.

Congressional aides say there is $21 billion in military construction money that could potentially be used by Trump if he declares a national emergency. But according to the law the money has to be used in support of U.S. armed forces, they say.

The Defense Department declined to provide details on available money.

With many of the Democrats' liberal base voters adamantly against Trump's aggressive attempts to curb immigration, four declared presidential hopefuls opposed the bill in the Senate: Cory Booker of New Jersey, New York's Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kamala Harris of California. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota voted for it, as did Vermont independent Bernie Sanders, who is expected to join the field soon.

Notably, the word "wall," the heart of many a chant at Trump campaign events and his rallies as president, is absent from the compromise's 1,768-page legislative and descriptive language. "Barriers" and "fencing" are the nouns of choice, a victory for Democrats eager to deny Trump even a rhetorical victory.

The agreement, which took bargainers three weeks to strike, would also squeeze funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in an attempt to pressure the agency to detain fewer immigrants. To the dismay of Democrats, however, it would still leave an agency many of them consider abusive holding thousands more immigrants than last year.

Provisions like that were prompting some of the most liberal Democrats to vote "no." Four progressive freshmen, including Rep. Alexandria Octavio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said they were opposing the agreement to show "a rejection of the hateful policies, priorities, and rhetoric of the Trump Administration."

The measure contains money for improved surveillance equipment, more customs agents and humanitarian aid for detained immigrants. The overall bill also provides $330 billion to finance dozens of federal programs for the rest of the year, one-fourth of federal agency budgets.

Trump sparked the last shutdown before Christmas after Democrats snubbed his $5.7 billion demand for the wall. The closure denied paychecks to 800,000 federal workers, hurt contractors and people reliant on government services and was loathed by the public.

With polls showing the public blamed him and GOP lawmakers, Trump folded on Jan. 25 without getting any of the wall funds. His capitulation was a political fiasco for Republicans and handed Pelosi a victory less than a month after Democrats took over the House and confronted Trump with a formidable rival for power.

Trump's descriptions of the wall have fluctuated, at times saying it would cover 1,000 miles of the 2,000-mile boundary. Previous administrations constructed over 650 miles of barriers.

Associated Press Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro and reporters Padmananda Rama, Lolita Baldor and Matthew Daly contributed.Catalan nationalism is the cause that keeps dividing Spain as the country faces its third election in less than four years.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is set to call a snap vote on Friday after parliament exposed the dwindling authority of his minority government by rejecting his budget plan in a vote Wenesday. Talks with Catalan independence parties broke down last week, leaving him short of the support he needed to pass his spending plan for 2019.

Tensions in Catalonia have been simmering ever since separatist groups attempted to engineer a split from Spain at the end of 2017 in defiance of the constitution. As Sanchez weighs his options for calling elections, he will be conscious how the regional conflict continues to influence the national political scene in ways he may find hard to predict.

"The Catalan crisis is an open issue," Ignacio Jurado, an analyst with political risk consulting firm Quantio in Madrid, said. "And it's a very fruitful issue for the right."

Since taking office last June, Sanchez has made making peace with Catalan nationalists a cornerstone of his domestic policy, claiming Spain will emerge stronger from efforts to rebuild relations with the region following the conflicts of 2017.

Even so, the tactic has always been tinged with pragmatism: with just 84 deputies in the 350-seat chamber, his Socialist government was always going to need the votes of Catalan separatist parties to pass key legislation.

Sanchez had snatched power last year by persuading a loose coalition that included the separatists to oust his predecessor Mariano Rajoy in a no-confidence vote following a string of graft revelations. Still, the secession issue reared its head again this week as a trial of Catalan politicians accused of rebellion against Spain during 2017's bid for independence got underway in Madrid.

Sanchez's overtures to Catalonia have enraged many Spaniards who believe the Catalans should be punished, not wooed.

A proposal last week by Sanchez's administration to have a mediator help guide conversations between the government and Catalan officials triggered a furious backlash from opposition parties and opened up rifts within the Socialist party.

Government officials said they were putting talks with Catalan leaders on hold but opposition leaders sought to harness the rage of conservative Spain by holding a rally in Madrid on Sunday in favor of national unity. A widely-circulated photo from the event showed the leaders of the People's Party, Ciudadanos and Vox standing together, in what could have been a dress rehearsal for Spain's next government.

The fact that the government was unable to get its budget approved is proof that there was no secret pact with Catalan nationalists, Budget Minister Maria Jesus Montero said on Thursday.

"The vote highlighted the lies that had been said that there had been concessions, blackmail, secret pacts with the independence parties," Montero said.

Without a budget, the government can only continue to operate for a short time, Montero said. It's not a question of if Sanchez will curtail his term by calling an early vote but when in 2019 those elections will take place, she said.

"On Friday we will know the date of the elections," Montero said.

Sanchez has already had a taste of how powerful sentiment can be in relation to the Catalan issue. After an election held in December, the Socialists lost control of Andalusia for the first time in 36 years as fury at Catalan independence campaign helped spur support for Vox, an emerging party that's fast attracting conservative voters.

During the budget debate on Tuesday and Wednesday in Madrid, the focus often shifted from the details of Sanchez's spending plan to a debate about how he has handled Catalan leaders' demands for an independence referendum. "The budget played an irrelevant role," Jurado said. The debate was "a covert no confidence vote," he said.

There's no law that forces Sanchez to call elections because he doesn't have a budget. In theory, he could try to extend the existing spending plan approved in the final days of Mariano Rajoy's government and see out his term. But Pablo Simon, a Madrid-based professor of Political Science at Carlos III University, thinks he will try to use the defeat to press home the idea that extremism on both sides of the nationalist debate is harming the country's economy.

"The election call has to be imminent, so he can use the budget narrative to insist that he gave up nothing to separatists, but has tried to maintain a moderate stand between two nationalisms, the Spanish and the Catalan," Simon said in a phone interview. "That's the only card he can play, so the least worst scenario is to call elections now."Wrapping up a three-month investigation, Florida authorities said Tuesday that a 40-year-old man who killed two people and injured five others in a yoga studio was a disturbed individual with a hatred towards women.

Tallahassee police said after conducting dozens of interviews and reviewing thousands of pages of documents they found no evidence that Scott Paul Beierle targeted anyone specifically in the frenzied shooting that happened last November.

But the investigation found that Beierle  who police said had a pattern of sexual misconduct stretching back to grade school  planned the attack in advance and was expecting to die once it was over. Authorities also said he had a history of accessing yoga-related pornography. Materials authored by him included themes of rape, torture and murder. A website he maintained prompted one woman to alert the FBI about his website months before the shooting.

Shortly before sunset, Beierle posed as a customer attending a yoga class in an upscale shopping center located in Tallahassees trendy midtown area. Once in the class, he took a gun out of a bag he brought with him and began shooting. A 61-year-old faculty member at Florida State University and a 21-year-old FSU student from Georgia were killed after he shot them from behind. Four others were shot and another was pistol-whipped. Beierle, who had previously attended FSU but had moved to central Florida, then killed himself.

Scott Beierle was a disturbed individual who harbored hatred towards women, said Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo. Although there was no specific target at the yoga studio on the night of November 2, Scott Beierles lifetime of misogynistic attitudes caused him to attack a familiar community where he had been arrested several times for his previous violent action towards women.

In the years leading up to the attack, Beierle had been kicked out of the military, arrested and fired from a job as a substitute teacher. Police said during his time in the U.S. Army he was investigated for inappropriate contact with female soldiers. He was honorably discharged in 2010 for unacceptable conduct. In 2012, he was arrested twice for grabbing women on FSUs campus.

He was fired from a job with Leon County schools because he sought pornographic material while he worked as a teacher. He was fired in 2018 from Volusia County schools because he touched a female student inappropriately.

Beierle was a military veteran with degrees from Binghamton University and Florida State University. Raised in Vestal, New York, he appeared to have made videos detailing his hatred of everything from the Affordable Care Act to girls whod allegedly mistreated him in middle school. The videos were removed from YouTube after the shooting.

Police did say that the investigation showed the wife of a friend of Beierle submitted a tip about him to the FBI in August 2018 after seeing the content of his website. But DeLeo said that the FBI determined the tip was non actionable.

Nearly three weeks before the shooting, Beierle booked his hotel room. Then on Halloween, he bought a yoga mat at a Walmart in central Florida before driving that day to Tallahassee. Two days later, surveillance video showed he left the hotel wearing a fanny pack and carrying a black bag. DeLeo said it was obvious that he had no plans to return because Beierle left behind his two hotel keys as well as files and records in the room.

He had nearly 100 rounds, but during the attack one of the victims struck him with a vacuum cleaner. During the struggle, Beierles gun malfunctioned and people were able to escape. As one injured victim pretended to be dead on the floor, she told police she heard him say something before hearing a single gunshot. She looked up and saw him laying on top of one the people he killed.

This could have been even worse than it was, DeLeo said.Days after a woman from Mansfield, Ohio was abducted by the father of her child and both were killed after a high-speed chase ended in gunfire in Oldham County, Kentucky, the man who called 911 to help her has spoken out.

He said he is still reflecting on how he reacted at a gas station in Gallatin County, where he was just stopping for coffee, and wonders if he could've done something differently.

The short moment at the Valero gas station is a deeply emotional one for him.

He knew Skylar Williams needed help, and he did what he could to keep everyone safe.

"I'll remember that name for probably the rest of my life," Todd Simpson said.

Simpson is talking about Williams, a woman he saw walk into the gas station Monday, holding hands with Ty'rell Pounds.

"When they walked in, that girl, Skylar Williams, looked me right in the face and said 'Help me.' I mean, she didn't say it out loud, she just, you know, mouthed it, 'Help me,'" Simpson said.

He said he walked outside to get help.

"I grabbed my gun and my phone, called 911. I told them what happened. I said, 'I need a police officer here now,'" Simpson said.

While on the line with 911, Pounds and Williams came outside, according to Simpson.

He said he told Pounds to stop.

Simpson said the pair got into a dark-colored Dodge Caravan we've learned was a stolen rental with Quebec tags, and Pounds sped off onto southbound I-71.

Then, a chase ensued into Oldham County, with Kentucky State Police and other agencies eventually stopping the van with a PIT maneuver at the Crestwood entrance ramp.

KSP said Pounds was wearing a bulletproof vest and was armed.

They also said he shot Williams, who was pronounced dead at the University of Louisville Hospital.

A Kentucky State trooper shot and killed Pounds.

"I just keep seeing that girl's face telling me to help her. I think I did the best I could, but I just wish I could have done something better," Simpson said.

KSP Commissioner Rick Sanders commended Simpson's quick action at a news conference Wednesday.

"When you're confronted with someone with a weapon, what we tell people to do is call the police, so, I think they responded appropriately and I really appreciate them calling us to notify us," Sanders said.

WLWT learned there was an ongoing custody battle between Pounds and Williams over their child.

Investigators said Pounds abducted Williams at the Ohio State University Mansfield campus, where she was a student.

Now, Simpson can't help but think of Williams' family.

"I'm sorry I couldn't have done more. I don't know what to say. I can't imagine how they feel," he said.

Simpson has children himself, so this situation in particular tugs at his heart. He said he can't imagine losing his children.

Kentucky State Police said Trooper Joey Brown, a 5-year veteran who shot Pounds, is on administrative leave while an investigation is underway.

KSP describes Brown as an exemplary officer and said he has no disciplinary issues in his file.The formidable forces of government transparency and individual privacy are ready to rumble.

The battleground this time is under the state Capitol dome in Hartford and the outcome stands to affect nearly every adult in Connecticut.

On the one side, we have House Bill 5507. (Stick with me; this isnt dry. Im mentioning the bill number so you can track it  and because journalists like precise details.) Its a bipartisan bill, which usually is a good thing.

State Rep. Fred Camillo, a Republican from Greenwich, and state Rep. Brenda Kupchick, a Democrat from Fairfield, introduced it; co-sponsors are Republican state Rep. Terrie Wood, of Darien; Democratic state Reps. Cristin McCarthy Vahey, of Fairfield, and Josh Elliott, of Hamden. The bill is before the Joint Committee on Government Administration and Elections.

Its purpose is to limit disclosure of certain voter registration data to candidates, candidate committees and political committees only and for noncommercial purposes only, and to require that newly admitted electors be notified of such disclosure.

The bill would block out the registered voters birth date and year from registration lists; Social Security and drivers license numbers already are withheld.

Also, it would limit sale of the lists to only candidates or political committees or parties. I was as surprised as you might be to learn that Connecticut sells its voter registration list  and for a paltry $300. But more about that in minute; right now lets talk about privacy.

The desire to keep personal information private is driving the move. CTVoterPrivacy.org takes credit for getting the bill sponsored and urges voters to contact GAE Committee members and tell them Connecticut voters do not want their personal data sold or made public.

The problem  the rumble  is that for the sake of election integrity this information must remain public, and accessible.

In this century, complete privacy is a fallacy. People readily give up their information and preferences all the time, knowingly or not.

There are a number of ways people put their private information in jeopardy through social media, Michael Savino, president of the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information, told me in a phone call. If you think this bill is going to protect your data, youre mistaken.

Dana Whalen, former news director of WTIC-AM1080, told an illuminating anecdote at the January meeting of the CCFOI, which I attended.

A guy was outraged that a pornographic ad popped up while he was reading Colin McEnroes column online. (A Hartford Courant columnist at the time, McEnroe now writes for Hearst Connecticut newspapers.) How could he let that happen? Well, turns out pop-ups are individualized through recent sites visited by the reader!

Its a trade-off. One of my favorite editorial cartoons from 2018 depicts Facebook as a bandit saying Gimme me your personal data! and the victim replies OK ... as long as I can post funny cat videos.

Privacy withered in the internet age. And theres no going back.

Everything is public now, potentially: ones thoughts, ones photos, ones movements, ones purchases, Oliver Sacks wrote in an essay that appeared in the Feb. 11 issue of The New Yorker. There is no privacy and apparently little desire for it in the world devoted to non-stop use of social media.

This is not to say that concerns over identity theft are unfounded. But removing public information is not the answer.

A better approach was proposed by Secretary of the State Denise Merrill last week  to create a cybersecurity position for the technical review, testing or research associated with the use of voting systems and development of standards to protect the integrity of the voting process.

Freedom of Information advocates work year after year to keep information public for the sake of government transparency. This protects, rather than harms.

Birth dates are a key component of voter information that protects against voter fraud, Colleen Murphy, executive director of the state Freedom of Information Commission, said in reply to my questions. Dates of birth are key to verifying whether people are eligible to vote.

Limiting who can obtain voter registration lists also is counter to government oversight.

The lists are valuable tools for the public (and journalists) to provide a check on the elections officials who are responsible for ensuring voter lists are accurate, up-to-date, Murphy said. Many recent elections, such as the governors race in Georgia, raised grave concerns about how decisions were made regarding who was eligible to vote, which names were removed from the voter list, etc.

In Connecticut, a 2014 investigation by Connecticut Post journalists into the voting records of then-state Rep. Christina Ayala led to the state attorneys office charging her with election fraud. Savino said that wouldnt have happened without access to voting records. More recently, instances of voters getting the wrong ballots have arisen.

To limit voter registration lists to only political purposes blindfolds transparency.

Initially, I thought charging $300 for the list was crass. But the FOI experts changed my mind.

The price is perhaps negotiable, Murphy said, but generally, if you believe that information is public, it ought to be available at a price that is reasonable (not excessively high).

Last year, Maine was charging $30,000 for a copy of their voters list; Alabama charged by name, Merrill has said. There is no uniformity to how states handle the information  nine restricted lists to only political or election use; at least 11 blocked the lists from the general public.

Not Connecticut. Weve been a leader in Freedom of Information since the Watergate era. For Democracys sake, we should stay that way.

Jacqueline Smith is a Hearst Connecticut Media Group columnist and editorial page editor of The News-Times in Danbury and The Norwalk Hour. Email her at jsmith@hearstmediact.com.NEW FAIRFIELD  The Board of Selectmen will discuss its version of the 2019-20 budget on Thursday evening.

The budget proposal focuses on supporting school safety and repairs to bridge and drainage systems, First Selectman Pat Del Monaco said.

Were working around those priorities...and trying to put together a fiscally responsible budget, so that we are positioned to make improvements that we need to make, she said.

The 2018-19 town budget is $12.1 million, which was a $1.2 million, or 11.1 percent, increase in spending from the previous year.

Over the course of 12 workshops, departments heads presented their budget requests to the Board of Selectmen for review.

The department heads use their experience, their expertise and their knowledge of any upcoming or unusual circumstances to present their budgets, Del Monaco said.

Del Monaco said she hopes the board will vote on the proposal at the 7:30 p.m. Thursday meeting in the community room or at the following selectmen meeting, at the latest.

A joint meeting between the selectmen, finance and education boards will be held March 2, where the school budget will also be discussed.

The education board has proposed a $43.4 million budget, a 1.44 percent increase from 2018-19s spending plan.

I believe very strongly as a superintendent we want to provide the best opportunity, the best educational opportunity, for our students, Superintendent Pat Cosentino said at a recent forum on the budget. But you also have to be fiscally responsible to the taxpayer.

About 60 percent of the school budget is for payroll, so a chunk of the spending hike is for increases to salaries and benefits.

Rising fuel and special education costs, as well as the need to upgrade technology infrastructure, are other factors in the proposed increase.DANBURY  Public school officials will review the districts programs for supporting students struggling with mental health issues and arrange suicide prevention forums for parents after the death of a city teenager last weekend.

Although 16-year-old Hailey Nailor was not a full-time student at Danbury High School, news of her death on Saturday afternoon and reactions from the community quickly spread on social media.

School officials now plan to review the districts programs in light of the response and are arranging new presentations for parents about suicide prevention and mental health for their children, Superintendent Sal Pascarella said.

Our job has been to support and comfort our youngsters and our faculty and communicate with the family to do what we can to assist, Pascarella told members of the school board Wednesday night. There may be a lot of questions out there, but our work has been and will continue to be with helping youngsters and staff who have been impacted.

Hopefully, well be able to move the district forward, he continued. Well be looking at all of our programs to see what we can do and not do and how we can keep supporting and making sure we have the safest environment possible.

Danbury Police have concluded that Nailor took her own life outside the Danbury Fair mall but are still investigating the circumstances surrounding her death, including a possible social media influence.

There are some other things going on with local authorities and obviously were cooperating, Pascarella said.

Before Nailors death, she posted a video on social media announcing her intent to harm herself. Insensitive remarks from another teen in response to Nailors post led to speculation about whether bullying played a role in her death.

Should our investigation reveal a criminal aspect, we will inform the public at an appropriate time, Detective Sgt. Gary Guertin has said.

Kevin Nailor, Haileys father and a special education teacher, has said he does not believe bullying played a major role in his daughters death and said she struggled with mental illness for several years.

Suicide prevention lifeline If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide or needs emotional support, help is available 24/7 through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The lifeline is free, confidential and available any time by calling 1-800-273-8255 or by visiting www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org. See More Collapse

Treatment for Nailors anxiety, mood disorder and depression sent her through a series of short- and long-term programs and hospital stays that have largely kept her out of traditional school for the past two years, Kevin Nailor said.

But her death and the intense social media response that followed have deeply affected students at Danbury High, where administrators brought in extra counselors and staff to talk with teens who wanted help on Monday.

Pascarella was among the leaders who worked to cancel a planned vigil for Nailor this weekend at the site of her death, which child advocates and mental health professionals strongly recommended against for the safety of other, vulnerable students.

Whether or not bullying was a factor to Nailors death, the incident has shed light on the need to address bullying and mental health with students who are trying to understand what happened, school board chairman Pat Johnston said.

This is always something were thinking about, he said. Right now, we have to respect this grieving family and take care of our students, but we obviously do want to look again at these issues in our schools and community.

Those ideas and plans will follow this spring, either in formal board discussions about policy, new forums directly with students and parents or both, leaders agreed.

Its all so fresh that right now we just have to take care of our youngsters, Pascarella said.

zach.murdock

@hearstmediact.comA new cafe called Fork in The Road Market is seeking to open in Ridgefield.

The new business plans to move into the 3 Danbury Road space occupied by the Cucumber and Chamomile tea shop until it shut down in September. The Ridgefield Press reports the town's health department needs to grant approval before the cafe can set up shop, while the town's Architectural Advisory Committee has already granted approval for a freestanding sign that would highlight its presence. Flash

A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that Paul Manafort, U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, breached his plea agreement by intentionally lying to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the FBI and the grand jury.

Manafort "intentionally made multiple false statements" concerning matters related to Mueller's probe into the alleged Russia meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections, said Judge Amy Berman Jackson in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

At a closed-door hearing, the judge said there was a "preponderance" of evidence that Manafort lied on three different topics, including his communications with his former business partner Konstantin Kilimnik, the codefendant who the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence, according to local media reports.

Kilimnik, who lives in Russia, was charged alongside Manafort with conspiracy and obstruction of justice. He has yet to appear in a U.S. court to face the charges.

The ruling voids the federal government's obligations under Manafort's plea deal to offer him leniency in exchange for his cooperation in the Mueller probe. It also means that Manafort will not be credited for his cooperation with prosecutors.

The charges against Manafort largely stem from his time working for a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine years before the 2016 U.S. elections. They do not directly address any alleged collusion between Trump associates or officials and the Russian government, which the Mueller team has been investigating since May 2017.

Trump has repeatedly attacked the Mueller probe as a "rigged witch hunt."

Manafort, aged 69, was a veteran Republican lobbyist. He joined Trump's campaign team in March 2016 and spent three months as Trump's campaign chairman until mid-August of that year. He was convicted in a Virginia federal court trial on charges of tax and bank fraud last year and pleaded guilty in Washington D.C. on others.

Manafort was scheduled to be sentenced in Washington D.C. on March 13. Local media said he was also awaiting a sentencing date in Virginia.

Mueller's team has so far indicted or gotten guilty pleas from 34 people, including six former Trump associates and more than two dozen Russian nationals, as well as three Russian entities.

Trump's eldest son Donald Trump Jr., his son-in-law Jared Kushner, longtime spokeswoman Hope Hicks and former campaign adviser Roger Stone are among those investigated and who have had their interview transcript documented during Mueller's probe.Caracas:

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido Wednesday announced the appointment of a new board for Citgo, the US-based arm of state oil firm PDVSA that until recently was a major source of revenue for President Nicolas Maduros embattled regime. Guaidowho has been recognized as acting president by more than 50 countries and also heads the opposition-controlled National Assembly legislature, which appointed the new board  is locked in a battle with Maduro for control of the crisis-hit country.

The United States, which is leading the push to topple Maduro, has sanctioned key regime financial assets including the Citgo subsidiary, and on Wednesday President Donald Trump once more refused to rule out military action against the leftist leader.

Announcing the new six-member board on Twitter, Guaido said it will be made up of qualified Venezuelans, who are free of corruption and without any partisan affiliation. With this decision, we are not only protecting our assets, we are avoiding the ongoing destruction and loss of the business, said Guaido, who declared himself interim president after incumbent Maduro announced victory in polls the opposition said were rigged.

Venezuela at one point derived 96 per cent of its hard currency revenues from oil exports, and the US was the biggest cash customer, buying half a million barrels per day.

In announcing the latest raft of sanctions last month, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Citgo can continue to operate, but its earnings must be deposited into a blocked account in the United States, out of reach of Maduros regime.

As the National Assembly moved to replace Citgos leadership, Trump was hosting Colombias President Ivan Duque for talks on the crisis gripping its Latin American neighbour.

Declaring himself sad about the turmoil in the oil-rich nation, Trump demanded that Maduro unblock US aid shipments to the country, sitting on the Colombian side of the border.

Youll see, Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if thousands of US troops could deploy.

Duque, whose country has taken in large numbers of Venezuelan refugees, also lambasted Maduro, saying that obstructing the access of humanitarian aid is a crime against humanity.

The US aid has become the latest flashpoint in the international campaign to oust Maduro, whose socialist government is bolstered by the military and backed by Russia and China.

Much of Venezuelas population is in desperate need, lacking even basics like food and medicine. But Maduro accuses the United States of using the blocked aid shipments as a pretext for an invasion.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

The Taliban on Wednesday said that its negotiators would meet US envoys for talks this month in Islamabad, and also sit down with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to discuss Afghanistan. This comes after America's chief negotiator tours the globe shoring up support for a peace process to end its longest war. However, Washington has not confirmed the meeting plans. Zalmay Khalilzad, a former ambassador to Afghanistan, held extensive talks with the militants last month in Qatar, where the Taliban have an office. More talks are slated for later in February. Separate meetings would be held first on February 18 in Islamabad by the formal invitation of the government of Pakistan," read a statement issued by Taliban on Wednesday.



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Talks in Doha would follow a week later on February 25, the statement said.

Khalilzad is heading a large delegation on a tour of Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Qatar, Afghanistan and Pakistan to boost the peace process and bring all Afghan parties to the table. He has expressed cautious hope for a deal before Afghan presidential elections slated for July

President Ashraf Ghani who has expressed frustration at being side-lined from recent talks -- flew to Munich on Wednesday to attend an international security conference, his office said.

The Taliban also announced a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad for "comprehensive discussions" about bilateral affairs with Afghanistan.

News reports in Pakistan last month had suggested Islamabad was open to hosting the next round of talks with the insurgents.

In January, as he travelled the region building support for the peace process, Khalilzad met Khan in Pakistan -- one of just three countries that recognised the Taliban regime before their ousting by US-led forces in 2001.

Pakistan's foreign ministry said in December that President Donald Trump, who is pushing to end the 17-year war in Afghanistan, wrote to Khan seeking Islamabad's support for peace efforts.



ALSO READ | India-US defence sales at all time high,says Pentagon

Ties between Washington and Islamabad have soured recently.

US officials have repeatedly accusing Pakistan of turning a blind eye to, or even collaborating with, the Afghan Taliban, which launch attacks in Afghanistan from alleged havens along the border between the two countries.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia will sign at least eight MoUs during Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's visit to the country, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Wednesday. The Prince is scheduled to arrive on in Pakistan on Saturday on a two-day trip. "We hope that at least eight MoUs will be signed during the high-powered visit. Saudi Arabia is our close and trustworthy friend and the relations with the visit of Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman will be improved further, he said. He said that back-to-back visits of Prime Minister Imran Khan to Saudi Arabia also helped to improve the bilateral relations.



ALSO READ | Pakistan to host US-Taliban talks on February 18



Qureshi addressing media in Islamabad said that the two sides had done proper homework ahead of the visit, which will probably be the biggest trip by a Saudi royal, in terms of composition and number of the entourage, in the history of relations between the two countries.

Earlier, personal amenities of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reached Islamabad. The crown prince's belongings, including his exercise equipment and furniture, reached Islamabad in five trucks, the Dawn News reported quoting Saudi Embassy sources.



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.



ALSO READ | India-US defence sales at all time high,says Pentagon

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.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.The Hague:

An international court Wednesday ruled Iran can proceed with a bid to unfreeze assets in the United States, rejecting Washington's claims the case must be halted because of Tehran's alleged support for international terrorism. Washington had argued that Iran's "unclean hands" - a reference to Tehran's suspected backing of terror groups -- should disqualify its lawsuit to recover USD 2 billion in assets frozen by the US Supreme Court in 2016.

But the International Court of Justice in The Hague threw out the US challenges, and said that it had the right to hold full hearings at a later date as to whether Tehran will get the money back. Chief judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said the UN's top court "unanimously rejects the preliminary objections to admissibility raised by the United States of America".

The court also "finds that it has jurisdiction" in the case, Yusuf said at the end of an hour-long reading of the decision. Tehran said the United States had illegally seized Iranian financial assets and those of Iranian companies -- and with Iran's clerical regime facing economic difficulties after sanctions and a fall in its currency resolving the case remains crucial.

The US Supreme Court had said Iran must give the cash to survivors and relatives of victims of attacks blamed on Tehran, including the 1983 bombing of a US Marine barracks in Beirut and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. Iran said the freezing of the funds breached the 1955 Treaty of Amity with the United States, an agreement signed before Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution severed relations between the countries.

The United States announced in October that it was pulling out of the Treaty of Amity after the ICJ in a separate case ordered Washington to lift nuclear-related sanctions on humanitarian goods for Iran. The ICJ is the top court of the United Nations and was set up after World War II to resolve disputes between member states. Its rulings are binding and cannot be appealed, but it has no means of enforcing them.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington are already high around the 40th anniversary of the Iranian revolution and a Middle East meeting in Warsaw starting Wednesday where the United States aims to pile pressure on Iran.

Relations have been strained ever since US President Donald Trump's decision last year to pull out of a "terrible" international nuclear deal with Iran and reimpose sanctions. The 2015 nuclear deal had unblocked billions of dollars in other Iranian funds.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Flash

Moscow has no fear of possible new Western sanctions, which are likely forced by Washington, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.







"We are not discussing sanctions with anyone. We want to improve our economy, trade with normal foreign partners in such a way as not to depend on someone's whims," Lavrov said at a press conference.





On Tuesday, the Financial Times quoted diplomatic sources as saying that the United States and the European Union (EU) are close to agreeing on new sanctions against Russia over the seizure of Ukrainian warships in the Black Sea in November.





The measures are expected to be discussed at a meeting of EU foreign ministers Monday and could be levied over the next two months, the newspaper said.





"We know that these sanctions are being adopted under the strongest pressure of the United States, which once again speaks of the non-independence of the European Union," Lavrov said.





On Nov. 25, Russia seized three Ukrainian naval ships and 24 sailors on board attempting to sail through the Kerch Strait from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov, for allegedly violating the Russian border.





Moscow and Kiev accused each other of provocation, and Western countries criticized Russia for the incident.



Mumbai:

Reliance Industries has set up a research centre in Estonia to understand the digital society in the Baltic nation. The centre comes after Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani became an e-resident of Estonia, along with other Indians including Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. "Reliance Industries has set up a research centre for Jio in Estonia. The research centre aims at understanding the digital Estonian society and the benefit it can offer to India and Indians," an official statement from Estonia's e-residency programme said Wednesday.

The centre is headed by Taavi Kotka, the former chief information officer of Estonia and also one of the founders of e-residency programme, it added.



ALSO READ | Google to invest $13 billion in US data centers to boost mega expansion

It can be noted that Estonia is one of the most digitally connected societies in the world, wherein almost the entire citizen-government interface takes place in the virtual world, including aspects like insurance renewals, and buying drugs for personal use, among others.

The Estonians, who number just about 1.32 million, have a single identity that's used to avail of services across the board. Experts say Aadhaar can technically help replicate the same success here.

The statement said Ambani has always been appreciative of the advancements made by Estonia in the e-governance space.

It can be noted that recently, Ambani made a strong pitch for data localisation as well after announcing RIL's plans to enter e-commerce through a hybrid model which will use merchants on the ground.

Estonia is the first country in the world to offer e- residency, through which foreign nationals establish a virtual identity that can offers trade and business access across the European Union, of which Estonia is a part.



ALSO READ | Tamil Nadu government to request Centre to ban TikTok application

The North European nation has so far enrolled over 2,174 Indians as e-residents who have created 286 companies, the statement said, adding these include freelancers and location-independent entrepreneurs as well.

"Our goal in 2019 will be able to attract around 300 new companies from India," e-residency's head of public relations Arnaud Castaignet said in the statement.New Delhi:

After 15 years on the Martian surface, NASA's Opportunity rover has officially been declared dead. Opportunity rover helped lay the groundwork for NASA's return to the Red Planet. The Opportunity rover stopped communicating with Earth when a severe Mars-wide dust storm blanketed its location in June 2018. Designed to last just 90 Martian days and travel 1,100 yards (1,000 meters), Opportunity vastly surpassed all expectations in its endurance, scientific value and longevity. In addition to exceeding its life expectancy by 60 times, the rover travelled more than 28 miles (45 kilometres) by the time it reached its most appropriate final resting spot on Mars - Perseverance Valley, according to NASA.



ALSO READ | NASA to make final attempt to contact Mars Opportunity Rover



"It is because of trailblazing missions such as Opportunity that there will come a day when our brave astronauts walk on the surface of Mars," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "And when that day arrives, some portion of that first footprint will be owned by the men and women of Opportunity, and a little rover that defied the odds and did so much in the name of exploration."



The community of researchers and engineers involved in the program were in mourning over the passing of the rover, known affectionately as Oppy.

"Spent the evening at JPL as the last ever commands were sent to the Opportunity rover on #Mars," Tanya Harrison, director of Martian research at Arizona State University, tweeted after a stint at Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "There was silence. There were tears. There were hugs. There were memories and laughs shared. #ThankYouOppy #GoodnightOppy," she wrote.

From the day Opportunity landed, a team of mission engineers, rover drivers and scientists on Earth collaborated to overcome challenges and get the rover from one geologic site on Mars to the next. They plotted workable avenues over rugged terrain so that the 384-pound (174-kilogram) Martian explorer could maneuver around and, at times, over rocks and boulders, climb gravel-strewn slopes as steep as 32-degrees (an off-Earth record), probe crater floors, summit hills and traverse possible dry riverbeds. Its final venture brought it to the western limb of Perseverance Valley.



ALSO READ | NASA spacecraft shrinking orbit to prepare for Mars 2020 Rover

"I cannot think of a more appropriate place for Opportunity to endure on the surface of Mars than one called Perseverance Valley," said Michael Watkins, director of JPL. "The records, discoveries and sheer tenacity of this intrepid little rover is testament to the ingenuity, dedication, and perseverance of the people who built and guided her."

For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Divided by geography and man-made constraints united by the love for Game of Thrones! From arts to sketches, events, makeup, food art, sculpture, the tribute fans have shown for RR Martins GOT has been an ingenious experience. In fact, so much is the love for the fantasy series that tributes have rather become a boast off of latent talents and skills with people taking to social media leaving viewers dumb-founded.

One such pulpit to showcase the love of the series and along with it their talents is the recent HBOs Fan Anthem #ForTheThrone, a clip where all the crazy tribute for the show is clustered in a single video. Among the thousands trying to make its way to the fan tribute is an 18-year-old artist from Kashmiri, who has become the only Indian to feature in the video by playing the traditional instrument Rabab, taken from his Game of Thrones tribute video called 'The Cure'. The tune has been played by musicians Sufiyan Malik (rabab), Hujat Kirmani (piano) and Zakir Bakshi.

The Kashmiri tribute shows an amazing cinematography and visual with haunting and moving musical from the Rabab, a background with white snow much like that of Winterfell showing what looks like to be one Jon Snow accompanied by his own Kashmiri Nights Watch. And to make it even better, the tribute has a cameo of our favourite character, Tyrion and the Night King! Can a tribute get any better than this?

For all the Latest Offbeat News News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Kirori Singh Bainsla, the leader spearheading the Gujjar quota agitation in Rajasthan, on Thursday said that the community leaders are likely to take make an announcement regarding the stir. Addressing media, Bainsla said that my team will study the Rajasthan Backward Classes Amendment Bill, 2019. We will have discussions on it. And then we will take final decision by this evening. The statement comes a day after the Rajasthan government tabled bills on the Gujjar community's demand for an additional four per cent reservation as well as on 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections for government jobs and educational institutions, on Wednesday. Five communities namely Banjara/Baldiya/Labana, Gadiya Lohar/Gadoliya, Gujjar/Gurjar, Raika/Rebari/Debasi and Gadariya/Gadri/Gayari will benefit from this move.

The Gujjar stir has crippled the rail network in Rajasthan as agitators blocked roads and railway tracks. Every day for the past week, several trains were cancelled or diverted in the Sawai Madhopur district of the state. On Tuesday, the district collector had issued a notice to Bainsla asking him to vacate railway tracks. The sit-in had affected the movement of over 300 trains through the region so far. Amid the protests, the Rajasthan government conducted meetings throughout Tuesday at the state secretariat to discuss the quota issue with ministers and other Congress leaders.

At present, the Gujjar community in Rajasthan have 1 per cent reservation under the Most Backward Classes (MBC) within the 50 per cent legal limit. The demand for separate five per cent reservation for the Gujjars was struck down by the Rajasthan High Court in 2017. The state government has moved the Supreme Court against the Rajasthan HC order. Currently, reserved category has 49 per cent in Rajasthan including 21 per cent OBC, 16 per cent SC and 12 per cent ST. If Gehlot government bring another bill on Wednesday then it could be challenged again. Hence the Gurjars have been demanding 5 percent reservation with an amendment in the constitution so it does not face any legal hurdle. Notable the Modi government recently gave 10 percent reservation to economic weaker section (EWS) by amending the constitution. Gujjars have argued that the 10 per cent reservation announced by the Centre also exceeds the 50 per cent reservation limit.

On Wednesday, 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:

At least 42 CRPF personnel were killed when a terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the convoy at Awantipora in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. Reports suggest that there were nearly 70 vehicles in the convoy in which around 2500 personnel were traveling. This was the first suicide car bomb strike in Kashmir since the 2001 attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly that left 41 persons, including three suicide attackers, dead.

Heres complete information about all major terror attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir in the last two decades:

26 August 2017 - Three Jaish terrorists storm District Police Lines Pulwama, killing eight security force personnel, before the assailants were shot dead.

29 November 2016 - Three terrorists storm Army artillery camp at Nagrota in Jammu, killing seven soldiers, before the assailants were eliminated.

18 September 2016 - Four Pakistani terrorists storm an Army camp at Uri in Baramulla district, killing 18 soldiers, most of them were in sleep. The assailants were also killed. The incident led to reprisal surgical strikes inside Pakistan occupied Kashmir by the Indian Army.

25 June 2016 - Terrorists opened indiscriminate firing on a CRPF bus, killing eight jawans at Pampore on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

3 June 2016 - Terrorists target a CRPF bus at Pampore, killing two personnel before taking refuge in a government building. Two-day encounter ends with killing of three soldiers including two officers and the two assailants. One civilian was also killed.

5 December 2014 - Six heavily-armed terrorists storm an Army camp at Mohra in Uri. Ten soldiers were killed in the gun battle with the intruders, who were all shot dead.

24 June 2013 - Terrorists ambush a bus carrying unarmed Army personnel at Hyderpora in Srinagar. Eight soldiers were killed in the attack.

19 July 2008 - Ten soldiers were killed when terrorists triggered an IED planted by the roadside at Narbal on Srinagar-Baramulla highway on the outskirts of the city.

2 November 2005 - A suicide bomber blew up his car at Nowgam, near the private residence of then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, killing three cops and six civilians.

20 July 2005 - A suicide car bomber blew his vehicle by ramming it into a vehicle of security forces. Three security force personnel and two civilians were killed.

24 June 2005 - Nine army soldiers were killed in a car bomb triggered by terrorists on the outskirts of Srinagar.

4 August 2004 - Nine CRPF jawans were killed in a terrorist attack on their camp at Rajbagh in Srinagar. One terrorist was also killed in retaliatory action.

8 April 2004 - 11 persons were killed in a grenade attack by terrorists on a PDP rally at Uri in Baramulla district. The PDP was demanding opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road.

22 July 2003 - Eight soldiers, including a Brigadier, were killed in a terrorists attack on their camp at Akhnoor. Several other senior Army officers sustained injuries in the attack.

28 June 2003 - 12 soldiers, including an officer, were killed in a suicide attack by terrorists on Sunjwan Army camp. Two terrorists were neutralised.

14 May 2002 - In one of the biggest strikes on an Army installation, 36 persons were killed by three terrorists who stormed the Kaluchak Army Cantonment in Jammu. The assailants were also killed.

17 November 2001 - Terrorists storm a security forces base in Ramban (then part of Doda district), killing 10 security forces. Four terrorists were also killed.

1 October 2001 - Terrorists trigger a car bomb outside the old Legislative Assembly Complex in Srinagar. 38 persons were killed while three assailants were also eliminated.

10 August 2000 - Terrorists hurl a grenade at Residency Road in Srinagar. As the security officials assembled at the spot, they triggered a car bomb, killing 11 persons and a photojournalist.

19 April 2000 - The "human bomb" was used for the first time in Kashmir insurgency. Two soldiers were killed in the suicide car bomb at the Army headquarters at Badamibagh area in Srinagar.

3 November 1999 - Terrorists storm the Badamibagh Army headquarters, killing 10 soldiers including Defence Public Relations Officer Major Purshottam.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will undertake a four-day visit to Bulgaria, Morocco and Spain from February 16, the ministry said Thursday. In the first leg of her visit, Swaraj will be in Bulgaria on February 16 and February 17. The visit is a follow-up to the state visit of President Ram Nath Kovind to Bulgaria in September last year. This is the first ever visit of an Indian external affairs minister to Bulgaria, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

During the visit, Swaraj will meet with the deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Bulgaria. The two leaders will discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest.

She will pay floral tributes at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the South Park in Sofia. The statue was unveiled last year by President Kovind along with his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev to mark the celebrations of Mahatma Gandhis 150th birth anniversary.

She will also interact with the Indian community and Friends of India in Sofia during the visit. In the second leg of her tour, she will visit Kingdom of Morocco from February 17-18.

Also Read | Over 40 CRPF jawans killed in IED blast at Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama

The visit is in pursuit of Indias objective of enhanced engagement with the Kingdom and will provide an opportunity to hold in-depth discussions on bilateral, regional and global issues, the MEA statement said.

In Morocco, she will interact with her counterpart Nasser Bourita. She will also call on King Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, Saad Dine El Otmani, Head of Government, and Habib El Malki, President of the Chamber of Representatives, Parliament.

Three MoUs for cooperation in the areas of counter terrorism, housing and human settlements and youth matters are expected for signing during the visit. During her visit, she will also interact with the Indian community in Rabat.

Swaraj will be in Spain from 18-19 February. She will hold a bilateral meeting with her counterpart Josep Borrell Fontelles to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual concern.

The Spanish government will also confer upon Swaraj the prestigious Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit by the Spanish Government for Indias swift response through Operation Maitri in rescuing 71 Spanish nationals from Nepal in April 2015 in the wake of the disastrous earthquake.

Swaraj will also interact with the Indian Community in Spain.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.highlights 42 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama terror attack.

The IB on Feb 8 issued an alert warning this kind of terror attack in Awantipora.

The death count is likely to go up further.

New Delhi:

As many as 42 CRPF personnel were killed and several others were injured in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the bus the jawans were travelling in, officials said. After Uri, this is considered to be one of the worst terror strikes in Jammu and Kashmir in recent years. JeM, the Pakistani based terror group has claimed responsibility for the gruesome attack that took place around 03:30 pm at Lethpora village about 30 km away from Jammu and Kashmir's capital city Srinagar.

More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of over 70 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora. Police said the terrorist driving a suicide vehicle was Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama who joined the JeM in 2018. The casualties are likely to go up.

Meanwhile, there are reports that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) on February 8 had issued an alert warning this kind of terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Awantipora, but lack of security cover and ignorance have failed to avoid the untoward incident.



Condemning the 'cowardice' terror attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the sacrifice of the brave security personnel will not go in vain. "Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly," the prime minister tweeted.

Modi has also spoken to Home Minister Rajnath Singh Ji and other top officials in the wake of the major terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. Apart from Modi, other political leaders from across party lines have condemned the 'cowardice' attack in the heart of Kashmir valley this afternoon.

Taking to Twitter, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said, "I am deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir in which many of our brave CRPF men have been martyred and a large number wounded, some critically. My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured".

Dozens of CRPF personnel were injured in the terror attack, which reduced the bus to a mangled heap of iron. Several other buses were damaged in the attack. Body parts could be seen strewn around the area.

The convoy started from Jammu around 3.30 am and was supposed to reach Srinagar before sunset, officials said. The number of personnel travelling back to the Valley was high as there was no movement on the highway for the last two to three days because of bad weather and other administrative reasons, they said.



Usually, about 1,000 personnel are part of a convoy but this time it was a total of 2,547 personnel. A road opening party was deployed and the convoy had armoured counter-terror vehicles, officials said. Forensic and bomb analysis teams are on the spot.

The bus that was the focus of the attack belongs to the 76th battalion of the force and had 39 personnel on board, officials said. CRPF inspector general (Operations) in the Kashmir Valley Zulfiqar Hasan described it as a "vehicle-bound attack" and said Jammu and Kashmir Police has taken up the investigation.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

At least 42 CRPF personnel were martyred in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday when an explosive-laden vehicle rammed into the bus they were travelling in, officials said. Terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the incident. According to reports, the terrorist who was driving the explosive-laden vehicle has been identified as Aadil Ahmad alias Waqas Commando from Kakapora of Gundi Bagh, Pulwama.

He joined the Jaish-Mohammed in 2018, police said. The casualties are likely to go up.

The attack took place when the convoy was moving from Jammu to Srinagar at around 3.15 pm. The vehicles were blown up on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Awantipora area of the district, a police official said. Around 12 personnel were also injured in the IED blast, which reduced a bus to a mangled heap of iron. Following the blast, gunshots and grenade blasts were also heard.

According to reports, two buses in the CRPF convoy were targeted in the high-intensity IED blast. Pakistan backed Jaish-e-Mohammed claims responsibility for Pulwama IED terror attack, in a text message to Kashmiri News Agency GNS, claims reports.

Reports suggest that there were nearly 70 vehicles in the convoy in which around 2500 personnel were traveling. "Senior officers at the spot, the investigation is underway. Injured being taken care of. There were 2500 personnel in the convoy," CRPF DG RR Bhatnagar said.

"J&K Police has taken up the investigation. The injured shifted to hospital. Post-blast analysis being done at the spot," Zulfiqar Hassan, IG CRPF(Operations), said.

"Disturbing news coming in from #awantipura. Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several have been injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends? (sic)," former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti tweeted.

Naveen Patnaik has also condemned the attack. "Deeply saddened by the martyrdom of so many @crpfindia #jawans in terrorist attack in #Pulwama district of #JammuAndKashmir. Strongly condemn the cowardly act and condolences to the bereaved families (sic)."

Deeply saddened by the martyrdom of so many @crpfindia #jawans in terrorist attack in #Pulwama district of #JammuAndKashmir. Strongly condemn the cowardly act and condolences to the bereaved families.  Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) February 14, 2019

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed the responsibility for IED blast in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir which claimed lives of 42 CRPF personnel. The death count is expected to rise. According to reports, a blast ripped through the buses jawans were travelling in.

Pulwama: IED blast followed by gunshots in Goripora area of Awantipora, more details awaited. #JammuandKashmir pic.twitter.com/zf65k7cho9  ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2019

The vehicles were blown up on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Awantipora area of the district, a police official said. Around 12 personnel were also injured in the IED blast, which reduced a bus to a mangled heap of iron. Following the blast, gunshots and grenade blasts were also heard.

According to reports, two buses in the CRPF convoy were targeted in the high-intensity IED blast. Pakistan backed Jaish-e-Mohammed claims responsibility for Pulwama IED terror attack, in a text message to Kashmiri News Agency GNS, claims reports.

According to reports, Aadil Ahmad was the terrorist who carried out the blast.

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister has spoken to DG of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and has called an urgent meeting in Delhi.

Reports suggest that there were nearly 70 vehicles in the convoy in which around 2500 personnel were traveling. "Senior officers at the spot, the investigation is underway. Injured being taken care of. There were 2500 personnel in the convoy," CRPF DG RR Bhatnagar said.

"J&K Police has taken up the investigation. The injured shifted to hospital. Post-blast analysis being done at the spot," Zulfiqar Hassan, IG CRPF(Operations), said.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Leaders across the political spectrum have condemned the terror attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on Thursday in which at least 40 jawans were martyred and several others are reportedly injured. From Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah and Rahul Gandhi to Mamata Banerjee, they all have expressed shock over the attack.

Disturbing news coming in from Awantipura. Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several have been injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?, People's Democratic Party chief and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti tweeted.

Disturbing news coming in from #awantipura . Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several have been injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?  Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 14, 2019

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee extended condolences to the families of the CRPF soldiers who were martyred in the attack. "Saddened that 13 CRPF jawans became martyrs today in Pulwama. We salute our brave jawans and extend our solidarity and condolences to their families. Our prayers for those injured. We wish them a speedy recovery," she tweeted.

Saddened that 13 CRPF jawans became martyrs today in Pulwama. We salute our brave jawans and extend our solidarity and condolences to their families. Our prayers for those injured. We wish them a speedy recovery  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 14, 2019

The CRPF personnel were killed when a terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in. According to reports, terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed the responsibility of the attack. The terrorist who was driving the explosive-laden vehicle has been identified as Aadil Ahmad alias Waqas Commando from Kakapora of Gundi Bagh, Pulwama.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for External Affairs General VK Singh said that they will avenge the attack. "As a soldier and a citizen of India, my blood boils at the spineless and cowardly attacks. 18 brave hearts from the @crpfindia laid down their lives in #Pulwama. I salute their selfless sacrifice & promise that every drop of our soldiers blood will be avenged, (sic)," VK Singh said.

As a soldier and a citizen of India, my blood boils at the spineless and cowardly attacks. 18 brave hearts from the @crpfindia laid down their lives in #Pulwama. I salute their selfless sacrifice & promise that every drop of our soldiers blood will be avenged. #JaiHind  Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) February 14, 2019

"I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved," National Conference leader and former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted.

"We strongly condemn this cowardly attack, we extend condolences to the kin of the jawans who were martyred. This is the 18th big terror attack in the last 5 years under this Modi Govt. When will the 56-inch chest reply?" Randeep Surjewala said.

Randeep Surjewala, Congress on #Pulwama attack: We strongly condemn this cowardly attack, we extend condolences to the kin of the jawans who were martyred. This is the 18th big terror attack in the last 5 years under this Modi Govt. When will the 56-inch chest reply? pic.twitter.com/kAQ5aKgCdA  ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2019

Congress president Rahul Gandhi said he is deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on CRPF jawans.

"Im deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a #CRPF convoy in J&K in which 10 of our brave men have been martyred and many others wounded. My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured," he tweeted.

Im deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a #CRPF convoy in J&K in which 10 of our brave men have been martyred and many others wounded. My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 14, 2019

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal condemned that attack and India must stand united in this moment of grief.

"Extremely shocking news coming from Pulwama (J&K). I strongly condemn the terror attack on CRPF convoy in which many casualties are feared. India must stand united in this moment of grief," Kejriwal tweeted.

Extremely shocking news coming from Pulwama (J&K). I strongly condemn the terror attack on CRPF convoy in which many casualties are feared. India must stand united in this moment of grief  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 14, 2019

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Flash

The United Nations' new top envoy for Iraq expressed concern on Wednesday over the political stalemate revolving around the formation of the Cabinet.

The collaborative spirit between the leading parliamentary blocs four months ago allowed the consensual nomination of Adel Abdul-Mahdi as prime minister-designate, including a notably smooth transition of power, said Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.

However, to date, the government of Iraq remains incomplete. Four ministerial positions are still vacant, with three of them -- interior, defense and justice -- being subject to fierce disagreements among political blocs, she told the Security Council in a briefing.

Within this context, multiple parliamentary sessions have been adjourned, interrupted or boycotted over the past months. And as a result, the implementation of the government program has made little headway and parliamentary committees have yet to start their substantive work, noted Hennis-Plasschaert, the UN secretary-general's special representative and head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq.

To make things worse, the Iraqi Parliament is in a one-month recess and will only reconvene in early March, she said.

Ultimately, the people of Iraq are bearing the brunt of the political stalemate, she warned.New Delhi:

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, newly appointed Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh east, on Thursday, cancelled her first press conference in the wake of the unfortunate terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. "I do not think it is appropriate to talk politics right now," said Priyanka. The press conference, Priyankas first after formal entry into politics, was meant to wrap up her four-day visit to the state.

She expressed grief over the deaths of 42 CRPF personnel in a terror attack in Kashmir and observed a two-minute silence.

This conference was called for political discussions. But when our jawans have been killed in a terror attack in Pulwama, I feel it would not be right if we have political discussions at this time," she told reporters at the press conference venue.

I can very well understand the pain and grief of losing a loved one in the family. I want to say that not only the Congress party, but the entire country is standing shoulder to shoulder with the families of our brave soldiers. They should have faith... we are standing by them, she added.

40 CRPF personnel were killed when a terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in. Reports suggest that there were nearly 70 vehicles in the convoy in which around 2500 personnel were traveling. "Senior officers at the spot, the investigation is underway. Injured being taken care of. There were 2500 personnel in the convoy," CRPF DG RR Bhatnagar said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has strongly condemned the dastardly attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy at Awantipora in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district saying the sacrifices of the brave soldiers shall not go in vain.

Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly, PM Modi tweeted.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to address her first press conference at UP PCC office in Lucknow today. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will visit Kerala today. Akhilesh Yadav will make an attempt to visit Prayagraj after being stopped by the Yogi government on Tuesday. The world is celebrating the day of love today --- Valentine's Day! Rain lashed parts of Delhi-NCR early in the morning today. The Supreme Court is likely to rule on several contentious issues regarding the extent of authority ofthe the Delhi government versus that of the lieutenant governor (L-G) on administrative matters.

13:46 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Six flights diverted from Delhi airport due to bad weather

Six flights have been diverted from the Delhi airport due to bad weather between 9.30 am and 12 noon on Thursday, airport officials said. Four flights have been diverted to Jaipur. Two flights have been diverted to Lucknow due to heavy rains, an official said. The flights that were diverted to Jaipur were of Air Astana, Jet Airways, Indigo and GoAir, they said. One flight of Vistara and one flight of IndiGo were diverted to Lucknow, the official added.

13:37 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Delhi's Patiala House Court on Thursday granted interim bail to Rajeev Saxena in Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland money laundering case. He was also asked to furnish two sureties of Rs 5 lakh each. The case will be heard next on February 22. The Enforcement Directorate did not oppose the plea because of Saxenas medical condition.

11:56 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In INX Media case: Next date of hearing in the case is February 28, Indrani Mukerjea may be called to appear in-person in Delhi court on hearing on her plea to become a witness in the case.

11:25 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Jharkhand: Security forces have apprehended one Maoist who was injured during encounter in the forest area of Chiribera village in Chaibasa, today; Search operation underway.

09:49 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Sensex falls below 100 points in Dalal Street in opening trade on Thursday.

09:47 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In IED bomb found outside a school at Imphal's Canchipur in Manipur, security forces present at the spot.

09:46 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation that would require President Donald Trump to withdraw US military assistance from the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen

09:46 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Three persons were arrested after a gunrunning racket was bust by the East district police. Four pistols, 7 country-made guns and 52 cartridges recovered.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

The crime branch of Delhi police on Thursday launched an investigation in the Karol Bagh hotel fire tragedy where at least 17 persons were killed and several others injured on Tuesday, February 12, 2019. In a first, the Delhi Police is also using 3D laser imaging technology to simulate the scene of the incident. The high-tech method will allow the police to zero in on how, why, where and when the blaze started in the four-storey building. Earlier, the Delhi government ordered a magisterial probe and directed the fire department to conduct an inspection of buildings which have five floors or more.

"Delhi Police crime branch has begun the investigation in the Karol Bagh hotel fire incident that claimed lives of 17 people," the news agency ANI reported.

Delhi Police crime branch has begun the investigation in the Karol Bagh hotel fire incident that claimed lives of 17 people. (File pic) pic.twitter.com/3LsvvH1GSf  ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2019

Early in the day, a Crime Branch team visited the Arpit Palace hotel along with its arrested general manager Rajender and manager Vikas and with their inputs, recreated the scene of the incident that occurred early Tuesday. The duo was interrogated as well, Rajesh Deo, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) said.

According to Deo, look out circulars have been issued against the property owner, Rakesh who was in Doha at the time of incident, and Shardendu Goel, the licensee of the hotel. The mobile phones of the accused are switched off and the family members too are out of reach, the police said.

The area's civic body too ordered a probe with officials accusing the hotel of violating municipal norms including running a makeshift restaurant on its rooftop. Union minister KJ Alphons who had visited the site of the incident had pointed out that the emergency exit of the hotel was "too narrow" and also locked.

In the wake of this massive fire incident, the fire department has been also directed to inspect buildings which are five floors or more and submit a report on their safety compliance within a week. All hotels will be strictly checked for their safety norms. If fire-fighting equipment not in place, severe action will be taken against the hotel management, fire officials said.

Action will be taken against the hotels depending on the extent of violations. If minor lapses are found, they will be warned and asked to rectify it within a couple of days. If not rectified, action will be taken accordingly, they added.

(With inputs from agencies)

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Sweden based Bollywood actress Elli Avram is known for her roles in films including Kis Kisko Pyar Karoon, Mickey Virus, Naam Shabana and Poster Boys but recently she was in headlines for being in an alleged relationship with Team Indias all-rounder Hardik Pandya. Recently, there were several reports which were making rounds over the internet that claimed Elli Avram may marry Hardik Pandya before the commencement of the 12th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL). Now, Elli Avrams manager, Gaurav Malhotra has come forward and cleared the air about the rumoured wedding.

In an exclusive talk with News Nation, Gaurav said, Hardik Pandya and Elli Avram are not in touch with each other. The story talking about their marriage is a false story. There is no truth in it.

On work front, Elli is currently busy shooting for a Tamil debut flick Paris Paris which will also feature Kajal Aggarwal in pivotal role.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Shiv Sena leader and MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday said, "if you want BJP's PM in Delhi, there should be Shiv Sena CM in Maharashtra." Earlier in the week, Sanjay Raut had put an end over the speculations on the probable seat-sharing deal between his party and the BJP. Talking to media in Mumbai on Monday, Raut clearly said that there was no confirmation about the deal between the two parties ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections. When asked about reports regarding BJP and Shiv Sena fighting on an equal number of seats in the General Elections, Raut said that, we have no information about it, you (media) people know more. We don't have such a proposal, and we're not sitting here to accept such a proposal. We reiterate Shiv Sena will play the role of a big brother.

Rauts comment comes amid reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray are set likely to meet soon. On Monday, the Shiv Sena chief had called an urgent meeting, in which he said to have discussed partys strategy for the Lok Sabha Elections. According to an India Today report, both parties have reached 23-25 seat sharing formula in Maharashtra. The state has a total of 48 Lok Sabha seats. Shiv Sena has been demanding equal 24-24 seat share agreement.

Earlier, Maharashtra BJP president Raosaheb Danve on Friday had said that his party will win more seats than the Shiv Sena in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections if the latter does not enter into a pre-poll alliance with it. Addressing a press conference in Jalna, he said absence of an alliance between the BJP and the Shiv Sena will benefit the Congress and the NCP.

"The BJP will win more seats than the Shiv Sena in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections if the Sena does not forge an alliance with the BJP," he said.

Danve had said the BJP has already made preparations to contest all the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state in case there was no alliance with the Uddhav Thackeray-led party. Danve today inaugurated the day-long conclave, while Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis swill address the valedictory session later. Around 1,000 delegates from across the state are taking part in the meeting.

(With inputs from PTI)New Delhi:

Om Prakash Rajbhar has offered to quit as backward class welfare minister from Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief took to Twitter and posted the letter, in which he said that he would hand over the charge of the ministry as his recommendations in appointment of state backward castes panel members have been "ignored".

Last month, Rajbhar had skipped Yogi Adityanath Cabinet meet in Prayagraj and announced the date of his political split from the BJP. He had said that his party is likely to walk out from the NDA on February 24.

#BREAKING | Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president OP Rajbhar offers to quit as minister of backward welfare in @myogiadityanath government@oprajbhar



Read full story: https://t.co/lOvcafWF8m pic.twitter.com/D2PCE7tbYr  News Nation (@NewsNationTV) February 14, 2019

Earlier, the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief and minister in Yogi Adityanath, had given a 100-day ultimatum to the NDA. Talking to News State, Rajbhar said that in case the BJP fails to implement 27% reservation, then his party will leave the NDA. He also said that his party will contest on all 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh alone.

Interestingly, Rajbhar made these comments in Varanasi, which happens to be the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Rajbhar also targeted the Uttar Pradesh government over the law and order situation in the state. He said that the UP government is sheltering the criminals. Taking a dig at the gau kalyan cess, Rajbhar said that in coming days, there will be tax levied on stray dogs too. Rajbhar is known for making such acerbic remarks against his government.

The Backward Classes Welfare Minister had alleged that the Bulandshahr violence was a pre-planned conspiracy of the RSS  the ideological patriarch of the ruling BJP  in collaboration with the hard-line Hindu groups VHP and Bajrang Dal to disturb peace. This (Bulandshahr violence) was a pre-planned conspiracy by VHP, Bajrang Dal and RSS, now police is even naming some BJP members. Why did the protest happen on the same day of Muslim Ijtema event? It was an attempt to disturb the peace, ANI was quoted SBSP leader Rajbhar as saying.

Recently, during the VHP Dharma Sabha in Ayodhya, Rajbhar had sided with former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and described the gathering of the mob in the holy town a "failure of the government". "The chief minister is interested in election campaigning at a time when Section 144 has been imposed in Faizabad (Ayodhya). This means that the administration has failed, and the Army should be brought in," Rajbhar had said at that time.New Delhi:

Congress president Rahul Gandhi was caught off guard on Thursday when a party worker planted a kiss on his cheek during a rally in Valsad district of Gujarat. A video of the incident has been shared by ANI. The video shows some women on stage to greet the Congress president when one of them pulls him and planted a kiss on his cheek. Gandhi was in Valsad to kick off his party's Lok Sabha poll campaign in Gujarat by addressing a Jan Aakrosh rally.

#WATCH A woman kisses Congress President Rahul Gandhi during a rally in Valsad, #Gujarat pic.twitter.com/RqIviTAvZ9  ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2019

Earlier, a woman from Prayagraj (Allahabad) had claimed that Gandhi had promised to marry her in her dreams.

The woman claimed that she had met Gandhi once in 2014 and a few more times later and has been obsessed by him since then. Calling the Congress president a good man, the woman said she was convinced that he will marry her.

" He has spoken to Dalits, had meals with Dalits, lived with them. I am an OBC and supported Congress for a long time. So why wouldn't he marry me?" she said.

Meanwhile, this is Gandhi's first visit to Gujarat after the 2017 Assembly polls in which he campaigned vigorously, travelling across the length and breadth of the state. While the BJP returned to power in the state in 2017 by winning 99 seats in the 182-member Assembly, the Congress managed to increase its tally from 60 to 77.

To boost its cadre, the Congress is also likely to organise its working committee meet in Ahmedabad before the Lok Sabha elections, a party source said. The Congress had drawn a blank in the state in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when the BJP won all 26 seats.

The opposition party had won 11 seats in the state in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.Lucknow:

At a time when the Opposition is riding on an anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wave ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha election, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Thursday made a critical statement against the Congress and said the Congress regime in Madhya Pradesh are examples of state terror and should be condemned. She also said the same about the BJP rule in Uttar Pradesh.

Her statement came after 14 Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students were booked for sedition on Tuesday night and the Madhya Pradesh government imposed the National Security Act (NSA) on Muslims on charges of cow slaughter earlier in the month.

Congress government in MP like BJP slapped atrocious NSA against Muslims for cow slaughter. Now the Uttar Pradesh BJP government has booked 14 AMU students under notorious sedition charges. Both are examples of state terror and condemnable, Mayawati said in a statement issued here.

Congress govt in MP like BJP slapped atrocious NSA against Muslims for cow slaughter. Now the UP BJP govt booked 14 AMU students under notorious sedition charges. Both are example of state terror & condemnable. People should decide what is difference between the cong & BJP govt?  Mayawati (@Mayawati) February 14, 2019

People should decide what is difference between the Congress and BJP governments, she added.

In Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, 14 students, including the AMU students union chief, were booked under sedition charges after some students and a TV channel crew got into an altercation over reports of a visit by AIMIM lawmaker Asaduddin Owaisi. The students were booked under sedition charges after a complaint was filed by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha or BJYM activist Mukesh Lodhi, alleging that he was assaulted amid chants of pro-Pakistan slogans by some students, police said. Protesting against the police action, a "class boycott" call has been given by the students' union.

In Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, authorities slapped NSA and jailed on three Muslim men for allegedly killing a cow in Khandwa earlier this month.New Delhi:

The verdict on power tussle between the Aam Aadmi Party government and Lt Governor is out. In a split verdict, the two-judge bench of Justice AK Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan gave power over anti-corruption bureau to the LG. This will be a huge blow for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The judgment on appointment and transfer of bureaucrat so far shows that LG Anil Baijal has emerged as the ultimate winner.

Here are the key facts about the verdict that shows how the LG is Delhis boss:

1: The most important aspect of the verdict is the jurisdiction over the Anti-Corruption Bureau. Todays verdict has clearly given the power to LG, thereby the Centre over ACB. Nine petitions were filed before the court in connection with the dispute. The hearing had concluded on November 1, 2018.

2: Power over the Commission of Enquiry Act has also been awarded to the Centre.

3: Though the revision of minimum rates of agricultural land can be done by Delhi government but the LG can refer it to the President of India.

4: The Electric Reforms Act will now come under Delhi government.

5: The power to appoint Special Public Prosecutor also also been given to Delhi government.

Services was the only factor over which both judged had dissenting opinion. It has been referred to a Larger Bench.

Last year, in a landmark verdict on July 4, the Supreme Court had held that Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal does not have independent decision making powers, and is bound to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.

The judgement pronounced in the court by then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, who was heading a five judge Constitution bench, also held that the LG cannot act as an "obstructionist".

Two other judges, Justices A K Sikri and A M Khanwilkar, concurred with the verdict.

It said all decisions of the Council of Ministers must be communicated to the LG but that does not mean his concurrence is required.

"There is no room for absolutism and there is no room for anarchism also," the court had ruled.New Delhi:

A fire broke out in a factor in Delhis Naraina area on Thursday. According to latest reports, even after two hours, the rescuers have not been able to douse the fire. According to ANI, 29 fire tenders are at the spot. News Nation has learnt that the factory used to make greeting cards. The information about the blaze was received by the authorities at around 7:30 am. The incident comes just days after the Karol Bagh hotel fire in which 17 people had died. The hotel's general manager, Rajender, and manager, Vikas, have been arrested for culpable homicide, DCP (central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa said. According to reports, the hotel owner - Shardendu Goel - is absconding after the incident. The DCP also said that the case has been transferred to the Crime Branch.

#WATCH A medium category fire broke out at a paper card factory in Naraina Industrial Area, Phase I, early morning today; Total 23 fire tenders engaged in fire fighting operations, no casualties reported pic.twitter.com/l6wiOjfELO  ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2019

Earlier, the city police registered a case under IPC Section 304 (Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) in connection with the fire that broke out in Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh. According to reports, the city police has also added Section 308 of IPC (attempt to commit culpable homicide).

Meanwhile, taking a lesson for the Hotel Arpit Palace blaze, the Delhi Fire Service began a fire-audit at about 380 hotels across the central Delhi area, a senior fire officer said. The Delhi Government on Tuesday directed the fire department to inspect buildings which are five floors or more and submit a report on their safety compliance within a week. "Based on the directives of the state government, we have formed six teams to carry out inspections in hotels and guest houses across Karol Bagh area. We have already begun the inspection," Atul Kumar Garg, Chief Fire Officer said.

All hotels will be strictly checked for their safety norms. If fire-fighting equipment not in place, severe action will be taken against the hotel management, he said. Action will be taken against the hotels depending on the extent of violations. If minor lapses are found, they will be warned and asked to rectify it within a couple of days. If not rectified, action will be taken accordingly, the fire official added.

(With agency inputs) Flash

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has had a phone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, reaffirming U.S. stance on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and Venezuela, the State Department said on Wednesday.



Pompeo told his Russian counterpart on Tuesday that the INF Treaty would terminate in early August unless Russia comes back into full and verifiable compliance with the treaty, the State Department said in a statement.

Pompeo and Lavrov also discussed the situation in Venezuela and a peaceful transition to democracy that is in the best interest of both the United States and Russia, said the statement.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Lavrov warned Pompeo in the phone conversation that Russia opposed U.S. intervention in the internal affairs of Venezuela, including the use of force.

Washington will face violations of international law if the United States intervenes, Lavrov told his counterpart.

Also on Tuesday, Lavrov said Russia had 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.

On Jan. 23, the Trump administration recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the nation's "interim president," a move that came after Maduro was inaugurated as president of the Latin American country earlier that month.

U.S. President Trump has also warned that "all options are on the table" regarding Venezuela.

On Feb. 1, the Trump administration announced that the United States is withdrawing from the INF Treaty with Russia within six months, starting from Feb. 2. In reponse, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Feb. 2 that Moscow would also suspend its participation in the INF Treaty.

The INF Treaty was signed in 1987 between the Soviet Union and the United States on the elimination of land-based intermediate-range missiles.New Delhi:

In a setback for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, a two-bench Supreme Court bench comprising Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, ruled that the Anti-Corruption Bureau will remain with the Lieutenant Governor, thereby with the Centre. The judgment on appointment and transfer of bureaucrat so far shows that L-G Anil Baijal has emerged as the ultimate winner. The top court said that it is the Centre and not the Delhi government that has the powers to order investigations against corrupt officers in the capital. Following a split verdict, the court left the decision on who controls Delhi officers to a higher bench.

Here are the LIVE updates:

01.25 pm: The solution to full statehood of Delhi is that you give us all 7 seats in the elections. I appeal to people, not to see this election as one to select a Prime Minister, it is so that we can have a larger say, says Arvind Kejriwal on the top court's order in Delhi govt vs Lt Governor case

01.20 pm: We will continue the judicial fight.

01.17 pm: The chief minister of Delhi cannot even transfer a peon. If the chief minister does not have the power to transfer even a peon, how will the chief minister work?

01.15 pm: We are extremely worried about the state of affairs in the country and so we were eager for an alliance in the national interest. But they (Congress) nearly said no.

01.12 pm: We appeal to the People of Delhi, You have to strengthen us. We will fight for Full Statehood and betterment of Delhi, says Arvind Kejriwal.

01.10 pm: The Supreme Court verdict is unfortunate. It is injustice with people of Delhi, says Arvind Kejriwal.

01.09 pm: Without transfer rights, the government can't work, says the Delhi Chief Minister.

01.08 pm: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on SC rules in favour of LG in 4 of 6 issues in Delhi vs LG matter: If a government can't even transfer its officers, how is it supposed to function? The party that has 67 seats doesn't have the rights but the party who won 3 seats has those rights

01.08 pm: ACB had been with the Delhi government for 40 years, now it is not. So, if anyone complains about corruption, how will the proceedings take place?New Delhi:

Vijay Mallya, the absconding liquor baron, has a message for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Day after the Prime Minister spoke about a man who ran away with 9000 crores, Mallya took to Twitter and said that the he is not absconding. He also said that Indian banks must take the money that he has offered for the full recovery.

The Prime Ministers last speech in Parliament was brought to my attention. He certainly is a very eloquent speaker. I noticed that he referred to an unnamed person who ran away with 9000 crores. Given the media narrative I can only infer that reference is to me, Mallya tweeted.

The Prime Ministers last speech in Parliament was brought to my attention. He certainly is a very eloquent speaker. I noticed that he referred to an unnamed person who ran away with 9000 crores. Given the media narrative I can only infer that reference is to me.  Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) February 14, 2019

Following on from my earlier tweet, I respectfully ask why the Prime Minister is not instructing his Banks to take the money I have put on the table so he can at least claim credit for full recovery of public funds lent to Kingfisher, he said in another tweet. Talking about his offer, Mallya said that, I have made the offer to settle before the HonBle High Court Court of Karnataka. This cannot be dismissed as frivolous. It is a perfectly tangible, sincere, honest and readily achievable offer. The shoe is on the other foot now. Why dont the Banks take the money lent to KFA ?he also slammed the misleading public opinion. Am appalled to say the least at the media reports on the Enforcement Directorate claims that I hid my wealth ! If there was hidden wealth how could I put approximately 14,000 crores worth of assets openly in front of Court ? Shameful misleading of public opinion but unsurprising, he added.

Troubles are mounting for the embattled business tycoon as latest reports suggest that India may soon acquire details of his Swiss bank accounts. The latest move means that India will be able to know the extent of money stashed by the liquor baron in the secret account. According to a Hindustan Times report, the development came after the top court of Switzerland agreed to share the information with Indian authorities. The accounts are held at Edmond de Rothschild (Switzerland) SA and Compagnie Bancaire Helvetique (CBH) in names of Mallya and his companies, Drayton Resources, Black Forest Holdings and Harrison Finance, the HT report quoted a CBI official as saying.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Frankfurt:

German auto giant Volkswagen will begin rolling out its last generation of combustion engine cars in 2026, in its latest green pledge as it looks to turn the corner on the "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal. The carmaker, which last month announced a 44 billion euro ($50 billion) electric offensive by 2023, said it would phase out its diesel and petrol cars as it looks to meet the emissions targets of the 2015 Paris climate deal by 2050.

Michael Jost, Volkswagen's strategy chief, told an industry conference that the firm's employees were working on "the last platform for vehicles that aren't CO2 neutral".



ALSO READ | 40 nations minus India, China agree for automatic braking systems in cars

"We're gradually fading out combustion engines to the absolute minimum," he said at the conference near the company's headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany.

The group, whose brands range from luxury Porsche and Audi to the budget-conscious Skoda and Seat, has set itself the ambitious target of offering more than 50 electric models by 2025, up from six today.

Jost said that last generation of vehicles would begin to roll out in 2026 and predicted that the last vehicle with a combustion engine would be sold around 2040, according to the German newspaper Handelsblatt, whose car conference he spoke at.

In November's announcement the group said its "electric offensive" would focus on electric, self-driving and connected cars as well as mobility services like car sharing. The move underscores just how serious the automaker is about closing the gap with Asian competitors and US tech giant Tesla who have had a head start in the e-car race.

Volkswagen's pivot towards e-cars has in part been spurred by efforts to shake off its ongoing "dieselgate" scandal.

The group was forced to admit in 2015 that it had installed cheating software in 11 million diesel vehicles designed to dupe pollution tests. Suspicions of trickery later spread to other carmakers too, badly hurting the industry's reputation.

The saga also fuelled a backlash against diesel, with a string of German cities now facing driving bans for the oldest, most polluting diesel cars.



ALSO READ | Mahindra XUV300 to launch on February 14: All you need to know

Faced with increasingly angry drivers, the German government has come under pressure to avoid the bans but its efforts to get carmakers to commit to cleaning up engines have had limited success.

The "dieselgate" fallout has so far cost VW more than 28 billion euros in fines, buybacks and compensation and the company remains mired in legal woes around the world.New Delhi:

Maruti Suzuki Baleno is being offered at a huge discounted price of Rs 30,000. No, its not because of any festive season, it is just that the automaker is offering such massive discount so as to clear its stock from showroom. But this discount is limited to certain models of Baleno only and one such model includes the pre-facelift Baleno 2018 and the company is offering a discount up to Rs 30,000.

The step has been taken in order to clear the stock and make the way for the updated models which was launched in the last month. The discount of Rs 30,000 includes cash discount, exchange offer and additional corporate discount.

Maruti Suzuki Baleno was re-launched in the year 2015 after getting unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Currently, the premium hatchback is being sold at the NEXA outlets and is in direct competition with Hyundai i20 and Honda Jazz.

Recently, a news surfaced over the internet according to which two Japanese auto giants in the Indian market are all set to join hands to share some models and the first one is going to be Baleno. Currently, sold as Maruti Suzuki Baleno, the premium hatchback will now be rebadged and will be available as Toyota Baleno. The car is expected to hit the Indian market in the second half of 2019 and will be available at the Toyotas dealership. The alliance between Suzuki and Toyota was formed in the year 2017 to promote electric vehicle technology.

N Raja, Deputy Managing Director at Toyota Kirloskar Motor said to Autocar India, One thing we're working on now is one of the products from the alliance  the Baleno. Towards the second half of this year, we should be seeing it made available to our dealers for sale.

As per the agreement, Suzuki will share its Baleno and Vitara Brezza models to Toyota while Toyota will share its Corolla to Suzuki.

This model sharing between Toyota and Suzuki will go beyond badge-engineering and the new Toyotas version of Baleno is likely to come with few cosmetics changes on its front side, however, the new version Baleno will be identical to Maruti Suzuki model and will shares the same engines.

Currently, Maruti Suzuki Baleno holds the record of fastest five lakh units sale in the Indian market.Please purchase a subscription read this premium content. If you have a subscription, please sign up for a digital website account or log in.The Zambian government will allow trophy hunters to kill 2000 hippos in a five year cull.

In 2016, the government announced a plan to kill 400 of the animals per year, claiming there was a risk of an anthrax outbreak.

They then backed down from this original plan, but animal rights campaigners claim they have restarted the cull under the guise of a wildlife management tool.

Anthrax naturally comes into contact with animals when water levels recede, as the bacteria occur naturally in soil, reports National Geographic.

When the spores enter a living animal, they can activate and spread, causing illness and death.

However, charity Born Free says there is no scientific evidence to support a cull, reports The Daily Mail.

They say Zambia's Department of Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) has failed to provide "credible, scientific evidence to show that such an indiscriminate hippo cull of healthy animals would provide a future outbreak of anthrax."

The cull has been promoted to trophy hunting companies, with one South African firm offering a six-night expedition with "five hippos per hunter", reports The Daily Mail.

Hippos are classed as "vulnerable" by the World Wide Fund for Nature, and their numbers are under growing pressure in Africa.

Newshub.New Zealand-born Kelly Warren goes above and beyond to help those who need it through her Melbourne-based non-profit organisation, BK 2 Basics.

The family-run charity looks after what it calls its "homeless family" by creating personal hygiene kits, healthy food hampers, and providing fruit to schools.

But Ms Warren was left shocked after discovering two women had taken advantage of her organisation's generosity.

The Kiwi took to the BK 2 Basics Facebook page yesterday, sharing security footage that show two females rifling through multiple boxes of goods underneath tables that'd been set up for donations.

They then can be seen making a quick exit.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time an incident like this has happened - but it is the first time Ms Warren has posted security footage on her Facebook page.

"I've always thought of the bigger picture, and thought about things like their children getting bullied," she told Newshub.

This incident was different for Ms Warren; she knew the women had disrespected the charity's policies.

"They didn't take any vegetables, they ignored the signs that are everywhere and on the Facebook page - they knew exactly what they were doing."

The charity has a policy: you are able to take whatever items are on top of the table, but nothing underneath.

Ms Warren was diagnosed with cervical cancer last year, and says that when she had to leave the charity for long periods of time for treatment, nothing was ever taken.

"I don't do greed - 95 percent of people respect our rules. The others who don't are usually the ones who don't need it."

The women took three boxes of bottled water and half a box of Fanta, both of which had just been dropped off that morning.

"You can get bottled water from the tap; the bottled water is specifically for our homeless family, and everybody knows this."

BK 2 Basics help hundreds of rough sleepers every week, many of them New Zealanders who have no access to benefits in Australia.

The video has received over 50,000 views and over 600 comments, all expressing outrage at the thieves. All commenters agreed it was an act of greed, and that the thieves' behaviour was "shameful".

Other users that had been helped by the charity in the past said that the video "made them sick".

"You guys have helped my family out so much over the last few months... seeing this breaks my heart.

"I can't believe someone has so little morality to steal from a charity for the homeless and financially disadvantaged. This is a horrible thing to see, it honestly shakes me to the core."

Ms Warren asked the police if she could post the video on the organisation's Facebook page, and they encouraged her to do so.

After posting, the women were identified within five minutes.

One of the women messaged Ms Warren, and denied that they had taken anything they were not entitled to.

"She turned it around on me and said she had only stolen three packets of biscuits. You can see from the video that they do not just have three packets of biscuits."

Ms Warren won't press charges, as she believes the video on Facebook is "punishment enough".

Newshub.You are here: World

 Flash

China said on Wednesday that it hoped relevant media would report news abiding by principles of being objective and fair.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks when asked for comments on The Wall Street Journal reporting that Chinese diplomats had contact with Venezuelan opposition representatives in Washington.

"Recently, some media have been cooking up fake news. I don't know what the purpose is," said Hua at a press briefing. "We hope relevant media will report news abiding by principles of being objective and fair."

As for the current Venezuela issue, China advocates seeking a political settlement through dialogue and consultation, Hua said.But 20-year long data collected from a NASA instrument orbiting Earth aboard two satellites was able to show that human activity in China and India dominated the greening of the planet.

"This long-term data lets us dig deeper," Rama Nemani, a research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, said.

"When the greening of the Earth was first observed, we thought it was due to a warmer, wetter climate and fertilisation from the added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, leading to more leaf growth in northern forests, for instance."

Now, with the 20-year long data, he said it "lets us understand the phenomenon at really small scales, [and] we see that humans are also contributing".

China has contributed the most to Earth's greening, ahead of India, and then the European Union, Canada, Russia, Australia, the United States and Mexico, respectively."The Flinders River System is now a flood plain. This is a mega river making its way up to the gulf."

All the water has now collected into one basin, and is beginning to spill over into other rivers, reports 7 News.

The enormous river has only been in existence for two weeks, but it is already a direct contributor to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of cattle.

Their dead bodies are now posing a high risk of disease, with one woman dead and nine seriously ill in Townsville after becoming infected by melioidosis bacteria after the flood, reports 7 News.

Around one in five people who contract the infection die.

Newshub.He likely wasn't expecting the responses correcting him.

"To the OP it is 2163 km of, often rather rough, sea between Sydney and Auckland. Despite similar histories, Australia and New Zealand are 2 different countries with immigration and customs formalities between them," one person wrote.

"Do yourself a whole lot of research, starting with a world map," another said.

It took a while for the penny to drop though as the poster asked about driving from Australia to New Zealand again after the replies started flooding in.



"Sydney-Auckland airfare is coming around 20K in December & we are 4 pax so 80K in total. Is flying cheaper or car will be cheaper?" they wrote.

"You still seem to think you can drive from Sydney to Auckland, I suggest you visit a travel agent and have them help you plan your trip. Or if you are set on doing this yourself, look at a map and read some travel guides," one person responded.

"Once again, seriously, you cannot drive from Australia to NZ, there is about 2000km of ocean between the two countries," another wrote.

The world's longest sea crossing is the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, which is a 55km long series of tunnels between three cities.

That's around 1945km less than the distance between Auckland and Sydney.

Newshub.The mayor of Invercargill has slammed the Government's proposal to merge New Zealand's polytechnics, saying it would be devastating for the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT).

On Wednesday, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced the Labour-led Government intended to merge New Zealand's 16 polytechnics in an attempt to strengthen vocational education and attract more students.

"The strong labour market is encouraging young people to move directly into the workforce rather than continue in formal education, when it needs to be smarter and accommodate both," Mr Hipkins said.

Last year, Mr Hipkins told Newshub Nation that polytechnics would likely have to merge or shut down due to low enrolment numbers forcing significant monetary investments from Government. Cabinet papers showed an estimated 80 percent of polytechnics would be making a loss by 2022 on current enrolment figures.

The new proposal suggests the polytechnics be merged into one entity, called the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology, which could be responsible for vocational centres with specific focusses, such as agriculture.

But Invercargill mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt has said it would be disastrous for the city's polytechnic, SIT, which he said isn't dealing with any financial strife.

"It will be devastating quite frankly; we are being punished for being successful," he said.

"It will have an impact on international students, and we have travelled all around the world recruiting, also the loss of our assets and our cash reserves."

He said he would fight against the proposal, which is open for public consultation until March 27, and said it wasn't the first battle SIT had faced.

"They tried to take $8 million out of our budget, as they said we didn't need the money whereas other institutions were running at a loss and that was about ten years ago."

Last year, Sir Shadbolt said SIT had also been hit by the Government's fees free programme as it had previously offered a Zero Fees scheme, which had attracted people to the city from outside of Southland.

In response, SIT and Mayor Tim Shadbolt launched accommodation bursaries which include either free shared student apartments or an accommodation payment, regardless of whether they live at home or rent.

Mr Shadbolt isn't the only one not pleased with the potential shakeup, with Garry Fisseden, CEO of The Skills Organisation, saying students will be disadvantaged under the proposed vocational sector reforms.

"Through close relationships with thousands of employers and trainees, ITOs (Industry Training Organisations) have an essential part in bridging the communication gap between industry and learning institutions.

"Employer engagement in industry training is essential to its success - the proposed new model puts this relationship, the responsiveness of training programmes to business needs, and the employment opportunities of thousands of students in jeopardy."

But Mr Hipkins believes polytechnics need to be expanded into new locations with more consistent courses.

He said there will be "more sharing of expertise and best-practice, and more use of online, distance, and blended learning".

Newshub.Andrew Geddis for The Spinoff.

The National MP's self-righteous defence for halting yesterday's meeting ignored the essential role the Opposition plays in upholding the select committee process, writes Andrew Geddis.

OPINION: On Wednesday something happened in Parliament that was on its face a clever but petty political move designed to capture headlines, yet at a deeper level ought to concern anybody interested in how New Zealand governs itself.

Forgive me while I set the scene with some bureaucratic jargon before I tell you why I think what happened matters.

Parliament's Finance and Expenditure Committee  a very important sub-group of MPs, because its remit is keeping an eye on how the billions and billions of our public dollars get spent  was due to begin its first meeting for 2019 at 8am.

It was going to hear from (and quiz) Finance Minister Grant Robertson on his Budget Policy Statement 2019, as well as examine how the Pike River Recovery Agency performed last year.

Not small potatoes stuff. And there were apparently 15-20 public submitters from around the country there to give the committee their views on these subjects.

But it turns out there was a problem.

You see, as with all select committees, this committee is made up of MPs from across Parliament: 6 Labour; 5 National; 1 NZ First; and 1 ACT. By 8 am, not all Labour's MPs had made it to the meeting room.

(There are different accounts as to how many were in attendance and why some Labour MPs werent there, so rather than litigate those details I'll pass over them because in the end it just doesnt matter that much.)

That didn't matter in itself, though, because all (or maybe some, as accounts again differ) of Nationals MPs were in attendance.

And taken together there were sufficient Labour and National MPs to satisfy the quorum requirement in Parliament's Standing Order 209: "half of the membership of the committee, rounded upwards where applicable."

However, rather than let the meeting start, the National MPs apparently spotted a chance to make some sort of point.

They left the committee room to stand in the hallway outside, thus depriving the Committee of its minimum numbers. Once the clock ticked past 8:10 am, the Chair was forced by Standing Order 209(3) to adjourn the committee meeting  meaning that it couldn't conduct any of the business it had planned for that day.

And those submitters who had turned up hoping to participate in the countrys governing processes? Out of luck, I'm afraid.

Let me start by giving you National's defence of what happened here, before I tell you why I think it is dangerously wrong.

According to David Carter  the previous Speaker of the House, mind you  it was all Labours fault: "It's the governments job to maintain a quorum and be organised. They called the meeting. They are expected to get out of bed and start at 8am."

I guess this claim helps furthers some sort of broader narrative about Labour being unable to govern properly.

And maybe there's something to Carter's allegation that a stand needed to be taken as "[w]e've watched the tardiness of MPs on this select committee for all of last year"  but I'd note that the Committee Chair, Michael Wood, expressly denied this claim on Twitter.

I'm going to leave the question of whether the move represents "good politics" to others, as it isn't my concern here.

Rather, I think this little stunt has the capacity to badly damage the role that select committees play in our parliamentary democracy.

Here's how Parliament itself describes those select committees:

New Zealand's select committee system enables members of Parliament to examine issues in more detail than is possible in the House of Representatives.

Select committees can also provide the public with an opportunity to comment on and suggest changes to impending legislation, and to participate in other parliamentary functions such as inquiries.

Select committees carry out public scrutiny of the Government's spending plans and of the performance and operations of Government departments, Crown entities, and State enterprises.

Select committees operate under the authority of the House and are required to report to the House.



I've highlighted that last line for a reason. You see, contra David Carter's claim, select committees aren't the government's responsibility to run.

In fact, they exist principally to let all MPs from all parties scrutinise, challenge and hold that government to account.



We know how important this activity is because back when this Parliament was getting started, National threatened to block the election of Speaker Trevor Mallard in order to increase the proposed number of places for MPs on select committees.

That action was necessary, Simon Bridges stated, as "[i]t means we can scrutinise things  ."

As such, running select committees is a collective responsibility of all MPs from all parties in order that the House of Representatives (which is not the executive government) can properly carry out its functions for the benefit of voters.

If select committees are seen as just the job of those MPs from the governing parties to run, then there literally is no point to them.

After all, consider this scenario. The seven governing party MPs on the Finance and Expenditure Committee vote to have an inquiry into government spending on (say) universities.

They then vote to only hear from witnesses who think the current government is doing a bang-up job on this issue.

The Chair then only allows the majority governing party MPs to ask questions of the witnesses. That majority then votes to produce a report that only contains the view of the majority.

Is this the sort of select committee process that David Carter  again, a former Speaker of the House  wants to see develop?

Because it's where we are headed if we take seriously his claim that, as an MP from an opposition party, essentially "it's not his job" to make sure a select committee can function.

I don't know why Carter and his National colleagues did what they did. Like I say, the politics is for others.

But I will say that it was wrong, it was dangerous and it shouldn't be repeated. Because the practices and shared understandings of Parliament as an institution ought to matter far more than immediate political grandstanding.

The Spinoff.Strained relations between New Zealand and China are reportedly having a flow-on effect on our tourism industry.

Tourists have been backing away from holidays in New Zealand after our relationship with China became tense, Chinese state-run website Global Times reports.

The Government refused Chinese telecommunications company Huawei permission to build parts of NZ's 5G network in November, causing the start of the kerfuffle.

Global Times reports Chinese "netizens" were upset by the news and have made their feelings known with their tourism dollars.

New Zealand was not ranked in the top 10 overseas tourist destinations on online travel platform Lvmama and China has postponed a tourism event that was due to take place at Te Papa on February 20.

Some Chinese visitors are even changing their plans to visit New Zealand, the tabloid claims.

"Is it a kind of robbery? New Zealand stabbed us in the back but asks for our money? This is double-faced," a Beijing-based worker known as Li told Global Times.

Li had saved 15,000 yuan (NZ$3200), but told Global Times he will instead be visiting neighbouring countries.

Also causing trouble is new law allowing Customs officers to check people's electronic devices at the border.

The Customs and Excise Act 2018, which came into effect on October 1, means Customs can demand to see any electronic devices and make travellers hand over the password.



Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern downplayed the tension, telling The AM Show on Monday NZ's relationship with China is "complex".

"There is no doubt the relationship comes with its challenges, as our relationships with a range of countries will from time to time.

"[But] doesn't undermine the strength of it, the maturity of it."

Newshub.A former Wellington teacher has pleaded guilty to filming more than 50 women through a two-way mirror in his bathroom.

The man, who has interim name suppression, pleaded guilty to 49 counts of making intimate visual recordings and five of making an objectionable publication.



A 29-year-old woman who was visiting from Hungary in August last year heard noises from behind the mirror as she was getting into the shower. She also noticed the shower curtain didnt quite close.

It was the next day, when she was cleaning, that she discovered a sliding whiteboard behind the mirror and a camera located in the wall that was connected to the garage. She then reported the matter to police.



The cameras external hard-drive contained 18 hours of intimate recordings of 54 different women showering, changing and using the toilet. They were taken over a five year period, between 2013 and 2018.



Some of the victims were between 12-14 years old. Two were members of the mans extended family.



He doesnt appear to have uploaded or distributed the images.



The man agreed to a process of restorative justice and has been referred for a psychiatric assessment.



He was remanded on bail until sentencing on June 19.



Newshub.Mike King says being named New Zealander of the Year feels "odd".

The comedian was awarded the title on Wednesday for his tireless work in raising awareness around New Zealand's shocking mental illness and suicide statistics.

"It's such an un-Kiwi thing to take an accolade," he told Three's The Project on Thursday. "I'll give my mates an accolade, I'll give it to my family, but to take one is the most un-Kiwi thing in the world."

Despite our collective tendency to cringe away from self-promotion, King believes learning to take pride in our achievements is vital to staying happy and balanced.

"The biggest mental health epidemic in New Zealand right now isn't depression or anxiety, it's an over-active inner critic," he says.

"We need to focus more on self-esteem issues, in particular in young people, and building up their self-esteem. A kid with great self-esteem, a kid who has a great sense of self-worth, is not going to be terrorised by some idiot on Facebook who says 'you're a dickhead'.

"It's kids who don't already feel great about themselves who are the ones who are at risk from social media."

King brought along a white gumboot for the hosts of The Project to sign as part of 'Gumboot Friday', an initiative to raise money for free kids' counselling.

The annual day will be on April 5 this year, and everyone in New Zealand is encouraged to wear gumboots to work or school and donate money through King's Key to Life Trust.

He says their aim is to raise $2 million so that young Kiwis can get the help they need free of charge.

"Having depression is like walking through mud for 365 days a year," he explained.

"So for one day put on your gumboots, go to work, go to school, and let's donate some money for kids to have some free counselling."

Newshub.Thirty-two Vietnam War veterans are being honoured with Special Service Awards this week, 50 years after they fought in the war.

It's seen as one of the final gestures from the Government, which has in the past been blamed for ignoring their service.

It's almost 50 years since Bill Teller arrived home from Vietnam. On Thursday, he finally received formal recognition for his exceptional bravery on the front-line.

"I'm usually a shorts and singlets guy, but here I am all scrubbed up," Mr Teller told Newshub.

The former Lance Corporal was 'Mentioned in Despatches' and recognised for bravery during the war. Mr Teller says he's honoured after reflecting on what he gave up to serve.

"I had my 21st birthday in a fox hole in Vietnam, and you look back now and there were a few things that I missed out on."

The move to recognise the men was spearheaded by former serviceman Bob Davies.

He says when a group of civilian entertainers was honoured by an investiture in 2014, he had to act.

"If they're going to do it for civilians who go to play music, they better do it for people who put their life on the line," Mr Davies said.

When soldiers arrived home from Vietnam, the response was painful. Protesters followed them, some were labelled "baby-killers", and many went into hiding.

The Government was blamed for ignoring their needs and service. For Defence Minister Ron Mark, this was an emotional day and a long time coming.

"Over recent years, I think we've moved to try correct some of those wrongs, to redress the errors and apologise," Mr Mark told Newshub.

In 2008, the Government did formally move to honour the veterans with a ceremony called 'Tribute08'. But for many, feelings of frustration still linger.

"And they've never actually satisfied people like myself - I think the New Zealand Government has got a long way to go," Mr Teller said.

They may still have years of righting wrongs left, but he says this is definitely a start.

Newshub.Controversial Canadian professor Jordan Peterson has weighed in on several hot New Zealand topics in an exclusive interview with Magic Talk's Sean Plunket.

The professor, whose comments on gender relations have polarised people around the globe, was asked by Plunket for his views on gender quotas for the Government's cabinet and company boards, which Minister for Women Julie-Anne Genter said has too many "old white men".

"I think there is absolutely no excuse for it," he said. "To pick your cabinet by genitalia is not an acceptable technical move."

There are currently no plans to introduce gender quotas in New Zealand workplaces.

Dr Peterson made a comparison to Canada, where he said at one point 25 percent of elected representatives were female, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made 50 percent of cabinet members female.

"What that certainly means is that the most qualified people were not selected, because it is statistically impossible for them to be selected," he said. "It was cheap virtue-signalling."

In response to Ms Genter's comments that there are too many "old white men in their 60s" sitting on company boards, the professor asked about her ethnicity, to which Plunket said she was a white American.

"Well maybe it is time for her to bloody well move aside, and let someone who isn't white have her position," he said, seemingly attempting to use Ms Genter's logic against her.

He said an attempt at gender quotas in Scandinavia, introduced to help women rise through managerial positions in organisations, had had "zero success" and there was no evidence that more women on boards elevated the financial performance of the company.

"What elevates the financial productivity of companies is quite clear - trait conscientiousness... and so does general cognitive ability, and that holds across sexes and races."

In 2007, Norway required all listed companies to have at least 40 percent women on their boards. But according to Anne-Grethe Solberg, a researcher at the Norwegian Work Research Institute, there has been no noticeable change in the decade since.

"We have not seen any noticeable effect regarding the share of women on management level in our listed companies," she said, reports Business Insider.

However a global index from Catalyst showed Fortune 500 companies with more women in their boardrooms outperformed those with fewer women, with a 16 percent higher return on sales.

When asked about his remarks, Ms Genter told Newshub she doesn't "waste too much time thinking about Jordan Peterson".

"Obviously he has his fans, I'm not one of them," she said. "I'm focused on my work, which is about improving diversity and decision-making and ensuring that women, particularly Maori and Pasifika women that have been extremely undervalued by our economic system, get a fair deal."

She said she "can't say she understands" Dr Peterson's popularity.

"Different people have different tastes."

Dr Peterson also criticised NZ First MP Tracey Martin's Bill that, if enacted, would ease the process by which transgender people can change the sex marker on their birth certificate.

"It is an attempt by a certain ideological movement to put forth the insistence that sex is only a sociological construct... so that it can be changed at whim," which he said he found strange as something that is learnt "cannot be changed at whim".

"Sex roles are not only learnt, they're partly learnt, and there are plenty of biological differences between men and women, and many of them aren't trivial.

"Men and women are more the same than they are different, but the differences are quite... at the extreme."

He said for that reason transgender women should not be allowed to compete in female sports, something he labelled "cultural insanity" and psychologically incomprehensible.

"To absolutely bloody demolish women after a year of work and then to tout that as some sort of victory for the oppressed, it is narcissistic beyond comprehension and it is a sign of what happens when you don't completely think things through."

The case of Kiwi weightlifter Laurel Hubbard has brought the issue of transgender athletes to New Zealand's attention in recent years.

Some say it's unfair for her to compete against rivals who were assigned female at birth because she retained much of her "male strength" having transitioned relatively late in life. Others say athletes in her position should not be forbidden from following their passion because of their gender identity.

Dr Peterson was speaking ahead of his New Zealand tour next week, where he is promoting his self-help book 12 Rules for Life.

Newshub.A decade has passed since Waikato mum Helen Meads was murdered by her husband, and her father has now taken the brave step to build a relationship with her killer.

"We need fathers to be fathers and he can't be a father inside," David White told The AM Show on Friday, reflecting on the death of his daughter.

"We need him back because, the trouble with New Zealand at the moment, is that something happens, and that's it for life. We have to change this attitude."

Helen was 42 when she was murdered in 2009 by her husband Greg Meads, 54 at the time, in a horse stables on the couple's Matamata property. Police said he used a shotgun to kill his wife following a domestic dispute.

The couple had been married for 10 years, but had split up shortly before Helen's death. She had begun moving out of the couple's home after suffering violence at his hands for several years.

Caught in the middle of it all were Helen's two daughters, Kimberley, who was 17 at the time, from a previous relationship, and Samantha, who was only nine.

"Poor old Kimberley, we packed her up a couple of months after and sent her down to Massey University to do her education there to become a teacher," Mr White recalled.

"It was really tough on her because she hardly had time to get her feet on the ground, and suddenly she was off to Massey, and I was miles away."

Samantha is now 18 and is set to study early education, he said.

She has been living with Mr White and his wife Pamela since Helen's death.

Confronting a killer

Despite Greg Meads saying in 2009 that he was "not a killer", Mr White told The AM Show he's moved on from the anger he felt towards him, and wants to build a relationship.

"The first time I saw him in prison, a lot of fathers would want to go and give him a smacking. I just walked up and shook his hand and said, 'Thank you for coming and talking to me'," Mr White said.

"We had to get a dialogue going between us, not for Greg and myself, but because of the children involved."

Greg was found guilty of murdering his wife in 2009 and was sentenced to life with a minimum non-parole period of 11 years, but he's due for parole in three years' time.

Asked how he felt about that and whether he'd like to see Greg out of prison, Mr White admitted that he would like to see him free.

"To be honest, I want him out. We need fathers to be fathers and he can't be a father inside.

"I visit a lot of prisons, and one of the things I hear most regularly; the guys that are in there are cut off from being the father they want to be.An area of scrub and pine forest spanning 2.5 hectares is still burning in the Waikato suburb of Mangakino.

Newshub has been told the blaze is being contained between a main road and a power lines access road.

Three choppers and two bulldozers are in attendance, and the roads around the fire remain closed.

Around 50 firefighters and several helicopters were earlier battling the large blaze, north of Lake Taupo. Just after 5pm it was said to be spreading rapidly up a hill and moving towards the forest.

Daniel Nicholson from Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) says crews are working hard.

"We've just been told that a helicopter is currently at work with a monsoon bucket, and further helicopters are setting up to carry out aerial operations," he explained.The SPCA has confirmed several dogs were found dead in a vehicle on an Interislander ferry on Monday night.

An investigation into what happened is underway, with authorities apparently reluctant to discuss the matter.

The dogs were found in a ute on the vehicle deck of the ferry. The SPCA confirmed several dogs were found in an aluminium dog box on the ute tray.

They wouldn't confirm how many 'several' were, but it's believed to be at least five.

"Three others had to be humanely euthanised due to the extent of their condition," the SPCA said in a statement.

"A thorough investigation is underway by our vets and experienced SPCA inspectors."

They wouldn't comment further.

The Interislander operates three ferries between Picton and Wellington, with around 4000 crossings of the Cook Strait each year.

Its website details what to do if bringing pets on a crossing.

"During peak season, we recommend you book a kennel if you are bringing a pet, as we cannot guarantee shaded parking will be available."

"Your pet can remain in your vehicle for the journey for no extra charge... you must inform check-in staff that you have a pet in your vehicle. It must left ventilated with water for the animal."

Kennels can be added to a booking for $15, which it says are in a cool, well-ventilated area.

Kiwirail, which operates the Interislander, says it makes it clear that keeping pets fed and watered is the owner's responsibility.

Kiwirail told Newshub it's a system that's been in use for many years ,and that they are loathe to stop this practice for the majority who take responsibility for their pets and follow the recommended guidelines.

Police confirmed they did attend the incident, but say the SPCA is responsible for investigating and prosecuting animal neglect and cruelty, and it would be inappropriate for them to comment further.

Kiwirail described the deaths as tragic and distressing for everyone involved.

Newshub.Elton John will play a fourth show in Hawkes Bay for his 'Farewell Yellow Brick Road' tour in 2020.

Mission Estate Winery announced the show on Thursday, after would-be concert-goers missed out on tickets due to "phenomenal demand from our Mission Concert Club members".

Tickets will go on sale at noon on Friday.

According to the venue's website, thousands of people are on the waitlist, so those wanting tickets to Sir Elton John's very last show had better be quick.

Newshub.GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more"Darkseid is."

These two words, uttered throughout DC comics book in reference to the heroes biggest bad, never seemed more unsettling than in the recent 12-issue series Mister Miracle. Constantly interrupting the narrative of the story, they became a chilling metaphor for mental illness, the pressures of daily life, and the constant temptation to give up.

Picking up from the storyline in the original 1970s series by Jack Kirby, Mister Miracle took the character of Scott Free - son of Highfather of New Genesis, traded to Darkseid for an end to war, escaped to Earth and became a crime-fighting escape artist married to fellow refugee Big Barda - and grounded him in a world that was equal parts realistic and unreal. In the aftermath of a suicide attempt to escape life, Scott found himself wondering if he could trust his own senses - or was even still alive - as the war against Darkseid escalated, the traumas of the past weighed on him, and the only way to end the bloodshed seemed to be to repeat the tragedies of the past.

Also, there were veggie plates.

Mister Miracle proved an unexpected hit for DC, winning two Eisner awards and going through multiple reprints as the series moved toward its surreal, moving conclusion. With the collection of the series hitting stores this week, Newsarama spoke with series writer Tom King, who reteamed with his The Sheriff of Babylon artist Mitch Gerads for the book, on the phone for a look back.

(Image credit: Mitch Gerads/Clayton Cowles (DC))

Newsarama: Tom, what were some of the origins of the Mister Miracle title? What kind of setup or logline did you use to pitch your take on the character?

Tom King: I think the beginning idea was, and it evolved from there, was, Heres a guy who can escape anything, and so he says, I can escape any challenge you can throw at me, so he decides to escape life, and he kills himself. And then the book goes on from there.

Obviously, it evolved a lot, and became something a lot more personal, and political.

Nrama: What were some elements from the original Jack Kirby series that were most important to you, and how did you want to depict those elements? While its from a different perspective, theyre still very present in your version.

King: Yeah, absolutely. The whole idea was that no one can Out-Kirby Kirby - if you try to make it more cosmic and more epic, youre going to fail. You cant play any louder than Kirby is playing, so instead, were going to try to harmonize - play different notes, and try to fit them in with his notes.

So, the way to do that was to take Kirbys ideas - which are these huge ideas that affect mankind and the world - and try to internalize them and turn them into sort of a metaphor for one familys struggle to just through this world. Which I think is something that Kirby himself originated, and Im just kind of standing on his shoulders and shouting a bit.

Nrama: Theres a lot of intimacy in his work thats often overlooked because of the cosmic elements  the Fantastic Four stories really brought soap opera interaction to comics, and there are many moments of introspection in the original Fourth World books.

King: Oh yeah. When I read the Fourth World stuff, to me it reads like an incredibly personal work. It reads to me as a guy whod been through war and come back from it; it reads to me as a guy whod achieved his greatest dream in life, which was to become this sort of comic creator for his family and then lost it, and was trying to recover it when he moved from Marvel to DC. Its known that he originally developed the Fourth World for Marvel as this kind of Asgardian world, then he brought it over to DC when he felt disrespected how Marvel treated him.

To me, when I read it, I see all of that mixed up - all that anger at Stan Lee, Marvel, all of that combined with a guy who grew up in the Jewish ghettos of the Lower East Side and had to scrap for everything he ever had, and fought his way through World War II  to me, it reads as an entirely personal work.

Most of all, of course, theres the treatment of Big Barda, whos clearly based on his wife Roz Kirby, and their relationship.

(Image credit: Mitch Gerads/Clayton Cowles (DC))

Nrama: Theres also an undercurrent of religion and religious dogma as part of that work, and thats something Ive seen in Mister Miracle and other things youve written  The Sheriff of Babylon, the use of William James and the alien religions in The Omega Men, for example. How did you interpret the use of religion and of the New Gods as capital-G Gods in this particular work?

King: Yeah, I think thats a central factor of both the original work and my work  Mister Miracle himself is this Christ-like figure, hes literally the son of God --

Nrama: I noticed the structure of your story echoes some elements of The Last Temptation of Christ.

King: Yeah, thats actually true. But of course, the son of God sacrifices himself for our sins, and Mister Miracle does that, but he didnt do it by choice  his father chose it for him. The man who can only do good in this world decided to do a horrible, evil thing, to give his only son to a torturer.

And you have it so Scott is able to correct that sacrifice and escape and be reborn, but he still has to go on and live his life. And I find that fascinating, and in many ways thats the center of the book.

(Image credit: Mitch Gerads/Clayton Cowles (DC))

Nrama: You also have this theme of family in it, and the concept of familial loyalty and abuse. Theres been a lot of focus, and rightly so, on the books themes of fatherhood and the fear of bringing children into the world, but the focus is very heavily on the aftermath of being an abused child, and a fear of being unable to properly give love and to protect a child as a result of what youve experienced yourself.

King: Yeah  I personally didnt have the happiest childhood, and I think a lot of nerds like me, a lot of people who are attracted to this story, are products of a similar experience. I think comics reach out to a lot of people whove experienced alienation in their youth.

But then, I found myself raising children and having that experience  how do you both avoid what was done to you and give the next generation something a little better, but not deny who you are as a person, and deal with the temptations of (the experiences that) ground you?

The revelation of having children is that you start to understand your parents a little more, for better and for worse. So that stuff with the family, thats very personal to me.

Nrama: When you and Mitch were working together to try and visually depict those thematic elements of depression, alienation, questioning reality, Darkseid Is  what was that creative process like?

King: Mitch is my favorite artist in comics, and the story is as much him as it is me. Its no coincidence that Mitch had his first child in the middle of drawing this, and almost as soon as young West appeared, young Jacob appeared.

Its hard not to embrace cliches when writers talk about their artists. For me, Mitch makes writing as easy as possible. I can close my eyes and see what hell draw, and then hell draw that but a little better, which is the best way to write. And hes also one of my best friends, so it feels like were partners in an old TV cop show, like we got each others backs, things like that.

Nrama: King and Gerads, Wednesdays at 9.

King: [Laughs] Mitch is kind of a quiet innovator. He comes more from the Alex Toth school, as opposed to the Jack Kirby school, and hes sort of quietly revolutionizing comics, finding new ways of moving comics forward, of making them more realistic without losing the cartooning of it. I think hes tearing down barriers in the field right now.

(Image credit: Mitch Gerads/Clayton Cowles (DC))

Nrama: A lot of the book focuses on - very subversively, toward the end - the nature of continuity, the circular nature of comics history and the DC Universe in particular. It seems to be saying, Whatevers going to happen is going to happen, but were sticking with this version of the characters. Again, I was curious about your thoughts on continuity and the difficulty of tying things into a larger continuity base, especially given what youre doing right now with Heroes in Crisis  Mister Miracle is very consciously poking at that everything is going to reset or everything is going to come around again mentality.

King: Yeah, theres a little post-modernity to the whole thing, but also in the service of the emotional stakes of the story. Alan Moore said it best, right? This is an imaginary story, but then arent they all?

Nrama: And Nothing ever ends, from Watchmen.

King: Exactly. The idea at the end, not to spoil too much for people who havent read it, is that he has to decide whether hes in-continuity or not, and thats dealing with whether he can accept his life or not, or whether theres something better out there thats more ideal, and the idea of whats real and whats not is metaphorically put into this idea of whats continuity and whats not.

And of course it kind of relates to the idea of how you and I relate to the real world - just looking at our own reality and going, Whats real and whats not? What fits into continuity? I kind of feel like the last three years of American life dont fit into continuity. [Laughs] Continuity is broken.

Nrama: Well, there was that Astro City story where the guy finds out the woman hes been dreaming about is his wife who was never born because she was erased in the last time-bending crisis

King: Thats the famous one, Issue #. Beautiful story.

(Image credit: Mitch Gerads/Clayton Cowles (DC))

Nrama: But what you just said about reality reminds me of the perspective that series has, and what you do in Mister Miracle, which is to provide this kind of, looking in through the keyhole perspective on the Fourth World and the DC Universe itself. The other heroes are off doing their own things, and Scott and Barda have this whole crazy war, which is on a cosmic scale but mostly keeps finding its way into their living room.

King: Yeah, and at the end, Scott has to choose - to embrace this crazy life that he built, or go back to reality. The cliche answer and the cliche scene would be to choose reality, but I dont think thats what the book is about.

Nrama: And by the end, you explore the idea that family, that the challenges of everyday life, can be seen as both Heaven and Hell

King: Well, I wouldnt put it exactly that way, because my wife might [Laughs]

Its tough for me to talk about any of this stuff, because I know what the book means to me, and what I intended with it, and I could lay it all out on this 1:1 ratio.

But for me, the magic of the book, or what makes the book good if it is good, is that it interacts with the audience and that the audience is involved in it and becomes part of it, the way Mister Miracle sort of becomes part of his own reality. So, if I give you the 1:1 answers, I feel like Im kind of robbing the audience of the experience

(Image credit: Mitch Gerads/Clayton Cowles (DC))

Nrama: And I dont want to do that, or try to pull those answers from you  but its an interesting thing, sometimes, not to necessarily answer a question but to raise it in the first place.

King: Oh, I dont think youre doing that! But my defenses go up whenever I talk about the book. [Laughs]

I dont want to take those questions from the audience.

[Pause]

Wait, what was the question again?

Nrama: I didnt quite get to it! [Laughs]

But youre exploring these concepts of family and this very intimate perspective of a larger, chaotic universe where everythings shifting around you constantly - where theres war, theres death, and youre just trying to get though the challenge of being a person each day. And that seems to be the larger point of the book, that the real world can be as challenging as a fantastic one.

King: Absolutely. I think when comics work best, or at least they work best for me, its on two levels. One level is these big, bombastic awesome story that youre kind of trapped inside of and cant get out, and another level, you have that crazy story as a kind of analogy or metaphor for what happens in life.

So, when you read the original Galactus story by Kirby and Lee, youre like, Oh, this is a cool story, theres this huge monster from space. But then theres also all this religious symbolism, and symbolism from the perspective of Silver Surfer, and you start to see what its like to have a mentor thats not quite right and you have to rebel against him but you cant. It works on all those levels.

Were trying to do that with Mister Miracle. On the one level, its a story about a guy with a family who has to fight these huge demons and everything, but its also like what its like to just live with a family. Everyone I know lives in two worlds. Theres one world with their family trying to keep themselves together, and theres the professional world, where theyre trying to build themselves into who theyve always wanted to be. And sometimes, those two worlds clash.

(Image credit: Mitch Gerads/Clayton Cowles (DC))

Nrama: And I think thats very similar to some of your other works, where you show these successful domestic partnerships  at least things where the concept of Its you and I against the world makes more sense than, Here are a lot of melodramatic obstacles coming between us. You genuinely understand why Scott and Barda are together, and what bonds them.

King: Ah man, thats true with Mister Miracle, but Im also the guy whos infamous for not letting Batman and Catwoman find their happy ending yet, so [Laughs] I cant say that I havent gone to the melodramatic pull-the-rug-out-from-under-you place yet in my work

Nrama: Well, that books less self-contained, so

Any general thoughts about the response to the series and what its meant to you personally as we wrap up?

King: I started the series in a real bad place in my life. Not objectively; I was doing well, my family was happy and healthy, my job was going great, and it was my dream job. But somehow, there was something inside of me that was just driving me insane, and it had to do with my childhood, but also due to external events, what was going on with the country and the world.

And I wanted to write about that; I wanted to write about that contrast, about living in the moment right now. And when I look at the book, I think I did it. Im insanely proud of it. I write a lot of stuff on a deadline; I write about a book a week, and sometimes I accomplish what I want, and sometimes I dont. But with Mister Miracle, Im really proud about how it came out. Thats all.

Nrama: Well, I hope you found some catharsis through doing this story.

King: [Laughs] Im not sure if I believe in catharsis. If you read my work, its almost the opposite of catharsis! Its like, catharsis isnt what gets us through. What gets us through is just getting through. But I will say  Ive gotten through.Jeffersonville, IN (47130)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 74F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 74F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.Cyclists Whitney Theis and Lewis Hicks pedal over Silver Creek on the newly built Ohio River Greenway bridge between New Albany and Clarksville in this file photo. The bridge is part of the new Lewis and Clark Trail that will officially open in spring 2019.Funeral services for Thomas Armond "Tommy" Ritch, 72, will be Friday, June 11 at 11 a.m. from the Chapel of Kilgroe Funeral Home. Interment to followe at Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Cemetery in Gallant. The family will receive friends on Friday from 10 a.m. until service time at funeral homeAmid all the calls for the resignation of Gov. Ralph Northam, who admitted to wearing blackface makeup in the 1980s when he was a medical student, guess which group of Virginia voters is most staunchly supporting Northam?

Would you believe, African-Americans?

Yes, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll taken as the controversy boiled last week, a 58 percent majority of black Virginia residents who identify or lean Democratic said he should remain in office. Thats compared with 49 percent of white Democratic voters and leaners.

As an African-American, I was surprised but not shocked to hear that the group that presumably should be the most offended by Northams youthful indiscretion may well be his strongest supporters as a group.

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.RICHMOND - Those convicted of any of 15 capital crimes should have to serve life in prison, eliminating the discretion of a jury in favor of a mandatory minimum sentence, under legislation passed by the Virginia Senate Wednesday along a party line vote.

The bill calls for life in prison for anyone over the age of 18 convicted of premeditated murder of a police officer, fire marshal or their deputies; judges; an abduction victim; a pregnant woman with the intent to kill the fetus; someone under the age of 14; and 10 other capital crimes, including premeditated murder for hire.

Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, said that if legislators do not believe those crimes deserve life in prison or a death penalty, then they should be removed from the list of capital crimes, which he called "reprehensible offenses." In Virginia, juries that convict someone of a capital crime then have to choose the sentence, Obenshain said.

But several northern Virginia Democrats pushed back on his argument, saying the legislature should trust juries.

"These are heinous crimes," said Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax. "But juries are the voice of the people and they have the ability to make these decisions better than we do. I trust juries more than I trust politicians."Please register or log in to keep reading

Stay logged in to skip the surveys.LOVINGSTON -- Fans of The Waltons will soon have the opportunity to stay in a Waltons-inspired, Depression-era style bed-and-breakfast in Schuyler after the Nelson County Board of Supervisors voted to approve a rezoning and special use permit request at its meeting last week.

The board of supervisors voted 3-0 on Tuesday to approve a rezoning request for business to residential and a special use permit request from Carole Johnson, sole owner of the Waltons Hamner House.

West District representative Thomas Bruguiere, chair and South District representative Larry Saunders and East District representative Jesse Rutherford voted to approve both requests. Vice chair and North District representative Tommy Harvey and Central District representative Ernie Reed were absent.

Johnson hopes to construct a bed-and-breakfast inspired by the Waltons home from the Hollywood set of the TV series The Waltons for people coming to Schuyler for Walton events.

Its going to be wonderful, Johnson said at the meeting Feb. 12.

The bed-and-breakfast, set to be constructed at 6483 Rockfish River Road across from the Waltons Mountain Museum, would consist of five bedrooms and five bathrooms. Two people will live in the bed-and-breakfast full time.I just cant believe only one person voted against it  its like they dont care, she said.  Its just like a nightmare.

After the meeting, Mills said he heard from many of his constituents leading up to the meeting and a majority didnt want it.

I just voted for the people in my district, he said. They were against it.  I represent the people.

Trevor Hipps, who lives off of Stage Road close to the proposed site, helped organize neighbors in opposition by way of a Facebook group called Dump the Dump. Disappointed with the vote, he said he would have liked to hear more discussion on the project beforehand.

You would think that they would want to show a little bit more compassion to the people in the room  maybe ask a few more questions, be more engaging, something like that, he said. It gives the constituents a bad taste in their mouth when they think that their government ignores them.

A review by the Virginia Department of Transportation determined trucks wouldnt be able to enter or exit the facility directly from U.S. 460. Instead, the trucks would have to access it by way of Stage Road across from Phoebe Pond Road, according to Johnnie Roark, director of community development.New Delhi: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday called off her first press conference and observed a two-minute silence expressing grief over the deaths of 40 CRPF personnel when a suicide bomber rammed a Scorpio car laden with explosives into a CRPF convoy in Awantipora town of Pulwama district.

Sources said Adil Ahmad Alias Waqas, a resident of Pulwama, was the man driving the car that rammed the 55-seater CRPF bus. Such a car bomb suicide attack is happening after several years.

The press conference was meant to wrap up her four-day visit to the state, the first after being appointed in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

"This conference was called for political discussions. But when our jawans have been killed in a terror attack in Pulwama, I feel it would not be right if we have political discussions at this time," she told reporters at the press conference venue.

"I can very well understand the pain and grief of losing a loved one in the family. I want to say that not only the Congress party but the entire country is standing shoulder to shoulder with the families of our brave soldiers. But we must also reflect and be concerned about the high number of casualties in Kashmir. We demand that this government take concrete steps to ensure such terror attacks dont happen in the future," she said.

The Congress leader has held a series of discussions with party workers over the past four days, with at least one session lasting through the night.

The Congress is trying to revive itself in the state where it faces a challenge from the Bharatiya Janata Party as well as an alliance of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.

Although the new AICC general secretary has faced the press briefly in recent days, this was slated to be her first formal interaction.For a country in which more than 10% of the population live below the poverty line, it can be difficult and expensive to have effective waste management solutions in place. A number of medical facilities in Indonesia do not have access to on-site waste disposal.

In recent times, large facilities have been commissioned by government-backed initiatives for the purposes of safely collecting and disposing of great volumes of medical waste.

Use of i8-M700 Medical Incinerator for Disposing Medical Waste

Inciner8 were contacted to help dispose of waste generated by a number of clinics, health-care centers, laboratories, and hospitals. They supplied their most advanced high capacity medical incinerator for this purpose  the i8-M700 Medical Incinerator with a loading procedure which is entirely automatic.

Gamal Albinsaid  the CEO of the health company Indonesia Medika  is an award-winning healthcare entrepreneur. He pioneered the Garbage Clinical Insurance scheme, which finances a health micro-insurance system by encouraging low-income households to recycle their rubbish in a country where over 10% live below the poverty line.

The required machine must incinerate as many as 5 tons of numerous kinds of medical waste daily. Consequently, only products of the highest quality are suitable. The i8-700 meets all of the operators requirements, including the continuous loading system which is operated by hydraulic rams.

This technology allows for the safe incineration of medical waste within the combustion chamber, protecting against the danger of flashing. This phenomenon is dangerous for the operators and can be caused when flammable waste instantly ignites.

Inciner8s automatic loading system protects against this risk. The equipment can be operated with the utmost safety for the operators, while maintaining the highest quality performance.

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Inciner8 are a globally respected manufacturing organisation offering a range of Incinerators for all applications in the waste management industry, our products are specifically designed with clean air incineration at the forefront of our product development for Medical, Animal by product and General Municipal waste streams.

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On top of supplying a range of standard models we have developed a bespoke service for specialist markets and requirements thus ensuring we cater for the needs of this growing industry.

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We are very proud of our company and Brand, our continued focus is to ensure we enhance that position on a global basis with new product development, listening to our clients as part of that process and communicating consistently in every aspect of our daily activity to keep our valued clients abreast of market changes and future developments from Inciner8.

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Sponsored Content Policy: News-Medical.net publishes articles and related content that may be derived from sources where we have existing commercial relationships, provided such content adds value to the core editorial ethos of News-Medical.Net which is to educate and inform site visitors interested in medical research, science, medical devices and treatments.The study, published in February 2019's sex-themed issue of Circulation, found if you're a woman, you're twice as likely to experience a stroke or death following surgery

New research says women fare worse than men following aortic heart surgery.

Researchers examined three different outcomes: early death, stroke and a composite of complications. In every case, women were more likely to wind up sicker.

The study, published in February 2019's sex-themed issue of Circulation, found if you're a woman, you're twice as likely to experience a stroke or death following surgery. More specifically, women are 80 per cent more likely to die, 90 per cent more likely to experience a stroke, and 40 per cent more likely to experience a complication.

"We controlled for patients' age, weight, pre-operative health, co-morbidities, and when we took all of that into consideration, going into aortic arch surgery, you're slightly less than twice as likely to die if you're a woman," explains Dr. Jennifer Chung, cardiac surgeon and scientist at Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. She is the lead author on the paper.

Dr. Michael Chu, clinician scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute and cardiac surgeon at London Health Sciences Centre, says these findings are consistent with other recent findings in cardiovascular medicine that also suggest women experience worse outcomes. Dr. Chu served as the paper's senior investigator.

"Historically, this issue has not been well addressed," Dr. Chu says. "Sex-specific considerations are paramount in cardiovascular medicine, and we investigated this in the largest study to-date, looking at outcomes after thoracic aortic surgery.

"Similar to other areas in cardiovascular medicine, our study suggests women present later in the disease process perhaps with atypical symptoms, like nausea. This may explain the difference in outcome between women and men in emergency situations, when patients experience something like an aortic dissection, or a ruptured aorta.

"But even still - we analyzed both situations - when people came for elective versus emergency surgery - and women still did worse either way."

An aortic dissection is an emergency, and can initially present like a heart attack or a stroke. Symptoms include sudden chest pain, dizziness, nausea and challenges walking and speaking.

Dr. Chung stresses this study should prompt further research that will help clinicians figure out why women are suffering from poorer outcomes than men.

"We have discovered an unfortunate phenomenon that will hopefully lead us down a path of more personalized medicine," she says. "This helps us understand that surgery shouldn't be the same for men and women, and that we must educate ourselves about picking up symptoms in women sooner.

"Our take home is that we need to do more research."

This paper is an initiative by the Canadian Thoracic Aortic Collaborative (CTAC) and uses nationwide data from almost 1,700 patients who have undergone aortic arch surgery. Data comes from cities across Canada including Victoria, Laval, Toronto - including the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre - Ottawa, Sudbury, Kingston and Winnipeg.

A total of 10 institutions were involved in compiling this data. The CTAC, led by Dr. Chu, is a group of Canadian cardiac surgeons with interests in aortic surgery and work to promote it through a focus on clinical excellence, collaboration and research.

"There shouldn't be an outcome gap between men and women," says Dr. Chung. "We shouldn't accept that women are more 'fragile.' We should work to minimize that gap as much as possible."

Source: https://www.uhn.ca/A high proportion of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) cases can be cured in conflict-affected communities with molecular diagnostics, shorter treatment periods and socioeconomic incentives, according to the results of a large, long-term study in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) led by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and Stellenbosch University in South Africa, in collaboration with the DRC National Tuberculosis Program.

The findings, reported today in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, could guide clinicians and public health workers in other post-conflict or low-income countries battling or at-risk for TB outbreaks.

TB is caused by a bacteria that usually attacks the lungs and spreads through the air when a person with an active TB lung infection coughs, sneezes or talks. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a quarter of the world's population is infected with TB, though not all have active cases, and there are 1.3 million TB-related deaths annually. Some of the bacteria that cause TB have developed resistance to the antibiotics commonly used to treat it.

"Conventional treatment regimens for multidrug resistant TB can be as much as 1,000 times more expensive and take four times as long as treatment for regular TB. The cure rate is only about 50 percent, and treatment can have severe side effects, such as permanent hearing loss," said senior study author Jean B. Nachega, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., associate professor in the departments of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at Pitt Public Health, and director of the Centre for Infectious Diseases at Stellenbosch University. "Without effective therapy, people with multidrug-resistant TB can infect others who have never had TB before."

The Second Congo War, which started in 1997, caused massive disruption of health care services in the eastern DRC, contributing to an increase in TB cases and TB-related deaths. According to the World Health Organization, there were about 262,000 new cases of TB and 56,000 TB-related deaths in the DRC in 2017.

Nachega partnered with lead study author Andre N.H. Bulabula, M.D., M.Sc., a doctoral student in Stellenbosch's Department of Global Health and member of the Infection Control Africa Network, as well as colleagues from the DRC National TB Program, to evaluate 16,448 patients for TB between 2012 and 2017 in post-conflict DRC. They used a new molecular diagnostic tool called Xpert MTB/RIF to detect multidrug-resistant TB in less than two hours, something that can take several weeks using conventional tests. The scientists found TB in 1,535 patients, and 170 of them, or 11 percent, had a strain of TB resistant to the antibiotic rifampicin.

Patients with rifampicin-resistant TB were assigned to either receive a new nine-month regimen, which involved receiving four different antibiotics throughout, supplemented by three other antibiotics (including one injectable) during a four-month intensive phase, or the conventional 20- or 24-month treatment regimens, which involved five different antibiotics taken throughout, supplemented by one injectable antibiotic during a six-month intensive phase. All of the patients were assigned to "directly observed therapy," where a nurse at the local clinic, or a community health worker or trained family member at home observed the patient take their medication.

Of the patients who received the nine-month schedule, 83 percent were cured, compared to 74 percent of those receiving conventional therapy. The biggest predictors of success were the consistent use of directly observed therapy, the lack of serious drug side effects that can cause a patient to stop therapy, and the patient receiving cash incentives for adherence to treatment.

"In this challenging treatment setting, it is compelling that our findings are in line with those previously reported by observational studies in Bangladesh and other sub-Saharan African countries, as well as the interim results of an ongoing multinational randomized trial," said study co-author Zacharie M. Kashongwe, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pulmonology at the University of Kinshasa in the DRC.

Nachega added that the data should inform new multidrug-resistant TB care guidelines in low- and middle-income countries, including expanding use of the Xpert testing; prompt initiation of shorter, less-toxic drug regimens that are ideally entirely taken orally; involving trained community health workers in delivering TB services; and developing, as well as initiating, community-based drug-resistant TB prevention strategies.A young squirrel lucky enough to take over territory from an adult male squirrel is like a teenager falling into a big inheritance, according to a new University of Guelph study.

Researchers found male squirrels store more food than females, and if a young squirrel leaving the nest nabs a storage spot previously owned by a male squirrel, they will increase their lifetime pup production by 50 per cent.

"It's like buying a home and finding a big pile of money buried in the walls," said integrative biology professor Andrew McAdam, who worked on the study with lead author David Fisher, a former U of G post doc. "The previous owner of where you live can significantly impact how well off you are, at least in the squirrel world."

Published in the journal Ecology Letters, the study involved hundreds of North American red squirrels.

It is part of the Kluane Red Squirrel Project, a long-term study in the Yukon investigating the ecology and evolution of red squirrels. Started by the University of Alberta in 1987, the project brings together scientists from several universities, including the University of Guelph, University of Michigan, and University of Saskatchewan to monitor behavior and reproduction of hundreds of individually marked squirrels. For more information on the project see http://www. redsquirrel. ca

For this study, Fisher and colleagues measured the food stores and reproductive outcome of young squirrels that took over real estate previously owned by either males or females who disappeared.

Squirrels collect spruce cones in the fall and store them in the ground in a "midden" for winter. A hoard can contain more than 20,000 cones, and they can remain edible for several years, said Fisher

"Good thing too, because spruce trees produce cones in boom-bust patterns. There are more bust than boom years, so if squirrels don't store enough in the boom years they won't have enough food to survive the bust years."

It's common for squirrels to take over the territories of other squirrels after they die and in taking over another squirrel's territory, they also inherit their food stores, added Fisher.

"We have seen a food store last as long as 31 years -- as long as we have been studying these squirrels -- and owned by 13 different squirrels over that time period," said McAdam.

In this study, researchers found that if a squirrel inherits its territory from a male rather than a female, it will have around 1,300 more cones on average in its midden. This stored energy will keep the squirrel alive for an extra 17 days.

The study also revealed that squirrels at their prime, which is three to four years old, have more cones than younger and older squirrels. This difference means squirrels that inherit their territory from a squirrel that died in mid-age inherit a larger cone store than those that inherit from a young or old squirrel.

"If a female squirrel is lucky enough to take over this prime real estate, then she will have lots of food, which allows her to breed earlier," said McAdam. "This means her offspring will leave the nest early and they will have improved survival rates. Essentially, it will improve this squirrel's genetic contribution to the next generation."

These finding show how the behavior of one squirrel can impact the genetic contribution to the population of another squirrel they have never met, said Fisher.

"Ultimately, the food hoarding behavior of a squirrel you have never met, and that may have even died before you were born, can impact your chances of survival."

Source: https://news.uoguelph.ca/2019/02/in-the-squirrel-world-prime-real-estate-is-determined-by-previous-owner-study-reveals/Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology found a simple, yet effective, way to improve how synchronization is measured in chaotic systems. The technique consists in adding a constant parameter to the "analytic signals" in a way that emphasizes certain aspects of their timing. This could help improve brain-computer interfaces, which are meant to aid disabled people.

Humans are good at detecting whether separate things happen simultaneously, for example, if two lights flash together or not. When two swings move with a regular motion, it is easy to tell whether there is any temporal relationship or "synchronization." However, the trajectory of some objects, such as kites, can be very complicated but still exhibit some pattern, even though our eyes may fail to follow it; such systems are called "chaotic." In physics, chaos does not mean lack of order; it indicates the presence of a very complicated type of order. Such situations can be found across very different scenarios, including the activity of neurons.

When trajectories, which do not necessarily correspond to physical movement and can instead represent electrical signals, are sufficiently complicated, it becomes challenging to determine if they are synchronized. In many cases, only some aspects of their motion might be interrelated. Hence, measuring synchronization is difficult and has been the subject of research for decades.

Usually, when a trajectory approximately repeats itself in a loop, it is useful to consider at what point of this cycle the system we are observing is at a given time; we call this its "phase." Meanwhile, when a trajectory is irregular, the size of the loop also changes and each cycle may be larger or smaller than the previous one; this is called the "amplitude." These two aspects are independent and can be extracted from any signal via a mathematical trick called the "analytic signal."

Measuring whether the phases of two systems are related ("phase locked") is crucial across many areas. Obtaining the degree of phase locking between all possible electrode combinations represents a good way of guessing what someone is thinking about via voltages measured on their scalp in an electroencephalogram. Such techniques are not yet very detailed but can detect some forms of imaginary movements to help drive devices that aid disabled people.

However, these brain-computer interfaces are generally slow and not accurate enough. Now, researchers in Japan, Poland and Italy propose a new approach to measuring the synchronization between electroencephalogram signals. This research was the result of a collaboration between scientists from Tokyo Institute of Technology, in part funded by the World Research Hub Initiative, the Polish Academy of Sciences in Krakow, Poland, and the University of Catania, Italy.

The idea is straightforward and consists in adding a constant after calculating the "analytic signal"; this effectively has a warping effect, as shown in Figure 1. One consequence of this is that synchronization between the phases and amplitudes of two signals is captured jointly in a way that depends on the value of this added constant.

The research team first analyzed the effects of adding this constant in simple theoretical systems before moving on to more representative cases, such as a network of transistor oscillators. Then, they applied their approach to a dataset of electroencephalogram signals for which users were told to either rest or imagine moving their left or right hand. The added constant clearly helped the team measure the synchronization between electrodes, ultimately allowing them to increase the classification accuracy for these imaginary actions.

Although simple, the approach resulted in significant improvements in the cases analyzed by the team. In future works, they will continue to investigate this method so that it hopefully has an impact in practical applications.Lakes, rivers and some private wells are becoming saltier, largely thanks to high levels of road salt sprinkled on streets during winter. According to an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, this situation could cause harm to wildlife and humans.

Contributing editor Deirdre Lockwood notes that scientists have found greatly increased amounts of chloride in streams, lakes and rivers over the last few decades. One of the biggest culprits is salt that's deposited onto roads before and during snowstorms. The amount used in the U.S. has grown dramatically from about 4,500 metric tons in the early 1940s to 22 million metric tons now. But salt also comes from sewage, fertilizer runoff, mining operations and deteriorating structures. Not only does all of this salt makes water taste bad, it can corrode plumbing and cause health concerns. It also can affect freshwater organisms and disrupt ecosystems.

Some scientists are calling for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to start regulating salts. Others are simply trying to bring more attention to this issue. And some municipalities are already implementing changes. In Madison, Wisconsin, crews apply brine, about a 20 percent salt water solution, onto roads before a snowstorm hits. With this approach, they have used about 70 percent less road salt. And the village of Lake George, New York, has reduced road salt application by about 30 percent with brine treatment and new, more effective snow plows.

Source: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2019/acs-presspac-february-13-2019/road-salts-could-endanger-ecosystems-water-supplies.htmlA new qualitative study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health identifies several key lessons from early efforts to establish sanctioned safe consumption sites in five U.S. communities. The results offer insights on one approach some localities are exploring to address the escalating drug overdose crisis in the U.S.

Through interviews with key informants, the researchers identified strategies for organizing around this issue and engaging the community, as well as facilitators and barriers to progress.

The study was published online February 13 in the journal Psychiatric Services.

"We wanted to understand the environment in which these policy change efforts are occurring," says lead researcher Alene Kennedy-Hendricks, PhD, assistant director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Mental Health and Addiction Policy Research and a faculty member in the Bloomberg School's Department of Health Policy and Management. "Study participants emphasized the importance of engaging diverse partners to organize around safe consumption sites, elevating the voices of people who use drugs in these discussions and framing the need for this harm reduction approach in terms of racial justice."

Safe consumption sites, also known as overdose prevention sites or supervised injection facilities, are places where people can use pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of trained staff who can intervene and prevent fatal overdoses. No sanctioned safe consumption site exists in the U.S. but policymakers in at least six states, including Maryland, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont, have introduced legislation to establish safe consumption sites, and at least two cities--Philadelphia and Seattle--are working to establish these sites without state legislation. These policy discussions have been controversial within the communities where they are being considered and potentially conflict with federal law. For example, federal prosecutors are currently suing to stop plans in Philadelphia to open a site.

For the study, the researchers interviewed 25 participants from five jurisdictions over the phone from April to July of 2018. Study participants were asked about their strategy for changing policy to sanction safe consumption sites, organizing efforts, community engagement, facilitators of progress and barriers to adoption. Participants included community organizers, harm reduction advocates, local government officials and health and social service organization leaders from jurisdictions considering implementing safe consumption sites. The researchers identified initial study participants in each jurisdiction and then recruited additional participants on the basis of initial interviews. Researchers identified common themes that emerged in the interviews.

One of the most commonly reported barriers to establishing these sites was developing an approach to respond to federal action, given federal law prohibiting the operation of spaces for the use of drugs. This concern also has created challenges in identifying the right location and physical structure for the site. Financing remained a challenge, although at least one community had allocated public funds for this purpose. Several communities emphasized efforts would only be successful if trust was built among communities of color, given the precedent of racially discriminatory drug policies in the U.S.

Participants from communities that already had well-established harm reduction programs, such as syringe services or scaled up naloxone distribution programs, said that those programs gave them a solid foundation on which to build support for safe consumption sites. These communities seemed to have an advantage since existing policies, programs and partnerships had been established. Researchers also found that securing political and community champions was critical in advancing policy on this issue. Community members who were trusted and respected by their neighbors and championed safe consumption sites helped improve local residents' understanding of the purpose of these sites. Visits to safe consumption sites in areas outside the U.S. (specifically Vancouver, British Columbia) by local government officials and key community members helped to reduce opposition.

Most jurisdictions reported that engaging a diverse set of community allies helped in building a broader coalition and stronger connection to policymakers. The community leaders who participated in the study all viewed establishing safe consumption sites as part of a broader, comprehensive strategy to respond to the devastating scale of the opioid epidemic. Co-author Colleen L. Barry, PhD, MPP, professor and chair of the Bloomberg School's Department of Health Policy and Management, notes that advancing harm reduction measures, including safe consumption sites, is viewed as an important strategy for connecting people who use drugs with evidence-based treatment, social services, housing support and other services to make positive changes that reduce the risks associated with using drugs.

Participants reported that organizing people who use drugs and involving them in policy efforts is critical, and some locations were involving drug-user unions in these efforts. Pressuring policymakers to take a stand on safe consumption sites during campaign events was viewed as an effective strategy.

"This study brings to light the realities of how such an innovation could be implemented, the nature of the stakeholders and the complexity and uniqueness of each city's process," says Susan Sherman, PhD, MPH, professor in the Bloomberg School's Department of Health, Behavior and Society and the paper's senior author. "It provides insight into the community-specific distinctions and important commonalities across these jurisdictions."

"We have an approach here that other countries have found helpful in reaching a marginalized population that faces high rates of mortality," says Kennedy-Hendricks. "A key question now is which jurisdiction will open the first sanctioned safe consumption site in the U.S. Their experience as an early adopter will inform efforts around the country."A new electronic decision support tool for managing asthma has the potential to improve the quality of asthma care in primary care settings, suggests a study led by St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, Canada.

The research, published today in the European Respiratory Journal, aimed to determine whether the Electronic Asthma Management System (eAMS) could help close existing gaps in asthma care. The system is a first-of-its-kind evidence-based computerized decision support tool.

"We have excellent therapies for this disease, yet most patients do not receive the best care, and as a result, are poorly controlled," said Dr. Samir Gupta, an associate scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital, who led this study. "There are many barriers facing busy primary care physicians in providing the best care, including lack of time, knowledge, training, and local resources. We sought to try to overcome these barriers by leveraging the power of technology."

Dr. Gupta and his team followed 23 physicians for two years across three large family health teams, assessing care provided to 1,272 unique patients with asthma. The study analyzed baseline care for one year, then integrated the eAMS into the practices and monitored care for another year to identify changes in the quality of care. The evaluation of an electronic tool builds on recent research led by Dr. Gupta that found that significant gaps persist in asthma care in these areas across the province.

With the eAMS, asthma control assessment increased from 14 per cent to 59 per cent of patients. The tool also increased the proportion of patients who received an asthma action plan from 0 to 18 per cent. This is a self-management tool that lets patients know how to adjust their medications in case their asthma flares up. Asthma control assessment and action plans have been key recommendations in asthma care guidelines for more than 20 years.

"Our research demonstrates that a carefully designed eHealth tool can effectively be used in busy primary care settings, and can improve asthma care," said Courtney Price, who was a summer student at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute while the analysis was completed. "This is especially important as asthma affects 339 million people globally, is one of the most common chronic diseases in Canada, and is continuing to increase in both prevalence and cost."

The decision support tool consists of:

An electronic questionnaire which patients typically complete on a tablet device in the physician waiting room (providing information about their asthma); An automated, computerized decision support system which then processes these data to instantly produce a set of asthma care recommendations and presents these to the clinician upon opening the patient's electronic chart; and A printable asthma action plan that is auto-populated by the eAMS and given to patients by the clinician (an evidence-based tool which provides guidance on what patients should do if their asthma flares up).

Dr. Gupta and his team hope to provide access to the eAMS to all family physicians in Canada. Next steps will include integrating the system across the different electronic medical record systems in use across Canada, further studies to show its impact on patient health, and adding additional features to the tool.

"In the future, we also hope to use the valuable lessons learned in this study to design similar tools for other chronic diseases," he said.The media have become key agents of socialization in the construction of teenagers' and young people's identities. In particular, media representations of sexuality and love become informal educational agents of the first order on these issues.

A very good example of this was the series for Spanish teenagers Fisica o Quimica (2008-2011), produced by Ida y Vuelta and broadcast on Antena 3, of which some episodes reached more than three million viewers. The series focuses on the stories of a group of high school students and their teachers. The success of the series extended to other countries like France, Portugal, Italy, the United States and countries in Latin America, where it received applause and support from the teenage audiences.

Fisica o Quimica also gave rise to social controversy, for and against, due to its the representation of sexuality, gender-based violence and teenage pregnancy, among others. "These polarized perspectives of Fisica o Quimica are neither new nor unique to this series", states Maria Jose Masanet, a researcher with the Department of Communication at UPF and co-author of a paper that performs a qualitative analysis of the contents of the series. This research was published jointly with Frederik Dhaenens, a researcher at the University of Ghent (Belgium) on 22 January in Journal of Youth Studies.

Analyzing how young people interpret the representation of gender-based violence

The main goal of this study was to analyze how young people interpret the representation of gender-based violence in the series Fisica o Quimica, focusing on how the audience discusses the representation of male aggression towards women represented through the teenage characters Ruth and Gorka. In addition, the authors analyzed how audiences are reflected in gender stereotypes and romantic inequalities and/or teenage sexual relations. In this fictional television series, the characters Ruth and Gorka have a stormy romantic relationship characterized by psychological abuse by the boy towards the girl. Although they split up on several occasions, they always end up getting back together and the abuse intensifies throughout the series until serious health problems arise and the relationship breaks up definitively.

"Studying the discourse of the young people about gender-based violence in Fisica o Quimica has provided us with an insight into their way of thinking about this issue and about romantic myths, as well as the role that the series plays in shaping adolescents' outlook on violence", say the authors of the study.

The authors analyzed the feedback in the fans' forum of the series Fisica o Quimica and, more specifically, the comments dealing with issues or scenes related to gender-based violence among the adolescent characters. The aim was to explore the meanings the audience gives to the violence depicted in the series and how they reflect on gender stereotypes and romantic myths. For example, the work found that "participants in the forum did not identify Gorka's verbal and psychological abuse towards Ruth until the violence became unbearable".

These data agree with previous studies that have shown that Spanish young people and teenagers do not consider issues such as controlling time, money or friends, blackmail or threats and insults as being aggression. They perceive verbal abuse as just another aspect of the relationship and can go as far as justifying it 'in the name of love". Abuse is mainly associated with physical aggression.

As a result of the analysis, this study reveals that teenagers have internalized a set of stereotypes and myths of romantic love that can be very dangerous because they justify male violence towards women. The value of this work is twofold. First, it provides us with information on how gender-based violence and romantic relationships among adolescents are perceived and discussed in Spain, since the research exposes how they understand gender-based violence and the motives or actions that lead to justifying it or criticizing it. Secondly, "our work also has an educational value. We demonstrate that a teen series has the potential to explore and work to prevent gender-based violence. The series provides material for a debate on controversial and provocative representations without trying to lecture its audience on morals and providing a discussion on its fans' forum", conclude Masanet and Dhaenens.Researchers Professor Graham Lord, from The University of Manchester and colleagues have found that a specific part of the immune system could have the tools that may help in the therapy of some major diseases such as diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, Crohns disease and other autoimmune diseases. The results of their findings were published in the latest issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation this week.

The team of researchers found that there was a molecular pathway in the body that is regulated by a molecule - known as microRNA-142. The decade long study found that this microRNA-142 can control Regulatory T cells and this can modulate and change the immune system and stop autoimmune diseases. This molecule was found in abundance in the immune system.

Illustration Credit: Connect world / Shutterstock

Professor Lord earlier from Kings College, London and now Vice President and Dean of the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health at The University of Manchester, said in a statement, Autoimmune diseases often target people in the prime of their life creating a significant socio-economic burden on them. Sometimes, the effect can be devastating, causing terrible hardship and suffering. But these findings represent a significant step forward in the understanding of the immune system and we believe many people worldwide may benefit. The study was in collaboration with Professor Richard Jenner at UCL.

Autoimmune disease in fact affect the human body is several ways and a large number of diseases have their basis on autoimmune mechanisms they explain. The authors explain that there are Regulatory T cells (Tregs) in the body that regulate the excessive immune activity. In cases of autoimmune diseases Tregs are seen in low levels and the immune system goes into an overdrive and attacks healthy tissues and organs.

Until now it was unclear how Treg activity could be regulated. The molecule microRNA-142 could act as a master switch that could regulate Treg function, explain the authors. Professor Richard Jenner assisted with the computational side of the study. He explained, We were able to trace the molecular fingerprints of this molecule across other genes to determine how it acted as such a critical regulator.

Professor Lord added, Scientists over the past decade or so have developed therapies which are able to modulate different pathways of the immune system. We hope that this new discovery will lead to the development of new ways to treat autoimmunity, infectious diseases and cancer and we are incredibly excited about where this may lead.Introducing physician-assisted suicide would fundamentally change the doctor-patient relationship, finds a major new poll for Care Not Killing.

The survey of over 2,000 members of the public found high levels of concern about vulnerable people feeling pressure to end their lives with four in 10 saying changing the law risks normalizing suicide.

The ComRes poll asked GB adults about their views on assisted suicide, the model used in Oregon, and how this would affect trust in doctors.

Asked If GPs are given the power to help patients commit suicide it will fundamentally change the relationship between a doctor and patient, since GPs are currently under a duty to protect and preserve lives, more than twice as many said it would (48 per cent to 23 per cent), while nearly 3 in ten (29 per cent) were not sure.

Dr Gordon MacDonald, a spokesman for Care Not Killing commented:

This poll shows a greater level of understanding of the difficulties with assisted suicide than most so-called experts think possible. Usually the public are only asked a simple rights based question that is heavily framed, but these questions reveal significant unease around the removing universal protections to allow doctors to kill their patients.

The poll found that most (51 per cent) of those surveyed were concerned that some people might feel pressured into accepting help to take their own life so as not to be a burden on others, while half that proportion (25 per cent) disagreed. These figures reflect what is happening in the US states of Oregon and Washington where a majority of those ending their lives in 2017 said that not wanting to be a burden was a motivation for their decision. This compared to just one in five (21 per cent) in those states who were concerned about the possibility of inadequate pain control, or were experiencing discomfort.

The survey was commissioned in the wake of the decision by the Royal College of Physicians to survey their members about assisted dying and in a highly unusual move require a super-majority of 60 per cent to prevent the doctors group adopting a neutral position.

Asked if cases such as Dr Harold Shipman and the Gosport Hospital scandal made people more concerned that changing the law to allow doctors to prescribe lethal doses of a substance to kill terminally ill patients would fundamentally change the relationship between doctors and patients, more than four in 10 (42 per cent) agreed, 28 per cent disagreed and three in 10 (30 per cent) did not know.

The poll found high levels of concern about whether overstretched doctors have the time or clinical ability to accurately assess a patients mental capacity if they requested help to end their life. Alarmingly, more than a quarter of adults (27 per cent), equivalent to 13.5 million patients, said that if assisted suicide were legal, they would not trust their own GP enough for them to make a decision about their mental capacity to decide whether or not to accept help to take their own life.

Dr MacDonald, continued:

It is clear that ripping up the longstanding agreement between doctors and society that their job is to save life not to end it would have a seriously damaging effect on how the profession is viewed. In places like Oregon and Washington there have been reports of the sick being denied the life-saving and life-extending drugs they need but offered the poison to end their life. While in Belgium one study found more than 1,000 assisted deaths were without the explicit request of the patient.

The survey asked if legalizing assisted dying risks normalizing suicide and leading to an increase in deaths among the general population. The public were evenly split but almost four in ten (37 per cent) agreed, exactly the same proportion who disagreed  while a quarter were not sure. It concludes by asking if as a society we ought to try to do everything we reasonably can to reduce the rate of suicides, especially among men who are three times as likely as women to take their own lives. Eight in 10 agreed (78%), while perhaps surprisingly 6% disagree.

Dr MacDonald, concluded:

This poll puts a sword to the lie that changing the law on assisted suicide enjoys unremitting support. Abandoning universal protections and expecting doctors to dispense lethal drugs with the express purpose of killing their patients causes alarm. It would undermine the doctor-patient relationship and, as large numbers of the public recognize, risks normalizing suicide.

Source: https://www.carenotkilling.org.uk/Researchers of the Veterinary Faculty of the CEU Cardenal Herrera University (CEU UCH) and the National Institute of Farming and Food Research and Technology (INIA) have designed a new protocol to synchronize heats and ovulation periods to improve the reproduction of ovine cattle, which is based on the use of natural hormones. This new system also decreases the time during which the cattle is exposed to progestogens during the hormonal protocols, and adds a new intravaginal device with natural progesterone named CIDR (Controlled Internal Drug Release), which decreases the risk of infections. Therefore, it is a new reproductive methodology which favors the well-being of the animals and, at the same time, the health of consumers, by minimising the pharmacological residue that is present in the products derived from the ovine cattle, meeting the growing demand to consume products of animal origin that are 'clean, green and ethical'.

The development of this protocol without artificial hormones, has been headed by researchers Paula Martinez Ros, professor of the Department of Animal Production and Health of the Veterinary Faculty of the CEU UCH and head of the Teaching Farm and Veterinary Research of this university; and Antonio Gonzalez de Bulnes, scientific researcher of the INIA. They have both presented this system to the cattle sector in informative sessions held in Merida (Extremadura Community) and Manzanares (Ciudad Real), the main regions that produce ovine cattle meat and milk, respectively, in Spain. During the last week of February, they will also be showcasing it to farmers of Aragon.

Without synthetic hormones

As professor Paula Martinez Ros explains, "the growing demand for food free from pharmacological residues has also increased the number of countries that require their livestock breeders, and also importers and exporters, to respect sustainable reproductive practices, without using synthetic hormones. As a result, the use of progestogens to synchronise heat is currently being analysed. In the case of the European Union, the use of synthetic steroid hormones is being reviewed, due to generating residues in animal carcasses. Breeders therefore need alternatives that minimise or completely avoid the use of synthetic hormonal treatments, such as the protocol developed by the CEU UCH and the INIA which uses CIDR devices."

The induction and synchronisation of heat in the case of small ruminants is done with treatments based on exogenous hormones. Progesterone, or equivalent substances, are the most commonly used hormones for the synchronisation of these animals. And it is applied through intravaginal devices during a two-week period, as they must surpass the average lifespan of a potential corpus luteum in the ovary. In opposition to these common practices for ovine reproduction, the new protocol developed by the CEU UCH and INIA prevents the use of synthetic hormonal treatments by using natural progesterone, thus reducing potential risks for human health caused by residues present in products of animal origin. And at the same time, it improves animal well-being, as it cuts the time it must remain inserted by half, while also reducing the risk of infection by being manufactured with inert silicone.

Healthier and more profitable production

As professor Ros highlights, "this advance is of great importance for the cattle sector, as any improvement in reproductive efficiency is key for the global efficiency of ovine farms. The increase in fertility and prolificacy of the flocks more than just in springtime, makes it possible to supply the market demand for the whole year, overcoming the seasonal limitation of the product offer and increasing its economic value. Those breeders who are able to put products that are "out of season" on the market benefit from higher prices during the winter, thus increasing the profitability of their cattle production."

The design and results obtained with this method have been published in three scientific articles in prestigious international journals, two in Animals and one in Reproduction in Domestic Animals. The design of short protocols had already been published before in the Animal Reproduction Science journal. Together with Paula Martinez Ros, CEU UCH professors Mari Carmen Lopez Mendoza, Marta Lozano, Alejandro Rios and Empar Garcia Rosello have also taken part in the research. And on behalf of the INIA, together with Antonio Gonzalez de Bulnes, researcher Susana Astiz.Bouquets and Brickbats

Glad to see proposal for Ohio dementia planMunson Township Republican John Eklund will serve this legislative term as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.The Lake County Chiefs of Police Association recently recognized a Mentor officer for his work to save the life of a suicidal woman in anotherAfter seeing a major decline in the presence of carfentanil in 2018, Cuyahoga County MedicalFree access for current print subscribers

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Activate your account now.WASHINGTON  Region 12 is going back to grammatical basics to boost its sagging SAT English scores.

The change comes after the district saw the average English scores drop to 530 in 2018 from 574 in 2017. This translated in a combined score drop to 1058 in 2018 from 1107 in 2017, according to the state Department of Education.

The district has invested in ways to improve the math scores, including dedicating advisory periods for tutoring, offering after-school and weekend classes, adding grade-level assessments to revise the curriculum and using the PSAT to identify improvement areas. Though the SAT math scores remained fairly level from 533 in 2017 to 528 in 2018, officials reported a 37-point jump between the juniors PSAT scores in October to the SAT in April.

We didnt have time to put supports in for English in the school day and so we see the difference there, Lori Ferreira, Shepaug Valley Schools associate principal, said at a school board meeting. Now we know.

To fix this, school officials are adding enrichment options and revising the curriculum for students in seventh through ninth grades to help students understand the grammatical jargon and word structures to better answer the SATs questions. Ferreira said the school needs to change its approach because the test focuses on language at the granular level.

We cant throw the baby out with the bath water, Ferreira said. We do some things really well and we cant change them.

She said the school has a strong writing program that teaches students how to be critical, write fluidly, examine historical perspectives and present arguments. This is why the changes are coming before 10th grade, starting as early as third grade.

We dont want to lose that conceptual, but we want to make sure we are skill-building on the way, she said.

Ferreira offered some examples of the grammatical jargon students now have to know for the test.

What are the 10 most common conjunctive adverbs? When do you use these conjunctive adverbs? What is the difference between a conjunctive adverb, a coordinating subjunctive and a subordinating conjunctive? she said.

Shepaugs scores are still better than the Connecticut averages of 516 for English and 503 for math. The U.S. average is 487 for English and 483 for math.

Were doing better than the state and nation, but were not doing well enough, Ferreira said.

She said she would like to bring Shepaugs combined scores up to 1148, which was the highest score reported in its district reference group.

When she reached out to successful schools in other district reference groups, she was told most of those students attend SAT prep courses outside of school or have private tutors. Ferreira instead recommended adding enrichment options during Shepaugs breaks and during the summer.

Superintendent of Schools Megan Bennett said these changes will ease students into the material.

Board members and administrators agreed its more important for students to understand the material than to learn how to get a high score on the test.

The SAT will help you get into college, but it wont help you pass the courses, where the other prep will, Ferreira said.(CNN)  New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has denied any diplomatic rift with China despite the postponement of a joint tourism event and media reports that her planned visit to Beijing is in limbo.

Facing a grilling in Parliament over the reports on the visit, Ardern said the economic relationship between the two countries was "very strong."

"There are challenges in our relationship, there are challenges in our relationship with a number of countries at any given time, when you run an independent foreign policy," she told legislators Wednesday.

Claims of a diplomatic freeze come after New Zealand became the latest US ally to block Chinese tech company Huawei from helping to build part of its 5G network.

The director general of New Zealand's spy agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), said in December the move was due to a "significant network security risk."

Other US allies including Australia and European countries have also blocked Huawei technology in their 5G networks.

The New Zealand Herald reported on Tuesday that the launch, at Wellington's Te Papa museum, of the 2019 China-New Zealand Year of Tourism had been postponed after a "change of schedule" on the Chinese side.

It said an invitation to Ardern to visit China had been put on hold amid a diplomatic chill.

But a spokesman for the Prime Minister, Andrew Campbell, said both sides were still "working through dates" for the visit and there had been a meeting recently to discuss timing.

"It goes without saying there is probably some irritation in the relationship because of the GCSB's decision regarding Huawei, but these are no different to the relationships which occur between any governments at any time," he said.

Campbell added that trade and tourism was continuing to grow between the two countries.

Simon Bridges, leader of the opposition National Party, asked Ardern in Parliament if five government ministers were still waiting for China to approve visits.

Ardern denied there was anything unusual about the wait, saying there had been multiple bilateral visits in the past year.

New Zealand would be far from the first country to suffer a diplomatic chill in ties with Beijing following an unwelcome decision.

Canada is embroiled in a dispute with China over the arrest in December of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou at the request of the US, over potential Iran sanction violations.

Australia saw its relationship with Beijing dip to new lows after the Chinese government took affront at laws designed to curb foreign influence which were proposed by the Australian government in December 2017.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "New Zealand PM denies rift with China after Huawei ban."South Africa: SA expected to reach roll-over agreement with the UK

The Department of Trade and Industry (dti) is expected to reach a roll-over agreement with the United Kingdom post Brexit.

The department briefed Parliaments Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry on Wednesday on developments made by its negotiating team regarding preferential trade arrangements after the British exit (Brexit) from the European Union (EU).

Brexit is expected to occur on 29 March, while the negotiating team expects to reach the agreement by 21 February.

Committee chairperson Joan Fubbs commended the department and other government departments for the work they are doing in ensuring a form of continuity in arrangements after Brexit.

The Chief Director for Trade Negotiation, International Trade and Economic Development Division at the dti, Niki Kruger, explained the intricacies of the agreement.

It is only once the UK leaves the EU without an agreement that the UK can draw up its own agreements with other countries. The impact of them not reaching an agreement with the EU before Brexit is difficult to quantify now, said Kruger.

Fubbs said all should be done to ensure more positive agreements for South Africa and all African countries in the future.

The committee heard that a final agreement will be signed by the end of the first week of March.

In addition, the committee heard that no agreement has been reached between the UK and the EU about the UKs continued use of existing EU trade agreements.

The UK is currently South Africas second biggest trading partner in the EU, despite South Africa having a negative trade balance with the EU.

South Africa has a positive trade balance with the UK and this has increased significantly over the last few years.

The South African and UK trade balance is currently at about US$1.5 billion in South Africas favour. The UK currently receives about 40% of all fresh food products or agricultural products exported from South Africa to the EU.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.BRIDGEPORT  Infowars host Alex Jones, who is being sued for calling the Sandy Hook shooting a hoax, will likely face a Waterbury jury.

Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis on Thursday afternoon told the lawyers for Jones and the parents of the Sandy Hook victims that she has recommended the case be moved to the complex litigation docket in Waterbury Superior Court where she will be sitting, beginning Sept. 1.A citizen of India living in Fairfield will serve three years in prison for defrauding the state of more than $5.8 million in taxes, according to the Department of Justice.

Rishi Malik, 46, a citizen of India living in Fairfield, was sentenced Wednesday to serve three years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Court documents showed that for several years until 2012 Mailk and a partner ran Connecticut Discounts LLC, a tobacco wholesale business based in Bridgeport.

Through that company, Malik obtained tobacco products from out-of-state suppliers and distributed the products to a network of clients who offered tobacco products for retail sale, the DOJ said.

In June 2012, Malik sold Connecticut Discounts to Pavan Vaswani, who continued the business under the name KDV Discounts LLC. From June 2012 to April 2017, Malik visited Vaswani to import tobacco products from out-of-state suppliers, including suppliers in Pennsylvania. The DOJ said Malik frequently drove to Pennsylvania to pick up products he delivered to KDV Discounts.

He also participated in making orders, and sometimes delivered payments in cash, the DOJ said.

From Jan. 2013 through April 2017, KDV Discounts acquired nearly $12 million in tobacco products from suppliers in Pennsylvania and distributed them to hundreds of customers that stocked tobacco products in Connecticut for retail sale.

Connecticut imposes tax on tobacco products imported into the state for distribution. Tobacco amounts purchased, and taxes due, are reported and filed with the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services.

On the tax forms that Vaswani filed with the Department of Revenue Services for KDV Discounts, the amounts reported were, a small fraction of what KDV actually acquired, the DOJ said. Through the scheme, the agency said, Vaswani failed to report about $5,821,057 in taxes to the state of Connecticut.

In 2014, Malik registered Discount Deals LLC with an address in Sciota, Penn., and claimed it was a tobacco distribution business. But, the DOJ said, the unit he rented was not a space for a legitimate tobacco business.

Between 2014 and at least April 2017, Malik used Discount Deals to purchase more than $1.1 million in smokeless tobacco products from Pennsylvania suppliers.

A substantial amount of these smokeless tobacco products were provided to KDV for distribution in Connecticut, the DOJ said. Discount Deals made no tax payments to the State of Connecticut between 2014 and 2017, and approximately $400,000 in smokeless tobacco tax was not reported to Connecticut or other states.

Malik and Vaswani were arrested on Jan. 11, 2018.

On Oct. 30, 2018, Mailk pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to violate the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act and one count of wire fraud. Vaswani, of West Haven, pleaded guilty to the same offenses on Aug. 21, 2018. He awaits sentencing.

Malik has been ordered to pay restitution of $5,821,057. He was released on a $1.2 million bond andi is required to report to prior on March 13. He faces immigration proceedings when he completes his prison term.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.A 30 kilogram Husky raised by a family in Hunan Province was so excited to see its owner returning home that it jumped from their third floor balcony. The dog struck its owner in the head, breaking the man's neck and putting him into a coma.

"It was the fifth day of the Lunar New Year [February 9] and our family was coming home together," said the dog's owner, a man named Liu. "When I walked towards the front floor of our building, something hit me and I fainted."

At first, Liu thought that a wall had collapsed on him but he quickly realised that he had been hit by his dog, who had jumped from the balcony six or seven meters above.

Liu was immediately sent to the local hospital for treatment. Doctors found that he had a cervical fracture. Currently unable to move from his hospital bed, Liu is looking at surgery to try and repair some of the damage.

Liu said that he doesn't blame his dog for what happened, and has used a chain to prevent it from jumping off the balcony again.Andrew Balding had his say on the outbreak of equine flu

KINGSCLERE trainer Andrew Balding doesnt believe that the recent outbreak of equine flu will have a long-lasting damage on the industry.

Horseracing in Britain was suspended on February 7 after six cases of equine flu were discovered at Donald McCains stables in Cheshire.

And with racing put on lockdown for six days  with 174 stables affected  Balding admitted that the correct measures had been made.

He said: It was an alarming reaction to what happened, but I think it was the right one as we needed to see what we were dealing with and how we could contain it to just two stables.

Despite preparations being halted while the outbreak was being dealt with by the British Horseracing Authority, Balding doesnt believe it will change much.

We obviously missed the opportunity to run some horses last week, but, to be honest, its not really a busy time for us, he said.

Its more damaging to the jump yards, but I dont think itll have long-lasting damage as long as its contained within the two yards where it has been found.

Newbury Racecourse had to cancel their meeting during the six-day shutdown, which meant the prestigious Betfair Super Saturday couldnt take place.

Balding said: Its a great shame for Newbury, but that meeting has been lost in the past due to bad weather, so its not unique.

I imagine they are insured when it comes to losing a meeting, but it was a shame to lose it because it was an important one for the diary.

The two featured races that were due to take place at Newbury on Saturday were the Betfair Hurdle and the Denman Chase.

With these being preparation for the Cheltenham festival, they will be added to Saturdays meeting at Ascot.

The BHA lifted the ban on racing in Britain earlier this week, with racing allowed to resume on Wednesday.

And with the recent outbreak, Balding was keen to ensure this wouldnt happen again.

He said: Well take advice from the vet in terms of what flu vaccines we use going forward, but were fairly meticulous about the vaccinations and the timings of them.

Hopefully we can carefully monitor the horses.

We take temperatures on a daily basis, but we want to monitor the horses as much as we can so we can react if there are symptoms.

The 46-year-old has a number of horses in action over the next few days at Chelmsford, Lingfield and Newcastle.Trainer backs decision to suspension after outbreak of equine flu

NATIONAL Hunt racing trainer Oliver Sherwood believes the Cheltenham Festival wont be affected, despite the recent outbreak of equine flu.

A six-day suspension for racing in Britain has now been lifted by the British Horseracing Authority, meaning that racing restarted yesterday (Wednesday).

The decision to restart the racing was questioned by some, but Sherwood  whose stables are in Upper Lambourn  believes it was the right call.

I think they behaved and performed admirably, he said. I know people thought it was over the top, but they were in a position where 100 per cent of people would not have been behind them.

But thats life in general and whatever they did was going to be wrong  youre damned if you did and damned if you didnt.

Six cases of equine flu were found at Donald McCains stables in Cheshire and, although it appeared to have been contained there, Sherwood felt it was right to stop racing.

He said: Until they knew exactly what the strain of flu was coming, they had to err on the side of caution and, as Martin Pipe said, it is better to be over the top than under the top.

I think they did the right thing and I think theyre doing the right thing now, he said. I am not a vet by any matter of means, but a few days off to play safe is good.

Sherwood feels enough work was done among the stables up and down the country to enable racing to resume on Wednesday.

With the Cheltenham Festival just four weeks away, Sherwoods preparations werent affected as much as fellow trainers.

It hasnt affected me as I didnt have any runners on that Wednesday when it was all announced so I wasnt blacklisted, he said.

But, despite 26 meetings being halted during the six-day shutdown, Sherwood doesnt believe that Cheltenham will be affected.

I dont think it will, he said. I dont have any runners there, if I do it will only be a handful, but for the big trainers such as Nicky [Henderson], Colin [Tizzard], Paul [Nicholls] and Philip [Hobbs], its an inconvenience for them.

Its the time of year where they would have wanted preparation runs and whether theyll run again is up to the trainers.

But I dont think it will have an effect on Cheltenham, he said. Some people could argue that it might be beneficial for English runners because theyll be going there fresh with few races under their belts.Newburyport, MA (01950)

Today

Clear skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 57F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Clear skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 57F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.Edge computing container specialist Vapor IO has organized the Kinetic Edge Alliance, a group of hardware, software and networking companies that plan to collaborate on accelerating the integration edge solutions.

The list of partners includes Federated Wireless, Linode, MobiledgeX, Packet, StackPath, Alef Mobitech, Detecon International, Hitachi Vantara, New Continuum Data Centers, Pluribus Networks, and Seagate Technology.

The Alliance plans to target the top 30 U.S. metro markets with its products, which cover nearly 50 percent of the U.S. population. So far, Vapor IO has begun rollouts in Chicago but plans for five more cities this year: Chicago, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Seattle.

The Alliance provides the vehicle for delivering nationwide edge computing, removing the guesswork from edge deployment and operations that exists today, said Cole Crawford, the founder and CEO of Vapor IO, in a statement. The alliance will accelerate the rollout of edge computing, delivering a platform for wireless operators and application providers to deliver new edge-enabled products and services to customers.

Vapor IO specializes in creating micro modular data centers called Kinetic Edge that can be deployed at key points on the network, most notable wireless telecom towers. The Kinetic Edge is a ruggedized container designed to withstand the elements and be remotely managed.

The Kinetic Edge Alliance features two types of partners: deployment partners and technical partners. Deployment partners have committed to jointly rolling out equipment and services in Kinetic Edge markets, which ensures a uniform infrastructure platform around the country, thus making them easier to manage.

Technical partners support Kinetic Edge deployments by making their expertise available to Kinetic Edge deployments, supporting deployment partners as they bring new edge infrastructure services online and offering their services to end users.

Edge technology is still in the very early stages, and there are plenty of competitors for Vapor IO, including the massive Schneider Electric, but it has certainly gotten out in front of the market to take a strong leadership position. The challenge now is to find uses, otherwise this becomes another case of a solution in search of a problem, something the tech industry has wasted a lot of VC money on.Volunteers in Massachusetts showed up to pay their respects to a fallen World War II veteran who died without any living family members left.

Veteran James McCue died Thursday at Cedar View Rehabilitation and Health Care Center at the age of 97. He died without any surviving family members, leaving him without anyone to attend his funeral.

The Veterans' Services office in Lawrence invited the public to attend McCue's services so his life could be honored.

McCue, who was from Lawrence, enlisted in November 1943 and battled in an anti-aircraft artillery unit. He was also among the personnel who helped liberate France.

McCue's funeral featured full military honors. His services began at 1 p.m. Thursday in Bellevue Cemetery in Lawrence.People nowadays are usually impressed with China's high speed trains and rapid development. Older, slower trains, however, are still a lifeline for many rural residents.

China has built more high-speed train tracks than any other country in recent decades, amounting to over 29,000 kilometers as of the end of last year. That's more than two-thirds of the world's total.

Also, the country has been bidding goodbye to most of its old-fashioned trains known for their slow pace and drab interiors, without air conditioning or sleeper beds.

In China, trains that are slower than bullet trains have cars with green exteriors that are powered by electricity or diesel engines. There is a tier of green trains for intercity travel, slower and less expensive than high-speed trains but still relatively common. Beyond that, there is a tier of trains that run at a slower speed due to frequent stops and offer lower fares.

Green trains were a major mode of transportation from the 1950s to the 1990s in China. Coal-powered engines, known for belching black smoke, have been phased out and replaced by electric or diesel.

According to China Railway Corp, 81 of the slow trains that make frequent stops are still in operation in 21 provinces, including 35 ethnic minority areas. Most of them are in southwestern, northwestern and northeastern regions.

An average of 62,000 daily trips are made by these slower trains to provide rural residents with easier and cheaper travel alternatives.

Premier Li Keqiang, during a visit to the Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Feb 1, called for coordinated development of high-speed trains and inexpensive but slower trains to serve passengers with different needs.

He said although China now has high-speed trains, it can't afford to lose the slower green trains, and unbalanced and inadequate development in the country means that both efficiency and fairness should be taken into account.

The low-speed trains are often used by locals to transport and sell farm products, buy daily necessities, see doctors and visit relatives. Sometimes they serve as the local school transportation because so many children take them to school.

As inhabitants along the way are scattered, sometimes only one pas-senger or no passengers board at any given stop. The trains still stop at each station and wait for a few minutes. The lowest fare is 1 yuan (15 cents).

Yang Xinzheng, an expert at the China Academy of Transportation, said that slow trains, much cheaper and covering more stations, have become an integral part of the shared memory of a generation. "It's a train of stories about poverty and a hard life, but it's also a train full of hope."New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary is fiercely protected by the state's electorate. So speculation of reduced relevancy in 2020 has some Granite Staters on edge.

Senators Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker are just a few of the Democratic presidential candidates who have visited New Hampshire recently and intend to return soon.

Another Democrat to visit the state, former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, is a prime example of a lesser-known candidate who sees New Hampshire as a place to make a splash.

"Because it's small, it's affordable for those campaigns that are maybe in start-up stage and don't have deep pockets," explained political consultant Scott Spradling.

But could that New Hampshire clout be reduced in 2020? Some say yes, based on the primary calendar, which shows a beefed-up March 3 Super Tuesday, including Texas and newly added, delegate-rich California, just three weeks after New Hampshire.

"That makes Granite State election officials nervous because it could pull candidates' attention and money and time away from New Hampshire," Spradling said.

Longtime New Hampshire political consultant Tom Rath says he has seen no evidence of that and is not concerned.

"All you have to do is take a look at who is here this week and who is here next week," he said.

The list includes former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. John Delaney.

"I think the activity level, at this stage, is as great as I've ever seen it," Rath said.

Others say some lesser-known candidates could stay away, concerned that Warren and Bernie Sanders, from neighboring states, will dominate.

"Be careful," Spradling said. "The crystal ball is still extraordinarily foggy when it comes to predicting outcomes for the New Hampshire primary."

Old timers caution candidates to avoid New Hampshire at their peril, since history shows the winner often goes on to win the nomination.A Massachusetts man has been found guilty of violating a Muslim woman's civil rights when he accosted and attacked her on an MBTA train.

In a jury-waived trial, a judge found 36-year-old Sean Devlin guilty on four counts of assault and battery and one count each of assault and battery to intimidate, violation of constitutional rights and destruction of property under $250.

The North Reading man was arrested and charged in June 2017 after he yelled anti-Muslim slurs at a woman wearing a headscarf and falsely claimed she had a bomb during a tirade on an Orange Line train.

"I'm so so happy. I'm so so happy that it's over," said 63-year-old victim Malika Touirtou.

Outside court after the verdict was read, Touirtou was nothing but grateful.

"Thank you very much," she said. "God bless America."

While on the stand on Wednesday, Touirtou recounted the attack. The East Boston resident said it started when the suspect overheard her speaking Arabic on the phone to her brother.

"He said, 'Why are you wearing a hijab on your head? Go back to your country. Why are you here? Go back to your country,'" Touirtou said through a translator.

Touirtou, who lived in Malden at the time of the incident, was heading home from her mosque in Roxbury after a long day of prayer.

She said Devlin also kicked her and hit her in the back with an umbrella. He then allegedly punched a window on the train until it shattered.

Several witnesses took the stand for the prosecution, including MBTA Transit Police officers and an MBTA passenger who heard Devlin yelling Touirtou had a bomb on the train.

"He began exclaiming that one of the women had a bomb in her bag that she was Muslim and had a bomb in her bag," recalled witness Daniel Sullivan.

Arguing the assault charge, the defense was quick to point out that Touirtou declined medical attention and did not notice a bruise until a week later.

Devlin did not take the stand in his own defense. According to the police report, when officers asked him if he had been drinking the night of the incident, he told them, "obviously not enough."

Devlin has several prior felony convictions and state prison sentences for armed robbery and breaking and entering.

Devlin could face the maximum penalty of 3 years behind bars when he is sentenced Friday morning.Police are asking for the public's help with finding a missing 16-year-old girl in Sanford, Maine.

Ellie Thompson was last seen leaving her home at approximately 2 p.m. on Tuesday, according to Sanford police.

The teen was wearing a brown fuzzy jacket, jeans, a purple hooded sweatshirt and a bright orange backpack at the time of her disappearance.

Thompson is described as being 5 feet, 1 inch tall and approximately 100 pounds. She has blue eyes and blonde hair.

Anyone who knows of her whereabouts or who believes they have seen Thompson is urged to contact the Sanford Police Department at 207-324-3644,Crews knocked down a 5-alarm fire that broke out Wednesday evening in Whitman, Massachusetts.

Fire officials in Whitman confirmed the response to a 3-alarm house fire at 316 Commercial St. Officials later said a fourth and a fifth alarm had been struck.

No injuries have been reported. Fire officials believe everyone is accounted for, but they are still working to determine how many people had been inside.

Tenants of the six-unit building evacuated on their own. Resident Scott Hunter ran to notify people, including his nephew, who was about to get in the bathtub.

The fire started on the third floor. It took firefighters hours to knock it down.

The cause is under investigation.What to Know Massachusetts authorities announced the arrest of a Norwood man in connection with the Feb. 8 hit-and-run of a Somerville woman.

Allison Donovan, 40, and another woman were hit in a crosswalk near the intersection of Hardan Road and Powderhouse Boulevard. Donovan died.

Authorities tracked down the suspect vehicle belonging to Clark. He is facing charges of leaving the scene of an accident causing death.

Nearly a week after a popular Massachusetts school administrator was killed in a hit-and-run in Somerville, authorities have arrested a Norwood man in connection with the crash.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan announced Thursday that Edward Clark, 55, was taken into custody earlier in the day. He has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident causing death. Additional charges could be pending.

Forty-year-old Allison Donovan and another woman were hit by a vehicle Feb. 8 at about 7:15 p.m. in a crosswalk near the intersection of Hardan Road and Powderhouse Boulevard. Donovan was taken to Mount Auburn Hospital, where she later died.

The second pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the crash and was released from the hospital.

Through an investigation, authorities were able to track down the suspect vehicle, described as a black Ford F-150. Images of that pickup truck were obtained on surveillance at nearby Tufts University.

"Today, a Tufts University police officer located a truck with front-end damage consistent with that description that had been made available on University Avenue. He notified the Somerville Police, investigators located the suspect, who is the registered owner of that vehicle. Subsequently placed him under arrest," said Ryan.

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone said Monday speed played a role in the crash.

"This was at least a case of reckless disregard for human life," Curtatone said. "To say excessive speed is involved is being conservative."

Donovan, described as a wonderful and joyous teacher by parents, worked as an educator and administrator in the Watertown Public School systems. She also spent two years working as a principal at Lincoln Elementary School in nearby Melrose where "she sought to lead the Lincoln community with kindness, good humor and concern for the well-being of all our students," the school system superintendent said in a statement.

The arrest of Clark came on the same day Donovan was laid to rest.

Clark is expected to be arraigned Friday in Somerville District Court. It's unclear if he has an attorney.There was a grim end Wednesday to the search for a missing ice fisherman on Lake Champlain.

A dive team found a body in the water of Orwell, Vermont, and Vermont State Police preliminarily identified the man as Lee Wiktorski, 61, of Benson.

His sister, Kim, and brother, Alan, traveled to Orwell to see what they could of the search, and to tell search teams and investigators how much they appreciated their hard work in harsh winter conditions.

Shortly before the body was discovered, necn spoke to the siblings.

"They're amazing," Alan Wiktorski of Westminster, Massachusetts, said of Vermont State Police and other agencies that participated in the search for his brother. "They're heroes in the family's eyes, and we couldnt ask for anything more."

After the discovery, the relatives hugged and shook the hands of members of the search team.

A loved one reported Lee Wiktorski missing Monday night after he didnt return home from a fishing trip on Lake Champlain.

Relatives described him as a careful and experienced outdoorsman.

Tuesday, his truck was discovered broken through the lake's icy surface, sinking 22 feet.

That find was made after a U.S. Customs and Border Protection plane spotted an anomaly in the ice off the shore of Orwell.

Wednesday, search teams focused on the area near the sunken truck.

Dive teams worked in the water and troopers from Vermont and New York searched the shorelines on both sides of the lake before the divers made the discovery.

"It means a lot," Lt. Tom Mozzer of Vermont State Police said of being able to meet Lee Wiktorski's siblings, even under tragic circumstances. "It really shows why we get into this business. When we can bring closure to a family like this, it really hits home."

Lt. Mozzer said the fisherman's death appears to be accidental, but a final determination will be made when the state's chief medical examiner completes a report.

There are no plans yet to remove the pickup truck from the lake, but oftentimes in cases like this, that waits until spring for safety reasons.The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a New Hampshire law that makes residency a condition of voting in the state, saying it unconstitutionally restricts the right to vote for students.

New Hampshire is the only state that doesn't require residency. The lawsuit filed Wednesday against Secretary of State William Gardner and Attorney General was brought on behalf of two Dartmouth College students. They say the law, which takes effect July 1, burdens their right to vote by requiring new voters to shift their home state driver's licenses and registrations to New Hampshire.

Current law allows college students and others to vote who consider the state their "domicile," counting the state as their place of residence "more than any other place." That doesn't carry the requirements of "residency."

Gardner said everyone who votes ought to vote under the same standards.Firefighters battled a 4-alarm blaze at an elderly housing complex Thursday morning in Boston's Brighton neighborhood.

The fire was reported around 8:30 a.m. at a five-story Boston Housing Authority building at 20 Washington St. It was knocked down around 9:20.

Sky Ranger video from above the scene showed multiple fire trucks and ladders at the scene as smoke poured out from a second-floor window that had been broken.

Boston Fire Commissioner Joseph Finn said about 15 to 20 people had to be evacuated, with the remaining residents in the 25-unit building sheltering in place.

"There was a lot of high anxiety initially because they had people at the rear windows that couldn't get out," he said. "They couldn't find their way out of the building."

Three people were rescued from the rear of the building through windows using ground ladders.

Two residents were injured, but Finn said those injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

"More smoke inhalation and fall and tripping injuries," he said.

Fire officials said the cause of the fire is believed to be careless disposal of smoking materials.

Companies are taking occupants out over ladders . Major evacuation process taking place a 4th Alarm ordered. pic.twitter.com/XLJDynzr02  Boston Fire Dept. (@BostonFire) February 14, 2019

Finn it appears to have started in the bedroom of one apartment unit and was contained to that unit. There was significant smoke damage throughout the building, however.

He said residents should be able to return to the majority of the apartments in the building, though the unit where the fire started and surrounding units may not be immediately livable.

Washington Street from Beacon Street to Commonwealth Avenue was closed as a result of the fire, according to police.

Crews are expected to remain on scene for some time to overhaul and vent the building.Google's massive footprint is only getting bigger in 2019.

CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post on Wednesday that the company is building new data centers and offices and expanding several key locations across the U.S., spending $13 billion this year.

Pichai outlined the plans, which include opening new data centers in Nevada, Ohio, Texas and Nebraska, the first time the company will have infrastructure locations in those states. The company is also doubling its workforce in Virginia, providing greater access to Washington, D.C., with a new office and more data center space, and expanding its New York campus at Hudson Square.

Google is showing its willingness to further open its wallet, following a year in which capital spending more than doubled to $25.46 billion. Far from its roots as an online advertising giant, Google is building out data centers to bolster its cloud-computing division as it tries to keep pace with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft. It's a business that requires providing fast and reliable computing access and resources to large corporations and government agencies.

Data centers also serve Google's core search, Gmail and YouTube products.

The company didn't say home much each location will cost or provide information on tax incentives from local communities. Ruth Porat, finance chief of Google parent Alphabet, said on the company's earnings call earlier this month that she expects the "capex growth rate in 2019 to moderate quite significantly."

Pichai said the plans will likely create tens of thousands of construction jobs across Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Texas and Virginia, as well as Oklahoma and South Carolina, where the company is expanding existing data centers. Google didn't say how many new jobs the data centers and business offices would create.

Pichai also said that the company is adding new office buildings in Texas and Massachusetts, building out more space in Illinois, Wisconsin, Washington state and Georgia and redeveloping California locations near Los Angeles and in the Bay Area, including the Westside Pavillion and Spruce Goose Hangar.

Last week, the Austin-American Statesmen reported the company planned one new office tower in Austin, Texas, to add approximately 5,000 workers. In late 2018, the company announced it's $1 billion investment for a new campus in New York City, which it said will double the workforce there from 7,000 at the time.

CNBC's Jordan Novet contributed to this report.

This story first appeared on CNBC.com. Get more from CNBC:More Maryland parents, including a D.C. teacher, are facing lawsuits from D.C.'s attorney general accusing them of defrauding the D.C. government by lying about where they live in order to get their kids into high-demand public schools without paying tuition.

Attorney General Karl Racine filed lawsuits against four Prince George's County parents on Wednesday.

Racine says the families lied on enrollment forms and said their children lived in the District.

One of the parents is a D.C. school teacher and another is a former D.C. Public Schools employee, according to Racine.

The lawsuits claim that a fifth person who is a current D.C. schools employee said she was related to a student to get them enrolled at the school where she works.

D.C. is suing for more than $450,000 which includes tuition costs and fines.

Parents from Maryland and Virginia lying about where they live so they get their kids into high performing D.C. public schools like Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Hardy Middle School and McKinley Tech has been a problem for years.

While D.C. residents are given priority for enrollment at D.C. public schools, out-of-state students are allowed to attend, but they have to pay about $12,000 a year in tuition.

The city filed lawsuits against six other Prince Georges County families in December.

Its really important that D.C. residents and D.C. kids get the first shot to attend D.C. schools, Racine previously said.

He said his office is aggressively going after the parents who lie to avoid paying tuition.

We need to send a message that nonresident tuition fraud needs to stop, Racine said.

In 2018, D.C. filed a total of nine lawsuits against parents totaling nearly $3 million.

News4 has reached out to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser's office for comment on the status of the school employees accused in the lawsuits.The Fuling shale gas field, China's largest of its kind, generated more than 6 billion cubic meters of shale gas in 2018, according to its developer China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, or Sinopec, the world's largest refiner by volume.

The gas field's sales reached 5.78 billion cu m last year, placing the gas field top nationwide both for production and sales.

Thanks to new domestic drilling technology and cost-cutting measures, the Fuling field, located in Southwest China's Chongqing, had produced more than 21.5 billion cu m by the end of 2018, Sinopec said.

The company has pledged to increase its share of clean energy production to more than 50 percent within six years, upping its output of shale gas, together with other forms of clean fuel, including natural gas and geothermal energy, and related facilities.

Sinopec said it aims to help the country improve its energy structure and shift away from traditional energy sources, such as coal and oil.

The Fuling shale gas field, China's first commercial shale gas production program, began production in 2014. It produces natural gas and condensates, and has proven reserves of more than 600 billion cu m, making it the world's second-largest shale gas field.

The largest is in the United States.

The discovery of the Fuling field is believed to play a significant role in accelerating the structural adjustment of China's energy industry, meeting the ever-increasing gas demand in the country, and helping to promote energy conservation and emissions reduction.

Shale gas is a natural gas trapped within shale formations. It has become an increasingly important source of natural gas, first in the United States and later in other countries including Canada and China.

In 2011, the State Council categorized shale gas as the country's 172nd mineral asset and started to manage it as an independent mineral resource.

The discovery of the Fuling shale gas field marked an important strategic breakthrough in China's shale gas development, signifying the market's earlier-than-expected entry into large-scale commercial development, said Sinopec.

According to Li Li, research director at energy consulting company ICIS China, technological challenges are among the most significant factors dampening shale gas exploration in China.

Shale formations in the country are deeper and more tectonically fractured, thus leading to higher costs and difficulties in maintaining wells while drilling, she added.

However, the sector's prospects remain promising, as natural gas prices are likely to surge in the future, Li said.The Catholic bishop of Covington, Kentucky, says an independent investigation exonerates students from Covington Catholic High School who were at the center of a national firestorm when a video supposedly showed a confrontation between the students and Native Americans at the Lincoln Memorial.

Those students had been in Washington, D.C., in January for the March for Life, an annual anti-abortion demonstration, when they were captured on video apparently encircling Native American elder Nathan Phillips in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The video went viral on Twitter before eventually being removed.

A longer video later emerged showing the students shouting back and forth with a group of the Black Hebrew Israelites, a religious sect known for street preaching. A group of Native Americans eventually moved between both groups and into the crowd of students.

The investigators, commissioned by the Diocese of Covington and Covington Catholic High School, found no evidence of offensive or racist statements by students to Phillips and other Native Americans.

The four investigators with Greater Cincinnati Investigation interviewed and took statements from Covington students and chaperones who attended, sought third-party witnesses, and combed through social media posts and news articles.

Covington Bishop Roger Foys said he was happy the investigation showed the students were not instigators.

The immediate worldwide reaction to the initial video led almost everyone to believe that our students had initiated the incident, and the perception of those few minutes of video became reality, Foys said in a news release.

One of the investigators, Chad Moran, said they spoke to nine faculty chaperones, four parents on the trip and 43 students. The team was unable to contact Phillips and used a written statement from the student at the center of the controversy, Nick Sandmann.

Among other conclusions: The team found no evidence of students chanting Build the wall, or of a student shouting, Its not rape if you enjoy it. The investigators did say the teens performed a tomahawk chop and were wearing Make America Great Again hats.

In truth, taking everything into account, our students were placed in a situation that was at once bizarre and even threatening, Foys said. Their reaction to the situation was, given the circumstances, expected and one might even say laudatory.

Read the full report here.

The initial video that apparently showed the students mobbing Phillips went viral after it was shared on Twitter and prompted widespread condemnation from political leaders, media personalities and religious figures, including Foys and the Diocese of Covington.One year after 17 students and staff at a Parkland, Florida, high school were killed in a shooting massacre, a group of Maryland students created a touching tribute to young victims of gun violence.

A sea of white T-shirts now surrounds Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, hanging from fences around campus.

There are 671 shirts in total, each representing a teenager or child who was killed by gun violence. In black marker, each shirt shares the name and age of a victim. Some were killed in the shooting in Parkland. Many more were gunned down in less widely known incidents.

Even those who haven't been identified were represented, with at least one shirt reading, Unidentified Male Age 15.

A crowd of students arrived at the school before sunrise on Thursday, pulling the shirts out of bags, putting them onto hangers and hanging them on fences alongside signs reading "Memorial to our lives."

It's clear the Parkland shooting struck a cord around the country, and in the classrooms at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High. Last year, the students hung about 200 T-shirts around the school. They also participated in a nationwide walkout to demand stricter gun control laws.An attorney for a woman who accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexually assaulting her in Boston nearly 15 years ago says the woman will discuss her allegations with law enforcement.

Debra Katz, an attorney for Vanessa Tyson, said Wednesday that Tyson will meet with members of the Suffolk County district attorney's office to detail her accusations against Fairfax.

Katz said she has spoken to District Attorney Rachael Rollins and they are working to schedule a meeting.

Fairfax has denied assaulting Tyson and described their encounter as consensual.

Rollins sent a letter to Tyson's legal team last week saying her office is prepared to investigate if Tyson files a criminal complaint.

Lauren Burke, a spokeswoman for Fairfax, told The Boston Globe that Fairfax would fully cooperate with an investigation by Suffolk County prosecutors. But she also said, "In that event, the lieutenant governor will explore all options with regard to filing his own criminal complaint in response to the filing of a false criminal complaint against him."

Katz called the statement a "shocking threat."

"This is a clear effort to obstruct justice. Dr. Tyson will not be bullied and she will not be silenced by such threats," Katz said in a statement.

Tyson previously said in a statement that 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. Fairfax said the encounter was consensual.

Tyson has not otherwise commented publicly and hasn't responded to multiple requests for comment from The Associated Press.

The Virginia House speaker said Wednesday that he would not rule out an investigation of Fairfax led by the General Assembly. He told the Richmond Times-Dispatch there would need to be bipartisan agreement for that.What to Know Seventeen people were fatally shot on Feb.14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

Since the shooting, families of victims and survivors themselves have actively sought change.

The activists seek to improve safety to prevent similar tragedies from happening again  though not all agree on how.

Last February, Matt Deitsch was living his dream studying at a California university. His brother, Ryan, was about to graduate from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and head to college, the natural next step for the middle child from a family in the affluent suburb of Parkland.

Since the shooting, the brothers have put college on hold and moved into the national spotlight as they helped organize March For Our Lives, sparking a national conversation about gun control. They've crisscrossed the country with their younger sister Sam, speaking about assault rifles bans and universal background checks and visiting college campuses to register young voters.

Matt, now 21, flew to South Africa to accept the International Children's Peace Prize. He and younger brother Ryan worked with "Avengers" actor Mark Ruffalo to write a public service announcement encouraging youth to vote.

"I don't think anyone can truly explain the political journey we've been thrust onto. I feel like we have a better understanding of our nation's politics than most of our politicians," Ryan said.

Last Valentine's Day, Stoneman Douglas alumnus Matt was working with a startup T-shirt company that student Joaquin Oliver was going to model for three days later. Instead, Deitsch attended Oliver's funeral that Saturday.

Ryan, a senior at the time, was hiding in a closet in his journalism class and emerged to grab footage for the school newspaper.

Sam, then a freshman, lost a close friend: 14-year-old Jaime Guttenberg. She's spent the year in therapy and giving speeches about gun violence. She turns Sweet Sixteen on Thursday, the anniversary of the day her friend and 16 others died.

All three siblings found comfort in advocacy and one another.

Just hours after the shooting, the high school students became impossible to ignore riding their bikes to TV interviews, trolling politicians on social media and rallying around the cry of "Never Again." Gun-rights advocates also have emerged from Stoneman Douglas students, with Kyle Kashuv the most prominent.

Almost overnight, students like Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg became household names. Behind the scenes, more than a dozen others  among them the three red-headed Deitsch siblings  worked to launch what would become a longer-term grassroots campaign.

Matt helped write many of the talking points "so that we could counterpunch what was being used against us which was incredibly more aggressive than we could ever imagine."

In one of the organization's first real stabs at the National Rifle Association and politicians that support it  a live town hall with CNN  Ryan hammered Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, asking "Why do we have to march on Washington just to save innocent lives?"

These days, he helps to run the organization's content committee, making sure the message is on point whether it's a video or merchandising. He has deferred college for now, drawing a meager salary from March For Our Lives, saying he made more money as a waiter and food delivery driver.

Matt, director of strategy, runs the day-to-day operations along with Jaclyn Corin.

"I work 110-plus hours a week. I've been on three national tours, around the country in the last 10 months. I've been to 41 states plus D.C. ... This work doesn't stop," he said.

Days after the shooting, Ryan and Sam headed to Tallahassee with busloads of students to push state lawmakers for gun reform. Discouraged that Florida lawmakers voted not to consider a proposed ban on assault rifles, they organized a trip to Washington with a handful of students, including Delaney Tarr and Alex Wind. They met with 200 lawmakers in two days.

The brother said the meetings were disappointing: Lawmakers made excuses, misquoted the constitution and treated them coldly.

"If they had pretended to be competent and that they were fighting for our lives, that they were working to protect us, March For Our Lives would have never existed. We would have hit the brakes," Matt said.

The students had glimpsed the inner workings of the Legislature and decided it wasn't working for them.

"That started the fire in our eyes on a whole other level," Matt said.

The Deitsch siblings express anger as they retell their story during a recent interview in their home. But they also frequently burst into laughter. It's their panacea.

When Sam is overcome by grief and missing her friend, the brothers pull out silly memes from social media to coax a smile. She says they've gotten closer since the shooting. They laugh about counterprotester antics and bond over what being at the epicenter of a movement is like.

"This year has been really, really hard for me and my mental health, and when I think how I have to live for (Jaime) ... ," Sam said, her voice trailing off in tears.

Looking ahead, March For Our Lives is already focusing on the next election. The group has said it is encouraged by impressive youth turnout in midterm elections and the growth of nearly 100 local chapters around the country. This year's goal is to find creative ways to engage with disinterested youth.

"We had hundreds of thousands of students stand up and become politically active for the first time in their lives," Matt said. "And every day there's more of us."For John Gelastopoulos, faking it till he made it was key to the initial success of his restaurant, Broken Yolk Cafe.

This week, 59-year-old Gelastopoulos will be opening the 32nd Broken Yolk franchised restaurant, this time in Spring, Texas. Each location makes approximately $2 million in revenue annually, according to Gelastopoulos.

There are 15 Broken Yolks located throughout San Diego County, as well as in Northern California, Arizona, Florida, and Illinois. In the next few months, Gelastopoulos, with the help of his 10 or so corporate team members, will open three more Broken Yolk Cafes: one in Las Vegas, a second location in Arizona and an additional one in Fullerton.

It all started in Pacific Beach, where he purchased the first location in 1993, enticed by its breakfast and lunch hours. And, although hed been working in the back-of-the-house of various San Diego restaurants since migrating from Greece at the age of 17, as well as moonlighting as a restaurant broker by day, he didnt quite know what to expect.

Drawing a Crowd

After a couple of weekends with a pretty empty dining hall and not very many patrons coming through the door, Gelastopoulos decided hed call a few friends and invite them to eat at his restaurant for free. Hed come out while the customers were eating, shake hands with them, thank them for coming and ask them to come again next week and eat, again, on the house.

He repeated the same promotional tactic every weekend for six weeks, providing comp meals for guests, and, before he knew it, the Broken Yolk had lines out the door with random customers wanting to know what all the hype was about.

That momentum is still going.

Necessity creates creativity, said Gelastopoulos. Without knowing anything about marketing, I created that momentum. People attract people, and, although I wasnt making money the first few months, it all worked out. You have to take risks. That is what got things going for us.

Before owning Broken Yolk, Gelastopoulos didnt know much about running a business. He started off working as a dishwasher at restaurants around town and moved up to the hot-line while attending school.

In 1993, Gelastopoulos got his real estate license and became a broker, selling restaurants. Thats when he came across Broken Yolk Cafe. At first, he was the seller. But, after convincing the owner, he became the buyer.

Jamie Scott Lytle

Using the Credit Cards

But, Gelastopoulos, married and with two kids at the time (he later had a third child), had no money. He said he and his family were living paycheck to paycheck back then and could barely make ends meet. So, he convinced his wife to let him charge $45,000 to their collective credit cards and assume the previous owners bank loan of $280,000 to buy Broken Yolk.

I paid the expenses and took the loan, he said. It was a big risk, but, we made it happen. And, today, we are in a very different position.

Gelastopoulos three children and his son-in-law all work for Broken Yolk Cafe in some capacity. His eldest daughter is the vice president of franchise support, the second daughter handles all the menu innovation and creation, and his son, who he says is a millennial that thinks he knows everything, wears many hats until they can figure out together what best suits him.

Franchising

Franchising for Broken Yolk Cafe didnt start until around 2008. In reality, Gelastopoulos hadnt thought about expanding when he began to get approached about franchising opportunities.

He says, at the time, he was content with things as they were: the business was doing well, especially during the summer time, the kids were in good schools and hed gotten his wife the house with the white picket fence. He was living the American dream.

But, a customer whod come by almost every weekend to the Pacific Beach restaurant kept pressing Gelastopoulos about having his own Broken Yolk location, until the two agreed to give it a try.

Shortly after, the second Broken Yolk opened in Eastlake, and it took off immediately, said Gelastopoulos. A friend of his who visited the opening of that restaurant got excited and said he wanted in, so, not long after that, a third Broken Yolk Cafe opened in Chula Vista. And the rest, as they say, is history.

I am very hands-on, Gelastopoulos said about his involvement with the franchises.

In fact, as he prepared the opening of the new Spring, Texas, location, he said he and a team of about seven were already there training the staff and showing them the ropes. This included members of the support team, graphics, social media, marketing and operations.

Expansion aside, Gelastopoulos said he faces some of the same tribulations that other restaurant owners around town have to deal with, including rising wages. He said hes had to trim hours to help keep costs down and the operation sometimes runs with a very slim team, but never to the point that service is compromised.

Fast Facts About Broken Yolk:

Owner: John Gelastopoulos

John Gelastopoulos Revenue: Approx. $2 million per location annually (32 locations total)

Approx. $2 million per location annually (32 locations total) No. of Employees: 30-35 employees at the corporate Pacific Beach location, 10 at corporate headquarters

30-35 employees at the corporate Pacific Beach location, 10 at corporate headquarters Headquarters: Pacific Beach

Pacific Beach Year Founded: 1979 (acquired by Gelastopoulos in 1993)

1979 (acquired by Gelastopoulos in 1993) Company Description: San Diego-based breakfast and lunch restaurant chain

Additional stories from the San Diego Business Journal are available here. Sign up for their free daily email newsletter.Police say the man who fired close to 20 shots into a busy Hillcrest restaurant Tuesday night made a "disturbing" Facebook post prior to the shooting, but said investigators have more evidence to process before determining it a hate crime.

Stefano Markell Parker, 29, was in custody, accused of firing nearly 20 shots from the street into the Golden Dragon Asian Bistro on University Avenue at 7:40 p.m. Nine customers and some employees were inside the restaurant at the time of the shooting, but no one was injured.

The restaurant is in the heart of a neighborhood known around the nation for its LGBTQ community.

We pride ourselves in San Diego for being a very diverse city and a city that celebrates unique culture. That is never going to change, said Faulconer. We will stand together to denounce violence and we will stand together to support our brothers and sisters in the LGBTQ community.

More information is coming out of the shooting at a Hillcrest restaurant, including details on the suspect, Stefano Parker. NBC 7's Danny Freeman has more.

SDPD Assistant Chief Al Guaderrama said that Parker recently made a Facebook post that was "quite disturbing," but said investigators still have evidence to process before they determine a motive in the shooting.

We have a tremendous amount of evidence that we need to go through before we make the determination that it was a hate crime," Guaderrama said.

The assistant chief could not say if the shooting was premeditated.

SDPD Assistant Chief Al Guaderrama details the timeline of events in Tuesday night's shooting at the Golden Dragon Asian Bistro in Hillcrest.

The owner of the restaurant told NBC 7 Tuesday night he didn't recognize Parker, but a family meber of the owner said Wednesday that he recognized Parker from an incident at the restaurant last weekend.

Mike Tamarkin said he saw a photo of the suspect and realized he had been in a fight with a group of Asian Americans outside the Golden Dragon last Sunday.

"He was just mumbling something incoherent and giving me a weird look and gave me a weird feeling so I was like, screw this and went back inside the restaurant," Tamarkin said.

Tamarkin said he saw homophobic social media posts allegedly made by the suspect, calling them "sad" and "terrible."

On Feb. 12, 2019, a man fired shots inside an Asian bistro in San Diego's Hillcrest community. Police are looking into reports that the shooting may have been a hate crime. At a news briefing, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said this: We pride ourselves in San Diego for being a very diverse city and a city that celebrates unique culture. That is never going to change, said Faulconer. We will stand together to denounce violence and we will stand together to support our brothers and sisters in the LGBTQ community.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer said he has asked the police department to increase patrols in the Hillcrest neighborhood.

Witnesses told SDPD Parker wore a trench coat and calmly walked away, carrying the rifle after firing several rounds. Guaderrama said Parker fled down a nearby alley where another witness saw him taking off his clothes.

Officers made contact with Parker and took him into custody without incident.

A trail of evidence, including clothes that matched the witness description and the rifle, were found discarded in the alley where Parker was found.

SDPD Assistant Chief Al Guaderrama talks about a disturbing Facebook message allegedly posted by the gunman in the Hillcrest restaurant shooting and how police are trying to determine if the shooting will be classified as a hate crime.

Parker is facing nine counts of attempted murder, one count of using a firearm in the commission of a felony and one count of a felon in possession of a firearm.

The assistant chief said he was hesitant to release more details of the crime in fear it could hinder the investigation, which he said will last days and consist of interviewing a number of witnesses and processing surveillance video.

We owe it to the community of Hillcrest and those nine victims," he said.

Kollette Lavoy and her father were seated at a table in the back of the restaurant when the shots rang out. She said a piece of shattered glass from the front windows grazed her forehead.

"It felt like forever but then it was purely silent and that's when I just realized you are waiting for footsteps to walk in and just finish the job," Lavoy said.

SDPD has not determined how Parker got a hold of his rifle, but said the weapon he used was not registered to him and had not been reported stolen.

Stefano Markell Parker was accused of opening fire in a Hillcrest restaurant Wednesday. No one inside was struck by gunfire, authorities said, though some patrons were understandably shaken up.

SDPD said they found 19, 5.66 caliber weapon casings outside of the restaurant, which was riddled with bullet holes.

SDPD Officer Audra Brown said the evidence initially led them to Parker as a person of interest. He was questioned for hours before being declared a suspect.

"Its quite a blessing," Brown said. "With that hail of gunfire that went out  that nobody was hit."

Images: Shots Fired Into Hillcrest Restaurant

According to Guaderrama, Parker's criminal history includes an arrest for homicide in Alabama several years ago.

Investigators are not sure when the crime occured, but believe it happened between 2000 and 2003. Guaderrama said Parker only served four or five years behind bars for the crime.

There couldve been lives lost yesterday  and I think everybody realizes that," Guaderrama said.

No other suspects are involved in the case.

San Diego City Council members Chris Ward (District 3), Jennifer Campbell (District 2) and Council President Georgette Gomez (District 9) issued a joint statement Wednesday regarding the shooting and other recent crime in the Hillcrest community.

Over the past week, we have seen an increase in crime and violence in a community that has historically identified as LGBTQIA+. From the cowardly vandalism of Pride Plaza to last nights shooting on University Avenue, it is clear that more must be done to address the rising public safety concerns of our residents. As members of the LGBTQIA+ community and the City Council, we stand united against these acts of violence and hate. What is meant to silence our community will only make us stronger, and we look forward to using that strength to work with the Mayors office and the San Diego Police Department to ensure we truly are a city that is safe for all.Weather Alert

...DANGEROUS HEAT EXPECTED THROUGH THE WEEKEND AND INTO NEXT WEEK... A strong high pressure system will build over the Pacific Northwest through the weekend and into next week. Sinking air under the high pressure will result in very hot temperatures and the potential for record highs from Saturday into next week for most areas. ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON TO THURSDAY EVENING... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with temperatures of 108 to 114 expected. * WHERE...In Washington, Lower Columbia Basin of Washington. In Oregon, Lower Columbia Basin of Oregon. * WHEN...From Friday afternoon to Thursday 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... 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. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. &&What to Know Amazon has canceled its plans to build a headquarters in Long Island City and will not search for another location

In a statement Thursday, the tech behemoth said it had come to the decision after "much thought and deliberation"

Amazon is still moving forward with its plans for a headquarters in Crystal City, as well as an operation center in Nashville

Amazon has canceled its plans to build a headquarters in Long Island City and will not look for another location  a stunning reversal after a yearlong search.

In a statement Thursday, the tech behemoth said it had come to the decision after "much thought and deliberation."

For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term, Amazon said.

While polls show that 70 percent of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City, it added.

The Seattle-based company had planned to bring 25,000 jobs to New York, and spend $2.5 billion building its offices. Amazon is still moving forward with its plans for a headquarters in Crystal City, as well as the operation center in Nashville it announced last year, it said in its Thursday statement.

The Arlington campus was expected to be the same size as the New York one, with 25,000 employees. The Nashville office is expected to have 5,000 employees.

The company has met with fierce opposition from some New York politicians and residents since announcing its plans to split its second headquarters, known as Amazon "HQ2," between Queens and Crystal City in Virginia this past November. A number of New York politicians were unhappy with the nearly $3 billion in tax incentives Amazon was promised.

Its announcement also sparked protests over concerns the new headquarters would drive up rents in Long Island City, drive out lower-income residents and increase congestion on already-overcrowded subway lines.

A Quinnipiac University poll released in December, however, found New York City voters supported having an Amazon headquarters, by 57-26 percent. But they were divided on the incentives: 46 percent in favor, 44 percent against.

"We are disappointed to have reached this conclusion  we love New York, its incomparable dynamism, people, and culture  and particularly the community of Long Island City, where we have gotten to know so many optimistic, forward-leaning community leaders, small business owners, and residents," Amazon said Thursday, adding that it was "deeply grateful" to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, who "worked tirelessly on behalf of New Yorkers to encourage local investment and job creation."

Cuomo and de Blasio had lobbied intensely to land the project. In his own statement on Thursday, however, de Blasio didn't return Amazon's praise, saying the company gave up on trying to engage New Yorkers.

"You have to be tough to make it in New York City. We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity," he said. "We have the best talent in the world and every day we are growing a stronger and fairer economy for everyone. If Amazon can't recognize what that's worth, its competitors will."

Cuomo, meanwhile, blamed lawmakers opposed to the project for "put[ting] their own narrow political interests above their community."

"The New York State Senate has done tremendous damage," he said in a statement. "They should be held accountable for this lost economic opportunity."

Critics of Amazon's project saw as an extravagant giveaway to one of the world's biggest companies and argued it wouldn't provide much direct benefit to most New Yorkers. Several welcomed the news that Amazon might be rethinking the plan.

Queens Sen. Michael Gianaris, one of the deal's primary political opponents, said on Thursday Amazon's reversal "show[ed] why they would have been a bad partner for New York in any event."

"Rather than seriously engage with the community they proposed to profoundly change, Amazon continued its effort to shakedown governments to get its way," he said. "It is time for a national dialogue about the perils of these types of corporate subsidies."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez exulted over Amazon's pullout.

"Today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers and their neighbors defeated Amazon's corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world," she tweeted.

But even as activists celebrated, chanting "Na na na na, hey, hey, goodbye" during a rally Thursday, local business owners were not happy. They'd been banking on a major windfall from Amazon's move into Queens.

"We killed the golden goose," said Frank Raffaele, owner of Coffeed. "We should have welcomed them with open arms."

"This was a gift to our community, and they punched a gift horse in the face," said restaurant owner Josh Bowen.

Queens Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Seth Bornsetin said in a statement, "[T]hose who advocated against Amazon took a very short-sighted approach and did a tremendous disservice to our community -- especially to a generation of young people, many from low- and moderate-income families who stood a chance to be trained and obtain jobs in the tech sector."

And Rob McKay, director of public relations for QEDC, added, "We were looking at jobs, internships, economic activity, donations to local nonprofits, and eventually millions of dollars in taxes. Now we have nothing but a reputation for being hostile to business."

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson  who previously spoke out against the tax incentives Amazon was set to receive  said he "looked forward to working with companies that understand that if you're willing to engage with new Yorkers and work through challenging issues New York City is the world's best place to do business."

"I hope this is the start of a conversation about vulture capitalism and where our tax dollars are best spent," he added.

George Miranda, the president of Teamsters Joint Council 16, said in a statement that New Yorkers had "made it clear that Amazon wasn't welcome in our city if it would not respect our workers and our communities."

"Apparently, the company decided that was too much to ask," he said. "We are committed to fighting for the rights of workers throughout the Amazon supply chain and supporting their demand for a voice on the job."

Amazon's seemingly abrupt reversal also drew the ire of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union on Thursday, which had voiced myriad concerns about the tech giant's business practices, including its treatment of workers.

"Rather than addressing the legitimate concerns that have been raised by many New Yorkers, Amazon says, you do it our way or not at all, we will not even consider the concerns of New Yorkers  that's not what a responsible business would do," union spokeswoman Chelsea Connor said in a statement.

Deborah Axt, co-executive director of the anti-poverty group Make the Road New York, said the announcement "mark[ed] a landmark victory for our communities and shows the power of the people, even when taking on the world's richest man."

"Our members and allies stood firm against Governor Cuomo's plan to give away more than $3 billion in taxpayer giveaways so that Amazon could force its empire-building on our neighborhoods," she added.

But many tenants in local public housing disagreed. Leaders from NYCHA buildings in Long Island City, Astoria and Woodside issued a joint statement expressing their anger.

"From the beginning, grandstanding politicians who refused to be at the table dismissed the work of those of us who were. They put petty politics above true public service and they spread misinformation to whip up the small band of opponents," read the statement from the presidents of the Queensbridge, Astoria, Woodside and Ravenswood houses' tenant associations.

"Jimmy Van Bramer and Mike Gianaris used to be the politicians we came to when we needed help," the statement continued. "This time, they didn't even talk to us. They never asked what we, the people of NYCHA, actually wanted. They put their own political interests above their constituents and did not meet with us or even listen to us. The grandstanding politicians will try and blame Amazon and anyone but themselves for this disaster. Nobody should believe them  they let us down."

Not everyone rejoiced Amazon's reversal Thursday. In a statement, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran expressed "deep disappointment" over the decision.

"Long Island was poised to reap enormous benefits from the move, which would have brought a flood of new high-wage jobs, business development, and much-needed tax revenue to the entire region," she said. "I urge Amazon to please reconsider their decision.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, meanwhile, said on Twitter the news was "not the Valentine that NY needed."

"There were legitimate concerns raised and aspects that I wanted changed.... But now, we won't have a chance to do that and we are out of 25K+ new jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in new investments."

Realtors and developers also had their optimism dashed. A building boom was already underway before Amazon announced it would create jobs in Long Island City, and real estate agent Brian Dusseau said the prospect put a floor under the softening housing market. Now he worries that floor is gone -- and more.

"It's my belief we could have become a tech mecca," he said. "Other companies would have come here. We have a lot more buildable real estate. I think it's going to be awful."Police say they busted a woman with thousands of dollars' worth of stolen clothing after she made off with a $3,500 mink coat from a Delaware County store.

Police arrested Tamala Lee Tucker after they found six trash bags full of clothing and she admitted to them that she planned on selling the garments to support her heroin addiction, according to an affidavit.

Radnor Township Police Department

Officers were led to Tucker after she went to a Jacques Ferber Furs store in Wayne and walked out with a mink coat stuffed underneath her dress, Radnor Township Police Department Sgt. Dan Lunger said.

According to store owner Pamela Ferber, the shop was in the middle of an end-of-the-season sale when Tucker and two other women walked in.

"I know my inventory really well and I looked over and I could see a piece was not there," Ferber said.

Growing suspicious, she walked over to the women and told them she knew they'd taken something, which is when they scurried out the door, Ferber said. Ferber went outside and managed to get a vehicle description and partial license plate.

A few minutes later, police spotted the SUV and brought Ferber over, the affidavit said. Ferber positively identified the women, which is when Tucker supposedly admitted that the coat was in the back seat.

At that point, officers spotted the trash bags full of clothes with tinfoil wrapped around the security tags, according to the document. Other fur jackets worth thousands of dollars were found among the 37 pieces of recovered clothing, Lunger said.

"I saw [police] lift the hatch of their vehicle and there were other plastic bags full of things, just like my coat was in a plastic bag, and realized wow, they've had a busy day," Ferber said.

Tucker told police she had received at least some of the clothes from an acquaintance in Baltimore, Maryland and planned to "get rid" of them to get cash for her heroin habit, the affidavit said.

Her alleged shoplifting spree may span at least three states, including Maryland, Delaware and the Delaware County area of Pennsylvania, Lunger said. "Spanning several states, stealing items, possibly taking possession of stolen items to support a heroin habit, it's something that draws your attention for sure," he said.

Police hope others come forward to see if any of their items were stolen. The two other women who were with Tucker at the time of the arrest have not been charged with any crime.C919 aircraft manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) said that a further three prototypes of the aircraft will have their debut flights this year, and preparations for mass production of the nation's first homegrown narrow-body passenger plane will also be accelerated.

According to COMAC, three C919 aircraft are undergoing testing at the C919 assembly workshop in Shanghai's Pudong New Areathe second, third and the fourth prototypes of the C919, China Central Television reported on Wednesday.

The 102 prototype test aircraft completed its first flight in December 2017. It has recently returned to Shanghai from Dongying in Shandong province, and on Friday started two to three months of modification for a future test flight.

The 103, which had its maiden flight on Dec 28, and is undergoing flight test modification for the moment, will fly to Yanliang near Xi'an in Shaanxi province, where the Chinese Flight Test Establishment is located, for further flight tests.

"The 104 aircraft has entered the final assembly stage. The jet is about to make its first flight after rolling off the final assembly line," said Meng Jianxin, deputy director of the C919 division under Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Co Ltd, COMAC.

According to Meng, the 105 jet is in the process of part fabrication, and major parts of the 106 model are being manufactured in accordance with the plan.

"All of them will have flight tests by the end of this year," said Meng.

With the participation of another three new prototypes, a total of six C919 aircraft, including the 101, will be assigned different tasks to test the C919's flight performance.

"The year 2019 is key for the C919, and it is hoped that we can further optimize the flight tasks, enhance flight test efficiency, and complete all the tasks safely," said Lai Peijun, a flight test engineer with COMAC.

The aircraft's first flight only mark the beginning of their journey, and every flight made will provide technical support for a more steady flight the next time.

"There are quite a few test flight subjects that need to be accomplished before a commercial aircraft model acquires airworthiness certification, and it is necessary to split the tasks among five or six aircraft," said Lin Zhijie, an aviation industry analyst and columnist at carnoc.com, one of China's biggest civil aviation websites.

Lin said it is also an international convention for five or six aircraft to work together to complete a commercial aircraft model's flight tests. Chinanews.com reported that the C919's flight tests will include 729 items and may take as long as 4,200 hours.

The twin-engine, single-aisle C919, which is comparable with the updated Airbus 320 and Boeing's new generation 737 planes, made its maiden flight on May 5, 2017.

COMAC has received 815 orders from 28 Chinese and overseas companies, which include domestic aviation companies and financial leasing companies, as well as international companies such as GE Capital Aviation Services, the largest commercial airline leasing company in the world, German startup Puren Airlines, and City Airways of Thailand.

Before the delivery of the first C919, two key missions need to be fulfilled, to receive airworthiness certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency, and to continuously improve its safety, reliability and economy, according to Lin.

"The former will guarantee entry to the US and European markets, and the latter is a guarantee for our homegrown aircraft to have most problems settled before its commercial flights," he said.What to Know Howard Schultz made a bombshell claim about the manager involved in last year's arrest of two black men at a Center City Starbucks.

The former Starbucks CEO claimed the manager told him she would "probably not" call the police if the two men were white.

Schultz made the statement after a woman who witnessed the incident accused him of not describing the incident accurately.

Former Starbucks CEO and possible 2020 candidate Howard Schultz claimed the manager of one of the company's Philadelphia's shops where two black men were arrested last year might not have called authorities if the two men had been white.

He made the comment during a stop on his book tour at the Parkway Central Library Wednesday night.

I spent time with the manager one-on-one and I just asked her a simple question, Schultz said. I asked her if those two young men were white, would she have called the police? And to her credit, she said, Probably not."

The manager's answer indicated that she had racially profiled the two men, he added.

"Once I knew what she said, I felt I had a moral obligation to tell the truth, Schultz said.

Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, both 23 years old at the time, were arrested in April 2018 while sitting at a Rittenhouse Starbucks waiting for a business meeting. Video of their arrests went viral, prompting outrage and accusations of racism against both the coffee chain and Philadelphia police.

Schultz, who was the executive chairman of Starbucks at the time, personally apologized to the men. The company also changed store policies and closed 8,000 shops across the country one afternoon for bias training.

It was not the managers fault, Schultz said. It was the fault of the company. And the fault was we had a policy that was unclear. And unfortunately that policy led to a bad decision.

As Schultz described the incident and subsequent fallout, Melissa DePino, who first posted the video of Nelson and Robinson being handcuffed and led out of the store by police, stood up and challenged Schultz's version of events.

"You are not describing the incident accurately and the way you are describing it is perpetuating the problem," she said. "And I know you want to be part of the solution and I hope you will be, but when you say there were words between the [men and the manager], and she felt threatened, that didn't happen. I saw it with my own two eyes. I was there."

Schultz responded to DePino, acknowledging that he didnt actually witness the encounter.

He also said that he had "great respect" for what she saw and described how he handled the situation after having a private conversation with the manager.

Schultz claimed he was advised not to describe it as racial profiling during public interviews due to concerns that the revelation would damage the company.

DePino told NBC10 after the event that she had a mixed reaction to Schultzs response.

Yes, afterwards he said it was implicit bias, but thats almost negated after he says that there was an exchange and [the manager] felt threatened, DePino said. I dont hear anything about the two black men feeling threatened by eight police officers for doing nothing but sitting in a coffee shop.

Nelson and Robinson settled with the city in May 2018 for a symbolic $1 each and a promise from officials to set up a program for young entrepreneurs.

CORRECTION (Feb. 14, 2018 11:11 a.m.): Howard Schultz was the executive chairman of Starbucks at the time of the arrests.The defense attorney for one of four inmates charged in a deadly Delaware prison riot has argued the evidence against his client is the product of lying "snakes."

The Delaware News Journal reports Thomas Pederson, who represents John Bramble, told the jury Tuesday that prosecutors are so desperate for convictions that they are unwilling to question the credibility of their own witnesses.

Evidence presented against Bramble is comprised of testimony by former inmates who lived with him in James T. Vaughn Correctional Center's C Building when the uprising occurred in 2017. Prison guard Steven Floyd was killed, and three other staffers were taken hostage.

In his rebuttal, Deputy Attorney General Brian Robertson agreed that witness statements will make the case and argued that flaws in those statements show they're genuine.Detectives executing a search warrant for drugs found an alligator in the kitchen of a Chester County home last week.

Detectives found heroin, suspected fentanyl, crack cocaine, marijuana, cash and drug packaging in the South Coatesville home on Feb. 8, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said. Investigators also found the 2-foot-long American gator living in the kitchen.

Drug dealers will do just about anything to project an image of danger in order to protect their drugs and cash, Hogan said in a news release Thursday. Some drug dealers use pit bulls or snakes. These drug traffickers kept an alligator in the house.

Irvin Gotti Hawkins, 31, who rents the Gibbons Avenue home; Aki Gathright, 35, of Philadelphia; and Tyrone Jackson, 40, of Columbia, Pennsylvania, were charged with drug dealing counts.

Investigators zeroed in on the men after a series of undercover drug buys before the bust, according to criminal complaints filled out by county detectives.

Once inside the home, besides the gator, detectives found marijuana on a table and in two bedrooms, suspected crack cocaine in a bathroom tub, bulk and black tar heroin in a bedroom, more than $5,000 in cash and drug packaging materials.

During the drug bust, Jackson tried to throw marijuana out the window, according to criminal complaints. Gathright had marijuana and unknown white pills on him at the time of the bust, detectives said. Hawkins had controlled substances with him.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Controls Brandywine Zoo took in the gator. The Wilmington zoo plans to use the gator as an educational tool for visitors over the summer. After that, the gator will be moved to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park in Florida.

We will provide care for the alligator and ensure it is healthy during its stay with the zoo, Brandywine Zoo director Brint Spencer said.

All three suspects were being held in county jail Thursday, unable to post bail, according to court records. NBC10 left messages for Gathrights and Jacksons attorneys. Online court record dont list an attorney who could comment on Hawkins behalf.Congressional bargainers formally completed a bipartisan border security pact late Wednesday and President Donald Trump labored to frame it as a political win, even though it contains only a fraction of the billions for a "great, powerful wall" that he's been demanding for months.

Trump is expected to grudgingly accept the agreement, which was completed just before midnight. The measure  1,768 pages of legislation and explanation  would avert another government shutdown and give the president what Republicans have been describing as a "down payment" on his signature campaign pledge.

Earlier in the day, Trump said he was still waiting to learn what its final language would be before making a decision. But he's not waiting to declare victory, contending at the White House on Wednesday that a wall "is being built as we speak."

Indeed, work on a first barrier extension  14 miles in Texas' Rio Grande Valley  starts this month, approved by Congress about a year ago along with money to renovate and strengthen some existing fencing. But that's a far cry from the vast wall he promised during his campaign would "go up so fast your head will spin."

Sounding like he was again in campaign mode, he told a law enforcement group on Wednesday, "It's going to be a great, powerful wall. ... The wall is very, very on its way."

Carried away by his own enthusiasm, perhaps, he added, "You are going to have to be in extremely good shape to get over this one. They would be able to climb Mount Everest a lot easier, I think."

Trump has a history of balking at deals after signaling he was on board. But barring White House discovery of any objectionable provisions, he was expected to acquiesce, according to White House officials and other Republicans close to the White House who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Trump and his aides have also signaled that he is preparing to use executive action to try to secure additional money for the wall by tapping into existing federal dollars without any congressional sign-off so he can show supporters he's continuing to fight. That could lead to resistance in Congress or federal court.

But assuming there are no surprises in the final text, "I think he's going to sign it," conservative Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a close ally of the president, said Wednesday. He warned, though, that "it would be political suicide" if Trump signed the deal and then failed to take action to secure additional funding for the wall using his executive powers.

Swallowing the deal would mark a major concession by Trump, who has spent months insisting the situation at the southern border represents a national security crisis that demands an impregnable wall. He also had insisted he would accept nothing less than $5.7 billion for the barrier  a demand that forced the 35-day partial shutdown that left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks and Republicans taking the brunt of the blame. There is no appetite for a repeat.

The deal, which lawmakers reached this week, would provide less than $1.4 billion for border barriers while keeping the government funded through the end of September. While some conservatives, Fox News commentator Sean Hannity among them, have balked at the deal, other allies of the president have urged him to sign it and move on.

In private conversations since the deal was first announced, Trump has complained, calling the committee members poor negotiators, said a person familiar with the conversations who was not authorized to speak publicly. He has also made clear that he wanted more money for the wall and has expressed concern the plan is being framed as a defeat for him in the media.

There is also little doubt the deal will pass Congress, barring eleventh-hour surprises, with "no" votes most likely coming from liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans. Democratic leaders are selling it as solid compromise that will keep the government open.

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.

The legislation would push Immigration and Customs Enforcement to gradual reduce the number of unauthorized immigrants it detains  currently 49,000  though this year's figure would remain higher than last year's.

New barriers could only be built using existing technology, not solid concrete or steel walls that have been proposed and Trump has favored since his presidential campaign. Barriers would be curbed along certain portions of the border.

The measure also provides money to upgrade monitoring and surveillance equipment at border ports of entry and between them. There would be funds to hire more customs agents and immigration judges, improve conditions for detained immigrants and humanitarian aide to Central American countries to help stem the flood of migrants.

Facing opposition from Trump, Democrats lost their bid to make sure employees of federal contractors receive back pay for wages lost during the last shutdown. Federal workers have been paid for time they were furloughed or worked without paychecks.

Also not making the bill was a simple extension of the Violence Against Women Act. Democrats say this will give them a chance later this year to rewrite the law by including protections for transgender people.

Trump kept his cards close, telling reporters he would be taking "a very serious look" at the final text once the White House receives it and watching for any "land mines."

Lawmakers need to pass some kind of funding bill by midnight Friday to avoid another shutdown.

Meanwhile, active-duty troops from dozens of U.S. military units around the country are flowing to the southern border as part of the latest plan to send 3,750 new forces to help with surveillance and install more wire barriers.

As of this week, the military had installed about 105 miles of wire along the border and planned an additional 140 miles of the concertina wire. The bulk of that will be in California and Arizona, in locations between ports of entry that are identified by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as vulnerable.

Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Jonathan Lemire and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.U.S. food regulators say they weren't able to identify a contamination source for a food poisoning outbreak that prompted them to warn people to avoid romaine lettuce this fall.

The Food and Drug Administration says it wasn't able to determine how a water reservoir on a Santa Barbara County, California, farm became contaminated with E. coli. It also says the water reservoir doesn't explain how lettuce from other farms may have been contaminated.

The FDA says leafy greens' short shelf-life makes it difficult to investigate such outbreaks. It notes food safety has been a longstanding issue with leafy greens, and that the industry should review operations to minimize risk.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is always risk of foodborne illness when eating raw produce.Chicago police say they have identified two persons of interest in the alleged attack on "Empire" star Jussie Smollett.

CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the two persons of interest were picked up at O'Hare Airport Wednesday night and were being questioned as of Thursday morning.

"After a meticulous investigation with the use of advance technology, interviews with the victim and witnesses and transportation records, detectives have identified two persons of interest in the Empire cast member case," police said in a statement.

The latest development comes on the same morning Smollett's first television interview since the alleged attack aired.

We are pleased there is progress in the case and are waiting to hear further details," a spokesperson for Smollett said in a statement.

Smollett told police on Jan. 29 that two masked men punched him, subjected him to racist and homophobic insults, threw an "unknown chemical substance" on him and put a thin rope around his neck before fleeing. Smollett's account to detectives included that his attackers yelled that he was in "MAGA country," an apparent reference to the Trump campaign's "Make America Great Again" slogan that some critics of the president have decried as racist and discriminatory.

The alleged attack occurred in the 300 block of East Lower North Water Street about 2 a.m. as the actor returned home from an early-morning visit to a Subway restaurant, according to the police report.

Smollett said in the interview that he was left in shock after the incident and inititally didnt want to report it to police.

"I was looking at myself, just like checking myself out. I saw the bruise on my neck, you know, like the little -- the rope burn around my neck," he said. "So when the police came I kept the clothes on, I kept the rope on me... I mean, it wasn't, like, wrapped around. But, yeah, it was around because I wanted them to see."

Smollett said he's "pissed off" not just by the attack itself but by those questioning his story.

"For me, the main thing was the idea that I somehow switched up my story, you know? And that somehow maybe I added a little extra trinket, you know, of the MAGA thing," Smollett said. "I didn't need to add anything like that. They called me a f-----, they called me a n------. There's no which way you cut it. I don't need some MAGA hat as the cherry on top of some racist sundae."

The Chicago police report lists the weapon in the alleged attack as "hand, feet, teeth, etc."

"He is a victim," Chicago police Supt. Eddie Johnson recently said of Smollett. "And we treat him like a victim. He's been very cooperative."

Hours of surveillance video from multiple cameras in the area where Smollett says the attack happened have been reviewed.

Smollett handed over redacted phone records to Chicago police Monday, but authorities said the records "do not meet the burden for a criminal investigation as they were limted and heavily redacted."

A representative for Smollett said the redacted records were to protect the privacy of his contacts.

"They wanted me to give my phone to the tech for three to four hours. I'm sorry but -- I'm not gonna do that," Smollett said in the interview. "Because I have private pictures and videos and numbers: my partner's number, my family's number, my castmate's number, my friends' numbers, my private emails, my private songs, my private voice memos."

Only one image has been released of possible "persons of interest."

"I don't have any doubt in my mind that that's them," Smollett said. "Never did."An Illinois congressman has been deployed with his Air National Guard unit to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, of the 16th Congressional District serves as a reconnaissance pilot and holds the rank of lieutenant colonel, his office said.

U.S. active-duty troops from dozens of units around the country are flowing to the southern border, as part of the latest plan to send 3,750 new forces to beef up surveillance and install more wire barriers, the Associated Press reported. Wednesday.

As of this week, the military had installed about 105 miles of wire barriers along the border, and plans to put in another 140 miles of concertina wire. The bulk of that will be in California and Arizona, in locations between ports of entry that are identified by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as vulnerable.

Many of the troops who have been serving on the border mission are going home. As of Monday, there were a bit more than 2,000 active-duty forces there. That number is expected to go up to more than 4,300.

Kinzingers office said he was humbled to serve the 16th District both as a congressman and as a pilot in the Air National Guard.

In both of these roles, Congressman Kinzinger fights to make our national security stronger, our border more secure, and our communities safer, his communications director, Maura Gillespie, said in a statement.

The congressmans D.C. and Illinois offices will stay open in his absence, Gillespie said.The award-winning musical "School of Rock" will hit the stage in Shanghai on Feb. 22, marking its Asian premiere and the start of the musical's three-month China tour.

The musical will be staged in the Shanghai Grand Theater from Feb. 22 to March 17, and in Beijing's Tianqiao Performing Arts Center from March 22 to April 14.

The musical will later tour other Chinese cities including Guangzhou, Xiamen, Shenzhen and Suzhou.

Based on American director Richard Linklater's hit movie of the same name, "School of Rock" presents the story of a rock guitarist who disguises himself as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school and leads a band of straight-A students to chase their rock'n'roll dreams.

The musical won the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music in 2017 and received four Tony Awards nominations in 2016.

The music from "School of Rock" is composed by British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who also wrote many hit songs in well-known musicals such as "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Cats."After a teenaged gunman killed 17 students and adults in Parkland, Florida, Jai Patel helped to organize Jersey City, New Jersey's, March for Our Lives, the demonstrations against gun violence that burst out across the country last year, spurred by the survivors of the Valentine's Day shooting.

The 19-year-old Patel said that the children who lived through the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 were too young to demand justice but that his generation was not. He became even more determined last month when he and his friends found themselves running from bullets after a fight broke out at a mall in Jersey City.

"It was crazy," he said. "The first gunshot went off and youre frozen solid to the ground. You're like, 'What am I supposed to do now?'"

He hid in a store bathroom, angry at how guns, whether used in gang-related shootings at malls or mass shootings in schools, offices, churches and synagogues, have traumatized him and his peers.

"Your right to own a gun should not infringe on my right to live peacefully," said Patel, now a first-year student at Rutgers University and the founder of the Hudson County, New Jersey, chapter of Students Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, an offshoot of Moms Demand Action.

That point was central to a manifesto by the students from Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who wrote that giving civilians access to soldiers' weapons was a "gross misuse" of the Second Amendment that endangered their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Parkland shooter used an AR-15, a type of gun favored by many mass murderers.

"I think that it was genius on their part to frame it that way," said another student, Alanna Miller of Southlake, Texas, outside of Dallas, and a volunteer for Students Demand Action there.

Kris Brown, the president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said that the students' decision to set their inalienable rights as spelled out in the Declaration of Independence against the Second Amendment was a key to shifting the debate. Last year, a record number of candidates sought her group's endorsement in the midterm elections -- it backed 70 in all -- and many Democrats in particular ran on strong gun violence prevention programs.

"The narrative that had been owned by the NRA for a long time is, 'Dont do anything to infringe on my constitutional rights,' meaning the Second Amendment right to own a gun," Brown said. "What these kids are articulating is, 'Do something to protect my fundamental rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.' Those are fundamental rights too and I think that has sparked something that is very gut level, and very basic with kids, who frankly feel afraid."

Polls show that young people care more about the issue of gun violence than older Americans. An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll in October found that 5 percent of all registered voters listed guns as the most important factor in deciding their vote in the midterm elections, but among 18- to 29-year-olds, that number rose to 13 percent.

Polling done by Tufts University's CIRCLE, or The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, around the midterm elections found that 56 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds said they supported the gun-violence prevention movement. Those who identified as supporters or members of the movement were both more likely to report voting -- 65 percent of supporters said that they had voted -- and being contacted by campaigns and candidates, said the center's director, Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg. More than half of young Americans paid attention to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and slightly less than half, 43 percent, said it affected whom they voted for, at least somewhat, she said.

Last year was a deadly one. Besides the Parkland shootings, 10 people died at Santa Fe High School in Sante Fe, Texas, five staff members at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and another 12 at the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, California.

A team of more than 200 student journalists assembled by The Trace, a nonprofit news organization that reports on gun violence, and working with the Miami Herald wrote stories about 1,200 young people 18 and younger who were killed since the Parkland shooting.

But the year also has been a pivotal one for gun legislation groups: the Brady Campaign; Everytown for Gun Safety, including Moms Demand Action; and the Giffords Gun Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Twenty-six states passed gun violence prevention legislation, according to the Giffords Law Center, including 14 states with Republican governors. Compared to that, seven states approved of new gun rights laws.

The newly-in-charge House Democrats have already introduced a bill expanding background checks, though it is unlikely to be considered in the Republican-controlled Senate despite strong support from the public. Some 90 percent of Americans back such a step, according to a number of polls, and nearly three quarters of National Rifle Association members.

Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, noted that only a handful of legislators can block laws from being passed, as the country saw after the Sandy Hook shooting. But the Parkland students sparked an invigorated debate about gun violence that is playing out on social media and in city halls and statehouses across the country.

"I don't think there's any going back," she said. "There's no going back to the days where gun safety is the third rail of American politics."

After Parkland, Moms Demand Action was ready to absorb the thousands of new volunteers who came forward, Watts said. The organization has more than 5 million supporters and chapters in every state, she said. Now when a gun bill is being debated in a place like Montana, for example, dozens of Moms Demand Action volunteers will show up.

"And that has really shifted the optics and the dynamics of this conversation," she said.

Miller, a senior at Carroll Senior High School in Southlake, had researched the country's gun lobby and gun violence prevention as part of her school's debate team but knew of no way she could get involved. That was especially true in a more gun friendly state like Texas, she thought, though she was later surprised by how many of her schoolmates participated in a walkout.

"Until Parkland," she said. "Parkland changed everything because the students weren't just asking for thoughts and prayers as we're used to hearing all the time, it wasn't them asking for time to mourn but it was them coming out so confidently, so eloquently and becoming public figures of something they didn't ever ask to represent. But they took on that role and responsibility."

She said she felt that as someone with knowledge on the topic and experience in public speaking, she also had a responsibility to be an advocate.

"I also was somebody who was born in 2000 and has grown up in a post-Columbine world, and in my school I've had lockdown drills since kindergarten and we've had scares in our district," Miller said.

When Students Demand Action was launched nationally, she joined.

"There was finally a place for where I fit into the movement," she said.

Maren Frye, an 18-year-old in Berkeley, California, was one of the founders of the first Students Demand Action groups after the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016. When she talks about guns, she does it in terms of making the country safe for children, she said. Gun violence is the leading cause of death among black children and teenagers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"I think one of the most important things that has helped galvanize this movement is framing it in terms of a public safety issue rather than a political issue," she said. "Because we know that the politics of common sense gun reform divides people."

"When we talk about students' lives and and students' right to be safe at school it shifts that discussion," she added.A woman was arrested after making a "stupid joke" about a bomb on an Air Canada flight departing Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, authorities said.

Nathalie Tremblay, 53, of Canada, was boarding the Montreal-bound flight Tuesday with her boyfriend when a flight attendant noticed a black roller bag that was stuck in an overhead bin, an arrest report stated.

The flight attendant took the bag out and started asking passengers who it belonged to.

"There's a bomb in it," Tremblay told the flight attendant and laughed, the arrest form stated. Her boyfriend told her not to joke around.

The flight attendant reported the incident to the captain. The plane was evacuated and the terminal was closed as the Broward Sheriff's Office bomb squad investigated.

Tremblay initially told authorities that she said "I hope there's not a bomb in there," in a serious manner and did not laugh. She admitted later about making "a stupid joke" about a bomb to the flight attendant.

Tremblay was booked into BSO's Main Jail on $5,000 bond and faces a charge of making a false report of a bomb. Attorney information was not available.President Donald Trump said Monday that "a new day is coming in Latin America," as he sought to rally support among the largest Venezuelan community in the U.S. for opposition leader Juan Guaido.

Speaking at Florida International University in Miami before large American and Venezuelan flags, Trump said the U.S. stands behind Guaido, whom the U.S. recognizes as the country's rightful president, and condemns President Nicolas Maduro's government and its socialist policies.

As the monthslong political crisis stretched on, Trump delivered a public plea to Venezuela's military to support Guaido's government. The Venezuelan military could play a decisive role in the stalemate but has largely remained loyal to Maduro.

Trump issued a dire warning to Venezuela's military that if they continue to stand with Maduro, "you will find no safe harbor, no easy exit and no way out. You will lose everything."

Trump added: "We seek a peaceful transition of power, but all options are open."

The military has blocked the U.S. from moving tons of humanitarian aid airlifted in recent days to the Colombian border with Venezuela. The aid shipments have been meant in part to dramatize the hyperinflation and shortages of food and medicine that are gripping Venezuela. Trump said of Maduro, "He would rather see his people starve than give them aid."

Critics say Maduro's re-election last year was fraudulent, making his second term illegal.

Trump urged the Venezuelan military to accept Guaido's offer of amnesty and refrain from violence against those opposing Maduro's government. And he praised the Venezuelan opposition, saying of the people of Venezuela, "They are turning the page on dictatorship and there will be no going back."

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said earlier Monday that the U.S. "knows where military officials and their families have money hidden throughout the world."

South Florida is home to more than 100,000 Venezuelans and Venezuelan-Americans, the largest concentration in the country. Speaking in the presidential battleground state, Trump also sought to draw a contrast with the policies of progressive Democrats, which he brands as "socialist," as he gears up for re-election.

Trump said that "Socialism has so completely ravaged" Venezuela "that even the world's largest reserves of oil are not enough to keep the lights on." He added: "This will never happen to us."

"Socialism promises prosperity, but it delivers poverty," he said.

Supporters gathered outside before Trump's speech, with many expressing gratitude for his support.

"The situation right now is there is no freedom or justice in Venezuela," Venezuelan-American Paola Rodriguez said.

"He is supporting us in order to get the freedom that we need," said David Bavaresco.

Trump was introduced by first lady Melania Trump and joined by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, who have all been outspoken in their criticism of Maduro's government. Trump also highlighted socialist governments in Cuba and Nicaragua, which also have large expatriate communities in the Miami area.

"Socialism is dying and liberty, prosperity and democracy are being reborn" throughout the hemisphere, Trump said, expressing hope that soon, "This will become the first free hemisphere in all of human history."

Guaido addressed the crowd in a pre-recorded video released by the White House and thanked Trump and the state of Florida for their support.

"Now there is a debate between the democracy and dictatorship  one between life and death," Guaido said in Spanish. "Today this fight is existential."

Trump said the U.S. is "profoundly grateful" to dissidents and exiles who have protested and raised alarms about the actions of the Maduro government. But his administration has also come under criticism for not doing enough to grant asylum to those fleeing the country.

"President Trump is two-faced on the Venezuela issue," said Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo. "He talks about fighting the Maduro regime, but his administration keeps deporting and detaining Venezuelans fleeing repression from the Maduro regime."

Trump had been spending the holiday weekend at his private club in West Palm Beach, Florida.A man has been charged with robbing a bank in the Chicago suburb of Rolling Meadows and allegedly used the ride-share Lyft to make his way to Chicago's O'Hare Airport, according to the Chicago Sun Times.

Jonathan Decorah, 43, is accused of robbing Ben Franklin Bank of Illinois for about $6,000, the paper states citing a criminal complaint filed by the FBI. Decorah allegedly exited the Lyft car and entered the bank at 9:35 a.m. on Feb. 9, according to the complaint.

Decorah, apparently, was a regular customer at the bank and was recognized by multiple employees, including the bank manager, the complaint stated.

After the robbery, the bank manager proceeded to look out the window of the bank and watch the robber enter the back seat of a waiting white car bearing a ride-share sticker on the windshield, the complaint continued according the newspaper.

Decorah was arrested at O'Hare airport carrying about $4,665 and admitted to the robbery and sending photos of the stolen money to a friend, the FBI said according to the Chicago Sun Times.The number of crimes reported to Los Angeles police that describe a homeless person as a suspect rose again in January, following a large statistical increase last year that officials said has yet to be fully explained.

Los Angeles Police Department data obtained by the NBC4 I-Team showed 920 incident reports were filed by officers between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31, 2019 that included that suspect description, a 29 percent increase over January 2018.

The reports also showed homeless people were more often the victims of crimes, with a 22 percent increase reported during the same period.

LAPD Commander Dominic Choi, who manages the department's response to homelessness, said the raw data is concerning, but explained there are reasons other than more crimes committed that account for a portion of the increases.

"There's an awareness and [people] are reporting more, our coding is better so we're capturing a lot more, and, quite frankly, there are more victims out there," he said.

Officers began using more focused statistical tools last June to better categorize crimes that touch the homeless community, and Choi said a full year of that data was needed before meaningful conclusions could be reached. That data will be in hand this summer.

The crime increases within the homeless population were realized while overall violent crime in Los Angeles and the size of the homeless population have declined.

According to LAPD reports there were 731 physical attacks that left serious injuries around the city in January. Those crimes, categorized as, aggravated assaults, were connected to homeless suspects in 101 of the reports, or in nearly 14 percent of the attacks.

Of the aggravated assaults that occurred in the LAPD's Central Division in downtown LA, nearly half listed homeless suspects. One of those 731 attacks left a 31-year-old man with a collapsed lung and critical injuries.

"I thought it was initially someone punching me," Brandon Locascio told NBC4 as he revisited the scene at Olive and Seventh streets, just outside the Nomad Hotel.

"I looked down and felt the blood, and I saw the blood going on the concrete, and my first thought was, I might be in serious trouble."

Someone had plunged a folding knife into Locascio's back just below his right shoulder. The blade traveled into his chest and punctured his lung. He said he and the attacker locked eyes and the man ran off, never a word exchanged.

"It was just like a rush of hot blood going basically into my shoes into my socks all the way down my legs," Locascio said. "I really thought I was not going to wake up when it first happened."

Police in Long Beach later arrested Raphael Class-Rodriguez, 45, described in booking records as an unemployed transient, after Class-Rodriguez was allegedly caught vandalizing a Long Beach city bus.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office charged Class-Rodriguez Jan. 29 with attempted murder for the Locascio stabbing. The case is on hold because a judge ordered Class-Rodridguez to undergo a mental health examination to determine his fitness to stand trial.

A series of seemingly random attacks on the public late last year initially drew NBC4's attention to the crime data and whether LAPD documents could offer insight into the cause, including the attempted murder of tailor Albert Davtyan, who was pushed off a sidewalk and into the path of an oncoming truck.

He suffered catastrophic injuries. A man described by police as a transient was arrested and charged. In November security video captured what police called a horrific, random attack on a man outside his apartment inside a senior living center in Chinatown.

Rene Holovsky, 67, was in a medically-induced coma after he was beaten, stomped, and smashed with a table Nov. 27. A police report said the attacker was a recent arrival to Southern California with no permanent residence.California Gov. Gavin Newsom devoted part of his first State of the State address to attacking President Donald Trump's positions on illegal immigration, declaring, "This border emergency is nothing more than a manufactured crisis and California will not be part of this political theater."

His rhetoric in Tuesday's speech was similar to that of his Democratic predecessor, Gov. Jerry Brown. His nascent record suggests that he wants even greater distance from Trump on one of the president's signature issues.

In his first budget proposal, Newsom earmarked $25 million to groups that address what he calls "a humanitarian crisis at the state's border with Mexico," including $5 million to be made available this year. There has been a sharp increase in Central American asylum-seeking families arriving in San Diego who are quickly released by immigration authorities with a notice to appear in court.

On Monday, the Democratic leader ordered the withdrawal of most of the state's National Guard troops assigned to Trump's mission on the Mexican border.

Here's a look at the veracity of some of Newsom's claims in his State of the State speech:

NEWSOM: "We are currently experiencing the lowest number of (illegal) border crossings since 1971. In California, like our nation, our undocumented population is at the lowest level in more than a decade  some 550,000 fewer in our state alone."

THE FACTS: He's wrong about the current low in illegal crossings, based on Border Patrol arrests, the most widely used gauge. While arrests along the Mexican border fell to 303,916 in the 2017 budget year, the lowest since 1971, they jumped 31 percent last year to 396,579. This is still relatively low in historical terms.

Arrests are up even more sharply on the Mexican border in the 2019 budget year, nearly doubling from October through January to 201,497 from 109,543 the same period a year earlier.

Border Patrol arrests in the San Diego sector, which covers California's western part of the Mexican border, fell to a 49-year low in 2017 but jumped 48 percent last year. Arrests during the first four months of the 2019 budget year soared 69 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Arrests in the El Centro sector, which covers the eastern part of the state's border, plunged to a 45-year low in 2015 but more than doubled over the next three years. Arrests during the first four months of the 2019 budget year are up 37 percent from the same period a year earlier.

The governor's statement about people living in the country illegally  both nationwide and in California  is correct, according to the Pew Research Center. The nationwide number fell to 10.7 million in 2016 from 12.2 million in 2007; California's dropped to 2.2 million from more than 2.7 million during the same time.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.Denver teachers ended a three-day walkout Thursday and returned to their classrooms after their union reached a tentative deal raising their pay as much as 11 percent.

The deal was worked out in talks that lasted through the night and signed shortly before classes started, giving the teachers short notice and little time to get to their schools.

They were encouraged to return to their classrooms if they felt ready, even though the deal awaits ratification by the full union membership. It was not immediately clear how many chose to return to work.

At East High School near the city's downtown, returning teachers were greeted with high-fives from security guards at the main entrance and the educators expressed relief at the outcome.

Advanced Placement government and politics teacher Susan McHugh said she had an hour's notice before the start of classes but rushed to school. She was prepared with a lesson plan based on her experience  a discussion about the labor movement and the power of collective bargaining.

"This is just a really good example of what can happen when people join forces together," she said.

More than half the district's teachers went on strike Monday after negotiations over pay broke down.

The contract agreement gives teachers raises of 7 to 11 percent, built-in cost-of-living increases and opportunities for future salary hikes. The key sticking point of variable bonuses for teachers working in tougher environments was put off to be studied later ty try to determine if the bonuses help retain teachers in schools, the teachers' union said.

Superintendent Susana Cordova and teacher union president Henry Roman hugged after signing the tentative deal in a conference room in the main Denver library.

Democrat Gov. Jared Polis, whose administration declined to use its power to block the strike, praised the deal but said he wished it had been reached before a walkout.

"Denver's kids are the biggest winners in today's agreement," he said.

The teachers had demanded that the school system rely less on bonuses for educators in high-poverty and high-priority school. But the district sees those bonuses as key to boosting the academic performance of poor and minority students.

The district said some of the extra money being put into teacher pay will come from cutting about 150 jobs in the district's central office and eliminating performance bonuses for staffers in the office.

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 percent pay raises. Most recently, Los Angeles teachers held a six-day strike last month.

In Denver, there are 71,000 students in district-run schools. Another 21,000 are enrolled in charter schools that were unaffected by the strike.The chief executive of Southwest Airlines says the Dallas-based carrier is considering adding nonstop flights between Las Vegas and Hawaii.

Southwest CEO Gary Kelly says launching flights to Hawaii from four California cities is the airline's priority this year, but adding flights from Nevada to Hawaii could be possible next year.

The airline hopes to begin service to Hawaii in April.

It completed a test flight from Oakland, California, to Honolulu last month to show federal aviation officials that it should be authorized to begin flying across the Pacific Ocean.

The airline is awaiting certification by the Federal Aviation Administration to start the commercial flights to Hawaii.This is an incredible opportunity for both Abigail and Tara, Katrina Hudson, coordinator of the Associate Accelerated Program, known as ASAP, said. I am extremely proud of them both for their hard work, leadership and academic success. Despite the rigor of the program, they are both serving as officers in Phi Theta Kappa and have excelled. They are superstars!Connecticut lawmakers, mainly Democrats for now, want to sharply reduce the number of flavors available for purchase for e-cigarettes and vaping.

Dozens of Democratic senators and representatives signed on to a measure that would cut down on the number of flavors allowed to be sold in the state.

Those flavors are whats drawing kids to nicotine in the first place, said Rep. Liz Linehan (D  Cheshire), one of the sponsors of the bill.

The industry group that represents vaping manufacturers argues that those flavors are exactly what keeps adults from smoking more harmful tobacco products like cigarettes.

In testimony provided to the Childrens Committee in the Connecticut General Assembly, the American Vaping Associations President, Greg Conley wrote, We share the goal of decreasing youth vaping and want to be a part of the solution, but punishing adults is not the answer.

Juul, one of the industrys leading companies which has a more than 30 percent backing from tobacco giant Altria, shared similar sentiments.

A spokesman for Juul Labs told NBC Connecticut that Juul is one of the companies that can help prevent more than 4,900 deaths per year linked to combustible cigarettes. The spokesman added, We launched JUULpod flavors as effective tools to help adult smokers switch from cigarettes and do not and will not sell flavors which are clearly targeted to youth.

Democrats feel emboldened with their new wider majorities in the House and Senate, that they have the support to approve wide-ranging regulations and restrictions on the vaping industry.

They say they need to regulate e-cigarettes in a strong way now, before they become more widespread, or even more popular, than cigarettes. The issue of allowing adults to quit smoking is part of that effort, but the broader goal is to limit the use of the products by young people.

By reducing or eliminating those flavors, we are still allowing the opportunity for adults to wean themselves off combustible tobacco products while vaping but still eliminating the source that is drawing the children in the first place, Rep. Linehan said.A tobacco wholesaler who cheated Connecticut out of nearly $6 million in tax revenue by underreporting the amount of tobacco he sold has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Federal prosecutors say 46-year-old Rishi Malik, of Fairfield, was also sentenced Wednesday to three years of probation and was ordered to pay $5.8 million in restitution.

Malik, a citizen of India, previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud and violating the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act.

Court documents show Malik and a partner operated and assisted a tobacco wholesale business based in Bridgeport for several years, and failed to report more than $5 million in taxes owed to the state.

His partner previously pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

Malik faces immigration proceedings after he completes his prison term.Route 6 is closed between South Street in Coventry and Steeles Crossing Road in Bolton after a motorcycle crash, according to Coventry police.

Route 6 is also known as Willimantic Turnpike.

Police advise viewers to seek alternant route to avoid the area.The town of Plymouth may join a regional dispatch center.

While theres no official deal yet, the town is considering a proposal to close its own dispatch center and pay for services with Litchfield County Dispatch in Torrington.

With the size that were at, weve got a lot more resources available, said Jon Barbagallo, a Litchfield County Dispatch executive board member.

The move could save the town a $250,000, but it could also cost a dozen dispatchers their jobs.

Every dispatcher who lives here lives in town, we have families, we care about this town, we love what we do, said Eric McCoy, the Plymouth Police Dispatchers Union president.

I would definitely like them to stay. Were a small town and it would be nice to keep everyone here, added Terryville resident Molly Spargo.

Litchfield County Dispatch, 14 miles up the road from Plymouth, is a private dispatch center that was established 30 years ago. Dispatchers answer police, fire, and medical calls for 20 communities.

McCoy thinks moving 911 services out of town puts the community at risk.

Its like sending something so far away from us is just dangerous, he said.

However, Harwintons first selectman says distance has not impacted response times for his town, which has being using LCD for years.

Theres a fail-safe. So, you never miss those calls. Those calls are going to continue to come through, said First Selectman Michael Criss (R).

Geography really doesnt make a difference. With todays technology you could be 100 miles away, Barbagallo pointed out.

The proposal is just the latest example of a community trying to make ends meet with less state funding. As the state continues to face a budget deficit, talk of regionalization in many small Connecticut communities is not going away.

Certainly, its something thats inevitable, thats going to be happening, said Rep. Whit Betts (R) 78th District.

Betts, who serves Plymouth, says it should be up to individual communities to decide whats best for their budget, and not a state mandate, as other lawmakers have suggested.

I just think we need to be sensitive to the small towns in particular and make sure they dont get swallowed up and forgotten about, he added.

We can see the writing on the wall, true. I think we really should stand up for our rights and what we have here, said Plymouth resident Jeanne Bissonnette. People losing their jobs is a terrible thing. Technologys great, but not at the cost of peoples livelihoods.

McCoy encourages members of the public to voice their opinions about the plan at the next Communications Commission meeting on February 25. It will start at 5 p.m. in the mayors conference room. The topic may also be up for discussion at the next town council meeting on March 6 at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held in the town hall community room.New Britain is considering a ban on plastic bags.

The city's common council passed an ordinance Wednesday night that bans retailers from providing or selling single-use plastic bags.

The ordinance would also ban paper bags unless they are recycled or recyclable and calls for recyclable bags to be offered for 10-cents each.

New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart reached out to residents through her Facebook page to see how they feel about the plan and ask if people think she should sign the bill.

If the ordinance passes, stores could face fines of up to $250 after multiple violations.

The New Britain Common Council passed an ordinance that would ban plastic bags. Mayor Erin Stewart still needs to sign off on the ordinance.

Read the full ordinance here.

Several towns have passed resolutions to ban plastic bags. The following list is from the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters:

Greenwich

Westport

Stamford

These are the cities and towns considering bans, according to Connecticut League of Conservation Voters:A Connecticut man has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for making machine guns and selling them to felons.

Sean Dey, of Torrington, was sentenced Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage unlawfully in the business of selling firearms and unlawful possession and transfer of a machine gun.

Prosecutors say the 40-year-old man manufactured AK-47-style and AR-style guns, suppressors and other firearms.

They say Dey worked with a partner to sell the firearms to a third man, and not all of the guns have been accounted for.

Dey's attorney asked for a sentence of one year and one day, citing his client's service as a Marine.

The government sentencing memo says Dey's conduct in this case was "antithetical to the Marine Corps' values."A man who brought a 16-year-old girl from Massachusetts to Connecticut to work as a prostitute has pleaded guilty to a sex trafficking charge.

Alexander Pedraza entered his plea Monday in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport.

The 28-year-old East Hartford man faces up to life in prison at sentencing at a date to be determined.

Prosecutors say the girl was in the care of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families and had run away from a group home when she met Pedraza online.

Authorities say he brought her to Connecticut in March 2017.

He was arrested after an undercover FBI agent met the girl at a hotel room in East Windsor.

Officials say the girl is back in the custody of Massachusetts child welfare authorities.As lawmakers debated the merits of increasing the sales tax as a way to send more money to cities and towns, Governor Ned Lamont spent his day discussing 5G internet capability with Google in New Haven.

He was asked about raising the sales tax, and it will take some convincing to get the novice governor on board.

Im holding the line on the sales tax rate, Lamont said, echoing a campaign pledge. Holding the line on the income tax rate trying to work within the revenues weve got there. That said, when it comes to the sales tax I think weve got to expand the base a little bit.

Broadening the base is more than a subtle hint that he will be looking to eliminate sales tax exemptions on goods and services that are not currently subject to the 6.35 percent state sales tax.

Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney is proposing adding one half of a percent, and then seeing that extra revenue distributed proportionally to cities and towns around Connecticut. His early estimate is that $350 million would be sent to municipalities, which would be on top of the already $5 billion in city and town aid the state has provided in recent years.

When asked about what the message from voters was about taxes, Looney, (D  New Haven), said, I think the mandate they gave us was to try to find some ways to relieve the property tax and I think doing these in the aggregate would alleviate that.

Democrats mainly questioned Looney, the top ranking member of the Senate, on some of the details. The only friendly criticism focused on the split of the revenue, and on the modest new cashflow.

Republicans were skeptical in varying ways.

Rep. Joe Polletta didnt understand why Watertown would receive less money than other small towns, even as residents shop at a major venue like the Brass Mill Center in Waterbury.

I dont know the number of merchants that we have or the amount of sales tax we collect, but I cant imagine it being anywhere near close to the City of Waterbury and then to say that its going to get split up based on a formula based on the shopping malls, I almost feel like the negatives outweigh the positives here, said Polletta, (R  Watertown).

Rep. Holly Cheeseman, a Republican from East Lyme, feared that increasing the sales tax would lead border residents to make purchases in Rhode Island where clothing is not taxed, or in Massachusetts, with a sales tax tenths of a percentage less than Connecticuts.

Im looking for the unintended consequences as we drive people out of the state to do their shopping to avoid their increased tax, she said.

The concern was also raised regarding the collection of the revenue. If the state is going to allow cities and towns to collect it, to then send it back to the state, what would stop the state from changing that arrangement to collect the tax directly?

Looney said the proposal is a good faith effort to give them more revenue especially if we leave it at their level to collect, I think it should enhance their confidence even more.

Connecticuts sales tax rate is among the lowest in the country, in part because the state does not allow for municipalities or counties, which Connecticut does not have, to levy a local rate in addition to the state rate.

Southern states like Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama have effective sales tax rates that approach ten percent in some places.Consignment stores are a booming business right now, and it's all thanks to "the Kondo Effect."

A new Netflix show starring organization expert, Marie Kondo is inspiring people to de-clutter, and thrift stores in Connecticut are seeing the results first-hand.

I know her message is, if it doesnt give you joy then you dont keep it, said thrift store shopper, Melissa Garrett.

First an author and now a Netflix star, Kondo helps people tidy up and get rid of things.

They call us, we take it in and we sell it on consignment, said Arlene Carr of Revival Home in West Hartford. Since that show we are seeing more people going down into their basements and wanting to clean out.

Its the same with clothing. At Just Like New in Glastonbury, theres been a spike in inventory.

Were getting a lot of home decor, a lot of clothing, said salesperson Bridget Mossien. Theyve been trying to clean out their house. I think they feel a little bogged down with everything thats around them. I think theyre trying to make things a little less complicated and nice and neat.

The Konmari Method is leaving drawers looking neater, and thrift stores are cashing in.

Young and old, people are coming in. We had guy come in with three truckloads, said Patricia Kirol, a volunteer at The Friends of East Hartford Senior Center.An investigation is underway looking into how a Hartford police sergeant treated an officer.

Before a city council meeting Wednesday there were a lot of questions about what unfolded between two officers, and if there was possible wrongdoing.

James Sanchez, the Hartford City Council Majority Leader, among others just learning about a concerning memo involving a Hartford police officer.

I just received it a couple of hours ago, Sanchez said.

Internal affairs confirmed to NBC Connecticut that they are investigating allegations that a sergeant made inappropriate comments to an officer. That officer reportedly told her lieutenant who then filed a complaint on her behalf.

NBC Connecticut was told that on Monday the officer sent a memo to HR complaining that she felt the police department had not done anything.

In the memo, the officer claims the sergeant made inappropriate comments on multiple occasions, and that despite the complaint previously filed on her behalf, nothing was done over the course of nine months. The memo said that this lack of action is representative of a larger problem at the department.

"The Hartford Police Department and the City of Hartford have regularly demonstrated corrupt values and a questionable moral compass by allowing gross misconduct by favored employees. In short, our current administration has show undeniably that a 'Good Ole' Boys' network exists and many female officers, to include me, are made to feel that the incidents of sexual harassment and discrimination are of no consequence..." the memo reads.

She also went on to say she felt the accused may be protected because he is a supporter of Mayor Luke Bronin.

In a statement Mayor Luke Bronin, wrote in part:

My administration does not tolerate harassment of any kind by anyoneI take the allegations very seriously, and there is an investigation underway.

The mayor adds the accused officer was reassigned to a different unit the same day the complaint was made last May and thats when an investigation began. Right now Councilman Sanchez has faith in the process including how police and human resources will handle it.

Will do their due diligence in making sure this is properly addressed, Sanchez said.Federal prosecutors have said that Snyder moved from scheme to scheme to enrich himself. Prosecutors say he hid money from the IRS to avoid the government from collecting all the money it was owed; saw a chance to net a kickback by seeing a truck dealership owned by political backers received city business; and masked a bribe as a campaign donation, knowing he was under federal investigation.Post-traumatic stress disorder among police officers is a serious issue. For the third straight year in 2018 , more officers died from suicide, which is often caused by PTSD, than deaths than in the line of duty. Yet its an issue many in law enforcement avoid talking about.

Everything changed for now retired Wethersfield police officer Justin Lord when he pulled someone over February 1, 2011.

Lord told NBC Connecticut Investigates on that date he fatally shot a suspect. It gave him post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, to the point he could not carry his gun and badge anymore.

Lord said the suspect appeared to be intoxicated and driving under the influence. He also believed he was in possession of narcotics. Soon after Lord began field sobriety tests with the suspect, the suspect took off and got back in his car. Lord followed him, and the suspect grabbed for Lords gun.

A struggle ensued, that continued outside the suspects car. It moved just outside the view of the dashcam video Lord shared with NBC Connecticut Investigates. Thats when Lord shot the suspect multiple times, according to investigators.

Lord explained, He was behind me, choking me from behind. So I reached back under my left armpit and fired several shots.

He said the PTSD from the incident lasted years.

Its a tie between the incident itself and my visit to the attorneys office, where I was told, pending the investigation I could be arrested for manslaughter. And that I was potentially, the perpetrator, in this situation.

Lord was cleared of wrongdoing by an outside agency.

He said he has PTSD under control, in part because the Wethersfield Police Department forced him to get counseling. The resources that were directed my way, really saved my life.

Wethersfield Police Chief James Cetran confirmed that it is department policy following a critical stress incident to get counseling. Cetran said he had high hopes Lord would return. We really wanted to help him and get him back on the job because he was such a good police officer.

A survey of almost 8,000 officers on PTSD by the Fraternal Order of Police and NBC owned stations, which included Connecticut officers, took a deeper look at the issues officers reported experiencing after stressful calls.

Eighty percent believe they experienced critical stress on the job.

A majority said they dealt with:

recurring/unwanted memories

being easily angered or withdrawn

jumpiness

plus sleep, and family relationship problems

[[504226581, C]]

It took a very large amount of energy to put that uniform on every day, following the shooting, go out and to do my job effectively, and still have something left in the tank, when I got home, Lord explained.

Sixty-five percent of the officers surveyed believe there are not adequate mental health services available.

Phyllis DiGioia founded Honor Wellness Center in Connecticut, which is focused on first responders.

She said theres a lack of any inpatient facilities for officers.

An inpatient program is something that can go five to seven days a week, eight to ten hours a day, and you go from that, to one to two hours a week, the odds of relapse, for many, were very high.

Enfield police officer Sherri Martin, wellness chair for the Fraternal Order of Police, said theres a stigma about police seeking help for mental health issues. Ninety percent of officers surveyed agree.

Right now, officers have to be concerned about losing their gun, if they end up needing mental health help. And thats a career ender.

Justin Lord hopes becoming a peer counselor for Honor Wellness, will make it easier for officers to come forward.

So although I may not be in the cruiser taking calls, and running around light and sirens, I think I can still make a very positive impact.

Seventy-three percent of officers surveyed by the FOP said peer counseling was the most helpful treatment.A college professor avoided talking directly about her accusation that Virginia's 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. "It's 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 California's 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 don't appear to take their claims seriously.

"Speaking as a professor at a women's college, sometimes you have to lead by example," Tyson said. "No matter how hard it is."

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 Tyson's 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 Stanford's 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 Kavanaugh's 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 else's story, there's a beauty in it knowing you aren't alone," she said. "Don't be afraid to see survivors for who they are. The beautiful parts, the ugly parts. All of them. They didn't deserve what happened to them."

Tyson was joined on stage by fellow center 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 east of Los Angeles. She is spending the year at Stanford in part researching "the political discourse surrounding sexual assault," according the center's website.

Tyson's 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 hasn't responded to multiple requests for comment from The Associated Press.

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 women's claims.President Donald Trump delivered his second State of the Union speech Tuesday night, calling on Democrats and Republicans to work together and making only brief reference to the rancor that has dominated his presidency.

Five key takeaways from his remarks:

HE'S NOT BUDGING ON THE WALL

"I will get it built," he declared in his Tuesday evening speech.

Addressing a joint session of lawmakers, Trump yet again hammered his now-familiar case for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, insisting the situation represents a crisis that demands a physical barrier. But the president outlined no plan or new strategy for convincing Congress to approve money to build the wall. He issued a broad call for all sides to "work together, compromise, and reach a deal that will truly make America safe."

Trump notably made no reference to his continued to threat to circumvent Congress by declaring a national emergency if lawmakers refuse to give him the billions of dollars he's demanding.

The White Housed decided the speech was an inappropriate venue for such an announcement, especially after Trump said he'd allow congressional negotiators to run out a three-week clock that expires on Feb. 15 before taking any action. He has all but dismissed their efforts.

THE HOUSE WAS IN ORDER

Would they boo? Hiss? Jeer?

With Democrats now in charge of the House and amid a bitter border wall battle that led to the longest government shutdown in the nation's history, the White House was bracing for a less-than-friendly reception from those gathered in the House.

Instead, the 82-minute speech was punctuated by lighthearted moments, including when lawmakers from both parties sang a spontaneous rendition of "Happy Birthday" to Judah Samet, a member of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh who survived a shooting that killed 11 people in October. Trump joked that the lawmakers wouldn't break into song for him.

The president also prompted cheers from the freshmen female House Democrats when he touted the number of new jobs created that women have filled.

The women  dressed in white in honor of early 20th-century suffragettes  stood on their feet, with one raising her hands in the air in a "raise the roof" motion.

Trump seemed taken back by the outbursts. "You weren't supposed to do that," he said before congratulating all the women who hold seats in Congress. The women jumped back up and high-fived each other, chanting "U-S-A!"

SHUTDOWN? WHAT SHUTDOWN?

Trump made no reference to the 35-day government shutdown that rocked the nation's capital, leaving hundreds of thousands of workers without pay and freezing many government services the first month of the year.

It was a notable omission from a president who had once said that he would be proud to own the shutdown  and came just 10 days before the government is set to run out of money again.

Trump did note that Congress "has 10 days left to pass a bill that will fund our government, protect our homeland, and secure our southern border." But he didn't mention the funding deadline.

It was a different story for Stacey Abrams, the Georgia Democrat who delivered her party's response to Trump and spoke about how she'd joined volunteers to distribute meals to furloughed federal workers during the shutdown.

"Making their livelihoods a pawn for political games," she said, "is a disgrace."

AN APPEAL TO THE BASE

As he does often in his toughest political moments, Trump tried to rally the Christian conservative voters who have proven to be some of his most loyal backers. He seized upon recent controversies surrounding "late-term abortions" and warned against legislation that he claimed "would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments before birth."

"These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world," he said, calling on Congress to pass legislation that would limit abortion rights.

Trump also singled out embattled Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam by title, though not by name  claiming he would "execute a baby after birth." Northam in an interview last week defended, in rare occasions, the practice of third-trimester abortions. He has since been under fire for a photograph on his medical school yearbook page featuring a person in blackface standing next to a person wearing a Ku Klux Klan outfit. He denies he's in the photo and rejecting calls for his resignation.

A FEW SWIPES AT DEMOCRATS

Even as he called for a new age of bipartisanship and urged lawmakers to "govern not as two parties, but as one nation," Trump couldn't help but take few digs at Democrats, including the "resistance" movement in defiance of his presidency.

"We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution  and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise and the common good," Trump said at one point.

Later he touted an "economic miracle" taking place across the country that he said could only be stopped by "foolish wars, politics, or ridiculous partisan investigations."

As for the new wave of socialist fervor in the Democratic Party, Trump declared, "Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country."Jason Van Dyke's attorneys and family are calling for answers after they say the former Chicago police officer convicted in the murder of Laquan McDonald had his safety "compromised" when he was placed in general population at a federal facility just hours before he was attacked.

"He was led like a lamb to slaughter," said one of his attorneys Tammy Wendt, who said she was notified of the attack by a confidential employee at the facility in Connecticut.

Van Dyke's attorneys said the former Chicago officer was transferred on Feb. 5 from an Illinois state prison to a federal prison in Danbury, Conn. His attorneys said they and Van Dyke's family did not find out about the transfer until after it occurred and do not know why he was transferred.

Van Dyke told his lawyers Tuesday that he had been "beaten up by other inmates four hours after arriving at the new prison," his attorneys said in a statement. "He said he had been put in the general population and he was attacked in his cell."

"This man has been sentenced. He is allowed to be safe in prison," attorney Dan Herbert told reporters in a press conference Thursday. "The mentality out there seems to be that people won't rest until he is either given a life sentence or killed in prison, and that's extremely unfortunate."

Citing an anonymous call from an employee at the Connecticut prison, Van Dyke's attorneys said he suffered bruising and injuries to his face and head.

"This is a race issue. This is a gigantic race issue," said his wife Tiffany Van Dyke. "They put my husband in a setting to be harmed because of the fact that he is a white man who harmed a black gentleman in the line of duty."

"Im demanding reasons," she added. "Im demanding answers as to why they took my husband from a state facility and put him in a federal facility. My husband did not have federal charges."

In October, Van Dyke was convicted of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery for the 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald. He was sentenced to 81 months in prison in January.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Kane County State's Attorney Joseph McMahon, the special prosecutor in Van Dyke's trial, filed a petition for a writ of mandamus, asking the Illinois Supreme Court to review whether Van Dyke's 81-month prison sentence was "proper under the law earlier this week.

Van Dyke's wife said she has been unable to speak to her husband or see him since the move. She said he is now "segregated" at the prison and on a 23-hour daily lockdown.

"The next time this could happen they could kill him. I cannot bury my husband," Tiffany Van Dyke said.Former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was beaten in a Connecticut prison by other inmates, a source said.

A source close to Van Dyke confirmed to NBC 5 Wednesday night that the cop convicted of Laquan McDonalds murder sustained facial injuries but was expected to be OK.

Van Dyke was in general population at the prison in Danbury when the attack happened, she said.

The source was working on getting more information from prison officials Wednesday night and said his attorneys would hold a news conference Thursday morning.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Kane County State's Attorney Joseph McMahon, the special prosecutor in Van Dyke's trial, filed a petition for a writ of mandamus, asking the Illinois Supreme Court to review whether Van Dyke's 81-month prison sentence was "proper under the law, earlier this week.

The source said Van Dyke was transferred to the prison on Feb. 5 but did not know why.

They said there had been no incident when Van Dyke was in prison in Illinois.

No other information was immediately available.Three kids were found living alone in an Indiana mobile home without water or a working furnace, authorities said.

The children, a 16-year-old boy and his 11- and 10-year-old siblings, were discovered after the eldest asked school officials for help fixing a broken water pipe, according to the Times of Northwest Indiana. The paper reports that the home was being heated with three space heaters and sometimes the oven. Their mother, Thanh Nguyen, visits the home briefly to drop off food but could not be reached by phone, the paper reports, citing a police report.

"Mom hasn't been home for a very long time," the 10-year-old girl said, according the paper. "She's gone for months at a time."

Nguyen, 46, was found at Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, Michigan. She has been charged with neglect of a dependent and drug possession. She reportedly had a prescription drug in her possession that she said was given to her by a friend for back pain, police said.

I come home after they sleep and leave before they get up, she reportedly told police.

She also reportedly said that shed called a plumber to fix the pipe that broke Friday. The home is located in the 1100 block of Camelot Manor in Portage.

The newspaper reports that Nguyen worked at a nail salon where it was not uncommon for her to not show up for her shift. A relative, who also works at the nail salon, sometimes helps the children.

The oldest child told police his father was away on vacation in California, and Nguyen has forbidden the children from contacting him, the paper reported.

Police said the home was relatively clean.

"I love my kids," Nguyen reportedly told police. "They can't go to foster care."

A court hearing was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.The Illinois House has voted to pass a measure that would raise the state's minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025.

The House voted by a 69-47-1 margin to pass Senate Bill 1, which passed that body last week. The bill will now go to Governor J.B. Pritzker's desk.

Democrats who control the General Assembly moved quickly on the bill because Gov. J.B. Pritzker wanted to sign the measure into law before he proposes his first annual budget. That's scheduled for Feb. 20.

Governor Pritzker lauded the bill's passage in a statement on Thursday, calling it a "well-deserved raise" for Illinois workers.

"Today is a resounding victory for the 1.4 million Illinoisians who will soon get a hard-earned and well-deserved raise," Pritzker said. "Hardworking men and women across Illinois deserve a raise and will get one."

The bill was opposed by several high-profile groups, including the Illinois Manufacturers' Association and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, and both groups issued statements condemning the measure.

"On behalf of the retail community, we are disappointed that a readily achievable compromise was not adopted on such an important matter," the IRMA said in a statement.

The proposal would increase the current $8.25-an-hour base wage by $1 on Jan. 1. After a 75-cent jump July 1, 2020, it would increase $1 each Jan. 1 until 2025. The Senate approved the plan last week . The House Labor and Commerce Committee voted 19-10 along party lines Wednesday to advance it to the House floor.

Here's Who's Running for Mayor of Chicago

Rep. Will Guzzardi is the sponsor. The Chicago Democrat says people making $8.25 an hour are "being kept in poverty."Asserting congressional authority over war-making powers, the House passed a resolution Wednesday that would force the administration to withdraw U.S. troops from involvement in Yemen, in a rebuke of President Donald Trump's alliance with the Saudi-led coalition behind the military intervention.

Lawmakers in both parties are increasingly uneasy over the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and skeptical of the U.S. partnership with that coalition, especially in light of Saudi Arabia's role in the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the royal family.

Passage would mark the first time Congress has relied on the decades-old War Powers Resolution to halt military intervention. It also would set up a potential confrontation with the White House, which has threatened a veto. The House voted 248-177 to approve the measure, sending it to the Senate, where a similar resolution passed last year.

"We have helped create, and worsen, the world's largest humanitarian crisis," said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., during the debate. "Our involvement in this war, quite frankly, is shameful."

The chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said the vote represents "Congress reclaiming its role in foreign policy."

Senate approval would set up a showdown with the administration  a veto would be Trump's first  over the president's shifting approach on foreign policy.

Lawmakers are quick to point out that Trump wants to withdraw troops from the wars in Syria and Afghanistan as part of his "America First" approach, but he has shown less interest in limiting the U.S. role in Yemen.

The White House says the House resolution is "flawed" because U.S. troops are not directly involved in military action in Yemen, where the coalition is fighting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in a conflict largely seen as a proxy war involving the Mideast's dominant regional players.

Since 2015, the administration says, the U.S. has provided support to the coalition, including intelligence and, until recently, aerial refueling, but it has not had forces involved in "hostilities."

Congress has not invoked the War Power Resolution, which requires approval of military actions, since it was enacted in 1973. Lawmakers approved more sweeping authorizations for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that some argue are being used too broadly for other military actions.

Newly emboldened Democrats in the House, eager to confront Trump on foreign policy, and Republicans in both chambers have shown a willingness to put a legislative check on the president's agenda.

In the House, 18 Republicans, including members of the GOP's libertarian-leaning wing and Trump allies in the conservative Freedom Caucus, joined Democrats in passing the Yemen measure.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who drafted the legislation, said there's an emerging bipartisan alliance that's skeptical of military intervention without congressional oversight.

"It's not just about Yemen. It's about the Congress taking a stand and every future president having to think twice about whether to authorize a military intervention without congressional approval," Khanna said in an interview.

The Senate version is from independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and backed by Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee.

Before Wednesday's vote, the House overwhelmingly agreed to add an amendment offered by Republicans who are seeking to expose emerging Democratic divisions over support for Israel.

The amendment reaffirms the U.S. commitment "to combat anti-Semitism around the world" and says it's in the national security interest to oppose boycotts of Israel. That's a reference to the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement that has gained support of some lawmakers.

First-term Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., one of the Muslim-American women elected to Congress, came under criticism this week for her comments against the Israel lobbying organization AIPAC that raised anti-Semitic stereotypes. She later apologized.

The House added another GOP amendment that would allow continued intelligence sharing, which drew fire from the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU warned it gives the president broad authority to provide the Saudis and others with U.S. intelligence information about Yemen, and the group said the package, overall, is now weaker than originally proposed.

Now the Yemen measure goes to the Senate, where a similar resolution on removing U.S. involvement in the war was approved with Republican support late last year.

At the time, Congress was eager to send a message to both the president and the Saudis after the October murder of the U.S.-based journalist Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. The U.S. has sanctioned 17 Saudi individuals for their involvement in the killing, and U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, must have at least known of the plot. Trump so far has decided not to impose harsher penalties on the prince. The kingdom insists he did not order the killing.

The outcome of the legislation is uncertain. Republicans control the Senate, 53-47, and a simple majority is needed to pass.

Trump has yet to veto any measures from Congress. If he did veto the Yemen resolution, it's unclear whether lawmakers would have enough support to override him.Congress lopsidedly approved a border security compromise Thursday that would avert a second painful government shutdown, but a new confrontation was ignited  this time over President Donald Trump's plan to bypass lawmakers and declare a national emergency to siphon billions from other federal coffers for his wall on the Mexican boundary.

Money in the bill for border barriers, about $1.4 billion, is far below the $5.7 billion Trump insisted he needed and would finance just a quarter of the 200-plus miles he wanted. The White House said he'd sign the legislation but act unilaterally to get more, prompting condemnations from Democrats and threats of lawsuits from states and others who might lose federal money or said Trump was abusing his authority.

The uproar over Trump's next move cast an uncertain shadow over what had been a rare display of bipartisanship to address the grinding battle between the White House and lawmakers over border security.

The Senate passed the legislation 83-16, with both parties solidly aboard. The House followed with a 300-128 tally, with Trump's signature planned Friday. Trump will speak Friday morning in the Rose Garden about border security, the White House said.

Trump is expected to announce that he will be spending roughly $8 billion on border barriers  combining the money approved by Congress with funding he plans to repurpose through executive actions, including a national emergency, said a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly. The money is expected to come from funds targeted for military construction and counterdrug efforts.

House Democrats overwhelmingly backed the legislation, with only 19  most of whom were Hispanic  opposed. Just over half of Republicans voted "no."

Should Trump change his mind, both chambers' margins were above the two-thirds majorities needed to override presidential vetoes. Lawmakers, however, sometimes rally behind presidents of the same party in such battles.

Lawmakers exuded relief that the agreement had averted a fresh closure of federal agencies just three weeks after a record-setting 35-day partial shutdown that drew an unambiguous thumbs-down from the public. But in announcing that Trump would sign the accord, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also said he'd take "other executive action, including a national emergency,"

In an unusual joint statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said such a declaration would be "a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract" from Trump's failure to force Mexico to pay for the wall, as he's promised for years.

"Congress will defend our constitutional authorities," they said. They declined to say whether that meant lawsuits or votes on resolutions to prevent Trump from unilaterally shifting money to wall-building, with aides saying they'd wait to see what he does.

Democratic state attorneys general said they'd consider legal action to block Trump. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello told the president on Twitter "we'll see you in court" if he makes the declaration.

Despite widespread opposition in Congress to proclaiming an emergency, including by some Republicans, Trump is under pressure to act unilaterally to soothe his conservative base and avoid looking like he's lost his wall battle.

The abrupt announcement of Trump's plans came late in an afternoon of rumblings that the volatile president  who'd strongly hinted he'd sign the agreement but wasn't definitive  was shifting toward rejecting it. That would have infused fresh chaos into a fight both parties are desperate to leave behind, a thought that drove some lawmakers to ask heavenly help.

"Let's all pray that the president will have wisdom to sign the bill so the government doesn't shut down," Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Thursday's Senate session opened.

Moments before Sanders spoke at the White House, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took to the Senate floor to announce Trump's decisions to sign the bill and declare an emergency.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters there were two hours of phone calls between McConnell and the White House before there were assurances that Trump would sign.

McConnell argued that the bill delivered victories for Trump over Pelosi. These included overcoming her pledge to not fund the wall at all and rejecting a Democratic proposal for numerical limits on detaining some immigrants, said a Republican speaking on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

In a surprising development, McConnell said he would support Trump's emergency declaration, a turnabout for the Kentucky Republican, who like many lawmakers had opposed such action.

Democrats say there is no border crisis and Trump would be using a declaration simply to sidestep Congress. Some Republicans warn that future Democratic presidents could use his precedent to force spending on their own priorities, like gun control. GOP critics included Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who said emergency declarations are for "major natural disasters or catastrophic events" and said its use would be of "dubious constitutionality."

White House staff and congressional Republicans have said that besides an emergency, Trump might assert other authorities that could conceivably put him within reach of billions of dollars. The money could come from funds targeted for military construction, disaster relief and counterdrug efforts.

Congressional aides say there is $21 billion for military construction that Trump could use if he declares a national emergency. By law, the money must be used to support U.S. armed forces, they say.The Defense Department declined to provide details on available money.

With many of the Democrats' liberal base voters adamantly against Trump's aggressive attempts to curb immigration, four declared presidential hopefuls opposed the bill in the Senate: Cory Booker of New Jersey, New York's Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kamala Harris of California. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota voted for it, as did Vermont independent Bernie Sanders, who is expected to join the field soon.

Notably, the word "wall," the heart of many a chant at Trump campaign events and his rallies as president, is absent from the compromise's 1,768-page legislative and descriptive language. "Barriers" and "fencing" are the nouns of choice, a victory for Democrats eager to deny Trump even a rhetorical victory.

The agreement, which took bargainers three weeks to strike, would also squeeze funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in an attempt to pressure the agency to detain fewer immigrants. To the dismay of Democrats, however, it would still leave an agency many of them consider abusive holding thousands more immigrants than last year.

The measure contains money for improved surveillance equipment, more customs agents and humanitarian aid for detained immigrants. The overall bill also provides $330 billion to finance dozens of federal programs for the rest of the year, one-fourth of federal agency budgets.

Trump sparked the last shutdown before Christmas after Democrats snubbed his $5.7 billion demand for the wall. The closure denied paychecks to 800,000 federal workers, hurt contractors and people reliant on government services and was loathed by the public.

With polls showing the public blamed him and GOP lawmakers, Trump folded on Jan. 25 without getting any of the wall funds. His capitulation was a political fiasco for Republicans and handed Pelosi a victory less than a month after Democrats took over the House and confronted Trump with a formidable rival for power.

Trump's descriptions of the wall have fluctuated, at times saying it would cover 1,000 miles of the 2,000-mile boundary. Previous administrations constructed over 650 miles of barriers.

Associated Press congressional correspondent Lisa Mascaro and reporters Padmananda Rama, Lolita Baldor and Matthew Daly contributed.United States counterintelligence officials say an emerging threat to national security could wreck entire portions of the nations economy and currently poses as big or bigger threat to the country as foreign terrorism.

Just the latest example of this threat: the indictment last month of a Chinese Apple engineer accused of trying to swipe trade secrets related to the companys self-driving vehicle program. The case, say federal officials, is just the latest in whats become a steady stream of intellectual property theft, mostly based in Silicon Valley. And U.S. intelligence officials warn that American companies and universities are sitting ducks against the government of the Peoples Republic of China, which is willing to throw its full weight behind the effort to steal coveted technology to help drive its economy.

The yearly cost of this threat, according to a 2017 report to Congress: Upwards of $600 billion in losses of intellectual property rights each year. And thats just whats reported to authorities.

What weve seen is the Chinese taking the same intelligence organizations, the same techniques, the same tools that they and other countries have developed over the centuries to spy on one another and applying them to commercial espionage, said John Demers, assistant attorney general for the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The U.S. Justice Department announced a new plan in November to thwart economic espionage and the pilfering of American trade secrets following indictments against a handful of individuals and companies accused of conspiring to steal semi-conductor company Microns intellectual property.

Assistant AG Demers points to that case in particular as a an example of the US Government successfully fighting foreign economic espionage because multiple executive branches of the government played a role.

We (US Justice Department) charged the company but most importantly in this case then the Commerce Department used its tools and said to the Taiwanese company that was stealing the information you cannot import parts that you need to produce the product, Demers said. Which means they cannot make the product that they were planning on making (with the stolen technology) to compete with the American company. We (the US Government) have deprived the thief really of the benefit of its theft.

John Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, discusses how economic espionage poses threat to US National Security.

Despite the successes, the fight against foreign spies stealing intellectual secrets from American business has intensified of late.

An NBC Bay Area analysis of all US District Court records dating back two decades found economic espionage and theft of trade secrets cases in court are rising sharply. Indictments on those charges are up 45 percent in the past five years compared to the five years prior, NBC Bay Areas Investigative Unit found.

China's Foreign Ministry in December called accusations of economic espionage from the U.S. "slanderous."

Cases on the Rise

China, intelligence officials say, has an official strategic plan called China 2025 where government leaders have decided that there are 10 key groups of technologies and industries where they, the PRC, want to have significant domestic capability. Part of that plan, US Justice Department officials tell NBC Bay Area, involves prying technological secrets from American companies rather than developing the technologies and capabilities themselves through research and development. Its easier and way cheaper and a lot faster to steal, Demers said.

Demers described it as the Chinese taking a Rob, Replicate and Replace approach to help propel their economy.

What I mean by that is, rob the intellectual property of an American company, Demers said. Replicate that product the company produces, and then replace the American product and American company.

Demers said 90% of trade secret theft from the US can be traced to China, and no company, no matter how large, is immune from the threat. NBC Bay Area found thatthe brunt of Chinas efforts seems to be focused on the crown jewels of American technology  researched, developed, and closely guarded here in Silicon Valley.

According to the court records NBC Bay Area analysed Silicon Valley powerhouses such as Apple, Genentech, Cisco, and Intel have all been victimizedmade targets of intellectual property theft.

Assistant special agent in charge of counterintelligence at the FBIs San Francisco field office, Craig Fair, said the private sector needs to do a better job of guarding those secrets and report any issues to the authorities.

NBC Bay Area

A Shared Responsibility

Its a pervasive and its a persistent problem, Assistant Special Agent Fair said. Its one that we as a government are not going to give up on. But its also a shared responsibility, and what we need is for the private sector and for academia to report and be aware that this is actually a problem.

Fair, who, in his role at head of counterintelligence, oversees a secret Bay Area office that, alone, handles 70 percent of the nations economic espionage cases. Fair says Chinas whole society approach to economic espionage makes it especially difficult to stop.

Its not just government actors that are collecting, Fair said. They actually use proxies abroad  whether they are journalists, scholars, businessmen, folks in the technology industry  and there is an expectation that whatever technology, whatever marketing process, or whatever source code they come across or have access to, theres an expectation that its going to be returned to the Chinese government at some point.

Craig D Fair discusses how Silicon Valley is central to emerging economic espionage threat to national security.

Federal officials admit that Silicon Valley companies are sometimes reticent to report or publicize the theft of trade secrets because theyre afraid of angering China, where they have manufacturing plants and millions of potential customers. Several government sources tell NBC Bay Area that many economic espionage cases quietly go away without the public ever hearing about them.

Fighting Back

But some companies do cooperate and are aggressive in fighting intellectual property theft directly. In one high profile example last year, the Silicon Valley high tech lighting company Lumileds won a $66 million civil lawsuit against Chinese competitor Elec-Tech International (ETI). The jury concluded that former Lumileds employees stole trade secrets on behalf of ETI, which used those secrets to develop its own LED technology.

Were happy about the message sent to other people who may have been targeting our technology, Lumileds CEO Mark Adams said. Were going to continue to make sure that others arent doing that.

Beyond the economic impact, Adams worries what the theft of Silicon Valley trade secrets means to national security in the future.

The next world war wont be on the ground, it will be cyber type activity, Adams said. And technologies that we develop in our own backyard, here in the Bay Area, if they get into the wrong hands, could be used against us. And thats a huge concern.

The Color White

Another fascinating recent economic espionage case was based in Oakland.

On a quiet, tree-lined street near downtown, U.S. counterintelligence agents say a spy ring for the PRC used a P.O. box inside a UPS store as a front for operations. According to court records, the lead spy, a man named Walter Liew, lived in a non-descript house in the hills of Orinda, and stashed his stolen secrets in a safety deposit box in a Bank of China branch at 9th and Franklin in Oakland. In this case, FBI Counterintelligence Agent Kevin Phelan said those secrets belonged to DuPont Chemical.

Phelan said DuPont spent decades and millions of dollars developing a powder called Titanium Dioxide, or the secret process for creating the color white.

Its a secret formula worth Billions of dollars in revenue every year. And DuPonts formula makes up 29 percent of the entire worlds $13 Billion supply of white.

They make the white things the whitest and the highest quality, Phelan said.

An inert powder, Titanium Dioxide, is added to everything from Oreo Cookies, to paper, iPhone cases, and buckets of paint. And China had its sights set on stealing Duponts formula and process for making white the whitest.

They said to [Liew], heres a list of items that we need to help grow the PRC to make the country stronger, and we need your help to get them.

It is a $13 billion a year industry and is in endless amount of things. Were talking about titanium dioxide. View more in this video.

The DuPont stolen secrets case is still ongoing. The U.S. government last fall charged four Chinese companies with economic espionage in connection with the case after winning criminal convictions against Walter Liew and others charged in the case in 2012.

During an October, 2018, hearing on the new charges against the four Chinese companies in Oaklands federal court, attorneys representing those companies declined to comment on the case.

Walter Liew was convicted and is now serving time in federal prison. A Federal Appeals Court upheld his conviction.

Phelan, who now works in Paris, says the theft of these secrets threaten the nations security by potentially devastating entire sections of the U.S. economy if the spies succeed in stealing the wrong secrets.

Its being able to protect jobs that people have in Silicon Valley, to protect companies, to protect the banks and the venture capitalists to fund these companies, Phelan said.

And its not just Silicon Valley. In some cases, the economy of entire small towns in middle America are threatened.

It means jobs there, Phelan said. In this case, it means entire towns in places like Delaware and Mississippi, in Tennessee.

In the town of New Johnsonville, Tennessee, population 1,951, The Company Chemours, formerly DuPont, employs about 1,000 people at the largest plant in the world manufacturing Titanium Dioxide  the color white.

Take a tour of New Johnsonville.

The towns mayor, David Cagle, once worked at the plant and worries about the towns future if the secret Titanium Dioxide formula stolen by China someday makes the Chemours plant obsolete.

Its the largest employer we have, Cagle said. People have been working there forever. Its real essential.Cannon, who is a candidate for the office in the May primary, said his campaign team already has laid out a plan for the next four years to come if he is selected by the caucus and elected in November.A Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety officer was taken to a hospital after being exposed to possible fentanyl while processing a suspect at the department's headquarters Wednesday night.

The case began around 10:35 p.m. when officers responded to a report of someone urinating in public in the area of the See's Candies store at 1238 W. El Camino Real.

Officers contacted a man who had two warrants for his arrest out of San Luis Obispo. He was arrested and officers discovered he had a small package in his possession that contained suspected narcotics, public safety officials said.

The man, whose name has not been released, was taken to department headquarters. While processing him and the evidence in the case, a patrol officer was exposed to the substance and immediately had a medical emergency, according to the department.

Officers treated him at the scene and he was taken to a hospital, where he is in stable condition as of Thursday morning, public safety officials said. Six other officers were also evaluated as a precaution after possible exposure but have since been released.

The suspect informed officers that the substance was the powerful opioid fentanyl, but that has not yet been confirmed. It was sent to the county crime lab for testing, according to the department.

The headquarters at 700 All America Way was evacuated until a hazardous materials team secured the substance and decontaminated the area.

The evacuation was lifted around 7 a.m. Thursday, public safety officials said.With the latest storm making its last rounds in the Bay Area, high winds and heavy rain continue damaging part of the region.

A shelter in place was issued for residents in Novato around 2:45 a.m. due to significant flooding, police said.

Multiple roads also closed as a result including South Novato Blvd from Nave to Lark Ct, Commercial Blvd and Simmons Lane.

La Honda Road in San Mateo County is blocked in both directions at Fox Hill Road due to a downed tree, officials said.

Authorities ask commuters use alternative routes as there is no estimated time of reopening.

Morning commuters should also plan ahead as a closed-off southbound lane on Highway 17 in the Santa Cruz Mountains will not reopen until Thursday afternoon.

The storm brought down the hillside and a tree near Sugarloaf Road Wednesday and the backup stretched for miles.

Drivers heading toward Santa Cruz from the Santa Clara Valley were stuck for hours.

"Its horrible," said Vanessa Santiago. "Last year I saw the same thing, so its pretty rough trying to get home now."

Drivers heading from Santa Cruz to the Santa Clara Valley are in the clear as both northbound lanes are open.On February 01, The Papua New Guinea Defence Force commissioned the first Austal-built Guardian-class patrol boat, the Her Majesty's Papua New Guinea Ship Ted Diro (HMPNGS Ted Diro).

On February 01, The Papua New Guinea Defence Force commissioned the first Austal-built Guardian-class patrol boat, the Her Majesty's Papua New Guinea Ship Ted Diro (HMPNGS Ted Diro).

HMPNGS Ted Diro during sea trials (Picture source : Austal)

Ted Diro is the first of 21 Guardian-class patrol boats to be gifted to 12 Pacific Island countries and Timor-Leste under the Pacific Maritime Security Program, the successor to the original Pacific Patrol Boat Program in which Australia gifted vessels to Pacific Island nations between 1987 and 1997.

The larger and more capable Austal-made Guardian-class can support mixed-gender crewing and will assist nations to combat a wider range of maritime security issues, including transnational crime and illegal fishing. The 39.5 meter steel hulled patrol boats are built by Austal under a contract from May 2016, with a contract option in April 2018 taking the program to 21 vessels valued at AU$ 335 million.

In addition to the gifting of 21 vessels, the Pacific Maritime Security Program includes contracted region-wide fixed wing aerial surveillance, ongoing sustainment and training support, the continuation of Defences maritime adviser network, and infrastructure upgrades to support the safe and secure berthing of the vessels.

Papua New Guineas former Pacific Patrol Boat, ex-HMPNGS Rabaul, arrived in Australia for environmentally responsible disposal in October 2018, and NUSHIP Ted Diro was handed over to Papua New Guinea in November.Stress is known as the "killer disease" and in humans it can lead to an increased risk of terminal issues such as heart attack or stroke. But now research conducted at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and published in the latest issue of Plantsindicates that stress in the plant kingdom is far less destructive to plants than it is to humans.

According to biology researchers, plants that are attacked immediately release compounds known as "green leaf volatiles" or GLVs, which prime themselves but also other plants nearby. These compounds successfully defend the plant while only temporarily inhibiting the plant's growth.

"When we, humans, get sick, we also get weak," states Jurgen Engelberth, associate professor in the UTSA Department of Biology. "We can't both be physically active and fight disease at the same time. We've also observed this same phenomenon in plants."

The difference, however, is that this defense by GLVs costs the plant far less in recovery time and growth inhibition than equivalent stresses would in humans. Consequently, plants can fight off attacks then continue to grow at an acceptable rate, with none or little of the negative consequences observed in humans.

GLVs are essentially the "green" aspect and scent of plants, and they have been well documented as protective mechanisms. When a plant is attacked by any herbivore, including insects or pests, it temporarily releases chemical compounds that can help repel infestation or attract predators of the attacking herbivore. In some cases, a plant will keep producing more complex GLVs days after an initial attack.

Engelberth and fellow UTSA researchers exposed maize seedlings at different stages of growth to these protective compounds. After exposure, they observed that the plant crops halted their growth on average by 20 percent while they were focused on "defending." However, the researchers also observed that after several days without further attack, the plants were able to compensate and grow again.

"If there is no further threat of herbivory, or feeding on the plants, then they can invest metabolic energy again in growth. If there continues to be herbivory then the plants will continue to invest in defense," concludes Engelberth.

Plants have to employ many strategies to ensure survival. Unlike animals, they don't tend to kill their enemies, because in many instances they need those same attackers to help them pollinate.

The exact mechanism a plant deploys to produce metabolic resources for temporary GLV defense during an attack is still not known. Nevertheless, a plant's ability to quickly recoup growth after deploying GLV offers a clue about plant resiliency.

Recent estimates show that there is an expected 10 to 25 percent loss in crop yields due to warmer climates and ensuing increases in insect populations. The UTSA researchers will continue to focus on the processes at play in GLVs to help bring a greater understanding to the future of our planet's food supply.(Natural News) In an era where Democrats have hyper-politicized skin color to the point that practically everything is now racist, the partys ever-faithful minorities have taken that cue and now regularly wield their ethnicity as a weapon to bludgeon political opponents.

Thats become standard practice on the Left since Donald Trump became president. Once hailed and honored by minorities as one of their biggest supporters and allies, the Donkey Party and its supporters now equate him with the founders of the KKK (all of whom were, ironically, Democrats).

But not all allegations of racism are legitimate, of course, and in fact, some are flat-out fabrications, used by Leftists to gain political advantages, engender sympathy, feed into the (false) narrative that Trumpsters are all bigots or a combination of all three.

Case in point, perhaps: Empire actor Jussie Smollett.

A few weeks ago, he claimed he was beaten up in the wee hours of a frigid morning in Chicago as he ventured out around 2 a.m. for a Subway sandwich. At the time, he told police that two hooded men worked him over, at once shouting racial and homophobic slurs (Smollett is gay), pouring a liquid believed to be bleach on him, and informing him in a loud and deliberate manner that This is MAGA country.

Instant hate crime, with a side order of Trump the Bigot. Naturally, the anti-POTUS automatons in Hollywood chimed right in, blasting all of the presidents supporters as covert Klansmen (Klanspeople?) and virtue-signaling their support for Smollett.

But in the days that followed the alleged attack, strange things began to happen. Smolletts claims were not bearing out. Witnesses didnt materialize. Friends began to doubt his version of events. And police could find no real suspects and no video of the alleged whupping, though Smollett was traveling in a video-heavy part of the city.

Not only were police in Chicago  who quickly declared what happened a hate crime  not getting any cooperation from the actor. Neither was the FBI. (Related: Media utterly humiliated again by MAGA hate hoaxes  Trump derangement syndrome has destroyed the Liberal media complex.)

A few days after the alleged attack, Smollett even read a prepared statement before a performance at Chicagos Troubadour Theater, in which he walked back previous claims, namely, he didnt have any broken ribs and he never actually went to the hospital.

This is looking more and more like a hate crime hoax

Chicago PD did find video of the actor, however, but not of the attack: They say security footage showed him returning to his apartment still holding his just-purchased Subway sandwich, Grabien News reported. Many observers found that to be a bit surprising given his horrific ordeal (alleged).

Initially, and for two weeks afterward, Smollett refused to turn his cell phone over to cops so they could verify parts of his story  namely, that he was talking to his manager at the time he was attacked. He finally did turn over a downloaded .pdf version of phone data, which was heavily redacted according to police, and thus, worthless. So police are asking for more records.

In addition, The New York Post reports that neighbors arent buying into the actors story, either.

I dont believe it happened the way he said it did, Agin Muhammad, who lives in the same pricey high-rise near the Navy Pier as Smollett, told the Post.

Ive been in this neighborhood five years. I dont believe it, not around here  Half the people are gay and the other half are black.

One customer at Lizzie McNeills Irish Pub, located about a block from the alleged attack, told the Post Smolletts story doesnt really make sense.

Its a lie because Chicago is the most liberal city around, the man  who didnt give his name  said. They have cameras everywhere Why cant they find the attack?

Chicago PD said several days ago that if it was discovered that Smollett filed a fake hate crime report he would be charged accordingly.

That time may have arrived.

Read more about anti-Trump hate crime hoaxes at Hoax.news.

Sources include:

NewsTarget.com

News.Grabien.com

NYPost.com

TheNationalSentinel.com(Natural News) Many people think of orange juice as a health food because it comes from fruit. Although its undoubtedly better to eat the whole fruit from a nutritional standpoint, drinking orange juice certainly isnt bad, right? The scary truth is that if you consume one of the many popular brands of orange juice recently found to be contaminated with glyphosate, you could be drinking poison and possibly putting yourself at a greater risk of developing cancer.

A nonprofit group known as Moms Across America recently sent some of the most popular orange juice brands in the U.S. to be tested for glyphosate, a known carcinogen. While many of the brands had lower levels of glyphosate than what they found in similar tests the year before  including Tropicana, Kirkland Signature, and Minute Maid  it was present nevertheless.

However, one brand in particular stood out: Floridas Natural was the highest among all brands tested, with results that were nearly three times those seen in test results from a year prior that were provided to another organization, going from an effective glyphosate level of 5.11 ppb to 14.42. The brand is currently facing a lawsuit for misleading the public. According to the plaintiff, their claim that the product is natural is false because the juice contains glyphosate.

Why are orange growers still using this known carcinogen?

When you consider the fact that the World Health Organizations International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen several years ago, its hard to believe that orange growers continue to use the chemical, knowing it will make its way into the juice that many families drink on a regular basis. Moms Across America has asked the companies involved to make changes to no avail, and now they are publicizing the results in hopes of drawing attention to the danger.

While some growers have stated that they need to use glyphosate herbicides to address a problem known as citrus greening, experts like crop consultant Frank Dean say that using the chemical actually contributes to citrus greening while reducing the quality of soil. This, in turn, means more water is needed and the produce has fewer nutrients.

Profits over people

Unfortunately, much of the information available about citrus greening is provided by the University of Florida  and they are funded by glyphosate weed killer maker Monsanto! The use of glyphosate is a big problem in Florida, with more than 3.5 million pounds per square mile of it being sprayed throughout the state between 2000 and 2012, according to the Environmental Working Group. As if that werent bad enough, the glyphosate herbicide AquaMaster was allowed to be sprayed directly into the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee. This has prompted some residents to call on the governor to ban its use statewide; cities like Miami and Stuart have already put bans in place.

An increasing number of people are learning about the dangers of the chemicals, despite the best efforts of Monsanto to keep it quiet. A landmark case recently saw a California jury award millions of dollars to a school groundkeeper who developed non-Hodgkins lymphoma after using Monsantos Roundup weed killer. The firm was found to be responsible for producing and selling the deadly substance. They are also facing countless similar lawsuits.

Parents need to be especially vigilant when it comes to Florida orange juice as children are particularly vulnerable to the dangers of glyphosate  and many of them tend to drink a lot of juice. Even very low levels of the chemical can cause problems like liver disease, endocrine disruption, and sex hormone changes. Kids lack the enzymes in their livers needed to break down these toxins, so there are essentially no safe levels for them.

If you or your children enjoy orange juice, consider growing your own oranges and making fresh juice. If you dont live in the right climate for orange trees, be sure to buy organic varieties and juice them yourself. Bottled orange juice may be more convenient, but its not worth putting your familys health at risk to save a few minutes of time in the morning.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalHealth365.com

ChildrensHealthDefense.org(Natural News) As if working for tech behemoth Apple on an executive level wouldnt be lucrative enough, the companys top lawyer for developing (and presumably following) insider trading policy has just been arrested foryou guessed it: insider trading.

Gene Daniel Levoff, Apples head of corporate law and senior corporate counsel, was charged just before the company announced its earnings report, according to legal papers filed by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Whats more, Levoff was busted even after he was warned by his own company about so-called blackout periods when Apple execs were not supposed to be trading in company shares. In ignoring those warnings, the corporate counsel allegedly used insider info to reap returns and avoid losses that amount to around $382,000.

A press release from the Justice Department notes:

Levoff was subject to Company-1s regular quarterly blackout periods, which prohibited individuals who had access to material nonpublic information from engaging in trades until a certain period after the company disclosed its financial results to the public. Levoff ignored this restriction, as well as the companys broader Insider Trading Policy  which Levoff participated in revising  and instead repeatedly executed trades based on material, nonpublic information without the companys knowledge or authorization.

The SEC has accused Levoff, of San Carlos, Calif., of making at least three insider trades over two years  2015 and 2016. These came in addition to three other alleged incidents of insider trading in 2011 and 2012. (Related: Apple demands Natural News stop writing about abortions or Satanism; threatens to block Natural News app from all Apple devices.)

The federal complaint, a civil action, also alleges that Levoff, as a senior corporate law director, was responsible for ensuring compliance with the companys insider trading policy.

Levoff could go away for a very, very long time

In one instance, according to the SECs filing in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, Levoff made trades in advance of Apples July 2015 earnings report after he found out that his company wasnt going to perform as well as analysts had forecast regarding sales of iPhones. The trade allegedly allowed him to avoid $345,000 in losses. In other instances, the Justice Department said in its release, Levoff managed to turn in profits of $227,000 while avoiding additional losses of about $32,000.

In addition to being in charge of developing insider trading policies for Apple, Levoff was the named party on subsidiaries of Apple. As reported by Bloomberg, Apple fired Levoff in September 2018 after the company had placed him on leave two months earlier, the SEC said in its filing. The SEC also said that Levoff, 45, reported directly to the companys general counsel.

After being contacted by authorities last summer, we conducted a thorough investigation with the help of outside legal experts, Josh Rosenstock, a spokesman for Apple, said in a statement this week, according to Bloomberg.

The irony of the allegations against Levoff gets even thicker. Bloomberg reports:

Levoff had responsibility for ensuring employees complied with  Apples insider-trading policy, and implemented an update of the procedures in 2015, the SEC said. He even sent an email to workers in all capital letters in 2011 reminding them that they werent permitted to trade shares based on non-public information.

The SEC is not only seeking monetary penalties against Levoff, but the agency wants to also ban him from ever again serving as an officer or director of a publicly-traded company.

Interestingly, according to Statista, iPhone sales in 2015 peaked at sales of more than 232 million, up from just 1.4 million in 2007  still a good year for a revolutionary new product the company eventually had to tussle with the FBI over regarding user privacy. Since 2015, sales have fallen off some, averaging between 211 million and 217 million units annually.

If convicted of securities fraud, Levoff could face 20 years in prison and a fine of $5 million, the Justice Department said.

Read more about high-profile white-collar corruption at Corruption.news.

Sources include:

Bloomberg.com

NewsTarget.comBrazen robberies such as this case commands a swift response from law enforcement, U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirsch said in a news release. I want to commend all our law enforcement partners for their work in investigating this case. We will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute these type of crimes in this District.(Natural News) People who may suffer from milk-related allergies and intolerances may not know that they suffer from it, according to experts. This is especially concerning for babies and infants, as this age is heavily reliant on milk for nutrition.

In the report The Challenge of Delayed Reactions, researchers were able to find out that nearly 50 percent of the children who suffered from cows milk allergy (CMA) had to wait for three months before they were provided with the correct diagnosis for it. In addition to this, at least one in five children had repeatedly visited their doctors for at least ten times while getting diagnosed.

The study also uncovered that among parents, 75 percent were aware of CMA, but only 50 percent were able to identify symptoms related to it.

Cows milk allergy can manifest in different ways for people. These can range anywhere from itchy, red, raised skin to irritability (colic) or even severe breathing problems. Children can be especially prone to these symptoms, with common symptoms including eczema, constipation, and vomiting. In the study, 75 percent of the parents have reported seeing these symptoms in their children, but only 30 percent of them traced back these symptoms to CMA.

This lack of information regarding CMA and its effects can prove to be crushing to parents of infants who suffer from the disease. In the study, at least 88 percent of parents have felt powerless at the onset of the CMA. Parents have also reportedly blamed themselves or have doubted their ability because of the condition.

Its not just sufferers of CMA that are affected by the dearth of information regarding it  doctors, in particular, have encountered difficulty diagnosing CMA. According to experts, the challenge of providing an accurate diagnosis for CMA lies mainly with its symptoms being common to other diseases as well, which doctors tend to address first before the allergy. Add this to the allergy manifesting itself hours, or even days, after milk is consumed, and you have a condition where experts are left scratching their heads and wanting more information about it  around 70 percent of doctors have indicated in the study the need to have a greater awareness of the situation.

Dr. Adam Fox, one of the authors of the report said: If youre not looking for CMA, you wont find it. That is why it is important for both healthcare professionals and parents to be informed about the symptoms of cows milk allergy and consider it earlier.

Recently, a study released by the nonprofit group FAIR Health puts milk as the allergen with the highest instance of services done per patient in 2016. Milk allergy cases are one of the costliest as well in terms of services and treatments, with expenses averaging at $1,043.89 per patient in 2016. BJ Lanser, director of the pediatric food allergy program at National Jewish Health in Denver, said that the high cost of treating the allergies can be correlated to the price of milk substitutes, especially alternative baby formulas.

Other findings indicate the following:

The growth of food allergy cases is faster in urban areas as compared to rural areas. From 2007 to 2016, treatment and procedures for food allergy have increased by 70 percent in cities. Rural settings have also displayed a significant rise in allergies.

Food allergy claims are more common among boys than girls but this is reversed for adults.

Gender also plays a part in the effects of allergens in a person. Women and girls are treated for food allergies, while peanuts are the top allergen for men and boys.

Although food allergies are commonly associated with children, at least 34 percent of treatment is for a patient above 18 years old. (Related: Are your food allergies a result of lifestyle choices? Nearly half of people experience their first reactions after reaching adulthood.)

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), more than 90 percent of food allergies can be linked to either of these eight foods: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans.

Sources include:

Daynurseries.co.uk

Cowsmilkallergy.co.uk

KHN.org

S3.amazonaws.com[PDF](Natural News) For more than a decade, French farmer Paul Francois has been seeking justice against Monsanto, the worlds most evil corporation, over injuries he incurred as a result of using the Missouri-based chemical giants Lasso weedkiller on his crops. And despite numerous setbacks, hes still just as determined as ever, according to his lawyer, to achieve victory.

Hailing from Frances rural Charente region, Francois recently made his fourth court appearance to testify against Monsanto, which reportedly exploited a legal loophole to overturn two previous rulings that were decided in his favor. But the moral of his ongoing story is this: Hes not going to let Monsanto win.

After 12 years of legal proceedings, Ive had moments of doubt, Francois told FRANCE 24, upon leaving for Lyon to appear in court for the fourth time. But I am confident now because the court has already ruled in our favour on several occasions.

For more related news, be sure to check out Monsanto.news and MonsantoMafia.com.

Francois seeking 1 million in damages from Monsanto

After considerable research into the matter, it was determined that a key constituent found in Lasso known as chlorobenzene, which makes up 50 percent of the weedkiller, is what caused Francois to become 40 percent disabled, as confirmed by Frances Agricultural Mutual Fund.

Though Monsanto would insist otherwise, chlorobenzene, which was banned in France in 2007, as well as in the United Kingdom in 1992 and in Canada way back in 1985, is a dangerous crop chemical linked to many of the symptoms from which Francois now suffers, including amnesia, vertigo, stuttering, seizures, irritability, and recurrent comas.

I received numerous messages of support outside of my friends and family, Francois says. They were crucial at a time when I was experiencing a lot of self-doubt, especially after losing the second appeal.

Francois says Monsanto is lying to farmers; hes since converted his farm to 100 percent organic

Though hes no longer able to work full-time, Francois says he keeps busy working on his farm  which hes since converted to being 100 percent certified organic  on a part-time basis. Much of the rest of his time is spent making sure that Monsanto pays for the permanent injuries its Lasso product caused him to suffer.

I practiced a form of agriculture that I believed in, a form of agriculture that was promoted at the time and that responded to societys needs, Francois explains about how he and many other farmers in his area were lied to by Monsanto about the benefits of the multinational corporations crop chemical products.

But we as farmers were wrong, our collective expectations as a society were wrong. We put our faith in companies that told us they were selling a remedy for our plants. What they forgot to say was that it could poison us too.

Emmanuel Macron responsible for extending glyphosates legality until 2021, despite chemical being banned by French authorities

Francois is similarly concerned about glyphosate, the primary active constituent in Monsantos more well-known weedkiller product, Roundup. Though Roundup was banned by French authorities last year in a groundbreaking court ruling, globalist traitor Emmanuel Macron reportedly overruled the ban and extended glyphosates legality in France until 2021.

The president lacked courage, Francois says about Macron. The authorities in France remain under the diktat of these companies.

Regardless, Francois is determined to see justice served  no matter the cost, and no matter how long it takes.

The verdict in Paul Francois case against Monsanto could open the door to numerous other lawsuits by people who have experienced injury caused by this herbicide, Francois lawyer is quoted as saying to FRANCE 24 about their hopeful expectation of a guilty verdict against Monsanto.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

France24.com

France24.com(Natural News) Trimethylamine oxide is an organic compound present in fish- and vegetable-based foods. A rat model of hypertension showed that increasing the amount of this natural chemical could lower the risk of cardiovascular disease in hypertensive animals.

The Medical University of Warsaw provided support for the study. The results were published in the American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology.

Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) received either ordinary water or a trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) water solution. Meanwhile, the control group is made up of Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats.

Once the animals reached their seventh week of life, their blood pressure was evaluated every week until the 16th week for a total of 12 weeks of treatment. The histopathology and the plasma TMAO of the rats were also measured.

Compared to the untreated control group, the rats given the TMAO solution demonstrated much greater levels of trimethylamine oxide in their blood. The plasma TMAO of the treated animals increased by 400 to 500 percent. There were no signs that consuming the solution triggered or aggravated hypertension.

The 16-week-old rats in both test groups turned out to have similar levels of angiopathy, cardiac hypertrophy, and blood pressures. However, the TMAO treatment group boasted healthier levels of cardiac fibrosis, left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP), and lower plasma NH2-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide.

The 60-week-old untreated rats suffered from hypertensive angiopathy and serious heart failure. Meanwhile, the 56-week-old TMAO-treated animals enjoyed much lower plasma NH2-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide, vasopressin, LVEDP, and cardiac fibrosis.



The Polish researchers concluded that consuming larger amounts of trimethylamine oxide was a potential means of alleviating hypertension. It could also help prevent the onset of more serious heart diseases.

Journal Reference:

Huc T, Drapala A, Gawrys M, Konop M, Bielinska K, Zaorska E, Samborowska E, Wyczalkowska-Tomasik A, P?czek L, Dadlez M, et al. CHRONIC, LOW-DOSE TMAO TREATMENT REDUCES DIASTOLIC DYSFUNCTION AND HEART FIBROSIS IN HYPERTENSIVE RATS. American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology. 10 Dec. 2018;315(6). DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00536.2018.(Natural News) A study from the Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center discovered a link between a womans exposure to air pollution during early pregnancy and the increased likelihood of birth defects in her children.

The study Periconception Exposure to Air Pollution and Risk of Congenital Malformations, which was published in The Journal of Pediatrics, states that the tiny particles in air pollution are a significant health hazard to unborn children. This is because these microscopic fragments deposit themselves deep into the lower airways and air sacs inside the lungs and from there, enter the circulatory system. Not only do these particles affect the pregnant woman, but her unborn child as well. These tiny particles can cross the amniotic sac protecting embryos and fetuses, and disrupt the proper development especially during the first few months of life.

The researchers of the study used data from birth certificates from the Ohio Department of Health and particulate matter data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to identify areas with high air pollution and the rates at which birth disorders were recorded in the identified areas. Dr. Emily DeFranco, senior author of the study and physician at the Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center, admitted that there were massive limitations, but their study provides a good foundation for future studies in relation to the association between environmental factors and embryonic development.

What you need to know about orofacial clefts

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes a cleft lip and a cleft palate as birth defects from when a baby does not develop properly during pregnancy. Together, these defects are known as orofacial clefts, a condition that leaves an individual with a vertically separated upper lip and speech difficulties. Individuals with orofacial defects are known to have early life problems such as feeding, speaking clearly, and sometimes, ear infections. The CDC also reports that around 2,650 babies are born in the United States with a cleft palate and 4,440 babies are born with a cleft lip (with or without a cleft palate) annually.

The direct causes of orofacial clefts are still unknown, but medical researchers have associated it with health conditions and risk habits such as smoking, diabetes, and the use or abuse of certain medications. Orofacial clefts can be detected during pregnancy via routine ultrasound, and can also be diagnosed after the baby is born. Surgeries to correct cleft lips are recommended within the first 12 months of life, and surgeries to repair a cleft palate is suggested within the first 18 months or earlier. These surgeries are mostly cosmetic, but also have the chance of improving breathing, hearing, and speech impairments.

How exactly do you avoid air pollution?

Check your areas air quality index (AQI). Knowing if your place has extreme levels of air pollution may be the number one reason for relocating to a residence with cleaner air. If you have children in the family, you will want to make this a priority.

Instead of working out after work, exercise in the morning when air pollution is at a low.

Avoid areas with heavy traffic, especially if you like walking.

If youre waiting out heavy traffic in your car, set your air conditioning to re-circulation to prevent outside smoke from entering your car.

Many cities outside of the U.S. have excessive pollution levels. As much as possible, avoid trips to Beijing, Cairo, and Delhi, which are at the top of the list of the most polluted cities on the planet.

Dont smoke indoors. Or better yet, dont smoke at all.

While total avoidance of air pollution is near impossible, there are some steps to take in order to minimize your exposure to it. Whether you are a pregnant woman or not, avoiding air pollution will protect you from developing chronic diseases and disorders.

Sources include:

ScienceDaily.com

CDC.gov

Health.USNews.com(Natural News) Modern biotech has made a lot of promises when it comes to agriculture, and although those in the industry might claim they have revolutionized it in recent years, the changes havent exactly been for the better. In fact, when you take a look at traditional farming methods like those used in Mexico, its clear that the old ways of approaching agriculture are a lot more valuable than people realize.

Scientific American recently profiled a Mexican farmer named Edilberto Garcia Cuenca, who is one of many there using traditional methods to keep the maize industry alive. He grows maize on a five-acre plot handed down from his family, and he plants beans there to help ensure the soil stays fertile. He lets the rain irrigate his crops, and in the rainy season, he plants the seeds he stored away during the previous cycle and takes care of the seedlings. With millions of other Mexican campesinos carrying out the same process on their own farms, there are billions of maize plants there that are genetically different and exposed to all manner of environments and selection practices.

Its a revolution of its own, and its been taking place for thousands of years. According to a recent study, this largely un-scientific approach is responsible for most of corns genetic diversity across the North American continent. Not only are they preserving maizes genetic diversity, but experts say they are generating more of it.

According to the study, which was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, campesinos accounted for planting more than 11.5 million acres of corn during the rainy season of 2010, the last season for which they had census data available, while commercial corn farmers planted just 3.2 million acres.

The researchers calculated that Mexican family farmers grew roughly 138 billion genetically different maize plants that year across a range of different altitudes and temperatures, which means rare mutations were able to emerge that would have disappeared otherwise.

Social scientist Mauricio Bellon, one of the researchers, said: Campesinos are generating an evolutionary service that is essential for them, for the country and, given the global importance of maize, for the world.

The variety is incredible, with colors ranging from white and pink to orange and deep purple. This is in stark contrast to the millions of genetically identical corn plants youd see in a place like Iowa. Farmers in America buy their seeds rather than cultivating their own, which means evolution doesnt get a chance to work its magic.

Centuries-old practice proves its value

University of California Davis Plant Geneticist Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra, who wasnt part of the study, believes this practice is essential for feeding a growing population as its a system that is able to adapt to the changing conditions of our environment and world. Although there are some helpful new technologies, he said that we shouldnt ignore this pretty impressive and amazing resource thats been around for thousands of years.

Garcia Cuenca is familiar with the other side of the coin; he worked on a Minnesota farm for eight years. After returning to Mexico, he said he refuses to use any hybrid seeds. Not only are they too costly, but he said they need more care and water than his native maize. Across India, farmers who have been disappointed by the newer commercial farming techniques are largely returning to the traditional, organic approaches used there for centuries.

Time and time again, traditional farming continues to prove its superiority when it comes to providing sustainable yields in specific areas. Mixed crops and crop timing are approaches that have stood the test of time, and as more information comes to light about the damage biotechnology like genetic engineering is causing the environment and humanity, its likely that these traditional methods will soon become more prevalent yet again.

Read FoodScience.news for daily updates on the science of food and agriculture.

Sources for this article include:

ScientificAmerican.com

NaturalNews.com(Natural News) Even as diehard prohibitionists continue to spew utter nonsense about the dangers of cannabis sativa (marijuana), open-minded researchers are keeping busy uncovering the plants many safe and effective health benefits, including its ability to naturally quell the often extreme pain associated with diabetic neuropathy.

A team of researchers from the University of California, San Diego deserves the credit for finding that cannabis has an amazing ability to greatly reduce, and in some cases completely eliminate, diabetic neuropathy pain  and all without the need for dangerous and typically ineffective pharmaceutical drugs.

Publishing their findings in the peer-reviewed Journal of Pain, the team, led by Dr. Mark Steven Wallace, M.D., who chairs of the Division of Pain Management at UCSD, says that the healing constituents found naturally in cannabis are a perfect match for the cannabinoid receptors that exist on human inflammatory cells, as well as all throughout the human nervous system  including in the nerves, spinal cord, and brain.

Compared to those in the control group, study participants who were given cannabis either in vapor or smoke form experienced dramatic reductions in diabetic neuropathy pain. These same participants experienced gentle euphoria and sedation as an added bonus  the beneficial effects of cannabis further minimizing their sensitivity to being stroked with a foam brush, or pricked with a pin.

We found that the more concentrated the dose, the more relief people got, Dr. Wallace is quoted as saying, adding that his cannabis participants experienced pain relief that lasted for four hours.

There is a lot of evidence on the positive effects of cannabis on the treatment of neuropathic pain, Dr. Wallace added. However, there are few placebo controlled studies and very few studies that have looked at different doses.

For more cannabis-related news, be sure to check out CannabisCures.news and MedicalMarijuanaUpdate.com.

Inhaling cannabis smoke, vapor provides rapid relief from diabetic neuropathy pain

Keep in mind that all of the study participants who were given cannabis inhaled it, rather than consumed it as an oil or tincture. While some prohibitionists have tried to argue that consuming cannabis via the lungs cant be medicinal, this study proves otherwise  and, in fact, shows that inhaling cannabis is the best way to experience its benefits quickly, seeing as how oral consumption of cannabis takes a lot longer to work, and, in some ways, is more difficult to dose since the beneficial effects are delayed.

Further, Dr. Wallace and his team found that, when cannabis is consumed in full-spectrum form, meaning it contains a diverse array of cannabinoids besides just tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), its mental effects are more balanced  including cannabidiol, or CBD, which helps to buffer the effects of THC to make it more clinically viable.

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is one of the most common neuropathic pain syndromes in our society, Dr. Wallace notes, explaining how cannabis represents a simple, natural intervention to keep it under control. There are very few treatment options and most of the medications available have dose-limiting side effects.

As a practitioner in California, Dr. Wallace has been recommending medical cannabis to his patients for many years. The hope is that, as increasingly more states drop their cannabis prohibition policies, that increasingly more patients with diabetic neuropathy and other chronic pain-related health conditions will have the opportunity to benefit from this amazing botanical remedy.

Medicinal marijuana has been legal in California since 1996, and we have learned a lot during this time, Dr. Wallace says. I frequently recommend medicinal marijuana to treat a variety of painful conditions.

To learn more about the pain-relieving benefits of cannabis that date back thousands of years, be sure to check out this article by Jonathan Landsman.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

NaturalHealth365.com

NaturalNews.comThe NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will attend the Munich Security Conference on Friday, 15 February and Saturday, 16 February 2019 together with the Deputy Secretary General, Ms. Rose Gottemoeller.

Mr. Stoltenberg will participate in a panel discussion on Defence Cooperation where he will deliver remarks.

In the margins of the Conference, the Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General will have bilateral meetings with various international officials.

Media advisory

Friday, 15 February

12:45 Secretary Generals doorstep at Hotel Bayerischer Hof

17:00 Remarks by NATO Secretary General followed by a Q&A session during the Discussion on Defence Cooperation

17:45 Deputy Secretary General participation in the panel NATO@70: Stronger Together?

Saturday, 16 February

17:30 Deputy Secretary General participation at the European Defence Roundtable.

The events will be streamed live on the NATO website.

The Secretary Generals address at MSC2019, and the Panel Discussion can be watched live on the event website  www.securityconference.de

There will be no live transmission for Deputy Secretary General engagements.

Still and video images will be available after the event on the NATO website.

Professional-quality videos and b-roll will be available for download from www.natomultimedia.tv. Please register for access. Contact: content@natomultimedia.tv

Follow us on Twitter (@NATOPress, @jensstoltenberg and @Gottemoeller).NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrapped up two days of important discussions between Allied Defence Ministers in Brussels today (Thursday 14 February 2019). Ministers discussed arms control, current operations and missions, burden-sharing, and European defence. The Secretary General described the Alliance as in good shape as its approaches its 70th anniversary in Washington in April.

All Allies agreed that Russias violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty poses a significant threat to transatlantic security. The Secretary General called again on Russia to take this last opportunity to come back into compliance. All Allies stand ready to engage further with Russia. But we are also preparing for a world without the INF Treaty, the Secretary General said.

A number of NATO Allies offered contributions to the Four Thirties Readiness Initiative, which will ensure 30 combat ships, 30 land battalions, and 30 air squadrons, are ready to deploy within 30 days or less. This will increase NATOs ability to respond quickly and decisively to any future crisis.

Ministers also discussed the critical issue of burden sharing, in terms of cash, capabilities and contributions. According to the latest reports on defense spending, European Allies and Canada will spend an extra $100 billion dollars on defence by the end of 2020. All Allies are modernising their equipment and contributing more to NATOs missions and operations.

On NATOs missions and operations, the Secretary General said that NATO Allies are in Afghanistan together and we will take decisions regarding the future of the mission together. NATOs training mission in Iraq is now up and running, providing training and advice to national security institutions. NATOs mission to keep a safe and secure environment for all the people in Kosovo remains unchanged, but Ministers are expected to take decisions later in the spring on NATOs engagement with the Kosovo Security Force.

In a final joint working session with High Representative / Vice President Federica Mogherini and Defence Ministers Jussi Niinisto from Finland and Peter Hultqvist from Sweden, Allies welcomed the European Unions increased focused on defence as a means to strengthen NATO. The Secretary General called for closer cooperation on defence spending, new capabilities, military mobility, and ensuring the fullest possible involvement of non-EU NATO Allies.

NATO is now looking forward to celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Alliance in Washington in April, which is a further opportunity to discuss current and future security challenges.Yves here. While I like the all payer idea a lot, one quibble I have regards price-setting on a regional basis. Theres a big difference in pricing between major cities and exurbs. In Manhattan, doctors in Queens and Staten Island charge lower fees due to lower rents. And it used to be not unheard of to develop much more granular cost adjustment formulas. When I was in college, I spent the better part of the summer doing survey research for a firm that was getting cost data to develop cost adjustments for payments for local law offices in the Legal Services Corporation. We rang around to law firms all over the US and wheedled cost information out of them, like their expenses for malpractice insurance, paralegals, publications, rent. So the basic idea is appealing, but it would need to be implemented on a more granular basis that this article suggests.

However, even though this all payer system would help curb abuse like ginormous and opaque hospital bills, it doesnt address the administrative burden of fighting with insurance companies. Some experts have estimated that his accounts for as much as 30% of total US medical costs when accounted for properly (as in extra doctor and hospital staff, as well as doctor time spent justifying the services they provided). Numerous anecdotal reports also suggest it is driving doctors to drop out, or shift their practices to services to the affluenza, like anti-aging, so they no longer deal with insurance companies (or treating sick people). Also bear in mind that doctors and hospitals have made an art form of upcoding medical procedures, so coding simplification would likely need to be part of this reform too. For instance, some readers complained of being given questionnaire about depression at their latest visit to their GP when theyd not complained of it. They assumed the doctor wanted to push pills. More likely was that he intended to charge for this assessment.

By Marshall Auerback, a market analyst and commentator. Produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

Affordable health care providing universal access has long been a holy grail of the Democratic Party. Like the grail itself, however, many have tried to obtain it, and all have failed in the efforts.

Even after the implementation of President Obamas Affordable Care Act, American health care is still neither particularly affordable (especially after repeated Republican efforts under the Trump administration to gut its main elements), nor is the access universal. Unlike in most other countries, U.S. health care is still largely predicated on employment, despite the insistence of many that it is a universal right.

On the other hand, a wholesale restructuring of the existing employee-based patchwork system with a single-payer Medicare for All system seems to be equally challenging without a huge Democratic majority in Congress and a sane operator in the White House. Despite growing political support (helped by an apparent endorsemen tby former President Obama), it is still not a goal universally shared by Democrats in the present congressional term, if recent statements by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi are anything to go by. A tough row to hoe.

While we wait and perhaps agitate for a better health care system, its worth examining other potential remedies that can improve what we currently have coming from a different political logic that the current political alignment may find even slightly palatable. Consider, for example, that the Trump administration has some kinds of price regulations in mind with regard to pharmaceutical prices, regulating them against what they cost on average in other countries. Lower costs and administrative simplicity have currency in this political climate. If Medicare for All remains a bridge too far, what about the concept of the all-payer system?

In general terms, as Sarah Kliff, a leading health care journalist, has highlighted, an all-payer system means that all payers pay the same price for the same procedure or drug everywhere, so issues such as the asymmetry of bargaining power (which exists in the current system, say, between a consumer and a health insurance conglomerate or HMO) cease to matter.

Of course, $1 means different things to people of different economic levels. But the variance in price for the same medical services is gigantic, and the power of fixed prices would steamroll many of the worst elements of the system we currently have in place. Consider that the taxi businesses in many cities profitably operate on fixed rates, as do health care systems in other countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

How would it work? As the economist Uwe Reinhardt puts it: All private and public insurance programs in a region would pay all physicians, hospitals, and other providers of health care on the basis of a uniform fee schedule common to all payers, and the cost of uncompensated care rendered to uninsured patients would be covered by a separate fund. In essence, the goal is to ensure that everybody pays the exact same price and the same rate for any procedure or medicine, regardless of where you live or work. And everybody is covered.

Decades of reform in this country have demonstrated conclusively that simply tinkering with the existing system wont work. Americas health care provision delivers inferior outcomes relative to those in other countries, which do provide universal health care coverage. And for a country that supposedly has the most market-savvy consumers in the world, U.S. health care furnishes remarkably lousy value for money for them, as the OECDs Health Care at a Glance 2011 highlighted:

The same set of hospital interventions (including the normal delivery of a baby, a Caesarean section, a hip or knee replacement, etc.) cost 60 percent more in the United States than in a selection of other countries. Similarly, 50 high-selling pharmaceuticals cost 60 percent more in the United States than in Europe. Overall, therefore, high prices are the main reason for high health care spending in the United States.

Prices remain so high because the overall system (outside of Medicare) remains largely administered via a for-profit private health insurance oligopoly, and pharmaceutical companies, which preserve margins via predatory price gouging, and literally kill people in the process because of lack of affordability.

As a result of these longstanding failures, single-payer proposals such as Medicare for All have finally started to gain serious policy traction, especially within the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Single-payer can take many forms, but in essence, it is a system in which a single public or quasi-public agency provides health care financing (via taxation or social insurance charges). But even though publicly funded, the delivery of that care remains in private hands. This is fundamentally what Medicare is, and the goal of politicians such as Senator Bernie Sanders is to expand Medicare provision to all AmericansMedicare for All.

In health care, the right is ideologically fixated on the idea that the answer to predatory pricing is more competition (which cant work in imperfect medical markets, for reasons highlighted by economist Paul Krugman). By contrast, a large number of elected Democrats, both at the federal and state levels, want to do it through single payer, which has worked in other countries where the insurance and pharmaceutical industries dont represent 15 percent of GDP.

Unfortunately, the fact that Big Pharma and a large private health insurance oligopoly exist in the United States is precisely what makes Medicare for All tricky to enact. With each reform threat, the two groupsBig Pharma and the health insurance industryquickly mobilize opposition in Congress (to whom they have generously donated precisely for this purpose), much as Wall Street banks thwarted wholesale financial reform in the wake of the 2008 crisis, even when those banks were at deaths door.

All-payer systems have many of the same virtues of Medicare for All, particularly the reduction of costs and minimal overhead and complexity. The key feature with all-payer systems is that everybody pays the same government-set price for the same drug or procedure, which keeps costs low (as do single-payer systems). But as Kliff notes, the key distinction from the Medicare for All proposal (or other forms of single-payer) is that Single payer does this by eliminating private plans for one government plan. All-payer rate setting gets there by setting one price that every health insurer pays for any given medical procedure. But in banding together, a countrys insurers can achieve cost savings comparable to nations where single-payer is operative, argues Kliff, who cites the international pricing data to illustrate the magnitude of the price differentials currently existing between the United States and these other countries.

The virtue of the all-payer system in contrast to single-payer is that the former allows for the existence of multiple insurersgovernment, private commercial, nonprofitthereby avoiding the politically toxic threat (largely exploited by the right) of a big socialistic government, via rationing and death panels, taking full control of your existing health care, and destroying it in the process.

States such as Maryland already use this kind of system when they negotiate with hospitals, and several European health systems, such as Germany and Switzerland, have, as Kliff illustrates, long used an all-payer approach on a regional basis for physicians, hospitals, pharmaceutical products, and various other providers of health care. So has Japan, an aging society that arguably has an even more acute demographic problem than the United States. Kliff cites a study of that countrys all-payer rate setting program, published in Health Affairs in 2011, which found that the share of the countrys economy devoted to health care grew 0.8 percentage points between 2000 and 2008. During the same time period, American health care grew 2.7 percentage points.

The all-payer system, then, cuts less against the grain of the existing American health care architecture. The government does not eliminate the private health insurers but merely sets the standard prices that providers can charge. In countries where it currently exists, negotiated rates are established over a medium-term time frame, usually two to three years, by an independent rate commission with representatives of providers and payers. And because of the existence of a uniformly imposed fee schedule, the cost of, say, an appendectomy, or a cancer treatment, remains the same, regardless of ones insurer, the hospital, or the state in which one lives, so administrative burdens are significantly reduced, as is the cumbersome complexity of our current health care system.

Of course, the stringent cost controls built into all-payer are exactly why the for-profit insurers and pharmaceutical companies will still vigorously oppose its introduction. Both industries thrive on complexity and minimal efforts to contain spiraling costs, which fatten their considerable margins. Their usual justification for these exorbitant profit margins, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, is that intense price controls stifle innovation. But some of the most innovative developments in health care treatments have arisen in countries that tightly constrain costs, such as France or Switzerland (which also have thriving pharmaceutical sectors). And as the Commonwealth Fund has illustrated, the lack of price controls hasnt exactly given the United States a massive qualitative edge in health care provision:

1. The U.S. ranked last place among the 11 countries for health outcomes, equity and quality, despite having the highest per capita health earnings. The U.S. also had the highest rate of mortality amenable to healthcare, meaning more Americans die from poor care quality than any other country involved in the study. Poor access to primary care in the U.S. has contributed to inadequate chronic disease prevention and management, delayed diagnoses and safety concerns, among other issues.

It is also worth noting that like many of their counterparts in other industries, U.S. pharmaceutical companies in particular are increasingly deploying their substantial profits not toward R&D, but share buybacks, which also undermines the justification for the exorbitant prices of their products. Big Pharmas other rationale for high pricesnamely, to recoup the amount of time and cost deployed toward the research undertakenalso conveniently ignores the fact that many of their pioneer drugs were originally devised in academic laboratories with considerable federal government support, only then to be patented and licensed to private companies, as former Congressman Henry Waxman notes in a 2017 report, Getting to the Root of High Prescription Drug Prices: Drivers and Potential Solutions.

To get around the likely opposition to all-payer in the United States, Uwe Reinhardt has suggested taxing prices that vary too much from the Medicare or Medicaid reference prices, as opposed to banning private health insurance altogether, as California Senator (and presidential candidate) Kamala Harris recently suggested (and subsequently walked back). Regulators can just extend the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services fee schedules to the private sector. After a few rich specialists retire, and the hollowness of the claims of Big Pharma are exposed, we can settle down to a new normal of non-predatory pricing as occurs in the rest of the OECD. Only if for political reasons we discover we cant have direct all-payer regulation of medical prices (which most advanced countries no matter their insurance systems have) might there be a need to resort to Plan B, namely, a single-payer system in which government or large organizations use their monopsony power to set prices.

To the complaint that even all-payer introduces a huge new level of statist government control antithetical to the values of Americas market economy, it is worth noting that it is only statist in the sense that electric utility rate commissions are statist. But it doesnt require socializing anything, any more than utility regulations do.

The optics of health care are changing. Given the hard political realities of the United States, what is most likely to happen in the next 10 years?Theresa May had the cheek to push the Brexit calendar back a full two weeks plus, on the Are you kidding? excuse that she could wrest concessions from the EU on the Irish backstop. The Europeans had said in as many ways that they could that there would be no more negotiations on the Withdrawal Agreement and some MPs had actually been paying attention. Thus the initial expectation was that Mays report to Parliament on February 13 would be followed by a Valentines Day massacre. But Parliament continues to be all bark, no bite.

The Government will table an anodyne amendable motion that calls for Parliament to acknowledge that they know about Mays doomed-to-fail strategy and approve of her carrying on. One expected amendment by Labour, is to force the repeatedly-delayed meaningful vote on the Withdrawal Agreement to be held on February 27, a day after May is set to report back after her next chats with Brussels. 1

However, the more significant issue is that the Governments motion seeks to acknowledges both of the two motions passed by Parliament last January. They were:

To require that the Northern Ireland backstop be replaced with alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border while supporting the notion of leaving the EU with a deal and therefore supporting the Withdrawal Agreement subject to this change. To reject the UK leaving the European Union without a Withdrawal Agreement and a Framework for the Future Relationship

The second motion was the weakest form of the prevent a no deal Brexit motions and the only one to pass. Only the first, on the backstop, had Government support.

However, the Ultras have said they will not support tomorrows Governments motion if it rules out a no-deal Brexit.

ERG members are meeting with chief whip Julian Smith now to amend the Brexit motion tomorrow. They cannot guarantee support if it is not changed.  Arj Singh (@singharj) February 13, 2019

Mind you, since these are all non-binding motions, the real world impact is limited. It would simply be yet another on a long list of Theresa May embarrassments. But this could have more significance in the intermediate term that it would appear.

If May backs down and removes her no deal language, that would say shes quite concerned about the support of the Ultras.

Similarly, if she keeps the language in, this will be a small but telling test of the will of the Ultras and their numbers. Any conservatives who claim to embrace a no deal Brexit as a possible (or even desirable) outcome but wont even take a very low cost stand are poseurs. So this would give an initial reading on how many Conservatives are willing to stand up and be counted as ERG stalwarts. This vote would thus set a likely upper bound on the number whod be willing to back legislative moves that would jam the controls and force a crashout.

Another noteworthy development: the Peoples Vote campaign has lost steam. On Twitter, it disavowed a proposed amendment by Labours Geraint Davies for a second referendum, admitting theyd lose the vote until every Brexit option has been exhausted.

On a separate topic, Theresa May is clearly running down the clock, and the press has been reporting on how where preparation is visibly falling short, such as on securing trade deals in the place of ones that go poof as of Brexit. From Richard North:

We have often pointed out that UK trade relations via the EU are not managed entirely through registered Free Trade Agreements. We also rely on a network of trade-related agreements which are not registered with the WTO and therefore do not qualify as FTAs. Nonetheless, these are vital to the conduct of our trade and, when I last counted, we were the beneficiaries of 881 bilateral treaties between the EU and third countries, together with 259 multilateral agreements. Now, with a no-deal Brexit beginning to look a real possibility, we need to be looking hard at these agreements. Even if we stick just to the FTAs, it seems we have something of a problem. According to The Sun, it appears that we have something like 70 FTAs that need renegotiation to cope with a no-deal, with the government promising to conclude 40 of them by Brexit day. As it turns out though, the likely number that will be concluded is a mere six. Four have already been agreed: Switzerland  signed on Monday  Chile, an Eastern and Southern African block, and the Faroe Islands. Two more, deals with Israel and the Palestinian Authority are on track.

The Government has taken steps to allow it to push through a great deal of Brexit-related legislation in haste, but the process isnt fool proof. From the Institute for Government:

Parliament has a key role in preparing for a no deal Brexit. The Government needs to pass new legislation  both primary and secondary  to establish new policy regimes in key policy areas such as agriculture and fisheries after the UK leaves the EU. There are still six pieces of primary legislation, nearly 500 more statutory instruments, as well as international treaties for Parliament to scrutinise. All that with just 30 scheduled sitting days in Parliament remaining before 29 March (from 8 February). While there is an eerie silence in the main chamber, Parliament is still grinding away on Brexit. In the committee corridors, work is being done to deal with other gaps which need to be addressed by exit day. For example, delegated legislation committees in the Commons have been meeting to pass Brexit statutory instruments (secondary legislation)  13 were held this week. In the Lords, peers have also been approving statutory instruments, and the EU Select Committee has begun to scrutinise around 20 international treaties that the Government has already signed. Ministers have said around 80 are needed by exit day and some  although not all  will need to be laid before Parliament under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act (CRAG) 21 sitting days ahead of ratification. Normal legislative deadlines for a 29 March exit are approaching Despite the extra days, the scale of the task still remains huge. Although around 400 statutory instruments have been tabled, only 119 have actually passed, so nearly 500 still need to enter into law. Roughly half of the total need to go through delegated legislation committees (under affirmative procedure), requiring ministerial time and willing MPs. The other half of the statutory instruments have been tabled under the negative procedure, used in non-controversial cases. MPs and peers have 40 days to vote to annul them, and the Government by convention usually leaves at least 21 before bringing them into force to allow parliamentary scrutiny. If the UK wants these statutory instruments to be in place for 29 March, the latest sitting day they can be laid is need to be laid is 7 March. But the Government has equipped itself with powers to get around those deadlines Under the EU Withdrawal Act, in urgent deficiencies cases ministers can pass affirmative statutory instruments immediately. Both Houses would have 28 calendar days to approve an instrument passed in this way after they have entered into law (assuming Parliament sits as usual) otherwise it would cease to apply. This could prove risky with a hostile Parliament: if they were voted down, it could lead to a legal gap further down the line. The Government could also choose to set aside the 40-day waiting period for negative statutory instruments if it felt that time was of the essence, but this would also likely annoy MPs already frustrated by how late in the day Brexit legislation is being passed. Treaties, meanwhile, will need to be laid by 20 February to give Parliament its 21-day period. CRAG allows the Government to avoid the 21 sitting days in exceptional cases, but ministers have so far told select committees they will not use that power. A U-turn will further undermine the already strained trust between the Government and Parliament. While time is running out between now and 29 March, there are ways that the Government can navigate a way through the immediate deadlines that it faces. The cost, however, could be an erosion of any remaining goodwill in Parliament.

Reading this is enough to induce a headache. And I am reminded of the saying attributed to Yogi Berra, In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

___

1 Here is a full list of the amendments tabled so far. The Speaker John Bercow will decide which will be considered. I hate relying on BrexitCentral for this:"This is a platform for us as filmmakers to share our films with the community that may not get a chance to see it," he said.(CNN)  Turns out, the mythical black big cat really does exist.

And biologists have rare footage of the sleek black leopard walking majestically in Kenya -- the first time the animal has been photographed in Africa since 1909.

Nick Pilfold, a San Diego Zoo global scientist, said they captured the footage by sheer luck. The team of biologists had placed remote wildlife cameras to track the leopard population near Loisaba Conservancy in Laikipia County last year when they heard unconfirmed reports of a possible black leopard sighting.

"We intensified our camera placement in the area the reports were being made," he said Tuesday night. "Within a few months, we were rewarded with multiple observations on our cameras."

The female leopard's coat color is pitch black as a result of melanism, a gene mutation that results in an over-production of pigment, Pilfold said. It's the opposite of albinism -- and although the leopard's coat appears black during the day, its rosette patterns are visible in nighttime infrared imagery.

While there have been reports of sightings of black leopards -- also known as black panthers -- the last confirmed observation was in Ethiopia more than a century ago, he said.

"Melanism occurs in about 11% of leopards globally, but most of these leopards live in South East Asia," he said. "Black leopards in Africa are extremely rare, and prior to the observations in our published paper, the last confirmed observation was 1909 in Ethiopia."

Black leopards may have been living in Kenya all along, but there's been no footage to confirm the observations until now, Pilfold said.

The black leopard's sighting was published in the African Journal of Ecology.

Leopards are described as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species.

The total extent of the animal's population decline is still unknown, San Diego Zoo said in a statement. But several factors have sharply reduced their numbers, including hunting, habitat loss, competition for prey, and conflict with livestock and farmers.

Pilfold is part of a team from the San Diego Zoo working with local partners, including the Kenya Wildlife Service, to monitor leopard populations in the area and help preserve the species.

He marveled at the coincidence of the location of an animal that's also called the black panther -- the title of one of last year's biggest movies.

"Coincidentally, our observations are very close to where the fantasy Marvel comic country of Wakanda is suggested to be located," he said.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Rare black leopard spotted in Africa for the first time in more than 100 years."United States (US) has taken a tough stance on Zimbabwe, calling on the political leaders to immediately initiate national dialogue that must be facilitated by a neutral third party.

This comes as President Emmerson Mnangagwa last week called all 2018 presidential candidates for dialogue at the State House.

However, MDC leader Nelson Chamisa snubbed the meeting but insisted he is genuinely willing to enter into formal negotiations if certain conditions were met by Mnangagwas government.

Among his demands are mediation by a neutral third party recognisable to Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and the African Union (AU), including a requirement that all prisoners of conscience be freed, and that there be an immediate return to the barracks by the military.

In response, Mnangagwa said the MDC leader risked missing the bus, if he did not pitch up for talks.

However, in a hard hitting statement issued on Tuesday, the US government said national dialogue must be held immediately, further condemning the Zimbabwean governments excessive use of force during the protests, where at least 12 people were reported dead.

The United States calls on all sides to come together immediately in national dialogue.

The dialogue process must be credible, inclusive, and mediated by a neutral third party.

In order for such a dialogue to succeed, the Government of Zimbabwe should end its excessive violence and intimidation, immediately release the civil society activists who have been arbitrarily detained, and hold security force members responsible for human rights violations and abuses accountable.

We also reiterate our call for the Government of Zimbabwe to enact promised political and economic reforms, Robert Palladino, the deputy spokesperson in the US Department of State said in a statement.

The call for dialogue also comes after the church in Zimbabwe demanded the leaders to get to a round table to iron out problems bedevilling the country.

Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) last week called for a meeting of the political leaders in Harare. However, Mnangagwa did not attend the meeting, resulting in people questioning the political leaders sincerity in having the talks.

While Mnangagwa wants a broader multi-party initiative, Chamisa  who disputes results of the July 30 polls  prefers a dual engagement on the grounds that he is the only one among all the other presidential elections who is contesting results of last years elections.

At last weeks church meeting attended by government ministers, members of the opposition parties, and delegates from industry, the security sector, civil society, human rights groups, trade unions, as well as international observers, including some ambassadors, the ZCC general-secretary Kenneth Mtata said national dialogue was the churchs answer to the crisis.

He said the ZCC, which hosted the meeting together with the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference, the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, and the Union for the Development of Apostolic Churches in Zimbabwe Africa had recognised that the nation finds itself at the cross-roads, and said the churches had made their voices louder regarding the urgency and necessity of a national dialogue.

Many observers, just like church leaders, believe national dialogue will help recoup the country from the political and economic problems.

Zimbabwe is facing a legitimacy problem after a contested presidential election. This, coupled with the economic challenges has been raising tensions amongst the citizenry, which saw people taking to the streets last month.

The State security responded in a harsh manner, with reports of rape, torture and murder characterising the brutal crackdown.

The world condemned the State heavy handedness, with the US also expressing concern over the developments.

The United States remains seriously concerned about the excessive use of force by Government of Zimbabwe security forces since January 14, which has resulted in at least 13 deaths, 600 victims of violence, torture or rape, and more than 1 000 arrests

The Government of Zimbabwes use of violence against civil society and imposition of undue Internet restrictions betray promises to create a new Zimbabwe, the US government said.

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Related Zimbabwe Latest NewsZimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) secretary for lands, Retired Major Faster Gono has challenged politicians and the countrys leadership to stop blaming sanctions and work for greater national unity through equitable sharing of the countrys resources.

Gono, who went to war in 1975 at the age of 14, said Zimbabweans were not happy, adding that only if all citizens began to enjoy their fair share of national wealth would there be real unity.

He dismissed the sanctions mantra saying late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi lived under stringent Western sanctions for decades but still managed to develop a fairly sophisticated and equal economy.

Gaddafi was sanctioned throughout his reign but his people lived a happy life because resources were shared more equitably among the citizens. There was free education, health and housing for those who deserved. Loans were given at zero interest, said Gono.

The Zimbabwe Sugarcane Milling Industry Workers Association (ZSMIWA) leader, who owns a highly productive 29ha sugarcane plot in Hippo Valley, said instead of parceling new plots to new farmers, there should first be an audit of the available land as a way of addressing corruption.

We still have a crisis of land which was acquired corruptly and a team from the ministry was here last year but they havent done anything about it. There are high profile people with as much as 600ha per family. It would be good to share that land with other deserving people before we can talk about creating new plots to be irrigated by water from Tugwi-Mukosi, he said.

Gono has been leading calls for a thorough audit of land that was allocated to new small scale indigenous farmers, saying there were countless incidences of corruption involved.

Recently, he came out strongly against new famers who hijacked Tongaat Hulett houses, saying only the companys employees should live in those houses.

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Related Zimbabwe Latest NewsDRAMA continued in Parliament yesterday as Norton MP Temba Mliswa (independent) insisted on having Chegutu West legislator Dextor Nduna (Zanu PF) investigated for alleged self-confessed murder.

The two lawmakers first crossed swords in the House on Monday, and almost disrupted Parliament business, as they accused each other of corruption. MDC Alliance MPs supported Mliswas point of privilege and encouraged him to continue speaking despite Deputy Speaker Tsitsi Gezi warning the Norton legislator to restrain himself.

I rise on a point of privilege to register my displeasure and equally seek guidance from you, as chair, as to how far MPs can go in enjoying privileges and immunities of Parliament. The reason why I am saying so is that I am under threat from Nduna after he confessed that he has killed many people and he equally has threatened to kill me, Mliswa said.

I want to understand whether this is how MPs must act because my life is under threat. The remarks by Nduna that he killed people were made in a country under scrutiny for violence, especially allegations that there are ex-defence forces (members) who wore civilian clothes and were armed and killed people. Is it not because of the likes of Nduna?

Mliswa said President Emmerson Mnangagwa was busy going around the world trying to clear Zimbabwes name over the recent shootings of civilians and yet there was an MP that claimed he murdered people.

The police and army have been accused of those killings and yet the answer lies with Nduna. We have also had a lot of people killed in this country, accusing State security agents and yet the answer is clear. Itai Dzamara (journalist and activist) is missing and we now do not know whether he was killed by Nduna? Parliament is a sacred institution and we cannot have murderers in the House, he said.

It is important that there be an inquiry on this matter because my life has been threatened and this is an issue you must take seriously because it impacts on my freedom of association.

Despite Gezi promising that the matter would be investigated, Mliswa refused to accept her response. He then turned directly at Nduna, pointing at him and shouting: I am under threat, he is a murderer. You said you killed people you do not even know. Life is sacred. These are serious issues.

Angered by Mliswas remarks, Nduna stormed out again, and Mliswa shouted again: Do not go away you murderer!

Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and his Energy counterpart Joram Gumbo tried to restrain Mliswa, but the Norton MP turned his vitriol on Ziyambi, saying he was also an unclean person that was being investigated for human rights violations.

Sergeant at Arms Nicholas Marufu had to force-march Mliswa outside the House, as he continued shouting. Mutare Central MP Innocent Gonese (MDC Alliance) said that after a video of Nduna confessing to be a killer went viral on social media, he must be investigated.

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The herd moves along the downtown streets of San Antonio Saturday, Feb. 2 as the longhorn procession kicked off the Heritage Day parade leading up to the start of the San Antonio Rodeo.Amazon's announced decision on Thursday to not build a headquarters in New York City was a blow to Long Island City's hyped-up real estate market. But just how big of a setback remains to be seen.

In November, after about a year of intense speculation, the tech giant told the world it had chosen the Queens neighborhood, across the East River from Manhattan, and Crystal City, VA, outside of Washington, DC, as sites for its new headquarters.

The news that the company would be hiring up to 25,000 workers with average salaries of $150,000 in each city was met with much fanfareand the early signs of a real estate gold rush. Practically overnight, home prices shot up 10% to 25%, as hordes of buyers descended. This seemed to be a blessing for Long Island City's real estate market, which had built so many luxury high-rise rental and condo towers in recent years that developers were having trouble filling them.

Now the future of Long Island City's housing market is up for grabs. Currently, the median home price in the formerly industrial neighborhood is $992,500. While that sounds high, it's still significantly below the median price in Manhattan, the heart of New York City, of $1,662,500.

"I don't know exactly how far prices will go down, but [Long Island City] will definitely lose momentum," says Chief Economist Danielle Hale of realtor.com. "It's a short-term setback for Long Island City's housing market. But people are [still] going to be attracted to the area, and its got a lot going for it. So in the long run prices and sales will increase.

None of local real estate broker Eric Benaim's clients have tried to pull out of any real estate deals yet.

But he anticipates it will take a little longer to rent and sell properties going forward, as the rush of folks trying to score a spot before Amazon opened its doors will now disappear. The cost to buy a home in the neighborhood could fall back to pre-Amazon levels.

"Prices will probably be a little more negotiable now," says Benaim, of Modern Spaces.



Watch: These Trends Will Shape the Real Estate Market in 2019



Seattle-based Amazon, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, decided to pull out of the neighborhood on Thursday. It had received substantial blowback from some New York City lawmakers and residents for being awarded billions in tax incentives. The company says it will move forward with its plans to open up another headquarters in Crystal City and expand into Nashville, TN, and its other locations, but will not look for another headquarters site.

"For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term," the company wrote on its blog. "A number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City."

That decision isn't likely to decimate Long Island City's housing market, although there could be adjustments.

After Amazon plucked it from national obscurity, it became "overhyped," says New York Citybased real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller. "There have been lots of stories about people buying three apartments sight unseen like there's some sort of frenzy. ... Its not some sort of frenzy where people are in a mosh pit diving over each other to get the next apartment.

He believes prices in the neighborhood could continue to riseand it will have nothing to do with Amazon's change of heart. Instead, more folks have been priced out of Brooklyn, so they're heading to Queens and driving up real estate costs there. Prices in Queens overall have risen 8% year over year, to $585,000, as prices in Brooklyn have soared to hit $849,000 as of Jan. 1, according to realtor.com data. So Long Island City's prices could rise along with the rest of Queens, just not at a breakneck pace.

And Long Island City won't be any worse off from its brush with Amazon, says local real estate broker Rick Rosa, of Douglas Elliman.

"It brought LIC to a world stage," he says. Thanks to the company, more potential buyers are familiar with the neighborhood.

LIC still won because we got all this free publicity, he adds.

The post How Big of a Blow Did Amazon Just Deal Long Island City's Housing Market? appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.Usually where you find partisan 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.

My candidate for the exception is the debate over voter ID laws. Conservatives have touted tougher identification requirements at the polls as a means to fight the scourge of voter fraud, and over the past 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 locking out poor and minority voters in a rerun of the Jim Crow-poll tax era.

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.

In this world, however, the stakes seem to be considerably lower. Thats the conclusion of a new study, one of the largest to date, from the economists Enrico Cantoni and Vincent Pons, which assessed the impact of voter ID laws between 2008 and 2016 using a nationwide voter file. The study finds that requiring voter identification has no effect on turnout  not overall and not on any group defined by race, gender, age, or party affiliation.

If that shocks you, it shouldnt. The evidence that voter ID laws meaningfully suppress minority votes has always been shaky. A voter ID requirement might possibly affect the closest of close races, based on what weve learned up till now  but if the Cantoni and Pons results hold up, the real effect is basically nil.

But before conservatives claim vindication, the new paper also casts doubt on the argument for voter ID laws, finding no effect on fraud itself, nor even any effect on public confidence in the integrity of the ballot. Since the George W. Bush administration, a large group of people with strong incentives to uncover voter fraud  Republican lawmakers, law-enforcement personnel and conservative election researchers  have failed to produce any evidence that the problem exists on a scale that requires a legislative response. And the rare prosecuted cases generally seem disproportionate to the offense involved.

Nothing in the new study settles arguments about early voting, absentee balloting and more. Still, because the ID debate is a particular flash point, its findings are a real public service. No matter where you stand on the voter fraud-voter suppression controversies, these findings strengthen the case for dialing down outrage, reducing anxiety and generally recognizing that if we stopped pushing for these laws and stopped freaking out about how they supposedly doom democracy, voting in America would rattle along basically unchanged.

But since its conservatives and Republicans who are the prime mover here, they have the primary obligation to step back and stand down.

Despite what many liberals believe, much of the rights anxiety about voter fraud is sincere. I have had enough arguments with fellow conservatives on this issue to attest that the specter of those old Chicago operations haunts the right, along with more contemporary fears generated by a left that really does want to extend some of the benefits of citizenship to illegal immigrants.

At the same time theres also no question that a lot of Republican operatives pushing voter ID laws are cynics who expect their party to benefit from lower minority turnout, and a number of professional right-wing partisans  including our president  see an upside in frightening their voters or viewers with the racialized threat of urban ballot-stuffing.

But the evidence from this study offers reasons for both the conservative sincerely worried about voter fraud and the operative cynically hoping for lower Democratic turnout to let this issue slide.

And in letting it slide, Republicans might even have more to gain than Democrats. After all, the cynical side of the voter ID push is pretty transparent, meaning that even if the laws dont have real vote-suppressing consequences, they do serve as a continuing gesture of disrespect to minority voters, a continuing expression of GOP indifference to the African-American memory of what vote restrictions used to mean.

The voter ID debate essentially involves Republicans whipping themselves into a panic over a problem that doesnt meaningfully affect their chances of winning elections, and then passing laws that whip Democrats into a panic over a problem that also doesnt meaningfully affect their chances of winning elections. So if the debate simply disappeared tomorrow, a source of distrust would vanish without either side losing ground. There are few cases where thats possible. Lets seize this one.As we observe Black History Month, I cannot help but think about the African-Americans who give their time to causes and about the African-American organizations that make life better.

The spirit of volunteerism in the African-American community has long been rooted in a culture of taking care of each other and the community at large. By pitching in to take care of a friend or family member, volunteering at church, advocating for civil rights or helping promote scholarship and educational enrichment programs, we have all become stronger through volunteering.

Church participation and social involvement are important predictors of volunteerism within the African-American community. The church provides an avenue for determining needs in the community. Many well-known organizations have a long-standing record of service and advocacy, including the NAACP, the National Urban League, and many prestigious fraternities and sororities.

There are countless volunteers whose names you may not know, giving their time and talents for the betterment of society each day. One such Texan, octogenarian Charlotte Kelly Bryant of Houston, knows how important it is to give back to her community. Since retiring from teaching in 2002, she has continued to serve by volunteering for her church, community fundraisers and the Blue Triangle Multicultural Association in Houstons Third Ward, which was founded as a place where women and girls of color could come together to learn.

I volunteer because my passion to serve is greater than anything else, says the former teacher at the DeBakey High School for Health Professions. God has given me good health and the ability to give back.

Volunteering may also be helping keep Bryant healthy and active. Studies show its good for your health and can decrease anxiety, depression, loneliness and isolation, especially in volunteers who devote at least 100 hours annually. One of the best things about volunteering is that anyone can contribute. Everyones experiences and talents can create meaningful changes in their communities.

Its not a glitzy job, but it makes you feel great knowing you have made a difference in the lives of so many people, Bryant says.

Bryant, like many who have come before her, is revered by those she has served and those she continues to serve.

So next time you feel like you have nothing to do, why not share your skills and your passion through volunteering? Its good for you, and the clear payoff is also the social good you have done. Chances are you will find the experience rewarding.

Learn how you can get involved by going to aarp.org/volunteer or by calling 1-888-687-2277.

Charlene Hunter James is the AARP Texas all-volunteer executive council president.An alert may be approved only when the child is less than 18 years old and believed to be abducted and in danger of serious bodily harm or death, according to the motion. There must also be enough descriptive information to believe the broadcast will help, and the request must be recommended by the law enforcement agency of jurisdiction, according to Indianas Amber Alert website.A committee in the Texas Senate has delayed a vote on the confirmation of embattled Texas Secretary of State David Whitley.

A week after Whitley faced extensive questioning from the Senates Nominations Committee over a controversial voter purge list his office sent out last month, the chair of the committee announced she will delay the panels vote.

State Sen. Dawn Buckingham, R-Lakeway, gave no reason for the delay.

It is at the Chair's discretion, but at this time we do not anticipate calling Mr. Whitley for a vote at our next meeting, she said.

Buckingham did not say when Whitleys appointment would be put back before the committee for a vote.

Its a change from last week when Buckingham said the committee would consider Whitleys nomination this week.

On Feb. 7, Whitley stood by his agencys efforts to identify more than 95,000 voters in Texas that his office said could be non-citizens. They sent a list of the names of the suspected non-citizen voters to counties with instructions to send letters warning those voters that they would be removed from the rolls unless they could prove they are U.S. citizens within 30 days.

Several counties immediately complied. Others reviewed the data  a handful of the 254 Texas counties quickly identified a total of 20,000 names of people who are legal citizens.

For subscribers: Texas officials launched voter purge with big splash, little accuracy

Civil rights groups have protested the efforts, saying they are discriminatory because the purge targets citizens who have recently become naturalized. About 50,000 Texans are naturalized each year, and the purge list used some records that were 20 years old. At least three different lawsuits have been filed by voting rights groups.

In a hearing last week before Buckinghams committee, Whitley faced pointed questions, especially from Democrats who pushed him on whether he made mistakes by sending out the lists. The data analysis used driver license records from the Department of Public Safety, and compared them to voter rolls.

I will readily level with you that we can always improve the process, Whitley said. But the data is what the data is. And we were confident that that was the best data that we could get from DPS.

Whitley was appointed to be Secretary of State by Gov. Greg Abbott in December. But he must be confirmed by the Texas Senate. If Whitley passes the Nominations Committee, two-thirds of the Texas Senate would have to approve his appointment.San Antonio police found more than a dozen credit card skimmers in the first month of 2019, according to data obtained by mySA.com.

In 2018, more than 200 skimmers were found by police at gas stations across the Alamo City. In January 2019 police found 14 skimmers at the pumps.A man died in a burning vehicle Thursday after he drove over a traffic sign, rupturing his gas tank and causing his vehicle to erupt in flames on the West Side, police said.

The driver hit a center median and then the traffic sign at about 9:45 a.m. while traveling westbound on Culebra Road near Grissom Gate, according to Sgt. Michelle Ramos, a spokeswoman for the San Antonio Police Department.Jurors took less than two hours Wednesday to find Gabriel Martinez guilty of murder in the 2016 shooting death of his wife.

Prosecutors said Martinez, now 37, shot his wife three times after he accused her of having an affair and then turned the rifle on himself in a suicide attempt that failed.

The punishment phase of Martinezs trial begins at 10 a.m. today. Hes facing up to life in prison.

In an unusual move, Martinez took the stand on his own behalf starting Tuesday. Wednesday, under sometimes combative cross-examination by prosecutor Ryan Wright, Martinez contradicted himself several times as he took the jury through his story of what happened the night he and his common-law wife, Lori Lee Ortiz, were shot.

Tuesday, he testified he had been in their bedroom on May 18, 2016, cleaning an AK rifle with a pistol grip before the shots were fired. Wednesday, he again said he was cleaning the weapon that she had given him as a surprise gift but added that when he told her he was going to pawn the rifle for cash, she told him not to. He said she grabbed the pistol grip, they struggled with the weapon, and Martinez was shot.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio man says he was cleaning rifle before wife was shot

Martinez said he passed out after he was hit. But at another point in his testimony, he said he feared hed be shot again, so he took the rifle from her and threw it away from them before he lost consciousness.

In a heated exchange, the defendant said to the prosecutor: As I pulled away the rifle, did I intend to shoot her? No.

So are you saying you shot your wife? Wright said. You saying you shot her three times?

I dont know how many times she was shot, Martinez responded.

Ortiz died from three gunshot wounds. Martinez was wounded in the stomach.

Martinez insisted police and emergency personnel got it wrong the night they responded to a shooting at the home he shared with Ortiz, 35, and their children in the 7000 block of Myrtle Valley on the Southwest Side.

He said Ortiz wasnt face down on the floor when he awoke from the shooting, contradicting officers statements.

So the crime scene investigators, officers, everyone here is conspiring against you because only you know what happened that night? Wright asked Martinez, who replied, Yes.

On redirect from defense attorney Miguel Najera, Martinez said after he was shot, his focus was to get the rifle away from the couple because there were more bullets in the magazine. He said he did not have any memory of shooting Ortiz or how long he had been unconscious before he woke up and saw Ortiz lying still on the bed.

Martinez was the last of two defense witnesses to testify in the trial, which began Friday in the 379th state District Court.

In his closing argument, defense attorney Najera said the tragedy occurred because the couple tugged on a firearm, and it went off. He also said police officers and crime scene investigators, even the ballistics experts, had already decided what happened, and did not do a complete investigation. He specifically pointed out that his own investigator found that a bullet and bullet hole was missed.

There should be no evidence left unfound, he told the jury.

Earlier testimony showed the bullet and bullet hole were some two years old.

Najera also mentioned that it was not out of the realm of possibility that Ortiz could have shot herself, something an expert testified could have occurred, though it is rare that someone committing suicide would shoot themselves three times and in the places where she was shot.

In the prosecutions closing argument, Wright told the jury Martinez was hung up on his inconsistencies and that once he realized he said he shot her on the witness stand, the lesser included charge of manslaughter was added to the case.

He also disputed the notion that Ortiz could have shot herself, and said Martinez was trying to manipulate the jury like he did Ortiz for years.

The truth is, she got shot three times  twice on the side, once in the back, Wright told the jury.

He pointed to numerous text messages between the couple where Ortiz said she wanted to leave him and Martinez texted her  up to 75 times in one day  to come home.

On ExpressNews.com: Jury hears sobbing daughter on 911 case saying her father shot her mother

He also referred to the earlier testimony of the couples daughter, Brianna Martinez, 18, who said she heard six gunshots before she realized her parents had been shot.

You heard Brianna (on the 911 call), My dad just shot my mom. Absolutely, she knew.

The jury began deliberating around 4 p.m. Wednesday and took just 1 hour and 21 minutes to return the guilty verdict.

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Genene Jones, the former pediatric nurse convicted in 1984 of killing a Kerrville toddler with an overdose of muscle relaxers, is competent to stand trial on new charges involving the deaths of five San Antonio children in the 1980s, according to a psychologist.

Magistrate Judge Andrew Carruthers announced Thursday the finding of the mental evaluation of the 68-year-old inmate, who has been in prison since 1984..

But Jones attorney, Cornelius Cox, challenged the competency finding and requested another evaluation, which Carruthers granted.

On ExpressNews.com: Killer nurse arraigned on five new murder charges; pleads not guilty

Through Cox, Jones pleaded not guilty to each of the charges brought in December 2017.

Jones was 35 when she was convicted in 1984 of murder in the death of Chelsea McClellan, who was 15 months old when she was injected with an overdose of succinylcholine, a medication used to cause short-term paralysis as part of general anesthesia.

The pediatric nurse was working in Kerrville at the time of Chelseas death and in San Antonio during the deaths of the other children named in the 2017 indictments.

She was sentenced to 99 years in prison in Chelseas case. She also was found guilty of injury to a child for attempting to overdose Rolando Santos in San Antonio. Rolando survived. Jones was sentenced to 60 years in that case, and both terms were served concurrently.

A law designed to ease prison crowding that went into effect while she was incarcerated would have allowed Jones to be released in March 2018.

But before that could happen, then-Bexar County District Attorney Nicholas "Nico" LaHood presented two separate grand juries with five cases from San Antonio around the same time as Chelseas death, and Jones was indicted in each one in 2017.

In the new indictments, Jones is accused of murder 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.

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There used to be a fishing show in Hammond and one in Michigan City. With the national lakeshore being here and Portage having Burns Waterway and being on top of Lake Michigan, I thought it would be a great idea to take this event on for the community to showcase everything we have in Portage.Former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe said in an interview that aired Thursday that he authorized an investigation into President Donald Trump's ties to Russia a day after meeting with him in May 2017 out of fear that he could soon be fired.

"I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground in an indelible fashion that were I removed quickly or reassigned, or fired that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace," McCabe told CBS.

The comments marked the first time that McCabe has publicly addressed why he opened an investigation into Trump following the firing of FBI Director James B. Comey, whose post McCabe took over. They came as CBS broadcast a portion of an interview scheduled to air in full on "60 Minutes" on Sunday.

The clip - and journalist Scott Pelley's description of what else he and McCabe talked about - suggests that the former top official plans to pull back the curtain on law enforcement's response to the new president as he promotes his book - "The Threat" - that is set to released next week. Pelley said that McCabe, in addition to talking about his interactions with Trump, described conversations officials had about using the 25th Amendment to oust the president.

The Washington Post and others have reported that McCabe says those conversations involved Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein - though Rosenstein vaguely disputes that. McCabe's mentioning the discussions on "60 Minutes" dredged up old tensions between the two men, in addition to provoking a sharp response from Trump.

About two hours after the clip aired, Trump blasted McCabe on Twitter, calling him "a disgrace to the FBI and a disgrace to our Country."

The Justice Department also disputed some of what McCabe contended.

"Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a 'poor little Angel' when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax - a puppet for Leakin' James Comey," the president wrote, referring to an FBI investigation into Democrat Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server while secretary of state in addition to its probe of possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a statement that the CBS interview made it "imperative" that McCabe appear before his committee to answer for "what appears to be, now more than ever, bias against President Trump."

It already had been reported that, in the wake of Comey's firing, the FBI began to explore at that point whether Trump was trying to obstruct justice, and whether the president personally was of concern from a counterintelligence perspective. In the clip that aired on CBS, McCabe did not address specific evidence that led him to believe Trump should be investigated personally.

But McCabe's talking about his mindset during that time period was revelatory. Some at the Justice Department had been concerned that McCabe might have acted too hastily to open a case because of Comey's removal, people familiar with the matter have said.

McCabe also apparently addressed in the interview explosive allegations he made in memos documenting discussions with Rosenstein - although those clips have yet to air. It has been reported that McCabe alleged in the memos that Rosenstein suggested wearing a wire to surreptitiously record the president and/or invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

During an appearance on "CBS This Morning," Pelley, the correspondent who interviewed McCabe, described the discussions of the 25th Amendment as "counting noses" - or speculating on where various Cabinet members might stand on the question.

Pelley said McCabe disputes the assertion, advanced by defenders of Rosenstein, that the deputy attorney general was not serious about wearing a wire. Pelley said McCabe took the idea to FBI lawyers for a discussion afterward.

That, too, has been previously reported, though McCabe has never before publicly described his allegations.

In a statement, a Justice Department spokesman said McCabe's recitation of events - at least according to a transcript reviewed by officials - was "inaccurate and factually incorrect."

The spokesman repeated Rosenstein's previous response to McCabe's version of his comments on wearing a wire and invoking the 25th Amendment, saying: "The Deputy Attorney General never authorized any recording that Mr. McCabe references. As the Deputy Attorney General previously has stated, based on his personal dealings with the President, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment, nor was the DAG in a position to consider invoking the 25th Amendment."

The spokesman also said that after Robert Mueller was installed as special counsel, Rosenstein "directed that Mr. McCabe be removed from any participation in that investigation."

The meaning of that was not immediately clear. At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in June, the month after Mueller was appointed, McCabe, appearing with Rosenstein, talked of the FBI's providing resources to the special counsel - implying he was still involved at least in that respect.

"We have a robust relationship with the special counsel's office, and we are supporting them with personnel and resources in any way they request," he said.

At the same hearing, McCabe confirmed he was fully familiar with the scope of Mueller's investigation, though he noted that Mueller was still sorting out some details of it. And that some month, he signed a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant that would allow the FBI to continue surreptitiously monitoring former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, one of the early subjects of the Russia probe.

As the interview clip aired, the Atlantic published an excerpt of McCabe's book, in which he describes his interactions with the president after Comey's firing.

In one encounter that he seems to view as particularly troubling, McCabe wrote that Trump pressed in an Oval Office meeting to visit the FBI, even though he had just fired its well-liked leader.

In McCabe's view, Trump was trying to enlist McCabe in a plan to send a sinister message to employees that he had McCabe's protection.

A frequent punching bag for Trump, McCabe was fired from the bureau in March just 26 hours before he could retire, after the inspector general presented Justice Department leadership with allegations that McCabe had authorized a disclosure to the media and then lied repeatedly to investigators about it. The timing of the firing cost McCabe a significant portion of his retirement benefits.

McCabe said his termination was politically motivated and meant to discredit the bureau and the ongoing Russia probe.Let's face it: No one wants to  or has time to  make a second job out of cleaning their home. And that's OK. CountryLiving.com polled home bloggers and other busy folks to find out what little things they do daily to keep their places presentable. Good news: Each of these tasks takes a few minutes at most.

Shoes are not allowed past the front door in Danielle Lackey's Carrollton, Virginia, home. "I have three children who frequently play on the floor. Our shoes carry germs and dirt!" Her family knows the rule by now, and a cute wooden sign in the entryway alerts guests, so she doesn't have to.

2. They make the bed.

Before she even thinks about leaving the house for the day, Amy Bell, makes the bed. "Even if the rest of the room isn't picture-perfect, a neat bed instantly makes the whole space look pulled together," the Cary, North Carolina, mom says.

3. They wipe down the shower.

"We squeegee the shower door after every shower to prevent water spots and grime," says Deanne Goodman, 33, from Oceanside, California. "It only takes about 20 seconds, and it keeps the glass looking clear and bright."

4. They clean the bathroom sink.

Blogger Traci Hutcherson keeps a container of wipes (baby wipes work just fine) under her sink. "Just pull out a wipe and give the sink a quick cleaning." Try it and you'll never have to look at toothpaste dribbles again!

5. They wipe down the kitchen counters.

"I wipe down our kitchen counters nightly with a homemade solution  one part vinegar, three parts water and a squirt of almond oil dish soap  that I store in a spray bottle," says blogger Camilla Fabbri. "The vinegar cuts through grease and also does a great job clearing up the smudges on our stainless appliances."

6. They clean as they go.

Blogger Chelsea Morhman never likes to go to bed with a dirty kitchen. The trick is cleaning up while she cooks. "If I have something in the oven, I wipe down counter tops and wash dishes while I wait for it to finish," she says. "I try to have almost everything cleaned up by the time dinner is ready, so that all we have to do after dinner is stick our dirty dishes in the dishwasher."

7. They Swiffer before bed.

Mary Beth Cooper from Peoria, Illinois, spends seven minutes (give or take) every night Swiffering her way through the downstairs rooms. A quick pass prevents dust bunnies from taking over the house.

8. They do an end-of-day clean sweep.

Before bed, Fabbri gets everyone to pitch in for a quick tidying up session. The family of four picks up the dog toys, puts away the mail, hangs up jackets and puts items back in their place. "With everyone helping, it usually takes less than five minutes, and I feel so much better when I come downstairs in the morning and the house is organized."

9. They put their clothes away.

Almost every master bedroom has one chair that starts off empty on Monday and is covered with clothes by Friday. Unless you follow this daily tip from Debra Johnson, a home cleaning expert from Merry Maids: "Before you go to bed, put dirty clothes in the hamper or re-hang clean ones in the closet. And in the morning, fold your pajamas and store them in their proper place."

10. They open a door or two.

"I throw open the front and the back door to air out the house every day, even just for a few minutes if it's cold outside," says Sherry Petersik. "It helps to fight off stale air  or any random lingering odors from dinner  and it makes the house feel fresh and breezy."

11. They close a door or two.

Another easy one! Blogger Jeanne Oliver knows that the entire house will never be clean and organized at the same time  especially three kids' rooms. "I've come to accept that and I just shut their doors," she says. "If the main floor is tidy and I can just close off the mess, I'm likely to invite people over more."It's been a year of roaring bliss for a San Antonio couple who got married last Valentine's Day at the Bexar County Courthouse and they celebrated their anniversary with a cameo appearance on Thursday.

While the other brides dressed in white, Tanya Hankinson dressed as a T-Rex. She told mySA.com it was her idea, but her husband was all in. She and her husband, Brian Hankinson, were the sweethearts of San Antonio social media throughout their special day as onlookers snapped and posted photos showing them strolling through downtown in their inflatable dinosaur costumes.Photo provided by Casey Donahew / Photo provided by Casey Donahew

Viva el Amor 2019

Concert featuring Vanessa Alonzo from Houston Grand Opera and Trio Tres En Punto from Mission. Event includes a silent auction fundraiser with heart-themed art.

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Where: MECA Houston, 1900 Kane

Details: $10-$20; meca-houston.org

FOR HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUBSCRIBERS: Performance-art festival gets experimental

Saint Arnold Mardi Gras Pub Crawl

Mardi Gras-themed bar crawl that takes participants through several hot spots along White Oak Drive in The Heights. Bars include Little Woodrows, BBs Tex-Orleans, Bobcat Teddys, Public House, Christians Tailgate and Onion Creek.

When: 2-6 p.m. Saturday

Where: Check in at Little Woodrows Heights, 2631 White Oak

Details: saintarnold.com/mardi-gras-pub-crawl

Burlesque! The Sweet Spot Variety Show

Event features live body-art models, burlesque dancers, live music, poets, fashion and comedy.

When: 5 p.m. Saturday

Where: Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel

Details: $25-$50; sweetspotnation.com

HOUSTON LIFESTYLE: Get updates on Houston events, entertainment delivered to you.

Mini Watercolor Painting Class

Attendees will learn how to paint abstract, modern and minimalist aesthetics. Geodes are the subject of this weeks class.

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: Honey Art Cafe, 3516 S. Shepherd

Details: $35; houstonartlessons.com

Lack of Color: A Black and White Photo Exhibit

Black-and-white photography exhibit features local photographers.

When: 7-11 p.m. Saturday

Where: Insomnia Gallery, 708 Telephone

Details: facebook.com/events/217456959193650

PERFORMANCE SEASON: Anoushka Shankar leads off Indo-American Association's 2019 Season

Rodeo Clown Roundup Concert

Event begins with a western gear timed 5K/10K run at 8 a.m., followed by a concert at 1:30 p.m. Featured artists include Casey Donahew, Flatland Cavalry, Old 97s and Nikki Lane.

When: 8 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Karbach Brewing Co., 2032 Karbach

Details: $30-$90; karbachbrewing.com

Charles Finch

Author will sign and discuss The Vanishing Man.

When: 6:30 p.m. Monday

Where: Murder By The Book, 2342 Bissonnet

Details: murderbooks.com

RAW Houston: Reflect

Art extravaganza showcases local creatives. Event features an visual art gallery, performers, vendors, makeup and fashion show.

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday

Where: House of Blues Houston, 1204 Caroline

Details: $30; rawartists.org/houston/reflect

ReelMusic: An All-Inclusive Jazz and Blues Jam

A house band, comprised of local professional musicians, join artists living with disabilities on stage. Presented by ReelAbilities Houston.

When: 7 p.m. Thursday

Where: White Oak Music Hall, 2915 N. Main

Details: reelabilitieshouston.org

PREVIEW: Find fun things to do and see around Houston in our weekly Preview newsletter. Subscribe here.

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.With Heinz scheduled to leave the district on June 30 after five years with District 64, Biagi said he would like to see the next District 64 superintendent  whomever that may be  have some input into the selection of the new principals. But there is a time crunch, Biagi acknowledged, and it is unclear when a new superintendent might be selected.Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo received recognition from President Donald Trump during a national police chiefs conference in Washington, D.C. Wednesday.

Trump commended Acevedo and HPD for the agency's rescue efforts during Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

"(HPD) led six consecutive days of 24-hour shifts to rescue thousands and thousands of stranded citizens," Trump said. "They worked through long nights, pouring rain... and people gained even more respect for what you do."

CHRISTMAS EVE SLAYING: Dashcam video released from 2012 shooting that killed Bellaire officer, bystander

Trump urged Acevedo and the HPD Command Staff to join him on stage after his remarks.

"You are spontaneous, Mr. President, I think you're off script here," Acevedo said. "This just speaks to the professionalism and commitment of our men and women, and also our partnership with our federal partners."

The @realDonaldTrump @POTUS goes off script and calls Major Cities Chiefs Association President @houstonpolice @ArtAcevedo to the podium for his commitment to public safety and efforts related to Hurricane Harvey.



HPDs Command Staff are also called to stage. #MCCA2019 pic.twitter.com/y1Js8QehQ9

 Major Cities Chiefs Association (@MjrCitiesChiefs) February 13, 2019

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 Dallas restaurant and bar specializing in Southern-style cuisine has chosen San Antonio as its first expansion outside of the Dallas area.

Ida Claire, which made its debut in August 2015, is taking over the former El Machito space in the Quarry Crossing on Jones Maltsberger Road, across the street from the Alamo Quarry Market. According to documents filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, the the 6,300-square-foot facility is currently undergoing an estimated $1.8 million renovation, with an estimated completion date of October.Market Square has morphed into a morning show studio as Despierta America, the Spanish language program, broadcasts from San Antonio.

The Univision show typically tapes from the group's headquarters in Florida, but is being hosted by the City of San Antonio, La Familia Cortez and El Merkadito for special shows from downtown on Thursday and Friday, starting at 5 a.m.

FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox

Spectators can enjoy "plenty of food and music" at the free event, according to a Facebook event page.

RELATED: Details for San Antonio's 'biggest Tejano weekend' revealed

Videos posted on the show's Instagram account show some of the stars, like Chef Yisus, dancing around Market Square during Thursday morning's taping.

Madalyn Mendoza is a breaking news reporter and general assignment writer. Read her on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | mmendoza@mysa.com | @MaddySkyeWhether you want to get married at the beach, country or a fancy venue, you can count on Texas to deliver.

WalletHub compiled a list of the "best places to get married in the U.S.," where San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, Corpus Christi and Laredo were among the top Texas cities.Everyone knows that pets become more than just four-legged friends, they become part of our family. MySA reached out to San Antonio TV and radio personalities to share photos of their "fur babies" who make their families complete.

Nowadays with social media, some pet owners have created an Instagram for their animals and share their furry friends' best poses or tricks.Houston oilfield service company Baker Hughes plans to use a modular "plug and play" concept to make and install two pairs of turbines for a $30 billion liquefied natural gas project in Canada.

Baker Hughes CEO Lorenzo Simonelli announced during a Jan. 31 earnings call that the company had been awarded a contract to make two pairs of turbines for the LNG Canada export terminal in Kitimat, British Columbia.

Financial terms were not disclosed but Baker Hughes officials confirmed that the company's Turbomachinery & Process Solutions Division will be providing four of its LMS100-PB natural gas turbines and eight centrifugal compressors for the LNG export project.

Made at the company's manufacturing plant in Massa, Italy, the LMS100-PB is touted as an efficient and modular turbine with low emissions.

"With LNG Canada we are pushing technology boundaries to provide a solution that meets the strictest environmental regulations and can contribute towards the global reduction of carbon emissions," BHGE Turbomachinery and Process Solutions President Rod Christie said in a statement.

Business Moves: Baker Hughes lands equipment contract with Golden Pass LNG

A joint venture between Shell, Petronas, PetroChina, Mitsubishi and KOGAS, LNG Canada will begin with the construction of two production units known as trains that will be able to make a combined 14 million metric tons of LNG per year. The project holds permits to add two more production units that will nearly double its export capacity.

Using a modular "plug and play" concept, Baker Hughes will make and test the turbines and supporting infrastructure for the project in Italy and ship them to British Columbia where they will be easily installed.

Launched in 2005, the LMS100 series of natural gas turbines have been installed 75 units at facilities around the world. The pollution-reducing turbines and other like it are part of the company's pledge to reach net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.

"Building on our 30-year-plus track record of delivering highly efficient and reliable LNG technology, we are also applying the industry's first modularized refrigeration trains for a large-scale project, which will streamline installation and minimize project costs," Christie said.

Fuel Fix: Get daily energy news headlines in your inbox

Baker Hughes closed 2018 with $22.9 billion of revenue, which translated into $195 million of net income attributable to common stockholders. With several LNG projects expected to make final investment decisions of the next 12 months, Baker Hughes views LNG as a growth industry for the company in 2019.

Headquartered in Houston, Baker Hughes employs more than 64,000 people in 120 nations.New images have been released in the case of Samuel Little, a 78-year-old man who the FBI says may be among the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history.

Little is currently serving three consecutive life sentences in Texas in connection with three murders from 1987 to 1989. He was first arrested at a Kentucky homeless shelter in 2012, and a DNA match tied him to those killings, authorities said.A: This is actually my first short film or narrative project. I grew up working on video projects. It was something that always interested me. I took creative filmmaking and made the film I submitted as one of the projects. It ended up really sparking my interest.  The filmmaking process is very extensive. It typically takes a few weeks to develop the idea and prepare. This one, I did in about two weeks and shot it all in a few days.We hope to utilize our strength ...The coverage of the Covington Catholic (Kentucky) High School incident during this years March for Life may have shown journalism at its worse.

Depending on your bias, you could find a version of the event to confirm it.

In this age of 24/7 news and instantaneous coverage of events, journalists and the media that employ them have incentives to be first with a piece of news. If they get it wrong, many dont engage in introspection; they simply move on.

Partly, this is a result of two conflicting definitions of what constitutes journalism  writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation and writing designed to appeal to current popular taste or public interest. The second definition, which seems to be the one followed today, has no emphasis on facts without attempted interpretation.

Interpretation moves an article from reporting to opinion without acknowledging it.

The pejorative Fake News is not new, but today, more journalists appear to follow Mark Twains counsel: Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

That this is taking place so frequently can be attributed to the 24/7 news cycle and the explosion of sources of media. Seventy years ago, George Orwell wrote 1984. Almost 60 years ago, Daniel Boorstin, historian and former librarian of the Library of Congress, wrote The Image: A Guide to Pseudo Events in America. One insightful observation by Boorstin was, By harboring  and enlarging our extravagant expectations, we create the demand for the illusions with which we deceive ourselves. And which we pay others to make to deceive us.

This was not a new finding. Boorstin points out that P.T. Barnums great discovery was not how easy it was to deceive the public, but rather, how much he public enjoyed being deceived.

Unfortunately, Boorstin offers no quick fix. There is no formula for mass disenchantment.  Each of us must disenchant himself, must moderate his expectations, must prepare himself to receive messages coming in from the outside.

The lessons that not only journalists should take from the Covington Catholic incident and similar ones is one that I learned from a former colleague, Phil Goulding, who wrote a book Confirm or Deny after his tenure as assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. That lesson is first reports are always wrong  or so often wrong that they always must be considered suspect. He amended that later to say third reports should be taken with a grain of salt. At least that is my recollection.

The volume of what is described as news is so great and comes at us so rapidly that all of us would be better served by starting with the view that I am not convinced and then look for information to confirm or deny. This can be accomplished by not being a slave to a single or small set of sources and by recognizing the dangers of confirmation bias  tendency to not view information objectively.

An article in Psychology Today made this observation, Confirmation bias occurs when people would like a certain idea/concept to be true.  They are motivated by wishful thinking.  Once we have formed a view, we embrace information that confirms that view while ignoring, or rejecting, information that casts doubt on it.

The bottom line for readers and listeners is to avoid jumping to conclusions.

For journalists, it is to focus on getting it right rather than fast.

Bill OKeefe is the founder of Solutions Consulting in Midlothian, Virginia. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.Riley: I think growing up in Las Vegas and everything being so service-oriented out there  especially when we were growing up, Vegas was growing, too  and my mom dragged me and said youre going to work at the showroom and do this and that. I realized quickly I was good at it and it was fun.Authorities say DNA from an Arizona man recently indicted in a 1997 Ohio rape case links him to the unsolved slayings of four women at truck stops in Ohio and Illinois.

Forty-nine-year-old Samuel Legg III pleaded not guilty Thursday during a hearing outside Cleveland to two counts of rape for the sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl.Attorney General Kwame Raoul has joined a coalition of 30 other attorneys general in sending a letter to the Federal Trade Commission urging it to continue its Identity Theft rules originally adopted in 2007.

The current rules require certain financial institutions and businesses that grant credit or issue debit cards to implement safeguards, according to Raouls office. The letter requests that the FTC consider a requirement to notify cardholders by email or phone if their contact information associated with their account has changed.Student artists across Illinois recently were tasked with linking the past and the future through art.

The result is an exhibit presently on display at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, according to the library.

The winning entry in the competition sponsored by the library and the State Board of Education was created by Lydia Cruz of Park Ridge. Her artwork blends a black-and-white drawing of Lincoln  ballet dancers perched on his hat brim  with a more modern image of a child drawing on a computer. Both images depicts various forms of art linking the past, present and future.

Cruzs art was the overall winner  and the winner of the competitions ninth- through 12th-grade category  and will be used as a poster touting Illinois Arts Education Week in March. Declan Beahan of Woodstock won the sixth- through eighth-grade competition and Camila Lopez of Minooka won the kindergarten through fifth-grade competition.

The three winning category entries and the entries of 15 runners-up went on display Tuesday at the library as part of the celebration of Lincolns 210th birthday. The art will remain on display during the next year.

This institution is dedicated to the idea that studying the past can help shape the future, said Alan Lowe, executive director of the library and museum. These artists, especially the winners, expressed that concept with tremendous creativity. I know our visitors will love seeing them each time they enter the museum.

The art competition was designed to reinforce the idea that learning history is about going beyond memorizing dates and taking tests to connecting historic events and considering their meaning, organizers said, adding that it also bolsters the states commitment to the arts as part of a holistic education for all students.

The library and museum are at 212 N. Sixth St. in Springfield. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, with admission tickets sold until 4 p.m. The library exhibits are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

Library admission is free. Museum admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors, $6 for children ages 5 to 15, $10 for military personnel, $12 for students with a school or college ID and free to children under 5.

For more information, visit presidentlincoln.illinois.gov.

Angela Bauer can be reached at 217-408-2057.Bangkok Wakes to Rain

By Pitchaya Sudbanthad

Riverhead. 368 pp. $27

---

"Bangkok Wakes to Rain" should come with a mop. This teeming debut novel by Pitchaya Sudbanthad recreates the experience of living in Thailand's aqueous climate so viscerally that you can feel the water rising around your ankles.

But Sudbanthad's skills are more than just meteorological. A native of Thailand now living in New York, he captures the nation's lush history in all its turbulence and resilience. Even the novel's complex structure reflects Bangkok's culture. The chapters flow back and forth in time, in ways that may leave readers initially grasping for solid ground.

The earliest sections involve an American doctor working for a Christian mission in 19th-century Siam. He's a reluctant volunteer, shocked by the primitive conditions and skeptical that these pagans will ever be brought to the light of science or God. His first reaction is to plead for a transfer away from this quagmire. "The waterborne city inspirits our undoing," he writes to his brother back in New England. "Its fluvial systems - the natural ones and also the mesh of canals throughout the capital - carry to us miasmata that weaken the body." His attitude toward the people is no less biased, dripping with the common racism of his time and station: "The Siamese as a race thrive in the aquatic realm," he complains. "They live is if they have been born sea nymphs that only recently joined the race of man."

How this doctor's attitude will change over the years and how the city will evolve over the centuries are just two of the themes dissolved in this extraordinarily fluid novel.

Characters come and go, washed away by the tides of time, but at the center of "Bangkok Wakes to Rain" remains a grand house built by the son of a laborer who founded a trading company and grew rich. We see this building with its flowery tiled ceiling in varying conditions in different periods. In one, it's the home of a wealthy divorced woman who lives with a gathering of ghosts that only live music can exorcise. In another era, the house has been overtaken by a high-rise condo development - the facade of the original Sino-Colonial dwelling reduced to decoration in the glitzy new lobby. And later still, decades ahead in the 21st century, the building is subsumed by the rising sea that has overwhelmed, but not snuffed out the capital.

The connections between these stories are sometimes clear, sometimes opaque, a structure that demands an extra degree of tolerance (a few brief chapters are told from the perspective of birds). But allow yourself to sink into that ambiguity, and you'll find "Bangkok Wakes to Rain" entrancing. Individual incidents are dramatic and striking. A substantial section involving two Thai sisters in the late 20th century named Nee and Nok is among the best. Nee barely escapes the deadly repression of student protests in the 1970s, while Nok settles in Japan and opens a Thai restaurant. Two thousand miles away from home, she imagines she can just dabble with the ingredients of her native culture, but the moral burden of her past eventually finds her out.

Although Thailand is among the countries at greatest risk from the effects of global warming, it's also among the places most familiar with flooding. That long experience may help the government respond, but the swelling climatic crisis will exacerbate other social and economic challenges, an eventuality that Sudbanthad explores as his novel moves into the future. Levies breach and foundations turn spongy. As we watch Bangkok grow into a spectacularly modern city, the old burdens of racism and class mutate into new toxins. The richest citizens can afford to float above the ever-rising sea, but they can't escape the anxiety of their positions nor the germ of self-loathing. In one poignant story, a fifth-grade girl worries that the sun may darken her skin, while nearby her father, an esteemed plastic surgeon, carves the faces of Asian women into the Western ideals they crave.

"Anything has a way of disappearing," one narrator says. In the final scenes - infused with futuristic technology for some and unfathomable suffering for others - we see a city racing to digitize itself, to transfigure people and objects into an incorporeal state beyond the water's reach. It's a vision oddly terrifying and ethereal, and another demonstration of this author's extraordinary range, flowing gracefully from historical fiction to contemporary realism to science fiction.

Sudbanthad's narrative is not just a tribute to his home, it's an act of resistance against the city's mildew and amnesia: Bangkok's unwillingness to retain what came before. These stories, loosely linked together, become a way of preserving what is otherwise inscribed only on the liquid surface of memory.Rohr, the mother of three kids age 9 and younger (two of which attend Prairie Elementary), said beyond safety, Election Day can be disruptive for learning, and she said shes waiting for the District 203 administration to present its findings on the matter before she makes any decision.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 14)  The President's spokesman believes Rappler CEO Maria Ressa is overreacting to her arrest and is in fact enjoying facing a libel case.

"I think Maria, who happens to be a good friend also--in a way, she's making a mountain out of a molehill," Presidential Spokesperson Sal Panelo said in a phone interview on CNN Philippines' On The Record Tuesday.

"I'm also a mass media man, and sa atin it's a badge of honor when you are sued with libel. Why? Kasi lumalabas magaling ka.. Eh dapat nga natutuwa sya, in fact sa tingin ko nga natutuwa sya, she's in fact enjoying it," he added.

Ressa is currently out on bail after her arrest Wednesday afternoon for a cyber libel case involving a story published on Rappler in May 2012, months before the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 was enacted. It stemmed from a complaint filed by businessman Wilfredo Keng in October 2017 over an allegedly libelous article that said then chief justice Renato Corona used a vehicle registered under Keng's name

The arrest of the veteran journalist -- who was selected by Time magazine as one of its Persons of the Year last year -- sparked outrage among press freedom advocates and journalists at home and abroad who call it an attack against press freedom.

Rappler has been known to be critical of the administration, with President Rodrigo Duterte lashing out at the news website and Ressa in his public speeches.

Panelo, however, reiterated that the administration has no hand in Ressa's arrest. He also maintained that there was no abuse of power and legal process was followed in the journalist's case.

READ: Gov't: Rule of law observed in Rappler CEO's arrest

"There is no connection between her being charge and the freedom of expression," the spokesperson said.

"The President has been the subject of many libelous articles coming form editors, congressmen, and other individuals, including commentator, but he has never filed a libel a case against them. He has nothing to do with it, the government has nothing to do with it," he added.

READ: Rappler CEO calls arrest 'abuse of power'

Duterte had also washed his hands of the case, saying he was not even aware about Ressa's arrest.

Ressa, for her part, said that there were "irregularities" in her arrest and the "actual serving of the arrest warrant shows an intent of malice."

The Rappler executive earlier said that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents who served the arrest warrant "neglected" to inform her that they lacked "complete documentation."

"They had the arrest warrant, but they didn't have the information sheet which actually [tells] you how much bail could be set," she said in a separate interview on CNN Philippines News Night.

"Look again at the circumstance of this case, they came in after 5 pm knowing that the regular courts are out," she said. "If there was no malicious intent to keep me in detention last night, I have the right to bail on this charge--that is a right," she added. The NBI has denied Ressa's claims.

Desperate move?

Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility Chairperson Vergel Santos said the arrest was ordered out of "desperation."

"This should be taken in the context that the President expressed aim to put the whole nation under an authoritarian regime, he says it all the time," Santos said.

"Naturally, when you start doing that, the first target is the press and Rappler happens to be one of the media organizations that have been critical of this government, so that is quite clear," he added.

Santos said the way Ressa was arrested is "very much in keeping with the character of this high-handed regime."

"By being served the warrant late in the day past court business hours, she was denied a basic right, the right to bail," he said.

Santos lamented that powerful and influential people use libel to undermine the press freedom.

"Libel has always been the favorite weapon of people in power, people of wealth and influence who like to perpetuate their pretensions to vulnerable reputations, so in other words the law benefits only the wealthy, influential, and powerful," he said.We'll keep you connected to all the updated local news and information about what's happening in Murfreesboro and Rutherford County!

Click Here to Subscribe!Midland Mayor Jerry Morales said changes are coming to the downtown area.

Morales told the Midland County Republican Women on Wednesday that a letter of intent exists for a boutique hotel at the site where the Building of the Southwest currently stands on Texas Avenue in downtown Midland.

Morales told those in attendance that asbestos has been removed from the building, but the roof is damaged to the point that it would cost $1 million to replace.

We are done with it, Morales said of the buildings issues. It will be imploded in the next 45 days.  It will be a big implosion. It will be fun.

City spokeswoman Elana Ladd told the Reporter-Telegram an item will come before the Midland City Council for approval before a date is finalized.

The Midland Development Corp. bought the property on which the 85,000-square-foot building sits, according to a Reporter-Telegram article in July. MDC Chair Brent Hilliard said at that time that ownership would be turned over to the MDC once the building is demolished or the roof is replaced.

I think you can expect to see it torn down, and that the city would pay for the demolition, Hilliard said in the previous article.

Morales also said Wednesday that the Midland Convention Center is set to open in the fall. City officials said that the center will have a new name before it opens.

He said the action taking place, including the planned convention center and Centennial Park, is re-energizing downtown. Morales said he expects a greater radius of activity, maybe up to 10 blocks. He said that because of the success of The Lofts on Main Street in downtown  which he said enjoys a two-year waiting list  there are two or three groups seriously interested in putting more loft apartments downtown.

The heartbeat (of downtown) is moving now, Morales said.Texas oil and gas riches continued to flow into state and local treasuries in 2018, according to the Texas Oil & Gas Association's annual report on the economic impact of the state's energy industry.

In 100 years of Texas oil and natural gas  the association is celebrating its centennial this year  "we are proud to report that the Texas oil and natural gas industry has paid $133.3 billion in state and local taxes and state royalties just since 2007," TXOGA President Todd Staples said during a media conference call Wednesday morning.

In fiscal year 2018, the industry paid more than $14 billion in taxes and royalties, a jump of 27 percent from the previous fiscal year and the second highest total in state history, he said.

RELATED: Concho, Endeavor on list of best performers

"Last year alone, the Texas oil and natural gas industry paid the equivalent of $38 million a day to fund our schools, roads, universities and first responders," said Todd Staples, president of TXOGA. "More tax and royalty revenue from the oil and natural gas industry means our lawmakers have more to work with to meet the needs of our growing state."

State royalties paid by the industry increased 18 percent to $2 billion. The funds went to the Permanent School Fund, which benefits public schools, and the Permanent University Fund, which benefits the University of Texas and Texas A&M University systems.

In fiscal year 2018, public school districts received $1.24 billion in property taxes from mineral properties producing oil and natural gas, pipelines and gas utilities. Midland ISD received $56.3 million in property taxes, with the industry comprising 23.8 percent of the tax base, according to TXOGA. Ector County ISD received $24 million, with the industry making up 16.9 percent of the tax base.

Texas counties received $366.5 million in oil and natural gas mineral property taxes. Midland County received $7.8 million, with the industry accounting for 21.5 percent of the tax base. Ector County received $7.4 million, with the industry comprising 14.8 percent of the tax base.

"That doesn't include the phenomenal payrolls" and other contributions the industry has made to local and state economies, Staples said.

The state's energy sector could experience another record-breaking year in 2019, he said, especially in the Permian Basin, where output may reach 4.8 million barrels a day by the end of 2020. That growth is having an impact on the infrastructure -- from roads to education, housing to health care -- of the communities in what he called the energy corridor. That's why local involvement in addressing the issues is important, he said, praising initiatives such as the Permian Strategic Partnership and the Permian Road Safety Coalition.

OIL REPORT: Proposed Winkler County refinery could benefit local drivers' pocketbooks

Local residents also need to participate in events such as Texas Energy Day at the Texas Legislature, to discuss with legislators the impact of the industry on their communities.

The association's public policy priorities for the 86th Legislature include support for adequate funding for the Railroad Commission of Texas and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to be properly staffed and equipped; funding for the Texas Department of Public Safety that will enhance public safety on congested roadways in energy-producing areas; and the Texas Department of Transportation. Staples also called for reauthorization of the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP), and renewal of Chapter 312, which allows counties and cities to provide temporary property tax reductions for new projects, and additional funding to assist counties in energy sectors that are experiencing increased traffic and road deterioration.

"We recognize that our state's impressive energy achievements have sparked rapid population growth and created the need for additional funding for county roads," said Staples. "Considering energy production is providing vast amounts of revenue for state and local governments, specifically the rainy day fund, we think it's appropriate to use a portion of funds already collected for repairs and expansions on county roads in our state's energy sectors."

Such one-time expenditures from the rainy day fund  formally the Texas Economic Stabilization Fund  for roads or helping communities recover from Hurricane Harvey are the appropriate use for the fund, he said.

He said that while the outlook for the state's energy industry is bullish, Texans shouldn't become complacent.

For all the contributions the industry has made to state and local treasuries, to the rainy day fund, to the Permanent School Fund and Permanent University Fund, "growth is not guaranteed," Staples said. "We could see policy changes, regulatory changes, and those do affect business plans."Google is investing heavily in commercial real estate assets across the US it said Wednesday.

The firm will expand across 14 states with data centers and offices, bringing its geographical coverage to 24 states with data centers in 13 communities.

The expansion is expected to provide a boost to both residential and commercial real estate in the areas named through jobs creation and businesses wanting to be where Google is.Authorities said police were called to the Ruman home Dec. 31, and his wife was found dead in the residence, but it is believed she had died at least a day earlier and possibly more.Amid moderating housing costs, British Columbia was found to be the territory with the highest ratio of non-individual ownership of residential property, according to latest numbers from Statistics Canada and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Approximately 9.8% of the provinces residential properties were owned by non-individuals, with the rate even higher in areas outside the major cities, at 15.8%.

The rates in B.C.s CMAs wildly varied, with a low of 5.2% in Victoria and a high of 7.6% in Kelowna. Vancouver itself posted a 5.6% non-individual ownership rate.

This also includes vacant parcels, with government ownership accounting for 3.8% of the markets residential land, the February 2019 edition of the Housing Market Insight  Canada report stated.

In British Columbia, almost two thirds of vacant land properties are held by non-individual owners, and the average assessed value of the vacant land owned by non-individuals is also higher, according to the analysis.

Read more: Strong cash flow potential in year-round resort properties

The study emphasized, however, that most of this government-owned property was outside the metropolitan areas, with only 0.6% of residential land/structures in Vancouver falling under this category.

Broken down by sector, public administration represented 33.2% of the ownership of the total provincial assessed vacant land value. The construction sector followed suit at 21.1%. Other non-individual owners were corporations, sole proprietorships, and partnerships.

The report noted that more intensive studies will need to be conducted in this regard, as residential land and properties with significant redevelopment potential may also contribute to potential housing supply.

In fact, the development and intensification of large urban centres naturally leads to vacant land becoming increasingly scarce. In the Vancouver and Toronto CMAs, as the stock of vacant residential land undergoes development, developers will increasingly turn to redeveloping land on which there are old buildings.Barely half into the first quarter of 2019, one of the priciest commercial property deals in Canada so far this year has already closed in Richmond, B.C.

Fiera Properties, a Montreal-based property management firm that has an asset portfolio worth around $139.4 billion, has announced earlier this week the purchase of Richmonds 13-building Airport Executive Park from Sun Life Financial.

The transaction involving the 707,809-square-foot property was valued at $208 million.

Other interested parties were major domestic and international buyers, according to CBREs Tony Quattrin. CBRE brokered the deal.

There has been a good job of attracting tenants to that market, its close to the city, Quattrin told CoStar News. People do tell you, we would like to be in Vancouver but cant find a way.

Read more: Metro Vancouver commercial segment hits the ground running

The transaction seems to be the first salvo in a major trend predicted by Avison Young Canada Inc., which stated last month that scarce supply and a 4-decade low in unemployment will continue inflaming demand for Canada commercial properties for much of 2019.

The phenomenon would be particularly apparent in the industrial real estate market, which had its nationwide vacancies decline to a record low of 2.9% near the end of 2018. Vacancy levels in the leading markets of Toronto (1.3%) and Vancouver (1.5%) were actually found to be the lowest in North America.

We continue to feel very positive about opportunities in the real estate environment for the year ahead, Avison Young Canada CEO Mark Rose said, as quoted by Bloomberg.

More capital is available to move into real estate debt and equity than at any other time. The next wave of investment is not a matter of if or when -- its just a matter of price.The lowest mortgage rates offered by the countrys leading banks are uniformly higher-priced than those available from alternative lenders, according to a new analysis by online comparison portal LowestRates.ca.

Combined with the fact that Canadas Big Six banks account for a vast majority of the national mortgage market, the situation is contributing to a significant portion of consumers fiscal grief  and they might not even realize it.

Brokers and smaller lenders often drop their rates first to be more competitive, and banks are slower to implement changes because they know they own the market, LowestRates.ca CEO and co-founder Justin Thouin said.

This will only change when Canadians realize theyre being overcharged and begin to shift away from the banks, and that will only happen as we increase awareness about the alternative market. The best deals are found online, not in your familys legacy bank branch.

Read more: Alternative financing increasingly popular in Ottawa

For instance, in January, RBC cut its 5-year fixed-rate mortgage to 3.74%, but LowestRates.ca found that the best currently available 5-year fixed-rate term in the non-bank lending market boasts of a 3.23% rate.

The big banks never offer the lowest posted rates on the market, but Canadians arent spending enough time researching rates before signing their mortgages, and thats potentially costing them thousands of dollars a year, Thouin warned.A: I have a cousin in Chicago named Ari Fisher. I had never met this cousin before in my life but this past September, I went to Los Angeles and I met him at a family dinner. It turns out he is a composer as I thought I was the only musician in my family. He came to a concert I was giving in LA, and he shared a piece he had written. One particular piece is beautiful. While there have been instrumental performances, no one has ever sung it before. It is the kind of song that features all the things that are great about my voice because it has a range that I can use that I cant use in other music. That is one part of this concert that will be really exciting.The home of civil rights leaders Medgar and Myrlie Evers, in Jackson, Miss., is shown. The Senate has approved a bill that revives a popular conservation program, adds a million acres of new wilderness, expands several national parks and creates four new national monuments. The three park service monuments are the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument in Mississippi and the Mill Springs and Camp Nelson national monuments in Kentucky. The Evers site marks the home of the slain civil rights leader.An invitation was sent to establish better communication about Lorain City Schools through a joint meeting with school board members, the LoraFor the second time in six months, Lorain fashion designer Jevon Terance will travel to New York to show off his designs as a part of New York Fashion Week.

With a collection of 30 outfits split between two shows for Street Fashion Week, Terance said switching from dressy to street wear style will appeal to a more everyday audience.

"The last show I did was more glitz and glamour, more dressy," he said. "So, this show is street wear, so it's a good break, especially for our fan base to show them how we style street wear ... I am an everyday designer trying to sell pieces that people can wear every day."

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Having worked with Paris fashion producer Tiffany McCall during fashion week in September 2018, Terance now will collaborate with Cleveland-based fashion agency Bunny Paige and fashion producer Dan Houseman for the upcoming shows.

"That was the first opportunity in September, so I didn't think or plan on going (to fashion week) in February," Terance said.

By planning back-to-back shows, he said the turnaround time to get another collection ready was short.

"It's funny because I always know in the back of my head to start working on new pieces just to be safe, so that's what I did," Terance said. "You get that itch right after a big show and you're like 'You're supposed to be chilling or relaxing,' and a week later I was working again."

For his newest collection for the show titled "Neon Tokyo," Terance said he drew from his inspiration from Japan.

"I always been inspired by Japanese culture," he said. "I've never been to Japan, so I look at it like this is an interpretation of how I see it, so this is what the style is without being there."

Terence said he hopes to take a trip to Tokyo within the next three years and to later do a part two collection once he's experienced Japanese culture firsthand.

Additionally, Terance and his crew plan to document the trip to New York and all the behind-the-scenes action.

"My big idea is to show a designer documentary, either in 15 or 20 (years) at the (Lorain Palace Theater) and show how the fashion brand has been doing things in Ohio and around the world," he said.February 14, 2019 Venezuela - Media Find Trump's Coup Plan Does Not Work On January 25, two days after Random Guyido declared himself President of Venezuela, the lack of planing in the U.S. coup attempt was already obvious: My impression is that Trump was scammed. It was long evident that he gives little attention to details and does not think things through. Most likely Bolton, Pompeo and Rubio presented him with a three step plan: Phase 1. Support the self declared president Guaido; Phase 2: ... (wishful thinking) ...; Phase 3: Take half of their oil!

...

Bolton and Pompeo are both experienced politicians and bureaucrats. They likely knew that their plan was deeply flawed and would require much more than Trump would normally commit to. My hunch is that the soon coming mission creep was build into their plan, but that they did not reveal that. The U.S. coup planners and their Venezuelan puppets had hoped that the Venezuelan military would jump to their side. That was wishful thinking and unlikely to happen. They also thought up some "humanitarian aid" scheme in which pictures of trucks crossing a long blocked bridge would soon shame the Venezuelan president into stepping down. That was likewise nonsense. Unless the U.S. is willing and able to escalate, the coup attempt is destined to fail. 'Western' media now recognize that phase 2 of the coup plan is in deep trouble. Today the Guardian, Bloomberg and the New York Times all describe growing frustration with the lack of success. The Guardian notes: [T]hree weeks after Guaido electrified the previously rudderless opposition movement by declaring himself interim leader, there are signs his campaign risks losing steam. An anticipated mass defection of military chiefs  which opposition leaders admit is a prerequisite to Maduros departure  has not materialized, and Maduros inner-circle has begun claiming it has weathered the political storm. Bloomberg writes: Since Juan Guaido declared himself interim president three weeks ago and offered amnesty to officers who abandon Maduro, more than 30 countries led by the U.S. have hailed the move, waiting for the military to follow. There hasnt been a rush to his side.

...

In a country with more than 2,000 generals and admirals, only one top officer -- who commands no troops -- has pledged allegiance to Guaido.

...

This is a major reason why the revolution isnt moving as quickly as some had hoped when Guaido electrified the world on Jan. 23 with his declaration. This has led to impatience and finger-pointing. U.S. policy makers and those around Guaido -- as well as leaders in Brazil and Colombia -- are eyeing one another and worrying about failure. Officials in each camp have said privately they assumed the others had a more developed strategy. The NY Times shows similar frustration: [The opposition's] goal was to bring the supplies into Venezuela, forcing a confrontation with Mr. Maduro, who has refused the help. This would cast Mr. Maduro in a bad light, opposition leaders said, and display their ability to set up a government-like relief system in a nation where the crumbling economy has left many starving, sick and without access to medicine. But there was no dramatic confrontation. The "aid" delivery failed, according to Bloomberg, for lack of planning and coordination: Worry about what comes next has intensified. At a meeting in the U.S. embassy in Bogota, Colombia, last week, military, intelligence and civilian leaders from both countries discussed ways of moving humanitarian aid into Venezuela. There was a sense of frustration in the air, according to a participant who agreed to discuss it on condition of anonymity. The U.S. said it was paying for the aid but wanted Colombia to find trucks and drivers to move it in. The Colombians said no one would accept the mission because the Venezuelan military would arrest them. The aid remains in warehouses near the border. At similar meetings in the Colombian border city of Cucuta, a person who attended said the dynamic was the same -- the U.S. expecting Colombia to find the means to deliver the aid and the Colombians saying they cant. The opposition is only now thinking up its own crazy scheme for delivering the "aid": In Cucuta, members of the opposition say they are considering options to physically force the shipment into Venezuela. Omar Lares, a former opposition mayor in exile in Cucuta, said organizers want people to surround an aid truck on the Colombian side and accompany it to the bridge. A crowd of thousands would be gathered on the other side to push through a security cordon, move the containers blocking the bridge, and accompany the aid into Venezuela. One group over there, one over here, and well make one large human chain, he said. And what does he think the battalion of Venezuelan soldiers between the two groups will do? Just step aside and allow an invasion of their country? The struggle could make for some marketable TV pictures but it would not achieve anything. The lack of planning is daunting even to the lobbyists in Washington DC: The opposition has created immense expectations, and its not at all clear they have a plan for actually fulfilling them, said David Smilde, a Venezuela analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America. The U.S. coup plotters and their Venezuelan proxies seem to recognize that there will be no imminent change: Addressing a congressional hearing, the US special envoy on Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, claimed Maduro and his band of thieves were finished. He claimed international pressure meant there is a storm brewing inside the Maduro regime that will eventually bring it to an end. But while Abrams said Washington was hopeful and confident of Maduros demise he admitted it was impossible to predict when it might come. The US would maintain pressure over the next weeks and months, he added, suggesting a quick resolution is no longer expected. Opposition leaders have spent recent days trying to dampen expectations that Maduros exit is imminent. Juan Andres Mejia, an opposition leader and Guaido ally, admitted that goal could take some time. The little spontaneous support the Random Guyido had in some parts of the population is already lessening. Yesterday's demonstration he had called for saw less attendance than the one on January 23. He now says that he will force the 'aid' crossing on February 23 but he does not seem to have a real plan to achieve that: President of the National Assembly Guaido also promised the country that US-delivered humanitarian aid will enter the country no matter what on February 23, issuing an order for the military to allow it to enter. However, military leaders have dismissed these calls, with the Central Defense Region tweeting in response that the armed forces would not take any orders from an imperial lackey. One month after the swearing in we have done it. This February 23 the humanitarian aid will enter the country. The Armed Forces have 11 days to decide if they are on the side of the Venezuelans and the Constitution or on that of the usurper, he claimed in reference to President Maduro. If the U.S. does not do more than it has done so far the government under President Maduro can sit this out. The sanctions and the lack of oil revenue will create many immediate problems. But in a few weeks Venezuelan oil will have found new buyers. Fresh money will come in and new sources for imports of medicine and staple food will have been found. Over the same time the Random Guy will lose support. The party he nominally leads only won 20% of the votes. The other opposition parties were never informed of his plan to declare himself president. Their support for the step was lukewarm and will cool further. They may in the end support the mediation talks Maduro has offered and which the UN, Uruguay and Mexico also support. The talks could lead to new parliament and/or presidential elections in a year or two and thereby solve the situation. The U.S. would not be satisfied by a compromise solution. Trump is now committed to 'regime change' in Venezuela. But how can he do it? Waging an open war against that country would be very messy, expensive and difficult to justify. To start and support a guerilla war - Elliott Abrams specialty - takes time also costs a lot of money. The chances to win it are low. Moreover Trump wants to get re-elected but could lose many votes over both scenarios. What else then can he do? Posted by b on February 14, 2019 at 18:58 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page Weiss said it appears cities and villages will be able to add a local tax for sales within their communities, but the amount is likely to be capped. He also cautioned that the first sales of recreational marijuana, if legalized, would not likely happen before the end of 2019 or early 2020.The gruesome saga of a violent deaths continues for those who take head-on the land or the builder mafia in Pune, a city that has the dubious distinction of having witnessed the first ever murder of a right to information (RTI) activist in the country.

On 13 February 2010, Satish Shetty, who procured vital information of illegal land deals along Pune-Mumbai Expressway in February 2010, was brutally killed in broad daylight, while returning from his morning walk.

- Eight years later, on 12 February 2019, the body of 32-year old RTI activist Vinayak Shirsat, allegedly murdered, was found in the thickets of Mulshi.

-This was preceded by the brutal killing of another RTI activist of Pune, 27-year old Rohit Junavane on 1 November 2018.

-There was another murder that of RTI activist Suhas Haldankar on 9 April 2018 for exposing several civic lapses and inefficiencies of corporators in the Kharalwadi area of Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Investigations in Shirsats case are on; two people have been arrested a couple of days back. When Mr Shirsat did not return home on 1st February, his family lodged a `missing complaint with the Bharati Vidyapeeth Police Station located in South Pune.

Thereafter, his brother lodged another police complaint of `kidnapping when the `missing complaint seemed to go nowhere. However, police were on the search in Mulshi area based on the last location of his cell phone. On 12th February, his body was found in the thickets of Mulshi.

Mr Shirsat had recently filed an RTI application against a builder in the Wadgaon Dhayari neighbourhood, resulting in some action from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

Police are exploring the possibility of revenge taken due to the use of RTI and perhaps the motive of the murder. Shirsat had political affiliations and used RTI for building violations.

Similarly, 27-year old Rohit Junavane was brutally killed on 1 November 2018, in the upper crust neighbourhood of Aundh. He too, as per police reports, had filed an RTI application to procure details about a particular construction project. The murder took place at 5.30am when a group of people attacked him violently with sickles. Mr Junawane was rushed to the hospital but passed away while being treated.

Nine people have been arrested.

Mr Junawane belonged to a family who were in the milk delivery business. As per police information, a few days before Mr Junawane was killed, he had filed an RTI application for information on the building plan of a house belonging to a man called Gajendra alias Dada More, a resident of Aundh. Mr More had gone to the office with his friend where Mr Junawane was submitting the application and allegedly threatened him with dire consequences.

One can safely say that, emboldened by the Satish Shetty murder, which is still languishing in the CBI, the case allegedly being hushed, thanks to some prominent entrepreneurs embroiled in it, the spiteful elements have got a boost. Will the cases of Shirsat, Junavane and Haldankar be objectively investigated and solved?

Hope is bleak. The following letter to Rishi Kumar Shukla, the new CBI director on 9 February 2019 speaks a lot about Mr Shettys angst and frustration, as the CBI is trying to close the case, violating its own rules and regulations, despite its investigation report having nailed the 13 accused, including the top boss of Ideal Road Builders which operates and maintains the Mumbai  Pune Expressway.

My name is Sandeep Shetty, brother of the late Satish Shetty, who was an RTI activist and was murdered on 13 January 2010 in Talegaon Dabhade, Pune , Maharashtra. The case was handed over to CBI in April of 2010 by the Maharashtra state govt. through a notification during an ongoing suo motu writ, filed by the Hon. Bombay High Court.

Sir, its over 8 years now and there has been little progress in the investigation , and with due respects to the institution that CBI is, I have no hesitation in stating that this is not due to incompetence of the Investigating officers but the malafide intent of some senior officers in CBI.

The CBI had deployed three teams till date, beginning with STF, Mumbai, the I.O. being Mr. Pramod Kumar Manzhi , then taken over by ACB , Pune, the I.O. being Mr. Sushil Pratap Singh and currently CBI SC II I.O. Mr. Vijay Kumar Shukla .

Sir, I have more than enough evidence to prove my claims and I have already filed a writ in the matter in Hon. Bombay High Court, but I would also admit that I have no intentions to malign the agency per se, but want to bring to your notice some very relevant acts of omission on the part of the investigating team and also its very conspicuous attitude to protect the wealthy and powerful accused in the case.

Sir, I had met your predecessor Mr. Alok Verma in February 2017, he had literally grilled the DIG of SCU II who was supervising the investigation and had questioned the dubious conduct of the Investigating team in the matter in front of me during this meeting, he also assured me that he will personally look into the investigation. But we all know the turmoil the agency has gone through for the past 2 years and thus nothing has changed even after this assurance

Sir, I can assure you the facts in the case will literally alarm you about the functioning of the CBI, and also this will bring further embarrassment for the agency in the higher courts when argued.

Sir, I am as concerned about the eroding integrity and credibility of the agency as any right thinking citizen of this country, and I want the CBI to come back again as a credible agency as this is the only hope for people like us who fight for justice for their murdered family members who gave up there life in the service of the this nation.

Sir, I have great hope, now that as you have taken over the agency and I can now expect to bring justice to my deceased brother who sacrificed his life for the good of our society. Sir I request that if you give me some of your valuable time, I may explain to you the facts of the case

 Sir I have mailed you with great hope, and will be obliged if you look into this matter.

 Sandeep Shetty (brother of Satish Shetty)For someone who cut his teeth in the family business as the suave, media face of a large and controversial group, Anil Ambani is an amazingly angry man these days.

He is making enemies of the media, politicians and business partners with rare determination, even as the business empire that he wrested from his brother, Mukesh Ambani, after a horrendous public war, appears to be crumbling. The group has lost 68% in market value or Rs47,300 crorein the past 12 months.

Anil Ambanis role in the Rafale jet purchase dealwhich is now as controversial as Boforsis where he seems to have gone completely ballistic. According to reports, the defamation suits , filed against media houses, journalists and nine Congress Party functionaries, had added up to a phenomenal Rs75,000 crore in the past one year.

Apart from suing those who wrote about his role in the Rafale deal, there are defamation suits filed over the sale of his electricity distribution company to the Gautam Adani group and the sale of telecom assets to Mukesh Ambani which has now fallen through. The demand for damages in each of these cases has ranged from Rs1,000 crore to as much as Rs10,000 crore. The numbers alone are enough to warrant a serious debate on defamation as an exercise to gag the media or suppress negative information.

All this has serious implications for investors, especially those whose money goes into the capital market through mutual funds (MFs) and pension funds. Investors depend on expert fund managers and analysts to be alert, on top of developments and act quickly, to protect their wealth. What if they are prevented from doing their fiduciary duties to act in a fair and free manner? And who decides whether an action to sell shares in the market is negative and malicious at any particular time or proper and in investor interest?

We have two such situations here. Last week, I wrote about the Essel/Zee group where lenders (including MFs that had no business to lend against promoters shares) have done a risky deal, ostensibly to protect investor interest. They have jointly agreed to desist from selling shares pledged by Subhash Chandra for a few months, giving him time to raise funds through a strategic investor who could hold as much as 50% of the equity. Since the regulator is silent about the deal, we have no idea whether it will actually proceed as hoped by the, so-called, committee of lenders.

Meanwhile, the failure of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to act against the over-leveraged Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) for two years and allowing it to create a complex maze of companies and subsidiaries has jeopardised the savings of MF and provident fund investors. Yet, the regulator has not been held accountable and the founding cabal, responsible for inflicting huge losses on investors, appears to be getting away lightly.

It is in this context that we need to look at the litigation and notices exchanged between the Anil Ambani group and Edelweiss (specifically ECL Finance Ltd, a debenture-holding company) with whom he had pledged shares of Reliance Power Ltd (RPL).

Edelweiss has been accused hammering the price of Ambani shares by invoking the pledge on them which, allegedly, amounted to dumping shares in the market, instead of trying to get the best prices for them. Did Edelweiss really have a choice?

On 1st February, Reliance Communications (RCom) filed for bankruptcy after its Rs23,000-crore deal with Mukesh Ambani, for sale of telecom equipment, which was seen as a lifeline for the beleaguered group, had fallen through.

Meanwhile, its creditor Ericsson India Limited had filed three insolvency petitions demanding jail time for Anil Ambani for failure to repay its outstandings. On 13th February, the Supreme Court heard and reserved judgement on the issue. Ericsson argued in Court that Mr Ambani had issued a personal guarantee against the borrowing which was independent of his ability to sell RCom shares.

All this was already impacting stock prices of the group and the stage was set for a further decline. So, on 5th February, Edelweiss sold nearly Rs6 crore of RPLs shares, after issuing the company a notice on 4th February. The Anil Ambani group responded by rushing to the Bombay High Court seeking a reversal in the sale of shares. It also dashed off a letter to the Securities & Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) seeking action against Edelweiss.

In Court , on 13th February, Janak Dwarkadas, counsel for Edelweiss, pointed out that Edelweiss was within its rights to sell shares, after giving a 24-hour notice. He also pointed out that RPL had previously ignored demands to pay an additional interest of 2% on its loans after its share price had plummeted in August 2018. Again, when RCom filed for bankruptcy, it allegedly did not bother to communicate to Edelweiss. The Court refused any interim relief to RPL and will hear the matter today.

Meanwhile, RPLs letter to SEBI, on 11th February, demanded a ban on Edelweiss from the capital market as being not fit and proper. Its main allegations are largely procedural  essentially that Edelweiss usurped the powers of the debenture trustee and allegedly flouted documented process and safeguards for enforcement of security. (See full letter below).

The letter also argues that Edelweiss hammered RPLs shares and Futures, at its own broking arm, leading to a 57% drop in share price. If Edelweiss has, indeed, done this, which seems unlikely, it would be a foolish move that ought to be investigated and punished by SEBI. However, market participants point out that the mere sale of pledged shares would lead to a precipitous fall when there are no buyers for a beleaguered stock!

While RPL accuses Edelweiss of decimating value for over 31 lakh retail public shareholders of RPL, Edelweiss says it has "acted responsibly, not only in safeguarding the interests of its investors but also in ensuring that market integrity is maintained."

Edelweiss may have given a push to the fall in prices, but the many actions of the Anil Ambani group as well its past record had already combined to decimate the value of its various listed companies. It is another matter that the group does not seem to grasp the enormity of what is going on and is busy filing a public offer for its general insurance company.

Lets try and understand why this concerns investors in general.

For starters, India has followed the world in adopting disclosure-based regulation which puts the onus on investors to read public disclosures and act on them sensibly. What happens when companies fail to make proper disclosures or attempt to gag those who are most likely to put this information in the public domain, namely, media and analysts?

Secondly, what happens if companies use their financial and political clout over government and regulators to try and browbeat investors/MFs from selling these shares at, what they consider, the best time to optimise gains or reduce losses?

If this were to happen, the entire edifice of disclosure-based investment would break down  and we are already seeing this happen repeatedly. The National Stock Exchanges (NSEs) attempt to gag Moneylife by slapping a Rs100-crore defamation suit was a similar display of financial muscle to stop the various irregularities from coming to light. It, subsequently, led to a complete clean-up of top management and the investigation continues.

Thirdly, Edelweisss actions in selling shares to protect itself were straightforward. It was nowhere as unorthodox as the lenders forming a committee to protect the price of Zee group shares. If SEBI is silent about that move, ostensibly to protect investor interest, it cannot possibly fault a rapid sale by Edelweiss to salvage whatever value it can from the RPL shares in the event of a bigger crash. Who is to decide whether its actions precipitated a crash or was it merely the first out of the gate?

Since the market regulator has abdicated its responsibility by remaining silent, the courts may have to decide this highly complex and sensitive issue. Isnt that completely at odds with the idea of independent regulators with domain expertise? But, like many other aspects of Indias business and economy, we will have to muddle through the situation to find solutions.The Supreme Court has dismissed two court masters Manav Sharma and Tapan Kumar Chakaraborty for tampering with its order in Ericssons contempt plea against Reliance Communication Ltd (RCom) and personal appearance of the company chief Anil Ambani, reports The Telegraph . Meanwhile, during a hearing on Wednesday, the apex court has reserved its order in this matter.

According to the newspaper, on 7th January, the apex court had directed Mr Ambani to make personal appearance through a notice. However, when the order was uploaded on the SC website, it read: personal appearance of the alleged contemnor(s) dispensed with.

Counsel for Ericsson brought this to the notice of the Court after which a rectified order was uploaded on 10th January.

"After a preliminary inquiry, it was found that the omission of the word 'not' in the order was not accidental," the report says.

Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had directed the administrative side to dismiss the two employees.

During the hearing on Wednesday, Mr Ambani told the division bench comprising Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Vineet Saran that the Rs550 crore dues could not be paid to Ericsson in pursuance to the undertaking as its Rs18,100 crore deal with the Reliance Jio did not fructify.

The Court was told that the company received just Rs780 crore through the deal with Jio, which was paid to department of telecom (DoT) to save the spectrum possessed by the RCom.

RCom in its affidavit asserted that it received only Rs780 crore from Jio on pursuance to Rs18,100 crore deal. The affidavit also stated the share-holding pattern of RCom, Reliance Telecommunication and Reliance Infratel.

The Court was also told Rs5,000 crore (Rs2,000 crore and Rs3,000 crore), which is claimed by Ericsson that RCom received from Jio did not come through.

Describing the case as 'extraordinary', senior counsel Dushyant Dave, appearing for Ericsson, said he was not getting preferential treatment and claimed it was they who had agreed to pay.

Alleging that the non-payment of dues was nothing but a virtual disobedience of the Court order, Mr Dave said, the financial institutions were interested in saving the RCom.

He said the order of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is superimposed by the top court's order saying that they 'shall pay'.

Referring to the argument by senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, who represented Mr Ambani, that the undertakings were conditional, Mr Dave said "Am I so fool or naive that I will agree to an undertaking that I will get money subject to the agreement with Jio."

Mr Rohtagi had told the Court that every effort was made to save the company and there was an 'experiment' but all fell though as the deal of Rs18,100 crore with Jio did not succeed. "The entire basis of the exercise was an agreement for the sale of assets to Jio and finally Jio raised its hands," he stated.Debt-laden IDBI Bank Ltd has put on block a lavish 10-bedroom residential property belonging to Pradip and Neha Hirani, owner of the Kimaya chain of fashion stores. The 12,200 sqft property spread across five floors is located at Bandra in Mumbai and has two floors dedicated to recreation area and a swimming pool.

IDBI Bank has kept the minimum reserve price at Rs33.23 crore. As per the advertisement, the property located on Turner Road in Bandra, consists of a swimming pool, private external and internal lift, sea-view terraces, in-built spaces that can be used as personal gym, spa, steam, sauna, Jacuzzi, private theatre and four parking lots. The property would be auctioned on 22 February 2019.

Last year, speaking with Mumbai Mirror , Pradip Hirani had said that the intent was never to default on loan. I underwent a heart surgery two years ago, due to which the equated monthly instalments (EMIs) could not go in time. The bank is on our side and we are trying to sell the property. According to the bank's official valuation in 2105, the property is worth Rs48 crore. But it could be no less than Rs60 crore," the told the newspaper.

During August 2017, IDBI Bank issued notice to the Hiranis for repayment of Rs26.5 crore outstanding dues within 60 days. When the couple failed to make any payment, the lender approached Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court using the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (SARFAESI).

Last year in April, the Court appointed a group of lawyers as court commissioners and directed them to seal the properties of the Hiranis and hand it over to IDBI Bank.

.In this file image taken from a video recording, Omar Khalid Khorasani (C), a top Pakistan Taliban commander, gives an interview in Pakistan's Mohmand tribal region on June 2, 2011. General Asim Bajwa, director general of the Pakistani army's media division, reported the death of Umar Narai, also known as Khalifa Umar Mansoor or Khalid Khurasani, in a message on Twitter on July 13, 2016. REUTERS/Handout/File Photo

The Taliban said that its negotiators would meet US envoys for talks this month in Islamabad, and also sit down with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to discuss Afghanistan.

The announcement, not immediately confirmed by Washington or Islamabad, comes as America's chief negotiator tours the globe shoring up support for a peace process to end its longest war.

Zalmay Khalilzad, a former ambassador to Afghanistan, held extensive talks with the militants last month in Qatar, where the Taliban have an office. More talks are slated for later in February.

But a Taliban statement issued Wednesday said separate meetings would be held first on February 18 in Islamabad "by the formal invitation of the government of Pakistan".

Talks in Doha would follow a week later on February 25, the statement said.

Khalilzad is heading a large delegation on a tour of Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Qatar, Afghanistan and Pakistan to boost the peace process and bring all Afghan parties to the table.

He has expressed cautious hope for a deal before Afghan presidential elections slated for July, but says the Taliban must come to the table with the Kabul government, which the insurgents consider a US puppet.

President Ashraf Ghani -- who has expressed frustration at being sidelined from recent talks -- flew to Munich on Wednesday to attend an international security conference, his office said.

The Taliban also announced a meeting with Prime Minister Khan in Islamabad for "comprehensive discussions" about bilateral affairs with Afghanistan.

News reports in Pakistan last month had suggested Islamabad was open to hosting the next round of talks with the insurgents.

In January, as he travelled the region building support for the peace process, Khalilzad met Khan in Pakistan -- one of just three countries that recognised the Taliban regime before their ousting by US-led forces in 2001. Pakistan's foreign ministry said in December that President Donald Trump, who is pushing to end the 17-year war in Afghanistan, wrote to Khan seeking Islamabad's support for peace efforts.

Ties between Washington and Islamabad have soured recently.

US officials have repeatedly accusing Pakistan of turning a blind eye to, or even collaborating with, the Afghan Taliban, which launch attacks in Afghanistan from alleged havens along the border between the two countries.

The White House believes that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency and other military bodies have long helped fund and arm the Taliban, and believe a Pakistani crackdown on the militants could be pivotal in deciding the outcome of the war.

Pakistan has long denied the claims, saying thousands of its citizens have been killed in its long struggle with militancy.Pedestrians carry umbrellas during rain on a cold morning, in New Delhi. (Image: PTI)

An ethnic Miao woman poses with ethnic Miao men dressed as "Manghao" during an event to celebrate the Manghao Festival at Rongshui Miao Autonomous County, in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China.(Image: Reuters)

Communist Party of India (MarxistLeninist) CPI (ML) legislators stage a protest during the Budget Session of the state Assembly, in Patna. (Image: PTI)

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik shakes hands with World Bank India head Junaid Kamal Ahmad, in Bhubaneswar. (Image: PTI)

A pro-Brexit demonstrator protests outside the Houses of Parliament, in Westminster, London. (Image: Reuters)

Policemen prepare to destroy seized cannabis at a dumping site on the outskirt of Agartala. (Image: Reuters)

People shop flowers ahead of the Valentine's Day at a wholesale flower market in Kunming, Yunnan province, China. (Image: Reuters)

Congress President Rahul Gandhi during the All India Congress Seva Dal meet, in Ajmer. (Image: PTI)

South Korean President Moon Jae-In (R) attends with Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (L) during a meeting at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea. (Image: Reuters)Google plans to invest more than $13 billion this year on new and expanded data centers and offices across the US CEO Sundar Pichai announced the news in a blog post Wednesday, emphasizing the company's growth outside its Mountain View, California, home and across the Midwest and South.

"2019 marks the second year in a row we'll be growing faster outside of the (San Francisco) Bay Area than in it," he wrote. Google will build new data centers in Nevada, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia. Pichai estimated the construction of the new centers will employ 10,000 workers.

It makes good political sense for Google to highlight its expansions outside coastal cities, said CFRA Research analyst Scott Kessler. U.S. legislators have paid increasing attention to Google and other big tech companies in the past year, and are considering passing privacy laws to regulate the companies' reach.

Investing more widely across the U.S. could help it curry favor with federal politicians and officials, he said. Google is focused on expanding its cloud-computing business, a market where it faces stiff competition from larger rivals Amazon and Microsoft.

The company will have a physical presence in 24 states by the end of the year. It currently has locations in 21 states, and is expanding into Nevada, Ohio and Nebraska. Its expansion is likely also a way to attract new employees, Kessler said.

Google will add an office in Georgia, and expand its offices in several cities including in Seattle and Chicago. Google said it spent more than $9 billion on similar expansions across the country last year.

Google did not give an exact number of employees it expects to hire as a result of the 2019 expansions, but said it would be "tens of thousands" of full-time workers.Britain and European flags are arranged at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium December 8, 2017. REUTERS/Yves Herman - RC1457188290

The European Commission added Saudi Arabia, Panama and four US territories to a blacklist of nations it considers a threat because of lax controls on terrorism financing and money laundering, the EU executive said on Wednesday.

The move is part of a crackdown on money laundering after several scandals at EU banks, but it has been criticised by several EU countries, including Britain, that are worried about their economic relations with the listed states, notably Saudi Arabia. The United States has also disapproved.

The Saudi government said it regretted the decision in a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency, adding: "Saudi Arabia's commitment to combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism is a strategic priority".

Panama said it should be removed from the list because it recently adopted stronger rules against money laundering.

Despite pressure to exclude Riyadh from the list, the commission decided to list the kingdom, confirming a Reuters report in January.

Apart from reputational damage, inclusion on the list complicates financial relations with the EU. The bloc's banks will have to carry out additional checks on payments involving entities from listed jurisdictions.

The list now includes 23 jurisdictions, up from 16. The commission said it added jurisdictions with "strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing regimes".

Other newcomers to the list are Libya, Botswana, Ghana, Samoa, the Bahamas and the four United States territories of American Samoa, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam.

The US Treasury said the listing process was "flawed" and rejected the inclusion of the four US territories on the list.

The other listed states are Afghanistan, North Korea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and Yemen.

Bosnia, Guyana, Laos, Uganda and Vanuatu were removed.

BAD FOR BUSINESS?

The 28 EU member states now have one month, which can be extended to two, to endorse the list. They could reject it by qualified majority. EU justice commissioner Vera Jourova, who proposed the list, told a news conference that she was confident states would not block it.

She said it was urgent to act because "risks spread like wildfire in the banking sector".

But concerns remain. Britain, which plans to leave the EU on March 29, said on Wednesday the list could "confuse businesses" because it diverges from a smaller listing compiled by its Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is the global standard-setter for anti-money laundering.

The FATF list includes 12 jurisdictions - all on the EU blacklist - but excludes Saudi Arabia, Panama and US territories. The FATF will update its list next week.

London has led a pushback against the EU list in past days, and at closed-door meetings urged the exclusion of Saudi Arabia, EU sources told Reuters.

The oil-rich kingdom is a major importer of goods and weapons from the EU and several top British banks have operations in the country. Royal Bank of Scotland is the European bank with the largest turnover in Saudi Arabia, with around 150 million euros ($169 million) in 2015, according to public data.

HSBC is Europe's most successful bank in Riyadh. It booked profits of 450 million euros in 2015 in the kingdom but disclosed no turnover and has no employees there, according to public data released under EU rules.

"The UK will continue to work with the Commission to ensure that the list that comes into force provides certainty to businesses and is as effective as possible at tackling illicit finance," a British Treasury spokesman said.

MISSING "WASHING MACHINES"

Criteria used to blacklist countries include weak sanctions against money laundering and terrorism financing, insufficient cooperation with the EU on the matter and lack of transparency about the beneficial owners of companies and trusts.

Five of the listed countries are already included on a separate EU blacklist of tax havens. They are Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago and the three US territories of American Samoa, Guam and US Virgin Islands.

Critics said the list fell short of including several countries involved in money-laundering scandals in Europe.

"Some of the biggest dirty-money washing machines are still missing. These include Russia, the City of London and its offshore territories, as well as Azerbaijan," said Greens lawmaker Sven Giegold, who sits in the European Parliament special committee on financial crimes.

Jourova said the commission will continue monitoring other jurisdictions not yet listed. Among the states that will be closely monitored are the United States and Russia.

($1 = 0.8861 euros)Thailand- Filled with beaches and historic temples, Thailand is one of the most famous holiday destination. For USD 35, you can get a visa on arrival for 15 days. In Thailand, Bangkok, Phuket and Krabi are some of the most favoured places to visit. (Image: Reuters)

Indians travelling to Thailand have reasons to cheer as they can now avail e-Visa on arrival. Over 1.5 million Indians who travel to Thailand every year will benefit from this service.

The new e-Visa On Arrival (eVOA) service will enable a faster, more convenient arrival into Thailand not only for travelers from India but 20 other countries. The service has become available for applicants from February 14.

Other countries where eVOA service is available include Andora, Bulgaria, Bhutan, China, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Fiji, India, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

There are dedicated counters at Thailand airports  Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueng, Phuket and Chiang Mai  for faster immigration clearance.

The service also includes Express eVOA which will attract an additional fee. Eligible travelers can get their eVOA decision within 24 hours for any short-notice travel requirements.

The move is part of the Thailand governments initiative to promote tourism in the country.

I am confident that the Thailand eVOA service will further enhance ease of travel to Thailand, and thereby facilitate increase in travel and tourism to the country, said Zubin Karkaria, CEO, VFS Global Group.

The Thailand government partnered with VFS Global, an outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide, to launch the eVisa On Arrival service.

With the new eVOA service, travelers can avoid long queues, eliminate the need to fill up application forms on arrival and arrange for paper documentation or local currency, which travelers find challenging after a long flight.

"With the eVOA service, we offer a new-age digital solution to enhance the overall experience for the modern-day traveler who seeks to visit Thailand from 21 countries across the globe, said Pol. Lt. Gen. Surachate HAKPARN, Commissioner of Immigration Bureau.

He added that their aim is to effectively meet the objective of increasing tourism to the country through this solution, especially taking into consideration the all-important security aspect that allows pre-check of travelers ahead of their arrival, as it offers time to the Immigration Bureau for effective assessment.

In three simple steps, travelers can apply for eVisa On Arrival service:

> Visit thailandevoa.vfsevisa.com

> Fill a simple visa application, upload documents & pay online

> Get an e-visa on arrival on your email between 24 - 72 hours.Indias biggest telecom service provider Reliance Jio has been creating a steer in the market since its inception. The company disrupted the telecom industry by providing cheap data plans with free calling and SMS services.

Since then, there has been a rise in marketing campaigns and competitors have been taking a dig at each other focusing on better network and cheap plans.

Jio, yet again in one such marketing tweet, taunted its competitors on Valentines Day for providing slower speeds or poor connectivity.



Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

Once a neighbour in SIM slot 2,

Where are you?

Happy Valentine's Day. #WithLoveFromJio  Reliance Jio (@reliancejio) February 14, 2019

Jios official handle tweeted,  Roses are red, Violets are blue, Once a neighbour in Sim 2, where are you? Happy Valentine's Day. #WithLoveFromJio.

Jios sim cards work in the 4G enabled sim slot, which is usually SIM 1 in many smartphones.

Social media users have hilarious reactions to this funny tweet.

SIM 2 either destroyed or used for SD card Yogi (@yugandhar_u) February 14, 2019





Roses are red

Violets are blue

With Jio in SIM Slot 1,

Who cares about SIM Slot 2?#WithLoveFromJio

 Ajay Kudva (@ajaykudva) February 14, 2019

This is not the first time Jio has trolled its competitors. The telecom operator wished its competitors on Valentine's Day in 2017 when it complained to TRAI against Airtel, Vodafone and Idea for not providing enough Point of Interconnections.

Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.Om Prakash Rajbhar

Moneycontrol News

In a setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Uttar Pradesh, state Welfare Minister OP Rajbhar offered to resign on February 14.

Rajbhar is a part of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), which is in alliance with the BJP in UP. The SBSP has four legislators in the Assembly.

The SBSP has been a cribbing partner of the NDA in the state, with Rajbhar having threatened to quit the alliance before.

In January, Rajbhar had stated that the SBSP will switch to the Opposition if its demand of sub-quota in the existing OBC reservation was not met. He had also said the coming together of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party in the state might pose a "big challenge" to the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The cabinet minister had also given an ultimatum to the BJP in January regarding the implementation of the sub-quota.

"The BJP had promised to implement divisions under 27 percent reservation for backward classes. 80 days are left till the elections, when will you do it? If you don't keep your promise, we will contest on all 80 seats, we will release candidate list on February 25," Rajbhar had told ANI.

Rajbhar has spoken out against the BJP a number of times before . The BJP, on its part, has called the SBSP a "necessary evil" for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.rahul gandhi narendra modi

To win over young voters in the country, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has toed the Gully Boy line and has released a rap video  Banda apna sahi hai (loosely translated to - 'Our man is right' referring to the choice of a leader)   to laud Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The 2.38-minute song highlights the achievements of the government, speaks on a host of events, including the surgical strike and the crackdown on corruption.

The video, that has already garnered close to 38,000 likes and 3,600 retweets, advocates why Narendra Modi should come back to power this year.

While BJP certainly looks prompt at cashing in on the popularity of Hindi rap music at present especially around the release of Ranveer Singh's film, Congress isn't the one to be discarded easily.

Refusing to be on the back foot, the Grand Old Party of India channelled the Valentine's Day mood and answered BJP's rap with a slew of caricatures on its social channels on Thursday.

The caricature memes targeted six big BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Smriti Irani who herself posts memes quite frequently on her Instagram profile.

You can find the tweets by following this link.

The country goes to polls in April and March to elect the government for the next five years and parties are leaving no stone unturned to appease all sections of the society across demographics.

On the campaign trail days back, Rahul Gandhi, while accompanying Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at her Lucknow roadshow, mimicked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi by making a comment about his body language in 2014 and now.West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee (Image- Reuters)

The West Bengal units of the CPI(M) and the Congress may have got the go-ahead from their central leadership for entering into a seat-sharing pact for the Lok Sabha polls but clinching a perfect deal is likely to be a herculean task for them, leaders of the two parties said.

The proposed seat-sharing deal is being opposed by the constituents of the four-decade-old Left Front, down in the dumps in the state after its mauling in the 2011 Assembly polls by Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress that brought to an end the 34-year-unbroken stint of the Communists in power in the state.

The informal talks between the two parties that began sometime ago got a boost when their national leaderships gave the green signal to their state units last week to finalise the deal.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on February 19 after the party's politburo meeting that the election partners will be chosen keeping in mind the state-level equations, while the state Congress chief Somen Mitra maintained that party president Rahul Gandhi had authorised the West Bengal unit to chalk out the electoral strategy.

The Congress, sources said, wants to contest around 20 of the state's 42 Lok Sabha seats, and the Left Front, which has to distribute seats among the constituents from its share, is keen on fielding candidates in at least 26-28 places.

"There will be a informal seat-sharing between the two parties. We are not in a position to fight and win all the seats. So, we are likely to contest 26-28 seats, and in others, we would extend our support to secular and democratic forces, including the Congress," a senior CPI(M) politburo member told PTI on condition of anonymity.

The CPI(M), which has considerably weakened in the state, currently has just Lok Sabha MPs from West Bengal, while the Congress has four. Mausam Benazir Noor, the Congress MP from Malda, defected to the TMC last month.

Miffed at the CPI(M) cosying up to the Congress, once its arch rival, its allies like the CPI, All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), and the RSP have voiced reservations over the proposed pact as they are apprehensive they would have part with some seats from their quota.

A CPI(M) central committee member acknowledged assuaging their concerns would be difficult.

"The main concern of our allies the Forward Bloc, RSP and CPI is that they might have to part with their share of seats. So, if we take care of their demands, we don't think it would be a problem. After all, they too want to defeat the TMC and BJP," the CPI(M) leader said.

Nine parties constitute the Left Front in West Bengal.

Under an arrangement, the CPI(M) contests 32 seats, the RSP four, while Forward bloc and CPI field their nominees in three constituencies each.

RSP state secretary Kshiti Goswami told PTI that his party is opposed to any alliance with the Congress as both that party and the BJP represent the "ruling class".

"We have told the CPI(M) that we will not part with any seat from our share in Bengal. If the CPI(M) decides to go with Congress, then it is their decision. But we will contest all our seats," he asserted.

Goswami's views were shared by Forward Bloc state secretary Naren Chatterjee, who felt that the adjustment between the two parties in 2016 was disastrous for the Left and benefited only the Congress.

"We have told the CPI(M) that we will not share our quota of four Lok Sabha seats that we contest in Bengal," he said.

The CPI, however, is flexible but wants that the talks should involve all Left Front constituents and not just the CPI(M), a party leader said.

The Congress's state leadership feels that it is for CPI(M) to take care of the needs of its partners from its own quota of seats.

Senior Congress leader and chairman of the state coordination committee Pradip Bhattacharya told PTI that apart from the 20 seats that his party is keen to contest, it also intends to field nominees from Raiganj and Murshidabad, which are the only two seats that CPI(M) won in the last elections in the state.

He said both the seats are Congress strongholds and that the CPI(M) won from there because of a four-cornered contests.

Raiganj and Murshidabad continue to be a bone of contention between the two parties, but Bhattacharya said he is confident that the issue will get resolved.

Another senior state Congress leader said the six seats that the Congress and CPI(M) had together won in 2014 have been kept aside for now and seat-sharing talks are on for the remaining 36 constituencies.

When asked about how the two parties hoped to end their differences on seats they both intended to try their luck from, he did not rule out "friendly" contests.

The TMC had bagged 34 seats in 2014 with 39.30 per cent votes, while the Left Front could manage just two clinching 29.5 per cent votes. The Congress had four seats in its kitty and a vote share of 9.6 per cent, and the BJP got two seats with 16.9 per cent votes.

The BJP has emerged as the main challenger to the TMC over the last few years. Though Mamata Banerjee's party swept the elections to 3-tier panchayati raj institutions a few months ago, BJP was the runner up, pocketing nearly 7000 gram panchayat, panchayat samiti and zila parishad seats.

In the 2016 state Assembly polls, the Left Front- Congress combine had won just 76 of the state's 294 seats.

The Left Front, which bagged 32 seats, lost its position as the main opposition party to the Congress that clinched 44.K Chandrashekar Rao_KCR_TRS

Hitting out at the ruling TRS in Telangana for its alleged silence on the opposition protests against the NDA government at the Centre, the Congress unit of the southern state on February 13 said Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao should hold a stir in Delhi or elsewhere against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the alleged injustices meted out to the state.

"When the entire opposition is raising its voice against the injustices being done by the BJP government, the TRS is aligning with PM Modi," Telangana Congress treasurer Gudur Narayana Reddy said in a statement.

"When one state (Andhra Pradesh) is openly holding protests against the injustices, why KCR is supporting the BJP by remaining silent on the issue?," he asked.

Reddy alleged that Telangana did not get its due share in any of the five regular budgets and the latest interim budget of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

He said it was highly regrettable that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MPs did not effectively raise their voice in Parliament and miserably failed to fight for the rights of the southern state.Chief Minister V Narayanasamy and his ministerial colleagues continued their dharna outside the Raj Nivas for the second day on Thursday protesting Lt Governor Kiran Bedi's "negative stand" towards his government' proposals awaiting her approval.

Narayanasamy, his ministers and party MLAs had on Wednesday night slept on a pavement close to the Raj Nivas wearing black shirts. They have been demanding that that the Lt Governor accord sanction to 39 government proposals, including a free rice scheme.

Functionaries of different wings of the ruling Congress and the DMK have also joined the protest.

Bedi left for New Delhi early on Thursday morning under tight security of the Rapid Action Force (RAF).

A source in the Raj Nivas told PTI that she would return on February 20 and has invited the chief minister for discussion over the issues raised by him on February 21.

Asserting that their protest would continue till the government proposals were cleared, the chief minister said, "Even if it is not possible to immediately concede all the 39 pleas, the Lt Governor can give her nod to some of the important schemes including the free rice scheme and grants."

"When people's representatives are holding agitation in support of their charter of 39 demands since Wednesday seeking approval of Lt Governor, it is amusing indeed that Bedi had left for Chennai enroute Delhi," PWD Minister A Namassivayam told PTI.

"This shows that she does not respect the popular government. This is the height of her vanity."

On the helmet rule, Namassivayam said the government had asked the police not to be very stern against those not using helmets while driving two wheelers as awareness needs to be raised at least for a month before making the wearing of helmets compulsory.

He, however, clarified that they were not against the helmet rule as the Supreme court's directive to implement the rule should be complied with by all.

Meanwhile, barricades were erected around the Lt Governor's office to keep agitators at bay as a section of volunteers of different political parties raised slogans against the deployment of the RAF around Raj Nivas and at various vantage points.

Chief Minister Narayanasamy had led an agitation in front of the Parliament on January 4, demanding that the Centre sanction statehood for Puducherry and replace Kiran Bedi as the Lt Governor.

The Lt Governor and the government headed by Narayanasamy had been at loggerheads over various issues ever since Bedi assumed office in May 2016.Opposition Congress and NCP in Maharashtra on Wednesday held a meeting to finalise the contours of the proposed grand alliance against the ruling BJP, and decided to expedite its process.

The state unit leaders of both the parties met at the residence of Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil.

Congress leader Manikrao Thakre said it was decided to expedite the process of finalising the talks with Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Ambedkar, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana leader Raju Shetti and Left parties.

Talks with Samajwadi Party are in the final stages, he said.

"If Ambedkar is flexible, Congress is ready to accommodate him. Congress is positive about the issues he has raised other than the demand for number of seats," Thakre said.

According to him, the final seat-sharing formula would be decided after talks with smaller parties conclude.

"We need to see which constituencies will be given to the smaller parties. The formula will be balanced," he said.

NCP leader Ajit Pawar said the two parties will meet again tomorrow.

"We are ready to give four seats to Ambedkar and one seat to CPM," he said.

The former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra also said there was no discussion on the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat, which the Congress is staking claim to."Assistance will be provided at various locations throughout the community and throughout the week, including Mondays at the Melrose Park Public Library, Tuesdays at the Elmwood Park Senior Center and beginning March 5 at the Eisenhower Public Library, Wednesdays at the Proviso Township Office in Hillside, Thursdays at the Leyden Township Carl Fiorito Center in Franklin Park, Fridays at the Seniors Assistance Center in Norridge and Saturdays at Triton College in Room R-221.It's election season, and if you want to contribute to the efforts of your preferred political party more than just voting in its favour, you can join their ranks.

Joining a political party can be done within a few minutes by following a few simple steps online.

Here are the membership procedures of some major political parties:

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP):

The BJP, which is trying to retain power at the Centre, has an option on the top right of the page http://www.bjp.org/ to join the party.

Once you click on it, a page appears where users need to fill in their basic details. Any user of 18 years of age (born in or before February, 2001) can apply for membership.

For Indian citizens, it is necessary to fill in their home address, while for non-resident Indians, only contact details will work.

Also read | Stage set for battle royale: 2019 to witness Lok Sabha, simultaneous assembly polls

The user then needs to pay a minimum fees of Rs 105 (Rs 5 is membership fee and Rs 100 voluntary contribution). The members can also contribute a minimum amount of Rs 1,000 for party fund.

Congress:

The Indian National Congress, like the BJP, gives an option to become a party member on https://www.inc.in/en.

The page allows users of 15 years of age or above to proceed and follow procedure to become a Congressman, but it later asks for voter ID number. This means, that only a member of 18 years of age or above can become a party member.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP):

As per the Constitution of AAP, led by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, any citizen of India of the age of 18 years or above who subscribes to the objectives of the party shall be eligible to become its member.

To become a member, a user needs to go to https://aamaadmiparty.org/, click on get involved and choose become a member option. It will ask for basic details like name, address and how the user would like to contribute to the party.

Once you click on submit, the user will get an email confirming registration as a member of AAP. Membership ID of the user shall also be mentioned in the email.

Samajwadi Party (SP):

To become a member of SP, a user needs to go to the website of the party https://www.samajwadiparty.in/.

Click on join the party, fill in basic details and hit submit. A verification code will come to your registered mobile number. Fill in the code and the user will become a member of SP.

Bahujan Samaj Party

In case of SP's pre-poll ally in UP, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the page http://www.bspindia.org/become_a_member.php contains an option to join online. However, it does not work.

What do you get?

In most cases, the party charges some minimal amount of money to become a member. Across all the parties, in return of the membership registration request, parties send confirmation through either email or SMS.

Once the registration process is complete, the political parties entitled the member to visit the office of the party he/she registered for. The member can show his membership ID and ask for volunteering. Then the chief of the office, which could either be the party president or state president or district president or other, assigns the role.Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday hit out at the Congress, accusing the party of settling refugees in protected lands in the Northeast and using illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators as vote bank.

Rijiju said the BJP and the NDA government will do its best to protect the linguistic and cultural identities of the indigenous people of the Northeast.

"It is tragic that Congress did blunder by settling refugees in protected lands and made all illegal infiltrators from Bangladesh as their vote bank. We won't allow it anymore," he told reporters here.

The Union minister of state for home hails from Arunachal Pradesh, where several thousand Chakma refugees have been allegedly settled during the then Congress government.

Local people of Arunachal Pradesh have been opposing the "settlement" of Chakma refugees, who came from Bangladesh, in the state.

The issue of illegal immigration has been dominating the political landscape for several decades in Assam, which has witnessed an influx of people from neighbouring Bangladesh since the early 20th century.

A six-year agitation demanding identification and deportation of illegal immigrants was launched by the AASU in 1979.

It culminated in the signing of the Assam Accord on August 15, 1985.

During the update of the NRC, a massive Supreme Court-monitored exercise to identify genuine Indian nationals living in Assam, have excluded over 40 lakh people from the draft list published on July 30, creating a huge political controversy.

Illegal immigration is also a major cause of concern for the people of Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura.Rahul Gandhi

Congress president Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the RSS on Thursday, alleging its members wield clubs and spread hatred.

Addressing a meeting of the Congress Seva Dal, Gandhi asked Congress men to counter the hatred spread by the BJP and its ideological fountainhead RSS with love.

"RSS and BJP spread hate. They wear half pants, wield clubs while we work with love. This is the basic difference," he said.

Gandhi also accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of creating unrest in the Northeast.

Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi said, "He runs the country for a select group of 15-20 people."

For Modi, India is a "product" and he wants to divide its benefits among his "15-20 friends", but for the Congress, it is like a sea which has space for all, he said.

"Modi gives tall speeches, says nothing happened (in the country) in the past 70 years. That means Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar (Vallabhbhai) Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, (B R) Ambedkar and all chief ministers, people of the country, farmers, labours and small traders did nothing. It is an insult of every citizen," Gandhi said.

The erstwhile Congress government introduced rural job guarantee scheme MGNREGA and "we are waiving farmers' loans but Modi makes empty promises to farmers and loans worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore of his friends are written off," he said, while naming fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi.

The RSS-BJP men hold fear inside them which is reflected in the hatred they spread.

"Hate is another form of fear. There cannot be hate without fear and this is the difference between PM Modi and Me. We (Congress) have no hate because we do not have fear but they (BJP) show hate to conceal their fear and this is about all RSS people," Gandhi said.

The Congress president said when he hugged the prime minister in Parliament, Modi had hate for him.

"Modi says unwarranted things about me, my family and insults the entire Congress party saying that he will finish the Congress party but Congress president hugs him in Parliament. Hate can be defeated only by love. When I hugged him, I had no hate for him but he had hate and I saw on his face. He could not handle that," he said.

Gandhi said that Congress party would defeat the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

"We will defeat them, we will not finish them, will not murder them, will not beat them, but will defeat and that too with love," the Congress president said.

Gandhi said that the Seva Dal was banned by the Britishers in 1927. "The way Modi said 'Congress-mukt Bharat', Britishers also said 'Seva Dal-mukt Bharat'. They did not ban RSS but banned Seva dal, he said.

He said that Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Subhas Chandra Bose were jailed for years but none of them sought apology from the Britishers whereas V D Savarkar sought apology for nine times because he had fear in him.

"Savarkar could not overcome fear therefore hate came out. Gandhiji overcame fear so love came out," he said, while calling upon the Seva Dal workers to spread love and counter hate by love.

Underlining the importance of Seva Dal in Congress party, Gandhi rued that the Seva Dal was not given due respect and place in the party and assured them that the organisation would get its respect from the party president, chief ministers and other office-bearers.

He said that he wants to see "white cap" and uniform of the Seva Dal in every corner of the country.

"Wherever there is storm, violence, hatred, I want to see Seva Dal and its love there," he said.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot also addressed the convention and highlighted the role of the Seva Dal.

The two-day 'adhiveshan' of the Seva Dal was organised after 30 years.Arvind Kejriwal,aap,aam aadmi party

The Congress has "more or less" ruled out an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday, a day after he had participated in a meeting with opposition leaders, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Responding to a question on an alliance with the Congress, he said it has "more or less ruled out the alliance (with AAP)".

Asked whether the AAP was more eager for an alliance with the Congress, he said the BJP would benefit in a three-cornered contest.

Moving forward on a united anti-BJP front for the Lok Sabha elections, top opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee Wednesday agreed to work together to prepare a common minimum programme to oust the Modi government and to consider forging a pre-poll alliance.

The meeting, hosted by NCP president Sharad Pawar at his residence here, also saw Congress chief Gandhi and Kejriwal coming together for the first time.Rahul Gandhi

Addressing the Jan Akrosh Rally, Congress President Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of corruption in the Rafale deal.

He said, "PM Modi took money from the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force and gave it to Anil Ambani."

He even cited the French President saying he was asked to take the project away from HAL and give it to Anil Ambani. "We are not the only ones chanting 'chowkidar chor hai', everyone in France is chanting the mantra too," he added.

Taking his attack on the Rafale deal a step further, Rahul Gandhi said that is not the only "theft" that has happened in the country under PM Modi. "It has happened in granting land and water resources," he said.

"On the one hand, farmers demand farm loan waivers, and on the other, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said they won't waive farm loans. Meanwhile, loans of Anil Ambani (Rs 45,ooo crore) , Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi (Rs 35,000 crore) and Vijay Mallya (Rs 10,000 crore) have been waived. What explains this?" asked a furious Gandhi.



Congress President @RahulGandhi receives the warmest of welcomes from the people of Valsad, Gujarat ahead of his rally. #GujaratJanAakroshRally pic.twitter.com/l7AKKWT74y

 Congress (@INCIndia) February 14, 2019

Reiterating that Congress has waived off loans in the three states that they recently won, Rahul Gandhi said they planned to do the same in Gujarat if the party was voted to power. "Kamal Nath (Madhya Pradesh CM) did it in 6 hours and Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan CM) did it in 2 days," he said.

He accused the BJP of crying foul over the dearth of money in government coffers and spending it recklessly on the industrial corridor and the bullet train. "It's not about money, it is about justice. And the tribal community and farmers deserve justice,"Gandhi said.

He attacked the Narendra Modi-led BJP government for "ruining the MSMEs in Gujarat" because of the rollout of demonetisation and GST (Goods and Services Tax). Gandhi said, "Did you see Anil Ambani stand in the queue? While farmers, tribals, service class people were standing in the queue, rich businessmen were busy converting their black money to white behind closed doors."

He even alleged that Jay Shah, son of BJP President Amit Shah, converted Rs 700 crore worth of black money to white.

Accusing the BJP government of "humiliating the farmer by giving them Rs 17 a day", he said it was the Congress party that had rolled out schemes like MNREGA, Land Acquisition Act, and schemes to protect the tribal community.

"It was under the Congress government that the Green Revolution, the White Revolution and the computer boom happened. This time, we are going to do something more revolutionary and historic! We will bring in the concept of guaranteed income," Rahul Gandhi said.

He assured that if voted to power, the Congress party will directly transfer money into the accounts of the poor.

Reliance Defence has denied any wrongdoing in the Rafale deal.Amit Shah_BJP

BJP president Amit Shah Thursday said his party will forge a "strong alliance" to face the coming Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu.

This alliance, which could be forged in a "short span," will contest from all the 39 Lok Sabha seats, he said, addressing handloom and powerloom associations in Erode.

"I want to assure the people of Tamil Nadu that the BJP is going to contest the elections in a strong alliance with an ally," he said in his brief remarks on a poll-pact.

Shah's remarks assume significance as it comes a day after a senior AIADMK leader admitted that the ruling party was in "discreet talks" with the saffron party and some others for an electoral alliance for the Lok Sabha polls.

Tamil Nadu has 39 parliamentary segments while neighbouring Puducherry has one.

AIADMK deputy co-ordinator R Vaithilingam, MP, had Wednesday said the party was holding 'discreet' alliance talks with parties, including the BJP. "Discreet discussions are on," and the outcome will be announced after the talks were over by AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam and Joint coordinator K Palaniswami, he said.

When asked about the parleys with the BJP, PMK and DMDK, he had said the "talks are on." Asked with which parties the AIADMK was holding discussions, Vaithilingam had said "the parties you said now," indicating at BJP, PMK and DMDK.

Amid reports that the AIADMK was in touch with the BJP for a possible alliance for the parliamentary elections, Panneerselvam had recently said the party was indeed holding talks with some national and regional parties.BSP Chief Mayawati,congress bsp alliance

The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh and the Congress regime in Madhya Pradesh are examples of "state terror" and should be condemned, BSP chief Mayawati said on February 14.

Her strong statement came after 14 Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students were booked for sedition on February 12 night and the Madhya Pradesh government imposed the National Security Act (NSA) on Muslims on charges of cow slaughter earlier in the month.

"Congress government in MP like BJP slapped atrocious NSA against Muslims for cow slaughter. Now the Uttar Pradesh BJP government has booked 14 AMU students under notorious sedition charges. Both are examples of state terror and condemnable," Mayawati said in a statement issued here.

"People should decide what is difference between the Congress and BJP governments," she added.

In Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, 14 students, including the AMU students union chief, were booked under sedition charges after some students and a TV channel crew got into an altercation over reports of a visit by AIMIM lawmaker Asaduddin Owaisi.

In Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, authorities slapped NSA and jailed on three Muslim men for allegedly killing a cow in Khandwa earlier this month.BJP_bhartiya Janta party

The ruling BJD in Odisha and the opposition BJP on February 14 lodged a complaint against each with the visiting Election Commission of India (ECI) team. A six-member ECI team led by Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa and comprising deputy election commissioner Chandrabhusan Kumar, director general (Expenditure) D K Sharma, ADG (PIB) Sefali Saran, Director Nikhil Kumar and secretary Rakesh Kumar are in Odisha to review the poll preparations in the state.

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) levelled the allegations against each other when their representatives met the ECI team.

BJD leader Amar Patnaik, who led his party's delegation said, "We have urged the ECI to keep a strict vigil on petrol pumps which are being used to stock and transfer cash during elections. This has happened during previous by-poll."

Patnaik said the regional party has also drawn the attention of the ECI towards the violence being allegedly perpetrated by the BJP in the by-poll at Bijepur assembly segment in Bargarh district.

BJP leader Bhrugu Buxipatra alleged that the ruling BJD was using state government employees for their party work.

"We fear that the state government has raised Biju Yuva Vahini (BYV) to rig polls. The ECI has been urged to keep a tab on the BYV," Buxipatra said.

Senior Congress leader Narasingha Mishra after meeting the ECI team told reporters, "We have drawn (the) attention of the ECI towards the blatant misuse of government machineries by the state's BJD government and Centre's BJP government."

"We have also sought protection from the ECI to ensure a free and fair elections," he added.

Mishra also alleged that both the BJD and BJP were using money, muscle and government power to motivate voters.

Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Narayana Reddy said that his party had urged the poll body to use ballot papers as EVMs have "lost their credibility".

"We have also urged the ECI to stop groups like the Biju Yuva Vahini," Reddy said.

Later, the ECI team reviewed the poll preparedness with the District Election Officers, Police IGs, SPs and three revenue divisional commissions of the state.

The ECI team also held discussions with the senior officers of the central para military forces.

Sources said the ECI team was also scheduled to discuss the law and order situation with the chief secretary, DGP, Law secretary and Central government officials on Friday.

Odisha Assembly elections are also due along with the Lok Sabha polls.N Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, speaks during a sit-in protest in Kolkata, India, February 5, 2019. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri - RC16FC5B2810

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's daylong hunger strike demanding special status for his state cost the state nearly Rs 11 crore.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief staged 'Dharma Porata Deeksha' (daylong protest for justice) at the Andhra Bhavan in the national capital from 8 am to 8 pm on February 11.

For this, the government ordered the release of nearly Rs 11 crore from state funds. The expenditure was mentioned in government orders (GOs) published on the state governments website.

According to a GO issued by the General Administration department on February 6, the government sanctioned Rs 1.12 crore to hire two special trains to take Naidus supporters to Delhi in order to attend the protest.

Government after careful examination hereby accord administrative sanction for an amount of Rs.1,12,16,465/- (Rupees One Crore Twelve Lakhs Sixteen Thousand Four Hundred and sixty Five only) to IRCTC Ltd, read the GO.

On the same day, the Finance Department also issued an order (GO number 215) mentioning the order to release Rs 10 crore for meeting the expenditure of the one-day protest in New Delhi. Funds were provided for arrangement of trains for providing transportation of participants from different regions of AP State and payment of other bills.

After the issue surfaced, the government drew criticism for spending extravagantly on the protest. In response to the reports, the government issued a clarification saying only Rs 2 crore was spent for the protest and that the Budget Release Order refers to the provision of Rs 8 crore for other state functions, as per an India Today report.

The hunger strike became a rallying point for various opposition leaders who visited the protest venue to back him and attack the central government.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, National Congress chairperson Farooq Abdullah, NCP's Majeed Memon, Trinamool Congress' Derek O' Brien, DMK's Tiruchi Siva, Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut were among those who met the TDP chief to express their support.BJPs gains in Lok Sabha polls | The saffron party president said that the BJP was looking to bag between 35-40 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, West Bengal and the Northeast. He also predicted that BJP would form the state government in Odisha.

BJP National President Amit Shah on Thursday hit out at the opposition alliance, saying it 'lacked' leaders, policies and philosophy, and billed his party-led NDA as "strong."

Taking potshots at the DMK-Congress combine, he said the proposed alliance was not for the benefit of Tamil Nadu but only to indulge in "scam and corruption."

The NDA under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ready to lead the nation for a successive term, the BJP chief said while addressing handloom and powerloom associations in this town.

There were two alliances in the country, "one under (Congress chief) Rahul Gandhi and a 'gatbandhan' which has no leader," Shah said.

"Under BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, NDA's strong alliance is ready to lead the nation," apparently for a second term after the Lok Sabha polls this year, he added.

Detailing various government initiatives taken by the Centre for Tamil Nadu's growth, Shah said his party would face the coming polls from as part of a "strong" alliance..Bikaner: Union minister BJP senior leader Sushma Swaraj during a party meeting, in Bikaner, Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018. (PTI Photo) (PTI12_2_2018_000148B)

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will undertake a four-day visit to Bulgaria, Morocco and Spain from February 16, the ministry said Thursday. In the first leg of her visit, Swaraj will be in Bulgaria on February 16 and February 17.

The visit is a follow-up to the state visit of President Ram Nath Kovind to Bulgaria in September last year. This is the first ever visit of an Indian external affairs minister to Bulgaria, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

During the visit, Swaraj will meet with the deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Bulgaria. The two leaders will discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest.

She will pay floral tributes at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the South Park in Sofia. The statue was unveiled last year by President Kovind along with his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev to mark the celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary.

She will also interact with the Indian community and Friends of India in Sofia during the visit.

In the second leg of her tour, she will visit Kingdom of Morocco from February 17-18.

The visit is in "pursuit of India's objective of enhanced engagement with the Kingdom and will provide an opportunity to hold in-depth discussions on bilateral, regional and global issues", the MEA statement said.

In Morocco, she will interact with her counterpart Nasser Bourita. She will also call on King Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, Saad Dine El Otmani, Head of Government, and Habib El Malki, President of the Chamber of Representatives, Parliament.

Three MoUs for cooperation in the areas of counter terrorism, housing and human settlements and youth matters are expected for signing during the visit.

During her visit, she will also interact with the Indian community in Rabat.

Swaraj will be in Spain from 18-19 February. She will hold a bilateral meeting with her counterpart Josep Borrell Fontelles to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual concern.

The Spanish government will also confer upon Swaraj the prestigious Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit by the Spanish Government for India's swift response through Operation Maitri in rescuing 71 Spanish nationals from Nepal in April 2015 in the wake of the disastrous earthquake.

Swaraj will also interact with the Indian Community in Spain.A fire broke out at a commercial building in west Delhi's Naraina on Thursday, Delhi Fire Service said.

A call was received at 7.10 AM after which 23 fire tenders were rushed to the spot, a senior fire service officer said.

No causality was reported. The cause of the fire was not immediately known, he said.

The incident occurred days after a massive fire at a hotel in Karol Bagh claimed 17 lives.Shiv Sena_BJP_Devendra Fadnavis_uddhav thackeray

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who returned here leaving his Vidarbha tour halfway through, rushed to the residence of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray Thursday evening.

He was accompanied by BJP leader and state revenue minister Chandrakant Patil, party sources said.

Senior Sena leader and state industries minister Subhash Desai was also present as Fadnavis met Thackeray at 'Matoshri', the Thackeray family's residence in suburban Bandra.

Fadnavis, who was on Vidarbha tour, cancelled some of his programmes scheduled for Thursday evening and rushed back to Mumbai to meet Thackeray after the Sena chief indicated that he would like to meet, sources said.

The meeting was in progress late Thursday night.

The Sena has been regularly hitting out at its ally BJP on various issues over the last few years.

While the BJP has indicated that it would like to form alliance with it for the coming Lok Sabha elections, the Sena has been giving mixed signals.At least 40 CRPF jawans were killed and dozens injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Awantipora, Pulwama district in Jammu and Kashmir. This is the worst attack on India's armed forces since the Uri airbase attack in 2016.

Banned terrorist organisation, allegedly backed by Pakistan, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has claimed responsibility.

Two buses in the CRPF convoy were targetted in a high-intensity IED blast. A CRPF official told news agency ANI, "There were 70 vehicles in the convoy and one of the vehicles came under attack. The convoy was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar."

Media reports suggest JeM spokesperson Muhammad Hassan, in a text message to Kashmiri News agency GNS, has claimed that a local fidayeen terrorist Aadil Ahmed executed the attack.

Zulfiqar Hassan, IG CRPF(Operations), told mediapersons that the J&K police has taken up the investigation. "The injured have been shifted to hospital. Post-blast analysis is being done on the spot," he added.



Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly.

 Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 14, 2019

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the incident "despicable" and "dastardly" and said that the "sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain."

PM Modi also said that he has spoken to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other top officials.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti condemned the incident.



Disturbing news coming in from #awantipura . Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several have been injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?  Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 14, 2019



Former chief minister and NC leader Omar Abdullah also expressed his condolences, saying the "fidayeen attack" by JeM is "reminiscent of the dark days of militancy pre 2004-05".



Terrible news coming from the valley. A number of CRPF soldiers are reported to have been killed & injured in an IED blast. I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved. #Kashmir  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 14, 2019





Jaish has claimed the blast as a suicide (fidaeen) attack reminiscent of the dark days of militancy pre 2004-05. #Kashmir  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 14, 2019



Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu expressed his shock at "the dastardly attack", extending his condolences for the bereaved and wishing a speedy recovery for the injured:

Shocked by the dastardly terrorist attack in which CRPF personnel were martyred. My heartfelt condolences to bereaved families and prayers for speedy recovery of the injured. @crpfindia VicePresidentOfIndia (@VPSecretariat) February 14, 2019

Union Minister Arun Jaitley said that the attack is a "cowardice & condemnable act" and stated that "terrorists will be given unforgettable lesson for their heinous act."



Attack on CRPF in #Pulwama, J&K is a cowardice & condemnable act of terrorists. Nation salutes martyred soldiers and we all stand united with families of martyrs. We pray for speedy recovery of the injured. Terrorists will be given unforgettable lesson for their heinous act.  Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) February 14, 2019



Reacting to the attack, BJP President Amit Shah said "our forces will remain against such acts of terror and defeat them."

Pained beyond words by the terror attack on our soldiers in Pulwama (J&K). It is an act of cowardice. My deepest condolences are with the families of our soldiers who have lost their lives. Our forces will remain firm against such acts of terror and defeat them. Amit Shah (@AmitShah) February 14, 2019

Meanwhile, it has been reported that Home Minister Rajnath Singh is in talks with RR Bhatnagar, DG CRPF, to take stock of the situation. The Home Minister, who was scheduled to address a rally in Patna on February 15 has canceled the event and will visit Srinagar, according to reports.

J&K Rajbhavan PRO issued a statement saying, "Governor Satyapal Malik observed forces responsible for the insurgency in J&K are desperate and frustrated and just want to prove their presence. Visibly, it seems to be guided from across the border as Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility."

"The Governor has urged all the Security Forces Commanders to enhance surveillance on every front and directed the District and Divisional Civil and Police Administration to immediately review the security management of all important installations and establishments," the statement read.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi also condemned the "cowardly attack on the CRPF convoy" and extended his condolences to the family of the deceased:



Im deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a #CRPF convoy in J&K in which 10 of our brave men have been martyred and many others wounded. My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 14, 2019



Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee expressed her grief for the martyred jawans:

Saddened that 13 CRPF jawans became martyrs today in Pulwama. We salute our brave jawans and extend our solidarity and condolences to their families. Our prayers for those injured. We wish them a speedy recovery Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 14, 2019live bse live

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Gas importer Petronet LNG on Thursday signed an initial agreement with Tellurian Inc to invest in its proposed Driftwood project in Louisiana in the United States and buy liquefied natural gas (LNG), a source privy to the matter said.

The pact was sealed during a high level US-India commercial dialogue to advance trade and investment ties.

Amos Hochstein, Senior Vice President in Tellurian Inc, signed the memorandum of understanding with Petronet LNG managing director Prabhat Singh through a video link.

Hochstien was part of the delegation that was meant to accompany U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross but the trip was canceled due to bad weather in the United States.

India is expanding its pipeline network and building new LNG import terminals to boost use of the cleaner fuel in the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target to raise the share of natural gas in India's overall energy mix to 15 percent in the next few years from about 6.5 percent.live bse live

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On a recent earnings call, VV Apparao, Chief Human Resources Officer at HCL Technologies, said that the company will continue its localisation efforts that now stand at 65.6 percent, and that the company is looking to hire 2000 more people overseas in the next fiscal.

HCL is not the only company that is stepping up its talent pool overseas, though it has the highest among its peers. In the last two to three years, most IT firms have increased their hiring overseas, in the wake of tightening visa regulations in their biggest market  the US.

For instance, Infosys has made a commitment to hire 10,000 locals by over a two year period and has already hired close to 7,500 people so far. TCS and Wipro too are investing significantly in this space.

But this overseas recruitment come at a cost to the company and the industry ecosystem as a whole, according to industry experts.

Kris Lakshminath, chief executive officer and managing director, The Head Hunters India, said, They have no option but to hire locally with visa regulation tightening. That means that the companies have to spend more as hiring talents overseas is more expensive than hiring Indian talent. This spend is further augmented by the rising demand for special skills such as big data analytics. For instance if a fresher with a basic qualification is paid Rs 4 lakh per annum in India, his/her data analyst counterpart is paid Rs 8 lakh. The same talent in the US would be a lot higher.

Due to this, the companies margins have come down by one to two percent in the last couple of years, Lakshminath added. The way it is going, we will be 70-30 hiring patterns where 70 percent of the workforce will be in India and 30 percent overseas. It was 95-5 few years back and is going at 80-20 now, he said.

The shift is also having a large impact on human resources consultancy firms, who are highly dependent on the US' hiring patterns. Umesh Belludi, Co-founder, BrainHR, a HR consultancy firm based in Bengaluru, said, Our business has come down by 30-35 percent since the US started imposing visa regulations from 2015. Between 2015 and now, the business has come down by 30 percent for the company.

A majority of the companys business comes from processing H1-B visas and matching H1B visa holders in the US with the right company, which nets a decent margin from the company's vendors. The new visa regulations meant both businesses have take a hit. Though we are still profitable, our profits have come down. Our margins have come down by 25 percent, he added.

To offset the loss, the company is now focusing on finding jobs for Green Card holders and citizens. It is also entering different verticals and bringing more clients on board. Earlier we used to work only with fewer companies. But now we have expanded our client base to over 30, he added.live bse live

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The quarter ended December 2018 was difficult for luggage companies due to a depreciating currency and imposition of import duties. However, Safari Industries (CMP: Rs 711, M Cap: Rs 1,588 crore) negotiated these challenges well and reported modest earnings performance, although the reported headline numbers were weak.

For Safari, the growth in the topline at 39 percent was robust. This is the third consecutive quarter of extremely strong revenue performance. This reiterates our thesis that there is a meaningful shift from unorganised to unorganised players post-GST. Safari being well-entrenched with the economy offerings is in a vantage position.

The depreciating Indian currency (impact due to soft luggage import from China) coupled with the increase in import duty took a toll on margin, with the gross margin declining 780 basis points YoY (year on year) and 320 basis points QoQ (quarter on quarter) to 40.1 percent.

Thanks to better management of costs, the decline in EBIDTA (earnings before interest depreciation, tax and amortisation) was 450 basis points YoY and 150 basis points QoQ to 7.5 percent.

While the short-term outlook may be subdued as the company may be having high cost inventory and it may be difficult to pass on the cost increase due to the hyper competitive environment, the long term thesis is only getting strengthened.

Outlook

Safari is the third largest player in the organised luggage market and has close to 10 percent market share.

In terms of price hierarchy, Safaris products fall at the bottom end of the pyramid as it is more of a value for money brand. Safaris offerings compete with American Tourister (AT) of Samsonite and Skybags of VIP. On an average, Safaris products are at an 8% discount to AT and 4% discount to Skybags. Thus, Safari is more into a mass category and thus is a preferred choice for customer who wants to upgrade after reduction in price gap between organized and unorganized players post implementation of GST.

Safaris products are tailored for all customer categories suiting all possible occasions but is currently dominated by Soft luggage (close to 77%). Within the soft luggage category, transition towards 4 wheels and rolling duffels will drive growth. In the hard luggage category, there is clear shift from polypropylene to polycarbonate.

The soft luggage products are imported from China while the hard luggage products are manufactured domestically at its plant located in Halol, Gujarat. Safari has increased its hard luggage manufacturing capacity at Halol. To de-risk the business, the company is exploring the possibility to tap some local vendors to manufacture back packs in order to reduce dependency on China.

The company has aggressive growth ambitions and envisages to grow at 2x the industry rate and double its revenues over the next 2 years. Apart from changes instituted by the management, structural tailwind coming in from gain in market share post introduction of GST, emergence of new product categories and strong demand emanating for back packs is likely to drive growth.

Safari trades at 33.6x FY20e earnings and should be accumulated at the current levels.Chairman of Trent and Managing Director of Tata International Noel Tata is the latest joinee on Tata Trust board. It has been long speculated that the charitable organisation has been looking to bring him on board and groom him to succeed Ratan Tata as Chairman of the Tata Trusts.

Noel is the last of the Tata brothers to be inducted on the Tata Trusts board -- his half-brothers Ratan Tata and Jimmy Tata are already on it. Tata Trusts holds a 66 percent stake in the $100 billion Tata conglomerate's holding company, Tata Sons.

Noel's entry coincides with the exit of Tata Trust Managing Director R Venkataramanan, who has been overseeing the Trusts' operations for the last five years.

Read: R Venkataramanan to exit as managing trustee of Tata Trusts

Noel Tata (62) has extensive experience in various fields including marketing, administration and investments.

The Chairman of Trent, who graduated from the University of Sussex, and attended the International Executive Programme at INSEAD business school in France, began his career at Tata International.

Over the years, he has served at top posts in the industry such as the Chief Executive Officer at Trent, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Trent Hypermarket Private, Non-Executive Chairman at Voltas, as well as Non-Executive Non-Independent Director of Titan.

The media-shy Noel earned his reputation largely by developing Trent's department store, Westside, from one-store operation in 1998 to a chain of successful stores. Under Tata's direction, Westside gained the confidence of the middle and upper-middle classes, which made up 25 percent of India's population by providing affordable clothing, housewares, toys, and cosmetics.

Owing to his wide areas of expertise and a good managerial record, Noel's name was in the top list of contenders for the Chairman of Tata Sons post. In 2011, Noel's brother-in-law Cyrus Mistry was named Chairman of Tata Sons and he was removed from the position in 2016. At that time too, Noel's name surfaced as a top contender for the post. The company's search committee, however, picked N Chandrasekaran, then Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) CEO as Chairman of Tata Sons.

His entry into the Trusts would now be the most prominent role he has been cast in.

Listen: Podcast | The business of family  The Tatas

While Noel Tata has been a top contender for the corner office job in Bombay House, it is widely believed that the relationship between him and Ratan Tata has been cold.

Despite his role as a group director, his interactions with Ratan Tata have been limited. However, media reports suggest that in the recent past their equations have changed. "At the Tata leadership summit last July, Noel and Ratan Tata went back home together in the same car," a Tata executive told The Times of India.

Noel Tata is married to Aloo Mistry, the daughter of Pallonji Mistry, who is the largest single shareholder in Tata Sons.

Noel had backed Ratan Tata in the battle against Cyrus Mistry, former group chairman and his brother-in-law.Here are stocks that are in the news today:

Results on February 14: Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Ashok Leyland, Jet Airways (India), Indiabulls Real Estate, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Voltas, Shree Renuka Sugars, Vikas EcoTech, Liberty Shoes, AVT Natural Products, Megasoft, TPL Plastech, S&S Power Switchgears, Mohit Industries, Gammon Infrastructure Projects, Thiru Arooran Sugars,

IFCI, Parsvnath Developers, Magnum Ventures, Uttam Value Steels, Wanbury, Impex Ferro Tech, Provogue (India), Mandhana Industries, Videocon Industries, Visesh Infotecnics, W S Industries (I), Lypsa Gems & Jewellery, Nitin Fire Protection Industries, JMT Auto, Pearl Polymers,

India Tourism Development Corporation, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra), Prime Securities, Ahluwalia Contracts (India), Vipul, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, Texmo Pipes and Products, Neueon Towers, Cox & Kings, The Motor & General Finance, United Breweries, Sunil Hitech Engineers,

Tilaknagar Industries, Empee Distilleries, Parenteral Drugs (India), DSJ Communications, Technofab Engineering, JK Tyre & Industries, Brooks Laboratories, S Chand And Company, Lakshmi Energy and Foods, Surya Roshni, Petron Engineering Construction, Refex Industries, Dynacons Systems & Solutions,

Jain Studios, Ducon Infratechnologies, Eveready Industries India, Eastern Silk Industries, BAG Films and Media, IMP Powers, Kaveri Seed Company, LCC Infotech, Landmark Property Development Company, Rajvir Industries, Simplex Infrastructures, Bharat Rasayan, Vishnu Chemicals, Orient Refractories,

Bharat Dynamics, La Opala RG, Mindteck (India), MBL Infrastructures, Sumeet Industries, Ortel Communications, Sadbhav Engineering, Unitech, Vaswani Industries, Raj Oil Mills, Talwalkars Healthclubs, Bkm Industries, Pritish Nandy Communications, Kavveri Telecom Products, PNB Gilts, Simbhaoli Sugars,

Ess Dee Aluminium, Bilpower, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, High Ground Enterprise, KSS, Regency Ceramics, Mohota Industries, Nitco, Nagreeka Capital & Infrastructure, CMI, Albert David, Rollatainers, BGR Energy Systems, Superhouse, Sujana Universal Industries, Orient Press, Tarmat, Deep Industries,

Shri Lakshmi Cotsyn, Bartronics India, Infibeam Avenues, Manaksia, Easun Reyrolle, Sharon Bio-Medicine, Bharatiya Global Infomedia, Eon Electric, Sathavahana Ispat, Panacea Biotec, Prajay Engineers Syndicate, Gayatri Projects, Responsive Industries, Mcleod Russel India, MVL, Williamson Magor & Company,

Venus Remedies, Deepak Fertilizers and Petrochemicals Corporation, Nagreeka Exports, Time Technoplast, Agarwal Industrial Corporation, RPP Infra, Pochiraju Industries, Syncom Healthcare, Dalmia Bharat Sugar and Industries, Antarctica, AMD Industries, Asian Hotels (West), Shiva Texyarn,

NCL Industries, Cerebra Integrated Technologies, Sakthi Sugars, Rana Sugars, Prime Focus, Gokul Agro Resources, SMS Pharmaceuticals, Donear Industries, AMD Industries, Kellton Tech Solutions, Adhunik Metaliks, Castex Technologies, Gabriel India, Valecha Engineering, GI Engineering Solutions,

Bil Energy Systems, Puravankara, Genesys International Corporation, Nitin Fire Protection Industries, GMR Infrastructure, Splendid Metal Products, Steel Strips Wheels, MEP Infrastructure Developers, North Eastern Carrying Corporation, Talbros Automotive Components, Paisalo Digital, Jindal Cotex,

Rajshree Sugars & Chemicals, Khaitan (India), India Glycols, Shri Lakshmi Cotsyn, Zylog Systems, MSP Steel & Power, Sreeleathers, Advani Hotels & Resorts (India), MSP Steel & Power, Ortel Communications, Uniply Industries, Kesar Terminals & Infrastructure, Gokul Refoils and Solvent, Ducon Infratechnologies,

Nesco, Adroit Infotech, Weizmann, Bombay Rayon Fashions, Uttam Sugar Mills, Winsome Yarns, Page Industries, Alok Industries, Shiva Mills, ISMT, Kridhan Infra, KSK Energy Ventures, Global Offshore Services, Alankit, Goenka Diamond and Jewels, Manaksia Steels, Anant Raj, Cubex Tubings,

CCL Products (India), Tara Jewels, Patel Integrated Logistics, Talwalkars Healthclubs, Cura Technologies, ICSA (India), Radha Madhav Corporation, Creative Eye, Rainbow Papers, OM Metals Infraprojects, Palred Technologies, Kohinoor Foods, Tera Software, Vivimed Labs, Nahar Industrial Enterprises,

Bhandari Hosiery Exports, GVK Power & Infrastructure, PDS Multinational Fashions, Ortin Laboratories, Arihant Foundations & Housing, Kitex Garments, Nalwa Sons Investments, Ujaas Energy, Karda Constructions, Celestial Biolabs, Vijay Shanthi Builders, APL Apollo Tubes, Housing Development and Infrastructure,

Somi Conveyor Beltings, Sita Shree Food Products, Austral Coke & Projects, Hi-Tech Pipes, Salora International, Ganesh Housing Corporation, SMS Lifesciences India, Sezal Glass, Karma Energy, Sri Havisha Hospitality and Infrastructure, Abhishek Corporation, Visagar Polytex, Responsive Industries,

MMTC, Autolite (India), Ankit Metal & Power, Finolex Cables, Kaushalya Infrastructure Development Corporation, Patel Integrated Logistics, Bannari Amman Spinning Mills, Paras Petrofils

A2Z Infra Engineering Q3: Profit increases to Rs 5.7 crore versus Rs 1.02 crore; revenue rises to Rs 152 crore versus Rs 89.44 crore YoY.

Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Q3: Loss at Rs 19.65 crore versus loss Rs 25.81 crore; revenue rises to Rs 117.5 crore versus Rs 94 crore YoY.

Cornelis Vrieswijk resigns as CEO of GoAir, Jehangir Wadia appointed as interim CEO of GoAir

Yes Bank- RBI finds no divergence in provisioning, asset classification

ABB India board gives in-principle approval to segregate Power Grids operations

Oracle Fin Services Q3 - Cons net profit up 5.7% at Rs 306 cr vs Rs 289.6 cr (YoY)

Lemon Tree Q3 - Cons net profit up 34% at Rs 14 cr Vs Rs 10.3 cr (YoY)

Mercator Q3 - Cons net loss of Rs 449.7 cr Vs loss of Rs 105.3 cr (YoY)

RSWM Q3 - Net loss of Rs 28.5 cr Vs profit of Rs 9.2 cr (YoY)

Fortis Q3 - Net loss at Rs 180.1 cr Vs loss of Rs 19.1 cr (YoY)

Quick Heal Technologies Q3: Profit jumps to Rs 16.09 crore versus Rs 7.97 crore; revenue rises to Rs 65.9 crore versus Rs 63.6 crore YoY.

Tamil Nadu Newsprint & Papers Q3: Profit surges to Rs 50 crore versus Rs 27 crore; revenue rises to Rs 1,103 crore versus Rs 944 crore YoY.

Reliance Capital Q3: Profit at Rs 89 crore versus loss Rs 603 crore; revenue falls to Rs 568 crore versus Rs 639 crore YoY.

HPL Electric & Power Q3: Consolidated profit at Rs 6.61 crore versus Rs 8.8 crore; revenue falls to Rs 259.44 crore versus Rs 276.3 crore YoY.

NBCC India Q3: Consolidated profit rises to Rs 83.65 crore versus Rs 68.34 crore; revenue jumps to Rs 2,438.8 crore versus Rs 1,886.3 crore YoY.

CreditAccess Grameen: Company completed a direct assignment of Rs 275.28 crore. With this transaction, the company has completed six securitisation and four direct assignment transactions totaling to Rs 1,573.22 crore in FY19.

Schneider Electric Infrastructure December Quarter Earnings: Loss at Rs 6.3 crore versus loss Rs 7.3 crore; revenue dips to Rs 437.3 crore versus Rs 470.5 crore YoY.

DHFL: Harshil Mehta expressed his desire to resign from the position of Whole Time Director (designated as Joint Managing Director & CEO). However, he would continue to hold the designation of Executive President - Retail Business.

Trident: Company has been granted a patent for Air Rich Yarn and Fabric and its method of manufacturing by United States Patent & Trademark office.

Goodyear India Q3: Profit falls to Rs 21.7 crore versus Rs 37.6 crore; revenue jumps to Rs 464 crore versus Rs 399 crore YoY.

HIL: Company has commenced the second phase production of its dry mix plant at its plant located at Jhajjar, Uttar Pradesh.

ARSS Infrastructure Projects Q3: Profit at Rs 3.03 crore versus loss Rs 6.08 crore; revenue dips to Rs 75.8 crore versus Rs 91 crore YoY.

Prabhat Dairy Q3: Profit dips to Rs 10 crore versus Rs 14.7 crore; revenue rises to Rs 463 crore versus Rs 403.9 crore YoY.

PNC Infratech Q3: Profit falls to Rs 47.35 crore versus Rs 93 crore; revenue jumps to Rs 727 crore versus Rs 472.5 crore YoY.

Gulf Oil Lubricants Q3: Profit rises to Rs 50 crore versus Rs 42.5 crore; revenue jumps to Rs 462 crore versus Rs 356 crore YoY.

Tata Power: Company collaborates with AES and Mitsubishi Corporation to power up South Asia's largest grid-scale energy storage system in India.

Godrej Industries: Board approved the Scheme of Arrangement (demerger) between Ensemble Holdings & Finance Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary) and Godrej Industries and their respective shareholders.

Pidilite International Pte, a WOS of Pidilite Industries in Singapore alongwith Crown Classics, a Company in Kenya, has promoted a joint venture company in Kenya namely Pidilite East Africa

Board approved Establishment of Euro Medium Term Notes (EMTN) Programme of USD 1 billion

Approved raising long-term financing through issue of Basel III-compliant Bonds for an amount not exceeding Rs 3000 crore on private placement basis

Creditaccess Gramin completed a direct assignment of Rs 275.28 crore

Reliance Capital approved the proposal of raising of resources by way of a public issue of Secured Redeemable NCD for an amount upto Rs 1750 crore

PSP Projects has emerged as Lowest (L-l bidder) in the tenders for construction and up gradation of Medical College at Dungarpur, Rajasthan for contract value of Rs 82.18 crore and construction of school project worth Rs 333 crore

Mayur Uniquoters Q3: Profit flat Rs 21.75 crore; revenue rises to Rs 160.8 crore versus Rs 138 crore YoY.

Triveni Engineering Q3: Consolidated profit increases to Rs 67 crore versus Rs 60 crore; revenue rises to Rs 903 crore versus Rs 772.5 crore YoY.

Godrej Industries Q3: Profit spikes to Rs 121 crore versus Rs 50 crore; revenue rises to Rs 2,473 crore versus Rs 2,100 crore YoY.

Repco Home Finance Q3: Profit increases to Rs 55.64 crore versus Rs 42.42 crore; revenue jumps to Rs 304 crore versus Rs 274 crore YoY.

Bulk Deals on February 13

GPT Infraprojects: Kuber India Fund sold 1,85,425 shares of the company at Rs 41 per share on the NSE.

SREI Infrastructure: Norges Bank AC Government Petroleum Fund purchased 30,15,264 shares of the company at Rs 25.29 per share on the NSE.

Zee News: IFCI sold 30,00,000 shares of the company at Rs 14.07 per share on the NSE.

TeamLease Services: Goldman Sachs Asset Management A/C GS FDS SICAV GS Global Emerging Markets Equity Portfolio sold 90,531 shares of the company at Rs 2,898.2 per share on the BSE.

(For more bulk deals, click here)

Analyst or Board Meet/Briefings

Kiri Industries: Conference Call to be held on February 15 to discuss the financial performance of the company for the quarter and nine months ended on December 2018.

Asian Paints: Company's officials will be attending Edelweiss Investor Conference on February 14, IIFL Investor Conference on February 14 and meeting analysts/investors in UBS Road Show on February 18.

Religare Enterprises: Board meeting is scheduled on February 16 to consider raising of fund.

Thyrocare Technologies: The representatives of Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC, USA and Macquarie Capital Securities (India) Private Limited, would be having a meeting with company's officials on February 14.

Matrimony.com: Company would be participating in the Investor/Analyst Conference on February 14 at Mumbai.

Inox Leisure: Company's officials will be meeting Spark Capital Advisors Pvt Ltd and BOB Capital Markets Ltd on February 15.

Tube Investments of India: Institutional Investors/Analyst Meeting to be held on February 15 and 19.

GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare: Analyst / Institutional Investors Meeting to be held on February 15.

Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals: Company's officials will be meeting analysts/investors on February 14 and 15.

ACC: AMC / Investors will be attending company's Investor Meeting on February 14.

: Company's officials will participate in the India 2025: Seeking Growth  The ESG Way' Investor Conference organised by Edelweiss at Mumbai on February 14.live bse live

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Debt-ridden Jaypee Infratech's lenders will meet on February 18 to discuss the resolution plans to be submitted by four shortlisted bidders by Friday to take over the realty firm and complete stalled projects.

A meeting of Committee of Creditors (CoC) will be held on February 18, Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) Anuj Jain informed the stock exchanges on Wednesday.

The regulatory filing did not mention the agenda of the CoC meet.

However, sources said members of the CoC, comprising financial creditors and representatives of home buyers, will discuss all the proposals that would be submitted by Friday (February 15).

Jain had earlier said state-owned NBCC, Kotak Investment, Singapore-based Cube Highways and Suraksha group have been shortlisted as bidders and asked them to submit their resolution plans by February 15.

In October 2018, Jain started a fresh initiative to revive Jaypee Infratech on NCLT's direction after lenders rejected the over Rs 7,000 crore bid of Suraksha group.

He had invited companies and investors to submit resolution plans to revive Jaypee Infratech, which has many stuck housing projects in Noida and Greater Noida.

In 2017, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had admitted the application by an IDBI Bank-led consortium seeking resolution for Jaypee Infratech under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The tribunal had appointed Jain as IRP to mange the company's business and invite bids from investors.

Consequently, Lakshdeep, part of Suraksha group, had emerged as the front-runner to acquire the firm. However, in May last year, lenders rejected the Rs 7,350 crore bid by Lakshdeep as they found the amount to be inadequate.

The realty firm has an outstanding debt of nearly Rs 9,800 crore, of which Rs 4,334 crore pertains to IDBI. Other lenders are IIFCL, LIC, SBI, Corporation Bank, Syndicate Bank, Bank Of Maharashtra, ICICI Bank, Union Bank, IFCI, J&K Bank, Axis Bank and Srei Equipment Finance.

Jaypee Infratech, a subsidiary of Jaypee Group's flagship firm Jaiprakash Associates, is developing about 32,000 flats, of which it has delivered 9,500 units.

Jaiprakash Associates had submitted Rs 750 crore in the registry of the Supreme Court for refund to buyers. However, this amount has now been transferred to NCLT as per an order of the apex court.Edelweiss Financial Services | The share price has been in a downward spiral, falling 25 percent to Rs 56.05 on September 24 from Rs 74.25 on September 16.

Edelweiss Group on Thursday said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bank of Singapore to form a strategic partnership to provide clients of both entities the opportunity to access their respective product platforms.

"This is the first time that an Indian wealth manager of Edelweiss' size and stature is partnering with an offshore private bank," Edelweiss Financial Services said in a BSE filing.

Bank of Singapore had previously signed similar strategic partnerships with two financial institutions  one from Japan and another from Switzerland.

Shares of Edelweiss Financial Services were trading 2.94 percent lower at Rs 123.80 apiece on BSE.Image: IDSFFK Twitter handle

The West Bengal government has called for a tripartite meeting to resolve the impasse between the jute mill owners and the workers' trade unions, which have threatened to go on an indefinite strike from March 1 over their unfulfilled demands.

A notice issued by the state labour department earlier this week invited the jute unions on February 18 to discuss their charter of demands with the mill owners.

Earlier the meeting was scheduled to be held Thursday.

All trade unions in the jute sector, barring Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress, have agreed to join the strike from March 1 to press for their demands, including wage revision and implementation of Minimum Wages Act.

The jute sector employs over two lakh workers in more than 60 mills in the state.

The strike, if not prevented, may have an impact on the vote bank of political parties across the jute belts of Howrah, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts.

The general election is due this summer.

The jute industry has not seen any major wage revision after 2011. The state government, in the last tripartite meeting held on January 17, had decided to give an interim relief of Rs 70, raising the workers' wage to Rs 327 per day till the new wage agreement was finalised.

The unions, however, contended that the interim benefit was a unilateral decision of the state government.

A former chairman of Indian Jute Mills Association, a body of mill owners, said paying anything more than Rs 327 would not be possible as "margins are already under pressure in the jute business".

"The government should take steps to ensure that there are no disruptions. Strikes will only help the central government to dilute mandatory packaging order in favour of the plastic industry," he said..Palm oil imports declined by 2.31 percent to 8,15,236 tonne in January from the year-ago period, industry body Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) said Thursday. It, however, indicated higher shipments of RBD palmolein in coming months from Malaysia due to lower duty.

India, the world's leading vegetable oil buyer, had imported 8,34,444 tonne palm oil in January 2018.

The country's total vegetable oil imports declined 3 percent to 12.75 lakh tonne in January this year compared to 12.91 lakh tonne in the year-ago period.

The share of palm oil is more than 60 percent in the country's total vegetable oil imports.

According to the SEA, the shipments of palmolein, especially from Malaysia, have increased due to cut in import duty on palm oils, which has reduced the effective duty difference between crude palm oil (CPO) and RBD Palmolein to just 5 percent against previous 10 percent.

"This has resulted into sharp increase in import of RBD Palmolein to 1,67,429 tonne in January from 1,30,459 tonne in December 2018, up by 28 percent," it said in a statement.

This is likely to increase in coming months considering the shipments lined up from Malaysia for export of RBD Palmolein to India, the SEA noted.

Among palm oil products, import of RBD palmolein increased to 1,67,429 tonne in January this year from 1,50,664 tonne a year ago, as per the SEA data.

But the shipment of CPO declined to 6,45,308 tonne from 6,72,762 tonne, while that of crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) too dropped to 2,499 tonne from 11,018 tonne in the said period.

Among soft oil, import of sunflower oil increased to 2,00,027 tonne in January this year from 1,70,831 tonne in the year-ago period.

The shipment of soyabean oil fell sharply to 1,85,906 tonne from 2,24,870 tonne, while that of rapeseed-mustard oil declined to 9,434 tonne from 16,702 tonne in the said period.

As on January 1, about 21.10 lakh tonne of vegetable oil stock is lying at ports and in pipelines. The country's monthly requirement is about 19 lakh tonne, the SEA said.

India imports palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, and a small quantity of crude soft oil, including soyabean oil, from Latin America. Sunflower oil is imported from Ukraine and Russia.live bse live

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Consumer durables major Voltas posted a 22.3 percent year-on-year (YoY) drop in its December quarter consolidated net profit at Rs 78.08 crore due to an exceptional item. The company had a 9 percent YoY rise in gross sales to Rs 1,484 crore in Q3FY19.

The hit was owing to the liquidation of one of its contractor's joint venture partner. The impact amounted to Rs 11.77 crore in the December quarter.

Among the business segments, a rise in input costs impacted the room air-conditioner (AC) segment. Voltas said inverter ACs now contribute approximately 40 percent of their split AC sales.

The segment revenue for the cooling segment for Q3 was at Rs 526 crore as compared to Rs 542 crores last year. Voltas said the increase in input costs along with depreciating currency led to a drop in segment results to Rs 45 crore as compared to Rs 70 crores in the corresponding quarter last year.

For the electro-mechanical projects and services segment, the revenue stood at Rs 875 crore in Q3 as compared to Rs 753 crore in the year ago period. Further, the revenue for the engineering products and services segment stood at Rs 83 crore in the September quarter, compared to Rs 70 crore in the year ago period.live bse live

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GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Healthcare Ltd on Thursday reported a 35.07 per cent increase in its standalone profit to Rs 221.06 crore for the quarter ended December 2018. It had posted a profit of Rs 163.66 crore for the October-December period a year ago.

The company's total income stood at Rs 1,241.07 crore, up 12.82 per cent, as against Rs 1,100.02 crore in the year-ago period, GSK Consumer Healthcare said in a BSE filing.

"We have been witnessing healthy sustainable growth in our financial performance in the past few quarters. This growth is reflective of the unflinching trust that our consumers have in our products," GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Managing Director Navneet Saluja said.

On December 3, 2018, the company had announced divestment of Horlicks and other consumer healthcare nutrition brands to Unilever plc and the merger of GSK Consumer Healthcare with Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL).

On January 23 this year, the merger deal with Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) was approved by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

"The merger is now subject to the receipt of other necessary statutory and regulatory approvals under applicable laws. The merger process is moving along expected timelines," the company added.

Shares of GSK Consumer Healthcare settled 0.19 per cent lower at Rs 7,509.95 apiece on the BSE.Nestle India | The share price performance in FY20: 48%, FY19: 34%, FY18: 23%. PAT Margins for FY20, FY19, and FY18 were 12%, 14%, and 16% respectively.

Nestle said it expected its organic sales to rise this year after an improving performance in China and North America helped growth accelerate in 2018 after six years of slowdowns.

Demand for packaged foods has suffered from a trend towards healthier eating, and Nestle Chief Executive Mark Schneider is trying to bring the world's biggest food group back up to speed by improving efficiency and focusing on growth categories.

Organic sales grew 3.0 percent in the full year, accelerating to 3.7 percent in the final quarter, and net profit jumped 42 percent to 10.1 billion Swiss francs ($10.02 billion) benefiting from one-off items, the maker of Kitkat chocolate bars and Nespresso portioned coffee said in a statement on February 14.

($1 = 1.0082 Swiss francs)A: I went to UIC for entrepreneurship. I also received a masters at UIC for education. I combined the two degrees. I enjoy working with small businesses. When I was going to school, around 2004 and 2005, thats when Facebook took off. It was a new way for businesses to market their services. I worked full-time at Triton in their financial aid office, which made me want to start the class. Not a lot of schools offer this program.live bse live

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Glenmark Pharmaceuticals on February 14 reported net profit growth of 11 percent to Rs 116.3 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2018, with business growing across geographies.

The company reported a net profit of Rs 104.7 crore in the same period of the previous year.

Revenues rose 16 percent to Rs 2,555 crore in the third quarter compared to Rs 2,203.7 in the year-ago period.

We have reported healthy numbers in Q3 on the back of good growth in our key markets like the US, India and Europe, said Glenn Saldanha, Chairman & MD, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals.

We continue to receive approval for niche generic products in the US, whereas in India and Europe, increased market penetration and product launches continue to drive growth, Saldanha said.

We have expanded our presence in the US market through our foray into the branded dermatology segment and we continue to invest in furthering our specialty products pipeline," he said.

"We have also decided to spin off our innovation business into a new company in the US to provide enhanced focus to the business and accelerate the innovative assets pipeline towards commercialization.

US generic business gained 16.28 percent to Rs 855.7 crore in the December quarter against revenue of Rs 735.9 crore in the corresponding quarter previous year.

During the third quarter, the company received nine final ANDA approvals including one tentative approval.

As of December 31, 2018, Glenmarks marketing portfolio consists of 148 generic products authorized for distribution in the US market. The company currently has 54 applications pending in various stages of the approval process with the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), of which 28 are Paragraph IV applications.

During the third quarter, Glenmark said it has forayed into the branded dermatology segment in the US by acquiring the rights to seven branded dermatology products from Exeltis.

The company said all the acquired products are currently approved and marketed in the US, giving it immediate entry into the topical branded products segment.

Sales for the formulation business in India for the third quarter rose 15.39 percent to Rs 667.5 crore YoY led by market share increase in cardiac and respiratory segments.

The consumer care business, consisting of three major brands Candid, VWash and Scalpe, grew in excess of 33 percent in Q3FY19.

As per IQVIA MAT December 2018, Glenmark is ranked 14th with a market share of 2.16 percent in the Indian Pharmaceutical Market.

Sales of Africa, Asia and CIS region rose 5.6 percent to Rs 340 crore on YoY basis, while Europe formulation rose 43 .15 percent to Rs 321.7 crore on new launches.

Latin America business grew 12.9 percent to Rs 101.4 crore. The active pharmaceutical ingredient business grew 3.3 percent to Rs.239.2 crore on sales from Lercanidipine, Amiodarone, Olmesartan, Perindopril and Etoricoxib.

Drug discovery spin-off

The drugmaker earlier announced its board has given a nod to spin off the innovation business into a new company in the US, to provide an enhanced focus and help accelerate the pipeline towards commercialization.

The new innovation company will be a whollyowned subsidiary of Glenmark and will be based in the US. It will have an independent board and a new Chief Executive Officer. The other members of the management and the team remain unchanged.

According to the plan, all innovative molecules in the pipeline, including preclinical assets and technology; the R&D centres in Switzerland, R&D centre at Paramus in the US and R&D centre at Navi Mumbai, India related to the innovation business, and the biologics manufacturing facility in Switzerland along with all employees associated with innovative R&D will be part of the new company.

The new company will have over 400 employees as part of this business.

The speciality and generics business will continue to be housed in the parent company and will not be part of this new company.

The transfer of the assets and employees to the new innovation company is expected to be completed in the next six to nine months, the company said.

Glenmark has a pipeline of 8 new molecule entities (NMEs) most of which are firstinclass globally.

With the pipeline at an advanced stage, we believe its the right time for the innovation business to be an independent entity and charter its own journey towards becoming a leading biotech organization globally, Saldanha said.

This change will provide enhanced focus to the business, a better operating ecosystem and additional opportunities to unlock value for the parent company in future," he added.

The results were announced after market hours. Shares of Glenmark rose 2.07 percent to close at Rs.608.25 on BSE, the benchmark Sensex declined 0.44 percent to 35,876.22 points.broker research reports

June 24, 2021 01:54 PM IST Buy Bharat Electronics; target of Rs 195: Motilal Oswal Motilal Oswal is bullish on Bharat Electronics recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 195 in its research report dated June 24, 2021.

June 24, 2021 01:53 PM IST Buy NMDC; target of Rs 215: Motilal Oswal Motilal Oswal is bullish on NMDC recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 215 in its research report dated June 24, 2021.

June 24, 2021 01:52 PM IST Neutral Tata Steel; target of Rs 1210: Motilal Oswal Motilal Oswal recommended Neutral rating on Tata Steel with a target price of Rs 1210 in its research report dated June 23, 2021.

June 24, 2021 12:54 PM IST Buy Bharat Electronics: target of Rs 196: Sharekhan Sharekhan is bullish on Bharat Electronics has recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 196 in its research report dated June 23, 2021.

June 24, 2021 12:53 PM IST Buy NMDC: target of Rs 205: Sharekhan Sharekhan is bullish on NMDC has recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 205 in its research report dated June 23, 2021.

June 24, 2021 12:53 PM IST Buy Tata Consumer Products: target of Rs 875: Sharekhan Sharekhan is bullish on Tata Consumer Products has recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 875 in its research report dated June 23, 2021.

June 24, 2021 11:38 AM IST Buy Ashoka Buildcon; target of Rs 145: Anand Rathi Anand Rathi is bullish on Ashoka Buildcon has recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 145 in its research report dated Jun 24, 2021.

June 24, 2021 11:24 AM IST Buy Bharat Electronics; target of Rs 205: ICICI Direct ICICI Direct is bullish on Bharat Electronics recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 205 in its research report dated June 24, 2021.

June 24, 2021 11:18 AM IST Buy The Supreme Industries; target of Rs 2644: CD Equisearch CD Equisearch is bullish on The Supreme Industries has recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 2644 in its research report dated June 23, 2021.

June 24, 2021 11:06 AM IST Buy Bharat Electronics target of Rs 208: Prabhudas Lilladher Prabhudas Lilladher is bullish on Bharat Electronics has recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 208 in its research report dated June 23, 2021.

June 24, 2021 11:06 AM IST Buy KEI Industries target of Rs 825: Prabhudas Lilladher Prabhudas Lilladher is bullish on KEI Industries has recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 825 in its research report dated June 23, 2021.

June 24, 2021 11:03 AM IST Buy S Chand and Company target of Rs 146: Prabhudas Lilladher Prabhudas Lilladher is bullish on S Chand and Company has recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 146 in its research report dated June 23, 2021.

June 23, 2021 02:32 PM IST Buy Info Edge (India): target of Rs 6100: Sharekhan Sharekhan is bullish on Info Edge (India) has recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 6100 in its research report dated June 21, 2021.

June 23, 2021 02:31 PM IST Buy Ashoka Buildcon: target of Rs 125: Sharekhan Sharekhan is bullish on Ashoka Buildcon has recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 125 in its research report dated June 22, 2021.

June 23, 2021 02:31 PM IST Buy Greaves Cotton: target of Rs 194: Sharekhan Sharekhan is bullish on Greaves Cotton has recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 194 in its research report dated June 22, 2021.

June 23, 2021 02:31 PM IST Buy Infosys: target of Rs 1700: Sharekhan Sharekhan is bullish on Infosys has recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 1700 in its research report dated June 22, 2021.

June 23, 2021 01:01 PM IST Neutral HPCL; target of Rs 310: Motilal Oswal Motilal Oswal recommended Neutral rating on HPCL with a target price of Rs 310 in its research report dated June 21, 2021.

June 23, 2021 12:51 PM IST Buy Ashoka Buildcon target of Rs 160: Prabhudas Lilladher Prabhudas Lilladher is bullish on Ashoka Buildcon has recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 160 in its research report dated June 22, 2021.

June 23, 2021 12:42 PM IST Accumulate Insecticides India target of Rs 817: Prabhudas Lilladher Prabhudas Lilladher recommended accumulate rating on Insecticides India with a target price of Rs 817 in its research report dated June 21, 2021.

June 22, 2021 10:41 AM IST Transport Corporation of India: Value play in an overheated market TCI has cemented itself as the dominant player in the logistics industry over the past few years

June 21, 2021 04:24 PM IST Hold Natco Pharma; target of Rs 1010: ICICI Direct ICICI Direct recommended hold rating on Natco Pharma with a target price of Rs 1010 in its research report dated June 18, 2021.

June 21, 2021 04:23 PM IST Hold DB Corp; target of Rs 120: ICICI Direct ICICI Direct recommended hold rating on DB Corp with a target price of Rs 120 in its research report dated June 18, 2021.

June 21, 2021 04:23 PM IST Hold Entertainment Network India; target of Rs 180: ICICI Direct ICICI Direct recommended hold rating on Entertainment Network India with a target price of Rs 180 in its research report dated June 17, 2021.

June 21, 2021 04:22 PM IST Buy Zensar Technologies; target of Rs 345: ICICI Direct ICICI Direct is bullish on Zensar Technologies recommended buy rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 345 in its research report dated june 18, 2021.South Elgin police would like to remind all parents and guardians to speak with and be involved with their children about issues happening on social media, Doty said in the release. Educate them on the dangers of taking matters into their own hands and the repercussions that could happen when they act out of something that occurred on social media.Dixon said he has watched the entire video, not a snippet, so were not jumping to any conclusions, he said. Im elected to serve the people of Elgin. Im not an employee of the city. I dont answer to the employees of the city. I answer to the people who elected me and never, never will I wavier. Im a community servant. I want to do whats best for the entire community.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 14)  The United Nations' Special Rapporteur known to have caught the ire of the Duterte administration told detained Rappler CEO Maria Ressa to count on her.

"And another terrible nail in the coffin. Maria, I am thinking of you. You can count on me. You can count on us," UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Agnes Callamard said in a tweet Wednesday.

The National Bureau of Investigation arrested Ressa on Wednesday afternoon on the grounds of a cyber libel case. The case was related to a 2012 article published on the online news website alleging ties between the late Chief Justice Renato Corona and businessman Wilfredo Keng.

Both Ressa and Callamard have repeatedly hit the Duterte administration. Ressa had accused government of trumping up various charges against her and Rappler for their news coverages of the Duterte administration's drug war, and links between former Special Assistant to the President Bong Go and a controversial Navy frigate deal.

Duterte also previously lashed out at Callamard for her comments against his controversial war on drugs and refused to have her investigate it.

International editors, reporters groups express support

An international group of global editors-in-chief and media executives expressed support for Ressa.

"The Global Editors Network stands with its board member Maria Ressa in these difficult times. We stand by her in the face of government repression and fully support her work. We respect the courage with which she, and Rappler, approach journalism." the Global Editors Network (GEN) said in a tweet Wednesday.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Secretary-General Christophe Deloire also denounced the arrest warrant served against Ressa.

Deloire said this was an obvious violation of press freedom, and called on other countries to 'exercise influence' on President Duterte.

"The arrest warrant served against @mariaressa, most famous journalist in the Philippines, CEO of @rapplerdotcom, is an obvious violation of press freedom which should be denounced by all the heads of States and governments which can exercise influence on Rodrigo Duterte," Deloire said.

The Philippines ranked 133rd among 180 nations in the World Press Freedom Index in 2018, according to RSF. The organization flagged the cases filed against Rappler as among the reasons for the Philippines' low rankings.

Ressa, along with other journalists, were hailed as "Person of the Year" by TIME Magazine -- calling them "guardians on the war on truth." She was joined by Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post contributor who was killed at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in October.I was reading the newspaper and saw how Gov. J.B. Pritzker is going to brag how he raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour, but they are not going to do it all at once. Theyre going to do it over two, three, four or more years, which means workers will probably start to fall further behind because they have to wait for a $15 minimum wage. If it is so great, how come they dont raise it all at once? It is because they know it will be a problem. . .One element of what was simply titled The Plan, rolled out last summer, is demolishing the districts unused Sixth Grade Center in Crete, which formerly served as the districts high school, and building a new center for prekindergarten through second grade. Another component would add classrooms at Crete-Monee Middle School in University Park, and Monee Elementary would be expanded to become a 3rd- through 5th-grade learning center.US National Security Advisor John Bolton has warned countries and companies against buying crude oil from Venezuela, after the Latin American country said it wants to sell more oil to the fast-growing Indian market.

In a tweet with a Bloomberg article on Venezuelan-Indian oil relations attached, Bolton wrote: Nations and firms that support Maduros theft of Venezuelan resources will not be forgotten. The United States will continue to use all of its powers to preserve the Venezuelan peoples azsets and we encourage all nations to work together to do the same.

Also on rt.com Russia vows to defend its Venezuelan oil assets

We have a good relationship with India and we want to continue this relationship. The relationships with India will continue, the trade will continue and we will simply expand all the trade and relationship, Indian outlet Business Today quoted the Venezuelan minister as saying on the sidelines of the Petrotech conference in India this week.

At the start of the Venezuelan political crisis last month, Indian media reported that the Asian country continues to be one of the main buyers of Venezuelan crude oil. Indian refiners keep buying more than 400,000 barRels per day (bpd) of oil from the troubled Latin American country, which is sitting on the worlds largest crude oil resources.

Also on rt.com Venezuela to redirect US oil exports to Europe & Asia

In separate Venezuela-and-sanctions-related news, Bulgarian security officials said on Wednesday that they had blocked several bank accounts in a local bank that have received millions of euros from Venezuelas state oil firm PDVSA, on which the US slapped sweeping sanctions at the end of January.

Bulgarias security services and prosecutors office were tipped off by the US about those money transfers and have blocked transfers out of the bank accounts.

Also on rt.com Is a mystery plane heading to Russia loaded with Venezuelan gold?

We have established that there were money transfers from Venezuela, namely from the state oil company of Venezuela to these accounts, Reuters quoted Bulgarias chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov as telling reporters.

The security officials will be looking into those accounts before deciding whether to press charges on money laundering, the prosecutor noted.

This article was originally published on Oilprice.comForced regime change has apparently become Washingtons priority as the US heaps pressure on Venezuelas military, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

The possible decision of the US to seize Venezuelas economic infrastructure could become the steal of the century, Zakharova also stated during a briefing on Thursday.

In late January, the US froze $7 billion of assets belonging to the Venezuelan state-run oil company PDVSA and its US subsidiary Citgo. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the US sanctions cynical, asserting that Washingtons actions are in fact a confiscation of Venezuelas state property.

Also on rt.com Cynical US sanctions meant to confiscate Venezuelas assets  Lavrov

Last week, Venezuelas opposition leader Juan Guaido did not rule out the possibility of authorizing US intervention to oust elected President Nicolas Maduro, while President Donald Trump later confirmed that this was an option.

Also on rt.com Trump confirms use of US military in Venezuela among options on table

Like this story? Share it with a friend!US is committed to NATO, says acting Pentagon chief Shanahan

US is committed to NATO, says acting Pentagon chief Shanahan

Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Thursday that he backed a strong NATO. The move is likely to calm allies nervous about Washingtons commitment to the alliance after his predecessor resigned over differences with President Donald Trump, Reuters said. The United States is committed to NATO, our Article 5 obligations remain ironclad and America will continue to lead and support transatlantic unity [and] security, Shanahan said at the end of his first NATO meeting. Shanahan also sought to reassure NATO allies that any potential US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan will be done in a coordinated fashion, which could calm European concern about a precipitous drawdown.Source : RT - Daily newsTrillion-dollar-company Amazon skated through 2018's tax filings without paying a cent for the second year in a row. The e-commerce behemoth, which made $11 billion last year, will pay no taxes at all, thanks to 2017's tax reform.

Rather than pay the standard 21 percent corporate income tax rate, Amazon is actually claiming a tax rebate of $129 million, which works out to a logic-defying rate of -1 percent. Aside from the nebulous tax credits, which the company does not have to spell out in its public filings, Amazon is also claiming a tax break for executive stock options, according to the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy  a longstanding loophole that permits profitable corporations to dodge federal and state income taxes on almost half their profits.

While President Donald Trumps 2017 tax reform legislation lowered corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 21 percent, it was sold as an incentive for companies to keep their money in the US, instead of stashing it overseas where the IRS couldnt touch it. Now that Amazon and Netflix have both made headlines for using the new regulations to avoid paying anything at all, it remains to be seen whether the legislations failure to close corporate loopholes will leave the US holding the bag for fiscal year 2018 as the countrys national debt inches past $22 trillion  a record high.

Also on rt.com WaPo journalists ask for benefits after Bezos sinks $5.25mn into self-congratulatory Super Bowl ad

Amazons tax windfall doesnt even take into account the billions in tax breaks the state governments of Virginia and New York offered the company to open a second (and third) headquarters in their states, though there are rumors that New York is getting cold feet about the unprecedented corporate giveaway. Amazon didnt pay any taxes in 2017 either, though it raked in a comparatively paltry $5.6 billion in profits and extracted a slightly larger $137 million refund.US Vice-President Mike Pence has demanded that Europe withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and lashed out at the EUs efforts to evade Washingtons sanctions on Tehran.

Speaking at a security conference in Warsaw, Pence chastized Europe for leading an effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions against Iran, and complained that European countries had not been cooperative since the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran deal last year.

The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with the US to give the Iranian people and the world peace, security and freedom, he said.

Also on rt.com Russia, Iran & Turkey talk long-term Syrian peace in Sochi as US and allies beat war drums in Warsaw

Pence said the EUs newly created Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), conceived as a way to continue facilitating trade between the EU and Iran, was an ill-advised step which would only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU, and create still more distance between Europe and the United States.

In January, the EU unveiled a new transactions channel aimed at bypassing the SWIFT international payments system to circumvent US sanctions. The system, called INSTEX  or Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges  has limited capacity and only allows humanitarian trade by focusing on sectors most essential to Iranian people like food, pharmaceutical and medical devices. While the EU hailed the mechanism as a way to preserve the Iran deal, critics say it wont change much as European countries still worry about US repercussions if they are caught evading sanctions and working in Iran.

READ MORE: Iranian photographer whose image Trump used to attack Iran says it's a 'great shame' for her

Pence said that the US had been a force for good in the Middle East and claimed that Trump is committed to standing with the good people of Iran and stand up to their oppressors.

He cited the US withdrawal from the Iran deal as proof that Washington was making good on that promise, despite the fact that American sanctions, which Pence called the toughest in history, have had devastating effects on the Iranian people. He said the sanctions would get tougher still until Tehran complies with US demands, and said Washingtons efforts to isolate Iran was a noble cause.

Also on rt.com Dead on arrival: US kicks off Iran summit in Poland, but where are those key European allies?

Pence said that the nuclear deal did not ensure that the vile regime of Iran would not obtain nuclear weapons, but instead delayed the day that this would happen. This is despite the fact that Europe, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the UN have all said that Iran is complying with the terms of the deal.

Pence called the Warsaw meeting, which was organized by the US and Poland, an unprecedented gathering of leaders, but the attendees list probably wasnt quite what he might have hoped for, since major EU countries chose not to send top officials and Russia declined an invitation altogether. The summit was billed as a way to promote peace and security in the Middle East but focused mainly on efforts to isolate Iran. Ironically, Iran was not invited to the gathering.

Earlier at the conference, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that peace and stability in the Middle East was not possible without confronting Iran.

The absence of top diplomats from Germany, France and the UK is a sign that Europe is not likely to back down on its continued support of the Iran deal or its efforts to continue trading with Tehran. Iran dismissed the meeting as an anti-Iran circus aimed at demonizing the country.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!A Norwegian commercial airliner which made an emergency landing in Iran in December is still waiting for replacement parts it needs to fly home  components which have been blocked due to sanctions unilaterally imposed by the US.

Norwegian Air flight DY1933  which ferries passengers between Dubai and Oslo  was forced to make an emergency landing in Shiraz, Iran, on December 14 after experiencing engine trouble. The unscheduled detour went smoothly enough: the plane landed safely, and passengers were able to catch a flight out of Shiraz the following day. The plane itself, however, has remained stranded in Iran due to a lack of spare parts: US sanctions prohibit importing technology into Iran that has more than 10 percent of American-made parts.

Also on rt.com EU countries move to evade US Iran sanctions by setting up payment channel for humanitarian trade

While its possible that Norwegian Air could receive a one-time exemption from the US Treasury Department to import the necessary engine parts, a lawyer who works on sanctions-related issues told NPR that it was a long shot.

Ironically, the US sanctions meant to deprive Iran of modernizing and integrating into the global economy may actually backfire in this case: If the Iranians so choose, they could seize the Boeing 737  which is likely filled with sanctions-restricted technology.

Last year, Washington unilaterally re-imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Tehran after pulling out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), colloquially known as the Iran nuclear deal.

Germany, France and the UK announced in January that they had set up a new payment system which can bypass US sanctions and facilitate legitimate trade.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned in November that there would be swift punishment for any countries caught doing business with Iran.

to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media wont tell you.The US military dropped an eye-popping 7,362 bombs on Afghanistan last year, Pentagon data shows, making 2018 the most airstrike-abundant year for the country in at least a decade  even as the US seeks peace with the Taliban.

Manned and unmanned US military aircraft pounded Afghanistan with a combined payload of 7,362 weapons in 2018, according to the latest figures released by the US Air Forces Central Command. With an average of 20 weapons released each day, more bombs were dropped on Afghanistan in 2018 than in the previous three years combined, and publicly available data shows it was the most kinetic year since at least 2009.

Also on rt.com After 17 years of war, top US commander in Afghanistan admits Taliban cannot be defeated

For contrast, 947 bombs were dropped on the country in 2015.

The record-setting uptick in airstrikes deterred aggression, maintained security, and defended our networks, said Lt. Gen. Joseph Guastella, Combined Forces Air Component Commander, in a news release. He claimed that the trigger-happy year had led to significant progress in Afghanistan.

Incredibly, the spike in bomb dropping has coincided with Washingtons efforts to broker peace between Kabul and the Taliban.

Acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Monday, where he urged the countrys leaders to enter into negotiations with their long-time nemesis.

The US military has been bogged down in Afghanistan since it invaded the infamous graveyard of empires in October, 2001. After more than 17 years, the Pentagon has signalled that continuing the conflict is futile.

Also on rt.com Acting US Defense Secretary makes surprise visit to Afghanistan, urges Kabul to join peace talks

Gen. Austin Scott Miller, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, conceded in November that the war is not going to be won militarily, adding that this is going to be a political solution.

US President Donald Trump  who boosted troop levels in the country and vowed to deliver the decisive blow against the Taliban  has hinted that the 14,000 US service members stationed in Afghanistan may be coming home soon.

Surprisingly, it seems that raining bombs on Afghanistan had little effect on the military realities on the ground. In recent months, the war has been tipping in the Talibans favor. Even by US military estimates, the Afghan government controls or influences just over half of the countrys 407 districts  a record low since the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, began tracking district control in November 2015.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!Furious parents have taken to both Twitter and Mumsnet to decry a science revision textbook which featured an illustration of a pregnant woman with a Brazilian wax pubic hair style.

The diagram, which appeared in a 2017 GCSE book, has been described as porn film pubic hair by users who worried that it would reinforce dangerous gender stereotypes in impressionable children going through puberty.

I would have been okay with no hair at all, as it is largely an internal diagram, showing the baby. But to show hair, but groomed into a tiny strip, sends such a damaging message, Funkyfunkybeat wrote on Mumsnet, a popular online forum.

Publishers Pearson Edexcel claim that the offending image at the heart of the current swarm of scorn was removed in the May 2018 reprint of the GCSE biology textbook.

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, the publisher said in a statement.

Also on rt.com Hairy situation! Sexually transmitted infections spread by pubic waxing, warn doctors

Alas, too late to escape the ever-watchful eyes of concerned parents.

Brazilian waxes, where all hair is removed except a narrow landing strip, were reportedly popularized in the 1990s by the J Sisters, who set up a salon and waxing studio in New York. The minimalist approach to pubic hair was then further popularised through popular culture, most notably in magazines like Playboy.

Not all online agreed that the cartoon pubic hair was sufficient cause for offense, generating a lively discussion on Twitter.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!Attended by over sixty countries but widely neglected by key EU nations, a controversial US-led meeting on Iran opens up in Warsaw, raising doubts that European allies will play to Washingtons tune when dealing with Tehran.

A summit to promote peace and security in the Middle East is officially set to seek ways of making the boiling region a safer place, but its primary focus is expected to be on Iran. The meeting gathered a host of Gulf monarchs and other arch-foes of Tehran, including Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, and Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Also on rt.com Israel and Arab nations discuss 'common interests of war with Iran' - Netanyahu

However, Washingtons key European allies, including France, Germany, and, for the moment, the UK, have downplayed the importance of the offbeat meeting. Jeremy Hunt, the British Foreign Secretary, was in Warsaw to chair a Quad meeting on Yemen but not to take part in the Iran summit.

France has sent a second-tier diplomat and Germany its junior Foreign Minister. Another notable absentee was Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign affairs chief, who helped broker the historic 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. Meanwhile, European press was largely critical of the event, with the Guardian running an op-ed piece saying it shows just how far [Trump] is from the rest of the West.

What about the Warsaw summit, I think its dead on arrival or dead before arrival, commented Mohammad Javad Zarif, Irans Foreign Minister. Its another attempt by the United States to pursue an obsession with Iran that is not well-founded, he stated.

Watch more:The CIA concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered journalist Jamal Khashoggi killed, but the young ruler is there to stay, and so is the cosy US-Saudi relationship, a prominent CIA whistleblower told RT.

With enough information leaked from the CIA, the NSA, the FBI and the Turkish national intelligence organization, Kiriakou says there is little doubt among the analysts that it was Mohammed bin Salman (MBS for short) who had ordered the killing.

The CIA, for its part, concluded with medium to high confidence that Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October, and was never seen again, was tortured and murdered on orders coming from MBS.

But despite media outrage and pressure from some US lawmakers to cut off weapons sales to Riyadh, President Donald Trump is sticking by the embattled Saudi prince, and has cast doubt on the CIAs conclusions. Former CIA agent and whistleblower Kiriakou believes that US-Saudi relations are unlikely to change any time soon.

Weve got this long so-called special relationship with the Saudis, Kiriakou told RT. It really isnt a special relationship. Its a very simple relationship where we buy Saudi oil and the Saudis buy American weaponry.and the president doesnt want to upset the boat.

Dont forget, Mohammed bin Salman is only [thirty three] years old, hes going to be around for another half a century  and so I think very little is going to change over the long term.

Within the desert Kingdom, change is also a mere fantasy. MBS has been touted as a reformer, but has done little in practice to change the countrys medieval legal system.

I think the so-called reforms are all fake, Kiriakou said. This is a country that still crucifies people. I have a personal friend who was recently sentenced to 10 years of hard labor for participating in a peaceful pro-democracy demonstration.

Also on rt.com EU adds Saudi Arabia to list of nations considered hotbeds of terrorist financing

Bin Salman lifted Saudi Arabias longstanding driving ban on women last year, in what was hailed as the first step towards modernizing the countrys hyper-conservative gender rules. However, days before the ban was lifted, the government arrested womens rights activists, including some who had successfully campaigned against the driving ban. The activists are still incarcerated, and some have been tortured, according to Human Rights Watch.

"Just because he's young, just because he likes to wear Western clothes, just because he likes to go to Las Vegas and see the Beatles show, doesn't mean he's any different from any other Saudi leader, Kiriakou concluded.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!SAGINAW, MI  A man accused of shooting a Saginaw Township police officer in the face and suffering a similar gunshot wound hours later appeared in court on Thursday, Feb. 14.

Joshua M. Rosebush, shackled and flanked by two Michigan Department of Corrections officers, appeared for a pre-exam conference in Saginaw County District Judge Terry L. Clarks courtroom. It marked the 29-year-old defendants first court appearance since his Feb. 5 arraignment on 26 felonies.

Despite his red beard, a jagged scar was visible across Rosebushs right cheek, the result of a being struck by a bullet fired by a Shiawassee County Sheriffs deputy during his arrest the afternoon of Jan. 22.

The hearing saw Clark asking defense attorney Rod OFarrell and Saginaw County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark J. Gaertner if they are ready to proceed with a scheduled preliminary examination on Feb. 21, during which time witnesses would be called to testify. Both attorneys said theyre prepared to move forward on that date.

OFarrell said hes received about 23 discs and 275 pages of discovery materials. Gaertner added that he can begin the hearing on Feb. 21 but likely will ask for a continuance. He said he plans to call five or six witnesses that day with a total of 10 to 12 for the entire proceeding.

Gaertner said hes not yet received hospital records or reports from the Michigan State Police Crime Lab. He said he plans to spend the first day of the hearing addressing Rosebushs charge of unlawfully driving away a motor vehicle and possibly offenses he is accused of committing in Shiawassee County.

The hearing ended with Judge Clark ruling the preliminary exam will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 21.

Earlier on Thursday, Gaertner told MLive Saginaw County Prosecutor John McColgan had cleared Shiawassee County Sheriffs Detective Lt. Scott Shenk of wrongdoing in his shooting of Rosebush, saying his use of deadly force was justified.

Around 1 p.m. on Jan. 22, an on-duty Shenk spotted the 29-year-old Rosebush driving on Interstate 69 in Shiawassee County. Shenk pursued him, with the two vehicles eventually stopping in Woodhull Township.

Police said Rosebush exited a van and drew a pistol on Shenk, who drew his own gun and shot Rosebush in the face and then arrested him.

The case began about 2 a.m. Jan. 22, when Saginaw Township Police Officer Jeff Koenig spotted a white Dodge pickup driving with its headlights off. Koenig stopped the truck on Tittabawassee Road between Fashion Square Boulevard and Bay Road in Kochville Township.

When Koenig approached the truck to give its driver a warning about the lights, the driver  whom police have identified as Rosebush  opened fire on him, police have said. The truck drove off as Koenig managed to radio for help. He was struck in the face and shoulder.

Rosebush later fled into Genesee and Shiawassee counties, police have said.

After receiving treatment for his facial gunshot wound, Rosebush was returned to the Charles Egeler Reception & Guidance Center in Jackson. He is now being held at Carson City Correctional Facility.

Though the more than two dozen charges against Rosebush span three counties, all matters have been consolidated for Saginaw County prosecutors to handle. The most serious charges against him are two counts of assault with intent to murder, a life offense.

Rosebush was a parole absconder when he was shot and captured and had accumulated 13 felonies from 2006 through 2015.

In December 2015, Rosebush was charged with assaulting or obstructing a police officer and two counts of stealing and retaining a financial transaction device without consent in Tuscola County. He was sentenced to two to 15 years in prison.

Koenig has undergone several surgeries and is at home recuperating, according to Saginaw Township Police Chief Donald F. Pussehl Jr.MUSKEGON, MI  Two one-way streets in Muskegons urban core will soon be open to two-way traffic.

The change will affect Peck and Sanford streets from Apple to Hackley avenues and will take effect after work is completed at the tail end of 2019. The city is beginning on work needed for the change, including new traffic signs and signals.

Additional changes are being considered for both roadways at Laketon and Southern avenues, including four-way stops.

Theres also consideration of extending traffic changes past Apple onto Terrace Street, which currently features four two-way lanes divided into one-way streets.

The changes should help slow the flow of traffic, Leo Evans, the citys new director of public works, told the city commission during a work session on Monday, Feb. 11. He said public education will be needed to help curtail confusion or crashes once the lanes are changed., said his department believes

Mayor Stephen Gawron agreed, and said historically, those lanes were used for heavy industrial truck traffic coming in and out of the city. Since Muskegon industry has been long gone from the downtown area for several decades, one-way traffic is no longer necessary on either Peck or Sanford, Gawron said.

Commissioners Debra Warren and Willie German asked if Evans had reached out to community partners, such as the Nelson and McLaughlin neighborhoods.

Evans said he addressed the changes with the Nelson Neighborhood association and plans to do so with McLaughin, per Germans request.

He also has support from the Muskegon Area Transit System, Muskegon Public Schools and the city of Muskegon Heights, which uses Peck and Sanford as lanes of primary travel to and from the city. Both Peck and Sanford become two-way streets at Hackley Avenue in Muskegon Heights.

The Muskegon City Commission approved the first wave of traffic changes on Tuesday, Feb. 12 at the bodys regular meeting. Commissioners also approved a $21,000 payment to Wade Trim, an engineering firm hired to upgrade the traffic lights.

According to the contract, Wade Trim will upgrade or replace traffic signals on Apple, Laketon and Hackley at their respective intersections along Peck and Sanford.

Evans said work will likely begin in the late spring or early summer once the 2018-19 school session ends.

This way we can start fresh next year, Evans said at Tuesdays meeting.

The work also acts as a prelude, of sorts, to road reconstruction projects on Peck and Sanford planned between 2020 and 2023.

Reconstruction on both streets near Strong Avenue is scheduled for next year to coincide with the first leg of a planned $24 million sewer project. In 2021 and 2023, Evans said they plan to do the entire stretch from Apple to the southern city limit at Keating Avenue.

Evans added that the city has federal funding to help pay for reconstruction.MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI  The wife of an MMA fighter charged with two murders in Texas had a suitcase with his papers and an assault rifle concealed in her U.S. Army Reserve office in Muskegon, according to a prosecutor.

Matt Roberts, chief trial attorney for the Muskegon County Prosecutors Office, said the find was recently made during the seizure of computers and other electronics belonging to Ginell McDonough.

McDonough, 37, of Muskegon is accused of harboring Cedric Joseph Marks while knowing he was a fugitive wanted in Texas, and of lying to investigators.

Marks has been charged with the murders of two Texas people whose bodies were found in Oklahoma. If convicted, Marks faces the death penalty.

Roberts spoke of the suitcase while arguing against a reduction of McDonoughs bond in Muskegon County District Court Wednesday, Feb. 14. He said outside of court that Army Reserve officials were in contact with the Michigan State Police regarding the seizure of computers and other electronic devices when they found the suitcase hidden in McDonoughs office. A search warrant was obtained to open the suitcase, he said.

McDonoughs attorney, R.J. Winter, said that McDonough is a staff sergeant with the U.S. Army, which will keep close tabs on her. He also noted that McDonough has no criminal history in asking for a personal recognizance bond.

District Judge Geoffrey Nolan ended up lowering McDonoughs bond from $75,000 to $10,000 cash or surety. He also ordered her to be monitored by a GPS tether.

Marks escaped on Feb. 3 from a private prisoner transport van that was taking him from Kent County to face double-murder charges in Texas. He escaped when the van stopped at a McDonalds restaurant in Conroe, Texas, and was found nine hours later hiding in a trash can.

Maya Maxwell of Muskegon, believed to be Marks girlfriend, waived extradition to Texas to face charges of destroying or tampering with evidence. Maxwell allegedly confessed to police that she tried to hide the vehicle of victim Michael Swearingen after the murders, according to KXXV TV in Waco, Texas.

Maxwell told police she was in a Killeen, Texas, home when Swearingen and Jenna Scott were killed on Jan. 3, and that she also was present when their bodies were transported and buried, according to KXXV TV. Scott was an ex-girlfriend of Marks.

Roberts said Marks was at McDonoughs home before he left with Maxwell on Jan. 1 for Texas, and that they returned around Jan. 5. McDonough allegedly let Marks and Maxwell stay in her home from Jan. 5-8. Marks was arrested Jan. 8 in Grandville.

Conroe (Texas) Police Department Facebook post about the capture of escaped prisoner Cedric Joseph Marks whose was being transported from Grand Rapids to Texas to face double-murder charges.

Marks also is a person of interest in the 2009 disappearance of a Bloomington, Minnesota, woman, with whom Marks had a child, several media outlets have reported.

A mixed martial arts fighter who used the nickname Spiderman, Marks reportedly trained at a Muskegon area gym and also taught self-defense classes to women.

Roberts said the investigation into McDonoughs role continues, including the examination of computers and other electronic devices. McDonough on Wednesday waived her preliminary examination for harboring a fugitive and obstructing justice.Jackie Dunklin, 27, faced up to 30 years for his role in the death of James Maulding, who was found dead in the bedroom of his home by his father. A woman who took the same cocaine, heroin and fentanyl mix was hospitalized six weeks from the effects of the overdose, authorities said.KALAMAZOO, MI -- Senior Services of Southwest Michigan named a new chief executive officer to lead the nonprofit organization.

Richard Kline will begin in his new role of CEO March 4, according to a press release from the organization.

Kline was most recently the senior deputy director of the aging and adult services agency for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the release said. Prior to that, he spent over 18 years working with older adults in healthcare administration.

His passion for serving older adults paired with his strong leadership background make him an outstanding fit for our organization, the release said.

Interim CEO Tauhric Brown will resume his previous role of chief operations officer.

The Kalamazoo-based nonprofit, which assists thousands of older adults every year, celebrated 50 years of service to the community in 2013.

Senior Services of Southwest Michigan encompasses over 20 services that support the independence of older adults and adults with disabilities. The organization has served the region since 1963.JACKSON, MI  When units are vacated due to a failed city of Jackson inspection, its now up to landlords to pay to temporarily house their renters.

Jackson City Council passed the tenant relocation assistance ordinance 4-3 on Tuesday, Feb. 12 after tabling it two weeks earlier. This was the second reading of the ordinance, which goes into effect in 30 days.

City officials said they believe the ordinance is the first of its kind in Michigan. It targets "bad apple" landlords who don't take care of their properties and subject their tenants to dangerous conditions, Mayor Derek Dobies said.

"We're not going to tolerate people being kicked out to the curb because of no fault of their own," Dobies said.

If a unit is deemed uninhabitable by city inspectors, landlords must pay to house renters for up to three months, under the new ordinance. While some landlords have expressed concern to the council, Dobies said most landlords dont have properties in this shape.

"I don't think that the taxpayers should be paying for (temporary housing)  which is what the city does right now," Dobies said. "We pay for it and try to recover costs."

If the renter is at fault for the unit being vacated, the landlord doesnt have to pay. Its up to the city to determine who is at fault.

To read the full ordinance, go to page 20 in the Council agenda packet.

Councilwoman Arlene Robinson previously voted to table the ordinance, but changed her vote Tuesday night to sway the result. The ordinance language did not change, Dobies said.

"I don't want my landlords to feel that I'm not hearing their message," Robinson said. "We're not trying to make it hard for anyone, we just want to make it better for all."

Robinson said shes open to making tweaks to the ordinance, but wanted to look out for residents in poverty and without a voice. Councilmen Jeromy Alexander, Craig Pappin and Freddie Dancy voted no.

It should be good for the tenants, it should be good for the landlords. And I think in this situation, its way too heavy on one side, Alexander said. What would that do to an average family to have an expense of that amount?JACKSON, MI -- The city of Jackson wants to hear residents opinions on whether Francis Street should officially be renamed in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

A public hearing on the issue is set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, at Jackson City Hall, 161 W. Michigan Ave. Public hearings are required to get input from impacted residents and business owners before a street is considered for renaming, Aaron Dimick, city of Jackson public information officer, said in a message.

The renaming attempt, led by the Jackson Branch NAACP, has spanned nearly 45 years, Dimick said. If passed, Francis Street would officially be renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Residents and businesses located on the street would then have to change their addresses to reflect the new name.

This is something the community has been asking for for decades, so the city wants to take a big step forward on the issue and hear from the community," Dimick said.

More than 955 communities in 41 states have streets named for King Jr., according to a memorandum by Mayor Derek Dobies and Vice Mayor Arlene Robinson sent to city council members on Feb. 11. As city leaders, they recognize Jacksons civil rights history and its past and current racial disparities, the memorandum said.

We seek to address those problems proactively in our city not only through policies and programs, but through commemoration of those who have led in those endeavors, the memorandum said.

Some of the streets signs already unofficially honor the slain civil rights leader with his name. The street was first unofficially renamed for King Jr. in February for Black History Month in 1991, according to stories in the Citizen-Patriot archives. The council eventually elected to leave the markings up year-round, according to the city memorandum.

Those opposing the renaming may be concerned about the cost impact and having to make adjustments with residential and business addresses, Dimick said. Petitioners must pay for new signs and markers, per the citys street addressing policy.

This shouldve been done already, Janice Sweet Fairley said of the street renaming during public comment at the Feb. 12 city council meeting. I dont mean 10 days ago or 10 months ago, but 10 years ago.

Its having representation thats important, said Semaj Mahoney during public comment.

When her daughter was 3 years old, she wanted to quit ballet after seeing her class picture, Mahoney said. She was the only person of color in her class, which made her feel different than the other girls, she said.

You dont know what this small step could change, Mahoney said. Think if people said sitting at a lunch counter isnt going to make a difference, sitting on the back of the bus wont make a difference, or starting a program for students to have breakfast wont make a difference -- any step or move toward progress is making a difference.ROCKFORD, MI - Love is in the air this week and MLive.com reporter Sasha Zidar went searching for the secret to everlasting love at StoryPoint Independent Senior Living.

With Valentines Day on Thursday, it begs the question that we asked of several senior citizens: How did you find love?

You wont see it coming, all of a sudden it will be right there, Darrell Yeager said about falling in love with his wife. I got drafted so we had to get married on a three-day pass.

Yeager was shipped off to Korea for 13 months. The couple could only communicate through mailed letters. His wife saved all the letters. Theyve been married for 64 years.

Every year for Valentines Day, Yeager gets his wife a box of dark chocolate turtles from Sweetland Chocolates & Coffee.

He calls me Rabbit, Natalie Yeager said, before smiling at Darrell. Love takes a lot of work. Love means family -- we have three beautiful children and we are so proud of them.

Another married couple, who are preparing to celebrate 70 years of marriage this year, said the secret to their everlasting love is sharing through thick and thin.

Bill and Tressa Griffin met in college and formed a bond that has kept them together over the years. Their 70th anniversary is in July 2019.

We have a kind of friendship that overcomes the adversities ... Bill said about their long marriage. It does take some work.

As the sound of love songs came from the piano filled the hallways, Marilyn Henrickson sat with her friends, humming along to the music. Henrickson recently lost her husband to Alzheimers. They were married for 67 years.

Love is the greatest thing ... Love is God, Henrickson said, looking off into the distance. We had a wonderful marriage ... Just a real great, handsome, good-looking guy and we had four wonderful boys.

Henrickson said she believes the key to everlasting love is commitment and enjoying each others company, but also making time for yourself.

Hendrickson said one of the last major things he purchased before he died was buy her a diamond, something she has always wanted but never had.

About two years before we came here, he was watching the ads on the TV and he said, You always wanted that big diamond, lets go to the jewelry store and get one,' Henrickson said. I was dumbfounded and so we went, and I love my wedding ring, so I just wanted a little one and he picked it out and added it to my wedding ring.  To me that was his last gesture of showing me how much he loves me.ROCKFORD, MI  More than a dozen area kids in need will be resting easier tonight.

The children received beds built just for them during an event held at the warehouse of CAT Footwear, a division of Wolverine World Wide, with help from the Cedar Springs chapter of the nationwide nonprofit Sleep in Heavenly Peace. The organization builds beds for kids who are sleeping on the floor or other uncomfortable places because they dont have a bed.

On Thursday, Feb. 14, 40 CAT employees joined about 25 volunteers with the Cedar Springs chapter of the nonprofit to build 20 beds for families in the Rockford and Cedar Springs areas. Fourteen of them were set to be delivered, complete with bedding, just hours after they were built. Delivery of the other six will be arranged at a later date, according to Sue Thompson, who organized the local chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace with her husband, Jim.

The beds are going to six different homes, Thompson said. A total of 14 kids are getting off of the floor.

Over the course of four hours, the volunteers worked assembly-line style at stations for sawing, drilling holes, assembling, sanding and staining.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace formed in Twin Falls, Idaho in 2012, after founder Luke Mickelson learned there were kids in his community who were sleeping on floors or in piles of dirty clothes because they had no beds. The organization now has 137 chapters in 40 states, according to its website.

Kelsey Dunneback, digital marketing specialist at CAT Footwear, said they reached out to the Cedar Springs chapter to coordinate the event as part of CATs Build for Better program. They started the program last fall as a way for staff members with the brand to volunteer, get engaged in the community and champion the good works of others. In their first project, the team from CAT built desks for a nonprofit in Chicago, Dunneback said.

Now were looking for ways to make it bigger and better, she said.

The Cedar Springs volunteers from Sleep in Heavenly Peace provided the materials and the equipment, manned the stations and taught the CAT workers how to make the beds.

The local chapter was great at helping us, Dunneback said.

People who are in need of a bed for their child can request one on the Sleep in Heavenly Peace website. Following the local builds, the organization determines where the beds will go based on the requests they have received.

The Cedar Springs chapter of the organization formed last year. It is made up largely of members of Grace Evangelical Free Church in Rockford, along with several others who got involved just because they wanted to help, Thompson said.

The CAT build was the Cedar Springs groups third event, and brought the number of beds the chapter has built to 30.

So thats 30 kids off the floor in northern Kent County, she said.WYOMING, MI  Police are looking for a man who robbed Lake Michigan Credit Union on Thursday, Feb 14.

Witnesses told police the robber had a deep voice.

He was about 5-foot-4, wearing a black ski mask, yellow ski sunglasses and all black clothing.

No weapons were seen.

The robbery happened around 9:40 a.m. at 2636 44th St. SW. The robber entered the bank and announced a robbery. After leaving the bank, the robber ran north across 44th Street SW. Police did not disclose how much money was taken.

Witnesses described the suspect as having a deep voice, police said.

Police asked anyone with information to call Wyoming Department of Public Safety at 616-530-7300 or Silent Observer at 866-774-2345.ALLENDALE TOWNSHIP, MI -- One of Michigans fastest-growing communities has banned all further housing developments not connected to municipal water amid concerns that groundwater is drying up.

The decision to enshrine what was previously a temporary prohibition on new developments using well water was passed this week by the Allendale Township Board of Trustees.

The move is a first among several communities in Ottawa County faced with the prospect of wells drying up and increasingly salty water due to a diminishing bedrock aquifer that is being pumped faster than it can recharge. Multiple studies, including one recently released, outlined the problem.

The township is taking steps to make sure we dont have dried up wells by having those new houses connect to public water now, instead of when its an emergency years from now, said Allendale Township Supervisor Adam Elenbaas.

Elenbaas said he doesnt expect the ban to slow the townships population and development boom. Previously, developments with more than one acre of land for each home were not required to connect to municipal water.

Allendale Township is one of Michigans fastest-growing communities It grew about 26 percent between 2010 and 2017, or from about 20,700 people to an estimated 26,000 in 2017, according to U.S. Census Bureau.

Allendale Township municipal water draws off of the Grand Rapids system, which sources its water about a mile from shore in Lake Michigan.

Private wells in Allendale Township and central Ottawa County source their water from a shrinking bedrock aquifer known as the Marshall Formation. Other areas of the county have sprawling municipal water systems or draw from a glacial aquifer that isnt hindered, like the Marshall Formation, by a thick clay layer preventing precipitation from recharging the aquifer.

The Marshall Formation was the focus of a study by Michigan State University researchers that began in 2011 and was completed in 2018.

The study, prompted by reports of area wells drying up and water with a salty taste, determined static water levels in the Marshall Formation dropped about 40 feet in the last 40 years because it was being drawn from faster than it could recharge.

In addition to drying some wells, diminished static water levels in the Marshall Formation result in more chloride drawn from deeper down in the water, potentially causing a salty taste to the water, pipe corrosion, crop damage and some health issues.

Researchers currently have no projection for when the aquifer will be tapped to the point of a widespread dry up, said Paul Sachs, director of Ottawa Countys Planning and Performance Improvement Department.

We do not have the data currently that defines a specific were out of water date, Sachs said. What we do know is that if we continue our water use unchanged, we will see another 20 foot decline in the next 15 years.

Projected static water level drops in the Marshall Formation in the coming years. (Michigan State University)

Allendale Township, with its recent ban, is so far the only affected municipality that has taken action to conserve aquifer water usage.

Just because its the first, doesnt mean its the last.

County leaders and area university researchers are currently compiling a playbook of more than 100 strategies to conserve water drawn from Marshall Formation, Sachs said.

The strategies range from not watering lawns to taking shorter showers to offsetting new well-use developments by connecting other developments to municipal water.

Sachs said strategies outlined in the playbook will not be mandatory but collaborative and proposed for township officials to choose from.

My intent is for these solutions and strategies playbook to guide our efforts for the next five, 10, 20 years, Sachs said. We need to provide a suite of options and solutions, because every local unit of government operates differently, has unique challenges with its infrastructure, groundwater conditions and population growth.

The solution isnt simply connecting to municipal water, Sachs said. Many of the affected townships are more rural and dont have a viable municipal water connection nearby.

He was unable to provide a draft copy of the playbook, saying it will be released summer 2019. In the meantime, county officials are continuing to educate residents on the groundwater situation and ways they can conserve water.

Sachs said its uncertain how receptive the public will be to water conservation and that some are bound to be skeptical. Because of that, education is all the more important, he said.

I think at the county meeting that was the concern that several of the township officials brought up: How do we convince the people that this really is a problem? Olive Township Supervisor Randy Vander Zwaag said.

The biggest misconception is were 10 miles from Lake Michigan and have all the water we need.

Officials in Blendon, Robinson and Olive townships -- areas, along with Allendale Township, most affected by the aquifer draw down -- say they have not taken any water conservation actions at this time.

Blendon and Olive township officials said theyre waiting for their planning commissions to take up the issue. Robinson Township officials said theyre following the countys lead.GRAND RAPIDS, MI  Grand Valley State University is assessing additional ways to support the increasing demand of students in need of mental health and counseling services.

University officials has already created an additional psychologist position and expanded group therapy offerings, among other things.

Mental health has been a growing concern on college and university campuses across the nation. The number of students in need of mental health care has been increasing, particularly for depression and anxiety.

The rate of mental health needs has risen five times faster than the rate of enrollment in this country in colleges, Loren Rullman, vice provost for student affairs and dean of students, recently told Grand Valleys Board of Trustees.

We are seeing nationally what we are seeing here on our campuses, which is an increase in the number of students seeking mental health care.

Over the past four years (2014 to 2018), Rullman said the Grand Valley Counseling Center has accommodated a 47 percent increase in student appointments.

Last academic year, the center saw 2,125 students for mental health and counseling services, up from 1,938 in 2016-17. There was a total of 10,752 appointments for group, individual, or crisis counseling, up from 10,325 total appointments.

In response to the greater demand, Rullman said GVSU has done the following:

Funded an additional psychologist to begin in fall 2019.

Expanded group therapy offerings, trained a network of almost 1,000 faculty, staff and students as suicide prevention gatekeepers with the evidence-based QPR (Question Persuade Refer) training.

Provided over 725 campus mental health wellness educational programs to encourage early intervention in referrals and student self-care.

Megan Sall, vice president of the Board of Trustees, sparked the conversation at the Friday, Feb. 8, board meeting when she asked Rullman to share more about mental health support following his board report on student services.

Sall said she is approached by a lot of people inquiring about whether the university has enough counselors, and is partnering with community resources for a comprehensive mental health approach.

The university does have a network of providers in the area it works for student referrals. The counseling center has 12, full-time professional clinical staff.

Maria Cimitile, provost and executive vice president for academic and student affairs, said like last year when a counselor was added, they are assessing their staffing needs again.

We are assessing what our needs are to meet the demands to the best of our ability, she said, noting the university is like a small town.

Support for our students is not just about counselors but looking at their entire wellness. We are reallocating staff to different areas.

Cimitile said institutions around the country know there isnt an easy fix to the program. She said Grand Valley will continue to assess the situation, make the necessary adjustments and learn from other institutional partners.

Trustee Randall Damstra suggested the board focus more on the mental health issue. He said they can be a leader in the space like theyve become in other program areas.

Its obviously a huge issue, he said, noting they may need to commit more resources. There are a lot of things going on that are high risk. We should make sure that the next time we talk about this we can have some more meat on the bone.

Since the need is accelerating, board chair Mary Kramer asked about whether there could be potential savings in outsourcing some of the services, rather than hiring of staff.

Amber Roberts, director of the University Counseling Center, said it was an option to review but she thought they would find that the cost would be quite extensive.

Rullman told the board Grand Valley delivers a high quality of care through a range of servicing options. He said it is one of only four accredited university counseling offices in Michigan and one of only eight in the Midwest.

He said they have better than acceptable wait times for individual and group counseling, and students with urgent needs are seen immediately.

Some of the top presenting concerns to the counseling center include: anxiety and related disorders, depression and mood-related disorders, trauma (including abuse and assault), interpersonal relationships, and career and academic issues.

If we can do more preventive and proactive work with students earlier in their time on campus, we believe that we can actually prevent some of the things that then become a crisis for them, said Rullman, about things such as resilience training to prevent disorders from developing.

He said they have an increasing number of students coming into the university already in the mental health system and taking medication, so they are trying to help students manage their lives when they no longer have family to help.

Cimitile said they also have to think about the impact of technology excessive use can lead to increased alienation, interfering with social interactions.

Rullman said 86 percent of Grand Valleys first year students choose to live on campus. In addition to treatment, he said they are focusing more and more on connecting students early and frequently with each other.

He said students at the university and around the country report feelings of loneliness and being homesick, and joining in community with one another is a helpful intervention.PORTLAND, MI -- As a Grand River ice jam and flooding persist in Portland, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has declared a state of emergency for Ionia County that paves the way for using state resources in the cleanup.

Whitmer made the declaration Wednesday, Feb. 13.

She made a similar declaration for Grand Rapids on Feb. 9 because of widespread power outages caused by two ice storms.

In Portland, an ice jam caused flooding that led to a 50-resident evacuation last week.

The ice jam had not subsided as of Wednesday but the flooding has not grown over the last several days.

Ionia County continues to recover from the heavy impacts of this winter weather, which include severe flood damage in the city of Portland and ice storm damage in the city of Belding, Whitmer said in a release. The state of Michigan is dedicated to do all it can to help the affected communities continue recovery efforts and get back on their feet.DETROIT, MI  Wayne State University is being investigated for a potential civil rights violation after a Flint-based professor filed a complaint about a summer program at the school.

Mark Perry, a professor at the University of Michigan-Flints School of Management, said a computer coding camp hosted at Wayne State University last summer violated the federal Title IX because it was meant for minority girls only.

I was saying that program should not be hosted at Wayne State, Perry said. That program is discriminatory based on race and sex.

Perry said he took his concerns to the U.S. Department of Educations Office of Civil Rights.

Black Girls Code is a separate organization from Wayne State, but because the organization hosted the event on a campus that accepts federally funding, the college must follow Title IX, Perry claims.

Perry said he has filed additional civil rights complaints at multiple schools on similar grounds.

Im challenging the discriminatory, girls-only summer STEM camps at 35 universities across the country, he said. After spending a quarter of a century in higher education  theres systematic and open gender discrimination. Ive just taken this on as a mission to change the gender discrimination that takes place across the country.

MLive-The Flint Journal could not reach Black Girls Code for comment on Thursday, Feb. 14.

Wayne State University Spokesman Matt Lockwood said the college received a complaint from the Office of Civil Rights and is in the process of replying to it.

Black Girls Code is a voluntary youth service organization and a 501(c) tax-exempt organization, and Wayne State hosts co-educational programs in coding and other STEM fields similar to Black Girls Code for both boys and girls, Lockwood said in a statement. "Therefore, the university is not in violation of Title IX or any other statute or law prohibiting discrimination based on sex. In addition, Black Girls Code allows girls from all racial backgrounds to participate in its programs.

MLive-The Flint Journal could not reach the Office of Civil Rights on Thursday to discuss the complaint.

The Office of Civil Rights is also responding to a complaint filed last year by Perry alleging the University of Michigan offers resources, funding, initiatives and scholarships available to women only.

That complaint was filed June 14, 2018, after Perry alleged the university failed to respond to complaints of sex discrimination in April and May 2018. The matter was confirmed to be under investigation Jan. 24.

The OCR says it will investigate whether UM excludes individuals or denies benefits of programs or activities on the basis of sex.FLINT, MI  A Flint used car dealer is in trouble with the state after refusing to comply with inspection requests.

The Michigan Department of State suspended the license of a Flint used-vehicle dealer His and Hers New Chance Used Cars LLC, 2250 S. Dort Highway, according to a statement from the state. The dealer allegedly failed to comply with requests by agents to inspect records, the statement said.

Secretary of State regulatory staff tried to look at records of inventory and sales transactions twice in December, but the dealer did not provide them, state officials said.

State law requires dealerships to keep detailed records to prevent the sale of stolen vehicles and parts, and to make sure buyers get a valid title and proper registration.

Dealers can request a hearing to contest the suspension and can regain their license if they can show theyve complied with the law, the statement said.

MLive-The Flint Journal could not reach the Secretary of State or the dealership for comment.FLINT, MI -- Mayor Karen Weaver has been dismissed as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by former City Administrator Natasha Henderson -- a Whistleblowers Protection Act case that is still pending against the city in U.S. District Court.

In a motion filed Thursday, Feb. 14, attorneys for Henderson and Weaver agreed to the change, removing a defamation claim by the ex-administrator against the mayor.

Henderson filed the federal lawsuit in May 2016, claiming she was fired after alleging Weaver routed donations designed to help the city with its water crisis to a personal account rather than a fund managed by the Community Foundation of Greater Flint.

The mayor has denied that allegation and testified Henderson was fired after not informing her of outbreaks of Legionnaires disease during the Flint water crisis until February 2016 --- an allegation the city administrator has denied.

The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice in August 2017, but reinstated in September 2018 by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled the case could move forward as a whistleblower action.

Judge Sean F. Cox has ordered the two sides to attempt to settle the case before a trial thats scheduled to start April 30, according to Katherine Smith Kennedy, Hendersons attorney.

Were ready to try the case, Smith Kennedy said Thursday.

The attorney said her client decided to continue her claim against the city without pursuing the single defamation claim against Weaver individually.

MLive-The Flint Journal could not immediately reach a spokeswoman for the city or an attorney for Weaver for comment on the case.

Hired to a five-year contract by former emergency manager Darnell Earley, Henderson arrived in city hall in February 2015 and worked until her firing some 30 months later.PITTSFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI - A man accused of killing his father, 66-year-old Ann Arbor dentist Michael E. Krause, will undergo a mental competency review before his criminal case proceeds.

Michael B. Krause, 30, of Ann Arbor, was ordered to undergo examinations for criminal responsibility and competency to stand trial when he appeared Thursday, Feb. 14 at Washtenaw County 14A-1 District Court.

Krauses Ann Arbor-based attorney Joe Simon requested the reviews; he previously said his client was being supervised by Washtenaw County Community Mental Health before the death of the elder Krause.

The slain dentists wife called police about 8 p.m. Jan. 26 to report a fight between the father and son in their home in the 700 block of Watershed Drive on Ann Arbors east side, Detective Lt. Aimee Metzer said.

The son then called, too, to say "that his dad was yelling at he and his mom and  that basically he snapped and started hitting his father," Metzer said. The two had been drinking.

The elder Krause was beaten and strangled, his death certificate shows.

The younger Krause is charged with open murder, which allows a jury to determine the degree of the offense upon conviction. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Clad in a white jail uniform reserved for those with mental and medical concerns, Michael B. Krause kept quiet with his eyes lowered for the duration of his probable cause conference Feb. 14.

Hes scheduled for an April 11 competency hearing. He remains held without bond.

Though he did not elaborate, Simon previously said there may be an affirmative defense in the case.

The older Krause was a former faculty member at the University of Michigan Dental School, according to his professional website.ANN ARBOR, MI - A former Ypsilanti Community High School student will spend six months in jail for the sexual assault of a fellow student on school property in 2016.

The words of the victim and her family swayed a judge to revoke plans for a more lenient sentence for Simeon Spalding, 20, when he appeared Dec. 5, 2018, at the Washtenaw County Trial Court.

Initially, Judge Archie Brown agreed to sentence Spalding to probation without jail time. The heftier sentence was handed down on Feb. 6.

The girl's parents steadied her shaking body as she cried at the stand in December, describing the anxiety attacks and bullying she's suffered since the assault. She paused at times during her victim impact statement, looking up as she seemingly struggled to speak.

The girl, who is not being named as a victim of sexual assault, is no longer the vibrant young woman she once was, her mother told Brown.

Her father said hes afraid to let his daughter go anywhere, since the incident happened at school.

"Don't let me see you nowhere," he told Spalding, as the girl's mother tried to stop him.

Spalding admitted to having consensual sexual relations as an 18-year-old senior with the girl in 2016 at the school at 2095 Packard Street in Ypsilanti Township, his attorney Robert Dawid said.

In his initial agreement with the judge, Spalding pleaded guilty to a charge of third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a person between 13 and 15 years old, Dawid said.

A similar charge of sexual assault by way of force or coercion was dismissed at the time, Dawid said.

It was connected to a separate accusation by the same girl, he confirmed.

Spalding was accused of forcing the then-14-year-old girl into a janitorial closet and sexually assaulting her in 2016 as she walked to an after-school event at the school, according to Derrick Jackson of the Washtenaw County Sheriffs Office.

The incident was reported to police in October 2017, Jackson said. An exact timeframe of the assault was not reported. Spalding was arrested in May 2018.

His client never admitted to such an assault, Dawid said. On the other charge, he said his client made a mistake. He said Spalding lost his parents at a young age and basically raised himself.

Hes a really good kid. Hes never been in trouble before and he just didnt know how young she was, he said.

Police did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment and prosecutors declined to comment.

Given everything hed learned Dec. 5, Brown said he could no longer honor the agreement that would have given Spalding a more lenient sentence. He adjourned the sentencing to give Spalding time to consider whether he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea.

He didnt withdraw the plea.

Instead, after arriving in the courtroom alone on Feb. 6, Spalding expressed remorse.

"I want to apologize to the family and everyone here," he said.

The girl and her family were not present.

Brown sentenced Spalding to six months in jail and two years probation under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act. It was the result of a sentence agreement, he said.

Sentence agreements are made with the prosecutors office. Under the act, Spalding will have a clean record upon successful completion of his probation.

Ypsilanti Community Schools declined comment on the case, but district spokesperson Taryn Willis said in an emailed statement the district remains committed to student safety.

"We encourage students and parents to share any safety concerns with the district or building administrators or report to local law enforcement," she said.

Students can also express concerns anonymously through the Ok2Say program, for which information is available in all school buildings, she said.ANN ARBOR, MI -- In 1925, historian Carter G. Woodson gave birth to the idea of Negro History Week, according to the Library of Congress, with the hope of raising awareness and recognition for African American contributions to society.

Today, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands celebrate Black History Month from Feb. 1-28.

The Ann Arbor District Library is hosting a series of events for community members to attend, in honor of generations of African Americans struggles and triumphs.

Derrick Benford Quartet Concert

The jazz, hip-hop, rhythm and blues and gospel music of the Derrick Benford Quartet will fill the Downtown Librarys multi-purpose room from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 14. Benford, a Detroit native and pianist currently plays with The Gene Dunlap Band. This event is free and open to all ages. The library is located at 343 S. Fifth Ave.

Delta Sigma Theta Step Show

The sisters of the University of Michigans Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Nu Chapter will perform a Step Show honoring Black History Month, on from 7 to 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, on the first floor of the Downtown Library. Rooted in traditional African dance, Step utilizes the body as an instrument and has been . The Step dance, performed by African American fraternities and sororities in the U.S. since the early 1900s, celebrates history, culture and the members of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

A Black History Month Panel Discussion

This discussion, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 17, in the Downtown Librarys multi-purpose room, will explore the historical and social impact of Black History Month. The panel features musical artist Jamall Bufford, EMU professor of English Heather Neff and Detroit Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley. Jessica Thompson, program manager of UMs Maize and Blue Cupboard, will serve as moderator.

Hand Lettering

People of all ages and artistic skill levels are welcome to hand-letter quotes from historical and modern black voices from 1 to 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24, in the program room of the librarys Traverwood Branch, 3333 Traverwood Drive. Quotes and supplies will be provided, though participants are welcome to bring quotes of their own to hand letter.Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is undeterred after Republicans in the Senate voted Thursday to void her executive order to restructure the Department of Environmental Quality, her spokesperson said.

In a 22-16 vote, Republicans voted for a concurrent resolution to overturn Executive Order 2019-2, which included Whitmers effort to rebrand the the Department of Environmental Quality as the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). The executive order would also create new offices within the department, including the Office of the Clean Water Public Advocate, the Office of the Environmental Justice Public Advocate, and the Interagency Environmental Justice Response Team.

Many Republicans specifically took issue with Whitmers plan to do away with Legislature-approved oversight panels. A section in the order would get rid of the Environmental Rules Review Committee, Environmental Permit Review Commission and Environmental Science Advisory Board.

Its disappointing to see the party of limited government vote for more government bureaucracy, but the governor remains undeterred," Whitmer spokesperson Tiffany Brown said in a statement.

Brown said Whitmer is committed to reorganizing the department: We look forward to continuing a dialogue with the legislature to get this done, because Michiganders cant afford to wait for clean drinking water.

The House and Senate needed a majority vote of disapproval for the the executive order within 60 days to prevent it from going into effect. The House took a vote last week, and Thursdays Senate vote voided Whitmers order.

[House votes to overturn DEQ restructuring plan, Whitmer says she wont back down]Edit Info

Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clark Lake, said following the vote he viewed his order as a step too far. He said hed been in talks with Whitmer as recently as this morning and that there had been plenty of opportunities for a different approach on this.

I invite my governor to send us another EO with her recommendations on how to reorganize those departments, he said, adding that if she chose to issue another executive order on the DEQ, hed like to see a specific definition on what environmental justice.

In a followup statement, Shirkey characterized the Senates action as a vote to protect Michiganders from overzealous bureaucrats.

Just last year, my colleagues and I supported legislation to create commissions within the Department of Environmental Quality where citizens can seek review of permit outcomes and department rules," he said. Prior to the creation of the commissions, citizens were limited to pursuing costly legal action in order to challenge rulings made by the DEQ.

Democrats fiercely defended Whitmers executive order on the Senate floor. Sen. Curtis Hertel, D-East Lansing, described the move as a love letter to corporate polluters, and Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, said the practical effect of overturning the executive order would be giving special interests more power over the states environmental regulatory body.

Im really excited that we finally have a governor whos going to stand up to that and say,No, Im looking out for the people in Michigan that are breathing the air and drinking the water every day, he said.The Michigan Senate on Thursday formally disapproved of Gov. Gretchen Whitmers plan to restructure the Department of Environmental Quality, officially voiding the governors executive order issued less than two weeks ago.

In a 22-16 vote, Republicans voted for a concurrent resolution to overturn Executive Order 2019-2, which included Whitmers effort to rebrand the the Department of Environmental Quality as the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). The executive order would also create new offices within the department, including the Office of the Clean Water Public Advocate, the Office of the Environmental Justice Public Advocate, and the Interagency Environmental Justice Response Team.

Many Republicans specifically took issue with Whitmers plan to do away with Legislature-approved oversight panels. A section in the order would get rid of the Environmental Rules Review Committee, Environmental Permit Review Commission and Environmental Science Advisory Board.

The House and Senate needed a majority vote of disapproval for the the executive order within 60 days to prevent it from going into effect. The House took a vote last week, and Thursdays Senate vote voided Whitmers order.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clark Lake, said following the vote he viewed his order as a step too far. He said hed been in talks with Whitmer as recently as this morning and that there had been plenty of opportunities for a different approach on this.

I invite my governor to send us another EO with her recommendations on how to reorganize those departments, he said, adding that if she chose to issue another executive order on the DEQ, hed like to see a specific definition on what environmental justice.

Democrats fiercely defended Whitmers executive order on the Senate floor. Sen. Curtis Hertel, D-East Lansing, described the move as a love letter to corporate polluters, and Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, said the practical effect of overturning the executive order would be giving special interests more power over the states environmental regulatory body.

Im really excited that we finally have a governor whos going to stand up to that and say,No, Im looking out for the people in Michigan that are breathing the air and drinking the water every day, he said.

Asked what he thought the governor should do next, Irwin suggested she stick to her convictions.

The governor should send another one, Irwin said. Maybe effective immediately rather than 60 days.

Prior to the floor vote, the Senate Oversight Committee chaired by Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, had been tasked with examining the resolution. After a handful of hearings, the committee moved the resolution in a 4-1 vote Thursday morning, noting in a letter to Shirkey that they viewed the governors elimination of the panels as an objectionable step backward.

Administrative rules and procedures become tools to impede public and legislative involvement, creating a quasi-legislative process without the consent of the governed, the letter reads. It is incumbent on the Legislature, as an extension of the people, to check those tendencies and ensure accountability in government. A responsibility it arguably does not take on often enough.

On the Senate floor, McBroom said he considered any implications that Republicans werent dedicated to air and water safety repugnant. He said the legislatures action defended oversight of the agency and kept its power in check.

Whos watching the watcher? Sen. McBroom asked.

In a press conference after the House vote was taken last week, Whitmer said the legislative action didnt change how strongly she felt about it: We are confident that this is the most meaningful thing we can do to clean up our water, she said at the time.

On Thursday afternoon, spokesperson Tiffany Brown said in a statement that Whitmer remains undeterred and is committed to reorganizing the department.

We look forward to continuing a dialogue with the legislature to get this done, because Michiganders cant afford to wait for clean drinking water.

This article was updated to include a statement from Whitmers spokesperson.UPDATE: Vinnzenz Neil Waynee has been arrested in Atlanta, Michigan.

GAYLORD, MI  Police in Northern Michigan are looking for a 22-year-old charged with multiple felonies.

Vinnzenz Neil Waynee is wanted for one felony count of Child Abuse 3rd Degree and one felony count of Criminal Sexual Conduct 3rd Degree.

Described as 59, 140 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes, Waynee is believed to be in Northern Michigan. He frequents the Petoskey, Gaylord, Atlanta, and Mio areas, according to police.

The Michigan State Polices 7th District Fugitive Team is assisting the Montmorency County Sheriff Department and Michigan State Police Gaylord Post in the search.

Police are reminding residents that anyone who assists Waynee in his attempts to avoid arrest will be charged with Assisting/Harboring a known felony fugitive.

Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of Waynee is asked to contact the MSP Michigan State Police Gaylord Regional Dispatch, non- emergency line, at 989-732-5141.

Information will remain confidential and callers may remain anonymous.While the photos attached courtesy of NASA might not seem like anything impressive in passing, they show where the Chinese space agencys history-making probe is located on the far side of Earths moon.

Since landing on the floor of a crater on the far side of the moon on Jan. 3, Change 4 has deployed a rover that should last a couple of months in the moons intense temperature swings. The spacecraft to make the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon also carried the first-ever cotton seed to sprout on the moon, although the seedling didnt last too long.

Seedlings in space! First-ever cotton plant on the Moon growing in #ChangE4 mini biosphere https://t.co/L8YpXqoVIG pic.twitter.com/3NVoCBUn5M  China Xinhua News (@XHNews) January 15, 2019

First time for humankind: A seed taken up to #Moon by China's Chang'e-4 probe has sprouted #ChangE4 pic.twitter.com/N6fA3A4ycv  China Xinhua News (@XHNews) January 15, 2019

The photos at the top of this article were made by the U.S. space agencys Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera back on Jan. 30. The Change 4 probe is 5-feet long and 3.3 feet wide and tall, according to a previous report from CNN.

Considering the size of the rover and that NASAs Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera was more than 120 miles from Change 4 makes the existence of these photos noteworthy.

As NASAs Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter approached the crater from the east, it rolled 70 degrees to the west to snap this spectacular view looking across the floor toward the west wall, the U.S. space agency reports. "Because LRO was 330 kilometers (205 miles) to the east of the landing site, the Change 4 lander is only about two pixels across (bright spot between the two arrows), and the small rover is not detectable.

The massive mountain range in the background is the west wall of Von Karman crater, rising more than 3,000 meters (9,850 feet) above the floor.

NASA says that the surface of the Von Karman crater is more than 3 billion years old, and that it featured a number of differing impact craters. Change 4 will aim to conduct compositional measurements of the basaltic rocks in the crater to see if these volcanic rocks differ from ones previously collected on the near side of the moon.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera is a series of three cameras mounted on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which first started operations back in 2009.

On January 3, the Chinese spacecraft Change 4 landed on the far side of the Moon. This week, our @LRO_NASA spacecraft snapped this image of the lander from 85 km above the lunar surface. The lander, about the size of a car, is only 2 pixels at this scale. https://t.co/RUl3jsNZ4N pic.twitter.com/XKUWCX2Umi  NASA Moon (@NASAMoon) February 6, 2019

Congratulations to Chinas Change-4 team for what appears to be a successful landing on the far side of the Moon. This is a first for humanity and an impressive accomplishment! pic.twitter.com/JfcBVsjRC8  Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) January 3, 2019The new federal plan for addressing PFAS contamination signals significant leaps forward for studying and regulating the chemicals that affect the drinking water of at least 110 million Americans.

But any Michigan resident who expects fast federal action wont be satisfied.

The Environmental Protection Agencys PFAS Management Plan released on Thursday, Feb. 14, calls for 25 steps to address the dangers of per- and poly-fluorinated compounds that cause adverse health effects like cancer.

One key move: By the end of this year, the EPA will propose limits in drinking water for two types of PFAS that no longer are in use in the US: PFOA and PFOS.

We are taking concrete steps to protect our nations drinking water, said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Dave Ross during a media briefing.

By the end of 2019, Ross said, the EPA will propose a regulatory determination," or maximum amount of the so-called forever chemicals that will be allowed in drinking water.

Today, that number doesnt exist on a federal level, even as states turn to setting their own standards as contamination spreads. And, by following the protocols of the Safe Drinking Water Act, any proposed number wont be enforceable for years as it wends through multiple stages of approvals.

We are initiating the rule-making this year, Ross said. He would not commit to a timeline or respond with specificity to questions about how many years the process would take.

The movement toward even recommending drinking water standards represents a pivotal moment in the history of the agency, Ross said.

Americans count on the EPA every time they turn on their faucets, he said.

Other key steps to the plan include:

Continuing enforcement actions and clarify cleanup strategies. It will continue efforts to list PFOA and PFOS to be listed as hazardous substances under Superfund laws.

Releasing interim groundwater cleanup standards so that states can turn to the federal guideline.

Expanding focus on monitoring and understanding PFAS in the environment. That includes including it in the next round of monitoring under the Unregulated Contaminated Monitoring Rule testing of drinking water. Tests from 2013-2015 initially pinpointed the chemicals reach in drinking water.

Expanding research efforts by developing new analytical methods and tools, notably by targeting, in part, human health and ecological impact, along with significant sources and pathways to contamination. This could result in new technology to remove it from drinking water.

Working across the agency and federal government to communicate about PFAS to the public and identifying the risks people face in their daily lives, Ross said.

While PFAS continues to be called an emerging contaminant in many circles, criticism about enforcement has focused on gaps in existing science despite more than a decade of recognizing risks from the chemicals.

Ross said the EPAs efforts look at research to find effective solutions.

We are adapting and keeping up with developing sciences, Ross said.

He continued: Our goal is to close the gap on the science as quickly as possible.  especially as it relates to other emerging (PFAS) risks.

The EPA first promised the PFAS report in spring 2018, when then-Director Scott Pruitt addressed a national PFAS summit and told the nation what he planned to do to address the chemical contamination.

Since then, the deadline was extended from fall to year-end. Peter Grevatt, former director of the EPAs Ground and Drinking Water Division who retired in late 2018, heard numerous concerns from Michigan officials and residents in October, and warned at that time that any changes proposed in the report will have to go through multiple review processes.

At least 1.4 million Michigan residents are drinking from public water sources that contain some level of PFAS, according to statewide testing conducted by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality in 2018.

The state set a 70 parts per trillion (ppt) limit for the individual compounds PFOS and PFOA in groundwater, based in part on non-enforceable federal guidelines for a lifetime health advisory on PFAS consumption. It also set a 12-ppt cleanup standard for PFOS in surface water.

Michigan has not begun taking administrative steps to set a state public drinking water standard despite calls for that from some Democrats and activists in the environmental and public health communities. A bill in the state legislature that would set a limit at 5-ppt for PFOS and PFOA sponsored by Rep. Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, died last year and hasnt gotten much traction this session.

Michigans extensive PFAS testing has turned up dozens of sites of contamination so far, with some communities like northern Kent County and Parchment, near Kalamazoo, dealing with high levels and the need to find replacement water sources.

The state also released a report in December based on several scientists looking at PFAS and recommending a look at whether the EPAs health advisory level was set too high.

As the EPA considered its moves, Michigans lawmakers have initiated multiple steps to address PFAS.

On a federal level, they include U.S. Sen. Gary Peters calling the first Senate panel to explore contamination effects across the country. Peters also called a Senate oversight committee meeting in Michigan in November,

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee co-initiated a bipartisan PFAS task force in Congress to elevate the issue. Kildee and U.S. Rep. Fred Upton called in 2018 for a national standard in drinking water. Bipartisan legislation from Kildee and U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman in late 2018 sought $50 million to speed PFAS cleanup.

Other legislation over the past two years has sought funds for contamination and health studies.

Meanwhile, Peters challenged the U.S. Air Force this month, saying the military was taking an aggressive and defensive posture toward cleaning PFAS from the Oscoda area where it closed Wurtsmith Air Force Base in 1993  and still are cleaning multiple contaminants from the former base.

In response, the secretary of the Air Force replied with a promise to be proactive.While the Upper Peninsula and Northern Lower Michigan face yet another round of accumulating snowfall and sloppy precipitation, the rest of the state should enjoy a brief warm-up on Thursday, Feb. 14.

The tip of the mitt and Eastern U.P. is staring down the most severe forecast Thursday, with the potential of 6 to 8 inches north of the bridge and 4 to 6 inches south of it. South of the Charlevoix and Rogers City line is looking at 2 to 4 inches of snow while the rest is projected to receive trace amounts to 2 inches with a greater chance of a wintry mix as temperatures rise to the south.

As it stands Thursday morning, the National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for lake effect snow and blowing show in northwest Upper Michigan, winter storm warning for snow and blowing snow in northeast upper and a winter weather advisory for snow in southeast Upper Michigan.

This is unfortunate news for the Marquette area, as the NWS office located in the area reports it received another 9.1 inches of snow on Wednesday bringing this weeks total up to a nearly whopping 26 inches. Refer to the collection of weather graphics attached in the gallery at the top of this post for a more region-by-region breakdown, in addition to temperature and wind maps of the entire state.

Related: Incredible 16.5 inches of snow falls in 15 hours at this UP spot

These warming conditions in the rest of the state are expected to be fleeting as temperatures will start to drop overnight Thursday into Friday and stay there through the weekend. But, lets focus on the good news for a moment as central and southern Lower Michigan could see temperatures rise into the high 30s/low 40s on Thursday.

West Michigan should reach the high 30s by about noon Thursday while it will be just a touch warmer on the east side of the state. There is a chance of scattered rain showers Thursday afternoon and evening, but any potential precipitation in southern Lower Michigan should fade away by about midnight.

As for the extended forecast, the National Weather Service says to expect a dry, calm weekend and that no real impactful weather is expected until possibly next Wednesday.

Roller coaster weather is expected over the next 36 hours, the NWS Grand Rapids office reports Thursday morning. This forecast includes temperatures flirting with 40 degrees Thursday before dropping into the mid-20s overnight with scattered snow showers and wind gusts as strong as 35 mph.

Commuters could face a somewhat slippery Friday morning commute across Lower Michigan, as well, as temperatures fall and the chance of scattered snow and rain showers exists overnight Thursday.

So, generally, only a dusting of accumulation is expected, although an inch or so is possible up around Ludington and Baldwin, the weather service reports.

Slick spots may develop in time for the Friday morning commute as the falling temps causes any moisture/light snow on roadways to freeze up.

To recap everything for Thursdays forecast into Friday morning, a system with yet another round of accumulating snow and rain to the south will track through the Upper Peninsula and through northern Lower Michigan. Conditions to the south of about Cadillac through the LP should be warmer and mostly dry albeit for some strong, gusty winds picking up steam later in the day. There is a chance for some evening rain showers mixed with some snow as temperatures drop, but substantial accumulation of any kind is not expected out of the U.P. and northern Lower Michigan.This article by Jared Keller originally appeared on Task & Purpose, a digital news and culture publication dedicated to military and veterans issues.

Bill Cosby is apparently having no trouble adjusting to his life in prison thanks to his brief service in the U.S. Navy.

The legendary comedian and convicted sexual predator is apparently having an "amazing experience" at the SCI Phoenix maximum-security prison thanks in part to his experience serving in the military in the 1950s, his spokesman Andrew Wyatt told the New York Daily News. "He was in the Navy for four years, and this is no different than being in the Navy," Wyatt said. "People have rooms. People are over you. They're just doing their jobs, and you have to follow rules. That's how he operates every day." "He gets up at 3:30. He works out," Wyatt added. "The food is packed with a lot of sodium, so in order to prevent himself from getting sick, he puts his food in a cup, goes to the sink and rinses it off three times."

Cosby joined the Navy in 1956, serving for four years as an enlisted hospital corpsman at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia and the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland, the Washington Post reported in 2014. He was honorably discharged in 1960 as a 3rd Class Petty Officer.

In 2011, Cosby was presented with the title of honorary Chief Petty Officer. In 2015, then-Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Michael Stevens announced that the Navy had revoked Cosby's honorary title.

The Navy has undergone some significant chances in the decades since Cosby's service, but the comparison of enlisted life too incarceration hasn't disappeared. In October 2017, a Navy Times reported that several command climate surveys conducted aboard the cruiser USS Shiloh revealed that sailors saw the vessel as a "floating prison."

The Navy declined to respond to the Cosby spokesman Wyatt's comments.

More articles from Task & Purpose:

Well, this new Army PSA on household safety took a dark turn

The Army's Latest Recruiting Spot Is A Hip-Hop Ode To Service

Awesome video shows Apache helicopters flying mere feet above the groundThe U.S. Army will soon field more pocket-sized drones to its squads and platoons under a recent $39.6 million contract award to FLIR Systems Inc. to support small-unit reconnaissance efforts.

The FLIR Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance System, or PRS, resembles a tiny helicopter and flies almost silently. Soldiers can use the onboard camera to look around corners in urban areas or recon unfamiliar terrain.

"The highly capable nano-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems delivered under this contract will support platoon and small-unit level surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities as part of the Soldier Borne Sensor (SBS) Program," according to a recent FLIR press release.

The Army awarded the first SBS phase contract to FLIR for an initial batch of Black Hornets in June, the release states. This latest contract will expand the use of FLIR's Black Hornet for the SBS effort.

Related Video:

"We are proud to be selected by the U.S. Army for the SBS Program of Record; this contract represents a significant milestone with the operational large-scale deployment of nano-UAVs into the world's most powerful Army," said Jim Cannon, president and CEO of FLIR Systems.

"This contract is a major win for the newly established Unmanned Systems & Integrated Solutions business division at FLIR and demonstrates the strong and urgent demand for nano-UAV technology offered by FLIR. Protecting U.S. warfighters with our unmanned solutions is a key objective for FLIR."

The Army has been working on the SBS program for some time. Soldiers evaluated early versions of the Black Hornet in March 2015 during the Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment at Fort Benning, Georgia.

The latest version of the Black Hornet can fly for up to 25 minutes and transmit live video and still images from up to two kilometers away, according to FLIR's website.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.The Defense Commissary Agency and the military's three separate exchange services should be consolidated under a single resale enterprise for the purpose of streamlining above-store and back-of-store operations, says a business plan report the Defense Department is expected to endorse and send to Congress next month.

The single governance structure envisioned for military resale is laid out in a business case analysis developed over the last half of 2018 by a task force of retail executives headed by retired Army Maj. Gen. Keith Thurgood.

The task force was heavily supported by Boston Consulting Group, whose reform recommendations adopted for commissaries in 2016 have so far failed to reverse a steady and worrisome decline in sales at on-base grocery stores.

Thurgood served as chief executive officer of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) from 2007 to 2010 and held executive positions in the health care and retail industries. He would become interim director and chief executive officer of the consolidated resale system if the task force recommendations advance.

Then-Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan ordered the task force created last May to develop a business case to support consolidating military resale systems. It therefore surprised no one when the report concluded consolidation would produce attractive savings.

The estimate is $700 million to $1.3 billion over the first five years, less about $500 million in implementation costs, but then $400 million to $700 million a year in recurring savings after full transformation.

Every exchange service reacted to the task force findings with frank critiques, attacking how it used their staffs and data, and warning of deepening risks to the shopping benefit if the proprietary industry "benchmarks" of Boston Consulting Group, used to estimate merger efficiencies, turn out to be wrong.

Still, the Army and Air Force concurred with the task force findings. The Navy initially did not, with Under Secretary Thomas Modly, in a Dec. 6 memo, describing the results as "less than convincing." Five weeks later, however, Modly switched the Navy position to "concur" but continued to insist the task force had "overstated" many "estimated efficiencies," adding four pages of comments and concerns.

In a joint interview last Wednesday, Thurgood and Lisa Hershman, acting chief management officer of the DoD, discussed the task force findings, the criticisms they have sparked, challenges facing the shopping benefit and new authorities Congress would have to provide if full consolidation is to occur.

"This is about enhancing this benefit," said Thurgood. "Now, can we do that while taking costs out of the system? Yes, we can. But that's not the endgame. The endgame is creating a new business model that really changes the future trajectory" of military resale, which has lost ground to commercial competitors.

Task force guiding principles included maintaining exchange profits so they continue to produce "dividends" to fund on-base morale, welfare and recreational activities, and protecting average commissary shopper savings of 23.7 percent.

"That means you have to do things fundamentally different than we are doing today," Thurgood said. "As you know, revenue is down across the board [for] the resale entities." Falling commissary sales "is particularly acute for a variety of reasons: changing demographics, generational buying patterns. The market is tough anyway in the food world. It's a very small margin game."

Commissaries and exchanges would stay separate stores on base, Thurgood said. Consolidation would focus on a new central governance structure and squeezing efficiencies and achieving synergies by merging back office and "above store" functions that customers don't see, he said.

"This would not be about divesting or closing," Thurgood added.

The task force plan targets portions of current resale operations for modernization and others for unification, Hershman added. But there also would be "no-touch zones," to include AAFES, Navy Exchange and Marine Corps Exchange storefronts, branding, labeling and their operational responsiveness to needs and directions of their service secretaries.

"At the very minimum," said Hershman, "we want to maintain, and if possible, improve that [shopping] experience."

Decline in commissary sales has been steady for almost four years. Critics maintain it persists despite recent reforms recommended by Boston Consulting, including introduction of lower-priced private label products, adoption of variable pricing based on store locale, and the intentional reduction in the number of brand items sold as a way to negotiate better prices from manufacturers.

Representatives of brokers and manufacturers doing business with exchanges contend that most of the efficiencies identified by the task force are linked to price negotiation techniques that have failed to reverse sliding commissary sales or to reduce significantly reliance on tax dollars to maintain grocery discounts.

Exchange systems criticized the task force for relying on unverifiable industry benchmarks from Boston Consulting Group to calculate efficiencies, one contending forecasts of savings are six to nine times higher than are likely to be realized.

Thurgood disagreed. He said benchmarks "are not aggressive" but "right in the middle" of industry norms. "And yeah, they are proprietary because when you hire a consultant to give you advice and counsel, it's their information. But if you do the math  these are by no means outside of normal bounds here."

To mitigate the risk of overstating efficiencies, Thurgood added, the task force projected cost savings only from consolidating merchandising operations, organizational structures and non-direct spending, ignoring potential savings from data consolidation, the streamlining of the supply chains and other functions.

"If you look at some of the studies our own resale folks have done in the past, the numbers are the same. They are not out of range here," he said. "I reject the idea that it's somehow super aggressive."

The Defense Department has authority under existing law to merge exchange services to whatever degree it desires. To consolidate exchange systems with commissaries, however, would require that Congress amend current law.

Hershman said she hasn't decided for certain to endorse the task force's call to replace four retail systems with one. She will make that decision soon and advise David Norquist, who is performing the duties of deputy secretary of defense while the former deputy, Shanahan, serves as acting defense secretary.

Last year's defense authorization bill bans any spending on resale consolidation before Oct. 1 this year. It also required the department to deliver a report to Congress on the feasibility of a single defense resale system by Jan. 1 this year. The department got that deadline extended, Hershman said, but the report will be delivered soon and will describe, as requested, options and plans for consolidating military retail activities while preserving military shopper discounts.

If the task force's recommendations are approved, Hershman said, she isn't worried that risks to the shopping benefit will rise, given the "thoroughness" and "transparency" of work done to date and her own interactions with exchange and commissary "stakeholders" during final consideration of the task force report.

"I didn't want to have any judgment without all the information, and that would include the data as well as just talking to people" who feel passionately about the changes proposed, she said.

Change is hard, Thurgood said, so he isn't surprised by critiques delivered by the military resale community. Because the task force's work is far more detailed than previous studies that have urged military resale mergers over last 30 years, the service critiques this time also are more detailed, he said.

"Change fixes the past, but transformation is about creating a new future. And that's what this is about," Thurgood said. "And to do that requires us to think differently, to act differently, to get focused on the customer and do the right kinds of things. And that is hard for people, both operationally and behaviorally."

To comment, write Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA 20120 or email milupdate@aol.com or twitter: @Military_Update.Crystal Cornwall had moved into a military house on Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, when termites fell out of the light fixtures onto beds and the floor. At Camp Pendleton, California, the family lived with pervasive mold in their home and had no way of contesting charges levied against them when they prepared to move.

At Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, Janna Driver's family was sick, suffering from respiratory issues, headaches, nosebleeds and other problems. To address what she thought was the issue, Driver spent a weekend deep-cleaning her home. When she moved a table in her children's playroom, she found a black residue on the wall that she couldn't identify. Later, when a maintenance person came to do work on the house, he unlocked the utility room and found mold covering everything, from floor to ceiling.

"On the surface, these houses appear to be flawless, but inside the walls tells a different story," Driver said Thursday during testimony before a joint hearing of the Senate Armed Services subcommittees on personnel and readiness and management support on the Defense Department's privately managed military housing program.

According to Cornwall and Driver, hundreds of families have contacted them with tales of horror from on-base housing, including bug and rodent infestations, bad wiring and plumbing, lead and mold.

They said that while some Defense Department housing employees have been sympathetic and helpful, many young families have been dismissed or faced blowback from their military chain of command.

According to a new poll of military families living in base housing, nearly 56 percent of 14,558 qualified respondents said they had negative or very negative experiences living in privately managed housing -- a significantly higher number of unsatisfied customers than the 80 to 85 percent satisfaction rate frequently cited by the Pentagon and the private companies.

On Thursday, heads of five of the private companies that manage housing, as well as Defense Department leaders responsible for their oversight, testified before the subcommittees to explain their actions and discuss how to solve the problems.

"It's clear this is happening everywhere ... there are 8,000 residents who are currently dissatisfied," said Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said. "We need necessary reforms to assure accountability."

Nearly all military housing on installations is managed by private companies. The Defense Department in 1996 turned over responsibility to the companies after failing to maintain aging homes and build enough new homes to accommodate personnel.

During testimony, the five company executives, from Balfour Beatty Communities, Corvias Group, Hunt Military Communities, Americas Lendlease Corporation and Lincoln Military Housing, were contrite. But John Picerne, founder of Corvias, was the only one to apologize.

"We let down some of our residents. I'm sorry and we are going to fix it. We will get to the bottom of this problem and return to the gold standard," he said.

John Ehle, president of Hunt Military Communities, said the company was investing in capital improvements and adding staff and amenities. Others made similar statements.

"There is no acceptable percentage of unhealthy homes," Ehle said.

Denis Hickey of Lendlease called the situation "clearly avoidable."

The company needs to invest $16 billion over the length of its contract to fund remediation and maintain its housing stock.

"I regret when even one service member family feels we've come up short," said Lincoln Military Housing President Jarl Bliss. "I'm committed to working with military families, our DoD partners and your subcommittee member to address concerns."

While the amount of money military families pay to the more than 30 companies that manage private homes is unknown, a report by Reuters that exposed the scope of the issues in Air Force and Army housing estimated it was $3.9 billion in 2018.

When the company heads were asked how many annual profits for their military contracts total annually, Christopher Williams of Balfour Beatty said that company's net profits were $33 million a year. Corvias replied that his company's profits were $12 million to $14 million. The other three declined to answer the question, from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, adding that they are privately held companies or that they would provide the answer later.

The committees floated a number of ideas for fixing the problem, including requiring the companies to issue a tenant bill of rights; breaking the 50-year contracts with the military and allowing other companies to compete for them; and conducting and publishing satisfaction surveys online.

Military spouses also asked for the option to withhold rent payments if maintenance issues are not addressed.

Defense Department leadership who testified at the hearing said they are working to solve the problems.

Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Energy John Henderson agreed with the suggestion that families be able to withhold rent if their housing needs aren't met.

"The residents should have the choice to pay the rent if they feel like their landlord isn't giving them a safe healthy place to live. Additionally, there should be rebates for untimely repairs, power outages. And finally, it would be nice if we had discretion over the incentive fee so we had a bigger hammer to hold over our project managers," Henderson said.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at patricia.kime@miltiary.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.A man was shot and killed at a Texas Navy base Thursday morning after he attempted to smash through a security gate there and later charged security personnel on foot.

Emergency personnel responded to a security incident at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi around 7:30 a.m., when the man attempted to speed past and evade security at the air station's north gate.

The driver crashed into a barrier and then exited his vehicle when it caught fire, according to a news release from base officials. He then charged security-force personnel, who "fired shots in response," the release states.

"The individual was shot and received medical treatment, but was later pronounced deceased," according to the release.

The air station has resumed normal operations, and there is no security threat to those on or near the base, said Bill Dougherty, a spokesman for Navy Region Southeast.

The base's north gate remains closed until further notice. Personnel and visitors are told to expect delays at the station's south entrance.

Dougherty declined to say whether the security personnel who fired the shots were uniformed sailors since the incident remains under investigation.

Officials with Naval Criminal Investigative Service are on the scene, he added.

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.The patrol boats, which have been in the Persian Gulf region since 2003, have been replaced by two of the service's newest...The pair allegedly sold and delivered more than two kilograms of black tar heroin that contained fentanyl on Feb. 8 to an undercover officer who was working as part of a joint investigation with Kane County Sheriffs detectives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Elgin Police Department and the Chicago Police Department, prosecutors said.The Air National Guard may be looking to get rid of at least half its RC-26 intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance fleet in coming years, and one guardsman -- who also happens to be a U.S. congressman -- isn't happy about it.

While the move is predecisional and hinges on the upcoming fiscal budget request, the Guard could potentially shed part of its inventory of older RC-26 models, Military.com has learned.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger has spoken out against the plan, entering the discourse as both a policymaker and a guardsman.

In a recent Op-Ed in Air Force Times, Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, said divesting the aircraft at a time when border security needs to be a top priority for the nation would be a mistake.

During the recent 35-day government shutdown, Kinzinger, who serves as an RC-26 pilot with the Wisconsin Air National Guard's 115th Fighter Wing, wrote that the ISR plane could be the boost that border security needs when other resources are scarce or troops are limited by other means.

"As a Guard pilot, I fly the RC-26 -- the only aircraft in the Air Force inventory that can do Pillar I of the president's National Security Strategy, which includes counter-drug and border security for both state and federal missions," he said.

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"Despite the important abilities of this reconnaissance plane, Air Guard officials announced they'll be removing it from use, and will do so quickly. Their announcement was made quietly, as the country's attention was drawn to the government shutdown focused on the issues on our southern border," he said in the Jan. 27 op-ed. Pillar I of the National Security Strategy is defined as protecting "the American people, the homeland, and the American way of life," according to the strategy document.

Kinzinger, a lieutenant colonel, deployed to the border earlier this week as part of his Guard duty, according to a statement from his office.

While the Pentagon last month called for 3,750 additional troops to support the Department of Homeland Security mission, Kinzinger had already been given his deployment orders by then.

Maura Gillespie, a spokeswoman for Kinzinger, said the lawmaker stands by his overall arguments for additional resources for border security.

"As the congressman has said before, he believes we need stronger border security, and that includes having additional military personnel on the ground to handle the illegal activity on the border, but also to help facilitate activity through the points of entry and people coming into the country," Gillespie told Military.com last week before his deployment.

Kinzinger was commissioned in the Air Force in 2003, according to Air Force Magazine. He first flew KC-135 Stratotankers before switching to the RC-26, and deployed several times for missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Like Martha McSally, the Air Force's first female combat pilot and now a Republican senator from Arizona, Kinzinger is backing his plane, said retired Gen. David Deptula, dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

"Because he does fly the plane, it actually adds to his credibility to comment on its status with respect to its potential future," Deptula, who was also the Air Force's first deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, told Military.com on Tuesday.

McSally, who was recently appointed to the late Sen. John McCain's seat, has been a significant voice for backing the A-10 Warthog's preservation amid the Air Force's attempt to retire the close-air support mission aircraft.

A former A-10 pilot whose home state includes Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, McSally even orchestrated an amendment to make the Air Force perform simulated drills to determine whether the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter or the A-10 could conduct the close-air support mission better.

But unlike McSally, who retired from active duty in 2010, Kinzinger remains a service member. Even so, his lawmaker status gives him the ability to focus on projects he's passionate about, Deptula said.

There's "nothing unusual about a congressman speaking to their bias," Deptula said in an email.

"However, [his] perspectives need to be put into context as he is viewing the value of the RC-26 at a tactical level, and the Air Force is making its programmatic assessment and decisions at the operational/strategic level and need to balance mission, capability and available resources."

Retiring a portion of the RC-26 fleet could allow the Guard to focus its resources elsewhere, sources familiar with the discussions said. It's a move the service has slowly tried a few times before.

There are currently 11 RC-26 aircraft in the fleet, according to the service. They vary in upgrades: five are Block 20s and six are Block 25s, which have different avionics packages. Since at least 2009, the Guard has overseen all 11 of the medium-altitude ISR aircraft, which are used for domestic response, counter-drug operations and disaster relief, as well as in response to requests for assistance from local governments.

The planes, which date back to the early 1990s, have deployed to assess and monitor damage sustained during Hurricane Katrina, multiple wildfires out West and, more recently, to scour areas in Texas affected by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Theyve also deployed overseas in support of missions such as Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation New Dawn.

Funding for the RC-26 -- a twin turboprop known as the "Condor" -- comes out of the operation and maintenance budget.

It costs $6,500 per hour to fly it, according to the Air Force's fiscal 2017 cost data. That year, the aircraft logged 4,241 flight hours globally, the service said. Statistics were not available for similar, manned intelligence-gathering platforms such as the MC-12 Liberty or U-28A for operational security reasons.

By comparison, the unmanned MQ-9 Reaper -- which has also flown domestic missions for the border as well as for fire and hurricane relief -- costs about $4,800 to fly, according to the 2017 data.

The Reaper logged more than 290,789 hours worldwide in fiscal 2017.

Deptula argued the RC-26, though aging, is still a good fit for the Guard's home missions.

"While the RC-26 is a small fleet, it's relatively inexpensive to maintain for the spectrum of missions it is capable of conducting -- humanitarian assistance/disaster response; counter-drug operations; and other ISR missions depending on sensors on-board," he said. "As a result, it is a perfect fit for the Air National Guard."

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.Federal workers chanting "Never Again" rallied Wednesday on Capitol Hill to press Congress for a veto-proof deal to avoid another government shutdown at midnight Friday.

About one-third of the estimated 800,000 government employees who were furloughed or worked without pay in the last shutdown were veterans, according to government figures.

"Our members are very concerned we could see another 11th-hour issue" block an agreement, said Will Attig, executive director of the AFL-CIO's Union Veterans Council.

"We're very concerned there might be some backtracking" on the tentative agreement reached by House and Senate leaders on a deal to avoid another partial government shutdown that would give President Donald Trump a fraction of what he had sought in funding for the border wall, Attig said.

At the Hart Senate Office Building, federal workers demonstrated with the theme of "No Day 36," a reference to the 35-day shutdown, the longest in history, from which they are still recovering.

The demonstrators stood silent for 35 minutes, one for each day of the previous shutdown, and then took up the chant "Never Again."

The protest was organized by the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union representing about 700,000 workers.

In a statement, AFGE President J. David Cox said, "The employees standing here today, and the American people, deserve a government that works and never ever considers shutting it down for any reason."

"We haven't gotten it yet," Trump said Wednesday of the proposed congressional agreement to fund several departments and avoid a shutdown.

"We'll be getting it, and we'll be looking for land mines," he said in remarks to White House reporters.

"I don't want to see a shutdown. A shutdown would be a terrible thing," Trump said, but his demands for wall money, and the refusal of Democrats to provide it, led to the 35-day partial government shutdown that ended in late January.

Since then, the government has been operating on a continuing resolution passed by Congress. It expires at midnight Friday.

On Fox News on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said, "We'll see what the final package looks like but, like you said and like the president himself said yesterday, he's not happy about it. But he's going to get the job done no matter what."

Referring to the possibility that the president would dip into the military construction budget or separate funding for the Army Corps of Engineers to build more sections of the wall, Sanders said, "He's got alternative options, and he's going keep those on the table."

Trump has also made reference to the $23 billion in funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection, under the tentative agreement as a potential source for wall money.

All the options would likely be subject to legal challenge as violations of Congress' power of the purse under the Constitution. Under the proposed agreement, $1.38 billion would be provided for border wall fencing and other security measures. Trump is seeking $5.7 billion.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.Holding more cadets accountable for misconduct in the ranks is the only way the service academies will "move the needle" on stopping a troubling sexual assault trend, top school officials testified Wednesday.

Academy superintendents agreed during a House Armed Services subcommittee on military personnel hearing that combating sexual assault has been a major challenge, with some leaders "disgusted" with the climb in assault rates.

But the problem isn't something additional funding or resources alone can solve.

"We are developing a multifaceted plan," said Vice Adm. Walter E. Carter Jr., the Naval Academy superintendent.

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Testifying alongside Carter were Lt. Gen. Darryl Williams, head of the United States Military Academy at West Point; Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, superintendent of the Air Force Academy; and Dr. Elizabeth Van Winkle, the executive director for Force Resiliency at the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.

"I don't know that I need to ask for more resources or more capability in terms of us owning it, which is what we need to do. That's what you are hearing from us today. I have been a superintendent for five years and testified in front of this committee before," he said.

Carter continued, "I am frustrated. I think we can't educate our way out or train our way out, the accountability is going to move the needle on this. I'm committed to getting that part better and more right."

Earlier in the hearing, Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said it was time to put the academies on notice for the enduring crisis.

"I guess my message really is quite simple: I'm putting the academies on notice," Speier said in her opening remarks. "This isn't a blip, a 'Me Too' bump or some accident. It's time for us to recognize that this is a crisis, and I intend to watch it like a hawk."

Speier said her conversations with school leaders had convinced her there's no "one formula" that can end the problem of harassment and assaults. But, she said, there needs to be more transparency between the military and Capitol Hill if any progress is to be made.

In the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, Speier was responsible for nearly a dozen amendments aimed at improving and expanding the military justice system's provisions applying to victims of sexual trauma.

Wednesday's hearing was one of a handful in recent weeks following the Jan. 31 release of a biennial survey from Defense Department's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office on sexual misconduct at the service academies.

According to the congressionally mandated survey, 747 students reported experiencing unwanted sexual contact during the 2017-2018 academic year, compared with 507 in the 2015-16 school year -- a 47 percent rise since 2016.

Previously, Defense Department officials have said an uptick in cases was due to an increase in reported incidents, which would mean more victims felt comfortable enough to come forward to their superiors. Officials did not offer the same explanation for the latest report; instead, they tied the statistics to causes such as an abundance of drinking at the institutions.

Even after years of military efforts to crack down on sexual assaults, Speier insisted that "that is the message that is being sent. Because they are more likely to face consequences than their perpetrators."

"Victims report at their own peril," Speier said.

According to the survey results, an estimated 50 percent of female students and 16 percent of males experienced sexual harassment during the survey period:

At West Point, sexual harassment incidence rates remained relatively unchanged for women: 48 percent in 2017-18 vs. 46 percent in 2015-2016. But incidents increased for men to 17 percent, up from 13 percent.

At the Naval Academy, rates of sexual harassment increased for both men and women. Fifty-six percent of women reported sexual harassment in 2017-2018, up from 51 percent; and for men, 17 percent reported incidents, up from 12 percent.

The Air Force Academy saw no statistically significant change, remaining at around 47 percent for women and 13 percent for men.

Responding to the numbers, Van Winkle acknowledged the overall "approach must change."

"What we have done in the past has often brought about short-term results, but has not shown sustained progress," Van Winkle said. "Therefore, we are looking at the entire life cycle of our cadets and midshipmen, from acceptance into the academy, to entry into the active force...in order to select strategies with the greatest promise."

"I am very heartened to hear you say we are not going to be able to train ourselves out of this problem," Speier said in her closing remarks.

"We have to recognize that there is something more needs to be done."

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @oriana0214."Alita: Battle Angel" is yet another masterpiece of visual effects from the minds of producer James Cameron and director Robert Rodriguez. Cameron has long been a leader in pushing movie technology forward, especially with the original "Terminator" movies and "Avatar," now nearly a decade old and featuring visuals that still haven't been matched.

Rodriguez has long deployed inventive filmmaking techniques at his Troublemaker Studios in Texas, and his "Sin City" movies remain the most innovative comic-based films ever made.

Cameron and Rodriguez have partnered on "Alita," based on the 1990s Japanese manga Gunnm. Cameron has been working on the project for almost 25 years and brought in Rodriguez to make the movie while he continues prep on a series of "Avatar" sequels.

This is one of the rare movies that completely warrants a trip to the the IMAX theater for a viewing in full IMAX 3D. The effects are shocking, and the groundbreaking performance capture techniques used with actor Rosa Salazar allowed Rodriguez to film her on sets with the other actors instead of in front of a green screen for later insertion in post-production.

Cameron wrote the screenplay with Laeta Kalogridis ("Shutter Island"), but you're definitely getting the famous Cameron approach to dialogue here. Even if you're not a fan of that part of his work, "Alita" has the same breathtaking innovation that made "Avatar" a must-see movie.

Cameron and Rodriguez worked closely with Weta Digital to develop the techniques used in "Alita: Battle Angel." Weta is the New Zealand-based visual effects house launched by Peter Jackson for "Lord of the Rings," and it's grown into one of the most important production houses in the world. You've seen its breakthrough work in the contemporary "Planet of the Apes" movies, the "Hunger Games" movies, the "Hobbit" movies, scores of DC and Marvel movies, and "Game of Thrones."

Eric Saindon is an American who emigrated to New Zealand 20 years ago to work on "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." He's one of Weta's earliest employees, and he worked closely with Rodriguez and Cameron as the visual effects supervisor on "Alita: Battle Angel."

Saindon talked to us about life on the bleeding edge of technology and offers advice to anyone who's looking for a career in the movie effects business.

HOLLYWOOD, CA - DECEMBER 02: (L-R) Visual effects artist Eric Saindon, actor Benedict Cumberbatch, writer/producer/director Peter Jackson and visual effects artist Joe Letteri attend the premiere of Warner Bros' 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' at TCL Chinese Theatre on December 2, 2013 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) -- Getty Images

Are there visual things we're going to see in "Alita: Battle Angel" that we've never seen before?

There's a lot, actually. At Weta Digital, this is the first time we've done a human character. We did Gollum, we did the Apes, we did the Na'vi, we've done a lot of memorable CG characters, but this is a first time we've actually done a total real human.

Well, she's human-ish, right? The big eyes break her away a little bit, and the cyborg body, but it's really the first humanoid character we've put next to other actors that's needed to hold up for an entire movie.

It was a huge challenge for us. Luckily, we had a really good face. Rosa Salazar tied everything together for us. She was able to put a great performance onscreen and, with performance capture, we were able to take her performance and put it onto our Alita character in a way that we captured the nuances of her performance. All put together, it helps us to bring Alita to a living character.

I've seen a couple of clips, and it looks like there's a lot more filming of Rosa on set in context as opposed to shooting her in front of a green screen. That's how this stuff has traditionally been done, right?

There was almost no green screen at all in this film, just a couple of shots for set extensions in Iron City itself. There was no green screen, per se, that we went and shot on, because we really wanted Rosa interacting with the other actors.

We wanted Robert Rodriguez to be able to direct Rosa as if she was just another character in the film. It comes across because she is able to interact, she is able to touch, kiss, all of those other things as she interacts with Christoph [Waltz] and all the other actors.

Because Rosa was on set with them, we got a stronger performance. She wasn't acting to a monitor of a sequence that was shot previously; she was just always there.

Producer James Cameron and director Robert Rodriguez on the set of "Alita: Battle Angel." (Fox)

Robert Rodriguez is a director who has pushed the technology envelope before, and your producer James Cameron is obviously a pioneer in visual effects. How much of this movie is them giving you the freedom to just run wild? Were they pushing you? What was the collaboration like?

Those guys are both visionaries on all the films they do. Ultimately, the bars they set were so high that it was a little daunting to come onto this film at first. But getting the chance to work with Robert, which I had never done before, and getting to work with Jim again, there's no way you could ever pass that up.

Jim really started artwork on this film in 2005, when Guillermo del Toro introduced him to the manga. He really started doing art all the way back then. So there's a huge inventory of artwork in addition to what [Alita creator Yukito Kishiro has] done for the manga itself.

We worked with Jim and Robert on the vision of what the script was, what the movie was going to be. They let us have freedom with Alita herself, working with the design on how she was actually going to move, that type of thing. They had a really strong vision of what the movie was, so that was the driving force, that's for sure.

Live-action, manga-inspired films have a pretty rough track record up until now. Why does this one work when so many others have failed?

For me, this one works because we stayed very tight to the script. We didn't make it a sci-fi, per se. I don't come away from Alita and think of a sci-fi movie. I think it's a film about a character, about Alita finding herself. It has some sci-fi moments, obviously, with motorball and things like that, but it's not trying to set itself in a crazy future that doesn't exist.

You can picture Iron City as an actual place, you can see yourself there. For some reason, I think that helps ground the whole thing. The whole movie just feels much more grounded than a lot of the other manga-inspired movies, without saying any names.

Rosa Salazar and Ed Skrein in "Alita: Battle Angel." (Fox)

A lot of our readers are looking for a career after they complete their military service. How does someone get a job like yours?

I went to New Zealand on a six-month contract back in 1999 to work on a little project that I didn't think was gonna really go anywhere because it was by a director who, up to this point, had done a lot of slasher movies. It turns out Lord of the Rings was a little bit of a hit, and I've been there ever since.

What is it about Weta and New Zealand that anchored you on the other side of the world?

Well, Weta is not a small place anymore. When I got there, there were 35 people, and now it's upward of 1,500 people. But it still feels like a really small company. You still know everyone's name walking the hallways, and it's a really nice place to work with a great group that drives. Joe Letteri, Peter Jackson, they're visionaries, both of them, and the company is still run by artists.

That's not something that happens much these days. A lot of the studios out there are run by producers, run by money guys, who are just trying to have the company make a profit. Weta is still run by the artists, and it really shows in the dedication we put into these films. I think that's one of the driving forces that's kept me there for so long.

And then there's New Zealand itself. I grew up in Maine, and New Zealand is sort of like Maine in the '80s. It's very safe. I kick my kids out of the house at 8:30 and they walk to school, and I never worry about it. They can wander the streets, and it's just a very nice, easy place to live.

Director Robert Rodriguez with actors Keean Johnson and Rosa Salazar on the set of "Alita: Battle Angel." (Fox)

Weta has attracted a lot of foreigners to migrate to New Zealand from all over the world. Has it changed the culture of the town where you all live?

It's completely changed the culture of the town. We put pins on a map on every country we've hired from, and there were only five or six that didn't get a pin. We've had people from everywhere you can imagine. It's really amazing meeting all of these people and finding out about their cultures and their life, wherever they came from. We have this mix of people, which really makes Weta a fun place to be.

How would someone train themselves so they could get a job working for you?

I came into this field a little bit later because I went to school for architecture. Then I started taking some computer animation courses and just found a little studio in Santa Barbara, and they gave me a job. That's how I got along into this industry.

A lot of people, when they think about getting into the visual effects industry, go straight to a place where they learn the software, and they just try to jump into it. If you want to be an animator, to be the person that puts the motion on the characters, then take some acting classes. The software always changes. The thing that doesn't change is the ability to know how to move, to act. Taking an acting class to be an animator is a great starting point.

If you want to do lighting or compositing, then learn how to be a DP, a director of photography. Learn compositing or take photography classes. Learning the basic skills is the best way to get into this industry. And then learn the software, but every five years all the software changes. Just learning a software isn't a skillset that helps everyone along the most. I think you have to learn the basics behind it first.

Keean Johnson and Rosa Salazar star in "Alita: Battle Angel." (Fox)

Are there any filmmakers or films that have been inspirations for you as you got into your career?

It's funny because the film that got me the most inspired was "The Lion King." And it wasn't even the film, it was the trailer. I remember bringing a date to a movie, and this trailer came on for "The Lion King." It was the entire beginning of the movie, all the way up to where he holds the lion cub up, and that was the trailer. For some reason, that trailer made me start thinking that this would be fun to do, to make movies and make these spectacles for the world to see. I know I should say it was "Star Wars" or something like that, but it was "The Lion King" for me.

I don't know if we're allowed to talk about it, but are you guys working on the upcoming "Avatar" movies?

We have started. We are in progress on starting for "Avatar," but I can't really go too much into that one, unfortunately, because it's so early on.

Are there things coming that we've never seen before when that movie gets released?

Oh, my God, the whole movie is stuff we haven't seen before, everything about it. So, it's going to be a sight to behold, that's for sure.MIDDLETOWN - It was an unusual but welcome response for a public official.

As Christopher M. Holden, the citys deputy director of public works outlined details of a proposed extension of a multi-use trail into the Newfield Street neighborhood, he was met with an overwhelmingly positive response.

Some 75 people crowded into the community room in police headquarters to hear Holdens presentation and to voice their support for the proposed three-mile extension of the existing Mattabassett bike path. Whats more, representatives from both Meriden and Portland were on hand to listen to the proposal, which could ultimately create links to those two towns.

Philip Pessina, one of four members of the Common Council present at the meeting, welcomed the visitors from Meriden and Portland.

Lets break the barriers adown. Lets get going on regionalization, Pessina said.

One of the major goals of the expansion is to provide a link that would enable students to ride their bicycles to three schools: Lawrence, Keigwin and the Middletown High School, Holden said.

In a remark that resonated throughout the audience, one woman said the only things she wanted from the city is a bike path that would enable her children to ride their bikes to school, as she did when she was a child.

The trail, which is 6 miles long, currently ends at Tuttle Place. The extension would bring it to Veterans Park, Holden said.

More for you News Middletown multi-use trail projects on horizon aim to...

En route, there are two options that could be used to tie the trial into downtown, he said. They are the utilizing the rail spur to North Main Street or using the Berlin Court tunnel under Newfield Street.

Holden said he would prefer to run the trail on the west side of Newfield Street, which has more woods than curb cuts, and would entail less of an imposition on residents. Linking in the schools would also provide parking space on the weekends for residents, families and visitor who ant to use the rail, Holden said.

Perhaps the most welcome news he offered Tuesday was to report the funding for the expansion is already in place. The money would come from a $35 million bond issue that is being used to develop infrastructure improvements throughout the city.

That still leaves the question of how to tie-in to the Air Line Trail as it makes its way through Portland.

Portland just completed the first phase of bringing a 2.5-mile section of the trail from Cobalt to the YMCA property at Camp Ingersoll, a process that ALT Chairman Rosario Riz Rizzo said only took five years to complete.

The next phase of Portlands project will be to bring the trail up and along and then across Route 66 to the railroad bridge that spans the Connecticut River in the shadow of the Arrigoni Bridge.

The possibilities are immense: the future looks good for this, Pessina said.

His colleague Minority Leader Sebastian Giuliano concurred.

Im not surprised by the support for the proposal, Giuliano said. Support for the plan came from the bottom up rather than from the top down.

The residents who support the proposal kind of grew it, he said.

jmill@middletownpress.comIn the middle of the apology, Irvin stood and walked from his place in the middle of the City Council dais to the far end where Lofchie sits. Lofchie also stood and the two met, shook hands, embraced and patted each other on the back.Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here.MIDDLETOWN  A local man is facing drug charges after officers looking to serve an arrest warrant found him with marijuana at a Berlin Turnpike motel Feb. 12, police said.

Arthur Flejszar, 25, of Spencer Drive, came under suspicion after neighbors complained there was likely illegal drug activity happening at his home, police said.

Police were holding an arrest warrant charging Flejszar with sale of marijuana and possession of marijuana in connection with a drug transaction made with a confidential informant and holding a search warrant for his car and his address, reports said.

Officers found his car parked in the lot of the Coronet Motel on the Berlin Turnpike at around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, police said. Motel staff confirmed that Flejszar had just rented at room, reports said.

Officers with assistance from Berlin police loudly knocked on the door and then entered the room, police said. No one was inside, but a bag of marijuana was resting on the bed, reports said. Just as officers were leaving, Flejszar walked out of another room with three people behind him, police said. He was taken into custody and the others, including two women, were detained. Officers also found marijuana in that room, police said.

He was served with the warrant and held on $25,000 bond.

A search of his home revealed a pound of marijuana, Suboxone strips and one Xanax pill in his basement room, police said. He was also charged with possession of marijuana, two counts of possession of narcotics, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana with intent to sell.

Flejszar was held on a total of $175,000 bond until his arraignment in Middletown Superior Court He was held on $50,000 after the arraignment and is due back in court March 29.MIDDLETOWN  When it comes to housing, Connecticut is one of the most segregated states in the country, according to Erin Boggs of the Open Communities Alliance of Hartford, who presented a program Thursday on behalf of the citys childrens advocacy group.

We are worse than any place in the south, she told the 12 or so people gathered at the deKoven House for a program presented by the Middlesex Coalition for Children.

In attendance were state Reps. Christine Palm, D-Haddam, who serves the 36th House District towns of Chester, Deep River, Essex and Haddam; and Quentin Phipps, D-Middletown, who represents Connecticuts 100th House District.

Open Communities is looking at where people live, opportunity of place they live, and where they move to, their income in that place, low-income folks who live in higher opportunity areas (not necessarily higher income areas), and access to better jobs and schools. Their lifetime wages are so much higher, childrens coalition Executive Director Izzi Greenberg said.

Boggs spoke about housing segregation and integration, as well as legislation proposed during the current legislative session. Her presentation was based on Out of balance: Subsidized Housing, Segregation and Opportunity in Connecticut.

Boggs showed a map of the distribution of people of color living in Connecticut. Most major cities  Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, Waterbury, New Britain, Stamford, Norwalk, Norwich and Danbury  where the greatest number of residents are clustered, offer very low opportunities to advance ones self and family, she said.

Areas of highest opportunity are the suburbs, where people have access to higher wages, more education, a better standard of living and other conditions which lead to a higher standard of living.

Things that contribute to this disparity in various communities, Boggs said, include the way zoning is handled, where subsidized housing is located, limits on housing authority jurisdiction, and the way the state is running its rental assistance and Section 8 housing programs, disincentives in areas that are struggling, as well as a history of absolutely intentional government policies that have generated segregation.

To demonstrate how pervasive racial segregation was in the 1940s, Boggs showed a slide of a racial restrictive covenant used in West Hartford.

No person of any race other than the white race shall use or occupy any building or any lot, except this covenant shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of a different race domiciled with an owner or tenant, the text reads.

This kind of language was used throughout the state, she said. No doubt about it  that was on purpose. This was not illegal across the country until 1968.

Phipps, who grew up in public housing off Saybrook Road, from 1983 to 2005, is the first black legislator to represent Middletown. He said he has encountered a troubling dynamic when speaking to constituents: We always knew you were going to make it, they tell him.

Statements such as these imply some of his constituents always knew they wouldnt, Phipps said.

Our housing options and the privileges that arise from those opportunities are not a coincidence, he said. My mother raised me in Woodbury Circle, which was rare for black families. I had numerous correlated advantages and obstacles from that situation.

My experience illustrates how systemic racism can hurt communities while simultaneously providing a path for success for individuals if given the right assets, he said.

Palm asked the group how to best address a sensitive issue: peoples assumptions on certain types of housing.

One of things I struggle with is, were so bad at even having the conversation, Palm said. Nobody wants to be labeled racist, so we say youre not racist, but fearful of the other, or youre ignorant of what people of color  or poor people are or arent.

How can one dispel myths in these instances, asked Palm, who represents Haddam. There, a controversy has been brewing over the school boards decision to close the elementary school in the center of Higganum.

One of the fears is its going to become Section 8 housing. You can follow on Facebook, the fear this very predominantly white town has that those people are going to come in, she said. How do we say they dont have to be so afraid? Why is it inherently less scary if these low-income people are white or elderly? Palm asked rhetorically.

Too often, geography defines outcomes for low-income families, and particularly low-income families of color, according to the report. The evidence is irrefutable neighborhood housing matters in Connecticut. Children in lower income communities have less access to high-quality schools and are exposed to greater health and safety hazards that jeopardize their development than children in our more affluent communities.

The state recently announced it will provide up to $3.83 million to assist in the development of Essex Place, a newly constructed 22-unit affordable elderly apartment building in Essex, where the standard of living is high. These types of initiatives are often heralded by officials without some people fully understanding what theyre truly about, said Bill Vasiliou, executive director of the Middletown Housing Authority.

We confuse the concept of affordable housing and low-income housing. Theyre not the same things. When people use [affordable housing], ask them what they really mean by that, said Vasiliou, who helps find apartments for city residents making as little as $18,000 annually.

According to the state Department of Social Services, for 2018, the states median income is $58,526 annually for an individual. For an average family of four, its $112,550. Figures are determined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Guidelines are used to determine income eligibility for state, local and federal programs.

We cannot keep asking our cities to shoulder all the burden of ameliorating poverty; and we cannot keep asking our children to wait, the report concluded.

For information, visit middlesexchildren.org and ctoca.org.GREENWICH  After he was arrested at his Queens apartment in connection with the death of a 24-year-old woman whose body was found in Greenwich, Javier Da Silva was charged with a federal crime that carries a sentence of death or life in prison.

Authorities in Greenwich and New Rochelle, N.Y., are now letting the federal authorities manage the continuing investigation, and its prosecution of Da Silva.

Its in their hands, Greenwich Police Lt. John Slusarz said Thursday of the case. Its been transferred to federal custody.

Since the case involved kidnapping, it was taken over by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by the U.S. attorneys office.

After the kidnapping and murder of the toddler son of Charles Lindbergh in 1932, a crime that shocked the nation, kidnapping became a federal crime. A new law empowered federal agents to pursue kidnapping cases, on the assumption that state and local authorities were hamstrung by jurisdictional complications that came up when kidnappers crossed state lines.

The criminal statue that Da Silva was charged with is kidnapping resulting in death. It can be punished by death, though death penalties are extremely rare in the federal system. One of the best known federal inmates to face the death penalty was Timothy McVeigh, who was executed by lethal injection in 2001, at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind., after he was convicted in the 1995 bombing of the federal office building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people.

New York State placed has a moratorium on capital punishment in 2004. The last execution was in 1963. In 2012, then-Gov. Dannel Malloy signed a bill making Connecticut the 17th state to abolish the death penalty. The states last execution was in 2005, in an unusual case, when Michael Ross was executed by lethal injection after giving up his appeals.

Two seasoned defense lawyers, Susanne Brody and Jason Ser, were appointed to handle Da Silvas case this week. The two public defenders have years of experience in the federal court system, according to their professional biographies.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Da Silva had overstayed his visa and was not in the country legally at the time of the killing. A citizen of Portugal, (he) entered the U.S. May 8, 2017, through the Visa Waiver Program; however, he failed to leave the United States within the required timeframe, said a statement from ICE. Da Silva also held a passport from Venezuela.

In the murder of Valerie Reyes, 24, federal authorities have accused Da Silva of committing the crime that began at her apartment in New Rochelle. According to the criminal complaint, Reyes was killed Jan. 28 or Jan. 29, and she was reported missing by her family on Jan. 30.

Her body was found by a town worker on the morning of Feb. 5, stuffed in a suitcase with her hands and feet bound, about 15 feet of the side of Glenville Road in Greenwich. Reyes mouth was covered with tape and she had suffered a head wound. The two had dated back in 2017.

Federal authorities have released only a minimal account of the killing, without releasing specifics about the case, a timeline of events or how Reyes died.

Her mother, Norma Sanchez, was told of the arrest the day before her daughters funeral. I have so many questions, Sanchez said of the lack of details offered by police.

The state medical examiner said Thursday it was not releasing information about the cause of death.

Greenwich Police Capt. Robert Berry said this week, There are a lot of loose ends that need to be tied up.

rmarchant@greenwichtime.comNEW HAVEN  Gov. Ned Lamont came to the city Wednesday to praise Google and all entrepreneurs, while also setting a goal that New Haven become the first to reach utltra-fast 5G cellular technology in New England.

We are working on that every day, Lamont told officials, including Mayor Toni Harp at the Grow with Google workshops and one-on-one counseling held at the New Haven Free Public Library.

More than 150 people from the region attended the free daylong event where they sought advice on using the media behemoth to help them start a business or attract customers.

The businesses varied from a podcast editor to a fashion stylist, but the personal enthusiasm was the same.

It was awesome, Chrystal Edwards said of the advice she got on how to find more clients who are looking for a personal stylist.

Trained in IT  which ultimately involved too much travel  she left that field to work for six years at Nordstrom at something she loved: helping shoppers pick out clothes. She has continued to do this on her own, but now wants to reach more than former clients, family and friends.

Ricardo Perez has been the public face for a market in Fairfield who now wants to transfer his interpersonal skills to a digital platform. I want to be my own boss, Perez said.

He called the workshops phenomenal.

Think about it. You can learn to be a better entrepreneur, add skills you may not have and not pay for it? You cant find that anywhere, Perez, who lives in West Haven, said of his time spent at the event.

Lamont gave those in attendance a pep talk of sorts on his experiences putting together a cable company in the 1980s and being his own boss for 30 years.

He advised them to choose a niche they can be passionate about and then get a solid foundation in the basics.

Lamont said he is envious of todays budding entrepreneurs working off a Google platform where they can get intellectual capacity, as well as get past lower barriers to jump-start a business.

This allows you to go to scale overnight with the right idea, the governor told them.

Lamont said Connecticut used to be known as the most entrepreneurial state in the country a century ago, with a few exceptions in more recent times given the advances in submarine development and helicopters.

We havent kept pace, Lamont said, in terms of the  entrepreneurial culture and the computer science world. ... That is about to change and that is why you are here.

No more of this, I got to go to Brooklyn to be able to get access to high-speed connections, the governor said.

You will be able to do anything you want in New Haven or Brooklyn, Connecticut, he promised.

He said Google is beginning to realize and Connecticut is beginning to appreciate that Silicon Valley is in every single one of our communities and the internet is the great equalizer. Learn the skill, he advised the crowd.

He asked the middle-age and young crowd to remember what some consider sleepy old businesses, such as the insurance sector, which he said is slowly making sure that they have a digital gateway that introduces you to their products.

Lamont said the advanced manufacturing jobs at Electric Boat are all based on computer skills and he put out a job offer of sorts, telling the crowd that he needs them to come work in state government.

We are a sort of a digital backwater up there, he said. Lamont said he wants to make sure that everything people now stand in line for will instead be accessible online.

He predicted this digital nirvana will be a reality in four to eight years. This is not pie in the sky, Lamont said, pointing to Estonia as the first completely digital government.

I think we can get there and that is what I want to do, he said.

Lamont said there was a time when the presence of the Internet was seen as the end of libraries.

It is just the opposite, he said. This is the 21st century right here. I could not be more envious of you. Now go make it happen.

Grow with Googles hands-on workshops have been playing out across the country; in Connecticut, a workshop was held in Hartford and another is planned for New London.

The first session on Wednesday was a workshop for library administrators and education professionals on tools for job seekers and instruction on how to protect information online.

The one-on-one sessions with the public covered such things as Google AdWords, Gmail, Google Calendar, GSuite program and Google Analytics.

Harp said the Google event fits right in with other initiatives in New Haven.

She predicted that the newly trained entrepreneurs will be on the streets of this city equipped with newfound, digital capabilities to help advance New Havens standing as Connecticuts emerging new technology hub.

Beginning this week, libraries can apply for funds to kick-start their own digital skills programming. Google last year committed $1 million in micro-grants to libraries across the country through its partnership with the American Library Association.

mary.oleary@hearstmediact.com; 203-641-24771360 N. State Pkwy. , Chicago: $2,499,000 | Listed: April 22, 2021



This six-bedroom home has 3 baths, four fireplaces and an open floor plan. A renovated greystone, the home still has many vintage details, including millwork and 11-foot ceilings. The kitchen and breakfast room open to a bluestone terrace and expansive patio. The primary bedroom suite has hardwood flooring and a fireplace. There is a roof deck off the second bedroom, which is being used as a family room. The lower level, which is equipped with a second kitchen, could be used as additional living space or as a nanny suite or separate apartment. The lower level also offers access to a rear patio.



Agents: Maria Kernahan, 847-877-7100, William Kernahan, 847-778-8567, of @properties



*Some listing photos are virtually staged, meaning they have been digitally altered to represent different furnishing or decorating options.



To feature your luxury listing of $800,000 or more in Chicago Tribunes Dream Homes, send listing information and high-res photos to ctc-realestate@chicagotribune.com.



Join our Chicago Dream Homes Facebook group for more luxury listings and real estate news.CARSONVILLE  Police cleared a Thumb area school Thursday morning for what ended up being a false bomb threat.

Deputies from the Sanilac County Sheriff's Office were called to the Carsonville-Port Sanilac High School around 10 a.m. after a student found a message written on a wall in the restroom referencing a potential bomb threat.

Upon arrival, deputies cleared the school to assess the threat with the help of sheriff's office canine Baki, who is trained in explosive odor detection, as well as school staff.

Nothing was located and the students resumed normal activities thereafter.

The case remains under investigation.

Anyone who has information is asked to call the Sanilac County Detective Bureau at 810-648-5663.We express our abhorrence of yesterdays deadly terrorist attack in Iran. Greece unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms.

We express our undivided support to the people of Iran and our sincere condolences to the bereaved families.Graveside services will be Friday, June 25, 2021, at 2 p.m., at Pack Cemetery with Pastor Paul Clayton officiating. Berry and Gardner in charge of arrangements. A viewing will be held at the cemetery prior to services.The Indian Government had earlier announced it shall start levying import duty on key components required for assembling phones in India from February 2019. The move was heavily lobbied by smartphone brands and the plan has been postponed to April 2020. This gives companies little more than a year to create redundancy plans and save costs.

While a majority of the companies operate assembling plants in India, we need to emphasize on the word "assemble". Essential components are imported from China, Taiwan, Korea, and Vietnam to be brought together here and a finished smartphone is rolled out. Import duty on these critical components shall lead to a rise in costs for the brands, and this will in turn increase prices for the end consumer.

 Reuters

To avoid unnecessary overheads, sources tell Business Standard that OPPO and Vivo are exploring options to make these components in India. The two brands already have facilities in Noida and postponement of the duty levy has given phone makers a buffer period to align their future plans.

There were reports earlier that Samsung may stop assembling top-end flagships in India if the import duty isn't delayed. Components like the display panel aren't sourced locally and account for nearly 25 to 30 percent of the phone's total cost. Last year, even Xiaomi started sourcing PCBs (printed circuit boards) locally to cut down on costs and avoid a 10 percent import duty.

 Xiaomi India's Plant / Xiaomi

The government is keen on implementing its phased manufacturing programme (PMP) to boost the "Make in India" initiative. With the programme, the government intends to start local sourcing of components, and reduce reliance on imports. This helps in boosting local jobs, as well as establish an eco-system for smartphone components.

 Samsung's Noida Plant / Samsung

Assembling a product is just step one, the next phase includes making of smaller, but critical components. Slowly, the programme can make India's smartphone market self-reliant. High import duties are the primary reason why Apple has been exploring options for local sourcing and is currently making the iPhone 6S in the country.

India today ranks as the second largest smartphone market after China, with a valuation of Rs 1.3 lakh crore as per industry estimates.ATLANTA

Feb. 14, 2019

Atlanta

Atlanta

Atlanta

Michelle Obama's

Atlanta

Monica Best

Anne Namnoum

Mark Perloe

Natalie Stentz

Atlanta

Atlanta

Atlanta

Mark Segal

Atlanta

Alpharetta

Marietta, GA

the United States

/PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Shady Grove Fertility Atlanta (SGF Atlanta) has announced that board certified reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Desiree McCarthy-Keith has been named Medical Director for theregion. This distinction is based on Dr. McCarthy-Keith's leadership, commitment, and dedication to the practice and the localcommunity in helping patients overcome infertility. In this role, Dr. McCarthy-Keith will provide clinical leadership, oversee quality assurance, and support efforts to maintain thepractice's IVF Center of Excellence status in reproductive endocrinology and infertility (REI)."I am honored to have earned this distinction and am humbled by the trust that my patients place in me, as we work together to help make their dream of a family a reality. I feel privileged to be a part of a practice that strives for continuous innovation while always standing behind their promise of doing what is best for the patient," says McCarthy-Keith.As a leader in the field of infertility, Dr. McCarthy-Keith's medical expertise and reputation have garnered her significant press coverage by some of the top media outlets and publications. In recent months, she was featured in Oprah Magazine and Women's Health discussing how infertility impacts African-American women and the perception of infertility among the African-American community. She was also featured in NPR's morning news radio program, "The Takeaway" to discussnew memoir and her 2018 announcement about her own struggle with infertility.Dr. McCarthy-Keith's professional career embodies her commitment to quality patient care. In 2018, she was named a Top Doc for Infertility by Atlanta Magazine, a distinction voted by physician peers in various fields of medicine and compiled by Castle Connelly Medical Ltd, which guides consumers to America's top doctors and top hospitals. Castle Connolly's physician-led team of researchers follows a rigorous screening process to select top doctors on both the national and regional levels. Careful screening of doctors' educational and professional experience is essential before final selection is made among those physicians most highly regarded by their peers.McCarthy-Keith is also a recipient of Best Fertility Specialist inby Kudzu, Black Health Magazine's Most Influential African-American Doctors, Who's Who in Black Atlanta (2011, 2012, 2014-2018), and Mom-Approved Fertility Specialist in Atlanta Parent Magazine.SGF Atlanta, home to Dr. McCarthy-Keith and fellow physicians, Drs., andhas also earned numerous accolades in the region including Best Reproductive Endocrinology Practice by Kudzua distinction earned through a voting process by members of the surroundingcommunity.The honor of SGF Atlanta being designated as a Center of Excellence by Optum, a leading information and technology-enabled health services business, was earned by demonstrating successful clinical outcomes and exceptional physician experience, staffing, and facilities, as well as maintaining accreditation status and continuous quality assurance."This is an exciting time inas we designate Dr. McCarthy-Keith as Medical Director for the SGF Atlanta region. She has continued to demonstrate impressive leadership among the practice and in thecommunity and embodies all of the necessary traits that not only make her an extraordinary leader, but a highly-respected physician and someone patients can trust," says, Chief Executive Officer of Shady Grove Fertility.SGF Atlanta's expansion in the region continues in order to keep up with growing demand for quality care. Adding to their locations in-Northside and, the practice opened a new location inin 2018 and expanded Buckhead-Piedmont to a brand new full-service location.To schedule an appointment with Dr. Desiree McCarthy-Keith or another SGF Atlanta physician, please call 888-761-1967 or complete this brief online form.About Shady Grove Fertility Atlanta SGF Atlanta, formerly Georgia Reproductive Specialists (GRS), is part of the Shady Grove Fertility (SGF) international network of state-of-the-art infertility care and IVF centers, offering patients individualized care, innovative financial options, and pregnancy rates among the highest in. For more information about SGF Atlanta or to schedule an appointment with an SGF Atlanta physician, call 404-843-2229 or fill out this brief form. For more information about Shady Grove Fertility, call 1-888-761-1967 or visit ShadyGroveFertility.com.SOURCE Shady Grove FertilityNEWPORT BEACH, Calif.

Feb. 14, 2019

March 17, 2019

Costa Mesa, California

California

Shira Miller

California

New York

Peter C. Gtzsche

Copenhagen, Denmark

Toni Bark

Greg Glaser

the United States

Mary Holland

Jacques Simon

Greg Glaser

Richard Jaffe

Brad Hakala

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

$4,060,857,713.42

/PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The nonprofit educational organization, Physicians for Informed Consent (PIC), has opened registration for the PIC Workshop & Luncheon. Scheduled for, at the Hilton Orange County in, the event will focus on medical ethics, mandatory vaccination, and public health law."PIC was founded in 2015 in response to SB277, themandatory vaccination law which eliminated the right to informed consent for parents of children who attend private and public schools," said Dr., PIC founder and president. "Since our inception, we have received an outpouring of support from doctors, scientists and attorneysfromtoand abroadwho oppose mandatory vaccination laws. Like the PIC Inaugural Meeting & Luncheon, this event will again unite our fellow colleagues in an educational think-tank environment."As part of a full day of scientific and legal sessions, the PIC Workshop & Luncheon will include a lecture by Professorentitled "How Mandatory Vaccination Violates Medical Ethics." Professor Gtzsche is a physician and specialist in internal medicine; the founder and former director of Nordic Cochrane Center,; and cofounder of the Cochrane Collaboration. He has published more than 70 papers in "the big five" (BMJ, Lancet, JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine, and New England Journal of Medicine), and his scientific works have been cited more than 40,000 times.Lectures and workgroups will be aimed at safeguarding informed consent and protecting at-risk children from vaccine injuries. "Best Practices for Physicians Recommending a Medical Exemption to Vaccination" will be taught by Dr.and, PIC's pro bono general counsel and national coalition director, and "Vaccine Case Law and Precedent in" will be presented by leading U.S. attorneysandMr. Kennedy will also lecture on "Mandatory Vaccines & Public Health."Vaccine injury is a public health problem. In 1986, in reaction to mounting lawsuits from severe vaccine injuries, the U.S. government instituted the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) and removed liability for vaccine injuries or deaths from vaccine manufacturers and healthcare workers. Since then, every dose of a childhood vaccine has been charged an excise tax to fund the Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund for the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. To date,has been paid out for cases of severe vaccine injury or deathto only a small fraction of petitioners."When a parent is coerced into consenting for the vaccination of his or her child, he or she is not granting informed consent but rather coerced consent," said Dr. Miller. "Not only is that unethical, but it's also not evidence-based."Mandatory vaccination laws are embedded in an environment that's effectively immune from the tort system, civil litigation, and publicity, so great diligence is required on behalf of physicians in order to provide informed consent to their patients. The Workshop & Luncheon is open to PIC M.D./D.O. and Doctoral Members, and will unite doctors, scientists and attorneys who are pro-informed consent in vaccination. Space is limited, and attendees are encouraged to register early. To register, please visit physiciansforinformedconsent.org/workshop.Physicians for Informed Consent is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization dedicated to safeguarding informed consent in vaccination. For more information, please visit physiciansforinformedconsent.org.SOURCE Physicians for Informed ConsentWe include products we think are useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. Heres our process.

Many people see love as the pinnacle of human existence, and some equate it with happiness itself. But sometimes, being lovesick can feel exactly like that  an illness. In fact, romantic love can bring about many adverse psychological effects, and in this Spotlight feature, we take a look at what they are. Share on Pinterest Love is not always an all-round positive, happy feeling. On Valentines day, people around the world dwell on the positive and beautiful aspects of romantic love. They celebrate the value that this unique feeling brings to human existence and the central role it plays in our search for happiness. Furthermore, science shows that the neurophysiological benefits of being in love are numerous. A few years ago, we wrote a Spotlight feature on the positive health effects that being in a relationship brings. From relieving pain, lowering blood pressure, easing stress, and generally improving ones cardiovascular health, love and being in a relationship have associations with a wide range of health benefits. But if love was nothing more than positive feelings, warming sensations, and feel-good chemicals, we probably would not apply words such as smitten or lovesick to describe the intense effects of this emotion. On this Valentines day, we decided to focus our attention on some of the less exhilarating  and sometimes even debilitating  psychological effects of romantic love.

Love and the stress hormone Being in love triggers a cocktail of chemicals in the brain. Some of the hormones  which also act as neurotransmitters  that the body releases when were infatuated can have a soothing effect. For example, people have dubbed oxytocin as the love hormone because the body releases it during sex or physical touch. Neuroscientific evidence also shows that it lowers stress and anxiety. But levels of oxytocin only start to increase considerably after the first year of love. The neurotransmitter helps to solidify long-term relationships, but what happens in the early stages of love? A small but influential study that researchers carried out more than a decade ago compared people who had recently fallen in love with people who were in long-lasting relationships or single. Standard evaluations of various hormones revealed that people who had fallen in love in the previous 6 months had much higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol. When researchers tested the participants again 1224 months later, their cortisol levels were back to normal. The higher levels of cortisol released by the brain in the first 6 months of love are suggestive of the stressful and arousing conditions associated with the initiation of a social contact, the researchers concluded. High cortisol levels can impair the immune system and lead to a higher risk of infections. It also raises the likelihood of developing hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Excessive cortisol can impair brain function, memory, and some have suggested it may even reduce brain volume.

Limerence: When love is overpowering In 1979, psychologist Dorothy Tennov, Ph.D., coined the term limerence to describe a somewhat debilitating aspect of being in love. Share on Pinterest With time, attachment can replace limerence and turn into a long-lasting relationship. In her book, Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love, she defines limerence as an involuntary, enormously intense, and overwhelmingly passionate state in which the limerent person can feel obsessed with and emotionally dependent on the object of their limerence. To be in the state of limerence is to feel what is usually termed being in love,' the author writes. However, her nuanced account of the feeling distinguishes between limerence, love, and sex. [L]ove and sex can coexist without limerence, in fact [] any of the three may exist without the others, she writes. Tennov lists several components, or signs, of limerence. These include: intrusive thinking about the object of your passionate desire

acute longing for reciprocation

dependence on the actions of the object of your limerence, or rather, on the possibility that they might reciprocate your feelings

an inability to have limerent feelings towards more than one person at a time

an intense fear of rejection

sometimes incapacitating but always unsettling shyness in the presence of your limerent object

intensification through adversity, meaning that the more difficult it is to consume the feeling, the more intense it becomes

an aching of the heart (a region in the center front of the chest) when uncertainty is strong

buoyancy (a feeling of walking on air) when reciprocation seems evident

an intensity of the feeling and narrow focus on the limerent object that makes other concerns and activities pale by comparison

a remarkable ability to emphasize what is truly admirable in [the limerent object] and to avoid dwelling on the negative So, is limerence healthful? In Tennovs account, the many negative aspects of limerence have not received the attention they deserve. Limerence has associations with many tragic situations, she says, including intended accidents (much fantasy involves situations in which the limerent gets an injury and [the limerent object] is sorry), outright suicide (often with note left behind to [the limerent object]), divorce, homicide, and a host of minor side effects that she documents in her book. Furthermore, in retrospect, people who have experienced limerence report feelings of self-hatred and tend to berate themselves for not having been able to shake off the uncontrollable feeling. Tennovs book is filled with many strategies that limerents have tried  more or less successfully  to rid themselves of the feeling, including journaling, focusing on the limerent objects flaws, or seeing a therapist.by Alex Weprin , February 14, 2019

The Comcast-owned video advertising company FreeWheel has signed a deal with the media measurement firm Data Plus Math to launch an attribution-focused cross-screen media solution.

The solution will be available to FreeWheel Market clients that purchase linear TV advertising and streaming video advertising.

Under the terms of the deal, clients of FreeWheel Market will be able to use the tool to better determine the optimal mix of TV and video channels to drive outcomes, the companies say. They will also be able to measure the incremental impact from linear and OTT video campaigns on marketing outcomes.

Data Plus Math will provide analytics reporting to FreeWheel clients, accessible through the platforms dashboard. Data Plus Math will also be able to leverage Comcasts anonymized viewership data.

advertisement advertisement

While that data cant be used in the same way that data from a third party can be, it can still be used to measure things like reach, frequency, lift, and CPMs.

"The ability to accurately assess outcomes from television and streaming video advertising campaigns is a critical component in videos evolution as a full-funnel solution, said FreeWheel GM Dave Clark, adding that through the deal well be able to establish industry benchmarks for performance that will help set the course for a new way of transacting, perhaps even new currencies, in the future.

Comcast-owned NBCUniversal struck a deal with Data Plus Math for TV attribution earlier in the week.by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, February 14, 2019

Lee Clow, the visionary creative who touched the hearts of consumers and revitalized brands with iconic advertising campaigns, is retiring today, Valentines Day.

The Global Director of Media Arts at worldwide advertising agency TBWA, and founder and Chairman of TBWA\Media Arts Lab, will move into an advisory role as Chairman Emeritus of the agency he founded in 2006 to serve Apple. The 50-year creative veteran was an original partner at Chiat\Day, the Los Angeles creative agency that was eventually acquired by TBWA, part of Omnicom.

Over the years Clow has come up with some of Adlands most iconic taglines, such as: Think Different (Heres to the Crazy Ones). for Apple: Keeps Going and Going. for Energizer Batteries and Impossible Is Nothing. for Adidas.

advertisement advertisement

In his "Love Note To Advertising," released today Clow wrote, The years I spent doing this thing called advertising have been fun: challenging, rewarding, maddeningsometimes painfulbut mostly, joyful. And I wouldnt trade a day of it.

In addition to his Chairman Emeritus role at the agency, Clow is working on a personal film project that tells the story behind some of the most famous and culture-altering advertising in history, culled from his 50 years at Chiat\Daythe people, the workand retelling how they did it.

He will also remain involved in the agencys social-impact group, For Good, based in Los Angeles, where he will advise on select projects for clients who share his commitment to the planet and the people (and animals) who inhabit it.

Dont do the right thing, he challenged the agency, the advertising world, and clients, on TBWA\Chiat\Days 50th anniversary in 2018. Do the brave thing. Do the thing that doesnt just defy the status quo, but reshapes it, forever.

Clow announced his retirement to the agency, alumni and close friends in October 2018, at a party on Jay Chiats birthday, part of the year-long Chiat\Day 50 celebration. His decision to formally share the news with the industry on Valentines Day is a nod to Chiats unconventional custom of sending Valentines Day cards to staff, colleagues and clients, instead of the expected, Seasons Greetings, typically dispatched during December holidays.

Lee will always be our creative conscience, said Troy Ruhanen, President and CEO, TBWA\Worldwide. He has given so much to our company and to our industry. His challenge to us, to do the brave thing, to Disrupt, will continue to be our North Star. We all love you, Lee.

Lee is one of the most talented and visionary leaders in our industry, said Chairman and CEO of Omnicom Group, John Wren. Over the past five decades, he has built a foundation of creative excellence for the TBWA network that has distinguished the agency among its peers. On behalf of the Omnicom family, I would like to thank Lee for his invaluable leadership and significant contributions to our group.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, added: During his long partnership with Steve and Apple, Lee told powerful visual stories that elevated new technologies with the passion, creativity and ingenuity that define our own humanity. He helped Apple carry itself through times of challenge, and his work inspired audiences to look beyond the horizon as an exciting future came into view. Lees body of work over five decades hums with cleverness, warmth and enthusiasmand there is no doubt that it will inspire and motivate generations of Crazy Ones still to come.

To celebrate his outstanding contributions to the creative community, the agency has established a scholarship at the College of the ArtsSchool of Art at Clows alma mater, California State University Long Beach (CSULB). Additionally, all proceeds from his film project will go into a college fund previously established in Clows and Chiats names at Art Center College of Design, which was created to assist low- and middle-income students with tuition fees and costs.

Also, TBWA agencies in Los Angeles will continue to honor Clows impact on the Southern California creative community by partnering with Turnaround Arts: California, a national, public-private partnership that leverages the arts to spark transformation in the states highest-need schools.by Ray Schultz , February 13, 2019

Roger Stones wife Nydia is using Newt Gingrichs email list to raise funds for her husbands legal defense, according the Associated Press.

The list reportedly contains 250,000 email addresses.

A lengthy email went out on Tuesday, under Nydia Stones name, requesting funds to fight what she has called "fabricated" charges. She has also blasted what she calls the terrifying pre-dawn raid on the day of her husbands arrest.

According to the report, a Gingrich aide said that Gingrich rents his list to causes that are not totally off brand. The Stone rental had the teams approval, it continues.

Stone has pleaded not guilty to making false statements and obstructing a Congressional investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Nydia Stone has also said that her husband refuses to make up stories about the president or bear false witness against him," referring to the possibility of Stones cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation.

She claims the defense could cost $2 million.

On Wednesday, former Trump aide Stone urged a federal judge to hold Muellers office in contempt for allegedly leaking the indictment to CNN in violation of a seal, according to Politico. CNN and Muellers office both deny there was any leak.by Larissa Faw , February 13, 2019

Agencies are celebrating Valentine's Day with special initiatives that go beyond the standard social post and in-office treats.

Digitas is recognizing work families with the #BeMyUnicorn project. According to an HP workplace survey, 56% of U.S. full-time employees spend more time with their work family than they do with their real family.

The initiative kicks off with a :55-second video showing Digitas employees taking the classic Valentines Day candy heart sayings and applying them to work friendships.

On February 14th, Digitas is posting the video across the agency's North American social channels to drive users to a custom microsite where they can select from nine unique pieces of Valentines Day candy heart art to share on their Twitter pages, tagging their work families or real families, with #BeMyUnicorn.

advertisement advertisement

All work was created in house across Digitas teams in the U.S., Costa Rica, and Mumbai. But even if you're not a Unicorn (aka Digitas employee) you can go to the site and 'click a heart to share some love' to your work fam, whomever that may be," says Peter McCann, SVP, Head of Production, Digitas.

NYC's The Gate is sending out more than 250 packages of specially-designed candy hearts treats  similar to the iconic NECCO candy hearts  that carry messages like "Be my point person?" and "You had us at KPI." The gifts are being sent to new business prospects, though agency staffers might be able to snatch up a few for themselves.

Austin-based agency T3 is encouraging employees to show their appreciation for others through "Thank You Grams." Workers write notes on artfully-designed cards and T3 will hand them out to addressees on the 14th with a treat attached.

The Community's Miami office is doing something similar, inviting staffers to fill out a card and "Cupid will hand deliver them with rose  not a rose but a small bottle of champagne rose. Employees are also encouraged to post the grams they receive on the Gram  Instagram that is  by using the hashtag #tcMIA.

BSSP is having a Happy Hour at its Sausalito office with wine, cheese, craft beer and, for some reason, hundreds of chicken nuggets. The agency will be setting up a prom photo booth in its studio so people can take photos with props, balloons, and co-workers.

Additionally, the shop is putting on a Friendly-Wed game with five friend couples at work that mimics the Newlywed Game to test how well they know each other. The featured couples include founders Greg Stern and John Butler. Social media will document the event.

Agency Haha OK is helping one local man find his soulmate by streaming a social experiment at 6pm on February 14. It will live stream those that decide to meet one single man (described as a blockchain developer) at a trash can at the corner of Telegraph and 19th St in Oakland, CA.

Who says love can only be found by swiping? the founders of Haha OK asked. We wanted to take the guesswork out of going on a date and simplifying Valentines Day. Inspired by our own romantic misfortunes and how easily it is to be discouraged, we asked ourselves, how can we make this better for someone else?

Yeah, love can be pretty trashy sometimes.

This story has been updated.VEHICLE BID DOCUMENT

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF PROCUREMENT AND PURPOSE:

Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP) intends to implement Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) activities under the Breakthrough ACTION Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo funded by USAID. These activities includeDemocracy and Governance, Education, Nutrition, Malaria, Family Planning and Reproductive Global Health, Security Program on Maternal and Child Health and Safety. During its first year, the program will establish offices in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, necessitating the procurement of three vehicles duty freeto transport staff across multiple health areas and including the surrounding districts. We anticipate having two vehicles in Kinshasa and one in Lubumbashi. In so far, these vehicles are for conducting programmatic health activitiessuch as training and transport of teams and workshop materials in the surrounding target districts.

Specifications/Requirements

Based on the programmatic needs of the DRC Breakthrough ACTION Team, these identified specifications will serve as the basis in procuring the vehicles in question:

US Manufactured Preferred

Type of vehicle: SUV

Number of seats: 6-7 passengers including driver

Transmission: Four Wheel Drive (4WD) or All Wheel Drive (AWD)

Vehicle specification: Left-Hand Drive

Fuel type: Diesel, Gasoline or Petrol

Tank capacity: (+-) 90L

Engine: 6-Cylinder

Cargo space

Air conditioning

Manual transmission

Raised air intakes

The vehicles proposed should be 2019 or 2018 models.

Vendor needs to include any warranty information.

Vendor should be licensed and have to include the letter from the manufacturer indicating that they are licensed.

Vendor should include the country of manufacture for each vehicle, and if the vehicle is not available in country at the moment, we need to know the country from which it will be shipped.

Vendor will include their proof of registration in the country.

Validity period of the bidQuotation must be valid for a period of90 days.

Delivery lead-time in the event of advance payment

All vehicles must be brand new. Warranty and repair/maintenance plan must be stated clearly for Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and other state locations.

All vehicles must be delivered to JHU offices (Kinshasa and Lubumbashi) within 90 days following the signing of a contractual agreement.

Two vehicles will be deliver in Kinshasa and one in Lubumbashi.

Proposals must identify availability of service facilities and parts for the vehicles. The number and location of all affiliated service facilities in addition to the availability of obtaining genuine spare parts.

Please note that the project is exempted from VAT payment, so quotations should show clearly the duty free amount

Applications: Interested applicants must send your proposals to BA.DRC.Jobs@gmail.com before 5PM Kinshasa time March 1, 2019, with the subject line: BA-DRC Vehicle Quotation:The rise in the demand for smart wearable devices has increased the demand for smart contact lenses as well of late. Market focused reports connected to the healthcare sector among others of late have been made accessible by Market Research Future which publishes reports on this industry. The market is projected to touch USD 7.2 billion in terms of revenue by 2023 while growing with a CAGR of approximately 10.4% in the forecast period.

The need for continuous monitoring has been a significant factor in the expansion of the market. Moreover, improvement in the end product quality and features have led to the development of the market further. The smart contact lenses are also expected to be used extensively in the augmented reality market, which will be used extensively to stream content. Smart contact lenses also lessen the need for invasive procedures, which are otherwise complicated and painful. The application of smart lenses especially in response to treatment of diabetes is expected to boost the market favorably over the forecast period.

Get PDF Sample Copy of Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1186

Smart Contact Lenses Industry Update:

March 2018 Theraoptix recently took home the MIT Sloan Healthcare Innovation Prize at their annual competitions and also received a $25,000 grand prize which was sponsored by Optum, a health services firm. The contact lens is made from FDA-approved materials and delivers eye medication in a sustained and controlled release. The lens is sandwiched between contact lens material which is a drug-filled polymer film and shaped into a tiny circular strip that does not interfere with the wearers vision. The sandwiching structure allows the drugs to seep from the film into the eye gradually.

Smart Contact Lenses Industry Segments

The smart contact lenses market globally has been segmented on the basis of the applications of the smart contact lenses which comprises of intraocular pressure monitoring, continuous glucose monitoring, and other applications. The other applications are sodium detection, cholesterol detection, and alcohol detection. The smart contact lenses on the basis of end users market are segmented into hospitals, home care settings and clinics. The regions that are covered in the market include APAC, North America, Europe and Rest of the World.

Global Smart Contact Lenses Market Players

Key players in Smart Contact Lenses Market are: Samsung (South Korea), Sony (Japan), Alcon (U.S), Google (U.S), Sensimed SA (Switzerland)

Samsung is a multinational conglomerate company manufacturing wide range of products. In April 2016, the company received a patent for smart contact lenses with in-built camera in South Korea.

Global Smart Contact Lenses Market Competitive Analysis

Samsung is a multinational conglomerate company manufacturing wide range of products. In April 2016, the company received a patent for smart contact lenses with in-built camera in South Korea. According to Samsung Mobiles report, Samsung started developing smart contact lenses as a means to create a better augmented reality experience than the ones that exist through Google Glass-like wearables.

Google is an American multinational technology company received a patent from the U.S FDA for smart contact lenses in November 2015. Increasing demand for self-monitoring devices, increasing aging population with eye disorders associated to diabetes and user friendliness of smart contact lenses drive this market in America. Development of innovative products for eye care and diabetes management their increasing popularity among people also contribute to the growth of this market.

Google agreed for partnership with the pharmaceutical company Novartis to develop smart contact lenses that can track diabetes by measuring blood glucose levels in tears and fix farsightedness as well.

Get Complete Access of Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/smart-contact-lenses-market-1186

About Market Research Future:

At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Statistical Report, Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.

Contact Us:

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Phone: +1 646 845 9312This report studies the global market size of Breast Cancer Screening in key regions like North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa, focuses on the consumption of Breast Cancer Screening in these regions.

This research report categorizes the global Breast Cancer Screening market by top players/brands, region, type and end user. This report also studies the global Breast Cancer Screening market status, competition landscape, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, sales channels and distributors.

Breast cancer screening is the medical screening of asymptomatic, apparently healthy women for breast cancer in an attempt to achieve an earlier diagnosis.

A number of screening tests have been employed, including clinical and self-breast exams, mammography, genetic screening, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging.

The top players cover Hitachi Medical Corporation, Siemen Healthineers, Philips Healthcare and GE Healthcare etc., which are playing important roles in global Breast Cancer Screening market.

Get a Sample Copy Of Breast Cancer Screening report: https://www.orbisresearch.com/contacts/request-sample/2336827

At present, global economy is fluctuant, and most countries take measures to stimulate the economy, especially in Rest of Asia, Europe, Australia and the resources providing countries, like Russia, Middle East, Brazil etc. In many fields, China is the largest consumer, but in the past several years, Chinas economic growth slows. The China government is reforming the economic structure, to release energy of economy. USA economy is relatively stable with low-speed-growth, but in future, it also is full of risk. In Southeast Asia, the economy also is fluctuated the economic base is comparatively unsubstantial, due to the exchange fluctuations. In India, although many people look to further increase in India, but the economic aggregate is too low and the infrastructure is behindhand and inefficient. In a long term, India will keep a stable and low growth in economy, due to its economic structure and bureaucratic system.

On the other hand, the political factors, like government succession, security fears, trade dispute, domestic employment, even the regional military crisis, always affect the economic activity, country to country, corporation to country. So it needs us with deep insight, to analyze the prospect avoid risk, to grasp the opportunity and reduce losses.

The global Breast Cancer Screening market is valued at 1430 million US$ in 2017 and will reach 2710 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 8.4% during 2018-2025. The objectives of this study are to define, segment, and project the size of the Breast Cancer Screening market based on company, product type, end user and key regions.

The following manufacturers are covered in Breast Cancer Screening report, with sales, revenue, market share for each company:

Hologic

GE Healthcare

Siemen Healthineers

Philips Healthcare

Canon Medical

Fujifilm

Metaltronica

Sino Medical-Device

IMS Srl

Market size by Product

Mammography Screening

Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Screening

Breast Ultrasound Screening

Market size by End User

Hospital

Clinic

Browse Complete Breast Cancer Screening Report: https://www.orbisresearch.com/reports/index/global-breast-cancer-screening-market-insights-forecast-to-2025

The study objectives of this report are:

To study and analyze the global Breast Cancer Screening market size (value & volume) by company, key regions, products and end user, breakdown data from 2013 to 2017, and forecast to 2025.

To understand the structure of Breast Cancer Screening market by identifying its various subsegments.

To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).

Focuses on the key global Breast Cancer Screening companies, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape and recent development.

To project the value and sales volume of Breast Cancer Screening submarkets, with respect to key regions.

To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.

Some TOC Points:

Chapter One: Study Coverage

1.1 Breast Cancer Screening Product

1.2 Market Segments

1.3 Key Manufacturers Covered

1.4 Market by Type

1.4.1 Global Breast Cancer Screening Market Size Growth Rate by Product

1.4.2 Mammography Screening

1.4.3 Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Screening

1.4.4 Breast Ultrasound Screening

1.5 Market by End User

1.5.1 Global Breast Cancer Screening Market Size Growth Rate by End User

1.5.2 Hospital

1.5.3 Clinic

1.6 Study Objectives

1.7 Years Considered

Chapter Two: Executive Summary

2.1 Global Breast Cancer Screening Market Size

2.1.1 Global Breast Cancer Screening Revenue 2013-2025

2.1.2 Global Breast Cancer Screening Sales 2013-2025

2.2 Breast Cancer Screening Growth Rate by Region

2.2.1 Global Breast Cancer Screening Sales by Regions

2.2.2 Global Breast Cancer Screening Revenue by Regions

Chapter Three: Breakdown Data by Manufacturers

3.1 Breast Cancer Screening Sales by Manufacturers

3.1.1 Breast Cancer Screening Sales by Manufacturers

3.1.2 Breast Cancer Screening Sales Market Share by Manufacturers

3.1.3 Global Breast Cancer Screening Market Concentration Ratio (CRChapter Five: and HHI)

3.2 Breast Cancer Screening Revenue by Manufacturers

3.2.1 Breast Cancer Screening Revenue by Manufacturers (2013-2018)

3.2.2 Breast Cancer Screening Revenue Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)

3.3 Breast Cancer Screening Price by Manufacturers

3.4 Breast Cancer Screening Manufacturing Base Distribution, Product Types

3.4.1 Breast Cancer Screening Manufacturers Manufacturing Base Distribution, Headquarters

3.4.2 Manufacturers Breast Cancer Screening Product Type

3.4.3 Date of International Manufacturers Enter into Breast Cancer Screening Market

3.5 Manufacturers Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion Plans

Chapter Four: Breakdown Data by Product

4.1 Global Breast Cancer Screening Sales by Product

4.2 Global Breast Cancer Screening Revenue by Product

4.3 Breast Cancer Screening Price by Product

Chapter Five: Breakdown Data by End User

5.1 Overview

5.2 Global Breast Cancer Screening Breakdown Data by End User

Chapter Six: North America

6.1 North America Breast Cancer Screening by Countries

6.1.1 North America Breast Cancer Screening Sales by Countries

6.1.2 North America Breast Cancer Screening Revenue by Countries

6.1.3 United States

6.1.4 Canada

6.1.5 Mexico

6.2 North America Breast Cancer Screening by Product

6.3 North America Breast Cancer Screening by End User

Chapter Seven: Europe

7.1 Europe Breast Cancer Screening by Countries

7.1.1 Europe Breast Cancer Screening Sales by Countries

7.1.2 Europe Breast Cancer Screening Revenue by Countries

Continued..

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Email id: sales@orbisresearch.comThe research study on Global Bone Graft and Substitutes Market serves a comprehensive and extensive analysis towards the changing dynamics and advanced looking prospect on various factors driving or constraining industry development.

Scope of the Report:

The report entitled Global Bone Graft and Substitutes Market: Size, Trends and Forecast (2018-2022) provides an in-depth analysis of the bone graft and substitutes market including detailed description of market sizing and growth. The report provides analysis of the market by value, by segments, by region and includes segment analysis as well.

Request a sample of this report @ http://www.orbisresearch.com/contacts/request-sample/2255731

The report also provides a regional analysis of the bone graft and substitutes market of Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa and the rest of the world.

In addition, the report also assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the overall global bone graft and substitutes market has also been forecasted for the period 2018-2022, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends.

The major players dominating the bone graft and substitutes market are Medtronic PLC, Wright Medical Group N.V., Zimmer Biomet and Johnson & Johnson. The four companies have been profiled in the report providing detailed analysis of their financial information and business strategies.

Country Coverage:

Americas

Europe

Asia-Pacific

Middle East and Africa

ROW

Company Coverage:

Medtronic PLC

Wright Medical Group N.V.

Zimmer Biomet

Johnson & Johnson (DePuy Synthes)

Browse the complete report @ http://www.orbisresearch.com/reports/index/global-bone-graft-and-substitutes-market-size-trends-and-forecast-2018-2022

Executive Summary:

Bone grafts referred to the materials that are used for the replacement or augmentation of bones. Bone grafts could be used for various purposes such as fixing bones that are impaired from trauma, growing bone around an implanted device, filling a void where the bone is absent and providing structural stability. Bone graft substitutes are materials which could be used in place of the transplanted bone and cover the limitations of the natural bone grafts.

The ideal bone graft or bone graft substitute should include three substantial components: an osteoconductive matrix, osteoinductive properties and osteogenic cells.

The bone graft and substitutes market can be segmented on the basis of application and material. Various applications of bone graft and substitutes include spinal fusion, trauma, joint reconstruction and dental bone grafting. On the basis of material, the bone graft and substitutes market can be divided into allografts and bone graft substitutes.

The global bone graft and substitutes market has witnessed continuous growth in the past few years and is projected to grow even further during the forecast period (2018-2022). The bone graft and substitutes market is expected to be driven by various growth enhancing factors such as unhealthy life choices, increasing obesity rates, ageing population, growing healthcare expenditure etc.

However, the market is not free from challenges that are hindering its growth. Some of the major challenges faced by the market are preventing transmission of infections from human allografts and reducing the number of bone graft failures.

Buy this report @ http://www.orbisresearch.com/contact/purchase/2255731

Some Points from Table of Content:

Executive Summary

Introduction

2.1 Bone Graft: An Overview

2.1.1 Types of Bone Grafts

2.2 Characteristics of Bone Graft

2.3 Bone Graft Substitutes: An Overview

2.4 Characteristics of Bone Graft Substitutes

2.5 Bone Grafts and Substitutes Segments: An Overview

2.6 Advantages of Bone Grafting

2.7 Disadvantages of Bone Grafting

Global Market Analysis

3.1 Global Bone Graft And Substitutes Market: An Analysis

3.1.1 Global Bone Graft and Substitutes Market by Value

3.1.2 Global Bone Graft and Substitutes Market by Segments (Allografts, Bone Graft Substitutes)

3.1.3 Global Bone Graft and Substitutes Market by Region (Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, ROW)

3.2 Global Bone Graft and Substitutes Market: Segment Analysis

3.2.1 Global Allografts Market by Value

3.2.2 Global Allografts Market by Segments (Demineralised Bone Matrix, Others)

3.2.3 Global Demineralized Bone Matrix Market by Value

3.2.4 Global Bone Graft Substitutes Market by Value

3.2.5 Global Bone Graft Substitutes Market by Segments (Synthetic Bone Grafts, Bone Morphogenic Proteins, Others)

3.2.6 Global Bone Morphogenic Proteins Market by Value

3.2.7 Global Synthetic Bone Grafts Market by Value

..Continued

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Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +912064101019Whats troubling about the U.S. EPAs handling of the Sterigenics case is that the agencys only action up until now  apart from testing  has been to put off deciding what to do. Lipinski says EPA officials told him they need to conduct more testing before they can settle on an action plan. More tests? That sounds less like reasoned science and more like bureaucratic inefficiency  or stalling.Dental prosthetics or prosthodontics have become highly common for the improvement of appearance and function of teeth which are damaged or have been lost due to unfortunate circumstances such as accidents. Market Research Future has recently published a comprehensive report which extensively analyses the global dental prosthetics market. The market is set to grow at a CAGR of 5.5% from 2019 to 2023 and reach an approximate value of USD 5.6 million by the end of the assessment period.

Dental care has grown considerably in the recent years, and consumers have become increasingly aesthetic focused which has driven the demand for dental prosthetics. Social media and the increasing influence of celebrities on picture sharing platforms such as Instagram have prompted an inclination toward achieving an aesthetic appearance which is influenced by beauty ideals presented on such social media websites. Moreover, emerging economies are witnessing a rise in per capita income which has resulted in higher disposable incomes, thus increasing the demand for prosthetic procedures. Incidentally, dental prosthetic procedures are more affordable in certain countries, thus encouraging increased dental tourism.

To Get Sample Report visit https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2905

Digitalization of the dental industry has begun taking root. However progress is slow, and adoption of new technologies is low, thus restraining the growth of the global market. However, implant and prosthetic technology is constantly improving and is expected to produce opportunities for market growth.

Latest Industry News

Glidewell Dental has announced the opening of the Glidewell International Technology Center in Louisville Kentucky. The 8,500 sq ft center is aimed at teaching cutting-edge dental practices in an effort to keep fellow dentists abreast of new materials and techniques used in dental prosthetic procedures among others.

Prosthodontic clinic Dental Implants Miami Beach has installed a new dental microscope which is expected to improve the vision of the damaged tooth and allow the prosthodontist to treat the patient with lasting implants.

Key Players for Global Dental Prosthetics Market

Market Research Future (MRFR) recognizes the following companies as the key players in Dental Prosthetics Market: There are plenty of large and small market players which operate in this market all over the globe.

Notable market players involved in the competitive landscape of the global dental prosthetics market include Dentsply Sirona, 3M, Zimmer Biomet, Institut Straumann AG, Nobel Biocare, CAMLOG Biotechnologies AG, Planmeca, Osstem Prosthetics, and Ivoclar Vivadent.

Segments for Global Dental Prosthetics Market

The global dental prosthetics market is segmented on the basis of type, type of material, end-user, and region. By type, the market is segmented into denture, crown, bridges, veneer, abutment, and inlays. Bridges make up the majority of the market due to the consistent demand for these prosthetics.

By type of material, the market is segmented into porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM), metal, all-ceramic, and others. Of these, the PFM segment accounts for over a third of the total share due to the natural look this material lends and the strength that it has. Moreover, PFM doesnt chip as easily as pure porcelain or all-ceramic.

By end-users, the market is segmented into dental hospitals & clinics, and dental research laboratories.

Regional Analysis for Global Dental Prosthetics Market

North America dominates the market with a majority share due to the regions inclination toward the latest in medical advancements and the presence of a large patient pool that are demanding dental prosthetics. Europe closely follows North America in terms of market size due to a similar growth pattern

Meanwhile, the Asia Pacific is experiencing rapid growth due to the rising disposable incomes in the region as well as the rise of dental tourism which attracts international patients and market players. Patients travel to these countries to leverage affordable dental prosthetic and cosmetic services. Market players from around the globe have identified this trend and are strengthening their market position in the emerging economies of the region such as India, China, and South Korea.

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Phone: +1 646 845 9312Obviously, the market of Blood Glucose Test Strips is ever increasing, flooding with the various brands of blood glucose test strips, floating in the space. Each brand having their own technology & design, spend increasingly on R&D activities to perfect the product. This, in turn, is paying off well & increasing the market size, elevating it on the global platform.

Acknowledging the exponential growth, the market perceives currently and gauging the potential the market holds to grow in the future; Market Research Future (MRFR), in its recently published market forecast asserts that the Global Blood Glucose Test Strip Market will grow exponentially by 2027, registering a striking CAGR throughout the forecast period (2017  2027).

Blood Glucose Test Strip Market  Key Players

Some of the key players for Blood Glucose Test Strip Market are:

Abbott Laboratories

Acon Laboratories, Inc

Allmedicus

Apex Biotechnology Corporation

Ascensia Diabetes Care Holdings Ag

Braun Melsungen Ag

HMD Biomedical

I-Sens, Inc.

Lifescan, Inc.

Roche Diagnostics

Taidoc Technology Corporation

Get Sample Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/892

Blood Glucose Test Strip Market  Segments

The Blood Glucose Test Strip Market can be segmented in to 2 key dynamics for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding;

By Technologies: Comprises Thick Film Electrochemical, Thin Film Electrochemical, & Optical among others

By Regions: North America, Europe, APAC and Rest of the World.

Industry, Innovation & Related News:

July 05, 2018  Researchers at MITs Little Devices Lab (US) presented a Lego-like device they have developed to perform diagnostic tests at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods. Referred to as plug-and-play the engineered system device is called as Ampli blocks, can test blood glucose levels in diabetic patients and also detect viral infection.

June 22, 2018  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a mHealth platform that includes a sensor embedded in the arm, a wearable transmitter and an app, all designed to help those with diabetes and their care teams continuously track blood-glucose levels. The Eversense CGM, system useful in continuous glucose management is developed by Senseonics and accounts for the first approved implantable device that promises up to three months of constant monitoring, contrary to other wearable CGM platforms.

April 13, 2018  Livongo Health (US) a start-up developing connected devices and software for diabetics and other chronic conditions. The company completely devoted to providing cost-competitive aid for diabetes, has already developed its own glucometer & apps providing accurate readings. Livongo, also ships test strips to patients at no additional cost. The company announced that it has bagged the investment for USD 105 million to support the further development of its technology and a partnership from Cambia Health Solution.

April 2018 Pops! Diabetes Care, which is a Twin Cities device maker has registered its first patient in their clinical study which it is backing to see whether their device named, Pops! One, can effectively monitor blood-sugar levels for diabetics. They are also additionally partnering with the Childrens Minnesota health care system on a six-month research of 50 young patients who have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. They will use the Pops device to record their blood-glucose levels and alert them when they need to inject insulin. The most noticeable piece is the blood-testing device which is slightly smaller than a typical smartphone which contains a disposable cartridge with a glucose meter and three tiny lancets that have been designed so that they are less painful and easier than using a conventional finger-stick unit with individual test strips. The individual replacement cartridge can be used for up to three tests.

Blood Glucose Test Strip Market  Regional Analysis

North America market leads the Global Blood Glucose Test Strip Market with the significant market share. The market is further expected to reach astronomical amounts growing at a substantial CAGR throughout the forecast period (2017-2027). Well-developed healthcare sector, increasing prevalence of diabetes in the U.S. & Canada coupled with the high per capita healthcare expenditures of these economies, together drive the regional market growth. Moreover, presence of some of the matured market players fuels the market growth.

Europe & Asia Pacific is the second & third largest market respectively in the Global Blood Glucose Test Strip Market. Expected to be a fastest growing market Asia pacific region is estimated to grow rapidly over the projected period. Increasing healthcare expenditures along with favorable government policies of developing economies like India and China foster the market growth in APAC.

Browse Complete 110 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with Tables and Figures @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/blood-glucose-test-strip-market-892

While the worlds second largest market of Blood Glucose Test Strip, Europe is predominantly driven by the availability of funds for research, well-developed healthcare infrastructure, huge patient population, & government support for research & development. Besides, economies having high healthcare expenditures such as the UK & Germany propel the growth of the Europe market.

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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 user 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.What a fascinating political petri dish Chicago must seem to the conventioneers, who belong to COGEL, the national organization of government ethics administrators. Maybe they can get to the bottom of what makes Illinois so depressingly corrupt. In fact, maybe theyll never want to go anywhere else. We will not only welcome these experts on campaign finance, lobbying and elections to our city, we invite them to make Chicago the permanent home to their annual conference.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 14)  Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo insisted that the arrest of journalist and news website site Rappler CEO Maria Ressa followed the right judicial processes.

"The rule of law has been observed in this particular case. She was given the opportunity to present evidence and rebut the charges against her," he told CNN Philippines on Wednesday.

Ressa was forced to spend the night in detention after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents arrived at the Rappler's office in Pasig City at around 5:30 p.m. She arrived at the NBI Cybercrime Division office in Pasay City past 7 p.m., but the Pasay City court did not allow her to post bail. She remained in custody of the NBI through the night.

Panelo said there is nothing irregular in the serving of the arrest warrant, despite the fact that the Manila Trial Court Branch 46 issued the order on Tuesday, but opted to have the NBI serve it on Wednesday.

"I understand this was issued yesterday afternoon... A warrant of arrest issued by a court is only frowned upon when it is issued on a weekend or at the end of Friday, so you will have no more time to file a bail, you have to sleep in jail. I think she's just making something out of nothing," he said.

The presidential spokesperson denied the allegation of Ressa that the government is resorting to "black propaganda" to silence journalists in the country.

"This has no connection whatsoever with the exercise of press freedom... Ang batas hindi namimili ng oras. We cannot be using our influence or stature as a journalist para magreklamo tayo na inaapi tayo. Kailangan pantay-pantay ang tingin ng batas sa lahat ng tao," he said.

Cyber libel charges were filed against Rappler over a story published in 2012. It stemmed from a complaint filed by businessman Wilfredo Keng in October 2017 over an allegedly libelous Rappler article about him saying that he had loaned a vehicle to then Chief Justice Renato Corona.Submit A Press Release

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Note: All submissions will go through our editorial approval process before being posted.Both veteran and new legislators from Paulding said the countys legislative delegation was keeping a close eye on a certain addition to the cMarch is American Red Cross Month and Georgias Red Cross is asking people to be a hero for families in need by becoming a volunteer, learningLooking to break into the Atlanta TV/film industry or just get a leg up on the competition? Heres your chance.In transforming the old Lefont Sandy Springs movie theater to the new Springs Cinema & Taphouse, owner Brandt Gully wanted to make it lookIn response to the recent act of vandalism at Centennial High School and other reports of antisemitism, Atlanta Initiative Against Anti-SemitiImages Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images.

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Sign up for our Email News Alerts.Other key findings include testimony that the students felt confused by Phillips approach. Investigators said they found no evidence of racist or offensive statements by students to Mr. Phillips, though some performed a tomahawk chop.

According to the report, one of the chaperones told students that if they engaged in a verbal exchange with the Black Hebrew Israelites, they would receive detention when returning to school.

According to the report, most boys bought the red hats bearing President Donald Trumps MAGA slogan in Washington, D.C., on the day of the March for Life. In previous years, some students bought Hope hats in support of President Barack Obama, the report says.

The Bishop of Covington welcomed the report in a statement on the dioceses website. Roger Foys wrote that he was pleased that my hope and expectation expressed in my letter to you of 25 January that the results of our inquiry ... would exonerate our students so that they can move forward with their lives has been realized.

In a joint statement with the school, the diocese denounced the boys behavior the day after the march, calling it opposed to the Churchs teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person.According to Alderman Melvin Lytle Jr., the elementary school will be bringing 2,000 loads of dirt from Old U.S. 70 and travel to Orchard and Commerce Street, meaning a high volume of dump trucks between both streets.

Additionally, Lytle said, DOT will soon begin paving on Main Street from Cane Creek Road to Orchard Street occurring simultaneously with construction on the elementary school, resulting in further traffic complications.

This is going to be a headache and a half, said Lytle.

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We want everyone to know theres going to be a lot of traffic, said Hensley. Theres going to be a lot of traffic jams, so please slow down.

An exact time frame for how long street paving will take has not been confirmed.

In other business:

 During public comments, Kirstie Conner of the Old Fort Community Forum invited the board and others in attendance to this months forum meeting, scheduled for Feb. 21 at 5:30. Conner also said that the forum can allot time at the beginning of the meeting for the aldermen to provide updates or other vital information.A Worcester police officer resigned amid allegations he stole money from a persons wallet at Saint Vincent Hospital earlier this year, MassLive has learned.

The officer, Paul McCarthy, was a veteran on the force with more than 20 years of experience.

A Worcester police spokeswoman declined to comment on any of the allegations in the investigation, citing personnel matters. The department did confirm McCarthys employment with Worcester police ended on Jan. 10.

McCarthy, 55, has not been charged criminally, but he is scheduled to appear in Worcester District Court sometime next month for a show cause hearing, a court hearing that is not open to the public.

The clerk presiding over the hearing will decide if a formal criminal complaint will move forward. It appears, based on sources, police presented evidence for a larceny charge in the case.

If a criminal complaint is issued after the hearing, McCarthy will receive a date to appear in Worcester District Court for arraignment. Because the matter was referred to a clerk for the show cause hearing, the case remains hidden from public view including any police reports filed in the case.

If the clerk decides the evidence isnt strong enough, or if some arrangement is made during the hearing, the allegations against the former officer would never be publicly available through the courts.

McCarthy was working a detail at Saint Vincent Hospital in January when he found a wallet that someone lost inside, MassLive learned. The officer allegedly took the wallet and after some time, gave it to a staff member.

The wallet, however, was missing some money, sources confirm. The amount of money was around $1,000. Worcester police did conduct an investigation and brought the matter forward through the show cause hearing, MassLive learned.

Worcester payroll records from 2017 show McCarthy earned $117,498 including $27,738 in paid details and another $5,894 in overtime.

MassLive reached out to a lawyer listed for McCarthy for comment.A 37-year-old Worcester man who shipped packages of methamphetamine to Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Florida has been sentenced to serve 15 years in federal prison.

Adam Germano admitted to shipping large quantities of meth to the three states and to distributing the drug to dealers and other people in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, according to federal authorities. He pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to distribute and distributing methamphetamine in October.

On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Hillman sentenced Germano to serve the 15 years in prison, as well as five years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay forfeiture of $73,343, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling.

Officials said Germano in January 2017 shipped a package of meth from Las Vegas to Worcester via U.S. mail. Authorities intercepted the package, which contained more than two kilograms of approximately 97 percent pure methamphetamine.

In March 2017, police in Concord, New Hampshire, pulled Germano over and found meth and a handgun hidden in the engine of the car he was driving.

Germano was arrested at that time and has been in custody since.FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Red Sox pitcher David Price switched to wearing No. 10 for the 2019 season but wouldnt disclose why when asked about it at JetBlue Park on Thursday.

Im gonna let you guys figure it out, Price told reporters. Its not that tough.

Price wore No. 24 for his first three seasons in Boston before opting for the switch this winter. He wore No. 14 for the Rays, Tigers and Blue Jays but had to switch once he signed with the Red Sox because No. 14 is retired for Jim Rice.

The Red Sox are chasing their 10th World Series title in 2019, but Price said that was not a factor in his decision. The team isnt retiring No. 24 for Dwight Evans or Manny Ramirez, either.

One theory floating around Fort Myers is that No. 10 is meant to honor Prices son, Xavier, as the roman numeral "X" equals 10. Price insists the reason isnt hard to figure out.

If you know me at all, I feel like you can get it, he said. Somebody will get it and everybody will be like, oh, okay, wow.Fifteen reported cases of clergy sexual abuse were made to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield in 2018, according to a two-page report in the latest issue of the diocesan magazine, The Catholic Mirror.

It is the highest number reported since 52 claims were made in 2004, according to the report on how the Springfield diocese handles allegations.

All new cases have been referred to the relevant district attorney, diocesan spokesperson Mark Dupont said.

The published data lists the number of abuse reports made by year back to 1986 and also lists the decades going back to 1930s when the incidents reportedly occurred, something Dupont stressed when asked to comment on the report.

The 1970s is shown as the decade with the highest number of occurrences with 80, followed by 74 in the 1960s and 33 in the 1980s.

Only eight incidents are listed as having happened in this century.

The published report, which can also be read on the diocesan website, notes that most occurrences were reported beginning in 1993 -- the diocese set up an independent review board in 1994 -- and later. (The list dates to 1986 because that was when the diocese, through Bishop Joseph Maguire, first began a more formal process of handling abuse reports, Dupont said.)

Some 43 are shown as having been reported in 2002 and 42 in 2003.

"First it is important to note the difference between when abuse reports are made and when the abuse actually occurred. In almost all cases the time spam goes back decades. This is part of the difficult path many victims follow in coming to terms with their abuse," Dupont said.

"But regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred, we offer each victim full outreach and assistance. Included in this is the commitment to report all cases to the appropriate district attorneys' offices which we have done."

He added, "The spikes in reporting generally have to do with external factors, mostly major news coverage."

"Dioceses across the country experience this very same reaction as there is always an uptick in victims reaching out to us at the time of significant news coverage," Dupont said.

"Last year was the result of the Pennsylvania grand jury report, other years coincide with the announcement of settlements," he said.

The diocesan report, which Bishop Mitchell Rozanski had said in advance of publication was in response to "renewed concerns" sparked locally by recent investigations elsewhere, shows that to date the Springfield diocese has paid out $14,948,001 in settling 147 claims since 1992.

Some $8.5 million came from insurance carriers with the remainder coming from diocesan self-insurance reserves, according to the report.

It also shows the diocese has paid $2.25 million for therapy and counseling for victims of abuse with more than $150,000 paid in 2018.

The Catholic Mirror report also explains what background checks and training are required of all diocesan employees and volunteers; what education about inappropriate behavior and how to report it is given to students attending diocesan schools or parish religious education programs; and there is a graphic showing the steps the diocese takes when it receives an abuse report.

"By directive of the Bishop of Springfield, all clergy, religious, lay employees and volunteers must consider themselves as 'mandatory reporters' and follow reporting procedures," the report stated.

An accused clergy member is "temporarily remove(d) from active ministry" if an allegation involves current behavior and if a finding of criminal guilt results or determination the allegation is credible the "clergy member is permanently removed from all ministry and is directed not to present themselves as clergy," the report stated.

The Vatican decides whether this removal will be from ministry under a life of prayer and penance or permanent removal from the clerical state, what is called laicization and means the individual is no longer entitled to any financial assistance from the diocese.

There is an online list of clergy who have been credibly accused in the Springfield diocese.

"Any individual who has been or suspects they were abused, regardless of how long ago, is encouraged to file a complaint," the report stated. "Even if the clergy member is deceased, the complaint and review process is followed and that person is entitled to counseling/therapy services as well as a settlement."

Contact information is given including the email reportabuse@diospringfield.org.

In November, Rozanski said the diocese, which covers the four western counties of Massachusetts, had been asked by the U.S. Department of Justice, as all dioceses have in the wake of the Pennsylvania report, to "preserve" any documents related to clergy sexual misconduct.

The Pennsylvania report revealed that 300 priests in six dioceses there had sexually abused 1,000 children over seven decades and that the cases were covered up by church hierarchy.

Its release in August has resulted in an uptick in claims being filed in dioceses, prompted many states attorneys to consider their own investigations into dioceses and has prompted more dioceses to release names of priests found to have credible allegations against them.

Rozanski, who has been holding a series of "listening and dialogue" to address parishioners' concerns about clergy sex abuse cases, was installed bishop here in 2014. He had been auxiliary bishop in Baltimore where Archbishop William Lori has also been taking steps to re-establish trust in a Church embattled worldwide by the abuse crisis.

The presidents of bishops conferences are scheduled to meet this month in Rome to further discuss the issue and last fall the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had discussed but delayed action at the Vatican's request on a code of conduct for bishops.

Their fall meeting came shortly after the release of a Boston Globe and Philadelphia Inquirer investigation, "Failure at the top," showing how U.S. bishops failed to police themselves despite the protocols they established 16 years ago to address issues of clergy sex abuse.

The U.S. bishops instituted protocols in 2002 to protect minors and establish procedures for the reporting of allegations of sexual misconduct by priests and deacons with a statement added about allegations against bishops who under Vatican protocols do not normally submit letters of resignation until the age of 75.

The first U.S. bishop said to be indicted on the specific charge of child sex abuse was Springfield Bishop Thomas Dupre.

Indicted on charges that he raped two boys in the 1970s, Dupre, who resigned suddenly in 2004 shortly before his indictment, was never prosecuted because of the statute of limitations and died bishop emeritus in 2016 at the age of 83.

The Springfield diocese did settle with two men who named Dupre as their abuser.

In 2003, Dupre defrocked Richard Lavigne, a diocesan priest who pleaded guilty in 1992 to two counts of molestation of a minor and was given a 10-year probation sentence. Lavigne was also the only publicly identified suspect in the 1972 murder of Springfield altar boy Daniel Croteau. That slaying remains unsolved.NORTHAMPTON -- City officials will soon ask for public input on proposed community impact fees on short-term rentals -- like Airbnbs.

Last year, Gov. Charlie Baker signed off on a 3 percent community impact fee that can be adopted by communities with a room occupancy excise. The fees can go into effect July 1.

The fees aim to offset the negative effects of the room-sharing economy that often takes rental units out of the local housing stock, Mayor David Narkewicz told the City Council last week.

"What we're really talking about here (applies to) professionally managed" units like apartment buildings, Narkewicz said.

A second proposed 3 percent fee would apply to short-term rentals within owner-occupied two- and three-family dwellings.

Evidence has shown that the room-sharing economy has led to a shortage of rentals, particularly in major cities like Boston, increasing rent prices in those areas and creating "an affordability problem," Narkewicz said.

"We're all trying to come to terms with this new type of economy," said Councilor at Large Bill Dwight. "This is simply giving us an opportunity to help extract money to ... offset costs to the community."

"Also, it's a quality-of-life thing," said Ward 5 Councilor David Murphy. "If you're living in a complex and there's a unit next to you that's being run as a motel room, it's very disruptive."

The state Legislature proposed that 35 percent of the money raised by the community impact fees be put toward affordable housing or local infrastructure. Narkewicz is proposing that 100 percent of the funds be put into a revolving fund that would go toward affordable housing in the city.

The fee would not apply to hotels and bed and breakfasts that are already registered and pay a room occupancy excise to the city.

But councilors, like Marianna LaBarge of Ward 6, said some constituents have asked for a clearer definition of which properties would be considered "professionally managed," as well as how and when the fee would be collected.

Councilors agreed that, before adopting the fee, it would be beneficial to hold a public forum and ask for input from residents, local property managers and business operators who may be affected.

Since the fees would not go into effect until July 1, there's still time to gather more information and vote on whether or not to adopt them, Narkewicz said. Councilors did not pick a date for the public forum, but agreed to revisit the issue.Addressing those who doubt he was ever attacked, actor Jussie Smollett went on "Good Morning America" Thursday to describe what Chicago police are investigating as a possible hate crime.

The "Empire" actor, who is black and openly gay, repeated that he was assaulted by two men in Chicago as they spewed racial and homophobic slurs.

Shortly after the "GMA" interview, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi revealed on social media that through "meticulous investigation ... detectives have identified the persons of interest in the area of the alleged attack of the Empire cast member. These individuals are not yet suspects but were in area of concern and are being questioned."

Smollett told police he was attacked on Jan. 29 by two people, who shouted racial and homophobic slurs and poured an unknown chemical substance on him. One of the alleged attackers reportedly put a rope around his neck.

The FBI is assisting in the investigation after it was confirmed that an earlier threat was made against the actor in the form of a letter before the Jan. 29 incident.

The reported attack has been criticized by fellow entertainers, civil rights activists and political leaders, including President Donald Trump.HOLYOKE -- Mayor Alex Morse has a friend, Sherry Rodriquez, who continues to wait for a kidney transplant.

"I know it's impacted the way I view this topic and these issues. That's one of the reasons, thanks to her, I'm passionate about making sure we have this event at Holyoke City Hall," Morse said.

The event was a Valentine's Day celebration that also urged residents to "have a heart" and register as organ donors. Organ recipients joined the mayor in the City Council Chamber.

The day not only recognizes the lives extended, but also the patients hoping for a life-saving organ or tissue donation.

Morse and the speakers urged people to register as organ donors either at any Massachusetts Department of Motor Vehicle location or online at www.RegisterMe.org/MA.

Matt Boger, of the New England Organ Bank, said, "People can truly help save an individual's life by simply checking the yes box" at the RMV. He said 99.7 percent of RMV customers register as an organ donor.

Boger stressed the organs are harvested after a donor dies. He said television shows over the years have misrepresented the registration process and protocols involved in organ donations.

"That heart on your license does show you have a heart and that you care for individuals," Boger said.

Morse said Valentine's Day seemed appropriate to remind people about the importance of registering as donors. "I am a proud donor on my license. We encourage as many folks as possible to do that," he said.

Ardazan Dennis Jr, who received a heart Nov. 30, 2008, said he was the youngest person from Holyoke to receive a donated organ.

Dennis, who turns 21 years old in a week, is now a junior at Westfield State University majoring in theater and criminal justice.

Born with a heart defect, Dennis wondered at the time if he would survive the transplant procedure. He awoke with a new heart and a new life. "I was grateful to my donor for what they did for me," he said.

He went on to play on the Holyoke High School volleyball team. He said he lives a life without limitations, which includes participating in sports.

Hamid Mahdavy, of Wilbraham, who underwent a heart transplant three years ago, said his 24-year-old male donor gave him the gift of life. "I got a new heart, and I'm able to continue living. Many different parts of his body went all over the world," he said.

While in the hospital, Mahdavy promised to give back. He teamed up with the young man's mother, and they speak around the region on the importance of being a registered donor. He also joined Heart Brothers Foundation, an organization that serves heart transplant recipients.

Rick Purcell, of Holyoke, reminded the audience not all organ donations happen after a donor's death. In 1994, Purcell gave his left kidney to a sister who needed one.

"She lived for 22 years without having to do dialysis. The best thing you can do is register to donate. That's the key to the success of all of this. Heaven doesn't take your organs to heaven. Heaven knows we need them here," Purcell said.

Around 113,000 persons await a new organ nationally, which includes 5,000 patients in New England. Even with 110 million registered donors in the U.S., the need remains critical.

The registry adds a patient every 10 minutes. One donor can save up to eight lives. The registration is quick and private. People of any age can sign up a donor. The RMV places a red heart on a driver's license or ID.

The RMV affixes a red heart sticker to a driver's license or ID.

Pat Duffy and Michelle Moriarty represented State Rep. Aaron Vega, D-Holyoke, and State Sen. Donald Humason, R-Westfield.AMHERST -- Hampshire College plans to address its financial troubles with two rounds of layoffs while its search for a partner organization continues.

Protests against the layoffs are planned on campus Friday afternoon by students, their parents and alumni. Organizers accuse the administration of "gross mismanagement."

They are also calling for state Attorney General Maura Healey's office to investigate college trustees' decision to limit future enrollments. The trustees voted Feb. 1 to admit only 77 deferred admission and early decision students this fall, and decided Hampshire "would not enroll any other applicants for fall 2019 or spring 2020."

Administrators are scheduled to meet with the affected staff on Tuesday, when the first round of pink slips will go out. The second round of layoffs is expected April 1.

Hampshire College employees include 250 staff members and 150 faculty. The number of layoffs was unknown.

"Not doing layoffs will hasten Hampshire's closing," college President Miriam E. Nelson said in a written statement Wednesday.

"In becoming a smaller school, we'll be better able to stabilize our finances, which will give us time to pursue the best options for bringing about the next iteration of the College," she wrote in the letter to the Hampshire community.

"I want to reiterate that our ultimate goal is and has been to secure Hampshire's future," Nelson said.

Protest organizers in a statement said they plan on Friday to "denounce the direction Nelson is taking the college and to support affected staff and faculty." The protest begins at 2 p.m. in the main lecture room at Franklin Patterson Hall.

"Alumni will stay until evening to support those who are receiving pink slips," organizers said. "Hampshire alumni and parents will also stage a call-in on Friday to Courtney Aladro, head of the non-profit division of the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, asking her and her colleagues to investigate the decision by the board not to admit a full entering class."

Nelson said the college is committed to being transparent.

"We wanted to be as comprehensive as possible in describing the financial realities that necessitate layoffs, in answering questions that might arise, and in providing the appropriate support services," she said. "To do this as thoughtfully as we could, and to put all of the relevant structures in place, has taken time. We appreciate your patience. Supporting every employee with dignity and respect through upcoming transitions continues to be our priority and focus."

"Because we've long been used to doing so much with so little -- because for our entire existence we've had faculty and staff who so believed in Hampshire that they would make personal sacrifices in compensation to keep it going -- some might have thought Hampshire would always be able to get by in its current form. The reality is, we can't. That's one reason our painful announcement to not accept a full class this fall has struck so deep," Nelson wrote.

Among the protest organizers is alumna Suzanne Perkins, the parent of a current student and a lecturer at the University of Michigan.

"It's time for Massachusetts authorities to look into the gross mismanagement of Hampshire College under Nelson's leadership," Perkins said in a statement. "She just took the reins at Hampshire last spring and she is already driving this beloved and unique place of learning into the ground. It must not be allowed and we are prepared to take all means necessary to stop her and the board of trustee from taking further actions that imperil Hampshire's future viability."

The college opened to students in 1970. Current enrollment is 1,120.

A year ago, former Hampshire president Jonathan Lash endorsed a plan to "Increase the size of the entering class to approximately 400 first-year students and approximately 65 transfer students."

But instead of enrollment going up, the college in 2018 saw 40 percent fewer incoming students than hoped for -- which, according to the school, created a $3.5 million deficit.

The New England Association of Schools and Colleges, which re-accredited the college in 2017, said in a report it was "unclear" whether Hampshire could fix the enrollment problem.

Contact Jim Russell at newstips123@gmail.com.BELCHERTOWN -- Selectmen unanimously said yes Monday to a request from Superintendent Karol Coffin to explore building a new school.

The board voted to approve a "letter of interest" that will go to Massachusetts School Building Authority -- the state agency that reimburses cities and towns more than half the costs to build a new school or renovate an existing one. The first step in the state's approval process is sending the letter of interest.

Should the School Building Authority agree to invite Belchertown into the program, the next step would be a feasibility study to determine the condition of the structure the town wants to replace.

During Monday's meeting, school district officials, in a slide presentation, told selectmen that the feasibility study should look at the two oldest buildings and make a determination whether it makes sense to mothball them and build one new building.

"There is a need to bring the oldest schools in the District closer to the 21st Century. Cold Spring School (for kindergarten and pre-K) was built in 1954 when Eisenhower was President and Elvis was king. Jabish Brook (Middle School) was built in 1964 when hair grew longer and bell-bottoms were the rage," one of the slides presented to selectmen said.

One of the slides said it is important to "recognize that spending more on building upkeep will impact spending on teaching and learning" and that a feasibility study would determine the cost difference between the price to fix the buildings and to build new.

During the presentation, school officials acknowledged that neither Jabish Brook nor Cold Spring has a sprinkler system.

Coffin said the district should know by December if the School Building Authority would invite Belchertown into the potential funding pool.There are currently 9,000 unfilled positions in major companies looking for cybersecurity experts - and Bay Path University's women graduates are uniquely well-qualified to help fill them, according to the university's associate provost.

"Bay Path may be the first school in the country - certainly it's the first women's college - to offer a master's (degree program) in cybersecurity management," says Tom Loper, associate provost and dean of the school of arts, sciences and management.

"The job market is enormous," adds Loper during an interview at Bay Path's flagship campus in Longmeadow. "The 9,000 job openings in the field don't even count the number of small businesses looking for help in protecting their networks from cyber attacks."

Since the master's program in cybersecurity was established eight years ago and with the addition of an undergraduate degree in the field a few years later, Bay Path's cyber sleuths have landed jobs at companies like Liberty Mutual, Baystate Health and Pratt & Whitney, Loper says.

Bay Path's pioneering efforts in the cybersecurity field recently helped the university land a $250,000 state grant that will offer its students on-the-job experience through a partnership with Hadley-based Paragus Strategic IT, a $7 million-a-year company that does security audits, among other services, for business clients.

A cybersecurity expert at Paragus will help supervise 30 students, mostly from Bay Path - and some from Springfield Technical Community College - as they conduct a series of security audits for 35 small business clients, new to Paragus, according to Loper. The 18-month project began in January.

"We'll select 45 companies, and each of them will get money from the state to pay for the audit using state-of-the-art software," Loper says.

Delcie Bean, chief executive officer of Paragus, says there are three key beneficiaries of the project, including Paragus, which has the potential to expand its business by working with 45 new business clients "to help them identify ways to use technology to strengthen their networks."

The other beneficiaries are the 45 companies which receive low-cost audits with the help of the state subsidy and the students who gain real-world experience, Bean says.

The partnership and real-world experience will give Bay Path students an even greater advantage in the exploding marketplace for cybersecurity services, according to Loper.



Bean agrees. "The project will help us refine and expand our business, and students will obtain hard-to-get, on-the-job experience and do really valuable work," he says, adding that it's "enormously helpful from a resume perspective."

Austin Hatch, the cybersecurity expert at Paragus who is the project's point-man, says the advantage of the program for students is that "we will be giving them something real - not a pretend assignment - using industry standards."

Bay Path's decision to invest in cybersecurity education has been a wise investment, not only for the school, but for the expanded workplace opportunities it provides women.

There are 40 students in the two-year master's degree program and another 32 students majoring in cybersecurity in the undergraduate program, according to Loper.

"That's a very healthy number for enrollment," he says. "And, there's potential for growth maybe to 100 a year in the next few years."

As a women's college, Bay Path is always looking for ways to help women gain a foothold in careers that are often dominated by men and its cybersecurity program is an example of that mission.

Kassandra Pepper, 29, of Agawam, who will graduate from Bay Path in the spring with an undergraduate degree in accounting and digital forensics, chose to study cybersecurity because she likes computers and recognizes that the discipline leads to jobs in up-and-coming fields.

Pepper, who took a computer class at another area school where she was one of the few women in the class, transferred to Bay Path when she realized it offered a cybersecurity major.

"I think it allows us to be a little more open in class and lead to different conversations," she says. "I think women are often more shy around male students."

Bay Path's undergraduate population is all women, and women comprise 80 percent of the students in its master's cybersecurity program.

The course work focuses on information assurance and digital forensics, Loper explains, using the analogy that information assurance is like the police and digital forensics is like the detectives. Information assessment software monitors systems and networks sets off alarms about threats like theft, terrorism. The alarm puts the cyber detectives to work to find out the cause of a breach.

The detective work requires holistic thinking, something Loper believes women are better at than men.

"This field offers women an opportunity to excel," he says.

Contrary to what people might think, Loper adds, there is no math component to the course of study. "All you need is to be computer literate," he says, adding that the qualities needed for success in the major are "tenacity, grit and perseverance."SOUTHWICK -- Voters will have the opportunity in March to decide whether to spend an additional $500,000 in Community Preservation Act funding on the purchase of land along North Pond for preservation.

The Community Preservation Committee previously awarded $1 million toward the project, which aims to preserve 146 acres along the North Pond shoreline.

The property is adjacent to the 267-acre Southwick Wildlife Management Area and an additional 251 acres of conserved grasslands in Connecticut, which makes this area one of the largest areas of permanently protected grasslands in New England, according to the Franklin Land Trust.

Franklin Land Trust Executive Director Richard K. Hubbard and Alain Peteroy, the trust's director of land conservation, met with the Southwick Select Board last month and said they are $1.5 million short of the $5 million purchase price to preserve the land.

The CPC Wednesday approved sending the request to a special town meeting vote. The was the second time the committee took up the request for funding. On Jan. 30, the CPC failed to approve the request for more funds.

"We are reconvening to reconsider," said CPC member Christopher Pratt.

Five members voted for approval. Committee member Karen DeMaio abstained from the vote Wednesday, asking why they were reconsidering. Pratt cited the outpouring from residents who asked that it be put to the voters.

CPC member David Gunn said he supported the funding two weeks ago and he still supported it.

"It meets the intent of this committee," he said of the North Pond preservation. "I don't live on the lake and I don't own a boat, but I want to preserve this for my children and grandchildren."

Pratt also spoke in favor of funding the request.

"I think this is why we agreed to join the CPA as a town -- to support projects like this. It's a great parcel and it's the only access the public would have to North Pond," Pratt said.

CPC member Susan Fox reminded the group that they already committed $1 million toward the project.

"The board is aware of how important this project is," she said. "We did already commit $1 million."

The Land Use Room at Town Hall was crowded Wednesday with supporters of the North Pond project. Following the vote, Michelle Pratt thanked everyone for allowing residents to vote on the request.

"Look at this," she said, motioning to the crowd, many of whom were standing around the perimeter of the room because the seats were filled, "this is our town. These are people who love this property."

Samuel Goodwin has lived in Southwick for 53 years and said as a kid, he often hiked through the North Pond area.

"I used to work in the tobacco fields there and in high school I explored there," he said. "I hope it passes -- look at the turnout tonight."

Select Board Chairman Joseph Deedy said the Board would vote on a Special Town Meeting date during its Feb. 19 meeting. He said he spent a lot of time crunching numbers in anticipation of a positive vote Wednesday.

"If this goes through there will be about $175,000 left," Deedy said of the town's CPA funds. "And we expect another $130,000 this spring in state contributions. So, we have enough to do this and the other projects they've committed to funding."

CPC members Robert Horacek and Joanne Horacek were absent Wednesday.SPRINGFIELD  The plaintiff in a federal police brutality lawsuit against the city that ended in a $250,000 jury award last month is now seeking over $200,000 in attorneys fees and trial-related costs.

Should Lee Hutchins Sr. prevail in the attorneys fee petition, filed on his behalf last Friday in U.S. District Court in Boston, the City of Springfield could be on the hook for more than $450,000.

Documents filed in support of the petition argue the city caused the overall costs to skyrocket by dragging the case out after the lawsuit  stemming from the police response to a domestic altercation involving Hutchins sons at his home in 2013  was filed in January 2016.

In short, the City never made any serious effort to resolve the ligation, wrote Northampton attorney Luke Ryan, one of three lawyers representing Hutchins. Instead, it chose to mount a Stalingrad defense, resisting (plaintiff) at every turn and forcing (him) to win (his) hard-earned victory from rock to rock and to tree from tree.

Springfield City Solicitor Edward M. PIkula said this week that the city will be filing for relief from the jury verdict, including a response to the petition for payment of legal fees.

"We are in the process of preparing our post-trial motions," Pikula said. "This will include a response to the fee petition. Our filings will also include arguments setting forth our grounds for seeking post-trial relief from the verdict."

Pikula did not provide specific details on the filing.

Hutchins sued the city of Springfield and police officers Daniel J. McKay, Felix Romero and Thomas Hervieux, alleging the three officers used excessive force against him when he was pepper sprayed and struck with a baton in his home on Jan. 20, 2013.

Following a seven-day trial last month, a jury found for the plaintiff on federal and state law claims. The jury, which said only Hervieux used excessive force, also found the city liable for Hutchins injuries.

According to the verdict slip returned Jan. 30 in U.S. District Court, the city "was deliberately indifferent to the civil rights of its citizens through a policy or custom of inadequately supervising or disciplining its police officers."

Failed negotiations

In court filings, Hutchins attorneys said a series of failed attempts to reach a settlement agreement forced the matter to trial and led to over 500 hours of work on the case.

Eleven months after the filing, both sides considering resolving the case through mediation, according to the documents.

On Dec. 9, 2016, Ryan emailed Assistant City Solicitor Lisa deSousa, proposing the parties agree to mediation with negotiations beginning at $95,000 for the plaintiff and $45,000 for the city.

Four days later, deSousa responded that the city could not agree to an opening position of more than $10,000.

Ryan responded about a week later, saying Hutchins was willing to engage in mediation if the defendants increased their opening position to $30,000.

At the end of the month, however, deSousa declined, stating that the parties were too far apart for the mediation to be beneficial.

On the eve of the trial this year, Ryan, citing the enormous amount of time and expense the plaintiff had incurred in preparing the case for trial, said settlement discussions would have to start in the six-figure range.

The city, through deSousa, countered the same day with an offer of $35,000  about one-seventh the sum eventually awarded by the jury.

Ryan, who declined to comment on the petition, tried the case along with attorneys David Hoose and Samantha LeBoeuf.

Some city councilors, after hearing about the $250,000 jury award nearly two weeks ago, said it reflected badly on the police department and was another example of the need for a civilian police commission to oversee disciplinary matters.

Councilors were reluctant to make additional comments this week regarding the news that Hutchins lawyers have petitioned for an additional $201,992.75.

The figure includes over $190,000 in attorneys fees and $8,000 in costs of litigation, including lodging in Boston for both Hutchins and his lawyers. It also includes a request for prejudgment with interest, which, if approved, would be added to the $250,000 judgement at the rate of 12% a year to the jurys verdict.

Council President Justin Hurst restated a comment two weeks ago regarding his disappointment, declining further comment because of the continuing court motions.

Unfortunately, this case is just the tip of the iceberg that last year cost taxpayers over a million dollars in settlements and if this case is any indication, citizens will be paying even more money this year, Hurst said.

The case originated in Springfield with U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni. He recused himself, however, because he was the Hampden District Attorney when the incident occurred, and his office prosecuted Hutchins.

The case then went to U.S. District Court Judge Michael Ponsor, who has since decided to take inactive status. Thats when it was assigned to U.S District Court in Boston.

Reporter Peter Goonan contributed to this story.PALMER  Kelsey Gaulin did not deny stabbing her father.

When police arrived at her home Monday night, she opened her bedroom door and walked into the hallway, according to the arrest report.

Can we just go to jail now? she asked.

Gaulin, 27, of Palmer, was arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a family member. On Tuesday, she pleaded not guilty in Palmer District Court and was held without right to bail for a dangerousness hearing Feb. 19.

Few details of the stabbing were made public during the arraignment Tuesday. But a summary of the case is provided in police reports and witness statements filed after Gaulins arrest.

Around 9 p.m. Monday, three Palmer police officers responding to a 911 call found Gaulins father, Jerry, standing in the walkway of his Old Warren Road home, bleeding form a wound to his chest, according to the arrest report. Gaulins brother, Evan, was outside too, applying pressure to his fathers chest to stop the bleeding. He told police his sister had just stabbed his father and then returned to her bedroom, the report said.

Blood was on the walkway, on the stairs and in the hallway leading to Kelseys Gaulins room, according to the report, which said she emerged from her bedroom moments later and admitted to accidentally stabbing her father after threatening him with a knife.

As much as I hate him, I would never stab him on purpose, she allegedly told police.

Following an argument around 8:30 p.m., Gaulin said she got a knife from her room and walked into her fathers bedroom, with the intention of scaring  not stabbing  him.

I was going to say something to him like be quiet, but before I could he threw himself into the knife, she wrote in her statement to police.

I was still holding it and I saw his eyes get real wide open. I kept saying Im sorry. I was holding a knife,' she said.

During an interview with police, she said her relationship with her father had been marked by two decades of mutual hostility, beginning when she grew up in Texas and continuing when she moved with her father, mother and two brothers to Palmer five years ago.

On Monday night, they began arguing in the kitchen about a Facebook post, then went to their bedrooms, Evan Gaulin told police. During the argument, the father accused his sister of making a critical reference to him in one of her posts, according to the brothers statement.

Later, he saw his sister walk into his fathers room, then heard a blood scream, the brother said.

Evan, she stabbed me. Call 911, the father allegedly said.

When police arrived, the father reported pain deep in his chest, and estimated the knife was four or five inches long. Police later found the knife on Kelsey Gaulins bedroom dresser, the report said.

The father was treated for a serious chest wound, but is expected to survive, officials said.

I know I went too far tonight, Kelsey Gaulin wrote. I know that even trying to scare him, I went too far.General Electric, which announced plans to relocate its global headquarters to Boston in 2016 amid fanfare and massive financial incentives, is now vastly scaling back those plans and reimbursing the state $87 million.

MassDevelopment, a quasi-public state economic development agency, approved plans on Thursday that will let GE sell the land in Bostons Seaport District where it had planned to build its headquarters.

GE will keep its global headquarters in Boston, housing 250 workers and its executive team in the former Necco properties, two brick buildings in the Seaport with 95,000 square feet of space that the company has been renovating. But the company is scrapping plans to build a 12-story corporate headquarters on an adjacent property, which would have included nearly 300,000 square feet of new office space.

GE had initially promised to bring 800 new workers to Boston.

Ann Klee, vice president for Boston development and operations for GE, said in a statement, We are looking forward to moving into our permanent headquarters space in the refurbished Necco brick buildings later this year. While changes in the Companys portfolio and operating model will lead to a smaller corporate headquarters, we are fully committed to Boston and proud to call it home.

The state has so far provided $87.3 million of an anticipated $120 million in incentives for infrastructure improvements to entice GE to come to Boston. GE will return that money from its profits on the sale of the property.

The scaling back comes as new management at GE has been trying to cut costs at the company.

The Boston Business Journal reported in September 2017 that General Electrics new CEO at the time, John Flannery, was considering downsizing the new Boston headquarters.

The company then replaced Flannery in October 2018.

GE has now told state officials that the companys original plan to build the 12-story office building no longer fits GEs needs, according to a memo that MassDevelopment President and CEO Lauren Liss and other top staff wrote to the MassDevelopment board.

GE will fulfill its promise to make $50 million in charitable contributions in Massachusetts.

The Baker-Polito Administration is proud that General Electric chose to relocate the companys World Headquarters to Massachusetts and looks forward to GEs ongoing contribution to the growing innovation economy, said Lizzy Guyton, a spokeswoman for Gov. Charlie Baker. The Administration together with MassDevelopment reached an agreement with GE for the company to fully reimburse the Commonwealth for the cost and expenses associated with the Necco Street project and the Administration looks forward to working with GE as the company grows its World Headquarters here in Boston.

This is a breaking news story that has been updated.By ROMOLA RIGALI



The renaissance of one of Springfield's grand old homes is now in the hands of Katherine Prewitt who brings her Southern drawl and commitment to re-energizing the handsome mansion on Maple Hill.

Prewitt, president of transmission for Eversource, became owner of the 19th-century home on Valentine's Day, sold to her by Thomas Valentine, of Springfield.

She has renamed the storied Victorian, Valentine Mansion.

Prewitt and Valentine were brought together by Shirley Simolari, a realtor with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties.

Prewitt was on the hunt for such a home, focusing her search on square footage, vintage, price and accessibility to her home office in Hartford. She found it via an internet search.

Its overall condition, 40-foot grand ballroom with its ornate hand-carved fireplace and view, sealed the deal.

"I was immediately drawn to the house," Prewitt said.

It perfectly suited her lifelong plan to own a bed and breakfast, she added.

"I've always wanted a bed and breakfast - I almost bought one in Arkansas - but initially, it'll be an Airbnb."

After seeing the home online, she called Simolari to relay her interest in the home.

Within days, Prewitt flew from Alabama to Springfield. That was on Dec. 23. Two days later, on Christmas, she made her offer and on New Year's Day, her offer was accepted by Valentine. Valentine's Day was chosen as the closing day.

Prewitt has large plans for the 30-room historic mansion -- it's on the National Register of Historic Places -- with its singular view of the city from its perch on the crest of Maple Hill Historic District.

The home, its size, grandeur and quality, is a paean to the standing of a city then bright with success and an even more promising future.

In response, Springfield's movers and shakers began establishing their domiciles on the street, with still-recognizable names as Southworth House, the George Merriam House on adjacent Crescent Hill, the Nathan Bill house and others built by titans of Springfield's industry. Each prominent family erected homes that were unique, grand, and in some cases, drawn by the same architect.

The home at 270 Maple was among them. The 19th-century shingle-style mansion became the home of Frederick Harris, president of Third National Bank.

Shortly after he wed Emily Osborne in 1879, the couple moved into their new house. The couple were prominent socially, leaders in the social set of the day.

They had two children and Emily went on to live in the home until 1940, some 60 years after she moved in. The Frederick Harris School in Springfield was named after her husband shortly after his unexpected death in 1926 according to a newspaper account.

When the home was first constructed, it was much smaller. Additions in 1886 were followed by the construction of the grand ballroom in 1900.

Particularly notable in the 11,102 square foot home is that grand ballroom graced on one end by an ornate floor-to-ceiling fireplace surrounded by hand-tooled wooden vines and leaves that cascade down each side of the structure.

According to Valentine, the room, fireplace and surround was created by Italian artisans who were brought in to complete the two-year task.

Immediately noticeable as guests enter is the foyer complete with Italian mosaic flooring. Ten unique fireplaces will be converted to gas, Prewitt said.

The clear view from three-quarters of the house is the result of the June 1, 2011 tornado, which struck the city and took with it a forest of mature trees.

There is some minor work to be done, Prewitt said, including refurbishing the original refrigerator which reclines in the home's basement. She also wants to rebuild a carriage house that once graced the property.

Former owner, Valentine is president of Maplegate Rehabilitation Center on Maple Street and Caserta Company, LLC.

Its passing to Prewitt provokes sadness and excitement .

"It's sad to see it go," Valentine said. "It's been in the Valentine family for over 35 years. But I'm happy to see such a beautiful lady take over and see her compassion for the home and the city for which she is a fantastic advocate."

"This house - it belongs to the city of Springfield," Prewitt added.

And in that spirit, she is thinking of myriad ways for people to experience the mansion, to help people understand the city's magnificent history evidenced in one grand structure after another lining Maple Street.

She envisions the home as a "classic and classy" venue re-enlivened by events including weddings, celebrations, writers' retreats and more. An open house is in the planning stages.

To learn more, visit valentinemansion.com.

Interested parties with questions and comments may send them to valentinemansion@outlook.com.SPRINGFIELD - It's a fund-raiser that starts with a lot of "cents."

Baystate Children's Hospital and 94.7 WMAS are looking for Change Heroes to help set the pace for fund-raising efforts for the hospital in advance of this year's 18th annual 94.7 WMAS Radiothon, which will be broadcast live for two days from Baystate Medical Center starting March 5 from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Change Heroes, whether individuals, a family, school, business or other group, are asked to collect pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters from family, friends and neighbors to help Baystate Children's.

Participants are eligible for prizes and coin boxes are given to participants to assemble for the donations.

Individual Change Heroes who raise $100 will have their name placed into a drawing to win a prize.

In addition, program sponsor Pioneer Valley Credit Union is again hosting the Change Hero School Challenge, where the top fund-raising school in Western Massachusetts will win $1,000 from PVCU and a special celebration with the 94.7 WMAS Kellogg Krew.

To qualify for a prize, individual and school Change Heroes must submit any collected funds to the Change Heroes Program, Baystate Health Foundation, 280 Chestnut Street, Springfield, MA, 01199, by March 29.

Last year's Change Hero school winner was M. Marcus Kiley Middle School for raising $3,815.

"Our community is so privileged to have Baystate Children's Hospital right in our backyard, where over 40,000 pediatric patients are cared for each year," said Craig Swimm, general manager, WMAS Radio, in a release, to supporters.

"Our own employees' families have benefitted from the expert care provided at Baystate Children's Hospital, and your support through the radiothon will help ensure that the thousands of children and their families treated there will receive the best pediatric care in Western Massachusetts.

WMAS has been a longtime supporter of Baystate Children's Hospital and Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.

The 94.7 WMAS Radiothon is said to have raised over $4 million since its inception with all the money collected through the Change Hero Program remaining at Baystate Children's.

The radiothon invites listeners to call in and pledge their support by making a one-time gift or by becoming a Miracle Maker for $20 a month.

Phone Bank sponsor for this year's Radiothon is Lia Auto Group. Miracle Maker Sponsor is Cartamundi.

More information on the radiothon or to register, go online or email cmn@baystatehealth.org, or call (413) 794-1486.

Baystate Children's Hospital is the only accredited full-service children's hospital in Western Massachusetts and provides primary and advanced medical care to babies, children, and adolescents and their families. The hospital is home to the region's only neonatal and pediatric intensive care units.SPRINGFIELD  The Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted unanimously on Thursday to support MGM Springfields application for a state historic preservation award, praising MGM for creating a unique design that helped save various historic buildings and architecture.

In the global gaming industry, we are confident that there is not a project that compares with the distinctiveness of this resort casino and goal to be a destination located in the heart of an urban community, the commission said in a support letter being submitted to the Massachusetts Historical Commission.

The $960 million MGM Springfield casino is being considered for the Historical Commissions annual preservation awards in the category of Adaptive Reuse projects.

Gaming Commission member Bruce Stebbins asked for the commission's support of the application at its regular meeting on Thursday in Boston.

He and other commissioners praised steps taken by MGM to preserve Springfields history, such as the expensive, complex project of relocating the 1887 French Congregational Church from one area of the casino footprint to another area on site.

In addition, working with the Springfield and state historical commissions, MGM Springfield "restored and renovated the 1895 State Armory head house that was badly damaged in the 2011 tornado, restored the facades of the 1912 Union Electric building and the 1846 Chandler Hotel," Stebbins said.

Furthermore, MGM took extensive steps to save facade pieces of the 1909 YWCA building, the stained glass dome from the Union Electric Building as well as showcase many other architectural elements throughout the gaming floor, conference space, hotel and restaurants, Stebbins said.

The various preservation steps outlined by Stebbins were included in the support letter to the state Historical Commission.

Gaming Commission member Enrique Zuniga said he is "very enthusiastic" to support MGM for the state preservation award, and believes it shows that the process worked. There was "a lot of back and forth" in discussions of what preservation could occur and not occur between MGM and historic preservation groups, he said.

Commission member Gayle Cameron agreed, saying there was "a tremendous effort to really listen to the community" and to have a design that assimilated into the neighborhood.

The commission, within its support letter, said it routinely acknowledged the incredible uniqueness of this facility  its open and accessible design as well as its many historic preservation projects and tributes to the citys rich and innovative history.

The state Historical Commission presents awards annually to projects or individuals in various categories that have displayed an outstanding commitment to historic preservation in Massachusetts.ADAMS  Big Y said Thursday it will sell its location in Adams, and that it is in the process of closing the supermarket.

The shutdown, expected in March, will result in about 90 layoffs.

The company said the 16,000-square-foot store isnt big enough to handle a modern supermarket and all the associated services and products. By contrast, Big Ys newly refurbished store in Longmeadow has about 23,000 square feet of selling space, and the company said in a press release that the average Big Y is 55,000 square feet.

Big Y said the Adams location has 40 percent fewer offerings available than an average Big Y. It does not have store-made pizza, fish & chips or sushi, and organic food offerings are extremely limited, the company said. That sometimes resulted in confusion when customers saw items in Big Y advertisements at other stores that werent available in Adams.

The small pharmacy at the Adams store has no space for private medication consultation with their registered pharmacist, and no room for immunizations such as flu and pneumonia vaccines, the release said.

Springfield-based Big Y told the news site iBerkshires.com that it has identified a potential buyer for the store at 1 Myrtle St., just off busy Park Street  Route 8  in the communitys downtown.

Big Y has stores in North Adams and in Pittsfield. Rival Price Chopper has a Market 32 store in Pittsfield, and there is a Walmart location with a supermarket on Route 8 between Adams and North Adams.

Big Y said it is trying to place some of the 90 Adams employees at neighboring Big Y locations if possible. All employees affected will receive a benefit package related to tenure and position which will include Big Ys employee assistance program. Big Y said it has partnered with Mass Hire Berkshire Career Center of Pittsfield to help employees with job searches and other outplacement services.

The store had been a Big Y for 35 years.

Big Y is one of the largest independently owned supermarket chains in New England. The company operates 81 locations throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut with more than 11,000 employees.Those mourning the closure of one of Bostons oldest restaurants can own a bit of its history.

Durgin-Park, opened in Faneuil Hall nearly two centuries ago, closed early this year. The restaurant was known for its traditional New England fare.

It closed following a steady decline in revenue and rising operational costs.

We see it as, for us, a no-win situation, Ark Restaurants Chief Executive Officer Michael Weinstein told MassLive. No one wants to see this thing close...but Im not put on earth to subsidize a restaurant thats not working, and dont believe could work, under our own ownership.

After news broke of the restaurants pending closure, customers flooded Durgin-Park. The restaurant ran out of food multiple days in early January.

Theyve come out of the woodwork, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people, Head waitress Gina Schertzer said at a back corner table at Durgin-Park, where she has worked for 43 years. This is the grand dame of Boston. It is, in my opinion. I love it and Ill fight til the end, and I dont care whos upset with me. It doesnt matter. Im a 76-year-old Sicilian woman.

Customers brought tools, hoping to take a souvenir from restaurants walls with them. Now, such items will be available for purchase.

More than 200 items are up for auction online. Items available for purchase include a sign encouraging customers to try the kitchens coffee jello, vintage photographs of the restaurant and its founders and a Durgin-Park banner advertising Yankee cooking.

The full list can be viewed online. The auction house will host a preview of the items from 9 to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Faneuil Hall restaurant, 340 North Market St.As we all saw so vividly last Fall in Washington DC, judges are increasingly being dragged into the political arena. I am horrified by this. Our courts cannot become just another extension of politics as usual, particularly when its the search-and-destroy politics of todays America. People have to be assured that the person sitting there in judgment of them is fair and impartial. Turning the process into a circus will ultimately end in no one trusting our courts, which is the situation in many third-world countries.

The campaign against me has now reached the point where I believe my selection as a judge could become a partisan political issue in Richmond, which would not be a good thing for our system of justice. Heaven knows our poor Commonwealth has enough on its plate politically at the moment.

Further, personally  I have no desire to continue to subject either me or my family to these attacks.

Therefore this (Thursday) morning I notified our legislative delegation that I was withdrawing my name from consideration for this judgeship.

To Senator Stanley and Delegates Adams, Poindexter and Marshallthank you for your confidence in me and for your service as outstanding citizen legislators and leaders for our region. You have a profoundly unpleasant job.For example, she said, when her son was young and in the hospital a number of times, Munley drove to the hospital in Winston-Salem, N.C., to visit him.

He did a lot of good things for the people, she said.

No details about claims against Munley were released by the diocese, or and no published documents were discovered immediately. Downey didn't offer any insights about claims against him.

Bishop Barry C. Knestout, head of the Richmond Diocese, announced in September that the diocese would have an independent entity audit clergy files performed and publicize the names of priests who have "received credible and substantiated allegations of abuse."

Knestout's announcement came in the wake of a Pennsylvania grand jury report that documented widespread abuse in the church there.

To the victims and to all affected by the pain of sexual abuse, our response will always be about what we are doing, not simply what we have done. We will seek not just to be healed but will always be seeking healing. We will seek not just to be reconciled but will always be seeking reconciliation, said the Rev. Barry C. Knestout, Bishop of Richmond, in an open letter published alongside the list.

The diocese said it would not allow photos or interviews inside parishes or schools to "allow our communities to respectfully pray together and privately during this time."

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article listed Munley as the only former pastor of St. Joseph. Paul Collins of the Bulletin staff and the Richmond Times-Dispatch contributed to this report.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, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: February 14 2019

Paul F. Rizzo Jr. of Centereach, age 57, fired one round from a handgun, striking the front passenger side of the other vehicle involved, officials say.

NYS Police arrested Paul F. Rizzo Jr. of Centereach, age 57, for allegedly shooting a handgun at another vehicle.

Islip Terrace, NY - February 14, 2019 - On February 12, 2019, the New York State Police arrested Paul F. Rizzo Jr., age 57, of On February 12, 2019, the New York State Police arrested Paul F. Rizzo Jr., age 57, of Centereach , for Criminal Possession of a Weapon 2nd degree, Reckless Endangerment 1st degree, Criminal Mischief 2nd degree, Menacing 2nd degree, Reckless Endangerment of property and Unlawful possession of marihuana.

An investigation revealed that at approximately 5:20AM, Rizzo was involved in a road rage incident that originated at a Gulf gas station on Sunrise Hwy in Islip Terrace , when the other party involved exited the gas station in the path of Rizzo.

The incident continued onto the Southern State Parkway westbound, both vehicles swerving at each other until exit 43, where Rizzo grabbed his loaded handgun and fired one round from the drivers window striking the front passenger side of the other vehicle.



Photos of the vehicle struck by the alleged gunshot. Photo Credit: New York State Police



The other driver contacted 911 and followed Rizzo until members of the State Police pulled over both on the Long Island Expressway at Commack Road, and Rizzo was taken into custody.

The other driver was not charged.

Rizzo is being held for arraignment at Suffolk County First District Court.Local News, Crime, Press Releases, Politics

By Long Island News & PR Published: February 14 2019

Legislation Ensures Child Abusers Are Held Accountable Criminally and Civilly.

New York, NY - February 14, 2019 - Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today signed the Child Victims Act, a key component of his 2019 Justice Agenda, within the first 100 days of the new legislative session. The legislation ensures those who abuse children are held accountable criminally and civilly and that survivors of childhood sexual abuse have a path to justice. Governor Cuomo advocated for passage of the Child Victims Act last legislative session but Senate Republicans refused to bring it to the floor for a vote.

"We are here today because survivors who endured unimaginable pain came forward with great courage and sacrificed their own privacy to make change for others," Governor Cuomo said. "This bill brings justice to people who were abused, and rights the wrongs that went unacknowledged and unpunished for too long. By signing this bill, we are saying nobody is above the law, that the cloak of authority is not impenetrable, and that if you violate the law, we will find out and you will be punished and justice will be done."

"After years of unnecessary delay, the Child Victims Act is finally a reality and justice is coming for countless New Yorkers," said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. "Survivors who fought so long and hard deserve our love and admiration. With this new law, we are empowering those who have suffered unspeakable abuse and holding sexual predators accountable."

This bill will provide necessary relief to child victims of sexual abuse by amending New York's antiquated laws to ensure that perpetrators are held accountable for their actions, regardless of when the crime occurred. Under current law, child sexual abuse offenses cannot be prosecuted after five years from their occurrence and civil lawsuits for this conduct must be brought within three years from the victim's 18th birthday.

This legislation:

Increases the amount of time during which perpetrators of these crimes may be held criminally accountable;

Allows victims of these crimes to commence a civil lawsuit at any time before they reach 55 years of age;

Provides victims whose claims have been time-barred a new opportunity for their day in court by opening a one-year window for them to commence their action;

Eliminates the need to file a notice of claim for sexual offenses committed against a minor;

Requires judicial training with respect to crimes involving the sexual abuse of minors;

Authorizes the Office of Court Administration to promulgate rules and regulations for the timely adjudication of revived actions.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said, "When we took up this fight for the Child Victims Act, none of us thought it was going to be this tough or take this long. Government has a responsibility to stand up for the survivors of these heinous crimes. That is why the Senate Democratic Majority has been fighting alongside survivors and advocates for years to pass the Child Victims Acts and remove the barriers that have been protecting predators. I've been proud to work with Senator Brad Hoylman, Speaker Heastie and Governor Cuomo to ensure that justice is finally being delivered."

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said, "For years, the Assembly Majority has fought to give survivors of childhood sexual abuse their day in court. These brave individuals have waited long enough. Today, they are one step closer to justice. I want to thank the bill sponsor, Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal for her tireless advocacy and commitment to survivors. I would also like to thank my Assembly Majority colleagues and the efforts Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart- Cousins and her colleagues for helping to finally make this legislation the law of the land."

Senator Brad Hoylman said, "For years, survivors of child sexual abuse looked to Albany for justice and for years, their pleas went unanswered. No longer. With the Child Victims Act now signed into law by Governor Cuomo, survivors of child sexual abuse in New York State finally have the opportunity to seek justice against their abusers and the institutions who may have harbored them. I'm so proud to be in this fight alongside Governor Cuomo, who took the courageous and historic step in supporting this bill, Senate Leader and Prime Co-Sponsor Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who personally broke the decade-long logjam and moved this bill to the floor, along with the entire Senate Democratic Conference and Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal. Mostly, however, the survivors of child sexual abuse deserve credit for baring their souls and sharing their personal stories. In the process, the survivors won the hearts and minds of the members of the State Legislature and thanks to them, New York is a safer place for our children."Local News, Crime, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: February 14 2019

SCPD: Darrell Morgan, 59, was also allegedly driving with a fake New Jersey license plate.

North Babylon, NY - February 14, 2019 - Suffolk County Police arrested a man for driving with 53 license suspensions in Suffolk County Police arrested a man for driving with 53 license suspensions in North Babylon on Wednesday, February 13,.

Darrell Morgan was driving a 2000 Mercedes SUV on the Sunrise Highway North Service Road, near Hubbard Path, at approximately 3:30 p.m. when police initiated a traffic stop. During the investigation, it was determined Morgan was driving with a fake New Jersey license plate. Officers determined his New York drivers license had been suspended 53 times.

Morgan, 59, of Bay Shore , was charged with Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle 1st Degree, a Class E Felony. The Mercedes has been impounded. Morgan was released on an appearance ticket for a future court date at the Suffolk County First District Court in Central IslipSupermac's boss Pat McDonagh has pledged to add a 100 bedroom hotel to his proposed Obama style plaza in Longford town after planning approval for its development was given the green light.

The Leader broke details surrounding Longford County Council's decision to rubber-stamp designs to erect a large scale service station at Lisnamuck, off the main Ballinalee Road earlier today.

ALSO READ: BREAKING: Major Longford jobs boost on cards as Supermac's given go-ahead for Obama-style plaza

Mr McDonagh, himself, said he was oblivious to the news when contacted early this morning, preferring instead to refrain from commenting until he had received official notification over the news.

The Galwegian later made contact with the Leader to express his delight over the decision before going on to outline his future intentions to develop a four star hotel as part of the project's second phase.

"I have to say I am delighted with the news," he said.

"It's a positive step forward and will allow us to develop the site further down the road for a hotel."

Mr McDonagh, who only last week, announced plans to create 200 additional jobs at three additional Supermacs outlets, said any plans for a new hotel would come with all the trappings associated with a four star development of its type including leisure centre and conference facilities.

He also reaffirmed the new plaza would create 80 full time jobs when fully operational with anything up to 120 construction jobs at peak development stage.

"This is a first step," he said, in reference to planning approval being sanctioned.

"We have a plan in mind for the whole site. What it shows is the potential that Longford and other county towns around the country clearly have.

"Dublin has become over-saturated which means rural towns have the chance to benefit and with the likes of Center Parcs opening soon, it's time now for Longford to take centre stage."A Dublin woman who allegedly assaulted three members of gardai during an altercation at Longford Garda Station last week has been remanded in custody by Judge Seamus Hughes.

Ciara ORiordan, 5 Kingston Hall, Harolds Grange Road, Sandyford, Dublin 18 was brought before a sitting of Longford District Court last Tuesday following an incident which occurred less than 24 hours previously.

The 42-year-old was subsequently arrested and charged after gardai were called to deal with a disturbance at Longford Train Station, Convent Road, Longford.

That culminated in Ms Riordan being arrested and later charged with being intoxicated in a public place contrary to Section 4 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 and of engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour under Section 6 of the same Act.

She was further charged with failing to comply with the directions of a garda under Section 8 of the Public Order Act.

Its alleged that on the same date Ms ORiordan assaulted Sgt Derek Duggan and gardai Jamie Rosney and John Fitzmaurice under Section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997.

Garda Rosney gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution, adding the accused made no reply when the charges were put to her.

Judge Hughes was also told the three alleged assault charges would likely result in a file being sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Ms ORiordan, who sat throughout proceedings, shouted over to the bench when details of her arrest were read out.

I was called a prostitute, a whore and a slut, she remonstrated.

I have bruises all over me and I can barely walk.

At that stage, Judge Hughes was informed gardai would be looking to remand Ms ORiordan in custody for a week as the matter was put back for second calling.

When it returned before the judge just before lunchtime, Ms ORiordan was denied bail and remanded in custody.

The case was due to return before Longford District Court on Tuesday.Nationwide competition aimed to excite and inspire Irelands future female engineers

Call to action comes in advance of Engineers Week, taking place 2  8 March

Winners to be crowned Irelands Top Guide and Brownie Engineers

Thursday, 14 February 2019: Engineers Ireland is calling on Girl Guide and Brownie Units in Longford to take the Engineers Week Challenge to become Irelands Top Guide and Brownie Engineers.

During Engineers Week, taking place from 2  8 March 2019, Guides and Brownies are encouraged to work towards gaining the Guide Engineering Badge or Brownie Engineering Badge with their unit and devise an innovative project that could be commercially produced. Each entry submitted before the 15 March deadline will be judged by the Engineers Ireland STEPS Dragons, with the winners crowned Irelands Top Guide Engineers or Irelands Top Brownie Engineers.

Director General of Engineers Ireland, Caroline Spillane, said: The Guide Engineering Badge and Brownie Engineering Badge helps to engage young girls to work through a variety of fun engineering challenges based on creative thinking, curiosity and team-work. We hope as many units in Longford will engage in this Engineers Week Challenge and we look forward to crowning Irelands Top Guide and Brownie Engineers.

Chief Commissioner of the Irish Girl Guides, Helen Concannon, said: As one of the largest girl-only organisations in Ireland, we are delighted to provide more opportunities for our girls to develop their skills in STEM and engage with engineering activities. Irelands Top Guide and Brownie Engineers competition will encourage our Units to experience the engineering design process from start to finish. The key thing is not the competition, but the taking part and the girls creating projects and believing in themselves.

Now its 13th year, Engineers Week is a campaign held annually to promote engineering as a career and the importance of the profession to Ireland. The week-long campaign is coordinated on a national basis by Engineers Ireland's STEPS programme - funded under Science Foundation Irelands Discover Programme and supported by industry leaders, Intel, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, Arup and ESB.

As well as the Irish Girl Guides and Brownies Engineers Week Challenge, engineering organisations, third-level institutions, the public sector and teachers are also encouraged to run their own classroom-based activities, quizzes and competitions.

To register your unit for Irelands Top Guide and Brownie Engineer competition, download free resources and find out more about events taking place around the country, visit: www.engineersweek.ieThe new Regional Enterprise Plan for the Midlands will drive job creation and support enterprise growth in Longford, according to Fine Gael Cllr Micheal Carrigy

The new plan is the first of nine Regional Enterprise Plans to be launched by the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys to drive and continue enterprise growth in regions across the country.

Cllr Micheal Carrigy said: Strengthening our regional enterprises is particularly important in the context of Brexit.

The new two year focussed plans complement and add value to the ongoing work of the Enterprise Agencies, LEOs, Regional Skills Fora, and other bodies involved in supporting enterprise development in the regional setting.

The development of the Plans was overseen by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, working with regional stakeholders. My Fine Gael colleague, Minister Humphreys will launch the remaining eight regional plans over the coming weeks. What benefits other areas of the country will also benefit us in Longford, Cllr Micheal Carrigy said.

Crucially, they are live documents, which means new initiatives can be taken on board during their operation by the regional stakeholders working together. As a result, the plans will have flexibility and responsiveness at their core and can best meet the needs in Longford. The plans are tailored for each individual region.

In addition, we need to ensure that the jobs being created are quality jobs and sustainable in the longer-term, in line with our new, whole-of Government plan, Future Jobs, which will be launched at the end of February, Cllr Micheal Carrigy said.

In 2018, the Midlands had 42 IDA supported companies employing 5,720 people. This is an increase of 14% from 2017. The Midlands was the highest performing region in terms of FDI employment growth in 2018.

Recent IDA Ireland announcements in the Midlands include: Leetha Industries/Red Seal Cups  100 jobs in Longford; Avery Dennison  200 jobs in Longford; Neueda Technologies  200 jobs in Westmeath and Skout Secure Intelligence  30 jobs in Portlaoise.

In 2018, 12,349 people were employed in 247 Enterprise Ireland supported companies in the Midlands, up 4% from 2017.

There are new challenges emerging for enterprises here in Longford in the external environment, and here in the Midlands, the regional economy will undergo some adjustment as it makes the transition to a low carbon reality.

Through this Regional Enterprise Plan, the Midlands can adopt a leadership position through driving initiatives from the ground up, the Fine Gael Cllr Micheal Carrigy said.

Minister Humphreys said: I am pleased to note that jobs growth has been strong in all regions, including the Midlands. There are 19,100 more people at work in the Midlands today than at the beginning of 2015, when the Government first launched regional jobs plans, and the unemployment rate has reduced from almost 15 percent down to just over 7 percent.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Connor Hoffman/StaffDozens of residents attended Wednesday's presentation on the proposed Bear Ridge Solar Project. Cypress Creek Renewables, the company behind the proposal, would like to use roughly 900 acres of private land in southern Cambria and a portion of northern Pendleton as a site for solar panels.WARSAW  The Trump administration lashed out at some of Americas closest traditional allies Thursday, accusing Britain, France and Germany of trying to bust U.S. sanctions against Iran and calling on European nations to join the United States in withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear deal.

In an unusually blunt speech to a Middle East conference in Poland, Vice President Mike Pence slammed the three countries and the European Union as a whole for remaining parties to the landmark 2015 agreement after President Trump withdrew from it last year and reimposed tough sanctions on Iran.

The harsh criticism threatened to further chill U.S.-European ties that are already badly strained on many issues, including trade and defense spending. And it underscored the stark two-year trans-Atlantic divide over Iran that manifested itself again ahead of the Warsaw conference co-hosted by the U.S. and Poland.

France and Germany declined to send their top diplomats to the ministerial-level meeting. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also stayed away due to concerns it would become an anti-Iran vehicle. Britain, France and Germany, along with the rest of the EU, continue to support the nuclear deal as the best way to prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Polish counterpart Jacek Czaputowicz both noted differences of opinion over policies toward Iran. But, they said all participants agreed on the threat posed by the country.

There was not a defender of Iran in the room, Pompeo said, adding that the U.S. and Europe were still capable of working together on the issue.

Czaputowicz said the U.S. and Europe share the same diagnosis of the situation, which is the negative role played by Iran. But he also noted that the U.S. and Europe differ on how to approach the matter.

In his earlier speech, Pence showed just how sharp that difference is.

He was harshly critical of Britain, France and Germany for unveiling a new financial mechanism last month that U.S. officials believe is intended to keep the nuclear deal alive by evading American sanctions. Pence praised other nations for complying with U.S. sanctions by reducing Iranian oil imports, but he said the Europeans fell short.

Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative, Pence said.

Matthew Lee is an Associated Press writer.Texan Mauricio Vidaurri fears he will soon lose his fatheragain.

The elder Vidaurri, a World War II veteran, is buried in a 200-year-old cemetery on his 1,300-acre La Laja Ranch, which was passed down to Mauricio and his seven siblings. The Zapata County property has been in their family since the late 18th century. It was issued through a Spanish land grant before the United States of America declared its independence.

But now the younger Vidaurri worries that a portion of the property, which lies along what is now the U.S.-Mexico border, will be seized by the federal government to make way for the wall championed by President Donald Trump. And he will be forced to surrender the graves of generations of his forebears.

RELATED: As border wall construction moves ahead in Texas, judge rules feds can survey church's land

Texas is about to become the front line of the real battle for Trump's border wallone that could pit the U.S. government against an estimated 5,000 landowners who have no intention of giving up their family legacies or hard-earned homes. It's a conflict that could drag on for years and cost taxpayers far more than the nearly $1.4 billion congressional leaders have allotted for fencing along the border in their latest proposal. (Trump has estimated the price tag for a full wall could be as little as $15 billion, but his adversaries have pegged it at as much as $70 billion.)

Trump hasn't signaled whether he'll sign the latest bill, which funds only 55 miles of fencing along the border in the valley. He had wanted 215 miles.

Currently, only about a third of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico boundary is fenced or walled, or has barriers in place. It's typically in the most populated areas in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Much of that land is government-owned, so there was no need to invoke eminent domain to seize it.

The barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border

Tony Frenzel

But in Texas, where most of the border property is privately owned, the Rio Grande has served as a natural border and deterrent. The last big round of border fencing, part of President George W. Bush's Secure Fence Act of 2006, triggered hundreds of lawsuits in Texas, dozens of which are still in the courts.

READ ALSO: The salary you need to earn to buy a home right now in San Antonio

"If this goes forward, this will be one of the largest exercises in eminent domain in the modern history of the federal government," says Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, a think tank. "Realistically, hundreds, even thousands of people will lose their property. There will be legal battles over the legal compensation."

The court challenges are likely to multiply even further if the president bypasses Congress and declares a national emergency to get the wall built. A particularly contentious battlefield could be the 62 miles of a Native American reservation along the Arizona border. It's not clear if the president could seize that property without congressional approval. And it's unlikely that a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives would approve the emergency taking of that land.

Of course, not all lawmakers believe the wall is necessary. The only Republican member of Congress along the border, Rep. Will Hurd, called the proposed barriers a third-century solution to a 21st-century problem. All nine members of Congress serving the districts along the border oppose its construction.

Mauricio Vidaurri fears the federal government will seize his family land along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Photo provided by Mauricio Vidaurri

Residents such as Vidaurri aren't interested in political squabbling. For them, the barrier is personal.

"Well lose our history that goes back almost 300 years. ... That's painful," says Vidaurri, 60. He lives in Laredo, TX, about 22 miles from the family land. But he visits his 140 acres of the ranch at least twice a week to check on the graves of four generations of his family. The land is currently used for hay production, hunting, and natural gas drilling.

This doesn't mean that Vidaurri and his family would lose all of their property on the Mexican side of the wall. They would cede the land under and around the wallwhich in Vidaurri's case would likely include the family cemetery. Under the Secure Fence Act, gates were erected that landowners whose property straddled the border could open with a code. But many property owners don't feel safe having such gates.

"You're putting a big ol' bull's-eye on my back," Vidaurri says. "Guess who wants that code? The cartel, the drug smugglers, and the human smugglers."

Legal challenges could drag on for decades and jack up costs

Landowners aren't likely to win a David-and-Goliath-style battle with the federal government. But they may be able to successfully challenge the amount of real estate they ultimately cede, says Jim Burling, an eminent domain attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation in Sacramento.

They can also push back against very low offersin effect, driving up the price tag for the wall.

"Local, state, and federal agencies are notorious for trying to pay as little as possible for properties they take," says Burling.

About a decade ago, the government took less than 10 acres of Tudor Uhlhorn's property along the border to put up fencing. But it lowballed him, so he went to an attorney and received a larger settlement.

That's typical. Of the 334 eminent domain lawsuits filed in the southern part of Texas during the George W. Bush years, about 70 cases are still in court, according to the Washington Post. Most of those lawsuits revolve around money. And property owners with attorneys received about triple what they were initially offered, according to ProPublica and Texas Tribune.

"Everybody needs to have an attorney that knows what hes doing," says Uhlhorn, the commissioner of the city of Harlingen, TX.

The Tohono O'odham Nation, which has 62 miles along the border on their Native American reservation in Southern Arizona, already has its attorneys in place.

"The land on the U.S.-Mexico border is precious, sacred land. This land is not for sale," says Verlon Jose, vice chairman of the Tohono O'odham Nation.

The tribe has about 34,000 members, although only 9,000 to 10,000 of them live on the reservation. The pain of losing the property, Jose says, would be akin to "taking a knife and cutting it across your heart."

But even as the question of funding remains unresolved, the government is gearing up to take private property from scores of homeowners.

The federal government is planning to survey Nayda Alvarezs land, a preliminary step before seizing it.

Krystal Anne Gonzalez

High school speech teacher Nayda Alvarez, 47, received a letter from U.S. Customs and Border Protection in January stating the agency will be filing an action in federal court that will allow it to access her property on the outskirts of Rio Grande City, TX, for 12 months to conduct "necessary" surveys. It's one of the first steps toward an eminent domain seizure.

"Border security tactical infrastructure, such as border walls, lighting, and roads, are critical elements to gain effective control of our Nation's borders," reads the letter dated Jan. 9. "The purpose of border security infrastructure is to deter illicit cross-border activity such as drug smuggling, border violence and illegal immigration."

The agency did not respond to a request for comment.

These are very real issues along the boundary of the two countries. About a year ago, drug smugglers abandoned a car on Alvarez's property as they were pursued by border control. (They didn't cross into the U.S. through her property.) The vehicle was removed before she came home from work.

But Alvarez still feels safe in her four-bedroom, two-bathroom home, where she had planned to retire. She scrimped and saved to build it 12 years ago, and now is afraid the government will take it away.

"I'm very upset. I've worked my [butt off] to pay for it," says Alvarez, who shares the home with her 22-year-old daughter. "And now I'm going to start at zero."

Last year, the Army Corps of Engineers attempted to lease part of her grandfather's property, next door, for four years for a grand total of $750. She refused.

"I'm a born U.S. citizen, and I dont feel like its right for someone to take away what is mine," says Alvarez.

Will a wall saveor sinkstruggling border towns?

With the exception of San Diego, about 30 miles north of Mexico, border towns tend to be sparsely populated and lack good jobs.

The border cities of McAllen and Brownsville in Texas, about an hour apart, are two of the poorest cities in the nation. Both already have some fencing along the U.S.-Mexico line.

In the 80 U.S-Mexico border ZIP codes, median home prices are about a third lower than the rest of the nation, at just $195,282 as of December 2018, according to a realtor.com analysis. And annually, homes aren't appreciating nearly as much as those in the rest of the country2.3% compared with 7.1% nationally.

"In Texas alone, you've got cities on the border where you have high levels of unemployment and povertyand real estate values reflect that," says Terence Garrett, a public affairs and security studies professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Brownsville. "[We're] so far away from the state capitals and Washington, DC, [we] become an afterthought, an area that is not well-understood."

But the wall could also have benefits for some in these struggling communities and real estate markets. It would make some folks feel safer as they wouldn't have to deal with the repercussions of immigrants crossing through their properties illegally. (Opponents say immigrants without documents will still find ways to enter the United States.)

Once those problems are pushed out of those areas, it raises the property values, says Tom Fullerton, an economics professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, who specializes in border economies.

"It's going to be viewed as a safety [protection]," adds Sue Ann Taubert, a Texas real estate broker and president of the Harlingen Board of Realtors.

While a wall may not be a scenic sight, it's not likely to affect too many folks on a day-to-day basis. The areas where it would be built tend to be fairly rural.

And in the short term, construction of the wall could create an employment boom for nearby towns and cities. Although most new workers would likely be temporary, they would still be spending money locally, including on housing.

Intertwined economies are difficult to unwind

But the economic picture is complicated on the border. Communities often have large sister cities on the Mexican side, and locals go back and forth between them frequently. Those economies tend to be closely intertwined.

Mexican customers "are extremely important to support businesses on the American side," says Garrett. "This is the fear about amping [up] border security: It drives customers away."

It could also affect U.S. businesses that have workers, plants, and warehouses in Mexico as well as the Rio Grande Valley's emerging eco-tourism sector. A wall would cut through the National Butterfly Center in Mission, TX, and the 2,088-acre Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in Alamo, TX. Congress previously spared the refuge, a popular destination for bird-watching, from division by a barrier.

The National Butterfly Center is expected to be plowed over to clear the way for President Donald Trump's border wall after the U.S. Supreme Court rebuffed a challenge by environmental groups.

SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP/Getty Images

Already talk of the wall, and the weaker peso, has deterred Mexican nationals buying homes in the Rio Grande Valley, says McAllen, TXbased real estate broker Rene Galvan, of RGV Realty. Many are selling the vacation homes they already own on the American sidefor a loss.

"All of these things are mounting up," Galvan says. "It's like pulling the welcome mat off the front door."

The post The Real Border Wall Battle: It's Texas Homeowners Who May Pay the Price appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.President Donald Trump was signaling Thursday that he intends to sign a spending deal that wont give him all the money he wants for his border wall. But he also says he will declare a national emergency to circumvent Congress and fund the wall.

For why signing the spending bills is the right thing to do and declaring a national emergency isnt, we need not look further than his visit to the border Monday night to press for that funding. It was premised on a lie  that El Paso, one of the most dangerous cities, was transformed into one of the safest by barriers built there.

In fact, the West Texas border city has had a crime rate, on average, lower than 20 cities of similar size and, in 2008  before the barriers were erected  El Paso had the second lowest violent crime rate. The president was told this repeatedly  at least since he told the same falsehood during his State of the Union address on Feb. 5.

So, why adhere to a nonfact? To continue whipping up a base that, against logic, wants that wall and to pressure congressional negotiators to come up with the $5.7 billion he wanted for it. Fortunately, just before his El Paso speech  matched by another in the same town by Beto ORourke  those negotiators had narrowed on a deal. It will contain some $1.375 billion for new fencing  not a wall  in spending measures. The legislation must be signed by the president by today if another shutdown is to be averted. As of this writing, he hadnt done that. The last shutdown, driven by the presidents insistence on that $5.7 billion for a wall, was a cruel debacle for federal workers and for the nation.

Why is this deal far from ideal? Well, first, the way budgeting is supposed to work is that the appropriate committees mull spending requests and approve spending bills for the various departments for the fiscal year. These become separate bills, each voted on in turn by Congress and signed by the president.

But thats not how it happens any more. More likely, we have a temporary spending bill or bills because the two parties cannot agree on key issues that someone wants to attach to the bill.

Democrats also wanted to limit detention beds in a bid to force immigration authorities to focus on removing mostly immigrants who have committed serious crimes from the country. Democrats agreed to a higher level than Homeland Security was budgeted last year, but lower than the one the department has been actually using. Both sides are claiming victory on this one.

This is called compromise  fencing, increased Homeland Security funding and Democrats getting access to detention facilities for children but failing to get an extension of the Violence Against Women Act. It will apparently become stand-alone legislation.

More fencing is not necessarily ideal unless it goes where experts, the environment and the terrain say it should go, but it beats a shutdown or a wall. And more fencing allows the president to quit insisting on building a wall and switch to a rally slogan of Finish the wall, though no barriers that match the presidents previous prototypes have been built. Whatever. No government shutdown if the bill is signed.

But if you squint hard, what we actually have here is a glimmer of hope. Republicans, this time, refused to give the president everything he wanted and pushed back to avoid a shutdown. And Democrats relented on other issues.

Mr. President, we now have divided government. Declaring an emergency that does not exist will not change that fact. It will exacerbate the divisions and set a disturbing precedent. Such a move will assuredly be stuck in the courts proably until after 2020. This is folly.For the size of the city, San Antonio traffic isn't half bad.

The Alamo City, though seventh largest in the nation by population, ranks 34th in the nation by traffic impact, according to a new study by transportation data company INRIX.

Residents of Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas and El Paso, each of which have smaller populations than San Antonio, all spend, on average, more time and money each year battling traffic, the study said.

That's not to say San Antonians aren't justified in griping about area traffic. On average, San Antonians spent 60 hours sitting in traffic in 2018  the equivalent of two-and-a-half straight days, or a week and a half of vacation time for 40-hour-a-week employees.

RELATED: How fast do you need to go to get a speeding ticket in San Antonio?

That roughly equated to about $830 wasted on congestion during the year. For that same amount of money, San Antonians could have purchased two nights at the historic Hotel Emma, season tickets to the Spurs or at least 800 breakfast tacos.

During the worst portion of morning and afternoon rush hours, peak speed in San Antonio was about 34 mph, the report said. The "free flow," or the best performance over 24 hours, was 54 mph, and during the "off peak," the low point between the peak commuting periods, the average speed was 48 mph.

Texas as a whole fared decently well in the study. No cities from the Lone Star State were among the 10 worst cities nationally for traffic impacts, and worldwide, Texas' highest ranking was Houston, at 77.

Boston took the top spot, according to the report, followed by Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles.

Click through the slideshow to see how some of Texas' biggest cities fared.

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In the first month of the new year, more than 40 people were arrested in Bexar County on felony drunken driving charges, according to court records obtained by mySA.com.

The records showed that 43 people were arrested on various charges in January.

FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox

The monthly tally is lower than it was in December 2018, when 62 people were arrested on felony DWI charges.

Two of the defendants, Omar Ivan Vasquez-Cardenas and Osis Rodriguez, were charged with intoxication manslaughter in January.

Vasquez-Cardenas is accused of killing a passenger in his car on Jan. 1 on Loop 410 near Marbach Road.

Rodriguez is accused of running over a pedestrian in the 6900 block of Callaghan Road.

READ MORE: 1 of 2 pedestrians allegedly killed by drivers who then fled ID'd

Here are the number of charges broken down by charge for December:

Intoxication assault (third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison): 1

Intoxication manslaughter (second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison): 2

Driving while intoxicated with child passenger under 15 years old (state jail felony punishable by up to two years in prison): 10

Driving while intoxicated  third or more (third-degree felony): 30

MySA.com has tracked the felony DWI issue in Bexar County since 2015.

The mugshot for Jose Luis Rodriguez Jr., who was charged with driving while intoxicated on Jan. 27, 2019, was not available, according to Bexar County Jail officials.

Click through the slideshow to see the mugshots of suspects arrested on felony DWI charges in January.

Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | fsabawi@mysa.com|@FaresInSATOM REEL /SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

The Greehey Foundation has committed to a $1.5 million donation over three years to the San Antonio Independent School District to expand dual-credit offerings.

The grant will create the Greehey Scholars Program for about 2,000 high school students beginning in the fall and ending in 2022. The funding allows SAISD to almost double its number of high school students taking courses for college credit.A novice politician hailing from the New York borough of Queens gains enormous media attention and a huge and wildly passionate following in part by lobbing irregular critiques at the news media.

Donald Trump in 2015? Yes. But also Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, circa 2019.

Their backgrounds, gender and - especially - their politics are different, but the Republican president and the outspoken freshman Democratic congresswoman from New York share at least one similarity: Neither has been shy about using social media to pummel the press. And like Trump, Ocasio-Cortez has been cheered on by millions of followers when she does so.

Ocasio-Cortez has squared off on Twitter against such varied media outlets as the New York Post, The Washington Post, Politico, the Hill newspaper, CBS News, Fox News and Glenn Beck's BlazeTV for statements she deemed offensive, inaccurate or just tone deaf. And that was just in her first two weeks as a member of Congress.

But there is big difference: Ocasio-Cortez seems to respect the role of the news media, even as she criticizes it. Her jeremiads tend to be surgical rather that the blunt attacks that Trump has aimed at the mainstream media. To date, she hasn't described journalists as "the enemy of the American people."

On the other hand, she has banned reporters from covering her, just as Trump has. But the congresswoman has on occasion doled out praise to the MSM, something nearly unthinkable with Trump. "Public radio is great!" she tweeted late last month. "As is @ProPublica, @frontlinepbs & a great deal of other incredible outlets worth our support."

Journalists probably liked this, too: "The biggest threats to journalism right now are tech monopolies & concentration of ownership," she tweeted after BuzzFeed, HuffPost and other news organizations announced layoffs. "Healthy democracy *requires* high-quality journalism."

But Ocasio-Cortez, like Trump, is pugnacious in the face of perceived slights by news organizations. After she criticized CBS News' hiring practices, National Journal political editor Josh Kraushaar tweeted that Ocasio-Cortez shared Trump's habit of being a "media scold." She let him have it with a mini-lecture on Twitter about race, concluding, "It's not about "quotas." It's about understanding the country you're living in."

The exchange apparently didn't persuade Kraushaar to change his original opinion. "Like President Trump, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is a master of the muck, using the platform to ... debase our discourse with catchy put-downs instead of engaging in serious debate," he said via email. "Those qualities make her successful on social media, but not necessarily in Washington."

He added, "I welcome good-faith criticism from readers and colleagues, but when a member of Congress uses their power to send a social media mob against their critics, it's an abuse of power."

Ocasio-Cortez's staffers declined to discuss their boss' approach regarding the media for this article. A spokesman, Corbin Trent, responded to a lengthy list of questions with a one-sentence reply: "I think the Congresswoman has spoken for herself plenty on this topic."

Ocasion-Cortez - or @AOC to her 2.8 million Twitter followers - came out swinging again last month after news organizations wrote up her appearance on "Late Night with Stephen Colbert." During the program, Colbert asked the 29-year-old representative how concerned she was when her fellow Democrats tell her to "'wait your turn, go slow, don't ask for so much so fast right now.'"

Colbert then framed his question this way: "On a scale from zero to some, how many f---s do you give" about such comments?

Ocasio-Cortez formed her hand into a circle, smiled and said to applause and laughter, "I think it's zero."

The next day, she lit into the Hill, which accurately summarized its story by using Colbert's language in its headline: "Ocasio-Cortez: I give 'zero' f---s about pushback from other Democrats."

Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: "I actually didn't say this, so while I know 'brown women cursing' drives clicks, maybe you accurately quote the whole exchange instead of manipulating people into thinking I said this sentence instead of just the word 'zero.'" The Hill's article did, in fact, quote the exchange.

The Hill's editor, Bob Cusack, stands by the coverage. "Our headline and article was accurate, but in the world of politics, there's a lot of give and take," he said. "The congresswoman objected to it, and that's her right."

She also snarked at Politico, which ran a similar headline, and at the New York Post, which she wrote not only ran with "the false quote, but (added) an angry photo to boot. ... This is how news hysteria develops out of nothing at all."

The response hints at another way in which Ocasio-Cortez is like Trump: She sometimes misstates or exaggerates facts, and is reluctant to own up to it when called on it.

After The Washington Post's Fact Checker column handed Ocasio-Cortez four Pinnochios, the lowest rating for factuality, for her misleading claim that $21 trillion in Pentagon accounting errors could fund two-thirds of the projected cost of universal health care, Ocasio-Cortez clapped back in an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes."

Asked about this dubious statement, she replied, "I think that there's a lot of people more concerned about being precisely, factually and semantically correct than about being morally right," an ends-justifies-means approach that drew some criticism.

She offered an even more convoluted and no more contrite response to the fact-checking of her statements about "living" wages, including her assertion that Walmart and Amazon are "paying people less than the minimum wage." (Amazon chief executive Jeffrey Bezos owns The Washington Post). Glenn Kessler, editor and chief writer of the Fact Checker, rated her statements three Pinnochios, effectively "mostly false."

Alerted by aides that Kessler's column was forthcoming, @AOC replied with pre-emptive sarcasm. She tweeted, "Me: 'I don't think billionaires should concentrate wealth while employing people who are sleeping in cars working a zillion hours to survive.

"Next day: 'That will be TEN PINOCCHIOS to Ocasio, "zillion" is not a number and I found someone who sleeps in a tent, not a car.' "

Last week, Ocasio-Cortez stirred some honey into her vinegary comments about the news media. She tweeted a clip of herself being interviewed on MSNBC and praised "Meet the Press" moderator Chuck Todd for hosting "a thoughtful 20 min conversation that wasn't hung up on conflict, but exploration."

Hard to imagine Trump doing that.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 14)  Rappler CEO Maria Ressa insisted she has not done anything criminal after she was arrested by authorities Wednesday night over a cyber libel case.

"The message is clear. It's an abuse of power, it's a weaponization of the law. If they wanted to scare me, this isn't the way to scare me. Follow the rule of law," Ressa told reporters Thursday.

The Rappler founder was detained at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) overnight as they failed to post bail before the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 45. She was arrested over a cyber libel case involving a 2012 article published on the online news site alleging ties between the late Chief Justice Renato Corona and businessman Wilfredo Keng.

Ressa said her arrest warrant did not contain the information required to allow her to post bail.

"They went through a lot of trouble to have me spend the night," the Rappler executive alleged.

On Wednesday, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Ressa could have avoided the arrest if she posted a bail bond, as the information for her cyber libel case was filed in court "nearly two weeks ago."

Ressa contradicted this, saying, "This arrest could have been avoided if the government did not want to abuse its power to arrest a journalist. That's like a childish argument."

She warned that court decisions such as the one made by the Manila Regional Trial Court against her set precedents to other cases of stories posted online.

"For me, they've set precedents in many different ways," she said.

Malacanang and the Department of Justice have insisted Ressa's arrest have nothing to do with press freedom.

The businessman tagged in Rappler's article expressed gratitude over the criminal charges filed against Rappler and Maria Ressa. But Rappler said no arrest warrant was issued against their former researcher and reporter Reynaldo Santos, who wrote the article in question.

"Rappler, Ressa and Santos never attempted to obtain my side on the crimes they wrongly imputed to me or to fact-check their baseless attacks against my name," Keng said in a Thursday statement.

Ressa disputed Keng's claims.

"We're a traditional newsgroup in the sense that all of these processes are in place," she said. "His side was published. Repeatedly he was asked by the reporter."MANILA, Philippines - Philippine journalist Maria Ressa was released on bail Thursday after spending the night in detention over years-old libel charges decried as the Philippine government's latest attack on press freedom.

Ressa, the chief executive of news site Rappler, paid over $1,900 before a Manila regional court after an unexpected arrest on Wednesday afternoon. The 55-year-old veteran journalist, who is also facing charges relating to tax evasion and violation of foreign ownership laws, had spent the night at the National Bureau of Investigation.

"My stay last night at the NBI really made me think, what is this all about?" Ressa said upon posting bail. "It's about abuse of power and the weaponization of the law. This is not just about me, not just about Rappler."

Her arraignment is set for March 1. The deliberation of her case is expected to test the independence of Philippine courts.

She was arrested on "cyber libel" charges related to a story published in 2012, four months before the law she is believed to have breached was approved.

The government has maintained that her arrest has nothing to do with press freedom. Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a television interview Wednesday night that her story was "clearly defamatory."

Ressa was part of a group of journalists, including slain Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who were collectively named Time magazine's 2018 person of the year. Before founding Rappler in 2012, Ressa was CNN's bureau chief in Manila.

Opposition lawmakers, human rights groups and press organizations around the world have voiced their support for the journalist, part of an effort to undercut Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's mounting attacks on press freedom and critics.

Duterte is best known for his bloody war on drugs, which has resulted in about 5,000 deaths in police operations. However, up to an estimated 20,000 people have been killed in what the state calls "deaths under investigation," which human rights watchdogs believe include summary executions. Rappler has been at the forefront of this coverage of the human cost of this war.

Under Duterte, opposition senator Leila de Lima has been jailed, and another critic, Maria Lourdes Sereno, was ousted last year as Supreme Court chief justice. Duterte has also repeatedly slammed the Catholic Church in the dominantly Roman Catholic country.

"Ressa's persecution is part of a broader campaign by the Duterte administration to harass and silence critics not only in the media, but in the legislature, the judiciary, civil society, and the Roman Catholic Church," Human Rights Watch researcher Carlos Conde wrote in a dispatch.

The Committee to Protect Journalists called on the government to drop charges against Ressa and her company. Ressa won the group's World Press Freedom Award last year.

"The arrest of Maria Ressa is an outrage," CPJ Board Chair Kathleen Carroll said in a statement. "The Philippines government needs to cease its multi-pronged attack on Rappler, its talented leader, and its brave staff."

Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright tweeted that the arrest was "outrageous" and "must be condemned by all democratic nations."

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said she was "deeply troubled" by the arrest. "A free press is a bedrock of democracy," she said in a tweet. "Canada reiterates its call for due process to be respected and for journalists to be free from harassment and intimidation."WARSAW, Poland - Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday launched a combative broadside against some of America's closest allies, calling on European countries to withdraw from the nuclear deal with Iran and accusing them of attempting to break U.S. sanctions against "that vile regime" in Tehran.

Officials from Britain, France and Germany - all countries that negotiated and signed the 2015 landmark agreement that President Trump withdrew from last year - were in the audience as Pence accused them of essentially joining sides with America's enemy.

Pence threatened to impose more U.S. sanctions against Iran and praised countries that are moving to reduce their oil imports from the country "to zero."

"But sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative," Pence said at a Middle East conference conceived by the Trump administration as a way to pressure Iran.

"In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions," Pence said.

Virtually all countries in Europe support the Iran nuclear agreement as essential to their own security and oppose U.S. efforts to dismantle it.

In an attempt to preserve the pact, Germany, France and Britain recently designed a special financial mechanism to allow trade to continue between Iran and European businesses. Iran has threatened to leave the agreement if it does not have any economic benefits, and some officials have said they may restart their nuclear program.

Pence called the European banking workaround a scheme designed to "break American sanctions against Iran's murderous revolutionary regime."

"It's an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU and create still more distance between Europe and America," he added.

Pence warned that U.S. sanctions against Iran, already characterized the toughest ever, "will get tougher still" if Iran does not change its behavior and foreign policy in the region.

"For the sake of peace, security, stability, and human rights in the Middle East, the time has come for our European partners to stand with us, stand with the Iranian people, stand with our allies and friends in the region - and we reject the Iran nuclear deal," the vice president said.

Pence's speech underscored why some of the nations invited to the conference decided to send lower-level diplomats instead of their foreign ministers, the counterparts of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. In response, the United States expanded the agenda to include a host of other issues, including humanitarian crises in Syria and Yemen.

Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, briefed diplomats on a peace plan he has been tasked with formulating to create a "deal of the century" between Israelis and Palestinians. But he said the plan would not be released until after Israeli elections on April 9 and that it would be "unhelpful" to share details before then, according to a diplomat who was in the room.

Kushner said security and opportunity are main themes of the plan.

Earlier in the day, Pompeo said that "pushing back" against Iran is essential to tackling other problems in the region.

"You can't achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran," Pompeo said. "It's just not possible."

Both Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned a pre-conference dinner Wednesday that was attended by Israeli and Arab officials. They hailed it as a historic breakthrough.

"Yesterday was a historical turning point," Netanyahu told reporters. "In a room of some 60 foreign ministers, the Israeli prime minister and foreign ministers of leading Arab countries stood together, and spoke with unusual force, clarity and unity against a common threat of the Iranian state."

But during a photograph taken of the entire diplomatic entourage attending the conference - more than 60 officials - Netanyahu stood next to Pompeo and spoke afterward with Pence. There appeared to be no conversation or even eye contact with diplomats from key countries in the Persian Gulf who were positioned far from Netanyahu.

The Trump administration has sought with little success to rebut the perception that the conference is aimed at vilifying Iran, which this week marked the 40th anniversary of the Islamic revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed shah. U.S. officials have stressed that the session covers a range of topics, including the humanitarian crises in Syria and Yemen. Netanyahu, however, has minced no words, telling reporters in Israel, "The focus of the conference is Iran."

In his opening remarks, Pompeo listed a cross-section of issues that the administration usually accuses Iran of largely creating or at least heightening.

"We need action beyond today," he said. "Syria. Yemen. Proliferation. The peace process. Terrorism. Iran. Cybersecurity. Humanitarian crises. None of the region's challenges will solve themselves. We must work together for security in the region. No country can afford to remain on the sidelines."

Pompeo has consistently made clear that all conversations about instability and threats in the Middle East end at Tehran's doorstep.

"This gathering is certainly about Middle East peace and stability," he told "PBS NewsHour." "You can't talk about that without talking about the threat from the Islamic Republic of Iran, whether it's Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis - I call them the three H's - whether it's their work against the Iraqi government, trying to harm the independence and sovereignty of Iraq, whether it's what they're doing in Syria today."

U.S. officials have still not released a complete a complete list of the countries sending representatives to the conference.

Major European powers were not consulted before Pompeo announced the summit last month. The agenda was broadened after allies suggested that the Trump administration would end up showcasing division rather than unity over Iran, European and U.S. diplomats said. The United States and Poland shelved tentative plans to circulate an agreement that conference attendees would all sign, two diplomats said.

Aaron David Miller, a former State Department official involved with several conferences dedicated to the Middle East, said the Warsaw meeting is likely to be more show than substance.

"I don't think you can bring 70 countries together with a loose set of objectives, called Middle East peace and security, and expect to have real, concrete results achieved," he said. "That does not mean that the show isn't worth something. But the bigger stage creates a bigger chance you highlight not American power and strength but American indecision and fecklessness."

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has called the two-day meeting a "desperate anti-Iran circus" and has kept up a steady stream of tweets mocking it inWASHINGTON - Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort lied to prosecutors with special counsel Robert Mueller III about matters close to the heart of their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

The judge's finding that Manafort, 69, breached his cooperation deal with prosecutors by lying after his guilty plea could add years to his prison sentence and came after a set of sealed court hearings.

Manafort's lies, the judge found, included "his interactions and communications with [Konstantin] Kilimnik," a longtime aide whom the FBI assessed to have ties to Russian intelligence.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the District of Columbia said Manafort also lied to the special counsel, the FBI and the grand jury about a payment from a company to a law firm - which he previously characterized as a loan repayment - and made false statements that were material to another Justice Department investigation whose focus has not been described in public filings in Manafort's case.

Manafort's actions mean Mueller's office "is no longer bound" by the plea agreement including prosecutors' promise to support a possible sentencing reduction for Manafort accepting responsibility for his crimes.

Jackson said she would factor in his deception at sentencing March 13 and will make public her reasoning about her findings as early as Friday in another filing.

Manafort had denied intentionally lying after his plea deal and through his attorneys attributed any conflicting statements to confusion or faulty recollection.

Manafort pleaded guilty Sept. 14, on the eve of jury selection for his trial in Washington, to conspiring to defraud the United States, violate lobbying laws and obstruct justice - by witness tampering - in connection with years of undisclosed work in Ukraine for a pro-Russian political party and Ukrainian politician, Viktor Yanukovych. He also was convicted by a jury in August for bank- and tax-fraud crimes in a separate federal case in Virginia.

Jackson has said previously that she would consider whether to order Manafort to serve penalties in the two cases consecutively. Legal experts say Manafort faces a possible seven-to-10-year sentence in his related Virginia federal case, which U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III postponed this month to await Jackson's ruling. Manafort faces up to 10 years in his District case.

Mueller prosecutors have said Manafort's lies about the frequency and substance of his contacts with Kilimnik go "very much to the heart of what the special counsel's office is investigating."

They highlighted Manafort's shifting account of an August 2016 meeting in New York City with Kilimnik - a longtime aide who also has been indicted in the Mueller investigation - in which the pair discussed a peace plan for Ukraine, while Manafort served as Trump's campaign chairman.

A resolution of hostilities in Ukraine that led to the lifting of sanctions against Russia is a top Kremlin foreign policy goal.

Mueller's office also claims Manafort "intentionally provided false information" in debriefing sessions on several topics, including the extent and substance of his interactions with Kilimnik.

The pair met in December 2016, in January 2017 when Kilimnik was in Washington and again in February 2017, and as recently as the winter of 2018, according to previously released court documents.

Prosecutors also said that Manafort passed polling data related to the presidential campaign to Kilimnik during the campaign and that the two worked on a poll in Ukraine in 2018.

Jackson issued her order after a hearing Wednesday that was held under seal to permit both sides to discuss matters under investigation and people who are not charged.

In her order, the judge agreed with Manafort's defense and said the government had failed to show he lied when he denied having ongoing contact with Trump administration officials since they took office in January 2017 and failed to show he lied about Kilimnik's role in the obstruction of justice conspiracy over witness tampering in which Kilimnik was accused and Manafort pleaded guilty.

In the deal with prosecutors, Manafort agreed to cooperate "fully and truthfully" with the government, seemingly giving investigators access to a witness who was at key events relevant to the Russia investigation - a Trump Tower meeting attended by a Russian lawyer, the Republican National Convention and a host of other behind-the-scenes discussions in the spring and summer of 2016.

Instead, the deal collapsed, with prosecutors withdrawing any offer of a recommendation for leniency and accusing Manafort in late November of lying repeatedly to them.

Manafort has been jailed just outside Washington, in Alexandria, Virginia, since June.

Jackson's terse order did not add to what was previously known about the Aug. 2, 2016, meeting at the Grand Havana Room, an upscale cigar bar in Manhattan, between Manafort and Kilimnik.

Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said in a previous court hearing that the meeting included Rick Gates, Manafort's top deputy on the Trump campaign and in Ukraine who also has pleaded guilty in the Mueller investigation, and that Gates said the men left separately using different exits than Kilimnik.

Kilimnik has said to The Washington Post that he and Manafort discussed "unpaid bills" and "current news" at the meeting and that the sessions were "private visits" that were "in no way related to politics or the presidential campaign in the U.S."

In 2017, Kilimnik denied to The Post having connections to Russian intelligence. He is believed to be in Moscow.

The order marked the latest instance in which Manafort was found to have flouted the court's directions.

Shortly after his indictment in late 2017 - with a gag order in place in his case - Jackson scolded Manafort for helping ghostwrite an op-ed article for a newspaper in Ukraine defending his work there. In July, Jackson revoked Manafort's bail and ordered him jailed after prosecutors charged him with tampering with witnesses while he had been free pending trial, a crime to which he later pleaded guilty.WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday announced what officials called a historic effort to rein in a class of long-lasting chemicals that pose serious health risks to millions of Americans. But environmental groups and residents of contaminated communities said that the agency's "action plan" is short on action, saying ample evidence exists to regulate the chemicals in the nation's drinking water.

The EPA promised in the spring to devise a plan to address the widespread contamination caused by perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl compounds, or PFAS, which have been detected in numerous communities and military bases. The agency's leader at the time, Scott Pruitt, called the problem "a national emergency."

The man-made chemicals have long been used in consumer products, including water-repellent fabrics, nonstick cookware and grease-resistant paper products, as well as in firefighting foams. Long-term exposures have been associated with health problems that include thyroid disease, weakened immunity, infertility risks and certain cancers. Because PFAS do not break down in the environment, they have become known as "forever chemicals."

Agency officials vowed by year's end to begin the lengthy process of setting drinking water limits for two of the most widely detected compounds, known as PFOS and PFOA. The EPA also said it will issue guidance on cleaning up groundwater contaminated by the chemicals, require more testing for PFAS in public water systems, undertake additional research on the health effects of less-studied compounds and better communicate the risk that communities face.

"Americans count on EPA every time they turn on their faucet," EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler said at a news conference in Philadelphia Thursday morning. "That's why communities across the nation have asked us to provide a comprehensive approach to understanding PFAS in drinking water. Our action plan provides just that."

But environmental advocacy groups, Democrats in Congress and residents of communities that have lived for months or years on bottled water said the measures fell short of the aggressive action needed to tackle the problem. They have long urged the agency to set a national threshold for PFOS and PFOA in drinking water - something several states have already begun to do in the absence of federal regulation.

"It's been more and more evident that these chemicals are really bad for human health," said Michael Hickey, an insurance underwriter who began testing the water in his town of Hoosick Falls, New York, after his father died of kidney cancer in 2013. His work brought to light serious PFOA contamination linked to a nearby industrial facility.

"It's just disheartening," Hickey said of Thursday's announcement, adding that he implored EPA officials to move more rapidly to regulate the chemicals during a meeting in Washington last month. "These are real illnesses that happen every day. This EPA doesn't understand the severity and what it actually does to a small town when there's this kind of contamination."

More than 700 miles west, in Parchment, Mich., Tammy Cooper was also disappointed Thursday. In her town, where the chemicals were once used by a long-shuttered paper mill, tests in the summer found PFAS levels in the local water system in excess of 1,500 parts per trillion - more than 20 times the EPA's recommended lifetime exposure limit. Families there continue to wrestle with the unknown long-term implications of that exposure.

"Residents are quickly losing faith in the agency," said Cooper, who traveled to Washington last year to lobby for tougher standards. "If the EPA doesn't take decisive action soon, Michigan residents will continue to be poisoned."

Erik Olson, health program director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the EPA has not regulated any new contaminant in drinking water for more than two decades, across multiple administrations. But he said that seldom had it been so clear as with PFOS and PFOA about the need for national limits on specific chemicals.

"EPA continues to punt and has failed to even lift a finger to regulate these dangerous contaminants that are in millions of people's drinking water," Olson said. "If they can't regulate something like these highly toxic chemicals that are all over the country, what can they regulate?"

Despite such criticism, EPA officials on Thursday described their efforts as "groundbreaking," saying that the proposals represented an agencywide effort to assess the dangers of PFAS chemicals, work to clean them up and begin protecting the nation's drinking water from future contamination.

David Ross, assistant administrator in the EPA's water office, told reporters that the agency's plan is based on input from local meetings across the country over the past year, as well as 120,000 written comments it received. Ross dismissed suggestions that the EPA does not intend to set a drinking water standard or that it is moving too slowly.

"I want to be crystal clear about this - our intent is to establish a [maximum contaminant level] for PFOA and PFOS," he said. He added that the agency must proceed carefully so that any new regulation can be defensible in court. "We will develop the standard at the level the science dictates," he said.

Harvard University researchers have reported that public drinking water supplies serving more than 6 million Americans have tested for the chemicals at or above the EPA's suggested threshold of 70 parts per trillion - which many experts argue should be even lower to safeguard public health. The agency first issued that guideline in 2016.

Scientists have long studied the effects of PFOS and PFOA, which companies phased out years ago amid growing evidence that both were ending up in the blood of nearly every American. But thousands of other PFAS chemicals remain in use.

"EPA is still not actually taking any concrete action on PFAS. Promising to conduct more studies, investigations, and further work toward formal regulatory action at some point in the future, is not the same as actually taking formal regulatory action now," said environmental attorney Robert Bilott, who has successfully sued DuPont on behalf of plaintiffs exposed to PFOA in Ohio and West Virginia.

A federal study released last year suggested that the EPA's existing threshold from 2016 is inadequate to protect public health.

Meanwhile, some states have acted on their own. New Jersey became the first to regulate certain types of PFAS chemicals in its drinking water, and others such as New York and Vermont have followed a similar path. Judith Enck, who served as a regional EPA administrator under President Barack Obama, said Thursday that other states should follow suit.

"EPA's inability to act beyond issuing a plan is a reminder that every state in the country needs to establish state-level drinking water standards," Enck said, even as she praised the EPA for saying it intends to declare PFOA and PFOS as "hazardous" substances under the Superfund cleanup law. "People in polluted communities deserve so much more than the EPA announced today."

Both houses of Congress have held hearings about the problem, and lawmakers introduced bills to compel the government to test for PFAS chemicals nationwide and to respond wherever polluted water and soil are found. EPA officials, who held a PFAS "summit" in the spring and visited numerous affected communities to meet with residents and local leaders, insisted Thursday that its proposals will help meaningfully reduce the risks of exposure to the chemicals for many Americans.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, called the agency's plan a first step.

"EPA must speak clearly about the risk that this class of chemicals poses to public health and the environment," said Barrasso, who said he plans to hold a hearing on the plan in the spring. "The agency must be willing to take decisive action where it is warranted."

But what Barrasso called a first step, some colleagues saw as another delay.

"While EPA acts with the utmost urgency to repeal regulations, the agency ambles with complacency when it comes to taking real steps to protect the water we drink and the air we breathe," Sen. Thomas Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a statement. "And I ask my colleagues in the Senate to take note of Mr. Wheeler's lack of urgency in addressing this threat as they consider his nomination to be EPA's permanent administrator."CAIRO - Egypt's parliament overwhelmingly voted on Thursday to ensure that President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi remains in office until as late as 2034, long past a constitutional term limit, while delivering him broad powers that will deepen his control over the Arab's world's most populous nation

Parliament Speaker Ali Abdelaal said 485 lawmakers in the 596-seat assembly - or more than the two-thirds majority needed for approval - voted in favor of the proposed constitutional amendments.

If that passes, the proposed changes will face a national referendum by the summer.

The passage of the amendments came despite outrage by critics who feared that the measures will give unprecedented dictatorial powers to el-Sissi, whose term is supposed to end in 2022. The proposed amendments would extend the presidential term from four to six years while allowing Sissi to run for two additional terms. Many pro-democracy activists and critics fear that Sissi will now be able to remain president almost indefinitely. Even though weeks of discussions will take place before el-Sissi's path to remain in power is cleared, few expect the vast majority of lawmakers beholden to the el-Sissi regime to work against him.

"We know it is a done deal already," said Mohamed Zaree, director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies. "This is how Members of parliament pay back to the security apparatus that brought them to power."

The vote comes little more than eight years after the Arab Spring revolts here ousted President Hosni Mubarak, ending his three decades of autocratic rule. Since el-Sissi led the 2013 military overthrow of democratically elected Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and was elected the following year, the former armed forces commander has jailed tens of thousands of opponents and blocked hundreds of websites deemed critical of his regime.

The amendments target Egypt's 2014 constitution, passed after Mubarak's fall, and would undo many checks and balances designed to limit the president's power.

Last year, el-Sissi was re-elected but only after all his opponents were either driven out of the race, jailed or pressured in other ways. His sole nominal opponent entered the race at the 11th hour, and a few days earlier had been one of his staunchest supporters.

The rush to push through the constitutional amendments may have been motivated by an expectation that Trump Administration wouldn't object to el-Sissi extending his rule, according to a report in the independent Egyptian news website Mada Masr citing official sources.

Sources quoted by the website also said the vote was intended to fly under the radar before the new Democratic-controlled House of Representatives gave attention to Egypt. So far, the White House has remained silent on the proposed amendments.

The 596-seat parliament is predominantly filled with el-Sissi loyalists. His supporters argue that el-Sissi needs several more terms to achieve his goals of modernizing Egypt and its economy and combating terrorism.

"It is not true that these amendments were suggested by members of the parliament and the president has nothing to do with them," said Zaree. "There is only one person (in charge) in Egypt. Only Abdel Fatah el-Sissi. Public opinion in Egypt is Sissi's opinion."

The amendments will also enhance el-Sissi's power to appoint senior judges , including the chief justice of the Supreme Court, and would erode judicial oversight on any legislation as well as the judiciary's financial independence.

"These amendments effectively serve to destroy the constitutional separation of powers, concentrating all authority into the president's hands and solidifying his authoritarian rule," a group for 10 Egyptian human rights groups said in a letter this week.

The amendments also call for a 25 percent quota for women in parliament as well as adequate representation for minority Coptic Christians, youth and people with disabilities. But activist groups in their letter described the additional provisions as the government's "disingenuous attempts to sugarcoat its authoritarian power-grab."The Dixie School District in San Rafael, California, is keeping its name, at least for the time being.

Members of the school board voted Tuesday evening to reject 13 suggestions for new names proposed by residents who believe the current name is racist and reflects the school district's original ties to supporters of the Confederacy and slavery.

Although the board didn't approve a new name, members signaled that they would continue to look at whether the Dixie moniker should be removed and, if so, how that should be done. Most of the board's five members said they believe the name should change; they scheduled a meeting for later this month to discuss a process for doing that.

The vote came at the end of a five-hour public meeting marked by a passionate comment period in which supporters and opponents of the Dixie name expressed their opinions. Debate over the name of this 2,000-student district north of San Francisco has become increasingly bitter during the past six months, with both sides attacking each other on social media and at public hearings.

Board member Marnie Glickman, who has led the effort to change the name, said she was disappointed about the decision to delay action. She referenced three previous efforts to change the district name; the first was in 1997.

"This is a decision that's been before us for 22 years," Glickman said. On Tuesday, "they voted 13 times to choose to reject new names for the district. In my opinion, they voted 13 times to keep Dixie, which is a hurtful, shameful name. This is another inexcusable delay."

Supporters of keeping the Dixie name claimed victory after the board's votes.

"We are very happy with the decision because it has always been our position that we would not accept the bully tactics and attempts to circumnavigate an inclusive process within our community," Renee Adelmann, one of the organizers of We Are Dixie, which has fought to keep the Dixie name, said in an email. "I do think that the name could eventually change, but if it does, it will be our community that decides what it will be and not just a small group of people."

We Are Dixie supporters argue that the district was named for Mary Dixie, a Miwok Indian. They say the effort to change the name has been led by outsiders and is a campaign more about political correctness than history.

But many who want to change the name, especially the small number of black families in the district, find the Dixie appellation offensive and say the historical record is clear that the name of the school system, which began in 1864, memorializes the Confederate cause.

"We should be honest about the name and how it came about," Bruce Anderson, whose son and grandson attended Dixie schools, told The Washington Post last month. Supporters of keeping the name are not white supremacists, he said, "but they think the name is benign and represents goodness in the community, and I have a totally different belief than that."

Name-change advocates have the support of many local community organizations and political leaders, including Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., and Marin County Superintendent of Schools Mary Jane Burke, who oversees all of the county's school districts.

Although the board's vote against the proposed names was a setback, Glickman said she is not deterred.

"We are going to change the name of the school district; I'm certain," she said. "It's the right thing to do for our students. We need to teach them about history and racism and doing what is best for others."What began as welcome rain after several years of crippling drought in Australia turned into a catastrophe after record-breaking downpour flooded the northeastern coast, killing hundreds of thousands of cattle, wiping away the livelihood of many farming communities, and threatening one of the country's vital industries.

Nearly 50 million acres of land in the state of Queensland was inundated this past week. By late last week, officials said two years worth of rain had drowned swaths of land that, not too long ago, were parched. Parts of Queensland, particularly the coastal areas, saw more than 11 inches of rain last week.

Officials estimate that more than 300,000 herd cattle were killed, though that number could rise. One producer who normally has about 70,000 cattle has found only 1,000 as of last week, officials said.

Countless carcasses, many huddled together in mud, have been discovered as water began to recede. Officials "were literally ferrying one barrel of hay at a time" to feed surviving cattle that have been isolated by floodwater, Georgie Somerset, general president of Agforce Queensland, which represents farmers, said at a news conference.

"The speed and intensity of the unfolding tragedy makes it hard to believe that it's just a week since farmers' elation at receiving the first decent rains in five years turned to horror at the devastating and unprecedented flood that quickly followed," Michael Guerin, AgForce Queensland's chief executive, said in a statement Monday.

Many farmers, Guerin said, have not only lost their livelihood, but are also left with crippling debt.

"What I'm concerned about now is the next two to five years and how we support these people to actually get back on their feet to restock their companies, to rebuild their infrastructure to rebuild fences ... and get their businesses back and running," Somerset said.

Australia's economy relies heavily on its cattle herds, majority of which are raised in Queensland. It's the world's third largest beef and veal exporter in 2017. That fiscal year, the country exported about 1 million tons of beef and veal to 78 countries, including Japan, the United States, South Korea, China and Indonesia.

The Queensland government has given more than $100 million in aid, in addition to $3 million in mental health services for flood victims.

In flood-stricken Townsville in northern Queensland, floodwaters have heightened risks for illnesses. One woman has died of a rare bacterial infection called melioidosis, which is caused by bacteria commonly found in soil, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. There have been nine other cases of melioidosis since the flooding.

In a news release Wednesday, Queensland government officials said the disaster has affected 30 localities across the region and vowed to help with recovery.

Australia has been at the epicenter of weather extremes, having recently endured its hottest January in recorded history. The continent's climate has warmed by about 2 degrees since 1910, leading to more frequent heat waves and severe drought conditions, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Eight of Australia's top-10 warmest years on record have come in the past 13 years.

Last month, a multiweek heat wave parched the landscape in South Australia, triggered damaging wildfires and toppled significant records. Temperatures soared to 116 degrees in Adelaide, South Australia. In the southeastern corner of the country, overnight temperatures were as high as 96 degrees at one point last month - the warmest overnight lows for January anywhere in the world. Near Santa Teresa in the Northern Territory, more than 50 wild horses dying of starvation and dehydration were euthanized.

By early February, monsoon rains have caused record-level flooding in the northeastern part of the country.

- - -

The Washington Post's Angela Fritz contributed to this article.Amazon canceled plans to build a New York campus, which would have included at least 25,000 high-paying jobs, Thursday because of resistance from local politicians, unions and community activists who said a project initially hailed as an economic triumph was a lousy deal.

"There are a number of folks on the ground who oppose our presence," Amazon spokeswoman Jodi Seth said. "We don't think there's a path forward in terms of working with them over the long term."

The company issued a statement shortly before noon, saying it did not intend to reopen its search for a second headquarters at this time but would continue with plans to put at least 25,000 jobs in Northern Virginia's Arlington County and 5,000 in Nashville, Tennessee.

The decision was a stunning reversal for Amazon, which miscalculated how it would be received when it announced in November that it would put half of the 50,000 jobs promised in its much-publicized HQ2 search in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens.

While Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, both Democrats, had celebrated the project, and opinion polls showed large majorities in favor of it, a strong backlash quickly developed.

Opponents, including freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., protested that the influx of Amazon employees, to be paid an average salary of at least $150,000 a year, would cause housing costs to skyrocket, drive out low-income residents and worsen congestion on the subway and streets.

They also objected to the up to $3 billion in state and local incentives promised to Amazon, the world's most valuable company, headed by Jeff Bezos, the world's wealthiest person. (Bezos also owns The Washington Post.)

Ocasio-Cortez - who has attracted national attention for her liberal views, and whose district borders the proposed Amazon site - hailed the company's pullout.

"Today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon's corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world," she tweeted.

But some opponents said Amazon should have stayed in New York and made concessions, such as promising not to oppose efforts by its employees to organize unions.

Cuomo expressed deep disappointment and put the blame on what he called "a small group of politicians (who) put their own narrow political interests above their community."

The governor, who had joked that he would change his name to "Amazon Cuomo" to win the deal, said the project would have brought in nearly $30 billion in revenue - a 9-to-1 return on the subsidies - and helped diversify the New York economy away from real estate and finance.

Cuomo singled out the state Senate for playing a leading role in killing the deal, because it nominated an outspoken critic of the Amazon incentives package to a state board where he would have effectively been able to veto it.

"The New York state Senate has done tremendous damage," Cuomo said. "They should be held accountable for this lost economic opportunity."

Other Amazon supporters, including elected officials and business leaders, were aghast at the defeat.

"New York needs an attitude adjustment," Rep. Thomas Suozzi, D-N.Y., said. "This is a huge loss for New York and Long Island, and it will make it harder to attract major employers and jobs here in the future."

- - -

Arlington plan still on track

The decision to cancel the New York project was made Wednesday evening by Amazon's senior leadership team, which includes Bezos and the executives who directly report to him, Seth, the spokeswoman, said.

The announcement came six days after The Washington Post broke the news that the company was reconsidering the project because of local opposition. That report prompted more than a dozen of the 238 jurisdictions that pursued the deal originally - including the District of Columbia, Maryland, Chicago, Miami and Newark, New Jersey - to contact Amazon again in hope of luring the campus if the New York deal collapsed.

But the company said Thursday that it was not looking to put all 25,000 of the jobs slated for New York in a single location.

"We do not intend to reopen the HQ2 search at this time," the company said in a blog post. "We will proceed as planned in Northern Virginia and Nashville, and we will continue to hire and grow across our 17 corporate offices and tech hubs in the U.S. and Canada."

Arlington County Board Chairman Christian Dorsey, a Democrat, said an Amazon representative confirmed that "nothing has changed" regarding the company's plans in Northern Virginia. He said the county will not attempt to get more than the jobs already foreseen under Virginia's agreement with Amazon.

"We have a path for 25,000 (jobs) and up to 37,850. We're comfortable with that. We're not going to make a play for any more," Dorsey said in a conference call with reporters.

In answer to a question, Dorsey acknowledged that New York opponents' success in blocking Amazon was likely to encourage Virginia critics, who are not nearly as numerous. But he expressed confidence that the project would stay on track.

"It likely will cause people to increase their opposition, but . . . I do want to underscore how very different our community circumstances are," Dorsey said. "In Arlington, we have had these difficult community conversations about growth. . . . Our community is ready to embrace that level of activity" that Amazon will bring, Dorsey said.

The Arlington board plans to consider a $23 million local incentives package for Amazon in March, he said, adding that "Arlington and the entire region are still honored that Amazon recognized this region as a top area for businesses and workforce talent and selected us as a site for its headquarters expansion."

- - -

'Bad partner for New York'

De Blasio, whose support for the Amazon project disappointed many of his liberal supporters, faulted the company for backing out.

"You have to be tough to make it in New York City," de Blasio said in a statement. "We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity." We have the best talent in the world and every day we are growing a stronger and fairer economy for everyone. If Amazon can't recognize what that's worth, its competitors will."

A union that helped lead the opposition said Amazon should have worked with the community to address its concerns.

"Jeff Bezos had the opportunity to listen to the voices of working families and support the good-paying jobs New Yorkers deserve," Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, said in a statement. "But now we can see this is all about blind greed and Jeff Bezos' belief that everyday taxpayers should foot the bill for their new headquarters even as the company actively works to eliminate millions of American retail jobs."

National politicians also took aim at the company. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who is running for president, tweeted: "Amazon - one of the wealthiest companies on the planet - just walked away from billions in taxpayer bribes, all because some elected officials in New York aren't sucking up to them enough. How long will we allow giant corporations to hold our democracy hostage?"

New York's resistance to the Amazon project was in sharp contrast with the generally warm welcome that Virginia gave the company. With little opposition, Virginia has already passed a law granting Amazon up to $750 million in state incentives over the next 15 years, on the condition that it create 37,850 new jobs over that period.

In New York, however, it would have taken until 2020 to win final approval for the state's subsidy package. In a critical setback for the project, the state Senate on Feb. 4 nominated a strong critic of the incentives, Sen. Michael Gianaris, D-Queens, to a state board on which he could effectively veto the deal.

Gianaris said Amazon's decision to abandon the project "shows why they would have been a bad partner for New York in any event." His statement continued: "Rather than seriously engage with the community they proposed to profoundly change, Amazon continued its effort to shake down governments to get its way. It is time for a national dialogue about the perils of these types of corporate subsidies."

Grassroots opposition to the deal was evident at two New York City Council hearings, where activists booed Amazon executives and unfurled banners criticizing the company. Key officials opposing the project included City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, D-Manhattan, and Deputy Leader of the City Council James Van Bramer, D-Queens.

Van Bramer and other critics assailed Amazon for companywide policies such as having a nonunion workforce and for partnering with firms that work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"We are proud that we fought for our values," Van Bramer said. "Our values in New York City are to defend working men and women, labor unions. . . . . And we're fighting for immigrants. Yes, Amazon . . . proudly works with ICE to terrorize immigrants."

- - -

Reputation concerns

The Amazon announcement cited the elected officials' opposition as a major reason for its decision.

"After much thought and deliberation, we've decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens," the company said. "For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term. While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City."

After The Post reported that Amazon was having second thoughts, business leaders in New York began raising concerns about what a rebuff of the company would mean for the city's reputation. Speaking to investors Tuesday, Steven Roth, CEO of commercial real estate stalwart Vornado Realty Trust said, "If the political climate in New York blows this deal, it would be the stupidest damn thing I've ever seen."

After Amazon announced its decision, concerns grew about the message that New York was sending to other tech firms. Julie Samuels, executive director of the industry group Tech: NYC, said the decision was a reminder that despite the city's growing economy, "there is no guarantee we will maintain this status in the future, which makes this news so disappointing."

"It's especially disappointing given the overwhelming local support for the deal and there can be no doubt that bad politics got in the way of good policy here," she said in a statement.

Even though Amazon said it wasn't looking to shift the 25,000 New York jobs to a single spot, the announcement prompted suitors to renew their pitches to the company.

Asked about Amazon's decision Thursday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, said, "We actually have had preliminary discussions with them already, and we're looking forward to meeting with them to discuss it further."

Maryland offered Amazon more than $8 billion in state and local incentives for 50,000 jobs when Montgomery County made the list of 20 finalists in the HQ2 contest. Hogan previously had championed Port Covington in Baltimore as his favored site.

Brian Kenner, Washington's deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said, "We continue to have conversations with Amazon, as we do with other companies, to discuss how the city can collaborate to support job growth and workforce development."

Shortly before Thursday's announcement, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said he had reached out to Bezos through two intermediaries and was waiting to hear back.

"We definitely think Miami is the best choice," Suarez said. "We're a little bit of the antithesis of New York. We're low taxes, they're high taxes. We are significantly less dense than they are."

Newark was hoping to attract Amazon by offering less political opposition but geographic proximity - right across the Hudson River - to the New York tech talent pool, according to Aisha Glover, president of the Newark Alliance.

Amazon's pullout from New York eliminates a semantic puzzle by giving Arlington exclusive claim to the "HQ2" label.

"It certainly makes it less complicated, whether we called it HQ2 or HQ2B," Arlington's Dorsey said. "I never quite wrapped my head around what to call that."

- - -

The Washington Post's Mark Berman, Mike DeBonis, Patricia Sullivan and Ovetta Wiggins contributed to this report.Lyndon LaRouche, the quixotic, apocalyptic leader of a cultlike political organization who ran for president eight times, once from a prison cell, died on Tuesday. He was 96.

His death was announced on the website of his organization, La Rouche/Pac. The statement did not specify a cause or say where he died.

Defining what LaRouche stood for was no easy task. He began his political career on the far left and ended it on the far right. He said he admired Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan and loathed Hitler, composer Richard Wagner and other anti-Semites, though he himself made anti-Semitic statements.

He was fascinated with physics and mathematics, particularly geometry, but called concerns about climate change a scientific fraud.

He condemned modern music as a tool of invidious conspiracies  he saw rock as a particularly British one  and found universal organizing principles in the music of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart.

Some called him a case study in paranoia and bigotry, his mild demeanor notwithstanding.

LaRouche denigrated a panoply of ethnic groups and organized religions. He railed against the Eastern Establishment and environmentalists, who he said were trying to wipe out the human race. Queen Elizabeth II of England was plotting to have him killed. Jews had surreptitiously founded the Ku Klux Klan. Native Americans were lower beasts.

Even so, LaRouche was able to develop alliances with farmers, the Nation of Islam, teamsters, abortion opponents and Klan adherents. Acolytes kept LaRouches political machine going by peddling his tracts and magazines in airports, and by persuading relatives and friends to donate large sums.

He operated through a dizzying array of front groups, among them the National Democratic Policy Committee, through which he received millions of dollars in federal matching money in his recurring presidential campaigns.

In 1987, after an FBI investigation, LaRouche was convicted in Virginia on charges of scheming to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and of deliberately defaulting on more than $30 million in loans from thousands of his supporters. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and sent to a federal penitentiary in Minnesota.

The conviction hurt his movement but did not end it. He was released from prison in 1994, after serving a third of his sentence. He immediately announced that he would run for president in 1996. He ran again in 2000 and 2004.

Richard Severo is a New York Times writer.Two men landed behind bars for allegedly breaking into a vehicle in west Laredo.

At about 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, police responded to a burglary of a vehicle in the 2900 block of Lee Avenue after two men had allegedly broken into a silver Honda CR-V.

With a description of the suspects in hand, officers canvassed the area looking for them. Police then came across two men in the 3200 block of Pinder Avenue. They allegedly matched the suspects' description.

READ ALSO: Laredo police capture 2 men, teen girl after brief car chase

LPD identified them as Tomas Gerardo Morales, 33, and Hector Cisneros Jr., 26.

They were found in possession of a GPS, a jacket, a handbag and a watch. Those were the same items reported missing from the Honda, according to police.

Cisneros and Morales were each charged with burglary of vehicle and theft of property.Chicago police say they have identified two "persons of interest" in the assault case involving Jussie Smollett, just hours after ABC's "Good Morning America" aired an interview with the "Empire" actor in which he described the alleged attack.

"After a meticulous investigation with the use of advance technology, interviews with the victim and witnesses and transportation records, detectives have identified two persons of interest in the Empire cast member case. No further information available at this time," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement. In a tweet Thursday, Guglielmi said that the individuals that were seen on surveillance tape images released last month "are not yet suspects but were in area of concern and are being questioned."

In the interview that aired Thursday morning, Smollett told Robin Roberts that he is "pissed off" following the attack, which Chicago police are investigating as a potential hate crime.

"I will never be the man that this did not happen to. I am forever changed," Smollett said during the interview, which marked his first detailed public account of the attack. Police say Smollett, who is black and openly gay, was assaulted around 2 a.m. Jan. 29 by two "unknown offenders" who yelled racial and homophobic slurs, poured an unknown chemical substance on the actor and wrapped a rope around his neck.

Chicago police have not made any arrests and have not found video of the alleged assault, leading some people to doubt Smollett's account of what happened. Smollett, who wiped away tears throughout the interview, told Roberts he is angry about the assault, and about people not believing his story.

"At first, it was like, 'Listen, if I tell the truth then that's it because it's the truth," Smollett said. "Then it became a thing of, like, 'Oh, how can you doubt that, like how do you not believe that. It's the truth.' And then it became a thing of, like, 'Oh, it's not necessarily that you don't believe that this is the truth, you don't even want to see the truth.'"

Smollett told Roberts that before the alleged attack, he had gone to a Subway restaurant shortly after landing in Chicago, where the Fox drama is filmed.

He was on the phone with his music manager, Brandon Z. Moore, as he left the restaurant. As he crossed the street, Smollett said he heard someone yell "Empire," which he ignored. It was after hearing homophobic and racial slurs that he turned around and confronted a man in a ski mask.

Smollett said the attacker told him, "This is MAGA country" and used a racial slur before punching him in the face. "So I punched his a-- right back."

"We started tussling," Smollett said. A second attacker began kicking him in the back. "Then it just stopped and they ran off. "

Smollett said his manager was still on the phone, which had fallen out of his pocket. He told Moore that he had just been jumped. Then, Smollett said, he looked down and saw a rope.

"I noticed the rope around my neck and I started screaming," Smollett said. "And I said 'There's a (expletive) rope around my neck."

Police previously told The Washington Post that a thin white rope was still around Smollett's neck when they first came into contact with him, about 40 minutes after the attack. He told Roberts that he was able to give only a body description of his attackers because the entire encounter happened so fast. "It felt like minutes, but it was probably like 30 seconds, honestly," Smollett said.

Smollett addressed reports that he initially hesitated to go to the police about his alleged assault."We live in a society where, as a gay man, you are considered somehow to be weak. And I'm not weak," he said. "We, as a people, are not weak."

Smollett explained that he kept the rope around his neck and didn't change the clothes he had worn during the attack because he smelled bleach and thought his clothes looked as if they had been doused with the liquid. "I wanted (the police) to see what this was."

Police have not confirmed that the substance allegedly poured on Smollett during the attack was bleach. But the New York Post reported this week that its staffers found an "empty hot sauce bottle that was partially filled with a clear liquid that smelled like bleach" near the scene of the alleged attack.

A police spokeswoman confirmed that the bottle was found by New York Post staffers and that it was turned over to the police for analysis. The spokeswoman said that the bottle had not been discovered during earlier searches of the area and that the FBI would assist with the analysis.

The actor said he doesn't "have any doubt" that the two people in the surveillance image released by police are his alleged attackers.

"I want that video found so badly" - for multiple reasons, Smollett told Roberts. "No, 1, I want them to find the people that did it, No. 2, I want them to stop being able to say 'alleged attack.'

"I want them to see that I fought back," Smollett continued, his voice breaking. "And I want a little gay boy who might watch this to see that I fought the f--- back."

"I didn't run off. They did," Smollett said, referring to his attackers.

Smollett has faced increased scrutiny this week amid reports that he gave redacted phone records to police. A spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Department confirmed to The Washington Post that they "received limited and redacted phone records from the victim."

The spokeswoman said the records will be analyzed by detectives, who will follow up with Smollett if additional information is needed. She added that Moore, who police consider a key witness because he said he could hear the attackers over the phone, "has refused to let police examine his phone."

Smollett's publicist released a statement this week noting that "any redacted information was intended to protect the privacy of personal contacts or high-profile individuals not relevant to the attack," something Smollett reiterated in his "GMA" interview. The statement emphasized that Smollett is a victim and that he has cooperated with police throughout the investigation.

"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 Jussie's account of what happened that night consistent and credible," Smollett's publicist said in the statement.

Earlier this month, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told Chicago's ABC7 that Smollett had "been very cooperative and we have no reason, at this point, to think that he's not being genuine with us."

Smollett told Roberts that he believes some have doubted his story because he said his attackers referenced Make America Great Again, President Donald Trump's campaign slogan.

"It feels like if I had said it was a Muslim or a Mexican or someone black, I feel like the doubters would have supported me  a lot more," he said. "And that says a lot about the place that we are in our country right now."

"I come really, really hard against" Trump, Smollett said. "I come really, really hard against his administration, and I don't hold my tongue."

Trump was asked about Smollett's attack in an interview earlier this month. "I think that's horrible," he said. "It doesn't get worse, as far as I'm concerned."

Roberts asked Smollett whether he had seen the president's comments. "I saw it," Smollett said. "I don't know what to say to that. I appreciate him not brushing over it."

Roberts asked the actor, "If the attackers are never found, how will you be able to heal?"

"I don't know," Smollett said, as his eyes filled with tears." Let's just hope that they are. Let's not go there yet."

"I understand how difficult it will be to find them, but we got to," he added. "I still want to believe with every thing that has happened that there's something called justice."This story originally appeared on The Oregonian/OregonLive.

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.

More for you Business Plant-based burger battle heats up as culinary rivals...

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.Thank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase an affordable subscription to continue accessing our content.The inclement weather and heavy ice also caused the loss of one of two autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) that had spent several days searching for the wreck on the seafloor. The AUVs were transported by the South African polar research ship Agulhas II.

The expedition team announced today (Feb. 14) that they had abandoned the search for the wreck and the Agulhas II was now returning northward, to the edge of the Weddell Sea, to avoid being trapped.

"As a team, we are clearly disappointed not to have been successful in our mission to find Endurance," said British maritime archaeologist Mensun Bound, the director of the exploration phase of the Weddell Sea Expedition. [In Photos: Searching for Shackleton's 'Endurance' Shipwreck]

"Like Shackleton before us, who described the graveyard of Endurance as 'the worst portion of the worst sea in the world,' our well laid plans were overcome by the rapidly moving ice and what Shackleton called 'the evil conditions of the Weddell Sea,'" Bound said in a statement.

The Endurance was crushed by ice and sank to the seafloor in November 1915, forcing Shackleton and his crew to trek on foot and float on sheets of ice for hundreds of miles across the harsh Antarctic terrain to Elephant Island, at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Shackleton and five of his men then navigated in a small lifeboat for 800 miles (1,280 km) to a whaling station on the subpolar island of South Georgia to bring back help to the remaining crew; remarkably, all 27 members of the expedition survived the ordeal.

The Endurance trapped in the ice of Antarctica's Weddell Sea in 1915. (Image credit: Frank Hurley, 1915/public domain)

Frozen sea

The Agulhas II reached the last recorded position of the Endurance two weeks ago, after scientists onboard completed their studies of the region, located beside the Larsen C Ice Shelf, which was exposed by the breaking off of the Delaware-sized A-68 iceberg in July 2017.

The searchers hoped that the two AUVs onboard the Agulhas II would help them find the wreck of the Endurance, which is thought to rest about 9,800 feet (3,000 m) of water beneath a layer of sea ice. But the fast-moving sea ice caused one of the AUVs to lose communications with the ship for several days during its search of the seafloor, although it was later recovered. The other AUV went missing completely a few days ago, after it had been searching underwater for more than 30 hours and had traveled beneath a large ice floe.

The Dutch science research vessel Agulhas II in the Weddell Sea. (Image credit: Pierre Le Gall/Weddell Sea Expedition 2019)

Julian Dowdeswell, the expedition's chief scientist and director of the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge in the U.K., said it was unlikely that another polar research ship could venture into the region soon.

"The science and the search for the Endurance are high-risk, high-reward kinds of things," Dowdeswell told Live Science. "The sea-ice conditions are always very difficult there, and that is why nobody has searched for the Endurance before."

Dowdeswell said that the team of scientists onboard the Agulhas II had been fortunate to complete the first marine and geological surveys of the region next to the Larsen C Ice Shelf since it was exposed by the A-68 iceberg almost two years ago.

"The expedition has been extremely successful in terms of the amount of scientific work we have been able to do in this difficult region," he said. "It was kind of 'so near and yet so far' with the [wreck] search."

But he remains hopeful that the search for Shackleton's ship will one day be resumed.

"It is one of those things that stands out as an obvious challenge, and I have no doubt that that challenge will be revisited at some time in the future," Dowdeswell said.

Original article on Live Science.Excavations in a lavishly decorated house in ancient Pompeii have yielded a Valentine's Day-worthy discovery: a fresco of Narcissus, the mythical hunter who fell in love with his own reflection.

According to Greek mythology, Narcissus  the son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Liriope  was a handsome fellow. But given that he wasted away after gazing at his reflection in a pool of water, his name is now synonymous with self-absorption.

Even so, his likeness is often portrayed in paintings found in Pompeii, the Roman city that met its end when Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79. And the new find, announced today (Feb. 14) by the Archeological Park of Pompeii, is a stunning example of how the city's artisans lionized the dapper dude. [Preserved Pompeii: Photos Show a City in Ash]

Archaeologists found the fresco in an atrium of a house that made headlines in November 2018, after an erotic painting was found there. That painting depicted the Roman god Jupiter (disguised as a swan) as he seduced Leda, the legendary queen of Sparta.

The two frescos were found in separate rooms, but clearly whoever decorated the house was a connoisseur of sensual art, the Archeological Park of Pompeii suggested, as a painting of Priapus, a god of fertility, was also found on the walls.

The walls in the Leda room are also decorated with floral embellishments, griffins with cornucopia, winged cupids, still lifes and scenes of animals fighting each other, the Archeological Park of Pompeii reported. Unfortunately, the ceiling in this room collapsed when Vesuvius spewed out lapilli  that is, rock fragments  during its eruption. But restorers are working to reconstruct the house, the Archeological Park of Pompeii said.

In the atrium where the Narcissus fresco was discovered, archaeologists could still see traces of stairs that led upstairs. Further excavations uncovered a dozen glass containers, eight amphora jars and a bronze funnel in the storage space under the stairs. A bronze situla (an ornate bucket) was also found in the atrium.

"The extraordinary discoveries of this site continue," archaeologist Massimo Osanna, the director general of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, said in the statement. "The scene of the myth of Narcissus, well known and present elsewhere at Pompeii, is presented in the atrium of the house. The entire room is pervaded by the theme of the joy of living, of beauty and of vanity, which is further underlined by the figures of maenads [female followers of Dionysus] and satyrs who accompanied visitors inside the public part of the house, as though part of a Dionysian retinue."

Osanna added that "this decoration was intentionally luxurious, and probably dated to the last years of the colony, as indicated by the extraordinary preservation state of the colors."

Originally published on Live Science.After a fierce battle in 1942, the USS Hornet succumbed to an onslaught from Japanese dive-bombers, torpedo planes and destroyers, which hit the ship with torpedoes. But now, after years of searching, shipwreck hunters have finally located the Hornet's remains at the bottom of the South Pacific.

In January, the 250-foot-long (76 meters) research vessel Petrel, owned by the late Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, found the wreckage near the Solomon Islands under about 17,490 feet (5,330 m) of water.

The USS Hornet was one of the most important aircraft carriers during World War II. It played key roles in the April 1942 Doolittle Raid against Tokyo and in the June 1942 Battle of Midway in the Pacific Ocean theater. But the Hornet met its end on Oct. 26, 1942, during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. [Mayday! 17 Mysterious Shipwrecks You Can See on Google Earth]

When the Hornet sank, 140 sailors from a crew of nearly 2,200 lost their lives, according to the subsea operations team at Vulcan, the company Allen set up to manage his businesses and philanthropy.

The USS Hornet's hull sustained damage during its last battle. (Image credit: Copyright Navigea Ltd, R/V Petrel;Vulcan)

The subsea operations team began their hunt for the missing aircraft carrier by scouring the official deck logs and action reports from the nine other U.S. warships that also fought in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. After narrowing down the search area, the 10-person team used a deep-sea sonar drone that sent back a video feed from the seafloor and  amazingly  found the USS Hornet wreckage on its first try.

Then, the team confirmed the warship's identity by the hull classification symbol CV-8, which the drone spotted on the side of the sunken carrier.

An international harvester aircraft tug sits upright, even after spending decades at the bottom of the South Pacific. (Image credit: Copyright Navigea Ltd, R/V Petrel;Vulcan)

For Richard Nowatzki, age 95, the memory of the USS Hornet is still fresh in his mind. Nowatzki was an 18-year-old gunner aboard the USS Hornet on its last mission.

"When they left, we were dead in the water," Nowatzki told CBS News' Mark Phillips, referring to the Japanese fighters. "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."

Meanwhile, the expedition team said they were proud to find the ship's remains, and said its discovery was an homage to Allen, who died from complications related to non-Hodgkin lymphoma in December 2018.

"We had the Hornet on our list of WWII warships that we wanted to locate because of its place in history as a capital carrier that saw many pivotal moments in naval battles," Robert Kraft, director of subsea operations for Vulcan, said in the statement. "Paul Allen was particularly interested in aircraft carriers, so this was a discovery that honors his memory."

Originally published on Live Science.A letter from an archbishop of York details the actions of a nun who faked her own death to escape convent life.

Medieval nun fakes death to escape convent and enjoy a life of carnal lust. Sounds like the basis for a juicy novel, but this really happened during the 14th century in England.

Archivist and historian Sarah Rees Jones discovered the real-life tale while investigating the Registers of the Archbishops of York, which recorded the business of archbishops from 1304 to 1405, as part of a project to make the contents of the documents accessible online.

In a letter (in the registers) dating to 1318, Archbishop William Melton describes a "scandalous rumor" he heard, detailing the blasphemous behavior of a nun named Joan to the Dean of Beverley, who was responsible for an area of Yorkshire some 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of York, said Rees Jones, a medieval historian at the University of York and principal investigator on the project. [Cracking Codices: 10 of the Most Mysterious Ancient Manuscripts]

The letter requests the dean's help in finding Joan and demanding that she return to her convent in York, Rees Jones told Live Science. "It is copied into the archbishops' registers, which are the main focus of our project," she added.

Gary Brannan, archivist, and Sarah Rees Jones examine one of the registers of the Archbishops of York. (Image credit: University of York)

To try to get away with her escape, Joan apparently created some kind of body double that the other nuns would bury as her own. "My speculation is that she used something like a shroud and filled it with earth, hence its dummy-like appearance," Rees Jones said. "People were commonly buried in shrouds."

As for what Joan was escaping to, described in the letter as her "carnal lust," Rees Jones can only speculate.

"This may mean no more (in modern terms) than enjoying the material pleasures of living in the secular world (abandoning her vow of poverty), or it may mean entering into a sexual relationship (abandoning her vow of chastity)," Rees Jones wrote in an email to Live Science. "We do know that other religious [people] abandoned their vocations either to marry or to take up an inheritance of some kind."

The registers are sure to contain other fascinating tales, according to a statement from the university. Not only have they been little studied, but the registers chronicled the day-to-day activities of archbishops, who at the time had pretty interesting lives.

"On the one hand, they carried out diplomatic work in Europe and Rome, and rubbed shoulders with the VIPs of the Middle Ages," she said in a statement. "However, they were also on the ground resolving disputes between ordinary people, inspecting priories and monasteries and correcting wayward monks and nuns."

The devout job also would have been a dangerous one, as the Black Death was sweeping through Europe at the time (from 1347 to 1351). And the priests were the ones who would visit the sick and administer last rites, she noted.

Rees Jones and her colleagues hope to find out more on some of the most compelling archbishops, including Melton, who led an army of priests and everyday residents in a battle defending the City of York from the Scots in 1319. Another archbishop, Richard le Scrope joined the so-called Northern Rising against Henry IV, for which he was executed in 1405. The records, Rees Jones said, may reveal his motivations for getting involved. [Gallery: In Search of the Grave of Richard III]

They might even uncover the rest of the story of the escapee nun and whether she was returned to the convent.

The registers themselves, tucked into 16 heavy volumes, had what the university called a "perilous existence." Officials of the medieval archbishop would have carried the parchment volumes on his travels. And after the English Civil War, in 1600s, they were stored in London, before being brought, in the 18th century, to the Diocesan Registry in York Minster.

The University of York project to put the registers online will run for 33 months in partnership with The National Archives in the United Kingdom, and with the support of the Chapter of York Minster.

Originally published on Live Science.Artist's illustration of NASA's Opportunity on the surface of Mars, which touched down on the Red Planet in January 2004.

The Mars rover Opportunity has died, NASA announced yesterday (Feb. 13). A layer of dust likely coated its solar panels, preventing it from juicing itself up after a 2018 sky-blackening dust storm on the Red Planet.

But why couldn't NASA launch a rescue mission to get it working again? After all, Opportunity wasn't the first rover to get to Mars, and it won't be the last. It's just been the hardiest. In its stunning 14-plus years of travel, enabled by Martian winds that periodically cleaned off its solar panels, it has covered an impressive 28 miles (40 kilometers) on the planet.

The most obvious candidate to rescue Opportunity is the Curiosity rover, Opportunity's bigger, nuclear-powered younger sibling. Why not take some time out of Curiosity's work, and send it to see what's wrong with Opportunity and if it might be fixed? [Voyager to Mars Rover: NASA's 10 Greatest Innovations]

NASA's Opportunity Mars rover took this image of its own tracks on the rim of Endeavour Crater in June 2017. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State University)

The first problem, unfortunately, is distance. According to NASA's Mars map, the Curiosity and Opportunity sites are about 5,200 miles (8,400 km) apart from one another. Curiosity's a bit swifter-footed than Opportunity, but even so, the young sprite would just take way too long to cover that terrain. To navigate the Martian terrain, these rovers require constant guidance from Earth Combined with the long delay between message transmission and receipt, even a trek of a few feet can take days.

The second problem is that Curiosity is an explorer, not a repair bot. It would be a monumental challenge to repurpose its onboard instruments to even clear dust off of Opportunity's solar panels. And there's no guarantee that's all that's gone wrong with the rover sitting silently in the Martian cold and darkness.

A selfie of the Mars Curiosity rover. Unfortunately, Opportunity's buddy can't come to its rescue. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

The final problem is time. Even if Curiosity could take some express train to Opportunity's location, Martian winter is setting in, and the conditions will likely compound any damage to Opportunity now that it's no longer able to keep itself warm.

So Opportunity is toast. But who knows, maybe humans on Mars will find it someday and manage to switch it back on.

Originally published on Live Science.NASA's Mars rover Opportunity reveals its shadow, seen on July 26, 2004, and snapped by the rovers front hazard-avoidance camera. At the time, Opportunity was moving farther into Endurance Crater in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars.

NASA's Opportunity Rover has died on Mars. The little solar-paneled robot apparently ran out of battery power during the Red Planet's awesome 2018 dust storm, and after one last attempt to contact it, NASA concluded yesterday (Feb. 13) that the far-off explorer is no more.

Which raises the question: What's going to happen to its body?

Many human artifacts wouldn't last very long beyond our protective biosphere. As Live Science reported previously, solar radiation has likely shredded the Tesla Roadster Elon Musk launched into space last year.

But Tesla Roadsters have lots of organic fibers and plastics in their bodies. Mars rovers are made of tougher stuff. [Voyager to Mars Rover: NASA's 10 Greatest Innovations]

Jeff Moersch, a professor of planetary science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a member of the Opportunity team, cautioned that he's not an expert in the rover's engineering. But he said that Opportunity does have some plastic bits that might eventually break down under the glare of the sun  its insulation, for example.

"But, by and large, I think it'll look pretty much as we left it," when and if astronauts ever do come across its resting place, Moersch told Live Science. It'll probably be pretty dusty, though, he added.

That's assuming that astronauts do make it to Mars in the relatively near future  the next century or two, for example.

Over much longer periods, Moersch said, dust will settle on the rover. Opportunity functioned as long as it did because regular Martian winds tended to routinely blow dust off its body. But over longer periods, it's a bit of an open question whether the dust or the wind will win out.

"I doubt it will end up buried in a mound, though," he added.

What about millions of years in the future? On Earth, anything old and dead and sitting in one place on the surface tends to eventually end up underground. But that's thanks to the effects of water and plate tectonics, Moersch said  factors that aren't present in the same way on Mars.

"Over the very long-term, you're going to get impacts that knock up ejecta [airborne Mars dirt] from where they hit, and that ejecta will very gradually resurface [on] the planet and bury things that were on the surface," he said.

If Opportunity were to be left on Mars, aliens who landed there millions and millions of years from now would find the rover somewhere in the rock record  much like how paleontologists find dinosaur fossils here on Earth.

But NASA is hoping to send humans to Mars one day. And there are dreams of establishing some sort of human settlement there. Steve Squyres, a professor of astronomy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and head of the Opportunity science mission, made clear during NASA's press conference announcing the rover's death that the agency has no plans to bring the rover back to Earth. (Why would we spend the money bringing material back from Mars when we already know exactly what it's made of? he asked.)

That said, Moersch added, when humans do settle Mars, it's not unreasonable to imagine they might make some effort to recover and preserve Opportunity. Perhaps it could end up in museum, or the region explored by the rover might end up as a national park.

Of course, if humans never get there, Opportunity might not make it into the fossil record at all. It's at least plausible that, given millions of years, a meteor could strike it directly and smash it to bits.

Originally published on Live Science.They've become the stars of many a nature documentary and cartoon, beloved for their fluffiness and impeccable waddle. Yet, when it comes to breeding, you might say that emperor penguins have drawn the evolutionary short straw. As if life weren't already tough enough in the mostly frigid Antarctic landscape they inhabit, these birds also have to breed in the dead of winter, when they must shield their eggs from snow and roaring winds, lest the eggs turn into ice cubes.

This week's episode of BBC America's "Dynasties" follows a colony of emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) as they contend with this inhospitable climate to keep their fragile eggs alive.

The emperor is actually the only penguin species that follows the risky strategy of breeding solely in the winter, which they do in huge colonies of several thousand birds. While the female birds head out to sea for months to replenish themselves with fish after each one lays an enormous egg, the males stay behind and each incubate an egg as temperatures grow increasingly frigid on the flat sheet ice where they live. [In Photos: The Emperor Penguin's Beautiful and Extreme Breeding Season]

The reason for their wintertime breeding comes down to some very tight scheduling constraints. When several thousand hatchlings arrive in a penguin colony, they require tons of fish, squid and krill as sustenance. But that's available only in the springtime, when the vast stretches of frozen sea that separate emperor penguins from the ocean's edge melt and break apart.

And because incubating an egg takes around four months, "that means starting it in the winter, so the chick is then timed to hatch when maximum resources are available close by in the ocean," said Philip Trathan, head of conservation biology at the British Antarctic Survey. "If [penguins] were trekking over 200 kilometers [124 miles] of sea ice every foraging trip, they just wouldn't have time to do it," he told Live Science.

Saddled with the mammoth task of protecting their young against blizzards and subzero temperatures, emperor penguin dads have essentially been transformed by evolution into walking hot-water bottles.

For starters, the birds are almost completely covered in a dense layer of feathers that's several centimeters thick, which insulates their own bodies and their young. Like many penguin species, an emperor is also equipped with a flap of naked skin on its abdomen, called the "brood pouch," that protects the egg. A bird artfully balances an egg on its feet, presses it up against this bare skin and then covers the egg over with a fleecy fold of belly plumage that completely insulates the offspring from the frozen world outside.

A 2-week-old chick balances on its mother's feet and stays warm in her cozy brood pouch. For several weeks, the chicks spend all of their time under the warm protection of their parents. (Image credit: Stefan Christmann/BBC America)

Direct contact with the skin heats the egg via blood vessels that lie just beneath the surface, said Dominic McCafferty, a thermal ecologist at Glasgow University in Scotland. The brood pouch also has a biological bonus. "The skin itself is very rich in temperature-sensing neurons that pick up the temperature of [the egg]," McCafferty told Live Science. That attunes emperor dads to the well-being of their chicks, alerting them when eggs need a little extra coverage to keep them cozy.

But all of this relies on the father penguin being able to maintain his own insulation for the benefit of himself and his young. "One of the several adaptations that the emperor penguins have in particular is this ability to not lose heat to the surrounding environment," said Michelle LaRue, a lecturer in Gateway Antarctica in the department of geography at University of Canterbury in New Zealand, who specializes in the population dynamics of Antarctic species. Part of that is ensuring that they have as little contact with the ice as possible. [Why Is Ice Slippery?]

To accomplish that, the birds lift their feet off the ice, lean back into their heels and steady themselves with their tail tips. "They have this kind of like two-foot-tail tripod, so that the only things touching the ice are their heels and their tail  which I think is incredible," LaRue told Live Science. "They kind of look like they're in a rocking chair!" They adopt this posture for months on end, for the protection of their chicks. "They're incredibly resilient. I'm in awe of the way they make a living," LaRue added.

Thermal imaging studies show that the birds' bodies lose only tiny amounts of heat, mainly through the beak, eyes and feet. Their feathers are basically an incredibly sophisticated down jacket, which "keeps the center warm but allows very little heat to transfer through the feathers out to the surface," said McCafferty, who studies temperature regulation in these birds. In fact, he's shown in his research that the surface of the birds' feathers are actually cool  which suggests that they're conducting hardly any heat to the outside world; it's all trapped within.

"This tells us that their insulation is working very, very well," McCafferty said.

For extra heat insurance during the long months on the ice, the father birds use one last tactic: group hugs. Emperor penguins are famed for creating enormous huddles, wherein hundreds of birds jam together in a constantly circulating mass to ensure collective warmth. The underlying dynamics of these great groups are so complex that many biologists are still trying to understand how the gatherings work, McCafferty said.

But scientists do know why the birds do it. "Their sheer body heat is able to elevate the temperature of the air within the huddle," McCafferty said, adding that a group of French scientists has recorded air temperatures of more than 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) above the huddle.

Amid subzero conditions, the impressive heat of the huddle can help emperor dads slow their metabolism and reduce energy use, so they can continue warming their precious offspring, McCafferty explained.

While the common motif in nature documentaries of penguins huddled against howling winds may be designed to tug at our heartstrings, McCafferty said we needn't pity these birds or their tiny chicks. For humans, anything below 68 F (20 C) would feel a bit cool, but "this zone of comfort for emperor penguins probably extends down to something like minus 10 degrees Celsius [14 F]," he said.

"They're very well-adapted to these environments, and they're very successful at what they do," he said. These dedicated penguin dads, who manage to raise their young in probably the harshest place on Earth, certainly are proof of that.

Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, BBC America's "Dynasties" gives viewers an up-close-and-personal look into the family lives of five of the most celebrated and endangered animals on the planet. The fourth episode, "Emperor," premieres Saturday (Feb. 16) on BBC America at 9 p.m. EST/8 p.m. CST. Viewers can watch the first episode, "Lion," for free online.

Originally published on Live Science.OLYMPIC hurdler Thomas Barr has launched the 2019 National Lottery Good Causes awards which aim to honour the inspiring work and achievements of thousands of projects, clubs and individuals all over Ireland.

The Limerick-based Childrens Grief Centre was the overall winner of last years awards which are open to organisations which are making a difference in their communities.

The deadline for sporting organisations and community groups to enter the awards is March 29. The total prize prize fund is 95,000.

Speaking at the UL Sport Arena, this Thursday, Thomas Barr said the awards are a fantastic initiative which he is happy to support.

As someone who has benefited hugely from National Lottery funding in my career, I am delighted to be associated with these important awards. I can see the impact of National Lottery funding all over the country, and its role in supporting athletes who are preparing for major competitions including the Olympics.

Dermot Griffin, ceo of the National Lottery said the awards are another way of giving back to local communities and voluntary groups across Ireland.

The National Lottery is used to celebrating winners. However we have thousands of winners, unsung heroes, who work quietly under the radar to make positive change in their communities and these awards reflect that dedication and commitment, he said.

Representatives of the Childrens Grief Centre also attended the launch and officials from the National Lottery visited their offices afterwards.

There are seven categories, with county and regional finals leading up to a gala awards dinner on Saturday, November 2.

Each category winner will received 10,000 and the overall winner will receive an additional 25,000.

For more details see www.lottery.ie.A COUNTY Limerick man who broke windscreen wipers and punctured four car tyres did it because he was upset with the vehicles owner for breaking up with him, Kilmallock Court heard.

Patrick Higgins, aged 47, of Ash Avenue, John Carew Park, Limerick city pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal damage.

Sergeant Michelle Leahy said the incidents occurred at 2.10am on May 27, 2018, at Radharc Cille, Kilfinane.

The injured party heard noise. She saw the defendant bent down by her car. Four tyres were flat. There was a small hole in each of them. The two front windscreen wipers were bent out of shape.

Gardai found a red handled screwdriver in his pocket. He was very intoxicated. He was upset with the injured party breaking up with him and apologises, said Sgt Leahy, who added that the cost of the damage was 400.

Kevin Power, solicitor for Mr Higgins, said his client was on a lot of medication at the time.

He had consumed a lot of alcohol on the day, said Mr Power, who handed in a letter on the medical condition to Judge Marian OLeary.

Due to the level of medication he was on he has no recollection of events, said Mr Power.

Judge OLeary said: This woman is out of pocket. She had to get four new tyres.

Mr Power said Mr Higgins is willing to pay compensation.

He is in receipt of social welfare. He has 110 in disposable income every week, said Mr Power.

Judge Marian OLeary put the case back for six months for Mr Higgins to pay compensation and for a garda progress report on the defendant.

I dont want any excuses, said Judge OLeary.NORA Bennis, who regularly made headlines for her outspoken views and passed away this week aged 78, has been laid to rest in her native Limerick.

Married to the late Gerry Bennis from the famous hurling family from Patrickswell, she was a very energetic and forceful voice in a wide range of areas from women working at home to abortion and sex education.

The staunch pro-life campaigner had plenty of followers and secured more than 18,000 first preference votes when she contested the 1994 European elections in the then Munster constituency.

Her funeral took place this Thursday at Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Ennis Road, adjacent to her family home at Revington Park. She was to be buried in St Marys (New) Cemetery, Patrickswell.

Nora was daughter of Paul Shinners, a veteran of the Easter Rising. As a political activist, she regularly hit the headlines including when leading a boycott of a sex shop which she described as filth when it opened on Ellen Street many years ago.

I would encourage people to boycott this filth, she stated at the time.

She also made the front pages when she criticised Taoiseach Bertie Aherns first public appearance with his then partner Celia Larkin, saying he was looking for cheap publicity.

Mr Ahern, she said, had a responsibility to reflect the ethos of the nation. People, she stressed, should clearly stand by the bond of Christian marriage.

After the X Case reopened Irelands abortion debate in the early 1990s, she started the Irish Mothers Working at Home Association as a support network for housewives who felt isolated or ignored. In 1994 she became leader of the Solidarity Movement, an alliance of independent political candidates linked to the Family Solidarity pressure-group.

Most recently, she was a candidate in the 2016 General Election in the city but was eliminated on the first count having secured just 673 votes.

Everyone who knew her said she was a very caring person, a point exemplified by her friendship with convicted murderer in the US, Jack Potts, over 20 years. Noras daughter Grainne even visited Potts in prison bringing with her a Limerick GAA jersey.

She was thrilled when Limerick won the All-Ireland hurling title last August, something which unfortunately her late husband Gerry, a lifelong GAA supporter sadly missed out on.

Limerick TD Niall Collins said he was saddened to learn of her death.

My deepest condolences go to the Bennis family on the passing of Nora, She was an outstanding campaigner who was so well respected. She will be hugely missed by all, he said.

Nora is survived by her daughters Grainne, Muirne and Aedin and her son Rory.GARDAI have used Valentines Day to warn people about romance scammers who may try to get their victims to send them money.

Gardai said romance scammers steal hearts, then money, citing the example of a woman who was defrauded out of 48,000.

The woman was showered with expensive gifts, including scarves and perfumes, before she was asked to invest in her suitors business. Over a thirteen month period, the woman gave the romance fraudster 48,000. The woman initially delayed reporting the fraud as she was married, gardai said.

Victims of the scam believe they have met their perfect match online, but the other person is in fact a scammer using a fake profile to build the relationship. They slowly gain the victims trust with a view to eventually asking them for money.

The extent of the scam is not fully known because many of the victims are too embarrassed to report the fraud to gardai.

Detective Inspector Catharina Gunne from the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau warns: Romance fraudsters may try to get their victims to send them money using the following excuses: to cover the cost of travelling to see the victim; for emergency medical expenses for the scammer or a family member  typically a child; a business opportunity which would allow them to live together comfortably.

In the beginning, the amount of money requested will often be small but increases as the scammer becomes more successful in building the relationship and tricking the victim.

Recently, a romance fraudster in the west of Ireland was found guilty of taking nearly 19,000 from a victim. The perpetrator obtained money through deception over a five month period after meeting the victim through a dating website.

An Garda Siochana works closely with Europol to disrupt the activities of romance scammers, particularly organised crime gangs that engage in this type of criminality. Dating websites are often monitored for criminality, added Det Insp Gunne.

What are the signs?

Romance fraudsters will:

 Try to move communications away from dating websites. They suggest that you move to instant messaging, text or phone calls instead.

 Ask a lot of personal questions.

 Avoid answering personal questions about themselves. The details that they do tell you seem made up or do not reflect reality. For instance, they may say that theyre university educated, but their spelling and grammar is poor.

 Try to establish a bond quickly. For example, they may give you an endearing pet name e.g. baby, darling, etc.

 Ask for financial help. They may tell you about money problems in the hope that youll offer to help.

 Never meet you in person. They will present obstacles and may go as far as making arrangements and cancelling them at the last minute. They may promise to want to see you but offer excuses which delay this, such as financial troubles.

What can you do?

1. Use trusted dating websites.

2. Do not share personal details.

3. Do not send or receive money.

4. Think twice before using your webcam.

5. Trust your instincts.

Are you a victim?

If you believe that you are a victim of a romance scam, or think your identity or personal information has been compromised, contact any Garda Station and report the crime. Please be assured that An Garda Siochana will treat all reports in confidence.WITH 30 Leaving Certificates under its belt, Limerick Tutorial College has finely tuned how each student should approach their exams, offering experience and expertise along with the very best teaching staff.

It caters for for fifth and sixth year and repeat leaving cert, with repeat students gaining on average a minimum of 100 points on the previous year.

Limerick Tutorial College is very much a family run school that understands the guidance and support that is needed by each individual student and their families.

We look on each student as if they are a member of our own family and advise and guide them accordingly, said John OHalloran, principal.

All we want is that each student will fulfil their own potential, he said.

The choice of subjects also plays a huge factor in its success, offering each student time tables that allow them to choose subjects that they personally will excel in, with students travelling from throughout Ireland to avail of its success.

Now enrolling for 5th year, 6th Year and Repeat Leaving Cert 2020 courses. For interview, please call 061-315522.

Limerick Tutorial College is backing the Limerick Leaders search to find Limericks All Time Great.LIMERICK company Teckro has raised $25m in funding that it says will help it speed up clinical trials to fight worlds most complex diseases.

The company, founded and headquartered in Limerick city with offices in Dublin and in Nashville, said the fresh round of financing would accelerate its aim of helping to bring drugs and treatments to market quicker and more efficiently.

The life sciences company, which operates out of the Bank Building in the city, has developed specialist software for clinical drug trials.

Teckros total funding now stands at $43m - around 38.2m. It uses machine learning technologies to improve the speed and accuracy of clinical trials and works with some of the worlds top pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

It has grown rapidly since it was founded by brothers Gary and Nigel Hughes and Jacek Skrzypiec in 2015. The founders sold their previous company Firecrest to global clinical research giant ICON plc in 2011.

Despite all the talk of digital transformation, the actual experience of participating in a clinical trial if you are a doctor, research nurse or patient has changed little in the last 20 years, said CEO and founder Gary Hughes after the Series C funding announcement.

The industry still relies heavily on paper, on working off retrospective data, and there is still an over-reliance on sending CRAs to busy research sites. This approach, together with the plethora of point solutions that get bolted on, only adds to the complexity and disjointed experience of research sites and patients.

Our vision is to be at the centre of all site and patient interactions in a clinical trial. We are building a new digital infrastructure and toolset for clinical research that makes the conduct of trials simpler, more transparent and more inclusive.

Ultimately Teckro is about ensuring that effective drugs are efficiently and effectively moved from the lab to the patient so that lives be saved.

Teckro has users in over 80 countries, up from 30 countries at the time of a previous funding announcement of $10m in August 2017. It employs over 100 staff across its three global bases including its global headquarters in Limerick, where it has around 70 employees.

The $25 million Series C round was led by Northpond Ventures with participation from Founders Fund, Sands Capital Ventures, Bill Maris Section 32 venture fund and Borealis Ventures.

Teckro is building a digital infrastructure which can transform how clinical trials are conducted. We are excited by the team and what they have achieved to date and look forward to supporting them on this important mission, said Michael Rubin, M.D., Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Northpond Ventures.

Gary Hughes has previously told the Limerick Leader: We have always been big believers in the potential of Limerick city centre which is why we set up here.

Teckros plans are ambitious and they come with a real passion for improving clinical research, said Gary.LIMERICKS most listened-to radio station launched a new look to coincide with the latest radio listenership figures which has just been published.

According to the latest JNLR/Ipsos MRBI survey, Live 95 had a 32.3% market share in Limerick at the end of December 2018  a marginal increase compared to 2017.

In addition, the figures show that 39% of those aged over 15 in Limerick listen to the radio station at least once every weekday while more than 100,000 people across the city and county tune in to Live 95 every week.

We are pleased and proud to have maintained our position as the most listened to radio station in Limerick. The power of radio in general is obvious from this survey, showing 82% of Limerick people are tuning-in to a radio station every day. We are honoured to play our part and serve the people of Limerick - they are at the forefront of everything we do on a daily basis, said Joe Nash, Live 95s station director.

I also want to sincerely thank the team  both on the air and behind the scenes  here at the radio station, whose ability and hard work continue to deliver a service that the listeners of Limerick tune-in to, in significant numbers and thanks are also due to our loyal advertisers, for their continuing support, he added.

Julie White, Live 95s sales and marketing manager, said everyone at the radio station, which is part of the Wireless Group, is excited by the new look and sound which has just been revealed following months of preparation.

We are really excited about the stations new look. It reflects our place at the heart of the Limerick community and our ongoing commitment to provide the best service to a modern, confident Limerick, she said.A WELL-known Limerick judge will preside over a mock-trial to be held by young students at Limerick Courthouse, as part of a project introducing them to the legal system.

TY Law Ireland is introducing Limerick transition year students to Irelands legal system with a day-long workshop held in participating schools.

Schools taking part in the initiative could be in with a chance to compete for the Mock Trial Treaty Cup Prize in April, which will see Judge Tom ODonnell preside over the students trial in Limerick Courthouse.

Our law module days comprise of an introduction to the legal system, the role of barrister and solicitor, the judicial system in Ireland and the courts structure, coordinator Catherine McLoone BL explained.

A mock trial is conducted with the students in the afternoon, with each student having an active part in the trial.

The court services and the judiciary are in support of the initiative, Ms McLoone added.

The court services are making the courts available for a Mock Trial competition to be held over a three day period.

This will include a quarter-final, a semi-final and a final, with Judge ODonnell presiding over the third and final day.

All transition year schools can enter a team into the competition following our law module day and the Mock Trial Treaty Cup Prize will be rotated annually to the overall winning school, Ms McLoone said.

Schools who are interested in holding a workshop ahead of April can find more information at transitionyearlaw.com or contact tyirelandlawmodules@  gmail.comA MAJOR new historical resource is to be made available at the City Library.

Mayor James Collins will next Wednesday, February 20, launch new film which will see the entire back catalogue of the North Munster Antiquarian Journal made available on www.limerick.ie.

It will see a new, free online source of over 10,000 pages of history writing mainly focused on Limerick, but also Clare and North Tipperary.

Earlier in the week, the Thomond archeological and historical society will hold a talk focused on the Barrington family and its links to Limerick.

It will be given by Fr Brian Murphy, a member of the Benedictine Community of Glenstal Abbey, and the author of a recent book in the Barringtons and the death of the only daughter of Sir Charles Barrington.

The venue for the lecture is Room at Mary Immaculate College in the South Circular Road, Limerick at 8.00pm on Monday, February 18. All are welcome to the talk, which will be free.

For more information on this, please telephone Dr Tadgh Moloney at 087-2076373.

For more on the event at the library, call 061-407510.A MAN who glassed a young student after a row broke out at a house party on the northside of Limerick city has been jailed for 18 months.

John Lysaght, aged 28, who has an address in Prospect, had pleaded guilty to two charges relating to an incident at Thomond Student Village, Old Cratloe Road in the early hours of January 8, 2014.

Garda Shaun OHagan told Limerick Circuit Court the defendant was one of a number of young men who arrived at the house party despite not having been invited. He said a considerable amount of alcohol was consumed and that sometime during the night a dispute erupted over some money which went missing.

He said Mr Lysaght and his associates took umbrage at the suggestion that one of them had taken a sum of money resulting in a standoff taking place.

A fight then broke out at the apartment resulting in two other young men sustaining injuries.

One of the victims, whose now aged 25, sustained facial injuries after he was struck twice by Mr Lysaght with a beer bottle he had smashed off a wall.

John OSullivan BL, prosecuting, said the victim, who is now working in Australia, sustained multiple lacerations to his face and scalp but that he has made a good recovery.

Shane OCallaghan BL, said his client, who has a number of previous convictions, has not been in trouble since the incident as he has avoided associating with certain people.

The barrister the father of two young children is in a stable relationship, had secured part-time employment and had paid 5,000 in compensation to the victim.

Imposing sentence, Judge Tom ODonnell said the defendants previous convictions were a concern as they show a propensity for violence. A further aggravating factor, he said, was that the offence occurred during the currency of a suspended sentence.

He accepted Mr Lysaght has turned his life around and is a more mature person now but added that he had to impose a custodial sentence.

He sentenced him to three years imprisonment, suspending the final 18 months.

Two other young men have already been prosecuted and sentenced in relation to the same incident.Mohill Computer Training (MCT), based in Mohill and part of Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim Education and Training Board (MSLETB), has been shortlisted for an AONTAS STAR award in the category for their work in promoting social inclusion.

The STAR awards (Showcasing Teamwork, Awarding Recognition) are an awards initiative organised by the national adult learning organisation, AONTAS, to recognise and celebrate the achievements of adult learning initiatives throughout Ireland.

MCT provides a range of ICT courses for the local community in south Leitrim and in neighbouring counties.

The courses offered prioritise marginalised groups including long-term unemployed, refugees, lone parents, carers, older people, members of the Travelling community and people with disabilities, with the aim of improving their local employment and further education prospects.

Commenting on the shortlist, Niamh OReilly, CEO of AONTAS, said: The STAR Awards are an excellent opportunity to celebrate the powerful contribution that adult and community education initiatives make to individual adult learners, local communities and wider society. The quality of nominations this year was exceptional, resulting in a highly competitive process. The impact that Mohill Computer Training has on the social, cultural and economic development of its local area was evident to see and were delighted to have such a wonderful initiatives shortlisted for a STAR Award.

Judging of the STAR Awards comprises two stages: in the first stage, nominated projects are shortlisted by an independent judging panel, whose membership is drawn from key stakeholders in the education sectors.

The second stage gives staff and learners from the shortlisted projects the opportunity to meet with the judging panel before they make their final decision.

Learners and staff from shortlisted programmes will invited to the AONTAS STAR Award ceremony on Monday, March 4 in the Pillar Room at the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin 1, when the STAR Award winners will be announced.

The STAR Awards form a key part of the programme of events for AONTAS annual Adult Learners Festival. This year, as AONTAS celebrates its fifty year anniversary (1969-2019), the Festival theme is #EveryDayImLearning, recognising the diverse range of everyday learning opportunities that take place in community settings throughout Ireland.

The STAR Awards is proudly sponsored by the European Social Fund (ESF), the Open University in Ireland, The Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) and the Open College Network Northern Ireland (OCN NI). Sponsors will be offering special prizes to 2019 STAR Award winners.On Sunday July 1, 2018, a large crowd took part in the annual Sharon Loughlin 5k and 8k Fun Walk around the scenic Newtownmanor near Dromahair.

Sharon Loughlin RIP, who sadly passed away on September 7, 2013, was just 24 years old. She had travelled as a guest with The Irish Pilgrimage Trust annual Easter Pilgrimage to Lourdes and had also joined the Friendship Week special holiday in Kilcuan, Clarinbridge, Galway.

As they have every year since Sharons death, her parents John and Angela Loughlin organise a very special annual memorial event with the kind support of Newtownmanor Community Development Association, a local organisation formed in 2007 to promote, enhance and develop existing community and facilities in their area.

On Sunday, February 3, 2019 Sharons parents along with Newtownmanor Community Development Association and the local community gathered in the local Hall after Mass where refreshments were enjoyed and a presentation of 1,420 was made to Mary Clancy from The Irish Pilgrimage Trust; the proceeds from the 2018 Sharon Loughlin Fun Walk.

This is a wonderful tribute to all involved and to late Sharons memory. The Irish Pilgrimage Trust is very grateful to the Sharons family and the Newtownmanor community for its support.

Meantime the church gate collection for the Irish Pilgrimage Trust will be taken up at North Leitrim church gates at Mass times on Saturday evening, February 16 and Sunday morning, February 17.Representatives from across the EU gathered in Lough Rynn Castle Hotel this week to discuss plans and challenges to the rural revival of European towns and villages.



The international gathering not only experienced the beauty and hospitality of Mohill but heard ambitious plans for the rural town to promote itself as a SMART and energy aware town. David Minton, Director of the North West Regional Assembly said he hopes Mohills SMART town plan will be used as a test model across Europe.

Members of the EU Alliance outside Lough Rynn Hotel. PICTURES: WILLIE DONNELLAN



Joe Lowe, Leitrim Enterprise presented the town which has a population of less than 1,000 as a typical rural town in Europe.

Once a thriving market town, it has dealt with population decline, loss of jobs and retail and a problem keeping young people living and working in the area.

Working with the local authority and key stakeholders, Mr Lowe explained they allocated a community worker, engaged with the community and created a town team.

Meetings were held with businesses and the local community to identify problems and seek what locals wanted from their town.

Mr Lowe said this is not a quick fix but they hope with funding and community involvement they can create jobs and make clever and SMART decisions.



Mohill's enterprise centre is being upgraded, training and social media workshops have been held and a new town plan has been created. They are waiting on the results of a feasibility study and have took part in an energy audit and programme, with green energy being a large focus.

There are also plans to create a new town trail and recreation walkways as well as building on the international rowing facility and Lough Rynn Castle Hotel.



Mr Minton complimented the work done in Mohill and said if financed correctly the SMART model could be used as the face of rural revival across the European member states.

He noted that by 2040, a million extra people will live in Ireland and because of that bespoke regional plans are needed. He said they want to make the north west of Ireland the most connected region in Europe.

European Assembly President Karl Vanlouwe said rural towns and villages across Europe, but especially in the north-west of Ireland need to be equipped and prepared for Brexit.



Brexit was referred to as the elephant in the room and was noted as one of the biggest challenges to rural Ireland.

Minister for Rural Affairs Sean Canning said the government have made an unprecedented commitment to revive rural Ireland.



Mr Canning said an announcement is due this week on approved plans by the Rural Regeneration Fund. Mohill, Ballinamore and Manorhamilton are all waiting news on their detailed applications to the fund.

Also read: Leitrim farmer hits out at Brexiteers saying "stop blaming the Irish"A Leixlip woman who cares for her mother with dementia has stepped up her campaign to lobby Government to fund a local Day Care Centre.

Linda Van Der Westhuizen says a North Kildare dementia-specific day care service is desperatelty needed.

Ms Van Der Westhuizen, who works part-time as well as caring for her mother, Marie, who is in her Seventies and was diagnosed with Alzheimers in 2011, rang RTEs Joe Duffy Show in November to ask for help.

Since Linda rang the Joe Duffy Show, The ASI has helped Linda to avail of a two-day day care setting for her mother  but its located over 17km away in Curlew Road, Dublin 12.

There are 1,129 people with dementia living in the community in Kildare, but there is currently no dementia-specific day care centre service in North Kildare. Linda and The ASI are trying to change that.

With the assistance of The ASI, Linda has set up a campaign to encourage the Government to open a day care centre close to her home and recently met with Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin and local TD Frank ORourke to discuss the lack of services in North Kildare and is looking to establish an ASI North Kildare Branch to take part in local lobbying and fundraising.

Linda is an only child and has no other family help to call on to help with her mother and is only receiving an hour and a half home care support each week. Linda says that the two-day placement in Dublin for her mother was a life-saver and she would have been forced to quit her job otherwise.

In Budget 2019, the Government yet again ignored the shameful fact that people living with dementia in Ireland are being deprived of a basic minimum standard of care, as evidenced by the recent mapping of dementia services which was completed by The ASI, the HSE and the National Dementia Office last year.

Linda believes that the time for platitudes has long since passed and the Government must finally fund more desperately needed dementia-specific services to help people Marie.

Dementia Campaigner, Linda Van Der Westhuizen said;

I was really at my wits end and had nowhere else to go when I rang the Joe Duffy Show last November. I felt so disillusioned with the serious lack of services in North Kildare for people with dementia that I wanted to highlight my concerns and create awareness of the situation. Together with The ASI we have set up a campaign to encourage the Government to fund a local day care service in North Kildare, so people like me can avail of services in our own community and not have to travel to Dublin to access them.

I was faced with just two options: either having to travel from the north of Kildare to the south of the County or to Dublin to avail of an ASI service. I decided that I would bring my mother up to Dublin for two days a week. This is not ideal, but I am very grateful for it. Otherwise I would have had to quit my job and my mother would be home at me the whole time. That wouldnt have been good for me and it certainly wouldnt have been good for her; my mother is like everyone else and needs to stay active in her community, needs social interaction and needs to be stimulated.

People with dementia in north Kildare urgently need a dementia- specific day care centre in the North of Kildare to meet the demand and need of people living with dementia and their families. I dont want her to be in full-time care, I want her to be at home with me. But it can be very frustrating to get all the supports you actually need to do this. We have heard a lot lately about how much dementia means to certain Minister  well now its time the Government actually showed some action.

The Alzheimer Society of Ireland Operations Manager for the South East, Mary Bardin said:

There are 1,129 people with dementia living with dementia in Kildare. These are people who are living at home and want to remain at home, in many instances they are being supported and cared for by loved ones to remain at home. Currently in the constituency of North Kildare people do not have access to a dementia specific day centre. This means that the person does not have access to a supportive environment where they are stimulated and carers do not get respite that is much needed from the caring role.

The ASI run a day centre in South Kildare called Dunmurry Springs and are currently providing a service to 14 people with dementia and families which means that there is a huge number of families in Kildare who do not have access to this vital support. The ASI has so far received referrals for 12 families who are from North Kildare for Dunmurry Springs in South Kildare because there is no transport, so the demand is definitely there for the service.

The findings of the mapping project last year show that there are gaps in service provision and inconsistency of availability of types of services by both county and Community Healthcare Organisations (CHO) area. We know that there are significant gaps in service provision and inconsistency of availability of types of services by both county and CHO area which were identified in our mapping project last year. The inequity of access to vital dementia-specific supports and services across Ireland must be addressed by the Government as a matter of urgency.

SEE ALSO: Commitment given by Bus Eireann to improve Kildare bus serviceAn Athy man who tried to use a fake UK driving licence to obtain an Irish licence has been convicted and fined by Portlaoise District Court.

Mariusz Maksymow, 49, 11 Moneen Drive, Athy, was charged with having a false instrument and using a false instrument, at the NDLS Unit, Laois Shopping Centre, Portlaoise.

Sgt JJ Kirby gave evidence that on September 26, 2017, the accused applied for a driving licence at the Portlaoise office and provided a UK licence.

After the investigation, it was established that there was no record of the licence number in the UK and it transpired that the licence was false.

The accused had no previous convictions.

Defence, Mr Donncha Craddock said the accused, a Polish national, had been seeking work and felt a driving licence would give him further opportunities for employment.

A colleague told the accused that if he paid 800 he could get a licence from the UK and between the temptation of employment and naivety the accused believed this licence was legitimate.

Mr Craddock said that the fact the accused put the licence across as a genuine document showed his naivety.

Mr Craddock asked the court to be as lenient as possible and leave the accused without a criminal conviction.

However, Judge Catherine Staines said it was a very serious matter trying to defraud the licencing bureau and convicted and fined the accused 200.Over 642,278 people visited Castletown House and Parklands last year.

That number could be considerably higher than that as digital counters are not in place at all entrances to the estate. In addition, 13,397 visitors availed of the Guided Tours in 2018.

Labour general election candidate Emmet Stagg said he was in contact with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform about the number of visitors.

Mr Stagg welcomed the 2018 figures and stated that there is obviously great interest in the historic house and parklands not only from locals enjoying the facilities daily but from visitors from all over Ireland and the world.

"Castletown was built in the 1720's and is an extraordinary part of our cultural inheritance. Following transfer to the State in 1994, then Labour Party Arts, Culture and Gaeltacht Minister Michael D. Higgins, provided funding to enable an extensive restoration of the House and it is now widely available to the public," he said.

"The visitor numbers stated Mr. Stagg prove how valuable it is. You can take guided tours of the House or walk and explore the restored 18th century designed parklands and river walks, or relax and have a Coffee or lunch at the Courtyard Cafe situated in the 18th century kitchen wing."

In relation to works planned at Castletown House in 2019, the Minister advised Mr Stagg that the OPW are seeking planning permission for further works to the farmyard buildings in order to integrate this area of the estate into the visitor experience at Castletown.Family, friends, colleagues joined Laois County Council councillors and officials in Portlaoise to honour one of the county's most popular and hardworking business people Tommy Treacy.

But the proud Laois man and native of The Heath responded in a fashion which led to the bestowing of the council's highest honour by announcing plans future projects.

Tommy was honoured with a Civic Reception for the promotion of Laois as a tourist destination principally through his involvement in his business, Laois Tourism, Gordon Bennett Rally and many other events over the years that have attracted people to spend time in Laois.

But there was also a lot of praise for his work for Laois Hospice via the Laois Vintage Club. Other achievements mentioned included his support for Laois GAA's All-Ireland winning teams.

He was also praised for his community work while others commended him for how he and his family have benefited many Laois families by providing employment over several decades at Treacy's pub and The Gandon Inn.

While he thanked the council for the honour, it was a mark of the man of action that Tommy didn't waste too much breath revelling in the glory of the moment.

Instead, he used the event to promote plans for what he hopes will be the biggest Gordon Bennett Rally to date planned for June 2019. Among the VIPs lined up is the veteran groundbreaking rally driver Rosemary Smith who began her career karting on The Heath.

He also took the opportunity to put people on notice that a big push is in the works to ensure the Laois Vintage club reaches the 1 million mark for funds raised for Laois Hospice.

MORE PICTURES AND COVERAGE IN THE NEXT LEINSTER EXPRESSA grateful Laois first time mother whose premature baby was minded in the Special Care Baby Unit in Portlaoise hospital, has presented the unit with cash to buy important equipment for babies.

Sinead Walsh and her husband Donagh welcomed their baby girl Dominique to the world on March 21 2017, six weeks early by emergency caesarian section.

She weighed 5lb 3oz, and needed special care. She wasn't breathing on her own or feeding on her own, said Sinead.

It was a difficult time she said.

I didn't get to hold her for the first 24 hours. For us mammies especially first time, it's very difficult not to have your baby beside you, I had to be helped down to the unit to see her, she said.

While Sinead was discharged home, Dominique had to stay in the unit for her first two weeks.

It is hard enough to see you child there and you can't walk out the door and bring them home, but it would have been so much more difficult if this unit wasn't in Portlaoise and we had to travel to Dublin to see her. It was on our doorstep and we could ring any time, they are just wonderful, said Sinead.

Sinead who herself works in Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise , had not know about the SCBU unit beforehand.

I had never heard of SCBU and would not even know it existed until unfortunately my little girl needed help in the first few weeks of her life, she said.

The Special Care Baby Unit opened in 2002 in Portlaoise hospital's maternity unit. It provides vital care for babies who need specialist support after birth.

This can be babies struggling to maintain their temperature, babies born with infections and require antibiotics, very sick babies who need help breathing or have problems feeding and require tube feeding.

They need help with funding. They don't have enough breastpumps. I was trying to pump myself and they needed to get pumps back off parents because they didn't have enough. The government should pay for this. There is only one cubicle, and they also need heated cots, and rely on sponsorship to get equipment like this said Sinead.

She decided to go about raising some money in thanks for Dominique's care.

The unit means a lot to me. We wanted to help other babies and families who will use it, she said.

Last November 22 she held a table quiz in Humes Pub in Portlaoise, to a full house including hospital staff, family and friends.

She raised over 2,000 and then got an extra boost when ultra runner Paul Twomey from Cork who learned of her fundraising, dod the Raw Ultra Wicklow Way 100 mile Run on December 7 and 8 and raised another 900 on a GoFundMe page he set up.

Sinead with Paul recently presented a total of 3,505 to the SCBU, accepted by Anne Blanche, who is Clinical Nurse Manager of the unit.

I'd like to thank everyone who came to the quiz, who sold tickets and helped on the night, and donated prizes. And a special thank you to Paul Twomey, what he did was just wonderful, said Sinead.

As for little Dominique, she is now almost two years old and the apple of her parents' eyes.

She is absolutely flying it now, not a bother on her. She has never looked back since, said her proud mother.

Below: table quiz winners Clare Delaney, Anne Blanche, Jane Barry, Gillian and Antonia Blanche in Humes Pub.The mainstream (fake news) media is letting Donald Trump slide on his greatest hypocrisy. Trump incessantly blasts Elizabeth Warren for claiming an American Indian heritage (an opinion she formed from an oral history of family folklore), while for decades he has continued to lie about his own ancestry.

Trumps paternal grandfather arrived in the U.S. in 1905 from the German town of Kallastadt. Trump subsequently claimed his father emigrated from Sweden to the U.S. as a boy. This lie was originally concocted by Trumps father because after World War II, many Americans had an unfavorable opinion of Germans, particularly in the Jewish community, and a German ancestry wouldve severely harmed his real estate ambitions.

In 1987, Trump could have told the truth in his business autobiography The Art Of The Deal, but continued the lie in a passage in the book. Trump seems to have mental problems with certain ancestries, as he also questioned President Obamas birthright. The House or Representatives (with their Constitutional oversight responsibility of the executive branch) should demand that Trump acknowledge this lie and apologize to Warren and the American people.

The bulk of the fake news published or aired by the mainstream press is the plethora of lies they cover in Trumps tweets, interviews and press conferences by him and his paid lackeys.

Ask yourself, whats worse  lying for decades for financial gain, or being wrong in repeating a family story that was incorrect?

Ron Pizarie

East Allen TownshipState lawmakers announced Thursday they have reached an agreement that will replace New Jerseys narrow two-year statute of limitations that childhood victims of sexual assault have argued for 20 years have prevented many of them from suing churches and other nonprofits.

The newly amended legislation would allow victims of childhood sexual abuse to bring a civil suit up until the age of 55 or seven years after they make the discovery" connecting their emotional and psychological injury to the abuse, said Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, the bills prime Senate sponsor.

By maintaining a two-year statute of limitations on lawsuits, said Assemblywoman Annette Quijano, D-Union, the bills prime Assembly sponsor, we limit their ability to pursue justice and we, ourselves, become perpetrators in their injustice.

We know how difficult it can be to come forward for victims of sexual assault. Often survivors need time to understand and even fully remember, what were the most traumatic moments in their life," Quijano said.

Secondly, the bill would grant victims  previously barred from bringing a lawsuit because they had run out of time under the existing law  a new two-year window in which to pursue their case. The clock would begin Dec. 1, 2019 and close Nov. 30, 2021, according to the announcement.

The legislation, (S477) also allows adult sexual assault victims seven years to file a civil lawsuit, instead of the current two-year time limit, Vitale said. This is a change long sought by sexual assault victims and most recently articulated by Katie Brennan, the state official who accused a member of Gov. Phil Murphys campaign senior staff of raping her in April 2017. The man Brennan accused, Albert Alvarez, was never criminally charged and has described the encounter as consensual.

Brennan filed a lawsuit against the state in January  within the two-year statute of limitations  for bungling their response to her allegation violating her confidentiality, failing to inform her of her rights and failing to investigate her claims. But shes argued that victims ought to have more time to seek justice.

A hearing on the bill is scheduled for March 7 in the state Senate Judiciary Committee, Vitale said.

Expanding New Jerseys narrow two-year statute of limitations has been a point of contention since 1998, when newly-elected Vitale said he was approached by Mark Crawford of SNAP, the Survivors Network, asking for changes to the law.

The lobbying power of the Catholic Church, as well as other nonprofits that would be affected, stalled the effort.

The logjam started to give way in August after a Pennsylvania grand jury investigated and released the names of 300 clergy members credibly accused of sexual assault. In September, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced he was launching a similar effort to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy within the Catholic dioceses of New Jersey, and any efforts to cover up such abuse.

Crawford expressed gratitude on behalf of the victims who have been denied access to our legal system due to arbitrary and archaic statute of limitations. Victims of sexual abuse who have chosen to step out of the shadows to speak of their abuse will finally be heard."

When our lawmakers come together in a bipartisan effort to pass these bills into law, they will have put in place the accountability and consequences necessary to enact true reforms which applies to all institutions, Crawford added. New Jersey will be a safer place for our children and families.

The New Jersey Catholic Conference, which represents the states bishops, issued a statement late Thursday offering conditional support for changing the law.

In matters that involve abuse that occurs after the law changes, both perpetrators and institutions should be liable, the Catholic Conference said. But, it said, churches and other institutions should not face the same legal exposure for cases in the past.

We fully support the elimination of the statute of limitations prospectively for both perpetrators and institutions, said Patrick Brannigan, the conferences executive director. We support the elimination of the statute of limitations retroactively for perpetrators, which would address Senator Joseph Vitales frequent comment about the need to hold accountable the 95 percent of perpetrators who are not clergy.

Branningan also outlined steps New Jerseys five Catholic dioceses have taken since 2002 to demonstrate its support for victims. That includes training 3.1 million adults, children, employees, clergy and volunteers to detect and prevent abuse, and installing victim assistance coordinators who connect people with counseling.

Since 2002, the dioceses have reported all allegations of abuse to public authorities, whether the person bringing the complaint is now an adult, no matter how long ago the abuse is alleged to have occurred, and whether or not the accused is living or deceased, Brannigans statement said. Some $50 million in settlements have been paid, he said.

Earlier this week, the Catholic dioceses in New Jersey announced a new victims compensation fund for victims who were abused by priests as children. The fund is expected is aimed at reducing the number of lawsuits that might be filed once New Jersey repeals its two-year statute of limitations.

The New Jersey Compensation Fund for Victims of Church Sexual Abuse of Minors will evaluate claims of abuse and offer settlements to victims that will be paid by the diocese where the accused priest served. In exchange for accepting the money, victims will be required to sign an agreement that says they will not sue the Catholic Church.

A similar fund in New York has paid out up to $500,000 each to victims of some cases of priest sexual abuse.

On Wednesday, the five dioceses released the names of every priest and deacon credibly accused of sexually abusing a child over multiple decades. There are 188 names on the lists from the five dioceses. Of those, more than 100 are dead.

The grand jury is expected to identify many more priests.

Attorney Gregory Gianforcaro of Phillipsburg, who has represented hundreds of the churchs victims over 20 years, said his phone has ringing off the hook. And I am getting calls from individuals who were sexually abused by clerics who are not on the list, he said.

Between Pennsylvanias grand jury actions last year and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday signing a similarly expanded statute of limitations law, its time for New Jersey to catch up to its neighbors, Gianforcaro said.

I think that other (New Jersey) legislators are now seeing what Sen. Joe Vitale saw years ago: they are realizing something must be done to help all the victims in this state. This legislation is absolutely necessary, he added.

New Jersey has been an outlier, noted Patricia Teffenhart, executive director of the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault. New Jersey is among the 20 percent of states that declined to expand its statute of limitation laws since 2002, the year that the Boston Globes Spotlight report thrust child sexual abuse by clergy to national attention, according to Teffenharts statement.

For years, survivors and victims of sexual violence have been denied justice because of New Jerseys outdated civil statute of limitations. Expanding our civil statute is a common-sense, long overdue reform," Teffenhart added.

Vitale said the time it took to reach this point has been frustrating over all of these years."

"The church and other organizations that opposed the bill for selfish reasons were able to convince some of my colleagues years ago this would have had some consequence for their ability to operate. None of that is true, of course, Vitale said.

The stories  have had a cumulative effect and we cannot prevent victims from having access to justice and recognition of what they went through. These were children who were raped. I am in awe of these survivors who have never given up, he said.

The bill must be approved by legislative committees, then passed in both the Senate and Assembly before reaching the governors desk.

Murphy signaled his support for the legislation in a statement his office released mid-afternoon Thursday.

Victims of sexual abuse, especially those victimized in childhood, deserve to find doors held open for them as they seek justice against their abusers," Murphys statement said.

I commend Senator Vitale and Assemblywoman Quijano for their dogged pursuit of legislation to extend the statute of limitations, Murphys statement said. "I further commend the advocates, who want nothing more than be able to heal the wounds of abuse, for the tremendous strength they have shown.

NJ Advance Media staff writers Kelly Heyboer and Ted Sherman contributed to this report.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.A large piece of ice on Wednesday morning flew off the roof of an eastbound silver SUV on Route 22 in South Whitehall Township and slammed through the windshield of a westbound truck, injuring the driver, Pennsylvania State Police report.

The shattering windshield struck the driver of the white Freightliner in the face about 10:15 a.m. near the 15th Street interchange, police said. The driver was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township for treatment, police said.

The SUV didnt stop, police said. Investigators are uncertain of the make or model.

A witness is working with police, the news release said.

The Whitehall Township Bureau of Fire posted photos on Facebook and a basic request:

Please remember to clean all of the snow off of your vehicle," the post begins. "This driver was lucky to survive with cuts to his face and hands after (a) snow/ice block flew off of a vehicle in front of him and shattered his window.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter@TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.Bethlehem Township resident Luke Verdes will run for Northampton County Council, according to a news release.

A Democrat, he will seek the seat in District Three, the release says.

He spent most of his career working in leadership positions in the nonprofit, social service and government sectors. Now hes a consultant who helps improve nonprofits, his release says. He was raised in a low-income single parent home and benefitted from free school lunches and other government programs, his release says.

Luke learned early on that government can be a force for good that can lift up individuals and communities in need, the release says.

He vows to protect the environment, open space, social services and the Gracedale retirement home, the release says. He will fight to keep property taxes low and address inequities in our local criminal justice system, he said. Hes married and has a son, his release says.

District Three includes Bethlehem Township. It also includes Allen, East Allen, Lower Nazareth, Lower Saucon and Williams townships; and Nazareth and North Catasauqua boroughs.

Verdes will host a campaign kickoff event from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 27 at Stefanos restaurant, 2970 Linden St., Bethlehem. RSVP at info@lukeverdes.com.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.Amazon announced Thursday that it wont build its second headquarters in New York City after local opposition to the massive project that could have brought 25,000 jobs.

After much thought and deliberation, weve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens, a company spokeswoman said.

The online retail giant faced opposition from some New York politicians, who were unhappy with the nearly $3 billion in tax incentives Amazon was promised. The Seattle-based Amazon had planned to bring 25,000 jobs to New York, and spend $2.5 billion building its offices.

The company said it does not plan to reopen its search and blamed politicians who oppose our presence and will not work with us.

For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term," Amazon said. "While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.

Amazon, which has 5,000 employees in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island said it will continue to add workers there and added that is it disappointed about the decision.

We love New York, its incomparable dynamism, people, and culture  and particularly the community of Long Island City, where we have gotten to know so many optimistic, forward-leaning community leaders, small business owners, and residents," the company said.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio released a statement following Amazons announcement, telling the online retailer, You have to be tough to make it in New York City.

We have Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity," de Blasio said. "We have the best talent in the world and every day we are growing a stronger and fairer economy for everyone. If Amazon cant recognize what thats worth, its competitors will.

Amazon last week said it was rethinking its decision to establish a second headquarters in New York City, giving renewed hope to Newark and other cities who were previously shut out.

In November, Amazon announced it would open two new headquarters, not one, splitting its facility between New York City and Northern Virginia.

The news came after 20 finalist cities, including Newark, rolled out the red carpet for Amazon officials, each vying for a chance to clinch 50,000 jobs and $5 billion investment.

Newark made it far in the race as a finalist for HQ2  it was only a handful of locations that received a second, unannounced visit from company representatives. The city and the state offered Amazon a $7 billion incentive package, dwarfing deals offered by other states.

Despite pulling out of New York, Amazon said Thursday it does have plans to reopen the HQ2 search. Still, that might not take Newark out of the running for future Amazon plans.

Gov. Phil Murphy said Thursday he contacted Amazon and Newark city officials directly after learning the news, continuing a constant dialogue that predates my time as governor.

New Jersey is open for business, and now more than ever, Newark is the clear choice as the next presence for Amazon corporate offices, Murphy said in a statement. "Amazon now has the opportunity to join in Newarks story of a city on the rise.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka also stressed that Newark would welcome Amazon.

Given the city and states assets  a strong talent pipeline, a diverse tech base, unmatched infrastructure and a highly accessible location  we are well poised to accommodate Amazon should they want to relocate New York Citys portion of HQ2, in whole or part," Baraka said.

Legislation regarding the tax incentives has already been passed, our real estate options are still viable, and the community has been  and will continue to be  engaged, he added. "Newark is becoming a national model for what equitable development should look like across the country and we welcome the opportunity to resume conversations with Amazon and provide them an opportunity to be a part of its renaissance.

Aisha Glover, CEO of the Newark Alliance and head of the citys Amazon negotiations, said earlier in February that officials have continued to present Newark as an option, maybe under a different model.

Were just open for the discussion to see what could work, Glover said.

The HQ2 deal would have brought 25,000 jobs to New York City.

NJ Advance Media staff writers Brent Johnson and Karen Yi, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.UPDATE: Husband accidentally runs over wife, killing her, police say

A woman died after being struck by a vehicle Thursday afternoon in a Palmer Township neighborhood.

Authorities were called a little after 3 p.m. for a fall victim with a head injury in the 1200 block of Anna Marie Street, township police Detective Jim Alercia said.

The call was updated for woman possibly hit by a vehicle and suffering a head injury, then changed to a probable pedestrian accident, Alercia said.

Authorities responded to the cul-de-sac near Leeman Street, just west of South 25th Street, and called for Northampton County Coroner Zach Lysek. A body lying under a pink sheet could be seen in a driveway.

Lysek was not immediately identifying the victim, pending notification of family.

A vehicle was involved in the incident, and authorities were confiscating the vehicle as part of the investigation, Alercia said. The driver was cooperating with authorities; Lysek would not say if the driver knew the victim.

Lysek said the crash is being investigated as a suspicious death, but there is nothing that leads him to believe there was any type of domestic issue involved in the incident.

The cul-de-sac was to remain closed as police and the coroners office continued to investigate.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.The last two men to lead the Easton Fire Department prior to the new chiefs appointment last week paid a cordial visit to City Hall on Wednesday night.

Former Fire Chief John Bast retired last year, amid rumors he was forced out. It was his decision, he told council, something Mayor Sal Panto Jr. has been reiterating publicly, as well.

Joining Bast was Deputy Chief Kevin Arnold, who last week seemed to express disappointment when the city named veteran firefighter Mike Krill the new chief instead of him. Arnold had taken over in the leadership role after Bast suddenly retired in August.

Krill was in the audience at the meeting. Easton Administrator Luis Campos and Panto introduced Krill, who is in his 33rd year with the department, as fire chief Feb. 6.

Bast was before council to accept a certificate of appreciation for his time with the department from 1989 to 2018, including 12 years as chief. He called the decision to retire "tough" but said from "talking to friends and colleagues you know when it's time.

"It's not just a job from 9 to 5," Bast said. "It's a lifestyle and I'd just like to say I'm doing very well."

Arnold presented Bast with a commemorative firefighters ax.

Council also presented certificates of appreciation to firefighters Leo Engelhardt and Stephen Finelli for their careers with the department from 1985 to 2019.

From the police department, council honored former city police officer Benjamin Cavotta Sr. The U.S. Navy veteran of World War II was a police officer in Easton for 25 years until 1975, and was the citys oldest living retired cop until his death Jan. 15. He was 98.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.An Allentown man is accused of stealing a dead mans identity and collecting more than $475,000 in government benefits.

Jose Anico, 69, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury and charged with making false statements in connection with an application for a passport, aggravated identity theft, five counts of wire fraud, and four counts of health care fraud.

If convicted, Anico faces a maximum penalty 152 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a $2,750,000 fine, and a $1,100 special assessment.

Prosecutors said Anico took on the identity of a New York City man who died on August 13, 1999.

Anico allegedly used the victims name, birthday, and Social Security number to apply for a passport, as well as receive Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, a Pennsylvania drivers license, and the passport.

Prosecutors estimated Anico received more than $475,000 in government benefits from May 2002 through November 2018.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of States Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) Philadelphia Resident Office in partnership with the DSS Regional Security Office in Santo Domingo, the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.- More than $900 million worth of Pangolin was seized by the Nigeria Customs Service in 2018

- According to the assistant comptroller-general of customs, his study across the world revealed that this is the highest seizure of Pangolin in the world

- Customs said more people keep engaging the trading of Pangolin because of the many benefits it gives them

- Nigerians have been urged to stop the poaching the animal because it could go extinct soon

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has said that more than $900 million worth of Pangolin for illicit trading were seized in Nigeria in 2018.

Assistant Comptroller Mutalib Sule of the NCS, federal operations unit, zone A, Ikeja, Lagos, made the disclosure at an event to mark the 2019 World Pangolin Day on Wednesday in Lagos.

The event which was organised by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, Lekki, Lagos, in collaboration with the Pangolin Conservation Guild of Nigeria had the theme: Pangolins and Politics.

READ ALSO: Just in: 9 governorship candidates reportedly stepdown for Araraume

It was reported that the Pangolin is a harmless African and Asian mammal with body covered with horny overlapping scales: it has small head with an elongated snout, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

The Pangolin is a harmless African and Asian mammal. Photo credit: NAN

Source: UGC

It has a long sticky tongue for catching ants and termites and a tapering tail; it also has large protective keratin scales covering the skin; they are the only known mammals with this feature.

The assistant comptroller-general Mutalib Sule of the Nigeria Customs service delivering a paper/session on History of Confiscation, Current Challenges and Opportunities in Combating Pangolin Trafficking in Nigeria, during the 2019 World Pangolin Day event by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, Lekki, Lagos and Pangolin Conservation Guild Nigeria, said: The summary of Pangolin seizure by the FOU Zone A under my superintendent in the year 2018 is 14,833 metric tonnes.

My study across the world revealed that this is the highest seizure of Pangolin in the world.

Japan came a distant second having made a seizure of 7.100kg of Pangolin in the same year with the estimated value of 450, 000 dollars.

"Going by this, Nigerias seizure under my watch cannot be less than 900,000,000 million dollars or even more," Sule said.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

The assistant comptroller-general of NCS said that people engaged in illicit trade of Pangolins because of the benefits.

Nigerian custom service seized $900m worth of Pangolin in 2018

Source: UGC

"Roasted pangolin scales are believed to cure cancer, relieve palsy and even stimulate breast milk.

Pangolins are hunted for food, for use in traditional medicines and as fashion accessories; it is considered a delicacy in China, Vietnam and other parts of South East Asia.

The scales are prized 3,000 dollars per kilogram, while the meat is 300 dollars per kilogram; live pangolin attracts 1,000 dollars based on current black market prize, a kilogramme of pangolin is sold at 15,000 dollars.

The mouth-watering price of the illicit trade largely accounted for the business to boom and attract international attention; about 10,000 Pangolins are poached every year."

According to Sule, the NCS has been working hard to curtail this act.

On February 12, 2018, the FOU patrol team led by my humble self went to a building located along Allen Avenue and confiscated 54 sacks of pangolin scale and 218 pieces of elephant tusks.

The Pangolin weighed 2001kg, while the elephant gave us 343kg; a Chinese citizen was apprehended in connection with it and taken to court by customs for prosecution.

On March 3, another Chinese was arrested at a location off Toyin Street; 329 sacks of pangolin was discovered and evacuated; the sacks gave us 8.492 metric tonnes.

A second visit there gave us 78 sacks of pangolin of 1,771 metric tonnes; also on July 22, 2018, around Lekki area of Lagos, 21 sacks of pangolin and 4 pieces of elephant tusks were found stashed in a shop.

On August 11 of the same year, we swooped on the den of some Chinese nationals suspected to be engaging in the illicit trade; 10 sacks of pangolin were found and evacuated; these gave us give us 738 metric tonnes, he said.

He noted the need to stop the poaching and trading of Pangolins because it will affect the ecosystem and make the animals go into extinction, especially as it is a rare specie of mammal.

PAY ATTENTION: Download our mobile app to enjoy the latest news updates

Sule also highlighted that some of the challenges that the NCS face in its mission to seize and arrest culpable individuals in connection with this highly profitable illicit trade of pangolins.

According to the assistant comptroller general, the challenges include dangerous terrains while making arrests, resistance, attacks, poor reward system and lack of enforcement of laws against trafficking as well as the judicial system.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that the operatives of the NCS in Niger state has impounded a trailer carrying tramadol and other substances suspected to be illicit drug worth about forty-four million naira (N44,000,000).

It was reported that the trailer carrying the items was intercepted by the service special strike force along Minna-Suleja road.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better.

BUSTED: Police CP seizes, burns N450m worth of hard drug| - on Legit TV

Source: LegitValentine's Day has become yet another opportunity for fans to celebrate loved ones and extend well wishes to them. Many male celebrities have used this occasion to show their wives and baes just how much they love them. Veteran actor Richard Mofe-Damijo has used this opportunity to once again express the depth of his love for his wife Jumobi

The actor who has never missed an opportunity to remind her of how he deeply loves her took to his page to celebrate her during this auspicious season of love.

In showering praises on her, Richard once again spoke from the depth of his emotions. His words flowed from within a source that could only be love. RMD flashed the mind of his woman back to when they first started and to how far they had come.

Then, he particularly pointed out that, even after their 22 years of marriage, he still always felt like he does not deserve her. According to him, right from the moment he saw Jumobi till date, her depth of love for him still amazed him.

READ ALSO: My Valentine gift is 11 years old - Ali Baba says as he wishes daughter happy birthday

Alongside this deep expression of emotions poured out, the 57-year-old veteran actor shared a picture of himself and his woman together. The loved up photo looked really beautiful and it depicted the lasting and enduring relationship of the couple.

See the post below:

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

"Adejumobi. Abike. Abiks. Abk. Adumaradan.... See how far we have come... I still don't deserve you. First words I said to you when I saw your heart for me over 22 years ago, and until this minute I still don't feel I deserve you. Thank you for always."

PAY ATTENTION: Get your daily relationship tips and advice on Africa Love Aid group

Love is, indeed, like fine wine which gets better, sweeter and more delectable with time. Recently, musician Davido took to celebrating his woman on this big, festive day.

PAY ATTENTION: Read best news on Nigeria's #1 news app

He put everything he could into making her happy. Not only were there lots of cakes and drinks,, there was also a serenade and a good dose of laughter.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better

EXCLUSIVE: 17 Years After Their Marriage. Ramsey Nouah Has This to Say About His Wife | Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng- Abba Kyari has taken a swipe at the United States and Europe over their role in the forthcoming 2019 general elections in Nigeria

- Kyari, who is the chief of army staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, lambasted the world powers for standing against the president

- Kyari says the world powers say one thing and their representatives do another thing

Chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari, has lambasted the United States and Europe over their role in Nigeria's forthcoming 2019 general elections.

This Day reports that Kyari said the US and Europe claim they want free and fair elections, but their representatives do the opposite of what they say.

Legit.ng gathers that the chief of army staff said the world powers were against President Buhari because of his reform agenda which will free Nigeria from policies that hurt its economy.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

Kyari accused the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubabakr, of being part of those responsible for Nigeria's failure as a developing nation.

He said: This failure goes beyond individuals or particular political parties, although it is true that our decline accelerated under the PDP after the end of military rule in 1999, a betrayal that Atiku Abubakar and many of his allies hope forlornly to revive and celebrate."

On President Buhari's stewardship, Kyari said: "Buhari has not changed, and with good reason. Without these attributes, Nigeria will not know peace, prosperity or the rule of law: the only real foundations on which free and fair elections and genuine democracy can thrive.

"He is stubborn and resolute in defence of these values. This irritates quite a number in the elite, and especially those who, four years ago, thought that they could play the President and use his popularity to continue to steal and cheat the people.

"These players have failed. They are angry but they have not yet given up. They have some unlikely allies. Our traditional friends in the US and Europe say they want nothing from Nigeria except free and fair elections.

"But if you look at what their representatives here actually do rather than what they say, the unmistakeable signs of a quite different agenda are plain to see."

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that a group identified as Nigerian Traders For PMB (NTFPMB) charged their members to mobilise their households, neighbours, and friends to support and vote for President Muhammadu Buhari in the forthcoming presidential elections in order to exceed its 10 million vote target.

The decision was reached at the NTFPMB leadership meeting held in Abuja recently.

A statement sent to Legit.ng by the national coordinator of the group, Prince Paul Ikonne, indicated that traders were reminded that based on the achievements of Buhari ranging from road infrastructure, security of life and property and more especially the Trader Moni initiative among many others.

The group said there was need for the president to be re-elected for the second term in order to consolidate on his achievements.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better

Nigeria Latest News: Buhari vs Atiku - 2019 Elections | Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng- The Lagos commissioner of police, Zubairu Muazu, says 30,000 security personnel will be deployed for the general elections in Lagos

- Muazu said all personnel are expected to wear INEC identification tags, and are also to secure the entire electoral process

- The CP encouraged residents of the state to come out without fear of intimidation to exercise their franchise

The commissioner of police in Lagos, CP Zubairu Muazu, says 30,000 security personnel, including the police and other security agencies, will be deployed for the general elections in Lagos.

Muazu disclosed the figure in a statement signed by the commands spokesman, CSP Chike Oti on Wednesday, February 13, in Lagos, NAN reports.

READ ALSO: Elections 2019: PDP raises alarm over deployment of security chiefs to Kwara

Legit.ng gathers that Muazu stated that beginning with the presidential and National Assembly elections, the personnel will be deployed to different parts of the state.

He said all personnel are expected to wear INEC identification tags, and are also to secure the entire electoral process.

However, the police being the lead agency in internal security management, will coordinate other security and law enforcement agencies in the enforcement of the electoral laws, the preservation of law and order, as well as safety and security of human and material resources deployed for the elections.

In addition, the command has set up a joint operations room with the following dedicated lines through which members of the public can draw the attention of the police to distress situations or any untoward event in their locality.

The numbers are - Control 1: 08127155132 and 07035068242, Control 2: 08127155150 and 08065154338, Control 3: 08127155071 and 08063299264, he said.

The CP assured Lagosians of adequate security before, during and after the elections, while he encouraged residents of the state to come out without fear of intimidation to exercise their franchise.

In the same vein, the police boss warned political thugs and other miscreants not to make any attempt to disrupt the electoral process as the command would deal decisively with anyone who breached or attempted to breach peace.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the police command in Edo state said it had concluded arrangement to deploy more than 7,000 police personnel across the state to provide security during the general elections.

The acting police commissioner in the state, Olusegun Odumosu, made the disclosure on Monday, February 11, in Benin during a news briefing in his office.

Odumosu, however, said that aside the figure, additional personnel from the force headquarters as well as Lagos state would be sent to the state to complement the existing personnel.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service!

2019 Election: New IGP speaks tough - on Legit TV:

Source: Legit- Sullivan Chime said the promise of restructuring by some candidates was false

- According to the former Enugu state governor, the process can take up to 15 years and cannot be achieved by any single individual

- Chime noted that only constitutional amendment could help the process

A former governor of Enugu state, Sullivan Chime, has cautioned against falling for the antics of candidates promising to restructure Nigeria in the presidential polls.

Chime told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, February 13, in Enugu that it was deceitful for anyone to promise to restructure the country in six months.

It would be recalled that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Abubakar Atiku was reported to have promised to start the restructuring of the country from May 29 if he is elected.

Abubakar also said that about 80 per cent of the restructuring of the country would be completed within the first six months of his administration.

READ ALSO: Minister of justice asks INEC to allow APC field candidates

However, Chime described the statements as a 'deceit aimed at hoodwinking Nigerians.

The former governor said that in as much as he was not against restructuring of the country, it would not come easily. He said that restructuring of any nation was a long term project and would never be achieved by any single individual.

He said that the clarification had become imperative as many people from parts of the country were beginning to fall for the bait.

Let no one deceive you on this because restructuring of this country is beyond what the president can do alone. It takes a very long time to achieve that.

Nothing can be as deceitful as that and you cannot be talking about restructuring without constitutional amendment," he said.

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Chime, who is a constitutional lawyer said that at the moment there was no legal framework that would support the clamour to restructure the country as the Nigerian Constitution did not recognise any form of referendum.

The former governor said that for the current structure of the country to be tinkered, it must be subjected to a well defined referendum.

As we speak there is no legal framework to guide us to the change of let us say a parliamentary system of government or any other one. It will take not less than 15 years for the country to be so restructured in the true sense of the word," he said.

Chime also said that those who were advocating for the restructuring of the country should convince Nigerians on why the current structure should be altered. They should convince us why it is better than what we have now, he said.

He said that President Muhammadu Buhari had shown enough commitment in leading Nigeria out of the woods and needed to be encouraged to continue his good works.

Buhari is the best thing to happen to Nigeria now because he brought us back to what Nigeria used to be. This is not about sentiments, he said.

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The former governor condemned what he described as `politics of segregation or ethnicity saying that it had affected governance of the country.

Chime however, called on Nigerians to reject those that want to drag the country back to the dark days.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that following the huge welcome received by the PDP's presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in Kano state, the party's chairman, Uche Secondus, said the party's success at the forthcoming poll is certain.

Secondus and another party chieftain, former Kano state governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, declared that it is over for the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, the Cable reports.

Addressing the thousands of youths who attended the rally in Kano, Kwankwaso, popularly known as Kwankwasiyya, said the state belongs to PDP.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service!

Between Buharis Next Level And Atikulate - Nigerians React| Legit TV

Source: Legit- Abubakar Malami has called on INEC to allow the APC field candidates for the Zamfara election

- The minister of justice also asked the electoral body to consider moving the state election

- According to Malami, the APC will need more time to prepare in the state

The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to allow the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara field candidates for the general elections.

Malami, who doubles as the minister of justice, made the call in a letter to INEC dated February 13, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The minister said that INEC could not foreclose the right of a political party to participate in elections without recourse to the Act.

READ ALSO: Former Niger Delta militants endorse presidential candidate 3 days to election

"My office received a petition from the firm of M. A. Mahmud, (SAN) & CO, in respect of the need to urgently consider Sections 38 and 39 of the Electoral Act and extend the time for the APC Zamfara to field a gubernatorial candidate in the light of a Zamfara high court judgment in suit No.ZMS/GS/52/2018.

The letter was requesting that the subsisting judgment in the suit be upheld and respected by INEC, as the Court of Appeal has upheld the appeal with No. CA/S/23/2019; thus effectively annulling the grounds upon which the purported cancellation of the APC primaries in Zamfara by INEC was based."

Malami, in the letter invited INEC to comply with the judgment of the Court of Appeal by admitting the results of the APC Zamfara primaries.

He also invited INEC to comply with the provisions of Section 38 of the Electoral Act, which empowers the commission to postpone the elections for the governorship, National Assembly and House of Assembly.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

The minister said this was in view of the fact since the Court of Appeal had upheld the primaries as valid, the APC in Zamfara would need a little time to catch up with its contemporaries in the election.

Granting them this concession is not necessarily a favour but a right that inures to all contestants under similar circumstances."

The AGF maintained that by the doctrine and principle of judicial precedence, the appeal superseded the Federal High Courts position which foreclosed APC Zamfara from fielding candidates in the Feb. and March general elections.

Recall that the Court of Appeal sitting in Sokoto state upheld the controversial primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara state.

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The court dismissed the appeal challenging the judgment of a lower court which upheld the Zamafra state APC primaries which was held in 2018.

The court has also asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept candidates fielded by the APC in the state.

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Kathmandu, January 26: India on Saturday donated 30 ambulances and six buses to Nepal and extended its support to the country in achieving prosperity. India's gesture came as it marked 70th Republic Day.

India's Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri handed over keys of the ambulances and buses to the recipient organisations amidst celebrations in Indian Embassy premises, Katmandu on Saturday.

Since 1994, the Government of India has gifted 722 ambulances and 142 buses to various organisations across Nepal to expand access to healthcare and educational services in Nepal.

Ambassador Puri also distributed cash to the kins of war veterans from the Gorkha regiment and gifted books to 53 schools and libraries across the country.

Puri unfurled the Indian national flag and read out the message delivered by the president of Indian to the nation on the occasion of the Republic Day.

"Government of India will extend support to government of Nepal in attaining its goal of 'Samriddha Nepal ra Sukhi Nepali' or 'Prosperous Nepal and Happy Nepali'," assured ambassador Puri.

The function was attended by more than 2,000 people, including Indian embassy staff, Indian citizens residing in Nepal, Indian business community in Kathmandu, media persons and students.Pulwama, February 14: In the latest tweet from a credible source, a list 42 jawans on travelling on the bus  the convoy of 76th Batallion of the CRPF attacked by Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist in Awantipora area of Pulwama district on Thursday  has come to light. However, there is no confirmation whether all these jawans were either martyred or injured. In the gruesome Fidayeen strike by JeM terrorist Aadil Ahmad, around 43 CRPF jawans were martyred, and about 45 others were wounded.

According to the tweet shared, there were 41 jawans travelling on the bus, while the other name is of the driver. There is no official information on who among the 42 was martyred or injured in the gruesome attack. Till the report was published, 40 CRPF jawans were martyred, where 46 were injured, reports IANS. Pulwama Terror Attack: Here's What We Know So Far About The Suicide Attack That Killed 40 CRPF Jawans in Jammu And Kashmir.

Taking cognisance of the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for a Union Cabinet Committee on Security to meet at 9:15 am tomorrow and would discuss on the future course of action. The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has cancelled all his meeting and would be visiting the blast site tomorrow morning. Also, the National Investigation Agency has been given the charge of probing the incident, and a 12-member team will go to the blast site tomorrow morning.

Condemning the gruesome attack, Ambassadors of Russia, United States of America and France have expressed their condolences. Even the Prime Minister of Nepal and Sri Lanka and Foreign Minister of Maldives have condemned the incident.

The Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik urged all the Security Forces Commanders to enhance surveillance on every front and directed the District and Divisional Civil and Police Administration to immediately review the security management of all important installations and establishments. He has even stated that the attack was carried out with the help from across border, i.e. Pakistan.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 15, 2019 12:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).New Delhi, Feb 14 (PTI) India is closely following the developments related to the peace and reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan and is in regular touch with all the stakeholders and countries, including Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the situation in Afghanistan was also discussed at the India-Central Asia Dialogue held in Uzbekistan last month.

The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of India, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The topic was likely to be discussed at the next Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral foreign ministers' meeting, scheduled to take place at the end of this month, Kumar said.

"India is and will continue to take all necessary steps to bring peace and stability in the region.

"We are not only closely following the developments which are related to the peace and reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan by different stakeholders, but I must also add that we are in regular contact with all other players, stakeholders, including Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia," he added.

Kumar also said last week, the Indian Ambassador to the US, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, met Zalamay Khalizad, the US envoy to Afghanistan, who briefed him on America's efforts in the region.

The two sides agreed to "continue to maintain a close contact with each other" on the matter, he added.

Kumar said India also participated in the ministerial meeting on "Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East" in Poland's Warsaw on February 13-14, which was held at the level of secretaries.

The conference was organised on the initiative of Poland and the US on the topic of peace and security in West Asia.

"India has abiding interest in the region. The region hosts a 9.2 million-strong Indian community, whose well-being and welfare are of paramount importance for us. This region is the source of over 50 per cent of our oil and 70 per cent of our gas needs. It is also a large trading partner, accounting for over USD 110 billion of India's trade in 2016-17," Kumar said.

The emergence of terrorist groups like the ISIS posed a common challenge to India and the countries of the region and the region was also critical for our maritime security and the security of the sea lanes of communication, he added.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)David Lieb, national director of Higher Ed Mobility Planning with Walker Consultants, shows parking demand disparities on a campus map during a public meeting about the University of Wyomings Parking and Transit Study at the UW Conference Center on Wednesday. Lieb presented preliminary recommendations for parking improvements on campus, including tiered parking permit structures to better use the thousands of currently unused parking spaces.Phil Gruber is the news editor at Lancaster Farming. He can be reached at 717-721-4427 or pgruber@lancasterfarming.com. Follow him @PhilLancFarming on Twitter.LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo.  It's often known as the "quiet side of the Lake," and it's a popular second-home spot among Kansas Citians and Iowans: still, some say the Westside is the best-kept secret at the Lake of the Ozarks.

The Westside includes the cities of Greenview, Hurricane Deck, Sunrise Beach, Laurie and Gravois Mills, and the region is such a distinct part of the Lake's geography and culture, it is often written as a (compound) proper noun: at some point along the way, the west side became "the Westside." The area boasts an expansive shoreline, abundant woodlands and friendly people and officials are doing everything they can to make it business-friendly.

The Westside has long been overlooked by developers, Westside Developer/Restaurateur Tim Vogel said. But not anymore, and not by Vogel, who has invested millions of dollars in his Westside businesses. Vogel owns and operates the popular Coconuts Caribbean Beach Bar and Grill at the 10-mile marker off the Gravois Arm of Lake and the successful Tap and Grill Lakeside Brew Haus, on Route O, at the 7-mile marker in Laurie.

According to Vogel, over the past 12 years he has invested approximately $700,000 annually back into his businesses, some years more. "It has a trickle-down effect. That money goes to only local contractors, electricians, roofers, and in turn, is invested right back into the westside."

The Coconuts Caribbean Bar & Grill property has under gone major improvements over the past few years. This year, they are adding pavement, landscaping and a Geisha Sushi Bar, just in time for Spring 2019.

Lake Of The Ozarks Westside Growth

Three RV Parks

RV Parks are an early development trend this year. Three huge RV parks are currently under construction or expansion: one in Sunrise Beach, one in Laurie and one in Gravois Mills.

Sunrise Beach RV Park Expansion

If Camden County approves the re-zoning of a 52-acre parcel in Sunrise Beach in February, George Tucker of Lakewide LLC., is seeking to expand Deer Valley Campground and add another 160 RV sites, to the current 300 sites, as well as many new amenities and improvements. The campground is located on Deer Valley Road, at the 10-mile marker.

Millstone Marina RV Resort

Millstone Marine Owners Jeff and Kim Howell have also invested heavily in the Westside. They are currently in construction on a new Millstone Marina Lakeside RV Resort on Route O, at the 7 Mile Marker, in Laurie. The RV Resort will offer 75 luxury RV sites with top-notch amenities and will be ready by Spring 2019. They are currently taking reservations.

The Howells have also completely renovated the entire Millstone property. The expansive investment includes the addition of paved roads, a Sea Store, gas docks, parking docks, an additional 70 rental dock slips, (added to the existing 160 slips) 18 large cruiser dock slips, rental boats, a wave break, storage units and more.

They have also purchased property on Highway 5, next to the Lake Christian Academy in Sunrise Beach, where they will offer a rental house and new storage units.

Gravois Mills RV Park

Vogel has pulled the trigger on the construction of a new 300 site, gated, 5-star RV park above his Coconuts Caribbean Bar & Grill, located at the 7-mile marker, in Gravois Mills.

Tap and Grill Lakeside Brew Haus

Vogels Tap and Grill Lakeside Brew Haus is located across the cove from Millstone, and Vogel is adding to that property too, in time for the 2019 boating season. The renovations include the installation of rip rap, a new wave break and wave runner docking, as well as an expanded paved parking lot and drive.

With everything going on in the Millstone cove, it is going to be the place to be, Vogel said.

Lake Race 2019?

A huge boon to Westside lakefront businesses particularly on or near the Gravois Arm, the Lake Race powerboat races could be moved to the 7 Mile Marker in 2019. The Missouri State Highway Patrol announced the Lake Race Steering Committee had put in a regatta application for the event to be held at the 7 Mile Marker on Saturday, June 1, 2019, if approved by the Patrol. Members of the public who want to provide input on the modified location of the event may contact the Water Patrol Division. Correspondence may be directed to the division's email address regattas (at) mshp.dps.mo.gov or by calling the division's main phone number at 573-751-5071.

Sunrise Hardware

Chris Pieschl, owner of Sunrise True Hardware, is doubling the size of his store on Route F in Sunrise Beach. The expansion will add onto his current building in order to expand the plumbing, electrical, paint and tool departments.

The Littlest Chocolatier

The Littlest Chocolatier moved into Sunrise Beach three months ago. The newest addition to the Westside, located on Highway 5, serves gourmet Belgium chocolates that are visually stunning and decadently delicious. They also have gourmet coffee, an espresso bar and freshly made pastries.

Heartland Marine in Laurie

Heartland Marine is currently constructing a new 25,000-sq.-ft. facility on Highway 5 in Laurie. Owner Jason Todd said he is moving his boat sales operation from Route TT to the Laurie facility, after hitting roadblocks in his plans to move onto Highway 5 in Sunrise Beach. Heartland will offer new and used boat sales and service, as an official Crestliner dealer, with plans to add a fiberglass and upholstery shop later. Heartland Marine Laurie will open March 2019.

Sunrise Beach Sinks Business Owner's Plans To Move Boat Sales To Downtown SUNRISE BEACH, Mo.  A long-term city plan stands in the way of a near-term plan by a local 

Laurie Marine

Laurie Marine and Sporting Goods has added a new boat line. They are now the exclusive Missouri dealer of Apex/Qwest Pontoon boats.

Laurie Terrace Mall

The redevelopment of the 50,000-sq.-ft., two-story Laurie Mall is also underway after coming under the new ownership. Currently, there are five businesses in the mall and the new owners are gearing up to rent the newly revamped spaces and bring even more business to Laurie.

Laurie Movie Theater

Good news for Westside cinephiles: the former B&B Lake West Movie Theater on Route O in Laurie has been sold and will reopen this spring. The new owners, VIP Cinemas Inc., owned by the McSparin family, are all about catering to families and senior citizens and will offer daily matinees and free popcorn at deep discounts. The theater property also includes Macs Italian restaurant, a laundromat and two other spaces that are available to rent: a former coffee shop and portrait studio. The renovated theater is expected to open early April 2019, under a new name. The new owners currently have five movie theaters located in Illinois, Kentucky and Florida.

Lake Of The Ozarks Movie Theater Is Sold, Will Reopen This Spring Good news for Lake of the Ozarks moviegoers on the Westside: the Lake West Movie Theater on 

El Centenaro Authentic Mexican Restaurant

The El Centenaro Restaurant opened in November 2018 on Highway 5 in Greenview. Owners Jose and Christa Melgozo hail originally from Mexico, by way of the state of California. The serve huge-portioned authentic Mexican dishes at a reasonable price. They are open for lunch and dinner, seven days a week.

Apartments and Rental Homes

Another exciting development for both employees and employers, Vogel is constructing Phase 1 of a 60-unit workforce type apartment complex, on Route O in Laurie. He is also remodeling six rental houses near his Coconuts Caribbean Bar and Grill property in Gravois Mills. The six houses and 16 to 20 of the new apartments are expected to be ready to rent Spring 2019.

I am happy to see people are developing and investing in this side of the lake and housing is one of our huge needs, Lake of the Ozarks West Chamber of Commerce Director Paul Hooper said. Build it and they will come. I am looking forward to a bright future on the Westside.Rome, February 14 - Italian police chief Franco Gabrielli on Thursday signed a decree setting up the first 'observatory' on suicides in the police force, which have reportedly been rising. The service aims to prevent suicides by boosting wellness and monitoring mental health, he said.Venice, February 14 - Veneto is mulling a register for prostitutes allowing sex workers to club together but not disturb the peace, according to a regional bill filed Thursday. The bill, filed by the Siamo Veneto (We Are The Veneto) group, proposes setting up a register of prostitutes in every municipality in the northeastern Italian region around Venice.Milan, February 14 - A 47-year-old man, Francesco Lamesta, was on Thursday sentenced to 10 years in jail for stabbing and injuring his former live-in girlfriend. The attempted homicide was committed in front of a building in which both were living but in different apartments in Milan. The judge upheld the sentence suggested by the prosecutor for the worker for attempted homicide, stalking, kidnapping and robbery. The judge also ordered him to pay 5,000 euros in compensation with immediate effect to the woman. On the evening of August 1, 2018, the 47-year-old fled the scene of the crime, stopped a car driver and threatened him with a knife to take him to another area of Milan, where he felt sick and called an ambulance. The man eventually confessed to the crime. His lawyer has announced that an appeal will be filed after the reading of the motivations, which will be deposited after 60 days.Rome, February 14 - President Sergio Mattarella replied to a Slovenian complaint about Italian officials' statements on Foibe Remembrance Day by saying he was concerned about verbal excesses in the EU, the office of Slovenian President Borut Pahor said Thursday. "I share Your concerns regarding the climate that is sometimes registered in Europe today", Mattarella wrote in his letter to Pahor. "I find, in fact, a raising of tones myself also, a lower consideration for the opinions of others, verbal excesses that should not have a place in our common European home". On the remembrance day for the thousands of Italian victims of Tito's partisans, Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said the children who died in the Foibe mountain pits and the children of Auschwitz "are the same". Deputy Forza Italia President Antonio Tajani, the European Parliament President, meanwhile ended a speech by saying "long live Italian Istria and Dalmatia". These statements spurred protests from Slovenia and Croatia. The Foibe is the name given to the mass murder of Italian people in Venezia Giulia, Istria and Dalmatia, mostly by Yugoslav Partisans, during and after the Second World War.Vatican City, February 13 - Prominent Anglican convert Blessed John Henry Newman, better known as Cardinal Newman, is to become a Catholic saint after Pope Francis authorised the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the miracle attributed to him that gets him on the final rung towards sainthood, making him the first English saint since 40 Reformation martyrs were canonised in 1970. The Vatican did not give details in announcing Francis' approval on Tuesday of this second miracle. But Catholic media last year reported that a pregnant woman's recovery, with no scientific explanation, from a life-threatening illness, had been confirmed by Church officials and attributed to Newman's intercession. Newman (London 1801-Edgbaston 1890) is the best-known English churchman of the 19th century. An Anglican priest and thinker who caused immense controversy in Victorian England by converting to Catholicism, he was once described by the late pope John Paul II as "that great man of God". He moved a step closer to sainthood in 2009 when Pope Benedict XVI approved the publication of the first miracle attributed to him, paving the way for his beatification the following year. An English deacon said he recovered from an incurable back ailment in 2001 thanks to Newman's intercession. The Catholic Church in England has been eagerly awaiting Newman's canonisation. President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, Cardinal Vincent Nichols has welcomed the news. "Newman's exploration of faith, depth of personal courage, intellectual clarity and cultural sensitivity make him a deeply admired follower of Christ," Nichols said. "He brings together so many of the best of Catholic traditions shared well beyond the Catholic Church. His canonisation will be welcomed especially in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion." Benedict attended Newman's beatification when he visited the United Kingdom in 2010. Newman, who died in 1890, started on the long process leading to sainthood in 1958. He achieved the first stage of being declared venerable in 1991 but then things ground to a halt. Despite his fame, and the reverence in which he was held by English-speaking Catholics, Newman's promoters were unable to find a credible case to present to the Vatican - until a deacon in Newman's long-time home of Birmingham, Jack Sullivan, came forward. According to Catholic doctrine, miracles happen when a prospective saint, who is in heaven, intercedes with God and asks for a special favour to be granted. Most miracles in sainthood causes are medically inexplicable cures. Pope Benedict was believed by some to be in favour of hastening Newman on the path to sainthood. "The cause is likely to be close to Benedict's heart because he has been a fan of Newman since his student days," said an author of a book on Newman and Benedict, Peter Jennings. Jennings cited a speech given by the then Cardinal Ratzinger in 1991. In the speech the cardinal recalled starting his seminarian studies in 1946 and discussing theology and philosophy with a close friend. "Newman was always present to us," he said. Newman, the son of a banker, was born in 1801 in London and was ordained as a Church of England priest in 1825. He rapidly became one of the country's leading intellectuals. In 1833, after a trip to Sicily in which he fell gravely ill, he returned to England and started the Oxford Movement, which aimed to breathe new life into the Church of England. His ideas caused controversy in the late 1830s and he retired from public life. In 1845 he converted to Roman Catholicism and lost many friends as a result. After his ordination in Rome, Newman founded the Birmingham Oratory, a Catholic community and school in Birmingham in the English Midlands, through which he helped the poor. He later moved to Dublin, where he founded University College. In 1879, he was made a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII, as a tribute to his work and devotion to his faith. Apart from the group of English Catholic martyrs, who were canonised in 1970, Cardinal Newman would be the first English saint from the time after the Reformation, the 16th century movement which resulted in the birth of Protestant churches. Two Englishmen, Sir Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher, were declared saints in 1935 but they both lived in the 16th century. Aside from his beatification prospects, Newman has claimed headlines after Birmingham religious authorities ordered his grave in a suburb of the city to be opened so he could be moved to the Oratory. The media reported controversy about Newman being "taken away" from his long-time friend, fellow convert Ambrose St.John, who was buried with him. But no remains were found in the decayed wooden coffin. The Catholic church reacted angrily to claims that Newman was gay. photo: Newman's beatification on 19 September 2010Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 14)  President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said he is unaware about Rappler chief Maria Ressa's arrest, which some labelled as the administration's latest blow against the media.

"Hindi ko talaga alam yan... sa labas po ako the whole day," the President told the media on the sidelines of PDP-Laban's proclamation rally in Bulacan.

[Translation: I really don't know that, I was out the whole day.]

"I cannot say anything. I have yet to read, I cannot give you an opinion," Duterte added.

Ressa is out on bail after getting arrested Wednesday afternoon for a cyber libel case involving a story published on Rappler in May 2012, months before the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 was enacted. It stemmed from a complaint filed by businessman Wilfredo Keng in October 2017 over an allegedly libelous article saying that he had loaned a vehicle to then Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Duterte also denied knowing the businessman.

"Hindi ko kilala 'yang si (I do not know) Keng. Frankly, I do not know him and what prompted him to file the case," he said.

The Rappler executive was detained overnight at the conference room of the National Bureau of Investigation's Anti-Cybercrime Division after she was blocked to post bail by the Pasay City court due to jurisdictional reasons.

Ressa's arrest sparked an outcry among press freedom advocates and media practitioners in and out of the country, all denouncing what they call an obvious act of persecution.

READ: UN rapporteur tells Rappler CEO: 'You can count on us'

Duterte had lashed out at the news company, which is known to be critical of the administration. In February 2018, Malacanang barred Rappler l and its reporter from covering events at the Palace. The Justice Department also last year indicted Rappler and Ressa for purportedly failing to file income and value-added tax returns in violation of Sections 254 and 255 of the Tax Code. This is in connection to the Bureau of Internal Revenue's 133.8-million tax evasion case against the company.

Malacanang had denied having a hand in Ressa's arrest.

"The rule of law has been observed in this particular case. She was given the opportunity to present evidence and rebut the charges against her," Presidential Sporkesperson Sal Panelo said.Brussels, February 14 - Italy's possible withdrawal of its contingent from Afghanistan "aligns itself with the international evaluation discussed with our (NAT) allies today", Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta said after a meeting of the Transatlantic Alliance on Thursday. "The technical planning (on a possible pullout) started by Italy, for once, ahead of others, which considers among the various options a possible withdrawal of the contingent is in line with the international evaluation discussed with our Allies today", she said. Trenta recently announced an Afghan pullout plan taking Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi by surprise.Rome, February 14 - Tension bubbled over in the Lower House on Thursday, with a session getting suspended with lawmakers for the opposition, centre-left Democratic Party (PD) furious at Speaker Roberto Fico's handling of proceedings. The trigger came during a debate on a bill to introduce referendums to propose laws, rather than just abolish legislation, when an MP for the 5-Star Movement (M5S) directed a gesture symbolising handcuffs at the PD parliamentarians. The PD MPs started to walk out when Fico decided not to eject the M5S lawmaker, Giuseppe D'Ambrosio. Things escalated further when Fico said 'arrivederci' as they were walking out. That prompted one PD MP to hurl papers at Fico while another turned over a chair on the government's benches. Afterwards Fico apologised for saying 'arrivederci'. "When I do wrong, I pay and I say sorry," Fico said before closing the session.Ventimiglia, February 14 - French police used pepper spray to get migrants out of a toilet on a train travelling from Italy to France near the border on Thursday, local sources said. The toxic spray spread down the carriage causing burning sensations, coughs and also moments of panic and confusion, the sources said. The incident happened on a Ventimiglia-Nice train near the station of Menton Garavan, sources said. French police have been pushing back migrants at the Italian border, spurring criticism from Italian officials.Rome, February 14 - Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Thursday vowed to raise milk prices after protests from dairy farmers in Sardinia. "From 60 cents I hope to arrive at least at one euro per litre," he said ahead of a meeting at the ministry with all sides in the protest. "I won't get up from the talks on milk until I get it," he said.Vatican City, February 13 - Prominent Anglican convert Blessed John Henry Newman, better known as Cardinal Newman, is to become a Catholic saint after Pope Francis authorised the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the miracle attributed to him that gets him on the final rung towards sainthood, making him the first English saint in four centuries. The Vatican did not give details in announcing Francis' approval on Tuesday of this second miracle. But Catholic media last year reported that a pregnant woman's recovery, with no scientific explanation, from a life-threatening illness, had been confirmed by Church officials and attributed to Newman's intercession. Newman (London 1801-Edgbaston 1890) is the best-known English churchman of the 19th century. An Anglican priest and thinker who caused immense controversy in Victorian England by converting to Catholicism, he was once described by the late pope John Paul II as "that great man of God". He moved a step closer to sainthood in 2009 when Pope Benedict XVI approved the publication of the first miracle attributed to him, paving the way for his beatification the following year. An English deacon said he recovered from an incurable back ailment in 2001 thanks to Newman's intercession. The Catholic Church in England has been eagerly awaiting Newman's canonisation. President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, Cardinal Vincent Nichols has welcomed the news. "Newman's exploration of faith, depth of personal courage, intellectual clarity and cultural sensitivity make him a deeply admired follower of Christ," Nichols said. "He brings together so many of the best of Catholic traditions shared well beyond the Catholic Church. His canonisation will be welcomed especially in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion." Benedict attended Newman's beatification when he visited the United Kingdom in 2010.Rome, February 14 - Pope Francis called for the eradication of hunger on Thursday as he addressed the governing council of the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). "Hunger has no present nor future," the pope said. "Only a past". IFAD, which is one of three Rome-based UN food agencies along with the FAO and the WFP, works to fight poverty in rural areas of developing countries. "It is paradoxical that a good part of the more than 820 million people who suffer hunger and malnutrition in the world, live in rural areas, are dedicated to food production, and are farmers," the Argentine pontiff said. "May your work, your sleepless nights and your deliberations be for the benefit of the discarded and victims of indifference and selfishness and may we see the total defeat of hunger and a bountiful harvest of justice and prosperity".Rome, February 14 - Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said "no" on Thursday when asked if he was convinced about the cost-benefit analysis on the controversial TAV Turin-Lyon high-speed rail project published this week by the transport and infrastructure ministry. The analysis gave the project the thumbs down, saying it would have a negative cost-benefit balance of between seven and eight billion euros. Critics have said the analysis was biased. "The faster people and goods travel, the better," Salvini said. The government had said the analysis would have a bearing on whether it decides to press ahead with the project or not. The 5-Star Movement (M5S) of Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli and Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio, the M5S leader, has long been opposed to the project due to its cost and environmental impact. But League leader Salvini has said the TAV should go ahead and had mooted the idea of holding a referendum on it if the cost-benefit analysis was negative.Rome, February 14 - Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi has said he is bemused that so many people prefer to vote for the 5-Star Movement (M5S) rather than his opposition, centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party. "Italians, you're all out of your mind," Berlusconi told one of his Mediaset TV channels on Wednesday evening. "Wake up, you are shameful". The media billionaire also repeated the assertion made this week by Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the ALDE liberal group in the European Parliament, that Premier Giuseppe Conte is the "puppet" of Deputy Premiers Matteo Salvini and Luigi Di Maio.BOZEMAN - On Monday, parents of students at Emily Dickinson Elementary School and Chief Joseph Middle School received an email saying there had been a mumps outbreak at both schools.

The three new cases of mumps mark ten cases in Gallatin County over the last year. The airborne virus, which is spread by saliva or mucus, is preventable with a vaccine.

Stan Wagner, a Bozeman resident, says his son may have been exposed to other students with the virus.

Nine-year-old Walker was diagnosed with cancer three years ago. And while he beat the disease after 18 months of difficult radiation, now Wagner may need to pull his son out of school again due to Walkers increased risk of getting the mumps post-chemo. Walker was vaccinated as a child, but the radiation may have reduced his risk of being able to fight off the virus.

Wagner is calling on parents who dont vaccinate their children to hop on board.

I know theres a lot of people who don't believe in it, Wagner says. You know, I see them on social media, some of them I usually don't engage, but at this point I'm calling 'em. I'm calling 'em on it. It's time to get kids vaccinated so we can have all of these kids be healthy. The risks of these diseases isn't worth the hope that the kid won't get it."

Parents with concerns regarding vaccinations are encouraged to reach out and get answers, either from their doctors or the school system itself.

What I find out, says Bozeman Superintendent Robert Watson, [is] sometimes the fear of things is a lot worse than it actually is. And sometimes you just need some questions answered.

School officials say they estimate 3-4% of Bozeman students are unvaccinated.

Says Gallatin City-County Health Officer Matt Kelley: Its a concern that these diseases that we once  if ever  saw are coming back, and were seeing a resurgence of the diseases.

And its not just mumps outbreaks popping up; in Washington, an outbreak of the measles has prompted health officials to declare a public health emergency. For parents like Wagner, its crazy to see old problems coming to the forefront of the public consciousness again.

The anti-vax movement, I really just dont understand, he admits. I look at like, our grandparents and great-grandparents learned these really hard lessons and worked really hard to sort these things out for us, that we didnt have to face them. And weve been there so long that weve forgotten those lessons.

Before the mumps vaccine was created, the virus was the leading cause of acquired deafness in children. Now, officials urge all parents to vaccinate their children.

Throughout my experience as a public health officer, I have never encountered a parent whos not just trying to do the best thing for their child, says Kelley. But from a public health perspective, we know the evidence is clear that vaccines save lives.

Mumps causes swilling of the salivary glands in the face, high fever, headaches, and body aches.

If you think your child has these symptoms, keep them at home and seek medical attention immediately, even if theyve already been vaccinated. While the vaccine is extremely effective, it does not provide 100% protection.

The Gallatin County Health Department is offering walk-in immunization clinics at 215 W. Mendenhall in Bozeman from 9-11 AM and 1-4 PM through Thursday, February 14.Great Falls High School just had a, Topping Out, ceremony on February 13th to celebrate the final 2 beams being put down on the schools new HUB.

The ceremony consisted of students, staff and community members signing the last 2 beams before watching them be put into their final place.

The tradition comes from Scandinavian culture where they would put a tree on top of a new building to displace the spirits and give thanks for the gifts and ability to construct the new structure.

This tradition was later adopted and brought here to America.

In this case, Great Falls High flew the Bison and American flag on top of the beams in conjunction with also placing a wreath or bough on top.

However, for the students and staff at Great Falls High, the ceremony and construction project have a much more personal meaning.

Personally, I think its just a better connection to Great Falls High. I mean, its like my pride and joy. I bleed blue and white, so this is just a deeper connection that Ill have with the school and something Ill have to remember and treasure forever, explains Jennie Greshan, a senior at GFHS.

Others see this as an opportunity for future generations to learn from.

I think its going to be a really powerful statement and a testament to what happens when you invest in education, explains Zach Schermele, a senior at GFHS.

Looking forward, the project manager says the next few steps in the construction process will be to start the masonry and erect the exterior walls.

Fortunately, the next few steps don't completely rely on good weather, so everything should be right on schedule for their due date in October.The VITA program is a program designed to assist lower income families in the Billings community. This year, approximately 10 students are involved in this program and will prepare taxes for those who make $55,000 or less at no charge.

Scott Gorman is the accounting club president for MSU Billings and a volunteer tax preparer with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. He said students in the program are preparing live tax returns. He said each student has to go through all of the certification testing through the IRS- a requirement for these students. So far, Gorman said the students have over 300 returns they've prepared this year alone.

Gorman explained why you should trust these students to do your taxes.

"We have the most up-to-date knowledge-base coming from the IRS because the students have just taken the tax course that's required as part of the accounting degree here at MSU Billings and so, once they get those courses done, they have the fresh-base of knowledge with the new tax law that took affect for this year," Gorman explained. "So actually, the continuing education that we get as being students propels us into being more thorough, I think, than maybe some other folks that have done it for a long time."

Gorman said everything is looked at with multiple sets of eyes before it's e-filed and sent to the IRS.

The students in this program are not only from MSU Billings, they're also from Rocky Mountain College. They prepare taxes at HRDC located in Downtown Billings on the corner of Montana Ave and 31st Street in the basement level.

If you are interested, you can make an appointment at HRDC by contacting them at (406)247-4710. There are walk-in slots available, but there may be a little bit of a wait, so, Gorman said to bring a book or something to keep you entertained while you are waiting.Philippine journalist Maria Ressa speaks to CNN's Kristie Lu Stout after being released on bail following her arrest on "cyber libel" charges.Removal of plane after deadly crash on Mt. Hood to be reviewed in the springMetro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 14)  Bottled drinks and other liquid containers are now permitted inside the Metro Manila Rail Transit System (MRT-3) stations-- as long as they do not go beyond 100 milliliters (ML).

The MRT-3 management on Thursday said it will allow bottled drinks, as well as other liquids including alcohol and perfume inside the train platforms as long as they meet the said requirement.

In a statement, the management also reminded commuters who were affected by the implemented liquid ban to get their confiscated items from the station supervisor.

Only a valid identification card is needed to claim confiscated bottles, it added.

Transport authorities earlier imposed a liquid ban in the MRT and Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines in light of the blasts in Jolo, Sulu in January.

Only bottled baby formula, breast milk, medication, liquids used to augment the body for medical and cosmetic reasons, and liquids for the needs of children and people with disabilities were allowed on the trains during the ban.California man found guilty by federal jury for traveling to Oregon with the intent to have sex with minorIvanka Trump will be on Capitol Hill for a series of meetings on the administration's paid family leave initiative, which appears to be her next major policy push following last week's women's economic empowerment initiative.Auburn, IN (46706)

Today

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Thunder possible. Low near 70F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Thunder possible. Low near 70F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.Angola, IN (46703)

Today

Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain overnight. Thunder possible. Low 69F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain overnight. Thunder possible. Low 69F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Isolated thunderstorms this evening. Cloudy with rain arriving overnight. Thunder possible. Low near 70F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Isolated thunderstorms this evening. Cloudy with rain arriving overnight. Thunder possible. Low near 70F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.Officials say four more of the 21 nursing homes and assisted-living centers under state control are expected to close.

The state placed the 21 in receivership last March , to be managed by Klaasmeyer & Associates. The state took the action after the homes' owner, Cottonwood Healthcare, also known as Skyline, notified the state about its financial crisis.

The residents at Norfolk Care and Rehabilitation Center were told Wednesday that Klaasmeyer & Associates would be seeking court permission to close the center. The same is expected for homes in Broken Bow, Grand Island and Schuyler.

Klaasmeyer and a spokeswoman for the Nebraska Health and Human Services Department didn't immediately return calls Thursday from The Associated Press.

Residents and staff at Sidney Care and Rehabilitation Center were told last month that it would close.Biologists shot rare footage of the sleek big cat walking majestically in Kenya -- the first time the animal has been photographed in Africa since 1909.ST. LOUIS (AP)  A former alderman from a small eastern Missouri town has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for embezzling $187,000 of public money.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 54-year-old Gary Keith Atchley also must repay the money to Olympian Village, a town of 700 people 40 miles south of St. Louis.

Atchley was sentenced Wednesday.

Former Jeff Co. alderman wrote $127,000 worth of checks to himself, faces prison time A former alderman of a Jefferson County town plead guilty in federal court Monday morning to an indictment charging him with five counts of wire fraud.

He admitted writing city checks to "cash" and to himself. Atchley served as alderman from 2008 to 2016.

Defense lawyer Talmage Newton IV said in court that Atchley had "deep remorse and regret" for his crimes.

Olympian Village City Attorney Edward Sluys told the judge that Atchley's actions caused the wastewater facilities to fall into a dangerous state of disrepair, and triggered judgments against the city.

___

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.comST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) -- Court documents obtained by News 4 Wednesday provided new details into the shooting death of St. Louis Police Officer Katlyn Alix last month during a game similar to Russian Roulette.

Prosecutors have charged Nathaniel Hendren with involuntary manslaughter for the shooting, which occurred at his apartment in the 700 block of Dover.

Read: Timeline established for 2 on-duty officers in the hours before Katlyn Alix was killed

A newly-obtained court document states that, at the hospital, Hendren spontaneously stated to his supervisor that he did not try and kill the victim because he was in love with her and they were in an intimate relationship and were planning on moving into his apartment.

Previously, the exact relationship between Hendren and Alix had not been known, although the two sometimes patrolled south St. Louis as partners and were said to be friends.

The court document additionally states that Hendren, Alix and the only other officer who was present at the time of the shooting were very close friends who had a close work and social relationship.

Read: 'Spreading rumors ... is dishonorable'; officer's attorney releases statement following arrest

News 4 is choosing not the name the other officer, as he has not been charged with any crimes.

The court document additionally states that the officer told investigators that Hendren and Alix were consuming alcohol beverages and playing with their off-duty weapons. Previously, the Circuit Attorney had stated that there was probable cause that drugs or alcohol may have been involved in the crime. Urine and breath tests were conducted on the officers, but blood was not taken.

The other officer on scene stated that Hendren and the victim started to play Russian Roulette with a revolver, at which point the officer said he was uncomfortable with the drinking of alcohol and the gunplay, so he walked out of the living room, and as he did so, he heard a single gunshot, the court document reads.

Police found three cell phones at the scene. They are attempting to determine to whom the phones belong. The other officer on scene states that Alix had submitted several text messages to both officers that night, inquiring on their whereabouts, as well as phone conversations, which led the victim to Hendrens apartment, according to the court documents.

Hendren has been released on bond. His next court date is scheduled for Monday, March 4.

This is a developing story. Check back with KMOV for additional details.Dallas attorney Dean Malone announced on Tuesday that he has filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Jasper on behalf of the family of SteWASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - The Trump administrations top two negotiators in trade talks with China will meet on Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but there has been no decision to extend a March 1 U.S. deadline for a deal, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Thursday.

The vibe in Beijing is good, Kudlow told Fox News Channel in an upbeat assessment of the U.S.-China talks that are set to conclude on Friday in Beijing.

The two sides are pushing to de-escalate a tariff war that has dimmed global growth forecasts, roiled financial markets and disrupted manufacturing supply chains.

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 don not reach a deal by March 1, increasing pressure and costs in sectors from consumer electronics to agriculture.

Although U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this week that an extension of the deadline was possible if a real deal was close, Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, said the White House had made no decision on that.

I cant speak to that. No such decision has been made so far, Kudlow said when asked if there would be a 60-day extension.

The talks, scheduled to run through Friday, follow three days of deputy-level meetings to work out technical details, including a mechanism for enforcing any trade agreement.

China proposed in the talks this week to increase purchases of U.S. semiconductors to $200 billion over six years as part of a deal to ease American tariffs, a person briefed on the talks told Reuters. But the semiconductor proposal, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, was part of a recycled package of goods purchase offers that Beijing first presented in the spring of 2018, the source said.

The person also said little progress had been made so far this week on the most difficult issues involving U.S. demands that China make sweeping changes to curb forced technology transfers and industrial subsidies and to enforce intellectual property rights.

Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer opened the high-level talks at the Diaoyutai state guest house with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the top economic adviser to Chinese President Xi.

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the negotiations had been progressing very well.

A Bloomberg report cited sources as saying Trump was considering pushing back the deadline by 60 days to give negotiators more time after the Chinese side requested a 90-day extension.

A source familiar with the talks told Reuters on Wednesday before the high-level talks began that the Chinese had not raised the idea of a 90-day extension.

Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of Chinas nationalist Global Times tabloid, also tweeted that speculation on an extension was inaccurate, citing a source close to talks.

Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters he had no information on the trade talks progress.

Trump has said he did not expect to meet with Xi before March 1, but White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders has raised the possibility of a meeting between the leaders at the presidents retreat at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she noted Trump had said many times he wished to meet with Xi, and that China was willing to maintain close contact with the U.S. side, but said she had no information to share on any visit by the Chinese president.

TESTED BY THE TRADE WAR

The Chinese government has offered few details about the state of negotiations this week.

Chinese January trade data released on Thursday showed imports from the United States fell 41.2 percent from a year earlier to $9.24 billion, the lowest amount in dollar terms since February 2016.

Exports to the United States also declined 2.4 percent to $36.54 billion, the lowest amount since last April.

Chinas trade surplus with the United States narrowed to $27.3 billion in January, from $29.87 billion in December.

Chinas soybean imports fell 13 percent in January from a year earlier, customs data showed, as a hefty duty on shipments from the United States, its second largest supplier, curbed purchases.

The United States has used tariffs as leverage to demand Beijing make major structural policy changes such as enforcing intellectual property rights.

But China has denied accusations of trade abuses. While Chinese officials have repeatedly pledged to improve market access for foreign investors, few experts expect Beijing to agree to anything that would force fundamental changes to what Washington complains is its state-led approach to trade.LONDON (Reuters) - Queen Elizabeth unveiled a plaque bearing a secret message on Thursday as she toured the original London home of Britains GCHQ to mark the intelligence agencys centenary.

The 92-year-old monarch also met two generations of women in the world of cyber security along with the grandchildren of the agencys first head Alastair Denniston.

After the success of signals intelligence used during World War One, GCHQ was formed in 1919, under the original name of the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS).

The cover name of GCHQ was given in 1939 to disguise its secret work in electronic eavesdropping.

Elizabeth met Ruth Bourne, a veteran from the World War Two Bletchley Park codebreaking center, alongside the winners of CyberFirst, a GCHQ competition for girls aged 12 to 13 to help ensure women are better represented in the cyber workforce.

She also unveiled a commemorative plaque bearing, appropriately enough, a secret message.

GCHQ is one of Britains three intelligence agencies along with MI5 and MI6.

Thursdays ceremony was at Watergate House, a former top-secret location near Charing Cross in central London that was its first home between 1919 and 1921 before it moved to Queens Gate in Kensington.

It later moved to Bletchley Park, north of London, and is now based in Cheltenham, western England.(Kitco News) - Quebec lithium producer Nemaska Lithium (TSE:NMX) said yesterday that it will need CAD$375M (US$283M) to complete construction of its Whabouchi Mine.

The markets sent the company down 36% to 35 cents a share as of 4 p.m. ET.

The company says that it has spent CAD$138.4M (US$104M) on the Whabouchi mine and just over CAD $67.3M (US$50M) on the Shawinigan electrochemical plant as of 2018 year end.

The company said it needed more funding after coming to a ". . . deeper knowledge of all project components."

"This additional estimated funding, which is largely related to installation and indirect costs, was determined as a result of a detailed review and deeper knowledge of all project components, including detailed engineering work, revised site geotechnical data and updated equipment and installation costs," said the company in a news release.

Guy Bourassa, President and CEO of Nemaska Lithium, says he is studying financing options.

"We are evaluating several options that would enable existing and new shareholders, and project partners to join the table," says Bourassa in a statement.

"Our objective remains to close the required financing on time to stay on target to complete mine construction in October 2019, in order to make the first shipment of spodumene concentrate in December 2019, followed by the start-up of the Shawinigan facility the year after."

The company has $335M on hand in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents.

Creative Commons image of lithium battery courtesy of deepsonicSAO PAULO (Reuters) - Marcos Willians Camacho, the main leader of Brazils powerful prison gang First Capital Command, was transferred on Wednesday to a high-security federal penitentiary from a Sao Paulo state prison, Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria told reporters.

Twenty-one other members of the Sao Paulo-based gang, known locally as PCC, were transferred to federal facilities from Sao Paulo state in an operation by federal and state security forces, he said.

Doria told journalists the transfer of Camacho, known in Brazil by the nickname Marcola, had been in the works for around 50 days. The governor also noted the administration has prepared for potential reprisals related to the decision.

Actions have been taken by state and federal security forces to prevent any reaction, Doria said. The state, here, will not be held hostage by criminals.

Last month, a plan by the new Ceara state government to send prisoners to whatever jails have space to take them, ending a longstanding practice of separating them according to gang affiliation, triggered violence in the capital Fortaleza and other cities.

Authorities said at that time the violence was a reprisal ordered by gang leaders from inside the penitentiaries.

The operation marks a major step by the new Brazilian government of right-wing Jair Bolsonaro, who was elected last year promising, among other things, to fight rising crime and the prison gangs. Doria is a close ally of the former Army captain turned president.

Bolsonaro, who was discharged from hospital on Wednesday after recovering from his third surgery since he was stabbed last year during campaign, signed on Wednesday a decree that authorizes the use of federal forces in prisons to deal with any potential riots.

Marcola was sentenced to more than 200 years in jail for several crimes, including drug trafficking and murder. He used to lead PCC actions from the jail.(Adds sales, production details, background)

Feb 14 (Reuters) - Newcrest Mining Ltd, Australias top gold miner, on Thursday said its first-half profit more than doubled, buoyed by record gold and copper production at its Cadia operations.

First-half results were also boosted by a weakening of the Australian dollar, which helped control costs at its Australian operations, the company said.

Copper production during the first-half came in at 51.8 thousand tonnes, a jump of 33 percent, while sales revenue rose less than 1 percent to $1.73 billion for first-half of fiscal 2018, the company reported.

Underlying profit for the six months ended Dec. 31 came in at $237 million, up from $116 million a year ago. UBS had estimated net profit after tax of $223 million.

Gold production for the half-year climbed to 1.2 million ounces, about 6 percent higher than last year, while all-in sustaining cost fell 13 percent to $747 per ounce.

The company said it expects total capital expenditure for fiscal 2019 to be around the lower end of the forecast it issued last month of between $590 million and $690 million.

In December, the miner raised its holdings in Ecuador gold and copper developer SolGold Plc, in a move that strengthened its position as the biggest investor ahead of rival BHP Group.

Gold producers have been on a deal-making spree in a bid to boost their waning reserves amid higher bullion prices.

Newcrest is seen by analysts as the likely candidate to combine with a North American rival, following recent acquisitions by major mining companies Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining.

The company also announced an interim dividend of 7.5 cents per share, the same as last year. (Reporting by Rashmi Ashok and Niyati Shetty in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio and Bill Berkrot)Vanguard founder Jack Bogle started the debate of active versus passive investing when he created the first index fund in 1975. Hundreds of additional index funds, countless studies, and one historic recession later, passive investing has become a household concept and is accepted as the preferred method of investing for millions of investors. SEE ALSO: The Psychology of the Stock Market and Investment Decisions p> Youve seen the headlines and stats by now: Billions of dollars are flowing from active to passive funds. Ninety percent of active stock managers fail to beat their benchmarks. If youve been following this debate for years as I have, youve also probably seen the counterarguments, of which there are many. This is the wrong discussion. The reality is, when it comes to managing investments, theres room for both philosophies. Diplomatic, I know. First of all, when we talk about active versus passive investing, were really having two separate discussions. The first is asset allocation, the second is what you do within that allocation. Heres how I think about each. Managing Your Allocation There are several internal factors that dictate how you allocate your portfolio. The evolution of these variables (age, net worth, risk profile, etc.) over time will also change where you fall on the active-passive spectrum.

For many investors, the best solution very well might be robo-advisers. If you have a smaller net worth or dont require much financial planning, the diversified investment options provided by robo-advisers is as cost-efficient and passive as youre going to get. A higher net worth individual, on the other hand, is likely to have more needs. Optimizing a portfolio for complexities like estate planning and tax efficiency will require a more active approach to how assets are allocated. The high net worth clients I work with typically require a more diversified allocation beyond stocks, bonds and cash into assets such as real estate, insurance, private equity and other alternatives. And then, of course, you have to consider the external factors (i.e., market conditions) when thinking about an active versus passive approach. Historically, active strategies tend to perform better in down markets while passive strategies outperform in up markets. Morgan Stanley found that over the last 20 years, the top 25% of portfolio managers significantly outperformed their benchmarks in years when the market was down. The period from 2009-today has been one of the longest U.S. equity bull markets in history  save for a couple of brief pauses  so its no surprise that passive investing has become the predominant philosophy over the last decade. If the volatility in U.S. equities continues in 2019, it would stand to reason that money would flow back into actively managed funds as investors try to improve their risk-adjusted returns. Drilling Down Lets get to the second part of the equation  determining how active or passive you want to be in managing your specific allocations to various assets. This largely comes down to the asset in question.

Research suggests that active managers are more likely to outperform their benchmarks on a net-of-fee basis in certain asset classes. This is true in international equities, where the median active fund manager outperforms by over 1.5 percentage points per year. Thats a return well worth the customary fees of active management, and the same holds true in small-cap investing. But there are some asset classes  such as large-cap equities  where the median manager historically cant beat the benchmark. Add in fees on top of that, and active management becomes hard to justify. Active fund manager performances dont stay constant, either. For example, Bank of America found that nearly half of U.S. large-cap equity fund managers outperformed their benchmarks in 2017, the best rate since 2009. Keeping an eye on these trends  this is one area where advisers can help  can be the determining factor in what kind of approach you take for a specific asset in your portfolio. The Bottom Line Investing is not a world of absolutes. Whoever decided one approach to investing is universally better than others was wrong. Im a big believer in building a portfolio that takes both active and passive approaches into account. But Im a bigger believer in the idea that no two investors require the same approach. Every one of the clients I work with has different sets of needs and goals. Its my job to find that balance.BLUE EARTH, Minn.  A North Iowa man is hurt in a southern Minnesota collision.

The Minnesota State Patrol says it happened around 3:49 pm Wednesday at the intersection of E 7th Street and N Gorman Street in Blue Earth. A pickup truck driven by a 16-year-old crashed with a car driven by Lonnie Lamar Erickson, 71 of Buffalo Center, IA.

The State Patrol says both drivers were taken to Blue Earth Hospital. Ericksons injuries are described as non-life threatening. Both drivers were wearing their seat belts.

The Faribault County Sheriffs Office as well as Blue Earth fire, police, and ambulance assisted at the scene.MASON CITY, Iowa - A wanted fugitive was taken into custody after a pursuit in Mason City that involved a vehicle crashing into a snowbank and the suspect intentionally trying to hit a deputys vehicle, authorities said.

Frederick Olson, 46, of Mason City, was taken into custody early Thursday morning and is facing charges of felony eluding, possession of methamphetamine, interference with official acts and driving under suspension. He was also served his absence from custody warrant.

Authorities say at 2:14 a.m., a deputy attempted to make a traffic stop of a 2001 Dodge Ram near the intersection of 19th St. SW and S. Grover Ave.

A pursuit ensued and lasted several minutes, according to the Sheriffs Office. Mason City police assisted and were able to use stop sticks on three different occasions. Olsons vehicle crashed into a large snowbank near the intersection of 4th St. SE and Winnebago Way. During the pursuit, Olson attempted to strike a deputys patrol car with his truck. Olson received minor injuries and was taken to Mercy One North Iowa. No deputies or officers were injured.BUTLER COUNTY, Iowa - One person has been arrested in connection to a school threat at Aplington-Parkersburg, the district said Thursday morning.

The district was notified by police that a high school student posted a threatening picture and comment on social media Wednesday night, according to the schools notification system.

The individual has been arrested, and the school said that person acted alone and there is no threat to students today.

The school takes our student safety seriously and is working closely with law enforcement to insure a safe environment for all of our students today, the A-P messaging service said. Police will be present at all school buildings this morning.MANLY, Iowa- As the state looks to make changes to the bottle law in Iowa, Jeff Germundson is opening a redemption center in Manly.

I walk my dog on a regular basis, he said. I used to find maybe one or two cans, now I see about 25 to 35 each time. My neighbor told me the one in Mason City was closed and I thought someone had to do something about it.

When the business opens Friday they will get one cent per can or bottle they redeem, per Iowa Code.

Not a lot of money but Im hoping some people might donate a couple cans here and there just to keep the doors open, he said.

But a new bill in the Iowa Senate is aimed and raising that to 2 cents per can as well as not requiring grocery stores and convenient stores to take the cans back. Thats something Germundson said he is already seeing an issue with locally despite Iowa Code requiring the stores to.

Theres nowhere to take them in Worth County or Mason City, for that matter, he said.

But hes not doing it for the money.

I dont know much about the bill, Germundson said. I do know theres too much litter out there and Im going to do what I can to eliminate it.

Worth County Redemption Center will officially open its doors Feb. 15. Germundson said he will be open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

The bill did pass out of subcommittee this legislative session. A similar bill was presented last session but didnt gain momentum.AUSTIN, Minn. - A man from California is using his story of overcoming adversity to bring hope to young people.

Manny Scott was a part of an English class at Long Beach's Wilson High that's now known around the world as the "Freedom Writers."

He speaks to schools and groups around the world. On Wednesday, he spoke to students at Austin High School.

Some may have seen the movie that came out in 2007. The character "Marcus" portrayed his story, along with another classmate's.

Scott only spoke to the students for about an hour, but the impact he made seemed to be everlasting.

"I always try to make sure I'm giving my very best as though this is my last chance to touch someone's heart," Scott said. "I may never see these kids again."

Just like in the movie, Scott used a similar exercise to get to know the 1500 in the room.

It started out light, before diving into more serious topics that dug into home life.

"I know, especially like at the Austin High School, I know people go through a lot," Kelijah Greene, a student at AHS, said. "Even though we're a small town, I know people still go through things."

Still, several students were surprised at those who had the courage to stand up for some of the devastating questions.

"Some people took it to heart because it's real to them you know," Skyler Peter, another student, said. "It really means something to them."

"Like a lot of my friends had stood up and I didn't know that they were going through that kind of stuff," Shelissa Bentzin, AHS student, said.

Scott thinks it's a way of bringing people together.

"Sometimes it's just starting with, 'Yes i'm going through this,'" Scott said, "and when you look around and see hundreds of your classmates standing with you, there's this huge burden lifted off of you like 'I'm not alone.' This stress relief. 'Someone understands me.' I think that's the beginning of healing."

No matter race or socioeconomic background, Scott sees a hopelessness in this generation that we wants fixed.

"If we don't help our young people feel loved, feel safe, feel seen," Scott said, "then things are only going to get worse."

Scott also spoke to teachers at staff at Austin High School on how they can help the young people.

Scott is married with three kids. He has spoken to more than 125 groups a year for the past decade.

To learn more about his story, click here.CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa  A North Iowa man is going to federal prison for stealing pain medicine meant for patients.

James Allen Moorehead of Mason City pleaded guilty to acquiring drugs through fraud, making false statements related to health care matters, and aggravated identity theft. The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Iowa says while Moorhead worked as an ER nurse at Franklin General Hospital from March 2012 to March 2017, he used patient identities to obtain hydrocodone.

Prosecutors say Moorehead would access the hospitals computer system and divert pain pills meant for patients to himself. Moorehead then falsified medical records that the drugs had been given to the patients when what they really received was merely Tylenol.

Moorehead was sentenced Wednesday to three years behind bars, followed by three years of supervised release. He must also pay a $20,000 fine.

The U.S. Attorneys Office says Moorehead lost his nursing license in 2008 for stealing opioids from Genesis Health Center and North Iowa Mercy health Center. Moorehead regained his nursing license in 2011.MABEL, Minn.- Plans for having the hog lot in Fillmore county is no longer in motion.

The facility has faced vocal opposition with protesters sharing their concerns about the hog lot's possible environmental impacts in July.

Then in December, The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency or MPCA announced their decision to deny a permit for that facility to be built on the proposed sites over public health concerns, citing already high levels of nitrates in county township's groundwater.

Hog farmer Dayna Burtness is letting out a sigh of relief.

While she's glad thousands of pigs won't come to the area, she believes the MPCA isn't listening to the community.

It took the proposer dropping out to get any sense of closure on this. Im glad that happened but northeast Iowa is getting saturated with these hog confinement operations and they're going to continue to try to spread into southeast Minnesota, Said Burtness.

Al Hein is a farmer who proposed the hog farm.

He says the process just became too much.

It's taken on such a personal tone and the truth has been casted aside so it seem to me that wasn't serving agriculture that wasnt serving people in Minnesota, he said.

We asked Hein when he plans to continue the process of trying to build his hog farm but he didn't give us a specific date.GARNER, Iowa  A West Hancock school teacher is arrested for OWI.

According to court documents, Raylea Lynn Hepker, 27 of Cedar Rapids, was arrested January 28 after a traffic complaint of a vehicle driving on the wrong side of the road with a covered license plate. The Britt Police Department says Hepker was pulled over and a strong smell of alcohol was coming from her vehicle.

Police say Hepker was crying and cursing and at first refused to do any sort of sobriety test, saying she drank enough for law enforcement to know she was drunk. Court documents say Hepker eventually provide a breath sample that showed a blood alcohol content of .267, more than three times the legal limit. She was charged with OWI-3rd offense.

Hepker listed West Hancock schools as her employer on an application for a public defender and the school districts website lists her as an English/English as a Second Language teacher.ALBERT LEA, Minn.  A Zumbro Falls man is sentenced for sexually abusing children in Freeborn County.

Michael Robert Lee, 55, pleaded guilty to two counts of 2nd degree criminal sexual conduct. He was charged in February 2018 after the Freeborn County Sheriffs Office says it received a report of someone who said Lee had abused them when they were three or four years old.

Court documents state the investigation led to two other victims who were sexually abused by Lee. All of the abuse occurred when the victims were younger than 13 years old.

On Wednesday, Lee was sentenced to one year in jail on each count, to be served consecutively. Lee is being given credit for 244 days already served. After serving his jail term, Lee will then be on supervised probation for 25 years.MASON CITY, Iowa - Here a car, there a car. It's a common sight to see in Winter; vehicles submerged in deep snow due to Mother Nature.

Todd Hanson of Lake Towing in Clear Lake had to pull at least six vehicles out of the snow Tuesday night. However, it's not just this week he's been busy; in fact, he's seen a spike in calls this season.

"Lots of cars, lots of tows, jump starts. Lots of jump starts the last couple weeks.

"This year's definitely been busier than last year, that's for sure. Last year was decent, but this year...if it keeps going the way it is, it'll be a record year."

Depending on the type of damage, some vehicles are towed to his lot, and written off as total losses. But for the driveable ones that just need minor repairs, one shop to do it is Custom Auto Body in Mason City.

Owner Steve Tass hasn't had any vehicles directly coming from the storm yet, but his shop's been busy all season as well.

"It started off a little slow. We had such a nice fall, but now we're really getting hit. It seems like the times have changed a little bit. We seem like we get more snow later in the year, even May and April sometimes will see it."

Tow bans were implemented in Chickasaw, Floyd, Howard and Mitchell Counties for a time during the storm. While Cerro Gordo County wasn't part of the ban, but if there is one in place, Hanson says to just wait.

"We run a back log. Once a tow ban goes into effect, you start a list and work down it as it gets lifted."

Iowa State Patrol was also busy during the storm; officers covered 174 crashes and assisted 410 motorists statewide within a 48 hour period between 11 a.m. Monday and 11 a.m. Wednesday.ST. PAUL, Minn.  A body found in 1970 in Mille Lacs County has now been identified as a University of Minnesota student from Hayfield.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Mille Lacs County Sheriffs Office says a DNA match with family members has identified the remains as Gloria Frieda Rieken, 18. Authorities say she left her apartment on foot in early November 1970 for classes but never arrived. A womans body was found inside an abandoned and burned home on Keystone Road in Mille Lacs County. At the time, the Hennepin County Medical Examiners Office could not determine who the woman was or how she died and she was eventually buried at Milo Cemetery.

Several members of Riekens family provided DNA to investigators in 2013 for comparison with unidentified remains. The body found in Mille Lacs County was exhumed in 2018 to obtain her DNA and she was identified as Rieken in February.

Learning her identity gave us our first break in this case in nearly a half century, said Mille Lacs County Sheriff Don Lorge. Now we can try to piece together how she came to be in Mille Lacs County, and hopefully, how she died.

This is not the ending any family would hope for, but it is information, said BCA Superintendent Drew Evans. After a half century of waiting and wondering, the Riekens can at last bring Gloria home to rest.

Without her familys decision to come forward, we would never have been able to identify Gloria Rieken, said BCA Deputy Superintendent of Forensic Science Services Knutson. Once again, this speaks to the importance of family members of missing people coming forward to provide DNA samples.OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP)  A September trial has been scheduled for an Iowa woman accused of using pajama pants to strangle her 5-year-old daughter.

Wapello County District Court records say 23-year-old Kelsie Thomas, of Ottumwa, has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and child endangerment resulting in death. Her trial start is set to start Sept. 10.

Police and medics were sent July 19 to Thomas' home in Ottumwa after a 911 call. Her daughter, Cloe Thomas, was pronounced dead later at a hospital.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation has said Kelsie Thomas told investigators that she killed Cloe.MASON CITY, Iowa  An accused mugger arrested after a 45-minute police chase is pleading not guilty.

Jacob Matthew Mills, 25 of Mason City, is charged with 2nd degree robbery, 1st degree theft, and assault with intent to inflict serious injury. Mason City police say he approached two people on the street on January 19 and demanded they empty their pockets. Mills then reportedly demanded their backpacks and told them to get into a car.

Court documents state Mills punched one of the victims in the car and when the victim tried to run away, Mills took him to the ground and began choking and punching him.

Police say Mills left the scene but was later caught after running away from a traffic stop.

His trial is scheduled to begin on March 26.Engineers Ireland is calling on Girl Guide and Brownie units in Kilkenny to take the Engineers Week Challenge to become Irelands Top Guide and Brownie Engineers.

During Engineers Week, taking place from 2  8 March 2019, Guides and Brownies are encouraged to work towards gaining the Guide Engineering Badge or Brownie Engineering Badge with their unit and devise an innovative project that could be commercially produced. Each entry submitted before the 15 March deadline will be judged by the Engineers Ireland STEPS Dragons, with the winners crowned Irelands Top Guide Engineers or Irelands Top Brownie Engineers.

Director General of Engineers Ireland, Caroline Spillane, said: The Guide Engineering Badge and Brownie Engineering Badge helps to engage young girls to work through a variety of fun engineering challenges based on creative thinking, curiosity and team-work. We hope as many units in Kilkenny will engage in this Engineers Week Challenge and we look forward to crowning Irelands Top Guide and Brownie Engineers.

Chief Commissioner of the Irish Girl Guides, Helen Concannon, said: As one of the largest girl-only organisations in Ireland, we are delighted to provide more opportunities for our girls to develop their skills in STEM and engage with engineering activities. Irelands Top Guide and Brownie Engineers competition will encourage our Units to experience the engineering design process from start to finish. The key thing is not the competition but taking part, and the girls creating projects and believing in themselves.

Now its 13th year, Engineers Week is a campaign held annually to promote engineering as a career and the importance of the profession to Ireland. The week-long campaign is coordinated on a national basis by Engineers Ireland's STEPS programme - funded under Science Foundation Irelands Discover Programme and supported by industry leaders, Intel, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, Arup and ESB.

As well as the Irish Girl Guides and Brownies Engineers Week Challenge, engineering organisations, third-level institutions, the public sector and teachers are also encouraged to run their own classroom-based activities, quizzes and competitions.

To register your unit for Irelands Top Guide and Brownie Engineer competition, download free resources and find out more about events taking place around the country, visit: www.engineersweek.ieWeather Alert

...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions will develop in central Washington on Friday and build into eastern Washington and north Idaho 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 through Thursday, and possibly into next weekend. * IMPACTS...Unprecedented 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 event will likely be one of the most extreme and prolonged heat waves in the recorded history of the Inland Northwest. Unprecedented heat will not only threaten the health of residents in the Inland Northwest but will make our region increasingly vulnerable to wildfires and intensify the impacts our ongoing drought. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Going to a place with air conditioning even for a couple hours can help mitigate heat stress. Consider going to a shopping mall, local library, or community center for relief. Do not leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles. Car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes. Take extra precautions when outside. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing. Try to limit strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Take action when you see symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. &&OREGON -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture will release food assistance funds early for the second month, the Oregon Department of Human Services said.

Those who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will receive their benefits March 1. February benefits were issued Jan. 20, during the partial federal government shutdown. Typically, Oregonians receive their SNAP funds between the first and ninth of each month.

RELATED: SNAP benefits issued early due to government shutdown

Officials said that the change will help households who have had a longer than usual gap between their usual SNAP issuances.

We understand that this disruption in the schedule of how benefits are distributed can be difficult for SNAP participants, Self-Sufficiency Programs Director Kim Fredlund said. Our goal, during this unprecedented time, is to ensure we provide vulnerable Oregonians with access to food benefits and help them find additional resources if needed.

To find a local DHS office, click here.EUGENE, Ore. -- A locally-owned steel production company is looking to hire workers laid-off by Winnebago in Junction City.

This is an opportunity for us to help the local economy and add some talented people to our team, said Mohawk Metal owner Tony Bloom. Winnebago employees are well-trained and have skills very similar to what we need at Mohawk.

The company said it's currently involved in projects including a local stadium in Eugene and Rainer Tower, a 58-story skyscraper in downtown Seattle.

RELATED: Winnebago Industries axing hundreds in Junction City

No job is too big or too small for Mohawk Metal, says Bloom. Thats why we always need a variety of employees and skill-sets so we can be a single source for our clients across the country.

Last month, Winnebago announced it's eliminating approximately 220 jobs from its local factory.

Chad Reece of Winnebago said the change comes as they've been struggling to make a profit. He said they plan to move their "Class A" diesel motorhome manufacturing to Iowa.

If you're interested in working at Mohawk Metal, please visit their website for further information.21 Shares Share

Ive been concerned lately. Heres why.

In 2001, I got sick with what the doctors assumed was an acute viral infection, but I never recovered. Im mostly housebound, often bedbound. My diagnosis is the little understood (but much misunderstood) myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome or ME/CFS. I describe it as the flu without the fever. This means that fatigue is only one of many symptoms I contend with every day. In addition, before I got sick, I suffered from a couple of other chronic conditions, such as painful interstitial cystitis (IC). If Im in an IC flare, it exacerbates the symptoms of my ongoing ME/CFS.

Im now almost 18 years older than when I became chronically ill in 2001. Ive started to notice some bodily changes, and I cant tell if theyre due to a worsening of my illness or if theyre a natural part of the aging process. I know from others in my situation that they face the same uncertainty.

Here are five dilemmas Ive identified as issues I have to grapple with as I age with chronic pain and illness as my constant companions. (Note: Be sure to see your doctor about any changes you notice in your health or your day-to-day routine. This piece is not a substitute for that.)

1. Do the aches and pains that werent present a few years ago mean that my chronic illness is worsening or is this just a sign that my body is almost 18 years older? OR, is it a combination of the two?

Theres even a fourth possibility. Maybe the increased aches and pains are not due to my chronic illness worsening and are not due to my getting older but, instead, are due to the fact that I cant do what were continually told we must do as we age: exercise, exercise, exercise.

Hardly a day goes by without my seeing a story about how exercise can help fend off the effects of aging. But I can only do the gentlest of exercisesand can only do them on a good day: some light resistance band work, some balancing exercises. Is the lack of rigorous exercise the reason why Im feeling more aches and pains?

I wish I knew. One thing I do know: it can be emotionally stressful not to be able to do what every news story about aging is telling me I should be doing.

2. Does my increased need to rest mean that my chronic illness is worsening or is this something that happens to everyone as they age?

Several of my healthy friends who are retired have added an afternoon nap to their daily routine. That would indicate that the increased need to rest is due to aging. Yet Im still not certain that it isnt due to my illness. Which is it? Im not sure. Maybe, after a certain age, an afternoon nap makes good sense for people who can fit it into their lives.

3. When I first got sick I still stayed up until 11 p.m. Then it became 10 p.m. Now I turn out the lights around 9:30 p.m. Is this a sign that my illness is worsening or is it just that Im almost 18 years older than when I got sick?

For the past few years, I assumed that my bedtime getting earlier and earlier was a sign that my illness was causing me to be less functional in the evening. Then a healthy friend whos my age told me that she often turns out the lights at 9 p.m. So, once again, Im uncertain as to how to evaluate this change in my lights out schedule.

4. Since 2001, Ive developed a few other age-related health issues that doctors want to treat with various medications. Should I take these medications even though they exacerbate the symptoms of my chronic illness?

One of those health issues was a bout with breast cancer four years ago. The oncologists want me to take a medication that reduces the risk of recurrence. Thats a great idea if it werent for the fact that the medication (and Ive tried four of them) make my chronic illness so much worse.

Should I take the medication anyway and put up with being more sick and less functional? I struggle with this question every day.

A few years ago, I read an article by Carol Lefelt on Health Rising: Finding Answers for ME/CFS and FM. Ms. Lefelt had a bone density scan for osteoporosis. After reading the results, the doctors told her that if she didnt go on one of two medications that slow down bone loss, she could wind up in a nursing home. To quote her: But possible the side effects, described by the flashy brochures with pictures of radiant aging actresses, are distressing: flu-like symptoms, weakness. Thank you, I already have those.

My bone density scan shows that I have osteopenia, which means I might develop osteoporosis as I age. What would I do if my doctor told me to go on one of these medications? I dont know. On the one hand, I dont want to add an increased risk of bones breaking to the delicate balance I already face navigating everyday tasks in life. On the other hand, like Carol Lefelt, I already suffer from flu-like symptoms and weakness. So thats another dilemma I might face one day.

5. If I need to be hospitalized (something thats more likely as I age), will the medical staff understand how crucial it is for me to stick to my nap/rest routine in order to avoid a flare in the symptoms of my chronic illness?

Will they understand how debilitating ME/CFS is? When I raised this with my primary care doctor, he told me to have the hospital contact him. But what if hes not available? Or what if they ignore what he tells them? I know that many health care workers see ME/CFS as code for Its all in your head. How do I know I wont be put in the hands of someone who holds that opinion?

***

Aging when youre already chronically ill raises a lot of questions without easy answers. What, then, should those of us in this situation do? Any time youre concerned about a change in symptoms or in your day-to-day routine, gather as much information as you can from sources you trust and then talk to your doctor about it. If your doctor isnt supportive, do everything you can to find another doctor.

As Ive said many times before, being chronically ill is hard work. Sometimes it feels like a full-time job.

I wish everyone the best as we work through these challenges together.

Toni Bernhard was a law professor at the University of CaliforniaDavis. She is the author of How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers (Second Edition), How to Wake Up: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide to Navigating Joy and Sorrow, and How to Live Well with Chronic Pain and Illness: A Mindful Guide. She can be reached at her self-titled site, Toni Bernhard.

Image credit: Shutterstock.comLINCOLN  Craft brewers are planning a protest against higher beer taxes, and the states chief executive says hell drink to that.

Gov. Pete Ricketts announced Wednesday that he will join the craft brewers in a March 1 raise glasses, not taxes event to protest proposals pending in the Nebraska Legislature that would about triple state excise taxes on brew.

Ricketts, a conservative Republican, said he opposes any tax increases, including the increases in beer, wine and liquor taxes proposed in two bills designed to help lower property taxes.

The bills, if enacted, would give Nebraska the highest state excise tax on beer in the nation, raising it from 31 cents a gallon to $1.38 a gallon.

The Nebraska Craft Brewers Guild will hold simultaneous events March 1 at 4 p.m. at craft breweries in Omaha, Lincoln and Grand Island to raise a glass of beer in opposition to the bills.

Ricketts said hes joining the brewers.One of the nice things about Duck Dynasty is after a day of hard work, turmoil and play, the family got together at the end of the day and started their meal with them all saying grace.

For us, that was very normal to get together like that before all of our meals, Robertson said. Once we had it on our show, we realized the effect it had. It is really neat that, all over the world, pray was coming into peoples living rooms and that they invited us into their homes. It was a personal touch that was a reminder for us about who we are and where we came from and what it is all about.

Robertson said there will always be trials in life  and in business  that will still be challenging.

Things will be tough in business, he said. You will have notes that will be due and all the sort of things that happen in business. But to get together at the end of the day and to reach out to something higher and bigger than us. It worked for us. It may not be for everybody, but we will share our story and tell you about our successes. Hopefully, it will shine a light on the Lord. That is what really what brought us together through all the tough times.

Since Duck Dynasty went off the air, reruns of the show remain popular.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 14)  The Justice department said it will investigate the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents who threatened Rappler staff for taking videos while they served an arrest warrant on their chief executive officer and executive editor Maria Ressa in their Pasig City office on Wednesday.

"We do not want to make a conclusion which may be out of context. That's why we want to look into the incident and elicit as well the side of the operatives who were serving the warrant so as we'd have a clear picture of what transpired and then find out if there have been any violation on rules on the service of warrant," Justice department spokesperson Markk Perete told CNN Philippines' The Source on Thursday.

Perete said that NBI agents can ask people from doing certain actions which they think "may impede the smooth and peaceful service of the warrant."

However, he admitted that based on what he saw from videos posted online by Rappler staff, he did not see anything which could have hampered the service of the arrest warrant on Ressa.

In videos posted by Rappler staff on social media, Rappler reporter Aika Rey was asked by a plainclothes NBI operative to stop taking videos while they were serving the arrest warrant in connection with a cyber libel charge and was warned that if their faces were revealed online, they would "go after" staffers of the online news website.

"Can you stop what you're doing now? Is that okay? And say this to your colleagues, if we see our faces on the net, you'll be sorry. You'll be sorry. We'll go after you," the NBI agent said while he was also taking a video on his phone.

"At first, I was just thinking that he was trying to intimidate me, to stop me from doing my job as a journalist. You know you have to record," Rey told The Source.

She said the NBI agent explained to her that their identities are "weapons," which is why they were insistent on not being seen on video.

Perete said they would want to speak to Rey and the operatives who served the warrant to get to the bottom of the issue. Rey said she would be willing to cooperate with the Justice department.

'Warrant came with no information sheet'

NBI agents served an arrest warrant on Ressa as courts were closing yesterday over a cyber libel charge in connection with an article published months before the passage of the law which defines and penalizes the crime of cyber libel.

Ressa has questioned the timing of the arrest and the service of the warrant without the information sheet, which indicates how much her bail bond is.

This caused her to be unable to post bail last night, leaving her to spend the night in NBI detention.

"For the accused in the case to exercise her right to bail, the judge needs to known how much bail has been set. It became a sort of Catch 22. The judge can't issue, there's not enough information," Ressa's lawyer JJ Disini told The Source.

Perete defended the timing of the service of the warrant, saying that it could be served at any time and that "logistical and operational requirements" of the NBI should be considered.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told CNN Philippines in a text message that Ressa could have avoided being arrested as the information for cyber libel was filed in court nearly two weeks ago. Guevarra said Ressa could have posted bail by then.

Disini said there would not have been a way for them to find out that an information had already been filed and that they were expecting to be given the chance to ask the Justice department to reconsider its indictment of Ressa for cyber libel.

Ressa posted a 100,000 bail today and walked free this afternoon.

In finding probable cause to charge Ressa, the Justice department said that while it cannot charge her for the initial publication of the story, it can charge her over the 2014 update of the article.

"Because it constituted a new, somehow article, because of the modification as well as the new republication, then that would qualify now as an offense," Perete said.

Rappler said the NBI had initially junked the cyber libel complaint against Ressa, other executives of the news website and a former staffer, but the Justice department still pursued the case.

The article in question said that businessman Wilfredo Keng lent a vehicle to former Chief Justice Renato Corona and linked him to human trafficking, drug smuggling and other shady dealings.

In a statement, Keng said he tried reaching to Rappler to have the article taken down to clear his name. The online news organization supposedly promised to take down the story, but never did.

"Against this kind of limitless harassment and wanton disregard for the rule of law, I was left with no other choice but to file a case and seek protection from our courts," Keng said.

Ressa said this is the sixth active case she is currently facing.

"[I am] aghast ... It's unbelievable that this thing can happen in a democracy," she told reporters at the NBI's headquarters in Manila. "The message is clear: It's an abuse of power. It's weaponization of the law. If they wanted to scare me, this is not the way to scare me. Follow the rule of law."

Ressa, along with other journalists, was named as Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 2018. Others who were cited were slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and detained Reuters correspondents Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo.

She was a longtime CNN bureau chief of Manila and Jakarta before founding Rappler.

The online news site has earned the ire of President Rodrigo Duterte following its publication of reports critical of his administration. He and other government officials have accused it of publishing fake news and of being owned by foreigners.

Rappler's license to do business was cancelled in 2018, after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) found that the Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs) it sold to American investment firm Omidyar Network gave it negative control over the news website, in violation of the Constitution.

This finding was affirmed by the Court of Appeals, but sent the case back to the SEC to evaluate the effects of the Omidyar's donation of the PDRs to Rappler staff.

CNN Philippines' Gerg Cahiles and Tristan Nodalo contributed to this report.KEARNEY  Construction fence and heavy equipment continue to be a common sight on the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus as work progresses on several major projects.

The improvements, highlighted by the new STEM building and LaVonne Kopecky Plambeck Early Childhood Education Center, represent a significant investment in UNK and the state of Nebraska.

Heres a look at whats happening on campus right now:

STEM building

The 90,000-square-foot facility located on the west side of campus between West Center and Ockinga is scheduled for completion in spring 2020.

Concrete footings, foundation walls and the elevator shaft are complete, and the steel frame for the buildings north section is in place. Crews are currently erecting the steel frame for the south section while continuing work on the north side.

The $30 million building, part of the Otto C. Olsen replacement project, will promote collaboration and innovation across numerous academic departments and feature cutting-edge technology. Construction management, industrial distribution, interior design, aviation, cyber systems, mathematics and statistics, physics and astronomy and engineering will be located there.MINDEN  The Nebraska State Fire Marshal has been called to the scene of a structure fire in Minden.

At 3:56 p.m. the Minden Volunteer Fire Department was called to a trailer court at 110 W. Campbell St. No. 1 for a structure fire. According to emergency radio traffic smoke was coming out of the windows and doors of the house.

At 4:25 p.m. the Axtell Volunteer Fire Department was called for mutual aid. Volunteer firefighters from Hildreth and Franklin were also called to the scene.

It's unclear if anyone was home at the time of the fire.

A representative from the fire marshal's office was called to investigate the cause of the fire.WASHINGTON  Constituents of 3rd District Rep. Adrian Smith can meet with representatives of his office during mobile offices throughout March in Kearney, Ravenna, Broken Bow and other communities.

At mobile offices, 3rd District residents may meet directly with Smiths staffers about federal issues and take advantage of the services available through his office.

Smiths mobile offices are planned at these times and locations in Hub Territory:

March 12

- 11 a.m.-noon at the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce at 1007 Second Ave., Kearney

- 1:30-2:30 p.m. at the Ravenna City Hall at 416 Grand Ave., Ravenna

March 26

- 1-2 p.m. at the Broken Bow Chamber of Commerce at 424 S. Eighth Ave. Suite 4, Broken Bow

Constituents may contact Smiths Grand Island office at 308-384-3900.When she saw John for the first time, I was intrigued by his accent. I thought he was extremely attractive, she said.

For his part, Lillyman assumed Rebecca was a single mother because a toddler played at her feet during that meeting.

After the meeting, the two went into the library, without the toddler who wasnt hers, and fell into a deep conversation about the meaning of beauty. It was a romantic setting, but there was also a magnetism between us that was really uncanny, Rebecca said.

For the next few weeks, they washed dishes together, studied together and went to the pub together, always with a large group of LAbri guests. They never so much as held hands, but Rebecca said, I knew there was something between us when he bought me a lemon soda at the pub.

We were kindred spirits, John said. I enjoyed being with her. I was attracted to her beauty, the way she thought and her spiritual life. In other relationships I often had to make compromises, but not with this one. We didnt have to work hard to communicate. Our faith and values were similar, and we built on that faith relationship. We were from two different parts of the world, but we were comfortable together.We talked, he said. We said we werent going to worry about how it was going to work; we just knew it was going to work.

After three months in Charlottesville, Alex was sent to Fort Sill, Okla., for three more months of training. Kim visited him there.

During the holidays, she met his parents.

Within a year, she moved back to Nebraska and joined the staff of The Hearing Clinic in Grand Island. Leaving Virginia was sad, but it was a step toward life here with Alex, she said.

The relationship blossomed.

In September 2011, Kims parents invited Alex to join the family on a trip to Italy. He not only agreed to go, but he told her parents a secret: He wanted to propose on the trip. What better place to propose? he said. Before the trip, he purchased an engagement ring at Hawthorne Jewelers and packed it in his suitcase.

Fast forward to Rome.

As Alex stared at its ancient sights, he had that diamond in his pocket. Now, surrounded by Kims parents, two brothers, a future sister-in-law, plus friends from Germany, it was time for me to come clean, he said.

In front of St. Peters Basilica, he took a knee and proposed to her.Notice is hereby given that the

Buffalo County Extension Board

will meet in regular session on

Monday, March 4, 2019, at 5:30

p.m., to transact business of the

Buffalo County Extension Office.

The meeting will be held at

the Buffalo County Extension Of-

fice, located at 1400 East 34th

Street, Kearney, Nebraska.

The agenda for the meetingKLAMATH FALLS, Ore.  Deputies, state troopers and firefighters arrived at a grim scene at a Klamath Falls home on Thursday morning after hearing reports of a shooting.

A 911 call came in just after 7 a.m. from a "third party, who was not on scene," the Klamath County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) said in a statement. The caller reported a shooting at 6207 Onyx Avenue, saying that there was a suicidal person who was still at the address.

When KCSO deputies, troopers from Oregon State Police and firefighters with Klamath Fire District 1 arrived, they tried to contact someone inside the house but received no response.

Entering the home, responders found 86-year-old Fred E. Mulkey dead from an apparent suicide. In another room, they found 53-year-old Susan Samsel, Mulkey's live-in caregiver, dead from multiple gunshot wounds.

"The Klamath County Major Crime Team consisting of the Klamath County Sheriffs Office, Klamath County District Attorney Office, Oregon State Police and The Klamath Fall Police have assembled and continue to investigate," the Sheriff's Office said.

No matter where you are, if you or someone you know is suffering from depression or having suicidal thoughts call the National Suicide Hotline at 1(800) 273-8255 or text HELP to 741741.PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  The Portland City Council has voted to withdraw the city from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's anti-terrorism task force, citing a deep distrust in the program's ability to root out terrorism while upholding the civil rights of residents.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that Commissioners Amanda Fritz, Chloe Eudaly and Jo Ann Hardesty voted in support and Mayor Ted Wheeler and Commissioner Nick Fish opposed.

Aside from the Portland Police Bureau, the FBI told NewsWatch 12 that it still has full Joint Terrorism Task Force partnerships with the following agencies in Oregon: Clackamas Co. Sheriffs Office

Washington Co. Sheriffs Office

Port of Portland

Oregon State Police

Homeland Security Investigation

Customs and Border Protection

Membership in the Joint Terrorism Task Force gives select Portland law enforcement officials access to federal agencies' information about potential terrorist activities.

Wheeler said the in-or-out decision didn't take into account commissioners' ability to modify their agreement.

Fritz, Eudaly and Hardesty said they weren't convinced membership was to Portlanders' benefit.

Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon Renn Cannon said the FBI will continue to partner formally with other task force members as well as informally with other cities and counties.

Federal authorities quickly voiced their reaction to the city's decision:

"Robust discussions about law enforcement's role in our society are valuable. Recognizing the fears that exist in the community, we will continue to visit with community leaders and work together to keep Oregon safe while addressing those factors that can drive a wedge between us.

"I want the people of Oregon to know that the men and women of the FBI do their work with the utmost respect for and adherence to our shared Constitutional protections that allow us to speak, gather and worship freely no matter who we are or where we come from. I thank them for the work they do every day, and I thank the Portland Police officers who have joined us the past few years for their work in keeping our shared community safe."  Renn Cannon, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon

"The decision to withdraw the Portland Police Bureau from the Joint Terrorism Task Force is a mistake that defies logic. Its disappointing that in spite of the overwhelming evidence presented of JTTF successes in Oregon and across the nation, a majority of the city council chose a politically-expedient broadside against the federal government over the safety and well-being of their constituents. The law enforcement communitys duty and commitment to ensuring public safety and protecting civil rights will not be deterred by the politics of the moment."  Billy J. Williams, U.S. Attorney for the District of OregonThe Senate will vote Thursday on whether to send President Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, William Barr, back to the Department of Justice, marking his second tour atop an agency facing down a set of threats unimaginable in his first go-around.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.Two years ago, Target said it would raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour by the end of 2020, but now some current & former employees say they are seeing their hours cut as a result.McCabe, a frequent target of Trump's ire, described in the interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" that he was greatly alarmed by the possibility that the president "might have won the White House with the aid of the government of Russia." He said he assembled his investigators the day after his boss, Comey, was fired to discuss how to keep the investigations moving forward in the event he was fired or reassigned.Police later learned that LaPointe had asked the front desk for and been given a key to Marchionda's room, without being asked to show proof that he was registered to the room or even a hotel guest. When he had trouble getting in because Marchionda had engaged the door's safety latch, LaPointe convinced a maintenance worker to disable it, telling the worker he had had a fight with his "girlfriend" and she had locked him out of the room.France and Germany had declined to send their top diplomats to the ministerial-level meeting. E.U. foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also stayed away due to concerns it would become an anti-Iran vehicle. Britain, France and Germany, along with the rest of the E.U., continue to support the nuclear deal as the best way to prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons.Wilson said he would write checks totaling $30,000 to $50,000 to about 115 homeowners, many of whom lined up outside the Cook County treasurers office on Thursday morning. He said he timed the payments as a Valentines Day gift to the recipients, but there are also clear potential political benefits to handing out money to people in need so close to the Feb. 26 election.All I could ask from the first day I announced this campaign was ask people to listen to me, give me a fair shake as to what Ive done in my life, who I am, whether you like Rich Daley or Richard J. Daley or whoever or not, just give me a chance and make a judgment around who I am, Daley said. I think the people of Chicago are fair.Last week, the Tribune reported that Enyia did not report $21,000 in income to the IRS on her 2017 tax return  one-third of her income in that year. That misstep occurred as Enyia already faced a nearly $10,000 IRS lien for unpaid taxes in previous tax years. In addition, she has been sued over unpaid rent and unpaid student loans.Sudan on Thursday accused campaigners spearheading protests against President Omar al-Bashirs rule of threatening national security and advocating violence, as hundreds of demonstrators staged more rallies.

The countrys acting Information Minister Mamun Hassan warned of taking legal action against protest leaders after campaigners vowed to push on with their uprising against Bashirs three-decade rule.

It is confirmed what we always said that this group is calling for violence, Hassan said in a statement.

Protest campaigners on Wednesday held their first news conference at the offices of the main opposition National Umma Party since demonstrations erupted in December.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), which is leading the protests, and its allies called on other political groups to join their movement by signing a Document for Freedom and Change.

The text outlines a post-Bashir plan including rebuilding Sudans justice system and halting the African countrys dire economic decline, the key reason for nationwide demonstrations.

A senior representative of the National Umma Party, which has thrown its weight behind the protests, said at the event that it would continue the uprising until this regime is overthrown.

Party leader Sadiq al-Mahdi, a former prime minister whose government was toppled by Bashir in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989, last month called for the president to step down.

 Systematic arrests 

Protests first erupted in Sudan on December 19 in the farming town of Atbara after a government decision to triple the price of bread.

They quickly escalated into near-daily demonstrations across cities and towns that analysts say pose the greatest challenge to Bashir since he took power.

Officials say 30 people have died in protest-related violence so far, while Human Rights Watch says at least 51 people have been killed.

The authorities led by the feared National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) has launched a sweeping crackdown to quell the protests.

Rights groups say hundreds of protesters, opposition leaders, and activists have been arrested, while media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said Thursday that at least 79 journalists have been arrested.

These systematic arrests have targeted not only reporters covering protests  but also journalists who themselves dared to protest against the regimes policy of censorship, the press freedom group said.

Protesters have pushed on with their near daily rallies despite the clampdown.

Hundreds demonstrated Thursday in central Khartoum after campaigners called to show support for millions affected by conflicts in the countrys three war-wracked regions of Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

Protesters chanting freedom, peace, justice, the rallying cry of the anti-government movement, demonstrated were quickly confronted by riot police with tear gas, witnesses said.

Police later broke up the rally, but demonstrators took to the streets in the northern district of Bahari, witnesses said, adding that they too were confronted with tear gas.

Crowds of people living in a camp for the displaced in conflict-wracked Darfur in western Sudan also staged a rally, residents said.

The residents of camp Zam Zam, mostly young men and women, are chanting anti-government slogans in the centre of the camp, resident Mohamed Issa told AFP by telephone.

 We are one nation 

Over the years, tens of thousands of people have been killed in Sudans internal conflicts and millions more displaced, with hundreds of thousands still living in sprawling camps, especially in Darfur.

The war in Darfur erupted in 2003 when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, accusing it of marginalising the region.

Those who are demonstrating across the country are saying that we are one nation, said Hassan Adam, a resident of Zam Zam camp.

We want to build a new Sudan that does not differentiate between a Zurga (black African) and an Arab.

President Bashir  indicted for war crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court  has remained defiant in the face of the protests, promising to promote development and peace across the country, including in conflict-hit states.VANCOUVER, Feb. 14, 2019 /CNW/ - NexGen Energy Ltd. ("NexGen" or the "Company") (TSX:NXE, NYSE MKT:NXE) is pleased to report geotechnical results for the initial shaft pilot holes and assays for all twenty-nine holes comprising 20,482.31 m, drilled during the summer development program on the Company's 100% owned Rook I property, in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan.

Highlights:

Shaft Pilot Hole Report

NexGen Energy Ltd. retained SRK Consulting Canada Inc. to complete a geotechnical, hydrogeological, and thermal characterization to confirm the selection of a suitable location for the proposed shaft and facilitate a Feasibility Study ("FS") level technical assessment related to the shaft pilot hole program. Additionally, DGI Geoscience Inc. completed a down-hole geophysics program to collect continuous data, in electronic format, of: sonic velocity, density, normal resistivity, natural gamma, spontaneous potential, mechanical caliper, and acoustic and optical scans of the borehole walls.

Three shaft pilot holes were successfully completed to a depth between 650 m and 702 m. The vertically drilled shaft pilot holes were kept within a 6.0 m diameter cylinder from surface through to their termination depths, intersected minimal structure and showed low hydraulic conductivity throughout via packer testing at regular intervals.

The shaft pilot hole geotechnical and hydrogeological conditions compiled in the Rook I Arrow Deposit Pilot Characterization Report will facilitate FS level engineering and design of two vertical shafts at the Arrow Deposit; one for exhaust air and one for production and fresh air.

Overburden / Sedimentary Geotechnical: The sedimentary profile was confirmed to extend from surface down to the basement unconformity at approximately 100 m . Typical of holes drilled at the Arrow Deposit, an average sedimentary profile was developed from the shaft pilot holes: Overburden soils and sediments extended to 14 m Cretaceous Manville Group silts and clays to 63 m Devonian sandstone to 86 m Athabasca Group sandstones to maximum depth of 100 m (equating to a thickness of 14 m of Athabasca Group sandstone) Crystalline basement rock below 100 m

The sedimentary profile was confirmed to extend from surface down to the basement unconformity at approximately . Typical of holes drilled at the Arrow Deposit, an average sedimentary profile was developed from the shaft pilot holes: Rock Geotechnical: Below 200 m depth and continuing to the end of hole ( 701.47 m ), GAR-18-015 shows good-to-very good competent rock mass and very low fracture frequency (FF/m).

Hydrogeological: General decrease in hydraulic conductivity (K) with depth below the basement unconformity resulting in favorable underground development conditions; Groundwater chemistry is not considered to present any risk to shaft development and construction.



Geotechnical Characterization of the A2 Sub-Zone

Assays have confirmed significant uranium mineralization was intersected in the two holes drilled to geotechnically characterize the rock mass within the A2 sub-zone. The holes were designed to obtain data in order to quantify the sub-surface conditions within the mine plan. Both holes were collared at a steep inclination, then shallowed out to a dip of approximately 57.

GAR-18-016 intersected 32.5 m at 6.65% U 3 O 8 (574.5 to 607.0 m ) including 10.0 m at 20.04% U 3 O 8 (583.0 to 593.0 m ) additionally, 10.0 m at 1.43% U 3 O 8 (617.5 to 627.5 m ). The hole intersected significant mineralization outside of the current high-grade resource shells and are not incorporated into the current mineral resource inventory . In terms of packers testing within the A2 sub-zone, GAR-18-016 showed low flow rates averaging 1.656 L/min ( 576.5 m to 639.0 m ).

intersected (574.5 to ) including (583.0 to ) additionally, (617.5 to ). The hole intersected significant mineralization . In terms of packers testing within the A2 sub-zone, GAR-18-016 showed low flow rates averaging 1.656 L/min ( to ). GAR-18-017 intersected 7.5 m at 3.03% U 3 O 8 (616.5 to 624.0 m ) including 3.5 m at 6.34% U 3 O 8 (620.0 to 623.5 m ). The hole was drilled in an open area within the A2 sub-zone between two previously unconnected shells which has not yet been incorporated into the current mineral resource inventory. In terms of packers testing within the A2 sub-zone, GAR-18-017 showed low flow rates averaging 0.950 L/min ( 567.0 m to 618.0 m ) and 0.218 L/min ( 618.0 m to 669.0 m )

Expansion, A2 High-Grade Domain

Assays from drilling focused on an under-explored area to the northeast boundary of the currently defined A2 high-grade domain have confirmed the presence of significant uranium mineralization within the A2 shear zone as well as between the A2 and A3 shears. The hole demonstrates the continuity of high-grade mineralization beyond the currently defined A2 high-grade domains.

AR-18-220c1 located, approximately 50 m along strike to the northeast of AR-14-30 (10.32% U 3 O 8 over 46.0 m ) intersected 36.0 m at 1.12% U 3 O 8 (512.0 to 548.0 m ) including 2.0 m at 10.0% U 3 O 8 (528.5 to 530.5 m ) additionally, 16.5 m at 1.43% U 3 O 8 (578.0 to 594.5 m ). Between the currently defined A2 and A3 resource shells the hole intersected 36.0 m at 0.64% U 3 O 8 (396.0 to 432.0 m ) including 4.0 m at 5.23% U 3 O 8 (402.05 to 406.5 m ).

Drill hole locations and schematics are shown in Figures 1 to 5, while assay results are displayed in Table 1.

Leigh Curyer, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "These results highlight the strength of the technical setting of the Arrow Deposit for development and the growth potential that remains at Arrow. Five years ago today, NexGen discovered the Arrow Deposit. With over 300,000m of drilling since that date and Arrow continuing to show incredible growth with these results, it is truly unique."

James Hatley, Senior Vice-President, Project Development, commented: "The geotechnical and hydrological conditions for shaft sinking at the Rook I Project have been thoroughly investigated at the feasibility level by SRK, and the bulk hydraulic conductivity in the basement rock from my experience is excellent."

Troy Boisjoli, Vice-President, Operations and Project Development, commented: "The assay results from the Summer 2018 drill program have confirmed areas with future growth potential at the Arrow Deposit. Another aspect confirmed by these assay results was the strong geotechnical characteristics of the A2 sub-zone. Both of these objectives were successfully reached, supporting the planning for the 2019 drill program which commenced in December 2018. We look forward to continuing this systematic approach in advancing the Arrow Deposit towards the completion of the Feasibility Study, scheduled for H1/2020.

Development, Activities & Financial

Expediting Arrow to Feasibility by initiation of a 2-stage 125,000m (10 rig) high density drilling program that commenced in mid-December 2018 to focus on mine optimization plans based on Measured and Indicated mineral resources.

to focus on mine optimization plans based on Measured and Indicated mineral resources. As of January 31, 2019 , the Company had cash-on-hand of approximately $110 million which fully funds NexGen for all drilling, feasibility and development programs planned this year.

Figure 1: Arrow Deposit Drilling Locations

Figure 2: Shaft Pilot Hole Locations, Arrow Deposit

Figure 3: A2 Geotechnical Characterization Holes

Figure 4: Expansion, A2 High-Grade Domain

Table 1: Arrow Drill Hole Data

Drill Hole Athabasca Group - Basement Unconformity Depth (m) SRC Geoanalytical Results Hole ID Azimuth Dip Total Depth (m) From (m) To (m) Interval (m) U 3 O 8 (wt%) AR-18-210c1 327 -70 876.5 115 606.5 607.0 0.5 0.04 AR-18-210c2 327 -70 957.5 N/A No significant intersections AR-18-210c3 327 -70 946 N/A No significant intersections AR-18-211c1 327 -70 1128.5 N/A 865.5 866 0.5 0.05 869 871 2 0.02 875 877 2 0.03 960.5 962.5 2 0.03 988 991 3 0.02 1088.5 1089.5 1 0.04 AR-18-211c2 327 -70 1014.5 N/A No significant intersections AR-18-211c3 327 -70 1063.5 N/A 647 647.5 0.5 0.01 865.5 866.5 1 0.02 953.5 954.5 1 0.03 AR-18-212c1 325 -67 807.5 97.7 No significant intersections AR-18-213c1 327 -65 765.5 98.85 No significant intersections AR-18-214c1 327 -65 891.5 111 149.5 151 1.5 0.01 157 161.5 4.5 0.13 337 337.5 0.5 0.05 AR-18-215c1 327 -70 990.5 N/A 883.5 884 0.5 0.02 906 906.5 0.5 0.02 AR-18-216c1 327 -65 483.5 107.4 No significant intersections AR-18-217c1 327 -73.5 1233.5 122.5 196 202 6 0.02 727.5 728 0.5 0.02 964.5 966 1.5 0.35 969.5 971 1.5 0.04 977.5 978.5 1 0.10 AR-18-218c1 327 -65 827 97.8 No significant intersections AR-18-219c1 327 -65 663.5 133.95 342.5 347 4.5 0.05 353 354 1 0.15 358 371 13 0.08 375 375.5 0.5 0.03 381.5 383 1.5 0.02 387 416 29 0.08 420 421.5 1.5 0.01 424.5 435 10.5 0.05 438 472 34 0.14 572 579.5 7.5 0.07 586.5 590 3.5 1.87 incl. 587 588 1 5.73 593 595.5 2.5 0.02 600.5 605 4.5 0.17 610 612 2 0.43 621 625.5 4.5 0.32 631 631.5 0.5 0.21 AR-18-220c1 327 -68 744.5 130.35 331 332 1 0.02 335.5 337.5 2 0.04 359.5 362 2.5 0.03 365 380.5 15.5 0.12 383.5 391.5 8 0.18 396 432 36 0.64 incl. 402.5 406.5 4 5.23 435.5 441 5.5 0.08 444.5 456 11.5 0.05 475 491 16 0.03 501 508.5 7.5 0.11 512 548 36 1.12 incl. 520.5 521.5 1 8.55 incl. 528.5 530.5 2 10.06 578 594.5 16.5 1.43 incl. 588.5 592.5 4 5.68 597 599 2 0.05 624.5 625.5 1 0.10 641.5 646.5 5 0.05 657 660.5 3.5 0.02 680 682.5 2.5 0.04 AR-18-220c1a 327 -68 441 448 445 446.5 1.5 0.06 GAR-18-006 147 -80 737.4 100.8 518 522 4 0.21 576 578 2 0.55 600 601 1 0.03 GAR-18-006a 147 -80 155.4 101 No significant intersections GAR-18-007 147 -68 671.4 93 No significant intersections GAR-18-008 147 -65 629.6 96.05 597 598.5 1.5 0.10 617.5 618 0.5 0.18 GAR-18-009 147 -70 641.4 101 No significant intersections GAR-18-010 147 -90 650.44 98 548 551 3 0.06 553.5 555 1.5 0.12 558 559 1 0.01 GAR-18-011 147 -65 799.5 95.05 No significant intersections GAR-18-012 327 -75 1043.4 N/A 564.5 566 1.5 0.05 589 589.5 0.5 0.02 602.5 606 3.5 0.28 766 767.5 1.5 0.02 GAR-18-013 147 -90 650.4 108.9 No significant intersections GAR-18-014 327 -80 659.4 101 No significant intersections GAR-18-015 147 -90 701.47 96.35 No significant intersections GAR-18-016 327 -65 660 128.85 492 493 1 0.09 534 539.5 5.5 0.04 550 554.5 4.5 0.04 574.5 607 32.5 6.65 incl. 583 593 10 20.04 incl. 605 607 2 4.43 617.5 627.5 10 1.43 incl. 622.5 626 3.5 3.19 GAR-18-017 327 -65 717 127.75 503 504 1 0.11 514.5 515 0.5 2.03 517.5 518 0.5 0.36 521.5 522 0.5 0.04 530 532.5 2.5 1.35 535.5 537 1.5 0.11 563.5 567 3.5 0.06 577.5 578.5 1 0.17 581 599 18 0.06 616.5 624 7.5 3.03 incl. 620 623.5 3.5 6.34 627 631 4 0.12 638.5 640 1.5 0.02 650.5 661 10.5 0.04 666 669 3 0.07

Parameters:

Maximum internal dilution 2.0 m downhole

downhole Minimum thickness of 0.5 m downhole

downhole Cutoff grade 0.01% U 3 O 8

All depths and intervals are metres downhole, true thicknesses are yet to be determined. Resource modelling in conjunction with an updated mineral resource estimate is required before true thicknesses can be determined.

Directional drilling has often resulted in mineralization intersected at a more favourable and shallower dip

About NexGen

NexGen is a British Columbia corporation with a focus on the acquisition, exploration and development of Canadian uranium projects. NexGen has a highly experienced team of uranium industry professionals with a successful track record in the discovery of uranium deposits and in developing projects through discovery to production. NexGen owns a portfolio of prospective uranium exploration assets in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada, including a 100% interest in Rook I, location of the Arrow Deposit in February 2014, the Bow discovery in March 2015, the Harpoon discovery in August 2016 and the Arrow South discovery in July 2017. NexGen is the recipient of the PDAC's 2018 Bill Dennis Award and the 2019 Environmental and Social Responsibility Award.

Technical Disclosure

The technical information in this news release with respect to the PFS has been reviewed and approved by Paul O'Hara, P.Eng. of Wood., David Robson, P.Eng., M.B.A., and Jason Cox, P.Eng. of RPA, each of whom is a "qualified person" under National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI-43-101").

The Mineral Resource Estimate was completed by Mr. Mark Mathisen, C.P.G., Senior Geologist at RPA and Mr. David Ross, P.Geo., Director of Resource Estimation and Principal Geologist at RPA. Both are independent Qualified Persons in accordance with the requirements of National Instrument (NI) 43-101 and they have approved the disclosure herein. All other technical information in this news release has been approved by Mr. Troy Boisjoli, Geoscientist Licensee, Vice President  Operations & Project Development for NexGen. Mr. Boisjoli is a qualified person for the purposes of NI 43-101 and has verified the sampling, analytical, and test data underlying the information or opinions contained herein by reviewing original data certificates and monitoring all of the data collection protocols. All other technical information in this news release has been approved by Mr. James Hatley, a Professional Engineer, Senior Vice-President  Project Development for NexGen. Mr. Hatley is a qualified person for the purposes of NI 43-101 and has reviewed the underlying the information or opinions contained herein on mine design.

A technical report in respect to the PFS is filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and EDGAR (www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml) and is available for review on NexGen Energy's website (www.nexgenenergy.ca).

SEC Standards

Estimates of mineralization and other technical information included or referenced in this news release have been prepared in accordance with NI 43-101. The definitions of proven and probable mineral reserves used in NI 43-101 differ from the definitions in SEC Industry Guide 7. Under SEC Industry Guide 7 standards, a "final" or "bankable" feasibility study is required to report reserves, the three-year historical average price is used in any reserve or cash flow analysis to designate reserves and the primary environmental analysis or report must be filed with the appropriate governmental authority. As a result, the reserves reported by the Company in accordance with NI 43-101 may not qualify as "reserves" under SEC standards. In addition, the terms "mineral resource", "measured mineral resource", "indicated mineral resource" and "inferred mineral resource" are defined in and required to be disclosed by NI 43-101; however, these terms are not defined terms under SEC Industry Guide 7 and normally are not permitted to be used in reports and registration statements filed with the SEC. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves. "Inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian securities laws, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies, except in rare cases. Additionally, disclosure of "contained pounds" in a resource is permitted disclosure under Canadian securities laws; however, the SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute "reserves" by SEC standards as in place tonnage and grade without reference to unit measurements. Accordingly, information contained or referenced in this news release containing descriptions of the Company's mineral deposits may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements of United States federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.

Technical Information

For details of the Rook I Project including the quality assurance program and quality control measures applied and key assumptions, parameters and methods used to estimate the Mineral Resource please refer to the technical report entitled "Arrow Deposit, Rook I Project Saskatchewan NI 43-101 Technical Report on Pre-feasbility Study" dated effective 5 November, 2018 (the "Rook 1 Technical Report") prepared by Paul O'Hara, P.Eng., Jason J. Cox, P.Eng., David M. Robson, P.Eng., M.B.A., Mark B. Mathisen, C.P.G. each of whom is a "qualified person" under NI 43-101. The Rook I Technical Report is available for review under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and EDGAR (www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml) providing details of the Rook I Project including the quality assurance program and quality control measures applied and key assumptions, parameters and methods used to estimate the Mineral Resource and is available on NexGen Energy's website (www.nexgenenergy.ca).

Forward-Looking Information

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. "Forward-looking information" includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information and statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or the negative connotation thereof or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation thereof.

Forward-looking information and statements are based on the then current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about NexGen's business and the industry and markets in which it operates. Forward-looking information and statements are made based upon numerous assumptions, including among others, that the proposed transaction will be completed, the results of planned exploration activities are as anticipated, the price of uranium, the cost of planned exploration activities, that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms, that third party contractors, equipment, supplies and governmental and other approvals required to conduct NexGen's planned exploration activities will be available on reasonable terms and in a timely manner and that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner. Although the assumptions made by the Company in providing forward looking information or making forward looking statements are considered reasonable by management at the time, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be accurate.

Forward-looking information and statements also involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performances and achievements of NexGen to differ materially from any projections of results, performances and achievements of NexGen expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or statements, including, among others, negative operating cash flow and dependence on third party financing, uncertainty of the availability of additional financing, the risk that pending assay results will not confirm previously announced preliminary results, imprecision of mineral resource estimates, the appeal of alternate sources of energy and sustained low uranium prices, aboriginal title and consultation issues, exploration risks, reliance upon key management and other personnel, deficiencies in the Company's title to its properties, uninsurable risks, failure to manage conflicts of interest, failure to obtain or maintain required permits and licenses, changes in laws, regulations and policy, competition for resources and financing, and other factors discussed or referred to in the Company's Annual Information Form dated March 2, 2018 under "Risk Factors".

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information or implied by forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended.

There can be no assurance that forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or reissue forward-looking information as a result of new information or events except as required by applicable securities laws.Summerville, SC (29483)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable.Do they know how the actual New Deal fared? Devoted to curing unemployment, the unemployment rate never fell below 14 percent until 1941, eight years into the New Deal, as America prepared for war.

The 1937-38 depression within the Depression was the 20th centurys third-worst recession.

Every endorser of the GND thereby endorses its claim to life-and-death urgency, yet  cognitive dissonance alert  every endorser knows that none of it will happen. Its authors say, There is no time to waste. Strange. The last Democratic administration, which departed just 25 months ago, proposed approximately none of what the GND says we cannot survive without.

The GND has no practical importance but much significance. First, it underscores the rise of the politics of gestures that are as flamboyant as they are empty: Donald Trump has his wall, the left has its GND. Second, it reprises the progressive desire to militarize everything but the military, to conscript everyone into vast collective undertakings that supposedly justify vast excisions from personal liberty and the setting aside of pesky constitutional impediments. See Franklin Roosevelts call in his first inaugural address for power as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.Contrast that with what happened when President Trump on Saturday appeared to joke about the genocide of Native Americans. Again referring to Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas, Trump tweeted: See you on the campaign TRAIL, Liz!

And the outraged demands from Republican leaders for an apology? Were still waiting.

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.

A revival of anti-Semitism on the left threatens that coalition. The bigotry, mostly found in the BDS movement, is isolated in the Democratic Party, but it complicates the important work of uniting against Trump.

Omars apology, if genuine, is welcome. But more important is for Omar  and for Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), another Muslim Democratic freshman who has been in similar controversy  to understand that their recent actions hurt not just Jews but also Muslims, Democrats and ultimately all who support tolerance.ICEs tactics are not only reactionary theater, theyre misguided as well. North Carolina law enforcement leaders  those elected on a promise to spurn ICE  arent likely to be cowed, but immigrant families  those who fear that their mother or father will be plucked without warning  will.

Their undocumented family members may not have a criminal record, but if, as Gallagher so placidly put it last week, they are in the wrong place at the wrong time, ICE agents wont deign to pass them by.

Nevertheless, Gallagher assured us last week that his agency is not in the business of plotting indiscriminate arrests, even if a third of those taken into custody last week were reportedly unconnected to any ongoing criminal investigation, so-called collateral arrests.

We have nothing to fear, it appears, except ICE itself.

An unleashed and unfettered ICE draws us no closer to immigration reform, a debate hijacked by fringe elements in the Republican Party that reject a reasonable path to citizenship, or asylum for those fleeing extraordinary violence in their home countries.Immigration advocates across North Carolina criticized the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday, saying that the agency is retaliating against sheriffs who have ended their contracts to allow ICE to detain suspected undocumented immigrants.

Alissa Ellis, a regional immigrants rights strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, said her organization supports the sheriffs who ended their participation of the ICEs 287(g) program, which allows state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration law.

We want to ensure public safety and protect the civil rights of immigrants in our communities, Ellis said in a conference call with reporters. We will not promote fear among our communities.

Ellis was among the speakers in the conference call who spoke about ICE a week after ICE agents arrested 200 people statewide whom they accused of being undocumented immigrants. ICE reportedly picked up nine people in Winston-Salem.

Bryan Cox, an ICE spokesman in Atlanta, denied the immigrant activists allegations that ICEs recent raids in North Carolina were in retaliation against sheriffs who ended their collaboration with ICE.The N.C. Travel Industry Association lists school calendars as the No. 2 item on its 2019 legislative agenda.

The association said Wednesday that it believes a synchronization between the public schools and community colleges can be achieved by bringing the community college calendar to the public schools start and end date.

Not only would this achieve the desired outcome for calendar reform advocates, it would also strengthen North Carolinas tourism industry, create more good paying jobs in the state, and expand funding for public education, the association said.

Odds in legislature

Matt Ellinwood, the 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 is becoming annual damages from hurricanes.

There may be more support on both side of ideological spectrum now as more parents in more counties are wanting to start school earlier so their children can finish first semester final exams before Christmas break, Ellinwood said.When they arrived, police were sent to the 27th floor, where they found the drone and took it into police inventory. No one was injured in the incident and the operator has not been located, Carroll said.These residents are likely to call for help in the cases of domestic violence, gun violence and assaults, she said.

Such actions by our sheriff are meant to make our communities safer communities, Jones said.

Last week, Kimbrough said he will end the contract that allows ICE to use the Forsyth County jail to detain people accused of illegally living in the country. Kimbrough said that his deputies would enforce the law and arrest people who are charged with criminal offenses, but they would not act as an extension of ICE.

The Rev. Lia Scholl, the senior pastor at Wake Forest Baptist Church, told the commissioners that ICE is detaining suspected undocumented immigrants without giving them due process under the law.

We live in a nation built on the premise of idea of due process, Scholl said. Thats how we treat those who are from here. That is how we should be treating the sojourners in our land  with due process. When we detain folks in our jails for ICE, they also have no due process.

Scholl urged the commissioners to support Kimbroughs plan to terminate the contract with ICE.By contrast, a Class 1 misdemeanor is punishable by up to 120 days of an active sentence.

The bill would exempt up to 3 ounces of marijuana from being considered a controlled substance.

The bills also would raise the weight of marijuana an individual can possess from 1.5 ounces to a pound before it qualifies as a Class 1 felony, which is punishable by an active sentence of up to five months.

Jim ONeill, district attorney for Forsyth County, said in 2018 that the bills should be thoroughly vetted, and must include and consider the scientific communitys evidence of the damage caused to the developing adolescent brain caused by marijuana smoking.

Conservatively speaking, four ounces of marijuana has a street value of $1,000 and can be broken down into about 120 marijuana cigarettes.

The bills would leave the amount of hashish unchanged at no more than one-twentieth of an ounce to avoid a Class 1 misdemeanor, and no more than three-twentieths of an ounce to avoid a Class 1 felony.Q: Who was the St. Valentine the holiday is named after?

Answer: According to tradition, St. Valentine (or Valentinus) was a Roman priest who, sometime around 270 A.D., was jailed and sentenced to be executed for secretly performing Christian wedding ceremonies in violation of an edict from Emperor Claudius II. According to one legend, while waiting in jail for his sentence to be carried out, he restored the sight of his jailers blind daughter. He wrote a farewell note to her signed From Your Valentine the night before his execution.

In the 5th century, the Catholic Church gave Valentine his own day as a way of replacing an ancient Roman fertility festival known as Lupercalia, according to Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things by Charles Panati. Determined to put an end to this 800-year-old practice, the early church fathers sought a lovers saint, according to Panati. They found a likely candidate in Valentine.Answer: The Campbell Soup Co. was founded by Joseph A. Campbell, a fruit merchant, and Abraham Anderson, an icebox manufacturer, in Camden, N.J., in 1869. Illustrator Grace Drayton created the chubby-faced Campbells Kids in 1904. The first dolls were made in 1910, by the E.I Horsman Co. The composition dolls were sold by mail order through Montgomery Ward and Sears as well as in local stores. In 1928, the licensing rights went to the American Character Doll Co. The dolls were dressed in chefs clothing like in the advertisements. The Kids werent used in advertising much from the mid-1920s to the mid-1940s. But they were brought back in 1954 to celebrate their 50th birthday, and new dolls were made. Your doll is from the 1998 Junior Series, a commemorative set of four dolls, each packaged individually in a tin can with a removable sticker, so the can could be used as a bank. Asking prices online are up to $25 for one in original packaging, but without the can they sell for about $5 to $8An N.C. employer currently must pay at least $2.13 an hour to tipped employees as long as each employee receives enough in tips to make up the difference between the wages paid and the $7.25 minimum wage.

Beginning on Jan. 1, 2021, tips would not be counted as wages.

The bill would spell out penalties for employers who do not pay employees their agreed-upon wages, including allowing employees to place liens on employers real or personal properties.

The bill would not allow an employer to require applicants to disclose whether they have a criminal history as a condition of public employment. There are exemptions depending on the seriousness of the crime, the persons age, and circumstances of the crime.

The fact that many of these reforms are not already law shows how far we are from an economy that works for working North Carolinians, said Patrick McHugh, policy analyst with left-leaning N.C. Justice Center.

People earning minimum wage havent gotten a raise in years, and this bill would fix that. The Earned Income Tax Credit is a proven way to boost incomes for people earning modest wages, and this bill would reinstate it in North Carolina.A bill with E-Verify requirements, House Bill 318, was signed into law by former Gov. Pat McCrory in October 2015. That law required certain government contracts to adhere to E-Verify criteria, as well as established which matricula consulate documents, ID cards issued by Mexico through its consulate offices, are not acceptable for job applicants to use as identification.

In August 2013, McCrory vetoed House Bill 786 because it expanded the definition of a seasonal farm worker from 90 days to nearly nine months within a 12-month period.

McCrory claimed expanding the definition would make it easier for businesses to circumvent federal immigration law. The veto was overridden in September 2013.

House Bill 63 would remove the nine-month exemption.

All U.S. employers must complete and retain an I-9 form for each individual they hire. Employers failing to comply with the law face civil penalties of up to $10,000 and fines beginning at $1,000 for each employee without E-Verify work authorization.

All E-Verify documentation on each employee must be retained for the duration of the workers employment and for at least one year after the employment relationship ends.We fundamentally disagree with the Chicago Park District on what equity means, said Irizarry in a Wednesday statement. In their rebuttal to our State of the Parks report, they conflate the concepts of equality and equity. They state that they spend approximately the same amount of money on each of their three regions, and they call that equity. On the surface that may look like they are treating everyone the same; but that is not equity. A true equity model would call for investment in under-resourced West and South Side communities in a way that addresses the actual needs and makes up for years of disinvestment, not just the same dollar amount of expenditures as the North Side.Smollett has said two men walked up, yelled racial and homophobic slurs, hit him and wrapped a rope around his neck. None of that was caught by the cameras detectives have checked so far, according to Guglielmi. The cameras did show two people walking near the area around the time of the incident, but the images are dark and the faces are not clear.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 14)  The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and the anti-corruption commission have joined forces to monitor and punish government agencies who engage in partisan political activity in the upcoming elections.

In a joint press conference Thursday, COMELEC spokesman James Jimenez and Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission Chair (PACC) Dante Jimenez reiterated the prohibitions for Civil Service members as preparations for the May 13 midterm polls continue. asaspreparatioas

"They can express their own preference but they cannot impose that preference on others," the COMELEC spokesman said.

He explained that government officials are not allowed to coerce their subordinates and colleagues into supporting their preferred candidate. Likewise, agencies are prohibited from using public funds and resources in endorsing candidates.

James Jimenez said government agencies are not allowed to utilize resources such as their personnel to aid political campaigns. For example, they cannot deploy their employees to put up streamers or banners or use official vehicles for parades, he cited.

Those who violate these rules and engage in partisan political activity will be subject to one up to six years of imprisonment and may be disqualified from holding public office.

James Jimenez clarified that the rules against partisan political activity among civil servants have been in effect since the start of the election period which was on January 13. However, they issued the warning after the start of the campaign period, after the official candidates have been named.

"Prior to the start of the campaign period rules do not apply to potential candidates, but the prohibition still technically applies to civil servants For all practical purposes, you can see the prohibition really kick in at the start of the campaign period because that is the only time you can technically be partisan for any particular candidate," the COMELEC official explained.

"Now that those people are officially candidates that thing has to be stopped," he added.

Dante Jimenez appealed to the public to report and present evidence of partisan political activity to authorities so the appropriate sanctions can be issued against them.

"Ang aking appeal sa tao lahat ng mga i-document ninyo (My appeal to the people is to document all violations because) kasi we will make them accountable," he said.

James Jimenez said they will take note of the reports of violations, however they still have to go through the validation process before appropriate action is taken against them. Due process still has to be followed and the public should not expect the candidates to be disqualified immediately after they report their violation, he said.

"Wag nating i-expect maging instant ang resulta nito (Let's not expect the results will be instant) just to be very clear. We will move as fast as we can," the COMELEC official said.

The PACC Chair issued a warning against violating candidates and urged the public to be vigilant. He assured that they will fulfill their mandate and will show no mercy who will not comply with campaign rules.

"Wala kaming sasantuhin, 'yan ang sinabi ng Presidente sa amin kaya warning na 'to to all (We will show no mercy, that is what the President said so take this as a warning). I don't want to name namesGives us proof and we will give results," Dante Jimenez saidSouth Africa: SA welcomes progress in formation of Iraqi government

The South African government has commended Iraqi authorities on the progress achieved in forming the national government.

We encourage all stakeholders to work together to finalise the cabinet, said Ambassador Jerry Matjila, South Africas permanent representative to the United Nations, during his address at the Security Council meeting on Iraq on Thursday.

In his speech, Matjila highlighted the political and security situation, and the role of the region as areas that require intervention.

All political forces should work together to reach agreement on the cabinet posts so that the government can be able to start delivering on its promises to the public for better security, the dignified return of internally displaced persons, rehabilitated public services, a revitalised economy and implementation of reconstruction and development projects, he said.

Matjila said it would be important for the government of Iraq to promote the meaningful inclusion of women in the political process and their representation at all levels of political structures.

Regarding the security situation, he said South Africa noted with concern a report that ISIL activity remains a threat in Iraq, as continued presence has ramifications not only for the instability of Iraq, but the entire region.

We support Iraqi efforts to hold those accountable for crimes committed in the country in line with Security Council Resolution 2379, which established an investigative team to support Iraqi domestic efforts for accountability for the crimes committed, Matjila said.

The Ambassador said South Africa reaffirmed its support for the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI).

We encourage all stakeholders to continue to support and engage on the efforts initiated by UNAMI in an effort to achieve effective post conflict reconstruction and sustainable peace.

We are particularly concerned about the increase of violence against women and children, as the Secretary-Generals report has highlighted. In this regard, we support the efforts of UNAMI and UNICEF to address this scourge.

Matjila welcomed the increased involvement of regional organisations in the political process, reaffirming their role in assisting the government of Iraq in the reconstruction of that country.

Matjila said South Africa welcomed the renewed cooperation and talks between the Central Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government, and encouraged both parties to continue to reach consensus on areas of concern.

We also share the views of regional actors that the government formation in Iraq is an important step towards building a stronger and more balanced relationship among the countries in the Middle East region.

Matjila reiterated Pretorias support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq in line with the principles of the UN Charter and said South Africa will continue to support UNAMI in the implementation of its mandate.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.Emily Duggan, second-grade teacher at Berkeley Heights Elementary School, receives a singing valentine from the Old Friends Quartet (Wally Reynolds, Frank Staubs, Tony De Angelis and John Fisher) Wednesday morning in Martinsburg. They serenaded Duggan and her students with the songs Heart of My Heart and Let Me Call You Sweetheart.JOPLIN, MO - LuAnn Lett, 63, a former nurse for St. John's Hospital, passed away June 22, 2021. Graveside services will be at 1 p.m. Friday at Osborne Cemetery, Joplin. Arrangements are under the direction of Parker Mortuary.Page Content

After holding 15 meetings across all the City of Johannesburgs seven regions from January 14, officials believe they have gathered invaluable inputs to help craft a review of the Property Rates and Credit Control Debt Management policies.





Hundreds of residents made inputs at venues such as Midrand Fire Station, Marks Park, Roodepoort Civic Centre, Diepkloof Community Hall, Bramfisher Multipurpose Centre and Malboro Community Hall, among others.





The next meetings will be held on St Valentines Day, February 14 at Lenasia Civic Centre and the last one will be at Mondeor Recreational Centre from 6pm to 8pm on February 19.





City of Johannesburgs Member of the Mayoral Committee for Finance, Cllr Funzela Ngobeni, thanked all the residents who contributed towards the review and encouraged those who still have to attend the consultative meetings to do so in large numbers.





The City of Johannesburgs coalition government has prioritised consultation with key stakeholders and residents. Rates and Credit Control policies have a major bearing on residents budgets.





We are thrilled at the number of people who managed to find time to help the City become more responsive to their needs, said MMC Ngobeni.





Some of the issues raised by residents during the consultative meetings included:

 Citys valuations and how the values are calculated?

 Will property rates increase and how will it impact residents?

 Why sewerage is charged based on stand size and not consumption, which would benefit all residents and is practical?

 Pensioners rebates and how it will change and cant a benefit be worked out that can benefit residents that dont received any income when they retire?

 How do you value an agricultural property when it has no sewer, electricity or water connections to the property?

 City not providing feedback on queries/complaints logged, why not flag the query until resolved?





People attending were open to converse and eager to get the right information, asking question and positively participating in the opportunity to gain more information.

One of the residents, Anton Kruger, made a request for City to increase pre-termination days as most terminations occur on Friday where Monday becomes the third day, giving residents not enough time to organise and make the necessary payments.



Paul W. Hansen is author of Green in Gridlock: Common Goals, Common Ground and Compromise. Columns are solely the opinion of their authors. Contact him via columnists@jhnewsandguide.com.Tom Hallberg covers a little bit of everything, from skiing to long-form feature stories. A Teton Valley, Idaho, transplant by way of Portland and Bend, Oregon, he spends his time outside work writing fiction, splitboarding and climbing.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.Jacksonville, TX (75766)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 76F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 76F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.Alumni Say I Do at IWU

Feb. 14, 2019

Haley (Lower) Loyet 16 and Cameron Loyet 18 exchanged vows in IWU's Evelyn Chapel.

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.  Once upon a time, they were students in love. Now, Haley (Lower) Loyet 16 and Cameron Loyet 18 are married Illinois Wesleyan University alumni who chose to say I do at IWU.

Their love story is an Illinois Wesleyan fairytale. Haley and Cameron met, became friends and fell in love on campus. They returned to exchange wedding vows in June of 2018.

We met at a friends party where we bonded over our love for Hawaii, Settlers of Catan (board game) and Mario Kart (video game), Haley recalled.

Cameron later asked Haley out on a date, and a few years after that, Cameron asked for Haleys hand in marriage. She said yes, and so began the wedding planning process. Fortunately for the couple, picking a wedding location was easy.

Haley and Cameron chose Illinois Wesleyans 215-seat Evelyn Chapel, a simple and beautiful sanctuary which is available year-round to both alumni and the general public for wedding ceremonies.

It felt natural to have our wedding at the place where we met and fell in love, Haley said.

As students, Haley majored in biology and Cameron majored in business administration. And, like many alumni, they developed deep relationships which have extended beyond graduation.

We made so many amazing memories together, and have life-long friends from our time on campus, Haley said.

The Lower-Loyet wedding party included five IWU alumni.



Several of Haleys bridesmaids were also Illinois Wesleyan graduates, including Jessica Edwards 17, Jennifer Burns 15, Sydney Seeman 18, and Brianna (ne Piro) Gambetti 17. Matt Capone 18 was a groomsman for Cameron as well.

Having our wedding at IWU reminded us where we started, and how much we had grown since we first met, Haley said.

Fellow alum Anna Bromaghim Compton 07, who serves as Event Coordinator for Conference Services, played an integral role in helping the couple prepare for their big day.

It has been a very special privilege to be involved in wedding celebrations such as Haley and Camerons, Bromaghim Compton said.

Bromaghim Compton said between 25 and 30 weddings are typically hosted at Evelyn Chapel each year, and of those, about half involve Illinois Wesleyan alumni.

I think its special for IWU alumni to be married on campus because for many of the couples, IWU is where their love grew, Bromaghim Compton said. So many alums feel a special connection to the Illinois Wesleyan campus and want to return home to be married.

Bromaghim Compton added that couples without affiliation to Illinois Wesleyan also love the campus because of its beauty and inclusive, community atmosphere.

Just married, Haley (Lower) Loyet 16 and Cameron Loyet 18 exited IWU's Evelyn Chapel.

Anna answered all of our many questions about how things would work day-of, about the space, and furniture and props available for our use, Haley said. We also worked with the Event Coordinator Summer Intern, Sierra Eidsmoe (a class of 2021 nursing major), for our rehearsal and day-of coordination, and she was lovely as well.

When Saturday, June 16, 2018  Haley and Camerons wedding day  finally arrived, everything came together beautifully. Evelyn Chapel provided the perfect backdrop for their ceremony. Guests looked on as the couple was married under a lush green archway of plants and flowers. Sunlight poured in from the chapel windows, basking the entire event in a warm glow.

The bride wore an elegant white lace gown, and her bridesmaids were adorned in dresses of minty green. The groomsmens tuxedos were also accented with light green bow ties and pocket squares. Talk about Titan Green Over Everything (#TGOE)!

Haley (Lower) Loyet 16 and Cameron Loyet 18 posed for photos in the Bates & Merwin Reading Room.

While the ceremony took place at Evelyn Chapel, the couple also visited several campus locations for photo opportunities, such as the Bates & Merwin Reading Room, also known as the Beauty and the Beast Room because of its rolling ladder resembling the library featured in Disneys animated classic.

Life after graduating from and getting married at Illinois Wesleyan has remained busy for Haley and Cameron. Haley is in her second year as a medical student at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, and Cameron is employed as a Grants Specialist at Washington University in St. Louis. They live in downtown St. Louis with their cat, Kala.

Now, with their first anniversary on the horizon, Haley and Cameron are grateful for the memories they made and the future they built at Illinois Wesleyan University.

We will always look back on our days at IWU fondly, Haley said. Our time at Wesleyan was an integral part of our love story. If we hadn't both ended up there, we may have never met.

For information about hosting a wedding at Illinois Wesleyan, just like Haley and Camerons, please visit www.iwu.edu/weddings, email weddings@iwu.edu, or call Anna Bromaghim Compton at (309) 556-3035.

By Megan Baker 21The Australian arm of Chinese telecommunications equipment vendor Huawei Technologies has gone on the offensive against the lobby group, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, writing to three companies who are sponsors of ASPI and also have relationships with Huawei, accusing the group of biased comments.

Huawei Australia Corporate and Public Affairs director Jeremy Mitchell said in the letter, sent to Telstra, Google and the Australian division of French defence giant Thales, that most of the local media reports about Huawei contained negative comments made by ASPI personnel.

Mitchell said that "ASPI seems to have an unhealthy fixation on our company that has crossed the threshold of independent fact-based thinking to become the 'go to' organisation for all things anti-China".

He said Huawei had offered ASPI the opportunity to visit its headquarters in Shenzhen and get a first-hand of its global operations but the lobby group had refused to engage.

Among ASPI's main sponsors are shipbuilder Austal, US defence contractor Lockheed Martin, Swedish defence company Saab, the Australian arm of American defence contractor Raytheon, MBDA Missile Systems, accounting firm KPMG and Jacobs, a global provider of technical, professional, and scientific services.

Its cyber policy centre is backed by French defence contractor Thales, Google, au domain namespace administrator auDA, security firm Palo Alto Networks, the Federal Government, Jacobs and encryption company Senetas.

The US has been campaigning for at least the last two years to try and get countries that it considers allies not to use Huawei equipment in the rollout of 5G networks. Australia has bowed to these wishes, as has New Zealand.

As iTWire reported on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump may issue an executive order this week banning the use of telecommunications equipment from Chinese companies in American wireless networks.

Mitchell said as a Chinese firm, Huawei had to clear a higher bar in many markets. "That's why Huawei goes the extra mile to provide your customers with the highest levels of security."

He offered the three companies official briefings. "As a partner of Huawei, I wanted to offer to you and your senior management the opportunity to receive any fact-based briefings or information you may need," he said. "It is vital these important policy areas are addressed sensibly and carefully."

A Thales Australia spokesperson said the company was a longstanding ASPI supporter and would continue to back its role as a public forum for security issues.

""As a global leader in digital security we provide secure solutions appropriate to our customers," the spokesperson added.

"All companies operating in Australia need to respect Australia's sovereign right to apply security arrangements based on the best advice of security agencies, and comply with those requirements."

ASPI was also contacted and the head of its International Cyber Policy Centre, Fergus Hanson, responded: "We are an independent think tank that does applied empirical research. We pride ourselves on that and that's what people come to ASPI for. I accept not everyone will like the findings of that research, but that's the role of a think-tank in a democracy."

iTWire also contacted Telstra and Google for their take on the letter, but neither company responded by the time of publication.Telecommunications and technology industry veteran Michael Malone has been re-appointed as a non-executive director of the board of NBN Co, the company building Australias national broadband network.

The Australian Government announced Malones reappointment for a further three-year term on Thursday. His reappointment commences from 20 April.

Malone, who founded iiNet, Western Australias first Internet service provider, and also founded .auDA, the industry body for all .au domain names, has served on the NBN Co board since April 2016.

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said Malone had a deep understanding of the company, as well as the telecommunications market.

They said Malones reappointment would provide certainty to the NBN Co board as the company completed the network rollout phase and transitioned to a mature operating business.

His business acumen and experience in telecommunications services and infrastructure, including as founder and former CEO of Internet provider iiNet, will continue to be a valuable asset for the board, they said.

Fifield and Cormann said they looked forward to Malones ongoing contribution to the board as it delivered fast, reliable broadband to all Australian homes and businesses by 2020.Australian encryption technology company Senetas Corporation has called on the government to reconsider its encryption law, claiming that it is so demonstrably flawed that the only practical option is to withdraw it.

In a submission to the ongoing inquiry into the law  which was passed without any amendments in December last year  Senetas chairman Francis Galbally and chief executive Andrew Wilson proposed a number of changes, in the event that the government was unwilling to scrap the law altogether.

They urged the government to reconsider the law "as part of a collaborative consultation process which takes into account the views of all relevant stakeholders and persons who may be affected" by the legislation.

Galbally and Wilson said the amendments they had proposed would in no way make up for the shortcomings in the legislation.

The Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Act 2018) is awaitingfrom both the government and the Opposition.

Galbally and Wilson said the fear expressed by industry that the law would damage the reputations of Australian manufacturers and developers in international markets had been realised.

"Australian-based providers of IT products and services are now regularly fielding questions regarding the impact of the Act on their installed products and in the context of prospective sales engagements," they said. "The situation is not aided by foreign competitors making use of the media and other material to improve their competitive position."

Additionally, they said, due to the "perverse and inconsistent" definitions of what constituted a system weakness and a systemic vulnerability, the law did, in fact, allow for actual systemic weaknesses to be introduced into tech products and services.

As evidence of the damage caused to Australian companies, Galbally and Wilson said the New Zealand Government was now reconsidering its policy of allowing government agencies to use Australian-based cloud services.

They pointed out that the US tech publication Wired had named Attorney-General Christian Porter as "one of the most dangerous people on the Internet in 2018", given his role in the passage of the law.

"In commenting on his support for the legislation, Wired described the passing of the legislation as 'a dangerous development on a global scale' and places it alongside the actions of the Russian President in supporting state-sponsored murder and hacking," the two Senetas officials said.

Galbally and Wilson pointed to TPG Telecom's decision to drop its plans for a mobile network in view of the ban imposed by Australia on Chinese supplier Huawei, saying that 5G services would now be more expensive in Australia. This outcome was predicted when the Huawei ban was imposed but dismissed by the government, they pointed out.

"We raise this example not to question the decision behind the ban, but to expose the degree to which the consequences of such decisions are regularly downplayed or ignored," they said. "The commercial reality and the implications for businesses and citizens in Australia on the other hand are real and they hurt."The decision from Judge Stanley Sacks on the jailhouse informants came last month. But in a surprise move, he kept his rulings secret from everyone except the attorneys on the case  then reversed course Friday, saying it was a misstep to keep everything under wraps.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:Thursday, February 14th, 2019 (11:21 am) - Score 7,954

Despite what the politicians say, theres no getting around the fact that last nights agreement on a new EU Copyright Directive between the European Parliament and Council  particularly Article 11 (link tax) and Article 13 (upload filters)  is going to harm the sharing of online news and deliver mass automated censorship.

According to the politicians, this deal will benefit all creative sectors, press, researchers, educators, cultural heritage institutions & citizens. Likewise Andrus Ansip, European Commission VP for the Digital Single Market, said: With the new rules internet users will have more possibilities to use and access copyrighted material with full legal certainty. Freedom of expression is guaranteed, and users will have the power to swiftly contest any unjustified removal of their content by platforms.

At this point youd be forgiven for thinking that were all about to enter some sort of new digital utopia, except the political spin overlooks the reality of how these measures will actually be implemented. Likewise it seemingly only pays lip service to the huge scale of opposition from ordinary people (protests and a petition by 4.7 million people), tech companies (both big and small), internet pioneers and even many Rights Holders.

Axel Voss (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, said: This deal is an important step towards correcting a situation which has allowed a few companies to earn huge sums of money without properly remunerating the thousands of creatives and journalists whose work they depend on. At the same time, this deal contains numerous provisions which will guarantee that the internet remains a space for free expression. These provisions were not in themselves necessary because the directive will not be creating any new rights for rights holders. Yet we listened to the concerns raised and chose to doubly guarantee the freedom of expression. The meme, the gif, the snippet are now more protected than ever before. I am also glad that the text agreed today pays particular attention to sheltering start-ups. Tomorrows leading companies are the start-ups of today and diversity depends on a deep pool of innovative, dynamic, young companies. This is a deal which protects peoples living, safeguards democracy by defending a diverse media landscape, entrenches freedom of expression, and encourages start-ups and technological development. It helps make the internet ready for the future, a space which benefits everyone, not only a powerful few.

Axel isnt being entirely honest. Broadly speaking the changes will still place new restrictions on the sharing of news content and threaten mass automated internet censorship for platforms like YouTube. Suffice to say that the way internet content and distribution works today is about to change and seemingly not for the better.

Article 13  Upload Filters (Text)



The most controversial aspect of the new directive is article 13, which impacts commercial Online Content Sharing Service Providers whose main or one of the main purposes is to store and give the public access to a large amount of copyright protected works or other protected subject-matter uploaded by its users which it organises and promotes for profit-making purposes (e.g. popular video and picture sharing websites).

The seismic change here is that Article 13 makes intermediaries (instead of end-users) liable for uploads by their users, which it partly achieves by effectively expecting such sites to pre-emptively buy licences for anything that users may possibly upload (unworkable in many cases).

For example, imagine uploading a video to YouTube and, without realising it, you have a music track playing in the background. On the one hand many people would argue that this helps to promote such content and is thus a benefit, but on the other the website would now take on liability for your use of copyright material (most likely without permission from a rights holder because how many ordinary people would get that or even know where to begin?).

Mercifully there are some softer rules for small sites (blogs etc.) and exceptions exist for content that has been created for the purpose of quotation, criticism or review, as well as any use for the purpose of caricature, parody or pastiche. The trouble is that these exceptions would be difficult for manual moderators to judge, particularly on a vast website with millions of people uploading content around the clock (impossible to keep up).

Commercial companies thus wont want to take the risk that they could suffer a cancerous inheritance of liability and so the inevitable outcome would require them to implement automated filters (aka  content recognition technologies), which scan for and then block copyrighted videos, photos, music, text or code in user submitted content.

However such filters tend to be very dumb and expensive tools, which can act aggressively in order to protect the operator against assuming any principal liability for something a user has shared. The end-result is typically significant over-blocking of often lawful content (censorship) and a vast amount of existing content may also face removal.

As a side note, if a court were ever to find that that the licensing or filtering efforts adopted by a site were too weak then they would be held directly liable for infringements, which again reinforces the need for such sites to adopt the strictest possible filtering systems. Hello censorship.

One positive change however has been the new best efforts requirement for rights holders to provide relevant and necessary information, which means theyll have to actually work closely with sites like YouTube first if they want such filters to act against infringing content.

Article 11  Link Tax (Text)



As any internet user should know, the ability to link to content on another website and to optionally provide a short summary (snippet) of what its about (context) is a founding part of how the internet works and the related distribution of information around the online world. Web links are the lifeblood of visitor growth for any website and it has always been considered good internet etiquette to link your sources.

Without this, new or existing websites would struggle to grow. Today the internet is filled to the brim with hundreds of thousands of news and information sites, many of which are quite specialist (e.g. ISPreview.co.uk for broadband and telecoms) and support a lot of jobs, but these have long been eroding the market for older media.

As a result old news media, such as printed newspapers or magazines, tend to dislike the internet because of how it harms their established model. Many of them have tried to adapt by adopting paywalls for their content but that has only been of mixed success (reduces visitor traffic) and thus theyve lobbied hard for Article 11.

Article 11 aims to tackle the so called value gap, where rightholders claim theyre not being fairly remunerated for use of their works online on user generated sites when compared with similar licensed sites. This essentially creates a situation where you can still link to a news story but only alongside individual words or very short extracts (no images or long quotes etc.), otherwise youd need to get paid permission from the source.

However the new law creates a number of tedious problems. Firstly, theres no clarity on what very short extracts actually means and whether the words used in a website address (URL) would count towards this (i.e. this will probably be decided in the courts). Secondly, a lot of sites get noticed through news aggregation services like Google News or NewsNow, both of which may now have to strip their content displays down to a bare minimum (no pictures or quotes).

Google has even threatened to shut their news service completely. Spain introduced a similar law in 2014 and Google promptly shut their service, which resulted in significant revenue and traffic falls for news and information websites across the country. The problem would be magnified in the UK, where such news and information sites are much more common and could thus have a noticeable impact upon the economy.

Sadly only minor exceptions appear to exist here. The rights granted to the publishers of press publications does not extend to acts of hyperlinking (i.e. links themselves are safe). They should also not extend to the mere facts reported in the press publications (i.e. you can still write the facts in your own words, which is what most sites do anyway). An exception also exists on quotation for purposes such as criticism or review.

On top of that periodical publications published for scientific or academic purposes, such as scientific journals, are not covered by the protection granted to press publications under this Directive. Neither should this protection apply to websites, such as blogs, that provide information as part of an activity which is not carried out under the initiative, editorial responsibility and control of service provider, such as a news publisher (vague since the definition of a blog and news publisher in this context may be open to interpretation).

All of this is somewhat nonsensical since it only makes it harder for online websites to attract visitors, although in that sense it would clearly hurt new online media more than the old traditional printed media. However the UK Governments Intellectual Property Office (IPO) did inform us last month that this right will be waivable and rightholders will be able to choose whether or not to enforce it, which suggests that news aggregation providers might be able to post more info. (quotes and pictures) if the source gives permission (e.g. without requiring payment) for them to do so.

Finally, the new article 11 rights will expire 2 years after the publication of the press publication (calculated from the first day of January of the year following the date of publication), which means that quoting from stories older than that should still be fine.

Innocenzo Genna, EuroISPA Chair of the Innovation and Growth Committee, stated: These rules will impose upload filters on platforms, impacting the competitiveness of European innovative SMEs, and leading to the over-blocking of legal content. Article 11, if adopted, would change the Internet as we know it: an ancillary copyright would affect small platforms and innovative online publishers, while limiting the ability of European users to use hyperlinks and share snippets online. Ultimately, this would have a significant negative impact on freedom of expression in Europe.

A final vote is now expected to be taken by EU member states sometime during March or early April, but this process tends to reflect little more than a rubber stamping exercise and is unlikely to result in a major change.

On the other hand the weight of opposition suggests that there is still room for an upset, although so far the EU (both its left and right wing blocks) have been diabolically bad in equal measure at listening to opponents. At this point its hard to shake the feeling that far too many politicians continue to put the interests of their citizens and smaller players last, either that or they really dont understand how the internet works (possibly both).

Meanwhile anybody who mistakenly thinks that Brexit will stop this from impacting the UK should be cautious. Regardless of what the EU approves, the UK might still have to implement it (we wont know for sure until a final deal is agreed or not) and in any case the current Government has so far supported most of the controversial measures.

Special credit to Julia Reda MEP for helping to shine a light on these measures when others wouldnt.

UPDATE 15th Feb 2019

In a curious move the EC has written a blog of its own (here), which rather broadly appears to brand opponents of the changes as a mob supported by paid-for campaigns. Nice. No doubt thats not in the least bit insulting to all those independent individuals and groups who have raised legitimate concerns about the new laws and their potential impact.

UPDATE 18th Feb 2019

In a comical twist the EC has now removed the above linked article because it is said to have been, understood in a way that doesnt reflect the Commissions position. Luckily the internet never forgets (here).The photo posted Sunday on Facebook appears to show a man in blackface wearing a sailors costume next to a woman wearing what appears to be a mermaid costume. It is unclear when the photograph was taken. The Facebook page also shows another picture of what it says is the same man, identified as an officer clad in Chicago police dress blues, as well as information about citizen complaints and two lawsuits filed against the officer.Analysis Gen. Aung San Statues Are Costing NLD Political Support in Ethnic States

Hundreds of people join a protest against the placement of a statue of Gen. Aung San in Loikaw, Kayah State, on Feb. 12. / Progressive Karenni People's Force / Facebook

Disenchantment with the National League for Democracy (NLD) is growing over ongoing efforts to put up statues of General Aung San in the ethnic statesa campaign many accuse the ruling party of supporting. The pushback has been especially strong in Kayah State. Gen. Aung San is a hero to ethnic Bamar, but minority ethnic communities have their own heroes. Ethnic rights activists continue to protest the statues, seeing them as an attempt to destroy their account of local history.

Khun Be Du, a rights activist who led a protest against the Gen. Aung San statue in Loikaw, the capital of Kayah, accused the NLD of exploiting the independence hero.

Gen. Aung San was a hero, so the NLD is building a statue to appear heroic by association, he said.

However, the party does not respect Gen. Aung Sans historic political agreement with leaders of the countrys ethnic groups, he said.

[The agreement] is part of history, so they dont care about it. Today is their era, so they are confident they have done nothing wrong, he said.

Khun Be Du said the NLDs action was unfortunate, as it gained the party nothing while costing them the trust of other ethnic groups.

By continuing to implement the statue plan over the objections of local people, the NLD is generating tremendous ill will among a growing number of people, he said.

Senior NLD leaders have denied that the placement of statues reflects a party policy, or that the central leadership ordered representatives on the ground to implement it. Khun Be Du dismissed this denial. It is the partys policy, he said, adding that the statue campaign is part of a political game by the NLD.

So far, statues of Gen. Aung San have been put up in ethnic states including Mon, Kachin, Chin and Kayah. The result has been to whip up greater nationalist feeling among the ethnic communities. Anti-statue activity, which began in Mon State, is getting more vigorous.

The recent protests in Loikaw resemble those that took place two years ago in Mon State, which drew thousands of people.

Nai Wona, a Mon rights activist, said the anti-statue rallies were a relatively new experience for the Mon, who were not used to protesting. In contrast, he said the protests in Kayah State had a particularly strong nationalist flavor, and warned that they could lead to serious violence.

In Mon State, sensitivity over the public invocation of Gen. Aung San began when the NLD government named a new bridge after him over the opposition of local ethnic Mon. Later, a statue of Gen. Aung San was built in Mudon Township even after Mon community leaders including Buddhist monks came out against it.

The NLD government ignored the voices of the ethnic Mon, and the protest in Mon State in 2017 was not successful. However, Min Latt, another rights activist form Mon State, said the Mon was the first group to show ethnic groups how to fight the NLD government on the issue.

The international community and the majority of the people in the country have a lot of respect for State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the NLD. So, many people in the country did not dare to stand up against her government. However, the ethnic Mon were willing to do it first, Min Latt said.

The Mons stand against the NLD wasnt successful, but it inspired other groups who wish to oppose the NLD, Min Latt said.

Fond memories of the NLD

Khun Be Du, the activist who led an anti-statue protest in Loikaw, said that when he was living in exile in Thailand he worked with many NLD members and admired them.

We asked the military regime to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi together, with one voice, he said.

Khun Be Du is ethnic Kayan (a Karenni subgroup), and chairman of the Kayan National Party. He spent four years in prison after being arrested by the military regime in 2008 for organizing a campaign in his region against the 2008 Constitution.

He said that in 2004 he believed that the country would change politically if Daw Aung San Suu Kyi were in charge.

We believed she would be able to lay a good foundation for democracy and federalism in our country, which is what we ethnic people need, he said.

However, he lost trust when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi asked ethnic political party leaders to make room for her partys candidates in ethnic constituencies, as she was worried her party would not win the 2015 election.

But, she was not thinking about the ethnic parties concerns; this is why he stopped trusting her, he said.

When the NLD gained political power, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi showed little tolerance for criticism of herself or her party, Khun Be Du said. For example, Dr. Aye Maung was detained under the NLD government despite being a respected Arakanese ethnic leader.

When the NLD formed a government, it appointed ethnic ministers, but those ministers have no power, he said, adding that they were there merely for show. The NLD has done no work on behalf of ethnic groups since coming to power, he said.

The NLDs current actions do nothing to advance the countrys political transition, something they said they would do with the cooperation of ethnic groups, Khun Be Du said. As a result, it is losing the political support of these groups, he said.

Khun Be Du said the ethnic Karenni have no choice but to fight against the NLD. We have to confront them; this is our only option, he said. The NLD has the mindset of all majority groups, he said; they do not care about minority groups.Burma Military Recovers 'Important' Equipment Seized by Shan Rebel Group

RCSS members carry weapons at their headquarters in the town of Loi Tai Leng, Shan State. / Kyaw Kha / The Irrawaddy

YANGON  The Myanmar military says it has recovered equipment recently seized by the Restoration Council of Shan State (RSCC) in eastern Shan State.

They are restricted military equipment  in other words, important equipment for the military. We have got them back, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy.

On Tuesday evening, about 50 RCSS members collecting money from motorists on the highway between Mong Ping and Kengtung stopped a vehicle ferrying two military commanders and seized the military equipment on board with them, the militarys True News Information Team said in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement said the ethnic armed groups seizure of equipment it knew belonged to the military posed a major challenge to creating a lasting peace, adding that the military would take unspecified action if it was not returned immediately.

Brig. Gen. Zaw Min Tun said the RCSS returned the equipment on Wednesday evening.

Relations will return to normal because we are also working toward peace, he added.

The RCSS could not be reached for comment.

On the Taifreedom website, the RCSS said the military had fired artillery at one of its posts near its headquarters in the town of Loi Tai Leng on Wednesday at noon, and at another of its posts in Mong Tong Township along the Thai-Myanmar border that evening.

The RCSS is a signatory to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement but has not engaged in official peace talks with the government since October.

In December the military declared a unilateral four-month ceasefire effective through April in active conflict areas in north and northeast Myanmar.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.Burma USDP Proposes Single Amendment to Constitution

-- / The Irrawaddy

MAYPYITAW  The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has put forward a bill to amend Article 261 of the Constitution that would, if approved, see regional chief ministers elected by local legislatures rather than appointed by the president.

Lower House USDP lawmaker U Thaung Aye, who submitted the proposal, said the change would benefit ethnic minorities.

This will contribute to national unity, ethnic rights and to freedom and justice, he told reporters in Naypyitaw on Wednesday.

The ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) submitted an urgent proposal to the Union Parliament to form a committee to draft amendments to the military-drafter Constitution on Feb 8. Despite opposition from military-appointed lawmakers and the military-backed USDP, Parliament approved it decisively.

While the NLD is likely to propose a raft of changes to the charter  which grants the military special powers and privileges  the USDP is suggesting just one.

According to Chapter 12 of the Constitution, a bill to amend the charter must be submitted by at least 20 percent of lawmakers in Parliament. Since the USDP lacks the numbers, it collaborated with the military and some ethnic minority parties to submit its proposal.

The NLD constitutes 59 percent of Parliament, ethnic minority parties 11 percent, the USDP 5 percent, and the military  as guaranteed by the Constitution  25 percent. U Thaung Aye, an ex-general, declined to comment on which ethnic minority parties the USDP cooperated with.

Brig. Gen. Maung Maung, who leads military-appointed lawmakers in Parliament, said he did not know the details of the bill.

Lawmaker Daw Khin Saw Wai, of the Arakan National Party, suggested that her party did not cooperated with the USDP to submit the bill but said it has wanted to change Article 261 for a long time.

I think the time is right. As the USDP cooperated with the Tatmadaw [military], the proposed amendment should be a success, she told The Irrawaddy.

Article 261 (d) states that the person appointed by the president as the chief minister of a region or state shall not be refused by the region or state parliament unless it can clearly prove that the person does not meet the qualifications for the post.

Our policy is to change what needs to be changed, and we have begun with what is needed most for the people and our ethnic brethren, said U Thaung Aye.

At an event in October to mark the third anniversary of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing spoke in favor of local legislatures electing chief ministers.

A meeting to form the committee to draft the constitutional amendments on Friday was postponed when the military and USDP objected to appointing its members based on how many seats each party holds in the Union Parliament. They want an equal numbers of seats on the committee for each party.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.Burma More Than 1,000 Flee Latest Fighting Between Rival Armed Groups in Shan State

People displaced by fighting between rival armed groups take shelter at a monastery in Kyaukme Township, Shan State, on Tuesday. / Lei Lei / The Irrawaddy

KYAUKMAE, Shan State  More than 1,000 residents of northern Shan States Kyaukme Township fled their homes between Saturday and Tuesday to escape fighting between two rival armed groups, the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP) and Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS).

The families, mostly ethnic Bamar and Taang, fled three villages and are taking shelter at monasteries in the urban center of the township. Most are women and children, as many of the men stayed behind to guard their properties.

Because I fled my village in a hurry, I could not bring any belongings with me. I grow corn and paddy and I left behind my corn harvest and also my buffalos, said Ma Nan Hla Han, from Pan Lawk Village.

The families said there had been no fighting near their villages before.

Ko Thar Zaw, a Kyaukme resident assisting the families, said people continued to flee Lwei Sa Village on Wednesday.

Only one-fourth of the people who have fled here are men; the rest are women and children, he said.

I dont want to see fighting. I want to live a peaceful life. I am not afraid of soldiers, but I am afraid of guns, said Daw Khin Mar Swe, the headmistress of Nanpyin Village.

The Myanmar Red Cross Society, the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, non-governmental organizations and regional lawmakers have distributed relief supplies to the families, but many still do not have enough food.

We want peace. The places that are suffering [from fighting] want peace the most. Because there is no peace, people are struggling just to survive, not to mention to secure their livelihoods, said U Tin Maung Oo, a trustee of a community-based committee that helps displaced people in Kyaukme.

While the RCSS is a signatory to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, the SSPP is not.

The two armed groups have clashed repeatedly in Hsipaw, Kyaukme and Namtu townships in northern Shan State since November 2015. The Taang National Liberation Army, another armed group, is backing the SSPP.

According to the groups themselves, the RCSS and TNLA fought about 40 battles in 2018 alone.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.Burma Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Tanintharyi to 'Discipline' Local Officials

State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi arrives in Myeik Township, Tanintharyi Region, on Wednesday. / State Counselor's Office

YANGON  State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi warned that her government would take decisive action against officials who harm the public interest during a trip Wednesday to Tanintharyi Region, where a crowd urged her to sack the local chief minister.

Speaking at a ceremony in Myeik Township marking the birthday of her late father, independence hero Gen. Aung San, she reminded government officials that they work for the benefit of the people and must carry out their duties truthfully and transparently.

Afterward, dozens of locals waited for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi outside the Pale Yadanar Hall, where she met with local government officials, lawmakers and some residents. Some held signs urging her to replace Tanintharyis chief minister, Daw Lei Lei Maw, and planning and finance minister, U Phyo Win Tun, as well as U Aung Soe, who chairs her partys regional committee.

Those who attended the meeting also complained that the regional government was inefficient, being mismanaged and losing public support. Daw Lei Lei Maw and the other regional ministers were present.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said that she came to Tanintharyi because she had heard of the complaints and promised to resolve them.

I have come here to discipline the regional government, she told the crowd to loud applause.

In a letter to the central executive committee of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), more than 100 residents of Myeik and Dawei townships accused Daw Lei Lei Maw and U Aung Soe, who are related, of awarding business contracts and giving a paid government job to relatives.

The regional Parliament also sent a report on public complaints to President U Win Myint and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi last month. The report was signed by 14 regional lawmakers including the Parliament speaker.

The Anti-Corruption Commission has since started looking into the complaints. According to one regional lawmaker, commission members visited Tanintharyi earlier this month and met with both legislators and those who submitted the complaints.

On Wednesday, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said she visited Myanmars states and regions to find out what was happening first hand, what problems locals were facing, what the government could do better to help them, and whether officials were doing a good job.

Tanintharyi is the fourth region or state she has visited this year. Since January she has also visited Chin, Kachin and Shan states. While in Tanintharyi, she will also visit Kawthaung and Dawei townships on Thursday and Friday and meet with local residents.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said some parts of the country were developing while others were not, and that she has heard from many people about their needs for better health care, education, water supplies, transportation and electricity and for the return of seized land. She said the government could not solve all their problems overnight but was working hard to address them.

We have made promises to the public since we were founded, she said of the NLD. Im not sure if the public has forgotten them, but we never forget them. The first promise is national reconciliation and peace and the rule of law.

The state counselor said her administration has also taken the first tentative steps toward fulfilling another key promise  amending the Constitution to create a federal and more democratic government.

We never make a promise that we cant keep, she said.Asia EU Trade Threat Could Make Cambodian Factories Worse For Workers: Unions

Women work on the production line at Complete Honour Footwear Industrial, a footwear factory in Kampong Speu, Cambodia, on July 4. / Reuters

PHNOM PENH  The European Unions move to revoke Cambodias duty-free access could force major clothing brands out of the manufacturing hub and worsen conditions for workers, industry experts said.

Cambodia has six months to convince its biggest export market that it has arrested a backslide on human rights and democracy.

If it fails, the EU will strike it from the Everything But Arms (EBA) trade scheme, which could trigger a chain of events that advocates fear will rob them of their strongest leverage point in the fight for improved working conditions.

We cannot depend on any authority or any procedures inside the country to protect the rights of workers, said Sar Mora, president of the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions, which has about 20,000 members.

If we dont have the EBA, then we will no longer be able to pressure big brands and consumers in Europe over the treatment of workers.

About 700,000 people, mostly women, work in Cambodias garment industry, which accounts for the lions share of the countrys $5.8 billion worth of exports to the EU each year.

Workers speak of an industry beset by forced overtime, unsafe working conditions and the obstruction of unionization.

But in recent years their plight has been pushed into the spotlight, with advocacy groups running campaigns that have forced brands to clean up supply chains in a race to retain their share of an increasingly aware consumer market.

The brands are the ones who have the power to push employers to respect the law and the rights of workers, said At Thon, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union.

At Thon pointed to the Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) initiative, a project of the U.N.s International Labor Organization that since 2001 has held all exporting garment factories to a prescribed standard.

This concept has helped to push for improved work conditions and wages, he said, adding that if Cambodia was to lose its biggest export market, the project could become redundant.

Wages have risen sharply in Cambodias garment sector, to a minimum of $182 per month this year from $61 in 2012.

But Khun Tharo, a program coordinator at the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights, said union leaders were giving brands too much credit.

Sure, wages have increased, but at the same time we have seen the overloading of livelihoods  higher production targets, longer overtime  in order to achieve those wages, he said.

In 2013, Swedish clothing giant H&M pledged to pay a fair living wage to 1.6 million people working in factories it sources from around the world.

In 2018, the worlds second biggest fashion retailer held a summit in Phnom Penh where executives said they were yet to deliver that promise to a single worker.

Are they really accountable? Are they really committed? Khun Tharo said of brands in general. I dont think so. Just like in business, they are competing with other brands to take credit and increase credibility.The Dutch government has enlisted a new ally in its campaign to prepare businesses for Britain's departure from the European Union - a hairy, blue Brexit monster.

A tweet posted on Foreign Minister Stef Blok's Twitter feed showed the monster, wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the word Brexit in red capital letters, lying across a desk.

The tweet has links to the government's online Brexit portal and a Brexit Impact Scan that helps inform businesses about the possible consequences when Britain leaves the EU on March 29.

"This is all to raise awareness," said foreign ministry spokesman Dirk-Jan Vermeij. "We have said this a lot in debates and now we are saying it with humour."

The monster quickly scared up plenty of action. Mr Vermeij said that by mid-afternoon on Thursday some 4,000 businesses had done the impact scan.

Prior to the monster's intervention, the scan had attracted about 63,000 businesses in a year.

The online scan is a website that takes business owners through the range of possible changes they will have to master depending on the terms under which Britain completes its divorce from the EU.

It gives tailored advice about new procedures likely to come into play for importers and exporters such as customs procedures, possible new tariffs and taxes and other issues.Bridges are not the only problem along I-80. The stretch of interstate, built in the 1960s, is too narrow for the amount of traffic it gets, with two lanes of traffic in each direction, said Mary Craighead, transportation policy analyst at the lllinois Economic Policy Institute, a think tank whose board members represent the construction industry and labor unions. A lot of the roadway does not have shoulders, and sharp curves require slow speeds, Craighead said.There were reasonable grounds for hoping, 15 months ago, that the Catalan separatist leaders jailed and awaiting trial on charges of rebellion and sedition would be freed while a new Spanish government dependent on supply and confidence agreements with Basque and Catalan MPs got on with the essential business of trying to negotiate its way out of the crisis that threatens Spains democracy.

That hope was shattered when Madrid made it clear that the breakaway leaders arrested after the provinces independence referendum would remain behind bars, and then set about its unsuccessful extradition attempts to get three remaining ring leaders back from exile in Belgium, Germany and Scotland.Last weekend three ex-soliders with experience of homelessness slept rough in Dublin in sleeping bags bearing the Tricolour.

The Sleeping Flags awareness-raising exercise was organised by ONE (Oglaigh Naisiunta Na hEireann) as part of a fundraising appeal for its growing network of hostels which provide shelter for ex-servicemen who have found themselves homeless.

ONE runs hostels in Dublin, Letterkenny, and Athlone, with another planned for Munster.

It also runs a large network of support centres for veterans, with several more due to open, including in Cork and in Cobh, where there will also be two apartments for veterans.

The hostel movement got going in the late 1980s after several homeless veterans died on the streets. Ten brave ex-servicemen remortgaged their houses to fund the first hostel in Dublin.

The reasons such a significant minority of ex-servicemen end up on the streets ram home the extent of the sacrifice which these men have made in serving their county.

ONE chief executive Ollie OConnor explains that some ex-servicemen find it hard to adapt to civilian life having undergone the behaviour modification necessary in the Defence Forces.

You learn to follow orders which may lead to your death.

For most, thats an astonishing thought. Many may argue that people should never follow an order that could cause them harm.

The Defence Forces cant work any other way, though. And our Defence Forces have done a vast amount of good, whether through their 57 years of service as peace-keepers in many war zones from Lebanon to the Golan Heights, from Congo to Mali, their tireless patrolling of the Mediterranean where in recent years they have saved 18,000 lives and salvaged hundreds of bodies from the sea, or here at home where they perform duties which range from dismantling bombs to defending us from dissidents to stopping drug smugglers in our seas to making infrastructure secure after storms.

Thats before you factor in the possible impacts of Brexit.

We cant keep our country safe and stable without our defence forces. Yet we do not take the military to our hearts.

Speaking on RTE radio, Minister Regina Doherty said we all had a soft spot for the nurses, which I found patronising, but a soft spot is better than the hard spot we have in our hearts for the Defence Forces.

In speaking about our historic lack of support for ex-servicemen, OConnor made the point that we dont have an imperialist history. He noted also that our State had its birth in a civil war.

Surely these facts also impact on the place which serving members of the Defence Forces have in our society? Why is our military consistently at the bottom of the pay league of public-service workers?

An Garda Siochana is at the top. In between are all other public sector workers, including teachers and, of course, nurses, who have just won a pay increase from the Labour Court. The guards are now apparently looking for the same.

The defence forces are at rock bottom when it comes to public-sector pay and a partial clue lies in the success of the nurses: The Defence Forces cant strike and unlike the guards have never threatened to do so.

Our servicemen and women suffered the same cuts under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Acts from 2009, as did the nurses. This pay is slowly being restored.

However, the specific grievances they have before the Public Sector Pay Commission, which were expected to be reported on late last year, may not now be reported on before the last quarter of this year.

To compound the problem, the submission which the commission received did not come directly from the Defence Forces. The final say on what gets reported to the pay commission goes to the defence minister.

The Government gets to tell the pay commission what the Defence Forces want the Government to pay them.

Its hard to see how they can get very far, despite Taoiseach Leo Varadkars commitment at the recent commissioning ceremony that his Government does not take servicemen and women for granted and rather commends those who serve this State with such loyalty and selflessness.

Increasingly, many servicemen and women feel that selflessness is a luxury they and their families cant afford.

The recruitment crisis in the nursing sector was the most often quoted rationale for honouring nurses demands in the run-up to the nurses strike.

A Sunday Business Post article last week disputed the INMOs figures, showing up to six times as many applicants as nursing posts in some sectors of the health service.

Former HSE chief Tony OBrien explained in the same newspaper that there is a recruitment crisis in some areas of nursing and not in others.

By contrast there is no confusion about the recruitment crisis in the Defence Forces, the force consistently standing at least 500 beneath the 9,500 they are meant to number.

Airforce pilots are leaving in droves; 30 have recently departed. Aldi has been attracting military personnel skilled in organisation and supply management.

Some military have joined the Garda Siochana, others have gone into private security companies.

Its not just that the pay is too low; its that the pay is too low in the context of an extreme level of commitment which is unique to the Defence Forces and far exceeds that required of any other public servant.

A Sleeping Flag at the GPO, Dublin: The sleeping bag designed around the Irish flag aims to highlight the plight of Defence Forces personnel who have become homeless.

They are liable for service 24/7. They cannot terminate their contracts when they want to and may have to buy themselves out.

They do not have much security, having fixed-term contracts and being required to retire early: From the senior ranks at age 56.

They are subject to military discipline at all times. They are frequently relocated. They suffer huge discomfort. They are frequently exposed to danger.

Among the homeless men who ONE rehouses, some were on the streets because they are haunted by the horrors of war.

In Estonia, military personnels pay is set 30% higher than that of other public servants because of their special circumstances.

In Ireland, the militarys special circumstances mean they get less pay than any other public servants.

Much has been made of the gendered nature of low pay for nurses, which I dont dispute.

However, low pay for the mostly male military workforce is gendered too. In both cases, a vocation is exploited.

If womens care has been undervalued, so too have mens physical strength and ultimately, their lives.

Thats why in Ireland, they make up at least 67% of rough sleepers (16% were unidentified) 80% of suicides, the vast majority of workplace fatalities, and, internationally, 97% of the casualties of war.

Those ex-servicemen sleeping in Tricolour sleeping-bags were raising awareness of homelessness, not servicemens pay, but the issues are related: They both point to our ability to make some men expendable.Pre-conception approval of parentage as part of a sperm-donation agreement would provide legal certainty for all involved in the case of home insemination, writes Dr Brian Tobin.

Home insemination with sperm from a known donor is a cost-effective method of conceiving a child that is both practiced and popular among female same-sex couples.

However, a Supreme Court decision from 2009 makes it clear that if a child is conceived in this manner the birth mother and the known donor will be recognised as the legal parents.

The known donor will have the same legal parental rights as any other unmarried father.

This is frustrating for female same-sex couples because the woman who does not give birth to the child cannot be recognised as its legal parent, even where she is married to or in a civil partnership with the childs birth mother.

In 2009, the Oireachtas had not enacted any legislation allocating parental rights in the context of donor-assisted human reproduction  that is why the Supreme Court treated the known donor the same as any other unmarried father and enabled him to benefit from existing legislation applicable to such fathers.

Thus, one should not be too critical of the Supreme Courts decision given that the court was operating in a legislative vacuum as regards donor-assisted human reproduction.

However, the irony is that the Supreme Courts decision on parental rights in a home-insemination context contributed to the subsequent decision by the Oireachtas to exclude this method of family formation from the Donor-Assisted Human Reproduction (DAHR) provisions of the Children and Family Relationships Act  once commenced, parts 2 and 3 of that legislation will only enable female same-sex couples to both be recognised as the legal parents of a donor-conceived child where that child is conceived in an Irish clinic.

Nonetheless, given that the Oireachtas is better placed to decide on complex social issues, the courts would most likely defer to its decision to enact a balanced statutory model for prospectively regulating home insemination  one that ensures the legal positions of intended parents such as a female same-sex couple, known donors, and donor-conceived children are all adequately protected.

In part, the solution to regulating home insemination lies in the General Scheme of the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill 2017.

This draft legislation is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny before proceeding further.

In Part 8, the General Scheme provides for the setting up of an assisted human reproduction regulatory authority (AHRRA) that must, among its many functions, approve a surrogacy agreement before any treatment in an Irish clinic will be permitted to go ahead.

The AHRRA, a State regulatory body, could similarly approve sperm-donation agreements between intended parents and known donors before any home insemination can take place.

In Part 6 of the General Scheme, a number of safeguards are put in place to protect the interests of intended parents and the surrogate.

Before the surrogacy agreement can be submitted to the AHRRA for approval, the surrogate and the intended parents must receive counselling regarding the potential social and psychological implications of the agreement.

The parties are also required to receive independent legal advice from a legal practitioner about the agreements legal implications.

These statutory requirements should help to ensure that the parties consent to the surrogacy agreement is a free and fully informed one, and they could equally be made to apply to sperm-donation agreements between intended parents and known donors.

The AHRRA could then approve such agreements, allowing the parties to proceed with the planned conception via home-insemination.

The agreement could have a shelf-life  if a child is not conceived within 12 months the parties could be required to seek renewal of their agreement so as to proceed.

However, under the General Scheme, approval by the AHRRA of the surrogacy agreement between the intended parents and the surrogate will be limited to the approval of treatment in a clinic, not parentage of the child.

This is where my proposal for home-insemination agreements parts company with the proposals for surrogacy arrangements contained in Part 6 of the General Scheme.

The proposals contained in Part 6 only allow parentage of the surrogate-born child to be established via a post-birth court procedure.

However, there could be a pre-conception model for approving parentage of surrogate-born children, and children conceived via home insemination.

I believe that if the parties to a sperm-donation agreement have received the above mentioned counselling and independent legal advice and are content to proceed, surely they should all be deemed capable of consenting to a clause in their agreement which stipulates that the known donor is not a parent and that upon the birth of the child, legal parentage rests with both of the intended parents?

In other words, the known donor should be able to consent to, and the AHRRA should be able to approve, legal parentage in favour of the intended parents as part of the approval process before the child is conceived.

This pre-conception approval of parentage as part of the sperm-donation agreement would provide legal certainty for all  the intended parents would have their legal parental status in relation to the child established before birth and the known donor will have validly waived all of his legal parental rights.

The childs right to knowledge of genetic identity could be robustly protected because legislation could require the known donors identifying and non-identifying information be included in the sperm-donation agreement.

Following the birth of the child, the intended parents would automatically be the legal parents and could register the birth by producing their State-approved sperm-donation agreement to the Registrar of Births as proof of parentage.

Legislation could provide that every entry in the Register of Births of a child born via home-insemination should be linked to the National Donor-Conceived Person Register.

The registrar could be required to furnish the AHRRA with written confirmation that a child born as a result of a certain sperm-donation agreement previously sanctioned by that authority has had his/her birth registered.

On receipt of this written confirmation, the AHRRA could be required to register the specific known donors information on the National Donor-Conceived Person Register.

The AHRRA could obtain this information from the copy of the sperm-donation agreement retained by it at the time of the approval process.

Such information could then be made available to the child upon reaching the age of majority.

Since home insemination takes place without any oversight from a fertility clinic then, as a State body responsible for regulating activity in the area of assisted human reproduction, the role of the AHRRA would be to sanction sperm-donation contracts freely concluded by parties who have received adequate counselling and independent legal advice.

It is unlikely that the courts would take issue with such a balanced, considered way of regulating such agreements between adults, especially since it involves State oversight.

The childs right to knowledge of genetic identity could be vindicated by the measures I propose regarding the interaction between the Register of Births, the AHRRA, and the National Donor-Conceived Person Register.

One can only hope the Oireachtas will consider further legislative reform in the area of donor-assisted human reproduction, reform that recognises the potential of the AHRRA in ensuring couples who wish to use a known sperm donor should not have to resort to a clinic in order to become legal parents.

Dr Brian Tobin is a lecturer in law, School of Law, NUI Galway, and a visiting researcher, Dickson Poon School of Law, Kings College LondonEvery time Bobby Windsor went off to fight the French during the lawless 70s, he would tell his wife: Take a look at my face because you might not recognise it when I get back.

In an era when most referees turned a blind eye, the old Lions hooker slugged it out with all-comers but even he would feel a shiver of fear before running into a mob whose collective violence put them somewhere between Peaky Blinders and The Gangs of New York.

The French were different, Windsor told me. They were mean and vicious. They always kicked shit out of me. With them, it was always war.

The fearsome former scrums of the France 1977 Grand Slam winners (from top left), flanker Jean Claude Skrela; captain Jean Pierre Bastiat; second row Michel Palmie; hooker Alain Paco, and prop Gerard Cholley. Picture: Getty Images

We had to go in and punch and boot them like mad and even then it was touch and go whether wed beat them by pure violence. I will go to my grave with the names of those bastards engraved on my heart.

They include Michel Palmie, a lock whose capacity for violence ultimately forced the French Rugby Federation to ban him from Test rugby for life.

Some 20-odd years later, he not only resurfaced as a senior member of the aforementioned Federation but reinvented himself as, wait for it, head of discipline.

One of his sidekicks from Beziers, the prop Armand Vaquerin, came to a stickier end, blowing his brains out during a game of Russian roulette at his bar, Le Cardiff.

While the Rasputin-like Alain Esteve softened the opposition up with uppercuts from the second row, Gerard Cholley was the one who laid them out.

At Murrayfield during the 1977 Five Nations, Cholley put four Scottish players in the horizontal position before half-time.

A paratrooper and amateur heavyweight champion, Cholley has complained that there is no fear in rugby any more, a deficiency which could be traced back to his retirement.

The mind boggles at what the past-President of Castres thought of Sundays mismatch against England when France were counted out a demoralisingly long way inside the distance.

In his day, Les Bleus never went down without a fight.

At Twickenham, they didnt land a single punch, literally or figuratively.

In that respect, it was the pits and that, for a country whose team has finished in the top half of the Six Nations once in the last seven years, takes some doing.

Throwing it away against Wales in Paris was bad enough to inspire one word of condemnation on the front page of LEquipe the next morning: Desesperant! (Appalling).

After Twickenham, the sense of anger had been superceded by one of resignation at the gap between the ancient rivals widening to a gulf.

Un Autre Monde (Another World), it said on an image of Owen Farrell shaking a fist in triumph while behind him a French player, Romain Ntamack, hands on knees, looked the picture of misery.

Should they lose again next week at home to Scotland before heading for Dublin next month, France could very easily end up in Rome playing for the wooden spoon.

They appear to be rather more deserving of it than the Italians who have scored two tries more.

The wider shame lies in the fact that the tournament has been all the poorer since France ought to have won the World Cup at Eden Park in 2011.

Sadly, they have been going to pieces ever since. Even more sadly, their predicament might have to get worse before it gets better.

And back in Newport where Windsor learnt how to stand up for himself, the old steelworker shakes his head in disbelief.

He never thought hed live to see the day when nobody fears the French any more

World Rugby must firm up rules on nation-hopping

Another player has switched allegiance and by the end of next week he could have taken the shortest of cuts into the Six Nations.

After two winning Junior World Cup finals in the white of his native England, Callum Braley of Gloucester is in the process of converting to Italy.

Braley does so on the strength of an Italian grandfather and it is fair to say he will be higher up the scrum-half rankings in Italy than in England.

Gloucesters Callum Braley is tackled by Jake Kerr of Leicester Tigers. Picture: Shaun Botterill/Getty

He is simply the latest in a lengthening list to decide that the grass somewhere else really is greener than home.

There is nothing in the eligibility rules to prevent a player appearing for one country at the U20 grade and a different one further up the chain but the number of those changing direction in recent years keeps on escalating.

Braley is at least the sixth England U20 player to change his colours.

Ross Moriarty and Will Addison, members of Englands Junior World Cup champion team of five years ago, are playing for Wales and Ireland respectively.

Having left Gloucester for Ulster, Billy Burns hopes to be joining them.

Exeter flanker Sam Skinner has taken a different route out of the English juniors to Scotland, a move made possible by the fact that his father, Peter, comes from Ayr.

Another of junior Red Rose, David Sisi, did a sterling job for Italys pack in Rome last weekend.

Not all the movement has been out of England. Luke Hamilton switched from Wales U20s to Scotland, Tommaso Allan from Scotlands under-age team to Italy and, most recently, Brad Shields from New Zealands U20s to England.

With the stable door wide open for more horses to bolt wherever the fancy takes them, World Rugby needs to reconsider its decision allowing players to hop from one country to another with impunity.

One man's tackle is another's sin-binning

The Scots followed up Greig Laidlaws weekend moan about Romain (He-doesnt-like-us) Poite with another yesterday, this one aimed at the TMO, English former referee Rowan Kitt.

Head coach Gregor Townsend asked, not unreasonably, why he had not checked the Peter OMahony tackle which hurt Stuart Hogg badly enough for the Scottish full back to end up kicking a hole in a touchline advertising board.

Scotlands Stuart Hogg kicks ahead just before being injured by a tackle from Irelands Peter OMahony. Picture: Ian Rutherford/PA

On the basis that the tackle was late, Townsend argued that the TMO should have come in to check an incident which the referee wasnt 100% clear on as it happened so quickly.

Neither Poite nor Kitt considered such action necessary over an incident which has not prompted any citing of the Munster captain.

Criticism of too many stoppages for video analysis prompted World Rugby to encourage referees to make decisions, wherever possible, on the hoof.

Nigel Owens did so at Twickenham in awarding England a penalty try for Gael Fickous illegal tackle on Chris Ashton.

At normal speed it looked an open-and-shut case.

Replay suggested the French wing was doubly hard done by, seven points against his team and ten minutes in the bin, the minimum requirement by law.

Which only goes to show that referee and TMO are damned if they do and damned if they dont

Noves takes French to court

A new French farce is scheduled to open in a courthouse in Toulouse today.

Guy Noves is demanding that his former employers pay him 2.9m in compensation for sacking him as national coach last season.

They take me for an idiot, Noves said. I want to shout aloud that my sacking has been injustice. They hurt me badly. 

It can be safely deduced, therefore, that Noves, 65 last week, is not in conciliatory mood.

After almost 20 years in charge of Toulouse, he took over from Philippe Saint-Andre for the start of 2016 Six Nations only to be sacked 48 hours after Christmas 2017.

By then, France under Noves had played 21 Tests and failed to win two-thirds of them.

A cynical but perfectly true fact of life in soccer management springs to mind, the one about nothing succeeding like failure.

Should he win a claim which amounts to substantially more than the value of the remainder of his contract, cynics will not be slow to point out that the same now applies to rugby as well.When couples own a business together, whats life really like? Three couples wholl be working together this Valentines Day talk to Ciara McDonnell.

OMahonys of Watergrasshill

Maire OMahony and Victor Murphy re-opened OMahonys of Watergrasshill in 2016.

Since then, it has blossomed into one of North Corks most popular food destinations and more recently, wedding venue.

They live beside the pub with their three children (11, 8 and 3).

We were only young pups when we met for the first time, back in 1997, laughs Maire. We were working in a bar together, and Victor was actually my boss.

It was years later when we hooked up; I had gone back to college and Victor was managing Scoozis in the city. Young love blossomed and here we are, 17 years later with three kids!

Just over two years ago, spiralling rent and the death of Maires father pushed the couple out of the city and back to her home place of Watergrasshill.

I grew up here, in the pub, she explains. We were trying to figure out what to do, and the house behind the bar was vacant and we said wed take some time out and come here.

It was her brother who suggested that Maire and Victor take on the family bar, and make it their own, and the decision to take it on was immediate.

I had a lifetime of hospitality experience and even though I had studied art in college, it wasnt very compatible with being a mother of three, says OMahony.

Victor and myself went in and asked ourselves how would we like to do a country bar. At the time it was an aul fellas pub and we felt that was from another time.

Having worked together before, the couple dived straight in, as they put it, eyes wide shut.

They knew that they wanted food to be their calling card, and in the early stages, it was Maire who was turning out the food while Victor looked after front of house.

Looking back now, I think it has turned out to be a bit of a success  we have a great chef in David Devereaux and Victor and I havent gotten divorced!

The couple have more recently turned their hand to weddings, renovating a barn space behind the pub and the result is quirky, intimate and perfect for couples that are looking for something a little bit different for their special day.

Though Maire and Victor have yet to tie the knot, they say that the venue reflects the kind of day out they would like to enjoy themselves.

One day we will have a party that will be called a wedding, says Maire, and we try to offer our couples the same level of warmth and hospitality that we would love to have ourselves.

Running a pub together while raising a family is not easy, but it has made this couple grow closer, thanks to Maire and Victors common goal.

The biggest thing that has come out of doing this for us is how much we both really care about food and hospitality.

"We are both good at being nice to people and welcoming them and sharing in their happy times, and their sad times too.

"We care about being looked after when we go out and we hope that people feel like that when they come to us.

www.omahonysofwatergrasshill.com/

Anthesis Floral

Juliana Bermingham and her husband James run Anthesis Floral in Galway.

Specialising in floral designs for weddings, the couple grow most of the flowers they work with on James family farm.

When James and Juliana met while studying Sustainable Horticulture in Kinsale, they connected immediately.

James and Juliana Bermingham from Antithesis Flowers, at their farm in Loughrea, Co. Galway. Picture: Hany Marzouk

Hailing from completely different backgrounds  she from Buffalo, New York and he from Loughrea, County Galway, the couple found common ground in the love of growing plants.

We started learning more about florists who were utilising locally grown flowers and that really captured my imagination, explains Juliana.

After a number of years spent travelling, the couple returned to James family farm to set up Anthesis Floral.

My Dad had an accident when I was a teenager, and broke his back, and that resulted in a lot of the land being rented out, says James.

I think that taking back a bit of ground and putting our mark on the land has reconnected us to the farm.

The couple set to work; planting a flower field and filling polytunnels with the best that Irelands hedgerows have to offer.

Today, most of their work is in weddings, and according to Juliana, thats just how they like it.

A lot of the flowers that we grow dont ship very well, so they are quite hard to find, so people really get a very different look than what they get from the wholesalers or flowers that have been brought in. We love working with couples and helping them with their big day.

Not by design, our work life just works, muses James. I would be inclined to do the plumbing and carpentry and tilling and Juliana is doing office communications and then shes the artist when it comes to the flowers.

"We happen to be good and bad at different things. Juliana agrees wholeheartedly with her husband.

We just have really complementary personalities. When it comes to organising the planting beds, James wants to know that he can get the tractor down there, while I want to know that it looks very beautiful.

"Its a good combination. I source the flowers and James keeps them alive once weve planted them. When it comes to creating a piece for a bride, Juliana says that a special kind of alchemy occurs in the field where they grow the flowers.

When I am going to make a brides bouquet, and I pick each flower that stands out to me and the arrangement kind of comes together in the field. I love that ritual; its a really lovely way to start the process.

"Sometimes people ask me what exactly is in my bouquet - I cant really give them an exact list, because the perfect flower might open tomorrow that we may not have seen today.

www.anthesisfloral.com/

The Proper Chocolate Company

Husband and wife team Patrick and Kelli Marjolet founded The Proper Chocolate Company producing bean-to-bar chocolate in micro-batches in Dublin.

We met at the very beginning of the Internet being used as a tool to make friends, says Patrick Marjolet.

Matched by a mutual friend in Quebec, Kelli, originally from Chicago and Patrick, hailing from Brittany, struck up an unlikely romance via rudimentary internet chat programmes.

Kelli and Patrick Marjolet, founders of the Proper Chocolate Company. Picture: Moya Nolan

There were no pictures, no icons  it was just text at that time, so different from today, explains Kelli.

After meeting in person the couple set off on an adventure that would take them to Paris, Los Angeles, Wisconsin and eventually Dublin.

We lived in Dublin for four years between 2006 and 2010 and then the economy crashed says Kelli. We decided to move to San Francisco, which was the only place we could mutually agree on.

It was in San Francisco that a bag of cocoa beans gifted to Kelli on her birthday changed the couples trajectory in life.

Unbeknownst to me, every time Patrick walked by the bag in the kitchen, the beans were calling out his name, saying do something with me! laughs Kelli.

I came back from a weekend to the results of his first experimentation with chocolate. It was an interesting first go and enough to peak Patricks interest and to realise that there was something there.

"It got to the point where he would come in from his day job and go straight into the kitchen and start making chocolate.

A visit to Dublin for New Year resulted in the couple moving back for good, and setting up The Proper Chocolate Company.

The process has been a massive learning curve, says Patrick.

Initially, we had to learn a lot - everything from food safety to talking and negotiating with clients, the supply chain and packaging.

"The learning experience I had from making chocolate was helpful but it was still just the tip of the iceberg when you launch your company.

The balance, according to Kelli, is found in each others skills.

Working together is a funny balance and I think most importantly we need to remember each others strengths and opportunities. We have a natural division because Patrick comes from a science background and is very organised.

"I have worked on the creative side of marketing for most of my career, and that really reflects in my skill set.

Kelli says that she has come to know so much more about her husband during this process.

To watch his creative process expressed in chocolate has given me extreme pleasure.

"We have been married for sixteen years this year and its so cool to still learn new things about each other.

www.properchocolatecompany.comLes Levine tells Richard Fitzpatrick why his pictures from the Troubles emphasise other aspects than a photojournalist would.

When Les Levine landed in Northern Ireland in 1972 he was in a sense coming home. Born in 1935, Levine grew up in Dublin  where he got to know and befriend Jack B Yeats  before emigrating to North America in the late 1950s.

He lived for a spell in Toronto, Canada before embedding himself in 1960s New York where he became one of the most original and influential members of the citys conceptual art scene.

Levine then went to Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles. It was only a few months after 13 people were killed by the British army in Derry City during Bloody Sunday. He was on a mission.

At the time, I was trying to convince people about media art, says Levine. What I mean by media art is the dissemination of information.

"Its not just the idea that youre using, say, paint and crayons or television sets or anything of that nature. Everybody was telling me that art and media are at the exact opposite ends  that the two should never meet.

The way I approached the Northern Ireland thing was to get a sense of the experience people were having, and to record that as a way of producing new information.

Most of the time while I was there you had the British information services, the IRA, the Unionists, and they all had spokespeople who told you first thing in the morning  this is what happened, this is our view of it. I never took any notice of that stuff, although I heard it all. I just went around to various places and photographed families and people whose lives were changed by the whole experience.

Levine spent a month between Derry and Belfast, except for occasional days where he made bursts across the border to the south of Ireland to safe-protect his film rolls from confiscation by police.

While in the North, he went to peace marches. He met the likes of John Hume, Bernadette Devlin and Ian Paisley (who refused to be interviewed).

He makes a distinction about the work he was doing as an artist as opposed to the photojournalists doing their daily beat.

Photojournalists were responding mainly to press calls, he says. If a bomb went off somewhere, they would go and photograph it. I was not involved in that kind of issue.

"I was more involved in going around talking to people about what was happening in their lives. Its true my work could be mistaken for journalism. Theres nothing wrong with that.

"Im not claiming theres a hidden secret in here. Im just saying an artist looking at something is entirely different to somebody from the news looking at something.

When people produce news, its entirely disposable. The reason its disposable is because there will be another set of news tomorrow night that will replace the previous days set of news.

"Yesterdays news is of no interest to today for most people. The difference is that Im doing something that I hope will last through time.

"I called it An Artists Document of Ulster so Im looking at it through the eyes of art, not through journalism.

One of the images from Les Levines exhibition at IMMA

ARTISTIC PURSUIT

It could be said there was something insensitive in what Levine was about. Here was an artist indulging himself in an artistic pursuit by dropping into a warzone to take photographs of people mired in a bloody conflict.

He clarifies his position: I dont see myself as separate to the people, says Levine. I see them as appointing me to document their experience.

"I dont appear any different than they are. I dont look like an artist. I dont say, Im an artist. I dont have any pretext in terms of what Im doing. Im just making this image.

Levines Resurrection (19722016) collection is culled from 80 photographs he took while on the ground, collated into 13 photographic works, and each with a provocative, ad-like tagline.

Theres one picture  which asks Would unity join or divide us?  of a slew of kids from the Deery family whose mother was shot in the thigh by a bullet during Bloody Sunday.

Two of the children are holding up a Tricolour. Their sitting room has loudly patterned wallpaper; a picture of Padre Pio looks down from the wall at the unfurled flag.

One of the images from Les Levines exhibition at IMMA

CONTACT SHEETS

Perhaps one of the most eye-catching elements of the picture is that it is framed by Levines contact sheets  the unenlarged prints photographers sometimes get from their negatives.

Its a format he repeats with each of the 13 images.

The small, black-and-white contact sheets paint a picture of the Troubles  of barricades and bombed-out buildings; murals; political leaders speechifying on top of a parked van; funerals; and lots and lots of women wearing headscarves.

By putting all the images around the image in the centre two things happen. One, you have a context. This is not just about anything. This is about children in a warzone.

One of the images from Les Levines exhibition at IMMA

"This could relate to Syria, to Iraq, but it happens to be Northern Ireland. The other part is that I wanted to give you two views  the way you look at something from a distance, and the way you have to get very close to it to see whats happening.

When I was looking through all the contact sheets I thought to myself, Ill make a choice of this one and that one, and then I said to myself: Why not show them all? Let the audience see what choices you made. Let the audience see from all of the frames that you picked this one or that one.

An audience might stand back and see the big picture and then come in close and look at some of the smaller pictures and they might say: I would have chosen that one. I wouldnt have chosen the one he picked. In a way I like that because it makes the audience part of the work  part of the experience.

If you look at one of the pictures where kids are looking out from behind a kind of awning or bunting.

"The words are, Are we everything we see? What affect does looking at things have on the way we develop as human beings?

Levine reflect that, when he was that age, art was not considered very important.

But I think the world is now getting to the point where people realise that art plays a large role in the way we understand who we are.

"When you see something that moves you as a work of art, you say to yourself, Its great to be alive. Its wonderful to be able to experience something like that.

Les Levines exhibition Resurrection (19722016) will run from February 15 to May 6, Irish Museum of Modern Art, DublinThe Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) is recommending that its members accept a pay deal aimed at preventing further strikes.

The decision was announced by the INMO last night following a meeting of the unions executive council and strike committees.

Balloting of the unions 40,000 members will take place between March 11 and 25, with the count on March 26.

The INMO held three 24-hour strikes this month but a consecutive three-day strike this week was suspended when the court intervened.

The court considered there were exceptional circumstances to warrant it investigating the dispute over pay and staff recruitment and retention.

INMO general secretary, Phil Ni Sheaghdha, said the proposals were not the end-point  they showed the way for all grades in nursing and midwifery to get to fair pay levels.

The executive and INMO management is recommending that members vote to accept the proposals, subject to the new contract, which will be negotiated over the coming weeks.

Ms Ni Sheaghdha said they took the time to present the deal to hundreds of members today and were glad to note a positive reception.

However, some members of the INMO took to the airways and social media this week to express their anger at the terms.

In a bid to clarify matters, the INMO produced a briefing yesterday entitled The Deal at a Glance.

Addressing the issue of pay parity, it points out that the new grade combined with the location/qualification allowance gave a higher gross pay than allied health professionals at almost every point of the scale.

As part of the rollout of a series of productivity measures, there is an enhanced nurse practice eight-point pay scale from 35,806 to 45,841.

New entrants move up the scale after 16 weeks, skip the second point and go straight to the third  32,171.

Those who qualify for a location allowance of 2,230 will increase their annual pay to 34,401, an 11% increase.

After a year nurses will move to the new enhanced nurse practice scale and, together with the allowance, can expect to be paid a total of 38,036, an 18% increase on the 32,171 currently paid to nurses.

The annual cost of the deal is 35m, but it also contains a range of productivity measures.

Various reductions in spending on agency staff in nursing and midwifery are also expected.

The new productivity measures will apply to all nurses on the enhanced scale and the initiative will be paused if the savings are not delivered.

The court has recommended that an expert review of the nursing profession should be completed during the lifetime of the Public Service Stability Agreement, which runs until next year.

The Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) suspended its strike action on Monday after the Labour Court intervened in their dispute over recruitment and retention.

The PNA agreed to suspend strike action on the basis that there would be intensive engagement between the parties before a full Labour Court hearing tomorrow.In a message to church members posted on its website early Wednesday morning, Harvest church elders announced that MacDonald had been fired from the church he founded. While MacDonalds role with the church has been in question for weeks since the mid-January announcement that he was taking an indefinite sabbatical, the elders announcement cited conduct that the Elders believe is contrary and harmful to the best interests of the church that accelerated on Tuesday when highly inappropriate recorded comments made by Pastor MacDonald were given to the media and reported.The introduction of HPV testing is set to be delayed beyond this year as the HSE struggles to clear the 78,000 smear check backlog.

The HSE cannot even give a date for the rollout of the already delayed HPV test as they work to address waits of up to 27 weeks for Cervical Check results  and the head of the HSEs Women and Infants Health Programme also said it is inevitable that some women who are now waiting up to six months for results will have abnormal smears.

Health Minister Simon Harris had promised to introduce HPV testing, which provides more accurate screening, by last September, but this has now been shelved.

In the Dail, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar came under fire for the Governments decision to provide free repeat tests in the wake of the CervicalCheck scandal last year, which Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said has created the shocking backlog which is now damaging the programme and undermining its overall objectives.

Accusing Mr Harris of overseeing a chaotic system Sinn Feins Pearse Doherty called for the health minister to be sacked, insisting he was out of his depth.

But Mr Varadkar blamed the enormous pressure the Government faced last year, including from the media, as a reason for offering the free tests which has led to the backlog.

Sometimes we acted perhaps from the heart rather than the head but this decision was made in good faith.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet is due to receive a second report from Dr Gabriel Scally as early as next week which is expected to confirm that contracted labs did more outsourcing than previously revealed without the permission of the HSE.

Appearing before the Oireachtas health committee yesterday, HSE interim director Anne OConnor said the primary focus now is to clear the lengthening backlog of smear tests.

Asked whether the HPV test will be available to women in Ireland this year, Ms OConnor said: I cant put a date on that, our priority at the moment is to address the capacity challenges that we have.

Secretary general of the Department of Health Jim Breslin said: I think the world changed last year. We went into 2018 with a certain view of the screening programme and a policy objective to introduce HPV and funding agreement on how we would do it and so on, the world changed during the course of April and May of 2018.

"The challenges the programme was facing was changing by the week.

I think the ministers announcement and the ministers view on what would be possible was overtaken by events, Mr Breslin said in relation to the pledge to introduce HPV testing.

Fianna Fails Stephen Donnelly asked about the potential clinical risk to women where abnormalities are detected after a six-month wait for results.

Responding, clinical director of the HSEs Women and Infants Health Programme, Dr Peter McKenna said: We would all share the concern that a waiting time in excess of a couple of months is far from ideal.

Of course, there will be women in that group in the 80,000 that will have abnormal smears.

Most of those women who have abnormal smears will be a long way from developing cervical cancer but there will inevitably be some women who are nearer the stage of transition from pre-invasive to invasive.

Its not really possible to give an estimate on the number but it would be foolhardy to say there would be no risk, but in general the risk would be low.

The Irish Cancer Society said urgent efforts are needed to alleviate these delays and to end the poor experiences for the women who are waiting.

The delays will not only impact the women who availed of the free smear in 2018, but the women who are now being invited for a smear as part of their scheduled screening cycle, said head of services, Donal Buggy.The State's independent financial watchdog has confirmed the senior Department of Public Expenditure official who sat on children's hospital boards was legally obliged to tell Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe of cost problems the moment they emerged.

Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy confirmed the situation this morning despite repeated claims by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Mr Donohoe that senior official Paul Quinn's board position was in a "personal capacity".

Speaking during the latest Dail public accounts committee meeting, Labour health spokesperson Alan Kelly asked Mr McCarthy for his view of a 2010 Government circular saying officials sitting on boards must inform ministers of any issues as they arise.

Asked specifically if the circular related to Mr Quinn and his role on the children's hospital board and a number of sub-committees, Mr McCarthy confirmed this is the case.

And in a comment that is certain to cause fresh problems for the Government, he said this means Mr Quinn was obliged to tell Mr Donohoe of the cost overruns when they emerged months before ministers claim they were told.

"It was a non-commercial State body, and as such the re-iteration of that circular would apply in that case," Mr McCarthy confirmed when asked.

"That's crystal clear," Mr Kelly responded. "Repeatedly the Minister Paschal Donohoe and the Taoiseach said the civil servant was acting in a personal capacity. That we now know is completely and utterly wrong, it is completely and utterly inaccurate.

"We really need to bring this circular to the attention of Minister Paschal Donohoe and the Taoiseach, and ask them to explain," he said.The Government has announced that more than 8,400 social housing units were built, repaired or made available last year. The figure met just over half of new demands on council housing lists, however.

Housing Minister Eoghan Murphys officials say the new figures for 2018 show that of the 8,422 properties brought into the social housing stock, 4,251 were new builds, 560 were renovated voids, while another 3,611 were acquisitions and long- term leased properties.

His department said that the end-of-year figure is an 85% increase in social housing numbers compared to the previous year.

But, responding to the increase, Sinn Fein housing spokesman Eoin O Broin said the numbers delivered were limited because targets were so low.

They came nowhere near meeting new social housing demands for the year, he added.

According to the Department of Housing, just 6,861 real social houses owned and managed by Local Authorities and Approved Housing Bodies were delivered in 2018. This is 20% less than what was recommended by the 2016 Dail Housing and Homeless Committee report.

Given that more than 14,000 new households came onto the council housing lists in 2018, it is clear that the Governments social housing targets will come nowhere near meeting existing or new demand.

While the increase in new builds is welcome, it is nothing to celebrate, given that the targets were set so low in the first place.

Nonetheless, the Department of Housing said that the number of new social housing homes built in 2018 was eight times greater than the number built in 2015 (when voids are excluded)  the year before its major Rebuilding Ireland programme was launched.

Furthermore, it said that construction figures from December 2018 show almost 5,000 new social housing homes currently being built across 291 sites.

Almost four in 10 of these were delivered in partnership with local authorities, the department said.

In a statement, Mr Murphy added: Roughly one in four new homes built last year was a social housing home.

Our plan to dramatically increase supply is working.

A real improvement was made for thousands of families last year. But still there is a lot more work to do for those who are depending on us, not least those in emergency accommodation.

I will continue to drive the delivery of new houses and housing solutions, working with the local authorities and housing bodies.

However, despite the increases, Sinn Fein still said that there is still an over reliance on private rented sector to meet social housing needs.A court has heard that a man was allegedly stabbed 28 times, put into the boot of a car and then pushed into a canal near Slane, Co Meath.

23-year-old Paul Crosby has gone on trial accused of the attempted murder and false imprisonment of Gerard Boyle in November 2016.

In opening the case, the Prosecuting barrister said the alleged victim in this case, Gerard Boyle, had the windows of his Drogheda home broken in March 2016.

A few months later in November, a man called Paul Crosby called to his home in Drogheda and asked for a chat.

They drove along with another man to a townland called Knockcommon near Slane.

It would be alleged that Gerard Boyle was driving the car when he was stabbed a number of times and then put into the boot of the car, which was then pushed into a canal.

The court heard Gerard Boyle managed to escape by kicking and pushing down the back seat of the car and he waded and swam his way to safety.

He managed to raise the alarm and was brought to hospital where it was discovered he had 28 stab wounds.

Paul Crosby, of Rathmullen Park in Drogheda, denies charges of attempted murder, false imprisonment and assault causing harm.Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has asked judges to review guidelines for minor personal injury claims amid efforts to drive down the cost of insurance premiums.

Mr Flanagan has written to Chief Justice Frank Clarke and asked if a temporary body of judges can examine existing guidelines for claims, including for whiplashes and soft tissue injuries.

Amid delays setting up the judicial council, the group will revise estimated award levels, particularly where compensation levels here are four to five times what are awarded in other countries.

In his letter to Chief Justice Clarke, obtained by the Irish Examiner, Mr Flanagan wrote: It would seem therefore that an initial exercise in which these more pressing guideline levels would be reviewed and adjusted as appropriate would be a fairly small-scale and manageable exercise which could be completed quite quickly.

The minister wants the judges body to review parts of the so-called book of quantum, for judges to sit down with representatives from the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) and with court officials to assess levels of awards for soft tissue and whiplash-related claims.

While saying that he respects the independence of the judiciary, Mr Flanagan also said that their review might then be published by PIAB, under its existing legislation, as a supplementary or replacement guideline.

The process also leaves open the option of the new body examining bigger claim levels, where judges are of the view that significant recalibration of the guideline figures in the existing book is necessary now, wrote Mr Flanagan to the chief justice.

The changes are also being driven by junior finance minister Michael DArcy, who last week told the Irish Examiner that the new guidelines would address claims below 30,000.

The minister is concerned about fraudulent claims indirectly hiking up insurance charges demanded by firms.

Mr DArcy also recently highlighted how some insurance companies are settling personal injury claims without relying on medical reports to prove injuries actually occurred.

Insurance Ireland, the body representing firms, has warned that promised reform has been incomplete and that inaction is costing policyholders.Journalist Tom Lyons has denied that a number of articles published in the Sunday Business Post in 2015, including one headlined 'The Gang of 22' and another headlined 'People of Influence, people of blame', meant Denis OBrien was among those responsible for the financial crisis here in 2008.

Paul O'Higgins SC, for Mr O'Brien, suggested the articles unfairly meant Mr O'Brien was among 22 people who had a land and development exposure of some 8.8 billion when Mr Lyons knew Mr O'Brien had no development loans.

Mr Lyons denied the articles suggested Mr O'Brien had a big land and development portfolio and said they rather identified him as someone who has various loans for property.

He said a pen profile of Mr O'Brien written by him in the article headlined "The Gang of 22" was very positive about Mr O'Brien and made clear he was a successful businessman who had repaid everything.

Mr Lyons rejected a suggestion that the articles, based on a report by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC), did not tell the "truth" of that report.

He also denied that a graphic headed with the words 'Top Secret', and naming Mr O'Brien among eight other bank borrowers, involved selecting Mr O'Brien as being among "the principal offenders".

The eight were just well known people referred to in the PwC report, he said.

Mr Lyons remains under cross-examination in Mr O'Brien's action alleging defamation in the SBP articles published on March 15th 2015.

After the jury were told today the case would run into next week, one of the 12 jurors was allowed leave as she is to go on holiday from this weekend.

The focus of the articles was the PwC report concerning the exposure of Irelands banks in 2008 which was given to the government in November 2008 but not made public.

Mr Lyons obtained it from a source in 2015 and gave evidence he shredded it shortly after publication of the articles to protect the source.

Mr O'Brien claims the SBP articles, which ran over six pages, wrongly meant he was among a gang of 22 borrowers who wrecked the country and that they have defamed him and injured his reputation.

The defendant denies the words complained of mean what Mr O'Brien says, denies defamation and malicious publication, and has also pleaded "fair and reasonable publication on a matter of public interest".

Mr Lyons was asked about an article, commissioned by Mr Lyons and written by Gavin Sheridan.

Its headline, 'People of Influence, people of blame' was chosen by Mr Lyons and below that was a subheading: The property bubble and subsequent bank bailout had devastating results for this country. It is time we were told exactly who was responsible.

Mr Lyons said the people of blame was in the context of the banking inquiry then underway where those being interviewed included former Taoiseach Brian Cowen and former financial regulator Patrick Neary. He agreed developers were referred to. He said readers would recognise those people were in the middle of a once in a lifetime event.

He said the article was saying its time we were told exactly who was responsible for the crisis and that we have not been told. It asked who benefitted from the "largesse of cheap and easy money from banks" but had not answered that question, he said.

When counsel suggested the people of blame being referred to included the 22 men, including Mr OBrien, referred to in earlier articles as the banks biggest borrowers in 2008, Mr Lyons said Mr Sheridans article referred to politicians, civil servants, developers and bankers.

He asked was counsel saying this tied back to one person and said Mr Sheridan was writing about the banking inquiry which itself was about what happened to Ireland, not what happened to Mr OBrien. Mr Sheridan was asking a very important question, he said.

When Mr Lyons remarked counsel appeared to think there should be a different headline, Mr OHiggins responded Mr OBrien would perhaps not be in court if there was.

Mr Lyons was also asked about another article, written by him, headlined The Gang of 22. Mr Lyons has denied that use of the word gang implied any criminality or wrongdoing.

In previous evidence, Mr Lyons had said Mr OBrien had been referred to a number of times in a biography of him by Siobhan Creaton, as in a gang.

Mr OHiggins put to him the use of gang depends on context and its use in the book included saying Mr OBrien liked to go to matches with a gang of friends. Counsel suggested the use of The Gang of 22 was different.

Mr Lyons said the 22 are mainly decent people excluding one man who was convicted of fraud.

The case continues tomorrow.An Irish Coast Guard helicopter airlifted an injured crew member from a fishing trawler off the south-west coast yesterday evening.

The 31m (100ft) Spanish registered vessel was about 70 nautical miles (130kms) south-west of Dingle, Co Kerry when the crew raised the alarm.

The Shannon-based Coast Guard helicopter, Rescue 115, departed for the scene at around 7.30pm for the 80-minute flight to rendezvous with the vessel.

On reaching the trawler, a paramedic was winched onto the deck where the injured man was waiting to be assessed.

After receiving treatment, the fisherman was winched on board the helicopter and flown to Shannon Airport from where he was transported by road to University Hospital Limerick for treatment.

Its understood the crew member sustained a serious hand injury.

The fishing vessel is believed to have departed Burela in Spain on February 7 and arrived off the south-west coast on Sunday where it has been fishing since.

The operation was coordinated by watch officers at the Irish Coast Guards marine rescue sub-centre on Valentia Island in Kerry.And when she came home from school, she saw the roses on the counter and smiled. All the fretting over politics and one-eyed jacks and knaves just went away.Gardai are seeking the public's help to find a 24-year-old who is missing from Galway.

Conor Burke was last seen this morning at 1.45am in Galway city.Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has continued to claim that no major projects will be delayed and no promised services will be cut due to the childrens hospital financial black hole, despite opposition anger over 99m in spending re-profiling.

Mr Donohoe denied the Government will be forced to cut back on a series of planned measures as he again accepted partial blame for what happened and admitted: We have had a very big issue with this project.377 cars driven by unaccompanied learner drivers have been seized since the introduction of new legislation.

Since December, gardai have been able to impound any vehicle being driven by someone on a provisional licence unaccompanied.The Beef Plan Movement is in Munster for the next forthnight, with four public meetings arranged in its quest to engage with over 40,000 farmers throughout Ireland, and to explain and to improve their 86-point plan for redressing shortfalls, obstacles and difficulties confronting Irish beef farmers.

A spokesperson for the Cork Beef Plan Movement said just over 17,000 have already engaged with the initiative, and numbers are steadily increasing.On tonight's Operation Transformation Kathryn Thomas travelled to Limerick for an emotional interview with Jean Tierney who revealed that, after her previous heartbreak, she is pregnant again.

Jean's news means she will be withdrawing from taking part in the programme but viewers will be hoping that the inspirational Limerick woman will walk the catwalk for the finale in week eight.Firms in Cork have been encouraged to practice so-called social innovation by engaging in community projects and not only raising funds for good causes.

The monthly Cork Chamber business breakfast heard from chief executive of Social Innovators Fund Ireland (SIFI), Deirdre Mortell, who said the concept was about using innovation in order to solve critical social issues.

SIFI was founded three years ago and raises money through philanthropy, with every euro raised matched by Government, in order to tackle issues such as poverty, barriers to education, and healthcare.

The fund has so far partnered with firms such as Google, Medtronic, Mason Hayes & Curran and IPB Insurance, as well as SMEs, trusts, families and individuals.

Ms Mortell said it has raised 14m in its three years, with Government funding bringing it up to 28m.

Cork Chamber has partnered with SIFI to mark its 200th anniversary, aiming at raising 200,000 for the fund over six months as part of its Cork Chamber 1819 Fund.

Ms Mortell said the fund combined "the best of philanthropy and the best of innovation for community development", working with companies to see the most critical social issues.

The event heard from three initiatives that have been funded through SIFI, Michael Mulhall of DPS Engineering which has partnered with six schools in less affluent areas to encourage third level participation and further education.

Mr Mulhall said the firm had assisted 600 students so far, but that four or six schools was a "drop in the ocean" in comparison to what could be done in so-called Deis schools, or disadvantaged school communities.

As well as providing mentoring and financial assistance, DPS had also gained with its own employees sharpening their managerial and knowledge bases through its Aspire To programme, Mr Mulhall said.

John Kearney of Irish Community Rapid Response (ICRR) said in 2008 the organisation wanted to "bring a piece of the hospital to the community" in order to respond to immediate life-threatening events.

Almost 240 volunteer doctors "Kerry to Donegal" are part of the north Cork operation, which supports the national ambulance service.

SIFI had been a lifeline for ICRR when it faced a crossroads, Mr Kearney said.

Michael Kelly of GIY (Grow It Yourself) said his concept of encouraging people to grow their own food in order to promote health had started as a community group in Waterford in 2008, but now had 27 people employed all over Ireland and Britain.

SIFI brought business processes to social problems, and allowed community groups to scale accordingly, Mr Kelly said.BOSTON - February 13, 2019 (Investorideas.com Newswire) During an international news event today with the Equal Rights Advocates and Closing the Women's Wealth Gap Initiative, shareholder advocate Arjuna Capital named the 12 top banks and tech giants it is engaging in 2019 with median gender pay equity resolutions. Arjuna Capital's median gender pay gap proposal has been filed with Adobe, Amazon, American Express, Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Facebook, Google, Intel, JPMorgan, Mastercard and Wells Fargo.

In January, Citigroup surprised investors when it revealed that its "median" or companywide gender pay gap is 29 percent. In doing so, Citi became the first U.S. company to respond favorably to a new gender pay shareholder proposal from Arjuna Capital asking for a report to investors on the percentage global median pay gap between male and female employees across race and ethnicity, including base, bonus and equity compensation. The unadjusted 29 percent 'median pay' gap stands alongside and in contrast to an earlier disclosure Arjuna requested from Citi that women are paid 99 percent that of their direct male peers on an adjusted 'equal pay for equal work' basisthat is men and women holding the same jobs, at the same level and geography.

Leading gender pay shareholder advocates and women's rights experts are cautiously optimistic that the other U.S. companies engaged by Arjuna on median pay will follow in Citi's footsteps and disclose their median wage data, alongside their equal pay data.

Examples of the proposals in front of BofA and Google are available here: https://arjuna-capital.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Gender-Pay-Equity-Proposal_GOOGL_2019.pdf and https://arjuna-capital.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Gender-Pay-Equity-Proposal_Bank-of-America_2019_Amended.pdf.

Arjuna Capital Managing Partner Natasha Lamb said: "There are gender pay gaps  and then there are median gender pay gaps. For three years, Arjuna Capital has led the charge on 'equal pay for equal work' shareholder activism. But 'equal pay' is only half the story. Today, we are announcing the names of 11 leading banks, technology and retail companies that will be the focus of the next phase of the gender pay equity fight'median pay' gaps. We hope to work with these companies in the same collaborative, productive way we did with Citi to publish authentic disclosures that address the full scope of the gender pay gap issue. Women are dramatically underrepresented in high-paying positions at nearly all major corporations. So, when more U.S. companies begin disclosing their 'median pay' gaps, the numbers are going to be shocking. But that's what we are dealing with. It's the whole story."

Revealing the whole story of the gender (and racial) pay gap is essential to create change. As it stands, the World Economic Forum estimates the gender pay gap costs the economy $1.2 trillion annually. The median income for all women working full time in the United States is still just 80 percent of that of men, a disparity that can equal nearly half a million dollars over a career. And the income gap for African American and Latina women compared to all men yawns wider at 60 percent and 55 percent respectively. At the current rate, women will not reach pay parity until 2059. This depressing statistic is not only bad for women, it's bad for the economy, and it's bad for the companies that can benefit now from their leadership and talent.

Noreen Farrell, executive director, Equal Rights Advocates (ERA), said: "The test of whether women are valued equally in the workplace cannot end with whether they are paid equally for the same work. High road companies across the country are also examining whether women are equally represented among their highest paid leaders. The median pay gap measures just that. The quicker companies become transparent about their leadership gap, the quicker we can support them in implementing solutions that promote equity at the top and inspire confidence in employers, customers, and investors alike."

Heather McCulloch, founder and executive director, Closing the Women's Wealth Gap Initiative, said: "Closing the pay gap is critical to the economic security of women, their families, their communities  and the national economy. Women, and especially women of color, are more likely to be the sole, primary or co-breadwinners in their households than ever before. Taking steps to increase opportunities for them to thrive in the workplace is in everyone's interest. We applaud companies that track and share median pay data as it will help us all work together towards promising solutions."

Arjuna Capital's Lamb added: "The equal pay for equal work gaps we have helped close at 22 companies measure whether women are being paid commensurate to their peers for the work they are doing today. The median pay gaps we are confronting at US companies in 2019 measure whether or not women are holding as many high-paying jobs as men. Most importantly, narrowing the median pay gap is equivalent to more women in leadership and the performance benefits that diversity affords. That's where we want to make a difference."

Companies, including Citi, which operate in the United Kingdom are now under mandate to disclose median gender pay gaps. In 2018, Bank of America revealed a 31 percent hourly pay gap for its U.K. operations. Citigroup reported a 36 percent median pay gap in the U.K., but prior to January's announcement had not agreed to publish median information for its global operations. Median pay disclosures, as opposed to "equal pay" data reflect a lack of female representation in higher paying jobs, and less women in leadership.

In 2018, Arjuna persuaded Citibank, J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, American Express, Mastercard, Reinsurance Group and Progressive Insurance to publish their gender pay gaps on an equal pay for equal work basis.

Since 2016, Arjuna Capital compelled similar disclosures from 22 companies, including leading U.S. tech and retail firms Apple, Amazon, Intel, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, eBay, Adobe, Expedia, Texas Instruments, Starbucks, Costco, and Nike. A "Gender Pay Scorecard" of companies engaged by investors on gender pay equity is available here: http://arjuna-capital.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/GenderPayScorecard.pdf.

In the coming weeks, Arjuna Capital anticipates working with each of the remaining 11 companies it has engaged on the median gender pay gap to come to an agreement on meeting the terms of the proposal. As companies agree to disclose median pay gap information, Arjuna intends to withdraw its shareholder resolutions, one at a time, before they go to a vote at the companies' annual shareholder meetings. Arjuna will make public announcements for each of the 11 shareholder engagements, as to whether the company decides to respond or reject the proposal.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Patrick Mitchell, (703) 276-3266 or pmitchell@hastingsgroup.com.

Arjuna Capital is an investment firm focused on sustainable and impact investing. Lamb and Arjuna Capital have been recognized for using shareholder resolutions to promote gender pay equity in the tech, banking, and retail sectors. Natasha Lamb was named to the "Bloomberg 50" list of influencers who defined global business in 2017. For more information, visit www.Arjuna-Capital.com.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

A streaming audio recording of today's news conference will be available as of 4 p.m. ET on February 13, 2019 at http://arjuna-capital.com/news/.

Video tutorials from Natasha Lamb, managing partner, Arjuna Capital on pay gaps for "global median gender pay" vs. "equal pay for equal work" and the shareholder proposal announcement today are available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DVM9TYh8wA&feature=youtu.be and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFM0p39AkiE&list=PLoXCbBlqFkVQK-Lr5dCe1B0pdCe_PtN9k&index=2.

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Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.aspGibraltar - February 14, 2019 (Investorideas.com Newswire) RIF Labs, the purpose-driven organization led by RSK Labss founding team and other top executives, has announced that the RSK platform has become the most secure smart contract platform in the world, and second most secure blockchain behind the Bitcoin blockchain. As reported by the Crypto51 website, which aggregates data from Mine the Coin, CoinMarketCap, and NiceHash, the cost to execute a 51% attack on Bitcoin costs US$ 244,853. By surpassing 45% of the hashing power of the Bitcoin network, an attack on the RSK Smart Contract Network would cost approximately US$ 112,000 per hour. This makes RSK one of the most secure and reliable platforms for developers to build their dApps, and proves that merge-mining can succeed in securing Bitcoin sidechains.

Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar, CEO of RIF Labs/RSK Labs, said: "With Bitcoin miners able to secure both the Bitcoin blockchain and associated sidechains at essentially no added cost to operations, not only can these layer-2 solutions be confidently built out, but it facilitates the development of layer-3 services -- such as RIF OS - which will be vital to scale Bitcoin and RSK to service tens of millions of users while providing peer-to-peer financial services, secure messaging, data storage, and other forms of decentralized services powered by Bitcoin."

RSK brings smart contract capabilities to the Bitcoin blockchain with a two-way 1:1 Bitcoin peg. RSK recently celebrated its one-year anniversary with several notable achievements, including an increase in merge-mining hashrate from 4% to over 45%; more than 50 partnerships between RSK and key partners across several industry verticals; and the launch of the Root Infrastructure Framework Open Standard (RIF OS), which provides blockchain and non-blockchain developers with P2P infrastructure services and software libraries to support easier and scalable dApp development.

RSK Labs has also developed an innovative double-spend protection method for high-valued payments (>30 minutes of confirmation) on merge-mined side-chains, requiring the sole assumption of good network connectivity. The method works by enabling RSK nodes to monitor RSKBLOCK tags on Bitcoin blocks in order to detect partially hidden and selfish chains of RSK blocks that could represent a double-spent attack preparation. With this development, RSK has closed a previously unsolved security gap between merge-mined sidechains and their mainchain.

"The new Internet of Value is emerging, and its future is brighter than ever as evidenced by the incredible progress the Bitcoin ecosystem had over the past year," added Zaldivar.

For information about RSK network statistics visit https://stats.rsk.co/.

Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar, CEO of RIF Labs/RSK Labs, is available for interview

About RIF Labs:

RIF Labs operates as a purpose driven organization focused on promoting and developing the next generation of open blockchain-based infrastructure that will enable worldwide financial inclusion and bridge the gap between this nascent technology and mass adoption.

RIF Labs is implementing RIF OS Protocols an all in one, easy to use, P2P blockchain infrastructure service suite that will allow greater scalability and faster time to market for traditional and blockchain developers.

The organization has a growing team of mission driven, passionate collaborators all over the globe and its led by the RSK Labs founding team and other top executives that are widely recognized at the forefront of the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency space, actively leading key innovations and community building since 2011

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Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.aspDaddy was of the era when jobs were taken for a lifetime. A steady paycheck, no matter how small, meant you could sign your name on the deed of a home and you could put four children through college. And when you were old and tired, you could look back on your journey with pride and enjoy the fruits of your hard work.The widow of a Union Pacific engineer who died in a train crash in southern Wyoming has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company.

The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports Jason Martinezs widow, Sheila Martinez, claims the company was negligent for failing to properly inspect or maintain the trains brake system.

Martinez and conductor Benjamin Brozovich died Oct. 4 after the freight trains brake system malfunctioned and crashed into another train stopped on the tracks west of Cheyenne. National Transportation Safety Board investigators say the final recorded speed of the train before it crashed was 56 mph.

The crash caused 66 cars to derail and $2.4 million in damage.

Union Pacific spokeswoman Kristen South says the company is aware of the lawsuit and is speaking with Sheila Martinezs attorneys.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics LawsuitsColorado regulators say more than $6 billion in marijuana products have been sold since 2014 in the state.

The figures released this week represent sales through the end of 2018.

According to the Colorado Department of Revenue, more than $1.54 billion of marijuana for medical or adult use was sold during 2018.

That is the highest one-year total for sales figures since 2014, but the pace of growth has slowed over time. In 2018, sales increased about 2.5 percent compared to 2017.

The state collected $266.5 million in taxes on marijuana products and other industry fees in 2018. Thats up from 2017, when the state collected $247 million.

Colorado voters in 2012 approved a constitutional amendment broadly permitting the sale and use of marijuana for adults. Sales began in 2014.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Cannabis ColoradoThe state of Mississippi on Monday sued the federal government, claiming a dam complex in Louisiana that keeps the Mississippi River from changing course is harming state land.

The suit seeks at least $25 million in damages and touches on one of the most sensitive engineering questions in the nation  the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decades-long effort to keep the Mississippi in its current channel flowing past Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Without whats known as the Old River Control Structure, the Mississippi River would likely shift course to Atchafalaya River in Louisiana, which offers a shorter, steeper route to the Gulf of Mexico. Such a shift would cut off the current source of fresh water for drinking in New Orleans and for industrial use at dozens of chemical plants in south Louisiana. It would also create major obstacles along a key shipping route.

Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said his state isnt challenging the decision to try to lock the rivers current flow in place. But he said the state of Mississippi should get paid for increased flooding caused by siltation. The river carries sediment that is dropping out of the current and piling up on the riverbed, constricting its flow and causing water upstream to rise higher, especially during a flood.

The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Mississippi officials say nearly 8,000 acres (3,237 hectares) in public land is being degraded by increased flooding. That land, set aside for the benefit of public schools, is normally used to grow timber. Hosemann, though, said trees are being damaged and that once this generation of trees is cut, commercially valuable species probably wont regrow. That means less money for the Wilkinson County, Natchez-Adams, and Claiborne County school districts. The lawsuit asserts the federal government is taking the land without compensation and should pay for it.

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 were recorded from 1973 to 2016.

The Republican, who is running for lieutenant governor this year, said he appealed to the Mississippi River Commission 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. And 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.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Louisiana Flood MississippiHealth officials in South Carolina say the number of deaths blamed on opioid use increased 47 percent over three years.

News outlets reported the South Carolina Opioid Emergency Response Team released its first annual report on Jan. 31.

That report shows the increase in deaths between 2014 and 2017. The task force was created in late 2017 by Gov. Henry McMaster.

Statistics from the Department of Health and Environmental Control show that Charleston County had the highest number of deaths from opioid use in 2017.

The 2018 figures are not yet available. But Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten said there were about 90 opioid deaths in the county last year.

State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel says many of the task force efforts are just starting.

Topics South CarolinaGaps in safety management led to a 2016 explosion that idled an Enterprise Products natural gas processing plant in Pascagoula, Mississippi, for six months, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board said in a report on Wednesday.

The June 27, 2016 blast occurred after the plants brazed aluminum heat exchanger failed due to thermal fatigue, the board said in the report. Thermal fatigue is repeated stress on metal from heating and cooling over time.

No injuries were reported from the blast.

Enterprise took over complete ownership of the Pascagoula plant in March 2016. Prior to that change, Enterprise was a minority partner and BP Plc had majority ownership and ran the plant.

Several gaps in the safety management of the brazed aluminum heat exchangers at the Pascagoula Gas Plant reveal deficiencies in hazard assessment, management of change and mechanical integrity programs at the site, the board said in its report.

A BP spokesman said the company had no comment, as the plant was owned by Enterprise.

Spokesman Rick Rainey said in an email that Enterprise would consider the CSBs findings and recommendations, as well as findings resulting from our own investigations to improve the companys safety system.

By partnering with universities, trade organizations and manufacturers, Enterprise is proactively working to conduct independent research concerning the safe operation of brazed aluminum heat exchangers (BAHXs), Rainey said. We believe these partnerships will lead to the improved design, operation and safety of BAHXs.

The CSB also said the methods chosen to assess possible damage from thermal fatigue to the heat exchanger did not recognize accumulating damage over years of operation.

The board said standards for assessing and repairing damage for similar heat exchangers varied from site to site and company to company, and the industry could benefit from increased communication of safety practices.

The board recommended the American Petroleum Institute and the GPA Midstream Association produce informational and technical bulletins about safety practices and lessons to be learned from the blast.

The CSB has no regulatory or enforcement authority and is charged with determining root causes of fires and explosions at U.S. chemical plants and making recommendations for improvement to the industry.

Heat exchangers transfer heat to and from chemicals as needed while they are being processed in refineries and chemical plants.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba Editing by Susan Thomas, Paul Simao and David Gregorio)

Topics Trends Mississippi ChemicalsThe General Insurance has tapped nationally syndicated on-air radio personality Bobby Bones as the companys newest brand ambassador.

The General will partner with Bones, who is also a New York Times #1 best-selling author, philanthropist and winner of season 27s Dancing with the Stars, across various media channels, including television, radio, digital and social media. Radio ads are already on the air, and Bones will appear in television ads alongside The General animated cartoon character this summer.

Based in Nashville, Tenn., The General is a national non-standard auto insurance company serving customers with various needs, specializing in those who may have difficulty obtaining affordable insurance from other insurers.

Part of the American Family Insurance group of companies, The General primarily sells its products online and through call centers, independent agents, partners and American Family Insurance agents.

Bobbys life story, authenticity and his will to succeed against all odds is inspirational, said Amy DiMaio, director of advertising for The General. Hes overcome some difficult times through perseverance and hard work which makes him very relatable to our customers.

Bones is vice president, Creative director of iHeartCountry, has a nationally syndicated radio show, The Bobby Bones Show, which broadcasts to almost 140 stations. The show recently garnered its third ACM Award for National On-Air Personality of the Year, a 2017 Country Music Association award for National Broadcast Personality of the Year and earned Bones the title of youngest ever inductee into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

Topics TennesseeAn indoor gun range in Killeen, Texas, has been cited and fined more than $214,000 for exposing employees to unsafe levels of lead, federal safety regulators said.

The U.S. Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Tap Rack Bang Indoor Shooting Range LLC  operating as The Gun Range  and imposed penalties totaling $214,387.

OSHA investigated the shooting range in Killeen in August 2018 after receiving a complaint of worker exposure to lead during firing range activities. Inspectors found airborne lead exceeding the permissible exposure limit, and lead contamination on surfaces throughout the facility.

OSHA cited the company for failing to replace damaged personal protective equipment, and medically monitor employees for lead-related illnesses; and for sweeping up lead debris rather than using vacuum methods with high-efficiency particulate air filters.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHAs area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Source: OSHA

Topics Texas Workers' CompensationA private prisoner transport company has announced its closure after an MMA fighter accused in two killings escaped this month from one of its vans while being escorted to a jail in Texas.

Texas Prisoner Transportation Services told Bell County officials in an email last week that it would begin to wrap up its business affairs and cease operations on Sunday.

Unfortunately, new insurance rates have forced us to evaluate our business and conclude that we simply cant continue to operate, CEO Ryan Whitten wrote in an email sent two days after the escape of Cedric Marks prompted a multi-agency manhunt.

The email, which was provided to The Associated Press by Ammy James, an assistant auditor for the Bell County Auditor Office, makes no mention of Marks getting loose from a van that had stopped at a McDonalds near Houston Feb. 3.

We realize this decision will create a burden for your prisoner transport operations and as we transition you may continue to place orders with TPTS and we will transition you over to alternative transport companies to fulfill your transport needs, Whitten wrote.

No one answered a call on Feb. 11 to the companys main phone line, and an assistant to Whitten did not respond to a phone message seeking clarification on the status of the companys operations.

The company, based in Thrall, Texas, has not answered questions about the escape and police have not explained how Marks managed to get loose while wearing leg, hand and belly restraints.

The 44-year-old middleweight fighter was arrested in Michigan last month on a burglary charge in Bell County, 70 miles north of Austin, and was being extradited there when he escaped. He was recaptured after about nine hours and was jailed in Bell County on a more than $1.75 million bond.

The same day he escaped, Marks was charged with capital murder in the killings of his ex-girlfriend, Jenna Scott, and her friend, Michael Swearingin. The pair had been missing from their Texas home for more than a week when their bodies were found in a shallow grave in Clearview, Oklahoma, on Jan. 15.

Marks has denied any role in their deaths and told TV station KPRC2 that he was not trying to escape the prison van. He didnt explain how he got free.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics TexasCalifornias insurance commissioner and a lawmaker want to the state to consider buying insurance in the private market to cover rapidly increasing costs of fighting wildfires due to climate change.

State Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa and California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Thursday proposed the California Disaster Insurance bill, or Senate Bill 290. Also behind the bill is state Treasurer Fiona Ma.

SB 290 would authorize the governor, the insurance commissioner and the treasurer to look into entering into an insurance policy that pays out when California has unexpected costs for disaster response.

The newly elected Lara said the law if passes it would enable the state to officially engage with the insurance industry and figure out how to pay the states pay skyrocketing firefighting costs  solutions could be found through insurance, reinsurance, issuing a bond or creating a parametric product, according to Lara.

It works like home insurance, but for the state, Lara told Insurance Journal on Wednesday during a conversation ahead of a press conference today to introduce the bill.

He said the bill enables discussions with the industry to move forward, and the bill leaves room for numerous solutions.

Were leaving it open to allow us to have those discussions, Lara added.

The state currently pays firefighting costs by holding funds in reserve, with the budget staff each year estimating how much to set aside.

Seven of last 10 years our costs have overrun our budget projections, Lara said.

According to Cal Fire, in 2017 and 2018, the state spent $947 million through the emergency fund for firefighting, which was nearly $450 million more than budgeted.

Since 2007, California has experienced 11 of the top 20 most destructive fires in its history. It has been argued that extreme heat and drought driven by climate change has made the states wildfire seasons longer and more destructive.

Lara said the effects of climate change on the states wildfire season are a stark reality, and that Californias leaders and the insurance industry must begin looking for creative solutions.

Unfortunately, this is going to be an ongoing challenge for us in California as we continue to try and tackle climate change, he said.

California wouldnt be the first state to take out insurance against wildfires.

Oregon has long purchased insurance against wildfire costs. Figures show the state getting a lot of bank for its buck. Oregon spent $61 million on premiums and received $102 million in insurance payments since 1973, according a 2017 University of Idaho report on State Funding for Wildfire Suppression in the Western U.S. The high claim figures were pushed up by back-to-back years in which the policy limits were reached at $25 million in claims both in 2013 and 2014. The following year the state paid $3.8 million in premiums but no claims were triggered.

Dodd, who hosted a press conference in Sacramento on Thursday with Lara to make the announcement, said climate change has made California a tender box due to our over-expanded fire season.

He noted that insured losses from California wildfires over the past two years have reached $24 billion, and it doesnt even include the billions that weve spent on recovery.

Munich Re in January reported California saw its worst-ever wildfire season for the second straight year running with the states wildfires contributing $24 billion to the overall 2018 natural catastrophe loss burden with $18 billion of the total wildfire price tag covered by insurance.

Both Lara and Dodd emphasized that a change is needed from the states current method of budgeting for wildfire fighting costs then paying out each year, which they said can lead to cycle of boom and bust that takes a toll on the state budget money.

That money could be used for other things, such as helping communities build more resiliently, as well as better forest management, according to Dodd.

Weve come up a with a plan that brings predictably to our state coffers in a time of disaster, Dodd said.

Armand Feliciano, vice president for the America Property Casualty Insurance Association, in a statement following the conference said the industry looks forward to working with the state.

Insurance is the economic safety net that has financed the revitalization of homes and communities after devastating wildfires, the statement reads. Insurance has rebuilt fire-devastated neighborhoods from Oakland and Laguna Beach to San Diego and San Bernardino. Once again insurance is rebuilding California communities in both Northern and Southern California after historic wildfires in 2017 and 2018. Insurers understand the need for new products and strategies to finance the mitigation and recovery from these unprecedented wildfires. We look forward to working with the legislature and statewide elected officials to consider and develop innovative ways to prevent and fight future wildfires.

Lara said he and his staff have already been talking with the industry and he feels theres at least some interest from insurers. He declined to say which insurers he was talking with, but during the conference he said talks about creating an insurance product can be held with international as well as domestic insurers.

We know based on preliminary discussions theres an interest there, he said. Weve seen that interest so far as part of my meetings with them.

Back-to-back historic wildfire seasons have prompted more proposals to deal with escalating firefighting cost and decreasing homeowners insurance availability in fire-prone areas. One expert recently proposed establishing a California Wildfire Commission.

Dodd was asked during the conference if a newly created California Disaster Insurance program could be used to pay for catastrophes beside wildfire.

Essentially, yes, he replied, offering flood protection as an example. We think this is absolutely appropriate in that regard too.

The bill is one step in an overall effort that Lara says he and the California Department of Insurance are undertaking to deal with the reality that wildfires are costing more to suppress and they are making it more difficult for some homeowners to find affordable insurance  a fact that was driven home for him after a recent visit to a town that was nearly wiped off the map by the Camp Fire in November.

Its clear after visiting Paradise that were going to have a challenge with the availability and affordability of insurance products, Lara said.

Past columns:

Topics California Catastrophe Natural Disasters Wildfire Market Climate ChangeChubb announced the appointment of Kyle Bryant to the newly created position of head of Financial Lines for Continental Europe.

In this role, Bryant will have responsibility for leading Chubbs Financial Lines team in the region, overseeing strategic development, execution and financial performance. The appointment is effective immediately.

Bryant, who was previously cyber underwriting manager for Europe, Eurasia & Africa, will continue to be based in London and will report to Adrian Matthews, chief operating officer, head of Property and Casualty, Continental Europe, and also to Steve Goldman, head of Financial Lines, Chubb Overseas General.

With 13 years of insurance industry experience, Bryant has held various posts within the field of technology and professional liability insurance. He joined the company 10 years ago in New York. Prior to moving to Europe, he held the position of regional manager for technology and professional liability for the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region. Since 2015, Bryant has been responsible for the strategy, development and performance of Chubbs growing cyber risk portfolio in Europe.

Source: Chubb

Topics Europe ChubbAviva Plc asked a London court to approve the transfer of assets totaling 9 billion euros ($10.2 billion), saying the uncertainty from Brexit was intensifying as it joined other insurers and banks triggering contingency plans.

Aviva asked Judge Richard Snowden for permission to move the life-insurance policies held by non-U.K. policyholders to its Irish subsidiary. The insurer wants to make the move to prevent the risk that payments may be held up if the U.K. goes through a hard Brexit.

The reason for proposing it, your lordship will not be surprised to know, is Brexit, said Martin Moore, a lawyer for Aviva, who has also advised UBS Group AG on its recent transfer of assets. The current and intensifying uncertainty render the need for certainty all the more pressing.

It obviously will take some time for clarity to emerge, Moore said.

Aviva won approval to move 1 billion pounds ($1.29 billion) in general policies earlier this month.

The British insurers are concerned they will lose the so-called passporting rights that enable them to make payments to policyholders outside Britain. Without a deal, insurers and pension providers could be legally barred from sending out payments, leaving policies dormant on their accounts.

Royal London, the U.K.s largest mutual and pensions company, this month won court approval to transfer policies to its Irish unit.

It is worth reiterating that this is not a scheme that Royal London has chosen to implement for its own commercial purposes. It has been forced to do so by the continued uncertainties over Brexit, the judge said at the time.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics Carriers Europe London Uk BrexitA high-profile insurance fraud case on appeal in New York is being closely watched by fraud fighters across the country for the impact the decision will have on no-fault law.

The case, Andrew Carothers, M.D., P.C. v. Progressive Insurance Company, involves a carriers defense of delayed payments and nonpayment based on a medical providers fraudulent incorporation due to the operational requirements that exist for medical practices. Oral arguments before the New York Court of Appeals are being set, and the matter should be ruled on this year.

Background

As a safeguard to ensure that medical decisions are made solely by licensed professionals, New York law prohibits the corporate practice of medicine. Under the Business Corporation law, providing medical services is restricted to licensed professionals or an organization otherwise authorized by law, [1] namely PCs or PLLCs whose shareholders are all licensees of one profession and only practice said profession.[2] Furthermore, licensed professionals cannot share their profits or split fees with non-licensed professionals.[3] That said, violations of these provisions often arise when medical practitioners engage management companies to run their medical businesses.

Under 11 NYCRR 65-3.16(a)(12), no-fault carriers are not required to provide reimbursement for basic economic loss for services rendered by unlicensed or fraudulently licensed healthcare providers. This provision extends to medical providers that are in violation of New Yorks Business Law.

Providers that violate New Yorks prohibition on the corporate practice of medicine can face fines and penalties, as well as prosecution.

Upholding a Carriers Defense of Nonpayment

On April 5, 2017, New Yorks Second Judicial Department upheld a judgment rendered by the Richmond County Civil Court in the matter of Andrew Carothers, M.D., P.C. v. Progressive Insurance Company,[4] affirming the insurance carriers defense for nonpayment by finding the practice to have violated New York law because a majority of the practice was controlled by nonphysicians, Hillel Sher and Irina Vayman.[5] In 2004, Dr. Carothers formed a professional service corporation (the Practice) to perform MRI scans at three separate MRI facilities that were owned and controlled by Sher.

The corporate filings list Dr. Carothers as the sole owner, shareholder, director and office of the Practice. Insurance carriers, including Progressive, denied numerous claims from the Practice for first-party no-fault benefits, arguing that the Practice was fraudulently incorporated. Evidence at trial revealed that the Practices profits were transferred to Sher and Vayman through grossly inflated lease payments made to a company owned and controlled by Sher and through the direct transfer of funds by Vayman, who served as the Practices executive secretary, into her own personal accounts.

During 2005 and 2006, Sher and Vayman received a total of $12.2 million from the Practice, while Dr. Carothers received $133,000. In addition to splitting profits with non-professionals, Dr. Carothers was found to have no significant involvement in the management of the Practice, as Vayman was in charge of hiring all personnel and signed and issued payments from the Practices operating account.

At issue before the Appellate Division was whether the jury was properly instructed on the elements of an insurers fraudulent incorporation defense. The Court had instructed the jury that the insurers had to establish that Sher and/or Vayman were de facto owners of the Practice or that they exercised substantial control over same.

For de facto ownership, the jury would need to find that the nonphysicians exercised dominion and control over the Practice and its assets, and that the nonphysicians shared risks, expenses and interests in the profits and losses of the Practice. The jury was further instructed that, to find control, the nonphysicians would have had a significant role in the guidance, management and direction of the Practice.

In addition, the court provided the jury with a list of factors that they might want to consider in making their determination, as they were instructed that a decision should be made based on the totality of the circumstances involved. The jury subsequently found that the insurers proved their defense that the Practice was fraudulently incorporated by clear and convincing evidence, and that Dr. Carothers was not engaged in the practice of medicine during the time the Practice was in business as required by New York law.[6]

In a unanimous decision by the four judges, the Appellate Division set aside the verdict as to the determination that Carothers failed to practice medicine, but upheld the verdict as to the finding of fraudulent incorporation, thereby affirming insurance carriers defense of nonpayment under 11 NYCRR 65-3.16(a)(12).

In October 2017, the Practice was granted leave to appeal its decision to the New York Court of Appeals. Oral arguments as to the elements necessary to establish the defense of fraudulent incorporation are expected to occur sometime in 2019.

State Farm v. Mallela: Actual Ownership

Carothers is not the first fraudulent incorporation case to head to the New York Court of Appeals. In 2005, the Court of Appeals held in State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Mallela [7] that medical providers that are not solely owned and controlled by physicians, as required under New York law, are ineligible for reimbursement of no-fault claims. The court further opined that carriers may look at actual ownership, meaning whether a practice is actually owned or controlled by an unlicensed individual, rather than be confined by the names listed on incorporation documents.

Before Mallela, there were several concerns regarding how a ruling against health care providers would impact no-fault law where insurance carriers could potentially delay payments due to the operational requirements that exist for medical practices. One of the concerns was whether some carriers could delay the payments for highly technical violations, such as non-payment of child support, since a failure to pay child support in New York can trigger revocation of professional licenses.

The Court of Appeals addressed these concerns by stating how carriers are required to have good cause before delaying or refusing payment to providers that are under suspicion of being unlicensed or fraudulently incorporated. The court further noted that technical violations, such as revocation of a license for having child support payments in arrears, does not rise to the level of fraud that would prevent a carrier from denying payment under 11 NYCRR 65-3.16(a)(12).

Carriers Nonpayment/Delay of Payments

Based on Carothers and Mallela, insurance carriers have a number of factors that they may consider to demonstrate good cause for delaying or withholding no-fault payments to a professional corporation for medical services if the practice is fraudulently incorporated. Essentially, carriers will want to look to everyone involved in the practice to determine if anyone other than a licensed professional can be viewed as a de facto owner with substantial control over the business. Some specific questions that carriers can consider when looking for fraudulent incorporation are as follows:

Did the non-physician employee exercise dominion and control over the [practice], including control over the assets?

Did the non-physician employee share the risk of the business and did they have an interest in the practices profits and losses?

Were profits funneled by the physician to the nonphysician?

Did the non-physician have a significant role in the guidance management and direction of the business?

Who controlled the practices finances and bank accounts? Were they managed by an unlicensed entity?

Does the licensed medical professional control and manage the employees or at least know who they are?

Does the licensed medical professional file the tax returns or keep books or records of the business?

Though none of these factors alone is sufficient to establish fraudulent incorporation, the issues of dominion and control and de facto ownership could lead to a finding of fraudulent incorporation based on the totality of the circumstances involved.

In considering these factors, another tactic for insurance carriers to consider is the growing trend of courts granting carriers motions to compel discovery. Insurers may now be able to obtain information regarding a licensed professionals role in their business, which is normally information that only the health care provider has and is not readily available to carriers. [8] Courts have also ruled that insurance carriers are entitled to discover documents and to take depositions of physicians who claim to own the health care practice. Moreover, insurers have also been supported in their attempts to depose other individuals involved in the business, including the alleged actual owner.

Prosecutorial Application

Insurance carriers can use fraudulent incorporation as a defense to delayed or withheld payment of claims. However, a finding of fraudulent incorporation can also be used in a prosecutorial manner. Generally speaking, providers that violate New Yorks prohibition on the corporate practice of medicine can face fines and penalties, as well as prosecution.

Carriers can have their Special Investigative Unit (SIU) scrutinize a suspect providers discovered records and, pursuant to the provisions in their policies, conduct examinations under oath about a licensed professionals role in the practice. Once sufficient evidence supporting a claim of fraudulent incorporation is obtained, the carrier can turn the case over to the U.S. Attorney for consideration. The U.S. Attorney can then seek an indictment of all of those involved and seek conviction for health care fraud.

Pending Appeal

It is unlikely that the New York Court of Appeals will reverse a unanimous decision held by the four judges in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. However, the Practices counsel raises significant issues regarding the jury instructions that may have swayed the jury to rule against the Practice.

The Civil Court instructed the jury that an adverse inference could be drawn based on the invocation of the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination by the non-physician employees during their depositions. This adverse inference could have highly persuaded the jury to find against the Practice in that the invocation of the Fifth Amendment meant that the non-physicians were de facto owners.

Although the Appellate Term stated that it was a harmless error to instruct the jury of an adverse inference, the Court of Appeals may find that this error was not harmless, since no such inference can be drawn when the privilege is invoked by a non-party witness or the non-physician employees. Regardless of the outcome of the appeal, Carothers and Mallela will continue to have a significant impact on the no-fault community.

http://www.op.nysed.gov/corp/corppractice.htm N.Y. Bus. Corp. L.  1503, 1506 (2012). 8 NYCRR 29.1(b). Andrew Carothers, M.D., P.C. v. Progressive Ins. Co., 42 Misc. 3d 30. 2017 N.Y. Slip Op. 02614 (2d Dept. 2017). N.Y. Bus. Corp. L.  1507 (2012). 175 F. Supp. 2d 401 (2005). All Boro Psychological Servs., P.C. v. Allstate Ins. Co. (affirming a decision granting an insurance carrier discovery regarding weather the provider was ineligible to receive assigned first-party no-fault benefits due to the providers failure to comply with applicable licensing laws).

Topics Carriers Fraud New York Medical Professional LiabilityThe main problem post-settlement is premature exhaustion of MSA funds, says Robert L Sagrillo, Chief Compliance Officer, NuQuest. Typically, MSAs are priced and funded based on the state workers compensation fee schedule. However, post-settlement claimants usually pay for medical treatment at retail rates. Thereby, MSA funds are exhausted 35-40% more quickly than anticipated.

Another common issue is the mismanagement of MSA funds by claimants, who use MSA dollars for non-Medicare covered medical expenses or unrelated medical expenses.

The consequences of these two problems can be harsh. Plaintiffs may be denied Medicare coverage for their medical expenses until they can demonstrate that their MSA funds have appropriately exhausted, meaning that they have to dip into other monies to privately pay for medical expenses.

Alternatively, Medicare may make conditional payments and either offset (reduce) Social Security benefits or attach tax refunds, Sagrillo says. Defendants too may face conditional payment recovery actions by CMS. In addition, defendants may have to deal with petitions filed by claimants to reopen their settled claims as a result of consequences claimants never understand were possible.

Fortunately, for claimants, there are companies that provide professional administration services and self-administration assistance to aide claimants in successfully administering MSA funds post-settlement.

Professional administration is selected in about 5% of MSA claims in which parties use an administration service. Professional administration claims usually involve catastrophic injuries, complicated future medical needs, high future medical costs or unsophisticated claimants. In some instances, professional administration is selected to allow a reversion of remaining MSA funds to the insurance carrier providing the funding.

Self-administration assistance allows for the claimant to retain possession of their MSA funds. However, the administrator may offer bill review and access to pharmacy, DME and other networks that enable the claimant to pay out MSA funds at the same or lesser rate than the MSA was funded, Sagrillo says. In addition, the administrator may assist the claimant understand their obligations regarding Medicare, including tracking and reporting of MSA funds.

Using an MSA administration service helps a claimant navigate the complexities and unknowns after theyre awarded an MSA. In many cases, a claimant is not aware what is expected of them regarding their MSA funds post-settlement And, theyre not aware that they may only use their MSA funds for Medicare covered medical expenses related to their settled injury; they dont understand that they should only pay the workers compensation fee schedule rates for their medical expenses.

They also dont understand what is Medicare covered and what is not; and they dont know that they need to keep track of their annual expenses and they have to report their usage to CMS annually, Sagrillo says. Most importantly, claimants dont understand the consequences when they fail to administer their MSA properly.

According to Sagrillo, an MSA administration service helps a claimant to sleep at night. They are provided with a resource to ensure that they are appropriately using their MSA funds and that those funds, hopefully, dont prematurely exhaust. Their payment for medical expenses will be at the workers compensation fee schedule.

Their use of the funds will be accurately tracked and reported to CMS. They will avoid Medicare denial of coverage based on how they have administered their MSA funds and they will avoid future conditional payments, Sagrillo says.

For defendants, they will know that their claimants are in good hands. They will know that they have done the most they can to ensure successful administration of the MSA funds minimizing the potential for future conditional payments or petitions for reopening by the claimant.One of the key questions around the IMO 2020 sulphur cap regulation is whether refineries will be able to meet demand, said Jorge Pecci, marine practice head at RSG Underwriting Managers (RSGUM). Are there enough refineries around the world to supply these low-sulphur compliant fuels for vessels? Like the shipping industry, the refineries have known this regulation is coming since 2008. Theyve been working on a solution, but theres definitely a question mark around availability, especially in less-developed countries.

Another challenge for vessels currently operating on fuel with a 3.5% sulphur content is that theyre going to have to clean up their tanks, pipes and pumps before making a full transition towards 2020 compliant fuel. This is a costly and time-consuming process, which can take about six months, and its something shipowners and charterers need to initiate well in advance of January 01, 2020.

Any vessel failing to comply with the IMOs new fuel spec will face fines, and those fines will depend on the laws and requirements of each country. Some jurisdictions like Hong Kong might go so far as to place criminal charges upon the captain of a non-compliant vessel, whereas others might be much more lenient. The enforcement of the regulation is going to vary substantially, according to Pecci.

The most interesting issue related to insurance is that if a vessel fails to comply with fuel specifications, that vessel may be declared unseaworthy. If a vessel is declared unseaworthy, it will have no insurance coverage, Pecci told Insurance Business. If, after 2020, a vessel is operating on fuel with a sulphur content over 0.5% and it suffers a problem, that vessel may not have insurance because its technically unseaworthy. Seaworthiness is the absolute essence of marine insurance.

As the global marine industry makes the transition to lower-sulphur fuels, the protection and indemnity (P&I) insurance industry is waiting and watching closely, explained John Hearn, managing director at Lodestar Marine. Until the IMOs regulation comes into effect, were not really going to know what the fallout will be, he said.

There are a number of different reasons why there might be issues moving forwards, not least the adequate supply of compliant fuels, but also how stringently each jurisdiction will enforce the regulations, Hearn commented. Its very difficult to say how the changes will impact the P&I market, especially if there are seaworthiness issues and cargo delays as a result of all of this.

The shipping industry has been moving piecemeal towards IMO 2020 since the 1960s, according to Pecci. Despite shipping being one of the most environmentally-friendly ways to move cargo (its much cleaner than road or air transit), the IMO has been persistent in its efforts to reduce harmful emissions from ships.

Pecci noted: When people talk about the 0.5% sulphur cap coming in 2020, theres this feeling that the industry is approaching the change all of a sudden, and that, before, there werent any restrictions at all. Thats simply not true. Theres been a 3.5% sulphur cap since 2005 and the industry has been talking about the 0.5% cap for a long, long time.We have to fight for the future of our city and invest in the future of our city, he said.

The tax would translate into $37 million for the upcoming budget.

While the tax falls on insurance companies, insurers would likely pass the cost on to their customers, translating into higher insurance premiums.

Ultimately, it's just like any tax: With the gas tax, oil companies don't pay it, Louisville Kentucky Insurance owner David Cronin told Louisville Courier Journal. It's more money coming out of the average person's pocket.

The planned tax increase would affect home, marine, and life insurance premiums  but not auto insurance.

Fisher proposed that insurance premium taxes would increase from 5% to 12.5% in the upcoming budget and the next. The tax would then rise to 13.5% in fiscal year 2022, then 15% by fiscal year 2023.

A report from the mayors office said that the proposed tax would increase an average Louisville family's home insurance by $12 to $13 per month.The board declared an interim dividend of 26 cents per share, fully franked.

While the interim result includes natural hazard costs significantly above our allowance, as well as the impact of volatile investment markets, our underlying business remains resilient, said Michael Cameron, Suncorp CEO and managing director.

Weve achieved solid top-line growth, operating expenses are well controlled and the Business Improvement Program has again exceeded targets. The core of our insurance portfolios are performing well and in banking, strong deposit growth and very low losses helped to counter the slowdown in lending across the industry.

Cameron said despite the expected impact of natural hazards, investment performance, and unforeseen regulatory costs on its full-year ROE, the business remains well-placed on an underlying basis to perform in-line with our original expectations.

The insurance boss said the royal commission had been an important process for the industry and acknowledged that Suncorp has, at times, fallen short of community expectations.

The work weve done on our business model and strategy, will allow us to navigate the changes ahead, Cameron said. I believe we have the right foundations for sustainable growth.According to Hollard CEO Richard Enthoven, the commercial insurance market in Australia is ripe for achieving solid growth, and the new brand marks the start of Hollards push into being a significant player within business lines.

Hollard Commercial Insurance is a result of the merger of two businesses  Calibre, which we acquired approximately 18 months ago, and Hollard Select Brokers, Enthoven told Insurance Business. Weve combined these two business units into a single new business with the express purpose of creating a significant viable competitor within the commercial insurance market.

The primary difference between this brand and other commercial offerings is the way this product is distributed and underwritten. HCi will focus on distribution through insurance brokers, and will be underwritten using sophisticated systems and digital technology that works for both HCi and our insurance broker partners.

Enthoven says a hardening commercial insurance market makes now the perfect time to venture into business lines, though admits that challenges will undoubtedly be felt by insurers across the board as regulatory change continues to be an issue at the forefront of the insurance landscape.

The commercial market is hardening, and technology platforms are playing a more important role, he stated. We think the time is right for us to make a major push in this market, and were anticipating and currently enjoying significant growth in that area. Were also growing very quickly in the personal lines space and we think we have solid short-term prospects for growth, both in New Zealand and Australia.

Were going to have to grapple with the changes in regulation and customer expectation, and that is going to place a lot of stress on certain resources, he concluded. But I think the industry will navigate a post-Royal Commission environment well, and we will continue to demonstrate the value that we add to the Australian community.If so, you need to nominate today.

Insurance Businesss unique methodology ensures that all brokers are compared on a level playing field no matter the size of their business. The entry process asks brokers to provide a number of key performance metrics from the 2018 calendar year including the number of clients, repeat and new business, in addition to financial information. All information collected during the entry process is kept strictly confidential.

To get involved, brokers must submit a nomination online today. Nominations on behalf of colleagues are also accepted.

All Elite Brokers will be profiled in issue 8.2 of Insurance Business magazine and online.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.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 Barchart Chart of the Day belongs to the software company Smartsheet (NYSE: SMAR ). Readers are always asking me how to find stocks that are just beginning to trend before everyone else discovers them. One of the best ways is to look at Barchart's Strong Volume Gains preformatted screener. It identifies stocks that...

Read MoreThere are so many different ways that you can hug a person. Obviously, each type of hug is going to have a little different meaning to it,...Indian security forces inspect the remains of a vehicle following an attack on a paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force convoy that killed at least 43 troopers and injured several others near Awantipur town in the Lethpora area of Kashmir about 30km south of Srinagar on Feb. 14. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)I loved the staff. I loved the way they did things, said the 19-year-old, who said she was a victim of sexual abuse and was in jail on an old charge related to a fight when she was transferred to Annes House. I loved the school they chose for me.  They really cared. They really put an effort into trying to help us with anything: with school, with finding a job, with just self-motivation.In 2017, a long list of local politicians signed a love letter to Amazon, urging the company to come to New York City  but some of them had a change of heart when a secretive deal was reached to attract one of the worlds most valuable companies by offering billions of dollars in tax incentives.

On Thursday, in a move that shocked observers, the company penned its own letter, officially breaking up with New York and abandoning its plans to build a new HQ2 headquarters in Long Island City, citing the vehement opposition from state and local politicians. The company said its commitment to a new headquarters required long-term positive, collaborative relationships with elected officials.

While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City, the company wrote in the letter.

Heres how New Yorks elected officials and other key players are responding to the bombshell announcement.

THE DEAL-MAKERS

Gov. Andrew Cuomo

The governor, who led the effort to recruit Amazon and negotiated the state subsidies offered to the company, critized local officials for opposing the deal, singling out the state Senate for the tremendous damage it had done  undoubtedly referring to the nomination of state Sen. Michael Gianaris to an obscure state board that could have blocked the deal.

"Amazon chose to come to New York because we are the capital of the world and the best place to do business, the governor said in a lengthy statement. We competed in and won the most hotly contested national economic development competition in the United States, resulting in at least 25,000-40,000 good paying jobs for our state and nearly $30 billion dollars in new revenue to fund transit improvements, new housing, schools and countless other quality of life improvements. Bringing Amazon to New York diversified our economy away from real estate and Wall Street, further cementing our status as an emerging center for tech and was an extraordinary economic win not just for Queens and New York City, but for the entire region, from Long Island to Albany's nanotech center.

However, a small group politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community -- which poll after poll showed overwhelmingly supported bringing Amazon to Long Island City -- the state's economic future and the best interests of the people of this state. The New York State Senate has done tremendous damage. They should be held accountable for this lost economic opportunity.

The fundamentals of New York's business climate and community that attracted amazon to be here - our talent pool, world-class education system, commitment to diversity and progressivism - remain and we won't be deterred as we continue to attract world class business to communities across New York State."

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio

The mayor, who worked behind the scenes with Gov. Andrew Cuomo to secure the deal, took a jab at Amazon in a statement he issued on Thursday.

You have to be tough to make it in New York City. We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity. We have the best talent in the world and every day we are growing a stronger and fairer economy for everyone. If Amazon cant recognize what thats worth, its competitors will.

IN THE MIDDLE

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins

The Senate majority leader nominated Gianaris to serve on the Public Authorities Control Board, which could have blocked the Amazon deal, but she also has members of her conference who supported Amazon  including some Long Island Democrats who feared killing Amazons HQ2 would brand them as anti-business.

This is proof of why it is so important to have an inclusive and transparent process from the beginning. It is unfortunate that rather than engage in productive discussions about a major development, Amazon has decided to leave New York, Stewart-Cousins said in a statement. This process was clearly flawed and did not include the affected community nor their legislative representatives until after the deal was signed. This was not the same process that was followed in other areas including Virginia and that is clearly why this deal failed.

LEADING THE OPPOSITION

Several Queens elected officials emerged as the most high-profile opponents of the plan once it was announced: first-term Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a democratic socialist who has quickly become a progressive icon since her stunning primary win last year; New York City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who would have had significant sway over the project had Amazon not bypassed the standard land use process; and state Sen. Michael Gianaris, who was recently nominated to a state board that might have blocked the Amazon deal. New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson also had blasted the mayor for cutting the council out of the process.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazons corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world, the congresswoman said in a Twitter post.

Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazons corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world. https://t.co/nyvm5vtH9k  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 14, 2019

State Sen. Michael Gianaris

The Queens lawmaker, a vocal critic who might have gained the power to veto the deal, said the decision revealed Amazons unwillingness to work with the Queens community. Gianaris, a Democrat, represents the state Senate district where Amazon would have built its second headquarters.

Like a petulant child, Amazon insists on getting its way or takes its ball and leaves, Gianaris told The New York Times. Gianaris, gesturing to the companys statement questioned, Even by their own words, Amazon admits they will grow their presence in New York without their promised subsidies. So what was all this really about?

New York City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer

When our community fights together, anything is possible, even when were up against the biggest corporation in the world, Van Bramer tweeted. I am proud that we fought for our values, which is a fight for working families, immigrants, & organized labor.

New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson

I look forward to working with companies that understand that if youre willing to engage with New Yorkers and worth through challenging issues New York City is the worlds best place to do business, Johnson said in a statement. I hope this is the start of a conversation about vulture capitalism and where our tax dollars are best spent. I know Id choose mass transit over helipads any day.

MAYORAL CANDIDATES

Johnson is one of the early frontrunners for mayor in 2021  along with New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., who both weighed in. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams did not immediately issue a statement about Amazon.

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer

In a tweet to Mayor de Blasio, Stringer said, @NYCMayor with all due respect, you made this deal in secret with no community input from LIC residents. While Amazon is no angel, they played by your rules. The early takeaway from this: don't be afraid of transparency and community inclusion.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.

It's unfortunate that @amazon was unwilling to grasp the concept that massive taxpayer subsidies require equivalent concessions to the people providing them. This is a simple aphorism: if you want charity, you have to be charitable, tweeted Diaz.

PUBLIC ADVOCATE CANDIDATES

With a special election looming this month to fill a vacancy in the New York City public advocates office, the issue of Amazon had frequently come up on the campaign trail. Heres how the candidates reacted  including Assemblyman Ron Kim, who is running on the No Amazon line.

Assemblyman Ron Kim

This is a huge victory for the grassroots activists and community leaders who spoke with one collective voice to say no to Amazon. I was the first elected official to stand against the HQ2 deal because it ignored the needs of everyday people and prioritized one of the worlds wealthiest corporations instead, Kim said in a statement.

Nomiki Konst

Na na na na...na na na na...Hey hey hey... GOODBYE, tweeted Konst. Now that weve taken on (and won) blocking Amazon corporate welfare, can we do the same with real estate developers who have starved NYC of the resources to sustain itself? questioned the candidate.

Former New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito

The Amazon deal was a mess. $3 billion in subsidies for a trillion dollar company, pushed through by 2 men who think community engagement is a joke, tweeted Mark Viverito. This is why you bring local residents and stakeholders to the table *before* claiming victory.

New York City Councilman Rafael Espinal

"Amazon's decision shows the company isn't ready to make the commitments that a pro-union city like New York deserves. I have been against Amazon's plans from the start, and especially against subsidizing one of the world's wealthiest businessmen, said Espinal in a statement. Their latest anti-union statements confirmed that Amazon is not the right type of company to be rolling out a red carpet for ... We have seen today that people power beats corporate power.

New York City Councilman Jumaane Williams

"Two weeks ago when asked, 'Let's assume that Amazon is here ...' I was one of the only ones to refuse to allow that assumption, Williams said in a statement. After countless activists, grassroots organizers and everyday New Yorkers fought back against Amazon's secret bargain with the mayor and governor, we're proud that our message was clear: We won't be bulldozed by the world's richest man, who denied honest discussions and open negotiations about jobs and benefits to everyday New Yorkers.

Assemblyman Michael Blake

It is very disappointing that Amazon is canceling their proposed plan to move to Long Island City. A collaborative deal would have brought jobs and justice to New Yorkers, Blake said in a statement. It is a shame that Amazon walked away from the deal and a shame we dont have more of a strategy as a city around what to do now. As a signatory of the original letter to start the conversation for Amazon to come to New York City, I was excited about the opportunity to work with New Yorkers and Amazon to develop a tech hub in Queens that benefits the entire city, while also preserving necessary labor protections.

New York City Councilman Eric Ulrich

It never ceases to amaze me how the loud voices of a few, could destroy the chance at a better life for so many. @amazon had big plans in store for the borough of Queens, and we blew it! tweeted the councilman.

OTHER PRO-AMAZON POLITICIANS

Rep. Carolyn Maloney

In a series of tweets, the representative expressed her disappointment over her home districts loss of prospective jobs, but the long-term supporter said that the deal couldve been improved. Disappointed that NYC wont be home to 25K+ new jobs from HQ2 & that LIC will lose out on infrastructure improvements that would have accompanied this project. This is not the Valentine that NY needed, tweeted Maloney. The deal could have been improved. There were legitimate concerns raised and aspects that I wanted changed. I was ready to work for those changes. But now, we wont have a chance to do that and we are out 25K+ new jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in new investments, she said.

Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, whose district overlaps with the proposed Amazon site, did not immediately comment.

New York City Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr.

NY1 reporter Gloria Pazmino confirmed Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr., a member of the New York City Council and a supporter of the deal (who recently lost his committee chairmanship after making anti-gay comments), reportedly railed against Van Bramer, who he says organized opposition againstAmazon. Diaz blamed Van Bramer for the loss of 25,000 jobs. Youre telling me thats not power? Thats power, said Diaz, according to Pazminos tweet.

OTHER ANTI-AMAZON POLITICIANS

State Sen. Julia Salazar

A long-time opponent of the plan - and, like Ocasio-Cortez, a self-described democratic socialist - Salazar once said that New Yorkers deserve better than a deal that sells workers & communities short. Today she tweeted, Never underestimate the power of organized people.

New York City Councilman Costa Constantinides

From the beginning, the process of luring Amazon to western Queens ignored the community and proposed a giveaway of $3 billion to a multi-billionaire dollar corporation, the Queens councilman said in a statement. It is no shock to anyone that this was a disaster from the start and bad policy. New York City has long-standing processes in place to ensure that any project  from a sidewalk cafe to a corporate headquarters  considers the communitys needs. Our objections were never answered and we rightfully opposed this bad deal. Today is the natural result of plugging your ears to the legitimate concerns of the people and bypassing them in favor of corporations."

PRO-AMAZON GROUPS

Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City

How can anyone be surprised? We competed successfully, made a deal and spent the last three months trashing our new partner. The reception Amazon received sent a terrible message to the job creators of the city and the world.

Tech:NYC Executive Director Julie Samuels

Amazons decision to withdraw from New York is no doubt a blow to our local economy and the tens of thousands of people the company wouldve employed here, said Samuels in a statement. New York City is today one of the most dynamic tech hubs in the world, but there is no guarantee we will maintain this status in the future, which makes this news so disappointing. Its especially disappointing given the overwhelming local support for the deal and there can be no doubt that bad politics got in the way of good policy here.

Long Island Association President and CEO Kevin Law

Amazons decision to withdraw its plans for our region will go down as one of the biggest debacles in New York State history, and the elected officials who are responsible for this epic disaster should be ashamed of themselves for jeopardizing thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in tax revenue and should also consider resigning.

ANTI-AMAZON GROUPS

New York Communities for Change Executive Director Jonathan Westin

#ByeJeff and good riddance! Make no mistake: strong, effective community organizing is what defeated Amazons $3 billion backroom deal. Many low-income New Yorkers of color and immigrant New Yorkers came together to build a movement against the HQ2 deal for Long Island City, Queens. From day one, Amazon, Governor Cuomo, and Mayor de Blasio completely underestimated the diversity and intensity of the opposition to this awful deal, said Westin in a statement. "Countless New Yorkers saw what Bezos, Cuomo and de Blasio refused to see: Amazons expanded corporate presence here would do far more harm than good."

New York Working Families Party State Director Bill Lipton

"This is a good day, but if our victory on Long Island City is to have lasting impact, it must be the beginning of a nationwide movement to challenge an economic and political system where corporations call all the shots, Lipton said in a statement. Today's victory wouldn't have been possible without the fierce advocacy and leadership of union workers at RWDSU and community groups like Make the Road New York and New York Communities for Change. Now we need to build on it, and continue to work towards an economic and political system that works for the many, instead of the privileged and powerful few.

UNION DIVISIONS

Amazons original plan had divided the citys unions, with 32BJ SEIU and the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York getting deals to work with Amazon  while other unions - especially the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union - raising concerns.

32BJ SEIU President Hector Figueroa

The news that Amazon has decided to cancel its plans to build its second headquarters in New York City is a disappointing development for working people in our city. This is a lost opportunity for Queens and New York on many levels. Of course, the loss of 25,000 direct jobs and many more indirect ones as well as the billions in revenue that the project was expected to bring into our city is unfortunate, said Figueroa in a statement. For labor however, this is also a missed opportunity to engage one of the largest companies in the world and to create a pathway to union representation for one of the largest groups of predominantly non-union workers in our country.

Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York

We are stunned by todays unfortunate news. Politics and pandering have won out over a once-in-a-generation investment in New York Citys economy, bringing with it tens of thousands of solid middle class jobs. This sends the wrong message to businesses all over the world looking to call New York home. Who will want to come now? We will remember which legislators forgot about us and this opportunity.

Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union

Rather than addressing the legitimate concerns that have been raised by many New Yorkers Amazon says you do it our way or not at all, we will not even consider the concerns of New Yorkers  thats not what a responsible business would do, tweeted Chelsea Connor, RWDSUs director of communications.

Teamsters President George Miranda

"New Yorkers made it clear that Amazon wasn't welcome in our city if it would not respect our workers and our communities. Apparently, the company decided that was too much to ask. We are committed to fighting for the rights of workers throughout the Amazon supply chain and supporting their demand for a voice on the job, said Miranda in a statement.

JOURNALISTS AND PUNDITS

Nick Reisman, State of Politics

This year in New York politics somehow keeps topping itself.  Nick Reisman (@NickReisman) February 14, 2019

Amazon did very little to turn elected officials to their side in this. In the end it was mostly left up to Gov. Cuomo to make the argument.  Nick Reisman (@NickReisman) February 14, 2019

calm before the storm https://t.co/e2mSoPiYdq  Nick Reisman (@NickReisman) February 14, 2019

Laura Nahmias, Politico

Amazon broke up with New York City on Valentine's Day! Ice-cold.  Laura Nahmias (@nahmias) February 14, 2019

A local coffee shop owner and longtime Queens resident in Long Island City, being interviewed on @NY1, calls Amazon's decision to pull out of the deal in Queens one of "the saddest days in New York City's history"  Laura Nahmias (@nahmias) February 14, 2019

My feeds and my inbox are an even mix between Democrats either rejoicing or bemoaning the death of the Amazon deal. Seems like a microcosm of an economic split within the party at large, and backlash to neoliberalism  Laura Nahmias (@nahmias) February 14, 2019

@NY1 gets @AOC on the record on the demise of the Amazon deal. She says Google did a better job than Amazon of coming in to the community, for example. pic.twitter.com/FVDrkP8jXv  Laura Nahmias (@nahmias) February 14, 2019

Harry Siegel, The Daily Beast, NY Daily News, FAQ NYC

Marking this as the moment the rising left in New York stopped fighting the power; became the power https://t.co/P1ZbxEGI6N  Harry Siegel (@harrysiegel) February 14, 2019

Marking Amazon exit as the moment when @AOC's potent rhetoric first translated into policy  Harry Siegel (@harrysiegel) February 14, 2019

Feb. 13: Amazon makes $11 billion profit in U.S., pays $0 in federal taxes and collects $129 million rebate. https://t.co/Vi0bNymG8D



Feb 14: https://t.co/5h61krtAVG  Harry Siegel (@harrysiegel) February 14, 2019

Everyone saying the grassroots took on the world's richest man and won here should take a minute to consider how they're defining victory.  Harry Siegel (@harrysiegel) February 14, 2019

awful lot of bullshit in a small package here pic.twitter.com/gXu8GuFw6C  Harry Siegel (@harrysiegel) February 14, 2019

I must be losing track: That's where in NYC? https://t.co/Ol2ILLrfB2  Harry Siegel (@harrysiegel) February 14, 2019

Jillian Jorgensen, NY Daily News

NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME https://t.co/gB8zKhRc2R  Jillian Jorgensen (@Jill_Jorgensen) February 14, 2019

Elected officials should talk to reporters. Putting out a Twitter statement isn't the same as answering informed questions. https://t.co/jKmVFKei7e  Jillian Jorgensen (@Jill_Jorgensen) February 14, 2019

A source observes that in the scheme of NYC heat-taking, this wasnt event so hot: Jeff Bezos couldnt last one month working at NYCHA.  Jillian Jorgensen (@Jill_Jorgensen) February 14, 2019

In some ways, this tweet really just sums up the entire ethos of the de Blasio tenure. https://t.co/uogF0FauoR  Jillian Jorgensen (@Jill_Jorgensen) February 14, 2019

Grace Rauh, NY1

Also true, as companies like Google can attest. https://t.co/22MXG2g4Ge  Grace Rauh (@gracerauh) February 14, 2019

You have to be tough to make it in New York City https://t.co/Ri6Ie1l84g  Grace Rauh (@gracerauh) February 14, 2019

Its not clear Mayor de Blasio will have an avail or speak about Amazon pulling out of NYC this afternoon. De Blasios press sec says he will address the issue during his speech at Harvard tonight.  Grace Rauh (@gracerauh) February 14, 2019

Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments from New York City Councilman Jumaane Williams and Assemblyman Michael Blake.The body of a victim who died in an early morning hotel fire is brought to a mortuary at Lady Hardinge Hospital in New Delhi on Feb. 12. At least 17 people died when a fire ripped through a budget hotel in Delhi on February 12, with victims including a woman and a child who reportedly jumped from a window to escape the blaze. (Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images)Indian American Sanjeev Rajoura (center) was one of eight recipients of the prestigious Uttar Pradesh Apravasi Bhartiya Ratna Puraskar award, for his work in building public toilets for Dalit girls throughout the state. Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik bestowed the award. (photo courtesy of Sanjeev Rajoura)We have heard people complaining about flights and suing them for various reasons. But this time, an airline has sued a passenger for missing his flight.

Lufthansa Airlines is suing a passenger who found a cheap way to travel between several cities in USA and Europe. According to the airlines, the customer broke its rules when he skipped the last leg of the journey.

The airline group wants the person to now pay $2,000 that equal to Rs 1,41,890.

Lufthansa Twitter

The man was supposed to fly from Seattle to Frankfurt and then Oslo but he failed to fly from Seattle to Frankfurt and reached Oslo directly. He paid Rs 52,564 to fly business class from Oslo back to Seattle with layovers in Frankfurt. But instead of making an entire trip, he got off his return flight in Frankfurt and from there he flew to Berlin on a separate Lufthansa ticket.

According to documents, Lufthansa said that the trip should have cost Rs 2,21,476 but it cost him Rs 50,701 and now they want the customer to pay the difference.

Lufthansa Twitter

According to CNN, the customer asked the court to dismiss the airlines request, saying the airlines terms and conditions dont apply any of his actions. While the case is still in process, the court documents said the pricing was 'lacking in transparency' in a summary of their verdict.We have seen friends fighting over a girl but this student at IIT-Madras allegedly stabbed his classmate inside the campus on Valentines Day. Pramod Kaushik, the victim, is studying M.tech and hails from Haryana.

The incident took place around 5:30 PM when both had a quarrel near the college library and in the heat of the moment, Manoj stabbed Pramod with a sharp object.

Around 5.30 pm, a clash broke out between the duo near the central library. In a fit of rage, Manoj stabbed Pramod on the shoulder with a sharp object and fled the spot, a police official said. Other students who witnessed the incident rushed the victim to the hospital, where he is currently under treatment in the ICU.

TOI/Twitter

Also Read: On Valentine's Day, Massive Fire Breaks Out At India's Famous Archies Cards Factory In Delhi

The Kotturpuram Police have detained Manoj for an inquiry. According to a report, the boys were in love with the same girl and the fight was over who would get to propose to her on Valentines Day.Never in her wildest dreams did Mora Ann Gregg think that returning an overdue book would make her famous.

A retired librarian, Mora Gregg, was shocked to find a library book she checked out from Marylands Silver Spring library branch in 1946, tucked behind her book collection.

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Gregg, now 75-years-old, found the worn-out copy of the childrens book The Postman by Charlotte Kuh on her bookshelf, while she was dusting her Toronto apartment.

Soon after she found it, she mailed the book back to the library with an apologetic note, reports the Washington Post.

ALSO READ: This Artist Turned A Dead Tree Into A Free Little Library & It's Every Book Lover's Dream

In a letter to the library, Gregg wrote that her mother borrowed the book for her when she was two or three years old. Gregg's experience as a librarian pushed her to send the book back.

Anita Vassallo, acting director of the Montgomery County Public Libraries Administration, told the Post, "This is definitely the oldest thing thats been returned to us."

The library has a policy that does not charge late fees for overdue children books, so Gregg got lucky!

'Welcome home dear book. Good thing we no longer charge late fines for children's material!' read the library's FB post.

ALSO READ: 5 Life Lessons I Learnt From The Book, Living HellIn what can only be called a tragic irony, a massive fire broke out at the Archies factory in the Naraina Industrial Area in West Delhi on the eve of Valentine's Day. The fire broke out at around 7:15 am and according to the fire department, it spread swiftly across all the floors.

#WATCH A medium category fire broke out at a paper card factory in Naraina Industrial Area, Phase I, early morning today; Total 23 fire tenders engaged in fire fighting operations, no casualties reported pic.twitter.com/l6wiOjfELO  ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2019

According to ANI, around 23 fire engines are at the spot and there is no news of any casualty yet. According to reports, the factory manager Amarjeet Singh said that the telephone switchboard caught fire and then it started spreading across the multi-storey building.

According to the reports, the fire has burnt down properties worth lakhs. What was supposed to be perhaps the biggest business day for the company turned into a day of tragic loss.

#UPDATE: 29 fire tenders present at the spot where fire broke out at a paper card factory in Naraina Industrial Area Phase 1 earlier today. #Delhi pic.twitter.com/F2gvnFfPDl





There have been two big fires in Delhi in the last two days. On Tuesday, a massive fire broke out at Hotel Arpit Palace in Delhis Karol Bagh area which left 17 people dead - it was a short circuit that started the fire.

#UPDATE 20 fire tenders present at the spot where fire has broken out at a paper card factory in Naraina, in Delhi pic.twitter.com/xtHWy2suZH  ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2019

Another incident happened on Wednesday in a slum in Paschim Puri area and the reason was similar - the fire was caused by a short circuit.Smollett said he didn't want to call the police at first, but his friend and creative director, Frank Gatson, did so on his behalf. Smollett said he was in shock when police arrived at his apartment. I was looking at myself, just like checking myself out. I saw the bruise on my neck, you know, like the little  the rope burn around my neck. And then  but I smelled bleach. I know the smell of bleach, and I saw on my sweatshirt it had marks on it, like spots on it when you have a bad bleach job, he said. So when the police came I kept the clothes on, I kept the rope on me.  I mean, it wasnt, like, wrapped around. But, yeah, it was around because I wanted them to see.Plants are natural air purifiers for our planet, taking in carbon dioxide and expelling oxygen through photosynthesis.

The thing is, we're constantly removing chunks of Earth's leaf cover, so we might have to find a way to help out Mother Nature.

Reuters

That's where this latest device from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) comes in. The researchers there have built what they're calling "artificial leaves". These mimic the process that occurs in real plants, turning CO2 into breathable oxygen.

Most importantly though, researchers have been able to develop artificial leaves before, they just only worked in pressurized containers. This latest design however is capable of pulling CO2 from the air, making it real world-viable.

To do this, the team placed their artificial leaf inside a water-filled capsule with a semi-permeable membrane. When sunlight hits the water it slowly evaporates it, letting it escape through the membrane. This process slowly sucks in carbon dioxide through the membrane, where the device can get to work.

Also Read: Indian Scientists Create An Artificial Leaf That Can Turn Sunlight And Water Into Clean Energy

The artificial leaf converts the carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and oxygen. From here, the oxygen can be released into the air or collected, while the harmful gas can be pulled from the device and used to create synthetic fuels like methanol.

"By enveloping traditional artificial leaf technology inside this specialized membrane," UIC researcher Meenesh Singh said in a press release, "the whole unit is able to function outside, like a natural leaf."

University of Illinois, Chicago

The team is incredibly confident, and believe their artificial leaf design is 10 times more efficient than even natural leaves. Based on their estimates, 360 of these artificial leaves, each 1.7 meters by 0.2 meters in dimensions, would be able to generate about half a ton of carbon monoxide everyday.

More importantly, they say that spreading out those leaves in a 500 square metre area would let them lower the CO2 levels in the space by 10 percent in a single day.

"Our conceptual design uses readily available materials and technology," Singh said, "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."It was designed to survive for just 90 days in 2004, but NASA's Mars Opportunity rover instead lasted over 5,000 days. Far exceeding anyone's expectation, leaving a rich legacy of human space exploration.

But the Mars Opportunity rover's mission has finally come to an end.

NASA

ALSO READ: This NASA Rover Should've Died In 90 Days, But Opportunity Has Now Seen 5,000 Sunrises On Mars

NASA's Mars Opportunity rover went silent after a dust storm on the Red Planet in June 2018, and today NASA admits that attempts to restart the Mars Opportunity rover have failed and the robot mission is officially over.

#ThanksOppy for being the little rover that could! A planned 90-day mission to explore Mars turned into 15 years of ground-breaking discoveries and record-breaking achievements. Here's a look: https://t.co/e32XC64e3C  NASA (@NASA) February 14, 2019

"I am standing here with a sense of deep appreciation and gratitude that I declare the Opportunity mission as complete, Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for science, said at a press conference last night, after final attempts to revive the rover failed.

And so ends the 15-year-long record breaking journey of Opportunity rover on Mars, and its invaluable treasure trove of knowledge to expand human understanding of our solar neighbour.

NASA

ALSO READ: NASA Is Launching A Mars Rover In 2020, To Bring Dirt Samples Back To Earth For More Research

Opportunity landed in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars on Jan. 24, 2004, seven months after its launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The Opportunity rover was originally supposed to travel just 1100 yards, but ended up covering over 28 miles of Martian surface over its 15-year-long stint on the planet.

For over a decade now, Opportunity rover has pioneered planetary exploration unlike nothing before, revealing ancient hidden secret of Mars and sending back 217,594 raw images of stunning vistas, breathtaking landscapes and curious details about the Martian surface.

NASA

ALSO READ: There's A Reason We're So Obsessed About Going To Mars, But It's Not Going To Be Easy

While Opportunity's legacy will never be forgotten, NASA is now full steam ahead working on launching the next Mars rover in 2020. And it already has its work cut out, following in the footsteps of Opportunity's rich heritage.A Youth in Kerala has alleged that his girlfriend is being held captive by her family because they think she has married a 'maoist'.

Abhilash Padachery, in a Facebook post claimed that he and his girlfriend Shweta Mohan had filed an application for a special marriage act on January 25.

However, he alleged that since the application was put up on the notice board, Shweta's family are forcing her to withdraw it.

Abhilash Padachery

Abhilash who claimed that his girlfriend, who is a college student is being held captive and physically harmed by her parents who even took her to the sub-registrar office in Payyannur to have the application withdrawn.

But at the office, the 20-year-old refused to withdraw the application and made it clear that she wanted to go with Abhilash, resulting in a ruckus.

Later, police was called and Abhilash alleged that the cops sided with the girl's family and allowed them to take her away by force.

Abhilash also alleged that this is not the first time, the cops have targeted him as the activist has been labelled as a 'maoist'.

He has been arrested in the past by the cops for his involvement in dalit and student protests.

The 29-year-old who posted a photo of their application at the sub registrar office said he is exploring legal options to free Shweta from the house arrest.

Abhilash Padachery

This incident is once again likely to ignite the debate over an individual's freedom to choose his/ her partner.

Even in the infamous Kerala Love Jihad Case, the Supreme Court had made it clear that the individual's freedom to choose cannot be overlooked, no matter what.

You can investigate any of the aspects, but you cannot investigate the marital aspect ... you cannot investigate whether she married a good person or a bad person. Thats her choice, Justice Dipak Misra, the then CJI had observed in January 2018 while overturning the Kerala High Court order which annulled her marriage.Many people leave caste and religion columns blank in various forms, but for MA Sneha, it has become official. The 35-year-old advocate and resident of Tirupattur in the state of Tamil Nadu, has been trying to get the certificate and the Tehsildar of Tirupattur, TS Sathiyamoorthy, gave her a certificate declaring she had  no caste, no religion.

Sneha grew up in a family, which always denounced caste and religion.

The Hindu

All my certificates have nil or are blank against the caste and religion columns. This includes my birth certificate and school certificates. They mention me as an Indian. But I started to realise that every application form I filled mandated enclosure of community certificate. So, I had to obtain a self-affidavit. It was only then that it occurred to me that I needed an identity that was sans caste and religion, Sneha told the The Hindu.

When people who believe in caste and religion have certificates, why not issue certificates to people like us? she asked.

She initiated her attempts to get an identity which dont have caste and religion in 2010.

I started to apply for a [no religion, no caste] certificate in 2010, but officials kept rejecting it for some reason. Some said there was no precedent in the country. It was in 2017 that I began to stand by ground and explained [my stand] to officials. I justified my stand, saying they should look into my request as I had availed no government schemes or reservation, she said.

The Sub-Collector, Tirupattur, B. Priyanka Pankajam had decided to give her the no caste, no religion identity certificate. She wanted to be certified as [belonging to] no caste and no religion. We had to check if her assertions were true. We verified all her school and college documents and found the two columns blank. So, though we found no precedent, we decided to go ahead and certify her as it will not affect anybody or take away another persons opportunity, she said.

K Parthiba Raja, Sneha husband and a Tamil professor also told that they have left the caste and religion columns blank when they applied for admission for three daughters. In fact, their names are a combination of two religions - Aadhirai Nasreen, Aadhila Irene and Aarifa Jessy, he said.At least 44 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in an IED blast targeting their convoy in Awantipora town of Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday. 45 others have also been left injured, 18 said to be critical, in the attack on Tuesday afternoon. According to initial reports a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the CRPF bus which was coming from Jammu to Srinagar. There were also reports of gunshots and grenade blasts following the explosion.

ANI

Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) headed by Masood Azhar has claimed the responsibility.

The outfit which claimed the attack told local media houses that a suicide bomber identified as Adil Ahmad, a resident of Gundi bagh in Pulwama carried out the attack.

CRPF Official on Pulwama attack: There were 70 vehicles in the convoy and one of the vehicles came under attack. The convoy was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar. https://t.co/B0SaEEU5wE  ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2019

This is the first time in many years the terrorists have used explosive-laden vehicle to carry out strikes.

In the past JeM was responsible for the 2106 Pathankot Air Force Station, which killed seven security personnel and the terror attack on the Indian brigade headquarters in Uri killing 19 soldiers, the deadliest attack in over two decades.

JeM founder Azhar, who was jailed in India since 1994 was freed in exchange of the hostages of the hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814.AFP/Representational Image

At least 20 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in an IED blast targeting their convoy in Awantipora town of Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday. Read more

Here's more top news of the day:





1) So There Is No Data On Deaths Related To Demonetisation, Says PMO In Reply To RTI Query

BCCL





Few months after the government told Parliament that four people had died during demonetisation, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has said it holds no "information" on deaths in the aftermath of the move. Read more

2) After Rafale Deal Controversy, CAG Trouble For IAF's Chinook And Apache Helicopter Deals

reuters





The Indian Air Force in two major deals modified and aligned its requirements to the specifications of the Apache Attack and Chinook Heavy Lift helicopters offered by US aerospace manufacturer, Boeing, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said. Read more

3) Vijay Mallya Tweets Asking Why PM Narendra Modi Isn't Instructing Banks To Take Money He's Offering

Reuters

Fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya called Prime Minister Narendra Modi an "eloquent speaker" and asked as to why the Prime Minister was not instructing the banks to take the money he had made available to pay off the public funds lent to Kingfisher. Read more

4) On Valentine's Day, 10,000 Students In Surat Vow Of Not Marrying Against Their Parents Wish

Photo: BCCL/Representative Image





As Bajrang Dal, the right-wing group pulls up its socks for Valentines day where they have threatened pubs and restaurants in Telangana against giving special offers to couples, this February 14 will also witness a unique mass gathering of students. Read more

5) This Valentine's Day Showers No Love For Tamil Nadu Rose Growers As Mercury Dip Halts Business

Photo: BCCL

While dipping mercury and an increase in the production area meant a bumper rose produce for farmers in Pune, Tamil Nadu farmers have got the blues due to the same reason. Read moreOne of the most memorable moments from the year 2018 has to be the decriminalisation of homosexuality. India finally gave everyone the right to love without feeling like criminals. This has definitely brought about a positive change and hence, this years Valentines Day is all the more special for the LGBTQIA community. They can celebrate the day of love on 14th February without feeling like they're committing a crime. They can finally celebrate their love in front of the whole world without having to worry about the law.

Here are seven short stories we came up with and they show how beautiful it is to be able to love freely:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

Love is for everyone!

Design Credit: Sahil Kedia1. Ranveer-Deepikas PDA To Ranbir-Alias Gully Boy Date, Love Is In The Air On Valentine's Day

Last night, apart from the Valentine fever, the Gully Boy fever was also high among the stars. While Ranveer Singh organised a special screening of Gully Boy for wife Deepika Padukone and her family, Alia Bhatt was also seen attending special screening of Gully Boy with beau Ranbir Kapoor.

2. People Have Found Peter Dinklage AKA Tyrion Lannisters Look Alike In Pakistan & The Resemblance Is Striking

Remember Imtiaz Ali had found Peter Dinklages look-alike in Kashmir? Now, another one has been spotted in Peshawar, Pakistan.

3. After Battling A Rare Tumour, 'Hindi Medium' Actor Irrfan Khan Finally Returns To Mumbai

But now as per a close source in a leading daily, the Hindi Medium actor is back in town. While some are saying he's getting treated at a hospital in Mumbai, some are thinking Irrfan is returning back to movies and starting with the shooting of Hindi Medium's sequel.

4. Happy Birthday, Madhubala! Internet Showers Love For The Finest Actress Of Indian Cinema

So, on the auspicious occasion of her 86th birthday anniversary, Google India made the day extra special by making the most beautiful Doodle on her. Bollywood celebrity Madhuri Dixit recreated her performances and posted a stunning picture looking like the diva.

And now Muzaffarpur police has lodged an FIR against actors Anupam Kher, Akshaye Khanna and 12 others in connection with the movie The Accidental Prime Minister. As per reports in PTI, the FIR was lodged at the Kanti police station on Tuesday after the court took objection to non-compliance of its January 8 order in this regard.The Accidental Prime Minister which is based on our former PM Manmohan Singh ran into troubled waters during the release of the film. Even though the movie saw the day of release, the film was called out for its inaccuracies and the fact that BJP was out-rightly promoting the film.

youtube/screengrab

And now Muzaffarpur police has lodged an FIR against actors Anupam Kher, Akshaye Khanna and 12 others in connection with the movie The Accidental Prime Minister. As per reports in PTI, the FIR was lodged at the Kanti police station on Tuesday after the court took objection to non-compliance of its January 8 order in this regard.

youtube/screengrab

The court had on January 8 ordered police to lodge an FIR against the actors and 12 others on a complaint filed by advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha with a plea that the movie presented Manmohan Singh and a number of other public figures in bad light.

Ojha said he had moved the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate Saba Alam on February 4 to mention that its order was not complied with by the police.

On this, the court issued show-cause notice to Kanti police station through the Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police after which police lodged an FIR yesterday (Tuesday), Ojha told reporters Wednesday.

Twitter

In his complaint, Ojha named Kher (who plays the character of Manmohan Singh), as well as Akshaye Khanna, who plays the role Singhs media adviser Sanjaya Baru, on whose book the movie is said to be based upon.



The movie was released on January 11, 2019.Lakota of yesteryear: Jake Herman

By The Lakota Times

Note: This profile on Jake Herman was originally published in The Lakota Times on Thursday, July, 9, 1981.

After you pass Three Mile Creek, but just before you get to Kyle, on the Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota, youll come to a black top road, the only one that turns off the main road, and if you follow that black top, it will take you behind Kyle, near Spud Creek. Off to your left, youll see a solitary, white frame church, sitting in the middle of a big field, its a tall steeple pointing majestically at the blue Dakota Skies. This is an old Catholic Church named St. Stevens.

Theres a graveyard in front of that church and carved on one of the markers it says, Jake Herman, born January 13, 1890  Died January 20, 1969.

This is the final resting place of one of the best know rodeo clowns in the West. A few years before he passed on, while a patient in the Veterans administration Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska, he told a reporter from the Omaha World Herald, Im not ready to cash in my chips yet. I have a daughter named Faith, one named Hope and Ive got to stick around long enough for another one so I can name her Charity.

Well, much to his chagrin, he never did have that daughter to name Charity. His other two daughters scattered to the far ends for this country, Faith in Farmington, New Mexico and Hope in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Jake Herman and his mule. Photo from State Historical Society of North Dakota

Jake was the last of a dying breed. Brone buster, calf roper, bull rider and dogger, fancy rope spinner and all around cowboy. It didnt take long for him to discover that his serious attempts at rodeoing brought howls of laughter from the crowds.

At first, Jake didnt like the idea of people laughing at him; but with his usual good nature, he decided to make the most of it by becoming a serious rodeo clown. He would soon become one of the most famous rodeo clowns on the rodeo circuit.

Jake rode with jack Kings Wild West Show. Later in his career he joined the Rodeo Royal Circus. Clad in his baggy pants, swallow-tailed coat, flat Darby hat, putty nose and grubby, black whiskers, he was a sight to behold.

With a trick mule called creeping Jenny a trained dog named Tag and a de-fumed skunk called Stinky he brought the rodeo fans to their feet all the way from Montana to Nebraska Many a rodeo bull rider owed his hide to that ridiculous figure in the baggy pants.

Born to Antoine Herman, a round-up foreman and Elizabeth Clifford, an Oglala Sioux woman on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Jake said he attended more boarding schools and government schools than any Sioux alive.

The last school he attended was Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania became famous because of one of its former students named Jim Thorpe, a man voted athlete of the first 50 years of this century.

According to Jake, I quit school because I didnt want to show up Abraham Lincoln.

Copyright permission The Lakota Times

Join the ConversationIHS rejects plans for takeover of Sioux San without Rosebud

By Ernestine Chasing HawkNative Sun News Today Editor

ABERDEEN  A proposal for assumption of services at Sioux San Hospital via a 638 contract by the Great Plains Tribal Chairmens Health Board without the Rosebud Sioux Tribe was rejected last week.

Indian Health Service sent letters announcing their final decision to the leaders of the Rosebud, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and Oglala Sioux Tribe as well as the CEO of the GPTCHB.

IHSs letter dated January 29, 2019, states that the 638 contract submission does not satisfy the requirements of the ISDEAA and the implementing requirements and that IHS fully declines the proposal.

Among other reasons listed for rejecting the proposal was that: the proposal includes activities that cannot lawfully be carried out by the contractor.

According to IHS, on April 20, 2018, the GPTCHB submitted a letter of intent providing notice they would begin incurring costs ($500,000) necessary to plan, prepare for the assumption of operation of Sioux San Hospital and all phases of the construction of the replacement facility via a Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act Title I contract or 638 contract.

Also in April three identical resolutions were presented to IHS from the Rosebud, Cheyenne River and Oglala Lakota Nations, who have statutory oversight of Sioux San Hospital, giving authority to the GPTCHB to negotiate for the 638 contracts.

Great Plains also sent another letter on April 20, 2018, in which they sought an informal review of their eligibility to participate in the Self-governance program.

Leaders of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe held a historic meeting on the Rosebud Reservation in January 2019 to discuss the future of an Indian Health Service hospital in South Dakota. Photo by Ernestine Chasing Hawk / Native Sun News Today

IHS states that four days later on April 24, 2018. IHS Office of Tribal Self-Governance met with GPTCHB and notified them that they did not meet the eligibility criterion for demonstrating, for a 3-year period, financial stability and financial management capacity, as required by law.

On September 27, 2018, IHS received a proposal from GPTCHB for assumption of operation of the Rapid City Service Unit including Sioux San Hospital and Headquarters tribal shares, pursuant to Title I of the [ISDEAA].

Negotiations over the proposed assumption were held on October 23-24, November 27-28, and December 17-19.

However, on December 18, 2018, the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council voted to reconsider and rescind their resolutions 2018-116 and 117 which originally authorized the GPTCHB to enter into ISDEAA agreements on their behalf.

GPTCHB was notified on December 21, 2018, that IHS declined the GPTCHB services proposal in full because it no longer satisfies Indian Self Determination regulations based on the ground that the proposal could not be lawfully carried out due to the rescinded Rosebud Sioux Tribe resolution.

On January 10, 2019, GPTCHB submitted a letter and amended resolutions from the Cheyenne River and Oglala Sioux Tribes stating they planned to move ahead without the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. However IHS states that a new proposal was not submitted.

The GPTCHB also submitted a letter ignoring the full declination of its services proposal that had been sent December 21, 2018, (which clearly explained that a new proposal tailored to providing services only to OST and the CRST would be required if the GPTCHB wished to pursue a contract to serve only those two tribes) and purporting to provide an extension of the deadline for IHS to award or decline that proposal to February 8, 2019.

Background

IHS explained that plans for a replacement facility began more than 26 years ago when the RCSU was selected for the Facilities Construction Priority System in 1992. Throughout the planning process for the replacement facility, IHS states that they met with Rapid City community members and representatives of the three authorizing tribes.

So in essence all of the planning completed over the past 26 years included services for members of all three tribes who have statutory oversight over Sioux San, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Oglala Sioux Tribe. In order for the GPTCHB to continue their plans to assume all activities at Sioux San they would have to start the planning process from the beginning which excludes service to members of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

Contact Ernestine Chasing Hawk at staffwriter@nativesunnews.today

Copyright permission Native Sun News Today

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Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.Larry Cothren's column, Dearest Socialism, misrepresents both Democrats and socialism. Merriam-Webster defines socialism as follows; 1. Economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods and 2. A system of society in which there is no private property.

Mr. Cothren seems to conflate the mere collection of income taxes as a confiscation of income and property  thus socialism. An acquaintance of mine told me that Obamacare was a taking from her to give to someone else. Ironically, her family has done very well in home building and construction. When a new development goes in, money is taken from all of us to repair the damaged back roads, build new roads for more traffic and build new schools.

Foxlandia  induced tunnel  vision misses the broader picture.

I know hundreds of Democrats and none advocate abolition of private property nor governmental control of the means of production.

Mr. Cothrens and the GOPs portrayal of Democrats having embraced socialism, open borders and lawlessness is a classic building of a strawman that is much easier to attack than the average real-life Democrat. In real life, we Democrats own property, stocks and are invested in our capitalist society.Hundreds of thousands of students and adults across the US state of Florida and beyond bowed their heads in a moment of silence to mark the first anniversary of the shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that left 17 people dead.

Its a permanent sore spot, said Fort Lauderdale High School junior Jake Lynch.

Forever, me going forward, Ill feel this day, and this time and those names.

It reminds me of where I want the world to be. 

From suffering, better things come out.

Expand Close Students at Fort Lauderdale High School pause to reflect (Wilfredo Lee/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Students at Fort Lauderdale High School pause to reflect (Wilfredo Lee/AP)

The massacre on February 14 2018 inflamed the national debate over guns, turned young people into political activists and gave rise to some of the biggest youth demonstrations since the Vietnam era.

The moment of silence at more than 1,000 Florida schools was held at 10.17am, though the shooting actually began around 2.20pm.

School officials picked a different time because Stoneman Douglas students were being dismissed early to avoid being on campus at the hour of the attack.

The time 10.17 was selected to denote the 17 killed.

Many Stoneman Douglas students arrived wearing the burgundy #MSDStrong T-shirts that have become an emblem of the tragedy.

Expand Close A memorial for the victims of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Photo: Emily Michot/Miami Herald/AP / Facebook

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Whatsapp A memorial for the victims of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Photo: Emily Michot/Miami Herald/AP

Outside, clear plastic figurines of angels were erected for each of the 14 students and three staff members killed.

Reporters were not allowed inside the school, but students worked on service projects as a way of trying to turn the tragedy into something positive, and grief counsellors and therapy dogs were made available along with massages and pedicures.

An interfaith service was scheduled for later in the day at a park nearby.

Freshmen Jayden Jaus and Matthew Sabia, both 14, helped mark the day by packing lunches for children in Haiti, putting rice, vitamins and soy into bags.

Many other Stoneman Douglas students skipped school. For some it was too emotional; others did not want to be in the spotlight.

Expand Close Stones at a memorial (Al Diaz/Miami Herald/AP) / Facebook

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Julia Brighton would not go inside, instead placing flowers at the outdoor memorial.

She said she suffered with nightmares for months.

Staying outside felt like it would be a better experience for me instead of being at school and putting myself through that, she said.

Alexis Grogan, a junior, said she was spending the day picking up beach rubbish, dedicating her work to those who died.

Expand Close Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Sophia Rothenberg, from left to right, her mother Cheryl Rothenberg and sister, Emma Rothenberg (Al Diaz/Miami Herald/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Sophia Rothenberg, from left to right, her mother Cheryl Rothenberg and sister, Emma Rothenberg (Al Diaz/Miami Herald/AP)

I survived something, and I dont want to waste what I call a second chance at life because those who have passed dont get that, she said.

We have to make a difference for them.

Classes were almost over last Valentines Day when authorities say 19-year-old former student Nikolas Cruz stormed the place with an AR-15 assault rifle.

Cruz, now 20, had a long history of emotional problems and threats.

He is awaiting trial.

It later emerged that fewer than 10% of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High students showed up for school on the anniversary.

The Broward County school district said 291 of the schools approximately 3,200 students attended.What Makes It Great: "She starts the scene with light and love, but also walking on eggshells because she doesn't want to upset him," says producer Lynette Howell Taylor. "She's vulnerable and playing all these levels. She talks to him about how she found the song that he started to write, and she asks him and he says to her in a very subtly acted moment that he wanted to wait to give it to her until he came back to her. It's a really big slight for her. She swallows down the shock and ultimately is able to turn the scene into these two people connecting. She's playing so beautifully and subtly and is so present in the scene."Vice President Mike Pence has accused Britain, France and Germany of trying to break US sanctions against Iran.

In an unusually blunt speech to a Middle East conference in Poland, Mr Pence called on European nations to join the US in withdrawing from the landmark 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.

He criticised the three countries and the European Union as a whole for remaining parties to the agreement after the Trump administration withdrew from it last year and reimposed tough sanctions on Iran.

The criticism threatened to further chill US-European ties which have already been badly strained, including over the Iran focus of the Warsaw conference co-hosted by the US and Poland.

Expand Close Vice President Mike Pence criticised European countries (Michael Sohn/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Vice President Mike Pence criticised European countries (Michael Sohn/AP)

France and Germany declined to send their top diplomats to the foreign minister-level meeting and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also stayed away.

Mr Pence was especially critical of Britain, France and Germany for unveiling last month a new financial mechanism that US officials believe is intended to keep the nuclear deal alive by evading American sanctions.

He praised other nations for complying with the sanctions by reducing Iranian oil imports but said the Europeans fell short.

Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative, Mr Pence said. In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions.

He said the mechanism, known as the special purpose vehicle, is an effort to break American sanctions against Irans murderous regime.

Its an ill-advised step that that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU, and create still more distance between Europe and the United States.

You can't achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran. It's just not possible.Mike Pompeo

Mr Pence then called for Europe to abandon the nuclear agreement.

The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us as we bring the economic and diplomatic pressure necessary to give the Iranian people, the region and the world the peace security and freedom they deserve, he said.

Earlier, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Iran the top security threat to the Middle East, and said confronting the country is key to reaching peace in the entire region.

Mr Pompeo, who met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the opening session of the conference, said pushing back against Iran was central to dealing with all the regions other problems.

You cant achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran. Its just not possible, Mr Pompeo said.

The US and Poland say the conference is aimed at promoting peace and security in the Middle East and discussing issues such as Syria, Yemen, the fight against the Islamic State, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, cyber crime and terrorism.

The conference was attended by representatives from numerous Arab countries but notable absences include Russia, China and the Palestinians, who have called for the meeting to be boycotted.

Iran has denounced the gathering as an American anti-Iran circus aimed at demonising it.In this Nov. 17, 2018, photo, a selection of Maserati cars, part of the 2018 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum transportation, are seen in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. About 270 cars are missing after the Nov. 2018 event or overdue. All 40 of the Maserati models have been accounted for. (Mick Tsikas/AAP via AP)

Police in Papua New Guinea are searching for scores of high-end cars that went missing after an international summit last year.

About 275 cars are still unaccounted for in the impoverished Pacific nation since it hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit in November.

Many residents denounced the country at the time for buying 40 expensive Maseratis to ferry around world leaders, cars which it later planned to sell. Although the Maseratis are now accounted for, other cars are not.

Police Superintendent Dennis Corcoran said he was hoping to pick up one of the missing cars, which somebody had tried to sell.

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The thief had disappeared, he said. The driver absconded. But we got the vehicle.

Mr Corcoran would not elaborate much on the operation due to delicate sensitivities around his work.

Since the summit, soldiers and police have blockaded government buildings and stormed parliament in an ongoing pay dispute over Apec security work.

With so many pressing needs in the nation of seven million people, many were dismayed at the amount of money spent on the summit, hosting leaders that included US vice president Mike Pence and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

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Mr Corcoran is heading a new police unit tasked with recovering all the state assets purchased for Apec in the three years leading up to the summit.

In a statement this week announcing the formation of the unit, he said he would address the ongoing misuse and abuse of state assets that were bought using the peoples money.

He said the goods had been purchased by government agencies and then claimed by certain individuals through unlawful means.

He asked people to return the cars and other assets immediately and for the public to provide information to help the police.

Officers also announced this week that they had arrested one Apec officer who had used his position to enter the Port Moresby wharf to pry open the fuel caps of parked Apec cars and siphon petrol from them.

Port Moresby, the capital, has been described by the World Bank as among the worlds most violent cities due to high unemployment and brazen criminal gangs known as raskols.

Basic medicines are scarce in Papua New Guinea and polio, eliminated from most countries, has returned.The U.S. Congress on Thursday aimed to end a dispute over border security with legislation that would ignore President Donald Trump's request for $5.7 billion to help build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border but avoid a partial government shutdown.

Late on Wednesday, negotiators put the finishing touches on legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, along with a range of other federal agencies.

Racing against a Friday midnight deadline, when operating funds expire for the agencies that employ about 800,000 workers at the DHS, the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice and others, the Senate and House of Representatives aimed to pass the legislation later on Thursday.

That would give Trump time to review the measure and sign it into law before temporary funding for about one-quarter of the government expires.

Failure to do so would shutter many government programs, from national parks maintenance and air traffic controller training programs to the collection and publication of important data for financial markets, for the second time this year.

"This agreement denies funding for President Trumps border wall and includes several key measures to make our immigration system more humane," House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, a Democrat, said in a statement.

According to congressional aides, the final version of legislation would give the Trump administration $1.37 billion in new money to help build 55 miles (88.5 km) of new physical barriers on the southwest border, far less than what Trump had been demanding.

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It is the same level of funding Congress appropriated for border security measures last year, including barriers but not concrete walls.

Since he ran for office in 2016, Trump has been demanding billions of dollars to build a wall on the southwest border, saying "crisis" conditions required a quick response to stop the flow of illegal drugs and undocumented immigrants, largely from Central America.

He originally said Mexico would pay for a 2,000-mile (3,200-km) concrete wall - an idea that Mexico dismissed.

Trump has not yet said whether he would sign the legislation into law if the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and Republican-led Senate approve it, even as many of his fellow Republicans in Congress were urging him to do so.

Instead, he said on Wednesday he would hold off on a decision until he examines the final version of legislation.

But Trump, widely blamed for a five-week shutdown that ended in January, said he did not want to see federal agencies close again because of fighting over funds for the wall.

'NATIONAL EMERGENCY'

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who is in regular contact with the White House, said Trump was "inclined to take the deal and move on."

But Graham also told reporters that Trump would then look elsewhere to find more money to build a border wall and was "very inclined" to declare a national emergency to secure the funds for the project.

Such a move likely would spark a court battle, as it is Congress and not the president that mainly decides how federal funds get spent. Several leading Republicans have cautioned Trump against taking the unilateral action.

Under the bill, the government could hire 75 new immigrant judge teams to help reduce a huge backlog in cases and hundreds of additional border patrol agents.

Hoping to reduce violence and economic distress in Central America that fuels immigrant asylum cases in the United States, the bill also provides $527 million to continue humanitarian assistance to those countries.

The House Appropriations Committee said the bill would set a path for reducing immigrant detention beds to about 40,520 by the end of the fiscal year, down from a current count of approximately 49,060.

Democrats sought reductions, arguing that would force federal agents to focus on apprehending violent criminals and repeat offenders and discourage arrests of undocumented immigrants for minor traffic violations, for example.

The Senate Appropriations Committee, which is run by Republicans, said there were provisions in the bill that could result in an increase in detention beds from last year.

Lowey said the bill would improve medical care and housing of immigrant families in detention and expand a program providing alternatives to detention.

The wide-ranging bill also contains some important domestic initiatives, including a $1.2 billion increase in infrastructure investments for roads, bridges and other ground transport, as well as more for port improvements.

With the 2020 decennial census nearing, the bill provides a $1 billion increase for the nationwide count. Also, federal workers, battered by the record 35-day partial government shutdown that began on Dec. 22 as Trump held out for wall funding, would get a 1.9 percent pay increase if the bill becomes law.Wanted: The United States issued this ID poster of Monica Witt yesterday, with the former Air Force counter-intelligence officer having defected to Iran in 2013. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

A US Air Force officer has defected to Iran and shared information that could cause "serious damage" to America's national security, officials have revealed.

The former Air Force intelligence specialist was charged with espionage and accused of working for Iran, according to a federal indictment.

The announcement arrived after Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C Demers and other senior officials held a media call to discuss what they called "a national security-related action involving Iran".

They discussed the unsealed indictment against Monica Witt, a former counter-intelligence officer for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

Witt defected to Iran nearly six years ago in 2013.

Also charged are four Iranian hackers. Prosecutors say they targeted former colleagues of Witt's in the intelligence community. The charges say the four Iranians were acting on behalf of the government-linked Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

"It is a sad day for America when one of its citizens betrays our country," said Mr Demers, the head of the Justice Department's national security division.

Witt remains at large. The 39-year-old "has been indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia for conspiracy to deliver and delivering national defence information to representatives of the Iranian government," according to the indictment revealed yesterday.

"Witt, who defected to Iran in 2013, is alleged to have assisted Iranian intelligence services in targeting her former fellow agents in the US Intelligence Community. Witt is also alleged to have disclosed the code name and classified mission of a US Department of Defence Special Access Programme," the indictment continues.

A warrant has been placed for her arrest.

The four hackers, Mojtaba Masoumpour, Behzad Mesri, Hossein Parvar and Mohamad Paryar, have also been charged with conspiracy, attempts to commit computer intrusion and aggravated identity theft.

Their alleged crimes date back to 2014-2015, in which they are charged with "using fictional and imposter social media accounts and working on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, sought to deploy malware that would provide them covert access to the targets' computers and networks". The hackers, referred to in the indictment as "Cyber Conspirators," also remain at large and have warrants placed for their arrests.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the agency was taking action against "malicious Iranian cyber actors and covert operations that have targeted Americans at home and overseas".

He also announced sanctions against Tehran-based organisation New Horizon.

"New Horizon hosts international conferences that have provided Iranian intelligence officers a platform to collect damaging information from attendees, while propagating anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial," he said. ( Independent News Service)Moneysupermarket.coms Bruce Carnegie-Brown is to step down as chairman after five years at the group.

Mr Carnegie-Brown, who has chaired the price comparison websites board since 2014, was appointed chairman of insurance market Lloyds of London in 2017 and is also vice-chairman of Spanish lender Banco Santander.

He will be replaced by Robin Freestone at the companys annual general meeting on May 9.

Mr Freestone has been a non-executive director of Moneysupermarket since 2015 and was previously chief financial officer of media company Pearson.

Mr Carnegie-Brown said: It has been a privilege to chair Moneysupermarket group over the last five years and to have served on the board for nine years.

Robin is the ideal person to work with the management team on the next phase of the companys development. I am confident of the companys continuing success.

The news comes as the FTSE 250-listed firm reported a double-digit increase in profits due to higher sales from customers switching energy providers.

Moneysupermarket also said that it will return another 40 million to shareholders this year.

Pre-tax profit for 2018 increased 11% to 106.9 million as revenue rose 8% to 355.6 million.

The company estimates that it saved customers a record 2.1 billion in 2018, up from 2 billion a year earlier.

While the number of active customers on its website slipped to 12.9 million from 13.2 million, revenue per active user grew to 15.90 from 14.88.

The company said trading in the first six weeks of the new year has been encouraging and it expects to meet market expectations for 2019.

Chief executive Mark Lewis said: In 2018 we made great progress on our Reinvent strategy. As well as growing the business, we helped save customers a record 2.1 billion. Our investment in optimising our sites means we have made saving even easier.

In 2019 we are taking price comparison to the next stage by offering people more personalised ways to save and on more of their household bills.Paul Manafort, Donald Trumps former campaign chairman, was found to have lied to investigators in the Russia probe (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Paul Manafort intentionally lied to investigators and a federal grand jury in the Russia probe, a judge has ruled.

The ruling by US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson was another loss for the former Trump campaign chairman, who faces years in prison in two separate criminal cases stemming from special counsel Robert Muellers investigation.

It hurts Manaforts chance of receiving a reduced sentence, though the judge said she would decide the exact impact during his sentencing next month.

The four-page order resolves a dispute that had provided new insight into how Mr Mueller views Manaforts actions as part of his broader probe of Russian election interference and any possible coordination with associates of US president Donald Trump.

The judge found there was sufficient evidence to say Manafort broke his plea agreement by lying about three of five matters that prosecutors had singled out.

That included his misleading the FBI, prosecutors and a federal grand jury about his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik, his co-defendant who the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence.

Prosecutors had accused Manafort of lying about his discussions with Kilimnik about a possible Ukrainian peace plan.

During a sealed hearing, Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said one of the discussions  a meeting on August 2, 2016 at the Grand Havana Club cigar bar in New York  went to the larger view of what we think is going on and what we think the motive here is.

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This goes, I think, very much to the heart of what the Special Counsels Office is investigating, Mr Weissmann said, adding: That meeting and what happened at that meeting is of significance to the special counsel.

The meeting occurred while Manafort was still in a high-ranking role in the Trump campaign. Rick Gates, Manaforts longtime deputy and also a Trump campaign aide, also attended.

Prosecutors also accused Manafort of lying about sharing polling data with Kilimnik during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Manaforts lawyers had argued that he did not intentionally mislead investigators but rather forgot some details until his memory was refreshed.

They also said the special counsel had not shown that the topic at issue was material to the investigation.

In her ruling, the judge said prosecutors did not sufficiently back up two allegations against Manafort, saying she could not find that he intentionally lied about Kilimniks role in witness tampering or what Manafort told investigators about his contacts with the Trump administration.Detectives believe she could be linked to the disappearance of up to seven people. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Russian police are investigating whether an 80-year-old woman is a serial killer after her lodger's dismembered body parts were found in her fridge.

The retired farm worker was arrested after the 52-year-old victim's remains were discovered in the village of Berezovka, in the south-eastern Khabarovsk territory.

Detectives believe she could be linked to the disappearance of up to seven people.

Police launched an investigation on January 30 after stray dogs were seen fighting over body parts, including a human hand, torn out of packages dumped in the street, according to Russian newspaper 'Moskovskij Komsomolets'.

Khabarovsk's Investigative Committee said the victim was identified through his fingerprints as the elderly woman's tenant, named in local media as Ukrainian caretaker Vasily Shlyakhtich.

Police found traces of Mr Shlyakhtich's blood during a search of her flat and reportedly discovered his organs and flesh in the fridge.

Neighbours told police they heard loud banging "as if someone was chopping something hard with an axe" on the day of the alleged murder, according to local news website DVHAB.

The arrested woman reportedly slaughtered pigs as part of her farm work.

During a search of her home, police also found the passport of a woman who disappeared several years ago. Investigators now believe she may have been murdered.

They are also probing if the arrested woman could be linked to the disappearance six others who have gone missing in Berezovka in recent years.Catalan separatist and right-wing politicians in the Spanish parliament's lower house have rejected the ruling Socialist government's 2019 budget plan, paving the way for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call an early election.

The 191-158 vote, with one abstention, opened a new crisis in Spanish politics. Members of Mr Sanchez's cabinet had signalled a defeat in the budget vote would lead to a fresh general election.

The only other time a Spanish government lost a budget vote, in 1995, the Socialists were forced to dissolve parliament and call an election.

The prime minister's office said Mr Sanchez plans to announce his decision after the weekly cabinet meeting on Friday.

Opposition leader Pablo Casado, head of the conservative People's Party, said yesterday's vote was "a de facto confidence vote against Pedro Sanchez".

Catalan deputies from pro-independence parties had demanded to open talks on the north-eastern region's self-determination in exchange for supporting Mr Sanchez's spending proposal, but the centre-left minority government rejected the demand.

Expand Close Podemos politician Irene Moreno. Photo: AFP/Getty Images / Facebook

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The Socialist party holds only 84 seats in the 350-seat lower house. Its votes and those of the anti-austerity Podemos party weren't enough to counter a majority of centre-right, conservative and smaller parties voting in favour of six blanket objections.

Mr Sanchez became prime minister in June when the Catalans joined Podemos and other smaller parties in backing a no-confidence vote against his conservative predecessor Mariano Rajoy.

Without parliamentary support, Mr Sanchez's government can't pass significant legislation and would need to prolong Mr Rajoy's 2018 spending plan. That leaves the centre-left administration without funds for social policies that are key to retaining Podemos support.

Mr Sanchez rushed out of the lower house's chamber shortly after the vote, dodging questions from reporters.

Finance minister Maria Jesus Montero said it made sense for Mr Sanchez's term in office, which normally would end next year, to be shortened following the budget rejection - but that it was up to the prime minister himself to decide if and when to call an election early.

"We want elections now," Albert Rivera, leader of the centre-right Citizens party, said after the vote.

Talks between Mr Sanchez's government and a new separatist coalition that took power in Catalonia after 2017's failed independence push broke down last week when the government refused to accept self-determination talks.

"Sooner or later we will have to negotiate a solution, a democratic solution," said Joan Tarda, a prominent Catalan pro-independence politician.

The People's and Citizens parties, along with members of the emerging far-right party Vox, have urged Mr Sanchez to step down for relying on support from separatist Catalan representatives to remain in government.

The trial of a dozen politicians and activists who drove a breakaway attempt in Catalonia in the fall of 2017 began on Tuesday.

Their prosecution has angered many supporters of the region's independence from Spain.

On the second day of the politically charged trial, a Supreme Court prosecutor criticised what he said were defence lawyers' attempts to turn the proceedings into an examination of the Spanish state and judiciary.

Prosecutor Javier Zaragoza called the arguments made a day earlier "ridiculous" and "unjustified". Defence lawyers said on Tuesday the case was politically motivated and an attempt to eliminate dissent in Catalonia.

The 12 Catalan politicians and activists face years behind bars if they are convicted of rebellion or other charges for having pushed ahead with a unilateral independence declaration that started an unprecedented political crisis in Spain.

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.Zofija Kaczan who suffered multiple injuries in an attack and later died in hospital Photo credit: Stacia Fitzsimmons/PA Wire

A man has been handed a 15-year prison sentence for killing a 100-year-old Nazi prison camp survivor in a street robbery.

Artur Waszkiewicz attacked Zofija Kaczan from behind as she was walking to church - knocking her to the ground, snatching her handbag and leaving her bleeding in the road on May 28 last year.

Polish-born widow Ms Kaczan was originally sentenced to death on her birthday by the Nazis in her home country - but her life was instead ended by the drug addict who needed 20 to buy heroin.

Ms Kaczan suffered multiple injuries in the robbery, including a fractured neck and cheekbone.

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She died from pneumonia in hospital on June 6 - a condition brought on by the injuries from the attack close to the junction of St Chads Road and Empress Road in Normanton, Derby.

Waszkiewicz, of Hilary Road in Shepherd's Bush, west London, was unanimously convicted of manslaughter and robbery by a jury at Derby Crown Court on Wednesday.

As the 40-year-old was sentenced on Thursday, Waszkiewicz, who was also born in Poland, bowed his head throughout the sentencing hearing flanked by one dock officer.

The mugger's latest convictions have been added to a series of other offences - including battery, shoplifting, creating fake identity documents and motoring offences.

After striking Ms Kaczan from behind, Waszkiewicz then snatched her green handbag with so much force that the handle was ripped off and the pensioner was left with severe bruising on her arm.

Jailing Waszkiewicz, Judge Nicholas Dean QC said: "In this trial, you demonstrated the arrogance of the cowardly petty criminal you are.

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"The evidence you faced overwhelmingly showed you to have been the man who attacked Zofija Kaczan on May 28 last year, soon after her 100th birthday.

"True to your nature as a petty criminal and heroin addict, this was opportunist crime of the meanest, most despicable type."

The judge continued: "You are a coward. Of course, you did not know that Mrs Kaczan was as old as 100 years, but you certainly knew she was elderly, and you could see that she was diminutive - she was vulnerable and that you knew full well when you chose to attack her.

"You pushed her from behind with considerable force and at the same time you snatched her handbag, again with considerable force.

"All this for modest gain and for you to satisfy your craving for heroin.

"There is tragic irony in the fact that Mrs Kaczan had survived the unimaginable horror of a Nazi concentration camp and slave labour, as well as imminent execution - only to meet her end because of the cowardly and sordid actions of a petty criminal and drug addict on the streets of Derby."

The judge added: "Mrs Kaczan would not have wanted her life to be defined by the circumstances of her death. She had prayed for and forgiven her attacker which is testament to the good person she was."

Ms Kaczan had been separated from her family during the war but had managed to "find peace" with her husband when she moved to Derby in 1948.

Friends said she did not want to celebrate her 100th birthday because the day marked the same date she had been sentenced to death by the Nazis.

Police arrested Waszkiewicz after finding his fingerprint on a receipt in the handbag and spotting his Seat Leon car on CCTV at the scene at the time of the attack.

He attempted to cover his tracks in the days following the robbery - cleaning his car, drastically altering his appearance and changing the insurance details on the car.

Despite his efforts, the killer was arrested after he was found hiding under a bed at his mother's address in Shepherd's Bush.

When questioned by police, Waszkiewicz originally said he was too unfit to be interviewed due to his withdrawal from heroin.

His trial heard he was so desperate to find cash for drugs that he had tried to sell his dog, and asked neighbour John Shinners for money.

He needed an "easy target" to steal from and decided to pick on "small, vulnerable" Ms Kaczan.

After Waszkiewicz's conviction, a spokeswoman for the Polish community of St Maksymilian Kolbe, the church Ms Kaczan attended, said: "She had a very difficult early life. Coming to Derby in 1949, she had found a degree of stability and tranquillity. That tranquillity was shattered by the brutal events of May 28 2018.

"Despite the pain and suffering that she was in for the last week of her life, she had the capacity to pray for her attacker before she died. We believe she has found peace in the arms of her Heavenly Father."Undated handout photo issued by the Metropolitan Police of east London schoolgirl Shamima Begum, who left Britain as a 15-year-old to join the Islamic State group and is now heavily pregnant and wants to come home. Metropolitan Police/PA Wire

The British security minister has ruled out launching a rescue mission to Syria after an east London schoolgirl declared that she wanted to return to the UK four years after she joined Islamic State.

Ben Wallace said he would not put British lives at risk to "go and look for terrorists or former terrorists", adding that "actions have consequences".

His comments came after Shamima Begum gave an interview from a refugee camp in northern Syria saying she wanted to come home.

She was one of three schoolgirls, along with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, from Bethnal Green Academy who left the UK in February 2015.

They flew from Gatwick Airport to Turkey and later crossed the border into Syria.

Another girl, Sharmeena Begum, also from Bethnal Green but not related to Shamima, had travelled to Syria two months earlier.

Ms Sultana was reported to have been killed in an air strike in 2016.

Shamima Begum said she had recently heard second-hand that the other two girls may still be alive.

She told 'The Times' that "I don't regret coming here", adding: "I'm not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago."

Now 19, she said she was nine months pregnant with her third child. Her other two children have died.

"In the end, I just could not endure any more," she said. "I just couldn't take it.

"Now all I want to do is come home to Britain."

Expand Close Undated handout file still taken from CCTV issued by the Metropolitan Police of (left to right) 15-year-old Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Shamima Begum before catching a flight to Turkey in 2015 to join the Islamic State group, Shamima Begum is now heavily pregnant and wants to come home. Metropolitan Police/PA Wire / Facebook

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Whatsapp Undated handout file still taken from CCTV issued by the Metropolitan Police of (left to right) 15-year-old Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Shamima Begum before catching a flight to Turkey in 2015 to join the Islamic State group, Shamima Begum is now heavily pregnant and wants to come home. Metropolitan Police/PA Wire

Ms Begum was married 10 days after arriving in Raqqa in 2015 to a Dutchman who had converted to Islam.

She said: "Mostly it was a normal life in Raqqa, every now and then bombing and stuff.

"But when I saw my first severed head in a bin it didn't faze me at all. It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam. I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance."

The couple left Raqqa in 2017 and two weeks ago they escaped from Baghuz, IS's last territory in eastern Syria.

Ms Begum's husband surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters, while she is now one of 39,000 people in a refugee camp in the north of the country.

Mr Wallace said: "The UK advises against all travel to Syria and parts of Iraq.

"Everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police to determine if they have committed criminal offences, and to ensure that they do not pose a threat to our national security."

While refusing to comment on individual cases, he later told the BBC: "I'm not putting at risk British people's lives to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed state.

"There's consular services elsewhere in the region and the strong message this government has given for many years is that actions have consequences."

Ms Begum's brother-in-law Mohammed Rehman told Mail Online that the family had spoken to her on the phone.

He said: "It was very emotional. There's a mixture of elation and sorrow. We are happy that she's alive but sad that things have come to this.

"She's lost two children and put us all through a lot of heart ache. She's also gone through a very difficult time herself.

"Shamima's mother broke down when she heard her voice. Until the interview with her appeared in the newspaper we didn't know if she was alive or not. So you can imagine, this has come as a shock to us all.

Expand Close Undated handout still taken from CCTV issued by the Metropolitan Police of east London schoolgirl Shamima Begum, going through security at Gatwick airport, before catching a flight to Turkey in 2015 to join the Islamic State group, she is now heavily pregnant and wants to come home. Metropolitan Police/PA Wire / Facebook

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Whatsapp Undated handout still taken from CCTV issued by the Metropolitan Police of east London schoolgirl Shamima Begum, going through security at Gatwick airport, before catching a flight to Turkey in 2015 to join the Islamic State group, she is now heavily pregnant and wants to come home. Metropolitan Police/PA Wire

"At one stage we thought she was dead. There has been no contact with her in almost two years. Shamima's mum just cried and told her to come home. She promised to make her her favourite food.

"We want her to come back so that she can be re-educated. As a family we can't understand how her head was turned like this and why she thought going to Syria was a good idea.

"I can understand why people in this country are angry and don't want her back. What she's done doesn't portray Islam in a good light. But she was only 15 when she went to Syria. We are appealing for compassion and understanding on her behalf."

The former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Lord Carlile, told BBC Radio 5 Live's Emma Barnett that Shamima Begum will have to be accepted back into the UK if she has not become a national of any other country.

The question of how authorities manage the return of UK nationals who travelled to IS territory has been the subject of fierce debate since the group came to prominence.

In 2017, then Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation Max Hill QC, who is now the most senior prosecutor in England and Wales, suggested allowances could be made for the return of individuals such as the Bethnal Green schoolgirls.

Speaking around a year before his appointment as Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Hill said it was right for security services to leave space for those who travelled out of a sense of naivety, at a young age and who return in a "state of utter disillusionment" to be diverted away from the criminal courts.

Clarifying his comments shortly after, Mr Hill stressed that he had at no time said that returning "foreign fighters" should be "welcomed rather than prosecuted".

He said: "I indicated that we should allow some space for individuals who do not fit into the categories requiring the legal sanctions I have listed, but who may be very young and naive; by which I mean for example the teenage girls who left a London Academy school in order to travel to Syria via Iraq.

"Even such teenagers would not escape prosecution if there is evidence that they have committed serious criminal offences, but if not, surely we should make an allowance for their return in circumstances where they were simply brainwashed, as immature and vulnerable teenagers."

The British government estimates that around 900 people "of national security concern" travelled from the UK to engage in the conflict in Syria and Iraq.

Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer who was instructed by the Bethnal Green girls' families after they ran away, said he was "glad (Ms Begum) is alive and safe".

He told the Press Association that, at the time of the girls' disappearance, "the position of the Metropolitan Police was that they should be treated as victims, so long as they hadn't committed any further offences while they are out there".

Mr Akunjee said he had spoken to the girls' families, who had "expressed the position that they want time and space to process what's happened".As a screenwriter hes compelled by how one buried secret or hidden source of shame can provoke an action, then a reaction, then another, and suddenly the past is the present and the future doesnt look so good. His nearly perfect drama A Separation, which won the foreign-language Oscar, may be his best known film internationally, but the ones of his Ive seen including and since Fireworks Wednesday (2006) have been remarkably consistent in tone, theme and quality.President Donald Trump has indicated he is prepared to sign the government funding bill and issue a national emergency decree on the border, a leading Republican has said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the US Senate will soon vote on the bill that is needed to avoid a partial federal shutdown on Friday.

The comprise measure keeps departments running through the fiscal year but without the 5.7 billion US dollars Mr Trump wanted for the border wall with Mexico.

The House is also expected to vote on the bill later.

Mr Trumps assent would end a raucous legislative saga that commenced before Christmas and saw Mr Trump force a record 35-day partial US federal shutdown.

Mr McConnell also said he would support Mr Trumps emergency declaration, a change from the Republican, who like Democrats and many Republicans has until now opposed such a declaration.

The emergency declaration will inject the likelihood of fresh conflict between Congress and Mr Trump over his efforts to build barriers along the boundary with Mexico.

Opponents have said there is no crisis at the border and Mr Trump is merely sidestepping Congress.

The Republican-controlled Senate began voting on the agreement on Wednesday, and passage by that chamber and the Democratic-led controlled seemed certain.

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Mr Trump had signalled he would sign the bill but it was unclear until Mr McConnells announcement if he would do so, prompting some politicians to voice concern.

Lets all pray that the president will have wisdom to sign the bill so the government doesnt shut down, said Senator Charles Grassley, chiming in after a guest chaplain opened Thursdays session.

Mr Trumps assent would end a raucous legislative saga that commenced before Christmas and was ending, almost fittingly, on Valentines Day.

The low point was the historically long 35-day partial federal shutdown, which Mr Trump sparked and was in full force when Democrats took control of the House, compelling him to share power for the first time.

Mr Trump yielded on the shutdown on January 25 after public opinion turned against him and congressional Republicans.

Statement on Government Funding Bill: pic.twitter.com/DrNv9D4rEi  Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) February 14, 2019

It was a political fiasco for Mr Trump and an early triumph for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Mr Trump made building a wall on the southern border his signature policy in his 2016 successful election campaign against Hillary Clinton.

The recent deadlock comes as Democrats hoping to challenge for the White House in 2020 have started to declare their intention to seek the partys nomination.

The White House confirmed Mr Trump will sign a bill averting a potential partial government shutdown at the end of the week.

Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Mr Trump will also take other executive action  including a national emergency as he seeks to keep his border wall pledge.

Ms Sanders said: The President is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country.

The top two Democrats in Congress said Mr Trumps upcoming move to declare a national emergency to fund his wall would be a lawless act and a gross abuse of the power of the presidency.

Ms Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement that Congress will defend our constitutional authorities.

Ms Pelosi has the ability to pass legislation to overturn any such move by Mr Trump, and that measure could pass the Republican-held Senate as well, though Mr Trump could veto it.

Mr Trumps move would also face a certain court challenge.

Ms Pelosi and Mr Schumer said: This is not an emergency, and the presidents fearmongering doesnt make it one.Undated handout photo issued by AstraZeneca of one of its scientists at work in a laboratory as the drugs group revealed falling annual profits, but said a strong performance in the final quarter confirmed a return to growth.

Drugs giant AstraZeneca has revealed falling annual profits, but said a strong performance in the final quarter underscored a return to growth.

The group reported a 17% fall in core operating profits to 5.7 billion US dollars (4.4 billion) for 2018.

Pre-tax profits fell 14% with exchange rates stripped out, to 2 billion US dollars (1.6 billion).

But the firm said a very strong end to the year saw total fourth-quarter revenues rise 14% with currency effects stripped out to 6.4 billion US dollars (5 billion), while core earnings lifted 23% to 2.2 billion US dollars (1.7 billion).

Expand Close Pascal Soriot (AstraZeneca/PA) / Facebook

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Fourth-quarter pre-tax profits rose 69% at constant currency to 730 million US dollars (567 million).

Shares lifted 3% as the fourth-quarter results beat analyst expectations.

The group also gave a bullish outlook for the year ahead, forecasting product sales growing by a high single-digit percentage and core operating profits rising by a mid-teens percentage.

Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, said: Closing the year with another strong quarter, our performance confirmed that AstraZeneca has returned to growth.

Our strategy and plans remain unchanged, with sales growth and a focus on cost management anticipated to drive growing operating profit.

Im pleased that we are fully on track to meet these commitments as we build a sustainable level of growth and a pipeline that is benefiting more and more patients around the world.

Astra said it had made extensive preparations for a no-deal Brexit, but confirmed its 2019 guidance is based on the UKs withdrawal from the EU proceeding in an orderly manner  even in the event that there is no agreement.

The groups return to growth has been driven by a surge in sales across China  up 25% at constant exchange rates to 3.8 billion US dollars (3 billion) over 2018  as well as demand for its new cancer medicines.

Oncology sales leapt 49% higher at constant exchange rates to six billion US dollars (4.7 billion) last year.

Graham Doyle, an analyst at Liberum, said: Having seen sales return to growth in 2018, in 2019 we will finally see signs of operating leverage.

Core operating profit will grow at a mid-teens rate, clearly ahead of sales, thanks to operating expenses which will only grow at low single digits.Indian soldiers examine the debris after an explosion in Lethpora in south Kashmir's Pulwama district February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Younis Khaliq

A suicide bomber rammed a car into a bus carrying Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir, killing 44 of them in the deadliest attack in decades on security forces in the disputed region, further raising tensions with Pakistan.

The Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack. The Indian government accused Pakistan of letting militant groups operate from its soil and called on it to take action.

Islamabad said it rejected the suggestion it was linked to the attack.

Kashmir is a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan. The neighbours both rule parts of the region while claiming the entire territory as theirs.

The explosion targeting a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was heard from several miles away, according to witnesses.

Mohammad Yunis, a journalist who reached the site minutes later, told Reuters he saw blood and body parts scattered along a 100-metre stretch of the main highway running through the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

"We demand that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries," the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement, hours after the attack.

Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the attack a matter of "grave concern".

But in a brief statement early on Friday, local time, it added: "We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian government and media circles that seek to link the attack to the State of Pakistan without investigations."

Islamabad has previously denied New Delhi's accusations that it gives material help to the militants fighting Indian rule in Muslim-majority Kashmir. It says it gives only moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in their struggle for self-determination.

Television images showed a mangled car amid rubble and snow around the site. Reuters photos showed tens of policemen surveying damaged vehicles and one policeman was seen carrying a plastic cover with guns inside.

The death toll stood at 44, a senior police official said.

The Central Reserve Force Police is a paramilitary organisation that is working with the Indian military to quell the 30-year insurgency in Kashmir.

"I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet.

Indian forces have sporadically battled Islamist militants in mountainous Kashmir since an armed revolt in 1989 in which tens of thousands were killed, but car bombings are rare.

A video circulating on social mediapurportedly featured the suicide bomber, and showed a young man holding a gun and threatening more attacks. Reuters was not able to independently verify the authenticity of the video.

The Indian foreign ministry accused the Pakistani government of giving the militant group Jaish a free run in Pakistan, saying it has allowed the group's leader, Masood Azhar, "to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity".

The last major attack in Kashmir was in 2016 when militants raided an Indian army camp in Uri, killing 20 soldiers.

Tension with Pakistan rose after that incident when New Delhi said the attackers had come from Pakistan to stage the assault. Pakistan denied any involvement.

Modi Under Pressure

The attack could put Modi, who faces a general election due by May, under political pressure to act against the militants and Pakistan.

Randeep Singh Surjewala, a spokesman for the main opposition Congress party, accused Modi of compromising on security.

"Zero political action & Zero policy to tackle terror has led to an alarming security situation," Surjewala said in one of a series of tweets.

Kanwal Sibal, a former top diplomat, said a diplomatic response from India would not be enough.

"They will have to do something otherwise I think it will be very difficult for government to absorb this blow and be seen to be doing nothing," Sibal told Reuters.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad group is one of the most powerful militant groups operating in Kashmir. It was blamed for a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament that led to India deploying its military on the border with Pakistan.

In a statement carried by GNS news agency, a spokesman for the group said dozens of security force vehicles were destroyed in the attack.

Arun Jaitley, a senior minister in Modi's cabinet, said India would retaliate, tweeting that "terrorists will be given unforgettable lesson for their heinous act".

The US ambassador to India, Ken Juster, condemned the attack, saying in a tweet that Washington stands alongside India in confronting terror and defeating it".

On Wednesday, an explosion at a school in Kashmir wounded a dozen students. The cause of the blast remains unclear.

( Reuters - Additional reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal in New Delhi Writing by Sanjeev Miglani and Sudarshan Varadhan. Editing by Frances Kerry)Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Port-au-Prince in Haiti to protest against the government. They are calling on President Jovenel Moise to quit.We must all be invested in lowering carbon footprints

Food and shelter are basic human rights. Producing them leaves a substantial carbon footprint. However, without them we cannot exist. The best way to drastically reduce this carbon footprint is to remain local: grow local, manufacture local, build local, educate local, shop local, stay local. The only way to promote local is to invest in the local economy and incentivise local production.

The carbon footprint of local production and local consumption is nothing compared to the carbon footprint of globalisation, centralisation, and international trade and travel: imported electricity produced by burning fossil fuels; food produced in large overseas chemically treated monocultures; urban concentration and pollution, air and sea traffic including our holidays abroad.

The consumer, not the producer, controls the carbon footprint. But the policy-makers have it in their hand to steer both, by enabling or disabling local production and consumption. Instead of giving out about greenhouse gases on the farms of rural Ireland, reward biodiversity and penalise monoculture. Make renewable energy cheaper than fossil energy, incentivise cost- and energy-efficient Universal Design for affordable housing. Provide public transport in rural areas instead of forcing people to drive or driving people into more urbanised areas, create and retain jobs and multi-purpose amenities like post offices, schools, banks, health centres, shops, mobile coverage and broadband to reduce car travel.

The producers of our basic human rights, like farmers and builders, can only reduce the carbon footprint if the policy-makers make eco-friendlier production more affordable, and if the consumers, like you and I, change our behaviour and support them.

Corinne Maguire

Skibbereen, Co Cork

Cross-Border roadlink cash diversion is a U-turn by Leo

The flagship scheme of cross-Border co-operation of the 2006 St Andrews Agreement was a pledge to build a Derry to Dublin motorway. Since then, the scheme has been delayed, downgraded and deferred.

The biggest item in the 100m diverted to cover the cost overruns on the National Childrens Hospital is the 27m taken from this cross-Border roadlink.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar helpfully explained in the Dail that its not a deferral as theres currently no Northern Ireland Executive in place. However, speaking in Derry in October 2017, Mr Varadkar emphasised his cast-iron commitment to the road to help ameliorate the likely adverse impact of Brexit on Derry and Donegal. He added: I want to see that project go ahead as quickly as possible. I also believe that the completion of routes from Dublin to Derry and Donegal should be a strategic priority for governments both north and south.

Dr John Doherty

Gaoth Dobhair, Co Dhun na nGall

Spirituality is something to be shared for all mankind

Anthony OLeary says that for religion to create happiness, it has to be voluntary (Religion can bring happiness  if it is practised voluntarily, Letters, February 13).

But, voluntary religion, even if it does make people happy, is still a lonely thing for most people because it is a private thing. Even at Mass no one ever talks seriously about the messages of holy scripture.

But while religion is deemed private, the spiritual aspect of religion should not be private at all because the aim of spirituality is the total benefit of all mankind and the world in which mankind exists.

So, I think it is high time now for someone to invent a new type of electronic book with the best and most spiritual quotes in all mankinds literature for anyone to read in public. Such quotations might be the most enlightening that Shakespeare, Buddha, Ovid, Oscar Wilde, WB Yeats, Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama, etc, have to offer.

Spiritual quotes from such a new book could be picked totally at random from an internal hard drive of specially selected quotes. A potential reader might have the help of a spiritual adviser to pick their quotes. Spiritual quotes might also be chosen just because they mean something very profound to the person whose turn has come to read.

Sean OBrien

Kilrush, Co Clare

Mays Brexit dithering has become music to my ears

Every time I hear Theresa May these days, I am reminded of a 1970s pop group, The Chairmen Of The Board, and their hit Give Me Just A Little More Time.

Tom Gilsenan

Beaumont, D9

Unions should learn to leave all talks to the daylight hours

You would have thought that at this stage trade union leaders would have learned not to be continuing negotiations into the small hours of the morning, when all the evidence shows that they are far more likely to make concessions than win gains.

Liam Power

Dundalk, Co LouthIt will soon be a year since the controversy over cervical cancer began.

More than 221 women were affected, 21 of whom have died.

The Government's response to this national tragedy at almost every juncture since has been a study in how not to react to a crisis. Expediency, rather than compassion, framed every reaction.

Tripping over themselves to be all things to everyone, they found themselves, from the outset, criticised for undermining the CervicalCheck service which is so vital for the detection and prevention of cancer.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Simon Harris, in the rush to 'get ahead' of what was a hugely traumatic experience for the few women in the eye of the storm, made matters worse by doubling down on promises that could never be met.

Mr Varadkar made a rudimentary error by declaring that no sick woman would be dragged before the courts in their battle for redress. This was an assurance he was in no position to stand over, as subsequent events so painfully proved.

Mr Harris also made a rash commitment in offering women repeat smears if they had concerns in the wake of the storm over the CervicalCheck programme. As a result, the number of women seeking smear tests grew last year to 370,000, from 280,000.

We now learn how this has produced a backlog of cervical smear slides, which stands at 78,000. A direct consequence is that a new, more accurate HPV test for cervical cancer must be delayed until all these tests are complete.

It has also resulted in the delay in examining smears being lengthened further, with women now waiting up to 27 weeks for test results.

Yesterday, the Oireachtas Committee on Health heard how the decision to offer repeat smear tests was taken in the context of a rapidly evolving situation and worries over CervicalCheck.

We also heard how Mr Harris did not receive any advice "to the contrary", suggesting he not go ahead with the measure.

A defence of 'nobody told me not to' doesn't cut it. Responsibility rests with the minister.

It has been noted that governments have a tendency less to solve problems and more to rearrange them. Time and again, as seen in the furore over the massive over-spend on the National Children's Hospital, the debate locks on to figures. However, there is a human cost here.

A fixation with image or fear of possible negative feedback clouds judgment.

Thankfully, according to medical experts, this delay will not have a significant impact on the health of women.

However, the extended anxious wait, fuelling concerns, is unfair, unnecessary and inexcusable.

No administration can afford to forget the effects its decision-making can have on families.

Once a government passes the point of being 'of ourselves', it runs the risk of being regarded as an 'alien power' over us - and no amount of spin can reverse the cycle.Jennifer Aniston turns 50 this week, an occasion which sparked roughly 9,423 articles asking why we still insist on calling the multimillionaire actress 'poor Jen'. Except we don't. Not in real life, anyway, although I grant you magazine editors have had a long and fruitful career picking over her various misfortunes.

They reported her marriage had broken up (it had) and her ex was now with someone else (he was), and she was heartbroken (she admitted this).

And, yes, after she met husband number two, there were many ludicrous years of bumpwatch: was Jen pregnant, or wasn't she (as far as we know, she wasn't).

But the poor Jen myth assumes that women read these stories, and having read them, then began to pity Aniston.

It presupposes there are still many women out there who honestly believe that having a successful marriage (whatever that is) and having children is the only way of really winning at life.

Who are these women? I have never met any of them. The notion that mums with kids sit around and gloat like a four-year-old who's won the egg-and-spoon race is laughable.

Smug marrieds may have been an unavoidable fact of life for Bridget Jones, but that's more than 20 years ago. The world has changed a lot since then.

We don't pity Jen. Far from it: we love her films, copy her hair, admire her outfits, and envy her easy-going charm - not to mention her bank balance.

For the poor Jen myth to hold any water, we would need to live in a society that still idolised the 1950s-style domestic goddess.

But the opposite is true. Advertising billboards and magazine covers no longer depict smiling housewives in aprons with children and husbands; instead they celebrate thin, beautiful, solitary women.

And frequently they celebrate Aniston herself, in dazzling fashion shoots or in myriad ad campaigns from Smartwater to Aveeno. Far from being a figure of pity, she remains the gorgeous girl-next-door we all aspire to be.

It's about time we buried the tired old myth of poor Jen - and with it, the myth that married women think they're perfect.

Author Will lives down to his own Self-image

THE interview started well enough. Novelist Will Self seemed to have the mood music right, telling the London 'Times' that men like him - Oxford-educated, white, straight, middle-class, and middle-aged - needed to pipe down a bit in the wake of the MeToo movement.

"Frankly," he said, "I don't have a lot of sympathy for white, middle-class men who are unable to question their position in the social sphere."

Unfortunately, Will went and blew it almost immediately, by piping straight back up to dismiss Booker-prize nominated Sally Rooney's writing as "simple-minded".

Which is fair enough, but he was happy to admit that he'd reached this damning conclusion having read just "a few pages" of the Irish author's book.

"It may say things that millennials want to hear reflected back at them, but it's very simple stuff with no literary ambition that I can see," he sniffed, sounding very much like a white, middle-class man who was unable to question his position in the social sphere.

Was Will winding us up? He may well have been - he was doing the interview as part of a campaign to promote Chinese new year fortune macarons at a London restaurant, the scripts of which he had apparently written.

I don't think the uniquely talented Sally Rooney will be losing much sleep over it either way.Suffrage campaigner Hanna Sheehy Skeffington was never one to mince her words.

Writing to this paper in May 1937, she described the newly drafted Irish Constitution as being based on a "fascist model, in which women would be relegated to permanent inferiority, their avocations and choice of callings limited because of an implied invalidism as the weaker sex". De Valera's ideal was "the domestic type of woman" who eschewed politics altogether, she tauntingly claimed.

Among the causes of Sheehy Skeffington's concern was Article 41.2, which stated that "by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved". The clause was opposed at the time by an assortment of women's groups, coming as it did on the heel of a series of government efforts to enshrine discrimination against women in both industrial employment and civic life.

Legislative enactments including the 1924 and 1927 Juries Act, and the 1936 Conditions of Employment Act, had appeared to suggest women's roles outside the home were secondary to their reproductive functions, as historians such as Caitriona Beaumont have highlighted.

But the debate over women's rights in the Free State at times betrayed the class position of many of the country's leading female activists. Like many other middle-class feminists, Sheehy Skeffington regarded domesticity with barely concealed disdain. She proclaimed in one particularly memorable quip that she washed up only "in acute domestic crisis".

The 1937 Constitution represented to her a return to "the tyranny of the pots and pans", undermining women's hard-won rights as citizens. Rarely acknowledged in either her writing or campaigning is the value of work done by women who scrubbed, cooked and reared children out of economic necessity.

In the 1911 census return for their home in Rathmines, Francis Sheehy Skeffington was listed alongside his son and two servants: Philomena Morrissey (23) and Mary Butler (21). Hanna, his wife, withheld participation as a form of suffrage protest, but we can never know if her two maids were asked to join the action.

Campaigns for women's rights today often have the same blind spot when it comes to domestic work. The dirty business of keeping house still drives one of the deepest fissures between two distinct models of feminism, delineated usually by class. On the one hand is an individualistic model of rights pushing for boardroom progression and shared power with men.

Domestic labourers are marginal to the concerns of high-flying feminists like Ivanka Trump, whose recent book, 'Women Who Work', makes only one mention of the family's nanny. Housework is to many privileged women a burden to be avoided, shifted onto someone poorer.

Another way of thinking is provided by social feminists who shirk from such liberal notions of self-actualisation. Take the International Wages for Housework Campaign, which has called attention to the economic value of unpaid work in the home.

So-called housewives are an indispensable workforce, and their labour should be treated as labour, as activists including Selma James and Mariarosa Dalla Costa have argued. "If our wageless work is the basis of our powerlessness," to quote a later introduction to the pair's seminal 1975 manifesto, 'Women of the Subversion of the Community', "then wages for that work, which alone will make it possible for us to reject that work, must be our lever of power".

The need to recognise and properly compensate domestic work is the central focus of a conference taking place this Friday at the Trinity Long Room Hub. Jointly supported by Rutgers University and Trinity College Dublin, 'Working for the Home: Past and Present' is a one-day symposium that aims to open up new conversations about both paid and unpaid housework, bringing together leading historians, activists and policy experts.

The event takes its title from a contribution to the debate on Article 41.2 by Louie Bennett of the Irish Women's Workers' Union. A trade unionist and suffragette, Bennett suggested the clause's reference to "life within the home" be substituted with the phrasing "work for the home".

There is an opportunity now, ahead of a possible referendum on scrapping or amending that provision, to discuss how care work might be better supported as we move away from traditional domestic roles and place more weight on the shoulders on migrant cleaners and carers.

We need to have a conversation about housework. Please join us.It is. But the macabre premise is mostly a pretext for Albert and Shmuel to talk and to get to know each other, in a meditation on human mortality and loss that  while slight and only mildly provocative  ends up being surprisingly touching. In this quirky buddy flick, which follows our heroes on a road trip to the University of Tennessee's Forensic Anthropology Center  a real place that is colloquially known as the Body Farm for its outdoor laboratory featuring decomposing corpses  Albert is less of a consultant than an extraordinarily patient therapist, with a touch of friend thrown in.Damage: A door of a house shot at in Corduff Place, Dublin, was the fourth shooting in eight hours. Photo: Douglas OConnor

The drama started at around 5pm on Tuesday when a young man discharged a shot into the air in the Corduff Grove estate

Rival gangs who fired shots in four incidents in just eight hours in west Dublin put innocent lives at risk, sources said.

A vicious feud between young gangsters who were former allies in the drug trade was behind the terrifying attacks in the Corduff area of Blanchardstown.

After two shootings during the day, two homes were shot at late at night in apparent tit-for-tat attacks - both homes occupied by innocent women.

So far, only two of the four attacks have been reported to gardai.

The drama started at around 5pm on Tuesday when a young man discharged a shot into the air in the Corduff Grove estate. This provoked a reaction from a group of young men standing less than 30 yards away.

Sources say the same gang who fired the shot in Corduff Grove are suspected of being behind a similar incident in nearby Sheephill Avenue at around 8pm. The third incident saw two shots fired into the door of a house in Corduff Avenue at around 10.15pm.

Three hours later, another house in the adjoining Corduff Place estate was targeted with a shotgun, when at least four shots were fired at the house.Phyllis McHugh, at a candlelit vigil at the site of the Stardust nightclub fire in Dublin, before the unveiling of a plaque in memory of the 48 people who died on Valentine's day in 1981. Niall Carson/PA Wire

A candlelit vigil at the site of the Stardust nightclub fire in Dublin, before the unveiling of a plaque in memory of the 48 people who died on Valentine's day in 1981. Niall Carson/PA Wire

Antoinette Keegan, whose sisters Mary and Martina were among the 48 victims of the Stardust nightclub fire in Dublin on Valentine's Day in 1981, holds a picture of them outside Leinster House in Dublin. Niall Carson/PA Wire

Former RTE journalist Charlie Bird - who was the first reporter on the scene of the Stardust tragedy - has said if the fire had been on the southside they would have answers by now.

Some 48 young people died as the popular nightclub in Artane, Dublin, was destroyed in a blaze on Valentines Day in 1981 in what is considered the worst fire disaster in the history of the state.

Antoinette Keegan, who survived the fire but lost her two sisters Mary (19) and Martina (16) was tearful on Thursday, as she recounted her experience fighting for her life after the fire, and for justice in the years since.

Ms Keegan said that the families of victims want the inquest into their deaths reopened, when speaking at a plaque unveiling event at the scent of the tragedy.

She said a request for the fresh inquest would be going to the Attorney General soon and stated that the families will get justice.

A very special thanks has to go to both Bloody Sunday families and Hillsborough who are both supporting the campaign for justice for the 48.

Expand Close Charlie Bird with Antoinette Keegan (who lost her sisters Mary and Martina) after unveiling the Memorial for the 48 victims of the Stardust fire, on the anniversary of the tragedy. Picture: Caroline Quinn / Facebook

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Whatsapp Charlie Bird with Antoinette Keegan (who lost her sisters Mary and Martina) after unveiling the Memorial for the 48 victims of the Stardust fire, on the anniversary of the tragedy. Picture: Caroline Quinn

One day we will have our day just like Hillsborough and Bloody Sunday, she added.

The families recently petitioned the Attorney General for a new inquest, citing fresh, previously unrecorded evidence.

Justice Minister, Charlie Flanagan said that he is willing to meet with the families.

However, Mr Flanagan stated that there are no plans for any further enquiry

Before unveiling the plaque, Mr Bird said that families deserves answers.

I still say it, if this fire had been in the south side of Dublin, the answer would have been there by now, he said.

And Ill say another thing, you wouldnt have had to put up the memorial yourselves, it would have been done by the State, it would have been done by the people or it would have been done by some business person.

You are a remarkable group of people, do not give up your fight and do not give up your struggle.

Expand Close Tributes to the 48 victims of the Stardust nightclub fire in Dublin on Valentine's day in 1981, outside Leinster House in Dublin as relatives call for a new investigation. Niall Carson/PA Wire / Facebook

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Whatsapp Tributes to the 48 victims of the Stardust nightclub fire in Dublin on Valentine's day in 1981, outside Leinster House in Dublin as relatives call for a new investigation. Niall Carson/PA Wire

Just imagine if it happened today, the world, the country would have been convulsed by it.

It was convulsed then, but it was swept under the carpet, he added.

Tears

There were tears outside Leinster House earlier in the day as families and survivors of the Stardust fire gathered to remember the 48 young people who died in the disaster.

We picked here because the 48 victims of this fire have become insignificant to this government and previous government, Ms Keegan said.

We want the inquest reopened and we want the verdict recorded and we shouldnt have to do this.

For us this is a day of sadness, the Government have not responded, and just ignored us.

Id like to ask Leo Varadkar if he would like his mother to go through 38 years of injustice like my mother does, and the other families, theres a young girl here today who lost her mother  she should be together with her mother on Valentines Day.

In any other country, those who are responsible are held to account, but not in Ireland.

With an inquest we can get truth, we can get closure, without closure you feel trapped.

Were consumed, morning, noon and night its Stardust.

Were not called by our names any more, its Stardust families, its all still very raw.

Investigations into the fire showed that a number of escape routes from the dance hall were blocked as emergency doors were locked by chains. Concerns have also been raised about the investigation of the scene, which allowed politicians and media to walk through the building just hours later.

Despite findings of safety breaches, there were no prosecutions over the incident.

An initial finding of probable arson meant that the relatives of the dead and injured were unable to sue the club owners and operators for alleged negligence.

In 1983, the owners of the Stardust were awarded damages of more than 730,000 after suing Dublin Corporation.

The initial verdict of arson, which victims have always denied, has since been thrown out.

Sinn Fein MEP Lynn Boylan, who has been campaigning on behalf of the families, says the fight has gone on too long.

Lots of people are out and about today, young and in love, and to think back to all those young people 38 years ago who never came home, she said.

People should email the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and ask him to meet with the families.

We need to keep the pressure on the Government, the Attorney General that these families deserve justice, its gone on too long now for anybody to wait.

On Thursday evening, families, survivors and around 100 supporters gathered for a candlelit vigil at the site of the fire in Artane.

A plaque adorned with the names of the 48 people who died was unveiled by broadcaster Charlie Bird, who produced one of the most prominent documentaries about the tragedy.

A rose was laid for each victim, while the once-banned Christy Moore single They Never Came Home was played.A series of road upgrades included in the National Development Plan (NDP) are not guaranteed to go-ahead despite thousands being spent on consultants.

Transport Minister Shane Ross has admitted that just because the projects are listed as priorities for pre-appraisal "certainly does not mean that final approval is guaranteed".

The areas in question include well-known stretches of road including the Virginia Bypass, M4 from Maynooth to Leixlip, the N3 from Clonee to the M50, and N11 from Oilgate to Rosslare.

Mr Ross made the admission while being questioned by Fianna Fail Meath TD Thomas Byrne on the status of the N2 from Rath to Kilmoon.

Meath County Council was provided with 25,000 last year to carry out pre-appraisal work and a further 250,000 to the Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) for planning and design this year.

"The project, which is about 6km long, will address the existing operational and safety problems on this section of the N2. The expected benefits of the scheme will be to improve efficiency of traffic using the N2 corridor, improve safety and improve connectivity between Dublin and the north-west," Mr Ross said.

However, when pressed by Mr Byrne, he admitted: "My understanding is that it is not guaranteed, despite the pre-appraisal."

Mr Byrne told the Irish Independent that there were 22 projects listed for pre-appraisal in the NDP.

"We are spending money on consultants now and, at some point, a list of about half of them will be picked for construction.

"People have been misled. Ministers have been announcing good news in relation to this," he said.

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has denied there is a "black hole" in the NDP as a result of overruns in the cost of the Children's Hospital.

However, he said more projects could be built through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) "thus changing the spending profile".

"Although very few PPPs were initially envisaged, having PPPs in some areas would spread the cost of those projects over a period of 20 or 30 years rather than 10, thus freeing up money which could then be allocated to projects where there are overruns," he said.Cookstown Way, near Tallaght where a woman was killed in a collision with a LUAS tram. Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Gardai and LUAS staff at the scene on Cookstown Way, near Tallaght where a woman was killed in a collision with a LUAS tram.Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

A woman killed in a collision with a Luas tram this morning has been named as Patricia Quinn (73).

The tragic incident happened at around 10am this morning on Cookstown Way, between the Cookstown and Tallaght Hospital Luas stops.

Her body was removed this morning and examinations have been carried out at the scene by gardai.

The scene and a portion of the road on Cookstown Way remained sealed-off for much of the afternoon but were reopened shortly before 4pm.

Throughout the day gardai carried out detailed inspections of the site while the Luas tram also remained at the scene.

Ms Quinn was from the Tallaght area and is well-known in her local community. Locals have expressed their shock as news of the tragedy began to spread today, describing her as highly involved in the local community.

Expand Close Gardai and LUAS staff at the scene on Cookstown Way, near Tallaght where a woman was killed in a collision with a LUAS tram.Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin / Facebook

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Whatsapp Gardai and LUAS staff at the scene on Cookstown Way, near Tallaght where a woman was killed in a collision with a LUAS tram.Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Gardai based in Tallaght are continuing to appeal for anyone who may have witnessed the collision to contact them.Gardai investigating a fatal assault in Co Kerry have arrested a man in his 20s.

The incident occurred at 2.20am last Sunday morning outside a local takeaway in The Square, Killorglin, Co Kerry.

A 32-year-old man, named locally as Stephen O'Connor, died at Cork University Hospital (CUH) where he had been on a life support machine since being transferred from University Hospital Kerry (UHK) on Sunday.

Gardai have confirmed that a man in was arrested this morning in relation to the incident.

"A male in his 20s was arrested in Co Kerry this morning (14/02/19) and is currently detained under the provisions of Section 4 of The Criminal Justice Act 1984 at Killarney Garda Station," a garda spokesperson said.

"The post-mortem examination has been completed and details are not being released for operational reasons. The family of the deceased are asking for privacy at this time."

Earlier in the week, tributes were paid to Mr O'Connor, who is understood to have donated his organs so other lives may be saved.

"As a councillor to see something like this, young people should just be cautious when having a drink because this is how serious something can become," Councillor Damien Quigg previously told Independent.ie.

"My thoughts are really with the family at this time and it is such a tragic thing to happen in this town."GARDAI have issued a warning about 'romance fraudsters' after an Irish woman handed 48,000 to a scammer over a thirteen month period.

According to gardai, the woman was "showered with expensive gifts" including scarves and perfumes, before she was asked to invest in her suitors business.

The woman initially delayed reporting the fraud to gardai as she was married.

Gardai have said that one of the most prominent 'romance scams' is when victims believe they have met their perfect match online, but the other person is in fact a scammer using a fake profile to build the relationship.

They slowly gain the victims trust with a view to eventually asking them for money. The extent of the scam is not fully known, as many people are too embarrassed to report it to gardai.

In another case, a 'romance fraudster' in the west of Ireland was found guilty of taking nearly 19,000 from a victim. The perpetrator obtained money through deception over a five month period, after meeting the victim through a dating website.

Romance Scammers steal Hearts, then Money.



For more see: https://t.co/voHYxARuzI pic.twitter.com/Jkkr0eQgi4  Garda Info (@gardainfo) February 14, 2019

According to the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau, the frausters may ask victims to send them money for a number of reasons, including to cover the cost of travelling to see the victim, business opportunities that allow them to comfortably live together, and for emergency medical expenses for the scammer or a family member- usually a child.

"In the beginning, the amount of money requested will often be small but increases as the scammer becomes more successful in building the relationship and tricking the victim," Detective Inspector Catharina Gunne said.

Gardai are working with Europol to disrupt the activities of romance scammers, particularly organised crime gangs that engage in this type of criminality. Dating websites are also often monitored for criminality.

According to gardai, one of the warning signs that someone may be a scammer is when they try to move communications away from dating websites. They suggest that you move to instant messaging, text or phone calls instead.

They may also ask a lot of personal questions or avoid answering questions about themselves.

"The details that they do tell you seem made up or do not reflect reality. For instance, they may say that theyre university educated, but their spelling and grammar is poor," gardai said.

They may also try to establish a bond quickly, or ask for financial help.

"They may give you an endearing pet name e.g. baby, darling. They may tell you about money problems in the hope that youll offer to help.

"Romance fraudsters will never meet you in person. They will present obstacles and may go as far as making arrangements and cancelling them at the last minute. They may promise to want to see you but offer excuses which delay this, such as financial troubles."

To avoid falling victim to a romance scam crime, gardai are advising the public to use trusted dating websites, never send money online, think twice before using a webcam and to not share personal details.

"If you believe that you are a victim of a romance scam, or think your identity or personal information has been compromised, contact any Garda Station and report the crime. Please be assured that An Garda Siochana will treat all reports in confidence."

Meanwhile in Northern Ireland, two women from Co Antrim and Co Down lost a total of almost 105,000 to romance scammers, with the PSNI receiving 39 reports relating to dating scams between 1st January and 30th September last year.

Both women were tricked by fraudsters they had been befriended by two men online who duped them into sending substantial amounts of money.

"The first report, made to us on Monday 4th February, involved a woman who had been befriended by a man online claiming to be in the US Army," Chief Superintendent Simon Walls said.

"The pair were in touch for around a month before things took a romantic turn. From May last year, the man told the woman a number of stories, including that he was being detained by authorities in Africa, in a bid to get her to give him money.

"The woman believed the man's stories, and was conned into sending him 65,000. She truly believed this man was genuine as she had found a profile online that matched his details."

While the second woman claimed she had entered into an online relationship with a man claiming to live in the USA where he worked as an engineer.

"They had been in touch since November and the man eventually asked the woman for money for projects. She trusted the man and believed his story, and sent him payments totalling 40,000.

"Sadly, for these two women they will not get their money back as they gave it to the fraudsters voluntarily.

"These reports illustrate how scammers dont care about their victims; that theyre happy to take advantage of peoples vulnerability and good faith. Unfortunately, there is no end to the methods fraudsters will use to dupe people into giving them money."Businesses are being driven to closure, jobs are being lost, and community festivals are being blocked, by the spiralling cost of public liability insurance, the Dail has been warned.

Fianna Fail deputy leader, Dara Calleary, cited the case of a woman running a childcare facility in Navan. He said her public liability insurance cost 2,000 in 2012  but had risen to 16,000 last year, without a claim, while now she cannot get an insurance quote, putting 10 jobs at risk.

Mr Calleary said businesses across the country could not take the strain and many were closing with a lot of job losses. He said a total of 75 community festivals across the country had to abandon plans due to extremely high insurance costs.

For once can you stand up for small business against the might of the insurance industry? the Mayo Fianna Fail TD asked.

Mr Calleary said urgent action had to be taken on the scale of insurance awards which were averaging four times the level in the UK. He said it was time a so-called book of quantum  or guideline to injury awards for injury claims  was published.

Its costing jobs and closing businesses down, the Fianna Fail deputy leader added.

Replying for the Government, Tanaiste Simon Coveney said he was well aware of all difficulties facing business, including rising public liability insurance costs. But he rejected claims that the Government was doing nothing.

Mr Coveney said motor insurance premiums had been cut by 22pc in recent times and work was ongoing on monitoring and tackling other insurance costs. He said Finance Minister, Paschal Donohoe, was chairing a working group on the issue, which was implementing various recommendations from an ongoing series of reports, and this work would continue.Stephen Fingleton was cleared after a trial of sexually assaulting an actress (PA)

A Bafta-nominated director has been cleared of sexually assaulting an actress in her west London flat.

Stephen Fingleton, 35, from Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, wept in the dock as he was found not guilty of attacking the woman after they had lunch on October 27, 2017.

He looked at the jury and said "thank-you" as the verdict was delivered.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had claimed the director pulled her head towards his crotch as she hung washing.

A jury of six men and six women at Isleworth Crown Court found Mr Fingleton not guilty of one count of sexual assault after deliberating for eight hours and six minutes.

The trial previously heard the woman had made up an "untrue Harvey Weinstein-type allegation".

The pair had arranged the lunch after exchanging numbers at a British Film Industry event.

Mr Fingleton's barrister Orla Day told the trial the woman lied about the attack after becoming upset that he did not like a film she made.

In cross-examination, Ms Day said the woman hoped showing Mr Fingleton the film would "help you on your way to becoming famous".

She added: "Instead he effectively told you that he didn't think very much of your film and he wasn't interested in working with you.

"Were you concerned that your meeting had been a total disaster and you had embarrassed yourself?

"Did you decide in the heat of the moment to make an untrue Harvey Weinstein-type allegation against him?

"You know full well that the allegations you have made against him are lies."

Giving evidence to the jury, Mr Fingleton said the decision to meet the woman alone was "terrible".

He said the allegation came at a time when he was "on the point of becoming successful" but caused him to lose his attachment to an American film.

Mr Fingleton said: "I would say I had some success but I was not well known.

"I was on the point of becoming successful. At the time of the allegation I was attached to an American film that was to shoot the next year.

"That was with well-known actors, it was kind of a turning point. It's gone now."POLICE in Australia are looking for a group of con artists allegedly led by a man with a strong Irish accent.

A warning was shared by Northern Beaches Police Area Command to watch out for the group of fraudsters, after an elderly woman was conned out of $8,000 Australian dollars (5,000).

According to police, grubs knock on the doors of the elderly and vulnerable, say they've just cleaned out the neighbour's gutters and offer to do theirs for as little as $40.

Once they get the yes, another member from the scammers' nest comes along to announce they're from the same company and that the roof needs repairing - for $3,500, a police spokesperson said.

They then return to say that the roof was worse than they thought, and will cost another $6,000 in cash to repair.

A 79-year-old woman from the town of Seaforth recently fell victim to the scam and made two trips to her bank to retrieve the money from her savings.

She says the first was in his late teens or early 20s. The second, who drove the scam, was in his late 30s and had the strong Irish accent, police said.

However the appeal, which was shared on police social media pages, has received backlash from the public over an image of a witchetty grub with the caption to be sure, to be sure attached to the appeal.

Irish maggots- why is it ok to use lazy stereotypes associated with people of Irish heritage and not others? one user asked.

Another wrote: To be sure to be sure? Really? This is precisely the type of ignorance that prevents the entire community from trusting the police force.

Police have appealed to the Sydney public to report anyone knocks offering to do work in, on or about the home, especially if they're demanding cash up front.

You don't want to lose your hard-earned savings and we want to catch, charge and put them before the courts.Irish Water will today issue a warning on the threat posed by extreme weather to many of Ireland's water supplies.

The utility's general manager Eamon Gallen is to tell an Oireachtas committee about the lessons learned from 2018's 'one-in-70-year' drought which led to a hosepipe ban being imposed.

He will say that the public response to the water conservation order meant consumption dropped.

However, he will also warn that the 2018 drought "highlighted in stark terms that despite Ireland having an abundant supply of raw water, many of our current abstractions and supply networks lack the resilience and flexibility to deal with these extreme weather events."

Mr Gallen is to tell TDs and senators that this is a "key challenge" that will be addressed in the National Water Resources Plan being launched this year.

He will say that managing two major storms and the drought in in 2018 helped Irish Water to refine its response to future events.

It has stores of spare parts, large static water containers and bottled water supplies strategically located and arrangements are in place to mobilise tankers at short notice.

Mr Gallen will also outline how Irish Water plans to encourage water conservation and provide first-fix leak repairs for households whose water use is very high "to help them to reduce consumption and avoid excess charges".

While domestic charges have been scrapped, there are plans to introduce fees for excessive use.

Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government officials will also appear at the committee today.The introduction of HPV testing to improve the detection of abnormalities in cervical smears will be delayed and may not happen this year, it emerged yesterday.

HSE executives said it was necessary to "stabilise" CervicalCheck and reduce the backlog of 78,000 smears, which are taking more than six months to report on, before moving on to HPV testing of smears after they are sent to labs.

The Government decision to offer any woman a free test after the CervicalCheck controversy erupted is being blamed for the backlog.

Department of Health secretary general Jim Breslin yesterday defended the decision to offer the free test in advance of a review to determine if laboratories could cope with the surge.

He said Health Minister Simon Harris was advised at the time by the chief medical officer, Tony Holohan, and it was in response to worries women had.

He told Fianna Fail spokesman on health Stephen Donnelly: "A lot of us thought it was the right thing to do, including commentators."

HPV testing that is done in labs will reduce the chances of abnormalities being missed on a woman's test slide.

HSE officials said preparatory work is under way and a tender for a HPV screening partner will be issued in the coming weeks.

It will be necessary to negotiate to determine how and when it can be delivered.An initial report into the massive over-run for the children's hospital budget raised questions about the role of the design team in the escalation, the Dail has heard.

The design team - from professional services firms who are responsible for the design and costings of the landmark hospital - failed to raise the alarm about the looming over-run, a report into the runaway budget has found.

A significant proportion of the 450m increase can be traced in part to issues that emerged during the design process - including 100m due to omissions and underestimation of materials.

A preliminary investigation by Mazars delivered last December determines that the 56pc increase in construction costs led to the cost per square metre for the new hospital jumping from 3,600 to 5,600.

The report examined a number of issues including the cost increases and reporting them. Among them was that the final design added 94m to the original budget due to rises in materials needed and detail emerging on the quality of necessary supplies.

Another 21m emerged due to "omissions", while 50m was not achieved in savings as had been projected.

The report also found there was a delay in the so-called Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) process - the means by which the final construction costs were reached - but this did not contribute to the cost escalation. It did however delay the true escalation emerging.

Last night embattled Health Minister Simon Harris faced further questions on the debacle and said he did not wish to pre-empt the report into the overrun but that report would look at issues in relation to the design team.

He said the report found things that "quite frankly did not go right in relation to the design" and the PricewaterhouseCoopers report will look into that more detail, he said.

Mr Harris also moved to assure TDs that any entity or company found to have acted inappropriately would be pursued with the "full vigour" of the law.

He later admitted that the elasticity of the budget for the second phase of works on the hospital, and an estimation in the quantity of materials needed to build it, were "not realistic" and were factors that played into the over-run.

Fianna Fail's Health Spokesperson Stephen Donnelly pressed the minister on why it was not brought to his attention that the project was "spiralling out of control" when it was raised "again, and again" by those involved in the project.

Concerns raised by the National Paediatric Children's Hospital Board (NPHDB) about the capability of the lead contractor, BAM, were also raised during the latest Dail debate on the issue.

Last September the board raised concerns the company "fell short of what was expected", according to minutes of a board meeting.

Labour Party TD Alan Kelly questioned why the "serious concerns" raised at board level were not brought to the minister's attention at that time. Mr Harris issued a fresh defence of his handling of the cost escalation and the way in which he alerted the Government, saying he fully rebuts that partial information leads to better decision making.Frozen feast: Sorcha OConnor tries some oyster and champagne Valentines ice cream at Scoops in Dublin. Photo: Tony Gavin

Champagne and oysters are the food of love - but one Dublin gelato shop believes they are an ice cream match made in heaven.

Scoop on Aungier Street has created a special 'pink champagne and oyster ice cream'. And the interesting aphrodisiac combo dessert can be ordered via Deliveroo this Valentine's Day.

Oysters have long been associated with lust and love. Legend has it Aphrodite, the goddess of love, emerged from an oyster shell and 18th-century lover Casanova reportedly ate 50 oysters a day. Meanwhile, a bottle of bubbly is part of a time-honoured tradition of celebration and happiness.

Redmond Kennedy, who owns Scoop with business partner Paddy Maloney, told the Irish Independent there was a "certain alchemy" involved when he concocted the creative dessert. "We have six real oysters and oyster sauce in there. But I added the pink champagne to give it a nice pink colour."Jessica Jordan, Laura Peyton, and Brigitta Curry, who are fifth-year students at St Louis Community School, Kiltimagh, Co Mayo, were among the attendees at a National Council for Curriculum Assessment seminar in Sligo that was reviewing the Senior Cycle. PHOTO: JULIEN BEHAL

Technology and computing courses are proving to be the hardest to complete in college, a major new study has found.

The report from the Higher Education Authority (HEA) also found that females had significantly higher completion of third-level courses than males. And first year is key  with almost two thirds of those who dont graduate dropping out at that stage.

At a time when the economy is crying out for technology graduates, the findings expose serious weaknesses in the education system.

The high drop-out rate from technology courses is often attributed to students struggling with the maths standards required.

An average of 45pc of students in these courses do not finish, the report found. The study also reveals that CAO points are the best predictor of a future graduate and four in every five students in Ireland complete their degree.

Leaving Cert performance is more important than factors such as family background, type of school attended and gender when it comes to determining a students chances of finishing college.

The HEA describes this as the most striking finding of its 10-year study.

The report tracked 34,089 undergraduates from first year until graduation  or not.

Interesting insights in the report include how while students from disadvantaged backgrounds have lower average completion rates - 30pc compared with 25pc for affluent students - if they are on a high points course, they are slightly more likely to finish than a well-off student.

The HEA's Analysis of Completion in Irish Higher Education covers a period from 2007/08 to 2016, to allow for students who switched courses within the same college, or took time out, and the outcomes compare well internationally.

According to the HEA, graduation figures have remained consistent in the past 15 years, even as participation rates in higher education have increased dramatically.

Previous research has looked at the number of students who don't progress to second year, but this is the first analysis of completion rates, and across higher education - universities, institutes of technology and other colleges.

Areas of concern include the 62pc of entrants to Level 7/6 courses (higher certificate/ordinary degree) in institutes of technology graduate. This is a particular problem among males, with completion rates of 59pc/58pc for these courses.

Other key findings include:

:: 76pc of students graduated within the period, with 58pc graduating on time;

:: In honours degree (Level 8) courses, 83pc of students in universities graduated, compared with 74pc in institutes of technology;

:: The highest completion rate, 94pc, was in teacher training and the National College of Art and Design;

:: The lowest completion rate - across all colleges - was computing, at an average 55pc;

:: Females had higher completion rates (81pc) than males (71pc);

:: First year is key, with 63pc of those who don't graduate dropping out at that stage.

The report authors make the point that non-completion is not a negative phenomenon for all students, but in some cases it may signal an inability to meet the academic requirements of a course.

"Therefore it is crucial that all students leaving the second-level system are fully equipped for higher education in terms of academic preparedness, knowledge and understanding of course content and the requirements of the course," they said.

It was also essential that students in need of additional support on entry to higher education were identified early and received what they need.

The study begs a number of policy responses, including getting to grips with why many students pick a course from which they drop out, within weeks or months, and a soon to be published review of career guidance, may provide some solutions.

Meanwhile, the Technological Higher Education Association (THEA) is conducting a study of high non-progression rates among Level 7/6 students.

The National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education is digging deeper into why in the case of two students with similar backgrounds, one drops out and the other graduates.

HEA chief executive Paul O'Toole said while findings were "mostly positive, they required further consideration to address some of the challenges, particularly non-completion rates by males".

THEA CEO Dr Joseph Ryan welcomed the report but noted the figures did not include the full numbers of students who completed their studies in a different institution from where they started, initially, or the numbers who left to enter full-time employment.

Irish Universities Association (IUA) directer general Jim Miley said with a 17pc non-completion rate in universities "there is still more work to do".A woman accused of exaggerating an insurance claim over an injury left a clinic before a medical consultant could see her, a court has heard.

Winnifred Lawrence (69) is accused of deception after she was allegedly found by gardai to be acting suspiciously in the clinic.

Judge Paula Murphy adjourned the case against her at Blanchardstown District Court for the production of evidence of the nature of the alleged claim.

Ms Lawrence (69), with an address at Moorfield Grove, Clondalkin, is charged with dishonestly by deception inducing a woman to do an act to wit believe you were another woman, with the intention of making gain.

The offence, under Common Law, is alleged to have happened at the Blackrock Clinic, Rock Road, Blackrock, Co Dublin, on December 7, 2017.

The DPP has consented to summary disposal of the case at district court level subject to a judge accepting jurisdiction to deal with it.

Garda Sergeant Maria Callaghan had previously said it would be alleged that Ms Lawrence made a claim against RSA insurance and the firm thought it was exaggerated.

Sgt Callaghan said it would be be alleged that on December 7, 2017, Lawrence was asked by RSA to attend their doctor at The Blackrock Clinic. Sgt Callaghan said it will be alleged that RSA reported the incident to the gardai in Lucan. She added that it would be alleged that the investigating garda attended the clinic on the day of the appointment and found Ms Lawrence to be acting suspiciously.

Judge Murphy had asked for the value of the claim and the case came back before the court today.

Sgt Callaghan said the circuit court limits on claims were between 15,000 and 60,000 but it never got that far as it was intercepted prior to that.

The judge asked if there was a medical report on the injury.

Sgt Callaghan said the accused had been requested to attend the clinic and had left before seeing a consultant.

The judge said she wanted to see a copy of the nature of the claim before considering jurisdiction.

She further adjourned the case and remanded the defendant on continuing bail to appear in court again on February 21.Ali Barker, of Hillcourt Park, Glenageary, Co. Dublin pictured leaving the Four Courts Pic: Colin O'Riordan

A High Court dispute between a couple who led a "privileged lifestyle" has been settled.

The action was taken by a Dublin businesswoman against her former partner over an alleged entitlement to a share in a property business which she claimed they built up together.

Ali Barker had sued businessman Owen Owens, with an address at Rochfort, The Burnaby, Greystones, Co Wicklow, and a company founded by him, Dunbury Holdings.

Mr Owens disputed Ms Barker's claims in relation to what he said was his business.

Expand Close Ali Barker leaves the High Court with a male friend earlier today Pic: Colin O'Riordan / Facebook

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Whatsapp Ali Barker leaves the High Court with a male friend earlier today Pic: Colin O'Riordan

In a counterclaim, he sought orders requiring her to leave the house where she currently lives in Hillcourt Park, Glenageary, Co Dublin.

On Thursday, the court was told by Martin Hayden SC, for Ms Barker, the parties had resolved their differences and the proceedings could be struck out.

No details of the settlement agreement were given. The case had been expected to run for up to ten days.

Mr Justice John Jordan congratulated the parties, and their lawyers, for arriving at a settlement.

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The judge said he appreciated the parties had found themselves in "exceptionally difficult circumstances", describing it as "a cauldron of emotion" and expressed his hope they can move on with their lives.

Ms Barker sought various declarations including that the company constitutes a quasi-partnership between her and Mr Owens and they are each entitled to 50pc of the equity in the partnership.

She also claimed the company and Mr Owens business activities was a partnership between the two and that she was a cohabitant within the meaning of the 2010 Civil Partnership Act entitled to seek reliefs under that Act. She also sought damages.

In his defence, Mr Owens said no business partnership ever existed between him and Ms Barker. The couple split in 2010, after 17 years together.

She claimed that, on his invitation in the 1990's she quit her job in retail and worked with him in what became a substantial and successful property business.

She claims she was very actively involved and that allowed her and Mr Owens enjoy a privileged lifestyle.

They had a substantial home in Wicklow, a 1.6m holiday home in Mougins, France, a personal staff contingent, luxury vehicles, a 47ft yacht, horses, luxury travel, and significant spending power, she claimed.

In 1999, they had a daughter together.

In 2010, the relationship broke down.

She claimed Mr Owens cynically engineered a situation to end their personal relationship in order to deprive her of the protections and rights she says she would have been entitled to under the Civil Partnership Act.

Mr Owens denied all the allegations and said their relationship deteriorated and ended due to her conduct. He rejected claims he cynically engineered a situation to deprive her of protections under the Act.

He said she had no entitlements under the new law which commenced in January 2011 and their relationship ended in April 2010.

In his counter-claim, he sought orders including for possession of the house where she resides in Glenageary, claiming he was the owner of that property.Restaurateur Ronan Ryan and his wife, former Miss Ireland Pamela Flood, have vowed to leave their home after a 'vulture fund' moved to repossess it.

Mr Ryan told the Irish Independent that they would be "out before the end of the spring".

The Circuit Civil Court heard yesterday that Mr Ryan had not paid anything off his 1.1m mortgage for more than eight years.

Ms Flood, the 47-year-old former model, was not named on Mr Ryan's 2006 mortgage with Bank of Scotland and is not a defendant in the case. However, following her marriage to Mr Ryan (48) in 2014, she was joined as a notice party to the repossession proceedings relating to a family home.

The bid to take back the couple's home at 136 Mount Prospect Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin 3, is being made by Tanager, an American-owned "vulture fund", which is the current owner of the mortgage. Mr Ryan told the Irish Independent that he had already agreed to sell the property multiple times as part of previous repossession attempts by previous owners of the loan.

He said that deals to sell the house had fallen through, however.

Expand Close Mortgaged: The house on Mount Prospect Avenue in Clontarf was bought for more than 900,000, according to Ronan Ryan / Facebook

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Whatsapp Mortgaged: The house on Mount Prospect Avenue in Clontarf was bought for more than 900,000, according to Ronan Ryan

"The loan has changed hands three times... we never fought it, we always agreed to sell," he said. "For seven years, we've never stopped agreeing to sell the house.

"I played ball the whole away along, we'll be gone out of that house before spring is over."

Mr Ryan said he had bought the house in 2005 for more than 900,000.

He said the mortgage was combined with other borrowings from Bank of Scotland, leaving a total of some 1.1m on which the house was secured.

The court heard yesterday that Bank of Scotland Ireland Ltd had granted Mr Ryan a 34-year mortgage of 1,105,000 to be paid back in monthly instalments of 4,434.

The loan had fallen into arrears now amounting to 281,111 and the total debt outstanding to Tanager was stated to be 1,207,904.

Judge Jacqueline Linnane said that apart from no money having been paid against the mortgage since August 2010, it was not disputed that the mortgage had been taken out against the property in Mount Prospect Avenue. "The last payment to this account was on 4 August 2010," she said.

Tanager, which was represented in court by barrister Rudi Neuman, has a registered office at Clanwilliam Square, Grand Canal Quay, Dublin.

It bought more than 2,000 distressed Irish home loans almost 10 years ago at discount rates from Bank of Scotland.

More than 90pc of the loans it bought from that bank were two years or more in arrears.

Eoin O'Shea BL appeared with solicitor David M Turner for Mr Ryan and Ms Flood, and told Judge Linnane that he had prepared written legal submissions on their behalf which could, before the next hearing, be studied by the court in conjunction with submissions on behalf of Tanager.

Mr Ryan told the Irish Independent he was concerned that if Tanager did not get back all the money it was owed by selling the house, it could continue to pursue him for the remainder.

Mr Ryan used to own restaurants including Town Bar & Grill and South, but was hit financially by the 2008 recession. He currently runs a contract catering business.

Ms Flood, a former host of 'Off The Rails' television series and several RTE shows, was to have presented a TV3 documentary series about older mothers, but this was shelved after Virgin Media took over the station.

The former model won the Miss Ireland pageant 26 years ago. She has stated in the past that despite her own career difficulties and those of her husband, their marriage was rock solid.

The repossession proceedings were adjourned to allow consideration of legal submissions on behalf of both parties.It is inconceivable that an Irish father-of-two accidentally impaled himself on a screwdriver during a fatal fight with a fisherman which was sparked by a "racist" comment, a jury has heard.

Andrew Doan (35) is on trial in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, accused of murdering Charles John McCarthy (32) next to Perth's Swan River in the early hours of December 23 2017.

Expand Close Andrew Doan is accused of murder. Picture: Facebook / Facebook

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Doan and Tien Vu Huynh had been fishing without much luck for about two hours when Mr McCarthy walked past with his wife Nicole and friend Jason Mikel Curran, who made the contentious remark about the Asian men getting into trouble with fisheries officials for their catch.

It was a "smart-arse, throwaway" comment, prosecutor James Mactaggart told the jury in his closing address on Thursday.

However, Doan said the remark was hurtful and racist because there was a stereotype "that all Asians catch undersize fish".

Mr Mactaggart said he should have just ignored it.

Instead, he followed the trio down the road and angrily confronted them, brandishing a screwdriver and shouting "I'm going to stab you".

According to Doan, Mr McCarthy then flew into a "demonic rage" so he retreated to his car.

The prosecution says, however, that Mr Curran went back to the fishermen's utility vehicles to take photographs of their number plates so he could report Doan's threats to police and was struck by the accused, who yelled at him to delete the images.

Mr McCarthy went to intervene, despite his wife's pleas to stop, and the next thing she saw was "his lifeless body drop to the ground".

Doan claims the deceased had raised a fist to punch him, so he closed his eyes, threw up his arms up to protect his face "bracing for impact" and forgot the screwdriver was in his hand.

"It is inconceivable, impossible that Mr McCarthy could have tripped, fallen, stumbled - or in some way not really made clear - impaled himself on that screwdriver," Mr Mactaggart said.

"Nothing of the sort occurred."

The prosecutor said it was also inconceivable that Doan forgot he was holding the screwdriver.

"He never let that screwdriver out of his grasp," Mr Mactaggart said.

"Mr Doan deliberately stabbed Mr McCarthy. This was a conscious and voluntary act."

The jury is expected to retire to consider its verdict on Friday.Two boys who dreamed of playing rugby for their beloved Munster were found unresponsive and submerged in a disused quarry lake after going for a swim with friends on a hot, sunny day in May last year.

An inquest held at Limerick Coroner's Court yesterday into the deaths of 15-year-old Ennis rugby players Jack Kenneally and Shay Moloney returned verdicts of accidental deaths due to drowning.

Heartbreaking depositions from three of the boys' friends, who had been swimming with them, but were unable to save them on the day, were read into the record.

The five friends decided to go for a swim at the former quarry at Knockaneen, outside Ennis, on May 31 last year, despite signs there warning people of the dangers of entering the site.

One of the boys, aged 16, told gardai: "I was trying to keep Shay up, keep him calm for two minutes. My arms got too tired, and I couldn't hold him any more."

Another boy, aged 15, told gardai he had led the party of five to an rocky island on the lake where they had planned to perform jumps into the water.

He said as the rest of the party approached the island, he observed Jack Kenneally "sort of panicky swimming".

"He looked tired," he said.

Another boy "was trying to hold up Jack", he said.

As both of them tried to help Jack, they saw that Shay was struggling in the water.

"That's when we realised we couldn't save them both," the boy said.

"I rang 999, I told them the two lads were going under the water. '999' rang me back, as (the ambulance) went to (another) quarry, and they asked me, where was I."

The boy said paramedics eventually tracked his location after he sent the ambulance service the GPS location of his mobile phone.

Dean Coughlan (19), of Station Road, Ennis, who was passing at the time, told gardai that he had rushed to the lake after hearing the boys "screaming".

He told gardai that as he made his way towards the water, he could see one of the boys "trying to keep Shay up". He added: "I was close when I saw them go down... only (one) came back up... he was distraught."

Ennis firefighters, who were at the time attending to another call, arrived at the scene at 3.30pm, nine minutes after receiving the drowning alert.

Firefighters were in the water at 3.47pm, however, in another frustrating twist, despite being able to see Jack and Shay submerged in the lake, they could not reach them.

"We have buoyancy aids to keep us on the surface. We have no sub-surface capabilities in the fire service," explained Steve Hayes, the most senior member of Ennis Fire Service at the scene on the day.

He said the boys' bodies were "just down too deep".

David Woods, a witness who came on to the scene, said he entered the water to try to help retrieve the boys' bodies.

"I could see them as clear as day, but I couldn't reach them," Mr Woods told gardai.

Michael O'Rourke, a diver attached to Ennis Sub Aqua Club, raced to the scene after seeing the Coast Guard rescue helicopter in the area.

Despite encountering poor visibility under water at the time of his dive, he eventually retrieved the bodies of the two young victims shortly before 4.30pm.

Paramedics performed CPR on Jack and Shay for over 30 minutes at the scene, before both were airlifted to University Hospital Limerick.

Alan West, senior advanced paramedic who responded to the scene, told gardai: "They were not breathing, and their hearts were not beating."

Limerick Coroner Dr John McNamara returned verdicts of accidental death due to drowning.

On foot of a suggestion from Sean Kenneally, father of Jack, Dr McNamara said he would make a recommendation that the owners of the quarry erect life buoys at the site.Murder accused Pat Quirke told gardai that he "never had a cross word" with DJ Bobby Ryan, whose body was subsequently found in a tank on the farm leased by Mr Quirke.

Mr Quirke said his break-up with Mary Lowry was "not amicable" and that he was "very angry" when he found out she was seeing Bobby Ryan - whom he described as "happy-go-lucky".

The trial at the Central Criminal Court heard that Mr Quirke gave three statements to gardai after Mr Ryan went missing and following the discovery of his remains.

Farmer Mr Quirke (50), of Breanshamore, Co Tipperary, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Ryan, a DJ known as 'Mr Moonlight', on a date between June 3, 2011, and April 2013.

Detective Garda Martin Steed, of Tipperary garda station, told the trial he had taken a statement from Mr Quirke on June 21, 2011.

Mr Quirke described himself as "a farmer at Breansha" who was married to wife Imelda.

Since the death of Martin Lowry, he had been grazing the land at Fawnagowan, he said, adding that he had taken out a 10-year lease with a solicitor in 2008.

"Everything has worked out fine so far," he said.

Recalling Friday, June 3, 2011, Mr Quirke said that he saw Mary Lowry "getting into the car with her children" at 8.45am. "I didn't stop to talk to her because I was rushing," he said.

He was only on the farm for 20 minutes before he returned home. At noon, he and his wife left for the Heritage hotel in Co Laois, he added.

Mr Quirke told Det Gda Steed that he had met Mr Ryan twice, recalling that in January, he, Imelda, Mary and Bobby went to see Brendan Grace in Clonmel.

The next time he met him was at Killough Quarry in early May, he said.

"I'd describe him as happy-go-lucky," he said of Mr Ryan.

He did not believe he had ever spoken to him on the phone, he added.

"Mary seemed happy enough with him," said Mr Quirke.

He said that some time in January, he had met Ms Lowry and Mr Ryan in Hayes's Hotel in Thurles at Bobby's request.

Garda Ciaran Keane said he had taken a further statement from Mr Quirke at Tipperary Town garda station on November 30, 2011. He had attended on a voluntary basis, he said.

In that statement, Mr Quirke said that he first began seeing Mary Lowry in January 2008 and that it was "off and on for a while".

"When Martin [Lowry] died, a lot of things needed sorting on the farm," he said.

"Myself and Mary knew there was no future in it.

"Our break-up wasn't amicable," he said.

She met Mr Ryan the previous year, he said, but added: "I found out there was more to it. I was very angry with her."

On one occasion, he took her phone and saw text messages from Mr Ryan.

"I sent texts to Bobby from Mary's phone. I don't remember exactly what I said but basically 'I was with Mary now'," he told gardai.

Mr Quirke said he had never spoken a "cross word" to Mr Ryan.

Ms Lowry told him that she wanted to finish with him and she had feelings for Mr Ryan.

"I still wanted to remain friends with her. I had told her things I never told anyone else," he said.

However, he told gardai that she wanted nothing more to do with him.

Ms Lowry told Mr Ryan about this fight, he said, and Mr Ryan had suggested meeting at Hayes's Hotel, which they did in January.

He had travelled on his own to meet him and the encounter lasted "about an hour", he said.

"I was in a bad place myself. I was getting counselling," he told gardai.

Mr Ryan had been "very sympathetic", he said, noting that he had "gone through a break-up himself".

Ms Lowry had been "very quiet" during the meeting, Mr Quirke said.

On December 15, 2010, he said Ms Lowry and her children had gone ice-skating in Cork with he and his wife.

"I was angry she had dismissed me" and they went their separate ways, he said.

Mr Quirke told gardai then that he did not think he had ever seen Mr Ryan at Ms Lowry's farm, though he had seen his van on St Patrick's Day.

When Mr Ryan went missing, he said that he and his wife were away and he heard the news from Imelda.

He went searching for him on the morning of the bank holiday in the woods "all the way to Bansha", and on another occasion with Ms Lowry and her brother.

In March 2013, Mr Quirke gave a cautioned voluntary statement to gardai at Tipperary garda station after he was seen on CCTV footage around Ms Lowry's home at Fawnagowan on December 3, 2012 - which has previously been shown to the jury.

Mr Quirke explained to gardai that he went into his mother-in-law Rita Lowry's house to turn on the heating as she was away.

He then rang Ms Lowry's house as he had a "letter to give her", Mr Quirke said, but no one answered and her car was not there.

He said he went over to the post box and opened it but did not believe there were any letters inside. Mr Quirke told gardai that there was some women's underwear on the clothesline.

"I looked at the label on the underwear as I was curious," he said, adding: "I took it off the clothesline and then put it back on the line."

He then tried a key, that he had found some months earlier in the yard, in the lock of Ms Lowry's front door and when he pushed the handle it opened. "I wasn't sure if I had unlocked the door so I pressed down the handle," he said. Hearing the beep of the alarm, he "panicked, having realised what I had done was wrong".

He got in his 4x4 and drove away. He went to the farm the next day but no one was there so the following day after that, he returned and explained to Ms Lowry what had happened and gave her the key and the letter. The trial continues.Nora Bennis died at the age of 78. She was a prominent anti-abortion and family values activist from Limerick. Picture:Press 22

The late founder of the Solidarity Movement, Nora Bennis, was a loud voice against abortion and divorce, as well as promoting Catholic and family values. However, her family revealed at her funeral mass that she died heartbroken by the problems in society.

The 78-year old mother-of-four who was also well-known in cultural circles, having founded of the Bennis School of Irish Dancing, passed away following a short illness, surrounded by loved ones, in hospital, last Monday.

Mrs Benniss funeral, which took place at Our Lady of the Rosary Chruch, Ennis Road, Limerick city, was co-concelebrated by 10 priests, led by Fr Tom Ryan, CC, and Fr Des McAuliffe, PP.

Despite unsuccessfully contesting three Dail elections and one European election, she gained respect from her political peers as a formidable political opponent.

She founded Women Working at Home and the Irish Mothers Working at Home Association in the 1990s following the X case, when the State took an injunction against a 14-year-old pregnant teenager to prevent her having an abortion in the UK.

Following the 1995 divorce referendum she set up the National Party, later renamed the Christian Democrats.

Her strident views on various contentious issues, such as abortion and divorce, made her unpopular in some circles - but she never wavered in spreading her message, her daughter, Muirne, told mourners.

In 1995 she led a 24-hour fast and a day of prayer, in protest at a sex shop operating in the Treaty city, telling reporters she wanted the public to boycott this filth.

Expand Close Nora Bennis daughter Muirne who spoke after her mothers funeral mass in Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Limerick. Photograph Liam Burke/Press 22 / Facebook

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Whatsapp Nora Bennis daughter Muirne who spoke after her mothers funeral mass in Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Limerick. Photograph Liam Burke/Press 22

She was labelled, and sometimes ridiculed, but that wouldn't stop her. Whether people agreed or disagreed with her, all accepted she was a woman of conviction, her daughter added.

She cared so much, and was heartbroken by the problems in society and wanted to make this country the safest place possible, she said.

In a touching tribute, she highlighted her mothers deep commitment to family values, adding she was a superhero to her four children and six grandchildren.

I read somewhere that life doesn't come with a manual, it comes with a mother. And how true that is. Mum was a guiding light in our lives. Mum truly loved her role as a mother and she loved been able to provide for our basic needs, emotional needs, and very especially, our spiritual needs.

It was impossible to argue against her. She always won, she added.

The rights of the unborn was always foremost in her mind.

Expand Close Nora Bennis's coffin is carried from Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Limerick following funeral mass. Photograph Liam Burke/Press 22 / Facebook

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Mum knew the value of mothering, not just for us, but for every child, and that is why she fought for the recognition of the value of the mother, the value of the family, the value of life.

Fr Ryan said he was shocked at the sudden loss of his very prominent parishioner.

Death is difficult, there is a finality and separation about it, especially (as) it came relatively soon. A few weeks ago she was right here at mass. She was a woman of great faith and prayer, always staying on after mass to pray, he said.

Fr Ryan remarked that Ms Bennis had corresponded with Jack Potts, a prisoner on death row in Georgia, USA, who had pleaded guilty to murder.

Potts was impressed by Benniss support for mothers in the home, as he felt his problems started because his mother was absent from the family home when he was a child.

He wrote Bennis a letter from jail, which sowed the seeds of a 20-year correspondence until he died of cancer.

In the course of their corresponding he became an Irish-speaking, GAA-loving Catholic, before he died of cancer, added Fr Ryan.

Muirne Bennis concluded, saying her mother was a steadfast defender of and witness to the faith, and was deeply committed to the catholic sanctity of marriage.

She and had a special connection with her late husband and well known Limerick GAA stalwart Gerry Bennis, she said.

Dad passed away on the 11th of November, which is mums birthday, and mum is being laid to rest beside her beloved Gerry on St Valentines Day the patron saint of a happy marriage. What a fitting end to their story in this life, she told mourners.This combination of pictures created on February 13, 2019 shows sixteen recent drawings released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), by suspect Samuel Little, based on his memories of some of his female victims from various locations spread across the US. AFP PHOTO / FBI/HANDOUT

The FBI has released a series of portraits that serial killer Samuel Little drew of his victims in the hope that they can be identified.

The 78-year-old confessed to killing 90 people and is already serving three life sentences for murder.

It is believed that the killings of "marginalised and vulnerable" women took place across the US between 1970 and 2005.

He could be one of the most prolific serial killers in US history - however many of his victims remain unknown.

Now the agency has released 16 images, which were drawn from memory, in the hope that they can find out more information and notify families.

An FBI spokesman told CNN: "We are hoping that someone - family member, former neighbour, friend - might recognise the victim and provide that crucial clue in helping authorities make an identification.

"We want to give these women their names back and their family some long awaited answers. It's the least we can do."

Little was caught after being arrested on a drugs charge in a homeless shelter in Kentucky, and extradited to California in 2012.

Expand Close This undated file photo obtained November 28, 2018, courtesy of Ector County Sheriff's Office shows convicted serial killer Samuel Little. AFP PHOTO / ECTOR COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE / Facebook

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DNA testing linked him to three murders in the Los Angeles area dating back as far as 1987. All three women had been beaten and strangled.

He was accused of murdering women in Mississippi and Florida in the early 1980s but was not convicted.

More recently he began drawing portraits of his victims during interviews with investigators.

The drawings include details such as the color of a victim's eyes or hair or the blue headscarf she was wearing when she was abducted.

One picture, for example, depicts a white woman with green eyes and brown hair aged between 20 and 25 years old who was killed in Maryland in 1972.

Another is of a black woman between 23 and 25 years old with bright red lipstick and red earrings. She was killed in 1984 in Georgia and may have been a college student.

Expand Close This combination of pictures created on February 13, 2019 shows sixteen recent drawings released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), by suspect Samuel Little, based on his memories of some of his female victims from various locations spread across the US. AFP PHOTO / FBI/HANDOUT / Facebook

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Whatsapp This combination of pictures created on February 13, 2019 shows sixteen recent drawings released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), by suspect Samuel Little, based on his memories of some of his female victims from various locations spread across the US. AFP PHOTO / FBI/HANDOUT

Another is of a black woman with purple hair aged between 25 and 28 years old who was killed in Houston, Texas, decades ago.

Bobby Bland, the district attorney in Ector County, Texas, told AFP in December that the total number of confirmed killings attributed to Little is now more than 40.

"He's talking about things, cases that happened up to 50 years ago, and he's giving details on all these different murders, and none of the statements he's made have proven to be false," Bland said.

The FBI has been working with federal, state and local agencies to match Little's confessions to unsolved murders across the country.

If all 90 confessions are confirmed, Little would be the most prolific known US serial killer.

The deadliest known US serial killer is believed to be Gary Ridgway, the so-called "Green River Killer" convicted of 49 murders who is serving a life sentence in Washington state.German sports car firm Porsche is warning new customers they might have to pay extra for their new cars after Brexit.

Buyers placing orders are being asked to sign a clause in their contracts saying they would be prepared to cover the cost of a potential 10pc tariff.

In a statement, the Stuttgart-based car maker said: "As one potential outcome of the Brexit negotiations, there is a possibility that a duty of up to 10pc may be applied to cars imported into the UK by us after March 29.

"In light of this, we have chosen to inform customers whose cars are likely to arrive after Brexit occurs to warn them that they may be affected by this tariff - allowing them to be fully informed at the point of sale and, if they wish, to adjust their order accordingly.

"This is a precautionary step in the interests of allowing our customers to plan ahead, should this situation arise.

"Customers who have placed deposits on or before January 17 this year will not be affected by this change."

A 10pc price increase would see an entry-level example of the Porsche 911 rise to 102,421 from 93,110.

Porsche is part of the Volkswagen group, which also includes Seat and Audi. The company did not respond when asked if it is making similar preparations for the other car brands.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders would not be drawn on the issue, saying it did not comment on the actions of individual manufacturers.

AA president Edmund King said: "Import tariffs alone could push up the list price of cars imported to the UK from the continent by an average of 1,500 if brands and their retail networks were unable to absorb these additional costs."

Brexit supporters have dismissed fears over tariffs on imported cars, arguing that powerful German manufacturers would oppose such an obstacle to one of their biggest markets.

But a string of bosses at British car makers have expressed fears about the risk of tariffs, which they say could disrupt production and exports.Troubled bakery chain Patisserie Valerie has been bought by Causeway Capital Partners, an Irish private equity firm.

The transaction has been funded with investment from Causeway Capital, and the new management of the business led by Steve Francis as chief executive.

Patisserie Valerie will maintain 96 of its branches - preserving up to 2,000 jobs.

Steve Francis, CEO of Patisserie Valerie, said: "We are delighted to welcome Causeway Capital as our partners in Patisserie Valerie, ending a disruptive period of uncertainty for the business."

"The affection and loyalty for the brand among our customers and employees, and Causeway Capitals enthusiasm and support for the business, creates for us the foundations for an exciting future for the business."

In Ireland, Patisserie Valerie has two outlets  on Dublin's Henry Street and in Blanchardstown, Co Dublin.

Earlier this year Patisserie Valerie's parent collapsed into insolvency after an accounting scandal left it unable to secure new lending or pay its debts.

Meanwhile, Dublin-headquartered Causeway Capital was launched in 2015 to invest in growing small and medium businesses in Ireland and the UK. It manages funds on behalf of European pension funds, investment funds and financial institutions.

The groups investment in Patisserie Valerie will be the sixth completed investment from its maiden fund.

Causeway Capitals Matt Scaife, said: "This investment should mark the end of a turbulent period for customers and suppliers alike. We are delighted to partner with the team and look forward to helping the business return to growth."EU judges dealt a possible blow to an EU crackdown against tax avoidance by global multinationals on Thursday by annulling an order by the EU executive against a Belgian tax-break scheme for about 35 large companies.

The anti-avoidance drive led by Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has included orders to Ireland to recover some 13bn from iPhone maker Apple and to Luxembourg to claw back up to 30m from Fiat Chrysler, 250m from Amazon and about 120m from France's Engie.

The Netherlands has been told to recover between 20-30m from Starbucks.

It is not yet clear how much of an impact the decision by the General Court, the lower branch of the Court of Justice in Luxembourg, may have on other cases. Legal experts will be scrutinising the detail of the Belgian ruling.

"The General Court annuls the Commission's decision concerning tax exemptions granted by Belgium by means of rulings," the EU tribunal said in Luxembourg.

"The Commission wrongly considered that the Belgian system relating to the excess profit of multinational companies constituted an aid scheme," it said.

The case involved Dutch industrial company Magnetrol and Belgium which took their cases to the General Court after the Commission in 2016 ordered Belgium to recover some 700 million euros from the companies which benefited from the scheme.Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has insisted that the concerns of local people whose homes are close to the new 320m runway project at Dublin Airport are not being ignored

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has insisted that the concerns of local people whose homes are close to the new 320m runway project at Dublin Airport are not being ignored by the DAA, the semi-State company that operates the gateway, or the Government.

Mr Varadkar and Transport Minister Shane Ross were greeted this morning at a sod-turning ceremony for the new runway by a small group of local protesters.

The protesters are opposed to efforts by the DAA to relax two planning conditions that currently would inhibit the number of flights that can be handled by Dublin Airport once the new runway is operational. The airport handled about 31.5 million passengers last year.

One of the conditions attached by An Bord Pleanala would prohibit the new runway's use between 11pm and 7am - a period that includes the airport's extremely busy morning operations.

The second condition would cap the number of total flights at the airport between 11pm and 7am at 65. The airport currently handles about 100 flights during that time.

I represent Dublin West constituency, said Mr Varadkar, A large part of my constituency is under the flight path and there has been a lot of engagement between the DAA and residents. We totally understand the concerns that residents have in relation to the value of their properties, and also in relation to noise abatement. There is a plan in place to purchase a lot of homes if people are willing to sell.

He added that the DAA will also pay for many other homes to be insulated.

Thats always the way with these projects, said Mr Varadkar. You have to balance local concerns on the one hand with the needs and the greater good of the entire country. This airport is Irelands gateway to the world.

Mr Ross insisted that it was absolutely wrong to say that local residents have been ignored.

Last night, the Oireachtas passed legislation that makes Fingal County Council the noise regulator for Dublin Airport. Its expected to be enacted next month. A noise regulator was required under EU legislation. The noise regulator will play a key role in helping An Bord Pleanala to determine if the two planning conditions that will restrict aircraft movements should be amended.

One of the protesters, Sheelagh Morris, whos secretary of the St Margarets Concerned Residents Group, said overturning the two planning conditions would have a massive impact on her and other local residents homes.

Our homes will be deemed worthless, she said. We wont be able to live here. We have a voluntary buyout scheme out to us which is absolutely not fit for purpose.

About 250 homes are impacted most by the new runway.

DAA chief executive Dalton Philips described the two planning conditions as onerous and has previously stated that if they are in place when the new runway is operational that the result would be catastrophic for the airport and the country, significantly reducing the number of flights and passengers the gateway could handle.

We want to challenge those conditions, he said. We dont take it lightly. As the Taoiseach said, its about the wider economic good. There are residents that are impacted and were clearly we engage with them and were concerned about that.IS THE National Broadband Plan shrinking? This week, announcements from a number of telecom operators threaten to substantially reduce the size of the Government's 'intervention area', currently measured at 540,000 homes and businesses, or more than 1m people, in mostly rural areas.

Eir said that it has already upgraded 30,000 extra homes in the intervention area as an overrun to the fibre-to-the-home build-out (to 300,000 rural homes) that it agreed with the Government two years ago. Announcing a major new upgrade to its overall national network, Eir CEO Carolan Lennon said a further 50,000 of the intervention area will now be covered as part of a 1.4m home expansion plan.

This brings the size of the NBP intervention area down to 510,000 at present and 460,000 when (and if) Eir completes its fibre-to-the-home upgrade.

Then Imagine chief executive Sean Bolger said that the company's wireless rollout to 1m Irish homes would include a whopping 400,000 homes in the National Broadband Plan area.

Cumulatively, these announcements could bring the overall number of rural homes down by over three quarters, to under 140,000. So what's going to happen? Will the National Broadband Plan need to go back to the drawing board again? What's happening with the State-subsidised process at the moment anyway?

Here's an overview on where the National Broadband Plan stands at present and where it might be headed next.

1. What's happening with the National Broadband Plan at present?

The Department of Communications is still deciding whether or not to proceed to a 'preferred bidder' status with Granahan McCourt, the telecoms consortium which is the only remaining bidder in the Government's National Broadband Plan process. A decision on this has been waited on for almost four months. Sources close to the process say that it's still "weeks" away, although there is a possibility of a formal decision by the end of February.

If 'preferred bidder' status is conferred upon Granahan McCourt, the Government and that company will then move to sign a contract for the 25-year deal. This will see the Government commit to subsidising the build-out of a (mostly) fibre broadband network to the 'intervention area' of 540,000 homes and businesses in mostly rural areas. At the end of the 25-year period, the company gets to keep the rural network.

2. Why is it taking so long?

This has been the overarching theme of the entire National Broadband Plan process, which is now entering its seventh year. The Government insists that it has to get the detail right, given the magnitude of what's at stake: this is arguably the most ambitious broadband project in Europe. Politically, there are landmines everywhere if it gets sloppy. For instance, the last communications minister, Denis Naughten, was forced to resign after meeting the CEO of the bidding company Granahan McCourt on a number of occasions. Although an audit report cleared the process to continue, the Government was politically wounded. Sources say that it is determined not to prioritise speed over due diligence. One practical hurdle is that the documentation associated with the contract is said to run into thousands of pages.

3. Remind me why Eir and Siro, the two biggest bidders for the NBP contract, pulled out.

Both Eir and Siro said that they couldn't see a business case as a private company, albeit for different reasons. Siro, the joint venture between Vodafone and the ESB, said that the Government's deal with Eir over connecting 300,000 of the (then) 840,000 homes identified in the 'intervention area' ruined the prospect of long-term viability for the project in its eyes. It pulled out in late 2017.

A few months later, Eir also withdrew. Last week, the company's CEO, Carolan Lennon, gave fresh insight into why.

"It was very, very complex," she said. "A lot of extra cost came with that complexity, especially for us as the ex-incumbent. One example is that we couldn't use our existing wholesale Open Eir business, with 80 people and all its systems, to sell the NBP as a wholesale service. We would have been required to create another separate wholesale division with another team. We just couldn't justify the complexity or the cost."

Another reason, she said, was the sheer volume of detail in the contractual obligations.

"The contract we signed with the Government for the 300,000 rural homes ran to 40 pages," she said. "That was our own money. But the contract for the NBP runs to thousands of pages. There's a big overhead in reporting to the Government, too. That would drive cost. There was no business case we could make to say this was a good move for us. We spent over 7m on it before we withdrew."

4. So what's going to happen if the number of homes to be covered by the NBP shrinks? Does this jeopardise the whole thing?

The Government doesn't think so, despite Imagine's Sean Bolger suggesting that the State might not want to continue with a plan to subsidise a fibre-to-the-home broadband service in an area where his company will now build its own service.

Asked whether he would take legal action to stop the current NBP process, Bolger refused to rule it out but said that he did not think a legal battle "will arise".

Eir has a more benign view. "We won't be taking any action [against the State, where its 80,000 homes may duplicate the state's NBP footprint]," said Ms Lennon when asked this question. "We just want to get on with it," she added.

The reason that the Government doesn't think this is a threat is an assertion that its 540,000 figure is not set in stone. "With regard to the National Broadband Plan, the procurement process allows for changes to the map over the coming years in the event that new commercial plans are announced," a spokeswoman for the department told the Irish Independent.

In other words, the 30,000 that Eir has already covered may now formally be knocked off the NBP's intervention area when the next formal appraisal is done. And the same thing could happen if Imagine's planned build-out proceeds, especially if done in advance of the NBP being started.

The result is that even after the announcements from Eir and Imagine, "the area identified as requiring a State-led intervention remains as set out on the high-speed broadband map for the purposes of the NBP procurement process" for now, she said.

But if either of these commercial plans from Eir and Imagine don't materialise in full or in part, the Government says that the NBP can accommodate that too.

"In 2017 as a direct result of this monitoring the department added a further 84.5k premises to the NBP State Intervention Area where commercial investment plans previously provided to the department had failed to materialise," said the Department of Communications.

5. Will Eir and Imagine definitely build these new promised broadband connections?

Eir, which is promising the biggest overhaul, looks set to conclude its initial rural fibre rollout to 335,000 homes this June, even if that is six months late on its original commitment. It says that while it took two-and-a-half years to build 335,000, it will take five years to reach another 1.4m homes, as most of them are in urban or well-populated areas.

Imagine's roadmap is harder to gauge. It is now well-funded, having recently taken 120m in fresh finance from the investment firm Brookfield. It currently offers wireless broadband in some areas of the country. However, it ran into significant difficulties with WiMax, the wireless delivery service it previously hoped would become a national wireless service. A lengthy legal battle with Motorola ensued, while the WiMax service withered. Nevertheless, Mr Bolger has considerable experience in the Irish telecoms market.

6. Is Eir's new fibre rollout really 'fibre'?

This time it is. Unfortunately, the company will have a significant challenge in getting people to believe that it is really delivering fibre broadband - which is the highest currently available standard - instead of just a rebadged copper landline service. Eir's difficulty here is that it has been marketing a product called 'eFibre' for some years. But this is nowhere near as good a service as actual fibre broadband. It uses a home's old copper landline to connect to a fibre line somewhere down the street (or on another street, far away).

As a result, many 'eFibre' connections are slow to the point of their homes being officially classed as deprived internet zones. Eir's fibre-to-the-home product, by contrast, has no such problem. It is capable of delivering speeds of more than 1,000Mbs, far faster than most need.The chief executive of a wireless broadband firm will warn the government today that proceeding with state-subsidised broadband for 540,000 rural homes under the National Broadband Plan represents unnecessary state intervention and could lead to difficulties with state aid approval in the EU.

Imagines Sean Bolger will make the statement in front of the Committee of Public Accounts this morning.

He will do so after this week unveiling plans to rollout wireless broadband to 400,000 of the 540,000 premises on the governments rural intervention area.

Asked whether he would initiate legal action to enforce his position under EU state aid rules, Mr Bolger declined to rule it out but said that he didnt think it will come to that. He said that the state scheme can be adapted.

The National Broadband Plan is a necessary thing to bring fibre out there, he said. But its unnecessary to as a final connection to the home.

Mr Bolger said that his company plans to invest almost 300m in a new wireless broadband network, to eventually reach over 1m homes across the country.

The existing National Broadband Plan process, he will say, excludes the benefit of available, alternative lower-cost last-mile solutions such as his.

As such, it may represent unnecessary state intervention and could lead to difficulties with state aid approval in the EU.

With 5G essential to the future digital society and economy, the current FTTH approach can no longer, of itself, achieve the very objectives of the NBP with the risk of further marginalising regional Ireland and rural communities, he will say.

Imagines new wireless rollout will be based on 325 sites using masts that connect to antennae played on the outside of a home.

The rollout has begun already, Mr Bolger said, with 155 broadband transmission sites to be live by June of this year followed by another 170 sites live by June 2020.

Mr Bolger said that the service would offer a 150Mbs broadband connection for 60 per month and a 150 set-up fee.

However, he said that the service will be initially restricted to between 300 and 400 homes per location, expandable as demand increases.

The new rollout is aimed at non-urban areas and will cover 400,000 of the 540,000 rural homes to be covered by the National Broadband Plan, Bolger said.

Meanwhile, the Department Of Communications is still deciding whether or not to proceed to a preferred bidder status with Granahan McCourt, the telecoms consortium which is the only remaining bidder in the governments National Broadband Plan process.

A decision on this has been waited on for almost four months. Sources close to the process say that its still weeks away, although there is a possibility of a formal decision by the end of February.

If preferred bidder status is conferred upon Granahan McCourt, the government and that company will then move to sign a contract for the 25-year deal. This will see the government commit to subsidising the buildout of a (mostly) fibre broadband network to the intervention area of 540,000 homes and businesses in mostly rural areas. At the end of the 25 year period, the company gets to keep the rural network.DataSolutions has invested 250,000 to secure the exclusive UK and Ireland distribution rights in an agreement with Safetica.

The Dublin-based company has partnered with the Czech-based software vendor as demand for data protection solutions rise.

Safetica provides a quick-to-deploy data loss prevention (DLP) solution that helps protect organisations from data breaches.

Group Security Sales Director of DataSolutions, David Keating, said that company insider threats pose the biggest risk to businesses.

"Safetica's solution not only provides organisations with an overview of how its sensitive data flows through the system, but puts control of sensitive data back in managements hands," he said.

The UK market now accounts for 30pc of DataSolutions' business, with the expectation of raising that to 50pc over the next three years.

In the past three years, the firm has doubled its business and expects to grow its revenues to 80m by 2021.

CEO of Safetica Technologies, Petr Zikes, said that the partnership is a "perfect match".

"While many vendors have tweaked their offering to cover off GDPR aspects, there is a clear demand in the UK and Irish markets for a specialist DLP solution built from the ground up," he said.As we sit in a quiet Peploe's, an hour before the restaurant is due to open for lunch, the first thing that grabs my attention is how nattily dressed its proprietor, Barry Canny, is.

The same sense of style has followed down into the restaurant, which, nestled in the heart of St Stephen's Green, serves up to 1,500 people each week.

However, given Mr Canny's background in "the rag trade", such style should not come as a surprise. "I started out in London, and it was quite an exciting place," the father of three girls says.

Having briefly worked in the insurance business, which he "quickly bored of", Mr Canny found himself drawn towards the East End of London with a younger crew of people in the clothing industry. "I took a load of garments down to Petticoat Lane one afternoon in the early 70s, and I made more money in the two hours than I did in a month at the insurance company. I suddenly found a new industry.

"I suppose I was a bit of Del Boy, and I continued with that, it grew into a more organised form, I met a well-known designer for uniforms, and between us we got a range of clothing together," Mr Canny continues.

The duo ended up selling into clothing stores in New York and South Africa.

"I had 10 or 11 very good years in London, it was like my education We ran out of money eventually in the designer company, we had sold out to a big Scottish knitwear firm and it was time for me to come back."

By his own judgment Mr Canny had "made a few bob".

"I had a rainy day fund. I love a rainy day fund, even as a kid I always had something to fall back on because when you are on your own - kids nowadays get a lot more than we used to get - in those days if you had the money for the rent you did, and if you didn't you were camping out in somebody else's place, you couldn't be ringing home looking for a few bob," he says.

On his return to Dublin in the 1980s, Mr Canny opened what is today The Olive restaurant in Sandycove.

"I traded that for a few years, I learnt a lot about the industry and decided to sell out and do other things."

Shortly after leaving the restaurant business he joined forces with a property development company in Dublin, where he spent more than 10 years.

Yet, his exit from the hospitality industry turned out to be a move that would lead him back into the sector.

"One of the properties we bought some 24 years ago was 22 St Stephens Green, which I turned into Browns Boutique Hotel," Mr Canny says.

"That was a great experience for some years, it was one of the first boutique hotels in Dublin, with only 12 bedrooms, but the restaurant was a roaring success."

After trading for five years, in 2004 he decided to sell up. "Again I wanted to build my rainy day fund a little bit." On the need for having money to fall back on, he says: "I suppose it comes from I don't know, is it insecurity or something like that?

"People said I was crazy to sell it, but there was good profit on the table, I had been made an offer I didn't understand, and then I sold that - with great reserve - but it was very difficult for a single person to manage a 12-bedroom hotel, with a roaring restaurant, a very profitable business."

He adds that the business, which today trades as The Cliff House Hotel, "didn't have the international connection and you couldn't rely on the Irish market alone because it was a boutique hotel and was boutique level prices as well."

After making such a monumental decision, Mr Canny, who describes himself as a travel fan, small art collector and "petrol head" needed to take some time out.

"I took time out for about a month or two, with the fund I had more time to think about what I wanted to do, and then I discovered this premises here," he says, gesturing with his hand.

At the time the premises had a massive concrete vault in the middle of it.

But he saw the potential for something special, and with, Mr Canny reckons, "every engineer having a fee out of it some way or another," and 600,000 later, he discovered he could turn the place into a restaurant, which today is a multi-million euro operation.

With the business open 17 years, Mr Canny says he doesn't classify Peploe's as high-end. "Quality-wise we are, [but as a restaurant] we would see ourselves in the fine dining bistro. "We don't want to do Michelin-style food, we don't want to do that sort of level of discipline, what we are trying to achieve here is a 60s-70s Parisian brasserie bistro, and that is our track.

"Our real raison d'etre is really very good French classics, with produce served in a very professional way."

When it comes to the importance of using Irish produce, Mr Canny says for Peploe's, "that is the ultimate".

"The food has to be Irish, it has to be fresh, and all our meats are of a high grade.

"There is a move in the restaurant business nowadays where there are big food suppliers bringing everything ready to go, but we are still trimming, still filleting our fish, we are still preparing our own vegetables and we buy nothing outside the Irish market, unless it is just not available to us at the time, and this is very, very important to us," he adds.

Over the past 17 years Ireland's economy has been through the wringer. Discretionary spending, including dining out, was at the coalface of that. Peploe's was not immune. "We got through the recession because we were sufficiently financed to get through, we had reserves, we had fantastic staff, and people really got behind it and pushed hard."

The restaurant trimmed its menus and prices, and "we gave consistent high quality at acceptable prices and kept our standards going".

In addition, the company spent money promoting the business.

Just as things were coming back to normal, the business experienced "one of the biggest upsets for some time".

"That was the Luas works, which went on for nearly three years, now that was the hardest thing, that was harder than the recession [for the business].

"That caused mayhem here, it actually shut down the Green, the place was full of vans, trucks, diggers, dust, it was just appalling, and there was no apologies, no compensation, no account for businesses, no respect for businesses from the council, and that was the hard one, that we had to go back to the rainy day fund to keep the place open," Mr Canny says.

Just prior to the conclusion of the Luas works, Mr Canny spent 500,000 revamping the restaurant to help protect it from competitors.

"We knew there would be extra competition coming to Dublin, Dublin is getting quite saturated now with restaurants.

"So we revamped, a big risk for us, had to close for nearly three weeks, and re-opened and our regular customers loved it, they love the new approach, the New York look, and here we are with our reincarnation," he adds, gesturing around the dining room.

With the Luas works now completed, "we have our Stephen's Green back", he says/

Last year Peploe's had "a very good year up significantly on the previous year". But Mr Canny, ever the fan of the rainy day fund, is not taking anything for granted.

"I think there will be [restaurant] failures in the next couple of years. I hope nothing like what is happening in the UK, the UK September 2017 to September 2018, there was 1,200 restaurant failures, that's up 22pc on the previous year. They are frightening figures," he adds.

Mr Canny also notes the big restaurant groups moving to Ireland, pulling market share, which he says they are doing "at a huge cost to them". But he says Peploe's "has always been there for the challenge, and to be in our 17th year, we have seen them come and go and we are still here.

"We sharpen our pens all the time, we are watching the market, we are wise to what is going on, we can stop and turn and change direction."

The former rag trade man adds that he doesn't like "faddy fashion and going the way everybody is going for the sake of it".

"We will never follow the crowd, rightly or wrongly, we will do our own thing, stay individual and we have an individual relationship with our customers. That gives us a little more of that Irish welcome that I think some of us have forgotten."Irish private equity investor MML Growth Capital Partners is looking to raise a new fund, with a target to raise 125m or more.

The move will provide a fresh pot of money for Irish SMEs as non-bank finance becomes more prevalent here.

MML, which declined to comment, typically invests in established, profitable SMEs on the island of Ireland. It is led by Neil McGowan and Rory Quirke.

Individual commitments to companies tend to range from 5-15m, and can be for minority or majority stakes.

It established a first fund a number of years ago, which it has used to invest in businesses ranging from courier firm Fastway Couriers, to bathroom products supplier Sonas Bathrooms.

Last year it exited investments in refrigeration business Lowe Refrigeration, and specialist engineers H&MV. MML has filed documents at the Companies Registration Office for an entity called 'MML Growth Capital Partners Ireland II'.

The investors in the first MML fund were AIB, Enterprise Ireland, Goldpoint Partners (an investment arm of US insurance company New York Life), the European Investment Fund and the American health services giant Cigna Corporation.

That same cohort is likely to be approached again about investing in the new fund, with a second phase of fundraising with opportunities for new investors potentially to follow. A range of non-bank finance providers has sprung up here since the crash.

Private equity operators like MML, Carlyle Cardinal Ireland and Renatus Capital have set up, as have debt providers like Capitalflow or Finance Ireland, which is run by former Irish Permanent chief executive Billy Kane.

Equity funding is less risky for a business than debt because it doesn't involve borrowing money that has to be repaid.

Instead equity investors take a percentage of the company's shares, in the hope that they will be able to sell those shares at a later date for a higher price.

Some entrepreneurs are averse to taking equity investments however because it involves selling down part of their stake in a business.

However for others it can provide a way of monetising their shares, for which there can be a lack of liquidity in a relatively small market like Ireland.

MML says on its website that it backs "ambitious managers of small and medium-sized private businesses located on the island of Ireland to reach the next stage of their evolution, maximising growth opportunities at home and abroad".

Many private equity investors tend to leave management or existing shareholders with a substantial stake in the business, so the company can benefit from the latter's expertise and also give them an incentive to further grow the business.Teckro, the Limerick-based biotech startup co-founded by brothers Gary and Nigel Hughes, has raised a new funding round of $25m (22.1m).

The cash brings to $43m the amount of funding raised by the brothers, who started the company in 2015 with Jacek Skrzypiec. Teckro focuses on clinical trials, making them more efficient for doctors, nurses and patients.

The Hughes family have form in growing successful startups, selling their last clinical trials company, Firecrest, to Dublin pharmaceutical company Icon, co-founded by Dr John Climax and Dr Ronan Lambe.

Teckro has users in more than 80 countries and employs over 100 staff across three offices in Limerick, Dublin and Nashville, Tennessee.

The $25m Series C round was led by US investment firm Northpond Ventures with participation from Founders Fund, Sands Capital Ventures, Bill Maris' Section 32 venture fund and Borealis Ventures. Chief executive Gary Hughes said the round will be used to continue its international expansion and product development.

Teckro, which works with pharma and biotech giants, uses 'machine learning' to speed clinical trials. A company spokesman said there has been a 240pc rise in the number of clinical trials on its platform over the past 12 months.

"Despite all the talk of digital transformation, the actual experience of participating in a clinical trial if you are a doctor, research nurse or patient has changed little in the last 20 years," said Gary Hughes. "The industry still relies heavily on paper, or working off retrospective data.

"This approach, together with the plethora of point solutions that get 'bolted on', only adds to the complexity and disjointed experience of research sites and patients.

"We are building a new digital infrastructure and toolset for clinical research that makes the conduct of trials simpler, more transparent and more inclusive.

"Ultimately Teckro is about ensuring that effective drugs are efficiently and effectively moved from the lab to the patient so that lives can be saved."

The funding round comes after recent figures showing a fall-off in major deals and seed funding in Ireland.

Investment was down by a third to 546m in the first nine months of 2018.A businesswoman has sued her former partner claiming she is entitled to a share in a property business they built up together over many years.

But the High Court action involving a couple, who once enjoyed a yacht and luxury home in France, has involved claims of sexual affairs from both sides, as well as trespass and betrayal.

The action has been brought by Ali Barker against Owen Owens with an address at Rochfort, The Burnaby, Greystones, Co Wicklow and a company he founded, Dunbury Holdings. Ms Barker seeks various declarations, including that the company constitutes a quasi-partnership between her and Mr Owens, and they are entitled to 50pc each of the equity in the partnership.

Ms Barker, of Hillcourt Park, Glenageary, Co Dublin, further seeks a declaration that she is a cohabitant within the meaning of the 2010 Civil Partnership Act and also seeks damages.

The claims are denied by Mr Owens. He says no business partnership ever existed between him and Ms Barker.

The couple split in 2010, after 17 years together. She claims she and Mr Owens got together after her marriage to another party didn't work out.

She claims shortly after they got together, she, on his invitation, quit her job in the retail business, and worked with him in the property business. In 1999 they had a daughter together.

She claims she added to the business and helped it build a substantial portfolio by acquiring commercial and residential properties. She became a director of the firm in 2002 and was paid a salary in 2005.

She claims the business allowed them to enjoy a privileged lifestyle. They had a substantial home in Wicklow, a 1.6m holiday home in Mougins, France, a personal staff contingent, luxury vehicles, a 47ft yacht, horses, luxury travel, and significant spending power.

In 2010, the relationship broke down, and there were difficulties between the two.

Ms Barker claims Mr Owens had cynically engineered a situation to end their relationship in order to deprive her of the rights she would have been entitled to under the Civil Partnership Act.

She also claims Mr Owens commenced a relationship with a friend of hers, which she believes began when they were still together.

In his defence and counter-claim, Mr Owen says he never provided a guarantee of lifelong security. The only business relationship he had with her was from 2005 to 2010 when she was a salaried employee of his business.

He rejects claims his behaviour towards her deteriorated in 2010. He said it deteriorated due to Ms Barker's conduct.

In 2009 he said he became aware that Ms Barker, then in her mid-40s, had been involved in sexual relationships with men living near them, who were considerably younger. He claims they were aged in their 20s while another was a married man.

He also rejected claims he cynically engineered a situation to deprive her of protections under the 2010 Act and says she has no entitlements under the act which commenced in January 2011, when their relationship ended in April 2010. His new relationship commenced after his and Ms Barker's had ended.

In his counter claim, he seeks orders including for possession at the house she resides at in Glenageary. He also wants the court to order Ms Barker and others, including her current partner, to vacate and "cease trespassing" at that property.

The case before Mr Justice John Jordan continues.Travel software firm Datalex is undertaking a cost restructuring program, which it said will impact outsourced contractors and employees.

The company did not provide details on how many employees would be at risk of losing their job.

The programme will deliver savings of between $8m-$8.5m (7m-7.5m) in 2019.

From 2020, Datalex, whos shareholders include billionaire financier Dermot Desmond, expects to generate annualised cost savings in the range of $9.5m to $10m (8.4m-8.8m).

The cost-saving programme, which is already underway and will be completed this year, comes after the group earlier this year said it expects to report an adjusted earnings loss in the range of -$4m to -$1m for financial year 2018.

The adjusted earnings primarily relates to significant difficulties in its services business, including incurring exceptional delivery costs that are unlikely to be recovered and operating efficiencies that are currently being addressed.

The groups results for financial year 2018 remain to be audited.

In a statement today the board said it has reviewed its financial year 2019 guidance and now expects to report adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation in the range of $3m to $3.5m for FY 2019.

Meanwhile it said it "remains confident" in the future of the business, and expects to report adjusted earnings in the rage of $12m to $13.5m for financial year 2020.

The board does not intend to propose a dividend payment in 2019.Livestock on the Dungarvan farm of Gillian and Neil O'Sullivan. Photo: Gerry Mooney

Milk prices look set to remain at 30-32c/l over the coming months, despite Brexit and potential weather volatility, according to Ornua.

It is hoping that supply in Europe would stay "constrained" as the summer approaches.

And after over two years in the "doldrums", the price of skim milk powder has improved.

"Intervention stocks have cleared down," said Joe Collins, managing director of Ornua's dairy trading and ingredients division.

He said it was likely more SMP would be produced going forward, with the dairy trade in the 30-32c/l range including VAT in the coming months.

"The volatility is still there across all products and those weather events are adding to it," he said. Mr Collins said they were keeping a close watch after the first quarter of the year with a slowing global GDP, Brexit and trade wars.

Signals

He added that there were some "mixed signals" from the marketplace with the New Zealand Global Dairy Trade index figures higher while some European quotes were lower.

The latest Global Dairy Trade auction is up 6.7pc with all major products showing big gains. The prices on 'spot' milk markets have improved with the Dutch dairy quotes running over 5pc higher for butter than this time last month, WMP increased by 6pc and SMP increased by almost 8pc.

European milk supplies have been constrained over the last three months, with volumes lower compared with the previous November and December.

Extreme weather events over the past 12 weeks have impacted with record high temperatures in Australia and the US hit by a polar vortex.

The unusually mild weather in Europe will deliver an early spring and "push on milk," said Mr Collins.

The Ornua Index for January 2019 is 107.6 or 32.2c/l including VAT.

The ICMSA's dairy chair Ger Quain said that based on the rapidly strengthening dairy markets, he expected all co-ops and processors to pay suppliers a price "at least equal to the PPI's 32c/l.

He said this would send a positive signal to farmers that 2019 will be a stronger year in terms of milk price.

"The co-ops are well aware of the higher input trading bills being carried forward, so they know the level of pressure," said Mr Quain. Similarly, the IFA's dairy chair Tom Phelan said co-ops must, at the very least, maintain base milk prices.Sought-after suburb: The landmark Magic Carpet public house and (below) adjoining lands in Foxrock offer significant potential for redevelopment as pure residential, commercial or mixed-use scheme

Agents Lisney and Morrissey's are expecting to see strong interest from a range of prospective purchasers for the landmark Magic Carpet public house in Cornelscourt in south county Dublin.

Located between the sought-after suburbs of Foxrock and Cabinteely, the property is being offered for sale by tender along with adjoining lands of 2.7 acres for a guide price of 12m. The property offers significant potential for redevelopment as pure residential, commercial or mixed-use scheme. The site is zoned part residential and part neighbourhood centre under the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Development Plan 2016-2022.

While the site has no recent planning history, a feasibility study drawn up by O'Mahoney Pike Architects suggests that it could potentially accommodate a development of 70 or more apartments, four detached houses, and 1,000 sq m (10,764 sq ft) of commercial space comprising a new public house of over 300 sq m (3,230 sq ft) and retail units. The site's topography indicates that car parking could be accommodated underground.

The potential value of the Magic Carpet site was evidenced as recently as last November with the sale by Dunnes Stores of a 1.26 acre site near the pub's premises in Cornelscourt. The site was acquired by a group of private investors for a sum in the region of 32m - or 25.4m an acre - after being offered to a targeted list of potential purchasers.

Lisney and Morrissey's expect the Magic Carpet and its site to attract interest from developers owing to its location in close proximity to a range of key transport links serving Dublin city centre.

The subject property sits immediately beside the N11, QBC, and is within a short distance of the Luas Park & Ride at Carrickmines and the M50 motorway. Notwithstanding its potential for a pure residential scheme, the Magic Carpet public house is expected to draw interest from publicans looking to maintain and develop its existing business. The Crowley family have run the Magic Carpet since the 1950s and have now decided to retire from the business.

The pub and the lands are being offered for sale in one or more lots reflecting potential market interest in acquiring the pub in its own right with a frontage of over 40m. The upper floors of the pub currently operate as an art gallery and theatre and all businesses to include pub, off licence, art gallery and theatre are trading as usual.

The pub car park comprises 27 spaces and adjoins the Magic Carpet Centre shops with 35 car spaces. The property on sale includes two dwellings situated on the lands which enjoy independent vehicular access.

The selling agents have set a tender return date of 12 noon on March 22 next. All enquiries should be directed to Ross Shorten or Tony Morrissey.Money matters: IDA Ireland CEO Martin Shanahan, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Junior Minister for Financial Services and Insurance Michael DArcy at the European Financial Forum in Dublin Castle. Photo: Maxwells

For Bank of America, one of the top four banks in the United States, the cost of Brexit, including moving some of its operations to Dublin, has been a hefty $400m (354m) while for Britain's Barclays the cost has been perhaps as much as $200m.

But for both banks, there is no moving back to London for the operations that have been moved to Dublin, Paris and Frankfurt, a sign that the damage to the British economy from Brexit in terms of losing high-paying finance jobs and expertise will be permanent.

"Hundreds of millions; maybe $400m," Anne Finucane, vice-chairman at Bank of America, one of the top four banks in the United States, told a financial conference here as she explained the impact of Brexit.

"Multiply that by the number of financial institutions that are doing the same thing and it adds up," Ms Finucane told the European Financial Forum in Dublin of the impact that Brexit will have on the UK banking sector.

Bank of America's European banking headquarters is now in Dublin. It has shifted $50bn in assets here and will employ close on 800 people.

"Even if there were no Brexit, that has happened, there isn't a return there. The bridge has been pulled up on that," she said.

That was a message echoed by Gerry Grimstone, chairman of Barclays Bank, which will become the largest bank in Ireland in terms of assets post-Brexit.

"I have to say that the process over the last two years has been as smooth as we could possibly have wanted it to," he said of Barclays dealings with Irish and European regulators over setting up its headquarters here.

On the costs of Brexit to Barclays, Mr Grimstone said the bank had spent less than Bank of America and probably in the order of "200, 150, 200 million".

So far for Ireland, Brexit has been an unalloyed bonus with companies like Barclays and Bank of America relocating, and the process has so far created 4,500 new jobs here.

However, with the March 29 exit date from the European Union now just six weeks away, the costs could soon start to mount.

The Central Bank of Ireland says a hard Brexit would lop four percentage points off economic growth here, meaning 2019 could come in at just 1.5pc, although he stressed a strong budget position would allow the State to run a fiscal deficit through the operation of the automatic stabilisers on tax revenues and transfer payments.

Governor Philip Lane said he believed that financial risk from Brexit had largely been eliminated, a comment echoed by Claire Woodman, head of Europe, Middle and Africa at Morgan Stanley & Co.

"Central banks and regulators have really tried to ensure that financial stability risks have been taken off the table."The European Union will give Ireland some leeway to establish new border arrangements with Northern Ireland in case of a no-deal Brexit, sources in the bloc's political hub Brussels said.

But they said Dublin would soon have to come up with a plan to ensure the integrity of the EU's single market or face checks on its own goods coming into the rest of the bloc.

"Ireland can get transition periods or some temporary opt-outs on the border in the worst-case scenario," a senior EU diplomat said.

"But soon enough it will have to face up to the fact that either there is a border on the island or a border between Ireland and the rest of the EU," the person added.

However, Tanaiste Simon Coveneys office has this evening sought to rubbish the report.

His spokesperson told Independent.ie: "Im very wary of these stories quoting unnamed diplomats as we cannot determine the motivation of the person involved.

"In response I would point to people who put their names to statements like President Tusk and President Juncker who have repeatedly said the EU is determined to do all it can, deal or no deal, to avoid the need for a border and to protest peace in Northern Ireland."

He said the EU is "fully behind Ireland and has expressed on numerous occasions, fully solidarity with Ireland".

That has not changed. It is important that focus remains on all sides in the UK assuming their responsibilities and ratifying the deal they negotiated."

EU diplomats and officials dealing with Brexit admit it is impossible to set up full border controls overnight as should theoretically be the case if the United Kingdom leaves the bloc without a divorce settlement on March 29.

The issue of a "hard border" on the island of Ireland has hung over Brexit negotiations from the start and is threatening to sink the divorce deal put together over months of painstaking EU-UK talks as the British parliament opposes the Irish "backstop" part of it.

The "backstop" is meant as a last resort, a way to prevent full-blown border controls on goods crossing between EU-state Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland.

But without a UK-EU free trade deal, yet to be negotiated, that would tie the latter to the bloc's trade rules - anathema to hardline pro-Brexit supporters in Britain and British Prime Minister Theresa May's Northern Irish allies who say it would weaken the province's links with the rest of the country.

Many in Britain, Ireland and the rest of the EU also fear the return of border checks could reignite violence and make checkpoints a target.

In 1998, Britain and Ireland made the Good Friday Agreement to end 30 years of sectarian violence over whether Northern Ireland should remain British or join the Irish Republic. With both states in the EU, checks along the 500-km (300-mile) land border ended.

"The Irish-Irish border is a European border. The Brexit issue is not a bilateral question between the Republic of Ireland and the UK. It's a European issue," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said after talks with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in Brussels this month.

But an EU official familiar with the bloc's preparations for a no-deal Brexit said: "In a no-deal scenario, Ireland would have to choose between setting up a physical border with Northern Ireland and de facto leaving the single market.

"If there is no physical border, the customs checks would have to take place on all goods coming from Ireland."

The EU has made a point of publishing contingency plans for areas from transport to social benefits to university exchanges as the risk of an abrupt split grows. But it has kept silent on the Irish border.

Varadkar's stark warning last month that the army may have to be deployed to the border "if things go very wrong" highlighted the risks.

The threat that Ireland could loose at least some access to the EU market is not lost on Varadkar who in Brussels spoke of Dublin's readiness to protect the bloc's common economic area.

"It's core to our economic and industrial strategy, core to our prosperity," he said standing side-by-side with Juncker, promising Ireland would not become a "back door" to the EU.

But while Ireland is promising the EU it would implement border checks, Varadkar also said: "We are making no preparations, no plans for physical infrastructure on the border."

EU and Irish sources say the only way to ensure customs controls while avoiding border infrastructure is the backstop.

It envisages that many checks would be carried out away from the actual frontier - in market places or production sites.

"It is not possible to erect a border. It's just impossible and a different solution needs to be found," said a second EU official dealing with Brexit. "The backstop is our template. It is a solution that is ready and it works."British Prime Minister Theresa May could face a defeat in parliament on Thursday over her plan to renegotiate the Brexit deal, undermining her pledge to the European Union that, with changes, she can get the agreement approved.

Thursday's symbolic vote was seen by May's team as little more than a rubber stamp of her plan to secure changes to the divorce deal with the EU, giving her more time to satisfy lawmakers' concerns over one part of it - the Irish backstop.

But hardline Brexit supporters in her governing Conservative Party are angry over what they say is her acceptance of ruling out a no-deal departure, something May and her team deny, saying by law Britain will leave the EU on March 29 without an agreement if no deal is struck.

The latest twist in the two-year negotiation to leave the EU underlines the deep divisions in parliament over how, or even whether, Britain should leave the bloc in the country's biggest political and trade policy shift in more than 40 years.

A rebellion, even in a symbolic vote, would be a blow to May, who has insisted to EU leaders that if they offer her more concessions to the deal agreed in November, she can command a majority in parliament and get the agreement passed.

Trade minister Liam Fox urged lawmakers to back the prime minister, warning: "Our European partners will be watching".

Steve Baker, a member of the pro-Brexit European Research Group of Conservative lawmakers, said no lawmaker in the governing party could associated with anything which seems to take a "no-deal Brexit" off the table.

"Compromising no deal would be the daftest negotiating strategy and not in the national interest," he said on Twitter.

Another Conservative lawmaker said the ERG was still discussing which strategy to pursue on Thursday - to vote against or abstain.

May is trying to secure changes to the backstop arrangement to prevent a return of border controls between Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland to ease concerns that Britain will be kept too closely in the EU's orbit indefinitely or that the British province will be split away.

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On Wednesday, European Council President Donald Tusk said the bloc was waiting for Britain to present solid proposals to break the impasse after meetings in Brussels and telephone calls between May and EU leaders.

Some Conservative and many opposition lawmakers accuse May of "running down the clock", edging Britain closer to the exit date to try to force parliament to choose between backing her deal or leaving without an agreement.

Many businesses say that outcome would be catastrophic for the world's fifth largest economy by causing major delays at ports, fracturing international supply chains and hindering investment.

More than 40 former British ambassadors called on the government to extend Britain's stay in the EU or allow for a second referendum, The Times newspaper reported. May has repeatedly said she does not back a second vote.

To try to prevent a no deal, several lawmakers will try to get parliament to back their alternative proposals on Thursday, with options including calling a second referendum, a delay to Brexit, votes on a range of options and even a push to reverse the decision to leave the EU.

It is not clear whether any will win enough support to pass, with lawmakers who are seeking to force the government to delay Brexit saying they will wait until the next round of votes May has promised on Feb. 27 to make their move.Starling Bank, a mobile bank led by Anne Boden, the former chief operating officer at AIB, is in the process of applying for an Irish banking licence and plans to open an Irish office.

The bank yesterday announced it has raised 75m (86m) in a new funding round led by Merian Global Investors to fund global expansion, including a launch into the European Union this year. Starling Bank's new funding includes 60m in a Series C funding round led by Merian Global Investors, and a further 15m from its existing investor Harald McPike, a Bahamas-based hedge fund manager.

It will also enable the digital banking platform to accelerate its global expansion, starting in Europe, Starling said.

With Brexit looming, the digital bank will seek an Irish banking licence to ensure it is allowed to operate in the EU after the UK leaves.

Since launching its app in the UK in May 2017, Starling has built up a customer base of 460,000 personal current accounts and 30,000 SME accounts. It expects to hit one million customers by the end of this year. Former AIB and RBS executive Ms Boden, pictured, said a planned global expansion will begin in Europe.

"Our ambition is to use our technology to build a next-generation global, digital banking platform, starting with our launch across Europe this year."Theresa May has suffered another humiliating defeat after MPs again voted down her latest Brexit plans.

She had another substantial House of Commons setback after Tory rebels - both Brexiteers and Remainers - failed to back her approach to Brexit.

The Prime Minister saw fewer than 250 of her MPs vote in favour of a motion which backed the Brexit plans endorsed by the Commons on January 29, and noted discussions to resolve the backstop are ongoing.

Concerns over the wording of the motion among Tory Eurosceptics, given that the January 29 decisions included rejecting a no-deal Brexit, led to the prominent European Research Group (ERG) abstaining in large numbers.

It was defeated by 303 votes to 258 - majority 45.

The division list showed just 243 Conservative MPs supported the motion while five rebelled to vote against, including Peter Bone (Wellingborough), Christopher Chope (Christchurch) and pro-EU Sarah Wollaston (Totnes).

The party has 317 MPs although this includes one deputy speaker while Douglas Ross (Moray) wrote on Twitter that he was paired with an opposition MP to allow him to attend a maternity appointment with his wife.

There were also four Labour rebels who voted for the motion, including Ian Austin (Dudley North), Kevin Barron (Rother Valley), Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar and Limehouse), and John Mann (Bassetlaw).

The 10 DUP MPs lined up to back the proposal along with Independents Frank Field (Birkenhead) and Stephen Lloyd (Eastbourne).

There were 244 Labour MPs who voted against the motion, along with the SNP, Liberal Democrats and other opposition parties.

Earlier, Labour experienced a major rebellion as 41 of its MPs voted in support of an SNP amendment to extend Article 50 when the frontbench position was to abstain.

Their votes made little difference as the proposal was rejected by 315 votes to 93, majority 222.

Labour's amendment to push Mrs May to either put her Brexit deal to a House of Commons vote by February 27 or give Parliament the opportunity to take control of the process was also rejected by 322 votes to 306, majority 16.

Following the result on the main motion, British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded the Prime Minister, who was absent from the Chamber, come back to MPs with a "coherent plan".

Catastrophic

He said: "Tonight's vote shows there's no majority for the Prime Minister's course of action, and yet again her Government has been defeated.

"The Government cannot keep on ignoring Parliament or ploughing on towards 29th March without a coherent plan.

"She can't keep on just running down the clock and hoping that something will turn up that will save her day and save her face."

To shouts of "where is she?", Mr Corbyn called for the Prime Minister to work with him to "prevent a catastrophic no-deal Brexit".

"It's surprising the Prime Minister is not even here to hear the result of this vote," he said.

"I was going to ask her to come to the despatch box now and admit her strategy has failed and bring forward to the House a coherent plan.

"A coherent plan that can deal with the stresses and anxieties that so many people all over over this country are feeling that can be brought to this House so we can make some progress forward to bring people together and prevent a catastrophic no-deal Brexit on 29th March."

During the debate, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer claimed Mrs May's "deep sense of duty" will prevent her from allowing a no-deal Brexit to happen next month.

He drew upon his experience of working with Mrs May in their former roles to cast doubt on the UK exiting the EU on March 29 without an agreement, despite the Government maintaining that this option remains on the table.

Senior Tories also warned ministers against ignoring a previous Commons vote to reject a no-deal Brexit, with former minister Justine Greening describing such an approach as "fundamentally wrong and anti-democratic".

Their remarks came after Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay pleaded with MPs to give the Prime Minister more time to address with the EU concerns over the Irish border backstop although he claimed the "stated position" of the Government on retaining the no-deal option has not changed.

He also warned that European leaders will be watching the votes for "any sign that our resolve is weakening", in a bid to dissuade MPs from inflicting further defeats on the Government.

Shakespeare

Meanwhile Andrea Leadsom recited poetry and Shakespeare as she sidestepped demands to guarantee when the second meaningful vote on the Brexit deal will occur.

Mrs Leadsom said: "It's Valentine's Day so I thought a little poem might be in order - Labour is red, Tories are blue, our future is bright, with a good deal in sight, for the UK and our friends in the EU."

Shadow Commons leader Valerie Vaz said the Government was involved in "kite flying" after senior Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins was reported to have been overheard in a Brussels bar saying Theresa May planned to wait until the end of March before confronting MPs with a choice between her deal or a lengthy delay to Brexit.

She said: "When will she announce the timetable for the meaningful vote?"

Mrs Leadsom, responding to a series of questions raised by Ms Vaz on different issues, said: "As Jane Austen said 'Is not general incivility the very essence of love?' - so I shall take her slightly unhumorous remarks to be the beginning of a real friendship between us."

Mrs Leadsom said the Prime Minister has been clear that Brexit talks are ongoing and a meaningful vote will be brought forward when the Government achieves "the progress we need" - with MPs having the chance to table amendments to a motion later this month if such agreement has not been reached.

SNP Commons leader Pete Wishart described Mrs Leadsom's business statement as "curious" before warning: "There's only 43 days until we're supposed to leave the EU but there's nothing in this business statement which indicates when we'll have a meaningful vote to determine what basis we leave, if we leave on a basis at all.

"This is getting beyond the joke and this Government is taking this House for mugs.

Mr Wishart added: "Given it's Valentine's Day - Labour is red, Tories are blue, the message from Scotland is we're staying in the EU."The British Labour party has failed in an attempt to stop Theresa May "running down the clock" to a no-deal Brexit.

MPs voted down the party's demand for the UK Prime Minister to bring her Withdrawal Agreement back to the Commons by February 27.

But the Prime Minister was facing probable defeat in another dramatic night for Brexit, after eurosceptic Tory backbenchers announced they would abstain on a key Government motion.

They said that the motion tabled by Mrs May would amount to an effective endorsement of efforts to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

A Labour amendment, requiring the Government to stage a second "meaningful vote" on its Brexit deal by February 27 or give Parliament control over the next steps, was defeated by 322 to 306.

Ahead of the votes, Government ministers urged MPs to back Mrs May, arguing that defeat for the Prime Minister would undermine the UK's chances of securing concessions from Brussels on the controversial "backstop" arrangements for keeping the Irish border open.

But members of the European Research Group of Leave-backing Conservatives emerged from a last-minute meeting in a Westminster committee room to say that they would abstain.

The Prime Minister's motion asks the House to "reiterate" its support for the stance taken by MPs in the last round of Brexit votes on January 29.

On that date, MPs voted not only to authorise Mrs May to go back to Brussels to renegotiate the controversial Irish backstop, but also for a non-binding amendment to block EU withdrawal without an agreement.

In a day of debate in the House of Commons ahead of the Valentine's Day votes, senior Brexiteers voiced reluctance to lend their support to anything which appeared to endorse ruling out no-deal.

Although Downing Street insisted no-deal would remain firmly on the table, former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said he was "struggling with the idea" of backing the Government motion.

And veteran eurosceptic Sir William Cash said he could not vote for a piece of "doublethink" which would "further undermine public trust".

Opening the day's debate, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay warned that European leaders would be watching the evening's votes for "any sign that our resolve is weakening".

And International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told the BBC: "Our European partners will be watching our debate and listening today to see if they get the impression that if they were to make ... concessions, Parliament would definitely deliver on that."

A Scottish National Party proposal to delay Brexit for three months beyond the scheduled date of March 29 was defeated by 315 to 93.

Pro-EU Conservative Anna Soubry indicated she would not force a vote on her cross-party amendment, which would have required the Government to publish its latest advice on the economic impact of a no-deal Brexit.

Ms Soubry was offered a meeting with the effective deputy prime minister David Lidington to discuss which documents could be released.

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer told MPs that "deep down" he did not believe Mrs May was ready to take the UK out of Europe without a deal on March 29.

He maintained she was taking the Brexit debate to the wire in order to be able to confront MPs with a last-minute choice between her deal or no-deal.

He confirmed Labour will back a cross-party plan from backbencher Yvette Cooper - expected to go to a vote on February 27 - which would force the Government to conclude its deal by March 13 or allow MPs to vote on no-deal or a second referendum.

"It is obvious what the Prime Minister is up to - she is pretending to make progress while running down the clock," said Sir Keir.

"A non-update every other week to buy another two weeks of process, inching ever closer to the March 29 deadline in 43 days. We should not be fooled."

The latest Brexit showdown came as Dutch PM Mark Rutte told the 'Financial Times' the Netherlands is already benefiting from businesses relocating from a "diminished" Britain.

But Mrs May's spokesman said Number 10 "disagrees entirely" with Mr Rutte's stance, adding: "Employment is at a record high, exports are at a record high, companies are continuing to invest in the UK.Apple and Google are facing criticism for offering an application that lets men in Saudi Arabia track and restrict women's movements.

The app, called Absher, is listed in Apple's app store and the Google Play store as a Saudi eServices Mobile Application, offering service that can "safely browse your profile or your family members, or labors working for you, and perform a wide range of eServices online."

An Apple logo at a store in Miami Beach on August 8, 2017. [Photo: AP]

Apple CEO Tim Cook told U.S. National Public Radio that he would investigate the situation. "I haven't heard about it," he said. "But obviously we'll take a look at it if that's the case."

Absher platforms for individuals and businesses have more than 11 million users, according to the Saudi Interior Ministry website.

The ministry designed the app as an e-government and e-services portal, including functions like requesting a passport, birth certificate, vehicle registration or other documentation. But actually it also allows Saudi men to track women's travel, as well as restrict their destinations and prevent them from traveling anywhere outside the country at all.

"We call on Apple and Google to assess the risk of human rights abuses on women, which is facilitated by the App, and mitigate the harm that the App has on women," Amnesty International told the Washington Post in a statement.

Human Rights Watch senior researcher on women's rights Rothna Begum said the app was "really designed with the men in mind. Of course, it's incredibly demeaning, insulting and humiliating for the women and downright abusive in many cases."

Under Saudi Arabia's guardianship system, Saudi women aren't allowed to travel without permission from their male guardian, typically a relative.Increased demand for cervical smears after Jade Goodys death should have alerted the Government to the likely impact of offering free tests in Ireland, the Dail has heard.

Sinn Feins Louise OReilly said offering the free out of cycle tests in the wake of the CervicalCheck controversy was the right thing to do but she criticised Health Minister Simon Harris for failing to ensure the capacity was in place to meet the demand.

The Dublin Fingal TD said intense focus on smear testing after last years high-profile health crisis had parallels with the public reaction after reality TV star Goody was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2008. The mother-of-two died the following year at the age of 27.

Minister Harris offered free smear tests last year amid the fallout from the controversy around the CervicalCheck national cervical screening programme, which saw more than 220 women who went on to develop cancer receive misreported smear tests indicating a clear result.

The move prompted an extra 90,000 women to come forward for testing last year.

HSE officials told the Oireachtas Health Committee on Wednesday that there was currently a backlog of 78,000 smear tests, with reports taking up to 27 weeks to process.

Expand Close Sinn Feins Louise OReilly accused Health Minister Simon Harris of not doing his homework around a like surge in demand for tests (OireachtasTV/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Sinn Feins Louise OReilly accused Health Minister Simon Harris of not doing his homework around a like surge in demand for tests (OireachtasTV/PA)

During leaders questions in the Dail, Ms OReilly told Tanaiste Simon Coveney that the Government should have been better prepared for a spike in demand.

I happen to believe that offering free tests to women who wanted them given the calamity that we witnessed last year in respect of CervicalCheck was the right thing to do, she said.

But the minister should have ensured that the capacity was there to deliver on that and it is patently clear now that he did not do that.

It is yet another shocking example of the shambles of a system that this minister presides over and it is further evidence that he is not up to the job of leading our health service.

Ms OReilly said the argument that the department was unable to predict the level of increased demand was absolute nonsense.

This is a relatively recent scandal and Im sure youll recall the public outcry and interest in this subject at the time, so it is little wonder that 90,000 women availed of the offer of a free repeat test, she said.

We all know now about the Jade Goody effect which saw an increase in 2009 of women seeking tests in the wake of the death of this young woman.

Its no wonder that it happened here, its entirely predictable that it would happen here but what we got instead was a soundbite but no work had been done in advance of that.

Expand Close Tanaiste Simon Coveney said the Government had acted in the best interests of women (Oireachtas TV/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Tanaiste Simon Coveney said the Government had acted in the best interests of women (Oireachtas TV/PA)

Mr Coveney acknowledged that the CervicalCheck programme doesnt need another controversy.

It has been a real challenge for the Government, for the Department of Health, for the HSE to deal with what was an extraordinary scandal a little less than a year ago and the Government has responded in a way that had tried to put womens interests first, he said.

Mr Coveney said that had been Mr Harriss driving motivation when he offered the free tests.

The Tanaiste also insisted that the decision was made with the support of HSE officials, countering claims from Fianna Fail that the minister acted against advice.

Health officials also revealed on Wednesday that the switch to HPV testing in Ireland had been further delayed, with a date for its introduction still to be fixed as the HSE focuses on dealing with the smear test backlog.

Mr Coveney insisted the HPV test had not been long fingered.

It is going to be done properly to ensure that transition works, he added.A former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter is getting ready for a battle of a different kind as he prepares to step into the Irish political arena.

Dubliner Paddy Holohan, who fought five times in the UFC, has decided to run in the upcoming local elections in May.

He announced his candidacy for Sinn Fein on Thursday.

Mr Holohan, who was known as The Hooligan when he was a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, described himself as an accidental politician.

He said he got so frustrated by watching what was happening politically in the country that he felt he had to do something.

I mistakenly fell into it, he said. Im an accidental politician.

He said it was really difficult for young people in Dublin to picture a future when the cost of living in the capital was so high.

He added he owned a gym but could not afford to buy a house.

The 30-year-old said he was going to take a martial arts approach of improving a little bit at a time when it came to his political career.

Im just going to be as transparent and be as honest as I can. Im not going to bombard myself with a million things to do. Im going to make sure that when I take something on, that I focus on doing that thing on that day to the best of my ability, he said.

Expand Close Paddy Holohan at his SDG Gym in Tallgaht, Dublin (Niall Carson/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Paddy Holohan at his SDG Gym in Tallgaht, Dublin (Niall Carson/PA)

Im not coming in here as an expert. Im not coming in here as a know-it-all. Im coming in here Id say as a white belt. Im a white belt in this and Im looking forward to working on my ranks.

The MMA fighter, who grew up in a single parent household in Jobstown in Dublin, spent a lot of time in Lenadoon in Belfast as a child in the early 1990s.

He said it gave him a valuable insight into life both north and south of the border.

When I used to go up there I had a big Ronnie Drew accent so sometimes I had to keep down my accent in places that we were. It was kind of weird for a kid to be going through, he said.

He took up jujitsu and MMA when he was 17-years-old because he wanted to do something with his life.

When I made that decision to get my act together, thats when my life changed, he said.

It was like an anti-depressant to me. It had the same reaction.

Mr Holohan was forced to retire from the UFC in 2016 due to a rare blood disorder. He now runs his own gym, SBG Dublin 24 in Tallaght, and it will be the Tallaght South electoral area of South Dublin County Council where he will be seeking votes in May.Shamima Begum, whose strong, solemn and determined face is all over the UK media today, encapsulates a big problem for western governments. As the civil war in Syria winds down, those countries with citizens who went to fight on the side of Isis must now decide what to do with them if they want to return, as Begum insists she does.

This is a question that has rumbled on in the political background of many European countries for months, but the reappearance of Begum  who was one of three Bethnal Green schoolgirls to leave for Syria four years ago  places it suddenly front and centre for the UK. Speaking to The Times, whose war correspondent, Anthony Loyd, tracked her down in a Syrian refugee camp, Begum pleads to be brought home  home apparently meaning east London. She is heavily pregnant and wants, she says, to return for the sake of her child.

How much sympathy to extend? Is she a victim or a criminal (or both)? Would her return  without remorse, it would seem  see her lionised in some quarters as a heroine, or could she pick up her life in London pretty much where she left off. She tells Loyd, that she would do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child. Could she, would she, should she be permitted to do that?

It is almost exactly four years ago that the UK media were caught up in one of their periodic frenzies, after three teenage girls upped and left their school with their backpacks and set off to join Isis in Syria. Grainy CCTV frames showed the trio en route to Istanbul, from where they made their way across the border and to the then Isis stronghold of Raqqa.

"War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Show all 20 1 /20 "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria A child injured by an IED explosion in Raqqa Amnesty International "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Children riding a bicycle among destroyed buildings in Raqqa Amnesty International "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Entire neighbourhoods in Raqqa are damaged beyond repair Amnesty International "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the house where seven members of the Badran family were killed in a Coalition strike on 18 July 2017, before the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the house where seven members of the Badran family were killed in a Coalition strike on 18 July 2017, after the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Members of the Badran family killed in three separate Coalition air strike on 18 July and 20 August 2017 in Raqqa Amnesty International "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria The city of Raqqa in northern Syria has become hardly recognizable to those who try to return after months battle between US-backed forces and the Islamic State terrorist group for control of it. The city has no running water or electricity and homes, business and public squares are mere rubble and debris Amnesty International "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the houses where 16 members of the Fayad family and neighbours were killed in Coalition strikes on 12 October 2017, before the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the houses where 16 members of the Fayad family and neighbours were killed in Coalition strikes on 12 October 2017, after the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Fayad Mohammed and his daughters Wafa, Fadda and Tamam; Ammar al-Faris; Reem al-Maddad, Yusra Abd-al-Aziz, and baby Razqiya Habib; Jasim Hamal and Salem Hamad. They were among the 16 civilians killed in Coalition air strikes on 12 October 2017 in Raqqa Amnesty International "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Men wait by the side of the road for casual labour in Raqqa. Many end up clearing partially destroyed or damaged buildings, a very risky endeavour as many building were mined by IS and civilians are frequently killed and injured by mines Amnesty "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite images showing the Aswad familys building before it was destroyed in a Coalition air strike which killed eight civilians, five of them children, on 28 June 2017 CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the Aswad familys building after it was destroyed in a Coalition air strike which killed eight civilians, five of them children, on 28 June 2017 CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Amal Othman, 13, and her brothers Ammar, 8 and Mahmoud, 17; and Jamal Aswad, 41  four of the eight victims killed in a Coalition air strike on 28 June 2017 in Raqqa Amnesty International "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Low-income district west of the Jezra intersection on the western outskirts of Raqqa city destroyed by the Coalition shelling started in June 2017 Amnesty International "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the houses where 16 members of the Fayad family and neighbours were killed in Coalition strikes on 12 October 2017, before the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Satellite image showing the houses where 16 members of the Fayad family and neighbours were killed in Coalition strikes on 12 October 2017, after the strike CNES/Airbus DS "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Ali Hassan Nafa; Mahdia Hashish and her husband Hussein Ali; Hussein Hashish, Mohammed Hashish and Hussein Ibrahim Hashish, and Mohammed Ali Hashish Amnesty International "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Harat al Badu, a built up area in central Raqqa, next to the stadium. It was the scene of the final battle in the city between SDF/Coalition forces and IS Amnesty International "War of Annihilation"  devastating toll on civilians in Raqqa, Syria Map showing where the Badran, Hashish, Aswad and Fayab families were living before the coalition air strikes Unosat /Amnesty International

Passions raged, as did the questions. How had they been recruited? Apparently over the internet by a former fellow pupil at the Bethnal Green Academy. Why had nothing been done to stop them leaving  either by the police, who knew their names, or by their parents? In part, because the wheels of authority move so slowly, in part because lax exit controls at UK airports means that even three minors travelling by themselves raised no suspicions. It was even suggested that police should be dispatched to Turkey, to try to bring them back  too late, said the Turkish authorities.

Amid all the breast-beating and calls for action, I argued  to the consternation of some  that what the UK authorities should do was absolutely nothing. Yes, the girls were minors (but this was basically a family matter); yes, it appeared they had been groomed by a former pupil at their school (but the recruiter was already in Syria, so it was a bit late to do anything about that). The three girls might not have been fully aware of what they were doing, but they were aware enough; they could not, at that stage, be saved from themselves. Anyway, once with Isis in Syria, they were ranged with the enemy and no longer the UKs responsibility.

Kadiza Sultana was reportedly killed in the an airstrike and Amira Abase has not been seen since June .

Now Begum wants to return to give birth to her child and live quietly, if not happily, ever after. What should be done? Social media and phone-ins have been alive with acrimony, leavened with just a little human kindness, ever since.

My own view remains exactly as it was before. As of now, Britain should do absolutely nothing. There should be no question of the government mounting a rescue or facilitating Begums return. If her family want to fund such an effort, or a charity wants to help, well, that is their business. The government has no obligation to repatriate her.

 Mass grave reveals horrors of Raqqas final battle

The UK has a neat diplomatic excuse for doing nothing  which has been set out twice in as many days by the security minister, Ben Wallace. We have no consular services in Syria because it is judged too dangerous for our diplomats to be stationed there. So, the inference is, Begum would have to make her way to a country and a city where the UK does have consular services if she wanted to negotiate her return.

Now I call this an excuse, because  as it happened  I was very recently in Lebanon and was told many times that the main road from Beirut to Damascus was safe, as was Damascus, and that displaced Syrians regularly returned to their home country at weekends. There was great resentment, too, that the UK Foreign Office advises against travel to the Beqaa Valley, which the Lebanese authorities also consider entirely safe.

But the absence of UK diplomats from Syria has its uses. One is that there is no target for protests (or worse) over the continued activity of UK special forces in the country. Another is that it signals the UKs continuing non-acceptance of president Assads rule, which would still appear to be our policy. But a third is that it makes it more difficult for one-time Isis fighters and their families to arrange their return.

More difficult, but not impossible. Anyone with an European passport  does she still have her passport?  or who can prove who she is, and who manages to leave Syrias ever-shrinking warzones for Damascus, can probably leave by road. Cash may be hard to come by, but those versed in war economies find ways. One day, perhaps quite soon, Begum will present herself to a British consulate in Turkey or Lebanon, or perhaps arrive at a UK port or airport, and she will indeed be the UKs problem, as will her soon-to-be born child. What then?

Some returnees with dual citizenship may find that their citizenship, and so their right to enter the UK, has been revoked. But there has been no suggestion that Begum, or the other Bethnal Green schoolgirls, were dual nationals. In which case, there are two overriding questions: will she represent a danger to UK security, and should she  and others returning in similar circumstances  be required to pay something back or, in more archaic parlance, do penance?

As with all those who joined the Isis cause, the first will be a matter of fine judgement. It could involve support from her family, if they are well-integrated and willing, or the completion of her unfinished education. Does it matter whether she expresses remorse  which she conspicuously declined to do in her Times interview? Probably not much; remorse can be feigned, and she will anyway be subject to close surveillance. In the past, the intelligence services have tried to turn former fighters into informers, with variable success. It is hard to see how useful someone now so relatively well-known could be.

Penance of some kind seems a more attractive route  but not the prosecution and prison enshrined in new legislation designed to address crimes proved to be committed in warzones abroad. UK prisons have long been recruiting grounds for jihadi fighters, which hardly recommends prison as a remedy.

More useful might be a period of genuine, and visible, community service. Begum has not been ordinarily resident in the UK for four years; she would not normally qualify for housing or free medical treatment at once. So could she  and other returnees  perhaps be required to start by earning their keep? Attitude, of course, is all. But if Begum now sees the UK as her home, to the point where she is pleading to come back, might her country not reasonably ask her to make some effort to show that she intends to belong?They climbed down from the trucks in a cloud of dust. More than 1,000 women and children had just left the last few square miles of Isis-held territory, broken and exhausted from fleeing the last battle.

Waiting for them at the screening point in the Syrian desert last month were stern-looking Kurdish intelligence officials and US special forces soldiers. As far as they were concerned, these families who had stayed in the caliphate until its dying days were willing supporters of Isis.

More than 20,000 women and children have gone through the same process in the past two months, before moving on to al-Hol displacement camp further north. Shamima Begum, the British teenager who fled her home in Bethnal Green to join Isis, would have made the same journey not so long ago.

At times, there seemed to be more foreigners there than Syrians. Women from Iraq, Kazakhstan, even as far afield as Russia. Isis brides, they are called.

They didnt come here for tourism, said one Kurdish official, curtly. His implication was that these people were civilians, but they were not entirely innocent.

Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Show all 14 1 /14 Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Men who fled the last Isis-held area of Syria line up to be questioned by American and Kurdish intelligence officials Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate A young girl pulls her belongings after arriving Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate An SDF fighter hands out bread to women and children after they arrive Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Sita Ghazzar, 70, after fleeing from the last Isis-held territory in Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate A family from Russia who recently fled the last Isis-held area of Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent

But as I walked among the tired families, slumped on the ground, I could find no one who was willing to admit to being a willing citizen of the caliphate they had just left.

We are civilians, we are not with Isis, said Zikia Imbrahim, a 28-year-old Syrian woman from the town of Sureen, near the Turkish border, with her two young children.

Everyone from my area joined Isis, so we were forced to leave with them when the fighting happened in Sureen.

A number of Iraqi women told stories of being swept into the caliphate by fighting elsewhere, all the way to the last Isis holdout in Deir ez-Zor. Their husbands had come with them but were not fighters, they assured me.

They were no doubt afraid of how they might be treated by the Kurdish soldiers if they admitted to being part of the group. But it was more than that. They knew it was over. Some of them at least were regretful for having embarked on this journey, if not for the crimes Isis carried out against others then for the ruin it had led them to.

The last few months had been a living hell, they said. They had been without food for much of it, living under a barrage of airstrikes. This was not the life that Isis propaganda had promised.

That is what makes Begums lack of contrition so striking. She was a 15-year-old child when she left London to join Isis, but now 19, and an adult woman, she seems still reluctant to disavow the group.

I dont regret coming here, she told The Times in an interview in al-Hol camp. She described life in the caliphate as normal, and in the same breath spoke of seeing a severed head, which didnt faze me at all.

It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam, she said of the victim.

Begum was legally a child when she joined Isis. Now nine months pregnant with her third child (the first two died, she says), she said she wanted to return home to the UK.

Ill do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child, she said.

She spoke of the oppression of life under Isis, but also expressed regret for having left the caliphate.

I was weak, she said. I could not endure the suffering and hardship that staying on the battlefield involved.

When I read her words, my thoughts went to the Iraqi and Syrian families collapsed on the desert floor. They were scared of what lies ahead, Begum does not appear to be.

Perhaps she anticipates her British passport will afford her some protection or a way out that those other women will not have. Western privilege, from someone who still holds allegiance to a group committed to the wests destruction.Today marks the first anniversary of the Parkland shooting, when 34 people were shot at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida; 17 students and staff members died. Former student Nikolas Cruz, 19, has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and has yet to be tried.

In the aftermath of the shooting, a lot was promised and little, ultimately, was done. In fact, one of the main things to be done had nothing to do with access to guns or assault weapons. Instead, it had to do with what happens in our schools: active shooter drills became much more prevalent across the US, and I have seen firsthand the effect that this has on our children.

These new drills are far more intense than your standard lockdown drills. During active shooter drills, students and staff rehearse various instructed responses  maybe throwing things at the shooter, maybe escaping, maybe hiding. Some of these drills even involve officers shooting blanks from real guns.

One Midwestern teacher I talked to described a time where an unannounced active shooter drill was done during an inservice day, when no students were present. When she returned to her classroom following a staff lunch, she heard gunshots being fired down the hall. Shaking, she fumbled for her keys, worried she wouldn't make it in time to lock her door. She did make it, just in time. As soon as she turned the lock, the shooter rattled her doorknob. The teacher described these drills as very stressful.

Parents are desperate for their kids to be safe at school. And schools want the students in their care to be protected. It's understandable that, under a government beholden to the NRA and their member's interests, schools and families are faced with reactive rather than preventative measures. But, even so, those reactive measures should not get a free pass from scrutiny.

Little is known about the emotional impacts of active shooter drills on children, but we have plenty of anecdotal evidence that many children are terrified during them. Teachers have reported students of all ages urinating on themselves, crying, and shaking while they are carried out.

Not only that, but this repeatedly beat-in expectation of school shootings  from kindergarten onwards, multiple times a year  leads to a certain desensitisation and normalisation of violence. Last year, my child's school bus was attacked by some teenagers at a bus stop. Though kids were shot at with airguns and one student took a brick to the head, my child thought I was overreacting when I said I was going to drive him to school from now on. Students  and parents  are conditioned to accept anything less than a real shooting as some kind of expected norm.

 Father of Parkland shooting victim Joaquin Oliver does 'stand-up set' encouraging people to fight gun laws

While hunker down and hide is now widely recognized as inadequate as a sole solution for every active shooter situation, one safety expert who does video simulation trainings told USA Today that people who are trained in other options, like running and fighting, perform worse on his simulations than those who have had no training at all. That seems illogical. The more prepared we are, the more likely we should be to behave well in a stressful situation  right?

That's probably true for professionals training for an intentionally chosen career path that involves known risk-taking. But students and teachers aren't military personnel or police recruits. They're kids and adults just trying to go about their days. So from a fear and trauma standpoint, the mistakes make sense. When you've been through a stressful situation before  even a simulation or enactment  that fear can get re-triggered. Not to mention the fact that school shootings are singular, specific events where people may well be best served by acting on their instincts; they are not coordinated military drills which follow known patterns.

In 2012, NRA School Shield was founded by the National Rifle Association to conduct security assessments of schools. The NRA's 2018 Facts and Programs summarises the work of the School Shield program, including a mention of the $200,000 in grants it has awarded out to US schools since 2012. Grants awarded were for things like security projects and updates. They were also awarded for ALICE Trainings.

ALICE is considered the go-to organisation for active shooter preparedness. Districts across the country are signing up for expensive and emotionally traumatic military-style enactments with seemingly very little scrutiny of both the impacts these drills have on children of all ages and of the NRA's support of the organisations work.

We have two options: accept school shootings as expected and train kids and teachers like they're mercenaries and military medics, or denounce that and work to end massacres in US schools. There's a booming industry that benefits from the former.

While we wait for legislation that prioritises the needs of schoolchildren over gun enthusiasts, school districts need to start having honest conversations with their families about the psychological impacts that active shooter drills have. Instead of knee-jerk, policy decisions based in fear, schools should make evidence-based, informed decisions about what marginal benefits might come from the repeated trauma we're exposing our kids to multiple times a year.Not so long ago, one of Donald Trumps sons made a fool of himself by comparing Syrian refugees to Skittles. If I had a bowl of Skittles and I told you just three would kill you, would you take a handful? Thats our Syrian refugee problem, he said, or more accurately, retweeted, opening to maximum width the window into a mind too tiny to see that there is just no allegorical link between children caught in deadly conflict and potentially poisoned fruit sweets.

But it does, years later, offer a route into, at time of writing, Liam Foxs most recent Brexit embarrassment.

Because, if Liam Fox was holding out a large box of chocolates, in which just three remain, and you have learnt the hard way that all the others have turned out not to be chocolate, but very lightly cocoa-dusted excrement, would you swallow another?

Its not just that Liam Fox was meant to have signed 40 trade deals by now and it turns out hes only signed four. Its that when asked to account for his transparent failure to deliver on his undeliverable promises, his response was to make some more.

Some background: at the 2017 Tory conference, Liam Fox stood onstage and uttered the following words. Were going to replicate the 40 EU free trade agreements that exist before we leave the European Union so weve got no disruption of trade. I hear people saying, Oh, we wont have any [free trade agreements] before we leave. Well believe me well have up to 40 ready for one second after midnight in March 2019.

I remember thinking at the time, not so much, Oooh, hes made himself a real hostage to fortune there, but more, When this absolutely 100 per cent turns out to be completely untrue, will it make the blindest bit of difference?

Now, in news that will come as a shock to absolutely no one, it turns out, according to analysis by his own department, that currently only four of them are signed, one of which is with the Faroe Islands, and 19 of them are significantly off-track.

But the point to hang on to here, as Liam Fox was forced to come to the House of Commons to update MPs on the latest bit of Brexit promise thats turned out to be garbage, is that even as Brexiteers every historical utterance crumbles to an embarrassed nothingness, they continue to make more promises, and expect them to be believed.

Because it turns out, what Liam Fox meant when he said that thing that stood zero per cent chance of ever coming true, was that the best way for those agreements to roll over when we leave the EU in 43 days time, was not for him to actually do all the deals he hasnt done, but instead to do a transitional deal with the European Union  the one his Brexiteer colleagues in the Tory party consistently vote down, and if Liam Fox hadnt been given his meaningless job in which to so spectacularly underperform, he would be voting it down too.

Thats right. In just 18 months, Of course Ill have everything in place for when we leave the EU has turned into, If you wont cover my arse for me itll all be your fault!

A large number of these unsigned trade deals are, according to his own department, impossible to deliver on time. To which his response was that it was always going to go down to the wire. Which it will, and once it has gone down to the wire, it will then go over it. The wire will move. And it will be someone elses fault.

It was the second time in three days that a Brexiteer has been called to the House of Commons to explain why they had been wrong about something everyone had told them they were wrong about, only for them to claim they were still right, and everyone else was still wrong.

On Monday, Chris Grayling did the same with the cancellation of the shipping contract that had been given to a shipless shipping company, which he said would be fine, and now its not fine, thats also fine.

But that is where we are. Being hopelessly wrong about everything has ceased to be a barrier to anything. By now, David Davis was meant to have been to Berlin to sign a trade deal with the German car industry. He was meant to have established the UKs new free trade area, 10 times larger than the European Union, even though a free trade area 10 times larger than the European Union would, in GDP terms, be larger than planet Earth.

None of this has happened, of course. But we might be about to find out that if people are hungry enough, theyll eat anything.Shamima Begum is hardly an ideal poster girl for liberal values. According to a newspaper interview, and with no attempt to sensationalise, she appears to be still sympathetic to the so-called Islamic State caliphate, expresses little if any remorse about her activities, and, as far the media is concerned, expresses the opinion that journalists can be enemies of the caliphate.

In the four years since she and two other school friends took the opportunity of a half-term break to make the journey from Bethnal Green to join a medieval death cult in the Middle East, much has happened to them. One apparently died in a bombing, and the whereabouts of the other is unknown. Ms Begum got married, lost two children to malnutrition and disease. Her first sight of a severed head in a bin, she says, didnt faze me at all.

Now she has been discovered in a refugee camp in Syria, heavily pregnant, her partner, a Dutch national, not in attendance. She is weary and wishes to come home, but seemingly only because the war is over.

The caliphate, she thinks, suffered from too much oppression and corruption. I dont think they deserved victory, she said. But she didnt seem to mind so much that Isis sawed the heads off journalists or aid volunteers with kitchen knives.

In her own words: Im not the same silly little 15-year old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago. And I dont regret coming here.

Timeline of the Isis caliphate Show all 19 1 /19 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Timeline of the Isis caliphate ISIS began as a group by the merging of extremist organisations ISI and al-Nusra in 2013. Following clashes, Syrian rebels captured the ISIS headquarters in Aleppo in January 2014 (pictured) AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared the creation of a caliphate in Mosul on 27 June 2014 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis conquered the Kurdish towns of Sinjar and Zumar in August 2014, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes. Pictured are a group of Yazidi Kurds who have fled Rex Timeline of the Isis caliphate On September 2 2014 Isis released a video depicting the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff. On September 13 they released another video showing the execution of British aid worker David Haines Timeline of the Isis caliphate The US launched its first airstrikes against Isis in Syria on 23 September 2014. Here Lt Gen William C Mayville Jnr speaks about the bombing campaign in the wake of the first strikes Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis militants sit atop a hill planted with their flag in the Syrian town of Kobani on 6 October 2014. They had been advancing on Kobani since mid-September and by now was in control of the citys entrance and exit points AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Residents of the border village of Alizar keep guard day and night as they wait in fear of mortar fire from Isis who have occupied the nearby city of Kobani Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Smoke rises following a US airstrike on Kobani, 28 October 2014 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate YPG fighters raise a flag as they reclaim Kobani on 26 January 2015 VOA Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis seized the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on 20 May 2015. This image show the city from above days after its capture by Isis Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces are stationed on a hill above the town of Sinjar as smoke rises following US airstrikes on 12 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces enter Sinjar after seizing it from Isis control on 13 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi government forces make the victory sign as they retake the city of Fallujah from ISIS on 26 June 2016 Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi forces battle with Isis for the city of Mosul on 30 June 2017 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of the Iraqi federal police raise flags in Mosul on 8 July 2017. On the following day, Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi declares victory over Isis in Mosul Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Female fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim Square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria in January 2019 They were among the last civilians to be living in the ISIS caliphate, by this time reduced to just two small villages in Syrias Deir ez-Zor Richard Hall/The Independent Timeline of the Isis caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate, on Saturday 26 January 2019 Richard Hall/The Independent

Her main interest in returning herself to Britain seems to be the collapse of her home with Isis and subsequent concerns about the welfare of her about-to-be-born baby. If, in other words, Isis still controlled vast swathes of Iraq and Syria shed have been content to stay put, perhaps.

Aside from her own account, we cannot know what, precisely, Ms Begum has been engaged in for the past few years. She may have committed crimes. That should be a matter for official investigation in advance of her returning to Britain, which may well happen sooner or later, even if the British authorities make no attempt to rescue or arrest her (as they need not).

If and when she does turn up she may then be questioned and, if justified, charged and sent for trial. It is how this country deals with people, no matter what their reputation, or even what they themselves have said; they have a right to justice and a fair trial.

During that process, if it comes to pass, we will discover much more objective truth about whether, for example, Ms Begum is more victim than perpetrator; the extent to which she was groomed or brainwashed either before or after her arrival in Syria. There has been a good deal of speculation about that, but little properly examined evidence.

Thus, despite everything, Shamima Begum remains a British citizen, and not enough is known to justify her being summarily deprived of her citizenship. A better path could be to impose a temporary exclusion order, under which she would not be able to return to Britain until she has agreed to an investigation, monitoring and, if required, deradicalisation.

That might still leave the question of the fate of her child, and its nationality, having been born in Syria of British and Dutch parents. Indeed the upbringing of that baby may prove the most morally challenging task of all.

Whatever her past, or her immediate fate, Shamima Begum is destined to be the subject of intense media scrutiny, to put it mildly, for the rest of her life. Indeed, such is the atmosphere, she could not be guaranteed safety from vigilantes  or far-right terrorists  in most circumstances without a new identity or police protection, possibly combined with surveillance, depending on how her life evolves.

If her story reminds us of anything, it is how difficult it is to legislate for those returning from the wars in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, with often confused identities and, sometimes, evil intent.

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Each case is different, every circumstance unique. The only solution is to consider each one dispassionately. That is what the criminal justice system is for, and declaring someone guilty of unspecified crimes or rendering them stateless without due process is not only a violation of the human rights we in the west are supposed to uphold, but risks pushing that individual into a world of terror and murder.

Soon enough we will know the whole truth about Ms Begum, and we are a mature and civilised enough country to be able to work out how to deal with her fairly. After four years under Isis, she may even find herself somewhat fazed by the notions of compassion and justice.Its 2019, the youth are striking for the good of the climate, and I couldnt be more proud.

Tomorrow, thousands of British students across the country like myself are walking out of class. Over the past few months, young people across the world have been doing the same to demand that their governments take action against climate change. There were 15,000 students in Australia and 35,000 in Belgium. But it was one girl in Sweden who started it all.

Greta Thunberg is that girl. In August last year, she refused to go to school every day until the Swedish elections, asking politicians to take action against climate change. Since then, shes protested outside the Riksdag parliament house every Friday, sparking the #FridaysForFuture movement, and now she is joined by hundreds of other students every week.

Our generation will no longer accept catastrophic changes that are negatively affecting our future. Years of limited action against climate change, years of covered-up information on the climate crisis, and now we are finally saying enough is enough.

However, our anger is not inarticulate and misdirected. Its organised, coordinated and passionate, and were using it to ask for change. We deserve better from the people were supposed to place our trust in. We cant even vote yet, but we will be faced with the consequences of politicians inaction for decades.

Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here Show all 29 1 /29 Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 AFP/Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 EPA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Manchester on February 15 Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Manchester on February 15 Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Brighton on February 15 Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 AFP/Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 AFP/Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 PA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 PA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 PA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 PA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 PA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 AP Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 AP Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 AP Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 AP Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 AP

Action is needed, and so the UK Student Climate Network  a student-run climate activist group  has come up with four demands. We demand the government declares a climate emergency, taking active steps towards climate justice; we demand reform of our education system so it teaches all young people about the extent of the climate emergency; we demand the government warns the public about the peril that we face and the urgency that is required to act; and finally, we demand the government recognises that we have the biggest stake in our future, and so lowers the voting age to 16.

These, to me, seem like relatively simple demands. Maybe I will get told I dont know enough about politics, or have another condescending remark directed at me about my age and lack of political experience. But perhaps our youthfulness is to our advantage: we believe change is possible, and were not old enough to have given up hope yet. From action, Greta says, comes hope. Shes right. I have so much hope for us and the more we act, the more our hope grows. It has spread across the globe to young activists everywhere. I will not beg the world leaders to care for our future, says Greta. I will instead let them know change is coming whether they like it or not. Shes right, again. We are past patiently waiting for change. Were acting, and were acting now.

When I think about it, this protest is long overdue. Having grown up with the knowledge that if nothing happens about climate change, I might not get the chance to do many of the things I want to do with my life. Because of this, taking action for our climate has always been something at the back of my mind. But its this movement, YouthStrike4Climate, that has empowered all of us to finally take action.

A lot of people have questioned my reasons for striking. Theres the obvious: I want to help bring about positive and meaningful action on climate change. However, on top of that, I can no longer justify doing nothing. This is what we owe to ourselves and the generation still to come. We simply cant stand by and watch the world and our environment collapse around us.

I am lucky enough to be among a group of people who have supportive schools. They support the reason for striking  if not necessarily the way were doing it  although I may get an unauthorised absence on my school record. This is a price Im willing to pay if it means a chance at securing all of our futures. Many schools are less supportive, not allowing strikes or threatening detention, but even those students are still planning to strike, showing the level of passion and dedication amongst young people today.

This is a generation which has decided to change the world. And it starts with our strike tomorrow.

Lottie Tellyn is a 17-year-old school student and YouthStrike4Climate activistThe European economy has pretty much ground to a halt  and this has very little to do with Brexit. If, however, the Brexit negotiations go badly, then the sky darkens  and not just across Europe.

We have just had some poor figures for the UK in the final quarter of the year. The particularly shocking element was that the economy seems to have shrunk in December. If that is right, and those of us who have been around for a while know that these figures are often wrong, it would suggest that there has indeed been a sharp deterioration over the Christmas season.

Some of that must surely be related to caution about the UKs relationship with Europe. It would be absurd not to acknowledge this, though it may also be a reaction to people bringing forward their seasonal purchases because of Novembers Black Friday inducements.

This is not good, not good at all. But the slowdown in Europe has been worse. The eurozone economy had a strong first half of the year but something went badly wrong in the summer. The Italian economy went into recession  it shrank for two consecutive quarters. Germany shrank in the third quarter and seems to have grown hardly at all (we dont have the figures yet) in the final three months. And France grew only slowly, with 0.3 per cent growth each quarter.

In fact, after a slower first half than most of Europe, in the second half it looks as though the UK has actually grown faster than Germany, France or Italy.

Brexit casualties Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit casualties Brexit casualties Andrea Jenkyns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary at the ministry for housing, communities and local government role May 2018 - The Morley and Outwood MP said: We want to see a new relationship with Europe, with a new model not enjoyed by other countries  nothing that leaves us half-in, half-out. And in order to achieve this, we need to leave the customs union. Ms Jenkyns also said she wished to dedicate more of her time to Parliaments influential Exiting the European Union select committee, after a series of unbalanced reports produced by MPs PA Brexit casualties David Davis - Resigned from Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union role July 2018 - quit following a major row with May over her plans for post-Brexit relations with the EU. Davis resignation letter said: As you know there have been a significant number of occasions in the last year or so on which I have disagreed with the Number 10 policy line, ranging from accepting the [European] Commissions sequencing of negotiations, through to the language on Northern Ireland in the December Joint Report. At each stage I have accepted collective responsibility because it is part of my task to find workable compromises, and because I considered it was still possible to deliver on the mandate of the referendum, and on our manifesto commitment to leave the Customs Union and the Single Market. I am afraid that I think the current trend of policy and tactics is making that look less and less likely. He went on to argue that the general direction of Ms Mays policies would leave the UK in at best a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one. AFP/Getty Brexit casualties Steve Baker - Resigned from Minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union role July 2018 - Mr Baker, a key Tory figure in the Leave campaign, was David Daviss main lieutenant at Dexeu, and was hailed as courageous and principled by other Brexiteer Tories as he also left. Reuters Brexit casualties Boris Johnson - Resigned from Foreign Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. In his resignation letter to the prime minister, Mr Johnson said: "On Friday, I acknowledged that my side of the argument were too few to prevail and congratulated you on at least reaching a Cabinet decision on the way forward. "As I said then, the government now has a song to sing. "The trouble is that I have practised the words over the weekend and find that they stick in the throat." Reuters Brexit casualties Conor Burns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary to Foreign Secretary role July 2018 - A Brexit supporter who worked alongside Boris Johnson stated in his resignation letter: I've decided it's time to have greater freedom. I want to see the referendum result respected. And there are other areas of policy I want to speak more openly on. Rex Brexit casualties Chris Green - Resigned from Department for Transport role July 2018 - The Bolton West MP said: "Parliament overwhelmingly decided to give the decision of whether to leave or remain in the European Union to the British people and they made an unambiguous decision that we ought to leave. "I have always understood the idea in 'Brexit means Brexit' is that the final deal should be clear to me and my constituents - that we have, in no uncertain terms, left the European Union. Twitter Ads info and privacy "The direction the negotiations had been taking have suggested that we would not really leave the EU and the conclusion and statements following the Chequers summit confirmed my fears. "I recognise that delivering Brexit is challenging, however I had hoped at tonight's meeting that there would be some certainty that my fears were unfounded but, instead, they have been confirmed. "I have been grateful for the opportunity to serve as Parliamentary Private Secretary and it is with regret that I offer my resignation with immediate effect." PA Brexit casualties Maria Caulfield - Resigned from Conservative Party vice-chair for women role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. Lewes MP warned that the direction of travel did not fully embrace the opportunities that Brexit can provide. Ms Caulfield said in her letter to the PM: The policy may assuage vested interests, but the voters will find out and their representatives will be found out. This policy will be bad for our country and bad for the party. The direct consequences of that will be prime minister Corbyn. PA Brexit casualties Ben Bradley - Resigned from Conservative Party vice-chair for young people role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. The Mansfield MP said: I admit that I voted to Remain in that ballot. What has swayed me over the last two years to fully back the Brexit vision is the immense opportunities that are available from global trade, and for the ability for Britain to be an outward looking nation in control of our own destiny once again. I fear that this agreement at Chequers damages those opportunities; that being tied to EU regulations, and the EU tying our hands when seeking to make new trade agreements, will be the worst of all worlds if we do not deliver Brexit in spirit as well as in name, then we are handing Jeremy Corbyn the keys to No10. PA Brexit casualties Robert Courts - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. MP Mr Courts said: I have taken a very difficult decision to resign my position as [parliamentary private secretary] to express discontent with the Chequers [plans] in votes tomorrow. I had to think who I wanted to see in the mirror for the rest of my life. I cannot tell the people of Woxon that I support the proposals in their current form. Getty Brexit casualties Scott Mann - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. "I fear elements of the Brexit white paper will inevitably put me in direct conflict with the views expressed by a large section of my constituents. I am not prepared to compromise their wishes to deliver a watered-down Brexit. "The residents of North Cornwall made it very clear that they wish to have control over our fishery, our agricultural policy, our money, our laws and our borders. I will evaluate those principles against the Brexit white paper and ensure that I vote in line with their wishes." Rex

I find this really alarming. You would expect an uneven ride in the UK, because whatever your views about the long-term case for and against Brexit, disruption is never good. But a wider slowdown across the continent would be troubling indeed.

There are, I think, two big questions here. One is specific to Europe. Is it inevitable that it will be a slow-growth area, and are we seeing more signs of that now? The other is whether the tension between the UK and Europe will become the norm for the world, damaging growth everywhere.

On the first, the slow growth of Europes workforce and the continents ageing population mean that it will struggle to be a vibrant region. In fact, it wont be. So how will young Europeans react to that?

We are too close to this second half of 2018 slowdown to know quite what is going wrong. But there is something about Germanys over-dependence on exports (big hit from slowdown in China); Italys lack of competitiveness under the euro (very little rise in living standards since it was launched); and Frances structural rigidities (the gilets jaunes stopping reform).

The eurozones unemployment rate is 8 per cent. That is at the top of the cycle. How will people react when the cycle turns and it starts to rise again?

Recommended UK growth stalls leaving Chancellor in a hole ahead of spending round

The second question was raised by Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, in a speech in London yesterday:

In many respects, he said, Brexit is the first test of a new global order and could prove the acid test of whether a way can be found to broaden the benefits of openness while enhancing democratic accountability.

Brexit could affect both the short- and long-term global outlooks.

That must be right. There has been just enough political support for greater trade freedoms to keep cross-border trade increasing not just in absolute terms but proportionate to GDP. But only just. Getting further trade rounds through the World Trade Organisation process has ground to a halt. Regional trade deals, such as Nafta, are being renegotiated, and the US-China trade relationship (which is under WTO rules) is under threat.

However, you can understand these tensions, because the US and Mexico on the one hand and the US and China on the other are economies at very different stages of development. Were there to be a real rupture between the UK and the EU, then that would be the first time that trade barriers were erected between countries that had had completely open trade for more than a generation.

It would set a precedent for the world. If there is not enough political support on either side for the UK and the EU to agree an acceptable deal, what does that say about the climate for preserving trade freedoms more generally?

My own view is that our global economy does need to be more sensitive to local pressures. International trade has to be seen to benefit both sides, and too often that has not been evident. The rows within Europe, most recently between Italy and France, suggest that the benefits of EU membership are not evident to many people on the continent. This ought to be fixable. It rather needs to be. Europe will be a slow-growth region come what may. But the greater the tensions, the worse the outcome. Simple as that.Sibeliuss Concerto in D minor is widely considered the most virtuosic piece for solo violin. And if you can imagine 650 MPs reaching in perfect unison the apex of its final soaring crescendo at the precise moment Rome is hit by a nuclear bomb then you might have some idea where we currently are with Brexit.

It is extraordinary, really, to think that the great nation of the United States of America requires a mere three amendments to guarantee freedom of speech, a fair judiciary and the right to shoot up your local high school if people have said mean things about you on Facebook. And yet over here, were on our ten thousandth Brexit amendment now and have made absolutely no progress whatsoever.

Anyway, the facts on the ground are that Theresa May has suffered another crushing defeat in the House of Commons. A crushing defeat that wipes out her narrow victory of 29 January. Its complicated, all this, and meaningless too, but the point of the exercise, if indeed there was one, was to try and show the European Union that, look, if youll just make some changes to the backstop, I can still get the deal through the House of Commons.

And the exercise was a spectacular failure. Jacob Rees-Mogg and his 80 hard-Brexit backers all abstained. She went down by 50 votes.

Before that, Jeremy Corbyn tried another amendment, trying to give Theresa May a weeks deadline to come up with a brand new withdrawal proposal. He lost, of course, but nevertheless managed to take up about an hour of the now almost exactly 1,000 left until Brexit. It hardly needs repeating that no complex withdrawal proposals are technically needed. Theres just a cliff edge, and thats where we are heading.

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The SNP leader Ian Blackford had a go too, trying an amendment that would force Theresa May to seek an extension to Article 50. Again, they went through the motions of getting up and walking through the division lobbies before inevitably losing that. The nations loss, but a marginal gain for Mr Blackfords fitbit, should he wear one.

Jeremy Corbyn had planned one of his little bark-rants at the end of it all, to peer over the despatch box at Theresa May and spit some indignant abstract nouns at her, but found himself entirely poleaxed by the fact she wasnt there.

Blessed at the best of times with the mental turning circle of an ocean mega liner, he was forced to improvise, and did so with the easy air of a Congolese computer technician unsure why his IT helpdesk job interview is taking place live on the BBC news channel.

Her botched. And damaging. Brexit. Deal, Mr Speaker. I am surprised that the prime minister is not here. Botched. Damaging. As I said Mr Botched Speaker I am damaged that the prime minister is not here. Botched and damaging Brexit deal.

Mercifully, he sat down soon enough. These would be testing times for any politician. It is, arguably, to Corbyns benefit that he is as out of his depth in them as he would be in a puddle.

For long hours beforehand, MPs took it in turns to stand up and read from a script that hasnt changed in two and half years. David TC Davies, Tory MP for Monmouth and finder of recent fame through some of the most pyrotechnically stupid tweets ever committed, was on hand to say that warnings of food shortages, that have come from such trifling figures as, erm, Tesco, would come to nothing, because, Theyre probably from London. They should come to Monmouthshire and see our apple orchards.

Later we learned that he was equally unafraid of warnings of super gonorrhea and viagra shortages. The specifics for why either would affect him he did not make clear.

But this is the whole point. Neither side can shed any light without the other shrouding it in darkness. There is now nothing anybody can say that cannot be written off as project fear, and more to the point, should even a tenth of the worst of it come true, the repositioning to attribute the blame to Remoaners and the establishment and so on is almost now complete.

In the meantime, we continue in our holding pattern. Theresa May trying to convince the EU she can get a deal past the House of Commons, and trying to convince the House of Commons she can extract meaningful concessions from the EU. Neither is going to budge. There will be no clearance to land, and the warning light on the fuel tank is already on.Europes biggest budget airline is going after frequent flyers by selling annual subscriptions to Ryanair Choice.

Passengers who sign up will be able to book the lowest fares but qualify for assigned standard seating, fast-track airport access (where available), priority boarding and a 10kg checked bag.

The airline has also promised 24-hour advance notice of four seat sales per year.

The yearly payment is 199, which is about 175. The annual fee for British travellers, though, has been set at 199, which even by Ryanair standards is a dismal rate of exchange.

The programme bestows similar benefits as Ryanair Plus at a flat rate. The Independent calculates that profits will begin after seven flights on the airline in a year, compared with paying for the extras.

Ryanairs chief marketing officer, Kenny Jacobs, rejected the suggestion that the airline was copying other airlines with a frequent-flyer scheme.

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Speaking exclusively to The Independent, he said: I wouldnt call it a frequent-flyer scheme. You wont get a bag tag, you wont get access to a lounge.

Itll be all-digital, itll be done in a low-cost way. You will simply get a series of digits that you enter into your MyRyanair account.

The scheme will not come into effect until the end of the summer. The target is for 100,000 passengers to sign up in the first year.

Ryanair has also warned that the risk of a no-deal Brexit is rising.

Jacobs said: The risk of there being no flights remains until the proposal [on UK-EU operations] from Brussels is accepted or the transition agreement is signed.

He predicted that exiting the European Union would be postponed beyond 29 March 2019. But he said there was no effect on bookings: For Joe Public here in the UK and in Europe, its travel as usual.

Ryanair is warning that continuing shortages of air-traffic control staff could adversely affect punctuality this year.

Its shaping up to be a worse summer than last year, said Jacobs.

It cost us 5 per cent punctuality in January. You will feel it at the weekends, Fridays, Sundays and Mondays, and in July and August.The European aircraft manufacturer, Airbus, has said production of its biggest plane, the A380, will end in 2021  just 14 years after entering service. It had previously planned to continue building the superJumbo well into the 2020s.

But orders from the biggest customer for the A380, Emirates, have slowed as it downsizes to smaller Airbus planes.

What went wrong with the Airbus vision for a world-beating aircraft?

A380: success or failure?

In terms of passenger satisfaction, an outright winner. Business travellers and leisure passengers alike love the aircraft  it is quiet, roomy and comfortable. But commercially it has been an abject failure, which has signally failed to recoup the original investment of around $25bn.

The venerable Boeing 747 Jumbo, which has just celebrated its 50th anniversary in flight, has sold six times as many planes.

Inside the A380: the world's largest passenger plane Show all 12 1 /12 Inside the A380: the world's largest passenger plane Inside the A380: the world's largest passenger plane First class lobby of the A380 2014 model AFP/Getty Inside the A380: the world's largest passenger plane Lounge bar on the A380 2015 model AFP/Getty Inside the A380: the world's largest passenger plane First class suite of the A380 2014 model AFP/Getty Inside the A380: the world's largest passenger plane First class compartment of the A380 2007 model AFP/Getty Inside the A380: the world's largest passenger plane The 1st class bar and lounge of the A380 2004 model AFP/Getty Inside the A380: the world's largest passenger plane Business class compartment of the A380 2007 model AFP/Getty Inside the A380: the world's largest passenger plane Business class bathroom of the A380 2010 model Getty Inside the A380: the world's largest passenger plane Bar on the A380, 2016 Getty Inside the A380: the world's largest passenger plane First class suite of the A380 2014 model AFP/Getty Inside the A380: the world's largest passenger plane First class suite of the A380 2014 model AFP/Getty Inside the A380: the world's largest passenger plane First class compartment of the A380 2014 model AFP/Getty Inside the A380: the world's largest passenger plane Business class seating on the A380 2016 model Getty

Why did the A380 not sell well?

It is a 20th-century design with four engines, and costs per seat are commensurately high. Because of its sheer size, ground infrastructure is expensive. Those factors are offset to some extent by the passenger preference  some people will pay a premium to fly the aircraft  and the way that it extracts maximum value from slot-constrained airports such as London Heathrow. But the main problem is that there are relatively few routes on which it is a successful plane.

Even on London-New York, the worlds leading intercontinental route, there are no A380s among the dozens of flights.

Airbus had been pinning its hopes on airlines choosing the SuperJumbo to cope with increasing congestion at key hubs, saying: Larger aircraft like the A380 combined with higher load factors make the most efficient use of limited airport slots. But the orders from airlines such as British Airways simply did not materialise.

Does this mean the hub and spoke aviation model is finished?

No. Certainly there are many more point-to-point routes than there were a decade ago, with the narrow-bodied A320 and Boeing 737 linking an increasing number of cities, but hubs are still very much in business. Indeed, the Boeing 787, which had been christened the hub buster, spends the majority of its time connecting hubs.

Emirates Dubai base is A380 central, but other global hubs such as Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Singapore, Hong Kong, Atlanta and Sao Paulo are thriving on smaller jets. The A350 and Boeing 777X (an upgraded version of the 25-year-old twin-jet) look set to become the workhorses for the next decade.

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When will the last A380 touch down for the final time?

The SuperJumbo will be flying well into the 2030s  the order book will see to that. But the problem which has always hounded the A380 is: what is a second-hand one worth? Early versions are being taken apart for scrap. There is no demand from Indian or Chinese carriers to put in up to 873 seats and fly them on key regional routes. And it is unclear what other use there may be for elderly vast jets, even with one careful owner.Thailand and the United States hosted the opening ceremony for the annual Cobra Gold military exercise, the biggest activity of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region with 29 nations taking part as participants or observers.

There are three major components of the exercise, which ends on 22 February: military field training, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training. Its goals include enhancing maritime security, preventing and mitigating emerging disease threats, and responding to large-scale natural disasters, a US statement said.

US Marines and other international troops lined up on Tuesday to take part in the annual events tradition of drinking blood from decapitated cobras, which is thought to contain health benefits for humans brave enough to consume it.

We do have that potential of being separated especially in jungle this thick and being able to sustain ourselves is crucial, so yes, it's very beneficial and necessary, a US Marine identified as Sergeant Griffin told Reuters.

Seven nations in addition to Thailand and the United States are active participants: Singapore, Japan, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea. About 4,500 US personnel, on land and sea, are taking part.

2019 Cobra Gold military exercise Show all 11 1 /11 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise A soldier is fed snake blood during the Cobra Gold multilateral military exercise in Chanthaburi, Thailand 14 February 2019. REUTERS 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise A US Marine eats a scorpion during a jungle survival training with Thai soldiers in the joint 'Cobra Gold' military exercise in Chantaburi province on 14 February 2019. AFP/Getty Images 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise A Thai soldier presents a venomous snake during the Cobra Gold multilateral military exercise in Chanthaburi, Thailand 14 February 2019. REUTERS 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise A soldier is fed a gecko during the Cobra Gold multilateral military exercise in Chanthaburi, Thailand 14 February 2019. REUTERS 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise A Thai soldier handles a cobra snake while US Marines soldiers observe during a jungle survival training in the joint 'Cobra Gold' military exercise in Chantaburi province on 14 February 2019. AFP/Getty Images 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise A US Marine soldier eats a scorpion during a jungle survival training with Thai soldiers in the joint 'Cobra Gold' military exercise in Chantaburi province on 14 February 2019. AFP/Getty Images 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise A US Marine soldier eats a gecko during a jungle survival training with Thai soldiers in the joint 'Cobra Gold' military exercise in Chantaburi province on 14 February 2019. AFP/Getty Images 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise A Thai soldier handles snakes while US Marines soldiers observe during a jungle survival training in the joint 'Cobra Gold' military exercise in Chantaburi province on 14 February 2019. AFP/Getty Images 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise A US Marine soldier drinks snake blood during a jungle survival training with Thai soldiers in the joint 'Cobra Gold' military exercise in Chantaburi province on 14 February 2019. AFP/Getty Images 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise A soldier is fed an earthworm during the Cobra Gold multilateral military exercise in Chanthaburi, Thailand, 14 February 2019. REUTERS 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise 2019 Cobra Gold military exercise A soldier is fed snake blood during the Cobra Gold multilateral military exercise in Chanthaburi, Thailand, 14 February 2019. REUTERS

The acting head of the US diplomatic mission in Thailand, Peter Haymond, said at the ceremony in the northern Thai province of Phitsanulok that the aim of the exercise, first held in 1982, is to strengthen cooperation and inter-operability.

The ceremony was attended by Thai chief of defence forces General Pornpipat Benyasri and the commander of the US Army First Corps, Lieutenant General Gary J Volesky, representing the US Indo-Pacific Command.

We have witnessed that this Thai-American initiative has become a significant milestone of military collaboration that has expanded to the regional level, a statement issued by the exercise quoted Mr Benyasri as saying.

I believe that not only has Cobra Gold served as a platform for understanding and working together in the region, but has now become beneficial for our other strategic partners, the statement continued.

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The annual event, which began on Wednesday, has more than of 6,800 US troops partaking in the drills  nearly double the countrys 2018 participation figures.

Additional reporting by APShamima Begum was legally a child when she left behind a comfortable life in Bethnal Green, London, to join the Isis caliphate in Syria. Now 19 years old, and pregnant, she wants to come home.

She is not the only British Isis bride being held in detention by Kurdish forces in Syria. About 20 British women and children, caught leaving the caliphate, are being held in camps by the Syrian Democratic Forces, along with six suspected fighters, The Independent understands.

The British government has said it wont take them back. What happens to them now is the subject of a push-and-pull between the local Kurdish forces and the British government. They remain in a legal limbo, unwanted by their captors or their own country.

Is there a chance British fighters and families will return to the UK?

The British government has been seeking to block the return of anyone considered a security threat with a range of legal powers.

Many of the known Isis members who were dual nationals have had their British citizenship removed, like members of the Beatles cell, invalidating their travel documents and meaning the UK can avoid responsibility for repatriating them from Syria or future legal proceedings.

The most recent official statistics show that 104 people were deprived of British citizenship in 2017 and 14 in 2016.

The power has been used for criminals as well as terrorists, and the law allows it in cases conducive to the public good.

But making a person stateless is against international law, so it can only be used for dual nationals and in November two cases were ruled unlawful.

The government said the two alleged Islamists were dual British-Bangladeshi nationals, but the Special Immigration and Appeals Commission found they had been made stateless.

Passports can also be refused or withdrawn from a terror suspect, with the power used more than 80 times since it was introduced in 2013.

British citizens can be subjected to temporary exclusion orders (TEOs), which are imposed by the home secretary and make it illegal to return to the UK without notifying authorities.

Subjects are put on no fly lists, ensuring that their return is flagged, and they then have to abide by conditions such as reporting to police or entering deradicalisation programmes.

Nine TEOs were imposed in 2017 and any breach is a criminal offence.

Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, America Abase, 15, fled to Syria in 2015 (EPA) (Metropolitan Police/EPA)

How many Britons joined Isis, and how many have returned so far?

According to a government estimate, at least 40 per cent of the 900 people of national security concern have returned and 20 per cent have been killed.

But the assessment is more than a year old and predates recent military advances that resulted in Isis territory being almost eradicated.

Separate research by The Soufan Centre in 2017 estimated that at least 425 British Isis members had returned to the UK  the largest cohort in Europe at that point.

Security services believe they know the identities of the vast majority of jihadis who joined the terrorist group and returned, and conduct risk assessments for those who cannot be prosecuted.

But it has been impossible to rule out the possibility that not all those who travelled to Isis territory were identified when they fled the UK.

Those that have avoided being put on a watchlist would not be identified on return to the UK, because their arrival would not be flagged to authorities.

In October, the head of UK counterterror policing, Neil Basu, told MPs: The 40 per cent [of 900 recruits from the UK] who came back quickly are not my concern, my concern is the battle-hardened terrorists.

I am satisfied that we have coverage on the people who we know travelled and returned  [but] assuming that we know everyone who travelled and everyone who came back is the difficulty.

Where are they being detained?

Most Isis families are being held in al-Hol camp, in northern Syria. More than 35,000 people are now living in the tent city, which has become desperately overcrowded in the past month as thousands have fled the shrinking caliphate.

Local Isis family members are free to leave the camp if they have a sponsor and have passed the SDF checks. But westerners are detained in the camp.

The International Rescue Committee, which works inside the camp, is short of about 2,000 tents, meaning 4,000 people are sleeping rough at the camps reception area exposed to rain and freezing temperatures.

A total of 51 babies and children have died either on the way to the camp or shortly after arrival, due to malnutrition or lack of proper medical care.

The suspected fighters are held in secret jails in northern Syria by the SDF.

Are Britons who joined Isis liable for prosecution in the UK?

Yes. As Theresa Mays official spokesperson said on Thursday: Any British citizen who does return from taking part in the conflict must be in no doubt they will be questioned, investigated and potentially prosecuted.

Decisions on how people are dealt with are made on a case-by-case basis to ensure the most appropriate action is taken. Whatever the circumstances of an individual case, we have to, and will, protect the public.

Security services have a watchlist of known Isis members and aim to intercept any returning via air or sea ports.

They are interviewed and the material is added to evidence and intelligence gathered during their time with Isis.

Authorities then decide whether they can be prosecuted for conventional offences, like murder, or terror offences such as preparing terrorist acts or membership of a proscribed group.

But the chaos in Syria and Iraq has made it almost impossible to prove peoples activities, and few returnees have been prosecuted.

A man who travelled to join Isis in 2014 and returned was jailed for seven years for preparing acts of terrorism.

Recommended British man jailed after going to Syria to join Isis

The new Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act, which received royal assent this week, contains an offence aimed at foreign fighters making it illegal to remain in a designated area.

But no areas have yet been designated, it cannot be applied retrospectively and people have to be there voluntarily for the law to work.

That means it cannot be applied to Isis members who have already returned to Britain, or anyone in custody in Syria.

What happens if returned Isis members cannot be charged?

They can be monitored and put under restrictions as part of terrorism prevention and investigation measures (TPIMs).

They can force people to move to another part of the country, exclude them from places, ban association with certain people, limit their phone and internet use and stop them leaving the country.

The extensive powers are used in only a small number of cases, with eight in force last year, because of the huge resources needed to enforce them.

Anyone not reaching the bar for a TPIM can be monitored in other ways by the security services, but Mr Basu recently warned that the system was running red hot.

There are a record 700 terror investigations running, with 3,000 high-risk extremists on an MI5 watchlist. Another 20,000 people have appeared on the security services radar in the past.

Can the families of Isis members face charges?

Any adults known to have lived in Isiss self-declared caliphate will face criminal investigation whether they fought or not.

Relatives in the UK are dealt with on a case-by-case basis and can be prosecuted for committing any terror offences themselves.

Dozens of relatives have been jailed for terrorist fundraising after sending their loved ones money in Isis territories.

Those found to have known of plans may also be charged with not disclosing the information as soon as reasonably practicable.

If Isis members and their relatives have shared terrorist propaganda, they can also be charged under dissemination laws, and a new offence has been created making the viewing of terrorist material online punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Show all 14 1 /14 Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Men who fled the last Isis-held area of Syria line up to be questioned by American and Kurdish intelligence officials Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate A young girl pulls her belongings after arriving Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate An SDF fighter hands out bread to women and children after they arrive Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Sita Ghazzar, 70, after fleeing from the last Isis-held territory in Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate A family from Russia who recently fled the last Isis-held area of Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent

What will happen to the children of suspected Isis members?

The fate of children and teenagers who were born in Isis territories or taken there by their parents remains unclear, and there is fierce debate about whether they should be considered victims or a security threat.

Isis has publicised its use of cubs of the caliphate camps to indoctrinate young boys and train them as child soldiers.

Young children, including the four-year-old son of British jihadi bride Khadijah Dare, have been used in gory propaganda videos.

In the first case of its kind in 2016, a female Isis supporter saw her son taken into foster care after she returned to Britain.

Tareena Shakil, then 26, was jailed for six years for joining Isis and taking her toddler son with her.

What have other countries done with Isis fighters and families?

Like the UK, few countries are willing to take on the responsibility of bringing back citizens who left to join Isis. Most are worried that there will not be enough evidence to prosecute, and so they will be forced to release them despite the security risks.

So far, only the US and France have said they will bring back their citizens suspected of Isis membership, and prosecute them too.

The UK is calling on the US to prosecute the remaining members of the infamous Beatles execution squad, claiming there would not be enough evidence to prosecute them in the UK. That leaves open the possibility that El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey may be transferred to Guantanamo, or even face the death penalty.

What does the SDF want to happen with the British detainees?

The Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led militia that has done the bulk of the fighting against Isis in Syria, has called repeatedly on the UK to take responsibility for its own citizens.

The groups spokesperson, Mustafa Bali, has said that if Britain does not take them back then it may set up its own courts in the semi-autonomous region it now controls.

What we understand is that the Europeans think  the filth they had among them is out and they dont want them back, he recently told the Daily Mail. We dont see our country as a landfill and we do not accept them.In February 2015 three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green in London, boarded a Turkish Airlines plane at Gatwick and flew to Istanbul  the first leg of a journey towards Syria, where a rapid land grab by Islamist militants a year earlier had established a self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq.

Kadiza Sultana, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum were 15 years old when they set out to join Isis. Within weeks all three girls were married to Isis fighters.

Five years later, Sultana is believed dead after a 2017 airstrike, Abase has been widowed and unaccounted for after recent bombing in Baghouz, eastern Syria, and Begums husband has been captured by Syrian forces.

Begum, now 19, is heavily pregnant, and says she has already buried two of her children. She is being held in a refugee camp and is desperate to return to the UK.

In an interview with The Times, Begum, who fled Baghouz and is now in al-Hawl camp in northern Syria, revealed what she has endured and witnessed during the collapse of Isis and its caliphate.

Timeline of the Isis caliphate Show all 19 1 /19 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Timeline of the Isis caliphate ISIS began as a group by the merging of extremist organisations ISI and al-Nusra in 2013. Following clashes, Syrian rebels captured the ISIS headquarters in Aleppo in January 2014 (pictured) AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared the creation of a caliphate in Mosul on 27 June 2014 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis conquered the Kurdish towns of Sinjar and Zumar in August 2014, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes. Pictured are a group of Yazidi Kurds who have fled Rex Timeline of the Isis caliphate On September 2 2014 Isis released a video depicting the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff. On September 13 they released another video showing the execution of British aid worker David Haines Timeline of the Isis caliphate The US launched its first airstrikes against Isis in Syria on 23 September 2014. Here Lt Gen William C Mayville Jnr speaks about the bombing campaign in the wake of the first strikes Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis militants sit atop a hill planted with their flag in the Syrian town of Kobani on 6 October 2014. They had been advancing on Kobani since mid-September and by now was in control of the citys entrance and exit points AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Residents of the border village of Alizar keep guard day and night as they wait in fear of mortar fire from Isis who have occupied the nearby city of Kobani Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Smoke rises following a US airstrike on Kobani, 28 October 2014 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate YPG fighters raise a flag as they reclaim Kobani on 26 January 2015 VOA Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis seized the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on 20 May 2015. This image show the city from above days after its capture by Isis Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces are stationed on a hill above the town of Sinjar as smoke rises following US airstrikes on 12 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces enter Sinjar after seizing it from Isis control on 13 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi government forces make the victory sign as they retake the city of Fallujah from ISIS on 26 June 2016 Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi forces battle with Isis for the city of Mosul on 30 June 2017 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of the Iraqi federal police raise flags in Mosul on 8 July 2017. On the following day, Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi declares victory over Isis in Mosul Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Female fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim Square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria in January 2019 They were among the last civilians to be living in the ISIS caliphate, by this time reduced to just two small villages in Syrias Deir ez-Zor Richard Hall/The Independent Timeline of the Isis caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate, on Saturday 26 January 2019 Richard Hall/The Independent

Within 10 days of arriving in Syria in 2015, Begum was married to Isis fighter Yago Riedijk, who had already been wounded fighting in Kobani, south of the Turkish border.

The couple lived together in Isis defacto capital Raqqa, but soon after their marriage he was arrested, accused of spying, and was imprisoned and tortured for six and a half months.

After his release, the couple remained in Raqqa, but Riedijk was no longer classified by Isis as a fighter.

Mostly it was normal life in Raqqa, Begum told journalist Anthony Loyd, adding that every now and again there would be bombing and stuff.

She said the first time she saw a decapitated head in a dustbin it did not faze her at all.

It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam. I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance, she said.

Meanwhile back in the UK, Metropolitan Police Chief at the time, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe apologised to the families of the three girls, after it emerged the police had not warned of the likelihood the girls might follow a friend who had left the same school and gone to Syria a few months earlier.

The families said they would have done more to monitor their childrens activities.

It emerged the three girls had paid more than 1,000 in cash to a travel agent for their flights to Istanbul, and police said they had raised the funds in part by stealing and selling their own families jewellery.

In 2017 Begum, her husband and their first child  a girl named Sarayah  left Raqqa and moved to the edge of Mayadin  a town on the Euphrates River in east Syria.

While here she was wounded in an airstrike which killed a woman and a child in the house they were all living in.

Since 2014, over 14,600 strikes have been carried out by US-led coalition forces fighting Isis, which include Australia, Bahrain, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the UK.

Strikes reached a peak in Syria in 2017. In August alone, over 1,400 airstrikes were launched against Isis targets in the country.

Isiss territory diminished rapidly. Raqqa was recaptured by an alliance of Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters in October 2017.

The Iraqi government announced the war against the militants was over in December 2017.

By the beginning of 2018 the US-led coalition said 98 per cent of the territory once controlled by Isis had been regained, with militants only remaining in a few isolated pockets.

Despite her husbands assurances of eventual victory for Isis, Begum was sceptical. I began to think that the caliphate might not survive after all, she said.

The family moved again, to the town of Susah, between Hajin and Baghouz. By now Begum also had a son, but as Isis lost ground, airstrikes grew increasingly frequent until they were a daily occurrence.

Towards the end of 2018, aged eight months, her son died. He was ill, undernourished and there was no medical care available.

Just one month ago, her one-year-and-nine-months-old daughter Sarayah also became ill and died. She was buried in Baghouz  the remaining Isis-held town in the region the family had retreated to.

Shamima Begum, photographed as a teenager before she travelled to Syria (PA)

As well as the death of her children, this point also signalled the demise of the caliphate for Begum.

She said Isis commanders told families of foreign fighters they could either stay on to face the bombing in Baghouz, or make their way into the desert and escape as best they could.

Begum said she saw her husband of four years surrender to Syrias SDF as they had walked out of Baghouz. That was the last time she saw him.

Despite the enormity of what she has endured, she told The Times: Im not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago  and I dont regret coming here.

She believes the caliphate didnt deserve victory, due to its own corruption and oppression, and her objective now is to return to Britain. She said she would do anything required to return to live with her third child.

In the past those who have joined Islamist militants and then returned to the UK have faced prosecution for terrorism offences.

But in 2015 Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said the three girls would not face terror charges or be treated as criminals.

Assistant Commissioner, Mark Rowley, head of Scotland Yards counter-terrorism command, said at the time there was a difference between the person running around northern Iraq with a Kalishnikov and three schoolgirls who had been duped into travelling to Syria.

But as Ms Begum is now 19, she is legally an adult. If she was under 18, UK authorities could argue they still had a duty of care to her.

As a British citizen she has a right to come home here, Security Minister Ben Wallace said on Thursday. We are obliged to make sure our citizens have rights, no matter who they are, he told Sky News.

But he dismissed any suggestion of sending officials to meet Ms Begum, saying: I'm not putting at risk British people's lives to go and look for terrorists in a failed state. Actions have consequences.

Sir Peter Fahy, a retired senior police chief who was the leader of the Prevent terrorism prevention programme at the time the girls left the UK, told BBC Radio 4 if Begum was to now return, British authorities would first detain her and investigate whether there was enough evidence to prosecute her.

He said it was understandable why the government was not particularly interested in aiding her return.

If the woman was showing complete remorse, it would be completely different, he said.Duelling Middle East conferences unfolded in Poland and Russia on Thursday, highlighting the competition for influence and the hardening of geopolitical blocs confronting each other over the volatile region.

In Warsaw, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, vice president Mike Pence, and president Donald Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner headlined what was billed as a peace conference, but amounted to an attempt to pressure sceptical allies into joining a gelling anti-Iran alliance that includes Israel and the Arabian Peninsula monarchies.

Leaders from across the region agreed that the greatest threat to peace and security of the Middle East is the Islamic Republic of Iran, said Mr Pence in a speech that cut between condemnation of Isis terrorism and Tehrans Islamist populism.

Theyve supported terrorist proxies and militias. The Iranian regime is the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world.

Meanwhile, leaders of Russia, Iran, and Turkey, accompanied by senior military officials, gathered at the Black Sea resort town of Sochi as part of a Kremlin effort to manage the fallout of the eight-year conflict in Syria, which has become a key regional battleground.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. 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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. 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Its like before the First World War or Second World War and you had two camps, you had two alliances, said Robert Czulda, a professor of Middle Eastern Politics at the University of Lodz, Poland.

Here in Warsaw, its not a peace conference. This is about building an alliance. Its also very important for Russia to show the world that its also the leader of its own camp.

Brian Hook, a special envoy for Iran policy at the State Department, speaking on the sidelines of the Warsaw conference, dismissed the Sochi conference, and hailed the unity of the US-led meeting. It is not a parallel process, he said. We invited Russia and I think this was a missed opportunity for them.

Both loose coalitions are riddled with deep disagreements and potentially explosive divisions.

Thursdays summit in Sochi marks the fourth time the Russia-Iran-Turkey troika meet to discuss the future of Syria, and the first since the US announced its intention to withdraw from the region.

While Russias Vladimir Putin, Irans Hassan Rouhani, and Turkeys Recep Tayyip Erdogan all came to together to discuss Syrias future, they disagree on all three major topics on the agenda. The US withdrawal has exposed a particular difference of opinion in the troika over the future of Syrias northeastern territories, currently controlled by Kurdish and US forces.

Here in Warsaw, its not a peace conference. This is about building an alliance. Its also very important for Russia to show the world that its also the leader of its own camp Robert Czulda, Middle East professor

Ankara, which sees Kurdish forces as a security threat, has its own military plans for the region. Earlier this week, Mr Erdogan offered an ultimatum to Kurdish forces to leave within a few weeks. But his position suits neither Moscow nor Tehran.

Speaking last Friday, Russias deputy foreign minister Sergei Vershinin urged the need to avoid destabilisation and chaos following the US withdrawal.

On Monday, Russias defence minister Sergei Shoigu travelled to Ankara hoping to resolve differences, but The Independent understands the visit failed to produce real movement in positions.

Ankara is also fundamentally at odds with Moscow and Tehran over the future of northwest Syria, currently under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist group tha once allied with Al-Qaeda.

Turkey also disagrees with Iran over the future leadership in Damascus, with Ankara seeking a transition away from President Bashar al-Assad and Tehran and Moscow standing firmly behind the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

While Russia sees the pending withdrawal of US troops as a cause for consolidating its grip over Damascus, Iran also sees it as a way to push its influence westward, and position weaponry and allied personnel against Israel.

Recommended The last days of the caliphate loom as Isis nears defeat in Syria

If the talks are to claim any progress, it will likely be on membership of the proposed UN-brokered post-war constitutional committee, said Yuri Barmin, an expert at the Russian International Affairs Council.

Given the difficulties elsewhere, Moscow is keen to get names on paper, he said.

Regardless of what happens there, Russia will use Sochi to emphasise its role as a regional dealmaker, and the only global power able to contain Iran.

The Poland summit might provide good media coverage and weird comments from Netanyahu, said Mr Barmin. But it is objectively a weak event, given the absence of Turkey and Iran, and the fact that its Moscow thats talking to them.

The US-led alliance is also riddled with contradictions and conflicting agendas.

Both conferences seem to be in trouble, said Aaron Stein, director of the Middle East at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

Warsaw is a conference without an agenda. And when you dont have an agenda it means you dont have agreement. And when you dont have agreement you dont have the diplomatic umph to achieve objectives. Sochi has a common agenda to solve the Syrian civil war but theres disagreement about the agenda items.

Warsaw is a conference without an agenda. And when you dont have an agenda it means you dont have agreement Aaron Stein, director of Middle East at Foreign Policy Research Institute

Polands foreign ministry boasted that more than 60 countries sent representatives. But many European countries sent junior diplomats or civil servants who served as the equivalent of note-takers. The conference was shrouded in secrecy, and no list of participants was made available, though the Arabian Peninsula states all sent their foreign ministers.

Mr Pence demanded that European countries abandon the 2015 nuclear deal penned with Iran by former US president Barack Obama and other world powers, and condemned the recent announcement of an EU financial mechanism for continuing trade with the Islamic Republic. But even Polish officials hosting the event, in hopes of securing a permanent US military base, voiced support for the nuclear deal.

While the US keeps saying that Iran is the key to stability and peace in the Middle East, many of Washingtons longtime allies adopt a far more nuanced stance about both Tehran and the region.

But while Mr Pences speech contained a number of claims that Irans support for the regime in Syria may implicate it morally in the humanitarian disaster that has befallen the country, the facts on the ground show that the humanitarian crises in Iraq and Yemen are largely the result of military operations by the US and its staunchest allies.

The US itself is badly divided on Middle East policy. Just hours before Mr Pence blamed Iran for the crisis in Yemen, US Congress voted to strip American support for the Saudi-led offensive against Iranian-backed Houthi fighters in control of the capital of the Arabian Peninsula nation.

Many scholars and diplomats have also questioned the coherence of US policy. The Trump administration says it wants to confront Iran even as it touts its withdrawals from Syria and Afghanistan. Meanwhile Iranian-backed forces, including well-trained and battle-hardened Lebanese Hezbollah, remain in place.

Though the US is pursuing tightened sanctions on Iran and international companies, Russia, China, and Iraq  key economic access points for Iran  all rejected invitations to the conference.

Though Mr Netanyahus meetings with Arab foreign ministers was touted as historic, commentators in Israel described the summit as little more than a photo-op for scandal-ridden prime minister to adorn his campaign posters ahead of general elections in March.

In another perhaps inadvertent sign of criss-crossing agendas, Saudi Arabia reportedly placed an embargo on Polands meat exports, just as the summit got underway, sparking an outcry among Poles.The Isis caliphate has been reduced to a few dozen tents in a small village in eastern Syria, where several hundred fighters are hiding among civilians.

Dozens of hardened Isis members have surrendered over the past few days as the group has been surrounded in an orchard in the village of Baghouz, in Deir ez-Zor. Families, too, have filed out of the camped settlement, realising the end is near.

But some jihadis are choosing to fight to the end, and they are preventing civilians still living there from leaving. Some 1,600 women and children remain in the last area under Isis control, according to the Syrian Democratic Forces, the US-backed force leading the battle. Most of them are thought to be family members of Isis militants.

The tents, set up to house civilians still remaining in the Isis-held territory, are now all that remains. Grainy images of the scene from Wednesday show a collection of ramshackle shelters with women in abayas moving among them, a handful of vehicles scattered around.

Fighting was paused overnight on Wednesday to allow the holdouts a chance to surrender, but that deadline has now passed and a final offensive is expected to be launched soon.

Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Show all 14 1 /14 Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Men who fled the last Isis-held area of Syria line up to be questioned by American and Kurdish intelligence officials Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate A young girl pulls her belongings after arriving Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate An SDF fighter hands out bread to women and children after they arrive Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Sita Ghazzar, 70, after fleeing from the last Isis-held territory in Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate A family from Russia who recently fled the last Isis-held area of Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent

The operation is coming toward an end, and the eradication of Isis, said Adnan Afrin, the Syrian Democratic Forces commander in charge of the Baghouz offensive.

Two days ago we were talking about kilometres, yesterday we said a square kilometre, but today its even less. Now, we talk about hundreds of square metres, he told the Rojava Information Centre.

A view of the tent city in Baghouz, where the last Isis holdouts are hiding among civilians

The commander said the last Isis holdouts were mostly foreign fighters, who had prevented others from fleeing.

More than 20,000 civilians, mostly women and children, have fled Isis-held areas over the past month, arriving on the other side of the frontlines in a terrible condition.

Among those arriving to be screened are the wives of Isis fighters, some of whom sustained gunshot wounds while fleeing from Isis, said UK Major General Christopher Ghika, deputy commander in the anti-Isis coalition. These utterly despicable and ghastly acts further illustrate their barbaric nature and desperation as Isis struggles to hold onto its remaining territory.

He added that the fight against Isis would continue after the fall of the caliphate.

While Isis is on the verge of collapse, and the end of the physical caliphate is at hand, it does not signal the end of this campaign. Isis continues to pose a threat to the security of the region, and we will pursue it until that threat is eliminated, he said.

Recommended The last days of the caliphate loom as Isis nears defeat in Syria

One mother who fled earlier this month told The Independent that food was scarce, and that she had kept her infant child alive by feeding him flour and water.

After leaving the scene of fighting, civilians are taken north to a detention camp, where they are investigated for links to Isis. The arduous journey, together with lack of medical care and cold temperatures at the camp, has led to the death of 51 children over the past month, according to the International Rescue Committee.Moscow has reacted to a proposed new package of United States sanctions with of mix of anger and resignation.

As an influential former minister urged Russians to prepare for the worst, the Kremlin accused the US of racketeering.

We see clear symptoms of emotional Russophobia, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists. But behind the emotions  is an entirely pragmatic, assertive trade calculation, and  nothing less than an attempt to engage in dishonest competition.

The new round of sanctions, proposed in the Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act on Wednesday evening, would target Russias security service, sovereign debt, and its financial and energy sectors. The sanctions package is awaiting congressional approval.

According to the bills authors, the measures have been proposed in response to two developments: Russian interference in democratic processes abroad and its aggression against Ukraine, including the seizing of Ukrainian warships in the Kerch strait in November.

On Thursday, the proposed sanctions were met with a predictably angry response by Russian state television and more media-hungry parliamentarians. Perhaps the most memorable response was filed by Frants Klintsevich, the prominent, if excitable, member of the Defence and Security Committee of Russias upper house. He described the new sanctions as a dangerous habit akin to smoking a pipe before breakfast, poisoning all those around.

Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Show all 23 1 /23 Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Russian passports belonging to (top row) Oleg Sotnikov (left), Aleksei Morenets, (bottom row) Evgenii Serebriakov (left) and Alexey Minin, who have been named as the four GRU officers who tried to hack the global chemical weapons watchdog which is investigating the Salisbury nerve agent attack PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot On April 13 the officers parked a car carrying specialist hacking equipment outside the headquarters of the OPCW in The Hague Dutch Ministry of Defence/PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Specialist equipment intended for the alleged hacking of WiFi networks of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Russia's military intelligence service has been accused of trying to hack the global chemical weapons watchdog which is investigating the Salisbury nerve agent attack PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot The Dutch counter-terrorism officers intervened to disrupt the operation and the four GRU officers were ordered to leave the country Dutch Ministry of Defence/PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Mobile phones and a camera recovered from four GRU officers who were alleged to have hacked the WiFi networks of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot The four Russians arrived on diplomatic passports Netherlands Defence Ministry Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Alexey Minin, who has been named as one of the four GRU officers who tried to hack the global chemical weapons watchdog which is investigating the Salisbury nerve agent attack PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot A car carrying hacking equipment used by GRU officers, travelling on official Russian passports, parked near the headquarters of the OPCW in The Hague Dutch Ministry of Defence/PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Oleg Sotnikov, who has been named as one of the four GRU officers PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Hacking equipment belonging to four Russian officers Dutch Ministry of Defence/AP Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Evgenii Serebriakov, who has been named as one of the four GRU officers PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Equipment found in possession of four Russian citizens Reuters Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Photos of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and its surroundings taken on the 11 April, found on the phone of GRU officer Alexey Minin Dutch Ministry of Defence/PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Equipment found in possession of four Russian citizens REUTERS Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Aleksei Morenets, who has been named as one of the four GRU officers PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Dutch Ministry of Defence/PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot A combo of a taxi bill and a map, with a ride from a street next to the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, GRU, to Sheremyetevo airport in Moscow, found in possession of one of four GRU officers AP Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Yevgeny Serebryakov, an alleged Russian agent AFP/Getty Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Netherlands Defence Ministry Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Netherlands Defence Ministry Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Netherlands Defence Ministry Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Netherlands Defence Ministry Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Netherlands Defence Ministry

The sanctions have nothing to do with the Kerch incident, he added.

Other influential actors offered a more muted response, and called on Russians to prepare for things to deteriorate further.

Herman Gref, the head of Russias largest bank and its former reformist economics minister, said the risks to the countrys already slow-growth economy had increased and was already being factored into the market.

We need to prepare for the very worst of situations, Mr Gref said.

Russian stock prices dropped 1.5 per cent on the back of the news.

Dmitry Peskov admitted that the Kremlin saw little hope for a turnaround in bilateral relations.

Understanding the level of feelings in congress, it would be wrong to hope for an improvement or even some remission of the disease of Russophobia, he said.

Repeating a sentence heard many times over on Wednesday, the presidential spokesperson warned things would get worse  but insisted Russia would find a way of coping.

Russias economy has long lived under one sanction or another, he said. Weve managed to keep macroeconomic stability, and even provide for growth in some areas.She was a former political appointee in the Obama administration; she worked for the Department of the Treasury and was now studying for a masters in public administration. She said, Ill be quick. (A threat of shutdowns) happened to me when I worked for the federal government. But I had a sense of trust. Even with a political imbalance you sensed people would work hard to fix things before (a long shutdown) happened. I agree with Dana, maybe well be done with this in two years. But that sense of trust has been violated. Deterioration has been set in motion, and maybe politicians have seen that shutting down government for a while is a thing they can do.Three months following the ousting of Jeff Sessions, the Senate voted to confirm William Barr for his second stint as attorney general.

The Senate confirmation on Thursday will grant Mr Barr, a hardline Republican, the power to supervise the Department of Justices ongoing investigation into the Trump campaigns alleged collusion with Russia and its interference with the 2016 presidential election.

The Republican-controlled Senate voted 54-45 in favour of President Donald Trumps nominee for the post. Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Doug Jones of Alabama, and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona strayed from their political party and supported Mr Barr.

GOP Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina praised Mr Barr as an outstanding pick for attorney general. Shortly before the vote, Mr Graham argued the need for steady leadership at a time we need steady leadership to give a morale boost to the Department of Justice.

Somebody who will be fair to the president, but also be fair to the rule of law and protect the integrity of the Department of Justice, he added, after stating his support for Mr Barr.

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Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was the lone Republican who voted against Mr Barr, citing concerns over the conservative legal hands record on privacy rights.

I have too many concerns about the record and views of this nominee. Bill Barr was a leading proponent of warrantless surveillance, and his overall record on the Fourth Amendment is troubling to me, Mr Paul said in a statement after casting an initial vote on Tuesday. I remain concerned that Bill Barr does not agree with our bipartisan efforts to reform our criminal justice system.

Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who is vying for the Democratic nomination in 2020, also echoed criticism of Mr Barrs record on criminal justice and racial inequality.

We need an attorney general that grasps the urgency of the moment, who is aware of the impact of the Department of Justice on communities across this country, and who is willing and prepared to protect our most fundamental rights, Mr Booker said in a statement.

Recommended Trump nominates Barr as Attorney General and Nauert for UN role

Mr Barr also sparked concerns last year after he sent around an unsolicited memo on special counsel Robert Muellers investigation, accusing it of being based on a fatally misconceived theory with the potential to do lasting damage to the office of the presidency.

But Mr Barr insisted that his opinions on the probe wont interfere with his duties as the head of the Justice Department during his confirmation hearing in January. He told senators that he would let Mr Mueller complete his investigation, prohibit Mr Trump from correcting the final report, and ensure that the special counsels findings would be made available to the public in accordance with the law.

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Prior to his confirmation, Mr Barr served as attorney general for former President George HW Bush from 1991 to 1993. His legal experience including a decades-long career in corporate positions before joining the hicago-based law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Mr Barr will be replacing Matthew Whitaker, who has been serving as acting attorney general since Mr Sessions resignation, as the head of the Justice Department.The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has now reclassified the product once dubbed pink slime, a meat filler product described as lean finely textured beef, as ground beef.

Beef Products Inc (BPI), the South Dakota manufacturer of the product, has received approval from USDA to label its product as ground beef.

The reclassification comes several years after BPI filed a defamation lawsuit against ABC News in 2012 after the news organisation coined the term pink slime in a report about its product. In 2017, the lawsuit resulted in a settlement between ABC News and BPI for about $177m, the highest ever in this type of corporate legal case.

The USDAs reclassification of the product was based on an extensive review that took well over six months and included consumer reviews, [and] nutritional panels, BPI Vice President of Engineering Nick Ross told Beef Magazine.

Mr Ross said the review also included tours of BPIs plant so that USDA personnel could get an inside-look at the process.

The US Department of Agricultures Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said the lean finely textured beef produced at BPI meets the regulatory definition of ground beef under the governments Code of Federal Regulations.

After reviewing BPIs submission of a new product and new production process, [FSIS] determined that the product meets the regulatory definition of ground beef under the law in 9 CFR 319.15(a) and may be labeled accordingly, a FSIS spokesperson told the New Food Economy.

The reclassification wont change much for beef eaters.

Before the reclassification, restaurants and companies who use did not have to disclose their use of the product.

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But as Geek pointed out, the reclassification for the lean finely textured beef just means that meat consumers have the option to purchase ground beef with added ground beef.

The reclassification was made official in December 2018 and was first reported by Beef Magazine, a publication dedicated to providing source and product information on the beef cattle industry. Close Trump 'not happy' with border wall deal proposed by congressional negotiators

The US Senate has passed a major spending bill that would effectively avoid another federal government shutdown, sending the legislation to the presidents desk for a signature.

Now, the only question is whether Donald Trump intends to sign it.

The bipartisan measure is the product of weeks of negotiations after the longest government shutdown in history, in which Mr Trump demanded billions of dollars towards his campaign promise of building a wall sprawling across the entirety of the US-Mexico border.

At the time, he said he would be proud to shut the government down over his demands -- before later buckling to increased pressure from Republicans and federal employees across the country, 800,000 of whom went without pay during the 35-day partial government closure.

Mr Trump has appeared to begrudgingly accept the final bill, which reportedly does not include his funding demands for a border wall.

President Trump delivers State of the Union address Show all 22 1 /22 President Trump delivers State of the Union address President Trump delivers State of the Union address Nancy Pelosis sarcastic clapping stole Trumps thunder For many the president's speech was overshadowed by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's applause after his call for political unity, which many interpreted as "sarcastic" AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address Trump issues ominous threat over investigations as he rails against immigration and abortion In a State of the Union speech calling on Washington to cast aside revenge, resistance and retribution, Donald Trump was accused of issuing a veiled threat over the investigations dogging his administration. An economic miracle is taking place in the United States  and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous partisan investigations, Mr Trump said AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address Congresswomen, dressed in white in tribute to the women's suffrage movement, pose for a photo as they arrive AFP/Getty Images President Trump delivers State of the Union address The 72-year-old harkened back to American achievements, celebrating the moon landing as astronaut Buzz Aldrin looked on from the audience and heralding the liberation of Europe from the Nazis AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address He also led the House chamber in singing happy birthday to a Holocaust survivor sitting with first lady Melania Trump. "Together, we represent the most extraordinary nation in all of history. What will we do with this moment? How will we be remembered?" Mr Trump said Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez  dressed in white in an act of solidarity with other women  declined to join a standing ovation for Donald Trump despite his purported call for unity Reuters President Trump delivers State of the Union address The president ticked through a litany of issues with crossover appeal, including boosting infrastructure, lowering prescription drug costs and combating childhood cancer Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address Republican Veronica Escobar reacts as President Trump claims that El Paso, Texas, has become safer due to a wall along the border with Mexico Reuters President Trump delivers State of the Union address Despite no one working in the White House Office of National Aids Policy, and having sacking his HIV advisory council last year, Mr Trump pledged to inject funds to stop the spread of the disease in America by 2030 Getty Images President Trump delivers State of the Union address "Scientific breakthroughs have brought a once-distant dream within reach," the president said. Together, we will defeat Aids in America and beyond." he said Reuters President Trump delivers State of the Union address Trump led the House chamber in singing happy birthday to a Holocaust survivor sitting with first lady Melania Reuters President Trump delivers State of the Union address He also appealed to his political base, both with his harsh rhetoric on immigration and a call for Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the "late-term abortion of children EPA President Trump delivers State of the Union address Women from both political parties wore white outfits tonight at the behest of the Democratic Womens Working Group to honor the legacy of women's suffrage in the United States AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address He devoted much of his speech to foreign policy, another area where Republicans have increasingly distanced themselves from the White House EPA President Trump delivers State of the Union address Trump greets Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, alongside Vice President Mike Pence AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address US First lady Melania Trump (left) with Grace Eline and Joshua Trump, special guests of President Donald Trump AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address Trump announced details of a second meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, outlining a summit in Vietnam starting on 27 February AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address "If I had not been elected president of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea," he said AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address Supreme Court Justices John Roberts, Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch laugh AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address President Trump greets lawmakers after delivering his second State of the Union address EPA President Trump delivers State of the Union address Independent Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders holds his notes EPA

The deadline for the president to sign the legislation is on Friday.

He has signaled he would instead invoke a national emergency in order to bypass Congressional spending restrictions and avoid asking the permission of lawmakers to circumvent funding towards his border wall.

A national emergency over the border would likely face an exhaustive legal challenge, however, as its constitutionality remains unclear.

In a speech on the US Senate floor, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer railed against the presidents national emergency threats, calling it a tremendous mistake and a lawless act.

The New York Democrat also said Mr Trump invoking a national emergency over the nations southern border would be a gross abuse of power by the president.

Follow updates as they happened below

Please allow a moment for our liveblog to loadDonald Trump will declare a national emergency to build a wall along the southern US border after failing to secure funding for the measure through Congress.

The president plans on issuing that declaration after he signs the government funding bill that Congress is poised to approve to keep the government funded until the end of the fiscal year and avert a second damaging shutdown in two months. The plan was confirmed by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders just before the Senate voted in favour of advancing the funding package.

I just had an opportunity to speak with President Trump and hes prepared to sign the bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor on Thursday. He will also be signing a national emergency declaration at the same time.

Such a declaration from the president is likely to be met with swift legal challenges that could hobble the effort.

In response to the news, speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi said that a national emergency to build the border wall amounts to an end run around Congress, and said that Mr Trump has created the crisis he claims is seen at the border. Ms Pelosi confirmed that Democrats could challenge the president in court if he declares the national emergency, and suggested that there are other emergencies like gun violence that are more pressing than the situation at the border.

Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures The US Capitol on the first morning of a partial government shutdown in Washington EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures President Trump speaks with children who called the North American Aerospace Defense Command Santa tracker in the State Dining Room of the White House. He earlier in the day, tweeted that he was 'all alone in the White House' waiting for Democrats to make a deal on border security EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Furloughed federal workers pick up free food at a pop-up store of Kraft Heinz Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Hundreds of federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Reuters Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures From left, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Dick Durbin and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi walk to speak to reporters after meeting with President Donald Trump about border security in the Situation Room of the White House. Trump declared he could keep parts of the government shut down for "months or even years" as he and Democratic leaders failed in a second closed-door meeting to resolve his demand for billions of dollars for a border wall with Mexico Evan Vucci AP Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures A sign alerts visitors to the closure of the National Archives on the fifth day of a partial government shutdown EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Hundreds of federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Visitors read signs announcing the closure of the White House Visitor Center EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures President Donald Trump speaks during a round-table discussion on border security and safe communities with State, local, and community leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures A sign alerts visitors to the closure of the White House Visitor Center on the first day of a partial government shutdown EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Furloughed federal workers show their IDs for entering a pop-up store of Kraft Heinz Getty Images

Thats an option, Ms Pelosi said of filing legal action against the president if he declares a national emergency. When the president declares this emergency, first of all, its not an emergency.

Ms Pelosi, the top Democrat in Washington, was not alone in saying that Mr Trump would set a dangerous precedent if he goes through with the state of emergency. Most, though, indicated that they would need to see the text of the declaration to know their position, according to CNN.

Clearly I have concerns about using this declaration for this set of circumstances, Senator Roy Blunt, the Republican Policy Committee Chairman, said.

I generally dont think its a good idea, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who was defeated in 2016 by Mr Trump in the Republican primaries, said.

Its a bad idea, Kentucky Rand Paul, who also ran for the Republican nomination in 2016, said.

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It is unclear how the American people would respond to Mr Trump declaring a national emergency to build his wall, but polling in recent weeks suggests that the majority of Americans do not support the idea.

A recent CBS News poll, for instance, found that 66 per cent of Americans did not approve of the president declaring a national emergency to build the wall.

The tentative government funding deal that will be voted on in Congress on Thursday would provide far less funding than the $5.7bn (4.45bn) that Mr Trump previously demanded, with just under $1.4bn (1.09bn) that will be used to fund 55 miles (89km) of new wall.

Reviewing the funding bill with my team at the [White House], Mr Trump tweeted on Thursday morning.

The bill would ensure that the 800,000 government workers who were furloughed or forced to work without pay for 35 days starting in late December will not suffer a similar fate.

During that time, federal employees were forced to find second jobs to pay the bills  often by driving Uber, or through online fundraising  and for petrol to get them to and from the jobs for which they were not receiving pay.

The new funding bill does not, however, include a mandate for backpay for the federal workers who went without pay.Paul Manafort, Donald Trumps former campaign manager, breached his plea deal with special counsel Robert Muellers office by intentionally lying to prosecutors, a federal judge has ruled.

As a result they will not have to recommend a lighter sentence for him.

There was a preponderance of evidence that Manafort lied on three different topics, including his communications with his former business partner and alleged Russian operative Konstantin Kilimnik, Judge Amy Berman Jackson in the US District Court for the District of Columbia found.

However, she cleared the 69-year-old of allegations that he intentionally lied on two other subjects.

Mr Mueller, who is investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, released a court transcript last week which suggested Manaforts alleged lies were central to their investigation into potential collusion  something both Mr Trump and Russia have denied.

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The special counsel contends that the former political operative lied about the number of times he and Mr Kilimnik discussed a Ukrainian peace plan  a reference to a proposal that would result in the US lifting sanctions on Russia, one of the Kremlins top objectives.

Mr Kilimik, a Russian citizen was a long-time employee of Manaforts political consulting firm and had done extensive lobbying work for him in Ukraine on behalf of the countrys then pro-Russian President, Viktor Yanukovych.

He has denied allegations that he has ties to Russian intelligence.

In a court filing ahead of the ruling, Manforts lawyers repeated their argument that their client did not intentionally lied to prosecutors and stressed that he corrected any mistakes once they were pointed out to him.

The political operative was convicted of financial fraud relating to his work as a political consultant in Ukraine in August, although this pre-dated his role with Mr Trumps presidential campaign.

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He accepted a plea deal on his other charges in exchange for cooperating with Mr Muellers inquiry.

Mr Trumps former aide had been hoping for leniency at his 5 March sentencing under the plea deal.

If he is found to have intentionally lied to the FBI, the government could seek a tougher sentence  including a maximum of life in prison.One year after gunfire began in the freshman building of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the movement those bullets sparked has swept through the US and opened a new chapter on guns in America.

Guns have come to dominate political debate this past year in way unseen previously in the US, with massive protests from March for Our Lives attracting headlines and major news coverage  and virtually all Democrat presidential candidates supporting stricter gun control. Meanwhile, dozens of states have moved to pass new gun control laws in an historic effort, as communities across America continue to be scarred by gun violence.

And, for gun control advocates, the last year has proven that the National Rifle Association (NRA)  for so long seen as an unstoppable force in American politics  is finally tumbling.

I think there was this perceived power from the NRA for a long time. Now the curtain has been pulled back, and we see this is an organisation that is extremist, Andrew Patrick, a spokesperson with the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, told The Independent. "The NRA is at their weakest point that they've been at in a long time."

March for Our Lives  in pictures Show all 13 1 /13 March for Our Lives  in pictures March for Our Lives  in pictures Demonstrators chant during the protest for gun legislation and school safety AP March for Our Lives  in pictures Trevon Tre Bosley, 19, of Chicago, the brother of Terrell Bosley who was killed in 2006 in a case of mistaken identity, speaks during the rally AP March for Our Lives  in pictures Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Delaney Tarr speaks at the rally AFP/Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures Protestors line the streets in Washington Getty Images March for Our Lives  in pictures People arrive for the March For Our Lives rally against gun violence in Washington, DC AFP/Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures Protestors carrying placards in Washington AFP/Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures Protestors hold up placards in Washington AFP/Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures Schoolchildren wear targets ahead of the rally Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures Attendees congregate in preparation for the march Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures Students brought a host of innovative placards AFP/Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures The movements main demand is the banning of assault rifles Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures Since the Florida shooting, students have called for urgent gun reform AFP/Getty March for Our Lives  in pictures In the wake of the Florida attack, President Donald Trump called for teachers to be armed AFP/Getty

In the year since 14 students were killed by an AR-15, alongside three adults, more than 1,200 American children have been killed by guns, according to an analysis and project developed to tell the stories of many of those young people.

Those deaths  in cities and rural communities, impacting virtually every social and economic group in the country  have fuelled the progress gun control advocates have seen. More than 20 states have passed new gun regulations, including new measures in Florida, a state known for its lax gun laws, according to the Giffords Law Centre.

Gun control advocates have also seen success in elected government, with 95 candidates backed by the gun control group Giffords being elected to the House of Representatives in last years midterm elections while 32 top politicians back day the NRA lost their seats.

Last November we elected a new Congress ready to fight unapologetically to keep Americans safe from gun violence. But these leaders weren't elected in a vacuumthey represent a clear shift in the politics of guns. Previously, it was a third rail, Peter Ambler, Giffords Executive Director, told The Independent.

 March For Our Lives: Emma Gonzalez's 6 minute and 20 second speech for the Parkland victims

Today, candidates run on gun safety and they're elected on gun safety. That's because voters demanded change, they demanded action. They rejected the lies peddled by the NRA and sent a clear message to Congress that now is the time to act," he added.

In the immediate aftermath of the Parkland shooting, the NRA was thrust into the spotlight with student survivors name checking the lobbying group for the money it pushes into American politics to maintain the right to access guns of all kinds in the US.

That attention saw major setbacks for the group. At least 20 major American companies severed ties with the organisation, including the likes of Delta Airlines and United Airlines. While the NRA argued that Americans have the right to buy the types of semi-automatic rifles that have been used in mass shooting after mass shooting, major retailer Dicks Sporting Goods announced it would no longer carry the weapons in its stores  and the company saw sales increase by over 4 per cent in the quarter that followed that announcement.

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With those boycotts as a backdrop, member dues also fell off for the NRA, leaving the organization in the red for the second year in a row. Just two years after spending a record $54m in the 2016 election  including $30m to support Donald Trump  the NRAs spending in the 2018 midterms dropped sharply, with just over $10m being spent by the group in campaign donations and outside spending, according to the nonprofit the Centre for Responsive Politics.

Democrats running in 2020 appear poised to make gun control a major campaign issue  at least in the primaries  after years in which gun control advocates say the party appeared afraid to make waves.

 March For Our Lives: Martin Luther King's grandaughter Yolanda's speech in Washington DC

Major contenders in the Senate  including Kamala Harris Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren  have all co-sponsored an assault weapons ban.

With the Democratic primary season fast approaching, theres little difference between many of the candidates' proposals. They all want to pass gun control legislation that they say will keep American communities safer than the active shooter drills at schools, which have horrified parents and frightened school children.

When you have the energy of the youth vote, it changes everything. Social movements are built form the ground up and weve been doing a lot of hard work for a long time, Mr Patrick said. I think that, because of the way the American people became fed up with this issue and (because) the survivors really started speaking out  it became a rallying cry.

Like all social movements, the last to get the message are the elected officials, he said.Representative Drew Ferguson has removed from his office a biography of Robert E Lee, which was previously displayed under a glass case and opened to a page highlighting the Confederate generals racist ideology.

In a statement to The Washington Post, Mr Ferguson, who occupies one of his partys top posts in the House, blamed the books presence on his staff, who he said decorated his office.

Mr Ferguson said he didnt know the book was there until members of the American Federation of Government Employees, who were visiting congressional offices on Monday, asked about it.

The book, titled Gen Robert Edward Lee: Soldier, Citizen, and Christian Patriot, was opened to a page that trumpeted pro-slavery beliefs, reading in part: The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, socially, and physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing is necessary for their instruction as a race, and, I hope, will prepare and lead them to better things.

James Miller, a representative of AFGE Local 554 and one of Mr Fergusons constituents, was among the group that spotted the book in his congressmans office and said he was at a loss for words when he saw it.

As a black man and constituent, I can say that nothing makes you feel more unwelcome in your own member of Congress office than seeing such racist memorabilia, Mr Miller said in a statement.

President Trump delivers State of the Union address Show all 22 1 /22 President Trump delivers State of the Union address President Trump delivers State of the Union address Nancy Pelosis sarcastic clapping stole Trumps thunder For many the president's speech was overshadowed by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's applause after his call for political unity, which many interpreted as "sarcastic" AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address Trump issues ominous threat over investigations as he rails against immigration and abortion In a State of the Union speech calling on Washington to cast aside revenge, resistance and retribution, Donald Trump was accused of issuing a veiled threat over the investigations dogging his administration. An economic miracle is taking place in the United States  and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous partisan investigations, Mr Trump said AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address Congresswomen, dressed in white in tribute to the women's suffrage movement, pose for a photo as they arrive AFP/Getty Images President Trump delivers State of the Union address The 72-year-old harkened back to American achievements, celebrating the moon landing as astronaut Buzz Aldrin looked on from the audience and heralding the liberation of Europe from the Nazis AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address He also led the House chamber in singing happy birthday to a Holocaust survivor sitting with first lady Melania Trump. "Together, we represent the most extraordinary nation in all of history. What will we do with this moment? How will we be remembered?" Mr Trump said Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez  dressed in white in an act of solidarity with other women  declined to join a standing ovation for Donald Trump despite his purported call for unity Reuters President Trump delivers State of the Union address The president ticked through a litany of issues with crossover appeal, including boosting infrastructure, lowering prescription drug costs and combating childhood cancer Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address Republican Veronica Escobar reacts as President Trump claims that El Paso, Texas, has become safer due to a wall along the border with Mexico Reuters President Trump delivers State of the Union address Despite no one working in the White House Office of National Aids Policy, and having sacking his HIV advisory council last year, Mr Trump pledged to inject funds to stop the spread of the disease in America by 2030 Getty Images President Trump delivers State of the Union address "Scientific breakthroughs have brought a once-distant dream within reach," the president said. Together, we will defeat Aids in America and beyond." he said Reuters President Trump delivers State of the Union address Trump led the House chamber in singing happy birthday to a Holocaust survivor sitting with first lady Melania Reuters President Trump delivers State of the Union address He also appealed to his political base, both with his harsh rhetoric on immigration and a call for Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the "late-term abortion of children EPA President Trump delivers State of the Union address Women from both political parties wore white outfits tonight at the behest of the Democratic Womens Working Group to honor the legacy of women's suffrage in the United States AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address He devoted much of his speech to foreign policy, another area where Republicans have increasingly distanced themselves from the White House EPA President Trump delivers State of the Union address Trump greets Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, alongside Vice President Mike Pence AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address US First lady Melania Trump (left) with Grace Eline and Joshua Trump, special guests of President Donald Trump AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address Trump announced details of a second meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, outlining a summit in Vietnam starting on 27 February AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address "If I had not been elected president of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea," he said AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address Supreme Court Justices John Roberts, Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch laugh AFP/Getty President Trump delivers State of the Union address President Trump greets lawmakers after delivering his second State of the Union address EPA President Trump delivers State of the Union address Independent Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders holds his notes EPA

Through a spokeswoman, Mr Ferguson, the GOPs chief deputy whip, said: The book in question was underneath a box of military challenge coins. I did not even know it was there. When my staff learned about it, they removed it and apologised to the individual who was upset by it.

Leaders of AFGE, the largest union representing federal workers, have demanded that Mr Ferguson issue a more formal and public apology.

Congressman Ferguson needs to take accountability for what is displayed and presented in his taxpayer-funded office, David Cox Sr, the unions national president, said in a statement.

This offensive book thats opened to specific pages  and displayed in a glass case  does not haphazardly appear. Someone intentionally displayed the book and this despicable speech was intentionally placed.

In an interview with CNN, Mr Ferguson declined to offer further apologies, telling the outlet: Weve already done that. We spoke to the gentleman. I think were good.

He added he was as offended by the remarks in that book as anybody would be and thats why its no longer in the office, but also said: Its a historical book of a very, very tragic time and bad time in our nations history. Reading things that you dont agree with to help form an opinion is part of the learning process.

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Mr Fergusons spokeswoman did not respond to questions about who specifically decided to exhibit the book in the glass case and why they chose to display that particular page.

The Washington PostRussia is preparing an onslaught of disinformation operations ahead of the 2020 presidential election, US Department of Homeland Security officials have warned.

The assessment arrived as federal teams battling foreign interference campaigns have been dramatically downsized, according to a new report published by Daily Beast on Thursday.

The outlet spoke to three current and former officials from the Department of Homeland Security who provided a bleak outlook for US security against foreign impact on the upcoming national election.

The clear assessment from the intelligence community is that 2020 is going to be the perfect storm, said a source within the Department of Homeland Security.

We know Russia is going to be engaged, They added. Other state actors have seen the success of Russia and realise the value of disinformation operations.

The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Show all 17 1 /17 The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager. He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Mr Manafort turned himself in at FBI headquarters to special counsel Robert Muellers team on Oct 30, 2017, after he was indicted under seal on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Getty The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rick Gates Mr Gates joined the Trump team in spring 2016, and served as a top aide until he left to work at the Republican National Committee after the departure of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Mr Gates' had previously worked on several presidential campaigns, on international political campaigns in Europe and Africa, and had 15 years of political or financial experience with multinational firms, according to his bio. Mr Gates was indicted alongside Mr Manafort by special counsel Robert Mueller's team on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. AP The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos was a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, having joined around March 2016. Mr Papadopoulos plead guilty to federal charges for lying to the FBI as a part of a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mr Papadopoulos claimed in an interview with the FBI that he had made contacts with Russian sources before joining the Trump campaign, but he actually began working with them after joining the team. Mr Papadopoulos allegedly took a meeting with a professor in London who reportedly told him that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. The professor also allegedly introduced Mr Papadopoulos to a Russian who was said to have close ties to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Papadopoulos also allegedly was in contact with a woman whom he incorrectly described in one email to others in the campaign as the "niece" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Twitter The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Jr The President's eldest son met with a Russian lawyer - Natalia Veselnitskaya - on 9 June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York. He said in an initial statement that the meeting was about Russia halting adoptions of its children by US citizens. Then, he said it was regarding the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. In a final statement, Mr Trump Jr released a chain of emails that revealed he took the meeting in hopes of getting information Ms Veselnitskaya had about Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. He and the President called it standard "opposition research" in the course of campaigning and that no information came from the meeting. The meeting was set up by an intermediary, Rob Goldstone. Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort were also at the same meeting. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jared Kushner Mr Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser to the White House. He met with a Russian banker appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December. Mr Kushner has said he did so in his role as an adviser to Mr Trump while the bank says he did so as a private developer. Mr Kushner has also volunteered to testify in the Senate about his role helping to arrange meetings between Trump advisers and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rob Goldstone Former tabloid journalist and now music publicist Rob Goldstone is a contact of the Trump family through the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which took place in Moscow. In June 2016, he wrote to Donald Trump Jr offering a meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalya Veselnitskaya, who had information about Hillary Clinton. Mr Goldstone was the intermediary for Russian pop star Emin Agalaraov and his father, real estate magnate Aras, who played a role in putting on the 2013 pageant. In an email chain released by Mr Trump Jr, Mr Goldstone seemed to indicate Russian government's support of Donald Trump's campaign. AP images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Aras and Emin Agalarov Aras Agalarov (R) is a wealthy Moscow-based real estate magnate and son Emin (L) is a pop star. Both played a role in putting on the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. They allegedly had information about Hillary Clinton and offered that information to the Trump campaign through a lawyer with whom they had worked with, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and music publicist Rob Goldstone. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Natalia Veselnitskaya Natalia Veselnitskaya is a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. She has worked on real estate issues and reportedly counted the FSB as a client in the past. She has ties to a Trump family connection, real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, who had helped set up the Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant which took place in Moscow. Ms Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort in Trump Tower on 9 June 2016 but denies the allegation that she went there promising information on Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. She contends that the meeting was about the US adoptions of Russian children being stopped by Moscow as a reaction to the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the former longtime Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Mr Stone claimed repeatedly in the final months of the campaign that he had backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that he knew the group was going to dump damaging documents to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - which did happen. Mr Stone also had contacts with the hacker Guccier 2.0 on Twitter, who claimed to have hacked the DNC and is linked to Russian intelligence services. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeff Sessions The US attorney general was forced to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation after it was learned that he had lied about meeting with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Carter Page Mr Page is a former advisor to the Trump campaign and has a background working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election. The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia. Creative Commons The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump. The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job. Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News. Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation. Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban. She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia. Getty Images

The two government teams reportedly underwent major changes to their daily operations in the weeks following the 2018 midterms, going from reporting directly to the top echelons of the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) to an official in a much lower position.

One official said that move  the teams previously reported to Senate-confirmed CISA Director Chris Krebs  could potential threaten the teams ability to combat foreign adversaries throughout the election.

Recommended US closer to developing hypersonic missile

Moreover, the official said the shift suggests their work is not a top priority for DHS political leadership, the Daily Beast reported.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders previously defended Donald Trump and his White House administrations response to election interference during a press briefing shortly after the 2018 election.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

Since the beginning of his administration, President Trump has implemented a whole-of-government approach to safeguard our nations elections, she said. The President has made it clear that his administration will not tolerate foreign interference in our elections from any nation-state or other dangerous actor.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.A convicted murder believed to be one of Americas worst serial killers has drawn sketches of his alleged victims that investigators hope may help to solve dozens of cold-case deaths.

The FBI has released 16 pictures by Samuel Little, 78, who last year confessed to 90 killings across the US over decades.

Little was jailed for life in 2014 for strangling three women to death in California in the 1980s.

Last spring, in exchange for moving prisons, he offered to tell investigators about a long list of other murders he committed between 1970 and 2005.

Agents who interviewed Little said he remembered his victims and the killings in great detail, including location and what car he was driving. But he could provide little help with dates, creating a challenge the FBI hopes the drawings can help surmount.

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 pictures were based on Littles memories of victims, who the FBI said were mostly marginalised and vulnerable women who were often involved in prostitution and addicted to drugs.

Ector County district attorney Bobby Bland in Odessa, Texas, said 50 cold-case murders had been closed as a result of the information supplied by Little. Most of the remaining unsolved killings are in California.

Little's victims were typically "marginalised and vulnerable women", said the FBI (EPA)

The FBI said Little "may be among the most prolific serial killers in US history".

Some of his victims' deaths were not investigated becase his method of killing did not leave "obvious signs that the death was a homicide", the agency said.

The former competitive boxer would usually knock out women with powerful punches before strangling them. Some of the victims were logged as having died from drug overdoses, accidents, or natural causes.A fifteenth single human foot has washed up on the shores of the western Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) since 2007, police said, as the appealed for the public's help to identify its former owner.

Found in a shoe in West Vancouver on 3 September 2018, DNA tests showed it belonged to man, but the results do not match any profiles in the country's missing persons' database.

Previous feet have been found to belong to missing people but five remain unidentified. Eight were found to form four pairs, after tests were run on the remains.

A specialist from the BC coroner's service examined the foot's bone structure and said that it belonged to a male who was "under 50" when he died.

"The decedent was wearing a light grey Nike Free RN shoe with a black Nike swoosh logo and white base, white laces and a blue sock," said a spokesperson for West Vancouver Police. "The shoe was a mens US size 9.5 with an OrthoLite insert."

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

They added that the shoe was manufactured between 1 February and 17 April 2017.

"It appeared to be in relatively new condition," the spokesperson said.

The last foot was discovered inside a hiking boots on Gabriola Island in the strait of Georgia, by a man was walking along the beach.

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It had become lodged in a logjam, police said at the time.

The feet have sparked speculation around the world. Some have linked the finds to natural disasters, like the 2004 tsunami, while others believe they are linked to a serial killer or organised crime.Without a bank account, legal marijuana businesses must operate on a cash basis, making them targets for robberies, supporters of the legislation testified. In California, cannabis dispensaries have dropped off duffel bags and suitcases full of cash to pay their taxes, Fiona Ma, the state's treasurer, told the committee. Some drive hundreds of miles to drop off the money, she said.A man accused of several violent sexual assault cases in Los Angeles, California was shot and killed by FBI agents inside a hotel room in North Carolina this week.

Greg Alyn Carlson, 47, was inducted into the FBIs Ten Most Wanted list in September 2018.

On Wednesday, the authorities found Carlson at a hotel in Apex, North Carolina after a local police officer noticed a car associated with him in the parking lot.

Paul Delacourt, the assistant director of the FBIs Los Angeles field office, said Carlson was killed after a violent altercation occurred when agents entered his hotel room.

On July 13, 2017, the 47-year-old fugitive was accused of burglary in Los Angeles. He allegedly attempted to sexually assault a woman while using a weapon. The FBI said Carlson had a local arrest warrant based on charges of burglary, assault with intent to commit rape and assault with a deadly weapon.

FBI finds possible human remains at former home of late gangster James Burke - the man who inspired Goodfellas Show all 3 1 /3 FBI finds possible human remains at former home of late gangster James Burke - the man who inspired Goodfellas FBI finds possible human remains at former home of late gangster James Burke - the man who inspired Goodfellas pg-34-james-burke.jpg FBI finds possible human remains at former home of late gangster James Burke - the man who inspired Goodfellas pg-34-james-burke-2-ap.jpg AP FBI finds possible human remains at former home of late gangster James Burke - the man who inspired Goodfellas web-burke-3.jpg

According to Los Angeles Police Department Captain Billy Hayes, Carlson was linked to at least three assaults, two of them in 2003 based on results from DNA tests.

He was arrested in September 2017, but fled after posting bond. Carlson ran away to Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, after being released from custody, the FBI said.

Recommended Most wanted US Air Force fugitive found after 35 years on run

Carlson also fled South Carolina with a stolen firearm, a rental vehicle, and cash. He also led the local police on an erratic, high-speed chase in Alabama. In November 2017, the fugitive was also spotted in two Florida cities.

In December 2017, a federal warrant was issued for Carlson, charging him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

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He was described as a womans worst nightmare, by FBI Special Agent Scott Garriola, who served on the bureaus Los Angeles Fugitive Task Force, in a statement last year.

He is the prowler who breaks in at night and violently sexually assaults his victims, Mr Garriola said.

Before his death, Carlson was described armed and dangerous. There was also a $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.Five passengers were injured when a Delta Air Lines flight nosedived twice in crazy turbulence during stormy weather.

Three of those hurt were taken to hospital following the mid-air drama, which forced the flight from Southern California to Seattle to make an emergency landing in Reno, Nevada.

Footage filmed by a passenger showed an overturned food and drinks trolley in the planes aisle and snacks strewn across the floor.

Crazy turbulence and injuries, but the @delta crew handled it perfectly, even the emergency landing, tweeted Joe Justice.

We did a nose dive, twice, he added.

Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Show all 52 1 /52 Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago Ice covers the Lake Michigan shoreline Getty Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Minnesota A firefighter walks past an ice-encrusted home after an early morning house fire AP Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Ontario People walk in a park on the US side of Niagara Falls AFP/Getty Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Massachusetts Mike Calen, left, and Steve Goyette, right, prepare to tie off as the ice covered fishing boat, Buzzards Bay, arrives at New Bedford harbour AP Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Pedestrians protecting their faces from the cold in New York City, in Washington DC, along Lake Michigan's ice covered shoreline, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, in Chicago, in Kingston, Ontario, and in Montreal AFP/Getty Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago Snow and ice covers Soldier Field Getty Images Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago Gas-burning heaters are placed on railroad tracks as Metra commuter train passes by EPA Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago Ice builds up along the shore of Lake Michigan Getty Images Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Ontario A tree is covered in ice from the mist at park beside the falls in Niagara Falls AFP/Getty Images Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Minneapolis Water vapor rises above St. Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River beneath the Stone Arch Bridge AFP/Getty Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Massachusetts Ice flows fill the Merrimack River as it heads towards the Atlantic Ocean in Newburyport AFP/Getty Images Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Ontario A tourists take pictures of the Canadian Horseshoe falls in Niagara Falls AFP/Getty Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Minneapolis Sub-zero temperatures produce icicles that hang from a restaurant EPA Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Ontario A person takes a selfie beside on the US side of Niagara Falls AFP/Getty Images Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US AFP/Getty Images Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Minneapolis Water vapor from the Mississippi River envelopes a bridge as sub-zero temperatures produce dangerous windchills EPA Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US New York Pedestrians walk through the falling snow in the Financial District Getty Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Ontario Steam rises from the US Niagara Falls before sunrise AFP/Getty Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago Snow covers Wrigley Field entrance Reuters Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US New York Workers shovel at the entrance to City Hall in whiteout conditions Reuters Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US NASA's 'Blue Marble' data set of weather systems over the continental United States US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/EPA Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago Ice and snow builds up along Lake Michigan EPA Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Minneapolis EPA Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Minneapolis Chuck Carpenter is frost covered as he goes for a walk EPA Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago A man walks along the lakefront as temperatures hovered around -20 degrees Getty Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago Frozen Chicago River Reuters Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US New York A man walks next to a subway train as heavy snow falls AFP/Getty Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago A digital board shows flight cancellations at Terminal 3 at O'Hare International Airport EPA Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago Reuters Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago A shirt that was hung is seen frozen Terry Greenbeans/Reuters Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago People walk along the lakefront Getty Images Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US New York A young man waits on a subway platform in freezing temperatures AFP/Getty Images Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago Mist rises from the city and Lake Michigan EPA Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US New York People walk through the snow in lower Manhattan Getty Images Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago The James Versluis breaks ice on the frozen Chicago River near Navy Pier EPA Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Michigan Reuters Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Minneapolis AFP/Getty Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago EPA Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US New York Reuters Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago EPA Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago AP Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Michigan Reuters Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US New York AP Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago Getty Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US New York AP Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago EPA Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Minneapolis AFP/Getty Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago AP Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago Reuters Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago EPA Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago EPA Polar vortex brings temperatures colder than Antarctica to the US Chicago Getty

The Federal Aviation Administration said the pilots of Compass Flight 5763, which was flying under the Delta banner, reported turbulence at about 34,000 feet.

A spokesman said the plane, which had taken off from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, was diverted to Reno and landed without further incident about 1pm local time (9pm GMT) on Wednesday.

There were 59 passengers and four crew members on board, according to Compass Airlines.

Recommended Storm sweeping across North America grounds thousands of flights

Emergency crews said all the passengers hurt suffered minor injuries. Two did not require medical attention.

More than 1,700 flights were cancelled this week as a winter storm swept across the US with a mix of snow, ice, and heavy rain.

The US National Weather Service overnight winds over the Sierra Nevada mountains near Reno exceeded of 130mph (209kph.)A man has been killed in Arizona after he asked a friend to shoot him while he wore a bulletproof vest, officials have said.

Parker Ray Lynch, 25, died after Steven Watson fired a round into his chest.

Lynch suffered abdomen wounds and died in hospital, the Graham County Sheriffs Office said.

The death on Monday evening came after the pair and a third friend had been firing a shotgun at the vest in the state's rural Central area.

Reports suggest Lynch then donned the vest and accompanying plate in order to be shot himself.

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

Mr Watson was arrested and booked on suspicion of manslaughter. It was not known by Thursday if he had an attorney.

It is not the first time such a death has occured in the US.

In March last year, Jason Griffin was charged with manslaughter after shooting dead a friend who was wearing a bullet proof vest at a party in Houston, Texas.

He told police his friend had asked him to fire.

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Sheriffs officials in Arizona say their own investigation remains ongoing.Amazon has announced it has cancelled plans to build its second headquarter campus in New York City following protests. The company said it will not search for another location.

After much thought and deliberation, weve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens, Amazon spokesperson Jodi Seth said in a statement on Thursday.

Incentivised by a $3bn subsidy deal with New York City, Amazon had originally planned to build a massive complex in Long Island City, Queens.

But the deal was met with swift and strong opposition from local lawmakers, community leaders and activists, who lambasted the city for providing multi-billion dollar subsidies to one of the largest and richest companies in the world. Some other concerns include the adverse impacts of gentrification which could lead to skyrocketing the citys already expensive rent prices and cost-of-living.

Amazon, which has received backlash for its anti-union behaviour and labour practices, said the new headquarters would have created more than 25,000 jobs in New York City.

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

In a statement, Amazon claimed that 70 per cent of New Yorkers supported its plans and investment in building the sprawling complex in Queens. It said the company decided to cancel its plans due to opposition from state and local officials.

For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term. While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City, the statement read.

In addition to its labour practices, Amazon has also been criticised for its partnerships with certain government agencies including US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Last year, Amazon reportedly tried to push law enforcement and ICE to purchase their facial-recognition software, sparking concerns about whether the company is complicit in violating privacy laws.

Amazon, who has Jeff Bezos, the worlds richest man, as their CEO, ended their statement expressing its gratitude to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio for graciously invited us to build in New York City and supported us during the process.

The New York Governor offered to legally changed his name to Amazon Cuomo to tempt the Seattle-based company into choosing the Big Apple as their second headquarter location.

Ill change my name to Amazon Cuomo if thats what it takes, Mr Cuomo told reporters in November 2018.

The $1 trillion company also said it will not search a new location for its second headquarters at this time. However, it will continue its plans in building another headquarter in Northern Virginia and an operation centre in Nashville, Tennessee.

Critics have pointed out that Amazons decision and statement proves that the conglomerate has been unwilling to work with the residents and communities in Queens.

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Like a petulant child, Amazon insists on getting its way or takes its ball and leaves, State Senator Gianaris, a Democrat representing Long Island City, told the New York Times. The only thing that happened here is that a community that was going to be profoundly affected by their presence started asking questions.

Referencing the companys statement, Mr Gianaris added: Even by their own words, Amazon admits they will grow their presence in New York without their promised subsidies. So what was all this really about?At least 23 illegal miners are trapped and feared dead in Zimbabwe after the shafts and underground tunnels they were working in were flooded by water from a burst dam, a state-owned daily newspaper reported on Thursday.

The southern African nation has been working to regulate thousands of people who illegally dig for gold everywhere, including on farms and abandoned mines, mostly under the cover of darkness.

The Herald said illegal miners in Battlefields, 175 km west of Harare, had entered shafts on land owned by RioZim and another firm on Tuesday night in search of gold, but a dam wall nearby collapsed, flooding the shafts and tunnels.

"The names of the people believed to have been trapped has reached 23. Chances of rescuing any survivors are very slim," the paper quoted Fortunate Muzulu, the administrator for the area, as saying.

Muzulu, who could not be reached for comment on Thursday, told The Herald that government officials had asked for bigger pumps from platinum miner Zimplats to drain water to retrieve bodies.

Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Show all 12 1 /12 Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Agnes Agnes eloped at 16 after being persuaded by a 21-year-old to run away from home Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Agnes Agnes hopes to be a nurse when she's older Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA) is a rights organisation that tries to help women navigate the justice system Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe ZWLA Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA) is a rights organisation that tries to help women navigate the justice system Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Sakhile Sakhile Titu is a school teacher who was supported by ZWLA to get a divorce after domestic violence Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Rosemary Rosemary Masina was supported by ZWLA to get a divorce after her husband abused her Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Matilda Matilda Dube was supported by ZWLA to get a Legal Protection Order after her husband abused her for 8 years Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Agnes, Susan and Perpetua Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Esebia and Agnes Esebia Honangombe aged 69 from Rusape rural was supported by ZWLA's Community Legal Educators after her granddaughter Agnes was pressured to marry a 21-year-old man and eloped at 16 Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Dorcas Dorcas Mpofu was supported by a ZWLA Community Legal Educator when her husband was violent and not supporting the family Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Dorcas and Rosemary Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Agnes Agnes hopes to be a nurse when she's older

RioZim spokesman Wilson Gwatiringa said the company was not mining on the land where the miners were trapped and was assisting government officials with the rescue efforts.

Small-scale gold producers, including illegal miners, accounted for nearly 60 per cent of the record 33 tonnes of gold produced in Zimbabwe last year, according to official data.

ReutersWhat are MPs voting on?

Government motion

This 'neutral' motion asks MPs to welcome Ms May's statement, set out progress in Brexit talks, note that talks on the Irish backstop are "ongoing" and "reiterate its support" for the approach to negotiations agreed the last time MPs voted, on January 29.

The problem is MPs ordered the PM to renegotiate the Irish backstop but also to rule out a no-deal exit.

Labour frontbench (a) - Stop the government running down the clock

Jeremy Corbyn has tabled this amendment to force the government to offer a meaningful vote by the end of February. If there is no deal, then the government has to make a statement on what the next steps will be.

Liberal Democrats have tacked on their own amendment to this proposal, calling for a second referendum "as endorsed by the Labour Party conference".

SNP frontbench (i) - Extend article 50

Tabled by the SNP's Westminster leader Ian Blackford, this would require the government to negotiate an extension of at least three months to the Article 50 process.

Pro-EU MPs (e) - Reveal secret no-deal papers

Tory Anna Soubry and Labour's Chuka Umunna are leading calls for publication of "the most recent official briefing document relating to business and trade on the implications of a no-deal Brexit presented to cabinet..

These amendments were not selected:

Tory grandee Ken Clarke ( c ) - Allow MPs to vote on different options

Parliamentarians will vote on a number of different scenarios, ranking them in order of preference. Any option can get on the ballot paper if more than 50 MPs back it. This idea - known as indicative votes - was mooted at the last clash.

This proposal has the backing of senior Labour backbenchers including Harriet Harman and Jack Dromey as well as Tory Remainers Dominic Grieve and Anna Soubry.

SNP's Angus Brendan MacNeill (d) - Revoke article 50

Mr MacNeill, the chair of the international trade committee, has tabled this amendment to revoke article 50 before 29 March.

Tory backbencher Sarah Wollaston (f) - Indicative votes

This amendment by pro-EU MP Dr Wollaston demands votes on 26 February on various Brexit options including the PM's deal, no-deal, renegotiation of the backstop, a Canada-style deal, Norway-style membership of the EEA and a second referendum.

If none commanded a majority of MPs, Ms May would have to call a second referendum with the options of her deal or Remain.

Plaid Cymru (g) - Second referendum

Backed by the Welsh nationalist party's four MPs, this requires the government to delay Brexit to allow for a referendum on Ms May's deal or Remain. If no extension is allowed by the EU, there would have to be a referendum at the end of the transition period in 2021 on whether the UK should rejoin the EU.

Labour MP Geraint Davies (h) - Close alignment

An amendment signed by a small group of Labour and Plaid MPs would require an extension of article 50 and a commitment from the PM to seek a deal - subject to ratification in a referendum - which leaves the option open for future governments to adopt Labour's current vision for post-Brexit relations with the EU, including a customs union and close alignment with the single market.

Liberal Democrats (j) - Allow a second referendum

Tabled by Sir Vince Cable, the party is proposing an extension to Article 50 beyond 29 March to allow time for a second referendum with remain on the ballot paper.

Labour MP Roger Godsiff (b) - Three-option referendum

Leave-backing Labour MP Mr Godsiff has put down an amendment for a final say vote, on Theresa May's deal, no-deal or staying in the EU. Close Brexit: Theresa May dismisses claims she plans to extend Article 50 as something overheard in a bar

Theresa May has suffered another embarrassing defeat in the Commons, after MPs again voted down her Brexit plans on Valentine's Day.

By a majority of 45, the prime minister's latest non-binding motion - endorsing her plans - was rejected by MPs after a considerable rebellion from Conservative backbenchers.

The defeat came after the pro-Brexit Tory European Research Group announced they had taken a "collective decision" to abstain.

Immediately after the vote, Jeremy Corbyn said he was "surprised" the prime minister wasn't present in the Commons "to hear the result of this vote".

He added: "I was going to ask her to come to the despatch box now and admit her strategy has failed and bring forward to the House a coherent plan.

"A coherent plan that can deal with the stresses and anxieties that so many people all over over this country are feeling that can be brought to this House so we can make some progress forward to bring people together and prevent a catastrophic no-deal Brexit on 29th March."

But responding to the votes on Thursday evening, a Downing Street spokesman said: Jeremy Corbyn yet again put partisan considerations ahead of the national interest  and yet again, by voting against the Governments motion, he is in effect voting to make no deal more likely.

While we didnt secure the support of the Commons this evening, the Prime Minister continues to believe, and the debate itself indicated, that far from objecting to securing changes to the backstop that will allow us to leave with a deal, there was a concern from some Conservative colleagues about taking no deal off the table at this stage.

The motion on 29th January remains the only one the House of Commons has passed expressing what it does want  and that is legally binding changes to address concerns about the backstop. The Government will continue to pursue this with the EU to ensure we leave on time on 29th March.

As it happened..The chances of a Jeremy Corbyn government are slipping away because he is helping to facilitate a Tory Brexit, a shadow minister says.

Clive Lewis, a Treasury spokesman, broke ranks to criticise the Labour leadership for its dangerous failure to oppose Theresa Mays exit plan full-on  warning it would keep the party out of power.

My fear is that what we are now doing is that we are helping to facilitate a Tory Brexit, he told a meeting of Labour supporters at the Commons.

Mr Lewis pointed to the fate of the Liberal Democrats, who were comprehensively destroyed for their part in delivering Conservative austerity, and warned Labour risked the same when Brexit backfired.

The ramifications for our party will be severe, he told supporters at a Love Socialism, Hate Brexit event.

Just like the Liberal Democrats, once Theresa May has bogged off somewhere to go and put her trotters up, after she has delivered her Brexit, a new Tory leader comes in and says she was a disaster for this country, she betrayed this country  but so too did the leader of the opposition, he was part of this sorry debacle.

It is us, the Labour party, who will pick up a lot of the flak for what happened.

Insisting he and other pro-EU MPs were loyal to Mr Corbyn, and wanted to him lead a Labour government, Mr Lewis warned. Our fear is that its slipping away.

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The Tories were happy to send the country to the wall to achieve Brexit, he added. Its not the job of the Labour Party to help them do that. We should not be helping to deliver Brexit.

Mr Lewis  who resigned to oppose the triggering of Article 50 exit notice in 2017  again called for an in-or-out Final Say referendum on the prime ministers deal.

He also warned of a future European war, as Brexit propelled the rise of the far right, saying: If we walk away from Europe now, my children, your children, or possibly our grandchildren, will be back in Europe in a few years time  but in uniform.

We cannot forget what Europe has done to keep the peace in Europe.

Two other frontbenchers  rail spokeswoman Rachael Maskell and Paul Sweeney, the shadow Scotland minister also called for a referendum on the Brexit outcome.

Labours official position is still to press for a general election, if its softer Brexit plan is rejected in the Commons, with a fresh public vote only an option.

The criticism came as a Labour MP on the opposite wing of the party  Corbyn critic Chris Leslie  warned Final Say supporters were being played for fools by their leader.

The Nottingham East MP urged government ministers opposing Brexit to do the brave thing and resign to make up for the failure to deliver what should be a solid Labour move against this outrageous situation.

Criticising his partys amendment, Mr Leslie said he no longer sees the option of a public vote which was there when we had the amendment on 29 January.

He added: Why are we regressing in our partys policy passed at the September conference?

And he added: I certainly feel that we are being played for fools by the leadership of the Labour Party on this particular issue because, by now, we should have reached the stage of a public vote when it comes to the option of remaining in the EU.

Frontbench supporters of a referendum are becoming increasingly frustrated by Mr Corbyns failure to switch to outright support  even after the prime minster rejected Labours proposals, which include staying in a customs union.

Resignations are possible if the Labour leader continues to sit on the fence when the next round of Brexit votes take place on 27 February.

However, shadow ministers are keen for a concerted move, which would need to be led by the shadow cabinet, where Keir Starmer, the Brexit spokesman, is pushing for a referendum.Jeremy Corbyn will visit Brussels next week for talks in a bid to circumvent the Brexit deadlock in Westminster.

The Labour leader is expected to meet EU lead negotiator Michel Barnier and European Parliament Brexit chief Guy Verhofstadt.

The visit  far from Mr Corbyns first to the EU capital  comes after senior EU figures have spoken out to welcome Labours proposals for a softer Brexit than the one planned by Theresa May.

Mr Barniers deputy Sabine Weyand said earlier this week that Labours plans deserved to be examined, while European Council president Donald Tusk is said to have spoken well of the proposals in a private meeting with Theresa May.

Mr Verhofstadt also said he welcomed Mr Corbyns letter to the prime minister, which called for a cross-party compromise that included a customs union, close alignment with the single market, adherence to EU workers rights, and shared institutions and obligations.

Spokespeople for Mr Barnier, Mr Verhofstadt, and Mr Corbyn declined to comment on the record about the planned visit when approached by The Independent, but it is understood that the Labour leader will come to Brussels on Thursday. An exact itinerary is still said to be under discussion between the parties.

The Government has relentlessly focused on trying to get the EU to concede changes to the Northern Ireland backstop, which Brexiteer MPs are resolutely opposed to.

The European Union has however responded by saying it will not reopen the withdrawal agreement  but that the UK should change its red lines to build a closer future relationship with the EU that could avoid the backstop being triggered.

This has put Labour and Brussels on roughly the same page  with the opposition partys proposals going down well in the EU capital.

Though the prime minister has held talks with other parties, including Labour, about a cross party way forward, they have yet to bear any fruit. The prime minister is reported to be sceptical about whether her MPs would back the sort of close future relationship Labour is demanding.

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Mr Corbyn last visited Brussels in September, where he met with feared Commission official Martin Selmayr, as well as Mr Barnier.

The Labour leader was in the Belgian capital then to attend a naming ceremony for Place Jo Cox, a square named after the Labour MP murdered by a far-right extremist during the EU referendum campaign.Britain has become a diminished country in the years following the EU referendum and faces insurmountable problems because of Brexit, the Dutch prime minister has said.

In a scathing assessment of the UKs fortunes in the wake of the 2016 vote, Mark Rutte said the UK was a waning country compared to two or three years ago.

It is going to become an economy of intermediate size in a place in the Atlantic Ocean, Mr Rutte told Spanish newspaper El Pais.

It is neither the US nor the EU. It is too small to appear on the world stage on its own.

He also warned that hundreds of companies had plans to relocate across the North Sea from Britain.

We cant stop them from coming here, he said of the news that around 250 UK-based firms had been in talks to relocate to Britains closest ally in the EU, to retain access to the single market.

Every businessman I speak to from the UK is saying they will cut investments, cut their business in the UK. It will have an insurmountable impact on the UK, he told the Financial Times, adding that Britain was a more diminished country compared to what it was two or three years ago.

Sony and Panasonic are among high-profile names to have cited Brexit in their relocation, but the trade and investment arm of the Dutch government, the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency, has been actively soliciting more firms and says hundreds more are on the verge of moving.

Mr Rutte also said Britains allies on the continent were aghast at the fact the UK was doing little to stop a no-deal Brexit.

At the moment, the ball is rolling towards the Dover cliff and we are shouting Stop the ball from rolling any further but nobody is doing anything at the moment, at least not on the UK side, he said.

Responding to Mr Ruttes comments, the PMs spokesman said: I disagree entirely. Employment is at a record high, exports are at a record high, companies are continuing to invest in the UK.

Deloitte named the UK as Europes leading destination for foreign direct investment and London as the worlds top city for investment just last month.

Reports out of Westminster and accidental leaks from UK Brexit negotiators suggest Theresa May wants to wait until the very last moment to force her MPs to vote through her Brexit deal.

But the brinkmanship raises the prospect of a possible no-deal, as sought by some hardline Conservative MPs.

Mr Rutte said that as a result of the exodus, the Netherlands had only seen benefits from Brexit so far  though his country could face serious disruption at its ports and airports in the event of a no-deal.

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The Dutch government has sometimes appeared better prepared for Brexit than the UK, with advanced plans to recruit as many as 1,000 extra border officials to deal with potential disruption and extra bureaucracy caused by the UKs exit.

In addition to private businesses, the UK has also lost a key EU agency to Amsterdam: the European Medicines Agency, which employs around 900 highly skilled workers.The letter cited a statement put out by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Feb. 7 that said the Deerfield-based company has the worst track record among all pharmacies when it comes to selling tobacco products to children. About 22 percent of the more than 6,300 Walgreens stores inspected since 2010 have illegally sold the products to young people  a rate of violations higher than Walmart, Dollar General Stores and Rite Aid Corp. stores, according to the FDA.One of three schoolgirls who travelled from east London to join Isis in Syria has said she has no regrets but now wants to return to the UK.

Shamima Begum, now 19, left with two of her friends, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, during the half-term break from the Bethnal Green Academy in February 2015.

The heavily pregnant teenager who recently fled to a Syrian refugee camp told The Times: Im not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago. And I dont regret coming here.

Ms Begum married Yago Riedijk, a Dutch convert and Isis fighter, days after arriving in the Syrian city of Raqqa in 2015.

Her husband was later accused of spying on the group and jailed. He was tortured by his captors, but later released from prison.

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

Mostly it was a normal life in Raqqa, every now and then bombing and stuff, she said. But when I saw my first severed head in a bin it didnt faze me at all. It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam. I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance.

As Isis lost territory, Ms Begum gave birth to a daughter and a son. Both children fell ill and later died.

In the end, I just could not endure any more, she said, although she nonetheless appeared supportive of Isis. I just couldnt take it. I was also frightened that the child I am about to give birth to would die like my other children if I stayed on. So I fled the caliphate. Now all I want to do is come home to Britain.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

She last saw her husband two weeks ago, when the couple fled the eastern community of Baghuz, one of terror group's last strongholds. He surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters.

Although she knew "what everyone at home thinks of me as I have read all that was written about me online", she said: "I just want to come home to have my child. Thats all I want right now. Ill do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child.

The teenager's sister Renu told ITV News that she was happy to hear that her sister was alive.

"Im so relieved that my sister has been found, safe and sound," she said. "We are aware that she has been trying to get out. We lost contact with her for the longest of time. We are happy to know that she is okay."

Kadiza Sultana was however, reported to have been killed in an airstrike on Raqqa in May 2016, while Ms Begum has recently heard second-hand from other people that Ms Abase, and the other schoolgirl who left Britain in 2014, may still be alive.A British woman who joined Isis in Syria has the right to return to the UK despite admitting her involvement with the group, the security minister has said.

Shamima Begum, who was 15 when she fled to the Islamic State with two friends, said she had no regrets.

I don't regret coming here, she told The Times: I'm not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago.

Speaking from a refugee camp after fleeing Isis's last territory in eastern Syria, the pregnant 19-year-old said two of her young children had died and she wanted to return to the UK for the safety of her third child.

As a British citizen she has a right to come home here, Ben Wallace told Sky News. We are obliged to make sure our citizens have rights, no matter who they are.

Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Show all 14 1 /14 Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Men who fled the last Isis-held area of Syria line up to be questioned by American and Kurdish intelligence officials Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate A young girl pulls her belongings after arriving Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate An SDF fighter hands out bread to women and children after they arrive Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Sita Ghazzar, 70, after fleeing from the last Isis-held territory in Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate A family from Russia who recently fled the last Isis-held area of Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent

The security minister said Ms Begum would be investigated by counterterror police and prosecuted if there was proof of any criminal offences.

He added that because there are no consular services in Syria, Ms Begum would have to journey to Turkey or Iraq for any assistance.

Asked whether she should be viewed as a victim of Isis propaganda because she was a child when she joined the terrorist group, Mr Wallace replied: We shouldn't forget that the consequence of jihadi brides going was to feed the caliphate. They helped support it logistically and give it some credibility to other people back in the UK.

He said that although the government had a "duty of care" towards the British children of Isis members, "we also have a duty towards UK citizens here to make sure we keep them safe".

Mr Wallace dismissed any suggestion of sending officials to meet Ms Begum, adding: "I'm not putting at risk British people's lives to go and look for terrorists in a failed state. Actions have consequences."

The government has stripped known Isis members with dual nationality of their British citizenship, but make sole UK nationals stateless under international law.

Ms Begum could be subjected to a temporary exclusion order, meaning that any return to the UK would have to be organised in advance with authorities and subject to conditions, such as reporting to police and de-radicalisation work.

Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, America Abase, 15, schoolgirls at Bethnal Green Academy in east London, fled to Syria in February (Metropolitan Police/EPA)

It has proven difficult to prosecute hundreds of people who have already returned to the UK from Isis territories, and it remains unclear whether any charges could be proven against Ms Begum.

Sir Mark Rowley, the former head of UK counterterror policing, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that an enormous amount of intelligence had been gathered on known Isis members.

He said police had been collecting evidence from the battlefield, social media and interviewing returnees.

If Ms Begum does return to the UK, Sir Mark said authorities would also assess her mental health and whether she is fit to bring up a child or whether it should be taken into care.

Recommended Clicking on terrorist propaganda to be punished by 15 years in prison

This week new laws came into force that make it a terror offence to remain in an area designated by the government.

The law was created to make it easier to prosecute returned foreign fighters, but cannot be applied retrospectively and no designated areas have yet been drawn up.

Ms Begum left the UK in February 2015 with two friends, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, and travelled to Syria to join a fourth schoolgirl from Bethnal Green Academy.

They each married an Isis foreign fighter but Ms Sultana was killed in an airstrike in Raqqa in May 2016. The other two young women may still be alive.

Ms Begum described her life as mostly normal apart from bombing. She described seeing a severed head in a bin but said she was unfazed because he was an enemy of Islam captured on the battlefield.

She criticised Isis for imprisoning and torturing its own members amid infighting, including her husband who has since surrendered to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).A pregnant teenage Isis bride will be left in Syria despite pleas to allow her and other young women back to the UK.

Ben Wallace, the security minister, said he would not put British lives at risk to help Shamima Begum return to Britain.

And government sources told The Independent it will not contact local authorities to negotiate her passage out of a camp where almost 40,000 Isis fighters family members are being held.

The father of a girl who left the UK with Ms Begum in 2015 said the young women had made a mistake but should be allowed to return home.

Before teenagers do anything, they dont contemplate [what will happen], said Hussen Abase, whose daughter is Amira Abase. They can be easily tricked their age makes them vulnerable.

Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Show all 14 1 /14 Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Men who fled the last Isis-held area of Syria line up to be questioned by American and Kurdish intelligence officials Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate A young girl pulls her belongings after arriving Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate An SDF fighter hands out bread to women and children after they arrive Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Sita Ghazzar, 70, after fleeing from the last Isis-held territory in Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate A family from Russia who recently fled the last Isis-held area of Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent

Mr Abase told Sky News the girls could be straightened out by authorities in Britain where they would face prosecution and imprisonment.

Ms Abase and another girl from Bethnal Green Academy are believed to be alive in Syria, but their friend Kadiza Sultana was killed by an airstrike in 2016.

Debate has raged over whether the girls, who were just 14 and 15 when they left Britain, should be considered victims of Isis brainwashing.

Ms Begum said she was unfazed by the groups brutality after seeing a severed head in a bin, and criticised Isis only for imprisoning its own fighters.

I dont regret coming here, she told The Times. Im not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago.

The pregnant 19-year-old, who recently fled Isiss last pocket of territory, said two of her young children had died and she wanted to return to the UK for the safety of her third child.

Asked whether she should be viewed as a victim of Isis propaganda because she was a child when she joined the terrorist group, Mr Wallace replied: We shouldnt forget that the consequence of jihadi brides going was to feed the caliphate. They helped support it logistically and give it some credibility to other people back in the UK.

Mr Wallace said that as a British citizen Ms Begum has a legal right to return but she would be investigated by counterterror police and prosecuted if there was proof of any criminal offences.

 Missing schoolgirls on CCTV

He added that because there are no consular services in Syria, Ms Begum would have to journey to Turkey or Iraq for any assistance.

Im not putting at risk British peoples lives to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed state actions have consequences, Mr Wallace told the BBC.

Some were groomed when they were young but are now adults  some of them are hardened fighters.

It has proven difficult to prosecute hundreds of people who have already returned to the UK from Isis territories, and it remains unclear whether any charge could be proven against Ms Begum.

The director of public prosecutions, Max Hill QC, previously called the Bethnal Green girls young and naive and said their return should be permitted.

In his previous role as the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation in 2017, he said: Even such teenagers would not escape prosecution if there is evidence that they have committed serious criminal offences  but if not, surely we should make an allowance for their return in circumstances where they were simply brainwashed as immature and vulnerable teenagers.

The Crown Prosecution Service declined to comment on Ms Begums case.

The government has stripped many known Isis members with dual nationality of their British citizenship, but has been blocked under international law from making sole UK nationals stateless.

Ms Begum could be subjected to a temporary exclusion order, meaning any return to the UK would have to be organised in advance with authorities and subject to conditions, such as reporting to police and deradicalisation work.

If she reaches the UK authorities will also assess whether to take her child into care.

Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer who represented the Bethnal Green girls families after they ran away, said relatives had expressed the position that they want time and space to process whats happened.

This week new laws came into force that make it a criminal offence to remain in an area designated by the government to be a war zone or controlled by terrorist groups.

The law was created to make it easier to prosecute returned foreign fighters but it cannot be applied retrospectively, and no designated areas have yet been drawn up.

The government estimates that of around 900 people of national security concern who travelled from the UK to engage in the conflict in Syria and Iraq, 40 per cent have already returned and 20 per cent have died.The father of one of the three Bethnal Green schoolgirls who ran away to join Isis in Syria has said he believes she represents no threat to the UK and urged the government to allow her to return.

Hussen Abase, father of Amira Abase, said his daughter made a mistake when she left Britain in 2015 at the age of 15.

He blamed Isis social media propaganda for enticing his daughter to go to Syria with friends Shamima Begum, then 15, and Kadiza Sultana, then 16.

Teenagers dont contemplate things, they can be easily tricked, Mr Abase told Sky News on Thursday. He said they should be forgiven by the British authorities.

His comments come after Begum, now 19, heavily pregnant and being held in a Syrian refugee camp, revealed she is desperate to return to the UK.

Timeline of the Isis caliphate Show all 19 1 /19 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Timeline of the Isis caliphate ISIS began as a group by the merging of extremist organisations ISI and al-Nusra in 2013. Following clashes, Syrian rebels captured the ISIS headquarters in Aleppo in January 2014 (pictured) AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared the creation of a caliphate in Mosul on 27 June 2014 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis conquered the Kurdish towns of Sinjar and Zumar in August 2014, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes. Pictured are a group of Yazidi Kurds who have fled Rex Timeline of the Isis caliphate On September 2 2014 Isis released a video depicting the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff. On September 13 they released another video showing the execution of British aid worker David Haines Timeline of the Isis caliphate The US launched its first airstrikes against Isis in Syria on 23 September 2014. Here Lt Gen William C Mayville Jnr speaks about the bombing campaign in the wake of the first strikes Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis militants sit atop a hill planted with their flag in the Syrian town of Kobani on 6 October 2014. They had been advancing on Kobani since mid-September and by now was in control of the citys entrance and exit points AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Residents of the border village of Alizar keep guard day and night as they wait in fear of mortar fire from Isis who have occupied the nearby city of Kobani Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Smoke rises following a US airstrike on Kobani, 28 October 2014 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate YPG fighters raise a flag as they reclaim Kobani on 26 January 2015 VOA Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis seized the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on 20 May 2015. This image show the city from above days after its capture by Isis Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces are stationed on a hill above the town of Sinjar as smoke rises following US airstrikes on 12 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces enter Sinjar after seizing it from Isis control on 13 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi government forces make the victory sign as they retake the city of Fallujah from ISIS on 26 June 2016 Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi forces battle with Isis for the city of Mosul on 30 June 2017 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of the Iraqi federal police raise flags in Mosul on 8 July 2017. On the following day, Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi declares victory over Isis in Mosul Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Female fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim Square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria in January 2019 They were among the last civilians to be living in the ISIS caliphate, by this time reduced to just two small villages in Syrias Deir ez-Zor Richard Hall/The Independent Timeline of the Isis caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate, on Saturday 26 January 2019 Richard Hall/The Independent

While Sultana is believed to have been killed in a 2017 airstrike, Abase is unaccounted for after recent a bombing in Baghouz, eastern Syria.

As a father I would say to the British government please let the girls back into the country and give them some kind of teaching, Mr Abase, 52, told The Daily Telegraph.

They were just teenagers when they left. They should be allowed to learn from their mistakes. They are no threat to us.

Mr Abase came to Britain as a refugee from Ethiopia in 1999 and now lives in Stepney, east London.

He said he has not seen or heard from his daughter since 2015, when she left for school one day and did not return home.A perfect storm of flu, tens of thousands of cancelled operations and an actual storm battering the country left no one in any doubt about pressures at the NHS coal face at the start of last year. The winter crisis had barely petered out by August.

Thats why we should be even more shocked that figures released on Thursday revealed performance against the flagship four hour target at A&Es was even worse this winter  falling to a record low last month.

While in January 2018 ambulance crews queued out of hospital carparks and doctors warned of patients dying prematurely in corridors, this year there havent been such obvious signs of stress.The equal pay claims lodged against Britains big supermarkets represent a time bomb quietly ticking in the corner of the room that everyone in the City of London tries their best to ignore. You won't often find these cases mentioned in analysts notes, for example.

Law firm Roscoe Reid upped the ante this morning, becoming the latest to lodge a claim against Morrisons. Doing it on Valentines Day was a nice touch, I have to admit. Those involved could very well say love me, love equality. That applies to male shop workers too. They stand to benefit if the law firm wins.

Leigh Day, which has been at the forefront of the battle, hit Morrisons at the end of last year and has 35,000 claims (and counting) against all of the big four supermarkets, of which its battle with Asda is the furthest advanced and perhaps the most famous.

The claims focus on the fact that the primarily female workforce in stores were paid less than the primarily male workforce in distribution centres for what they argue is equal work. The workers maintain that this was not only unfair, it was also discriminatory and thus unlawful.

The omens for the industry havent looked good.

Equal pay cases have three main stages. The first question that has to be answered in this one is whether the roles under consideration are comparable. Just last month the Court of Appeal upheld an Employment Tribunal ruling that the shop workers were entitled to compare themselves to distribution centre workers.

The other questions are whether the roles are of equal value if theyre found to be comparable, and if they are of equal vale, whether there is reason other than sex discrimination that means they should not be paid equally.

Asdas argument, and that of the other supermarket, rest upon what they say are the demands of the jobs in stores and the jobs in distribution centres. They are, they maintain, very different.

They also argue that they hire from different parts of the labour market to fill them.

Leigh Day called upon Asda to settle immediately the Appeal Court ruling was handed down, as you might expect.

But given the sums at stake, the supermarkets are almost bound to take the case right to the end, disappointing though that may be. The legal costs through doing that will be high. But they represent a pinprick compared to the potential bill they face through a definitive loss.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

Leigh Day reckons that could run to as much as 8bn because a lot of claimants would be owed a lot of back pay.

By way of an illustration, Tesco has yet to report its full year results, but it made about 1.6bn last time around before one off exceptional items.

Theres still, it should be stressed, a long way to go. And each of the respective cases have different wrinkles. But if the supermarkets ultimately lose, their workers claims would represent the mother of all exceptional items. You can bet the City will wake up then. So will other employers. So will executives, who could never be said to be under paid. Good.Doctor Who actor Jodie Whittaker has revealed that she was asked to have dermal fillers and her top lip waxed for a role.

The 36-year-old discussed the worlds unrealistic beauty standards during a conversation with her former Broadchurch co-star David Tennant on his podcast David Tennant Does a Podcast With and said she was glad not to have succumbed to the pressures to alter her appearance.

The Skelmanthorpe-born actor said that while she hasnt been asked to lose weight during her career, she was once asked to have her moustache waxed.

"I didn't know I had one!" she told Tennant. "I was having a make-up test. The translator was a young kid who said, 'they want you to have your tash waxed'. I said 'no' because I'd probably be allergic to the wax.

"I said, 'Sorry you will just have to colour it in.'"

Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Show all 18 1 /18 Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Wie Lae Phyu Sin takes a selfie after filming a make-up tutorial vlog in her bedroom Reuters Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Wie Lae Phyu Sin poses on her way home from teaching a class Reuters Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Wie Lae Phyu Sin walks home after teaching a class in downtown Yangon Reuters Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Blogger Win Lae Phyu Sin teaches a student how to apply eye makeup Reuters Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Wie Lae Phyu Sin leaves a friend's pre-wedding lunch in Yangon, Myanmar Reuters Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Wie Lae Phyu Sin edits make-up tutorial vlogs with boyfriend Aung San Oo at his office Reuters Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Wie Lae Phyu Sin applies make-up at home in Yangon, Myanmar Photos Reuters Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Wie Lae Phyu Sin prepares breakfast Reuters Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Mingalar Taung Nyunt township, home to a large Muslim community in Yangon, Myanmar Reuters Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Wie Lae Phyu Sin attends a beauty product launch with other bloggers in Yangon, Myanmar Reuters Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Wie Lae Phyu Sin attends a beauty product launch with other bloggers in Yangon, Myanmar Reuters Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Wie Lae Phyu Sin attends a beauty product launch with other bloggers in Yangon, Myanmar Reuters Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Wie Lae Phyu Sin talks with a videographer at a beauty product launch in Yangon, Myanmar Reuters Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Wie Lae Phyu Sin's Facebook page Reuters Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Wie Lae Phyu Sin buys make-up in Yangon, Myanmar Reuters Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Wie Lae Phyu Sin travels in a taxi with friends from her high school Reuters Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Wie Lae Phyu Sin, 19, attends a high school reunion with her former classmates in Yangon Reuters Myanmar blogger battles bias with beauty campaign Wie Lae Phyu Sin, 19, attends a high school reunion with her former classmates in Yangon Reuters

She also recalled an incident in her career when someone told her she had a very deep frown like to which she now says: Thank f*ck I wasnt impressionable.

The actor said of her forehead: 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.

"I'm allergic, it's not even vanity... And also for me I'm too young," she added, referring to the use of fillers.

Dermal fillers are injections used to fill out wrinkles and creases in the skin with the likes of collagen and hyaluronic acid, according to the NHS. They can also be used to increase the volume and definition of lips and cheeks.

Jodie Whitaker arrives at the Doctor Who Premiere Screening at The Light Cinema on September 24, 2018 in Sheffield, England. (Getty Images)

When Tennant highlighted that some celebrities undergo surgery regardless of their age, Whittaker replied: I also think it's an undeniable pressure on humanity at the moment to look your best a lot of the time, and I think I'm lucky that my journey through the world of acting has very been about screwing up my face and nagging my eyes out.

"It's not about being the ingenue," she continued. "There isn't that pressure to look a certain way. It has been asked though. There are certainly times when I was younger in certain scenarios there were suggestions that potentially you might want to think about certain stuff, and it fascinates me.

Whittaker, who is the first woman to take on the title role in Doctor Who on the BBC, added that she hopes that ongoing conversations about inequality and misogyny in Hollywood will see the end of unrealistic beauty standards on men and women.

Maybe these things will be a thing of the past and well finally accept that we look different, and that is ace, she said.

To listen to Jodie Whittaker's full interview on David Tennant Does a Podcast With, click here.A French cafe in Auckland, New Zealand has been accused of making light of domestic violence.

Eiffel en Eden put up a sign outside its door that read: "On Valentine's Day, open the car door for her. After Valentine's Day, open the car boot for her."

One passerby spotted the sign and promptly posted a photograph of it on Twitter, describing it as tone deaf.

After so much effort to raise awareness of New Zealand's terrible violence against women a slow clap and a jaw drop for the most tone deaf, unfunny sign in Auckland outside Eiffel en Eden on Dominion Road, she wrote in a Tweet that has now been retweeted more than 100 times.

Another person, who had seen the photo circulating on Twitter, said she was so shocked by the sign that she went down to the cafe herself in order to try and get it removed.

Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Show all 12 1 /12 Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Agnes Agnes eloped at 16 after being persuaded by a 21-year-old to run away from home Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Agnes Agnes hopes to be a nurse when she's older Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA) is a rights organisation that tries to help women navigate the justice system Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe ZWLA Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA) is a rights organisation that tries to help women navigate the justice system Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Sakhile Sakhile Titu is a school teacher who was supported by ZWLA to get a divorce after domestic violence Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Rosemary Rosemary Masina was supported by ZWLA to get a divorce after her husband abused her Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Matilda Matilda Dube was supported by ZWLA to get a Legal Protection Order after her husband abused her for 8 years Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Agnes, Susan and Perpetua Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Esebia and Agnes Esebia Honangombe aged 69 from Rusape rural was supported by ZWLA's Community Legal Educators after her granddaughter Agnes was pressured to marry a 21-year-old man and eloped at 16 Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Dorcas Dorcas Mpofu was supported by a ZWLA Community Legal Educator when her husband was violent and not supporting the family Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Dorcas and Rosemary Forgotten Women: Violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe Agnes Agnes hopes to be a nurse when she's older

Ive been down there what an ignorant man! she wrote in reference to her conversation with the cafes manager, Henry Gough.

He wouldnt change it so I did so myself and told him Id be back if he changed it back.

She uploaded a photograph of the now-defaced sign that had the word boot wiped off, meaning the sign now reads: After Valentines Day open the car for her.

Speaking to the New Zealand Herald, Gough said he was not the one who had written the sign but that he had approved it, thinking it referred to the altruism of helping a partner unload groceries into their car.

"It has nothing at all to do with domestic violence, he said.

"It is romantic, Valentine's Day, [helping] with the chores at home.

Recommended How to help someone you think might be experiencing domestic violence

"There are a few people interpreting it [as domestic violence], but we never intended it that way. We had good intentions."

Gough added that he would not change the sign.

"Why should we change it? Just because some people don't like it? There is freedom of speech in this country, and there was never a link to violence."

But New Zealand-based domestic violence charity Womens Refuge said the sign was completely inappropriate given the rising prevalence of violence against women in the country, claiming that one in three will experience it at some point in their lives.

Writing on Facebook, they said: Its not hard to see why we are very disheartened and disgusted to see this sign displayed in Auckland at Eiffel en Eden on Dominion Road.

Domestic violence is not a laughing matter and a huge part of work is changing peoples attitudes towards this serious national problem.

The Independent has contacted Eiffel en Eden for comment.

If you have been affected by any issues mentioned in this article, you can contact the Domestic Violence Helpline for free on 0808 2000 247 or any of the folllowing organisations:

Womens Aid

Refuge

White Ribbon

ALICASNasa is launching a brand new space mission that could solve two of the deepest questions about the universe.

The launch could help astronomers understand how our universe evolved in the first place and how common the ingredients for life are within it.

The mission is named the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) will last for two years, cost nearly $250 million and is expected to launch in 2023.

Im really excited about this new mission, said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in a statement. Not only does it expand the United States powerful fleet of space-based missions dedicated to uncovering the mysteries of the universe, it is a critical part of a balanced science program that includes missions of various sizes.

The announcement that Nasa had chosen the new mission came almost immediately after it said that its Mars exploration work using the Opportunity rover had come to an end, because the trundling robot has died. The new project was chosen as one of nine proposed to Nasa.

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

SPHEREx will look out at the sky, surveying the optical as well as near-infrared light. That light is invisible to the human eye but is a useful tool for exploring the universe: it will give astronomers a look at more than 300 million galaxies, as well as 100 million stars in our Milky Way.

"This amazing mission will be a treasure trove of unique data for astronomers, said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASAs Science Mission Directorate, in a statement. It will deliver an unprecedented galactic map containing fingerprints from the first moments in the universes history. And well have new clues to one of the greatest mysteries in science: What made the universe expand so quickly less than a nanosecond after the big bang?

To answer those questions, SPHEREx will look out at all those galaxies, some of which are so far away that the light reaching us has taken 10 billion years to travel through the universe. It will hunt out water and organic molecules in the hope that we can understand where  and how often  those ingredients for life occur throughout the cosmos.

It will also look out to create map of the entire sky, in 96 different colour bands. That will be a far more detailed colour resolution than previous all-sky maps, and will offer hints that other equipment like the James Webb Space Telescope and Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope can follow up on.During a recent cabinet discussion about food waste, prime minister Theresa May admitted that she doesn't dispose of jam when it's grown mould, rather scrapes the mould off and consumes the jam underneath.

The conversation over May's culinary habits has sparked a nationwide debate, prompting some to commend the prime minister for making a conscious effort to reduce waste.

Others have expressed their disgust over the idea of eating food that's previously gone mouldy.

"Theresa May scraping the mould off jam is the most painfully accurate Brexit metaphor we could get six weeks before leave day," one person tweeted.

It also provoked a discussion about which foods are and aren't safe to eat if they've grown mould.

For example, foods that have a high water content, such as cooked pasta and soft fruits, are not safe to eat if they've grown mould, as the mould can easily contaminate the food items below the surface.

Six healthy breakfast recipes to try Show all 6 1 /6 Six healthy breakfast recipes to try Six healthy breakfast recipes to try You will need: 1 onion, 1 red pepper, 1 stick of celery, 1 cup of mushrooms, 4 to 6 eggs, 1 habanero chilli (optional), 1 tablespoon of oil, 25g of grated low-fat cheese, 150 ml of skimmed milk, 50g of turkey breast. Add some spinach for an extra boost. Method: 1) Cook your turkey breast so that its ready to add to the mix later on. Best to grill it and then chop it up as its healthier than shallow frying. 2) Meanwhile, heat the oil and add your onion, pepper, chilli, mushrooms and celery to your pan. Cook these for around five minutes until your veg is nice and soft. 3) Whisk your eggs and milk together in a separate bowl, seasoning with salt and pepper. 4) Add the egg mixture, veg, cooked turkey and cheese to a high-sided baking pan or tin and cook in your oven for around 15 minutes at 170C. 1) Cook your turkey breast so that its ready to add to the mix later on. Best to grill it and then chop it up as its healthier than shallow frying. 2) Meanwhile, heat the oil and add your onion, pepper, chilli, mushrooms and celery to your pan. Cook these for around five minutes until your veg is nice and soft. 3) Whisk your eggs and milk together in a separate bowl, seasoning with salt and pepper. 4) Add the egg mixture, veg, cooked turkey and cheese to a high-sided baking pan or tin and cook in your oven for around 15 minutes at 170C. DW Fitness Clubs Six healthy breakfast recipes to try Be careful when you buy your porridge, as some brands will cram a lot of sugar in there. Porridge is a good breakfast option as it is renowned for releasing energy slowly, which means you can get to lunch without suffering from a lull. A great source of fibre, potassium and vitamins, bananas are always a good accompaniment to your morning oats. DW Fitness Clubs Six healthy breakfast recipes to try Ingredients: 2 full eggs, 3 egg whites, asparagus, peppers, 50g of smoked salmon Method 1) Boil your asparagus in water for around five minutes. 2) Meanwhile, mix your eggs and egg whites in a jug, and add a splash of skimmed milk. Chop some peppers up and throw them in too. 3) Once your asparagus is cooked, drain it and chop into smaller chunks. Add these to your egg mixture. 4) Whisk your mixture and season with salt and pepper. 5) Pour the mix into a hot pan with a small knob of butter or a teaspoon of quality olive oil. 6) Cook the omelette for around 90 seconds to two minutes. 7) Once the bottom is cooked, take the pan off the hob and place under the grill for another 30 seconds to a minute in order to cook the top. 8) Serve with your smoked salmon. 1) Boil your asparagus in water for around five minutes. 2) Meanwhile, mix your eggs and egg whites in a jug, and add a splash of skimmed milk. Chop some peppers up and throw them in too. 3) Once your asparagus is cooked, drain it and chop into smaller chunks. Add these to your egg mixture. 4) Whisk your mixture and season with salt and pepper. 5) Pour the mix into a hot pan with a small knob of butter or a teaspoon of quality olive oil. 6) Cook the omelette for around 90 seconds to two minutes. 7) Once the bottom is cooked, take the pan off the hob and place under the grill for another 30 seconds to a minute in order to cook the top. 8) Serve with your smoked salmon. DW Fitness Six healthy breakfast recipes to try Greek yoghurt has vast nutritional benefits. Regardless of where you stand on the superfood debate, Greek yoghurts credentials speak for themselves. A good source of potassium, protein, calcium and essential vitamins, this food forms an ideal base for a healthy breakfast, especially if youre trying to lose weight. DW Fitness Six healthy breakfast recipes to try Eggs Florentine is not only a tasty breakfast, it also carries a hefty nutritional punch, particularly when you throw some spinach into the equation. DW Fitness Six healthy breakfast recipes to try So fast and easy to make, yet so effective. Wholemeal toast can be a good breakfast choice, as long as you are sensible with your toppings. Peanut butter is perfect. A good source of healthy fats, as well as protein and Vitamin E among other nutrients, a liberal spreading of peanut butter can set you up for the day. DW Fitness

The Food Standards Authority (FSA) offers advice on when foods are and are not safe to eat if they've grown mould.

"We advise not to eat food that is obviously rotten or containing mould due to potential risks from the mould," they state. This advice is especially important for people in vulnerable groups, which includes children, the elderly, pregnant women and those who have a weakened immune system.

"While it is possible that removing the mould and a significant amount of the surrounding product could remove any unseen toxins that are present, there is no guarantee that doing so would remove them all."

Here's a list of foods that are safe and unsafe to eat when they've grown mould:

Foods you can eat:

Hard salami and dry-cured hams

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), it is perfectly normal for foods stored at room temperature such as hard salami and dry-cured country hams to sometimes have mould on the surface.

As such, it's safe to scrape the mould from the surface and consume the meat underneath.

Hard cheese

When hard cheeses such as parmesan and Grana Padano grow mould, it's unlikely that it would penetrate deep underneath the surface of the cheese, the USDA explains.

When consuming a hard cheese that has mould on it, you should cut off at least one inch around the mould, making sure that the knife you're using doesn't come into contact with the mould.

Once the mould has been removed, you should then cover the cheese in a new plastic wrapping when storing it.

According to the American Cheese Society, the recommended temperature for storing cheese is between 1C and 7C, ideally at the bottom of a vegetable or fruit drawer in the fridge.

Cheese that's made with mould

(Getty Images/iStockphoto (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Certain cheeses, such as Gorgonzola, Stilton and Roquefort, are made using mould.

If a cheese contains a mould that was included in the manufacturing process, then it's safe to eat.

Firm fruits and vegetables

While it isn't advisable to eat soft fruits and vegetables that have grown mould, it can be ok when consuming firm produce such as carrots, bell peppers and cabbage.

"If the food is hard like pumpkin and has a low water content, then you can safely cut the mould off, providing you cut at least one centimetre off around where the mould is," outlines New Zealand environmental organisation Love Food Hate Waste.

When fruits and vegetables that are firm have a low water content, this hinders the mould from penetrating too deeply below the surface.

The FSA advises avoiding any fruits and vegetables that are obviously rotten/mouldy due to risks from the mould, as toxins may penetrate below the surface.

"However, if fruit/vegetables are a bit overripe (for example wrinkly apples and carrots, brown bananas, slightly mushy strawberries) it is fine to use them in cooking/smoothies/cakes," they add.

Foods you should be wary of

Luncheon and cooked leftover meat

Foods that have a high water content, such as luncheon meats or cooked leftover meat, can be harmful to eat if they've grown mould on them.

"Food with high moisture content can be contaminated below the surface," the USDA states.

"Mouldy foods may also have bacteria growing along with the mould."

Cooked grains or pasta

This same rule applies to cooked grains and pasta, which have a high water content.

Soft cheese

While some cheeses are safe to eat when they've grown mould, such as hard cheeses or cheeses manufactured with mould, the same doesn't go for all cheeses.

When mould appears on soft cheeses such as Brie and Camembert that weren't included in the manufacturing process, then it's recommended to discard the cheeses immediately.

Jam

(Getty Images (Getty Images)

Prime minister Theresa May's recent admission that she removes mould from jam before eating it sparked a huge online debate about the practice.

The USDA advises throwing away jam if it's grown mould, as the mould could produce a mycotoxin, which is a toxic substance produced by fungus that would be detrimental to consume.

"Microbiologists recommend against scooping out the mould and using the remaining condiment," the USDA states.

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However, official advice on the health concerns surrounding the practice varies.

In 2014, mould expert Dr Patrick Hickey informed the BBC that it is safe to scrape mould off jam before eating the condiment underneath.

Yogurt

As a food item with a high water content, it isn't advisable to eat yogurt on which mould has started growing.

Soft fruits and vegetables

While mould can be safely removed from firm fruits and vegetables, this same tactic doesn't apply to soft fruits and vegetables such as peaches, tomatoes and cucumbers due to the high water content of the foods.

Bread

(Getty Images/iStockphoto (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Leavened bread, containing raising agents such as yeast, contains air pockets that are formed following the fermentation process.

Due to the porous nature of bread, mould can easily spread and contaminate below its surface.

"Bread should be safe to consume past its Best Before date but consumers should not eat bread that is mouldy, or remove mould and consume the rest," advises the FSA.

"While consumers may not wish to consume stale bread, it can be used safely in some recipes."

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

Nuts

While many people may eat nuts on a daily basis due to the health benefits of the nutritious snack, it's important to be wary not to do so if they've grown mould.

"Foods processed without preservatives are at high risk for mould," the USDA explains.

Nuts and seeds that have been roasted or salted are more likely to contain preservatives and therefore have a lower risk of developing mould.The products gained momentum with anxiety-ridden millennials in search of a more natural solution than the Xanax of previous generations. But now the products are becoming popular across age groups, as older users look to address the aches and pains associated with aging without pharmaceuticals, and the compound becomes a common addition to foods, beauty products and more.Luxury department store Barneys is adding a cannabis lifestyle and wellness section to its store.

Racing to grab a piece of the thriving Cannibidiol (CBD) market, Barneys is to become the first department store to introduce an entire section devoted to cannabis.

On Wednesday, the retailer announced the new department, called The High End, will reside in a 300-square-foot space on the fifth floor of its Beverly Hills Flagship location.

The store is expected to sell a number of lifestyle products including vaporiser pens and pastilles, as well as CBD-infused beauty products from brands such as, Foria, Boysmells, Malin + Goetz and Body Vibes.

Accessories like lighters, trays and cases will also be sold and customers will have the option of making purchases on the Barneys website.

Cannabis around the world Show all 13 1 /13 Cannabis around the world Cannabis around the world Morocco Farmers destroy cannabis plantations under Moroccan police supervision in the northern Moroccan Larache region, pictured here in 2006 AFP/Getty images Cannabis around the world Colorado Growing business: Cannabis on sale at River Rock Wellness Sam Adams Cannabis around the world Oakland Oaksterdam in Oakland, California, is the world's only university dedicated to the study and cultivation of cannabis Alain Jocard/AFP/Getty Images Cannabis around the world Seattle A cannabis smoker marks the start of the new law by the Space Needle in Seattle Getty Images Cannabis around the world China Cannabis growing wild in China, where it has been used to treat conditions such as gout and malaria Cannabis around the world Uruguay Uruguay has voted to make the country the first to legalize marijuana AFP/Getty Cannabis around the world Colorado A groundswell of support from the public led to full legalisation in Colorado Getty Images Cannabis around the world Berlin A man smokes licenced medicinal marijuana prior to participating in the annual Hemp Parade, or 'Hanfparade', in support of the legalization of marijuana in Germany on August 7, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. The consumption of cannabis in Germany is legal, though all other aspects, including growing, importing or selling it, are not. However, since the introduction of a new law in 2009, the sale and possession of marijuana for licenced medicinal use is legal. Sean Gallup/Getty Images Cannabis around the world UK The UK latest figures show 2.3 million people used cannabis in the last year AP Cannabis around the world Amsterdam Tourists visiting Amsterdam will not be banned from using the citys famous cannabis cafes Getty Images Cannabis around the world Merseyside These 25 cannabis plants, seized in Merseyside police, could have generated a turnover of 40,000 a year Cannabis around the world San Francisco April 20, 2012: People smoke marijuana joints at 4:20 p.m. as thousands of marijuana advocates gathered at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California. The event was held on April 20, a date corresponding with a numerical 4/20 code widely known within the cannabis subculture as a symbol for all things marijuana. Reuters Cannabis around the world Spain A cannabis users' association will pay the town of Rasquera more than 600,000 a year for the lease of the land

Barneys New York has always been at the forefront of shifts in culture and lifestyle, and cannabis is no exception, said Daniella Vitale, chief executive officer and president at Barneys New York.

Many of our customers have made cannabis a part of their lifestyle, and The High End caters to their needs with extraordinary products and service they experience in every facet of Barneys New York.

Last year, the number of CBD consumers doubled following a rise in readily-available cannabis-derived products around the world.

CBD is a non-psychoactive chemical compound found in the marijuana plant and because it doesn't contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - the main psychoactive perception and mood-altering component of cannabis.

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This means that products containing CBD, such as oils and extracts, wont lead to hallucinogenic effects like recreational use of marijuana in its complete form is known to do.

Instead, CBD oils are typically sold in products that advertise benefits such as pain relief and reducing anxiety, while beauty products containing the ingredient claim to reduce inflammation.

The High End will also offer a selection of products by upscale cannabis company Beboe.

In an exclusive collaboration with the retailer, Beboe will be selling products like a silver vaporiser pen and a new strain of cannabis which will be sold pre-rolled.

I'm so thrilled that cannabis culture has come so far that it can exist and feel perfectly at home in such a prestigious context as Barneys New York, Scott Campbell, co-founder, Beboe said in a statement.

Barneys has never been shy about pushing creative boundaries in retail, and it makes perfect sense that they would be the first to support and elevate cannabis to new levels.

The department stores decision to open its first cannabis store in Beverly Hills seems fitting, considering California became the first state to legalise the drug in 1996.

Last year, Michigan became the 10th state to legalise recreational marijuana, and Utah and Missouri voted to legalise medical marijuana.Online retailer Amazon has come under fire for selling books that promote the treatment of homosexuality.

Damian Barr, an author and speaker, openly criticised the retailer on Twitter after spotting a book called A Parents Guide To Preventing Homosexuality by US psychologist Joseph Nicholosifor sale on its website.

I just checked and that book really is real, he wrote.

I am shocked that @amazon is selling a title that actively advocates self-harm and propagates hate crime.

Others have since taken to social media to share their disappointment in the retailer with many calling for Amazon to remove the books from its website.

Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Show all 35 1 /35 Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Participants take part in the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taipei, Taiwan, 27 October 2018. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Thousands of people attended the march in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. REUTERS Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Participants walk in the parade. REUTERS Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan The march took place ahead of a landmark vote next month on LGBT+ rights in Taiwan. REUTERS Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan On May 24 2017, the Constitutional Court in Taiwan ruled that same-sex couples have the right to marry in the state. AP Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan After making its ruling on same-sex marriage in May last year, the court stated that its decision must be implemented in two years. AP Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan On November 24, a public vote will be held in Taiwan on same-sex marriage. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A participant of the march poses next to a wedding studio. REUTERS Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A young woman from Chongqing in mainland China holds a fan reading "free writers" before the start of the march. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Participants with Pikachu-styled costumes pose as they gather at the square outside the presidential office for the start of the march. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Thousands took part in the parade in support of same-sex marriage. REUTERS Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Participants in the square outside the presidential office before the start of the parade. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A couple take part in the march with their baby. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Members of Tokyo Rainbow Pride walk in the parade. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan The parade was awash with rainbow-coloured paraphernalia. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A participant of the march poses with a fan. AP Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A participant from Japan holds a banner before the start of the march. AFP/Getty Images Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Young women display rainbow flags. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A person taking part in the march waves a rainbow flag. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A man, decorated with balloons and a rainbow flag, takes part in the celebrations. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan An American man and his Japanese partner, both wearing headbands saying 'Japan' in Japanese, kiss each other during the march. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Thousands of people attended the annual march. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Taiwan gay rights activist Chi Chia-wei attends the march. Chi became the first person in Taiwan to come out as gay on national television in 1986. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Participants take part in the march, organised by Taiwan LGBT Pride. AP Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Participants hold up a large rainbow flag. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan People walking in the parade. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A person stands in front of a rainbow-coloured flag. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A Japanese couple hold a sign saying 'You Are My Safe Harbour' in Chinese. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A man, decorated with balloons and rainbow flags, takes part in the march. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan The first Taiwan Pride march was held in 2003. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Participants display a huge rainbow flag during the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan Two men take a selfie in front of a rainbow flag. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan A man waves a rainbow flag during the march. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan The annual Taipei Gay Pride March is the largest in East Asia. EPA Best pictures from the 2018 Taipei Gay Pride March in Taiwan The Rainbow City Symphonic Band performs during the march. EPA

Amazon is vile and damaging, one person commented.

Parents and companies can opt to not buy into hate. Whats so hard about just loving your kids and teaching to embrace and celebrate differences so that they can be who they are?

Another added: Last week @amazon were criticised for removing an LGBTI film from its Prime streaming service. This week @PatrickStrud reports that theyre found to be selling conversion therapy manuals. What a s*** show: sort it out.

The book, which was published in 2000, has also been condemned in the review section of the Amazon website where it has received a 1.5 star rating.



One person called it silly, extremely close-minded and paranoid work guaranteed to preserve the status quo of messing people up while theyre young.

Another person wrote: If the possible ramifications of the existence of such a book were not so frightening, I would find this funny. However, there is nothing funny about the high rate of suicide among LGBT youth.

The book's author founded the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality - a US organisation that promotes conversion therapy - and claims to have assisted hundreds of clients with their goal to reduce their same-sex attractions and explore their heterosexual potential".

Despite the death of Nicholisi in 2017, the organisation continues to offer psychological services to men and women whose same-sex attraction doesnt define them.

Speaking to Buzzfeed News, Barr said that Amazon has a responsibility to its customers to not profit from or promote self-harm and hate crimes.

If you read the comments below you can clearly see the book had caused harm to parents as well as children, he said.

Amazon is profiting from the pain of the people affected by this book.

The author also said that his issue is not with the book itself but the fact that Amazon is choosing to sell it.

This is not a freedom of speech issue, he said.

Amazon is not being neutral by selling these. Amazon is making a statement about their values by choosing to sell these books.

People can buy this book if they want but you have to ask yourself, Why would you choose to profit from this book? Amazon are making money from this hatred.

The media outlet also highlighted that Amazon is selling a number of other books that fall into the same category, including Healing Homosexuality, Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality, and How a Gay Boy Became a Straight Man.

The news comes just weeks after the New York state legislature passed a bill prohibiting licensed mental health professionals from conducting gay conversion therapy on children.

New York has a reputation for diversity and inclusion and the Assembly Majority is committed to maintaining that reputation and protecting the rights of others, New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Everyone has a right to live their life free from hostility and exclusion, and our youth deserve support in discovering their identity in a way that promotes happiness and positive mental health.

The Independent has contacted Amazon for comment.Hundreds of animal species are at risk of extinction because wildlife trade restrictions are taking too long to come into effect, a major new study warns.

Over a quarter of animals on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list  the worlds most critically endangered  are not protected by Cites (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).

Cites is regarded as the primary international framework for preventing species extinction due to international wildlife trade. It came into force in 1975 in order to coordinate and regulate trade in wildlife products, and can put into effect bans on sales of certain species or their body parts.

The research also revealed the long wait species have to gain recognition by Cites.

Even among IUCNs red-list species, 62 per cent of those protected by Cites had waited as long as 19 years for recognition or are still waiting to be listed up to 24 years after being first considered.

Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Show all 19 1 /19 Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Alligator From Alligator Bay zoo in Beauvoir, France AFP/Getty Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Gorilla AFP/Getty Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Wallaby Albino wallaby in a zoo in mother's pouch Bergamo, Italy AFP/Getty Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Panda Spotted in China's Wolong National Nature Reserve on 26 May 2019 AFP/Getty Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Python From Noah's Ark Zoo Farm, Bristol Getty Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Albino squirrel in Louth Stephen Plant Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Tiger AFP/Getty Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Porcupine Albino porcupine from the Kamla Nehru zoo in Ahmedabad, India AFP/Getty Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Albino squirrel in Louth Stephen Plant Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Albino squirrel in Louth Stephen Plant Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Hedgehog An albino hedgehog from a zoo in Sochi, Russia AFP/Getty Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Peacock Not technically an albino, the white peacock in the Nehru Zoo in Hyderabad, India AFP/Getty Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Gorilla AFP/Getty Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Squirrel Albino squirrel in Louth Stephen Plant Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Wallaby Albino wallaby in a zoo in mother's pouch Bergamo, Italy AFP/Getty Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Peacock Not technically an albino, the white peacock in the Nehru Zoo in Hyderabad, India AFP/Getty Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Zebra Albino zebra in Nairobi's national park AFP/Getty Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Tortoise A baby Hermann's Tortoise from the Turtle Valley animal park in Sorede, France AFP/Getty Albino animals: squirrels, gorillas, hedgehogs and more Alligator A baby albino alligator in the Sao Paulo aquarium, Brazil AFP/Getty

Its absolutely critical that policymakers allow science to inform a speedy protection process, said Eyal Frank, co-author of the study and an assistant professor at the University of Chicago.

He said: New trends in wildlife trade can develop quickly, with some species going from common to near extinction in just a few years.

A policymaking process needs to respond quickly to new information in order to prevent extinction for hundreds of animals and plants.

The researchers said the pattern of slow recognition by the convention was the same even for the most threatened species.

The team collected data on 958 threatened species particularly targeted by the international wildlife trade, and looked at how they were classified by the IUCN and treated by Cites.

They found 28.2 per cent of species on the IUCN red list were not listed by cites, a discovery the researchers said was striking.

Cites and the Red List are two of the most important tools we have to save wildlife threatened by international trade, said co-author David Wilcove of Princeton Environmental Institute. Its vital that these two institutions work together closely and quickly to stop the killing.

The Andean Flamingo is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN red list (Getty)

But the research also revealed 36 per cent of the species studied were already protected by Cites before making it on the Red List.

The authors suggested this could be because Cites had information not available to the IUCN, or could be due to staffing and other resource constraints at the IUCN.

However, they added: We consider the situation in which Cites protection is delayed relative to the Red List finding to be a more severe problem than the reverse situation.

The release of the research comes ahead of the Cites conference, which will be held in Colombo in Sri Lanka in May and where international wildlife authorities will gather to vote on animal trade restrictions.

The authors recommended any country already part of Cites should advocate that IUCN red list species threatened by international trade be quickly protected under the treaty in order to clear the backlog.

They also suggested all countries can use the red list as a guide to protecting threatened species within their borders.

The research is published in Science.Argentina, of all places. That's where we set up our first remote office.

About two years ago, our team began scaling very quickly. We needed to hire more engineers, who come at a high-demand-driven premium in Silicon Valley, so we decided to look into hiring elsewhere.

My co-founder, David Spector, was put in touch with a contract engineer in Argentina who came recommended by a network contact. He immediately impressed us, so we hired him full time--along with a number of other engineers he endorsed. We found a co-working space for them and continued building out the team one by one.

Today, nearly 30 engineers work from our permanent office in Cordoba.

We had never considered the extended work-from-home route for our remote teams, mainly because I truly believe there's no replacement for the spirit, energy, and collaboration of physically working alongside your co-workers. So, honestly, we didn't know much about setting up a remote office when we started.

Here are a few tips we learned about opening offices beyond the main headquarters:

Just like anything you do with a startup, test a remote office in the most lightweight, efficient manner possible.

You'll never know if a remote office will fit well into your business model until you try it.

Remember: You're not a multinational corporation like Amazon. You won't have cities fighting over your expansion plans, and you can't spend a bunch of money on a brand-new office. But you can test the waters before making major commitments.

Even though we knew Cordoba had plenty of local talent thanks to a nearby university, we still built the office slowly and carefully. We avoided major commitment by taking advantage of co-working spaces and short-term leases.

Never jump into a long-term location commitment before you're fully confident and invested in the area. Once you're sure your remote office can succeed, you can then begin thinking about other decisions: how many people you want to hire, office setup, and infrastructure items.

Include remote offices in the exciting things going on at your headquarters.

It's important to ensure remote teams are aware of and excited about company happenings.

Our team accomplishes this by having three or four Argentinian team members visit our San Francisco office every other month. During the visit, we work to instill our company culture in them by introducing them to the entire team, having them work alongside us, and showing them the day-to-day of important initiatives.

By hosting remote team members and consistently filling them in on what's happening across the company, you help everyone feel more included, connected, and engaged.

When expanding internationally, consider the local work culture and time zone.

Opening an international office highlights cultural differences among countries--especially how people work.

In Argentina, everything runs later than in the U.S. People get to work around 10 a.m. and leave around 7 p.m.--and it's normal for an Argentinian to go to dinner at 10 p.m. When my co-founder and I went to the holiday party in Cordoba last year, we were there until 2 a.m.

A later schedule was just one of many cultural learning curves we had to adjust to, but it actually works great for us since there's a slight time zone difference from our headquarters. It means everyone gets on- and offline around the same time every day, which wouldn't be possible if our team was in Asia or Europe.

Wherever you set up a remote office, the work culture and time change will impact your teams' operations. So you want to really know the landscape before making a final decision.

Help remote workers understand their impact on the company's success.

This is a universal truth, but it's more difficult to achieve with a remote office.

At ThirdLove, we do our best to help our remote teams feel valued by having weekly meetings to discuss new projects, holding Q and A sessions, and sharing updates on major initiatives. When my co-founder and I were recently in Argentina, we held a session with the entire team to share our company history and discuss values and goals. We want everyone working with us to know who we are and what we stand for. And, most important, we want them to know they're valued equally to our in-office employees.

If you don't communicate and take the steps to include remote offices, your team won't be able to tell if their work is truly making a difference--and they won't understand how it directly impacts the customer. The best way to prevent these drawbacks is to create a mission-driven company culture. Make sure your remote workers understand their direct impact in terms of company success.Reddit announced on Monday that it had raised $300 million in funding. Not that it needed all that capital.

In a conversation Monday in San Francisco, I reminded Steve Huffman, Reddit's chief executive and co-founder, that just two months ago he'd told me point blank he wasn't seeking additional funding for the social site.

"That's true," he said--the company was in the unusual position of not needing additional funding. Nevertheless, it decided to pull together the massive Series D round, and did so exceedingly quickly. Led by Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings (which contributed $150 million) and joined by a group of Reddit's previous investors, the capital infusion left Reddit with a $3 billion valuation.

"This was one of the easiest rounds we've ever put together," Huffman said. "In my 12 years in San Francisco, I have pitched and been rejected by every investor in the Bay, most of them twice."

Reddit announced its previous round, totaling $200 million, back in July 2017. It had taken a tremendous amount of effort and nearly a year for Huffman and the company to assemble. (At one point in reporting on my book on Reddit, We Are the Nerds: The Birth and Tumultuous Life of Reddit, Huffman told me the fundraising was proving to be so difficult he almost gave up.) But once completed, the round valued Reddit at $1.8 billion, giving the company its first unicorn designation and significant room for growth as it expanded its offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York.

Since then, Reddit--known as "the front page of the internet"--has nearly doubled in head count, to just under 500 employees. It has redesigned its website, and bolstered its ability to sell advertising to apparel, automotive, and media companies. Reddit is for the first time generating significant revenue, estimated at $85 million to $100 million annually. It's the sixth-most trafficked website in the U.S., and the only major social site that's privately held.

Those factors explain why investors were so eager this time around, and why Huffman was able to secure conditions he deemed favorable enough to proceed. He explained that he's been approached by multiple investors recently, and usually tells them the same thing: "We don't really want to raise." But he has a caveat: "If you will not drag us through a ton of diligence and can move quickly and no weird terms, we'd be happy to hear you out."

Huffman said Reddit wasn't seeking the funding to fuel growth, and that it wasn't looking to vastly accelerate hiring--it has nearly outgrown its San Francisco headquarters after less than two years. But he may have some plans for it: He told CNBC he plans to expand the company internationally and continue broadening its advertising platform to take a bite out of the online ad ecosystem dominated by Google and Facebook.

Lead investor sparks online outcry

The speed in closing the round may be attributable to Tencent's involvement: As U.S. trade negotiators arrive in Beijing this week, there has been speculation that the Trump administration could soon limit Chinese firms' ability to invest in American companies.

Early word of Tencent's likely investment in Reddit hit the internet late last week. Many Redditors immediately voiced their opposition to allowing Tencent--which censors content on the social and messaging platforms it operates in China because of government regulations--to fund the growth of Reddit, which has earned a reputation as a haven for open discourse. (Access to Reddit also is blocked in China.)

Users posted, upvoted, and commented on images that have been banned in China, including the character Winnie the Pooh, whom bloggers had compared to President Xi Jinping. One Pooh image rocketed up the Reddit homepage Monday, gaining popularity because of its caption: "Since Reddit took a $150 million investment from Chinese censorship company Tencent, please welcome our leader President Xi."According to Gallup, 70 percent of people who work in the United States are not engaged in their careers. If this is you--if staying home to scrub your kitchen floor sounds like a better use of your time than clocking into your job--what are you going to do about it? According to experts, either you need a change in attitude, or you need to start trying new things. In other words, it's not the job's fault you're unhappy. You're the only one who can change your situation.

"Find your passion" is terrible advice

It's because being open to new interests is what really opens doors in life. Researchers have found that people who believe there's one thing they're really passionate about end up limiting themselves to that single area of interest (called a fixed theory). People who believe they can learn or develop new skills and interests--completely outside of what they're good at right now--end up seeing more opportunities in life (growth theory). It makes sense: Imagine you believe yourself to be good with words and bad with numbers. In college, you'll probably go for a liberal arts degree and avoid the sciences. Instead of pursuing a career as a nurse or an engineer, which you could have found lucrative and fulfilling, you end up going into public relations or writing.

On this subject writer Stephanie Buck interviewed psychologist Paul O'Keefe, a professor at Yale-NUS College in Singapore and one of the authors of a recent study titled Implicit Theories of Interest. O'Keefe holds the opinion that people don't need to be passionate about their work because in reality not everybody has a true passion and if they do it might be just one.

If you're not happy with your career -- maybe you're just good at something but you don't like it -- a fixed theorist may be more miserable than someone with a growth theory. A fixed theorist might just have thought initially that it was a passion, and they've lost passion for it. People with a growth theory, they're probably able to find some cool things about their job that keep them going, because they're more open. But they probably also have these other interests that they indulge in on the weekend, or at night. Maybe they're in a band and playing pubs, and that helps keep them going and happy.

He likens it to the debate regarding soul mates. If you believe there's just one person who's perfect for you in the world (fixed theory), you're more likely to reject people who are OK, but not fantastic. "But someone with a growth theory might go on a first date and have a nice time and think, "There's something that could grow there. And that growth takes time. So let's go on a second date, and a third date, and a fourth date,'" he says. "It's this expectation that it's a process."

The people happiest with their careers are proactive about finding a balance between necessary hygiene factors and motivators

According to Clayton Christensen, James Allworth and Karen Dillon, the authors of the bestselling book How Will You Measure Your Life, hygiene factors are things like compensation, job security, work conditions, company policies and how your boss treats you. If hygiene is bad, you'll dislike your job. If it's good, you won't be dissatisfied with your job but it doesn't mean you're going to love it, either. To love your job, motivators need to be present. They include challenging work, recognition, responsibility and personal growth.Finance & Development, December 2018, Vol. 55, No. 4 PDF version

Targeting the Poor

Developing economies face special challenges in delivering social protection

Rema Hanna, Adnan Khan, and Benjamin Olken

Many people believe that social protection generally involves rich countries aiding those that are poor. Aid is important, particularly for extremely poor countries. Bad shocks can quickly devolve into humanitarian disasters and promote conflict in fragile states, as seen with the current famine in South Sudan, the incipient famine and cholera in Yemen, and the recent Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

But for the 108 countries the World Bank classifies as "upper-middle" or "lower-middle" incomefor example, India, Morocco, and Peruoverall tax revenue now dwarfs development assistance. Given that growth has been accompanied by increases in global inequality, it is not surprising that redistribution is increasingly taking place within countries. In these environments external support is often important during initial program design and launch, but social protection can be funded primarily through domestic sources in the long run.

As many of these countries increasingly initiate redistribution within their own borders, they are facing challenges different from those in high-income countries. Understanding these differences is critical to grasping how social protection has evolved over time, and how it may change in the future.

In-kind subsidies

The traditional way of providing transfers in many countries, and one that is still common today, is to subsidize particular products. Staple foods are one classic example. Energy is another.

The rationale for this policy tool is simple. In developed economies, the government can use income information from tax documents and other sources to identify who needs assistance. In less developed settings, however, substantial activity occurs in the informal sector, particularly among the poor. There is no paper trail of who is employed and how much they earnat least none that can be easily verified. Instead, governments aim to subsidize products the poor use disproportionately so that they get a larger portion of the subsidy.

Subsidies tend to be politically popular for several reasons. The first is transparency; for example, with an energy subsidy, consumers see the subsidized price at the pump. A second is that since everyone benefits from subsidies, they may enjoy broader political support than programs that benefit only the poor. Finally, governments can claim that they influence what people consume; for example, subsidizing eggs or milk to ensure that kids get enough protein, rather than a cash subsidy the poor might waste on so-called temptation goods such as alcohol or tobacco.

These arguments have not always been borne out in practice. For the poor to receive more of the subsidy calls for subsidization of what economists call "inferior goods," goods whose demand decreases as people get richercassava when everyone prefers rice, low-quality food, and so forth. Subsidizing inferior goods is often unpopular; instead, most subsidies end up being for everyday goodsthings people buy more of as they have more income. This undermines redistribution, as these programs end up benefiting mostly the middle class, or even the rich.

Picking up the tab for more popular goods also makes subsidies expensive. Energy subsidies are a classic example. Since everyone can access the subsidy, it must be quite large in order to ensure that the poor get a reasonable share, and in most cases many of the benefits accrue to the middle class, not the poor. In fact, spending is already so high for these subsidies that the amount governments would save by eliminating energy subsidies in emerging market and developing economies exceeds what many of them spend on public health.

Subsidies also have distortionary consequences. Energy subsidies, for example, have serious environmental ramifications. Subsidizing particular foods, such as rice, can backfire in terms of achieving balanced nutrition. And the idea that the poor waste cash by spending it largely on so-called temptation goods has been debunked many times, undermining much of the rationale for trying to influence what people spend the money on in the first place.

Given the cost and distortionary consequences of blanket subsidies, many countries fix the quantity of subsidized goods each household can receive, and potentially restrict them to poor households. This, however, introduces a host of other challenges, such as building a bureaucracy to distribute the goods and monitor who receives them and how much. These systems are generally subject to significant corruption and leakage, given the challenges in managing them.

Reaching the right households

For these reasons, developing economies are moving away from universal (or limited) in-kind subsidies and transfers to the poor and toward targeted cash transfers of various types. Cash is neutral and thus does not distort what people purchase. Moreover, evidence suggests that the labor-supply consequences of cash transfers are smallthat is, these programs do not seem to discourage work, often a concern when it comes to transfer programs. Finally, as an additional benefit, cash transfers can be used as a fiscal stimulus to smooth negative macroeconomic shocks by distributing money directly to poor households that have a high marginal propensity to consume.

Targeted cash transfer programs are already widespread in developed economies. For example, the United States provides poor working families with cash through the Earned Income Tax Credit. The US government can do this because the tax system makes it possible to verify which households are poor, and the formal banking system has effective mechanisms to ensure that the poor receive the transfers.

In contrast, many developing economies face challenges in both targeting and distribution. The informality of the workforce means that few people are captured by the tax system, so it is hard to verify income. And many households remain unbanked, so transferring funds to them is logistically difficult.

These challenges are daunting, but developing economies are finding ways to overcome them.

First, there are alternate methods to target transfers to the poor. A common approach is the "proxy means test." Governments predict income using data from periodic, large-scale quasi censuses of the population that collect information on easy-to-verify assets (such as the material of a households roof and floor) and demographics. Households with a predicted income below a given threshold receive benefits for a set period of time (for example, until the next census is conducted).

These methods can be quite effective at achieving redistribution. For example, in recent work, we compared what would happen if transfers went to those deemed eligible based on the proxy means test compared with what would happen if the same budget were simply divided equally among everyone (via a universal cash transfer, also known as universal basic income) for two programs in Indonesia and Peru.

Even though targeting through proxy means testing has its flaws, we find that it yields higher overall welfare than the universal transfer, because means testing concentrates benefits among the poor. Put another way, per-beneficiary transfers would have to be much smaller for universal programs than for targeted transfers, usually because of overall budget constraints and competing priorities for government spending (for example, infrastructure development, education, and so forth). In fact, only in the case of significant targeting error would the universal transfer come out ahead.

And although the administrative costs of proxy means testing may seem high given all the data collection, the survey costs are minuscule compared with the amount they save by reducing the number of rich people who receive transfers.

Of course, there are always exceptions. When income inequality is extremely highthere is a large pool of very poor people and a small number of very rich peoplea universal transfer may look more attractive. Likewise, if poverty is temporary, proxy means testing, which targets the long-term average of past income, may allow the poor to fall through the cracks. Moreover, errors in targeting that do occur with proxy means tests also generate inequality among equally poor people, and limits on subsidies to the middle class can generate political strife.

But additional methodsfrom including communities in the process to on-demand applicationhave been shown to improve targeting along various dimensions, including program satisfaction and more flexibility in the timing of identification. For example, if communities verify the final list of beneficiaries, excluded households can be added. Instead of visiting all households for the proxy means survey, households that believe themselves eligible could enroll at an office; only those close to the eligibility threshold would need home verification. Supplementing a proxy means test with these additional approaches could help resolve some of the challenges of targeting.

How can the cash be distributed? Banking systems and technology are changing rapidly in many developing economies, reducing leakage in cash distribution. Recent studies show that modern banking technology

biometric smart cardscan help dramatically reduce corruption in cash transfer programs. As mobile money continues to gain prominence, it will likely play an increasing role in delivering transfers.

Increasing capacity

How can developing economies further improve their capacity to deliver social protection?

Strengthen the tax system: Compared with developed economies, lower-income countries collect a smaller fraction of GDP and subsequently face greater budget constraints. But, without sufficient government funds, redistribution is impossible. As more people are covered by the relevant tax authority, taxation can become more progressive.

Develop clear identification systems: In an example we studied, one of the biggest challenges to enrollment within a government health insurance program was a lack of a functioning identification system to track people. A clear and well-functioning identification system is an essential foundation for social protection systems.

Invest in effective targeting: Identifying beneficiaries for targeted transfer programs calls for up-front investment to develop targeting that minimizes both rent seeking and the degree to which poor households are excluded. The sticker price for these systems may seem high, but it pales in comparison with the transfers being paid. Spending 1 or 2 percent of the cost of the transfers on better targeting can make a huge difference in the degree to which the programs improve welfare for the poor.

Improve access to banking: With new banking technology, especially mobile banking, there is an opportunity to improve the distribution of cash transfers. But it will take careful planningfrom the types of technology that are feasible to ways to help the poor access and understand this technology.

Recognize that a variety of approaches may be needed: Although the focus of this article is mostly anti-poverty programs, insurance programsfor example, pensions and unemployment benefitsare also an important component of redistributive systems, helping households minimize risk that could distort their behavior.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES/SIMONLONG

Opinions expressed in articles and other materials are those of the authors; they do not necessarily reflect IMF policy.(The Center Square)  There are a few more weeks for landlords and their tenants in Illinois who havent paid rent because of the eviction moratorium to apply for some of more than $1.5 billion in rental assistance, but not every situation is eligible.The Illinois Housing Development Authori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.De Laurentiis says, "If it's a 'goodbye' or a 'see you later' depends only on him. I hope we have the chance at the end of the Chinese season to have him back for a proper goodbye to the fans."Community Information

If you would like to submit an upcoming event or community announcement, please contact our staff at 208-232-4161 or send an email to cjohnson@journalnet.com. We will also accept news from local clubs and engagement, wedding and anniversary announcements. You can post your community or club events on our calendar.

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Submit an obituary/notice All obituaries must be placed by your mortuary or onlineDeadline is 3 p.m. for publication the next day. The ISJ is not responsible for spelling, grammar, or basic mistakes."He's shown his development as a player," Madrid coach Santiago Solari said. "He did everything he had to do from the moment he came into the pitch. Not only the goal, which of course was very important for us."Faith-healing exemptions in Idaho

Advocates for years have sought to remove the faith-healing exemption in Idaho law, though lawmakers fear doing so could infringe on parental and religious rights.

The advocacy group Protect Idaho Kids this year is proposing a bill that would allow for the civil or criminal prosecution of parents whose child dies or suffers serious injury after being denied medical care. The bill has yet to secure a sponsor in the Statehouse.

Linda Martin, formerly part of a faith-healing church in Canyon County, said she recalls her mother, like the Kesters' mother, blaming her when she was molested.

"It will continue happening until children are not isolated from mandated reporters," Martin told the Idaho Press. "Removing the religious exemptions is just one small step in the right direction."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.

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Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.USAID hosts Southeast Asia traceability workshop

February 13,2019 | Source: UCN

The USAID Oceans and Fisheries Partnership has showcased seafood traceability innovations at a traceability Trackathon organized by its partner, the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST).



The Trackathon, named after its "hackathon" style approach, convened technology developers from across Southeast Asia to pitch solutions for improved regional seafood traceability.



GDST, an international business-to-business platform that itself aims to advance seafood traceability, designed the Trackathon as an opportunity for developers to use real-world supply chain data to inspire feasible and innovative technology solutions, said USAID.



At the event, three teams pitched solutions to capture, share and convert traceability data to support the region in meeting increasing seafood industry standards

and calls for more sustainable fisheries were awarded cash prizes for further tech development.



USAID Oceans led the events "data sharing challenge", asking teams to develop solutions that enable traceability data to benefit multiple users -- fisheries managers, marine security agencies, customs officials and industry members -- and with seamless access where data capture and storage tools are properly linked throughout the complete supply chain.



This requires communication between stakeholders along the entire seafood supply chain, including seafood companies, brokers, processors, retailers and supporting technology providers.



The technology solutions developed over the last 24 hours bring the region closer to traceability systems with reliable, verifiable and high-quality data that can be used by actors along the seafood supply chain to meet industry standards and market demands by enhancing their credibility, said Susan Roxas, Asia Pacific lead at GDST.



The solutions, such as the developed blockchain application, also offer business incentives that encourage data exchange beyond just meeting market requirements and complying with regulations.



Participants included USAID Oceans partners from the Philippine bureau of fisheries and aquaculture resources; Indonesia private sector technology firm Altermyth; and the IdeaSpace Foundation, a Philippines-based organization who took home the challenges first place cash prize.



At the event, USAID Oceans announced its plans to host a business innovation competition in 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand. This will welcome technology experts from across the region to pitch business and social solutions to investors and social and technical entrepreneurs, in a bid to overcome ecological challenges and promote marine conservation.

 2019 Undercurrent News

Theme(s): Others.Russian fisheries agency starts revoking catch quotas from foreigners-controlled companies

February 11,2019 | Source: TASS

The Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries initiated termination of contracts for fishing quotas with companies illegally controlled by foreign investors according to data of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, press service of the Agency told TASS on Monday.



"The Federal Agency for Fisheries is currently implementing procedures on termination of contracts for assignment of shares in quotas with certain fishing companies unlawfully controlled by foreign investors. These measures are aimed at ensuring transparency of the fishing industry and promoting security of the state," a spokesperson of the Agency said.



Procedures are implemented on the basis of conclusions of the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), the spokesperson said. The Federal Agency for Fisheries received five conclusions of the FAS of Russia, carried into force on the basis of judicial acts, in respect of OOO Atlantika, PAO HK Dalmoreprodukt, OOO Typhoon, OOO CRAB DV and OOO Zarubinskaya Fleet Base. Procedures terminating the right to fish are currently performed against these companies.



The Federal Agency for Fisheries noted that amendments were made into the federal law on fisheries at the turn of 2014, aimed at limiting influence of foreign capital in the fishing industry, which is a strategic one. A foreign investor must receive a permit from the special government commission prior to becoming the fishing company owner. The antimonopoly watchdog established that the above companies failed to comply with regulations for the permit to produce aquatic bio-resources.



Mentioned companies disputed FAS conclusions in court and the court recognized the decision of the antimonopoly regulator as justified, the Agency spokesperson said. According to FAS conclusions and published court papers, OOO Atlantika, PAO HK Dalmoreprodukt, OOO Typhoon, OOO CRAB DV and OOO Zarubinskaya Fleet Base were under control by Ukrainian citizen Dmitry Dremlyuga.



Shares of quotas will be presented at open auctions in accordance with the long-term practice, the Agency added.

 TASS

Theme(s): Fisheries Resources.Chelsea found themselves up against a spirited Malmo outfit in the first half, roared on by a vociferous home crowd, but kept the Swedes at arm's length before Barkley grabbed their first away goal of 2019.European Commissioner strongly condemns alleged malpractices at Malta's fisheries department

by David Hudson

February 13,2019 | Source: Malta Today

The European Commission has been in contact with Maltas fisheries department as well as investigators to follow up on the ongoing investigation into an alleged tuna racket.



Yesterday, Spanish publication El Confidencial published transcripts of phone conversations between the now-suspended fisheries department director Andreina Fenech Farrugia and the king of Spanish blue fin tuna operators, Jose Fuentes Garcia.



In the transcripts, Fenech Farrugia appears to ask Garcia for payment.



In a statement on Wednesday, European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Karmenu Vella strongly condemned the "infringements and malpractices as reported by the Spanish Guardia Civil under 'Operation Tarantelo.'"



"We strongly condemn the infringements and malpractices... they are in breach of EU and international rules and as such cannot be tolerated," Vella said, adding that the Commission stood ready to provide any further assistance to the relevant authorities.



The European Commission has been in contact with all the relevant national authorities and other relevant actors in this operation (i.e. Europol) to follow up on the ongoing Tarantelo investigation, which is now at the level of the "Audiciencia Nacional" in Spain, it said.

 MediaToday Co. Ltd

Theme(s): Others.The Independent Investor: Trump's War on Drug (Prices)

For the second year in a row, President Donald Trump called on Congress to do something about the escalating drug prices in America. The president is doggedly pursuing this campaign promise in the face of an army of special interest groups and big drug companies. Hurrah for you, Mr. President.

In his State of the Union address he said:

He wants our legislators to "deliver fairness and price transparency for American patients. We should also require drug companies, insurance companies, and hospitals to disclose real prices to foster competition and bring down costs."

Given that drug pricing is a complicated area and there have been various proposals and recommendations proposed, I will focus on just a few at a time. One of the president's proposed actions would reduce drug prices by allowing pharmaceutical companies to offer discounted prices to Medicare and Medicaid directly, bypassing the middlemen, called pharmacy benefit managers (or PBMs). Historically, these PBMs have been useful to insurance companies and large employers. They make their money by negotiating behind-the-scenes deals with Big Pharma acquiring discounts, called "rebates," for their big clients on certain "approved" prescription drugs.

These rebates are targeted to name-brand drugs that are covered by Medicare and Medicaid. Since this is a well-known system of back-scratching, drug companies simply hike prices high enough each year to cover these "rebates." This year, for example, despite the president's call to hold down prices, 60 drug companies increased prices on more than 300 products, and we are only in February of the new year.

Trump wants these discounts, instead, to flow directly to the consumer at the pharmacy counter, rather than the pockets of the PBMs. Since drugs paid through the Medicare system account for 30 percent or more of the country's retail drug spending, this would result in a sea of change to the prescription drug market.

This change would especially benefit those of us with really high prescription drug costs. The rebate system, you see, is usually focused on competitive drugs, such as two opposing blood pressure medicines. The really expensive drugs usually have no competition and therefore fall out of the rebate system.

I have a client, for example, with a fairly rare condition, who pays well over $100,000 a year for one drug. Under the current system, his deductible and co-insurance are sky high, because there are no rebates available to him. He pays the list price for his medication and is required to pay a percentage of the drug's cost himself. He could save as much as 30 percent on his drug costs.

For many of us, however, there would be a downside. Since insurers would no longer be able to apply the rebate money, they receive from PBMs to lower overall insurance premiums, the typical Medicare patient could see premiums go up by as much as $5 or more a month. Some experts think that about one-third of Medicare drug plans will benefit from the change, while two-thirds may not.

Another group to benefit would be those who suffer from the "doughnut hole" In Medicare Part D, which covers drug cost. These expenses can escalate until they reach what is called the "catastrophic phase" where out-of-pocket expenses tops $5,100. At that level, the government steps in and will assist in paying most of the bill. Lowering drug costs will reduce prices and provide some relief to we who suffer from the prescription donut hole on a yearly basis.

Although the Democrats have identified drug pricing as an area they would also like to attack, their solutions differ. In an almost knee-jerk fashion in today's partisan politics, anything one side proposes is immediately shot down by the other side.

"The Trump administration's rebate proposal puts the majority of Medicare beneficiaries at risk of higher premiums and total out-of-pocket costs and puts the American taxpayer on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars," says Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat's speaker of the House.

It remains to be seen if the Democrats can come up with something better. In the meantime, one proposal I thought made a lot of sense was Trump's proposed change to Medicare B pricing. He wants a much larger set of drugs to be priced no higher than they are in foreign countries like Japan or nations in Europe. He also proposed that the secretary of Housing and Human Services (HHS) be allowed to negotiate prices and permit U.S. residents to purchase medicines directly from other countries.

Despite the partisan rhetoric, there seems to be some willingness to work together. Given the president's lead on drug pricing, I believe it is one area where we could see Congress and the White House come to terms and pass something useful and acceptable for all of us. Wouldn't that be great?As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content.

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Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. Low near 75F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. Low near 75F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.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.

Caputo-Pearl is president of United Teachers Los Angeles.When Ethiopia was suffering through famine in February 1985, Valentines Day suddenly became much more than a day to give cards and flowers. It became a day to save lives.

People were starving to death in the East African nation from food shortages caused by conflict and drought. A nurse in Hartford, Conn. read about the tragedy and decided to make the upcoming Valentines Day something special.

Marlene Hebebrand delivered chocolate around the city to raise money for Catholic Relief Services in Ethiopia. As reported in the Hartford Courant, Hebebrand said of Valentines Day, Its a time for affection, for love, so maybe they wouldnt mind showing some affection for these poor people in East Africa.

At the Prince Georges Plaza in Hyattsville, Md. there was a Valentines for UNICEF event featuring music, a raffle and crafts. The proceeds went to the African Famine Fund of UNICEF, the U.N. Childrens agency that fights child malnutrition and disease.

Valentines Day is of course a huge economic happening in the United States. The National Retail Federation says this year Americans will spend an average of $162 for their loved ones.

But think about it. Even just a couple of dollars from that could feed a child for a week.

Why not use the economic power of Valentines Day to provide aid in the worst emergencies? The total sales of valentines will reach about $20 billion this year alone. That figure could pay for the hunger relief missions in war-torn Yemen, Syria, South Sudan and many other nations on the borderline of famine.

In Yemen, the charity Save the Children says 85,000 children have died from hunger and disease since the civil war began in 2015. In the whole country about 15.9 million people are facing extreme hunger. That is more than the population of the New England states combined.

Yemen needs a peace treaty to end the war. Meanwhile, the relief agencies there need a steady stream of funding for such a massive humanitarian operation.

The United States Food for Peace program struggles to get maybe $1.5 billion each year from Congress to feed the hungry. Valentines Day could easily fund Food for Peace for years. The U.N. World Food Program depends on Food for Peace funding, its single largest donor.

The McGovern-Dole international school lunch program gets about $200 million in funding a year if its fortunate. Valentines Day could practically fund school lunches for children around the world, a major step toward ending hunger.

Feeding the hungry should take on more urgency from a humanitarian and moral perspective. Its also smart foreign policy. Our leaders should take note.

Food can lead to peace. We saw that after World War II when food was the foundation of reconstruction for war-torn countries, culminating in the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe. The American people were firmly behind this food-for-peace movement, as evidence by their generosity in donations of CARE food packages and fundraisers.

Its the same generosity that can also guide us this Valentines Day and make it special. You can send love to a hungry person overseas who is desperate for food to survive. You could help Save the Children, Catholic Relief Services, Mercy Corps, World Food Program, Church World Service, UNICEF and others feed the hungry. There could be no greater present to give on Valentines Day.

Lambers is an author who partnered with the U.N. World Food Program and Catholic Relief Services on the book Ending World Hunger.If the history of Harris County shows us anything, it is that we cannot prosecute our way to true criminal justice reform. Our status quo has led to an incarceration rate higher than the national rate, which is already the highest in the world.

So, consider it good news that Commissioners Court on Tuesday rejected Harris County District Attorney Kim Oggs request for a $20 million budget increase to hire an additional 101 prosecutors. They also approved a comprehensive review of our criminal justice budget to determine where resources might be better diverted toward mental health care, medical care and other resources that address the underlying causes of our overcrowded criminal courtrooms and county jail.

This was absolutely the right move for a community thats serious about smart criminal justice reform.

Unfortunately, the district attorneys budget request put at risk the very essence of this criminal justice reform. Heres why: In 2018 alone, the District Attorneys Office filed 55,337 misdemeanor cases  an astoundingly high number. The Harris County jail is bursting at the seams and cannot manage its population. The county jail failed its last inspection and a woman tragically committed suicide within its walls last month. Conditions are so egregious that state Sen. John Whitmire, a Democrat, has threatened to have the state of Texas intervene. Yet the district attorney continues to prosecute people for low-level misdemeanor crimes, including crimes of poverty like criminal trespass or driving with a license that is suspended because of an inability to pay for the license.

If the district attorney feels she needs more prosecutors, then Harris County can do what others across the country have done: Stop prosecuting low-level cases that dont belong in the criminal justice system in the first place. Move resources to prosecuting serious, violent crimes. That would actually make us safe.

Ogg is already partway there. She recently touted her diversion programs, which she said have gotten more than 36,000 people out of jail and back to the communities without permanent criminal records. But how many of those cases should never have been in the system in the first place?

Meanwhile, other questions remain about operations in the Harris County District Attorneys Office. What is the current system for prosecutors to decide which cases to file?

And, if the county is going to hire dozens of new prosecutors, what are the plans for accountability and training?

The ultimate question is this: Are we as a county ready to expand the district attorneys office without adding to the existing problems that people face in our broken criminal justice system? The answer is no  not now and not without clear plans for moving forward.

If Harris County is going to spend $20 million on our criminal justice system, lets spend it on drug treatment and mental health treatment instead of relying on our jail to serve as the largest de facto mental health provider in the state. Lets spend it on housing, vocational and educational services, and all the social programs we need to keep people out of the criminal justice system in the first place.

Harris County commissioners have taken a critical step by focusing on what actually works in our criminal justice system and ensuring that our policy decisions are backed by the right information. Thats how they can truly keep us all safe.

Cornelio is the criminal justice reform legal director with the Texas Civil Rights Project.At Trump's big rally in El Paso on Monday night, you could see signs everywhere that proclaimed: "Finish the wall."

That's some amusingly dishonest sleight of hand - it's meant to create the impression that the wall is already being built, which is a lie Trump tells regularly. Thus, it substitutes an imaginary Trump win for a real one, since apparently support for Trump among his voters on such an important symbolic matter is too delicate to withstand the unbearable prospect of him losing without withering or shattering.

Now that negotiators have reached an agreement in principle for six months of spending on the border, however, it's once again clear that Trump's win on the wall will remain firmly in the category of the imaginary.

It includes only $1.375 billion for new bollard fencing in targeted areas. That's nothing like Trump's wall - it's limited to the kind of fencing that has already been built for years - and it's substantially short of the $5.7 billion Trump wants. It's nothing remotely close to the wall that haunts the imagination of the president and his rally crowds. The $1.375 billion is slightly less than what Democrats had previously offered him. It can't even be credibly sold as a down payment on the wall.

Trump's political and media allies are already in a rage over this point. And Trump may not accept the deal, or perhaps he'll agree to it and try to find the wall money through executive action.

The compromise, to be clear, is a mixed bag for progressives. But on balance, based on what we are learning now, it's plainly more of a victory than not.

A House Democratic aide tells me that negotiators also agreed that the deal would include "substantial" expenditures to address the humanitarian plight of migrants arriving at the border.

Such money would go towards "medical care, more efficient transportation, food and other consumables," to "upgrade conditions and services for migrants," as the original Democratic proposal at the start of conference committee talks put it.

Democrats had called for $500 million for this purpose. It's not yet clear how much the final deal will include, as negotiations are ongoing, but it is likely to be in the hundreds of millions.

The details on this spending will matter greatly. But if structured well, it could be significant. The goal would be to upgrade current facilities where migrants are held before entering the system, which were not designed to cope with a new type of immigration: The arrival of asylum-seeking families and children, which has spiked even as adults looking to sneak across illegally - the type Trump mostly rages about - is at historic lows.

Such an upgrade could address some terrible things we've seen: Migrant families herded into tight conditions, and migrant children stacked up on concrete floors and at medical risk due to a lack of transportation out of remote areas, or proper screening and treatment.

Unfortunately, Democrats backed down on a core demand: A cap on Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention beds. Democrats hoped this would force ICE to focus resources on dangerous undocumented immigrants, thus picking up fewer longtime noncriminal residents.

But Democrats instead agreed to cut funding levels on detention beds by around 17 percent, to 40,000. The problem: If there is no hard statutory cap on beds, ICE can find money elsewhere to fund extra beds, detaining more people than funding levels suggest. And as Heidi Altman notes, this may only restore a status quo funding level that ICE was already exceeding by spending money on detention that Congress hadn't earmarked for it. As one advocate told me, the deal "contains no new controls on ICE overspending."

That's a very serious problem. But overall, if the humanitarian money turns out to be real, the emerging agreement could prove to be a far-from-perfect but nonetheless decent one.

The larger context here is that Trump and top adviser Stephen Miller have pushed on many fronts to make our immigration system as cruel as possible. They'd hoped to use the first government shutdown to force Democrats to agree to changes in the law that would make it harder for migrant children to apply for asylum, and easier to deport migrant children and to detain migrant families indefinitely.

The overriding goal behind such changes is to reduce the numbers of immigrants in the United States - not just through deportations, but also through deterring people from trying to migrate and/or apply for asylum. That was the goal of Trump's family separations, and after those were halted last year, he renewed the push for those other changes.

Trump's first surrender three weeks ago temporarily conceded that he would not be able to make those things happen. Now the new compromise suggests Republicans want him to agree to reopen the government for far longer, without getting those legal changes or the wall.

"We have yet to see the details in writing, but based on news reports, I'd say this deal is a huge loss for Donald Trump and Stephen Miller," Frank Sharry, the executive director of the pro-immigrant America's Voice, told me.

"This deal has no money for his concrete wall and less money for barriers than was on offer last December," Sharry added. "Trump tried to use a shutdown to force through radical policy changes, and at this point, Republicans are saying, 'Let's keep the government open and move on.' "

Sharry conceded that the failure to get detention bed caps is a "real setback." But he also noted that in six months, Democrats can renew the battle for caps, now that "a lot of lawmakers understand that ICE is detaining many more people than Congress funds. We live to fight another day."

Trump and Republicans suffered an electoral wipeout in an election that Trump turned into a referendum on his xenophobic nativist nationalism. He then used a shutdown to try to force the new Democratic House to accept both his wall and radical legal changes that would have made our immigration system far more inhumane. He isn't getting his wall or those changes, and it looks like a lot of humanitarian money will be channeled to the border to address the actual crisis there.

In other words, the fake crisis that Trump invented - and with it, his broader immigration vision - is getting repudiated. The only question is whether Trump will agree to the surrender Republicans are trying to negotiate for him.

Sargent writes The Plum Line blog.Bail bondsmen and other critics of legislation that would dramatically change Texas cash bail system have it backward.

They argue the proposed changes would allow dangerous criminals to roam the streets. Nope. If implemented correctly, the new system will make it harder for defendants accused of heinous crimes or who have extensive criminal records to get out on bail before trial.

Bipartisan bills sponsored by state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, and state Rep. Andrew Murr, R-Junction, are titled the Damon Allen Act, in honor of the state trooper shot and killed on Thanksgiving Day 2017 during a routine traffic stop on Interstate 45 in Freestone County. Allens alleged assailant, Dabrett Black, had been indicted four months earlier for crashing his car into a police vehicle during a chase, but was free on $15,500 bail.

Whitmire and Murrs legislation would reduce the likelihood of similar tragedies by requiring every county to use either an automated or similarly effective pretrial risk assessment system to assist magistrates and judges making bail decisions. Defendants assessed as flight risks or a threat to the community or their alleged victim could be denied bail pending a hearing. Defendants deemed low-risk might be released on a personal recognizance bond or charged low bail amounts.

Using a risk-assessment process would help end the discriminatory nature of the current system, which allows defendants accused of the worst crimes to post bail while indigent prisoners charged with misdemeanors languish in jail until their trial date. That discrepancy led to a federal lawsuit challenging Harris Countys bail system, which is on track to be settled. The proposed agreement would allow most misdemeanor defendants to qualify for no-cash bonds.

A similar lawsuit challenging Galveston Countys cash bail system as unconstitutional describes it as an arbitrary, two-tiered system of justice based on wealth. Judge Mark Henry testified that Galveston County is already trying to improve its bail system by requiring a bond reduction hearing for defendants within 48 hours of incarceration. But even 48 hours is too long to spend in jail if its only because you cant post bail.

The suicide death of Sandra Bland in the Waller County Jail in 2015 came after she was unable to pay $500 to a bail bondsman to cover her $5,000 bail. She was found dead in her cell on the third day of her incarceration after being arrested for allegedly kicking a policeman following a traffic stop. Blands death led to a bail reform effort that died in the Legislature in 2017.

A similar outcome this year would please the Professional Bondsmen of Texas and the Texas Alliance for Safe Communities. Those organizations consider Murr and Whitmires bills a threat to the bail bond industrys survival. Risk assessment tools are unproven, unreliable computer algorithms that will never have the ability to definitively predict human behavior, a TASC statement asserts. It is more prudent to trust our seasoned, elected judges to set appropriate conditions for release, thus keeping our communities safe.

That sounds reasonable until you remember that it was a judge who didnt know all he needed to know about Trooper Allens alleged killer when he set bail at a modest $15,500. A risk assessment profile might have told the judge that Dabrett Black was arrested in 2015 for beating a Smith County sheriffs deputy.

A risk assessment system wouldnt take the authority to make bail decisions away from judges and magistrates. It would give them the knowledge to make better bail decisions. It also might change some judges mindsets. Instead of poring over a printed, generic schedule of bail amounts for specific crimes, they might take more time to review the kind of life a defendant has lived before setting bond.

Its too expensive to lock up people who dont need to be locked up, especially if they are charged with misdemeanors unlikely to yield jail time if they are convicted. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez says it costs $87 a day each to house the 7,000 inmates in the Harris County Jail. Compare that to the 83 pennies a day it costs the county to supervise a defendant on pretrial release.

Setting bail isnt rocket science; its a judgment call. Not everyone who posts bail will show up for trial. Many who cant afford to pay bail would show up if released on a personal recognizance bond. It makes sense for judges to use a comprehensive, reliable risk assessment tool to help them make bail decisions. That might make the bail bond industry less lucrative, but lawmakers have something more important to worry about: public safety.AUSTIN  Stephanie C. Quinn works year-round at New Braunfels ISD as a curriculum specialist, but after hours she consults for smaller districts as far away as the Panhandle and Gulf Coast. Her husband, an assistant principal, has started bar tending at music festivals in Austin.

The couple needs the extra money to cover their soaring health insurance costs. Premiums for family coverage under the state-sponsored plan for Texas educators start at over $1,000 a month  roughly twice as much as a decade ago. To avoid that cost, Quinn and her husband split the family onto two insurance plans, but still face big bills.

Its over $1,000 a month out of my pocket every month just for medical stuff, sometimes up to $1,500, said Quinn, who has four children, ages 6 to 17. Were trying to offset that.

Texas educators, like Quinn, and local school districts are increasingly shouldering the burden of skyrocketing health care costs as the state has kept its own contribution flat over the past 16 years.

So as the Legislature pledges to boost pay for teachers  wages in Texas lag the national average by $7,000 a year  many educators say that without a serious fix for health insurance, rising health care costs would quickly eat up any pay bump.

Premiums for TRS ActiveCare  insurance offered at roughly 90 percent of Texas school districts  have steadily risen since the plan started in 2002. In that time the state hasnt increased its $75 monthly contribution to employee premiums. Districts are required to chip in $150 a month, but many are paying more to try and keep coverage affordable.

Texas Take: Get the latest news on Texas politics sent directly to your inbox every weekday

The state hasnt contributed more, but somebody has to pay for it, said Sheleah Reed, a spokeswoman for Aldine ISD, a district north of Houston where more than 85 percent of students qualify for free-or-reduced lunch. Of course, whatever you are spending in additional funds, youre not spending it in the classroom.

Teachers and school staff pick up the remaining premium cost  a share that has more than doubled since 2002, according to the Teacher Retirement System which oversees TRS ActiveCare. The rising costs are cutting into teacher take-home pay and sometimes outpace salary increases, said Monty Exter, a lobbyist for the Association of Texas Professional Educators. Texas teachers make on average $52,575 a year, according to data from the National Education Association .

If your health care costs are so out-of-control its causing your salary to go down year-over-year, thats an issue, Exter said.

To avoid big bills, educators say theyve declined critical  but costly  medical care, including CT scans and prescription medicine. Some have taken on second jobs. Others have removed children and spouses from their insurance plans, in favor of covering only themselves with high-deductible plans.

State employees pay much lower premiums

Rep. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, filed a bill this session to raise the state contribution so educators wouldnt have to pay a premium for employee-only coverage. The total cost to the state has yet to be calculated, he said.

We need to come up with some sustainable way to make sure we have parity across the nation on teacher salary, but part of the benefit package is the teacher active insurance plan, he said.

The state, meanwhile, contributes more than $480 a month to full-time state employees insurance premiums, meaning they pay $0 for the individual-only plan. The premium for family coverage under the most popular plan starts at $538 a month, with the state contributing over $1,200, according to the Employees Retirement System of Texas which administers health insurance for the roughly 141,000 active state workers, including lawmakers.

So far, a change in teacher health insurance benefits hasnt been a big part of the school finance conversation at the Legislature. But House Education Committee Chairman Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Humble, said its something lawmakers will look at with the rising cost of health care.

For subscribers: Its shameful. Lawmakers panel sounds alarm on Texas schools

Teachers premiums vary depending on what their school district contributes, and who they choose to enroll in the plan.

Almost 60 percent of the 438,000 district employees covered by TRS Active Care last year opted for the cheaper high-deductible plan, according to TRS data.

Susan Seaton, president of the San Marcos Educators Association, is one of them. San Marcos CISD contributes almost $300 a month so employees dont pay a premium. But Seatons deductible is $2,750 with an out-of-pocket maximum of $6,650. She is on track to hit both since the co-pay for her arthritis injections is $1,100. Getting the medicine once every two weeks, like her doctor recommended, would eat up almost her entire monthly paycheck, she said. So Seaton spaces the doses out over six weeks instead.

Thats just for one medication, said Seaton, an elementary school teacher. Its very hard on teachers.

Facebook post offers tips to teachers

Some of the largest school districts in the state, including San Antonio ISD and North East ISD, fund their own insurance plans, which gives them more flexibility to negotiate rates. Still, districts without TRS Active Care face rising costs, too. North East ISD said it has raised its contribution to employee premiums by $100 within the past four years. The San Antonio district contributes at least $360 a month toward employee premiums  not including the state portion  but teachers still struggle.

David Garza, an early education teacher with the district, hit his head in a bike accident late last year, but declined a CT scan that would have cost him $800 in addition to a co-pay, he said. Garza couldnt afford the expense so close to the holidays, he said.

I ended up going for a cheaper option, he said. In lieu of CT scan, I got X-rays done. Doctors didnt find any broken bones, but he could not be sure without the scan, he said.

Some districts struggle to raise contributions, and as a result, risk losing qualified teachers. Lupita Villarreal left her job teaching elementary school at Harlandale ISD to take a lower-paying librarian position in a neighboring district last year. Her salary is less, but Villarreal ends up pocketing more money each month since her health insurance costs are lower. Its the case even as Harlandale increased its contributions to employee health care costs by $25 a month in 2018.

Heres the thing that bothers me: If other districts are able to provide for their teachers, that means that quality teachers are not going to be in every district, she said. Thats so unfair to certain districts like Harlandale because those kids are just as deserving of good quality teachers.

Quinn, whose district contributes more than whats required toward employee premiums, recently filmed a 10-minute Facebook video explaining how she and her husband split plans to save around $300 a month. It racked up over 45,000 views, just a few thousand shy of Gov. Greg Abbotts latest Facebook video calling for property tax and school finance reform.

We pay all this money every month, Quinn said. In all honesty, I would rather them tackle health care than give us a $5,000 raise.

Krista Torralva contributed to this story from San Antonio.

amorris@express-news.netAs a tiger found caged inside a southeast Houston home feels grass under his paws possibly for the first time, officials are hoping to raise $24,000 to help him.

The tiger, named Tyson by Houston rescuers, was released from its small cage into its new home at the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch south of Dallas on Wednesday.Most Texas residents believe the states schools should be lawmakers top priority during this years Legislative session, according to a poll released Tuesday by the education advocacy nonprofit Raise Your Hand Texas.

So far, lawmakers are following the will of the people: Republican leaders in the Legislative and executive branches have repeatedly declared that reforming the states school finance system will top their to-do list during the 140-day session, which began two weeks ago. Texas lawmakers have not significantly altered the states school finance methods since 1993, leading to complaints that the model is outdated and unresponsive to school districts needs.

In an early January poll of 1,046 Texans, about 62 percent of respondents said education is the most important issue for Gov. Greg Abbott and legislators to address this session, with immigration the second-most popular choice at 11 percent. Most respondents said they support increasing teacher pay, providing full-day pre-kindergarten for at-risk students and untying standardized test scores from accountability ratings.

BIG REQUEST: Texas House calls for $9 billion education funding increase

It is clear Texans want to see legislators deliver more resources for students and teachers, Michelle Smith, director of government relations for Raise Your Hand Texas, said in a statement. When political interests intersect with strong public opinion about the need to better support public education, legislators must seize the opportunity and act swiftly to make meaningful change for all students and for the future of Texas.

Raise Your Hand Texas advocates and lobbies for increased public education funding, greater support for teachers and more autonomy in school districts. The nonprofit opposes expansion of private school vouchers, a point of contention among legislators during the 2017 session.

Some other highlights from the poll:

Among those who declared education the top priority, the biggest areas of concern were funding (24 percent of respondents), teacher compensation (17 percent) and standardized testing (10 percent).

When asked what they believe is the most important first step for improving the quality of Texas public schools, the most respondents identified increasing teacher pay (25 percent), followed by reducing the emphasis on testing (20 percent) and improving parental involvement (18 percent).

About 71 percent of respondents said Texas doesnt spend enough on education, compared to 21 percent who believe its enough already (8 percent did not respond).

For subscribers: $5,000 raises for Texas teachers proposed as lawmakers take up school funding

Most Texans are not fans of linking standardized tests to accountability ratings (72 percent oppose, 26 percent support) or the amount of funding given to school districts (78 percent oppose, 19 percent support).

Most respondents believe that high-quality pre-kindergarten classes for at-risk students can level the playing field for school readiness (83 percent yes, 15 percent no), and they believe those students should have access to all-day services instead of half-day (79 percent yes, 18 percent no). About 72 percent of those surveyed want the state to pay for all-day pre-kindergarten.

Respondents have a mediocre view of Texas public schools. When asked to give the states public education system a letter grade on preparing students for college and careers, 34 percent issued an A or B grade, 35 percent handed out C grades, and 30 percent gave D or F grades. Two percent did not respond.

The Texas House of Representatives and Senate each have issued preliminary proposals for increasing spending on education.

The House recommended pouring $7.1 billion into public education, a 17.2-percent increase over current spending levels, while allocating $1.9 billion aimed at slowing property tax payment increases and reducing recapture bills. Recapture is the states method of creating equity between districts with large and small property tax bases relative to their student population. Some districts, including Austin and Houston ISDs, are sending hundreds of millions of dollars in local property tax collections to the state for redistribution.

The Senate plan calls for spending $3.7 billion on $5,000 raises for all Texas teachers, as well as $2.3 billion to shrink recapture payments.

Both plans aim to shift more responsibility for school funding back to the state, easing the burden on local property owners. After many years of covering more than half of all Texas public education costs, the states share has dropped to less than 40 percent.

Forty-two percent of poll respondents identified as Republican or lean Republican, 32 percent identified as Democrat or lean Democrat, and 26 percent identified as independent or other party. About three-fourths of those polled reside in the states four largest metro areas  Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. The demographics of poll respondents (64 percent white, 23 percent Hispanic, 9 percent black) did not fully reflect the states breakdown (42 percent white, 39 percent Hispanic, 13 percent black).

Click here for full poll results.

jacob.carpenter@chron.com

twitter.com/chronjacobWASHINGTON - Less than two years into a tenure marked by five major hurricanes, multiple lethal wildfires and a tense relationship with his boss, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator William "Brock" Long resigned Wednesday "to go home to my family," as he put it in an official statement released by the agency. Peter Gaynor, who has served as Long's deputy, will assume acting administrator duties.

"This is one of the toughest decisions I have ever had to make. Thank you for an incredible journey and for the support you have shown me," Long wrote in a long farewell letter emailed at 3:12 p.m. to FEMA staffers.

Long clashed with his direct superior, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, in September, when Nielsen appeared intent on forcing Long out of his job even as Hurricane Florence dumped historic amounts of rain on the Carolinas. The relationship deteriorated when an internal investigation became public. The inspector general for Homeland Security looked into Long's use of government vehicles to travel between Washington and his home in North Carolina.

In the middle of the storm, Long told colleagues at FEMA that he was on the verge of quitting. But he was popular in the agency and stayed - until Wednesday, when he surprised his colleagues with his decision to leave.

In an interview with The Washington Post in September, Long called his relationship with Nielsen "professional and functional" and added, "We both understand what needs to be done." But behind the scenes, Nielsen was irritated with Long for not attending early morning meetings with top-level DHS staffers, and she disapproved of his absences from Washington when he visited his family in North Carolina, an administration official said in September.

The FEMA administrator has an unusual role. FEMA is part of Homeland Security, so Nielsen was Long's boss, but a FEMA administrator simultaneously has authority to offer advice directly to the president during disasters. This competing chain of command contributed to the friction between Nielsen and Long, several current and former administration officials said.

Long, who had many years of experience in emergency management, easily won Senate confirmation when nominated to the FEMA post two years ago. He quickly had his hands full when Hurricane Harvey slammed into Texas and dropped feet of rain, flooding Houston and killing dozens of people. That was soon followed by two more major hurricanes, Irma and Maria, and then controversy over the administration's response to Maria, which left a death toll in Puerto Rico of nearly 3,000.

This past year saw two more epic hurricanes, Florence and Michael, and fatal wildfires in California.

"No one could have ever predicted the challenges we would face," Long wrote in his farewell letter. "Over the past two years, we led this Nation through the toughest series of disasters ever experienced - our mission spanning half the globe."

He also had to handle internal agency problems. He launched a campaign against sexual harassment, dubbed "Not on My Watch," through which he vowed to eradicate what he called a "culture" of misconduct he said has persisted at FEMA for years. In August, he revealed misconduct allegations against the agency's former personnel chief, who Long said was preying on female employees and in some cases transferring them to different offices to be near male staffers.

Meanwhile, Long became mired in the controversy over his use of government vehicles. Long's improper use of government resources, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general determined, cost taxpayers $94,000 in staff salary, $55,000 in travel expenses and $2,000 in vehicle maintenance. FEMA officials have said Long took corrective steps in recent months to resolve the travel issue, which stemmed from the long-standing practice of FEMA administrators traveling in vehicles equipped with emergency communications gear.

An agency spokeswoman said Wednesday that his departure was unrelated to the vehicle controversy.

"It honestly has nothing to do with the travel issue. He's been away from his family for a long time," said Lizzie Litzow, the FEMA press secretary. "And he's chosen this moment to make sure the new administrator has enough time to prepare for upcoming hurricane season before it hits."

Long's department had the agency buzzing Wednesday.

"He took the travel issue so personally that he never got over it," said another FEMA official who was not authorized to speak to reporters.

The FEMA official said Long's reputation remained strong among FEMA staffers, many of whom believe he was forced out by Nielsen's office. "There's no question they wanted him out," the official said, "but whether he was forced out or decided to quit is difficult to pinpoint."

A DHS official who works closely with Nielsen and who had spoken to Long rejected the idea that Nielsen wanted him out.

"We were surprised by this. We wanted him to stay, but the guy's burned out. He's exhausted," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe DHS personnel moves.

"Everybody likes the guy. He was good on TV," the official said. "We didn't think the car thing was a big deal."

The investigation blindsided Long while he was coping with Hurricane Florence in his home state. Long had begun a signature project in the aftermath of the storm, embedding small groups of FEMA employees inside state agencies to create a more seamless response to the natural disaster. In an interview with The Washington Post during the Florence response, he recalled that the first major storm he lived through was Hurricane Hugo in 1989, when he was 14 years old.

"We had numerous trees down our yard. I think there were eight just across our driveway, no power for roughly 10 days, and I was out of school forever. And you know I think that that could have been a catalyst that got me really interested in disasters," he said.

Asked about the controversy over his use of a government car, he said, "I walked to work. I've been bitten by a dog walking to work. I'm not even offered a parking spot in my own headquarters. So what's being put out there, it's far from the reality."

In his farewell letter, Long wrote, "While this has been the opportunity of the lifetime, it is time for me to go home to my other family - my beautiful wife and two incredible boys. Life is too short not to be with the ones that you love most, and I need to ensure my boys grow up to exhibit the same levels of patriotism that you do. With that, I have respectfully resigned as FEMA Administrator."

- - -

The Post's Frances Stead Sellers contributed to this report.With one quick line, Nothing More vocalist Jonny Hawkins signaled what everyone was waiting for.

"How are we doing, Mexico?" Hawkins questioned the crowd.

It was Day 2 of ShipRocked  a five-day cruise that features some of the top rock acts year-in-and-year-out  and after a long day of cool weather and a less-than-gentle sea, the packed Carnival Valor deck welcomed the greeting to paradise from the San Antonio native.

On its 10th year at sea, ShipRocked showed a unique bond between rock musicians and their fans as both enjoyed five straight days of shows and relaxation, leaving from Galveston on Jan. 26 and returning on Jan. 31.

FOR HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUBSCRIBERS: Houston singer-songwriter Hayes Carll finds joy in the journey

"It's a really cool experience," said Chris Motionless, lead vocalist of Motionless in White. "For me both as a musician and a fan of the genre, it's amazing. You have shows all day and into the night then you see people you know and admire throughout the boat. Then as a musician, it's a great way to connect with your fans. It's really a unique thing."

The ship saw bands such as Papa Roach, Nothing More, Sevendust, Motionless In White, Bullet for My Valentine, I Prevail, Badflower and Suicide Tendencies play two sets each over the course of the trip.

The Carnival Valor, decked out in ShipRocked trim from elevator decorations to the blackjack tables in the casino, housed four stages -- one on the deck, one on the theater, another in an upper-deck bar and a smaller one in the ship's main lobby.

A total of 22 bands performed on the ship with additional music coming from "The Stowaways"  a set consisting of a vast diversity of rock artists that tagged along on the cruise.

"Where else can you get so much music packed into five days? You can't," said Lajon Witherspoon of Sevendust, who has made the trip nine times. "There's nothing else like this. I go to shows throughout the year and see people in ShipRocked merch and they will follow us around. It's really like a big family, I've met some great people on this ship over the years."

Wilson was the first band to take the stage on ShipRocked. But before the fast-paced, sometimes-childish but fun rap-rock band, ShipRocked officials unveiled a quick video showing the 2020 iteration of the ship's plans.

The cruise will sail out of New Orleans next year Feb. 1-6 and visit Key West and Cozumel.

ShipRocked 2020 ShipRocked will sail out of New Orleans next year Feb. 1-6 with visits to Key West and Cozumel. For more information, visit Shiprocked.com See More Collapse

This year's ship also went to Cozumel  the first of two stops. On Day 4, the ship ported in Progreso, a port town known for its location in proximity to the Mayan ruins.

In addition to the non-stop-shows  bands only get a break to sleep before waking up to rock the cruise also features games such as a "Love and Marriage" with rock stars as well as meet-and-greets and your normal food options that come with a Carnival cruise.

The stop in Cozumel also had a beach party  that cost extra in addition to the cruise  that saw Nonpoint band members host beach-themed games.

ERIC ROBERSON & GLENN LEWIS: R&B singer involves fans in his 'process'

Adding to the shows, were a bevy of surprises and quirks that the average rock fan might not otherwise see.

On-stage collaborations, such as Islander vocalist Mikey Carvajal singing "Last Resort" with Papa Roach on the final night, or I Prevail's Brian Burkheiser's first shows back from vocal surgery, are a friendly reminder that the cruise can offer things no festival or one-off show can give.

Celebrating its 10th year at sea, the cruise has become a badge of honor for rock fans.

"You have 2,000-3,000 fans all in one place and coming together for their love of rock music," Witherspoon said. "I think musicians actually feel more comfortable to try new things on the boat. We are all here for the love of rock and it shows. People might be willing to go out on a limb and try new things when they know it's more likely to be accepted and you see that every year on the ship."

Those who have sailed on more than one ShipRocked, are happy to share it with you and welcome newcomers to the family.

After spending five days on a ship with a group of like-minded rock fans, bonding over the magic of music, it's easy to feel like family.

One big rock family.

PREVIEW: Find fun things to do and see around Houston in our weekly Preview newsletter. Subscribe here.What is it like to till the land in the shadow of the worlds greatest nuclear power plant disaster? To call the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone your home? Thats the focus of Zvizdal (Chernobyl  so far so close), an innovative cinematic play that will be performed in Houston at DiverseWorks as the last stop of its North American tour.

Zvizdal is a unique melding between the documentary film and a live action performance. It was filmed over five years at the farm of Petro and Nadi, who refused to leave the Zone when all of their neighbors evacuated.

Despite the possible danger, they quietly continue to operate their farm, raising crops and animals. Footage of the couple and the beautiful, deserted landscape that surrounds them is projected on a twenty-foot screen, with an audience sitting on both sides in custom-built risers.

Beneath the screen are three expertly-crafted models on rotating pedestals that show the farm and the surrounding area at different seasons throughout the year. An actor controls the pedestals and miniature cameras attached to the models, as well as adding visual effects of the footage.

Its such an interesting and unusual piece, says Xandra Eden, executive director and chief curator at DiverseWorks. You get to see the interplay between documentary and live audience.

Zvizdal When: 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday Where: MATCH, 3400 Main St. Details: Tickets are pay what you wish, with a suggested donation of $20; matchouston.org See More Collapse

A world of landscapes

Zvizdal, named for a town in Ukraine near Chernobyl, comes from the Belgian art collective Berlin. They have a long history of creations that show the juxtaposition between places and the people who live there. In 2005 they created a seven-screen production called Iqaluit that examined the capital city the Inuit built in the territory Canada ceded to them, Nunavit, in 1999. Another piece, Bonanza, explored a desolate mining town in Colorado, and also used a mixture of screens and miniatures.

The combination of live model manipulation and film is clever, but the thing that really sets Berlins projects apart is their ability to capture beautiful footage of these areas that they have chosen to highlight. When the world hears Chernobyl they might picture an irradiated wasteland, but through Berlins camera we come to see a life and a home.

Its a dangerous place they were supposed to leave, but its also their home so they stay and cant imagine being anywhere else, says Eden. Theyre surrounded by this invisible danger without really knowing what that danger could mean for them.

Local relevance

Zvizdal is particularly relevant to Houston. Though our city has seen nothing like the Chernobyl accident, our city is not all the safe from something terrible. During Hurricane Harvey, a toxic cloud was released from an Arkema plant in Crosby after flooding damaged the refrigeration system.

The area around the plant had to be evacuated for the safety of the residents, and chief executive, Richard Rowe and plant manager Leslie Comardelle were indicted for the act this past August. Its not hard to imagine families who have lived and worked in the area since the 19th century wanting to live as Petro and Nadi do if they still could.

I think when Harvey happened we saw the danger all around us, how fragile these places are and the damage that they could, says Eden. They could catch fire, explode or leak toxic chemicals into the air and water. We know that, but we move on because it would be impossible to live here otherwise. Its very hard to tear people away from the land they call home.

Jef Rouner is a Houston-based writer.The battle for control of Venezuela spilled into Houston on Wednesday when opposition leader Juan Guaido appointed a new ad hoc board of directors for Citgo Petroleum, the U.S. subsidiary of the countrys national oil company and a significant source of revenue.

The Houston refiner has become a key piece in the geopolitcal chess game among world powers as Guaido, recognized by the United States and its allies as the legitimate ruler of Venezuela, challenges the socialist President Nicloas Maduro, supported by Russia and China. The question is whether executives at the company will follow the direction of Guaidos board or the one loyal to Maduro.

Citgo did not respond to requests for comment, but analysts said they expect the refiner, a U.S. company operating under American laws, will recognize Guaidos directors, all of whom live in the United States.

Maduro can no longer call the shots, Russ Dallen, managing partner of in the New York office of Caracas Capital Markets, an investment bank. Now, you can support the Venezuelan resistance by buying your gas at Citgo.

The company, which operates three U.S. refineries, including one in Corpus Christi, has been caught in the crossfire of the political and economic crises in Venezuela. In late 2017, the Maduro government arrested the Citgo president and five other top executives, and has held them in Venezuela without trial for more than 14 months.

First woman chair

Asdrubal Chavez, the cousin of Maduros mentor, the late Hugo Chavez, was named the president and CEO of Citgo, but had his visa revoked by the Trump administration in July. In addition, the Venezuelan government and Citgos parent company, PDVSA, owe billions to creditors who have Citgo as collateral on loans that are unlikely to be repaid.

In January, Guaido, the leader of the National Assembly, declared himself acting president and called for new elections after Maduro was inaugurated following elections last year marred by fraud and voting irregularities. The board appointment is another huge political move for Guaido and the United States in trying to force Maduro from power, since Citgo has acted as a cash cow for the regime.

In a statement issued by Venezuela's National Assembly, Guaido said it was a historic agreement to protect Venezuelan assets.

On HoustonChronicle.com: As Venezuelan opposition prepares to appoint a board to Houston's Citgo, creditors circle

Guaido named Luisa Palacios, Edgar Rincon, Luis Urdaneta, Angel Olmeta, Andres Padilla and Rick Esser to Citgos board of directors. Simon Antunez, Gustavo J. Velazquez, Carlos Jose Paisa, Ricardo Prada and David Smolanski were appointed to board of Citgos parent company, PDVSA, Venezuelas state-owned oil company.

Palacios was appointed chairwoman, the first woman to hold that position. She was previously the head of emerging market research with an emphasis on Latin America at Medley Global Advisors, a geopolitical analysis firm. Esser is the vice president of compliance and Citgos chief strategy officer.

Analysts said the new board could replace some Citgo executives, which may lead to some complications in the transition.

Invariably when theres a change of that magnitude in the board, said Fernando Valle, a senior oil and gas analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, so there will be some friction for sure.

But overall the appointment should be a win for Citgo operations in the U.S. that have been hurt by oil sanctions imposed by the Trump administration to force Maduro out, analysts said. Citgo was ordered to divert payments for the 500,000 barrels per day of Venezuelan crude oil imported to the United States into an account that Maduro cannot access, and Venezuelan crude imports have plummeted.

The sanctions choke Maduro of cash, but also pose a problem for Citgos refineries, particularly Corpus Christi, that ran a high percentage of Venezuelan crude prior to the sanctions.

The board appointment to Citgo should help the company more easily transition its crude imports away from Venezuela. Without its link to Maduro, suppliers may be more willing to deal with the company, Valle said.

Russian incentive

Credit fears still linger, though. Rosneft, Russias state-owned oil company, has a 49.9 percent stake in Citgo as collateral for a $1.5 billion loan to PDVSA. Russians could try to seize Citgo shares if they stop receiving payments, Dallen said, particularly with a new incentive to wreak havoc on the American and Venezuelan opposition plan.

PDVSA bondholders and Crystallex, a Canadian gold and mining company owed an arbitration award from Venezuela, also pose a threat to the companys survival. If PDVSA fails to make payments on 2020 bonds, they, too. could move to seize Citgo assets.

But analysts believe that if Rosneft or other creditors attempt to seize shares or control of the company that the United States would step in to keep it intact. The Trump administration wants to preserve the company to help support a new regime and stabilize the country if and when Maduro falls.

The article was updated to reflect that Palacios resigned her position at Medley Global Advisors.

Marissa Luck contributed.

erin.douglas@chron.comA major Indian LNG buyer is throwing its weight behind a $15 billion LNG terminal proposed by Houston-based Tellurian Inc.

Petronet LNG Limited INDIA is eyeing an investment in Tellurian's Driftwood project on the Gulf Coast after signing a memorandum of understanding with the Houston company, Tellurian announced Thursday.

Petronet LNG has set up India's first LNG receiving and regasification terminal at Dahej, Gujarat , and another terminal at Kochi, Kerala.

Meg Gentle, CEO of Tellurian, noted that Petronet is India's largest LNG importer, operating 20 million (metric) tonnes per annum (mtpa) of receiving terminal capacity with an additional 2.5 million metric tons of capacity under construction at its Dahej expansion and a further 5 million metric tons proposed at Gangavaram.

"We support Petronet's vision to be a key energy provider to India and look forward to delivering clean, low-cost and reliable natural gas from Driftwood LNG," Gentle said.

Tellurian declined to say how heavily Petronet is investing in the project or how much it could buy from the Drift wood project.

RELATED: Exxon, Qatar to proceed on major Gulf Coast LNG export facility

The tentative deal with Petronet is the latest win for Tellurian, which announced in December that the British energy and commodities company Vitol would be its first major customer and is also an investor in the Driftwood project.

Proposed for Lake Charles, Louisiana, Driftwood LNG would process 27.6 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas annually  enough to fill up an LNG tanker every day.

The scale of Tellurian's Driftwood terminal is bigger than the entire capacity of U.S. LNG exports currently, which is just over 20 million metric tons now, according to an analyst at S&P Global Platts.

EARLIER: Tellurian plan for $15 billion LNG terminal advances

The project would include five liquefied natural gas plants, three storage tanks and offloading and loading facilities, and would require the construction of about 96 miles of pipeline, plus three new compressor stations and 15 new meter stations in Calcasieu, Jefferson Davis, Acadia, and Evangeline parishes in Louisiana to deliver natural gas to the LNG Facility.

The Driftwood terminal and pipeline project recently received its final environmental impact statement, a key milestone in the federal permitting process before companies can get the green light to build a project from regulators.

Tellurian expects to make a final investment decision and begin construction on Driftwood in the first half of 2019 with operations starting in 2023.TONOPAH, Nev.  About four hours north of the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas, a gravel road stretches across a dusty plain dotted with cactus and sagebrush, rising toward barren, volcanic hills. James Calaway, a Houston oil and gas man, surveys the empty, sunbaked landscape and sees the next Spindletop gusher.

Calaway, however, is not hunting crude. He is among a new breed of wildcatters hoping to cash in on the global shift to clean energy, combing this parched desert in search of lithium  a critical element in batteries that run electric vehicles, power cell phones and store electricity from wind and solar farms. Consider electric vehicles alone: Their numbers on the world's roads are expected to leap more than 40 times in just over 20 years, to 125 million in 2040 from 3 million in 2017.

"Lithium is the oil barrel of the 21st century," said Andrew Miller, senior analyst for the forecasting firm Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

Just as the 1901 discovery of oil at Spindletop in Southeast Texas launched the modern energy industry, Calaway, 61, is betting that a major find here would help revive the U.S. lithium industry, reshape the global lithium trade and reduce the nation's dependence on foreign producers, particularly China, Argentina and Chile.

Calaway, whose lithium experience includes nearly a decade as chairman of the Australian mining company Orocobre, teamed up two years ago with another Australian company called Ioneer, buying about 6 percent of the stock and becoming chairman. Ioneer has since raised $60 million from 25 institutional investors to drill and develop leased federal land in Nevada, about 10 miles from the nation's only producing lithium mine.

Calaway has some big names behind him, including John Hofmeister, former president of Shell Oil, the U.S. subsidiary of European oil major Royal Dutch Shell. Hofmeister joined Ioneer's board after he invested about $100,000 in the company, whose stock is selling for about 12 cents a share.

All mining projects are risky, Hofmeister conceded, but geological testing shows that lithium reserves in Ioneer's lease are greater than anyone thought. "We'd be in a world class category," he said, one of the top 10 producing lithium mines in the world."

A lot depends, however, on a processing technology never used on a commercial scale. The process would target the abundance of rocks here containing both lithium and boron, which is used in smart phones, ceramics and laundry detergents. The idea is to separate the two materials and use revenues from the sale of boron to subsidize lithium production and make it competitive with some of the lowest-cost foreign suppliers.

"We're very bullish," said Calaway.

Lithium king

Calaway is a sixth-generation Texan whose ties to oil run deep enough that his middle name is Derrick. His father, Jim, was a successful wildcatter and his identical twin brother, John, founded the Houston exploration and production company Edge Petroleum. Calaway became president of the company in 1996.

The company was eventually sold and Calaway, a serial entrepreneur who started a space exploration company, launched an early Internet company and served as chairman of a software firm, started looking for his next opportunity. He also was seeking some meaning in his life.

Calaway said his eureka moment came in the Colorado mountains 12 years ago at the Aspen Ideas Festival, where a panel discussion on electric car propulsion got him thinking about batteries. He began attending battery conventions, talking to battery experts and reading battery publications. The world, he heard over and over again, was heading toward renewable energy and that required lithium batteries.

There was only one problem, Calaway said. "Where in the hell do you find lithium?"

Calaway started looking, putting together a team that included a geologist, hydro-geologist and chemist. They came across some obscure drilling data published by Orocobre, which indicated huge lithium deposits in Argentina.

Calaway made a $4 million investment in Orocobre in 2008 and became chairman. The company developed a partnership with Toyota Tsusho Co., the trading arm of the Toyota Group, to sell the plant's lithium to battery makers. Eventually, Calaway said, the company produced 7 percent of the world's lithium and 14 percent of battery-grade lithium from a mine located in a desert, some 14,000 feet high in the Andes Mountains.

Calaway said he earned more than $40 million from Orocobre. He still owns two-thirds of the shares he bought.

Calaway's passion for lithium is so intense that the license plate on his Lexus SUV says "lith-kg," short for lithium king. Unsurprisingly, he is an enthusiastic advocate for renewable energy, urging Houston's civic and corporate leaders to get on board with the green revolution and welcome wind and solar power as warmly as they embrace fossil fuels.

He tells executives at the Greater Houston Partnership, where he served on the executive committee, that he wants to run his mining company from Houston, but worries that Houston and Texas don't care much for batteries and renewable power.

"He's different than anyone else," said Clint Pasche, a spokesman for the Greater Houston Partnership.

John Gibson, former president of Halliburton Energy Services, a subsidiary of the oilfield services company, has known Calaway since the mid-1990s when Gibson was leading product development at Landmark Graphics, a developer of seismic imaging for oil and gas drilling. Calaway, then president of Edge Petroleum, experimented with emerging technologies such as virtual reality, and became an early adopter of software the company created to improve mapping of underground oil and gas deposits.

"He is singularly focused," said Gibson, now head of the energy technology practice at Houston investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. "There is never an obstacle he can't get over."

Gibson serves on the Orocobre board, which makes him and Calaway competitors. As for Calaway's new venture, Gibson said, "I have to believe it will never do as well as Orocobre."

Next big thing?

Rhyolite Ridge is a 630-acre swatch of land at an elevation of 8,500 feet in this desolate part of Nevada, where, for 150 years, prospectors have hunted for gold and silver.

A big silver find put Tonopah, a town of 2,500, on the map about a century ago. Today, Tonopah is the jumping off spot for lithium prospectors, much like cities in California that served as bases of operations for miners during the 1849 gold rush.

"Tonopah," said Jeff Martin, park host for the Tonopah Historic Mining Park, "is considered the San Francisco of the desert."

Worldwide, the biggest deposits of lithium are in Argentina, with an estimated 9.8 million metric tons, followed by Bolivia with 9 million and Chile with 8.4 million, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The United States has about 6.8 million metric tons of estimated lithium deposits in states including Nevada, North Carolina and Utah. Ioneer figures it sits on 4.1 million metric tons, more than half of the estimated domestic supply.

RELATED: Growing demand for lithium creates increase in need for housing

Around Tonopah, Ioneer has become the biggest thing in years, said retiree Martha Johnson who lives in nearby Dyer, a town of 260. Drillers hired by Ioneer to take samples are talking up the project when they come into town for supplies. Newspaper accounts say about 250 workers will be needed to run the mining operation and hundreds more to build it. Already, Ioneer drillers are renting rooms in town.

Johnson said she recommended to her three adult children to get in on the ground floor when Ioneer was selling for 14 cents a share. Demand for lithium seems insatiable from companies such as Tesla whose factory, four hours north near Reno, assembles lithium ion batteries for its electric vehicles. She might wager $100 on the stock herself.

"It's like Apple years ago," she said.

Ioneer has hired drilling contractors that operate around the clock, extracting core samples. The mine and processing plant will take up 630 acres. Ioneer has hired drilling contractors that operate around the clock, extracting core samples. The mine and processing plant will take up 630 acres. Photo: Godofredo A. Vasquez/Staff Photographer Photo: Godofredo A. Vasquez/Staff Photographer Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close Wildcatters in the Nevada desert seek the 21st century version of Spindletop 1 / 10 Back to Gallery

'Supposed to get rich'

Calaway retired from Orocobre in 2016. Running a successful company and looking for incremental improvements in operations held little appeal for him. It was time for another grand idea.

Two years ago, Calaway got an unexpected call from an Australian who said he might have found something special in the hills of southern Nevada. Bernard Rowe, managing director of the company that would become Ioneer, told Calaway about a mining company that drilled federal land in the 1980s and found lithium and boron.

Lithium then was a niche industry, used mostly for ceramics and high temperature glass, and the mining company let the lease expire. Later, another company looking for lithium passed on the project because it wasn't interested in boron.

Calaway hired his own expert, a process engineer specializing in lithium, and spent six months investigating the reserves, studying core samples taken from the ground and testing ways to remove lithium from the rock. Calaway signed on as chairman.

The magic, according to Calaway, came when Ioneer figured out a process using sulfuric acid to separate the lithium and boron. Not only was the market for lithium growing, but so was demand for boron. Market research firm QY Research estimates boron sales will grow by 4.5 percent each year until 2025.

Ioneer estimates that it has 11.3 million tons of boric acid, a deposit so big Calaway says it represents more than 10 percent of the world's supply. Lithium production should generate about 22,000 tons each year which, if the plant were producing today, would represent about 10 percent of global production, he said.

"We put the puzzle together," said Calaway, who, according to financial reports, owns 31.6 million shares of Ioneer valued around $3.8 million. He also has 40 million options.

Since August, drillers have worked two shifts a day at three sites along Rhyolite Ridge. Samples from as deep as 1,000 feet have been hauled back to a former motorcycle repair shop in Tonopah, where a group of geologists study them for lithium and boron.

The Texas engineering and construction company Fluor Corp. is designing a process for Calaway's company to transport the ore, crush it, load it into big vats and soak it with sulfuric acid to begin separating lithium and boron. The two minerals would then go to a yet-to-be-constructed plant for further processing and purification.

But a plunge in lithium prices, from about $25,000 a ton in mid-2017 to about $11,000 a ton today, is creating challenges for companies like Ioneer. The growing demand for lithium has spurred rapid expansion of lithium mines and supplies, said Jon Hykawy, president of Stormcrow Capital, a Toronto company that forecasts prices and supplies of minerals.

At $11,000 a ton, prices are still healthy, said Hykawy, but investors could close their checkbooks if they begin to worry about a glut of lithium. Ioneer expects to decide whether to give the final go-ahead to develop the mine at the end of the year. Construction would start early next year with production beginning around mid-2021.

It can't come fast enough for one resident of nearby Silver Peak, population 107, where roads aren't paved, abandoned vehicles dominate the landscape and double-wide trailers are the choicest of accommodations.

"There is supposed to be a big boom," said Ruth Adams, who manages the Old School Bar. "We're supposed to get rich."

L.M. Sixel writes about power and renewables for the Houston Chronicle. Follow her on Twitter at @lmsixel. Reach her by email at lynn.sixel@chron.com.

Godofredo A. Vasquez is a staff photographer for the Houston Chronicle, primarily covering breaking news. Godofredo was born in El Salvador but grew up in the Bay Area, where he attended San Francisco State University and graduated with a B.A. in Photojournalism. Before joining the Chronicle in early 2017, Godofredo spent two years working for the Corvallis Gazette-Times and the Albany Democrat-Herald in Oregon. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @godovasquez, or reach him by email at godofredo.vasquez@chron.com.

Design by Jordan Rubio and Jasmine Goldband

***New research finds that health care consolidation and the integration of hospital and doctor services not only fail to improve quality, but also reduce patient satisfaction.

For years the prevailing wisdom in health care has been that by joining forces, providers would offer better care through streamlined services, gaining efficiency and reducing the amount of waste. It is the rallying cry behind the current explosion of health care mergers and acquisitions.

It is also what researchers at Rice University expected when they analyzed more than two dozen quality measures at 4,438 hospitals of all types and sizes across the nation.

What they found appears to upend current health care dogma.

Read study here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1077558719828938

Integration is not benefiting patients, said Marah Short, co-author of the paper and associate director of the Center for Health and Biosciences at Rice Universitys Baker Institute for Public Policy. Integrated care is loosely defined as coordinated patient treatment from different providers. We were surprised and had hoped for a different result.

The findings are now online and will be published later this year in Medical Care and Research Review, a medical journal. Vivian Ho, a noted health economist at the Baker Institute, is the other co-author.

Researchers examined 29 quality measures reported to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Compare database between 2008 and 2015. Those markers included patient satisfaction surveys, the number of re-admissions and quality of care reporting.

The study also found that with market concentration, health care quality dropped across multiple measurements, including less patient satisfaction.

Limited competition means less incentive to keep patients content or happy, said Short. The paper called on regulators to scrutinize hospital mergers, take steps to maintain competition and lower barriers that make it difficult for new competitors to enter the market.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Hospitals focus on 'patient experience'

The results follow this months blockbuster merger news in Houston. One deal, a $29 billion marriage between Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives, which operates St. Lukes Health System, was completed, creating one of the largest national health systems in the United States. The other, a $14 billion merger between Memorial Hermann Health System and Baylor Scott & White Health of Dallas, was abruptly called off.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Memorial Hermann, Baylor Scott & White merger called off

All the while the nations health care remains in transition. For instance, from 2012 to 2016 the percentage of hospital-employed physicians grew by more than 63 percent as health systems continued to buy private practices, the study showed.

In Texas, physicians are generally not allowed to be directly employed by hospitals. The Rice research, however, looks at a range of affiliations between doctors and hospitals, from minimal involvement to full employment.

Mergers and acquisitions also continue to rule the day in health care. In 2018, there were 90 completed mergers, down slightly the record-shattering 115 in 2017. But seven of the announced deals topped the $1 billion mark, according to data from Kaufman Hall, the consulting and research firm. Texas led the nation in 2018 with eight announced deals, although that includes the scrapped Memorial Hermann-Baylor Scott & White merger.

Concerns about mergers and market concentration have tended to focus on rising price. Few studies have looked at the impact on quality.

If hospital systems focus as much on quality as on revenue growth we would have some real opportunity to improve outcomes, said Chris Skisak, executive director of the Houston Business Coalition on Health, a nonprofit organization that helps businesses gain access to coverage. Quality seems to have taken a back seat,

One study, published a year ago in Health Services Research, did tackle the quality issue with troubling results. Medicare heart patients in markets where cardiology practices consolidate saw their conditions deteriorate and death rates increase, said Thomas Koch, an economist with the Federal Trade Commission and co-author of the study.

Short acknowledged Houston is in a unique position because of its many health care choices which could mitigate the issue of lack of competition.

jenny.deam@chron.comYNW Melly is one of the most promising voices in hip-hop right now. He's been making some serious waves in the rap game but unfortunately, it appears like more legal troubles have halted his progress towards stardom. According to Sun Sentinel, the rapper was charged in a double murder.

YNW Melly, real name Jamell Demons, has turned himself to Miramar authorities in connection to the deadly shooting of two aspiring rappers in Florida, Anthony Williams, and Christopher Thomas Jr. in October. Melly was also friends with the victims. The two men were taken to Memorial Hospital Miramar at the early hours of the morning on October 26, 2018. Williams and Thomas suffered multiple gun wounds and were later pronounced dead at the hospital. Cortlen Henry was also arrested by police. He's facing premeditated murder charges. Police believe Melly shot and killed the two victims. They said he and Henry staged the crime to make it appear as if the two men were victims of a drive-by shooting. Investigators said Henry's statement didn't match the evidence from the preliminary investigation.

Melly took to Instagram to clarify rumors that he was arrested in Washington but he did tell his fans that he was turning himself in while suggesting that he's been falsely accused.

"a couple months ago I lost my two brothers by violence and now the system want to find justice," he wrote. "unfortunately a lot of rumors and lies are being said but no worries god is with me and my brother @ynw.bortlen and we want yall to remember its a ynw Family."After detaining 21 Savage, whose legal name is Sheyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, ICE revealed its intention of potentially deporting the rapper due to his 2014 felony charge. The halt of this initial strategy has now been confirmed as the agency has removed the charge from the pending immigration case. Although the rapper was recently released from custody after posting a bond of an undisclosed sum, he still risks deportation.

ICE has shifted its focus to 21's expired visa. The entertainer's legal representation has confirmed that he had come to the United States with his family legally at the age of 7. The visa expired the following year while he was still a minor, according to Charles Kuck, managing partner of Kuck Baxter Immigration.

I think this case is emblematic of a lot of cases where people are detained for not correct reasons, but they dont always have resources to fight the system, he told Buzzfeed. This case is very emblematic of what happens in immigration court and detention.

The attorneys thanked his fans for their support on behalf of their client after his release. "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," they said.Atlanta-based politicians rallied in support of 21 Savage earlier this month following his ICE arrest. After penning a letter in favor of the Brit's request to remain in the United States, Congressman Hank Johnson has since commented on the government officials' actions furthering the city's stance of solidarity. Johnson explained why he chose to advocate for 21's release citing the agency's misuse of power. According to him, the arrest and the detainment that followed were set forth to issue a warning.



Moses Robinson/Getty Images

According to Johnson, the artist is being used to set an example. "They did that on the weekend of the Super Bowl to send a message to people in the music business to keep your mouth shut about what's going down on the southern border," he said. "So I felt I needed to speak out on it."

He criticizes the effort to portray the entertainer as a "criminal alien" despite his pending U-Visa."It's becoming an agency that is terrorizing certain communities. It's abusing its power," he continued. "It needs to be reined in." The representative goes on to describe 21 Savage as an exemplary member of the Atlantan community. "We want to see him come home," he added.

21 Savage remains in ICE custody until further notice.A Houston rapper advocating for Bill Cosby's claim of being a "political prisoner" is receiving a major co-sign from the imprisoned comedian, according to The Blast,. Yung Giant, a rapper out of Houston, dropped a song called "College Life" which he said was inspired by Cosby's support for HBCU's. Cosby received honorary degrees from over 50 Historically Black Colleges & Universities although many of them revoked the degrees following allegations of sexual assault. However, Cosby suggests Yung Giant is spreading knowledge about his "unjust" arrest and wants Snoop Dogg, Will Smith and Diddy to help out the emerging artist.



Eduardo Munoz Alvarez-Pool/Getty Images

Yung Giant believes Cosby's inspired the hip-hop community with his resistance, maintaining his innocence, and claiming to be a "political prisoner." Cosby's attorney said that Camilla Cosby showed the comedian the track during a phone call on Wednesday and the comedian praised Giant's work.

Education is the Revolution. Music, no matter what genre, should always be Uplifting and Inspirational. Will Smith, P. Diddy and/or Snoop Dogg should jump on Yung Giant and not come back limping," Cosby said in a statement to the publication.

Yung Giant's reps said, Dr. Cosby has polarized that no Black Man in America is safe from being a victim of the justice system, adding that, No matter how much wealth  were still a target for racist hatred.

Peep the track here.When Daniel Hernandez, known to the masses as Tekashi 6ix9ine, pleaded guilty for nine counts in a federal racketeering case, many were surprised at his level of involvement in illicit activities. When he proceeded to cooperate with the government others believed the rapper's loose lips were an inevitability. He is, after all, looking at some truly sobering hard time; forty-seven years behind bars might very well humble you.

Now, Complex has obtained a transcript of the guilty plea, and have detailed some of the more interesting revelations. It would appear that the extent of 6ix9ine's involvement is confirmed, from his own mouth at that. While some might recall 6ix9ine from his formative days seeking viral stardom through "pussy" emblazoned fashion attire, his breakout arrived with the release of "Gummo." As it happens, 6ix9ine's clip featured an increased presence of Nine Trey Bloods, as the rapper originally "met and joined the Nine Trey Blood Gang" in the Fall of 2017.

Bennett Raglin/Getty Images

"As a member of Nine Trey, the enterprise engaged in such activities including shooting at people, robbing people, and at times drug trafficking," says Hernandez. It's already been established that he has been directly involved in said activities, three to be specific; robbery, attempted murder, and drug trafficking. In the plea, 6ix9ine admits he "paid a person to shoot at a rival member of Nine Trey to scare him." He also admitted to his involvement in selling heroin, stating "I and others agreed to sell one kilogram of heroin."

Complex also makes note of 6ix9ine's admission to experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, brought upon by his stepfather's murder. "I started becoming just rebelling and not showering, like depression stuff," says Tekashi, who never ended up taking the Zoloft he was prescribed. Instead, he opted for his mother's "Mexican remedies."

While 6ix9ine is looking at a minimum of 47 years, a judge has confirmed that "snitching" will certainly bode well in his favor. Maybe not in the streets, but in the courtroom.Earlier this week, 21 Savage was freed after being held in ICE custody when it was revealed that he was actually a British national. Savage moved to the United States when he was seven-years-old and built a life in Atlanta with his family. Although he is now back home, he's still facing some major obstacles in the form of Donald Trump's immigration laws. It's being reported that Trump wants to deport people who are currently pending visa approval, which leaves 21 Savage in a tricky spot. On a positive note, he's back with his family and that is due to the major wave of support he experienced from politicians and artists alike.

21's mother, Heather Joseph, has written a lengthy note to everybody that helped spread the word about her son's situation. "So Very Thankful...to all the wonderful Fans of 21Savage," wrote Heather before thanking Hank Johnson, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and others. "To Jay Z, Cardi B, Offset, J Cole, Metro Boomin, Kei, Justin and all the many many other amazing people who either spoke out and/or offered comforting words of support...To the amazing Publicity team who together worked tirelessly to keep the facts out there, to make it possible to have national awareness of his situation and helped to gather tremendous support from wonderful people from all walks of life.. We are truly thankful and forever humbled...THANK YOU."

Joseph shared an image of herself and her son reunited as they hopped on a private plane back home. Hopefully, 21 Savage and his family get everything settled with ICE so he can no longer live in fear of being deported.The hip-hop community breathed a collective sigh of relief when it was announced that 21 Savage had been released from ICE custody. His arrest brings to light so many things that need to change in our immigration laws and now, it's even clearer that something needs to be done. TMZ is reporting that despite him being released from ICE, there are still many obstacles in his path and the biggest is none other than Donald Trump.

Apparently, the decision to arrest and deport 21 Savage was actually made months ago. When they came to that initial conclusion, they chose to keep 21 in custody until he could be deported. The reason for this is because they incorrectly believed that the rapper had a felony conviction, which ultimately turned out being false. When the conviction was released from his file, ICE in Washington D.C. reportedly ignored the fact, saying that 21 Savage should not be released from custody.



Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

As you all know by now, Savage has been allowed to go home and his new papers are being processed. However, Donald Trump changed immigration laws from the ones that Obama and Bush used. Trump's orders are reportedly to deport people who have a pending visa application, which was the case with 21 Savage. As we previously reported, the artist applied for a renewal of his U.S. citizenship in 2017 and it was still pending at the time of his arrest.

It takes approximately 4 years for ICE to process visa applications so there is still a chance that 21 Savage gets deported. Hopefully, he gets to remain with his family in Atlanta.Tourism is one of the major economic drivers for many countries. Many tourists travel aboard for vacations to see dazzling landscapes and bustling city-life and in turn, tourism drives revenue for many businesses such as food, retail, and hospitality, but now it is also helping bolster the cannabis industry.

Tourism is one of the major economic drivers for many countries. Many tourists travel aboard for vacations to see dazzling landscapes and bustling city-life and in turn, tourism drives revenue for many businesses such as food, retail, and hospitality, but now it is also helping bolster the cannabis industry.

For example, countries such as Spain and Canada allow for personal consumption and sales of cannabis in licensed facilities. However, U.S. states are also expected to witness strong cannabis sales due to tourism. Colorado, which saw 82.4 million travelers in 2016, is among the very few regions to legalize cannabis entirely.

A survey conducted by Colorado Tourism reported that the 12 million or approximately 15% of those travelers participated in marijuana-related activities. Among that group, it was reported that 5% traveled to the state specifically for marijuana reasons. The staggering number of visitors who traveled to Colorado and purchased cannabis-related products suggests that tourism is helping revenue growth in the market.

According to data compiled by Grand View Research, the global marijuana market was valued at USD 9.3 Billion in 2016 and is expected to reach USD 146.4 Billion by the end of 2025. Additionally, the market is projected to register a robust CAGR of 34.6% throughout the forecast period from 2018 to 2025. Weekend Unlimited Inc. (OTC: WKULF) (CSE: POT), Emblem Corp. (OTC: EMMBF), Freedom Leaf Inc. (OTC: FRLF), GB Sciences, Inc. (OTC: GBLX), Medical Marijuana, Inc. (OTC: MJNA)

Colorado's data suggests that other states such as California, Washington, and Nevada are also expected to see explosive sales. Cannabis dispensaries and distributors have focused on expanding their product line in order to meet the demand of their customer pool, including tourists. Various portfolios of products such as oils, tinctures, resins, consumables, and strains have entered into the marketplace to offer a wide range of selection. The introduction of new products is expected to help further drive cannabis sales from both tourism and locals. Bethany Drysdale, a spokesperson for Travel Nevada, the state's tourism board, compared pot to gaming in the state, according to Skift. "People don't come to Nevada just for gaming anymore as gaming is now legal in many other states," she said. "People won't come here just for marijuana. Colorado is surrounded by states where it wasn't legal and it made a lot of sense for them to capitalize on it."

SOURCE FinancialBuzz.com

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 2021 Hotel News ResourceOpinion Article

14 February 2019

Wrapping around a turquoise glacial lake and with snow-capped stretching across the horizon, Lugano, Switzerland is, like most other towns in the country, picture perfect any time of year. Interestingly, while we traditionally think of the nation as one of French and German-speaking cantons, a southern outcrop less than an hour north of Milan offers a third flavor heavily influenced by neighboring Italy.

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Upon visiting for a day, Carlo Fontana, one of the owners of the Hotel Lugano Dante, was determined to make my wife and I, like all other guests, feel both comfortable and welcome. As he remarks, "The Swiss are the ultimate hoteliers; it's in our DNA!" Through such renowned institutions as the Lausanne Hotel School (EHL), this reputation is all-but-globally accepted. But theory and practice are often divergent. Thus, it was my mission to check out this humble, 85-room, four-star property.

Hotel Lugano Dante is four steps from the funicular access to the train station. Once inside, the lobby is traditional and spotlessly clean. At reception, the greeting is both personalized as well as informative. Using pre-arrival questionnaire technology, the hotel has obtained all the necessary information to improve your stay.

First, your bags are taken to your room and you're told there is no need to tip the bell staff, as they are well paid for their work. Second, you are provided with a map of the town. Noting my wife's interest in shopping, they had already circled a few outlets that were having sales that day as well as identifying a location for a weekly flea market. They had also prepared two passes that would allow us to travel on all public transit free for the duration of our trip.

To create interest in the lobby, a small 3D printer was producing small 'rubber' duck sculptures in a variety of substrates. A three Swiss franc donation got you a sample. Having never seen one of these in operation, it was fascinating to watch.

The old-fashioned key on an oversized heavy chain and fob was a throwback, compared to current VingCard or equivalent. When asked about this feature, Carlo responded, "The key is a symbol. It is not just a piece of plastic that the guest throws away or forgets somewhere, but a recognition of the care and 'old world' quality of our property."

As you would expect by now, the room was antiseptically-clean. While renovated just over a year ago, it was hard to tell that it was even used once. Interestingly, the selection of broadcast channels was extensive with offerings in ten languages. As another throwback, a yellow plastic duck with a note asked us to take him (or her) home to remember our stay - an excellent reprise of the duck printer in the lobby.

At night, pillowtop sound levels measured at 34 dB - very close to what we would consider absolute silence. Adding to that, there was a pillow concierge service to supplement a very spacious bed.

The next morning, complimentary breakfast was offered from 6am onwards, which was refreshing as it gave us enough time to eat and still catch an early bus to Malpensa Airport. As a final touch, when we handed back our key, we were given a clear plastic bag holding a dozen Swiss cookies. We were told that with our early departure, the chef was concerned that we might have been rushed at breakfast.

Most hoteliers could learn a lot from a stay at the Hotel Lugano Dante. Its commitment to the guest is both memorable and tailored to what's needed, all through traditional methodologies that can be replicated by any property. Oftentimes, sweeping changes aren't necessary to bring a hotel up to speed but a commitment to refining service delivery through the mastery of all the little things that make a stay complete.Supplier News

14 February 2019

Winners of the 2019 HotelTechAwards have been announced, following four months of review collection and analysis, and GuestRevu's leadership team is overwhelmingly proud to see the company listed as the top hotel technology for both Reputation Management and Guest Feedback.

This announcement comes after Hotel Tech Report unveiled the 10 Best Places To Work In Hotel Tech and winners of their People's Choice Awards last week, both of which prominently featured GuestRevu as well.

"Every company thinks that they are good at what they do," says company Co-Founder and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Francine Heywood, "but to be acknowledged with awards and accolades that are based entirely on how our users feel about the products and services that we provide means the world to us."

That the Awards, run annually by Hotel Tech Report since 2017, are based on feedback from thousands of users across hundreds of hospitality technology companies is particularly significant to Francine and GuestRevu CEO, Chris Alexandre, who started GuestRevu with the aim of helping hoteliers to listen to, learn from and earn from their guests with the help of feedback. Placing as the top technology in both categories that represent the services that GuestRevu provides goes to show that this aim is not only being met, but surpassed.

"GuestRevu is a company that lives and breathes its mission," says Hotel Tech Report Co-Founder, Jordan Hollander. "They won several categories in the HotelTechAwards because they let their clients speak in an unfiltered environment about their products and services. GuestRevu won the reputation management category for its work helping hotels with online reviews  who could be a better partner at helping your hotel with online reviews than the company in the space with the best online reviews?"

2019 HotelTechAwards winners: Guest Experience Stack  Photo: GuestRevu

The reviews that the company got throughout the four-month data collection period speak for themselves:

"Excellent work tool, and excellent way of highlighting issues... which we are then able to deal with quickly to remedy," explains a CEO* in the United Kingdom. "GuestRevu does everything we need."

Properties in countries as far spread as Sierra Leone, Poland and the United States agree, describing the company as "a must have for all hotels", a "great tool for an actionable overview of guest sentiment", and a "great product with excellent customer service  a winning combination".

"Getting direct feedback from our guests through the GuestRevu platform has really improved not only the way we deliver services to them, but also our direct interactions with our very high level of repeat guests," says a Group Commercial Director in Zambia.

"GuestRevu is the perfect tool to gain the information required on guest experience," explains a General Manager from the United Kingdom.

2019 HotelTechAwards winners: Operations Stack  Photo: GuestRevu

And how does Chris feel seeing the in-pouring of reviews, and hearing this kind of feedback about a solution that has been on the market for under five years? "It has been fantastic to read each review, and to understand how we are meeting and exceeding our clients' expectations. It's incredibly fulfilling for me personally, as well as for our whole team, to know that our product is delivering such value to our clients," he explains. "And we've noted all the comments, both the raves and the constructive criticism, and are looking forward to addressing them all, and seeing GuestRevu go from strength to strength."

*During Hotel Tech Report's feedback process, reviewers have the option to submit their reviews anonymously or provide their details to the relevant technology partner. Hotel Tech Report only shows anonymised data to the public, but does provide an option for technology companies to see who left the reviews, and respond accordingly.

Want to see GuestRevu's award-winning guest feedback and reputation management solutions for yourself? Click here to request a demo with one of our world-class Sales team.Press Release

14 February 2019

LAS VEGAS -- MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) is one of "America's Top Corporations for Women's Business Enterprises," according to the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). The annual list is the only national award honoring corporations for supplier diversity initiatives that reduce barriers and drive growth for women-owned businesses.

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MGM Resorts is one of 60 corporations that meet WBENC's rigorous standards. The Top Corporations recognized this year collectively spent more than $39.5 billion with WBENC-certified women business enterprises in 2018, an increase of $200 million from the prior year1. In 2017, MGM Resorts spent $157.8 million with certified diverse-owned business enterprises.2

"MGM Resorts is honored to receive this special recognition for the sixth consecutive year," said Stacey Taylor, Sr. Vice President & Chief Procurement Officer for MGM Resorts International. "Women-owned businesses support our business by providing our supply chain with quality innovative offerings available to guests visiting our resorts."

The Supplier Diversity program is part of MGM Resorts' larger company diversity and inclusion initiative that has been recognized by leading diversity publications including DiversityInc and Black Enterprise.

"As a company, we are deeply honored to join women-owned suppliers, contractors and service providers who continue to make positive impacts in their communities," said Phyllis A. James, Chief Diversity and Corporate Responsibility Officer for MGM Resorts International. "We are proud to engage with these businesses and play a role in facilitating their continued success, and in turn the communities of which they are a vital part."

MGM Resorts strives to engage WBEs throughout our corporate and regional operations. For example, Kittredge Equipment Company, a WBE that is leading the charge in the foodservice equipment and supplies industry, has long-standing history with customers in the New England community spanning 97 years. Kittredge is a key supplier to our newest resort, MGM Springfield, in Massachusetts providing hundreds of products. With multiple locations in Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire, Kittredge Equipment Company has the largest show room in New England with over 70,000 square feet of inventory, and employs 100 people throughout New England  47 of which reside in Western Massachusetts.

About WBENC

WBENC is the largest third-party certifier of businesses owned, controlled, and operated by women in the United States. WBENC partners with 14 Regional Partner Organizations (RPOs) to provide its world-class standard of certification to women-owned businesses throughout the country. WBENC is also the nation's leading advocate of women-owned businesses and entrepreneurs. Throughout the year, WBENC provides business development opportunities for member corporations, government agencies and more than 15,000 certified women-owned businesses at events and other forums. Learn more at www.wbenc.org.

1 Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) 2 2017 MGM Resorts CSR ReportSupplier News

14 February 2019

Bahia Hotel and Beach House has chosen ALICE to streamline internal and guest communication, and keep track of historical information that will serve as guidelines for improvements year over year on service, offerings, and overall guest experience. ALICE is the hospitality industrys leading operations technology, connecting every department of the hotel with one platform for all staff communication and guest requests.

Prior to implementing ALICE, staff at Bahia Hotel used a variety of different channels to communicate, including: daily briefings, radio, cell phones, email, and messaging applications. This was a challenge for the property, as key information amongst staff and departments would get lost over time. Ultimately, it inspired Managing Director Felipe Rebelo to look for an integrated platform that covers the needs other platforms alone could not. By upgrading to ALICE, staff can now communicate across a single channel.

Using an operations platform has also made it much easier to keep track of overall property performance. Different data can now be collected, which has given the property greater insight into performance, and management can now set key performance indicators against a variety of metrics. Additionally, the Managing Director can measure the way in which the tasks are accomplished in order to make operations more effective.

Bahia Hotel is renowned for its personalized customer service, and delivering on guest expectations is key to this. With ALICE, staff can now contact guests via the app and SMS prior to their arrival on property. This means that information can be obtained ahead of and during guests stays to personalize their experience and lead to a higher level of guest satisfaction. The move to ALICE hasnt gone unnoticed by staff either, everyone embraced ALICE and were thrilled about all the features and how their job will be so much easier and simpler now, says Rebelo.Event

ADRIA HOTEL FORUM hotel investment conference

Feb 20th - 21st 2019, Crowne Plaza Belgrade

Adria Hotel Forum (AHF) is the leading Southeast European hotel investment conference, which gathers all the relevant actors including international experts, presidents and members of the boards of the largest regional and global hotel companies, ministers, investors, institutional representatives, financial institutions, consultants, architects, lawyers and other experts.

7th AHF for the firs time will be held in Belgrade, Serbia in Crowne Plaza hotel on February 20th and 21th 2019 on the following theme: IS THE FUTURE BRIGHT?

It is a question how can we boost the tourism arrivals and at the same time hotel investments and development on a larger scale, while the money is still cheap and the investors' interest in relatively high. What are the hotel products that should be developed in the region and how can we take advantage of the Far East markets that are booming at the moment (China, India, South Korea)? How should Croatia and Montenegro compete with the upcoming markets like Turkey, Tunisia and Greece and how should capital cities like Belgrade, Zagreb and Ljubljana compete with already mature markets like Vienna, Budapest and Prague. And is Albania a new hot spot?

In addition, AHF 2019 participants will be discussing where are the investors coming from, where the money goes, what are potential development locations in the region, are we ready for the new brands, what are regional ROIs in compare to the wester Europe and trends in hostel design.

Some of the AHF panelists are the leading global hotel investment funds that are interested to invest in this region. Together with them, leading regional companies linked to hotel industry together with the global participants from companies like InterContinental Hotels Group, Accor Hotels, Colliers International, STR, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt International, HDC and many others will be joining the discussion.

AHF is the place where all relevant decision makers and the leaders in hotel industry "have to be". Until now AHF has gathered more than 1800 attendees, 250 panelists, 100 round-table discussions and presentations, and more than 150 partners.

www.adria-forum.eu

Adria Hotel Forum is organized by Adria Hotel ForumAppointment

14 February 2019

Omni Hotels & Resorts is pleased to announce the appointment of Keith Butz as area managing director at Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center. With 25 years of luxury hospitality experience, Butz will help deliver the highest quality service among guests and associates from an operational standpoint.

Most recently, Butz was the general manager at The Confidante Hotel in Miami. While there, he increased brand awareness, drove sales, oversaw renovations and delivered top-notch customer and client experience. Prior to that, Butz was the general manager at Grand Hyatt in Kauai, Hawaii where he managed over 900 associates and drove record top-line revenue, GOP, customer service and associate engagement scores. In all of Butz' previous roles, he has proven to be a complex problem solver with an ability to build relationships and high-performing teams.

Butz attended Purdue University where he earned a bachelor's degree in restaurant and hotel management.Now Open

14 February 2019

The Hotel Group and Hilton announced today the grand opening of The Sound Hotel Seattle Belltown, Tapestry Collection by Hilton. Woven into the fabric of Belltown, one of Seattle's most vibrant and centrally located neighborhoods, The Sound Hotel celebrates the sights, sounds and tastes that are unique to Seattle. It occupies the first 10 floors of the 42-story Arrive tower, one of the first mixed-use properties, featuring rental units, in the market.

The Sound Hotel features 142 exquisitely designed guest rooms with expansive views of the downtown Seattle skyline and Puget Sound, a ground level restaurant, Currant Bistro, with an adjacent grab & go coffee bar. The hotel also has meeting and special event space ideal for small groups, offering unobstructed views of the Space Needle - one of a very small group of Seattle hotels with a view of this iconic landmark.

The hotel's 7th-floor Lupine Room offers 770 square feet of divisible meeting space, ideal for groups of up to 35. Featuring plenty of natural light, it can easily transform into an event space to accommodate an intimate gathering. In addition to the Lupine Room, Sound Bite Lounge is a relaxed, post-meeting gathering spot with a seasonal outdoor sundeck offering stunning views of the Space Needle.

Seattle chef turned food and beverage director Jon Langley worked closely with his team at Currant Bistro, the hotel's 36-seat restaurant and bar, to develop a menu of small plates perfect for sharing. Dishes are heavily inspired by the flavor profiles of Spain, Italy and France and are simple, approachable and non-pretentious, utilizing the highest-quality local ingredients and classic preparation techniques. This menu is also complemented by a robust wine list of Northwest favorites, along with a sprinkling of labels from California, France and Italy, as well as a selection of expertly crafted cocktails.

Design firm Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA) immersed themselves into the hotel's neighborhood, visiting local hotspots and meeting with the community, to create an authentic Belltown experience. Upon arriving at the hotel entrance, guests are immediately welcomed into an artist's studio as stretched canvases, murals and finished concrete floors flow towards the reception desk. Guest rooms feature warm, wood-toned floors, echoing the feeling of a musician stepping onto a stage. Dark, moody bathrooms are reminiscent of backstage dressing rooms, with microphone lights, plush robes, metal accents and rich black linear tiles setting the perfect backdrop.

Artistic elements are also featured on the exterior of the hotel. Watkins commissioned Seattle graffiti artist Weirdo, a.k.a. Jeff Jacobson, to paint an original mural on an exterior brick wall facing several of the guest rooms, effectively turning those rooms into some of the most desirable in the hotel. This larger-than-life piece features Jacobson's signature vivid, post-Internet hyper-realism style and beautifully tells the story of The Sound Hotel through art.

Blending Seattle's creative bedrock with its innovation boom, The Sound Hotel provides easy access to top Seattle attractions, coffee houses, night clubs and international dining for an experience that is always of the moment. Sitting adjacent to the iconic Cinerama and just a few blocks from landmarks like the Space Needle, Pike Place Market and the Amazon Spheres, The Sound Hotel is both a central launch pad for adventure and a stylish, comfortable place to recharge at the end of the day.Bloomington, IN (47401)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms. Low 74F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms. Low 74F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.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.Support local journalism

Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution.

ContributeCopyright  2019 at Sun Newspapers. Digital dissemination of this content without prior written consent is a violation of federal law and may be subject to legal action.Drugs and sex trafficking correlate with the issue of missing and murdered Native women and girlsPlease enter the subscriber's NAME and ADDRESS in all capital letters with no punctuation as it appears on your paper. This information can be obtained by looking at the label on the front of your paper. Note that Drive, Street, Road, etc. are all abbreviated to DR, ST, RD, etc. with no punctuation after it. (123 MAIN ST).A re you concerned that your flat is making you ill? Want to know why your house isn't selling? Or do your electrics smell of fish?

If you've Googled any of these questions recently, it turns out you're not alone, according to a new study of Google search trends.

Analysis of Google's predictive-search data has revealed some of the most common home maintenance-related questions people ask the search giant. There are some quirky results among common queries as "Why are my electrics tripping?" and "Is my boiler pressure too high?".

Studying Google's autocomplete suggestions  which are based on common or trending searches  across several web browsers and devices, property maintenance company Aspect discovered the issues people are most worried about in their homes.

Some of the most common structural queries people have include "Is my roof safe to walk on?" "Why are my walls wet?" and "Is my floor sinking?".

But they also have more worrying concerns.

"Is my ceiling supposed to wobble?", "Why are my walls sticky?" and "Is my floor going to collapse?" are also disconcertingly common.

The study also found that the type of questions people asked depended on the type of home they live in.

People living in houses more commonly search questions about home ownership, including why is my house not selling?, is my house listed? and is my house in a conservation area?

People in flats are more likely to wonder why is my flat so cold?, is my flat making me ill? and why is my flat so dusty?.

The most common searches relating to apartments were my apartment smells like onions, why is my apartment so cold? and is my apartment making me sick?.

And if a basic Google hasn't thrown up the answers you need, Aspect have answers to even the most quirky questions on their website.Please be aware that Cache Valley Publishing does not endorse, and is not responsible for alleged employment offers in the comments.

Recommended for youEmail notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

Please be aware that Cache Valley Publishing does not endorse, and is not responsible for alleged employment offers in the comments.Americas tough-talking National Security Adviser John Bolton has warned countries, including India, against buying Venezuelan oil, saying nations and firms that support the embattled President Nicolas Maduros theft will not be forgotten.

Boltons warning through a tweet on Tuesday came a day after Venezuelan Oil Minister and President of the Latin American state-run oil company PDVSA Manuel Quevedo told reporters in Greater Noida that his sanctions-hit country wants to sell more crude oil to India.

The US has slapped sweeping sanctions on PDVSA with a view to curb Venezuelas crude exports and put pressure on socialist President Maduro to step down.

We have a good relationship with India and we want to continue this relationship. The relationships with India will continue, the trade will continue and we will simply expand all the trade and relationship, Quevedo told reporters on the sidelines of the Petrotech conference in Greater Noida.

Venezuela is the third largest supplier of oil to India which is the worlds third-biggest oil consumer.

Reacting to Quevedos India visit, Bolton said that Nations and firms that support Maduros theft of Venezuelan resources will not be forgotten.

The United States will continue to use all of its powers to preserve the Venezuelan peoples assets and we encourage all nations to work together to do the same, he tweeted and shared a news story about Quevedos visit to India to sell more crude oil.

Venezuela produces around 1.57 million barrels of oil per day, half of what it produced two decades back.

With the US stopping imports from Venezuela, PDVSA is seeking to retain buyers in other big consuming countries such as China and India.

Quevedo, who now holds the rotating presidency of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said on Monday that it was important to listen to all the consuming countries that represent oil demand to maintain the balance of demand and supply in the markets.

India certainly has a good and healthy relationship with us and all the members of the OPEC and that will continue. So, we always keep these communications and relations with all-consuming countries in order to ensure stability and balance will continue, he said.

The US has caused a loss of about USD 20 billion to Venezuelas oil revenue-dependent economy, he added.

The Latin American country has the worlds largest known reserves of oil estimated at more than 300 billion barrels - bigger than Saudi Arabias 266 billion barrels.

President Maduro has called Donald Trumps government a gang of extremists and blamed the US for his countrys crisis.

He is under growing internal and international pressure to call early presidential elections amid a worsening economic crisis and accusations of widespread corruption and human rights violations.

Relations between the US and Venezuela were already fraught before President Trumps administration became one of the first to back opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim President.

Venezuela broke off diplomatic relations in response while Trump said the use of military force remained an option.

India has refused to go along with the US and recognise Guaido as the President and stop dealing with Maduros administration.

India and Venezuela enjoy close and cordial relations. We are of the view that it is for the people of Venezuela to find political solutions to resolve their differences through constructive dialogue and discussion without resorting to violence, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said last month.

Three million people, or 10 per cent of the population, have left Venezuela since its economy started to worsen in 2014, according to the UN.

Guaido says more than 300,000 Venezuelans are at risk of dying.

Maduro, who has blamed US sanctions for Venezuelas economic woes, said the US intended to create a humanitarian crisis in order to justify a military intervention.

Maduro was re-elected to the top post in 2018 in an election which was not participated by most of the opposition parties.Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort intentionally lied to investigators and a federal grand jury in the special counsels Russia probe, a judge ruled Wednesday.

US District Judge Amy Berman Jacksons decision was another loss for Manafort, a once-wealthy political consultant who rose to lead Donald Trumps 2016 campaign and now faces years in prison in two criminal cases brought in special counsel Robert Muellers investigation.

The four-page ruling hurts Manaforts chance of receiving a reduced sentence, though Jackson said she would decide the exact impact during his sentencing next month.

It also resolves a dispute that had provided new insight into how Mueller views Manaforts actions as part of the broader probe of Russian election interference and any possible coordination with Trump associates.

Prosecutors have made clear that they remain deeply interested in Manaforts interactions with a man the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence.

But its unclear exactly what has drawn their attention and whether it relates to election interference because much of the dispute has played out in secret court hearings and blacked out court filings.

In her ruling Wednesday, Jackson provided few new details as she found there was sufficient evidence to say Manafort broke the terms of his plea agreement by lying about three of five matters that prosecutors had singled out.

The ruling was largely a rejection of Manaforts attorneys argument that he hadnt intentionally misled investigators but rather forgot some details until his memory was refreshed.

The judge found that Manafort did mislead the FBI, prosecutors and a federal grand jury about his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik, the co-defendant who the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence.

Prosecutors had accused Manafort of lying about several discussions the two men had including about a possible peace plan to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict in Crimea.

During a sealed hearing last week, Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said one of the discussions an Aug. 2, 2016, meeting at the Grand Havana Club cigar bar in New York went to the larger view of what we think is going on and what we think the motive here is. This goes, I think, very much to the heart of what the Special Counsels Office is investigating, Weissmann said, according to a redacted transcript of the hearing.

He added: That meeting and what happened at that meeting is of significance to the special counsel. The meeting occurred while Manafort was still in a high-ranking role in the Trump campaign.

Rick Gates, Manaforts longtime deputy and also a Trump campaign aide, attended. And prosecutors say the three men left separately so as not to draw attention to their meeting.

Weissmann said investigators were also interested in several other meetings between Kilimnik and Manafort including when Kilimnik traveled to Washington for Trumps inauguration in January 2017.

And Manaforts attorneys accidentally revealed weeks ago that prosecutors believe Manafort shared polling data with Kilimnik during the 2016 presidential campaign.Paul Ceglia has spent four years on the run to avoid a US trial on charges he tried to cheat Facebook Inc. founder Mark Zuckerberg out of half the company. Now hes been ordered home.

Ecuadors National Court of Justice on Wednesday upheld a November 15 extradition ruling requiring that Ceglia be returned to New York to face criminal charges for allegedly making a fraudulent, multibillion-dollar claim to the social media giant. Ceglia skipped his $250,000 bail in 2015 and eluded US law enforcement until he was arrested in August in a small Ecuadorian beach town.

The order, by a panel of three judges in Quito, means Ceglia may face a trial with Facebook CEO Zuckerberg as the star prosecution witness. The Ecuadorian judges rejected Ceglias claim that the countrys extradition treaty with the US doesnt cover the crimes hes accused of committing.

We are disappointed of course, Ceglia said in response to the ruling, according to Roberto Calderon, one of his Ecuadorian lawyers. But we have made Ecuador our home and we will fight to stay here.

Ecuadors law allows President Lenin Moreno to deny the US extradition request despite Wednesdays court ruling, said Calderon.

I dont think hell receive justice in the United States, Ceglias wife, Iasia Ceglia, said in a televised plea to Moreno before the decision. Its a huge corporation that is behind it, that has much power and much money. They can do anything they want. And I think hell end up in jail.

Morenos predecessor, Rafael Correa, granted asylum in 2012 to the countrys most notorious foreign fugitive, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Morenos government last year tightened the rules for Assange to remain in Ecuadors embassy in London, including a requirement he clean up after his cat. Assange said at the time he believed Moreno, who has tried to repair relations with the US, was seeking to force him out in response to pressure from the US and UK.

Ceglia, 45, sued Facebook and Zuckerberg in 2010, claiming that a contract he signed with Zuckerberg in 2003 gave him 84 percent of the company that would grow into the worlds biggest social network. Ceglia later reduced the demand to half. Zuckerberg, who in 2003 was a freshman at Harvard University, has said he signed an unrelated contract to do website coding for Ceglia.

Ceglia was charged with wire fraud and mail fraud in 2012.

A federal judge in Buffalo threw out Ceglias claim in 2014 after a magistrate judge found clear and convincing evidence that Ceglia had forged the contract, destroyed evidence and created fake emails between himself and Zuckerberg to support his claim.

In March 2015, Ceglia removed an electronic ankle bracelet and fled his western New York home with his wife and two sons, who were then 10 and 11, and the familys Jack Russell Terrier, Buddy. While on the lam in 2016, Ceglia claimed he had fled with his family after receiving an anonymous death threat.

With Buddy in tow, the family spent more than a year hiding out in Florida and in hippie communes in Georgia and Missouri, Ceglia said in an interview in Quitos El Inca jail last year. Early in their odyssey, the Ceglias posed as an Amish family, he said. They later fled by ship from Texas to Columbia, then overland to Ecuador.

Each criminal charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Ceglia says his claim against Facebook is genuine and that he didnt commit a crime.

I needed to go to another country to get justice, Ceglia said in the jailhouse interview.

While in Ecuador, the couple had a third son, now almost a year old. In his bid for asylum, Ceglia cited his relationship to the baby, a citizen of the nation by birth. One of Ceglias lawyers argued that Iasia Ceglia, who isnt charged, could face charges of helping her husband flee if she returns to the U.S., potentially leaving the child without parents.

The case is US v. Ceglia, 12-cr-876, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).British Parliaments upper house will debate the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar on February 19 amid renewed calls for Britains apology for the bloodbath in the run-up to its centenary.

Hundreds of people were killed when British troops under Brig-Gen Reginald Dyers command fired on a crowd of unarmed Indians at the Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919.

Indian-origin British parliamentarians, Lord Meghnad Desai and Lord Raj Loomba, have initiated the debate in the House of Lords, which had condoned Dyers action.

The demands for an apology over the massacre and Britains plans to commemorate the centenary would also be discussed during the debate, according to the Jallianwala Bagh Centenary Commemoration Committee (JBCCC) formed for the purpose.

Desai and Loomba wrote to Prime Minister Theresa May and requested an official apology on behalf of the JBCCC, according to the committee.

Sardar Balbir Singh Kakar, heads the JBCCC. Author Kishwar Desai, former Indian ambassador to the US, Navtej Sarna, British lawmaker Virendra Sharma, and Rajinder Singh Chadha are other members of the panel.

Desai said on Thursday the JBCCC is supporting an exhibition on the massacre at Amritsars Partition Museum along with the Arts And Cultural Heritage Trust.

The same exhibition will be held in Manchester, London, and Birmingham in April with Manchester Museums help.

There are also requests to send the exhibitions to various cities in India and around Punjab, said Desai.

The exhibition themed Punjab under Siege  the Jallianwala Bagh Centenary (1919-2019)  will depict the impact of the massacre.

It will focus on how it was a part of much larger colonial oppression in Punjab, and wounded Punjabs psyche, according to Kishwar Desai.

Prime Minister David Cameron visited Amritsars Jallianwala Bagh memorial in 2013 and described it as a deeply shameful event.

He did not apologise, saying: I think the right thing is to acknowledge what happened, to recall what happened, to show respect and understanding for what happened.Actor Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas royal wedding in Jodhpur was one of the most lavish weddings of the last year. While the actor had kept it private and shared only a few pictures from the ceremonies, the steady trickle of photos has not stopped since.

Now Nicks brother Joe Jonas has shared a candid picture with his fiance and Game of Thrones actor Sophie Turner, brother Kevin Jonas and his wife Danielle Jonas. The picture is supposedly from Priyanka and Nicks wedding and shows all four in a playful mood amid the multiple marigold hangings. He captioned it, When someone mentions in-n-out.

While the siblings are dressed in kurtas, Danielle is showing the henna design on her palm in the picture.

The entire Jonas family including Nicks mother Denise, father Paul and younger brother Frankie Jonas were a part of the wedding. They took part in all the pre-wedding celebrations including the sangeet and mehendi.

The entire Jonas family along with Priyankas mother Madhu Chopra and Sophie had gone on a holiday to the Mammoth Lakes in California a few days ago. They had earlier flown to celebrate the New Year in the Alps.

Also read: Ananya Pandey tells Karan Johar she doesnt deserve to be on Koffee With Karan, viewers agree. Watch video

Priyanka and Nick are currently staying at their new residence in Los Angeles. The actor is busy with the promotions of her Hollywood film Isnt It Romantic with lead actor Rebel Wilson. She recently appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Good Morning America and will now be seen sharing the couch with Rebel on The Late Late Show with James Corden.

The couple also walked the red carpet at the premiere of the film.

Follow @htshowbiz for morePublicly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena may be engaged in a power tussle in Maharashtra, but top leaders of both parties have been trying to work out an alliance deal for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

Senior leaders from both parties told Hindustan Times that the process was taking time largely over a delay in finalising an agreement to share seats for the Assembly elections  scheduled six months after the Parliamentary polls  and sharing power if the saffron combine wins. The senior leaders, who did not want to be named, said the top leadership of the Sena and BJP have accepted the need to fight the elections together and are hopeful a pact will be finalised by the end of the month.

The decisions are expected to be taken at the top level  over the past few days, BJP chief Amit Shah, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis have been in touch regularly.

Union minister Prakash Javdekar, senior Sena leader Subhash Desai and Senas youth wing chief Aaditya Thackeray are involved in the process too.

State revenue minister Chandrakant Patil (from the BJP), health minister Eknath Shinde (from the Sena) and Sena party secretary Milind Narvekar are facilitating the communication.

For the Lok Sabha elections, the parties are either considering their 2014 arrangement, in which the BJP fought 26 seats, and the Sena, 22; or a formula under which the BJP will contest 25 seats and the Sena 23.

The Sena is keen on the Palghar constituency, which is currently held by the BJP. The seat-sharing deal for the Lok Sabha polls depends on the arrangement the parties reach for the Assembly elections. For the Assembly polls, different formulae are being discussed, but the parties may ultimately agree to contest 144 seats each, said a senior BJP leader involved in the process.

Maharashtra has 288 Assembly seats. While the Sena wants its share of seats entirely, the BJP will have to share some of its seats with its minor allies  Ramdas Athawale-led Republican Party of India (A), Rashtriya Samaj Paksh and Shiv Sangram. In 2014, the BJP won 122 Assembly seats and the Sena, 63.

HT also learned that both sides are not only discussing seat-sharing, but also a power-sharing formula if the alliance retains power in the state. The Sena wants this formula to be worked out while finalising its alliance with the BJP for Lok Sabha polls.

Three options are being discussed. The first is sharing the chief ministership over the five-year tenure  two-and-a-half years each; the second is giving the chief ministers post to the party that has most winning MLAs; the third option is to keep the chief ministership with one party, but in return assigning key portfolios such as home and urban development department to the other party,said a key functionary from the Sena.

The third formula is based on a similar arrangement the Congress and NCP had come to after the Assembly elections in 2004, when NCP chief Sharad Pawar offered to concede the chief ministers post to the Congress in exchange for key departments, even though his party had more MLAs.

If both sides agree to any one of the three options, there wont be any problem in finalising the poll pact, said the Sena functionary quoted earlier. The Sena has also spoken about simultaneous polls during the talks, but it is not forcefully demanding it for now. The Sena leadership is in two minds over simultaneous polls, but Fadnavis is strongly against it, said a BJP minister.

His contention is the parties should concentrate on winning the most number of seats from Maharashtra, considering the changes in the Hindi belt that was swept by the party in 2014, the minister said. Shah is likely to visit Thackeray at his residence in the coming days, and if the parties reach an alliance deal, Shah will invite Thackeray, on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to Delhi.

During Thackerays visit, he will meet Modi and likely formally announce the alliance along with him, the minister said.

It is also likely that Modi may visit Matoshree, the residence of Thackerays, during his next Mumbai visit. The efforts to finalise an alliance has been on for quite a while now.

Thackeray even met PM Modi and Shah informally during a visit to Delhi after the death of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. However, the alliance talks did not take off then owing to several reasons. Meanwhile, even as the Sena sharpened its attack on the BJP in the state, the top leadership from both sides remained in touch. The BJP stepped up its efforts to get Sena on board after the results of the Assembly elections in three other states recently.

While Thackeray has remained aggressive against the BJP, he knows a resurgent Congress would not be good news for the Sena in Maharashtra. We have pointed out to the Sena leadership that retaining power in Maharashtra will be difficult for the BJP-Sena if the NDA loses power at the Centre. In the calculations for the Lok Sabha, Maharashtras 48 seats are significant for us,a top BJP leader told Hindustan Times.Prime Minister Narendra Modi was stranded at Dehraduns Jolly Grant airport on Thursday morning for nearly four hours amid heavy rains and low visibility ahead of his programmes announcing Rs 3,400 crore schemes to boost cooperatives and farmers in the state.

He left for Corbett Tiger Reserve at around 11 am.The MI17 chopper will land at Kalagarh from where he will go to Dhikala zone of the reserve. Corbett is known to have over 200 tigers. He is likely to participate in a meeting there.

The meteorological department had predicted rainfall in several parts of Uttarakhand on Thursday. Bikram Singh, director of the MeT office at Dehradun, said the state capital and other places will also receive hailstorm in the afternoon.

Sources in the government said Modi waited at a Safe House at the airport in the Uttarakhand capital and then left around 11am.

Read more| PM Modi to launch schemes worth Rs 3,400 crores in Uttarakhand today

The Prime Minister is scheduled to reach Rudrapur in Uddham Singh Nagar district at 3pm to launch countrys first Integrated Cooperative Development Project (ICDP) worth Rs 3,400 crore. The scheme aims to drastically improve the states rural economy by giving a boost to cooperative, farm and allied sectors, an official said.

The morning visit was unofficial so neither Uttarakhand Governor Baby Rani Maurya nor chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat reached the airport to receive him.Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the newly appointed general secretary of the Congress, put off her much-awaited press conference in Lucknow on Thursday following a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district. At least 30 Central Reserve Police Force jawans were killed in the incident.

I dont think it is appropriate to talk politics right now, said Priyanka Gandhi, who was accompanied by Jyotiraditya Scidnia, the Congress general secretary in-charge for Uttar Pradesh West.

Priyanka, who has been given charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, has been in Lucknow since Monday to prepare the party for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. On Monday, she launched the campaign with a massive roadshow for Mission UP, in her first ever visit to the state since her brother Rahul Gandhi named her as the partys general secretary last month. She is expected to return to Delhi on February 15.

Priyankas entry into politics has brought fresh energy into the party workers especially after it was snubbed by both the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party and the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party in the state.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party had won an abysmal 2 seats out of the 80 seats that the state sends to the Lower House.

Read| All about Mahan Dal, the party Congress firmed up an alliance with in UP

On Tuesday, a day after the roadshow in which she was accompanied by her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi and western UP incharge Jyotiraditya Scindia, both Priyanka and Scindia held closed door meetings with party workers in Lucknow.

Both leaders are said to have asked a series of questions from the party workers about their respective constituencies to gauge their preparation for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Some of the questions Priyanka asked included, What is your booth number? How many villages do you have in your constituency? etc.

Priyanka also asked the workers to forget their inter-personal differences and to work in a united fashion for the party for the Lok Sabha elections.

Also read| Will fight with all our might, says Priyanka as Congress ties up with Mahan Dal

Priyanka, whose husband Robert Vadra is being probed by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case, was seen dropping him off at the ED office on the first day of his questioning and then later took a quick flight to Jaipur to be by his side. Vadra was being questioned in connection with an alleged land scam case in Bikaner.

Talking about the ED questioning Vadra, Priyanka said, These things keep going on and I am concentrating on my work.

Earlier, a day after Rahul Gandhi announced her appointment as general secretary and in charge of eastern UP on January 23, posters hailing Priyanka and Indira Gandhi had sprung up in the heartland state, with the caption Indira is back.

Priyanka Gandhi was ushered into the party fold on a mission to transform the partys fortunes ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Also read| From booth number to winning candidates, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tests Congress party workers knowledge

The decision to induct Priyanka into the party was taken days after the SP and BSP formed an alliance in the state but left out the Congress leaving only two seats - Rae Bareli and Amethi - for the Congress.Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Congress recently-named general secretaries of east and west Uttar Pradesh, wrapped up their four-day visit to Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, although they are expected to return soon to tour the Lok Sabha constituencies in their charge.

On Thursday, Priyanka Gandhi and Scindia were expected to introduce sitting BJP MLA Avatar Singh Bhadana, and former Union minister Ram Lal Rahi (now with the BJP) who have moved to the Congress, but cancelled the press conference scheduled to do this as a mark of solidarity with the families of CRPF jawans killed in the Pulwama terror attack.

Our jawans have been killed in the terror attack in Pulwama. We do not think it proper to hold any political discussion. Former union minister of state Ram Lal Rahi and BJP MLA Avtar Singh Bhadana are here to join the Congress. I request you all to mourn the deaths. I want to tell the families of the jawans killed there that all the citizens are with you in thus hour of grief, said a visibly emotional Priyanka Vadra. The two leaders left after observing two-minutes silence as a mark of respect.

Over the past four days, Priyanka Gandhi and Scindia have met people from various Lok Sabha constituencies, and also firmed up an alliance with the Mahan Dal.

Their tour of Lok Sabha constituencies is likely to take place before the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meets in Ahmedabad on February 26 to discuss the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections.

Apart from endorsing Rahul Gandhis minimum guarantee income proposal, the meeting will also welcome the induction of Priyanka Gandhi and Scindia in the partys highest decision making body.

The move to hold the CWC meeting in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah comes in the backdrop of the decision taken by Rahul Gandhi to hold such meetings outside Delhi. The last CWC meeting was held at the Sevagram Ashram in Wardha, Maharashtra, on October 2 last year to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The defection of Bhadana, who is a siting MLA from Mirapur assembly seat of Muzaffarnagar is seen as a jolt to the BJP ahead of polls. Rahis son Suresh Rahi is a BJP MLA from Hargaon assembly constituency of Sitapur. Both leaders have been in the Congress previously.Of the many swipes that Prime Minister Narendra Modi took at Congress president Rahul Gandhi in his last Lok Sabha speech, one was over his famous hug in Parliament that stole the limelight. At a meeting in Rajasthans Ajmer, the 48-year-old Congress president delivered his comeback. The hug was designed, Gandhi told a gathering of Seva Dal volunteers to counter hate.

Modiji had hatred for me. I went and hugged him and finished the hatred for me, the Congress president said.

Watch: PM Narendra Modi takes a jibe at Rahul Gandhis jhappi and wink

Rahul Gandhi asked Congress workers to fight the hatred of the BJP and the RSS with love. He said that the Congress wants to defeat the BJP in 2019 general elections but not finish them off.

If the BJP and the RSS abuse us, we must fight them with love. Modiji often attacks me and my family and says he will finish the Congress. I, on the other hand, went and hugged him in Parliament, Gandhi said.

Also read: Opposition meet brings Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, to same room. Its a first

During a debate on the no-confidence brought by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the Lok Sabha last year, Rahul Gandhi stunned Modi and the treasury benches when he finished his speech and walked over to the PM and hugged him. The Congress president then went back to his seat and appeared to wink. This provided ammunition to the BJP which said such acts are not for Parliament.

In his last speech in Lok Sabha on Wednesday before the 2019 elections, PM Modi didnt miss a chance to take a jab at Congress boss. The PM said he learnt a lot of things after being elected for the first time to the Lok Sabha in 2014. I got to know the difference between gale milna and gale parna (hugging and piling on). I got to know about aankhon ki gustakhiyaan (mischief of the eye), he said.

On Thursday, the Congress president said that the 2019 polls will be a fight between ideologies. It will be a battle between the RSS and the BJPs ideology to divide the country and the Congresss efforts to unite it. For the BJP, India is a product, for us it is a sea of people, Rahul Gandhi said.

He also targeted the NDA government over the agrarian crisis in the country. The Congress president alleged that PM Modi made an empty promise of loan waiver to farmers, but wrote off bank dues of his industrialists.

Also read: In report card to Lok Sabha, PM Modis sharp dig at Rahul GandhiBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah spoke of a grand coalition his party would form in Tamil Nadu that would sweep the Lok Sabha elections in the state, and, a while later, in Karnatakas Sindhanur, he said the opposition alliance-in-the-making to take on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance would have a prime minister a day.

AIADMK deputy coordinator and a member of alliance talk committee K P Munusamy said the party has been talking with the BJP and other smaller parties. We have already made it clear to whom we are speaking. In the next step, soon, we will announce our alliance.

Railway minister Piyush Goyal, who is incharge of Tamil Nadu for the BJP, is said to be leading his partys team in the official seat-sharing talks with the BJP.

We have been looking to forge an alliance with AIADMK, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK- an OBC Vanniyars Party) and Vijayakanths DMDK. Since Piyush Goyal is the election incharge for Tamil Nadu, he will finalise the alliance, said a senior BJP leader in Tamil Nadu, asking not to be identified.

In Karnataka, Shah took aim at chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, and said it was not to the people of Karnataka that the CM owed allegiance, but to former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

He added that if a coalition were elected to power at the Centre, then every day a new person would be Prime Minister.

Karnataka sends 28 members to the Lok Sabha and the BJP fancies its chances in the state.

Political analyst Ramu Manivannan, head and professor, department of politics and public administration, Madras University said, It is obvious that BJP has been supporting the AIADMK government since the death of later CM and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa. So, it is natural that AIADMK will join hands with BJP.

Responding to Shahs statement on coalitions, Karnataka state Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao said coalitions had given stable governments in the past as wellWhen Kirron Kher rode the Narendra Modi wave to Parliament in 2014 and won the Chandigarh Lok Sabha constituency, all eyes were on the actor-turned-politician. Will she propel City Beautiful to new heights or will she get bogged down by the challenges? Five years on as its time to shine the spotlight on her work, critics says that Chandigarh missed the bus on many opportunities despite a BJP government at the Centre and the party MP at home.

Kirrons opponents say her stay in the constituency that houses her ancestral home was at best a guest appearance. They cite her shuttling between Mumbai and Chandigarh for the lack of focus.

It wasnt a smooth sailing for the first-time MP within the BJP too. She was faced with infighting and did not get the much-needed backing from seasoned colleagues such as Satya Pal Jain, a former MP, and Sanjay Tandon, the Chandigarh BJP chief. Kher did succeed in the power struggle at times like when she managed to ensure her writ over the party to get her nominee, Davesh Moudgil, elected as the mayor in 2018. But for most occasions, she faced setbacks and drew flak from the city unit president whether it was the appointment of Chandigarh municipal corporation sub-committee members or the alleged involvement of her political adviser and Man Friday, Sahdev Salaria, in a firing incident at a local bar.

Jain, however, has kind words for Kirron. Of all the celebrities who have attended Parliament in the past few decades, her performance has been comparatively good, he says.

Race for ticket

Kirron is eyeing a second innings but the road ahead is bumpy. Firstly, there are many claimants for the BJP ticket, including Jain and Tandon. Her opponents in the Congress are also sensing an opportunity and vying for their party ticket. Former Union ministers Pawan Kumar Bansal and Manish Tewari are in contention, while Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhus wife Navjot Kaur has joined the race for the Congress ticket. AAPs Harmohan Dhawan, who is also a former MP, is already in the fray.

On the work front, she managed to keep a few promises such as getting the Centres nod for changes in the Union Territorys employees housing scheme, which was pending since 2008. She got the approval for need-based changes in houses of the Chandigarh Housing Board and in the industrial areas only last month. Besides, the conversion of leasehold to freehold residential properties has been allowed though the high rates of conversion are discouraging.

Kirron is credited with the increase in the upper age limit for entry into government service in the UT from 18-25 to 18-37 years, the doubling of old age and disabled pensions, the enhancing of wages for Home Guard personnel, and the construction of five new sport complexes.

Pending projects

Since 2014, she took up 315 development works but only 113 could be completed. While work on 174 projects are under progress, 28 plans were dropped due to viability and approval delays.

The opposition leaders say that she has not done justice to her tenure. Be it traffic congestion, problems of traders, the implementation of the industrial policy or door-todoor garbage collection.

They also blamed her for not bailing out the MC from the financial mess despite having her partys government at the Centre.

Though Kher adopted the three villages of Sarangpur, Raipur Kalan and Makhan Majra but only the first benefited. The two other villages continue to suffer for want of basic amenities.

Kirron promised a Chandigarh Service Selection Board but little was done. Promises such as the construction of a film city, a single window system and abolishing contractual labour have not been kept. She rejected the metro rail project as a means to decongest the citys traffic. Though she got the citys first flyover approved, the Centres nod for its design is awaited.Budget domestic carrier IndiGo cancelled scores of flights earlier this week and said cancellations will continue for some more days, affecting around 30 flights or more every day.

IndiGo is slightly adjusting its flight schedule in the coming days by around 30 flights per day to stabilise the network. Operations are also being impacted due to various ongoing Notams and likely bad weather in the coming days, the airline said in a statement.

Shortage of pilots also continued to hamper operations of IndiGo, according to news agency Press Trust of India. Bad weather resulted in extended duty times which then made it necessary to re-roster our crew, IndiGo said.

The airline told the countrys aviation regulator it had cancelled 49 flights on Wednesday.

The Interglobe Aviation-owned company will also reduce some flights in March as a proactive measure, it said in a statement. IndiGo said it has informed all its passengers about the move in advance, and that its operations would be normalised by March 31.

(With inputs from agencies)

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ONAs many as 30 CRPF jawans were killed in an alleged suicide bombing of a convoy of security forces at Lethpora in Pulwama in Kashmir on Wednesday. This is the biggest militant attack since the Uri attack in 2016, which left 19 soldiers dead.

The suicide bombing was followed by gunshots being fired at the convoy which comprised of more than 75 vehicles and more than 2,500 security personnel.

Here is a timeline of some of the major attacks that have taken place on security forces including the CRPF, Indian Army and others in Kashmir since the 2016 Uri attack.

 February 7, 2018: Militants attacked a police team accompanying detainees from Central jail to the hospital for a medical check-up. Two policemen were killed in the attack at Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital. Naveed Jat, a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander, managed to escape from police custody in the attack

 December 31, 2017: Five CRPF jawans were killed in a 24-hour-long encounter between BSF and suspected JeM militants at Lethpora where Thursdays attack took place. Three militants were also killed in the ensuing gun battle.

 November 29, 2016: Seven soldiers, including 2 officers, were killed when militants entered the premises of 166 army unit at Nagrota-based 16 Corps headquarters at Jammu.

 October 6, 2016: Three militants were shot dead at Handwara in North Kashmir foiling an planned attack on a Rashtriya Rifles camp.

 October 2, 2016: One solider and two militants were killed when heavily-armed terrorists attacked a Rashtriya Rifles army camp.

 September 18, 2016: In the infamous Uri attack in Baramulla district, 19 soldiers were killed when fidayeen militants stormed an Army camp at Uri near the Line of Control (LoC) around 4 am. Four militants were killed in the encounter.

 June 25, 2016: Eight CRPF jawans were killed and 20 injured when militants attacked a convoy near Pampore in Srinagar.

 February 21, 2016: In a gunfight that took place at a government building on the outskirts of Srinagar, three army commandos, including two Captains, and a militant, were killed in a two-day long encounter.

 January 1, 2016: Three security personnel were killed in an encounter with militants at an Air Force base in Pathankot. Six attackers were also killed.Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadavs surprise comment in Lok Sabha that he wished to see Narendra Modi back as prime minister has elicited reactions from leaders cutting across party lines.

I wish that all members come back to the House, Yadav said during the last sitting of the 16th Lok Sabha. And pointing to Modi, Yadav said, I wish pradhan mantriji becomes pradhan mantri again. The remarks drew applause from the treasury benches.

Reacting to the remark, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said, I disagree with him. But he added Yadav has had a role in politics, and I respect that role.

Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah, in obvious reaction to the comment, just tweeted Poor Akhilesh.

Watch: Want to see Modi become PM again: Mulayam Singh Yadav

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said Samajwadi chief Akhilesh Yadav should accept the truth which his father spoke in Parliament.

This is the truth, and truth always wins. What Mulayamji said in the Parliament is the truth, I am sure like Mulayamji, his son should also accept this truth, Adityanath said.

Yadavs comment comes at a time when his son Akhilesh Yadav has joined hands with arch-rival Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party to challenge the BJP in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said: Mulayam Singh Yadav is a senior grassroots leader and knows which way the wind is blowing.

Former Bihar CM Rabri Devi said, Mulayam is old new, his memory is failing him. His comments dont mean anything.

The Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh avoided comment.

I have not seen what statement he has made. I have no clue, SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary told PTI in Lucknow.

However, senior Congress leader and former Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari claimed that Yadavs statement will benefit the Congress.

I do not know in which circumstances he gave the statement. But if any party stands to gain politically from the statement, it is certainly going to be the Congress, Tiwari told PTI.

Hitting out at Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh said that the formers remarks praising the Prime Minister are an effort to create confusion and indicated that it could be a tactic to cover up allegations of corruption against the SP and BSP.

Meanwhile, posters thanking Yadav popped up in Lucknow on Wednesday immediately after the SP leaders comments in Lok Sabha.

The slogans on the poster read, Thank you Mulayam Singh Yadav, today you reiterated the wish of 125 crore Indians in the Lok Sabha.The government is counting on the brand equity of some of Indias best-known spiritual and yoga gurus to take the ancient physical and spiritual discipline to the world  albeit by bringing the world to India first.

The ministries of human resource development and AYUSH (ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homoeopathy) have finalised a plan under which the countrys best-known and biggest yoga schools will offer specialised courses for foreigners, starting as early as this year. The Yoga Certification Board (YCB) has identified 10 yoga institutions. These will undergo a process of being recognised by the board. Once recognised as leading yoga institutions, they will start offering specialised courses specially created for foreigners, a government official said on condition of anonymity.

The YCB was set up by the government last year to certify individual yoga teachers and also yoga schools. It is headed by Dr Rajesh Kotecha, secretary, AYUSH, representatives from several ministries, and also the heads of three yoga schools or centres, HR Nagendra of the Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (S-VYASA), Chinmay Panda of Dev Sanskriti Viswavidyala, and Jaideep Arya of Patanjali Yogpeeth. Nagendra is credited with having taught yoga to many eminent personalities, including PM Narendra Modi.

Besides the three schools whose heads are on the YCB, the institutions identified by YCB include the Sri Sri Ravi Shankar-led The Art of Living, Bengaluru, and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudevas Isha Foundation in Coimbatore, according to the official cited above.

The others are Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, New Delhi; Kaivalya Dham, Lonavla; Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, Chennai; The Yoga Institute, Mumbai; and Rama Sadhaka Grama, Rishikesh.

 YCB is working on courses specially meant for students from abroad. It has identified these as the institutes which may be able to teach them, the official said, adding that a meeting to finalise the contours of the plan was held on January 17.

The programme will be implemented through human resource development ministrys Study in India initiative and is expected to attract around 5,000 students this year itself.

Four courses will be on offer: a 200-hour yoga protocol instructor course which will take around one month; the second level or yoga wellness instructor course which will be a 400-hour or 3-4 month course; the third level yoga teacher course, which will be of 800 hours duration and take 6-9 months ; and the fourth level yoga master course that will take 1,600-2,000 hours.

There is a great demand for yoga teachers across the globe. However, often what is taught in the name of yoga is merely some kind of physical exercise which has no connection to the discipline. The aim is to guide the foreign student who looks towards this branch of knowledge. Those who take these courses can also go on to teach yoga in their countries, the official said.

YCB has identified institutions that have at least 20 years of standing in education, and the required competency and infrastructure, said YCBs chief executive officer Dr. IV Basavaraddi, explaining the choice set.

We identified, initially, 10 leading institutions with the capacity and potential to conduct YCB-prescribed courses for foreign nationals. This will also bring some uniformity in teaching, training and curriculum, Basavaraddi, added.

All chosen institutions will now have to go through the certification process, he added. We are open to more joining the movement. The attempt is to create an internationally recognisable Indian brand of yoga.A district court in Delhi on Thursday granted seven-day interim bail to Rajiv Saxena, who is one of the accused in the AgustaWestland chopper scam.

Saxena was sent to India from the United Arab Emirates in January to face trial over alleged bribery of government officials involved in an abortive deal to buy 12 helicopter from the Anglo-Italian firm, AgustaWestland. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has named Saxena as the key money launderer in the scam.

The ED did not oppose Saxenas bail plea. We said on the first date when he was brought that he is cooperating. And we had said so in our remand application. I am not persecutor but a prosecutor, EDs special public prosecutor, DP Singh, told the court on Wednesday.

The court on Thursday asked Singh if the Enforcement Directorate had any apprehensions regarding Saxenas bail. Is your submission the same? No apprehensions? the court asked.

The Patiala House Court gave Saxena interim bail in lieu of Rs 5 lakh with two sureties of the same amount. It directed him against leaving Delhi without permission. The court also ordered him not to tamper with the evident or try to contact any of the witnesses.

The court also directed Saxena to join the investigation as and when called. The bail has been given till February 22.

Singh did not oppose Saxenas bail plea because of his deteriorating health conditions and his cooperation.

Earlier, Saxenas lawyer, Geeta Luthra, told the court that her client is suffering from advanced stage leukemia, radiating back pain, numbness and heaviness in legs, neck pain and muscle spasms.

.With just months to go for the Lok Sabha election, Congress president Rahul Gandhi will arrive in Rajasthans Ajmer on Thursday to address party workers in what is being seen as a move to enthuse the cadre already on a high after the recent win in state polls.

The ruling party in the state wants to reap the benefits of the pro-Congress mood in Rajasthan in the Lok Sabha election. The Congress party has not had this kind of success even when it has been in power. In 2009, Congress had won 20 seats. Rajasthan sends 25 MPs to the Lok Sabha.

Rahul Gandhi will address the All India Congress Seva Dals Maha Adhiveshan (grand meet) in Ajmer to pep up its ranks to go out in the field and campaign for the party

The Seva Dal is the grassroots front organisation of the Indian National Congress.

Seva Dals chief organiser Lalji Desai said the two-day grand meet is being organised after 30 years on February 13 and February 14. The last such meetings of the Seva Dal were held in 1958, 1961, 1983, 1984 and 1989.

A mega rally, to be addressed by Rahul Gandhi, on the last day will be one of the major highlights of the meet.

The Congress presidents visit to the state also comes a day after the state assembly passed the reservation bill promising 5% quota in government jobs and educational institutes after the community renewed their protests.

In the first crisis faced by the Congress government, protests by Gujjars had turned violent and trains were diverted as the communitys agitation spread to several parts of the state earlier this week.

A reservation was provided to Gujjars under the Special Backward Class category after similar agitations in 2007 and 2008 left dozens of people dead. The Rajasthan high court stayed the move saying it breached the 50% limit the Supreme Court has imposed on the reservation.

The Gujjar community resumed the agitation saying the limit has been breached with the Centre giving 10% reservation to economically backward sections in January.

A non-governmental organisation challenged the 10% reservation before the Supreme Court on January 10 saying it breaches the 50% cap.

The Rajasthan government has maintained that the Centre alone can provide the reservation under the Economically Backward Classes category to Gujjars.The Congress party on Thursday called off a meeting of its president Rahul Gandhi with envoys and senior diplomats of G20 nations and neighbouring countries on Friday following the terror attack on a security forces convoy in Kashmir.

The lunch meeting at Hotel Taj Palace, located near the diplomatic enclave, was organised by the Congress partys foreign affairs department headed by former minister Anand Sharma to outline the partys foreign policy stance. However, Pakistans high commissioner was not among the invitees.

The meeting was part of the partys outreach to key players in the diplomatic community ahead of the general election, people familiar with developments said. A new date for the meeting would be announced later, they added.

Sharma told the media late on Thursday the meeting had been cancelled in view of the terror attack. We mourn the death of the CRPF soldiers and we join the country in this hour of grief, he said. Besides G20 members, envoys and senior diplomats of neighbouring countries such as Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, China, Nepal and Sri Lanka and key Asian nations such as South Korea were invited to the event, the people quoted above said. An invitation wasnt extended to the Pakistani envoy and the people explained the decision by saying it was the prerogative of the Congress to choose the invitees. The meeting was to have been attended by Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh to give the envoys an opportunity to interact with the top party leadership on a range of issues, including their views on the neighbourhood and the emerging world order, the people said.

French ambassador Alexandre Ziegler too was expected to attend the meeting against the backdrop of the controversy over the purchase of 36 Rafale combat jets under an inter-governmental agreement between India and France. The people said the interaction would have provided an opportunity for the two sides to clear the air on the issue.

An envoy from an Asian nation invited to the meeting, who declined to be identified, said there was some concern in the diplomatic community on the Congress policies for the business sector, especially multinational corporations, and the meeting would allow for a discussion on such matters. There has been immense interest within the diplomatic community on the rapidly evolving political scenario ahead of the elections and the meeting will allow diplomats to hear the views of Gandhi first-hand, said another senior diplomat who too didnt want to be identified. During the military standoff with China at Doklam in 2017, Gandhi had triggered a controversy by meeting the Chinese envoy. After being criticised by the ruling BJP, Gandhi had defended his decision by saying he had the right to meet the Chinese ambassador so that he could be informed on critical issues. Gandhi has also visited countries such as the US, Malaysia, Germany, the UAE, and Bahrain and interacted with the Indian community there.The man who carried out the worst terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir in at least three decades is a 22-year-old school dropout from Gundibagh village in south Kashmirs insurgency hotbed of Pulwama district, police records and government officials said.

Adil Ahmad Dar, who was given the name of Waqas commando by militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, dropped out of class 12 in a local school in Gundibagh in March 2017. The village is barely 10 kilometres from the spot where his car, laden with explosives, rammed into a bus carrying Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.

In police records, Dar was recorded as a category C militant and after joining militancy in 2018, officials said he was seen with members of terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba. He was not any top gun; he was just like any other militant of Pulwama, and went missing in 2018, said a police officer posted in south Kashmir on the condition of anonymity.

Also read | Pulwama terror attack matter of grave concern, says Pakistan as it rejects link to attack

Before he went missing, Dar occasionally worked at a local joinery mill. His father, Riyaz Ahmad Dar, runs a small shop in the locality. Local villagers said he dropped out of school after his cousin, who was also a militant, was killed in an encounter.

Watch | Pulwama attack: Slain CRPF constable Ajit Azads family mourn his death

As news of the suicide attack spread, people gathered in Gundibagh and organised a funeral for Dar.

They prevented government officials from reaching the spot.

Dar is the third local fidayeen (suicidal) militant recruited by the Jaish-e-Mohammad for a big suicide attack. A militant named Fardeen Ahmad Khan, 16, of Tral was killed on December 31, 2017, when he, along with three foreign militants, sneaked into the CRPF training centre at Lethpora and killed five personnel.

Also read | US condemns Kashmir attack, tells Pakistan to end safe haven to terrorists

Afaq Ahmad Shah,17, was the first local fidayeen who blew up an explosive-laden vehicle outside the 15 Corps headquarters at Badami Bagh on the outskirts of Srinagar, in early 2000, that killed eight troopers. He too was affiliated with Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Shortly after the attack, a video clip of Dar started circulating on social media in Kashmir, in which the young militant, carrying a weapon, is heard reciting a poem in Urdu  Get ready and step forward fast, the destiny is not far and the men of Jaish are waiting for you. It is not the time to talk only, get up as it is not the time to be in dreams, the moment demands practitioners on ground, please forgive me but it is not the time for beautiful speeches.

Also read | Pakistan is frustrated: J-K Governor Satya Pal Malik after Kashmir attackThe government on Friday stepped up pressure on Pakistan in the aftermath of Pulwama terror attack carried out on Thursday. India withdrew the most favoured nation status granted to Pakistan after 23 years. The decision was taken at the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Soon after the CCS meet, PM Modi, at a function to flag off the Vande Bharat Express in New Delhi, said the security forces have been given a free hand to deal with the challenges posed by terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

There is much anger among people due to this terror attack. Peoples blood is boiling. I understand this. The nation has some expectations at this moment. Emotion is running high to do something, which is natural. The security forces have been given free hand and we have full faith in the bravery of our soldiers, PM Modi said a little after chairing a meeting the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) to review the security situation after the Pulwama terror attack.

He said, I want to tell the terror outfits and their supporters that they have committed a grave mistake. I want to assure the nation that those who are behind this terror attack, those have committed this crime, will be definitely punished.

If our neighbour, which has been isolated in the world, thinks that by carrying out such attacks, hatching such conspiracies, it would be successful in bringing instability in India, it is a big mistake on its part, PM Modi said without taking the name of Pakistan.

The CRPF has confirmed 38 deaths in the terror attack, counted among the bloodiest in Kashmir. Initial reports, quoting security officials, had earlier said 44 jawans were feared to have been killed in the attack. A Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a CRPF convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar highway.

Watch: United Nations condemns Pulwama attack, calls for justice

At the CCS meet, PM Modi held consultations with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval over the security situation in the Kashmir Valley.

Follow live updates here

Singh spoke to Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, who was in Bhutans capital Thimpu, and summoned him back to Delhi. Rajnath also met Special DIB, IB director and NSA Ajit Doval. A 12-member team of the National Investigative Agency (NIA), led by an IG-rank officer also headed to the blast site in Pulwama.

NSA is monitoring the situation in the Kashmir Valley. He is in touch with senior CRPF officials taking briefing on the situation on a minute-to-minute basis.

In the attack that took place around 3.30 pm, a Mahindra Scorpio, loaded with nearly 250kg of explosives rammed into a convoy of the security forces on the Jammu-Srinagar highway. The Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the attack and also identified the suicide bomber as Adil Dhar, a local youth.The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, which has a majority in the Lok Sabha but not in the Rajya Sabha, managed to pass 180 bills in both houses of Parliament. This was slightly higher than the United Progressive Alliance -II (UPA) tally of 179 bills, which was the lowest figure for a full Lok Sabha tenure.

The UPA-I government managed to push 248 pieces of legislation through both Houses. The productivity of the current Lok Sabha, which sat for the last time on Wednesday, was marginally better than the previous Lok Sabha under the UPA-II government (2009-14) but lower than it was during the tenure of the UPA-I administration (2004-09), government data shows. It passed 205 bills.

According to government data, 47 of the 180 bills passed by Parliament between 2014 and 2019 were budget related. And 46 bills, which couldnt be passed, will lapse at the time of dissolution of the Lok Sabha. Throughout its five-year tenure, the NDA government remained short of a majority in the Upper House and a strident Opposition was able to block the passage of several bills such as that criminalising instant triple talaq, despite being in a clear minority in the Lower House.

The womens reservation bill, to reserve one-third seats in Lok Sabha and states assemblies for women, also failed to see the light of the day. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which triggered protests in the north-east, also failed to get through the Rajya Sabha and will lapse. The governments associated with the 6th, 9th, 11th and 12th Lok Sabha passed fewer bills than the UPA-II tally, but none of these completed their full term. Morarji Desai was the Prime Minister in the 6th Lok Sabha (1977-79) while Vishwanath Pratap Singh headed the government in the 9th Lok Sabha (1989-91).

The 11th (1996-97) and 12th Lok Sabha (1998-99) saw former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayees governments of 13 days and 13 months, respectively. The NDA swept to power in 2014 with the BJP becoming the first party to cross the majority mark in the Lok Sabha in three decades, fuelling expectation that the legislative process, which took a massive hit during Manmohan Singhs second term, would pick up pace. The Budget session saw the productivity of the Rajya Sabha dip. During the 10 sittings, as against the available total time of 48 hours, 39 hours 51 minutes was lost on account of disruptions, causing the productivity of the House during this session to dip to 4.79%. This led Rajya Sabha chairperson , Venkaiah Naidu, to say that members need to reflect on the dysfunctional pattern that has emerged.

Naidu, in his customary remarks at the end of the session, said it was a wasted opportunity with over 95% time in the 10-day sitting lost in disruptions. Naidu said since June 2014, the Rajya Sabha passed 154 bills which came to less than a bill in two sittings. This legislative output is 34 bills less than the 188 bills passed during 2009-2014 and 97 bills less than the 251 bills passed by the Upper House during 2004-09, he said.

There is a difference between the number of bills passed by the two houses on two counts: one, some bills are introduced in the Rajya Sabha before they are in the Lok Sabha; and two, the Rajya Sabha doesnt pass money bills although it can weigh in on them (with the Lok Sabha free to either accept or reject the Upper Houses comments). The Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die on Wednesday after it returned the vote-on-account, finance bill and appropriation bill to the Lok Sabha without any discussion, and passed two other bills. It also adopted, without debate, a resolution expressing gratitude to the President for his address to the joint sitting of Parliament at the beginning of the Budget session.

The Upper House approved the interim budget, with the Opposition agreeing to do so without discussion and taking back the amendments to the Presidents address. Modis tenure saw the enactment of several landmark laws, including the quota for economically backward classes in the general category in jobs and education, the GST, allowing 49% FDI in insurance firms, and the first regulatory framework for the real estate sector.

Parliament also passed a law to clamp down on benami properties and another one to take on fugitive economic offenders. In the ongoing Lok Sabha, only 24% bills were routed through standing committees, as against 59% in 14th (2004-09) and 71% in 15th Lok Sabha, according to data from PRS Legislative Research. This has been a prickly issue for the opposition which has criticised the government for not following what it sees as the established protocol of routing key bills through such panels.

(With inputs from Smriti Kak Ramachandran)The Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday said they were yet to find any primary evidence against 14 Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students booked for sedition a day earlier.

The students were booked on the complaint of an office-bearer of Bharatiya Janata Partys youth wing after two groups clashed on campus on Tuesday following a protest over an altercation with a Republic TV crew. The 14 have been accused of raising pro-Pakistan slogans.

We are yet to find primary evidence for sedition charges against the AMU students. Investigations are in preliminary stages and we are taking note of the facts [we are] coming across, said Aligarhs senior police superintendent, Aakash Kulhari.

The Aligarh Muslim University Teachers Association (AMUTA) condemned the severe charges like sedition against the students and wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind over it. It asked Kovind to take cognizance and send a strong message that sedition charges should be invoked only after thorough inquiry and not on hearsay within a few hours of the alleged incident.

The AMU Students Association also wrote to Kovind. There have been repeated attacks on the AMU by right-wing forces and some sections of the media with the intention of maligning the university over false charges, it said in a letter to Kovind. Fourteen students have been falsely booked on charges of seven serious crimes including sedition. This has left the students of AMU hurt and offended. The university has been declared an institution of importance and its students have always stood for the country. Repeatedly questioning our loyalty to the country is an insult not only to students but also to the Constitution.

Ajay Singh, who leads another group of AMU students, asked the AMU administration to act against students responsible for violence on the campus. Else we would launch an agitation.

The AMU management said classes were held and the library was open on Thursday even as students gathered on campus to stage a protest against the sedition charges. Separately, the district administration restored Internet services in the city snapped, day earlier, as a precaution to prevent violence.In its verdict on the Centre versus AAP tussle, the two-judge Supreme Court bench packed in a word of advice for the LG and the Delhi government, known to be at loggerheads over several issues.

The judges said the LG is expected to honour the wisdom of the ministers and not sit over their decisions. That is a facet of good governance. By and large it demands a mutual respect between the two organs. They are here to serve the Delhi citizens.

The top court was delivering its verdict on a bunch of petitions challenging notifications issued by the Arvind Kejriwal-led government amid the power tussle between the Centre and Delhi. (Follow live updates here)

The key issues under consideration were the control over services -- the power to appoint, post and transfer officials in Delhi administration-- power to set up commission of inquiry, and control over the anti-corruption bureau.

LG is not expected to differ routinely but in cogent cases. There may be contingencies where LG and ministers may differ, LG is supposed to refer the difference to President, the judges added.

The LG and the Delhi government have often disagreed on the powers of each with the chief minister sitting on a dharna at LG Anil Baijals office last year as the IAS officers in Delhi were not attending the meetings called by the Delhi ministers. He called off the sit-in after the IAS officers started attending meetings with ministers.

Also read| Tarikh par Tarikh: Arvind Kejriwals AAP, upset at Supreme Court verdict, vents out with a movie clip

The AAP government also had run ins with the former LG Najeeb Jung also. The conflicts stems from the status of Delhi, which is a Union Territory and not a full state. As a result, the Delhi government does not have control over land, appointment of senior officers and the police force. These three are controlled by the L-G.

In Thursdays verdict, the top court ruled in favour of Centre on two issues  the key Anti-Corruption Bureau issue and the power to institute commission of enquiry.

Electricity and revenue departments (fixing of circle rates), posting and transfer of Grade 3 and Grade 4 officers, appointing special public prosecutor and appointment of directors in discoms will come under Delhi government.Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Thursday hit out at the Congress saying it is no different from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its approach towards minorities. She condemned booking Muslim men under the National Security Act (NSA) in Congress-ruled Madhya Pradesh and imposing sedition laws on university students in Uttar Pradesh, ruled by the BJP.

Taking to Twitter, Mayawati said, The Congress government in MP, like the BJP, slapped atrocious NSA against Muslims for cow slaughter. Now, the UPs BJP government booked 14 AMU students under notorious sedition charges. Both are example of state terror and condemnable. People should decide what is difference between the Congress and the BJP governments?

On Tuesday night, 14 students of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students were booked for sedition in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly raising anti-national slogans. Earlier this month, three Muslim men were jailed under the NSA for allegedly killing a cow in Madhya Pradeshs Khandwa.

Mayawatis attack on the Congress has follows what is being seen as an outreach by her new ally, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, who recently said that his party is in alliance not only with the BSP but also with the Congress. This is in contrast to the stated position of Mayawati.

Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati announced the SP-BSP tie-up for the Lok Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh last month. The two parties agreed to contest 38 Lok Sabha seats each in the state while maintaining that they would not put up candidates at Amethi and Rae Bareli, the parliamentary constituencies represented by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

The SP presidents outreach followed appointment of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as the Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh East. Her appointment is being seen by many in the party as a game changer move ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Some reports also suggest that Priyanka Gandhi is open to reciprocating Akhilesh Yadavs outreach to the Congress party provided the SP-BSP alliance agrees to offer the party more seats. The Congress, as set out by party president Rahul Gandhi, is working on the task of reviving its organisation in the political crucial state.

Priyanka Gandhi had played a key role in 2017, when the SP and the Congress joined hands to contest UP assembly elections against the BJP. The tie-up did not yield favourable results in the polls as the BJP won a huge majority in UP. The alliance, subsequently, fell apart.

In the Lok Sabha bypolls last year, the SP joined hands with the BSP and handed over an embarrassing defeat to the ruling BJP, which failed to save the Gorakhpur parliamentary seat, then represented by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Akhilesh Yadav has been open to have a truck with the Congress at both the state and the national level. However, Mayawati has been critical of the Congress. Even at the time of announcement of alliance with the SP, Mayawati had said that there was no difference between the BJP and the Congress for her.When Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar emerged from years of seclusion in January 2014 to call for the resumption of jihad against India, alarm bells went off in New Delhi.

Since then, Azhars group has been blamed for some of the most brazen and devastating terrorist assaults in India, including the September 2016 attack on an Indian Army facility at Uri that killed 19 and Thursdays suicide car bombing on a security forces convoy that claimed the lives of at least 43 troopers.

After remaining mostly confined to his base at Bahawalpur in Pakistans most populous province of Punjab for years, Azhar addressed a rally of his jihadi supporters at Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, on January 26, 2014. Even then, he wasnt seen in public  Azhar made the speech over phone.

The message, however, went out crystal clear. There are 313 fidayeen in this gathering and if a call is given, the number will go up to 3,000, he was quoted as saying at the time, as he called for the resumption of the so-called holy war against India.

Watch | Will give befitting reply to Pak: PM Modi on Pulwama attack

Follow live updates here

The rally, attended by thousands, was ostensibly organised to launch a book by Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri hanged for his role in the 2001 attack on Indias Parliament, which too was blamed on the JeM and the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Such a massive gathering couldnt have been organised within PoK without the sanction of Pakistans all-powerful military, experts said at the time. Azhars comeback was followed by an uptick in fund-raising and recruitment by JeM in Pakistans Punjab province and louder anti-India rhetoric by the groups leadership.

Many in Indias security and foreign policy establishment havent forgotten the ignominy of watching Azhar create the JeM after he was released in 1999 from an Indian prison along with two other terrorists in exchange for the passengers of an Indian airliner hijacked by Pakistan-backed operatives from Kathmandu to Kandahar.

JeM was banned in Pakistan in 2002 by then president Pervez Musharraf but it has continued its activities virtually unfettered in recent years and it has continued to publish jihadi literature such as the Zarb-e-Momin newspaper. The group was among terror organisations cited by India and its Western allies when they pressed the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to put Pakistan on a grey list for failing to crack down on terror financing.

Even more worrying for India has been the blocking by China of efforts by New Delhi and several Western governments to sanction Azhar at the UN Security Council. Since 2016, China, a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, has used what is known as a technical hold to stymie efforts by countries such as India, the US, Britain and France to sanction Azhar under Resolution 1267 for his links with al-Qaeda.

Leading strategic affairs analyst Brahma Chellaney said China had persisted with this course of action as it could use Azhar as leverage without any cost and because India had not done anything in response. He said, In a sense, the deaths of the CRFP men in Thursdays attack can be laid at the door of China, because it is protecting Pakistan and the man in-charge of JeM.

There is absolutely no cost for China in continuing with this exercise and the Indian side doesnt speak up on this issue, he said, adding India should also tread cautiously on the JeMs claim for Thursdays attack through a video featuring the purported bomber.

This claim could have been made to deflect attention from the LeT, which is an extension of the Inter-Services Intelligence. The JeM is sometimes used as a diversion, he added.India has conveyed to the US that its concerns regarding the talks with the Afghan Taliban must be addressed, people familiar with developments said on Thursday as reports emerged of Taliban negotiators plans to meet American and Pakistani officials in Islamabad next week.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Wednesday the groups negotiators will meet Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and US officials in Islamabad on February 18 during a visit at the invitation of the Pakistan government.

The US special representative for Afghan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, is expected to be in Islamabad next week as part of a six-nation tour that includes Qatar and Afghanistan. The meetings in Islamabad will be held ahead of the next round of US-Taliban talks in Doha on February 25, Mujahid said.

We have conveyed our position to the US. Our concerns have to be addressed, said an official on condition of anonymity. During a regular news briefing, external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said India is closely following developments related to reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan involving different stakeholders, and is also in very regular contact with all other players, including Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Last week, our ambassador in the US had a meeting with Mr Khalilzad, where he was briefed on the US efforts in the region and we did agree that we will continue to maintain close contact with each other... he said.India and Sweden have concluded a security protection agreement that will enable both countries to share classified information with each other, the Swedish embassy in New Delhi said on Thursday.

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Swedish counterpart Peter Hultqvist signed the pact in Stockholm on Wednesday, at a time when the Scandinavian country is eyeing projects worth billions of dollars under the Make in India initiative.

Swedish defence firm Saab is pursuing opportunities to build fighter jets and next-generation submarines in the country under the governments strategic partnership (SP) model that seeks to provide impetus to the Make in India programme.

Saab India Technologies chairman Ola Rignell on Thursday said the company was eyeing several projects in India, including plans to build 114 fighter planes and six next-generation submarines locally. Both the projects fall under the SP model.

The strategic partnership (SP) model envisages local manufacturing of major defence platforms by an Indian strategic partner who will collaborate with a foreign original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to set up production facilities in the country.

On January 31, the defence ministry approved Project 75I worth Rs 40,000 crore for building six advanced submarines in the country. The SP model covers submarines, fighter planes, helicopters and armoured vehicles.

The ministry is yet to clear platform-specific guidelines for 114 fighters under the model. Saab is offering its Gripen E fighter for this competition. Six countries will offer seven fighter jets for the Indian Air Force (IAF) contest.

The manufacturers have responded to an IAF request for information (RFI) with operational features and technical parameters of their platforms.

The IAF wants the project to be accelerated as the count of its fighter squadrons has shrunk to 31 compared to an optimum strength of 42-plus units required to fight a two-front war with China and Pakistan.

Saab is also competing with global rivals to supply 57 multi-role carrier-borne fighters (MRCBF) to the Indian Navy. French, Russian and American military contractors are also eyeing the order.India and Pakistan have proposed different border crossing points for the planned corridor to allow Indian pilgrims to visit Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistans Punjab and the matter is expected to be resolved when officials of the two sides meet next month, the external affairs ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.

New Delhi had recently provided the coordinates for a crossing point to Islamabad. From the Pakistan side, we have received a response where they have suggested an alternate border crossing point, spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told a news briefing.

Officials of the two sides, who are expected to meet in New Delhi on March 14, will take up the issue of the different coordinates for the crossing point and the Indian side is hopeful there will be an agreement on the matter, he said.

We had also proposed that we will hold technical-level discussions (among) engineers and this shouldnt be held hostage to the main meeting which will take place on March 14. We still await a response from the Pakistani side on this, Kumar said.

India believes the technical discussions will facilitate the early establishment of requisite infrastructure and finalisation of the alignment of the corridor, he added.

India and Pakistan were earlier scheduled to hold the first meeting of officials to finalise modalities for the Kartarpur corridor on March 13. A follow-up meeting is expected to be held in Pakistan when required, Indian officials had said earlier.

The two sides unveiled plans last November to build the corridor to facilitate visits without visas by Indian pilgrims to the gurdwara at the site where Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, died in 1539.

They have also said they plan to open the corridor on the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak in November 2019.The government has strongly condemned the attack on security forces in Kashmirs Pulwama that left 43 CRPF jawans dead and many others injured, demanding that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory.

The statement, issued by the Ministry of External Affairs late on Thursday evening, also called for terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammeds leader Masood Azhar to be branded as a designated terrorist by the UN under its provisions.

The statement says, The Government of India condemns in the strongest possible terms the cowardly terrorist attack on our brave security forces in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir earlier today (14 February 2019).

The statement also says, This heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries. This terror group is led by the international terrorist Masood Azhar, who has been given full freedom by Government of Pakistan to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity.

Stating that the government of India is equally resolved to fight against the menace of terorrism, the statement says, We demand that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries.

It also goes on to say, We strongly reiterate our appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM Chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan.At least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were killed and more than 20 others injured in a blast in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, news agency ANI reports. The blast was triggered by militants to target two vehicles carrying the CRPF jawans.

Death toll in the Pulwama attack is around 40, K Vijay Kumar, advisor to the Jammu and Kashmir Governor, told ANI. The blast ripped through one of the buses the jawans were travelling in. The death toll is likely to go up. (Live Updates)

A Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in, PTI report said. The bus which came under the main impact of the blast belonged to 76 battalion of the CRPF.

Also Read| Timeline of major attacks on security forces in Kashmir

As per commuters list, there were 39 personnel travelling in the bus. The IED blast reduced the bus to a mangled heap of iron and body parts could be seen strewn around the area, the agency reported.

There were 70 vehicles in the convoy and one of the vehicles came under attack. The convoy was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar, said CRPF (Operations) Inspector General Zulfiqar Hassan adding that the Jammu and Kashmir police have taken over the investigation into the terror attack.

There were about 2500 personnel in the convoy, news agency ANI quoted CRPF Director General RR Bhatnagar as saying on Pulwama attack.

Militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the blast and said it was a fidayeen attack carried out by a local youth. Police identified the terrorist as Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama. He joined the Jaish-Mohammed in 2018, PTI quoted officials as saying.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the terror attack on the CRPF convoy. Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. Sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly, PM Modi was quoted as saying by ANI.

Also Read| No words: Political leaders across parties unite in grief on J&K attack

PM Modi spoke to Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other top officials regarding the situation in the wake of the attack in Pulwama, the agency said. Singh, who spoke to Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satyapal Malik and CRPFs Bhatnagar over Pulwama attack, will be visiting Srinagar on Friday.

Reacting to the terror incident, Congress president Rahul Gandhi termed it a cowardly attack. Gandhi wrote on Twitter, Im deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a #CRPF convoy in J&K in which 10 of our brave men have been martyred and many others wounded. My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra expressed her solidarity with the families of the jawans killed in the terror attack. Priyanka Gandhi cancelled her press conference in Lucknow after observing two-minute silence for the martyrs saying, I dont think it is appropriate to talk politics right now.

Read More|Pulwama terror attack: Despicable act, says India, asks UN to brand JeMs Masood Azhar a terrorist

I want to say that not only the Congress but the entire country is standing shoulder to shoulder with the families of our brave soldiers. But we must also reflect and be concerned about the high number of casualties in Kashmir, said Priyanka Gandhi before calling off her press interaction.

Union minister Arun Jaitley promised unforgettable lesson to the militants for the terror attack. He said, Attack on CRPF in #Pulwama, J&K is a cowardice & condemnable act of terrorists. Nation salutes martyred soldiers and we all stand united with families of martyrs. We pray for speedy recovery of the injured. Terrorists will be given unforgettable lesson for their heinous act.

The incident took place at Lethpora, about 30 km from Srinagar on the Jammu-Srinagar highway around 3.15 pm. Jammu and Kashmir police spokesperson has confirmed that it was an improvised explosive device (IED) blast.The explosion was followed by gunshots aimed at the security forces in Pulwama district of the state.

The IED was placed in a vehicle, which was parked on the national highway, guarded by the CRPF, Jammu and Kashmir police and the army. The security forces have begun a search operation.

The news agency, quoting Jammu and Kashmir Raj Bhawan PRO, reported that Governor Malik blamed the Pulwama attack on forces from across the border.

Read More| Video shot after massive blast captures horror of Kashmirs suicide attack

Forces responsible for the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir are desperate and frustrated and just want to prove their presence. Visibly it seems to be guided from across border as Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility, Mallik said, according to ANI.

Following the terror attack, the Congress mounted its attack on the Narendra Modi government. Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala condemned the cowardly terror attack on our jawans in Pulwama.

On Twitter, he said, Our homage to the 18 brave hearts who made the supreme sacrifice and condolences to their family. Uri, Pathankot, Pulwama- the terror list and compromise of National Security by Modi government continues unabated.

This is the 18th big terror attack in the last 5 years under this Modi Govt. When will the 56-inch chest reply, ANI quoted Surjewala as saying.

The Jammu-Srinagar highway incident is one of the deadliest terror attacks on the security forces in the state. In September 2016, militants targeted Uri army camp in the state killing 19 soldiers.

Also Read| PM Modi speaks to Doval, Rajnath on Kashmir bombing, CCS meeting tomorrow

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah called the attack a reminiscent of pre-2004 days in the Valley. Jaish has claimed the blast as a suicide (fidaeen) attack reminiscent of the dark days of militancy pre-2004-05, Abdullah wrote on Twitter adding, I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved.

PDP chief and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the terror attack in Pulwama. She said, No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?

Extremely shocking news coming from Pulwama (J&K). I strongly condemn the terror attack on CRPF convoy in which many casualties are feared. India must stand united in this moment of grief, said Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also expressed condolences to the families of the jawans killed in the terror attack. Saddened that 13 CRPF jawans became martyrs today in Pulwama. We salute our brave jawans and extend our solidarity and condolences to their families. Our prayers for those injured. We wish them a speedy recovery, reads her post on Twitter.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is monitoring the situation in Kashmir post-Pulwama attack. Senior CRPF officials are briefing him on the situation.Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy continued his sit-in protest against lieutenant governor Kiran Bedi outside her residence for the second day along with his ministerial colleagues on Thursday. He has been protesting against Bedis negative stand towards his governments proposals awaiting her approval.

Narayanasamy and his colleagues slept on a pavement near Bedis residence wearing black shirts on Wednesday night in support of their demand that she sanction 39 government proposals, including a free rice scheme.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) functionaries, too, joined the ruling Congresss protest even as Bedi left for New Delhi on Thursday. News agency Press Trust of India quoted an unnamed source and reported she would return on February 20 and has invited Narayanasamy for a discussion a day later.

Narayanasamy maintained their protest would continue until the proposals are cleared. Even if it is not possible to immediately concede all the 39 pleas, [Bedi]... can give her nod to some of the important schemes including the free rice scheme and grants, he said.

He said Bedi has no powers at all. She has to only be a post office and sign papers which have been sent by the council of ministers. She has no right to touch cabinet decisions. She is vetoing decisions. She is being encouraged by the Prime Minister to create problems for our government, news agency Asian News International quoted Narayanasamy as saying.

Bedi wrote a letter to Narayanasamy calling his protest unlawful. Instead of waiting for my response to your February 7 letter, you have come to Raj Nivas, demanding a reply in this unlawful manner, she said.

This method [sit-in] is unheard of from a person of your position. Public works department minister A Namassivayam referred to Bedis Delhi visit and said this shows that she does not respect the popular government.

Barricades were erected around Bedis office to keep the protesters away and central forces were deployed.

Narayanasamy had earlier led a protest in front of Parliament in New Delhi on January 4, demanding the Centre sanction statehood for Puducherry and replace Bedi. The two have been at loggerheads since Bedi assumed office in May 2016.

(With agency inputs)Political leaders cutting across party lines have condemned the attack on a security forces convoy that killed at least 44 CRPF men dead on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on Thursday.

The attack occurred when the a vehicle laden with explosives rammed into one of the convoy vehicles at Lethpora in Avantipura district. (Live Updates)

Among the first to react to the attack was National Conference leader, Omar Abdullah, who took to Twitter and wrote, Terrible news coming from the valley. A number of CRPF soldiers are reported to have been killed & injured in an IED blast. I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured and condolences to the families of the bereaved.

Condemning the attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the sacrifices of the security personnel shall not go in vain.

Also read: Timeline of major attacks on security forces in Kashmir

Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly, the PM wrote on Twitter.

Also read: Explosive-laden vehicle rams into CRPF convoy in Kashmir, 18 jawans killed

Congress president Rahul Gandhi prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.

Im deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a #CRPF convoy in J&K in which many of our brave CRPF men have been martyred and a large number wounded, some critically. My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured, he tweeted.

Condemning the attack, union finance minister Arun Jaitley said that the terrorists would be given an unforgettable lesson.

Attack on CRPF in #Pulwama, J&K is a cowardice & condemnable act of terrorists. Nation salutes martyred soldiers and we all stand united with families of martyrs. We pray for speedy recovery of the injured. Terrorists will be given unforgettable lesson for their heinous act, the senior BJP leader tweeted.

Also read: Maar diya, Maar diya: Video captures horror of Pulwama terror attack

Condemning the attack and holding a two-minute silence to pay homage the martyred jawans in the attack, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra called off her press conference in Lucknow.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee condemned the violence and wrote in a tweet, Saddened that 13 CRPF jawans became martyrs today in Pulwama. We salute our brave jawans and extend our solidarity and condolences to their families. Our prayers for those injured. We wish them a speedy recovery... More news coming in that the death toll of CRPF jawans at Pulwama has now risen. We condemn this violence. Thoughts and prayers with the grieving families of our brave martyrs.

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said, I dont have enough words to condemn this attack. Border skirmishes and surgical strikes are leading to nothing. NDA Govt and all political parties must come together and reach a solution to end this bloodshed.

Also read: Uri attack: 17soldiers killed, army says Pakistan-based Jaish involved

BJP chief Amit Shah tweeted, Pained beyond words by the terror attack on our soldiers in Pulwama (J&K). It is an act of cowardice. My deepest condolences are with the families of our soldiers who have lost their lives. Our forces will remain firm against such acts of terror and defeat them.

Condemning the attack, General VK Singh tweeted that the blood of the soldiers will be avenged.

As a soldier and a citizen of India, my blood boils at the spineless and cowardly attacks. 18 brave hearts from the @crpfindia laid down their lives in Pulwama. I salute their selfless sacrifice and promise that every drop of our soldiers blood will be avenged.

AAP convenor and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed shock at the news.

Extremely shocking news coming from Pulwama (J&K). I strongly condemn the terror attack on CRPF convoy in which many casualties are feared. India must stand united in this moment of grief, he tweeted.The Chief Justice of India on Wednesday terminated the services of two court masters of Justice RF Narimans court after it was alleged that they altered a court order in connection with a contempt case against Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani.

Exercising his disciplinary powers as an administrative head under the Supreme Court rules, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi issued the directive against the two employees without constituting a disciplinary committee to enquire into the matter.

The two court masters  one has served for 30 years and the other for 20  were initially suspended on February 6 pending an inquiry into their actions. Court masters are officers of the court who record court proceedings and also orders dictated by judges in open court.

The controversy pertains to an order passed by a bench of Justices Nariman and Vineet Saran ordering personal appearance of Anil Ambani in a contempt petition filed by Ericsson. Though the bench on January 7 ordered his personal appearance, the order uploaded on the net did not reflect so.

On January 9, the matter was mentioned by a junior advocate representing Ericsson who pointed out the error. A revised copy of the order, seeking Anil Ambanis personal appearance, was uploaded on the same day and sent to the branch a day later. Both orders are available on the official website of the Supreme Court.

Almost a month later, on February 4, Ericssons lawyer handed over a copy of January 7 order to the court and complained of alleged tampering. Following this the two officials were suspended and administrative order was issued to initiate an enquiry against them.Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that the slogan Chowkidar chor hai is famous all over the country.

Earlier, there used to be the slogan achche din and you used to say ayenge. But today, that slogan has been replaced by chowkidaar chor hai. So much so that even the former French president also says chowkidaar chor hai, Rahul Gandhi said at a Jan Aakrosh rally at Valsad in Gujarat.

The Congress chief began his assault on PM Modi with the Rafale issue and alleged, The PM took money from the air force and air force pilots and gave it to Anil Ambani.

He said that he had asked the prime minister four questions on the Rafale deal.

The PM spoke for 90 minutes, looked here, there and everywhere, but did not answer a single question from the four that I had asked, Rahul Gandhi said.

From Rafale, Rahul Gandhi moved on to the issue of loan waivers for farmers, and claimed that the PM had outright refused to waive the loans of farmers.

Also read: Rafale, the fighter jet with 7 lives, survives amid row

The farmers of the country are asking the PM to waive off their loans, but both the PM and Arun Jaitley say they will not do it because it is not their policy. On the other hand, they waive off loans worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore of people like Anil Ambani, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya, Rahul said.

He went on to give the example of how the newly formed Congress governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh waived off the loans of farmers within two days of coming to power.

It didnt take us 10 days, we did it in 2 days. There is no dearth of money, Rahul Gandhi said.

Listing out the projects that had been started by the BJP government such as the Bharat Mala Project, the Bullet train project and the industrial corridor project, Rahul Gandhi said, We arent against them. But the farmers and tribals need justice. If you can give the Rafale contract to Anil Ambani, you must give justice to the farmers and tribals as well.

He said that in Gujarat, Modi claims that the government is working on the Bharat Mala Project.

It is not the Bharat Mala project. It is the Bharat mara project. They are killing the country, Rahul said.

Touching upon the issue of demonetisation, Rahul said that when Modi announced the note ban, no rich industrialist like Anil Ambani stood in line, but it was the poor, the farmers and the tribals who were fored to stand in lines.

The rich got their black money converted to white through back channels means, Rahul Gandhi said, claiming that the prime ministers move had adversely affected the small and medium traders.

Now, when you go to Modi and ask him to waive off the loans, he calls you thieves and refuses to waive your loans, Rahul said.

Rahul Gandhi then went on to talk about the Goods and Services Tax, referring to it as Gabbar Singh Tax, he said that the small and medium traders had not understood it.

If Congress comes to power, well simplify it, he said.

The Congress president went on to speak about a revolution that he and his party were planning to bring about if his party came to power.

Weve been planning for some time and have decided to bring about another revolution like green revolution, white revolution etc. Well bring minimum income guarantee. The money will be transferred to peoples accounts the same way Modi transfers money to Anil Ambani and Mehul Choksis accounts. But it will not be the Rs 3.50 a day that Modi is transferring to the poor farmers accounts. It will be far higher than that, Rahul said.A youth leader of the Samajwadi Party has accused police and members of the ABVP, students wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), of beating her up during a protest at Allahabad University against the Yogi Adityanath governments decision to stop Akhilesh Yadav from going to Prayagraj.

Richa Singh, who describes herself as the first elected women president Allahabad universitys students union on Twitter, tweeted her photographs from a hospital bed.

I was brutally attacked by Allahabad police and ABVP goons yesterday during a students protest at Allahabad University, I am suffering jaw and head injury and admitted in http://hospital.At the same time police has framed falce charges and launched an fir (sic), Richa Singh posted on Wednesday.

The protests were organised after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav was stopped on Tuesday at the Lucknow airport from flying to Prayagraj. 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. He later lashed out at the Yogi Adityanath government, saying it believes in roko, thoko neeti (policy of stop and encounter).

I was brutally attacked by Allahabad police and ABVP goons yesterday during a student's protest at Allahabad University, I amsuffering jaw and head injury and admitted in https://t.co/I6DzS42Lmw the same time police has framed falce charges and launched an fir. pic.twitter.com/8TsfgyI0hh  Richa Singh (@RichaSingh_Alld) February 13, 2019

Chief minister 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.

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.

Read| BJP is dictatorial, say oppn leaders after police stop Akhilesh at airport

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.

The partys legislators raised the issue in Uttar Pradesh assembly on Wednesday as angry SP leaders and ally Bahujan Samaj Party members stalled proceedings of both the Houses.

Samajwadi Party (SP) and Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha (SCS) workers staged protests across the state and some were baton-charged by police at the busy Balson crossing in Prayagraj on Tuesday afternoon.

Also read| Is BJP so afraid of SP-BSP alliance, asks Mayawati after Akhilesh stopped at Lucknow airportBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah will meet the partys leaders from the countrys northeast in Guwahati on February 17 amid protests in the region over the proposed amendment to the citizenship law.

The BJPs allies in the region are upset over the amendment that seeks to make it easier for non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to get Indian citizenship. They say it would encourage more migrations to the region, where a six-year agitation in Assam sought expulsion of Bangladeshi immigrants irrespective of their religion in the 1980s.

A BJP leader said Shah has invited BJPs office bearers and chief ministers from the region to discuss the strategy for the 2019 parliamentary election. He added Shah would discuss how to build a campaign around the citizenship amendment.

We will seek feedback from our leaders from different states and finalise a strategy on how to go about the [Citizenship Amendment] bill. We might make it an election issue in the northeast, the BJP leader said.

The bill is set to lapse on June 3 as it could not be tabled in Rajya Sabha, which was adjourned sine die on Wednesday.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 10 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the northeast in 2014. It has defeated the Congress in all northeastern states and is expecting to win 20-21 seats.

BJP suffered a setback when Asom Gana Parishad quit the NDA over the proposed amendment. Some other allies, too, have expressed their reservations over it.

Assams finance minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday regretted the bill could not be passed in Rajya Sabha and called is a defeat for Assam. Without the bill, 17 [assembly] constituencies will go to Bangladeshi Muslims, he told journalists in Assams Dudhnoi. Who will save the [Assamese] community?Amid controversies surrounding the Rafale deal, Minister of State for External Affairs and former army chief General VK Singh has raised questions over the capability of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to manufacture good quality fighter planes. General Singh said the parts of the aircraft (made by the HAL) fall off on the runway.

You have seen HAL right? Our two pilots died. Programme is running three and a half years late (and) only eight aircraft has been refurbished...All parts of aircraft fall off on the runway. Is that the capability? And then we say that HAL is not getting work, news agency ANI quoted General Singh as saying at a function in Pune on Wednesday.

The Union minister was referring to the February 1 incident in which two pilots died in a crash of Mirage 2000 trainer aircraft in Bengaluru. The Mirage aircraft was on an acceptance sortie following an upgrade by the HAL.

The HAL has been at the centre of the Congresss charge against the Narendra Modi government in the defence agreement with France. Congress president Rahul Gandhi has alleged that the Modi government snatched the Rafale deal from the HAL and gave it to the Reliance Defence, a firm of businessman Anil Ambani which is one of the offset partners of the Dassault Aviation, the supplier of the fighter jets.

Gandhi has said that under the Rafale deal being negotiated by the Congress-led UPA government, the HAL was to get the licence to manufacture 108 fighter jets after transfer of technology by the Dassault Aviation.

The government has maintained that the Rafale offer made during the UPA regime was an unworkable deal forcing it to scrap the whole process and initiate fresh negotiations with the French government. The Rafale deal was signed between the governments of India and France in 2016 for the purchase of 36 fighter jets in flyaway condition.

India was expected to buy 126 Rafale fighter jets including 26 in flyaway condition, according to the Rafale deal being discussed during UPA rule.

The former army chief also dismissed Gandhis allegation that the Modi government favoured Ambanis firm. In Rafale case, it is the French, who decided the offset firm. The objective of the offset is to allow the industry to thrive here...if their firm is not satisfied with HAL, it is their decision...it is not the decision of the Indian government, news agency PTI quoted General Singh as saying.Even as the Mahan Dal has failed to win seats in Lok Sabha or assembly polls in the past, it has made its presence felt in central and western parts of Uttar Pradesh, by garnering ample votes in elections. The Congress on Wednesday formed an alliance with the Mahan Dal to fight the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Launched in 2008 by Keshav Dev Maurya, the party enjoys the support of other backward castes (OBC), particularly Mauryas, Kushwahas, Sainis and Shakyas.

The partys influence can be gauged from the fact that major political parties, including the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BSP) and Congress, had been sending feelers to Maurya for an alliance in the assembly or Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress had contested the 2012 assembly election as well as 2014 Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the Mahan Dal.

In the past, the outfit has fielded candidates on Badaun, Nagina and Etah Lok Sabha seats.

Ahead of the 2017 assembly elections, the SP and the Congress had held talks with Maurya for an alliance. He was even called to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) office in New Delhi to hold talks with Rahul Gandhi. The alliance, however, could not materialise after the Congress strategist told Maurya to merge his party into the Congress. Maurya turned down the proposal stating that he was ready to discuss seat-sharing but not merger. Later, the Congress finalised its alliance with the SP.

Ahead of 2017 assembly elections, he was invited by JD(U) leader and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to discuss formation of a grand alliance of smaller parties in UP.The JD(U), whose relation with the BJP had turned sour during the assembly election, had also invited Peace Party, Apna Dal, Nishad Party, Bahujan Samaj Swabhiman Sangharsh Samiti (BS-4) and Bahujan Mukti Party to join the alliance. The alliance failed to open account as the BJP swept the state.

Talking to HT, Maurya said the Kushwaha, Maurya, Saini and Shakya communities constituted 14% of the OBC vote in the state.

Votes of these communities are decisive on several seats in west UP. The SP-BSP alliance has little respect for the community and uses it to bag votes. Congress has assured equality to the community and will invite Mahan Dals leaders to share dais with top leaders, he said.

The Mahan Dal will not field candidates in Lok Sabha election but campaign for the Congress on all 80 seats. Our alliance with the Congress will continue in the 2022 assembly election, he said.Rajiv Saxena, one of the accused in the high-profile AgustaWestland chopper scam, is likely to become an approver in the case once he is granted bail, according to people aware of the court proceedings.

Saxena, who became on January 30 the second most important suspect in the case to be brought in from the United Arab Emirates after the extradition of Christian Michel, is accused of laundering proceeds of crime.

Only after bail, said one of the people, when asked about the possibility of Saxena becoming a witness for the Enforcement Directorate which is investigating the money laundering aspect of the 3,600 crore irregularities allegedly linked to the purchase of helicopters from AgustaWestland.

On Wednesday, a Delhi court refused to grant him any relief and extended his judicial custody by a day. The court said that it will decide on the bail after examining a report from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (Aiims) which will assess Saxenas medical condition.

Saxena, an accountant, had sought bail citing serious health problems. The ED on Wednesday said it did not oppose his bail plea. We said on the first date itself when he was brought that he is cooperating. And we had said so in our remand application. I am not persecutor but a prosecutor, said EDs special public prosecutor DP Singh.

The ED did not respond to requests to comment on a possible attempt by Saxena to help the investigation.

The submission drew a sharp response from special judge, Arvind Kumar, who said, we are recording your submission. When you arrested him, you were aware of his health condition, and then you sought his remand thrice. On what grounds? he asked.

The ED representative said the agency had apprehensions of his security. And he was supposed to tell us names (of powerful people), Singh said. What about the security now, asked the court, to which Singh said the government may offer him protection if he sought it.

Saxenas counsel Geeta Luthra submitted earlier that he was suffering from advanced stage leukaemia, radiating back pain, numbness and heaviness in leg, neck pain and muscle spasms.

If this is not the case of medical bail, I do not know what is, argued Luthra.

Michel and Saxena are among those charge-sheeted in a case that involved bribes to help Italy-based Finmeccanica (now Leonardo Group) win the contract  signed and eventually scrapped under the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government  for 12 helicopters primarily meant to transport VVIPs.

Several parameters in the original tender were tweaked to swing the deal in favour of Finmeccanica, and several Indians, including former air force chief Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi have been accused of being a part of the conspiracy. All of the suspects have denied the allegations.A two judge bench of the Supreme Court pronounced its judgment in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) versus the Centre case on Thursday on a bunch of petitions seeking clarification from it on six contentious issues. These issues were related to jurisdiction over the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB), services, appropriate government under the Commission of Enquiry Act, electricity reforms, revision of minimum rates of agricultural land and the power to appoint special public prosecutor.

The Supreme Court bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan concurred on five of these issues in their judgments while referred the matter related to services to a bigger bench for final disposal.

 Anti-Corruption Branch: The AAP came to power in Delhi in 2015 on the promise of fighting corruption following an anti-graft agitation led by activists Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal among others. The ACB became a bone of contention between the Arvind Kejriwal government of Delhi and the Centre in mid-2015 after the Lieutenant Governor replaced the ACB chief.

The AAP then alleged that the LG acted at the behest of the Centre, which feared that the ACB would lodge a case against a Union minister. The Supreme Court ruling has now settled the matter in Centres favour.

 Services: The transfer and posting of officials have been another point of conflict between the AAP government and the Centre. The latest Supreme Court judgment is divided on the question of jurisdiction.

Justice Sikri ruled that the LG can order transfer and posting of officers of the rank of joint secretary and above (i.e. belonging to the all India public services) but in the case of DANICS (for Union Territories) officers, the Delhi government should have the power to order transfer and posting.

Justice Bhushan differed with him and the matter was referred to a bigger bench. The issue remains unresolved and in such a case, July 2018 verdict of the Supreme Court will continue to prevail. It had placed services under the LGs jurisdiction. But the LG had to work on aid and advice of the elected government.

 Commission of Enquiry Act: The question before the Supreme Court was to define appropriate government under this law. The court settled the matter in favour of the Centre.

 Electricity reforms: The AAP government emerged as winner in the matters of electricity reforms. The Supreme Court ruled that the NCT government holds jurisdiction over the matters related to electricity.

 Revision of minimum rates of agricultural land: As a matter of rule, land in Delhi is a subject that falls under the jurisdiction of the Centre. However, the Supreme Court ruled that the Delhi government has the power to revise the minimum rates of agricultural land. In case of differences, the LG can refer the matter to the President, that is, the Centre.

 Power to appoint Special Public Prosecutor: The Centre had contended that the AAP government did not have independent power to appoint special public prosecutor. The Supreme Court overruled the Centres objection to settle the matter in favour of the Kejriwal government.

The Kejriwal government has been at loggerheads with LG Anil Baijal and had a tumultuous working relation with his predecessor Najeeb Jung. Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal accused them both of them of creating obstacles in the smooth functioning of the AAP government at the behest of the BJP-led central government.

The power struggle between the AAP and the Centre began soon after formation of the Kejriwal government in Delhi in 2015. The Supreme Court pronounced a verdict over the distribution of power between the NCT government and the Centre in July last year, when it also said that the LG did not have independent decision making powers and should act in consultation with the elected government.A suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives rammed a bus carrying Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troops, part of a large paramilitary convoy, on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on Thursday, was feared to have killed at least 40 men while reducing the vehicle to a mangled heap of metal, in the deadliest terror attack in three decades of insurgency  one, which many experts said, would evoke a strong response from India.

At least 20 more were injured in the attack in the Awantipora area of Pulwama district. Terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad, which Indian authorities say is backed by Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack that took place in Lethpora, about 30 km from Srinagar. While the police put the official death toll at 33, security officials in Srinagar and New Delhi said at least 40 people had died.

Watch | Pulwama terror attack: Govt vows swift response

Jaish said the suicide bombing was carried out by a local militant whom it identified as Adil Ahmad Dar of Pulwama.He joined the Jaish in 2018, PTI cited unnamed officials as saying. The Jaish claimed in a statement that the vehicle was carrying 350 kg of explosives, which Indian authorities did not confirm.

Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack, PM Narendra Modi said in a statement as political parties denounced the attack in unison. Sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly.

Also read | 44 CRPF jawans killed in Pulwama terror attack were returning from leave

Congress president Rahul Gandhi wrote on Twitter: Im deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a #CRPF convoy in J&K in which many of our brave CRPF men have been martyred and a large number wounded, some critically. In a tweet, party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala charged the Modi government with compromising national security and said terror attacks had taken place unabated under it.

The attack may ratchet up tensions between India and Pakistan. Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik said the fact that Jaish owned up to carrying out the attack indicated that Pakistan may have had a hand in it. Minister of state in the Prime Ministers Office, Jitender Singh, told television channels that the attack had led to a war- like situation.

This is a bigger attack than Uri. Unlike the Uri attack, a Pakistan-based terror group has claimed responsibility There will be much more pressure on Pakistan, but my hunch is, because a Pakistan-based group has claimed responsibility, New Delhi too, will have to act. The form and shape of the retaliation will be the governments prerogative, said General DS Hooda, former Northern Army commander.

The ministry of external affairs, while condemning the heinous and despicable act perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries called for its chief Masood Azhar to be listed as a designated terrorist under the sanctions committee of the UN Security Council.

The security establishments at the Centre and in the state, which is under federal rule, were huddled in meetings to take stock of the situation following the attack that precedes general elections, likely to be held simultaneously with state elections, in the spring of 2019. National security adviser Ajit Doval was monitoring the situation and senior CRPF officials were briefing him.

The Cabinet committee on security affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister, is to meet on Friday to decide on and articulate Indias response. Home minister Rajnath Singh will be visiting Srinagar on Friday to assess the situation.

Also read | Pulwama suicide bomber, 22, lived 10km from spot

Thursdays attack was the deadliest since insurgency broke out in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989. In the previous worst terror strike, 38 people were killed in a car bomb attack in Srinagar near the legislative assembly in October 2001.

In September 2016, four terrorists attacked an Indian Army brigade headquarters in Uri, near the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan, killing 19 army personnel.That attack was the spark for a retaliatory surgical strike on terrorist camps across the LoC by Indian forces just days later.

Near the town of Kaluchak in 2002, three militants attacked a tourist bus from Himachal Pradesh and killed seven people after which they raided the nearby army family quarters and shot 23 people to death  10 children, eight women and five soldiers.

According to some accounts, in Thursdays attack, the driver of the car positioned himself in the opposite direction on a lane next to the one on which the CRPF convoy was travelling on, and swerved and rammed the CRPF bus when he noticed the unarmoured vehicle.

CRPFs inspector general (operations) Zulfiqar Hassan said the Jammu and Kashmir police had taken over the investigation of the terror attack There were around 78 vehicles in the convoy and one of the vehicles came under attack. The convoy was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar, he said.

The CRPF convoy of around 2,500 troopers left the Channi Rama transit camp in Jammu around 3:30am and was headed to the Bakshi Stadium camp in Srinagar when the vehicle was attacked, said Jammu-based CRPF spokesman Ashish Kumar Jha. From Bakshi Stadium, they were to have travelled to their respective camps.

Over the past week, no CRPF envoy had been able to travel on the highway because it had been blocked by snow, Jha said. Therefore, the number of the CRPF jawans [in the convoy] swelled. The incident happened around 3.15pm, he said.

When asked if there had been a security lapse, he said, A thorough probe will be conducted but such a large convoy is visible from a distance itself. CRPF jawans belonged to different battalions. Points of halt and resuming journey of such convoys are always fixed.

Also read | No words: Political leaders across parties unite in grief on J&K attack

International governments, and national and regional political parties condemned the attack.

The U.S. Mission in India strongly condemns todays terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir. We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. The United States stands alongside India in confronting terror and defeating it, the US ambassador to India Ken Juster tweeted.

The French government also condemned in the strongest terms the vile attack that struck India. Sri Lanka and Maldives, too, expressed support after Thursdays attack.

In a message, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina said: Bangladesh remains steadfast in its commitment against terrorism of all forms and manifestations and maintains a zero tolerance policy against any kind of terrorist activities.

Home minister Rajnath Singh said: Todays dastardly attack on CRPF in Pulwama is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.

His colleague Arun Jaitley tweeted: Terrorists will be given an unforgettable lesson for their heinous act.

Congress president Rahul Gandhis sister , Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who joined active politics last month,said in Lucknow: We demand that this government take concrete steps to ensure such terror attacks dont happen in the future.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said the attack was reminiscent of pre-2004 days in the Valley. Jaish has claimed the blast as a suicide [fidaeen] attack reminiscent of the dark days of militancy pre-2004-05, Abdullah wrote on Twitter, adding, I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved.

Peoples Democratic Party chief and former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said: No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?

(with agency inputs)Three senior students of a nursing college in Rajasthans Udaipur have been arrested for forcing four of their juniors to drink alcohol and undress while ragging them for five hours, police said on Thursday.

The arrested students have been identified as Giriraj Changani, 21, Mohit Kumawat, 20, and Udit Kumar Garg, 20. One of the accused is still absconding, according to police.

The four senior students have also been suspended from the college associated with the government-run Ravindra Nath Tagore Medical College for six months. A fine of Rs 25,000 has been slapped on each of them.

The first-year students registered a complaint against the second- and third-year students on Wednesday after they were ragged on Monday and a case was lodged at the Bhupalpura Police Station in this regard.

They said the senior students forced them to drink liquor, strip and made to sit naked for hours like a cock.

Three second-year students have been arrested in the case while a third-year student is on the run, investigation officer Arjun Singh said.

One of the victims, a first-year student, informed us that he was sitting along with three of his batchmates at one of the places in Bhupalpura area. Around 6.30pm on Wednesday, one of the seniors came there and asked him to come to a second-year students rented house in the same area, Singh said.

There were liquor bottles in the room. The first year students were forcefully made to drink liquor. This torture went on for five hours after which the students were let off at 12 midnight.

The senior students were arrested under section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 327 (an illegal act), 342 (wrongful confinement) 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of Indian Penal Code.In a major terror attack in South Kashmirs Awantipora area, a suicide bomber targeted a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy, killing at least 42 CRPF personnel and wounding others. Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility for the attack and identified the bomber as a local militant. The attack is worse than the one in Uri, where terrorists killed 19 army men. The Narendra Modi government responded to the Uri attack by carrying out surgical strikes across the Line of Control and hitting multiple targets. In a departure from the past, the government even took credit for the strikes. The governments temptation  especially in an election year  will be to go for a muscular response to avenge the killings, but it must weigh its options and choose with care.

The prime minister and his colleagues are already speaking in terms of an unforgettable response. The government  any government, for that matter  has the right to choose its response. New Delhi must, however, remember that the surgical strikes of 2016, to avenge the Uri deaths, had little impact on the ground reality in the Valley, particularly in South Kashmir, which was the epicentre of yesterdays attack. The Jaish, headquartered in Pakistan, has for long targeted India. It was also responsible for the terror attack in Pathankot in 2016. On Thursday, the terror organisation used a local Kashmiri recruit for its suicide attack.

Restraint is not easy when security personnel are killed in such large numbers, but it is important that the Centre draws a fine line. It must definitely use the proverbial stick to go after terrorists. At the same time, it must not forget that politics lies at the heart of the insurgency. Soldiers will be the boots on the ground, but they dont deserve to die. While the government prepares its response, it must also pay heed to the rather ominous reality of locals being willing to turn their bodies into missiles.Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has said that the Supreme Court order in favour of the Centre in the AAP versus the Centre case is an injustice for all of Delhi.

Addressing a press conference after the Supreme Court delivered its judgment on division of powers, Kejriwal asked how the Delhi government was supposed to function without any powers.

If a government cant even transfer its officers, how is it supposed to function? The party that has 67 seats doesnt have the rights but the party that won 3 seats has those rights, he said. (Live Updates)

Watch: Supreme Court order unconstitutional: AAPs Arvind Kejriwal

Saying that it went against the tenets of democracy and is against the Constitution, he said the Delhi government will seek legal remedies and will speak to its lawyers on whether to appeal against the judgment or not.

What sort of democracy is this? Why is Delhi government not powerful? How can the opposition run the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB)? How can the government function without power?, he said.

He alleged that the Centre was creating hurdles in the smooth functioning of the Delhi government.

Also read: Transfers, postings, advertisements: Times when Kejriwal clashed with the Centre

Why does the chief minister and the duly elected government of Delhi have to sit on a 10-day dharna outside the LGs home to get files cleared? he said.

Saying that the AAP had formed the government in Delhi after winning 67 of the 70 assembly seats, he urged the people of Delhi to vote for the AAP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and make it victorious.

That is only way we will be able to ensure full statehood for Delhi and change the rules, he said.

Earlier in the day, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court had given its verdict on the Aam Aadmi Party versus the Centre case gave control over the ACB to the Centre. Apart from the ACB, the Supreme Court also gave the power to institute commissions of enquiry to the Centre.

At the same time, the Court brought under the Delhi government the electricity and revenue departments (fixing of circle rates), posting and transfer of Grade 3 and Grade 4 officers, appointing special public prosecutor and appointment of directors in discoms.

Addressing a press conference minutes after the Delhi chief minister, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, said, Arvind Kejriwal did not address a press conference, he in fact dealt a contempt of Supreme Court of India.

He said that the BJP was planning to move a contempt application against Kejriwal.

The kind of language an elected chief minister has used for the Supreme Court is shameful, Patra said.

He said that Kejriwal was attacking democracy and the Constitution by his statement that the courts order was unconstitutional.

By saying that the people of Delhi had the key, are you threatening the Supreme Court? You are instigating the people, your cadre to go and attack the Supreme Court justices and the Supreme Court just because the law was upheld, just because the Constitution of this country was upheld, and the Supreme Court gave its order in consonance with the Constitution of the country, you are instigating your people, he said.

Questioning Kejriwals statement that the AAP had run its government wonderfully in Delhi, Patra asked how it had done so when it was going on claiming that the Centre wasnt letting it work.

On one side you say you ran a wonderful government and did a lot of things, but on the other hand you say that you are not being allowed to do anything. These contradictory statements of Kejriwal are nothing but contradictory in nature, Patra said.

Kejriwal has declared war against the Supreme Court of India. We will file a contempt petition against Kejriwal, patra said.

Patra also hit out at the various opposition leaders who had held a Save Democracy rally in Delhi on Wednesday.

Where are all the leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar who claimed that democracy has to be saved. Now that Kejriwal is attacking the Supreme Court, where are they?, he said.

Patra even coined a new name for Arvind Kejriwal as well as the AAP.

Mr Kejriwal should be known as Anarchist Kejriwal and the AAP should be known as Allegation, Agitation and Propaganda party because that is what they keep doing. They allege, agitate and try to promote their own propaganda, Patra said.A manhunt continued on Wednesday for the owner of a budget hotel in Karol Bagh where 17 people were killed in a major fire a day earlier, as officials across agencies  Delhi Police, fire department, and municipal corporation  pointed out glaring safety violations that aggravated the tragedy in the densely populated area of the national capital.

A Delhi court sent two accused  general manager Rajender and manager Vikash  to two days police custody, even as the owner of the building, Shardendu Goel, remained absconding after the incident, the police said.

According to an FIR filed by the police, there was no panic alarm at the hotel that could have warned guests and staff about the fire. The complaint also said that the lone emergency exit at the hotel was closed, blocking evacuations once the blaze began.

The victims of the fire at Hotel Arpit Palace, suspected to have been triggered by an electrical short-circuit early on Tuesday, included an Indian Revenue Service officer and a chef who tried to escape by jumping off the five-storey building.

Read | Why fire at Karol Baghs Arpit Palace hotel claimed 17 lives?

On Wednesday, officials pointed out civic and planning neglect in the area, which has several other hotels that are under the scanner for possible fire and safety violations. While building by-laws do not apply in Karol Baghs busy commercial area as it is to be developed as a business district, the new notifications are stuck in limbo.

Markets such as Chandni Chowk, Sadar Bazaar and commercial areas of Karol Bagh were to be developed as business districts. We have prepared the development control norms for these areas, said Shamsher Singh, former chief town planner of south and north corporations. He worked on the redevelopment plan for the area.

North corporation mayor Adesh Gupta said the Delhi government is yet to notify the plan. We had sent the plan to the Delhi government in 2017. They raised a few objections and sought clarification of certain aspects of the plan, which we had clarified. But they are yet to notify it due to which we are not able to take up planned development of the area, Gupta said.

Officials of the Delhi government could not be reached for a response.

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, the police said. There were around 55 guests occupying 40 rooms and about a dozen staff members when the fire broke out.

The hotels owner, who is 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).

A fire department official said while inspections are conducted and clearance certificates issued every three years, annual inspections are not conducted, allowing many property owners to make illegal modifications following approvals. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the fire department spotted many modifications to the design submitted at the time of the last inspection, which was held in December 2017.

Some of the fire safety violations found at the hotel were: heavy use of smoke-causing material such as asbestos; use of compressed sawdust in woodwork that can cause flames to spread; fire exit were locked every night; ventilation outlets were blocked by design changes; hose pipes were not connected to sources of water, and fire extinguishers were not functional.

The FIR mentioned several other violations, including unauthorised operation of a restaurant on the rooftop and the lack of safety signage at crucial points in the building.

More than 36 hours after the fire, one of the deceased was yet to be identified. The rooftop restaurants supervisor, Lal Chand, was still missing a day after the accident. His son Himanshu said he checked all bodies but could not identify Chand.A medium category fire broke out in a paper card factory in Delhis Naraina Industrial Area on Thursday morning, days after a blaze at a hotel in Karol Bagh killed 17 people, news agency ANI reported.

At least 23 fire tenders are present at the factory in Phase I, ANI reported. Visuals showed huge flames leaping out of the buildings windows.

No casualties have been reported so far.

#WATCH A medium category fire broke out at a paper card factory in Naraina Industrial Area, Phase I, early morning today; Total 23 fire tenders engaged in fire fighting operations, no casualties reported pic.twitter.com/l6wiOjfELO  ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2019

A fire, suspected to have been triggered by an electrical short circuit, swept through Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh on Tuesday morning 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.

Three people were injured, including a woman from Myanmar who too jumped to escape the fire.Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday that Congress has more or less ruled out an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, a day after he met the Congress President in a meeting of opposition leaders.

Responding to a question on an alliance with the Congress, he said it has more or less ruled out the alliance (with AAP). The Lok Sabha elections are due in April-May this year.

Asked whether the AAP was more eager for an alliance with the Congress, he said the BJP would benefit in a three-cornered contest. It is important to put up a united front against the BJP in Lok Sabha elections. Anti-BJP vote should not be divided, Kejriwal said.

In their effort to put up a united anti-BJP front for the Lok Sabha elections, top opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee Wednesday agreed to work together to prepare a common minimum programme to oust the Modi government and to consider forging a pre-poll alliance.

The ruling BJP has often made fun of the disparate parties coming together calling it a mahamilawat. Prime Minster Narendra Modi took a dig at the opposition parties saying the elusive grand-alliance is a mahamilawat (adulteration), which the people will reject in the elections.

The people of India have seen the work a government with a full majority can do. They have seen the work of NDA. They do not want a mahamilawat government of those who assembled in Kolkata, PM Modi said in a reference to the rally of 23 opposition parties in West Bengal last month.

In 2014, the people of the country elected a government with full majority and the country experiences what happens when there is a milawati (coalition) government. Now, they are planning mahamilawat. This mahamilawat is not going to reach here (in Delhi). Keep this limited to Kolkata, he said.The upcoming visit of Saudi Arabias crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), to India is not a routine affair. The trip to India is evidently timed to burnish his legitimacy after the international opprobrium that followed the murder of The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But the visit also comes at an important juncture in the geopolitics of southwest Asia as well as in the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

Indias own tightrope with Iran, and Pakistans recent manoeuvrings with the Saudis create a tricky set of issues for New Delhi to navigate with the Saudis.

Prime Minister Narendra Modis government has invested considerable time and energy in fostering stronger relations with countries in West Asia, especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Modis visit to Riyadh in 2016 gave a fillip to security and economic ties with Saudi Arabia. More recently, Modi met MBS on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina, and the latter spoke of Saudi investment in Indias national investment and infrastructure fund. Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said, We expect that in the next two to three years, there will be significant scaling up of Saudi investments in India. India, for its part, has refrained from even a hint of disapproval of Saudi Arabia disastrous military intervention in Yemen or its misguided attempts to isolate Qatar  never mind the brutal assassination of Khashoggi.The Modi governments approach to Saudi Arabia has broadly been continuous with the pattern of bilateral relations since 2006. That year marked an important breakthrough in the history of the relationship. In January 2006, King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz visited India  the first visit by a Saudi monarch in 51 years and the first top level bilateral visit since Indira Gandhis trip to Saudi Arabia in 1982.

During the early years of the Cold War, Riyadh put itself firmly in the American camp, while New Delhi stood against all alliances. Two developments in the 1970s drove them further apart. The defeat of Pakistan in 1971 followed by the oil crisis of 1973 set the stage for closer ties between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Following the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in 1979, Saudi Arabia cooperated closely with Pakistan and the US in financing the Mujahideens fight against the Red Army. India sought to adopt a more nuanced stance: it did not openly condemn the Soviet invasion, but privately urged Moscow to pull back. In any event, the gulf between their positions was evident. Despite Indira Gandhis visit, it could not be papered over.

In the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, too, the relationship remained in choppy waters. Indias ambiguous stance on the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent developments antagonised the Saudis, who saw themselves as the next target of Saddam Husseins expansionist ambitions. Further, with the onset of the insurgency in Kashmir, the dispute between India and Pakistan once again attracted international attention. The Saudi stance on this issue was a constant irritant to India.

Nevertheless, during this period, relations between the two countries were also developing along other dimensions. As Indias economy liberalised and grew rapidly, energy resources became a major driver of the relationship. Saudi Arabia emerged as the largest supplier of oil to India, while India counted among biggest importers of Saudi oil. Equally important was the growing community of expatriate Indian workers (currently over 3 million) in Saudi Arabia and their remittances back home. The Delhi Declaration signed during King Abdullahs visit in 2006 called for a closer economic engagement and energy partnership. During Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs visit to Riyadh in 2010, security cooperation  especially, against terrorism  emerged as another key domain.

While the Modi government has deepened ties along these axes, it has also attempted to draw Saudi investment into India. The centrepiece of these efforts is the massive refinery complex  capable of processing 1.2 million barrels of crude oil daily  being planned in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. The Saudi oil giant Aramco and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company have acquired 50% stake in the $44 billion project. This project introduces a new dimension to the political economy of the India-Saudi relationship. For one, it moves economic ties beyond oil supply and remittances. For another, it simultaneously serves Aramcos global downstream plans and Indias desire for energy security as well as its interest in attracting FDI

Yet this apparently win-win project has faced serious local resistance. Farmers cultivating the regions famous Alphonso mangoes have refused to give up their land for this project. Besides, there are wider concerns about its impact on cashew plantations and fisheries. Not only have opposition parties like the Congress and the NCP backed the protestors, but ruling coalition partner Shiv Sena has also been vociferous in its criticism of the project. In November 2018, the chief minister of Maharashtra told the legislative assembly that the process of land acquisition has been stayed.

If the Modi government is unable to press ahead with the project in a BJP-ruled state, its credibility in attracting further investments from the Saudis (or the UAE) will surely be called into question.

Equally problematic for New Delhi is the rapidly evolving geopolitical context of southwest Asia. Mohammed bin Salmans keenness on ties with India is driven, at least in part, by his desire to box Iran into a corner. With the Trump administration reimposing sanctions on Iran, the Saudis will want to prevail upon countries like India to minimise their dependence on oil imports from Iran, and so squeeze the latter. To be sure, India has got a waiver from the Trump administration  but this might turn out to be only a reprieve. In any event, India can hardly afford to allow its ties with Iran to erode against the backdrop of the endgame in Afghanistan.

Further, it is unclear what role the Saudis will play in the unfolding negotiations with the Taliban. At the moment, their rival Qatar seems positioned better in this respect. But the Pakistanis will likely look to Saudis to weigh in  not least because of Islamabads own travails with Washington.

With the 2019 general elections looming, however, it is not clear the Modi government has the time and attention to make significant progress on any of these fronts.

Srinath Raghavan is professor of International Relations and History at Ashoka University and a senior fellow at Carnegie India

The views expressed are personalThe aviation regulator has decided to review the flight schedule of cash-strapped Jet Airways twice in a month to monitor the number of cancellations, two officials familiar with the matter said.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is also assessing the situation at IndiGo, which is cancelling almost 30 flights daily but said its operations are likely to return to normal in two or three days.

DGCA has approved the winter schedule of Jet Airways, but with the busy summer season approaching, the regulator wants to keep tabs on how many flights the airline is able to operate.

In case the number of cancellations is found to be a cause of concern, DGCA may curtail the airlines summer schedule.

Every fifteen days, we will check how many flights Jet airways had in the schedule and how many they operated. Recently, they had to ground a few aircraft, which affected the flight schedules. The number of aircraft available and number of flights operated will be reviewed and slots in the summer schedule will be given accordingly, a DGCA official said on condition of anonymity.

In the first week of February, Jet Airways cancelled 15 flights a day following the grounding of six Boeing 737 planes over non-payment of lease rentals.

Laden with debt of about $1.14 billion, Jet Airways cancelled several flights from/to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad and Port Blair.

The airline is in talks with its partner Etihad for an additional cash infusion.

The full service carrier would be holding a meeting of shareholders on February 21.

A civil aviation ministry official said a review of the airlines operations so far had not found the situation to be alarming, but it will continue to monitor the situation.

The Jet Airways base schedule for winter 2018 has been approved by the DGCA.

Like all airlines, Jet Airways is voluntarily keeping the regulator and airport operators informed of any network/schedule changes and we are in constant dialogue with the DGCA, a spokesperson for Jet Airways said.

IndiGo, Indias largest domestic carrier with a market share of about 43%, is also adjusting its flight schedule.

A hailstorm in Delhi last week caused the diversion of 11 of its flights, and the airline claims this disrupted its operations; a number of flights were cancelled in subsequent days as the crew had to be readjusted.

Industry figures said the airline may be facing a shortage of trained pilots.

India doesnt have enough training facilities for pilots.

The cancellations will affect the growth in aviation sector and it has an impact on both airlines and passengers, said Mark Martin, chief executive officer (CEO) of Dubai-based Martin consulting. IndiGo informed the DGCA that it cancelled 49 flights on Wednesday, the airline said in a statement

All these flights were cancelled with one to two days prior notice in order to re-accommodate passengers on flights at a similar time as booked. The cancellations on February 13 were caused by several factors like anticipated weather conditions on February 14 and Notams (Notices to Airmen) at various airports. This resulted in extended duty times which then made it necessary to re-roster our crew and optimize our operations, the spokesperson said .

Going forward, IndiGo has decided to curtail its schedule for the remaining period of February by approximately 30 flights a day. This is in order to stabilize its operation and adjust its crew rosters due to the reasons mentioned above.

Passengers are in the process of being informed and re-accommodated. As a proactive measure IndiGo has decided to continue its curtailment until the end of March, the statement added. These 30 flights represent 2% of IndiGos flights.

The operations will be completely normalized by the start of the summer schedule, March 31, 2019, the airline said. An IndiGo spokesperson said the airline was adjusting its flight schedule in the coming days by around 30 flights per day. This is in order to stabilize the network and operations impacted due to various ongoing Notams (airspace restriction) and predicted bad weather in the coming days, the spokesperson said.

 In order 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 to 2% of the originally planned number of flights, he said.

IndiGo currently operates about 1,300 daily flights. It is expected to shortly start more international and domestic flights.

An industry official said, requesting anonymity, that the short-term fix for the current pilot crisis faced by IndiGo would be to hire foreign pilots, while seeking relaxations from the DGCA to bypass some of the stringent conditions required by overseas pilots to get a Foreign Aircrew Temporary Authorisation (FATA) licence.

The industry as a whole is facing a crisis situation when it comes to pilots, especially commanders. This needs to be addressed as the capacity of the carriers are increasing and there are not enough pilots around, the person said.

Meanwhile, aviation advisory firm Capa India said on Wednesday that Indian airlines will need to hire about 17,000 additional commercial pilots over the next decade.

The total pilot requirement from FY18 to FY28 is expected to be about 17,000, of which about 9,000 first officers are expected to be upgraded to commander level positions.

India had about 7,963 commercial pilots at the end of FY18.

As one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world, India has seen domestic airlines placing huge aircraft orders. At present, domestic airlines are taking delivery of at least one aircraft a week.

Rhik Kundu contributed to this story.Born as Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehelvi, Madhubala began working in films at the young age of 9  she made her debut as a child artiste in 1942 with Basant and her first adult role was Ganga in Neel Kamal (1947). Known as the Indian Marilyn Monroe and tragedy queen of Bollywood, a look at her reel and real life confirm that she was a rebel, a star who commanded adoration of millions and is remembered to this day.

Also read: Madhubala, the golden girl of Indian films who loved and lost men

The mix of innocence and vulnerability that she brought to the screen was only heightened by the roles she picked  of strong women who may have accepted the role society imposed on them but lived it a way all their own.

Mr and Mrs 55: In Guru Dutts only light-hearted film, Madhubala played a young, open-minded woman who happily defied her aunt who wants her to conform to gender stereotypes. Her portrayal is so fresh that actor Janhvi Kapoor recently said that the film celebrated feminism like few others.

Madhubala has done such a beautiful job in the film. The concept that the film raised, it dealt with feminism. Madhubala jis character was so forward thinking. Her aunt was also in the film, whose character was more (conservative about) how girls should behave in a society. They did not present it as an issue, they slipped it in beautifully in the story, Janhvi Kapoor had said in an interview.

Mughal E Azam: Madhubalas Anarkali is remembered as a weak character but if you watch K Asifs classic closely, you realise that Anarkali overcomes the crimes committed against her and tells her story to the world. Apart from Akbars atrocities, she has to face humiliation at the hands of her lover Salim (Dilip Kumar). He slaps her and tells her that she is weak and her love isnt genuine. The timid girl disappears,making way for a bold and confident woman who publically declares her love. The lyrics of the iconic song Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya are loaded with sarcasm for the emperor as well as the prince.

Mahal: Madhubala chose to be part of what can be arguably called Hindi cinemas first film with a ghost in it. The movie, Mahal, was a huge success, making the lead actress, Madhubala, who was barely 16, a superstar overnight. Nearly seven decades later, strains of the films signature song Aayega aane wala are instantly recognizable to most Indians, evoking the suspenseful tale of lost love and reincarnation, The New York Times wrote in its obituary for Madhubala.

Love on her own terms

She is known to be a hopeless romantic who had tragic relationships  the most famous ones were with Dilip Kumar and Kishore Kumar. In an interview to Filmfare, Madhur Bhushan shared about Madhubalas breakup with Dilip and said, Bhaijan (Dilip) called my father a dictator in court and sided with the Chopras (late BR Chopra, the director). Bhaijan couldve simply said lets change the location. Or remained neutral. Apa used to cry a lot those days. They had conversations on the phone trying to patch up. He kept saying, Leave your father and Ill marry you. Shed say, Ill marry you but just come home, say sorry and hug him. The two never breached the divide between them.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreActor Alia Bhatts mother, Soni Razdan, and her boyfriend Ranbir Kapoors father, Rishi Kapoor have praised her new film, Gully Boy, on Twitter. In a series of tweets, Soni praised director Zoya Akhtar and wrote that the music of the film was ringing in her ears.

Gully Boy is partially based on the lives of Mumbai rappers Divine and Naezy. The film stars Ranveer Singh as an aspiring rapper named Murad.

Going to sleep today with the beats of #gullyboy ringing in my ears. More later when Ive recovered somewhat from the power of this incredible film ... what an achievement @RanveerOfficial @aliaa08 @FarOutAkhtar #ZoyaAkhtar #ApnaTimeAyeega #sochokitnidoorihai  Soni Razdan (@Soni_Razdan) February 13, 2019

The performances of @SiddhantChturvD and @kalkikanmani deserve a very special mention. Siddhant is incredibly believable and looks like he totally belongs to the world and loved Kalkis portrayal of Sky... what a lovely character !  #GullyBoy  Soni Razdan (@Soni_Razdan) February 14, 2019

And finally the last word must go to Zoya Akhtar who has created a film that will smash all kinds of ceilings ... that so effortlessly draws us into another world and yet speaks about everyones worlds at the same time... and made a film that belongs to us all. Wow. #GullyBoy   Soni Razdan (@Soni_Razdan) February 14, 2019

Soni wrote, Going to sleep today with the beats of #gullyboy ringing in my ears. More later when Ive recovered somewhat from the power of this incredible film ... what an achievement @RanveerOfficial @aliaa08 @FarOutAkhtar #ZoyaAkhtar #ApnaTimeAyeega #sochokitnidoorihai.

She continued, The performances of @SiddhantChturvD and @kalkikanmani deserve a very special mention. Siddhant is incredibly believable and looks like he totally belongs to the world and loved Kalkis portrayal of Sky... what a lovely character!

And finally, she wrote about Zoya, whom she wrote has created a film that will smash all kinds of ceilings ... that so effortlessly draws us into another world and yet speaks about everyones worlds at the same time... and made a film that belongs to us all.

Hearing great things about "Gully Boy". My best to the team for the great success. Zoya you do it again!  Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) February 14, 2019

Sharing her excitement, Rishi wrote on Twitter, Hearing great things about Gully Boy. My best to the team for the great success. Zoya you do it again!

Also read: Gully Boy movie review: Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt raise the roof with a great musical. 4 stars

Gully Boy has received unanimous praise by critics. In the four-star Hindustan Times review, Raja Sen calling it the first great film of 2019 wrote, The writing is enthralling, the texture fantastic, and this world is a revelation. Singling out Ranveers performance, he continued, Singh spends a large part of the film silent, as Murad drinks it all in  predicaments, wishes, suddenly emergent dreams... Armed with microphone or words, Singh is unstoppable.

The film is expected to open to Rs 18-20 crore on its first day, with five day projections touching the Rs 100 crore mark. Gully Boy arrives just two months after Ranveer delivered the biggest solo hit of his career with Simmba.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreBollywood filmmaker Boney Kapoor held a puja to mark the death anniversary of his late wife and actor Sridevi in Chennai on Thursday. As per the traditional calendar, Sridevis death anniversary falls on February 14. She was found dead at a Dubai hotel on February 24 last year where she had gone to attend nephew Mohit Marwahs wedding.

Pictures have surfaced from the event online but Sridevis daughters Janhvi and Khushi are not seen in these. Sridevis brother-in-law Anil Kapoor and his wife Sunita were present for the puja at Sridevis Chennai residence. South Indian actor Ajith was also present at the puja along with his wife Shalini.

Also read: On Sridevis birthday event, Janhvi Kapoor, Boney Kapoor cannot stop their tears

Her death had left the entire country shocked. Sridevi was cremated with full state honours in Mumbai as thousands came to pay her their last respects..

My love story with Sridevi is an open book. Whatever matters of the heart that can be shared is all in the public domain. What is most close (about her) will remain in the heart. Thats my support system for life, Boney had said about his wife.

Talking about her moms sudden demise, Janhvi, who made her film debut a few months after Sridevis death, said in an interview: I think, I was still in that state of shock, to be very honest. I think I am still in shock. None of it has been processed. Like, I have no memory of three or four months.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreCarpenter Ma Jiale has spent much of his working life lovingly repairing some of Shanghais most attractive -- if rather decrepit -- historical buildings.

The Chinese city is well known for its skyscrapers, but its pre-Communist days as a cosmopolitan trading hub has left a legacy of assorted architecture ranging from French-style villas to Edwardian mansions and Art Deco buildings.

Authorities say they are committed to preserving the best of the old structures -- and Ma is doing his part.

The 57-year-old grandfather cycles -- old tools hanging from the handlebars -- from job to job in a pocket of the northeast district of Hongkou.

If Shanghai only has skyscrapers, then it is not Shanghai any more, said Ma, known affectionately in the neighbourhood as Master Ma.

I am not saying modernisation is not good, but historical buildings should be preserved, he added.

In a 2002 report, the World Bank described this part of Hongkou as a key historical site not just in Shanghai, but for China.

Past residents included writers, a Communist Party leader from the late 1920s and, according to local legend, one of Mao Zedongs ex-wives.

Little Tokyo

Recently Ma worked on a century-old house that from the outside would not look out of place in a wealthy London suburb.

Now divided into several rather ramshackle apartments, Ma said that Japanese used to live there -- Hongkou was once known as Little Tokyo.

Ma uses tools handed down by his predecessors because he fears that modern or electrical ones will damage the original features of the house.

They include arched floor-to-ceiling front windows, high ceilings and a grandiose tiled fire place.

There are no original drafts to work off so Ma uses his experience and instinct to make the new door frame fit with its surroundings of faded grandeur.

The meaning of my job is to protect historical buildings and pass on our craftsmanship, said Ma.

What is made by machines is cold and lacks a human touch.

Playing catch-up

Ma works for a state-owned property management company and proudly declares that he is a member of the ruling Communist Party.

After the Communist takeover 70 years ago, political campaigns denouncing symbols of Chinas past feudal era consigned many properties to decay.

The Shanghai government is playing catch-up but in recent years stepped up its efforts to protect and preserve historical buildings, Ma said.

But in a country where people are often afraid of speaking out, Ma is open about what he feels is the inadequate upkeep of some of Shanghais attractive old architecture.

We just roughly repair windows, doors, floorboards, wooden frames, said Ma, calling for more money to be directed to the preservation effort.

For decades Shanghais historical buildings havent been well protected Small repairs from property management companies cannot solve the big problem, he added.

Fears for future

There is another lingering worry.

Ma will retire in three years and is eager to pass on his decades of expertise -- if only there were budding carpenters out there.

In the neighbourhood where he works, there are only four carpenters for a population of more than 10,000 residents, he said.

That inadequate ratio is repeated across Shanghai, he added.

A major reason is the pay -- Ma works five days a week and earns about 5,000 yuan ($750) a month, half the average salary in Shanghai.

For comparison, the 50-square-metre (550 square feet) apartment he was working on recently sold for five million yuan putting it on a par with central London prices.

Ma said: If needed, Im willing to teach young people to do carpenter work. But its still too difficult to find young people for this sort of job.

He added: Im very worried that after three to five years, no one will inherit the skills and the protection work cannot continue.

Follow more stories on Facebook and TwitterOn Thursday, the verdict of the two-judge bench of the Supreme Court on the Aam Aadmi Party vs Centre settled the dust on significant issues that have been a source of conflict between the Centre and the elected Delhi government for some time now. While the views on this judgment seem to have stirred another debate on the control that the elected Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has on the capital city, it is a judgment that is, in fact, fair to the Constitution. [Part VIII of the Constitution deals with Union Territories (UT) and Article 239AA therein provides the special provisions to Delhi, which, are not on all fours with Puducherry which too has an elected government.] The Act nowhere refers to Services and the judgment is reported to have left that to a larger bench to decide.

The public perception is that current chief minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal does not have the authority that Sheila Dikshit did, when her government was in power. This is true. Dikshit had the benefit of the Lieutenant Governors (LG) cooperation with regard to issues related to services which included all but the most senior officers in the government on which a joint view was taken- usually accepted by both. The extant Transaction of Business Rules gave the CM a role which even then was circumscribed. Because of a modification in the Transaction of Business Rules in 2015, this is something that the AAP leader, Kejriwal, doesnt have. It continues to be a reason for confrontation as officers will go by what is decided by the ministry of home affairs which indeed has final authority working through the LG.

Kejriwal, who has the benefit of being elected with a thumping majority, felt the mandate supported an expectation for an unprecedented shift in the process of governance. This raised the hackles of the bureaucrats unaccustomed to anything other than previous precedents and systems. What must be understood is that however large the mandate may be, the elected government cannot alter systems and processes which are the foundation of governance. The Transaction of Business Rules (TBR), 1993, set out the processes to be followed by the chief minister, the council of ministers and officers while transacting government business and those had not changed. Bureaucrats would only follow these systems unless changed legally.

Coming to the judgment: There is complete clarity on issues that, until now, were said to be ambiguous. The apex court has upheld that transferred subjects, such as electricity, are within the purview of the Delhi government.This, and similar subjects are what about 80% of Delhis population are concerned with. It puts enormous power in the hands of the elected government and the ability to work independently but still bound by the checks and balances in the Transaction of Business Rules.

On the other hand, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and the Commission of Enquiry, which are powerful entities, have been rightly assigned to the Centre. Ultimately, the fact remains that the powers and responsibilities of both, the government and the LG, remain vast and have to be determined by the law as well as situations as they emerge and most important of all  the public interest. Understandably, the AAP government believes that it has been treated unfairly but actually it has been supported on what matters most through this judgment  administration of what affects the public the most.

The fact that transferred subjects would be under the elected representatives is amply borne out by this judgment and is a continuum of the earlier judgment of the apex court. Delhi being a special status Union Territory, the role of the LG remains prominent  and cannot be wished away. However, both the LG and the government, if they function collaboratively, are in a position to give the governance the city needs.

Shailaja Chandra is former chief secretary, Delhi

The views expressed are personalAs machine learning  fashionably branded as artificial intelligence (AI)  continues to flourish, a veritable cottage industry of activists has accused it of reflecting and perpetuating pretty much everything that ails the world: racial inequity, sexism, financial exploitation, big-business connivance, you name it. To be fair, new technologies must be questioned, probed, and problematized (to use one of their favourite buzzwords)  and it is indeed a democratic prerogative. That said, there seems to be persistent confusion around the very basics of the discipline.

No other example demonstrates this best than the conflation of objectives, algorithms and models. Simplifying a little, the life cycle in creating a machine learning model from scratch is the following. The first step is to set a high-level practical objective: What the model is supposed to do, such as recognising images or speech. This objective is then translated into a mathematical problem amenable to computing. This computational problem, in turn, is solved using one or more machine learning algorithms: specific mathematical procedures that perform numerical tasks in efficient ways. Up to this stage, no data is involved. The algorithms, by themselves, do not contain any.

The machine learning algorithms are then trained on a data sample selected at human discretion from a data pool. In simple terms, this means that the sample data is fed into the algorithms to obtain patterns. Whether these patterns are useful or not (or, often, whether they have predictive value) is verified using testing data  a data set different from the training sample, though selected from the same data pool. A machine learning model is born: The algorithm, along with the training and testing data sets, which meets the set practical objective. The model is then let loose on the world. (In a few cases, as the model interacts with this much larger universe of data, it fine-tunes itself and evolves; the models interaction with users helps it expand its training data set.) From predictive financial analytics to more glamorous cat-recognising systems, most current AI models follow this life cycle.

To reiterate, the algorithms themselves do not contain data; the model does. Algorithms are simply mathematical recipes and, as such, go way before computers. When you are dividing two numbers by the long division method, you are implementing an algorithm. Simpler still, when you are adding two, you are also implementing another. A commonly used algorithm to classify images  Support Vector Machines  is a simple way to solve a geometrical problem, invented in the early 1960s. Despite the bombastic moniker, it is not a machine, merely a recipe. Another with an equally impressive name, the Perceptron, also has a dry mathematical statement despite sounding like something out of a science fiction film.

All of the above would have sounded like idle pedantry had prominent voices not continued to conflate models with algorithms. Last month, Americas latest cause celebre, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, noted that algorithms are still pegged to basic human assumptions. Unless you count basic logic as one such impediment, no other assumptions hide behind an algorithm. Yet another American professor published a book titled Algorithms of Oppression. While all of this may be for rhetorical effect  and algorithms as shorthand for artificial intelligence whatchamacallit  it reveals a cavalier attitude towards notions, especially among those who are in positions to shape technology policy.

This is not to say that concerns about AI models are unfounded. But most of the problem lies with the human element in the entire process: the selection of training and testing data. Suppose a developer draws on historical incarceration data to build a model to predict criminal behaviour. Chances are likely that the results will appear skewed and reflect human biases. Similarly, when Amazons voice responsive speaker Alexa told a user to kill your foster parents, it was pointed out that Reddit (not the politest of chat platforms) was part of its training set. Finally, as a recent MIT Technology Review article put it, the conversion of a practical objective into a computational problem (again, a human activity) may also introduce biases into an AI model. As an example, the article asked, how does one operationalise a fair definition of creditworthiness for an algorithm to understand and process?

At the end, the issue is not whether AI systems are problematic in themselves. It is that we are, as we choose data and definitions to feed into algorithms. In that, technology is often a mirror we hold in front of ourselves. But algorithms are independent of our predilections, built, as they are, only out of logic.

Abhijnan Rej is a New Delhi-based security analyst and mathematical scientist

The views expressed are personalPlunge Creek runs along the north edge of the Santa Ana River Habitat Conservation Plan in Highland after it comes down from the mountains.Breaking News Updates Would you like to receive our Breaking News updates? Signup today!

Calendar Updates Would you like to receive our weekly Calendar updates? Signup today!

Deals Updates Would you like to receive Deals updates? Signup today!I was born and raised on a dairy farm in Catawba County, N.C, on what is now Smyre Farm Road just outside of Newton. I enjoyed the farm life, but knew I didnt want the seven days a week commitment of a dairy farm. That is why I studied computer science and eventually moved to Lancaster, SC.

January 11-15 was the 100th American Farm Bureau Convention, and I accompanied my father, Robert Smyre, to the convention in New Orleans. He has been involved in Farm Bureau and is supportive of their mission to enhance and strengthen the lives of rural Americans and to build strong, prosperous agricultural communities. It also was a special convention celebrating 100 years as the voice of agriculture. I was surprised how educational it was for me. We heard about WOTUS, and how farmers and communities should be supportive of the revised definition of Waters of the United States, under the Clean Water Act. We heard about the U.S.-Mexico- Canada Agreement (USMCA) that is being discussed now.

President Trump also spoke at the convention. Regardless of your political preferences, it was good to hear the president of the United States addressing issues of farmers and ranchers.The Global Missions Committee of St. Andrew's Lutheran Church once again held another very successful silent auction to raise money for World Hunger. This year our auction raised $4,001.50!

Members of St. Andrew's donated homemade cakes, candy, cookies ,jelly, hand crocheted and knitted items, toys, books, home decor items, beautiful hand designed greeting cards, wine, paintings, games, live plants, jewelry, fused glass plate, and tickets to Biltmore.

Our sincere "thank you" goes to the owners and/or managers of the following businesses for their generous contributions of gift cards, and/or products: Salon on the Square, Shell's Bar-B-Q, Treasure's Vision, Market on Main's "Cuban Cantina", Kendra's Bakery Creations, The Jewelry Exchange, Olde Hickory Tap Room, A Cleaner World, Habitat, Hops "n" Grapes, Carolina Office, Benjamin and Libba's of Hickory, Hickory Choral Society, Jenny's Gifts, The Green Room Community Theatre, Outback Steak House, Granny's Kitchen, Smokehouse Bar-B-Q, P. J.'s Seafood and Steaks, Lockman's Body Shop, Publix, Harbor Inn Seafood, Lowe's Foods, Tractor Supply, Hickory Community Theatre, Aiken & Black, Windy City Grill, Fair Trade Store, Western Piedmont Symphony, Olde Tavern, The Sally Company, Hickory Tavern, Western Steer, Outback Steak House, Ron's Auto Center, Auto Fitness Center, Stine's Gallery, and Craftmaster Furniture.Markieff Morris had an aggressive market over the past week  with pursuits from the Thunder, Rockets, Nets, Raptors and several others. OKC received the commitment from Morris on Thursday. https://t.co/nTKdlSJSKX February 14, 2019

For more stories

by Justin,









Image: Brian Babineau/NBAE

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Follow Justin at

Looks like we'll be deprived of abrothers reunion after all, aswill sign with theafter being bought out by theWhile many of us were excited about the possibility of having both twins suit up in green and white, there were certainly concerns ranging from amplifying any discontent should some arise to finding enough minutes to make it worthwhile.While theface even thinner options to fill their final roster slot afterand now Markieff have signed elsewhere, the fact it's with a West team at least gives the Celts a little relief with all the action at the top of the East at the trade deadline.and company should probably turn their attention to signingorif either are released before theor perhaps focus on current free agents, the best remaining of which is arguablyKevin Hardy and Brianne Pfannenstiel

The Herald-Mail

As the field of presidential hopefuls landing in Iowa continues to grow, the three Democratic contenders most preferred by Iowans still aren't in the race.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke led the field in a December Iowa Poll, but none has formally announced their intentions yet.

"I think those are the big three that everyones waiting for," said Jeremy Dumkrieger, chairman of the Woodbury County Democrats.

While those three remain on the sidelines, a slew of other candidates have kept busy hiring Iowa staffers and holding rallies in their quests to unseat Republican President Donald Trump.

Presidential contenders Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, Tulsi Gabbard, Andrew Yang, Kirsten Gillibrand and Julian Castro all campaigned or will campaign in Iowa this month. Amy Klobuchar will visit Iowa just days after declaring her candidacy.

Enthusiasm building around the Democrats already running risks leaving behind candidates who are still flirting with potential runs. But Dumkrieger said Sanders and Biden both have plenty of name recognition and support from previous Iowa caucus bids that likely affords them more time to make a decision.

Many view O'Rourke, 46, who narrowly lost to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in November's election, as a "young rock star," he said.

But time may be running out on him and any other lesser-known candidates who want to compete in a very crowded field. Polling shows Biden and Sanders enjoy near-universal name recognition in Iowa, but ORourke is less known.

More:

'I think it's time for something new'

On Friday, local leaders shared the stage with Booker at a campaign forum in Waterloo, Iowa.

In the crowd, Waterloo Democrat Marna Creery liked what she heard from the New Jersey senator, but said she'd consider other young candidates like O'Rourke.

I hope Joe Biden and Bernie dont get in, said Creery, a retired postal worker who supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 caucuses. I think its time for something new. Im looking for fresh ideas.

O'Rourke, a previous three-term congressman, gained celebrity status as he propelled a long-shot campaign into a close contest against Cruz. Cruz won the Iowa Republican caucuses in 2016 before losing the GOP nomination to Trump.

While O'Rourke has not responded to invitations from local Democratic Party officials, he told Oprah Winfrey on Feb. 5 that he plans to decide whether to run by the end of the month.

"I've got to tell you, and you can tell, I'm so excited at the prospect of being able to play that role," he said.

Still, he has his work to do here: About a third of likely Democratic caucusgoers said they didnt know enough about him to form a favorable or unfavorable opinion of him, according to a December Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll. Just 4 percent of likely caucusgoers said Biden and Sanders were unknown to them.

A national poll from Morning Consult released this week showed Biden led with 29 percent of respondents choosing him as their preferred candidate for the Democratic nomination. He was trailed by Sanders and California Sen. Kamala Harris.

On Monday, the McClatchy news service reported that interviews with 31 Democratic operatives revealed deep pessimism about a potential Biden run. That story cited the former vice president's age (76), his policy baggage and the field of fresh faces igniting passion in the party.

Those concerns were echoed by others in Waterloo. Democrat Darcy Stoen, 51, of Evansdale, said she liked Biden because of his record as vice president and as a Delaware senator.

But his age worries me a little bit, said Stoen, who attended a Booker campaign event there Friday. If Biden runs, she said, shed like to see him pick a younger candidate like Booker as his running mate, and commit to serving just one term before handing over the reins to a new generation.

More:

'For me, it matters who can get people in the middle'

After Warren held a roundtable discussion on labor issues in Davenport, Iowa, Sunday evening, Nieel Aditya Shinde, 26, identified the Massachusetts senator as one of his top choices.

Since Bernie hasnt announced, I guess Im supporting Warren for now," said Shinde, of Bettendorf, Iowa.

He's drawn to both senators because they have targeted the nation's financial industries. He wants to see more regulation of the payday loan industry and see the federal government break up the nation's biggest banks.

Jason Humphreys, also of Bettendorf, identified Warren as his second choice behind Sanders. He said Sanders "set the standard" in 2016 by advocating for a $15 minimum wage, taking on Wall Street and lobbying against the influence of corporate donors and political action committees

"I would caucus for her and I would fight for her to be president," said Humphreys, 37, "but Im hopeful for Bernie.

At a stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Sunday, Robin Jackson Miller, 40, of Hiawatha, Iowa, said she saw similarities between Warren and O'Rourke.

"Hes just very inspiring and seems to be able to talk to people in a way that gets them interested in politics, gets them excited and gets them to care about things," she said.

At the same event, Kelly Kindl said she wanted to vote for a female presidential candidate. But she's also eyeing others, including O'Rourke, Harris and Buttigieg. But she's particularly interested in the former vice president.

"He might have a bigger draw, just because of his history in politics," said Kindl, 40, of Marion, Iowa.

'This thing's going to change a half a dozen times by caucus day'

Most presidential campaigns must start from scratch in building out an organization in Iowa. Biden and Sanders can lean on previous volunteers and organizers.

But staffing may be another question.

"People are excited about Bernie. They would love to work for him, but they need a paycheck," said Evan Burger, an organizer at Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement who worked on the Sanders campaign in 2016. "I dont think weve hit that point yet where people are going to have to start dropping off, but at some point were going to run into that."

He said he believes a core group of supporters and staffers will hold out for Sanders.

"It's not realistic and it's not fair to expect every single person who was with the candidate last time to be with them this time," said Pete D'Alessandro, who directed Sanders' 2016 Iowa caucuses campaign.

D'Alessandro said he had no insight on whether the independent Vermont senator would seek the Democratic nomination again.

"It's not too hard for me to wait an extra month," he said. "I have no problem with that. If he's in, I'm in."

He acknowledged that Sanders would struggle to match the magic of the campaign in 2015 and 2016. The silver-haired senator, now 77, arrived in Iowa in the last caucus cycle polling in the single digits, but gained enough support to nearly best Clinton. He lost the 2016 Iowa caucuses by one-fifth of 1 percentage point.

Previously, Sanders positioned himself as a more liberal alternative to Clinton, who was widely viewed as the favorite from early on. This time, he would have to compete with Warren and anyone else trying to court the Democrats furthest to the left, D'Alessandro said.

Instead of the two distinct lanes occupied by Clinton and Sanders in 2016, voters and the press may group this year's candidates into four or five distinct groups, he said. The the size of the field may lead some to downplay Iowa and focus on other early states like New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and California.

"Look, this thing's going to change a half a dozen times by caucus day," D'Alessandro said.

The 'biggest field in Iowa caucuses history'

At this point in the race, few Iowa Democrats have committed to one candidate, said Sean Bagniewski, chairman of the Polk County Democrats.

So he thinks it's possible that Sanders, Biden and O'Rourke all could join the race.

"If the mayor of South Bend, Indiana (Buttigieg) thinks he has something to offer, I'm pretty sure a former presidential candidate, a previous vice president and somebody who almost beat Ted Cruz think they can compete," he said.

Bagniewski doesn't expect the field to shrink soon. That's because he expects other potential candidates like Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and California Congressman Eric Swalwell also to enter the race.

"I don't know that it's going to be as big and broad as it is now," Bagniewski said. "But I think it's going to be the biggest field in Iowa caucuses history."

In some ways, the deep roster makes it easier for lesser-known candidates to put up a strong showing in the first-in-the-nation caucuses.

"It's whoever has the biggest minority," Bagniewski said. "Youre not looking to have 51 percent ... Youre just looking to have the biggest small group, which is unusual."

Contributing: Kim Norvell and Tony Leys, Des Moines Register

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: How long can Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Beto O'Rourke afford to wait to jump into 2020 race?Matthew Umstead

mumstead@herald-mail.com

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va.  A Virginia man accused of driving under the influence and leaving the scene of a crash last month that resulted in the death of a tractor-trailer driver is due to appear next week in Jefferson County (W.Va.) Magistrate Court for a preliminary hearing.

Kenneth Jerome Lee, 45, of Strasburg, Va., was charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving death and driving under the influence causing death, court records said.

Lee was being held Wednesday night at Eastern Regional Jail near Martinsburg, W.Va., on a $150,000 bond, according to jail records.

Lee is due to appear in magistrate court Thursday.

Police have said that the victim, William P. Snyder Sr., 60, of Parkville, Md., died at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., as a result of being struck outside his rig along U.S. 340.

Lee initially was taken to Rappahannock Shenandoah Warren Regional Jail in Virginia after he was captured in Warren County, Va., where he also was charged with driving under the influence and a related civil violation of refusing blood/breath test, according to police and court records.

Police have said that Snyder was checking his tractor-trailer Jan. 21 along southbound U.S. 340 near Eackles-Spencer and Norton Funeral Home when he was struck by a black sport utility vehicle. The SUV stopped briefly, then left the scene, police said.

Jefferson County Sheriff Pete Dougherty has said his department obtained pictures of the SUV, its license plate and the driver from a nearby convenience store, where the vehicle was before Snyder was struck

Multiple witnesses saw the SUV strike Snyder, police have said.

One of the witnesses was behind the SUV before Snyder was struck and saw the vehicle swerving in and out of traffic and driving in the wrong lane, police have said.Tim Shea

tims@herald-mail.com

By The Associated Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va.  A former West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals justice who had a $32,000 blue suede couch in his office and was at the center of an impeachment and corruption scandal was sentenced Wednesday to two years in federal prison.

I have not seen evidence of remorse, U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. told former justice Allen Loughry in sentencing him for using his job for his own benefit and lying to investigators.

Loughry also was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and more than $2,200 in restitution and court costs.

John Carr, Loughrys attorney, asked the court for probation, and said Loughry has agreed to surrender his law license and not seek public office.

Copenhaver said he wanted a sentence length that promotes respect for the law. The public needs protection from further criminal conduct on your part.

Loughry, who wrote a 2006 book while he was a Supreme Court law clerk about the history of political corruption in the state, was removed as chief justice last February. He then was suspended from the bench in June and resigned in November.

State lawmakers and others have said public trust in the states court system was broken by the actions of Loughry and others, and Copenhaver said he recognized the strong public concern in this matter.

U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart called the sentence fair.

Its a day where we begin to retrieve that confidence in the Supreme Court, he said. Weve been working toward that end. I look at this as a decision of renewal for the people of West Virginia.

Carr and Loughry declined comment on the sentence.

In court, Loughry said, I am fully aware of the seriousness of this matter and I do not wish to minimize or trivialize any of this. This situation has changed my life forever.

Loughry was told to report to prison April 5.

He was found guilty of 11 of the 22 charges at his October trial. Most of the charges involved mail and wire fraud involving his personal use of state cars and fuel cards. Copenhaver last month threw out a witness-tampering conviction.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Wright said Loughry lied on seven occasions during the trial.

Loughry denied he benefited personally from trips he took when he became a justice in 2013. He said he used state-owned vehicles made available to the justices for what he said was a variety of reasons, including public outreach.

But Wright said records showed Loughry took a government car to a wedding, four signings for his book, and loads it up with Christmas presents to visit relatives. A neighbor testified she saw Loughry pack presents in a car with a state government license plate around the holidays.

Loughry also was convicted of lying to federal investigators by saying he was unaware about the historical significance and value of a $42,000 state-owned desk that he transferred to his home. He returned the desk and a green leather couch owned by the state after media reports appeared about those items.

Loughry repeatedly denied involvement in renovations to his office, which cost $353,000 and included the blue suede couch and a $7,500 wood-inlay floor map of West Virginia. He blamed the spending on former court administrator Steve Canterbury, whom he fired in January 2017.

But a West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission complaint said Supreme Court records show Loughry had a significant role in the renovations.

Loughry and justices Robin Davis, Beth Walker and Margaret Workman were impeached in August over questions involving the lavish office renovations that evolved into accusations of corruption, incompetence and neglect of duty. Some of the justices were accused of abusing their authority by failing to rein in excessive spending.

A week later, a temporary panel of justices ruled that the impeachment efforts violated the separation-of-powers doctrine and that the West Virginia Legislature lacked jurisdiction to pursue the trials. The process officially was derailed when the presiding judge didnt show up to Workmans Senate trial because of the decision.

Copenhaver said while Loughry alone was not responsible for the Supreme Courts scandal, his conduct has contributed mightily to it.

Davis and Justice Menis Ketchum retired last summer. Ketchum pleaded guilty in federal court to a felony fraud count related to his personal use of a state vehicle and gas fuel card. He faces sentencing later this month.

Judicial elections in West Virginia became nonpartisan in 2016, but the courts impeachment scandal stirred political attacks. Some Democrats argued that the courts shake-up was a power grab by Republicans.

Two former Republican lawmakers were appointed in the place of Davis and Ketchum, and later won election to complete their terms. Republican Gov. Jim Justice appointed a lifelong friend to replace Loughry until a 2020 special election.Matthew Umstead

mumstead@herald-mail.com

MARTINSBURG, W.Va.  Eastern West Virginia Regional Airports newly hired business-development manager has resigned to accept another employment offer.

Jonathan Jack Brossart, who participated in an exit interview Thursday, began working for the airport about five weeks ago after the Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport Authority extended a conditional employment offer in November.

This was a personal choice he made in order to take another position, another employment offer, airport Manager Neil Doran said Thursday. Hes a talented guy, and his skills are in demand. I wish him well.

Brossarts position was created to help the airport achieve the goals of the airfields five-year business plan.

Berkeley County (W.Va.) Council Vice President Dan Dulyea said Thursday that he hopes the job will be filled soon.

Brossart, of Mount Airy, Md., was among 34 applicants for the job, and Dulyea agreed Thursday that the airport authority potentially could revisit the list of candidates that it compiled last year to try to fill the position.

Part of the business plan includes pursuing investment and development of land at the airports John D. Rockefeller IV Science and Technology Center south of Novak Drive.

By 2022, the airports mission is to become a regional general-aviation airport and help drive economic growth in the region by developing a domestic commercial air-cargo hub while also providing cost-competitive and expanded general-aviation services and facilities.

The West Virginia Air National Guards 167th Airlift Wing, which employs hundreds of military and civilian full-time employees, currently is Shepherd Fields largest driver of employment.

Altogether, the airport generated more than $220 million in economic output in 2017, and was responsible, directly or indirectly, for more than 1,600 jobs, a consulting firm has found.

The airports runway is 8,815 feet long and has a weight-bearing capacity that makes it capable of launching and landing a variety of large military and civilian aircraft, according to the airports information guide.Jennifer Fitch

waynesboro@herald-mail.com

WAYNESBORO, Pa.  The Washington Township (Pa.) Supervisors will hold a public hearing Feb. 20 about the proposed rezoning of seven properties on and along Monterey Lane in Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.

David J. Ott, who already owned one of the affected properties, bought the former TAB Books office and has expressed interest in creating five apartments in the structure.

To do so, the site would need to be rezoned from commercial to commercial neighborhood.

The zoning ordinance would allow for one apartment in the building with a business, but it wouldnt allow for apartments as the primary use, township Planner Vernon Ashway said at Wednesday nights township supervisors meeting.

Ashway said creating logical lines for the rezoning would involve seven properties with boundaries of Monterey Lane and some railroad tracks. He said he sent the landowners notices and also posted notices on the properties.

It seems like the absolutely right thing to do, township Manager Jeff Geesaman said.

Otts rezoning application submitted Dec. 21 notes the building he wants to convert is on 0.82 acres.

Geesaman praised Ott for mowing and taking care of the former TAB Books property.

The public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the township offices on Welty Road.Joyce F. Nowell

jnowell@herald-mail.com

GREENCASTLE, Pa.  A farm west of Greencastle, historic for its beginnings and iconic for the barns brick design, has been rezoned and the owner dreams of seeing the property used for taking care of senior citizens.

Established in 1849 as a Mormon colony called New Jerusalem, the 140-acre property on Pa. 16 west of Conococheague Creek is home to a unique brick-end barn depicting a donkey at its peak. It most recently was known as the Shelly Farm.

Owner Richard Weeden of Wellsville, Pa., intends to preserve the barn and adjacent brick farmhouse no matter the future use of the land after action Tuesday night by the Antrim Township (Pa.) Board of Supervisors.

Weeden petitioned for the zoning change, and a 4-0 vote on Tuesday night converted the propertys zoning to community commercial.

Previously, only 800 feet of the road frontage was zoned community commercial and the rest at the 2388 Buchanan Trail West location was agriculture.

Were deeply committed to the preservation and the upkeep of the house and the barn, said Matthew Weeden, the owners son. Both of the buildings have significant value, personally to us and to the local area. We have personal ties to that property that go back 150 years.

We have no means or wants to negatively impact those buildings. If it ever is developed, its not going to be something thats not beneficial to the community. The barn and the house will be preserved.

Richard Weeden, whose ancestors connect to the original settlers of the farm, believes it could be transformed into a retirement community with a health-support operation.

I want to move something into the community that is positive, he said. Im trying to allow this property to create opportunities for the community. I want the property to be valued by the community.

Although the Weedens said they have no absolute plans for the property, they sought to have the track be a single zoning classification. The farm is bordered by Pa. 16 and Hill Road, and to its east includes part of Conococheague Creek.

Several nearby residents commented during the rezoning hearing, inquiring about the potential impact of any development of the land as far as the floodplain, wetlands, woodlands, sewer service, water supply and potential traffic.

If you did a (Federal Emergency Management Agency)-mandated overlay of the floodplain, its going to eliminate a significant part of this property from probably any other use than agricultural, said Jerome Harness, who owns adjacent property. I had hoped this property would remain in agriculture. We are soaking up agricultural land at a phenomenal rate, and there doesnt seem to be any end in sight.

Supervisor Chad Murray reminded residents that while they might have valid points, they werent relative to the rezoning, and the feasibility of potential uses comes with the land-development process.

Further study may show that its not practical because of the wetlands, but that doesnt have a bearing on our decision, he said. What we did tonight does not seal any deal. There are still a lot of hurdles for anything to happen.

Community-commercial zoning allows for all types of housing, retail sales and light commercial uses, township Zoning Officer Sylvia House said.

She noted that the Shelly Farm is listed as a historic location on the official township map, giving the township the ability to purchase it if it would be slated for demolition.

Weeden purchased the farm in 2010 through an auction. The Geographic Information Systems web-mapping portal lists the purchase price at $855,000. The land currently is rented for farming.Jennifer Fitch

jenniferf@herald-mail.com

HARRISBURG, Pa.  Pennsylvania state Rep. John Hershey will host a town-hall meeting this month to provide information for constituents on a variety of issues.

The meeting will be Thursday, Feb. 28, from 7 to 8 p.m. at the St. Thomas (Pa.) Volunteer Fire Hall at 34 School House Road in Franklin County, Pa.

"I look forward to sharing an update from Harrisburg about the issues affecting the commonwealth and the status of the state budget," Hershey, R-Franklin/Juniata/Mifflin, said in a news release.

Before the meeting begins, an update about issues facing the firefighter and first-responder communities will be provided to the public at 6:30 p.m.

It will include information about a report focused on recruitment and retention challenges that, if unresolved, are likely to result in slower service or higher costs to residents.

RSVPs are not required. Residents with questions may call Hershey's Mifflintown district office at 717-436-6001.C.J. Lovelace

cj.lovelace@herald-mail.com

Washington County will receive a portion of $4.5 million in federal money to help offset damage from major flooding during a two-month period last year.

U.S. Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, both D-Md., announced the funding in a news release Wednesday.

The funding is allocated to the Maryland State Highway Administration as pass-through agency.

It will go toward reimbursement for repair costs for damage caused by heavy rains that hit Maryland in May and June 2018, including devastating floods in Ellicott City and Frederick and Washington counties.

The flooding that ravaged Ellicott City and the surrounding area last spring was devastating for countless Maryland families and small businesses, Cardin said in the release. These funds will help Frederick and Washington Counties rebuild in the wake of that disaster, and come as a much-needed investment in all those who depend on our roads and highways to commute to work and school.

Of the total, $950,000 is earmarked for repairs related to flooding in Frederick and Washington counties. The other $3.6 million will go toward statewide repairs from floods.

Van Hollen said the federal lawmakers worked to secure a disaster declaration to allow the flow of federal funding to offset repair costs, especially in Ellicott City and Western Maryland.

These investments will help our communities rebuild and ensure that our roads are up to the test the next time we face severe weather, he said in the release. I will continue working to modernize our infrastructure and to improve Marylands preparedness for severe weather.

President Donald Trump last June issued a major disaster declaration for Washington and Frederick counties, meaning state and local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations could get federal funding to help the region rebound after the floods.

County officials last summer estimated the countys flood damage at $4.5 million to $4.8 million. Heavy rains pummeled the Tri-State area between May 15 and 19, causing floods that wiped out sections of southern Washington County roads and a landslide along Sandy Hook Road.Dan Dearth

ddearth@herald-mail.com

A Washington County man died after being struck by a vehicle Wednesday night on Longmeadow Road.

Steven Lawrence Herson, 71, was struck by a 2010 Nissan Maxima at about 7 p.m. on Longmeadow Road near Boat America Way, north of Hagerstown, according to a news release from the Washington County Sheriffs Office.

Herson was taken to Meritus Medical Center east of Hagerstown, where he was pronounced dead Wednesday night.

Deputies said Herson was involved in a call for service at 7:11 p.m. on Paradise Drive.

While driving along Longmeadow Road, a deputy found Herson lying on the side of the roadway, just west of the Longmeadow Volunteer Fire Co. It appeared Herson, who was wearing dark clothing, had been struck by a motor vehicle.

The deputy gave Herson CPR until an ambulance crew arrived and took over.

A witness told investigators they believed a dark sedan struck Herson and left the area.

About 20 minutes after Herson was found, Anthony Lamar Fugate Jr., 18, of Pennsylvania, approached deputies and said he was the driver of the vehicle.

The Accident Reconstruction Team was called to the scene.

Deputies said the investigation is still in progress.

Adam Hopkins, deputy chief of the Longmeadow Volunteer Fire Co., said traffic conditions can be dangerous along that section of Longmeadow Road.

During the morning rush hour, motorists waiting to turn onto Longmeadow Road might have to wait five or six minutes before getting a break in traffic.

Hopkins said its probably time for traffic-control measures in the area.

People fly up and down the road, he said.

The incident marked the third time a pedestrian was killed in that area since November.

Amelia Cesario, 57, died after she was struck by a vehicle Nov. 30 on Boat America Way near the former National Golden Tissue plant in Longmeadow.

On Jan. 3, John Christopher Ramsey, 73, died after he was struck by a vehicle at Northern and Oak Hill avenues in Hagerstown.

Staff writer Dave McMillion contributed to this storyDon Aines

daines@herald-mail.com

A Hagerstown man was ordered to remain held without bond Wednesday on charges that he broke into an ex-girlfriends apartment and assaulted her and her mother.

In denying bail, Washington County District Court Judge Terry A. Myers noted that Terrence Allen Jennings failed to appear in court three times last year and that he has a previous assault conviction.

Jennings, 26, of Apple Blossom Court, is charged with two counts of second-degree assault, third- and fourth-degree burglary, malicious destruction of property and trespass, according to court records.

At 12:48 a.m. Tuesday, Hagerstown police went to a disturbance call in the first block of South Burhans Boulevard. A woman told an officer that Jennings, her daughters ex-boyfriend, broke a door window and entered her apartment, the charging document said. The woman told police she ordered Jennings to leave, but he refused.

Jennings pushed the woman and punched, slapped and pushed her daughter, the document said.

The daughter told police she had been texting Jennings the previous night and he responded that he was coming over, but she went to bed after several hours passed.

The daughters child was asleep on the couch when she heard a noise and saw Jennings reaching through the broken window to unlock the door, the document said. The child witnessed the assaults and said Jennings refused to leave for about 25 minutes, the document said.

All three told police they were afraid to remain in the apartment because Jennings said he was coming back, the document said.

Police were later called to the 400 block of West Antietam Street for a complaint and found Jennings, though he gave them a false name, the document said.Provo, UT (84601)

Today

Partly cloudy. Low 58F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph, becoming SE and decreasing to less than 5 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Low 58F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph, becoming SE and decreasing to less than 5 mph.For instance, Northam is now under fire for referring to the first Africans in Virginia as indentured servants. Technically, he may be correct. Historians still debate the precise status of the first Africans brought to Virginia, because slavery was not codified until l662. In fact, thats what the states textbooks taught: At first, the Negroes were treated as indentured servants. There is no mention of the fact that, whatever they were called, they werent free  that theyd been kidnapped from Africa and transported against their will across the Atlantic and in some cases treated as indentured servants for life, which is slavery by another name. Meanwhile, Virginia students were taught that those held in slavery were happy about their lot. The chapter on slavery opens with a drawing that shows a well-dressed white man shaking hands with a well-dressed  and smiling  black man, as if they were somehow on equal footing. The chapter emphasizes how well masters supposedly treated their human chattel. Most of them were treated with kindness. A feeling of strong affection existed between masters and slaves in a majority of Virginia homes. These are but two examples of the many records of affection which existed between masters and their servants. Servants, not slaves. That same chapter went on to say that slaves went about in a cheerful manner making a living for themselves and for those for whom they worked. There is nary a mention of the fundamental evil of holding fellow humans as property.In addition, the states 25 divisions with the highest poverty rates  which include six Southwest Virginia divisions  stand to lose $9.8 million under the House plan while the 25 divisions with the lowest child poverty rates would receive a combined $6.1 million increase.

Perrigan voiced those concerns Wednesday during a meeting of the General Assemblys Rural Caucus.

We have 71 rural divisions; 58 would have a loss of $4.9 million, and 13 would gain $409,000, Perrigan said Monday. In Region 7  Southwest Virginia  its almost a $2 million cut. By comparison, the top six most affluent school divisions would gain $4.9 million.

Under the current House plan, every division in Southwest Virginia would get less At-Risk Add On funding and less total funding, coalition figures show.

Bristol could lose $113,000, Washington County stands to lose more than $77,000, and Wise and Lee counties could lose more than $220,000 each.Newman said he believes jail personnel did all they could to secure Carter, and they are looking into how he was able to slip the handcuffs and leg irons. Newman said it has been several years since a prisoner escaped custody in Washington County.

An officer with the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail called central dispatch and advised that an inmate escaped custody. The Abingdon Police Department, U.S. Marshals and Virginia State Police MedFlight assisted in setting perimeters and searching for Carter.

Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

A Washington County Life Saving Crew member called dispatch to report that a man matching Carters description ran between the crew building and went behind the old Washington County Jail on Park Street, the sheriff said. The Sheriffs Offices K-9 unit tracked Carter to an abandoned house on B Street, where he was found hiding under the house without his orange jail shirt, Newman said.

Area schools were notified, including a Head Start about 1,000 feet away from where Carter was arrested. Newman said that location went on a hard lockdown.

Officers found Carter in approximately 30 minutes and took him back into custody without incident. Newman said finding and arresting Carter so quickly was extremely important because he is charged with attempted murder in another jurisdiction.Virginia State Police are investigating an incident where a school bus hit a child as it crossed in front of the bus.

VSP Trooper K.S. Chapman was called to the intersection of Dutton Road and Copper Drive on Tuesday regarding an incident with a school bus and a student, according to a news release.

The school bus, driven by a 73-year-old man, was heading south on Dutton Road and had stopped to drop off two students. The students exited the bus and crossed in front of it.

When the bus pulled forward and continued on its way, one of the students was found lying in the roadway, according to witnesses. The driver was alerted to what happened and immediately returned to the stop on Dutton Road.

Further investigation revealed the 7-year-old student had been hit by the bus as it pulled forward. He suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries. He is being treated at a children's hospital in Johnson City.

Charges are pending once the Smyth County Commonwealth's Attorney is consulted. The crash remains under investigation.A short distance from bustling Interstate 81, a country road lined with dense woods takes many twists and turns before one final curve delivers visitors on top of a hill overlooking a vast estate of nearly 12 acres of grapevines and an inn reminiscent of a modern farmhouse. The land is beautiful. The resources are beautiful, said Tariq Zaidi, who manages marketing for Nicewonder Farm & Vineyards. In many ways, [its] a very cultural, lifestyle-type property that is going to become a destination.Hoosier hearts

Valentine's Day is today and a new Offers.com survey confirms that love is not dead (sort of). To get a pulse on what consumers are buying for their sweethearts and how theyll spend the day, Offers.com surveyed 1,000 people across the nation to get a look at the top trends.

Indiana's Top Valentines Day Trends:

 41 percent of Indiana shoppers will be spending between $1 and $50 this Valentine's Day. About 5 percent will be spending more than $250.

 21 percent of lovers will be exchanging gifts and 13 percent will be going out.

 When it comes to where they are shopping, Walmart is the top retailer (22 percent).

 In Indiana, the top desired gifts are flowers (22 percent), skincare (18 percent) and chocolate, candy or other food (17 percent).

 When it comes to the top treats of Valentine's Day, Indiana consumers are most looking forward to chocolate (26 percent), champagne (13 percent) and cupcakes (12 percent).

See the full survey results (as well as nationwide stats) here: https://www.offers.com/blog/post/valentines-day-shopping-spending-survey/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.

Photo: The Canadian Press South Yuba River in California.

A storm fueled by a plume of moisture stretching over the Pacific almost to Hawaii dumped rain on California Thursday, boosting the threat of debris flows from saturated slopes and flooding from rising creeks and rivers.

The storm made stronger by the phenomenon called an atmospheric river hit Northern California and southern Oregon on Wednesday before moving down the coast overnight and threatening southwestern California.

Flash flood warnings were issued for residents living near slopes burned bare by a summer wildfire in the Santa Ana Mountains southeast of Los Angeles.

Earlier, a woman was rescued from the wreckage of her Northern California home after it slid down a hill. KNTV reported at least 50 homes were evacuated after the mudslide struck a neighbourhood in Sausalito.

Atmospheric rivers are long bands of water vapour that form over an ocean and flow through the sky. Formed by winds associated with storms, they occur globally but are especially significant on the West Coast. When an atmospheric river originates near Hawaii it is commonly referred to as a "Pineapple Express."

South of San Francisco, authorities urged people to leave homes near the Guadalupe River in San Jose. Forecasters also said numerous other rivers were expected to crest over flood stage on Thursday.

The tempest followed more than a week of severe weather in the Pacific Northwest and was the latest in a series that has all but eliminated drought-level dryness in California this winter.

Even before the height of the storm, mandatory evacuations were ordered near the burn scar in the Santa Ana Mountains where officials said the risk of debris flows was high.

Winter storm warnings were posted in the snow-laden Sierra Nevada, where the forecast said up to 7 feet (2.1 metres) of new snow could be dumped at elevations above 9,000 feet (2,743 metres).

The National Weather Service recorded winds gusting to 132 mph (213 kph) atop the Mount Rose ski resort southwest of Reno, Nevada.

A backcountry avalanche warning was issued throughout the Sierra.

Five passengers suffered minor injuries when a Delta Air Lines flight headed from Southern California to Seattle encountered severe turbulence in the storm and was forced to make an emergency landing in Reno. Photos on social media showed a drinks cart upended and snacks and soda cans littering the aisle. One passenger tweeted the plane did two nose dives in "crazy turbulence" but the crew "handled it perfectly."

On Wednesday, snow heavily impacted stretches of vital Interstate 5 in far Northern California, causing closures and forcing tire-chain requirements.

A local state of emergency was declared in Shasta County because of significant storm damage, a Sheriff's Office statement said. Redding, the county seat, turned its library into a warming centre.

Power outages also hit thousands of utility customers in the region.

Widespread roadway flooding occurred north of San Francisco Bay. To the east, a swath of California's Central Valley was under a flood warning.

In Washington, thousands of Puget Sound Energy customers lost power, and Interstate 90 was closed for a second day Wednesday across Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascade Mountains. The town of North Bend declared a state of emergency because of several feet of snow.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.Dollard & Co is around 150 metres from the proposed centre

A popular Dublin restaurant has hit out at illegal drug dealing being conducted in its "doorways and lobbies" in an objection to a supervised injection centre.

Dollard & Co, on Wellington Quay, which is around 150 metres from the proposed centre on Merchants Quay, wants Dublin City Council to turn down the application.

The restaurant said its staff had been verbally and physically attacked.

Its objection letter said the idea of having the centre in this part of the city was "counterproductive and flawed planning", adding that the facility "is likely to be overwhelmed".

Abuse

Dollard & Co said the area was of importance to tourism and on the edge of the Central Business District.

"In the conduct of our business we are in daily contact with illegal drug users," said general manager Kevin Lysaght.

"Illegal drug dealing is conducted in our doorways and lobbies.

"Our staff are regularly subjected to verbal and sometimes physical abuse.

"Instances of theft and criminal damage have been connected to illegal drug users by members of An Garda Siochana."

The restaurant's objection is one of around 100 in total to the centre, which the city council will make a decision on.

Thomas Street Pharmacy was among those to raise issues, with owner Brian McDevitt saying he feared crime in the local area would increase further.

He said his business had been subjected to three armed robberies in the past five years "and I have no desire to see that rate increase".

"This area is a tourist thoroughfare. Ireland's most popular tourist attraction is at the end of Thomas Street and we have had countless tourists comment on their experience with drug users in the area," Mr McDevitt said.

Other objections reported in recent months were from Failte Ireland, the Clarence Hotel, the Temple Bar, the Morgan Hotel and St Audoen's National School.

Failte Ireland said it had concerns over the location but was not against the centre.

Those in the tourism industry were worried that such a facility would encourage further antisocial behaviour and crime.

Attractions

Failte Ireland spoke of the efforts to grow tourism further in Ireland and of the major attractions that are all near Merchants Quay.

It said the Guinness Storehouse attracted 1.7 million visitors in 2017, with St Patrick's Cathedral welcoming 603,000, Dublin Castle 371,000, Christ Church Cathedral 238,000 and Dublinia 200,000.

"The tourism industry in the area of this proposed national facility has raised its concerns that the proposed medically supervised injecting facility may encourage crime and antisocial behaviour within this key tourism hotspot and may have a negative impact on their business and the safety of their staff," Failte's submission said.A college student who lost control of his car crashed into a vehicle parked in a driveway, which struck a second and damaged the front of a house.

Mateusz Matuszczyk (28) "panicked" and left the scene after the incident.

The two parked vehicles had to be written off, and there was structural damage to the front of the house, a court heard.

Judge Miriam Walsh convicted and fined Matuszczyk 600 after he paid compensation of 500 to the injured party.

The defendant, of Killeen Crescent, Malahide, admitted failing to report an accident at Gaybrook Lawns, Malahide, on November 25, 2017.

Gda Matthew O'Connor told Swords District Court that Matuszczyk was crossing Swords Road in his car at around 12.20am when he hit a vehicle that was parked in a driveway at Gaybrook Lawns.

Gda O'Connor said this vehicle jumped forward and hit a second vehicle, which was also parked in the drive.

Trouble

The second vehicle hit the front of the house, causing some structural damage.

Gda O'Connor said the driver left the scene of the accident.

The officer said he later spoke to the registered owner of the vehicle, and Matuszczyk was nominated as the driver at the time of this incident.

The court heard that the defendant had never been in any sort of trouble before.

Defence lawyer Deirdre Flannery said Matuszczyk was originally from Poland and was in his final year of a computing degree at the National College of Ireland.

Ms Flannery said her client wished to apologise to the court for his behaviour, which was unacceptable.

She said Matuszczyk had written a letter of apology to the injured party and had also paid 500 compensation for the damage.

Ms Flannery said he had panicked and driven off, which he should not have done.

The solicitor also asked the judge not to disqualify Matuszczyk, saying he had not come to garda attention since this incident.Photo: The Canadian Press

When Meghan Markle became engaged to Prince Harry, the American TV star seemed to charm everyone she met. She and Harry toured Britain to adoring crowds, and she pledged to hit the ground running once she officially joined the royal circle.

Britain's rambunctious, royal-obsessed press praised her as something different, a fresh take on an old "firm" in need of a bit of dazzle.

Nine months after her wedding extravaganza and now formally known as the Duchess of Sussex, the 37-year-old is pregnant  and finding that life in the royal fishbowl carries not just glamour and great charitable opportunities but liabilities as well.

Meghan is engaged in a painful, public rift with her father  played out in the nation's tabloids, of course  and dealing with speculation that she is feuding with Prince William's wife, Kate.

Her half-sister Samantha has been sniping at her in public, and the once-fawning press has criticized for everything from being hard on her household staff to spending too much time cradling her "baby bump."

"I should think she's finding it pretty difficult," said Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine. "It's such a minefield, being a member of the royal family. Perhaps she should have eased herself into it a little more."

She said Meghan has, like Princess Diana before her, probably been shocked at just how intrusive the press can be. "I don't think they realized quite how nasty it would become," she said of the continuing spat between Meghan and her father and half-sister.

Seward said Meghan will never be able to quell tabloid rumours about rifts in the royal household  stories that rely on unnamed "sources" will continue to bedevil her.

Meghan has maintained her equilibrium in public, keeping up a hectic schedule that includes travel and charitable appearances even as the birth of her first child nears.

She has been unfailingly elegant and gracious in public, and retailers say her fashion influence  dubbed the "Markle sparkle"  remains intact, shown by the spike in interest in Stow products after Meghan was seen carrying one of its leather travel organizers.

Talk of a royal feud between the spouses of Prince William and Prince Harry was fueled late last year by Harry and Meghan's announced plan to move out of central London, where they live on the grounds of Kensington Palace along with William and Kate, in favour of Frogmore Cottage, in a rural setting near Windsor Castle.

Some in the press jumped to the conclusion that Meghan was not only unable to get along with Kate but had also prompted a split between William and Harry.

No one outside the royal inner circle knows for sure if there is ill will between Meghan and Kate. But there is no denying the ugly break between Meghan and her father, who has shared an anguished letter from Meghan with the Mail on Sunday tabloid.

"If you love me, as you tell the press you do, please stop," Meghan implores her father, who has frequently spoken to the tabloid press about Meghan and the royal family. "Please allow us to live our lives in peace. Please stop lying, please stop creating so much pain, please stop exploiting my relationship with my husband."

Royal expert Hugo Vickers says the strained relations between Meghan and her father may have reached the point of no return.

"It's all become ridiculous, a tabloid scam," he said. The best thing would be some sort of reconciliation with him, but it may have gone too far."

Meghan and Harry's press office has not commented on the letter, portions of which were reprinted in The Mail on Sunday in what was said to be Meghan's distinctive, elegant handwriting.

The publication of the August letter  claimed as a "world exclusive" by the tabloid  is the latest salvo in the tabloids' fascination with the elder Markle, who divides his time between southern California and northern Mexico.

Markle, 74, has complained that he can't reach his own daughter now that she is part of the royal family.The court heard that the gang got into the building by forcing open a side window before ransacking the desks and making off with a projector. (stock photo)

A gang of burglars forced their way into a pharmaceutical company's offices, ransacking them and causing damage estimated at 2,700 to a door.

John McDonagh (28) and his accomplices left dirty footprints on the office floor, ransacked the desks and left items in a mess, a court was told. A projector worth 900 that was taken in the burglary has not been recovered.

At Dun Laoghaire District Court, Judge Anne Watkin adjourned sentencing to a date in April to allow McDonagh to pay 900 compensation to the company.

The defendant, of Stocking Hill, Stocking Lane, Rathfarnham, admitted burglary at the premises of MSD in South County Business Park, Leopards- town, on February 28, 2016.

Convictions

The court heard gardai had stopped McDonagh and his alleged accomplices about half-an-hour before this incident.

They got into the building by forcing open a side window before ransacking the desks and making off with a projector.

They also caused 2,724 worth of damage to a door.

The court heard McDonagh had 81 previous convictions.

Defence lawyer Kim Moloney said McDonagh was the only person apprehended on the night, and the others got away in a car with the projector.

She said McDonagh was raised by his grandparents as his father died and his mother turned to drugs. He was on tablets at the time of the offences.

McDonagh was married with four sons, and he wanted to be around for them, Ms Moloney added.Photo: CTV News

A newly released report by the B.C. government says BC Hydro customers will pay $16 billion over the next two decades because the Crown utility was pressured to sign long-term contracts with independent power producers.

Minister of Energy Michelle Mungall commissioned the report, which blames the previous B.C. Liberal government for creating the problem.

The report says the Liberals manufactured an urgent need for electricity but restricted BC Hydro from producing it, forcing the utility to turn to private producers and sign lengthy contracts at inflated prices.

Former B.C. Treasury Board director Ken Davidson authored the study, which estimates the cost to the average residential BC Hydro customer will amount to about $4,000 over the next 20 years, or about $200 per year.

Davidson recommends all future energy purchases be made at market rates and finds BC Hydro must be allowed to meet supply obligations through a reasonable level of market trading, rather than by generating all electricity within the province.

The NDP government launched a two-phase review of BC Hydro last June, in an effort to identify cost savings at the utility and a government news release says results of the first phase will be announced Thursday.

Davidson's recommendations informed the BC Hydro review.

Mungall says he also concludes the long-term deals forced upon BC Hydro were mainly with run-of-river producers, whose power is primarily available during spring runoff, when B.C. doesn't require it.

"B.C. didn't benefit. BC Hydro customers didn't benefit. A small number of well-placed independent power producers benefited, and customers were stuck with a 40-year payment plan," Mungall says in the news release.

Government and BC Hydro staff warned the former Liberal administration against requiring lengthy contracts with independent producers, but the advice was rejected, the minister says.

"As a result, these contracts have already cost customers $3.2 billion and are set to cost billions more over the next two decades," she says.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.A NEW bar and restaurant is to open in Henley in the spring.

The Hart Street Tavern is to take over the premises of the Cau restaurant in Hart Street, which closed last summer.

It will be run by David Holliday and Alex Sergeant, who have spent the last two years running the Bottle and Glass pub and restaurant in Binfield Heath after it was refurbished and extended.

The pair have signed a 20-year lease with landlord Juan Gil Rios who ran the La Bodega Spanish restaurant there for 10 years before it closed in August 2014.

The Hart Street Tavern, which takes its name from the Gramercy Tavern in New York, will employ 40 to 50 people.

It will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and offer 120 covers, including 22 in a private dining room.

Work to strip out the building began on Monday. The interior will be designed and fitted out by Spratley & Partners, who also worked on the transformation of the Bottle and Glass. Mr Holliday said: We have wanted to have a place in Henley for a long time.

We feel that a privately funded and privately run restaurant in that part of Henley is really exciting.

We couldnt be more happy with the location  its nice and close to the river and people see it after they come over the bridge.

Its going to be an all-day dining venue. We want to do modern British  I mean really, really tasty, simply put together, approachable food.

The menu will include pates made in-house, a burger, whole fish roasted in the oven to share, salads, triple cooked chips and roasts on Sundays.

Mr Holliday added: We will take bookings but youll always be able to walk in off the street and have a bite to eat.

We will be buying in everything fresh, we will be baking things on site, we will be cooking over an open fire and we will have charcuterie at the bar.

The tavern will have large wine selection and sell Loddon and Rebellion beers and the proprietors are working with Heston Blumenthal's head mixologist on a range of cocktails.

The business will have a soft launch at the end of April.

Cau, an Argentinian steak restaurant chain, opened in January 2015 after a 1million refurbishment of the premises. It closed in July after its parent company went into administration.The least romantic professions were found to be accounting (42%) and IT (37%).

Humorous as the study is, realities of managing romance in the office is a tad more logistical. Earlier this year, we spoke to HR Leader Craig Sofley, who had some sage advice on the issue.

Its no use or point believing that people wont find attraction in the office, he told HRD.

Its primitive behaviour, put enough people together and in challenging high-pressured working environment, throw in alcohol in to the mix and no doubt as sure as dollars to donuts its going to happen that people become attracted to each other.

The challenge Im hearing from a number of co-workers is when is it right or wrong time to approach a co-worker. Lots of companies have policies in place to say relationships are not allowed, Ive even had to introduce Love Contracts where individuals who have started a relationship and work closely together.Out & Equal Workplace Advocates first-ever global analysis of LGBTQ workplace allies found that over 50% of organisations need to do more to support LGBTQ issues. Despite this, workers who believe their employers to be supportive of a diverse agenda are 13% more likely to stay with them rather than jumping ship to a new role.

But even with these compelling statistics, LGBTQ employees are still not buying into the idea of coming out at work.

I think its the experience of all LGBTQ people, says Michael Bach, CEO of the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. Personally, mine was affected by time. I came out privately in 1986 but coming out at work wasnt really an option. I was, admittedly, 16, and working was just slinging hamburgers somewhere, but even when I got into the professional workforce no one was out. It simply wasnt an option.

As LGBTQ people we look for a symbol of some kind that says, This is a safe place where youre not going to be discriminated against.

One demographic of LGBTQ employees who seem to slip under the radar again and again is the transgender community. Out & Equal Workplace Advocates found over a quarter of trans employees claimed to have been fired or denied promotion due specifically to their gender identity, putting transgender workers at a greater risk of unemployment.Rep. Paul Gosar: It's time to call the opioid crisis what it isOne of Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders tentpole ideas is the promise of a free college education for all Americans. SenatorWill Arizonas growth force it to become a big government state? We hope not butPhoto: The Canadian Press

Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. reported a dip in its fourth-quarter profit compared with a year ago, as it took a one-time charge related to its financial services deal with Scotiabank.

The retailer says it earned a profit attributable to shareholders of $254.3 million or $3.99 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended Dec. 29, compared to a profit of $275.7 million or $4.10 per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue totalled $4.13 billion, up from $3.92 billion.

Canadian Tire says its normalized earnings for the quarter, which exclude the $50-million financial services charge, amounted to $4.78 per diluted share, up from $4.10 per diluted share a year ago.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of $4.69 per share, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.

The company also announced that Dean McCann, its chief financial officer, will retire at the end of the year.Forty years ago, millions of Chinas urban youth rose up in response to the Great Helmsmans call to bombard the headquarters. Laying waste to whatever manifestations of revisionism and counterrevolution they could find in their midst oppressive bonds of authority within schools, parental authority in the household, governmental authority in the person of privileged local party elitesthey seized their moment in the revolutionary sun as the vanguard class, furthering historical progress under the banner of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong thought. In the ensuing Cultural Revolution decade, more than a million Chinese citizens would perish and millions more would be injured physically and psychologically. In the process, Chinas entire social fabricgovernmental institutions, the Communist Party organization, the basic urban workplace, the neighborhood, and the family itselfwould be torn asunder.

Maos Last Revolution, by Roderick MacFarquhar, Williams professor of history and political science, and Michael Schoenhals, a lecturer on modern Chinese society at Lund University, in Sweden, provides an unparalleled account of this extraordinary event, one made almost unfathomable, even dreamlike, by the distance China has traveled economically, socially, and even politically since the dystopian heyday of Maoism. In 1966, Chinas best and brightest, their Little Red Books in hand, converged on Beijing to rally before the Chairman and then spread throughout the country to make revolution, more often than not through internecine violence and wanton destruction. In 2006, Chinas best and brightest cram desperately to gain entry into the nations top universities, land jobs with top multinational enterprises upon graduation, achieve professional success, and immerse themselves via the Internet in global flows of information and culture. How times have changed.

Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals, Maos Last Revolution (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, $35).

At one level, Maos Last Revolution can be read as an historical benchmark, a reminder of how different things once were and, indeed, of just how terrible they becameterrible enough, as MacFarquhar and Schoenhals argue, to have necessitated the sweeping counter-response of Deng Xiaopings post-Mao reforms.

At a deeper level, however, this brilliant narrative is a reminder of the profound complexity of Chinese society today. As any visitor to Beijing knows, and as every Chinese citizen takes for granted, a gigantic portrait of Mao Zedong still hangs above the central arch of Tiananmen Gate, the geographic fulcrum of Tiananmen Square and the symbolic fulcrum of the seal of the Peoples Republic of China. MacFarquhar, author of a three-volume history, The Origins of the Cultural Revolution, and Schoenhals leave no doubt regarding Maos culpability for the Cultural Revolution. The Mao of their extensively documented account may not have been a detail-oriented policy person, but neither was he a dreamy utopian, an ideas man removed from the darker exploits of those below him who contested viciously for power throughout the Cultural Revolution. Instead, Mao appears as a prophet of mayhem, an active societal instigator driven by an abiding faith in the cleansing power of violence and upheaval. He was not only aware by 1967 of his countrys having slipped into something resembling civil war, but effectively egged matters on.

As MacFarquhar and Schoenhals further demonstrate through extensive use of original historical documentation, few if any redeemable characters were to be found among Chinas top-tier officials during the Cultural Revolution. The radical Leftists surrounding Maos wife, Jiang Qing, certainly bore considerable responsibility for the calamitous decade, as the Chinese governments official postmortem on the events concluded in the early 1980s, but so, too, did virtually every other senior official at the time, including even ostensible victims like Deng Xiaoping. The one person arguably in a position throughout the duration to temper Maos excesses, Zhou Enlai, the prime minister, appears to have served more as a facilitator than a brake. The point is that few senior luminaries were purely victims, and almost all of them were in one way or another active participants.

The issue of victimization and culpability leads to an even more significant theme of Maos Last Revolution. The Cultural Revolution, as MacFarquhar and Schoenhals demonstrate, should not be understood as something akin to a Stalinist purge. It did not operate through the proverbial midnight knock on the door, the unannounced visit by the state security apparat assigned to round up designated victims and disappear them into eternity. Rather than a carefully orchestrated purge or even a carefully coordinated manipulation of public sentiment, the Cultural Revolution was a wildly unpredictable and intensely participatory event, something that reached into the deepest interstices of civic life and, in so doing, took on a momentum and trajectory of its own. Maos repeated proclamation that rebellion is justified stoked intense passions among ordinary people, whether the young or, frankly, anybody else harboring feelings of resentment, dissatisfaction, and envywhich is to say, virtually everybody. People were stirred to participate and participate violently. Maos directive to bombard the headquarters may have been a figurative call to attack revisionists within the central Communist Party bureaucracy, but it translated in the citizens mind as license to attack any semblance of social hierarchy and authority, the closer and more personal the better.

Opting out of politics may not have been an option in the totalitarian context of Maoist China, but during the Cultural Revolution, many, many citizens rushed to join in voluntarily. Indeed, many Chinese today can still recall the initial sense of euphoria, liberation, and exhilaration that accompanied their participation in the movement. Many, too, look back in wonder, and often horror, at what they did and how eagerly they did it. The Cultural Revolution would be an easier event to understand if clearer boundaries existed between victims and victimizers. Instead, it is a difficult period to comprehend precisely because most Chinese citizens who lived through it were both. Tragically, it is, in this sense, their eventnot something they simply suffered through, but rather something they own.

And that brings us back to the portrait of Chairman Mao on Tiananmen Gate. In the 30 years since Mao Zedongs death and the end of the Cultural Revolution, Chinas reformist leaders have dismantled virtually every vestige of Maoist policy. China today in almost every waysave for the monopoly on political authority still claimed by Partyrepresents a rejection of Maoism, and arguably even socialism. As outsiders, then, it becomes easy for us at once to view contemporary China as a repudiation of the past and to wait expectantly for the citizenry to cast off the government that victimized them in the past and still lionizes Mao Zedong in the present. Yet for Chinese citizens, just as the Cultural Revolution is their own, so, too, is Mao Zedong and the Chinese Revolution more broadly. Their revolutions track record is undoubtedly ambivalent, encompassing the full gamut from exhilarating liberation to grotesque calamity, butin the minds of manyit is an event still in the process of unfolding. The economic burgeoning and global presence of China today is, for many Chinese, as much a part of that revolution as the portrait of Mao Zedong on Tiananmen Gate, and the wrenching historical events to which that portrait is linked.

To read Maos Last Revolutionan unsurpassed account of an era at once gone by and still so present in the minds of Chinese citizens todayis to come face to face with the complexities of political legitimacy, historical memory, and the evolving social contract in what has become one of the worlds most influential nations.



Edward S. Steinfeld 88, Ph.D. 96, associate professor of political science at MIT, focuses on the political economy of China. His current research projects examine contemporary Chinese industrial competitiveness and the management of Chinas energy sector. As a Harvard senior, he took Roderick MacFarquhars Cultural Revolution course (Foreign Cultures 48) in its inaugural year.The most dramatic moment in human evolution took place about 1.9 million years ago, with the emergence of homo erectus. "Something radical happened," says professor of anthropology Richard Wrangham. "The change happened almost too quickly for the fossil record to record its intermediate stages."

The australopithecine creatures who inhabited the African woodlands before that time looked and acted more like chimpanzees than humans. They were short and short-legged; females weighed only about 60 pounds, males about twice as much. They had large faces, mouths, teeth, and guts, and arms and shoulders that were well adapted--like those of chimps--to hanging for hours in trees, where they could both forage for food and sleep. Then a markedly different creature suddenly emerged from one of the australopithecine populations, and within 100,000 years had spread from Africa to Europe and probably Asia. Homo erectus looked so much like modern humans, Wrangham says, that "if you dressed one in clothes, put a hat on her, and walked her down a Manhattan street, she wouldn't draw too many stares."

In a Current Anthropology article published last December, Wrangham and coauthors James Holland Jones, assistant senior tutor in Mather House, Greg Laden of the University of Minnesota, Ford professor of the social sciences David Pilbeam, and research assistant Nancylou Conklin-Brittain advance a new theory to account for the sudden change. They suggest that the discovery of fire and its corollary, cooking, occurred much earlier in prehistory than generally believed--and furthermore, that the innovation of cooking fundamentally reshaped the body. "All humans cook, and cooking has such big effects on what you can digest that it would necessarily have major impact on any species that adopts it," Wrangham explains. "Things like the shape and size of teeth, for example, are closely adapted to what you eat. But until now, no one has suggested any time [frame for] when cooking evolved that coincides with big changes in the morphology of the body."

The cooking hypothesis is bold because scholars routinely link the origin of cooking to archaeological indications of fire--and there is scant evidence for human control of fire earlier than 300,000 to 400,000 years ago. "But," says Wrangham, "fire doesn't leave much behind in the archaeological record." Furthermore, recent thermal and paleomagnetic data obtained from reddened patches of rock in Kenya suggest the existence of hearths as old as 1.6 million years. "We know that the environment was getting drier [1.9 million years ago]," Wrangham says, "so lightning, for example, would start natural fires. One can imagine a root being cooked by chance, then found and eaten by an australopithecine who liked it."

"Most foraging peoples live under nutritional stress," Pilbeam notes, and cooking expands the range of edible food and improves its overall quality. Wrangham explains, "Cooking breaks down indigestible molecules and makes them digestible. Starch in uncooked roots, for example, is often in a crystalline form. Until it's heated, our digestive systems can't use it." That means our ancestors could obtain as much nutrition from one roasted tuber as they could from several raw ones, and therefore needed to eat less. Consequently, over time, they might have developed smaller, flatter guts and the inward-tilting ribs seen in homo erectus. Cooking also softens food, diminishing the need for big teeth that can shear and pulverize. Indeed, with the emergence of homo erectus, "You see a greater reduction in the size of teeth than at any other point in our ancestry," Wrangham says. Smaller teeth also mean smaller faces, as well as much smaller mouths. And controlled fire would also help defend against night predators, a necessity for creatures who were now sleeping not in trees, but on the ground.

Where foraging apes usually pop food immediately into their mouths, the advent of cooking--a time-consuming activity--meant that hominids had to wait while the foods that they had collected were readied for eating. (The first "homes" were probably pantries at hearthsides.) But with waiting comes the possibility of theft. "The female suddenly becomes vulnerable to a new problem--she can easily lose her food to the much larger, dominant Australopithecus males who might steal it, profiting from her hours of foraging effort," Wrangham says. Pilbeam adds, "She would have an incentive to attach herself to a male defender who could guard the food supply. This could be the point at which human monogamy first occurred."

Under these conditions, females would compete with each other for the best male protectors, in terms of both their strength and agility and their ability to summon allies. The researchers speculate that to attract such males to their hearths, these early women became "sexier," evolving an extended period of sexual desirability, including the concealed ovulatory pattern of human females, and copulating throughout the menstrual cycle. "The theft hypothesis portrays the human family as originating in a swirl of sexual and domestic politics around a kitchen hearth," writes Wrangham, who later adds a classical allusion: "Prometheus is said to have created humans by quickening clay figures with fire. If the foraging and mating systems of humans were indeed shaped powerfully by cooking, the ancient Greek myth may have been close to the truth."

~Craig Lambert



Haiti - News : Zapping...





The State has no revenue for 7 days

"The crisis is precipitating the Haitian economy towards bankruptcy. The state has no revenue, the institutions of perception, the DGI and Customs have not worked for 7 days. Expenditures are made, the deficit will be huge, the Gourdes will approach 90 gourdes for a dollar. We must come out of the crisis" Dr. Eddy N. Labossiere



Murat Cantave is looking for solutions

"I met Prime Minister Jean Henry Ceant on Monday. I discussed with the President of the Republic Tuesday, February 12, 2019 and Wednesday, I have a working session with the economic forum. The consultations will continue throughout the week with "the democratic sector, the Core Group and other sectors of national life," said Senator Carl Murat Cantave with a view to finding solutions to the crisis...



Seizure of an airplane and drugs

The Haitian National Police this week seized a large amount of drugs on board a small private plane. Several individuals aboard the plane, which was also seized, were arrested. The origin and destination of this drug remain unknown for the moment and are under investigation.



"No resignation of the Head of State"

"There will be no resignation of the Head of State to leave room for the most virulent extremists on the planet earth. The transfer of power will be peaceful and only through the ballot box every five years. What is the use of elections and democracy in Haiti if finally to demand the depature of the winner to replace the losers after a few months," said the Deputy Jean-Michel Moise, of the constituency of Bombardopolis and Baie-de-Henne.



The survivors of the shipwrecks will be repatriated

Darren Henfield, the Bahamas Foreign Minister, announced that the 19 survivors of the sinking that occurred 6 miles off the Abaco Islands north of the Bahamas archipelago on February 2 last will be repatriated. Some had claimed that the Government of the Bahamas would not repatriate the survivors, who had suffered enough. When asked about this, Henfield said, "The Immigration Department has said there will be no special treatment for survivors. The Department's policy regarding the treatment of illegal migrants remains the same. This policy has not changed, they will be repatriated."



Theater : "The Key to Knowledge" by Mimi Barthelemy

The Art Center invites you Thursday, February 14, 2019 at 5:00 pm to see a story, "The key to knowledge" of Mimi Barthelemy, told several voices by the children of the course "Art and theatrical expression for children" and staged by Sylvie Pourcel. [subject] ...



HL / HaitiLibre





















Haiti - Diplomacy : The ambassador of Haiti in France resigns





While the Haitian Chancellery proceeded Tuesday, February 12 to recall 3 Ambassadors of Haiti abroad https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26932-haiti-diplomacy-the-haitian-chancellery-recalls-3-ambassadors-of-haiti.html the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Haiti in France, Vanessa Lamothe Matignon handed on Wednesday, February 13, her resignation to President Jovenel Moise.



In her letter to the Head of State, she reminds that she spent six years, all her energy and commitment with the Haitian community in France; provided assistance to our students on the French territory and redressed the financial and administrative situation of the Embassy of Haiti, which is no longer in debt. She points out that she is leaving behind a fleet of 2 new vehicles acquired in 2017 thanks to the sound management of her finances.



"[...] I am proud of the actions I have taken to lead a team that I wish to thank for its daily support and professionalism. It was a great honor for me to serve my country.



I thank you for your trust.



I also thank you, HE President Michel Joseph Martelly and HE President Jocelerme Privert.



It is time for me to turn to other professional projects in which Haiti will always have a prominent place.



Also, I hereby submit my resignation as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Haiti to France." I>



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26932-haiti-diplomacy-the-haitian-chancellery-recalls-3-ambassadors-of-haiti.html



HL/ HaitiLibre

















Photo: The Canadian Press U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, left, is followed by his deputy Jeffrey D. Gerrish, center, and delegations as they leave a hotel to attend a new round of high-level trade talks with Chinese officials in Beijing, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

U.S. and Chinese negotiators began trade talks Thursday that President Donald Trump says will help decide whether he escalates a fight over Beijing's technology ambitions by raising tariffs on $200 billion of imports from China.

Businesspeople and economists say the two days of talks are unlikely to resolve the battle that threatens to drag on weakening global economic growth. They say Chinese negotiators are trying to persuade Trump they are making enough progress to postpone a March 2 deadline for the duty increase.

The chief American envoy, Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, and his Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He, shook hands at the start of the meeting at a government guesthouse but said nothing to reporters.

There are few signs of movement on the thorniest issue: Washington's demand that Beijing scale back plans for government-led creation of global competitors in robotics and other technologies. China's trading partners say those violate Beijing's market-opening obligations and some American officials worry they might erode U.S. industrial leadership.

Trump agreed in December to postpone more tariff hikes while the two sides negotiate. That expires March 1. The following day, a 10 per cent tariff imposed in July on $200 billion of Chinese imports would rise to 25 per cent.

On Tuesday, Trump said while he is not inclined to extend the deadline, he might let it "slide for a little while" if talks go well. Earlier, the White House called March 2 a "hard deadline."

Business groups see the decision by the top trade envoys, Lighthizer and Liu, to take part in person as a sign the negotiations are making progress. Thursday was their second meeting following negotiations last month in Washington.

The U.S. delegation also included Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and David Malpass, a Treasury undersecretary who is Trump's nominee for World Bank president.

Companies on both sides have been battered by Washington's tariffs and retaliatory duties imposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping's government. The stakes are rising as global economic growth cools.

Trump hiked tariffs on Chinese goods over complaints Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology. The dispute has spread to include Chinese industry development, cyberspying and the countries' lopsided trade balance.

Chinese leaders have offered to narrow their multibillion-dollar trade surplus with the United States. But they balk at making major changes in development plans they see as a path to prosperity and more global influence.

Chinese officials reject complaints that foreign companies are required to hand over technology. But business groups and foreign governments point to rules they say compel companies to disclose trade secrets or share technology with state-owned partners.

Chinese officials also are balking at U.S. pressure to accept an enforcement mechanism to monitor whether Beijing carries out its promises.

Beijing has tried to deflect pressure by emphasizing China's growth as an export market. It has announced changes over the past year to open finance and other fields, including allowing full foreign ownership in its auto industry for the first time.



Haiti - Justice : After 24 years on the run, former Commissioner Edinord arrested and handed to the DEA





Wanted for 24 years for drug trafficking, former Police Commissioner Jean Edinord aka "Flex" was arrested under an international arrest warrant, on February 11 by agents of the Specialized Unit of the Guard of the National Palace (USGPN).



It would be the important link in a chain that will answer many questions about drug trafficking in Haiti.



"Flex" during his arrest circulated armed and in uniform of the USGPN was handed over to the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ) who then handed over to the agents of the "Drug Enforcement Administration" (DEA) came by plane to Haiti to escort him to Florida where he was expected by the US justice to respond to the charges against him.



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Haiti - Diplomacy : The Haitian Chancellery recalls 3 Ambassadors of Haiti





Paul Altidor, Haiti's ambassador to Washington for 7 years, is recalled to the services of the Chancellery of Haiti. He will be replaced by the former Minister of Defense and Ambassador Herve Denis as Charge d'Affaires ai until the Senate validates his appointment to the rank of Ambassador.



At a time when Haiti faces critical issues that require strong representation before the Trump Government, Paul Altidor received a letter on Tuesday informing him that his services would no longer be needed with immediate effect. Recall that Altidor had resigned to President Jovenel Moise a year ago, and remained in office at the request of the Head of State.



In addition, Denis Regis, Haiti's Ambassador to the United Nations in New York and Haiti's Ambassador to Mexico Guy Lamothe also received their recall letter...



Chancellor Edmond Bocchit, stressed that these recall were nothing special and was part of the normal framework of diplomacy and staff movements of the Chancellery of Haiti...



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Haiti - FLASH : Attack against the TNH, important material damages





The Ministry of Culture condemns the attack perpetrated Wednesday, February 13 against the National Television of Haiti in Delmas 33, where at least 6 vehicles and a mobile unit and two generators were burned by a "commando" of armed men faces masked by hoods.



Firefighters and police officers, who intervened a little late to avoid major damage, prevented the fire from spreading and the order was restored. An investigation was opened to identify the perpetrators and sponsors of this criminal act.



The Ministry is in solidarity with some 350 employees of the public television attacked in the course of their work, during these unfortunate events that caused significant damage in terms of loss of equipment to the TNH.



The Ministry takes this opportunity to condemn all recent violent initiatives in the country, while at the same time encouraging various forms of democratic expression and freedom of opinion.



HL/ HaitiLibre





















Haiti - FLASH : UDMO agents shoot at the crowd in Petit-Goave at least 15 wounded





Wednesday unidentified individuals set fire to the building housing the Court of First Instance (TPI) of Petit-Goave and the Prosecutor's Office, by introducing into the premises burning tires...



In addition, anti-government protesters from Grand-Goave who had joined those of Petit-Goave at the foot of Morne Tapion, clashed with police who tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas grenades, before shooting at human height, from the place where were agents of the Departmental Unit of Maintenance of the Order (UDMO) hit the crowd of demonstrators and trigger a real panic ..



The partial assessment of these shots is heavy, at least 15 people injured by bullets, most of whom were taken to the Notre Dame Hospital in Petit-Goave and 6 seriously wounded were taken to Grand-Goave.



In addition, the Petit-Goave hospital received during the day several dozen people with symptoms of respiratory distress following the tear gas and toxic smoke of the burning tires serving as a barricade through the city making the air unbreathable.



HL/ HaitiLibre / Guyto Mathieu (Correspondant Petit-Goave)

















Photo: The Canadian Press This 2013 photo released by the Department of Justice shows Monica Elfriede Witt. The Justice Department on Wednesday announced an indictment against Monica Elfriede Witt, who defected to Iran in 2013 and is currently at-large. (Department of Justice via AP)

A former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran despite warnings from the FBI has been charged with revealing classified information to the Tehran government, including the code name and secret mission of a Pentagon program, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The Justice Department also accused Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, of betraying former colleagues in the U.S. intelligence community by feeding details about their personal and professional lives to Iran. Four hackers linked to the Iranian government, charged in the same indictment, used that information to target the intelligence workers online, prosecutors said.

Witt had been on the FBI's radar at least a year before she defected after she attended an Iranian conference and appeared in anti-American videos. She was warned about her activities, but told agents that she would not provide sensitive information about her work if she returned to Iran, prosecutors say. She was not arrested at the time.

"Once a holder of a top secret security clearance, Monica Witt actively sought opportunities to undermine the United States and support the government of Iran  a country which poses a serious threat to our national security," said FBI executive assistant director Jay Tabb, the bureau's top national security official.

Tabb said "she provided information that could cause serious damage to national security," though he did not provide specifics.

Witt remains at large in Iran, as do the four hackers, who prosecutors say were acting on behalf of the powerful, government-linked Revolutionary Guard. That group, a branch of Iran's armed forces, has previously been designated by the U.S. government as terrorism supporter.

The indictment was unsealed the same week as Iran celebrates the 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution and as the country denounced a Middle East security conference in Warsaw co-hosted by the U.S. and Poland. Officials said the indictment's timing was unconnected to the meeting.

Witt served in the Air Force between 1997 and 2008, where she was trained in the Farsi language and was deployed overseas on classified counterintelligence missions, including to the Middle East. She later found work as a Defence Department contractor.

The Texas native defected to Iran in 2013 after being invited to two all-expense-paid conferences in the country that the Justice Department says promoted anti-Western propaganda and condemned American moral standards.

The Treasury Department on Wednesday sanctioned the New Horizon Organization, which sponsored the conferences Witt attended and hosts events that American officials say promote Holocaust denial, conspiracy theories and serve as a platform to recruit and collect intelligence from attendees.

Witt first travelled to a "Hollywoodism" conference in 2012, when she appeared in Iranian television videos in which she was identified as a former U.S. service member with hostile views toward America. She was warned by FBI agents that she was a potential recruitment target for Iranian intelligence.

"She chose not to heed our warning that travel to Iran could potentially make her susceptible to recruitment," Tabb said. "She continued to travel."

Later that year, she was hired by an individual who is not named in the indictment but who professed to have ties to high-level officials to help in the filming of an anti-American propaganda commercial.

She returned to another "Hollywoodism" conference in 2013. This time, with free housing and computer equipment, she went to work for the Iranians, supplying information about a classified Defence Department program and assembling into "target packages" research she conducted into the family lives, locations and missions of former colleagues, the indictment said.

The accused hackers exploited that research, contacting Witt's former colleagues through imposter Facebook and email accounts. Their goal was to induce the targets to click on links and attachments containing malicious software that could compromise their computer and networks.These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales.Apple has resumed sales of iPhone 8 and iPhone 7 (and their Plus versions) in Germany, following a sales ban in December last year. The ban was based on an infringement on a Qualcomm patent on envelope tracking.

The newly-stocked phones only feature Qualcomm modems, Cupertino has stated that it will no longer use Intel modems in iPhones sold in Germany. The problem wasnt even the Intel chips themselves, but the additional chips from Qorvo that they required.

China similarly banned iPhones 7 and 8, but Apple never stopped selling those models there as it's still appealing the decision. Note that the iPhone X was also involved, but since it was discontinued, the bans didnt affect it (also, the bans applied only to Apple stores and not third-party sellers).

The current generation of iPhones  XS and XR  also use Intel modems as Apple moved away from Qualcomm. Qualcomm continues to supply modems for older models, however.

SourceRussian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan failed to agree on military action to oust militants who've seized control of a key region of Syria, amid continued divisions over Ankara's demand for a security zone inside the Middle Eastern country.

While Putin urged Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at a summit on Thursday to work out ways to "completely destroy the terrorist hotbed" in the Idlib region, a joint statement after the talks referred only to the need for "concrete steps" to restore a September truce shattered by the Islamist takeover last month. Those steps don't include military action, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Erdogan said he'd "relayed our expectations" to Putin and Rouhani for Syrian government forces to "abide by the cease-fire" agreed in September, and for Russia and Iran to support Turkey's demand for a buffer zone inside northern Syria to counter U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in the region. Putin and Rouhani instead stressed the need for Syrian President Bashar Assad's government to have control over the territory.

The meeting in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi was the first between the three leaders since President Donald Trump announced in December that he'll pull out about 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria. The move would change the balance of forces on the ground and is fueling tensions between Ankara and Moscow over control of the region once American forces leave.

The U.S. withdrawal is "among the biggest challenges ahead," Erdogan told Putin at an earlier bilateral meeting. "Syria's territorial integrity can't be preserved if the YPG/PYD is not cleared from Manbij and east of the Euphrates," he said, referring to the Kurdish fighters near Syria's border with Turkey.

Trump renewed his pledge last week even as domestic critics have urged him to avoid a "precipitous withdrawal" that may endanger the Kurdish allies fighting against Islamic State in Syria. Russia, Turkey and Iran, which all have forces in Syria, are waiting to see if he'll follow through on the commitment.

U.S. Gen. Joseph Votel, who commands American forces in the Middle East, said Feb. 10 that the troop withdrawal is likely to start within "weeks." His comments came as the Kurdish fighters began a final offensive to clear Islamic State militants from Syria's border with Iraq.

Ankara considers the Kurdish fighters to be terrorists linked to separatists inside its territory. It wants to establish a buffer zone on the Syria-Turkey border, a plan the U.S. supports but which Russia views as a threat to its interests in Syria. While some Turkish troops have moved to an area near the city of Manbij, Russian officials have said repeatedly they want Syrian forces to ensure security inside the border with Turkey.

Iran understands Turkey's security concerns, though "we believe cooperation with the legal Syrian government and the establishment and presence of Syrian forces along Syria's international borders is the most sustainable way to ease these concerns," Rouhani said.

Putin proposed reviving a 1998 security treaty between Turkey and Syria at talks with Erdogan in Moscow last month, effectively pressing the Turkish leader to restore ties with the Assad regime that Ankara opposes. The treaty obliges Syria to prevent activity on its territory that jeopardizes Turkish security, and allows the Turkish military to cross the border in self-defense if Damascus fails to rein in the Kurdish fighters.

While the Russian and Turkish defense ministers called for "decisive" action to secure Idlib at talks on Monday, Turkey fears a military assault could send a new wave of refugees fleeing toward its territory, where some 4 million already live.

Turkey has convinced the al-Qaida offshoot to withdraw from areas of Idlib that it took after forcing out rebels backed by Ankara, but increasing attacks by the Syrian army are threatening a fragile situation, said a senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Turkey wants "to stop and postpone any military action in Idlib as much as possible to wait and see how things will unfold after the start of the U.S. pullout," said Nihat Ali Ozcan, a strategist at the Ankara-based Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey. "However, Russia is growing impatient."'

- - -

Bloomberg's Taylan Bilgic and Ladane Nasseri contributed.When Nigerians go to the polls on Saturday, there'll be much more at stake than the presidency and seats in the parliament of Africa's most populous nation.

Democracy is on the back foot in Africa, and a credible and widely accepted outcome will go some way toward offsetting negative perceptions of the world's poorest continent. While most Nigerian elections since military rule ended in 1999 concluded acrimoniously, the last contest four years ago saw the first-ever transfer of power via the ballot box and was hailed as a watershed moment for the nation's almost 200 million people.

"The significance of the Nigerian elections for Africa is tremendous," said Nic Cheeseman, a professor of democracy and international development at the University of Birmingham in the U.K. "A flawed election and the political instability that this could generate would not only undermine confidence in the feasibility of democracy in one of Africa's most important states, but also slow economic growth in West Africa and the wider region."

Recent setbacks in Africa include disputed votes in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya, an attempted coup in Gabon and the violent suppression of anti-government protests in Sudan and Zimbabwe.

A study Cheeseman did of 44 African nations showed almost every criterion used to evaluate the state of democracy slipped between 2015 and 2017. Many states pay lip service to staging elections, but have made little headway in giving their citizens a real stake in their economies, he said.

The legitimacy of Nigeria's election has already been called into question by President Muhammadu Buhari's decision to suspend the chief justice for allegedly failing to declare his assets correctly, just weeks before the vote. The Supreme Court may have to rule on disputes in the vote, which is widely seen as a tight two-horse race between the 76-year-old Buhari, a one-time military ruler, and Atiku Abubakar, 72, a wealthy businessman and former vice president.

Repressive African governments are facing little international pressure because global powers are preoccupied with the U.S. trade war with China, the U.K.'s exit from the European Union and Venezuela's political crisis, according to Moeletsi Mbeki, deputy chairman of the Johannesburg-based South African Institute of International Affairs.

"They are aware that the rest of the world is busy with bigger issues," Mbeki said. "In Africa, things are most likely to get worse before they get better."

Half the 44 nations evaluated by Cheeseman, who analyzed the results of a transformation index compiled by German research institute Bertelsmann Stiftung, have autocratic governments. Mauritius and Botswana were the only two classified as consolidating democracies, while South Africa, which has an election in May, and Kenya were among 15 considered "defective democracies." Nigeria was described as a "highly defective democracy."

An analysis of data from 35 independent sources by a foundation started by Sudanese billionaire Mo Ibrahim paints a somewhat rosier picture.

It showed an overall African governance index reaching a decade-high in 2017, with 34 of the 54 countries registering gains since 2008. But another index that measured sustainable economic opportunities on the continent barely changed over the period, despite a 40 percent surge in the region's gross domestic product.

"Old institutions that have remained undemocratic need to be reformed and the political space needs to be opened for people to participate meaningfully," said Ntsikelelo Breakfast, a lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch's School of Security and African Studies. "That could take a long time, depending on how long the political elite continue ignoring the growing voices of discontent."WASHINGTON - One is the daughter of an immigrant from Nigeria who wanted to understand the causes of her mom's plight, starting a search that would lead her to Spelman, Oxford, Harvard, Georgetown, the State Department and, eventually, the halls of Congress.

The other was raised by a single mother in trailer parks and public housing in eastern Tennessee, becoming an avowed foe of the ultrawealthy whose Twitter handle reads: "Every Billionaire Is A Policy Failure."

The two have landed the two policy jobs with first-term Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who received about 5,500 job applications for her office - a record, according to experts.

Ariel Eckblad, 31, the congresswoman's legislative director, and Dan Riffle, 37, a legislative assistant, will help steer Ocasio-Cortez as one of the most high-profile members of Congress.

They will help shape how Ocasio-Cortez works as an activist hoping to refashion the Democratic Party, while she also tries to serve as a more typical member building coalitions and moving legislation.

Ocasio-Cortez's team made its first high-profile mistake late last week, as staffers accidentally released and then retracted a fact sheet about the Green New Deal that had won the support of most of the party's 2020 presidential candidates and more than 60 House Democrats.

Many freshman lawmakers avoid the national spotlight, and it is very rare for their staffers to speak out. But just as Ocasio-Cortez is blasting away some of the conventions of politics, so is her team.

In an interview in Ocasio-Cortez's office earlier this month, Riffle, a former pot activist, said: "I remember getting to the Hill thinking, 'The staffers here are going to mostly be activists and idealists.' Then I got here, and I found out that's not true at all. These are careerists. These are people who grew up on the Upper West Side and went to Ivy League schools.

"I don't mean to paint too broad a brush. But these are people who don't think big and aren't here to change the world. They're here because it's a good, safe, stable job, and this is a good platform to get to K Street. Which is what the vast majority of Democratic Hill staffers do."

He added: "They only conceive of the world as it is, and work within that frame. They don't think, 'Here's the system; it sucks and we should burn it down.' "

Other Hill staffers said they didn't want to respond to that view. But Elaine Kamarck, a member of the Democratic National Committee and senior fellow in the Governance Studies program at the Brookings Institution, a center-left think tank, argued that it misses a key point about the Democratic experience on Capitol Hill the past eight years.

"Perhaps another way to understand the current Hill staffers is that for the past nine years, since the Republicans picked up more than 60 seats in the Congress in the 2010 elections, they have been fighting to maintain the progressive legacy of the Democratic Party," she said. " 'Thinking big' is not an option when you are not in control of the House and you are fighting every day to protect food stamps, Medicaid and the other critical pieces of the social safety net that Republican majorities have attacked."

While Riffle is frequently seen accompanying Ocasio-Cortez around Congress and publicly defending her from critics on Twitter, Eckblad has a somewhat quieter presence on the Hill.

Her resume stands out. She was a Fulbright scholar and a fellow at Yale University, holds master's degrees from the University of London and the University of Oxford and a law degree from Harvard University, taught at Georgetown Law, and worked at the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. State Department.

"There's a school of thought called 'constructivism' that became very important to me," Eckblad said. "The basic premise is that we've created the worlds we live in, and so, maybe, we can re-create them."

Most recently, Eckblad worked for Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., focusing on foreign policy. She first heard of Ocasio-Cortez after the former bartender defeated then-incumbent Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., and Eckblad was excited by what she heard.

"Leadership that pushes people's perceptions of what is possible can be very, very scary," Eckblad said. "Because you don't know what the reaction will be. Will people validate you? Or will they laugh at you?"

Eckblad spent her early childhood in Berkeley, California, where her dad, a Minnesota native, worked as a janitor while in seminary school. Her mom, who was born in Nigeria and lived through the civil war there, took on part-time jobs while working toward medical school. Her mother would tell Eckblad stories of her native country, where she and other children endured long aid lines and bouts of hunger because of food blockades related to the civil war.

"I became deeply, deeply perplexed and troubled by that sort of suffering," said Eckblad, now pregnant with her second child. "And it stuck with me."

Riffle was born to a single mother in eastern Tennessee who worked as a waitress at Red Lobster and drank heavily, he said. In his application to work for Ocasio-Cortez, Riffle wrote that his one meal a day as a child was often his free lunch at school. Riffle was evicted from "most" places he lived with his mother, moving "15 or 16" times.

"It needs to be pointed out how insanely greedy" it is to be a billionaire, Riffle said. "We have to comprehend the scale of $1 billion - just the amount of money we're talking about. Five million dollars is a lifetime's fortune; you can live off the interest of that and still be in the top 1 percent. Five million dollars, times 100, is still only halfway to $1 billion.

"It's a systemic failure on society's part. On one part of the city, we have people with helipads and yachts that they park inside of yachts, and on the other side we have thousands of people who are homeless and children without health care or food. Those things should not exist simultaneously in a society."

Riffle attended Ohio State University and Capital University Law School in Ohio, working tables at Dave & Buster's to help pay the bills, before taking a job in the prosecutor's office in Vinton County, Ohio. Fed up by the number of low-level drug cases he had to prosecute, Riffle later moved to the District of Columbia to take a job at the Marijuana Policy Project, a lobbying group pushing for marijuana legalization.

Riffle went on to work for former Reps. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., and Keith Ellison, D-Minn., becoming the key staffer handling the "Medicare for all" health bill in the House. While working for Conyers, Riffle said, he was deterred by colleagues from his efforts to push toward a single-payer health-care system with the Justice Democrats, an outside group pushing primary challenges against Democrats that later helped Ocasio-Cortez defeat Crowley.

Democrats from the more centrist wing of the party have said Ocasio-Cortez does not understand that she represents an almost uniquely liberal area, which includes Queens and the Bronx and is significantly more diverse than the rest of the country.

"What Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says makes a lot of sense in Queens, apparently, and it tends to get a lot of attention," Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), chairman of the moderate New Democrat Coalition, told reporters last year.

Riffle thinks that's the wrong way to look at it. The key distinction, Riffle said, is not ideological but between the "lawyers, bankers, CEOs and more lawyers" who are members of Congress and the constituents whom they are supposed to represent.

Saikat Chakrabarti, Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff, worked in tech most recently. Corbin Trent, her communications director, joined Justice Democrats after his food truck in Tennessee burned down. The congresswoman herself was working as an activist and bartender last year.

"People in this office are really ... normal people. . . . And in part because of that, there's a willingness to think outside the box and make mistakes - there's no other office that has that," Riffle said. "They didn't come up in this system. So they don't know how it works. And as a result, they don't feel constrained by it."Photo: CTV News Kathryn-Mary Herbert is shown in an undated family handout photo during a press conference in Vancouver on March 8, 2012.

The man convicted last month of murdering 12-year-old Monica Jack in 1978 outside Merritt told police he also killed another young girl, but that confession never made it to trial.

Garry Handlen, 71, was arrested in 2014 and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Monica Jack and 11-year-old Kathryn-Mary Herbert, who went missing in 1975 near Abbotsford.

During an elaborate 10-month Mr. Big operation, Handlen told undercover officers posing as gang members that he had killed Jack in the hopes they would be able help cover up the crime.

The undercover agents told Handlen police already had DNA evidence and were closing in on him, but the gang may be able to convince another cancer-stricken member to confess to the crime for a price.

Two days later, he also told undercover officers he killed Kathryn-Mary Herbert. He showed the officers the approximate area he abducted Herbert and dumped her body, both areas that were close to the area where her body was found.

But because the confessions were made during a so-called Mr. Big operation, they were deemed presumptively inadmissible, forcing the Crown to argue at a pre-trial hearing that the probative value of the evidence exceeds its prejudicial effect.

In a decision handed down last summer but published online this week, Justice Austin Cullen allowed the confession of the Jack murder to proceed to trial but ruled the Herbert confession inadmissible.

Cullen noted that the Crowns own evidence showed that Handlen had the tendency to tell tall tales.

The accused had a propensity to lie in the course of dealing with his cohorts, to make up stories and to exaggerate or embellish incidents, he wrote.

During the pre-trial hearing, Handlen denied the murders and claimed he learned the details of the Herbert case from media reports and documentaries. Handlen had a long and violent criminal record with multiple rape convictions prior to his arrest.

Justice Cullen found that the confession of Jack was admissible, but in essence, tainted the following confession of the Herbert murder.

At the time when the accused confessed to killing Ms. Herbert, he had already gone out on a limb by confessing to the murder of Ms. Jack, Cullen wrote. In doing so, his hope and expectation was that he would achieve a number of things, including ongoing work with the criminal organization with accompanying social and financial benefits, and more importantly, a way out of the dilemma he believed he was facing from the linkage of his DNA to the remains of Ms. Jack.

Agent A had earlier dismissed the accuseds suggestion in relation to the Herbert Homicide that his DNA could have been planted, Cullen continued, noting the undercover officers told Handlen anything short of a confession to the crime would not only end his involvement with the organization, but would, as well, leave him without any hope of avoiding eventual arrest and prosecution for the Jack Homicide.

The judges decision was covered by a publication ban, meaning the jury in the Jack murder trial had no knowledge of it.

Regardless, the jury found him guilty of the Jack murder primarily on the basis of his confession to the undercover officers and he was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. The Herbert murder charge was dismissed.GREENWICH  Transportation-and-logistics specialist XPO Logistics confirmed Thursday that it will close a facility in Memphis, Tenn., where some employees have made allegations of pregnancy discrimination and sexual harassment  but conflicting accounts have emerged about the reasons for the shutdown.

The warehouse was investigated last October by The New York Times, with two women reporting that they had miscarriages last year while working at the plant, which processes boxes of iPhones and other devices for Verizon. In a letter distributed Wednesday to workers, XPO said it would start layoffs April 15 because of an overall business model change by Verizon. The Teamsters union  which does not represent the facilitys 400 workers, but is an outspoken critic of XPOs labor practices  described the shutdown as retaliation.

My co-workers and I stood up and exposed the terrible conditions at the XPO-Verizon facility in Memphis, including sexual harassment, dangerous heat, pregnancy discrimination and worker abuses, Lakeisha Nelson, a worker at the facility, said in a statement sent Wednesday night by Teamsters. In return, XPO and Verizon are shutting down our facility and cutting our jobs. I will not be intimidated by these corporate bullies.

XPO responded Thursday in a statement that the company has a strict no-retaliation policy in place that applies to the company, as well as individuals. We encourage employees to voice concerns  including anonymously  without any fear of reprisal.

Most of the workers will be able to get new jobs at 11 other XPO facilities in the Memphis area, the XPO statement added. In addition, the firm plans to hire about 80 for a new plant scheduled to open later this year. It would be across the street from the closing warehouse, which has operated at 4895 Citation Drive, in the citys southeast section, since 2003. XPO took over the property in late 2014.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who is helping to lead a Senate investigation of the companys workplace environment, was not convinced by XPOs explanation of the closing.

This sudden, suspect step reeks of retaliation, Blumenthal said in a statement. It may be plausibly seen as punishment for the brave whistle-blowers who stepped forward to complain of unacceptable employment conditions and other workers involved in union organizing. It will have deeply hurtful ramifications for hundreds of other workers as well.

Congressional scrutiny

One of the women interviewed by The Times, 19-year-old Ceeadria Walker, said she gave her supervisor a doctors note that recommended fewer hours on her feet to avoid injury or pregnancy complications. Walker was allowed to focus on paperwork on some days, but she told The Times she spent most of last July on a conveyor-belt line lifting 45-pound boxes. Last August, she miscarried.

The Times also reported that a 58-year-old worker at the Citation Drive plant died in October 2017 of cardiac arrest on the warehouse floor after complaining to co-workers about feeling sick.

XPO initially disputed the accuracy of The Times article, but then said in early December that it would investigate the reported violations.

Also in early December, the company announced a new policy for the care and support of pregnant workers that includes paid family leave, pregnancy and postpartum benefits, and flexible working arrangements. Eligible workers would receive their regular base wages while they used their accommodations and would still qualify for pay increases during that time.

XPO has faced increasing Congressional attention since The Times report came out, as well as others on purported worker mistreatment that were published last fall by the Los Angeles Times and PBS NewsHour.

Last November, Blumenthal joined eight other senators to launch their related investigation.

Two weeks later, nearly 100 Democratic U.S. representatives  including Connecticuts Joe Courtney, Rosa DeLauro, Elizabeth Esty and John Larson  signed a letter seeking a similar probe.

On Wednesday, XPO announced a new program for U.S. employees and their families that gives them mobile-app access to a network of more than 1,400 health practitioners across 20 specialties, including fertility, lactation, infant sleep, nutrition and mental health. Employees can also sign up with a personal care coordinator to support them during and after pregnancy.

Also Thursday, XPO announced quarterly and annual financial results. Revenues for the past quarter grew about 5 percent year-over-year, to $4.4 billion. Annual returns increased 12 percent, to $17.3 billion.

The company also announced it would buy back up to $1.5 billion of its stock. XPO shares closed Thursday at nearly $60, about flat compared with their Wednesday finish.

XPO is headquartered at 5 American Lane, in the northwest corner of Greenwich. It operates in 32 countries, and employs about 98,000. It ranked No. 186 on last years Fortune 500 list.

pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; Twitter: @paulschottFor almost eight decades, Harpers in Fairfield has been a destination for womens fashion in Fairfield County. Now its run is over.

Owner Jerry Gold is preparing to close the store for good on Tuesday.

Weve always had next year up until this one, when I said Im tired, Gold said. Im tired and I want to take it easy  I want to go out on top. Things are good, Im feeling fairly well for my age and  its a good time.

In an age when traditional retail and mom and pop businesses have struggled to maintain a presence, Harpers has bucked the trend and continued to attract customers with its inventory of furs and high-end fashion.

The store was once Harper's Furs on the corner of Cannon and Broad streets in downtown Bridgeport, when the founders first opened the store 79 years ago. Gold purchased and eventually moved the retailer to 1871 Black Rock Turnpike.

While Gold doesnt take credit for the entirety of that success, he said he has tried to build on the brand he acquired in 35 years ago by focusing on connecting with customers and providing a selection of high-quality products.

More Business Business New business aims to bring Bridgeport youth vintage clothing

Weve tried to do all the right things, he said. We always try to do something to make it more exciting. Some things worked, and some things didnt work.

As fashion trends have ebbed and flowed over the years, Harpers evolved along with it, adding spring clothing, jewelry and other accessories as the demand by customers increased.

Even when adapting to tastes and trends, the store never lost its roots, maintaining its sale of furs  demand of which has surged because of Connecticuts harsh winters, Gold said.

Lasting 79 years in the retail business doesnt just rely on inventory, however; Gold said the store has become a destination because of its staff and community atmosphere.

Anybody that shops at Harpers and knows Harpers for the staff, he said.

Thats what ultimately pulled employee Cale Lubchansky into the fold almost 15 years, she said.

She shopped at the store for years before taking a seasonal position.

I never left, she said. This is the best job Ive ever had in my whole life. Its a family here  the employees, the owners, and the customers.

With closure on the horizon, Harpers staff have been busier than ever with customers making purchases and coming to say their farewells to the staff, Gold said.

Its time, he said. People are coming in here left and right. People are purchasing, which is wonderful, but even people who arent purchasing are coming in just to say goodbye and thank me for all the years  Its been a wonderful run and Im very happy.

Jordan.grice@hearstmediact.comGreensburg, IN (47240)

Today

A few showers this evening with overcast skies overnight. Thunder possible. Low 71F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

A few showers this evening with overcast skies overnight. Thunder possible. Low 71F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.Photo: Toronto Star

If you have followed any Canadian media reports this week, you have likely heard about the growing controversy within the Trudeau Liberal government.

In particular, the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) and the subsequent fallout over the resignation of Jody Wilson-Raybould, the former Justice and former Veteran Affairs Minister, from the Trudeau cabinet.

What started this controversy?

Last week, the Globe and Mail reported that the former Justice minister was pressured, by Trudeau's senior officials working within the PMO, into offering a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) in a criminal case to large Canadian corporation, SNC Lavalin, in lieu of a criminal trial.

It has been suggested that when Ms. Wilson-Raybould did not end the criminal proceedings in favour of a DPA, she was shuffled, by the prime minister, from the Justice portfolio and a Montreal-based Justice minister was appointed.

The new Justice minister has since indicated that he will not rule out entering into a DPA with SNC-Lavalin.

A deferred prosecution agreement allows a major corporate entity, like SNC Lavalin, to plead guilty and pay a fine instead of facing criminal charges that may lead to jail or other severe consequences.

In this case, the consequence of a criminal conviction would be a ban from being able to bid on federal contracts for ten years.

Many consider a DPA to be a slap on the wrist only offered to well-connected insiders and is a controversial topic as it this was only recently created in Canada, buried deep within a Liberal omnibus budget implementation bill.

It has been implied that this option of a DPA was created specifically to benefit SNC Lavalin, which is facing criminal charges related to bribery and fraud.

Where this situation becomes murkier is that the lobbyist registry reveals that since 2016, SNC-Lavalin has lobbied the Trudeau Liberal government more than 80 times on the subject of justice and law enforcement.

In 2016, it was also revealed that SNC Lavalin had illegally donated close to $118,000 to various political parties.

Of this $118,000, close to $110,000 was donated to the Liberal Party of Canada or various Liberal riding associations or candidates.

The remainder went to the Conservative party of Canada or various Conservative candidates. None was reported donated to the NDP.

The Prime Minister has steadfastly denied that he directed the former Justice Minister in any way over the SNC-Lavalin prosecution, however, he has refused to comment on the allegations that Wilson-Raybould may have been pressured.

That's a serious concern that many suggest amounts to potential judicial interference.

On Monday evening, Ms. Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet in a letter stating that she has hired legal counsel to determine what she can say in response to the allegations without interfering with solicitor client privilege that Mr. Trudeau has thus far refused to waive.

My question this week:PARKLAND, Fla.  On the anniversary of Floridas deadliest school shooting, the media trucks and cameras lined up as long as a train outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School vastly outnumbered students on foot walking to school.

Keondre Edge had noticed fewer people coming to school in the days leading up to Thursday, which marked a year since a former student came to the school and fatally shot 17 students and staff members and injured 17 more. Valentines Day has forever taken on a different meaning in South Florida.

It might be depressing for some, but for others, it may be an opportunity to help, the 15-year-old freshman said.

Absences were excused for those who couldnt bear to attend Stoneman Douglas Day of Service and Love, a short day for students to serve breakfast to first responders and pack meals for undernourished children. Therapy dogs and counselors are on site for students and staff, as well as manicures, massages, and healthy cooking demonstrations provided by the Broward County school districts technical colleges.

Many of the families of the victims told the Miami Herald last week that they planned to spend the day privately.The two firms statements of cost showed that between them during the past five years, they had deployed 16 lawyers on the case who worked just less than 3,000 billable hours at rates ranging from $300 to $765 per hour.

In their initial petition requesting payment from the losing side, the two firms had sought fees in the amount of $1,104,307.80 and reasonable litigation expenses in the amount of $150,809.17. But because the case also involved a subsequent appeal that the voters attorneys also won, they sought federal court approval for additional compensation from state government of $267,163.

All of that added up to about 10 percent more than the amount that Osteen actually granted last month.

Return trip to Washington

Complicated and contentious, redistricting cases often take time to resolve so its little wonder legal experts can run up a big tab.

The legislative redistricting case that was argued Friday in the Preyer Building already has been to the U.S. Supreme Court once. Depending on what the local panel of judges decides in the next few weeks about the issues raised in that hearing, it could well be headed back there for another appeal, accumulating more litigation costs.Persilys latest submission drew praise from those aligned with the aggrieved voters and quick condemnation from leaders in the General Assembly, who believe they solved all the racial gerrymandering issues this summer when they drew new districts under order of the federal panel.

That panel accepted many of the General Assemblys summertime fixes for 28 state House and Senate districts that the trio of judges originally had found in violation of constitutional prohibitions against racial gerrymanders.

But the judges ruled that in four  two of them in Guilford  problems still remained and they hired Persily to suggest remedies that, in some cases, also could force changes to adjoining districts.

In addition to the affected local districts, Persilys recommended plan suggested similar changes Friday to combat racial gerrymandering in a state House district that spanned parts of Duplin, Sampson and Wayne counties, and a Senate district that combined parts of Cumberland and Hoke counties.

He also suggested changes linked to five other districts primarily in the Raleigh and Charlotte areas that the federal court panel found in violation of the state constitution in ways not directly involving a gerrymander.APEX  The FBI tracked a man they think was one of the country's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives to a North Carolina motel, where agents shot and killed him on Wednesday.

The armed suspect shot to death at a motel in the Raleigh suburb of Apex will be identified by state medical examiners but was believed to be 47-year-old Greg Alyn Carlson, the FBI's North Carolina office said in a news release. Authorities said he was wanted in connection with multiple armed sexual assaults including a burglary and sexual assault in Los Angeles last fall.

An FBI spokeswoman did not respond to messages asking whether the man exchanged gunfire with agents. Apex Police Capt. Mitch McKinney said his officers were contacted after the FBI raid to secure the scene. He said he had no information about the shooting.

"Agents approached the room and tried to take Carlson into custody. Following an altercation over a gun, Carlson was shot to death by FBI agents," Paul Delacourt, assistant director of the FBI's Los Angeles office, said in a press conference.

Carlson, who the agency said had been linked by DNA to sexual assaults dating back to 2003, had previously been tracked to South Carolina, Alabama and Florida, the FBI said.GREENSBORO  The Greensboro Police Department will hold a community symposium this weekend to discuss the impact of opioids in the community.

The free event will be from 2-4 p.m. Saturday at Lewis Recreation Center, 3110 Forrest Lawn Drive.

Dr. Imran Haq from Horizon Internal Medicine will deliver a keynote address, and attendees will hear testimonies from people impacted by opioids, the police department said in a news release.

Between 1999 and 2016, more than 12,000 North Carolinians died from opioid-related overdoses, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

"We want to address the opioid problem with the multi-pronged approach necessary to combat this epidemic in our area," Greensboro Police Deputy Chief James Hinson said in a statement. "We believe it is important to bring people together to discuss the issues related to opioids, and begin working towards solutions."In 1663, New France (Canada) became a royal province under King Louis XIV.

In 1876, inventors Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray applied separately for patents related to the telephone. (The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled Bell the rightful inventor.)

In 1903, the Department of Commerce and Labor was established. (It was divided into separate departments of Commerce and Labor in 1913.)

In 1929, the St. Valentines Day Massacre took place in a Chicago garage as seven rivals of Al Capones gang were gunned down.

In 1949, Israels Knesset convened for the first time.

In 1984, 6-year-old Stormie Jones became the worlds first heart-liver transplant recipient at Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh (she lived until November, 1990).

In 2013, double-amputee and Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his home in Pretoria, South Africa; he was later convicted of murder and is serving a 13-year prison term.

In 2018, a gunman identified as a former student opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, killing 17 people in the nations deadliest school shooting since the attack in Newtown, Connecticut, more than five years earlier.

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.Q: One of your readers commented that taking MSM helped her hair growth. I bought the supplement and found, to my great surprise, that after six days of use (1 gram three times daily) my sense of smell returned. I have made no other change in my supplements, and I take no medication.Photo: Contributed Scott Anderson, Interim Leader of the BC Conservatives

The BC Conservative Party is not impressed with NDP throne speech.

Scott Anderson, Vernon city councillor and Interim Leader of the BC Conservatives, said the NDP has no vision or plan to deal with the problems facing British Columbia.

The throne speech is a mixture of vague promises around NDP shibboleths like child care and high-speed rail, and half measures to address the real problems this province faces, like money laundering, said Anderson. The NDP merely dusted off the broken promises of last year, like child care and 'poverty reduction' and re-promised them this year.

The BC Cons say the government is on the wrong track when it comes to affordable housing.

Instead of penalizing Canadians by forcing them to rent out their houses or sell them, the NDP needs a reality check, said Anderson. A significant cause of the ridiculously high home costs is offshore and domestic money laundering, and that's where we should be focusing our efforts. While we applaud the NDP on at least taking note of the money laundering problem, we feel the problem requires a full public inquiry followed by immediate action to shut down the flood of illegal money into the real estate market.

And as for the ongoing woes of ICBC, the Conservatives have a few ideas of their own.

"ICBC needs a full overhaul," said Anderson "The Liberals used it as a piggybank and the NDP's answer is to tinker with it, while keeping it tangled in a massive bureaucratic rat's nest, still embedded in an archaic Crown Corporation. Nor has the NDP addressed the problem of government dipping that went on under the Liberals."Photo: SD22

Vernon RCMP are seeking witnesses after a child was grabbed while walking near Mission Hill Elementary School Tuesday evening.

Just after 6 p.m., police were called when two 11-year-old girls reported that while walking on a path near the school, one of the girls was grabbed on the arm by an unknown male.

"One youth had the quick thinking to run into public view onto the street, yelling for help, which in turn caused the male to quickly let go of the other youths arm and flee on foot," says Const. Kelly Brett.

"The youths were able to grab the attention of a passing vehicle, at which time the vehicle occupants assisted the females in getting to safety by retreating into a nearby church."



Police are investigating the incident and hope to speak to the Good Samaritans who came to the girls' aid, as they left prior to officers arriving.



The suspect is described as male, with tan-coloured skin, five-foot-seven to five-foot-10, with a thin to average build and was wearing dark or all black clothing.

Neither of the girls was physically injured in the incident.



Anyone who may have been in the area of the 1500 block of 36th Street between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. and may have witnessed the suspect is asked to contact Vernon RCMP and reference file #2019-3092.

Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.My dad started teaching me hunter safety at our ranch outside of Douglas when I was 8 years old. One of the most important lessons was this: Never pull the trigger unless youre ready to accept the consequences. Of course, this means you must understand what the consequences will be. If there is the slightest doubt, you never shoot.

Ive been thinking about that lesson as I have listened to testimony on two life-related bills at the Wyoming Legislature, HB145 Death Penalty Repeal and HB140 Abortion- 48 Hour Waiting Period. The debates have reminded me that ideas have consequences too.

Regarding HB145, former inmate Randy Steidl testified how he spent 12 years on death row in Illinois before a law enforcement official decided to reopen his case. That investigator discovered that Randys case had been mishandled and eventually found evidence that exonerated him. Randy shared how his father died while he was in prison. His mom bought a plot for his grave when he was down to his last appeal. Were it not for that investigator and a lengthy appeal process, the state of Illinois would have unknowingly executed an innocent man.

Wyoming is not Illinois, but as long as humans are involved in any process, we can be sure that mistakes will happen.

Regarding HB140, the best of the testimony opposing a waiting period has focused on the plight of poor women who find themselves facing uncertainty without support. We know that many women choose abortion because they feel they have no other choice. Both sides of the debate can work to find ways to ensure that all women are given the support they need.

A lesser argument claims that a woman who makes an appointment with an abortion provider has already made her decision and that she doesnt need time to think about it.

Current Wyoming law requires an abortion provider to inform a woman that she has the right to see an ultrasound of her fetus, and listen to its heartbeat, if audible. If she decides an ultrasound will help inform her decision, she may see something that one side of the debate avoids mentioning. Without any note of developmental stage, opposing legislators, lobbyists, doctors and journalists have described the human fetus as just tissue. They have compared the image she will see to an appendix, and a bad knee needing replacement. They have compared the procedure itself to a vasectomy.

If these were reasonable comparisons, we might agree that an informed person would not need time to think after seeing the image. But these comparisons arent about science, theyre about ideology.

Describing other humans using subhuman terms is not a new phenomenon. But, throughout history, whenever it has been done it is for one purpose; to attempt to justify the injustices being perpetrated against that particular group.

The ultrasound mom sees is not an image of a fetus downloaded from the internet. Its her fetus. Its not the abstract idea of abortion. This could be her abortion.

Laws enshrine the truest values of a given society. We will continue to teach our children that the intentional destruction of other humans is unacceptable and that it is important to learn to see the inherent worth of every individual. But as long as our laws hold that the right to life is not really inalienable, our words will be hollow. A violent society is the fruit of our inconsistency. If we continue to enshrine violence in our laws, violence will be the consequence, whether we are ready to accept it or not.Losing Green Rivers Shopko Hometown store was certainly a blow to many residents throughout the city, but we believe the city will ultimately thrive once a new business makes use of the property.

The space has long been a spot for a small-scale department store. Prior to Shopko, the building was a Pamida, which retained the name until 2013 after Shopko completed a merger with the company. In our view, the location is perfect for the same commercial use it has seen under Shopko and Pamida. It isnt hard to see a Hobby Lobby or Target occupying that space, even if those specific shops are little more than wishful thinking on our part.

A more important concern to address is the fact that Green Rivers economy is not the reason for Shopkos impending closure. We agree with Kayla McDonald of the Sweetwater Economic Development Coalition when she says Shopko, like K-Mart, Hastings and other national chains, suffered from a failure to anticipate online retail and its growing impact. The decisions impacting Shopko in Green River are made at the corporate level because of chain-wide problems, not because Green River failed to support the business.

The same can be said for J. C. Penney, Herbergers, K-Mart, Hastings and others in Rock Springs. Sweetwater Countys residents did not suddenly stop supporting those businesses. Outside pressures led to their closures. In some cases, other businesses have moved in to the vacancies left by those closures. We think the same will be true for the Shopko building. While it wont happen overnight, but we believe we will see something move into that space.

Green River isnt dying. While someone may point to vacant storefronts along Flaming Gorge Way or the impending Shopko closure as proof otherwise, We believe SEDC will aid the city in bringing new business to the area, just as we believe the residents entrepreneurial spirit will help fill those storefronts. Admittedly, weve been skeptical of SEDC in the past, but our recent conversation with McDonald, as well as the discussions opened up between McDonald and the city once news of Shopkos closure broke show us Green River is on the organizations radar. Were also hopeful because City Administrator Reed Clevenger has shown himself to be committed to the citys economic future, having an active role in promoting Green River.

While we are losing a Shopko in the coming months, we think the future is still bright in Green River. Were looking forward to what comes next.RONN Motor Group (RMG) announced that under its new Joint Venture agreement (earlier post), it will produce a lightweight nano-composite hydrogen fuel cell bus with battery enhancements for both the Asia markets and export.





RONN Motor Group actual bus with composite body in development and rendering.

These buses are expected to be 30 percent lighter using our new Nano-composite and fuel cell technologies which will both extend driving range. Although built inside China for China, we fully expect to export these buses to developing hydrogen economies such as California and London. Ronn Ford, CEOStarMetro, the city of Tallahassees public transit system, has agreed to purchase 22 Proterra Catalyst FC buses to service Florida State University (FSU), bringing the StarMetro fleet to 27 battery-electric buses.





FSU is one of the first universities in the nation to decommission its entire fossil-fuel powered fleet and upgrade it to a 100% battery-electric fleet.

The procurement will also set a national precedent with FSU being one of the first universities in the nation to go all-electric, and StarMetro will continue to lead the Sunshine State in electric bus adoption.

The new 35-foot Proterra Catalyst FC buses will serve FSUs Seminole Express Bus Service and provide campus transportation for faculty, staff, students and visitors, totaling an average ridership of 847,000 each year.

Operations are expected to begin mid-2019 with an initial deployment of 15 buses, with the remaining seven buses expected to deploy in 2021.

This procurement also supports the goals defined in Florida State Universitys strategic plan to deepen its commitment to continuous innovation, invest strategically and incorporate sustainable living practices into all FSU activities.

With 22 Catalyst buses, Florida State University will displace more than 2,820,000 gallons of diesel over the vehicles 12-year lifespan and eliminate over 5,000,000 pounds of carbon emissions annually. The new electric buses will also provide fuel and maintenance cost savings of more than $10 million.

Proterra has also sold its Catalyst buses to the University of Montana, Duke University and Alabama A&M University.I am very concerned about the B.C. governments speculation tax requirement for my Social Insurance Number to be part of my request for an exemption.

Which part of B.C. privacy laws allow the government to require my SIN to become exempt from this tax?

How will the government protect my personal information and how are they using it? If it is being used for ID purposes, where is the database containing this information and exactly who has access to it? Are these provincial government employees or are they contracted staff?

What other alternatives are there to this demand? Surely, a homeowners long history of paying property taxes and claiming the B.C. Homeowners Grant must be stored somewhere in the governments records.

I object to this whole speculation tax, as it appears to target a few homeowners by a blanket sweep vs. the government doing their due diligence. This is a very costly method to deal with a situation that is unfairly targeting only certain cities in our province.

This is a detriment to citizens long-term retirement plans. It will not alleviate the housing situation, as these owners utilize their homes on a varying basis, not just in summer or winter months, so renting out their homes would not be a housing solution option. Renters would have to be moving in and out on a continuing basis.

How does this resolve the housing crisis? Canadian citizens from other areas of Canada, who own secondary or additional residences in B.C. pay the property taxes, hire B.C. residents to maintain property etc., so they are supporting the local economy.

In my view, the housing crisis has evolved as single-family homes have become very expensive as developers target areas to densify and build multi-dweller buildings on previously single-family zoned properties. Single-family property owners then face vastly increased property values and taxation. Homeowners perhaps cannot afford to continue living in their homes or end up selling to the developers. It is a never ending cycle.

Catherine Comben, KelownaOXIS Energy Ltd UK 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 worlds first digital manufacturing plant for the mass production of OXIS lithium-sulfur cells.

OXIS Energy Brazil Holdings will manage the plant.





CODEMGEs US$60-million 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 5 million 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 sectorsaviation, defence and electric vehicles such as buses, trucks and light commercial vehiclesreflecting the clients currently in partnership with OXIS.

Li-S allows for a theoretical specific energy in excess of 2700Wh/kgnearly 5 times higher than that of Li-ion. OXISs next-generation lithium technology platform offers the highest energy density among lithium chemistry, with 400 Wh/kg already achieved at cell level. OXIS is targeting 500Wh/kg for 2019.

OXIS is one of the few companies in the world to develop all 3 cell components: The cathode, the anode, and the electrolyte.

OXIS has developed Li-S pouch cells with nominal voltage of 2.1 V and typical capacity of 10  35 Ah. OXIS says it will pursue two types of Ultra Light cells (20 Ah, 2.1V) in order to address the specific requirements of aerospace and automotive:I would like to reply to the fella who thinks that the carbon tax is actually doing something here, in our great province.

If you can't see it by now, this government is sticking it to us in the form of taxes, taxes, taxes. If you have looked at any of your utility bills, you will see that the carbon tax levied on us, is greater than the actual cost of the fuel used.

This in itself is a total joke, as natural gas is actually one of the cleanest fuels out there.

And, how is this tax money used? They don't tell us.

We all still have to heat our homes in the winter, but, because of this lovely tax, it now costs us a great deal more  and we have no choice, as we can't stop heating our homes.

I sent a letter to my MLA, and basically got a generic reply, so, basically, nothing is done about it. Why would they want to do anything? Think of all the millions in new money that they can spend. Funny, because I don't see a bit of difference for us here in the Okanagan. Nothing has changed.

Our gas prices would be much more in line with others'  but, that lovely carbon tax again.

I hope we all will remember the ways of this government, come next election, as B.C. is going downhill because of them, with no end in sight, unless we all do our part, and send them packing.

I don't want to see our great province ruined by a bunch of money mongers who love to pull the money out of our pockets, and think that that is ok. Speak up and be heard, everybody!

T. MartinJan. 28 Jan was a very special day for my wife and I.

Sitting in the food court at the mall, three uniformed Canadian military walked in dressed in airforce berets and camouflage uniforms.

My stomach twinged a bit as it brought back memories from my 34 years' service.

I offered to buy them lunch, but they refused since they were on temporary duty. They did, however, come and sit with us, and we exchanged pleasantries.

Suddenly, a young man perhaps 18 years old came over, thanked each one for serving and shook their hands. Something I have not witnessed since my retirement back in 1992.

Shortly thereafter, an elderly couple also thanked them for serving, and as they were on their way out of the mall, another couple came and did the same thing.

My god, this is Kelowna, my Kelowna. The place I live, which has approximately 2,200 veterans  and citizens still thank their military.

Proud to have served and live in Kelowna. Proud to know we have an MP who, too, is a veteran.

Dale Dirks, KelownaPhoto: Contributed David Assman

A Saskatchewan man has come up with a cheeky response to the province rejecting his request for a personalized licence plate.

David Assman, pronounced Oss-man, wanted to put his last name on his licence plate.

Saskatchewan Government Insurance said no because it could be considered offensive when seen out of context.

Assman says in a Facebook post that he appealed the decision but was again rejected.

In response, he added a large "ASSMAN" decal to the back of his truck that's designed to look like a licence plate.

The move has garnered a lot of response on social media  including from the SGI twitter account.

"All's well that ends well," said @SGItweets.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.Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada / TheNewswire / Feb 14, 2019 - Global Li-Ion Graphite Corp. ("Global Li-Ion" or, the "Company") (CSE: LION) is pleased to announce it has signed a MOU with Swiss EMX, a Private Swiss Company, to enter into an offtake agreement to supply Graphite from the Ambato-Arana graphite project in Madagascar (the "Malagasy Project"). The MOU contemplates LION supplying 10,000 tonnes within the first three years of a definitive offtake agreement being signed and an additional 10,000 tonnes within five years. The MOU lays out the framework for the proposed offtake schedule, which is as follows:

--Year one: 2,000 tonnes;

--Year two: 3,000 tonnes; and

--Year three: 5,000 tonnes.

Upon completion of year three, Swiss EMX will have an option to extend the Offtake Agreement for an additional two years to purchase an additional 10,000 tonnes of graphite. Swiss EMX's product purchase rights are subject to a maximum such that the orders may not cumulatively exceed 50% of the net total Malagasy Project production of graphite on a yearly basis. The Company product must also be compliant with the product quality of flake graphite of at least or better than a minimum 90 pct carbon content and at least or larger than +80 Mesh flake size.

The MOU contemplates the following prices:

a)for the first 5,000 tonnes, the greater of US$600/tonne or the amount calculated using a 35% discount to the previous month's price for Flake Graphite, 90-93 pct C, +80 Mesh FOB China as published by Benchmark Minerals Intelligence Ltd. (the "Benchmark Price"); b)for the second 5,000 tonnes, the greater of $600/tonne or the amount calculated using a 25% discount to the Benchmark Price; and c)should Swiss EMX exercise the Option, additional graphite may be purchased at a 15% discount to the Benchmark Price, with delivery terms to be determined at the time of the option.

Swiss EMX will make a good faith payment against the supply of graphite of $250,000 USD upon signing of the definitive offtake agreement.

Ambato-Arana Graphite Mine, Madagascar

The Company continues to make very significant progress in its understanding and knowledge of the past producing Ambato-Arana Graphite Project in Madagascar. The Company completed the purchase and transfer of a 100% interest in the Ambato Project and is focused on working with Pascal Marchand M.Sc. P. Geol to complete the updated environmental study and prepare the detailed license development plan which is needed to put the project back into economic production. The Company has acquired and verified a substantial amount of historical data including recently recovered historic data on over 400 auger drill holes on the project that indicates the presence of substantial graphite mineralization, which will be instrumental in the implementation of the upcoming confirmation work program and mine plan completion.

Pascal is a Franco-Canadian geologist based in Madagascar with over 25 year's highly relevant experience including the exploration and appraisal of mineralisation of graphite. He is a member of the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec. Mr. Marchand holds degrees in geology including MSc's from Laval University and from the University of Nancy and a BSc from the University of Besancon. He has worked throughout Madagascar and, in addition to geological expertise, is fully conversant with Malagasy mining law, and environmental and social regulations.

About Swiss-EMX

Swiss EMX is pioneering the tokenization of the energy metals using a three-stage approach. Firstly, by offering commodity backed tokens followed by secondary trading of the tokens on regulated exchanges, which allows for speculation and liquidity in otherwise illiquid commodities and finally by offering delivery of the physical under lying commodity via smart contracts using blockchain technology.

Further information about Global Li-Ion is available under its profile on the SEDAR website, www.sedar.com, on the CSE website, www.thecse.com, and the Company's website, www.globalli-iongraphite.com.

For Further information about the Company, please contact:

Jason Walsh

Director & Officer

Global Li-Ion Graphite Corp.

Telephone 604.608.6314

Email: info@liongraphite.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider have reviewed or accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Forward-Looking Information:

This press release contains forward-looking statements. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "intend", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements in this release may include, without limitation, the decision of Company and Swiss EMX to sign a definitive offtake agreement, project economics, permitting, the development timeline, the Company's objective to produce graphite. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct.

Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Such factors include, among other things, the interpretation and actual results of current exploration activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices of graphite; possible variations in grade or recovery rates; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; the failure of contracted parties to perform; labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of exploration, as well as those factors disclosed in the Company's publicly filed documents. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks discussed in the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com. While the Company may elect to, it does not undertake to update this information at any particular time.

Copyright (c) 2019 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.VAL-D'OR, QC, Feb. 13, 2019 /CNW/ - Orbit Garant Drilling Inc. (TSX: OGD) ("Orbit Garant" or the "Company") today announced its financial results for the three and six-month periods ended December 31, 2018. All dollar amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated. Percentage calculations are based on numbers in the financial statements and may not correspond to rounded figures presented in this news release.

Financial Summary

($ amounts in millions, except per share amounts) Three months ended Dec. 31 2018 Three months ended Dec. 31, 2017 Six months ended Dec. 31, 2018 Six months ended Dec. 31, 2017 Revenue $33.7 $43.0 $71.0 $85.5 Gross Profit $2.9 $5.1 $8.5 $11.8 Gross Margin (%) 8.6 11.7 12.0 13.8 Adjusted Gross Margin (%)1 15.2 16.3 17.9 18.4 EBITDA2 $0.9 $3.3 $4.3 $8.3 Net earnings (loss) $(1.7) $0.8 $(1.3) $2.5 Net earnings (loss) per share







- Basic and diluted $(0.04) $0.02 $(0.03) $0.07 Total metres drilled 311,318 371,161 627,363 775,423



1 Adjusted Gross Margin is a non-IFRS financial measure and is defined as Gross Profit excluding depreciation expenses. See "Reconciliation of Non-IFRS financial measures". 2 EBITDA is a non-IFRS financial measure and is defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. See "Reconciliation of Non-IFRS financial measures".

"Our decline in revenue and metres drilled for the quarter reflects lower drilling activity in both Canada and Chile compared to the same quarter last year, which was a record second quarter in both revenue and metres drilled. This past quarter still represents our second highest revenue total for this three-month period in company history. With the recent rapid expansion of our global operations, our margins are more impacted by the slowdown in drilling activity. Our profitability for the quarter was also impacted by costs related to our acquisition in Burkina Faso," said Eric Alexandre, President & CEO of Orbit Garant.

"We're pleased with the early results of the Burkina Faso acquisition, with drill deployment up from seven at the time of acquisition to 12 at quarter-end. Looking more broadly at our business, with global gold and base metal reserves of mining companies continuing to be depleted, we expect mineral exploration spending to increase in order to address this decline. With our expanded international presence and our strong position in Canada, we are increasingly well positioned to capitalize on market opportunities as they arise," added Mr. Alexandre.

Second Quarter Results

Revenue for the three-month period ended December 31, 2018 ("Q2 FY2019") totalled $33.7 million, compared to $43.0 million for the three-month period ended December 31, 2017 ("Q2 FY2018"). Drilling Canada revenue was $23.6 million, compared to $28.3 million in Q2 FY2018, reflecting a decline in metres drilled during the quarter, partially offset by an increase in average revenue per metre drilled. Drilling International revenue was $10.1 million, compared to $14.7 million in Q2 FY2018. The decline in international revenue is primarily attributable to the conclusion of a large drilling contract in Chile, partially offset by increased drilling activity in Burkina Faso.

Orbit Garant's fleet drilled a total of 311,318 metres in the quarter, compared to 371,161 metres drilled in the very strong Q2 FY2018 period. Consolidated average revenue per metre drilled decreased 6.7% to $107.85 compared to $115.64 in Q2 FY2018. The decline in consolidated average revenue per metre drilled is primarily attributable to a lower proportion of specialized drilling in international markets in the quarter, partially offset by higher prices on drilling contracts in Canada.

Gross profit and gross margin for Q2 FY2019 were $2.9 million and 8.6%, respectively, compared to $5.1 million and 11.7%, respectively, in Q2 FY2018. Depreciation expenses totalling $2.2 million are included in cost of contract revenue for Q2 FY2019 compared $2.0 million in Q2 FY2018. Adjusted gross margin, excluding depreciation expenses, was 15.2% in Q2 FY2019, compared to 16.3% in Q2 FY2018. The decrease in gross profit and margins was primarily attributable to lower drilling volumes in Canada, partially offset by higher gross profit and margins on international contracts.

General and administrative (G&A) expenses were $4.8 million (representing 14.4% of revenue) in Q2 FY2019, compared to $4.3 million (representing 10.0% of revenue) in Q2 FY2018. Increased G&A expenses are primarily attributable to $0.7 million of acquisition and integration costs related to the Company's acquisition of the drilling business of Projet Production International BF S.A. ("PPI") in Burkina Faso during Q2 FY2019.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA") totalled $0.9 million in Q2 FY2019, compared to $3.3 million in Q2 FY2018.

The Company's net loss for Q2 FY2019 was $1.7 million, or $0.04 per share, compared to net earnings of $0.8 million, or $0.02 per share, in Q2 FY2018. Lower gross profit and margins, as discussed above, and costs related to the acquisition of PPI contributed to the Company's net loss for Q2 FY2019.

During Q2 FY2019, Orbit Garant generated $7.6 million from financing activities compared to $5.5 million in Q2 FY2018. The Company drew down a net amount of $7.1 million during Q2 FY2019 on its secured, three-year revolving credit facility (the "Credit Facility"), compared to $1.4 million in Q2 FY2018, largely due to the financing impact of the PPI acquisition. As at December 31, 2018, the Company had $27.1 million drawn under the Credit Facility, compared to $18.1 million as at June 30, 2018.

As at December 31, 2018, Orbit Garant had working capital of $57.1 million ($53.3 million as at June 30, 2018), and 37,008,756 common shares issued and outstanding.

Orbit Garant's unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for the three and six-month periods ended December 31, 2018 are available on the Company's website at www.orbitgarant.com or SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Conference call

Eric Alexandre, President and CEO, and Alain Laplante, Vice President and CFO, will host a conference call for analysts and investors on Thursday, February 14, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. (ET). The dial-in numbers for the conference call are 416-764-8609 or 1-888-390-0605. A live webcast of the call will be available on Orbit Garant's website at: http://www.orbitgarant.com/en/sites/fog/investors.aspx. The webcast will be archived following conclusion of the call.

To access a replay of the conference call dial 416-764-8677 or 1-888-390-0541, passcode: 490114 #. The replay will be available until February 21, 2019.

RECONCILIATION OF NON - IFRS FINANCIAL MEASURES



Financial data has been prepared in conformity with IFRS. However, certain measures used in this discussion and analysis do not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and could be calculated differently by other companies. The Company believes that certain non-IFRS financial measures, when presented in conjunction with comparable IFRS financial measures, are useful to investors and other readers because the information is an appropriate measure to evaluate the Company's operating performance. Internally, the Company uses this non-IFRS financial information as an indicator of business performance. These measures are provided for information purposes, in addition to, and not as a substitute for, measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.

EBITDA: Net earnings (loss) before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.



Adjusted gross margin: Contract revenue less operating costs. Operating expenses comprise material and service expenses, personnel expenses, other operating expenses, excluding depreciation.

EBITDA

Management believes that EBITDA is an important measure when analyzing its operating profitability, as it removes the impact of financing costs, certain non-cash items and income taxes. As a result, Management considers it a useful and comparable benchmark for evaluating the Company's performance, as companies rarely have the same capital and financing structure.

Reconciliation of EBITDA

(unaudited) (in millions of dollars) 3 months ended December 31, 2018 3 months ended December 31, 2017 6 months ended December 31, 2018 6 months ended December 31, 2017 Net earnings (net loss) for the period (1.7) 0.8 (1.3) 2.5 Add:







Finance costs 0.5 0.5 0.9 0.9 Income tax expense (0.4) (0.3) - 0.6 Depreciation and amortization 2.5 2.3 4.7 4.4 EBITDA 0.9 3.3 4.3 8.4

Adjusted Gross Margin

Although adjusted gross margin and margin are not recognized financial measures defined by IFRS, Management considers them to be important measures as they represent the Company's core profitability, without the impact of depreciation expense. As a result, Management believes they provide a useful and comparable benchmark for evaluating the Company's performance.

Reconciliation of Adjusted Gross Margin

(unaudited) (in millions of dollars) 3 months ended December 31, 2018 3 months ended December 31, 2017 6 months ended December 31, 2018 6 months ended December 31, 2017 Contract revenue 33.7 43.0 71.0 85.5 Cost of contract revenue (including depreciation) 30.8 38.0 62.5 73.7 Less depreciation (2.2) (2.0) (4.2) (3.9) Direct costs 28.6 36.0 58.3 69.8 Adjusted gross profit 5.1 7.0 12.7 15.7 Adjusted gross margin (%) (1) 15.2 16.3 17.9 18.4





(1) Adjusted gross profit, divided by contract revenue X 100

About Orbit Garant

Headquartered in Val-d'Or, Quebec, Orbit Garant is one of the largest Canadian-based mineral drilling companies, providing both underground and surface drilling services in Canada and internationally through its 236 drill rigs and more than 1,300 employees. Orbit Garant provides services to major, intermediate and junior mining companies, through each stage of mining exploration, development and production. The Company also provides geotechnical drilling services to mining or mineral exploration companies, engineering and environmental consultant firms, and government agencies. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.orbitgarant.com.

Forward-looking information

This news release may contain forward-looking statements (within the meaning of applicable securities laws) relating to business of Orbit Garant Drilling Inc. (the "Company") and the environment in which it operates. Forward-looking statements are identified by words such as "believe", "anticipate", "expect", "intend", "plan", "will", "may" and other similar expressions. These statements are based on the Company's expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections. They are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to control or predict. These risks and uncertainties are discussed in the Company's regulatory filings available at www.sedar.com. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate as actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Readers, therefore, should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Further, a forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any such statement or to reflect new information or the occurrence of future events or circumstances.

SOURCE Orbit Garant Drilling Inc.Rowe said several industries have expressed interest in the park, but the current aesthetic makes it difficult for companies to picture themselves there. One of the first moves will be to remove the smokestack that remains on site, he said.

The site has been awarded a $99,800 grant through the Virginia Brownfields Assistance Fund and two designations  one state, one federal  that will assist them with cleaning up the site and marketing it to potential companies.

By pooling resources, Rowe said the localities are agreeing to cooperate rather than compete.

It just shows us that in Hurt, in Danville, all over Southern Virginia, were on the right track, he said.

Klopman Mills employed about 1,300 people at its peak and closed in 2007. The company opened in the 1940s as a small manufacturer but was sold in the 1950s to Burlington Industries. The plant, which was located at 797 Main St. in Hurt, dyed and sold cloth.

Hurt Partners LLC, of Charlotte, North Carolina, paid $750,000 to Apparel Fabrics Properties in late 2016 for 604 acres of the site.Danvilles bus wrap will familiarize citizens with black figures who have contributed to society, said Ralph Price, chairman of the Danville Transportation Advisory Committee, which advises the citys transportation department.

The seven-member committee unanimously approved the bus-wrap a few months ago and members selected the images for the display.

It was a good idea to get the word out about contributions from black individuals, Price said.

In addition to the bus-wrap, biographical information on each person featured is available for view inside Danvilles bus transfer center at 515 Spring St.

Adelman said the committee has discussed the possibility of installing another bus-wrap for Black History Month next year.

On a breezy Wednesday morning, Jones talked to a few residents at the transfer center, pointing out icons on the bus, including Chisholm and Archie, a local educator and the first black woman to serve as mayor of Danville.

Its nice, its beautiful, Nakia King said just before getting on the bus.

Dolores Brandon, another bus user, was pleased to see the wrap.

Its good to see the bus like that, she said.Gloucester, MA (01930)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 58F. ESE winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 58F. ESE winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph. Chance of rain 60%.Senators introduce resolution to block Saudi from developing nukes

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 13, 2019 05:08AM

US senators have introduced a resolution that would prevent Saudi Arabia from developing a nuclear weapon.

The measure was introduced by Democrats Jeff Merkley and Ed Markey and Republican Rand Paul on Tuesday, however, it is unclear whether a majority of the 100-member Senate would support it.

The resolution requires that any US civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with Riyadh preclude enrichment of uranium or reprocessing of plutonium made in reactors  both of which are routes to developing nuclear weapons.

"If Saudi Arabia is going to get its hands on nuclear technology, it's absolutely critical that we hold it to the gold standard for non-proliferation," Merkley said in a statement. "The last thing America should do is inadvertently help develop nuclear weapons for a bad actor on the world stage."

This comes as US Energy Secretary Rick Perry has been holding secret talks with Saudi officials on sharing US nuclear technology.

Meanwhile, Riyadh, which has said it wants to be self-sufficient in producing nuclear fuel, has refused to sign a deal with Washington that would deprive it of enriching uranium.

Last year, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told CBS that the kingdom would make nuclear weapons if Iran does so. The Islamic Republic, which is a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), has always said that it has no intention of developing nuclear arms.

Now, if the new measure receives significant congressional support, it would be symptomatic of concern in Congress over the Saudi-led brutal bombing in Yemen as well as the murder of US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.

The Trump administration threatened Monday to veto a bid by Congress to end Saudi Arabia's military support for the onslaught against Yemen.

The administration claimed that the resolution was inappropriate, harming the country's regional relations as well as efforts to halt "violent extremism," according to Reuters.

Trump also ignored a Friday deadline by Congress to determine who had ordered the assassination of Khashoggi and whether he intended to impose related sanctions on Riyadh.

Under a US law, the president had 120 days to report to Congress about designating and punishing Saudi officials responsible for the murder.

The brutal murder of the journalist was met with widespread global condemnation and ruined the reputation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is widely believed to have ordered the killing.Saudi Crown Prince to Announce $20B Investment Projects in Pakistan

By Ayaz Gul February 13, 2019

Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is set to make his first state visit to Pakistan on Saturday, where he is expected to announce investment projects worth up to $20 billion, a senior official told VOA.

The unprecedented Saudi investment is being viewed by Prime Minister Imran Khan's nascent government as a major boost for cash-strapped Pakistan, which is facing an economic crisis and balance of payments pressure.

It will also send a strong message to other international investors to come to Pakistan, said Haroon Sharif, who chairs Pakistan's Board of Investment, (BoI) which promotes and facilitates investors.

"At this stage, we are expecting serious Memorandums of Understanding [for concrete projects] between $15 billion to $20 billion worth of investments from Saudi Arabia in the area of oil refining, petrochemicals, energy sector, alternate energy and the mineral sector," Sharif told VOA. However, these number are subject to technical feasibilities, he emphasized.

The Saudi prince, often referred to as MBS, will be accompanied by a high-powered delegation, including members of the royal family, key ministers and leading businessmen. He will hold meetings with Prime Minister Khan and other top officials, as well as Pakistani military leaders.

Sharif said that the anticipated Saudi investment includes an oil refinery to be established in the southwestern coastal city of Gwadar, where China has built a seaport as part of its global Belt and Road Initiative. The proposed refinery is estimated to cost around $10 billion.

Officials say the refinery will be in place "in 3-5 years" and it will help meet Pakistan's needs of refined oil products, which it currently imports. The surplus, they say, will be exported from Gwadar to other buyers.

Saudi investment also intends to target food and agriculture sectors in Pakistan.

Strong ties

Pakistan has traditionally maintained strong political, cultural, economic and defense ties with Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Kingdom hosts hundreds of thousands of Pakistani expatriates, and is a key source of oil supplies to Islamabad on deferred payments and cash grants to help Pakistan's traditionally struggling economy.

Pakistani officials insist the Saudi intended investment has no strings attached to it such as asking Pakistan to send its troops to assist in Saudi war in Yemen.

In October, Riyadh said it would lend Pakistan $3 billion in cash and allow Islamabad to defer payments for oil imports worth $3 billion for a one-year period to support the country's ailing economy. The money has already been deposited to the State Bank of Pakistan.

A Pakistani official said Prime Minister Khan has developed a "special relationship and friendship" with MBS and the two leaders have vowed to further deepen ties between the two countries.

Khan was among a few international leaders who participated in an investment conference Saudi Arabia hosted in October. The event was organized just days after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Many foreign participants boycotted the conference to protest Khashoggi's killing.

The United Arab Emirates, a staunch Saudi ally, has recently also offered a $6 billion package to Pakistan. Sharif noted that the UAE has also nearly finalized plans to establish an oil refinery in Pakistan with an anticipated production capacity of about 300,000 barrels. That project would require about $8 billion in investments, he added.

Chinese investment

International monitors don't consider security a major barrier in the way of investment in Pakistan, noted Sharif.

"People have removed the security lens and have begun to look at Pakistan from an economic diplomacy lens," he said. "This is a major shift because for the past five years only China was looking at Pakistan through the economic diplomacy lens."

Pakistan's partnership in the U.S.-led "war on terror" after 9/11 attacks triggered a militant backlash in the South Asian nation, killing tens of thousands of people and causing losses to the tune of more than 100 billion dollars to national economy, according to official estimates.

Until now, neighboring China, a close ally of Islamabad, was the only country to invest in Pakistan, with around 20 billion dollars in energy as well as infrastructure projects over the past five years.US Intensifies Sabotage Campaign on Iran's Missiles, Space Program  Report

Sputnik News

00:47 14.02.2019(updated 00:48 14.02.2019)

The US initiated and "accelerated" a secret program to sabotage Iran's rocket and missile tests as part of a campaign to weaken Tehran's military and suffocate its economy, the New York Times reports.

The two most recent failed launches reportedly occurred January 15 and February 5. The Times noted that determining the US program's success is not possible but that the attempted launches were thwarted "within minutes." The launch failures match up with a pattern extending back 11 years: two-thirds of Iran's orbital launches have been failures over this period, while the average failure rate for comparable launches is 5 percent, the report concludes.

"We won't stand by while the regime threatens international security," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a January 3 announcement, adding that "Iran plans to fire off Space Launch Vehicles with virtually the same technology as ICBMs." ICBMs refers to intercontinental ballistic missiles.

It's been widely reported that the US weaponized computer worms against Iran in the late 2000s with Stuxnet, a high-level software program credited with "escaping the digital realm to wreak physical destruction" to sabotage centrifuges at Iranian nuclear plants, Wired magazine has reported.

It's worth noting that a new Trump White House sabotage campaign against the Iranian space launches would be unlikely to put Tehran into a state of shock. Back in 2016, a senior Iranian military commander Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh announced that Iran's enemies sought to "repeat their nuclear sabotage in the missile area," Iran's Press TV reported.

Hajizadeh, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Aerospace Division, may have been referring to Stuxnet or sanctions Washington had imposed on Iran for testing ballistic missiles, Press TV noted at the time.

"After the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or simply the Iran nuclear deal], most of the focus of the intelligence services, especially by the Americans, has turned to the missile issue," the brigadier general said in 2016.

John Bolton, the US national security adviser, confirmed in September that the White House had authorized "offensive cyber operations" to deter foreign adversaries, the Washington Post reported at the time.

 SputnikIran Vows Revenge for Terror Attack on IRGC

By Mehdi Jedinia February 13, 2019

Iran has vowed to retaliate against the perpetrators of Wednesday's terror attack on a military convoy that killed at least 27 border soldiers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and wounded many others.

Bahram Ghasemi, a spokesperson for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement following the attack that terrorist groups were capable of committing such an "inhumane act" because of the support of some countries in the region.

He didn't specify those countries, but Tehran has often accused UAE and Saudi Arabia in the past of supporting Sunni militant groups inside Iran, an accusation both countries have denied.

In what is seen as one of the deadliest attacks on IRGC personnel inside Iran in years, Wednesday's suicide attacker crashed an explosive-laden vehicle into a military bus, carrying IRGC elite members in southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province.

The bombing injured more than 20 people. The death toll is expected to rise.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards corps is a U.S. designated terror organization.

Iranian state media have blamed Jaish al-Adl or "Army of Justice," an al-Qaida-linked Sunni extremist group for the bombing. Several social media accounts affiliated with the group also took credit for the attack.

The attack comes two days after Iran marked the 40th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Jaish al-Adl

Jaish al-Adl  known as JA  is a Sunni insurgent group in Iran's southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province and has been fighting Iranian security forces in the region.

The restive Sistan and Baluchistan, which is home to many ethnic Sunni Baluch, is one of the most underdeveloped and poverty-stricken areas in the country. The ethnic group has complained about lack of economic opportunities and political freedoms in the province.

JA describes itself as a "political-military" movement and claims to be fighting to achieve justice for the "oppressed Sunni Baluch" people.

JA was founded in April 2012 by Abdul Rahim Mollazehi, a Baluch militant, after the Iranian regime captured and executed Abdul Malek Rigi, the former leader of the Jundullah insurgent group that claimed to be fighting for "equal rights of Sunni Muslims in Iran," in June 2010.

Jaish al-Adl operates primarily in Sistan and Baluchistan, but it also operates from bases in the neighboring Baluchistan province in Pakistan where it gets support from local Baluch tribes.

"Most militant groups in Baluchistan are based on tribal connections," Abdullah Haqyar, a former JA member, told VOA in a previous interview.

"These tribes have a tradition of helping and harboring members of allied tribes. Many tribes in Pakistani Baluchistan support their oppressed brothers in Iran," he added.

Local tribes control large swaths of Iran's Sistan and Baluchistan regions and neither Iranian nor Pakistani security forces have a permanent presence there.

The exact number of JA members is unknown, but according to some reports, it has over 500 members and followers.

Number of fighters

The number of active fighters is said to be over 100. Some of its fighters are seasonal, including some from Pakistan, who are called upon for occasional operations against Iranian security forces.

JA says it must fight the Shiite-dominated regime in Iran because it persecutes the Sunni minority.

"Since this regime only uses the language of force and humiliation, we have no other means but to fight back," JA said in a video statement in late 2012.

JA also said it opposes Iran's military involvement in Syria where elite Iranian forces and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah are supporting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war.

Earlier this month, the group claimed responsibility for an attack on an IRGC base in southeastern Iran, killing one soldier and wounding five more. JA was also responsible for an attack in January that wounded three police officers in Zahedan, the capital city of Sistan and Baluchistan province.

VOA's Sirwan Kajjo contributed to this story.Top UN court rules it has jurisdiction to hear Iranian claim against US over frozen assets

13 February 2019 - The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on Wednesday that is has the jurisdiction to hear part of a case brought by Iran against the United States, aimed at unfreezing close to $2 billion in Iranian assets being held there.

The ruling opens the way for the court to now hear Iran's case on its merits, which news reports suggest, given the complexity of the case, could take several years. Iran filed the case in 2016, based on the 1955 Treaty of Amity between the two nations, from which the US later unilaterally withdrew, in 2018.

The case revolved around assets seized from the Iranian national bank, Bank Markazi, which were taken by the US to compensate victims of a 1983 suicide bombing of a Marine Corps base in Beirut, Lebanon, which the US blames on Tehran. Iran denies involvement in the attack which killed more than 300, injuring many more, most of whom were US military personnel.

The US has argued that Iran's claims to retrieving its assets based on the Treaty of Amity, were now void, following the US decision to withdraw.

In an 11-4 majority ruling on Wednesday, the ICJ upheld one of five US objections, in this instance to the Court's jurisdiction, based on Iran's assertion of State immunity, but the judges unanimously rejected the US argument that measures freezing Iranian assets fell outside the scope of the treaty.

The judges also unanimously rejected the US claim that the case was an abuse of process, and that it should be thrown out due to Tehran's "unclean hands", the US having cited Iran's alleged sponsorship of terrorism and alleged ambitions to develop nuclear weapons.

ICJ President Abdulqawi Yusuf, reading the ruling, said that the panel "unanimously finds that it has jurisdictionto rule on the application filed by the Islamic Republic of Iran on 14 June 2016."UN High Court Rejects U.S. Claim To Throw Out Iranian Suit For Frozen Assets

February 13, 2019

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has affirmed its jurisdiction to hear a case brought by Iran to recover billions of dollars in assets that are frozen in the United States.

The court ruling was in response to a motion by the United States for the court to throw out the claim by Iran to recover some $2 billion in bank assets seized by U.S. courts.

ICJ chief Judge Abdulqawi Ahmad Yusuf said the court "unanimously rejects the preliminary objections to admissibility raised by the United States of America."

The lawsuit was filed with the UN high court at The Hague by Iranian officials on October 8. Tehran is seeking to regain funds that were impounded during the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2016 that the funds must be turned over to American families of victims of alleged Iranian terrorist attacks, including the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, in which 241 soldiers were killed, and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia.

"The actions at the root of this case center on Iran's support for international terrorism," which should disqualify it from presenting a case before the court, Richard Visek, legal adviser to the U.S. Department of State, told the court.

"Iran comes to the court with unclean hands. Indeed, it is a remarkable show of bad faith," he said. "Iran's bad acts include support for terrorist bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and airline hijackings."

The current Iranian case before the UN high court is separate from Iran's lawsuit against U.S. economic sanctions, which the court decided in Iran's favor last week.

Like the sanctions case, Iran is basing its claim to recover impounded funds on a 1955 Amity Treaty with the United States, which was signed 24 years before its Islamic Revolution.

Washington announced last week it would withdraw from the treaty, but it could take up to a year for that withdrawal to take effect.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/un-court-iran- assets-frozen-us/29767162.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.Many people testified at the meeting in support of spending more money on schools and teachers, and raising taxes or imposing developer impact fees in order to pay for it. The district is home to Dulaney High School, which has an aging building advocates say is dilapidated and needs to be replaced.On Sidelines Of Mideast Gathering, Giuliani Calls For 'Overthrow' Of Iran Regime

By RFE/RL February 13, 2019

Rudy Giuliani, a personal lawyer of U.S. President Donald Trump, has said he favors the "overthrow" of Iran's theocratic regime.

Giuliani was speaking to RFE/RL's Radio Farda on February 13 on the sidelines of a major Middle East conference in Warsaw which Iranian officials have blasted as an "anti-Iran circus."

"I believe there has to be an overthrow of this regime," Giuliani said, adding that he was speaking in his personal capacity and not as an official representative of the U.S. administration.

The Trump administration has consistently said it is not seeking "regime change" in Tehran, only a "change in behavior."

"I don't think this theocratic dictatorship can possibly become some kind of democratic, liberal democratic force," Giuliani added while accusing Iranian leaders of killing their opponents.

"They're murderers, they're killers, they're assassins," he said. "I think this regime has to go."

Giuliani made the same call at a rally in Warsaw organized by the Iranian exile opposition group People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran (aka Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization, MKO), which was once blacklisted by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist organization.

Giuliani has called for a regime change in Iran at a several MKO events.

The group has almost no support inside Iran, where many despise it for siding with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the bloody 1980-88 war with Iraq. https://www.rferl.org/a/iranian_activists_warn_that_mko_listing_would_send_negative_signal_to_iranians/24291688.html

U.S. media have reported that MKO pays high fees to former officials who speak at their rallies. It wasn't clear if Giuliani had been paid to speak at the MKO event in Warsaw.

Trump has pulled out of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed tough economic sanctions.

The sanctions have hurt the country's economy and contributed to the devaluation of the national currency.

Giuliani said the sanctions had been "very effective."

"I know that because there were protests inside Iran every couple of days to overthrow the regime," he said.

Iranians protested economic conditions and corruption in late 2017 and early 2018.

The protests spread to more than 80 cities and towns where demonstrators chanted against Iranian leaders.

Since then, the country has experienced relatively small, scattered protests.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/on-sidelines-of- mideast-gathering-giuliani-calls-for-overthrow -of-iran-regime/29768391.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.Terrorists attack IRGC bus; Iran vows revenge

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 13, 2019 04:26PM

A number of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) forces have been killed in a terrorist attack in southeastern Iran.

The IRGC personnel were traveling between the cities of Zahedan and Khash, in Sistan and Baluchestan province on Wednesday, when their bus was targeted in a suicide car bomb attack.

The IRGC's Qods Headquarters said in a statement that an explosives-laden car rammed into the bus, which was taking the personnel back to their homes.

The attack killed 27 IRGC members and injured 13 others, initial reports suggested.

The so-called Jaish ul-Adl terrorist group reportedly claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The terrorist outfit was formed in 2012 by members of the Pakistan-based Jundallah, another terror group dismantled by Iranian intelligence forces in 2010 after its ringleader Abdolmalek Rigi was executed.

Iranian border guards have repeatedly come under attacks by terror outfits active on the Pakistani soil.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi condemned the attack and said the victims will soon be avenged.

"The self-sacrificing military and intelligence sons of the Iranian nation will take revenge for the blood of the martyrs of this incident," the Iranian spokesman said.

Terrorist groups carrying out similar attacks against Iranian interests in southeastern and southwestern parts of the country have known links to Saudi Arabia and a number of other repressive regimes in the Persian Gulf region.

Riyadh is widely believed to be a key sponsor of the Takfiri terrorists, who are inspired by Wahhabism, an extremist ideology preached by Saudi clerics. The extremist ideology promoted by Riyadh has put Saudi Arabia and Iran on the opposing sides of various conflicts across the Middle East.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has repeatedly accused the Islamic Republic of inciting violence across the region and pledged to take the war on Iranian soil.ICJ rules Iran's legal bid to recover $2bn frozen in US can proceed

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 13, 2019 06:08PM

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Iran can proceed with a legal action to recover billions of dollars in frozen assets that the United States says must be paid to purported American survivors and relatives of victims of attacks spuriously blamed on the Islamic Republic.

On Wednesday, judges at the Hague-based tribunal dismissed Washington's allegations the case should be thrown out, and that the court did not have jurisdiction in the lawsuit.

The US Supreme Court ruled in April 2016 that the $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets must go to victims of attacks, including the 1983 bombing of US Marine barracks in Beirut, without corroborating its allegations of Iran's involvement.

Iran first lodged the case on the cash in June that year, stating that the US decision had breached the Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations and Consular Rights, which the two countries signed in Tehran before the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and severance of diplomatic ties between the former allies.

Tehran also argued that Washington had illegally seized Iranian financial assets and those of Iranian companies.

Last October, Iran won a legal victory when the ICJ ruled that the US must lift sanctions against Tehran targeting humanitarian goods such as food and medicine.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in response that Washington was pulling out of the 1955 treaty with Tehran.

US National Security Adviser John Bolton also announced that his country was leaving the 1961 Optional Protocol and Dispute Resolution to the Vienna Convention, which establishes the ICJ as the "compulsory jurisdiction" for disputes unless nations decide to settle them elsewhere.

The frozen Iranian assets were reportedly part of the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran's foreign currency reserves held in Citibank accounts in New York.

The US District Court for the Southern District of New York, acting on information provided by the Treasury Department, ordered Citibank to freeze the money in June 2008.

In an interview with The New Yorker published on April 25, 2016, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the seizure of Iran's frozen assets by the US was "highway robbery," vowing that the Islamic Republic will retrieve the sum anyway.

"It is a theft. Huge theft. It is highway robbery. And believe you me, we will get it back," he added.Zarif says 'no coincidence' terrorists strike as anti-Iran summit begins

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 13, 2019 07:07PM

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says it is not coincidental that terrorists have attacked the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on the same day that an anti-Iran summit organized by the United States kicks off in Poland.

Condemning the suicide car bombing attack against an IRGC personnel bus in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan earlier in the day, Zarif raised suspicion about the deadly attack's possible links to the "circus" in Warsaw, the Polish capital.

"Is it no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day that #WarsawCircus begins? Especially when cohorts of same terrorists cheer it from Warsaw streets & support it with twitter bots? US seems to always make the same wrong choices, but expect different results," he wrote.

The IRGC personnel were traveling between the cities of Zahedan and Khash, in Sistan and Baluchestan province on Wednesday, when their bus was targeted in a suicide car bomb attack.

The IRGC's Qods Headquarters said in a statement that an explosives-laden car rammed into the bus, which was taking the personnel back to their homes.

The so-called Jaish ul-Adl terrorist group reportedly claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The terrorist outfit was formed in 2012 by members of the Pakistan-based Jundallah, another terror group dismantled by Iranian intelligence forces in 2010 after its ringleader Abdolmalek Rigi was executed.

Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Tehran will avenge the attack.

Warsaw meeting 'dead on arrival': Zarif

Earlier, Zarif held a news conference in Tehran, where he described the two-day conference on Iran and the Middle East as "dead on arrival."

"It is another attempt by the United States to pursue an obsession with Iran that is not well-founded," Zarif told a news conference in Tehran. "The Warsaw conference, I believe, is dead on arrival."

The top diplomat said not even Washington believed the event provided the 60 participating countries with an serious opportunity to exchange their views on those topics.

"I think the fact that they are not aiming to issue any agreed text but rather are just attempting to use their own statement on behalf of everybody else shows they don't have any respect for it themselves," he said.

"You usually don't bring 60 countries and states together in order to speak for them. That indicates to you that they don't believe they have anything to gain from this meeting."

The US has decided to start the event even though much of its agenda remains vague due to deep divisions between allies over US President Donald Trump's extreme hostility towards Iran.

The foreign minister said many of the participants had informed Iran that they were forced by the US to partake in the meeting.

"They used their money, they used their influence, they used the military might of the United States," he said. "They used the leverage they have with various countries in order to attract more people to this conference.

"Many (countries) going there have told us that (they) don't have any other choice," Zarif added.

Many European countries have announced that they would be sending low-profile delegations to the event.

This is while the White House will be represented by both Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The main session takes place on Thursday, when Pence, Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak at the conference.

The strong backlash from European allies forced the US to back down from its initial announcement that the summit would be focused solely on Iran.Fateh submarine to join Iran navy fleet with President attendance

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Wed / 13 February 2019 / 16:28

Tehran (ISNA) - Fateh- class submarine will join Iran navy fleet in a ceremony attended by President Hassan Rouhani in coming days, Commander of the Islamic Republic Navy Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi announced on Wednesday.

Mentioning to the latest condition of Fateh- class submarine, Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi said, "I got into the submarine yesterday to see the latest condition of it and I can say that the submarine will join Iran navy fleet in a ceremony attended by President Hassan Rouhani in coming days".

The indigenous 527-ton Fateh-class submarine is among semi-heavy submarines in Iran. It can operate in more than 200 meters below the sea surface which it could be increased to 250 meters for 35 days.

Fateh submarine has underwater speed of 11 knots (20.35 km/h) and is capable of travelling submerged at 14 knots (25.9km/h ).

The submarine is armed with four 533 mm torpedoes. It has the ability to carry eight sea mines and also has two reserve torpedoes.

End ItemIran condemns Warsaw meeting

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Warsaw, Feb 13, IRNA -- Iran has condemned a Middle East meeting, that is set to be held in Poland, as a US effort to hijack the forum and criticize Iran and pursue in own malicious intentions.

"The US officials did not shy away from expressing explicitly that indeed what they are trying to do is to hijack the forum to demonize Iran's role in the region, and pursue their malicious intentions," reads a non-paper published by the Iranian Embassy in Poland on Wednesday ahead of the event.

The US is organizing a two-day ministerial meeting about the Middle East in the Polish capital, Warsaw on Wednesday and Thursday. It's been called 'Ministerial to Promote a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East." US Foreign Secretary Mike Pompeo said at the beginning the meeting will highly focus on Iran to criticize what he calls "Iran's influence in the region".

The Iranian diplomatic mission in the eastern European country stressed the meeting "is yet another attempt by the US administration to undermine and bypass the internationally recognized arrangements for maintenance of peace and security embodied in the United Nations and its Security Council."

The statement lashes out at the US "irresponsible and destructive approach towards diplomacy, international law, pacific settlement of disputes, United Nations, and regional and global peace and security," referring to Washington's walkout last May from the 2015 international agreement on Iran nuclear programme, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

US President Donald Trumps Administration reimposed economic sanctions on Iran last August after it abandoned the deal. The Iranian Embassy document denounces US punitive measures as a manipulation of "international market and global economy in order to achieve its own political goals."

"The US behavior is threatening the global freedom of trade and business," it warns.

The non-paper, published on the website of Iranian Embassy in Poland, cautions the world that although the US sanctions will fail to bring about the results it is looking for, they will cut Iran's abilities to fight narcotics and organised crimes and host refugees. '"Maximum pressure' policy of the U.S. will limit Iran's resources available for combatting narcotics trafficking and other transnational organized crimes, and hosting millions of refugees and providing them with same social and educational services available to its own nationals.'

Iran war on drugs accounts for 30% of the world's total narcotics seizure, according to the document.

The non-paper lashes out at the US "destabalizing role in the West Asia region." "It's unjustifiable support for Saddam Hussein in his war of aggression against Iran and his heinous crimes against Iraqi people, then its unlawful military occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq which resulted in deep-rooted problems such as formation of extremist terrorist cults and organizations," are catastrophic consequences of the US unlawful behaviour in the Middle East.

The Iranian Embassy in Poland reprimands "unconstructive, biased, confused and self-contradictory" policies in the Mideast. It goes on to compare Trump's "Syria is vast land of sand and death" comments about the US involvement in the war in the Arab country with Pompeo's "claims about US interest in pursuing the stability that the people of Middle East so richly deserve."

Early January, the US president criticised US involvement in the Syrian war, saying 'Syria was lost long ago. It was lost long ago. We're not talking about vast wealth. We're talking about sand and death. I'm getting out; we're getting out of Syria. Look, we don't want Syria.'

The paper, published on Wednesday, ahead of the Warsaw meeting, praises Iran's "unquestionable" role in fighting terrorism in the region. "Unlike the U.S., Iran is not an outsider to the region, and therefore the security and stability of its neighbors are essential to security and stability of Iran," it adds. It goes on to highlight Tehran's positive role in "defeating ISIS territorially and guaranteeing talks on the future of Syria in the Kazakh capital, also known as the Astana Process."

The non-paper notes Iran's "good offices" in facilitating the Yemen talks in Stockholm in December, as well as its unwavering support for any world country that is facing 'coup, secessionist movements or foreign intervention.'

The statement recriminates once again "biased agenda" of the Warsaw meeting, warning that "any effort aimed at cornering and exclusion of Iran (and several other states) will not do any good for the region and its people."

According to a joint US-Poland statement ahead of the ministerial meeting, some 70 countries have been invited. However, the big European powers have either shunned the union or will have a low-profile representation. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has refused to take part. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt will be present but will "leave shortly after it starts." German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass is expected to attend. But, France is sending a low-level government official as a representative. Iran has not been invited at all, although it's expected to be one of the discussion topics.

"The selective and handpicked composition of the invitees of the 'Ministerial' drags the international community to more than a century ago; to the era before the Hague Conference of 1899," warns the Iranian diplomatic mission in Warsaw.

The statement expresses concerns that at the final statement of the event, Pompeo, who will represent the US, "will try to include its own malign intention but attribute it to all participants."

"There is a serious concern that the United States, through such statement, affect existing internationally recognized arrangements and/or legally binding instruments," it warns.

The Iranian non-paper calls "the issue of Palestine and the Israeli occupation and its grave violations of both human rights and international humanitarian law" as the main crucial crisis in the region, urging the US to "end its unconditional support for the Israeli regime's continuous violations of international law, numerous resolutions of the Security Council and General Assembly of the UN, international humanitarian law and human rights'.

It also takes a hit at the US arms sales to several regional countries, including Saudi Arabia, saying it's called a "senseless arms race in the region".

The statement cries foul over the "West's support for the shameless behavior of the Israeli Prime Minister", adding that Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Iran with annihilation, and openly boasts about their offensive missiles that can reach 'anywhere'.

"Iran has always kept its military budget at a modest and reasonable level. Unjustified ado about Iran's defensive and deterrent missile program (which is in no contradiction with international obligations of Iran including UNSCR 2231)," it asserts.

The non-paper stresses Irans readiness and willingness to "engage on all issues of interest" under the condition that the other negotiating parties "show the same resoluteness and commitment to rules of civilized engagement, and are both willing and capable to keep up with the commitments they make."

It urges the US to return to the JCPOA and respect the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 that asserts Iran's right to nuclear energy.

9218**2050India to Purchase 21 Russian MiG-29 Jets to Improve Air Combat Strength - Report

Sputnik News

13:41 13.02.2019(updated 13:42 13.02.2019)

A top-level Indian Air Force (IAF) team visited a Russian facility to check the MiG-29 fighter jets; later, it submitted a favourable report to IAF Headquarters, according to the news portal Print.

New Delhi (Sputnik): India has started formal negotiations with Russia for the purchase of at least 21 MiG-29 fighter jets to bolster the ageing fleet of the world's fourth-largest air force. These fighter jets will be upgraded in accordance with Indian Air Force requirements.

"The price offered by the Russians is good. Even though they were built at the same time we bought the earlier MiG-29 squadrons, they have never flown," The Print quoted an IAF source as saying.

India currently has three squadrons of MiG-29 twin-engine single-seat air superiority fighter aircraft. In March 2008 Russia's RAC-MiG signed a $964 million contract with India's Ministry of Defence for the modernisation of 62 MiG-29 fighters (54 fighters and 8 trainers).

The Russian side has agreed to upgrade the 21 aircraft to the standard of the ones upgraded so far, a source cited by The Print noted.

IAF's upgraded MiG-29 (MiG-29UPG) aircraft are analogues of Russian MiG-29SMT revisions. The upgraded aircraft features improved multi-role capability, with the enhanced use of air-to-air and air-to-ground high-precision weapons and increased combat range, owing to an increase in its internal fuel capacity.

The aircraft's weapon suite includes Vympel RVV-AE (R-77) air-to-air active radar homing missiles and air-to-surface precision-guided munitions, such as Kh-29T general-purpose TV-homing missiles, Kh-31A anti-ship active radar-homing missiles, Kh-31P anti-radiation missiles, KAB-500Kr TV-homing smart bombs, etc.

The MiG-29UPG is powered by 2 Klimov RD-33 series 3 turbofan engines. Russia in 2007 licensed Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to manufacture 120 of the engines for the upgrade program. The upgraded engines feature 7% more power in comparison to the baseline model due to the usage of modern materials on the cooled blades, and provides a thrust of 9,000 kgf. The engines are smokeless and feature reduced infrared visibility.

Currently, the IAF relies on a variety of Soviet-era and Russian aircraft, as well as some French Dassault Mirages and UK/France SEPECAT Jaguar warplanes. A parliamentary panel on defence had suggested that a squadron strength of 42 (18-20 fighter jets in a squadron) would be needed to fight a two-front war with Pakistan and China simultaneously. However, the present scenario indicates that even if all existing orders for 36 Rafale jets, six squadrons of Tejas (including the Tejas Mark 1A) and two more squadrons of Su30 MKI are taken into account, the squadron strength will remain below 30, even by the year 2032.

 SputnikMoscow Calls for Peaceful Settlement of DPRK Nuclear Issue - Foreign Ministry

Sputnik News

06:11 13.02.2019

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia reiterates its calls for a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear crisis as well as other issues troubling the Korean peninsula, Director of Russian Foreign Ministry's First Asian Department Georgiy Zinoviev said on Tuesday.

"Russia has consistently advocated for the peaceful settlement of nuclear and other issues of the Korean Peninsula", Zinoviev said at a reception hosted by the North Korean Embassy to Russia.

Moscow commends Pyongyang over continuing efforts to alleviate tensions on the peninsula, the official noted.

"We note with satisfaction that the positive trends in the development of the situation in the sub-region, outlined last year, are continuing. We commend the initiative steps and efforts undertaken in this direction by the leadership of North Korea", Zinoviev said.

Pyongyang has made relatively rapid progress in nuclear research, reportedly conducting atomic tests and testing a series of ICBMs.

In response, the UN Security Council and the international community have repeatedly adopted economic and diplomatic sanctions against North Korea. After a flurry of diplomacy culminating in a June 2018 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, Pyongyang agreed to denuclearize.

During the historic meeting, the sides reached an agreement stipulating that North Korea would make efforts to promote the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for the United States and South Korea freezing their military exercise and potentially lifting the sanctions.

North Korea's denuclearization efforts is further expected to be discussed at the next summit between Kim and Trump on 27-28 February in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi.

A Russian Foreign Ministry source told Sputnik Monday that Moscow is interested in the success of the US-North Korea summit in Hanoi.

 SputnikUS commanders: North Korea unlikely to give up all nuclear weapons

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 13, 2019 08:09AM

The top US military commanders for Asia and South Korea have expressed doubt about North Korea's intention to completely denuclearize, citing an intelligence assessment.

Admiral Philip Davidson, head of the United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), said Tuesday that Pyongyang sought to negotiate partial denuclearization in exchange for US and international concessions.

"USINDOPACOM's assessment on North Korean denuclearization is consistent with the Intelligence Community position. That is, we think it is unlikely that North Korea will give up all of its nuclear weapons or production capabilities, but seeks to negotiate partial denuclearization in exchange for US and international concessions," he said in his written submission to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

He said although the North had taken some denuclearization steps, that action was reversible. "Much needs to be done to make meaningful progress," he added.

Army General Robert Abrams, the commander of US forces in South Korea, also said there was a "palpable" decline in US-North Korean tensions, however, he cautioned there was little evidence showing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was willing to give up his nuclear arsenal.

This comes weeks before a second summit between President Donald Trump and Kim. Trump said Saturday that he would meet with the North Korean leader in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27 and 28.

While Abrams credited the upcoming summit as contributing to the improved atmosphere, he offered little optimism that it would result in Trump's goal of a nuclear-free North Korea.

"I remain clear-eyed," Abrams told the Senate hearing, adding that "little to no verifiable change has occurred in North Korea's military capabilities."

In their first summit last year, Trump and Kim reached a vague denuclearization agreement. The ensuing talks between the two sides have, however, had little progress since then.

North Korea has complained that the US has done little to reciprocate its actions so far to dismantle some weapons facilities and freeze its weapons testing.

Pyongyang has denounced what it calls US "gangster-like behavior," saying Washington has betrayed the spirit of the June summit by making unilateral demands for a complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization, while keeping the sanctions in place.Turkish-Chinese Tensions Escalate Over Uighurs

By Dorian Jones February 13, 2019

China has issued a travel warning to its residents visiting Turkey, in a move seen as targeting Turkey's large tourism industry. The advisory is the latest escalation in bilateral tensions after Hami Aksoy, a spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry, condemned China's treatment of its Uighur minority.

In a statement, Aksoy said 1 million Uighurs have been arbitrarily detained and subjected to torture and brainwashing. Beijing swiftly shot back, calling the Turkish statement "vile." Chinese officials called on Ankara to withdraw what they described as "false accusations."

The northwest Xinjiang region of China, home to most of the country's Uighurs, has been under heavy police surveillance after years of ethnic tensions that have sometimes exploded into violence.

The Chinese government calls its crackdown a counterterrorism effort.

In the past, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan advocated for the rights of Uighurs, who are ethnically related to modern-day Turks, and the country often received Uighurs seeking asylum. In recent years, however, analysts say booming trade with China became more of a priority for Erdogan and his government.

"They stopped talking about this burning issue, preferring an economic relationship with this giant country," political scientist Cengiz Aktar said.

Erdogan is a conservative Muslim and has been increasingly positioning himself as a defender of global Muslim rights. The Turkish leader regularly condemns Burma's treatment of Rohingya Muslims, and he is vocal in his support for the Palestinians.

Aktar said the growing international condemnation of Beijing over its treatment of Uighurs forced Ankara to speak out.

"The issue became universal, and there were reactions all over the world especially from non-Muslim countries. So, [Turkey] felt simply compelled to react to it," he said.

Election politics also is a factor, with Erdogan's AKP Party competing in hotly contested local polls next month. Analysts say backing the Uighurs will play well among religious, conservative voters.

Analysts expect Beijing to impose further economic sanctions on Ankara, meaning the price Turkey will pay for standing up for the Uighurs in China could be considerable.However, Latinos and students of two or more races saw the numbers of those receiving a 3 or higher decrease by 1.3 percent and 2 percent, respectively. Students enrolled in the FARM program scores also went down; those who received a 3 or higher decreased by 4.9 percent.China launches peacekeeping exhibition at UN headquarters

People's Daily Online

(China Military Online) 15:33, February 13, 2019

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 13 (ChinaMil) -- A photo exhibition on China's peacekeeping efforts was launched at the UN headquarters in New York on Feb. 11, 2019. It is co-hosted by the Chinese military and the Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations and will run until February 22. Some UN officials and permanent representatives to the UN totaling 200 attended the exhibition.

With the theme "CPLA (Chinese People's Liberation Army): A Force for World Peace," the exhibition is composed of four sections as participating in UN peacekeeping missions, securing maritime passages, providing disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, as well as conducting exchanges and cooperation. Via 60 pictures, 17 exhibition boards and various short videos, the exhibition shows the Chinese military's contribution to the world peace and reflects Chinese military's sincerity and goodwill towards the world.

At the ceremony to launch the exhibition, Ma Zhaoxu, China's Permanent Representative to the UN, said that UN peacekeeping operations have played an important role in maintaining international security and peace. China is always a builder of the world peace and a defender of the peacekeeping operations, and is willing to further contribute to world peace and peacekeeping operations with countries around the world.

Under-Secretary-General for Field Support Atul Khare in his speech hailed China's important role and Chinese military's continuous and widespread support to UN peacekeeping, saying that China is a permanent member of the UN security council, the 10th largest contributor of uniformed personnel and the second largest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping budget. Only China shoulders the three glorious responsibilities at the same time, he added.

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 China "currently deploys a total of 2,508 uniformed personnel, including 70 women, to eight of the UN's current peacekeeping missions."

Mao Naiguo, head of the Chinese PLA delegation for international communication, said that as a staunch force for world peace, the Chinese military has participated in 24 UN peacekeeping operations. China first sent peacekeepers to carry out UN operations in 1990, said Mao, adding that over the past three decades, China has sent over 39,000 peacekeepers to UN missions around the world. "China firmly upholds the purposes and principles of the UN charter and its central role in the international affairs," Mao said.

"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.

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. 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.

UN Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations Carlos Humberto Loitey said that China's contribution to the UN peacekeeping is worth "highlighting," with "good quality" of peacekeepers and "outstanding support in terms of training."Venezuela to Increase Oil, Gold Production in 2019 Amid Domestic Crisis - Maduro

Sputnik News

00:47 14.02.2019(updated 00:48 14.02.2019)

DAMASCUS (Sputnik) - Caracas aims to increase production of gold three times and extract an additional 1 million barrels of oil daily, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday as the Latin American country has been hit with domestic crisis and tough US sanctions.

"These difficulties are for us a chance for exemplary economic development in Venezuela. We have a challenge, which is an additional increase in oil production by 1 million barrels. Thus, our economy will receive additional financial resources  We have a plan to increase the extraction of gold three times, as well as gas, steel, iron and aluminum," Maduro said in an interview with the Lebanese al-Mayadeen broadcaster.

Venezuela's oil industry has recently been subject to the US sanctions, introduced by Washington to exert pressure on the Venezuelan authorities amid political crisis in the country.

On 23 January, Venezuelan parliament speaker Juan Guaido, proclaimed himself the country's interim president with the intention of leading the transitional government until a new presidential election is held.

The United States and a number of other countries formally recognized Guaido as interim president. Russia, China and several other countries supported Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela.

On 28 January, the United States announced the imposition of sanctions on Venezuela's state-owned oil and natural gas company PDVSA, blocking the company's assets worth $7 billion remaining under the US jurisdiction. According to the White House' forecast, the company will lose another $11 billion in oil supplies. In addition, Washington introduced a ban on making deals with the company.

 SputnikVenezuelan Opposition Appoints Board for CITGO - Guaido's US-Based Embassy

Sputnik News

03:28 14.02.2019

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has appointed his own Board of Directors to lead the PDVSA-owned Citgo oil refiner, Guaido's embassy in the United States said in a press release.

"Guaido today appointed a new Board of Directors," the release said on Wednesday. "The incoming Citgo board is comprised of highly qualified experts carefully vetted for their independence and selected solely on the basis of merit."

The new 6-member board includes CITGO officials and financial experts, according to the release.

The US government recently seized billions of dollars in Venezuelan oil assets to transfer to Guaido, who proclaimed himself the country's president on 23 January.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has accused the United States of orchestrating a coup while Russia and several other countries continue to support Maduro as the country's only legitimate democratically-elected head of state.

The United States and a number of other countries formally recognized Guaido as interim president. Russia, China and several other countries supported Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela.

On 28 January, the United States announced the imposition of sanctions on Venezuela's state-owned oil and natural gas company PDVSA, blocking the company's assets worth $7 billion remaining under the US jurisdiction.

 SputnikThousands of Displaced South Sudanese 'Suffering' Without Food, Water

By Daniel Friday Martin February 13, 2019

Officials in South Sudan's Yei River State say thousands of people who fled their homes during fighting over the past two weeks are without food or clean water.

The Relief and Rehabilitation Commission in Yei River County says that up to 6,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are living under trees on the outskirts of Yei town. Other local residents fled across the border into the northern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The residents fled fighting between government forces and National Salvation Front rebels led by Thomas Cirillo. Witnesses told VOA's South Sudan in Focus that soldiers killed civilians, raped women, and burned entire villages.

Jane Dawa said displaced villagers like herself have nothing to eat.

"Since we arrived here five days ago after fleeing our village, we have not been given any food, pans, and even blankets. We are suffering, and children are crying amidst us because they are hungry and there is no food," Dawa told VOA.

James Guya, a father of six who also fled with his children to the shelter outside Yei, said women and children are especially in need of help.

"We ran to this place because we witnessed bad things in our village. We are staying here without access to clean water. Children are drinking [and] washing with dirty water. We are calling on the government and NGOs to rescue us from this situation," Guya told South Sudan in Focus.

Lack of funds

Moses Mabe, relief and rehabilitation commission coordinator for Yei River County, said county and state governments lack the funds needed to help. "The government is unable to help and sustain these people," he said.

Several humanitarian organizations operating in the area said they also lack the funds necessary to provide humanitarian assistance to the displaced.

"We have little resources to respond to this overwhelming population on a daily basis," said Dara Felix, program manager for United Methodist Committee on Relief in Yei River State. "We are appealing to the partners at Juba level to avail resources so that partners on the ground can intervene effectively to this kind of crisis."

Humanitarian access

Eujin Byun, the UNHCR communications officer in Juba, is urging the warring parties to end the fighting and to guarantee the safety of humanitarian workers trying to intervene.

"We have an access challenge to those IDPs and we have been blocked by the parties to the conflict, and that is why we are calling on all parties to the conflict to ensure free civilian movement and access for humanitarian actors," Byun told South Sudan in Focus.

Chapter two of South Sudan's revitalized peace agreement signed in September urges the parties to respect the free movement of all civilians and give free access to humanitarian workers.House Backs Ending US Support for Saudis in Yemen War

By VOA News February 13, 2019

The Democrat-controlled House rebuked President Donald Trump Wednesday and voted to cut off U.S. military assistance to the Saudi coalition fighting in Yemen.

The vote was 248 to 177 and was one of the only times the House has ever used the War Powers Act.

The measure now goes to the Senate, which passed a similar measure before the 2018 midterm elections, setting up a possible showdown with the White House.

The United States has been providing mainly intelligence and logistical support to the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The nearly 5-year-long war has killed thousands of civilians, and has made an already dire humanitarian crisis in one of the world's poorest nation even worse.

Saudi-led airstrikes aimed at the rebels have obliterated entire neighborhoods, destroying schools and hospitals.

U.S. lawmakers from both parties are not only disgusted by the carnage in Yemen, many are also angry over Trump's tepid reaction to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

"This is their (Congress) opportunity to send a message to the Saudis that their behavior on Khashoggi and their flagrant disregard of human rights is not consistent with the American way of doing business and not in line with American values," Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California said.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee, another California Democrat, called the U.S. involvement in the war in Yemen "shameful," saying it helped create a humanitarian crisis.

Congress passed the War Powers Act in 1973 after the U.S.'s disastrous involvement in Vietnam.

It gives Congress the authority to pull U.S. forces out of an undeclared war.

The White House said U.S. assistance to the Saudi coalition in Yemen does not fall under the War Powers Act because U.S. forces are not directly involved in hostilities.

If the Yemen resolution also passes in the Senate, the White House has threatened a veto.Pakistan to Host Next Round of US-Taliban Peace Talks

By Ayaz Gul February 13, 2019

American and Taliban officials are set to meet Monday in Pakistan for a new round of direct peace negotiations aimed at paving the way for a political settlement to the 17-year war in Afghanistan.

Until now, the Gulf states of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have played host to the meetings where U.S. special representative for Afghan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, and senior insurgent negotiator, Sher Muhammad Abbas Stanikzai, led their respective delegations.

In their last meeting held in Doha, the Qatari capital, both sides had agreed on a framework for a possible U.S. troop withdrawal in exchange for Taliban counterterrorism guarantees, saying they would set up two working groups to flesh out the parameters before their next encounter.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announced Wednesday the Feb. 18 meeting has been scheduled to take place in Islamabad at the formal invitation of the government in Pakistan. A senior Pakistani foreign ministry official confirmed this development to VOA on the condition of anonymity.

In his statement, Mujahid said insurgent delegates during their visit also will meet with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to discuss relations between their two neighboring countries and issues facing Afghan refugees and Afghan businesses.

Pakistan maintains it has arranged ongoing U.S.-Taliban negotiations to help promote peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, the Taliban announced its 14-member team of negotiators, some of them based in Qatar with others allegedly in Pakistan.

The ongoing U.S. talks with the Taliban have generated hopes for jump-starting an intra-Afghan inclusive peace process to determine the war-shattered country's political future.

While delivering a public talk in Washington last week, Khalilzad cautioned it was too early to draw any conclusions. "Nothing is agreed until everything has been agreed to. ... The Afghans must sit across the table with each other and come to an agreement about the future of their country," the U.S. envoy emphasized.

Washington and Kabul have long accused Islamabad of sheltering Taliban leaders on its soil  charges Pakistani officials reject.

But Khalilzad acknowledged in his public talk Pakistan's "positive" role, saying the country "has tried to facilitate talks between the Taliban and the U.S. and also favors intra-Afghan dialogue, including between the Taliban and the government [in Kabul]."35th Fighter Squadron launches into Cobra Gold 19

By Senior Airman Stefan Alvarez, 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs / Published February 13, 2019

KUNSAN AIR BASE, South Korea (AFNS) -- The 35th Fighter Squadron departed on Feb. 6, and the 35th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron departed on Feb. 7 to participate in Exercise Cobra Gold 19 in a historic redeployment to Korat Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand.

Cobra Gold is the largest military exercise in the Indo-Pacific region. This year is the 38th iteration of the exercise, hosted by the U.S. armed forces and Royal Thai armed forces. The exercise is a longstanding representation of friendship between the Thai and U.S. people.

Twenty-nine countries are participating in this year's iteration of Cobra Gold.

The purpose of the exercise is to bolster security in the region and exhibit rapid response to regional crises by uniting an expansive multinational force to accomplish shared goals and security commitments in the Indo-Pacific region. Cobra Gold bolsters a strong military relationship between the Royal Thai Armed Forces and other nations.

This year, Cobra Gold takes place from Feb. 11 to 26 and will focus on three major components; a humanitarian civic assistance event, field training and a command post exercise.

The 35th FS, which was previously based at Korat AB in the early 1960s, is training with partner nations and conduct both air-to-air and air-to-ground operations to increase interoperability and reinforce critical skills.

"It was really like a homecoming for the 35th (Fighter Squadron). The Royal Thai Air Force was really welcoming and I'm excited to train alongside them during this year's exercise." said 1st Lt. Mason McDaniel, a 35th Fighter Squadron pilot.

Cobra Gold aims to improve the capabilities of allied nations to successfully carry out combined and joint operations, building relationships with participating nations across the region and enhancing interoperability over a variety of activities, including reinforcing maritime security and responding to large-scale natural disasters.Jeremy Hunt to chair Yemen Quad meeting on next steps in peace process

The Foreign Secretary, with US Secretary of State Pompeo, will co-host a Quad meeting to discuss the Yemen crisis, in Warsaw later today.

13 February 2019

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, with US Secretary of State Pompeo, will co-host a meeting of the Yemen Quad - Foreign Ministers of the UK, UAE, USA and Saudi Arabia - to discuss the Yemen crisis, in Warsaw later today.

Quad ministers will inject fresh international political momentum and support to the Yemen peace process, and discuss measures to alleviate humanitarian suffering.

Today's Quad meeting was called by the Foreign Secretary and is the latest in a succession of diplomatic initiatives to strengthen international support for peace in Yemen. We can be under no illusions, the crisis is deep; resolving humanitarian suffering, achieving sustainable peace and regional stability are urgent UK priorities. The resolutions proposed by the UK and adopted by the United Nations Security Council in January and December have galvanised international support around a UN-led path out of the crisis. Ministers will today reiterate their full commitment to a comprehensive political solution in Yemen.

On the ground, the careful work of the UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths is supporting the parties to implement commitments made at Stockholm's landmark peace talks: to build confidence in a political process and to unblock the most urgent obstacles to alleviating human suffering. Quad discussions will focus on how international partners can help parties to implement existing agreements and move towards a second round of peace talks. Seized by the scale of the humanitarian crisis, the Quad will discuss how to accelerate steps to: help stabilise Yemen's economy; support the government of Yemen's commitment to pay salaries of civil servants, teachers and health workers; and to keep food and fuel flowing into Yemen.

Ahead of the Quad the Foreign Secretary said:

"We now have a shortening window of opportunity to turn the ceasefire into a durable path to peace - and stop the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Real progress has been made to reach a political solution but there are also real issues of trust between the two sides which mean the agreement in Stockholm has not been fully implemented."

"So more must be done. Today, I will chair a meeting in Warsaw of my US, UAE and Saudi Arabian counterparts to give UN envoy Martin Griffiths our full backing and undertake to redouble efforts to reach a lasting political resolution."

"Yemen's devastating famine is a man-made economic crisis not a natural disaster. Today we can make clear strides to support the government of Yemen, including on practical steps to improve Yemenis' lives, such as resuming the payment of government salaries to civil servants. This significant step could improve access to food for millions."Do Not Sell My Personal InformationRemarks at Bemowo Piskie Training Area

Remarks

Michael R. Pompeo

Secretary of State

Bemowo Piskie Training Area

Orzysz, Poland

February 13, 2019

It's truly an honor to be here alongside Foreign Minister Czaputowicz, Deputy Minister Lipinski, and the members of the NATO battle group, and my thanks also to Lieutenant Colonel Hebel for hosting us. It fills me with great pride to see American, British, Croatian, Polish, and Romanian troops serving alongside one another. Thank you for serving our NATO mission in unity.

Thirty years ago, almost exactly, I was patrolling the Iron Curtain in Germany as a young cavalry officer. Things were a little different then. My Van Halen cassettes are still in my closet somewhere right next to my VHS tape of Top Gun. But some things haven't changed. In my day, our generals were concerned about a Soviet offensive through the Fulda Gap. Today, the gap in which we stand occupies the same priority focus for NATO commanders that the Fulda Gap did back then, once again because of Russian aggression.

As we enter the fifth year of Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine, a war he launched on European soil, we take seriously those concerns that Russia may one day try to open a front along a line right here. In light of this threat, the NATO alliance remains indispensable for the protection of the free peoples of Europe. Many of them, like our Croatian, Polish, and Romanian friends, have a special appreciation for freedom that is, by the world's standards, still very young.

I was proud to honor Eastern Europe's struggle for liberty yesterday at the Gate of Freedom Memorial in Bratislava. Now, it is every ally's responsibility to keep Europe free. Russia has grand designs of dominating Europe and reasserting its influence on the world stage. Vladimir Putin seeks to splinter the NATO alliance, weaken the United States, and disrupt Western democracies. Russia's invasions of Georgia and Ukraine, its unprovoked attack on Ukrainian naval vessels in the Black Sea this past November, and its ongoing hybrid warfare against us and our allies are direct challenges to our security and to our way of life.

But NATO's commitment to counter Russian lawlessness and destabilizing activity is growing. One thing we have done is launch an enhanced forward presence, an EFP, here on Europe's eastern flank. This EFP embodies NATO's foundational principles that an attack on one country is an attack on all. Poland's own history reminds us that strong deterrence measures should be at the forefront of our strategic thinking. This is all the more true in our area of renewed great power competition  in our era of renewed great power competition. Poland's robust defense spending, now on track to surpass two and a half percent of its GDP, is a clear-eyed response to the threats that we face. Those threats must be met with similarly strong commitments from each and every NATO ally.

This spring, we will celebrate NATO's 70th anniversary. I'm looking forward to hosting that gathering in Washington, D.C. The men who set NATO's foundation were determined that Europe would never again face tyranny and war. As I made clear in a speech in Brussels last year, it's time for all NATO allies to follow Poland's lead and reinvigorate the alliance in the interest of lasting peace. May we all remain committed to NATO's founding ideals for the sake of our nations, our people, and those serving in uniform to protect us.

Finally, as a former tank commander, I'm eager to see a test of our firepower in action today. Let's go get after it. Thank you. (Applause.)When state Sen. J.B. Jennings first saw a map of potential new Chesapeake Bay bridge routes  including two originating in Harford County  he thought it was a joke.

I thought somebody took a map and a magic marker and drew a bunch of lines and said, There are the proposed routes,  Jennings, whose district covers western Harford County and eastern Baltimore County, said Wednesday.

The map, based on Maryland Transportation Authority and Federal Highway Administration studies of where a third bay crossing could be located, shows 14 potential crossing sites, marked with orange lines along the length of the estuary.

The map has been circulating on social media around the state, and it was reported Tuesday by The Baltimore Sun. An MdTA spokesperson described the document as pre-decisional, according to The Sun.

The Maryland Transportation Authority owns and operates the two-span Gov. William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge along Route 50 and Route 301 between Sandy Point in Anne Arundel County and Kent Island in Queen Annes County.

The first span of the existing bay bridge dates to 1952, with the second parallel bridge opening in 1973. The Chesapeake Bay Crossing Study, an ongoing $5 million environmental impact study, started in 2016 as state leaders seek a third crossing to help alleviate congestion on the existing bridge.

The study is set to be complete in December 2020  open houses for the public are scheduled for this spring, and a draft environmental impact statement with a recommended preferred corridor alternative is slated for release in the fall, according to the project website.

Two potential crossing sites, according to the preliminary map currently circulating, originate in Aberdeen and Joppatowne and end in Cecil County and Kent County, respectively.

Aberdeen City Manager Randy Robertson said Wednesday that the city had not yet been approached by any state officials or private groups, or received any formal proposals about building a new bridge.

Robertson said he thinks all of Maryland could be better served by a third Chesapeake Bay crossing, but more to follow.

Cindy Mumby, spokesperson for the Harford County government, said county officials are following the bridge project, but a new span is very far into the future.

Its at least a decade before a decision would be made, let alone funded, so thats that really where we are at this point, Mumby said Wednesday.

Jennings, a Republican whose district includes the Joppa area, said he doesnt know if a new bridge would be built even in 20 years, since there are people that are going to fight it, wherever it goes.

He does not expect a third bridge would be built in Harford County, as motorists already have options to get to the Upper Eastern Shore in Cecil County  crossings include the Conowingo Dam and the I-95 and Route 40 bridges  plus it would not be convenient for travelers coming from the Washington, D.C., area or Southern Maryland.

Jennings suggested a new bridge would be better suited to Southern Maryland, serving the more densely-populated D.C. suburbs and giving people who live on the Eastern Shore an easier commute to work in the Washington area.

Theoretically, anywhere in the Chesapeake Bay could be a crossing  it could be  but what makes sense? he noted.

Democratic state Del. Mary Ann Lisanti, whose district includes Aberdeen and Havre de Grace, said she is working with state transportation officials to get more information after the unexpected release of the route map.

I need context of what those lines mean, she said.

Lisanti said a third bridge will have significant impacts on local traffic, jobs, economic development, quality of life and the ecological health of the Chesapeake Bay, no matter where it is located.

She said crossings in Harford County could affect wetlands along the bay, traffic that is already heavy on local highways, even operations at the Armys Aberdeen Proving Ground, which is along acres of shoreline in Aberdeen and Edgewood.

This is nothing to be taken lightly, Lisanti said.

She suggested her colleagues in Annapolis revisit a bill she filed each year during the 2015, 2016 and 2017 Maryland General Assembly sessions. House Bill 907, which did not get past the committee stage in 2017, would mandate the Maryland Department of Transportation and Maryland Transit Administration to conduct a feasibility study on creating a water transportation network among waterfront communities along the Chesapeake Bay.

Lisanti said commuters and travelers could use high-speed watercraft to get between waterfront communities large and small, and the network could be developed at a much less expense than building a bridge, promote economic development in areas where watercraft arrive and depart, plus appreciate the ecology and history of an estuary she called a national treasure.

She said she plans to reintroduce the legislation during the 2020 General Assembly session, following the release of the Bay Crossing Study draft findings this year.

I think its an [alternative] that is worth examining, Lisanti said of the water transportation network. I think its cost effective; I think, instead of just selecting one part of the bay, I think it serves the whole bay.

Read more from The Aegis. Europe Pools Defence Resources, Allocates Millions for Weapons Research

Sputnik News

08:45 13.02.2019(updated 09:06 13.02.2019)

The programme "paves way for the first joint industrial projects under the EU budget". The announcement comes shortly after France and Germany signed a bilateral friendship treaty aimed at the creation of a European Army.

The European Commission has announced the first joint defence project in the history of the European Union, according to the press release published on the Commission's website.

The European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) will serve as a cornerstone of the upcoming European Defence Fund, that is planned to kick in in 2021.

This is Europe's first joint-defence-industrial project: up until now, European defence has been dominated by NATO. The news come at a time when the US administration is considering pulling out of the 70-year-old North Atlantic Alliance, for which it bears the biggest monetary burden.

"Defence cooperation promotes a strong and innovative defence industry and increases the EU's autonomy and technological leadership in defence," Jyrki Katainen, the European Commission Vice President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, is quoted as saying. "Unthinkable only a few years ago, defence cooperation is becoming a reality today."

"To protect our citizens, Europe needs cutting-edge, inter-operable defence technology and equipment in novel areas like artificial intelligence, encrypted software, drone technology and satellite communication," Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska, responsible for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, added. "Thanks to the European Defence Fund, we are making this happen. We are ensuring Europe becomes a stronger security provider."

Earlier, in 2017, the EU earmarked a modest budget of 90 million for military research projects  which was mostly limited to drone and unmanned submarine integration projects. Now, the budget is witnessing a dramatic increase: to 500 million for years 2019-2020. The European Parliament and Council are currently discussing a massive 13 billion Fund that will fuel the joint-military-cooperation within the EU.

The exact list of projects to be funded by the announced 500 million EDIDP budget will be finalised and published within the next few weeks, the announcement says. The document says that the projects to be funded by the Programme "will be consistent with the priorities identified in the context of the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), the Capability Development Plan (CDP) and NATO".

The EU announcement comes shortly after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron signed a new friendship treaty with the intention of building a Franco-German "common military culture" and "contribute to the creation of a European army."

"Authoritarian powers are emerging everywhere," Macron said during the signing ceremony which took place earlier in January. "Let's build a real European army to protect ourselves and have a real foreign policy."

The move has reportedly sparked "angry reactions" from US President Donald Trump, despite the US President himself publicly berating NATO over the USspending burden and reportedly brought up the idea of pulling out of the bloc multiple times during 2018.

 SputnikNorwegian Lt General Alleges Russia Conducted 'Mock Air Raid' on Arctic Radar

Sputnik News

08:58 13.02.2019(updated 09:18 13.02.2019)

There are no indications that relations between Russia and the West will improve in 2019, Norwegian Lieutenant General Morten Haga Lunde has suggested.

While presenting Focus 2019, the Norwegian Intelligence Service's most recent analytical report on threats and security, its director Lieutenant General Morten Haga Lunde claimed that Russian Su-24s flying in an attack formation performed a mock strike on a Norwegian radar array about a year ago, turning away shortly before entering Norwegian airspace.

During his speech at Oslo's Military Society, Haga Lunde revealed a map of a wing of 11 Sukhoi-24 (NATO code name: Fencer) supersonic attack aircraft taking off from Monchegorsk air base on the Kola Peninsula and flying out over the Barents Sea before making a sharp turn and proceeding in an attack formation towards Vard, Norway's most northeastern town and home to a powerful radar administered by the Norwegian Intelligence Service. The exercise allegedly happened on 14 February, 2018.

Morten Haga Lunde claimed that this scenario was very similar to what allegedly took place on 24 March 2017, but with more aircraft. At that time, Norway claimed nine Russian jets took part in the mock attack.

Haga Lunde also claimed that Russia's rhetoric against Norway has become "sharper".

Kristian Atland, an expert on Russian military activities in the Arctic with the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), told the Barents Observer news outlet that the mock attack resembled a "deliberate and carefully planned Russian signalling operation".

Atland suggested that this is Russia's way of conveying its displeasure with political or military developments in the country's northwest. He called the alleged mock attack "strategic communication by non-verbal means", which, he claimed, was aimed at influencing or intimidating Western political or military decision-makers. According to Atland, the "emerging challenges" in the High North don't contribute to an atmosphere of trust and predictability at the regional level.

The Norwegian fishing village of Vard has, due to its proximity to the Kola Peninsula, home to Russia's Northern Fleet, become the perfect location for radar surveillance. Since 1998, Vard has housed a radar installation called Globus II, which is officially tasked with tracking space junk. However, its believed role in the US anti-missile system and capability of building a signature database of Russian missiles have made it a thorn in Norwegian-Russian relations. An updated and more powerful radar called Globus III has been under construction since 2017.

Earlier this week, the Norwegian Intelligence Service claimed in its annual report that Russia had blocked GPS signals in Norwegian border regions "in repeated incidents since 2017", adding that these incidents coincided with military drills in Norway, such as the Trident Juncture held in late October and early November 2018. These allegations, also voiced by Finland, were dismissed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as "fantasy". Earlier, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted an existing trend of accusing Russia of "various deadly sins".

So far, Moscow has yet to comment on the mock attack allegations.

 SputnikNATO Has No Plans to Deploy New Ground-Based Systems With Nukes in EU - Official

Sputnik News

09:45 13.02.2019(updated 10:14 13.02.2019)

Russia issued a mirror-like response to the US decision to suspend the INF Treaty in order to officially exit it in 6 months later. However, Moscow assured that it would not deploy weapons violating the historic accord even if developed them until such US-made weapons appear in Europe and other regions.

The alliance has no plans to deploy new ground-based systems with nuclear weapons in Europe, even following the termination of the INF Treaty, NATO's Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller said in an interview with the German news outlet Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

"We will now discuss how to respond to new Russian missiles. At the same time, we have no plans to deploy new ground-based systems with nuclear weapons in Europe, " Gottemoeller said, commenting on what could folow the termination of the INF.

She added that the door for negotiations is still open, and Washington is still ready to keep the treaty if Russia destroys the 9M729 missiles.

The statement comes shortly after NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg stated that the alliance was preparing steps in case the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty ended, adding, however, that it doesn't want a new arms race.

On 1 February, Pompeo justified the US decision to suspend its obligations under the historic Cold War-era INF Treaty, triggering the six month withdrawal process, by yet again accusing Russia of violating the treaty. Moscow has strongly denied the claims.

A day later, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow was suspending its obligations under the INF Treaty in a "mirror-like response" to Washington's move, however, emphasising that Moscow would not be dragged into a new arms race.

In addition to this, Putin stated that the use of target rockets and the deployment of Mk 41 launchers in Europe since 2014 by the United States is a direct violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Nevertheless, Moscow assured that it would not deploy weapons violating the Cold War-era treaty even if Russia developed them "until such US-made weapons appear in Europe and other regions."

Moscow and Washington have been repeatedly accusing each other of violating the NF Treaty, signed by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1987, which bans all ground-launched ballistic missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometres (310 and 3,400 miles).

The US justified its exit from the treaty by claims that Russia's 9M729 missile violates the INF treaty. After being accused by NATO of a "lack of transparency" over the 9M729 missile (NATO: SS-08), the Russian foreign and defence ministries held a briefing, showing the missile, which is used in Iskander-M systems, and revealing its characteristics. Despite being invited to the briefing, NATO representatives, including the US and EU envoys, refused to take part in the meeting.

 SputnikNATO to Respond if Russia Doesn't Fulfill Duties Under INF Treaty - Stoltenberg

Sputnik News

18:10 13.02.2019(updated 18:51 13.02.2019)

On Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the bloc was getting prepared for a potential cessation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, but it didn't want a new arms race and did not plan to deploy new ground-based missiles in Europe.

NATO will have to adopt retaliatory measures if Russia fails to comply with the INF agreement in six months, bloc Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday at a press conference in Brussels during the first day of the meeting between the defence ministers of NATO member states.

The event comes after earlier in February, the United States said it was suspending its obligations under the INF Treaty starting from 2 February and would begin the withdrawal process, which would be completed within six months unless Moscow remedied its alleged violations of the bilateral arms control deal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin later announced that Moscow was also suspending its obligations under the treaty in response to the US move.

The INF Treaty, which was signed by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1987 and banned all ground-launched missiles with ranges of 310 to 3,400 miles (500 to 5,500 kilometers), has recently become another contentious point in the relationship between the United States and Russia.

The United States has been claiming that the range of Russia's 9M729 missile violates the treaty's limits, but Moscow has denied the allegations, stressing that they were unsubstantiated. Russia, in turn, has complained that US defense systems in Europe were equipped with launchers capable of firing cruise missiles at ranges prohibited under the INF Treaty.

 Sputnik'Firm and Steady Commitment': US Supplies Laser-Guided Rockets to Lebanese Army

Sputnik News

19:33 13.02.2019

Last year, Pentagon spokeswoman Rebecca Rebarich reiterated Washington's adherence to providing military assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces amid what she described as challenges emanating from Daesh* and Iran.

The United States has supplied laser-guided rockets worth over $16 million to the Lebanese army, in a show of what Washington touted as its "firm and steady commitment" to the Lebanese military.

The US Embassy in Beirut said the missiles can be fired from for a fleet of the US-made A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft which were earlier delivered to the Lebanese Armed Forces.

The supplies come after Pentagon spokeswoman Rebecca Rebarich reiterated in May 2018 that "the United States remains committed to supporting Lebanon's sovereignty, stability, security, and its state institutions, to include the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) as the professional, multi-confessional and sole legitimate armed forces of the Lebanese state".

"Strengthening the US-Lebanon defence relationship is all the more important in light of the continuing threats emanating from Syria, including continued ISIS [Daesh] challenges and Iranian aggression," she added.

Iran denies supplying weapons to Hezbollah, although Tehran continues to politically endorse the Lebanon-based Shi'ite group.

The United States has provided Lebanon with military assistance worth over $1.5 billion since 2006.

*Daesh (ISIL/ISIS/Islamic State) is a terrorist group banned in Russia and a number of other countries.

 SputnikPoland Hosts Middle East Summit Spearheaded By United States

By RFE/RL February 13, 2019

A major U.S.-organized Middle East conference is under way in Poland, a NATO member that has tightened cooperation with Washington as a counterweight to Russia's influence in Central and Eastern Europe.

Iran appears to be the main focus of the February 13-14 conference in Warsaw, and Tehran has labeled the gathering as a hostile act and warned of unspecified consequences for Poland.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz are the official hosts of the two-day conference, where senior officials from 60 nations are expected to attend.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence are in attendance, and U.S. sources told RFE/RL that more than 20 other countries from around the world were due to participate at a ministerial level, including Britain, Bulgaria, Italy, Georgia, Romania, Ukraine, South Korea, Brazil, and a number of Arab states such as Morocco and Saudi Arabia.

But France and Germany are not sending cabinet-level officials, and European Union foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini is staying away.

Russia and China are not participating and neither are the Palestinians, who have called for the meeting to be boycotted.

Moscow views with concern "U.S. attempts to impose unilateral geopolitical interests through initiatives presented as opinions of the entire international community," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in comments carried by the Interfax news agency.

A U.S. administration official said late last month that the conference was "not an anti-Iran meeting or a coalition-building exercise," but that Pompeo will discuss what the official called "Iran's destructive policies in the region."

However, on his way to Warsaw Netanyahu made clear the conference is centered on Iran.

"It is a conference that brings together the United States, Israel, many countries in the world, many countries in the region, Arab countries, against Iran's aggressive policy, its aggression, its desire to conquer the Middle East and destroy Israel," he told reporters.

Netanyahu also said that together with Israel's Arab partners, he planned to focus on confronting Iran. He made the comments during an impromptu interview with reporters on a Warsaw street, shortly after meeting Oman's foreign minister.

Although Netanyahu used the Hebrew word "milchama," or "war," in his comments, his office later changed its official translation and said he was referring to a "common interest of combatting Iran."

Addressing a press conference in Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that he believed the Warsaw conference was "dead on arrival."

"It is another attempt by the United States to pursue an obsession with Iran that is not well-founded," he also said.

Guillaume Xavier-Bender, a fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Brussels, told RFE/RL that the possible outcome of the event was unclear.

"You can't have a discussion about peace in the Middle East without Russia, Iran, and everyone involved there," Xavier-Bender said.

"The outcome of this conference is a mystery for everyone at this stage, because it won't be a deal on how to move forward with Iran. There won't be a declaration on how the U.S. and its partners in Europe can actually move forward with the Middle East peace process" between Israel and the Palestinians, he added.

The gathering also comes as Poland is pushing for the United States to open a permanent U.S. base on its territory. The U.S. Defense Department is expected to reveal its assessment of the proposal next month.

Washington and its EU allies are also at odds over the fate of the 2015 nuclear treaty that saw Iran curtailing its nuclear ambitions in exchange for Western countries lifting crippling economic sanctions.

President Donald Trump's administration has moved to undo the deal and reimpose sanctions. EU nations, however, criticized the move and sought to keep aspects of the deal in place.

In a news conference in Warsaw on February 12, Czaputowicz said transatlantic cooperation was necessary to resolve conflicts in the Middle East.

"The European Union alone does not, in my opinion, carry sufficient political weight to try to really influence the situation in the Middle East," he told reporters.

In remarks just ahead of the Warsaw conference, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that any negotiations with the United States "will bring nothing but material and spiritual harm."

He also said that Tehran must be careful to limit any dealings with some "untrustworthy" European states, adding that the country "must not retreat a single step from national and revolutionary values."

With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa, Interfax, and RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/poland-us- mideast-conference/29767156.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. Frowns On Armenia's Involvement In Russia-Backed Syria Mission

By RFE/RL's Armenian Service February 13, 2019

The United States has indicated it does not support Armenia's participation in a Russia-backed mission in war-ravaged Syria, where Yerevan has dispatched demining experts and other personnel.

Armenia announced this month it had sent a team of dozens of mine-clearing sappers, medical personnel, and security officers to Syria to carry out "humanitarian activities" such as demining and providing medical assistance in the northern city of Aleppo, which had a large ethnic Armenian population before the war. h

"We recognize the desire of other nations to respond to the humanitarian situation in Syria, and we share the concerns about protecting religious minorities in the Middle East," the U.S. Embassy said in a statement sent to RFE/RL on February 13. Most ethnic Armenians are Christians, while Syria is mainly Muslim.

"However, we do not support any engagement with Syrian military forces, whether that engagement is to provide assistance to civilians or is military in nature," the statement said.

"Nor do we support any cooperation between Armenia and Russia for this mission," it added, saying that Russia had "partnered with" President Bashar al-Assad's government "to slaughter civilians and trigger a humanitarian catastrophe" and "continues to protect the Assad regime and its atrocities on [the] global stage."

Russia has given Assad crucial military and diplomatic backing throughout the nearly eight-year war in Syria, which began with a government crackdown on protesters in March 2011. The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.

Russia is to provide logistical support to the Armenian mission, which Yerevan said would be carried out "exclusively outside the zone of combat operations."

On February 12, however, Armenian Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan said that "if it's necessary to participate in hostilities as well, the Republic of Armenia will do that within the letter of the law."

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian seemed to cast doubt on that, saying on February 13 that he was unaware of the defense minister's remark and that there were no plans for Armenian personnel to take part in any combat operations.

Yerevan has traditionally had close ties with Moscow, and Russia has a large military base in Armenia. The South Caucasus country is a member of security and economic groupings that link some of the former Soviet republics and are dominated by Russia.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-frowns-on- armenia-s-involvement-in-russia-backed-syria -mission/29768111.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.Stoltenberg: NATO Mulls Options In Post-INF World, Doesn't Want Arms Race With Russia

By RFE/RL February 13, 2019

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said the alliance is studying a "wide range of options" to deal with alleged Russian violations of a major arms-control agreement, while U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has accused Moscow of wanting to "dominate" Europe.

Stoltenberg was speaking on February 13 at NATO headquarters in Brussels, where the alliance's defense ministers were discussing what to do if the bilateral 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty between Washington and Moscow is abandoned -- as now appears almost certain.

"This is very serious. We will take our time," Stoltenberg said, adding that NATO's response "will be measured and it will be defensive because we don't want a new arms race."

In Warsaw, Pompeo accused Russia of having "grand designs of dominating Europe and reasserting its influence on the world stage."

He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin "seeks to splinter the NATO alliance, weaken the United States, and disrupt Western democracies."

On February 2, the United States launched the six-month process of leaving the 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.

U.S. officials have said Russia could save the INF by returning to compliance, but Moscow made clear it had no plans to scrap the 9M729.

Although Stoltenberg said that NATO had a range of options, he also reiterated that NATO allies "don't have any intention to deploy new nuclear land-based weapon systems in Europe."

On February 12, the NATO chief said that Moscow "continues to develop and deploy several battalions of the SSC-8 missile."

German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen did not rule out any form of defense capability, including nuclear weapons, in response to the threat of Russian nuclear-capable missiles.

"Precisely because we are at the start of the discussion, it is important that we do not start creating hierarchies or take out individual points but really leave the full lineup on the table," von der Leyen said ahead of the talks with her NATO counterparts.

British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson said that NATO needed to put "all efforts to ensuring that Russia comes into compliance" with the INF Treaty.

"There is still a period of six months where they can have the opportunity to do so," Williamson said. "But we then have to keep all options open as to how best to deal with this threat in the future."

Stoltenberg announced that he will hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the annual Munich Security Conference, which starts on February 15.

"I think it is important to have dialogue with Russia especially when we face so many difficult issues as we face today," the NATO chief said.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, meanwhile, announced that Poland had agreed to buy $414 million worth of mobile rocket launchers from the United States.

Pence -- in Warsaw, where he and Pompeo headlined a conference on security issues in the Middle East -- said the deal meant that "Poland is taking its place among the most capable and formidable nations in the world."

Pence also confirmed that "our two countries are discussing the parameters for an increased United States military presence in Poland," without providing details. Poland has requested that the United States establish a permanent military base in Poland.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/stoltenberg-nato -mulls-options-in-post-inf-world-doesn-t-wants-arms- race-with-russia/29768184.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.Afghanistan Mourns Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, Mujahedin Leader Turned President

By RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan February 13, 2019

Afghanistan is mourning Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, the country's first president after Soviet forces withdrew 30 years ago following a war of occupation.

Mojaddedi, a mujahedin commander who fought against the Soviet Army in the 1980s, died late on February 11 in a Kabul hospital. He was 93.

A mourning ceremony was held at the presidential palace in Kabul on February 13 during which Mojaddedi's coffin was draped in a green shawl featuring verses from the Koran, and later the Afghan flag.

The event was attended by his former comrades-in-arms, senior government officials, and other prominent Afghan figures, including former President Hamid Karzai.

President Ashraf Ghani hailed Mojaddedi's contributions to evicting Soviet forces from Afghanistan, saying "his death has saddened the entire nation."

"We lost one of the most prominent personalities in contemporary Afghanistan," he also said.

In a statement, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described Mojaddedi as a "tireless defender of democracy and valued partner for peace."

"He will be missed by not only the Afghan people but the international community with whom he worked to advance peace and democracy," Pompeo also said.

Mojaddedi led a mujahedin faction, the Afghan National Liberation Front, during the nearly decade-long insurgency against the Soviet occupiers.

After the Soviet Army retreated in February 1989, Afghanistan's communist regime collapse in 1992 and Mojaddedi, an ethnic Pashtun, was chosen as interim president.

He served two months under a power-sharing deal struck by mujahedin leaders, before Afghanistan plunged into civil war.

Following the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, he served as chairman of the Loya Jirga, or traditional grand council of political leaders and elders, that approved a new constitution for Afghanistan in 2003.

Mojaddedi also chaired a gathering of tribal elders in 2013 that endorsed a deal allowing the United States to keep troops in Afghanistan to train local forces and conduct counterterrorism operations.

With reporting by AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan -mourns-sibghatullah-mojaddedi-mujahedin-leader turned-president/29767633.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.Abbas to King Salman: US 'deal of century' anti-Palestine conspiracy

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 13, 2019 08:40AM

In Riyadh, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has warned Saudi rulers about the nature of a so-called peace plan in the works at the White House on the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, describing the yet-to-be unveiled proposal as a plot against the Palestinian nation.

Meeting with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in Riyadh on Tuesday, Abbas called Washington's plan a "conspiracy," renewing a term the Palestinian Authority first used to refer to the scheme in a statement it released last July.

The United States, Abbas told Salman, would seek to impose the plan on the Palestinians and force them to back down on many of their demands in favor of Israel.

The PA chief called for the revival of a previously-proposed plan, known as the "Arab Peace Initiative," to counter the US scheme, which Washington is expected to partially expose on Wednesday during a so-called Middle East security conference in the Polish capital, Warsaw.

That Arab plan calls for the withdrawal of Israel from Arab territories, including the Palestinian territories, which it occupied during a war in 1967, the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital, and a solution for Palestinians rendered homeless by Israeli aggression.

This is while the US scheme, hailed by President Donald Trump as "the deal of the century," reportedly features significant encroachment on historical Palestinian demands.

Israeli Channel 13 reported in January that the bid provides for a Palestinian state in 85-90 percent of the occupied West Bank, with "most of the Arab neighborhoods" in East al-Quds as the Palestinian capital. It also stipulates various land swaps and Israel's annexation of major blocks housing settlements, the report added.

The PA has stopped recognizing any mediating role by the US in the conflict since December 2017, when Washington recognized Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel's "capital." The White House later relocated the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied city, although the UN General Assembly had passed a resolution calling on it to withdraw the recognition.

The Palestinian Authority says it would not be holding any talks with the US until Washington adopts a more balanced policy.

The PA has also cautioned Arab states against gravitating towards Israel or supporting the plan amid recurrent reports of covert and overt contacts between many of those states and Tel Aviv.

Some Arab states, including Riyadh, are said to have pledged not to oppose the American proposal.

King Salman, however, told Abbas that the kingdom was committed to an independent Palestinian state with East al-Quds as its capital, AFP reported.

The monarch said his country "permanently stands by Palestine and its people's right to an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital," the official Saudi Press Agency said.

The Riyadh regime has long been seeking to portray itself as a supporter of the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation.

However, under its de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom has dramatically increased overtures towards Israel and is even said to be working behind the scenes with the US to finalize the deal as a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which Riyadh views as a stumbling block to overt relations with Tel Aviv.

Bin Salman once tried to persuade Abbas to agree to the so-called Middle East peace plan, which is being drawn up by Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Salman reportedly told Abbas that the US was "the only game in town" concerning the "peace" process, the Middle East Eye news portal reported in late December 2017.

During a trip to the US months later, bin Salman made explosive remarks on the prospects of ties with Israel as well as the occupying regime's conflict with Palestinians, stirring so much controversy among the defenders of the Palestinian cause.

The first in line to the Saudi throne said in the course of his interviews during that trip that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the only obstacle to the normalization of ties with the Tel Aviv regime.

He attempted to put Israeli and Palestinian land claims on an equal footing in a dramatic shift in Riyadh's long-held position, saying Israelis, like Palestinians, have the "right" to have "their own homeland."

Israeli media also quoted bin Salman as saying during a meeting with Jewish leaders in New York that Palestinians should either accept peace proposals or "shut up" and "stop complaining."In doing so, the judges gave the state instructions to use "traditional criteria for redistricting, " and showing regard for "natural boundaries. This is, essentially, what Malones bill seeks to do moving forward. These criteria, in conjunction with a non- or bi-partisan commissioner to draw the districts, should provide voters will a map that decreased the influence of politics and returns power back to the people to choose who represents them in Congress, not the other way around, as gerrymandering has done.Palestine's Hamas, Fatah movements denounce US 'deal of century' for Middle East

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 13, 2019 07:32PM

Two major Palestinian rival groups, the West Bank-based Fatah party and the Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement, have expressed their strong opposition to US President Donald Trump's "deal of the century" on the so-called Middle East peace process.

The strongly-worded statements were read by representatives of both sides on Wednesday, the final day of the third edition of Russia-mediated intra-Palestinian conference that commenced on Monday in the Russian capital Moscow with the aim of unifying 12 different Palestinian movements and organizations, including the Fatah movement led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"We created the Palestinian state, in which we declared back in 1988. We stand for the creation of the Palestinian state within the borders of the liberation of territories captured in 1967  with its capital in East Jerusalem al-Quds," said Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior member of Fatah's Central Committee.

"I would like to emphasize for [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and Trump. This is our and Qatar's opinion. We will not allow America to use the financial factor in order to tear us away from the Gaza Strip," he added.

Ahmad said that Washington had so far rejected "all of our peace-loving initiatives."

In late August last year, the US announced it would end all funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, a week after it cut over $200 million in aid for the West Bank and Gaza. Washington donated $355 million to the UN agency in 2016, and was set to make a similar contribution last year.

Qatar, a Persian Gulf littoral state, financially supports Hamas, a move that has time and again irked Fatah.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, the deputy chairman of Hamas' political bureau, for his part, said his respective movement also rejected "the American plan for solving the Middle East problem, which is called the deal of the century."

He also stressed they would not "allow any foreign party to intervene and destroy our aspiration [to bring peace]," accusing both the US and Israel of hatching plots to separate the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian movement.

On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that Trump's "deal of the century" would fail to fully guarantee a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.

The so-called deal, a backchannel plan to reach a peace settlement between Israelis and Palestinians, was proposed by the US administration in late 2017. Although the plan has not been released, leaks signal it will consist of the same tried-and-failed ideas.

While little is known about the controversial deal, leaks have suggested that it entirely regards Jerusalem al-Quds as Israeli territory, whereas Palestinians view the eastern sector of the occupied city as the capital of their future state. Palestinians also believe that the US-drafted plan calls for keeping borders and security under Israeli control, while it keeps Israeli settlements' final borders to be discussed in later negotiations.

Israel lays claim to entire Jerusalem al-Quds, but the international community views the city's eastern sector as an occupied territory.

Trump further darkened the prospects of the establishment of a Palestinian state back in December when he recognized Jerusalem al-Quds as the "capital" of Israel and ordered the US embassy to be relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds, a move that infuriated Palestinians and triggered numerous protests.USS Porter Departs Plymouth, England

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS190213-01

Release Date: 2/13/2019 9:37:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class James R. Turner, Navy Public Affairs Support Element Det. Europe

PLYMOUTH, England (NNS) -- The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) departed Feb. 11 Plymouth, England following a port visit.

The port visit serves to demonstrate the U.S. Navy's continued commitment to strengthening strategic partnerships in the European and African region.

"This was a working port for the Sailors aboard Porter," said Cmdr. Craig Trent, commanding officer of Porter. "Our English allies gave our ship and crew the ability to shelter in place as storms passed in order to continue to train and maintain mission readiness."

While in port, the ship earned certifications from three embarked Sailors from Afloat Training Group Norfolk. Overall, the ship conducted 15 damage control drills ensuring the ship's responses are efficient to a wide range of scenarios.

"The crew has been extremely busy while in England," said Lt. Andrea Olachia, damage control assistant aboard the ship. "We conducted drills nearly every day while in port, from individual locker drills to flying squad, and topped it off with three general quarters drills. We demonstrated our crew's ability to combat a variety of casualties that the ship could encounter. Damage control training is invaluable and it's important for all Sailors to possess the skill sets necessary to put out a fire, stop a flood or even operate after a chemical, biological, radiological attack. We all hope that we never have to do more than drill for these types of scenarios, but if the time ever comes, I am confident the crew will be prepared to fight and ultimately save our ship."

Porter is working with allies and regional partners to help develop and improve maritime forces, maintain regional security, and work toward mutual goals in order to advance security and stability in Europe.

Porter, forward-deployed to Rota, Spain, is conducting a routine patrol in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe. The ship departed from Naval Station Rota, Spain, Dec. 27, 2018.

U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied, joint, and interagency partners, in order to advance U.S. national interests, and security and stability in Europe and Africa.Future USS Cincinnati Completes Acceptance Trials

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS190213-10

Release Date: 2/13/2019 3:19:00 PM

From Program Executive Office Unmanned and Small Combatants (PEO USC) Public Affairs

MOBILE, Ala. (NNS) -- Future littoral combat ship USS Cincinnati (LCS 20) successfully concluded acceptance trials in the Gulf of Mexico, Feb. 8, following a series of in-port and underway demonstrations for the Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey.

Acceptance trials are the last significant milestone before the ship is delivered to the Navy, which is planned for this summer. During trials, the Navy conducted comprehensive tests of the Independence-variant LCS to demonstrate the performance of the propulsion plant, ship-handling and auxiliary systems.

"I can't say enough about the positive results achieved by the Navy and industry team during these acceptance trials of the future USS Cincinnati," said Capt. Mike Taylor,

LCS program manager. "She's well into her journey to be delivered to the Navy this summer, and will provide needed and cost-effective warfighting capability to the fleet and the nation."

Following delivery and commissioning, Cincinnati will join her nine sister ships already homeported in San Diego, USS Independence (LCS 2), USS Coronado (LCS 4), USS Jackson (LCS 6), USS Montgomery (LCS 8), USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), USS Omaha (LCS 12), USS Manchester (LCS 14), future USS Tulsa (LCS 16) and future USS Charleston (LCS 18).

Four more Independence-variant ships are under construction at Austal USA in Mobile. Final assembly is well underway on future USS Kansas City (LCS 22) and Oakland (LCS 24). Modules for future USS Mobile (LCS 26) are under construction in the module manufacturing facility and construction on future USS Savannah (LCS 28) commenced last summer. Additionally, Austal is preparing for construction of future USS Canberra (LCS 30), Santa Barbara (LCS 32), Augusta (LCS 34), Kingsville (LCS 36) and Pierre (LCS 38).

LCS is a highly-maneuverable, lethal and adaptable ship designed to support focused mine countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare missions. The Independence-variant LCS integrates new technology and capability to affordably support current and future mission capability, from deep water to the littorals.

LCS is now the second-largest surface ship class in production. In 2018, five LCSs were delivered to the fleet and three will be delivered in 2019  a pace not seen since the 1990s.Four Allies and one partner will create a regional Special Forces command

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

13 Feb. 2019

On Wednesday (13 February 2019), the Defence Ministers from Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to establish a Regional Special Operations Component Command (R-SOCC) in the margins of the meetings of NATO Defence Ministers in Brussels. Partner nation Austria will sign the LOI immediately following the NATO Defence Ministerial Meeting. This makes this initiative another example of close cooperation between NATO Allies and partners.

Under the leadership of Hungary, the four European Allies and partner nation Austria will work together to form a deployable R-SOCC for Small Joint Operations. This command will dramatically increase the ability of these five nations to effectively employ their Special Forces. The non-permanent structure of the R-SOCC enables each participant to use its own contributions separately, while benefitting from the integrated R-SOCC structure once activated for a deployment.

NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller praised this initiative, stating that it presents "a significant step forward in strengthening Special Operation Forces capacities in the region, and towards a fully integrated multinational regional command element."

The new multinational command will be developed in line with NATO standards, leveraging the expertise of NATO's Special Operations Headquarters in Mons, Belgium. While primarily intended for NATO and EU operations, the command could participate in other multilateral missions, exercises or trainings.Doorstep statement by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg ahead of the meetings of NATO Defence Ministers in Brussels

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

13 Feb. 2019

(As delivered)

So good morning.

Today and tomorrow, NATO Defence Ministers will meet and address a wide range of pressing security issues.

Among them is the INF Treaty. Russia continues to violate the INF Treaty by deploying new intermediate-range nuclear capable missiles, the SSC-8 missiles. These missiles are hard to detect, mobile and can reach European cities, so this is something which is of great concern for all of us. We will continue to call on Russia to come back into compliance with the INF Treaty.

We will also address burden-sharing. I welcome the fact that across Europe and Canada we see now that Allies are stepping up, investing more in defence. European Allies and Canada will have added 41 billion extra US dollars to their defence spending since 2016, over the last 2 years. And I expect this number to rise to 100 billion dollars by the end of next year. So we are making progress on burden-sharing.

We will also discuss NATO missions and operations in Afghanistan, in Iraq and in Kosovo.

And then I'm really looking forward to welcoming defence minister Radmila Sekerinska, representing the Republic of North Macedonia. Participating here as an invitee to the NATO defence ministerial meeting for the first time.

We will also address many other issues but these are at least already key issues that will be addressed at the meeting.

Q (AFP): Will you be meeting the Russian Foreign Minister in Munich this week to discuss the INF Treaty?

SECRETARY GENERAL: Yes, I expect to meet Minister Lavrov in Munich. And I think it is important to have dialogue with Russia especially when we face so many difficult issues as we face today. With increased tensions, with the violation of the INF Treaty. And therefore I strongly believe in the importance of having dialogue with Russia at different levels, with Minister Lavrov, but also in the NATO-Russia Council. We recently had a meeting in the NATO-Russia Council where the INF Treaty  the violation of the INF Treaty  was one of the main topics. So this is part of an ongoing dialogue with Russia which is important especially when tensions are difficult as they are now.

Q (ARD): On INF, you repeatedly said that there are no NATO plans to deploy nuclear intermediate-range missiles in Europe. What are the options then?

SECRETARY GENERAL: Our main focus now is to preserve the treaty. And there is a window of opportunity for Russia to come back into compliance. Because the withdrawal process will not be finished until August  so there is a six month window for Russia to come back into compliance, and we continue to urge Russia to come back into compliance with the treaty. At the same time, we are planning for a future without the INF Treaty, and with more Russian missiles.

I will not preempt the outcome of this analysis or work at NATO. Because this is very serious, we will take our time. What I can say is that our response will be united, NATO Allies will act together. It will be measured, and it will be defensive, because we don't want a new arms race. And we don't have any intention to deploy new nuclear land-based weapons systems in Europe.

Then of course we have wide range of other options  conventional and other options. But I will not speculate about them now. Because if I start to speculate about different options, I would just add to the uncertainty. Commenting on different options is just too early before we have concluded.

So we will address this at the meeting today. We will continue to maintain the unity of the Alliance. We have been very united on the INF issue over many, many years, dating back to the seventies, when we had the dual-track decision. In '87, when all NATO Allies supported the INF Treaty banning all the INF weapons, all the intermediate-range weapons. And we have also been united ever since the Obama administration, almost 6 years ago, raised their concerns about the Russian violation of the treaty. And we were united in December last year, where all Allies agreed, based also on collected intelligence, that Russia is in violation of the treaty. And we agreed and were united in the beginning of February, when US announced that they would start the withdrawal process unless Russia comes back into compliance.

Q (Pajhwok): [inaudible]

SECRETARY GENERAL: NATO's military presence in Afghanistan is about providing, creating the conditions for a political, peaceful solution. The aim is of course not to be in Afghanistan forever. The aim is to be in Afghanistan to fight terrorism and to train, assist and advise the Afghan National Army, security forces, so they can stabilize their own country.

No decision has been taken about any withdrawal. But we strongly support the efforts to reach a political, peaceful settlement. And therefore we are in close contact with the US Special Envoy, Ambassador Khalilzad. He has briefed NATO Allies three times over the last weeks on the efforts to try to reach an agreement with Taliban. I would also like to commend President Ghani for his leadership and the initiative he took last year, with the ceasefire and the peace process he initiated last year. It is important that we have as part of the peace process an Afghan reconciliation process. And of course the Afghan government has to be part of that.

NATO Allies went in together in Afghanistan, we will make decisions on our future posture in Afghanistan together, based on conditions determined together with the Afghans. So we support the peace efforts, and we will of course do whatever we can to fully support the implementation of a peace deal if that is reached.

Q (KTV  Kohavision): In response to your statements yesterday that Kosovo Security Forces cannot go up to north without the permission of KFOR, Prime Minister Haradinaj said that there is no such thing as north or south Kosovo, and the security forces can go wherever they like. What's your response?

SECRETARY GENERAL: Well, we have an agreement, the Brussels Agreement from 2013 stating clearly that the Kosovo Security Forces cannot go north without the concurrence of the Commander of KFOR, COMKFOR. And we expect that that agreement is still valid, still applies. And this is also something which is stated clearly from many Allies. And I have also expressed that to Mr. Haradinaj that we still expect that that's the case.

NATO will remain in Kosovo with KFOR, because KFOR is based on a UN mandate. And the KFOR presence, the presence of KFOR, is and has been important for stability in Kosovo and in the whole region. What we are assessing is our presence, our activities outside the KFOR mission. We have different kinds of capacity-building support to the Kosovo Security Forces, which is not part of the KFOR mission, but is NATO activities outside that. And we will address the level of this engagement based on the fact that many Allies believe that the decision to transform the Kosovo Security Force into a Kosovo army was ill-timed, and therefore we need to address the level of our engagement.Press conference by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg following the meetings of NATO Defence Ministers

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

13 Feb. 2019

(as delivered)



Good afternoon.

Allied Defence Ministers have just met to address Russia's violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

All 29 NATO Allies agree that the SSC-8 missile system developed and deployed by Russia is a significant risk to our security.

It is mobile and hard to detect.

It can reach European cities with little warning, carrying a conventional or nuclear warhead.

And it lowers the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.

The United States and other Allies have engaged with Russia about this missile system for years.

Including at a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council last month.

It's clear 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 INF Treaty.

This will take six months.

So Russia still has a chance to come back into compliance.

And we call on Russia to take this opportunity.

Russia knows what to do.

All Allies stand ready to engage further with Russia.

But we are also preparing for a world without the INF Treaty.

And Defence Ministers discussed this today.

NATO is currently assessing the consequences of Russia's breach of the Treaty.

I will not pre-empt the outcome of this process.

But any steps we take will be defensive, measured and coordinated.

And we do not intend to deploy new land-based nuclear missiles in Europe.

NATO will continue to maintain credible and effective deterrence and defence.

At the same time, Allies remain committed to effective arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation.

NATO does not want a new arms race.

Our Alliance remains agile and ready to deal with any threat from any direction.

We are currently adapting the NATO command structure.

And working on a new Readiness Initiative, which we call the "Four Thirties".

This means that Allies will make available: 30 combat ships, 30 land battalions,

and 30 air squadrons,

within 30 days or less.

To increase our ability to respond quickly and decisively to any future crisis.

Today, a number of nations have made offers to our Readiness Initiative.

And I welcome this.

Because it will not just increase our readiness,

But it will also help us share the burden of our security more fairly.

Tonight, we will discuss progress on three areas of burden sharing:

Cash, capabilities and contributions.

At our Summit in July, leaders agreed there is a new sense of urgency.

And decided to develop credible national plans.

As a result, since 2016, European Allies and Canada have spent an extra 41 billion US dollars on defence.

And based on the latest national plans, this number will rise to a cumulative one hundred billion dollars by next year.

Allies are modernizing their equipment.

And contributing more to NATO missions and operations.

There is still work to do to adapt to an unpredictable world.

But as we approach our 70th anniversary, the Alliance is in good shape.

And with that, I am ready to take your questions.

Oana Lungescu [NATO Spokesperson]: Okay, we'll go with Reuters in the first row, please.

Robin Emmott [Reuters]: You mentioned in the beginning, you said that Russia still has six months to come back into compliance on the INF Treaty. I wondered, do you envisage any shift in the NATO diplomacy to try and encourage Russia to comply?

Jens Stoltenberg [NATO Secretary General]: All Allies and NATO as an alliance will continue to engage with Russia. We have already raised this issue in the NATO-Russia Council, we did that just a few weeks ago, where we called on Russia to come back into compliance in a verifiable and transparent way. NATO has been and is very united on the issue of INF, meaning that we both convey a message to Russia to come back into compliance, but we are also united as in our plan, and prepare for a world with more Russian missiles and without the INF Treaty.

I expect the INF Treaty to also be an issue that will be addressed at the Munich Security Conference, because this affects, of course, all NATO Allies but also other countries. We will continue to raise this in the framework of the NATO-Russia Council and I know that several Allies have already, and are planning, to raise this bilaterally with Russia.

So, Russia knows that we are ready, knows that we think and believe that the INF Treaty is of great importance, but no treaty will work if it's only respected by one side. And, therefore, it is Russia that has the responsibility to come back to compliance and to preserve the Treaty.

Oana Lungescu: Okay, we'll go all the way up there, the lady in red in the middle. The microphone is coming.

[Danish TV]: You mentioned you don't want a new arms race against Russia, but at the same time you have now agreed today to do plans to do this 'Four 30s'. How come you view that this initiative, such a big initiative, is necessary in NATO? How can this not be viewed as an aggression by Russia? This is my first question. The other question is: Denmark has now put forward proposals about burden-sharing, will put Denmark in a position to deliver 1.5 percent in 2023. What is your response to Denmark? Can they now lean back and enjoy, or will they need to come back with more ?

Jens Stoltenberg: No Ally can lean back. All Allies have to be agile and to contribute to our shared security, to our collective defence. But, I welcome the fact that Denmark is stepping up, that Denmark is doing more, both when it comes to increased defence spending but also when it comes to contributions to NATO missions and operations.

The majority of NATO Allies now have plans to reach the 2 percent guideline, spending 2 percent of GDP by 2024. Not all Allies have submitted plans to do so, but even those Allies that don' currently have plans to reach the 2 percent, even those Allies have started to increase  and what they do also makes a difference. And Denmark is in that group of Allies that have not yet currently a plan to reach 2 percent, but which have a plan to increase, and not only have a plan to increase, but actually have started to increase. So based on the reports we have received from all Allies, we can state that all Allies have stopped the cuts. And, we have to remember that for many, many years European Allies were cutting defence spending. Now they are all increasing, investing more.

Second, more Allies will reach the 2 percent target, meaning more Allies have already reached that target and the majority have plans to reach it by 2024. So if we then look at what has happened since 2016, by the end of next year they will have added 100 billion extra for defence spending. So, this matters, this helps, and I welcome what Denmark is doing.

But, of course, no Ally can lean back. We all have to do more, invest more and increase the readiness of our forces and contribute, for instance, to this new readiness initiative. The readiness initiative is about making NATO able to handle a more unpredictable and uncertain world and the best way of doing that is to have ready forces which can be deployed, which can be used, if necessary. The reason to have a strong and ready Alliance is not to provoke a conflict but to prevent a conflict. And that's the way we have been able to preserve peace and prevent conflict for 70 years  sending a clear message to any potential adversary that NATO is there, we are able to react and if one Ally is attacked, it's considered as an attack on the whole Alliance and we can then support. The challenge for us is to find the right balance between being strong, firm  but at the same time avoiding a new arms race and continuing to engage in dialogue with Russia. We do that by being balanced and measured in our responses, by continuing to strive for a meaningful dialogue with Russia, and also by the messages we are sending when it comes to responding to the Russian violations of the INF Treaty, because the fact that we are saying that first of all we will take our time, before we make any decisions, because we are now focused on the remaining six months, which is an opportunity for Russia to come back into compliance.

Second, we say that our responses will be measured, defensive and we have also stated that we don't have any intentions of deploying new nuclear land-based systems in Europe. So, we are not mirroring what Russia is doing and I think the way we are dealing with this shows that we are actually looking for that balance between being firm, but at the same time preventing a new arms race.

Oana Lungescu: Polish TV, the lady in the first row.

[Polish TV]: . I have question related to Poland, because today in Poland, Poland has sealed the contract to buy HIMARS rockets from US, and also today, American ambassador to Poland thought in interview that the US is considering increasing American presence, military presence in Poland. Could you comment on this please? And do you think that it can increase security of NATO?

Jens Stoltenberg: So first of all, it's not for NATO to decide exactly from where different Allies buy their equipment. We have a NATO defence planning process where we agree on different capabilities that different Allies should acquire, but where they buy them from or acquire these different systems is not for NATO to decide, but we allocate different capability targets and then we leave it to, of course, the nations to decide exactly how they fill or meet those capability targets.

Second, the United States and NATO, we have already increased our presence in Poland. We have one of the new battle groups, in the Eastern part of the Alliance, it's based in Poland. And, the United States is the lead nation for that battle group. We have also a new US Armoured Brigade in Poland which rotates in Europe, but which rotates regularly also through Poland. And we have seen also more investments in infrastructure, more exercises of NATO Allies and of course, US being part of that in Europe, including in Poland. We are constantly addressing our posture. We are adjusting the posture. So it's nothing new that NATO and US, that we are increasing our presence also in a country like Poland.

Oana Lungescu: Okay, TASS, second row.

Denis Dubrovin [TASS News Agency]: Thank you very much, Denis Dubrovin, TASS News Agency. Mr Secretary General, at the last NATO summit here in Brussels, US president Mr Trump has said that NATO countries should actually pay 4 percent of their GDP for defence. Now United States has withdrawn from the INF Treaty and there is a perfect reason to pay more, because NATO has to develop new defensive actions in the new . . . situation. So do you expect that at the upcoming summit in Great Britain, the new threshold for military defence will be higher, to 3 or maybe 4 percent? Thank you.

Jens Stoltenberg: The United States has not withdrawn from the INF Treaty. The United States has declared its intention to withdraw and started the process  but giving Russia six months to come back into compliance. And we all have to understand that the problem is not the announcement from the United States, but the problem now is that Russia continues to deploy new nuclear-capable missiles in Europe, in clear violation of the INF Treaty. And this is not only an issue that has been raised by the Trump administration, but it was actually originally raised by the Obama administration almost six years ago.

So we have given Russia a lot of time to come back into compliance. They continue to violate the Treaty and therefore all Allies agree that Russia is in violation of the Treaty, we did that through our statement in December and all Allies support the US announcement, because the INF Treaty doesn't work if it's only respected by one side, it doesn't keep us safe. We have an agreement related to 2 percent, at the summit in July. We all agreed that there is a new sense of urgency to deliver on that commitment. And the good news is that we are doing exactly that. And I also know that the United States recognizes the progress that European Allies and Canada are making. President Trump mentioned the fact that the European Allies and Canada will add 100 billion extra US dollars for defence spending from 2016, by the end of 2020. So my focus, and NATO's focus, is to deliver and to implement what we have already agreed on defence spending.

Oana Lungescu: Washington Post. Over there.

Michael Birnbaum [The Washington Post]: Thanks. Michael Birnbaum from The Washington Post. This is Acting Secretary Shanahan's first trip to, to NATO and his first sessions with his counterparts. Could you give us a sense . . . you know there was a lot of . . . well, Secretary Jim Mattis was well-loved here at NATO and there was general nervousness about anybody other than Mattis coming from the Trump administration, could you give us a sense of what message Secretary Shanahan sent in his first interactions with defence ministers and how that message was received by his peers? Thank you.

Jens Stoltenberg: The message from Acting Secretary of Defense, Patrick Shanahan was very well received by all NATO Allies, because it was a very strong and a very clear message about the US ironclad commitment to NATO, to Article 5 and also the very strong personal commitment he has to NATO. I met him a few weeks ago. I know that his background from defence industry, but also some years at the Pentagon, is a background which is highly valued by NATO Allies. And also the fact that he's coming directly from Iraq and Afghanistan, where NATO has operations, where we train, assist and advise the Iraqi forces and the Afghan forces, also made it very useful and something we very much welcome, the fact that he then came to the NATO ministerial and can share his assessments and his analysis coming directly from NATO operations.

Secretary Mattis was, of course, also a welcomed participant at the NATO ministerial meetings, but we all look forward to working with Secretary Shanahan. I welcome the fact that he received me in Washington, he is now welcomed here at the defence ministerial meeting and he has a strong personal commitment to the Alliance. And we are really encouraged by his very strong message today on the commitment to NATO but also on the INF and the importance of NATO remaining united in the way we respond to the INF Treaty.

Oana Lungescu: Bloomberg, lady on the third row, yeah, thanks.

[Bloomberg]: Thank you. Did any member state bring up the issue of China and cyber security during today's meetings? And a second question, if I may: what will NATO do if Turkey decides to go ahead and buy the Russian missile system? Thank you.

Jens Stoltenberg: The session we just finished was about INF and therefore it was not so much focused on other issues. We will discuss NATO readiness later on today, and also deterrence and defence, and I expect that Allies will also mention the fact that China is a rising power and some Allies have already expressed concerns related to cyber security infrastructure, and so on. But in the session we just finished, this was not the issue.

Then, on the S-400, well, it's up to each and every Ally to decide what kind of equipment they acquire, that's a national decision. At the same time, I know that there is a dialogue going on between the United States and Turkey on the question of missile and air defence. I know that there is also some contacts between Turkey and other Allies  France and Italy  on a French-Italian system called SAMP-T. And on top of that, NATO has already deployed two batteries, one SAMP-T battery and one battery of Patriot missiles in Turkey. That's done by Spain and Italy.

Oana Lungescu: Okay, Deutsche Welle, the gentleman in the middle.

[Deutsche Welle]: Secretary General, just for me to understand what was decided today by the defence ministers, so you, you just de . . . on the INF, of course  so you just decided to think how to prepare for the world without INF, while also engaging with Russia diplomatically, and isn't it a bit late to start thinking about it now? And the second question: German Minister, Ursula von der Leyen, she said that she doesn't exclude anything in the mix of . . . of what, of how NATO may react to Russia not complying with INF. So do you exclude anything, like you said that NATO is not intending of deploying nuclear missiles, do exclude it? Thank you very much.

Jens Stoltenberg: NATO didn't start to think today. The Alliance has been thinking for decades and we have actually been thinking and assessing and analysing the consequences of the new missiles, the new Russian missiles for actually some time, because we have seen the violations, we have seen the deployments of the new Russian missiles. They are mobile, they are hard to detect, they will reduce the warning time and therefore they reduce the threshold for any potential use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict.

But, our main focus has been  and still is  to try to preserve the Treaty, to try to maintain this cornerstone of arms control, which didn't only reduce the number of missiles, but actually abolished, banned a whole category of missiles  all intermediate-range missiles. So we continue to work for the best solution, and that is arms control, to preserve, save the INF Treaty. But, the only way to do that is for Russia to come back into compliance. And there is still a window of opportunity. So we actually do two things at the same time: we prepare, we think, we analyse the consequences of the Treaty breaking down; but at the same time, we try to save the Treaty because there is no doubt that that's the best way to address this challenge. If we don't succeed with that  and that's up to Russia, and we will only know that at the end of the six-month period  then, of course, we need also to respond. We will take our time. We will be measured, because we want to avoid a new arms race. At the same time we have to understand that the new Russian missiles, they are not an isolated event or thing, they are part of a broader picture where we are seeing Russia investing heavily in modern military capabilities over a long time, including new nuclear capabilities.

They have announced a lot of new nuclear weapon systems and they have used force against a neighbour in Ukraine. All of this has led to the biggest reinforcement of NATO's collective defence for a decade, or for decades, since the end of the Cold War. So we have actually already done something, by increasing the readiness of our forces, tripled the size of the NATO Response Force, deployed combat-ready troops to the eastern part of the Alliance. We have, after years of cutting defence budgets, we have started to increase defence budgets, investing in modern capabilities and, also, for instance, reforming our command structure, so we are able to move forces more quickly over the Atlantic and throughout Europe. So it's not like NATO's not doing anything, we are doing a lot. But what we do is measured and responsible, to find this balance between being firm, strong, but at the same time not escalating the situation unnecessary. I can't remember the last part of the question.

[Deutsche Welle]: [inaudible; off mic]

Jens Stoltenberg: We have now this process going on which is also then part of an ongoing adaptation of NATO. It didn't start today, it has been an ongoing process for some time. But, when it comes to how we react to the specific deployment of the SSC-8 and the demise of the INF Treaty, well, first of all we still try to save the Treaty by calling Russia back into compliance. It's therefore it's too early to pre-empt the conclusions. There are different options, a wide range of different possibilities of NATO to respond. We don't have to mirror what Russia does, and we haven't done that before either, meaning mirror missile-for-missile or plane-for-plane or whatever they deploy. But, we just have to make sure that we still have credible and effective deterrence and defence, and we can do that by using different tools. What I have said, without pre-empting the conclusion, is that we will do it as an Alliance, united. That's important. Second, that it will be measured and defensive. That's important. And I have stated that NATO doesn't have any intentions of deploying new nuclear-capable ground-launched systems in Europe, and I think this is clear message before we, as I say, arrive on the final conclusions of our process.

Oana Lungescu: Thank you very much. This concludes this press point, thank you.Feb. 13, 2019

News

By Jim Garamone

Defense.gov

Shanahan Joins NATO Defense Ministers in Brussels to Discuss Alliance Deterrence

WASHINGTON -- Acting Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan and his fellow NATO defense ministers are meeting in Brussels to assess the effectiveness of the alliance's deterrence of Russia, as well as other security challenges, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said yesterday.

At a news conference yesterday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg frankly discussed Russia's violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and he stressed that all NATO allies agreed with the U.S. decision to withdraw from the Cold War 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," he said. "We all know that a treaty that is only respected by one side cannot keep us safe, and that is why the United States, with the full support of all NATO allies, has announced its intention to withdraw from the treaty."

The secretary general said NATO does not want a new arms race. He said Russia can still return to compliance with the treaty, and he urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to take that opportunity.

"At the same time, we are planning for a world without the INF Treaty," Stoltenberg said. "At this meeting of defense ministers, we will discuss what steps NATO should take to adapt to a world with more Russian missiles and maintain effective deterrence and defense."

Steps to counter Russia "will be coordinated, measured, and defensive, and we do not intend to deploy new ground-based nuclear missiles in Europe," he said.

Readiness Initiative

The defense ministers also will address the alliance's readiness initiative that calls for 30 combat ships, 30 battalions and 30 air squadrons to be available within 30 days.

Burden sharing and defense spending will be high on the defense ministers' agenda, he said, noting that all allies have submitted reports on their national plans to meet the alliance's Defense Investment Pledge. "We will review progress on all three dimensions of the pledge: cash, capabilities and contributions," Stoltenberg said. "On all three measures, the trend is up."

The secretary general said the European allies and Canada have spent a cumulative $41 billion more on defense since 2016. "This will rise to $100 billion by next year," he added.

The ministers will discuss NATO missions and operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo. "In Afghanistan, the situation remains difficult, but we also see efforts for peace," the secretary general said. "The 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."

It is too early to say what shape a deal might take, or even if a deal is possible, he said, but the alliance 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," he added.

He noted that the alliance's training mission in Iraq is up and running. The NATO effort will work to ensure Iraq can prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or other terrorist groups.

NATO troops are still in Kosovo working to ensure stability in the Western Balkans region. "We will review the level of our support for the Kosovo Security Force after the change of its mandate," Stoltenberg said.Feb. 13, 2019

Transcript

Press Operations

Remarks by Acting Secretary Shanahan with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg at the NATO Defense Ministerial, Brussels, Belgium

Acting Secretary Of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan; NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

SECRETARY GENERAL JENS STOLTENBERG: Good to be here. Good to be here.

Patrick, it's great to see you here at the NATO headquarters, following your hospitality when I met you in Washington just a couple weeks ago.

And it's great to have you here because I know you are so committed to NATO. You are really showing leadership for this alliance. And we are going to doing this meeting to address a wide range of timely and pressing security issues for the alliance, including the INF Treaty. Russia continues to violate the treaty, and we need to plan for a world without the treaty and with more Russian missiles.

Burden-sharing: All allies agree that we need to improve burden-sharing the alliance. And we are inspired by what we see. European allies and Canada are investing more, adding 100 billion extra U.S. dollars for defense from 2016 to 2020.

And then, of course, NATO missions and operations, including in Afghanistan and Iraq. And you visited Iraq and Afghanistan earlier this week, and we look forward to -- to listen to you, to your assessments and to your reports on how you assess the situation in -- in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the NATO missions there.

So once again, welcome to NATO, to the headquarters. And I look forward to speaking with you at the NATO Defense Minister Meeting.

ACTING SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PATRICK SHANAHAN: It's always a pleasure to be able to spend time with you, and especially in such a nice facility. Maybe, like you mentioned there, we're going to do a lot of work in our time.

I think the preparation and what you outlined in terms of the INF and burden-sharing is important. But also the heavy lifting that we plan to do around readiness.

Your amazing leadership in terms of really generating more cash, more resources -- our real tasking now is to translate that into results. And I'm prepared, per your tasking, to discuss our contributions, but also to work with fellow NATO members to achieve the high goals that you've set for readiness.

I did have a really good trip to Afghanistan and Iraq. I was impressed by the strong NATO teams. I came away with a real understanding that there's an opportunity for peace, and the work that the teams are doing give the diplomats real leverage for negotiations. I'm very, very encouraged.

And my takeaway was the same in -- in Baghdad: strong teams and their work on training and assisting the Iraqi security forces is progressing very, very well.

One of the other things I'm looking forward to in the time that we're together is a talk about the future of NATO, the capabilities that we can further develop. I think you highlighted some of the changes that we're making, but we need to talk more about our vision and what we can accomplish in a world that has so many changing threats. And I think that the timing of these discussions and the June ministerial will give us a chance to advance some of those plans and to build our team.

So looking forward to the discussions today. Good.

SEC.GEN. STOLTENBERG: OK. Well done.

https://dod.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/1756605/Feb. 13, 2019

News Release

Press Operations

Release No. NR-027-19

Navy to Commission Littoral Combat Ship Tulsa

The Navy will commission its newest Independence-variant littoral combat ship, the future USS Tulsa (LCS 16), during a 10 a.m. PST ceremony Saturday, Feb. 16, at Pier 30/32 in San Francisco.

U.S. Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma will deliver the commissioning ceremony's principal address. Kathy Taylor, former mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the ship's sponsor. The ceremony will be highlighted by a time-honored Navy tradition when Taylor gives the first order to "man our ship and bring her to life!"

"This ship is named in honor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, but represents more than one city," said Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer. "USS Tulsa represents an investment in readiness and lethality, and is a testament to the increased capabilities made possible by a true partnership between the Department of the Navy and our industrial base."

The future USS Tulsa is the second naval vessel to honor Oklahoma's third largest city. The first USS Tulsa was an Asheville-class gunboat designated as PG-22 that served from 1923 to 1944 before being renamed Tacloban. She earned two battle stars for World War II service. A cruiser to be named USS Tulsa was also authorized for construction during World War II, but the contract was canceled before it was built.

LCS is a highly maneuverable, lethal and adaptable ship designed to support focused mine countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare missions. The ship integrates new technology and capability to affordably support current and future mission capability from deep water to the littorals.

The LCS class consists of two variants, the Freedom variant and the Independence variant, designed and built by two industry teams. The Independence variant team is led by Austal USA, Mobile, Alabama, (for LCS 6 and the subsequent even-numbered hulls). The Freedom variant team is led by Lockheed Martin, Marinette, Wisconsin, (for the odd-numbered hulls).

USS Tulsa will join USS Freedom (LCS 1), USS Independence (LCS 2), USS Fort Worth (LCS 3), USS Coronado (LCS 4), USS Jackson (LCS 6), USS Montgomery (LCS 8), USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), USS Omaha (LCS 12) and USS Manchester (LCS 14) in their homeport of San Diego.

The ceremony, using hashtag #USSTulsa, can be viewed on the Navy Live blog at http://navylive.dodlive.mil.

Media may direct queries to the Navy Office of Information at (703) 697-5342. For more information about the Littoral Combat Ship Program, visit http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=1650&ct=4

Additional information about the future USS Tulsa (LCS 16) can be found at https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/t/tulsa-ii--lcs-16-.html

https://dod.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1756917/US gives lift to French forces

By Capt. James Sheehan February 13, 2019

NIAMEY, Niger -- It's almost midnight. A 23-year-old American Soldier navigates the red and white lights blinking down on the flight line. He approaches the plane's tailgate and makes a beeline to his French counterpart. She nods at his arrival and reaches for her clipboard.

The soldiers have their ears wrapped in headphones for protection. The noise from the C-130 engines muffle communication already challenged by a French-and-English language barrier. They rely on hand and arm signals and occasional head nods for affirmation. Their citizenship is only detectable by the tiny flags worn on their shoulders. The soldiers unwittingly demonstrate a seamless alliance while transferring French cargo and troops on board U.S. aircraft.

"Fifty-six pax and three pallets," the French soldier yells, indicating that 56 French soldiers and three pallets of cargo will board the U.S. aircraft. "I reckon that's about 12,000 pounds."

U.S. Army Pvt. 1st Class Lane Earls, a transportation management coordinator assigned to the 384th Movement Control Team, jots down the numbers and feeds them to the flight crew. He emails the numbers to his higher headquarters, U.S. Army Africa, in Italy. The information is consolidated and reported to the countries' highest military officials. This simple act gives French and U.S. officials an opportunity to strategically plan movement and operations in one of the world's most vicarious environments, Africa's Sahel.

Earls' task to track U.S. allies' equipment and personnel could possibly be overlooked in large-scale exercises, but it's important. False information can result in an overweight plane crash. A miscommunication could cause an international incident.

"It feels like I'm doing my part," Earls said. "Not only for the (U.S.) Army but for the French army. I help them get home safe to their families."

The U.S. military flies French personnel and cargo from a small air base in Niger to any number of outposts in west and central Africa, all in support of France's Operation Barkhane. Operation Barkhane consists of 3,500 French soldiers deployed across the Sahel to support host countries' fight against violent extremism.

Every three months, the U.S. military surges support for Operation Barkhane, as French forces conduct a 'relief in place.' A relief in place occurs when a military deploys fresh troops in exchange for redeploying service members back to home station while simultaneously maintaining operations.

"I'd like to thank the U.S. for making this mission possible," said Sgt. Katherine, a French army soldier and paratrooper jump instructor, currently serving a second role for Operation Barkhane as a transportation coordinator. "The U.S. is flexible with our big French contingent. We can afford to put a little more freight or more passengers with little advanced warning."

Katherine can be found where the C-130's tailgate meets the tarmac. Every day, she helps track, load and unload various types of cargo from a jet engine to dogs to a convertible HMMWV. She assists French soldiers as they march inside the C-130, take their seats and attempt to fasten their foreign seatbelt.

"The (French service members) are out in the middle of nowhere, so I have great respect for how they're running their mission out here," said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. John Huberty, a loadmaster assigned to the 37th Airlift Squadron. "I've been to some of the more forward operating bases that they have and they're pretty sparse when it comes to amenities."

Huberty is part of a flight crew team including of pilots, security forces and aircraft mechanics. He's responsible for configuring the C-130 for any type of load introduced by the French.

"The French are very organized," Huberty said. "They do know what they want moved and they know where it is going."But prosecutors said Golden, the key witness in the case against Farmer, became uncooperative and difficult to locate in the months after the shooting. And four days before Golden was set to testify against Farmer, police said Golden took justice into his own hands and shot Farmer and another man.US Charges Former Air Force Intel Officer With Spying for Iran

By Masood Farivar February 13, 2019

A former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence officer who defected to Iran nearly six years ago has been charged with revealing classified military information to the Iranian government and helping Iran target her former co-workers, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, allegedly disclosed the existence of a highly classified military intelligence collection program and the identity of a U.S. intelligence officer to Iranian spy agencies.

A grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday also charged Witt with helping Iranian intelligence services target at least eight U.S. agents who had interacted or worked with her.

An arrest warrant was issued for Witt, who remains at large and is believed to live in Iran.

Four Iranians working on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also were named in the indictment and face charges of conspiracy, computer intrusions and identity theft in connection with targeting Witt's former co-workers in 2014 and 2015.

Sought to use malware

Using fake social media accounts, the men sought to deploy malware that would provide them covert access to the targets' computers. They were identified as Mojtaba Masoumpour, Behzad Mesri, Hossein Parvar and Mohamad Paryar.

"This case underscores the dangers to our intelligence professionals and the lengths our adversaries will go to identify them, expose them, target them and, in a few rare cases, ultimately turn them against the nation they swore to protect," said John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security. "When our intelligence professionals are targeted or betrayed, the National Security Division will relentlessly pursue justice against the wrongdoers."

Witt, who was born and raised in Texas, served as a counterintelligence officer for the Air Force from 1997 to 2008. Trained in Persian in the U.S. Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., from 1998 to 1999, she was assigned as a special agent to the Air Force Office of Special Investigation and later was deployed to several overseas locations, including the Middle East, to conduct operations collecting signals intelligence on U.S. adversaries.

According to the indictment, Witt's position within the Air Force intelligence branch gave her access to a "Special Access Program" that "housed classified information, including details of ongoing counterintelligence operations, the true names of sources and the identifies of U.S. agents involved in the recruitment of those sources."

Witt left active duty in 2008 but continued to work as a contractor for the Defense Department for more than two years, serving as a desk officer for the same classified program.

Prosecutors said Witt was recruited by Iran as part of an Iranian government program that targets former intelligence officers and others who have held security clearances.

Defected in 2013

Witt defected to Iran in August 2013 after attending two "Hollywoodism" conferences in Tehran in 2012 and 2013.

The conferences were organized by New Horizon, an organization that bills itself as an international institute of independent thinkers and artists. U.S. law enforcement officials say New Horizon is a front for the IRGC's Quds Force and that Iranian intelligence agents use the conferences "to recruit and collect damaging information while propagating anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial."

After returning from her first trip to Iran during which she converted to Islam and took on the name Fatema Zahra, Witt drew a warning from FBI agents that she was a target for recruitment by Iranian intelligence services.

"In response, Witt stated that if she ever returned to Iran, she would refuse to provide any information pertaining to her work" with the Air Force Office of Special Investigation, according to the indictment.

She returned to Iran the following February and met with members of the IRGC to express a desire to defect to Iran, according to the indictment.

Iranian agents were initially suspicious of her intentions and dragged their feet in granting her request to defect, leading her to express frustration to an Iranian-American woman who served as a "spotter and recruiter" for Iranian intelligence: "I just hope I have better luck with Russia at this point," Witt reportedly said.

It took her nearly six months of traveling through Afghanistan and Tajikistan before she defected to Iran, where she was provided with housing and computer equipment and immediately set out to work for Iranian intelligence.

Apparently driven by ideology

According to the indictment, Witt conducted online research and created "target packages" that allowed the Iranian government to identify, track and neutralize U.S. counterintelligence agents.

"She decided to turn against the United States and shift her loyalty to Iran," said Jay Tabb, the FBI's executive assistant director for national security. "Her primary motivation appears to be ideological."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury announced sanctions against New Horizon for its support for the IRGC's Quds Force and another Iran-based entity, Net Peygard Samavat Company, as well as six individuals for allegedly hacking the computers of U.S. personnel.

"Treasury is taking action against malicious Iranian cyber actors and covert operations that have targeted Americans at home and overseas, as part of our ongoing efforts to counter the Iranian regime's cyberattacks," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.U.S. Accuses Former Air Force Officer Of Spying For Iran

By RFE/RL February 13, 2019

The U.S. Justice Department has indicted a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer for aiding Iran in what Washington says was a cyberespionage operation targeting U.S. intelligence officers.

The indictment said Monica Witt exposed a U.S. agent and helped Iran's Revolutionary Guards develop cybertargets in the U.S. military after defecting to Iran in 2013.

U.S. officials said Witt, who worked for years in U.S. Air Force counterintelligence, had an "ideological" turn against her country.

As part of its action on February 13, the United States also charged four Iranian nationals who it said were involved in the cyberattacks.

It also sanctioned two Iran-based companies: New Horizon Organization and Net Peygard Samavat Company.

The U.S. Treasury said Net Peygard targeted current and former U.S. government and military personnel with a malicious cybercampaign, while New Horizon had staged international gatherings to back efforts by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' Quds Force to recruit and collect intelligence from foreign participants.

Witt herself was recruited by Iran after attending two international conferences organized by New Horizon, U.S. officials said.

They said Witt served as a counterintelligence officer in the air force from 1997 until 2008, and worked as contractor for two years after that.

At least one of those New Horizon conferences was organized by Iranian-American journalist Marzieh Hashemi, who was detained by U.S. officials last month as a material witness in a federal criminal case, the Tehran Times newspaper reported.

Hashemi, who was released on January 23, returned to Tehran on January 30.

Her detention, which began on January 13, had concerned international journalist watchdogs and angered Tehran, which said she was being illegally held and called for her immediate release.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, and BBC

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-accuses-former-air-force -officer-of-spying-for-iran/29768327.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 Air Force agent charged with espionage after allegedly defecting to Iran

Iran Press TV

Wed Feb 13, 2019 07:31PM

A US Air Force intelligence specialist has been charged with espionage for allegedly defecting to Iran and revealing sensitive information to Iranian authorities, the Unites States claims.

Tehran has not made any comments about allegations posited in a Wednesday indictment of Monica Elfriede Witt.

She was "indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia for conspiracy to deliver and delivering national defense information to representatives of the Iranian government," read the indictment.

"Monica Witt is charged with revealing to the Iranian regime a highly classified intelligence program and the identity of a US Intelligence Officer, all in violation of the law, her solemn oath to protect and defend our country, and the bounds of human decency," claimed US Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers.

'Dangers to US intel. professionals'

Four Iranians were also mentioned in the indictment, charged with what was claimed to be "various computer crimes targeting members of the US intelligence community who were Ms. Witt's former colleagues."

"This case underscores the dangers to our intelligence professionals and the lengths our adversaries will go to identify them, expose them, target them, and, in a few rare cases, ultimately turn them against the nation they swore to protect. When our intelligence professionals are targeted or betrayed, the National Security Division will relentlessly pursue justice against the wrong-doers," Demers claimed.

Executive Assistant Director for National Security Jay Tabb also claimed that the discovery of Witt's alleged defection took "years of investigative work."

"The charges unsealed today are the result of years of investigative work by the FBI to uncover Monica Witt's betrayal of the oath she swore to safeguard America's intelligence and defense secrets" Tabb claimed. "This case also highlights the FBI's commitment to disrupting those who engage in malicious cyber activity to undermine our country's national security. The FBI is grateful to the Department of Treasury and the United States Air Force for their continued partnership and assistance in this case."

Ever since President Donald Trump appeared in office, the US has been stepping up its anti-Iran policies and propaganda.Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers Delivers Remarks on the Unsealing of United States v. Monica Witt, et al.

Washington, DC

~ Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Good morning.

Today, we announce that a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia has indicted a former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence officer, Monica Witt, for espionage on behalf of the Government of Iran. It further charges four Iranians, acting on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with attempting malign computer intrusions and aggravated identity theft targeting members of the U.S. intelligence community who were former colleagues of Monica Witt.

It is a sad day for America when one of its citizens betrays our country. It is sadder still when this person, as a member of the American armed forces, previously invoked the aid of God to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and to defend her country against foreign enemies. Monica Witt is alleged to have done just this.

My colleagues, Jessie Liu, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and Jay Tabb, the FBI Executive Assistant Director for National Security, will explain the charges against the defendants in greater detail. Andrea Gacki, Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Controls, will announce certain related Treasury Department actions, and Terry Phillips of the US. Air Force will make a brief statement on behalf of the Office of Special Investigations, where Ms. Witt worked.

From the perspective of the National Security Division, this indictment stands at the confluence of two streams of our national security cases. The first charging Iran and other foreign adversaries with engaging in malign cyber activity. Whether by disrupting the internet through DDOS attacks, stealing intellectual property, or hacking and dumping emails, Iran and others continue to use cyber tools against the United States.

The second stream involves former members of the intelligence community charged with, and in the case of Kevin Mallory, convicted of, espionage. The case unsealed today underscores the dangers to our intelligence professionals and the lengths our adversaries will go to identify them, expose them, target them, and, in a few rare cases, ultimately turn them against the nation they swore to protect. Espionage by past or present members of the intelligence community poses a significant threat to our country and a heightened danger to their former colleagues.

Ms. Witt was recruited by Iran as part of a program that targets former intelligence officers and others who have held security clearances. Following her defection to Iran in 2013, she is alleged to have revealed to the Iranian government the existence of a highly classified intelligence collection program and the true identity of a U.S. intelligence officer, thereby risking the life of this individual. In addition, she is alleged to have conspired with the Government of Iran to research, in some instances through social media, and create target packages  documents that enabled the Government of Iran to identify, track, and neutralize U.S. counterintelligence agents. The other four defendants in this indictment, Iranian hackers working on behalf of the IRGC, targeted, through social media and other cyber-enabled means, at least eight U.S. government agents, all of whom at one time worked or interacted with Monica Witt.

Our intelligence professionals swear an oath to protect our country, and we trust them to uphold that oath. With good reason. These brave women and men give us their all. But every great while, one of these trusted people fails us. When this happens, the National Security Division will relentlessly pursue justice against them no matter where they are. We will do so to protect this country. We will do so to protect their colleagues. And we will do so to protect all of us.

I will now turn the microphone over to U.S. Attorney, Jessie Liu.

Speaker: John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security

Topic(s): National Security

Component(s): National Security Division (NSD)Former U.S. Counterintelligence Agent Charged With Espionage on Behalf of Iran; Four Iranians Charged With a Cyber Campaign Targeting Her Former Colleagues

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Indictment Unsealed as U.S. Treasury Department Announces Economic Sanctions

Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, a former U.S. service member and counterintelligence agent, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia for conspiracy to deliver and delivering national defense information to representatives of the Iranian government. Witt, who defected to Iran in 2013, is alleged to have assisted Iranian intelligence services in targeting her former fellow agents in the U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC). Witt is also alleged to have disclosed the code name and classified mission of a U.S. Department of Defense Special Access Program. An arrest warrant has been issued for Witt, who remains at large.

The same indictment charges four Iranian nationals, Mojtaba Masoumpour, Behzad Mesri, Hossein Parvar and Mohamad Paryar (the "Cyber Conspirators"), with conspiracy, attempts to commit computer intrusion and aggravated identity theft, for conduct in 2014 and 2015 targeting former co-workers and colleagues of Witt in the U.S. Intelligence Community. The Cyber Conspirators, using fictional and imposter social media accounts and working on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), sought to deploy malware that would provide them covert access to the targets' computers and networks. Arrest warrants have been issued for the Cyber Conspirators, who also remain at large.

The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu for the District of Columbia, Executive Assistant Director for National Security Jay Tabb of the FBI, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Special Agent Terry Phillips of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara of the FBI's Washington Field Office.

"Monica Witt is charged with revealing to the Iranian regime a highly classified intelligence program and the identity of a U.S. Intelligence Officer, all in violation of the law, her solemn oath to protect and defend our country, and the bounds of human decency," said Assistant Attorney General Demers. "Four Iranian cyber hackers are also charged with various computer crimes targeting members of the U.S. intelligence community who were Ms. Witt's former colleagues. This case underscores the dangers to our intelligence professionals and the lengths our adversaries will go to identify them, expose them, target them, and, in a few rare cases, ultimately turn them against the nation they swore to protect. When our intelligence professionals are targeted or betrayed, the National Security Division will relentlessly pursue justice against the wrong-doers."

"This case reflects our firm resolve to hold accountable any individual who betrays the public trust by compromising our national security," said U.S. Attorney Liu. "Today's announcement also highlights our commitment to vigorously pursue those who threaten U.S. security through state-sponsored hacking campaigns."

"The charges unsealed today are the result of years of investigative work by the FBI to uncover Monica Witt's betrayal of the oath she swore to safeguard America's intelligence and defense secrets" said Executive Assistant Director for National Security Tabb. "This case also highlights the FBI's commitment to disrupting those who engage in malicious cyber activity to undermine our country's national security. The FBI is grateful to the Department of Treasury and the United States Air Force for their continued partnership and assistance in this case."

"Treasury is taking action against malicious Iranian cyber actors and covert operations that have targeted Americans at home and overseas as part of our ongoing efforts to counter the Iranian regime's cyber-attacks," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. "Treasury is sanctioning New Horizon Organization for its support to the IRGC-QF. New Horizon hosts international conferences that have provided Iranian intelligence officers a platform to recruit and collect damaging information from attendees, while propagating anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. We are also sanctioning an Iran-based company that has attempted to install malware to compromise the computers of U.S. personnel."

"The alleged actions of Monica Witt in assisting a hostile nation are a betrayal of our nation's security, our military, and the American people," said Special Agent Phillips. "While violations like this are extremely rare, her actions as alleged are an affront to all who have served our great nation."

"This investigation exemplifies the tireless work the agents and analysts of the FBI do each and every day to bring a complex case like this to fruition,' said Assistant Director in Charge McNamara. "Witt's betrayal of her country and the actions of the cyber criminals - at the behest of the IRGC - could have brought serious damage to the United States, and we will not stand by and allow that to happen. The efforts by the Iranian government to target and harm the U.S. will not be taken lightly, and the FBI will continue our work to hold those individuals or groups accountable for their actions."

According to the allegations contained in the indictment unsealed today:

Monica Witt's Espionage

Monica Witt, a U.S. citizen, was an active duty U.S. Air Force Intelligence Specialist and Special Agent of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, who entered on duty in 1997 and left the U.S. government in 2008. Monica Witt separated from the Air Force in 2008 and ended work with DOD as a contractor in 2010. During her tenure with the U.S. government, Witt was granted high-level security clearances and was deployed overseas to conduct classified counterintelligence missions.

In Feb. 2012, Witt traveled to Iran to attend the Iranian New Horizon Organization's "Hollywoodism" conference, an IRGC-sponsored event aimed at, among other things, condemning American moral standards and promoting anti-U.S. propaganda. Through subsequent interactions and communications with a dual United States-Iranian citizen referred to in the indictment as Individual A, Witt successfully arranged to re-enter Iran in Aug. 2013. Thereafter, Iranian government officials provided Witt with a housing and computer equipment. She went on to disclose U.S. classified information to the Iranian government official. As part of her work on behalf of the Iranian government, she conducted research about USIC personnel that she had known and worked with, and used that information to draft "target packages" against these U.S. agents.

Iranian Hacking Efforts Targeting Witt's Former Colleagues

Beginning in late 2014, the Cyber Conspirators began a malicious campaign targeting Witt's former co-workers and colleagues. Specifically, Mesri registered and helped manage an Iranian company, the identity of which is known to the United States, which conducted computer intrusions against targets inside and outside the United States on behalf of the IRGC. Using computer and online infrastructure, in some cases procured by Mesri, the conspiracy tested its malware and gathered information from target computers or networks, and sent spearphishing messages to its targets. Specifically, between Jan. and May 2015, the Cyber Conspirators, using fictitious and imposter accounts, attempted to trick their targets into clicking links or opening files that would allow the conspirators to deploy malware on the target's computer. In one such instance, the Cyber Conspirators created a Facebook account that purported to belong to a USIC employee and former colleague of Witt, and which utilized legitimate information and photos from the USIC employee's actual Facebook account. This particular fake account caused several of Witt's former colleagues to accept "friend" requests.

* * *

The case is being investigated by the FBI's Washington Field Office with assistance from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Deborah Curtis, Jocelyn Ballantine and Luke Jones of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia with assistance from Trial Attorney Evan N. Turgeon of the National Security Division's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.

Topic(s): National Security

Component(s): National Security Division (NSD)

Press Release Number: 19-113Irle School Playground Project Receives Much Needed Funds

Pictured left to right, third-grade teacher at Irle School and Chair of the Irle School playground committee Fiina Fauth, PTO President Kim Turner, FCB Assistant Branch Manager Arron Franzen and PTO member Jenn Jackson. FCB donated $1,000 to the PTO to assist with improving the school's playground.

First Community Bank recently donated $500 to the Glasgow schools lunch program to help struggling families cover the cost of providing school lunch for their kids. Every Friday, FCB employees in Glasgow pay two dollars into a fund for the privilege of wearing jeans to work. When the account reaches $500, the money is donated to a need in the community.

FCB also recently assisted Irle School in upgrading their playground and making it more inclusive for students and the community by presenting Irle School PTO with a $1,000 check on Feb. 12. "Every year we donate to non-profit organizations in the community, and we thought this was a really good cause," stated FCB assistant branch manager Arron Franzen.

"Our hope is to break ground in June and install a walking path, put up a permanent fence and also install swings into the playground," said PTO president Kim Turner. To help with the costs associated with these upgrades, the Irle School PTO has coordinated fundraisers including McTeacher night at McDonalds, which raised just shy of $1,000, a Father-Daughter Dance, which occurred on Feb. 9, and raised $1,200 after expenses, and sold Candy-Grams for Valentine's Day, which as of press time has raised $1,100 and counting.

Even with the successfulness of these fundraisers, there still is a ways to go to reach the funds necessary for the upgrades. Grants have been applied for in order to offset some of the costs and students will be bringing home order forms this week to allow parents the opportunity to order a 31 large utility tote through Cara Morehouse-Pinder for only $35. Students will also be selling World's Finest Chocolates starting at the end of February.

"We are so grateful for the community support in helping us raise funds for upgrading the playground," said Turner, continuing, "The first annual Father-Daughter Dance could not have been successful without Dave Pippin, his wife, and his granddaughter donating D.J. services, Kim Stingley in donating decorations, Valley View Home in donating their popcorn machine, and countless others who volunteered, provided their time, energy, and donations in making this event a success. It was a real collaborative effort."

With the successfulness of the Father-Daughter Dance, there are plans for a Mother-Son event in the springtime and the Irle School PTO will also be celebrating their one-year anniversary of existence in March. "We are always looking for more people to be involved. It's a great way to get involved and make changes," said PTO member Jenn Jackson. The PTO meets the second Monday of every month at the school at 6 p.m.

If you would like to donate funds to the upgrading of the playground, you can contact Kim Turner at 406-230-0313. If you would like to order a utility tote, contact Care Morehouse-Pinder at 406-599-7469 or visit the social media event page at http://www.facebook.com/events/244039169830711/.Clean Water for Rural Communities Act

Last week, Montanas three congressmen introduced the Clean Water for Rural Communities Act to their respective houses in Congress. Senators Steve Daines and Jon Tester introduced the bipartisan bill in the Senate, and Representaative Greg Gianforte introduced it in the House of Representatives.

While partisanship seems to reign supreme in the beltway, the delegation from Montana came together to introduce a bill to provide authorization for rural water infrastructure. In a joint press release, Rep. Gianforte said, This critical bipartisan legislation will improve Montanas water infrastructure and better ensure that more than 20,000 Montanans in our rural communities have a steady supply of water for drinking and agriculture.

The Clean Water for Rural Communities Act will impact two Bureau of Reclamation water projects in the state. The Musselshell-Judith Rural Water System and the Dry-Redwater Regional Water Authority System are authorized under the bill. Congress has authorized several rural water projects in the past, yet some remain uncompleted. Funding is uncertain due to the yearly appropriations process and construction funding backlogs.

The fact of the matter is that thousands of Montanas still lack access to steady safe drinking water, Daines stated. Water is a basic necessity for any community. We depend on a steady supply to provide clean drinking water, irrigate our crops, water our livestock and provide energy through hydropower. Thats why its so important that we get this bill passed.

Tester said, This important legislation will pave the way for new water infrastructure investments that will boost access to clean water, create good jobs, and support Montanas farmers and ranchers. Last December, he secured $20 million in loans and grants via the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development to help communities provide clean water. Glasgow received $1.3 million to replace valves, pumps, storage reservoirs and electrical equipment for the water and wastewater system.

For those interested in this or other issues facing Montanans, Daines will be at the VFW in Glasgow, this Friday from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and Gianfortes staff will hold mobile office hours in Malta next month. Leslie Robinson, a member of Gianforte's staff, will be available on Tuesday, March 12, at 1 p.m. at the Phillips County Courthouse in the lower level meeting room.ZTE Axon 10 Pro smartphone gets certified in Russia by Eurasian Economic Commission News oi-Sandeep Sarkar The latest ZTE smartphone that has been certified in Russia is the ZTE Axon 10 Pro and the device has cleared its certification from Eurasian Economic Commission.

ZTE, the Chinese smartphone brand seems to be working on its next Axon-series of smartphones. The company has reportedly got an Axon smartphone certified in Russia which suggests that we might see the smartphone sometime soon in the future. The certification of the upcoming ZTE Axon smartphone reveals the device's model number and also sheds some light on the processor.

The latest ZTE smartphone that has been certified in Russia is the ZTE Axon 10 Pro and the device has cleared its certification from Eurasian Economic Commission. As per a report from 91Mobiles, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro that has cleared the Eurasian Economic Commission certification has the model number ZTE A2020RU Pro. Notably, this is not the first that this smartphone has been suggested online; earlier, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro has also been spotted on Geekbench which is a known benchmarking platform.

The Axon 10 Pro smartphone certification also sheds some light on the processor. The upcoming smartphone will be powered by the newest flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset that will clock at 2.84GHz and will be paired with Adreno 640 GPU. This suggests that the Axon 10 Pro will be a premium offering by ZTE. Currently, this is all the information which the certification reveals and it remains to be seen what all other features will this devce bring to the table.

Apparently, ZTE is also working on another smartphone which has been suggested online. The company is said to be working on a smartphone with an octa-core Spreadtrum SC9863A chipset. The smartphone is being called as Blade A5 2019 and it will come with 1 GB of RAM and could be an Android Go smartphone by the company. Stay tuned with us for more updates on ZTE's upcoming smartphones.

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Samsung Galaxy M30 to sport Super AMOLED display, to be priced under Rs. 15,000 News oi-Abhinaya Prabhu

Samsung was expected to launch three smartphones in the Galaxy M lineup. However, only two devices - Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20 saw the light of the day. Now, rumors and speculations regarding the Galaxy M30 have started making rounds online revealing some key aspects of the device. While we have already come across a few reports, fresh information regarding the upcoming Samsung smartphone have been revealed by the US certification website FCC.

As per a report by MySmartPrice citing the FCC documents, the Samsung Galaxy M30 with the model number SM-305F is likely to sport a Super AMOLED display. A screenshot shows the setting for Always On Display. And, the device is also said to arrive with a fingerprint reader.

Leaked Samsung Galaxy M30 price in India

In the meantime, an IANS report citing industry sources claims that the Galaxy M30 could arrive with a triple camera setup at its rear and get the power from a capacious 5000mAh battery. It is tipped to be launched in February and go on sale in the first week of March. Interestingly, the report also reveals that Galaxy M30 will be priced starting from Rs. 15,000.

Rumored specifications

The upcoming Samsung smartphone is rumored to arrive with an Infinity-V display and get the power from an Exynos 7904 SoC. It is said to adorn a 6.38-inch Super AMOLED display with a FHD+ resolution of 2220 x 1080 pixels. It is likely to be a 2.5D curved tempered glass. The smartphone is said to be launched in two variants - 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM and 6GB RAM + 128GB ROM.

For imaging, the Galaxy M30 is said to feature a triple camera module with a 13MP primary sensor with f/1.9 aperture, a 5MP secondary wide-angle sensor with f/2.2 aperture and another 5MP depth sensing sensor with f/2.2 aperture. Up front, it is believed to sport a 16MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture. We can expect it to arrive in gradient colors and sport connectivity aspects such as 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth, dual SIM support and a USB Type-C port.

Best Mobiles in IndiaMotorola P40 will be powered by a Samsung chipset with a 48 MP camera News oi-Vivek Motorola P40 is expected to cost Rs 27,000

Motorola recently launched the Moto G7 series of smartphones with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 SoC. And now, a new leak about the upcoming Motorola smartphone has surfaced online.

According to the leak, Motorola might soon launch the Motorola P40, the first smartphone from the company with a punch hole display and the first Motorola smartphone to be powered by the Exynos 9610 SoC. Earlier reports claimed that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 SoC will power the Motorola P40.

Motorola P40 specifications

The Motorola P40 is sort of a mid-tier smartphone from Lenovo-owned smartphone brand with a lot of interesting features (as per the leaks and speculations). The smartphone is most likely to feature a 6.4-inch IPS LCD screen with a punch-hole design, similar to the one seen on the Honor View20.

The smartphone will be powered by the Exynos 9610 SoC, which is a sort of a mid-tier Octa-core chipset from Samsung with at least 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB internal storage.

Leaks also indicated that the smartphone will have a dual camera setup on the back, similar to the one found on the Redmi Note 7. The Motorola P40 will have a 48 MP primary sensor and a 5 MP depth sensor. The device has a rear-facing fingerprint sensor, and the smartphone also supports NFC and Bluetooth 5.0.

The Motorola P40 will be backed by a 3500 mAh battery with support for Turbo Charging via USB type C port. The smartphone will run on Android 9 Pie OS, and expected to cost around Rs 27,000, and is likely to compete against the Poco F1 and the Asus ZenFone 5Z.

As of now, there is no official confirmation about the launch of the Motorola P40 in India what so ever. What do you think about the Motorola P40, are you happy for the fact that the Motorola P40 is powered by Exynos 9610 SoC? Share your views in the comment box.

Via

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Moto G7 Power with 4GB RAM coming to India for Rs 13,999 tomorrow News oi-Sandeep Sarkar Moto G7 Power will be available with a price tag of Rs 13,999 in the Indian market. It is the retail pricing of Moto G7 Power 4GB RAM variant with 64GB of onboard storage.

Motorola recently launched its mid-range smartphone lineup the Moto G7 in an event that was held on February 7, 2019, in Brazil. The latest Moto G7 series has been grabbing the headlines for quite some time and the remaining markets around the globe are waiting eagerly for the company to launch the smartphones in their respective regions. The latest Motorola G7 series primarily consists of the standard Moto G7, the Moto G7 Plus, Moto G7 Play, and the Moto G7 Power. While there is no exact information on the availability of the Moto G7 smartphone series in the Indian market, there have been reports emerging suggesting the pricing of the Moto G7 Power in the country.

We recently came across some reports that suggested that the Moto G7 Power will come with an MRP of Rs 18,999, but, it will be selling for Rs 14,500. However, there was no information on the variant which will be available for this price tag. Now, we have the information the pricing of Moto G7 Power 4GB RAM

As per some information from a reliable source, the Moto G7 Power will be available in India starting tomorrow with a price tag of Rs 13,999. The smartphone will be available for purchase on both online as well as offline stores in the country and will be available in single black color option. It is the retail pricing of Moto G7 Power 4GB RAM variant with 64GB of onboard storage. With this price tag, the smartphone will be competing against the other popular affordable smartphones such as Xiaomi Mi A2, Honor 10 Lite, Realme 2 Pro and others.

The smartphone features a 6.2-inch display with 720 x 1520 pixel screen resolution and has a notch on top. The smartphone runs on Snapdragon 632 chipset which clocks at 1.8GHz. The key highlight of the smartphone is its big 5,000mAh battery unit.

Best Mobiles in IndiaAfter much thought and deliberation, weve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens. For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term. While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.Gillette, WY (82718)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 56F. SSE winds shifting to NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 56F. SSE winds shifting to NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.Frozen Lakes to see in the wintertime Javakheti - GeorgianJournal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.An Albany woman was "severely injured" in a head-on crash Tuesday afternoon on Highway 20 near Spicer Road, just north of Lebanon, according to Oregon State Police reports.

That crash was followed by another wreck where an intoxicated driver smashed into an Oregon Department of Transportation vehicle that was parked and directing traffic, police logs state.

The driver who caused the initial crash also may have been impaired, reports indicate.

In the first wreck, which was reported at 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday, McKenzie Taylor Dunn, 24, of Albany, was driving a Chevrolet that left the roadway, then returned to the pavement and rolled into the oncoming lane of traffic.

A Toyota SUV driven by Alexis Whitney Buffington, 29, of Albany, crashed into the roof of the Chevy. According to the Lebanon Fire District, a bystander used a fire extinguisher to put out a resulting vehicle fire.

Fire crews also used extrication equipment to remove Dunn from the Chevrolet.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Dunn was severely injured and taken to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis, according to police logs. She displayed signs of impairment and a blood draw was taken, police logs state.From so gimmicky a bracketing construct, though, comes the movies primary narrative pulse: the swirl of hardship that leads to the trial. Zain is one of many siblings living with their scraping, scamming parents in a cramped, decrepit apartment. Everyones under the thumb of shifty landlord Assaad (Nour El Husseini), who runs the nearby convenience store, and whose overtures to Zains 11-year-old sister Sahar (Cedra Izam) trigger the wary, street-savvy boys protective side. But when he cant prevent the inevitable  his parents selling Sahar to Assaad for food  an angry, defiant Zain runs away.

A brief, empathetic exchange at an amusement park between Zain, looking for work, and cleaner Rahil (kind-eyed Yordanos Shiferaw), an undocumented Ethiopian woman who hides her infant son, Yonas, in the parks bathroom, sparks a mutually beneficial arrangement: Zains babysitting in their leaky hovel for a roof and food. Looking after someone becomes Zain, but once more, the designs of an unscrupulous man  in this case, a market vendor (Alaa Chouchnieh) offering Rahil access to forged papers  upends any hope for this put-upon trio.News

Woman gets 10 years probation in 2017 death

Kelsey Nalepa

Erika Diebel

Almost 680 days after the death of Kelsey Nalepa, 8, her family on Wednesday finally got some sense of closure, surrounded by friends and relatives in a courtroom packed with people wearing shirts of purple, her favorite color.

She truly had no enemies, said Nicole Nalepa, Kelseys mother. I have no doubt she was going to go on to make a huge impact in this world. Her father said it best at her funeral, she had a light that shined brighter than most. And it was extinguished far too early.

Erika Nicole Diebel, 43, of League City, was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years deferred adjudication as part of a plea agreement struck after two trials ended in deadlock.

Im very sorry to the Nalepa family, their friends and their support group, Diebel said through tears. I am so sorry for my actions, I wish that night would have never happened.

Diebel, who had been charged with intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle and manslaughter in connection with Kelsey Nalepas death in April 2017, pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter in the agreement with prosecutors.

The plea agreement came with a bevy of conditions, including a requirement that Diebel visit Kelsey Nalepas grave on April 6, the date of the crash, each year for the next 10 years.

The agreement required Diebel to testify Wednesday that she had been drinking alcohol and driving on the night of the deadly crash. The plea deal also requires her to complete substance abuse rehabilitation programs.

The crash occurred as Diebel was driving a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee east in the 2600 block of West Main Street, police said.

Eastbound traffic was stopped in that block, and a 2009 Ford Expedition was stopped directly in front of Diebels vehicle, police said. Diebel drove her Jeep into the back of the Expedition, seriously injuring Nalepa, police said.

Nalepa was flown to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston for treatment. She was pronounced dead April 8, 2017.

Three Nalepa family members after the plea agreement gave victim statements criticizing Diebels decision-making, describing Kelsey as a kind, intelligent and loving child.

Ill finish by saying that I wrote something about forgiveness, Nicole Nalepa said. I do thank you for taking responsibility today and I hope to find forgiveness, but Im not there yet.

Nicole Nalepa ended her statement by beseeching Diebel to get the help she needs and to keep her own children in mind.

While you took her life, she just might be the one to save you, Nicole Nalepa said.Fort Wayne, IN (46808)

Today

A few showers this evening, becoming a steady light rain overnight. Thunder possible. Low 72F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

A few showers this evening, becoming a steady light rain overnight. Thunder possible. Low 72F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.



Have any questions? Please give us a call at 907-352-2250Children rush to nab candy from a busted pinata during the 2018 Gloucester Mardi Gras. This years event will start at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 16. (Dylan Ray photo)Another demanding role, Mushu, is played by 11-year-old Brennen Atkinson.

Taraschke described him as totally talentedand a total ham onstage.

With a large cast that includes many young children, she said the eight weeks of preparation have been fun and beautiful.

Along with the impressive vocal skills displayed, she said the choreography stands out.

This is especially true in the song Ill Make a Man Out of You, which she described as a spectacle piece featuring the entire cast onstage.

When Taraschke was a student, she spent a lot of time in the ensemble, and while directing, she has taken time to get to know every young actor.

I love taking the time to know the individual and to work on individual skills, she said. Its important to build up kids personally.

Taraschke is an aspiring childrens therapist, and she said the mission of CYT to educate and inspire is a healing one.

When I was directing at university, I thought nothing could top it, she said. But to see these kids come alive onstage, its so special.ALTHOUGH they were only children when they were illegally brought into this country, the 800,000 or so individuals who qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program are not legal residents of the U.S. under federal law. DACA allows them to live and work here and only temporarily protects them from deportation.

Despite widespread public agreement that Dreamers should be allowed to become permanent legal residents, their fate is conspicuously missing from the latest congressional deal to avoid a second government shutdown. Last month, in exchange for $5.7 billion in border wall funding, President Trump offered a three-year reprieve on deportations for DACA recipients, but his offer was rejected by congressional Democrats and the current deal doesnt appear to include them.

After Congress repeatedly refused to pass the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, President Obama signed an executive order in 2012 providing work permits and temporary protection from deportation for individuals who came to the U.S. before the age of 16, continuously resided here since June 15, 2007, attended high school or college or were members of the military, had no felony convictions, and did not pose a security threat, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.Norman Brooks was among the first four career firefighters hired by Spotsylvania County in 1981.

After the lifelong county resident retired in 2014 as a battalion chief at Company 1 on Courthouse Road, he told The Free LanceStar it was time to live a little bit.

But Brooks never really left the fire service.

He stayed on as the chief of the Spotsylvania Volunteer Fire Department, which he joined in 1972.

Brooks was a firefighter to his core, with nearly a half-century of service that came to an end Tuesday with his unexpected death.

Ive known Norman for about 23 years. Its who he was, Jay Cullinan, Spotsylvania Fire, Rescue & Emergency Management chief, said Thursday. There was nothing else in the world that hed rather be doing and he wanted to do this until he died.

Brooks, a 65-year-old father of six with wife Janet, was in Appleton, Wis., doing something he loved with other fire and rescue staffinspecting a pair of new fire trucks for the countywhen he collapsed Tuesday evening at a restaurant.Meanwhile, the city is also facing the need for more police officers, a new fire station, nearly $1 million for the jail and the possibility of either building its own wastewater treatment plant or joining with Spotsylvania County to renovate the plant in Massaponax, said Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley. The city uses the FMC Wastewater Treatment Plant in Spotsylvania, but it is getting close to the end of its useful life. A new or renovated plant could cost between $40 million and $70 million.

The schools are a central core to our community, but other things we may not have much choice with, Whitley said.

Council member Kerry Devine asked how much real estate taxes would have to rise to pay for a new elementary school. Whitley said theyd go up about 8 cents at todays rate for the building and about 5 cents for operations.

Councilman Matt Kelly pointed out that two of the citys biggest debts are for construction of James Monroe and Lafayette, which wont be paid off until 2030.

I dont want people to leave here thinking were not doing everything we can, he said. Im not asking for you to agree, but to understand what we as a council are facing.Want a chance to vote for your favorite small business in King George County? Youre in luck, as the King George Economic Development Authority is now accepting nominations for its 2019 Small Business Awards.

This is the inaugural Small Business Awards program in King George and the EDA is asking the community to nominate worthy small businesses.

To be eligible, nominees must have a business in the county, have an active business license and be in good standing with King George County.

To find out more or vote for the business of your choice, go online to kinggeorgecountyva.gov/forms.aspx?FID=73. The page/form there asks for information about the business being nominated, and lists three different categories: Service, Tourism and Product, and provides definitions for each.

The page also notes that business nominees will be judged on the following criteria: growth, sustainability, innovation, community championing and evidence of quality.

The form notes that those voting may nominate as many businesses as they like, as long as they use a separate nomination form/online submission for each.

Voting is open until April 12 at 4:30 p.m.

Rob Hedelt

The business news you need With a weekly newsletter looking back at local history. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.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IHG Welcomes Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas to its Family of Brands

Six Senses becomes the newest addition to one of the worlds leading hotel companies

February 14, 2019 // Franchising.com // IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), one of the worlds leading hotel companies, has welcomed a new family member to its portfolio of brands, with the acquisition of Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas.

Six Senses is renowned for its focus on wellness and sustainability, with each hotel and resort set in locations of incredible natural beauty that will stop you in your tracks, delivering an uncompromising level of service that will stay with you long after youve left. All of which has been recognized through a host of industry awards and accolades* including Travel+Leisure (World Best Award, Top Hotel Brand for two years in a row), TIME Magazine, Conde Nast Traveler and Skift to name a few.

Featuring properties in 12 countries, Six Senses is behind some of the worlds most enticing hotels, resorts and spas, including: a 19th-century wine estate in the Douro Valley (Portugal), breathtaking island resorts in the Seychelles and Maldives, beach-side retreats in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Oman, a city escape in Singapore, and residences in the mountains of Courchevel (France).

Six Senses joins a growing number of luxury brands in the IHG family, including:

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts , the worlds largest luxury hotel brand, which recently celebrated the opening of its 200th hotel and was named Worlds Leading Hotel Brand title for the 12th time at the World Travel Awards (WTA). This is a brand dedicated to those who appreciate and enjoy The InterContinental Life - the glamour and exhilaration of fascinating places, mixed with international know-how and local cultural wisdom.

, the worlds largest luxury hotel brand, which recently celebrated the opening of its 200th hotel and was named Worlds Leading Hotel Brand title for the 12th time at the World Travel Awards (WTA). This is a brand dedicated to those who appreciate and enjoy The InterContinental Life - the glamour and exhilaration of fascinating places, mixed with international know-how and local cultural wisdom. Regent Hotels & Resorts , also recently acquired and now undergoing a repositioning which celebrates the brands deep luxury heritage and revered legacy. Born in 1970, this collection of modern hotels and resorts is rooted in extraordinary living, with a legacy of luxury that endures to this day.

, also recently acquired and now undergoing a repositioning which celebrates the brands deep luxury heritage and revered legacy. Born in 1970, this collection of modern hotels and resorts is rooted in extraordinary living, with a legacy of luxury that endures to this day. Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, the industry pioneer that first introduced the boutique concept to the U.S. The brand is now set to open in 20 new global destinations including Mexico City, Paris, Barcelona, Bali and Shanghai, each of which will showcase bold, playful design, award-winning dining and surprising amenities to ensure guests have the ultimate boutique hotel stay.

Across IHGs four leading luxury brands, guests can now enjoy nearly 300 luxury hotels around the world, with more than 100 set to open in the coming years.

As part of the IHG family, Six Senses is expected to expand to 60 properties within the next 10 years. This includes incredible new Six Senses hotels and resorts from a restored 14th-century fort in Rajasthan, to villas on a private island in Cambodia, and the brands first hotel in North America - a contemporary duo of twisting towers designed by Bjarke Ingles near the High Line in Manhattans West Chelsea.

Keith Barr , IHGs Chief Executive Officer, commented: IHGs growing portfolio of luxury brands is a collection of the very best in the travel industry. Each one offers something unique to our guests, and together they offer an unparalleled choice of locations and experiences. Were incredibly proud to welcome Six Senses into our family of brands and look forward to opening more stunning hotels, resorts and spas - each one staying true to Six Senses world-renowned reputation for wellness and an unwavering commitment to purposeful travel.



Core to every Six Senses hotel and resort is a Six Senses Spa, where guests can relax, reconnect, and completely refresh. Guests are guided on a personal path to finding harmony and balance, to ensure positive and lasting benefits. Unique to the hospitality sector, Six Senses has also taken wellness out of the spa and integrated it across the entire stay, helping guests learn something new and reconnect with themselves, others, and the world around them.

, IHGs Chief Executive Officer, commented: IHGs growing portfolio of luxury brands is a collection of the very best in the travel industry. Each one offers something unique to our guests, and together they offer an unparalleled choice of locations and experiences. Were incredibly proud to welcome Six Senses into our family of brands and look forward to opening more stunning hotels, resorts and spas - each one staying true to Six Senses world-renowned reputation for wellness and an unwavering commitment to purposeful travel. Core to every Six Senses hotel and resort is a Six Senses Spa, where guests can relax, reconnect, and completely refresh. Guests are guided on a personal path to finding harmony and balance, to ensure positive and lasting benefits. Unique to the hospitality sector, Six Senses has also taken wellness out of the spa and integrated it across the entire stay, helping guests learn something new and reconnect with themselves, others, and the world around them. Neil Jacobs, Six Senses Chief Executive Officer, commented: This is an exciting new era for Six Senses, IHG believes in our purpose to merge the two platforms of wellness and sustainability to promote personal health, and the health of the planet. Joining forces with IHG means we can use a wealth of systems and operational excellence to grow our brand and reach new markets without losing our quirky personality and playful touch.



In the near future guests will be able to book their Six Senses stay through IHGs booking platforms, such as the ihg.com website and the companys leading mobile app, and benefit from the advantages of the IHG Rewards Club loyalty programme.

With 15 of the worlds leading hotel brands and more than 5,500 hotels around the world, IHG offers travellers and members of its global loyalty programme IHG Rewards Club, a hotel stay for all travel occasions.

Further Information:

*Key awards

2018, 2017: Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas - Travel & Leisure, US - Worlds Best Award, Top Hotel Brand

2018: Skift 2018 Innovators in Travel, Hospitality and Aviation - Best Hotel Brand

2018: Six Senses Qing Cheng Mountain - Conde Nast Traveler, China - The Gold List 2018, Best Wellness Getaways in China

2018: Six Senses Fiji - TIME Magazine - Worlds Greatest Places Top 100

2018: Six Senses Douro Valley - Conde Nast Traveller, US - 2018 Gold List, Editors Favourite Hotels in the World

2016: Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas - The Telegraph, UK - Travel Awards, Best Hotel Group

About IHG

IHG  (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organisation with a broad portfolio of hotel brands, including Regent Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo, EVEN Hotels, HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, voco Hotels, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Holiday Inn Resort, avid hotels, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites.

IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns more than 5,500 hotels and approximately 826,000 guest rooms in almost 100 countries, with more than 1,800 hotels in its development pipeline. IHG also manages IHG Rewards Club, our global loyalty programme, which has more than 100 million enrolled members.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Groups holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales. More than 375,000 people work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally.

Visit www.ihg.com for hotel information and reservations and www.ihgrewardsclub.com for more on IHG Rewards Club. For our latest news, visit: www.ihgplc.com/media and follow us on social media at: www.twitter.com/IHGCorporate and www.facebook.com/IHGCorporate.

Media Contact:

Iman Denney-Brown

iman.denneybrown@ihg.com

+44 (0) 1895 512 267

Neil Hirsch

neil.hirsch@ihg.com

+1 (770) 604 5775

SOURCE IHG  (InterContinental Hotels Group)

###

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DisqusIHG Further Expands Luxury Footprint With Acquisition Of Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas

February 14, 2019 // Franchising.com // InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has announced the acquisition of Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, one of the worlds leading operators of luxury hotels, resorts and spas. The $300 million cash acquisition from Pegasus Capital Advisors includes all of Six Senses brands and operating companies and does not include any real estate assets.

Six Senses currently manages 16 hotels and resorts, with 18 management contracts signed into its pipeline, and more than 50 further deals under active discussion. With properties in locations such as the Maldives, the Seychelles, Yao Noi in Thailand, Zighy Bay in Oman, and Portugals Douro Valley, the addition of Six Senses award-winning estate and high-quality development pipeline will further round out IHGs position in the luxury segment.

At Six Senses core is a commitment to guest rejuvenation and reconnection, with an expert focus on wellness and sustainability. The acquisition extends IHGs reach to a community of affluent travellers and new owners and provides instant entry to some of the worlds most sought-after locations.

Six Senses will sit at the top of IHGs luxury portfolio, complementing the worlds largest luxury hotel brand, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts; the recently acquired and repositioned Regent Hotels & Resorts; and Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, for which IHG has secured a presence in 14 countries, since its acquisition of the brand in 2015. Todays acquisition of Six Senses takes IHGs portfolio of open and pipeline luxury hotels to 400 hotels (108,000 rooms) globally.

By combining IHGs scale, systems and operational excellence with Six Senses luxury, resort and spa expertise, IHG sees the potential to grow the Six Senses estate to more than 60 properties globally over the next 10 years. This includes bringing Six Senses to important urban markets, with a property already under construction in West Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City.

Keith Barr , Chief Executive Officer, IHG, commented: Six Senses is an outstanding brand in the top-tier of luxury and one weve admired for some time. You only have to look at its iconic hotels and resorts to see how this acquisition will further round out our luxury offer. With a focus on wellness and sustainability, Six Senses has been voted the worlds top hotel brand for the past two years, which is testament to its impressive management team who bring deep experience to IHGs luxury operations.



Six Senses attractive development pipeline provides us with a platform for high quality growth. With the power of the IHG enterprise, we believe we can expand Six Senses to more than 60 properties globally over the next decade. This acquisition continues the progress weve made against the strategic initiatives we outlined a year ago, which included a commitment to adding new brands in the fast-growing $60 billion luxury segment.

, Chief Executive Officer, IHG, commented: Six Senses is an outstanding brand in the top-tier of luxury and one weve admired for some time. You only have to look at its iconic hotels and resorts to see how this acquisition will further round out our luxury offer. With a focus on wellness and sustainability, Six Senses has been voted the worlds top hotel brand for the past two years, which is testament to its impressive management team who bring deep experience to IHGs luxury operations. Six Senses attractive development pipeline provides us with a platform for high quality growth. With the power of the IHG enterprise, we believe we can expand Six Senses to more than 60 properties globally over the next decade. This acquisition continues the progress weve made against the strategic initiatives we outlined a year ago, which included a commitment to adding new brands in the fast-growing $60 billion luxury segment. Neil Jacobs , Chief Executive Officer, Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, commented: An outstanding business has been built over the past 20 years, and a respected portfolio of hotels and resorts, with wellness and sustainability at their heart. This distinct proposition and the popularity of our award-winning estate, combined with IHGs scale, systems and expertise gives us the opportunity to accelerate Six Senses global growth.

, Chief Executive Officer, Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, commented: An outstanding business has been built over the past 20 years, and a respected portfolio of hotels and resorts, with wellness and sustainability at their heart. This distinct proposition and the popularity of our award-winning estate, combined with IHGs scale, systems and expertise gives us the opportunity to accelerate Six Senses global growth. David Cogut, Principal, Pegasus Capital Advisors, commented: Six Senses fit well with our core themes of investing in sustainability and wellness with a focus on ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) integration, and were proud of the work we have done to build it into one of the worlds best luxury hotel brands. Since acquiring the brand in 2012, we have taken the Six Senses experience to some of the worlds most select locations. IHG shares many of our values and will protect whats special about the brand as it drives Six Senses next phase of growth.

Transaction overview

IHG has agreed to acquire Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas and its management business for $300 million in cash.

Six Senses is an asset-light business. It manages 16 hotels and resorts (1,347 rooms), and there are a further 18 management contracts signed into its development pipeline. The open hotels include two properties for the upscale resort brand, Evason. With a further 50 deals under active discussion, IHG expects to accelerate Six Senses growth globally to more than 60 hotels over the next 10 years.

The acquisition includes the entirety of Six Senses brands and operating companies and does not include any real estate assets. It includes Six Senses spa operations, which are core to the brands luxury and wellness positioning. Six Senses operates 37 spas in total under the Six Senses and LivNordic brand names, and also provides spa consultancy services. The Six Senses management will remain in place.

Six Senses currently generates fee revenues of more than $13 million. The acquisition is expected to be EBITDA breakeven in year two and to generate a return approximately equal to its cost of capital by year four.

For tax purposes, the transaction constitutes an asset sale for the purchaser, and as such IHG will be entitled to amortise the assets acquired. It is anticipated that the relief associated with this amortisation will reduce IHGs future cash taxes by approximately $75 million.

About IHG

IHG  (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organisation with a broad portfolio of hotel brands, including Regent Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo, EVEN Hotels, HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, voco Hotels, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Holiday Inn Resort, avid hotels, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites.

IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns more than 5,500 hotels and approximately 826,000 guest rooms in almost 100 countries, with more than 1,800 hotels in its development pipeline. IHG also manages IHG Rewards Club, our global loyalty programme, which has more than 100 million enrolled members.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Groups holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales. More than 375,000 people work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally.

Visit www.ihg.com for hotel information and reservations and www.ihgrewardsclub.com for more on IHG Rewards Club. For our latest news, visit: www.ihgplc.com/media and follow us on social media at: www.twitter.com/IHGCorporate and www.facebook.com/IHGCorporate.

About Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas

Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas was established in 1995 and is a leading global luxury hotel, resort and spa business. It manages 16 hotels and resorts (1,347 rooms) across 12 countries in some of the most sought-after and aspirational destinations globally. There are a further 18 management contracts signed into its development pipeline (1,382 rooms) - at least three of which are due to open in 2019 - with a further eight under construction. Once open, the pipeline will take Six Senses into more than 25 countries globally and will expand Six Senses position in the Americas region with five hotels. Website: https://www.sixsenses.com/

Biography: Neil Jacobs, Chief Executive Officer, Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas

Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas is led by Neil Jacobs, Chief Executive Officer, whose global career has included key leadership roles in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Prior to joining Six Senses, Neil spent five years as president of global hotel operations at Starwood Capital Group, and 14 years with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, serving as senior vice president operations for Asia Pacific from 2003.

Key awards

2018, 2017: Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas  Travel & Leisure, US  Worlds Best Award, Top Hotel Brand

2018: Skift 2018 Innovators in Travel, Hospitality and Aviation  Best Hotel Brand

2018: Six Senses Qing Cheng Mountain  Conde Nast Traveler, China  The Gold List 2018, Best Wellness Getaways in China

2018: Six Senses Fiji  TIME Magazine - Worlds Greatest Places Top 100

2018: Six Senses Douro Valley  Conde Nast Traveller, US  2018 Gold List, Editors Favourite Hotels in the World

2016: Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas  The Telegraph, UK  Travel Awards, Best Hotel Group

About IHG's existing luxury portfolio (as at 31 December 2018)

Regent Hotels & Resorts: 6 open hotels (2,005 rooms); 3 pipeline hotels (514 rooms)

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts: 204 open hotels (69,281 rooms); 60 pipeline hotels (15,795 rooms)

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants: 66 open hotels (12,915 rooms); 27 pipeline hotels (4,474 rooms)

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements as defined under United States law (Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) and otherwise. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate only to historical or current facts. Forward-looking statements often use words such as anticipate, target, expect, estimate, intend, plan, goal, believe or other words of similar meaning. These statements are based on assumptions and assessments made by InterContinental Hotels Group PLCs management in light of their experience and their perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. By their nature, forward-looking statements are inherently predictive, speculative and involve risk and uncertainty. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by, such forward-looking statements. The main factors that could affect the business and the financial results are described in the Risk Factors section in the current InterContinental Hotels Group PLCs Annual report and Form 20-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

Media Contact:

Mark Debenham

mark.debenham@ihg.com

+44 (0) 1895 512 097

+44 (0) 7527 424 046

SOURCE InterContinental Hotels & Resorts

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DisqusThe Sanibel Historical Museum and Village is preparing for its next Twilight Talk, scheduled to take place on March 13 at 7 p.m. at The Community House, at 2173 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel.

It will be a Sanibel History Quiz, with the audience taking part in a Jeopardy-style game format. The questions will be related to the islands history.

With local residents as contestants, we expect everyone in attendance to discover a treasure trove of historical information about the island, Executive Director Emilie Alfino said.

The cost is $10 per person, and a sellout is expected.

For tickets, contact Alfino at 239-472-4648 or info@sanibelmuseum.org.

In April, the program will be The History of Periwinkle Park, as told by the Muench family. It will take place on April 10 at 7 p.m. at The Community House on Sanibel. Tickets are available now.

For information, call 239-472-4648 or visit online at www.sanibelmuseum.org.

The Sanibel Historical Museum and Village is at 950 Dunlop Road.Handyman Connection Launches New Location In New Jersey

Leading Home Repair Company Offers Renovation and Restoration Services to Montclair and Surrounding Communities

February 14, 2019 // Franchising.com // MONTCLAIR, NJ - Handyman Connection, a home repair company in operation for more than 25 years, announced today it has opened its newest franchise in Montclair, New Jersey. Handyman Connection of Montclair will provide home renovation and restoration services to the communities of Montclair, Verona, West Orange, Bloomfield and surrounding areas. The new center is co-owned and operated by local entrepreneur Jim Aldworth.

Prior to joining Handyman Connection, Aldworth founded The Aldworth Agency, a commercial lighting importer and reseller business, where he held the role of principal for 15 years. The serial entrepreneur also brings more than two decades of experience in sales logistics, previously serving on the national accounts sales and distribution team at Unilever. Allworths sons, Patrick (President), Jimmy, and Daniel also contribute to the business including marketing and finance responsibilities.

We were aggressively searching for a business model that would be invested in our growth as small business owners and one that would provide quality service and resources to its customers. The team at Handyman Connection proved to be the perfect fit and were excited to get started. said Jim Aldworth. Alongside the support of my wife and children, its a privilege to launch Handyman Connection as the premiere option for home maintenance and remodeling needs within some of New Jerseys finest communities.

Handyman Connection operates more than 65 locations throughout 27 states and Canada. For more than 25 years, the brand has offered homeowners across North America a complete resource for professional craftsmanship and exemplary customer service. Handyman Connection offers a variety of services ranging from traditional home repairs to painting, remodeling and more.

To request a free, no-obligation project estimate, contact Handyman Connection at (973) 419 7575 or visit us at handymanconnection.com/Montclair.

About Handyman Connection

Since 1991, homeowners across North America have been calling on Handyman Connection for our professional craftsmanship and exemplary customer service.

Each Handyman Connection franchise is locally owned and operated, backed by the company that helped launch the industry. Our values are steeped in a long-standing dedication to the people we serve, and truly differentiate Handyman Connection as a home repair company.

SOURCE Handyman Connection

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DisqusFASTSIGNS International, Inc. Hosts Community Giveback Project

Group assembles 17,000 meals during the 2019 FASTSIGNS International Convention in Orlando

CARROLLTON, Texas - Feb. 13, 2019 // PRNewswire // - FASTSIGNS franchisees and their employees, vendors and FASTSIGNS International, Inc. corporate staff participated in a "FASTSIGNS Community Giveback" by assembling 17,000 meals for local children and their families with the organization, Feeding Children Everywhere. This event occurred during the 2019 FASTSIGNS International Convention held January 16-19 in Orlando, Florida.

"Through our FASTSIGNS Community Giveback Projects, our meeting attendees and vendors come together to support a local cause and make a positive impact in the cities that host our events," said Tracy Lake, Director of Events at FASTSIGNS International, Inc. "We are so grateful for organizations that work to end hunger. With the help of our partners in giving, we were honored to join Feeding Children Everywhere to help make a dent in hunger for Orlando and the surrounding areas."

Under the direction of Feeding Children Everywhere leadership, attendees measured, weighed, packaged and boxed 17,000 meals by forming 14 assembly lines. This was accomplished in 30 minutes during the FASTSIGNS Community Giveback Breakfast with a Purpose event.

"Our partners not only provide meals, they provide hope," said Sarah Davila, Public Relations Manager at Feeding Children Everywhere. "Our event with FASTSIGNS created the opportunity to impact hundreds of families struggling with hunger in Orlando. Together we were able to provide 17,000 meals to children and families in need."

This event was also made possible by the generous support of the FASTSIGNS Community Giveback sponsors including Vista System, swissQprint, peerhatch, Ornamental Post & Panel, Click2Sell, Digital Designed Solutions, Banner Ups, Computerized Cutters, Inc. and N. Glantz & Son.

About FASTSIGNS

FASTSIGNS International, Inc. is the global franchisor of FASTSIGNS sign and graphic centers. We are a business-to-business franchise with over 700 independently owned and operated franchise locations in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Chile and Australia (where centers operate as SIGNWAVE(R). Locations will be opening in Malta and Spain in 2019.

FASTSIGNS locations provide comprehensive sign and graphic solutions (custom signs and visual graphics) to help businesses and organizations - including manufacturers, schools and universities, retailers, construction companies, healthcare facilities and many other industries - solve their visual communications challenges such as building brand awareness, increasing location "findability", promoting a product or service, helping people find their way around a facility or campus, hosting an event, communicating with employees, improving workflow, meeting safety and compliance regulations, etc.

FASTSIGNS centers provide custom signs and graphics, including architectural and interior decor graphics, fleet vehicle graphics, digital signs and digital signage content, event graphics, displays, banners, posters, ADA signage, safety and identification signs and much more, as well as handle everything from design to installation.

To learn more about sign and visual graphic solutions or to find a location, visit fastsigns.com. Follow the brand on Twitter @FASTSIGNS, on Facebook at facebook.com/FASTSIGNS or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/fastsigns. Watch a video at https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialFASTSIGNS. For information about the FASTSIGNS franchise opportunity, contact Mark Jameson (mark.jameson@fastsigns.com or call 214.346.5679)

About Feeding Children Everywhere

Feeding Children Everywhere, based in Orlando, Florida, is committed to providing healthy meals to those in need, sustainability and making contributions matter. Creating a hunger-free world will be possible if we have an awareness of our impact on the world around us. Feeding Children Everywhere has implemented sustainability goals to reduce their carbon footprint to eliminate the utilization of harmful plastics as well as helping to create self-sufficient and sustainable communities throughout program areas. Financial efficiency and meaningful impact are the pillars of their commitment as they believe that financial transparency combined with a high-energy, tangible impact volunteer experience is the key to a contribution that makes a meaningful difference.

Contact:

Leah Edwards

FASTSIGNS Corporate Communications

214.346.5792

leah.edwards@fastsigns.com

SOURCE FASTSIGNS International, Inc.

###

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Disqus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.The shopping center near Maryland and Charleston has not had new buildings in more than five decades, but that's changing, according to city staff.He's a 95-year-old Navy veteran who served in World War II and he's running through Mobile, again!

Ernie Andrus is running coast to coast raising money for the LST 325 ship memorial which is a World War II era Naval landing ship used by the US Navy and Greek Navy.

Andrus is hoping to raise enough money to bring the ship back to Normandy this year for the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

This isn't Ernie's first run through Mobile. We interviewed him in 2016 while running through the Port City and we wish him the best as he runs toward his goal.

Click here if you'd like to make a donation to Ernie's cause.Author Anurag Agrawal will present a free program about his book, Monarchs and Milkweed: A Migrating Butterfly, a Poisonous Plant, and Their Remarkable Story of Coevolution, on Feb. 22 at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. as part of the 2019 lecture series at the J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.

Agrawal, the James Perkins Endowed Chair in environmental studies at Cornell University, won the 2017 National Outdoor Book Award in Nature and Environment for Monarchs and Milkweed, which was also named one of Forbes.coms 10 Best Biology Books of 2017.

The author will sign copies of his books, available in the Refuge Nature Store, following the two lectures. Profits from the stores sales directly benefit refuge wildlife, education and research.

HighTower/Thomas & Swartz Wealth Management sponsors the 11-lecture series with support from the Ding Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge. The free lectures are held on Fridays through April 12. The remaining schedule is listed below; some include book signings:

 March 1: Author Warner Shedd, Owls Arent Wise and Bats Arent Blind: A Naturalist Debunks Our Favorite Fallacies about Wildlife*

 March 8: Yve Morrell, The Big Year: A First for Women

 March 15: Jeremy Conrad, Sea Level Rise: Globally & Locally

 March 22: Dusty Wildman Crum, Robbie and Geoff Roepstorff, and Mike Kirkland, Pythons: The Hunters, the Science

 March 29: Marine scientist Lauren Blickley, Drastic Plastic  Turning the Tide on Plastic Pollution

 April 5: Ornithologist Dr. Jerry Lorenz, Flamingos & Spoonbills: Pink Canaries in a Coal Mine

 April 12: Author Denege Patterson, Five Islands Never Flooded: A Tour of the Islands of Pine Island Sound, Florida*

*book signing to follow

Seating for the lectures is limited and available on a first-come basis. Early arrivals can save one seat and one extra one with personal items, then may explore the Visitor & Education Center or Indigo Trail before the lecture starts. Saved seats must be filled 15 minutes before lecture time.

For more information, call 239-472-1100 ext. 241 or visit dingdarlingsociety.org/articles/lecture-and-film-series. The J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge is at 1 Wildlife Drive, Sanibel.INEZ, KY. (AP)  A Kentucky sheriff has told the local fiscal court he is suspending all law enforcement activities because of lack of funding.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports , Martin County Sheriff John Kirk took the stage without invitation at a fiscal court meeting Monday. Kirk said his office is still owed a $75,000 payment due in January. He also complained that new obligations placed on his office will add $99,000 to his annual expenditures.

Kirk said he has laid off the bookkeeper and limited office hours to 20 hours a week.

On his personal Facebook page, he wrote: "Folks, lock your doors, load your guns and get a biting, barking dog."

He also explained further his decision to suspend policing activities, writing, "The law requires the Sheriff to collect taxes, Bailiff court and serve papers. We have always provided police protection but without the funding we can no longer do this."

A large part of the problem is a sharp decline in coal severance taxes hitting Eastern Kentucky. Local government economic assistance fund money to coal-producing counties has dropped by 80 percent since fiscal year 2012. The fund returns a portion of state-collected mineral severance taxes to local governments.

In Knott County, the fiscal court approved a partial shutdown of county government last month. That allows the county's road department to respond only to emergencies. The fiscal court also canceled health insurance for all county employees and elected officials. And Judge-Executive Jeff Dobson said they will also make cuts to a program that delivers food to senior citizens.

In Pike County, officials have laid off workers and proposed a major rate increase for garbage pickup.

Without the sheriff's office responding to calls in Martin County, residents will have to rely on Kentucky State Police, which sometimes has just one officer patrolling multiple counties.Mobile Fire-Rescue has put out a public advisory about safety issues you need to know about this Mardi Gras season.

Even if you've been to many Mardi Gras parades in Mobile, there may some rules you don't know about.

For instance, how far away should portable grills be from the parade route?

It won't be long before the beads and the moon pies start flying.

When asked how many parades she'll try to go to this year, Maddie Franklin said, "I try to catch as many as I can."

Some of the safety issues Mobile Fire-Rescue officials warn about you probably practice all the time: don't block fire hydrants, yield to emergency vehicles.

But many people bring portable grills to parades.

Mobile Fire-Rescue strongly discourages cooking with portable grills on parade routes.

But, if you do, there are rules to abide by.

Stephen Millhouse with Mobile Fire-Rescue said, "If you're going to have a grill, chairs, or coolers, don't have them anywhere within six to ten feet of the parade route. Don't have them anywhere near a fire hydrant or blocking an intersection."

Also, fire officials say open flames are prohibited anywhere along the parade route.

There are also rules for business owners, too.

Millhouse said, "Make sure you're aware of the occupancy load, the capacity on your restaurant, your business, your bars, and the capacity for your balconies along the parade route so that you're not over capacity or overfilling those areas."

People we talked to who love parades know how important safety rules are.

Mary Westbrook of Mobile said, "When I was a little girl, we came for Mardi Gras every year. My mom and dad would bring us, and, to me, its still Mardi Gras."

When asked if people are pretty good about staying behind the barricades and not bringing dogs, Franklin said, "To me, it's really family oriented. It's really fun."

The first parade in downtown Mobile is the Conde Cavaliers kicking off from alongside the Mobile Civic Center at 6:30 Friday.BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. -- Nicholas Young -- suspect in the stabbing death of Foley man Jeff Higginbotham -- now faces a murder charge, according to jail records in Baldwin County.

Young, 35, is being held without bond, jail records show.

Officials in Baldwin County last month said Young was not cooperating with investigators after his extradition from Santa Rosa County, Fla. At the time, he faced only charges of receiving stolen property and driving with a suspended/revoked license, although he had been named a person of interest in the death investigation.

Young was arrested in Florida on Nov. 29 after he allegedly stole Higginbotham's vehicle following Higginbotham's October death inside his Bay Villa Apartments, authorities said. Young had been staying with Higginbotham in the days leading up to his death, according to Higginbotham's brother.

Young, 35, avoided police for almost a month prior to his arrest, until a sheriff's deputy in Santa Rosa County spotted Young walking down a street.STOCKTON, Ala. (WALA) - The owner of an historic Stockton home is suspecting arson after the home, built in 1900, burned down Tuesday night.

Eyewitness video shows the fire fully engulfing the home on Cottage Hill Road around 6 p.m.

It makes it hard to stomach I can tell you that," the property owner, Albert Crane said. It just makes you wonder why people are so sorry to do a trick like this.

The Alabama Fire Marshal is being called in to investigate after the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office turned over its report to him.

Albert Crane bought the home about 15 years ago. He had been renting it out prior to it burning down. Nobody was living in the home Tuesday night during the fire.

I come straight on up here and it was completely engulfed in flames," Crane said. "When I got here whole sky was lit up."

The Stockton Volunteer Fire Department and Rabun Volunteer Fire Department responded to the blaze, keeping it contained after Crane told them not to risk injury by putting it out. By the time firefighters arrived, the home appeared to be a total loss, according to Crane.

Crane is intending to sell some of the brick and lumber left behind by the fire prior to selling the property itself.A self-confessed serial killer continues to talk to investigators. So far, 78-year-old Samuel Little has admitted to some 90 murders all across the U.S.

Little was living in Kentucky homeless shelter when he was arrested in 2012 and extradited to California on narcotics charges. The Los Angeles Police Department obtained a DNA sample, which connected him to the murders of three women in California for which he was convicted in 2014 and sentenced to three consecutive life sentences with no possibility of parole.

At the time, the L.A.P.D. also asked the FBI's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) to work a full background on him. It lead to more cases connected to Little, including one in Odessa, Texas.

When Texas authorities went to California to talk with Little in Spring 2018 -- he agreed to talk in exchange for a move to a prison in Texas.

Little has since confessed to 90 killings from 1970 to 2005 as investigators in more than a dozen states have come to sit down with him.

Two of those cases are from Mobile in 1984 -- Hannah Mae Bonner and Ida Mae Campbell. Mobile Police detectives made the trip to Texas to interview Little last November.

"With the details he provided to our detectives face to face -- those are only details someone who was there would know," said Maj. John Barber, MPD.

According to Little, he picked both women up the same night at different times, killed them and dumped their bodies. The cause of death for both women was strangulation.

Bonner's body found dumped in a ditch August 13, 1984. Campbell's body discovered a month later September 6th. According to Barber both cases are confirmed to be victims of Little.

While some of the dates and locations are off, investigators say his photographic memory of the details are spot on -- as if he wrote the crime report himself.

"His memory is remarkable when it comes to the details of these cases," said Barber. "I think detectives not just here but everyone that has talked to him realize he's not just one who is inflating a number... You have those who want to say I've done this grandiose type of thing... He seems to be very sincere that he did XYZ."

As the FBI continues to corroborate Little's stories, he's been doing sketches of some of his unconfirmed victims. One of them in nearby Pascagoula, Mississippi.

"His actual first time we arrested him in the city of Pascagoula was 8-11-1977. That victim you're looking at is a possible victim of Sam Little," said Lt. Darren Versiga, Pascagoula Police Department.

Lt. Versiga interviewed Little twice late last year. He too believes Little could be their man.

"He was here at the time she would have been killed... He was in our city. We know he's a killer. He says he dumped her in a rural place. He said grass was very high. She was found in very high grass. Those are a lot of similarities. Said she wore a wig... Anthropologist suggested she wore a wig," recalled Versiga.

Versiga went on to say Little and the victim went out on date to eat, then went back to her place in Gulfport.

"They were at her place, she lived in a boarding house. He said he went to the bathroom and made a mess, threw up and she cleaned it up. He said he remembered thinking 'she would make a good wife for someone.' He said he always intended on killing her," said Versiga.

According to the information on the FBI's website of the case: the Pascagoula victim was between the ages of 35 - 45 years old, and possibly worked at the Ingalls Shipyard.

"He said he believed she worked at Ingalls Shipyard as a pipefitter. He said her hands were rough like she had been doing a lot of manual labor," said Versiga. "He just did not remember her name and we don't know who she is."

Versiga is still working to identify her and ask anyone who may have had a female family member turn up missing in 1977 to please contact them at 228-762-2211.

Little was also arrested in Pascagoula in 1982 for the murder of Malinda LaPree and was also a suspect in the murder of Patricia Mounts in Alchua County Florida that same year.

Little was arrested in Pascagoula in November 1982.

"In 1982 we did label him as a being a serial killer. There was information that was coming forward that he had been all over the place doing this. There was evidence in the car that he was in -- that has since been destroyed. But there was evidence in the car that suggested that he had been traveling all over the place assaulting women," said Versiga.

Ultimately the case involving LaPree was strong enough. The case against Little was "no billed" by a grand jury. Pascagoula authorities then turned Little over to Florida investigators working the Mounts murder case. It eventually went to court in 1983, where he was acquitted.

Most of his victims lived high-risk lifestyles... Cold cases now being closed -- as little continues to offer up chilling details from his life as a drifter and killer.

"I think he wants to be famous for what he's done. And that he has been this guy who has gotten away with it for many years. I will tell you they have vetted him very well. They didn't give him any cases and officers have brought cases they thought was good for Sam Little and he would look at them and tell you in a heartbeat - no that's not mine. I don't know who that is... And that's not my case. So he's not taking every case put before him," said Versiga.

When it comes to the Mobile cases, the Mobile County District Attorney's Office plans to pursue charges and send both cases to a grand jury.Social Security is arguably our nation's most revered social program. Close to 63 million benefit checks head out to eligible recipients each month, with more than 22 million of these folks being pulled above the federal poverty line as a result of their payout. Without Social Security, poverty rates, especially among the elderly, would be significantly higher.

But as you're probably well aware, it's also a program that's facing what might be its biggest challenge since its inception in 1935.

Social Security has a $13.2 trillion problem

The June-released annual report from the Social Security Board of Trustees suggested that the program was nearing a major inflection point. More specifically, following 36 years of net cash surpluses, it's soon expected to spend more annually than it collects in revenue. This switch is occurring because of numerous ongoing demographic changes, such as baby boomers retiring and increased longevity over the long run.

The bright side is that Social Security isn't going bankrupt. No matter how many polls you read about millennials not expecting to receive a cent in benefits when they retire, they're wrong. Social Security has almost $2.9 trillion in asset reserves built up since its inception, and this excess cash will help offset some of the sting of spending more than it's bringing in for a while. By 2034, the report forecasts that this nearly $2.9 trillion in asset reserves will be completely exhausted. Assuming Congress hasn't come to the rescue, then-current and future beneficiaries could be staring down a payout cut of up to 21%. As a reminder, more than three out of five retired workers today lean on Social Security for at least half of their income.

In nominal dollar terms, Social Security is facing a cash shortfall of $13.2 trillion between 2034 and 2092, and it's up to Congress to figure out how best to resolve this cash crunch. Lawmakers could choose to raise revenue, cut expenditures, or implement some combination of revenue raising and cost-cutting to fix America's most important social program.

Yet, what's often overlooked is just how much potential revenue is escaping Social Security's payroll tax each year.

The wealthy are costing Social Security a lot of money

The payroll tax is the program's workhorse. In 2017, it was responsible for generating $873.6 billion of the $996.6 billion collected by Social Security. And if the program's asset reserves were to disappear, thus removing interest income as a source of revenue, payroll tax would possibly account for in excess of 90% of all collected revenue per year.

Payroll tax is a 12.4% tax rate on earned income (i.e., wages or salary paid to you) up to the maximum taxable earnings cap, which in 2019 is $132,900. The last part of the previous sentence is very important. What it means is that all earned income between $0.01 and $132,900 for American workers is subject to the payroll tax, but that any earned income above $132,900 is exempted from the tax.

Why on earth would Social Security exempt earned income from being hit with the payroll tax? The simple answer is that the earnings cap more or less aligns with the fact that there's a limit on what the program will pay out on a monthly basis at full retirement age. In 2019, the maximum monthly benefit at full retirement age is $2,861. In other words, lawmakers thought it'd be silly to tax say $5 million in annual income at 12.4% if the most this individual could receive each month is $2,861. Thus, the tax cap is merely a reflection of the benefits cap at full retirement age.

More than nine out of 10 working Americans will make less than $132,900 this year, and will therefore be paying into the system on every dollar they earn. Mind you, only the self-employed will owe the 12.4% rate. If you're employed by someone else, you and your employer split the payroll tax liability down the middle, 6.2% each. This means just a single-digit percentage of the working population will sidestep paying tax on a portion of their earnings. But, in 2016, this "portion" equaled $1.2 trillion in earnings. At the 12.4% rate, that's $148.8 billion (nearly $150 billion) in revenue that Social Security is missing out on each year.

The most popular Social Security fix: Lift the cap

Perhaps it's not surprising that the most popular Social Security solution among the public would be to increase or remove the earnings tax cap associated with the payroll tax. Any adjustments to the tax cap would have absolutely no impact on more than 90% of working Americans and, in the view of most workers, it would make the system fairer since the wealthy would be paying tax on more of their earned income.

More importantly, if the payroll tax cap were lifted or eliminated entirely, it would generate a substantial amount of extra income for the program. As time has passed, the amount of earnings escaping taxation has increased dramatically. Back in 1984, "just" $300 billion in earnings was avoiding the payroll tax, but as noted earlier, $1.2 trillion is escaping the tax as of 2016. Removing the cap entirely would conservatively add $1.5 trillion (or more) in revenue to the Social Security program over the next decade -- and that's not including the expectation of wage growth, which would probably push this figure closer to $2 trillion.

So, why aren't we taxing the rich and closing this lost revenue gap? Part of the answer lies with the explanation noted earlier. Since a maximum monthly benefit cap exists, a taxable cap exists, too.

Another reason is because it requires 60 votes in the Senate to amend the Social Security program. Since neither political party has had a supermajority in the Senate in 40 years, increasing the tax cap is going to require bipartisan support. The problem is that Republican lawmakers have no desire to increase the tax cap. Rather, they'd prefer to gradually increase the full retirement age from a peak of 67 to perhaps as high as 70. Without bipartisan cooperation, it's going to be nearly impossible to raise the cap.

Until adjustments are made to the tax cap, the rich are probably going to see a higher percentage of their earnings exempted from the payroll tax over time.Aurora Cannabis (NASDAQ:ACB) lost a frightening amount of money during the last three months of 2018 and investors are justifiably concerned about more losses ahead. Despite posting heavy losses, management expects a sales explosion before the end of 2019 that could allow this giant Canadian cannabis producer to begin posting a profit by the end of the year.

Should investors brace for further losses ahead, or will Aurora Cannabis find a way to make ends meet before the end of 2019? Here's what you need to know to decide for yourself.

Reasons to relax

Aurora has some money to burn after issuing $345 million worth of senior notes in January. This should give the company some breathing room until 2024 when the notes become convertible into Aurora shares at $7.23 per share.

Aurora reported a 405 million Canadian dollar comprehensive income loss during the quarter ended December, but most of those losses were noncash adjustments to the value of securities and derivatives. Aurora's actual operations only lost $80 million, which was 28% less than operations lost during the previous quarter.

During the last three months of 2018, top-line revenue leaped 125% higher than the previous quarter to $59 million. If recreational cannabis sales continue rising throughout Canada, sales could jump again.

Reasons to remain extremely cautious

Since adult-use sales began, Canada's limited number of retail outlets have had more trouble stocking their shelves than Toys R Us stores in Venezuela. A handful of provinces have even curtailed the licensing of new retail outlets, citing a shortage of legal marijuana that doesn't actually exist. That should worry anyone with Canadian producers in their portfolio because Statistics Canada found only 35% of Canadians lived within 6.2 miles of an authorized outlet at the end of 2018.

Consumers aren't having trouble accessing legal weed because there isn't enough to go around. According to Health Canada, retailers complaining about supply shortages were only able to move 14,379 kilograms of product in December. In the same month, the amount of finished product held by all licensed members of the supply chain climbed to 57,914 kilograms, which is 31% more than the supply chain held when retail sales began in October.

One reason tons of legal marijuana that's already packaged and ready for sale isn't reaching consumers could be slim profit margins in the adult-use market that are pushing producers to supply international and domestic medical markets first. During the latest earnings call, Aurora's CFO, Glen Ibbott, said the company will meet contractual commitments to supply the adult-use market, but it won't go above that level while the company can earn twice as much by shipping products to international customers.

A likely cause for the holdup

The Canadian adult-use market has another problem that suggests Aurora won't experience a huge sales explosion in 2019. The provinces set prices, and they do a lousy job. According to Aurora's CEO, the provincial governments aren't interested in quality when setting prices, just weight. With retailers unable to lower prices to get aging products off the shelves, building a brand recognized for quality isn't going to be easy. Even if Aurora succeeds, it can't raise that brand's price accordingly without asking the provinces first.

Marijuana and its derivatives begin losing potency from the moment the flower's cut from the stem. That means minor inventory backlogs harm the brands that Aurora's trying to establish, and prolonged inventory backlogs could lead to serious writedowns across the industry. Aurora didn't share a measurement in kilograms with its fourth-quarter earnings report, but we know that the reported value of inventory shrank from $75 million at the end of September to $70 million at the end of December.

At the moment it doesn't look like Aurora's having problems moving its own inventory, but the company's mixed message about expecting enormous growth in 2019 doesn't jibe with the company's lack of interest in serving Canada's adult-use market with the inventory it does have. Management said it would meet its contractual commitments to supply adult-use marijuana in Canada, but not more due to slim profit margins.

Fingers crossed for Europe

It doesn't seem like recreational marijuana sales in Canada are going to be the big boost that pushes Aurora's sales over the edge this year. During Aurora's latest earnings call, management didn't have any answers for questions about why the supply chain is plugged up or when it might start flowing properly. Instead, the team tried to turn investors' attention toward new product lines and licenses to export cannabis produced in Canada to 21 international markets, including the Netherlands and Germany.

During the last three months of 2018, just 6% of Aurora's total revenue came from Europe, and sales from the region climbed just 1.8% compared with the previous quarter, to CA$2.9 million ($2.2 million), which isn't too encouraging. Although the 21 international markets where Aurora has licenses to ship marijuana are large, I wouldn't expect many customers in Mexico, Brazil, or Colombia to spend more for their cannabis than Canadians.

Aurora sold CA$59.4 million ($44.8 million) worth of cannabis during the last three months of 2018 and operations still lost CA$80.2 million ($60.5 million). There's a slight chance Canada will quickly learn how to regulate marijuana sales without impeding them, but I wouldn't bet on a quick improvement to stop Aurora's operations from posting another significant loss in 2019.

Check out the latest earnings call transcripts for companies we cover.Speaking of immoral legislation, Democrats are also pushing for the right to an abortion to be part of the state constitution. Democrats seem intent on following the lead of New York, which passed legislation protecting the right to an abortion up until the moment of birth in certain, ill-defined circumstances, and Virginia, where Democrats attempted to pass similar legislation and where Gov. Ralph Northam should have been forced out of office for his comments in support of infanticide before his yearbook scandals were known.The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) has had a very strong start to 2019, but as ever investors will want to know what's coming next. In this context, let's take a look at three of the most important things investors should expect from the company in 2019.

Production ramp on the 737 & 787 programs

First, Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) expects to deliver 895-905 planes in 2019, and "planned 737 and 787 production rate increases" are assumed as part of the delivery guidance according to CFO Gregory Smith. The company plans to increase the 737 production rate from 52 a month in 2018 to 57 a month in 2019, and the 787 production rate is expected to increase to 14 a month from 12 a month in 2018.

The production ramps are important not only because selling more planes generates more profit, but also because Boeing tends to reduce the unit cost of production as it increases the rate -- meaning that margin could expand as well.

However, it's not all going to be smooth sailing. Boeing had to deal with well-documented supply chain issues in 2018, and they are likely to continue in 2019. One of the issues is that CFM International (a joint venture between General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) and Safran Aircraft Engines) is behind schedule on the LEAP engine -- the sole engine on the 737 MAX.

According to General Electric CFO Jamie Miller, LEAP production is "still behind on deliveries by about 4 weeks, but the business expects to be back on schedule by mid-2019." This suggests Boeing will still face issues in 2019. Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg recently disclosed "we're doing some additional work with CFM, including deploying some additional Boeing personnel to their factories and to their sub-tier suppliers. So that's one area that will have some additional focus for us in the first quarter."

Investors should keep a close eye on what GE's management says about LEAP production, because it's key to the 737 production ramp -- and this an especially important area of the company's business, as Boeing plans for the 737 MAX to account for 90% of 737 deliveries in 2019, compared to around half in 2018.

BCA margin expansion

BCA operating margin expanded from 9.4% in 2017 to 13% in 2018, and is forecasted to improve to 14.5%-15% in 2019. That increase comes down to a combination of increased volume, a more favorable mix of production, and productivity improvements. The latter is extremely important, because margin improvements that come from productivity increases might be more sticky in the event of a slowdown in end demand.

With BCA looking set to achieve its target of 15% margin in 2019, Muilenburg was asked whether he would be issuing a new target. He wasn't drawn to give a specific figure, but argued that the company is "looking for...continued year-over-year margin and cash flow growth."

All told, don't be surprised if Boeing gives an upgraded target for BCA margin at some point in 2019. This could lead analysts to upgrade long-term earnings and cash flow forecasts.

Check out the latest Boeing earnings call transcript.

Time for more 777X orders?

Boeing's management is expecting a pickup in replacement demand for wide-body aircraft beginning at the start of the next decade, and the new 777X aircraft is expected to drive growth. The first delivery of the 777X is expected in 2020, and Boeing already has 326 aircraft on order.

However, there hasn't been a new order since 20 aircraft were ordered by Singapore Airlines in 2017, and the previous order was for a mere 10 in 2015.

That said, orders should pick up in 2019, not least because, as Muilenburg outlined, the company is "now shifting our teams more and more to 777X opportunities" as opposed to the legacy 777 aircraft. In this context, it's reasonable to expect some 777X orders in 2019. If so, Boeing stock could see some upside as investors price in a coming recovery in the wide-body aircraft market.

Looking ahead

Boeing stock has had a great run in the last three years (up 270%), and it looks like there could be more to come. The plan is simple: Management wants to capitalize on a boom in passenger traffic and airplane orders by ramping production of aircraft while trying to take advantage of its virtual duopoly with Airbus in order to reduce supply costs and expand its own manufacturing footprint. Meanwhile, the investment and growth at Boeing Global Services (BGS) is part of a conscious effort to make its earnings less cyclical.

Putting all this together, there's a strong case for arguing that Boeing's stock deserves a positive rating: Its business is becoming less cyclical thanks to an improved outlook for airline profitability, and its margin levels are expanding.Yes, it's the right time

No, the state should have waited a while longer

The economy should have been reopened a long time ago

Vote

View ResultsIt is a known fact that Samsung has made Over the Horizon as default tone on its Galaxy device back in 2011. Each generation of Samsungs Galaxy devices comes pre-loaded with a fresh Samsungs signature Over the Horizon, six-note groove. Following the trend, for the 10th-anniversary edition, Samsung is celebrating with Over the Horizon update that features a deeply touching sound  and an even deeper message.

This years take on the new Over the Horizon was inspired by the beauty of the oceans  evoking the seas vast scale and indescribable majesty through a combination of soothing synthesizers, strings, and woodwinds. It is filmed off the shore of Sipadan Island in Malaysia, the video follows Ai Futaki, a renowned conservationist and Guinness World Record-holding freediver, as she explores waters that are teeming with all manner of marine life.

The Ais dive was shot by acclaimed nature filmmakers James Brickell and Simon Enderby. The new Over the Horizon arrangement was composed by Academy Award-winning composer Steven Price and performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra at Londons famed Abbey Road Studios.

Samsung, about the 10th anniversary Over the Horizon, said:

From rock to new age, to fusion jazz and more, Over the Horizon, Samsung Galaxy devices official brand sound, has been reimagined in a variety of genres over the last several years. Now, Samsung is celebrating the smartphone series 10th anniversary with an Over the Horizon update that features a deeply touching sound  and an even deeper message

SourceWe are not where I want us to be, nor where the Navy needs us to be, Carter said. The Naval Academy must produce leaders that not only treat others with dignity and respect, but also demand the same of those they lead.A coalition of state lawmakers and health organizations gathered in Annapolis Wednesday to rally support for a bill that would require Maryland residents to have health insurance or face a fine  money that could then be used to help them and others afford coverage on the states exchange.How do I get my business listed?

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Add Your BusinessGeneva, NY (14456)

Today

Some clouds. Low near 60F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. Low near 60F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.Iran took the spotlight at a Middle East security conference hosted by the US and Poland that highlighted deep divisions between the US and some of its allies

Warsaw: Although it is absent from the stage, Iran is nevertheless taking the spotlight at a Middle East security conference co-hosted by the United States and Poland that has highlighted deep divisions between the US and some of its traditional allies.

Amid uncertainty over its aims and questions about what it will deliver, the conference opened late Wednesday in Warsaw with some 60 nations in attendance. Yet, in an apparent test of US influence and suspicions in Europe and elsewhere over the Trump administration's intentions in Iran, many countries aren't sending their top diplomats and will be represented at levels lower than their invited foreign ministers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Vice President Mike Pence attended along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his counterparts from numerous Arab nations. But France and Germany are not sending Cabinet-ranked officials, and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is staying away.

Russia and China aren't participating, and the Palestinians, who have called for the meeting to be boycotted, also will be absent. Iran, which is this week celebrating the 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution, denounced the meeting as a "circus" aimed at "demonizing" it.

In a bid to encourage better participation, Pompeo and others sought to broaden what was initially advertised as an Iran-centric meeting to include the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the fight against the Islamic State group, and the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. That effort produced only mixed results, particularly with longtime European allies who are trying to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after last year's U.S. withdrawal.

And, while the agenda gives no hint of any concrete actions that might result beyond creating "follow-on working groups" on a variety of common concerns like terrorism and cybersecurity, comments from several participants belied the underlying theme: countering Iran.

Pence will address the conference on a range of Middle East issues, Pompeo will talk about U.S. plans in Syria following President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops and Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and his peace partner, Jason Greenblatt, will speak about their as-yet unveiled Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

Greenblatt, whose portfolio extends only to the Israeli-Palestinian peace effort, said Iran is the top priority and derided the Palestinians for their boycott and insistence that their case is the region's most important issue.

In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Greenblatt said the Palestinian position "impedes nations from countering the common enemy of Iran."

"Iran is the primary threat to the future of regional peace/security," he said. "That's what Palestinian leaders don't grasp; as a consequence of being detached from new realities, we see Palestinians increasingly left behind/more isolated than ever."

On his way to Warsaw Netanyahu made clear the conference is centered on Iran. "It is a conference that unites the United States, Israel, many countries in the world, many countries in the region, Arab countries, against Iran's aggressive policy, its aggression, its desire to conquer the Middle East and destroy Israel," he told reporters.

Netanyahu sent out a belligerent rallying cry to his Arab partners, saying he planned to focus on the "common interest" of confronting Iran. He made the comments during an off-the-cuff interview with reporters on a Warsaw street, shortly after meeting Oman's foreign minister.

Although Netanyahu used the Hebrew word "milchama," or "war," in his comments, his office later changed its official translation and said he was referring to a "common interest of combatting Iran."

Pompeo has predicted that the conference will "deliver really good outcomes" and has played down the impact of lower-level participation. "We think we will make real progress," Pompeo said. He didn't, however, offer any details about specific outcomes.

Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, the conference co-host, also steered clear of describing potential results. And, even he could not paper over the differences between the U.S. and Europe, including Poland, over the Iran nuclear deal. "We consider this to be a valuable element on the international arena," Czaputowicz told a joint news conference with Pompeo on the eve of the conference.

In a joint opinion piece published Wednesday by CNN, Pompeo and Czaputowicz said they didn't expect all participants to agree on policies or outcomes but called for an airing of unscripted and candid ideas. "We expect each nation to express opinions that reflect its own interests," they wrote. "Disagreements in one area should not prohibit unity in others."

In fact, three of Washington's main European allies, Britain, France and Germany, have unveiled a new financial mechanism that the Trump administration believes may be designed to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is attending the Warsaw conference, but his main interest is in a side meeting on the conflict in Yemen, according to diplomats familiar with the planning.

Analysts and former officials associated with the Obama administration that forged the nuclear deal as a signature foreign policy achievement questioned the value of the conference, particularly the signs of disunity it will present. "The result of this conference ideally would be a demonstration of Iranian isolation and unity amongst American allies in Europe and the Middle East," said William Wechsler, senior adviser for Middle East programs at the Atlantic Council in Washington.

"It's another example of what we've seen of countries in Europe demonstrating  sometimes subtly and sometimes not  their differences with the American administration," he said. "If at the end of the day it looks like America is being isolated from its partners, then it's not as successful as you want it to be."

And Ned Price, President Barack Obama's former national security spokesman, said European nations downgraded their delegations because they believed the Trump administration was going to use the summit as an "anti-Iran pep rally."

"Time and again, this administration had found itself drunk on its own Kool-Aid, isolated from our friends, and belatedly forced to scramble to save face," Price said, adding that not a single country in the EU endorsed Trump's pullout from the Iran nuclear deal.

The Trump administration has repeatedly denied allegations that it is seeking regime change in Iran. And yet, mixed messages continue to come from Washington.

Earlier this week, Trump's national security adviser John Bolton released a short video on the anniversary of the Iranian revolution in which he called Iran "the central banker of international terrorism" and accused it of pursuing nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them. It ended with a not-so-veiled threat to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: "I don't think you'll have many more anniversaries to enjoy."

Khamenei, meanwhile, denounced the United States in a speech on Wednesday. "About the United States, the resolution of any issues is not imaginable and negotiations with it will bring nothing but material and spiritual harm," Khamenei said. He described any possible future negotiations as an "unforgiveable mistake" that would be like "going on your knees before the enemy and kissing the claws of the wolf."US President Donald Trump warned Venezuela on Wednesday that 'all options' are on the table and demanded that far left leader Nicolas Maduro unblock US aid shipments to the country.

Washington: President Donald Trump warned Venezuela on Wednesday that "all options" are on the table and demanded that far left leader Nicolas Maduro unblock US aid shipments to the country.

Again stressing that he had not ruled out military options, Trump said he was "sad" about the "turmoil" in the oil-rich Latin American nation.

"You'll see," he told reporters at a White House meeting with his Colombian counterpart Ivan Duque, when asked if thousands of US troops could be deployed.

Duque, whose country has taken in large numbers of Venezuelan refugees, also lambasted Maduro, saying that "obstructing the access of humanitarian aid is a crime against humanity".

The US aid, sitting on the Colombian side of the border with Venezuela, has become the latest flashpoint in the US-led push to topple Maduro, whose socialist government is bolstered by the military and backed by Russia and China.

Maduro accuses the United States of using the blocked aid shipments as pretext for an invasion.

However, much of Venezuela's population is in desperate need, lacking even basics like food and medicine.

"I think he's making a terrible mistake by not allowing that to happen," Trump said of Maduro's refusal to allow in the aid. "We're trying to get food to people that are starving. You have people starving in Venezuela."

Washington has thrown its full weight behind Opposition leader Juan Guaido, recognising him as interim president, demanding that Maduro step aside and imposing sanctions.

Around 50 countries have now recognized Guaido as interim president.

At a huge Opposition rally on Tuesday, Guaido vowed that humanitarian aid would enter the country on 23 February.

"We have almost 300,000 Venezuelans who will die if the aid doesn't enter," he added.

In his latest attempt to erode Maduro's authority over the military, Guaido said: "Here is a direct order to the armed forces: allow in the humanitarian aid once and for all (and) end the repression."

Guaido's team has also met with Brazilian officials to set up a second aid storage center on that border. The new right-wing government of President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, which took over in January after more than a decade of leftist rule there, has joined the growing coalition against Maduro.

But Maduro has so far resisted, portraying himself in the mold of historic Latin American anti-imperialist leaders.

Moscow weighed in on Tuesday, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warning "against all interference in Venezuela's domestic affairs, including the use of force threatened by Washington."The Vallejo Police in northern California are conducting a probe following outrage over the fatal shooting of 21-year-old McCoy rapper who was found sleeping in his car outside a Taco Bell.

Los Angeles: Police in northern California are conducting a probe following outrage over the fatal shooting of a 21-year-old rapper who was found sleeping in his car outside a Taco Bell.

According to the Vallejo Police Department, the 6 February shooting took place after employees at the fast-food outlet late that evening called to report a Mercedes parked in the drive-thru line with a man slumped over in the driver's seat.

In a statement, the police said officers responded to the call and as they approached the locked vehicle, they noticed that the driver was unresponsive and had a gun on his lap. They added that the car's transmission was in drive.

As police assessed the situation and tried to prevent the vehicle from moving forward, the statement said, things turned deadly.

"The driver ... suddenly began to move," the police report said. "The officers told the driver to keep his hands visible, however the driver quickly reached for the handgun on his lap. "In fear for their own safety, the officers discharged their weapons at the driver."

It was unclear how many bullets were fired.

McCoy was pronounced dead at the scene.

His family has challenged the police version of events, describing the shooting as an "execution" and a clear case of racial profiling.

"There was no attempt to try to work out a peaceful solution," Marc McCoy, Willie's older brother, told The Guardian.

"The police's job is to arrest people who are breaking the law  not take the law into your own hands. You're not judge, jury and executioner ... We're never going to get over this."

McCoy's shooting follows a string of similar incidents of alleged police brutality in the US in recent years.

And this is not the first time the Vallejo Police Department has come under scrutiny following complaints of excessive force.

In 2017, a video of an officer straddling a man on the ground and punching him in the face several times prompted an uproar. Another video last year showed a Vallejo police officer repeatedly hitting a man with his flashlight as he was being restrained and handcuffed by another officer.

Vallejo Police did not respond to a request for comment on the McCoy case and McCoy's family could not be immediately reached.Even before seeing a final deal or agreeing to seal it, President Donald Trump laboured on Wednesday to frame the congressional agreement on border security as a political win, never mind that it contains only a fraction of the billions for a 'great, powerful wall' that he's been demanding for months.

Washington: Even before seeing a final deal or agreeing to seal it, President Donald Trump laboured on Wednesday to frame the congressional agreement on border security as a political win, never mind that it contains only a fraction of the billions for a "great, powerful wall" that he's been demanding for months.

Trump is expected to grudgingly accept the agreement, which would avert another government shutdown and give him what Republicans have been describing as a "down payment" on his signature campaign pledge.

He said Wednesday that he's still waiting on lawmakers to present him with final legislative language before making a decision. But he's not waiting to declare victory, contending at the White House on Wednesday that a wall "is being built as we speak."

Indeed, work on a first barrier extension  14 miles in Texas' Rio Grande Valley  starts this month, approved by Congress about a year ago along with money to renovate and strengthen some existing fencing. But that's a far cry from the vast wall he promised during his campaign would "go up so fast your head will spin."

Sounding like he was again in campaign mode, he told a law enforcement group on Wednesday, "It's going to be a great, powerful wall. ... The wall is very, very on its way."

Carried away by his own enthusiasm, perhaps, he added, "You are going to have to be in extremely good shape to get over this one. They would be able to climb Mount Everest a lot easier, I think."

White House officials cautioned that they had yet to see final legislative language, which bargainers all but completed late Wednesday. And Trump has a history of balking at deals after signaling he was on board. But barring any major changes or late additions, he was expected to acquiesce, according to White House officials and other Republicans close to the White House who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Trump and his aides have also signaled that he is preparing to use executive action to try to secure additional money for the wall by tapping into existing federal dollars without any congressional sign-off so he can show supporters he's continuing to fight. That could lead to resistance in Congress or federal court.

But assuming there are no surprises in the final text, "I think he's going to sign it," conservative Representative Mark Meadows, a close ally of the president, said Wednesday. He warned, though, that "it would be political suicide" if Trump signed the deal and then failed to take action to secure additional funding for the wall using his executive powers.

Swallowing the deal would mark a major concession by Trump, who has spent months insisting the situation at the southern border represents a national security crisis that demands an impregnable wall. He also had insisted he would accept nothing less than $5.7 billion for the barrier  a demand that forced the 35-day partial shutdown that left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks and Republicans taking the brunt of the blame. There is no appetite for a repeat.

The tentative deal lawmakers reached this week would provide less than $1.4 billion for border barriers while keeping the government funded through the end of September. While some conservatives, Fox News commentator Sean Hannity among them, have balked at the deal, other allies of the president have urged him to sign it and move on.

In private conversations since the deal was first announced, Trump has complained, calling the committee members poor negotiators, said a person familiar with the conversations who was not authorized to speak publicly. He has also made clear that he wanted more money for the wall and has expressed concern the plan is being framed as a defeat for him in the media.

There is also little doubt the deal will pass Congress, barring eleventh-hour surprises, with "no" votes most likely coming from liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans. Democratic leaders are selling it as solid compromise that will keep the government open.

At a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump said he was not "thrilled" or happy with the deal, but made clear that, if he does sign the legislation, he is strongly considering supplementing it by moving money from what he described as less important areas of government.

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.

Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill all but completed finishing touches on the legislative text.

Facing opposition from Trump, Democrats lost their bid to make sure employees of federal contractors receive back pay for wages lost during the last shutdown. Federal workers have been paid for time they were furloughed or worked without paychecks.

Also not making the bill was a simple extension of the Violence Against Women Act. Democrats say this will give them a chance later this year to rewrite the law by including protections for transgender people.

Trump kept his cards close, telling reporters he would be taking "a very serious look" at the final text once the White House receives it and watching for any "land mines."

Lawmakers need to pass some kind of funding bill by midnight Friday to avoid another shutdown.

Meanwhile, active-duty troops from dozens of US military units around the country are flowing to the southern border as part of the latest plan to send 3,750 new forces to help with surveillance and install more wire barriers.

As of this week, the military had installed about 105 miles of wire along the border and planned an additional 140 miles of the concertina wire. The bulk of that will be in California and Arizona, in locations between ports of entry that are identified by US Customs and Border Protection as vulnerable.

Many of the troops who have been serving on the border mission are going home. The number there is expected to go up to more than 4,300.These bills have been supported by transit advocates who argue the state could spend less money to build out public transportation projects instead of Gov. Larry Hogans proposed toll road project to expand Marylands portions of Interstate 495 and Interstate 270 from Washington, D.C., to Frederick and expand the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. All of the new roads would be tolled. The plan is expected to cost about $9 billion.Expectations for a trade deal have grown as China faces pressure from slowing economic growth and swooning global markets rattle Trump and his economic advisors.

Beijing: US and Chinese negotiators are set to kick off two days of official trade talks in Beijing on Thursday as the world's top two economies try to patch up their festering economic dispute.

Pressure to seal an accord ahead of a March deadline lessened before the talks as US president Donald Trump indicated on Tuesday in Washington that he was open to extending a trade truce, depending on progress in Beijing.

Trump in December put on hold sharp tariff hikes on $200 billion of Chinese imports to allow time for negotiators to work out a resolution to the thorny spat. The two countries have already slapped tariffs on more than $360 billion in two-way trade, which has weighed on their manufacturing sectors and shaken global financial markets.

US officials including US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will meet with China's top economic czar Liu He and central bank governor Yi Gang as the two sides aim to build on progress made in Washington last month. Lower level officials arrived earlier for what the White House called preparatory meetings starting Monday.

Expectations for a trade deal have grown as China faces pressure from slowing economic growth and swooning global markets rattle Trump and his economic advisors.

Chinese president Xi Jinping plans to meet with top US officials in Beijing this week, a report in the South China Morning Post said on Wednesday, bolstering hopes for the talks and markets in Asia. Trump also said he expects to meet with Xi "at some point" to clinch a trade deal.

"Markets will continue to watch  and react  closely to the ups and downs of the negotiations," said Trey McArver of Trivium Research. "But China-US relations are all about the two leaders, and it will ultimately be up to Xi and Trump to come to a deal  or not," he wrote Wednesday in a newsletter.

The two sides said major progress was made in talks last month in Washington, but a wide gulf remains on some issues.

The US is demanding far-reaching changes to Chinese practises that it says are unfair, including theft of US technology and intellectual property, and myriad barriers that foreign companies face in the Chinese domestic market. Beijing has offered to boost its purchases of US goods, but is widely expected to resist calls for major changes to its industrial policies such as slashing government subsidies.

The International Monetary Fund warned on Sunday of a possible global economic "storm" as world growth forecasts dip, citing the US-China trade row as a key pivot point.Thai princess Ubolratana has apologised after her short-lived candidacy for prime minister earned a royal rebuke from her brother -- the king -- and sent jitters across the politically febrile country just weeks before elections.

Bangkok: A Thai princess has apologised after her short-lived candidacy for prime minister earned a royal rebuke from her brother, the king, and sent jitters across the politically febrile country just weeks before elections.

Thailand has been mired in political drama since Friday, when Princess Ubolratana's name was submitted as a prime ministerial candidate by the Thai Raksa Chart Party.

The party is allied with the powerful Shinawatra clan, which has won all elections since 2001 but whose patron, the billionaire ex-premier Thaksin, lives in self-exile to avoid jail.

Ubolratana's unprecedented bid to enter frontline politics unravelled within hours after King Maha Vajiralongkorn decried the entry of a royal into the political fray as "highly inappropriate".

Thailand's monarchy is seen as above politics, although royals have intervened in public during times of political crisis.

The princess was disqualified as a prime ministerial candidate by the Election Commission on Monday, which cited the royal command. It is now discussing whether to refer Thai Raksa Chart to the consitutional court for dissolution.

In an Instagram post late Tuesday the 67-year-old princess apologised for her role in the drama.

"I'm sorry that my genuine intention to help work for the country and fellow Thaipeople has created a problem that shouldn't happen in this era," she wrote.

It was tagged with a hashtag: "#howcomeitsthewayitis".

Ubolratana is the first-born of former king Bhumibol Adulyadej, but she gave up her royal titles when she married an American in 1972.

After her divorce, she moved back to Thailand where she is regarded by the Thaipublic as a part of the royal family.

While she said she was exercising her rights as a commoner to stand for premier, the palace statement said she is "still a member of the House of Chakri", referring to the name of the dynasty.

The monarchy in Thailand is considered sacred and revered by its people, and is under the protection of draconian lese majeste laws. The king's word is considered final.

The scuttling of her candidacy and potential moves to dissolve the Thai Raksa Chart party is a blow to Thaksin Shinawatra's political machine.

The party was set to add to the vote bank of the bigger Shinawatra electoral vehicle, Pheu Thai, in an election where secondary parties are targeting seats via the party list system.

Thaksin and his sister Yingluck -- who was overthrown in the 2014 coup -- live abroad to avoid convictions they say are politically motivated.

Junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha, who toppled Yingluck's government, is running for prime minister in the March 24 poll.

Party executives from Thai Raksa Chart have expressed contrition after the upheaval, but said they would challenge any attempt to disband the party.

A media organisation affiliated with the Shinawatras was also in the crosshairs this week.

Voice TV, owned by Thaksin's son Ponthongtae, was ordered Tuesday by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) to go off-air for 15 days after two of its programs caused "confusion and provocation".CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said it regrets the European Commission's decision to include the country in a blacklist of nations seen as posing a threat to the bloc because of lax controls against terrorism financing and money laundering, a statement published by Saudi Press Agency said early on Thursday. 'Saudi Arabia's commitment to combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism is a strategic priority and we will continue to develop and improve our regulatory and legislative frameworks to achieve this goal', the statement quoted Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan as saying

CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said it regrets the European Commission's decision to include the country in a blacklist of nations seen as posing a threat to the bloc because of lax controls against terrorism financing and money laundering, a statement published by Saudi Press Agency said early on Thursday.

"Saudi Arabia's commitment to combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism is a strategic priority and we will continue to develop and improve our regulatory and legislative frameworks to achieve this goal", the statement quoted Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan as saying.

(Reporting by Mohamed El-Sherif;; Editing by Sandra Maler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.A Nevada woman is the latest to accuse Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias of sexual misconduct

Reno: The longtime director of the international center at the University of Nevada in Reno is the latest woman to accuse Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias of sexual misconduct.

Carina Black said in interviews this week that Arias boxed her in against a wall inside an elevator at the university in 1998 and then tried to kiss her. She said it happened after she spent a day escorting Arias to meetings and an evening speaking engagement at the university.

"I just smacked him in the face and pushed him away," Black said. "Then the elevators doors opened, and I left."

Arias, 78, met with prosecutors in Costa Rica on Wednesday to give a statement in two criminal complaints against him alleging sexual assault and sexual abuse, but he has declined to provide any specific public comment since he denied the initial complaint last week.

At least six women have made accusations against him ranging from unwanted advances to alleged assault. The Associated Press interviewed three people Black told about Arias' behavior shortly after she said it occurred, including her husband.

Black was 31 at the time and new to her job at the Northern Nevada International Center she helped found. She recalled struggling throughout the day because of what she described as Arias' overly intrusive demeanor leading up to the misconduct in the elevator.

Now 52, Black said he repeatedly tried to hold her hand and invited her to visit him in Costa Rica but that she tried to ignore the moves she found offensive, not wanting to be rude, because the 1987 Nobel laureate had been invited to the university and was a guest of honor.

"I was constantly trying to be polite because he's a person of authority," Black said.

Arias was twice elected Costa Rica's president and received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end protracted and bloody civil wars in Central America.

Black said she decided to come forward to support the woman who launched the first criminal complaint last week against Arias in Costa Rica.

Arias on Wednesday appeared at the Costa Rica prosecutor's office with his lawyer and told reporters he has always answered questions during 50 years in public life but declined to do so, saying "on this occasion my lawyer has requested I not make statements."

In the first criminal complaint filed, Arias is accused of groping, kissing and penetrating a female peace activist with his fingers at his home in 2014. A former Miss Costa Rica lodged a second complaint, saying Arias grabbed, groped and kissed her against her will at his home in 2015.

"We almost always think that it is our fault that we encourage these kinds of situations," Black said. "Unless we come out and say something to the contrary, this will continue to happen to other women."

Arias denied wrongdoing after the initial complaint, saying he "never disrespected the will of any woman" and has fought for gender equality during his career. As more allegations emerged, his lawyer Erick Ramos has declined to comment further.

Black said she became aware of the allegations Arias faces last week when a friend at the U.S. State Department with whom she had given a presentation on sexual harassment sent her a news article about the initial accuser.

"I feel so much sympathy for this woman in Costa Rica. She went to all these lawyers who apparently told her they won't take her case because he is so powerful," she said. "I'm protected by both distance and the rule of law here in the United States, so I don't have as much to fear as all of these women who are in much closer proximity to him."

University of Nevada spokeswoman Kerri Garcia confirmed Black was working at the university when Arias visited on April 6, 1998. Black helped found the center that year to facilitate visits for prominent international figures like Arias. He was one of her first official guests, who also included Desmond Tutu.

She said she kept a photograph album of a banquet for Arias attended by other dignitaries, including then-U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan and then-Nevada Gov. Bob Miller, as well as photos of Black and Arias posing together. Looking at it for the first time more than 20 years later "just made me gag," she said.

A student adviser who helped organize the event, Josefine Durazo, said in an interview that Black called her shortly after the Arias event and said, "You're not going to believe what happened."

Black told her what Arias did in the elevator and "was really upset at the time, infuriated," said Durazo, who now works for the World Bank in Washington, DC.

Richard Siegel, a retired university political science professor who appeared in a picture with Arias at the banquet, said Black told him about it a day or several days later. "I remember her telling me what happened, her version of it  being accosted on the elevator," Siegel said in an interview.

Black's husband, Greg, said his wife told him after she returned home from the event that night. Greg Black said he encouraged his wife to speak out to set an example for their four daughters, to lend credibility to Arias' first accuser "and let her know she is not alone."

Costa Rica's National Liberation Party last week announced Arias was leaving the party pending an outcome of the first criminal case.The United Nations Security Council's visit would have come at a tumultuous time: Israel is headed for elections in April.

United Nations (US): Israel has told the UN Security Council that it opposes a planned visit by the top UN body to the Palestinian territories for a close-up look at the situation, Kuwait's ambassador said Wednesday.

Kuwait and other council members proposed the visit to the occupied territories during a meeting last week on Israel's decision to end the international observer force in the West Bank city of Hebron.

During a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, the council president briefed members on talks held with Israel and the Palestinians on the proposal for a visit.

"He said Israel categorically refused the council visit," Kuwait's Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi told reporters after the meeting.

"They don't want to receive a visit by the Security Council" even though they are prepared to welcome delegations from countries on the council, he added.

"We expressed our regret that this visit will not take place because it has been raised many times by the council."

The Israeli mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The visit would have come at a tumultuous time: Israel is headed for elections in April and the United States is reportedly putting the finishing touches to its much-awaited peace proposals.

The Security Council has adopted several resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process that call for a two-state solution and holds monthly meetings on the conflict.

Israel maintains that the UN body is biased in favour of the Palestinians. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Israel and the Palestinian territories in August 2017 but the Security Council has never traveled on a mission to that region.

In 1979, envoys from the top UN body went to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt as part of a special mission.

Over the past years, several proposals for a visit to Gaza and the occupied territories have been quashed by the United States, a veto-wielding member of the Security Council.

The council later Wednesday travels to Guinea-Bissau and Ivory Coast and is planning a trip to Mali in March. Last year, it made a high-profile visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh to meet with Rohingya refugees.Briefing the Pakistan Parliament, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi claimed India, on multiple occasions, had tried to harm Islamabad's diplomatic ties with other countries.

Islamabad: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday claimed that India has failed to diplomatically isolate Islamabad, according to a media report.

Briefing Parliament, the minister claimed India, on multiple occasions, had tried to harm Pakistan's diplomatic ties with other countries.

Ties between India and Pakistan nosedived following a spate of terror attacks on Indian military bases by Pakistan-based terror groups since January 2016.

Following the strikes, India announced it will not engage in talks with Pakistan, saying terror and talks cannot go hand-in-hand.

India, in September, cancelled the proposed meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistan counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi in New York, citing the brutal killing of security personnel by Pakistan-based entities.

"India's failure to isolate Islamabad diplomatically is a win for the country," Qureshi was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.

He reiterated the need to strengthen Pakistan's position in the diplomatic and global arena and to continue to address any challenges that may arise.

Qureshi also maintained that countries willing to invest in Pakistan and benefit from mutual cooperation shall not be agreeable to India.

"It is to India's discontent that nations are willing to establish mutual trade ties with Pakistan," he said.

Qureshi's assertion of diplomatic successes of Pakistan came days ahead of planned visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman on Saturday to expand economic and defence cooperation.Former Maldives president Abdulla Yameen, who is accused of using money stolen from state coffers, was charged with money laundering on Wednesday.

Colombo: Former Maldives president Abdulla Yameen, who is accused of using money stolen from state coffers, was charged with money laundering on Wednesday, according to a local media report.

The case stems from an allegedly shady deal to lease islands for tourist resort development and the discovery of $1 million in his bank account.

The case has been filed at the criminal court, the prosecutor general's office tweeted on Wednesday.

Yameen, who lost presidential election to Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in September 2018 after a five-year rule, is accused of using money stolen from state coffers, the police said last week, after wrapping up investigations, The Maldives Independent reported.

Under the 2014 anti-money laundering law, the offence carries a prison sentence between five to 15 years or a fine of up to $64,850.

Separate charges were sought over alleged false testimony to the Anti-Corruption Commission during its investigation into the theft of $90 million from the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), the paper said.

Yameen was questioned in December over $1 million deposited to his personal account by SOF, a local company that was used to funnel resort acquisition fees paid to the MMPRC.

"The SOF company which benefited from the funds stolen from MMPRC deposited $1 million to Yameen's account at the Maldives Islamic Bank. Yameen was ordered to return the state funds, but the investigation found that he had profited by not handing over the money and by carrying out transactions," police said.

Yameen denies any wrongdoing. Last week, his legal team dismissed the charges as an attempt to influence the 6 April parliamentary elections.

"The ACC has so far been unable to prove that the $1 million transferred to Yameen's account in MIB by the SOF company was state funds earned through corruption," lawyers contended in a statement.

Yameen's former legal affairs minister Aishath Azima Shukoor is also facing charges of lying to the authorities and assisting with money laundering. It is unclear whether the PG office has raised charges against her.

Weeks after Yameen left office, his bank accounts were frozen with more than $6.5 million and local currency as police launched a probe into campaign contributions and the $1 million from SOF.

Yameen jailed or exiled most of his rivals during his turbulent five-year term. Suspecting a plot to impeach him, Yameen in February 2018 declared a state of emergency and arrested top judges as well as political opponents.

His rule dented its image as a honeymoon paradise and attracted alarm abroad. He decisively lost the country's presidential election to opposition leader Solih in September 2018.tech2 News Staff

Rare footage of one of the world's most trafficked mammals, the giant pangolins of Africa, has been captured by British conservation researchers from the Chester Zoo.

 MUST WATCH 

Very rare NEW footage of GIANT PANGOLINS in the wild.

Pangolins - the world's most trafficked mammals - are being pushed to extinction. But zoo conservationists are conducting the FIRST pangolin study in Uganda. Vital data could help us prevent their extinction. pic.twitter.com/lkEPRmNL3O  Chester Zoo (@chesterzoo) February 13, 2019

The pangolin, which also goes by the name 'scaly anteater' for its hard and protective armour, is seen sitting on its super-strong tail as it holds on to a tree with its claws.

The video was captured at the Ziwa Sanctuary in Uganda, East Africa, using 70 motion-sensor trail cameras that were scattered around the sanctuary's trails by the zoo's team.

New innovations in sensitive trail cameras have helped researchers study these rare and shy nocturnal creatures better than ever before. Giant pangolins are one of four different species protected by the African reserve. They share the habitat with protected rhinos, which too are under rising threat from poaching.

In a different scene captured by the remotely-operated cameras, a baby pangolin is seen clinging to an adult's back as it rummages through bushes.

By watching these rare creatures, researchers hope to better understand the little-known, secretive nocturnal species, which are only found in equatorial Africa today. Their numbers have been on a steady decline towards extinction from illegal hunting for their tough scales and exotic meat.

"With no giant pangolins in zoos or safari parks anywhere in the world, all our conservation efforts must focus on saving them in the wild," Stuart Nixon, lead researcher at the Chester Zoo's Africa field programme, told AFP.

"The race is on against criminal networks that only value dead pangolins, to save this species and protect them well into the future."

Sam Mwandha, the executive director of the Uganda Wildlife Authority, called the rare sights of giant pangolins "very exciting". He also stressed the need to "protect and conserve the highly threatened species for future generations."

With inputs from AFPtech2 News Staff

Google may not be as prominent as Apple or Samsung when it comes to its hardware products, but the tech giant certainly plans on expanding its portfolio over 2019.

Sources familiar with Google's plans now state that the company has a host of products lined up for release this year. This includes rumours of the very first Pixel Watch, a new Nest security camera as well as a budget-oriented Pixel smartphone.

As per a report by reputed Japanese publication Nikkei, Google, as it has been doing over the past couple of years, will also be launching a new Google Home speaker lineup later this year.

While there's not much new on what any of these upgrades will have on offer, the Pixel Watch is definitely one product that has been doing the rumour rounds for a long time now. As stated by popular tipster Evan Blass, Google was expected to launch a new Pixel Watch alongside the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL in October 2018. However, the launch was delayed and Google is yet to fix a launch date for the product.

After recently purchasing $40 million worth of tech from smartwatch manufacturer Fossil, it would be interesting to see what Google decides to add to the Pixel Watch.

The article also mentions that the Google Pixel 3 Lite will be part of the companys 2019 roadmap and will enter the market earlier than the other speculated devices.

The Nikkei report also mentions Googles plans to launch a new smart speaker (likely another Home product) and web camera, which could potentially be manufactured by Nest, the smart home security company purchased by Google in 2014.

In addition to the Pixel Watch, the report also affirms that we can expect the usual iteration of flagship smartphone updates this year  the Pixel 4 and the Pixel 4 XL  which will arrive in October, just like its last three predecessors.Reuters

The former top corporate lawyer at Apple was criminally charged by the US Department of Justice on Wednesday with insider trading ahead of six of the iPhone makers quarterly earnings announcements.

Authorities said Gene Levoff exploited his positions as corporate secretary, head of corporate law and co-chairman of a committee that reviewed draft copies of Apples financial results to trade illegally between 2011 and 2016.

Prosecutors said Levoff, 45, of San Carlos, California, generated $604,000 in illegal gains, including realized profit and avoided losses, before Apple terminated his decade-long employment in September.

Levoff faces one count of securities fraud, carrying a maximum 20-year prison term and a $5 million fine.

He is expected to appear on 20 Feb in a federal court in Newark, New Jersey.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission filed related civil charges in the case, one of the rare instances of a senior lawyer at a major US company being implicated in a crime.

Levoffs alleged exploitation of his access to Apples financial information was particularly egregious given his responsibility for implementing the companys insider trading compliance policy, Antonia Chion, associate director of the SECs enforcement division, said in a statement.

Kevin Marino, a lawyer for Levoff, said he was reviewing the allegations and looked forward to defending his client.

Gene Levoff was a highly regarded Apple executive for many years, and has never before been accused of wrongdoing, Marino said in an email.

Apple said in a statement it had terminated Levoff after an internal probe, and that it trains employees about their legal obligations.

Authorities said Levoff reported to Apples general counsel and has been a corporate officer of every major subsidiary of the Cupertino, California-based company.

As co-chairman of Apples disclosure committee, Levoff helped Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and his predecessor, Steve Jobs, ensure the timeliness, accuracy and proper oversight of company disclosures, including financial results, according to authorities.

Despite this, prosecutors said Levoff bought and sold more than $14 million of Apple stock, including $10 million in July 2015 alone, after being given draft earnings materials but before the results were made public.

Authorities said Levoff knew or should have known he was breaking the law, citing a February 2011 email where he warned employees not to trade on material nonpublic information.

The charges against Levoff were filed in New Jersey, where authorities said servers were located for firms that handled Levoffs illegal trades.Annapolis typically receives an annual payment of $367,000 for services provided to the state capital. But this year, Gov. Larry Hogan did not include that funding in his budget. During initial hearings on the bill lawmakers said they did not know why the governor removed the funding that had been constant for years. Hogan has railed against mandated spending since he took office.Reuters

Apple Inc has sharply increased its efforts to test self-driving cars on public roads but lags far behind market leader Waymo on a key safety metric, according to data released on Wednesday by the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

Apple, which has kept details of its self-driving program under wraps, put in 79,745 miles (128,337 km) of testing in California in 2018, still far short of 10 million miles of testing on roads around the world by Alphabet Incs Waymo. But the miles put in by Apple last year far surpassed the 838 miles of testing that the iPhone maker did the previous year.

The data was part of California regulators annual so-called disengagement reports, which track how often a human safety driver must intervene to take control from a self-driving system during testing on public roads.

In the complex world of self-driving technology where road-test data is a closely guarded secret, the number of miles between disengagements has become a key metric for industry watchers to indicate how far any players technology has progressed.

Waymo led the industry with 11,017 miles between disengagements in 2018, a 50 percent improvement from 5,595 miles the year before. Waymo said the improvement came despite driving 1.2 million miles in California, where roads are much busier than other areas where it is testing vehicles, such as suburban Arizona.

A lower rate of disengagements shows that our cars are getting better at recognising and handling a wide variety of driving situations, including edge cases across the cities weve been testing in: those unusual situations that a human driver might see only once (or never) in a lifetime of driving, Waymo said in blog post.

Apple, by contrast, came in dead last, logging just over one mile per disengagement. In a letter to regulators, Apple said its approach to reporting disengagements had been conservative and that its report was over-inclusive.

Apple said it changed how it categorized disengagements starting in July 2018. Since then, the company said it had driven about 2,000 miles between what it calls important disengagements, which it defined as situations that might have resulted in a safety-related event or a violation of the rules of the road. At least two of those important disengagements happened when other human drivers hit its test vehicles, Apple said.

Apple declined to comment beyond its public documents, but even its re-worked disengagement numbers put it below other firms testing the technology.

General Motors Cruise said it had driven 447,621 miles in California autonomously in 2018, with a disengagement every 5,205 miles on average, an improvement over every 1,236 miles last year. Cruise has yet to meet a target it set for early 2018 of driving 1 million miles autonomously per month.

Apple, which has only talked in general terms about its interest in self-driving, is a relative latecomer to the field, having only secured a California permit to conduct testing in 2017.

Last year Apple re-hired Doug Field to work on its self-driving car project, called Project Titan, with longtime executive Bob Mansfield. Field had previously left Apple to become senior vice president of engineering at Tesla Inc.

Some companies, including Ford Motor Co, Tesla Inc, Lyft and German auto supplier Bosch, said they had performed no autonomous testing in California last year.People of Delhi will continue to suffer, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj told reporters after the Supreme Court's verdict on Thursday.

The Supreme Court's verdict on the turf war between the Centre and the Delhi government was welcomed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Thursday. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on the other hand, was not as upbeat in its response.

The AAP said it was unfortunate that there was no clarity in the Supreme Court judgement that delivered a split verdict on who controls services in the National Capital Territory.

People of Delhi will continue to suffer, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj told reporters after the Supreme Court referred the issue of clarity on division of powers between the Delhi government and the Centre to a larger bench.

On the other hand, BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in Delhi Vijender Gupta said on Twitter:

We welcome the Supreme Court decision removing ambiguities in the powers of the Delhi govt. After this verdict there shouldnt be any scope for confusion or conflict. The Delhi govt shpuld humbly accept it & govern the capital as it was being done before they had come to power.  Vijender Gupta (@Gupta_vijender) February 14, 2019

The BJP posted a tweet on its official handle saying, "Chief Minister Kejriwal has ruined four years of Delhi's citizens in his quest to prove himself as the boss of Delhi. Will you (Kejriwal) now get to work, or will you find another excuse for your lethargy?"

Out of the six specific areas the Supreme Court was looking to settle, the two judges, Justice AK Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan, had contrasting opinions as to who wielded power on the Delhi bureaucracy. Therefore, the matter related to Services (transfer and appointments of bureaucrats, mainly in Delhi secretariat) has been referred to a larger bench. On all other matters, the two-judge bench largely gave a consensual verdict and mostly upheld the Lieutenant Governor's stand.

With inputs from PTIAddressing a public rally in Valsad district of Gujarat, Rahul Gandhi also claimed that the Modi government refused to waive farmers' loans but wrote off Rs 3.5 lakh crore debt of '15 top industrialists'.

Valsad: Taking the Rafale row to Narendra Modi's home state, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday claimed the prime minister conducted "parallel negotiations" with Dassault Aviation on the fighter jet deal.

Addressing a public rally in Valsad district of Gujarat, Rahul also claimed that the Modi government refused to waive farmers' loans but wrote off Rs 3.5 lakh crore debt of "15 top industrialists".

Attacking the prime minister over the Rafale jet deal, Gandhi said, "The slogan 'chowkidar chor hai' (the sentry is the thief) is also famous in France and even former French president also says 'chowkidar chor hai'."

"The Defence Ministry and the Air Force said Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducted parallel negotiations with Dassault Aviation on Rafale deal," Gandhi claimed.

Criticising the government's incentives announced in the interim budget, he promised that if the Congress comes to power at the Centre, it will give more than just Rs 17 per day in the income guarantee scheme directly in the accounts of the poor.

The Congress chief has been relentlessly targeting the government over the Rafale jet deal. He had on Tuesday accused Modi of acting as a middleman of industrialist Anil Ambani in the fighter jet agreement with France. However, the government and Ambani have been strongly rejecting allegations of any wrongdoing in the fighter jet deal.Rajbhar said he would hand over the charge of the backward class welfare department to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Uttar Pradesh Cabinet minister Om Prakash Rajbhar Thursday offered to resign as he alleged that his recommendations in appointment of state backward castes panel members have been "ignored", CNN-News18 reported.

Rajbhar said he would hand over the charge of the backward class welfare department to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The minister, whose Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) is an ally of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, said "A number of people from backwards castes had applied for various posts in the UP State Commission for Backward Classes. A list was prepared, and names of 28 persons were proposed by us (ministry)."

"After the file reached the chief minister's office, we came to know that names of 27 people are missing. Chairman, vice-chairman were arbitrarily made. Now what is the relevance of this minister?" a disgruntled Rajbhar told PTI in Lucknow.

"When a minister cannot have a say in selection of a member and all the work is to be done by the chief minister, then what is the point of the department being handled by me. The social justice panel's recommendations are waiting to be implemented. If the Backward Class Welfare Department is with me, then it is my job to fight for them and for their rights," he said.

The committee, constituted in May last year, had in its recommendations to the state government, favoured division of backward castes in three categories backward, very backward and most backward.

Backward classes account for about 44 percent of the electorate in the state and play a crucial role in making or marring political prospects of any party.

The panel's recommendation to classify various OBC and Dalit sub-castes into three broad categories and provide quota within quota to them is likely to spice up the political scene in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Rajbhar also alleged discrepancies in distribution of scholarship to children hailing from backward castes.

"When you speak about sabka saath sabka vikas, then there should be a parity. When you indulge in 'manmaani' (arbitrary conduct), then what will you do by taking us along? Are we only there to fetch votes for you?," the SBSP leader posed.

Rajbhar said, "I will hand over the backward class welfare department to chief minister requesting him to run it. I do not want it."

In 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the BJP had bagged 312 out of 403 seats, while SBSP had won four seats. Another ally of the coalition, the Apna Dal (Sonelal), had won nine seats.

On 10 February, the SBSP had warned that it will part ways with the BJP if the recommendations of the Social Justice Committee are not implemented by 24 February.

"If the BJP does not agree to the demands raised by us, we will definitely part ways with them. If it does not implement the recommendations of the Social Justice Committee by 24 February, then our path would be separate, and subsequently, we will contest in all 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state," SBSP general secretary Arun Rajbhar told PTI.

He also said, "We can even go with the anti-BJP alliance if the need rises. A number of talks have been held with them. This is the last warning. After 24 February, there will be no agreement with the BJP."

With inputs from PTIChandrababu Naidu said a decision to approach the Supreme Court against the use of EVMs was taken during a meeting of 15 non-BJP parties at Sharad Pawar's residence in New Delhi on Wednesday night.

Amaravati: Some non-BJP parties have decided to approach the Supreme Court against the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said in Amaravati on Thursday.

In his daily teleconference with Telugu Desam Party leaders, Naidu said a decision in this regard was taken during the meeting of 15 non-BJP parties at Sharad Pawar's residence in New Delhi on Wednesday night. A TDP release on the teleconference, however, did not give any further details on the issue.

The TDP has been demanding that use of EVMs be abolished in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and that the Election Commission of India revert to the old ballot paper system.

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, who was in Amaravati a few days ago, maintained that "most parties" reposed faith in EVMs and regretted that some were making the EVMs part of their "motivated slugfest".

Naidu also told his party rank and file that the Opposition parties decided to forge a pre-election alliance and work with a common minimum programme. "There is a lot of antagonism towards Narendra Modi's rule across the country. Democracy will be in danger in the hands of incompetent people. Our talks with national parties have been successful," the release quoted the TDP chief as saying.

He, however, did not specify if the TDP would have a pre-poll alliance with the Congress in Andhra Pradesh.

The Congress had already announced it would contest the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly elections, due in May, on its own.On Wednesday, Mulayam Singh Yadav said in the Parliament that he wished to congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, triggering speculation that not for the first time was all not well in the House of Yadav.

On Wednesday, Mulayam Singh Yadav said in the Parliament that he wished to congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mulayam said he respected Modi, blessed him and hoped that he would return as prime minister. The media, happy to have received a scent of a fresh twist in the pre-poll political scenario, pounced on the pronouncement. Was Mulayam rebelling against Akhilesh? Had Akhilesh's hard work in orchestrating an anti-BJP opposition gone to waste? Not for the first time was all not well in the House of Yadav.

The same mistakes made by the family, which could well have led to their downfall in the last Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh, could return to plague them ahead of the 2019 National Election.

The beginning

Formed in 1992, the Samajwadi Party had tied up with the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1993, the first year since its inception, to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party out of power in Uttar Pradesh and grant Mulayam a second term as chief minister. Overtime, Mulayam curated a distinct identity for his party, an essential tenet of which was its opposition to the BJP, the same party he hopes will return now. His trusted lieutenant was always brother Shivpal, who walked in rallies, stood by Mulayam on the dais and also represented SP as leader of Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh

Assembly during the Mayawati regime.

In what Shivpal was happy to allow to be a one-man organisation came their cousin Ram Gopal Yadav. A troublemaker, Ram Gopal has been expelled twice, first by Shivpal and then by Mulayam, but is routinely present at closed door party meetings. All interior strife, however, pale in comparison to the out-and-out battle that was waged by Akhilesh following Shivpal's appointment as SP president in 2016. The chief minister then, Akhilesh had promptly relieved him of his Cabinet portfolios.

The arrival of Akhilesh

Shivpal, along with the SP's oldest faces Azam Khan, had never been one to keep the throne ready for Akhilesh. In 2012, when Mulayam announced his son as the chief minister, both leaders had stirred.

But back then, Mulayam's shadow loomed large over the government, so much so that the entire Cabinet that he headed in 2003-2007 was repeated with the same portfolios in 2012. Shivpal had seemingly found little to worry in what was a Mulayam government headed by Akhilesh.

In the initial years, reported The Economic Times, Akhilesh's office would be populated with Mulayam loyalists -- officers and officials who would peddle his father's ideology. But the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots and Akhilesh's inexpert handling of it, led Mulayam to undermine his son's office and instead call a meeting of chief secretary Javed Usmani (who had served Mulayam during his chief ministership), Director General of Police Devraj Nagar and principal secretary of home RM Srivastava (another Mulayam favourite) to control the situation.

Strife that cost an election

While Akhilesh could well have hoped for a retired Mulayam to sink into the background, he did not. At times, he even said lines like, "The CM gets annoyed when people visit my office, akhir ticket to main hi dunga (after all, I am the who will give them the ticket)." In December of 2016, when Akhilesh had removed Shivpal's Cabinet portfolios, Mulayam had made good on his 'ticket' pronouncement and released his own list of SP candidates without consulting Akhilesh.

Akhilesh released his own list and was expelled by his father. With each day throwing up a new development at that time, Mulayam, Akhilesh, Ram Gopal and Shivpal became players in a brisk series of expulsions, inductions, press conferences and party meetings that ended with the Election Commission's involvement. What this drama also ended was the electorate's trust in the SP. Shivpal, an immensely popular leader, walked away and built the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohiya).

Hope of a Congress alliance

As a BJP government took over in Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh began to come into his own and has formed a crucial alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party. He calls the BSP supremo Mayawati his bua or aunt. In yet another indication that the family's politics is not one to end, uncle Shivpal has criticised this move and the fact that Akhilesh chose to foist a term used for a family member on an outsider. "Vo na hi behen ji hain? Na Neta ji (Mulayam) ne behen ji banaya, na humne behen ji banaya, toh Akhilesh ki bua kahan se ban gayi?" he was quoted as having said, by ANI.

While Akhilesh is also intent upon forging an alliance with the Congress, his sister-in-law Aparna Yadav has taken their natural bend towards Rahul Gandhi's party a step further. She was quoted by NDTV as having said that had Priyanka been projected as the chief ministerial face, the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance would have done much better in the Assembly polls, essentially once again going against Akhilesh.

An excuse for Mulayam

Mulayam is 79 now, at an age when his party leaders allege that he is too old to know what is what. Scroll spoke with leaders who blamed his failing health, memory loss and recent forgetfulness at a rally called by his brother Shivpal where Mulayam sought support for his own party, as reasons why he could have chosen to praise Modi. Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai tweeted that when asked outside Parliament as to why he made such a remark, Mulayam had said, "Aisa toh kuch kaha hai hi nahi, bhai!"

When Modi's turn came to speak in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, shrewd politician that he is, he ended his speech by "specially thanking" Mulayam. Shivpal had recently said Mulayam had been "confined forcibly" at home, pointing a silent finger at Akhilesh anchoring the SP's fortunes, reported Times of India.

In the winter of his discontent, the SP patriarch could well be maneouvering a route for himself which is separate from that of the party led by his son.Many AAP workers present in the rally were confident that the party will be able to defeat the BJP in Delhi even without support from the Congress.

Even though the Aam Aadmi Party appealed for a nationwide alliance of opposition parties to defeat the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in the Remove Dictatorship Save Democracy Satyagrah rally organised by it in Jantar Mantar on Wednesday, party workers believe that in Delhi no such understanding is required for an AAP victory.

Pawan Bhati, who is a shopkeeper at Baljeet Nagar in Delhi and also an AAP supporter, said to Firstpost that the AAP can win the seven Lok Sabha seats on its own in the National Capital.

In Delhi, we will certainly win the Lok Sabha elections without an alliance. The AAP government in Delhi has done enough welfare work to win all the seats, he said with confidence.

Bhati attended the Remove Dictatorship Save Democracy Satyagraha rally because he thought that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is trying to weave a nationwide alliance and he wants to express his support for it.

I am not sure if it is possible to defeat the BJP without an alliance in other states. So I am here to support a possible alliance in those states, he said.

Like Bhati, thousands of AAP supporters gathered in Jantar Mantar on Wednesday to listen and express their support to the opposition leaders. The AAP workers greeted leaders like West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and Congress leader Anand Sharma with thundering applause.

Many AAP workers present in the rally were confident that the party will be able to defeat the BJP in Delhi even without support from the Congress. But they expressed that a grand alliance was required to defeat the BJP in other states. All the opposition leaders who attended the rally vouched to fight the NDA in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls unitedly.

Appealing for a united India against the BJP, Banerjee said, All opposition parties should contest the elections only in those constituencies where they are the strongest. If the Congress is strong in Rajasthan then it should contest there.

She also said that even if the Opposition parties don't unite, her Trinamool Congress Party would still win in West Bengal.

We have no problem in West Bengal. We are used to fighting with the Congress and the CPM. We will win all the 42 Lok Sabha Seats in West Bengal even without any alliance, she said.

Yuvraj who is a health practitioner at Rohini in Delhi and an AAP member believes that the Congress has no more political might left in the capital city and hence it does not matter whether it allies with the AAP or not in the upcoming Lok Sabha Polls.

In Delhi, the Congress has certainly lost it to the AAP. The desired changes the AAP has brought in Delhis health and education sector will work in its favour in the upcoming polls, the AAP member said.

Like Bhati, Yuvraj also doubts whether the opposition could take on the might of Modi-Shah duo in other states without an effective alliance.

"We cannot say anything for sure as of now because opposition unity is not finalised yet. But it is sure that the rally would certainly send across a message, he said.

Shanti Jatav, a 60-year-old woman who earns her living by making envelopes does not believe that poor people in Delhi would vote for anyone other than AAP.

The benefits we have received from the AAP government were never given by any previous government. Be it free water supply, cheap electricity or old age pension, we have got them all from AAP government, she said.

Shanti had reached Jantar Mantar from her home in Mangolpuri by a bus provided to AAP workers by the party.

Till nearly a month back a possible AAP-Congress alliance was widely discussed in the media. Even many AAP leaders had thrown their weight in favour of an alliance.

The need for an alliance had stemmed from the equation that a good chunk of votes that ensured AAPs historic victory in the 2015 Delhi Assembly polls came from disheartened Congress voters. It was feared that this group of voters may return to the Congress fold this time, as the grand old party has shown signs of recovery.

But in an unexpected turn of events in the last month, Kejriwal declared that no alliance was possible with the Congress.

The Delhi chief minister also came up with a new equation to show the voters assuring them that an AAP victory in Delhi is possible even without an alliance.

In 2014, BJP got 46 percent votes, AAP 33 percent and Congress 15 percent of the vote share. With a 10 percentage point shift likely away from BJP this time, AAP is best suited to defeat it," Kejriwal had said.

But in sharp contrast to his earlier stance, the AAP convenor not only hosted the Remove Dictatorship Save Democracy Satyagraha rally favouring an alliance but also attended a meeting with all the opposition parties at Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawars residence in which Congress president Rahul Gandhi was also present.

There is no denying the fact that an alliance with the Congress in Delhi would require the wholehearted support from its cadre to win. It is yet to be seen whether the AAP workers support and cooperate with an alliance which many of them believe is not required.This is the second complaint filed against Karnataka BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa in the last two days over the alleged call.

Chikmagalur: Youth Congress workers have filed a complaint against BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa in Karnataka's Chikmagalur on Thursday over an alleged call he made to Sharanagouda, who is the son of JD(S) MLA Naganagouda Kandkur.

This is the second complaint filed against Yeddyurappa in the last two days over the alleged call.

Earlier on Wednesday, Sharanagouda had filed a police complaint against Yeddyurappa, other BJP leaders Preetham Gowda and Shivanna Gowda and former journalist Marakal over an alleged audiotape released by Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy.

The controversial audio clip allegedly contains a conversation between BJP state president Yeddyurappa and Sharanagouda. Kumaraswamy alleged that Yeddyurappa was purportedly trying to lure a JD(S) MLA.

Wednesdays complaint was filed at Devadurga police station under Section 506 of IPC (Punishment for criminal intimidation).Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav took everyone by surprise on Wednesday, the last session of the 16th Lok Sabha, by congratulating and praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and saying that he wanted to see Modi return as prime minister.

Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav took everyone by surprise on Wednesday, at the last session of the 16th Lok Sabha, by praising Narendra Modi and saying that he wanted to see him return as prime minister.

In light of the fact that Mulayam's son Akhilesh Yadav leads the SP, which is among the most vocal critics of the Bharatiya Janata Party government led by Modi, the aging leader's endorsement of Modi came as a veritable twist to the pre-Lok Sabha elections political scene.

The most immediate reactions were visible from the MPs of the BJP, who thumped the Treasury benches and shouted in support. Mulayam was seated next to UPA chairperson and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, who first laughed at his words and then turned back to speak to National Congress Party leader Supriya Sule.

Right after leaving Parliament, Sule said, "I have heard that respected Mulayam Singh ji had said the same thing for Manmohan Singh ji in 2014."

Congress chief Rahul said he disagreed with Mulayam. "But Mulayam Singh Yadav has a role in politics and I respect his opinion," he told reporters in Delhi.

Rahul and Akhilesh's respective parties form integral parts of the mahagathbandhan, or grand alliance, against the BJP. Akhilesh, especially, has been vocal in enticing Congress support for the SP-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance in Uttar Pradesh.

In the ranks of Mulayam's own party, the reactions ranged from avowed ignorance on the context and open dismissal. The former came from SP leader Ravidas Mehrotra, who said, "I don't have knowledge about the context in which Neta ji said it. But we want change of government at the Center. The prime minister will lose from his own constituency."

The latter came from SP founder member Azam Khan, who said Mulayam's praises for Modi were "not his own thoughts", and that he had been brainwashed.

SP MLA Shailendra Yadav, defended his party patriarch's statement saying, "He had given similar blessings to former prime minister Manmohan Singh ji. Now, Modi ji will also go."

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP and former SP leader Amar Singh said the remark in the Lok Sabha was "just to create confusion".

"This is just to create confusion to ensure that Chandrakala and Rama Raman, who looted Noida under the guidance of both Mulayam and Mayawati, are saved, and Modi ji gets neutralised," he said.

Mayawati had made Rama Raman the CEO of the Greater Noida Authority in 2010 and he rose in ranks under Akhilesh, till Yogi Adityanath booted the IAS officer out after becoming chief minister. IAS officer Chandrakala has been accused of corruption in an illegal mining case.

If the BJP was ecstatic in Parliament, then BJP workers on the ground were even happier with Mulayam's endorsement of Modi. By Thursday, BJP minority wing leader Taahir Hussain put up posters in Lucknow thanking Mulayam. They read, "Thank you Mulayam ji, you said what 125 crore people of the country feel."

Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya thanked Mulayam as did the state's Parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Khanna. State agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi, said, "With advancing age, a person starts speaking the truth."

Moreover, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy identified Mulayam as his "friend" and noted that the significance of his speech was that no one from the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty was acceptable as a prime ministerial candidate.

What is the significance of my friend speech LS today: No foreign remnants of Nehru dynasty acceptable to be PM and if forced he will side with Namo  Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) February 13, 2019

BJP's national IT cell member Khemchand Sharma tweeted in recognition of the praise received by Modi.

On the News Today, BJP spokesperson calls Mulayam Singh on of the tallest leaders in the country; till yesterday, he was Maulana Mulayam who ordered firing on Kar-sewaks! Isse kehte hain waqt waqt kee rajneeti!  Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) February 13, 2019

Furthermore, there were several reactions from journalists who noted the shift this development would cause in the pre-poll trend. Rajdeep Sardesai claimed that when asked why he had said Modi should be re-elected, Mulayam had said, "Aisa toh kuch kaha hai hi nahi, bhai". He also pointed out the shift in the BJP's regard for Mulayam since his praise of Modi.

Journalist Abhijit Majumder tweeted on the role this development would play to the hopes of a grand alliance. "Maha-phat-bandhan ho gaya," he wrote.

Other journalists who noted the situation were Tavleen Singh Aroor, Manu Pubby and Marya Shakil.Arvind Kejriwal said, 'If the government has no powers, how will it function? We have been suffering in this situation for the past four years.'

Hours after Supreme Court ruling on the turf war between Centre and the Delhi government came out, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed his disappointment with the judgment in strong terms, remarking that it was against the people, the Constitution and democracy. The apex court, in its verdict, upheld the stand of the Lieutenant Governor on most issues that it dealt with.

In a press conference on Thursday, Kejriwal said, "If the government has no powers, how will it function? We have been suffering in this situation for the past four years. If the government does not have control over bureaucrats, how will Manish Sisodia run schools, and how will Satyender Jain run mohalla clinics? These are aspects for which the government has received praise."

Kejriwal also reacted to the apex court putting the Anti-Corruption Bureau under Centre's ambit. He said, "For the past forty years, the ACB had been under the Delhi government. The verdict now says that it is not so. If someone comes to me with a complaint of corruption, what should I do as the chief minister? Do I ask them to go to the Opposition (BJP), which has just 3 MLAs?"

In its verdict, the apex court gave the L-G control over the ACB and also upheld the Centre's notification that its employees cannot be probed in corruption cases by ACB of Delhi government.

However, the top court also said that instead of the L-G, the Delhi government will have the right to appoint public prosecutors or law officers.

With respect to transfers and postings of officers of and above the rank of Joint Secretary, the two judges comprising the Supreme Court bench differed in their views. Justice AK Sikri held that transfers and posting of officers of and above the rank of Joint Secretary are under the powers of the Lieutenant Governor, whereas other officers below the aforementioned rank are under the control of Delhi government, Live Law reported. However, Justice Ashok Bhushan dissented from Justice Sikri, and held that all the officers fall under the domain of the Central government.

Hitting out at Kejriwal's comments, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra accused him of insulting the Supreme Court and said, "Today, Arvind Kejriwal didn't hold a press conference, he issued a contempt of court conference." He also said that Kejriwal has now aligned with leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Rahul Gandhi and Sharad Pawar, whom he had opposed before. Patra remarked, "Now you're standing with them to 'save democracy' and are criticising the Supreme Court at the same time?"

With inputs from PTII have to tell you about Rob, who could have done this better than me. Gerald, who would have been more eloquent. Wendi, who would have heard our community in ways I cant. John, who would have provided quiet strength and Rebecca, who was simply the nicest of us all.Asked whether the AAP was more eager for an alliance with the Congress, he said the BJP would benefit in a three-cornered contest.

New Delhi: The Congress has "more or less" ruled out an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday, a day after he had participated in a meeting with opposition leaders, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Responding to a question on an alliance with the Congress, he said it has "more or less ruled out the alliance (with AAP)". Asked whether the AAP was more eager for an alliance with the Congress, he said the BJP would benefit in a three-cornered contest.

Moving forward on a united anti-BJP front for the Lok Sabha elections, top opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday agreed to work together to prepare a common minimum programme to oust the Modi government and to consider forging a pre-poll alliance.

The meeting, hosted by NCP president Sharad Pawar at his residence, also saw Congress Rahul and Kejriwal coming together for the first time.Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said Samajwadi chief Akhilesh Yadav should accept the truth which his father spoke in Parliament.

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said Samajwadi chief Akhilesh Yadav should accept the truth which his father spoke in Parliament.

Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and wished that the latter returns to power after the general elections in 2019.

I congratulate the Prime Minister because he has tried to take everybody along. I want to say that all members must win and come again and Narendra Modi should become the Prime Minister again, Mulayam said in Lok Sabha.

Commenting on Mulayam's comment, Adityanath said, "This is the truth, and truth always wins. What Mulayamji said in the Parliament is the truth, I am sure like Mulayamji, his son should also accept this truth."

The SP veteran's stance is being perceived as a jolt to the efforts of Akhilesh Yadav who had joined hands with the opposition parties to counter the BJP in the general elections.After Samajwadi party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and wished that the latter returns to power after the General Elections in 2019, posters thanking the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister appeared in Lucknow on Wednesday.

Lucknow: After Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and wished that the latter returns to power after the general elections in 2019, posters thanking the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister appeared in Lucknow on Wednesday.

The poster carried a message, "Thank you Mulayam Singh Yadav, today you reiterated the wish of 125 crore Indians in the Lok Sabha."

In a surprising statement which left the opposition squirming, Mulayam in the Lok Sabha said he wished to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi back as Prime Minister of India. Notably, Congress leader and United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi was sitting next to Mulayam in the Lok Sabha.

Mulayams comments came at a time when his son and Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav has been seen supporting Opposition leaders in forging an anti-BJP alliance to oust the Modi-led government from the Centre.

I congratulate the Prime Minister because he has tried to take everybody along. I want to say that all members must win and come again and Narendra Modi should become the Prime Minister again, he said in Lok Sabha. Acknowledging with folded hands, Prime Minister Modi thanked Mulayam twice for his laudatory remark.

In January, the SP and BSP forged an alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls posing a formidable challenge to the ruling BJP at the Centre. Among all states, Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of 80 Lok Sabha seats and plays a crucial role in government formation at the Centre.The Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have nearly sealed the deal on a seat-sharing formula in Maharashtra for the Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have nearly sealed the deal on a seat-sharing formula in Maharashtra for the Lok Sabha election. NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress president Rahul Gandhi held an hour-long meeting at the former's home in Delhi on Wednesday, where they ironed out how the parties will contest the polls in Maharashtra. NCP leader Praful Patel said that a "formal announcement is expected in the next eight to 10 days".

While the two parties have come to a decision on 44 of the 48 parliamentary seats in Maharashtra, four seats remain contentious  Raver, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad and Nandurbar. The Congress has reportedly demanded Raver and Ahmednagar constituencies from the NCP, while the NCP wants Nandurbar and Aurangabad.

However, Patel, who was present at the meeting at Pawar's house, said that they only had "differences, and not a dispute" over these four seats. Adding that "it will be sorted out amicably", Patel explained that the reason behind the Congress and NCP coming to a definitive decision on seats was lack of "clarity on the aspirants joining us from other parties".

Both parties are expecting a few sitting MPs from the Shiv Sena and BJP to join them.

For the Congress and NCP, especially the grand old party, Maharashtra is crucial for the Lok Sabha elections as the state has the highest number of parliamentary seats, 48, second only to Uttar Pradesh, which has 80. Winning a significant number of seats in the state would improve the chances of either the UPA or NDA of forming the government at the Centre.

Securing a favourable seat-sharing formula with the NCP is crucial as the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party snubbed the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, where the three were expected to take on the BJP together. Even though the SP-BSP alliance said they will not contest from Congress bastions Amethi and Raebareli, almost like a consolation prize for leaving the party out of the alliance, it does not bode too well for the Congress to have the votes in Uttar Pradesh now getting split three ways.

This situation would suggest that the NCP could use the BSP-SP pressure on the Congress to its advantage, but if the latest reports are anything to go by, the two have decided to award ousting the BJP-Sena combine greater priority than petty politics.

The two parties had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections together  the Congress contested 26 seats and won two; NCP contested 21 and bagged four  but they parted ways in the Maharashtra Assembly polls held months after the general elections. Local elections held in the state recently yielded mixed results for the alliance.

This Maha Aghadi in Maharashtra will not be comprised of just the Congress and NCP. Besides their own negotiations, they are also in talks with other smaller parties in a bid to consolidate a solid anti-BJP unit.

These include former NDA ally Raju Shetti's Swabhiman Paksha, Hitendra Thakur's Bahujan Vikas Aghadi and Prakash Ambedkar's Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh. While Ambedkar has been demanding 12 seats  a figure that the Congress has dubbed unreasonable  Shetti has been pressing for six. The Samajwadi Party, too, may contest from one seat. Both the NCP and Congress have agreed that seats for these parties will be taken out from their own chunk.

Whatever seat-sharing arrangement they agree to for the Lok Sabha polls could also form the basis of how they go about the Maharashtra Assembly elections expected around September-October 2019.

Furthermore, there may be a new, unexpected entrant in this Maha Aghadi in Maharashtra for the Lok Sabha elections. Ajit Pawar, former deputy chief minister and Sharad Pawar's nephew, has been adamant about including Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in the alliance, despite vehement opposition to the demand. Ajit Pawar has maintained that the MNS chief's views on the BJP had changed since he had endorsed Narendra Modi for prime minister. He believes that Thackeray is the Congress-NCP combine's best chance of taking on the BJP and Shiv Sena.

However, this seems highly unlikely. The two parties have always tried to distance themselves from the anti-North Indian stance of the MNS and the violence the party is known for. The alliance fears that any association with Thackeray will only work to the advantage of the saffron units.

Though improbable, Congress-NCP would have the best chance in Maharashtra if they join hands with the Shiv Sena, keeping in mind the continued attacks the Uddhav Thackeray-led outfit has kept up on its alliance partner. However, despite being increasingly critical of the BJP and its "anti-poor" policies, the Sena and BJP have not formally broken their alliance, further ruling out this possibility of the party helping Congress-NCP take down the BJP.

Rahul has reiterated for months that dethroning the BJP was his party's primary aim, and he would go to any length to ensure this happens. Which makes it likely that the Congress is going to play it safe with any alliance that it may try to forge.At the time of writing this, the Air Quality Index across North America averages between 40-77  the green-ticked First World. India is lit up on-screen with red flags  Hazardous, the labels warn. Delhi NCR is at 282 in RK Puram, 484 in Greater Noida and 619 in the industrial town of Mundka. Bandra, Mumbai, shows 248 Very Unhealthy: Emergency conditions. Meanwhile, in coastal regions of Odisha and West Bengal, cyclones have increased at an alarming rate along with flooding and drought  displacing local populations and disrupting livelihoods. Climate change is not a drill and the next few years are crucial for arresting this descent  quite literally, in areas near rising sea-levels. Accordingly, on the international stage, India positions itself as a climate leader, setting ambitious targets for renewable energy. Closer home, however, the cracks in this image become apparent.

At the end of January, Greenpeace India shuttered the doors to its Delhi and Patna offices, letting go of staff, many of whom had been with Greenpeace for the greater part of a decade. This came in the wake of months of struggling to pay salaries after a continued freeze on accounts by the Enforcement Directorate. A similar situation unfolded last December for Amnesty International India, which has been vocal against the excesses of the State, including the use of pellet guns in Kashmir. The narrative is not new: the old bogey of foreign powers trying to thwart Indias development dates back to the Dr Manmohan Singh-led UPA government. Since coming to power in 2014, the Narendra Modi-led NDA government has dialed this narrative up  cancelling the FCRA licenses of nearly 15,000 charities, weakening legal institutions, and creating the spectre of urban naxals wherever it meets resistance. Greenpeace has long advocated against aggressive clearances for coal plants and mining in natural forests  an unwelcome stance. Mousumi Dhar, interim executive director for Greenpeace India, says, The Ministry of Power has been actively pushing back against implementation of emission standards for thermal power plants for years before being pulled up by the Supreme Court. But whats the big deal with coal anyway?

Reports show that coal-based power plants are the major source of air pollution in India with over 300 coal thermal power plants continuing to violate emission standards set by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MOEF&CC) back in 2015. Despite the urgent need for a time-bound plan, the recently released National Clean Air Programme lacks teeth without any sectoral targets or legal bindings which would compel industries to change says activist Sunil S Dahiya, author of the Airpocalypse II report. On its part, the Centre dismissed the severity of findings on the impact of air-pollution on lifespan as inconclusive  a confusing stance given that the Lancet report resulted from collaboration between experts from premier Indian institutions, including the Indian Council of Medical Research and AIIMS. In this time of alternative facts, what is the government serious about? At Davos last year, Modi spoke about the need to stop being protectionist: If you want wealth and wellness, he said, come to India. The question is wealth and wellness for whom? The portal eSuvidha provides an interesting indication of the governments priorities. Here the Project Monitoring Group works with the MoEF&CC to expedite approvals and clear implementation bottlenecks for projects with an anticipated investment of Rs 1,000 crore  particularly forest-approvals. Several of the listed projects under processing involve coal. What does all this efficiency involve?

On the ground, it means that the Forest Rights Act, which protects pre-existing rights of forest-dwelling communities against displacement, has been diluted. This landmark legislation drafted in 2006 by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs promotes community management of forestland and resources through politically representative Gram Sabhas, whose consent is mandatory for forest governance. Under the current government, the interpretation of consent has becomegenerous. With the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act of 2016 consent changed to consultation and as in the case of the Adani coal mine in Chattisgarhs Hasdeo Arand forest, operations can begin with Stage-1 approval where a proposal is agreed to in principal. Its like moving into someones house and then saying  this is okay na? says Aruna Chandrasekhar, a writer and researcher who has worked with indigenous peoples movements in the mineral-rich belts since 2011. We talk about the Koregaon Nine imprisoned for the alleged plot to assassinate the Prime Minister Sudha Bharadwaj who fought for adivasi legal rights in Chhattisgarh, Mahesh Raut who managed to break bamboo traders lobbies. Theyre beating movements with a stick as an example to others, she says. With laws being whittled down and institutions eroded, the next government is going to inherit this. What will the rest of India do to undo it? she worries.

An environment researcher who preferred to remain anonymous for reasons of safety elaborates on eroding compliance norms and intimidation. Earlier there were proper assessments at least, the researcher says. Post the Niyamgiri judgement, Vedanta was supposed to clear out but now theyre trying different tactics to start a bauxite corridor there. People are already being randomly arrested. It has affected the movement at large  for organisations, particularly if youre working on mining issues, you cant be as open. Theres a fear of getting your FRA license cancelled. "In Rajasthan, for instance the media won't call out certain mining companies by name. After what's happened with Sterlite, the companies are wary about mobilisation  so the women leading resistance are dealt with separately. Activists may be arrested. Also these companies run CSR projects in a few areas such as forming SHG groups with women; this allows them to establish a certain level of control over the women involved in these groups, so they're scared to come together and speak out about violations in their area. The other fear they have is that their husbands who work in the mines as labourers may be suspended from their jobs if they speak out. And since many mining areas don't have alternative livelihoods, it's extremely challenging for the community to then build mobilisation on ground," the researcher added. On Firstpost  The anti-Sterlite protest of 22 May: A day of rage and death in Thoothukudi Over at the Sterlite copper smelter in Thoothukudi, after the killings of 22 May 2018, one might have thought the government would ease off. Instead, theres been a near stranglehold on democracy and public expression as per activist Nityanand Jayaraman. Meetings on Sterlite are not permitted, WhatsApp groups are monitored and as in Kudankulam, people live under threat of sedition cases. The defense frequently presented by companies such as Vedanta in favour of their industrial projects is job-creation. However, analysis of the last three decades shows this kind of development to be jobless growth which destroys existing livelihoods, brings in migrant labour, and puts in place insecure and unsafe contract-work. As people on the ground have wised up to this, resistance has grown stronger. An alternative model of well-being is very possible, insists Mousumi of Greenpeace. One which puts ecology-based livelihoods in forestry, agriculture, fisheries, crafts, small-scale manufacturing and services as a core element. Given that unemployment is at a 45-year high, perhaps the incoming government would be wise to take this seriously.

At present, the reopening of the Sterlite factory has been ordered by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) which declared its closure unsustainable despite evidence of environmental pollution. The Tamil Nadu government has challenged the jurisdiction of the NGT in this matter. Later this month, the Supreme Court will review the decision, having already noted that the matter does indeed fall under the NGTs mandate. Also coming up in the Supreme Court is a petition filed by NGO Vanashakti to declare Mumbais Aarey Milk Colony protected Forest Land against the construction of a Metro car-shed there. Three years after the petition was filed with the NGT, and after many proceedings, they were compelled to withdraw their case as the NGT suddenly said that it did not fall under their mandate. Director of Vanashakti Stalin D says, The NGT played a cruel joke on us. After so long, you dont reject a matter on preliminary objection grounds. Furthermore, despite being assured that a note would be made of the direction from the judge on seeking alternate remedies, the order on the website had no such mention. The MMRC in the meantime has gone ahead and cut down trees. Having dug into archival records, Stalin adds that its puzzling how despite an old Supreme Court order to define Aarey as forest, it was not done. Between 1969, when Aarey consisted of 2,076 hectares and was transferred to the State Forest Department, and today, where it has 1,280, a substantial chunk of land was siphoned off, he says.

The conduct of the NGT is yet another troubling aspect in this thorough assault on environmental protections. Created in 2010 to address environmental issues in India through a judicial board with relevant expertise, it has expedited cases while rarely questioning decisions taken by the MoEF&CC. Since 2017, the Centre has increased its control over many aspects of the NGT. Today regional benches remain empty  requiring frequent, expensive travel to Delhi on the part of petitioners. The Compensatory Afforestation levy would address the deforestation of Aarey by requiring funds to be directed towards planting trees elsewhere. This move, allowing easy clearances for land acquisition, and has been heavily critiqued for its shallow understanding of biodiversity. The resulting plantations often further infringe adivasi rights and tree-cover is not equivalent to a forest being lost. Sunil Dahiya tells me, You cant ask a leopard to go live in a plantation. If you let a forest area be, in 10 years it will rejuvenate itself. But then theres no money in that. So heres the situation: the government-corporate nexus is old news but today, the checks and balances on it are being destroyed. In the face of this undeclared emergency, perhaps India should proudly accept its membership in the Climate Change Denial Club. Also read  The elephant in the room: A graphic narrative on coal mining in the Hasdeo forest Then again, India is not just its government. I think about my conversation with Stalin D. Its a thankless battle. "Most of the older group in the Aarey Conservation Group got worn out," he said. "But their places have been taken up by youngsters who are taking the fight forward seriously." A day later I come across Azadi Records new music video The Warli Revolt by hip-hop band Swadesi, featuring Prakash Bhoirji advocating for Aarey. And I think  you cant kill dissent. This correspondent reached out to Dr Harsh Vardhan (Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forests and Climate Change), Dr Mahesh Sharma (Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change) and Dr Ashutosh Sharma (Secretary, Department of Science and Technology) for comment. This article will be updated if they respond.  Images 2, 5 and 6 in order of appearance in this post, courtesy Reuters Riddhi Dastidar is a writer of poetry and non-fiction, and a Gender Studies scholar at Ambedkar University Delhi. She tweets @gaachburiFew music festivals can claim to reflect the changes in India through the 20th century the way the Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan  which began as a musical tribute to a saint in 1875, complete with a yagna and havan  can.

The notes of dissent from women seeking entry to Sabarimala today, resonated through Jalandhar, Punjab, in the early 20th century.

Women were not allowed to enter the pandal and samadhi of Baba Harivallabh in Jalandhar, where the late saints love for music was commemorated through a festival at Shri Devi Talab. Not wanting to be left out, a few women decided to dress as men, covered their heads with caps, wrapped themselves in blankets, and started attending the night sessions of the Shri Baba Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan. Their disguise worked since electricity had not yet reached the masses, back in 1917.

This act of subversion was headed by the wife of one of the artists performing at the festival; she didnt want to miss out on witnessing the genius of Pandit Bhaskar Buwa Bakhale, while her husband accompanied the maestro on the pakhawaj.

While women may have fought to be part of the audience, no female vocalists were allowed to perform on stage at the Shri Baba Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan till 1946, when Hira Bai Barodekar became the first female artiste to ever perform at the festival.

The Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan is now 142 years old. Few music events can claim to reflect the changes in India through the 20th century the way this one festival  which began as a musical tribute to a saint in 1875, complete with a yagna and havan  can. The festival can still be witnessed in the last week of December at Devi Talab  albeit in an altered form. Men and women wrapped up in blankets and quilts sit in the pandal, swaying to music that lasts until the wee hours of the morning. They carry a century-old tradition of informed listening to classical music, in a land whose musical identity has come to be restricted to bhangra-pop.

The history of the music festival has been compiled in a coffee table book  Harivallabh: A Rich Tradition of Musical Geniuses  that was launched this January. Authored by Rakesh Dada, the book traces the roots of north Indias oldest music festival through the eyes of an orphaned child, who loved music and found his nirvana in the notes of devotional Dhrupad gayaki. The book also documents the role of a community that kept the tradition alive against odds that included the upheaval of Partition and the decade-long militancy in Punjab.

The Sangeet Sammelan was started by Baba Harivallabh, in memory of his guru Swami Tula Giriji. The long lineage of saints sang devotional songs but Baba Harivallabh went on to take formal training under the tutelage of Pandit Duni Chand of Ujahan (now in Sialkot dist.) and maintained the guru-shishya parampara at Devi Talab, where scores of disciples learnt the art under him and other masters. Baba Harivallabh had also authored a book (Sangeet Darpan) and translated Raag Darpan.

Despite such a rich repository of knowledge, the festival, in its initial years, was mainly a congregation of holy men  sadhus and fakirs who would render devotional compositions at the havan-yagna, like bhajans, shabads, bhaint, qawwali, dhad etc. Over time, the purely religious congregation took on the shape of a Sangeet Mela. Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskars visit to the Sangeet Mela in 1896, showed the organisers the possibilities for the festivals growth and improvement, in terms of roping in musicians of national repute. As more classical artistes began performing at the festival, it came to be known as the Raag Mela, and finally the Shri Baba Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan, as it is still called today. In 1929, instrumentalists were invited to perform for the first time, breaking over 50 years of monopoly of vocal recitals. Stalwarts of classical music considered it to be a recognition of their talent and dedication, if the Mahantji of the Baba Harivallabh Mahasabha invited an artist to the festival. Performing at the Sammelan was considered approval of an artists training and talent.

Rakesh Dadas book chronicles how Pt Bhimsen Joshi, who ran away from home at the age of 11 and found his guru in Bhagat Mangat Ram in Jalandhar, was told for several years by Mahant Dwarka Dass to do more riyaz, every time he approached the Mahant to let him perform at the Sammelan. Once he was found to be mature enough to perform, there was no looking back. Balakrishna Buwa Ichalkaranjikar, Ustad Maula Baksh, Ustad Kale Khan, Ustad Chand Khan, Pandit Krishna Rao, Pandit Narayan Rao Vyas, Pandit Vinayak Rao Patvardhan, Gangu Bai Hangal, Pt D V Paluskar, Pt Mallikarjun Mansoor, Ustad Faiyyaz Khan, Pandit Onkar Nath Thakur  the list of illustrious artists to have graced the Sammelans sage is long.

The book is full of interesting anecdotes about the humility, simplicity as also the idiosyncrasies of the stalwarts of the times. In 1919, when Mahatma Gandhi came to the festival, three stars were supposed to perform for him: Pandit Bhaskar Rao, Pandit Krishna Rao and Pandit Ram Krishna Buwa. Since Gandhis arrival was delayed and sensing he paucity of time, all three stalwarts sang a bhajan in Raga Khamaj, dear to Bapu: Ram Bhajan Ko Diya Kamal Mukh.

Towards the 1930s, the festival that had started on devotional lines acquired a new tradition  it always concluded with the rendering of Vande Mataram. The artist community was not untouched by political developments, and the Sammelan was a peoples festival  supported by devotees, artists and the audience. In 1947, many Muslim artists, patrons and a large section of the audience disappeared due to Partition. The Hindus and Sikhs who came from the other side were traumatised, while the Muslims were leaving. It deeply affected the quality of performances and the audience attendance. Mostly dominated by Muslim artists, all the five gharanas of Punjab disappeared. At the time, the Sammelan ensured regional artists were provided a stage, which promoted the skills of the Punjab gharana artists. With the mass migration of Muslim artists to Pakistan, a vacuum was left behind in the region.

This was a turning point in the festivals history. In 1948, Padma Vibhushan Ashwini Kumar, IPS, took on the responsibility of reviving the festival; he involved the community in the effort, introducing several new schemes like collecting one-rupee donations from people to boost the Sameelans flagging fortunes. He served the Baba Harivallabh Mahasabha for 50 years. Many of the Muslim artists who had left for Pakistan, returned to perform at the festival. Generations of artists from the same lineage continue to come pay their respects to the stage at the Sammelan. Over the years, hundreds of local businessmen, industrialists and professionals have helped maintain the high standards of the festival.

Much of the archival material used in Rakesh Dadas book comes from Ashwini Kumars personal collection. Rare pictures, interviews and documents bring the story of the Sammelan alive. It took Dada five years to source this material. The Tribune, published from Lahore till 1947, reported on the Sammelan  showcasing the relevance of the festival and the manner in which cultural activities were reported by the press then. A copy of the book was unveiled in December 2018  at the Sammelans 143rd edition. How the festival changes by the time its 150th year rolls around is anyones guess, but one thing is for certain  its music will remain as inextricably linked with Indias story as ever.

Harivallabh: A Rich Tradition of Musical Geniuses by Rakesh Dada | Published by Wisdom Collections | Pages: 396 | Price: Rs 2,495.All trade unions in the jute sector, barring the Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress, have agreed to join the strike from 1 March to press for their demands, including wage revision and implementation of Minimum Wages Act.

Kolkata: The West Bengal government has called for a tripartite meeting to resolve the impasse between the jute mill owners and the workers' trade unions, which have threatened to go on an indefinite strike from 1 March over their unfulfilled demands.

A notice issued by the state labour department earlier this week invited the jute unions on 18 February to discuss their charter of demands with the mill owners. Earlier, the meeting was scheduled to be held on Thursday.

All trade unions in the jute sector, barring the Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress, have agreed to join the strike from 1 March to press for their demands, including wage revision and implementation of Minimum Wages Act. The jute sector employs over two lakh workers in more than 60 mills in the state.

The strike, if not prevented, may have an impact on the vote bank of political parties across the jute belts of Howrah, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts. The general election is due this summer.

The jute industry has not seen any major wage revision after 2011. The state government, in the last tripartite meeting held on January 17, had decided to give an interim relief of Rs 70, raising the workers' wage to Rs 327 per day till the new wage agreement was finalised. The unions, however, contended that the interim benefit was a unilateral decision of the state government.

A former chairman of Indian Jute Mills Association, a body of mill owners, said paying anything more than Rs 327 would not be possible as "margins are already under pressure in the jute business".

"The government should take steps to ensure that there are no disruptions. Strikes will only help the central government to dilute mandatory packaging order in favour of the plastic industry," he said.Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi an eloquent speaker, absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Thursday asked as to why the Prime Minister was not instructing the banks to take the money he had made available to pay off the public funds lent to Kingfisher.

London: Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi an "eloquent speaker", absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Thursday asked as to why the Prime Minister was not instructing the banks to take the money he had made available to pay off the public funds lent to Kingfisher.

On 4 February, the UK Home Office has signed an order approving the extradition of Mallya to India.

Taking to Twitter, Mallya said: "The Prime Ministers last speech in Parliament was brought to my attention. He certainly is a very eloquent speaker. I noticed that he referred to an unnamed person who "ran away" with 9,000 crores. Given the media narrative I can only infer that reference is to me."

"Following on from my earlier tweet, I respectfully ask why the Prime Minister is not instructing his Banks to take the money I have put on the table so he can at least claim credit for full recovery of public funds lent to Kingfisher," he said in a series of tweets.

I have made the offer to settle before the HonBle High Court Court of Karnataka. This cannot be dismissed as frivolous. It is a perfectly tangible, sincere, honest and readily achievable offer. The shoe is on the other foot now. Why dont the Banks take the money lent to KFA ?  Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) February 14, 2019

The reaction from Mallya came after Prime Minister Modi in his last Parliament speech, that was delivered on Wednesday, referred to an unnamed person who "ran away" with Rs 9,000 crore.

The fugitive liquor baron further claimed that he has made the offer to settle the matter before the Karnataka High Court.

Mallya said: "Am appalled to say the least at the media reports on the Enforcement Directorate claims that I hid my wealth ! If there was hidden wealth how could I put approximately 14,000 crores worth of assets openly in front of Court? Shameful misleading of public opinion but unsurprising."

The pleas by the bankers have requested immediate liquidation stating that a delay may reduce the value of the assets as certain assets are amenable to market fluctuations.

In August 2016, the CBI had registered a fresh case against Mallya for alleged irregularities in the repayment of Rs 1,600 crore loan he had taken from the State Bank of India.

A PMLA offence was registered against Mallya and investigated after the Central Bureau of Investigation registered a case against him under Sections 13 (2) and 13 (1)(D) of the Prevention of Corruption Act read with Section 120 B, 420 and 409 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) on the complaint of the consortium of banks led by the SBI.

The efforts made to seek extradition of Mallya have got a major boost with the UK Home Office signing an order approving his extradition to India. "On 3 February, the Secretary of State, having carefully considered all relevant matters, signed the order for Vijay Mallya's extradition to India," said the UK Home Office spokesperson.

On 2 January, Mallya became the first person to be declared a fugitive offender under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.

For long, India has been pushing for the extradition of Mallya, who is wanted in the country for loan frauds, money laundering and other economic offences.

A major breakthrough was achieved on 10 December last year when the Westminster Magistrates Court found merit in the charges registered against Mallya in India and approved his extradition. The matter was then posted to the UKs Secretary of State for confirmation.A Sneha Parthibaraja, who practices at the Tirupattur court, is probabaly the first one in the country to be given such a certificate by the tahsildar TS Sathiyamoorthy. The document noted that she has no caste, no religion

If India has witnessed rising incidences of caste-based violence in recent times, the country on 5 February also witnessed victory of a lone woman's fight to have an official 'no caste, no religion' identity. Born to parents who decided their daughter would only be recognised as an 'Indian' in her birth and school certificates, this 35-year-old lawyer from Vellore had to fight for nine years for a certificate giving her an identity, without caste and religion.

A Sneha Parthibaraja, who practices at the Tirupattur court, is probably the first one in the country to be given such a certificate by the tahsildar TS Sathiyamoorthy. The document noted that she has no caste, no religion.

"All my certificates are blank against the caste and religion columns. This includes my birth certificate and school certificates. They mention me as an Indian. But I started to realise that every application form I filled mandated enclosure of community certificate. So, I had to obtain a self-affidavit. It was only then that it occurred to me that I needed an identity that was sans caste and religion. When people who believe in caste and religion have certificates, why not issue certificates to people like us?she was quoted saying by The Hindu.

Parthibaraja began her fight in 2010 but all her attempts remained futile until last week. Her last application was submitted in May, 2017. Officials, she told, kept rejecting it "for some reason".

"Some said there was no precedent in the country. It was in 2017 that I began to stand my ground and explained [my stand] to officials. I justified my stand, saying they should look into my request as I had availed no government schemes or reservation, she said.

Her victory is a tacit protest against the spate of violence against lower castes in India - be it the recent flogging of Dalits in Una and Gujarat, brutally assaulting Dalit boys in Gujarat again for sporting moustaches or even for trying to celebrate the birth anniversary of Dalit icon BR Ambedkar's birth.

Dalits, especially, have taken to the streets in protest to demand better treatment. Young boys can even be found wearing T-shirts that read Its a Dalit thing, you wont understand. Dalit leader and founder of Bhim Army Chandrashekhar Azad have delivered fiery speeches against inhuman treatment to members. In July, 2018 a Dalit groom was able to take out his wedding procession in a Thakur-dominated village after struggling for six months and with more than 300 police officers in tow.

No wonder then that Parthibaraja was quoted telling The Times of India that "irrespective of what caste or religion they were born into, people with means should apply for the no-caste, no-religion status, so that economically weaker sections and individuals fighting for their basic rights would get their due without hassle."

Sub-collector of Tiruppatur B Priyanka Pankajam, who finally gave a go-ahead to her certificate, has said that they decided to hand over the certificate after verifying that Parthibaraja's school and college documents had not mention of her caste or religion.

Parthibaraja and husband K Parthibaja, a Tamil professor, has naturally also left the caste and religion bits blank in the application forms of their three daughters whose names are a combination of two religions.

But this Vellore woman is not the only one in her fight. Hyderabad-based DV Ramakrishna Rao is one such individual whos been fighting a legal battle for the past eight years to claim the right to de-link his identity from religion and caste. He had filed a PIL in April 2010 seeking inclusion of the 'no caste, no religion' option in all government documents, reported The Times of India. It was a desire to raise his daughters as non-believers, till they are old enough to decide what they wanted to believe in, that led him to seek legal recourse. "My daughter Sahaja was all set to join school. But the authorities insisted on mentioning the religion of any one parent in the form. Thats something we were dead against," he was quoted saying.

Again, in March 2018, more than one lakh school students in Kerala had chosen not to fill their caste and religion specifications in admission forms. State education minister C Raveendranath had announced in the Assembly that around one lakh students between Classes 1 and 10 did not want their caste or religion mentioned in school admission forms. In June 2017, CPM MP MB Rajesh and Congress MLA from Kerala, VT Balram had set off discussions after they decided not to specify the religion and caste of their children at the time of their school admission, Deccan Herald reported.

While choosing an identity for oneself is definitely a choice that an individual will take for herself or himself, perhaps a conscious decision to understand violence bred through religion or caste would pave the way for greater acceptance and less incidences of hate crimes.The main accused in the Uttar Pradesh-Uttarakhand hooch tragedy Harendra Yadav has been arrested from Rajasthans Bhilwara

The main accused in the Uttar Pradesh-Uttarakhand hooch tragedy Harendra Yadav has been arrested, taking the number arrests in the case to five.

Yadav has been arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police from Rajasthans Bhilwara district for his role in the tragedy which claimed 88 lives in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand earlier this month, according to 101Reporters. Yadav, a native of Bihars Gopalganj, is stated to be a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader. He was allegedly the main supplier of methyl alcohol used to manufacture illicit liquor that led to deaths in Saharanpur, Kushinagar and Balupur.

Yadav had been absconding since the incident unfolded on 8 February. Official sources said that Yadav fled to Rajasthan hours after he came to know about the hooch tragedy in Kushinagar. He will be brought to Kushinagar for interrogation into the incident and the people behind the production and distribution of spurious liquor.

The Haridwar police arrested Sardar Hardev and his son Sukka in Haridwar district on Tuesday, according to ANI. Two days before that, two more people were arrested in this case from Roorkee.

A special investigating team (SIT) was constituted by the UP government to probe the case, while Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced ex-gratia worth Rs two lakh for the deceased's kin and Rs 50,000 to those undergoing treatment.

Yadav has 12 cases under the Excise and Prohition Act that are pending against him in Gopalganj. His wife Bocha Devi is a panchayat member in Gopalganj and his brother Anil Yadav is a constable posted in Bihar's Jehanabad district.As the great-great-grandson of James Spencer, born in 1815, Tony's familial legacy is intertwined with Anne Arundel County. He explained to students that although his second great-grandfather was born free, he had to obtain a Certificate of Freedom, which he accomplished in Annapolis in 1839. Tony said the certificate was akin to a driver's license; he "had to carry it with him at all times."Dissenting note stated plainly that IGA did not meet the main criteria laid down in the Indo-French Joint Statement of 2015 of expeditious delivery of Rafale aircraft on terms that would be better than those in the 2007 MMRCA deal that Dassault had acceded to.

Akin to the exquisite Chinese torture by water endlessly hitting the forehead, drop at a time, leading the victim to own up, confess, recant, the drip, drip, drip publication in newspapers of hitherto unknown tidbits and classified documents related to the procurement of the Rafale combat aircraft from France may be driving the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to distraction.

It has certainly undermined its carefully tended case regarding this high-value deal, and impacted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reputation for uprightness. The hope, nursed by some in government, that Part B of the Comptroller and Auditor General of Indias (CAG) Report on the Acquisition of 36 Rafale Aircraft through IGA (Inter-Government Agreement) tabled in Parliament on 13 February would rescue the ruling party has been belied. What it actually does is confound the already existing confusion about the real cost of the deal.

The predicament the Modi dispensation finds itself in is due mainly to a bunch of crucial documents relating to the Rafale transaction leaked to The Hindu and splashed on its pages in the last couple of weeks. Particularly damning has been the dissenting note about the IGA by three Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials and members of the Indian Negotiating Team (INT)  Adviser (Cost) MP Singh, Finance Manager (Air) AR Sule, and Joint Secretary Rajeev Verma. Also, of interest is the article in The Wire by former MoD Financial Adviser Sudhansu Mohanty, who indicated that the direct negotiating track set up by the National Security Adviser Ajit Doval obviously on Modis say-so was outside the ambit of the Defence Procurement Procedures, and had rendered INT redundant.

The dissent document which The Hindu published and the CAG report are crucial to understanding why the ill-advised initiative by the prime minister to speed up the Rafale procurement by cutting INT out of the negotiating process and getting Doval and the Prime Ministers Office (PMO), with limited domain competence and expertise, to finalise a deal with Paris, has backfired. That the three dissenters eventually signed the final acceptance of IGA may be attributed to bureaucrats desire to avoid rubbing the government the wrong way because that could result in punitive actions  postings in the boondocks, troubles with promotions and retirement pay, etc.

Not all arms deals are created equal. Most go through the bureaucratic grind and long testing trials over years before the competing products are shortlisted, which is when corruption usually occurs in terms of changing the rank order to favour this or that supplier/country. It is facilitated by middle-men servicing political leaders, bureaucrats and even uniformed personnel in the decision-making loop and their tendency to pelf and personal profit via commissions and considerations in kind.

Rafale, too, went through a trying testing regime. However, while the usual commission-mongering, at least during the NDA governments tenure, was missing, the PMO's role in ensuring that Anil Ambanis Reliance Defence gains from the offsets attending on the Rafale buy and so admitted by the then French President Francoise Hollande, is as apparent as Ambanis playing the part of the intermediary  something that has not been plumbed as it should be  between Modi and PMO on the one hand and the French government and the French supplier Companies, Dassault Avions and MBDA, the missile maker, on the other hand. It substantiates suspicions about Modis crony capitalism which may have led to New Delhi agreeing to extremely generous terms and conditions in the IGA for Dassault and MBDA. More on this later.

The dissenting note stated plainly that the IGA did not meet the main criteria laid down in the Indo-French Joint Statement of April 10, 2015 of expeditious delivery of the Rafale aircraft on terms that would be better than those in the 2007 MMRCA deal that Dassault had acceded to. It was pointed out that IGA, instead of sticking to the firm and fixed price basis for negotiation mentioned in the original Request For Proposal, had accepted an escalation formula advanced by the French parties resulting in a 55.6 percent increase over the benchmark price, i.e., the cost-figure (calculated by IAF) as the high end of the acceptable price range for aircraft and weapons package of 5.06 billion. The dissenters deemed the resulting 7.87 billion price tag for 36 Rafales unreasonable. They also mentioned that EADS had offered the Typhoon Eurofighter at a 20 percent discount without any escalation clause. Another 5 percent discount was seen by INT as a negotiating margin that could be extracted from EADS for a total 25 percent discount. This would have eventuated in a cost figure markedly lower than anything Dassault was offering for Rafale. Using the EADS offer to leverage a better price for the 36 Rafales never, however, occurred to the PMO negotiating the terms in the IGA.

More significantly, the IGA did away with sovereign guarantees and payment to vendors through an escrow account operated by the French government, which would have made Paris accountable for any default on the contract by Dassault and MBDA. It made for huge savings to France in bank charges, which as the CAG Report suggests, were not passed on to India or factored into the final price calculations by IGA and, in any case, was 5.3percent higher than what Dassault had quoted for the MMRCA. Further, the French government, per the dissenting note, ignored the pleas by INT to apply the commercial rates offered by industrial suppliers for the MMRCA to the 36 Rafale purchase. In the event, the French insisted and received in the IGA a virtual license to act in their own best commercial interests or Frances national interest without fear of penalty, with India requiring to exhaust all avenues of international arbitration to redress its grievances before approaching the French government to make good.

Indeed, with Paris minimising its financial exposure and that of the French Companies, and getting a deal so tilted to benefit France in every way, one wonders if the PMO, clueless about the technical and financial nuances of high-value deal making, simply accepted the French draft as IGA. This in fact is what seems to have happened with a Joint Secretary in PMO, as The Hindu disclosed, calling up a senior French official to inform him about some French conditions or the other that had been accepted.

The CAG report makes many of the same points the dissenting note did with respect, for instance, to the sovereign and bank guarantees, escrow account, etc. But it does not take the extra step of faulting the IGA and hauling up the government for making do with a letter of comfort that by way of legal commitment means nothing but imposes a severe financial burden on the country. At the core, the difficulty, and the CAG hints at it, was with reconciling the costs of an MMRCA deal for 126 aircraft with 18 Rafales bought in flyaway condition and the rest produced with transfer of technology and under license in India to fit the buy of only 36 aircraft, with Paris no doubt demanding that the total cost figure of the originally contemplated MMRCA deal not be tampered with.

The CAG Report observed that such small number of aircraft nowhere filled the wide gap in the operational preparedness of the IAF. The enhanced costs of producing the aircraft at HAL involving 2.7 times more man-hours per Rafale, however, provided the government the rationale to junk the license production portion of the deal, with the monies thus saved channeled into the 10 year spares package promising 72 percent-75 percent serviceability of the Rafales in IAF fleet.

But the CAG does not comment adversely on the other device to jack up the costs by 1.4 billion  the India-specific Enhancements (ISE), which the dissenters, using the 348 million that Dassault charged for the Mirage 2000 upgrade programme as a measuring stick, slammed as "exorbitant and unrealistic."

Moreover, it isnt clear why the need for ISE arose in the first place if the idea was to hew to the Joint Statement that required delivery of aircraft in the same configuration as had been tested and approved by IAF..with longer maintenance responsibility by France." Seemingly, these enhancements were of no great import, in any case, because IAF proposed postponing six such enhancements as a cost reduction measure," something MoD rejected.

Under the IGA, moreover, Dassault has been allowed to incorporate the ISEs only after the last Rafale is inducted into service some 71 months after the IGA was signed  a month longer, incidentally, than the MMRCA deal the INT had negotiated. But CAG is skeptical about Dassault meeting delivery timelines owing to the backlog orders for the aircraft and the French Companys annual production capacity of only 11 aircraft  something the dissenting note too flagged while marking the Dassault capacity at 8 aircraft per year.

Except, CAG accepts on faith the governments belief that the delivery of the Rafales will somehow adhere to the laid down time-table, thereby implicitly accepting that, with the French government absolving itself of all fiduciary responsibility, IAF is at the mercy of the supplier firms.

The real problem with the CAG report is elsewhere. Its conclusion that IGA was 2.86 percent cheaper than the MMRCA deal hammered out by the Congress party-led UPA government is based on its calculation of savings of 4.77 percent in services and product support, 17.08 percent in the ISE category and 1.05 percent in weapons package while conceding increases in cost in several other categories  6.54 percent in engineering support as also in Performance-Based Logistics (the 10 year spares and service support scheme). But the figures are fully redacted and the workings completely obscure.

How the CAG arrived at any of these figures is a mystery. The opposition claim that the CAG report is tainted because the Comptroller General as Finance Secretary oversaw the financial aspects of the Rafale deal overlooks the fact that all CAGs are political appointees and the assessments they produce are political documents which try and put the best possible spin on controversial deals, which is why select civil servants are placed in that position.

This brings us to the conundrum of just how France managed to get a deal so favourable to it which, in turn, brings the role of Anil Ambani to the fore. On 12 February, The Indian Express reported that Ambani met with top French defence ministry officials  all advisers to defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, a week or so before Modi landed in Paris in the first week of April 2015. Le Drian's Industry Advisor, Christophe Salomon described their meeting with Ambani as "confidential, and planned, as you can imagine, with very short notice." The Indian Express report suggests that the Reliance Defence owner may have used the occasion to alert the French defence ministry about Prime Minister's Modi's Rafale decision coming down the pike and, in the event, for the French government to prepare its act together with Dassault and MBDA with respect to firming up terms, conditions, and price parameters of their liking. It is a matter of conjecture as to what, in the circumstances, motivated Ambani: Obtaining a good deal for India or a great deal for his Company?

It is reasonable to speculate, going by the Indian Express report, that the tycoon had a tip-off, allowing the use of the deal to set up his company as a major defence industrial entity in the country. This can be inferred from the statement of the Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that No offset contracts have been signed so far. If two private firms come together, that doesnt require permission from the ministry. And if it is consistent with the DIPPs [Department of Industrial Policy & Promotions] policy, they go ahead with it. To think that that has something to do with the inter-governmental agreement in the purchase of Rafale is just unfounded.

That the Rafale deal, apart from the PMO, did not involve any other agency of government may be read in the statement the then Foreign Secretary K. Jaishankar made to the press on the eve of the Modi-Francoise Hollande meeting. 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, said Jaishankar. 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." If the PM sprang a surprise on the country, MEA, MoD and HAL too were unaware of the "track" they were moving on being separated from the one the PM and his PMO had already taken to reach a decision.

That the decision to go with Dassault was early communicated to Ambani is evidenced in the fact that, as part of the offsets requirement, Reliance Defence assisted by Dassault, began investing in production infrastructure ere the IGA was signed, has already plugged into Dassault's supply chain and is supplying parts and assemblies for the Dassault executive jet programme and is expected to output the whole Falcon 2000 LX jet by 2022 at its Nashik facility. This means that Ambani had a commercial stake not only in Dassault bagging the Rafale deal but doing so on preferential terms and conditions. The IGA that transpired reflects this last aspect.

It is therefore not too outlandish to conclude that Ambani served as a two-way communications channel in the Rafale deal  conveying to Paris the PMO's thinking, and prompting the PMO to accept near extortionist terms and conditions that, for such a big international weapons deal, are unique.

The author is a Professor Emeritus for National Security Studies at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, and author of Staggering Forward: Narendra Modi and Indias Global Ambition. He blogs atwww.bharatkarnad.comAccording to the prosecution, the Madhya Pradesh convict had raped the minor girl after kidnapping her from her house on 1 July, 2018 and later dumped her in the bushes. The girl received severe injuries in the incident and was admitted to a Delhi-based hospital

Jabalpur: A school teacher convicted for raping a four-year-old-girl has filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against his death penalty, a prison official said on Thursday.

Mahendra Singh Gond (28) filed the SLP in the Supreme Court on 11 February, challenging his death sentence in the rape case, Jabalpur Central Jail's law officer Ashok Singh said.

A trial court in Satna had earlier this month issued a 'death warrant' against Gond after the Madhya Pradesh High Court confirmed his death sentence on 25 January, he said.

The trial court had sent the death warrant, fixing his execution for 2 March, 2019, through an e-mail to the Central Jail earlier this month.

The convict has other remedies also as he can file a mercy petition before the President, Singh said, adding the death warrant will be executed only after all the available legal remedies are exhausted.

The trial court had sentenced Gond to death under the recently-introduced Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 376(a)(b) (raping a minor under 12 years of age).

Gond was also found guilty under IPC Section 363 (kidnapping), for which he was awarded seven years' rigorous imprisonment, besides being fined Rs 5,000, Singh said.

According to the prosecution, the convict had raped the minor girl after kidnapping her from her house on 1 July, 2018 and later dumped her in the bushes.

The girl received severe injuries in the incident and was admitted to a Delhi-based hospital.

Gond was later arrested by the police and a charge sheet was filed against him. Madhya Pradesh was the first state to enact a law in December 2017, providing for death penalty for rapists of girls below 12 years of age. The Centre had brought an amendment in the IPC to punish the rapists of girls below 12 years of age with death in 2018.In the complaint, the woman accused the officer of molesting her at his private residence in Vasco town, located around 40 km from Panaji, in South Goa district

Panaji: A 46-year-old senior naval officer posted in Goa has been booked for allegedly molesting his domestic help, police said on Thursday.

The maid filed a complaint of molestation and sexual harassment against Commodore Mankandan Nambiar, posted at the INS Hansa naval base on Wednesday, Vasco police station inspector Nolasco Raposo said.

In the complaint, the woman accused the officer of molesting her at his private residence in Vasco town, located around 40 km from Panaji, in South Goa district, he said.

The officer has been booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 354 (assault or criminal force on woman with an intent to outrage her modesty), 354-A (sexual harassment) and 354-B (assault or use of criminal force on woman with an intent to disrobe), he said.

After the officer was booked, he moved a local court for anticipatory bail, the police added.Keeping in line the resistance to celebrating Valentine's Day, the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad have been staging protests against the celebrations.

Jaipur: Rajasthan education minister Govind Singh Dotasara on Wednesday announced that schools in the state will not observe Matru Pitru Poojan Diwas on Valentines Day, saying, "one day is not enough to celebrate one's mother and father, and devoting one day to them is against the culture of India".

Last year, to counter the influence of Valentines Day among youths, the former education minister Vasudev Devnani had ordered to observe 14 February as Matru Pitru Poojan Diwas.

Keeping in line the resistance to celebrating Valentine's Day, the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad have been staging protests against the celebrations.

Last year, a few cases were also registered against Bajrang Dal workers for vandalising places where celebrations were going on. This year too, the Bajrang Dal workers have written an open letter to many pubs, restaurants and malls to not celebrate Valentines Day.Over 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama district when a JeM terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in.

New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh Thursday spoke to Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik and took stock of the situation in the state after the deadly attack on a CRPF convoy by terrorists, officials said.

He also cancelled all his political engagements in Bihar, scheduled on Friday and is likely to visit Jammu and Kashmir.

He called up the governor, who apprised him about the prevailing situation in the state. Singh also spoke to Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and Director General of CRPF RR Bhatnagar and gave them necessary instructions, a home ministry official said.

The ministry is also closely monitoring the situation.

In a tweet, Singh said, "Today's dastardly attack on CRPF in Pulwama is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured."

Over 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama district when a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in.

This is one of the worst terror strikes in the state since the Uri attack in 2016.Experts of the anti-terror commando force National Security Guard (NSG) and investigators of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) are being sent to Jammu and Kashmir.

New Delhi: Experts of the anti-terror commando force National Security Guard (NSG) and investigators of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) are being sent to Jammu and Kashmir to join the probe into the terror attack in Pulwama in which at least 39 CRPF personnel were killed, officials said Thursday.

The decision was taken in view of the high number of casualties in the worst terror strike in the state since the Uri attack in 2016.

An NIA team with forensic experts is being sent to Srinagar to assist Jammu and Kashmir Police in forensic evaluation of the scene of crime, a home ministry official said.

Explosive specialists of the Black Cat commando force NSG will also join in the investigation into the attack, another official said.

At least 39 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama district when a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into their bus.JeM militants, who carried out one of the deadliest attacks on CRPF, managed to breach the heavy security on the Jammu-Srinagar highway.

Srinagar: The Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militants, who carried out one of the deadliest attacks on the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Pulwama district by ramming a vehicle laden with an improvised explosive device (IED) into a bus carrying the personnel to Kashmir, managed to breach the heavy security on the Jammu-Srinagar highway to pull off the attack.

Around 40 personnel of the CRPF were killed and twenty five others injured in the attack on the forces in Kashmir's Pulwama.

According to officials, the attack was carried out by militants at around 3.15 pm, when a convoy of at least 70 CRPF vehicles was on its way from Qazigund area of Kashmir to Srinagar. Sources said that the bus, which was rammed by a militant with the IED-fitted vehicle, was completely damaged, while some civilians also received minor injuries in the incident.

However, notwithstanding the fact that the Jammu-Srinagar highway remains heavily guarded, sources said that militants also fired gunshots before fleeing from the spot. Officials said that searches have been launched in the area.

Officials said that even as the highway remains guarded with army personnel, CRPF and the police, the militants have managed to attack the forces on the highway many times.

CRPF spokesperson Sanjay Sharma said that while many CRPF personnel were killed on the spot, several others who were injured were shifted to the army hospital.

Police officials said that the CRPF personnel had been on leave for sometime. Some of them were stranded due to the closure of the Jammu-Srinagar national highway. The highway has been blocked for some days due to snowfall and was partially opened for traffic to allow the stranded vehicles to move between Srinagar and Jammu.

A police official said that the explosion was massive and it completely damaged the bus which was carrying the CRPF personnel. The injured CRPF personnel were immediately taken to the army hospital at Badami Bagh for treatment by those who were part of the convoy. 

Sharma said that the exact death toll couldnt be immediately ascertained, adding that the CRPF personnel had to report for duties at different camps in Srinagar.

JeM spokesperson Muhammad Hassan said in a statement to a local news agency that many vehicles of the forces were destroyed in the attack. The spokesperson identified the JeM militant who carried out the fidayeen attack as Aadil Ahmad alias Waqas Commando of Gundi Bagh, Pulwama.

The attack was condemned by many mainstream politicians in Srinagar. Former chief minister and National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah posted on Twitter that the attack was "terrible news".

Former chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti said that no words were enough to condemn the gruesome attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends? Mehbooba asked in a tweet.While Omar Abdullah called it as an Pulwama attack 'reminiscent of the dark days of militancy pre 2004-05', PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti condemned the 'madness' that has snuffed out many lives in the Valley.

Following Thursday's terror attack on Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans in Pulwama district of Kashmir, which left at least 42 jawans dead, leaders and politicians from across the spectrum condemned the "cowardly killings". A Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) suicide bomber attacked the CRPF convoy in Pulwama on Thursday by ramming an explosive-laden vehicle.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, and Congress leader Randeep Surjewala reacted to the attack on social media.

The President took to Twitter to condemn the Pulwama attack. "Thoughts and prayers with the families of martyrs and wishing an early recovery to those injured. The entire nation stands united in the fight against the forces of terror and evil," he said.

Modi, in his reaction, wrote, "Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly...Spoke to Home Minister Rajnath Singh Ji and other top officials regarding the situation in the wake of the attack in Pulwama."

Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 14, 2019

Minister of State for External Affairs General VK Singh condemned the "cowardly" attack and lashed out at the terrorists: "As a soldier and a citizen of India, my blood boils at the spineless and cowardly attacks. Eighteen brave hearts from CRPF laid down their lives in Pulwama. I salute their selfless sacrifice and promise that every drop of our soldier's blood will be avenged," he tweeted. Home Minister Rajnath Singh and finance minister Arun Jaitley also condemned the attack in strong terms:

Todays dastardly attack on crpf in Pulwama (J&K) is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured: HM Shri @rajnathsingh   , HMO India (@HMOIndia) February 14, 2019

Union Minister Arun Jaitley termed the incident in Pulwama "condemnable act of terrorists" and said that they will be given an "unforgettable lesson" for the "heinous" act.

Attack on CRPF in #Pulwama, J&K is a cowardice & condemnable act of terrorists. Nation salutes martyred soldiers and we all stand united with families of martyrs. We pray for speedy recovery of the injured. Terrorists will be given unforgettable lesson for their heinous act.  Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) February 14, 2019

Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to express his condolences and prayed for speedy recovery of the injured.

Im deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a #CRPF convoy in J&K in which many of our brave CRPF men have been martyred and a large number wounded, some critically. My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 14, 2019

While the Congress chief steered clear of political comments, party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala took a jibe at Modi, saying, "Condemn the cowardly terror attack on our jawans in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir today. Our homage to the 18 brave hearts who made the supreme sacrifice and condolences to their family. Uri, Pathankot, Pulwama- the terror list and compromise of National Security by Modi Govt continues unabated."

Reactions also poured in from politicians from Jammu and Kashmir. While former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah called it as an attack "reminiscent of the dark days of militancy pre 2004-05", Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti condemned the "madness" that has snuffed out many lives in the Valley.

Disturbing news coming in from #awantipura . Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several have been injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?  Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 14, 2019

Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik has also strongly condemned the attack. He conveyed his grief and sympathy to the families of the soldiers who lost their lives due to the attack on CRPF in Pulwama and prayed for early recovery for those injured.

Expressing serious concern, the Governor observed that the forces responsible for insurgency in the state are "desperate and frustrated" and they just want to prove their presence.

Malik has also urged all the Security Forces Commanders to enhance surveillance on every front and directed the District and Divisional Civil and Police Administration to immediately review the security management of all important installations and establishments.

Saluting those killed in the attack, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her condolences to the families of those who lost their lives.

Saddened that 13 CRPF jawans became martyrs today in Pulwama. We salute our brave jawans and extend our solidarity and condolences to their families. Our prayers for those injured. We wish them a speedy recovery  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 14, 2019

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also reprimanded the incident and asked everyone to stand united in this moment of grief.

Extremely shocking news coming from Pulwama (J&K). I strongly condemn the terror attack on CRPF convoy in which many casualties are feared. India must stand united in this moment of grief  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 14, 2019

Follow live updates hereThe attack on a 78-vehicle military convoy and the death of 40 CRPF jawans in Pulwama was well-planned and executed.

The attack on a 78-vehicle military convoy and the death of 40 CRPF jawans in Pulwama was well-planned and executed. It serves as one more blood-soaked reminder that our boots and ears on ground intelligence failed.

Even if it is a remote-controlled explosive device, the fact that it was strategically placed indicates that the JeM, the outfit which has taken credit for the blast, was fully aware of this movement of troops and vehicles. When such a large convoy moves in hostile territory (and there is no point pretending it is otherwise), it usually has a scouting party that goes ahead and those inside the trucks are on alert. Perhaps the cold weather had something to do with hunkering down and lowering the guard and not being as watchful as one should have been.

The intel failure underscores two ongoing conditions. One, that our CRPF jawans are easy targets and that those who have the weaponry and mean ill towards us will always attain some success. Two, with this sort of a morale-destroying victory for terror, it indicates that our troops are hampered by far too much limitations placed on them.

The need to appease the public has left us vulnerable. To what extent are the forces being hog-tied and asked to risk their lives without being given a free hand? If we dont grasp this nettle and seek some answers, these attacks will continue.

It is all very well for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to say these 40 soldiers will not have died in vain and for Arun Jaitley to chime in with a promise of a fitting lesson to the perpetrators of this dastardly deed, but these are only words. What befitting lessons can we give?

The cruel truth is our armed forces, including the standing army, are under far too many orders to soft pedal and be nice, regardless of the danger that their lives are placed in. From letting off stone-pelters to political correctness dictating conduct from the safe corridors of power in New Delhi, to pulling up officers and men for crossing the line, to holding back on shooting first or even shooting second, these men are put at a major disadvantage.

Adding to this is the indifference and lack of moral fibre and support in the country over the three decade presence of the armed forces deployed in Kashmir. Far too often, media and the masters portray the men in uniform and occupiers in a negative light and we have seen this need to balance things in the multiple incidents where stone-pelters have been given licence and our army taken to task for use of excessive force. Even a teargas lobbed is seen as bad form. Soldiers are attacked and beaten up (remember Lt Fayaz) and there are no equal responses.

This pussyfooting approach also cripples the intelligence-gathering process as a work in progress. We may have knowledge of the hideouts, the underground infrastructure, the whole shoot-and-scoot approach from the militants and yet, unable to make full use of this knowledge. The potential Burhan Wani clones could be known to us but no action is taken to stop them before they mature into killers. Major Gogoi was pilloried in the media for saving his men by using guile and tying a civilian to a jeep. Extreme tolerance is often mistaken for extreme weakness.

To this extent, the central government must share the responsibility for this horrible massacre. It must review its no go, no do rules of engagement for the armed forces and allow them to defend themselves without so much recrimination for every move they make to protect themselves.Priyanka Gandhi has held a series of discussions with party workers over the past four days, with at least one session lasting through the night.

Lucknow: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Thursday called off her first press conference after being inducted in the Congress as a Congress general secretary, expressing grief over the deaths of 40 CRPF personnel in a terror attack in Kashmir.

The press conference was meant to wrap up her four-day visit to the state, the first after being appointed in-charge of Uttar Pradesh East ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

"This conference was called for political discussions. But when our jawans have been killed in a terror attack in Pulwama, I feel it would not be right if we have political discussions at this time," she told reporters at the press conference venue.

"I want to tell their families that every single countryman is with them in their hour of grief," she said.

"They should have faith... we are standing by them," she added.

A two-minute silence was also observed as a mark of grief.

The Congress leader has held a series of discussions with party workers over the past four days, with at least one session lasting through the night.

The Congress is trying to revive itself in the state where it faces a challenge from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as an alliance of Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

Although the new AICC general secretary has faced the press briefly in recent days, this was slated to be her first formal interaction.Her sisters were coming to visit from England, so Lamming figured they could serve as the two witnesses required by law. But Carroll and Lamming still wanted to have the wedding, albeit for a piece of paper, under God so they extended invitations to their churches. Lamming served St. Margarets in Annapolis and Carroll still serves St. Lukes in Eastport. They told their congregations they were welcome to come, just bring cupcakes.Opposition parties in Assam, especially the Congress at its party office in Guwahati, celebrated after the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill failed to make it through the Rajya Sabha.

Guwahati: Opposition parties in Assam celebrated after the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill failed to make it through the Rajya Sabha.

Attempts by the Central government to introduce the Bill in Rajya Sabha in the past six weeks were thwarted by the Opposition which sought it be referred to a Select Committee.

The issue in the past gave rise to numerous protests in the state.

Celebrations were also seen outside Congress office in Guwahati after Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 did not get passed in Upper House.

Commenting on the issue, Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb said, "My government will not allow anyone to disrupt the peace and harmony in the state."

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which was passed in Lok Sabha on 8 January, seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.

Under the proposed amendments, the minimum residency period for citizenship is being reduced from the existing 12 years under the present law to seven years. However, citizenship will be given to them only after due scrutiny and recommendation of district authorities and the state government.

The passage of the Bill in Lok Sabha has led to widespread protests in the North East.

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) were imposed in East and West Imphal districts ahead of the proposed tabling of citizenship Bill in Rajya Sabha.Following reports that the Army is considering a proposal to shift its training command headquarters from Shimla, the chief minister said he would talk to Prime Minister Modi and Defence Minister Sitharaman in this regard

Shimla: Following reports that the army is considering a proposal to shift its training command headquarters from Shimla, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said Thursday he will raise the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Replying to a question raised by Leader of Opposition (LoP) Mukesh Agnihotri, the chief minister informed the House that the state government did not receive any official information so far regarding the proposal of shifting Headquarters of the Army Training Command (HQ ARTRAC) from Shimla to Ambala in Haryana. He said a delegation including several ex-servicemen had met him the previous day and expressed their concern over the proposal.

Thakur said his government would raise the issue with the Centre and make every possible effort to ensure that the proposal does not materialise. The chief minister said he would talk to Prime Minister Modi and Defence Minister Sitharaman in this regard. "The ARTRAC has its own historical and strategic significance and I will leave no stone unturned to withdraw the proposal of shifting HQ ARTRAC from Shimla," he said. "Our defence forces make their own internal strategies as per their requirement but individually I am against its shifting," the chief minister added.

Earlier raising the issue in the Assembly, the LoP said he had got the information regarding the decision of shifting the HQ ARTRAC from Shimla to Ambala from his sources and a section of the media. He said efforts should be made to stop the shifting as Headquarters of the Western Command had already been shifted from Shimla to Chandimandir in Haryana in 1985.

The ARTRAC has been based in Shimla since March 1993 after it was moved there from Mhow in Madhya Pradesh. It is housed in heritage buildings dating back to the British era. The buildings, at one point of time, housed the headquarters of The Indian Army during the summer months.Condemning the attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama, India said that Pakistan-supported JeM was behind the 'heinous and despicable act'.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks on security forces in Kashmir, at least 40 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday when their convoy was targeted by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militants in Pulwama district.

The convoy comprised 78 buses in which 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar. A bus in which 42 CRPF personnel were travelling was extensively damaged in the blast followed by firing on the vehicle.

Condemning the attack, India said that Pakistan-supported JeM was behind the "heinous and despicable act". It urged the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council and to ban terrorist groups operating from Pakistan.

Here is the full text of the statement by the Ministry of External Affairs:

The Government of India condemns in the strongest possible terms the cowardly terrorist attack on our brave security forces in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir earlier today (14 February 2019).

This heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries. This terror group is led by the international terrorist Masood Azhar, who has been given full freedom by Government of Pakistan to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity.

The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to take all necessary measures to safeguard national security. We are equally resolved to fight against the menace of terrorism. We demand that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries.

We strongly reiterate our appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM Chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan.

We express our sincere condolences to the family members of our fearless security personnel who have made the supreme sacrifice.

The full text has been taken from the official website of the Ministry of External Affairs. It has not been edited for content of style by Firstpost staff.After Delhi hotel fire tragedy, Chief Fire Officer Atul Garg said more lives could have been saved if they had got the call on time

New Delhi: After Delhi hotel fire tragedy in which 17 people were killed, Chief Fire Officer Atul Garg on Wednesday said more lives could have been saved if they had got the call on time.

Talking about the shortcoming, Garg said, We got the call very late. Either they were trying to control it before or they did not know about the fire. When we reached, the intensity of fire increased.

According to the Delhi Fire Department, 35 people were rescued from Hotel Arpit Palace. At least 11 people suffered injuries and were sent to the hospital. There was commercial fitting in stairs and corridors which was the reason why the fibre sheet caught fire. Due to fire, exits were blocked. I was told that the watchman closed the back entry gates. Windows were not opening. There was a push button but no one could find it because of the dark. The reason for most deaths is smoke, Garg told ANI.

The Delhi government has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the fire tragedy at Hotel Arpit Palace. Speaking about the NOC of the hotel, Garg said, We have examined their NOC. The hotel has given it in writing that they dont need the area on the 5th floor.

It has been reported that the hotel has been using the fifth floor as a restaurant, which caused the fire. According to the chief officer, there are around 380 NOCs given to guest house-cum-hotel in Karol Bagh area.

Garg stressed on public awareness and said, People should also need to be aware. They should ask the hotel whether it has NOCs or not. We will launch a drive to educate the people.

When asked about the actions against violating hotels, Garg said, Six teams have been constituted. If we find any irregularities, we will cancel the hotels license right away.Google Doodle commemorates legendary Indian actress Madhubala's 86th birth anniversary on 14 February, 2019

Google Doodle commemorates legendary Indian actress Madhubala's 86th birth anniversary on 14 February, 2019.

Born in Delhi, British Raj as Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi, Madhubala marked her debut in films at the age of nine with a minor role in Basant. The film also went on to become the highest grossing film of the year, reports News18.

Madhubala supported her family as a child actor before becoming a mainstream movie star. Her career as a leading lady started with the 1947 film Neel Kamal, where she starred opposite screen legend Raj Kapoor. The same year, she took the name Madhubala and appeared in nine films, including her breakout stint in Mahal.

Although she passed away of heart disease at a very young age, she is remembered for her portrayal of many nuanced female characters on screen. Her versatility enabled her to transform herself into almost any character. Her performance in the epic drama Mughal-e-Azam is still regarded as one of her best on screen appearances.

In her brief but extraordinary career, Madhubala garnered critical acclaim from all quarters. According to a report by NDTV, she was also named 'The Biggest Star in the World' by Theatre Arts magazine in 1952.Parliament explained: The 16th Lok Sabha had a total of 17 sessions and 331 sittings in which a total of 219 Bills were introduced, out of which 205 were passed. Overall productivity was 85 per cent, according to PRS Legislative Research.

As the final session of the 16th Lok Sabha adjourned sine die on Wednesday, 46 Bills, including the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and the one on banning triple talaq, are set to lapse on 3 June when the term of the present Lok Sabha ends.

Of the total 46 draft legislation set to lapse, at least 22 are such which have been passed by the Lok Sabha but will still lapse because the Rajya Sabha did not pass them. Other Bills that will lapse, include, The Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018, The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2018, The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016.

The 16th Lok Sabha had a total of 17 sessions and 331 sittings in which a total of 219 Bills were introduced, out of which 205 were passed. Overall productivity was 85 percent, according to PRS Legislative Research.

When does a Bill lapse in Indian Parliament?

The term of the 16th Lok Sabha is set to end on 3 June, which means any Bills or business that remain pending before 3 June will lapse along with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha. However, not all Bills which failed to become a law in the current Lok Sabha will lapse because unlike the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha does not dissolve when the term of a Lok Sabha ends. Depending on the status of the pending legislation, and where it originated, there are certain cases in which the Bill lapses on dissolution of Assembly.

Bills originated in Lok Sabha

Any Bill that originated in the Lok Sabha, but could not be passed, lapses.

A Bill originated and passed by the Lok Sabha but pending in the Rajya Sabha also lapses

Bills originated in Rajya Sabha

The Constitution also gives MPs in Rajya Sabha the power to introduce a Bill. Therefore a Bill that originated in Rajya Sabha and was passed by it, but remains pending in Lok Sabha also lapses.

A Bill originated in the Rajya Sabha and returned to that House by the Lok Sabha with amendments and still pending in the Rajaya Sabha on the date of the dissolution of Lok Sabha lapses.

When a Bill does not lapse

Not all Bills, which haven't yet become law, lapse at the end of the Lok Sabha's term. A Bill pending in the Rajya Sabha, but not passed by the Lok Sabha, does not lapse. A Bill passed by both the Houses but pending assent of the President of India, does not lapse. A Bill passed by both Houses but returned by the President of India for reconsideration of Rajya Sabha does not lapse. Some pending Bills and all pending assurances that are to be examined by the Committee on Government Assurances also does not lapse on the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.

Apart from the aforementioned exceptions, another situation when a Bill does not automatically lapse with end of the final Parliament session, is if the president calls for a joint sitting to vote on a Bill.

Article 108 of the Constitution states that the president may, unless the Bill has elapsed by reason of a dissolution of the Lok Sabha, summon both Houses to meet in a joint sitting for the purpose of deliberating and voting on the Bill. If at the joint sitting of the two Houses, the Bill, with such amendments, if any, as are agreed to in joint sitting, is passed by a majority of the total number of members of both Houses present and voting, it shall be deemed to have been passed by both Houses. However there is no provision of joint sittings on a Money Bill or a Constitution Amending Bill.

Noteworthy Bills lapsing with current Lok Sabha

Citizenship (Amendment) Bill: The contentious Citizenship (amendment) Bill, proposed to accord Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India instead of 11 years, which is the norm currently, even if they do not possess any document. However, it faced massive protests from the northeastern states that share borders with these countries, and where the general sentiment is against the draft law. The locals believed that this Bill will grant legal status to scores of 'illegal settlers' in their state, thereby diluting the indigenous population of these region. Though the Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 6 February, Rajya Sabha failed to pass it in the just concluded Budget Session. It was passed by Lok Sabha on 8 January.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill: This Bill sought to make the practice of instant triple talaq (talaq-e-Biddat) a penal offence, following a Supreme Court order that termed the practice illegal and unconstitutional. However, the Opposition blocked the Bill claiming that a jail term for the husband for divorcing his wife is legally untenable. The government promulgated the ordinance on triple talaq twice. However, it failed to get the legislation passed in the Budget Session, meaning the ordinance will also lapse. A Bill to convert the earlier ordinance, issued in September, 2018, was cleared by the Lok Sabha in December and was pending in the Rajya Sabha. Since the Bill could not get parliamentary approval, a fresh ordinance was issued. This, despite the government including certain safeguards in the draft law, including adding a provision of bail for the accused before trial.

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016: According to PRS, the Bill sought to define a transgender person as one who is partly female or male; or a combination of female and male; or neither female nor male. In addition, the persons gender must not match the gender assigned at birth, and includes trans-men, trans-women, persons with intersex variations and gender-queers. The main intent of the Bill was to prohibits discrimination against a transgender person and directing the central and state governments to provide welfare schemes. The Bill states that a person recognised as 'transgender' would have the right to 'self-perceived' gender identity. However, it ran into controversy as the government's definition of a transgender persons in the Bill is at variance with the definitions recognised by international bodies and experts in India. Another problem in the Bill was that it was unclear how gender-specific criminal and personal laws  such as adultery and dowry laws that recognise the genders of man and woman  would apply to transgender persons who may not identify with either of the two genders.

Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019: The Bill sought 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 sought to make 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. It was passed by the Lok Sabha on 4 January 2019, during the previous Winter Session.

Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2018: Passed in the Lok Sabha on 31 December, the Bill sought 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. If the Bill was passed, a new body would be formed to replace the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018. The law had a provision to sets up the Medical Council of India (MCI) to regulate medical education and practice.

The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016: This important draft legislation sought to regulate the practice of surrogacy in India, in view of the massive rise in demand for the technology over the years. Given the fact that the technology has a human cost, with an intending couple commissioning a surrogate mother to carry their child during the gestation period, the government sought to regulate the practice. However, it is now set to lapse as it could not be passed in the Lok Sabha. Among other regulations. the Bill specifies eligibility conditions that need to be fulfilled by the intending couple in order to commission surrogacy. It permits surrogacy only for couples who cannot conceive a child. This procedure is not allowed in case of any other medical conditions which could prevent a woman from giving birth to a child. It also mandates that only Indian citizens can avail the facility in India.

What happens to Bills that have lapsed?

If a Bill is elapsed by virtue of one or more of the conditions explained above, it will have to be reintroduced in the new Lok Sabha (as is or with amendments) should the new government feel the need for it.

However, the lapse of a Bill in Parliament still does not prevent the incumbent government from issuing an Ordinance to bring forth the legislation it intended to through the lapsed Bill. According to the Constitution, the government of the day can bring in Ordinance if the Parliament is not in session and if the president is convinced of the urgency of the matter that it can't wait till the House comes in session again. Since the Constitution does not explicitly bans a government nearing the end of its term from doing so, the NDA government will be well within its legal rights to repromulgate the triple talaq ordinance or introduce a new one in lieu of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

Since the lifespan of an ordinance in six months, or till the Parliament's next session (which in this case will be after the election of 17th Lok Sabha) any ordinance promulgated by the current government is likely to outlive its tenure.Out of the six specific areas of governance the Supreme Court was looking to settle, the two judges, Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, had contrasting opinions as to who wielded power on the Delhi bureaucracy.

The Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a split verdict in a case related to defining the executive powers of the Delhi and the Central government, settling the long-standing jurisdiction battle between Centre and the Delhi government on certain issues.

Out of the six specific areas the Supreme Court was looking to settle, the two judges, Justice AK Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan, had contrasting opinions as to who wielded power on the Delhi bureaucracy. Therefore, the matter related to Services (transfer and appointments of bureaucrats, mainly in Delhi secretariat) has been referred to a larger bench. On all other matters, the two-judge bench largely gave a consensual verdict and mostly upheld the Lieutenant Governor's stand.

The court was adjuging specific relating to matters of services (transfer of bureaucrats), anti-corruption bureau, appropriate government under the Commission of Enquiry Act, Electricty reforms act, Revision of minimum rates of agricultural land, and Power to appoint Special Public Prosecutor. Here are key highlight points from the judgment.

On the Services matter, Justice Sikri held that transfers and posting of officers of and above the rank of Joint Secretary are under the powers of the Lieutenant Governor, whereas other officers below the aforementioned rank are under the control of Delhi government, Live Law reported. However, Justice Bhushan dissented from Justice Sikri, and held that all the officers fall under the domain of the Central government. The matter has been referred to a larger bench for the final word. The Supreme Court also agreed with L-G's stand on Delhi government's anti-corruption branch. It upheld L-G Anil Baijal's order that the ati-corruption branch cannot investigate offences against Central government officers. On the issue that under which government should the Commission of enquiry fall, both Justice Sikri and Justice Bhushan concurred that going by the provisions of the general clauses act, the appropriate government in this case will be the central government, and not the Delhi government. On the Electricity reforms act, the Supreme Court said that government of National Capital Territory of Delhi holds the final jurisdiction. The Supreme Court further held that the power to appoint public prosecutor for the government of Delhi lies with the government of NCT Delhi, and not the Centre

The matter was brought before court as Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had been at loggerheads with incumbent L-G Anil Baijal and his predecessor Najeeb Jung. Kejriwal had accused both of them of preventing the functioning of his government at the behest of the BJP-led central government.

The bench had on 1 November, 2018 reserved its verdict on the petitions challenging the notifications issued by the Centre and the Delhi government.

During the hearings, the Centre had told the apex court that the Lieutenant Governor has the power to regulate services in Delhi. The powers are delegated to the administrator of Delhi and the services can be administered through him, it had said.

The Centre also said that unless the President of India expressly directs, the L-G, who is the administrator of Delhi, cannot consult the chief minister or the Council of Ministers.

On 4 October, 2018, the Delhi government had told the apex court that it wanted its petitions relating to the governance of the National Capital be heard soon as it did not want "stalemate to continue in administration".

The Delhi government had told the top court that it wanted to know where it stands with regard to the administration in view of the Constitution bench verdict of the apex court on 4 July.

The five-judge bench had laid down broad parameters for governance of the National Capital, which has witnessed a power struggle between the Centre and the Delhi government since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to power in 2014.

In the landmark verdict, it had unanimously held that Delhi cannot be accorded the status of a state but clipped the powers of the Lieutenant Governor, saying he has no "independent decision-making power" and has to act on the aid and advice of the elected government. However, the verdict did not go into the specific areas in which the L-G's power supercede the Delhi government's, something that the current ruling sought to do.

On 19 September, 2018 the Centre had told the apex court that administration of Delhi cannot be left to the Delhi government alone and emphasised that it has an "extraordinary" position by virtue of being the country's capital. The Centre had told the court that a five-judge constitution bench of the apex court had categorically held that Delhi cannot be accorded the status of a state.

It had contended that one of the basic issues was that whether the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) has the legislative and executive powers so far as 'services' were concerned. "Delhi has an extraordinary position as it is the capital of the country," it had said.

It also said that the national capital houses several institutions of vital importance like Parliament and the Supreme Court, and foreign diplomats also reside in Delhi.

With inputs from PTIA fire broke out at a greeting card factory in Phase I of the Naraina Industrial Area in Delhi, early on Thursday, days after a massive fire killed 17 people in the city's Karol Bagh area.

Days after a massive fire killed 17 people in Delhi's Karol Bagh, another one broke out at a greeting card factory in Phase I of the Naraina Industrial Area in the city, early on Thursday. At the time of publishing this report, no casualties had been reported.

The fire was designated as a medium category one, reported ANI. A call was received at 7.10 am, after which 23 fire tenders were rushed to the spot, a senior fire service officer told PTI.

#WATCH A medium category fire broke out at a paper card factory in Naraina Industrial Area, Phase I, early morning today; Total 23 fire tenders engaged in fire fighting operations, no casualties reported pic.twitter.com/l6wiOjfELO  ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2019



On 12 February, a deadly fire engulfed the Arpit Palace Hotel in the congested Karol Bagh area of the city, killing 17 people and injuring many more. Most of the victims were asphyxiated due to heavy smoke, officials said. Three persons, one of them a Myanmar national and two Indian Revenue Service officers, had jumped off different floors of the hotel and died. The Delhi Police has arrested the general manager and a manager of the hotel.

On Wednesday itself, as many as 250 huts were gutted in another massive fire which raged through Delhi's Paschim Puri area. In the last 24 hours, fires have broken out at a godown in Lucknow, a Buddhist monastey at Kullu in Himachal Pradesh, at a godown in Gujarat's Narmada district and at shanties located at Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh. None of these fires saw casualties.

Earlier in the year, a fire broke out at one of the temporary camps set up for the Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj.

With inputs from agenciesToday's top stories: Supreme Court verdict on Centre-Delhi government power tussle; war of words over Rafale deal to rage on; Adityanath to address BJP workers in Kerala; and more.

Supreme Court to deliver verdict on Centre vs Delhi government power tussle

The apex court is set to demarcate the powers of the lieutenant-governor and the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi on Thursday.

In July 2018, in what came as a major win for the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government in Delhi, the Supreme Court had overturned the Delhi High Court order in a majority decision, stating that the elected government has the real power in Delhi and not the lieutenant-governor.

In its over-500-page judgment, a five-member bench led by the then Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, made several observations on the power tussle between the Kejriwal government in Delhi and lieutenant-governor Anil Bajial, representing the Centre.

CAG report unable to quell controversy surrounding Rafale deal

The much-anticipated report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on India's deal with France to procure 36 Rafale fighter jets was tabled in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha on Wednesday, the last day of the Budget Session and the last Parliament session of the current government.

Amid repeated back and forth between the Congress and the Narendra Modi-led government over the issue, Union minister Arun Jaitley claimed that the latter had been vindicated, slamming Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's charges of corruption against the NDA government. Jaitley cited the fact that the CAG report looks at 11 deals (five from the UPA era and six from the NDA) and concludes that India managed to save 2.86 percent, thanks to the "India-Specific Enhancements" in the Rafale contract signed by the Modi government.

Rahul, however, has ripped into the report, challenging Modi again to a debate. At a press conference, Rahul said the focal point of the Rafale debate was price and that the Indian Air Force needed the planes quickly, but thanks to the new deal, Modi will get the planes later than the UPA-negotiated dates.

Champions League: Spurs thump Borussia Dortmund; Real Madrid seize advantage against Ajax

Despite missing Harry Kane and Dele Alli, Tottenham Hotspur scored three goals past Borussia Dortmund to put one foot into the Champions League quarter-finals.

Elsewhere in Amsterdam, Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio scored to hand Real Madrid a slender 2-1 advantage going into the second leg of their Round of 16 encounter.

IndiGo to cut 2 percent of flights due to bad weather

IndiGo Airlines, the country's largest domestic carrier, said on Wednesday that it will cut the number of flights it operates by 2 percent this month due to bad weather.

The Interglobe Aviation-owned company will also reduce some flights in March as a "proactive measure", it said in a statement. The airline told the country's aviation regulator it had cancelled 49 flights scheduled for Thursday.

IndiGo, which is India's largest airline by fleet size and number of passengers it ferries, cancelled the flights as a precautionary measure because of bad weather.

Yogi Adityanath to visit Kerala

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath will visit Kerala on Thursday and address booth-level party workers at a function in Pathanamthitta district. Adityanath has been the BJP's staple campaigner, even outside of Uttar Pradesh.

He has earlier marched to voice his protest against the CPM allegedly targeting BJP workers in Kerala and had said there was no scope for political violence in a democracy.

DHFL CEO Harshil Mehta resigns, will 'continue to be associated with company'

Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) CEO Harshil Mehta has decided to resign from his position with immediate effect. "However, he will continue to be associated with the company and shall hold the designation of 'executive president - retail business; with effect from 14 February, 2019," DHFL said in a regulatory filing to stock exchanges.

The board has recommended the appointment of Sunjoy Joshi as an independent director and Srinath Sridharan as a non-executive director.

Recently, online portal Cobrapost had alleged that DHFL, through layers of shell companies, had allegedly siphoned off Rs 31,000 crore out of total bank loans amounting to Rs 97,000 crore.

Amol Palekar says too much governmental interference makes it tough for artistes to take a stand

Veteran actor-director Amol Palekar, who was in the news last week when he was interrupted during a speech at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) criticising the Ministry of Culture, questioned the vulnerable state of artistes in a world of excessive government interference.

"Since there is too much governmental interference even in the world of art, artistes cannot afford to take stands so they can seek benefits, patronage and assignments from and of the government. This vulnerability is crippling, and the voice of dissent gets suppressed at that level itself. So the contingencies cause gagging. Then, of course, it's their choice not to raise their voice, or take a side, or conform to the diktats of the system," Palekar said.

2019 Mahindra XUV300 SUV set to launch in India today

The Mahindra XUV300 will be available in four variants and will follow the same nomenclature as that of its larger cousin, the XUV500, from Thursday. The variants of the XUV300 are the W4, W6, W8 and W8 (O).

Dual airbags, disc brakes on all four wheels will be standard along with ABS. Buyers will be able to choose from six colour options. Other features that should ideally be available from the base variant onwards are power windows, a stereo system with Bluetooth or aux connectivity, central locking and halogen headlamps.

Bookings for the upcoming Mahindra XUV300 sub-four-metre had recently opened.She would always draw pictures first, then she would create a story after she started the illustrations, Smith said. A lot of the time she would start whatever it is in class and then she would take it home and just do it completely by herself. She was just an outside of the box thinker like that. She was very self-driven.At least three farmers have ended their lives since the announcement of loan waiver scheme by the Kamal Nath government

Editor's Note: The Congress rode to power in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan by promising to rid the state of farmers' issues. However, after securing a huge victory, the Congress' farm loan waiver schemes have thrown up several discrepancies, exposing a few major irregularities in previous BJP governments' agriculture debt adjustments. In this four-part series, we analyse the different problems related to the loan waiver schemes in the two states.

Read part I here: Congress farm loan waivers: MP farmers seethe over flawed implementation of scheme, banks' dubious calculations

Read Part II here: Congress farm loan waivers: Cultivators shocked to find names on beneficiaries list as MP ministers allege fraud by bank staff

Read Part III here: Rajasthan cultivators demand inquiry into 'scam' in cooperative banks

***

Bhopal: Under the burden of a loan of Rs 4 lakh, a failed crop and a parched farm, Juban Singh was elated when he heard the Madhya Pradesh government announced a loan waiver scheme for distressed farmers like him. His happiness was, however, momentary. Singh retreated into depression once again after hearing the terms and conditions of the 'Jai Kishan Rin Maafi Yojana'. Days later, the 45-year-olds body was found hanging at his farm in Pandhana.

According to reports, at least three farmers have ended their lives since the announcement of loan waiver scheme by the government of Chief Minister Kamal Nath. Recently, a group of distressed farmers from Hilgan village in Sagar district threatened mass suicide if the government did not resolve their problems. Farmers complain that cooperative societies miscalculated their loan amount and even included the deceased on the list of beneficiaries.

Singhs case was the first to be reported since the loan waiver scheme was announced. Pandhana police station in-charge Shivendra Joshi, who registered a case of unnatural death on 22 December, said the investigation shows Singh was depressed. He did not have proper irrigation facilities and had taken a loan of Rs 3 lakh from a bank to restore his borewell. However, he failed and the borewell remained dry, which caused crop failure, the police officer said.

But the deceaseds brother Kashiram tells a different tale. "My brother was very happy to hear about the farm loan waiver. He had taken a loan of Rs 4 lakh from a cooperative bank. As soon as he heard the terms and conditions of the scheme, he went into depression. He repaid the loan in March 2018, but again took a loan of Rs 4 lakh. He kept saying the Congress cheated us. On a Saturday morning, he went to the field and did not return. In the afternoon, locals found his body hanging," Kashiram said.

Within days, two other farmers also committed suicide. In Shajapurs Kalapeepal village, Prem Narayan Raghuvanshi, 65, drank poison on 27 December and died after three days at a hospital in Bhopal. My uncle had taken a loan of Rs 3 lakh. He was under depression over mounting debt as he failed to pay even the interest. He spent Rs 45,000 for borewell but even after digging 300 feet he did not find water, Raghuvanshis nephew Jagdish said.

On 31 December, another debt-ridden farmer from Guna district reportedly consumed poison. According to a police statement of his kin, Nagji Bheel took a loan of Rs 40,000 from a local moneylender. All his hopes were crushed after he realised he was not eligible for the loan waiver. The moneylender forced him to repay Rs 70,000 with interest after threatening to seize his land. Under severe stress, Bheel drank insecticide.

Collector Bhaskar Lakshakar, who ordered a probe into the incident, said he gave a compensation of Rs 15,000 to the deceased's family immediately. Police is investigating the case under Section 174 of Code of Criminal Procedure. Preliminary investigation revealed that a local businessman lent some money to Bheel against his land documents. The moneylender then took a bank loan by mortgaging his property. Bheel went under depression when the bank sent him a notice demanding the loan be repaid.

Meanwhile, in another case, a 40-year-old farmer identified as Bherulal Malviya of Malhargarh tehsil of Mandsaur district reportedly died of a heart attack. According to locals, when he heard about the price of onions crashing at the Mandsaur Krishak Mandi, he collapsed. Malviya had gone to sell 27 quintals of onion, but due to the price dip, he only got Rs 10,440 for his entire crop. Locals rushed him to a hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Commenting on farmer suicide issue, Madhya Pradesh home minister Bala Bachchan said, "Our intention is clear from day one. Despite the bad economic condition of Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Kamal Nath announced the loan waiver scheme to make farmers free of debt. Over 20,000 farmers ended their lives in the past 15 years and the main reason behind this is debt. Once the farmers of state become debt free, they will also become stress free."

Farmer Welfare Minister Sachin Yadav said, "We are undertaking many new initiatives. We have initiated a plan to pay half the electricity bill of farmers and this plan is in execution phase. We are waiving off loans. We are introducing subsidy on agriculture equipment as well. Apart from these, we are promoting group farming where cultivators will work together for better production. These initiatives will make farmers stress-free and as a result, we will see improvement in farmers' lives."

Of all the states, Madhya Pradesh ranks third in the number of farmer suicides. Parshottam Khodabhai Rupala, Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, submitted a report in the Lok Sabha stating that in 2016, a farmer committed suicide every eight minutes. Since 2013, instances of farmer suicides have grown by 21 percent in Madhya Pradesh. According to the latest National Crime Records Bureau report, 18,687 farmers have committed suicide between 2001 and 2015 in the state.

The author is a Bhopal-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.comRahul Gandhi destroyed his chance by calling the CAG 'Chowkidar Auditor General', its Rafale report 'worthless' even before the report was tabled in Parliament.

In politics, timing is everything. For instance, the wily Mulayam Singh Yadav set the cat among the pigeons at the end of his speech in the Lok Sabha on the last day of the Budget Session. His endorsement of Narendra Modi came even as his son was protesting against the BJP and schmoozing with other mahagathbandhan partners. The media went into a tizzy. His one comment, made at an opportune time, has the potential to upset all calculations on the chessboard of Uttar Pradesh politics.

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi should learn a thing or two about timing from Mulayam, an old warhorse who single-handedly changed Uttar Pradesh's political equation and reinforced the importance of regional players in national politics by building a party from scratch, making it a dominant force in India's largest state.

The Congress president has launched a high-octane campaign on an alleged scam in the procurement of Rafale fighter jets from France and has not ignored any opportunity to criticise the prime minister. He has held Narendra Modi personally responsible for the so-called scam, called the prime minister a spy, schizophrenic and "middleman" for a "crony capitalist friend" and declared him guilty of treason against the State for "violating Official Secrets Act". These rabble-rousing statements make for good campaign rhetoric, but carry no weight without proof for backing, or even a smoking gun. These are blank fires.

And yet Rahul's strategy wasn't wrong. Defence deals in India have always been opaque and have historically been associated with corruption. If there indeed were irregularities  financial or procedural  in the procurement of the Rafale jets and the NDA government's claims do not tally with facts, as the de facto 'Leader of Opposition', Rahul has every right to highlight them. To hit the government where it hurts, all that the Congress chief needed was to anchor his charges on a smattering of facts. And he would have got a golden opportunity on Wednesday, when the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on defence acquisitions for the Indian Air Force, including the Rafale deal, was tabled in Parliament.

The much-awaited report had the exact price points redacted and gave the Modi government a slight advantage over the UPA-brokered deal in terms of savings, but it still gives the Opposition enough ammo with which to target the government. The CAG's forensic audit of the Rafale deal finds that the NDA government's 7.87-billion contract to procure 36 fighter jets in "flyaway" condition from Dassault Aviation is 2.86 percent cheaper than the deal negotiated by the UPA in 2007.

Although this tallies with the Modi government's claims that it had brokered a "better deal" in terms of pricing, it demolishes the NDA's previous claims of a 20 percent, or even a 9 percent, advantage over the UPA deal.

Union minister Arun Jaitley has claimed "vindication", perhaps because the report debunks Congress' outlandish claims over the pricing of the jets  the UPA's deal was 55 percent cheaper, for example  but Jaitley would know that the CAG report points out several issues with NDA's deal that could make the government sweat.

The biggest among these is the lack of a sovereign guarantee or a bank guarantee in the NDA-brokered deal with France. Instead, the Modi government settled for a Letter of Comfort from the French government. However, a Letter of Comfort provides the original equipment manufacturer  Dassault, in this case  with a lot of legal options, even if it fails to comply with the agreement.

"In case of an IGA (intergovernmental agreement) for 36 Rafale, the offer of M/s DA (Dassault Aviation) in 2007 had included a 15 percent bank guarantee against advance payments, 5 percent each for performance guarantee and warranty. A bank guarantee gets directly and automatically invoked in case of a breach of contract by the seller. In the 2015 offer, the French vendor did not furnish any financial and performance bank guarantees," the CAG report says.

"Therefore, the total savings... accruing to the vendor by not having to pay these bank charges should have been passed on to the ministry. The ministry has agreed to the audit calculations on bank guarantees but contended that this was a saving because the bank guarantee charges were not to be paid. However, the audit noted that this was actually a saving for M/s DA when compared to its previous offer of 2007."

These are legitimate red flags, and the government would be hard-pressed to explain why it did not push for a bank guarantee. The CAG also notes that the French side did not agree to an escrow account, which indicates that "in case of any breach of agreement, the Indian party would have to first settle it through arbitration directly with the French vendors".

"If the arbitration award were in favor of Indian party and the French vendor fails to honor the award (make the payment's claim), the Indian party should exhaust all available legal remedies. Only then the French government would make these payments on behalf of the vendors," the report says.

It also includes the NDA's response on this matter. "The ministry, in its reply, stated that the IGA had been signed between two strategic partners who are sovereign nations with a long-standing strategic relationship," it said.

Furthermore, it also turns out that the Modi government's 36-jet deal won't get the aircraft to India much sooner than the UPA's deal would have. The actual advantage would be of a month in terms of delivery. This technically tallies with the government's claims that NDA's deal will bring the jets home faster, but a one-month advantage isn't anything to write home about. However, it must be mentioned here that the delivery schedule of the first 18 Rafale aircraft will beat the UPA's deal by five months, according to the CAG report.

In sum, with this CAG report, Rahul would have got enough talking points for the election season to challenge the Modi government's claims on Rafale. But he destroyed his chance by calling the CAG "Chowkidar Auditor General", its report "worthless" and "Narendra Modi's report, written for the chowkidar, on behalf of the chowkidar and by the chowkidar", even before the report was tabled in Parliament.

This is sheer political immaturity, and for this sense of poor timing, the Congress president gave BJP the chance to interpret the CAG report, which is critical of the deal in various ways, as a "vindication" of the party's stance. Rahul doubled down on his claims by saying that the CAG report is "not worth the paper it is written on". But when someone tries to run down the credibility of every constitutional authority, including the Supreme Court and the CAG, the ultimate blow is self-inflicted.The newly announced 14-member Taliban negotiation team is also expected to meet Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan during the one-day visit 'to hold comprehensive discussions about Pak-Afghan relations and issues pertaining to Afghan refugees and Afghan businessmen,' the statement said. About 1.5 million Afghan refugees still live in Pakistan

Kabul: The Taliban will hold a previously unexpected round of peace talks with the United States in Pakistan on Monday, ahead of scheduled meetings in the Middle Eastern state of Qatar a week later, the insurgent group said in a statement on Wednesday.

The talks are aimed at finding a negotiated end to Afghanistan's 17-year war. The Qatar meeting is expected to include a collection of prominent Afghan figures, many of whom attended a similar gathering in the Russian capital earlier this month.

US Peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad did not attend the Moscow meeting but was expected to head the US team in Pakistan. He met earlier this week with NATO and European Union officials.

There was no immediate explanation for the previously unscheduled talks but Pakistan has been under considerable pressure to use its influence over the Taliban to press the insurgents into direct talks with Afghanistan's government.

The Taliban's top leadership is believed to be in Pakistan, despite repeated denials from Islamabad, which also says its influence over the insurgent force is overstated.

Until now, the Taliban has refused to talk directly to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's government but pressure is mounting to bring them into an expanding circle of participants.

The unexpected talks in Islamabad will come on the heels of a two-day visit to Pakistan by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In January, Saudi Arabia offered to host direct talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government but the insurgents refused to attend.

Meanwhile, Ghani this week chafed at the Moscow meeting saying an intra-Afghan dialogue would be better suited to Saudi Arabia, where Islam's two holiest sites of Mecca and Medina are located than the Russian capital.

While Pakistan's economy is likely to dominate Islamabad's talks with the Saudi Crown prince, accelerated efforts to find a negotiated end to Afghanistan's 17-year war were also expected to find its way into the discussions.

The newly announced 14-member Taliban negotiation team is also expected to meet Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan during the one-day visit "to hold comprehensive discussions about Pak-Afghan relations and issues pertaining to Afghan refugees and Afghan businessmen," the statement said. About 1.5 million Afghan refugees still live in Pakistan.

Since his appointment last September, Khalilzad has stepped up efforts to find an eventual end to America's longest war.A Delhi court on Thursday granted interim bail to Rajiv Saxena, co-accused in AgustaWestland case, till 22 February. Saxena has to furnish two bail surety of Rs 5 lakh each.

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday granted interim bail to Rajiv Saxena, co-accused in AgustaWestland case, till 22 February. Saxena has to furnish two bail surety of Rs 5 lakh each.

In his bail plea, Saxena said that he has been cooperative with the investigative agency and has been providing all the necessary information for the investigation. He is, therefore, not required for further custodial interrogation, the bail plea noted.

Saxena's counsel had said that he is seeking bail on medical grounds. "He is an extremely sick person with advanced terminal diseases. The applicant has coronary heart disease with four stents in his heart and hypertension."

"That the applicant also has advanced stage leukaemia (blood cancer) and is terminally ill. The applicant is suffering radiating back pain, numbness and heaviness in legs, neck pain and muscle spasms," read the plea.

The Dubai-based businessman was extradited to India in the wee hours of 31 January in connection with alleged scam in the Rs 3,600 crore deal for the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland company.

He was allegedly operating a number of bank accounts in Switzerland in which huge amounts of money were deposited, according to the government dossier.

The banks in which the amounts were allegedly deposited, include Union Bancaire Privee UBP in Zurich, UBS Switzerland, and Credit Suiss AG, states the dossier accessed by ANI.

The remittances into these accounts came allegedly from Matrix Group Ltd, UHY Saxena and Associates, Tiramisu Holdings Inc and Tanay Holdings Ltd, claimed the government dossier.At least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in Jammu and Kashmir were killed when the two buses they were travelling in became the target of a suicide bombing

At least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in Jammu and Kashmir were killed when the two buses they were travelling on became the target of a suicide bombing. The buses were part of a larger convoy of paramilitary vehicles travelling along the highway in south Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday. According to police officials on the spot, mangled bodies of paramilitary personnel were scattered along the highway. Paramilitary officials said the Indian Army's 92 Base Hospital was overwhelmed by the number of injured being brought in.

The convoy was attacked at a short distance from their starting point, the group centre in Lethpora and was on its way to a battalion station in Srinagars Nishat area. Police officials, not authorised to speak to the press, said the attacker rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the buses, avoiding the bulletproof and armored vehicles.

The Pakistan-based jihadist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed an SUV laden with 350 kilograms of explosives struck the middle of the convoy. The attack was condemned by unionist politicians in Jammu and Kashmir. The National Conference's Omar Abdullah while condemning the attack, wrote on Twitter: "Jaish has claimed the blast as a suicide (fidaeen) attack reminiscent of the dark days of militancy pre 2004-05". Former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti,on Twitter, termed the bombings as a "gruesome terror attack". Home Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to visit Srinagar tomorrow.

ANI quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi as saying, "Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. Sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly". This is the first suicide bombing to have been carried out in the past decade.

The JeM identified the suicide bomber as a local Kashmiri jihadist Adil Ahmad Dar, a resident of Gundibagh, Kakapora in south Kashmirs Pulwama district. Shortly after the attack, the JeM released a video statement by Dar claiming responsibility for the attack. In the video, Dar praised Kashmiris for their fighting spirit and stated that India has failed to suppress the Kashmiri people by force. He further cautioned the youth stating that your enemy (India) is not only an enemy to your freedom and life but also your faith.

Listing other major attacks in India by the JeM, Dar said the "deep wounds" caused by them had not yet healed. Dar mentioned IC-184 hijacking, freeing brains" from the "heads of your parliamentarians in a reference to the Parliament attack of 2001. There are many more nightmares that will continue to ruin your sleep, God willing, he warned. Dar implored youth to join the JeM for "a final push" to "break the shackles of slavery".

The Badami Bagh cantonment in Srinagar was previously attacked by suicide bombers twice, including one by a young Kashmiri jihadist, the Assembly complex in Srinagar was also attacked by the JeM in October 2001, which killed 38 persons. In August 2000, a car bomb on the prominent Residency Road in Srinagars commercial hub claimed the lives of 13, including civilians.

On Wednesday, more than a dozen students were injured when an explosive was set off in a school in south Kashmirs Pulwama district. On 12 February, a 15-year-old was killed in a blast inside a shop in north Kashmirs Kupwara district. Police officials believe IEDs were accidentally set off in both instances and cite apprehensions of further impending bombings.

The scale of the attack is comparable to the scale of violence in states affected by Naxal violence. Thursday's attack is the bloodiest in Kashmir's three-decade violence. In contrast, the September 2016 attack on an army installation in north Kashmir's Uri, close to the line of control separating Indian and Pakistani territories, claimed the lives of 19 soldiers and resulted in diplomatic tensions between India and Pakistan and a military retaliation from the Indian side, now known as the "surgical strikes".Eight CRPF jawans were injured on Thursday when militants targetted their convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, according to media reports.

At least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were killed on Thursday when militants targeted their convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, according to several media reports.

ANI reported that an improvised explosive device (IED) blast was followed by gunshots in Goripora area of Awantipora. More than 2,500 CRPF personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway. The bus that was the focus of the attack belongs to the 76th battalion of the force and had 39 personnel on board.

12 CRPF jawans have lost their lives in an IED blast in Awantipora, Pulwama. Dozens injured. #JammuAndKashmir (visuals deferred) pic.twitter.com/bONkKeFFxt  ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2019

CNN-News18 reported that the IED was planted in a vehicle which rammed the 55-seater CRPF bus. CRPF officials told reporters that the Jammu and Kashmir Police has taken up the investigation and giving out the exact death toll "at this stage is not possible". "We're doing the post-blast investigation to understand the circumstances. We're now clearing the site. All injured have been shifted to the hospital," they said.

First pictures coming from Awantipora attack on CRPF in which 12 personnel are killed and several injured. #kashmir pic.twitter.com/RbiH88iEIo  Fahad Shah (@pzfahad) February 14, 2019

Militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the suicide attack. JeM spokesperson Muhammad Hassan told local media that the attacker was a local militant, Aadil Ahmad alias Waqas Commando.

Over 20 people were injured in the terror attack, which reduced the bus to a mangled heap of iron. Several other buses were damaged in the attack. Body parts could be seen strewn around the area.

"Shocked by the dastardly terrorist attack in which CRPF personnel were martyred. My heartfelt condolences to bereaved families and prayers for speedy recovery of the injured," Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu said in a tweet. Several political leaders like former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah and Congress president Rahul Gandhi also took to Twitter to condemn the attack.

Disturbing news coming in from #awantipura . Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several have been injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?  Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 14, 2019

Terrible news coming from the valley. A number of CRPF soldiers are reported to have been killed & injured in an IED blast. I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved. #Kashmir  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 14, 2019

Jaish has claimed the blast as a suicide (fidaeen) attack reminiscent of the dark days of militancy pre 2004-05. #Kashmir  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 14, 2019

Im deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a #CRPF convoy in J&K in which many of our brave CRPF men have been martyred and a large number wounded, some critically. My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 14, 2019

Mufti urged the NDA government and all parties to "reach a solution to end this bloodshed". "Border skirmishes and surgical strikes are leading to nothing," she told ANI.

Former Indian Army chief General VK Singh said, "As a soldier and a citizen of India, my blood boils at the spineless and cowardly attacks. 18 brave hearts from the CRPF laid down their lives in Pulwama. I salute their selfless sacrifice and promise that every drop of our soldiers blood will be avenged."

Meanwhile, Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to CRPF director-general RR Bhatnagar, Governor Satyapal Malik and home secretary over the attack. Rajnath, who was supposed to visit Patna on Friday, has cancelled his trip and will go to Srinagar on Friday. The Ministry of Home Affairs said that it is closely monitoring the situation.

The Cabinet Committee on Security will meet at 9.15 am on Friday. A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team with forensic experts is being sent to Srinagar on Friday to assist the police in forensic evaluation of the scene of crime, a home ministry official was quoted as saying by PTI. Explosive specialists of the Black Cat commando force National Security Guard will also join in the investigation into the attack.

With inputs from agenciesFourteen students of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) were charged with sedition on Wednesday after violent protests took place on the university campus following reports that AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi will visit the campus.

Fourteen students of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) were charged with sedition on Wednesday after violent protests took place on the university campus following reports that AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi will visit the campus.

The students were charged with sedition after a complaint was filed by BJP youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) activist Mukesh Lodhi, accusing the students of assaulting him amid chants of pro-Pakistan slogans by a few students. Thereafter, security was beefed up in the area and Rapid Action Force was deployed around the campus, the police said.

However, protesting the police action, the students' union staged a "class boycott" and more protests followed, including one where a BJYM members' bike was set on fire, the police said. According to The Times of India's report, the students' union has said that the sedition charges were "frivolous and based on falsehood and fraud". According to Scroll, the students alleged that some associates of RSS and BJP entered the campus with malafide intention.

ABVP activists had staged a protest near one of the gates of the university after some media reports claimed that Owaisi was invited to address a function organised by the AMU Students' Union. They demanded that the AIMIM leader be not allowed to enter the campus. Owaisi, however, did not turn up.

In a separate incident on the same day, a few AMU students had an altercation with the crew of Republic TV channel which had come to film the visit. BJYM members held a separate demonstration against Owaisi's visit, demanding that the MP should be banned from the campus.

An AMU spokesperson told PTI that it was then that the channel crew, which had come to cover the event, had an altercation with a few students while they were filming inside the campus. The spokesman said the channel had not sought permission from authorities for live coverage and when the university staff pointed this out, there was a heated exchange in which some students were also involved.

Republic TV crew claimed they were roughed up by some students while they were filming on the campus and their camera was smashed. Complaints were lodged at the Civil Lines Police Station by both the AMU authorities and the crew. A complaint was also filed by BJYM members which alleged that they were beaten.

Senior Superintendent of Police Akash Kulhari told PTI that a number of complaints were given by different groups at the Civil Lines police station and the police were in the process of filing the reports. Meanwhile, a large group of students gathered outside the university campus, demanding the suspension of Ajay Singh, a prominent ABVP leader who is a postgraduate student of the university.

Late on Wednesday night, cases under sections 124-A (sedition), section 307 (attempt to murder) and eight other sections of the IPC were registered against 14 students, including the president of students' union Salman Imtiaz and vice president Huzaifa Aamir on the complaint of Lodhi. He alleged that when he was driving across the AMU Circle, these students surrounded him and launched a "murderous assault" and raised pro-Pakistan slogans. According to The Indian Express, the university administration also filed two separate complaints with the police seeking lodging of FIRs against the journalists for entering the campus without permission and against unidentified miscreants for indulging in arson and unlawful activities. However, Aligarh's Circle Officer, Pankaj Kumar Srivastava said that no arrests have been made so far as investigation was on in the case, the report states.

According to the report, Aligarh district magistrate CM Singh said that it is an internal matter of the university. We have asked the university officials to conduct an impartial inquiry and take action accordingly. Action will be taken against those found guilty of violating IPC sections, he said.

With inputs from PTITOKYO (Reuters) - Renault SA Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard is set to meet with Nissan Motor Co Ltd CEO Hiroto Saikawa during a visit to Japan as the automakers reassess their partnership following the arrest and ouster of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn. Three weeks after being appointed chairman of the French automaker, Senard, who is likely to be named to the Japanese automaker's board, was widely expected to visit Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama on Thursday and Friday to meet with board members and management teams.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Renault SA Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard is set to meet with Nissan Motor Co Ltd CEO Hiroto Saikawa during a visit to Japan as the automakers reassess their partnership following the arrest and ouster of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn.

Three weeks after being appointed chairman of the French automaker, Senard, who is likely to be named to the Japanese automaker's board, was widely expected to visit Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama on Thursday and Friday to meet with board members and management teams.

His visit will be the first by Renault's top brass since Ghosn was arrested in Tokyo over allegations of financial misconduct in November, which resulted in the downfall of one of the auto industry's most feted executives and ramped up tensions between the two automakers.

One person with direct knowledge of the visit said it was intended as an introductory call to Nissan, of which Renault owns 43.3 percent, and would include one-on-one meetings with some executives.

When asked on Thursday about the talks, Saikawa said: "The main thing is to talk about the future responsibly," Jiji news agency reported.

Senard's appointment in late January helped quell a leadership debate which erupted after Nissan dismissed Ghosn immediately after his arrest while Renault had initially stuck by the executive, and has opened a path for Renault and Nissan re-examine the operations and structure of their alliance.

Joining Renault from tyre maker Michelin, Senard is generally seen by Nissan as a welcome outsider who could provide more balance to the alliance, over which Nissan has said Ghosn held excessive control given his roles as chairman of Renault, Nissan and partner Mitsubishi Motors Corp, along with being Renault CEO.

Senard's meeting with Saikawa would be the second since they first met face-to-face late last month.

Another person with direct knowledge of the matter said Senard would also meet executives at Mitsubishi Motors, in which Nissan holds a controlling stake. Nissan has a non-voting, 15 percent stake in Renault.

This new chapter of Renault-Nissan relations will be crucial for the future of both automakers which have seen limited progress in raising operating margins despite efforts to integrate operations including manufacturing, procurement and R&D.

Earlier this week, Nissan said its annual profit will plumb six-year lows due to waning global sales and an ongoing slump in its U.S. operations.

Renault is continuing to sever ties with Ghosn, announcing on Wednesday that it had decided to scrap certain lucrative pay arrangements for Ghosn, who has been charged in Japan with under-reporting his Nissan salary in 2010-2018.

Meanwhile, Ghosn, in custody at a detention centre in Tokyo for nearly three months, on Wednesday replaced his chief attorney with a legal team headed by one of Japan's most fiery lawyers in a move seen as taking on a more aggressive strategy in fighting his charges, which he denies.

(Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.R Venkataramanan, the managing trustee of the Tata Trusts, a string of non-profits that own 66 percent of the diversified Tata Sons, has resigned

R Venkataramanan, the managing trustee of the Tata Trusts, a string of non-profits that own 66 percent of the diversified Tata Sons, has resigned. There were speculations last week that he had offered to quit following reports about some trustees not being happy with the high compensation of Rs 2.66 crore paid to him.

In another significant development, Ratan Tata's half- brother Noel Tata has been appointed the trustee of Sir Ratan Tata Trust, the second largest among the dozen-odd charities that make up the Tata Trusts.

Venkataramanan's Rs 2.66-crore annual compensation has been under the income tax scanner and led it to withdraw tax exemption to the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust-the largest of all the trusts--in December 2018.

Speculation is rife that Venkat, as Venkataramanan is popularly known, may shift to London in some new role within the Tata group.

Considered very close to Ratan Tata, the group patriarch and the chairman of the trusts, Venkat is also under the scanner in a money laundering case involving AirAsia India which is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The low-cost AirAsia India is a 51:49 joint venture between the Tatas and the Malaysian airline group AirAsia. Venkataramanan is a shareholder and director of AirAsia India, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia.

"Venkataramanan had informed the chairman and the trustees of the Tata Trusts that he had been considering other options, given that he was completing five years as the executive trustee/ managing trustee, and sought to be relieved," the Tata Trusts said in an official statement on Wednesday, adding the managing trustees "regretfully accepted" the request.

He will relinquish from the trusts on 31 March, the statement said.

A statement from the Tata Trusts pic.twitter.com/o3OU21YeEM  Tata Trusts (@tatatrusts) February 13, 2019

A committee of trustees, comprising Ratan Tata, and vice-chairmen Vijay Singh and Venu Srinivasan, has been set up to oversee the operations and select a new chief executive for the trusts, it said.

The trustees also placed on record Venkat's contribution in "steering and executing the objectives" of the trusts' portfolios over the last five years.

In addition to the interventions through grants, the Tata Trusts also pursues large-scale programmes through direct implementation and partnerships with many states and foundations, it said.

Noel Tata is the chairman of the group's retail arm Trent and also the managing director of Tata International, that group arm that scouts for new business opportunities outside the country.

He has been appointed as the trustee of Sir Ratan Tata Trust along with Jehangir HC, who is currently spearheading the healthcare mission at the Jehangir Hospital, Pune, the statement said.

Allegations against Venkataramanan

Some of the trustees were also very critical of the allegations relating to the income tax order that withdrew tax exemptions to the trusts, which is the largest and the oldest public charity in the country, sources said.

The rejig comes following the Income Tax Department's withdrawal of the tax exemption granted to Sir Dorabji Tata Trust after the authorities found a violation of certain conditions by the trust, The Economic Times reported.

The newspaper, citing an order, said that the I-T Department had ruled that "the annual salary of Rs 2.66 crore drawn by Venkataramanan was not in accordance with the trusts deed."

In October last year, six Tata Trusts had withdrawn their petitions filed in the Bombay High Court challenging the show cause notices issued against them by the Income Tax Department as to why their registrations should not be cancelled.

The Income Tax Commissioner (Exemptions) had issued notices to these six trusts on 8 March, 2018 for alleged non-compliance of rules governing the trust funds.

The notices sought to know why their registrations under Section 12A of the Income Tax Act should not be cancelled for non-compliance.

Following this, the trusts, including the Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust, Jamsetji Tata Trust and the Tata Education Trust, had petitioned the high court challenging the notices.

When the petitions came up for hearing on before a division bench of Justices SC Dharmadhikari and BP Colabawalla, the trusts' lawyers sought to withdraw the pleas without assigning any reason.

However, some officials defended the compensation given to Venkataramanan, saying a managing trustee is also an employee of the trust, and questioned how else will professionals get compensated.

"Decisions on compensation levels are prerogative of the boards, given the size and span of activity," the official added.

However, there is another section as well which argues that a trustee is technically not an employee.

The Dorabji Tata Trust has appealed against the I-T order, though the contents of the order are not known yet.

--With PTI inputsDemocrats in the U.S. House have introduced legislation that would bar immigration agents from conducting arrests, interviews, searches, or surveillance at schools and school bus stopsexcept in extreme circumstances.

Current guidelines for Immigration and Customs Enforcement already categorize schools and other venues and events including hospitals, places of worship, funerals, and weddings as sensitive locations.

The Protecting Sensitive Locations Act would enshrine those guidelines for ICE in federal law and expand the list of locations that would be banned from ICE activity to include bus stops with children, as well as federal, state and local courthouses.



Individuals in this country should be able to access places essential to their health, education, and welfarelike hospitals, churches and schoolswithout fear of deportation or separation from their families, U.S. Rep. Jose Serrano, a co-sponsor of the bill, said in a statement. Weve seen an alarming number of deportation cases that originated at these locations in recent years.

Democrats introduced similar legislation in spring 2017, but it stalled in the Republican-controlled House. Now that Democrats are in the majority, the leaders are hoping the bill gains some traction.

Even if the legislation were to become law, it may not fully clear up the confusion around the obligations that schools must balance when dealing with immigration agents: ensuring the safety and privacy of their students while still cooperating with federal officials.

In some so-called sanctuary school districts, school board resolutions have designated school grounds as safe spaces and set clear limits on immigration authorities access to campuses. But many of those resolutions also make clear that campus police will assist federal agents as required by law.

Immigrant Students Have Rights

Backed by lawmakers from immigrant-rich congressional districts in Illinois, New York, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington state, the sensitive locations bill is part of a package of legislation that also calls for immediate reunification of children who were separated from their parents or legal guardians as part of the Trump administrations zero tolerance immigration policy.

The rollout of the bills came the day after remarks from President Donald Trump, in his State of the Union speech, claimed that illegal immigration has overburdened schools.

What we witnessed during the State of the Union address was more of the samecriminalizing immigrants, promoting inhumane policies that separate children from their families and raid sensitive locations such as public schools and courthouses, U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York, the leader sponsor of the sensitive locations bill, said in a statement.

Existing federal law already offers some protection for immigrant students. The 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision Plyler v. Doe makes clear that schools and districts cannot adopt enrollment policies that deny or discourage children from enrolling because of immigration status. That means that a school district cannot refuse to enroll a student because he or she does not have a birth certificate, bar a student because of a foreign place of birth, or require a drivers license or state-issued identification from a parent.

Trumps tough talk on immigration, including his vow to deport millions of undocumented residents, has rattled refugee and immigrant students across the country, affecting everything from enrollment to academic performance.

A 2018 national survey from the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that nearly 80 percent of educators reported having students who have experienced emotional or behavioral problems because they are concerned about immigration enforcement.

Lawyers say schools can support students by limiting immigration authorities access to campuses and providing information to families on their rights under district and federal policies.

Related Reading

Latino Enrollment Shrank Where Police Worked With Federal Immigration Authorities

How Much Can Schools Protect Undocumented Students?

There Are Times When Schools Cant Shield Undocumented Families

Teachers Rally Around Undocumented Students

Photo Credit: Donald Trump, on the campaign trail in July 2016, waves from his vehicle during a tour of the World Trade International Bridge along the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas.

--LM Otero/AP-File

In a bid to hasten the resolution of bad loans, RBI tightened rules to make banks identify and tackle any non-payment of loans rapidly by issuing a circular on 12 February 2018

Exactly a year ago, in a bid to hasten the resolution of bad loans, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had tightened rules to make banks identify and tackle any non-payment of loan rapidly by issuing a circular on 12 February 2018.

The Reserve Bank of India had abolished half a dozen existing loan-restructuring mechanisms and instead provided for a strict 180-day timeline for banks to agree on a resolution plan in case of a default or else refer the account for bankruptcy.

Under the new rules, insolvency proceedings would have to be initiated in case of a loan of Rs 2,000 crore or more if a resolution plan is not implemented within 180 days of the default.

Banks will face penalties in case of failure to comply with the guidelines, the RBI had said.

The revised framework had specified norms for "early identification" of stressed assets, timelines for implementation of resolution plans, and a penalty on banks for failing to adhere to the prescribed timelines.

The RBI had also withdrawn the existing mechanism which included Corporate Debt Restructuring Scheme (CDR), Strategic Debt Restructuring Scheme (SDR) and Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A).

Under the new rules, banks must report defaults on a weekly basis in the case of borrowers with more than Rs 5 crore of loan. Once a default occurs, banks will have 180 days within which to come up with a resolution plan. Should they fail, they will need to refer the account to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) within 15 days.

A year has since passed the RBI issued the circular. It would be prudent to assess the impact of this circular on the bad loans of the banking sector.

In the immediate quarter ending March 2018, after the RBI circular was issued, the total bad loans of the banking sector rose by a massive Rs 1.39 lakh crore to Rs 10.25 lakh crore in March 2018 quarter. However, from the next quarter, it started showing a declining trend as it fell to Rs 10.03 lakh crore in the June 2018 quarter. It steadily declined in subsequent quartersRs 9.99 lakh crore in September 2018 quarter, Rs 9.66 lakh crore in December 2018 quarter. Thereby in the nine-months ending December 2018, the gross NPAs of the banking sector fell by Rs 59,000 crore in total and during the same period net NPAs of these banks declined by a whopping Rs 99,151 crore due to higher provisioning for bad loans.

Here is the NPA trend in the banking sector in charts.

Non-performing assets in Rs crore Public sector Private Total Quarter-end Gross Net Gross Net Gross Net Dec-17 777266 415705 109194 53945 886460 469649 Mar-18 896601 454473 128627 63645 1025229 518117 Jun-18 874071 426435 129333 59151 1003404 485586 Sep-18 868812 408279 130219 55255 999032 463534 Dec-18 833362 366819 132984 52147 966346 418967 Change in 9 months (Dec 2018 over Mar 2018) -63240 -87653 4357 -11497 -58883 -99151 Data Source: CapitalinePlus

So far, it seems the RBI circular on stressed assets has worked in favour of the banking industry as a whole. It would be interesting to see the fate of the RBI's contentious 12 February, 2018 circular going ahead as it has been challenged by many industry bodies in the Supreme Court.

However, during his first monetary policy presser, the new RBI governor Shaktikanta Das categorically denied any move towards a rethink or relook at the contentious circular on new NPA recognition norms which has caused discomfort to North Block mandarins, thus endorsing the stand taken by his predecessor Urjit Patel.

--With PTI inputsShortage of pilots continued to hamper operations of budget carrier IndiGo

Shortage of pilots continued to hamper operations of IndiGo with the budget carrier announcing that it would cancel 30 flights per day from across major airports this month. The airline told the countrys aviation regulator it had cancelled 49 flights on Wednesday.

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.

"IndiGo 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.

"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," the statement said.

Notam, or notice to airmen, is given to pilots and include information on potential hazards on a flight route.

The Interglobe Aviation-owned company will also reduce some flights in March as a proactive measure, it said in a statement.

On Monday and Tuesday, the airline had pulled out 32 and 30 flights respectively from its network at short notice due to the on-going pilot shortage inconveniencing tens of hundreds of passengers. Most flights have been cancelled from Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai, a source told PTI.

While eight flights were not operated from Kolkata on Tuesday, 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.

The airline had on Sunday blamed bad weather for disruptions in operations across its network.

IndiGo, Indias largest airline by fleet size and number of passengers, cancelled the flights as a precautionary measure as it experienced bad weather, it said in a statement.

This resulted in extended duty times which then made it necessary to re-roster our crew, IndiGo said.

IndiGo said it has informed all its passengers about the move in advance, and that its operations would be normalized by 31 March.

Meanwhile, a senior official said aviation regulator DGCA is looking into the "issue."

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 flight duty and time limitations (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.

(With inputs from agencies)Exempted provident funds break free of the EPFO on the promise of better returns and other terms for its members.

About 14 lakh employees of some 50 exempted provident fund trusts and pension funds must be ruing the adventurism of their retirement fund managers. Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the sarkari and default provident fund manager, all along at the receiving end of jibes for being rooted in conservatism, must be laughing up its sleeve for its staid and cautious investment policies.

That it has not even invested 5 percent of the investible funds it nurses on behalf of teeming millions of employees in equity through stock exchanges whereas the government has cleared the decks for 15 percent has been the constant refrain of commentators advocating risky investments. The EPFO can pat itself in the back also for steering clear of the IL&FS groups bonds.

Market fundamentalists tease and egg on the EPFO no-end. They smirk at its conservative investment policy forgetting that the EPFO at the end of the day cannot afford any brinkmanship because when the rainy day starts post-retirement, they should not be left high and dry  in the lurch.

That precisely is where the employees of public sector companies like MMTC, Indian Oil, CIDCO, HUDCO, SBI and electricity boards of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh find themselves in.

Even private sector biggies like Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) and Asian Paints have unwittingly exposed their employees to IL&FS bonds that were AAA rated by our lax rating agencies, which did a shoddy and shallow job of appraisal.

One doesnt know if the National Pension Scheme (NPS), which manages the retirement funds of the central government employees who joined its ranks from 1 January 2014, too had fallen hook, line and sinker for IL&FS bonds because unlike EPFO, which is a monolith, NPS funds are managed by numerous private fund managers.

The beleaguered provident and pension funds are rushing to National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to beat a deadline  12 March 2019. The resolution process of the IL&FS mess by NCLT under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) will be shaped by the pleas of the affected parties, who file their applications by this date.

IL&FS group has 302 companies all in a manner of wheel within wheel cast in a maze that defies comprehension of true ownership and unraveling of dues. Of them, 169 are Indian, 22 are green i.e., in a position to redeem all their commitments as per IL&FS own filing to the stock exchanges.

The bonds are listed which explains the stock exchanges involvement in its sordid affairs. While 10 are amber i.e., in a position to pay back just the secured creditors, 38 are admittedly red i.e., admittedly not in a position to service any debts.

It is still work-in-progress insofar as pigeonholing of some 100 companies is concerned into green, amber and red. This colorful classification hasnt amused anyone though. If anything it has stoked fears among the members of the affected funds.

Exempted provident funds break free of the EPFO on the promise of better returns and other terms for its members. But there is something called risk-reward relationship  greater the risks, greater the reward but being a double-edged sword, risk can sometimes wipe out every penny when it comes to the crunch.

Equity is supposed to be the best long-term investment especially if the portfolio is well diversified. But it is unsecured, period. Bonds are invariably secured. Yet they have turned out to be as risky as equity for which the lions share of blame must fall at the doors of rating agencies.

Will all these public sector companies come forward to foot the losses incurred by their private provident and pension funds? Or would the government which waives loans of poor farmers also extend a helping hand to the affected employees singed by the shenanigans of IL&FS? Since such employees do not constitute a powerful vote bank, chances of their bailout is remote.

(The writer is a senior columnist and tweets @smurlidharan)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.

Supreme Court has on Wednesday reserved its judgement on a contempt plea filed against Reliance Communication (RCom) chairman Anil Dhirubhai Ambani and and two others by Ericsson India over not clearing its dues of Rs 550 crore.

A bench of justices R F Nariman and Vineet Saran said it is reserving its verdict.

During the hearing, senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for Ericsson India, said there was wilful disobedience of apex court's orders and contempt action should be initiated against them.

Dave told the bench of judges that the RCom and its group companies must be treated as one entity, according to media reports. A report in the Financial Express said. Dushyant Dave, appearing for Ericsson, argued that they (Ambani and other contemnors) live like emperors Fly in private jets and live in grand mansions. Surely they can pay. They have money to pay in Rafale, but dont want to honour the SC order. How are they in all conceivable deals when they cant pay Rs 550 crore. They think they are gods gift to mankind.

"They have money for #Rafale. However, somebody who is involved in every conceivable project has no money to pay Rs 550 crore and honour the Supreme Court order", Dushyant Dave for Ericsson in contempt case against Reliance Communication and Anil Ambani. @barandbench  Murali Krishnan (@legaljournalist) February 13, 2019

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Anil Ambani and RCom, countered the argument and said no contempt was made as no orders of the apex court were violated. He argued there was no unconditional undertaking to pay Ericsson Rs 550 crore.

Ambani was present in the court for the second day. Rohatgi pointed out that the matter was now in the bankruptcy court, according to a report in The Economic Times. I am now nobody. It is all over. It is not in my hands now, said Ambani.

Anil Ambani reached the Supreme Court in the morning to appear in the case. Three contempt cases have been filed by Ericsson against Ambani.

He appeared before the apex court on Tuesday also in the same case.

Ambani, Reliance Telecom Ltd chairman Satish Seth and Reliance Infratel Ltd chairperson Chhaya Virani appeared before a bench of Justices R F Nariman and Vineet Saran in pursuance to the contempt notice issued against them.

Case so far

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 proceedings

Ericsson India had moved the Supreme Court seeking initiation of contempt proceedings for the second time against chairman of Reliance Communication Ltd, Anil 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.

Earlier, the Supreme Court of India had issued notice to 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 RCom, 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A year after this shocker, the key perpetrators of the caseModi and Choksiare still on the run.

Last year, in February, Indias second largest government-owned lender, Punjab National Bank (PNB) disclosed that it has been badly hit by Rs 14,000 crore financial fraud orchestrated by diamond merchant Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.

A year after this shocker, the key perpetrators of the caseModi and Choksiare still on the run. Just like in the Vijay Mallya-Kingfisher case--the government and investigators are engaged in a cross-border legal battle that has not yet made any meaningful progress.

As far as PNB is concerned, the bank is mostly past the initial pain of the mega fraud, having made the provisions to cover the losses, and is revisiting the processes and safety infrastructure. But the damage on the banks reputation wont be healed quite easily.

The PNB fraud episode has offered a few important lessons to the banking sector and has also left some key unanswered questions.

One: The software wasn't to blame, but the human beings in charge of it

The PNB fraud is often blamed on technologythe lack of integration between the SWIFT software and core banking. Post-the fraud, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made the rules stricter and asked banks to address this problem. But top bankers have opined that failure to ensure adherence to laid-out processes and rules have played a bigger role in the fraud remaining undetected for years. The PNB failed to monitor transactions involving Letter of Undertaking--LoUs (the instrument used by Modi to design the scam) from the very beginning. The fraud began in 2011. The bank kept honoring the instrument all these years till the scam came out in public in February 2018.

Two: The banks auditors, too, either failed or became party to the crime

In the PNB episode, the SWIFT messaging platform that was used by the corrupt bank officials and Modi is subjected to a daily check by the branch manager, which is compulsory in any bank. Even if one imagines that this part failed, the branch manager has to do a daily tally of income and expenditure in the branch while one of the officers (not involved in the transactions) combs through the books to look for suspicious transactions, the official said. That apart, the bank conducts a concurrent audit through the year. Such a fraud should have reflected there. The PNB miserably failed to follow the rule book that could have prevented the fraud.

Three: The case was initially looked at in isolationthis was a major mistake

After failing in its duty, paving way for one of the biggest-ever bank frauds since nationalisation, the PNB kept defending itself by passing the blame to the SWIFT software, its disconnect with the CBS system and Nirav Modis criminality, to claim innocence .

From day one, the PNB should have been the trigger to overhaul the manner in which risk management systems function within the banking system. The problem here was that the system failed to function with respect to basic checks and balances. In one of the interviews, former RBI deputy governor and PNB chairman K C Chakrabarty had told Firstpost that Indian banks have zero-risk management capacities. The RBI shouldnt treat this as a one-off case and should start working on overhauling the risk management framework for Indian banks.

Four: RBI initially acted in panic by banning LOUs outright

The RBI committed another blunder by terminating LoUs altogether in a knee-jerk reaction post-the PNB fraud. To begin with, the RBI couldnt detect a banking fraud right under its nose, perpetrated by a smart jeweler in collusion with certain low-rank bank officials; that too for a good six to seven years. When the fraud surfaced and questions were raised about the regulators efficacy to do its job properly, it decided to kill a legitimate trade instrument outright, something traders have been using for long. Both importers and exporters use LoUs extensively as this is one of the cheapest instruments available to them. The RBI banned it without giving much thought to the larger impact on the countrys importers and exporters. This was a big mistake from the RBI.

Five: Dual regulation is an issue in banking system

Dual regulation is a major problem for Indian banks. The PNB fraud pushed some skeletons out of the closet when both the central bank and the government locked horns over the regulation of government-owned banks. Former RBI Governor Urjit Patel had argued that the apex bank doesnt have strong regulatory control over PSBs, as it does with private banks. He cited seven areas or instances where the RBI cannot initiate actions on state-run banks, which control 70 percent of the assets of the banking industry including provisions such as inability of the RBI to remove directors and management at PSBs even if it wants to, to force a merger like it does in private banks, to revoke a banking licence or to trigger liquidation of PSBs among others.

The government countered the RBI citing clauses within the Banking Regulation Act that gives powers to the RBI over banks. In hindsight, it is apparent that there is an issue of dual regulation of PSBs that is triggering larger problems. The banking crisis gives an opportunity to policymakers to rethink the issue of dual regulation, which doesnt augur well for the industry, 70 percent of which is dominated by PSBs.

Six: All officials responsible for failure in risk-managment should be accountable

In this context, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charge sheet on the Rs 13,000 crore Nirav Modi-scam at PNB, which picks the name one of the former CEOs of the bank who served during the scam-period, looks strange. It could be true that the continuance of the fraud was facilitated by Usha Ananthasubramanian, but what about the original perpetrators of the crime? Ananthasubramanian was PNBs CEO between August 2015 and May 2017 while the scam began in 2011 as admitted by the bank management at the first press conference where it announced the scam. Between 2011 and 2015 there were two other CEOs for PNBK R Kamath and Gauri Shankar. Were they asked about the Letter of Understanding (LoU) transactions by the RBI or CBI? If the charge is of ignoring banking rules, i.e., prudential norms governing the LoU transactions, shouldnt it apply to all?

To sum up, the PNB fraud wasnt a financial crime orchestrated by two greedy businessmen alone. This incident epitomized the sheer absence of basic risk management systems in Indias banking system dangerously dominated by government-owned banks and the deplorable governance standards followed by even the top financial institutions in our country.

(Parts of this article have been published earlier on Firstpost)(ASX:WZR)

Hello Im Rachael Jones for the Finance News Network. Joining me today from Wisris CEO, Anthony Nantes. Anthony, welcome to FNN.Thanks Rachael.First up Anthony, could you start by giving us an introduction to your company?Wisr is Australias first neo-lender and were really a purpose led organisation, with a vision to bring financial wellness to all Australians. We do that by building out anecosystem with apps, tools, products and services that provide Aussies with a smarter, fair and wiser alternative in consumer finance.Youve seen some impressive growth in the loan acquisition space. Whats been driving this?We believe we have the best personal loan product in Australia. And what were starting to see is Australians really wake up to the fact, they have genuine alternatives in consumer finance, as opposed to just going back to the Big Four. I think our commitment to financial fairness and financial wellness for Australians, is really starting to resonate in the current environment as well.Some of Wisrs non-personal loan products have also been making an impact. What can you tell me about this?We launched WisrCredit for example in October of last year. And already, were seeing thousands of Australians come to that platform, which is Australias only credit score comparison engine. That platforms enabled thousands of Australians to start to experience the Wisr ecosystem, as part of their journey in financial wellness.Has the Royal Commission had any effect on your business?Whist we werent directly part of the Royal Commission, we kept a keen eye on it, as a lender in this space. The rallies weve had are a genuine commitment to response for learning, since the day we started the company. What the Royal Commission has done is really highlight to most Australians, how they should be looking to alternatives, when thinking about consumer finance. More than one third of our customers, who come to Wisr are actually coming off a Big Four style product, over to us. And were seeing genuine opportunity on the back of the Commission, as we start to grow our brand in Australia.Now lets talk about financials. What were some of the highlights of your quarterly results?Firstly, more Australians than ever are choosing Wisr. Our loan originations were up 437 per cent half on half, and our revenue was up 56 per cent. But beyond that, what were seeing is a take up right across our ecosystem, with thousands of customers coming to the platform, as we start to really build out the brand in Australia. We would also demonstrate an efficiency how were scaling, with reduced marketing spent half on half, whilst loan origination growing at over 400 per cent.To the last question now. What can we expect in terms of news flow over the next 12 months?Wisr will continue to grow, continue to expand out its ecosystem. Our Wisr app has just been recently launched. And were looking to acquire customers on that at a rapid rate, which will really add value into our ecosystem model. Its the first app of its kind in the world that allows customers to pay down a bit of extra debt, every single day, on top of the small purchases theyre already making. Were really excited to see how this app rolls out in the coming months, as well as the continued steady growth right across our core business.Anthony Nantes, thanks for the update.Thanks Rachael.VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2019 / This notice is being sent to advise that Maple Leaf 2017 Flow-Through Limited Partnership - National Class (CDO171 and CDO172) and Quebec Class (CDO173 and CDO174) (the "Partnership") will be proceeding with a transaction (the "Liquidity Transaction") pursuant to which the assets of the Partnership (the "Assets") will be transferred on a tax-deferred basis to the Maple Leaf Resource Class (the "Resource Class Mutual Fund" or "CDO100"), a class of shares of Maple Leaf Corporate Funds Ltd., an open-ended mutual fund corporation, in exchange for Series A shares of the Mutual Fund.

Additional information about the Resource Class Mutual Fund is available in their simplified prospectus and annual information form. These documents are available at www.sedar.com and www.mapleleaffunds.ca.

How the Rollover Will Work:

Pursuant to the Liquidity Transaction, Limited Partners of the Partnership ("Investors") will receive shares of the Resource Class Mutual Fund in connection with the dissolution of the Partnership. The effective date of the Liquidity Transaction (the "Effective Date") is expected to be on or about Wednesday, April 17, 2019. Shortly after the Effective Date, the shares of the Resource Class Mutual Fund will be distributed on a pro rata basis to investors and thereafter the Partnership will be dissolved.

Investors will receive the Resource Class Mutual Fund shares in exchange for, and with a value equal to, the value of the units of the Partnership held at the time of such transfer of Assets. When the shares of the Resource Class Mutual Fund are received, the Partnership units will be removed from each Investors account. Processing may take 2 to 3 business days (in some cases longer) to complete, after the rollover occurs.

The Partnership will issue a press release once the Liquidity Transaction has been completed and the conversion ratio has been determined.

The ACB (adjusted cost base) for each unit of the Partnership and each share of the Resource Class Mutual Fund will be determined by the General Partner upon the wind-up of the Partnership's affairs. The Partnership will dissolve within 60 days of the Effective Date. The General Partner will post these details on its website at www.mapleleaffunds.ca.

Investors should consult with their investment advisor and/or tax advisor for all tax-related matters.

Simplified Example:

An Investor holds 100 Partnership units with a final Net Asset Value of $20.00 at the time of rollover and the net asset value per share of the Resource Class Mutual Fund is $5.00 on the same date. Based on these net asset values, the conversion ratio will be 4.0 (4.0 = $20.00 / $5.00). The Investor's 100 units, valued at $2,000, are removed from the Investor's account and 400 shares (400 = 100 x 4.0) of the Resource Class Mutual Fund, valued at $2,000, are added to the Investor's account.

Processing can be delayed after the rollover occurs, therefore transactions such as switches or redemptions may not be processed until the Resource Class Mutual Fund shares have been credited to client accounts.

Neither the Partnership nor the Resource Class Mutual Fund will accept any liability for transactions executed prior to dealer records being updated.

Specific Information about the Mutual Fund:





Organization and Management of the Mutual Fund Manager: CADO Investment Fund Management Inc. 609 Granville Street, Suite 808 Vancouver, British Columbia V7Y 1G5 Tel: 604-684-5742 Fax: 604-684-5748 Toll free: 1-866-688-5750 Email: info@cadobancorp.ca CADO Investment Fund Management Inc.is the manager of the Mutual Fund and is responsible for managing he overall business and operations of the Mutual Fund. Portfolio Advisor:

Backer Wealth Management Inc. ("Backer")

Toronto, Ontario Backer is responsible for managing the investment portfolio of the Funds. Custodian:

RBC Investor Services Trust

Toronto, Ontario The custodian has physical custody of the Mutual Fund's property. Administrator:

The IAS Investment Administration Solution Inc. ("IAS")

Toronto, Ontario The administrator keeps track of the owners of shares of the Mutual Fund and processes purchases. Auditor: KPMG LLP Vancouver, British Columbia The auditors are responsible for auditing the annual financial statements of the Mutual Fund. The auditors of the Mutual Fund may not be changed unless the independent review committee of the Mutual Fund has approved the change and a written notice describing the change is sent to unit holders at least 60 days before the effective date of the change. Independent Review Committee

(the "IRC") Canadian securities legislation requires the Mutual Fund to have an IRC. The IRC is composed of three members, each of whom is independent of us. The mandate of the IRC is to review, and provide input on, our written policies and procedures that deal with conflict of interest matters in respect of the Mutual Fund and to give their recommendation regarding and, in some cases, approve, conflict of interest matters identified and referred to the IRC by us. The IRC will prepare, at least annually, a report of its activities for investors. This report will be available at our website at www.mapleleaffunds.ca or you may request a copy, at no cost to you, by contacting us at info@cadobancorp.ca. Additional information about the IRC, including the names of the members, is available in the Mutual Fund's Annual Information Form.

Portfolio Advisor:

Backer Wealth Manager Inc. ("Backer") will be responsible for the Mutual Fund's investment activities. Mr. Craig Porter, President of Backer, will act as Portfolio Manager on behalf of Backer. Mr. Porter has over 30 years of experience investing in the Canadian capital markets and was a Senior Portfolio Manager at Front Street Capital 2005 to 2017. Prior to that, he rose from his role as an equity analyst to portfolio manager at Altamira Management Ltd. and its successor Natcan Investment Management Inc. from 1992 to 2005.

During his tenure at Altamira, the firm was awarded the Precious Metals Equity Fund of the Year award at the Morningstar Canadian Investment Awards.

As lead or co-manager while working at Front Street Capital, Mr. Porter managed or co-managed over $900 million in flow-through limited partnerships, and in addition he managed the firm's resource equity and resource income mutual funds.

Additional Information:

Additional information about the Mutual Fund will be available in the Mutual Fund's simplified prospectus, annual information form, management reports of fund performance and financial statements. You can obtain a copy of these documents at your request and at no cost by contacting Maple Leaf Funds toll free at 1-866-688-5750, by e-mailing info@maplelelaffunds.ca, by download from www.mapleleaffunds.ca or from your financial advisor.

Other information about the Mutual Fund, is available at SEDAR (the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval established by the Canadian Securities Administrators) at www.sedar.com.

For further information or assistance with respect to the Mutual Fund or the Limited Partnership, please contact:

CADO Investment Fund Management Inc.

609 Granville Street, Suite 808, Vancouver, BC V7Y 1G5

Tel: 604-684-5742 | Toll Free: 866-688-5750 | Fax: 604-684-5748

Email: info@cadobancorp.ca | Web: www.mapleaffunds.ca

SOURCE: Maple Leaf Corporate Funds Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535411/Maple-Leaf-2017-Flow-Through-Limited-Partnership-National-Class-Quebec-Class--Offering-Memorandum-Notice-Of-Rollover-TransactionRejuvenated brand to re-establish itself as the world's best go-to resource

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2019) - Treating Yourself ("TY"), also known as The Alternative Medicine Journal, is pleased to announce today it has relaunched its website and will be re-establishing itself as the world's leading go-to resource for medical cannabis consumers on the world wide web.

Link to re-launched website: https://treatingyourself.com





Cannot view this video? Visit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA4amu9pT7c

Treating Yourself was first established in 2002 to provide medical marijuana users with information to assist in the safe use of medical marijuana, from acquiring seeds to growing their own or purchasing product from government approved sources.

The Treating Yourself brand was extended in 2003 to include the Treating Yourself Magazine, which now has forty-two back-issues already in print.

During 2010-2014, TY EXPO represented a series of international cannabis tradeshows, hosted in Toronto, catering to Medical Marijuana Access Patients from all around the globe.

Recognizing the shifting times with the recent approval for recreational cannabis in Canada, the retired Founder Marco Renda reached a deal in January of this year with Toronto-based digital publications and advertising group Twenty One Ton to restart TY operations, effective immediately.

"We are pleased to invite the community to come check out our fresh new website at treatingyourself.com and connect with us right away. We are already receiving content submissions for the new website, and will soon be accepting content for the magazine too when we restart print operations," said Marco Renda, the Founder of Treating Yourself.

The terms of the private arrangement are undisclosed at this time.

Former TY advertisers and contributors are being advised that the TreatingYourself.com website has been relaunched, and the magazine will resume at Issue #43 providing there is sufficient advertiser interest.

The magazine and website would both feature increased medical and scientific content, plus there will be more strain reports, to accommodate all the new legal producers and breeders of medical grade cannabis.

About Treating Yourself (The Alternative Medicine Journal)

Treating Yourself provides medical marijuana users with information to assist them in their use of medical marijuana, from acquiring seeds to growing their own or purchasing product from government approved sources. The brand also keeps its subscribers up to date on news concerning this topic and suggestions on how to use medical marijuana.

For more information, visit https://treatingyourself.com

About Twenty One Ton

For more than ten years, Twenty One Ton has been fundamental in many start-up projects, with several having been successfully acquired. The company has assembled a strategic group of marketing experts from years of past work in big city agencies, and it is now rolling out a new suite of cannabis focused web properties. The team has been assembled to provide senior expertise for online advertising, web design, customer acquisition, email list and digital marketing campaigns. Twenty One Ton leverages content producers and their professional networks to deliver excellence in various disciplines including digital, print, direct mail, contact center and broadcast media.

For more information, visit https://twentyoneton.com

Media inquiries:

Eric Vengroff

Twenty One Ton

#1-124 Milner Ave.

Toronto ON M1S 3R2

P: 416-801-4366

eric@treatingyourself.com



Sales inquiries:

Dana Francoz

The DanMar group

P: 416-726-2853

dana@francoz.com

Past contributor inquiries:

Marco Renda

marco@treatingyourself.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42847SITTARD, The Netherlands, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Scala will demonstrate how in-store marketing technology can be used to optimize the shopping experience at EuroCIS 2019, "the leading trade fair for retail technology." Through innovative retail technology solutions - including digital signs, augmented and virtual reality, mobile sensors, computer vision technology and artificial intelligence - Scala helps retailers deliver an immersive shopping experience that inspires repeat visits. Scala, part of the STRATACACHE family of marketing technology companies, can be found in booth F03 in hall 10 at EuroCIS 2019, being held 19-21 February in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Additionally during the show, Harry Horn, GM of EMEA and VP of Marketing at Scala, will present "Creating Smart Stores: Using Sensor Tech and Data Insights in Retail" during the EuroCIS Forum on Wednesday, February 20 in Hall 10, stand F04 from 2:20 - 02:40 p.m. "Retailers are realizing the power of analytics gathered throughout the store, informing and driving the customer experience as well as streamlining store operations. Making these insights actionable is key to helping inform a successful in-store shopping strategy," said Horn.

Booth highlights include:

Shopper and store operations dashboards: It's more important than ever to have real-time access to business-critical information wherever and whenever needed. An extensive display of dashboards, showing deep visitor and operational insights tied to each retail experience, is included in a "back of house" area of the booth. Experts will show marketers, retailers and brands how to leverage the power of real-time retail analytics, mobile sensors and artificial intelligence, using STRATACACHE's in-house platform Walkbase to inform and optimize the in-store experience and increase sales.

Virtual reality collaborative design demonstrations: Virtual reality shopping demonstrations will run continually in the booth throughout the show. These live demos show practical, multi-user, real-time, collaborative VR and will highlight use cases for: considered design, virtual inventory, collaborative consumer engagement, internal workflows for pre-visualization, sales engagement possibilities, concepts for flagship enterprise-level immersive interactive experiences and experiential destinations. Bringing immersive design experiences to the retail market, STRATACACHE debuted VR shopping last month, created by Scala Professional Services integrating the NVIDIA Holodeck immersive VR environment.

Scala-branded hardware: Scala media players are featured in the booth, including single-, double- and quad-output. All Scala media players are designed for performance, stability and compatibility while ensuring the reliable, timely delivery of rich media experiences. Additionally, on display will be Scala Content Accelerator multimedia caching devices which ensure reliable, timely delivery of rich media experiences in any retail environment.

Guided shopping experiences, focusing on value-add narratives for retailers and marketers:

Personalisation at Scale: The advent of social media influence has evolved and shaped the way we shop online, and our fashion-focused concept leans into this behavior and makes it more actionable by bringing it into a retail environment. Using a touchscreen display, shoppers browse through looks with the ability to view them from a 360-degree perspective on the red carpet. From there shoppers can share or buy their preferred "look" with one tap.

Service Automation: Scala has integrated ordering kiosks with facial recognition technology and a robotic cocktail machine to create a memorable, streamlined ordering experience. After choosing or designing a favorite drink from our self-ordering kiosks, featuring our own commercial-grade tablets, the robot gets to work preparing the order. By automating certain tasks in the customer experience, sales associates are free to concentrate on shopper interaction and store operations.

Assisted Selling: This concept focuses on two key areas that drive the in-store experience - clarity when comparing products and delivery of a personalised, memorable shopping trip. Visitors use a tablet-based guided selling concept to create their ideal bicycle, comparing features from other bicycles along the way, ensuring they are guided toward the perfect product. Product discovery is streamlined, offering unobtrusive upsell opportunities throughout the experience. The concept also provides a tool for sales associates to have insight into the shopper's preferences before offering assistance, ultimately delivering a concierge-level shopping experience.

To learn more visit www.scala.com/eurocis-2019/.

About Scala

Scala solutions deliver engaging retail experiences by connecting networks of digital signs, kiosks, mobile devices, websites and Internet-connected devices. Scala, a STRATACACHE company, provides the platform for marketers, retailers and innovators to easily create and centrally manage deployment of shopping experiences while retaining the flexibility to rapidly adapt to local business conditions and preferences of customers in the store. With 30 years of experience entertaining, informing and educating audiences, Scala is well-known for its innovation and leveraging best-of-breed technologies, such as mobile and predictive analytics, to create award-winning solutions that are easy-to-use, yet infinitely customizable. Headquartered near Philadelphia, PA, Scala's network of partners and developers located in more than 90 countries drives more than 500,000 screens worldwide.

CONTACT: Andrea Poley, andrea.poley@scala.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/457388/Scala_Logo.jpgTORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2019 / Toronto is home to amazing startups in all verticals. One such tech entrepreneur who took the plunge in the startup world is Shabbir Evershine, Founder of RocketPMO in Toronto, Canada. His wife, Rashida Evershine and 2 kids were a constant source of motivation for him to start his business, and in May 2016 he quit his job at the Royal Bank of Canada, and opened the doors to RocketPMO, a boutique consulting firm specializing in the setup, implementation and maturity of agile Project Management Offices (PMO).

RocketPMO recently won a coveted "Best Startup" Award in Management Consulting category by Brown Buzz News (BBN). BBN touts itself as the platform that "celebrates success of brown folks in tech, business, arts, and politics across the globe." This award was presented to Shabbir Evershine in Toronto at a recent gala dinner. His wife, Rashida Evershine and children also joined him in the ceremony. Winners attended the gala from all verticals including other cities such as Chicago, Montreal, Vancouver, Karachi, Mumbai, London, Houston, and Los Angeles.

"I am extremely happy winning this prestigious award," said an ecstatic Mr. Evershine when asked to comment on stage, "I dedicate this to the countless, fearless leaders and mentors who guided me throughout my career."

"A lack of clear goals is the most common factor [37%] behind project failure," says Shabbir Evershine, quoting an industry statistic. The numbers are staggering. Based on research by Harvard Business Review, IT failure rates are estimated to be between 5-15 percent, accounting for a loss of $50-$150 billion per year in the United States alone. Most organizations have a 70 percent project failure rate as per 4PM, a leading research organization.

Mr. Evershine has had more than 16 years of work experience as an executive PMO leader with 3 Fortune 500 companies, the Government of Ontario, and a few startups. "Not all numbers are doom and gloom," argues Shabbir, "Increasing the competency level of the project managers, using a structured methodology and information system, and fiercely connected to strategy will benefit the project and the organization."

Shabbir Evershine was born in Karachi, Pakistan and is a self-declared "foodie, gallivanter, bibliophile and photographer" in addition to being a startup founder. "If not working on my startup or with my clients, you can see with discovering new restaurants or discovering new places", says Mr. Evershine, "Whatever your passion, just do it. The world will reciprocate. Money will follow. Dreams will become realities. Take the first step - today."

Contact:

Devonte Adams

brownbuzznews@gmail.com

SOURCE: RocketPMO

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535330/RocketPMOs-Shabbir-Evershine-Wins-Best-Startup-Award-for-Management-Consulting| BY Lynchy |

R/GA has today announced that its continued growth in APAC has paved the way for changes to regional creative structure, including the appointment of former Host/Havas ECD Seamus Higgins to the role of VP chief creative officer.

Higgins steps into the newly-created CCO role in April, assuming overarching creative leadership of the agencys Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney, and Melbourne offices. Last month R/GA announced that their Regional VP Executive CD Bob Mackintosh was leaving the network.

Recently included in Ad-Ages 2018 Creative All-Stars list, Higgins has more than 20 years of industry experience across three continents. Throughout his career, hes been behind campaigns that have won nearly every major award, notably ten D&AD pencils (including two black), three Cannes Lions Grand Prix (including Titanium), and two Grand Clios.

Most recently, he served as ECD at Host/Havas, driving a creative resurgence that earned the agency the Spikes Asia Agency of the Year award, and a No.7 ranking in the Cannes Lions 2018 Global Creativity Report. At Host/Havas he was Co-ECD on the multi award winning Palau Pledge.

Says Tuomas Peltoniemi, EVP managing director, APAC: Seamus has built his career championing ideas that often dont feel like advertising, and ensuring uncompromising craft when it comes to their delivery. Were excited to welcome him to R/GA and to a role which speaks to his talent and passion for driving change, as well as our growth and the opportunities for transformation were seeing here.

Says Higgins: APAC is a hugely dynamic region where anything is possible, and R/GA is perfectly poised to push the boundaries of creativity and innovation here. I cant wait to get going with this incredibly talented team.

R/GAs regional creative leadership will be further bolstered by two key internal promotions.

R/GA Australia ECD, Robert Chalmers (left) becomes ECD  head of experience design, APAC, charged with deepening XD capability and growing teams across the five offices. R/GA Tokyo ECD, Niklas Lilja (right) becomes ECD  head of stories, APAC, heading up the development and expansion of the regions creative teams.

Says Sean Lyons, global CEO, R/GA: We are growing at speed in APAC, opening two new offices in as many years, a host of new business wins and organic growth from long-standing relationships, and hitting our stride creatively.$3.3 Million Payout Just Part of Overall Positive Financial Impact

RALEIGH, NC / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2019 / This morning, Coastal Credit Union issued more than $3.3 million in special dividends to eligible members through its Loyalty Bonus program. The payout was shared among 63,500 members, making it Coastal's largest bonus dividend in terms of both dollars paid and number of recipients. This year's payout was a 35% increase over 2018.

The total Loyalty Bonus payout was based on Coastal's overall performance in 2018. Individual shares of the payout were then calculated based on each member's aggregate relationship (year-end loan balances plus average deposits) with Coastal, as well as their length of membership. Individual members received anywhere from $5.00 up to $300.

"It's important for us to remind people that there's a different business model out there that's designed to actually return value to its consumers rather than extract it from them." said Chuck Purvis, Coastal's President and CEO. "As a member-owned cooperative, we're in a unique position to both work to help our members improve their personal financial situation every day, and then share our financial success with them at the end of a profitable year. We aren't beholden to Wall Street investors, so we can focus on using our earnings however they will best benefit our members. One way we can do that is by returning some to the people who helped us earn it.'"

Over the past eight years, Coastal has returned $17.5 million to members as special dividends. The credit union also looks at the overall positive impact it has by saving money for members on their everyday financial needs.

"Loyalty Bonus is just part of how Coastal returns value to our members," said Joe Mecca, VP of Communication. "We've identified more than $32 million in member savings during 2018 by calculating the difference between our loan rates, deposit dividends and fees, compared to our competition, as well as the value of other incentives and programs we offered to members throughout the year."

About Coastal

Coastal Credit Union is a not-for-profit, member-owned, financial cooperative, offering a full range of financial products and services. Coastal was chartered on August 31, 1967 with the mission of fostering the credit union philosophy of "people helping people." Today, with $3.1 billion in assets, Coastal serves 257,000 members from 1,700 business partners and is among the leading financial institutions in North Carolina. Coastal operates 23 branches in central North Carolina and serves members in all 50 states through a network of 5,000 shared branches, 80,000 surcharge-free ATMs, mobile banking featuring mobile check deposit, and a robust offering of online services at www.COASTAL24.com. For more Coastal news, visit our online newsroom.

Ways Coastal saves members' money 2018 Savings* Loan Rates Refinancing Mortgages $1,030,000 Auto Refinance Savings Guarantee $104,800 Refinancing Auto Loans $1,612,800 Auto Loans $5,433,700 Home Equity Lines of Credit $845,300 Mortgages $957,800 Credit Card Balance Transfers $681,200 Credit Card Hurricane Relief Campaign $198,000 Deposit Dividends Go Green Checking $2,091,700 Money Market $2,786,200 Certificates $2,248,900 Health Savings Accounts $170,700 Fees Origination Fees on Mortgages $1,137,200 Mortgage Underwriting Fee $385,800 Bounce Guard/NSF Fee $847,100 Overdraft Forgiveness Program $3,401,100 Overdraft Transfer Fee $1,410,800 Other Eliminated Fees $279,400 Incentives Loyalty Bonus Dividends $3,394,900 Daymark Realty Member Savings $505,400 Join Days $107,500 Credit & Debit Card Bonus Incentives $81,500 Fast Lane at Coastal Credit Union Music Park $44,300 idAlly Identity Theft Recovery Services $2,277,200 Carolina Hurricanes Discounts $12,200 NCFC / NC Courage Discounts $8,800 Coastal Family Day $336,000 International Credit Union Day Food Truck Rodeo $14,100 Total Member Giveback $32,404,300

*Member Giveback is estimated by comparing the average interest and dividend rates of Coastal's loan and deposit product portfolios versus average local bank rates for similar products from external sources like bankrate.com and S&P Global. We also compared Coastal's fees to the advertised fees of Bank of America, Wells Fargo, PNC, BB&T, First Citizens and SunTrust. Additionally, we quantify the actual cash value of product incentives that Coastal offers to members.

Joe Mecca

VP, Communication / Spokesperson

jmecca@coastal24.com

984-789-8686

SOURCE: Coastal Credit Union

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535139/Coastal-Credit-Union-Issues-Largest-Ever-Loyalty-Bonus-Special-DividendST. PETER PORT, Guernsey, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Prospect Co., Ltd. (the "Company") hereby gives notice as described below that it was resolved at the Board of Directors meeting held on February 14, 2019 to revise the dividend forecast.

Note

1. Reasons for Revision

The Company considers the return of profits to shareholders as a critical matter for the management. The dividend policy is implemented based on the goal of ensuring sufficient retained earnings to support stable future growth, to respond to changes in business environment, as well as to maintain stable and continuous dividend distributions.

However, as stated in today's announcement "Notice Regarding Extraordinary Losses", due to the extraordinary losses of 1,748 million yen recorded in the third quarter consolidated financial statements of fiscal year ended March 31, 2019, the Company is expecting a substantial net loss for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019. Therefore, the Company decided to revise the dividend forecast for the current term from "3 Yen" to "No dividend".

The Company expresses its sincerest apologies to its shareholders, as well as appreciation for their continued support. The Company is aiming to resume dividend distribution as soon as possible.

2. Contents of Revision



Annual dividend (JPY) End of 1st Quarter End of 2nd Quarter End of 3rd Quarter End of 4th Quarter Total Previous Forecast - - - 3.00 3.00 Revised Forecast - - - 0.00 0.00 Current Actual Result - - -



Previous Actual Result (fiscal year ending March 31, 2018) - - - 4.00 4.00

Company Name: Prospect Co., Ltd.

Representative: President and CEO Masato Tabata

(Security Code: 3528 TSE 2nd Section)

Contact: Chief of General Affairs Ryosuke Tabei

(TEL: +03-3470-8411)A well-known customer intelligence company, Infiniti Research, has announced the completion of their recent free supplement on building a strong social media monitoring strategy. Social media monitoring involves the use of social media channels to track, gather and mine the information and data that are valuable to the company.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005496/en/

Best practices for social media monitoring (Graphic: Business Wire)

Today most top companies have scaled their businesses on a global scale, making it extremely important for them to stay relevant even in international markets. Listening to customers in different markets is one of the most important elements of an international branding strategy, but it is often the one that is most overlooked. This is a big mistake as customers in different regions may have very different perceptions of a brand. Organizations need to gauge customer feedback to identify branding deficiencies and rectify them. Social media monitoring is used to collect and mine data, especially by organizations seeking customer intelligence to determine current industry trends.

An effective social media monitoring strategy requires a long-term focus and a filtering system that can only be perfected through continuous improvement. Get in touch with our experts to learn more.

Best practices for social media monitoring:

Identify the networks to target

One of the most basic steps involved in social media monitoring is knowing what media platforms to look at. Facebook and Twitter are certainly two social networks that most businesses would want to monitor. Besides this, organizations may also want to monitor networks like Reddit, Instagram, and Pinterest, depending on the industry that they operate in.

Request for more information and choose the right social media monitoring strategies for your business with our solutions.

Compare feedback against branding strategy

Rather than focusing on whether or not the customers have positive views of the brand, companies should be focusing on whether that feedback indicates that their marketing strategies are working. It should be kept in mind that the branding goals are probably different in every country.

Tweak monitoring strategy

There is no one correct way to reduce the noise-signal ratio in social media monitoring. Your strategy can only be improved through trial and error. It is hence important to constantly evaluate the noise in your feed and identify ways to reduce them. For instance, you may stop monitoring specific competitors or keywords that are not ROI-worthy and may start monitoring other keywords that may bring generate higher quality leads.

Download the full supplementto read more

About Infiniti Research

Established in 2003, Infiniti Research is a leading market intelligence company providing smart solutions to address your business challenges. Infiniti Research studies markets in more than 100 countries to help analyze competitive activity, see beyond market disruptions, and develop intelligent business strategies. To know more, visit:https://www.infinitiresearch.com/about-us

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005496/en/

Contacts:

Infiniti Research

Anirban Choudhury

Marketing Manager

US: +1 844 778 0600

UK: +44 203 893 3400

https://www.infinitiresearch.com/contact-usHOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2019 / Cannabis has going mainstream with retail.

Consumers are already seeing CBD-infused beer, food, health, supplements, medications, beauty aids, and clothing. It's even disrupting the $4.2 trillion global wellness industry.

DSW for example, has been running tests in its stores with CBD, announcing plans to expand such products to nearly 100 stores. Neiman Marcus is pushing ahead with CBD sales at some of its stores and online. Simon Property Group is partnering with Green Growth Brands to open 108 stores in its malls just in 2019.

Barney's will launch "The High End," a luxury cannabis retail shop in Beverly Hills, California in partnership with cannabis company, Beboe.

"Barneys New York has always been at the forefront of shifts in culture and lifestyle, and cannabis is no exception,' said Daniella Vitale, Chief Executive Officer & President, Barneys New York. "Many of our customers have made cannabis a part of their lifestyle, and The High End caters to their needs with extraordinary products and service they experience in every facet of Barneys New York."

"There is a demand for high-end CBD products," notes Neiman Marcus, as quoted by CNN. "CBD products are the next big thing in beauty."

As more retailers see the opportunity that DSW, Simon Property, Neiman Marcus, and Barney's already do, the story could become even more explosive.

Along the way, it's creating sizable sales opportunity for several companies, including The Yield Growth Corporation (CSE: BOSS)(OTCQB: BOSQF), HEXO Corporation (TSX: HEXO) (NYSE: HEXO), and The Green Organic Dutchman (TSX: TGOD)(OTC: TGODF)

The Yield Growth Corporation (BOSS)(BOSQF), for example, just announced the launch of six new products with its proprietary hemp root oil under the Urban Juve brand: Vitalize Face Mist, Balance Face Mist, Align Face Mist, Vitalize Daily Ritual Oil, Balance Daily Ritual Oil and Align Daily Ritual Oil.

The six new products now complete Phase One of the Urban Juve product line, bringing the total number of separate product SKU's to 11. Within two weeks the six new products may be purchased online at urbanjuve.com and will be available for sale through retailers. Phase two launch of Urban Juve products is expected to begin in June 2019 and will include 10 more personal care products.

"I'm so impressed at the speed our talented team has brought these high-quality products to market," says Penny Green, CEO of Yield Growth, "We are positioned to be at the forefront of the hemp and cannabis revolution which is disrupting the $4.2 trillion wellness industry."

For More Information on The Yield Growth Corporation,Click Here.

The Green Organic Dutchman (TGOD)( TGODF)is developing a distribution hug for large-scale beverage and edible products that can be introduced in Canada and abroad.

"We believe that the beverage and edible market will be the largest single segment of the cannabis market. Cannabis, as the base ingredient, makes these products possible. The medicinal and recreational market for CBD and THC will only increase over time and starting with an organic input is the most important aspect to developing these higher margin products," notes TGOD President Csaba Reider.

For More Information on The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd., Click Here.

HEXO Corporation (HEXO)(HYYDF) recently reached a construction and licensing milestone for the first phase of its one million sq. ft. greenhouse expansion. The milestone will help HEXO increase its annual production capacity to 108,000 kg of dried cannabis.

According to CEO and co-founder Sebastien St. Louis, 'Receiving initial licensing on our 1,000,000 sq. ft. facility is a huge accomplishment for the entire HEXO team. We are proud that the construction project is hitting all its milestones while respecting aggressive timelines and staying on budget. The new production facility allows us to continue to scale-up which, once fully operational, will give customers across Canada access to HEXO products. Our team has been hard at work for the past couple of months nurturing new mother plants and preparing cuttings. We will start moving plants into the new facility with the pre-prepared mother plants and cuttings in alignment with our continuous harvest methodology."

For More Information on HEXO Corporation, Click Here.

MarijuanaStox.com is a leading web destination for all cannabis related companies. Investors can also find current marijuana-related quality financial, medical, legal and social news.

MarijuanaStox.com is a media agency in North America dedicated to the cannabis industry, helping companies that operate in the space to attract quality investors, working capital and real publicity. Since 2005, we have had public companies in the US and Canada have rely on us to grow and succeed.

Legal Disclaimer

Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this article contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Winning Media which has a partnership with www.MarijuanaStox.com is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release.

For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Winning Media, which has a partnership with www.MarijuanaStox.com, is only compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation. Pursuant to an agreement between Winning Media (partners of MarijuanaStox.com) and The Yield Growth Corp, Winning Media has been paid four thousand dollars for advertising and marketing services for The Yield Growth Corp. We own ZERO shares of The Yield Growth Corp. Please click here for full disclaimer.

Contact Information:

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View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535326/Three-Top-Stocks-for-the-Cannabis-Retailer-BoomIncap Corporation Stock Exchange Release 22 March 2019 at 10.30 a.m. (EET)

INCAP'S ANNUAL REPORT, AUDITOR'S REPORT AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE STATEMENT PUBLISHED

Incap Group's annual report for 2018 has been published in Finnish and in English in pdf-format on the company's website at www.incapcorp.com/Investors/Annual report. The annual report includes the report of the Board of Directors, consolidated financial statements and the parent company's financial statements as well as the auditor's report for the financial period 1 January-31 December 2018.

Incap Corporation's corporate governance statement has been published as a separate document and it is available on the company's website at www.incapcorp.com/Investors/ Corporate Governance.

Also the Group's remuneration statement is available on the company's website in section Investors/Corporate Governance/Remuneration.

The annual report, corporate governance statement and remuneration statement are also attached to this release.

INCAP CORPORATION

For more information, please contact:

Otto Pukk, CEO, +372 508 0798

Antti Pynnonen, CFO, +358 40 187 3494

DISTRIBUTION

Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd

Major media

The company's home page www.incapcorp.com

INCAP IN BRIEF

Incap Corporation is an international contract manufacturer. Incap's customers are leading suppliers of high-technology equipment in their own business segments, and Incap increases their competitiveness as a strategic partner. Incap has operations in Finland, Estonia, India and Hong Kong, and the company currently employs approximately 770 people. Incap's share is listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. as from 1997. Additional information: www.incapcorp.com.

AttachmentsIn the United States alone, more than 1.4 million people survive sepsis each year. But for many survivors, the fight is far from over after recovery. According to Sepsis Alliance, up to 60% of sepsis survivors are left not only with physical challenges but mental and emotional challenges too. During Sepsis Survivor Week, Wolters Kluwer, Health is announcing its continued partnership with Sepsis Alliance and sepsis survivors to honor their experience by sharing their individual stories of survival and bringing awareness to the unseen mental, emotional and physical challenges many survivors face every day.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005303/en/

"As part of our mission, Wolters Kluwer is committed to helping increase the number of sepsis survivors, one patient at a time-helping clinicians identify signs of sepsis more quickly and accurately so that interventions lead to recovery," said Karen Kobelski, General Manager for Safety and Surveillance at Wolters Kluwer, Health. "By increasing awareness through Sepsis Survivor Week, and by supporting the Sepsis Coordinator Network, our partnership with Sepsis Alliance is an essential part of our efforts."

The Sepsis Coordinator Network provides its members with evidence-based, best-practice resources and guidance to identify and treat sepsis. Since its launch in May 2018, the network has grown to include over 1,500 healthcare professionals from more than 1,300 hospitals in all 50 states, covering more than 435,000 hospital beds.

"During Sepsis Survivor Week, we reflect on how one out of three of sepsis survivors are re-hospitalized within three months of the initial sepsis and we are reminded of the critical role of the Sepsis Coordinator Network," said Thomas Heymann, President and Executive Director of Sepsis Alliance. "The Network wouldn't be possible without the support of companies like Wolters Kluwer. Each new member of the Sepsis Coordinator Network signifies one more health provider who has made a commitment to improving sepsis care in their facility and for their patients."

The Sepsis Coordinator Network is led by experts in the field of nursing with critical experience in caring for sepsis patients. A complementary team of healthcare professionals from across the continuum of care serve as clinical advisors in specialized areas. They include physicians, pharmacists and mental health specialists, among others.

The Sepsis Coordinator Network was created by Sepsis Alliance, the leading sepsis organization in the U.S., working in all 50 states to save lives and reduce suffering by raising awareness of sepsis as a medical emergency. Since 2011, Sepsis Alliance has designated September as Sepsis Awareness Month to bring healthcare professionals and community members together in the fight against sepsis. For more information, please visit http://www.sepsis.org or @SepsisAlliance on Twitter.

To learn more about Wolters Kluwer surveillance solutions or the Sepsis Coordinator Network, please visit http://www.pocadvisor.com or http://www.SepsisCoordinatorNetwork.org. Attendees at HIMSS19 are invited to visit Wolters Kluwer in Booth #1759 to learn about our Health solutions.

About Wolters Kluwer

Wolters Kluwer N.V. (AEX: WKL) is a global provider of professional information, software solutions, and services for physicians, nurses, accountants, lawyers, tax specialists, and finance, audit, compliance, and regulatory sectors.

The company provides expert solutions a combination of deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services that help professionals navigate change, solve complex problems, and deliver impact in their respective fields.

Headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands, Wolters Kluwer holds market-leading positions in 40 countries globally, represents customers across 180 countries and employs 19,000 people worldwide. In 2017, it reported annual revenues of 4.4 billion.

Wolters Kluwer provides trusted clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that engage clinicians, patients, researchers and students with advanced clinical decision support, learning and research and clinical intelligence. For more information about our solutions, visit http://healthclarity.wolterskluwer.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @WKHealth.

For more information, visit www.wolterskluwer.com, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005303/en/

Contacts:

Ann Joyal

VP, Global Communications, Health Division

Wolters Kluwer

781 392 3831

ann.joyal@wolterskluwer.comVancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2019) - Biocure Technology Corp. (CSE: CURE) (OTCQB: BICTF) ("CURE" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has arranged a non-brokered private placement of 6,976,745 million units at 43 cents per unit for gross proceeds of $3 Million or more, depending on investor interest. Each Unit will entitle the holder to receive one common share of the Company (each a "Common Share") and one Full Warrant ("Warrants") exercisable for 24 Months for CDN$0.86. Each warrant is subject to accelerated expiry provisions, such that if at any time after the expiry of any resale restriction governing the subscribed shares, the corporation's common shares trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange at or above a volume-weighted average trading price of $1.29 per common share for 10 consecutive trading days, the company may give notice to the holders that each warrant will expire 30 days from the date of providing such notice.

Finder's fees or commissions may be payable by the Company in connection with this Private Placement.

The net proceeds from the non-brokered private placement are intended to be used for general working capital and research and development.

About Biocure

Biocure is a South Korean based Bio Pharmaceutical company specializing in the development and potential commercialization of biosimilar pharmaceutical products. Biocure is in the process of pre- clinical trials of five major biosimilar products in South Korea, including Interferon Beta 1b, PEG- Filgrastim and Ranibizumab as well as CAR-T Cell Therapy. Interferon Beta 1b is used for treating relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis ("MS") Filgrastim is used to treat neutropenia, a lack of certain white blood cells caused by bone marrow transplants, chemotherapy, and other conditions. Ranibizumab is used for treating macular degeneration. It is also used to treat a type of eye problem known as macular edema, as well as certain eye problems caused by diabetes. Biocure is also developing a foot and mouth disease vaccine, and a hair growth production product.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

/S/ "SANG MOK LEE"

CEO and Director

For further information, please contact:

Biocure Technology Inc. Telephone: 604-609-7146, or

Rebecca Greco

Investor Relations

(416) 822-6483

Certain statements in this news release, which are not historical in nature, constitute "forward looking statements" within the meaning of that phrase under applicable Canadian securities law. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements or information concerning the Company's proposed activities under the Agreement and the expectations of the Company regarding funding payments due pursuant to the Agreement. These statements reflect management's current assumptions and expectations and by their nature are subject to certain underlying assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or events to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Except as required pursuant to applicable securities laws, the Company will not update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. More detailed information about potential factors that could affect financial results is included in the documents filed from time to time with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities by the Company. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada) 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/42842WILTON MANORS, FL / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2019 / LifeApps Brands Inc., (OTC PINK: LFAP) ("LifeApps"), an emerging growth digital media company, has purchased LGBT Loyalty LLC, a New York limited liability company from Maxim Partners, LLC, a New York limited liability company. Through LGBT Loyalty, LifeApps intends to create, establish, develop, manage and capitalize a LGBT Loyalty (ETF) Index Traded Fund, supported through newly created dynamic business channels. 'Connecting the world's most supportive LGBT companies to the dynamic loyal and time-tested spending power of the LGBT community is a consequential step forward for the LGBT movement and investing community,' said Bobby Blair, CEO of LifeApps. 'The acquisition of LGBT Loyalty from Maxim Partners provides us with a tremendous opportunity to make a major impact to the LGBT community we intend to serve.'

The LGBT Loyalty (ETF) Index Traded Fund is expected to be the first 'preference' index fund to survey a representative group of LGBT consumers to determine the top public companies that best support and are supported by the LGBT community. We expect the S&P 500 to represent the universe of companies surveyed. Expert LGBT economists have repeatedly stressed the value of the LGBT brand loyalty to corporations. We believe the companies that best capture the spending trends and loyalty of the LGBT consumer will be better positioned for financial growth and success. In 2017, LGBT consumer buying power was over $917 billion in the US market alone. Our business strategy is targeted to part of the $3.7 trillion purchasing power of the LGBT consumer demographic worldwide.

More than 450 million people identify themselves as LGBT worldwide and the LGBT community is composed of some of the most loyalty driven consumers in the world. Same-sex households have a 23 percent higher median income compared to mainstream households. The LGBT consumer is 1.23 times more likely to buy brands that reflect their lifestyle and 1.56 times more likely to consider themselves a spender rather than a saver. Fortune 500 companies have mandated diversity and equality as part of their marketing profiles, and we intend to become a leading conduit between this incredibly powerful consumer group and respective LGBT social-impact driven companies around the world.

Company Contact:

LifeApps Brands Inc.

2435 Dixie Highway

Wilton Manors, FL 33305

info@lifeappsmedia.com

(954) 947-6133

SOURCE: LifeApps Brands Inc

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535286/LFAP-Acquires-LGBT-Loyalty-to-Create-the-First-Ever-LGBT-Loyalty-Preference-Index-Traded-FundHOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2019 / Colombia is just beginning to transform itself into a multi-billion-dollar cannabis producer for the pharmaceutical industry. In time, growers estimate that the country could capture as much as a fifth of a global market that could be worth $40 billion a year, according to Reuters.

"Colombia is wooing foreign investors, talking up its potential in the new era of peace as a resource-rich country with a business-friendly regulatory environment," noted The Globe and Mail. "Colombia has the ideal climate for cannabis, with the evenly split 12 hours of light and dark each day that the plant prefers, a pool of low-cost labor and easily-transferable expertise and infrastructure from a large cut-flower export business."

That could be quite beneficial to several cannabis stocks with exposure including Blueberries Medical Corp. (CSE: BBM), Khiron Life Sciences Corporation (OTC: KHRNF) (TSX-V: KHRN), and PharmaCielo Ltd. (OTC: PHCEF)(TSX-V: PCLO).

Blueberries Medical Corp. (BBM), for example, just entered into a letter of intent for a joint venture with Harmony and Life S.A.S., operating as El Manantial medical centers.

Interesting to note, El Manantial is among the fastest growing networks of medical centers in Colombia, currently representing over 7,000 patients at this time. That number is expected to grow to 50,000 over the next three years, and could help position Blueberries for significant growth in an expanding Colombian cannabis product market.

In addition, the company has plans to build two Good Elaboration Practices-certified pharmacies to support the initiative. Blueberries and El Manantial will also develop a treatment-focused medical education program designed to assist physicians in prescribing cannabis-based treatment plans to patients.

"Our joint venture with El Manantial provides an outstanding opportunity for Blueberries to develop medical products and acquire patients in the Colombian market", stated CEO Christian Toro. "El Manantial is a respected leader in Colombia, and their focus on equitable access to medicine and patient care aligns with our goal of providing treatment to a broad spectrum of patients. The Joint Venture emphasizes communication with prescribing doctors and education of both doctors and patients which is expected to ensure that Blueberries is developing treatments that the medical community needs."

For More Information on Blueberries Medical Corp., Click Here.

Khiron Life Sciences Corporation (KHRNF)(KHRN) was one of the first licensed medical cannabis companies in the country, owner of cultivation and production licenses for both low- and high-THC, which were awarded by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, and Ministry of Justice.

In recent weeks, the company announced a partnership with U.S.-based Dixie to create a full-line of cannabis infused products to the Latin American market. "By combining Dixie's market-ready portfolio of cannabis-infused products with Khiron's established footprint throughout Latin America, the companies aim to capture first-mover advantage and establish leadership in one of the world's fastest-growing cannabis markets. The agreement also creates a framework for the development of new products and brands tailored to Latin America, allowing Dixie and Khiron to take full advantage of opportunities resulting from cannabis legalization throughout the region," notes Khiron.

In addition, the company recently closed a previously-announced memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Dayacann, holder of Chile's first medical cannabis cultivation license. This will help expand on Khiron's multi jurisdiction cultivation strategy, securing access to cannabis cultivation for the Company's use in Chile, participation in clinical trials, and access to commercialize products to meet the needs of a market of 1.8 million patients.

For More Information on Khiron Life Sciences Corporation, Click Here.

PharmaCielo Ltd. (PHCEF)(PCLO), a Canadian-based medical cannabis investor with operations in Colombia, announced they were granted a license for 10 CBD and THC strains under Colombia's national cultivar registry. The company can now proceed to commercial registration, production and sale of these strains within Colombia and export to global markets.

"Approval of these strains strengthens and confirms PharmaCielo's position as the leading producer in Colombia," said Federico Cock-Correa, President and CEO of PharmaCielo Colombia Holdings S.A.S. "Among those approved is an historic and unique CBD-dominant strain approved for commercial registration and sourced from the Colombian landrace strains held within our fuente semillera,1 the first and only one of its kind registered in Colombia."

For More Information on PharmaCielo Ltd., Click Here.

MarijuanaStox.com is a leading web destination for all cannabis related companies. Investors can also find current marijuana-related quality financial, medical, legal and social news.

MarijuanaStox.com is a media agency in North America dedicated to the cannabis industry, helping companies that operate in the space to attract quality investors, working capital and real publicity. Since 2005, we have had public companies in the US and Canada have rely on us to grow and succeed.

Legal Disclaimer

Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this article contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Winning Media which has a partnership with www.MarijuanaStox.com is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release.

For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Winning Media, which has a partnership with www.MarijuanaStox.com, is only compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation. Pursuant to an agreement between Winning Media (partners of MarijuanaStox.com) andBlueberries Medical Corp.Winning Media has been paid four thousand dollars for advertising and marketing services for Blueberries Medical Corp.We own ZERO shares of Blueberries Medical Corp.Please click here for full disclaimer.

Contact Information:

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ty@marijuanastox.com

SOURCE: MarijuanaStox.com

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535321/Top-3-Cannabis-Stocks-Higher-on-Colombian-Growth-StoryVANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2019 / Experion Biotechnologies, a licensed cultivation and processor under the Cannabis Act and a wholly owned subsidiary of Viridium Pacific Group Ltd. ('Viridium' or the 'Company') (TSXV: VIR) (OTC PINK: VIRFF) is pleased to announce it signed a supply agreement with the British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch ('BCLDB'). Experion will supply a variety of Adult-Use cannabis products throughout British Columbia through the BCLDB under the Citizen Stash brand. Experion has received its first PO from the BCLDB and is actively preparing the shipment. We will keep the market informed of product availability and future offerings with other provinces.

Jay Garnett, Viridium's President and Chief Executive Officer commented: 'We are excited to supply our home province with quality Adult-Use flower as we actively expand our distribution across Canada and develop our 'added value' product lines to further complement the Adult-Use market.'

Viridium also granted 400,000 options to its director, officers and employees at $0.78 expiring on February 13, 2022 vesting immediately.

About Viridium

Viridium Pacific Group Ltd. is a consumer wellness, medical and biotech innovation company based in British Columbia, and the parent company of operating subsidiaries involved in horticultural production, (Experion Biotechologies Inc.), medical product production (EFX Labs) property development (Fish Trap Ventures Ltd.), and human resource management (Stave Lake Services Ltd.). Experion Biotechnologies Inc., is a Health Canada licensed producer of cannabis, which operates in an 8,300 square-foot indoor facility outside of Mission, BC.

More information about Viridium can be found under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

For further information:

www.viridiumpacific.com

Jarrett Malnarick,

Info@viridiumpacific.com

604 837 8688

Disclosure

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Although the Company believes that such information is reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.

Forward looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, forecast, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to: the state of the financial markets for the Company's equity securities; recent market volatility; the Company's ability to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies; the risks identified in the Filing Statement, and other risks and factors that the Company is unaware of at this time. The reader is referred to the Filing Statement dated September 25, 2017 and/or the most recent annual and interim Management's Discussion and Analysis for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects, copies of which may be accessed through the Company page on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

SOURCE: Viridium Pacific Group Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535278/Experion-Signs-Supply-Agreement-with-British-Columbia-Liquor-Distribution-Branch| BY Ricki Green |

Production Alley has welcomed Sally McManus to the team. McManus has joined Production Alley to head up its Cremorne Studio.

Says Rodney Lowe, managing director, Production Alley: I am thrilled to be working with Sally again.

McManus worked with Lowe at Good Audio Sense for over 10 years as an audio engineer, and after having children, returned to the industry focusing on production.

McManus has a wealth of knowledge and with the team of PA engineers available, will be able to get the best results for your next project.Dominican President Charles Savarin recently visited the Jungle Bay Eco Villas construction site, alongside his wife, Clara Savarin. Property owner and manager Sam Raphael led the tour as President Savarin reportedly expressed his content with the progress. Jungle Bay is projected to open its doors in June 2019 and will function under the island's Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme.

During the visit, President Savarin was said to have symbolically planted cherry guava trees on the resort premises. A Caribbean hit for a decade, Jungle Bay Eco-Villas was relocated in 2016 to the Soufriere village of Morne Acouma and now overlooks a marine reserve. It is an eagerly awaited boutique hotel known for its exceptional wellness services, eco-friendliness and its VIP list of visitors, which includes celebrities, top yoga instructors and retreat organisers. While still at its re-construction stage, Jungle Bay has already received international recognition, making the Forbes'Most Anticipated Caribbean Hotels list.

Investors are eyeing Jungle Bay in Dominica for many reasons, including its health tourism potential, ROI prospects based on previous track record and, not least, to obtain a valuable citizenship. Dominica's CBI Programme enables global individuals and families to acquire citizenship through a contribution to the island's economy. There are currently two modes of investment: the Economic Diversification Fund (EDF) or the real estate option. For those interested in purchasing property, such as a Jungle Bay villa, a minimum contribution of US$200,000 is required. This year, Dominica will welcome three new hotels, including Jungle Bay, to its CBI roster. The EDF requires an investment of US$100,000 which is channelled into areas like education, infrastructure, climate change research and housing. As Dominica's green ethos pays off, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit announced that over US$16.5m from CBI funds would go towards building a geothermal plant this year.

Dominica has been ranked as offering the world's best second citizenship through investment by experts at the Financial Times' PWM magazine. The special report titled the CBI Index highlighted the island's strict due diligence, affordability and efficiency as some of the reasons why investors continue to choose Dominica's CBI Programme.

International legal advisory CS Global Partners is the government-mandated marketing promoter of the Commonwealth of Dominica's Citizenship by Investment Programme.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005056/en/

Contacts:

Thomas Kohn

pr@csglobalpartners.com

+(44)2073184343

www.csglobalpartners.comAcquisition gives Accenture a leading position globally in Avaloq implementation

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has completed its acquisition of Orbium, a management consultancy and technology services provider to the financial services industry, further strengthening its ability to provide innovative services to clients in the private-banking and wealth-management space globally. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Switzerland, Orbium is the largest services provider for the Avaloq Banking Suite a leader in digital and core banking software for the banking and wealth management industry, used by more than 150 banks and wealth managers worldwide. A market leader in the delivery of Avaloq-enabled business transformation projects, Orbium has triple the number of Avaloq-certified specialists of any other company and is authorized to provide training for Avaloq professional certification.

"Wealth managers have a huge opportunity to win scale efficiencies through new digital technologies," said Michael Spellacy, senior managing director and head of Accenture's capital markets practice. "This acquisition gives our clients a more rapid path to innovations that will make them competitive in the next decade and beyond."

The acquisition provides Accenture with the expertise of Orbium's global workforce as well as technical assets including project accelerators developed specifically for the Avaloq platform.

Avaloq CEO Juerg Hunziker said: "We're thrilled to see Accenture's increased commitment to the Avaloq platform. Accenture's acquisition of Orbium will scale up and accelerate their Avaloq implementation expertise and reinforce our existing digital transformation capabilities for wealth managers and banks globally. We would like to thank the Orbium team for their part in our long-standing successful collaboration and their impressive track record in implementing our platform, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Accenture even more closely."

Founded in 2004, Orbium has more than 500 employees and offices in more than a dozen cities across Europe, Asia-Pacific and the United States. Its clients include global tier-one banks, premium wealth managers and private banks.

About Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions underpinned by the world's largest delivery network Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With 469,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "may," "will," "should," "likely," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "projects," "believes," "estimates," "positioned," "outlook" and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. These include, without limitation, risks that: the transaction might not achieve the anticipated benefits for Accenture; Accenture's results of operations could be adversely affected by volatile, negative or uncertain economic and political conditions and the effects of these conditions on the company's clients' businesses and levels of business activity; Accenture's business depends on generating and maintaining ongoing, profitable client demand for the company's services and solutions including through the adaptation and expansion of its services and solutions in response to ongoing changes in technology and offerings, and a significant reduction in such demand or an inability to respond to the changing technological environment could materially affect the company's results of operations; if Accenture is unable to keep its supply of skills and resources in balance with client demand around the world and attract and retain professionals with strong leadership skills, the company's business, the utilization rate of the company's professionals and the company's results of operations may be materially adversely affected; Accenture could face legal, reputational and financial risks if the company fails to protect client and/or company data from security breaches or cyberattacks; the markets in which Accenture operates are highly competitive, and Accenture might not be able to compete effectively; changes in Accenture's level of taxes, as well as audits, investigations and tax proceedings, or changes in tax laws or in their interpretation or enforcement, could have a material adverse effect on the company's effective tax rate, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition; Accenture's profitability could materially suffer if the company is unable to obtain favorable pricing for its services and solutions, if the company is unable to remain competitive, if its cost-management strategies are unsuccessful or if it experiences delivery inefficiencies; Accenture's results of operations could be materially adversely affected by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; as a result of Accenture's geographically diverse operations and its growth strategy to continue geographic expansion, the company is more susceptible to certain risks; Accenture's business could be materially adversely affected if the company incurs legal liability; Accenture's work with government clients exposes the company to additional risks inherent in the government contracting environment; if Accenture is unable to manage the organizational challenges associated with its size, the company might be unable to achieve its business objectives; if Accenture does not successfully manage and develop its relationships with key alliance partners or fails to anticipate and establish new alliances in new technologies, the company's results of operations could be adversely affected; Accenture's ability to attract and retain business and employees may depend on its reputation in the marketplace; Accenture might not be successful at acquiring, investing in or integrating businesses, entering into joint ventures or divesting businesses; if Accenture is unable to protect its intellectual property rights or if Accenture's services or solutions infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others or the company loses its ability to utilize the intellectual property of others, its business could be adversely affected; changes to accounting standards or in the estimates and assumptions Accenture makes in connection with the preparation of its consolidated financial statements could adversely affect its financial results; many of Accenture's contracts include payments that link some of its fees to the attainment of performance or business targets and/or require the company to meet specific service levels, which could increase the variability of the company's revenues and impact its margins; Accenture's results of operations and share price could be adversely affected if it is unable to maintain effective internal controls; Accenture might be unable to access additional capital on favorable terms or at all and if the company raises equity capital, it may dilute its shareholders' ownership interest in the company; Accenture may be subject to criticism and negative publicity related to its incorporation in Ireland; as well as the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed under the "Risk Factors" heading in Accenture plc's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this news release speak only as of the date they were made, and Accenture undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made in this news release or to conform such statements to actual results or changes in Accenture's expectations.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005495/en/

Contacts:

Sean Conway

Accenture

+1 917 452 7116

sean.k.conway@accenture.comHOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2019 / Months after Canada legalized cannabis, the country is running low.

In fact, Aurora Cannabis Inc. CEO Terry Booth says he "loses sleep" over the industry's ability to supply the global market. "It will be at least five years until we have an oversupply situation," he said, as quoted by The Financial Post.

However, this is nothing new. Canada has been struggling with cannabis shortages since recreational cannabis was approved in October 2018. Provinces, which control the distribution and sales of cannabis just aren't seeing enough product from producers to meet demand.

That bottleneck is creating opportunity. In fact, with demand outpacing supply, many investors are watching cannabis stocks such as Blissco Cannabis Corp. (CNSX: BLIS) (OTCQB: HSTRF), Canopy Growth Corporation (TSX: WEED)(NYSE: CGC), and Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE: ACB).

Blissco Cannabis Corp. (BLIS)(HSTRF) is a Canadian wellness cannabis brand based in British Columbia and a multi-licensed cultivator, processor, and distributor of premium cannabis with sizable growth in store.

"This is an exciting time for Blissco as we ship more than 85,000 cannabis units in Canada over the next seven weeks," said Blissco CEO, Damian Kettlewell. "Blissco's team is committed to delivering innovative, quality assured full spectrum cannabis products and providing personal and informative client care. It is vital that we have the best team to make this vision a reality."

The company also just announced the addition of new Chief Technology Officer, Robin Killeen; Brand and Public Relations Director Jennifer Engele; and Marketing Manager Cesar Chung.

For More Information on Blissco Cannabis Corp., Click Here.

Canopy Growth Corporation (CGC)(WEED) is quickly expanding its business, as well.

Most recently, the company announced it would make a significant investment of $100 million and $150 million to create a large-scale hemp production facility in New York over the next 100 days. It's currently looking at sites in the Southern Tier of the state, notes Bloomberg.

The company will release its third quarter financial report today with investors looking forward to a read on how it's done since Canada legalized recreational sales.

For More Information on Canopy Growth Corp., Click Here.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB) is racing to new highs after announcing it made substantial progress on boosting its annual capacity. Production, noted the company, increased 57% quarter over quarter to 7,822 kilograms thanks to expansion projects at its Aurora Sky greenhouse.

In its most recent quarter, the company posted C$54.2 million in revenue, an 83% increase quarter over quarter. However, it also posted a loss of $237.75 million thanks to investments in other cannabis companies. The bulk of its revenue came from the 15,430 pounds of cannabis it sold, as compared to the 17,465 pounds of cannabis produced.

For More Information on Aurora Cannabis Inc., Click Here.

MarijuanaStox.com is a leading web destination for all cannabis related companies. Investors can also find current marijuana-related quality financial, medical, legal and social news.

MarijuanaStox.com is a media agency in North America dedicated to the cannabis industry, helping companies that operate in the space to attract quality investors, working capital and real publicity. Since 2005, we have had public companies in the US and Canada have rely on us to grow and succeed.

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Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this article contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Winning Media which has a partnership with www.MarijuanaStox.com is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release.

For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Winning Media, which has a partnership with www.MarijuanaStox.com, is only compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation. Pursuant to an agreement between Winning Media (partners of MarijuanaStox.com) and Blissco Cannabis Corp., Winning Media has been paid four thousand dollars for advertising and marketing services for Blissco Cannabis Corp. We own ZERO shares of Blissco Cannabis Corp. Please click here for full disclaimer.

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View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535320/Three-Cannabis-Stocks-Cashing-in-on-Canadas-Supply-ShortageTORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2019 / Kapuskasing Gold Corp. (TSX-V: KAP) ("Kapuskasing") and Ubique Minerals Limited (CSE: UBQ) ("Ubique") announce that they have executed the Option Agreement which provides for Kapuskasing granting Ubique an option to earn up to a 70% interest in Kapuskasing's Daniel's Harbour property in western Newfoundland, which comprises 42 claim units covering an aggregate of 1,326 hectares, adjacent to Ubique's Daniel's Harbour property to its west and making for a property area of more than 4,000 hectares.

The Option Agreement requires Ubique to exercise the option by making the work and payment commitments as follows:

On the date of signing of the definitive agreement, $10,000 cash and 500,000 common shares of Ubique;

Prior to March 9, 2019, incur a minimum work expenditure of $12,000 and file an assessment report;

Prior to September 15, 2019, a minimum work expenditure of $100,000 inclusive of the $12,000 above;

Prior to the 1 year from the date of the option agreement, $10,000 in cash and an additional 300,000 common shares of Ubique;

Prior to February 28, 2020, make a minimum additional work expenditure of $200,000;

Prior to 2 years from the definitive agreement date issue, an additional 200,000 common shares of Ubique;

Prior to February 28, 2021, incur a minimum additional work expenditure of $300,000, which expenditures will include any payments and commitments needed to be made to the underlying vendors of the optioned property;

Upon Ubique having made the above expenditures and payments; Ubique will have earned a 55% interest in the property. Ubique will be granted the option to earn an additional 15% interest in the property by spending an additional $400,000 on exploration and paying the underlying vendors a cash payment of $40,000 as required by the underlying agreement with the vendors.

Upon Ubique earning either a 55% or 70% interest in the property, the companies will form a joint venture to continue exploration or Kapuskasing may elect to grant Ubique the right to earn an additional 5% interest in the property for every additional work expenditure of $100,000 to a limit of 95% ownership by Ubique at which time the agreement provides for Kapuskasing's interest to be converted to a 2% Net Smelter Royalty ("NSR").

Ubique will then have the right to buy back 1.75% of the NSR for $2,000,000. The underlying vendors will be entitled to an NSR of 3% of which 2% may be repurchased for $2,000,000. In addition, the underlying vendors may be entitled to a bonus payment in the event that Ubique, or the Operator, delineates a National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource of a minimum of 5,000,000 tonnes of ore with a grade of at least 7% zinc.

The Kapuskasing property covers most of the area of the historic mining areas of the former Daniel's Harbour mine and Ubique intends to review all the relevant historic data relating to diamond drilling in the vicinity of the mined out areas to determine where and what potential exists for extensions of historically mined areas.

Mr. Garry Clark P.Geo, (Exploration Manager and a director of the Company) a Qualified Person ("QP") as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed the technical content of this release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Kapuskasing Gold Corp.

Jonathan Armes

President & CEO

Phone 1 (416) 708-0243

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws and regulations, including statements regarding the future activities of the Company. Forward looking statements reflect the current beliefs and expectations of management and are identified by the use of words including "will", "anticipates", "expected to", "plans", "planned" and other similar words. Actual results may differ significantly. The achievement of the results expressed in forward-looking statements is subject to a number of risks, including those described in the Company's management discussion and analysis as filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities which are available at www.sedar.com. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Kapuskasing Gold Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535309/Kapuskasing-Gold-Corp-and-Ubique-Minerals-Inc-Execute-Option-Agreement-for-Daniels-Harbour-Property-NewfoundlandNEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Cannabis companies are noticing a shift in the industry, with many businesses moving away from a cultivation-oriented focus and embracing the importance of branding. The Supreme Cannabis Company Inc. (TSX-V:FIRE) (OTC:SPRWF), Aurora Cannabis Inc. (TSX:ACB) (NYSE:ACB), Canopy Growth Corp (TSX:WEED) (NYSE:CGC), Curaleaf Holdings Inc. (CSE:CURA) (OTC:CURLF) and Green Growth Brands (CSE:GGB) (OTC:GGBXF) have all been making forays into the realm of cannabis branding and building retail awareness.

Most experts agree that cannabis operators will need to focus on emphasizing retail experiences. The problem is that most companies have a production-oriented mindset, with a management team and corporate philosophy that shows. There are some exceptions to this, however, and those businesses that go against the grain already have a massive advantage over their competition.

A First in Cannabis Retail History

While cannabis companies have been opening up dispensaries all across North America, there has been a distinct lack of significant partnerships until today. America's largest shopping mall operator signed an agreement recently with Green Growth Brands (CSE:GGB) (OTC:GGBXF). Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE: SPG), an S&P 100 company that owns some of the country's top malls, will let the cannabis company open 108 retail stores across their retail centers.

"We are constantly on the lookout for cutting-edge new concepts, like the GGB shops," said John Rulli, Simon Malls President. "We are committed to adding new and dynamic retailers and uses to our shopping destinations, and the GGB shopping experience is exactly the type of innovation our customers want and expect from us. We're excited to work on the GGB launch, and look forward to a long and deepening relationship as we build this network together."

On February 13th, the company announced the opening of its first retail store - a Seventh Sense CBD Shop at the Fayette Mall in Lexington, Kentucky. Located in a prime location of the mall adjacent to the high-end and high-traffic retailers, the Seventh Sense CBD shop retails high-quality botanical therapy CBD-infused personal care and beauty products including CBD-infused body lotion, muscle balm, body wash, bath salts, sugar scrub, bath bomb, lip balm, and face oil.

For cannabis companies, opening over 100 dispensaries across the country would be a dream come true. Instead, most have had to adopt a slower approach of either building or buying out multiple dispensaries in each state. Many of these stores also aren't built on prime real estate. The competition is fierce, and companies with brands that are most influential with buyers are the ones that win these locations.

The Importance of Prior Retail Experience

There are many strategies for helping expose cannabis to potential customers. With some statistics indicating that the majority of Americans haven't tried marijuana, it's up to companies to change the public perception of consumption. Many businesses talk about improving the retail experience and revolutionizing the use of branding; few follow through with these promises.

Most cannabis brands are segmented by traditional customer demographics, such as high-end luxury, low-end value brands, etc. The most common approach has been to bombard customers with as many options, strains, and prices as possible, a strategy most retail executives know to be mediocre.

Instead, companies enjoying the most success are those that use brands to appeal to emotion. Most dispensaries are lucky to generate revenues of $6,000 per square foot. In contrast, a Las Vegas dispensary called "The Source," owned and operated by Green Growth Brands (CSE:GGB) (OTC:GGBXF), sees revenues of up to $14,000 per square foot. By following this brand-centric approach, this store alone boasts revenues 130 percent above average.

Much of this success comes from the company's management team. Green Growth Brands (CSE:GGB) (OTC:GGBXF) CEO Peter Horvath brings his decades of experience leading Victoria's Secret, American Eagle Outfitters, DSW, and other brands. Another figure to note, CMO Scott Razek, also has a 25-year tenure as a marketing executive in many of those same companies. Both executives left behind lucrative corporate roles in mainstream industries for the sheer growth potential of cannabis.

Back in 2018, Jim Cramer on CNBC's Mad Money would describe Peter Horvath as being "the first CEO that's going into retail that's actually been in retail" With this new deal under his belt, it's clear that the company is becoming perhaps the strongest cannabis brand and retail presence in the market.

First Mover Advantages in Auxiliary Markets

While cannabis retailing has focused mainly on traditional plant products, there's much to be said for alternative product lines. CBD-infused edibles, beverages, and topical oils are a market estimated at being worth $4.1 billion by 2022 , with the CBD market in general projected at $22 billion . At the same time, these products attract different types of customers with different profiles and can't be marketed to in the same way.

One of the leading companies in the CBD-derivative space is Green Growth Brands (CSE:GGB) (OTC:GGBXF). In particular, they have been developing a patent-pending process to make a water-soluble version of THC and CBD, allowing consumers to enjoy any beverage of their choice.

Green Growth Brands (CSE:GGB) (OTC:GGBXF) also has a high-end Seventh Sense brand that brings a unique line of CBD-infused beauty products to the market. Unlike most other cannabis products that are sold in specific retail locations, these products can be sold in drug and grocery stores. This gives Seventh Sense products exposure to potential consumers and markets that otherwise wouldn't feel inclined to go to a dispensary.

Companies also need to be aware that while conventional retail expansion is good for the industry, they can't ignore the prevailing trends. Analysts have been warning of the "retail apocalypse" as 50 percent of all malls in America are expected to shut down by 2023. Green Growth Brands (CSE:GGB) (OTC:GGBXF) is also one of the leaders in this area. By focusing equally on their online distribution channels as well as growing their physical locations, they lower this risk while their competitors continue to play catch-up.

Further Cannabis Developments

Graduating to a new listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE), The Supreme Cannabis Company Inc. (TSX-V:FIRE) (OTCQX:SPRWF) had a number of new developments. Most notably was that its Q2 sales saw a 359% increase over last year. The company has also made its first shipments of its high-end cannabis brand 7ACRES across various provinces.

As one of Canada's top cannabis producers, Aurora Cannabis Inc. (TSX:ACB) (NYSE:ACB) recently announced it's second quarter financial results much to the anticipation of the industry. While revenues were well above expectations, the company is still operating at a loss as shareholders saw a $238 million loss over the three months ending in December 31st. Much of this is due to falling profit margins on regular cannabis plant products.

A major feather in the cap of Canopy Growth Corp (TSX:WEED) (NYSE:CGC) was receiving a Hemp license in the state of New York. Announced last month, the company will be investing up to $150 million in its New York hemp operations. This also marks the first international expansion the Canadian company has undergone.

Multiple assets in the state of Maryland have been acquired and rebranded under the new ownership of Curaleaf Holdings Inc. (CSE:CURA.CN) (OTCPK:CURLF). These acquisitions include a 21,000 square-foot cultivation facility, a 1,000 square-foot processing plant, and two separate 1,000 square-foot dispensaries. The company invested $30 million USD in acquiring these assets as it seeks to further consolidate its presence in the state.

For a FREE research report on Green Growth Brands (CSE:GGB) (OTC:GGBXF), visit potstocknews.com

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LONDON, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Chubb today announced the appointment of Kyle Bryant to the newly-created position of Head of Financial Lines for Continental Europe.

In this role, Kyle will have responsibility for leading Chubb's Financial Lines team in the region and overseeing strategic development, execution and financial performance. The appointment is effective immediately.

Kyle, who was previously Cyber Underwriting Manager for Europe, Eurasia & Africa, will continue to be based in London and will report to Adrian Matthews Chief Operating Officer, Head of Property and Casualty, Continental Europe and also to Steve Goldman, Head of Financial Lines, Chubb Overseas General.

With 13 years of insurance industry experience, Kyle has held various posts within the field of technology and professional liability insurance. He joined the company 10 years ago in New York. Prior to moving to Europe, he held the position of Regional Manager for technology and professional liability for the US Mid-Atlantic region. Since 2015, Kyle has been responsible for the strategy, development and performance of Chubb's growing cyber risk portfolio in Europe.

Adrian Matthews, Chief Operating Officer, Head of P&C, Continental Europe, said:

"Financial Lines is a fundamentally important part of our business and I am delighted that Kyle will be leading our team in Continental Europe. Kyle has a proven track record as a leader, achieving tremendous success in his role as regional Cyber Underwriting Manager. He has been instrumental in creating a powerful cyber proposition for Chubb throughout Europe by providing our clients with the comprehensive and holistic protection they need in this evolving risk area. Kyle is expertly placed to ensure we continue to grow our Financial Lines portfolio through new agile solutions and methods of delivery for our customers and brokers."

About Chubb

Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. With operations in 54 countries and territories, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London and other locations, and employs approximately 31,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at: chubb.com/uk

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/324916/Chubb_Logo.jpgFinanced solar project is Company's largest yet in the Philippines

Toronto, Ontario and Cebu City, Philippines--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2019) - UGE International Ltd. (TSXV: UGE) ("UGE" or the "Company"), a global leader in solar energy solutions for the commercial and industrial sector, is pleased to announce it has signed a contract to provide a financed 1.3 MW rooftop solar system for Premier Plaza in Silang, Cavite, the Philippines.

The project is expected to be installed over the next six months and will produce over 50% of the mall's energy demand, solidifying Premier Plaza as a regional sustainability leader while significantly lowering its energy costs, as well. The system will provide solar energy for the mall's facilities and will reduce Premier Plaza's electricity rate by 44%, saving the mall 710 million PHP. Over the project's lifetime, the solar energy produced will offset equivalent greenhouse gas emissions of driving 72.5 million miles.

Premier Plaza, the first shopping mall in Silang, is dedicated to serving the community as a retail and shopping destination. Living up to the pioneering spirit of its owners, it will be the first mall in Silang that will utilize solar technology to offset its energy needs. The project will create a positive environmental impact for the community and fulfill the mall's sustainability goals. UGE looks forward to completing the project within 2019, and to continue lowering energy costs across the client's portfolio thereafter.

"It is wonderful that companies have the opportunity to make a difference in saving the environment, while also improving their operating expenses through fully-financed solar projects," said Ralph Rodrigo, UGE Philippine's Sales Manager. " As more and more Filipinos say yes to solar, more companies will generate significant savings - which can be put back into growing their business."

This is the fifth Philippines-based project announced by UGE in recent months, totaling over 1.8 MW to be built within 2019, further asserting UGE's position as a leader in the country.

Issuance of Options, Debt Conversions

As in the normal course of business, the Company's new CFO was granted 750,000 options, vesting over three years with a strike price of $0.15.

In addition, the Company is pleased to announce it has received approval to convert four balances owed to creditors to shares. The four balances total CAD$130,666.67 and were converted at a price of CAD$0.15 per share, resulting in the issuance of 871,112 common shares. In particular, two officers of the Company, including its Chief Executive Officer, elected to receive certain bonuses owed in the form of equity, which accounted for the majority of the conversion.

About UGE

UGE delivers immediate savings to businesses through the low cost of solar energy. We help commercial and industrial clients become more competitive by providing low cost distributed renewable energy solutions at no upfront cost and long-term economic benefit. With over 375 MW of global experience, we work daily to power a more sustainable world. Visit us at www.ugei.com.

For more information, contact:



917-720-5685

investors@ugei.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 press release contains forward-looking information that involves material assumptions and known and unknown risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the Company's control. Such assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, those associated with, loss of markets, expected sales, future revenue recognition, currency fluctuations, the effect of global and regional economic conditions, industry conditions, changes in laws and regulations, and changes in how they are interpreted and enforced, the lack of qualified personnel or management, fluctuations in foreign exchange or interest rates, demand for the Company's products, and availability of funding. The Company's performance could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, this forward-looking information and, accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking information will transpire or occur, or if they do so, what benefits the Company will derive there from. The forward-looking information is made as of the date of this press release and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations and projections.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42827Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2019) - Tower Resources Ltd. (TSXV: TWR) (OTCQB: TWRFF) ("Tower" or the "Company") is pleased to report that it has located the bedrock source area of the large gold grain anomaly that the Company identified two years ago (see June 18, 2017 press release) on its wholly owned Nechako property (Fig. 1) in south-central British Columbia, Canada, a 1.5-hour drive from Vanderhoof via the all-weather Kluskus-Ootsa road.

The Nechako property is 30 km northeast of New Gold's Blackwater gold deposit (8.62 Moz of Au resources at 0.88 g/t; New Gold NI-43-101 Technical Report, January 14, 2014) on the Interior Plateau where all but the highest hills are thickly covered by till and other glacial sediments that have historically hindered mineral exploration, leaving attractive opportunities for significant new discoveries.

Tower's latest discovery was made during a 13-hole, Phase II reverse circulation (RC) drilling program in December, 2018, approximately 1.5 km glacially up-ice from (i.e. west-southwest of; Fig. 2) the area that was covered in the 38-hole Phase I program in November, 2017 (see May 15, 2018 press release). A single, 245 m diamond core hole, No. NDH-18-006, was also drilled to test the Cu-Au potential of a large, thickly covered and pervasively argillic-altered (pyrite + chalky sericite) porphyry intrusion, the Blue Road Porphyry (Fig. 3), that was discovered in the Phase I program.

Both RC drilling programs were planned and managed by Overburden Drilling Management Limited (ODM) and employed the same type of RC drill that ODM used in the discovery of the producing Casa Berardi and Rainy River gold mines in Eastern Canada. This drilling system provides much more information than traditional top-of-bedrock sampling. Till horizons are sampled continuously from top to bottom and heavy mineral processing is used to recover and concentrate any glacially dispersed grains of gold, sulphides and other indicator minerals, thereby amplifying anomalies and enabling detection of overburden-covered mineralized zones located several kilometres up the ice flow path from the drill hole. The extracted heavy mineral concentrates (HMCs) are analyzed geochemically for Au, base metals and other elements of interest. The underlying bedrock is also drilled, sampled and analyzed, and a working geological map of the hidden bedrock surface is constructed (e.g. Fig. 3).

Background to the Phase II Drilling Program

The Phase II drill area is on the eastern foothills of a north-northwest trending ridge, the Nechako Range (Fig. 2). The earlier Phase I drilling was performed further east in an adjoining valley where the thickness of the till and other glacial deposits was found to range from 10 to 60 m (Fig. 4). Bedrock outcrops are very rare in this valley and uncommon even on the hills. Historical mineral exploration in the area relied primarily on soil sampling which was of limited value as the only mineralization that was detected was in small windows where the till is less than 1 m thick. Three such occurrences were discovered between 1969 and 1982 (Fig. 2), the large but very low-grade Chu porphyry Mo-Cu deposit atop the Nechako Range, the polymetallic April showing on the eastern slope of the range and the low-grade (0.1-0.2% Cu) C-zone porphyry Cu deposit on the edge of the adjoining valley.

Following glaciation, the valley was flooded by meltwater that deposited gravel over much of the till. The gold grain anomaly that Tower outlined in the valley in 2016 by sampling the limited till exposures (Fig. 2) is larger than and similar in strength to the gold dispersal train emanating from the large Blackwater gold deposit to the southwest (Fig. 1). However, the gold grains in the Nechako train are smaller and remain pristine along the length of the train rather than becoming progressively deformed, indicating that they were transported as small inclusions within protective sulphide mineral grains, then liberated in situ from these sulphides by post-glacial oxidation. This oxidation has penetrated only the top 3 m of the till and has not affected the sulphide grains at the depths sampled in the RC drill holes.

The Phase I drill holes in the valley revealed that the surface gold grain anomaly is actually a diluted secondary dispersal train produced by partial erosion, by the ice sheet that deposited the exposed till horizon, of a stronger primary train in an older, underlying, previously unknown till horizon rather than by direct glacial erosion of mineralized bedrock. The direction of ice flow and gold transport for this Lower Till was the same (east-northeast) as that for the Upper Till. The Lower Till and primary train are preserved only in deep drill holes that intersected glacially sheltered bedrock depressions (Fig. 4); in areas of thin cover they were completely eroded during the second ice advance.

As anticipated, the gold in the primary dispersal train is held within sulphide mineral grains, which are unusually abundant, rather than occurring as native gold grains. Unexpectedly, however, the train is polymetallic with Au, Ag, As, Cu, Zn and Pb all being significantly anomalous as in the high-grade Eskay Creek Au-Ag deposit in northern British Columbia. Notably, Au, As and Zn are distinctly more anomalous than Cu even though the dispersal train is directly down-ice from the C-Zone porphyry Cu deposit which contains negligible Au, As and Zn. The Cu content of the till HMCs matches the 0.1 to 0.2 Cu grade of the C-Zone, as is the rule for dispersal trains, suggesting that the Cu component of the train is derived entirely from this zone but the Au, Ag, As, Zn and Pb components have another source. The polymetallic mineralization of the April showing, 1.5 km further up-ice, is a close match. This showing is much too small to account for such a long, strong train but does provide clues to the probable location and orientation (southeast; Fig. 2) of the source of the train.

The 13 Phase II drill holes, Nos. NRC-18-39 to 51 (Fig. 3, Fig. 4), were designed to test the area between the dispersal train and April showing. The holes were drilled at 200 to 300 m spacing on three lines crossing the east-northeast ice flow corridor at 500 m intervals, with the first line located immediately up-ice of the C-Zone and the third line up-ice of the April showing.

Topographically, the drill area consists of a series of hills separated by narrow valleys (Fig. 2, Fig. 3). With the Phase I drilling demonstrating that the Lower Till horizon hosting the dispersal train is preserved only in areas where the overburden is thick (Fig. 4), the Phase II holes were preferentially sited in the valleys to increase the probability of intersecting this till horizon.

RC Drilling Results

Two of the thirteen drill holes intersected the western edge of the porphyry body that hosts the C-Zone Cu mineralization (Kluskus Road Porphyry; Fig. 3) and the others intersected a bimodal sequence of basaltic and dacitic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks similar to those hosting the Eskay Creek deposit. The bedrock samples from three holes 500 m southeast along strike from the April showing, Nos. 39 to 41, contain arsenopyrite, a key indicator mineral for Au that was not encountered in any of the 38 Phase I drill holes.

Thick overburden sections containing the desired Lower Till horizon were intersected only in Holes 39 to 42 at the southwest corner of the drill area (Fig. 4). The HMC Au, Ag, As, Cu, Zn and Pb analyses for the Lower Till samples from these holes are listed in Table 1. The targeted up-ice extension of the polymetallic dispersal train is evident in the Lower Till at Hole 39 on the down-ice side of the arsenopyrite trend but the train is absent at Holes 40 and 41 on the up-ice side. Cu is not anomalous, confirming that the ubiquitous Cu in the segment of the dispersal train down-ice from the C-Zone in the Phase I drill area is derived entirely from this Cu zone.

The Au and Zn signatures of the anomalous Lower Till HMCs is Hole 39 are in the same 1000-1500 ppb and 2000-3000 ppm ranges, respectively, as in the Phase I segment of the dispersal train while the As content is stronger at 4000 to 5000 ppm. A stronger response for all three elements was obtained from the Upper Till HMCs in several shallower holes in the north-central part of the drill area where the second ice advance completely removed the Lower Till and directly glaciated mineralized bedrock. The HMCs of ten of the thirteen Upper Till samples collected from Holes 45, 47, 48 and 49 are significantly anomalous in Au, containing an average of 3480 ppb (maximum 9190 ppb) along with up to 34,800 ppm (3.48%) As and 6220 ppm (0.622%) Zn. Such strong anomalies are important because, as illustrated by the HMC Cu anomaly down-ice from the C-Zone, the grade of the till HMCs in a dispersal train tends to mirror the grade of the bedrock source mineralization. Moreover, the reported HMC analyses may understate the true grade of the dispersal train because only the -0.25 mm fraction of the HMCs was analyzed while the As and Zn minerals, arsenopyrite and sphalerite, are much more abundant in the +0.25 mm fraction. For example the 0.5 to 1.0 mm fraction of the Sample 03 HMC from Hole 45 contains 5% arsenopyrite and 7% sphalerite (Fig. 5), equivalent to 23,000 ppm As and 45,000 Zn, whereas the corresponding As and Zn analyses for the -0.25 mm fraction are only 6390 and 3520 ppm.

While the HMCs with the highest Au values tend to be anomalous in As, Au is not directly sympathetic to As indicating that, as in the similarly polymetallic Eskay Creek Au-Ag deposit, it may occur within one of the various pyrite phases observed in the HMCs rather than in the arsenopyrite.

In summary, the Phase II RC drilling clearly shows that the source of the polymetallic Au-Ag-As-Zn-Pb dispersal train in the Lower Till lies in the 500-m-wide gap between the second and third lines of drill holes. The similarly polymetallic April showing is located within the same gap but is so small that the till in Hole 44 down-ice from the showing is not anomalous. Historical diamond drilling on the showing was limited to three short holes (Fig. 3) totaling 150 m but did establish that the showing contains significant gold (e.g. 0.3 m of 1.4 g/t Au, 573.5 g/t (16.7 oz/t) Ag, 15.96% Zn and 15.83% Pb; 15.85 m of 1.25 g/t Au) and that the mineralization strikes southeast.The indicated larger mineralized zone at the head of the dispersal trend probably has the same southeast trend, and judging by the width of its dispersal train is approximately 700 m long with a possible 1 km extension southeast into the Phase I drill area where the dispersal train is shorter (Fig. 4) but similarly polymetallic. The Au grade of the till HMCs in the dispersal train is sufficient to suggest that the source mineralization is of a significant grade. Furthermore, the mineralized zone appears to be thick because the distal part of its dispersal train is up to 10 m thick and the main part of the train persists down-ice for at least 3 km, similar to the Blackwater train.

The RC drill remained on site following the Phase II drilling program. A small Phase III program totaling approximately 6 holes at an estimated cost of $50,000 is planned for late February. This drilling will be performed southeast along strike from the April showing to more precisely pin down the source of the Au-rich polymetallic dispersal train preparatory to a diamond drill test.

Diamond Drilling Results

Diamond drill hole NDH-18-006 was designed to test a 500 m long IP chargeability anomaly that is coincident with the newly identified and persistently argillic-altered Blue Road Porphyry (Fig. 3). All of the Phase I RC drill intercepts from the top of the porphyry contained significant pyrite. The IP anomaly suggested an increase in pyrite content at depth and potentially also a change from argillic to potassic alteration with attendant Cu  Au mineralization.

The diamond drill hole intersected feldspar porphyry to 120 m followed by intermediate volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks to the end of the hole at 225 m. Disseminated and fracture-controlled pyrite occurs at the 1-10% level throughout the hole. A 12.0 m interval of the volcanics from 130 to 142 m, below the porphyry contact, assayed 0.05 gpt Au, 13.6 gpt Ag, 0.02% Cu, 0.09% Pb and 0.26% Zn (Table 2), including 6.0 m of 0.11 gpt Au, 10.5 gpt Ag, 0.01% Cu, 0.22% Pb and 0.57% Zn. Although these results are not of economic interest they do demonstrate potential for significant Au-Ag-Pb-Zn mineralization proximal to Blue Road Porphyry.

Quality Control/Assurance

In the RC drill holes, ODM collected samples weighing approximately 12 kg from all till sections, typically over 1.5 m intervals. One or more bedrock samples were collected over the same interval. A heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) was extracted from the -2 mm matrix of each till sample at ODM's mineral processing laboratory in Ottawa, Ontario, and all recovered gold grains were individually measured and classified by morphology.

The till HMCs and bedrock samples were analyzed by Activation Laboratories Ltd. (Actlabs) at its ISO 17025 accredited geochemistry lab in Ancaster, Ontario for a multielement suite including Au, Ag, As, Cu, Zn and Pb using a combination of Induced Neutron Activation (INA) and ICP/MS methods. Field duplicates were used to monitor the quality of both ODM's heavy mineral separations and Actlabs analyses. Also, by using INA analysis, most of the HMC was preserved allowing post-analysis visual inspection and check analysis if required.

The diamond drill hole was logged by Tower and split core samples, generally 2 m in length, were prepared at Tower's core logging facility located on site at the Nechako property and shipped to Actlabs' ISO 17025 accredited geochemistry lab in Kamloops, BC. Samples were analyzed for gold by fire assay and ICP-OES and for 37 other elements, including copper, using a four-acid, near-total digestion. QA/QC samples including blanks, standards and duplicate samples were inserted regularly into the sample sequence at a ratio of approximately 1:15.

National Instrument 43-101 Disclosure

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Stuart Averill, Chairman of ODM, a Director of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Tower Resources

Tower is a Canadian based mineral exploration company focused on the discovery and advancement of economic mineral projects in the Americas. The Company's key exploration assets are the Rabbit North copper-gold porphyry project located between the New Afton and Highland Valley Copper mines, the Nechako gold project near New Gold's Blackwater project and the More Creek and Voigtberg gold projects in the Golden Triangle area of Northern British Columbia.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Tower Resources Ltd.

Gerald Shields - Chairman

(604) 558-2565

www.towerresources.ca

Reader Advisory

This news release may contain statements which constitute "forward-looking information", including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities of the Company. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future business activities and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company's future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, fluctuations in market prices, successes 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 are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required under the applicable securities laws.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.



Figure 1: Location of the Nechako property



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

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Figure 2: Locations of the RC drill holes relative to the gold grain anomaly identified at the surface of the till in 2016



To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5023/42816_928c05d7a4a8295b_002full.jpg



Figure 3: Geology of the covered bedrock surface as determined from RC drill holes



To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5023/42816_928c05d7a4a8295b_003full.jpg



Figure 4: Thickness of the glacial deposits and subsurface limit of the partially eroded Lower Till horizon and Au-Ag-As-Zn-Pb (Cu) dispersal train



To view an enhanced version of Figure 4, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5023/42816_928c05d7a4a8295b_004full.jpg



Figure 5: Binocular microscope photograph of part of the coarse 0.5-1.0 mm fraction of the HMC from the third Upper Till sample in Hole 45



To view an enhanced version of Figure 5, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5023/42816_928c05d7a4a8295b_005full.jpg



Table 1: Till HMC analyses for the Lower Till samples from the Phase II drill area



To view an enhanced version of Table 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5023/42816_928c05d7a4a8295b_006full.jpg



Table 2: Selected drill core analyses for diamond drill hole No. NDH-18-006 on the Blue Road Porphyry



To view an enhanced version of Table 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5023/42816_928c05d7a4a8295b_007full.jpg

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42816SpendEdge, a global procurement market intelligence firm, has announced the release of their Global Wireless Telecom Services Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005460/en/

Global Wireless Telecom Services Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report. (Graphic: Business Wire)

The global market of wireless telecom services is poised for an exponential growth in terms of the category spend growth rate. This growth is mainly credited to the innovations made in the modern world such as the advent of self-driving cars, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and machine learning. Such inventions will create large requirements for advanced wireless telecom services. In recent times, the 5G network is finding its extensive usage in the self-driving cars which is propelling the category spend momentum. Request your Free Sample copy of this market intelligence report here!

The US is said to harbor the most number of smart cities which create substantial category demand to cater to their connectivity needs. Migration of the majority of business practices to the IoT platform is among other factors which will significantly accelerate the category spend momentum in the US. Increasing adoption of IoT by leading MNCs across the major economies such as the UK, Germany, and France will supplement the category growth in Europe.

This wireless telecom services sourcing and procurement report offers an in-depth analysis of the supply market forecasts, sustainability and negotiation strategies of top suppliers and buyers. Also, it also provides information on the total cost of ownership outlook and procurement strategies to cut down on costs. Ask for a customized version of this market intelligence report here for free.

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Growth in category prices will remain stable during the forecast period

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Global Telecom Towers Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report

Global Network Infrastructure Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report

About SpendEdge:

SpendEdge shares your passion for driving sourcing and procurement excellence. We are the preferred procurement market intelligence partner for 120+ Fortune 500 firms and other leading companies across numerous industries. Our strength lies in delivering robust, real-time procurement market intelligence reports and solutions. To know more, https://www.spendedge.com/request-free-proposal

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005460/en/

Contacts:

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https://www.spendedge.com/contact-usProvides Personalised Healthcare Benefits to its Patients and Contributes its Diverse Data Samples for Research

ZURICH and BOSTON, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

BC Platforms, a global leader in genomic data management and analytics today announced it is providing its world leading genomics platform, to Bumrungrad International, a multi-specialty hospital located in the heart of Bangkok, Thailand handling more than 1.1 million patients per year.

BC Platforms will be providing its customizable end-to-end Software-as-a-Service platform to enable Bumrungrad to offer personalized healthcare solutions for their patients in the clinic. The core system will be seamlessly integrated in the hospital infrastructure from laboratory to electronic patient record. Handling all types of genetic data from Genotype and NGS instruments to the clinical reporting needed to support the advanced patient care. Bumrungrad will also participate in providing its extensive Asian data and samples to BCRQUEST providing additional sample diversity and data resources for researchers. BCRQUEST is a global network of healthcare service providers and biobanks that provide genomic and clinical cohort data for pharmaceutical and medical research and development.

Artirat Charukitpipat, Chief Executive Officer at Bumrungrad, commented, "We are excited to be partnering with BC Platforms to bring personalized healthcare solutions into our clinical practice and research. We are looking forward to working with BC Platforms to set a new standard for predictive medicine complementing conventional treatment for our patients and clients across the globe."

Tero Silvola, CEO of BC Platforms, said, "We are pleased that Bumrungrad has chosen to adopt our genomics platform for their clinical practice and to benefit research. We aim to build comprehensive collaboration programs with Bumrungrad to facilitate projects, where patients will benefit from the latest innovations and thereafter gain access to clinical trials relevant to their individual disease status. Bumrungrad is one of the largest healthcare providers in South East Asia and by contributing their data mainly focusing on Asian haplotypes to BCRQUEST we can greatly improve the diversity of our offering to research organizations worldwide.'

About BC Platforms

BC Platforms is a world leader in providing powerful genomic data management and analysis solutions. Our high performing genomic data management platform enables flexible data integration, secure analysis and interpretation of molecular and clinical information. The company has launched and opened a global network of biobanks, known as BCRQUEST.COM, to provide genomic and clinical cohort data for pharmaceutical and medical research and development. BC Platforms' vision is to build the world's leading analytics platform for healthcare and industry by 2020, providing access to diverse genomic and clinical data and samples from more than 5 million subjects consolidated from a global network of biobanks.

Founded in 1997 from an MIT Whitehead project spinoff, the Company has a strong scientific heritage underpinned by 20 years of working in close collaboration with a network of leading researchers, developers, manufacturers and vendors. BC Platforms has global operations with its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, research and development in Espoo, Finland, and sales and marketing in London, Boston, and Vancouver.

For more information, please visit www.bcplatforms.com or follow us on Twitter @BCPlatforms.

About Bumrungrad International Hospital

'Bumrungrad International Hospital is an internationally accredited hospital, providing high quality medical care especially tertiary care for complicated diseases, located in the heart of Bangkok, Thailand. Founded in 1980, today it is one of the largest private hospitals in Southeast Asia, with 580 beds and over 30 specialty centers. Bumrungrad offers state-of-the-art diagnostic, therapeutic and intensive care facilities in a one-stop medical center. Annually, over a million patients, including 520,000 international patients from over 190 countries around the world, travel to Thailand to get medical treatment and care at Bumrungrad International Hospital.

Contacts:

BC Platforms

Tero Silvola,CEO

Tero.silvola@bcplatforms.com



Katja Stout

katja@sciuscommunications.com

| BY Ricki Green |

Australian Ethical has launched a bold new campaign via creative agency Do, aimed at encouraging all Australians to better understand the impact their super may be having.

Nine in 10 Australians expect their superannuation or other investments to be invested responsibly and ethically. However, most people simply dont know what their super money is invested in due to a lack of transparency in the superannuation and investment sector, according to leading ethical wealth manager Australian Ethical.

The campaign highlights that many Australians dont realise their mandatory super contributions could be invested in companies that damage the environment and may negatively impact society.

Phil Vernon, managing director, Australian Ethical said the campaign encourages Australians to find out for themselves whether they are unwittingly investing their super in such things as coal and gambling.

Says Vernon: At Australian Ethical, we want to spark a conversation that prompts more Australians to actively investigate what their super money is invested in.

We also call on the super sector to make it much easier for members to quickly know whether they are investing in organisations that support such activities.

The campaign follows Commissioner Haynes final report into Misconduct into the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, which lays bare the many deficiencies plaguing financial services in Australia. The Royal Commissions final report discusses the need for greater transparency measures within superannuation.

Says Vernon: Much of the focus of these transparency measures in super are on fees and performance and these are highly important but we believe the time has come to widen the discussion to include transparency of investments.

Australian Ethical has a 30-year history of advocating for improved transparency across all sectors. We believe Australians have a right to know exactly how their retirement money, which they entrust to super funds, is being invested.

Vernon said the questions Australians should ask their super fund include:

What is my funds philosophy on ethical investing?

What sectors/companies does my fund invest in and where wont it invest?

Whats the impact of these investments, for example, on the environment and on society?

How is my super fund using my money to make a positive difference?

According to the Responsible Investment Association of Australasia, ethical investing quadrupled in Australia between 2014-2017. With this shift towards ethical investing, there is an increasing awareness of the important role super funds can play to do good for the environment and society in general.CXR Networks, a leading manufacturer of global networking and communication equipment, will demonstrate its latest Carrier Ethernet, MPLS-TP, WDM and GPON solutions at the Mobile World Congress held in the Fira Gran Via in Barcelona on February 25th-28th

CXR Networks helps Mobile Operators and Internet Service Providers scale services to their present and next generation 5G requirements thanks to its flexible, scalable and cost effective network access portfolio.

SWCE is a range of Carrier Ethernet switches and EDD Ethernet Demarcation Devices that comply with the MEF CE 2.0 standard. They provide layer 2 and layer 3 switching functions with IP v4 and v6 dual stack capabilities. The SWCE portfolio delivers up to four 10GE SFP+ interfaces and 24 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. It enables CE 2.0 managed services including EVC, E-LINE, E-LAN, E-TREE at the UNI NNI Carrier Ethernet network access.

GP2500 is a global GPON access solution made of a complete choice of OLT and ONT products that serve medium to large scale Internet access networks for both Consumer FTTH and Enterprise FTTO services. It supports all L2/L3 protocols to deliver Carrier Class Internet, voice and video services with automated subscriber ONU control.

Speed-OTS-5000 is an active CWDM DWDM optical multiplexer supporting a total combined capacity of up to 960 channels and 1.2 Tbps that provides better usage of existing fiber lines and improves reliability of high speed optical communications.

PT-7860 is a 10 Gigabit MPLS-TP and Carrier Ethernet platform with Pseudowire Emulation services. It provides Virtual Private Wire Services for TDM / SDH E1 extension over a Packet Transport Network with sub-50 ms protection. PT-7860 comes in a 19''-1U modular chassis with a choice of Ethernet, E1, STM-1/4 plug-in cards.

You are welcome to visit CXR on booth 5B61 41 in Hall 5 at MWC 2019, and please feel free to get in contact with CXR for any question.

About CXR: CXR Networks is a global network and communication equipment vendor dedicated to mission critical communications of the Telecom Operator, Community, Defense, Transport and Utility markets.

CXR, Smart Solutions for Smart Networks

www.cxr.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005041/en/

Contacts:

Didier ANA

+33-237 628 790

didier.ana@cxr.comCARLSBAD, CA and VIENNA, AUSTRIA / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2019 / The thirteenth annual BIO-Europe Spring(R) international partnering conference meets in Vienna, Austria, March 25-27, 2019, at the Messe Wien Exhibition and Congress Center. The event is produced by EBD Group and hosted by LISAvienna, a joint life science platform operated by the Vienna Business Agency and Austria Wirtschaftsservice on behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs and the City of Vienna.

More than 2,500 senior executives from 1,500+ leading international biotech and pharmaceutical companies, investors and business development team members will attend this annual event, held this year in a biotech hub known for its thriving life science community where most of the top 20 multinational companies in biotech, pharma and medical devices have a presence, taking advantage of Austria's ideal geographical location at the heart of Europe.

The country's life science sector includes 917 companies and 55 research and educational institutions developing new diagnostics, biomarkers, anti-infective medicines including vaccines, and treatments for cancer and allergies, while also targeting the enormous economic potential at the interface between biotech, IT and medtech.

"We are very excited to be working with EBD Group to bring their springtime flagship event to Vienna," said Eva Czernohorszky, the Vienna Business Agency's representative at LISAvienna. "Vienna is a great place for top-notch international events and has a diverse biotech ecosystem. We offer 360 support for innovative startups."

"Austria is a life science hub due to excellent research, more than 900 life science companies and a perfect central European location. We are particularly strong in anti-infective and oncology drugs, eHealth, medical imaging and industrial biotech," said Johannes Sarx, the Austria Wirtschaftsservice's representative at LISAvienna.

"BIO-Europe Spring is the most significant industry event of the new year where top executives from global biotech, pharma and finance come together to access hundreds of potential partners for favorable deals toward the development of therapies and cures," said Anna Chrisman, Managing Director of EBD Group and KNect365 Life Sciences. "We're so happy to bring the event to Vienna after two highly productive and successful BIO-Europe conferences there in the last ten years."

One-to-one partnering meetings facilitated by EBD Group's partneringONE(R) are a key business strategy that have transformed the drug development industry by facilitating collaboration between innovators and biopharma executives from every corner of the globe. Company presentations by early stage projects, innovative startups, established biotechs and midsize pharma companies are also a focus of the event and enable innovators to present directly to potential investors, pharma and development partners.

Last year's event featured:

- 14,500 one-to-one meetings

- 3,609 licensing opportunities posted

- 2,486 delegates

- 1,426 companies

- 106 company presentations

- 69 exhibitors

- 55 countries represented

- 20 workshops and panels

Registration information for BIO-Europe Spring is available online.

Additional links and information:

Follow BIO-Europe Spring 2019 news and updates on Twitter or on LinkedIn

About EBD Group

EBD Group's overriding mission is to help collaborations get started across the life science value chain. Our range of partnering conferences has grown to become the largest and most productive conference platform in the industry. Each one of our seven landmark events held in key life science markets around the world is powered by our state-of-the-art partnering software, partneringONE(R), that enables delegates to efficiently identify and engage with new opportunities via one-to-one meetings.



Today our events (BIO-Europe(R), BIO-Europe Spring(R), BioPharm America, Biotech Showcase, China Showcase, Digital Medicine & Medtech Showcase, ChinaBio(R) Partnering Forum, Cell & Gene Connect, and BioEquity Europe) annually attract more than 12,000 senior life science executives who engage in over 48,000 one-to-one partnering meetings. These vital one-to-one engagements are the wellspring of deals that drive innovation in our industry.



Tune into EBD Group's Partnering Insight for timely coverage of news that influences the business strategies of the life science industry. EBD Group is an Informa company. For more information please visit www.ebdgroup.com.

Media Contacts:



Raimund Gabriel

MC Services AG

+49 89 2102280

contact@mc-services.eu

Kari Bennett

EBD Group

+1 (760) 930-0500

kbennett@ebdgroup.com

SOURCE: EBD Group

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535317/BIO-Europe-SpringR-Comes-to-Vienna-for-Europes-Most-Important-Springtime-Life-Science-Partnering-EventDETROIT, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Stratview Research announces the launch of a new market research report on Aircraft Specialty Fasteners Market by Aircraft Type (Commercial Aircraft, Military Aircraft, Helicopter, Regional Aircraft, and General Aviation), by Product Type (Blind Rivets, Blind Bolts, Solid Rivets, Panel Fasteners, Studs and Inserts, and Others), by Material Type (Titanium, Aluminum, Steel, and Others), by Application Type (Airframe, Engine, Flight Control Surface, Interior, and Others) by End-User Type (OE, and Aftermarket) and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2019-2024.

This market report, from Stratview Research, studies the aircraft specialty fasteners market over the trend period of 2013 to 2018 and forecast period of 2019 to 2024. The research report provides detailed insights on the market dynamics to enable informed business decision making and growth strategy formulation based on the opportunities present in the market.

Aircraft Specialty Fasteners Market: Highlights

In the aerospace industry, specialty fasteners refer to a specific family of fasteners, whose usage is to address distinct industry requirements. Specialty fasteners address challenging requirements such as high speed/automated assembly, sandwich panel installation, thin sheet assembly, mounting to surfaces that cannot accept through-hole technology, blind assembly, frequent joint access, and optimization of preload in highly loaded joints. Specialty fasteners often save time in the assembly process and eliminate the need for additional fastening components, which results in an overall reduced cost.

As per Stratview Research, the global aircraft specialty fasteners market is likely to witness a healthy growth over the next five years to reach an estimated value of US$ 1.3 billion in 2024. The major factors underpinning the growth of aircraft specialty fasteners are: an incessant increase in air passenger traffic all around the world, which is triggering an increase in the production rates of the key programs such as B737, A320 family, B787, and A350XWB; market entry of new players such as COMAC and Irkut; introduction of variants of existing best-selling aircraft programs such as B737 max, A320neo, and B777x; and increasing aircraft fleet size.

Commercial aircraft is expected to remain the largest and fastest-growing segment of the market during the forecast period. Both major commercial aircraft OEMs: Boeing and Airbus, are increasing the production rates of their best-selling aircraft in order to meet a huge pile of order backlogs. Also, COMAC and Irkut are entering the commercial aircraft industry with their C919 and MC-21 aircraft programs. Boeing anticipated that there would be total deliveries of 42,730 commercial aircraft worth US$ 6.3 trillion in the global marketplace during 2018-2037.

Click Here and Run Through the Detailed TOC of the Strategic Report from Stratview Research

Based on the product type, the market is segmented as blind rivets, blind bolts, solid rivets, panel fasteners, studs and inserts, and others. Blind rivet is expected to remain the largest segment of the market during the forecast period, propelled by its installation efficiency and ergonomic benefits over traditional fasteners. The rivet type is also estimated to grow the fastest in the coming five years. Blind bolt, another member of blind fasteners family, is subjected to grow at an impressive rate in the same period.

Specialty fasteners are made using a wide array of materials such as titanium, aluminum, steel, and others. Titanium-based specialty fasteners dominate the market and are expected to maintain their position during the forecast period as well. In the aircraft industry, there has been an incessant replacement of steel and other heavy metal-based fasteners with titanium fasteners, owing to their excellent performance at a relatively low weight. Also, titanium fasteners are highly compatible with composite parts, which are increasingly being used in the next-generation aircraft including B787, A350XWB, and B777x.

Register Here and Ask for a Free Sample of the Detailed 290-Page Report

In terms of region, North America is expected to remain the largest market for aircraft specialty fasteners during the forecast period. All the major specialty fastener manufacturers have their presence in the region to address the teething issues of the OEMs in order to be the partner for their upcoming aircraft programs or upcoming fuel-efficient variants of existing aircraft programs. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to expand at the highest rate during the forecast period with China, Japan, and India being the key sources of growth. Major companies in the Asia-Pacific region are striving hard to develop commercial and regional aircraft to meet the huge indigenous demand and to mitigate the level of dependency on Boeing and Airbus.

The key players in the aircraft specialty fasteners market are Arconic Inc., TriMas Corporation, PCC Fasteners, LISI Aerospace, and Stanley Black and Decker. Development of lightweight and durable specialty fasteners, forming strategic alliances with aircraft OEMs, and execution of mergers & acquisitions are the key strategies adopted by the major players to gain a competitive edge in the market.

Report Features

This report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights on the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report:

Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis.

Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis.

Market trend and forecast analysis.

Market segment trend and forecast.

Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc.

Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities.

Emerging trends.

Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players.

Key success factors

This report studies the specialty fasteners market in the global aircraft industry and has segmented the market in six ways, keeping in mind the interest of all the stakeholders across the value chain. Following are the six ways in which the market is segmented:

Aircraft Specialty Fasteners Market, By Aircraft Type

Commercial Aircraft (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Military Aircraft (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Helicopter (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Regional Aircraft (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

General Aviation (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Aircraft Specialty Fasteners Market, By Product Type

Blind Rivets (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Blind Bolts (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Solid Rivets (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Studs and Inserts (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Panel Fasteners (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Others (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Aircraft Specialty Fasteners Market, By Material Type

Titanium Fasteners (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Aluminum Fasteners (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Steel Fasteners (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Other Specialty Fasteners (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Aircraft Specialty Fasteners Market, By Application Type

Airframe (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Engine (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Flight Control Surfaces (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Interior (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Others (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Aircraft Specialty Fasteners Market, by End-User Type

OE (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Aftermarket (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Aircraft Specialty Fasteners Market, by Region

North America (Country Analysis: The USA , Canada , and Mexico )

Europe (Country Analysis: Germany , France , the UK, Spain , Russia , and Rest of Europe )

Asia-Pacific (Country Analysis: Japan , China , India , and Rest of Asia-Pacific )

Rest of the World (Sub-Region Analysis: Latin America , the Middle East , and Others)

Stratview Research has number of high value market reports in the global aerospace & defense industry. Please refer to the following link to browse through our reports:

Click Here for Other Reports from Stratview Research in the Aerospace & Defense Industry

Some of our other premium market reports in the aerospace & defense industry:

Aircraft Interior Fasteners Market by Aircraft Type (Commercial Aircraft, Regional Aircraft, General Aviation, and Military Aircraft), by Application Type (Seats, Galley, Lavatory, Ducts, Stowage Bins, Floor Panels, Sidewall Panels, Door & Windows, and Others), by Fastener Type (Screws, Bolts, Nuts, Rivets, and Others), by Material Type (Aluminum, Steel and Others), by End-User Type (OE and Aftermarket), and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2018-2023.

Aircraft Brackets Market byAircraft Type (Commercial Aircraft, Regional Aircraft, General Aviation, Military Aircraft, and Helicopter), by Application Type (Fuselage, Wings, Control Surfaces, and Others), by Bracket Type (Class A, Class B, and Class C), by Material Type (Aluminum, Steel, and Others), by End-User Type (OE and Aftermarket) and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2018-2023.

Aircraft Blind Bolts Market by Aircraft Type (Commercial Aircraft, Regional Aircraft, Helicopter, Military Aircraft, and General Aviation), by Application Type (Airframe, Control Surfaces, Interior, Engine, and Others), by Material Type (Titanium Bolts, Aluminum Bolts, Steel Bolts, and Other Bolts), by Blind Bolt Type (Drive-Nut Bolt and Pull Type Bolt), by End-User Type (OE and Aftermarket), and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2019-2024.

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.

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2.2 Metres Grading 3,556 gpt AgEq

2.2 Metres Grading 556 gpt AgEq

1.5 Metres Grading 606 gpt AgEq

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2019) - SilverCrest Metals Inc. (TSXV: SIL) (NYSE American: SILV) ("SilverCrest" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the drill results and discovery of the Babi Sur Vein on the Las Chispas Property (the "Property") located in Sonora, Mexico. Recent drilling of the Babi Sur Vein has intersected high-grade silver-gold mineralization along a strike length of approximately 1.5 kilometres (see attached Figures). The Babi Sur Vein is parallel to the Babicanora Vein and approximately 300 metres apart. The Babi Sur Vein will be part of the upcoming updated resource, which will include at least nine (9) of the 30 veins identified to date in the district. The Company's current resource estimate includes only eight of the 30 veins (see "Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Las Chispas Property, Sonora, Mexico", effective September 13, 2018).

N. Eric Fier, CPG, P.Eng, and CEO, remarked, "The Babi Sur Vein is now the sixth high-grade vein discovery in the Babicanora area, each parallel to the Babicanora Vein with an average spacing of 150 metres between each. This discovery provides further understanding of our evolving geological model, which we are using to successfully discover additional high-grade mineralization in the district. Within the approximate 1.5 kilometre strike length of the Babi Sur Vein, the high-grade mineralized footprint appears to be related to three structurally-controlled shoots that are similar to other adjacent veins; i.e. Babicanora Norte. We currently have 12 drill rigs working onsite with five at the Babi Sur Vein for resource expansion and seven at the Babicanora Vein for infill drilling. We will continue drilling at the Babi Sur Vein to better define the high-grade footprint, as well as plan for drilling four more untested veins in the Babicanora area."

The most significant result for this release was returned from Hole BAS18-31, which intersected 2.2 metres (true width) grading 18.78 grams per tonne ("gpt") gold and 2,147.3 gpt silver, or 3,556 gpt silver equivalent ("AgEq", based on 75 (Ag):1 (Au) calculated using long-term silver and gold prices of US$18.50 per ounce silver and US$1,225 per ounce gold, with average recoveries of 86.6% silver and 98.9% gold). Also noteworthy is Hole BAS18-07 at 2.2 metres grading 4.63 gpt gold and 208.8 gpt silver, or 556 gpt AgEq. The following table summarizes the most significant drill intercepts for this news release (uncut, undiluted).

Babi Sur Vein Significant Drill Intercepts;

Hole No. From

(m) To

(m) Drilled Intercept

(m)** Au

gpt Ag

gpt AgEq*

gpt BAS18-06A 171.1 171.7 0.6 4.29 151.0 473 BAS18-07 147.6 149.9 2.2 4.63 208.8 556 Incl. 149.0 149.9 0.9 8.44 376.0 1,009 BAS18-09 139.4 140.1 0.6 5.47 123.0 533 BAS18-10 98.6 99.8 1.3 6.56 3.5 496 BAS18-11 76.3 78.0 1.8 2.01 4.2 155 BAS18-14 158.6 159.6 1.1 2.30 165.5 338 BAS18-16 183.5 184.7 1.2 1.14 94.2 180 BAS18-19 234.5 235.5 1.0 3.29 286.2 533 Incl. 234.5 235.0 0.5 6.51 571.0 1,059 BAS18-23 206.8 207.5 0.7 1.52 128.0 242 BAS18-24 77.6 78.2 0.6 1.76 117.0 249 BAS18-26 227.0 228.1 1.1 1.53 117.0 232 BAS18-27 124.4 125.4 1.0 9.33 66.1 766 BAS18-29 193.0 194.0 1.0 1.04 80.2 158 BAS18-31 230.6 232.8 2.2 18.78 2,147.3 3,556 Incl. 231.7 232.8 1.1 33.85 3,905.0 6,444 BAS19-33 148.6 150.0 1.4 5.01 197.0 573 Incl. 148.6 149.3 0.7 6.86 301.0 816 BAS19-37 111.0 112.6 1.6 2.66 15.8 215 BAS19-39 248.0 250.1 2.1 2.73 204.3 409 Incl. 248.7 249.4 0.7 4.24 327.0 645

Note: all numbers are rounded. Hole BAS18-06 was extended to depth and renamed 06A.

* AgEq based on 75 (Ag):1 (Au) calculated using long-term silver and gold prices of US$18.50 per ounce silver and US$1,225 per ounce gold, with average metallurgical recoveries of 86.6% silver and 98.9% gold.

**True widths are 80 to 100% of drilled widths.

All assays were completed by ALS Chemex in Hermosillo, Mexico, and North Vancouver, BC, Canada.

A total of 39 core holes into the Babi Sur Vein have been completed with assays to date. Drill holes BAS18-01 to 05, 08, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20 to 22, 24, 25, 28, 30 and 32, and BAS19-34 to 36 and 38 intercepted quartz veining/stockwork and anomalous mineralization, but are below the Company's 150 gpt AgEq cutoff. Several holes intercepted a hanging wall vein in the Babi Sur Vein as listed below.

The high-grade footprint of the Babi Sur Vein has been drill intercepted with 14 core holes over approximately 1.5 kilometre strike length (see attached Figures). Of the 14 intercepts with an average true width of 1.4 metres, six are greater than 400 gpt AgEq (400 to 3,555 gpt AgEq).

Not included in the above tables are the following most significant drill intercepts of a hanging wall vein located adjacent to or cross cutting the Babi Sur Vein:

Hole No. From

(m) To

(m) Drilled Intercept

(m)** Au

gpt Ag

gpt AgEq*

gpt BAS18-27 13.7 15.1 1.5 7.63 33.6 606 BAS19-35 36.0 36.5 0.5 10.25 6.5 775 BAS18-08 70.3 70.8 0.6 2.60 5.2 200 BAS18-11 76.3 78.0 1.8 2.01 4.2 155 BAS18-19 190.5 191.6 1.0 5.57 183.0 601 BAS18-23 195.0 197.0 2.0 1.19 106.0 195

Note: all numbers are rounded.

* AgEq based on 75 (Ag):1 (Au) calculated using long-term silver and gold prices of US$18.50 per ounce silver and US$1,225 per ounce gold, with average metallurgical recoveries of 86.6% silver and 98.9% gold.

**True widths are 80 to 100% of drilled widths.

The above intercepts are in a hangingwall vein immediately adjacent and/or intersecting the Babi Sur Vein and will be incorporated into the upcoming resource as part of Babi Sur.

The Company continues its Phase III exploration program with 12 drills (increased from nine since January 2019) on site, all on surface. Approximately 30,000 to 40,000 additional metres of drilling are budgeted for H1, 2019. For the remaining part of H1, the drills will be divided between further expansion drilling on numerous veins and ongoing infill drilling for re-categorizing the resource. The Company plans to provide an updated resource estimate in Q1, 2019 as planned, and a Preliminary Economic Assessment using the new resource within 30 to 60 days after the updated resource announcement. Other ongoing site work includes: continued preparation for the start of construction of the planned Area 51 decline in Q1, 2019, testing large-diameter wells for site water, and permitting for various planned work.

The Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects for this news release is N. Eric Fier, CPG, P.Eng, and CEO for SilverCrest, who has reviewed and approved its contents.









Figure 1: Long Section (Inclined) of Babi Sur Vein Las Chispas Property, Looking Southwest



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1467/42841_sc2.jpg





Figure 2: Las Chispas District with Babicanora Plan Map, February 2019



To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1467/42841_sc4.jpg





ABOUT SILVERCREST METALS INC.

SilverCrest is a Canadian precious metals exploration company headquartered in Vancouver, BC, that is focused on new discoveries, value-added acquisitions and targeting production in Mexico's historic precious metal districts. The Company's current focus is on the high-grade, historic Las Chispas mining district in Sonora, Mexico. SilverCrest is the first company to successfully drill-test the historic Las Chispas Project resulting in numerous discoveries. The Company is led by a proven management team in all aspects of the precious metal mining sector, including taking projects through discovery, finance, on time and on budget construction, and production.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. These include, without limitation, statements with respect to: the strategic plans, timing and expectations for the Company's exploration, rehabilitation and drilling programs of the Las Chispas Property, including drilling test water wells, permitting for various work, and optimizing and updating the Company's resource model; information with respect to high grade areas and size of veins projected from underground sampling results and drilling results; and the accessibility of future mining at the Las Chispas Property. Such forward-looking statements or information are based on a number of assumptions, which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things: the conditions in general economic and financial markets; availability of skilled labour; timing and amount of expenditures related to rehabilitation and drilling programs; and effects of regulation by governmental agencies. The actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of risk factors including: the timing and content of work programs; results of exploration activities; the interpretation of drilling results and other geological data; receipt, maintenance and security of permits and mineral property titles; environmental and other regulatory risks; project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses; and general market and industry conditions. Forward-looking statements are based on the expectations and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date the statements were made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this news release if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as otherwise required by applicable law.

N. Eric Fier, CPG, P.Eng

Chief Executive Officer

SilverCrest Metals Inc

For Further Information:





SilverCrest Metals Inc.

Contact: Fred Cooper, Investor Relations

Telephone: +1 (604) 694-1730

Fax: +1 (604) 357-1313

Toll Free: 1-866-691-1730 (Canada & USA)

Email: info@silvercrestmetals.com

Website: www.silvercrestmetals.com

570 Granville Street, Suite 501

Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3P1





Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42841CALGARY, AB and SAN ANTONIO, TX / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2019 / Emerald Bay Energy Inc. (TSX Venture: EBY, OTC: EMBYF) (the "Company" or "Emerald Bay") announced today that drilling of the wildcat test well has commenced at the Company's Bauer prospect in South Texas. The well was spudded at 4:36 Central Time yesterday afternoon, and it is anticipated that drilling operations will take up to two weeks.

Management has imposed "tight-hole" status on the well, whereby drilling data and geologic information will be kept confidential until such time that the Company has assessed the results and secured any additional mineral leases to enhance the prospect.

The Bauer wildcat test well is the first well drilled with the Company's partner Cotulla Energy Resources Ltd. ("Cotulla"). Under terms of the agreement, Cotulla will pay 100% of the costs of the well to earn a 75% interest. As managing partner and operator, Emerald Bay earns a 25% interest in the well at no cost to the Company. Furthermore, the Company looks forward to integrating the experience and expertise of the Cotulla partners in the drilling of the Bauer wildcat well, as well as our exploration strategy going forward.

About Emerald Bay

Emerald Bay Energy Inc. (TSX Venture: EBY, OTC: EMBYF) is an energy company with oil producing properties in Southwest Texas as well as non-operated oil and natural gas interests in Central Alberta, Canada. EBY is the operator of the Wooden Horse and Nash Creek Projects in Guadeloupe, Texas, where the Company currently now owns a 50.00% working interest those projects. Additionally, the Company owns and operates various working interests in the HugoCellR, Cotulla, and MarPat partnerships. The Company also owns 75% of Production Resources Inc., a South Texas oil company.

For all upcoming news releases, articles, comments and questions, to stay updated and speak with management about Emerald Bay Energy. Please JOIN our Investor Information Group at:

http://bit.ly/8020EBY

For further information, please contact:

Emerald Bay President, Shelby D. Beattie, by telephone at (403) 262-6000

Email: info@ebyinc.com

www.ebyinc.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.

SOURCE: Emerald Bay Energy Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535281/Emerald-Bay-Energy-Spuds-Bauer-Prospect-Wildcat-WellEarnings Expected to Show Significant Uptick Beginning in Second Half of 2019

WYOMISSING, PA / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2019 / Speaking with investors at the KBW Winter Financial Services Symposium in Boca Raton, Florida, Customers Bancorp CEO Jay Sidhu and CFO Carla Leibold intend to disclose that Customers' internal plans include at least $3.00 of core earnings per share in 2020, an increase of over 35% from the 2019 Consensus estimate. Sidhu previously stated in January 2019 that the Company is comfortable with the Street estimate of $2.21 in earnings per share for 2019.

'We are off to a good start in 2019, with strong growth in higher margin C&I and consumer loans, supported by corresponding increases in core deposits. The planned commercial and consumer loan growth expected in the first half of 2019 could require approximately $15 million to $20 million in upfront provision expense in the first half of the year for these new loans. This provision expense will result in a temporary drag on Q1 and Q2 earnings; however, earnings should show acceleration starting in Q3, with the Company projecting 2020 core EPS of at least $3.00.'

'We are targeting a core 2020 ROAA of at least 1.0%, and core ROTCE of about 12%, which includes the results of BankMobile,' stated Carla Leibold, Customers' CFO. 'Customers is today trading at about 90% of tangible book value and less than 10x 2019 Consensus estimates. We felt compelled to disclose our internal targets to investors at our first meeting with investors in 2019. We have previously targeted earning $4.00 of core EPS within 3-4 years and consider our 2020 projection of at least $3.00 an important milestone along that path,' concluded Leibold.

Institutional Background

Customers Bancorp, Inc. is a bank holding company located in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania engaged in banking and related businesses through its bank subsidiary, Customers Bank. Customers Bank is a community-based, full-service bank with assets of approximately $9.8 billion at December 31, 2018. A member of the Federal Reserve System with deposits insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Customers Bank is an equal opportunity lender that provides a range of banking services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals, individuals and families through offices in Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, Illinois, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New Jersey. Committed to fostering customer loyalty, Customers Bank uses a High Tech/High Touch strategy that includes use of industry-leading technology to provide customers better access to their money, as well as Concierge Banking by appointment at customers' homes or offices 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Customers Bank offers a continually expanding portfolio of loans to small businesses, multi-family projects, mortgage companies and consumers.

Customers Bancorp, Inc.'s voting common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CUBI. Additional information about Customers Bancorp, Inc. can be found on the company's website, www.customersbank.com.

'Safe Harbor' Statement

In addition to historical information, this press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include statements with respect to Customers Bancorp, Inc.'s strategies, goals, beliefs, expectations, estimates, intentions, capital raising efforts, financial condition and results of operations, future performance and business. Statements preceded by, followed by, or that include the words "may," "could," "should," "pro forma," "looking forward," "would," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "plan," or similar expressions generally indicate a forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that are subject to change based on various important factors (some of which, in whole or in part, are beyond Customers Bancorp, Inc.'s control). Numerous competitive, economic, regulatory, legal and technological factors, among others, could cause Customers Bancorp, Inc.'s financial performance to differ materially from the goals, plans, objectives, intentions and expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. In addition, important factors relating to the acquisition of the Disbursements business, the combination of Customers' BankMobile business with the acquired Disbursements business, the implementation of Customers Bancorp, Inc.'s strategy to retain BankMobile for 2-3 years, the possibility that the expected benefits of retaining BankMobile for 2-3 years may not be achieved, or the possible effects on Customers' results of operations if BankMobile is never divested could cause Customers Bancorp's actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements. Further, Customers' expectations with respect to the effects of the new tax law could be affected by future clarifications, amendments, and interpretations of such law. Customers Bancorp, Inc. cautions that the foregoing factors are not exclusive, and neither such factors nor any such forward-looking statement takes into account the impact of any future events. All forward-looking statements and information set forth herein are based on management's current beliefs and assumptions as of the date hereof and speak only as of the date they are made. For a more complete discussion of the assumptions, risks and uncertainties related to our business, you are encouraged to review Customers Bancorp, Inc.'s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, subsequently filed quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, including any amendments thereto, that update or provide information in addition to the information included in the Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings, if any. Customers Bancorp, Inc. does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by Customers Bancorp, Inc. or by or on behalf of Customers Bank.

Core EPS, core ROAA, core ROTCE and tangible book value are non-GAAP measures. Customers believes that the non-GAAP measurements disclosed within this document are useful for investors, regulators, management and others to evaluate our results of operations and financial condition relative to other financial institutions and is consistent with how Customers evaluates its performance internally. These non-GAAP financial measures exclude from corresponding GAAP measures the impact of certain elements that we do not believe are representative of our financial results, which include securities gains, losses, and impairment, executive severance, merger and acquisition related charges, losses on the sale of multifamily loans and other items. Investors should consider our performance and financial condition as reported under GAAP and all other relevant information when assessing our performance or financial condition. Although non-GAAP financial measures are frequently used in the evaluation of a company, they have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results of operations or financial condition as reported under GAAP.

Contacts:

Jay Sidhu, Chairman & CEO 610-935-8693

Carla Leibold, CFO 484-923-8802

Bob Ramsey, CFO - BankMobile 484-926-7118

SOURCE: Customers Bancorp, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535282/Customers-Bancorp-Inc-Expects-2020-Core-EPS-to-Exceed-300-Up-Over-35-From-the-2019-ConsensusSEOUL, South Korea, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In collaboration with researchers in the USA and New Zealand, Dongguk University's Professor Yung Kyun Choi has identified what influences young Koreans to share advertisements (ads) on social media. Social networking users are more likely to share promotional content with close friends than the general public. And among friends, sharing is more likely for picture ads of products that might be purchased sooner or textual ads of temporally distant purchases.

For digital marketers to harness the power of social networking, it is vital to understand how to encourage communication about products, brands, and companies. Most studies of so-called "electronic word-of-mouth" (E-WOM) have focused on how it influences recipients of promotional messages. Professor Choi and his team wanted to explore why and how an individual might share promotional messages in the first place.

"We devised our study to test whether sharers consider how soon a purchase might occur," explains Professor Choi. "We also anticipated that the design of the ads, specifically whether it uses images or text, could influence whether it is shared." Since social media users can select the message recipient for their sharing behavior, the researchers focused on the effects of the strength of social ties on E-WOM.

The team selected undergraduate students to participate in their research, recognizing that social media use in Korea is highest among people in their 20s. At the start of the experiment, students read a scenario about moving either next week or next year. They were then shown furniture ads, either in pictures or words, and asked whether they were likely to recommend it to their friends and the general public via social media.

The team found that consumers were more likely to share promotional messages with their strong ties. Furthermore, purchase timing, as well as ad format, also influenced whether the user would share the message.

The study's findings provide valuable insights for marketers in the digital age. As users are more likely to share ads with friends, one strategy is to foster online communities of consumers to develop stronger relationships between them. Marketers should also focus on matching advertising designs with how soon the product might be purchased. As Professor Choi explains, "Product photos should motivate sharing for frequent and imminent purchases, whereas ads for infrequent and delayed purchases are more likely to be shared if they feature abstract text."

Appearing in the journal Internet Research, the study's contribution was recently recognized by the publisher, with Professor Choi's work being Highly Commended in the 2018 Emerald Literati Awards.

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2014S1A5-A2A0101-5688).

Reference

Authors: Yung Kyun Choi1, Yuri Seo2, and Sukki Yoon3 Title of original paper: E-WOM messaging on social media: Social ties, temporal distance, and message concreteness Journal: Internet Research DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IntR-07-2016-0198 Affiliations: 1 Dongguk University, Republic of Korea 2 University of Auckland, New Zealand 3 Bryant University, USA

*Corresponding author's email: choiyung@dongguk.edu

About Dongguk University

Dongguk University, founded in 1906, is located in Seoul, South Korea. It comprises 13 colleges that cover a variety of disciplines and has local campuses in Gyeongju, Goyang, and Los Angeles. The university has 1300 professors who conduct independent research and 18000 students undertaking studies in a variety of disciplines. Interaction between disciplines is one of the strengths on which Dongguk prides itself; the university encourages researchers to work across disciplines in Information Technology, Bio Technology, CT, and Buddhism.

Website: http://www.dongguk.edu/mbs/en/index.jsp

About the author

Yung Kyun Choi(PhD, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA) is a professor in the Department of Advertising and PR at Dongguk University, Seoul, South Korea. His research interests include message congruency effects, consumer behavior in virtual social environments, and cross-cultural advertising effects. He received the Best Reviewer Award from International Journal of Advertising and more recently was Highly Commended in the 2018 Emerald Literati Awards. His work has appeared in leading advertising and marketing journals. He served as President of Korean Scholars of Marketing Science (KSMS) from 2016 to 2018.The European Investment Trust Plc - Transaction in Own Shares

The European Investment Trust plc ("the Company")

The Company announces that on 13 February 2019 it purchased the following number of its ordinary shares of 25 pence each on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.

Ordinary Shares:

Date of purchase: 13 February 2019 Number of ordinary shares purchased: 20,000 Lowest price per share 788p Highest price per share 788p

The Company intends to cancel the purchased shares.

Following the above transaction, the Company has 40,897,769 ordinary shares in issue. Each of the Company's shares carries one vote. Accordingly, the total number of voting rights of the Company is 40,897,769.

14 February 2019

LEI: 213800QNN9EHZ4SC1R12

Enquiries:

Kenneth J Greig

Edinburgh Partners AIFM Limited

Tel: 0131 270 3800

The Company's registered office address is:

Beaufort House

51 New North Road

Exeter

EX4 4EPPARIS, February 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Echosens, an innovative high-technology company offering the FibroScan family of products dedicated to assessment of chronic liver disease, today announces that the Beijing Intellectual Property Court has confirmed judgment against Wuxi Hisky Medical, manufacturer of FibroTouch, for infringement of the Echosens patent ZL00805083.X protecting the technology used in FibroScan. Wuxi Hisky Medical has been ordered to pay 30 million RMB (3.90 million euros) as damages and orders to cease manufacturing and selling counterfeit products in China.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/664145/Echosens_Logo.jpg )

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/821420/Fibroscan_Logo.jpg )



Laurent Sandrin, co-founder of Echosens, says, "We believe that this judgment is a major milestone in the enforcement of Echosens' Intellectual Property rights, not only in China but also worldwide. Echosens is maintaining its utmost vigilance and determination to maintain these rights in order to ensure the protection of its entire assets, of its distributors, of its employees and of its shareholders."

Wuxi Hisky Medical may file an appeal, although Echosens will leverage this judgment in markets worldwide.

The ruling of the Chinese court is consistent with two previous decisions obtained by Echosens in Germany. On April 20, 2017 the Regional Court of Dusseldorf ruled that Wuxi Hisky Medical infringed on the European version of the same patent. On appeal, the decision of the regional court was confirmed on March 1, 2018 by the Higher Regional Court of Dusseldorf, resulting in Wuxi Hisky Medical being banned from offering its products in Germany.

About Echosens

Echosens is the world's #1 provider of non-invasive medical devices dedicated to assessment of chronic liver disease.

Echosens significantly changed the practice of liver diagnosis with FibroScan, the unique device using patented and validated VCTE for liver stiffness assessment, and CAP for steatosis quantification.

FibroScan device is recognized worldwide as the reference for non-invasive liver diagnosis with more than 2,000 medical publications and 40 guidelines recommendations.

With a wide-reaching international distribution network including France (Paris), the United States (Waltham) and China (Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing), Echosens has made FibroScan available in over 80 countries.

http://www.echosens.com

Echosens - Sophie Ghibellinisophie.ghibellini@echosens.com - +33(0)1-44-82-78-50Acquisition establishes LTI as a leading global partner for Temenos WealthSuite

Larsen Toubro Infotech Ltd. (NSE: LTI, BSE: 540005), a global technology consulting and digital solutions company, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire NIELSEN+PARTNER (N+P), an independent Temenos WealthSuite specialist, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany.

N+P is a leading partner of Temenos in Europe and APAC. The company is well-recognized for its market-leading capabilities in Temenos WealthSuite, including Triple' A Plus, Data Source and Channels. With presence in major Banking and Wealth Management hubs like Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Singapore, N+P also provides IT Consulting, digital and software engineering services to major enterprises.

This acquisition is synergistic to Syncordis acquisition that LTI announced in 2017. Syncordis is the leading Temenos T24 Core Banking Platform specialist with widespread presence in Europe, whereas N+P has built comprehensive expertise in the front office of Temenos WealthSuite. Together with Syncordis, N+P strengthens LTI's capabilities as a global expert of Temenos suite of products and enriches company's offerings to Banking clients. Upon integration, N+P's Temenos business will be consolidated under the brand of Syncordis, while software engineering business will operate and expand as part of LTI Germany.

Sanjay Jalona, Chief Executive Officer Managing Director, LTI, said: "Temenos is the world leader in banking software. Since the Syncordis acquisition, this has been a fast-growing practice for us, enabling resilient relationships and rich, cross-selling opportunities. The acquisition of N+P will help us further establish LTI as a formidable player in the fast-growing market for Temenos and help our clients navigate their digital transformation journey. I welcome the employees and clients of N+P to LTI family."

Manuel Brunckhorst, CEO, N+P said: "Joining forces with strategic and complementary partners like LTI and Syncordis is the next logical step to accelerate our growth, enhance our capabilities and extend our services, both for Temenos, as well as software engineering services. We are very excited about the future and continuing our journey with our existing and new clients, employees and partners."

Guillaume Desjonqueres, CEO, Syncordis said: "Syncordis has been growing at a faster pace since its acquisition by LTI. With LTI acquiring N+P, we are entering into a new phase, expanding both our Temenos offerings and our footprint outside of Europe. In line with our strategic vision, Syncordis and N+P together with LTI will provide complete and innovative services to Temenos clients in the Banking and Wealth Management space, globally."

This is the fourth acquisition by LTI since the company got listed in 2016. In January 2019, the company acquired Ruletronics, a boutique Pega Consulting company.

About LTI:

Larsen Toubro Infotech (NSE: LTI, BSE: 540005) is a global technology consulting and digital solutions Company helping more than 300 clients succeed in a converging world. With operations in 30 countries, we go the extra mile for our clients and accelerate their digital transformation with LTI's Mosaic platform enabling their mobile, social, analytics, IoT and cloud journeys. Founded in 1997 as a subsidiary of Larsen Toubro Limited, our unique heritage gives us unrivaled real-world expertise to solve the most complex challenges of enterprises across all industries. Each day, our team of more than 27,000 LTItes enable our clients to improve the effectiveness of their business and technology operations, and deliver value to their customers, employees and shareholders. Find more at www.Lntinfotech.com or follow us at @LTI_Global

About Syncordis

Syncordis S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of Larsen Toubro Infotech (LTI), is a pure-play core banking transformation specialist with more than 150 Temenos consultants. Established in 2004, Syncordis S.A. has offices in Luxembourg, France, UK and India, and provides business and IT consultancy focused exclusively on Temenos solutions. Syncordis' implementation, helpdesk, monitoring and application support services help clients reduce risks, increase efficiency and enhance quality of their banking systems. Syncordis brings rich international execution experience in over 15 countries across Europe, Asia, Americas, Middle East Africa including Germany, Switzerland, UK, France, Belgium Luxembourg. Find more at www.syncordisconsulting.com

About N+P

N+P is an IT consulting company specializing in implementation, customization and operation of Temenos WealthSuite, and software engineering in Germany. With offices in Hamburg (HQ), Zurich, Singapore, Luxembourg, Brussels, Sydney and Bangkok, N+P takes pride in providing exemplary service to customers and partnering in their transformations. The company brings together years of experience, reliability, commitment and a sense of responsibility to its engagements. More information at www.nundp.com

Connect with LTI

Read our News and Blogs

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn

Meet us at Temenos Community Forum, 2019

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005344/en/

Contacts:

Neelian Homem

PR Media Relations India

+91-900-434-5540

neelian.homem@lntinfotech.com

Karin Bakis

PR Media Relations USA

+1-978-998-1578

karin.bakis@lntinfotech.com| BY Ricki Green |

Leaping head first into the flames, //Thirteen & Co writer and director Patrick Filetis new short film Inferno delves into the heartland of Tulepec, Mexico to tell the true story of a town famous for its pyrotechnics and the unique sub culture that surrounds it.

A portrayal of the lives of artisans and their families in the lead up to the festival of San Juan de Dios, Inferno honours the spirit, tradition and passion of Tultepecs community in celebrating life, to the point of embracing death. Beginning the festival, a party sets the town aflame; roughly 300 giant wooden bulls loaded with fireworks are built for a single day of incendiary celebration. It is a ritual and a pageant that celebrates explosives for their life-giving energy in a town that lives and dies according to the laws of gunpowder and fate.

Says Fileti: Going deeper into the flames, pyrotechnics honour the passion and spirit of people celebrating life while acknowledging the ever-present proximity of death. All this for the rapturous applause of a hundred thousand people screaming in shared catharsis. The biggest honour goes to the bull with the fiercest fireworks display. Dying to make this day possible is considered heroic and holy.

Filmed on a shoestring budget with the Alexa Mini and Lomo Anamorphic lenses across a five-day shoot, Fileti worked with a tight knit Mexican film crew on the ground, enlisting award-winning DOP, Galo Olivares  who is responsible for this years Oscar-nominated Netflix film, Roma, which just won a BAFTA for best cinematography. The true story of the town is told through the eyes of the townspeople themselves, with additional casting of the films lead protagonists found in Mexico City.

It was also important for Fileti to deeply engage the local community and for them to feel genuinely connected to the film.

Says Fileti: Casting was crucial to the authenticity of the film. Our hero is also a guy whose appearance appears forbidding but which has little relation to the content of his character. Changing peoples minds of what they think people should be without it being forced, just a natural message that is conveyed through the language of film.

Fileti also spent six months developing the films soundtrack alongside Los Angeles composer Daniel McCormick.

Drawn to social stories that confront an audiences pre-conceived notions of people and communities, Filetis films regularly challenge perceptions. In 2017, Fileti was compelled to write and direct the award winning short film Undercurrent after witnessing the epidemic of forced displacement of refugees worldwide.

Inferno is set to make its debut at select film festivals.

Patricks showreel can be viewed here.The Special General Meeting in Vostok New Ventures Ltd (the "Company") was held on Thursday, February 14, 2019 at 10 am CET at Advokatfirman Vinge offices at Stureplan 8 in Stockholm, Sweden.

Stockholm, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --



At the meeting, the shareholders considered a number of items, and among other things the following resolutions were passed.

- The Special General Meeting resolved to effect a subdivision of shares (share split) and a mandatory share redemption procedure for all shareholders. The share split entails the subdivision of each outstanding common share in the Company with a par value of USD 0.32 per share into two shares: one common share with a par value of USD 0.24 and one redemption share with a par value of USD 0.08. The mandatory share redemption procedure entails redemption of all issued and outstanding redemption shares for cash consideration in the amount of SEK 25 per share. An information brochure describing the split and mandatory redemption program has been made available at the Company's website (www.vostoknewventures.com/investor-relations/).

- The Special General Meeting resolved to amend the Company's Bye-Laws so as to allow for general meetings to be held in Hamilton, Bermuda, where the Company has its registered office, or at any other location where the Company's shares or other financial instruments issued by or on behalf of the Company are listed for trading.

For further information please contact:

Bjorn von Sivers, Investor Relations, Tel +46 8 545 015 50

Vostok New Ventures Ltd, formerly Vostok Nafta Investment Ltd, is an investment company with the business concept of using experience, expertise and a widespread network to identify and invest in assets with considerable potential for value appreciation. The company has a special focus on online marketplaces and businesses with strong network effects. The Swedish Depository Receipts.

AttachmentSHANGHAI, SINGAPORE, READING, England and PALO ALTO, California, February 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Canalys estimates show that European smartphone shipments fell 4% in 2018 to 197 millionunits.In Q4 2018,shipments fell2% to 57 million, though Chinese vendors gained significantly. Samsung remained the largest vendor in 2018 butits shipments were down over 10% at 61.6millionunits. Apple was down6% but clung onto second place with 42.8million units shipped. Huawei was the stand-out vendor, growing 54% with 42.5millionshipments. Relative newcomers Xiaomi and HMD Global grew strongly and were fourth and fifth respectively.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/822009/Canalys_Logo.jpg )

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/822010/Canalys_Smartphone_Market_Infographic.jpg )

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/822011/Canalys_Smartphone_Shipments_Infographic.jpg )



"The political situation between Chinese companies and the US government has benefited European consumers," said Senior Analyst Ben Stanton. "The US administration is causing Chinese companies to invest in Europe over the US. The European market is mature, and replacement rates have lengthened, but there is an opportunity for Chinese brands to displace the market incumbents. The likes of Huawei and Xiaomi bring price competition that has stunned their rivals as they use their size against the smaller brands in Europe."

Western European smartphone shipments fell 8%, the biggest decline of the sub-regions, to 128 million units in 2018, the lowest level since 2013. An increase in average selling prices, caused by an uplift in flagship pricing by Apple, Samsung and Huawei, offset some of the declines. Central and Eastern Europe continued to grow in 2018, up 5% to 68 million units. Many countries in CEE have now reached maturity, but Russia remains a strong grower, up 14% year on year in 2018.

"There are interesting country-level differences in Western Europe," said Stanton. "The markets with the highest ASPs, such as the UK, Germany and the Nordics, have suffered the sharpest declines. There hasn't been innovation in the flagship smartphone space to entice customers to upgrade. But in countries with lower ASPs, such as Italy and Spain, there was growth in 2018. This reflects a transformation in the mid-range segment in 2018, with notch displays and dual cameras coming down to aggressive price points. Unlike at the high end, the caliber of smartphones available for US$300 changed significantly between 2017 and 2018, which helped facilitate upgrades. Smartphones priced between US$200 and US$350 grew over 20% in Western Europe in 2018. Canalys expects Chinese vendors will continue growing across all price segments in 2019."

For detailed highlights please contact Canalys or Eleanor Martin, eleanor_martin@canalys.com, +44-118-984-0526Total Voting Rights

As a result of the purchase of 100,000 Ordinary 1p shares placed into Treasury on 13 February 2019 and in conformity with Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rule 5.6.1A, the issued share capital and voting rights of the Company are as follows:

Class of share Total number of shares in circulation Number of voting rights attached to each share Total number of voting rights of shares in circulation Number of shares held in treasury (carrying no voting rights attached until issued) Total number of shares in issue Ordinary 1p Shares 42,387,725 1 42,387,725 22,121,917 64,509,642

The above total voting rights figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine whether they are required to notify their interest in EP Global Opportunities Trust plc under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

14 February 2019

LEI: 2138005T5CT5ITZ7ZX58

Enquiries:

Kenneth Greig

Edinburgh Partners AIFM Limited

Tel: 0131 270 3800

The Company's registered office address is:

27-31 Melville Street

Edinburgh

EH3 7JF14 February 2019. Vente-Unique.com, a European specialist in online furniture sales, today announces its revenues for the first quarter of the 2018-2019 financial year (1 October to 31 December 2018).

In line with the trends announced at the start of the financial year, Vente-unique.com once again proved itself capable of sustaining firm-paced, 100% organic growth. Growing 14%, the company is ahead of the 12% average growth for the last 7 years and wholly on track with the 2022 strategic plan.

IFRS (000) 2017-2018 2018-2019 Change France 13,196 14,185 +7% Northern and Eastern Europe[1] 5,643 6,198 +10% Southern Europe[2] 2,526 3,898 +54% Total 21,366 24,281 +14%

Accelerated growth in France

Q1 2018-2019 recorded marked growth in France, with a rise of 7%, as against a 4% increase for the previous year as a whole. This firm trend attests to the continued improvement in product availability thanks to the increasing efficiency of the Amblainville site and the new capacities made available with the opening of the additional logistics units in 2018.

Illustrating this firm sales trend, Black Friday boosted sales to a new record level in a single day.

With a 24% increase, international business continued its uptrend and reached a new record with a 42% contribution to sales (38% in Q1 the previous year). Southern Europe (rising 54% to 3.9 million) remained the principal driver of growth which, in addition to the healthy performance from Spain and Italy, was fuelled by the increasingly dynamic performance of Portugal, opened in January 2018. Northern and Eastern Europe scored two-figure growth (of 10%), while the new configuration of the Poland site contributed only marginally to revenue for the quarter.

Outlook

Encouraged by this strong start to the year, Vente-unique.com is confirming its 2018-2019 goal of achieving a further year of two-figure growth while maintaining an exemplary level of profit margin.

Next publication: H1 2018-2019 revenues,

Monday 13 May 2019, before start of trading

Read more on bourse.vente-unique.com

About Vente-unique.com

Founded in 2006, Vente-Unique.com (Euronext Growth: ALVU) is a European specialist in online furniture sales. The company covers 11 countries (France, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland) and has delivered to over 1 million customers since its inception. In 2018, Vente-Unique.com posted revenues of 87 million, up 14%.

ACTUS finance & communication Jerome Fabreguettes-Leib Nicolas Bouchez Investor Relations Press Relations vente-unique@actus.fr nbouchez@actus.fr +33 (0)1 53 67 36 78 +33 (0)1 53 67 36 74

[1] Germany + Austria + Belgium + Luxembourg + Netherlands + Poland + Switzerland

[2] Spain + Italy + Portugal

------------------------



 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LONDON, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PremFina Ltd ("PremFina" or the "Company"), the U.K.'s first premium finance company to offer a proprietary white-labelled solution for insurance brokers, is pleased to announce its official sponsorship of the Insurance Cultural Awareness Network ("iCAN").

Founded in May 2017, iCAN is an industry-wide independent network that supports multicultural inclusion across the UK insurance sector. The network's mission is to promote diversity and inclusion ("D&I") and to help its members navigate their way through the insurance industry in their careers.

The Company is joining the Association of British Insurers ("ABI"), Allianz, Lloyd's, QBE and Zurich as official sponsors of iCAN, to further promote the importance of D&I in the insurance sector. PremFina's sponsorship means the Company will contribute content and various materials to iCAN, as well as engage with industry allies on how they can better promote D&I in the workplace.

"PremFina has built itself on innovation and our success comes from having a diverse team," said Bundeep Singh Rangar, chief executive officer (CEO) of PremFina. "Our staff is at the heart of what we do at PremFina and we are proud to support iCAN's mission."

The news comes after PremFina recently announced it will be joining as a founding member in the newly-established trade association Insurtech UK, which aims to support growth and innovation within the UK insurtech industry.

About PremFina

PremFina Ltd is a UK-based premium finance company that promotes financial inclusion by enabling the payment of insurance premiums via instalments. It supplies insurance brokers with funding lines and also enables broker-funded and branded credit agreements via its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) affiliate IXL PremFina Ltd. With PremFina, brokers receive higher profit, greater autonomy and the opportunity to increase the lifetime value of their customers as well as cross-sell and up-sell additional products. PremFina's shareholders include global investors Rakuten Capital, Draper Esprit Plc, Thomvest Ventures, Emery Capital, Rubicon Venture Capital, Talis Capital and the Company's founder.

Website: https://www.premfina.com

For All Enquiries:

Pawandeep Kaur

Marketing Assistant

Pawandeep.Kaur@PremFina.com

+44 203 500 3462



Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/809993/PremFina_Ltd_Logo.jpg

Regulatory News:

FCA Italy and Groupe PSA (Paris:UG) have signed an agreement to extend until 2023 their successful LCV cooperation, started 40 years ago.

The terms of this new agreement also include continued manufacture by the JV of Fiat Ducato, Peugeot Boxer and Citroen Jumper large vans as well as additional versions to cover the needs of Opel and Vauxhall brands.

In order to meet the expected increase in demand for FCA and Groupe PSA, both partners have decided to increase production capacity at Sevel from 2019 with potential additional shifts.

The agreement also foresees the complementary use of Groupe PSA manufacturing capacity to assemble certain versions of the large vans for the Peugeot, Citroen, Opel and Vauxhall brands in the medium-term.

The Sevel plant, inaugurated in 1981 in Val di Sangro (Atessa Italy), has a surface area of more than 1.2 million square meters and employs around 6,200 employees. It is the biggest and most flexible light commercial vehicle plant in Europe capable of producing vehicles in a large array of different configurations. Sevel is also one of the most advanced LCV plants in the world in terms of level of specialization, organization and work performance.

The plant also houses an on-site Academy, a center of excellence where employees have the opportunity to receive training and improve their skills, as well as to undertake simulations and create innovation.

About FCA

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) designs, engineers, manufactures and sells vehicles and related parts and services, components and production systems worldwide through 159 manufacturing facilities, 87 R&D centers, and dealers and distributors in more than 140 countries.

Its stable of brands includes Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Jeep, Lancia, Ram, Maserati and Mopar, the parts and service brand. The Group's businesses also include production systems, components and iron and castings. In addition, retail and dealer financing, leasing and rental services related to and in support of the Group's car business are provided either through subsidiaries or financial partners (such as captive companies, affiliates, joint ventures with leading banks and/or financial institutions, and specialized providers).

FCA is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "FCAU" and on the Mercato Telematico Azionario under the symbol "FCA".

Website: www.fcagroup.commediarelations@fcagroup.com

About Groupe PSA

Groupe PSA designs unique automotive experiences and delivers mobility solutions to meet all customer expectations. The Group has five car brands, Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Opel and Vauxhall and provides a wide array of mobility and smart services under the Free2Move brand. Its 'Push to Pass' strategic plan represents a first step towards the achievement of the Group's vision to be "a global carmaker with cutting-edge efficiency and a leading mobility provider sustaining lifetime customer relationships". An early innovator in the field of autonomous and connected cars, Groupe PSA is also involved in financing activities through Banque PSA Finance and in automotive equipment via Faurecia..

Media library: medialibrary.groupe-psa.com @GroupePSA_EN

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005314/en/

Contacts:

Medias contacts :

FCA Claudio D'Amico +39 011 00 63 088- claudio.damico@fcagroup.com

Groupe PSA Clarisse Grignard + 33 06 65 39 28 49 clarisse.grignard@mpsa.comVANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2019 / Margaret Lake Diamonds Inc. (TSX.V: DIA / FSE: M85) ("Margaret Lake" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has entered into an Option Agreement (the "Agreement") to acquire up to an 80% interest in the Kiyuk Lake Gold Property ("Kiyuk Lake" or the "Property") located in southern Nunavut.

The Kiyuk Lake land package consists of 70 contiguous mineral claims encompassing over 59,000 hectares and offers year-round accessibility to a 35-person base camp. Significant past exploration, beginning with Newmont Mining in 2008 and most recently Cache Exploration in 2017, has resulted in over 13,000 meters of core drilling and delineation of four mineralized zones and five additional high priority target areas that have yet to be drill tested. Mineralization has been traced across a 13-kilometer strike length and remain open in all directions.

"Kiyuk offers a very compelling district-scale exploration opportunity to delineate a new Canadian gold mining camp," stated President and CEO Jared Lazerson. "Preparations are well underway to conduct an aggressive exploration program in 2019 that will include additional ground magnetic studies to further define drill targets as well as core drilling to expand known zones of mineralization. We look forward to advancing this project to a development-ready stage."

Rusty Zone

Mineralization at the high-grade Rusty Zone is predominantly pyrrhotite +/-magnetite with arsenopyrite and pyrite in brecciated and altered sandstone. To date mineralization has been traced to a depth of 200 meters and remains open at depth. The zone has been main focus of historic drilling at Kiyuk. In 2017, drilling within the Rusty zone returned broad intercepts of high-grade gold including:

8m of 26.48 g/t gold from 108m, including 2m of 92.76 g/t gold from 110m, in DDH KI17-001

38m of 1.16 g/t gold from 58m, including 8m of 3.98 g/t gold from 68m, in DDH KI17-002

122m of 1.82 g/t gold from 188m, including 15m of 3.34 g/t gold from 294m, in DDH KI17-004

249m of 1.6 g/t gold from 8.2m in DDH KI13-004 (no cut-off)



* Drill intercepts are not true width. True widths are not known at this time. See Cache Exploration Inc. press releases dated October 12, 2017 and October 26, 2017 and Prosperity Goldfields press release dated April 9, 2013. While the Company believes the historical work was performed according to best practices and the exploration data is reliable, a Qualified Person has not verified the results independently.

Gold Point / East Gold Point Zone

The Gold Point Zone comprises a series of locally derived mineralized boulder fields of altered polymictic conglomerate that occur over a 500m long trend. Rock sampling prior to 2012 returned maximum gold assays from this showing of 24.69 g/t. A single boulder 1.35km to the SW graded 1.33 g/t and is along strike of the mineralized 'horizon'. Around 600m to the NE, at the East Gold Point Zone, mineralized boulders grading up to 2.36 g/t have been found. Drilling in 2017 returned the following intercepts:

64m of 1.46 g/t gold from 35m, including 14m of 3.12 g/t gold from 37m, in DDH KI17-005

10m of 6.51 g/t gold from 248m in DDH KI17-005

* Drill intercepts are not true width. True widths are not known at this time. See Cache Exploration Inc. press release dated October 26, 2017. While the Company believes the historical work was performed according to best practices and the exploration data is reliable, a Qualified Person has not verified the results independently.

High Priority Drill Targets

Cobalt Zone

The original showing at Cobalt was defined by a 4 x 8m outcrop of sulphide bearing siltstone and oligo-monomictic conglomerate. This rock type is easily weathered and transported down-ice resulting in a mineralized trend of boulders extending southwest from mineralization intersected in drill hole CS11-002 (21.3m @ 2.15 g/t Au). Mineralization intersected in drill holes from 2011 suggests a 250 m strike length.

A northeast trending string of lakes is thought to represent a fault or lithological boundary between the siltstone-conglomerate units to the northwest and the carbonate rich units to the southeast. This boundary is also identified in the ground magnetics as a sharp break between the outcrop area (magnetic high) and the limestones (magnetic low).

A large concentration of gold bearing conglomerate boulders exists approximately 420m south of the original Cobalt showing area. It is likely that these represent glacially transported boulders, but the distance of transport is unknown. In 2013 these boulders were targeted, in the up-ice direction, by one drill hole which failed to intersect significant gold grades. This area had been targeted with three prior drill holes by Newmont and by Prosperity with all holes suffering cave-in problems forcing abandonment.

Amundsen Zone

The Amundsen Zone is located 850m south of the Cobalt Zone. Historic rock sampling discovered a mineralized boulder train, with samples up to 15.2 g/t Au. The one drill hole completed in this zone was completed in 2012 and was directed at the up-ice limit of the boulder train. It intersected 42m of 0.97 g/t Au including 12m at 2.3 g/t Au from 170m depth.

Rasmussen Prospect

The Rasmussen showing is the westernmost showing identified on the Property to date. This showing was identified during prospecting in 2012 and is defined by gold mineralization in frost heaved conglomerate boulders which are interpreted to have undergone minimal transport. Gold values from boulders at the Rasmussen showing range from 0.1 to 6.9 g/t. The dominant sulphide mineral is pyrrhotite with lesser arsenopyrite. Alteration commonly seen in the zone is albite-actinolite-carbonate.

South Snake Prospect

The South Snake showing is located 4 km South of the Rusty Zone at the south end of Snake Lake. The showing is defined by two 3m long boulders containing strong actinolite alteration and abundant pyrrhotite. The host rock is a clastic rock which has been bleached and brecciated with a carbonate actinolite rich matrix. Sulphides are concentrated in the breccia matrix but are also disseminated in the host rock. Grab rock samples up to 12 g/t Au were discovered prior to 2012 work. The source area for these boulders has not been identified by follow up work and the majority of surrounding rock is largely unaltered.

North Snake Prospect

The North Snake showing is defined by boulders with gold values up to 32 g/t. Two drill holes drilled at North Snake during the spring 2012 program failed to intersect significant mineralization. An additional two holes were drilled in 2013 intersecting hydrothermal breccias hosted in mudstone and siltstone. One interval returned 6m of 1.3 g/t Au in brecciated and quartz-carbonate-actinolite-biotite-magnetite altered mudstone with abundant pyrrhotite in the infill. Prospecting and mapping in 2012 identified a 200m long trend of mineralized boulders (1.0 to 3.84 g/t Au) "up-ice" of the drill holes suggesting the bedrock source is further to the north.

Heart Pond Prospect

The Heart Pond Showing is defined by several large boulders over a 90 x 100m area with gold grades up to 5.3 g/t. The host rock is described as pyrrhotite, pyrite, and arsenopyrite-bearing albite-actinolite-carbonate altered conglomerate.

Airstrip Prospect

The Airstrip showing is defined by a 12m x 12m outcrop that was originally found during prospecting in 1992. Historic rock sampling revealed mineralized samples up to 15.0 g/t Au. The host rock is described as a highly albitized and locally brecciated Tavani siltstone and conglomerate (or felsic volcaniclastic) with massive pale white fine to medium grained albitite, to brecciated rock with albitized clasts floating in actinolite bearing matrix with slight foliation (Turner, 2011). The mineralized outcrop defining the airstrip showing was drilled by Newmont in 2008 but failed to intersect significant gold values.

Agreement Terms

To earn an initial 50% interest in the Property, Margaret Lake has agreed to issue 5,000,000 common shares of the Company to the Optionor (the "Optionor") within 10 days and invest C$150,000 through the purchase of 3,000,000 common shares of the Optionor at a deemed price of $0.05 on a private placement basis within 30 days. The Company will also make a cash payment of $100,000 to the Optionor on or before the first anniversary of the effective date of the Agreement and incur exploration expenditures totaling $3,000,000 on or before the third anniversary of the Agreement. Margaret Lake also has the right to acquire an additional 30% in the Property, for a total of 80%, by making a one-time cash payment of $5,000,000. Completion of the transaction is subject to Exchange acceptance. There can be no assurance that the transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Figure 1. Kiyuk Lake Rock Chip Prospecting Samples (1992-2013).





Figure 2. Airborne magnetic data plan map and location of Au prospects at Kiyuk Lake.





Figure 3. Kiyuk Lake Project Map





Qualified Person

The technical data in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Buddy Doyle, P.Geo., a Qualified Person under the provisions of National Instrument 43-101.

About Margaret Lake Diamonds Inc.

Margaret Lake Diamonds Inc. (TSX.V: DIA) is a Canadian junior mining company focused on mineral exploration in Canada's most prolific mining districts. The Company is earning an 80% interest in the high-grade Kiyuk Lake Gold Property located in southern Nunavut and also holds interests in two diamond exploration properties in the Northwest Territories- the Margaret Lake project located adjacent to Mountain Province Diamond's Kennady North project and close proximity to Gahcho Kue, the newest Canadian diamond mine owned by De Beers and Mountain Province Diamonds. The Company also has a 60/40 joint venture with Arctic Star Exploration Corp. (TSX.V: ADD) to explore the Diagras property, which is comprised of 23 claims totaling 18,699 hectares located in the prolific Lac de Gras diamond field.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Jared Lazerson"

President and Chief Executive Officer

Phone: 1.604.630.2810

Web: www.margaretdiamonds.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information that involves various risks and uncertainties regarding future events. Such forward-looking information can include without limitation statements based on current expectations involving a number of risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance of the Company. Actual results and future events could differ materially from anticipated in such information. These and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking information are based on estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and expressed qualified in their entirety by this notice.

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.

SOURCE: Margaret Lake Diamonds Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535287/Margaret-Lake-Diamonds-Announces-Acquisition-of-Kiyuk-Lake-Gold-Property-NunavutYOKNEAM, Israel, February 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

The town hall-style summit will cover current and future directions in endometriosis care, including Lumenis' FiberLase CO 2 laser solutions for endometriosis excision that preserves fertility

Lumenis Ltd., the world's largest energy-based medical device company for surgical, aesthetic and ophthalmic applications, today announced that it will sponsor the first-ever Endometriosis Summit, a patient and practitioner town hall meeting, held March 3, 2019, in Hoboken, New Jersey. The event will unite patients and practitioners for a day of education and discussion, featuring a collaborative platform of voices of the endometriosis community. Excision specialists, endometriosis advocates, physical therapists and patients will discuss state-of-the-art therapies and future directions in endometriosis care.

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/541530/Lumenis_Logo.jpg )



"We're thrilled to introduce the Endometriosis Summit to bring patients and physicians together to discuss the future of endometriosis diagnosis and therapy, and we feel very encouraged by companies like Lumenis that are supporting awareness and the endometriosis care journey," said event co-chair Sallie Sarrel, PT, ATC, DPT. "This is a very exciting time for the endometriosis community, where awareness is surging alongside new laser excision technology that makes minimally invasive, complete endometriosis treatment possible. We're looking forward to hearing a diversity of perspectives on this disease at the Endometriosis Summit."

"Lumenis is honored to sponsor the Endometriosis Summit. We look forward to joining patients and physicians for this important day of education and discussion," explained Tzipi Ozer-Armon, CEO of Lumenis. "The summit's 'town hall' approach is a perfect reflection of our company's goals, which include both working with top physicians to develop CO 2 laser excision and ablation approaches for endometriosis, as well as partnering with endometriosis patients and helping them talk to their doctors and learn more about the disease through Gynhealth.com."

An estimated 1 in 10 women and adolescents suffers from endometriosis, a disease in which growth of endometrial tissue outside the pelvic cavity causes several conditions, including but not limited to chronic pelvic pain, pain during intercourse, increased menstrual bleeding, and infertility. Endometriosis affects women's ability to lead active, happy, daily lives and have children. In the past, lack of knowledge about the disease and its symptoms led to delayed diagnosis and mistreatment, but awareness of endometriosis has grown in recent years, in turn resulting in better patient care.

Key details for Endometriosis Summit attendees:

Time and place: March 3, 2019 , 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. ; The W Hotel, 225 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey

, ; The W Hotel, 225 River Street, Full schedule and details: https://theendometriosissummit.com

Registration (if sold out, there will be a wait list): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-endometriosis-summit-patient-practitioner-town-meeting-tickets-52736747030

Live stream of the event: https://www.facebook.com/LumenisGYN

About Lumenis FiberLase for the Treatment of Endometriosis

Lumenis offers FiberLase, the only high power CO 2 laser fiber. Using the Lumenis advanced UltraPulse Duo CO 2 laser with FiberLase technology, surgeons can perform minimally invasive procedures to treat endometriosis relieving pain symptoms while preserving fertility - a key objective for many patients. Experts recommend this laparoscopic approach in cases where pain reduction and reduced morbidity are paramount.[1]

To learn more about Lumenis CO 2 Laser technology for the treatment of endometriosis please visit http://www.gynhealth.com.

1. Young S, Burns MK, DiFrancesco L, Nezhat A, Nezhat C. Diagnostic and treatment guidelines for gastrointestinal and genitourinary endometriosis. J Turk Ger Gynecol Assoc. 2017 Dec 15;18(4):200-209.

About Lumenis

http://www.lumenis.com

Lumenis is the world's largest energy-based medical device company for surgical, aesthetic and ophthalmic applications in the area of minimally invasive clinical solutions. Regarded as a world-renowned expert in developing and commercializing innovative energy-based technologies, including Laser, Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) and Radio-Frequency (RF). For nearly 50 years, Lumenis' groundbreaking products have redefined medical treatments and have set numerous technological and clinical gold standards. Lumenis has successfully created solutions for previously untreatable conditions, as well as designed advanced technologies that have revolutionized existing treatment methods.



MEDIA CONTACT

Genevieve Pierce, Pascale Communications

genevieve@pascalecommunications.com

+1(512)774-0735PASAY CITY, Philippines, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In support to the country's commitment towards water sustainability and energy security, the 5th edition of Water Philippines Expo and 2nd edition of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RE EE) Philippines 2019 are coming back on 20-22 March 2019 to once again showcase a 2-in-1 mega event under one roof.

Water Philippines 2019 Expo -- the country's fastest-growing B2B water technology event is presenting the best water technologies and solutions for water supply, sanitation, industrial wastewater and purification. RE EE Philippines 2019, on the other hand, is bringing thousands of opportunities to develop the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency sectors by promoting new advancements on solar power, energy efficiency and green technology. Over 500 exhibiting companies--including 9 international and regional pavilions from mainland China, European Union, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, The Netherlands and USA will converge to showcase their technologies and innovations to an expected 10,000+ trade visitors from different parts of the globe.

As emphasized by Mr. Dexter Deyto, General Manager of UBM Exhibitions Philippines, "An increase in economic activities gives rise to higher water and energy demand, thus creating more challenges in the Philippines' water and energy security. One of the main goals of Water Philippines 2019 and RE EE Philippines 2019 is to encourage both the government and private sectors to strive more in exploring various new methods and find the best solutions in addressing our water and energy challenges."

For the first time, the Environment & Water business mission under the EU Business Avenues in South East Asia Programme will bring over 50 European companies to Water Philippines 2019 Expo. The EU Business Avenues in South East Asia Programme is an EU-funded initiative aims to help European companies establish long-lasting business collaborations through matchmaking and business support services. A bigger presence of 15 participating companies from Singapore is also highly-anticipated. In addition, K-Water from Korea will also bring 10 participating companies in their pavilion.

The 3-day event will also feature a high-level Water Philippines 2019 Conference with the theme "Addressing Climate Change Through Resilient, Sustainable Water and Sanitation Development" in which participants can earn Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points. There are also free-to-attend Water Philippines and RE EE Philippines Expert Dialogues, Technology Symposia and the comprehensive Energy Efficiency (EE) Conference by the Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance (PE2) with the theme "The New Energy Efficiency (EE) Law as Game Changer in the Philippines".

Water Philippines 2019 and RE EE Philippines 2019 will be coinciding with the annual UN World Water Day and co-located with specialized events namely Pumps and Valves (P&V) Philippines and Pipes and Tubings (P&T) Philippines. It is supported by key associations including Philippine Water Works Association (PWWA), Philippine Society of Sanitary Engineers (PSSE), Philippine Society of United Master Plumbers (PSUMP), Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance (PE2), Renewable Energy Association of the Philippines (REAP) and Philippine Independent Power Producers Association (PIPPA).

Admission to the exhibition is free by pre-registering online at www.waterphilippinesexpo.com or www.renergyphilippines.com.

Notes to Editor:

Water Philippines 2019 and RE EE Philippines 2019 are organised by UBM, which in June 2018 combined with Informa PLC to become a leading B2B information services group and the largest B2B Events organiser in the world. Please visit www.ubm.com/asia for more information about our presence in Asia.

Related Links:

www.waterphilippinesexpo.com

www.renergyphilippines.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/821483/PressCon_2.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/821484/PressCon_1.jpgFebruary 14, 2019

SBM Offshore is pleased to announce a EUR175 million (c. US$200 million) share repurchase program, effective from February 14, 2019.

The objective of the program is to reduce share capital and, in addition, to provide shares for regular management and employee share programs. The repurchase program is expected to be completed within 2019, and it will be accomplished under the authorization granted by the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of the Company held on April 11, 2018. The execution of the share repurchase program will be done under the terms of an engagement letter with a third party, performed in compliance with the safe harbor provisions for share repurchases, and therefore transactions may be carried out during closed periods.

In accordance with the European Market Abuse Regulation, the Company will inform the market of the progress made in the execution of this program through weekly press releases and updates on its website. In accordance with normal practice to cater for possible changes in future circumstances, the share repurchase program does not obligate the Company to acquire any amount of shares, and it may be suspended at any time at the Company's discretion.

Corporate Profile

SBM Offshore N.V. is a listed holding company that is headquartered in Amsterdam. It holds direct and indirect interests in other companies that collectively with SBM Offshore N.V. form the SBM Offshore Group ("the Company").

SBM Offshore provides floating production solutions to the offshore energy industry, over the full product lifecycle. The Company is market leading in leased floating production systems delivered to date, with multiple units currently in operation and has unrivalled operational experience in this field. The Company's main activities are the design, supply, installation, operation and the life extension of floating production solutions for the offshore energy industry.

As of December 31, 2018, Group companies employ approximately 4,350 people worldwide, including circa 650 contractors, which are spread over offices in key markets, operational shore bases and the offshore fleet of vessels. Group Companies employ a further 400 people, working for the joint ventures with two construction yards. For further information, please visit our website at www.sbmoffshore.com (http://www.sbmoffshore.com).

The companies in which SBM Offshore N.V. directly and indirectly owns investments are separate entities. In this communication "SBM Offshore" is sometimes used for convenience where references are made to SBM Offshore N.V. and its subsidiaries in general, or where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies.

The Management Board

Amsterdam, the Netherlands, February 14, 2019

Financial Calendar Date Year Annual General Meeting of Shareholders April 10 2019 Trading Update 1Q 2019 - Press Release May 16 2019 Half-Year 2019 Earnings - Press Release August 8 2019 Trading Update 3Q 2019 - Press Release November 14 2019 Full year 2019 Full Year Earnings February 13 2020 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders April 8 2020

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations

Bert-Jaap Dijkstra

Director Corporate Finance and IR

Telephone: +31 (0) 20 236 3222 Mobile: +31 (0) 6 21 14 10 17 E-mail: bertjaap.dijkstra@sbmoffshore.com Website: www.sbmoffshore.com (http://www.sbmoffshore.com)

Media Relations

Vincent Kempkes

Group Communications Director

Telephone: +31 (0) 20 2363 170 Mobile: +31 (0) 6 25 68 71 67 E-mail: vincent.kempkes@sbmoffshore.com Website: www.sbmoffshore.com (http://www.sbmoffshore.com)

Disclaimer

This press release contains inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation. Some of the statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements based on management's current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance, or events to differ materially from those in such statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results and performance of the Company's business to differ materially and adversely from the forward-looking statements. Certain such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes", "may", "will", "should", "would be", "expects" or "anticipates" or similar expressions, or the negative thereof, or other variations thereof, or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy, plans, or intentions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this release as anticipated, believed, or expected. SBM Offshore NV does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update any industry information or forward-looking statements set forth in this release to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. Nothing in this press release shall be deemed an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities.

SBM Offshore announces share repurchase (http://hugin.info/130754/R/2234942/879648.pdf)



This announcement is distributed by West Corporation on behalf of West Corporation clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: SBM Offshore N.V. via Globenewswire

Survey of nearly 20,000 finds Spanish and Portuguese doctors are the most burned out

UK doctors more likely to consider abandoning medicine



NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Burnout and depression are having a significant effect on the global medical community, as demonstrated by Medscape's Global Physicians' Burnout and Lifestyle Comparisons report, released today. Nearly 20,000 doctors in six countries (France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, United States and United Kingdom) responded to the survey, with results revealing that more than one in three (37%) feels burned out and one in ten (10%) experiences both burn out and depression.*

Physicians from Portugal and Spain reported considerably higher levels of burnout than their counterparts in other countries, (47% and 43% respectively), whereas those in the UK, the US and France reported levels of 32%, 40% and 42% respectively. By contrast, German doctors were the least burned out, at 21%. Regarding depression, however, nearly one in four German physicians reported being depressed, followed by French physicians, with only 6% reporting depression.

Most physicians report that it is unhappiness with work that is the key factor for burnout and depression; the majority in most countries reporting they are "extremely happy" with their personal lives, ranging from 65% of physicians in Spain to 50% in Portugal. Physicians in France were the exception, with only one-third reporting happiness with their personal lives.

The UK doctor community appeared to feel the effects of burnout most acutely, with a quarter (25%) saying the impact was so severe they were thinking of abandoning medicine altogether. Spanish doctors indicated the lowest impact, with one in four (27%) saying that burnout did not interfere with their lives and only 9% saying they were considering leaving the profession.

For more findings, view the full report on Medscape: https://www.medscape.com/2019-global-burnout

Reasons for Burnout

Common themes driving burnout were excessive bureaucratic tasks (response rates ranged from 47% in the UK and Spain to 56% in the US and Portugal), spending too many hours at work (rates ranged from 26% in Spain to 51% in Portugal) and a lack of respect from administrators and employers (rates ranged from 25% in the US to 40% in Portugal). Frustrations with local healthcare systems also emerged: UK doctors reported government regulations and a lack of autonomy (25%, respectively) as key influences in burnout, and Spanish doctors thought insufficient compensation was an important factor (56%).

The majority of doctors said they had not sought professional help for burnout and/or depression (58%), with reasons ranging from symptoms not being severe enough (46%), being too busy to address them (33%) or thinking they could manage the situation without professional help (38%).

In addition to examining the underlying professional causes of burnout and depression, the report also looked into doctors' lifestyles. Despite dispensing lifestyle advice to patients, doctors admitted to exercising infrequently, with only 2%-11% exercising daily. One in five (21%) in France and a quarter (24%) in Portugal confessed to not exercising at all.

"Medscape's first global comparison report on doctor burnout and depression shows that far too many are experiencing burnout, predominantly from excessive bureaucracy," said Veronique Duqueroy, Editorial Director of Medscape Global and co-author of the report. "Most doctors have no help in the workplace, and in some cases, are thinking of leaving medicine as the only solution. Clearly, our report shows that there is much to be done to improve the working conditions of doctors, regardless of where they practice, to the benefit of doctors and their patients."

*Unless stated that a statistic relates to a certain country, percentages have been averaged across all six countries of respondents. Where a range is provided, this reflects the span of response rates across all six countries.

About the Global Physicians' Burnout and Lifestyle Comparisons

The survey was conducted online by Medscape; there were approximately 20,000 respondents from six countries (France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, United States and United Kingdom). Doctors took part in a 10 minute online survey; European data were collected from April 25 to June 19, 2018, and US data were collected from July 19 to October 2, 2017.

About Medscape and WebMD

Medscape, a subsidiary of WebMD Health Corp., is the leading source of clinical news, health information and point-of-care tools for healthcare professionals. Medscape offers specialists, primary care physicians and other health professionals the most robust and integrated medical information and educational tools. Medscape Education (medscape.org) is the leading destination for continuous professional development, consisting of more than 30 specialty-focused destinations offering thousands of free C.M.E. and C.E. courses and other educational programs for physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals.

WebMD Health Corp., an Internet Brands company, is the leading provider of health information services, serving consumers, physicians, healthcare professionals, employers, and health plans through our public and private online portals, mobile platforms and health-focused publications.

The WebMD Health Network includes WebMD Health, Medscape, MedicineNet, eMedicineHealth, RxList, Medscape Education and other owned WebMD sites.

WebMD, Medscape, CME Circle, Medpulse, eMedicine, MedicineNet, theheart.org and RxList are among the trademarks of WebMD Health Corp. or its subsidiaries.

About Internet Brands

Headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., Internet Brands is a fully integrated online media and software services organization focused on four high-value vertical categories: Health, Automotive, Legal, and Home/Travel. The company's award-winning consumer websites lead their categories and serve more than 250 million monthly visitors, while a full range of web presence offerings has established deep, long-term relationships with SMB and enterprise clients. Internet Brands' powerful, proprietary operating platform provides the flexibility and scalability to fuel the company's continued growth. Internet Brands is a portfolio company of KKR and Temasek. For more information, please visit www.internetbrands.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/484750/Medscape_Logo.jpgFXCM to Host Forum

LONDON and SYDNEY, Australia and JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Feb. 13, 2019 ("FXCM Group" or "FXCM"), a leading international provider of online foreign exchange trading, CFD trading, cryptocurrencies and related services, invites past, present and interested trading fanatics to schedule one-on-one meetings with FXCM. The FXCM Arabic team will be in Dubai throughout the week of 18 February meeting with clients and hosting an afternoon of discussions, education and networking at the Dubai Trading Forum on 21st February. FXCM staff along with experienced speakers will cover both technical and fundamental trading analysis across FX, indices, gold and more.



Contact an FXCM Arabic team member to set up your meeting today Email arabic@fxcm.com and or

Register for free and don't miss this opportunity to learn from industry experts and network with like-minded traders and professionals.

In addition, FXCM Pro staff will be in the region meeting with dedicated and prospective clients. Interested participants can book one-on-one meetings with a dedicated FXCM representative to explore FXCM Pro's versatile product offerings and services. Email

support@fxcmpro.com

Siju Daniel, CCO of FXCM Group stated, "The Arabic team at FXCM will be in the region quarterly moving forward to participate face to face with our traders and partners. This is a new strategy for us in the region and we are looking forward to engaging with everyone throughout the year."

For more information and to open a live account, traders can contact an FXCM specialist 24 hours a day 5 days a week.

About FXCM:

FXCM is a leading provider of online foreign exchange provides retail brokers, small hedge funds and emerging market banks access to wholesale execution and liquidity, while providing high and medium frequency funds access to prime brokerage services via FXCM Prime. FXCM is a Leucadia Company.

Trading Forex/CFD's on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors as you could sustain losses in excess of deposits. Leverage can work against you. The products are intended for retail, professional and eligible counterparty clients. For clients who maintain account, inclusive of all EU branches, FXCM Australia Pty. Limited , FXCM South Africa, any affiliates of aforementioned firms, or other firms within the FXCM group of companies [collectively the "FXCM Group"], carefully consider your financial situation and experience level. If you decide to trade products offered by FXCM Australia Pty. Limited, Product Disclosure Statement , and Terms of Business . The FXCM Group may provide general commentary which is not intended as investment advice and must not be construed as such. Seek advice from a separate financial advisor. The FXCM Group assumes no liability for errors, inaccuracies or omissions; does not warrant the accuracy, completeness of information, text, graphics, links or other items contained within these materials. Read and understand the Terms and Conditions on the FXCM Group's websites prior to taking further action.

Read full disclaimer.Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - February 13, 2019) - Wilton Resources Inc. (TSXV: WIL) ("Wilton" or the "Corporation") is pleased to announce that it closed its previously announced non-brokered private placement offering (the "Offering") of units ("Units") of the Corporation at a purchase price of $0.56 per Unit for gross proceeds of $468,000. Each Unit consists of one common share in the capital of the Corporation ("Common Share") and one whole Common Share purchase warrant of the Corporation ("Warrant"). Each whole Warrant is exercisable into one Common Share at a price of $0.70 per Common Share for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance.

No commission, finder's fee or similar payment (whether in the form of cash, securities or an interest in assets) were paid by the Corporation in connection with the Offering.

The gross proceeds from the Offering will be used by Wilton for general corporate purposes and future working capital. All securities issued in connection with the Offering are subject to a statutory four month hold period from the date of issue.

In connection with the closing of the Offering, 300,000 Units were issued to an Insider of the Corporation (as such term is defined under the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange). The participation of the Insider in the Offering constitutes a "related party transaction" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Corporation is relying upon exemptions from the formal valuation and minority approval requirements of MI 61-101 based on a determination that the fair market value of the Offering, insofar as it involves the related parties, does not exceed 25% of the market capitalization of the Corporation. The Corporation was not in a position to file a material change report more than 21 days in advance of the closing of the Offering, as the participation of the related parties was not confirmed at that time.

The Offering was approved by the Corporation's board of directors by means of a unanimous resolution. In connection with the closing of the Offering, accounts managed by Rosseau Asset Management Ltd. subscribed for a total of 300,000 Units. The transaction resulted in the percentage of the total outstanding Common Shares of the Corporation controlled by Rosseau Asset Management Ltd. increasing by less than 1%.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

Forward-Looking Statements and Information and Cautionary Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "intend", "may", "will", "expect", 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 Corporation's current beliefs or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking information with respect to the anticipated principal uses of the proceeds of the Offering. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to the Corporation. The material facts and assumptions include obtaining approval of the TSXV of the proposed Offering and the intended use of proceeds remaining in the best interests of the Corporation. The Corporation cautions the reader that the above list of risk factors is not exhaustive. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the Corporation is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Due to the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward- looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

For more information, please contact:

Wilton Resources Inc.

Richard Anderson

Chief Executive Officer and President

(403) 619-6609

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this release.

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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42829Agreement brings complementary advisory expertise in Technology and Healthcare sectors and provides capital light and high margin critical mass to the Company's U.S. operations

TORONTO and NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. ("Canaccord Genuity", the "Company") is pleased to announce that in an asset-based transaction, it has acquired Petsky Prunier, a preeminent boutique M&A advisory firm based in New York. This acquisition underscores Canaccord Genuity's commitment to adding scale to its fixed cost base in the U.S. and diversifying its revenue streams, while enhancing its client offering to capture greater market share in its core areas of strength.

Founded in 1999, Petsky Prunier has built a leading U.S.-based investment banking practice with a disciplined focus on the mid-market Technology, Media, Marketing, Information & Services and Healthcare industries. In 2018 Petsky Prunier executed more than 30 strategic advisory transactions for mid-market companies and the firm has achieved number one ranking by Bloomberg for the number of Mid-Market Internet & Advertising1 transactions in the United States for seven consecutive years. This acquisition is expected to be accretive to Canaccord Genuity's adjusted2 earnings during the first year of operation.

"Our U.S. capital markets business has become an increasingly stronger regional competitor and this acquisition advances our priority of investing in areas of higher margin potential, as we continue to position our Company for increased stability and long-term profitability," said Dan Daviau, President & CEO, Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. "The addition of Petsky Prunier creates an exceptional opportunity for our North American capital markets business, while simultaneously enhancing long-term value for our partners and shareholders."

"We are delighted to welcome Petsky Prunier's extraordinary team of professionals to our U.S. Capital Markets business and we look forward to meaningfully increasing our impact in the North American mid-market," said Jeff Barlow, President, Canaccord Genuity LLC. "This strategic combination creates a powerful offering for our clients, who will benefit from our significantly enhanced advisory capability and reach in addition to the globally integrated sales, trading, and equity research capabilities that our platform provides."



To ensure a seamless transition for Petsky Prunier clients and employees, Sanjay Chadda, Partner and Managing Director of Petsky Prunier will join the management operating committee of Canaccord Genuity LLC and co-lead the U.S. investment banking group and the U.S. technology, media, marketing and information services practice. In this capacity, he will continue to focus on existing and new client mandates. All existing employees of Petsky Prunier will continue with the combined firms.

______________________________________ 1 2011-2017, based on number of deals announced valued at $500 million or less. Internet and Advertising is defined by Bloomberg 2 Adjusted earnings is a non-GAAP, non-IFRS measure generally referred to by the company as net income excluding significant items. Refer to non-IFRS measures in the Company's MD&A.

"On behalf of my partners and especially our founders Michael Petsky and John Prunier, we are pleased to have found an enterprise that is a natural fit with the strong culture and excellent reputation that we have built at Petsky Prunier," said Sanjay Chadda, Partner and Managing Director of Petsky Prunier LLC. "Canaccord Genuity provides an ideal partnership structure and a strong, independent platform for our growth, as we continue to create outstanding value for the business owners and private equity firms that we serve."

Freeman & Co. LLC was financial advisor to Petsky Prunier and legal advice was provided by Winston and Strawn LLP. Legal advisors to Canaccord Genuity LLC were Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.

TRANSACTION OVERVIEW

Canaccord Genuity has acquired 100% of the business of Petsky Prunier LLC in an asset purchase for initial consideration of $40.0 million (US$30.0 million) in cash and $20.0 million (US$15.0 million) in common shares of Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. to be issued over a three-year period. Additional contingent consideration of up to $53.2 million (US$40.0 million) will be paid in cash over a four-year period subject to meeting certain revenue targets over that period. For the year ended December 31, 2018, Petsky Prunier generated revenue of US$43.0 million. All Petsky Prunier partners have entered into employment agreements with Canaccord Genuity.

CONFERENCE CALL AND WEBCAST

Management will discuss the transaction during the Company's third quarter fiscal 2019 results conference call which will take place at 8:00 am ET on Thursday, February 14, 2019. Interested parties are invited to listen via live webcast or by dialing the toll-free numbers provided below.

The conference call webcast may be accessed live and archived on a listen-only basis at: https://www.canaccordgenuity.com/investor-relations/news-and-events/conference-calls-and-webcasts/

Analysts and institutional investors can call in via telephone at:

647-427-7450 (within Toronto )

) 1-888-231-8191 (toll free outside Toronto )

) 0-800-051-7107 (toll free from the United Kingdom )

) 0-800-91-7449 (toll free from France )

) 10-800-714-1191 (toll free from Northern China )

) 10-800-140-1195 (toll free from Southern China )

) 1-800-287-011 (toll free from Australia )

) 800-017-8071 (toll free from United Arab Emirates )

A replay of the conference call will be made available from approximately two hours after the live call on February 14, 2019 until April 14, 2019 at 416-849-0833 or 1-855-859-2056 by entering passcode 2376626 followed by the (#) key.

ABOUT CANACCORD GENUITY GROUP INC.:

Through its principal subsidiaries, Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. (the "Company") is a leading independent, full-service financial services firm, with operations in two principal segments of the securities industry: wealth management and capital markets. Since its establishment in 1950, the Company has been driven by an unwavering commitment to building lasting client relationships. We achieve this by generating value for our individual, institutional and corporate clients through comprehensive investment solutions, brokerage services and investment banking services. The Company has Wealth Management offices located in Canada, the UK, Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man and Australia. Canaccord Genuity, the international capital markets division, operates in North America, the UK & Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.

Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. is publicly traded under the symbol CF on the TSX.

ABOUT PETSKY PRUNIER LLC

Petsky Prunier is one of the leading investment banks to the technology, media, marketing, information, eCommerce, and healthcare industries in the United States. The firm's merger and acquisition and private placement advisory services reflect a unique blend of product specialization and industry expertise. Petsky Prunier represents one of the largest U.S.-based industry-specific advisors, providing strategic and transactional services. The firm offers global reach supplemented through partnerships in China and India.

CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release may contain "forward-looking information" as defined under applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). These statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's expectations, beliefs, plans, estimates, intentions and similar statements concerning anticipated future events, results, circumstances, performance or expectations that are not historical facts, including business and economic conditions and Canaccord Genuity Group's growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "predict", "potential", "continue", "target", "intend", "could" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and a number of factors could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. In evaluating these statements, readers should specifically consider various factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement. These factors include, but are not limited 'to, market and general economic conditions, the nature of the financial services industry and the risks and uncertainties discussed from time to time in the Company's interim condensed and annual consolidated financial statements, its annual report and its annual information form ("AIF") filed on www.sedar.com as well as the factors discussed in the sections entitled "Risk Management" and "Risk Factors" in the AIF, which include market, liquidity, credit, operational, legal and regulatory risks. Material factors or assumptions that were used by the Company to develop the forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to, those set out in the Fiscal 2019 Outlook section in the annual MD&A and those discussed from time to time in the Company's interim condensed and annual consolidated financial statements, its annual report and the AIF filed on www.sedar.com. The preceding list is not exhaustive of all possible risk factors that may influence actual results. Readers are cautioned that the preceding list of material factors or assumptions is not exhaustive.

Although the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon what management believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. Except as may be required by applicable law, the Company does not undertake, and specifically disclaims, any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, further developments or otherwise.

For investor and media relations inquiries: Christina Marinoff, Vice President, Investor Relations & Communications, Phone: 416-687-5507, email: cmarinoff@cgf.com, www.cgf.comKehne Ko Humsafar Hain 2 Story

The second season of the show starts with Ananya revealing in the letter about her struggle to marry Rohit. She writes to Rohit that although she prioritised him and gave him her time, he always gave priority to his family! She reveals that she is tired of all these and leaves for Qatar. Rohit is confused and irked as she leaves him and goes to Qatar. He tells Poonam the same who sides with Ananya. Both Poonam, and Rohit's friend ask Rohit to sort out things with Ananya.

Will Ananya & Rohit Reunite Or Will History Repeat?

On the other hand, Ananya fights with her emotions and tries to concentrate on her work. Meanwhile, Rohit reaches Qatar and both Rohit and Ananya get into a heated argument over love and marriage. While Rohit tells that he left his family for her, Ananya says that she waited for him for three years! Rohit even asks whether their marriage is over.

Rohit leaves as Ananya wants to stay back in Qatar for her work. Well, it has to be seen whether Ananya and Rohit reunite or history repeats (will Rohit leave Ananya and go to Poonam)!

Performances & Verdict

Apart from Ananya, Rohit and Poonam's confused and complex love story, the show also reveals how Rohit and Poonam deal with their children's problem and solve it! Ronit Roy, Mona Singh, Gurdeep Kohli and Apurva Agnihotri are amazing actors and have performed extremely well. Also, Pooja Banerjee and Palak Jain are impressive. The show's storyline keeps the viewers hooked to the show.

Fans Comments: Riya & Veena

Riya49khan: It's awesome sir just awesome love it #Ronitroy #KehneKoHumSafarHain2  - (sic)

Veena_boss: Just i am enjoying my Rohit each n every scenessir u r looking super cute amazing love you sir - (sic)

Kd1965ronit

"Superb episodes all actors were very good and story is amazing..my superstar @ronitboseroy stolen my heart always with his acting. Great work great story.big thank you for #KehneKoHumsafarHain2 ekta mam..@altbalaji " - (sic)

Priyanka_lahiri20

"Just finished watching the very first episode.....you (Mona) are killing it....loved it was really exited and the excitement are on highest level..." - (sic)Gautam Gulati On #MeToo Movement

Gautam Gulati, who is popularly known as Gauti by his fans, told Bollywoodlife, "It was a good movement. My full power to all the women who are suffering due to men. I feel all women should raise their voice and should not suffer in silence. A woman is so strong that a man is incomplete without her. Taking her advantage sexually is cheap."

Gautam Shares His #MeToo Story

Before entering the television industry Gautam was a model. It is often said that in the modelling industry, men become the victim of harassment. The actor shared his #MeToo story.

Someone Tried To Misbehave With Gautam

The actor said, "It did happen to me! Somebody tried on me, way back 10 years ago. When I was 21 years old, somebody tried to misbehave and I completely went against that guy. Obviously, I was thrown out of the modelling shoot but I didn't care. I anyway wanted to be an actor, so modelling wasn't that imperative for me. So it was easy for me to do it (go against the harasser)."

Gautam Was Thrown Out Of The Shoot

He further revealed that the harasser was not a popular personality, but an agent from Delhi. He said, "There are many fashion agencies in Delhi, he was from there. A guy tried on me, but you should always have the guts to say no to them. You cannot let them take advantage of you."Rating: 4.0 /5 Star Cast: Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Sheeba Chaddha Director: Zoya Akhtar

Gully Boy Movie Review: Ranveer Singh | Alia Bhatt | Zoya Akhtar | FilmiBeat

'Taraazu ke bas do thaal hain, Ek ore hum dooje mein khwaab hain,' these lines aptly describe Murad's (Ranveer) life in Zoya Akhtar's Gully Boy. Amongst all the chaos, the young man finds his voice in street rap. Just like his name, Murad 'desires' to make his passion his profession. But the journey isn't a bed of roses. Especially when one has to swim against the tide of social disparity and class divide.

In one of the most striking scenes in the film, we see Murad chauffeuring a sobbing elite girl. While he catches a glimpse of her in his rear-mirror wanting to console her, Javed Akhtar's poetic lines, 'Tumse humdardi bhi nahi kar sakta main, Mere bas ki baat nahi hai, Main yeh bahte aansu pochun, Utni meri aukaat nahi hai' perfectly mirrors his feelings and leaves you with a lump in the throat.

Murad lives in a match-box size tenement with his dysfunctional family in Dharavi. When his abusive father brings home a second wife, his mother vents out her helplessness and frustration as she struggles to come to terms with the 'new' woman who is not much older than Murad.

The only ray of sunshine in Murad's life are his pals and his volatile girlfriend Safeena (Alia Bhatt) who doesn't shy away from admitting, 'Mere boyfriend se gulu gulu karegi toh dhoptuingi hi na usko' when it comes to keeping other girls away from pursuing her beau.

While Safeena may come across as a strong-headed personality, beneath her hijab, she's a girl who longs to do simple things like 'going out with her friends, talking to boys and wearing a lipstick' without any parental fear.

Meanwhile, Murad ocassionally takes to scribbling few lines when his angst and emotions need to be set free. Soon, his potential is discovered by a rapper Emcee Sher (Siddhant Chaturvedi) who advises him, "Tere andar ka lava phat ke bahar aane de." When Murad meekly expresses his doubt over his rapping in front of public, he tells him, "Agar duniya mein sab comfortable hote toh rap kaun karta?"

As time passes by, Murad explores the 'cheer phad' rapper in him with the help of Sher and a Berkeley music student Sky (Kalki Koechlin) and becomes 'Gully Boy'. But like one of the songs in Gully Boy puts it up, 'Jeevan jeevan dariya dariya, ek jo paar karo doosra dariya mile.'

With Gully Boy, Zoya Akhtar has a winner in her hand. Her deft direction sails this boat smoothly and makes it an enjoyable ride with an universal appeal. The filmmaker who is known for her elite, urban stories dares to explore the other side this time and doesn't disappoint.

On the flip side, Gully Boy stretches a tad bit at places but that does no major harm to the film. Also, Murad's track with Sky doesn't add much flesh to the story.

Speaking about the performances, Ranveer Singh's stellar act will make you say, 'bhai, tere jaisa koi hardich nahi hai'. As Murad, he aces every single emotion and leaves you rooting and cheering.

'Chalte chalte kahin ek mod aata hai, seedhe raaste se bilkul alag, Koi deewana hi hota hain jo udhar jaata'. Ranveer plays that deewana who refuses to let the outer world define his identify. Just like his reel self, the actor has been ambitious and rebellious when it comes to his choice of films in recent times and that has worked highly in his favour.

Alia Bhatt perfectly complements Ranveer in Gully Boy. You won't be able to shake off her explosive performance and terrific punchlines from your head. This girl is a complete revelation in every frame.

Sidhant Chaturvedi is the discovery of this year. He's a Sher who roars loudly with a confident debut and at times, even steals the scene from Singh.

The supporting actors- Vijay Varma, Kalki Koechlin, Amruta Subhash, Vijay Raaz , Vijay Maurya put up a good show.

Jay Oza's len's perfectly captures the Mumbai ghettos on screen and breathes life in them. Nitin Baid's editing is crisp .

In Gully Boy, the music and lyrics play a major character and lends layers to Zoya Akhtar's narratives. Ranveer was born to rap and this film is a proof.

'Kaun Bola, Mujhse Na Ho Payega?' For those who fear to pursue their dreams, Ranveer Singh & Co. in Gully Boy are an inspiration to make their hearts whisper, 'Apna time aayenga!' I am going with 4 stars.Ananya Pandey's Ravishing Attire At Punit Malhotra's Valentine's Day Party

Ananya Pandey looked absolutely ravishing at Punit Malhotra's Valentine's Day house party on Thursday night. She donned a hot cut out little black dress as she posed for pictures at the party.

Tara Sutaria's All White Ensemble

Tara Sutaria attended Punit Malhotra's Valentine's Day house party in an all white ensemble. She looked stunning in a white shimmering crop top teamed with white palazzos and a white blazer. Ananya and Tara will both be making their big Bollywood debut with Student of the Year 2.

Kartik Aaryan Posed For Pictures

Kartik Aaryan made it to Punit Malhotra's Valentine's Day house party. He sported a casual look in a dark sweater and black jeans. Earlier in the day, Kartik was seen promoting his upcoming movie Luka Chuppi. He will be starring alongside Kriti Sanon in the movie which is set to release on March 1st.

Aditi Rao Hydari & Diana Penty Pose Together

Aditi Rao Hydari and Diana Penty posed for pictures together at Punit Malhotra's house party on Thursday night. Aditi sported a minimal make up look and looked pretty in a khaki green dress with a matching blazer teamed with sneakers, while Diana looked pretty in a navy blue dress and red pumps.

Badshah Brings The Swag To The Party

Rapper Badshah was also present at Punit Malhotra's Valentine's Day party at his house on Thursday night. He looked cool in a black tee and a black jacket teamed with black sweatpants and white sneakers.

Pooja Hegde Also Attended The Party

Pooja Hegde also made it to Punit Malhotra's house party on Valentine's Day. She looked pretty in a black dress with lace detailing, and her hair tied up in a pony tail.

Sophie Choudry's Little Black Dress

Sophie Choudry too sported the little black dress look to Punit Malhotra's Valentine's Day house party on Thursday night.First Love

In a Filmfare interview, her sister Madhur recalled, "Apa first fell in love with Premnath. The relationship lasted six months. It broke on grounds of religion. He asked her to convert and she refused."

Her Love Story With Dilip Kumar

"She met Bhaijan (Dilip Kumar) on the sets of Tarana. They later worked in Sangdil, Amar and Mughal-e-Azam. It was a nine year long affair. They even got engaged."

Shammi Kapoor was quoted as saying in an interview, "Dilip Kumar would drive down from Bombay to meet Madhubala... he even flew to Bombay to spend Eid with her, taking time off from his shooting stint."

Star-Crossed

"The breakup with Dilip Kumar happened due to the court case during Naya Daur in the mid '50s. The unit was to shoot somewhere in Gwalior. During the shooting of another film Jabeen Jaleel, at the same location, a mob had attacked the women and even torn their clothes off.

My father was wary and just asked that the locale be changed. It's not that he didn't let her go outdoors. Apa had shot in Mahableshwar, Hyderabad and other places before. Bhaijan (Dilip Kumar) called my father a dictator' in court and sided with the Chopras (late BR Chopra was the director).

Darare padh gayee, rishtey toot gaye (relationships were broken).We love and respect Bhaijan but I have just one question, Aapki mohabbat yahan thi, aapki chahat yahan thi, phir aapne aisa kyun kiya (why didn't you side with your love)?' Bhaijan could've simply said let's change the location. Or remained neutral.

Apa used to cry a lot those days. They had conversations on the phone trying to patch up. He kept saying, Leave your father and I'll marry you'. She'd say, I'll marry you but just come home, say sorry and hug him'. It was zid (ego) which destroyed their love," said Madhubala's sister.

Madhubala Got Involved With Kishore Kumar On A Rebound

Madhur recalled, "What attracted her to Kishore? Maybe it was his singing or maybe his ability to make her laugh. Their love affair went on for three years through Chalti Ka Naam Gadi and Half Ticket. They got married in 1960, when she was 27.

After marriage they flew to London where the doctor told her she had only two years to live. After that Kishore left her at our house saying, I can't look after her. I'm on outdoors often'.

But she wanted to be with him. He'd visit her once in two months though. Maybe he wanted to detach himself from her so that the final separation wouldn't hurt.

But he never abused her as was reported. He bore her medical expenses. They remained married for nine years."

Madhubala Was Diagnosed With Ventricular Septal Defect

"While shooting for Mughal-e-Azam she was tied with chains and had to walk around with them. That was stressful. By the end of the day her hands would turn blue.

She'd even refuse food saying that she had to look anguished and weary for the jail scenes.

The feather scene' between her and Bhaijan (considered the most romantic in Hindi cinema) was shot after the breakup."

The Indian Cinema Lost A Shining Star

"Due to her ailment, her body would produce extra blood. So it would spill out from the nose and mouth.

The doctor would come home and extract bottles of blood. She also suffered from pulmonary pressure of the lungs. She coughed all the time. Every four to five hours she had to be given oxygen or else would get breathless.

She was confined to bed for nine years and was reduced to just bones and skin. She'd keep crying, Mujhe zinda rehna hai, mujhe marna nahin hai, doctor kab ilaaj nikalenge. Finally she left for heavenly abode on February 23, 1969 at the age of 30.Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release

SubCategory Select Sub-CategoryLondon has declared to ensure Europes safety  even after leaving the European Union. In exchange Great Britain should demand higher defence expenditure of the EU-member states. A guests contribution.

The British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth arrives on 19 October 2018 in the port of New York. Bild: dpa

Trident Juncture, an exercise that took place in autumn last year in Norway, demonstrated Nato's commitment to Europes security. With a combined military strength of around 50,000 troops, 250 aircraft, 65 ships and 10,000 vehicles, drawn from 30 nations, it was the largest display of Western power in Europe since the end of the Cold War. It underlined the Prime Ministers commitment when she addressed last years Munich Security Conference, making clear that Europes security is our security and the United Kingdom is unconditionally committed to maintaining it.

Even as the UK forges a new path as we leave the European Union, British lawmakers like me remain committed to maintaining peace across the European continent and we will continue to support our European allies through Nato.

Against a backdrop of continued threats from Islamic jihad and terrorism, Russian aggression and rogue states becoming more bellicose, the defensive response from European and Nato partners has been as united as it has been strong. For instance, when Russian agents attempted an assassination on British soil using a chemical agent, the condemnation was swift across European capitals.

Our joint approach on defence shows how far we have come since the St Malo Declaration 20 years ago. The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) that grew from that Anglo-French summit has had notable achievements in improving our regional security. Operation Atalanta off the Horn of Africa has meant cargo ships can now enter the Suez without fear of attack from Somali pirates. Operation Sophia has turned the tide in the fight against people smugglers off the North African coast. Operation Althea has helped maintain peace in Bosnia during the countrys recovery from conflict. All these operations saw the British Armed Forces deployed side-by-side with European allies.

With our strategic overseas bases, a naval strength only further enhanced by two new aircraft carriers and an extensive intelligence network, Britain will remain a top tier, global military power and a willing and invaluable partner to our European neighbours after Brexit.

Mehr zum Thema 1/

Thats why the British Government has signalled our intent to continue as a CSDP partner, with a desire to go further than just being a third-party participant such as Norway, Switzerland or Turkey. Where its in the UKs interest, we will be involved proportionately in operational planning for CSDP missions and the development of each missions mandate, the legal basis upon which action is taken. This is all part of our post-Brexit desire to remain active in ensuring our regional security.

But while the CSDP has had notable achievements, mostly in policing the wider-Mediterranean, it does not offer the same protection as Nato. As Trident Juncture demonstrated, the combined military strength of Nato still makes it the pre-eminent global defence organisation. Nothing else supersedes its ability to protect our citizens. For the last 70 years, even through the darkest days of the Cold War, Natos founding principles, especially Article 5, have offered every allied state full collective protection.

Juncker`s pooling is the wrong approach

Europe must not allow Brexit to become a rallying force for an alternative organisation that could weaken Natos influence. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has been open in his desire for a European Defence Union to allow Member States to begin pooling defence capacities in Europe. This is the wrong approach. Pooling resources could mean more nations fall further behind the Nato two per cent of GDP defence spending target. With only Poland, Greece and Estonia joining the UK as EU nations meeting this commitment, more needs to be invested from our nearest neighbours on defence.

In a world growing more uncertain, we need to renew our faith in Nato. As the Joint Declaration at the 2016 EU-Nato Warsaw Summit emphasised, a stronger Nato and a stronger EU are mutually reinforcing. We need to place our faith in the time-tested trans-Atlantic alliance that our enemies would like to see eroded. As Britain looks ahead, we can now take a far more global approach when it comes to defence and security policy, reaffirming old alliances with Australia, New Zealand and Japan in the Pacific, working to improving democracy and human rights around the world, and using our extensive diplomatic network protect Western values. Our Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt rightly sees the UK acting as an invisible chain binding together nations that share our values of peace, prosperity and security.

Yet this cannot be done alone. Nato will remain at the heart of our approach when it comes to keeping our citizens and interests safe. As the UK leaves the EU, we want to continue our close co-operation with our European partners, but this must be in the context of increasing national defence budgets to ensure our collective contribution to Nato remains robust in the face of new and growing threats to the rules-based international order.

Zur deutschen Version geht es hier.Gov. Jim Justice, somewhat belatedly, has come around to admit that the states vaccination effort has hit a wall and that, at its current pace, we will not reach herd immunity anytime soon.The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike.

We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve.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.Farmers reminded of 'super deduction' capital allowance

The new deduction and how it works in practiceA senior US meat lobbyist has told the Trump administration that the UK must adopt US food producing standards if it wants to secure a trade deal post-Brexit.

Craig Thorn, Chairman of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), a group which represents American pig farmers, told a public hearing on 29 January that the UK must align with US food production standards.

The NPPC said it shares the Trump's administration's view that trade negotiations with the UK offer a 'historic opportunity' to achieve 'free and fair trade' between the United States and 'one of its closest allies'.

However, if the UK agrees to remain part of the EU customs union or to maintain regulatory harmonisation with Europe, it will be 'difficult or impossible' to achieve any agreement.

Mr Thorn said the UK must be willing to drop high tariffs and adopt a 'science-based approach' to sanitary and phytosanitary regulation based on US standards.

For example, the EU currently bans the import of pork produced with ractopamine, a feed additive that is widely used by US pork producers.

But Mr Thorn told the meeting: "This restriction is not science-based. In fact, the Codex Alimentarius Commission has declared the substance to be safe and has established a residue standard.

"The EU requires the US to conduct trichinae risk mitigation such as testing or freezing. According to the USDA's Plant and Animal Health Inspection Service, the risk of trichinae in US commercial pig herd is negligible because of biosecurity protocols and modern production systems which ensure a high level of safety."

OK i know it's quite dry but here's a top US meat lobbyist telling the Trump admin what the industry wants from a Brexit trade deal (end EU rules on hormones, chlorine, antibiotics etc) pic.twitter.com/HVa81HYsCD  Zach Boren (@zdboren) February 12, 2019

The UK, as part of the EU, currently enjoys some of the highest standards for farm animal welfare in the world, but Mr Thorn criticised the EU for not 'recognising' US systems within the food chain.

He added: "In contrast to most US trading partners, the EU does not recognise the US meat inspection system as offering a level of safety equivalent to its own system. There is no scientific justification for imposing additional inspection requirements."

It follows news of the International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox explaining how it is 'categorically untrue' that UK food and farming standards will be lowered as it leaves the EU.

In the US, the government permits such practices as chlorinated chicken, which consists of dipping meat into chlorinated water to prevent microbial contamination.

But this practice is banned in the EU, which fears the practice could actually worsen safety standards.

Indeed, a report has warned of the potential increase in cheaper, lower standard food imports to the UK which could put British farmers at a competitive disadvantage.

While UK government ministers have insisted that they will protect British agricultural standards in trade negotiations, US president Donald Trump's commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, has also said that any post-Brexit deal with Washington would hinge on the UK scrapping the kind of standards operated under membership of the EU.Three farmers have helped replace a teenage boy's flock of sheep after livestock rustlers stole them last month.

Fifteen year old Jack Sinott had 22 sheep stolen on 8 February, along with 120 sheep belonging to farmer John Lightfoot.

The incident happened Rossett, near Wrexham in North Wales on 28 January, with the police calling it the single biggest theft in its five years of operating.

Jack bought his flock with pocket money saved up after he worked on his grandfather's farm.

After hearing the news, three farmers have now helped the teenager, giving him a total of 10 black Welsh mountain ewes.

Jack told the BBC that he feels 'really happy' that farmers help other farmers in need.

I've seen the good and bad this last week - by people taking things and then other people being really generous and letting me have new sheep to help me, he said.

It makes me feel really happy and I'm just glad there are nice people out there who are willing to help.

One farmer who donated three ewes, Pip Samuel, said he wanted to give Jack a 'little bit to help and get him to start up again.'Local farmers ability to sell biomass to a paperboard mill in Cumbria will return over 1.5m annually to the local agricultural industry.

The initiative, by Swedish paperboard company Iggesund Paperboard, has created a new source of income for nearly 200 farms in Cumbria and Scotland.

In 2013, the organisation invested in a biomass-fired combined heat and power plant for the primary purpose of being able to run its paperboard mill on renewable energy.

The mill switched its energy supply from fossil natural gas to biomass, and thereby reduced its fossil carbon dioxide emissions by 190,000 tonnes a year, the equivalent to the annual emissions of about 65,000 cars.

Local farmers were also offered the opportunity to grow and sell energy crops to Iggesund.

Neil Watkins, Alternative Fuels Manager at Iggesund in the Workington, Cumbria mill, said many farmers were 'sceptical' at first.

But gradually, as they saw our commitment and our calculations for how they could earn more from their less-fertile land, more and more of them have joined our project, he said.

The goal was to bring in 25,000 tonnes of biomass from the farming industry. After five years, the goal will be exceeded when all the contracted crops are ready to harvest.

When the project began, Defra had made recommendations that parts of Cumbria have land highly suitable for energy crops.

And as the project developed, the crops also helped to counteract the effects of flooding and lead to greater biodiversity.

Yet another advantage of energy crops  in our case Short Rotation Coppice willow  is that they give a good yield on less fertile land and do not lay claim to land that is better suited to food production, Mr Watkins added.The body of a man has been found in a river close to where a search was carried out for a farmer who has been missing for nine months.

William 'Bill' Taylor was last seen at his home in Gosmore on Sunday, June 3 at around 9pm  shortly before his 70th birthday.

He was reported missing to police the following day (Monday, June 4). His body has never been found.

Since then extensive enquiries and searches have been carried out in the effort to locate him.

Police scoured an area within a 1.7km (1.05 mile) radius of Mr Taylor's farm in July.

But Hertfordshire police were called to the River Hiz on Sunday (10 February), close to an area searched by police in September.

The body, found by a member of public, has not yet been formally identified.

Mr Taylor's ex-wife and her partner have pleaded not guilty to his murder.

They are due to appear before St Albans Crown Court in April.The owner of a black Labrador that savaged a sheep in Sussex has made herself known to police and will compensate the farmer.

Police released a disturbing image of a dog attacking a sheep near Horsham in a bid to find the owner of the animal.

The dog was photographed attacking the sheep in a field at Morris Farm, Old Holbrook, on January 16.

However, the sheep that it attacked was so severely injured that it had to be put down.

Following an appeal for information, the owner of the dog came forward and the matter is now being dealt with by community resolution with the farmer being compensated for the loss of their livestock.

Sergeant Tom Carter, rural and wildlife crime lead for Sussex Police, said: The owner of this dog has done the right thing in coming forward and the farmer will be compensated for the loss of their sheep.

However, you cant compensate for the distress that this has caused and the potential effects that it may have on the rest of the flock, who are pregnant, and I would urge other dog owners to learn from this incident. Your docile family pet can turn vicious killer in the blink of an eye.

He added: By all means, enjoy the countryside with your dog, but please do not allow them off the lead anywhere near livestock and dont assume that just because you cant see them, sheep or other farm animals wont be nearby, but just out of your view. Your dog will almost certainly know they're there.

Livestock worrying is a serious crime, with 2019 already witnessing numerous cases with sentences successfully handed out.

John Coughlan, 55, from Hertfordshire, was given a 12 month community order and ordered to pay out nearly 1,000 last week after his dog killed at least 13 sheep.

Steve Young, 43, from West Yorkshire, was ordered to pay more than 800 in compensation after his puppy attacked a flock of sheep, killing four lambs.

And last year, a man was ordered to pay over 2100 after being found guilty of worrying livestock with his out-of-control dogs.Westminster has been told by the SNP-led Scottish government to compensate farmers in the event of a 'no deal' Brexit.

Rural Economy Secretary, Fergus Ewing said leaving the EU with 'no deal' is 'by far the biggest threat' to Scottish farming.

Evidence indicates that Scotlands farmers would be worse off under every scenario when compared to the current trade arrangements, with some or all producers facing lower returns.

Sheep farmers are particularly at risk, with UK sheepmeat exports worth 390m each year, ad with nearly 90% of this destined for EU, the prospect of tariffs as high as 45-50% being imposed on these exports would be 'devastating', according to the Scottish government.

Mr Ewing said: There is a range of independent research highlighting that under all possible scenarios, failure to replicate the current trade arrangements with the EU will have a detrimental impact on farmers, with our sheep sector under particular threat.

UK sheep meat exports could suffer considerably if tariffs come into play. Carcasses make up an important part of what the UK exports to the EU and could potentially be facing tariffs as high as 45-50% of the price of the meat, which would be a blow to our price competitiveness on the export market.

The fact remains that if the UK is unable to competitively supply sheep meat to the EU from the end of March 2019, theres no other outlet that could come close, where volume is concerned, at least in the near-term, he said.

The Scottish government said failure to compensate farmers in the event of 'no deal' would increase the risk of businesses going under, reduce net profitability across sectors and lead to 'widespread land abandonment'.COLUMBUS  The Ohio Power Siting Board will hold a hearing for the public to express their views about Hardin Solar Energy II LLCs proposal to construct the second phase of a solar-powered electric generation facility in Hardin County.

The local public hearing is scheduled for March 14, at 6 p.m., at Kenton High School cafeteria, 200 Harding Ave., Kenton. The proposed project would consist of multiple arrays of solar photovoltaic panels with a combined generating capacity of up to 170 megawatts (MW).

Location

The proposed facility would be located on approximately 3,297 acres of leased land in Marion, McDonald and Roundhead townships. Hardin Solar Energy II, an affiliate of Invenergy Solar Development North America LLC, proposes to interconnect the facility to the electric transmission grid via the 345 kilovolt Hardin Switch substation, which is located within the project area.

The proposed solar facility would be the second phase of the overall Hardin Solar Energy Center. The first 150 MW phase of the project was approved by the OPSB on Feb. 15, 2018, and awaits construction.

The adjudicatory hearing in the Hardin Solar Energy II proceeding will begin at 10 a.m. March 28, at the offices of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Hearing Room 11-D, 180 E. Broad St., Columbus, Ohio 43215.

The purpose of the adjudicatory hearing is to allow formal parties to the case to present pre-filed testimony and evidence, and to cross-examine other parties witnesses. Additional information regarding the Hardin Solar Energy II project is available on the OPSB website at www.OPSB.ohio.gov in case number 18-1360-EL-BGN.NEW LEXINGTON, Ohio  Although they wont quite get to see the finished product, a group of seniors in the agricultural education program at New Lexington High School say their work has already benefited them, and will benefit many future students.

The group has been hard at work building their own FFA farm  a property located a mile away from the high school in southeastern Ohios Perry County  where crops are raised and livestock will soon be kept. The project is in its third year, and this years graduating class is the first to complete actual crop production at the farm, along with some facility improvement projects, including newly constructed pasture fence.

The students planted their first crop at the farm in May 2018. They planted four acres of corn, including 12 varieties, so they could make performance and yield comparisons. Next year, they hope to plant 8-10 acres of both corn and soybeans, and make additional improvements to a four-acre pasture connected to an old barn.

Making progress

Over winter, students have been working to remove old fence around the barn, and install new wooden fence posts and wire. They also have plans to have the barn professionally repaired, with some new wooden siding, concrete work, and new paint on the walls and roof.

New_Lex_FFA_farm deep < > < > 1 View New_Lex_FFA_farm deep 2 View New Lex combining side Combine in action during harvest. 3 View New Lex planting Filling the planter, in preparation for corn planting. 4 View Planter New Lexington FFA members with the corn planter. 5 View New Lex potatoes The plot where potatoes were grown by middle school students. 6 View Sign New Lexington FFA School Farm.

The new fence has been a time-consuming project, given the challenging weather Ohio has faced since the fall and through the winter. One of the students, Dalton Thomas, is part of a family fencing business with his father, and his father has lent fencing equipment and support.

Students have installed several dozen new, treated fence posts, lining the perimeter of the pasture, and the fencing wire will soon follow. They also plan to build a holding pen near the barn, for loading and unloading of animals, and for special events, like livestock judging practice.

Planning ahead

Although students are doing the project for a learning experience, theyre also focusing on quality and longevity, explained Thomas.

Were trying to make it last as long as we can, he said.

The farm is owned by the county, and was once managed by the county home. The high school has been granted a 20-year lease, with another farmer who currently manages the rest of the tillable acres, about 60 acres altogether.

The initial farm improvements were made possible, in part, by a $200,000 governmental grant.

Learn more about the school and FFA program here.

The advisers are still considering the overall business model of the farm. While they like the idea of generating a profit to cover expenses, they said it also make sense that some projects will not be profitable, because they may be geared toward research or educational value.

The farm has been widely supported by school administration and the superintendent. The official name is the New Appalachian Farmstead Learning Center  also known as the New Lexington FFA Farm.

John Lindsey, one of three FFA advisers at the high school, said its a great opportunity for students to learn while doing. He said he cant imagine teaching agricultural production without using real-world examples, and that the school farm provides a tangible, hands-on learning experience.

Farm lessons

So far, Lindsey has donated the use of his own farm equipment, including planting and harvest equipment, and Becks Hybrids donated the corn seed. The small acreage doesnt really justify the school owning its own fleet of farm equipment, Lindsey explained.

He said students took turns planting and harvesting last years crop, and actually trained each other on proper equipment operation. Most of the students who work at the farm have an ag background, but they say theyre learning new things along the way.

Senior Brooke Wiseman said the farm helps to teach responsibility and leadership skills, to both farm and non-farm students.

I just think its a learning experience all the way around, she said.

Wiseman said students helped plan the farm layout in one of their capstone classes, in which instructor Heather Foster helped them envision where different farm features might be placed.

Multiple uses

The students and advisers are hoping the farms close proximity to the Perry County Fairgrounds  literally just across the street  might lend the farm to housing some fair projects for students who may not have a place to keep an animal.

The New Lexington FFA is one of the biggest in the state, with 357 high school and middle school students enrolled this year. More than half the student body at the high school is enrolled in the program.

The middle school is also involved at the farm, and last year planted and harvested a crop of potatoes. According to Lindsey, the chapter has the potential to expand and grow at the farm, and there are also untillable wooded plots, which serve as an area to study plants and wildlife.

Outdoor education

Adviser Adam Finck is looking to possibly start an orchard at the farm, to assist with lessons related to different species of trees. The property also has its own pond, and the group is considering adding educational kiosks in the future, to help farm visitors understand what is happening at each station.

It should continue to get better year after year, as more things are implemented and the livestock end of things grows and the crop acres continue to grow, Finck said.

The farm is also situated next to the Hocking College Perry Campus, which offers ag students the opportunity to earn certain dual credits.

Senior Logan Emmert said there will still be opportunities to see the farm as alumni, with the improvements that future students will make.

Weve done a lot of work down there and were leaving as seniors, not getting to see it fully functioning yet, but its still been a learning experience with us all, he said.LANCASTER, Pa.  One hundred family farmers and ranchers attended the Pennsylvania Farmers Union Convention Feb. 6, celebrating the organizations success on the federal farm bill and in-state policy priorities.

PFU delegates also participated in the organizations unique, grassroots policy-setting process, and ultimately adopted the organizations policy book and special orders of business to help guide the organization through the next year.

Were encouraged by the strong turnout at our convention this year, as it demonstrates the importance of our work and the enthusiasm farmers in our state have for bettering the state and the country, said PFU President Heidi Secord. As a voice for Pennsylvanias farm families, our policy adoption process is the heart of our work. It guides our work as an organization, and ultimately influences what National Farmers Union brings to the table in Washington, D.C.

Two conventions

The Convention took place on Feb. 6 at the Lancaster County Convention Center, in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) Winter Conference. The convention highlighted a presentation by a dairy panel made up of progressive Pennsylvania Dairy farmers.

Sarah Lloyd, a dairy farmer and director of special projects for the Wisconsin Farmers Union, moderated the session. The panel focused on resilient dairy farmers and diverse markets.

It is very powerful to be able to hear from farmers from other states, said Sarah Lloyd. Pennsylvania has great examples of farmers that are finding new ways to connect with consumers and get a better price for their products. We have lots to learn from each other on how we can build markets that actually work for family farmers.

The convention also featured a farm-to-table meal, provided by PFU members. Convention attendees heard remarks from Heidi Secord, Pa. state president, Abby Ferris, membership director at NFU, Rob Larew, senior vice president of public policy and Communications, and Colin ONeil, legislative director for the Environmental Working Group.

Priority issues

Policy priorities included medical and recreational cannabis. PFU supports creation of a regulated and fair marketplace for medical and recreational cannabis, and opposes a pay to play system, which disadvantages small family farms and farmers.

Additional specifics were debated and approved. PFU supports the passage of legislation, policies, regulations, and guidance at the state level that would protect farms engaging in agritourism activities as a diversified income stream related to their farming activities.BRATTLEBORO, Vt.  Registration is open for the Holstein Association USA 2019 Judges Conference, March 28, in Columbus, Ohio, in conjunction with the Mid-East Spring National Holstein Show.

The conference includes judging classes and classroom sessions.

Individuals who plan to apply for the Holstein Association USA judges list must first attend and receive a satisfactory rating at a Holstein Association USA Judges Conference.

Current judges must attend and receive a satisfactory rating at a Holstein conference every five years.

The one-day conference will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

To register, visit www.holsteinusa.com/shows/judges_preregister.html. The pre-registration fee of $50 is available until March 14. Late registrants and walk-ins will pay $100. Attendees must be 22 by the conference.

Hotel accommodations can be made at the Candlewood Suites Polaris, Columbus, at 614-436-6600 with the Holstein association until March 8.

For details, contact Jodi Hoynoski at 800-952-5200, ext. 4261, or by email at jhoynoski@holstein.com.KANSAS CITY, Kan.  Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), along with eight New York-area farm families, recently launched a new cheese brand, Craigs Creamery, which provides a direct connection to the farm.

The creamery believes the purity and freshness of its milk is critical to producing a higher-quality cheese.

One of the farms features a biodigester that powers the creamery  it is the only digester in the United States that fuels an onsite plant.

The digester is powered by animal waste, which also is used to fertilize the fields, and expired food from the local community.

In the past five years, it has upcycled nearly 20 million pounds of food scraps.

Craigs Creamery cheese products can be found at Giant Landover, Stop & Shop and ShopRite stores.The President of the United States should not be the only federal official required to offer the nations citizens an annual report on the State of the Union. Every senior department executive  from Cabinet secretaries and the Pentagon chiefs to the Senates majority leader and the House speaker  should be required to examine their integral part of the worlds oldest living democracy to tell us, its owner-operators, what they are doing to keep it running while preparing to meet the challenges we are certain to encounter.

Too much work? Nonsense. Too time-consuming? Baloney. Every publicly held corporation (and most private ones, too) report to their shareholders quarterly.

In fact, as a nation, we believe business accountability to be so important that we have codified it into law and fund an extensive legal framework to enforce it.

More locally, nearly every tax-collecting body from the library board to the school board includes agenda time for public comments and questions at every meeting to ensure taxpayers and elected officials alike understand how the publics trust and money are being used.

Start at USDA

A good place to institute this annual, federal requirement would be what its founder, Abraham Lincoln, called The Peoples Department, or the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

While USDA does, in fact, publish an annual Agency Financial Report, last years 288-page document is a technocrats tome, a detailed account of mandated work  from crop insurance costs to county office software installation  and, surprisingly often, a long list of USDAs failures to do its work on time, on budget, or even according to the law.

Its thick with bureaucratic flourishes that even the most pocket-protected policy geek would have difficulty interpreting. (What do you think Continued integration of the Continuous Centralized configuration management monitoring by leveraging CDM Phase 1 tools means?)

Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, a veterinarian by training and politician by choice, did sign the report, but his contribution is just the opening page-and-a-half Message wherein he says the department should be fact-based and make data-driven, customer-focused decisions.

But Perdues implementation of this vision has often missed his self-described mark. For example, one of his first administrative actions moved the freestanding Office of Undersecretary for Rural Development into his suit jacket pocket.

Congress quickly rebuked the move and, in fact, used the 2018 farm bill to reinstate the office.

Also, Perdue continues to fuel a similar reorganization fight over moving USDAs research branch, the Economic Research Service, and its scientific arm, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, out of Washington, D.C. to somewhere closer to our customers.

No one in either USDA or Congress asked for the move and, to date, Perdue has yet to offer a believable fact-based, data-driven cost-benefit analysis to show its need.

Again, Congress strongly rebuked him on the idea and the new Democratically-controlled House Ag Committee has promised a deep dive  think deep six  into the idea.

In the meantime, the customers Perdue so often invokes when speaking about USDAs mission still await action by the White House on when its ever-hardening, market-squeezing U.S. tariffs with China, the European Union, Canada, and Mexico will be removed as the U.S. farm income picture continues to darken.

And thats just the current state of the American farm and food union. Who at USDA or in Congress is even looking out just five or 10 years to measure how onrushing, sector-rattling factors like climate change, artificial intelligence, and regional trade deals that exclude U.S. farmers will affect those same customers, their families, and rural America?

Even more importantly, how will these  and other  unexamined-but-coming-like-a-freight-train changes impact food availability, environmental sustainability, consumer choice, and food costs?

The best answer this climate change-denying, tariff-imposing, carbon-fueled Administration can offer is, We dont know.

Its also the worst answer for its customers, you, and me.Fairfield, MT (59436)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low around 50F. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low around 50F. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.KAZ Minerals PLC, together with its subsidiaries, engages in mining and processing copper and other metals primarily in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Kyrgyzstan. It operates through Bozshakol, Aktogay, East Region and Bozymchak, and Mining Projects segments. The company operates the Aktogay and Bozshakol open pit copper mines in the east region and Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan; three underground mines in the east region of Kazakhstan; and the Bozymchak copper-gold mine in Kyrgyzstan. It also develops greenfield metal deposits; operates Koksay deposit in Kazakhstan, and the Baimskaya licence area in the Chukotka region of Russia; and produces and sells various by-products, such as gold, silver, molybdenum, and zinc. In addition, the company supplies and distributes heat, water, and electricity; and offers construction, project management, financing, management, sales and logistics, and repairs and maintenance services. The company was formerly known as Kazakhmys PLC and changed its name to KAZ Minerals PLC in October 2014. KAZ Minerals PLC was founded in 1930 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreComment Policy Calaveras Enterprise does not actively monitor comments. However, staff does read through to assess reader interest. When abusive or foul language is used or directed toward other commenters, those comments will be deleted. If a commenter continues to use such language, that person will be blocked from commenting. We wish to foster a community of communication and a sharing of ideas, and we truly value readers' input.Ciner Resources LP, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the trona ore mining and soda ash production businesses in the United States and internationally. It processes trona ore into soda ash, which is a raw material in flat glass, container glass, detergents, chemicals, paper, and other consumer and industrial products. The company holds approximately 23,500 acres of leased and licensed subsurface mining areas in the Green River Basin of Wyoming. As of December 31, 2020, it had proven and probable reserves of approximately 208.2 million short tons of trona. Ciner Resource Partners LLC serves as the general partner of the company. The company was formerly known as OCI Resources LP and changed its name to Ciner Resources LP in November 2015. Ciner Resources LP was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Ciner Resources LP is a subsidiary of Ciner Wyoming Holding Co.

Read MoreMayor Curt Leng is starting his own inquiry into Hamden election procedures after Hearst Connecticut Media revealed that voters on a section of Paradise Avenue were issued the wrong ballots in state elections from 2012 to 2018.

Certainly, I would like all eligible persons to be able to exercise their right to vote, Leng said in a written statement Wednesday. I am reviewing these issues with the Towns legal advisers, Registrars Office, and State of Connecticut to determine what, if any, resolutions must occur to ensure all eligible voters are effectively processed and accounted for in Hamden.

For up-to-date information on public policy issues, sign up for the CT Politics newsletter.

Between 2012 and 2018, according voters at about 25 addresses along a one-mile section of Paradise Avenue received ballots in the 11th Senate District, when in fact state maps place their street in the 17th Senate District.

Emails obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media show the Secretary of the States office working out the problem with a local registrar this winter after voters notified a candidate of the error. But the affected voters have yet to be officially notified of the error.

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said Tuesday she will send a complaint to the State Elections Enforcement Commission regarding the botched ballots, requesting an investigation.

Frank LaDore, chairman of the Hamden Republican Town Committee, said Wednesday he believes Paradise Avenue residents should be notified. He suggested a posted sign in their polling place in the next election. But he said he was not worried about widespread election mistakes in Hamden.

More for you News Election glitch uncovers long-standing error in Hamden

Our goal is to have honest and accurate elections, and now that it has been detected, I am confident that our registrar will make the necessary corrections for elections going forward, LaDore said.

The error was caused by a mistake in the street list created years ago by the Hamden Registrars of Voters office. Poll workers use the street list on Election Day to distribute ballots.

The mistake denied Paradise Avenue voters the opportunity to vote for the candidates who would represent them.

Hamden Republican Registrar Anthony Esposito said the error was corrected, after it was brought to his attention by Secretary of the State officials in mid-January. Leng did not respond to questions about when he first learned of this issue.

Obviously a mistake was made somewhere, said Lou Panzo, chair of the Hamden Democratic Town Committee. You can learn from errors that are made and this is a good example.

Staff Writer Ben Lambert contributed to this report.

emunson@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @emiliemunsonSTAMFORD  The boom in apartment building has grabbed the citys attention in recent years, but another boom  tied to the thousands of units erected has quietly occurred.

Its self-storage boom, showcased by a recent rush to build and expand facilities city-wide. One recently opened in the Cove neighborhood as another rises in Waterside. West Side builders, meanwhile, won approvals for yet another self-storage facility project to take shape. Another facility in the neighborhood expanded by 60,000 square feet.

According to city tax and Zoning Board records, more than 200,000 square feet of self-storage space has been built or approved in recent years.

To give you an idea of how much space that is, its equal to a little over three quarters of the square feet in the 10-story Government Center.

Small units mean not a lot of storage space, said Land Use Bureau Chief Ralph Blessing. They need a place for their things.

And like the apartment developments, the bulk of the projects creating housing for peoples things has gone in neighborhoods lining Interstate 95. But, Blessing said, the Zoning Regulations keep the projects largely in manufacturing zones.

People go in the South End and downtown. Things go in manufacturing zones in the Cove, Waterside and the West Side.

In Waterside, a CubeSmart is rising on Fairfield Avenue, and another CubeSmart opened six weeks ago in the Cove. A West Side Westy Self Storage in 2016 added 60,000 square feet of storage space.

Land use attorney Lisa Feinberg, who pitched the Zoning Board on a recent West Side self-storage project at 11 Leon Place, said it will also be operated by CubeSmart.

Feinberg and her firm, Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey, also represent many of Stamfords housing builders.

Were approached quasi-regularly regarding opportunities for self-storage facilities in town, Feinberg said. It probably correlates to the strong apartment presence.

Feinbergs project, brought by Stamford-based limited liability company Empire Storage and its principals Anthony Kolich and Jamie Heffernan, calls for 470 storage units.

The parcels history, and what its owners wanted to do with the oddly shaped lot, showcase the connected trends and some of the reasons neighbors find self-storage attractive.

In 2017, the plan for the lot was to erect a multi-family housing project. That was met with neighbor opposition, primarily over congestion concerns.

Neighbors later backed the project once it became storage. The new facility was also one of the first shaped by the citys burgeoning urban design guidelines, making it more distinctive than a concrete block  it has mixed materials and windows.

The Land Use staff and boards recognize the need for this use in convenient locations, but hold these developers to a high standard when it comes to facade materials and landscaping, Feinberg said.

Self-storage facilities, unlike housing, generate little traffic, making them potentially attractive neighbors, Blessing said.

But the self-storage boom has some potential downsides, and has met backlash in nearby New York City, where Mayor Bill de Blasio successfully pushed efforts to curb self-storage sprawl.

Blessing said the land-use worry is that the storage facilities take up manufacturing land without bringing the jobs that manufacturing operations do.

barry.lytton@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2263; @bglyttonMONROE  Stephanie Gelman-Lippert considers herself lucky. She works from home, so the Elm Street resident has the luxury of putting her two sons, a kindergartner and a fourth-grader, on their school bus every morning, and greeting them when they get off in the afternoon.

But shes also witnessed a bad behavior that she says is getting way too common  drivers who pass school buses that have their stop signs up to allow students to safely enter and exit the bus.

Ive noticed a big increase in the number of cars that just are not stopping, Gelman-Lippert said. I think the first week of school alone I counted three cars that did it.

According to Connecticut State Police, state law makes mandatory that drivers stop for school buses that have their flashing red warning lights (and-or a stop sign) activated, whether they are approaching or following the school bus.

State police said fines for breaking this law start at $465 for a first offense.

Gelman-Lippert said that while bus passing isnt an epidemic, its common enough that shes worried for her sons. She said that if she sees a car coming down the road as her sons are about to cross the street to the bus stop, she makes them wait, even if the bus is stopped, with the appropriate warnings displayed.

I just dont trust people to stop, she said.

Tough to catch

Monroe Superintendent of Schools Jack Zamary said this is a problem that he and other school officials are aware of.

Its a concern, he said. How widespread a concern, I dont know. But people do it, and its unfortunate.

Elm Street, where Gelman-Lipperts stop is, is a particular concern, as its a highly traveled road, Zamary said.

However, it can be difficult to catch people breaking the law. Monroe Police Lt. Stephen Corrone said if police dont actually witness someone passing a bus with a stop sign and flashing lights, theres not much they can do, unless the bus driver involved gives them a report with the offending cars license plate number, the date and time of the incident and other information.

Usually, Corrone said, All Star Transportation, the bus route that serves Gelman-Lipperts neighborhood, reports these incidents directly to the Department of Motor Vehicles. But Gelman-Lippert said its asking a lot to ask bus drivers to take down all that information.

The bus drivers are too busy safely driving our kids to get license plate numbers, she said.

Gelman-Lippert said shes reported her concerns to police, and Corrone confirmed that there are patrols in the area. Gelman-Lippert has been looking into another avenue as well  mounting cameras on the buses that could record offending motorists.

She said she spoke with Zamary and was told that the cameras had been considered, but for now werent considered a practical solution because of limitations within state laws.

Camera complications

Zamary said hes spoken with school leaders in other districts, specifically Trumbull, that had used the cameras but abandoned doing so because state law restricts external bus video to just the license plate. The cameras cant record the faces of the motorists in the cars.

Zamary said Trumbull officials told him drivers have used this loophole to deny that they were driving a car during a bus passing incident, and have gotten out of tickets.

We continue to investigate this, and if somebody else can show us (the cameras are) effective, we might be more inclined to use them, Zamary said.

In meantime, Gelman-Lippert has been investigating how to change the state law to possibly allow for the recording of drivers, and not just license plates. She has been in discussions with State Rep. State Rep. J.P. Sredzinski, a Republican who represents Monroe and Newtown.

Sredzinski said there are some bills in the pipeline  including HB 6393, An Act Concerning School Bus Safety and Passenger and Pedestrian Safety  where the language could potentially be shifted to address some of Gelman-Lipperts concerns.

The original law limiting the filming to license plates was probably put in place due to privacy concerns, Sredzinski said. But its part of our job as legislators to balance public safety with privacy, he said.

And its safety thats Gelman-Lipperts biggest concern.

Its gotten to the point where Im really fed up with it, she said of the bus passing. Theyre not just breaking traffic laws. Theyre endangering our kids.HARTFORD  Proponents say legislators should get behind a bill that mandates health insurers cover immigrants living in Connecticut because the cost of such care is now being paid by all citizens.

The bill would prohibit certain health carriers from refusing to deliver, issue or renew health insurance policies based solely on immigration status.

Its simple and common sense legislation, said Sen. Matt Lesser, who co-chairs the Insurance and Real Estate Committee. Lesser made the comment at a press conference trumpeting the legislation shortly before the Insurance and Real Estate Committees public hearing began.

Right now if an immigrant has no insurance, the cost of the health care they receive is shifted on to everyone else, Lesser said.

Rep. Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, who is sponsoring the bill, said the legislation would actually lower the cost of health insurance because it would allow more people to purchase it.

We can lower the cost for every taxpayer (by passing the legislation), Lemar said. You and I are paying for the cost now  we are subsidizing the system.

Lemar said immigrants who are in need of health care still seek it and get it but it comes at an extraordinary cost.

Lesser said that legislators in support of the bill have been in discussion with officials from the Connecticut Insurance Department in an effort to craft a bill that would be acceptable to the industry.

Both Lemar and Lesser said they were also confident that the language of the bill would be limited enough in scope that it shouldnt violate any federal guidelines concerning immigration policies drafted by the Trump administration.

So far, the insurance industry is taking a wait-and-see approach to the legislation, despite assurances from proponents that there is nothing to worry about on the federal end.

It is not clear if there would be some violation of federal law if carriers could offer insurance to undocumented residents, Christine Cappiello, director of government relations for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Connecticut, said in written testimony.

We look forward to working with the committee on this proposal should it go forward, Cappiello added.

Susan Halpin, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Health Plans, said her members are studying the bill. She, like Cappiello, said the main concern is making sure that it complies with all federal and state laws.

Testifying in favor of the bill was Carlos Moreno, state director of the Connecticut Working Families Organization.

To deny the right to purchase or access health insurance to anyone based solely on immigration status is simply inhumane, Moreno said. More so, its bad economic policy for our state.

Moreno cited a study from the New American Economy which found there are almost 130,000 undocumented immigrants who contribute about $145 million in state and local taxes to Connecticut ever year.

Also testifying in favor was Alexander Rodriguez, a community organizer with the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters Chipsa program, which advocates for justice for communities of color and low income communities.

A 2015 study done by Washington State University, Rodriguez testified, showed that economically disadvantaged immigrant neighborhoods and non-English speaking Latinos are more exposed to cancer-causing air toxins than other racial groups in this country.

Thus, health care for immigrants, Rodriguez said, is essential.

Our immigrant communities need access to safe, accessible, and affordable healthcare, regardless of their status, Camila Bortolleto, Connecticut Students For A Dream campaign manager, said.

No person should be denied healthcare of face obstacles in obtaining the healthcare they need  especially not because of their immigration status, Bortolleto said. Our communities deserve the opportunity to be well, and to receive the proper care our bodies and minds need.

The idea isnt exactly breaking new ground.

In 2014, the legislature passed a law that allowed undocumented immigrants to earn drivers licenses. The stated goal then was to to get more of the states motorists registered and insured.Students whose school commutes force them to walk through or wait in violent neighborhoods are more likely to miss school, according to a new study.

Like many large districts, Baltimore has been struggling with both chronic absenteeism and student transportation problems for years, complicated by its open school enrollment . While elementary students are bussed by the district, middle and high schoolers receive vouchers for public transportation, and prior studies have found longer commutes are associated with higher absenteeism. But a new study in the journal Sociological Science suggests commute safety, not just total time, plays a role in whether students get to school.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University mapped the most efficient routes to and from school for 4,200 first-time 9th graders in Baltimore City public schools in 2014-15. Then they overlaid police data on the numbers of violent crimessuch as assaults, robberies, and murdersas well as non-violent crimes, like drug sales and property damage.

Only 8 percent of students lived within walking distance of their schools. Nearly 70 percent of students used public transportation to get to school, traveling a little more than a half hour on average each way. But a significant portion of students travelled an hour or more, with multiple transfers in which students had to wait or walk to a different stop to catch the new bus. As the chart below shows, several major transit hubs for students also had high rates of violent crime:

The researchers found that as violent crime increased in areas where students walked or waited for a bus, their attendance dropped. A doubling of the incidents of violent crime was associated with 6 percent higher student absenteeismroughly an additional day missed for each student per year. Julia Burdick-Will, lead author of the study, noted that because the number of individual crimes is relatively low at any given bus stop, its not that hard for students to face a sudden doubling of violent incidents during the school year.

Ive taken the bus a lot in BaltimoreI take it to work every dayand there are particular issues around bus stops, Burdick-Will said. If an altercation between two people escalates quickly, theres nowhere to go. ... It feels physically scary, because ... theres an unpredictability to it.

Interestingly, students were not more likely to miss school if their commute passed through a violent area but they did not get off the bus, or if they had to wait in an area with high drug or property crime but not violent crime. Moreover, the effect of violent crime on attendance was the same regardless of how safe the students own neighborhood was, or whether the student was attending his first choice of school.

Its hard to know why kids arent going. They may be just fine and their parents are just protecting them and wont let them go out today because theyve heard that something bad happened. Or they might be staying home because they are having the effects of trauma of play outdepression and even physical ailments, Burdick-Will said.

Looking for a Safer Path to School

While Burdick-Will and her colleagues calculated the most efficent route to school for each student, she cautioned that many students take longer routes to avoid high-crime areas. Doing so may help them avoid stress or danger on the way to school, but could increase their risk of absenteeism in other ways, if an alternate bus proves overcrowded or neighbor who gives a student rides gets sick.

Back in 2013, a student documentary by the Student Attendance Work Group in Baltimore City found some students regularly faced two- or three-hour commutes, including multiple transfers and waits at bus stops before dawn and after dark:

The Baltimore Education Research Consortium found in a 2017 report that more than a third of the 13,000 students who used public transit often felt unsafe during their school commutes.

Edie House Foster, spokesperson for Baltimore City Public Schools, said the district was still discussing the study findings. The safety of our young people is always our primary concern. Our administrators and teaching staff are keenly aware of some of the obstacles our children encounter when traveling to and from school, House Foster said. In addition to our district initiatives to address the transportation issues , we work collaboratively with community based organizations and city agencies to find solutions to the issues that make it challenging for our students to attend school regularly and on time.

Burdick-Will offered a few recommendations for district administrators to help students feel safer on their way to school:



Work with public transportation officials to include school schedules with work commutes in planning bus or train schedules.

Train teachers and attendance officers to look for commuting difficulties when students miss school repeatedly, and incorporate transportation support into attendance plans.

Consider the safety and reliability of public transportation when considering districtwide plans to open school enrollment, site new schools, or cut school buses from budgets.

Help students get real-time transportation data, such as through an app, which can inform them of wait times at different stops.

Theres a lot of literature on adult commuting causing stress ... and shouldnt we expect to see the same thing for kids?, Burdick-Will said. It can be really stressful to get where you need to go to school and especially if you know the principal and teachers are all going to yell at you for being late when it feels like its not your fault the bus was slow or your ride fell through or something. We want kids to be able to get to school engaged and awake and not stressed out when they get to school to be able to learn things, not just be there.

Chart source: Julia Burdick-Will, Johns Hopkins University

Related:

Do you have a question about education research, or just want to know what the evidence says about that pesky instructional problem? Let me know! Drop me a line at ssparks@epe.org, orHong Kong: E-smoking ban protects public health

The proposed e-cigarette sale ban aims to safeguard public health, in particular youngsters, Secretary for Food & Health Prof Sophia Chan said.

Speaking to the media after attending a radio programme today, Prof Chan said the the Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Bill 2019 was submitted to the Legislative Council yesterday.

It has proposed to ban the import, manufacture, sale, distribution and advertisement of e-cigarettes and other new smoking products.

Prof Chan said protecting public health is the Governments prime consideration.

Our intention is really not to criminalise our e-cigarette or heat-not-burn cigarette users. Our main aim is really to cut off the supply so that it won't affect further our next generation and also the people in Hong Kong.

On whether the possession or use of these products should also be barred, Prof Chan said people should not be able to buy such products if the proposed ban is implemented.

The bureau will work with Police and Customs to see if there are loopholes in the proposed legislation and consider the way forward, she added.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.ANSONIA  It will be at least another week before the Board of Aldermen signs off on a proposed $850,000 settlement with the Board of Education.

And it could be longer before the aldermen consider approving $20,000 for the citys school board to begin a feasibility study on a new middle school.

Discussion of both matters made for a late night Wednesday. They Board of Aldermen will meet again next week.

In the meantime, Barbara Schellenberg, the city lawyer, plans to meet with Fred Dorsey, the school boards lawyer, to finalize the settlement language, Corporation Counsel John Marini said.

Were ready to get this signed and willing to put this behind us, said William Nimons, the chairman of the Board of Education. We showed that last week when we unanimously approved the proposal. Obviously, the city is not ready just yet.

We still have an agreement in principal, Marini said. We just want to make sure about the exact wording but the tenets remain the same.

Those tenets involve an $850,000 appropriation to the current 2018-19 school board budget. Under the proposed agreement, that number would be reduced to $800,000 as the minimum budget requirement in the 2019-20 budget.

In return, the school board would authorize the citys insurance broker to analyze board of education claims information to evaluate insurance options. The board is self-insured and overspent its 2017-18 budget by $225,694, mostly because of underestimated insurance costs.

That could result in savings to their board, Marini said.

Cooperation and communication between the two sides broke down in early 2017 after the Board of Aldermen removed $600,000 from the approved school board budget. The aldermen did so claiming the school board received more than expected from the state. The school board sued the city, claiming the removal violated state law preventing approved budgets from being reduced.

The State Board of Education sided with the local school board and is investigating.

In a related matter, the aldermen voted to table the school boards request for $20,000 to pay for a middle school feasibility study.

The new school is expected to cost around $37 million. It would be funded with 66.5 percent paid by the state and the rest about $11.7 million paid by the city. The aldermen asked Assistant Superintendent of Schools Joseph DiBacco to provide additional information during the March meeting.

One of the concerns brought up by Aldermen Lorie Vaccaro and Joseph Jaumann  who are also members of the Ansonia-Derby School Regionalization Study Committee  is that the committee is expected to release a report on regionalization in October.

Additionally, it was pointed out that there are pending bills in the state legislature requiring regionalization of small school districts. Combined Ansonia and Derby educates about 3,600 students in their eight total schools.

In addressing the board, DiBacco told them the middle school needs major renovations, repairs and code upgrades. A rebuild he said would cost as much as $60 million with 77.5 percent coming from the state.

If you were 83 years old and never been to a doctorwhat are you going to look like? he asked. You are going to look like our middle school.Home sales in the San Antonio area slowed in January as prices continued to rise, new figures show.

On ExpressNews.com: Homebuilders in San Antonio were busy in 2018, just not constructing affordable homes

Home buyers snatched up 1,788 homes in the San Antonio region last month, according to data released Thursday by the San Antonio Board of Realtors (SABOR).

Thats a 1.6 percent increase from 1,760 in January 2018, a slower rate of growth than in previous periods. Home sales grew by 4.6 percent from January 2017 to January 2018  and by 10 percent from January 216 to January 2017.

On ExpressNews.com: W Hotel in the works for downtown San Antonio, sources say

The median price of a home in Bexar County and surrounding counties rose 3.1 percent from $210,700 in January 2018 to $217,200 last month.

Of the homes sold in January, 52 percent sold for prices between $200,000 and $499,000 while 43 percent cost less than $199,000. About five percent cost more than $500,000.

Home prices in the area have jumped about 25 percent in the last five years.

Even with the increase in home prices, San Antonio is more affordable than other metro areas around Texas, SABOR chief executive Gilbert Gonzalez said in a statement. This affordability allows homebuyers to live in a major metro area and still obtain their dream of homeownership.

On ExpressNews.com: As San Antonio mayor, Julian Castro started program that gave millions to developers for luxury downtown condos

The areas stock of homes for sale remained tight in January at 3.4 months worth of inventory, which measures how long it would take for the number of houses currently on the market to be sold.

Historically, six months worth of inventory is considered a healthy balance between buyers and sellers.

Total home sales in Texas last month fell 4.5 percent to 16,834 from 17,621 last year. The median home price in Texas rose 1.7 percent from $218,804 in January 2018 to $222,565 last month.

Joshua Fechter is a San Antonio-based staff writer covering real estate, economic development and philanthropy. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFreportsThere is much work to be done by the U.S. Catholic Church as it moves forward with restoring the public trust, shattered by decades of failing to properly address allegations of sexual abuse of children by clergy.

The release last month of the names of close to 300 Texas-based priests who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse, including 54 in the Archdiocese of San Antonio, will go a long way toward starting the healing process for many victims and their families. But its only a beginning.

The scars are deep.

The cases on the Bexar County list date back as far as 1941 and include 150 separate allegations of misconduct. Most of the allegations were under the radar of most Bexar County residents because only a few ever surfaced in court. A review of Express-News archives indicates the archdiocese had paid at least $6.63 million as of 2011 to victims of sexual abuse by priests in Bexar County.

As painful as these types of cases are, there needs to be continued honesty and transparency going forward. Needed: strong policies that ensure allegations of misconduct are reported to law enforcement in a timely manner and suspects are sidelined from their jobs while investigations are conducted.

Those who participate in cover-ups and allow suspected child molesters to be reassigned must also be held accountable. Pretending the problem does not exist wont make it go away. Decades of trying to resolve the problem internally have proven futile.

One of the more troubling cases on the Bexar County list is that of Jose Luis Sandoval, who was ordained in 1974 in Mexico and served in San Antonio from 1974 to 1998. During his time in Texas, he was investigated for alleged child sexual abuse, sent to psychiatric evaluation and treatment for a year, and then allowed to return to his job.

He later fled the country when new allegations of abuse surfaced and was subsequently removed from his assignment and prohibited from exercising any priestly ministry in the Archdiocese of San Antonio by Archbishop Patrick Flores in 1998.

Yet despite all that, Flores, who retired in 2004, later wrote a general letter of support for Sandoval without a reference to his problems in San Antonio. Sandoval proceeded to work with the Archdiocese of Guadalajara in 2000, but four years later lost his privileges there as well.

It appears what Flores did was common practice. Problem priests were removed from jobs when trouble arose and then simply allowed to go into unsuspecting communities where the same issues often surfaced.

The number of children who were abused will never be known. Some victims are still trying to come to terms with what happened to them and have not come forward.

And the list is likely to grow. As the report was released, the local archdiocese was investigating cases involving other priests.

All credible allegations must be investigated, not just in Texas or the U.S. but abroad as well.

A week after Texas archdioceses gained international attention for the release of their priest lists, Pope Francis publicly acknowledged the sexual abuse of nuns by priests and bishops. The sexual abuse of nuns by clergy in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America was reported by the Associated Press last year. The news agencys investigation found the Vatican had not supported the victims or taken adequate measures to punish the offenders.

Pope Francis is slated to meet with the presidents of the worlds bishops conferences later this month to focus on a response to the global sex abuse crises. He has said he is committed to ending the problem.

Following the Catholic Churchs release of names, a Houston Chronicle/San Antonio Express-News report revealed similar abuse stories within the Southern Baptist Convention. We will comment separately on this matter in the coming days. For now, suffice to say that such revelations  absent accountability and absent acceptance of responsibility  will have the effect of diminished trust in institutions in which many thought trust was a given.

It can be again, but only if that commitment to address the problem is vigilant and continuing.For decades, Texans have complained to their legislators about nonstop increases in property taxes. And for decades, theyve been promised action. Yet when the tax bill arrives in the mail, the amount due each year climbs sharply.

Until we stop taxpayer-funded lobbying, that vicious cycle will continue unabated.

When legislative committees hold hearings on property taxes, there are dozens of lobbyists on the public payroll in the audience. Their rhetoric varies from session to session, but their goal is the same: increasing taxes and spending for local governments. School districts, counties, cities, special districts and associations of local governments hire them. They have a lot of experience working with state lawmakers and often have public relations teams and polling data at their disposal. Some also make campaign contributions, even though they are funded from the public purse.

Meanwhile, homeowners are working to feed their families and pay the taxes. To attend committee hearings, taxpayers have to take time off from work and travel at their own expense. Similarly, small-business owners, who often see double-digit percentage increases year after year, often cant afford to hire another employee for their business, much less a lobbyist. Banning taxpayer-funded lobbying would level the playing field and ensure the taxpayers dont pay to have their taxes increased.

Some in local government claim that the controversy over taxpayer-funded lobbying is an effort to silence government officials. Nothing could be further from the truth.

State agencies have been prohibited from lobbying for decades, yet no one complains that state employees are silenced. On their own time, using their own resources, they can contact their legislators or join associations that lobby the Legislature. They just dont get to use other peoples money to do it. Banning taxpayer-funded lobbying would apply the similar rules to all government entities.

At the 2018 Republican Party of Texas State Convention, delegates heard the concerns of taxpayers, and made property tax reform and ending taxpayer-funded lobbying legislative priorities for 2019. Its time for lawmakers to stand with taxpayers, not the tax increase lobbyists and the governments who hire them.

As for local government officials, they constantly complain that if we limit how fast they can raise taxes they may have to cut public safety. Heres a better alternative: Take the millions being spent on lobbyists and lobby associations and spend it on public safety instead.

Lets make 2019 the year we put taxpayers first and finally get property taxes under control. To do that, we must end taxpayer-funded lobbying.

James Dickey is chairman of the Republican Party of Texas.It is the tragedy of America that a story of freedom, self-government, religious liberty, entrepreneurship and inclusion is also a story of forced migration, stolen labor, routine rape and murder, lynching, vote stealing, racist piety, segregation, red-lining and mass incarceration.

Both these versions are true; but I hope they are not equally true. Americas great advantage is that a powerful and subversive idea  that all are created equal  was built into our founding. This has acted as a kind of a virtuous virus in our countrys code. Generation after generation has demanded a fuller realization of promises made by the Declaration of Independence but not yet delivered by the Constitution.

This dialectic between ideal and practice is the true story of the country. And this is why rhetoric has been so central to the advance of civil rights. Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr. set out to make the countrys ideals so vivid and compelling that hypocrisy would feel like a failure, not just of morality but of patriotism. They presented division as disloyalty to national ideals.

Who is addressing racial justice in these terms today? We always go around it, never through it, former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu recently told me. I dont know of any party or candidate dealing with it.

Besides Landrieu, that is. If one of the main purposes of the 2020 election is to heal racial wounds that Donald Trump has salted and to provide serious reflection on the proper application of American ideals to current controversies, then Landrieu needs to be on the main debate stage during the Democratic nomination process.

Landrieu is known as the guy who took down the four Confederate monuments in New Orleans. 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.

These statues are not just stone and metal, he argued. 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.

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?

Before the 150 years of the Trump era (in felt time), there was actually a word for this: empathy.

Weve seen this kind of balancing act before  presenting inclusive ideals in ways that might appeal to moderates or religious conservatives. It is what Bill Clinton did very effectively. Democratic governors (or mayors) can only win in the South by sounding inclusive of conservatives  or at least not treating them as the devils spawn. A speech by most Northern progressives on Confederate monuments would likely be a harangue.

I was in attendance during a speech Landrieu gave in New Orleans just before leaving office last spring. The audience consisted mainly of wealthy Republicans. He gave remarks on the theme of post-Trump national reunification that earned a standing ovation. What other prospective Democratic president could manage that? Or want to?

Does Landrieu think the 2020 presidential election will feature a serious discussion of racial and economic justice? Having a president like Donald Trump, Landrieu told me, stops thoughtful conversation. The former mayor speculates that a debate on these matters may take 10 or 15 years to ripen. We are not addressing (issues of race and class) holistically, he said. We dont know what is trying to be born.

In the meantime, Landrieu argues that Democrats would be unwise to focus on impeachment. We need to heal this through the electoral process, he explained.

Landrieu is proposing a message of national healing to a Democratic Party that seems to want unrestricted warfare. 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.

michaelgerson@washpost.comLawyers for the state on Wednesday asked a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit challenging Texas Electoral College process as plaintiffs dug in to their claims that the winner-take-all method is unconstitutional, discriminatory and leads to the dilution of the minority vote.

A coalition of law firms and the League of United Latin American Citizens filed four federal lawsuits last February in two politically red states, Texas and South Carolina, and two traditionally blue states, California and Massachusetts.

All four lawsuits challenge the constitutionality of the winner-take-all method that states use to allocate their Electoral College votes. The suits against Texas and South Carolina also allege those states methods violate the Voting Rights Acts Section 2, which prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race or color or against minority groups.

Texas is one of 48 states with the winner-take-all system, in which a candidate who receives a majority of the popular vote, or a plurality of it, takes all of the states electoral votes. The other two states, Maine and Nebraska, allocate electors based on votes in congressional districts.

Federal judges have dismissed the lawsuits in California and Massachusetts, but they remain pending at the appellate level. The Texas and South Carolina cases are still at the federal district court level.

On ExpressNews.com: Suits say Electoral College process is illegal

Senior U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra heard the first arguments in the Texas case during an hour and a half hearing Wednesday in San Antonio.

One of the plaintiffs lawyers, David Boies, argued that Texas winner-take-all method creates a two-step process, where voters elect the electors and the electors elect the president. The method, he argued, systematically discards the votes of nearly half of the states voters while greatly magnifying the votes of others.

This, he said, violates the constitutional principle of one person, one vote under the Fourteenth Amendment, and the free speech and associational rights of Texas voters under the First Amendment.

Luis Vera Jr. of San Antonio, LULACs national general counsel, argued that the system also violates the protections of Section 2. In Texas, Latino and African American voters generally vote Democratic, yet while their candidate may get a good chunk of the popular vote, that candidate gets no electors if he or she doesnt win a majority of the votes

The minority vote means nothing in the presidential election, Vera argued. In Texas, their vote is counted and then thrown away.

The plaintiffs seek to force Texas to implement rules that would allocate electors proportionally.

Assistant Texas attorneys general Matthew Frederick, Patrick Sweeten and Todd Disher argued that the winner-take-all method has been in place for 230 years and is legally and constitutionally sound, including in Texas.

That system has been used by the states for more than two centuries, dating back to the first election of George Washington, Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement after the hearing. Its no coincidence that every lawsuit asking the courts to upend the Electoral College has failed. Changing or eliminating the Electoral College can only be done by an amendment to the Constitution, which is reason enough the district court should dismiss this latest legal challenge.

As part of their argument, the states lawyers claim Texans in presidential elections cast a vote for electors, not for president. In turn, they argue that Texas election for electors treats every vote equally.

They also argued that the Texas suit fails to establish why Section 2 applies.

This is not an issue of racism, Frederick told the judge, adding that the plaintiffs claim that Texas method is a two-step system is wrong.

There is only one step, Frederick said. The votes are tallied. They are not thrown away. Theyre counted.

Judge Ezra said he would take whatever time is necessary to review the arguments and the case law before issuing his ruling. He said the issue could eventually land in the Supreme Court.

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 possibility of a plea bargain was raised for the first time Thursday regarding five new murder charges filed against Angel of Death Genene Jones, even as the debate continues over whether she is competent to stand trial.

Jones, a pediatric nurse convicted in 1984 of killing a Kerrville toddler with an overdose of muscle relaxers, has been in Bexar County Jail since she was arraigned more than a year ago in the deaths of five San Antonio children in the 1980s.

Thursday, Magistrate Judge Andrew Carruthers accepted a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation that found Jones, now 68, competent to stand trial, but he ordered a second evaluation after her attorney challenged the reports findings.

After the hearing, Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales said his team is prepared to take Jones to trial in the new cases, but he added that everything is on the table, including a plea bargain, if the families of the deceased children agree.

Cornelius Cox, Jones attorney, concurred with Gonzales that a plea agreement might be possible.

Were open, no doors have been closed, in terms of trying to resolve this, whether by trial or some agreement, Cox said. We feel there should be closure to both sides of it. We are open to any type of situation to help us resolve this matter.

On ExpressNews.com: Determined officials, family bring about indictments in killer nurse case

Jones case has drawn international attention. The idea that a nurse caring for sick babies and toddlers, trusted by the little ones and their parents, instead could kill her unsuspecting patients sparked horror and outrage.

While she was convicted in just one death, officials have said she may have been responsible for the deaths of more than 40, perhaps more than 60, children.

At the time of her arraignment in December 2017, then-District Attorney Nico LaHood acknowledged that everybody has a different opinion of just how many children Jones may have killed.

Thursday, Jones entered the courtroom wearing black-rimmed glasses, clutching a tissue and using a walker.

Dressed in prison blues, she appeared not to need assistance from bailiffs as she did when she was in state District Judge Frank Castros court in December 2017, when she was in a wheelchair and wore a facial mask.

Thursday, Jones sat at the defense table and appeared to listen intently, occasionally talking with Cox and his co-counsel, Brigitte Garza.

Regarding the new charges, Cox has questioned whether his client has the ability to understand what is going on in the courtroom and whether she can assist in her defense. He said she has had several strokes and has reported hearing voices in her head. He told the judge hes willing to go to a jury to determine her competency, if necessary.

At Thursdays hearing, Cox asked Carruthers to appoint Dr. Brian Skop, a forensic psychiatry specialist, to conduct the second assessment, which the judge did.

Its unclear how long the second competency assessment might take, and another hearing is expected to be set on the matter at a later date.

The results of the first evaluation by forensic psychologist Michael Jumes, Ph.D., took months, but Cox said he thinks the findings from a second doctor could come more quickly.

I asked for a second opinion based on the complexity of the case, Cox said, noting the deaths are nearly 40 years old. A second doctor will look at the findings, would make a second assessment, and at that point we will have our jury trial, depending upon what both evaluations show.

Cox said he is familiar with both Jumes and Skop, who contract out their services and routinely have done work in the courts.

They are known and respected by both sides, he said. We can depend on them by reputation.

Addressing media after the hearing, Gonzales said he and his team believe Jones is competent, but they have to wait for the findings of the second assessment. Even if the cases dont go to trial because a plea deal is reached, he said, competency still is an essential finding.

She has to be aware of whats in front of her, he said. She has to be competent enough to understand the consequences of a plea deal.

Incompetency at times can be confused with insanity, but experts point out they are two distinctly different things.

Insanity usually focuses on the mental state at the time of the offense, said Geary Reamey, a law professor at St. Marys University. Incompetence doesnt mean that you are now free to go; it means you will probably be held in confinement for treatment.

If a jury were to find Jones incompetent, she would be sent to an institution for up to 120 days. That could be extended, if necessary. Once a person regains competency, no matter how long it might take, he or she returns to court, Reamey said.

Gonzales said he and his office have been in contact with family members of the victims as the prosecutors work on the new cases.

Although the indictments came during LaHoods administration, Gonzales, who took office Jan. 1, said the change in administration hasnt resulted in any unusual delays.

We are ready to go forward with what we believe are the strongest cases, Gonzales said. We have an experienced team led by Catherine Babbitt and Samantha DiMaio, working around the clock.

Through Cox, Jones pleaded not guilty to all five charges in 2017.

Jones was 35 when she was convicted in 1984 of murder in the 1982 death of Chelsea McClellan, who was 15 months old when she was injected with an overdose of succinylcholine, a medication used to cause short-term paralysis as part of general anesthesia.

The pediatric nurse was working in San Antonio and Kerrville at the time of Chelseas death and during the deaths of the other children named in the new indictments.

She was sentenced to 99 years in prison in Chelseas case and also was found guilty of injury to a child for attempting to overdose Rolando Santos in San Antonio. That child survived. Jones was sentenced to 60 years in that case, and both terms were served concurrently.

On ExpressNews.com: Killer nurse arraigned on five new murder charges; pleads not guilty

A law designed to ease prison crowding that went into effect while she was incarcerated would have allowed Jones to be released in March 2018.

But before that could happen, LaHood presented two separate grand juries with five cases from San Antonio around the same time as Chelseas death, and Jones was indicted in each one in 2017.

In the new indictments, Jones is accused of murder in the deaths of Richard Ricky Nelson, 8 months, who died July 3, 1981; Rosemary Vega, 2 years old, who died Sept. 16, 1981; Paul Villarreal, who was 3 months old when he died Sept. 24, 1981; Joshua Sawyer on Dec. 12, 1981; and Patrick Zavala, 4 months, who died Jan. 17, 1982.

All were patients at the county hospital in San Antonio, now known as University Hospital.

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Recent weeks have seen an unprecedented series of high-level meetings of Armenian and Azerbaijani representatives on Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijans breakaway territory closely linked since the early 1990s to Armenia. Whereas many analysts considered resumed peace talks unlikely after the April 2016 fighting, Armenias Velvet Revolution and the replacement of the countrys war-hardened Karabakh elite with a forward-looking and liberal government has provided new stimulus in this regard. As Azerbaijani officials perceive the recent power shift in Armenia as a window of opportunity to advance a peaceful solution to the long-standing conflict, optimism regarding the prospect of a deal appears higher than in many years.

BACKGROUND: In December 2018, Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev and Armenias Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed to develop mechanisms for preventing ceasefire violations, encouraged by Pashinyans earlier statements about his willingness to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem through peaceful means. Another meeting in Paris between the two countries foreign ministers in January 2019, was also hailed as an effort to reanimate the long-stalled Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. The most recent meeting between the Armenian PM and Azerbaijans President  similarly to two previous high-ranking meetings between the two countries  was unplanned and took place during the World Economic Forum in Davos.

While these high-level meetings were off limits to the press, both sides reported that no significant progress was made on the issue of peace talks, and that the purpose of the meetings was to exchange opinions rather than relaunching the negotiating process. However, Azerbaijan released numerous positive statements in connection with the series of meetings, signaling a promising development. On December 18, Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov underlined Bakus willingness to accept a special status for Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan and prospects for economic development in exchange for the return of occupied Azerbaijani territories. Since then, high-ranking Azerbaijani officials have released similar statements, causing alarm among Armenian political elites who have accused Pashinyan of possibly making secret concessions to Azerbaijan.

Indeed, the Davos meeting was the fifth high-level contact between the two countries over the past nine months. Although no concrete progress has so far resulted from the increased communication between Azerbaijani and Armenian officials, experts note a decrease in ceasefire violations on the line of contact and improved communication between the armed forces of the two countries. It should be noted, however, that similar moments of rapprochement have occurred previously during the long-lasting Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, including in 2008 after the Russo-Georgian War and in 2016 after the April confrontations. Nevertheless, this time economic and political circumstances in both countries seemingly motivate more hope for progress in the peace talks.

IMPLICATIONS: By the April War of 2016, Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks had reached a stalemate. In the course of the preceding decade, clashes not just along the Nagorno-Karabakh Line of Contact, but also along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border had increased dramatically, killing dozens of soldiers and civilians annually. A number of clashes can be attributed to Bakus willingness to periodically use limited force, hitting Armenian positions on the perimeter of the self-proclaimed republic. Thus, Azerbaijan sought to pressure Armenia to make concessions, reminding it of Azerbaijans commitment to returning its lost territories either peacefully or by military means. While Baku thereby signaled to Yerevan its refusal to accept the status quo, it also undertook frantic steps on the international scene to ensure that the current state of affairs should not be seen as fait accompli. Indeed, with every passing year, the understanding of the current situation as normal has grown in and outside the region. Baku has therefore grown increasingly skeptical that under current circumstances, the status of Nagorno-Karabakh could be reversed unless Azerbaijan would embark on an all-out war. Even Azerbaijans oil wealth, despite its value in the countrys foreign relations, has not in itself brought the objective of regaining Nagorno-Karabakh any closer to realization.

In fact, in spite of the official rhetoric, the rather minor advances of the 2016 war indicated the enormous human cost that a large-scale conflict to regain Nagorno-Karabakh would incur on Azerbaijan. In addition to fighting the well-entrenched positions of the Nagorno-Karabakh-Armenian and Armenian forces in the hills and mountains of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijans military could also face Armenias key ally Russia, which would likely take significant steps to protect its remaining client state in the South Caucasus. Bakus willingness to face a major military and diplomatic conflict, its fiery declarations notwithstanding, has remained limited. Indeed, should the situation on the ground evolve in Azerbaijans disfavor in such a scenario, this could lead to the end of the Aliyev regime, with simmering popular discontent reversing against the increasingly authoritarian regime.

In fact, the post-2016 euphoria in Azerbaijani society over its ability to take back occupied land from Armenia has created a push for more action. To feed the increasingly unrealistic demands voiced by the nationalism-imbued population, the Aliyev regime perceives a need to engage in continuous military efforts. Yet the Armenian sides sense of being on the losing side cultivated after the 2016 war  and its commitment to pay back whenever possible  could spiral into a dangerous escalation leading to a large war.

With the socio-economic situation worsening in Azerbaijan, Baku needs to relocate state funds to appease the public. Despite severe reprisals, protesters have on various occasions taken to the streets, and the extent of the Azerbaijani elites fear and paranoia is best illustrated by its treatment of bloggers, journalists, etc. Striking a deal with Armenia could be beneficial for Baku at present.

However, a number of factors will likely challenge the effectiveness of the peace process. As previously, Baku remains persistent that Nagorno-Karabakh will remain part of Azerbaijan, albeit with a special autonomy and self-rule status. Azerbaijan also demands the return of hundreds of thousands of IDPs and refugees to both Nagorno-Karabakh and the adjacent occupied territories. These preconditions remain unacceptable for Armenia, even if the economic embargo is lifted and Armenias border with Turkey reopened. Another, albeit lesser, challenge is Pashinyans persistence that negotiations must involve the Nagorno-Karabakh government because he, as Prime Minister of Armenia, was neither elected by nor represents the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. This condition is currently unacceptable for Baku, which refuses to recognize the Nagorno-Karabakh government as a legitimate negotiation partner. Another issue that can be expected to hamper the peace process is that both sides have actively used the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to mobilize nationalist support, which has been employed as a source of regime strength and stability.

CONCLUSIONS: Given these preconditions, rapid progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process remains unlikely as relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan remain defined more by contention than agreement. It is, however, reasonable to expect that the current thaw and particularly the unexpected optimism on the Azerbaijani side could lead to a de-escalation at the Line of Contact and the establishment of continuous dialogue and communication between the two countries. This could facilitate a relaunch of peace talks, perhaps in a different format and on different conditions than previous peace efforts throughout the history of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Reshuffles within the Azerbaijani government, such as the appointment of a new head of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh community, Tural Ganjaliyev, suggest that consistent changes are likely to occur in the near future. The election of pro-democratic and forward-looking Prime Minister in Armenia is yet another development that promises a range of new developments on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Lastly, the change in Bakus bellicose attitude and its willingness to prepare the people for peace constitutes major progress in terms of post-conflict reconciliation.

AUTHORS BIOS:

Emil A. Souleimanov is Associate Professor at the Department of Security Studies, Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University. His recent publications include Irans Azerbaijan Question in Revolution: Identity, Society, and Regional Security.

Huseyn Aliyev is a Research Fellow at the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow.

Image Source: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons accessed on 2.14.2019The University of Texas at San Antonio will add new emphasis to sexual assault prevention at student orientations as part of an initiative to bolster existing efforts to create a zero-tolerance environment for it, officials said.

President Taylor Eighmy this week announced new resources and working groups to combat the problem. He also said UTSA has been accepted to the Culture of Respect Collective, a two-year program designed to reform college approaches to sexual violence.

The Presidents Initiative on Preventing Sexual Assault and Misconduct will create a steering committee with three initial task forces, said L.T. Robinson, the interim dean of students, who is leading it.

This is not easy work, and culture change does not happen overnight, Eighmy wrote in an email to students Monday. But I am highly encouraged by the unwavering commitment of UTSAs leadership, by the work that is already underway, and by the students, faculty and staff who have raised their voices in support of tackling these issues head-on.

The move comes a few months after a group of female students criticized UTSA investigations of sex assaults as failing to discipline perpetrators. The groups leaders said they were calling attention to rape culture but denied knowing who distributed anonymous fliers at apartments near campus shortly after they organized, which appeared to promise to expose the names of accused men. The events led Eighmy to seek an investigation by an outside law firm, which the university said is still ongoing.

On ExpressNews.com: UTSA sex assault investigation underway

Only a few months before that, in August, the university called for the consulting and advisory firm Baker Tilly to perform an external review of UTSAs Title IX policies and procedures. The results are expected early this year.

Similar conversations are being held at campuses across the state and nation. At a press conference this month, State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, was joined by advocacy groups touting 20 bills in the current legislative session that address sexual assault.

Student survivors of sexual assault at the University of Texas at Austin spoke of the dissatisfaction with their schools current prevention and investigation system. UT has checked all the boxes and has all the resources in place but has failed to deliver them effectively, student Ashka Dighe said.

UTSA administrators are watching those bills, Eighmy said in his email to students Monday, as well as movement in the U.S. Department of Education to change Title IX protocols regarding sexual assault.

A general issue, not just at UTSA, is making students aware of available resources, Robinson said.

To help in that area, new student orientation will focus more on possible scenarios and school resources. Previously, orientation included a general presentation with a bit of discussion, Robinson said. Going forward, there will be more interactive discussion and small groups, she said.

On ExpressNews.com: UTSA students push against rape culture has murky aftermath

The initial task forces will tackle programming and outreach. It includes orientations, training and development and data governance and reporting, which will include streamlining sex assault reports from various offices. Robinson said she expects those task forces to evolve over time as the committee identifies new areas of focus.

The Office of Student Advocacy, Violence Prevention and Empowerment, created last year, will stay in place.

I think it was a great starting point for what the university was aiming for at the time, and now, moving toward a more comprehensive plan, theyre going to be working with us to add to resources we have available, Robinson said.

UTSA student Kimiya Factory, whose group calls itself #ChangeRapeCulture and is still active this semester, said the new initiatives are good, though late.

I think its a step in the right direction. I still think it should have happened a long time ago, she said.

Officials at UTSA say theyve been working toward a safer campus culture since Eighmy arrived in 2017. He reviewed a survey of sexual assault and misconduct taken at 13 of the UT Systems 14 institutions, whose 28,000 respondents includeded nearly 3,400 UTSA students.

Because of those concerns that had been reported, that was one of the first things he wanted to address immediately, Robinson said.

Eighmy was unavailable for an interview this week, university spokesman Joe Izbrand said.

The universitys work with the Culture of Respect Collective will begin this month with a self-assessment survey designed to identify the universitys strengths and opportunities for addressing sexual violence. The questions are grounded in the collectives six pillars: survivor support, clear policies, mulitiered education, public disclosure, schoolwide mobilization and self-assessment.

The collective has worked with dozens of colleges and universities across the country, including UT-Austin.

Were definitely not the only school  grappling with this issue, Robinson said. We are looking at best practices from institutions in the cohort.

Krista Torralva covers several school districts and public universities in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | Krista.Torralva@express-news.net | Twitter: @KMTorralvaA San Antonio information-technology boot camp has started accepting GI Bill funds for tuition, an effort to increase the citys pool of tech workers.

Veterans and family members who qualify can use the funds for part or all of the program costs at cloud-computing company Rackspaces Open Cloud Academy (OCA), located at the Rand Building downtown.

The organization offers 13-week tracks in systems administration, which cost $8,000, and cybersecurity, which cost $16,000.

On ExpressNews.com: Report: San Antonios cyber, IT firms hurting for trained workers

San Antonio has a large population of active-duty military personnel and veterans, and the organization frequently is asked whether it accepts GI Bill funds, OCA director Marcus Benavidez said.

The academy started seeking the federal governments OK to tap the veterans program about a year ago.

Being able to offer career-focused technical training to these individuals, and allowing them to use their benefits, is a big win, he said.

It also reflects the academys original goal of training tech talent for positions at Rackspace and other local companies, he said.

The programs provide a quick way for people to get the certifications and skills they need for jobs that dont necessarily require a college degree, and companies save on recruiting costs.

On ExpressNews.com: Open Cloud Academy claims new space

About 765 people have graduated from Open Cloud Academy so far, and 18 to 20 percent identify as veterans, Benavidez said. With the new funding option, he expects more vets to enroll.

Those who dont qualify may be eligible for tuition aid through Project Quest, a local workforce-development nonprofit.

Other boot camps in San Antonio also offer tuition options for veterans.

Codeup at 600 Navarro St. started accepting GI Bill funds in 2016. Depending on the type and amount, the benefits can can cover part or all of tuition and include a monthly housing stipend.

On ExpressNews.com: Software development boot camp Codeup launching new data science program

Its a great way to give back to those who have sacrificed for the country, director of delivery Dimitri Antoniou said.

About a quarter of students in Codeups web-development program and about 20 percent in its new data-science track are veterans, figures provided by the organization show. The financial help makes it easier for people to focus on learning new skills and preparing for a new career, Antoniou said.

The governments approval process is rigorous, and its a boon for the area that Open Cloud Academy now accepts the benefits, he said, adding: Its a wonderful thing for veterans wanting to go that route.

madison.iszler@express-news.netLuxury hotel chain W Hotels is in talks to open an upscale hotel near The Pearl in downtown San Antonio, sources say.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio lands Texas first opportunity zone investment under Trump tax bill

The boutique hotel wants to set up shop in a 20-story building being developed by local developer GrayStreet Partners at 1603 Broadway, two people with knowledge of the discussions said. In addition to office space, the plans for the building include a hotel.

The 195-room hotel is in the planning stage, W Hotels parent company, Marriott International, told data firm STR, which tracks the hospitality industry. Marriott projects the hotel will open in January 2022.

Peter French, GrayStreets development director, did not return calls and a text message requesting comment. A Marriott spokeswoman did not provide comment by press time.

On ExpressNews.com: Filling in San Antonios skyline: An update on 10 major downtown construction projects

French previously told the Express-News GrayStreet expects to begin work early this year on the Broadway tower  which will have 10 stories of hotel space, four stories of offices, three stories of parking and ground-floor retail. The city Historic Design and Review Commission voted Dec. 5 to allow GrayStreet to begin site work, but the panel must give final approval in the spring.

W Hotels, which has hotels in Dallas and Austin, is known for a trendy vibe and caters to young, affluent guests. The chain operates 57 hotels across the globe.

State and city officials in Houston are mulling a tax incentive package worth $42.6 million to developers to build a $120 million W Hotel in downtown Houston.

On ExpressNews.com: City panel gives preliminary OK to proposed 24-story tower in downtown San Antonio

W Hotels would join a growing luxury hotel market in downtown San Antonio.

At 1603 Broadway, the proposed hotel would be a stones throw away from Hotel Emma at the Pearl, which has drawn international attention and notable accolades since its 2015 opening from AAA, Conde Nast, Trip Advisor and Food & Wine magazine.

The boutique Hotel Valencia Riverwalk at 150 E. Houston St. completed a $10 million renovation in 2017. New York real-estate firm Safety, Income and Growth Inc. bought the land on which the hotel sits for an undisclosed sum in January.

Joshua Fechter is a San Antonio-based staff writer covering real estate, economic development and philanthropy. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFreportsQuilting and sewing supply retailers in New Braunfels are in a bind with the U.S. Department of Labor for allegedly paying some of their employees in gift cards to the stores.

Quilt Haus and Way to Sew even paid some workers with fabric, the federal government says in a lawsuit filed this week.

The Labor Department seeks unpaid wages and financial damages from the two businesses and their owner, Deanne Moore Quill, for allegedly violating federal minimum wage and overtime laws. She did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The lawsuit identifies six employees who are due compensation from Quilt Haus and Way to Sew, though it doesnt specify the amount owed.

According to the lawsuit, those employees are deemed to be volunteers and are paid in gift cards that can only be used in the two stores.

RELATED: Former state Sen. Carlos Uresti gets 5 years in prison in bribery case

The gift cards are valued by the Defendants at $8.00 per card and the volunteers are compensated with one gift card for each hour they work, the government alleges. The volunteers are then allowed to use the gift cards to make purchases in Defendants retail stores.

The suit further notes that when making purchases, the volunteers are not sold items at the stores cost  what it pays wholesale distributors before mark-ups. Instead, they are given a 30-percent discount on regularly priced items and a 50 percent discount on clearance items.

The employees, who dont receive monetary compensation, are paid with in kind remuneration that on some occasions includes fabric, the suit says.

This is highly problematic, Michael V. Galo Jr., a San Antonio employment lawyer who isnt involved in the case, said of the businesses compensation practices. You do see a lot of crazy things (by) employers who dont follow the law  or dont bother to research what theyre doing. This is some crazy idea these people came up with.

Galo expects the businesses defense will be that the six individuals are not actual employees and, therefore, do not have to be paid at all.

The businesses have been violating the Federal Labor Standards Act of 1938 for almost two years, the Labor Department says in its suit.

RELATED: Love has helped floral industry thrive despite economic swings

Labor Department spokesman Juan J. Rodriguez in Dallas declined to say how its investigation began. The probe covered May 2016 to May 2018, he said.

The businesses also are accused of failing to track the hours worked each day and total hours worked each week by their employees.

Quilt Haus and Way to Sew are in adjacent stores in the New Braunfels MarketPlace at 651 N. Business Interstate 35.

Quilt Haus website says it sells a variety of fabric, along with quilt kits, patterns and books. It opened in 2002. Way to Sew opened in 2014, offering sewing and embroidery machines and classes.

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Reyna Torres Mendivils appointment as consul general for the Mexican Consulate in San Antonio is the latest turn in a career largely dedicated to U.S.-Mexican relations.

In April, Mendivil will mark her second year in her post here, providing services to Mexican citizens in a 27-county region.

After graduating from the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, Torres Mendivil earned a masters degree at the London School of Economics and spent several years as a fellow at Harvard University.

She also spent six years at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., immersed in political and congressional affairs.

Before coming to Texas, she worked extensively with Central Valley farm workers as general director for protection of Mexicans abroad for the Mexican consulate in Fresno, Calif.

She sat down with the San Antonio Express-News recently to talk about relations with the U.S. as new Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, widely referred to as AMLO, embarks on a sweeping agenda of social reform domestically amid fraught relations with the Trump administration over trade and immigration. Here is an edited transcript of the interview:

Q: How would you characterize current U.S.-Mexico relations from Mexicos point of view?

A: I think we have always had a fluid relationship with the U.S. We cannot afford the opposite. Being neighbors, there is always the need for both countries to have well-oiled channels of communication.

Of course, these are unprecedented times.

We are all learning from each other how to handle the many issues that we have on the agenda. But as long as we have the good disposition of Washington, and we have perceived that theres willingness to communicate, that is the most important step.

On ExpressNews.com: Vowing to focus on the working class, Lopez Obrador sworn in as new president in Mexico

Q: The new administration has expressed doubts about the energy reforms that opened Mexicos oil industry to foreign investment. How might that affect some of our Texas companies?

A: We need to engage more with the companies here, and thats part of my task.

The authorities in the energy sector have said the financial figures that they put for the future, when the plan was approved, have not been achieved. They say it could have been done in a better manner.

What I found really interesting is that the minister of energy said the new (AMLO) administration does not like the reform that was approved in 2015, but they are going to be respectful of the commitments that the previous government had with companies.

Part of my commitment, and particularly here in San Antonio, where many companies have operations in Mexico, is to bring the specialists and to make sure that the agenda of the new government is perfectly explained to local stakeholders.

Q: And how about the fate of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA? There were fears it could unravel under a new administration in Mexico.

A: I think its a very positive result with so many red flags in the process of negotiation that happily were not reflected in the final result  like the sunset clause (a measure that would have forced renegotiation every five years) that could have damaged many companies here in San Antonio and in Mexico.

I think the result, as in any negotiation, is not perfect but its the best that could have been achieved. We know that some members of (the U.S.) Congress have some questions about certain elements of the agreement. I think that the process of ratification is going to give us room to explain and to engage in those discussions with different stakeholders.

Q: The caravans are on a lot of peoples minds. We see how Mexican cities have been putting up shelters for migrant caravans arriving at the border. Is that the result of Mexico having an agreement with U.S. officials?

A: No, there is no bilateral agreement. What we have done is have conversations to better understand the measures (U.S. officials) are taking so we are able to implement our own policies to see how were going to handle this.

The new administration in Mexico made a major shift in the approach to these kind of migratory flows. What (Mexican officials) have been doing since the beginning is to issue humanitarian visas, and they have documented almost 14,000 persons. Its really incredible. And many of them have requested asylum in Mexico and many of them have decided to stay in Mexico.

On ExpressNews.com: Migrant caravan of 1,800 is the first to reach the Texas border

Q: Speaking of this humanitarian approach, AMLO has promised a lot of social and economic reforms for the poor. Was it those promises that led him to the largest landslide in recent Mexican history?

A: Well, the administration came in with the normal support of the citizenship. It was a very solid, open process, and thats what is really encouraging to see  the institutions that work, that it was a smooth transition, a peaceful transition. I think the agenda that was proposed by the new president was very much in tune with the concerns of the citizenship, and thats why he won with this enormous support.

Q: What were those main concerns?

A: One of the main issues was corruption. That has been a big challenge that we have been dealing with for many years.

Q: Is part of the idea that social programs and economic development will give young people better options than gangs or cartels?

A: Well, he has set a very ambitious agenda for social development. He is focusing on certain projects in the most impoverished part of the Mexican territory  the southern part, for example. You have a couple of big projects, a new refinery and also a new train that will go in the Yucatan Peninsula that will encourage tourism and, of course, trade and the establishment of new industries.

What is really interesting is that hes proposing this for the southern part of Mexico, and thats going to touch on the issue of Central American workers to create some circularity, because theres going to be a need for a labor force to put into motion all those projects.

Q: What can the president do that other administrations havent to combat that corruption?

A: Well he started very strongly to try to combat the huachicoleo, that practice that some people had to illegally extract gasoline and then sell it on the black market. He created a lot of pressure and noise for a while, but now things are stabilized and they have been able to initiate processes against many people who were part of that chain of corruption.

The other thing that, for example, is happening on the border is (the government is) changing many of the practices to make sure that there is no corruption in the caravans  people encouraging and misleading people and even charging money for them to have expectation that they will be accepted in the U.S.

Lynn Brezosky is a San Antonio-based staff writer covering trade, agriculture and the economy. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | lbrezosky@express-news.net | Twitter: @lbrezoskyWednesday, February 13, 2019

The Morning Mingle is a networking event for senior service-related business providers in the Denver metro area. The monthly meeting, held the first Thursday of each month, promotes connections among those who serve Colorado Baby Boomers and older senior citizens.

The next Morning Mingle will take place on Thursday, March 7 from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at MorningStar Senior Living of Arvada, 17351 W. 64th Street, Arvada, Colorado. The event is free and open to all related business professionals. RSVP to John Bachofer, Director of Community Relations, at 720.907.9071 or email a note to him at Arvada.DCR@MorningStarSeniorLiving.com.

Frozen Dead Guy Days!

March means its time for the Frozen Dead Guy Days Festival in Nederland, Colorado, in the mountains west of Boulder. Yes, there is a real frozen dead guy at the center of this wild and wacky festival that takes place March 8-10, 2019. Last year, more than 25,000 people attended!

Gail Rubin, The Doyenne of Death, will return to conduct The Newly-Dead Game, as she has done since 2011, and show the comedic documentary, Grandpas in the TUFF Shed.." This year, she is introducing the Individuals Edition of The Newly-Dead Game, which enables everyone in the audience to play along. At this Morning Mixer meeting on March 7, attendees will give the Individuals Edition of The Newly-Dead Game a try!

Featured Speaker: Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist

Gail Rubin speaking, photo by Pete Vidal.

Gail Rubin, CT, is a pioneering death educator who uses humor, funny film clips and outside the box activities to teach about end-of-life topics. An award-winning speaker, she knocked em dead at TEDxABQ in 2015. Shes the author of three books on end-of-life issues: A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Dont Plan to Die, Hail and Farewell: Cremation Ceremonies, Templates and Tips, and KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die.

Shes also an informed advocate for planning ahead, a Certified Funeral Celebrant, and the coordinator of the Before I Die New Mexico Festival. Albuquerque Business First recognized her as one of their 2019 Women of Influence. Download a free 50-point Executors Checklist from her website, www.AGoodGoodbye.com.

Share this:Thursday, February 14, 2019

New Border Deal: Which Party Won/Lost?



By Peggy Orchowski

It's 3 pm. on Feb. 14 2019 and your valentine (sort of) is that there will be no new partial government shutdown tomorrow at midnight. It was just announced that President Trump will be signing an almost 1200 page funding bill put together by a bipartisan, bicameral conference committee that makes a compromise on the border wall  the issue that until now both parties took defiantly opposite positions. The bill will allocate only about a quarter of the money that Trump wanted -- about $1.4 billion to build about 55 miles of steel post fencing instead of $5.7 billion to build a 200 miles wall. BUT he will declare a national emergency to build the rest.

So which party won? Which party lost?

Most pundits will say that President Trump caved and the Pelossi Democrats won.



* He didn't get his money for the wall that he was insistent about (and Mexico didn't cooperate to pay for it either).



* He actually ended up with less than was previously offered in other bills.



* He couldn't use a further shut down to bully his way because it went badly for him for 35 days after he "brought it on" on Dec. 21.



* He could be accused of wasting time and causing harm to government workers during the shut down to get a worse deal than before.



* In that mood, the bill also grants federal civilian workers a 1.9 percent pay increase which the President had opposed.



* It also includes grants for an extension of the Violence Against Women Act which the President also opposed.



So he lost big, right?

But there's another side. It can be seen that President Trump actually won big and the Democrats lost.



* The Democrats had adamantly refused during the government shut down to allocate anything for a wall  zero, zilch, well OK, one dollar. Leader Nancy Pelosi declared the wall to be immoral. Yet the compromise bill grants $1.5 billion to a barrier fence, a term Trump repeatedly said was fine with him ro replace "wall".



* Now President Trump and Republican leaders intend to get the rest of the money for the border barrier by declaring a national emergency at the same time he signs the bill. He can tap into legal constitutional resources including military funds, the 2006 Fence Act and other security resources. The case for a national emergency will certainly be helped by visuals of likely thousands of migrants currently surging through Mexico breaching the U.S.borders and demanding asylum, for which it is known that more than 90 percent will not qualify in the end.



* Democrats will challenge Trump's attempts to get other monies and may be successful even after the historic surge at the border. But Trump and Republicans will use their resistance in the already heating up 2020 presidential election campaign to accuse Democrats of being for open borders and for actively supporting non-enforcement of immigration laws and law-breaking by illegal immigrants.



* There is not one mention in those 1200 pages of legalizing illegal immigrants known as DACAs (some 700,000 who were granted temporary waivers from deportation in President Obama's 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive order) nor for some 4 million DREAMERS (anyone who came into the U.S. before the age of 18 by whenever the Dream Act of 2017 is passed). This would seem to be a huge failure for Democrats since they shut down the government twice in 2018 over DACA DREAMERS.



* The new bill also expands the operational budget and number of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents who work to enforce immigration laws in the interior (not the borders) of the country. Some Democrats have demanded that ICE be de-funded altogether.



* It also expands the number of detention beds available to ICE without a cap even though Democrats had demanded a max.



* And maybe Mexico will in effect pay for it all after all if the illicit some $50 billion in drug monies that the now convicted for life imprisonment Drug Lord known as El Chapo is confiscated by the feds.

So one could say that Democrats are the one who lost the border wall battle and Republican won big.

You decide.

Happy Valentines day!

# # # ## #UPDATE: The Pound to US Dollar exchange rates extended gains to a fresh four-week low during Thursday trading as the cross dipped to $1.27729 ahead of the House of Commons vote in the UK.

At the time of writing, the Cable was last seen trading at $1.28123, in the upper quartile of the overnight range.

The Prime Minister suffered a fresh defeat in the parliamentary session, failing to secure backing for her Brexit strategy. The PM now has until 26th of February to get a deal approved and failing that MPs will debate and vote on the way forward on February 27th.

In a note to clients, Goldman Sachs wrote There does exist a majority in the House of Commons willing to avoid a no deal Brexit (if called upon to do so), but there does not yet exist a majority in the House of Commons willing to support a second referendum (at least at this stage).

Goldman now put the probability of a deal being struck at 50% while a no-deal exit at 15% and no Brexit whatsoever at 35%.

Goldman added The prime minister will repeatedly try to defer the definitive parliamentary vote on her negotiated Brexit deal, and the intensification of tail risks will continue to play a role in incentivizing the eventual ratification of that deal. On the data front, UK retail sales (0930 GMT) are expected to rebound prom a previous 0.9% contraction to 0.2%.

Pound Sterling US Dollar (GBP/USD) Exchange Rate Fails to Benefit from Weak US Retail Sales

Unexpectedly weak US retail sales data was not enough to prevent the Pound Sterling to US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate trending lower on Thursday.

The appeal of the US Dollar generally diminished in the wake of news that advance retail sales had contracted -1.2% on the month in December, falling significantly short of forecasts of a 0.1% uptick.

This suggests that the recent government shutdown dragged on consumer sentiment in the final month of 2018, driving down spending over the key festive period.

Even so, hopes of progress towards a US-China trade deal and a fresh bout of Brexit-based worries left the Pound unable to capitalise on this underwhelming data.

Falling House Prices Dent Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rates

GBP exchange rates came under renewed pressure after Januarys RICS house price balance showed a fresh deterioration on the month.

The -22% contraction does not bode well for the outlook of the UK housing market, suggesting that UK households are continuing to take a cautious approach as Brexit-based uncertainty intensifies.

Confidence in the Pound was also dented as markets braced for the latest parliamentary debate and vote on Brexit.

Although Thursdays vote is not meaningful it will offer a fresh indication of sentiment among MPs, indicating whether support for Theresa Mays deal is strengthening or not.

If markets see the odds of a no-deal Brexit rise in the wake of the vote this could drag the Pound lower across the board, given the rapid approach of the March deadline.

Resilient Consumer Sentiment to Shore up US Dollar (USD) Exchange Rates

The US Dollar could find fresh support ahead of the weekend, meanwhile, if Februarys University of Michigan consumer sentiment index proves positive.

Signs of strengthening confidence among consumers would offer an encouraging signal for the wider US economy, with improved sentiment likely to fuel higher levels of spending and economic activity.

Even though the index is not expected to reverse all of the previous months decline any improvement is likely to boost USD exchange rates, as the impact of the government shutdown fades.

However, if Federal Reserve policymakers continue to take a less hawkish tone on monetary policy this could limit the appeal of the US Dollar.

UK Retail Sales Rebound Could Boost GBP/USD Exchange Rate

Fridays UK retail sales data may offer the GBP/USD exchange rate a boost, however, if sales show a solid rebound on the month.

After Decembers lacklustre performance from the retail sector investors are looking for signs that consumers shrugged off Brexit anxiety at the start of 2019.

Any uptick in sales could help the Pound to recover some of its lost ground ahead of the weekend, in spite of lingering concerns over the health of the wider UK economy.

On the other hand, another month of weak sales would expose the GBP/USD exchange rate to a fresh downtrend as confidence in the UKs economic outlook deteriorates.Euro (EUR/) Remains Hobbled as Domestic and External Risks Leave Little Room for Optimism

At the turn of the year, many institutional forecasts were calling for a Euro (EUR/) resurgence against a softening US Dollar (USD/$) and while that may still be the case the year thus far has seen the Euro extend declines against a basket of peers with the EURUSD cross slumping to a fresh three-month low in early Thursday trading.

The bloc cant seem to catch a break, with a host of risks weighing on overall economic activity, optimism and in turn the single currency. Commenting on recent Euro performance, BK Asset Management managing director Kathy Lien pointed to five factors currently negatively impacting the Euro.

1. Continued softness in EZ data 2. US Budget deal optimism lifting USD 3. Lower German yields 4. Prospect of weaker EZ GDP tomorrow 5. Political trouble in Spain

Eurozone Data Continues to Disappoint

On the hard data front, hopes of a near-term rebound in economic activity were well and truly quashed in the wake of European Central Bank (ECB) governor, Mario Draghis commentary suggesting that the current slowdown is likely to extend beyond previous expectations as risks to economic growth remain fluid.

Several EU member states barely avoided falling into a technical recession at the tail end of 2018, with dismal industrial output, manufacturing figures and weak PMIs contributing to weak gross domestic product (GDP) growth figures while both business and consumer confidence regarding both the current and future operating conditions continued to deteriorate severely.

Commenting on the slew of weak data out of the bloc over recent months, Danske Bank senior analyst Kristoffer Kjr Lomholt wrote External factors such as the trade war, Brexit, as well as domestic problems in the car sector and low water levels in the Rhine River continued to hamper activity in Q4.

Thursdays session saw preliminary Q4 GDP figures for Germany suggest the EUs largest economic contributor barely missed a technical recession at the end of last year, printing a 0.0% change on the previous quarter.

ING chief economist (Germany) , Carsten Brzeski commented on the latest data The German economy escaped a technical recession with the smallest margin possible. The black eye just got blacker.

Resolution of US Funding Crisis Lifts US Dollar

While the Eurozone is facing a suite of domestic challenges , the single currencys depreciation can at least in part be attributed to a re-firming of the US Dollar (USD/$). Fading Fed-induced stimulus, confirmed by the Federal Reserve hitting the pause button on late cycle hikes in the wake of the latest Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) monetary policy meeting has done little to dent the Greenbacks strong market performance in the year so far.

The latest political developments in the US have further bolstered US Dollar sentiment as it looks almost certain the Democrats, Republicans and the President will sign off on a deal which avoids a return to the partial federal government shutdown.

BK Asset Managements Lien, commented on the funding crisis It is not yet a done deal but it needs to be approved by Congress by Friday and signed by the President by Saturday to keep the government running adding Everyone from the Democrats to Republicans and the President want to avoid another shutdown so despite his (President Trumps) lack of commitment, all signs point to an agreement because in Trumps own words a shutdown would be a terrible thing.

Lower EUR Bond Yields

A large portion of the fall in US and European yields occurred towards the tail end of 2018 and while US yields have stabilised into 2019, European yields have continued to decline steadily prompting a widening of the spread between 10Y EUR and USD swap rates.

Chief Danske Bank analyst, Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, points to a number of factors expected to keep bond yields depressed in the near-term. Rasmussen wrote China growth concerns, Brexit concerns, fears of a trade war and specific production issues in the German car industry due to new environmental regulations are all factors that have broken the growth momentum in the euro area adding These factors are not likely to come off investor agendas anytime soon, and they will contribute to keeping bond yields low for the coming months.

Anticipation of Weak EU Gross Domestic Product

Following the early morning release of preliminary German GDP figures for Q4 2018, Thursday will also see early estimates of overall Eurozone growth. The forecast of 0.2% growth, while marginally positive would be the joint lowest quarterly growth for the bloc since 2014.

Given the propensity of recent Eurozone economic data releases to miss forecasts, investor caution regarding the GDP release is fairly warranted.

Budgetary Bill Dispute Threatens to Prompt Early Spanish Election

First Italy, then France and now Spain. Budgetary issues and the related political fallout seem to have an inescapable theme for the Eurozone over recent months. Wednesdays session saw the Spanish government lost a parliamentary vote on their proposed 2019 budget bill which could force the government into calling an early general election.

BK Asset Managements Lien commented on the likely Euro impact, Prime Minister Sanchez is expected to make a decision on calling the elections by Friday and if his government falls, a right wing coalition government could take over which would be very bad for the euro.this news is not availablePHILADELPHIA - Offering compensation can be an important tactic to attract potential participants for enrollment in research studies, but it might come at a cost. A new study conducted by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that up to 23 percent of respondents lied about their eligibility to participate in a survey when offered payment, even small amounts.

Anecdotal evidence and common sense suggest that offering money may encourage participants to lie about their eligibility or other aspects of study participation in order to secure payment, the authors said. But few studies have investigated whether and to what extent people will deceive, leaving a major gap in the literature. The new findings, published in JAMA Network Open, suggest the practice may be pervasive.

A total of 2,275 respondents participated in a nationally representative, randomized survey on flu vaccination status. One study group lacked motivation to lie about whether they had recently had a flu shot because their eligibility didn't depend on it. Their reported rates of flu vaccination were therefore used to determine the true rate of vaccination in the study population. Other groups were offered $5, $10, or $20 for participation and were told they were eligible only if they had (or in some groups, had not) received a recent flu shot. If no one was lying, all study groups would have reported about the same rates of flu vaccination.

"Instead, we found evidence of significant deception by participants who were not eligible, but claimed they were in order to be able to join the study," said first author Holly Fernandez Lynch, JD, MBE, an assistant professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy. "This type of behavior not only undermines a study's integrity and its results, but in a study with eligibility criteria that are intended to protect participants, it also has the potential to put participants at risk."

In the control group, 52.2 percent of respondents reported a recent flu shot. But when told that eligibility depended on recent flu vaccination and financial compensation of $5, $10, or $20 was offered, reports of vaccination jumped to 63.1 percent, 62.8 percent, and 62.1 percent, respectively. When told that eligibility depended on having not received a recent flu vaccination, reports of vaccination dropped to 46.5 percent at $5, 41.8 percent at $10, and 46.7 percent at $20. Because the only differences between these groups were their eligibility criteria and payment amounts, the differences in their reported vaccination rates can be attributed to deception. The researchers calculated that between 10.5 and 22.8 percent of participants engaged in deception about their eligibility to participate.

The authors say one of the study's most interesting findings is that more money wasn't associated with higher rates of deception. "This suggests that keeping payments low will not necessarily prevent deception," said study co-author Steven Joffe, MD, MPH, chief of the division of Medical Ethics, "It also suggests that higher payments may encourage recruitment without posing a greater risk to the study's integrity."

The study's senior author Emily A. Largent, PhD, JD, RN, an assistant professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, emphasized the importance of finding ways to minimize deception by study participants. "Rather than relying on self-reporting by participants, investigators should use objective metrics whenever possible," Largent said. "The best response to our findings is not necessarily to reduce or eliminate payment offers for participation. Payment can help boost legitimate enrollment; in addition, investigators may owe payment as compensation for the time, effort, and burden that participants assume by joining the study."

Although this study was conducted in the context of survey research, its findings support the need for further studies in clinical trials, where payment amounts and other benefits, like access to investigational drugs, as well as study risks, are often more substantial.

###

Additional Penn co-authors include Harsha Thirumurthy, PhD, and Dawei Xei, PhD.

The work was supported in part by the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (UL1TR001878), as well as the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics and the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics at the Perelman School of Medicine.

Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $7.8 billion enterprise.

The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top medical schools in the United States for more than 20 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $405 million awarded in the 2017 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center -- which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report -- Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Medicine Princeton Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital - the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, a leading provider of highly skilled and compassionate behavioral healthcare.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2017, Penn Medicine provided $500 million to benefit our community.PHILADELPHIA-- When analyzing reviews of hospitals on Yelp, Penn Medicine researchers found that the word most associated with negative reviews, including those rated at one-star, was "told," which appeared almost 20 percent of the posts. Published today in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, the study points to the value patients and their loved ones' place on communication in health care settings.

Among the one-star reviews the researchers saw that featured "told" were frustrations about information that was ostensibly shared ("They never told me the cost of any of the procedures"), anger at a lack of listening ("I told her I did not want to discuss it any more but she persisted to badger me.") and feelings of futility ("Some idiot doctor examined me and told me there was nothing they could do for me.").

"Oftentimes, words such as 'told' hint at a breakdown in communication," said Anish Agarwal, MD, a National Clinician Scholars fellow and Emergency Medicine physician at Penn Medicine. "I suspect that patients are not feeling listened to or heard and this could be driving poor experiences and low reviews."

A previous study comparing Yelp reviews of hospital emergency departments to those of urgent care centers by Agarwal and his study co-author, Raina Merchant, MD, the director of the Penn Medicine Center for Digital Health and an associate professor in Emergency Medicine, showed that the majority of reviews were of the one-star variety: 47 percent for emergency departments and 30 percent in urgent care centers. Delving deeper, the pair then used a machine learning tool to pick out words that appeared most often in reviews, and correlated them to star levels.

After analyzing 51,376 reviews for 1,566 United States hospitals, researchers found that the word "told" appeared in 9,578 reviews, which, taken together, averaged 1.78 stars.

When it came to positive reviews, the word "friendly" was found in nearly 11 percent of them, 5,594 total. Along with the word "great," it correlated the most with five-star reviews. In these, reviews often focused on the clinical staff's demeanor and attentiveness ("The entire staff was very friendly and made sure we were taken care of.").

"Patients value communication highly in their overall experience when they're in the hospital," Agarwal said. "As health care transitions to being more patient-centered, I think hospitals and providers need to continue to work on how we improve communication, how we listen, and how we approach all patient interactions."

While official surveys about hospital experiences are available, the study authors feel that Yelp reviews are a valuable tool to view unfiltered thoughts and feelings.

"Friends, family members and patients all can post a review from their unique perspectives on their hospital experience," Agarwal explained. "Even more, these online review sites usually do not have prompts or a list of questions to guide people, which means the individual posting the review can comment on what comes to mind and, perhaps, what means most to them."

By keeping an eye on these reviews, hospitals might be able to pinpoint areas currently causing problems in the patient experience. And as online reviews and social media continue to grow--and become intertwined--Agarwal expects to continue exploring this data to point out potential approaches for improvement.

###

Arthur Pelullo, MS, an application developer at the Center for Digital Health, also served as a co-author on this study. Lyle Ungar, PhD, a professor of Computer and Information Science, was also involved in the research.

Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $7.8 billion enterprise.

The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top medical schools in the United States for more than 20 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $405 million awarded in the 2017 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center -- which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report -- Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Medicine Princeton Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, a leading provider of highly skilled and compassionate behavioral healthcare.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2017, Penn Medicine provided more than $500 million to benefit our community.One out of every six Canadian couples experiences infertility. Some resort to in vitro fertilization. But the embryos obtained through this technique often have defects. In a study published today in the journal Current Biology, researchers from the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) succeeded in reducing the number of defects in mouse embryos in the laboratory. In the medium term, this unprecedented discovery could improve infertile couples' chances of giving birth.

About half of the embryos generated during in vitro fertilization fertility treatments contain cells with an abnormal number of chromosomes. This abnormality, called aneuploidy, is well known in reproductive biology and is considered a major cause of infertility.

"In our study, we explain at least one of the reasons why this occurs. We found that it's due to a defect in a mechanism called the "spindle checkpoint." We also show that if we manipulate this checkpoint in mouse embryos by using a simple drug, we can reduce the chances of error by about half," explained Dr. Greg FitzHarris, CRCHUM researcher and professor at the Universite de Montreal.

By administering the right dose of this synthetic substance called proTAME, researchers observed that a larger percentage of cells of each of the mouse embryos had a normal number of chromosomes. In mice, a normal oocyte (ovum) contains 20 chromosomes, whereas in humans it contains 23.

Hope for humans?

Making the best possible embryo is one of the keys to success when it comes to in vitro fertilization.

This discovery is still at the basic research stage, being conducted in the laboratory on mice. Greg FitzHarris emphasizes that it's very important to be cautious about its application to humans.

"The potential for transferring the technique to humans is clear. And I'm sure that fertility clinics would really like to try it in the hope of creating 'better embryos.' However, it would be very irresponsible to implement this concept clinically at this point, before safety tests have been successfully carried out," emphasized the researcher.

###

The results of this study were the subject of a provisional patent application US 62/729,090 entitled "Method of reducing chromosome segregation error in cells of the early embryo" filed September 20, 2018.

To read: "Cell size-independent spindle checkpoint failure underlies chromosome segregation error in mouse embryos" par Cayetana Vazquez-Diez et al. in Current Biology. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.12.042

Information and statistics on fertility: Public Health Agency of Canada website

About the CRCHUM

The University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) is one of North America's leading hospital research centres. It strives to improve adult health through a research continuum covering such disciplines as the fundamental sciences, clinical research and public health. Over 1,861 people work at the CRCHUM, including 542 scientists and 719 students and research assistants.

chumontreal.qc.ca/crchum

About Universite de Montreal

Deeply rooted in Montreal and dedicated to its international mission, Universite de Montreal is one of the top universities in the French-speaking world. Founded in 1878, Universite de Montreal today has 16 faculties and schools, and together with its two affiliated schools, HEC Montreal and Polytechnique Montreal, constitutes the largest centre of higher education and research in Quebec and one of the major centres in North America. It brings together 2,500 professors and researchers and welcomes more than 60,000 students.

umontreal.caSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Scientists from 52 countries will be providing hands-on help in Puerto Rico to restore marine and coastal resources damaged during hurricane Maria in 2017 in connection with the annual meeting of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography February 23 to March 2, 2019.

"The Puerto Rico and Minnesota Sea Grant programs are working together with Puerto Rico-based members of the ASLO meeting committee to offer educational activities and volunteer opportunities that focus on environmental and ecosystem restoration," said Puerto Rico Sea Grant Director and ASLO committee member Ruperto Chaparro Serrano. "Our intention is to use ASLO's annual scientific meeting as a means to give strong material and intellectual assistance in coastal recovery to Puerto Rico."

Scientists and meeting participants will help local organizations in their post-hurricane efforts by recovering coral reef fragments and reattaching them, collecting water samples and aquatic insects to assess water quality, cleaning up coral reefs and mangrove keys, painting houses and planting bananas, beans and cassava at a local farm.

"I live in Puerto Rico and had the opportunity to work in the initial response after hurricane Maria and witnessed the devastation and needs that our people have," said Aurea E. Rodriguez-Santiago, a member of the ASLO planning committee. "I am very proud of the set of community outreach activities and deeply appreciate the response that these activities have had from ASLO members to help our communities and our students."

ASLO's Puerto Rico outreach activities are listed below.

The meeting will address areas of key importance to Puerto Rico including societal and environmental recovery and development, renewable energy, environmental sustainability, clean water, and rebuilding and maintaining coastal and reef ecosystems.

"The 33 nationwide Sea Grant programs bring reliable science to stakeholders whether they are businesses, industries, policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, communities, governments, students, educators, or individuals," said Minnesota Sea Grant Director and ASLO meeting co-chair John A. Downing. "If the science needed does not exist yet, our granting programs seek scientists who can do the research and our extension educators bring that science back to stakeholders."

The public is encouraged to come to the "What can aquatic scientists do for you?" event Wednesday evening where they are invited to discuss how to close the communication gap between scientists and nonscientists. Translators will be available to help facilitate discussion among the audience and the panelists.

"We hope that the scientists at the meeting will build research collaborations among scientists in Puerto Rico, the mainland United States and globally," said Chaparro. "While the meeting in San Juan will benefit Puerto Rico in the short term, organizers hope conference outcomes will positively impact the island in the long term."

Puerto Rico Sea Grant is hosting an informational booth (#E-31) in Hall B of the Puerto Rico Convention Center from February 26 to 28.

An education fair on Wednesday will have booths of educational activities, demonstrations and resources for local middle and high students and teachers. These educators and students will work with scientists at the meeting to identify new ways of delivering science curricula. There will be a high-school student poster session on February 27. ASLO student members residing in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands can register for free.

"What we learn from the scientists presenting at ASLO 2019 and from the island communities will help us help Puerto Rico. The lessons we take home will also inform how we prepare, adapt and respond in our own freshwater or saltwater coastal communities that are in peril," said Downing.

###

COMMUNITY OUTREACH ACTIVITIES:

Volunteering with P.E.C.E.S. Participants will be painting houses and other tasks as a part of a recovery project organized by P.E.C.E.S. (El Programa de Educacion Comunal de Entrega y Servicio), an NGO that fosters social, economic, and educational development of individuals and communities in social disadvantage. Monitoring Dive at a Coral Reef Ecosystem at Escambron Beach and Condado Lagoon. Monitoring Dive at a Coral Reef Ecosystem at Escambron Beach and Condado Lagoon. One diver will work with Manuel Nieves, a graduate student at the Department of Marine Science (DMS) - University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez (UPRM). Coral Reef Fragments Recovery Dive and Restoration Project. Participants will take part in dives to recover coral reef fragments at the Escambron and Condado lagoon. This activity is part of an ongoing restoration project under the direction of Samuel Suleiman, president of Sociedad Ambiente Marino, Inc. (SAM)/Marine Environment Society. Water Quality Monitoring in Different Zones. Participants will be involved in water quality monitoring activities under the direction of Samuel Suleiman, Sociedad Ambiente Marino, Inc. (SAM)/Marine Environment Society. Monitoring sites include locations close to the Puerto Rico Convention Center. Coral Reefs and Mangrove Keys Cleanup at La Parguera. Organized by graduate students from the Department of Marine Science (DMS) - University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez (UPRM). The purpose of this activity is to acquire data for a long-term Marine Debris project at various sites within the La Parguera mangrove ecosystem. La Parguera is a village in the municipality of Lajas. Guakia Colectivo Agroecologico. Participants will be involved in planting and farming vegetables and fruits seedlings in an eco-agricultural farm in the municipality of Dorado. Their mission is to produce food, technology and learning experiences accessible to the Puerto Rican community throughout collective work and agroecological farming. https:/ / www. facebook. com/ guakiapr/ Educational Workshop About the Role and Importance of Aquatic Macroinvertebrates in Freshwater Quality (Quebrada Sonadora River at El Yunque National Forest) Participants will hear a presentation about macroinvertebrates and why they are good bioindicators of water quality. Following the discussion, they will get into the water to collect macroinvertebrates with nets and will identify the microhabitats that they inhabit. Educational Workshop About the Role and Importance of Aquatic Macroinvertebrates in Freshwater Quality (Quebrada Sonadora River at El Yunque National Forest). Participants will hear a presentation about macroinvertebrates and why they are good bioindicators of water quality. Following the discussion, they will get into the water to collect macroinvertebrates with nets and will identify the microhabitats that they inhabit. The previous and this activity are Sponsored by Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research, University of Puerto Rico, Natural Science Faculty, Department of Environmental Science (LTER - UPR). http://luq. lter. network/ Restoration, Management and Conservation Project of the Las Cucharillas Marsh. The activity will consist of an environmental and social justice talk, an interpretative tour of the Las Cucharillas reserve and a mangrove transplant activity. This activity is hosted by El Corredor del Yaguazo, Inc. with the support of http://www. caraspr. org/ en/ education/ .

CONTACT:

Ruperto Chaparro Serrano, MS, Director Puerto Rico Sea Grant. 787-832-3585, 787-832-4040 x5260, ruperto.chaparro@upr.edu.

John A. Downing, PhD, Director Minnesota Sea Grant, downing@d.umn.edu

Aurea E. Rodriguez-Santiago, PhD, Founder and Director, Taller Ecologico de Puerto Rico, 787-637-5952, auryo@gmail.com

Cynthia Maldonado Arroyo, Communications Coordinator, Puerto Rico Sea Grant. 787-834-4726, comunicacionespsg@uprm.edu.

Marie Thoms, Communications and Public Relations, Minnesota Sea Grant. 218-726-8710, m: 907-460-1841, methoms@d.umn.edu.Sales of prescription psychiatric drugs such as Xanax and diazepam via darknet online drug markets have increased in the UK at an alarming rate, according to new research by the University of Kent and King's College London.

The findings validate concerns that non-medical prescription drug use (NMPDU) is becoming increasingly common in the UK and that policy makers need to act to address this issue.

Researchers from the universities set out to examine the scale of NMPDU via sales made on the darknet of three key drug types: sedatives, stimulants and opioid dependency products. They did this by analysing these types of drugs sold on 31 cryptomarkets in the USA, UK, Australia and European nations such as Germany and Sweden between September 2013 and July 2016.

In the UK the proportion of sales of sedatives such as alprazolam (popularly known by its trade name Xanax) and diazepam had increased by just under a percentage point (0.9%) each year over the study period to around 12% of the total of all drugs sold via the darknet in the UK by 2016, behind drug groups such as cannabis, MDMA-type products and cocaine. The researchers said this should alarm policy makers and demonstrates an increasing interest in these products.

Furthermore, this meant the UK accounted for close to a third (31.1%) of all sedatives sold on the darknet in the data analysed, not far behind the US that had the largest share at 41.4%. The report also notes that sales of Xanax are catching up with the more traditionally used UK sedative diazepam - growing from 10% to a quarter of sedative sales monitored over the study period.

The USA had the largest share of other prescription psychiatric drug sales monitored. In total it accounted for 59.2% of all stimulant sales monitored and 64.4% of opioid dependency products such as suboxone and methadone. Sales of sedatives and stimulants increased by half a percentage point, pointing to an increased popularity, though more muted than the increase for sedatives in the UK.

The researchers say the findings have a number of policy implications, not least by confirming that non-prescribed sedative demand is an increasing issue in the UK relative to other drugs, as has been previously noted by Public Health England, particularly with regards to the use of Xanax.

Dr Jack Cunliffe from the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at Kent said: 'The data shows that there is significant increase in the demand for nonmedical use of prescription drugs in the UK compared to other drugs in many advanced Western nations via the darknet. Governments must recognise this and look to create policies that react to these trends, especially if they wish to avoid a prescription drugs crisis similar to that which is occurring in the USA.'

On the rise of alprazolam, Dr Cunliffe added: 'Given that Xanax is not available in the UK on the NHS, the rising sales might have something to do with its notoriety in the USA, where its use is frequently glamorised in popular culture.'

The findings, co-authored with Dr Thomas Pollak from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London and Dr David Decary-Hetu from the University of Montreal, have been published in the International Journal of Drug Policy in a paper entitled Nonmedical prescription psychiatric drug use and the darknet: a cryptomarket analysis.

###Some of the damaging cell effects linked to ageing could be prevented by manipulating tiny parts of cells, a study shows.

Scientists have shed light on how the harm caused by senescence - a vital cell process that plays a key role in diseases of ageing - could be controlled or even stopped.

Researchers say the findings could have relevance for age-related diseases including cancers and diabetes, although they caution that further research is needed.

During senescence, cells stop dividing. This can be beneficial in assisting wound-healing and preventing excessive growth seen in cancers.

Some aspects of senescence are also harmful and can lead to tissue damage and the deterioration of cell health as seen in diseases of older age.

Scientists at the Medical Research Council's Human Genetics Unit and the Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre at the University of Edinburgh focused on a chain of harmful processes triggered by senescence, known as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP).

The SASP is a cascade of chemical signals that can promote damage to cells through inflammation.

The researchers showed that manipulating a cell's nuclear pores- gateways through which molecules enter the heart of the cell - prevented triggering of the SASP.

Findings also show that DNA had to be reorganised in space within in the cell's nucleus in order for the SASP to be triggered.

Researchers say the study sheds light on the fundamental workings of the cell and could be instrumental in understanding cell ageing.

The study, published in Genes and Development, was funded by the Medical Research Council and by Cancer Research UK.

Professor Wendy Bickmore, Director of the Human Genetics Unit at the University of Edinburgh's Medical Research Council Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, who led the study, said: "These findings provide us with a much clearer understanding of how senescence causes cell damage. Whilst we are some way from being able to halt the damage caused by the ageing process, we hope that this advance will open up avenues to explore how we might slow some of the harm that stems from senescence. This could be of relevance to the many conditions that tend to affect us as we grow older."

Dr Lindsay Wilson, Programme Manager for Genetics, Epigenetics and Genomics at the Medical Research Council, added: "This study is important because it provides valuable insights in how cells respond to damage and stress. Senescence is an essential self-defence mechanism but at times, can also be harmful. Professor Bickmore's work suggests ways in which scientists of the future might target these harmful effects, for example in age-related diseases."

###Nearly seventy years after myxomatosis decimated the rabbit populations of Australia, Britain and France, a new study reveals how the species has evolved genetic resistance to the disease through natural selection.

An unprecedented study of rabbit DNA spanning 150 years and thousands of miles has revealed the genetic basis for the animal's fightback against the deadly myxoma virus. Using the latest technology, an international team led by the University of Cambridge and CIBIO Institute in Porto, extracted DNA from nearly 200 rabbits dating from 1865-2013, including one owned by Charles Darwin. The scientists then sequenced nearly 20,000 genes to pinpoint mutations that have emerged since the myxomatosis pandemics of the 1950s.

The study, published today in the journal Science, establishes that modern rabbits in Australia, the UK and France have acquired resistance to myxomatosis through the same genetic changes. The scientists also discovered that this resistance relies on the cumulative impact of multiple mutations of different genes.

Lead author, Joel Alves said: "We compared rabbits collected before the virus outbreak in the 1950s with modern populations that evolved resistance, and found that the same genes had changed in all three countries. Many of these genes play a key role in the rabbit immune system. Often evolution works through big changes in single genes, but our findings show that resistance to myxomatosis likely evolved through lots of small effects spread across the genome."

Three particularly significant mutations were discovered in the IFN-alpha 21A gene which sets off a protein-based alarm in rabbit cells when a virus is detected. In the lab, the team produced the form of the protein found in rabbits in the 1950s and the different form found today. Senior author Professor Francis Jiggins from Cambridge's Department of Genetics said: "We sent these proteins into battle with different strains of the virus and that's when we saw, on a molecular level, how rabbits have been fighting back over all these years."

Australia unleashed myxomatosis on an out-of-control rabbit population in 1950. The European rabbit is thought to have been introduced to the country by Thomas Austin, an English settler, in the 1850s. Within a century, they numbered hundreds of millions. The species wreaked havoc on Australia's native plants and animals but in less than three months, myxomatosis had spread 2,000 km and killed 99 per cent of infected animals. In 1952, the virus was illegally introduced in France and in 1953 it reached the UK, leading to similarly devastating results in both countries.

Scientists soon began tracking the evolution of both the virus and the rabbits, and in all three countries, they observed a substantial drop in fatality rates. They concluded that this was due to the disease becoming less virulent but also rabbits becoming more resistant. Animal populations exhibit considerable genetic variation in susceptibility to infection which allows for rapid evolution of resistance when exposed to new diseases. The pandemics of the 1950s triggered a particularly intense process of natural selection. Those initial findings have become a textbook example of host-parasite coevolution but this new study offers a far more detailed picture of what has been happening in rabbits.

The team collected historical samples from 11 natural history museums in the UK, France, Australia and the United States. One of the rabbits from which DNA was sequenced belonged to Charles Darwin and is now housed in London's Natural History Museum (images attached). Joel Alves said: "It wasn't easy to get samples from so many long-dead rabbits. Not all natural history museums keep rabbits because they are not very exotic compared to other species. But the museums we worked with have done a great job of keeping their specimens well preserved for decades. This and the availability of new technology gave us a unique opportunity."

At a time when rabbit populations are collapsing across the UK and mainland Europe, this research may provide clues to the animal's future. The team found that the protein that helps rabbits fend off the myxoma virus also has an antiviral effect on an unrelated virus called vesicular stomatitis. Miguel Carneiro, from CIBIO, University of Porto, said: "While battling myxoma, rabbits may have increased their resistance to other viruses including, perhaps, rabbit haemorrhagic disease which is killing so many animals right now."

Meanwhile, myxoma remains a serious threat to rabbits. Joel Alves said: "Viral evolution appears to be finding ways to counter the genetic adaptations which we've observed. Recent, more virulent recent strains of myxoma virus, have been found to be extremely immunosuppressive. So the arms race goes on."

###Irvine, Calif., Feb. 13, 2019 - Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a wearable, disposable respiration monitor that provides high-fidelity readings on a continuous basis. It's designed to help children with asthma and cystic fibrosis and others with chronic pulmonary conditions.

The inexpensively produced sensors were created by UCI biomedical engineers using the popular children's toy Shrinky Dinks, thin sheets of plastic that are painted or drawn on and then shrunk with heat.

Placed in two positions - one between the ninth and 10th ribs and another on the abdomen - the Band-Aid-like devices track the rate and volume of the wearer's respiration by measuring the local strain on the application areas. The information gleaned could, in the case of asthma, help warn of an oncoming attack.

"The current standard of care in respiration monitoring is a pulmonary function test that's often difficult to perform and limited in terms of the snapshot it provides of a patient's respiratory health - meaning problems can sometimes be missed," said Michael Chu, UCI graduate student researcher in biomedical engineering and lead author of a paper on the innovation published today in npj Digital Medicine. "Our new stretch sensors allow users to walk around and go about their lives while vital information on the health of their lungs is being collected."

The devices are made by applying a very thin layer of metal to a sheet of the plastic toy and then heat-shrinking it to cause corrugation. The film is then transferred to a soft, stretchy material - similar to small bandage - that can be adhered to a patient. Signals from embedded sensors can be transmitted via Bluetooth to be displayed on a smartphone app.

Michelle Khine, UCI professor of biomedical engineering, in whose lab the devices were developed, said she was inspired to pursue the innovation after the birth of her son nine months ago. Complications required the newborn to be confined to the neonatal intensive care unit hooked up to an array of machines supplying oxygen and monitoring his breathing.

"Despite having his whole tiny body covered in sensors, all the hospital staff could get was respiration rate information. If you looked at the vitals monitor, you'd see this waveform, so it looked like they were getting [respiration volume] information, but they weren't," Khine said. "I felt so helpless with my child just lying in this box. I wasn't allowed to carry him for eight days, so it was heartbreaking - but also frustrating to see all of these wires hooked up to him but not giving all the information we wanted."

She said those days in the hospital following the birth of her son were strongly motivating to her as a biomedical engineer: "I sent some pictures of him all wired up to my students, and I said, 'We have to be able to do better than this. This is 2018. It's insane.'"

Khine's lab is well-known for employing Shrinky Dinks as a platform for medical applications. About a decade ago, she innovated the use of the toy to produce microfluidic devices.

"It's amazing that this toy for kids has enabled us to create these robust sensors that may one day benefit children and others around the world," she said.

So far, members of the Khine lab have tested the new technology on healthy subjects, but there are plans for a pilot trial with a small number of asthma sufferers in the coming months.

###

Funding for this work was provided by the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the University of California Center for Accelerated Innovation.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 222 degree programs. It's located in one of the world's safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County's second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit http://www. uci. edu .

Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UCI faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UCI news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists.Icopal and Monier Redland have merged to become newly-launched BMI UK & Ireland.

The roofing company dates back 180 years, and has recently invested in its premises, systems and people. Its new brands include BMI Redland, BMI Icopal, BMI Monarplan and BMI Sealofle.

BMI UK & Ireland is part of BMI Group, which has more than 11,000 employees worldwide in 40 countries and runs over 150 production facilities. The Group was originally based in Central London, and BMI UK & Ireland has moved into new head office premises in Milton Keynes.

Managing Director Andy Dennis said: We are totally committed to doing whats right for homeowners, building owners, the public and the industry.

By working together we can identify and support their needs every step of the way  from how the building will be used, to how the roof could be used and the benefits the roof can bring to them as owners and, of course, the community around them.

With the formation of BMI UK & Ireland, homeowners, building owners, the public and the industry now have a partner who is fully engaged with their design and building needs and truly cares about what matters to them and how together we can make a better world.A personal survey of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), one of the most important causes of irregular heartbeats, has found that the majority of triggers for the condition are easily modifiable lifestyle choices, including alcohol, caffeine, exercise and lack of sleep.

The findings, identified by researchers at UC San Francisco in collaboration with patients and advocates, indicate potential ways to prevent and reduce AF episodes. The study appears online Feb. 14, 2019, in the journal HeartRhythm.

"Almost all AF studies have to do with risk factors for the initial development of the disease," said senior author Gregory Marcus, MD, MAS, a UCSF Health cardiologist and associate chief of cardiology for research in the UCSF Division of Cardiology. "This study focuses on specific exposures that cause an individual episode to occur."

In AF, electrical impulses in the upper chambers of the heart are chaotic, causing the atrial walls to quiver, rather than contracting normally in moving blood to the lower chambers. As a result, blood clots may form. One in four adults over age 40 is at risk for AF, with a projection of nearly 6 million people in the nation having the condition by 2050.

AF is one of the leading causes of stroke, but often has no symptoms and can remain undetected until a stroke actually occurs. Earlier detection would enable the use of anticoagulation therapy to mitigate the risk of stroke and other complications, such as dementia, chronic kidney disease and heart attack.

Previous research has focused on determining predictors of AF development, which are known to include being older, male and white; having multiple cardiovascular comorbidities; and lifestyle factors such as alcohol and smoking. Little is known about acute exposures influencing specific episodes.

According to Marcus, the idea for this study arose from a group of AF patients, including author Mellanie True Hills, chief executive officer of the patient advocacy non-profit StopAfib.org, and another, Debbe McCall, who has a Twitter following of thousands of fellow patients. They are part of the Health eHeart Alliance, a patient-powered research network involved in the design, conduct, oversight and results dissemination of cardiovascular-focused research projects and supported by the UCSF-led Health eHeart Study.

In the HeartRhythm study, the researchers surveyed 1,295 AF patients from the Health eHeart Study and StopAfib.org, asking them whether they had experienced an AF episode triggered by one of 11 potential triggers that had been identified by an AF patient review board. Participants also could write in their own triggers.

Nearly 74 percent (957) reported AF triggers. The most common were alcohol (35 percent), caffeine (28 percent), exercise (23 percent) and lack of sleep (21 percent).

Younger patients, women and those with AF family history were more likely to report experiencing irregular heartbeats after triggers. On average, patients reported experiencing reactions to two different triggers. Women, Hispanics, those with obstructive sleep apnea and patients with an AF family history reported a greater number of triggers. Patients with AF triggers had 71 percent lower odds of congestive heart failure and more than a two-fold greater odds of AF family history compared to those without triggers, based on Health eHeart Study data.

Marcus said the study revealed a need to explore the impact of these common exposures on a broad range of AF patients, including a possible connection to underlying genetic differences.

"Better understanding of individual-level triggers may help empower patients and represents a novel approach to improving quality of life and reducing health care use for AF," said Marcus, holder of the Endowed Professorship of AF research in the UCSF School of Medicine. "For those with an AF family history, understanding gene-environment interactions may reveal novel mechanisms and, ultimately, help to counsel patients regarding the best lifestyle interventions."

The next step, Marcus said, is to launch an app-based study to anyone with intermittent (paroxysmal) AF and a smartphone to systemically test their triggers. Called I-STOP-AF (Individualized Studies of Triggers of Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation) and funded by PCORI (Patient-Centered Research Outcomes Institute), the six-week study will include periods of trigger exposure and elimination in about 500 participants and ask them to track AF symptoms along with their exposures. Marcus expects to launch the study this year.

###

Co-Authors: Lead author Christopher Groh, Madelaine Faulkner, Shiffen Getabecha, Victoria Taffe, Mark Pletcher, Jeffrey Olgin and Gregory Nah, from UCSF. Kathi Sigona, Debbe McCall, Mallanie True Hills and Katherine Sciarappa, of the Health eHeart Alliance.

Funding: The study was supported by PCORI. The Health eHeart Alliance is a Patient-Powered Research Network in PCORnet, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, a PCORI-funded initiative. The Health eHeart Alliance's participation in the development of PCORnet was partially funded through PCORI award 137480.

Disclosures: Marcus receives research funding from Medtronic and Jawbone and is a consultant for and holds equity in InCarda. Olgin receives research funding from ZOLL, Myia and iBeat, is a consultant for Novartis and VivaLink, and holds equity in Context AI. McCall receives speakers bureau support from Janssen, SentreHeart and the CardioVascular Clinical Trialists Forum and serves as a patient principal investigator on PCORI and AHRQ funded grants. Taffe previously was a part-time employee for the American Heart Association, Western States Affiliate.

About UCSF: UC San Francisco (UCSF) is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It includes top-ranked graduate schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy; a graduate division with nationally renowned programs in basic, biomedical, translational and population sciences; and a preeminent biomedical research enterprise. It also includes UCSF Health, which comprises three top-ranked hospitals - UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland - as well as Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital and Clinics, UCSF Benioff Children's Physicians and the UCSF Faculty Practice. UCSF Health has affiliations with hospitals and health organizations throughout the Bay Area. UCSF faculty also provide all physician care at the public Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, and the SF VA Medical Center. The UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program is a major branch of the University of California, San Francisco's School of Medicine. Please visit http://www. ucsf. edu/ news .

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ucsf.edu | Facebook.com/ucsf | YouTube.com/ucsfPHILADELPHIA and TAMPA, Fla. -- (Feb. 14, 2019) -- Collaborative research by The Wistar Institute and Moffitt Cancer Center has demonstrated that BRAF targeted therapies render resistant melanoma more sensitive to the attack of killer T cells. This result, published online in Clinical Cancer Research, suggests that adoptive T cell therapy may benefit patients that have become resistant to BRAF inhibitors.

Approximately 50% of melanoma patients carry a mutation in the BRAF protein. Targeted therapy with inhibitors of BRAF and the downstream pathway is very effective in these patients, but long-term benefits are limited due to the onset of therapy resistance. Previous studies demonstrated that BRAF inhibitors (BRAFi) positively affect the antitumor immune response mediated by T cells, and a recent small clinical trial has shown positive clinical responses in patients treated with a combination of BRAFi and adoptive T cell therapy, or infusion of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes isolated from the same patient and expanded ex vivo.

"The combinatorial approach of BRAFi and adoptive cell therapy is very promising but the mechanisms mediating this interaction have not been elucidated," said Dmitry I. Gabrilovich, M.D., Ph.D., Christopher M. Davis Professor and program leader of the Immunology, Microenvironment and Metastasis Program at Wistar and a co-corresponding author on the study. "More importantly, we had no proof that this strategy would also benefit patients who have developed resistance to BRAFi therapy."

Research from the Gabrilovich Lab has shown that increased levels of a protein called mannose-6-phosphate receptor (M6PR) are important for the antitumor effects of combination treatment with immunotherapy and chemotherapy or radiation therapy in different mouse models of cancer.

"We asked whether BRAFi could induce the same upregulation of M6PR and whether this effect could be exploited to potentiate the effects of adoptive T cell therapy in BRAFi-resistant tumors, for which clinical options are still very limited," said Amod Sarnaik, M.D., associate member of the Department of Cutaneous Oncology at Moffitt and a co-senior author on the study.

Importantly, M6PR is a receptor for granzyme B, a substance produced by activated CD8+ T cells, and mediates the intake of the toxic cargo released by these killer immune cells.

The team confirmed that BRAF inhibition induces higher expression of M6PR in melanoma cells in culture. Importantly, this effect was also seen in BRAFi-resistant cells. Furthermore, increased expression of M6PR correlated with higher intake of granzyme B and increased sensitivity of melanoma cells to the toxic activity of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes.

The translational relevance of these observations was evaluated in a pilot clinical trial in which 16 patients with metastatic melanoma were treated with the BRAFi vemurafenib followed by adoptive T cell therapy with tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. The combination treatment was well tolerated, and researchers observed that BRAFi caused a marked increase in M6PR in the patients' tumors.

This study suggests that adoptive T cell therapy may be therapeutically useful for patients who experienced tumor progression on BRAFi.

###

Co-authors: Co-first authors Cigdem Atay and Taekyoung Kwak, Sergio Lavilla-Alonso, Laxminarasimha Donthireddy, Vito W. Rebecca, Min Xiao, Jiufeng Tan, Gao Zhang, and Meenhard Herlyn from Wistar; Allison Richards, Valerie Moberg, Shari Pilon-Thomas, Michael Schell, and Jane L. Messina from Moffitt; Jeffrey S. Weber from New York University Langone Health.

Work supported by: National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants Melanoma SPORE P50CA168536, Melanoma SPORE P50CA174523, 5P01CA114046, 1U54CA224070, NCI-K23CA178083; department of defense grant WX1XWH-16-1-0119 (CA150619); research grants from Genentech Inc., the Donald A. Adam Melanoma and Skin Cancer Center of Excellence at Moffitt Cancer Center; the Swim Across America Foundation, the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation, and a Leo and Anne Albert American Cancer Society Foundation Research Scholar Grant. Core support for Wistar and Moffit was provided by Cancer Center Support Grants P30CA010815 and P30CA076292, respectively. Vemurafenib was provided by Genentech Inc. and IL-2 was provided by Prometheus Laboratories Inc.

Publication information: BRAF targeting sensitizes resistant melanoma to cytotoxic T cells, Clinical Cancer Research (2019). Advance online publication. About The Wistar Institute

The Wistar Institute is an international leader in biomedical research with special expertise in cancer, immunology, infectious disease research, and vaccine development. Founded in 1892 as the first independent nonprofit biomedical research institute in the United States, Wistar has held the prestigious Cancer Center designation from the National Cancer Institute since 1972. The Institute works actively to ensure that research advances move from the laboratory to the clinic as quickly as possible. wistar.org.

About Moffitt Cancer Center

Moffitt is dedicated to one lifesaving mission: to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer. The Tampa-based facility is one of only 49 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitt's scientific excellence, multidisciplinary research, and robust training and education. Moffitt is a Top 10 cancer hospital and has been nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report since 1999. Moffitt devotes more than 2 million square feet to research and patient care. Moffitt's expert nursing staff is recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center with Magnet status, its highest distinction. With more than 6,000 team members, Moffitt has an economic impact in the state of $2.1 billion. For more information, call 1-888-MOFFITT (1-888-663-3488), visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the momentum on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Media Contacts:

For Wistar:

Darien Sutton

(215) 898-3988

dsutton@wistar.org

For Moffitt:

Kim Polacek

(813) 745-7408

Kim.Polacek@Moffitt.orgRisk Analysis, An International Journal has published a special issue, "Social Science of Automated Driving," which features several articles examining the human side of automated driving, focusing on questions about morality, the role of feeling, trust and risk perceptions.

Autonomous vehicles are more than just an improvement on existing vehicles, they are a brand new technology. The widespread acceptance and adoption of autonomous vehicles hinges less on the technological challenges of creating the vehicles and more on the attitudes and perception of the people the technology is intended to serve. Public uncertainty raises significant societal questions about safety, infrastructure spending, regulations, insurance law and more. This collection of papers underscores the key roles of consumer attitudes and perceptions of risk in understanding acceptance of autonomous vehicles.

The issue begins with an article that explores whether an autonomous vehicle should swerve or stay in its lane when confronted with a situation in which either action could result in a collision with a pedestrian. In two empirical studies, Meder and his colleagues found that most people generally preferred that the autonomous vehicle defaults to staying in its travel lane, especially when the likelihood of collision was unknown. This preference held up even in hindsight when a hypothetical accident had already occurred.

The next article, by Liu, Yang and Xu explores the expected safety levels of automated vehicles. The authors used an expressed-preference approach to measure the acceptable level of risk as compared with human-driven vehicles. They found that people expect autonomous vehicles to be four to five times safer than human drivers and that the autonomous vehicles would have to reduce traffic fatalities by 75 percent before they would be accepted.

In a second paper Liu, Yang and Xu investigated the role of social trust and risk/benefit perceptions in the public acceptance of automated driving. The researchers employed a survey to measure three facets of acceptance: general acceptance of automated driving; willingness to pay for automated vehicles; and the intention to use, purchase or recommend automated vehicles. They found that social perceptions of trust directly affected all measures of acceptance.

The study by Brell, Philipsen and Ziefle also looked at risk and benefit perceptions by using a two-step empirical approach to explore risk perceptions of connected and autonomous vehicles in comparison to conventional driving. They found that autonomous driving was perceived as riskier but that increased experience with driver assistance systems resulted in decreased perceptions of riskiness.

The special issue concludes with a study aimed at understanding how feelings related to conventional driving affect the perception and acceptance of autonomous vehicles. Raue and her colleagues explored how feelings related to traditional driving were used as information to make judgments about self-driving cars. They also found that those who had more experience with vehicle automation technologies had lower risk and higher benefit perceptions, as well as higher trust feelings with regard to autonomous vehicles.

Articles included in this special issue:

"How should autonomous cars drive? A preference for defaults in moral judgments under risk and uncertainty" by Bjorn Meder, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Nadine Fleischhut, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Nina-Carolin Krumnau, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, and Michael R. Waldmann, University of Gottingen

"How safe is safe enough for self-driving vehicles?" by Peng Liu, Tianjin University, Run Yang, Tianjin University, and Zhigang Xu, Chang'an University

"Public acceptance of fully automated driving: Effects of social trust and risk/benefit perceptions" by Peng Liu, Run Yang and Zhigang Xu

"sCARy! Risk perceptions in autonomous driving - The influence of experience on perceived benefits and barriers" by Teresa Brell, Ralf Philipsen and Martina Ziefle, RWTH Aachen University

"The influence of feelings while driving regular cars on the perception and acceptance of self-driving cars" by Martina Raue, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Lisa A. D'Ambrosio, MIT, Carley Ward, MIT, Chaiwoo Lee, MIT, Claire Jacquillat, Carnegie Mellon University, and Joseph F. Coughlin, MIT

###From parrots to lizards, hundreds of animal species could be at risk of extinction because of a policy process that responds slowly to scientific knowledge, according to a new study in Science.

International wildlife authorities will gather in May to vote on wildlife trade restrictions at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Conference of the Parties (CoP). The study suggests concrete steps policymakers can take to speed up a wildlife protection process that can take more than two decades.

"New trends in wildlife trade can develop quickly, with some species going from common to near extinction in just a few years," said Eyal Frank, a co-author of the study and an assistant professor at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy. "A policymaking process needs to respond quickly to new information in order to prevent extinction for hundreds of animals and plants. That's why it's absolutely critical that policymakers allow science to inform a speedy protection process."

Frank and his co-author, David Wilcove from Princeton University, analyzed 958 species on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List that are endangered by international trade. Of those, they discovered that 28 percent are not protected by CITES, the primary international framework for preventing species extinction due to international wildlife trade.

When studying how quickly species from the Red List became protected under CITES, they found that 62 percent needed to wait as long as 19 years for protection under CITES or are still waiting to be listed up to 24 years after being first considered. These patterns are the same for even the most threatened species.

At the same time, the study points out that 36 percent of species studied were protected by CITES before making it on the Red List. This could be because the CITES authorities had information not available to the IUCN, or it could be due to staffing and other resource constraints at the IUCN.

"CITES and the Red List are two of the most important tools we have to save wildlife threatened by international trade. It's vital that these two institutions work together closely and quickly to stop the killing," said Wilcove, who is based at the Princeton Environmental Institute and Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Frank and Wilcove recommend that any nation that is part of CITES advocate that Red List species threatened by international trade be quickly protected under the treaty in order to clear the backlog, with the goal being that any threatened species on the Red List that is threatened by trade receive a prompt vote for immediate protection under CITES. Independently from CITES, all countries can use the Red List as a source of information and take measures to protect threatened species found within their borders.

###

The paper, "Long delays in banning trade in threatened species," was published in Science as a Perspectives piece.Most schoolchildren learn that the Earth has three (or four) layers: a crust, mantle and core, which is sometimes subdivided into an inner and outer core. That's not wrong, but it does leave out several other layers that scientists have identified within the Earth, including the transition zone within the mantle.

In a study published this week in Science, Princeton geophysicists Jessica Irving and Wenbo Wu, in collaboration with Sidao Ni from the Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics in China, used data from an enormous earthquake in Bolivia to find mountains and other topography on the base of the transition zone, a layer 660 kilometers (410 miles) straight down that separates the upper and lower mantle. (Lacking a formal name for this layer, the researchers simply call it "the 660-km boundary.")

To peer deep into the Earth, scientists use the most powerful waves on the planet, which are generated by massive earthquakes. "You want a big, deep earthquake to get the whole planet to shake," said Irving, an assistant professor of geosciences.

Big earthquakes are vastly more powerful than small ones -- energy increases 30-fold with every step up the Richter scale -- and deep earthquakes, "instead of frittering away their energy in the crust, can get the whole mantle going," Irving said. She gets her best data from earthquakes that are magnitude 7.0 or higher, she said, as the shockwaves they send out in all directions can travel through the core to the other side of the planet -- and back again. For this study, the key data came from waves picked up after a magnitude 8.2 earthquake -- the second-largest deep earthquake ever recorded -- that shook Bolivia in 1994.

"Earthquakes this big don't come along very often," she said. "We're lucky now that we have so many more seismometers than we did even 20 years ago. Seismology is a different field than it was 20 years ago, between instruments and computational resources."

Seismologists and data scientists use powerful computers, including Princeton's Tiger supercomputer cluster, to simulate the complicated behavior of scattering waves in the deep Earth.

The technology depends on a fundamental property of waves: their ability to bend and bounce. Just as light waves can bounce (reflect) off a mirror or bend (refract) when passing through a prism, earthquake waves travel straight through homogenous rocks but reflect or refract when they encounter any boundary or roughness.

"We know that almost all objects have surface roughness and therefore scatter light," said Wu, the lead author on the new paper, who just completed his geosciences Ph.D. and is now a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology. "That's why we can see these objects -- the scattering waves carry the information about the surface's roughness. In this study, we investigated scattered seismic waves traveling inside the Earth to constrain the roughness of the Earth's 660-km boundary."

The researchers were surprised by just how rough that boundary is -- rougher than the surface layer that we all live on. "In other words, stronger topography than the Rocky Mountains or the Appalachians is present at the 660-km boundary," said Wu. Their statistical model didn't allow for precise height determinations, but there's a chance that these mountains are bigger than anything on the surface of the Earth. The roughness wasn't equally distributed, either; just as the crust's surface has smooth ocean floors and massive mountains, the 660-km boundary has rough areas and smooth patches. The researchers also examined a layer 410 kilometers (255 miles) down, at the top of the mid-mantle "transition zone," and they did not find similar roughness.

"They find that Earth's deep layers are just as complicated as what we observe at the surface," said seismologist Christine Houser, an assistant professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology who was not involved in this research. "To find 2-mile (1-3 km) elevation changes on a boundary that is over 400 miles (660 km) deep using waves that travel through the entire Earth and back is an inspiring feat. ... Their findings suggest that as earthquakes occur and seismic instruments become more sophisticated and expand into new areas, we will continue to detect new small-scale signals which reveal new properties of Earth's layers."

What it means

The presence of roughness on the 660-km boundary has significant implications for understanding how our planet formed and continues to function. That layer divides the mantle, which makes up about 84 percent of the Earth's volume, into its upper and lower sections. For years, geoscientists have debated just how important that boundary is. In particular, they have investigated how heat travels through the mantle -- whether hot rocks are carried smoothly from the core-mantle boundary (almost 2,000 miles down) all the way up to the top of the mantle, or whether that transfer is interrupted at this layer. Some geochemical and mineralogical evidence suggests that the upper and lower mantle are chemically different, which supports the idea that the two sections don't mix thermally or physically. Other observations suggest no chemical difference between the upper and lower mantle, leading some to argue for what's called a "well-mixed mantle," with both the upper and lower mantle participating in the same heat-transfer cycle.

"Our findings provide insight into this question," said Wu. Their data suggests that both groups might be partially right. The smoother areas of the 660-km boundary could result from more thorough vertical mixing, while the rougher, mountainous areas may have formed where the upper and lower mantle don't mix as well.

In addition, the roughness the researchers found, which existed at large, moderate and small scales, could theoretically be caused by heat anomalies or chemical heterogeneities. But because of how heat in transported within the mantle, Wu explained, any small-scale thermal anomaly would be smoothed out within a few million years. That leaves only chemical differences to explain the small-scale roughness they found.

What could cause significant chemical differences? The introduction of rocks that used to belong to the crust, now resting quietly in the mantle. Scientists have long debated the fate of the slabs of sea floor that get pushed into the mantle at subduction zones, the collisions happening found all around the Pacific Ocean and elsewhere around the world. Wu and Irving suggest that remnants of these slabs may now be just above or just below the 660-km boundary.

"It's easy to assume, given we can only detect seismic waves traveling through the Earth in its current state, that seismologists can't help understand how Earth's interior has changed over the past 4.5 billion years," said Irving. "What's exciting about these results is that they give us new information to understand the fate of ancient tectonic plates which have descended into the mantle, and where ancient mantle material might still reside."

She added: "Seismology is most exciting when it lets us better understand our planet's interior in both space and time."

###

"Inferring Earth's discontinuous chemical layering from the 660-kilometer boundary topography," by Wenbo Wu, Sidao Ni and Jessica Irving, appears in the Feb. 15 issue of the journal Science. The research was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, grant 2014CB845901), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant XDB18000000), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 41590854), and the National Science Foundation (grants EAR1644399 and 1736046).Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) in a consortium with a strategic partner LUT University (Finland) and the industrial partner Scientific and Technological Centre of Applied Nanotechnologies will build infrastructure elements from a hybrid wood-based material. The project "Lightweight hybrid wooden composite materials for sustainable construction technology" (SUSTECH) was awarded in the second call of South-East Finland - Russia Cross-Border Cooperation Program 2014-2020.

In the framework of the project, researchers plan to create a hybrid wooden composite with advanced properties. The experts of SPbPU Institute of Civil Engineering suggested a method of strengthening wooden constructions through high-module fibers with the simultaneous comprehensive protection of wood. In the framework of the SUSTECH project, the international research team will carry out the refinement and testing of technology. The brassboards and full-scale construction samples will be manufactured and installed in Russia and Finland. "This technology may be used in rough swampy areas, possibly, in nature parks. The developed material exceeds raw wood in strength and durability with the best properties of wood remaining untouched. At the same time, the developed constructions will be lighter and more eco-friendly. The testing results demonstrate that this material is resistant to ignition, icing and mould," mentioned Andrey Ponomarev, Head of SPbPU research team.

Researchers came to an agreement with administration of "Vinnitsa rural settlement of the Podporozhsky municipal district of the Leningrad Region" on the installation of constructions made of the new material in the nature park "Vepssky Forest". In the framework of the SUSTECH project, it is planned to create new tourist routes, to build pedestrian bridges and arbors in this park. All tourist routes with constructions will be available for visitors when the project will be finished.

In addition, the constructions made of the new material will be installed in Finland. "We are negotiating with Lappeenranta city administration and other organizations in order to install the pedestrian bridges and arbors, created on the basis of wood reinforcement technology. Now we are discussing possible locations of these constructions," said Professor Timo Karki, Head of LUT's Fiber Composite Laboratory.

As an educational aspect of the project, the obtained results will be used in programs curriculum for students of SPbPU and LUT University relevant departments, and will become the topics of scientific conferences, seminars and professional training programs.

###COLUMBUS, Ohio - A woman whose boyfriend or husband regularly watches pornography is more likely to report symptoms of an eating disorder, new research suggests.

The study is one of the first to look at how a romantic partner's behavior might be linked to the likelihood of a woman experiencing or engaging in such things as extreme guilt about eating, preoccupation with body fat, binging or purging.

In addition to finding an association between a partner's porn habits and eating disorder symptoms, the research also found a higher incidence of those symptoms in women who said they feel pressure from their boyfriends or husbands to be thin.

The study, led by researchers at The Ohio State University, appears in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

"We often talk about the influences of media, family and friends on eating disorders, but little has been done to determine how a partner's influence might contribute to a woman's disordered eating," said Tracy Tylka, a professor of psychology at Ohio State's Columbus and Marion campuses. "It's a gap in the research and if certain partner variables are risk factors we should be giving them more attention."

The study is also the first research of its kind to address these partner influences in women who are older and more likely to be in long-term relationships.

"The women who were part of this study had an average age of almost 34, and were from a broader demographic than the stereotypical white adolescent girl with anorexia," Tylka said.

"Disordered eating affects many people who do not fit this description - as many as 20 to 25 percent of women - and this study helps us better understand the influences on these women."

The participants, 409 U.S. women in relationships with men, answered a questionnaire designed to identify symptoms of eating disorders and answered questions about perceived pressure from the media and others (partners, friends and family) in their lives to lose weight and have a thin body. They also reported how many hours of pornography their current partner viewed per week, ranging from none to more than eight hours, and estimated how often their previous partners had viewed pornography on a scale ranging from never to almost always.

The researchers then analyzed the relationships between those responses and found a clear association between eating disorder symptoms and both perceived partner pressure to be thin and pornography use.

"In many categories of eating disorder symptoms, perceived pressure from a romantic partner to be thin appeared to be more detrimental than pressure from friends or family, or even the media," Tylka said.

And both partner pornography viewing and pressure to be thin appeared to be associated with a woman's disordered eating behavior even if she didn't idealize thinness, according to the study.

That's important to note, Tylka said, because women may be responding solely to what they think their partner values, even if they don't value that "thin body ideal" for themselves.

Tylka said she was interested in the potential relationship between partner pornography use and eating disorders because it could prompt women to feel pressured to aspire to unrealistic body types, or to "feel sexless because their partners are spending time with porn instead of connecting with them."

"The relationship between partner pornography use and disordered eating was stronger for this group of women than for college women we've previously studied. That could be because these women have had more relationship experiences, and these experiences have shaped their relationships with food and their perceptions of their bodies," Tylka said.

The study did not examine potential differences between women who watch pornography with their partners and those whose partners view pornography alone.

Tylka said further study is warranted in the area of partner influences on disordered eating among older women. Understanding these factors could help improve eating disorder prevention and treatment, she said.

"Some professionals are already advocating for integrating partners in eating disorder prevention and treatment, and these findings support this argument."

###

Rachel Calogero of Western University in Canada also worked on the study.

CONTACT: Tracy Tylka, 740-725-6384; Tylka.2@osu.edu

Written by Misti Crane, 614-292-5220; Crane.11@osu.eduTask sharing in Sierra Leone -- teaching emergency surgery to health officers -- can help improve healthcare in a country with few doctors

Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world -- for every 100,000 live births, 1360 women will die. In Norway, that number is just 5 women per 100,000 live births; in the US, it's 14, according to the United Nations Population Fund.

Why are so many women dying in Sierra Leone? The answer is simple: childbirth can be complicated and there are simply not enough health care providers to address the needs of this small West African country of 7 million people.

Before the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak, just 10 specialist surgeons were available in public hospitals, with about 150 doctors in total.

But there is hope: a new study of more than 1200 women who had C-sections in nine Sierra Leone hospitals shows that community health officers with surgical training are a safe alternative to medical doctors when it comes to outcomes for Caesarean sections. The study was conducted between October 2016 and May 2017, and has just been published in BJS, the British Journal of Surgery.

"Some of these hospitals have just one or two doctors for the whole district," said the study's first author Alex van Duinen, a Dutch medical doctor and PhD candidate at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). "Human resources are a major problem. Task sharing -- teaching community health officers to provide basic lifesaving surgeries -- can improve that."

Building acceptance in the medical community

Van Duinen's research is being conducted as part of his work with a non-profit organization called CapaCare, co-founded in 2011 by Hakon Bolkan, a surgeon at St Olavs Hospital and a postdoc at NTNU.

CapaCare offers a two-year training programme for selected community health officers (CHO), with the goal of teaching them to do surgeries such as Caesarean sections, appendectomies and hernia repairs.

After the two years of training, graduates also spend a year as an intern at one of the main hospitals in Freetown, after which they are given the position as a surgical assistant community health officer (SACHO). To date, 31 participants have graduated from the programme, with another 33 in training.

But CapaCare's work is not as simple as just producing qualified graduates -- Sierra Leone's medical community, health care officials and the population as a whole have to have confidence that the CapaCare graduates can perform surgeries at least as well as medical doctors.

This evidence has to be clear, and provide scientifically documented proof that the training works. So that's where van Duinen's research comes in.

Prospective study with a home visit

Other researchers have looked at the issue of task sharing for emergency obstetric care, mainly in East Africa, but most of these studies have been retrospective, which means that researchers essentially look for patterns in medical data that have already been collected.

Nevertheless, all of these studies show that task sharing can work well in places where there are just not enough doctors to go around.

On the other hand, a prospective study like that conducted by van Duinen and his colleagues is seen as much stronger support for the findings from the research.

Researchers in a prospective study decide which data to include before they collect it, which ensures data quality. The Sierra Leone C-section study also included a home visit 30 days after the birth, which allowed van Duinen and his colleagues to see how mother and child were doing in the period after discharge.

CapaCare

"We were able to check some of the outcome data," van Duinen said. "Home visits were one of the distinguishing factors of our study."

For example, one baby that had been recorded as a stillbirth in the hospital and one baby that had been recorded as a death were both found to be alive when the researchers did the home visits.

Three of the mothers and 28 of the babies who were alive when they left the hospital also died in the month after birth, which researchers wouldn't have discovered without this extra follow up, van Duinen said.

Not inferior to doctors

When all the numbers were tallied, the researchers found 16 postoperative maternal deaths, 15 treated by a doctor and 1 treated by a graduate of the CapaCare programme.

These numbers indicate that doctors may have worse outcomes. "Although our data suggest that patients treated by doctors and graduates were mostly similar, doctors may have treated more of the complicated patients," van Duinen said.

The difference in the mortality numbers is also due to the fact that there were 50 doctors in the study compared to 12 graduated clinical officers. These 50 doctors performed 831 C-sections that were included in the study, or two-thirds, compared to 443 performed by the graduates. Of these surgeries, 85 per cent were done as emergency surgeries.

However, the mortality numbers and the number of emergency surgeries are "still very high," van Duinen said, but there are also reasons for that.

"There's a huge disincentive for women in the districts to come into the hospital to give birth," he said. "That's why the outcomes are so bad."

Very often, he said, women will wait until the absolute last minute to come in for care, because it may be too costly for them to both travel and get treated at the hospital. They may also be afraid of coming to the hospital because of concern of what they might find there -- it was not that long ago, for example, that Ebola ravaged the country's health care system, during which more than 14000 people were infected and 4000 died.

When the researchers analysed the numbers, they found that caesarean sections done by the graduates were not associated with higher maternal mortality 30 days after the surgery than caesarean sections performed by doctors.

"The message is that there is a slight difference in the two groups, because the doctors may get the more complicated cases, but overall we see that there is non-inferiority," van Duinen said.

Kismet in the jungle

Just by chance, van Duinen has worked with CapaCare since the organization first started its training programme in 2011. That's because he was working at the time at Masanga Hospital, in Sierra Leone's Tonkolili province, as hospital director. Masanga Hospital has been the base for CapaCare's training in Sierra Leone.

The first week he was at Masanga, van Duinen met Bolkan with the first CapaCare student who was just beginning his training.

The idea of training non-doctor medical personnel to do emergency surgeries -- task sharing -- was already something he knew about. During his medical training in the Netherlands, he was sent to Malawi for an internship, where the practice is well established.

"I saw that task sharing could actually work, and then I met Hakon, and I said, 'Yes, of course, we have to do this! It works, I have seen it!'," he said.

###

Reference:

van Duinen, Aalke Johan; Kamara, Michael M; Hagander, L; Ashley, Thomas; Koroma, Alimamy philip; Leather, Andy J.M.; Elhassein, Mohammed; Darj, Elisabeth; Salvesen, yvind; Wibe, Arne; Bolkan, Hakon Angell. (2019) Caesarean section performed by medical doctors and associate clinicians in Sierra Leone. British Journal of Surgery.Amsterdam, NL, February 14, 2019 - Cell replacement may play an increasing role in alleviating the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) in future. Writing in a special supplement to the Journal of Parkinson's Disease, experts describe how newly developed stem cell technologies could be used to treat the disease and discuss the great promise, as well as the significant challenges, of stem cell treatment.

The most common PD treatment today is based on enhancing the activity of the nigro-striatal pathway in the brain with dopamine-modulating therapies, thereby increasing striatal dopamine levels and improving motor impairment associated with the disease. However, this treatment has significant long-term limitations and side effects. Stem cell technologies show promise for treating PD and may play an increasing role in alleviating at least the motor symptoms, if not others, in the decades to come.

"We are in desperate need of a better way of helping people with PD. It is on the increase worldwide. There is still no cure, and medications only go part way to fully treat incoordination and movement problems," explained co-authors Claire Henchcliffe, MD, DPhil, from the Department of Neurology, Weill Cornell Medical College, and Department of Neurosurgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA; and Malin Parmar, PhD, from the Wallenberg Neuroscience Center and Lund Stem Cell Center, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. "If successful, using stem cells as a source of transplantable dopamine-producing nerve cells could revolutionize care of the PD patient in the future. A single surgery could potentially provide a transplant that would last throughout a patient's lifespan, reducing or altogether avoiding the need for dopamine-based medications."

The authors have analyzed how newly developed stem cell technologies could be used to treat PD, and how clinical researchers are moving very quickly to translate this technology to early clinical trials. In the past, most transplantation studies in PD used human cells from aborted embryos. While these transplants could survive and function for many years, there were scientific and ethical issues: fetal cells are in limited supply, and they are highly variable and hard to quality control. Only some patients benefited, and some developed side effects from the grafts, such as uncontrollable movements called dyskinesias.

Recent strides in stem cell technology mean that quality, consistency, activity, and safety can be assured, and that it is possible to grow essentially unlimited amounts of dopamine-producing nerve cells in the laboratory for transplantation. This approach is now rapidly moving into initial testing in clinical trials. The choice of starting material has also expanded with the availability of multiple human embryonic stem cell lines, as well as the possibilities for producing induced pluripotent cells, or neuronal cells from a patient's own blood or skin cells. The first systematic clinical transplantation trials using pluripotent stem cells as donor tissue were initiated in Japan in 2018.

"We are moving into a very exciting era for stem cell therapy," commented Dr. Parmar. "The first-generation cells are now being trialed and new advances in stem cell biology and genetic engineering promise even better cells and therapies in the future. There is a long road ahead in demonstrating how well stem cell-based reparative therapies will work, and much to understand about what, where, and how to deliver the cells, and to whom. But the massive strides in technology over recent years make it tempting to speculate that cell replacement may play an increasing role in alleviating at least the motor symptoms, if not others, in the decades to come."

"With several research groups, including our own centers, quickly moving towards testing of stem cell therapies for PD, there is not only a drive to improve what is possible for our patients, but also a realization that our best chance is harmonizing efforts across groups," added Dr. Henchcliffe. "Right now, we are just talking about the first logical step in using cell therapies in PD. Importantly, it could open the way to being able to engineer the cells to provide superior treatment, possibly using different types of cells to treat different symptoms of PD like movement problems and memory loss."

"This approach to brain repair in PD definitely has major potential, and the coming two decades might also see even greater advances in stem cell engineering with stem cells that are tailor-made for specific patients or patient groups," commented Patrik Brundin, MD, PhD, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, USA, and J. William Langston, MD, Stanford Udall Center, Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA, Editors-in-Chief of the Journal of Parkinson's Disease. "At the same time, there are several biological, practical, and commercial hurdles that need circumventing for this to become a routine therapy."

###"The winner takes it all, the loser standing small" - that's not just true in the famous ABBA song, but also in animal development. Frequently, a group of cells starts out all being the same. But then one cell puts the brake on its neighbors, sending inhibitory signals that stop their differentiation. The "winning" cell, in the end, is different from its neighbors. So far, the only signalling mechanism known to be responsible for such a lateral inhibition was the Notch-Delta signalling pathway. Postdoc Peng Xia and Professor Carl-Philipp Heisenberg at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria), now describe a new mechanism for lateral inhibition in a publication in today's edition of Cell. In zebrafish ovarian follicles, granulosa cells in the envelope that surround the oocyte do not use the Notch-Delta signalling pathway for lateral inhibition, but compete mechanically: the winning cell grows more rapidly and inhibits the growth of its neighbors by mechanically compressing them, thereby becoming the sole micropyle precursor cell - a cell that later plays an important role for the fertilisation of the egg.

Biggest cell compresses its neighbors to inhibit TAZ signalling

Granulosa cells surround the zebrafish egg. One cell among this group becomes markedly different; it is much bigger than all the others - this is the micropyle precursor cell (MPC). Postdoc Peng Xia and Carl-Philipp Heisenberg set out to understand how the MPC becomes singled out among all the granulosa cells that could adopt this fate.

Early experiments showed that the Notch-Delta signalling pathway, which is responsible for lateral inhibition in most situations during development, is not involved in the process that specifies the MPC. However, the way in which the MPC grows and presses against its neighboring cells set the researchers on their next path: they decided to test whether this jostling for space plays a role.

With their experimental set-up, the researchers measured tension in the developing tissue, and found that the MPC clearly compresses its neighbors. The researchers then cut out the MPC to observe what happens in its absence.

Normally, as the MPC develops, a signalling pathway that responds to mechanical stimuli, the YAP/TAZ pathway, is active in the MPC, while it is less active in the surrounding cells. Once the researchers took out the MPC, the TAZ protein became active again in the surrounding cells. And the cells began to compete with each other again: one cell grew bigger and bigger, "winning" the race to become the new MPC. "This mimics the natural process that we see as the egg develops. When we take out the MPC, another cell will take its role, again by growing rapidly and compressing its neighbors", says first author Peng Xia. "In MPC development, lateral inhibition does not go via the Notch pathway, but is mediated by mechanical signals that control how active the TAZ protein is."

Micropyle forms tunnel through egg shell to allow fertilization

Xia and Heisenberg also uncovered the reason why the MPC becomes so big. TAZ signaling in the MPC not only triggers cell growth but also leads to extracellular matrix deposition around the MPC, which in turn through Integrin adhesion receptors promotes TAZ activity within the MPC. This positive feedback loop eventually leads to TAZ hyperactivation in MPC and its rapid growth. The large size of the MPC is critical for its future function in forming a tunnel through the egg shell surrounding the oocyte, through which the sperm can reach the oocyte for fertilization. In fish with a mutation in TAZ, the MPC doesn't develop properly. The eggs either have no tunnel or strangely formed tunnels, and the sperm can't get into them - hence the cells are not fertilized, solving the question why this fish line is infertile.

###

About IST AustriaBritish Gypsum and its supply partner, Nevill Long, have supplied materials for a multi-million-pound regeneration of the Queens Hall in Dunoon, Scotland.

The 12 million project took one year and involved a number of acoustic and fire performance upgrades. Nevill Long was approached by the contractor and recommended British Gypsums products.

Business Unit Manager Willie Main said: The companys bespoke boards were an ideal solution for the client, who was looking to overcome some of the difficult challenges associated with the build.

Its important for a specialist distributor like us, to be able to recommend unique products to meet every design challenge and British Gypsums innovative product range really helped us to achieve our goal.

Outside of the architectural and performance-related challenges, the project faced a number of logistical issues. The hall is located in the small Scottish town of Dunoon and sits on the south of the Holy Loch, a large body of water which the auditorium overlooks. Most visitors reach the town via ferry, as accessing the area by land involves navigating long, narrow country roads.

Given the size and scale of the products that needed to be delivered to the project, it was decided that transporting the materials over land was not viable. Instead, the joint team at British Gypsum and Nevill Long elected to supply the goods to site via ferry, with further team members waiting on the other side to unpack and deliver to site.

Main said: In total, more than 3,500 m2 of Gyproc Habito plasterboard alone was delivered to site.

This undertaking normally requires the use of large vans, however the roads that surround the town were inaccessible for that type of vehicle.

After careful consultation, we felt that the ferry offered the best solution to reduce the time and financial burden. It was a real joint effort with British Gypsum to ensure we were able to fulfil the order with minimum fuss and provide a smooth service for the customer.PHILADELPHIA--What if love and kindness could spread like a virus? As part of the University City Science Center's BioArt Residency, artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg created a custom virus able to increase the production of oxytocin, a hormone that induces feelings of love, kindness, and empathy. The project, titled Lovesick, was developed by Dewey-Hagborg in collaboration with research scientists at the University City Science Center and uCity Square-based biotech company Integral Molecular.

The BioArt Residency program fosters collaboration between artists and scientists within a controlled environment. Not only does it allow both parties to gain new perspectives, but artists are able to serve as intermediaries communicating and creating dialog around complex scientific issues. As part of each residency, the artist spends three months working on creative research projects in Integral Molecular's laboratories leveraging the guidance and expertise of trained scientists.

The work by Dewey-Hagborg is envisioned as an activist intervention, to spread love and kindness and to combat the alienation and disconnection of the present. Echoing recent debates around genetic editing and the role of ethics in science, Lovesick amplifies the dialog around the possibility of selecting one's emotions through biotechnology. Although the Lovesick virus has the ability to function in cells in a lab environment, it cannot replicate and will not be used to infect actual animals or people.

"Lovesick plays poetically on the idea of romantic infatuation as a virus, and the process of moving on as building up antibodies. Lovesick examines desire and intimacy in a ubiquitous genomic future where biotechnology is inexpensive and accessible," says Dewey-Hagborg, who will discuss the project at the February 21 Venture Cafe Philadelphia Thursday Gathering.

The project involved creating a virus that expresses the hormone oxytocin. Commonly referred to as the "Love Hormone," oxytocin is associated with feelings of love, bonding, devotion, kindness, and the promotion of empathy, monogamy, and connection. The virus is based on a harmless, non-replicating virus vector that is safely used in hundreds of labs worldwide. After entering a cell and delivering the oxytocin-producing gene, the virus also expresses a fluorescent protein called dsRED that causes the cells to glow bright red.

"Our scientists work hard every day creating new vaccines and therapeutics to help patients, so this collaboration has been an extraordinary opportunity to apply tools in biotechnology that we have used for decades - cells, viruses, and DNA - to art and emotion," said Benjamin Doranz, CEO of Integral Molecular. "We take seriously our responsibility to communicate what we do to the public, and hope that the BioArt residency program and Heather's project helps explain biotechnology in a different way."

###

The BioArt Residency is supported by The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

About the Science Center

Located in the heart of uCity Square, the Science Center is a mission-driven nonprofit organization that catalyzes and connects innovation to entrepreneurship and technology commercialization. For 50+ years, the Science Center has supported startups, research, and economic development in the life sciences, healthcare, physical sciences, and emerging technology sectors. As a result, graduate firms and current residents of the Science Center's incubator support one out of every 100 jobs in the Greater Philadelphia region and drive $13 billion in economic activity in the region annually. By providing resources and programming for any stage of a business's lifecycle, the Science Center helps scientists, entrepreneurs and innovators take their concepts from idea to IPO - and beyond. For more information about the Science Center, go to http://www. sciencecenter. org

About Integral Molecular

Integral Molecular is the industry leader in membrane protein antibody discovery, with a pipeline of therapeutic antibodies against GPCRs, ion channels, transporters, and immuno-oncology targets. The company currently has therapeutic programs focused on cancer, pain, immunity, and metabolic disorders.Scientists point out the expediency of further research of marine invertebrates to isolate the antitumor compounds from them.

Scientists of the Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry (PIBOC) of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FEB RAS) and the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) found out marine invertebrates living in Troitsa Bay, the Sea of Japan, contain biologically active compounds with strong antitumor and antimicrobial properties, and also capable of killing insects. An article on that was published in the Russian Journal of Marine Biology.

Scientists have studied 9 species of marine invertebrates -- sea anemones, marine worms, nemerteans, and jellyfish -- and discover they are carriers of biologically active compounds with immunostimulating properties, which have a potential to prevent a metastasis proliferation of malignant tumors.

"Marine invertebrates are a promising source of biologically active compounds that can be applied to design medical drugs of a new generation. The therapeutic effects of such compounds are of a broad range. They can be antioxidants, possess cardioprotective, analgesic, antimicrobial, antitumor, and many other properties. " -- Says Elena Leychenko, Associate Professor of the Department of Bioorganic Chemistry and Biotechnology of the School of Natural Sciences (SNS), FEFU.

Scientists consider the segmented worms Eulalia viridis and the so-called marine 'peanut worms' (sipunculids) Phascolostoma agassizii are of the highest pharmacological potential among all invertebrates referred to in the article. Extracts obtained from these organisms were non-toxic to mouse erythrocytes and splenocytes, showing a significant antibacterial and anti-tumor effect.

It's noteworthy that the majority of extracts retrieved from all nine experimental samples of invertebrates were harmless to mammalian cells and at the same time toxic to insects and crustaceans. It means that the isolated compounds are suitable not only for the development of the new drugs but also for the manufacturing of effective insecticides --chemicals for combating harmful insects. In particular, the extract of the ringed worms Lepidonotuss quamatus was toxic to the larvae.

Scientists point out the expediency of further research of marine invertebrates to isolate the antitumor compounds from them.

Earlier, scientists of PIBOC within the framework of the joint PIBOC (FEB-RAS) -- FEFU program "Fundamental and Applied Chemistry, Specialization - Medical Chemistry" conducted a study of actinium Heteractis magnifica. These seabed dwellers turned out to be helpful to fight Alzheimer's disease. Anemones of this kind contain peptides with neuroprotective activity. They slow down the inflammatory process and the accompanying destruction of cell neurons causing Alzheimer's disease for the treatment of which currently there is no medicine.

###The study of natural toxins and their derivatives may help in the development of medicines to treat diseases like cancer and osteoarthritis, says coordinator of the Center of Excellence in New Target Discovery.

Animal venoms are the subject of study at research center based at the Butantan Institute in Sao Paulo. But in this case, the idea is not to find antidotes, but rather to use the properties of the venoms themselves to identify molecular targets of diseases and, armed with that knowledge, develop new compounds that can be used as medicines.

The focus of the work are immuno-inflammatory diseases like osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, explained Ana Marisa Chudzinski-Tavassi, a researcher at the Butantan Institute and coordinator of the Center of Excellence in New Target Discovery (CENTD).

"In addition to venoms, we are also studying toxins isolated from venoms and animal secretions - from the Brazilian biodiversity and from other countries - to identify and validate therapeutic targets that lead to the development of new medicines," said Chudzinski-Tavassi during FAPESP Week London, held February 11-12, 2019 at the Royal Society in London.

The CENTD, an Engineering Research Center (ERC) funded by Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP and GSK, employs modern and complex molecular and cellular biology techniques, including phenotypic multi-parametric, interatomic, and proteomic assays, transcriptomic analysis and bioinformatics.

"We have established a biobank - a bank of biological samples, a collection of venoms, isolated fractions, recombinant proteins and synthetic peptides - for the maintenance, control and management of samples used in every study conducted at the CENTD. Cell models related to the diseases that are being studied at the CENTD were established and used to evaluate proinflammatory, anti-inflammatory, cytotoxic [toxic to cells] and cytoprotective [that protect cells] activities. In addition, translational models to study signaling pathways are being used for the purpose of finding new molecular targets for the development of innovative medicines," Chudzinski-Tavassi told.

"After identification of a potential new target, subsequent validation is required. For this, the CENTD utilizes advanced molecular biology methodologies like the CRISPR/Cas9 system for gene knockout and expression activation, in knockout animals as well as in in vitro and in vivo tests. To date, 23 whole venoms have been screened for pro-inflammatory effects in the six cell models that have been established and standardized," she said.

"In this screening, three whole venoms were selected for later studies. The same cell models were standardized in order to analyze the anti-inflammatory or cytoprotective properties, and in this case, in addition to two whole venoms, eight synthetic peptides obtained based on venom protein amino acid sequences, and two recombinant proteins, were selected," said Chudzinski-Tavassi.

"In view of the anti-inflammatory and cytoprotective effects clearly shown in different cell types related to arthritic diseases, we suggest several of the peptides that the CENTD has in its library of compounds be used as tools for studying targets of degenerative diseases," she said.

According to the Center's coordinator, studies that are underway will allow discovery of the pathways through which these effects occur.

Promising antitumoral

The CENTD researchers, in collaboration with researchers from Albert Einstein Hospital, conducted transcriptomic (the study of gene expression) and proteomic (the comprehensive study of expressed proteins) analyses on tissues from healthy donors and donors with osteoarthritis. Using bioinformatics analyses, they are deciphering differentially expressed genes and proteins in these tissues.

"The next step will be to employ the peptides previously defined as cytoprotective and anti-inflammatory to seek new molecular targets related to developing osteoarthritis and contribute to its treatment," Chudzinski-Tavassi said.

With regard to cancer models, in addition to studies on tumor cell cultures, the researchers used what is known as a translational model to perform transcriptomic studies on spontaneous melanoma tumors in horses at the Butantan Institute's farm.

"Melanoma tumors were treated with a recombinant protein with antitumoral effects, already described in previous work by the group, that selectively acts on tumor cells and induces proteasome inhibition followed by cell death through the mechanism of apoptosis," Chudzinski-Tavassi said.

"Results derived from the transcriptomic analysis of the horse tumor translational model indicate that the antitumoral molecule, Amblyomin-X, besides its direct activity on tumor cells, activated the immune system of the animals to fight the tumor, causing the death of tumor cells through a mechanism of immunogenic cell death," she said.

The researcher went on to say that the findings of this translational model confirm the group's previous findings, obtained in in vitro and in vivo models, and reveal important new molecular pathways related to targets involved in immunogenic death.

PITE and ERC

Inaugurated July 21, 2017, the CENTD follows the rules of FAPESP's Research Partnership for Technological Innovation (PITE) and Engineering Research Centers (ERCs), in conducting long-term research with companies, enabling the shared generation of knowledge in areas of common interest, with great potential for application of the results generated.

"The CENTD has six main lines of research that overlap and involve nearly 35 researchers, as well as students and technical staff, for a total of 79 people involved in the project," Chudzinski-Tavassi said.

"To facilitate research, high performance equipment was purchased to enable high impact assays, revealing important cellular phenomena to identify the structures responsible by the different phenotypes," she said.

Among such equipment is High-Content Screening (HCS), which allows a rapid analysis of molecules of interest and an assessment of phenotypes. By using the equipment, it is possible to assess changes in the morphology of cells or their markers, which is extremely important information in studies of cell activity and survival due to a variety of stimuli.

"The collaborative partnership established with groups from the United Kingdom at CENTD, with support from FAPESP, GSK and the Butantan Institute, has proven to be an efficient model for developing high-impact science, discovering new drugs and training people in this important area enabling health innovation," said Chudzinski-Tavassi.

Dozens of researchers from Brazil and the United Kingdom take part in the CENTD. The Center's assistant coordinator is Isro Gloger, director of the GSK Trust in Science Project.

"We have worked in Brazil with FAPESP in funding innovative projects on initiatives involving collaborative work with academic researchers. One of them is at the CENTD. Our relationship with FAPESP is a great example of a public-private partnership that works," said Gloger, a molecular biologist born in Argentina who has spent 29 years at GSK.

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About Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)In recent years, the number of targeted cancer drugs has continued to rise. However, conventional chemotherapeutic agents still play an important role in cancer treatment. These include platinum-based cytotoxic agents that attack and kill cancer cells. But these agents also damage healthy tissue and cause severe side effects. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now identified an approach that allows for a more selective cancer treatment with drugs of this kind.

Platinum can be cytotoxic when oxidised to platinum(II) and occurs in this form in conventional platinum-based chemotherapeutics. Non-oxidised platinum(0), however, is far less toxic to cells. Based on this knowledge, a team led by Helma Wennemers, Professor at the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, and Michal Shoshan, a postdoc in her group, looked for a way to introduce platinum(0) into the target cells, and only then for it to be oxidised to platinum(II). To this end, they used non-oxidised platinum nanoparticles, which first had to be stabilized with a peptide. They screened a library containing thousands of peptides to identify a peptide suitable for producing platinum nanoparticles (2.5 nanometres in diameter) that are stable for years.

Oxidised inside the cell

Tests with cancer cell cultures revealed that the platinum(0) nanoparticles penetrate into cells. Once inside the specific environment of liver cancer cells, they become oxidised, triggering the cytotoxic effect of platinum(II).

Studies with ten different types of human cells also showed that the toxicity of the peptide-coated nanoparticles was highly selective to liver cancer cells. They have the same toxic effect as Sorafenib, the most common drug used to treat primary liver tumours today. However, the nanoparticles are more selective than Sorafenib and significantly more so than the well-known chemotherapeutic Cisplatin. It is therefore conceivable that the nanoparticles will have fewer side effects than conventional medication.

Joining forces with ETH Professor Detlef Gunther and his research group, Wennemers and her team were able to determine the platinum content inside the cells and their nuclei using special mass spectrometry. They concluded that the platinum content in the nuclei of liver cancer cells was significantly higher than, for instance, in colorectal cancer cells. The authors believe that the platinum(II) ions - produced by oxidation of the platinum nanoparticles in the liver cancer cells - enter the nucleus, and there release their toxicity.

"We are still a very long and uncertain way away from a new drug, but the research introduced a new approach to improve the selectivity of drugs for certain types of cancer - by using a selective activation process specific to a given cell type," Wennemers says. Future research will expand the chemical properties of the nanoparticles to allow for greater control over their biological effects.

###

Reference

Shoshan MS, Vonderach T, Hattendorf B, and Wennemers H: Peptide-Coated Platinum Nanoparticles with Selective Toxicity against Liver Cancer Cells. Angewandte Chemie 2019, 58: 1, doi: 10.1002/anie.201813149 [http:dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201813149]Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have used one of the most advanced microscopes in the world to reveal the structure of a large protein complex crucial to photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert sunlight into cellular energy.

The finding, published in the journal Nature, will allow scientists to explore for the first time how the complex functions and could have implications for the production of a variety of bioproducts, including plastic alternatives and biofuels.

"This work will lead to a better understanding of how photosynthesis occurs, which could allow us to improve the efficiency of photosynthesis in plants and other green organisms - potentially boosting the amount of food, and thus biomass, they produce," said lead researcher Karen Davies, a biophysicist at Berkeley Lab. "This is particularly important if you want to produce renewable bioproducts that are cost-effective alternatives to current petroleum-based products."

Discovered decades ago, the protein complex targeted by the researchers, called NADH dehydrogenase-like complex (NDH), is known to help regulate the phase of photosynthesis where the energy of sunlight is captured and stored in two types of cellular energy molecules, which are later utilized to power the conversion of carbon dioxide into sugar. Past investigations revealed that NDH reshuffles the energized electrons moving among other protein complexes in the chloroplast in a way that ensures the correct ratio of each energy molecule is produced. Furthermore, NDH of cyanobacteria performs several additional roles including increasing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) available for sugar production by linking CO2 uptake with electron transfer.

In order for scientists to truly comprehend how NDH executes these important functions, they needed a molecular blueprint indicating the location and connectivity of all the atoms in the complex. This is something that even highly powerful transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technology simply could not provide until very recently.

"Research on this enzyme has been difficult and experimental results confounding for the last 20 years or so because we have lacked complete information about the enzyme's structure," said Davies. "Knowing the structure is important for generating and testing out hypotheses of how the enzyme functions. The resolution we obtained for our structure of NDH has only really been achievable since the commercialization of the direct electron counting camera, developed in collaboration with Berkeley Lab."

Prior to this invention, explained Davies, a staff scientist in Berkeley Lab's Molecular Biophysics and Integrative Bioimaging Division (MBIB), determining the structure of a single molecule could take several years because cryo-TEM imaging relied on film, meaning that each exposure had to be developed and scanned before it could be analyzed. The main limitation, however, was that most images turned out blurry. When you directed a beam of electrons at a molecule, the charged, high-energy particles excited the atoms in the molecule, often making them move at the moment of exposure. This meant that researchers needed to take and process hundreds, if not thousands, of film images in order to get an accurate glimpse of an entire molecule.

The new electron counting camera solves this problem by taking digital movies with an extremely high frame rate, so individual frames can be aligned to eliminate blurring caused by beam-induced particle motion.

In the current study, first author Thomas Laughlin, a UC Berkeley graduate student with a joint appointment at MBIB, isolated NDH complexes from membranes of a photosynthetic cyanobacterium provided by the Junko Yano and Vittal Yachandra Lab in MBIB and imaged them using a state-of-the-art cryo-TEM instrument fitted with the latest direct electron detector. Located on the UC Berkeley campus, the cryo-TEM facility is managed by the Bay Area CryoEM consortium, which is partly funded by Berkeley Lab.

The resulting atom density map was then used to build a model of NDH that shows the arrangement of all the protein subunits of NDH and the most likely position of all the atoms in the complex. By examining this model, Davies' team will be able to formulate and then test hypotheses of how NDH facilitates sugar production by balancing the ratio of the two cellular energy molecules.

"While the structure of NDH alone certainly addresses many questions, I think it has raised several more that we had not even thought to consider before," said Laughlin.

Among the many Berkeley Lab scientists focused on advancing knowledge of fundamental biochemical and biophysical processes, Davies and her staff also use direct electron camera cryo-EM to investigate how variations in the organization of photosynthetic complexes, caused by changes in growth and light conditions, affect the efficiency of photosynthesis. Her project on electron flow in photosynthesis is supported by a five-year DOE Office of Science Early Career Research Program grant that was awarded in 2018.

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Researchers from the Groupe d'etude des proteines membranaires (GEPROM) at the University of Montreal and McGill University also contributed to this work.

Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest scientific challenges are best addressed by teams, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and its scientists have been recognized with 13 Nobel Prizes. Today, Berkeley Lab researchers develop sustainable energy and environmental solutions, create useful new materials, advance the frontiers of computing, and probe the mysteries of life, matter, and the universe. Scientists from around the world rely on the Lab's facilities for their own discovery science. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory, managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine's Gunnur Karakurt, PhD has been awarded a four-year, $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to identify effective treatments for intimate partner violence (IPV), and to develop a decision-making tool for care providers. The project involves analyzing national data to identify subgroups of people who respond similarly to specific IPV treatments. By combining findings with a meta-analysis of the literature and computer modeling, clinicians will be better able to choose between evidence-based treatments.

The project aims to reduce inequalities of current treatment methods, Karakurt said. "Standard treatment for IPV is typically gender-specific, involving anger management groups for offenders and support groups for victims. Grouping this way marginalizes the effect of background and circumstance."

Karakurt, a licensed marriage and family therapist, and an associate professor of psychiatry at the medical school, will lead a multidisciplinary team of epidemiologists, biostatisticians, and computer scientists to analyze data for the project. Karakurt will collaborate with colleagues from University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Metro Health, and Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute for the project.

Victims and perpetrators of IPV will be separated into subgroups based on factors that may contribute to violence and influence treatment effectiveness. Treatment outcomes will be analyzed not only on the basis of demographic and socioeconomic background, but also with different IPV methods, severities, social contexts, and comorbidities. Using advanced prediction modeling techniques, treatment outcomes will then be systematically tested and characterized for each identified subgroup.

The project considers nuances and complexities that underlie IPV. Each IPV case differs in violence form, severity, and mutuality within the relationship. Perpetrators and victims of IPV include both men and women with varying physical, mental, and emotional treatment needs.

"Unfortunately, many individuals who do not respond well to treatment aren't offered alternative treatments specifically tailored to their situation," Karakurt said. There are currently no tools available to accurately assess and select optimal treatment for each individual IPV case. The newly funded project will use findings to generate a clinical decision-making tool that could help millions of men and women who succumb to IPV each year connect with relevant care.

The tool may help steer care providers away from generic, broad spectrum IPV treatments. Customizing treatments to reflect IPV variability could also improve outcomes for certain subgroups. According to recent estimates, nearly a quarter of women in the United States will experience IPV in their lifetime.

"Inequalities arising from age, gender, race, ethnicity, economics, immigration status, and all kinds of other factors play a role in the path toward violence," Karakurt said. "Our goal is to help overcome treatment inequalities so all individuals have an equal chance at improving their lives."

###

The project team includes Shari Bolen, MD, MPH, co-director of the Center for Health Care Research and Policy; Jarrod Dalton, PhD, of the Department of Quantitative Health Sciences at Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute; and Mehmet Koyuturk, PhD, Andrew R. Jennings Professor of Computing Sciences at Case Western Reserve University School of Engineering.

For more information about Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, please visit: case.edu/medicine.Although African Americans still bear a disproportionate share of the cancer burden, a new report finds the black-white gap has closed considerably over the past several decades. Cancer Statistics for African Americans and its companion publication Cancer Facts & Figures for African Americans, published every three years by American Cancer Society investigators, reports that the overall cancer death rate is dropping faster in blacks than in whites, largely driven by greater declines for three of the four most common cancers.

The report appears early online in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

The black-white disparity is narrowing for lung, prostate, and colorectal cancer and has stabilized since 2010 for breast cancer. As a result, the excess risk of overall cancer death in blacks compared with whites dropped from 47% in 1990 to 19% in 2016 in men and from 19% to 13% in women. Progress is even greater in men under 50 and women 70 and over, among whom the black-white cancer disparity has been nearly eliminated.

Despite the declining disparity, African Americans have the highest death rate and the lowest survival rate of any racial or ethnic group for most cancers in the United States. Socioeconomic status (SES), which is strongly correlated with race in this country, is the most critical factor driving these racial inequalities.

To monitor progress in reducing those inequalities, every three years the American Cancer Society provides the most recent data on cancer incidence, mortality, survival, screening, and risk factors, as well as the estimated numbers of new cancer cases and deaths in the current year, using data from the National Cancer Institute, the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, and the National Center for Health Statistics.

In 2019, approximately 202,260 new cancer cases and 73,030 cancer deaths are expected to occur among blacks in the United States. Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in black men, and breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed in black women, each accounting for nearly one-third of cancers diagnosed in each sex. Cancers of the lung and colorectum are the second and third most common cancers, respectively, in both black men and women.

During 2006 through 2015, the overall cancer incidence rate also decreased faster in black men than in white men (2.4% vs 1.7% per year), largely due to more rapid declines in lung cancer. The incidence rate was stable in black women (compared with a slight increase in white women), reflecting increasing rates for breast, endometrial, and pancreatic cancer offsetting by declining trends for lung and colorectal cancer.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among both men (25% of deaths) and women (20% of deaths), followed by breast cancer in women (18%) and prostate cancer in men (15%). Colorectal cancer is expected to be the third-leading cause of cancer death for black men and women.

Overall cancer death rates were lower in blacks than in whites during the early 1950s; however, rates increased sharply in blacks from 1950 through 1990 and have remained higher compared with whites since the 1960s. Cancer death rates peaked in black men and women in the early 1990s and have subsequently declined, with a steeper decline in men. That progress translates into the avoidance of more than 462,000 cancer deaths over the past 25 years.

The narrowing of black-white disparities is striking in some age groups. Among men ages 40 to 49, the cancer death rate was 102% higher in blacks than in whites during 1990-1991 but had shrunk to just 17% higher during 2015-2016. Among women ages 40 to 49, the overall disparity narrowed from 44% in 1990-1991 to 30% in 2015-2016. And among black women ages 80 to 89, the cancer mortality rate was 8% higher than whites during 2002-2003, but 3% lower in 2015-2016.

"Seeing the substantial progress made over the past several decades in reducing black-white disparities in cancer mortality is incredibly gratifying," said Len Lichtenfeld, M.D., interim chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society. "This progress is driven in large part by drops in the lung cancer death rate driven by more rapid decreases in smoking over the past 40 years in blacks than in whites. To continue this progress, we need to expand access to high-quality cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment for all Americans."

###

Article: Cancer Statistics for African Americans, 2019, CA Cancer J Clin 2019; doi: 10.3322/caac.21555.A program designed to help heart attack patients with the transition from hospital to outpatient care can reduce readmissions and deaths and increase the number of patients keeping follow-up appointments, a new study suggests. Findings from the Sanger Heart & Vascular Heart Care Navigation Team study were presented at the American College of Cardiology's Cardiovascular Summit in Orlando. The conference brings together top experts to discuss and review innovative, relevant cardiovascular management and leadership strategies.

The Heart Care Navigation Team was established in 2017 with the goal of reducing unnecessary readmissions, improving mortality and improving patients' experience. Patients in the program are assigned a health advocate and a nurse navigator who meet the patients while they are in the hospital. The team helps with timely access to follow-up care, promotes self-management and addresses patients' questions or concerns for a period of 90 days after discharge.

"After a heart attack, the time between a patient's discharge and their first follow-up appointment can be a scary time for patients," said lead researcher William E. Downey, MD, Medical Director of Interventional Cardiology at the Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina. "In the past, if something happened that caused concern to the patient, we'd tell them to call the office, where they often didn't know anyone. Now, patients have a nurse navigator they know who gives them their cell number and can provide reassurance or a sound plan for taking action if needed. It's an important bridge until the patient develops a firm relationship with their new cardiologist's office."

The nurse navigator calls the patient within 24 to 48 hours of discharge, and then every two to four weeks for three months.

"The nurse makes sure the patient is going to their doctor's appointments, has their medicines and asks whether they have any questions about their treatment," said Amber Furr, BSN, RN, CPHQ, Performance Improvement Coordinator at Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute. "Before the program was implemented, the discharging nurse would provide discharge education, cardiac rehab would provide education and the patient would be sent on their way."

In the new study, the researchers compared data from 560 patients treated for a heart attack between July 2016 and June 2017, before the program began, to 421 patients treated in the year after the program was implemented (July 2017 to June 2018).

The 30-day readmission rate before the program started was 6.3 percent and fell to 3.7 percent the year after the program began. There was a reduction in the 30-day death rate (5.75 percent before vs. 4.57 percent after program implementation) and an increase in patients' follow-up appointments made prior to discharge (78 percent vs. 96 percent).

"We've created a tool that has led to substantial improvements today and on which we can build further improvement," Downey said.

The study also found an increase in guideline-based care from 83.3 percent to 85.1 percent, as well as an increase in cardiac rehab referrals (85.7 percent vs 88.6 percent).

"This study shows that nurse navigators are an integral part of reducing heart attack readmission and mortality," Furr said. "We're not where we want to be yet with cardiac rehab referrals or guideline-driven care, but we have seen an improvement."

###

The American College of Cardiology envisions a world where innovation and knowledge optimize cardiovascular care and outcomes. As the professional home for the entire cardiovascular care team, the mission of the College and its more than 52,000 members is to transform cardiovascular care and to improve heart health. The ACC bestows credentials upon cardiovascular professionals who meet stringent qualifications and leads in the formation of health policy, standards and guidelines. The College also provides professional medical education, disseminates cardiovascular research through its world-renowned JACC Journals, operates national registries to measure and improve care, and offers cardiovascular accreditation to hospitals and institutions. For more, visit acc.org.Turkish President sets off for Syria summit in Sochi

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan headed to Russia's coastal city of Sochi on Thursday to attend a fourth trilateral summit on Syria with his Russian and Iranian counterparts.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rouhani will meet to discuss the joint efforts, conducted on the ground and within the political process by the Astana platform to find a lasting solution to the Syrian conflict.

SOCHI SUMMIT

On the sidelines of the summit, Erdogan will also address regional issues and bilateral relations during his bilateral meetings with Russian and Iranian counterparts. The leaders first met in Sochi in 2017.

Turkey, Russia and Iran are guarantor countries which brokered a cease-fire in Syria in December 2016, leading to the Astana talks, which are running parallel to the Geneva talks.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on protesters with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.Turkey welcomes Russias positive attitude on safe zone

Turkish President says he also supports safe zone idea in Syria as long as it addresses Turkey's national security concerns.

President Erdogan said Thursday that to protect Syrias territorial integrity, the terrorist PYD/YPG must be swept away from areas where it persists near the Turkish border.

"Syria's territorial integrity will not be ensured unless the PYD/YPG terror group is cleared away from Manbij, and east of the Euphrates," Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia, ahead of their trilateral meeting with their Iranian counterpart.

"FOR SYRIAN INTEGRITY, YPG MUST GO"

Erdogan also said Turkey welcomes Russia's positive attitude towards a proposed safe zone in northern Syria, adding that Turkey also supports the idea as long as it serves to address Turkey's national security concerns.

He said they may soon conclude the formation of Syrian constitutional committee, taking into account reservations expressed by the UN. "It is very important that the cooperation which took place regarding the use of airspace in Idlib also takes place in Afrin and the area liberated by Operation Euphrates Shield -- one of the previous counter-terror operations --," Erdogan added.

The President said Turkey put intensive effort to solve the problem related to the radical groups in Idlib, northwestern Syria. "We are pleased that our military officials have reached an agreement over joint patrols in the area," Erdogan said. He added that Turkey did not spot any elements with heavy weapons during its drone-backed search over the demilitarized zone.Pompeo: No peace in Middle East without confronting Iran

At Warsaw conference on Mideast, Mike Pompeo says no peace and stability' there without 'confronting Iran.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday accused Iran of being a malign influence in the Middle East, arguing that confronting Tehran is a must for peace and stability in the region.

You cant achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran, its just not possible, Pompeo told a press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the second day of a US-sponsored Mideast conference now underway in the Polish capital Warsaw.

"THE THREE H'S"

Theyre a malign influence in Lebanon, in Yemen, in Syria, in Iraq, the three Hs: the Houthis, Hamas, and Hezbollah. These are real threats; there are others as well. But you cant get peace in the Middle East without pushing back against Iran, he added. The two-day US-sponsored conference started Thursday with representatives from several Arab and Western states. The meeting is ostensibly aimed at discussing peace and security in the Middle East, the fight against terrorism, and missile development and proliferation.

NETANYAHU: THE COMMON THREAT OF IRANIAN REGIME

For his part, Netanyahu called the conference a historic turning point". In a room of some 60 foreign ministers and representatives of dozens of governments, an Israeli prime minister and the foreign ministers of the leading Arab countries stood together and spoke with unusual force, clarity, and unity against the common threat of the Iranian regime, Netanyahu said.

I think this marks a change, an important understanding of what threatens our future, what we have to do to secure it, and the possibilities of cooperation that extend beyond security to every realm of life for the peoples of the Middle East, he added.Medieval medicine bottle unearthed in SE Turkey

900-year-old earthenware bottle bears a symbol of modern medicine on it.

Archeologists discovered a medieval earthenware bottle containing medicine in Turkeys southeastern archaeological site Harran, the excavation leader said on Thursday.

THE BOTTLE WILL BE EXHIBITED AT SANLIURFA MUSEUM

The 900-year-old bottle with the image of two snakes twined, the symbol of todays medicine, on it, dates back to the Zengids, a Turkic dynasty that ruled the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia on behalf of the Seljuks, Mehmet Onal, an archeology professor at the Harran University in southeastern Sanlurfa province, told Anadolu Agency. Nur ad-Din Zengi, who succeeded his father in 1146, ruled for nearly 30 years until the Zengid dynasty was replaced in Syria by the Ayyubids, led by Saladin.

The archeological discoveries imply that Harran could have been an important medical center throughout history, according to Onal. The head of the excavation team also said the medicine was produced and put in these bottles, and it was sold here. The bottle will be exhibited at Sanlurfa Museum.

Harran, Sanlurfa, currently on UNESCO's Temporary Heritage List, welcomes thousands of local and international visitors with the world's first Islamic university and the remnants of the Ulu Mosque, dating back to the 700s in the Umayyad era.Israel detains Lebanese national for crossing border

Army is currently waging campaign to find, destroy cross-border tunnels dug by Hezbollah.

The Israeli authorities detained a Lebanese national on Thursday for illegally crossing the two countries shared border, according to an Israeli army statement.

"Army forces have detained a suspect who crossed the border from Lebanon into Israel," the statement quoted army spokesman Avichay Adraee as saying. No weapons were found in the suspects possession, Adraee said, adding that the detained Lebanese national was currently under interrogation by the Israeli authorities.

The army spokesman did not disclose the name of the detained individual or speculate about his reasons for crossing the border.

The Israeli army recently launched a large-scale campaign aimed at finding and destroying cross-border tunnels believed to have been dug by Lebanons Hezbollah group.French police arrest former Syrian regime spy

Suspect accused of crimes against humanity from 2011 - 2013 while working for Syria's intelligence.

French police arrested a Syrian former spy on charges of crimes against humanity, according to the Paris prosecutor's office Wednesday.

"ACTS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST CIVILIANS"

The suspect in his 30s is accused of taking part in acts of violence against civilians from 2011 until 2013 when he worked for Syria's intelligence service. He left Syria in 2013, the statement read.

Similarly, German police arrested two Syrian former spies on charges of crimes against humanity, torture, mistreatment and extra-judicial killings, the Federal Prosecutors office said on Wednesday. Anwar R. and Eyad A. were arrested Tuesday, following police operations in the southwestern state of Rhineland-Palatinate and Berlin, it added.

REGIME FORCES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR 4.162 OF THE DEATHS

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed or displaced in the conflict, mainly by regime airstrikes targeting opposition-held areas.

In a report released Jan. 12, the London-based Syrian Network for Human Rights said 6,964 civilians were killed in Syria in 2018, adding that regime forces were responsible for 4,162 of the deaths, including 713 children and 562 women.November 13, 1931 - May 31, 2021 Marilyn "JoAnn" (Tinder) Peterman passed away at age 89 peacefully on May 31, 2021. Family and friends are invited to a memorial celebration of life to be held Saturday, June 26, 2021, beginning at 2:00 p.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,Enid, OK (73701)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. Gusty winds during the evening. Low 76F. S winds at 20 to 30 mph, decreasing to 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Gusty winds during the evening. Low 76F. S winds at 20 to 30 mph, decreasing to 10 to 20 mph.Defendant Casey White, 35, of Tanner, is walked back to the jail van today following his trial in Limestone County Circuit Court. White was found guilty on nine charges, including the attempted murder of his ex-girlfriend and the kidnapping of her two roommates in December 2015.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Postal works begin three-day walkout

Postal workers on the Isle of Man have begun a three-day walk out this morning - on the one of the busiest days for the postal service.

The three-day walkout began at 5.30am and will end at 6pm on Saturday.

Union members are striking over concerns to planned changes to the postal service, cost-cutting measures and changes to its pension scheme.

Isle of Man Post Office has a contigency plan in place.

Priority will be given to premium services (Special Delivery and Parcelforce 24), Yodel parcel deliveries and business services for commercial clients.

The service normally delivers approximately 500 bouquets of flowers on Valentines Day and delivering these will not be affected.

Customers are reminded that an Island-wide doorstep delivery of standard post will not be possible which will include Valentines Day cards.Cancun, Mexico, Feb 14 (efe-epa).- The state of Quintana Roo, home to Mexico's most popular Caribbean tourist destinations, faces the challenge of counteracting a perception that it is unsafe and persuading travelers from the United States to return, the region's top tourism official said.

Marisol Vanegas Perez told a press conference in Cancun that despite setbacks, the Quintana Roo tourism sector remains resilient.

Since 2017, underworld violence has plagued parts of Quintana Roo. Officials blame the mayhem on a turf war involving the Jalisco Nueva Generacion Cartel, the Los Zetas cartel and other gangs that want to control the illegal drug trade in the region.

"Our great strength is that we are united, with more than 30,000 hotel rooms under construction adding to a supply of more than 100,000 rooms," Vanegas said.

Citing preliminary figures from the federal Tourism Secretariat, she said that the number of visitors to Caribbean Mexico rose 6 percent last year to 20.3 million.

Vanegas also referred to statistics from immigration authorities showing that international arrivals in the area climbed 3.51 percent in 2018 to 7.9 million.

The number of cruise ship passengers and crew entering Quintana Roo last year was 6.3 million, an increase of 6.11 percent from 2017.

Cozumel accounted for 5.01 million of that total, followed by Mahahual with 1.3 million, Vanegas said.

The director of the Quintana Roo Tourism Promotion Council, Dario Flota Ocampo, said the leading sources of international visitors to the state were the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Argentina and Colombia, in that order.

Another speaker at the press conference, Cancun and Puerto Morelos hotel association president Roberto Cintron Gomez, complained that hoteliers in the area lost 2.8 billion pesos ($145 million) in 2018 as a result of what he called unfair competition from Airbnb.

More than 950,000 visitors to Cancun and Puerto Morales found lodging through Airbnb instead of booking rooms at hotels, he said.

While Cancun needed 44 years to amass 34,000 hotel rooms, the online hospitality platform has acquired 30,000 lodgings in the resort city in just seven years, Cintron noted.

He said that he had sought a meeting with federal Tourism Secretary Miguel Torruco Marques to suggest legislation to regulate and tax Airbnb and other digital platforms.Today

Partly cloudy with a slight chance of thunderstorms. High 81F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Cloudy skies after midnight. Low 57F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.

Tomorrow

Scattered thunderstorms developing during the afternoon. High around 70F. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.Effingham, IL (62401)

Today

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 73F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 73F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.We teachers are not new to hearing our profession be disparaged. Youve heard the insults, too, including, those who cant, teach. Youve heard people ask, Why should teachers be paid more since they get their summers off? Or, someone claim that our day starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m. Thats a joke! These misperceptions are generally easy to counter, and we usually do so with a calm teacher voice.

That is, until this week: A rather striking insult to the profession came from a not-so surprising source, Donald Trump Jr. On Monday, at a rally to support his fathers long-promised border wall in El Paso, Texas, Mr. Trump Jr. stated , I love seeing some young conservatives because I know its not easy. Keep up that fight. Bring it to your schools. You dont have to be indoctrinated by these loser teachers that are trying to sell you on socialism from birth. You dont have to do it. Because you can think for yourselves. They cant.

With this soundbite, Mr. Trump Jr. made teachers an enemy to his father's base, just as the president has done with journalists."

Loser teachers? Loser teachers! LOSER TEACHERS! I yelled at the television, careful, though, not to awaken my sleeping preschool-age son and 1st grade daughter in the next room. I watched the clip again later to see how the audience respondedthey clapped and cheered. With this sound bite, Mr. Trump Jr. made teachers an enemy to his fathers base, just as the president has done with journalists. I am realistic enough to know that it is highly unlikely that Mr. Trump Jr. will read what I have to say. On the other hand, teachers are highly optimistic people. And, so, if you are in fact reading this, sir, have a seat, take out a notebook, and prepare to be schooled.

1. I am a teacher and a liberal Democrat. I believe in health care for all and higher living wages. I also believe that public education is a social good, not a market-driven exercise. So, if that makes me a socialist, so be it.

2. In spite of my deeply held personal beliefs, I do not talk about them with my students or mention them in my lessons. I do not have the time or space to promulgate political doctrine. I am teaching my students to become critical thinkers. And as a library media specialist, I am teaching my students why the credibility of sources and the use of facts matter. My classroom does not resemble a Trump-style rally. When I speak, my students do not clap or cheer in response. They listen. They question. They search to find their own answers.

3. When you call us losers who indoctrinate students in socialism, not only are you insulting teachers, you are grossly underestimating American students. They are already familiar with many of the problems with our society. Theyve seen and experienced injustice first hand.

Allow me to cite a few examples:

In 2017, Illinois then-Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, decided to decrease funding to Chicago public schools. Our principal explained to our school community that the impending millions of dollars in budget cuts would translate into losing teachers. How did our students react? They rallied. They figured out how to fundraise and stage a walk-out. When Democrat Forrest Claypool, the former CEO of our schools, held a press conference at our school over funding (months prior to being ousted), our students staged a sit-in. They doubted his sincerity. When Trayvon Martins killer was acquitted, they stormed outside and performed a die-in, hoodies upa violation of several school rules. In other words, they are capable of thinking for themselves. And they certainly cannot be indoctrinated. They dont see the world in partisan termsDemocrat, Republican, or Socialist. When you insult us, you also insult them.

4. Finally, when you tell young conservatives to fight us, you are setting up a losing gender battle. According to the Brookings Institute, 75 percent of teachers in the United States are women ; in fact, in 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that teaching was the most common occupation for women. In 2018s midterm elections, women voted more for Democrats than they did for Republicans . Calling teachers losers will only move that needle more toward the Democrat side.

A familiar saying that my parents taught me and that my elementary school teachers reinforcedone that you might also have heard: If you dont have something nice to say, dont say anything at all. But they also taught me to stand up to bullies.

As any teacher worth her salt would do, I offer you, Mr. Trump Jr., a path forward. Prepare for a fight of your own. Teachers in this country will not be intimidated.More than a month ago, as the calendar quietly turned the page to 2019, comedian Louis Szekelybetter known as Louis C.K.set Twitter ablaze. Leaked audio footage of a recent stand-up performance captured the comedian mocking the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., for their political activism in response to the shooting at their school. But, the conversation in the national media was short-lived.

Why revisit this now? Today marks exactly one year from the Parkland shootingone of the most devastating mass shootings in American history. Recall, a teenage gunman opened fire. Bullets pierced 34 bodies. Of those 34, 17 people died14 students and three staff members. It was Valentines Day. A heinous act of hatred on the day of love.

In the aftermath of the massacre, a number of student survivors took a political stand. Many of them rebuked politicians for what has become a routine offer of thoughts and prayers. They traveled to the halls of Floridas state capitol and pressed Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-led legislature to reform the states gun laws. They challenged U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, during a live town hall meeting, to stop taking money from gun lobbyists.

This generation has been <i>defined</i> by mass shootings on school campuses, and it will take this generation acting strategically, attacking all levels of government, to change things."

Theyre testifying in front of Congress, these kids? C.K. said, adding: Youre not interesting because you went to a high school where kids got shot. Why does that mean I have to listen to you? How does that make you interesting? You didnt get shot. You pushed some fat kid in the way, and now I have to listen to you talking?

He couldnt have been more wrong. This generation is not boring. They have every right to tell the older generations what action needs to be taken. In fact, they have much more work to do.

In addition to todays anniversary of the tragedy, this upcoming April 20th will mark 20 years since the mass shooting at Columbine High School. The Columbine shooting had such a big impact in the public imagination that Columbine itself became a pop-culture euphemism for a school shooting . And, many more school shootings followed. After Columbine, there were shootings at Virginia Tech, West Nickel Mines School, Red Lake Senior High School, Northern Illinois University, Oikos University, Santa Monica College, Sandy Hook Elementary School, Marshall County High School, Santa Fe High School, and many more. To the extent that mass school shootings are now a dark part of American culture, Columbine marks the inception.

Fairly or not, this generation has been defined by mass shootings on school campuses, and it will take this generation acting strategically, attacking all levels of government, to change things.

There are still lots of state and federal laws that make it much too easy for a child or young adult to access a gun. According to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, most states still allow unlicensed gun carry. The vast majority of states have very loose restrictions on the size of magazines that people can legally access. Most centrally related to K-12 schools, the Gun-Free Zones Act of 1990 prohibited guns within 1,000 feet of schools. We need to push that boundary even further. In fact, we need to use this as statutory footing to begin to get rid of as many guns as possible.

States need to better incorporate anti-gun incentives into accountability standards. We need to do so in a way that does not result in turning schools into prisons. We need staff and counselors that can talk to students formally and informally about guns and violence before tragedy occurs. We need curriculum that engages kids on the dangers of firearms. We need teachers and unions to use bargaining power at the state level to fight for gun restrictions as well.

This also extends to higher education. Colleges and universities are now major players in how cities develop and redevelop. They should be leading these conversations on the ground and demanding zero tolerance on guns in campus vicinities. Open discourse to rid open fire.

They should be incentivizing researchers to develop tools that can help detect and disarm an active shooter, as well as help us determine the social and psychological behaviors that could dissuade kids from wanting a gun in the first place. Use knowledge to overpower weaponry.

All of this begins with empowering and listening to students.

So, instead of criticizing kids for not being crazy and unhinged"as Louis C.K. jokeshow about we listen to them as they work to make our nation understand that gun reform needs to be rethought of as major education reform? Because if there is one thing that the Parkland survivors know for certain, its this:

There is no greater immediate threat to a kids education than another kid with a gun.For Philly native Rachel Steinig, a core March for Our Lives activist, returning to the University of Pennsylvania for her sophomore year highlighted a stark contrast between her life on the protest frontlines and the orderly campus. There just werent many supports there for student organizing or activism, said Steinig.

So in January, nine months after student walkouts rippled through American schools, the 19-year-old and a handful of her classmates decided to fill the void themselves, and launched the UPenn chapter of March for Our Lives.

In a few weeks, the chapter had amassed an email list of some 250 students, visited the Philadelphia office of Sen. Pat Toomey to lobby for a federal proposal to close gun background-check loopholes, and contacted long-established Philadelphia gun-violence groups, to ask how it can help.

As the anniversary of the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School arrives, the efforts of groups like this one represent one of several possible answers to this question: What is the future of the extraordinary youth activism #neveragain unleashed in 2018?

About the Citizen Z Project U.S. public education is rooted in the belief by early American leaders that the most important knowledge to impart to young people is what it means to be a citizen. If America is experiencing a civic crisis now, as many say it is, schools may well be failing at that job. Look for more pieces from our Citizen Z project in the weeks and months ahead.

It may seem like a pointed question to ask of a movement that has already helped reframe the issue of gun violence in the United States and catalyze genuinely higher youth-voting rates in some states. But, as ultimately all social movements do, #neveragain faces a reckoning over its sustainability.

The difficulty isnt just keeping the issue of gun violence on policymakers agendas amid the barrage of other national crises, like the recent federal government shutdown. Its also navigating the short attention span of the media, coordinating among dozens of scattered chapters, andmost of allgetting peers to commit to more than just one march or pull of the voting-machine lever.

I think one of the main challenges is that a lot of the students who got involved in the March for Our Lives movement havent been personally impacted by gun violence, and I think its hard when it hasnt personally affected you to stay motivated and stay in the fight long term, said Steinig. Thats just a human tendency.

Quick and Slow

Research on social movements generally concludes that, as with voting, past activism is the best predictor of future activism. The problem is that its much less clear exactly what experiences or expectations help individual activists commit to the long haul.

Narrowing media interest doesnt help. Since the midterm elections, mainstream outlets have focused almost exclusively on just two of the activists, former Parkland students David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez. Its hardly novel to remark that personalities and public demonstrations tend to attract more attention than the minutiae of day-to-day strategy, but that truism has real consequences for the shape of youth activism.

Sustainability has been the keystone of some of the most successful social movements. The LGBT rights movement began in the 1950s but did not really become an unstoppable force until the sight of same-sex couples waiting on the steps of San Franciscos City Hall to obtain marriage licenses, in 2004, thrust it into the national consciousness. The civil rights movement relied on more than 100 years of painstaking, detailed workand suffered many defeatsbefore the legislative accomplishments of the 1960s.

Its easy to look back at that in retrospect and kind of collapse it in our collective memory, but change takes time. And change on big, cultural, touchstone issues like Second Amendment rights, or even more broadly gun safety and violence, isnt going to get solved overnight, or in the span of a year, said Tom Maher, a lecturer at Purdue University who studies youth activism and social movements.

Shorter-lived social movements can have a major impact, too. Some scholars, for example, argue that the waning Tea Party movement paved the way for Donald Trumps election; others trace the rise of progressive political candidates, like Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to the now-defunct Occupy Wall Street movement.

For March for Our Lives and for student activism generally, the question seems to be: Which of the two forms will their movement takea slow burn, or a powerful but brief whirlwind?

Early Impacts

To a degree, March for Our Lives activists have already shown they are capable of evolving nimbly. They can also lay claim to some bona fide results.

The activists made an early, critical decision to incorporate into the movement the perspectives of students of color facing gun violence in their own communities, for example. And while gun control was the primary focus of the March 24 protest last year, the students message had broadened by the time they embarked on their summer Road to Change tour to one focused on voting: Over and over, they encouraged rapt audiences of parents, students, and community members to hit their polling places.

That message seems to have resonated among youth. According to data first reported by the Associated Press, 2018 voter turnout rates for individuals ages 18 to 29 in Florida, the epicenter of the movement, rose to 37 percent. Thats an increase of more than 15 percentage points from 2014. Additional data from the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, or CIRCLE, first reported in Education Week, found increases in that age category of 24 percentage points and just below 12 percentage points in Nevada and Oklahoma. In both states, the surge in youth turnout surpassed the increase in the general electorate.

Qualitatively, the picture of the students specific impact on gun issues is less clear cut.

On the one hand, their activism fundamentally rewrote the script on guns as a public policy issue, allowing some candidates in the midterm elections to embrace proposals that were anathema even to Democrats in previous cycles. In 2018, states passed some 50 pieces of legislation restricting gun access, according to an analysis by Pews Stateline news service.

Prior to Parkland, there was a wash-rinse-repeat element to the discussion around gun control, especially after Sandy Hook, Maher said, referring to the general lack of successful gun-control legislation following the 2012 school shooting in Connecticut. To their credit, the students talked about it as a school safety issue. Thats a very different way of talking about gun violencenot as a [Second Amendment] rights issue, which is the discussion weve had for the last decade.

On the other hand, the midterm results were mixed. Pro-gun control candidates made progress in the U.S. House of Representatives, including in five of the six races where groups like Everytown for Gun Safety spent the most money, according to the Trace, a news site that tracks gun news. But they made less progress in the Senate. And no losses were more disheartening than those in Florida, where the National Rifle Association-backed Republican Ron DeSantis bested Democrat Andrew Gillum for the governorship. (The March for Our Lives organization did not endorse specific candidates.)

Building Structure

In recent days, though, some small but significant signs suggest that March for Our Lives continues to mature. Its Arizona chapter recently celebrated the introduction of a mental-health bill in that state, written by high school students. And the organization can now claim a more sophisticated operating structure.

Vikiana Petit-Homme is a senior at Boston Latin Academy. Shes also the Boston March for Our Lives chapters executive director. Last year, she helped organize the march in that city that attracted more than 80,000 people, and got a crash course in the finer points of advocacy tax lawall while practicing her Latin declensions. (I was 16 and had to figure out what a fiscal sponsor was. It was so confusing.)

Now, Petit-Homme has another new job: She is one of March for Our Lives eight regional directors, a new arrangement announced by the organization Jan. 20. Shell be in charge of Southeastern states, including Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina.

In general, Petit-Homme said, the regional directors will help the groups many small, often hyper-local chapters tap resources from the national group, like social media assistance, its network of organizers and speakers, and grants from its Action Fund, a 501(c)4 lobbying wing. Theyll also help chapters connect to established, tent-pole anti-gun-violence groups in each state.

I would love for us just to continue to enhance our structure and make sure that it is something that can be sustainable and can last a while, that I can leave someday and know there will be someone to take my place, because [our work] isnt going to be done anytime soon, she said.

Core participation in the Boston chapter is steady at perhaps 60 people, Petit-Homme said, and its flexible about opportunities to engage at its monthly meetings.

We are trying to create a structure where you can come in and give what you can. You can come to one of our monthly meetings and some of our events; if you want to do more, theres space to move up the ranks, she said. Part of what keeps people coming is that they ... are still seeing this problem persist, especially those closer to the pain.

Flagging Interest?

As for the wider range of activism that the students helped prompt, the jury is still out. For every new example of renewed commitmentlike the new UPenn chapterthere are anecdotes of faltering student interest.

A Michigan organization created in response to the Parkland tragedy, Students for Gun Legislation, initially received a slew of local media coverage and a handwritten commendation from former President Barack Obama. But the group hasnt been active on social media since August, and one of its organizers, now a freshman in college, said via a Twitter message that he no longer had the time to volunteer.

At a local level, too, election defeats can take their toll, raising new questions for activists about how to maintain momentum.

Ryan Wesdock, a graduate student in history and education at Virginia Tech and spokesman for the Green Party of Virginia, was thrilled at how his colleagues and students were engaged by the midterm elections: The school newspaper did a whole issue on the contests. Many students rallied behind Anthony Flaccavento, a local Democratic candidate for a U.S. House seat. He favored more gun-control proposalssuch as lifting the ban preventing the federal government from researching causes of gun violencethan incumbent Morgan Griffith.

But then Flaccavento lost by a substantial margin.

I was certainly disappointed and my friends were disappointed. When you work tirelessly for months and thats the result, it can be kind of heartbreaking, said Wesdock, who helped organize the Road to Change stop in Blacksburg, Va. On the other hand, the NRAs success has been built over the last 30 or 40 years, so these things take decades.

So how do you prevent young activists from being discouraged?

I try to always phrase these things in terms of investment: Youre making an investment in the community, Wesdock said. Youre coming up with new ideas you can use, and new candidates you can run so that you can then win the next time.

For now, hes been working to re-energize students on a range of issues, including student debt and climate change, where young people have much at stake.

There was a lot of enthusiasm. Whether or not that will extend beyond having voted this one time is a decision those of us who are really engaged have to make, he said.

As the new March for Our Lives chapter on UPenns campus takes its first steps, its leaders are trying to take similar lessons to heart. Theyre hoping that existing gun violence groups in the citylike the CHARLES Foundation and Moms Demand Action Philadelphiacan bridge the gap between their universitys largely white, affluent campus and the communities in the city that are most affected by gun violence, said Beatrice Forman, the chapters communications director.

Maybe, she suggests, the sustainability of March for Our Lives isnt even the right way to think about the movements impact. Maybe whats most important is the long-term orientation toward civic engagement that at least some participants will take with them.

We feel like its training a generation of students to become organizers and re-integrating social consciousness into the national thought process, Forman said. Even if the movement itself may not be around in a decade, the effects will be. And I think thats almost more important.In a rare bipartisan push, the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of a major public lands package on Tuesday.

The Natural Resources Management Act, approved 92-8, establishes 1.3 million acres of new wilderness, adds 694,000 acres of new recreation and conservation areas, creates four new national monuments, among other important conservation measures, according to Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), who introduced the bill with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

Significantly, the Cantwell-Murkowski package also permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which is considered America's most important conservation and recreation program.

The LWCF was established by Congress in 1964 and is funded by fees and royalties from federal offshore oil and gas leases. More than 42,000 state and local projects across the country are supported by the program but it expired last September because Congress failed to reauthorize and fund the program.

"The Land and Water Conservation Fund has been a pre-eminent program for access to public lands," Cantwell said in a press release. "It gives local communities the tools and resources to manage public lands, to give more access to the American people, to do the things that will help us grow jobs and preserve against a very challenging and threatening climate."

The measure is the largest public lands bill considered by Congress in a decade, the Associated Press noted. The 662-page document contains more than 110 individual bills, including provisions sponsored by dozens of senators on both sides of the aisle.

Murkowski told the AP it was a "very, very collaborative" process.

Other notable provisions include 367 miles of new " Wild & Scenic Rivers" and 2,600 miles of new national trails. The Washington Post also pointed out that the bill includes funds for the the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act through 2022 to provide habitat protection for more than 380 bird species; a permanent mining ban on 370,000 acres around Yellowstone and North Cascades national parks; and codification of the Obama-era Every Kid Outdoors Act that allows free admission to national parks for fourth graders and their families.

The new national monuments proposed by the bill include the Mississippi home of civil rights activists Medgar and Myrlie Evers, as well as the Mill Springs Civil War battlefield in Kentucky.

What's more, the Congressional Budget Office projects the bill will save taxpayers $9 million, the Post reported.

It now heads to the House of Representatives, which is expected to "quickly" take up the bill and pass it, Cantwell's office said in the release.

The Senate's overwhelming support of the bill is contrasted by the Trump administration's drastic slashing public lands in favor of mining, drilling and other development. Incidentally, the Post reported that "White House officials have indicated privately that the president will sign it."

Environmental groups and public lands advocates applauded the upper chamber's efforts.

"The Republican-led Congress should have never let LWCF expire as they did last September, and while this package is not perfect, we welcome the Senate's passage of this bipartisan legislation, which would permanently reauthorize LWCF and protect millions of acres of lands and waters," League of Conservation Voters president Gene Karpinski said in an issued statement. "We will also continue to urge Congress to enact full, dedicated funding for LWCF, in addition to permanent reauthorization, to end the chronic underfunding of this critical program."

Garett Reppenhagen, an Iraq war veteran and the western states director of the Vet Voice Foundation, urged the House to swiftly take up and pass the public lands package.

"It has been a hard, uphill battle against the White House and Republican leadership, but we are pleased that LWCF is one step closer to reauthorization," Reppenhagen said. "This program is essential for protecting and preserving lands that veterans depend on when they come home, and for maintaining our historic battlefields for future generation to learn from. This cannot wait any longer, and we urge the House to immediately take this bill up so it can be signed into law."2018 was a major year for raising awareness about the buildup of plastics in the world's oceans. But it also ended with one of the most high-profile attempts to solve the problemBoyan Slat's Ocean Cleanup systemreturning to port for repairs before managing to clean up any plastic.

Now, National Geographic and Sky Ocean Ventures are teaming up to make 2019 an important year for resolving the crisis. On Monday, the two organizations launched the Ocean Plastic Innovation Challenge, a competition that will award up to $500,000 in prize money and potentially at least $1 million in investments to teams that can develop solutions to the plastic crisis.

"We hope we can inspire people of diverse backgrounds to utilize their own resources, to try to really solve the problems they see and reach their own goals," Sky Ocean Ventures head Fred Michel told National Geographic. "And maybewe hopethey'll come up with something amazing, something transformational."



Participants will be invited to compete in three categories:

Design Track: The Design Track asks competitors to improve food and beverage packaging so that it does not rely so heavily on single-use plastic. A panel of judges will select 10 finalists, who will win $5,000 each. They will then compete for a first price of $100,000 and two second prices of $45,000. Circular Economy Track: The Circular Economy Track invites participants to innovate business practices that value reuse of materials over reliance on single-use items. The prizes and process will be structured the same as for the Design Track. Data Visualization Track: The Data Visualization Track asks teams or individuals to develop engaging ways to visually raise awareness and spark action on the plastic pollution crisis. Submissions must work from a relevant and accurate data set. Judges will select four finalists, and the winner will earn $10,000 and the potential to have their visualization published digitally by National Geographic.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology prices and incentives expert Fiona Murray spoke of the importance of prizes in sparking innovation.

"It's like a really big flashing beacon, or a balloon, sayinghey! Look over here! Here's what we care about. Now go out and solve it," Murray told National Geographic.

The plastic pollution crisis is clearly in need of solving. More than nine million tons of plastic enter the world's oceans each year, and that number could reach 17 million by 2025 if nothing is done, the challenge website said.

If you want to participate, the timeline is as follows:Brock Long, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director who oversaw the agency's controversial response to Hurricane Maria, announced his resignation Wednesday.

"It has been a great honor to serve our country as @fema Administrator for the past two years. While this has been the opportunity of the lifetime, it is time for me to go home to my family," Long said in a tweet announcing his departure.

His resignation comes as Congressional Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren, have repeatedly called for an investigation into FEMA's Hurricane Maria response in Puerto Rico, where nearly 3,000 people died in the wake of the storm, the Huffington Post reported.

A University of Michigan led study released in January found that the federal response to Hurricane Maria was both slower and less generous than the response to Hurricanes Irma and Harvey in Florida and Texas. Long won praise early in his tenure for his response to Hurricane Harvey, The New York Times reported.



San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration's Maria response, commented on Long's departure on Twitter.

"Brock Long was Trump's hatchet man in the botched Puerto Rican relief effort after hurricanes Irma and Maria. He should have been fired and held accountable for the loss of live. Thank you for nothing, next," she wrote.

Puerto Rico's Governor Ricardo Rossello took a softer, but still critical, stance, wishing Long well but calling his departure an "opportunity."



"We hope the battles over the last 18 months, due to unequal treatment can turn into the efficient assistance needed," he wrote.

Long was also under pressure because of a September discovery by the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security that he violated rules by using government vehicles to travel back and forth to his home in North Carolina, as well as while on vacation with his family in Hawaii, The New York Times reported.



"The FEMA administrator is supposed to be focused on preparing for disasters like the devastating hurricanes that killed thousands of Americans in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islandsnot using government vehicles to shuttle his family around Hawaii at taxpayer expense," then top House Oversight Committee Democrat and Maryland Representative Elijah E. Cummings said at the time, according to The New York Times. "Administrator Long's apparent violations of federal law for his own personal benefit are another example of how senior officials in the Trump administration continue to use American taxpayer money."

Long follows former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt in resigning after a scandal involving misuse of government resources for personal gain.

Long ran FEMA for two years and oversaw more than 220 declared disasters, according to his departure statement. He said he would depart to return to his wife and two sons. Deputy Administrator Peter Gaynor will step into the position of Acting Administrator following his departure.

Long had a background in emergency management before President Donald Trump nominated him to run FEMA, having directed the Alabama Emergency Management Agency from 2008 to 2011, The New York Times reported.

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I've been watching antitrust cases actively since the 1980s. I had to study historical antitrust cases going back to Standard Oil and RCA, in order to ensure compliance with a related consent decree When I worked at IBM. Each of the other cases had one thing in common: Both of the companies being charged were massively and obviously monopolies.

There were many questions about whether they were behaving badly or really had an adverse impact on competition, but there generally was no doubt they had monopoly power.

The current FTC v. Qualcomm case is vastly different, in that the two companies that apparently have been screaming they were damaged are four times and 10 times larger than Qualcomm, and they have a history of anticompetitive behavior.

During the closing arguments, I had a ton of wtf moments, as the FTC brought forth incredibly stupid arguments. During the close, it felt as though the FTC attorney hadn't really prepared, hadn't organized her evidence into what I would have thought to be an obvious framework, and pretty much just called Qualcomm names with little to back up her claims.

This isn't high school pre-law -- this is federal court. The quality of work was more in line with what you might expect to see from an overworked and under-resourced public defender with too many cases.

The implication that the FTC effectively was working for Apple was particularly disturbing during a time when I, and others, are increasingly concerned that the U.S. government is being run by big companies through lobbyists.

I'll share my thoughts about the troubling FTC vs. Qualcomm litigation and then close with my product of the week: an impressive update to my go-to home security camera solution, Arlo.

The FTC's Murky Case Against Qualcomm

The FTC's position was that Qualcomm, through use of its patent portfolio and licensing, restricted competition by abusing its power as a monopoly. This allegation should have led to a closing argument that clearly delineated three pillars of proof. When I was studying prelaw, I received training from a judge, and I'm still a fan of tight organization regarding how you present your legal arguments and evidence.

In this case, the FTC should have established three pillars of proof to show that Qualcomm was acting as a monopoly. If it wasn't, then it didn't have the power to commit the crime that was alleged. Second, the FTC should have established that Qualcomm was abusing its monopoly power. Without abuse, there was no crime. Third, the FTC should have shown that Qualcomm damaged the industry, because that is what drives the remedy. Any damage would have to be corrected.

There were no obvious pillars of evidence in the FTC's argument. First, if Qualcomm was acting as a monopoly, then it must have dominated its market. However, the three largest players in the smartphone market -- Samsung, Huawei and Apple -- generally have not used Qualcomm modems or processors. Samsung and Huawei mostly have made their own, and Apple has bought them from Intel.

In fact, if you look at Qualcomm vs. either Intel or Apple, it is comparatively tiny, with just one-fourth the value of Intel and one-tenth the value of Apple. Granted, both companies have been having significant issues, but Qualcomm can't be blamed for a massive lack of demand for Apple's products, or for Intel's inability to solidify a management team.

Intel's issues pretty much start with its having a board that, for the most part, wouldn't know the difference between a GPU and a CPU. Intel can't seem to find a new CEO who is both qualified and dumb enough to take the job.

Second, the FTC needed to show not only that Qualcomm was a monopoly, but also that it abused its monopoly power. Given that I don't think it came close to achieving its burden of proof on the question of Qualcomm being a monopoly, the abuse contention immediately became problematic. The FTC argued that Qualcomm illegally tied its patent portfolio to its modem sales, but it presented no evidence that Qualcomm ever cut modem supply to a buyer that didn't have a patent license.

There was a legitimate reason to tie those two things together: Implementing one of Qualcomm's modems did require the use of Qualcomm's patents, and a license would have avoided litigation. I found it particularly troubling that the FTC argued that reducing litigation was an example of abuse of power. I'm guessing that was because the commission believed that normal companies -- as in non-abusive monopolies -- must spend millions on unnecessary litigation in order to operate. Maybe this had something to do with job security, but I sure didn't get the connection.

Virtually all of the witnesses the FTC brought forward who said that Qualcomm forced their companies into signing a contract were countered by witnesses Qualcomm's attorneys called -- employees from the same companies who said those accounts were BS. Each FTC witness was impeached by a coworker, which really made the FTC's case look fabricated.

Third, the issue of damages was telling. During the close, the example the FTC used was that every time Apple requested a concession from Qualcomm, Qualcomm wanted a concession in return. It was as if the FTC existed in some strange parallel universe where only the bigger company can make demands, and the smaller firm can say nothing but "yes sir, can I have another?"

It was obviously bullying behavior by Apple, and the FTC seemed to be saying that any company that could resist Apple's bullying clearly was abusing its power. I seriously thought that the U.S. legal system was starting to look as though it was founded on concepts you'd more likely see in a third-world country, where the laws are whatever the powerful say they are.

The FTC's Impeachable Expert

What I found particularly bizarre was the unique theory offered by the FTC's lead expert, Carl Shapiro, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. Shapiro concluded that Qualcomm's business model must be illegal, although his view appeared to have no connection to any facts. He offered no research or empirical evidence -- just one guy's ideas about how the world ought to work. More importantly, he made it clear that anyone who disagreed with him -- including judges (and I'll get to this in a moment) -- was an idiot.

I've worked with folks like this in the past and I'm sure you have as well. They are so extremely narcissistic that they don't accept anything from anyone but themselves. Now this legend in his own mind also was a pivotal expert in the AT&T Time Warner trial, and the judge in that trial went off on how poorly founded Shapiro's testimony was, and how far from reality his fanciful theory was. Seriously, the judge went on and on with his observations that Shapiro's comments were so poorly founded as to be less than worthless, before ruling in favor of the merger and against the DoJ.

The FTC attorneys' choice to use this guy must come down to the fact they couldn't find any other qualified expert who agreed with them, and hoped, which was pretty foolish, that Qualcomm's attorneys wouldn't find out about that prior case (Shapiro claimed under oath that he didn't remember it. There is no way that is true, given how he went after the judge when it was brought up.)

Seriously, the guy was a narcissist. Anyone who went after him, like the judge in the AT&T/TM trial did, would be on his immortal mortal enemies list. Even for a normal person, if judge were to tear you or me a new bung hole like that judge did, we'd remember it till the end of days. Shapiro claimed he forgot it in a few months. I doubt any of us are that gullible -- but apparently, the FTC was.

Does the FTC Now Work for Apple?

There is a lot of apparently illegal behavior going on in the government now. Just look at the impressive number of indictments coming out of the Mueller probe. Further, the amount of self-dealing in congress is frightening.

This case, in my mind, is like two bullies (Apple and Intel) that went to a smaller kid who is willing to fight back, and complaining that the smaller kid is a bully because he won't pass over his lunch money.

Go back and look at what I said about Qualcomm pushing back on Apple's demands. Now add the FTC's argument that because Qualcomm wouldn't accept Apple's demand that every patent be arbitrated individually by a panel -- we are talking thousands of patents -- Qualcomm was at fault. This really was the FTC complaining that Qualcomm wouldn't give up its lunch money to a bigger and vastly more powerful firm.

Now I'm not sure the FTC rank and file are on board with this, because its legal team seemed to be trying to throw this fight. The fact that they used the impeachable expert, gave one of their least-capable attorneys responsibility for the close (really, she performed like a first-year associate), and made no real attempt to organize their evidence in a hierarchy that would allow the judge to decide more easily in their favor, makes me think there is a rebellion in the FTC and that they want to lose this thing.

The Qualcomm close was far from the best I've seen -- likely because the FTC was so disjointed that it forced a less-organized response -- but it was massively better executed than what the FTC did. Compared to the FTC using one of its most junior folks, Qualcomm used one of its most senior, because the company thought the case was that important.

Now this may come down to the FTC being inept, but I saw some strong litigators on its team last Friday that should have done the close (both men, and I'll get to that in a moment), but they weren't used.

Two other reasons are concerning. One is that the FTC attorneys knew Judge Koh would rule in their favor regardless of their case, so they really didn't have to do the work. The other is that they knew Judge Koh would pick a female attorney over a male attorney and subordinate the evidence and arguments to that choice.

The judge came across to me as capable and competent, but I haven't done the research on her that the FTC likely has so I remain concerned. I've seen a lot of judges phone it in, but she wasn't one of them. (I was actually pretty impressed.)

Wrapping Up

The FTC didn't seem to come close to meeting its burden of proof that Qualcomm was a monopoly or even had monopoly power to abuse. It also fell short on proving bad behavior, and the damages appeared to have no foundation in fact. The term one of my old law professors used was "throwing crap against the wall," and I am no more a fan of that strategy than he was.

The danger of the FTC getting this wrong is high, because Qualcomm is critical to the U.S. lead in the 5G rollout. If the government cripples Qualcomm, it basically hands the market off to the Chinese and Huawei. If Qualcomm is guilty, that is problematic, but if it was charged wrongfully, given that the U.S. is in a declared trade war with China, that is potentially treasonous.

There is also the growing concern that, thanks to budget cutting, our government is an offshoot of big business. The ever-wealthier tail is wagging the ever more poorly funded dog, and even the promise of a lucrative corporate gig has far more potential to corrupt than it ever has before. This little piece, which details how lobbyists legally corrupt government, should give us all a bit more pause.

So, and to recap: The FTC didn't organize its close in a way that would best present the evidence it had; most of the evidence was invalidated; its key expert was impeached; and the closing attorney was the weakest I've seen at the podium. It was as if the FTC wanted to make a statement or prove a point that had nothing to do with Qualcomm. I have an idea what that is -- but it is too dangerous to share. If this is an elaborate sting, there is only one likely candidate.

I use and recommend Arlo cameras highly (their lights are crap, but there's a ton of other automatic lights you can buy). These cameras allow me to check on my house and pets when I travel, and to make sure the pet sitters are doing the job we pay them for. (We've had two pet sitters who were really bad. One almost destroyed our house, and the other just lied about the work she was doing.) We even caught one accidentally letting one of our indoor cats outside (there are a lot of animals that eat cats where I now live), but she got the cat corralled without issue.

Over time, these cameras have received software updates allowing them to send more accurate alerts if they see an escaping pet or a person who isn't supposed to be there. They record video to the cloud, making it nearly impossible to disable their record after the fact, and they are wireless allowing you to put them where you need them without having to call an electrician.

Arlo's latest camera, the Arlo Ultra, adds an LED light, jumps the resolution to 4K HDR (far better if you want to make out a face, as there apparently are lots of hoodie-wearing kids going around breaking car windows at the moment), has enhanced night vision and a far wider 180-degree view, and has active noise cancellation so you can better hear what people are saying.

Arlo Ultra

The combination results in an ability to see things like license plates far more easily, and pick up activity that normally would be outside the camera's viewing angle, without fisheye distortion. You can use the light to scare off intruders, and the new camera has autozoom and tracking, so you immediately can see what caught the camera's attention.

The last generation of cameras sucked when it came to talking through them; the new camera appears to have addressed that problem well. There was a significant jump in price, with a four-camera system costing nearly a grand, and each new camera costing just short of $300, around 30 percent more than the cost of the last generation.

Still, if your home is attacked, saving $300 would seem kind of stupid after the fact. Oh, and this new system will work with the old cameras, so you don't have to replace everything at once (thank god, as I have 12 of the old cameras).

Because this new camera from Arlo significantly improves my home security, it is my product of the week.

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.



The Great Orange Smoke Screen

The front pages of any major news outlet, online or otherwise, are full of news of Donald Trump and the corrupt, inept-yet-frighteningly-effective cabal of criminals that make up his administration and circle of advisors. Nearly 40 people tied to him, his administration, his inauguration, and his campaign have been indicted and more are sure to come. Trumps rampant, bald-faced lying is now an accepted feature of his historically horrible presidency and it seems as though as America has come to believe that, so long as his crimes are tweeted and not hidden, they are somehow how okay.

Make no mistake: This barrage of chaff and smoke is no accident. It is premeditated and deliberate. Because behind the smoke screen it is a business as usual for the corporatist actors who want the skids greased for their continued and increasing profits.

While Trumps criminality and the 2020 presidential election are consuming our attention, our standard political opponents are using Trumps smoke screen to push their agenda with renewed vigor. In particular, the assault on workers and their ability to bargain collectively for better wages, working conditions, and benefits continues apace. The Janus vs. AFSCME Supreme Court decision last summer prohibits public sector unions from collecting fees from all employees it represents unless they opt in, even though federal law requires unions to represent ALL employees.

Not content to have won this battle, the State Policy Network, the policy arm of the Koch political empire, is pushing further. Documents obtained by PR Watch, a project of the Center for Media and Democracy, show that they are pushing new laws that would require ALL public sector unions to essentially jettison all of their members and force them to rejoin the union.

According to a recent post by the Center for Media and Democracys deputy director Mary Bottari, the Public Sector Union Legislative Toolkit is authored by ALECs Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force along with anti-union zealot Vinnie Vernuccio of Michigans Mackinac Center.

While many states were quick to become compliant in removing agency fee payers from automated deductions, liberty-oriented organizations do not believe solely exempting agency fee payers is in full compliance with the law. Because workers cannot waive a right they did not know they had, the entire premise that employees have opted into a union pre-Janus is null and void. This standard requires that states remove all public sector union members and agency fee payers despite any previous signatures or proof of membership from before the Janus decision. This places the burden on unions to go out and re-solicit individuals to obtain affirmative consent.

In other words, the anti-labor forces, headed up by Michigans very own Mackinac Center, are trying to force all public sector unions to essentially disband and start all over again. Theres no reason why they should have to do this, of course. Its simply a mechanism to kneecap the unions one more time.

By the way, although Janus applies only public sector unions, it impacts private sector unions, too, by decreasing the overall political voice and power of labor in America. And its no secret that the anti-worker corporatists are eager to expand right to freeload laws to the private sector, as well, either through legislation or through the courts.

This attack on workers is, of course, only one example of the business as usual assaults by Republicans on the things we value as Democrats. Assaults on environmental protections, worker and food safety protection, and so much more continued to be eroded at an alarming rate behind the clouds of smoke while we watch D.C. burn.

Do not be distracted.

Byron York is chief political correspondent for The Washington Examiner.



Byron York is chief political correspondent for The Washington Examiner.Los Angeles

Yesterday morning, I traded my reporters desk for a high school library in East Los Angeles, where I served as a mock interviewer for students who are trying to build their career-readiness muscles. What I learned inspired me and broke my heart a little.

The morning was the latest in an ongoing series sponsored by the Los Angeles Education Partnership, a 30-year-old nonprofit that uses corporate and philanthropic funding to support schools in Los Angeles. One of the ways it does that at the high school level is to gather volunteers for mock interview mornings.

About 25 people volunteered in yesterdays session, from retired educators and marketing executives to officials of the Los Angeles Rams (and me). We were interviewing 11th graders at Esteban Torres High School, in a working-class, predominantly Latino neighborhood of the city.

The first student I interviewed, Aaron, impressed me. Hes just what employers want to see: a bright, well-spoken young man who arrives on time and well-dressed for the interview. His resume boasted technology and graphic-design skills that will help him as he builds a career as a video game designer.

He kept great eye contact with me, and offered thoughtful answers to my questions. When I asked Aaron how he resolves challenges, he had a great answer: He said hed work together with co-workers to identify the problem, weigh various solutions, and choose a fix that works for everyone.

Other than noting a few small formatting problems on his resume, the only feedback I could offer Aaron is that he might want to research the company a little more before he arrives, so he can ask questions about the work itself, rather than just its pay and benefits.

When the next student sat down at my table, the picture changed completely. Kevin was clearly nervous. He looked at his lap more than at me. He bounced his left knee constantly, and chuckled at odd moments. I felt bad for him, and encouraged him to take a breath and start over.

Kevin had little clue how to answer an interviewers questions. When I asked him what led him to apply for this imaginary job, he offered generic responses like I think I could do a good job.

We worked together on a list of questions he could prepare next time for a real potential employer. We talked about the importance of good eye contact and a follow-up email the next day.

But my main concern was that no adult had ever helped Kevin recognize the value employers might see in his life experiences. He told me hed never had a paying job. But he ignored the things hed done for free. Kevin helps organize church fundraisers to send needy children to summer camp. He gets down on his knees to help neighbors tile their floors.

These are impressive choices that show off Kevins good character and his willingness to work hard. But he didnt include them in his resume or mention them in the interview. It made my heart hurt.

I suggested to Kevin that he include these activities in his resume and make sure he discusses them with interviewers. I told him how his work had impressed me. He gave me a big smile and quickly looked down at his lap.

Matthew Moor, LAEPs college-and-career-pathways coordinator, said its common for teenagers to leave such things off their resumes.

A lot of students overlook the value in the things they do, like taking care of younger siblings, he said. They work in their communities, but dont correlate it with leadership. Its those daily things they dont think of as important or worth mentioning.

The next day, Im still thinking about the way Kevin sees his life. Adults had failed him; no one had ever helped him see how impressive his community work was.

The adults in young peoples livesteachers, counselors, school volunteers, family friendscan help. We have a role to play in helping teenagers see the value of their experiences, and teaching them to sell those experiences as strengths to employers.

Photos: Volunteers Debbi Laidley, top, and Scott Hayes and Alex Floch, bottom, in mock interviews at Esteban Torres High School. Catherine Gewertz for Education Week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!There is an alarming number of Australians who are financially illiterate, which is why financial services experts Theresa Mills and Catherine Birchall have joined forces to launch a financial wellbeing program.

Following two years of intensive research and digital development, Money 101s Financial Wellbeing program will be introduced into Australian workplaces.

Money 101 founding director Catherine Birchall pioneered the development of the financial literacy program and is pleased to welcome industry veteran Theresa Mills as CEO. Theresa is on the Australian Governments Financial Literacy Board and has 30 years experience in the commercial financial services sector.

Theresa will lead the introduction of a new Financial Wellbeing program into Australian workplaces. She has significant Financial Services expertise and experience and we are delighted that she will lead the continued expansion of Money 101, Ms Birchall said.

Ms Mills said Money 101 was an industry leader in the production of engaging digital content and facilitating Financial Wellbeing in the workplace was a logical expansion.

The 110 contemporary modules which make up our Financial Wellbeing program include engaging best-practice content which we know works, Ms Mills said.

We know and understand financial literacy competencies as well as the technical, legal and compliance aspects of financial education provision.

She also said there was an alarming lack of financial capability nationally.

People with money worries and poor financial literacy can benefit hugely from our Financial Wellbeing program.

Those benefits flow through to employers, with research showing financially fit staff are healthier, happier and more productive. We are already experiencing early demand for the Money 101 solution from large employer groups.

We know that people want and need to understand much more about money and we are excited to be expanding our reach through our existing and new PartnershipsDJCAD, part of the University of Dundee, is a member of the Group for International Design Education (GIDE), which will meet in the city from February 18-22. Attendees from Belgium, China, Germany, Italy. Portugal, Slovenia and Switzerland will join their Dundee peers in reimagining the museum as a mobile experience for the 21st century.

Forming interdisciplinary teams, the students will be asked to develop viable concepts and prototypes for new mobile museums that reflect cultural values, community outreach strategies and the relationship with technology and society.

Their task will be to explore ideas in their team through a mix of digital and analogue tools, techniques and skills. By the end of three days of workshops, the teams will have produced design proposals for one of three locations in Dundee - V&A Dundee, Verdant Works or The McManus: Dundees Art Gallery & Museum.

GIDE coordinator and event organiser Andy Milligan, Programme Director for Interior & Environmental Design at DJCAD, said, We are thrilled to be leading on the 2019 Mobile Museum workshop and delighted to host international guests. Its been wonderful to have the support of University and V&A Dundee.

Our workshop will provide the conceptual framework of a shared project delivered across all GIDE institutions in semester one 2019-20 and will also become the centrepiece of an exciting exhibition in Ljubljana, Slovenia this time next year.

V&A Dundee Director Philip Long said, V&A Dundee are, once again, delighted to be a part of GIDE and support the teams from around the world with the theme of the mobile museum  a hugely fitting topic following our opening in September last year.

With a global network of students and partners, events like this help to show how unifying design can be and how common challenges can bring diverse people, ideas and solutions together. We wish all the 2019 participants the very best for what will be a unique and engaging project and one we are particularly interested to see the outcomes of.

The Group for International Design Education is a network of eight higher education partners established in 2003. The GIDE network delivers annual inter-cultural design experiences in collaboration with local sponsors, industry, researchers and creative and cultural organisations.

These interdisciplinary workshop weeks bring students, academics and researchers together to explore the cultural, social and/or ethical dimensions of design. This workshop and an exhibition culminates in a later research publication.Ardee is to receive 2,673,744 in funding for rural regeneration and development projects according to an announcement made today by Michael Ring TD, Minister for Rural and Community Development.

2,147,000 is to go towards Ardee Castle. The description of the project according to the Department for Rural and Community Development, is as follows:

"This is a significant historical tourism project linked to the heritage-led regeneration of Ardee, which will also contribute to the further development of Louth as a tourist destination. Ardee Castle (also known as St. Legers Castle), built circa 15th century, is the largest fortified medieval tower house in Ireland."

A further 526,744 has been allocated to "Ardee Regeneration". The purpose of this funding as described by the Dept is to:

"develop a plan to transform the town from a traditional manufacturing centre to a prosperous and thriving local development, multi- functional, innovative centre in an integrated and sustainable way."

Louth County Council welcomed the news this evening with Council Chief Executive, Joan Martin, saying she was truly delighted to hear this wonderful news and said that work at Ardee Castle would contribute to the development of tourism in County Louth as part of Irelands Ancient East.

The Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council, Councillor Liam Reilly also welcomed the announcement which he said would be a great boost to the people of Ardee and Mid-LouthIrish Water have confirmed this afternoon that there are no planned road closures associated with the major works beginning in Muirhevnamor in Dundalk tomorrow Friday February 15.

The Dundalk Democrat contacted Irish Water today to find out if there are any planned road closures associated with the work to replace 2.7 km of ageing water mains with high density polyethylene (plastic) pipes.

A spokesperson for Irish Water said the following:

"The new water mains will be laid in the public road/path to the front of the properties in Muirhevnamor.

"The new service connections will be laid between the new water mains and the boundary of each property.

"There are no planned road closures associated to this project. All works will be completed within the housing estate.

"The community to benefit from the network improvements in Muirhevnamor have been directly notified about the commencement of works and given information regarding the need and benefits of the project.

"Any planned disruption to the water supply to facilitate the works will be directly notified to each property in the community with 48 hours notice.

"The completion of this project will provide the community with improved security of water supply for the future."

The works will be carried out on behalf of Irish Water by GMC Utilities Group and are expected to be completed by mid-April.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.Where was known as 'Clog Row'?

This was a small lane way that led off Clanbrassil Street at a point where a John McCusker had a hairdressers shop.

It was next door to where John McCann had his bootmakers shop and it was, presumably, from this business that the lane, that had dwelling houses along it, got its name.

In more recent times, his son Jack McCann, had a bicycle and radio shop which later developed into a television rental business.

What is the largest townland in Dundalk?

There are 21 townlands in the Civil Parish of Dundalk, not all within the Urban area which comprises 6,067 acres. Of those totally or partially within the town's boundaries, by far the largest is South Marsh which includes 930 acres, next is Marshes Upper with 799 acres and those two make up over a quarter of the urban area.

Townland divisions have existed since before the coming of the Normans and, while they are not much referred now, they still have a legal function.

The smallest townland in Dundalk is Cambrickville with just 35 acres.

Where is Kelso Terrace?

Kelso Terrace is a row of three storied house along the middle of St. Mary's Road.

They were built by George Kelso about time he was establishing a flour mill and starch factory called Wellington Mills on the land behind in 1867.

The business failed and Kelso emigrated to Canada where his son, John Joseph, became a famous administrator.

When was St. Malachy's Dominican Church built?

The cornerstone of this church at the top of Anne Street was laid in August 1862 and was dedicated for worship on August 5, 1866.

The church was designed by John Murray, a local architect who replaced John Neville as the County Surveyor in 1871.

The church replaced a small Dominican chapel which had stood on the site of the present Priory (completed in 1869) from 1777.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 FDA Approves Egaten (triclabendazole) for the Treatment of Fascioliasis, a Neglected Tropical Disease

Basel, Switzerland, February 13, 2019 - Novartis announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Egaten (triclabendazole) for the treatment of fascioliasis in patients six years of age and older. This makes Egaten the only FDA-approved drug for people with this disease and is expected to facilitate broader access to this important drug not only in the US, but also in affected countries worldwide.

"Novartis has a long-standing commitment to addressing global health challenges and supporting disease elimination efforts, in diseases such as leprosy, malaria and fascioliasis," said Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis. "Today's FDA approval of Egaten is another important milestone that we believe will help further expand access to this one-day treatment, taking us a step closer toward disease elimination."

Fascioliasis, commonly known as liver fluke infestation, is a neglected tropical disease that infects 2.4 million people worldwide[1], with an additional 180 million at risk of infection[2]. It is caused by two species of parasitic flatworms that can infect humans following ingestion of larvae in contaminated water or food.

Egaten is currently the only medicine for fascioliasis recommended by the WHO and is on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. It is supplied by WHO during epidemic outbreaks and for periodic use in endemic countries. FDA approval of Egaten is expected to facilitate drug licensing and import to these countries, helping ensure sufficient and prompt availability of the drug when needed. Fascioliasis is recognized by the FDA as a neglected tropical disease, triggering the award of a Priority Review Voucher based upon this approval.

Novartis has been donating Egaten to the WHO since 2005, helping to treat around 2 million fascioliasis patients in more than 30 countries. In 2018, we renewed our agreement with the WHO to extend the drug donation until 2022, expected to reach 300 000 patients per year.

"This FDA decision is welcome news for millions who suffer or are at risk of fascioliasis and removes a major hurdle in expanding treatment to countries where it is most needed," said Dr Mwelecela Malecela, Director of the Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases at the WHO. "We are thankful to Novartis for their sustained decade-long commitment in tackling yet another disease of poverty."

The Novartis commitment to neglected tropical diseases

Novartis is a signatory to the London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, which aims to control, eliminate or eradicate 10 diseases by 2020. The Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, founded in 2001, is dedicated to finding new medicines to treat neglected diseases. In addition to malaria, research currently focuses on parasitic diseases such as cryptosporidiosis (diarrheal disease) and three major kinetoplastid diseases: human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), Chagas disease and leishmaniasis. Building on our experience in neglected diseases, Novartis also implements programs to target access to medicine for chronic diseases and, most recently, to address sickle cell disease in Africa, starting in Ghana.

About Fascioliasis

Fascioliasis is caused by two species of parasitic flatworms or trematodes that mainly affect the liver (Fasciola hepatica or Fasciola gigantica). Both species can infect humans following ingestion of larvae in contaminated water or food (mainly raw or undercooked vegetation). The larvae mature into adult worms in the biliary tract. No continent is free from fascioliasis; human cases have been reported from more than 70 countries worldwide[1].

Left untreated, fascioliasis can result in considerable pain and discomfort, leading to poor quality of life and loss of productivity. The acute phase of the disease is manifested with fever, abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea and eosinophilia. The disease later progresses to a latent phase with less symptoms and ultimately into a chronic or obstructive phase. In children, fascioliasis can be a serious infection with high fever, enlarged tender liver, and anemia.

About Novartis

Novartis is reimagining medicine to improve and extend people's lives. As a leading global medicines company, we use innovative science and digital technologies to create transformative treatments in areas of great medical need. In our quest to find new medicines, we consistently rank among the world's top companies investing in research and development. Novartis products reach more than 800 million people globally and we are finding innovative ways to expand access to our latest treatments. About 130,000 people of more than 145 nationalities work at Novartis around the world. To learn more, visit www.novartis.com.

References

[1] https://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/news/fascioliasis-review-provides-new-perspectives-infection-control/en/ [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4568335/

Source: Novartis

Egaten (triclabendazole) FDA Approval HistoryReceive emails for Trending news. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.

Other key findings include testimony that the students felt confused by Phillips approach. Investigators said they found no evidence of racist or offensive statements by students to Mr. Phillips, though some performed a tomahawk chop.

According to the report, one of the chaperones told students that if they engaged in a verbal exchange with the Black Hebrew Israelites, they would receive detention when returning to school.

According to the report, most boys bought the red hats bearing President Donald Trumps MAGA slogan in Washington, D.C., on the day of the March for Life. In previous years, some students bought Hope hats in support of President Barack Obama, the report says.

The Bishop of Covington welcomed the report in a statement on the dioceses website. Roger Foys wrote that he was pleased that my hope and expectation expressed in my letter to you of 25 January that the results of our inquiry ... would exonerate our students so that they can move forward with their lives has been realized.

In a joint statement with the school, the diocese denounced the boys behavior the day after the march, calling it opposed to the Churchs teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person.Official recommendations suggest Henry County could use a large revenue influx for road and bridge repair  a reason commissioners voted Tuesday to support legislation raising gasoline taxes.

County engineer Chris Champion said the life cycle of asphalt is usually about 15 years, which means the county should be resurfacing 170 of its 510 miles of paved roads every five years. Currently the county is resurfacing 35 miles every five years, according to an Association of County Commissions of Alabama document.

Additionally the county should be replacing bridges every 50 years. With 42 bridges more than 50 years old, Henry County should be replacing about two bridges per year.

Champion said the county has no regular bridge replacement plan in place.

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The ACCA figures reveal Henry County should be spending $6.76 million per year on road resurfacing and bridge replacement given the recommended cycles. The county, though, receives only $1.57 million from gasoline tax each year, Champion said Wednesday.Whether we have two of them on the field, all three of them on the field, well get creative and have some fun with it," defensive coordinator Joe Barry said.Business, social work, law, and psychology students were among the main cohorts targeted for recruitment by Alabama employers at Troy Dothans career fair on Wednesday.

Employers were looking for prospects with varying levels of experience, attracting current and former Troy students and those looking to change careers.

Most booths featured employers that have achieved some success in recruiting at Troys career fairs in the past and came back to survey the local talent pool.

Katie Miller, representing AltaPointe, Alabamas largest mental health care provider, said the company regularly recruits from Troy because of its social work program. Right now, the company has around 100 open positions, including spots for case managers, behavioral health workers, and management positions.

Originally attending just to earn some points in class, graduate clinical psychology student Chris Felton said the event turned out better than he expected, and not just because he won Southeast Healths raffle.

Im not really happy with my current employment, Felton said while holding applications from three new prospective employers -- SEHealth, AltaPointe, and Dothan Citys human resources department.GENEVA COUNTY  Sheriff Tony Helms feels confident the suspect that fled Holmes County, Florida, on Sunday is no longer in the Geneva County area.

Steven Lamar Watford, 36, is still at large after investigators with the Holmes County Sheriffs Office tried to stop him on Feb. 10. Investigators lost sight of Watford, but the white Chevrolet Tahoe he was driving was later found in a wooded area in Geneva County.

I have no reason to believe Watford is still in Geneva County, Helms said. In the same area where the vehicle was located, ATV tracks were also found. We believe the suspect is back in Florida.

An unknown female was also traveling with Watford, Helms said. While he believes Watford has returned to Florida, he reminds residents to call 911 if they see him.

Watford is a suspect in multiple burglaries. A manhunt began after a stolen trailer from Jackson County was found on Beaver Dam Road, which lead to investigators with the Holmes County Sheriffs Office to get a search warrant for Watfords home on Highway 2.The planned testimony of an 84-year-old woman who said she was defrauded by a former Henry County resident may have led to a guilty plea earlier this week for securities fraud.

Judy Morehead pled guilty to securities fraud Monday in Henry County. Authorities say she accepted roughly $300,000 of investors funds and then knowingly used the funds to pay personal debts, personal loans, and expenses unrelated to investments.

According to information released by the Alabama Securities Commission Wednesday, defendants in the case attempted to have 84-year-old Hazel Luksa declared incompetent to testify at trial.

According to the release, Luksa, who suffers from dementia, had recently been deemed "incapacitated" under Alabama law and a guardian and conservator were appointed to protect her and her estate. However during a pre-trial hearing last week, Circuit Judge Larry Anderson heard from Luksa and ruled her competent to testify at trial. However, Morehead pled guilty before the trial began.Diane Elizabeth Rockwell McQueen passed away Tuesday, February 12th surrounded by her children, their spouses, her grandchildren, and close friends as she finished the race well, fighting the good fight until the end. She was 80 years old. Visitation will be at Searcy's Funeral home Saturday from 10:00-11:30 with a public graveside to follow at Meadowlawn Cemetery at 12:00 noon. In lieu of memorial can be made to Enterprise Youth Camp, 623 County Rd. 602 Enterprise, Al 36330. Born October 28, 1938 in Weston, Massachusetts to a military family, Diane grew up all over the world. The stories of her childhood read like an adventure novel. From learning to dance the hula at a young age, to attending the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, to riding elephants in Thailand, the world was Diane's playground. Grandma/Grammy always had amazing stories that surprised and enthralled her family. Their travels carried them to the Tidewater area of Virginia where Diane graduated from Hampton High School in 1957. From there she moved on to attend William and Mary College. It was while working a summer job in the Washington D.C. post of Ft. Belvoir that she met a handsome young army officer named Jim McQueen. After a whirlwind courtship, she and Jim were married in 1959, and Diane immediately began her life as a military spouse. Her strength and character flourished as she cared for her husband and raised a family through 23 moves in 26 years. Her family will never forget the courage and fortitude she displayed after Jim was wounded in combat in Vietnam and was hospitalized for months in Ft. Gordon, GA while the family was in Greenville, South Carolina. The way she lovingly cared for her children, managed their home, and drove back and forth hundreds of miles to be with her husband, all while preparing the family for the next move, made an indelible impression on her children. In 1977, Jim's retirement from the Army brought the McQueen family permanently back to Enterprise, Alabama. One last move and they were settled in to their final home there up the steep driveway at 103 Oakwood Drive. Diane jumped into life, becoming involved in her children's activities, her church, and organizations that allowed her to use her sweet spirit, her smile, and concern for others to make a difference in her hometown. As grandchildren came along, she became even more enthusiastic in her love and passion for her family. Grandparents Day at Elementary school was treated as a sacred holiday. Her grandchildren were the most talented, beautiful, exceptional kids on the planet. Every single one of them. If you didn't believe it, you could just ask her! She would always make sure that they were well supplied with her homemade cookies, and would write individual names on each bag. These expressions of love were what Grandma/Grammy used to fill her grandchildren's "Heart Pocket". Losing her husband of 45 years in 2004 brought her sadness, but not brokenness. Diane continued her journey of loving others with joy and humility. She continued to exercise her gift of hospitality by hosting meals in her home for young military couples who visited her church while stationed at Fort Rucker. She loved to go and visit the residents at the nursing home to brighten their day. She would always say, while in her 70's, ""old folks are so cute!" It was never too much trouble to stop by and visit someone, drop off food, or share a word of encouragement. She will be remembered for her quick wit, dazzling smile, her enthusiasm for life, and her quirky sense of humor. Diane was well known, and loved, by cashiers, servers, secretaries, nurses, and the people in life she encountered because she made them feel special and important to her because they were. She earned the descriptive title awarded to her "The Oldest Teenager in Enterprise" because of her joyful approach to serving the Lord by serving others. Diane McQueen finished this life as the epitome of the Proverbs 31 woman. Diane was preceded in death by her loving husband, James Thomas "Jim" McQueen; parents, Donald Edward and Helen Spofford Rockwell; brother, Donald Edward Rockwell; and grandson, Parker Benjamin McQueen. She is survived by 2 sons Mark McQueen (Karen) of Panama City, FL and Michael McQueen (Pam) of Enterprise, AL; 2 daughters Beth McQueen Jones (Frazier) of Auburn, AL and Tori McQueen Andrade (Jay) of Atlanta, GA; 10 Grandchildren, Nicholas McQueen (Hannah) of Birmingham, AL, Alex McQueen (Rebecca) of Huntsville, AL, Mitchell McQueen (Breanna) of Enterprise, AL, Taylor McQueen of Auburn, AL, Lauren Jones Jordan (Albert) of Atlanta, GA, Thomas McQueen of Panama City, FL, Brooks and Garrett Jones both of Auburn, AL, Joshua and Macy Beth Andrade both of Atlanta, GA; 1 great grandson James Parker McQueen of Enterprise, AL. The family waits in great anticipation for the arrival in June of Diane's 2nd great-grandchild Charlotte Elizabeth McQueen. Diane is also survived by 1 brother Richard Bruce "Dick" Rockwell (Annette); Numerous nephews, nieces, and great-nephews and nieces. Serving their Grandmother as pall bearers are Nicholas McQueen, Alex McQueen, Mitchell McQueen, Thomas McQueen, Brooks Jones, Garrett Jones, and Joshua Andrade. www.searcyfuneralhome.comCitizenship bill lapses as its fails to muster support in Rajya Sabha

A bill meant to help Hindus facing persecution in neighbouring countries settle in India lapsed before it could be ratified by Parliament after it failed to be ratified in the Rajya Sabha whose membership is heavily tilted against the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Citizenship Amendment Bill is aimed at helping Hindus and members of other non-Muslim minority communities in neighbouring Muslim countries move to India. But critics say the legislation is as an attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modis Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) burnish its Hindu-nationalist credentials ahead of a general election that is due in May.

The bill was opposed by sections of the opposition in the North East that has a huge population of Bangladeshi migrants.

Ethnically diverse northeastern states where these migrants have been residents for years have complained that migrants from Bangladesh are a burden on society.

The Lok Sabha passed the bill last month but the Rajya Sabha failed to ratify it before the end of the last session, on Wednesday.

Activists in the northeast welcomed parliaments failure to push the legislation through.

Members of the All Assam Students Union, one of the protesting groups, had threatened to shed blood to block the bill.

Protests also rocked Manipur, where authorities imposed an indefinite curfew and suspended mobile internet services for five days following violent protests on Tuesday.

Protests also erupted in Mizoram, where activists sought to lent support to old separatistsThe New York Regional Solicitor's Office is responsible for most civil trial litigation and legal support for the U.S. Department of Labor for matters arising in the following states:

New York

New Jersey

Puerto Rico

U.S. Virgin Islands

The New York Regional Solicitor's Office employs approximately 36 attorneys and 8 legal support staff.

WHAT WE DO:

The New York Regional Solicitor's Office:

recommends and prosecutes litigation at the administrative and U.S. District Court trial levels;

prepares legal interpretations and opinions; and

assists the United States Attorney in the prosecution of criminal cases

While the attorneys employed by the New York Regional Solicitor's Office may be called upon to handle cases arising out of any of the Department of Labor's program areas, the majority of work performed in this region arises out of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Wage and Hour Division, the Employee Benefits Security Administration, and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. Some industries we deal with frequently include construction, restaurants/hospitality, and manufacturing.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

We reached a corporate-wide workplace violence settlement with one of the largest private providers of correctional healthcare in the United States. Corizon Health, Inc. was cited by OSHA for failing to protect its employees at Rikers Island from workplace violence. The comprehensive agreement includes a timeline of specific actions, reports, and monitoring designed to ensure that Corizon changes its practices, both at the corporate level and at hundreds of correctional facilities nationwide. This unprecedented corporate-wide settlement aims to shift how workplace violence is addressed across the correctional healthcare industry.

We obtained a ground-breaking settlement in a Davis Bacon and Related Acts case that held a general contractor responsible not only for its own violations of federal labor law, but also for those committed by its subcontractors. The consent findings and order required the contractor to take affirmative steps to ensure its own and its subcontractors' future compliance, to guarantee payment for some of its subcontractors' violations as determined through administrative and court proceedings, and to guarantee payment for any future violations committed by its subcontractors on federally funded local, state and federal prevailing wage projects. The general contractor also agreed to hire a monitor approved by the Wage and Hour Division for at least three years to conduct regular compliance reviews of the company and its subcontractors on Davis-Bacon and other federally funded projects with the terms of the consent findings and order, as well as applicable federal and state laws. The New York Times covered the settlement.

We prevailed at trial in an OSHA case against Tower Maintenance Corporation. At trial, we established that Tower Maintenance Corporation willfully violated the Occupational Safety and Health Act by requiring employees to perform work on electric towers over one hundred feet above the ground without the use of fall protection. OSHA issued the violations after an employee fell from a tower and sustained fatal injuries. This was the second fatal fall accident for the company in the previous two years. The Judge's decision found that Tower Maintenance had heightened awareness of OSHA's fall protection requirements and was "plainly indifferent to the safety of its painters."" The Judge assessed the maximum statutory penalty of $70,000 for the "willful" violation, and also affirmed violations related to inadequate safety training and exposure to electrical hazards for a total penalty of $91,000.

We helped OSHA develop a $2.3 million civil penalty case against a general contractor who willfully exposed employees to lead and asbestos, and then we litigated and settled that case, imposing abatement obligations that should span the next decade. Dover Greens (formerly Olivet Management) purchased the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center, a decommissioned New York State mental hospital campus, to convert it into a college. As general contractor, Dover Greens directed thirteen contractors with more than 200 employees to sweep the peeling lead paint off the surfaces of walls, to remove and stack asbestos floor tile, and to dry-sweep floors that were contaminated with lead and asbestos debris, without telling them the truth about these hazards or following OSHA health requirements. Our settlement affirms twenty willful citations of the lead and asbestos standards and the full assessed penalty. Dover will pay $700,000, plus another $1.6 million if they fail to comply with the settlement's terms, which include retaining competent, properly trained contractors and a safety monitor, and notifying employees in three languages about their workers' compensation rights.

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AGENCIES SUPPORTED:

STUDENT VOLUNTEER SERVICE PROGRAM:

The New York Regional Solicitor's Office may select student volunteers through the Student Volunteer Service Program. For more information, send an email to NYSOLIntern@dol.gov.

CONTACT INFORMATION:Region VI of the Solicitor's Office is responsible for most civil trial litigation and legal support for the U.S. Department of Labor for matters arising in the following states:

Texas

Oklahoma

Louisiana

Arkansas

New Mexico

Colorado

Wyoming

Utah

Montana

South Dakota

North Dakota

Region VI consists of two offices, one in Dallas and one in Denver. The Dallas office has 26 attorneys, 4 paralegals, and 3 support staff. The Denver office consists of 13 attorneys, 2 paralegals, and 2 support staff. In addition to the two regular offices, Denver has a separate group of 10 attorneys and 1 support staff who litigate only MSHA cases as part of the MSHA Litigation Backlog Project.

BRANCH OFFICE:

Denver, Colorado

WHAT WE DO:

Region VI of the Solicitor's Office:

recommends and prosecutes litigation at the administrative and U.S. District Court trial levels;

prepares legal interpretations and opinions;

provides advice and assistance to Department of Labor worker protection agencies; and

assists the United States Attorney in the prosecution of criminal cases

While the attorneys employed by the Region VI may be called upon to handle cases arising out of any of the Department of Labor's program areas, the majority of work performed in this region arises out of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Wage and Hour Division, and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. We frequently handle cases involving safety and health violations in the oil and gas, chemical processing, grain handling, mining, and construction industries. Many of our cases also involve wage and misclassification issues arising in the construction, restaurants, and other service-oriented businesses, as well as discrimination cases involving Federal contractors.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Obtained the largest OSHA penalty ever paid, $50.61 million, from BP Products North America, Inc. for failing to correct safety issues identified by OSHA after an explosion at BP's Texas City Refinery in 2005 which killed 15 workers and injured 170 more. As part of the settlement BP agreed to implement a comprehensive program to bring workplace safety and health protections up to date, setting aside an additional $500 million for the program with a promise to provide additional funding if needed. Read More.

Negotiated a settlement requiring payment of $1,639,351 in penalties by the operators of the Crandall Canyon Mine and other Murray Energy Corp. subsidiaries to resolve litigation and MSHA citations issued after a collapse at the mine in 2007 killed eight miners and an MSHA inspector. Read More.

Entered into a corporate-wide settlement agreement with Dollar Tree after OSHA found that many of its stores routinely stacked boxes and other items in a way that blocked employees' access to emergency exits and electrical equipment. The company agreed to implement a number of safeguards to protect its workers at 2,400 stores around the country. Read More.

Obtained an order from a federal judge ordering a Tulsa restaurant, El Tequila, and its owner to pay $2.1 million in back wages and damages to more than 300 vulnerable employees who they underpaid and forced to lie to federal investigators. Read More.

Recovered $700,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to construction workers in Utah and Arizona who were required by their employers to become "member/owners" of limited liability companies, which stripped the employees of federal and state protections that come with employee status, such as earning minimum wage and overtime, workers compensation, and unemployment insurance. We put an end to the employers' efforts to evade their responsibilities and required them to treat their current and future workers as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Read More.

Protected employees from coercion and retaliation by obtaining a preliminary injunction against Utah-based Foreclosure Connection, Inc. and its owner prohibiting them from interfering with an investigation being conducted by the Wage and Hour Division and from retaliating against their workers for participating in the investigation. The judge also ordered the company to inform the employees of their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act, including their right to file a complaint with the Department of Labor and to cooperate in a Wage and Hour investigation.

MSHA LITIGATION BACKLOG PROJECT

In 2010, the Solicitor's Office created a separate litigation unit to handle a backlog of cases pending before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission. One of those units is housed in Denver. As of March 31, 2016, the Denver MLBP had closed 6,622 MSHA cases and recovered a total of more than $60 million in penalties.

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AGENCIES SUPPORTED:

LAW STUDENT INTERNSHIP PROGRAM:

The Dallas office currently offers unpaid summer internships to exceptional law students. The summer program has two six-week sessions and the Dallas office coordinates with the law school to ensure that the intern receives course credit for their summer work. Also, in cooperation with the generosity of Dallas Bar Association Labor and Employment Section, and in cooperation with the SMU Dedman School of Law and Texas A&M University School of Law, the Dallas office hosts one summer position with a stipend paid by the Dallas Bar to a student who demonstrates interest in labor and employment law. Dallas also partners with the Texas Tech University School of Law Regional Externship Program by hosting a third-year law student during the fall and spring semesters. Through this partnership, law students gain real-life practice experience in public service law and unique exposure to the Department of Labor. For questions, you can send an email with the subject line "Internship" to Docket.Dallas@dol.gov.

The Denver office currently hosts summer, fall, and spring law student interns from an array of national and regional law schools. Denver also participates in the Public Service Externship Program in conjunction with the University of Denver School of Law and the University of Colorado School of Law. This program, coordinated by a U.S. Magistrate Judge, provides law students from diverse backgrounds with an opportunity to explore public service legal careers. For questions, you can send an email with the subject line "Internship" to denver.docket@dol.gov.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Region VI. DALLAS 525 South Griffin Street, Suite 501

Dallas, TX 75202-5020 (972) 850-3100

(972) 850-3101 (FAX) REGIONAL SOLICITOR John Rainwater DEPUTY REGIONAL SOLICITOR Connie M. Ackermann Counsel for ERISA Robert A. Goldberg Counsel for MSHA Mary K. Cobb Counsel for OSHA Michael Schoen Counsel for Wage and Hour Margaret T. Cranford Management Analyst Veronica DoddsThe Atlanta Regional Solicitor's Office is responsible for most civil trial litigation and legal support for the U.S. Department of Labor for matters arising in the following states:

Alabama

Georgia

Florida

Kentucky

Mississippi

North Carolina

South Carolina

Tennessee

The Atlanta Regional Solicitor's Office and its branch office employ approximately 41 attorneys and 12 legal support staff.

BRANCH OFFICE:

Nashville, Tennessee

WHAT WE DO:

The Atlanta Regional Solicitor's Office:

recommends and prosecutes litigation at the administrative and U.S. District Court trial levels;

prepares legal interpretations and opinions;

defends the Department in labor relations matters before the EEOC and the MSPB; and

assists the United States Attorney in the prosecution of criminal cases.

While the attorneys employed by the Atlanta Regional Solicitor's Office may be called upon to handle cases arising out of any of the Department of Labor's program areas, the majority of work performed in this region arises out of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Wage and Hour Division, the Employee Benefits and Security Administration, the Office of Worker's Compensation Programs (primarily related to Black Lung Benefits), and the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Some industries we deal with frequently include agriculture, restaurants, construction, and light manufacturing.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Obtained a favorable decision in a novel OSHA matter involving the death of a SeaWorld trainer at Seaworld's Orlando park. The trainer died as a result of close interaction with SeaWorld's infamous killer whale Tilikum. After a two week bench trial in Sanford, Florida, oral arguments, and post hearing briefs, an Administrative Judge determined, among other things, that SeaWorld violated the OSH Act by allowing close interaction with its killer whales. The proceedings were covered almost daily by news organizations worldwide and were the subject of the award-winning documentary, Blackfish .

. Obtained a preliminary injunction against a car seat manufacturer in Selma, Alabama from further retaliating against an employee who reported unsafe chemical exposures at the company. The company suspended the employee without pay after she appeared in a YouTube video and on a local news program and reported concerns to the company's main client-Hyundai-about chemical exposure at the facility. Read More.

Obtained a District Court order against fiduciaries that caused an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) to purchase 100% of its stock at an inflated price, making the purchases prohibited under ERISA. After a 19-day bench trial a U.S. District Court Judge in Jackson, Mississippi ordered the defendants to pay the plan $6.5 million in restitution and interest as well as attorney's fees.

OSHA cited a privately-run prison in Mississippi for alleged workplace violence suffered by its guards. After filing an administrative complaint with the OSHRC, the parties entered a Corporate-wide settlement requiring abatement at 42 facilities nationwide and the company's agreement to have an expert audit each facility. Read More.

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AGENCIES SUPPORTED:

ANNUAL LAW DAY

Since 2013, the Atlanta Regional Solicitor's Office has hosted an annual law day with Metro Atlanta high schools who are invited to visit the Sam Nunn Federal Center for an interactive law education program. In 2016, the office partnered with the State Bar of Georgia's law education division which provided the students a moot court experience in addition to the legal education component. Participating high schools as well as our staff attorneys look forward to this yearly outreach program which aims to expose high risk youth to the legal profession.

CONTACT THE ATLANTA REGIONAL SOLICITOR'S OFFICE

Region IV. ATLANTA Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center

61 Forsyth Street, S.W., Room 7T10

Atlanta, GA 30303 (404) 302-5435

(404) 302-5438 (FAX) REGIONAL SOLICITOR Tremelle I. Howard DEPUTY REGIONAL SOLICITOR Robert M. Lewis, Jr. Counsel for Civil Rights Charna C. Hollingsworth- Malone Counsel for ERISA Monica R. Moukalif Counsel for MSHA Uche N. Egemonye Counsel for OSHA Karen E. Mock Counsel for Wage and Hour Robert L. Walter Management Analyst Robin Richardson-DavisThe site is secure.

The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.Judith S. Boggs, Chair and Chief Administrative Appeals Judge

Judge Boggs was appointed to the Benefits Review Board in August 2004. From 2002-2004, she served as Member of the Board and Administrative Appeals Judge for the Department of Labor's Administrative Review Board. Before joining the Department, Judge Boggs was engaged in the private practice of law, focusing primarily on administrative, health, and employment law matters. Judge Boggs has extensive previous state and federal government experience including service as Human Rights Representative for the Kentucky Human Rights Commision, Counsel to the Kentucky Mental Health Department, Special Assistant to the Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Senior Policy Analyst in the Executive Office of the President, The White House. She holds a B.A. degree from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and a J.D.. degree from the University of Chicago Law School.

Daniel T. Gresh, Vice Chair, Member of the Board and Administrative Appeals Judge

Daniel T. Gresh was appointed to the Benefits Review Board in September 2019. Prior to his appointment, Gresh served as the Acting Vice Chair and an Administrative Appeals Judge at the U.S. Department of Labors Administrative Review Board, where he reviewed appeals of complaints filed under a broad range of federal administrative labor laws, including financial, environmental and transportation employee protection statutes; immigration, child labor, employment discrimination and job training laws; contract and wage compliance laws, the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act, the Davis-Bacon Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act. Gresh also previously worked as an attorney for over fifteen years at the Administrative Appeals Board. Prior to that, Gresh was an attorney at the Benefits Review Board. Gresh received a Bachelor of Arts, Cum Laude, in Economics and English from Villanova University and a Juris Doctor from The George Washington University Law School.

Greg J. Buzzard, Member of the Board and Administrative Appeals Judge

Judge Buzzard was appointed to the Benefits Review Board in December 2014. Prior to his appointment, Judge Buzzard spent eight years as an advisor in various capacities to U.S. Senator John D. Rockefeller IV. As General Counsel, Judge Buzzard was the chief legal advisor to Senator Rockefeller on numerous legislative and regulatory issues, including mine and workplace safety, black lung disease and workers compensation programs, federal and state justice systems, and immigration reform. He also oversaw ethics and compliance issues for a staff of forty. He holds a B.S. in Finance from the West Virginia University College of Business and Economics, a J.D. from the West Virginia University College of Law, and an LL.M. in International Business and Economic Law from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Jonathan Rolfe, Member of the Board and Administrative Appeals Judge

Judge Jonathan Rolfe was appointed to the Benefits Review Board in July 2015. Prior to his appointment, Judge Rolfe served in the United States Department of Labor, Office of the Solicitor, for six years, where he represented the Director of the Office of Workers Compensation Programs in litigation in front of the Board and various United States Courts of Appeals on issues arising under the Black Lung Benefits Act and the Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act and its extensions. Before beginning his government service, Judge Rolfe worked in private practice for ten years in the District of Columbia, where he focused on labor and employment law litigation in federal courts, primarily representing national and international labor unions. Judge Rolfe is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School and the University of Minnesota, Duluth.

Melissa Lin Jones, Member of the Board and Administrative Appeals Judge

Judge Jones was appointed to the Benefits Review Board in October 2019. Prior to her appointment, Judge Jones was an Administrative Law Judge with the Social Security Administration, an Administrative Appeals Judge on the D.C. Department of Employment Services Compensation Review Board, and an Administrative Law Judge with that agencys Office of Hearings and Adjudication, Administrative Hearings Division. Judge Jones has authored or contributed to numerous publications regarding workers compensation law and administrative adjudication and serves on the faculty of the National Judicial College. She holds a B.A. degree in English from St. Bonaventure University, a J.D. degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law, and a M.JS. degree from the University of Nevada, Reno.Privacy Statement

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FEDERAL WAY  Miro at Dash Point, at 31004 19th Place S.W. in Federal Way, has sold for just over $71.3 million, according to King County records.

The seller was FPA5 Landings LLC, associated with FPA Multifamily of San Francisco, which acquired the property in 2016 for almost $46 million. The complex was then called the Landing at Dash Point.





. . .Subscriber content preview

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)  The former head of a company overseeing a fiber-optic project in Alaska has pleaded guilty to charges alleging she fraudulently induced two New York investment companies to finance the project.

Elizabeth Pierce, 55, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in New York to wire fraud and eight counts of aggravated identify theft, the Anchorage Daily News reported.





. . .Subscriber content preview

WASHINGTON (AP)  The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is resigning, months after an investigation found he misused government vehicles to travel to his home in North Carolina.

Brock Long said in a letter Wednesday to agency employees that he was resigning to spend more time with his family.





. . .Subscriber content preview

There are common hotspots: defining roles, communication styles, clashing egos and just too much togetherness.



By JOYCE M. ROSENBERG

AP Business Writer

NEW YORK  Debbie and Gary Douglas sometimes need to remind each other, this is your business partner talking.

In business together for 16 years, the Douglases have found that being co-owners of a public relations firm requires them to be more direct with each other than they once were as spouses. Like the time Debbie Douglas was on a ladder in their Newport Beach, California, home and her husband told her to come down because she might break an ankle.





. . .Pampa EnergAa S.A., an integrated power company, engages in the generation and transmission of electricity in Argentina. It operates through Electricity Generation, Oil and Gas, Petrochemicals, and Holding and Other Business segments. The company generates electricity through combined thermal generation plants, open-cycle gas turbines, and hydroelectric power generation systems, as well as through a wind farm. It has an installed electricity generation capacity of approximately 4,955 megawatts; and 21,090 kilometers of high voltage electricity transmission network in Argentina. The company is also involved in the exploration and production of oil and gas. In addition, it offers petrochemicals, such as styrene, synthetic rubber, and polystyrene. As of December 31, 2020, the company had approximately 13.526 thousands of barrels of oil and LNG, as well as 21.790 millions of cubic meters of natural gas; owned a refinery with an installed capacity of approximately 25.8 thousand barrels per day; and operated a network of 91 gas stations. The company was formerly known as Pampa Holding S.A. and changed its name to Pampa EnergAa S.A. in September 2008. Pampa EnergAa S.A. was incorporated in 1945 and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Read MorePublished : 2019-02-14

Author : Disabled World - Contact: www.disabled-world.com Synopsis: Information on The Australian Disability Discrimination Act 1992 which aims to promote equal opportunity and access for people with disabilities in Australia.

Main Digest

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, a number of countries have passed laws aimed at reducing discrimination against people with disabilities.

The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) was an act passed by the Parliament of Australia in 1992 to promote the rights of people with disabilities in certain areas such as housing, education and provision of goods and services. It shares a common philosophy with other disability discrimination acts around the world that have emerged in the late 20th and early 21st century, as well as earlier civil rights legislation designed to prevent racial discrimination and sex discrimination.

These laws have begun to appear as the notion of civil rights has become more influential globally, and follow other forms of anti-discrimination and equal opportunity legislation aimed at preventing racial discrimination and sexism which began to emerge in the second half of the 20th century.

The Australian Disability Discrimination Act 1992 makes disability discrimination unlawful and aims to promote equal opportunity and access for people with disabilities in Australia.

Basically the Act Provides For:

A stronger whole-of-government, whole-of-community response to the rights and needs of people with a disability.

A framework for the provision of high quality services and supports for people with a disability.

The Australian Disability Discrimination Act protects individuals across Australia from direct and indirect discrimination in many parts of public life, such as employment, education and access to premises.

The Act makes harassment on the basis of disability against the law. It also protects friends, relatives and others from discrimination because of their connection to someone with a disability.

For instance Section 23 of the Australian Disability Discrimination Act makes it unlawful to discriminate on the grounds of disability in providing access to or use of premises that the public can enter or use.

Building access issues also arise under other DDA provisions including in relation to employment, access to services, and accommodation.

Section 25 of the DDA makes it unlawful to discriminate in provision of accommodation on the grounds of disability of a person or his or her associates.

Objectives of the DDA Australia

"To eliminate, as far as possible, discrimination against persons on the ground of disability in the areas of: work, accommodation, education, access to premises, clubs and sport; and the provision of goods, facilities, services and land; and existing laws; and the administration of Commonwealth laws and programs; and to ensure, as far as practicable, that persons with disabilities have the same rights to equality before the law as the rest of the community; and to promote recognition and acceptance within the community of the principle that persons with disabilities have the same fundamental rights as the rest of the community."

The Disability Rights Now report identifies a number of human rights issues for people with a disability in Australia, including the:

Lack of legislative protection of human rights;

Limitations of equality and non-discrimination laws;

Inability to live independently and be included in the community;

lack of protection from exploitation, violence and abuse;

Difficulties accessing education and employment;

Unavailability of health services and support;

Inadequate standard of living and high rates of poverty;

Disproportionate impacts on particular groups, such as women and children with disability; and

Lack of access to justice and disproportionately high rates of contact with the criminal justice system.

Under the Act, individuals can lodge complaints of discrimination and harassment with the Australian Human Rights Commission. Complaints made under the DDA are made to the Australian Human Rights Commission (previously known as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, HREOC), which also handles complaints relating to the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, Sex Discrimination Act 1984, Age Discrimination Act 2004 and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986.

Facts Regarding the Australian Discrimination Act

In Australia, national and state laws cover equal employment opportunity and anti-discrimination in the workplace. You're required by these laws to create a workplace free from discrimination and harassment. It's important that as an employer, you understand your rights and responsibilities under human rights and anti-discrimination law. By putting effective anti-discrimination and anti-harassment procedures in place in your business you can improve productivity and increase efficiency.

Over the past 30 years the Commonwealth Government and the state and territory governments have introduced anti-discrimination law to help protect people from discrimination and harassment.

The following laws operate at a federal level and the Australian Human Rights Commission has statutory responsibilities under them:

Age Discrimination Act 2004

Sex Discrimination Act 1984

Racial Discrimination Act 1975

Disability Discrimination Act 1992

Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986

Commonwealth laws and the state/territory laws generally cover the same grounds and areas of discrimination. However, there are some 'gaps' in the protection that is offered between different states and territories and at a Commonwealth level. In addition, there are circumstances where only the Commonwealth law would apply or where only the state law would apply.

Since the early 1970s, there has been much legal activity in Australia both statewide and federally regarding discrimination and many different types. The Commonwealth as well as the territories and states in Australia have either introduced or tried to introduce some new form of discrimination legislature. They also review regularly the current aspects of discrimination to determine if there are any ways to improve on the discrimination laws of Australia. Australia currently has the following discrimination laws in force:

Federal Racial Discrimination Act of 1975

Federal Sex Discrimination Act of 1984

Federal Affirmative Action Act of 1986 (Equal Opportunity for Women)

Federal Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act of 1986

Federal Disability Discrimination Act of 1992

Anti-Discrimination Act of 1977 (New South Wales)

Equal Opportunity Act of 1984 (Victoria)

Anti-Discrimination Act of 1991 (Queensland)

Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (South & Western Australia)

Discrimination Act of 1991 (Australian Capital Territory)

About Us

Disabled World is an independent disability community established in 2004 to provide disability news and information to people with disabilities, seniors, and their family and/or carers. See our homepage for informative reviews, exclusive stories and how-tos. You can connect with us on social media such as Twitter and Facebook or learn more about Disabled World on our about us page.

Disclaimer: Disabled World provides general information only. Materials presented are in no way meant to be a substitute for professional medical care by a qualified practitioner, nor should they be construed as such. Any 3rd party offering or advertising on disabled-world.com does not constitute endorsement by Disabled World. View our Advertising Policy for further information. Please report outdated or inaccurate information to us.Highlights:

NASA Opportunity Rover Mission on Mars concludes.

The rover has not responded since eight months after a major dust storm hit Mars.

Opportunity Rover outlived its stipulated 90-day mission to explore the red planet for 15 years.

The Mars mission of NASAs brave little Opportunity rover that first made its way to the Martian surface back in 2004 has finally ended. Why brave you ask? Its because the rover exceeded all expectations when it far outlived its predicted 90 days on Mars to explore the red planet for a total of 15 years. The data collected and sent back by Opportunity laid the groundwork for NASA to one day return to Mars. The rover faced many challenges during its time exploring our neighbouring planet but it ceased communicating with Earth back in June 2018, when a massive Mars-wide dust storm hit its location.

NASA scientists constantly tried to communicate with the rover, with over thousand sent commands to no avail. This Tuesday, on February 12, engineers from Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) made a last attempt to revive Opportunity. Unfortunately, the rover didnt respond. The last communication received by the rover was eight months ago on June 10, 2018. "It is because of trailblazing missions such as Opportunity that there will come a day when our brave astronauts walk on the surface of Mars," says Jim Bridenstine, NASA Administrator. "And when that day arrives, some portion of that first footprint will be owned by the men and women of Opportunity, and a little rover that defied the odds and did so much in the name of exploration."

The Opportunity rover travelled more than 45 kilometers on the Martian surface before reaching Perseverance Valley, the spot where it finally gave out. During its life on Mars, the little rover set a one-day driving record on the planet by travelling 220 meters, sent back more than 217,000 images, revealed fresh mineral surfaces for analysis, cleared 72 more targets with a brush so that they can be analysed using spectrometers and a microscopic imager. Opportunity rover found the mineral hematite that is formed in water, suggesting that there could have been water on Mars, at some point in time.

Seven months after launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the rover landed on Meridiani Planum region of Mars on January 24, 2004. Another rover Spirit landed 20 days earlier in the Gusev Crater on the other side of Mars and logged about 8 km before its mission ended in May 2011. Teamwork between mission engineers, scientists and rover drivers on Earth helped Opportunity to keep going even in the face of adversity. For example, back in 2005, the rover lost steering capabilities in one of its front wheels, a stuck heater could have considerably limited the rover's available power, and NASA says a Martian sand ripple almost trapped it for good. Two years later, a two-month dust storm imperiled the rover before relenting. In 2015, Opportunity lost use of its 256-megabyte flash memory and, in 2017, it lost steering to its other front wheel.

Related Reads:

NASA makes another attempt at reviving Opportunity roverHighlights:

A new report claims the Pixel 3 Lite will be priced lower than the iPhone XR.

The Google Pixel 3 lite will reportedly launch in Spring 2019, or after I/O 2019.

The Pixel 3 Lite will be aimed at emerging markets like India.

Googles lower-priced Pixel has been rumoured to launch for months. The budget Pixel will be a non-premium device aimed at price-sensitive customers, according to Nikkei Asian Review. The phone is rumoured to be named Pixel 3 Lite and will be aimed majorly at emerging markets like India. The report also claims the phone will be the most affordable Pixel device ever made, and will even undercut the iPhone XR (review) in terms of price, which Apple launched as a budget iPhone in 2018.

Furthermore, the report states Google is also working on expanding its hardware lineup with a smartwatch, to take on the Apple Watch and Samsungs Galaxy Watch. Going by previous report, Google is planning to launch two budget Pixel devices  The Pixel 3 Lite and the Pixel 3 XL Lite. The Pixel 3 Lite will reportedly come with a Snapdragon 670 SoC under the hood paired with 4GB RAM and 32GB storage. The smaller Pixel 3 Lite will come with a 5.5-inch display while the larger Pixel 3 XL will sport a Snapdragon 710 SoC with a 6-inch panel.



While the phones have been leaked multiple times on the internet, Google is yet to confirm the launch date. Many speculate the phones will be announced in Spring 2019, although other reports claim it could come sometime after Google I/O 2019.



The Nikkei report also mentions Google has plans to launch a new premium phone this year, likely to be the successor to the Pixel 3 (review) launched last year. Google also plans to release new iterations of Google Home speakers, along with wearables and web cameras. There are also reports stating Google hired various chip engineers, indicating plans to develop its own chips for devices one day.

Related Reads:

Google hires more than a dozen microchip engineers in Bengaluru

Google Pixel 3 lite leaked video reveals plastic body, 3.5mm headphone jack and single rear cameraForget 5G, the biggest smartphone trend this year is poised to be phones that can be flexed and folded. While 5G will initially be limited to a few countries, foldable phones can be used just about anywhere, and the new form factor is expected to make using smartphones much more intuitive and more importantly, offer more real estate without increasing the overall footprint of the device. However, more than anything, foldable phones are going to be a refreshing entry into an otherwise bland and saturated market. While every year smartphones have only become incrementally better, the advent of foldable phones i sslated to make things exciting once again! The future is flexible and here are all the foldable phones under development 



1. Samsung Galaxy F

Samsungs foldable phone is the current flagbearer of the genre. Samsung has been teasing the phone for years and based on endless number of leaks and rumours and even official videos, we have an idea of how it might look. The Samsung foldable phone will have a 73-inch flexible display, and a pair of 3,100mAh batteries alongside 12GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage.

The flexible display has been named Infinity Flex and opens like a clamshell. You can flatten it out for a tablet-like experience. Samsung stated it required new materials and new designs to get the phone working right. Samsung even unveiled a UI designed for the foldable phone called OneUI.

The phone is slated to launch on February 20th at the Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco on February 20 alongside the Galaxy S10 lineup. Whats unclear at this moment is the official name of the device. While many think its the Galaxy X, there are others who believe the phone might be called Samsung Galaxy F.

However, it certainly wont be cheap. Leaked information revealed Samsungs foldable phone might retail between 1500 euros to 2000 euros, which roughly converts to Rs 1,20,000 to Rs 1,60,000.



2. Huaweis Foldable Phone

Apart from Samsung, another smartphone giant that will be announcing a foldable phone this year is Huawei. The Chinese smartphone maker has teased the launch of the device on February 24 in Barcelona, a day before MWC kicks off. The media invites Huawei sent out has a device shaped like a V, much like how a folable phone might look. Furthermore, its likely the phone will support 5G. Apart from that, theres very little that we know of the device. Huawei is expected to use the HiSilicon Kirin 980 SoC along with the Balong 5000 5G modem.



3. Xiaomi

The fact that Xiaomi is working on a foldable phone was revealed by none other than the companys co-founder Lin Bin, in an incredible video showing how the phone will work. Its a double folding foldable phone which instead of having a central folding action, folds along two hinges. When unfolded, it becomes a giant tablet. Its quite different from other foldable phones we got a chance to see including the newly announced Royole Flexpai.

Its not clear when Xiaomi plans to launch the phone, or the hardware inside or even what it will be called.



4. Nubia

ZTE subsidiary Nubia is also reportedly working on a flexible device. Not wanting to be left out, the Chinese brand sent out invites to an event at MWC which has the caption, flex your life. While it doesnt necessarily indicate a foldable phone, it could be something similar.



5. Sony

Evidence of Sonys flexible phone comes from a patent application filed by the company. The patent reveals Sony is planning to come out with both a flexible phone and a rollable smartphone. The latter would be certainly interesting to see. No other information is known about the device as of now.



6. Moto Razr V4

A couple of years back, when Motorola was planning to launch the modular Z series, rumours were strong about a potential comeback of the iconic Moto Razr. But that never really happened and what we got instead was a thin and razor-sharp Moto Z. Now, the rumours are back again and this time, the reimagined Moto Razr might just be a flexible, foldable device. Moto has filed for a patent for the design which is essentially a modern take on the Moto Razr clamshell design where instead of a hinge, theres a flexible screen.

The phone actually have a rumoured launch date, which might indicate its more real than we believe it is. The foldable Moto phone is slated to launch sometime in February, and an announcement during MWC 2019 is very much likely. More importantly, however, the phone will be quite expensive with a rumoured price tag of $1500, roughly Rs 1,06,000.



7. LG

LG too has a patent for a foldable phone, and for good reason. The company showed off rollable TVs at CES 2019, so the question is not if, but when. Smartphones, however, arent much of a priority for the company anymore as LGs smartphone division registered poor financials in 2018 once again. Whether LG does manage to pull off a foldable phone is something we will have to wait and see in 2019.



8. Oppo

Oppo too have announced big plans of launching a foldable phone at MWC 2019. But apart from the fact that its coming, nothing about it known so far. That might give rise to speculation whether its actually coming or not, considering there are usually a series of leaks before a major phones launch (the Galaxy S10 being the prime example). We will have to wait out and see what happens.



9. Royole Flexpai

Finally, lets talk about a foldable phone that actually exists. An unknown startup called Royole launched a foldable phone out of nowhere in December. Called the FlexPai, its actually not a good application of the phone. The phone unfolds along the center to become a tablet, but thats just about it. Its certainly not cheap and currently only available in China. During our time with the phone at the showfloor at CES 2019, we found it quite slow with a poor camera. So you might want to hold off on buying it, but it certainly gives a glimpse into what the future has in store for us.

You can also check out the list of upcoming 5G phones in 2019 and phones with 48-MP cameras on the back.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.Analysis of the use of emojis in tweets has revealed that people are generally more positive when talking about type 1 diabetes on Twitter than they are when discussing type 2 diabetes.

Researchers at the Norwegian Centre for E-Health Research studied the use of emojis in more than 67,000 tweets from a week in May 2018 to investigate feelings around diabetes on social media.

The study, known as sentiment analysis, looked at emoji use in anonymized posts from healthcare professionals, people with diabetes and their relatives which contained the terms diabetes, t1d or t2d.

The research used an algorithm to identify, quantify and study emotions and subjective information in natural language. The software classified the words and emojis into either positive or negative categories.

Positive tweets contained three words such as congratulate, joy or happiness or emojis such as the smiley, the clapping hands or the heart sign.

Words like hate, no or never, or angry face emojis, saw the tweet classed as negative.

The researchers saw noticeable differences in how people reacted to type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. Tweets related to type 1 diabetes were more positive while type 2 diabetes was associated with more negative posts.

Researcher Elia Gabarron said: For ethical reasons, we do not know whether there are health personnel, relatives or patients who express themselves positively or negatively, depending on the type of diabetes involved.

For example, we do not know if patients with type 1 are trying to encourage each other more, and therefore we see many positive twitter messages. Or why we find more negative attitudes about type 2 diabetes.

Emoji analysis is an emerging tool in health research but indications are that it could be useful to understand how a simple smiley can make a situation more positive, and that its contagious.

Gabarron added: If you write something negative with a smile emotico, it becomes more positive. It is like when everyone around you is feeling down, you will too. The same happens on social media. When many use positive emojis in the discussion of an illness, more people will be in a better mood.

The findings have been published in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology.Press release

Tanaiste Simon Coveney meets with Sierra Leone Foreign Minister during visit to Dublin

The Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney, T.D. will today meet the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Sierra Leone, Dr. Alie Kabba.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, the Tanaiste said:

I look forward to meeting with Minister Kabba and to renewing our discussion on how to strengthen Irelands relations with Sierra Leone, including in the context of the forthcoming White Paper on International Development. Ireland and Sierra Leone share an interest in a functioning, rules based international order and links between our countries go back over 150 years, when Irish missionaries first arrived in Freetown.

Today, we will share our experiences of encouraging economic development, managing social change, and, importantly, sustaining peace.

Ireland is working closely with the Government of Sierra Leone to improve nutrition for women and children and supporting girls access to education. Ireland actively supported the smooth operation of the 2018 elections in Sierra Leone, which resulted in the second peaceful transfer of power since the end of the countrys civil war in 2002. In the post-election period, Ireland is supporting the governments plans to provide free education to children of school-going age.

The Ministers will also discuss multilateral cooperation between Ireland and Sierra Leone, as well as the Governments plans to strengthen Irelands presence and influence in West Africa as part of the Global Ireland strategy.

ENDS

Press Office

13 February 2019Huawei has pledged to work with authorities in Poland to alleviate security concerns over its equipment as it faces being frozen out of the market.

Polands government is considering whether to join a number of developed markets in forbidding the use of Huaweis equipment in 5G network deployments.

In response, the companys Poland chief Tonny Bao said that Huawei would readily set up a cyber security lab in the country if authorities accept this as a trusted solution. The company has already established security-focused units in Germany and the UK in a bid to quell concerns over the safety of its equipment.

Speaking at a Warsaw press conference, Huaweis senior standards manager for Europe Georg Mayer said that the security concerns that have flared up around the vendor had not impacted its sales of end-user equipment. However, he noted that if the situation continues, at some point it will impact our business as well.

Huawei is already under significant pressure in Poland, with one of its employees having been arrested in the country last month. Chinese national Wang Weijing was apprehended together with Polish former intelligence official Piotr Durbajlo on suspicion of working for Chinese intelligence agencies. Huawei immediately sacked Wang and disavowed his actions, saying they had nothing to do with the company.ADAS is one of the largest growing areas within automotive electronics. Now is probably the most important time for automotive electronics design.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) becomes standard equipment on most cars for years, which was used to be an option. New technologies bring new experiences to users. Such as emergency braking assist (EBA) together with forward-collision warning (FCW) system, lane departure warning (LDW) system, and lane keeping assist (LKAS) with sensors that help drivers with lane changing, blind-spot detectors, looking forward and watching the lane lines, creating a much safer and more comfortable driving environment.

According to Grand View Research Inc., the global automotive chip market size is expected to reach USD 56.24 billion by 2025, which CAGR from 2018 to 2025 is forecasted as 10.7%. The raising demand for automotive chips is mainly from 6 areas: driving scenario systems simulation, software and algorithm development, functional safety analysis, sensor simulation, electronics and hardware simulation and semiconductor simulation.

Small is the New Big!

To keep state-of-the-art and differentiation, the entire automotive supply chain put most of the energy to create various ADAS applications to hit the booming market. Thus, several to dozens of Sensors, Power Managements, and Memory are required for the tremendous applications. Each sensor or Power Manager requires Memory, such as eFuse/OTP/NVM, especially for developing AMS solutions (Power Management + MCU or Sensor + MCU). Hence, eFuse/OTP/NVM plays an unwavering role in automotive IC market.

For semiconductor manufacturers and IC designers, it is important to improve devices for higher reliability in-vehicle Sensors, Power Management, and Memory, which are estimated to contribute the most shipment of automotive chips. For example, in China, the annual requirements for embedded eFuse/OTP/NVM and Memory devices (IC/Module) reach up to 448 million.

How to Flip the world?

Besides keep adding more sensors and cameras to glitter the field of autonomous vehicles, the two fundamental factors for automotive supply chain are: Safety and Security. AGIC is ready to introduce a new technology using artificial intelligence revolution to ultimately accomplish high reliability and hand-in high yield solution by TRUE physics phenomenon.

Since the hardware has no significant progressed for decades, the next game-changing innovation comes to the revolution of hardware. Inherent megatrend architecture shall be designed from the new mathematical model and basic science. Let us elaborate more in the next article.

About AGIC Technology:

A-Fuse, C-Fuse, and D-Fuse With NO additional mask Steps in different processes including CMOS, BJT, DRAM, BCD, HV, and etc. Reliably programmed through a controlled, non-reversible current programmed bits. Portable across all Nodes. Use the existing standard processes. Covering the processes from 350nm to 5nm and beyond. Operation temp from -55C to 175C and beyond. The smallest area of the OTP in the World.

Welcome to visit our website and contact with us for detail discussion and cooperation.

AGICIP (www.agicip.com)

Artificial General Intelligence Cosmos IP total solution.

Sales@agicip.comSALT LAKE CITY  Doctors in Utah's largest health care system will be now able to recommend cannabis for patients who have conditions that qualify under the state's new medical marijuana law.

Intermountain Healthcare announced Thursday that it has created a process in which a letter can be given to patients affirming their relationship with their provider, that they have a qualifying condition and could benefit from medical cannabis treatment.

"We're ready for patients to meet with their physicians, their nurse practitioners, physicians assistants, and begin the conversation around, 'Is medical cannabis something that I should consider? Is this something given my health conditions, do you think this might help?''' said Mark Briesacher, Intermountain's chief physician executive.

Utah voters approved a ballot initiative, Proposition 2, last fall legalizing medical marijuana. State lawmakers later replaced it in December with a more restrictive law in what they described as a compromise with Proposition 2 backers.

Patients who receive the letter would still have to buy their drugs illegally on the street or the black market in Utah or travel to a state that offers recreational marijuana. Medical cannabis dispensaries are not scheduled to open in Utah until 2020.

"While we're applauding that this effort has happened, right now the state's turning a blind eye as to where you're actually procuring your medications," said Christine Stenquist, founder of Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education, which launched the citizens' initiative. "Patients are still suffering a little bit, but we're moving the ball down the field."

Intermountain talked to patients, families, advocates, doctors, nurses and pharmacists to understand what they need, what the law means to them and what the law requires, Briesacher said.

"We've worked diligently to verify protections to providers who choose to give letters to their patients and ensure our process fully complies with state law," he said.

Briesacher said Intermountain is not mandating that health care providers discuss medical marijuana options with their patients. And the letter is not a prescription, but rather a recommendation. He likened it to a doctor suggesting ibuprofen or vitamin supplements.

Patients would determine what form and dose of cannabis to use like a diabetic determining how much insulin to use.

"We're not getting into dosing at this point," Briesacher said, adding that comes later as the law is implemented.

"This is the first of many steps to come," he said. "There are still many things for us to understand."

Marijuana use in any form still remains against federal law. Briesacher said the risk of Intermountain running afoul of federal is low but not zero.

"This is a new risk for us," he said.

Former Republican state Sen. Steve Urquhart said he hope's Intermountain's program would shift the discussion from politicians, lobbyists and special interests "who know very little about this topic" to a dialog between patients and doctors.

"I think that will change everything. There's needs to be changes in the law, and I'm hopeful that Intermountain will take the lead on this," he said.

Though medical cannabis advocates lauded Intermountain's move, at least one of them said he thought it would have taken much longer for the hospital to get to this point.

Connor Boyack, Libertas Institute president, said he had low expectations and expected a fight with health care providers to get the medical marijuana program going. He said it would fall "flat on its face" if doctors wouldn't recommend marijuana treatment.

"I'm honestly and very pleasantly surprised," he said.WEST VALLEY CITY  A Logan man who allegedly kidnapped his ex-girlfriend and took her to Las Vegas was arrested following a harrowing escape by the woman.

Jarom Tamatoa Tye, 24, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail Wednesday. By Thursday afternoon he was formally charged in 3rd District Court with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated burglary, both first-degree felonies, and two counts of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony. Bail was set at $150,000 cash only.

Police say Tye showed up at his ex-girlfriend's house in West Valley City on Feb. 2. According to charging documents, the woman, who had just broken up with Tye, had dropped him off at his home in Logan and was packing to leave her West Valley apartment when Tye showed up.

At that time, the woman, with help from her friends, was able to escape and go to her parents' house with her dogs, which Tye had threatened to kill, the charges state.

When the woman returned to her apartment a few hours later, Tye was hiding in the bathroom and attacked her when she entered, punching her and then punching several holes in the wall, according to charging documents.

"Tye dragged her by the hair into her bedroom  and assaulted her with a knife. Victim reported that Tye strangled her with two hands, while he sat on her chest and pinned her arms down with his knees," a Salt Lake County Jail report states. "She stated that he also held (the knife) to her neck as he made her call her mother and tell her that she was OK that evening."

The woman had duct tape put over her mouth as Tye used the knife to cut the mattress on her bed, damaged her TVs, and then made the woman dispose of the televisions in a dumpster, the charges state.

The next day, Tye forced the woman, still with duct tape over her mouth, to go to Las Vegas, according to police.

"Victim reported that she was strangled and assaulted again during the stay in Las Vegas in a motel room. Victim stated that if she escaped, he would kill her and her family (including her dogs)," according to the report.

On Feb. 5, while in a casino, the woman told Tye she needed to use the bathroom. That's when she escaped, took a taxi to the airport and attempted to purchase a plane ticket to get home, according to police.

But the ticket agent, apparently noticing the woman's injuries, called airport police who in turn called for medical personnel, the report states. The woman was taken to University Medical Center in Las Vegas and Las Vegas police were called.

On Monday, police located Tye and questioned him.

Tye claimed the incident began when the woman took him to his home in Logan to get his passport, but then took off without him "and left him confused, therefore causing him to obtain an Uber/Lyft type of car service and spending over $100 to go back to West Valley City," the report states.

He then claimed that the woman attacked him and that "he may have caused injuries to her from defending himself. Tye later stated that the victim harmed herself while she was attempting to attack him. Tye stated that he was afraid for his life," according to the report.

Tye then said they drove to Vegas to get married. Investigators, not believing Tye's story, arrested him.

The woman has taken out a protective order against Tye and she and her parents "are fearful of their lives," scared that Tye will attempt to find them if he gets out of jail, police wrote in the report.

Help for people in abusive relationships can be found by contacting the YWCA's Women in Jeopardy program at 801-537-8600, or the confidential statewide Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-897-LINK (5465). Resources are also available online at udvc.org.SALT LAKE CITY  A bill that would restrict Utahns from changing their sex listed on their birth certificates has been dropped.

Rep. Merrill Nelson, R-Grantsville, told the Deseret News he decided to pull HB153 from a House committee agenda that had been scheduled for Thursday afternoon to give the issue more "time and study."

He said he doesn't intend to revisit the issue this session in order to give all parties time to get "comfortable" with a solution.

Nelson's bill drew ire from LGBTQ advocates who called the bill an attack on transgender Utahns.

Troy Williams, executive director of Equality Utah, credited Nelson with listening to LGBTQ Utahns before deciding to drop the bill.

"Thankfully Rep. Nelson heard those concerns. He went out of his way to meet with the transgender community face to face to talk to them about the issues  and he listened," Williams said.

He said the transgender community was "extremely alarmed" and "frightened" about the impact HB153 would have because the bill would "essentially suggest transgender people don't have a legal right to exist."

The withdrawal of the bill comes less than 24 hours after Nelson suggested he had arrived at a solution for the bill. Wednesday, he issued a news release announcing he had released a substitute for the bill that would "preserve the intent of HB153 that a birth certificate retains its statutory purpose as a vital record while allowing gender identity to be added to a drivers license, which functions as a record of personal identification."

This substitute bill reflects input from various interested parties and provides a workable resolution of the issues presented, Nelson said in a statement Wednesday. Those who assert a different gender identity from the sex on their birth certificate are free to designate that identity on their driver's license, which is used as the most common form of personal identification.

Yet the next morning, the bill was removed from the House Health and Human Services Standing Committee.

Along with the withdrawal of Nelson's bill, another bill was also withdrawn: a bill that would have given judges clearer guidelines when they rule on requests to change birth certificates, sponsored by Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross.

Weiler ran the bill in response to a case in front of the Utah Supreme Court in which an Ogden judge denied a request citing unclear state law. Weiler said he ran the legislation because some judges are denying every gender change petition because there's no law saying they must grant them.

Weiler issued a statement Thursday suggesting the issue will be revisited  just not this year.

"This is a difficult issue with a lot of implications," Weiler said. "I ran a bill last year and encountered multiple obstacles. I took it to interim, and was unable to overcome them. Rep. Nelson heard my bill in interim and wanted to go in a different direction. He ran into many of the same obstacles. This issue is not going away. The state, at some point, has to adopt a policy."

In response to Weiler also dropping his bill, Williams said, "It's clear we have a lot of education to do around transgender issues in the state, and we need to continue that."

However, Williams credited Utah's lawmakers for approaching transgender issues with "compassion and goodwill."

"So I'm hopeful we can continue to engage lawmakers in the future," he said.SALT LAKE CITY  Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, said he no longer intends to try to repeal a controversial law known as SB54 that gives candidates an alternative path to a primary ballot.

McCay said he had a repeal bill drafted but has decided not to introduce it because opponents of the bill are waiting to hear if the U.S. Supreme Court will hear their case to overturn lower court rulings upholding the 2014 law.

"The Supreme Court is going to decide one way or the other," McCay said. "I'm hoping there is an opinion that people can at least look back to and say, 'This is how the court feels about the election law,' one way or another."

The senator, who was the House sponsor of SB54, said if the high court takes the case and issues a ruling, "it will help settle some of what I believe has been a very divisive issue."

Last year, an initiative intended to strengthen the law from the same Count My Vote group that was behind the legislative compromise that created SB54 ended up failing to qualify for the ballot.

In 2014, Count My Vote was circulating another initiative that would have established a direct primary in Utah, taking away the power of political parties to nominate candidates to a ballot.

Under the compromise in SB54, candidates can continue to compete for the support of party delegates through the caucus and convention system, choose to gather voter signatures to guarantee a place on a primary ballot  or take both paths.

The issue of how candidates should be nominated has split the Utah GOP. Last month, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, urged Republican Gov. Gary Herbert to stop defending what the senator believes is an "unconstitutional" law.OGDEN  Police arrested a man Wednesday who they say chased down and stabbed an Ogden man to death after that man had stopped to try and keep the suspect from assaulting a woman in an alley.

Xavier Soto, 18, was booked into the Weber County Jail for investigation of murder in the death of DJ Parkinson, 28, earlier this month. Police say Soto, with assistance from his attorney, contacted them on Wednesday and turned himself in.

Parkinson was found lying in the grass in the 2200 block of Monroe Boulevard about 9:50 p.m. on Feb. 2 with two wounds to his chest and back, according to a Weber County Jail report.

"The injuries appeared to be slash or puncture type injuries," the report states.

He was taken to McKay-Dee Hospital where he later died from his injuries.

Police previously reported that Soto and Parkinson were with a larger group of people when the men had an undisclosed disagreement. The Wednesday report says Soto had been in a "physical altercation" with a woman in an alley when Parkinson tried to intervene and stop the assault. The woman was not seriously injured.

"Shortly after the victim confronted Soto, (Parkinson) started to run away west down an alleyway being chased by Xavier Soto," the report states.

After chasing Parkinson, Soto stabbed him twice in the torso on Monroe Boulevard, according to the report. A portion of the attack was recorded on surveillance video.

Investigators could not say Thursday whether Parkinson and Soto had had prior contact or were acquainted with each other before the confrontation in the alley. Ogden Police Lt Brian Eynon said detectives were still "trying to get to the bottom of what really happened" prior to the stabbing.

Soto is a member of the Ogden Trece criminal street gang and he "has a substantial criminal history as a juvenile," the report states.

As of Thursday, no formal criminal charges have been filed against Soto in the stabbing death.WASHINGTON  Cliff Sims had a hunch working for Donald Trump, both as a candidate and as the president, could be a trial of conscience and faith.

Like many conservative Christians  who supported Trump in 2016 in numbers unprecedented even for a Republican Sims looked past the Manhattan real estate mogul's character flaws and lack of religious faith and saw a charismatic candidate who grasped the potency of issues important to the religious right and would deliver on them if elected.

And on both counts, Sims was right. Trump has kept many of the promises he made to evangelical voters who played a big part in putting him in office, and just last week the president told them, "I will never let you down." And at the same time, Sims' nearly two years in the Trump Tower election war room and West Wing "was a constant struggle between my conscience, my principles, and a culture that often asked you to compromise both," he wrote in the introduction of his new book "Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House."

Sims' first-person account of working with Trump and the president's closest advisers includes a self-reflection on the subtle, corrosive effect that proximity to power can have on one's character  including his own.

The son and grandson of Baptist ministers, Sims was raised in a religious home in Alabama. He and his wife, Megan served a mission for their church among refugees in Syria  a defining experience that would later conflict with the administration's treatment of refugees.

He left a political news media company he founded  Yellowhammer Multimedia  to join the Trump campaign in August 2016. Two years later, he resigned as a special assistant to the president and director of White House message strategy in the summer of 2018, the victim of the infighting, leaks and sabotage that Sims admits he used against others before his own demise.

Still a supporter of Trump and his policies, Sims sued the president this week, alleging Trump is trying to "illegally penalize him" for publishing his book. Trumps campaign has accused Sims of violating a nondisclosure agreement, while Sims argues he learned the information only through his time as a federal employee. His lawsuit alleges the president is using his campaign to illegally "seek retribution that would not otherwise be available to him through the federal government," The New York Times reported.

Now a communications consultant, Sims, 34, spoke with the Deseret News about his experiences in the White House and what lessons he learned from them. These questions and answers are edited for clarity and length.

Deseret News: You mention in the book that you and your wife discussed and prayed about whether to work for the Trump campaign. What did you discuss?

Cliff Sims: Ultimately, the decision came down to the fact that so few people get this opportunity, and if we have this opportunity but don't take it, we could never say, "Well, I wish there was somebody in Washington who represented our values." We would be like, wait a second, you had a chance to be that person and you didn't do it.

But you know, it's not fun to be in the center of controversy all the time, and I think Megan probably doesn't enjoy that a lot. That's certainly been part of it with this book, to suddenly be in a very public facing and getting criticized from all sides.

DN: Throughout the book, you write about trying to reconcile your faith and values with what is going on around you. How have people responded to that?

CS: I think one of the things I've learned is, it's very difficult in the current media environment to have a nuanced conversation about anything political. And so people on the far left have a similar reaction of, "How could you be a good person and work in that place?" And then you have people on the far right who say, "How could you work in that place and not understand that Donald Trump is the Savior of the universe?"

It's tough to be in the middle of that. But I'm glad that this has become such a big part of the conversation because it opens up opportunities to have conversations about the deeper issues.

What people are really asking is how could you hate some of the things that a person does, but still love them, or disagree with some of the things that a person does, but still support them? And I think that C.S. Lewis actually had this right long before I thought about it. But you know why I can do that with somebody else? Because I've been doing that with myself my whole life.

There are plenty of things that I do wrong, that I disagree with, that I wish I'd done differently.  Cliff Sims

There are plenty of things that I do wrong, that I disagree with, that I wish I'd done differently. I write a lot about them in my book, but just because I hate some of the things I did doesn't mean that I don't love myself. So if I can extend that grace to myself, why would I not be able to extend that to someone else, including, and perhaps especially, the president of the United States?

DN: You express regret for not exemplifying your faith more while working in the White House. Is there an instance where you could have said something or done something that would have reflected your faith, but you didn't?

CS: One example that comes to mind is the scene in the book where the president is very frustrated with leaks  anonymous White House officials saying negative things about him in the press. And he asked me who I think these people are and I went straight to naming names. And it was one of those moments, in retrospect, where I was so caught up in the team of vipers, so to speak, and that was an honorable thing to do.

There were other Christians who worked in the White House. And there was never a time where I was able to put aside the cutthroat dynamic and say, "Hey, let's sit down for a Bible study in here for a half hour to start our day." It's a lot more difficult to want to rip somebody's face off when you just spent a half hour praying with them.

As Christians in any environment that we're in, we always have an opportunity to be that one person who there's just something different about them. And that opens up opportunities to have conversations about our faith. I wasn't able to have those conversations, because I wasn't being the one who had something different about them. I was in the middle of the fight, just like everybody else in there, so I just think that was a missed opportunity.

DN: You mentioned that the president wasn't served well by his Faith Advisory Council. What do you think they should do for the president that they're not doing?

CS: I think the impulse for them  and I would say that I share this impulse as well  is to spend all their time saying thank you, because he's attacked so often for some of these issues (appointing conservative justices, pro-life stances, tax exempt status for faith groups) that he's been willing to stand up on.

I think that's important, he deserves thanks for that. But I never really saw anyone say, "Mr. President, thank you for these things, but here is another issue that we are deeply troubled by and are asking you to change your position or step up and lead on." I just never saw anyone really press him in any real significant way on those issues because they all seemed to be trying to outdo each other in giving Trump the best compliments that they possibly could either behind the scenes or on television.

I can't get inside of his head or his heart. And I certainly don't want to say that there is no personal stake in these issues.  Cliff Sims

DN: Is there a certain issue you can tell me about that (the council) could have brought up but didn't?

CS: He wasn't delivering on his promise to take care of persecuted religious minorities in the Middle East. If you just look at the number of Syrian Christian refugees that we have taken in, it's miniscule.

The refugee issue in general is one where I think the administration's stated goals are actually good: to relocate them as close to their homes as possible with the goal of them being able to return  and to prioritize persecuted religious minorities. He really wants to keep whatever his promises were. So I thought that was some low-hanging fruit that could have been snatched pretty quickly by the Faith Advisory Council.

Maybe there is an argument to be made that "he's been good on certain issues, so let's not risk those issues by trying to get more." But some of what I saw led me to believe that the greater concern was, "If I'm the one who stands up and pushes him on this issue, whatever it may be, I'm going to be the one who doesn't get invited to the next White House dinner or the next Oval Office meeting." They were just as concerned with their proximity to power as a lot of the staff was.

DN: Do you think the president understands the issues important to conservative Christians on a personal level, or is it just political?

CS: I can't get inside of his head or his heart. And I certainly don't want to say that there is no personal stake in these issues. But he does have a deep understanding of the political ramifications of (evangelicals) being an important part of his base.

I think the Supreme Court was probably the most important issue on which a lot of evangelical Christians were voting, and he did gain an understanding of why and why it was important to a lot of Christians to no longer have this threat by the Department of Justice that our faith-based organizations will lose their tax exempt status if they said anything political.

But this is not the world that Donald Trump came from. This is the Manhattan billionaire real estate mogul who did not grow up in middle America Bible Belt like I did, and like the others have, or in Utah, obviously a state where faith is such a huge part of the culture there. So I think to some extent, he is kind of learning and has learned over the last few years more about that perspective and why these things are so important to us.

Contributing: Associated PressOGDEN  A man arrested this week in the shooting death of an Ogden man and the shooting of his brother may not have been the triggerman, according to a newly released police affidavit.

Theron Farmer, 23, was arrested Tuesday and booked into the Weber County Jail for investigation of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, possession of a firearm by a restricted person and obstructing justice.

Just after 5:30 p.m. Monday, Kameron Johnson, 18, was shot and killed and his brother, Eric Johnson Jr., 20, was shot and critically injured. The shooting happened at the brothers' home, 862 W. Lake St. in Ogden. Both men were shot multiple times, according to a Weber County Jail report.

While being treated at a local hospital, Eric Johnson told police there were two suspects: "His one-time friend, Theron Farmer, and the other  a heavier set Hispanic male introduced by Theron. He advised that the male drew a weapon and fired while Theron showed off a gun in his waistband to Eric and raided the house looking for property to steal," the report states.

Farmer was arrested Tuesday after a SWAT team surrounded an apartment in Layton. Police found Farmer hiding in a unit at the Stonehedge apartments, 225 N. Fairfield Road. He was interviewed by detectives on Wednesday, according to the report.

"He stated that they had gone to the home to purchase drugs and that the other male shot both Johnsons and that they looted the house and took Xanax, a small unknown amount of cash, a pair of pants and a coat," the report states.

Farmer said he witnessed Eric Johnson being shot multiple times, according to the report. After the shootings, Farmer claimed he was given two cellphones that he assumed belonged to the victims, and threw them out of his car as he and the other suspect drove away, according to the report.

Farmer's violent history dates back several years, according to court records.

He was arrested Jan. 20, 2018, and booked into the Davis County Jail for investigation of criminal mischief, assault, domestic violence in the presence of a child and violating a protective order. Farmer allegedly got into an argument with his girlfriend at her Bountiful apartment, broke down a door when she tried to hide in a bedroom, and then pushed her into a closet, according to a police affidavit.

He pleaded guilty on Jan. 29, 2018, to violating a protective order, a class A misdemeanor, in exchange for the other charges being dismissed.

Likewise, Farmer was arrested last month on Jan. 7 at the same apartment for investigation of domestic violence in the presence of a child, criminal mischief and two counts of assault for getting into a fight with his girlfriend and a juvenile, a police affidavit states.

He also pleaded guilty on Jan. 29 in that case to assault, a class B misdemeanor.

In February 2018, he was convicted of assault for an incident on Jan. 10, 2018, according to court records. In 2015, Farmer entered into a plea in abeyance on a felony drug possession charge, pleading guilty. The case was later dismissed after he successfully completed drug court. He was also convicted of lewdness in a separate case in 2015.SALT LAKE CITY  In one of his first statements since being committed to SCI Phoenix, a maximum-security prison in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, Bill Cosby is saying he has no remorse and is reportedly inspired by civil rights leaders to get him through his time behind bars.

NBC 10 Philadelphia released a two-part interview this week that gives a detailed look at what life in prison is like for Cosby.

Andrew Wyatt, Cosbys spokesperson and the only visitor allowed to see him aside from his attorneys, told NBC 10 that Cosby feels prison is an amazing experience despite the circumstances and that he has no remorse.

When I visit him, its nothing sad about it, Wyatt told NBC 10. Hes not sad. Hes not remorseful because he did nothing wrong.

Cosby is currently serving three to 10 years for reportedly drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, according to Yahoo News. Hes also been accused of sexual assault and/or harassment by more than 50 women, according to USA Today.

In a statement to the press and public, which was published on Cosbys Instagram Wednesday, Cosby says he will never have remorse, blaming a low-life district attorney and a corrupt judge for his guilty conviction.

My political beliefs, my actions of trying to humanize all races, genders, and religions landed me in this place surrounded by barb wire fencing, a room made of steel and iron," he wrote in a statement. "So, I now have a temporary residence that resembles the quarters of some of the Greatest Political Prisoners  Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Randal Robinson, and Dr. Benjamin Chavis. I stand upright as a Political Prisoner and I Smile. The Truth is Strong!

Cosbys lawyers are reportedly appealing his sentence, citing 11 alleged errors by the trial judge, according to NBC 10.

Read more over at Yahoo News.SALT LAKE CITY  Heres a look at the news for Feb. 14.

She has Alzheimer's. He has a girlfriend. Is he committing adultery? Read more.

Why Utah Rep. Chris Stewart isnt pleased with the federal budget deal. Read more.

Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingles and his wife Renea publicly share news of sons autism diagnosis. Read more.

Warner Bros. shuts down the Bachelor of Provo YouTube series. Heres a look at the new show.

A Utah lawmaker wants to outlaw bump stocks. But gun advocates fight a federal ban in court. Read more.

Advocates are crying for safety while opponents preach gun rights in forum on the proposed Utah red flag gun law. Read more.

Insights from our featured voices:

Some of our most read stories:

News from the U.S. and world:SALT LAKE CITY  As his wife plunged deeper into the fog of Alzheimers disease a few years ago, Raymond Freer would occasionally invite another woman to attend a concert with him and another couple.

To passers-by, it might have looked like a date; Freer hadn't worn a wedding ring in 20 years because it had grown too snug. But on those evenings out, there was no spark that led to physical intimacy, and Freer was still married to Mary, whom he had first met when they were teens living on opposite coasts.

Still, the occasional companionship helped meet a need.

When a person has advanced dementia, there is no social interaction, and you must seek it somewhere, said Freer, 77, a Park City, Utah, resident whose wife died of cancer and complications of Alzheimers disease last week.

Freer is among people who believe that it can sometimes be OK for the spouse of someone with dementia to enter a new relationship while still married. But his is a position not universally shared, as Dan Gasby, of East Hampton, New York, recently learned.

Gasby, 64, the husband of lifestyle guru Barbara "B." Smith, who has Alzheimers disease, has been castigated on social media for having an intimate relationship with a woman who is helping Gasby care for his wife. Critics have said that arrangement amounts to having an affair in his wife's presence.

Deborah McQuilkin, a registered nurse in South Carolina, says one spouses illness is not an excuse for adultery. The second wife of a Bible college president who gained worldwide acclaim for resigning to take care of his first wife, who had Alzheimers, McQuilkin said the only biblical justification for divorce is adultery or abandonment. If a spouse is ill, they have not abandoned you. They have become ill, she said.

With the rates of Alzheimers disease expected to nearly triple in the next 30 years, the issue is one that will increasingly confront people of faith and many spiritual leaders arent prepared to deal with it, said Rabbi Richard Address, founder and executive director of Jewish Sacred Aging.

Most couples also aren't prepared for a situation like this to occur, but its a conversation that aging spouses should have, Address said. And spiritual leaders could help them by speaking about the issue, and perhaps even considering the establishment of a ritual that would allow the healthy spouse to date while remaining married, he says.

"Do we have a responsibility to talk about it? My feeling is yes, because our people are living it. And if you dont address things that people are dealing with, you become irrelevant, Address said.

Love in the age of Alzheimer's presents not just the ethical problem of beginning a new relationship while married, or divorcing an oblivious spouse, but also how to cope if a spouse with dementia becomes romantically involved with someone else, as happened to Sandra Day O'Connor, the retired Supreme Court justice whose husband developed an affectionate relationship with another woman at a nursing home.

'Subterranean grief'

More than 5 million Americans  31,000 of them in Utah  are living with Alzheimers disease or another type of dementia. Over time, they will lose not only their memories and the ability to think and converse, but also the essence of what they brought to a marriage.

As Joan Gershman writes on the website The Alzheimers Spouse, The person you fell in love with and married is disappearing. Ambition replaced by lethargy; humor replaced by anxiety and anger; intelligence replaced by cognition so slow and so impaired that they cannot follow a conversation; a memory so wrecked that they cannot remember what you said to them five minutes ago.

In the case of the Gasbys, Dan Gasbys daughter has said her stepmothers condition has been reduced by the disease to a physically strong toddler who speaks in gibberish. Gasby, however, has continued to care for her at home, even moving from their waterfront home to a new property that is fenced to keep her safer.

In not divorcing his wife because of her condition, as evangelist Pat Robertson has said is acceptable, and continuing to care for her himself, Gasby is similar to Robertson McQuilkin, who resigned the presidency of Columbia Bible College and Seminary (now Columbia International University) in 1990 to care for his wife, Muriel.

It was his heart's desire that she be on one side and I be on the other, and I said there's no way I'm doing that.  Deborah McQuilkin

The average Alzheimers patient lives for eight years after the diagnosis. Muriel McQuilkin lived for 23 years, and her husband cared for her in their home until her passing in 2003. He published an account of his decision, Living by Vows, and later wrote a book about the experience, A Promise Kept.

He spoke candidly about the difficulty and loneliness, writing about a subterranean grief that will not go away." But he said repeatedly, If I took care of her for 40 years, I would never be out of her debt and that caring for Muriel was the fulfillment of their wedding vows, in sickness and in health.

Two years after Muriel died, Robertson McQuilkin, then 78, married again, exchanging vows with Deborah, who had known the couple for 30 years. They didnt begin seeing each other until a year after Muriel died, and Robertson McQuilkin wouldnt have entered in another relationship while he was still married, believing that adultery is adultery, even if one of the partners has dementia, Deborah McQuilkin said.

"It doesn't matter what the diagnosis is, whether it's cancer or Alzheimer's or trauma, said Deborah McQuilkin, 65, a registered nurse who has a doctorate in nurse practice.

Even after Robertson McQuilkin died, 11 years after their marriage, Deborah McQuilkin honored Muriel and Robertson McQuilkin's marriage in the burial arrangements she made in Lexington, South Carolina.

"It was his heart's desire that she be on one side and I be on the other, and I said there's no way I'm doing that," Deborah McQuilkin said.

"I released him to go back to her. They're in Heaven having a great time; their son is there, their grandson is there; they're having a great time."

She added, "I'll be cremated and sprinkled."

Difficult conversations

The Alzheimers Association, which estimates that 14 million Americans will have the disease by 2050, as baby boomers age, does not take a position on how couples dealing with dementia should navigate the ethical challenges surrounding a marriage. Every family and family situation is unique, said Ronnie Daniel, executive director of the associations Utah chapter.

The key is, encouraging families to have conversations, and the earlier the better, so they can plan for the future. Thats oftentimes what doesnt happen  they havent had conversations, and the person with the disease gets to the point where they arent able to engage in meaningful conversation about what they want to have happen, and you end up having difficult situations.

Thats also what Rabbi Richard Address tells groups that he speaks to as part of his work with Sacred Jewish Aging, based outside Philadelphia. The best time for couples to begin the discussion is when they begin to make other preparations for the end of life, such as preparing end-of-life directives and living or ethical wills.

But these are difficult conversations that, ideally, should involve the adult children of the couple as well, and couples should be prepared to grapple with the complexities and emotions.

Not all families can do this, Rabbi Address warns. You cant just sit down and say, 'Were going to talk about this, and were going to have this decision by dessert.' It doesnt work. Not in the Jewish community, anyway.

In Park City, Ray Freer, who is retired from the real estate business, said this was not a conversation that he and his wife ever had. Having read about Dan Gasby, who said that having a new relationship gave him energy and enthusiasm that makes him a better caregiver, Freer said he would never condemn Gasbys decision. I would not discourage any person in a situation similar to mine from doing that kind of thing, he said.

But he noted that Barbara Gasbys disease is not as advanced as his wifes was in recent years, when she was not capable of any kind of communication. The couples 50th anniversary passed two years ago with no celebration.

Rabbi Address says that the challenges of new relationships are often exhibited at family events. He recalled a bat mitzvah about a decade ago that was pocked with conflict because a man whose spouse had dementia wanted to bring a female companion and his children were opposed. Family rituals, those are real flashpoints. Ask any rabbi. Ask any priest, minister, imam," he said.

Is our personal happiness the goal of life? I don't think that is.  Deborah McQuilkin

Rabbi Address tells synagogues that they should have forums every year on advanced directives and living wills, helping congregants begin to have these sorts of conversations. And he calls for more education and guidance for spiritual leaders.

There is very little training on the part of clergy on how to talk to people, to counsel them in these new situations, he said. We do a really good job of premarital counseling if youre 28 years old, but we dont do a good job of training colleagues, regardless of the denomination, of dealing with a couple whos in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and dealing with very different relationship arrangements, financial, familial, et cetera.

In some liberal traditions, a faith group could devise a ceremony that frees a person married to someone with dementia to pursue another relationship, or still-healthy partners could sign an agreement releasing the other to a new relationship if severe dementia occurs, Rabbi Address has written.

But he cautions, This is not for everyone. Its always going to come down to personal choice.

To Deborah McQuilkin, however, it's not a question of choice, but of vows.

"Is our personal happiness the goal of life? I don't think that is," she said. And regardless of where people are in grappling with love and dementia, which she calls "the most difficult assignment of life," "there are people who will walk with us through it and help us," she said.

The Alzheimer's Association has a 24-hour hotline to help people struggling with issues related to dementia: 1-800-272-3900.SALT LAKE CITY  Debate over nuclear waste is expected to return to the Capitol on Thursday as the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee takes its first look at HB22, which cleared the House on Tuesday.

The radioactive waste amendments would change how some waste classifications are determined, and critics say, will open up Utah to accept depleted uranium, which had been blocked before.

Other issues expected to be discussed at the Statehouse during the day include:

 The House Health and Human Services Committee is considering HB153, which amends provisions to law on permissible changes to birth certificates, specifically noting that male or female are "the innate and immutable characteristics established at conception" and should not be changed.

READ MORE: Bill to block Utahns from changing sex on birth certificates dropped

Looks like Rep. Nelson's transgender birth certificate bill has been pulled from this afternoon's committee agenda. #utpol #utleg pic.twitter.com/aY0NZKOKmh  Katie McKellar (@KatieMcKellar1) February 14, 2019

Rep. Nelson just told me he decided to pull the bill off of the agenda to give the issue more "time and study." He says he doesn't expect to revisit the issue this session to give the issue more interim time to get all parties "comfortable" with legislation #utpol #utleg  Katie McKellar (@KatieMcKellar1) February 14, 2019

An undercurrent of frustrations from some elected officials in southwest Salt Lake County has spurred a Utah lawmaker to sponsor a bill that could lead to a fragmentation of Utah's densest county. HB93 would allow communities to break off and form their own county with a vote in their cities  without requiring a majority vote from the county they'd leave behind.

READ MORE: How west-side frustrations in Salt Lake County have led to a county 'divorce' bill

A Sandy Republican lawmaker is seeking funding to increase the number of psychiatry residencies offered by University of Utah Health Sciences. HB174, sponsored by Rep. Steve Eliason, would increase the number of residencies by four and aspires to ramp up 16 additional residents across four cohorts.

READ MORE: Lawmaker seeks to add 4 psychiatry residencies at University of Utah medical school

The House approved a resolution Thursday recognizing "that the best manner to protect the vulnerable without infringing on the right of the people to bear arms is to enforce the laws already found in Utah code." That nonbinding resolution, sponsored by Rep. Cory Maloy, R-Lehi, passed with a 56-16 vote mostly along party lines. It passed despite Democrats' complaints that the resolution sends the wrong message  that Utah's laws already do enough to protect people from gun violence.

READ MORE: House OKs resolution saying Utah's gun laws are enough

The House Education Committee is slated to hear HB250 that sets school fee guidelines for boards to enforce.

The House Public Utilities, Energy and Technology Committee will review HJR19, a joint resolution directing a study of blockchain technology that includes legislative recommendations regarding the potential benefits and value of blockchain and possible uses in state government.

Here's what happened on Feb. 13, the 17th day of the 2019 session:SALT LAKE CITY  On the same day a state lawmaker submitted a bill to raise the age for someone to buy tobacco to 21, a Utah County city took just that step.

Lehi City Council voted unanimously to raise the age limit for tobacco products Tuesday night.

Earlier in the day, Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, finished HB324, which was introduced into the House of Representatives on Wednesday and placed in the Rules Committee. The bill would raise the minimum age for obtaining, possessing, using, providing or furnishing tobacco products, paraphernalia, "and under certain circumstances, electronic smoking devices" from 19 to 20 then to 21 years of age over time. He said this is the third year he has sponsored a bill to raise the age limit.

"The data speaks clearly," Eliason said, explaining he spoke with directors of health departments who all said it is the most important bill he could run for public health.

Brook Carlisle, government relations director with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said 95 percent of adult smokers begin smoking before they turn 21, with ages 18-21 being critical years where many people become daily smokers.

"Each year about 800 kids in Utah under the age of 18 become daily smokers, and if we dont act and stop this now we have about 39,000 kids who are alive today who will eventually die from tobacco-related illness," Carlisle told Lehi council members.

Utah PTA Health Commissioner DeAnn Kettenring told city officials the change is necessary to stop younger teens from smoking. She said adults ages 18-20 provide 90 percent of the tobacco to younger people.

Kettenring said she had a son who began smoking in junior high after he got cigarettes from a friend who had an older brother who was 19. Once her son turned 19, he started supplying cigarettes to younger friends.

"This is just one more thing to protect our kids, and the research shows that it does protect our kids," Kettenring said.

She also discussed the increase in vaping, and said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a 78 percent increase in youth use of e-cigarettes, which are included in this bill.

"Its been touted as a cessation device  but our kids are using it to get addicted," Kettenring said.

For the last seven years there has been an effort to make this change at the state level, according to Marc Watterson, from the American Heart Association. Three of those years the bill didn't even receive a committee hearing.

"(Tobacco's) intended use, if it is used correctly, is to get people sick and to eventually cause death. Its the only product that we allow on the market that if used as intended, will result in premature death," Watterson said.

He said six states and more than 425 cities and counties have raised the age to 21. Utah's age limit for purchasing tobacco is 19, which is higher than the national law of 18.

Watterson also said in the six states who have made the change  California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oregon, Hawaii and Maine  the law was passed in local communities first.

Councilman Paul Hancock said that made him feel more strongly that Lehi should pass this law.

"This is an opportunity for us to show the state Legislature that they need to get their act together," Hancock said.

Eliason said he thinks the outcome of his bill will be different this year. He said he now has the support of the Huntsman Cancer Institute and many of the largest tobacco companies.

Watterson said this is not an issue of when a person becomes an adult, but how to set up young people for success.

"If we can try and prevent their access to these tobacco products earlier  its going to have a huge health impact for our youth now and adults going forward," Watterson said.SALT LAKE CITY  Residents who earlier this week were given three days to evacuate their apartments have been granted an extension of two more days before they have to leave, city officials said Wednesday.

Residents at Georgia Apartments, 203 E. 2100 South, in the Liberty Wells neighborhood of Salt Lake City, were told to evacuate after the landlord ignored repeated requests to get the building up to fire code, according to Salt Lake City officials.

For Michael Cousert, a resident of the building for 15 years who said he is severely disabled, the week has left him "drained." But he's grateful things are looking up.

"Everything's working really good," Cousert said.

The Salt Lake City Division of Housing and Neighborhood Development has established housing plans for occupants of 30 units, officials said. The number of occupied units was originally estimated by city officials as 42, but officials on Wednesday said that only 31 are occupied.

"Of those, 24 units have immediate housing secured, six units are in various stages of housing assistance, with only one unit not yet engaged," according to a statement from the city.

For now, the bishop of Cousert's congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is putting him up in a motel room, and Salt Lake Community Action is working on getting him into county senior housing. "The first room that opens up is mine," Cousert said.

Cousert said he's grateful that he gets to remain in his Latter-day Saint ward. Earlier this week, "It seemed like everything was working against us," he recalled.

He plans to be all moved out by Thursday evening.

The 24-hour "fire watch" that has been provided by the fire marshal since the evacuation order came down has been extended until noon Saturday. After that deadline, Salt Lake City will provide escorts for those needing to go into the building to collect personal items that were left behind, officials said.

"It is incredible how quickly our teams worked to find new housing solutions for the residents of Georgia Apartments, who are having their lives uprooted because of the actions of their landlord," said Mayor Jackie Biskupski in the statement. "This was a difficult decision to make, but our fire professionals will always prioritize the safety of all Salt Lake City residents above all else."

The city announced Monday 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. The fire marshal is also concerned that cold weather has frozen the building's sprinkler pipes.SALT LAKE CITY  Utah lawmakers focused so much on homeless shelter reform and the construction of three new homeless resource centers in Salt Lake County when enacting legislation in recent years, a little-known homeless shelter in eastern Utah was forgotten.

Yes  there's a 27-bed homeless shelter in Vernal, Turning Point Shelter, run by Uintah County.

So Rep. Scott Chew, R-Jensen, is sponsoring a bill to include in legislation that shelter  which, because of its size, currently isn't eligible to apply for state homeless grants.

Vernal's shelter was inadvertently left out of laws written recently to allow homeless shelters to apply for public safety mitigation funds and other grants. Currently, the law requires shelters to have 50 beds or more.

"We don't qualify for any funding, but we would like to take care of our own," Chew said in front of the House Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee on Wednesday.

House Majority Leader Francis Gibson, R-Mapleton, jokingly grilled Chew about his bill before expressing his support.

"The statute says you have a bunch of money here but you can only go after any of that money if you have a 50-bed shelter," Gibson said. "But in the meantime, you're keeping the people that are there  trying to get them back on their feet, keep them in Vernal, and you're not shipping them to Salt Lake?

"And in return, you're asking to have access to a grant (fund) that you're already paying into?" Gibson continued, before shaking his head and addressing the rest of the committee. "Representatives, this bill should be a consent bill."

In recent years, state leaders have urged communities other than Salt Lake City, Midvale, Ogden and now South Salt Lake to do their part to help with homelessness, including rural communities. Gibson, who played a role in last year's legislation, thanked Vernal for its efforts before motioning the committee to endorse the bill.

"To think you would step up and do that, that's a big commitment from your community," Gibson said.

The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.SALT LAKE CITY  Lindsay Waldrop knows the location of every Taco Bell and Taco Time on every route she commonly travels with her 17-year-old son, who has autism.

She told members of Utah's Senate Business and Labor Committee on Wednesday that her son used to become violent when he didn't get to eat at the taco joints whenever he requested it  even in the middle of the night. But because of ongoing Applied Behavior Analysis, a type of therapy to help people with autism spectrum disorder, Waldrop now gets by with a little grumbling from her son when tacos are not in the schedule.

"This is life-changing work that we are doing," Waldrop said, adding that insurance has never covered therapy for her son.

SB95, proposed by Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, on Wednesday, aims to require certain health benefit plans in Utah to provide coverage for behavioral health treatment for people with autism spectrum disorder, regardless of their age and how many hours of treatment they might need.

"If we don't give them the skills and treatment applicable to them, they grow up and just don't have the tools to be a mature adult," said Senate Minority Leader Karen Mayne, D-West Valley City. She said the treatment not only helps individuals with autism, but also their families and society.

The bill would remove caps that appear in current statute saying insurance plans must cover Applied Behavior Analysis therapies for patients age 2 to 10, as well as the number of hours of treatment benefit plans will cover, which is currently 600 hours.

Kelly Atkinson, executive director of the Utah Health Insurance Association, said the statute applies to just 24 percent of Utah's insured, as the majority of people in the state are insured by large, out-of-state plans regulated by the federal government. He said the cost of mandating coverage would be passed to consumers.

Private insurers, such as Intermountain Healthcare's SelectHealth and Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah, have already opted to cover the service "because it's the right thing to do," Bramble said.

However, Utah Commissioner of Insurance Todd Kaiser told the committee that should SB95 pass, a provision of the Affordable Care Act puts the state on the hook for about $800,000 in reimbursements to insurance companies for mandating specific coverage.

"If it is done after 2012, the state must pay," Kaiser said, adding that the bill will have a substantial fiscal note that would also have to fit into the state's budget somehow.

Age caps in current regulations have challenged Utah families, specifically financially. One in 44 kids in Utah falls somewhere on the spectrum of autism disorders  one of the highest rates of prevalence in the country, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We're not experts in medicine or autism or even our own son," said Ed Lamb, whose 8-year-old son is autistic. "We've made sacrifices to keep him in ABA treatment."

Perhaps someone who knows better than most the difference that proper treatment for autism spectrum disorders can have is Cheryl Brayton. Her son, David Brayton, who is 20, has been on the cusp of emerging therapies his whole life, forced to stay in public school where necessary services were limited.

"Public school was a nightmare for him," Cheryl Brayton told lawmakers. "Since we've been at the Utah Autism Academy, using the ABA method, he's improved leaps and bounds."

Skills David Brayton has learned include using the toilet alone, grocery shopping and asking for help to find items, and making his own lunch, his mom said.

"If ABA for him was to end, he would decline rapidly," she said.

Money spent on effective treatment now, Cheryl Brayton said, is far less than the projected expenses of living in an assisted-living facility in the future.

"I'm really tired of people saying kids (with autism) can't make progress past the age of 8," Waldrop said. Her son has been getting ABA therapy since he was 13 and the family has fought for it ever since, "even if it is just to help families in the future. Other families have fought for what we have now."

"It's so important for these kids to get these services," she said.

The committee unanimously approved Bramble's bill on Wednesday and it now moves to the full Senate.SALT LAKE CITY  The Utah House of Representatives gave overwhelming approval Wednesday to legislation that would eliminate letter grades from the state's public school report card.

HB198, sponsored by Rep. Marie Poulson, D-Cottonwood Heights, would do away with school grades and use the state's new report card dashboard moving forward.

The latest report card has new indicators such as how well high schools prepare students for college or other postsecondary education; progress of English language learners; and academic growth of a schools lowest-performing students.

Instead of grades, schools are rated as exemplary, commendable, typical, developing or those with critical needs.

For this year only, the awarding of letter grades was suspended by the Legislature as Utah public schools transitioned to new statewide assessments. Unless the Legislature takes action this year, letter grades would return to school evaluations published by the State School Board.

Poulson said eliminating the grades has been welcomed by educators and parents. The change to a dashboard system was "a breath of fresh air after several years of an inversion," she said.

The dashboard has multiple indicators "that make us look deeper" at school performance, she said. It also provides an opportunity for schools to highlight special initiatives that enhance learning.

HB198 is supported by the Utah State Board of Education, Utah School Boards Association, the Utah Education Association and American Federation of Teachers - Utah, among others, Poulson said.

Rep. Merrill Nelson, R-Grantsville, spoke in support of HB198.

"It's high time we remove the single letter grade from schools. We tried the experiment. It doesn't work. A single letter grade doesn't help anything," he said.

If the motivation was to generate competition between or among schools, that rationale was lost on rural schools districts, where there may be only one high school or elementary school, Nelson said.

"A letter grade isn't a means to distinguish or compete. It just provides a letter of stigma that we don't need. So it's high time to remove the letter grade," Nelson said.

Rep. Steve Handy, R-Layton, concurred:

"I think we can file that under seemed like a good idea at the time,' " Handy said of letter grades for schools.

Handy said he once supported school grades because he had hoped, with a clear delineation how neighborhood schools were performing, that more parents would get involved with their children's education.

"I don't think that really ever happened," he said.

Poulson, a retired educator, said she has searched educational journals on accountability measures and "there is no evidence at all that school grading has had any positive impact in improving student outcomes in the classroom."

The House approved the bill by a vote of 68-2. It now moves to the Utah Senate for its consideration.SALT LAKE CITY  Expecting a fight in the Utah House of Representatives, the Senate sponsor of a bill that would use state transportation tax dollars to incentivize cities to plan for affordable housing agreed to increase the requirements on cities in his bill Wednesday.

With the changes approved, Sen. Jake Anderegg's SB34 advanced out of the Senate with a 20-9 vote. It now goes to the House for consideration.

The substituted bill  which increases requirements for certain cities to qualify for state transportation dollars  was meant to "take the bullet out of the House's gun," Anderegg said.

The Lehi Republican said the substitute came after he heard word some lawmakers in the House were planning to "target" the bill "to make some pretty crazy changes."

Those possible changes, Anderegg said, include putting at stake cities' eligibility for class B and C road funds  state allocated funds cities heavily rely on  as well as increasing the requirements to more heavily incentivize cities to include affordable housing in their city plans.

Hinging the bill's requirements on the city's eligibility for the road funds would "be a declaration of war," Anderegg told reporters after the Senate vote.

"That would be World War III," he said, adding he'd be "surprised" if the House had the votes to pass the provision, but he said the changes were proposed in an attempt to avoid the fight altogether.

Sen. Derek Kitchen, D-Salt Lake City, proposed a substitute to the bill on the Senate floor that would require cities with transit infrastructure to meet four out of a list of about two dozen options to allow moderate-income housing within their communities. It would also require the general requirement for most cities  except metro townships with populations less than 5,000  to fulfil at least three options.

The substitute keeps city eligibility for state transportation dollars  a fund of about $700 million that comes from the motor fuel tax that the state controls  as the incentive for cities to fulfill the requirements.

"I really see housing as a critical component of long-term economic health," Kitchen said, noting Salt Lake City has seen historic housing vacancy rates amid the state's ever-tightening housing crunch. "We've got to figure out a way to pump additional supply in the market."

But Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, expressed not only misgivings but also suspicion with the bill.

"I hate this bill," Fillmore said. "That's actually overstating it. I'm actually just confused by this bill."

Fillmore quoted Anderegg's own words that many Utah cities are already fulfilling seven to eight requirements listed in the bill, "and yet this is a 'must pass bill' and it's a 'priority bill,'" Fillmore said.

"It strikes me that this bill, by being so important but doing really nothing, is really a vehicle to do something we're not being told it's going to do either in the House or in some future legislation," Fillmore said. "And that just makes me uncomfortable."

Anderegg said he's not aware of any "ulterior motive," but he's "the first to say that this is not a silver bullet."

"This is not going to solve our affordable housing crisis, but it's a first really good step," Anderegg said.

In his district alone, Anderegg said, he's seen massive population growth and he's "sick of seeing the wasted tens of millions of dollars" that occurs as a result of fragmented housing and transportation planning across the Wasatch Front.

"If we don't effectively put the tools in place to plan this right  we're basically saying we're not fiscal conservatives," Anderegg said.NORTH OGDEN  Death threats directed at a meeting of the North Ogden City Council Tuesday night were unfounded, police said Wednesday.

About 8:30 p.m., North Ogden police responded to a threat complaint at the city building during the meeting. An unknown man called dispatchers twice and threatened the meeting, "not naming anyone in particular," according to a statement from the police department

"The caller indicated that a firearm and explosives would be used. The caller made these two phone calls three minutes apart," police said.

Officers were on scene within one minute of receiving the calls.

"The first officer on scene checked the council chambers where the council, staff and attending citizens were conducting their meeting. This officer ensured there was not a disturbance in the council chambers and relayed information to the mayor and council about the situation," according to the release.

A YouTube livestream of the meeting shows the officer telling community members to "sit tight" while he asks the council to "step out." The officer then instructs the attendees to "leave your stuff" while they start to quickly exit the room.

Officers from North Ogden and surrounding cities arrived and secured the building and surrounding areas, police said. A explosive detection K-9 searched the area and found no threats.

"Citizens, staff and council members patiently waited while law enforcement officers and K-9 conducted a thorough search of the surrounding area, including lots, buildings and structures. Once it was deemed safe, the citizens were escorted to their vehicles and seen safely on their way. Council members and staff followed in the same fashion," police said.SOUTH SALT LAKE  During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, the people fighting for racial equality for all came from various racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Among those who stood on the front lines of social justice was Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, a white Freedom Rider from Arlington, Virginia, who chose to join the historic movement rather than stand idly by in the face of institutional inequity.

Mulholland is in Utah this week speaking to students of all ages about her experience in the movement walking alongside such icons as Martin Luther King Jr. and fellow Freedom Rider Hank Thomas, as well as the struggle for social justice that continues today.

Addressing students at Granite Park Junior High School in South Salt Lake, Mulholland said even though the nation has progressed in its efforts for equality, the fight has not been fully won.

"There is still work to be done," she said. "We've still got problems."

She said young people today are the "freedom fighters" of tomorrow. She told the students how her first experience with inequity began when she was 10 years old during a visit to her grandmother's house in Oconoee, Georgia.

On a dare, she and a friend walked into the "colored" part of town. It was there she observed abject poverty for the first time, seeing how black people lived in even more squalid conditions than the poorest white residents of the small rural hamlet.

The school was a one-room shack that paled in comparison to the gleaming modern brick school building that white children attended. From then on, she made a point to calling out unfair treatment and vowed to "do something about it."

At 19, her participation in lunch counter sit-in demonstrations marked the beginning of her lifelong involvement in the movement, she explained. She was arrested at age 20 in Jackson, Mississippi, as a member of the Freedom Riders in 1961.

She was kicked out of Duke University for her activism and eventually was involved in more than 50 sit-ins, the March on Washington and the Selma to Montgomery March. She became friends with Stokely Carmichael and Medgar Evers, as well as demonstrating with King and Thomas.

Today, she travels the country providing free resources to students about the importance of civil rights and standing up for their beliefs through the Joan Trumpauer Mulholland Foundation. She said the way to get young kids engaged is to get them interested in matters that affect people of their generation.

"Is somebody being bullied in school? Is there too much trash on the playground? Are kids being hassled on the streets for some reason?" she asked. "What are the problems they face and what can they do together about it?"

Mulholland said today's generation can learn from some of the strategies used during the movement, but they need to adjust their tactics to suit today's civil rights environment.

"Use (technology) to help solve the problems of today," she said. Once kids or someone they know gets to be the target of some form of injustice, she said, then they'll see the problem and work to fix it.

Eighth-grader Deeliya Rauer, 13, said hearing Mulholland's story was uplifting, but she knows there is still work to do to address the injustice that still persists.

"There are still many disrespects in the world and we have to continue to push through it and continue to help," she said. For now, she wants to identify social problems and do what she can to mitigate them.

"I'd like to be a part of the (solution) instead of just saying this is happening," Rauer said. "Everyone is a part of this community and we should just accept everyone."

A fellow Granite Park eighth-grade student, Anahy Sanchez, 14, said she appreciated hearing Mulholland's message of support for social justice and found her story inspiring.

"Equal rights are really important because I'm affected by them, and we're all still affected by them," she said. "If I can change something, I will try."

She said young people like herself have the opportunity to improve their community just like the Freedom Riders, they just have to seize the opportunity when it presents itself.

"We're so lucky, even if we don't think about it. We're so lucky that we get to grow up in a world where we are treated equally," Sanchez said. "We need to make sure that we take those opportunities and make something out of them because (we) have opportunities that a lot of people (before us) didn't."Did you know that Salt Lake Citys population has reached the lofty milestone of 200,000 residents? However, as a proportion of Salt Lake County, its population has never been smaller.

What region of the world are most Utah immigrants coming from? If you guessed Latin America (like I did), you would be wrong.

Did you know that Utah national park and monument visitation increased from 10 million in 2010 to over 18 million in 2018, while the number of national park jobs in Utah actually declined over the same period?

Did you ever want to be a Utah trivia champion?

If so, (or even if you just want to learn some interesting things about the state) you should get a copy of the new edition of Utah Informed: Visual Intellection for 2019. This 80-page book full of fascinating facts and figures about Utah is published annually by the University of Utahs Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.

The book offers visual snapshots of Utah, ranging from interesting trivia to substantive data. Sections and topics covered include current affairs, Utahs economy, economic development, public finance, energy and environment, health, real estate and construction, travel and tourism and Utah demographics.

Heres a sample:

Visitors from which foreign country spent the most in Utah in 2017? Canadians spent $190 million. Second was China, whose visitors spent $140 million. France ($42 million), Germany ($42 million) and the U.K. ($40 million) round out the top five.

Utah enjoys the nations most diverse economy, followed by Missouri, Arizona, Illinois and Pennsylvania.

Utah also topped the nation in employment growth in the life sciences industry from 2012 to 2017. Utahs 5 percent growth was followed by Georgia (4.4 percent), Colorado (3 percent) and Texas and Massachusetts (2.4 percent).

Apartments are king in Salt Lake City. A whopping 75 percent of residential building permits in Salt Lake City have been for apartments between 2000 and 2017. Only 11 percent were for single-family detached housing in the city. By contrast, in the balance of Salt Lake County, only 21 percent of building permits were for apartments, while 59 percent were for single-family homes. And in the rest of the state, apartment building permits were only 9 percent, while 69 percent were single family.

In 1980, the Utah Jazz took 185 3-point shots and made 59. In 2018, the Jazz attempted 2,425 3-point shots, and made 887.

Why are the governor and state legislators seeking to broaden Utahs sales tax base? In 1980, the sales tax base as a percentage of total personal income was 67 percent. In 2017 it was 42 percent. It is projected to be only 35 percent in 10 more years.

Among the 11 western states, Utahs overall tax burden, at 9.3 percent of personal income, is in the middle of the pack. California, Oregon, Nevada and New Mexico have higher tax burdens, while tax burdens in Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Montana and Washington are slightly lower.

Residential water bills vary wildly across the state, from $348 for 30,000 gallons in Park City to $26 in Hyrum. Eagle Mountain charges $44, while nearby American Fork charges $140, for the same amount of water.

By the way, most immigrants to Utah are coming from Asia, not Latin America, as I would have guessed. After 2010, some 44.5 percent of Utahs foreign-born population came from Asia, compared to 34.3 percent from Latin America. But thats a relatively new phenomenon. Between 2000 and 2010, 63 percent of immigrants came from Latin America, with only 20.2 percent from Asia.

And, while Salt Lake Citys population has reached 200,000, it is only 17.7 percent of the Salt Lake County population. Back in 1920, SLCs population was about 115,000, but that constituted a whopping 73 percent of the county population.

You can read the book here.SALT LAKE CITY  A target shooter who accidentally shot and killed a 14-year-old boy who was out for a Sunday drive with his family was ordered Wednesday to help teach others about gun safety.

Kayleen Richins, 40, was spared jail time when a 1st District judge sentenced her to appear in an educational video for a sportsmen's group and teach young hunters about the importance of knowing their backstop.

Richins didn't realize there was a road several hundred feet behind the target she was shooting at in November until the bullet struck and killed Zackary Kempke, court documents show.

"Knowing and being sure what is behind what you're shooting, that's the lesson," said Rich County Attorney Benjamin Willoughby. "It's a tragedy that's permanent and it was a harm that would have been preventable if she'd just followed the common practices of responsible gun owners, of not shooting unless you know where your bullet's going."

Prosecutors didn't seek any jail time for Richins, in part because her guilt and remorse have been apparent and she has expressed a desire to help, Willoughby said.

"You can just look at her, and she physically shakes when she speaks with you," he said.

Still, Zackary's mother has previously told investigators that she felt a year in jail would be appropriate. She and other family members did not attend the somber hearing Wednesday because they are still mourning and trying to heal.

In December, Richins admitted that she fired her rifle, shooting through the target and striking Zackary in the back seat of the family's car. The 14-year-old and his mother, father and sister had gone for a drive to take in fall colors in the remote corner of the Monte Cristo range between Woodruff and Huntsville, police said.

Richins pleaded guilty to a charge of negligent homicide, a class A misdemeanor.

The county in Utah's remote northeastern corner had another deadly rifle accident in 2014, when antelope hunter James Townsend was killed as he stood up in front of his brother's scoped gun.

But Zackary's death was unique. "You just have a little boy that was just out there seeing leaves that day," Willoughby said. "We have 2,000 people (in the county) and stuff like this shouldn't happen."

Judge Thomas Willmore barred Richins from carrying a gun while on two years of probation. In addition to the 300 hours of community service with a sportsman's group and 180 hours with youth hunters, she was ordered to pay a fine of $2,500.

Richins' attorney Carl Anderson did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.Ridley Township residents Jean and Dominic Liberatore, who celebrated 70 years of marriage on Jan. 29, have always enjoyed dancing. Here, the couple is pictured dancing at their granddaughter's recent wedding at Normandy Farm in Blue Bell.The Justice Department also accused Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, of betraying former colleagues in the U.S. intelligence community by feeding details about their personal and professional lives to Iran. (Photo: Representational Image/AP)

Washington: A former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran despite warnings from the FBI has been charged with revealing classified information to the Tehran government, including the code name and secret mission of a Pentagon program, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

The Justice Department also accused Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, of betraying former colleagues in the U.S. intelligence community by feeding details about their personal and professional lives to Iran. Four hackers linked to the Iranian government, charged in the same indictment, used that information to target the intelligence workers online, prosecutors said.

Witt had been on the FBI's radar at least a year before she defected after she attended an Iranian conference and appeared in anti-American videos. She was warned about her activities, but told agents that she would not provide sensitive information about her work if she returned to Iran, prosecutors say.

Witt actively sought opportunities to undermine the US and support the government of Iran,said a top national security official.The repercussions of an undiversified economy will show their ugly side into the budget in the medium to long term, a situation which will affect all and sundry, economic observers have pointed out. The 2019/2020 budget, presented by finance and economic development minister, Kenneth Matambo this week will - as it has been the case over the years -be funded in majority by revenue from minerals and Southern African Customs Union.

According to the budget speech, total revenue and grants are estimated at P60, 20 billion, a notable increase of P4 billion when compared to the 2018/9 budget which ends this March. Once more, mineral revenue dominates contribution, standing at P21, 09 billion which is 35, 62 percent of the total estimates. Customs and Excise revenue which mainly comes from SACU revenue pool is expected to add P14, 02 billion which is about 23 percent to the total budget. This means the two components contribute two thirds to the national budget.

A seemingly concerned First National Bank of Botswana Chief Economist, Moatlhodi Sebabole told Botswana Guardian on Wednesday afternoon that the current composition in revenue for Botswana leaves the country very exposed. This is made worse by the fact that SACU and mineral revenues depend on trading conditions which the country does not have control over. This means that the countrys budget is left helpless in the event that market conditions get worse.

Most minerals revenues are received from diamonds exports to major markets such as the United States, China and India. Botswana does not have any control on these markets. Sebabole, who was also part of the FNBB budget review session on Tuesday night said the current trade tensions between US and China who are among the biggest consumers of diamonds, do not bode well for the countrys revenue prospects. This situation once more calls for authorities to up the ante when it comes to economic diversification. For example, De Beers, which sells Botswanas diamonds to the international markets, experienced its slowest sales in three years last month (January 2019)  indicating possibilities of a turbulent economic climate ahead.

The provisional rough diamond sales for the first sight, also known as sales cycle, came to about $505 million (P5 billion) - a decline of 25 percent from 2018s first sale of $672 million and a 30 percent drop from 2017s corresponding period which netted $720 million. Traditionally, the first sight of the year has always been the largest of the year as traders and manufacturers return to the market after working down their inventories over the festive selling period.

This clearly has sent early red flag signals to the sector, which Botswana depends dearly upon for funding of expenditure. Responding to this newspaper, Barclays Bank Botswana economist, Naledi Madala said the economy will be in for a challenge this year due to slower diamond demand. We highlight that growth may falter in 2019 as global demand for diamonds is likely to be challenged by ongoing trade disputes (the US and China are the largest consumers of diamonds). A De Beers report also forecasts lower diamond production in 2019, stated Madala. Based on this expected poor show by diamonds, Barclays has downgraded the countrys economic growth to 3, 9 percent, a bit less than the ambitious growth of 4, 2 percent projected by Matambo earlier this week.

For Botswana, the budget cannot be without diamonds or mineral revenues. This has been the case since the early 1970s when diamonds were first mined. By depending on SACU revenues for budget funding, Botswana is stuck in a precarious situation. SACU which is made up of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland depends on trading conditions between the five countries and external markets. South Africa, the trading blocs biggest contributor is currently under economic pressure and this will also affect revenue going forward, unless something dramatic happens.

According to the World Bank, South Africas economy will grow by 1, 3 percent this year, a downgrade when compared to the ambitious 1, 7 percent forecast made by Finance minister Tito Mboweni in November 2018. Botswana Guardian has been made aware that South Africa, Africas second biggest economy by GDP, continues to push for the revision of the SACU revenue sharing formula, which will ultimately affect Botswana and other countries negatively.

It becomes even more worrisome, with South Africa intent on seeing a revision to the SACU revenue sharing formula, which could fundamentally result in declining government revenues, stressed Jonathan Paledi, a Portfolio Manager at Inkunzi Investments.

Nonetheless, contributing to the FNBB budget review on Tuesday, Botswana Unified Revenue Servicess Acting Commissioner General, Segolo Lekau stressed that eligible taxpayers should pay (domestic taxes) for the country to move forward. In addition, he said tax exemptions as determined by government are also another factor that can boost development. BURS, is the government agency which implements tax and related tax laws in the country.

Related to this, Matambo said there is need to mobilise domestic resources for development. To this end, efforts will continue to be made to expand our tax base through review of tax legislation and regulations, to enable the revenue authority to effectively discharge its mandate, said Matambo.

All commentators agree that government is under pressure to diversify revenue base in its bid to move way from mining and SACU revenues. Matambo also agrees that dominance by two components to national budget is not ideal. The countrys dependency on one commodity for exports, and two major sources of revenues, poses a systemic risk, hence, this Government pledges to continue with efforts to diversify the economy in general, and its exports and government revenues, in particular, stated Matambo in a prepared speech.

One of the strategic initiatives identified to promote economic diversification, according to Matambo is the Economic Diversification Drive (EDD), which was established in April 2010. The EDD is based on the approach of Government using its purchasing power to support local production of goods and services. To this end, P17.2 billion or 53 percent of the total cumulative amount of P32.5 billion worth of goods and services purchased by Government since the inception of the programme was from local manufacturers and service providers. In an effort to further enhance economic diversification, the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) policy was adopted in 2011.

The main objective of this Policy is to diversify the economic and export base of the country, added Matambo. Another initiative aimed at promoting economic diversification is the implementation of the cluster development initiative. The Initiative aims at improving business productivity, value chains and competitiveness.A young journalist who has has studied geology, worked as a tourist guide on the Alaska Railroad, comes from a family of teachers, and now wants to report on the challenges of rural education is the recipient of the 2019 Education Week Gregory M. Chronister Journalism Fellowship.

Victoria Petersen, a 24-year-old native of Anchorage, Alaska, who now writes for the Peninsula Clarion, a newspaper covering the Kenai Peninsula on the Gulf of Alaska, was chosen as the second winner of the fellowship named for Chronister, the longtime executive editor of Education Week, who retired in 2017 after nearly 32 years with the news organization. Chronister also held jobs such as managing editor, associate editor, and commentary editor.

The fellowship program, announced in 2017, is open to early-career, mid-career, and veteran journalists. The recipient is expected to continue his or her regular employment, but receives financial support of as much as $10,000 for a deeply reported investigative or enterprise package or series of stories spotlighting a pre-K-12 topic, according to Editorial Projects in Education Inc., the publisher of Education Week.

The first fellowship recipient, Alex Granados of the North Carolina outlet EducationNC, published his report on migrant education, Education, Unsettled , in Education Week last November.

I hope to report on issues like teacher retention in rural Alaska, said Petersen in an interview.

In her application, Petersen wrote that Alaska is home to the nations top three most-diverse schools, has one of the lowest graduation rates in the nation, has one of the nations highest rates of depression and suicide, and 75 percent of the state is off the road system. The state faces local problems, but also national issues that Alaskans have learned to deal with a little differently.

Scott Montgomery, the editor-in-chief and chief content officer of Education Week and of EPE, said, Victoria is the kind of journalist we created the Chronister Fellowship to support. Shes energetic, creative, and passionate about the importance of telling real stories about whats working and not working in education. Were excited to work with her in the year ahead.

Petersen had applied for the first year of the fellowship, and though she was not chosen last year, she wrote a freelance article for Education Week last June about how rural districts in Alaska and elsewhere were struggling to serve the needs of gifted students.

Petersen says that Alaska attracts many teachers from out of state to serve in its rural villages, but many leave early because of feelings of isolation, a lack of belonging, or dissatisfaction within their community.

She also intends to explore issues such as cultural education. Many Alaska villages highlight Alaska Native food, culture, and art in their programs. That can include courses such as dog mushing and ulu, or knife, carving in many rural districts. And some offer fresh wild Alaska salmon for student lunches.

Petersen brings a deep understanding of Alaska to her current job as a reporter for the Peninsula Clarion, where she covers city government, education, and general news. She began working for the newspaper last June, even before she finished her degree in journalism and public communications from the University of Alaska, Anchorage, in December.

After initially studying geology in college, Petersen switched to journalism and worked various positions with the Northern Light student newspaper and interned with Alaska Public Media, the states public television and public radio affiliate.

But Petersen has also worked in a job that exposed her to some of the states traditions and natural beauty. Her high school had a program that encouraged students to become tour guides for the Alaska Railroad, whose main line runs from Seward north to Anchorage and then to Fairbanks.

The railroad is super scenic, said Petersen. Its an historic railroad, and tourists come from all over to see glaciers and Mount Denali.

Petersen worked for the nearly 100-year-old railroad for six years. But it was her own love of writing and a family of teachers who sparked her interest in education journalism. (Two of Petersens grandparents and some of her cousins were or are teachers, and her father studied to be a teacher before being attracted to work in Alaskas North Slope oil fields.)

Petersen now will train her focus on helping the nation gain a greater understanding of the challenges and possibilities of teaching and learning in Alaskas vast rural landscape.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cautioned allies against using Huawei equipment this week during a trip to the region, saying it would make it more difficult for Washington to partner alongside them.

Chinese tech giant Huawei is ready to face any extra security measures required to remain in the race to develop next-generation 5G networks in central and eastern Europe, Andy Purdy, chief security officer at Huawei Technologies USA, said.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cautioned allies against using Huawei equipment this week during a trip to the region, saying it would make it more difficult for Washington to partner alongside them.

US Vice President Mike Pence joined Pompeo on Wednesday on a trip to Poland, whose government is considering excluding Huawei from its future 5G network over concerns raised by the United States that the Chinese firms technology could be used for spying, sources told Reuters in January.

The US government is very persistent, very determined and very forceful in communicating the messages about Huawei, Purdy told Reuters on Wednesday.

Huawei was ready to work with governments on any additional measures, such as testing the source codes for products, which could be applied to all suppliers, Purdy said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying hit back at Pompeos remarks on Wednesday, saying the United States was using its state power to suppress Chinese companies legitimate development rights and interests, according to a report by Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

Meanwhile in Germany, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has backed a proposal to reform the countrys telecommunications law to toughen security requirements on foreign network vendors, the RND group of newspapers reported on Tuesday.

Seehofers intervention increases the likelihood that Germany will tighten oversight over Huawei, sidestepping pressure from the United States to exclude it.

Government and industry leaders want clarity on the ground rules before Germany embarks on the build out of 5G mobile networks by auctioning spectrum in late March.

Purdy said Huawei would play the long game in Poland.

If the government decides to ban us from 5G we will continue to take a long view of the potential sales of our products in Poland over time ... we believe that some day in the future well be allowed to compete for that business if were not allowed to compete for it now, he added.

Poland arrested a Chinese employee of Huawei and a former Polish security official in January on spying allegations. Huawei said the next day that the employee had been fired.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told parliament the cyber attack involved the creation of false international payments totaling 13 million euros ($14.7 million) to banks in Britain, the United States, the Czech Republic and Hong Kong.

Bank of Valletta which accounts for almost half of Maltas banking transactions, had to shut down all of its operations on Wednesday after hackers broke into its systems and shifted funds overseas.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told parliament the cyber attack involved the creation of false international payments totaling 13 million euros ($14.7 million) to banks in Britain, the United States, the Czech Republic and Hong Kong.

The funds have been traced and the Bank of Valletta is seeking to have the fraudulent transactions reversed.

Muscat said the attack was detected soon after the start of business on Wednesday when discrepancies were noticed during the reconciliation of international transactions.

Shortly after, the bank was informed by state security services that it had received information from abroad that the company had been the target of a cyber attack.

To minimize risk and review its systems, the Bank of Valletta suspended operations, shuttering its branches on the Mediterranean island, closing ATMs and disabling its website.

Muscat said the fact such an important financial institute had gone off line had impacted the economy and caused problems abroad for credit card holders who needed to make payments, such as to hotels.

Alternative arrangements were being made with credit card companies to help those affected.

Muscat said the Bank of Valletta was also considering how to resume its operations gradually to make sure that such an attack could not be repeated. He told lawmakers that depositors funds had not been touched.

The money did not come from peoples (accounts) and the amounts have been traced, he said.

The bank earlier told customers that their accounts and funds were in no way impacted or compromised and that it was working to resume normal services.

The bank is also carrying out an internal review to establish where exactly the attack originated from and how it was instigated.

Maltese banks have in the past reported cyber attacks but this was the first time that a lender had to shut down all of its operations as a result.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.Imagine a different way of presenting a Budget to Indias Parliament. The finance minister arrives at the Parliament complex with both hands free, not carrying any briefcase. He walks into the Parliament hall where a multimedia setup awaits him. With the permission of the Speaker, he stands to present the Budget, pulls out a pen drive from his pocket, loads it on the system and begins to give a slideshow presentation rather than reading out a speech from a printed text.

He not only presents his governments plan for the next fiscal year but also places the plan in a larger context of the past, present and future. Further, he clearly shows how the next years plan fits into the medium-term action plan as well as the longer-term vision of his government. Whenever he announces any new programme, he also gives a peep into how the programme is likely to evolve over time and address the problem it is designed for. His presentation is rich in infographics, bubble charts, and animation using data analytics to bring out sectoral inter-linkages of new programmes and provide the future outlook. All this is done so simply that it is understood by all parliamentarians. His slideshow lasts for half a day, if not longer, with a couple of short bio-breaks.

The audience inside the hall listens to the presentation with rapt attention, absorbing the finer details, often taking notes without creating any disruption or ruckus. However, the Opposition members do raise their voice in unison to signal their approval or disapproval to any new reform or programme that is announced.

All this may sound like utopia and a complete break from convention. But this is something that we urgently need to adopt if we are to raise the bar in making Budget discussions more meaningful, transparent and sophisticated. The starting point for this is to change the way in which the Budget is presented. The practice now of Budget presentations is quite basic, lacks details to convey a fuller picture, and raises a lot of questions for the want of more information. Little wonder then that the current practice invites rudimentary responses from the Opposition members.

To illustrate how crude is the current practice of Budget presentation, here are a couple of examples from the recent Budget laid before the Lok Sabha on February 1. Providing direct income support to small and marginal farmers is one of the big announcements in the recent Budget. Given the problem of farm distress in India, the idea of direct income support to farmers has some merit and has been in discussion for some time now. So, no surprises here. The programme offers income support in the next fiscal year (FY 2019-20) of Rs 6,000 per farmer with a landholding of two hectares or less. The estimated funding liability of the government in the next fiscal year is Rs 75,000 crores and this will benefit around 12 crore small and marginal farmers.

Without getting into the pros and cons of this exercise, the Budget doesnt offer any sense of the alternatives considered  not necessarily alternatives to direct income support but alternatives to these cut-off limits. For example, it would have been good to know if the government had considered, say, the cut-off of three hectares landholding which would have benefited, say, 14 crore small farmers, but would have allowed income support of, say, only Rs 4,000 per farmer. But the government settled for the 2-hectare cut-off as the income of Rs 6,000 per farmer is the minimal support needed to make the scheme worthwhile for a poor farmer within the programme allocations of Rs 75,000 crores.

The Budget speech didnt convey any sense of the trade-offs and the alternatives considered. The Budget could have given some perspective on why those choices were made. In this hi-tech age, there are technological tools that could have been used to convey a much richer story.

Similar is the case with the other big welfare programme, that is, the mega pension scheme for unorganised sector workers with monthly incomes up to Rs 15,000. The scheme is to provide an assured monthly pension of Rs 3,000 from the age of 60 years on the monthly contribution of a small affordable amount during the working age of such workers The Budget speech doesnt contain any justification for these cut-offs and provides no sense of trade-offs. By providing information on the alternatives considered  at least on the next (second) best alternative  the quality of discussion gets raised to a higher level.

A little more information to give a perspective on the decisions and choices can enhance the sophistication of the Budget discussion that follows. After all, the Budgets intention is not to obfuscate issues or present a convoluted picture but to be transparent and informative to educate the audience. But this is not all.

The other issue is that we dont have standard indicators to capture the political dimensions of a Budget. Again, giving an example from the recent February 1 exercise, some degree of populism was anticipated in this pre-election Budget. However, there is no standard metric to capture the extent of populism contained to learn if a Budget is egregiously populist or if there is a healthy dose of populism. The extent of populism is of course situational. Still, it is possible to develop a few good indicators based on factors like wooing voters, countering perceived aggressiveness of the Opposition parties, optimising available public funding, striking a balance between equity, efficiency and growth, and so on. Perhaps its time that our political scientists develop missing indicators to better understand the political dimensions of a Budget.

In keeping with the changing times, we need to change the practice of presenting Budgets in Parliament. The current practice lacks sophistication and invites rudimentary responses from the Opposition. Providing a richer account of a plan for the next fiscal year using tech tools and developing missing political indicators can be the way forward. This shouldnt be difficult when Digital India is getting a big push in the country.The actions of both lieutenant-governor Kiran Bedi and chief minister Narayanasamy in Puducherry arent in keeping with their high offices. The Union territory CM, elected by the Assembly, was on dharna, sleeping outside the gates of Raj Nivas overnight, to highlight undemocratic governance there. He claims many decisions by his cabinet, including on welfare measures like PDS rice, werent being approved by Ms Bedi. On her part, Ms Bedi has been out on the streets like a traffic cop asking the police to enforce the helmet rule. The compulsory wearing of helmets by two-wheeler riders has become the latest point of conflagration.

Its clear that in delaying sanctioning of schemes or ratifying the Cabinets decisions, the lieutenant-governor may be acting under extraneous considerations. She may be right over the helmet rule being a measure that saves lives, but that doesnt mean she has to take a confrontational path with the elected government over its non-enforcement. The government, on its part, is acting as if it were cutting its nose to spite its face. The CM can run a campaign against Ms Bedis autocratic rule and discuss it in the Assembly, but the rules mandate that the lieutenant-governor has to ratify anything that elected representatives decide on revenue expenditure, welfare schemes, etc. She has the right to send back legislation to the Assembly. It would be best if the two top figures in the UT administration sort out issues between themselves and not stay locked in permanent combat.Hyderabad: Former Union Minister and Congress Rajya Sabha member Renuka Chowdary, who was disappointed with the attitude of the party leadership, made stinging remarks about party leaders.

On Thursday, she held a meeting with Khammam Congress workers at her Hyderabad residence. Ms Chowdary expressed interest in contesting from Khammam Lok Sabha seat, but said that she would support whoever was selected by the high command.

Speaking to the media, Ms Chowdary said that the Khammam party workers will not keep quiet if an outsider contests. She alleged that some leaders who were defeated in the recent Assembly elections wanted to contest from Khammam Lok Sabha seat. She added that she would be supportive if the high command wanted to give the Khammam ticket to Mr V. Hanumantha Rao.

To a question, Renuka Chowdary said I am not so senior a leader as to complain against Koppu-la Raju (Rahul Gandhis office incharge). He will face the music for his mistakes.

Ms Chowdary added that she was not consulted about the alliance with other parties in the recent Assembly elections, adding that because of the tie-up, the Congress faced a huge loss in Khammam district. She said that weak leaders had claimed that eight MLAs had won from the district, but the truth was that it was because of Congress workers.

She alleged that some leaders in the Congress were contesting after colluding with benami contractors. She said that Mr Kusuma Kumar was named as the TPCC working president because he belonged to her community (Kamma) but the problem was no one acknowledged him in the party. She commented that some leaders who newly got posts were feeling that they were great.Hyderabad: The increase in the number of Assembly seats in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh would likely be one of the key issues in this year's parliamentary elections.

During bifurcation, the Centre had proposed increasing Assembly seats in both states and

The relevant provisions for increasing the number of seats were inserted in the AP Reorganisation Act 2014. The Centre kept the matter pending citing legal hurdles. The Centre also made it clear that the Assembly seats will be enhanced only after the population Census in 2026.

A couple of days ago, the Parliament Standing Committee of Home Affairs, headed by former finance minister P Chidambaram, submitted its report to the Union of India recommending increase in the number of Assembly seats in both states.

The Committee also suggested a constitutional amendment to take up delimitation of the constituencies in both Telugu states.

As the general election is fast approaching, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, the Telugu Desam and the Congress are planning to make the delimitation of constituencies in both states an issue during the campaign.

AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and TS Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao are very keen on the issue and had made representations to the Centre, and even the Prime Minister, to permit it as promised during the bifurcation of the old state of AP.

Sources in TRS and Telugu Desam disclosed that their party chiefs are working out the strategy to take forward this issue during the elections. Sources in the YSR Congress revealed that their party is also looking into the issue and planning to put it on the election agenda.

The AP Reorganisation Act specifies that subject to the provisions contained in article 170 of the Constitution and without prejudice to section 15 of this Act, the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the successor States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana shall be increased from 175 and 119 to 225 and 153, respectively, and delimitation of the constituencies may be determined by the Election Commission. The Act also prescribed the procedure for the EC for delimitation of the constituencies in both states.

The Centre had sought the opinion of the law ministry on whether Section 26 (1) of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 could be implemented by amending Section 26, without any amendment to Article 170 of the Constitution to increase the seats. The Attorney General opined that unless and until Article 170 is amended to bring it in line with Section 26 of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, there can be no increase in the number of seats of the assemblies of the two states.Mayawati strong statement came after 14 Aligarh Muslim University students were booked for sedition on Tuesday night and the Madhya Pradesh government imposed the National Security Act on Muslims on charges of cow slaughter earlier in the month. (File Photo)

Lucknow: The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh and the Congress regime in Madhya Pradesh are examples of "state terror" and should be condemned, BSP chief Mayawati said on Thursday.

Her strong statement came after 14 Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students were booked for sedition on Tuesday night and the Madhya Pradesh government imposed the National Security Act (NSA) on Muslims on charges of cow slaughter earlier in the month.

"Congress government in MP like BJP slapped atrocious NSA against Muslims for cow slaughter. Now the Uttar Pradesh BJP government has booked 14 AMU students under notorious sedition charges. Both are examples of state terror and condemnable," Mayawati said in a statement issued here.

"People should decide what is the difference between the Congress and BJP governments," she added.

In Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, 14 students, including the AMU students union chief, were booked under sedition charges after some students and a TV channel crew got into an altercation over reports of a visit by AIMIM lawmaker Asaduddin Owaisi. The TV channel crew on Tuesday was reportedly roughed up and their camera was broken in the university premises while the campus security and UP Police refused to take action.

In Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, authorities slapped NSA and jailed on three Muslim men for allegedly killing a cow in Khandwa earlier this month.Tirupati: Once the villagers of Laddigam suspected that 20 deaths that occurred last year due to cancer, they approached government authorities to find out what was causing the disease. The government sent medical officers to the village to assess the situation.

Chittoor District Collector P.S. Pradyumna requested SVIMS to investigate if there is a Cancer Cluster in the village of Laddigam. Villagers say radiation emitted from a cell tower, which is situated in the heart of the village is the source of the problem. They have listed this in their complaint to the government revenue and medical authorities.

The villagers gave a complaint to the tahsildar stating that the series of deaths was due to cancer related diseases. They mentioned that they are being subjected to radiation emitting from the cell tower, which was built in the middle of a residential area in this hamlet. The exact reason is yet to be found and we believe that cancer was not prevalent here before. Anyhow, we are waiting for the report from SVIMS authorities and will act accordingly," said Mr Ramagiddaiah, District Medical and Health Officer.

Health experts who visited the village believe that air contamination is one of the reasons for cancer prevalence here, as the farmers use high-power pesticides, which are highly poisonous and contaminate the air.New Delhi: The Supreme Court has summarily dismissed two court masters-Manav Sharma and Tapan Kumar Chakraborty-for tampering with the January 7 order directing personal appearance of Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani.

The Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi passed this order on Wednesday evening exercising his disciplinary powers as the head of the institution.

It was stated that a bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman and Vineet Saran passed an order on January 7 directing the personal appearance of Anil Ambani in the court in the contempt petitions filed by Ericsson.

The order specifically stated that personal appearance is not dispensed with.

However when the order was uploaded in the Supreme Court website, the crucial word not was omitted and it stated, personal appearance is dispensed with.

Even in the summons issued to Ambani, it was stated personal appearance dispensed with.

This discrepancy was brought to the notice of the bench on January 10 by Dushyant Dave, senior counsel appearing for Ericsson.

The bench headed by Justice Nariman informed the counsel that the bench had specifically required the presence of Anil Ambani.

Thereafter, a revised copy of the order was uploaded.

The court then ordered a probe as to how the word not was omitted in the order which was initially uploaded and when it was served on Anil Ambani.

It revealed that there was a tampering in the order by the two officials, prompting the CJI to take disciplinary action and ordering their summary dismissal from service.

It may be recalled that the court on Wednesday had reserved verdict on the contempt petitions filed by Ericsson against Anil Ambani and two other Directors, who were present in the court both on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ambani, in terms of the revised order, remained present in the court on February 12 and on February 13 in connection with the contempt proceedings.

He spent over two hours in the court on Tuesday and almost the whole day on Wednesday when the judgment was reserved by Justice Narimans

bench.New Delhi: In the wake of the horrific terror attack in Pulwama in the Kashmir valley, India lashed out at Pakistan, saying that the heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries and further demanding that all members of the international community support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM Chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council. Significantly, China has been blocking Indias move at the UN so far to get Masood Azhar banned by the UN. Pressure is bound to mount on Beijing to reverse its stand.

Even as condemnations of the horrific terror attack poured in from foreign countries including the US, Russia, France as well as neighbouring countries such as Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, New Delhi demanded that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries.

In a statement, the MEA said, The Government of India condemns in the strongest possible terms the cowardly terrorist attack on our brave security forces in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir earlier today (14 February 2019). This heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries. This terror group is led by the international terrorist Masood Azhar, who has been given full freedom by Government of Pakistan to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity.

The MEA added, The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to take all necessary measures to safeguard national security. We are equally resolved to fight against the menace of terrorism. We demand that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries. We strongly reiterate our appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM Chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UNSC and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan. We express our sincere condolences to the family members of our fearless security personnel who have made the supreme sacrifice.

Meanwhile, the United States Embassy said, The U.S. Mission in India strongly condemns todays terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir. We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. The United States stands alongside India in confronting terror and defeating it.

In a statement, Russia said, The Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of India condemns in the strongest terms the horrific terrorist attack in Kashmirs Pulwama district, which claimed precious lives of the CRPF personnel and left numerous people injured. We denounce terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and reiterate the need to combat these inhuman acts with decisive and collective response. May we express condolences to the grieving families of the deceased and wish a speedy recovery to those injured.The latest Statistics Botswana report on agriculture has attributed the decline in the countrys cattle population to stock theft and straying.The Annual Agricultural Survey Report 2017 indicates that cattle losses increased significantly from 48, 571 in 2015 to 79, 799 in 2017.

This comes amid government plans of Cluster Development Initiative (CDI) that has identified beef industry as one of the three clusters government intends to develop to achieve economic diversification.Presenting the 2019/2020 national budget speech Minister Kenneth Matambo said preparatory work is underway to develop three clusters  tourism, beef and finance integrated with knowledge intensive business services, studies have already been commissioned on the sectors.

These detailed studies will include the assessment of capacity building needs for the identified sectors as part of measures to enhance their domestic and global competitiveness, said Matambo.On the other hand Lobatse has been identified under the Special Economic Zone for beef and leather production hub among the eight zones government intends to promote.However, as cattle population dropped from 1.4 million in 2015 to 1.1 million in 2017, the birth rate also decreased from 57.9 percent to 47.3 percent while mortality rate declined from 7.1 percent to 5.9 percent and off-take rate also declined from 6.6 percent to 5.5 percent.

Although authorities have attributed the drop to stock theft and straying, Gantsi North legislator Noah Salakae says the meat industry value chain has become weak due to export monopoly created by government through the archaic Botswana Meat Commission Act (BMC) of 1965.

Salakae said the monopoly disadvantages the local farmers through low prices that are below international benchmark.Low prices drain the national herd because Batswana sell more to meet their needs, said Salakae, dismissing government suggestions that liberalising the meat industry will further deplete the national herd.

He said most families have abandoned cattle rearing due to low prices.Meanwhile the goat population increased from 1.1 million in 2015 to 1.2 million in 2017, despite the birth rate of goats dropping from 43.6 percent to 39.1 percent and increase in mortality rate also from 16.7 percent to 23.3 percent while off-take rate improved from 7.1 to 7.3 percent. The sheep population also increased from 214, 234 to 234, 621 during the same period.Though the harvest projections are high, experts see that the production of South Indian pepper would be just around 30,000 tonnes and the uncontrolled flow of the commodity from Vietnam into the country continues under various trade treaties.

KALPETTA: This harvest season, it's a pall of gloom over pepper farms of Wayanad-Nilgiri-Coorg region where there are few buyers. The "black gold" is selling at an all-time low of Rs 300 a kg in the market as it has lost its sheen.

Though the harvest projections are high, experts see that the production of South Indian pepper would be just around 30,000 tonnes and the uncontrolled flow of the commodity from Vietnam into the country continues under various trade treaties.

Traders lament that they are unable to sell out even two tonnes as the market is flooded with low-cost Vietnam pepper through Sri Lanka.

The duty on spices imports from Sri Lanka is only 8 per cent while the same to Nepal is free under the South Asian Free Trade Area or Safta agreement.

Though the Union commerce ministry had fixed a minimum import price (MIP) of Rs 500, it failed as they took illegal route and several companies got relaxation for imports.

The price of pepper which was around Rs 670 per kg in December 2016, crashed to Rs 375 in December 2017 and further went down below Rs 350 since.

Anil Kottaram, a trader, said there was a jump in price after fixing the MIP, but some behind the curtain move reversed it in no time.

"Now the traders are not even able to sell around five tonnes as fake news on arriving containers from Vietnam made buyers wait expecting a price fall," he told DC.

Traders also are afraid of hawala racketeers involving in the pepper trade as the market is quite unpredictable. Many shiploads that land in Kolkata port addressed to Nepal are diverted to the north Indian market.

The consumption of the nation itself is around 60,000 tonnes, and if the illegal inflow were checked, farmers would have got a better price.

Kishore Shamji of Indian Pepper and Spice Traders, Growers and Planters Consortium, Kerala Chapter, said a major threat is the trade treaty with Sri Lanka.

"Pepper from Vietnam come directly to Indian port while only documents travel to Sri Lanka to be stamped," he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, farmers' organisations allege that soon after the Karnataka elections the NDA regime green signalled the import license for 78 pepper processing companies for value addition.

They can import up to 30,000 tonnes annually.He said that Sumas parents do not suspect their son-in-law and said that Suresh loves their daughter very much. (Representational Image)

Hyderabad: Suspecting her husbands fidelity, a 30-year-old woman administered poison to her twin children before she consumed it.

Her five-year-old daughter died while undergoing treatment while the mother and her son are undergoing treatment at two hospitals.

Suresh and Suma, 30, the natives of Chandabavi village in Tumkur district of Karnataka, came to the city about two years ago.

They were living at Laxmi Nagar in Miyapur in a rented house with their twins, Harshitha and Harsha, aged five years now. Suresh works in Aurobindo Pharma while Suma is a homemaker.

On Wednesday evening at about 6 pm, Suresh reached home from office and found his wife and children unconscious.

He called for an ambulance and shifted them to a nearby private hospital, where Harshitha died while undergoing treatment.

Miyapur sub-inspector Ram Reddy said, The couple developed differences after Suma suspected Sureshs fidelity. This led to arguments between them regularly. Yesterday (Wednesday) she consumed some unidentified poison after administering the same to her children.

Harsha is currently undergoing treatment at Ankur hospital and Suma is being treated at Srikara hospital. Their health is said to be stable now and police is waiting for Suma to recuperate to record her statement.

The babys body was handed over to the family after conducting autopsy at the Gandhi Hospital mortuary on Thursday, said the SI.

He said that Sumas parents do not suspect their son-in-law and said that Suresh loves their daughter very much.

A case has been registered against Suma under Section 302 of IPC and further investigation is underway, said SI Reddy.There are 10 accredited centres and five of them have to yet complete their process.

Hyderabad: The number of patients who have enrolled in clinical trials in the country has increased steadily over the last four years, from 859 in 2015, to 3,869 in 2018 (till November). This has been attributed to better regulation such as the formation of ethics committees in hospitals and the accreditation process that has been made mandatory.

In Telangana state, 432 patients have enrolled in clinical trials in various institutions this year. There are 10 accredited centres and five of them have to yet complete their process.

Accreditation from NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers) has been made mandatory for clinical trials from 2018. This has been the turnaround for clinical trials as an ethics committee is now mandatory in hospitals carrying out the trials and the cases are evaluated from time to time.

Dr Sumeet Roy, senior scientist with a life science company explained, The accreditation process has made it very stringent as there is now documentation and also evaluation. This has helped to bring in the confidence which was the major lacunae noted earlier.

Most of the clinical trials are being carried out to test new molecules for the treatment of cancer, particularly breast and lung cancer. New drugs for treatment of hypertension and diabetes are also on trial along with a five to 10 year assessment study carried out for old drugs that have been in the market for some time.

Dr N. Jayalatha, director of MNJ Cancer Hospital, says that new molecules in the treatment of breast and lung cancer are showing encouraging results. There are quite a few of them which are now at the stage of human trials and we are working on them. The trials for the new molecules are mostly on end-stage patients. In some cases we see encouraging results and in some we have not found the results satisfactory.

Consent had been a major issue with clinical trials and patients have complained that they were not aware of what drug was being administered or what trials carried out.

Dr Syed Imamuddin, senior professor and cardiologist at Osmania Medical College, says, The issue of consent has made us now take it in four languages. We take the consent in English, Telugu, Urdu and Hindi. In some cases, if the mother tongue is any other Indian language the consent is taken in that. The forms are submitted to them to read and understand, evaluate, and then opt for agreement. These safeguards are a must for clinical trials now.

Clinical trials of diabetes and hypertension drugs are carried out on those patients who were not responding to medicines they were being given.

Dr R.B. Raju, senior cardiologist, explained, We have to try all the existing medicines and then only opt for a trial. In the case of hypertension and diabetes we cannot take those patients who have complications of the organs. This is because they are already using an extra drug for the complication which cannot be discontinued. Hence, the selection of patients is based on a lot of parameters and guidelines.

In the case of cancer patients, it is mostly stage 4 patients who are taken into the trials. Dr Vijay Anand Reddy, senior oncologist, says, The medicines that work for stage 4 patients give us accurate data of how the drugs will work in the body. The effective drugs for stage 4 are then scaled up to stage 1 and stage 2 cancer patients. The norms are very clear and patients who know that they have no other option are often found to be more than willing (to participate in the trial). The experience with each patient has been different and it is not possible to generalise the profile. But one thing noted is that there is willingness to try new drugs and see if it works, mostly in end stage patients.The GHMC along with NGOs, hotels, restaurants and others distributed about 75,000 meals at several distribution centres including railway stations, bus stations, all major government and private hospitals, slums and labour addas.

Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation distributed 75,000 meals across the city as a part of the Feed the Need initiative which kick-started on Valentines day. The food ranged from biscuits, pancakes, bread butter to sambar rice, haleem, lemon rice, bisibelebath, veg and chicken biryani.

The GHMC along with NGOs, hotels, restaurants and others distributed about 75,000 meals at several distribution centres including railway stations, bus stations, all major government and private hospitals, slums and labour addas. The corporation also set up eight centres in each circle to distribute the food items. The food packets were distributed among a range of people from beggars to hungry people waiting for food at public places.

Hotels and restaurants including Paradise, Shah Ghouse, Green Bawarchi, Pista House, Daspalla, Mehfil and Swagath Grand distributed veg and chicken biryanis. Pista House hoteliers also distributed haleem. NGOs including Apple home, Robinhood army and Deeksha Foundation distributed over 20,000 meals on Thursday. GHMC commissioner M. Dana Kishore said that the corporation would ensure that everyone in the city in need of food would be fed on important days including Independence Day, Republic Day, Gandhi Jayanti, Mothers Day and all other religious festivals. He said apart from hoteliers and NGOs, GHMC has also distributed 5,000 food packs to the needy.

Dasari Harichandana, zonal commissioner of Serilingampally, said the corporation would further enhance the distribution so that it would reach the needy.

She said that the corporation was planning to launch a mobile application to provide a common platform to donors and the needy. She said that the mechanism would also ensure that the leftover food was distributed.The scene of the incident is not very far from the Commando Training Centre at Lethpora, which was stormed by JeM terrorists on December 31, 2017, killing five CRPF personnel. (Representational Image)

SRINAGAR: In the deadliest terror attack in restive Jammu and Kashmir ever, at least 44 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and more than a dozen others injured on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist rammed an explosives-laden SUV into their bus in Pulwama district.

The scene of the incident is not very far from the Commando Training Centre at Lethpora, which was stormed by JeM terrorists on December 31, 2017, killing five CRPF personnel.

JeM spokesperson Muhammad Hassan, in a statement issued to a local news agency, said that dozens of forces vehicles were destroyed in the attack.

Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik pointed the needle of suspicion towards Pakistan. Visibly it seems to be guided from across the border as JeM has claimed responsibility, he said.

The National Investigation Agency will probe the attack along with the Jammu and Kashmir police, officials said.

This is the first suicide car bomb strike in Kashmir since the 2001 attack on the J&K Assembly that left 38 people dead.

As soon as the explosion took place, people started running for safety. The shopkeepers at Lethpora market, which is less than 300 metres from the scene of the attack, downed their shutters and fled. The injured were rushed to the Armys 92-Base hospital in Srinagars Badami Bagh Cantonment. Army sources said that the death toll could rise further as the condition of some of the injured CRPF personnel was critical.

Condemning the attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, The attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain.Erode: Assailing the DMK-Congress alliance for the coming Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu as a pact forged for indulging in corruption, the BJP national president Mr Amit Shah said on Thursday that the BJP-led NDA would soon form a strong alliance in the state.

Speaking while interacting with weavers and power-loom workers at Texvalley textile park at Gangapuram near Erode on Thursday, Shah said, our alliance will contest all the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The DMK-Congress alliance on the contrary is anti-development, alleged Shah.

Asserting that he was under no obligation to respond to the DMK president M K Stalins poser on what the BJP government had done for Tamil Nadu in the last five years, Mr. Shah turned the table saying he would rather respond to the people of Tamil Nadu on the various development and welfare schemes initiated by the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre.

In the 14th Finance commissions devolution we (BJP) has devolved 5.20 times more funds to Tamil Nadu than what the previous Congress-led UPA government had devolved to the state under the 13th Finance commissions recommendations, Amit Shah thundered and asked Stalin to explain the multiple scams under the previous UPA regime in which DMK was part.

Shah also assured the textile and weaving community to incorporate all their requirements and concerns in the Lok Sabha election manifesto the BJP was preparing after consultations with the people in each State.New Delhi: The Kerala government has maintained in the Supreme Court that from 1950 till 2007 there was no bar under the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act for a woman of 35 years to become a member of the Travancore Devaswom Board.

Therefore it is inconceivable to argue that women below 50 years cannot enter the temple, senior counsel for Kerala, Vijay Hansaria said in his written submission to the Supreme Court on Thursday.

He said the 1950 Act nowhere debars women being a member of the Board and it prescribed minimum age of 35 as the qualification till 2007. Thus, under the Act, as enacted initially, women of 35 years could be a member, and this position continued from 1950 till 2007 amendment increasing the age to 60.

He submitted that when under the statute, the members of the Board, who regulate the entire activity of the temple could be a woman of 35 years of age; it is inconceivable to argue that women of that age group cannot enter the temple.

He said the devotees of Sabarimala temple do not constitute religious denomination within the meaning of Article 26 of the Constitution, and the exclusionary practice is not an essential religious practice.

Further, the protection under Article 26 to manage religious affairs is available only to every religious denomination or section thereof and not to devotees of a particular temple or deity. In the present case, Sabarimala is a temple of Lord Ayyappa, and the devotees are Ayyappans; however, it is an admitted position that there are over 1000 other Ayyappa temples in the country in which all worship the deity without any exception to women of any particular age group. He pointed out that the review petitioners claimed right under Article 26 of the Constitution, not by religious denomination and not even as followers of a particular deity but based on so-called practice in a particular one temple at Sabarimala out of more than 1000 temples of Lord Ayyappa. This court has consistently held that it is only religious denomination which must fulfil the following three criteria are entitled to be recognised as religious denomination and claim right under Article 26 of the Constitution, viz a common faith; a common organisation and designation of a distinctive name.

In the present case none of the three ingredients can be claimed by the devotees of Sabarimala Temple, and as such right under Article 26 cannot be claimed to justify the exclusionary practice in the said temple. It is an admitted position that the restriction on entry of women was only during Mandalam, Makaravilakku and Vishnu days; and on other days when the temple is open, women worshippers of all age group are allowed. The admitted position clearly negates the contention that Lord Ayyappa who is a Naishtika Brahmacharya does not want to see a female between 10 to 50 years of age as it may affect the celibacy and austerity observed by the deity.

Further, the contention that Lord Ayyappa being Naishtika Brahmacharya and their presence would deviate the deity from the celibacy is against the basic human dignity of a woman.

The mere presence of a woman of a particular age group cannot be assumed that the celibacy of the deity would be affected and the said argument derogates the dignity of a woman and recognises even a child of ten years can be a source of deviation from celibacy of the deity. The counsel said that attaching impurity to a woman during the menstrual period is an abrasion to entire humanity and abhorrent to civilised society as menstruation is a natural process and is essential for procreation.

Since women without menstruation there can be no human beings; hence, the argument for exclusion of women during menstruation period on the ground of impurity is the worst kind of exclusionary practice and is an anathema to humanity itself apart from being stigmatic and oppressive.Bengaluru: MBDA, Europes high-ranking developer and manufacturer of missiles, will showcase a full range of missiles and missile systems, including METEOR, a beyond visual range (BVR) air-to-air missile, widely recognized as a changer for air combat, and which would be fitted on the Indian Air Force (IAF)s Rafale combat jets, at Aero India 2019, commencing on February 20.

In addition, MBDA will also display MICA, nicknamed silent killer being delivered for Rafale and upgraded Mirage 2000, and the only missile in the world featuring two interoperable seekers (active radar and imaging infrared) to cover the spectrum from close-in dogfight to long beyond visual range. ASRAAM (Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile), set to arm the upgraded Jaguar fleet and other military jets of the IAF, will also be on display. With its large rocket motor, and clean aerodynamic design. ASRAAM has unrivalled speed and resultant aerodynamic manoeuvrability and range. ASRAAM gives it a high kinematic capability that delivers superior end-game performance for within visual range air combat. ASRAAM will arm the IAFs upgraded Jaguar fleet, and potentially other IAF platforms.

MISTRAL ATAM (air-to-air missile), delivered to equip HALs weaponised version of the Advanced Light Helicopter, the ALH Rudra, and integrated on the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), SMARTGLIDER, another long-range strike weapon optimized to counter anti-access strategies and emerging battlespace threats, will also be put on show at Aero India 2019.

And next weeks air show will be the first event where L&T MBDA Missile Systems Ltd will display its products, according a spokesperson of MBDA.

Meanwhile, BEML Ltd announced it would unveil its capability to support the growth of Indias aviation, defence and aerospace sectors, particularly through Make-in-India initiative. BEML would showcase its competence in manufacture of airborne structures, ground support and ground handling systems. It would also display missile aggregates for Akash and Quick Response Surface-to-Air-Missile (QRSAM) along with ISRO Motor, bomb pallets and aviation hoses, which are critical components for the aviation sector.The mangled remains of the bus the CRPF jawans were travelling in when their convoy was attacked in Goripora area of Awantipora town in Pulwama district on Thursday. (PTI)

SRINAGAR: In the deadliest terror attack in restive Jammu and Kashmir ever, at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and more than a dozen others injured on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist rammed an explosives-laden SUV into their bus in Pulwama district.

The police and witnesses said that a lone suicide attacker detonated a Mahindra Scorpio laden with around 350 kgs of explosive near a bus at around 3.15 pm as a convoy of 78 CRPF vehicles was travelling down the heavily guarded stretch of the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Lethapora in southern Pulwama district, about 30 kilometres from Srinagar.

Witnesses said that the CRPF bus was blasted open and reduced to ribbons of charred metal, with body parts of the victims were strewn on the highway.

Several other vehicles in the convoy as well as nearby shops and buildings also suffered damage due to the massive blast.

The CRPF bus which was directly attacked was carrying 39-44 personnel, reports said.

The vehicles body bore bullet marks, indicating that more terrorists may have been hiding and may have fired at the convoy, officials said.

There were about 2,500 CRPF personnel on board the 78 vehicles in the convoy that was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar.

It was an unusually long convoy as many personnel were being transported at one go because the Srinagar-Jammu highway had been shut for the last two days due to bad weather. The convoy had left Jammu around 3.30 am and was expected to reach Srinagar before sunset.

The JeM claimed responsibility for the powerful explosion that could be heard about 10-12 km away, including some parts of Srinagar adjoining the Pulwama district.

The terror outfit also put out a video and photos of an armed man, Adil Ahmad Dar alias Waqas commando from Kakapora, and claimed that he was the suicide attacker. He had joined the group in 2018. Body parts of Adil, who was driving the explosive-laden vehicle, were also found at the spot.

Meanwhile, India slammed Pakistan for the attack and asked the neighbouring country to stop supporting terrorists and dismantle terror infrastructure operating from its soil.After the meeting, which took place hours after opposition leaders shared a dias at an AAP protest on the day of the last sitting of the present Lok Sabha, Gandhi told reporters that opposition leaders agreed to have a common minimum programme. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: Moving forward on a united anti-BJP front for the Lok Sabha elections, top opposition leaders on Wednesday agreed to work together to prepare a common minimum programme to oust the Modi government and to consider forging a pre-poll alliance.

The meeting hosted by NCP president Sharad Pawar also saw Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and AAP's Arvind Kejriwal coming together for the first time, while West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu vowed to work together due to "democratic compulsions to save India".

After the meeting, which took place hours after opposition leaders shared a dias at an AAP protest on the day of the last sitting of the present Lok Sabha, Gandhi told reporters that opposition leaders agreed to have a common minimum programme.

Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, NC chief Farooq Abdullah, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal at NCP chief Sharad Pawar's residence. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

"We will work together to defeat the BJP," he said.

Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal termed the talks constructive and said the opposition will work together. The meeting indicates that the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, who have been bitter rivals since the regional party came to power in Delhi in 2015, may forge a tie-up.

Trinamool Congress president Banerjee called the meeting "fruitful" and asserted that "we will do pre-poll alliance if needed".

Opposition leaders will keep meeting in the coming days for better coordination, she said.

Earlier in the day, she had said, "Any fight with the Congress will remain in the state. At the national level, we will fight together, this I am saying from the heart... For the greater interest of the country, I am ready to sacrifice my life, my party. I am ready to sacrifice everything." Telugu Desam Party head Naidu said there was a democratic compulsion to save India while Farooq Abdullah of the National Conferences termed the meeting "good".There are 10 Cabinet Ministers in the southern part of the country, but who amongst them would dare to challenge the vice president, Slumber Tsogwane for the position of BDP chairmanship? Below Botswana Guardian hazards an opinion

Vincent Seretse: Minister of Infrastructure and Housing Development and MP for Lentsweletau - Mmopane.

Although bruised by the manner in which he lost the primary elections to Wilhelmina Makwinja, Seretse has not approached the court to seek redress. It is said he was approached to be chairman under the Pelonomi Venson- Moitoi led team which is challenging President Mokgweetsi Masisi for the presidency. Seretse would not confirm or deny. I heard people are talking about it. But the fact is I will never stop people from thinking what they are thinking about, and what they want to say. For now, I have not made any decision. One only makes a decision when you feel comfortable that indeed the people are gravitating to the point of you being comfortable that you are indeed needed then as cadre, then I will consider my position.

I am listening very attentively to all what I hear as well, when I feel the movement has come people want me to serve them in any capacity and are ready to send me, then I will be ready to answer the call because I am a cadre in good standing and ready to serve the party, said Seretse. Kitso Mokaila - Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism. A retired captain of Botswana Defence Force and an engineer- he is a good instruction taker and follows to the letter as well as being loyal to the leader of the day. He has gone on record as saying he supports Masisi. But the man is intrinsically unpredictable.

Eric Molale  The specially-elected MP and Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security through specially elected ticket lost the by-elections for Goodhope - Mabule constituency to Kgosi Lotlaamoreng II. He remains hopeful that he will rescue the constituency from the hands of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC). Inside party sources say, he will not like to rock the boat by entertaining and, or aligning himself with a group that opposes Masisi. Dr Unity Dow - Minister of International affairs and Cooperation is a woman of substance renowned for speaking her mind freely. She has expressed support for Masisi through many forums including social media. Dow has openly criticised BDP presidential aspirant, Dr Pelonomi Venson Moitoi including wondering how Moitoi can expect support from women, when she has never supported women herself.

Patrick Ralotsia- A great farmer, Member of Parliament for Kanye North and Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security was appointed by former president Ian Khama following the resignation of Christian De Graaf due to ill health. Ralotsia is one of the stable ministers and was re-appointed into cabinet by Masisi subsequent to taking over in April 1, 2018. He is seen as a level-headed and loyal servant of the system of the day and a staunch Masisi supporter who will not do anything to ruin the relationship.

Dr. Alfred Madigele Minister of Health and Wellness and MP for Mmathethe - Molapowabojang  although he lost the party primary elections, is a loyal intelligent man of integrity and a good listener. He is service oriented and always wants to operate within the context of the law in order to assist the public. His return to the ministry of health after a short stint at education is a vote of confidence by Masisi that he is able to deliver.

Ngaka Ngaka- The MP for Letlhakeng- Takatokwane and Minister of Nationality Immigration and Gender Affairs. Although he comes from south those close to him say he is not ambitious to lead the party as chairman but is comfortable as both minister and legislator as the workload is demanding. Tshenolo Mabeo - Despite having been in cabinet for some time and an actor of repute, those close to him say he is a relatively quiet and honest person who enjoys doing his assignment to the end.

They rule out the possibility of him entertaining ideas of becoming chairman as he is not charismatic. He is the legislator and Minister for Employment Labour Productivity and skills development Frans Van Der Westhuizen - The gentleman of cabinet. He has always been a junior minister but had a great Christmas present from President Masisi who elevated him to lead the Ministry of Local Government after dropping Pelonomi Venson- Moitoi.

Itumeleng Moipisi  MP for Kgalagadi North and assistant minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services lost the primary election to Talitha Monnakgotla. Although this might be a motivating factor for him to accept the offer from the Moitoi team, inside sources say he is relatively new in politics and would like to show his loyalty since Masisi has shown his confidence in him by keeping him in his cabinet.At least 18 soldiers were killed in an terror attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in J&Ks Pulwama.(Photo: @Irfansm_1 | Twitter)

Srinagar/New Delhi: Politicians across parties expressed their shock at the terror attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in J&Ks Pulwama on Thursday in which at least 30 soldiers were killed.

Terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Decrying the attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. Sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly.

Congress minister Navjot Singh Sidhu condemned the cowardly act and expressed 'dialogue' as the way out.

Navjot Singh Sidhu: It is condemnable, it's a cowardly act. It needs a permanent solution through dialogue, how long will the Jawans sacrifice their lives? How long will the bloodshed continue? People who do this must be punished. Hurling abuses won't help. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/R927il2bx1  ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2019 (Courtesy: ANI)

The massacre at #Pulwama is a heineous act of mindless cowardice.



Deeply disturbed and pained at the loss of lives of our 39 brave #CRPF soldiers.



The government should act immediately and take steps to end the menace of terrorism from our soil forever.  H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) February 14, 2019

I spoke to martyred #CRPF soldier H Guru's family over the phone and consoled them. Their grief is heartwrenching. We are with them.

I have instructed officials to speed up the process of compensation.#Pulwama  H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) February 15, 2019

Jammu and Kashmir politicians Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah were among the first to condemn the attack.

Disturbing news coming in from #awantipura . Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several have been injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?  Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 14, 2019

Terrible news coming from the valley. A number of CRPF soldiers are reported to have been killed & injured in an IED blast. I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved. #Kashmir  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 14, 2019

Governor Satyapal Malik said, Forces responsible for the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir are desperate and frustrated and just want to prove presence. Visibly it seems to be guided from across border as Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility.

As a soldier and a citizen of India, my blood boils at the spineless and cowardly attacks. 18 brave hearts from the @crpfindia laid down their lives in #Pulwama. I salute their selfless sacrifice & promise that every drop of our soldiers blood will be avenged. #JaiHind  Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) February 14, 2019

Condemning the attack, Arun Jaitley said, Attack on CRPF in Pulwama, J&K is cowardice and condemnable act of terrorists. Nation salutes martyrs and we stand united with families of martyrs. We pray for speedy recovery of the injured. Terrorists will be given unforgettable lesson for their heinous act.

Hon'ble CM Sri KCR condemned the attack on CRPF Jawans in Kashmir. CM has stated that he is extremely moved on the grave loss of lives in the ghastly incident. CM conveyed deep condolences to the bereaved families of the martyrs and wished speedy recovery of the injured.  Telangana CMO (@TelanganaCMO) February 15, 2019

We strongly condemn this cowardly attack, we extend condolences to the kin of the jawans who were martyred. This is the 18th big terror attack in the last 5 years under this Modi government, Randeep Surjewala said.

Im deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a #CRPF convoy in J&K in which many of our brave CRPF men have been martyred and a large number wounded, some critically. My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 14, 2019

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her condolences to the families of the CRPF soliders who were killed.

Saddened that 13 CRPF jawans became martyrs today in Pulwama. We salute our brave jawans and extend our solidarity and condolences to their families. Our prayers for those injured. We wish them a speedy recovery  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 14, 2019

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the country must stand united in this moment of grief.

Extremely shocking news coming from Pulwama (J&K). I strongly condemn the terror attack on CRPF convoy in which many casualties are feared. India must stand united in this moment of grief  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 14, 2019

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his Rajasthan counterpart Ashok Gehlot also expressed their sadness.

Deeply saddened by the martyrdom of so many @crpfindia #jawans in terrorist attack in #Pulwama district of #JammuAndKashmir. Strongly condemn the cowardly act and condolences to the bereaved families.  Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) February 14, 2019

Reports suggest that the terrorists triggered the blast while the CRPF personnel were plying through the Srinagar-Jammu highway.At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama district when a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into their bus.

New Delhi: Experts of the anti-terror commando force National Security Guard (NSG) and investigators of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) are being sent to Jammu and Kashmir to join the probe into the terror attack in Pulwama in which at least 40 CRPF personnel were killed, officials said Thursday.

The decision was taken in view of the high number of casualties in the worst terror strike in the state since the Uri attack in 2016. An NIA team with forensic experts is being sent to Srinagar to assist Jammu and Kashmir Police in forensic evaluation of the scene of crime, a home ministry official said.

Explosive specialists of the Black Cat commando force NSG will also join in the investigation into the attack, another official said.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama district when a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into their bus.Nirbhaya was raped on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a running bus in national capital by six people. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: The parents of Nirbhaya, the 23-year-old paramedic student who was gangraped and murdered in December 2012 has requested Patiala High Court to fast-track the procedure to hang all four convicts.

Nirbhaya was raped on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a running bus in national capital by six people. She succumbed to injuries on December 29 in Singapore.

In July 2018, the Supreme Court confirmed that the four men responsible will be hanged.Nara Jayashree Devi, who produced nearly 20 films that include the hit film Manjunatha passed away on Wednesday. She lived near Bangalore, made many Kannada films apart from few Telugu films. Her last film was Adi Shankaracharya, which was directed by popular writer Bharavi.

Her surname is Nara, but shes not related to the AP Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, though she shares a close rapport with the family.

Whenever Nandamuri Balakrishna visited Hindupur, he would meet Nara Jayashree at her farm for lunch or dinner, says a source from the film industry. Jayashrees daughter lives in Hyderabad.From Friday, Kochi-Muziris Biennale will host a segment on movies, which will be a salute to the women in cinema. Fourteen films of those who have excelled in various roles from direction to acting to script-writing to editing to cinematography will be screened. Noted film editor Bina Paul is curating the segment, Artists Cinema, which will conclude on February 19, at the contemporary art festival.

The series will be screened at the Pavilion in Fort Kochis Cabral Yard that is a key venue of the 108-day biennale. The package has its focus on the artistic contributions of artists who formed the Women in Cinemas Collective (WCC) in November 2017 for the welfare of female artists in the Malayalam industry.

It is important and crucial to reassert the work that women have done in Malayalam cinema over the last few years. In a strongly male bastion, women have worked in many capacities, often unknown and unsung, says Bina, an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute, Pune.

Titled Women in Cinema Collective Package, the films seek to relook at the notion of the womens film. All shows start from 6.30 pm. On the opening day, two movies will be screened. The inaugural film, Counterfeit Kunkoo, is an independent short film written and directed by award-winning Reema Sengupta. It will be followed by Jubith Namradaths Aabhasam. Later, there will be a discussion with film personalities such as Kani Kusurti, Rima Kallingal, Rehana, Divya, and other cast and crew.

Three movies will be screened the next evening (Feb 16): Happy Journey by Anjali Menon, Makal directed by Revathy and Vidhu Vincents Manhole that depicts the life and struggles of a manual scavenger's daughter. The film screening will be followed by a discussion with Deedi Damodaran and Vidhu.

The February 17 films are Nilam directed by Vineeth Vasudevan, Maya by Anirudha Roy Choudhary, Chembai, My Discovery of a Legend by Soumya Sadanandan and 7.6 Ritcher by Jeeva. A discussion with Sajitha Madathil, Soumya Sadanandan, and Jeeva will follow.

The next days movies are Ore Udal by Asha Joseph and Liars Dice by Geethu Mohandas. A discussion with Asha Joseph and Geethu Mohandas will follow.

On February 19, Sreebala Menons 2009 short film Panthibhojanam will be screened , followed by Davidji Code by Fowzia Fathima and the national award-winning Sword of Liberty by Shiny Benjamin.

Delhi-born and Thiruvananthapuram-based Bina has been curating films for the biennale since its 2014 edition. As for Indian cinema, some women have managed to leave a mark earning accolades and awards, but this history has seldom been recorded or recognised.

The films chosen in the package are by women who work as professionals, shoulder to shoulder, with male colleagues, the 58-year-old curator noted. The female narrative emerges out of gender consciousness and sensitivity.

There are many women who together form this collective. The work chosen is merely representative, Bina said. Many more continue to create and contribute.

The Kochi Biennale Foundation, which is organising the Artists Cinema, notes that women-oriented films are a strong means of expressing the contemporary issues in society and also highlighting the role of women in cinema and arts.With the successful Bharat-22 ETF offering, the government has mopped up approximately Rs 46,000 crore by way of disinvestment.

New Delhi: The government has raised Rs 10,000 crore by additional offering of Bharat-22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF).

The additional on-tap offering of Bharat-22 ETF was opened for a single day with a base issue size of Rs 3,500 crore and an option to retain over-subscription.

The Bharat-22 ETF issue received overwhelming response from all categories of investors including retail investors. The Government has decided to retain approximately Rs 10,000 crore as its divestment proceeds, the finance ministry said.

The proceeds from the ETF sale would help the government move towards meeting the Rs 80,000 crore disinvestment target set for the current fiscal.

With the successful Bharat-22 ETF offering, the government has mopped up approximately Rs 46,000 crore by way of disinvestment.

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 governments 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.

This would be the second ETF offering by the government in the current fiscal which ends in March. In November last year, the government had raised Rs 17,300 crore through a follow-on offer of another exchange traded fund -- CPSE ETF, which comprises shares of 11 public sector enterprises. This was the biggest-ever fund raising from an ETF domestically.Airbus said on Thursday the last A380 would be delivered in 2021.

Paris: Europes Airbus is scrapping production of the A380 superjumbo, with lacklustre sales forcing it to abandon a dream of dominating the skies with a 21st century cruiseliner.

The worlds largest airliner, with two decks of spacious cabins and room for 544 people in standard layout, was designed to challenge Boeings legendary 747 but failed to take hold as airlines backed a new generation of smaller, more nimble jets.

Confirming a shake-up first reported by Reuters, Airbus said on Thursday the last A380 would be delivered in 2021.

The move comes after Emiratesthe largest A380 customerwas forced to reduce its orders for the iconic superjumbo after an engine dispute and a broader fleet review, opting to order a total of 70 of the smaller A350 and A330neo instead.

Without the anticipated level of demand from the Gulf heavyweight, Airbus said its assembly lines would dry up.

This was a joint decision. We cannot run after illusions and we have to take the only sensible decision and stop this programme, Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders said.

Airbus said it would enter talks with unions in coming weeks over the 3,000-3,500 jobs potentially affected. Enders later said the company could not guarantee all would keep their jobs.

Airbus will produce 17 more of the planes including 14 for Emirates and 3 for Japanese airline ANA.

As part of the restructuring, Emirates placed a new order for 40 A330-900neo jets and 30 A350-900 aircraft, partially restoring a purchase of A350s which it cancelled in 2014.

Enders said Airbus would continue to support the A380 as long as it remains in service.

From European dream to white elephant

Loved by passengers, feared by accountants, the world's largest airliner has run out of runway after 12 years in service due to weak sales.

The decision to halt production of the A380 superjumbo is the final act in one of Europe's greatest industrial adventures and reflects a dearth of orders by airline bosses unwilling to back Airbus's vision of huge jets to combat airport congestion.

Air traffic is growing at a near-record pace but this has mainly generated demand for twin-engined jets nimble enough to fly directly to where people want to travel, rather than bulky four-engined jets forcing passengers to change at hub airports.

And while loyal supporters like top customer Emirates say the popular 544-seat jet makes money when full, each unsold seat potentially burns a hole in airline finances because of the fuel needed to keep the huge double-decker structure aloft.

"It's an aircraft that frightens airline CFOs; the risk of failing to sell so many seats is just too high," said a senior aerospace industry source familiar with the programme.

Once hailed as the industrial counterpart to Europe's single currency, the demise of a globally recognised European symbol coincides with growing political strains between Britain, France, Germany and Spain where the plane is built.

That's in stark contrast to the display of European unity and optimism when the engineering behemoth was unveiled in front of European leaders under a spectacular light show in 2005.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the A380 a "symbol of economic strength" while Spanish premier Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero called the rollout "the realisation of a dream".

Passengers marvelled at the European giant with room for 70 cars on its wings, looking rather like the hump-backed Boeing 747 but with the top section stretching all the way to the back.

Airlines had initially rushed to place orders, expecting it to lower operating costs and boost profits as the industry crawled out of a slowdown in tourism since September 2001.

Airbus boasted it would sell 700-750 A380s, which nowadays cost $446 million at list prices and render the 747 obsolete. In fact, A380 orders barely crossed the 300 threshold and the 747 has outlived its rival, after reaching the age of 50 this week.

ReutersNew Delhi: A Parliamentary panel on Wednesday suggested setting up a commission of enquiry into the IL&FS fiasco, including probing the role of the credit rating agencies (CRAs).

Debt crisis in infrastructure lender IL&FS came to light following a series of defaults by its group companies beginning September 2018. IL&FS is sitting on a debt pile of about Rs 91,000 crore.

The Standing Committee on Finance, in its report presented in Parliament, said the government has since intervened and re-constituted the company's board and the matter is being heard by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

"The Committee would recommend a comprehensive commission of enquiry into the whole gamut of the episode, which will inter-alia probe the role of CRAs that had over-rated the entities sometime before the crisis and the role of the largest institutional stakeholder in IL&FS, namely the LIC of India as well as other institutional stakeholders," it said.

The committee, chaired by senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily, suggested that the governance failures and indecision or indiscretion on the part of the IL&FS board should also be thoroughly probed.

"The Committee desire that urgent measures should be initiated to resurrect IL&FS, as it is the only major institution funding the infrastructure projects in the country," it said.

Similarly, the committee suggested to the Finance Ministry and SEBI to explore the mandatory rotation of rating agencies along the lines of statutory auditors to avoid the pitfalls of long association between the issuer and the credit rating agency, particularly considering the recent instances of failure of CRAs in sensing simmering 'trouble' in their client-entities.

"This may also help eliminate element of complacency in the credit rating industry and bring fresh perspectives on table. In the same vein, the Ministry may also evaluate the suggestion to have rating compulsorily carried out by more than one agency (dual or multiple), particularly in respect of debt instruments/bank credit involving large amounts say, more than Rs 100 crore," it said.

The committee also recommended changes in the regulatory framework to avoid situations of 'conflict of interest', such as when the CRA or its subsidiaries are also allowed to do advisory/consultancy work besides rating, it said.

Further, with a view to provide a level playing field and healthy competition among rating agencies, all the SEBI-registered CRAs may be considered for eligibility to participate in the bidding process for large debt issues, it added.He suggested that within the next 7-15 days the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) has a meeting with the real estate players to help increase funding to the sector. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday asked banks to meet real estate sector representatives within the next fortnight to discuss the issues being faced by them.

The minister also assured that goods and services tax (GST) rates would be brought down soon for the sector, which has been facing a demand slack.

There is a real problem (being faced by the realty sector)," Goyal said at a Credai event here, adding that banks should take some initiatives to assess the projects and fast track them.

He suggested that within the next 7-15 days the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) has a meeting with the real estate players to help increase funding to the sector.

He said the group of ministers (GoM) under GST Council has worked out a mechanism for taxing real estate sector under GST.

I hope you will like the final consensus of the GoM. In the next meeting of the GST Council soon, it would be discussed, Goyal said.

A state ministerial panel last week favoured lowering GST on under-construction residential properties to 5 per cent, from 12 per cent currently.

It also favoured slashing GST on affordable housing from 8 per cent to 3 per cent.

Currently, GST is levied at 12 per cent with input tax credit (ITC) on payments made for under-construction property or ready-to-move-in flats where completion certificate has not been issued at the time of sale.

The effective pre-GST tax incidence on such housing property was 15-18 per cent.

GST, however, is not levied on buyers of real estate properties for which completion certificate has been issued at the time of sale.

There have been complaints that builders are not passing on the ITC benefit to consumers by way of reduction in price of the property after the rollout of GST, following which the GST Council had set up a ministerial panel to suggest ways to boost realty sector.The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). (Photo: Twitter)

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday approved a three-year extension of the Credit Linked Capital Subsidy and Technology Up-gradation Scheme for MSMEs with total outlay of 2,900 crore.

The scheme has been approved for continuation beyond the 12th five-year Plan for three years from 2017-18 to 2019-20.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

"The scheme would be demand driven. But its coverage has been made more inclusive," an official statement said.

It will facilitate technology upgradation to MSMEs, improvement in quality of products, enhancement in productivity, reduction in waste, and it will promote a culture of continuous improvement.

The scheme aims at improving competitiveness of MSMEs by integrating various current schematic interventions aimed at up-grading technology through Credit Linked Capital Subsidy, hand holding for zero defect zero effect manufacturing, increasing productivity through waste reduction, design intervention, cloud computing, facilitation of intellectual property and nurturing new ideas.

Special provisions have been made in the scheme to promote entrepreneurship for SC/STs, women, hill states (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand), island territories (Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep) and the aspirational districts/ LWE (Left-wing extremism) districts, as in these cases the subsidy will be admissible also for investment in acquisition /replacement of plant & machinery/equipment & technology up-gradation of any kind.

The objective of the scheme is to facilitate technology up-gradation in MSEs by providing an upfront capital subsidy of 15 per cent (on institutional finance of up to Rs 1 crore availed by them) for induction of well-established and improved technology in the specified 51 sub-sectors/products approved.BORDERLAND BEAT

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Setting up of the JWG would help cases relating to terrorist attacks. (Photo: Twitter)

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a series of agreements with foreign governments in the field of counter-terrorism, tourism and outer space.

The Cabinet approved MoU between India and Morocco for setting up of a joint working group (JWG) on counter-terrorism.

Setting up of the JWG would help cases relating to terrorist attacks. The MoU would be the basis for obtaining/ exchanging information on terrorist activities, an official statement said.

Another agreement with Finland, relates to cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of outer space. The MoU has already been signed in January here.

Two agreements with Argentina and Saudi Arabia were also cleared to promote tourism, the statement said.The former Easyjet executive joined the Wadia group airline only last June. (Photo: AP)

Mumbai: Budget carrier Goair on Wednesday said its chief executive Cornelis Vrieswijk has resigned from the post within nine months, citing personal matters.

The former Easyjet executive joined the Wadia group airline only last June.

The airline said Jeh Wadia, the managing director, will be discharging the additional responsibilities of the CEO, till it finds a successor to Vrieswijk.

Dutch national joined Goair only last June after the departure of Wolfgang Prock-Schauer in December 2017 and the larger rival IndiGo as the chief operating officer.

"At the nominations and remunerations committee meeting held by the board on February 8, Vrieswijk expressed his desire to relocate to Amsterdam since his family was not wishing to settle down in Mumbai.

"The board understood his compulsions to move back and accepted his reasoning to move on," the airline said, adding he will stay on to ensure a smooth transition.

"We recognise Vrieswijk's contribution to the airline, but at the end-of-the-day, for him it was family calling," Wadia said.

"Going forward, I will take over the CEO's role until a suitable replacement takes place," Wadia added.Price start at Rs 11.16 lakh and goes up to Rs 14.26 lakh (ex-showroom pan-India).

It is priced at a premium of around 26,000 over the top-spec Style variant.

Updates are limited to the aesthetics only.

Will be available exclusively in Flash Red body colour.

Skoda has reintroduced the Rapid Monte Carlo in India. It is priced from Rs 11.16 lakh to Rs 14.26 lakh (ex-showroom pan-India). Skoda debuted the Rapid Monte Carlo edition back in 2017 but it was later renamed Edition 2018 due to some legal issues with the apparel brand Monte Carlo Fashions Ltd.

The new 2019 Rapid Monte Carlo edition attracts a premium of around Rs 26,000 over the Rapid Style, the top variant. For that extra premium, it gets various cosmetic updates including:

16-inch dual tone Clubber alloy wheels (Style variant gets single tone 16-inch Clubber alloys)

Glossy black finish on the B pillars with MONTE CARLO flag badge

Black roof wrap

Black tailgate spoiler

Monte Carlo leatherette upholstery

Flat-bottom steering wheel

Gear knob with black perforated leather and red decorative stitching

Stainless steel foot pedals and scuff plates with 'MONTE CARLO' inscription

Piano black center console

Other features on the Rapid Monte Carlo edition remain identical to the top-spec Style variant. It gets projector headlamps with LED DRLs, electrically adjustable and foldable ORVMs, auto dimming IRVM, auto headlamps, rain sensing wipers, tilt telescopic steering, height adjustable driver seat, cruise control, rear parking sensors and a 6.5-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. For safety, it get dual front airbags, ABS with EBD, hill hold control (automatic only) and ESC (diesel automatic only).

Surprisingly, Skoda is offering only two airbags with the Monte Carlo edition despite the fact that the top-spec Style variant gets four airbags. And this is a reason why buyers who usually travel with family or sit at the back with a driver should pick the top-spec Rapid Style over the Monte Carlo. The Rapid Style is also more affordable by Rs 26,000. You will surely miss out on those cosmetic updates of the Monte Carlo edition but it is fair trade off for the extra safety.

The Rapid Monte Carlo then is particularly for those buyers who like to drive their cars themselves; the black interior with the flat-bottom steering and stainless steel pedals will give you that sporty feel inside. And on the outside, theres the rear spoiler and roof wrap that will add to the cosmetics.

Also Read: New-Gen Skoda-VW Cars From 2020 Likely To Get CNG

Mechanically, the Rapid Monte Carlo gets the same 1.6-litre petrol and 1.5-litre engines from the standard car. The 1.6 litre unit makes 105PS of power and 153Nm of peak torque and the 1.5-litre engine makes 110PS/250Nm. Where the petrol Rapid is available with a 5-speed MT and a 6-speed AT, the diesel sedan can be had with a 5-speed MT and a 7-speed DSG.

Here is the price comparison between the Style and Monte Carlo edition Rapid:

Rapid Style Rapid Monte Carlo Edition Petrol MT Rs 10.9 lakh Rs 11.16 lakh (+Rs 26,000) Petrol AT Rs 12.10 lakh Rs 12.36 lakh (+Rs 26,000) Diesel MT Rs 12.74 lakh Rs 13 lakh (+Rs 26,000) Diesel AT Rs 14 lakh Rs 14.25 lakh (+Rs 25,000)

Also Read: Skoda Kamiq (Hyundai Creta Rival) SUV Interior Revealed

Disclaimer: This article has not been edited by Deccan Chronicle and is taken from a syndicated feed. Photos: CarDekho.Trash cleanups

Saturday: Tennessee Riverkeeper will host a cleanup from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Dry Branch Creek. Meet at Davis and Washington streets Northwest.

Feb. 23: The men's group at Central United Methodist Church will have a cleanup event along Country Club Road, just off Alabama 67.

March 9: The Tennessee Valley Authority and Keep Athens-Limestone Beautiful will host events beginning at 8 a.m. at Elk River Boat Launch on Hatchery Lane off Alabama 99 and Big Spring Memorial Park in Athens.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.You have permission to edit this poll.

Edit CloseThere is certainly more to hear than see in The King and I. What this production lacks in set design and wardrobe, is made up for with dazzling vocals and brilliant performances.

Any show preceded by the names Rodgers & Hammerstein are considered classics. The duo did for musical theater what Ben & Jerry did for ice cream. Every Rodgers & Hammerstein production includes a splendid a score, an engaging storyline and timeless themes etc. etc. etc. The King and I fits all of that criteria, which makes seeing it at the Schuster Center between February 12-17 a must.

Despite it being a classic, Id never seen any version of The King and I before. All I knew is that Yul Brenners in the movie and it gets talked about more than Sandra Bullocks role in Bird Box. Speaking of, this show would still be enjoyable if blindfolded, due to all the amazing voices. There is certainly more to hear than see in The King and I. What this production lacks in set design and wardrobe, is made up for with dazzling vocals and brilliant performances.

The backdrop in the opening scene is impressive when Anna arrives in Siam, but from then on the staging is relatively simple. Theres nothing simple though about the royally good performance by Pedro Ka Awaloa as the King. From authoritative to charming, confident to desperate and every emotion in between Ka Awaloa covers them all. Ka Awaloa reigns supreme when it comes to vocals as hed be crowned the winner of any singing competition. If Ka Awaloa was ever really King and sung his State of the Union Address both sides would stand in celebration. To Ka Awaloas credit, he makes the King likeable despite being a ruler with a wandering eye, believed to be a barbarian, and having plans to build a wall etc. etc. etc.

Hired as a tutor for the Kings multitude of children is Anna (Angela Baumgardner). Baumgardner is delightful as Anna. Her smile is as radiant as her voice, which shines especially bright for Getting to Know You. Anna is not afraid to go toe to toe with the King, but struggles to keep her head lower than his, which provides some humorous scenes. Though not hired to teach him anything, the King learns some valuable lessons from Anna himself.

To have multiple wives seems unfathomable, but if they are all like Lady Thiang (DeAnna Choi) it might not be so bad. On her first national tour, Choi graces the stage like a seasoned veteran. She exudes more royalty than Queen Latifah and has a superior voice too. If Chois rendition of Something Wonderful could be visualized it would be more beautiful than all of the royal weddings combined. I found Choi to be mesmerizing, confident, inspiring etc. etc. etc.

While her body is small in stature, Paulina Yeungs voice is humongous in range. Yeung plays the part of Tuptim and could have her own television series, My 600 pound Voice. Id watch it and buy the soundtrack. Its also Yeungs first national tour and certainly wont be her last. Yeungs singing of My Lord and Master highlights her vocal range and is an operatic masterpiece.

A dramatic highpoint comes when the King lashes out at Tuptim, which also leads to a fiery exchange with Anna. That scene alone is enough explanation of why The King and I is such a classic. It almost makes up for the lengthy ballet portion of a show within a show, when the children perform The Small House of Uncle Thomas. I think just having them do So Long, Farwell would have been much more impressive.

There is much to enjoy about The King and I, including the beautiful voices, a diverse cast, and a riveting story etc. etc. etc. The King and I continues at the Schuster Center through February 17.Transformation. Inspiration. Dedication.



A lot can happen inside of a great classroom. But for Anne-Marie Ryan, it all starts with conversation.



Its creating community, creating a sense of belonging  that were in this together, collaboratively, says Dr. Ryan, a faculty member in the Department of Earth Sciences. Im learning as much from the students as they learn from me.



Dr. Ryans community-based approach to teaching has earned her several accolades in recent years, including Dals top teaching award in 2016 and one of the top teaching award in Atlantic Canada in 2017. Now, shes one of the 2019 recipients of a national 3M Teaching Fellowship  Canadas top recognition for university teaching.



An elite honour for a stellar teacher



Created in 1986 by the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE), the 3M Teaching Fellowship recognizes exceptional contributions to teaching and learning in Canadian post-secondary education, with only 10 new fellows selected each year.



In receiving the honour, Dr. Ryan joins current Dal faculty members Srini Sampalli (Computer Science) and Kim Brooks (Law). (Retired faculty members Joan Conrod, Management, and Tom MacRae, Biology, are also 3M Fellows.)



To be named a 3M Fellow is to be recognized among the very best university teachers in Canada, says Dal Provost Teri Balser. Anne-Marie is an exemplar: an educator who is creative in the classroom, committed to her students success, and collaborative in working with colleagues to move teaching and learning forward on campus. This is truly a most deserving honour.



Its very humbling, as there are so many good teachers out there, says Dr. Ryan. Its such an honour to be recognized by colleagues and by your students in such a way.



Making the connections



Dr. Ryan  who also has two degrees in Education alongside her three degrees in Geology/Earth Sciences  has inspired thousands of students in her nearly two decades teaching at Dal. In her courses, students not only explore geological knowledge, but the ethical responsibilities and environmental issues linked with their line of work. (Shes currently teaching an introductory first-year course and a second-year geo-environmental issues course thats an open elective).





And her contributions to education at Dalhousie stretch well beyond the walls of her own classrooms. She led the development of Dals Science Leadership and Communication Certificate, the first program of its kind for undergrad science students in Canada. She developed a community of practice within the Faculty of Science, bringing together colleagues to discuss pedagogy and practice in an informal setting. And shes also been a Faculty Associate with the Dal Centre for Learning and Teaching. (She's also a University Teaching Fellow.)



Teaching is something that really matters to me, says Dr. Ryan. I find the students are very grateful and positive. If we build the environment together, it creates a really nice working space.



The power of fellowship



Shell enter a new working space as a 3M Fellow. Shell become a lifetime member of the fellowship, as well as take part in a four-day teaching and learning retreat with her peers later this year and attend the 2019 STLHE annual conference.



I like the idea of being part of a fellowship, of being part of a community of people who care so much about teaching and student learning, she says. I think it also allows driving or supporting positive change  Im looking forward to that aspect. There are a number of people I know and have admired over the years [who have been Fellows], and have watched how theyve been able to move things forward.



Being a 3M Fellow is not an opportunity she ever expected  but one shes embracing with the same spirit of open collaboration that she brings to the classroom.



Its a little overwhelming, to be honest, but overall Im very grateful because I feel Dal has allowed me to take some risks and theres been such great people supporting me along that way  including the students, of course, and for them Im truly thankful.

Got a question or tip? Contact us at bizmojoidaho@gmail.com.A new report on creating more integrated and diverse schools in New York City put forwards a host of recommendations, including that the city hire a chief integration officer, expand rigorous academic programs and schools outside of the city-center of Manhattan, improve student climate, and take an approach to diversity that encompasses race, economic background, gender, home language, and disability and that reflects the citys diversity.

The report comes from a panel convened by Mayor Bill de Blasio, who first ran for mayor in 2013 on a theme of A Tale of Two Cities, but who has been slower than critics would have liked to take sweeping steps to address the citys deeply segregated school system. According to a 2014 report by the University of California, Los Angeles, Civil Rights Project, New York state has the most segregated schools in the country.



Hispanic and black students make up nearly 70 percent of the citys public school students. And about 14 percent are English-language learners, while 74 percent come from economically-disadvantaged families.

Those demographics mean that achieving integration in every New York City neighborhood or district would be tough. But at least nine of the citys 32 community school districts have enough socioeconomic diversity to tackle integration on that front. Those schools enroll more than 330,000 students.

New York City is among the most diverse places on earth and has a strong tradition of progressive politics, yet its schools are more segregated than those in Mississippi, Richard Kahlenberg, the director of K-12 equity and a senior fellow at The Century Foundation and a member of the New York City School Diversity Advisory Groups executive committee that worked on the report, said in a statement.

The advisory group has hammered out a series of bold recommendations to better integrate schools so that public education in the city can serve its fundamental purposes: promoting social mobility in the economy and social cohesion in our democracy.

The School Diversity Advisory Group included parents, students, advocates, and employees of the city school system.

Expand Student Voice, Deepen Family Engagement, Ensure Program Equity

The proposals in the preliminary report are organized around a framework developed by studentsrace, socio-economic status and enrollment, resources, relationships, restorative justice and practices; and representation. The recommendations range from calls for the city to make academic program changes in elementary schools to step up efforts to improve opportunities for student voice.

Among the recommendations for the community school districts:



Review choice schools, gifted and talented programs, and other programs that use admissions criteria to determine whether they encourage or discourage segregation.

Ensure eventsincluding admission fairs and application processesare accessible to all students and their families and that staff members are trained to support students and families with disabilities and those with immigrant backgrounds.

Systemwide, the reports recommendations include:



Invest in programs that will encourage participation from diverse populations.

Ensure that high-poverty schools have the same curricular, extracurricular, and after-school programs as more affluent communities.

Expand college-and-career prep programs in poor communities.

Increase the number of high-performing schools outside of Manhattan.

Diversify the education workforcefrom principals, teachers and paraprofessionalsand explore creating a pipeline that will provide opportunities for parents to work for the school system.

The report says that diversity should be included as part of the criteria on which schools are judged, along with current measures such as student achievement, effective school leadership, trust, and strong family-community ties.

The report follows the citys diversity plan, which was released in 2017 and aimed to create more racially- and socio-economically balanced schools. That plan was panned by some critics for its modest goals and for avoiding the words segregation or integration.

This set of recommendations goes beyond the citys proposals, though they are not mandates. They have to be adopted by the mayor.



The report also recommends that the citys education department adopt culturally-responsive teaching, meaningful family and parent engagementincluding ensuring that meeting times, locations, and the languages used meet family needspromoting restorative justice practices in schools, and greater student voice.

To amplify student voice, the report recommends adding seats on Borough Student Advisory Councils for a student representative from every high school, creating a student leadership group that will meet monthly with the schools chancellor, and establishing a leadership position in the department of education that would be focused on student voice. The report also recommends that all schools monitor discipline practices and develop plans to reduce disparities in discipline.

The panel will continue to meet and is expected to produce another report this year.

You can find the full report here.Xem them

...

Tin bai cuoi cung

Khong con du lieu e loadDo unto others as you would have them do unto you. The Golden Rule is one by which many of us try to live. It is a basic teaching in many of the worlds religions and cultures. At the 1993 Parliament of the Worlds Religions the Golden Rule was adopted as a fundamental principle.

So how can we apply the Golden Rule to religious liberty? The simple answer is that we never ask anything for ourselves regarding religious liberty that we are unwilling to extend to someone of another faith.

Having passed the Senate, Senate Bill 1502 is presently in the House of Delegates and has passed a House committee. Briefly, the bill requires the Board of Education to authorize local school boards to offer as an elective in grades nine through 12 with appropriate credits toward graduation a course on the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament of the Bible or the New Testament of the Bible or a combined course on both.

The bill does not pass the Golden Rule test, since the holy writings of the Christian faith are the only ones specifically mentioned that would be taught in public schools. Does it require the Board of Education to offer as an elective a course on the Quran, Islamic sacred text; the Vedas or the Upanishads, sacred texts of Hinduism; the Book of Mormon, and others?But the fact that these preserved natural spaces are making memories for families from Virginia and elsewhere every day is just part of the story. The numbers from a new Virginia Tech study on the parks economic impact in 2018 tell the rest:

Based solely on the state and local tax revenues generated, the parks return to state coffers $1.26 for every $1 the state allocates, so the investment pays dividends. Even more impressive is that each $1 invested in the parks generates an estimated $14 in economic activity because the parks attract people who will spend additional money nearby. The total economic activity stimulated by Virginia state parks during 2018 was approximately $338 million. Park visitors spent about $249 million last year in Virginia, and about 46 percent of that was spent by visitors from out of state. The economic activity generated by the parks is credited with supporting more than 3,800 jobs across Virginia.

It is shortsighted to assume that status quo funding is sufficient because the parks are producing numbers such as these. Prior to a slight dip in attendance at some parks in 2018 due to excessive rainy days, the parks had been setting annual attendance records.

Time and routine wear and tear take a toll on the parks and their facilities, which means lawmakers must understand the value of upkeep and upgrades.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.It remains to be seen whether the House of Delegates has the appetite and the authority for an investigation of its own.

House Minority Leader Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, said Wednesday that she and her colleagues believe survivors and want them to be heard. But shes not sure the legislature is the right venue for it.

I think as a body we need to seriously contemplate whether we have the ability to conduct such a hearing, whether thats our job, whose job it is, Filler-Corn said. And again, we have so much business that were currently trying to accomplish within the last nine days.

The legislative session is scheduled to end Feb. 23.

Fairfax defenders

Fairfax faced resounding calls to resign after Watson came forward Friday evening. But its become clear he has some defenders who are wary of a rush to judgment.

A group of Richmond-area civil rights leaders and pastors rallied around Fairfax on Wednesday and rebuked Democrats, including African-American legislators, for pushing the lieutenant governor to resign before he can fully defend himself from the accusations.Were not changing what we want from Amazon, Dorsey said. Were not going to make a play for anything more.

However, he added, theres a potential to get closer to [50,000 jobs] today than perhaps there was yesterday.

Jones is a member of the legislative commission that vetted the incentive package the Northam administration offered for the initial $50 billion, 50,000-job HQ2 project, which Amazon announced it would split between Arlingtons Crystal City neighborhood and Long Island City in New York Citys Queens borough.

The companys announcement Thursday contended that while most New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.

In contrast, Amazon faced relatively little political opposition in Virginia, which negotiated a much more frugal incentive package than the nearly $3 billion in state and local incentives offered in New York. More than 60 percent of the states incentive package are investments in higher education throughout the state and transportation in Northern Virginia.Two of the accused  Julian B. Goodman and Dennis P. Murphy  were priests at Holy Comforter Church in Charlottesville in the early 2000s before they were removed, according to news reports. Goodman was forced to resign in 2002 and had worked at Holy Comforter for three years, according to a Virginian-Pilot story from that time.

Goodman admitted to sexually abusing a student at a boys high school in Goochland in the 1970s, according to the story. He was not accused of any misconduct while in Charlottesville.

Goodman was replaced by Murphy. In 2004, Murphy was placed on administrative leave after complaints about questionable behavior with teenagers, according to a 2004 Richmond Times-Dispatch story. Murphy currently is suspended, according to the list.

The Richmond list comes five months after Knestout announced that he would make the names of the credibly accused priests public and after an atonement tour, during which he held penitential Masses at nine churches throughout the diocese in an effort to apologize for the widespread abuse and cover-up.Nordex to Produce Wind Turbine Rotor Blades in Mexico

Matamoros, Mexico - The Nordex Group has announced plans to produce its own wind turbine rotor blades in Mexico.

The Germany-based company will set up a production facility in Matamoros, located in Mexico's state of Tamaulipas. Nordex plans to produce rotor blades totaling more than 1 GW of capacity annually for the local and global markets.

"With the Matamoros plant, we are responding to the sharp rise in global demand for our products," says Jose Luis Blanco, CEO of the Nordex Group. "In addition to the existing rotor blade production facilities in different regions, we can now also manufacture our rotor blades in the vicinity of the North and Latin American growth markets. This increases significantly our competitiveness."

"Nordex production in Matamoros confirms that there's confidence in Tamaulipas and contributes to the growth of the energy sector," adds Matamoros Governor Francisco Garcia Cabeza de Vaca. "We reaffirm the commitment to guide and support companies that are coming to our state."

The production hall is currently being equipped with modern production molds. At full capacity, the plant will create around 900 direct and indirect local jobs, estimates Nordex.Only 9 percent of the mice in the study that were given fluvoxamine died, compared with 62 percent of the untreated mice, according to a news release from UVa.

The drug was very, very effective in the mouse model of sepsis, Gaultier said. Its perfect drug repurposing.

The way the drug acted is also encouraging, Rosen said. It didnt shut down all of the mices immune responses, simply the overreaction due to sepsis.

We have pretty good antibiotics that keep the infection from being what kills you, but your immune system still sees that infection and creates a huge response that actually itself causes the tissue damage, he said. One of the cool features of the drug is you dont have global suppression of inflammation; you might be able to suppress the excessive inflammation without also suppressing the beneficial inflammation.

Gaultier said the research yielded new insights on the sigma-1 receptors influence on inflammation, which he hopes will be further studied and tested. His lab cannot run the trials that could get fluvoxamine approved to treat sepsis, but he hopes the research will be useful to others who may be interested in conducting larger studies or clinical trials.The suit asks a federal judge to declare the ordinance unconstitutional and in violation of the Fourth and 14th Amendments and issue an injunction against enforcing the ordinance in the future.

It also seeks unspecified damages for Miska based on his rights being violated and his attorneys fees.

Unless law enforcement officials have specific evidence that a person is involved in some criminal activity, they may not impede that persons freedom of movement upon public sidewalks and thoroughfares by requiring the person submit themselves to a search of their body and their possessions, the lawsuit states. Citizens are free to roam and loiter in public places and are not required to provide police with their identity or give an account of their purpose for exercising their freedom.

An estimated 700 police officers from the Virginia State Police and local agencies patrolled the Downtown Mall area on Aug. 10, 11 and 12. Police set up pedestrian checkpoints to limit access to the area and searched belongings for city-banned goods such as metal food and beverage containers, aerosol sprays, glass bottles, skateboards, masks and hoods and sharp objects such as knives, razor blades and box-cutters.The Albemarle County School Board will return to the divisions student dress code policy Thursday night, five months after tabling the issue.

The dress code has not appeared on a School Board agenda since Aug. 30, when six people were arrested as activists rallied outside the boards meeting and called for the division to ban Confederate imagery and symbols of white supremacy in its student dress code.

Board Chairman Jonno Alcaro said he plans to give each board member a few minutes to share their thoughts on the dress code and then discuss next steps.

The agenda item was prompted by board member Katrina Callsen, who called on the board to talk about the issue, which has been the subject of public comments for months.

At this point, our decision not to discuss the issue seems either punitive in nature (because we dont want to reward questionable protest strategies) or avoidant (because we dont want to have to decide on controversial issues), Callsen wrote in an email to board members. The punting of the issue was hinged on the rationale that the anti-racism policy might address the Confederate flag debate. It does not.Ms. Mosby has absolute discretion in deciding what cases to prosecute. She has absolute control over what cases not to prosecute and can legally decide not to prosecute individuals found standing on corners in possession of pounds of drugs. However, while nothing can excuse the misconduct of police officers, nothing would be more dangerous to our democracy than to allow an elected prosecutor to usurp the roles of the legislature and the judiciary. It is terrifying to imagine an elected official with the ability to raise campaign funds and then reverse the conviction of anyone she decided merited it.Vedanta Limited operates as a diversified natural resources company in India. The company explores for, develops, extracts, produces, processes, and sells oil and gas, zinc, lead, silver, copper, aluminum, iron ore, steel, and power. It is involved in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas; and exploration, mining, and processing of iron ore, pig iron, and metallurgical coke. The company also operates a thermal coal-based commercial power facility of 600 megawatts (MW) at Jharsuguda in the State of Odisha in eastern India; two 300 MW thermal coal based power plants at Korba; 1,980 MW (three units of 660 MW each) thermal coal-based commercial power facilities; 274MW of wind power plants; and a power plant situated at Mettur Dam in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. In addition, it manufactures and supplies billets, TMT bars, wire rods, and ductile iron pipes; engages in the mechanization of coal handling facilities and upgradation of general cargo berth for handling coal at the outer harbor of Visakhapatnam Port on the east coast of India; and provides logistics and other allied services inter alia rendering stevedoring, and other allied services in ports and other allied sectors. Further, the company is involved in manufacturing glass substrates in South Korea and Taiwan. It also has operations in South Africa, Namibia, Ireland, Australia, Liberia, and the United Arab Emirates. The company was incorporated in 1965 and is based in Mumbai, India.

Read MoreThe Toronto-Dominion Bank, together with its subsidiaries, provides various personal and commercial banking products and services in Canada and the United States. It operates through three segments: Canadian Retail, U.S. Retail, and Wholesale Banking. The company offers personal deposits, such as chequing, savings, and investment products; financing, investment, cash management, international trade, and day-to-day banking services to businesses; and financing options to customers at point of sale for automotive and recreational vehicle purchases through auto dealer network. It also provides credit cards; real estate secured lending; auto finance; consumer lending; point-of-sale payment solutions for large and small businesses; wealth and asset management products, private banking, investment advisory, and trust services to retail and institutional clients; and property and casualty insurance, as well as life and health insurance products. The company also provides capital markets, and corporate and investment banking services, including underwriting and distribution of new debt and equity issues; advice on strategic acquisitions and divestitures; and trading, funding, and investment services to companies, governments, and institutions. It offers its products and services under the TD Bank and America's Most Convenient Bank brand names. The company operates through a network of 1,085 branches, 3,440 automated teller machines, and 1,223 stores, as well as offers telephone, digital, and mobile banking services. The Toronto-Dominion Bank was founded in 1855 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Read MoreSince 2016, Teeka Tiwari has trumped the stock market. His investment recommendations have each averaged 281%. Thats 17 times the S&P. And 112 times the average investor, according to JPMorgan! However, one investment Teeka just uncovered could top them all It involves former President Biden, billions of dollars, several large banks, and a super-rich family. As well as a MAJOR potential upgrade to our credit cards. Teeka, who ended up correctly picking the last investment of the decade, is declaring this his top pick for the 2020s.

EnerSys provides various stored energy solutions for industrial applications worldwide. It operates in three segments: Energy Systems, Motive Power, and Specialty. The company offers uninterruptible power systems applications for computer and computer-controlled systems, as well as telecommunications systems; switchgear and electrical control systems used in industrial facilities and electric utilities, large-scale energy storage, and energy pipelines; integrated power solutions and services to broadband, telecom, renewable, and industrial customers; and thermally managed cabinets and enclosures for electronic equipment and batteries. It also provides motive power products that are used to provide power for electric industrial forklifts used in manufacturing, warehousing, and other material handling applications, as well as mining equipment, diesel locomotive starting, and other rail equipment. In addition, the company offers specialty batteries for starting, lighting, and ignition applications in transportation; and energy solutions for satellites, military aircraft, submarines, ships, and other tactical vehicles, as well as medical and security systems. Further, it provides battery chargers, power equipment, battery accessories, and outdoor cabinet enclosures, as well as related after-market and customer-support services for industrial batteries. The company sells its products through a network of distributors, independent representatives, and internal sales forces. The company was formerly known as Yuasa, Inc. and changed its name to EnerSys in January 2001. EnerSys was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Read More5 Ways to Win at Trading (Ad)

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To Any American Who Owns a Cell Phone

If you own a cell phone, then mobile service providers hope you never get to see this video that could soon go viral. His experiment could strike a bad chord with mobile phone companies. But youve got to see what this man discovered and what it means for phone users in the weeks ahead.This Is By Far My #1 Income Stock (Ad)

This company owns the bestselling drug in the world, which brought in $19.9 billion in revenue last year. And today, I want to give you the name, the ticker symbol and my full analysis completely free - no strings attached.

Click here to get it.Lynching was a horrific act, and it is inexcusable that at least 40 people in our state lost their lives in this manner. But those actions occurred between 1854 and 1933. There are no citizens currently engaging in lynching, and it is doubtful that any sane person would accept or promote this disgusting act. Why, then, do we need to highlight this action and spend taxpayer dollars to do so?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..General Electric Company operates as a high-tech industrial company worldwide. The company's Power segment offers heavy-duty and aeroderivative gas turbines for utilities, independent power producers, and industrial applications; maintenance, service, and upgrade solutions to plant assets and their operational lifecycle; steam power technology for fossil and nuclear applications, including boilers, generators, steam turbines, and air quality control systems; and advanced reactor technologies solutions comprising reactors, fuels, and support services for boiling water reactors. This segment also applies the science and systems of power conversion to provide motors, generators, automation, and control equipment; and drives for energy intensive industries, such as marine, oil and gas, mining, rail, metals, test systems, and water. Its Renewable Energy segment provides various solutions for its customers through combining onshore and offshore wind, blades, hydro, storage, solar, and grid solutions, as well as hybrid renewables and digital services offerings. The company's Aviation segment designs and produces commercial and military aircraft engines, integrated engine components, electric power, and mechanical aircraft systems; and provides aftermarket services. Its Healthcare segment develops, manufactures, markets, and services magnetic resonance, computed tomography, molecular imaging, x-ray and high-frequency soundwave systems, clinical monitoring and acute care systems, enterprise digital, artificial intelligence applications, consulting and command center, and complementary software and services; and researches, manufactures, and markets imaging agents. The company's Capital segment offers aviation leasing and financing, and working capital services; financial solutions and underwriting capabilities; and insurance and reinsurance for life and health risks, as well as annuity products. The company was founded in 1878 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

Read MoreThe PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. operates as a diversified financial services company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Retail Banking, Corporate & Institutional Banking, and Asset Management Group. The Retail Banking segment offers brokerage, insurance, and investment and cash management services; checking, savings, and money market accounts; certificates of deposits; and lending products, which includes residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, auto loans, education loans, and personal and small business loans, and credit cards to consumer and small business customers through a network of branches, ATMs, call centers, and online and mobile banking channels. The Corporate & Institutional Banking segment provides secured and unsecured loans, letters of credit, and equipment leases; payables, receivables, deposit and account, liquidity and investments, and online and mobile banking products and services; foreign exchange, derivatives, securities underwriting, loan syndications, and mergers and acquisitions and equity capital markets advisory related services; and commercial loan servicing and technology solutions for the commercial real estate finance industry. The Asset Management Group segment offers investment and retirement planning, customized investment management, private banking, and trust management and administration solutions; and multi-generational family planning products, such as estate, financial, tax planning, fiduciary, investment management and consulting, personal administrative, asset custody, and customized performance reporting services. This segment also provides outsourced chief investment officer, custody, private real estate, cash and fixed income client solutions, and fiduciary retirement advisory services. As of December 31, 2020, it operated 2,162 branches and 8,900 ATMs. The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. was founded in 1852 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Read MoreMastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. It facilitates the processing of payment transactions, including authorization, clearing, and settlement, as well as delivers related products and services. The company offers integrated products and services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid payment programs and management services; and commercial credit and debit payment products and solutions. It also provides value-added products and services comprising cyber and intelligence products, information and analytics services, consulting services, loyalty and reward programs, processing and open banking services, and issuer and acquirer processing services. The company offers payment solutions and services under the MasterCard, Maestro, and Cirrus brands. Mastercard Incorporated was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Purchase, New York.

Read MoreI grew up in Northwest Baltimore. My father, a World War II veteran who had started his own dry cleaning and real estate businesses when he came home from Europe, purchased a home in a Northwest Baltimore neighborhood now called Ashburton. We were the first African-American family on our block. One of my first "duties" in life was to be a Sabbath goy for our Jewish neighbors. One by one, they moved out. They were replaced by black professionals. Years later, we leaned that the broker who sold the house to my dad had actually created a panic among the white homeowners, telling them that if more blacks moved in, the value of their homes would drop and he advised them to sell quickly. The broker then used a "straw man" purchaser to buy the houses at a low panic price and subsequently sold the house to a black doctor, lawyer or entrepreneur, who paid a premium price to move into a "newly opened" neighborhood.Manulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services in Asia, Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Wealth and Asset Management Businesses; Insurance and Annuity Products; And Corporate and Other segments. The Wealth and Asset Management Businesses segment provides mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, group retirement and savings products, and institutional asset management services through agents and brokers affiliated with the company, securities brokerage firms, and financial advisors pension plan consultants and banks. The Insurance and Annuity Products segment offers deposit and credit products; individual life, and individual and group long-term care insurance; and guaranteed and partially guaranteed annuity products through insurance agents, brokers, banks, financial planners, and direct marketing. The Corporate and Other segment is involved in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance businesses; and run-off reinsurance operations, including variable annuities, and accident and health. It also manages timberland and agricultural portfolios; and engages in insurance agency, portfolio and mutual fund management, mutual fund dealer, life and financial reinsurance, and fund management businesses. Additionally, the company holds and manages oil and gas properties; holds oil and gas royalties, and foreign bonds and equities; and provides investment management, counseling, advisory, and dealer services. Manulife Financial Corporation was incorporated in 1887 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Read More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Mettler-Toledo International Inc. manufactures and supplies precision instruments and services worldwide. It operates in five segments: U.S. Operations, Swiss Operations, Western European Operations, Chinese Operations, and Other. The company offers weighing instruments for laboratory, industrial, packaging, logistics, and food retailing applications; various related analytical instruments and automated chemistry solutions used in drug and chemical compound discovery and development; metal detection and other end-of-line product inspection systems used in production and packaging for food processing and packaging, pharmaceutical, packaged consumer goods, and other industries; and solutions that are used in various process analytics applications. Its laboratory instruments include laboratory balances, liquid pipetting solutions, automated laboratory reactors, titrators, pH meters, process analytics sensors and analyzer technologies, physical value analyzers, thermal analysis systems, and other analytical instruments; and LabX, a laboratory software platform. The company's industrial instruments comprise industrial weighing instruments and related terminals, automatic dimensional measurement and data capture solutions, vehicle scale systems, industrial software, and product inspection systems. Its retail weighing solutions consist of networked scales and software, and stand-alone scales for handling fresh goods, such as meats, vegetables, fruits, and cheeses. The company serves the life science industry, and independent research organizations; food and beverage producers; food retailers; chemical, specialty chemical, and cosmetics companies; food retailers; transportation and logistics, metals, and electronics industries; and the academic community. It markets its products through its direct sales force and indirect distribution channels. The company was incorporated in 1991 and is based in Columbus, Ohio.

Read MoreIngersoll Rand Inc. provides various mission-critical air, fluid, energy, specialty vehicle and medical technologies in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through four segments: Industrial Technologies and Services; Precision and Science Technologies; Specialty Vehicle Technologies; and High Pressure Solutions segments. The company offers air and gas compression, vacuum and blower products, fluid transfer and management equipment, loading systems, power tools and lifting equipment, displacement pumps, liquid and precision syringe pumps, and compressors, as well as as well as aftermarket parts, consumables, and services. It also designs, manufactures, and markets golf, utility, and consumer low-speed vehicles, as well as integrated systems. The company's products are used in medical, laboratory, industrial manufacturing, water and wastewater, chemical processing, drilling, hydraulic fracturing, well servicing applications, precision irrigation, energy, food and beverage, agriculture, and automated liquid handling end-markets, as well as various manufacturing, industrial facilities applications, and other activities. It serves to various industries and sectors. The company sells its products through an integrated network of direct sales representatives and independent distributors under the Ingersoll Rand, Gardner Denver, Club Car, CompAir, Nash, Elmo Rietschle, Robuschi, Thomas, Milton Roy, ARO, Emco Wheaton, and Runtech Systems brands. The company was formerly known as Gardner Denver Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Ingersoll Rand Inc. in March 2020. Ingersoll Rand Inc. was founded in 1859 and is based in Davidson, North Carolina.

Read MoreAt community forums, the Hopkins security officials, led by Vice President Melissa Hyatt, demonstrated an effective professional organization ready to administer operations appropriate for each campus and facility. An estimated 100 well-trained police officers across all campuses would work with the highest standards in close partnership with the Baltimore Police Department and be accountable to the community. This new department would replace the universitys current practice of hiring off-duty city officers, freeing officers to fill urgent city-wide public safety overtime needs.Ad Resource Stock Digest 1,169 Interested This Week

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Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. provides investor communications and technology-driven solutions for the financial services industry worldwide. The company's Investor Communication Solutions segment processes and distributes proxy materials to investors in equity securities and mutual funds, as well as facilitates related vote processing services; and offers ProxyEdge, an electronic proxy delivery and voting solution. It also distributes regulatory reports and corporate action/reorganization event information, as well as tax reporting solutions; and provides end-to-end platform for content management, composition, and multi-channel distribution of regulatory, marketing, and transactional information, as well as mutual fund trade processing services. In addition, this segment offers financial reporting document composition and management solutions; SEC disclosure and filing services; registrar, stock transfer, and record-keeping services; customer communication solutions; cloud-based marketing and customer communication tools; customer and account data aggregation and reporting services, as well as creates sales and educational content, including seminars and a library of financial planning topics; and mutual fund trade processing services. The company's Global Technology and Operations segment offers desktop productivity tools, data aggregation, performance reporting, portfolio management, order capture and execution, trade confirmation, margin, cash management, clearance and settlement, asset servicing, reference data management, reconciliations, securities financing and collateral optimization, compliance and regulatory reporting, and accounting. It also provides capital market, wealth management, asset management, and international securities processing solutions; managed services; and customizable advisor Websites, search engine marketing, and electronic and print newsletters. The company was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Lake Success, New York.

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Click here to see why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..The year was 1973. We were sitting in French class at Western High School with Mrs. Weinholtz as the teacher. An announcement came over the intercom for teachers to put children in the classrooms and to lock the doors. We had no idea what was going on. Was there a rapist in the building? A murderer? A fight? We were mildly concerned, mostly curious. We looked out of the windows overlooking the quadrangle and saw about five or six cops with their guns drawn and ready to shoot. Mrs. Weinholtz closed the blinds so we couldnt see anymore. But we could hear. We heard noises that some thought were window shades flapping and others thought were machine guns being blasted.The following companies are subsidiares of Danaher: AB SCIEX, AB Sciex Germany GmbH, AB Sciex LLC, AB Sciex LP, AB Sciex Pte Ltd., Accu-Sort Systems, Acme Cleveland Corporation, Advanced Vision Technology, American Precision Industries, Applied Biosystems, Applitek NV, Aquatic Infomatics ULC, Aquatic Informatics, Armstrong Tools, BC Distribution BV, Beckman Coulter, Beckman Coulter Australia Pty Ltd, Beckman Coulter Biotechnology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Beckman Coulter Biyomedikal Urunler Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited [irketi], Beckman Coulter Canada LP, Beckman Coulter Commercial Enterprise (China) Co. Ltd., Beckman Coulter France S.A.S., Beckman Coulter G.m.b.H., Beckman Coulter Genomics Inc., Beckman Coulter Hong Kong Limited, Beckman Coulter Inc., Beckman Coulter India Private Limited, Beckman Coulter International SA, Beckman Coulter International Shanghai Trading Co., Beckman Coulter Ireland Inc., Beckman Coulter K.K., Beckman Coulter Korea Ltd., Beckman Coulter Laboratory Systems (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Beckman Coulter Limited Liability Company, Beckman Coulter Mishima KK, Beckman Coulter Nederland B.V., Beckman Coulter Nippon GK, Beckman Coulter S.L.U., Beckman Coulter Saudi Arabia Co.Ltd., Beckman Coulter Srl, Beckman Coulter Taiwan Inc., Beckman Coulter United Kingdom Limited, Beckman Coulter de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Beckman Coulter do Brasil Ltda., Beckman Finance ApS, Beckman Holdings Ltd., BioTector Analytical Systems Ltd, Biosafe S.A., Blue Software LLC, Cepheid, Cepheid AB, Cepheid Europe SAS, Cepheid GmbH, Cepheid HBDC SAS, Cepheid UK Ltd., ChemTreat, ChemTreat Inc., ChemTreat International Inc., Cispus Hong Kong Holding Limited, Cytiva, Cytiva BioProcess R&D AB, Cytiva Biotechnology (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Cytiva Biotechnology (Hang Zhou) Co. Ltd., Cytiva Europe GmbH, Cytiva Sweden AB, Cytiva Sweden Holding AB, DH Europe Finance II Sarl, DH Europe Finance Sarl, DH Holding Italia SRL, DH Japan Finance Sarl, DH Life Sciences LLC, DH Netherlands BV, DH Technologies Development Pte Ltd., DHKAB Company AB, DTIL Ireland Holdings Ltd., Danaher (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Danaher Hong Kong Limited, Danaher Medical ApS, Delta Consolidated Industries, Devicore Medical Products Inc., Easco Hand Tools, Esko, Esko BV, Esko Finance BV, Esko Graphics BV, Esko Software BV, FHAB Company AB, Fluke, G. Lufft Mess- und Regeltechnik GmbH, GE Biopharma, Gelman Sciences Inc., Gendex, Genetix Group, Gilbarco Veeder Root, Gilzoni Ltd., Global Life Sciences Solutions Austria GmbH & Co. KG, Global Life Sciences Solutions Germany GmbH, Global Life Sciences Solutions Korea Ltd., Global Life Sciences Solutions Manufacturing UK Ltd, Global Life Sciences Solutions New Zealand, Global Life Sciences Solutions Operations UK Ltd, Global Life Sciences Solutions Singapore Pte Ltd, Global Life Sciences Solutions USA LLC, Global Life Sciences Technologies (Shanghai) Co Ltd., Global Life Sciences Technologies Japan KK, Hach Company, Hach Lange Finance GmbH, Hach Lange GmbH, Hach Lange Sarl, Hach Sales & Services Canada LP, Hach Ultra Japan KK, Hach Water Quality Analytical Instru. (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., HemoCue AB, HyClone Laboratories LLC, Hybritech Incorporated, Hyclone Life Sciences Solutions India Private Limited, IDBS Group, IRIS International, Imaging Sciences International, Immunotech SAS, Immunotech Sro, Intabio LLC, Integrated DNA Technologies, Integrated DNA Technologies BVBA, Integrated DNA Technologies Inc., Integrated DNA Technologies Pte. Ltd., Iris International Inc., Joslyn Holding Company LLC, KVHG GmbH, KaVo, KaVo Kerr, Kaltenbach & Voigt, Keithley Instruments, Kipp & Zonen BV, Kollmorgen, Labcyte Inc., Laetus, Leica Biosystems Imaging Inc., Leica Biosystems Melbourne Pty Ltd, Leica Biosystems Newcastle Limited, Leica Biosystems Nussloch GmbH, Leica Biosystems Richmond Inc., Leica Instruments (Singapore) Pte Limited, Leica Microsystems, Leica Microsystems (UK) Limited, Leica Microsystems CMS GmbH, Leica Microsystems Cambridge Limited, Leica Microsystems IR GmbH, Leica Microsystems Inc., Leica Microsystems Limited, Leica Microsystems Ltd. Shanghai, Leica Mikrosysteme Vertrieb GmbH, Life Sciences Holdings France SAS*, Lifschultz Industries, Linx Printing Technologies, Linx Printing Technologies Limited, MDS Analytical Technologies, Marconi Data Systems, McCrometer Inc., Microtest, Molecular Devices, Molecular Devices (Austria) GmbH, Molecular Devices LLC, Navman Wireless, Navman Wireless OEM Solutions, Nihon Pall Ltd., Nihon Pall Manufacturing Limited, Nobel Biocare, OTT Hydromet Corp, Pall, Pall (Canada) ULC, Pall (China) Co. Ltd., Pall (Schweiz) GmbH, Pall Aeropower Corporation, Pall Artelis BVBA, Pall Asia Holdings Inc., Pall Australia Pty. Ltd., Pall Austria Filter Ges.m.b.h, Pall Corporation, Pall Europe Limited, Pall Filtersystems GmbH, Pall Filtration Pte. Ltd., Pall Filtration and Separations Group Inc., Pall France SAS, Pall GmbH, Pall India Pvt. Ltd., Pall International Sarl, Pall Italia Srl, Pall Korea Ltd., Pall Life Sciences Belgium BV, Pall Life Sciences Puerto Rico LLC, Pall Manufacturing UK Limited, Pall Medistad BV, Pall Netherlands BV Irish Branch, Pall Technology UK Limited, PaloDEX, Pantone LLC, Pelton & Crane, Phenomenex, Phenomenex Inc., QHC Ireland Finance Limited, Radiometer, Radiometer Basel AG, Radiometer K.K., Radiometer Medical ApS, Radiometer Medical Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Radiometer Turku Oy, Raytek, Reytek Corporation, SH Switzerland Finance Sarl, Sea-Bird Electronics Inc., SenDx Medical Inc., Shanghai AB Sciex Analytical Instrument Trading Co. Ltd., Sutron, Sybron Dental Specialties, TCIL Ireland Finance Ltd., Tektronix, Thomson Industries, Tianjin Bonna-Agela Technologies Co. Ltd., Trojan Technologies, Trojan Technologies Group ULC, VSS Monitoring, Videojet Do Brasil Comercio de Equipamentos Para Codificacao Industrial Ltda., Videojet Technologies (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Videojet Technologies Europe B.V., Videojet Technologies Inc., Viridor Waste Management Limited, Vision Systems Limited, Willett International, X-Ray Optical Systems Inc., X-Rite, X-Rite Europe GmbH, X-Rite Incorporated, X-Rite Switzerland GmbH, XOS, Yukon Hong Kong Holding Limited, and Zhuhai S.E.Z. Videojet Electronics Ltd..Crown Holdings, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells packaging products and equipment for consumer goods and industrial products in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. It offers products for consumer goods, including steel and aluminum cans for food, beverage, household, and other consumer products; glass bottles for beverage product; and metal vacuum closures and steel crowns through its sales organization to the soft drink, food, citrus, brewing, household products, personal care, and various other industries. The company also provides products for industrial products, such as steel and plastic strap consumables and equipment, paper-based protective packaging, and plastic film consumables and equipment to metals, food and beverage, construction, agricultural, corrugated, and general industries. In addition, it offers aerosol cans and ends; and promotional and specialty packaging containers with various lid and closure variations. Further, the company provides industrial film and other related products; transit protection products, such as airbags, edge protectors, and honeycombs; and equipment and tools, such as manual, semi-automatic, and automatic equipment and tools used in end of line manufacturing applications to apply consumables. Crown Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1892 and is headquartered in Yardley, Pennsylvania.

Read MoreEcopetrol S.A. operates as an integrated oil and gas company. The company operates through three segments: Exploration and Production; Transport and Logistics; and Refining, Petrochemical and Biofuels. It engages in the exploration, production, and sale of oil and gas; offshore exploration; energy supply services; specialized management services; and distribution of natural gas and LPG activities. It also transports and distributes hydrocarbons and derivative products. As of December 31, 2020, the company had approximately 9,127 kilometers of crude oil and multi-purpose pipelines. In addition, the company manufactures and commercializes polypropylene resins, compounds, and masterbatches; and offers refined and petrochemical products, and biofuels, as well as industrial service sales to customers. It has operations in Colombia, the United States, Asia, Central America and the Caribbean, Europe, South America, and internationally. Ecopetrol S.A. has a strategic alliance with Occidental Petroleum Corporation. The company was formerly known as Empresa Colombiana de PetrAleos and changed its name to Ecopetrol S.A. in June 2003. Ecopetrol S.A. was incorporated in 1948 and is based in BogotA, Colombia.

Read MoreChubb Limited provides insurance and reinsurance products worldwide. The company's North America Commercial P&C Insurance segment offers commercial property, casualty, workers' compensation, package policies, risk management, financial lines, marine, construction, environmental, medical, cyber risk, surety, and excess casualty; and group accident and health insurance to large, middle market, and small commercial businesses. Its North America Personal P&C Insurance segment provides affluent and high net worth individuals and families with homeowners, automobile and collector cars, valuable articles, personal and excess liability, travel insurance, and recreational marine insurance and services. The company's North America Agricultural Insurance segment offers multiple peril crop and crop-hail insurance; and coverage for farm and ranch property, and commercial agriculture products. Its Overseas General Insurance segment provides coverage for traditional commercial property and casualty; specialty categories, such as financial lines, marine, energy, aviation, political risk, and construction risk; and group accident and health, and traditional and specialty personal lines for corporations, middle markets, and small customers through retail brokers, agents, and other channels. The company's Global Reinsurance segment offers traditional and specialty reinsurance under the Chubb Tempest Re brand to property and casualty companies. Its Life Insurance segment provides protection and savings products comprising whole life, endowment plans, individual term life, group term life, medical and health, personal accident, credit life, universal life, and unit linked contracts. Chubb has collaboration with Marsh to secure insurance coverage for the COVAX no-fault compensation program. The company was formerly known as ACE Limited and changed its name to Chubb Limited in January 2016. Chubb Limited was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.

Read MoreSince 2016, Teeka Tiwari has trumped the stock market. His investment recommendations have each averaged 281%. Thats 17 times the S&P. And 112 times the average investor, according to JPMorgan! However, one investment Teeka just uncovered could top them all It involves former President Biden, billions of dollars, several large banks, and a super-rich family. As well as a MAJOR potential upgrade to our credit cards. Teeka, who ended up correctly picking the last investment of the decade, is declaring this his top pick for the 2020s.

Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited develops and invests in properties for sale and rent in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and internationally. It develops and sells properties, including residential estates, offices, shopping malls, industrial buildings, and hotels and serviced suites. As of June 30, 2020, the company's land bank comprised 57.5 million square feet of gross floor area in Hong Kong; and 68.1 million square feet of gross floor area in Mainland China. It also provides property management services; construction-related services, including landscaping, electrical and fire prevention systems, and construction plant and machinery leasing; and insurance products to individuals and businesses comprising householder's comprehensive, fire, employees' compensation, travel, personal accident, motor vehicles, contractors' all risks, third party liability, and property all risks. In addition, the company offers voice, multimedia, and mobile broadband services; and data center services, including infrastructure, facility management, server co-location, and other value-added services. Further, it manages car parks, tunnels, bridges, and toll roads; offers transport facilities for private and the public sectors; operates an expressway; provides public bus transportation services; and offers airport freight forwarding and aviation support services. Additionally, the company provides container handling and storage, container freight station, and other port-related services; operates department stores and supermarkets; and offers mortgage and other loan financing facilities, as well as asset and project management, architectural and engineering, cleaning, and secretarial services. It also engages in club and road management activities. The company was formerly known as Sun Hung Kai (Holdings) Limited and changed its name to Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited in March 1973. Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited was incorporated in 1972 and is based in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.

Read MoreImagine learning how to determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text (a Common Core required standard for reading literature at the 11th grade) when the night before you held your cousin in your arms as he bled to death. This is not a made-up example. It happened to a student in my 5th period last year.Wall Street analysts have given iShares Core MSCI Europe ETF a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but iShares Core MSCI Europe ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.Brookdale Senior Living Inc. owns and operates senior living communities in the United States. It operates through five segments: Independent Living, Assisted Living and Memory Care, Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs), Health Care Services, and Management Services. The Independent Living segment owns or leases communities comprising independent and assisted living units in a single community that are primarily designed for middle to upper income seniors. The Assisted Living and Memory Care segment owns or leases communities consisting of freestanding multi-story communities and freestanding single-story communities, which offer housing and 24-hour assistance with activities of daily life to mid-acuity and frail elderly residents. This segment also operates memory care communities for residents with Alzheimer's and other dementias. The CCRCs segment owns or leases communities that offer various living arrangements, such as independent and assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing; and services to accommodate various levels of physical ability and health needs. The Health Care Services segment provides home health, hospice, and outpatient therapy services. The Management Services segment operates communities under the management agreements. As of December 31, 2020, the company owned 350 communities, leased 301 communities, managed 72 communities on behalf of third parties, and 3 communities for which it has equity interest. Brookdale Senior Living Inc. is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee.

Read MoreBlackRock, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks. It also provides global risk management and advisory services. The firm manages separate client-focused equity, fixed income, and balanced portfolios. It also launches and manages open-end and closed-end mutual funds, offshore funds, unit trusts, and alternative investment vehicles including structured funds. The firm launches equity, fixed income, balanced, and real estate mutual funds. It also launches equity, fixed income, balanced, currency, commodity, and multi-asset exchange traded funds. The firm also launches and manages hedge funds. It invests in the public equity, fixed income, real estate, currency, commodity, and alternative markets across the globe. The firm primarily invests in growth and value stocks of small-cap, mid-cap, SMID-cap, large-cap, and multi-cap companies. It also invests in dividend-paying equity securities. The firm invests in investment grade municipal securities, government securities including securities issued or guaranteed by a government or a government agency or instrumentality, corporate bonds, and asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities. It employs fundamental and quantitative analysis with a focus on bottom-up and top-down approach to make its investments. The firm employs liquidity, asset allocation, balanced, real estate, and alternative strategies to make its investments. In real estate sector, it seeks to invest in Poland and Germany. The firm benchmarks the performance of its portfolios against various S&P, Russell, Barclays, MSCI, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch indices. BlackRock, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is based in New York City with additional offices in Boston, Massachusetts; London, United Kingdom; Gurgaon, India; Hong Kong; Greenwich, Connecticut; Princeton, New Jersey; Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Sydney, Australia; Taipei, Taiwan; Singapore; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington, District of Columbia; Toronto, Canada; Wilmington, Delaware; and San Francisco, California.

Read MoreSome people binge watch Netflix Huluor HBO shows. And some people turn their downtime into cash. James made $2,275 in just 19 minutesall thanks to something called The 15 Minute Workday. The average trade makes 12% in just 5 days (factoring winners and losers) which is out of this world.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a diversified financial institution, provides various financial products and services to personal, business, public sector, and institutional clients in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through four strategic business units: Canadian Personal and Business Banking; Canadian Commercial Banking and Wealth Management; U.S. Commercial Banking and Wealth Management; and Capital Markets. The company offers chequing, savings, and business accounts; mortgages; loans, lines of credit, student lines of credit, and business and agriculture loans; investment and insurance services; and credit cards, as well as overdraft protection services. It also provides day-to-day banking, borrowing and credit, investing and wealth, specialty, and international services; correspondent banking and online foreign exchange services; and cash management services. The company serves its customers through its banking centers, as well as direct, mobile, and remote channels. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was founded in 1867 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Read MoreAlly Financial Inc., a bank holding company, provides various digital financial products and services to consumer, commercial, and corporate customers primarily in the United States and Canada. It operates through four segments: Automotive Finance Operations, Insurance Operations, Mortgage Finance Operations, and Corporate Finance Operations. The Automotive Finance Operations segment offers automotive financing services, including providing retail installment sales contracts, loans and operating leases, term loans, financing dealer floorplans, warehouse lines to automotive retailers, and fleet financing. It also provides financing services to companies and municipalities for the purchase or lease of vehicles, and vehicle-remarketing services. The Insurance Operations segment offers consumer finance protection and insurance products through the automotive dealer channel, and commercial insurance products directly to dealers. This segment provides vehicle service and maintenance contract, and guaranteed asset protection products; and underwrites commercial insurance coverages, which primarily insure dealers' vehicle inventory. The Mortgage Finance Operations segment manages held-for-investment consumer mortgage loan portfolio that includes bulk purchases of jumbo and low-to-moderate income mortgage loans originated by third parties, as well as direct-to-consumer mortgage offerings. The Corporate Finance Operations segment provides senior secured leveraged cash flow and asset-based loans to middle market companies; leveraged loans; and commercial real estate product to serve companies in the healthcare industry. The company, through its subsidiary, Ally Bank, also offers commercial banking products and services. In addition, it provides securities brokerage and investment advisory services. The company was formerly known as GMAC Inc. and changed its name to Ally Financial Inc. in May 2010. Ally Financial Inc. was founded in 1919 and is based in Detroit, Michigan.

Read MoreSome of the people who object to Johns Hopkins Universitys proposal to create its own armed, sworn police force seem really to be objecting to the idea of police in general. Born of anger at the abuses bad cops and bad criminal justice policies have perpetrated on citizens  and most particularly against African Americans and other minorities  this line of thinking holds that more police would threaten the community, not protect it. Data from multiple studies dont support that notion. On the contrary, more police on the streets correlates strongly with lower crime, whereas the negative outcomes critics are worried about  harassment, intimidation, over-incarceration and excessive use of force  are functions of bad policy, bad training and bad management, not the number of cops. Adherents to the idea that an increase in the police presence is inherently harmful are vocal, but after years of runaway violence, we believe most Baltimoreans want police in their neighborhoods, just a better, more constitutional version of them than weve gotten from the Baltimore police in recent years.Celanese Corporation, a technology and specialty materials company, manufactures and sells high performance engineered polymers in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Engineered Materials, Acetate Tow, and Acetyl Chain segments. The Engineered Materials segment develops, produces, and supplies specialty polymers for automotive and medical applications, as well as for use in industrial products and consumer electronics. It also offers acesulfame potassium, a sweetener for use in various beverages, confections, and dairy products; and food protection ingredients, such as potassium sorbate and sorbic acid for use in foods, beverages, and personal care products. The Acetate Tow segment provides acetate tows and flakes for use in filter products applications. The Acetyl Chain segment produces and supplies acetyl products, including acetic acid, vinyl acetate monomers, acetic anhydride, and acetate esters that are used as starting materials for colorants, paints, adhesives, coatings, and pharmaceuticals; and organic solvents and intermediates for pharmaceutical, agricultural, and chemical products. It also offers vinyl acetate-based emulsions for use in paints and coatings, adhesives, construction, glass fiber, textiles, and paper applications; and ethylene vinyl acetate resins and compounds, as well as low-density polyethylene for use in flexible packaging films, lamination film products, hot melt adhesives, automotive parts, and carpeting applications. In addition, it manufactures ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. Celanese Corporation was founded in 1918 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.

Read MoreSince 2016, Teeka Tiwari has trumped the stock market. His investment recommendations have each averaged 281%. Thats 17 times the S&P. And 112 times the average investor, according to JPMorgan! However, one investment Teeka just uncovered could top them all It involves former President Biden, billions of dollars, several large banks, and a super-rich family. As well as a MAJOR potential upgrade to our credit cards. Teeka, who ended up correctly picking the last investment of the decade, is declaring this his top pick for the 2020s.

Veeva Systems Inc. provides cloud-based software for the life sciences industry in North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. The company offers Veeva Commercial Cloud, a suite of software, data, and analytics solutions, which include Veeva customer relationship management (CRM) and Veeva Medical CRM, Veeva CLM, Veeva CRM Approved Email, Veeva CRM Engage, Veeva Align, Veeva CRM Events Management, Veeva Nitro, Veeva Andi, Veeva OpenData, Veeva Link, Veeva Network Customer Master, Veeva Crossix, Veeva Data Cloud, and MyVeeva for Doctors; and Veeva Vault, a cloud-based enterprise content and data management applications for managing commercial functions, including sales and marketing, and medical content and communications, as well as research and development functions, such as clinical, regulatory, quality, and safety. It also provides professional and support services in the areas of implementation and deployment planning and project management; requirements analysis, solution design, and configuration; systems environment management and deployment services; services focused on advancing or transforming business and operating processes related to Veeva solutions; technical consulting services related to data migration and systems integrations; training on its solutions; and ongoing managed services that include outsourced systems administration. The company was formerly known as Verticals onDemand, Inc. and changed its name to Veeva Systems Inc. in April 2009. Veeva Systems Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Pleasanton, California.

Read MoreWatts Water Technologies, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells products and systems that manage and conserve the flow of fluids and energy into, through and out of buildings in the commercial and residential markets in the Americas, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. The company offers residential and commercial flow control products, including backflow preventers, water pressure regulators, temperature and pressure relief valves, and thermostatic mixing valves. It also provides heating, ventilation, and air conditioning and gas products, such as boilers, water heaters, and heating solution; hydronic and electric heating systems for under-floor radiant applications; custom heat and hot water solutions; hydronic pump groups for boiler manufacturers and alternative energy control packages; and flexible stainless steel connectors for natural and liquid propane gas in commercial food service and residential applications. In addition, the company offers drainage and water re-use products comprising drainage products and engineered rain water harvesting solutions for commercial, industrial, marine, and residential applications; and water quality products that include point-of-use and point-of-entry water filtration, conditioning, and scale prevention systems for commercial and residential applications. Further, it provides smart mixing system under the IntelliStation name; thermostat with home automation voice recognition capabilities under the Invita name; and platinum boiler under the AERCO Benchmark name. The company sells its products to plumbing, heating, and mechanical wholesale distributors and dealers, as well as original equipment manufacturers, specialty product distributors, do-it-yourself chains, and retail chains; and directly to wholesalers and private label accounts. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1874 and is headquartered in North Andover, Massachusetts.

Read MoreSome people binge watch Netflix Huluor HBO shows. And some people turn their downtime into cash. James made $2,275 in just 19 minutesall thanks to something called The 15 Minute Workday. The average trade makes 12% in just 5 days (factoring winners and losers) which is out of this world.

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Money in the bill for border barriers, about $1.4 billion, is far below the $5.7 billion Trump insisted he needed to build a wall along the Mexican boundary and would finance just a quarter of the 200-plus miles he wanted. The White House said he'd sign the legislation but act on his own to get the rest, a move that prompted immediate condemnation from Democrats and threats of lawsuits from states and others who might lose federal money or said Trump was abusing his authority.Brief Introduction of the Work:

Two thousand years ago, Mohism, once one of the three outstanding schools in the Warring States Period, disappeared mysteriously in the long history. Thirty years ago, grandpa, an expert in Mohist studies, received a mysterious letter from a folk scholar who said he occasionally obtained a manuscript which is the authentic work a great Mohist leader in the period of the Republic of China. The manuscript tells some fantastic Mohist secrets. Grandpa went to investigate, but when he came back, he unexpectedly announced that he had abandoned Mohist studies, which he loved for half his life.

Thirty years later, grandpa died mysteriously. ZHANG Zicheng, a young police and I found strange clues left behind by grandpa at the scene of his victimization, an old photograph, pocket watch and a note with a numerical password. At the same time, we unexpectedly met Moqi, who could tame horned viper, and the man in black with a mysterious weapon that we had never seen before. From their fierce conflicting dialogue, we find that both of them are descendants of Mohist.

Two thousand years ago, the Mohist School had three parts of the world: Mohist School of the State of Qi hided the most deeply, with no trace in history. Mohist School of the State of Qin was abandoned by Mo-tse, but the truth was not so simple as betrayal. Mohist School of the State of Chu established Yinling Religion and spread it secretly by way of opening up and introducing disciples. They adhered to Mo-tse's idea of "prosper everything benefiting the world, remove everything harming the world", and changed the trend of history through fantastic Mohist plots and Mohist tactics. For example, ZHANG Liang obtained the Plain Bookfrom HUANG Shigong and assisted LIU Bang in overthrowing the Qin Dynast. The Plain Book was the most important of the three books of Mohist School of the State of Chu. At the same time, the Mohist School of the State of Chu established by Mo-tse himself in his later years also hides and protects the deepest secret of Mohist School in Yinling Cave.

The death of grandpa led to Mohist School of the State of Qin, which has existed for thousands of years. As they found Yinling Cave and wanted to get Mo-tse's secret, they took me to Huashan Riddle Cave. When we opened the city of Mohist machine-operated traps in Yinling Cave, we saw subtle machine-operated traps, amazing tactical formations, lost sculpture technologies and beasts strangely fed by Mohist. The incredible world of Mohist finally unveiled its mystery after thousands of years of immersion. What shocked us is that our mission in the reincarnation of fate has already been doomed. What makes the whole world boiling is not only the secret of Mo-tse hidden in the Mohist organ city...

Hidden Mohist (The secrets of the Mohist which has been silent for two thousand years were unveiled. The most special occupation around you is decrypted.)

1. A Letter of 30 Years Ago

My grandfather, surnamed Luo, is an excellent geography professor. In the 1980s, he published in a national journal an academic article on a conjecture about Mohist. Mohist was one of the three outstanding schools in the Warring States Period and was prosperous in a short period of time. After the Qin Dynasty, it lost its light for unknown reasons and disappeared into the long history. Over the past two thousand years, there have been few history books recording Mohist.

SIMA Qians Records of the Historianonly recorded 24 words. The Book named Hidden Taoismof the Qing Dynasty contains some Mohist contents, which are only minor details. Because of the broken records of Mohism in history and the present situation that there is no trace to follow, grandpa's article did not attracted the attention of domestic academic circles.

However, in the second week after publishing the article, grandpa received an incredible letter. The content of the letter was very simple, but he was so excited that he kept himself in his study for two days and two nights without coming out. The contents of the letter are as follows:

Dear Professor Luo:

Hello!

Two weeks ago, I read your article about Mohism in the newspaper, and I was very excited. A few years ago, I unexpectedly got a manuscript whose author was unknown. The process is coincidental. All kinds of details are saved. The manuscript involves many mysterious Mohist secrets.

As I cannot distinguish the true from the false, the contents are not convincing, and even involve some so-called superstitions, it is not proper to publicize the seminar of Mohism to the public. Now I see that you, as a geographer, have put forward some geographically proven remarks, so I can't help but write this letter to you, hoping that you can help me with those puzzles ...

Folk Scholars of Mohist on May 15, 1984

I don't know what grandpa did in his study in those two days. Two days later, at noon, he suddenly rushed out with an old suitcase and told Grandma that he was going to go on a long journey. He also said that he had discovered an earth-shaking secret. If he could continue to investigate, he might become the person in history closest to the truth of Mohism. Grandma was irritated as grandpa might have said this to her seven or eight times, Grandma said, you are not a historian. Why do you study Mohist! Grandpa became furious and the old couple fell out on the spot. Grandpa threw off his sleeves, and he walked away for more than a month without any news. Just as the family was busy calling the police for help, grandpa suddenly came back.

Grandpa stood at the door in ragged clothes, unkempt face, dark face, in a trance. He fell asleep on the sofa as soon as he entered the door. Grandma saw that he had many strange symbols on his body, as if someone had carved them with a knife. Some scars had not recovered. They were inflamed, red and swollen. She was so distressed that she wanted to wipe them while crying. When she touched him, grandpa suddenly woke up and covered her body, saying that it was the most precious thing in the world recorded by him with a knife. She could never touch it! After that, he rushed into the study and locked the door. There was a sound of rumbling about the documents inside. Grandma cried and telephoned my dad saying that grandpa was crazy. My dad came through the night and opened the door only to have found grandpa lying on the cement floor of his study and falling asleep again. They put grandpa to bed and waited for a day and a night. Grandpa finally opened his eyes!

He told my father and grandmother that it took him almost a month to find the folk scholar and meet him in a county town near Xi'an. The scholar could not wait to ask him a lot of questions firstly, then sighed and said that he thought the manuscript was unusual. He dug a hole in the wall and hid it. Later, a flood in the village washed away the wall and also the manuscript. He only kept a few abstracts recorded by him and he was willing to give them to grandpa if grandpa needs them. Grandpa glanced over the abstract on the spot and thought it was meaningless. Grandpa asked him to keep them well and then left.

My father and my grandmother stared at him, wondering whether what he said was true or false. Does he think we are all fools? But grandpa just told them so and kept silent about his wounds and other things. What is more puzzling is that after that, in the next 30 years, grandpa unexpectedly abandoned his enthusiasm for pursuing the truth of Mohist for half his life.

Until my 20th birthday, it turned back unexpectedly, and life began to change dramatically.

2. Accident

grandpa has always been in good health. Although he is over 70 years old, he always goes on business to give lectures. On my 20th birthday, my father suddenly cried and called me and told me that grandpas body was found in Huxian County, Xi'an. My father was coming back from abroad. At that time I was studying in Xi'an Jiaotong University. As soon as I heard the bad news, I rushed to the scene.

The morgue was crowded with policemen. Grandpas body was horrible. There was no complete piece of flesh on his body. It seemed that he had been brutally shaved. I wept in front of his terrible body.

I was taken to the public security bureau for the record and routine investigation. A policeman of my age took me to an office. He is handsome with a fair complexion and two big eyes that could not be idle for a moment, always looking east and west.

The policeman handed me a cigarette and patted me comfortably on my shoulder.

"Don't be too sad, Xiao Luo. Aren't we all born to death?"

"Is it murder? Why are there so many policemen? I asked him red-eyed.

The young policeman shook his head and looked puzzled.

"Do you know why your grandfather came here?"

"Is it about his school?"

The young policeman shook his head.

"It seems that he was acting in secret. Do you know that he is a frequent guest in Huxian County?

"Frequent guest?" I was surprised to open my mouth. I didn't know the legendary story of grandpa in the 1980s.

"The villagers found him near Ma'anling in Qingliangshan, which should have happened last night. His chest was pierced. The thing which pierced him was a bit strange. I can't tell you the details yet." The young policeman wanted to stop talking. He handed me some pictures of the scene and picked up his pen and book. "Look, can you give us any clues?"

I saw grandpa lying in the mud in the picture and his clothes were almost worn out. I felt sad again. Suddenly, my eyes fell on a picture of grandpa's upper body. I saw his right hand. The thumb and ring finger stayed together and the other three fingers were straight. I remember this gesture. When I was a child, grandpa and I played hide-and-seek at grandpa's house. It was a special gesture of us, suggesting that Grandma's hiding place was the study. Did he make this gesture on his deathbed by accident or by implication?

" LUO Mofu, your name is very interesting. Did your grandfather give it to you?" The young policeman didn't notice the change of expression on my face. And I nodded.

"Thirty years ago, Mr. Luo was the pillar of the Chinese Mohist Society and had some reputation abroad. For some reason, he suddenly abandoned study on Mohist studies. Your name really makes me fall into a reverie. In Guangya, Fu means hiding. LUO Mofu, did your grandfather tell you about Mohism?

"I haven't heard of him. Why do you ask?

"Did you hear that Mo-tse wrote a fantastic book?"

"TheMohist Canon?" Grandpa didn't talk about it, but I took Chinese Studies as a freshman.

"No, it's Mo-tse's Five Elements, which roughly means Mo-tse's skills of change. The major work of skills of change is Mo-tse's Five Elements which consists of five volumes. With drugs and charms, it enables people to fly up and down, hide oneself in uncertain state, change into a smiling women, change into a old man, squat and change into a child, hold a crabstick and there are forests immediately, make melons and fruits just planted become ripe and edible immediately, scratch a land lot and it becomes river, change a handful of earth turns into a mountain, sit still and summon all kinds of delicacies, it may summon clouds and set fires and do everything.

"Can you stop talking about it?" I got agitated and stood up. "Who killed my grandpa? Isn't that what you should do? Does Mohist have anything to do with this case? Are you incapable of using metaphysics to settle a case?

The young policeman was irritated after hearing what I said, and suddenly stood up. "Don't think we do nothing" It's because the weapon that stabbed your grandpa can't exist in our time. It has a lot to do with Mohism."

"Shit, you really want to use metaphysics to close the case!"

When the two of us were shouting, there was a sudden noise outside. Many villagers gathered outside the window with furious looks. It seemed that they would fight with the policeman at the door.

"Don't go out." The young policeman walked out nervously. I heard a snap and he locked me inside. I was shocked. Could it be that these villagers came for me? I pepped out the window.

Among the villagers, there was a big and tall young man at the age of more than 20 years old, who had an indescribable affinity and wisdom on his face that did not match his age. His eyes were different from those of all the people I had met. There was a melancholy and gentle mood slowly flowing between his eyes. This is an unforgettable face, because handsome can not be used to describe this man, although it is a face that looks very standard and handsome. I think the strength on his face is more suitable for the word of charming!

The man was like the leader among them. The villagers kept glancing at him and asking for his advice.

I pried a crack in the window and their voice became clear.

"I didn't expect this old fellow to come here every year. He has have ulterior motives!"

"Damned! He deceived us for more than 30 years by acting like a good person!"

"Murderer!! The thieves who steal things deserve to die. That's retribution!!

"Let his family return it to us. Otherwise, the whole Dongya Village will not spare them! Isn't his grandson here? We will kill him if he does not return the things to us.

It was really against me. I was shocked. I couldn't help lowering my head an inch. My grandfather had an accident, and I unexpectedly became the target of public criticism.

"Enough! Dare you kill anyone at the gate of the Public Security Bureau?" Several policemen kept order at the door. We have enough troubles. Don't bother us. Go back at once! Tianci, you are learned. You can't be the same as them! "

GENG Tianci took out an old book and an envelope from his bosom and handed it carefully to the elderly policeman. His movements were soft and gentle, and the charm between his hands and his feet was still indescribable. "This is what Goudanzi just gave me. He said he had drunk too much last night and forgot to bring it. The policeman changed his face. He turned round quickly and got into the building. Soon my door was opened and he handed the letter to me.

"Is it your grandfather's handwriting?"

I felt strange and took the letter. It looked like grandpa's handwriting. It was dated two days ago. The letter was short and addressed to a man named GENG Tianci.

The content of the letter is that 30 years ago, GENG Tianci's father GENG Xiang wrote a letter to him in detail, saying that he had got a manuscript about Mohism. Grandpa came all the way to Huxian County to meet him, but he said that the handbook was gone. With his ability to observe cultivated over years, grandpa confirmed that GENG Xiang was lying. Because of his deep love for Mohism, grandpa did not go home immediately, but followed him. As such a big affair happened in the daytime, GENG Xiang definitely would have a discussion with his family. So in the evening, grandpa sneaked under their window to try his luck and heard that GENG Xiang quarrel fiercely with his wife. GENG Xiang detailed that it shows that this manuscript must be valuable treasure that the scientist in the city came in person. We must hide it well. His wife scolded him for having a demon in his heart. His son Tianci was just born.

It's the right thing to raise a family by planting well. He can't understand this stuff. So it's better to give it to the scientist for study. GENG Xiang scolded his wife for lack of vision, indicating that he would go to find a place to hide it tomorrow. His wife said he could not find somewhere else. It must be his master grave.

Grandpa did a few days of ideological struggle, feeling that it was a waste to hide the manuscript.

Out of his stubborn love for history, grandpa hesitated for many days. Finally, he couldn't help but make a mistake. He secretly returned to Huxian County and found what the main grave as GENG Xiang's wife said. He found the manuscript, dug it out and took it away. It is more immoral to touch the mater grave than to steal the treasure of others. After going back home, grandpa felt guilty. He could not endure the condemnation of conscience and gave up his research. He was afraid that his work and reputation would be affected, so he dared not bring it back. Later, grandpa heard that GENG Xiang could not find the manuscript there and got mad. He fell down the mountain and died. Grandpa felt even guiltier. He thought he had indirect responsibility, so he always took care of GENG Xiang's family secretly.

Grandpa said that he was over 60 years old and had suffered psychological torture for over half his life. He didn't want to die with the secret not unveiled. So, he decided to tell the old story frankly, hoping to get the forgiveness of GENG Xiang's family and return the manuscript to them.

I was startled and suddenly remembered something and slapped the table.

"Grandpa returned his notebook and then he was killed. Did they do it? Look at how angry they are now. We should investigate them carefully, especially the one named GENG Tianci!" I told the policeman that it should be the handwriting of my grandpa, but this is exactly the motive of the case.

The elder policeman did not reply. He stood up and took out a file bag from the file cabinet behind him and put it in front of me. The file was written with two big words, suspended case! I opened it curiously and found that the victim's name was GENG Tianci's father GENG Xiang.

"They're so excited because GENG Xiang didn't fall down and die by himself. According to the posture of his fall and the signs before his death, the expert gave the result that he was pushed down the hill by force. There have been no suspects and no witnesses for 30 years. GENG Xiang is very respected in the village. Villagers have been complaining about us because the murderer has not been found. This is our most troublesome suspense case.

I think could it be that grandpa changes from a victim to a murderer of 30 years ago. Seeing the worn manuscript in the hands of the elder policeman, I wondered why they still shouted at us to return the stolen things.

Just as I was thinking about it, a big brick smashed the glass outside the window and flew in. The crack in the window I had just broken was widened by someone outside. A villager saw me and shouted at once.

"His grandson is here!" Several villagers shouted and jumped in from outside. One of them came up, grabbed my collar and shouted.

"Give us back the two treasures and three books! Otherwise, you don't even want to leave here!"

"Stop it!" The old policeman stood up suddenly, but the scene was out of control.

"What two treasures and three books?" I suddenly thought of grandpa's posture on his deathbed. What treasures did grandpa steal? Are they in my study?

"Don't make a pretence! Your grandfather is an expert in Mohism. You dont know two treasures and three books?!! One of them came up and slapped me. I felt stinging in the face. "Your grandfather is a thief, and you are definitely not a good person!"

That villager wanted to beat me again and I kicked him away with one foot. When I was 9 years old, my mother sent me to Shaolin Martial Arts School. She did not agree me to give up halfway even if I felt very tired and hard. After a few years, I was in better health and I also trained myself with good kungfu. But my fighting back was unwise. They were so irrational that a group of people came rushing towards me madly.The following companies are subsidiares of American International Group: AGC Life Insurance Company, AIG APAC HOLDINGS PTE. LTD., AIG Advisors S.r.l., AIG Aerospace Insurance Services Inc., AIG Asia Pacific Insurance Pte. 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Read MoreThe Taliban said on Wednesday its negotiators would next week meet the top US and Pakistani officials including Prime Minister Imran Khan during a key round of talks in Islamabad as part of the ongoing Afghan peace talks. Neither Washington nor Islamabad immediately confirmed the announcement by the Taliban.

On the formal invitation of the government of Pakistan, another meeting is scheduled to take place between the negotiation teams of the Islamic Emirate and the US on 18th of February, 2019 in Islamabad, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement.

The Talibans delegation would also meet Prime Minister Khan, the statement said.

Mujahid said the regular round of talks was already scheduled to be held on February 25 in Qatar. He said that in the meeting with Khan, Taliban would have comprehensive discussions about Pak-Afghan relations and issues pertaining to Afghan refugees and Afghan businessmen.Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha constituency, one of the biggest constituencies of Haryana in terms of area, had come into existence in 2008 as a part of the implementation of the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission of India constituted in 2002.

The delimitation process had led to the inclusion of Ahirwal voters in the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh constituency changing the caste equation in the electoral contest that was earlier restricted to Jat candidates only.

BJPs Dharambir Singh, who had quit the Congress before 2014 Lok Sabha polls, had trounced his nearest rival, Rao Bahadur Singh of Indian National Lok Dal with a margin of over 1.29 lakh votes in Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha seat.

Interestingly, Dharambir, who had jumped into the poll fray after resigning from the post of MLA from the Sohna assembly segment in Gurugram, had managed to get the BJPs ticket within 24 hours of quitting the Congress.

Dharambir, a Jat leader is a known party-hopper and had previously been with the Indian National Lok Dal as well.

In 2014 general elections, the outgoing MP and Congress nominee Shruti Choudhry, granddaughter of architect of modern Haryana, Chaudhary Bansi Lal and daughter of senior Congress leader Kiran Choudhary had finished at the third spot.

The Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha constituency covers the major part of Bhiwani district and the entire Mahendragarh district in Haryana. It was created by merging four assembly segments namely Ateli, Mahendragarh, Narnaul and Nangal Chaudhry of the erstwhile Mahendragarh parliamentary constituency and five assembly segments including Loharu, Badhra, Dadri, Bhiwani and Tosham of the erstwhile Bhiwani Lok Sabha constituency.

According to the political analysts, Bhiwani-Mahendragarh is a rural constituency with more than 3.75 lakh Jat voters, over 2.9 lakh Ahir voters and around 1.50 Brahmins.

In the past two elections in the constituency, the political parties have focused to woo both Jat and Ahir voters.

In 2014 parliamentary polls, the constituency had witnessed a triangular contest with Congress fielding its outgoing MP Shruti Choudhry, BJP relying on Congress turncoat Dharambir Singh, a Jat leader and INLD fielding Rao Bahadur Singh, who was an MLA from Nangal Choudhry at that time.

Aam Aadmi Partys Lalit Agarwal, farmers leader Master Sher Singh of the CPI and BSPs Ved Pal Tanwar were also in the fray from the parliamentary seat.

BJPs Dharambir was polled 4.04 lakh votes (39.26 percent), INLDs Rao Bahadur Singh got 2.75 lakh votes (26.70 percent) while Congress Shruti Choudhry had finished at third place securing 2.68 lakh votes (26.02 percent).

Political experts credit the Modi wave in 2014 for the victory of Dharambir Singh. Even though INLDs Rao Bahadur Singh, an Ahir leader was backed by the voters of Ahir community who dominate Mahendragarh, he could not manage to win the parliamentary seat. On the other hand, strong anti-incumbency factor, infighting in the Congress besides Modi wave made Congress nominee Shruti Choudhry to slip to the third position in the triangular electoral battle on the parliamentary seat in 2014 general elections, say political analysts.

BJPs Dharambir had led in six assembly segments namely Dadri, Nangal Chaudhry, Narnaul, Mahendragarh, Ateli and Bhiwani. While INLDs nominee had led in Badhra segment, Congress Shruti Choudhry had managed to get lead in two assembly segments including Loharu and Tosham.

The constituency has more than 15.74 lakh voters, according to the Election Commission.

For the ensuing Lok Sabha polls, the current MP Dharambir Singh is seen as a frontrunner for the BJPs ticket from the constituency.

While Dharambir Singh had earlier expressed his interest to contest 2019 assembly elections from Tosham assembly segment in Haryana instead of Lok Sabha polls, he had recently taken a u-turn over his previous statement.

Earlier, it was also speculated that he is unhappy with the current Manohar Lal Khattar led BJP Government in Haryana over their handling of the Jat reservation issue.

Dharambir was recently quoted saying that he is ready to contest the parliamentary polls if the BJP gives him a ticket again from the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh constituency seat.

Notably, it was due to Dharambirs clout in the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh belt that the BJP had to taste humiliating defeat in Tosham assembly segment seat in 2014 assembly elections in Haryana. After being denied BJPs ticket, his younger brother Rajbir Singh Lala had contested as an independent and caused the BJP nominee Gunpal to forfeit his deposit and finished at poor sixth spot. Former Minister and Congress nominee Kiran Chaudhary had got over 58,000 votes to win the Tosham assembly seat.

Dharambir is considered as an arch-rival of Bansi Lal clan, having defeated former Chief Minister Bansi Lal, his son Surender Singh in assembly polls and his granddaughter Shruti Choudhry in the last Lok Sabha polls.

Congress is likely to again repose its faith on Shruti Choudhry, who is carrying forward the political legacy of her grandfather and former Chief Minister Bansi Lal.

Her mother, Kiran Choudhry, the Congress legislature party leader and prominent Jat leader from the late Bansi Lal family is presently an MLA from Tosham assembly seat in Haryana.

Shruti Choudhry had earlier defeated INLD chief OP Chautalas son Ajay Chautala in 2009 Lok Sabha polls on Bhiwani-Mahendragarh parliamentary seat to register her maiden victory in the electoral battle.

While her mother Kiran Choudhrys differences with former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is well known, the faction-ridden Haryana Congress had in 2014 polls put up a united face and many senior party leaders including Hooda himself had addressed a rally seeking votes for Shruti.

The election campaign in 2014 Lok Sabha polls had also taken an ugly turn when Kiran Choudhry was attacked by three youths in Narnaul and had received head and chest injuries. After being pelted with stones during the election campaign, she had charged BJPs Dharambir Singh of conspiring to hurt her.

Eyeing the Congress ticket from the seat, Shruti Choudhry has already begun her campaign for 2019 general elections and has been addressing public meetings in the constituency.

The INLD, Haryanas main opposition party may go with a sitting MLA for the constituency while the Jannayak Janta Party and Aam Aadmi Party are busy chalking out their seat sharing arrangement to contest on 10 seats of Lok Sabha in Haryana.

Mayawatis Bahujan Samaj Party which has made an alliance with Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP) of BJP rebel MP Raj Kumar Saini is also scouting for probable candidate.State prosecutors allege Burdett and other advocates at the Salisbury rally agreed to meet with a congressional staffer in his office, which could only seat a few people. When another member of Harriss staff noticed several people on their phones, the group was told they were not allowed to record because of an office policy, the state prosecutors office said in its news release.This beautiful hill station has always been associated with literary and scholarly activity. Renowned writer Ruskin Bond, who has been living here since 1963, has brought into focus this hill town through his stories as well as descriptions of the long years he has spent in Landour (Old Mussoorie). Stephen Alter and his cousin, the late Tom Alter (residents of Landour) are very well-known names in writing. Ganesh Saili, Bill Aitken, and Hugh and Colleen Gantzer also reside in Mussoorie. Anita Desai was born in Mussoorie. However, Mussoorie had established its relationship with writers and writing much before this. In the times of the world famous Victorian author-the great Charles Dickens.

February 7 this year was the 207th birth anniversary of Charles Dickens. Most people know that Rudyard Kipling had visited Mussoorie. However, it is not a commonly known fact that even Charles Dickens had a connection with this popular hill station in North India. Dickens was born on February 7 , 1812. In 2012, his bicentenary was celebrated all over the world.

It is indeed a matter of great pride for the hill town that it even had a correspondent living here in the nineteenth century who wrote for two magazines edited by Charles Dickens namely Household Words and All the Year Round. This correspondent was John Lang, the brilliant Australian writer and lawyer who wrote for Household Words a weekly magazine established by Charles Dickens. Lang spent the last years of his life in Mussoorie. He died here on August 20, 1864, at the age of 48. The story of his life in Mussoorie is an integral part of the hill stations almost two hundred year old history.

In Wanderings in India, his travelogue, Lang has given vivid descriptions of the natural splendour Mussoorie was endowed with. He has written a long article on the famous Himalaya Club which was then the centre of all social activity and is now a hotel, located in the Landour area of Mussoorie. Balls, carnivals, gambling and music marked the social life of which this club was the centre. Lang also describes how God Save the Queen was sung on the Mall Road and the Marchpast conducted to the accompaniment of a band. This article appeared in the issue of Household Words (edited by the great Charles Dickens) dated March 21, 1857. Wrote Lang, This is the first time that the Himalaya mountains have listened to the joyous sound of music. We have danced to music within doors, but never, until this day, have we heard a band in the open air in the Himalaya mountains. How wonderful is the effect! From valley to valley echo carries the sound.

Noted contributors to Household Words included Dickens's deputy-editor, W H Wills, and members of the "stable" of writers Dickens patronized, encouraged, exhorted and criticized: Dickens's close friends Sir Edward G D Bulwer Lytton, , Thomas Noon Talfourd, Chancy Hare Townshend, John Forster, Wilkie Collins, two colonial journalists, John Capper and John Lang, Charles Whitehead, Edwin Arnold, Mary Howitt, Dora Greenell, William Cox Bennett, John Critchley Prince, Thomas Miller, Mary Jane Tomkins and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Household Words betrays itself as a Shakespearean allusion in its full title: "Familiar in their mouths as Household Words" (Henry V, Act IV, Scene iii, line, 52  in the young monarch's famous "Saint Crispin's day" speech). Charles Dickens and his London publishers, Bradbury and Evans, founded Household Words as a weekly magazine with the purpose "to show to all, that in all familiar things, even those which are repellant on the surface, there is Romance enough, if we will find it out".

Dickens's own contributions to Household Words were both plentiful and significant: in addition to providing the magazine with weekly instalments of Hard Times, in its pages he published both A Child's History of England (1851) and The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices (1857) serially, and contributed in his own right 108 essays and articles (as well as collaborating on a further 45). Over a quarter of the pieces in Household Words were written by Dickens's regular editorial staff of five (Dickens, Collins, Wills, Horne, and Morley).

During his stay in the hill town, Lang married a spinster of Mussoorie called Margaret Wetter and a record of the marriage can be seen in the record book of the Landour Church. This was his second marriage. Lang died of bronchitis. Says Ruskin Bond, When he died, he left everything to his second wife, whom he married in Mussoorie in 1861; but what happened to her after his death remains a mystery.

When news of the 1857 revolution (called mutiny by the British) broke in Britain, Household Words responded slowly and cautiously. Not until the publication of John Langs series Wanderings in India which appeared from November 1857 to February 1858 did the journal produce a consistent reaction to the revolution .Set in 1849-91, the series of 12 instalments posed as a straightforward travelogue that retrospectively prophesied and explained the rebellion, as it were. Lang also used to contribute to All the Year Around, edited by Dickens. Lang was buried in Mussoorie.Due to inclement weather, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was unable to reach Rudrapur where he was slated to launch schemes and address a public gathering held there. However, he addressed the people gathered on the occasion via mobile phone.

He also launched Rs 3,400 crore integrated cooperative development project. Earlier, the PM arrived in Dehradun airport and reached Corbett tiger reserve from there. However, he was unable to travel to Rudrapur from there due to the weather.

Addressing the gathering via phone, the Prime Minister apologised for not being able to be there due to inclement weather.

He thanked the large number of people who had arrived in Rudrapur on the occasion.

Speaking about his love for Uttarakhand, he said that Rudrapur was important for the state. Industrial units here are contributing to industrial development of the state apart from the importance of the region for farming. Rudrapur has become known at the international level after establishment of SIIDCUL.

Modi said he was happy that he had made dedicated efforts to fulfill the promises made during the election. Stating that Uttarakhand was created thanks to the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he said the BJP Government will make all efforts to nurture the State.

Various initiatives have been taken during the past four and a half years for enhancing road, rail and air connectivity along with ensuring the prosperity of farmers, youth and women.

Work is underway on the Char Dham all-weather road project which will not only strengthen connectivity but also bring prosperity.Under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, skill development of 4,000 hotel workers and 1,000 tourist guides will be facilitated on the Yatra circuit.

Stating that rail network is quite limited in the State, he said that Centre is providing three-times more money for strengthening rail connectivity in Uttarakhand.

Construction of the Rishikesh-Karnprayag rail line will not only make Char Dham Yatra easier but will also fulfill the dream of operating trains in the mountains.

Additionally, rail line will also be laid on the Doiwala-Gangotri-Yamunotri route, he said.

To strengthen road connectivity in border areas, facilitate direct connection between residents of such areas with the rest of the nation and considering strategic importance, about 628 kilometres of roads are being constructed under Bharatmala project in the border aras of Uttarakhand.

Speaking about Centres initiatives he said that the Ayushman Bharat Yojana had been launched to provide free medical treatment costing up to Rs 5 lakh a year to 10 crore poor families. About 12 lakh people have received free treatment under this scheme so far.

Modi also appreciated chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat for expanding the range of this scheme with the launch of Atal Ayushman Uttarakhand Yojana to provide health cover to all families in the State.

Modi said during his tenure, action has been taken against corruption and a healthy work culture has been nurtured.

A better transparent culture of work has been developed with performance and quick delivery responsibility of officials from top to bottom being fixed. Appreciating the Uttarakhand Government, he said that during the nearly two years since its formation, the State Government had succeeded in providing a clean and transparent Government.

The PM added with the start of the integrated cooperative development project, small and middle farmers will benefit directly. This project amounting to Rs 3,340 crore will enhance opportunities for those involved in agriculture, horticulture, dairy production, animal husbandry and fishery.

Stating that migration and employment are major issues in the State, he said that start of this scheme will provide employment opportunities to 55,000 youth while about 50 lakh population will derive direct or indirect benefit.

Speaking about the various aspects of this project, he also appreciated the steps taken by the State Government in the interests of farmers.

Appreciating Rawat for holding investors summit last year, he also referred to major steps taken in the tourism sector.

The National Cooperative Development Corporation managing director Sandeep Kumar presented a cheque for Rs 100 crore to CM Rawat as first installment under the ICDP. After presenting loans to beneficiaries, the CM said under the Deendayal Upadhyay cooperative farmers welfare scheme, Rs 1,100 short term/crop loan had been distributed to two lakh farmers in Uttarakhand.

He said the PM had always accorded top priority to the welfare of farmers. He also spoke about the various developments facilitated in different spheres by the Central Government in Uttarakhand.

Union Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot, MP Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Union minister of State Ajay Tamta, former CM Vijay Bahuguna, cabinet ministers Yashpal Arya, Arvind Pande, Subodh Uniyal, Harak Singh Rawat, Satpal Maharaj, Madan Kaushik, State ministers Dhan Singh Rawat, Rekha Arya and BJP state president Ajay Bhatt were also present on the occasion.The issue of alleged politicisation of the Sikhs mini parliament, Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), rocked the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Thursday. So much so, that a Congress senior legislator even declared to contest polls to the Sikh body.

With majority of legislators accusing the Badals-led Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) of taking control of the Sikh body and deliberately delaying elections, the House authorised the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to take up with the Centre the issue of expediting the process of holding SGPC elections.

The House, including the Congress, and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators, passed a resolution authorising the Chief Minister to take up the issue with the Government of India regarding appointing the Gurudwara Election Commissioner and holding the elections to elect SGPCs new executive body at the earliest.

During the Zero Hour, Dakha MLA HS Phoolka raised the issue pointing that he had received a reply to his letter from the Prime Minister which stated that the term of the SGPCs current house stands completed in December 2016, and the House should pass a resolution urging the Centre to hold elections and appoint gurudwara election commissioner soon.

Phoolka, who has resigned as AAP and had also submitted his resignation twice with the Vidhan Sabha Speaker Rana KP Singh, also requested the Chief Minister to meet the Union Home Minister to take up the matter.

Agreeing with Phoolka, Chief Minister said that the elections were not being held deliberately since past three years and it was the right of every body in Punjab to elect their representatives in the Sikh body.

On this, SAD MLA NK Sharma objected urging the Speaker to make it clear whether Phoolka is still a member of the House...whether he has withdrawn his resignation. Soon, AAP MLAs opposed Sharmas assertion, coming out in open support of Phoolka.

Amidst hullabaloo, Capt Amarinder moved the resolution to authorise him to take up the matter with the Centre, which was passed by the House right away.

However, SAD MLA Bikram Majithia alleged that the House is facing a constitutional crisis as it was totally unclear who is in AAP, and who is in rebel party...It seems it is Congress B-team. At the same time, he made it clear that SAD was not opposed to elections, rather it welcomes any democratic process.

Coming to Phoolkas rescue, Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said that renowned advocate would go down in history for the service he had rendered for the Sikhs. They were the ones who were talking about honouring him, and now they are upset because he has shaken their foundation, said Sidhu.

With the SAD-BJP MLAs continued to raise slogans, Phoolka stressed that every Sikh wanted that the SGPC should be freed from the politics.

AAP MLA and the Leader of Opposition Harpal Cheema said that the Akali Dal members were crying foul on the resolution for having early elections to the SGPC as they had grabbed the Sikh body for political gains.

Later, during a discussion on a resolution to formulate a law to check superstitious practices in the state, Cabinet Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu asserted that the SGPC has been completely politicised and has remained a puppet in few hands. He also accused the SGPC of not effectively performing its role of promoting Sikh masters teachings.

Congress MLA Kuljit Singh Nagra also accused the SAD of taking control over the SGPC.

Congress MLA Harminder Singh Gill even declared that the party would surely contest the SGPC elections claiming that we are better Sikh than you.

Later, talking informally with mediapersons outside the House, the Chief Minister termed the delay in SGPC elections as wrong and unfair for the people of Punjab.

There was unanimity in the House on the issue as the elections are over due by three years. Only the Akalis and BJP were not in favour, he said.A blood and eye donation camp was inaugurated at project building secretariat on Thursday. Chief Secretary Sudhir Tripathi inaugurated the camp and addressed the gathering. Expressing his views he said that blood and eye donation camps play an integral role in creating a healthy society. People who donate their blood and eyes are an inspiration to the others. Those organising these camps also have a sense of service and the well being of those around them.

While praising the camp organised by the Secretariat Service Association and Maa Youth Organisation, the CS said that the workers at the Secretariat are also performing their social obligations by doing such work. It gives a positive message to all the state workers. On the spot many employees donated their blood while several others pledged to donate their eyes at the Kayshap Eye Memorial Hospital.The AIIMS Bhopal will support and collaborate in research in Homoeopathy, Ayurveda and Unani. AIIMS Bhopal director, Dr Sarman Singh said, Our aim is that science should progress. We are ready to assist in research in any pathy.

He was speaking at a workshop on Basic research and its methodology in the light of ethics, organised by MP Government Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital (GHMCH), here on Thursday.

He further said, Let there be scientific evidence and only then we could look at supplementary treatment through Ayush. Experts have often cited that success stories are highlighted by Ayush. However, scientific and statistical data is not comprehensive enough to back the claims.

Modern science has often dismissed homeopathy, Ayurveda, Unani and other system of Indian medicine. There have been various medical papers calling homeopathy a placebo effect. Ayurveda has found it tough to get USFDA approvals. In 2016, US federal trade commission report stated homeopathic remedies on the market are just extremely diluted versions of plant or animal extracts believed to bring relief to symptoms.

However, high level of government funding research in Ayush has titled the scale. There is a lot of money (in Ayush). We are not shy to explore, said an AIIMS expert at the workshop which was attended Ayush medical officers, post graduate and PhD scholars.

Agreeing that science and evidence is lagging, GHMCH principal Dr SK Mishra said that once quality of research is assured by AIIMS, it would create an opening and opportunity to complement and coordinate.

AIIMS Bhopal faculty would assist GHMCH students and faculty. Quality control, observation and analysis of more than one statistical outcome variable at a time, single blind and a double blind study along with basics of preparation of research proposal would be carried out.

It has been found that after switching over to homeopathy drug resistance (to Gentamicin) came down, said GHMCH, nodal officer and consultant research, Dr Nishant Nambison.As many as 49 cataract patients were successfully operated upon during the four-day camp organised by Lions Club, Bokaro thermal that concluded on Thursday. Live surgery of cataract operation was done through phaco method where Dr D.K.Gupta and his para-medical staffs were participated.

During the live surgery doctors gave detailed information about the cataract operation. On the occasion Dr. D.K. Gupta said, live surgery of retina, Glucoma and children eye was shown.

Doctors informed that several eye patients from Jharkhand along with West Bengal and Odisha visit Peterwar.

On the concluding day of the camp at Panchayat Bhawan- D In MJF Yogendra Giridih, Ln UK Nair, Ln S.B.Singh, Ln Binod Bhatia, Ln Dharam Singh and others were present.

The Lions Club of Bokaro thermal here have been organising Eye camp since 25 years back and more than 5,000 people have already been benefited.Kejriwal wants ties, its up to Congress to reciprocate: Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said Opposition parties will meet in the national Capital during the last week of this month to finalise how to collectively take on the Modi Government in the Lok Sabha polls.

She said one round of meeting with top Opposition leaders, including Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, NCPs Sharad Pawar, TDPs N Chandrababu Naidu and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

among others, has already taken place while next crucial round is scheduled for February 26-27.

Batting for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), she said Kejriwal is keen on an alliance with the Congress in Delhi for the upcoming parliamentary polls and it is for Congress to reciprocate.

Kejriwal wants an alliance with the Congress in Delhi, said Mamata, adding that the AAP supremo had struggled hard to become the Chief Minister of Delhi and that he is continuing to struggle.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal said the Congress had more or less declined to have an alliance in Delhi for the general election. He also said the BJP would benefit in a three-cornered poll contest in the national Capital.

Also, Mamata said it is wrong to ask her about being the PM face of the alliance and said that all the leaders of Opposition parties were qualified to lead the country.

The Trinamool supremo, who is head-on with BJP in West Bengal, said the media should not mix the kind of alliance in States and at Centre. While political parties may have difference of opinion locally, but they are determined to demolish the Modi juggernaut.

They (NDA) Government is a misfit in this country and dont deserve to be in power. They will vanish soon as they have crossed the expiry date which is hazardous in medical parlance, Mamata said at a Press meet in Press Club of India.

Amidst speculations that the CPI (M) and the Congress were heading for a tactical tie-up in the State, Mamata said she has not spoken to the Left parties about an alliance in Bengal. I do not know whether the Left will come with us or not. We didnt talk, she said. Mamata said she is used to fighting united Congress and Left in Bengal.

CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has maintained that their alliances will depend on equations at the State level and has virtually ruled out being part of any mahagathbandhan. At the AAP rally on Wednesday, the Left leaders had vacated the stage upon Mamatas arrival indicating that they were not keen on any strategic alliance in Bengal with the TMC which has been its traditional rivals in the state.

Mamata said she respected the decisions of those political parties which have not gone for pre-poll alliances. There are political compulsions in States. At the national level we must go for pre- poll alliances so that after elections we can claim to form the Government.

However, the parties which cannot take decisions on pre-poll alliances, its okay, I respect that they have political compulsions, she said.

Reacting to a query on the Bengal Government denying BJP leaders to hold rallies in the State, Mamata said they were liars. They are lying about us not allowing them to carry on rallies. He (Amit Shah) had swine flu, discharged himself from hospital and still had a rally. They are liars, she said.

Speaking on the BJPs chances in Bengal, the TMC chief said now the saffron party has two seats, in 2019, the seats will be zero. The BJP wont get even one seat in Bengal...they will get zero. Let both (Modi and Shah) contest elections in Bengal, they will lose, she said.In a rare instance, the Supreme Court on Friday will hear a petition filed by Manikandan Chettiar, an advocate from Chennai, against the life ban imposed on him by the Bar Council of India.

Chettiar is the first advocate in independent India to be served such a harsh punishment and the third person in the 395 years in Indian judicial history to face such ignominy. Mahatma Gandhi was served with life ban against practising as advocate by the British in 1922 and freedom fighter Shyamaji Krishna Varma was the second person to be banned from law practice in 1909. The first two decisions of life ban were imposed by Londons Inner Temple, the then regulator of the Bar.

Ironically, both the Mahatma and Shyamaji were reinstated by the Inner Temple posthumously in 1988 and 2015 respectively, 66 years and 106 years, after their being banned.

The appellant on the other hand, is challenging the double life ban imposed upon him because Republic Indias Constitutional Law-Courts and its Bar Councils have both suo motu imposed the double life-ban on the petitioner since February 2, 2018 and interim indefinite ban since September 2015 without being able to frame a single charge, whatsoever, said Manikandan Chettiar in his petition filed in the SC challenging the decision of the BCI.

He is represented by noted lawyer Colin Gonsalves. The case is listed before a Bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta.

In Chennai legal circles, Manikandan (45) is known as an activist lawyer, who picked up fights with police and on some judicial corruption related issues.

He filed several cases seeking probes in cases of alleged corruption in judiciary. In the controversial Sankararaman murder case in 2011, he produced an audio tape as purported evidence of money transfer to a trial court judge. In this case, as per Manikandans petition in the apex court, the current Madras HC Judge PN Prakash was the lead lawyer of the accused persons, including late Kanchi Shankaracharya.

While all accused were acquitted in the case, Manikandan continued with his demand for probe into the audio tape scandal.

In 2013, advocate Prakash was elevated as a judge in the Madras High Court. Two years later, he took over the case related to judicial bribing from trial court and directed the Tamil Nadu Bar Council to initiate stringent action against Manikandan, though his junior was the actual petitioner.

According to Manikandans petition, without hearing him, in 2015 the State Bar Council suspended him from practicing, and in February 2018, Bar Council of India imposed a life ban on him.

In his 206-page petition, the advocate details his fights against corruptions in police, bureaucracy and judiciary and claimed he was punished by the BCI for this very reason. Thus it is crystal clear that in order to protect the criminals and lawyers involved in the illegal framing of Puducherrys Chief Judge Ramaswamy and also to protect the murder case approver from being committed to trial in the 2004 Sankararaman murder case and to thwart an appeal against the acquittals, their erstwhile counsel PN Prakash (now judge of the High Court of Madras) has been consistently misusing his judicial office in league with others, and had the appellant ex-communicated from Indias law courts without any allegations, and without any due process by means of an unjust disciplinary proceeding judgment, said Manikandan in his petition against Bar Council of India for imposing life ban on his career.Two recent events underplayed by the media has caused ripples in political Tamil Nadu and are being discussed in a hush-hush manner by all political parties in the State.

Monday saw Reliance Group Chairman Mukesh Ambani calling on DMK president MK Stalin at the latters residence in Chennai. The entire Stalin clan was in attendance to receive the billionaire businessman Mukesh Ambani and his wife Nita Ambani.

The Reliance Group chairman and his wife called on the Stalins to invite them for the marriage of their son Aakash to be held in the month of March. Later in the day Stalin tweeted the pictures of the countrys richest mans visit to his home in Chennai.

It was a pleasure to receive a courtesy call from Thiru Mukesh Ambani, Chairman Reliance Industries Limited, in Chennai earlier this evening, Stalin tweeted.

But what surprised the political commentators in Tamil Nadu is the timing of the visit. The Reliance Group Chairman did not call on Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy or any other political bigwigs in the State. Moreover they pointed out that Mukesh Ambani had not invited Stalin for the wessing of his daughter which was solemnised earlier this year. The fact that the Reliance Group did not attend the last months Global Investors Meet convened by the AIADMK Government too has not gone unnoticed.

Yet another VIP who made it to the residence of the DMK chief in late January was Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of the Tata Group. This visit too was described by the DMK office as a courtesy call. Ratan Tata is a business baron who does not call on political leaders and that too at their residences. Hence his visit to Stalins house is being watched seriously but without any hype in the media. The Tata Group which is headed by Tamil Nadu born Natarajan Chandrasekaran, too was conspicuous by their absence during the GIM held at Chennai.

The only link that comnnects the Tata Group honcho to the DMK was the Neera Radia Tape of the infamous 2G Spectrum Scam in which the telephonic conversations featured Ratan Tata and Kanimozhi, Stalins step-sister. The visits of Mukesh Ambani to Stalins residence comes at a time when there are media reports about the strained ties between the Reliance Group Chairman and the BJP top leadership.The intrigues, complexities and accompanying civilian atrocities in conflicts in Afghanistan and Vietnam have raised questions about words and action of US

There are eerie similarities in the genesis, proceedings and the ultimate fate of the US involvement in both Vietnam and Afghanistan. First, both  the Vietnamese and the Afghans  pride themselves on their fierce history of resistance to foreign invaders for centuries. In the case of the Vietnamese, it was the valiant repulsion of the Chinese, Mongols, French and the Japanese forces; whereas, the unforgiving battlefields of the Afghan swathes have been bloodied with forces of Alexander, Arab caliphates, Genghis Khan, Timur, Persians, Mughals, Sikhs, British empire and to the communist forces of the erstwhile USSR. Both races have a heightened sense of history and destiny that militates instinctively against any notion of a foreign invader. Both these lands have been at the forefront of the US efforts to counter the topical ism that threatened American interests. In the case of Vietnam, in the 50s and 60s, it was the Cold War fear of communism that drove US interest; whereas in the case of Afghanistan (post 2001), religious extremism replaced communism as the greatest security threat.

In both these conflicts, the US had played a covert, tactical and surreptitious role in inflaming the combustible ground situation. Insidious military and financial support was extended to the French forces in the 50s to re-colonise Vietnam, which later morphed into a full-fledged US military intervention by the 60s. Similarly, the less-than-covert military operations of the Central Intelligence Agency-Islamic State (IS), along with the Afghan mujahideen in the 80s, had lit the flames of religious extremism that ultimately morphed into the phenomenon of the Taliban. The pattern of sudden US disinterest is also common to both places as Vietnam would face in the mid-70s when the forces of Ho Chi Minh overran Saigon, as also in the essential US disinterest in the 90s as Pakistan-supported Taliban entered and butchered their way into Kabul. The genesis of both conflicts had unmistakable fingerprints of the US handiwork prior to the full escalation of the crisis. In both cases, the US had erred in its initial judgement as it had twice spurned appeals by the nationalist, Ho Chi Minh, before he turned a staunch communist; whereas, the American desperation to dislodge the communist Najibullah regime in Kabul had led them to honour and fete the Afghan mujahideen in the White House, who later turned on their original benefactors.

Signs of American shock-and-awe military tactics to bludgeon enemy lines were visible in the killing fields of Vietnam, where the Americans dropped more than three times the tonnage of bombs that the entire allied forces dropped in World War II. Today, Afghanistan has replaced Vietnam as its longest war and a record high number of bombs dropped in a year were registered in 2018. The definitive imagery of 388,000 tonnes of napalm bombs dropped in Vietnam was mirrored with the unabashed dropping of the GBU-43/B (also known as Mother of all Bombs) in Afghanistan  the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in American arsenal. However, despite the colossal commitment of weaponry and military might, the Afghan extremist groups today control more territory than at any point ever since the removal of their regime 17 years ago. The Vietnam War had led to over 58,000 American military casualties and the technology-enhanced Afghan war to yet another 2,400 American military casualties. The cost of war to the locals (civilians, soldiers and insurgents) was an unprecedented three million in the Vietnam War and over 111,000 in Afghanistan. From the official start date of the Vietnam War (November 1, 1955) to the signing of the peace treaty in January 1973 for facilitating the withdrawal of American troops, the realisation of an unsustainable no-win stalemate took 18 years. Today, nearly 18 years into the Afghan War (started in 2001, following 9/11), the Americans are walking the talk of another American withdrawal, this time from Afghanistan, following yet another stalemate.

Unfortunately, the looming fears of the imminent future are also similarly aligned as the Americans are negotiating with the Afghan Taliban (under the nudge and aegis of the equally unreliable ally, Pakistan) to facilitate the American troops withdrawal. In 1973, a similar face-saving treaty was signed by the representatives of the US, South Vietnam, North Vietnam and Viet Cong to reunite Vietnam peacefully  even though the signatory north Vietnamese were knowingly violating the terms of ceasefire and agreement and by 1975, the entire South Vietnam territory had fallen to a full-scale invasion by the North. It is this doomsday scenario that has fuelled concerns in the Ashraf Ghani-led Afghan Government in Kabul as they fear the impact of an emboldened Taliban. From 1,50,000 foreign troops defending the beleaguered Afghan Government till 2016, to just about 7,000 (after the current US withdrawal plans), along with the well-known aspiration of strategic depth in Afghanistan for the Pakistani state  the military ability of the current Afghan Government in Kabul to withstand the IS-Taliban combined onslaught is extremely suspicious. The sudden vacuum following the US withdrawal in Vietnam in 1973 had led to the ultimate fall of the South Vietnam defences; the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1991 had led to the creation of the Taliban; and now the insecurity in Kabul is one of history repeating itself.

While history is yet to record its final verdict and victor in Afghanistan, in Vietnam, the Americans can technically claim to have withdrawn. However, objectively, the anti-US side overran the US protectorate and they rule till date. Thousands of insurgents were killed in US military operations and multiple more of the same were borne out of the sense of revenge, hatred and retribution against the US. In both cases the human, economic, military and the political cost of war became unsustainable and the common feature of stalemate wore out the largest military in the world. The intrigues, complexities and accompanying civilian atrocities in both conflicts have also led to serious questions on the morality, trust and confidence on the US words and actions. Afghanistan is still an unfolding saga, yet portents of a possible repeat of a Vietnam stare in the face.

(The writer, a military veteran, is a former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry.)The RGA was influential in Hogans re-election victory last year over Democrat Ben Jealous. The Republican Governors Association ran $3 million in negative ads labeling Jealous a socialist for months before the former NAACP president could afford to go on the air.Unless India accelerates the pace of construction activities along its border, it will continue facing serious difficulties in any future confrontation with China

The US Defence Intelligence Agency recently released a report titled, China Military Power: Modernizing a Force to Fight and Win, where it stated that China was increasing its capacity and warned about how it could launch a regional conflict. Beijing has indeed increased its military presence at several places. The report also pointed out that besides conventional weapons, China was concentrating on cyber and outer space, too. Nonetheless, the report mentioned that Beijing was not capable to deploy defence forces all over the world but was competent to engage its enemy anywhere in the world through its space, cyber space and nuclear competence.

The US also reported that the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) of China had come back in the Doklam area and inaudibly re-commenced construction work, which it had to discontinue because of a 73-day standoff between the Indian Army and the PLA from June to August 2017. The Indian Government has strongly refuted the US claims. Clearly, relations between the US and China are becoming tense. The US, which is the sole super power, is feeling threatened because of the spectacular rise and increasing assertiveness of Beijing. China claims suzerainty over East China Sea and South China Sea and also dictates terms to countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan.

India shares about 3,488 km of border with China, which at several places is not delineated. Hence, it is based only on perception. There is no habitation for thousands of miles and, therefore, there are disagreements along the border. Maps of both countries differ. China claims about 90,000 sq km in Arunachal Pradesh and about 10,000 sq km in Uttarakhand. The Dragon already grabbed the Aksai Chin area during the 1962 war and Pakistan also handed over a few areas of Jammu and Kashmir.

There are several differences between New Delhi and Beijing, including border disputes, the grant of an asylum to the Dalai Lama and his followers, Chinas objections to Indias membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Gilgit and Baltistan areas. China also instigates Pakistan to carry out terrorist activities in India and subvert New Delhis efforts in the United Nations to declare Masood Azhar, chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, as a global terrorist.

Yet despite such hostilities, the condition of our border infrastructure is quite appalling. Last year, around 120 Indian soldiers had to walk for about 19 hours to reach Doklam and stop the Chinese troops from constructing a road in the absence of a motorable route. In view of this miserable situation, the Cabinet Committee on Security approved a revised budget of Rs 3,482.52 crore to construct 73 strategic roads along the Indo-China border on November 10, 2018. These roads had been approved in 2005 and meant to be completed by 2012. But the project missed several deadlines and is now expected to be completed by 2020. Construction agencies claim that inclement weather, difficult terrain and rigmaroles of Government procedures are responsible for missing deadlines. A report by the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG), in fact, criticised the Border Road Organisation (BRO) for inefficiciencies, delays and pushing several deadlines. Out of 73 roads, the BRO has to build 61 while 12 have been assigned to the Central Public Works Department (CPWD). Besides roads, 22 foot tracks are also in the pipeline in Arunachal Pradesh to facilitate the movement of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

Beijing considers India as its potential adversary and, hence, it is necessary for India to develop infrastructure on areas abutting China. CPWDs annual report for 2018-19 mentioned that the organisation will be constructing 44 strategically important roads on the India-China border. These roads will be skirting Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Fortunately for us, traffic on Bogibeel Bridge in Assam, too, began from December 2018. The bridge will help improve road and rail connectivity in the region and will benefit the public and security forces.

The Indian side had, however, not developed the required infrastructure along the border areas uniformly as it presumed China could use it for its own designs. Second, even as infrastructure was developed, it had to be defended and maintained, involving both human and monetary resources. However, this defeatist policy was abandoned in 2006 and the Cabinet Committee on Security decided to develop the border areas and construct new roads, bridges and tunnels.

In case our infrastructure was in place, it could have facilitated trade and commerce opportunites for locals on both sides. Meanwhile, China speedily developed infrastructure on the border areas, which has given its military an edge. The Chinese have built roads, railways and also laid fibre optics. This has helped them improve their communication system. They have even constructed roads up to the borders they control.

On the other hand, even after the Doklam episode, India still lags behind in the development of infrastructural projects at the borders. This has become a big strategic disadvantage for us. Indian troops need acclimatisation at high-altitude areas. The non-availibility of infrastructure hampers their sustenance while the Chinese forces enjoy superior mobility and enforcement. The Indian Government must understand that while recruitment and raising of more units may not be enough, our troops must be provided with better infrastructure, logistics and armaments to win the war.

Indias failure to develop infrastructure has been the result of a flawed policy of several decades and bureaucratic hurdles. According to reports, most times the concerned Ministry was unable to use the allotted funds because of sluggish or zero construction activities along the border areas. The monitoring system, too, was faulty. In China, its Army controls the border while in India, the Army, the Assam Rifles, Border Security Force (BSF) and the ITBP share vigil duties. The presence of multiple agencies delays the work. It appears that the present Government has earmarked several important projects along the borders and the amount is also sanctioned. Now, only the work needs to be expedited.

China, which is working hard to become a superpower, has also encircled India. It has compelled Sri Lanka to lease out the Hambantota port. Pakistans Gwadar port, too, is under its control. Besides, Maldives leased out two of its islands and China has positioned its nuclear-powered submarine at Marao Islands. A signal Intelligence unit has also been installed at the Coco Islands of Myanmar.

Prime Minister KP Oli of Nepal is a communist leader who is very close to China. His main aim is to end Nepals dependence on India and inculcate close relationship with the bigger neighbour. Beijing has also financed a container shipping facility in Chittagong port of Bangladesh. It has inaugurated a naval base at Djibouti in August 2017. Hence, India should be careful and must take remedial measures to counter such imperialism.

As a first step, we must strengthen our forces and then try to inculcate friendly relations with countries who feel threatened because of China. These include Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. The United States, too, wants to check the increasing strength of China. Analysts claim that smaller nations like Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh among others also feel defenceless but are in no position to challenge China. India can try to infuse confidence among them too.

(The writer is member, United Services Institute of India and Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses)The focus is on the BJP, Congress and Third Front as the main players. But the locus in government-formation is likely to be of smaller parties in/around the NDA

First, lets get the obvious out of the way. Government-formation after the 2019 general election will depend on the numbers. Not ideology, not alliances and certainly not personal chemistry between political leaders; these will be played out during the election. Its when the votes are counted that, depending on the tally of various political parties/groupings, it will be decided who will lead the next Government of India.

Naturally, the issue itself will be rendered moot if any of the three players in the fray  broadly the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the still amorphous Third/Federal Front comprising non-BJP/non-Congress regional parties  win 272 seats on their own. That, however, according to every credible, independent opinion poll, is unlikely. We are not arguing that it cant happen by the time polling day comes along. Just that as of today the consensus among pollsters is that it wont.

In fact, apart from pollsters and large sections of the media, there is another group of people whose assessment is similar and who are planning their next moves factoring this in. These are the smaller parties in and around the NDA or, as we term them, the potential jokers in the post-poll pack.

There should be no misunderstanding about what is being said. These parties, which bring a different play to the 2019 national electoral game, will quietly fall in behind the BJP as purportedly old and trusted allies or as regional parties resorting to that old trope of offering issue-based support to the party ruling at the Centre in the interest of the State if Prime Minister Narendra Modi leads his party back to power. But they also recognise thats not the kind of certainty it was a year ago. So, they seem to be preparing a Plan B.

There are two clearly discernible prongs to this political-electoral strategy. For current NDA members, it is to push the BJP into conceding many more seats to its allies than the saffron party would have ideally liked to part with. Ever since the perception has taken root that the Rampant Modi narrative is stuttering thanks to the string of by-election and Assembly poll defeats for the BJP in 2018, this has become a feasible ploy. The concessions extracted by the Janata Dal United in Bihar, where the two allies have split the seats 50:50 despite the BJP having more sitting MPs, is a case in point.

It has also become a template for other NDA allies to emulate, as can be seen in the Shiv Sena arguing for a similar division of seats for Maharashtra with Big Brother BJP. JD-U vice president Prashant Kishores highly publicised visit to Mumbai to confabulate with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray last week can fairly be surmised to be a part of this effort. Only the Akalis are out of this matrix. And thats because despite the temptations, the Shiromani Akali Dal leadership, which is the Badal family, shares a close personal relationship with the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah-Arun Jaitley troika and the party still faces residual voter resentment for its decade of alleged misrule in Punjab. So it is not expected to win more than a couple of Lok Sabha seats, if that, in 2019.

For currently non-NDA parties such as the Biju Janata Dal, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, YSR Congress and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam/Rajinikanth, and including the Asom Gana Parishad and other North-eastern parties, which have fallen out with the BJP over the Citizenship Amendment Bill, the idea is to contest the Lok Sabha poll on their own and/or with tactical adjustments to win the maximum number of seats. All of these parties, which are technically equidistant from both BJP and Congress, are highly unlikely to be tempted by the UPA and view, at least for the moment, the conglomeration of regional satraps that comprise the putative Third/Federal Front as fundamentally unstable.

Interestingly, however, nearly all of them have in recent weeks established informal contacts with the NDAs current allies, hinting at a joint post-poll strategy if the BJP alone is unable to win 272 seats or come reasonably close to that magic number of seats in the forthcoming general election.

So, what a block of parties, including but not limited to the Shiv Sena, Janata Dal-United, YSR Congress, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, AIADMK/Rajinikanth, Biju Janata Dal and the North-east regional parties bring to the table are between 50 to as many as 100 Lok Sabha seats depending on how they perform at the hustings.

The BJP is aware of these developments but sounds confident of ensuring through various means the loyalty of this group of parties in/around the NDA. The Congress, on the other hand, with ambitions of re-building the party under Rahul Gandhi, knows that these parties operate in States where, bar say a Tamil Nadu, the potential for its rejuvenation going ahead is certainly there. It is the Third/Federal Front  for which the Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Telugu Desam Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, National Conference and Bahujan Samaj Party are currently doing most of the running  that perhaps needs most to fine-tune its strategy to deal with the emerging jokers in the pack.

For, the choices for these parties are actually more than for the three main players in the fray. They could back a Modi-led Government if the BJP numbers are good. They could back a non-Modi BJP-led government if the BJP is the single largest party but well short of a majority. They could, if their poll performance results in them winning closer to 100 seats as opposed to 50, even conceivably ask the BJP to back them in forming a non-BJP-led NDA Government. They could, finally, in the event of a hung House with no party/formation in even striking distance of the halfway-mark, open negotiations with the Third/Federal front to form a Government of regional parties backed by either of the two national parties.

Interesting times lie ahead.

(The author is an independent journalist and commentator based in New Delhi)Forty four CRPF troopers were killed and 40 others injured when an explosive-laden SUV drove rammed the bus that was transporting them in Awantipora town in Kashmir's Pulwama district. This is officially the worst attack on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir and the largest since the September 18 incident in Uri which killed 19 soldiers. Horrific visuals of the attack on the CRPF convoy travelling between on the Srinagar-Jammu highway were circulated on social media websites.

The Pakistan-based terror group, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), led by the shadowy Maulana Masood Azhar, has claimed credit for the attack. The group circulated a 10-minute video of the purported suicide bomber Adil Ahmed Dar, alias Waqas Commando, apparently a resident of Gandibagh Kakapora in Pulwama.

The JeM statement doesn't mention this but the fact that the attack comes soon after the sixth anniversary of the execution of JeM activist Afzal Guru suggests these two incidents are not entirely unrelated.

Guru was hanged for his role in the December 13, 2001 attack on India's Parliament carried out by the JeM, and his death anniversary usually sees strikes and shutdowns in the Kashmir Valley.

Pulwama: Pak-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), led by Maulana Masood Azhar, has claimed credit for the attack. (Photo: PTI)

Terrorist violence in Kashmir has hit a new watershed with today's brutal attack and the re-introduction of an old tactic, the Suicide Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (SVBIED).

The suicide car bomb evolved in the Lebanese civil war. The October 1983 Beirut barracks bombing by the Islamic Jihad Organisation, which killed 241 US Marines, led to the withdrawal of US forces from Lebanon. It was rapidly adopted by other global terrorist organisations like the LTTE and, more recently, ISIS in Syria and Iraq, to breach fortified installations or to cause mass casualty attacks.

Car bombs entered Kashmir in the late 1990s, and were used in attacks mostly by the JeM between 2001 and 2005, many of them in what are called 'crash and blow' attacks, where the car bomb was used as a battering ram against a fortified target. Car bombs have also been called 'Trojan horses' because they blend into civilian traffic and are almost impossible to detect and give security forces very little warning time when they are spotted.

On October 1, 2001, just two months before the JeM attacked India's Parliament, a suicide attacker rammed a Tata Sumo packed with explosives into the Jammu and Kashmir state legislative assembly complex in Srinagar and two other fedayeen entered the complex and engaged in a gun battle with security forces before being neutralised.

On April 26, 2003, JeM fedayeen rammed an SUV packed with explosives into the heavily guarded gate of the All India Radio station in Srinagar. The blast was so powerful, one intelligence official recalls, that the vehicle engine was found in one of the offices of the broadcaster a few hundred metres away.

The October 1983 Beirut barracks bombing by the Islamic Jihad Organisation which killed 241 US Marines led to the withdrawal of US forces from Lebanon. (Photo: Reuters)

VBIED attacks in Kashmir continued through the mid 2000s - by August 2005, terrorists had carried out six car bomb attacks in eight weeks, killing 34 persons. The attacks, which used a combination of suicide attackers or were merely parked and remotely detonated when targets passed by, petered out by the late 2000s.

Assembling and carrying out SVBIEDs calls for a different skill set. It would need large quantities of explosives to inflict damage on moving targets. Several days of reconnaissance on possible targets. Skilled bomb makers and workshop and mechanics to modify vehicles with cavities to carry the explosives and lastly, several dry runs with the suicide attacker to be absolutely sure of success.

All of this calls for fairly large resources, both overground and underground.

The return of the car bomb, and more worryingly, volunteers willing to drive them, pose new challenges.

Security forces usually move in large convoys which have Road Opening Parties to sanitise routes before the convoy can move. Vehicle-mounted bomb jammers in convoys can disrupt the radio signals between roadside explosives and remote triggers. An SVBIED bypasses these precautions because the explosive is often triggered off by the suicide attacker himself. This could see security forces significantly altering their movement patterns and even totally halting the movement of civilian vehicles.

Worse, civilian vehicles will be looked upon as possible Trojans.

Also read: We could see Pulwama coming  and theres more to followJennifer Siegel Newsom, married to the newly-elected California governor, Gavin Newsom, requested that instead of 'First Lady', she be called 'First Partner'.

Her reasoning was as simple as it was evocatively brilliant  the use of 'First Lady' would not only limit her and all other women who would follow their husbands to such positions, to pandering and playing to the restrictive and stereotyped lady role, but the use of 'First Partner' would also work for spouses of future governors who are not straight men.

Being First Partner is about inclusion, breaking down stereotypes, and valuing the partnerships that allow any of us to succeed. Grateful for this opportunity to continue advocating for a more equitable future - now lets get to work! https://t.co/sXwfev7BFy  Jennifer Siebel Newsom (@JenSiebelNewsom) January 12, 2019

The term 'partner' has gained considerable momentum in recent years  people who would otherwise introduce their love interests as boyfriends or girlfriends now prefer to use the term partners.

The contemporary usage of the term is loaded with political correctness. As heterosexuality gets edged away from the purview of normative sexual behaviour, most societies have relaxed their sanctions and have embraced homosexual preferences and practices.

Woman on Top! The rules of the relationship game have changed, partner! (Source: Reuters)

In the western world, homosexual relationships have been accorded legitimacy. In India, we have decriminalised homosexuality. These are large signs of maturity from across the world, and it is reflected in our linguistic utterances too. The term 'partner'  with its gender-neutral connotation  is politically correct and socially appropriate.

'Partner' is also in keeping with the refashioning rule of the relationship game.

With the growth of the Internet, and a transformation in the social order where casual dating, open relationships, delayed marriages and other such practices are finding favour, terms like boyfriend'or 'girlfriend have a certain undesirable vibe. Mostly, these set limitations of gender roles  of what each partner ought to bring at the relationship table.

Relationship complexities now demand adjectives that spell equality  'partner' fills that space.

It has a nice, positive ring to it, and neither party feels the suffocating or debilitating pressure of trying to live up to certain preset notions. The term 'partner' neither gives away too much, neither does it undermine the role and status of the people it seeks to define. It does not put out to the public eye (read judging eye) the level of commitment of the persons involved and their future plans.

A 'partner' is the 'significant other' or 'SO,' you may say.

'Wife' or 'girlfriend' usually come with patriarchal riders, and therefore, a womens status within the marriage is often unequal.

'Behind every successful man is a woman' isnt just a solid sounding proverb, it is a hand-me-down from the patriarchy manual which purports to keep women within a perimeter.

'Wife' come with patriarchal riders, and therefore, a womens status within a marriage is often unequal. (Source: Reuters)

Adrienne Rich, in her poem Aunt Jennifers Tigers talks about a woman  Aunt Jennifer, who finds marriage stifling.

"The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand."

The wedding band isnt just an ornament. It is a limit, a boundary, a perimeter. We, in India, know it as the 'Lakshman Rekha'. The oppression is so systematic and so complete that it does not release the woman even after her death.

"When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie. Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by."

Aunt Jennifer is an appropriate metaphor for scores of women who, despite the changing social order and legal reforms, continue to live lives that are, at best, secondary, if not invisible. They are mastered till their death and perchance even thereafter. The term 'partner' might not be able to swish away the organised oppression all at once, but it might just offer us a more humanistic perspective that is premised on gender tolerance.

In all fairness, the term 'partner' ensures political correctness and has the potential to take forward the culture of tolerance where the freedom of self-expression and justice towards those who are different and/or disenfranchised are upheld.

Of course, not everyone is comfortable with the use of 'partner'.

The discomfort is more within the cisgender straight couple circle who view the word as secondary, somewhat inferior and not totally encompassing of the sacredness of a meaningful relationship like a marriage.

Using it in place of husband or wife tires those who wouldn't bother to indulge in such tiresome linguistic debates  they feel that the word lacks the romantic connotations cementing such relationships.

"Partner' historically has been associated with 'hippie' culture  it was later adopted by the LGBTQIA community. (Source: Reuters)

Also, many feel that it is a term that historically has been associated with 'hippie' culture, and later adopted by the LGBTQIA community. So, an appropriation by heterosexuals might be tickling old sores. For far too long, those with different sexual preferences have had to court endless strife and heartbreak, had to live on the borders of the society, damned to a life of ridicule and risk. The word 'partner' was used and limited to such circles.

Usage by the community at large may just touch a deeper chord and unleash newer, more complex emotions in an evolving society.

However, on the other side of the debate are those who feel that the term is deep and gives an idea of a supportive connection that is based on trust and equality. People are not compelled to reveal their sexual preferences until they feel comfortable to do so. Therefore, in a modern world that posits itself on acceptance and celebration of all kinds, the word 'partner' may be a perfectly healthy manifestation of a society-in-transition.

So should you use the word 'partner' as you introduce or talk about your own relationship?

That depends on which side of the debate you choose to represent.

It's time we moved to more gender-neutral words that can justify us being a progressive society. (Source: Reuters)

There are a gazillion ways of describing your own relationship. A fine word which keeps it neutral and yet, manages to draw in the necessary notes of warmth, love and equality would be spouse. Or you could choose to say 'lover' or 'soulmate' or 'significant other' or 'better half'. You could even go with 'friend' or 'companion' if you wish to.

Words do matter, and I summon Lord Byron to lend credence to their importance:

"But words are things, and a small drop of ink, Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think."

So, words matter, and undeniably push for change. We do not use hugely deroatory terms like 'Nig***' anymore. PETA too pushed for change by suggesting we do away with meat-based idioms in a bid to turn our thoughts towards a kinder society which shuns cruelty towards creatures.

Words we choose in our daily usage are a form of action, often reaffirming our pledge to society  to uphold it, transform it.

In light of this, Jennifer Newsom is right in eschewing her status as 'First Lady' and urging for a semantic change.

Perhaps we need a change to newer and more gender-neutral words, which can justify us being a modern and progressive society.

Also read: Rose Day 2019: 5 questions I want to askCOPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - The Swedish prosecutor in charge of investigating whether police committed an error last year when fatally shooting a 20-year-old disabled man who waved a toy gun, is considering pressing charges.

Martin Tiden said a formal decision is set to be made later this year and declined to say Wednesday how many police officers are suspected or what the suspicions might be. He didn't comment on the claim from Swedish broadcaster SVT that at least four are suspected.

He said a preliminary investigation into the Aug. 2 slaying of Eric Torell that gripped Sweden has been completed.

Torell who had Down Syndrome and autism and struggled to communicate, held a plastic toy resembled a submachine gun - a birthday present from his mother - when he was shot dead.South African gold mining company Sibanye-Stillwater says five shafts at its Beatrix and Driefontein mines made losses last year

South African gold mining giant Sibanye-Stillwater announced plans Thursday to shed more than 6,000 jobs, or 10 percent of its workforce, from underperforming gold mines.

The company is one of the biggest employers in the South African mining industry, and job cuts are politically sensitive ahead of May general elections in a country where more than a quarter of the workforce are unemployed.

Sibanye-Stillwater said five shafts at its Beatrix and Driefontein operations - its largest of three gold mines - made financial losses last year despite efforts to turn things around.

It has therefore initiated the process to lay off 5,870 full-time and 800 casual workers.

"Contemplating potential restructuring of this nature is never taken lightly," said the company's CEO Neal Froneman.

"Our best attempts to address the ongoing losses at these operations, have however been unsuccessful and sustaining these losses may threaten the viability of our other operations," he said.

The targeted workers are employed at Beatrix mine, in the central Free State province, and at Driefontein, north of the economic hub Johannesburg.

Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe urged talks to save as many jobs as possible.

Gold was for many decades the backbone of South Africa's economy, but production has declined sharply due to depletion of reserves.

Sibanye-Stillwater, the second largest gold producer in the country, bought most of its gold mines in 2012 from Gold Fields, one of the oldest gold mines in South Africa.

Gold Fields said last August it was planning to cut 1,100 jobs, about the same time that platinum miner Implats said it would slash some 13,000 positions in South Africa.

Just about 112,200 people worked in the gold mines across South Africa in 2017, according to latest statistics from the Minerals Council of South Africa.

On Wednesday, thousands of South African workers staged nationwide demonstrations to protest against high unemployment, saying that 9.3 million employable people needed jobs.Sunni Muslim extremist group Jaish al-Adl is seen as the incarnation of Jundallah, whose leader Abdolmalek Rigi was executed by Iran in 2010

A suicide attack that killed 27 troops in Iran's restive southeast on Wednesday was claimed by Jaish al-Adl, a Sunni Muslim extremist group that only emerged seven years ago.

Jaish al-Adl -- Army of Justice in Arabic -- is seen as the incarnation of Jundallah, or Soldiers of God, which began a bloody rebellion against the Islamic republic in 2000.

For a decade, Jundallah waged a deadly insurgency on civilians and officials in the restive southeast.

Jundallah has been weakened since Iran executed its leader Abdolmalek Rigi in 2010 after capturing him in a dramatic operation.

Rigi had been on a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan that year when Iranian fighter jets intercepted the airliner he was travelling on and forced it to land before arresting him.

Like its predecessor, Jaish al-Adl operates from bases in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan and neighbouring Pakistan, where it gets support from ethnic Baluch tribes.

Sistan-Baluchestan province is home to a large community of minority Sunni Muslims who complain of discrimination in Shiite-dominated Iran.

Jaish al-Adl was founded in 2012 by Salahuddin Farooqui, a militant known for his opposition to Iran's support for President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war.

Since then it has claimed responsibility for dozens of deadly bombings, ambushes and other attacks on Iranian security forces in the restive region, as well as abductions.

Iran considers the organisation -- which it calls Jaish al-Zolm (Army of Injustice in Arabic) -- a terrorist group supported by the United States and Israel as well as regional rivals Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Jaish al-Adl abducted 12 Iranian security personnel in October near the border with Pakistan, five of whom were later released and handed back to Iran by Islamabad.

In October 2013, 14 Iranian guards were killed in an ambush near the border with Pakistan that Jaish al-Adl said it carried out in response "to the crimes of the Revolutionary Guards in Syria".

Iran in retaliation said it executed 16 "rebels" and that its forces later killed four Jaish al-Adl militants near the frontier town of Mirjaveh.

The following month, the public prosecutor for the city of Zabol, which lies near the Afghan border in Sistan-Baluchestan province, was gunned down in an assassination claimed by Jaish al-Adl.

In February 2014, five Iranian soldiers were abducted and taken across the border from Iran into Pakistan, straining tensions between the two neighbouring countries.

At the time, Tehran warned it could send troops on a cross-border raid to free them.

It also summoned Pakistan's charge d'affaires to demand Islamabad "act firmly against the leaders and members of the terrorist group who have fled into Pakistan".

Jaish al-Adl executed one of the troops in March, before the releasing the other four and handing them over to Iran, along with the body of the fifth soldier.The Morrison government has struck an eleventh-hour deal with the Greens to pass superannuation reforms, which aim to protect low-balance accounts from excessive fees.

The unlikely alliance sparked fury from Labor, with shadow treasurer Chris Bowen and financial services spokeswoman Clare O'Neil savaging the government for "gutting" the centrepiece of the bill.

The government stripped out the part of the bill which would have ended default life insurance for people under 25, as well as low-value or inactive accounts, but remain committed to the policy.

The legislation will return to the lower house next week after passing the Senate with amendments on Thursday evening.

Separate draft laws which cleared the upper house shortly after, designed to improve member outcomes in the superannuation sector, will also return to the House of Representatives for approval.

The government included a royal commission recommendation to create civil penalties for super trustees and directors who fail to act in the best interests of members.

Fees on accounts with $6000 or less will be capped at three per cent, while exit fees will be abolished to remove a barrier to consolidating accounts.

The Australian Taxation Office will get more powers to return lost and unclaimed super, with the agency to use data-matching technology to reunite these accounts with a member's active account where possible.

Some $6 billion belonging to three million members is expected to be returned to account holders in the first year of the reforms, which come into place on July 1.

The government supported a Greens amendment to retain opt-out default life insurance for people under 25 or those with less than $6000 in their account.

Mr Bowen and Ms O'Neil said the changes would ensure Australia's youngest superannuation members and those with the smallest balances continue to be slugged with unnecessary insurance fees.

"At the 11th hour - after months of dysfunction, incompetence, bluster and delay - the Liberals have partnered with the Greens to completely gut their Protecting Your Super package," the Labor frontbenchers said in a joint statement.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann defended the deal, saying the government had secured the passage of substantial reforms even if the bill wasn't passed in its original form.

"This is a consensus which will help secure the passage of important reforms for millions of Australians," Senator Cormann told parliament.Breville shares have soared to an all-time high after an expansion into Germany and Austria helped satisfy investors' appetites and delivered a 19.7 per cent lift in first-half profit to $43.5 million.

Shares in the kitchen appliance giant were up 18.26 per cent, or $2.18, at 1204 AEDT, to $14.12 on Thursday.

The company's total revenue rose 15.4 per cent to $440 million in the six months to December 31, up from $381 million.

The company will pay an 18.5 cent interim dividend, 60 per cent franked, up from 16.5 cents this time last year.

Breville attributed the result to strong international sales growth, particularly in Europe and North America, which grew in constant currency revenue by 32 per cent and 7.1 per cent respectively.

The company entered Germany and Austria in the 2018/19 financial year, which helped grow its European footprint to two thirds the size of the Australian and New Zealand market.

"The first half in Germany shows very encouraging signs, with revenue being already 42 per cent larger than the first half when we entered the UK in FY 13/14, which shows the speed and scale benefits we are getting from our centralized approach to market expansion," the company said in a statement to the ASX.

Breville aims to continue this European expansion with the company's Sage brand in the United Kingdom scheduled to expand into Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg in the second half of 2019 and Spain in the first half of 2020.

Breville's North American operations recorded a strong performance, thanks to hefty sales in beverage and juicing in the US.

The region pulled in $214.0 million in revenue compared to $514 million in Europe and $74.1 million in Australia and New Zealand.

BREVILLE STEAMS AHEAD IN H1

* Net profit up 19.7pct to $43.5m

* Revenue up 15.4pct to $440.4m

* Interim dividend up 2.0 cents to 18.5 cents, 60pct frankedTina Malone visited a Manchester funfair on Valentine's Day on Thursday, amid contempt of court proceedings for re-tweeting a photograph allegedly showing James Bulger's killer Jon Venables.

The Shameless actress, 56, looked in good spirits as she hopped on a ride at the AJ Bell Stadium.

She was clad in a leopard print coat and purple hat for the evening out.

Court: Tina Malone visited a Manchester funfair on Valentine's Day on Thursday, amid contempt of court proceedings for re-tweeting a photograph allegedly showing James Bulger's killer Jon Venables

The outing comes as Tina awaits news of contempt of court proceedings brought against her by the Attorney General. She has yet to enter a plea.

A man and woman who published photos said to show James Bulger's killer Jon Venables living under his new identity avoided jail terms last month.

Venables and fellow killer Robert Thompson were given new identities following the murder in 1993 and a court order forbids anyone from making their new names public.

Richard McKeag, 28, and Natalie Barker, 36, were given suspended jail sentences at the High Court on January 31 after they admitted publishing information online said to show Venables.

Evening out: The Shameless actress, 56, looked in good spirits as she hopped on a ride at the AJ Bell Stadium

Child killer: Two people who published details purporting to show the new identity of James Bulger's killer Jon Venables (pictured in 1993) have avoided jail terms for contempt of court

McKeag received a 12-month sentence, while Barker was handed an eight-month sentence - both suspended for two years.

The pair admitted contempt of court after breaching an injunction designed to prevent Venables' identity being made public.

The case was heard by Britain's most senior judge, Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett, sitting with another senior judge, Mr Justice Warby.

Horrific: James was murdered by 10 year olds Venables and Robert Thompson in 1993 in a crime which shocked the world

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox QC, who instigated contempt proceedings against McKeag and Barker last year, said after the hearing: 'These are both serious examples of contempt of court and I instigated these proceedings as it was in the wider public interest to do so.

'The injunction protects the identities of the offenders, but also innocent individuals who may be wrongly identified as being one of the two men and placed in danger as a result.

'I will review any further contempt of court allegations made to me and hope this sends a message to anyone tempted to do the same thing. Posting this material online is a crime.'

The case came a week after Malone, an actress who has appeared in Shameless and Brookside, posted a series of messages on saying she had been served papers by the High Court over similar allegations.

Malone allegedly posted the images online just under a year ago. She is due before judges in March.

Last week she tweeted: 'I need a lawyer ASAP! I've been committed to the High Court!'

A later post stated: 'I've had a wonderful day until I opened my front door five minutes ago! The High Court have served me.'

Venables and Thompson, then aged ten, abducted, tortured and murdered two-year-old James in 1993.

Venables was released on licence from prison in 2001 but has been sent back to jail twice, in 2010 and 2018, for possessing indecent images of children.Mary Reese, who chairs the roundtable, told lawmakers representing Howard County in Annapolis that residents have reported an uptick in health problems because of commercial aviation exhaust, and said some as far as 20 miles from the airport can walk outside and draw a line in a black soot-like dust on their property.Matthew Bennett's first sexual experience was documented on Married At First Sight in front of the whole country.

But what are the long-term emotional consequences of losing your virginity on TV?

According to counselling psychotherapist Dr Karen Philip, they could be quite severe and Matthew may experience difficulties as a result.

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'He'll be extremely damaged': Married At First Sight's 'ex-virgin' Matthew Bennett, 29, will 'suffer long-term emotional problems' after sharing his first sexual experience on TV

Mild-mannered videographer Matthew was a 29-year-old virgin when he joined Married At First Sight.

He had sex for the first time on his 'honeymoon' with Lauren Huntriss - who was far more romantically experienced - but their relationship didn't last.

'I see the heartache and hurt that's being caused by this supposed experiment,' Dr. Philip told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday.

'As a psychotherapist, I find the whole show ethically and morally inappropriate.'

Dr. Philip added that the 'virgin' storyline was particularly problematic, adding that she personally 'feels terrible for Matthew'.

'I think he's going to be extremely hurt and damaged for a really long time, because of who they paired him with - and [the producers] know that,' she added.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Nine for comment.

'Hurt': According to counselling psychotherapist Dr Karen Philip (pictured), the consequences of losing his virginity on MAFS could be quite severe for mild-mannered Matthew

Mismatched: Matthew was paired with sexually adventurous makeup artist Lauren, 31, who tried to initiate sex repeatedly on their honeymoon

Matthew was paired with sexually adventurous makeup artist Lauren, 31, who tried to initiate sex repeatedly on their honeymoon.

At one stage, he became so anxious he was rushed to hospital.

He did eventually lose his virginity to Lauren, admitting the morning after that it was a positive experience for him.

Ordeal: At one stage, Matthew became so anxious on his honeymoon that he was rushed to hospital. Eventually, he did lose his virginity to Lauren, saying it was a positive experience

Total opposites: Two of the show's 'relationship experts' have since defended their awkward pairing of Matthew and Lauren. On Wednesday's Talking Married, Mel Schilling (left) and John Aiken (right) said they weren't 'fully aware' Lauren was so sexually experienced

Two of the show's 'relationship experts' have since defended their awkward pairing of Matthew and Lauren.

On Wednesday's Talking Married, Mel Schilling and John Aiken said they weren't 'fully aware' Lauren was so sexually experienced compared to her 'husband'.

Married At First Sight continues Sunday at 7pm on Channel NineThey've recently enjoyed vacations to New York City and Mykonos.

And Ryan Thomas has shared an adorable snap of his other half Lucy Mecklenburgh and his daughter Scarlett, nine, on Valentine's Day.

The former Coronation Street actor, 34, took to Instagram to share the adorable photo of Scarlett sitting on Lucy's knee while striking a playful pose with her hands below her chin.

Valentine's: Ryan Thomas has shared an adorable snap of his other half Lucy Mecklenburgh and his daughter Scarlett, nine, on Valentine's Day

Captioning the photo with a simple heart, it appears the couple enjoyed a family dinner for the romantic holiday.

Ryan shares his daughter with his former co-star Tina O'Brien, who he dated from 2003 to 2009.

Ryan and his girlfriend recently brushed off split rumours after Lucy was pictured looking very cosy with a man in a Dubai nightclub, believed to be her friend and business associate Adam Rossiter.

Ryan chose not to address the video but later shared snaps of himself with Lucy out and about in London, ensuring their relationship was still in tact.

Back on track: The couple recently brushed off split rumours after Lucy was pictured looking very cosy with a man in a Dubai nightclub

In the same week the video of Lucy and Adam emerged, at the end of last year, Ryan had told OK! magazine that Lucy is keen for him to get down on one knee.

He said: 'Shes always dropping hints about what she wants to happen. I think Lucy wants me to propose next year!

And Lucy said: 'Youd better get saving because I want a really heavy left hand!'

Future: In the same week the video of Lucy and Adam emerged, at the end of last year, Ryan had told OK! magazine that Lucy is keen for him to get down on one knee

She added: 'I wouldnt waste my time with someone if I didnt believe we were on the same page about children and getting married. I know we both want the same things in the future.'

It appears the pair may already be planning their wedding as, according to new!, Lucy has been looking at inspiration and has liked lots of wedding themed snaps on Instagram, including dresses, flower arrangements and table layout ideas.

Lucy and Ryan began dating after taking part of Celebrity Island With Bear Grylls last year and have been enamoured ever since.Kanye West went big this Valentine's Day for his wife Kim Kardashian.

The 41-year-old rapper decorated the all-white living room of their posh Hidden Hills, California mansion in flowers and the Yeezy designer also brought in musician Kenny G to play music just for her.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star's caption read, 'Beat husband award goes to mine !!!! Most thoughtful gifts ever!!!!'

It happened: Kanye West went big this Valentine's Day for his wife Kim Kardashian. The rapper decorated the living room of their posh Hidden Hills, California home in flowers and the Yeezy designer also brought in musician Kenny G to play music just for her

She is a fan: The Keeping Up With The Kardashian star's caption read, 'Beat husband award goes to mine !!!! Most thoughtful gifts ever!!!!'

He knows how to impress her: She also shared: 'NO BIG DEAL KENNY G IN MY LIVING ROOM!!! Happy Valentines Day.' Seen on February 6 in NYC

She also shared: 'NO BIG DEAL KENNY G IN MY LIVING ROOM!!! Happy Valentines Day.'

Jazz musician Kenny, 62 - who is best known for his song Forever In Love - is seen playing the saxophone in the middle of their living room, which has no furniture, only white drapes.

It is not known if West had the furniture removed for the performance or if they have not decorated the area yet. It is known that the home is sparsely filled.

There are single pink, white and red roses in clear glass vases all along the room.

It must have taken hours to place them in their vases and carefully position them on the floor just so.

Proud of his work: Kanye wore a grey top and two chains as she smiled at his wife

Incredible: Jazz musician Kenny is seen playing the saxophone in the middle of their living room, which has no furniture and is all white

A classic tune: Kenny is in a black suit and white shirt as he plays Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Kenny is in a black suit and white shirt as he plays the 1939 song Over The Rainbow from the film The Wizard Of Oz.

Kanye, who has on a grey sweatshirt with two necklaces, is seen smiling from ear to ear as he also films the whole thing.

This comes after she shared two photos to Instagram where they are blissfully happy.

'Happy Valentine's Day babe!!! I love you so much!' wrote the KKW Beauty founder.

The couple have three children together, North, Saint and Chicago. And they are expecting a fourth child via gestational carrier 'very soon,' Kim told Andy Cohen last month on WWHL.

Kim and Kanye wed in front of a flower wall in Italy in 2014 in front of 200 guests. She wore a form fitting Givenchy dress with a long lace veil.

Loving: This comes after she shared two photos of them in PDA as she said, 'Happy Valentine's Day babe!!! I love you so much!'

Last year West did much less.

He shared a photo of a homemade white card with a handwritten message on the front, reading 'Happy Valentines Day Babe.'

Kim went to Instagram to write, 'I love you to infinity! Happy Valentines Day!!!'

In 2017 they dined at Carbone in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. He also gave her a wall of flowers. 'Oh my God! Just walked in and look what I see  a huge flower wall with orchids and roses,' she said in a Snapchat video.

Kiss: The couple have three children together, North, Saint and Chicago. And they are expecting a fourth child via gestational carrier 'very soon,' Kim told Andy Cohen last month on WWHL

Hello! West was spotted after surprising his wife at his studio in Calabasas

Yummy: Kim's children, North, Saint, and Chicago received a giant heart cookie

Sibling love: Kourtney sent a lovely package to KimRob Kardashian took some time out on Thursday to send a sweet Valentine's Day message on Twitter.

The 31-year-old sock mogul shared a photo of Dream playing with some a teddy bear, Hello Kitty doll and small boxes on the floor as he captioned the image, 'Happy Valentine's Day baby girl!! Daddy LOVES YOU.'

The TV star is still engaged in a custody battle with his baby mama and ex fiancee Blac Chyna.

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His Valentine: Rob Kardashian shared a sweet photo of his daughter Dream as part of Valentine's Day on Thursday

Dream was seen in a pink singlet top with matching pants and a headband.

In front of was a love heart shapes handbag that read: 'Be Mine'.

The gifts Dream was playing with were from Rob's mother Kris Jenner, 63.

Proud dad: Rob welcomed Dream into the world in 2016 with ex-fiance, Blac Chyna

Rob's post comes after Chyna took to social media for a now deleted Instagram Live rant where she hit out at her two baby daddies Rob and Tyga, as well as her mom, Tokyo Toni.

She targeted her mom after she recently claimed Rob should have sole custody of Dream as the star's personal life is on a 'downward spiral'.

'F**k Toni, f**k Tyga, f**k Rob, f**k everybody else. I never asked Tyga for child support, Rob for child support, whatever, and then we just went to court,' she said in her rant.

Ongoing custody battle: Rob's sweet post comes after Chyna took to social media for a now deleted Instagram Live rant where she hit out at her two baby daddies Rob and Tyga, as well as her mom, Tokyo Toni

Not happy: She targeted her mom (pictured) after she recently claimed Rob should have sole custody of Dream as the star's personal life is on a 'downward spiral'

'I try to squash s**t, which I did, but none of that comes out. It's only negative s**t with Chyna I never wanted no money from Rob because it was never about that. Period,' she said.

'I came from the strip club, my momma was a stripper, my daddy, I didn't know him.

'I have kids by two guys that f**king tricked me or whatever and don't give me s**t. No child support, and I'm sick of that s**t. Cut that child support s**t out. Just cut it out. Period.'

This comes after TMZ reported that Rob and Chyna are getting close to reaching a new custody deal, which would reportedly see the KUWTK star pay significantly less than his current $20,000 a month in child support.

Not the Kardashian way: It's been claimed Rob's family don't feel comfortable with the TV star, after she wanted to leave Dream with nannies as she partied at the Ritz Carlton in Honolulu, Hawaii with musician Kid Buu, 30, according to People

It's been claimed Rob's family doesn't feel comfortable with the TV star, after she wanted to leave Dream with nannies as she partied at the Ritz Carlton in Honolulu, Hawaii with musician Kid Buu, 30, according to People.

The source said: 'Rob's family always had issues with Chyna. Her public behavior in the past few days, certainly isn't going to give her a Mother of the Year award.'

'Chyna has long acted like her number one priority isn't raising her kids. This is very hard for Rob's family.

The insider continued: 'They don't feel like Dream is properly cared for when she is with Chyna. They find it to be a sad situation.'Her romantic life has been plagued by accusations of infidelity.

But Khloe Kardashian was certainly feeling the love as she showered daughter True with hugs and kisses for Valentine's Day on Thursday morning.

The 34-year-old reality star cuddled up to her 10-month-old little girl in a series of sweet photos shared to her Instagram account before showing off a massive heart-shaped floral arrangement from beau Tristan Thompson.

Mommy and me: Khloe Kardashian was certainly feeling the love as she showered daughter True with hugs and kisses for Valentine's Day on Thursday morning

Khloe showed off her new short hair in the snaps as she sported a white tank top covered in pink and red puckered lips.

A bright red hearts filter was splashed across the background as little True giggled for the camera in a pair of colorful pajamas.

The Good American founder made sure to boast about a few gifts for her baby girl including flowers, chocolates and a special mailbox for Valentine's notes.

A massive red and pink rose floral arrangement sat on top of her counter, which she captioned 'Daddy and baby True.'

Celebrating: The 34-year-old reality star cuddled up to her 10-month-old little girl in a series of sweet photos shared to her Instagram account

Wow! A massive red and pink rose floral arrangement sat on top of her counter, which she captioned 'Daddy and baby True'

Happiness: A bright red hearts filter was splashed across the background as little True giggled for the camera in a pair of colorful pajamas

Sources revealed to People earlier this week that Khloe hasn't been spending time with True's father Tristan Thompson, as the pair have rarely been seen out together since January.

'She very much acts like a single mom,' an insider said, adding that Khloe 'rarely talks about' Tristan.

'Khloe and True are happy in Los Angeles. They spend very little time in Cleveland, where Tristan is,' the source added.

Love: The Good American founder made sure to boast about a few gifts for her baby girl including flowers, chocolates and a special mailbox for Valentine's notes

Hugs and kisses: Khloe showed off her new short hair in the snaps as she sported a white tank top covered in pink and red puckered lips

True roses: Khloe's daughter received a bouquet of roses herself

Nearly one year ago, DailyMail.com broke the news that Tristan was reportedly caught in a cheating scandal as pregnant Khloe was nearing her due date.

The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star later forgave the Cleveland Cavaliers power forward but decided to stay back home in Los Angeles to raise their daughter.

'Her whole life is True,' the source said. 'Khloe is a great mom. It's so obvious how much she loves being a mom. She likes that True is a bit older now  they attend classes with other babies True's age and Khloe is making sure she has friends.'

Despite being absent from her social media platforms, Tristan may make an appearance back in Los Angeles to be with his family as the Cavaliers aren't set to play again until facing off against the Phoenix Suns on Thursday, Feb. 21.She's enjoying a romantic holiday away with boyfriend Josh Ritchie.

And Charlotte Crosby has posted a series of sizzling snaps as the couple celebrated Valentine's Day in the sun.

The former Geordie Shore star, 28, looked nothing short of sensational as she shared a photo of herself sitting on a swing by the beach.

Stunning: Charlotte Crosby has posted a series of sizzling snaps as the couple celebrated Valentine's Day in the sun

Showing off her lithe figure, the reality star donned a tangerine two piece bathing suit for the day.

Styling her brunette locks, which were still sporting shades of pink, into loose waves, Charlotte looked relaxed as she sipped a beverage by the water.

She captioned the snap: 'Win or loose we're on the booze'.

In another photo, Charlotte looks cosy while sitting next to Josh, 24, who smiles broadly at the camera.

Loved-up: In another photo, the Newcastle native looks cosy while sitting next to Josh, 24, who smiles broadly at the camera

The pair had some steamy plans for how to spend their Valentine's together, with Charlotte writing: 'Happy Valentine's Day Mr Ritchie.

'Today is my favourite day only because I HAVE to get lots of kisses with tongues because its the law. Love you JR.'

Charlotte recently revealed she plans to start a family with boyfriend Josh ahead of turning 30 next year.

In recent weeks, the star has been hit with pregnancy rumours which she was grilled on during an appearance on Good Morning Britain.

Charlotte wrote: 'Happy Valentine's Day Mr Ritchie. Today is my favourite day only because I HAVE to get lots of kisses with tongues because its the law. Love you JR'

Chatting on the show, the reality personality said: 'Next year, me and Josh. I would like a baby, Im 30 next year and ready to start a family. Josh is four years younger. We talk a lot about it, it seems he is on board.'

Late last year, Charlotte and Josh set tongues wagging when images emerged showing the EOTB star cradling her stomach and leading to wonderment from fans.

The happy couple make no secret of their romance on social media and fans will watch their life unfurl on the upcoming second season of The Charlotte Show.

Family: Charlotte recently revealed she plans to start a family with boyfriend Josh ,24, ahead of turning 30 next year (pictured January 2019)

A cast member of Geordie Shore until 2016, Charlotte has not ruled out a return to the series one day and insisted she has no regrets about her time on the show.

She told the Daily Star: 'I dont ever rule it out. If it was to end and came back in five years for a reunion, I would never rule out going in for a few episodes.

'Geordie Shore was the happiest Ive ever been in my life, it was amazing. Ive never had so much fun. Im so grateful for the opportunity of being on such an amazing show  and you know what? I regret f**k all.'She announced her split from Josh Denzel earlier this month, after six months of dating.

And Kaz Crossley showed her ex-boyfriend exactly what he's missing on Valentine's Day as she took to Instagram to share a provocative new shot of herself clad in lacy red underwear.

Posing on a large double bed, the make-up artist, 25, left little to the imagination in an extreme plunging one-piece that fully exposed her cleavage.

What he's missing: Kaz Crossley showed her ex-boyfriend what he's missing on Valentine's Day by sharing a provocative shot of herself clad in lacy red underwear on Instagram

With sheer lace detail and a delicately cinched waist, the striking red lingerie also served to accentuate the reality stars enviable physique.

Lounging seductively on the bed Kaz appeared to be fresh out of the shower, with a white towel wrapped around her head and a dressing gown draped around her shoulders.

Glancing to one side, the brunette beauty looked gorgeous with her flawless make-up application finished off with a deep red lipstick.

Kaz's sizzling Valentine's Day snap 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.

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

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.

Mutual: 'I definitely was in love. I'm still in love. We still have a lot of love for each other', Kaz explained

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.'

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

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.Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow repped her very own G. Label in a $595 'Sharis' chambray dress while shopping with a gal pal at Brentwood Country Mart in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The 46-year-old Oscar winner paired her belted blue-denim frock with freshly-coiffed blonde, middle-parted waves.

The Clean Plate author had minimal make-up on to better let her natural beauty shine through during the sunny outing.

Cute: Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow repped her very own G. Label in a $595 'Sharis' chambray dress while shopping with a gal pal at Brentwood Country Mart on Tuesday

That same day, Gwyneth gave an update on her half-hour untitled Goop docuseries, which starts streaming this fall on Netflix.

'I'm a big Netflix fan. It's actually been interesting to see how since the rise of Netflix how it's sort of my primary channel,' Paltrow told Cheddar News inside her Goop Lab.

'So I was so excited and honored that they actually are making a Goop television show. I think it's a very powerful medium, obviously, and I think our reader is on that streaming platform.

All-American: The 46-year-old Oscar winner paired her belted blue-denim frock with freshly-coiffed blonde, middle-parted waves

In her hood: The Clean Plate author had minimal make-up on to better let her natural beauty shine through during the sunny outing

'It's sort of my primary channel': That same day, Gwyneth gave an update on her half-hour untitled Goop docuseries, which starts streaming this fall on Netflix

Paltrow told Cheddar News inside her Goop Lab: 'So I was so excited and honored that they actually are making a Goop television show. I think it's a very powerful medium, obviously, and I think our reader is on that streaming platform...I think it's going to be a good marriage and hopefully we'll create something that's very interesting'

'I love Netflix as well because they're very bold in the choices they make and they're not afraid to move culture forward and to trailblaze a little bit. So I think it's going to be a good marriage and hopefully we'll create something that's very interesting.'

Later, the UCSB drop-out's second husband Brad Falchuk posted an Instagram video of himself working out his bulging biceps with 'the world's greatest trainer' Harley Pasternak in the gym.

The Head Over Heels producer and the 47-year-old Emmy winner - who wed in September - share two children each (Apple, Isabella, Moses, and Brody) from prior marriages.

Bulging biceps! Later, the UCSB drop-out's second husband Brad Falchuk posted an Instagram video of himself working out with 'the world's greatest trainer' Harley Pasternak in the gym

June 17 family portrait: The Head Over Heels producer and the 47-year-old Emmy winner - who wed in September - share two children each from prior marriages

The newlyweds first met when Gwyneth guest starred in five episodes of Fox's Glee (which Brad produced) back in 2010.

Tickets costing $1,000-$4,500 are now on sale for Goop's next Wellness Summit happening March 8-10 at Pier 17 in Manhattan's South Street Seaport.

Acting-wise, Paltrow will return as Stark Industries CEO Pepper Potts in the Russo Brothers' Avengers: Endgame, which hits UK theaters US theaters April 25 and US theaters on April 26.

'Were coming (back) to NYC!' Tickets costing $1,000-$4,500 are now on sale for Goop's next Wellness Summit happening March 8-10 at Pier 17 in Manhattan's South Street SeaportShe was recently said to have been spotted sharing a kiss with Irish actor Jack McEvoy.

But the only Valentine Jess Wright, 32, needed to spend Valentine's Day with this year was her sister Natalya, 18 as the sisters shared a sweet snap from their holiday in Mexico.

The sisters are currently living it up on a sun-kissed excursion to Mexico where they spent the day at Las Caletas beach in Puerto Vallarta.

Valentine's: (L-R) Natalya Wright, 18, and Jess Wright, 32, are currently living it up on a sun-kissed excursion to Mexico where they spent the day at Las Caletas beach in Puerto Vallarta

TOWIE star Jess looked nothing short of sensational for the snap, which saw the pair mock-pucker up for a kiss.

She donned a monochrome striped bikini top that barely contained her assets with black, strappy bottoms which showcased her pert derriere.

Letting her brunette locks hang loose down her shoulders, she accessorised with a pair of shades.

Model Natalya stood out in a red, blue and yellow two piece with thong bottoms which revealed her lithe legs as she posed.

The brunette beauty accesorised with a pair of shades which held her tresses back from her glowing visage.

Style: TOWIE star Jess looked nothing short of sensational for the snap donning a monochrome striped bikini top with black, strappy bottoms

She wrote alongside the snap: 'My V-Day partner this year. Kisses in front of the Love Heart Rock'.

Jess was said to have been spotted in the company of Irish actor Jack McEvoy at the Nordoff Robbins Legends of Rugby event in London last month.

A source told MailOnline: 'Jess was fawning over Jack all night, they were both very flirtatious with each other.

'They were dancing the salsa and even had a cheeky kiss after exchanging numbers outside the after-party before leaving in separate cabs.'

Flirt: Jess was said to have been spotted in the company of Irish actor Jack McEvoy at the Nordoff Robbins Legends of Rugby event in London last month (pictured in January 2019)

Jess follows Jack on Instagram, with the hunk posting on his social media from the glamorous event. The pair also have a famous pal in common, ex TOWIE star Lydia Bright, who Jess left the event with.

Jack plays Helgi in History's Vikings and has previously appeared in BBC drama Ripper Street. He will appear alongside Jude Law and Blake Lively in thriller The Rhythm Section.

Jessica's most high-profile romance was her long-term relationship with former TOWIE co-star Ricky Rayment, 28.

Event: Jess attended the bash with fellow TOWIE star Lydia Bright, 29 (pictured in January 2019)

The trials and tribulations of their pair's union was played out on the ITVBe reality show, before they called time on things in late 2014.

She then dated Strictly's Giovanni, 28, last year, with the pair having a five month relationship before splitting.

He is now dating former Pussycat doll and Strictly finalist Ashley Roberts, 37.Graham Norton and Alan Carr have been confirmed as judges for RuPaul's Drag Race UK.

The Irish host, 55, and comedian, 42, will now join the show's veterans RuPaul and Michelle Visage on the judging panel.

Talking about joining the show, Graham said: 'Becoming part of the drag race family makes me ridiculously happy! I cant wait to see what the UK drag queens bring to the party, but they better weeeeerk!!!'

Confirmed: Graham Norton and Alan Carr have been confirmed as judges for RuPaul's Drag Race UK

To which Alan added: 'Wow! To be sat next to Michelle Visage and Mama Ru as a guest judge on possibly one of my all-time favourite shows EVER is a dream come true.

'I cant wait to see what the UK Queens have got in store - its going to be sickening! *does death drop*.'

Meanwhile, Drag Race producer and host, RuPaul said: 'I was both shocked and delighted when Graham and Alan told me theyd be wearing tucking panties when sitting at the judges' table.

'I told them it was not necessary, but they insisted. Now thats what I call dedication!'

Shante, you stay: The Irish host, 55, and comedian, 42, will now join the show's veterans RuPaul and Michelle Visage on the judging panel

Graham and Alan will appear as rotating resident judges, each week they will join RuPaul and Michelle alongside a celebrity guest judge.

While for the finale, the two television stars will both appear on the judging panel with Michelle to help RuPaul crown his UK's Next Drag Superstar.

This isn't Graham's first time on the judging panel and he appeared on RuPauls Drag Race: All Stars' season two as a guest judge in 2016 in the US.

You Better Werk!: Graham and Alan will appear as rotating resident judges, each week they will join RuPaul and Michelle alongside a celebrity guest judge

Meanwhile, Alan is a huge Drag Race fan and RuPaul has even appeared on his chatshow Alan Carr's Chatty Man.

It was announced in December that RuPaul's Drag Race is launching its first ever UK version on BBC Three.

With the British edition of the the hit show already looking for homegrown drag queens to star in the upcoming eight part series.

Drag Race is already a huge success in the US with a record-breaking 23 Emmys, with a total of nine wins including Outstanding Reality-Competition Program and Outstanding Host for a Reality-Competition Program.

The last bill I would like to highlight is HB 1093  Gold Star Families Tax Relief. This proposal expands on legislation Del. Pat Young of Baltimore County and I sponsored and passed into law last session that raised the tax exemption on military retirement income from $5,000 to $15,000 and lowered the age of eligibility from 65 to 55. While the goal was for a full tax exemption, we were happy to make a lot of progress in 2018. Sadly, it came to our attention that death benefits for our Gold Star Families were simply overlooked in 2018. We are honored to try to include these benefits to our Gold Star Families in 2019.They seem to be working their way back into each other's hearts after a brief break up at the end of the year.

And Cardi B looked positively fantastic in a sexy black bodysuit with a plunging neckline at the Ignite Angels and Devils Pre-Valentine's Day Party in Bel Air on Wednesday night.

The 26-year-old songstress was all-smiles as she cozied up to husband Offset for the night out as it was revealed the couple recently purchased his-and-hers homes for $100,000 in Georgia.

Svelte: And Cardi B looked positively fantastic in a sexy black bodysuit with a plunging neckline at the Ignite Angels and Devils Pre-Valentine's Day Party in Bel Air on Wednesday

The Grammy award-winning musician showed off her killer curves in a skin tight black one-piece with her ample assets nearly spilling out of the daring neckline.

She showed off her slender waistline in a pair of black jeans just seven months after welcoming daughter Kulture.

Cardi rocked six-inch stilettos and wore her electric red hair curly, with a host of sparkling bracelets on each wrist.

Offset looked ready to ride in a black leather jacket with matching slacks featuring a bold yellow panel running the length of his thigh.

Mom and Dad: The 26-year-old songstress was all-smiles as she cozied up to husband Offset and pal Hennessy Carolina at the love-filled party

Beauty: The Grammy award-winning musician showed off her killer curves in a skin tight black one-piece with her ample assets nearly spilling out of the daring neckline

Award winner: Cardi rocked six-inch stilettos and wore her electric red hair curly, with a host of sparkling bracelets on each wrist

He wore a matching mustard sweatshirt with the hood covering his head and thick silver chains around his neck and wrists.

Once inside the bash, Cardi took to the microphone to belt out one of her many hits from her freshman album Invasion of Privacy.

She revealed on Twitter Wednesday that new music was on its way Friday with a 'brand new song' featuring Bruno Mars.

The two previously collaborated on the hit Finesse and Cardi was slated to go on tour with the Uptown Funk hitmaker before she had to pull out of the shows due to mothering responsibilities.

Casual: Offset looked ready to ride in a black leather jacket with matching slacks featuring a bold yellow panel running the length of his thigh

Star power: Once inside the bash, Cardi took to the microphone to belt out one of her many hits from her freshman album Invasion of Privacy

Loved up: Cardi and Offset separated in December and though they were spotted together later that month, the Bodak Yellow hitmaker denied a number of times they had reconciled, most recently just a few weeks ago

Cardi and Offset separated in December and though they were spotted together later that month, the Bodak Yellow hitmaker denied a number of times they had reconciled, most recently just a few weeks ago.

However, official records show that on January 18, the couple splashed out just over $100,000 on two modest properties in Georgia.

According to The Blast, the pair snapped up the two homes in Jonesboro, which cost $57,696 and $48,080 respectively.

They each have three-bedrooms and one bathroom.

Despite their denials about being back together, the couple have since made public the fact they have reconciled and Offset even joined Cardi on stage when she picked up the Best Rap Album accolade at the Grammy Awards over the weekend.

In her element: She revealed on Twitter Wednesday that new music was on its way Friday with a 'brand new song' featuring Bruno Mars

Crowd pleaser: Cardi has been hard at work on a sophomore album after the widely successful release of Invasion of Privacy in April

Cardi was visibly emotional as she took to the stage and paid tribute to her daughter and those who pushed her to complete the record during her pregnancy.

'I want to thank my daughter,' she said. 'I'm not just saying thank you because she's my daughter. It's because, you know, when I found out I was pregnant, my album was not complete.

'I had like, three songs that I was for sure having -- you know how it was. We was like, 'We have to get this album done so I could shoot the videos while I'm still not showing. It was very long nights.'

Cardi also thanked a number of artists, including Chance the Rapper, Migos, and SZA for contributing to her success.

Hard work: She won the Best Rap Album accolade at the Grammy Awards over the weekend

Strange move: Cardi B and Offset 'bought two houses together in January' before they were officially back together, according to The Blast; seen Sunday at the Grammys

She grew tearful as she said: ' 'I want to thank all the artists that took their time and their verses for my album.'

The rapper ended her speech by praising her husband, saying, 'He was like 'you gonna have this baby, and you gonna make this album.' '

The Bronx-born beauty previously admitted she had turned down the Migos' rapper's request they attend marriage counselling.

'I decided on my own. Nobody makes my decisions about my life but me,' she said. 'I didn't want to go to marriage counselling. He suggested it, but it's like, 'I don't want to go.' There's no counselor or nothing that could make me change my mind.'

Big night: Cardi was visibly emotional as she took to the stage and paid tribute to her daughter and those who pushed her to complete the record during her pregnancy. Seen on the Grammy carpet SundayCourteney Cox lost her virginity when she was 21.

The 54-year-old actress - who is in a relationship with Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid - has revealed that her mother, also called Courteney, didn't teach her a lot about sex and so she was really 'backwards' about the topic.

But once her mother realized she was in a serious relationship with one of her boyfriends she encouraged her to take the plunge and have sex.

In her 20sL Courteney Cox lost her virginity when she was 21. The 54-year-old actress has revealed that her mother, also called Courteney, didn't teach her a lot about sex and so she was really 'backwards' about the topic. Seen in 1985

So young: In 1987 with her boyfriend at the time, Paul Brown, at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California

Mom made a suggestion: But once her mother realized she was in a serious relationship with one of her boyfriends she encouraged her to take the plunge and have sex. She shared the news when on James Corden's show on Wednesday

Speaking on The Late Late Show with James Corden on Wednesday, she shared: 'My mom didn't talk to me about one thing that I should have known [about sex].

'I shouldn't probably say this, but I will, I was a virgin until I was 21.

'I think I can be proud of that. I remember, I dated the guy for a long time, and my mom was like, "OK, I think she's gonna be with him for a while."

'And she sent me a pair of underwear to try, you know, womanhood. And they were called Olga, and I swear the lace was about three and a half to four inches and then the cotton part.

Early on in her career: The beauty during season six of the hit TV series Family Ties

'But they were so much better than the ones I was wearing, so I was really backwards when it came to that. They were pretty snazzy, I mean, not in this day in age, but, you know.'

Cox was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. She is a daughter of businessman Richard Lewis Cox and Courteney Copeland.

After graduating from Mountain Brook High School, Cox left for Mount Vernon College in Washington, D.C., but did not complete her architecture course, opting instead to pursue a career in modeling and acting.

The Friends actress and musician Johnny, 42, started dating in 2013 and had been engaged but called things off in 2015, and the pair spent months apart before rekindling their romance, with John now based in England and Courteney living in Los Angeles.

Her first big love: She was wed to David Arquette for over 10 years; here they are seen in 2010

Going strong: Cox has been with musician Johnny McDaid for the past several years; seen in 2015 in LA

But the former Cougar Town star insists that despite their long distance relationship, things are much better between them than they've ever been before.

Appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, she said: 'Isn't that strange? We broke off our engagement and he moved to England, then we got back together, and it's actually better than it was before. Everything's better.

'Not because he's in London, although the distance after that break-up - we were apart for six months - that really showed us a lot, and it's just better.

'I mean, it's expensive, it's an expensive relationship, we go back and forth a lot. He's incredible. He's also an incredible writer. He writes tons of music.'She is starring as Broadway star Margo Channing who begins to lose out on roles to her younger rival Eve Carrington (Lily James) in the West End's All About Eve.

And Gillian Anderson candidly reflected on how her latest role struck a chord with her because she feared she would be 'forgotten' as she aged.

The actress, 50, said ageing was 'completely traumatic' as she mourned the death of her youth in a recent interview with British VOGUE magazine.

'There is a fear you'll be forgotten': Gillian Anderson, 50, reflected on MOURNING her youth during 'traumatic' ageing process as she shared her fears of becoming 'invisible'

She told the publication: 'Theres a sense of being forgotten as you age, of becoming invisible when your currency has no value anymore.

'If you watch yourself on film, there is a certain point you see yourselfchange. Its arresting. It can either be completely traumatic or something that instigates a shift of consciousness towards thinking about whats important.

'But you have to go through that trauma first, to mourn.'

In her role: She is starring as Broadway star Margo Channing who begins to lose out on roles to her younger rival Eve Carrington (Lily James) in the West End's All About Eve

Youthful: Gillian's role hit a nerve with her because her character Margo begins to fade into the background as new rising star Eve (Lily James, pictured) takes on the parts she would have got

Gillian's role hit a nerve with her because her character Margo begins to fade into the background as new rising star Eve takes on the parts she would have got.

The X Files star has big shoes to fill as she takes over from screen legend Davis, while Lily's role was played by Anne Baxter in the original film.

See the full feature in the March issue of British Vogue, available on digital download and newsstands now. www.vogue.co.uk

All About Eve received a total of 14 Academy Award nominations, winning six Oscars in total including Best Film, and remains the only film in history to receive four female acting nods.

Directed and written by Belgian experimental artist van Hove, the play features music by PJ Harvey, set and lighting by Jan Versweyveld, costume design by An DHuys and sound design from Tom Gibbons.

Completing the cast in the highly anticipated production are Monica Dolan, Ian Drysdale, Tsion Habte, Jessie Mei Li, Julian Ovenden, Sheila Reid, Rhashan Stone, Stanley Townsend and Philip Voyzey.

News of Gillian's casting was reported by the Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye last year.

It was claimed Cate Blanchett had originally been chosen for the role, but was forced to withdraw due to scheduling conflicts.

Gillian last appeared on the West End in 2014, playing Blanche DuBois in Young Vic production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

The role earned her the best actress accolade at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

See the full feature in the March issue of British Vogue, available on digital download and newsstands now. www.vogue.co.ukShe's one of the best loved stars in showbiz, so it was no surprise to see her famous friends turn up to support her.

Amanda Holden rang in her 48th birthday early on Wednesday night as a host of celebrities including David Walliams and Myleene Klass joined her for a boozy dinner.

The Britain's Got Talent judge was hosted by Quaglinos in London, enjoying a fun-filled evening of drinks and fine dining.

Birthday girl: Amanda Holden (pictured centre) rang in her 48th birthday early on Wednesday night as a host of celebrities including Myleene Klass, her husband Chris Hughes, David Walliams, and Stephen Mulhern (clockwise from right)

Amanda and her pals shared a number of snaps from inside the bash as they toasted her big day.

She was also accompanied by her husband of ten years, Chris Hughes, on the night out.

She enthused: 'Had the best early birthday dinner with these magical strong girls among others! .. x #lucygaskill isnt on insta  @quaglinos'

Myleene uploaded a picture of the gang, writing: 'Squad: the happiest of birthdays to @noholdenbac. Such a special, beautiful friend. X'

Bash: The Britain's Got Talent judge was hosted by Quaglinos in London, enjoying a fun-filled evening of drinks and fine dining

Celebrating: Amanda and her pals shared a number of snaps from inside the bash as they toasted her big day

Kate Thornton was also in attendance, sharing the snap group snap as she heaped praise on her pal.

The former Pop Idol host enthused: 'Thank you for a night that was as glittering as you are! What a dazzling crew.'

Amanda and her guests sipped on pornstar martinis as they enjoyed the VIP treatment at the plush venue.

Cocktail o'clock: Amanda and her guests sipped on pornstar martinis as they enjoyed the VIP treatment at the plush venue

Timeless look: Amanda was clad in satin dress with a bow on the chic bardot neckline

The TV personality looked lovely for the occasion, donning a stunning satin dress with a bow on the chic bardot neckline.

The frock showcased her enviable frame, with the top half elegantly tailored to fit her curves.

The dress' structured flared skirt helped Amanda to show off her youthful side, and tanned pins.Love Island star Malin Andersson has paid tribute to her 'ultimate Valentine', boyfriend Tom Kemp, just days after tragically laying their four-week-old daughter to rest.

The reality TV personality, 26, told her Instagram followers the couple had been 'absolute messes' in the wake of their devastating loss as she posted a sweet selfie to her page on Thursday afternoon.

Alongside the poignant image, Malin simply wrote: 'Been absolute messes. But here is my ultimate Valentine.'

Mourning: Love Island star Malin Andersson has paid tribute to her 'ultimate Valentine', boyfriend Tom Kemp, just days after tragically laying their four-week-old daughter to rest

The couple buried their newborn baby girl to rest last week after she passed away following complications when she was born seven weeks early on December 23.

After an understandable silence on social media, Tom honoured his girlfriend on Valentine's Day with a sweet tribute earlier on Thursday.

Uploading a photo of the two in happier moments, the caption simply read: 'My valentine '

Consy's funeral was held on February 6, with Malin returning to social media herself on Tuesday, shared a photograph of herself gazing forwards with a sparkle filter.

Touching: After an understandable silence on social media, Tom honoured his girlfriend on Valentine's Day with a sweet tribute earlier on Thursday

Malin's last post to social media was on Twitter at the start of the month, when she heartbreakingly revealed when she would be laying her daughter to rest.

She wrote: 'So tomorrows the day I bury my daughter and lay her to rest free from pain. I love you unconditionally baby girl. None of this makes sense. CONSY-GLORIA.'

Malin tragically announced she had lost her newborn daughter last month after she she had been hospitalised since her premature birth in December.

Shortly after the loss of her daughter, Malin shared a touching poem about loss.

Malin posted the sweet words, written by Amy Farquhar on her Instagram stories on as she paid tribute to her little girl.

Heartbroken: The reality TV personality, 26, told her followers the couple had been 'absolute messes' in the wake of their devastating loss (baby Consy, pictured)

Heartbreaking: Consy's funeral was held on February 6, with Malin returning to social media herself on Tuesday, shared a photograph of herself gazing forwards with a sparkle filter

The lovely words included: 'I know how much that I am wanted/ I feel so very blessed/ Of all the mummy's in all the world/ I got the very best!'

Earlier the same day day, Malin revealed the sad news about her daughter on Instagram.

Consy had been treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital after suffering 'complications' since birth.

Malin wrote: 'Completely in love with you.. and my Mum just wanted you to be with her. Your time wasnt ready yet. Mummy loves you. I stayed with you each day...

'You opened your eyes one last time for me and I saw those beautiful big brown eyes. Im so sorry I couldnt do anymore.

'Go be with grandma Consy. My angel. Rest in peace CONSY GLORIA EMMA ANDERSSON-KEMP 23/12/18-22/01/19.'

'Lay her to rest free from pain': Malin's last post to social media was on Twitter at the start of the month, when she heartbreakingly revealed when she would be laying her daughter to rest

Heartache: Malin tragically announced she had lost her newborn daughter last month after she she had been hospitalised since her premature birth in December

After sharing the message on Instagram, she then shared the same image on Twitter with the simple message: 'RIP my angel', alongside a sad face Emoji.

She revealed in a tweet in January that she was yet to hold her beloved daughter, as she wrote: '3 weeks and I still havent held her.. keep praying for my girl'.

Malin, who appeared on series two of the reality show in 2016, gave birth seven weeks early on December 23, breaking the news to her fans on New Year's Day as she revealed the infant was being cared for at Great Ormond Street hospital.

Saying the couple are 'totally in love' with their daughter, Malin also confirmed their name choice - Consy, after her late mother.

She penned in the accompanying caption in her original announcement: 'Happy New Year.. Tom and I are so happy to let you all know that our baby girl CONSY arrived in this world 23rd December 2018, seven weeks early...

Pain: Malin revealed in a tweet in January that she was yet to hold her beloved daughter, writing: '3 weeks and I still havent held her.. keep praying for my girl'

'She is so beautiful, we are totally in love with her and feel so blessed that she is here but unfortunately due to complications, she is currently being cared for at Great Ormond Street...

'We have received a number of messages over the past week and there has been a lot of speculation and so we wanted to share our news with you so you could hear from us first hand.'

Just a week before her daughter's death, Malin shared an image of the tot's hand with a caption reading: 'All your prayers, messages, healing.. it means the world to us. Baby Consy is still in intensive care, and fighting each day...

'This has been the most difficult time I have ever gone through. I just want to hold her.. Its different to my mum last year.

'My mum was ready to go.. my little girl isnt. She has given me the ultimate purpose in my life and Im not prepared to let her go.'

Beloved: Consy's name is a tribute to Malin's late mother (pictured), following her passing in November 2017 after losing her battle with breast cancer

Consy's name is a tribute to Malin's mother following her sad passing in November 2017.

The reality star's mum battled breast cancer twice since 2001 before the cancer spread for a third time.

Tragically, Malin's father died from skin cancer after battling the disease twice.

Sharing a moving tribute to her mother at the time, wrote: '2am last night Heaven took you.. You didn't deserve the pain you were in, cancer 3 times.. It wasn't fair on you. I watched you take your final breath...

'I stayed with you right until the very end and you looked so peaceful. You're with Dad now.. just know I love you unconditionally. RIP.'

Heartache: Malin documented her mother's painful cancer battle and subsequent passing on social media

EXPLAINED: PREMATURE BIRTH AND ITS RISKS TO BABIES Around 10 per cent of all pregnancies worldwide result in premature labour - defined as a delivery before 37 weeks. When this happens, not all of the baby's organs, including the heart and lungs, will have developed. They can also be underweight and smaller. Tommy's, a charity in the UK, says this can mean preemies 'are not ready for life outside the womb'. Premature birth is the largest cause of neonatal mortality in the US and the UK, according to figures. Babies born early account for around 1,500 deaths each year in the UK. In the US, premature birth and its complications account for 17 per cent of infant deaths. Babies born prematurely are often whisked away to neonatal intensive care units, where they are looked after around-the-clock. What are the chances of survival? Less than 22 weeks is close to zero chance of survival

22 weeks is around 10%

24 weeks is around 60%

27 weeks is around 89%

31 weeks is around 95%

34 weeks is equivalent to a baby born at full term Advertisement

Malin has been a staunch campaigner for mental health awareness and uses her Twitter account to discuss grief and urge others to do the same.

In June last year, Malin's Love Island co-star Sophie Gradon was found dead in her home, after which then-pregnant Malin took to Twitter to honour her while also discussing mental health awareness and the post-show assistance given to stars.

In the midst of a string of Twitter messages, Malin beseeched bosses to pull the latest episode from schedules, as she honoured her friend by penning: NOT ENOUGH AFTERCARE TONIGHT SHOULD NOT AIR'.

Malin posted an image of the pair together with the added caption: 'My beautiful girl. Rest in Heaven now. Nothing has sunk in, and I have no words to say Im speechless.

'I met you on Love Island and you brought such laughter into my life, up until now. Your smile is one of a kind and you have always been a beautiful soul inside and out. All I know is that youre an Angel up there and in a better place.

'This world is cruel. MENTAL HEALTH IS SERIOUS. TROLLING IS SERIOUS, DEPRESSION IS SERIOUS. THINK WHAT YOU SAY BEFORE YOU SAY IT. YOU DONT KNOW WHAT ANYONE IS BATTLING.'

For support with child bereavement, contact The Lullaby Trust charity on 0808 802 6868, or email support@lullabytrust.org.uk

For support with premature birth, contact Little Miracles charity on 01733 262226He has garnered a heartthrob status through his role as Detective Inspector John Luther.

And Idris Elba proved he was the perfect gentleman for Valentine's Day on Thursday as he surprised his fiancee Sabrina Dhowre at Heathrow Airport.

The actor, 46, grabbed a coffee before heading to the the arrivals terminal, patiently waiting for Sabrina, 29.

Sweet: Idris Elba proved he was the perfect gentleman for Valentine's Day on Thursday as he surprised his fiancee Sabrina Dhowre at Heathrow Airport.

Clad in a khaki beanie, black sunglasses and an oversized hoodie, Idris cut a low-key figure as he strolled through the terminal.

Sabrina looked thrilled by the romantic gesture, with the American model beaming with sheer delight as the pair headed out of the airport.

She showed off her sartorial flair in an oversized black jacket, which she teamed with a Louis Vuitton bag and oversized trainers.

Loved-up: The actor, 46, grabbed a coffee before heading to the the arrivals terminal, patiently waiting for Sabrina, 29

Their reunion comes after Sabrina was forced to deny that the pair had wed in secret after the Luther star posted a video to his Instagram account calling the model 'his wife'.

The actor made the comments when he shared the video with his 3.3 million fans to explain his clean-shaven face: 'I'm making a movie at the moment where they insisted based on the special effects that you had to shave it.'

He added: 'Some people like it and a lot don't, like my wife.'

But the former Miss Vancouver spoke to The Metro to confirm the pair hadn't secretly wed: Our wedding is coming up soon and Im really looking forward to it'.

Casually-clad: Clad in a khaki beanie, black sunglasses and an oversized hoodie, Idris cut a low-key figure as he strolled through the terminal

Idris met Sabrina in her home country of Canada in 2017, and became acquainted on the set of the drama film The Mountain Between Us.

Speaking about the early days of their relationship, Idris told People Magazine: 'Falling in love while making a movie about falling in love is pretty special.'

They walked the red carpet together for the first time at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival for the screening of the film Molly's Game which Idris starred in.

The actor asked his other half to marry him in February last year during a screening for his film Yardie.Their marriage was rocked last year when she was caught on camera kissing her Strictly Come Dancing celebrity partner Seann Walsh.

And Katya Jones and her husband Neil proved they had put the incident firmly behind them when they celebrated their first Valentine's Day together since the incident.

The couple paid tribute to one another on social media, with Neil sharing a sweet snap of himself giving Katya a piggyback.

Smitten: Katya Jones and her husband Neil proved they had put the incident firmly behind them when they celebrated their first Valentine's Day together since the incident

They also used the opportunity to plug their new dance show, Somnium: A Dancers Dream, coming to the Sadler's Wells theatre in London this June.

Neil and Katya created a special video of themselves on Valentine's Day for the occasion, showing the brunette looking disappointed when he gave her flowers and chocolates instead of tickets.

He posted: 'Happy Valentines Day if you are still looking for a special gift for your loved one then get something different this year, SOMNIUM TICKETS which is coming to @sadlers_wells in June, just follow the link on my profile page and book now because you dont want to disappoint your loved one.'

Romantic gift: They also used the opportunity to plug their new dance show, Somnium: A Dancers Dream, at Sadler's Wells theatre in London this June

Video: Neil and Katya created a special video of themselves on Valentine's Day for the occasion, showing the brunette looking disappointed when he gave her flowers and chocolates instead of tickets

Neil recently revealed he was hoping to put everything behind and renew his vows with the Russian beauty.

However, as the couple have only been married for five years, Neil remarked that it was a 'bit too soon' for the pair to get renew their nuptials imminently.

Neil told The Daily Mail: 'We don't pay attention to what's being said about us. We don't that we're happy and that's all that matters.

'We might renew our wedding vows but we've been married for only five years and I think that's a little bit too soon.'

Making it right: Neil recently revealed he was hoping to put everything behind and renew his vows with the Russian beauty

In spite of the eye-opening cheating snaps that rocked the Strictly dance floor, the choreographer claimed Katya would be a 'great mum'.

The dancer also revealed he wants a 'big family' with three kids but he explained this won't be on the cards for a couple of years.

He went on: 'I want a big family. I want about three kids. I'm one of five and my sister has five kids, so it's going to happen, maybe not yet but in a couple of years.

'It will be harder for Katya when we have a baby because of the show. She has a very physical job. But we're both looking forward to that stage in our lives. I think Katya will be a great mum.'

Kiss scandal: Their marriage was rocked last year when she was caught on camera kissing her Strictly Come Dancing celebrity partner Seann Walsh (pictured together)

Katya and Neil dated for five years before they decided to walk down the aisle in August 2013.

They have weathered the cheating kiss shame well as the dancing duo continue to put on a united front on the red carpet and across social media.

Katya locked lips with comedian Seann when she was training him to dance for the BBC competition show Strictly Come Dancing.

Rebecca Humphries, who was Seann's girlfriend at the time, was sat at home waiting for her boyfriend to come home and celebrate her birthday with her.

Meanwhile, Neil has been hotly tipped to replace departing pro dancer Pasha Kovalev after eight 'incredible' years on the show.

Loved-up: Katya and Neil dated for five years before they decided to walk down the aisle in August 2013

Pasha tweeted on Wednesday: 'After scoring 93 perfect tens, reaching 4 finals and lifting 1 glitter ball, it's time for me to find a new challenge and so I've decided to make last year, my final season on Strictly.

'I've had eight fantastic years, full of wonderful memories, thanks to the incredible partners, professionals and a myriad of behind the scenes teams who all work to make Strictly the amazing production that it is.

'The biggest thanks go to all the members of the public who've supported me so much over the years - I look forward to seeing you on the Strictly Pro-Tour this spring, and for many more adventures to come.'

Fans have been rallying behind Neil, begging BBC bosses to promote him from ensemble dancer to one of the main stars.

One fan commented: 'So sad! Such a fab dancer! But maybe this will be your year @mr_njonesofficial.'

Another told Neil: 'Pasha is an amazing dancer and sorry to see him go. You are the perfect replacement for him. Should start petition now.'From romantic clifftop picnics to takeaway pizza on the beach, the Australian stars didn't disappoint in their Valentine's Day celebrations this year.

The Bachelor star Matty 'J' Johnson expressed his love for his pregnant partner Laura Byrne with a sprawling bouquet of flowers while the brunette returned the favour with a cheeky card with his successor Nick Cummins' face on it.

Meanwhile, Michael and Kyly Clarke enjoyed a sunset cruise along Sydney Harbour and Tim and Anna Robards rang in their first V-Day as a married couple at a luxury beach resort.

'To many more salty hair selfies with you babe!' Tim and Anna Robards rung in their first V-Day as a married couple at a luxury beach resort

The couple travelled to a boutique hotel in Mollymook on NSW's south coast for the milestone and shared several sweet selfies while cuddling up on the beach.

Sharing a video collage of their snaps, Tim wrote: 'First Valentine's as a married couple! To many more salty hair selfies with you babe!'

Sylvia Jeffreys and Peter Stefanovic, who tied the knot in 2017, kept things a bit more low-key, choosing to have takeaway pizza on the beach.

Posting a snap of their meal on the sand, Jeffreys, 32, captioned it: 'Thats Amore.'

These two! The Bachelor star Matty 'J' Johnson showed his love for his pregnant partner Laura Byrne with a sprawling bouquet of flowers while the brunette returned the favour with a cheeky card with his successor Nick Cummins' face on it

'That's amore!' Sylvia Jeffreys and Peter Stefanovic, who tied the knot in 2017, kept things a bit more low-key, choosing to have takeaway pizza on the beach

Cute couple: Meanwhile, Michael and Kyly Clarke enjoyed a sunset cruise along Sydney Harbour

Smitten: Natasha Oakley showed off her bouquet of flowers from her boyfriend Theo Chambers

New couple alert! Olympia Valance made her V-day debut with actor Luke Bracey, posting a snap of them dressed to the nines for a night out, captioned: 'Pretty stoked with my Valentine'

Olympia Valance made her V-day debut with actor Luke Bracey, posting a snap of them dressed to the nines for a night out, captioned: 'Pretty stoked with my Valentine.'

Elsewhere, Keira Maguire treated her Bachelor In Paradise boyfriend, Jarrod Woodgate, to some personalised diamond cufflinks.

Gushing about their relationship on Instagram, she wrote: 'Happy VDay to my beautiful man.... I LOVE YOU So so so so so so so so so much, you probably wont even see this.'

How cute! Love Island's Edyn 'Mac' Mackney shared an adorable collage with her boyfriend, Bachelor In Paradise star Apollo Jackson

Picture perfect: Georgia Love and Lee Elliott got all dressed up for the romantic day

Independent woman! Today star Brooke Boney shared a 'happy galentine's day' post from a Captain Marvel film premiere

'You make me laugh, you make me cry, you annoy the hell out of me. But I couldnt live without you. I know this because Ive tried. I feel so blessed to have found you.

'You fill my heart with so much joy amd you understand me like no one has ever before. I cant wait to see where this crazy adventure of ours takes us.'

Keira signed off: 'No words can describe how much you truly mean to me so thank you for being you and I cant wait see you tomorrow.'

Love Island lovebirds: Josh Moss and Amelia Marni showed off their cheeky side for their V-day tribute to each other

Making an effort: Josh organised a rose-petal adorned picnic on a cliff overlooking the Harbour Bridge

Thoughtful gift: Keira Maguire showed off the personalised diamond cufflinks she got for her Bachelor In Paradise beau, Jarrod Woodgate

And the Love Island stars didn't disappoint either, with Josh Moss pulling out all the stops for Amelia Marni.

The reality star organised a rose-petal adorned picnic on a cliff overlooking the Harbour Bridge.

Meanwhile, Dominic Thomas gave Tayla Damir - who he began dating after they met on Love Island - a personalised 'T' diamond necklace.

Sultry: MAFS' Martha Kalifatidis shared a sweet poem tribute to her 'husband' Michael Brunelli that read: 'Roses are red, Violets are blue, I married a stranger N got a Valentine too!'

Bling: Meanwhile, Dominic Thomas gave Tayla Damir - who he began dating after they met on Love Island - a personalised 'T' diamond necklaceAdvertisement

Social media is rife with romantic professions of love on February 14.

So naturally the stars were out in force on Thursday as a host of enamoured couples paid tribute to one another in sweet posts in a nod to their significant others - much to the delight of fans.

Leading the way was David and Victoria Beckham who shared shots of their tokens of esteem while Love Island victors Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham remained defiant over their questionable romance status with a sweet post.

Sweet: The Beckhams were naturally flooding social media with details of how they celebrate the big day, as Victoria posted a video of her various vases of flowers with the caption: 'Valentine's kisses from my babies x'

The Beckhams were flooding social media with details of how they celebrate the big day, as Victoria posted a video of her various vases of flowers with the caption: 'Valentine's kisses from my babies x'.

While she did not post details of David's gifts, she did share shots of what she had received from their seven-year-old daughter Harper, who had written sweet cards and given bracelets to her mum and dad.

David and Victoria married on July 4 1999 at Luttrellstown Castle, just outside Dublin, when he had just won the treble with Manchester United and Victoria was a global icon with The Spice Girls.

Kelly Brook continued to spark engagement rumours with her beau Jeremy Parisi as she shared a sweet selfie while flashing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger.

My babies: Victoria was treated to flowers from their four kids - including their beloved youngest Harper

Wow! Kelly Brook continued to spark engagement rumours with her beau Jeremy Parisi as she shared a sweet selfie while flashing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger

Cute: Sophie Turner paid tribute to fiance Joe Jonas in a romantic and autumnal snap

Sweet: After many reports about the state of their romance, Jack and Dani made a bold statement with a sweet selfie as she cosied up to her beau and added the caption: 'Happy Valentines Day baby I love you (really fancy you in this pic)'

After many reports about the state of their romance, Jack and Dani made a bold statement with a sweet selfie as she cosied up to her beau and added the caption: 'Happy Valentines Day baby I love you (really fancy you in this pic) Thankyou for being you'.

Following in his daughter's footsteps, Danny also shared a tribute to his wife Joanne Mas as he shared a snap from his time on Danny Dyer: Right Royal Family, with a caption reading: 'Happy Valentines Day to my Queen. The most gorgeous complex woman to have ever walked this Earth. With her by my side there is nothing that isnt doable.'

Rio Ferdinand and Kate Wright were adding to the incredible work of the stars as he shared shots from the big day on Instagram, where they included his three children Lorenz, 12, Tate, 10, and Tia, seven in the festivities.

The former footballer and TOWIE star announced their engagement via social media in early November after he proposed on a family trip to Abu Dhabi, making this year their first Valentine's as bride and groom to be.

Rochelle Humes was feeling loved-up as she shared a snap with her beau and wrote: 'My Valentine. Celebrating a night early in our favourite place (home on the sofa) Two things : 1. Man I love him !!!! 2. God, hes hot'.

Sweet: Following in his daughter's footsteps, Danny also shared a tribute to his wife Joanne Mas as he shared a snap from his time on Danny Dyer: Right Royal Family, with a caption reading: 'Happy Valentines Day to my Queen. The most gorgeous complex woman to have ever walked this Earth. With her by my side there is nothing that isnt doable'

Happy days: Rio Ferdinand and Kate Wright were adding to the incredible work of the stars as he shared shots from the big day on Instagram, where they included his three children in the festivities

Happy days: A number of snaps of their time as a couple littered the table around a bunch of flowers

Happy days: Kate revealed she had lodged some last minute requests with a local business to please the family

Happy: Kylie Minogue looked delighted as she posed with blush pink roses sent by her beau Paul Solomons

Loved-up: Rochelle Humes was feeling loved-up as she shared a snap with her beau and wrote: 'My Valentine. Celebrating a night early in our favourite place (home on the sofa) Two things : 1. Man I love him !!!! 2. God, hes hot'

Loved-up: As always, the Rutland-Ecclestones were celebrating in over-the-top style as the Formula One heiress showed how her husband Jay had transformed their home into a love nest complete with roses and cupcakes

Loved-up: Holly Willoughby also shared a snap to wish her husband Dan Baldwin a happy day

As always, the Rutland-Ecclestones were celebrating in over-the-top style as the Formula One heiress showed how her husband Jay had transformed their home into a love nest complete with roses and cupcakes.

Loved-up Hugo Taylor, who married wife Millie Mackintosh last year, quoted poet E. E. Cummings in his tribute as he wrote: 'Yours is the light by which my spirit's born: - you are my sun, my moon, and all my stars. Love you always and forever. Happy Valentines Day'.

Hugo and Millie, who was previously married to rapper Professor Green, cemented their 12 year-long on-off romance in June last year when they married in an idyllic Sussex wedding. Millie and Hugo dated in 2011 while on Made In Chelsea, but split up when it emerged he had cheated on Millie with her friend Rosie Fortescue.

Cute: Billie Faiers shared a stunning snap with fiance Greg Shepherd to honour the romantic holiday

Young love: Brooklyn Beckham's girlfriend Hana Cross showed her devotion to her love

Secret Love Song: Little Mix's Perrie Edwards got a beautiful bouquet of roses from beau Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Happy days: Emma Bunton shared a sweet throwback snap to honour her long-time love Jade Jones, while adding the caption: 'Weve spent many a Valentines Day together and they only get better... I love you!'

Happy days: Pregnant Gemma Atkinson shared a sweet tribute to her beau Gorka Marquez

Shocker: Keen to turn up the heat, Lauren Goodger shared a smouldering snap from her Dubai holiday as she posed in a barely-there ensemble while adding: 'Happy Valentines Day you gorgeous lot'

All forgiven? Strictly stars Katya Jones and Neil Jones shared a loved-up snap - in their first Valentine's since her shocking kiss with co-star Seann Walsh in October last year

What he's missing: Love Island's Kaz Crossley posed up in lacy red lingerie after splitting from Josh Denzel

Emma Bunton shared a sweet throwback snap to honour her long-time love Jade Jones, while adding the caption: 'Weve spent many a Valentines Day together and they only get better... I love you!'

Keen to turn up the heat, Lauren Goodger shared a smouldering snap from her Dubai holiday as she posed in a barely-there ensemble while adding: 'Happy Valentines Day you gorgeous lot'.

Vogue Williams shared an image of Spencer Matthews cradling six-month-old son Theodore with the caption: 'Not only are you the best husband in the world but you are the best Daddy too...

'Theodore and I are so lucky to have you. I love you more than I did yesterday and less than I will tomorrow you are our world Happy Valentines Day'.

Happy days: Rebekah Vardy cosied up to her husband Jamie in her very own romantic tribute

Cute! Millie Mackintosh showed her funny side as she gave her husband Hugo a cheeky card

Loved-up display: Vogue Williams shared an image of Spencer Matthews cradling six-month-old son Theodore with the caption: 'Not only are you the best husband in the world but you are the best Daddy too'

Reflection: Vogue Williams shared an image of Spencer Matthews cradling six-month-old son Theodore with the caption: 'Not only are you the best husband in the world but you are the best Daddy too'

Big Brother Love: Big Brother series seven stars Grace Adams-Short and Mikey Dalton celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary on February 14, as she shared a sweet snap

Oops! Geordie Shore star Sam Gowland organised a special treat for his co-star girlfriend Chloe Ferry - yet forgot to close the toilet ahead of the rose laden loo

Vogue and Spencer announced their engagement in February, before marrying at his family's Glen Affric Estate in June while she was pregnant with Theodore. She gave birth to the tot in September.

Melanie Sykes meanwhile was feeling reflective about her trip to the Taj Mahal in India as she shared a stunning snap with the added caption: On this #tbt and Valentines Day I thought Id post one of the most beautiful expressions of love I have ever seen the Taj Mahal...

'This pic was taken in May last year on the most wonderful and rewarding trip of my life. I am so grateful for the experience and still when I see this pic cant actually believe I was there. Have a happy day full of love  #india #motherland #tajmahal #valentinesday'.

Doting: Catherine Zeta-Jones, 49, appeared to be in an appreciative mood as she shared a touching tribute to her husband Michael Douglas, 74, and their children Carys, 15, and Dylan, 18

Hold me close: Jacqueline Jossa and Dan Osborne were another couple putting their romance woes to rest as she shared a sweet snap of the duo cosied up with the added caption: 'For better or worse I truly love you. Thank you for spoiling me but not only with gifts, with everything else that you bring to everyday of my life'

Happy days: Geri Horner paid tribute to her racing boss beau Christian with a selfie and a simple profession of her love

Hold me close: Katherine Jenkins cosied up to her husband Andrew Levitas in her own tribute

His princess: Giovanni Pernice, 28, looked as loved-up as ever with girlfriend Ashley Roberts, 37, as they rang in Valentine's Day with a smitten snap

Sweet: Later that day, Buttons hitmaker Ashley also posted a loved-up snap of the couple onto her social media platform, in celebration of the romantic occasion

Jacqueline Jossa and Dan Osborne were another couple putting their romance woes to rest as she shared a sweet snap of the duo cosied up with the added caption: 'For better or worse I truly love you. Thank you for spoiling me but not only with gifts, with everything else that you bring to everyday of my life'.

Geri Horner paid tribute to her racing boss beau Christian with a selfie and a simple profession of her love.

Billie Faiers was quite the lucky lady as her fiance Greg Shepherd treated her to a vast bunch of preserved roses along with a Louis Vuitton vanity bag - in treats documented on social media.

Louis and lovely! Billie Faiers was quite the lucky lady as her fiance Greg Shepherd treated her to a vast bunch of preserved roses along with a Louis Vuitton vanity bag - in treats documented on social media

Stunner: Chloe Lewis shared a sweet snap of her boyfriend Danny Flasher while posing in swimwear

Eye-popping: Love Island star Cally Jane Beech flaunted her incredible frame in saucy lingerie

Elsewhere, model Natalya Wright, 18, insisted the only Valentine she needed to spend the day with was her sister, TOWIE star Jess, 33.

The sisters are currently on a sun-kissed excursion to Mexico where they enjoyed a day at Las Caletas beach in Puerto Vallerta.

Natalya shared a snap of the pair mock puckering up for a kiss as they posed next to the waves.

Alongside the photo, she wrote: 'My V-Day partner this year. Kisses in front of the Love Heart Rock.'

Sisters before misters: Natalya Wright shared a snap of herself and sister Jess, saying she was the only Valentine she needed for the holiday

Couple goals: Former TOWIE star Lydia Bright paid tribute to her parents Debbie and Dave in a gorgeous snap

Cheers: Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling toasted their romance with a pint

Cute: Catherine Tyldesley and Tom Pitfield looked smitten in this sweet snap

Looking for love: Kerry Katona celebrated friendship as she posed with Celebs Go Dating co-star Jack Fowler

Kisses: Love Island's Montana Brown joined Stacey Solomon and Joe Swash (R) in packing on the PDA

New love: Stephanie Davis shared a montage dedicated to new beau Owen Warner

Lol: Comedian Ricky Gervais shared an alternative Valentine's messageThey've been apart for the last few days as she enjoys a fun-filled trip to Dubai with her friends.

But Vicky Pattison was getting into the Valentine's Day spirit on Thursday as she prepared to mark her first romantic holiday with her brand new boyfriend, one-time TOWIE star Ercan Ramadan.

The 31-year-old star ensured she was getting his pulses racing as she reunited with him in the UK, sharing several sizzling lingerie snaps of herself - before hitting out at a body-shaming weight loss advert

Passionate: Vicky Pattison was getting into the Valentine's Day spirit on Thursday as she prepared to mark her first romantic holiday with her new boyfriend

Vicky was seen modelling a red lace bra and matching pants as she posed on her hotel bed with a giant bouquet of flowers.

Cutting a sultry figure, the former Geordie Shore star was showing her ex-fiance John Noble what his was missing.

She captioned the snap: 'Happy Valentines Day from Dubai everyone...  Underwear is @newlook. Hotel is @atlantisthepalm. Hair and makeup by my beautiful girl @doneby_sg'.

'Aaaannnnnd another one.... HAPPY VALENTINES EVERYONE!', she wrote alongside a second stunning snapshot.

Sizzling snap: Vicky was seen modelling a red lace bra and matching pants as she posed on her hotel bed with a giant bouquet of flowers

Sharing a third snap, she continued: 'Last one I promise... Instagram versus Reality  (I was trying to be sexy and I fell over- all I deserved really... T****r)

Sharing a third snap, she continued: 'Last one I promise... Instagram versus Reality  (I was trying to be sexy and I fell over- all I deserved really... T****r.)

'Hope you all have an amazing Valentines Day!! Or Galentines day! Whatever youre celebrating, whoever youre celebrating with- I hope its lit and you show them how much they mean to you!!!'

The star also hit out at a body-shaming weight loss advert on Instagram, suggesting single women can't find love because they're overweight.

The image featured a slim, gym-honed woman with the slogan: 'If you were in better shape, you wouldn't be alone. Happy Valentine's Day.'

New man: Vicky recently confirmed she was seeing new man Ercan Ramadan, just months after calling off her engagement to John

MuscleFood UK reposted it, asking 'what an advert like this DO for a person's mental health?'.

'I'm actually shocked you've even posted it. I think giving it any publicity at all is dangerous', Vicky commented.

Vicky recently confirmed she was seeing new man Ercan, just months after calling off her engagement to John.

Hitting out: The star also hit out at a body-shaming weight loss advert on Instagram, suggesting single women can't find love because they're overweight

She insisted she was taking things slow and won't be flat-hunting or getting engaged any time soon.

The TV personality told the Daily Mirror: 'We are officially dating but it's not love yet. I do still believe in love, though.

'I have to or I would be very sad. I am worried about rebound, I want to make sure I'm doing things for the right reason and not just to feel better'.

Vicky split from John last November after he was spotted getting close to a bevy of women on a lads' holiday in Dubai.These are recovering addicts. We certainly support treatment for addiction, its a great thing to try and help people. But as anyone who has tried to help people knows, you cant help all the people all the time, Erich Bain said. Addiction is a terrible disease, an intense struggle and not everyone succeeds. What happens when they dont?She has been soaking up the sunshine on the golden shores of Portugal.

And Imogen Thomas wasted no time getting back on the social scene as she was seen departing from Beaufort house, in Chelsea on Wednesday.

The Big Brother star, 36, looked sensational in a spotty little dress which offered a look at her cleavage with the neckline and her legs.

Sensational in spots: Imogen Thomas stunned in a flirty polka dot dress as she took time off mummy duties on London night out on Wednesday

Black knee-high heeled boots elongated Imogen's legs when she sauntered out of the plush venue in a polka dot thigh-grazing number.

Imogen perfected her features with deftly touches of make-up and she styled her brunette tresses in beachy waves.

Riding solo for her evening out, the mother-of-two took the night off parenting duties to her daughters three-year-old Siera Aleira and six-year-old Ariana Siena.

Flying solo: Riding solo for her evening out, the mother-of-two took the night off parenting duties to her daughters three-year-old Siera Aleira and six-year-old Ariana Siena

In recent days, Imogen took her daughter Ariana out for dinner to celebrate the little girl's sixth birthday in style.

The model has been mending her heartbreak since she split from the father of her two children and partner Adam Horsley in April.

Former flames Imogen and Adam's love story goes way back as they were together for six years and raise two daughters together.

Commanding attention: Black knee-high heeled boots elongated Imogen's legs when she sauntered out of the plush venue in a spotty thigh-grazing number

A statement released to MailOnline at the time of the split read: 'Imogen is completely heartbroken and devastated about the break up, however she has amazing friends and family who are very supportive and will help to get her through this difficult time.

'Her two beautiful children are her priority moving forward, and she will continue to focus on the positive things in her life such as her business Chasing Summer.'

Since then, Imogen has been spotted sharing a smooch with a number of different mystery men over last year.

Big day: In recent days, Imogen took her daughter Ariana out for dinner to celebrate the little girl's sixth birthday in style

The Welsh born beauty admitted she was 'scared' about being a single mother after she separated from Adam.

She told New magazine in June last year: 'The first two weeks I couldn't eat much. That's because I'm more scared about being a single mum than anything else. I find it so, so stressful.'

Imogen lifted the lid on their split as she explained while the physical attraction was still there, the love had gone between them.

She told the publication: 'The physical attraction was still there, but when the love goes it's hard to get it back.Londons Soho Hotel provided the backdrop as Felicity Jones made another glamorous promotional appearance on behalf of her latest film on Wednesday evening.

Opting for a sweeping cream gown, the British actress, 35, looked typically stylish while attending a press screening of On The Basis Of Sex, a new biographical drama based on the life and career of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

With a sleeveless detail and delicately cinched waistline, the silk dress drew attention to her slender physique as she posed for photos alongside co-star Armie Hammer.

Striking: Londons Soho Hotel provided the backdrop as Felicity Jones made another glamorous promotional appearance on behalf of latest film On The Basis Of Sex on Wednesday evening

Strappy heels completed the look, while a distinct lack of accessories ensured her outfit was not overshadowed.

Selecting her make-up from a neutral colour palette, Felicity drew further attention to her naturally pretty features.

Joining the star, American actor Armie looked comparatively casual in a black roll-neck sweater and matching jeans teamed with distinctive Redwing boots.

Arm in arm: The British actress was joined by co-star Armie Hammer as she posed for photos

The new film sees Felicity playing Ginsburg during her early years as a young lawyer as she helps overturn a century of gender discrimination by bringing a revolutionary case before the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Armie also takes a central role as Ruth's late husband Martin D. Ginsburg, who passed away in 2010, aged 78.

Overturning a century of gender discrimination, the inspiring story was released to tie in perfectly with 2018's Year of the Woman and Justice Ginsburg's 25th anniversary on the Supreme Court.

Looking good: Felicity looked typically stylish while attending a press screening of the new biographical drama, based on the life and career of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Relaxed: Joining the star, American actor Armie looked comparatively casual in a black roll-neck sweater and matching jeans teamed with distinctive Redwing boots

Felicity previously spoke of her nerves when judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg paid a visit to the set to film a cameo.

She revealed in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald: 'I felt that I'd always wanted to get the spirit of Ruth and I thought if I got that, then everything else will fall into place.

'But I have to say it was nerve-racking on the day because when it goes from you playing that character to the real person, there's no hiding.

'It's just there for everyone to see. Particularly as I'd already shot the entire film, so I couldn't go in and change anything.'

On The Basis Of Sex is out in UK cinemas now.She's a Victoria's Secret Angel.

So it's no surprise that Elsa Hosk strutted the streets of New York's SoHo Wednesday night as if she was on a catwalk.

The Swedish model, 30, sported a red Chanel sweatshirt tucked into faded blue skinny jeans.

Top model: She's a Victoria's Secret Angel. So it's no surprise that Elsa Hosk strutted the streets of New York's SoHo Wednesday night as if she was on a catwalk

She stepped out in over-the-knee black boots and swung a black leather jacket in one hand as she walked.

While she was dressed casually the night before Valentine's day, if her remarks to UsWeekly are to be believed, she'll be putting on a much more dazzling display in 24 hours time.

'I dont mind to sex it up a bit for Valentines Day,' Hosk told the publication.

'Im normally pretty low key on my time off. But I think for something like a Valentines Day date I would totally dress up,' she explained.

Striking: The Swedish model, 30, sported a red Chanel sweatshirt tucked into faded blue skinny jeans, and she stepped out in over-the-knee black boots

Casual: The Stockholm native swung a black leather jacket in one hand as she walked

Hosk has modeled for Victoria's Secret since 2011.

She was presented with her Angel wings in 2015.

The Stockholm native was chosen to wear the Dream Angels Fantasy Bra in the 2018 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show that was held last November in New York.

The bra, worth $1 million, was hand-set with 2,100 Swarovski created diamonds.

Famous figure: Hosk has modeled for Victoria's Secret since 2011. She was presented with her Angel wings in 2015Bondi Rescue star Jesse Polock has come a long way in 10 years.

From receiving a suspended sentence for dealing with the proceeds of crime, to becoming a life saver and star of Bondi Rescue, it is hard to imagine things could better.

But they have - on Thursday Jesse, 29, announced he is to be a father and is engaged to his girlfriend, Tullie Zimmerman.

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Double the love! Bondi Rescue star Jesse Polock announced his engagement to Tullie Zimmerman on Thursday... and revealed he is to be a father. Pictured: Jesse and Tullie

Jess told Who magazine that he decided to propose to Tullie earlier this month while viewing their baby on ultrasound: 'As soon as I saw the heartbeat, and as soon as they said, "There's the hands, and the feet" I was like, "Tonight is the night I am going to propose to her!"'

Jesse has been dating Tullie, 21, for two years, and they are expecting their baby in August.

The Bondi Rescue star proposed to Tullie at Sydney's revolving 360 restaurant atop Sydney Tower.

For keeps! On Thursday Jesse, 29, announced he is to be a father and is engaged to his girlfriend, Tullie (pictured)

'I was waiting for [the restaurant to rotate to] the Harbour Bridge ... I was drinking rose, and I nearly drank a whole bottle by myself because I was so nervous!' Jesse said.

Tullie and baby can rest assured that they are in good hands, on and off the beach.

In March 2017, Jesse and fellow Bondi Rescue star Trent Maxwell rushed to the aid of an injured woman in a pub in Perth.

Jess told Who magazine that he decided to propose to Tullie earlier this month while viewing their baby on ultrasound: 'As soon as I saw the heartbeat, and as soon as they said, "There's the hands, and the feet" I was like, "Tonight is the night I am going to propose to her!"'

The two told The Saturday Telegraph how they were enjoying a cold beer in a pub when a patron had a seizure and was left unconscious for 15 minutes after hitting her head.

'She had a really bad seizure and was going in and out of consciousness for 15 minutes,' Jesse told News Corp Australia.

He and Trent immediately sprang into action, rushing to the aid of the injured woman.

Life's peachy: Jesse has been dating Tullie, 21, for two years, and they are expecting their baby in August. The Bondi Rescue star proposed to Tullie at Sydney's revolving 360 restaurant atop Sydney Tower

The two lifeguards put the woman into the recovery position and waited with her until paramedics arrived.

'We carried her out of the venue and waited for the ambulance to arrive. We went straight into lifeguard mode,' Jesse said.

Jesse and Trent had travelled to Western Australia to compete in the Rottnest Channel Swim, and were relaxing at the Ocean Beach Hotel afterwards.Cara Delevingne looked a bit downbeat as she helped rumored girlfriend Ashley Benson pack her luggage into a vehicle.

The 26-year-old actress-model was snapped in Los Angeles on Wednesday near a residence with the 29-year-old actress, amid fervent speculation the two are dating based on a number of outings over the past six months.

The London native was clad in a casual ensemble of a dark grey zip-up sweatshirt with maroon pants, a white T-shirt that read 'Legalize Equality,' and a grey beanie from which her brown locks protruded underneath.

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Casual: Cara Delevingne, 26, looked a bit downbeat as she helped rumored girlfriend Ashley Benson, 29, pack her luggage into a vehicle

Benson, 29, wore a black top with black pants, torn black jeans and black boots as she carried a handful of belongings toward a vehicle.

Benson, who's been seen on the series Pretty Little Liars and the film Spring Breakers, had her dark blonde locks down and parted on the dreary day in Southern California.

The actress and the 5ft8 supermodel, who were seen last week kissing in La La Land, have not gone official with their relationship amid numerous public outings in which they were with one another.

Those included Benson's presence at Paris Fashion Week last September, as she was in the front row taking in Cara's catwalk outing for Balmain. The pair left the venue of the fashion show together.

On the move: Benson, 29, wore a black top with black pants, torn black jeans and black boots as she carried a handful of belongings toward a vehicle

Model friend: The supermodel showed her strength in helping hoist a large suitcase into a vehicle

The month before, on August 14, the two were seen kissing at Heathrow airport in London, which came days after Benson sported the letters 'A' and 'C' on a necklace she was wearing.

Benson last year blanched at confirming the pair were dating as she spoke with PEOPLE Now.

'I think its the best way in any relationship,' she said. 'Ive always been very private about them, and I think its just better.'

Benson, who appears with Cara in the upcoming punk rock drama Her Smell, conceded that while it's difficult to keep a low-profile love life in show business, she does her best all the same.

'I mean its hard, I dont know, you kind of cant get away from that if youre in the public eye,' she said. 'I just kinda try to keep myself as private as possible.'

Luxe life: The two were snapped last fall in Paris leaving the Balmain show where Cara walkedThe Morning Show host Larry Emdur, 54, has been a staple on Australian television for the past 30 years.

And on Wednesday, the Channel Seven star took fans on a trip down memory lane with a youthful throwback picture from the early 90s.

Taking to Instagram, Larry shared a vintage black-and-white headshot from his days hosting Channel Seven's The Main Event.

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Blast from the past! The Morning Show host Larry Emdur, 54, shares a youthful throwback of himself from his time on Channel Seven's The Main Event

Giving fans a blast from the past, Larry wrote: 'Almost 30 years ago Chan 7 asked me to pre-sign 500 fan cards from The Main Event.'

Showing his signature sense of humour, he wrote: 'They were to be sent out when fans wrote in and asked for them. I still have 498 of them....mum has the other two.'

In the snap, a youthful looking Larry smiles at the camera, while wearing a white singlet and a houndstooth blazer.

The Main Event aired from 1990 to 1992, and is one of a number of game shows the media personality has hosted in his time on TV.

'Almost 30 years ago Chan 7 asked me to pre-sign 500 fan cards from The Main Event,' Larry wrote under the throwback. Pictured here in Sydney, 2015

In 1993, Larry garnered fame when he landed a presenting gig for the hit television show The Price Is Right.

In the 1990s, he hosted Hey Hey It's Saturday a number of times, including in 1994, 1998 and in 1999.

Larry went on to host popular game shows Cash Bonanza and Wheel of Fortune in 2001 and 2006, respectively.

Game show host! Larry hosted a number of game shows throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Pictured here on The Price Is Right, which aired between 1993 and 1998

Going strong! Larry and Sylvie, who married in 1995, renewed their vows eight years ago

He started his presenting role on The Morning Show in 2007, hosting the program alongside Kylie Gillies.

Larry married wife Sylvie in 1995, with the couple renewing their vows eight years ago.

In 2012, Larry revealed that he had a number of tattoos, with one in particular being dedicated to his Polish-born wife.

'The last one I got down at Bondi Ink a little while ago and it's a big 'S' for 'Sylvie',' he said at the time.

The couple share two adult children: son Jye, 22, and daughter Tia, 19.25 years after calling it quits on her modeling career, 50-year-old Christy Turlington returned to the runway during New York Fashion Week.

The supermodel closed out the Marc Jacobs show at NYFW, a quarter of a century after walking away from the modeling industry in 1994, a year after her last Marc Jacobs show in 1993, according to People.

Turlington, who was wearing a black dress that appeared to be made of feathers on the front of the dress, also took to Instagram to deliver a rather heartfelt statement.

Christy returns: Christy Turlington returns to modeling at age 50, 25 years after she retired, closing out the Marc Jacobs fashion show at NYFW

'About tonight! OMG @themarcjacobs invited me to close his beautiful show tonight and I couldnt resist,' Turlington began.

'A. I have known and loved this man since I met him at age 16. B. I turned 50 this year and have arrived at a place where Why the F not is the answer that comes up when I ask myself questions.'

'C. I have a 15 year old daughter who I desperately want to see and hear me and this is a medium that speaksto her,' Turlington added, before thanking some of the biggest names in modeling.

Christy's statement: 'About tonight! OMG @themarcjacobs invited me to close his beautiful show tonight and I couldnt resist,' Turlington began

'So, thank yous are in order, @karliekloss, @gigihadid and @kaiagerber and all the lovely young women I have met briefly in the recent past or met tonight.'

'You are ALL women I would want my daughter to emulate in your grace, confidence and elegance,' Turlington added.

'Always reassuring to have @guidopalau, @dianekendall, @stephenjonesmillinery and @kegrand encouraging you on and making you look and feel your best,' she said.

Sending thanks: 'So, thank yous are in order, @karliekloss, @gigihadid and @kaiagerber and all the lovely young women I have met briefly in the recent past or met tonight

Gratitude: 'You are ALL women I would want my daughter to emulate in your grace, confidence and elegance,' Turlington added

'And while that muscle did not hurt as much as I would have thought to exercise again, after 20 plus years, I am not certain I could beat the experience of tonight or wish to try! Now I can say exactly when and for whom I last walked a runway and feel so proud of all the forces of nature who made it possible!' she added.

She also sent a blowing kiss emoji to Nicolas Newbold and added, 'Congratulations for all of the amazing people who put shows like this together.

'I am in awe of the efforts I was able to witness firsthand and truly appreciate from a new perspective over the last couple of days all the effort that goes in. Bravo!,' Turlington concluded.

Thankful: She also sent a blowing kiss emoji to Nicolas Newbold and added, 'Congratulations for all of the amazing people who put shows like this together

In awe: 'I am in awe of the efforts I was able to witness firsthand and truly appreciate from a new perspective over the last couple of days all the effort that goes in. Bravo!,' Turlington concluded

Turlington started attending modeling school at just 14 and began modeling full-time at age 18.

She met actor/filmmaker Edward Burns in 2000 at a party in the Hamptons, and they were engaged later that year and married in 2003.

The couple have two kids together, 15-year-old daughter Grace and 13-year-old son Finn.

Modeling legend: Turlington started attending modeling school at just 14 and began modeling full-time at age 18It may be the middle of winter.

But Winnie Harlow brought a splash of sunshine to the Aliette NYFW presentation on Wednesday.

The stunning model, 24, had heads turning as she worked a canary yellow dress with a bold plunging neckline.

Hello sunshine! Winnie Harlow brought a splash of sunshine to the Aliette NYFW presentation on Wednesday

Not only did the summery frock have a precariously low neckline, but a daring thigh-high slit that showed off her long legs to full effect.

Winnie stood tall in a pair of chic black high heels accented with tiny sparkling beads.

She wore her long, flowing black tresses down in cascading waves that tumbled low to her back.

And Winnie kept her makeup simple with a slick of lip gloss and mascara.

Looking on the bright side! The stunning model, 24, had heads turning as she worked a canary yellow dress with a bold plunging neckline

Taking the plunge: Not only did the summery frock have a precariously low neckline, but a daring thigh-high slit that showed off her long legs to full effect

Strike a pose: Harlow shared a snap with Aliette designer, stylist Jason Rembert, who was debuting the line at NYFW

Winnie exuded glamour as she struck a pose while sharing the spotlight with Aliette designer, stylist Jason Rembert, who was debuting the line at NYFW.

Jason talked about launching his line on Instagram last month, revealing his inspiration behind the collection were strong, intelligent women.

'For the last few years I fought myself on what's next in my career. Questioned if it should be a clothing line...If it should be men's or women's...is it time? in 2018 I told myself that it was time and that it will be a line and that I wanted it to be women's.

Vibrant: Models worked their magic in the gorgeous Aliette clothing

'I'm inspired by Women!': Jason opened up about launching his line on Instagram, revealing his inspiration were strong, intelligent women

Let's do this! Rembert posed proudly alongside the models wearing his stunning collection

'I'm inspired by Women! Strong Women! Intelligent Women! Beautiful Women! As I furthered in my thought, I realized that the two Women that inspired me most in life were my Mother Louisanne Aliette (May she sleep in peace), and I'm also inspired by the Woman that my Daughter Harper Aliette will one day become.'

Meanwhile, Winnie seems to be everywhere nowadays.

Not only is she currently in the Big Apple for New York Fashion Week, but last month she was also on the runway for Milan Fashion Week Men's.

This last week Winnie walked for Prabal Gurung, and even appeared in a photo shoot for Elle Magazine.

Winnie was discovered on America's Next Top Model in 2014, finishing in sixth place.

Since then, she has enjoyed a successful modelling career which has seen her land the covers of Harpers Bazaar, Marie Claire, Elle, and Glamour.

Walk this way! Harlow worked a chic pair of red snake print high heelsThey've been living together for over a week and learning all about each other's quirks in the process.

And Married At First Sight's Mick Gould, 31, has revealed that his 'wife' Jessika Power, 27, has an unexpected habit he only discovered when they first shared a bed.

'I didn't believe it at first, but she whispered in my ear dirtily one night, "I like to suck my thumb",' the farmer told Talking Married on Wednesday.

'She whispered it dirtily in my ear one night!' Married At First Sight's Mick Gould has revealed his 'wife' Jessika Power has a weird habit he only discovered when they first shared a bed

'I was like, 'whoa, Jesus, this is a bit bloody how ya going!' During the night she chucks the old bloody fella [her thumb] in the mouth and yeah, sucks away,' he added.

Mick then showed hosts Jayne Azzopardi, Shelly Horton and Ryan Gallagher a photo he took of Jessika caught in the act to prove his point.

'I'd go to the dinner parties and say "she does the old thanks for coming" and no one believed me, but there you go,' he said.

It comes as Jessika denied she is in a relationship with Love Island's Eden Dally, after rumours were sparked when they posed for a selfie together.

Each to their own: 'I didn't believe it at first, but she whispered in my ear dirtily one night, "I like to suck my thumb",' the farmer told Talking Married on Wednesday

Laughing off the speculation, she told Daily Mail Australia: 'This is ridiculous! Me and Eden are not together, we are friends.'

Jessika added: 'The whole reason Eden and I were hanging out is because he is friends with my brother [Rhyce Power].'

On Wednesday, former MAFS star Telv Williams jokingly 'confirmed' that Jessika and Eden were a couple - but she insists he is just 's**t stirring'.

'I don't know what he's doing with that,' she said.

The evidence: Mick then showed hosts Jayne Azzopardi, Shelly Horton and Ryan Gallagher a photo he took of Jessika caught in the act to prove his point

Jessika explained that she met Eden for the first time in Melbourne over the weekend, adding: 'We took one photo and all of a sudden we are together!'

'He's definitely an attractive guy, but there's nothing going on there. He's just broken up with his girlfriend and I'm happy with where I'm at,' she continued.

Jessika is paired with Queensland farmer Mick Gould on MAFS, and insisted she is happy with the match.

'We get along so well and his personality mirrors mine, he's funny and outspoken. I'm really happy that the experts matched us,' she said.She's famous for her hit song Bad At Love.

But it seems art doesn't imitate life for Halsey.

The 24-year-old musician looked completely enamoured with her brand new boyfriend Yungblud as they touched down together in Australia on Valentine's Day.

Rock 'n' roll romance! Halsey couldn't stop smiling as she joined new beau Yungblud in Australia for Valentine's Day... after hinting her ex G-Eazy was unfaithful

American-born Halsey could hardly keep the smile off her face as she kept close to her beau while strolling through an airport terminal.

The red-headed rocker has joined her boyfriend Down Under, where he is set to play a series of sold-out shows.

It seems the pair have more than just a love of music in common, with the twosome both sharing a zany dress sense.

Eye-catching: It seems the pair have more than just a love of music in common, with the twosome both sharing a zany dress sense

Halsey - real name Ashley Nicolette Frangipane- looked every inch the rock 'n' roller as she strolled along in a pair of high-waisted vintage jeans.

She shielded her eyes with a pair of red-rimmed sunglasses and donned a black leather beret.

Meanwhile, Yungblud - real name Dominic Harrison - opted for a similarly quirky ensemble.

Yung love! Yungbloood and Halsey looked amorous as they cosied up at the airport

The British indie rocker sported a Motley Crue t-shirt beneath an eye-catching leopard print jacket.

Halsey and Yungblud are one of the music scene's hottest new couples, with their romance reported just last month.

Previously, Halsey dated rapper G-Eazy, from whom she split in October 2018.

In a powerful performance on Saturday Night Live last weekend, the starlet hinted that her ex was unfaithful.

The crooner belted out her track Without Me - previously revealed to be about the rapper - with a the wall behind her saying, 'Ashley, I cheated'.

'Ashley, I cheated': In a powerful performance on Saturday Night Live last weekend, Halsey hinted that her ex was unfaithfulBy Friday, the school was expected to open. Teachers spent Thursday preparing to discuss the shooting with students  how it made them feel and how the school will improve its safety protocols. The Baltimore Police Department came to give teachers training on how to react if theres an active shooter. Thursday happened to be the one-year anniversary of the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.He confirmed he was dating stunning model Mimi Elashiry, 23, in May last year, following his split from fashion designer, Jodhi Meares, 47.

And photographer Nick Tsindos, 30, and his new girlfriend put on a rather steamy display in a new campaign for upscale fashion brand, Lover The Label.

The heavily-tattooed creative and the raven-haired beauty look every inch the loved-up couple in a series of Valentine's Day snaps for the upmarket line.

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Love is in the air! Jodhi Meares ex-husband Nick Tsindos, 30, and girlfriend Mimi Elashiry, 23, look loved-up as they posed for a fashion campaign for Lover The Label

In one of the photographs, Nick hold beautiful Mimi around the waist as he plants a kiss on her cheek.

Meanwhile, a clearly passionate Mimi shoots the camera a smoldering glare while placing a hand on Nick's chest.

The brunette beauty stuns in a flirty canary yellow dress, which clings to her svelte figure.

Romance: Former Neighbours actress turned fashion blogger Sarah Ellen, 22, also posed alongside her boyfriend Caleb Jackson in the romantic campaign

Nick was previously married to The Upside designer and creator, Jodhi, who is the ex-wife of billionaire James Packer.

Jodhi and Nick were married in a fairy tale wedding in idyllic Hawaii, but split after 14 months of marriage in March 2017.

Hot and heavy: In an accompanying video, Sarah's boyfriend Caleb dips her during a dance

Sultry: Caleb even plants a passionate kiss on Sarah's cheek

The couple are also joined by former Neighbours star turned fashion blogger, Sarah Ellen, 22, and her beau in the campaign.

Stunning Sarah snuggles up to her boyfriend Caleb Jackson, with the hunk also giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Caleb wraps his arms around the slender beauty while she gently touches his forearms in the racy shot.

Crazy in love: Not to be outdone, Mimi and Nick look besotted with each other in the clip

Sarah is dressed in a feminine red-and-white floral dress for the shoot and her shoulder-length locks cascade around her shoulders.

Also joining the two couples on the shoot was The Amazing Race's Nathan Jolliffe and Yan Yan Chan, along with Angela Yu with girlfriend Emma Boseley.Emily Ratajkowski showed off her derriere in the Brick bikini from her line Inamorata Swim in an Instagram upload this Wednesday.

The 27-year-old posed up a storm in what looked like the corner of a grocery store, nestled between a beverage fridge and some snack shelves.

'Our Brick is SOLD OUT. Shop the rest of the stuff now,' captioned the Westminster-born model and actress in two Instagram posts hawking her brand.

Chow down: Emily Ratajkowski showed off her figure in the Brick bikini from her line Inamorata Swim in an Instagram upload this Wednesday

This Thursday, Emily will ring in her first Valentine's Day as a married woman after tying the knot last year to producer Sebastian Bear-McClard.

Emily, who has a penchant for showing off her figure on red carpets and social media, told Marie Claire last year that her breasts are 'a key to my sexuality.'

The Gone Girl supporting player told the magazine: 'Boobs are funny. They hurt sometimes, and sometimes theyre the thing that makes me feel the most powerful.'

'I remember there was some article like: "Emily Ratajkowski Is the Mozart of Breasts." What was so bad is someone sent it to my dad, who sent it to me,' she recalled.

Location, location, location: The 27-year-old posed up a storm in what looked like the corner of a grocery store, nestled between a beverage fridge and some snack shelves

'My dad still sees me as a little kid. I love my boobs. I love other peoples boobs. Boobs are kind of great,' rhapsodized the I Feel Pretty actress.

Emily, who while showing Vogue around her vast apartment in 2015 said she was for a platform to 'redistribute wealth in this country,' married last February.

She made a splash with her surprise courthouse marriage to producer Sebastian in New York, wearing a $200 Zara trouser suit.

Hunk: This Thursday, Emily will ring in her first Valentine's Day as a married woman after tying the knot last year to producer Sebastian Bear-McClard

Though they only became a couple weeks before the wedding, a source told Us Weekly that 'Emily has known Sebastian for years.'

The London-born model and actress recalled to Marie Claire: "People came after my marriage, like: "Wow. I give it three weeks." Im like: "What?"'

Emily groused: 'No one can take women seriously on any choices that they make, especially if theyre unique to them and they dont play into the way we think women should get married. It's a constant writing-off.'TOWIE castmembers, including Chloe Sims and Gemma Collins, are set to jet off to holiday hot spot Thailand for the new series, set to return in March.

Bosses are shunning the show's typical clubbing destinations in favour of a yoga retreat, after a number of stars, such as Amber Turner and Yazmin Oukhellou, have been booted off the show in producers' 'biggest ever cull'.

Insiders revealed to MailOnline: 'The trip is to Thailand furthest they've ever gone - very cool - feel more grown-up more beach bars than clubs'.

Overhaul: TOWIE castmembers, including Chloe Sims (pictured) and Gemma Collins, are set to jet off to holiday hotspot Thailand for the new series, set to return in March

In the past, the cast have enjoyed sun-soaked getaways in Vegas, Marbella, Tenerife and Ibiza - yet this time the stars are going for a more unique vibe.

Insiders added to The Sun: 'This time round theyll be enjoying meals out and attending yoga classes. A lot of the cast have grown up since filming in Marbella...

'Though they still love a night out being in Thailand will give them the chance to experience something new.'

Off they go: Bosses are shunning the show's typical clubbing destinations in favour of a yoga retreat, after a number of stars, such as Amber Turner (L) and Yazmin Oukhellou (R), have been booted off the show in producers' 'biggest ever cull'

Meanwhile, former castmember Amber has become the latest victim of the huge cast cull hitting the ITVBe series as it has been confirmed she will not return for the next season.

Joining the likes of Myles Barnett and Kady McDermott, the 25-year-old reality star, who recently split from her co-star boyfriend Dan Edgar, has been told by producers that she will not come back.

Insiders revealed exclusively to MailOnline that show bosses had been sympathetic to her plight, while TOWIE representatives confirmed she was told her contract for the coming series had been terminated so would not be returning.

Gone: Meanwhile, former castmember Amber has become the latest victim of the huge cast cull hitting the ITVBe series as it has been confirmed she will not return for the next season

Amber was a divisive addition to the show when she made her entrance as Megan McKenna's best friend during the cast trip to Tenerife in 2017's series 20.

She was in a relationship with live-in beau Jamie Reed for four years before her arrival in TOWIE in which she was accused of cheating on the hunk with co-star Dan.

After breaking up with Jamie, she began an on-off and often-casual fling with Dan before making things official last year - however things ended bitterly at Christmas.

Now, insiders have revealed she will not be brought back despite the fact bosses and producers have been extremely sympathetic to the star.

Ahem: Joining the likes of Myles Barnett, Kady McDermott and Adam Oukhellou, the 25-year-old reality star, who recently split from her co-star boyfriend Dan Edgar, has been told by producers that she will not come back

Lost love: She was in a relationship with live-in beau Jamie Reed (pictured) for four years before her arrival in TOWIE in which she was accused of cheating on the hunk with co-star Dan

Heartache: Her trials and tribulations have played out on screen

Speaking to MailOnline, a source said: 'Producers have been sympathetic to her heartache with Dan but any return will be on their terms Shes had a really difficult time and they've been really kind.'

A spokesperson for TOWIE confirmed: 'Executive producers have informed Amber that she won't be starting the series. However, Amber is in dialogue with producers to see if there is an opportunity for her to return.'

At the start of the month, Yazmin and James Lock became victims of producers' biggest ever cast cull. Insiders confirmed to MailOnline the couple are stepping back from the ITVBe show after a year of personal dramas.

Shocker: After breaking up with Jamie, she began an on-off and often-casual fling with Dan before making things official last year - however things ended bitterly at Christmas

Shock: Insiders revealed exclusively to MailOnline that show bosses had been sympathetic to her plight, while TOWIE representatives confirmed she was told her contract for the coming series had been terminated so would not be returning

James and Yazmin being downgraded to minor characters means a total of 10 cast members from The Only Way Is Essex won't feature when the 24th season of the reality show returns later this year.

TOWIE bosses are now on the hunt for new characters to feature in the Essex-based programme.

A source told MailOnline: 'Lockie and Yazs turbulent relationship has been well documented and since taking a break at the end of last series they have been working hard on themselves and their relationship...

Moving on: Yazmin and Amber (left-right) have both taken steps back from the show

Gone: At the start of the month, James Lock and Yazmin Oukhellou became victims of producers' biggest ever cast cull. Insiders confirmed to MailOnline the couple are stepping back from the ITVBe show after a year of personal dramas

'They mutually agree with producers that taking an extended break and a back seat is best for them and the show at this time but as two of the shows most popular characters were sure theyll be back onscreen soon.'

The pair have been spending their time in Marrakech launching a new health and fitness venture - adding to their diminished role on the show.

Friends of the couple added: 'They are currently in and out of Marrakech building a health, fitness and well-being business.

'While working hard to build their brand that theyre both very passionate about, they are also on a health and fitness drive and taking the time to work on their relationship.'Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone was one of the stars of the new W magazine Director Collaborations photo-shoot.

The 30-year-old reunited with her The Favourite director Yorgos Lanthimos for some snapshot's that recalled that movie's blend of kitsch and the bizarre.

In one photo, Emma slipped into floral Richard Quinn caftan and struggled to keep hold of five dogs on leashes as they headed across a suburban house's front lawn.

Canine company: Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone was one of the stars of the new W magazine Director Collaborations photo-shoot

Another picture saw Emma lounging across a sumptuous bed and staring at a dog while decked out in Rosamosario pooch-print lingerie and gold jewelry.

Emma told W that The Favourite's script, about the vicious battle of wills between two cousins to win the approval of the increasingly dotty Queen Anne Of Great Britain, instantly reminded her of All About Eve.

Yorgos said of the W shoot: 'First, we considered spotlighting a woman who loved stuffed animals. I discussed it with Emma. Since she loves dogs a lot, we went from stuffed animals to real, deep animal love: 15 actual dogs.'

Yalitza Aparicio and her Roma director Alfonso Cuaron teamed up for a statement shoot aimed at US President Donald Trump's proposed border wall.

Together again: The 30-year-old reunited with her The Favourite director Yorgos Lanthimos for some snapshot's that recalled that movie's blend of kitsch and the bizarre

Out of control: In one photo, Emma slipped into floral Richard Quinn caftan and struggled to keep hold of five dogs on leashes as they headed across a suburban house's front lawn

One photo taken in Tijuana saw Yalitza beaming at the camera while migrants flew over the border wall behind her and into the United States.

The other two photos in Yalitza's shoot blended the wall with the ocean - in one of them, the actress waded through the waves in front of gunge-covered steel slats.

'I had other plans than being in a film. I had just finished school and had my teaching degree. Even when Alfonso told me I had the part, I still wasnt sure,' Yalitza told W.

Yalitza Aparicio and her Roma director Alfonso Cuaron teamed up for a statement shoot aimed at US President Donald Trump's proposed border wall

Her interview with the director featured such lines of inquiry as: 'Have you ever been heartbroken?' and: 'Have you ever been in love?'

Alfonso, whose own upbringing inspired his latest movie, said: 'I had thought about making Roma for many years, but always chickened out. Finally, a close friend said: "Stop fooling aroundcome back to Mexico and do a film here."'

Angela Bassett and her Malcolm X director Spike Lee got together for a shoot that paid tribute to such legendary 20th century shutterbugs as Irving Penn.

Crossover: One photo taken in Tijuana saw Yalitza beaming at the camera while migrants flew over the border wall behind her and into the United States

Sea to shining sea: The other two photos in Yalitza's shoot blended the wall with the ocean - in one of them, the actress waded through the waves in front of gunge-covered steel slats

Though Angela was not in Spike's latest film BlacKkKlansman, she did pose with an upturned monochrome American flag - an image used in the poster for that movie.

One especially evocative snapshot showed Angela in a throwback chic purple Gucci gown in front of a showbiz backdrop covered in lightbulbs.

Spike effervesced to W magazine about Angela's 'incredible, almost intimidating presence,' calling her 'So regal, so majestic.'

Bel Powley got together with her The Diary Of A Teenage Girl director Marielle Heller, who directed Melissa McCarthy in last year's Can You Ever Forgive Me?.

Glorious: Angela Bassett and her Malcolm X director Spike Lee got together for a shoot that paid tribute to such legendary 20th century shutterbugs as Irving Penn

There it is: Though Angela was not in Spike's latest film BlacKkKlansman, she did pose with an upturned monochrome American flag - an image used in the poster for that movie

Marielle explained to W that for this photo-shoot, Bel was playing 'the last woman in the world. Shes this feminist survivalist whos just making her own way.'

Although Marielle is not up for best director at this year's Oscars, her leading lady Melissa is contending in the competitive best actress category.

Spike, on the other hand, did get a best director nod this year for BlacKkKlansman, as well as for best adapted screenplay and best picture.

Glamorous in Gucci: Spike effervesced to W magazine about Angela's 'incredible, almost intimidating presence,' calling her 'So regal, so majestic'

Yalitza is nominated for best actress courtesy her work in Roma, facing off against such names as Olivia Colman, who played Queen Anne in The Favourite.

Emma is nominated in the best supporting actress category against her own The Favourite co-star Rachel Weisz, who plays her character's cousin and rival.

Alfonso and Yorgos are both nominated for best director against Spike, Adam McKay for Vice and Pawe Pawlikowski for Cold War.

Armed and ready: Bel Powley got together with her The Diary Of A Teenage Girl director Marielle Heller, who directed Melissa McCarthy in last year's Can You Ever Forgive Me?Monique sat down for a rare interview on Wednesday with her longtime friend Steve Harvey to discuss how she was blackballed after she very deservedly won the Academy Award for her work in Precious.

The actress and comedian did not hold back either, recalling how she was unceremoniously dumped when she dared to tell three of the most powerful black people in Hollywood the one word they did not want to hear.

She also refused to apologize for a stand-up act after that incident in which she told Oprah Winfrey, among others, to 's*** her d***.'

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Heated: Mo'Nique and Steve Harvey get into a heated conversation about her being 'blackballed' from the movie industry

Punching: the conversation between her and Harvey got quite heated, to the point where Mo'Nique (real name Monique Imes), 51, even mentioned punching him in the mouth

'I got labelled as difficult. My husband and I - my husband, who happens to be my manager - we got labeled as difficult because I said one word, that was "no,"' said Monique.

'I said no to some powerful people. I said no to Oprah Winfrey. I said no to Tyler Perry. I said no to Lee Daniels and I said no to LionsGate.'

Monique famously did not campaign ahead of winning her Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, due in large part she said to her commitments to the television show she was working on at the time.

It made no difference in the end and when she collected her trophy she stated: 'I would like to thank the Academy for making it about the performance, and not the politics.'

With that final award for the film, Monique became part of an exclusive club of actors - Julianne Moore, Colin Firth, Hetah Ledger and Julia Roberts among them - who won the Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, Critics' Choice, and Screen Actors Guild Award for a single performance'

She also refused to apologize for a stand-up act after that incident in which she told Oprah Winfrey (pictured in February in New York) among others, to 's*** her d***'

And yet, she was soon struggling to get any work, let alone the caliber of work that typically follows an Academy Award win.

Monique was clear on Wednesday that she had an issue with how she was treated by members of the Hollywood community in private versus how they spoke of her in public.

'And the difficulty came in when people that look like me, like Oprah, Tyler [Perry], Lee Daniels, and I got to put my brother Steve [Harvey] on the list. Y'all knew I was not wrong. Each one of you said to me, "Monique, you're not wrong,"' said the 51-year-old actress.

'And when I heard you go on the air and you said, my sister done burned too many bridges and it's nothing I can do for her now, Steve, do you know how hurt I was.'

Harvey went on to point out that Monique had made her feelings about Oprah and Daniels very clear when she told them to 's*** her d***,' before stating: 'We cant cure darkness with more darkness.'

Monique refused to resign herself to that belief however, and responded: 'What we can do is cure it with comedy. And what Im not going to do, Steve, Im never, ever gonna waver from my comedy show on that stage. Thats my gift and thats my freedom.

'And what happens is when you allow people to start taking your freedom and your gift and making it become what makes them comfortable, we then lose.'

She continued: 'When you called me with the morning show on the phone, I said to you, Steve, my family is suffering is behind this and yall know I did nothing wrong. Yall know that my husband did nothing wrong. But none of yall in real time, in real time, were strong enough to go public and say "we cant throw our sister under the bus."'

Harvey, who was growing increasingly frustrated throughout the segment that fired back: 'Because Mo, listen to me, were fighting two wars here. Theres two wars, its what your issue is and is what the perception of the issue is.'

He then pointed out how they as black actors and comedians did not have the same leeway as their white counterparts in the industry.

'When you tell the truth, you have to deal with the repercussions of the truth. We black out here. We cant come out here and do it any kind of way we want to,' said Harvye.

'We are in the money game. This is the money game. This aint the black mans game, this aint the white mans game. This is the money game. And you cannot sacrifice yourself. The best thing you can do for poor people is not be one of them.'

Monique tried to jump in several times before finally getting her chance to speak, stating: 'Before the money game is the integrity game.'

Harvey again dismissed this notion, arguing: 'If I crumble, my children crumble, my grandchildren crumble. I cannot, for the sake of my integrity, stand up here and let everybody thats counting on me crumble so I can make a statement. There are ways to win the war in a different way.'

Harvey then ended the segment by saying he was going to try and get a conversation started with Daniels, Winfrey and Perry, and try to get them to make amends publicly.

And on the other side of the coin, he wants Mo'Nique to apologize publicly so they can all move forward.

Mo and Steve: Things got heated when she said they aren't arguing, but they, as 'brother and sister,' are, 'having a conversation and mommy and daddy aren't here right now and I'm about to punch you in your mouth,' which caused a number of audience members to gasp

Prove a point: He added he doesn't want to lose her gift to the world when you're trying to prove a point,' when there's a better way to prove the point

Blackballed: She also revealed in that interview she was offered the role Oprah Winfrey ultimately got in Daniels' The Butler, and to play Taraji P. Henson's Cookie character on Empire, though Daniels has denied it

Stage moment: Then in 2017, during a stand-up routine that went viral , she said Daniels, Winfrey and Tyler Perry were not, 'treating me fairly,' adding that they could, 'suck my d**k if I had one'

Monique said in a 2015 interview with The Hollywood reporter that Daniels himself told her she had been blackballed for 'not playing the game,' while also accusing her husband and manager of demanding too much money for projects.

In that interview she also spoke of some of the roles that she lost.

'Well, actually, I was offered the role in The Butler that Oprah played. I was also approached by Empire to be on Empire. And I was also offered the role as Richard Pryor's grandmother in [Daniels' upcoming Pryor biopic]. Each of those things that he offered me was taken off the table,' said Monique.

'They all just went away. But that's just part of the business, you know? I can't be upset at anybody, 'cause life is too good. It's just what it is.'

In the wake of her Oscar Monique worked on her short-lived talk show and since then has done just four films: Blackbird, Bessie, Almost Christmas and Interwoven.

She was nominated for an Emmy in 2015 for her work in the Bessie Smith biopic, playing the mother of the title character.

Daniels meanwhile said at that time: 'Monique is a creative force to be reckoned with. Her demands through Precious were not always in line with the campaign. This soured her relationship with the Hollywood community.

'I consider her a friend. I have and will always think of her for parts that we can collaborate on. However, the consensus among the creative teams and powers thus far were to go another way with these roles.'Marriage is clearly agreeing with Priyanka Chopra.

The actress, 36, who tied the knot with 26-year-old Nick Jonas on December 1 in India, was positively glowing as she arrived for the Michael Kors Collection presentation at New York Fashion Week on Wednesday.

The former Quantico star flaunted her figure in a gray check blazer and matching tight-fitting mini skirt.

Looked radiant: Priyanka Chopra was positively glowing as she arrived for the Michael Kors Collection presentation at New York Fashion Week on Wednesday

Priyanka completed her look with a black crew neck top, black tights and black boots.

And she added a splash of glossy ruby red lip color.

Her choice of ensemble showcased her curves as she posed for photos at the runway show.

Stylish choice: The actress, 36, who tied the knot with 26-year-old Nick Jonas on December 1 in India, flaunted her figure in a gray check blazer and matching tight-fitting mini skirt

Struck a pose: Priyanka completed her look with a black crew neck top, black tights and black boots. And she added a splash of glossy ruby red lip color

Newlywed: The Indian-born star tied the knot with musician Nick Jonas on December 1. The couple exchanged vows in both Christian and Hindu ceremonies

It's a busy week for Priyanka who has been promoting her new film Isn't It Romantic in which she stars with Rebel Wilson and Liam Hemsworth.

On Monday night, she attended the rom-com's premiere in Los Angeles with her musician husband by her side.

The couple returned to LA in mid-January after a series of spectacular wedding celebrations including both Christian and Hindu ceremonies and a Caribbean honeymoon.

Look of love: Nick was at his wife's side Monday night at the Los Angeles premiere of her new film Isn't It Romantic

Wants children: Speaking with People at the screening, Priyanka acknowledged that thoughts of starting a family with Nick have already crossed her mind

The couple, who put on a loved up show for the cameras, are clearly still in the honeymoon phase.

Speaking with People at the screening, she acknowledged that thoughts of starting a family with Nick have already crossed her mind even though they married just a couple of months ago.

'We both know that thats something that needs to happen, but its not something I think about very much,' Priyanka told the publication.

'Were both very driven, we love our work, were married to our work, and were both very supportive of each others work. So Im sure it will happen in an organic way,' she explained.She's stepped out of the shadows of her famous parents Paul and Linda McCartney as she's cemented her position as one of the world's leading fashion designers.

And on Wednesday evening, Stella McCartney, 47, threw her support behind older sister Mary, 49, for the launch of her new book of photography, Paris Nude, at London's Heni Gallery on Wednesday evening.

The style maven displayed her sartorial flair as she slipped into a sharp black blazer and matching mini skirt, flashing a hint of her lean legs.

Family first: Stella McCartney, 47, threw her support behind older sister Mary, 49, for the launch of her new book of photography, Paris Nude, at London's Heni Gallery on Wednesday

Upping the style ante, the animal rights activist added a hint of colour to her outfit with a simple white tee and boosted her frame in pointed ankle boots.

Stella swept her locks into an effortless bun to reveal her stunning features, which were enhanced with shimmery pink eyeshadow, a light dusting of dewy foundation and nude lipgloss.

Showing off her quirky style sense, photographer Mary sported a navy and white shirt, embellished with studded details along its collar.

She embraced the edgy look as she teamed her navy skinny trousers with a pair of patent biker boots.

She's got it! The style maven displayed her sartorial flair as she slipped into a sharp black blazer and matching mini skirt, flashing a hint of her lean legs

Date night: The fashion designer appeared in great spirits as she cosied up to her husband of 16 years, Alasdhair Willis

The brunette wore her tresses in a glossy blowdry, and opted for heavily-applied eyeliner and lashings of mascara.

Stella's outing comes after it emerged that she has received a pay cut. Her eponymous fashion label handed her 4million last year compared with 8.3million the year before.

The company said sales in the year to the end of December rose by 2 per cent, hitting 42.5million. But profit fell 4 per cent to 9.1million.

After the financial year end, McCartney agreed to acquire luxury goods group Kerings 50 per cent in the firm named after her. Kering had owned the stake since the fashion label was created 17 years ago.

Fashion savvy: Showing off her quirky style sense, photographer Mary sported a navy and white shirt, embellished with studded details along its collar

Chic: She embraced the edgy look as she teamed her navy skinny trousers with a pair of patent biker boots

High spirits: The daughter of Paul and Linda McCartney beamed with delight as she posed with iconic model Jodie Kidd

Commanding attention: The catwalk queen, 40, caught the eye in her turtleneck black gown, teamed with a pair of red gladiator heels

It is the right moment to acquire the full control of the company bearing my name, she said at the time.

Mary previously revealed she was inspired to follow in the footsteps of her late mother Linda, who was also a successful photographer.

During an interview with The Guardian, the London native admitted: 'My mum was quite a wanderer...she had a real sense of adventure and a cheekiness to her, which is something I like and that I try to take into my style of work.'

The artist also touched on previous discussions with Linda, who detailed her past experiences with iconic musicians.

Look at her glow! The brunette wore her tresses in a glossy blowdry, and opted for heavily-applied eyeliner and lashings of mascara (pictured with stylist Dylan Weller)

Effortlessly chic: Paul Weller's daughter, 22, went for an all-black look, consisting of a fluffy cardigan, straight-leg slacks and a turtleneck top

In good company: Mary grinned from ear-to-ear as she joined Paul Simonon's long-term partner Serena Rees #(left) and Nikki Hunter (centre)

Mary said: 'I remember once we went for an Indian lunch and I grilled her about her early career in photography and particularly about the people she was hanging out with. I was like: "I can't believe you photographed Jimi Hendrix!" I was so jealous.'

Forging an impressive career in her own right, the star has created a range of intricate art pieces, including Mother Daughter, Monochrome and Colour and Twelfth Night.

In an interview with ELLE, Mary spoke about her talent: 'Over the years photography has moved from a way of documenting things to progress into an art form that allows photographers to delve deeper into more emotional and philosophical situations.'

She added: 'For me any image I show in an exhibition or include in a limited edition portfolio has been considered to make sure I feel there is a real message or emotion to convey to my viewer.'She is currently ramping up the sex appeal on Channel Seven's Instant Hotel.

And Leah Johnsen's modelling portfolio is bound to make viewers blush, with her campaign for Bianca and Bridgett being a prime example.

The 28-year-old showed off her flawless figure during a poolside photo shoot, even posing topless in a pair of bikini bottoms.

Hot property! Instant Hotel star Leah Johnsen poses TOPLESS in a poolside photo shoot - after her boyfriend Jay Bruno said they are 'more than just a good-looking couple'

Lying on a sunbed with a smile from ear-to-ear, Leah cheekily covered her top half with a newspaper in one of the campaign images.

In another photo, she went topless in a swimming pool while proudly showing off her slender frame.

A third picture showed her posing outdoors in a skimpy red bikini which highlighted her golden tan and long legs.

Raunchy! Leah's modelling portfolio is bound to make viewers blush, with her campaign for Bianca and Bridgett being a prime example

Leah will be transforming her home into a holiday rental on Instant Hotel with the help of her personal trainer boyfriend Jay Bruno.

Speaking to New Idea earlier this week, the couple insisted they are bringing more to the competition than just good looks.

'We started our Instant Hotel to 'future-proof' our life,' said Jay, 31.

Red hot! In one of the campaign images, Leah posed outdoors in a skimpy bikini which highlighted her golden tan and long legs

More than just a pretty face! Leah will be transforming her home into a holiday rental on Instant Hotel with the help of her personal trainer boyfriend Jay Bruno

'We're going to need something after PT, music and modelling,' he added. 'People might think we're pretty, but we're more than that.'

The series, which premiered on Monday, follows host Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen as he travels across Australia in search of the best Instant Hotel.

Instant Hotel season two continues Monday at 9:00pm on Channel Seven

Brains and beauty! Speaking to New Idea earlier this week, Leah and Jay insisted they are bringing more to the renovation competition than just good looks

Must-see TV! Instant Hotel season two continues Monday at 7pm on Channel SevenShe currently plays the fierce lead role in West End production All About Eve.

And Lily James kept up with her busy work schedule as she was pictured leaving London's Noel Coward theatre following her performance in her new play on Wednesday evening.

The Mamma Mia star, 29, displayed her flair for fashion with her bold choice of accessories, as she carried her possessions in a monochrome Valentino tote bag, which retails at 810.

Busy bee: Lily James was pictured leaving London's Noel Coward theatre following her performance in All About Eve on Wednesday evening

Wrapping up against the chilly temperatures, the War & Peace actress rocked a fluffy nude jacket, teamed with flare dark-wash jeans and sturdy brown boots.

Lily, who is currently in a relationship with The Crown's Matt Smith, swept her tresses into a sleek ponytail, and opted for a light dusting of make-up.

Downton Abbey star Lily joins Gillian Anderson to tread the boards in Ivo van Hove's new stage adaptation of the 1950 Bette Davis film.

Style savvy: The screen star, 29, displayed her flair for fashion with her bold choice of accessories, as she carried her possessions in a monochrome Valentino tote bag, which retails at 810

Johnny English actress Gillian, 50, plays legendary Broadway star Margo Channing, whose career is threatened by her number one fan Eve, portrayed by Lily.

As ruthless and ambitious as she is beautiful, Eve has to contend with cynical theatre columnist Addison DeWitt on her rise to the top.

X Files star Gillian has big shoes to fill as she takes over from screen legend Davis, while Lily's role was played by Anne Baxter in the original film.

All eyes on her: The Mamma Mia actress currently plays the lead female role in the West End production (pictured with Gillian Anderson on Tuesday)

All About Eve received a total of 14 Academy Award nominations, winning six Oscars in total including Best Film, and remains the only film in history to receive four female acting nods.

Directed and written by Belgian experimental artist van Hove, the play features music by PJ Harvey, set and lighting by Jan Versweyveld, costume design by An DHuys and sound design from Tom Gibbons.

Completing the cast in the highly anticipated production are Monica Dolan, Ian Drysdale, Tsion Habte, Jessie Mei Li, Julian Ovenden, Sheila Reid, Rhashan Stone, Stanley Townsend and Philip Voyzey.He has been tipped to become the next James Bond when Daniel Craig finally relinquishes the coveted role.

And, Richard Madden, 32, looked every inch the leading man as he cosied up to Vanessa Kirby, 30, whilst posing for pictures at the Hugo Boss Fall Winter 2019 show at New York Fashion Week, on Wednesday.

The Bodyguard star and the Crown actress appeared to spend the afternoon show-hopping, as they were also photographed sitting front row at the Hugo Boss show.

Stylish: Richard Madden, 32, cosied up to Vanessa Kirby, 30, whilst posing for pictures at the Hugo Boss Fall Winter 2019 show at New York Fashion Week, on Wednesday

The Scottish actor looked dapper as he stepped out for the fashion shows in a double-breasted royal blue suit.

Richard teamed the sleek suit with a cream coloured polo neck sweater and smart chestnut shoes.

Meanwhile, Vanessa looked equally sharp in an all-black ensemble comprising silky tracksuit bottoms and a tailored blazer.

The Crown actress ensured her enviable physique was on display with the help of a form-fitting body, which clung to her curves.

Cosy: Whilst out and about with Vanessa, Richard took a selfie with the actress, and later took to his Instagram account to share the snap with his followers

Gorgeous: Vanessa looked sharp in an all-black ensemble comprising silky tracksuit bottoms and a tailored blazer

Getting about: The stylish pair appeared to spend the afternoon show-hopping, as they were also photographed sitting front row at the Hugo Boss show

The blonde beauty added height to her frame with a pair of chic pointed stiletto heels.

Vanessa's platinum locks were styled into beachy waves and she finished off her flawless make-up look with a bold feline flick atop her eyelids.

Whilst out and about with Vanessa, Richard took a selfie with the actress, and later took to his Instagram account to share the snap with his followers.

Leading man: The Scottish actor looked dapper as he stepped out for the fashion shows in a royal blue suit

Best foot forward: Richard stepped out in pair of smart chestnut boots

Contrasting: Richard teamed the sleek suit with a cream coloured polo neck sweater

Meanwhile, Richard is widely tipped to become the seventh incarnation of Bond after Daniel Craig completes work on his fifth and final film as the iconic secret agent in 2020.

The Scottish star is the latest in a long line of actors to be connected with Bond following Daniel's decision to give up the role some 15-years after making his debut in Casino Royale.

Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, Aidan Turner and James Norton have also been linked with the role, but Madden has emerged as front-runner following his appearance as protection command bodyguard Sergeant David Budd.

Speaking in 2018, the actor - whose found fame as the doomed Robb Stark in Game Of Thrones - admitted he was honoured to be associated with Bond.

Gentlemanly behaviour: As he arrived at his hotel after the show, Richard was sure to shake hands with the concierge

'This is what happens with all these shows, like Tom Hiddelston in The Night manager. Then there's the next one. I'm the next one,' he told GQ.

'I'm more than flattered to be mentioned, for people to consider putting me in that role. I'm very flattered and thankful. It's a really brilliant thing to be in. I don't want to curse anything by saying anything.'

However Madden may well make another appearance as Budd in the second series of Bodyguard before the Broccoli family make a final decision regarding the next Bond.

A second series is said to be 'very much on the cards,' but Hawes insists her own character, Home Secretary Julia Montague, will definitely not be returning.Donald Gresham, a longtime resident of East Baltimore, voiced his concern about what such a police force could mean to neighborhoods around Hopkins. As a black man in East Baltimore, there is a major concern that we will wind up being the ones harassed, we will wind up being the ones that will be locked up, we will be the ones knocked on the ground, he said. The concern is no one is accountable for what they do to the people in East Baltimore.Model Jodie Kidd, who became a poster girl for the heroin chic grunge look in the Nineties alongside Kate Moss, stunned the fashion world when she retired from the catwalk because she was suffering from severe panic attacks.

Now the 40-year-old, who has modelled for Chanel and Dolce & Gabbana, is to face her demons today by returning to London Fashion Week for the first time in ten years.

I can reveal that Jodie, who since leaving full-time modelling has enjoyed a varied career including TV presenting, race car driving and owning a pub in East Sussex, will be making her comeback in the Vin + Omi show at the Andaz London Liverpool Street hotel.

Model Jodie Kidd (pictured), who became a poster girl for the heroin chic grunge look in the Nineties alongside Kate Moss, stunned the fashion world when she retired from the catwalk because she was suffering from severe panic attacks

British design duo Vin + Omi, whose colourful and quirky wares have been worn by the likes of Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Michelle Obama, specialise in sustainable fashion  a cause close to Jodies heart, as she campaigns against the use of plastic to protect our oceans.

The 6ft 2in mother-of-one will be modelling an outfit made from salvaged plastic bottles.

She tells me: I would like to write about anxiety next, having suffered from it for so many years. I would like to talk about it a bit more, even though Im not an expert therapist. Through the years of suffering Ive explored different avenues.

Jodie, who made one charity catwalk appearance in 2015, has talked of suffering anxiety her whole life, which compelled her to stop modelling.

Its not performance anxiety  its full-on anxiety, she said. I had proper wobbles when I was in my late teens and there was a lot of pressure in the fashion industry, which made things worse.

I had to stop. I could be backstage about to go on the catwalk, or even doing something as ordinary as the weekly shop, and Id panic. I knew I couldnt walk down another catwalk again.

Why Sabrina wont say I do anytime soon

Valentine's Day came early this week for three of Londons society beauties.

Simon Le Bons model daughter Amber, 29, who is single, attended a female-only Valentines Day-themed dinner party on Tuesday in South Kensington.

She was joined by artist Sabrina Percy and too-busy-to-date designer Betty Bachz, all of whom put on a leggy display in their pink and black frocks.

Valentines roses: Amber Le Bon, Sabrina Percy and Betty Bachz

Despite being in a long-term relationship with man-about-town Phineas Page, Sabrina, 28, admits shes not ready for marriage.

I dont envisage a wedding, she tells me.

I find going to them quite hectic. Thinking about one generally stresses me out and Ive seen brides freak out. No one is selling it to me as a fun experience.

Mayday! Queen stars plea for lost jewellery

He may be worth 135 million but some things are more precious than money can buy.

Queen guitarist Brian May has asked the people of Manchester to help him find his wife Anita Dobsons missing earring.

Lost! My favourite earrings! he told his 1.2 million followers.

Well, one of them. My dear lady wife, after a stupendously long hard days magnificent work, was rewarded by losing one of these earrings tonight.

'I post this in the faint hope that somebody might find it and send it home. Theyre not diamonds or anything expensive, just diamante, but Anitas had these ever since I knew her and they have a lot of sentimental value.

We think it must have fallen off in the Alchemist bar tonight, where the cast of Annie celebrated a great Press night after the show. Anybody?

Sounds like hes under pressure.

Bonnies secret for dealing with unwanted advances

Actress Bonnie Langford says she has been able to deflect sexual harassment in her long showbusiness career.

Asked if anyone had hit on her, she says: Oh probably, but Im not very bright when it comes to all that.

Mind you, theatre is a bizarre kind of world. We hug and touch a lot but it doesnt mean anything. Well, not usually.

If a hand has ever stayed a little too long on any part of my body, Ive tended to use humour as both a shield and a weapon, says the former child star, 54, who is starring in 9 To 5 The Musical at the Savoy Theatre.

Stones girl pops out for pizza... in a 9,000 frock

Fashion shows are hungry work, according to Rolling Stone Keith Richards daughter Theodora.

The 33-year-old model-turned-radio host left the Oscar de la Renta show in New York  where she was a guest on the front row  to get a slice of pizza.

She posted this image on social media of her at the counter in a 9,000 strapless metallic leaf Oscar de la Renta gown which is part of the labels latest collection.

Yep. Oscar de la Renta and pizza with my neighbourhood guys, she wrote on Instagram.

Fashion shows are hungry work, according to Rolling Stone Keith Richards daughter Theodora

M&S model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who is engaged to Hollywood action hero Jason Statham, complains that past boyfriends have not been so supportive of her career.

There have been times where its been like, Oh, youre going to work again? Or, Oh, are you going to be shooting in a bikini again? says the 31-year-old, who previously dated Ronnie Woods son, Tyrone, and French actor Olivier Martinez.

When youre a career-driven person, it works best when your partner is equally as excited for you and supportive. And thats what Jason is.

Hes my biggest cheerleader and Im his. And no one is going to argue with that . . .

Will the heavily pregnant Duchess of Sussex agree to a henna tattoo when she visits Morocco with Prince Harry this month?

Harrys stepmother, the Duchess of Cornwall, had an impromptu one done when she visited the North African country with Prince Charles in 2011, shortly before Prince William and Kate got married.

When Camilla was told the body art would last up to two weeks, she joked: This will look good at the wedding.

Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin is dismayed to find himself under fire from the grammar police.

A reader writes to chide me for using the word slurp so much in my books, he says. He says its not a term in common use in the South of England. Can that be true?

Pregnant Ellas spot of bother

Food writer Ella Woodward  aka Deliciously Ella  first realised she might be expecting when her skin became all pimply.

One of the first things that made me think I might be pregnant was that almost overnight I broke out in acne, says Ella, 27, who is expecting her first child with Matthew Mills, son of the late Dame Tessa Jowell.

We can get so down on ourselves for a breakout, when actually its a sign that our hormones are working as they should and maybe we should celebrate it. Same goes for those wrinkles, believe it or not.She founded Kora Organics back in 2009.

And Miranda Kerr was busily promoting her own Australian-made skincare range on Wednesday, when the 35-year-old made an appearance at the Kora Organics Pop Shop at The Grove in LA.

The Sydney-born supermodel rocked a pair of pastel pink pants for the promotional appearance.

Cameo: Miranda Kerr was busily promoting her own Australian-made skincare range on Wednesday, when the 35-year-old made an appearance at the Kora Organics Pop Shop at The Grove in LA

Miranda offset the vibrant pink with a long sleeve white top,

The mother-of-two also wore white on her feet, slipping into a pair of simple yet elegant pumps.

The 5ft9in beauty's brunette tresses were worn loose and with a center part.

The first ever Australian Victoria's Secret model's makeup was as impeccable as ever and was highlighted by a slash of deep red lip liner.

Hot pink: The Sydney-born supermodel rocked a pair of pastel pink pants for the promotional appearance

Well-heeled: The mother-of-two also wore white on her feet, slipping into a pair of simple yet elegant pumps

Miranda welcomed her second son, Hart, in May 2018 with husband, Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel, 28.

The couple tied the knot in an intimate backyard ceremony at the billionaire businessman's home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles in May 2017, in front of just 45 family and friends.

Miranda and Evan made their debut as a couple in June 2015 after first meeting at a Louis Vuitton dinner in New York City in 2014.

All made up: The first ever Australian Victoria's Secret model's makeup was as impeccable as ever and was highlighted by a slash of deep red lip liner

The former also has a son Flynn, eight, with her ex-husband, Pirates Of The Caribbean star Orlando Bloom, 41, who she was married to from 2010 to 2013.

Miranda recently spoke out about encouraging women to be positive about their bodies after childbirth.

Speaking in an interview with the January issue of Marie Claire magazine, she said: 'It's really important that we're gentle with ourselves and don't feel like we have to snap into shape after a baby.

'I took nine months - well, 10 months - to grow a beautiful child and it might take 10 months to feel good in a swimsuit again. Or longer. Or never.'She took a spectacular and very public tumble while walking the runway at New York Fashion Week's annual Go Red For Women Red Dress fashion show.

And on Wednesday, Susan Lucci explained to People that her fall was a result of her enthusiasm for the chance to strut her stuff in a gorgeous gown.

'I was asked to twirl and the dress lent itself to twirling but unfortunately I twirled myself right off my feet in my excitement,' the 72-year-old actress said.

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Reason why: Susan Lucci has blamed her enthusiasm for her spectacular and very public fall while walking the runway at last Thursday's Go Red For Women Red Dress fashion show in NYC

The fashion show that featured a slew of celebrities wearing red dresses took place last Thursday and served as a fundraiser for the American Heart Association.

Lucci, who starred for 41 years on the daytime soap All My Children, admitted that she felt 'ridiculous' as she sat on her backside on the runway.

'All that went through my mind is you have to get up now, get up!' she told People.

She added: 'I've learned that when you twirl, you still have to walk backwards to be careful not to catch your heel on the back of your hem as you're walking the other way.'

Enthusiastic: 'I was asked to twirl and the dress lent itself to twirling but unfortunately I twirled myself right off my feet in my excitement,' the 72-year-old actress told People

Lesson: 'I've learned that when you twirl, you still have to walk backwards to be careful not to catch your heel on the back of your hem as you're walking the other way,' she said

Tumble: Lucci, who starred for 41 years on the daytime soap All My Children, admitted that she felt 'ridiculous' as she sat on her backside on the runway

The audience watching the show gasped when Lucci fell.

But they soon started clapping and cheering as she got back on her feet.

Ever the consummate pro, the veteran actress blew kisses to the crowd and waved before she turned and walked off the runway to a standing ovation.

Star: Ever the consummate pro, the veteran actress got back on her feet and blew kisses to the crowd who gave her a standing ovation

Lucci revealed in an interview with People a week ago that she had an emergency heart procedure in October.

She said she felt a 'tightness' in her chest last October, and while that went away, it returned 10 days later, when she thought maybe she 'fastened my bra too tightly.'

Then on October 23, while she was shopping in Long Island, she said, 'It felt like an elephant pressing down on my chest.'

She was taken to nearby St. Francis Hospital where she had a CT scan that revealed a 90% blockage in her main artery, and a 70% blockage in another artery.

Lucci said that she was 'shocked' to learn about the 90% blockage, adding she's lucky to be alive.Rachael Taylor has added more speculation to rumours she has 'secretly wed' her beau Mike Piscitelli.

The Australian actress flashed two rings on her wedding finger as the couple took their dog for a walk in Los Angeles, earlier this month.

Two bands, including one which is thought to be an engagement ring, were spotted on the blonde beauty's hand during the outing.

Ring-a-ding-ding! Rachael Taylor flashes ring on her wedding finger as she and her partner Mike Piscitelli take their dog for a walk after claims the couple 'secretly wed'

Rachael has been wearing the diamond ring since 2017, but has now added a simple band on her left hand wedding finger.

Both Rachael and Mike rugged up in casual clothes on the rainy day.

Rachael, 34, showed off her slim pins in Adidas skinny leg pants teamed with a black knitted jump, blue puffer jacket and Blundstone boots.

Keeping warm: Both Rachael and Mike rugged up in casual clothes on the rainy day

The blonde beauty flaunted her flawless complexion by going makeup free and tied her flaxen locks up into a high bun.

Meanwhile, actor and director Mike wore navy blue trousers, a yellow hoodie and a black wool jacket.

The outing comes amid reports in Woman's Day that the pair have 'made it official'.

'Right now she's in a love bubble!' The outing comes amid reports in Woman's Day that the pair have 'made it official'

'Right now she's in a love bubble,' the magazine quoted 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: Rachael first revealed she had been dating Mike two years into their relationship in 2015

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 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.

'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.There's no shortage of relationship drama on Married At First Sight, but could a secret feud also be brewing between two of the husbands?

In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment during Wednesday night's episode, Mark Scrivens appeared to brutally snub Mike Gunner.

Mike extended an arm to Mark when he arrived at the second dinner party, but the former Army serviceman rejected his handshake.

That's awkward! Watch the cringeworthy moment Married At First Sight's Mark Scrivens (left) rejects Mike Gunner's (right) handshake at the dinner party

It is unclear if Mark, 42, deliberately snubbed electrician Mike, 44, or if it was simply unintentional.

Regardless of what was really going on, Mike was left looking embarrassed as Mark happily extended his hand to Mick Gould.

The moment was also missed by the show's experts - John Aiken, Trisha Stratford and Mel Schilling - who failed to mention it in their commentary.

Oh, dear! In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment during Wednesday night's episode, Mike extended an arm to Mark when he arrived at the second dinner party

Meanwhile, Mike has emerged as one of the most controversial grooms from this year's season of Married At First Sight.

During last week's dinner party, he was criticised by viewers on Twitter for making 'sexist' and 'condescending' remarks to the women.

He described Jessika Power as an 'attractive young girl' and called Elizabeth Sobinoff 'sweetheart'.

Not so fast! But Mark rejected Mike's handshake and he was left hanging awkwardly while the former Army serviceman spoke to Mick Gould (far left) instead

Elizabeth was particularly affronted by the term 'sweetheart' and Mike later apologised.

He was also accused of calling Jessika 'fake' later on in the evening, although he insisted she had misheard him.

Married At First Sight continues Sunday at 7pm on Channel NineMarried At First Sight 'relationship expert' Mel Schilling sparked a viewer backlash on Sunday after she lectured Bronson Norrish over his use of the C-word but failed to also address Ines Basic's 'abusive' behaviour.

And on Wednesday's Talking Married, Mel sensationally hit back at her critics and insisted that it is never acceptable to call a person a 'c**t'.

Mel said she would 'absolutely' call out Bronson again if given the opportunity, because she believes using that sort of language is always 'inappropriate'.

'I'd absolutely do it again!' Married At First Sight expert Mel Schilling says it's never acceptable to call a woman the C-word... after lecturing Bronson Norrish over 'inappropriate' language

'If you looked around the room and saw all the brides and grooms, their reaction was the same,' Mel explained.

'That language is inappropriate in any setting towards any person. I'm going to call that out, whether it's a man or woman.'

Fellow expert John Aiken added: 'What's important to know is that the experts only see the dinner parties and commitment ceremonies, so we're dealing with what's in front of us.'

Taking a stand: 'That language is inappropriate in any setting towards any person. I'm going to call that out, whether it's a man or woman,' Mel said on Wednesday's Talking Married. Pictured with her fellow expert John Aiken

He continued: 'We have to jump in and control the room. That language is totally inappropriate and we'll call it out anytime.'

During the first commitment ceremony on Sunday, 34-year-old former stripper Bronson said his 'wife' Ines Basic was 'acting like a c**t', prompting psychologist Mel to criticise him in front of the whole group.

After the show aired, outraged fans accused of her of having double standards when it comes to bad language, as she made no reference to how Ines, 28, had verbally abused Bronson while on their honeymoon.

Controversial: During the first commitment ceremony on Sunday, Bronson Norrish (pictured) said his 'wife' Ines Basic was 'acting like a c**t', prompting psychologist Mel to criticise him in front of the whole group

Meanwhile, a Change.org petition calling for Mel to be sacked over the incident has received 58,000 signatures as of Thursday morning.

The petition states: 'Married At First Sight's so-called expert Mel Schilling lashed out at Bronson for using foul language.

'This so-called psychologist is a biased feminist who has made it clear that she thinks it's okay for a woman to behave the way Ines does.

'Bronson has been a victim of her verbal and emotional abuse all week, and the second he decides it's enough, "expert" Mel comes in and says he shouldn't be using that language.

'The thing is, Ines is exactly what he said, a nasty, abusive piece of work.

'Mel needs to make a formal apology or be sacked from the show. The show doesn't need a one-sided feminist as an "expert".'

Making headlines: Outraged fans accused Mel her of having double standards as she made no reference to how Ines (left) had verbally abused Bronson while on their honeymoon

In a statement on Monday, Channel Nine publicly supported Mel.

A network spokesperson 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.'

Married At First Sight continues Sunday at 7pm on Channel NineShe surprised fans and even some of her friends when she wed her chef husband, Chris Fischer, last February.

And on Wednesday, heavily pregnant Amy Schumer took to Instagram to celebrate her one-year wedding anniversary.

The 37-year-old shared a family snap showing the comedian lying in the floor with her man while petting their adorable pup, Tati.

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One year down! Amy Schumer shared a candid post alongside her husband Chris Fischer and dog Tati on Wednesday to celebrate their first wedding anniversary as a married couple

'These clowns have been married one year today and are very happy about that,' she captioned the post.

Amy was dressed in black sweats and styled her blonde hair back into plait.

Chris also kept things casual for the bonding time spent at home, seen wearing a denim jacket over a sweater.

Surprise! Amy and Chris married in a surprise Malibu ceremony on February 13, 2018

The I Feel Pretty star revealed last year that her Malibu, California nuptials were x-rated.

'I said I promise to do my best to continue to go down on you even though everyone says I won't,' she revealed on The Howard Stern Show.

'I just thought, "Let's really vow what's at stake here, you know?" You got to keep f***ing. It's not been a problem.'

True Amy style: The I Feel Pretty star revealed last year that her Malibu, California nuptials were x-rated

Amy and Chris were first linked together in November 2017. He is the brother of her assistant, Molly.

After dating for a few months they surprised their friends and family with a wedding, texting them just three days before the event.

Among the guests was Jennifer Lawrence, Jennifer Aniston and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Love: Amy and Chris were first linked together in November 2017. He is the brother of her assistant, Molly

Doesn't care whether her baby is a boy or girl: On Tuesday, she revealed that she didn't yet know the gender of her new addition, while announcing she was hosting her own Netflix comedy special

Amy and Chris announced they were expecting their first child in October 2018.

On Tuesday, she revealed that she didn't yet know the gender of her new addition, while announcing she was hosting her own Netflix comedy special.

'We're so excited to say, that we don't care what the gender is,' she began.

'However the baby identifies, whatever the baby's sexuality is - any way the baby identifies is cool with us - as long as it doesn't identify as a DJ.'The worst case scenario happened on Monday's episode, after Ray Kelly's body was discovered and a murder investigation started.

And Mel Owen resorts to desperate measures to protect her son Hunter from being arrested by the police on Thursday's gripping episode of EastEnders.

The teenager, whose father is the late Steve Owen - played by Martin Kemp, gunned down his 'stepfather' over the festive period after he tried to kill his mother, Mel.

Desperate: Mel Owen resorts to desperate measures to protect her son Hunter from being arrested by the police on Thursday's gripping episode of EastEnders

And with the police investigation closing in on them, Mel makes plans to flee Walford with Hunter in new spoiler pictures.

In one set of snaps, it sees the Walford legend handing over the contracts to Albert Square's iconic nightclub, E20, which she owns, to ally Jack Branning.

While another picture sees Mel and Hunter standing in front of a car as they prepare to say goodbye to Walford once and for all.

Will they leave Walford?: The teenager, whose father is the late Steve Owen - played by Martin Kemp, gunned down his 'stepfather' over the festive period after he tried to kill his mother

Will they manage to leave Albert Square and will Hunter get away with murder?

On Tuesday's episode, Mel pleaded with police officer turned businessman Jack to help her and Hunter flee Walford, after confiding in him about the murder.

Jack advised Mel to tell the police what really happened and give themselves up, but the feisty character refused to do so, instead insisting that Ray's friends will twist it as he was in the police.

An ally?: And with the police investigation closing in on them, Mel makes plans to flee Walford with Hunter in new spoiler pictures as she pleads with Jack Branning, giving him E20 contracts

Dramatic: Ahead of Ray's murder, the gangster had kidnapped Hunter, keeping him in the woods, with Mel rescuing her son by running Ray over and burying his body

Ahead of Ray's murder, the gangster had kidnapped Hunter, keeping him in the woods, with Mel rescuing her son by running Ray over and burying his body.

However, the villain was not dead and emerged from the ground as he tried to strangle Mel to death, resulting in Hunter stepping in to save his mother and shooting him dead.

Soap watchers discovered in January that Hunter actor Charlie Winter had been axed from EastEnders, with his exit storyline being kept top-secret.

Dead: However, the villain was not dead and emerged from the ground as he tried to strangle Mel to death, resulting in Hunter stepping in to save his mother and shooting him dead

The actor, 22, was told his contract won't be renewed, despite an explosive 12 months in Walford.

A BBC spokesperson confirmed to MailOnline that Charlie is leaving and wished him all the best for the future.

A source previously told the Daily Star Sunday: 'It's been decided that it's the end of the road for Hunter. Producers don't feel there is anywhere else for the character to go.'

Impact: Soap watchers discovered in January that Hunter actor Charlie Winter had been axed from EastEnders, with his exit storyline being kept top-secret

'Bosses are staying tight-lipped on exactly how Hunter exits Walford, but after he shot Ray dead over New Year it promises to be dramatic.

'Hunter will be on our screens for a while yet and there is still a lot more drama to come as he and his mum face the fallout from his actions.'

Despite a short time in EastEnders, Charlie has seen himself at the centre of some huge storylines, including the murder of his stepfather Ray.Married at First Sight viewers have accused producers of hiring paid actors and faking drama to boost ratings.

And one cast-member has inadvertently fuelled rumours in an interview with Woman's Day podcast on Thursday.

Cyrell Paule, 29, claimed some of her co-stars, including her 'husband' Nic Jovanovic, 28, are only on the show to boost their acting careers and increase their Instagram followers.

'They think they're the next Nicole Kidman and Brad Pitt!' MAFS bride blows the lid on 'paid actors' and says co-stars just want Instagram followers... as expert warns show risks jumping the shark with 'fake drama' (pictured Ines Basic and Sam Ball)

'...They're honestly thinking they're going to be the next Nicole Kidman and Brad Pitt... and they just want Instagram followers!' she said candidly.

'You guys think you're going to end up at the Oscars or something? This is like maximum six months... settle down.'

Cyrell claims she confronted Nic on the show, but producers haven't aired any of it to ensure that the seemingly down-to-earth electrician gets a 'good edit'.

'From day dot, I said to Nic 'you're here for fame',' she said.

Blowing the lid: Cyrell Paule (left), 29, claimed some of her co-stars, including her 'husband' Nic Jovanovic, 28, are only on the show to boost their acting careers and increase their Instagram followers

'And that's what they're not showing, he would ask 'why aren't we getting [photographed] Cyrell?' and 'what do you think happens when you get more Instagram followers?'

'They don't air me calling him fake and wanting fame, they didn't air me saying to him 'if you're here for fame tell me, but don't make me look like a fool!'

Channel Nine are determined to top the success of season 5, which drew in an impressive 1.75 million viewers during the reunion finale - and so far the drama appears to be paying off.

Editing tricks? Cyrell (right) claims she confronted her 'husband' Nic Jovanovic (left) on the show but producers haven't aired any of it to ensure that the seemingly down-to-earth tradie gets a 'good edit'

During it's first week, the total cross-platform average viewership exceeded 2.139 million viewers.

However, viewers have begun questioning just how authentic the show really is.

From the unconvincing 'affair' between Ines Basic and Sam Ball to the bizarre pairing of self-proclaimed 'former lesbian', Lauren Huntriss, with 29-year-old virgin, Matt Bennett, many viewers are convinced the cast are paid actors.

'Look honestly the worst part of this is how little chemistry Ines and Sam actually have. Hire some better actors next time #MAFS,' one viewer tweeted.

Contrived storylines? From the unconvincing 'affair' between Ines Basic and Sam Ball to the bizarre pairing of self-proclaimed 'former lesbian', Lauren Huntriss (right), with a 29-year-old virgin, Matt Bennett (left), many viewers are convinced the cast are paid actors

Staged? Viewers have claimed there is no chemistry between Ines and Sam

Editing fail: An embarrassing editing fail on Monday night's episode saw Sam's 'wife' Elizabeth Sobinoff wearing two different outfits and hairstyles in what was supposed to be the same scene

'Ines and Sam meeting up seems so fake. Where did you find these actors? The dump?' another tweet read.

A third person wrote: 'How much money are you paying Ines and Sam lol obviously actors #MarriedAtFirstSight.'

One prominent media expert told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday that MAFS risks jumping the shark as the lack of authenticity is a turn off for viewers.

'In a highly competitive media environment, conflict and drama are the 'low hanging fruit' that reality shows rely on to catapult them into ratings success,' said Nicole Reaney of InsideOut Public Relations.

'When reality TV first appeared on our screens, there was definitely more authenticity and 'risk' to those shows and that's what drew in the mass followings. Viewers enjoyed seeing a more relatable cast.

'The volume and shift in reality series as a whole has seen Aussies become more cynical in the intention behind the cast and the show. Over time shows risk losing their initial loyal audience.

Next stop, Hollywood? Sam, 26, who is among the most talked about grooms, has been revealed as an aspiring actor as seen on his Star Now profile

Experienced: In his Star Now bio, Sam says he has 'a lot of experience within modelling and commercial roles'

'With previous cast commenting and current viewer criticism of the show, Nine does risk overstepping that line.'

Newly surfaced 'acting' photos and videos of cast members have fuelled the 'paid actors' theory.

Sam, 26, who is among the most talked about grooms, has been revealed as an aspiring actor as seen on his Star Now profile.

Busted! Gold Coast electrician, Mike Gunner, was revealed as a working actor last week after footage surfaced on Instagram of the 43-year-old playing a gun-toting criminal in a low-budget action movie

TV career: Melissa Lucarelli (right), 38, has had plenty of on-camera experience as a presenter on Postcards, a traffic reporter for Sunrise and an emcee/host affiliated with Australia's Next Top Model

Gold Coast electrician, Mike Gunner, was revealed as a working actor last week after footage surfaced on Instagram of the 43-year-old playing a gun-toting criminal in a low-budget action movie.

Melissa Lucarelli, 38, has had plenty of on-camera experience as a presenter on Postcards, a traffic reporter for Sunrise and an emcee/host affiliated with Australia's Next Top Model.

Zen-obsessed 'groom' Dina Hira, 34, appears to also be obsessed with stardom after appearing on Channel Seven reality show First Dates last year.

He looks familiar! Zen-obsessed 'groom' Dina Hira, 34, appears to also be obsessed with stardom after appearing on Channel Seven reality show First Dates last year

Who knew they were friends? He's also appeared in various photo shoots, including one for prescription glasses company Speqs in 2017 - ironically with Jessika Power (left), 26, who also appears on MAFS this season

He's also appeared in various photo shoots, including one for prescription glasses company Speqs in 2017 - ironically with Jessika Power, 26, who also appears on MAFS this season.

Last month, Telv Williams from MAFS season 5, claimed there were paid actors on the show last year.

'... I wonder how many paid actors they've hired this year? I know most were actors in our season. I can't believe it hasn't come out yet,' he wrote on Instagram.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Nine for comment.Advertisement

If you're looking for a window into some of the world's most beautiful places, scroll down now.

The winners of the fifth International Landscape Photographer of the Year competition have been announced, with stunning shots documenting everything from magical mountains to glistening lakes and dark, forbidding forests.

There were almost 3,000 entries from photographers around the globe, leaving the judges with a headache to whittle them down.

Adam Gibbs from Canada has been revealed as the 'photographer of the year' (an award based on a folio submission of at least four images) with his hauntingly beautiful shots of woodland scenes around Vancouver Island.

Meanwhile, American photographer Paul Marcellini took home the 'photograph of the year title' (awarded for a single image) for his striking image of tree trunks reflecting in a pool of water to create an optical illusion.

Here MailOnline Travel presents a selection of the photos that caught the judges' eyes...

John Finney from the UK took this stormy image while travelling between Waynoka and Enid in Oklahoma

Adam Gibbs from Canada was revealed as the 2018 International Landscape Photographer of the Year, which was awarded based on a folio submission of at least four images. He took the above shot while venturing around Vancouver Island

Gabor Dvornik from Hungary took this foggy image on the outskirts of Szigliget, which is a small village in the west of the country

Chung Hu from the U.S. took this atmospheric aerial shot while exploring the area around Fjallsarlon in Iceland

American Chris Byrne cast his camera over the otherworldly landscape in Iceland to get this awe-inspiring shot

Lazar Ovidiu took this stunning shot of eerie reflections shimmering on Cuejdel Lake in Romania. It's the biggest natural dam lake in the country

Daniel Laan from the Netherlands captured sheets of pancake ice bathing in pink sunlight while travelling through Lofoten in Norway

Xiao Zhu from China photographed Mont Fitz Roy in Patagonia looking particularly majestic with a pink-hued sky swirling above

Tania Malkin from Australia took this stunning aerial image showing a tributary flowing into the Timor Sea in northern Australia

David Swindler from the U.S. photographed an undulating area of the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in Arizona. This monument covers 293,689 acres, with elevations ranging from 3,100 feet to 6,500 feet above sea level

Thorsten Scheuermann from the U.S. journeyed to the southern states to take this watery shot of tree trunks reflected in a still body of water

Thorsten Scheuermann captured a tree in the southern U.S. covered in 'old man's beard', with the cobweb-like weed looking particularly eerie as mist creeps into the picture

Nicola Pirondini focused on this unusual rock formation while exploring the Calafuria Nature Reserve in Tuscany

It's difficult to see where these tree trunks start and where they end in this artistic shot taken in the south east of the U.S. by American photographer Paul Marcellini. This single image landed him the International Landscape Photograph of the Year award

A stunning evening sky unfolds over a field of lavender in Valensole, France, in this breathtaking photo by America's Peter Lik

Veselin Atanasov ventured into a woodland in Bulgaria's Central Balkan National Park to take this atmospheric shot

A wave on the south-east coast of Australia is perfectly captured as it crests in this moody photo by Australian photographer Warren Keelan

A ghostly group of frozen trees in Finnish Lapland was captured by Australian photographer Ignacio Palacios

Edward Hyde from the UK captured a stormy day down at Newhaven Harbour in East Sussex with waves smashing over the barriers and spray misting the air. Here, one wave looks like the head of a dragonCarter, 31, is accused of carrying out a series of drive-by shootings in December 2017 aimed at drug dealers in West Baltimore. He had become fed up with the drug dealers cat-calling his girlfriend, hassling him and sitting on the used cars he bought and sold from his home, police and prosecutors say.Advertisement

The A380 ushered in a new era of glamour at 38,000ft, with carriers using its cavernous interior to install suites, showers and bars.

But now Airbus has sounded the death knell for this golden age of travel with the announcement, less than 12 years after its first commercial flight, that it will cease production of the superjumbo after 2021.

Here we look back at the aircrafts remarkable history through fascinating pictures, from flying with the Red Arrows and buzzing the pyramids to peeks at the most luxurious cabins the aircraft offers.

The early days of the A380

In 1994 Airbus announced it was to develop a very large double-decker airliner, called the A3XX, the previous name for the A380. Pictured is an early rendering by Airbus of the aircraft

Construction finally began in 2002. Pictured is a large section of fuselage being transported by road to the jetliner's final assembly plant in Toulouse, France

Parts for the A380 are produced across four European countries before being brought to Toulouse to be assembled. Pictured is a section of A380 being loaded on to a ship in Pauillac, France

A380 fuselage and wing sections are put on a freight ship ready to be shipped to Toulouse in October 2004

The wings for the A380 are made at a facility in Broughton, Flintshire, in Wales. Pictured is a wing travelling on a barge on the River Dee

A barge carries an A380 central fuselage down a river in the French city of Bordeaux in April 2004, during the development and construction of the first superjumbos

A fuselage section for the A380 is moved to the double-deck jetliners final assembly facility in Toulouse in October 2004

It was more than 30 years ago in 1988 when the idea for a super-sized 500-seat airliner was first mooted at Airbus. The aim? To directly challenge Boeing's extremely popular 747.

By June 1994, Airbus announced it was to develop a very, very large double-decker airliner, called the A3XX.

And six years later the $8.8billion (6.8billion) project to develop the plane, renamed the A380, began in earnest.

After the design of the huge new aircraft was finalised, construction finally began in 2002.

A section of fuselage is unloaded off a ship in Paulliac. A380 parts arrive by ship in Paulliac in France before being loaded on to barges to take them through Bordeaux to a dock at Langon and then by oversize road convoy to the assembly plant

A section of the first A380 fuselage arrives at the final assembly plant in Toulouse in January 2005, just months before the A380's maiden flight

Inside the Toulouse Airbus plant in January 2005, showing the first three A380s side by side as they are constructed

One of the construction milestones came in January 2005, when the first A380 Rolls-Royce engine was assembled

The first A380 passenger airliner is moved between hangars at the Airbus factory in Toulouse

Team effort: The forward and centre fuselages are made in France, the horizontal tail plane made in Spain and the tails fins and rear fuselages built in Germany

Workers gather in front of the nose cone of an Airbus A380 at the opening ceremony for the new final-assembly plant at Airbus's Toulouse factory in 2004. At that time, Airbus expected to sell more than 1,000 A380s. Total orders in the end totalled just over 320

The parts for the plane were built across Europe. The wings were constructed in Wales, the forward and centre fuselages made in France, the horizontal tail plane made in Spain and the tails fins and rear fuselages built in Germany.

They were then brought by sea, air and road, to the production plant in Toulouse to be assembled. Roads around the plant had to be widened in order for the huge new plane parts to be transported in.

The maiden flight

Airbus finally unveiled the first five test A380s in Toulouse in 2005 and the first maiden flight took place on April 27 of that year.

The giant plane touched down to applause after a flight of just under four hours. Nearly 30,000 spectators watched the behemoth take off and land.

In April 2005 the first A380 was moved from the assembly plant across a busy road to Airbuss flight test centre at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport

The A380 touches down in Toulouse after its maiden flight on April 27, 2005. The giant plane landed to applause after a flight of just under four hours

The crew on the maiden flight took no chances - they donned parachutes and a handrail was installed inside the test plane leading from the cockpit to an escape door that could have been jettisoned had the pilots lost control. The plane was jointly captained by Claude Lelaie, Airbus Senior Vice President Flight Division, and Chief Test Pilot and Vice President Jacques Rosay

Airbus staff and media gather around the A380 after its maiden flight. During the first flight it recorded measurements for 150,000 separate parameters and beamed real-time data back to computers on the ground

Once testing of the aircraft was complete, the A380 went on a world tour. It first came to Britain in 2006 when it appeared at the Farnborough Airshow and flew alongside the RAF's Red Arrows

In March 2007, the A380 touched down on US soil for the first time, during its world tour. It is pictured landing at New York's JFK Airport

After landing at JFK, the world's largest passenger plane was honoured by the New York Fire Department, which sprayed water over the aircraft

While travelling around the US on a world tour, the A380 also made a pit stop in Washington DC. The aircraft is pictured flying across Capitol Hill and the Washington Monument

The A380 flies past the high rise buildings of Hong Kong during its world tour in 2007

THE AIRBUS A380 Overall length: 72.72m Cabin length: 49.80m Wing span (geometric): 79.75m Height: 24.09m Typical seating: 544 (4-class) Max seating: 853 Range: 15,200km Max fuel capacity: 320,000 litres Average list price (2018): $445.6million (323.22million) Advertisement

The on-board equipment recorded measurements for 150,000 separate parameters and beamed real-time data back to computers on the ground.

The crew snapped souvenir photos in flight and after touching down.

They also took no chances - donning parachutes for the first flight. A handrail inside the test plane led from the cockpit to an escape door that could have been jettisoned had the pilots lost control.

But problems were soon afoot when later that year, customers who had ordered the aircraft were warned of a six-month delay due to wiring problems.

The first trans-Atlantic flight, from France to Colombia, took place in 2006 before cold-climate testing in Canada and approval from both the European Aviation Safety Agency and the United States Federal Aviation Administration.

Comfort testing began in late 2006, before Airbus warned of yet another delay to its first delivery.

The first passenger services

The inaugural customer was Singapore Airlines, which received its first A380 in October 2007.

The first commercial flight was from Singapore to Sydney that month.

The first customer to have an A380 delivered for service was Singapore Airlines. Pictured is the carrier's first plane leaving the Airbus assembly plant. The first commercial flight was from Singapore to Sydney in October 2007

Singapore Airlines revolutionised air travel on its A380s by introducing first-class suites. Sharmala Huey Yuen, a Singapore Airlines flight attendant, prepares the double bed in the luxury-class suite in September 2009

The Singapore Airlines suites feature sliding doors and window blinds, an armchair hand-stitched by master Italian craftsmen, a standalone bed and a 23-inch wide LCD screen. Pictured is the recently revamped suite

Passengers wanting to travel in the first-class suite on Singapore Airline's A380 need to fork out five figures

A flight attendant arranges a business class seat of a Singapore Airlines A380 in December 2017

In the battle to fill their seats with high-fliers, the world's top airlines rolled out evermore luxurious options for top-tier travellers on A380s

The first-class bar on the upper deck of an Emirates A380. The Dubai-based airline is the largest operator of the huge aircraft

Following Singapores lead, Emirates created lavish cabins, with first-class ticket holders given showers and private suites

Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad, which operates 10 A380s, also has luxurious private first-class cabins with beds

Singapore Airlines revolutionised air travel on its A380s by introducing first-class suites featuring sliding doors and window blinds, an armchair hand-stitched by master Italian craftsmen, a standalone bed and a 23-inch wide LCD screen.

Almost a year later in July 2008, Emirates became the second airline to fly the aircraft. It now has over 100 A380s in its fleet, making it the biggest customer.

Following Singapores lead, it created lavish cabins, with first-class ticket holders given showers and private suites.

Australian flag-carrier Qantas was third to take delivery of the A380 while British Airways received its first A380 in 2013. No US carrier has ever ordered an A380.

Problems arise

Despite being launched to much fanfare and receiving orders from 13 different airlines, the A380 has been beset with issues.

In November 2010, Qantas Airways and Singapore Airlines temporarily suspended flights of the A380 after an engine failure forced an emergency landing in Singapore.

Emirates became the second airline to fly the aircraft. It now has over 100 A380s in its fleet, making it the biggest customer. Pictured is the first Emirates A380 after rolling off the production line in 2008

In November 2010, the Airbus A380 test aircraft flew a special flight over the Pyramids in Egypt following airport compatibility tests carried out at Cairo International Airport to confirm the airport was capable of handling A380 operations

British Airways received its first A380 in July 2013 and on its arrival at Heathrow, BA staff greeted it with Union flags. BA has 12 A380s in its fleet

And by July, 2016 Airbus announced that it was cutting production of the A380 in half, going to just one jet a month by 2018.

By 2018, Airbus said it would have no other choice but to halt the costly A380 programme if Dubai's Emirates airline, its biggest customer of the A380, did not place another order.

Last year Emirates Airlines struck a $16 billion (12.3 billion) deal to buy 36 A380s, but it is now switching some orders to the smaller A350.

Analysts have pointed to customers demanding flights directly to their destination rather than following Airbus's model of taking a long-haul journey from hub-to-hub followed by a short hop on a smaller plane.

The 100th A380 was bought by Malaysia Airlines and delivered in March 2013

A special celebration was held at the Airbus factory in November 2017 when the 100th A380 for Emirates was handed over

In late 2018, All Nippon Airways placed an order for three A380s each with a special livery depicting sea turtles native to Hawaii. They will be among the last A380s to roll off the production line

When it was launched, the A380 boasted highly customised interiors to help airlines promote a luxury feel, but the cost of replacing such bespoke fittings is now seen as a handicap.

Also, airlines began favouring smaller twin-engined models, which are easier to fill and cheaper to maintain.

Today the firm said Emirates had chosen to reduce its order of A380s from 162 to 123 aircraft following a 'review of its operations, and in light of developments in aircraft and engine technologies'.

Meanwhile, the UAE carrier is buying more of the smaller A330-900 and A350-900 aircraft, purchasing 40 and 30 respectively.

'As a result of this decision we have no substantial A380 backlog and hence no basis to sustain production, despite all our sales efforts with other airlines in recent years,' Airbus chief executive Tom Enderss said.

'This leads to the end of A380 deliveries in 2021. The consequences of this decision are largely embedded in our 2018 full-year results.'

Airbus will produce 17 more of the planes including 14 for Emirates and 3 for Japanese airline All Nippon Airways.Singapore Airlines has revealed the 'wellness cuisine' menu aimed at reducing jet lag that it is set to serve passengers when it launches the world's longest flight later this year.

From October, the carrier, which was recently named the best in the world, will start daily non-stop services of 18 hours and 45 minutes from the city-state to New York.

The journey from Changi to Newark's Liberty International Airport will cover about 10,300 miles more than the world's current longest flight.

Some of the dishes on Singapore Airline's new wellness menu on the world's longest flight. Pictured left is seared chicken and right a breakfast of lox eggs benedict

Now the airline has announced it has partnered with 'wellness' brand Canyon Ranch to develop what it described as 'nutrition-focused' menus to aid sleep and reduce jet lag.

And although Singapore Airlines hasn't revealed the full food service on offer, it has unveiled a sample menu of food.

It will include an appetiser of wild caught prawn ceviche and lavosh with fresh orange, cucumber, grapefruit, cilantro, scallions and bell peppers.

The main course is seared chicken and zucchini pappardelle featuring pasta-cut zucchini, parmesan, braised tomatoes, lemon vinaigrette and micro basil.

Desert will include lemon angel food cake with blueberry topping and breakfast will consist of lox eggs benedict with a whole wheat English muffin, chive cream cheese, smoked salmon, organic-egg omelette and yogurt hollandaise.

As well as the menu, Canyon Ranch will also work with the airline to develop sleep, exercise and stretching strategies to aid breathing and reduce jetlag.

Singapore Airlines acting senior vice president of customer experience, Yeoh Phee Teik said: 'SIA is firmly committed to continually elevating our customers experience to be the number one in the industry.

When the flight launches in October, Singapore Airlines flight will use the long-range Airbus A350-900ULR, which will be configured to carry 161 passengers

'Our new partnership with Canyon Ranch builds on that commitment, as well as our strong legacy of service, tapping into their deep expertise and science-based recommendations and strategies to deliver an even more comfortable journey for our customers.'

When the flight launches in October, Singapore Airlines flight will use the long-range Airbus A350-900ULR, which will be configured to carry 161 passengers - 67 in business class and 94 in premium economy.

The airline had flown a similar route from 2004 until 2013 but cancelled it as it fell short of revenue expectations.

However, its latest decision comes as carriers look for new sources of revenue in a competitive environment, while long-haul flights often make more cash than those that require stops.

There are also plans for a non-stop route from Singapore to Los Angeles using the same plane, the airline said.

The current world's longest flight is the 17 hour 20 minute service by Qantas between Perth and London.British holidaymakers can save hundreds of pounds by visiting 'unsung cities' rather than the most popular destinations, according to new research.

Post Office Travel Money compared the price of tourist items in 10 cities that are 'off the well-beaten tourist track' with 10 more established locations.

And the Unsung Cities League shows that Belgrade has the cheapest prices, including 1.73 for a bottle of local beer, 1.53 for admission to a top art gallery and 3.84 for a two-day travel card.

British holidaymakers can save hundreds of pounds by visiting 'unsung cities' rather than the most popular destinations, according to new research. One of the cheapest city breaks is Belgrade, pictured

The total cost of the basket of goods including - including a range of drinks, an evening meal for two with wine, two nights' three-star weekend accommodation in October, sightseeing and city transport - is 12 per cent cheaper than rival Krakow.

At 175, the barometer basket in Romanian capital Bucharest  runner up to Belgrade - cost over 23 per cent less than in Budapest (229) in neighbouring Hungary.

The higher cost of accommodation in Budapest helped to make a city previously rated high in the best value top 10 almost 54 more expensive than Bucharest.

A surprising result of the research was that Porto, Portugal's second city, proved to be cheaper than two fast-emerging Eastern European capitals, Bratislava, Slovakia (203) and Ljubljana, Slovenia (217).

A table showing how much holidaymakers could save by visiting an unsung city compared to an established city

Third-placed in the Unsung Cities League, Porto's prices (184) were also a third lower than in Lisbon (275) and eight per cent less than in Athens (200), making it the cheapest city in Western Europe.

However, Slovakian capital Bratislava (203) looks a bargain buy compared with costs in Vienna (362) in neighbouring Austria.

The price gap between Europe's two closest capital cities is over 159 or 44 per cent.

Other comparisons made by the report include Toulouse costing 38 per cent less than Paris, Valencia being 35 per cent cheaper than Barcelona and visitors to Verona saving 36 per cent compared with staying in Venice.

Tourists could save over 50 by holiday in Romanian capital Bucharest, pictured, rather than nearby Budapest

In Portugal, Porto's prices (184) were also a third lower than in Lisbon. Pictured is the old town skyline in Porto

Post Office Travel Money spokesman Andrew Brown urged tourists not to get 'caught out' by expensive destinations.

He said: 'Holidaymakers need to be careful to do their homework before booking, and budget accordingly.

'As Europe's lesser-known capitals and second cities start to invest in tourism, now is the time to consider switching to a city that is likely to be cheaper than long-established favourites.

'In eastern Europe there are several historic capitals - led by Belgrade, Bucharest and Bratislava - that can rival Krakow, Prague and Budapest on both price and sights.

'In the West, Porto is a great alternative to Lisbon while cities like Valencia, Verona and Toulouse are cheaper options than city break favourites like Barcelona, Venice and Paris.'Advertisement

From quirky retreats to sprawling palaces and even a home made entirely from glass, Airbnb has a vast array of listing from around the globe.

And to mark its 10th anniversary, Airbnb has revealed the properties that have been 'wish-listed' the most on its site over the past 10 years.

Whether its a tropical treehouse or conical villa, scroll down to see the top ten most wanted homestays.

I Sette Coni  Trullo Edera (Ostuni, Italy) - wish-listed: 164,444 times

I Sette Coni  Trullo Edera villa in Puglia, Italy, which is the most wish-listed property on Airbnb in the last 10 years

For 63 ($80) a night, guests can stay inside the villages iconic white stone walls by night and hang outside reading under an olive tree by day

The most wish-listed property on the listings site is the conical Italian villa I Sette Coni  Trullo Edera located close to the towns of Bari and Brindisi.

The villa sleeps up to four people and offers stunning views across the Puglia landscape.

For 63 ($80) a night, guests can stay inside the villages iconic white stone walls by night and hang outside reading under an olive tree by day.

Hector Cave House (Santorini, Greece) - wish-listed: 133,869 times

The Hector Cave House on the Greek island of Santorini, which was carved into the caldera cliff more than 250 years ago

The living area of the Hector Cave House, which is perfectly perched on the side of a cliff for watching the crowds in the village below

Originally used as a wine cellar, the Hector Cave House in Santorini was carved into the caldera cliff more than 250 years ago.

The stunning property has one bedroom that can accommodate up to five guests as well as a private veranda for sunbathing.

Guests say the house is perfectly perched, great for watching the crazy crowds of the village of Oia from above.

Farm Cabana (Armenia, Colombia) - wish-listed: 99,622 times

A romantic cabana is made entirely from bamboo in the coffee region of Colombia, which is the third most wish-listed property on Airbnb

The cabana only has one bedroom, pictured, enough for one couple but comes in at just 31 ($39)per night

Tucked away near the mountains of the coffee region of Colombia, the romantic cabana is made entirely from bamboo.

Guests staying there can also enjoy the tropical fruits and vegetables that are grown on the small organic farm, where the property stands.

The cabana only has one bedroom, enough for one couple but comes in at just 31 per night.

Eco bamboo home (Bali, Indonesia) - wish-listed: 77,177 times

The eco-bamboo home in Bali, which guests must book up six months in advance as it is so popular

Guests say the two story eco-home exceeds the hype thanks to its total solitude in a quiet Balinese village

Not only is this hideout in Bali among the most wish-listed property, it is also one of the most booked, filling up six months ahead of time.

Guests say the two story eco-home exceeds the hype thanks to its total solitude in a quiet Balinese village.

Prices start from 137 ($174) per night and guests get use of a scooter for free.

Stone Villa (Crete, Greece) - wish-listed: 76,658 times

This cave property on the Greek island of Crete was once a family home but is now a holiday let and available on Airbnb

Two guests can stay at the property from 45 per night and also comes complete with a kitchenette and dining room

Another property carved out of natural rock, this cave in Crete was once a family home but is now a holiday let.

It was recently rebuilt to include a balcony where guests can enjoy the turquoise waters of Kissamos Bay.

Two guests can stay at the property from 45 ($57) per night and it also comes complete with a kitchenette and dining room.

Tropical Treehouse (Fern Forest, Hawaii) - wish-listed: 66,336 times

The tropical treehouse is within the jungle canopy on the outskirts of the Big Islands Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

The property is totally off the grid with no running water and only solar power for electricity

Located on the outskirts of the Big Islands Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the tropical treehouse is within the jungle canopy.

It is elevated on stilts and has 360 degree views of the lush jungle and can accommodate up to two guests.

Prices start from 235 ($300) per night but the property is totally off the grid with no running water and only solar power for electricity.

Eco-cottage (Bali, Indonesia) - wish-listed: 65,644 times

This bamboo hut in Bali only sees a mosquito net come between the guests who stay here and the elements

A total of four guests can stay at the hut next to a rice field at a time with prices starting from 51 ($64) per night

This bamboo hut in Bali only sees a mosquito net come between the guests who stay here and the elements.

That's because anything thicker would spoil the view of the fireflies shimmering above the rice fields after dark.

A total of four guests can stay at the hut next to a rice field at a time with prices starting from 51 per night.

It House (Yucca Valley, California, USA) - wish-listed: 63,669 times

The IT House in Yucca Valley in California, which is an off the grid property with guests urged to bring their telescope so they can gaze up at the night's sky

The house is located in a remote location within Yucca Valley and is powered entirely by solar energy

Made entirely of glass, this property is an off the grid home where guests urged to bring their telescope so they can gaze up at the night's sky.

It boasts two bedrooms, with enough room for four guests and is powered entirely by solar energy.

The house is located in a remote location within Yucca Valley and prices start from 314 per night.

The Cosy Palace (Marrakech, Morocco) - wish-listed: 59,838 times

Guests say pictures of this restored riad do not do the rooms justice at the Cosy Palace in Marrakech

Vibrantly tiled archways decorate the property where prices for four guests start from 39 ($49) per night

Guests say pictures of this restored riad do not do the rooms justice at the Cosy Palace in Marrakech.

Vibrantly tiled archways decorate the property, which can accommodate up to four guests.

Prices start from 39 per night and is located close to the heart of the Medina.

Waterfront villa (Kotor, Montenegro) - wish-listed: 52,964 times

A night at waterfront villa in Montenegro starts from just 31 ($39) per night and has an outside table for al-fresco dining

Boasting an unobstructed view of two beautiful Bay of Kotor islands this villa is one of the most popular Airbnbs in Europe

Boasting an unobstructed view of two beautiful Bay of Kotor islands this villa is one of the most popular Airbnbs in Europe.

The waterfront property can accommodate up to four guests and is described as perfect for families.

A night at the home starts from just 31 ($39) per night and has an outside table for al-fresco dining.The robots are here. Are the 'sexbots' close behind?

From the Drudge Report to The New York Times, sex robots are rapidly becoming a part of the national conversation about the future of sex and relationships.

Behind the headlines, a number of companies are currently developing robots designed to provide humans with companionship and sexual pleasure - with a few already on the market.

Unlike sex toys and dolls, which are typically sold in off-the-radar shops and hidden in closets, sexbots may become mainstream.

Scroll down for video

Behind the headlines, a number of companies are currently developing robots designed to provide humans with companionship and sexual pleasure - with a few already on the market

A 2017 survey suggested almost half of Americans think that having sex with robots will become a common practice within 50 years.

As a scholar of artificial intelligence, neuroscience and the law, I'm interested in the legal and policy questions that sex robots pose.

How do we ensure they are safe? How will intimacy with a sex robot affect the human brain? Would sex with a childlike robot be ethical? And what exactly is a sexbot anyway?

Defining 'sex robot'

There is no universally accepted definition of 'sex robot.'

This may not seem important, but its actually a serious problem for any proposal to govern  or ban  them.

The primary conundrum is how to distinguish between a sex robot and a 'sexy robot.' Just because a robot is attractive to a human and can provide sexual gratification, does it deserve the label 'sex robot'?

An engineer holds the head of 'Samantha,' a sex doll packed with artificial intelligence. The doll is capable of responding to different scenarios and verbal stimulus

Its tempting to define them as legislatures do sex toys, by focusing on their primary use.

In Alabama, the only state that still has an outright ban on the sale of sex toys, the government targets devices 'primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs.'

The problem with applying this definition to sex robots is that the latter increasingly provide much more than sex.

Sex robots are not just dolls with a microchip. They will use self-learning algorithms to engage their partners emotions.

Consider the 'Mark 1' robot, which resembles the actor Scarlett Johansson.

It is regularly labeled a sex robot, yet when I interviewed its creator, Ricky Ma Tsz Hang, he was quick to clarify that Mark 1 is not intended to be a sex robot.

Rather, such robots will aim to assist with all sorts of tasks, from preparing a childs lunch to keeping an elderly relative company.

Humans, of course, can navigate both sexual and nonsexual contexts adeptly. What if a robot can do the same? How do we conceptualize and govern a robot that can switch from 'play with kids' mode during the day to 'play with adults' mode at night?

Thorny legal issues

In a landmark 2003 case, Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court struck down Texas sodomy law and established what some scholars have described as a right to sexual privacy.

There is currently a split among circuit courts in how Lawrence should be applied to state restrictions on the sale of sex toys.

Silicone dream dolls are seen at the workshop of the Dreamdoll company in Duppigheim near Strasbourg. The realistic silicone sex dolls can be ordered from a catalogue based on four hair and eye color models for a base price of 5,500 euros and weigh about 40 kilograms

Thierry Reverdi, owner of the Dreamdoll company, adjusts the sunglasses of a silicone dream doll at their workshop. The company produces about 100 custom-made sex dolls per year

So far, Alabamas ban has been upheld, but I suspect that all sex toy bans will eventually be struck down.

If so, it seems unlikely that states will be able to wholesale restrict sales of sex robots generally.

Bans on childlike sex robots, however, may be different.

It is not clear whether anyone in the U.S. already owns a childlike sex robot. But even the possibility of child sex robots prompted a bipartisan House bill, the Curbing Realistic Exploitative Electronic Pedophilic Robots Act, or CREEPER.

Introduced in 2017, it passed unanimously six months later.

State politicians will surely follow suit, and we are likely to see many attempts to ban childlike sex robots. But its unclear if such bans will survive constitutional challenge.

On one hand, the Supreme Court has held that prohibitions on child pornography do not violate the First Amendment because the state has a compelling interest in curtailing the effects of child pornography on the children portrayed.

Yet the Supreme Court has also held that the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 was overly broad in its attempt to prohibit 'child pornography that does not depict an actual child.'

Childlike sex robots are robots, not humans. Like virtual child pornography, the development of a childlike sex robot does not require interaction with any children.

Yet it might also be argued that childlike sex robots would have serious detrimental effects that compel state action.

Safe and secure?

Perhaps someday sex robots will become sentient. But for now, they are products.

And a question almost entirely overlooked is how the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission should regulate the hazards associated with sex robots.

Existing sex products are not well regulated, and this is cause for concern given the multitude of ways in which sex robots could be harmful to their users.

For example, dangers lurk even in a seemingly innocent scene where a sex robot and human hold hands and kiss.

What if the sexbots lips were manufactured with lead paint or some other toxin? And what if the robot, with the strength of five humans, accidentally crushes the humans finger in a display of passion?

Its not just physical harm, but security as well. For instance, just as a human partner learns by remembering what words were soothing, and what type of touch was comforting, so too is a sex robot likely to store and process massive amounts of intimate information.

What regulations are in place to ensure that this data remains private? How vulnerable will the sex robot be to hacking? Could the state use sex robots as surveillance devices for sex offenders?

Sexbots in the city

Whether and how governments regulate sex robots will depend on what we learn  or what we assume  about the effects of sexbots on individuals and society.

In 2018, the Houston City Council made headlines by enacting an ordinance to ban the operation of what would have been America's first so-called robot 'brothel.'

At one of the community meetings, an attendee warned: 'A business like this would destroy homes, families, finances of our neighbors and cause major community uproars in the city.'

But dire predictions like this are pure speculation. At present there is no evidence of how the introduction of sex robots would affect either individuals or society.

For instance, would a man who uses a childlike sex robot be more or less likely to harm an actual human child? Would robots be a substitute for humans in relationships or would they enhance relationships as sex toys might?

Would sex robots fill a void for those who are lonely and without companions? Just as pilots use virtual flight simulators before they fly a real plane, could virgins use sex robots to safely practice sex before trying the real thing?

Put another way, there are far more unanswered questions about sex robots than there are actual sex robots.

Although its hard to conduct empirical studies until sexbots are more prevalent, informed governance requires researchers to explore these topics urgently.

Otherwise, we may see reactionary governance decisions based on supposition and fear of doomsday scenarios.

Humans have pondered how they will interact with robots more and more in recent years, from household robot helpers to fictional TV representations like robots in Westworld (pictured)

A brave new world

A fascinating question for me is how the current taboo on sex robots will ebb and flow over time.

There was a time, not so long ago, when humans attracted to the same sex felt embarrassed to make this public.

Today, society is similarly ambivalent about the ethics of 'digisexuality'  a phrase used to describe a number of human-technology intimate relationships.

Will there be a time, not so far in the future, when humans attracted to robots will gladly announce their relationship with a machine?

No one knows the answer to this question. But I do know that sex robots are likely to be in the American market soon, and it is important to prepare for that reality.

Imagining the laws governing sexbots is no longer a law professor hypothetical or science fiction.

Its a real-world challenge that society is about to face for the first time. I hope that the law gets it right.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The Conversation Privacy PolicyKiller robots are a 'grave threat to humanity' and should be banned, the world's largest gathering of scientists was told.

As yet, robot soldiers and security guards armed with lethal weapons are largely science fiction concepts.

But advances in artificial intelligence mean it is only a matter of time before robots with the power to select and attack targets without human input become widespread.

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Killer robots, similar to the Terminator played by Arnold Schwarzenegger (pictured), are a 'grave threat to humanity' and should be banned, the world's largest gathering of scientists was told (stock image)

Scientists and human rights campaigners told the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Washington DC lethal droids able to select targets without human help represent the 'third revolution' in warfare after gun powder and nuclear weapons.

Just as international agreements greatly restricted the use of landmines, similar international agreements should be used to prevent robotic killers becoming established.

Mary Wareham of Human Rights Watch, co-ordinator of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots said: 'Public sentiment is hardening against the prospect of fully autonomous weapons.

'Bold political leadership is needed for a new treaty to preemptively ban these weapons systems.'

Support for a ban comes from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has called lethal autonomous weapons systems 'politically unacceptable and morally repugnant'.

Scientists and human rights campaigners told the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Washington DC lethal droids able to select targets without human help represent the 'third revolution' in warfare after gun powder and nuclear weapons (stock image)

A poll by IPSOS Mori in 26 countries including the UK found 61 per cent of respondents opposed the use of lethal autonomous weapons.

Around 22 percent support such use and 17 percent said they were not sure. In a near-identical survey in 23 countries by the same company in January 2017, 56 percent were opposed, 24 percent not opposed, and 19 percent unsure.

The 2018 Ipsos survey used respondent pools of 500  1,000 people in each country. The strongest opposi-tion was in Turkey (78%), South Korea (74%), and Hungary (74%).

The 2018 Ipsos poll also asked those opposed to killer robots what concerned them the most. Two-thirds (66%) answered that lethal autonomous weapons systems would 'cross a moral line because machines should not be allowed to kill.' More than half (54%) said the weapons would be 'unaccountable.'

Since 2013, 28 countries have called for a ban on fully autonomous weapons. El Salvador and Morocco add-ed their names to the list during the November meeting.

Austria, Brazil, and Chile formally proposed the urgent negotiation of 'a legally-binding instrument to ensure meaningful human control over the critical functions' of weapons systems.

She added: 'The Ipsos poll shows that public expectations are rising for governments to take the threat of fully autonomous weapons seriously and be willing to take strong action to retain human control over the use of force.

'The security of the world and future of humanity hinges on achieving a ban on killer robots.'

The only countries where a majority of respondents did not oppose killer robots were India (37%), Israel (41%), Brazil (46%); and Japan (48%).Satellite images reveal the plumbing of Bali's Agung volcano may be connected to its neighbour, Mount Batur, located 11 miles (18 km) away.

Scientists were studying the volcano as it awoke from a 50-year slumber and spewed ash into the atmosphere for several weeks at the end of 2017.

Images from the European Space Agency revealed an unusual underground bubble four inches (10 cm) in height on the northern flank of the volcano, more than three miles (5 km) from the summit.

This, experts claim, proves the mountain's magma can move horizontally as well as vertically, which indicates it is physically linked to Mount Batur.

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Satellite images reveal the plumbing of Bali's Agung volcano may be connected to its neighbour, Mount Batur, located 11 miles (18 km) away. Images from the European Space Agency revealed an unusual underground bubble of four inches on the northern flank of the volcano, more than three miles from the summit, seen here in green at as a circular pattern to the right of the base of Angung

A team of scientists, led by the University of Bristol, used satellite technology of the ESA to spot any surface level fluctuations during the 2017 volcanic activity.

During this time, experts from the University's School of Earth Sciences used Sentinel-1 satellite imagery provided by the ESA to monitor the ground deformation at Agung.

They say their findings could have important implications for forecasting future eruptions in the area.

Dr Fabien Albino, from the University of Bristol's School of Earth Sciences, the paper's lead author, said: 'Surprisingly, we noticed that both the earthquake activity and the ground deformation signal were located five kilometres away from the summit, which means that magma must be moving sideways as well as vertically upwards.

'Our study provides the first geophysical evidence that Agung and Batur volcanoes may have a connected plumbing system.

'This has important implications for eruption forecasting and could explain the occurrence of simultaneous eruptions, such as in 1963.'

Scientists were studying the volcano when it was spewing ash out for several weeks in 2017 in order to uncover what caused it to erupt after 50 years of dormancy. Satellite images from the ESA showed a bubble of magma three miles away indicating Batur and Agung are connected

Activity at the volcano sparked fears it would violently erupt and cause devastation akin to the 1963 event that saw 1,600 people lose their lives. The event more than 50 years ago was almost immediately followed by a smaller eruption by its neighbour to the north-west

HOW CAN RESEARCHERS PREDICT VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS? According to Eric Dunham, an associate professor of Stanford University's School of Earth, energy and Environmental Sciences, 'Volcanoes are complicated and there is currently no universally applicable means of predicting eruption. In all likelihood, there never will be.' However, there are indicators of increased volcanic activity, which researchers can use to help predict volcanic eruptions. Researchers can track indicators such as: Volcanic infrasound : When the lava lake rises up in the crater of an open vent volcano, a sign of a potential eruption, the pitch or frequency of the sounds generated by the magma tends to increase.

: When the lava lake rises up in the crater of an open vent volcano, a sign of a potential eruption, the pitch or frequency of the sounds generated by the magma tends to increase. Seismic activity : Ahead of an eruption, seismic activity in the form of small earthquakes and tremors almost always increases as magma moves through the volcano's 'plumbing system'.

: Ahead of an eruption, seismic activity in the form of small earthquakes and tremors almost always increases as magma moves through the volcano's 'plumbing system'. Gas emissions : As magma nears the surface and pressure decreases, gases escape. Sulfur dioxide is one of the main components of volcanic gases, and increasing amounts of it are a sign of increasing amounts of magma near the surface of a volcano.

: As magma nears the surface and pressure decreases, gases escape. Sulfur dioxide is one of the main components of volcanic gases, and increasing amounts of it are a sign of increasing amounts of magma near the surface of a volcano. Ground deformation : Changes to a volcano's ground surface (volcano deformation) appear as swelling, sinking, or cracking, which can be caused by magma, gas, or other fluids (usually water) moving underground or by movements in the Earth's crust due to motion along fault lines. Swelling of a volcano cans signal that magma has accumulated near the surface. Source: United States Geological Survey Advertisement

Authorities issued a warning to residents in November 2017 and forced more than 100,000 people to evacuate their homes.

This was after a spike in the number of small earthquakes around the volcano was detected two months before its main eruption.

Activity at the volcano sparked fears it would violently erupt and cause devastation akin to the 1963 event that saw more than 1,600 people lose their lives.

The eruption of 1963 was among the deadliest volcanic eruptions of the 20th Century, so scientists ceased the opportunity to monitor and understand its re-awakening.

The event more than 50 years ago was almost immediately followed by a smaller eruption by its neighbour to the north-west, fuelling speculation the two volcanoes were connected.

Experts now believe to have found the first 'geophysical evidence' that this is true.

Dr Juliet Biggs, who led the satellite study, added: 'From remote sensing, we are able to map out any ground motion, which may be an indicator that fresh magma is moving beneath the volcano.'

The full findings were published in the journal Nature Communications,Software pirates have hijacked technology designed by Apple to distribute hacked versions of Spotify, Angry Birds, Pokemon Go, Minecraft and other popular apps on iPhones, Reuters has found.

Illicit software distributors such as TutuApp, Panda Helper, AppValley and TweakBox have found ways to use digital certificates to get access to a program Apple introduced to let corporations distribute business apps to their employees without going through Apple's tightly controlled App Store.

Using so-called enterprise developer certificates, these pirate operations are providing modified versions of popular apps to consumers.

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Software pirates have hijacked technology designed by Apple to distribute hacked versions of Spotify, Angry Birds, Pokemon Go, Minecraft and other popular apps on iPhones

WHAT IS APPLE'S ENTERPRISE CERTIFICATE SYSTEM? Apple's enterprise certificate allows companies to test iPhone apps without going through the company's typical app review process. Often, companies use Apple's Developer Enterprise Program to distribute apps internally before making them available to the public. Developers will use it to test beta versions of apps, as well as host employee management apps. The enterprise certificate system recently came to light when a report discovered Facebook and Google were taking advantage of it to distribute shady 'research' apps that paid teens to track their smartphone usage. Apple has been gradually cracking down on abuse of its enterprise certificates. Advertisement

This enables them to stream music without ads and to circumvent fees and rules in games, depriving Apple and legitimate app makers of revenue.

By doing so, the pirate app distributors are violating the rules of Apple's developer programs, which only allow apps to be distributed to the general public through the App Store.

Downloading modified versions violates the terms of service of almost all major apps.

TutuApp, Panda Helper, AppValley and TweakBox did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Apple has no way of tracking the real-time distribution of these certificates, or the spread of improperly modified apps on its phones, but it can cancel the certificates if it finds misuse.

'Developers that abuse our enterprise certificates are in violation of the Apple Developer Enterprise Program Agreement and will have their certificates terminated, and if appropriate, they will be removed from our Developer Program completely,' an Apple spokesperson told Reuters.

'We are continuously evaluating the cases of misuse and are prepared to take immediate action.'

After Reuters initially contacted Apple for comment last week, some of the pirates were banned from the system, but within days they were using different certificates and were operational again.

'Theres nothing stopping these companies from doing this again from another team, another developer account,' said Amine Hambaba, head of security at software firm Shape Security.

Illicit software distributors such as TutuApp, Panda Helper, AppValley and TweakBox have found ways to exploit Apple's enterprise certificate program to host fake versions of apps

Panda Helper, another software pirating service, offers hacked versions of Spotify, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Instagram and other popular iPhone apps, violating Apple's App Store rules

Apple confirmed a media report on Wednesday that it would require two-factor authentication - using a code sent to a phone as well as a password - to log into all developer accounts by the end of this month, which could help prevent certificate misuse.

Major app makers Spotify Technology, Rovio and Niantic have begun to fight back.

Spotify declined to comment on the matter of modified apps, but the streaming music provider did say earlier this month that its new terms of service would crack down on users who are 'creating or distributing tools designed to block advertisements' on its service.

Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds mobile games, said it actively works with partners to address infringement 'for the benefit of both our player community and Rovio as a business.'

Niantic, which makes Pokemon Go, said players who use pirated apps that enable cheating on its game are regularly banned for violating its terms of service.

Microsoft, which owns the creative building game Minecraft, declined to comment.

It is unclear how much revenue the pirate distributors are siphoning away from Apple and legitimate app makers.

TutuApp offers a free version of Minecraft, which costs $6.99 in Apple's App Store.

WHY DID FACEBOOK'S RESEARCH APP GET BANNED BY APPLE? Facebook has been forced to kill off a controversial app after it admitted to paying young people to install the 'social media research' app which monitors their web activity, according to reports. The social media giant, which has been harangued for privacy breaches in recent months, recruited people aged from 13-35 to download the app on their devices. Apple decided to ban the app, formerly known as Onavo VPN, from the app store because it violated its data collection policies. But according to an investigation by TechCrunch, Facebook has sidestepped the App Store and paying users up to $20 a month, plus referral fees. Facebook has admitted to paying young people to install a 'social media research' app which monitors their web activity, according to reports. Apple banned the app, formerly known as Onavo VPN, from the app store because it violated its data collection policies Facebook later told TechCrunch it would shut down the iOS version of its Research app in the wake of the report - but that the Android version will continue. An Apple spokesperson told TechCrunch: 'We designed our Enterprise Developer Program solely for the internal distribution of apps within an organization,' said a spokesperson. 'Facebook has been using their membership to distribute a data-collecting app to consumers, which is a clear breach of their agreement with Apple. 'Any developer using their enterprise certificates to distribute apps to consumers will have their certificates revoked, which is what we did in this case to protect our users and their data.' App Store rules stipulate that apps 'should not collect information about which other apps are installed on a user's device,' according to Guardian Mobile Firewall's security expert Will Strafach. Advertisement

AppValley offers a version of Spotify's free streaming music service with the advertisements stripped away.

The distributors make money by charging $13 or more per year for subscriptions to what they calls 'VIP' versions of their services, which they say are more stable than the free versions.

It is impossible to know how many users buy such subscriptions, but the pirate distributors combined have more than 600,000 followers on Twitter.

Security researchers have long warned about the misuse of enterprise developer certificates, which act as digital keys that tell an iPhone a piece of software downloaded from the internet can be trusted and opened.

They are the centerpiece of Apple's program for corporate apps and enable consumers to install apps onto iPhones without Apple's knowledge.

Apple last month briefly banned Facebook and Google from using enterprise certificates after they used them to distribute data-gathering apps to consumers.

The distributors of pirated apps seen by Reuters are using certificates obtained in the name of legitimate businesses, although it is unclear how.

Several pirates have impersonated a subsidiary of China Mobile Ltd. China Mobile did not respond to requests for comment.

Tech news website TechCrunch earlier this week reported that certificate abuse also enabled the distribution of apps for pornography and gambling, both of which are banned from the App Store.

Since the App Store debuted in 2008, Apple has sought to portray the iPhone as safer than rival Android devices because Apple reviews and approves all apps distributed to the devices.

Early on, hackers 'jailbroke' iPhones by modifying their software to evade Apple's controls, but that process voided the iPhone's warranty and scared off many casual users.

The misuse of the enterprise certificates seen by Reuters does not rely on jailbreaking and can be used on unmodified iPhones.Conservationists have captured a rare look at an elusive ocelot in the Arizona wild.

Stunning footage from remote sensor cameras in the southwest United States shows multiple views of a wild cat nicknamed Lil Jefe as he sips from a creek and passively takes in his surroundings.

The footage comes at what experts say is a critical point in ocelot conservation; the striking felines have long been subject to poaching and habitat loss, and now face mounting threats from plans for a border wall between the US and Mexico.

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According to the researchers, these wild animals are exceedingly rare, and only five individuals have been verified in Arizona since 2009. The new video is said to be the first-ever trail cam footage of a Arizona ocelot to be released to the public

WHAT IS AN OCELOT? Ocelots are best known for their distinctive markings. These wild cats boast a mix of spots, stripes, and 'dark rosettes.' They're medium-sized cats, but can tackle prey larger than their own body and are known to be expert climbers and swimmers. They're found in tropical and subtropical regions of North and South America. Ocelots have faced numerous threats since the 20th century, largely due to poaching and habitat loss. Though they've seen recovery thanks to their protection under the Endangered Species Act, experts say they remain at risk. Advertisement

Conservation CATAlyst released the incredible footage on Sunday.

According to the researchers, these wild animals are exceedingly rare, and only five individuals have been verified in Arizona since 2009.

These cats can be found in tropical and subtropical regions of North and South America, with Arizona being the northernmost territory in their range.

Captured by remote sensor cameras just north of the U.S.-Mexico border, this extraordinary footage provides a rare glimpse of one of North Americas most mysterious wild felines, Conservation CATalyst said.

These invaluable videos document a wild ocelot (affectionately referred to as Lil Jefe  the boss-elot) acquiring all the necessary resources he needs to survive and thrive in Arizona, and they are vital for northern ocelot recovery.

This is the first ever publicly released trail camera video of an Arizona ocelot, and it comes at a critical point in this cats conservation.

Sonoran ocelots faced severe population threats during the mid-20th century, when they were commonly hunted for their unique pelts and captured for the exotic pet trade.

Efforts in the 1970s and 80s led them to be protected under the Endangered Species Act, and the wild cats population has since bounced back in many areas.

But, conservationists say theyre not yet in the clear, as habitat destruction from industrial mining and highway activities continues to threaten their survival.

Stunning footage from remote sensor cameras in the southwest United States shows multiple views of a wild cat nicknamed Lil Jefe as he sips from a creek and passively takes in his surroundings

Despite legal protections, the cats still face risks from poachers; a single ocelot coat can sell for more than $40,000.

And, a planned border wall dividing the US and Mexico would run right through their habitat, in what could be a critical blow to their conservation.

According to Conservation CATalyst, mounting border-related disturbances and barriers, including the U.S/Mexico border wall, are now among their top direct threats.In an interview with NPR, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he will investigate the usage of an app available in the company's App Store that tracks and restricts the travel of women in Saudi Arabia.

The app, called Absher, which is also available in the Google Play Store, allows male Saudi citizens to list 'dependents' using a name and passport number, granting that guardian the ability to both track a woman's movement, and limit where they can go and how long they can stay in any one place.

Absher users are then given an alert if any of the parameters set within the app are broken allowing a guardian to interdict.

In an interview with NPR , Apple CEO, Tim Cook, said he will investigate the usage of an app available in the company's App Store that tracks and restricts the travel of women in Saudi Arabia. File photo

WHAT IS ABSHER? Absher allows male Saudi citizens to list 'dependents' using a name and passport number. This grants that person the ability to track a woman's movement, and limit where they can go and how long they can stay in any one place. According to Absher's description in the App Store and Google Play, it allows users to 'safely browse your profile or your family members, or [laborers] working for you, and perform a wide range of eServices online.' Absher users are given an alert if any of the parameters set within the app are broken allowing a guardian to interdict. Advertisement

While Cook said he wasn't aware of the existence of the app, he told NPR that Apple would investigate the matter.

Awareness surrounding the existence of Absher has led to calls from both human rights groups and politicians to remove it entirely from the app store.

Among the critics is Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon.

'...American companies should not enable or facilitate the Saudi government's patriarchy," said Wyden in an open letter.

'By permitting the app in your respective stores, your companies are making it easier for Saudi men to control their family members from the convenience of their smartphones and restrict their movement.'

In Saudi Arabia, on top of severe restrictions on where and when women are allowed to travel, they must also receive the permission of a male guardian when they get married and when they take a job with a private company.

The country's treatment of women in particular has attracted the attention of human rights groups including Human Rights Watch, a nonprofit and nongovernmental watchdog organization.

According to a February blog post, numerous escape attempts from women in Saudi Arabia have been documented by the group throughout the years.

According to the Interior Ministry, Absher platforms for businesses and individuals has over 11 million users. File photo

Though some were successful, other efforts have been felled by governments with unwelcoming asylum laws.

'While many women fleeing Saudi Arabia expect to face difficulties on their journey, particularly attempts by Saudi authorities to interdict and return them against their will,' states the post.

'They do not expect supposedly safe countries with developed asylum systems to stop and return them back over suspicions they will make an asylum claim.'Cloman allegedly told the officer that he came to the firehouse to wash his uniform. He was brought into police custody for questioning and was later found to have keys to fire houses all over the city, as well as a wallet that did not belong to him and a chainsaw that had recently been stolen from a fire truck, police said.The U.S. military wants to expand its use of artificial intelligence in warfare, but says it will take care to deploy the technology in accordance with the nation's values.

In a 17-page report, the Pentagon laid out how it plans to inject artificial intelligence into future military operations and how it will keep up with Russia and China's advancements in the futuristic technology.

The report, titled 'Harnessing AI to Advance Our Security and Prosperity,' marks the first time the Pentagon has developed strategies around how it will respond to the rise of artificial intelligence.

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In a new report, the Pentagon laid out how it plans to inject AI into future weaponry and how it will keep up with Russia and China's advancements in the futuristic technology

The Pentagon defines AI in its report as the ability of machines to perform tasks that typically require human oversight, like detecting patterns or 'learning from experience.'

'AI is poised to transform every industry, and is expected to impact every corner of the Department, spanning operations, training, sustainment, force protection, recruiting, healthcare, and many others,' the DoD said in the report.

'With the application of AI to defense, we have an opportunity to improve support for and protection of U.S. service members, safeguard our citizens, defend our allies and partners, and improve the affordability and speed of our operations.'

The plan calls for accelerating the use of AI systems throughout the military, from intelligence-gathering operations to predicting maintenance problems in planes or ships.

It urges the U.S. to advance such technology swiftly before other countries chip away at its technological advantage.

'Other nations, particularly China and Russia, are making significant investments in AI for military purposes, including in applications that raise questions regarding international norms and human rights,' the report says.

The report makes little mention of autonomous weapons but cites an existing 2012 military directive that requires humans to be in control.

The U.S. and Russia are among a handful of nations that have blocked efforts at the United Nations for an international ban on 'killer robots' - fully autonomous weapons systems that could one day conduct war without human intervention.

The plan calls for accelerating the use of AI systems throughout the military, from intelligence-gathering operations to predicting maintenance problems in planes or ships

The U.S. has argued that it's premature to try to regulate them.

The strategy unveiled by the Department of Defense this week is focused on more immediate applications, but even some of those have sparked ethical debates.

The Pentagon hit a roadblock in its AI efforts last year after internal protests at Google led the tech company to drop out of Project Maven, which uses algorithms to interpret aerial video images from conflict zones.

Other companies have sought to fill the vacuum, and the Pentagon is working with AI experts from industry and academia to establish ethical guidelines for its AI applications.

'Everything we've seen is with a human decision-maker in the loop,' said Todd Probert, a vice president at Raytheon's intelligence division, which is working with the Pentagon on Maven and other projects.

'It's using technology to help speed up the process but not supplant the command structure that's in place.'

The Pentagon's report follows President Donald Trump's Monday executive order prioritizing AI research across the government.Apple has pulled illegal lottery apps from its App Store in China amid tightening regulation and a barrage of criticism from state media.

According to state media, the company has recently removed around 25,000 apps from its Chinese store in an effort to cooperate the regime.

Apple confirmed it has recently removed gambling apps from its store, but did not confirm the number of apps or a timeline for the removals.

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Apple has pulled illegal lottery apps from its App Store in China amid tightening regulation and a barrage of criticism from state media. The company has recently removed around 25,000 apps from its Chinese store, according to state media (stock)

'We have already removed many apps and developers for trying to distribute illegal gambling apps on our App Store, and we are vigilant in our efforts to find these and stop them from being on the App Store,' Apple said in a statement.

State broadcaster CCTV criticised the U.S. company's management on Sunday for allowing gambling apps, which are banned in China.

It's the second time the broadcaster has targeted the firm in the past month over the apps.

Official media has also recently criticised the company's iMessage service in China, saying the company's refusal to monitor communications is a hindrance to authorities.

Last year Apple began removing hundreds of virtual private network (VPN) apps on request from regulators. The apps help users bypass China's Great Firewall and access foreign social media and news, which are largely banned in China (stock image)

Last year Apple began removing hundreds of virtual private network (VPN) apps on request from regulators.

The apps help users bypass China's Great Firewall and access foreign social media and news, which are largely banned in China.

App stores run by other companies, including Baidu and Tencent, are also required to remove banned foreign content and gambling apps.

Apple's App Store is the only major foreign-run app platform in China, where competitors - including Alphabet Inc's Google Play store - are banned.

Apple has been subject to increasingly strict rules regarding its content in China amid a wider effort by regulators to create a 'clean' cyberspace, which includes enhanced censorship policies.

Earlier this year the company moved cryptographic keys for its iCloud service to China under new legal requirements, raising human rights fears as the country is introducing increasingly strict digital surveillance measures.China has been planning to build the world's longest undersea railway tunnel that would link the mainland and Taiwan, with scientists close to confirming its design.

At 135 kilometres (84 miles), the proposed Taiwan Strait Tunnel would be more than three times the length of the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France, which is currently the world's longest undersea rail tunnel.

The billion-pound project aims to take high-speed trains through the Taiwan Strait at up to 250km/h (155mph) by 2030, according to South China Morning Post.

However, despite the latest technological progress, political tensions between Taiwan and Beijing - which regards the self-ruled island as a part of its territory - mean construction is unlikely to start any time soon, the report said.

A Fuxing bullet train runs on the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway. China has been planning to build an undersea railway tunnel that would link the mainland and Taiwan

Pingtan Island is physically China's closest spot to Taiwan and is the chosen starting point of the multi-billion-yuan project. The idea of building the tunnel was first proposed in 1996

The idea of building a tunnel under the Taiwan Strait has been around since 1996, when it was first proposed by Tsinghua University professor Wu Zhiming following a visit to the Channel Tunnel, which is 37.9km (23.5 miles) long.

The ambitious project achieved new prominence in 2016, when Beijing included a cross-strait high-speed rail network in its then-new five-year plan.

According to the plan, the train will travel from Fuzhou province's Pingtan county and arrive in Hsinchu city, south-west of Taipei in 32 minutes. The regions lie on the opposite sides of the Taiwan Strait.

The tunnel's design, completed last year with funding from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, has the growing support of both Chinas research community and tunnelling industry, several senior civil engineering experts told South China Morning Post.

The idea of building a tunnel under the Taiwan Strait was inspired by the Channel Tunnel

The train would travel from Fuzhou province's Pingtan county and arrive in Hsinchu city, south-west of Taipei in 32 minutes. The regions lie on the opposite sides of the Taiwan Strait

Some researchers reportedly said it was possible that Beijing would start to work on the project in a unilateral, and largely symbolic move.

The railway's layout consists of a complex of three individual tunnels. Two main passages would be used by trains running in opposite directions. In between them would be a smaller service tunnel that would contain power lines, communication cables and emergency exits, according to the report.

The breadth of its main tunnels would be nearly a third larger than those of the Channel Tunnel, allowing trains to travel faster and carry bulkier cargos. Trains are restricted to operate at a speed of 160km/h (99mph) in the Channel Tunnel.

The particular sea area in the Taiwan Strait, with a comparatively stable geological structure and shallower water, is not situated in the region prone to strong earthquakes, thus making it suitable for tunnel construction, according to a previous report by China Daily.

The shuttle train will return to the surface in Hsinchu (pictured), a coastal city near Taipei

At the same time, a 12-billion-yuan (1.3 billion) 'warm-up' project - the Pingtan-Fuqing passageway in Fuzhou - is currently under assessment. Once realised, the road tunnel could reportedly 'pave the way' for the official launch of the mega cross-strait construction.

The shorter tunnel, running more than 11 kilometres (6.8 miles) under the seabed, would be located in roughly the same area as the rail tunnel, according to the report.

According to SCMP, a research team has been at work off the coast of Pingtan conducting geological mapping, drilling for rock samples, running computer simulations and analysing the potential environmental risks and impact of a large-scale tunnelling project.

More than six decades after Taiwan's split from China, Beijing has remained adamant to unify Taiwan with the mainland, stepping up diplomatic and military pressure on the self-governing neighbour under the 'One China policy'.

However, under the rule of pro-independence President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan still sees itself as a sovereign country, prompting experts to say that the strait tunnel is likely to remain as a 'one-sided move' from Beijing.Theresa May hit back at Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell last night after he refused to apologise for calling Winston Churchill a villain.

The Prime Minister, who has a portrait of Churchill on the wall of her study, hailed Britains wartime PM for his leadership and determination. She argued his unwavering personality had inspired our country through our darkest hour.

Mr McDonnell had branded Sir Winston a villain on Wednesday night and blamed him for sending troops to deal with rioting Welsh miners in Tonypandy in 1910 when he was home secretary. Mr McDonnell appeared to argue that the incident eclipsed Churchills World War II heroics in saving Britain  and Europe  from Nazism.

John McDonnell had branded Sir Winston a villain on Wednesday night and blamed him for sending troops to deal with rioting Welsh miners in Tonypandy in 1910 when he was home secretary. Theresa May (pictured) hit back at Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell last night after he refused to apologise for calling Winston Churchill a villain

Yesterday, not only did he fail to apologise, but he also insisted that he was just being honest and that Churchill was not someone working-class families in Britain looked up to even after the last war.

He also said there were other incidents in his history which damaged Churchills reputation.

The only attempt to soften his criticism  which sparked a furious backlash in Westminster  was to describe the comment as a bit tongue in cheek, and to add that he had been a hero during World War II.

Responding yesterday morning, Mrs Mays official spokesman issued a lengthy defence of Churchill.

Yesterday, not only did Mr McDonnell fail to apologise, but he also insisted that he was just being honest and that Churchill was not someone working-class families in Britain looked up to even after the last war

He said: The British public will reach its own judgment on this characterisation of Sir Winston Churchill. In 2002, he came first in a public poll of the 100 greatest Britons. The Prime Minister has quoted and referenced Sir Winston Churchill on many occasions and acknowledged him as one of the great prime ministers of the 20th century.

She has a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill hung on the wall of her study in Number 10. His strong leadership, determination and unwavering personality inspired our country through our darkest hour and helped Britain protect those values of peace and freedom that we hold so dear today.

Boris Johnson  the former foreign secretary and the author of a book about Churchill  urged Mr McDonnell to withdraw the remarks. He said: Winston Churchill saved this country and the whole of Europe from a barbaric fascist and racist tyranny and our debt to him is incalculable. If John McDonnell had the slightest knowledge of history he would be aware that Churchill also had an extraordinary record as a social reformer who cared deeply for working people and their lives. [He] should be utterly ashamed of his remarks and withdraw them forthwith.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock wrote on Twitter: Churchill was one of the greatest ever to have lived. Courageous, compassionate and principled. Flawed too, but human enough to admit it. Saved our country, to boot. To say he was a villain says more of the smallness of the speaker than the great man.

Labour MPs also criticised the comments. Backbencher Gavin Shuker said: I dont think Winston Churchill is a villain. Quite grateful he was in charge when he was.

Backsliding, Mr McDonnell told ITV that Churchill was obviously a hero during World War II.

But theres another side to Churchill in our history. Which is the side in which many working-class people at the time and well into the Forties and Fifties were angry about his behaviour. He sent the troops into Tonypandy to shoot the miners. A miner died, others were injured. It was to break a strike. In many ways for working-class families he was not someone they looked up to as a result of his actions as Home Secretary.

And Derby MP Chris Williamson, a close ally of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, said he agreed with Mr McDonnell, adding: It was people like my mum and dad that won the war, not Winston Churchill.

Other MPs pointed to a tribute from Labours Clement Attlee, who served in Churchills wartime cabinet and followed him as Prime Minister. After Churchill died, Attlee told Parliament: We have lost the greatest Englishman of our time  I think the greatest citizen of the world of our time.For many people, the name Tonypandy means little, except perhaps when applied to the late Viscount Tonypandy, a much-loved Speaker of the House of Commons in the Seventies and Eighties.

However, for socialist rabble rousers such as Labours Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, the name of this former coal-mining town is seared as deeply into their memories as Orgreave, Wapping and other places where violent militancy was dealt a bloody nose by the forces of law and order.

According to Left-wing mythology, Tonypandy was the scene of the shameful and brutal suppression of a coal-miners strike and rioting in November 1910, with the insurrection finally quelled by the then home secretary  none other than Winston Churchill  who sent in the Army to crush the disturbance.

According to Left-wing mythology, Tonypandy was the scene of the shameful and brutal suppression of a coal-miners strike and rioting in November 1910, with the insurrection finally quelled by the then home secretary  none other than Winston Churchill  who sent in the Army to crush the disturbance. A scene from the incident is pictured

If you listened to McDonnell this week, you might start to believe that the way Churchill and the British Army behaved at Tonypandy outweighed their courage decades later in liberating Europe from tyranny.

Yesterday, when justifying calling Churchill a villain, McDonnell told ITV News: He sent the troops into Tonypandy to shoot the miners, and a miner died. Others were injured. It was to break a strike.

Later in the interview, McDonnell repeated his claim that the troops killed a miner: Tonypandy was a disgrace, sending the troops in, killing a miner trying to break a strike.

McDonnell added that if his comment prompted a more rounded debate about Churchills role, well, I welcome that.

As a historian, I would certainly welcome a more rounded debate about Winston Churchill  or indeed any historical figure.

No serious historian would ever claim that Churchill was without flaws, some of which were very large indeed. And yet McDonnells egregious misrepresentation of the events that took place in Tonypandy are so shocking that they cannot go unchallenged.

The truth is almost the complete opposite of what the Shadow Chancellor claims.

The problem is that hard-Leftists such as McDonnell and his acolytes  who predictably attacked Churchill on Twitter yesterday  are utterly wedded to the Marxist narrative that the murderous forces of capitalism crush the workers into poverty and early graves.

Any presentation of facts that may conflict with their blinkered worldview will simply be dismissed as Right-wing lies.

So what exactly are the facts? What did happen in South Wales back in November 1910, and why do the events in a small town a long time ago still resonate so deeply for the Left?

The roots of the story lie in the summer of that year, when a dispute between miners and management broke out at a colliery near Tonypandy over rates of pay.

On September 1, the owners locked out nearly 1,000 pitmen after a disagreement over the rate at which coal was to be extracted from a newly created seam. This was despite the fact that the dispute involved only 70 workers. This resulted in the 12,000 miners who worked for the local mining cartel  called the Cambrian Combine  going on strike on November 1 in support. Matters soon turned ugly  and then violent.

Striking and picketing miners tried to stop the enginemen and stokers from ensuring that the pits did not fill up with water and poisonous gas.

In most instances, the miners were successful in turning the workers away, but some, such as David Deere, a winding engineer at the Clydach Vale pit, were determined to get through.

On Monday November 7, he tested his luck.

I went on, and soon had a crowd of hundreds round me and could get no further, he told Daily Mails Special Correspondent. It was one man against 1,000.

I turned to one side towards High Street and at once I was off my feet. For 50 yards I never touched the ground. They were striking me and pushing me against the wall. At last I got into a doorway and a brave woman, Mrs Duveen, let me into her house.

For the next two hours, Deere stayed inside, fearing for his life. Throughout the rest of the day, the miners paraded around the town, and cared little for the fact that hundreds of ponies had been left in the pits without food or water, and with dangerous gases building up.

It was by that night that local officials were fearing the situation would turn worse, with one informing the Mail that he hoped some troops that had been requested from the Home Office would turn up.

The officials hopes were in vain, because although Winston Churchill had dispatched two squadrons of the 18th Hussars to Cardiff from Marlborough, they had still not arrived, and  despite the claims of John McDonnell  the home secretary was extremely reluctant to use them.

They were not to arrive in Cardiff until 6.30pm the following evening. The Chief Constable of Glamorganshire, Captain Lindsay, was desperate for troops, and asked the Home Office for the Hussars to come as soon as possible.

Churchills reply was to dismay him, and was to be lambasted as vacillation by an editorial in this very paper.

You may give the miners a message from me, Churchill cabled. Their best friends [the Government] are greatly distressed at the trouble which has broken out, and will do their best to help them get fair treatment.

After calling for a cessation of rioting, Churchill continued: Confiding in the good sense of the Cambrian Combine workmen, we are holding back the soldiers for the present and sending police instead. In other words, he was showing precisely the kind of restraint that John McDonnell says was shockingly absent.

Tuesday, November 8 would prove to be fateful. With a limited local police force, and with Churchill hesitating about sending in the troops, the miners had the town to themselves.

As a force of 270 London policeman were not to arrive until around 10 oclock that night, they were too late to stop much of Tonypandy being laid waste by a marauding mob, who smashed and looted nearly every shop and tried to light several fires.

It was estimated that they caused some 30,000 worth of damage  the equivalent of some 12 million today. Yet there was no mention of that in the avalanche of Left-wing condemnation of Churchill yesterday.

The then home secretary Winston Churchill (pictured) sent in Army to crush disturbance

When the police finally did arrive, several baton charges were made against the rioters, and around 120 of the local men were injured. One of them, Samuel Rhys, received a blow to the head which fractured his skull.

He would die a few days later, and would be the only fatality in the riots.

His sad fate is of course completely contradictory to the claim made by McDonnell on TV yesterday: he would have us believe that Rhys had been shot by the Army. Yet as we have seen, the Army was still on its way to Cardiff when Rhys was injured, and his skull fracture was clearly the result of a blow rather than a bullet.

The baton charges were led by the Chief Constable, Captain Lindsay, who was injured, along with six other policemen. The fact that at least one miner was seen carrying a double-barrelled shotgun is a testament to the bravery of the police.

It would not be until the small hours of the Wednesday morning that the Hussars were finally ordered in and, even then, they did not arrive until around 8am.

Photographs from the time show smart lines of mounted cavalry trotting incongruously through the streets of the mining town as though they have been dispatched directly from the Napoleonic wars.

Their presence would immediately quell the rioting, and for the next few days, they effectively occupied the area.

Labours Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, told ITV News: He sent the troops into Tonypandy to shoot the miners, and a miner died. Others were injured. It was to break a strike.

Although that made good sense in terms of security and safety, Churchill well knew there would be a political cost. He was understandably keen to avoid the impression that the government was trying to settle an industrial dispute by force.

In the Commons, Churchill expressed his dislike at having to use the troops, even though they thankfully caused no deaths.

Law and order must be preserved, he said, but I am confident that the House will agree with me that it is a great object of public policy to avoid a collision between soldiers and crowds of persons engaged in industrial disputes. For soldiers to fire on the people would be a catastrophe in our national life.

Ultimately, Churchill would always regret sending in the Hussars. He did his best not to, and even regarded the miners as his friends, but politically, the move backfired, and he would be loathed by some quarters in South Wales  and on the Left  for decades to come.

But the notion, as propagated by John McDonnell, that Churchill willingly sent in the troops to shoot people is just bad history. Churchill was no villain.The families of two other Bethnal Green Academy schoolgirls who ran away to become Islamic State jihadi brides begged them to come home yesterday.

The father of Sharmeena Begum  the first teenager from the East London school to flee to Syria  urged the British Government to forgive her.

Begum, who loved watching EastEnders and wanted to be a doctor, vanished in December 2014 at the age of 15. Two months later she was joined in Raqqa, the self-styled capital of the Islamic State, by her best friends Kadiza Sultana, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum.

Last night Sharmeenas father Mohammad Uddin said the girls should be forgiven because they were radicalised and brainwashed. A local imam disagreed, saying they were a danger to the community.

The families of the 'Jihadi brides' from Bethnal Green have said that their daughters should be forgiven and allowed back home

Mr Uddin, a restaurant worker, said: They should all be allowed to come home. When they went to Syria they were not mature and they had been radicalised.

They were not able to form their own opinions because they had been brainwashed. They went when they were very young and its not a big deal if they realise what they did is wrong. We should forgive them.

If they do the wrong thing and then realise that was totally wrong then they should be forgiven. If my daughter could come home and say forgive me, I would forgive her, obviously.

Abases father Hussen claimed that his daughter fled to Syria on a humanitarian mission after seeing images of civilians starving on the internet. He urged the Government to let her and the others back in to the country, insisting: They are no threat to us.

Mr Abase, 52, a security guard who came to Britain as a refugee from Ethiopia in 1999, said: The girls should be allowed to come back. When they left the country they were teenagers. They [British officials] have to understand that.

The families of Amira Abase and Shamima Begum had previously appealed for the young girls to return home

She is a naturally generous person. She saw in the media and on the internet [that] people over there are starving and I think she wanted to go and help. I have had no contact with her since she left. Its been very hard on my family  I have a wife and two other children, aged 13 and 17. They all miss her. It was just a mistake that the girls left their families to go to a place like that.

Shamima Begum, the third surviving Bethnal Green schoolgirl, who is pregnant with her third child, was tracked down by The Times to a refugee camp in northern Syria. Her family echoed the words of Mr Uddin and Mr Abase and pleaded with the Government to allow her to return to the UK.

Abase Hussen, 52, the father of Amira Abase, (left today) welcomed news that his daughter and her friend Shamima Begum (right) are alive ans said that they should come back to Britain if then can

Her sister Renu told ITV News: Shes pregnant and vulnerable, and its important we get her out of al-Hawl camp and home as soon as possible. We hope the British Government will help us bring her home to us where she belongs. This news has come to us as a shock. Tasnime Akunjee, the familys lawyer, added: The family do not want to comment, they are trying to process it at the moment.

Mr Akunjee said he was not sure if Begums family are considering whether they would take custody of her child if it was removed from her care on her return to the UK.

Thats something they would have to work out for themselves, he said. My role with the family is trying to bring Shamima back.

Bethnal Green runaway Amira Abase (left in September) used a pictured of a woman in a full veil clutching a knife on her Twitter page, which has been shut down

When asked if Shamima could be prosecuted, he said: The question would be has she committed any offences? It depends on the evidence there is of her activities.

These girls were children that were groomed and once someone is out there it is difficult to try to come back... sometimes it can be lethal.

Mr Uddin issued an emotional plea to his daughter, saying: All I want is for you to come home. I last heard from Sharmeena two or three months ago.

She sent me a WhatsApp message. She said: Im okay, how are you? But by the time I saw the message I couldnt contact her back, the number wasnt going through. I think she [sent messages] from internet cafes. She hasnt told me she wants to come home or anything, just a few messages.

Mr Abase, 53, says the families of the 'Bethnal Green three' have been badly treated

The family of Sultana, who is believed to have been killed by a Russian airstrike on Raqqa in 2016, did not want to comment.

East London community leaders warned against letting the girls return. Moulana Malik, the imam at the Baitul Aman mosque and cultural centre in Bethnal Green, said: For the peace of the country we think that for all types of criminal people we dont want them to come back into the community or at large.

They are a danger. They think bad things  their views are not in line with the peace of the community. We think the girls were brainwashed. Online and here as well, some people may have communicated bad thoughts to them. They are a danger for the community.

Mr Abase himself came under fire after it emerged that he had been part of a flag-burning mob outside the US embassy in London in 2012.

Also at the rally were hate cleric Anjem Choudary and Michael Adebowale, one of the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby. Mr Abase admitted going to two further rallies, with his impressionable daughter in tow.

The mother of the white British Islamic convert known as Jihadi Jack joined the calls for Shamima Begum to be allowed back into Britain. Sally Letts, 55, said at her Oxford home: Of course she should be allowed back. She was a child, she was groomed and abused and now they want to judge her as an adult!

Jack Letts, 22, went to IS territory and was captured two years ago by Kurdish fighters. He is awaiting trial in northern Syria.

Letts denies joining the terror group and his parents deny three charges of financially aiding terrorism. They are due to go on trial at the Old Bailey in May. They allege Letts went to the region for religious and humanitarian reasons.Donald Trump has claimed the 30 foot border wall will be harder to scale than Mount Everest - which stands at nearly 30,000 ft.

The President made the claim during a speech Wednesday to a conference of the Major County Sheriffs and Major Cities Chiefs Association.

He said the wall is 'very, very on its way' and says people will have to be in extremely good physical shape to scale it. He said migrants trying to cross illegally 'would be able to climb Mount Everest a lot easier'.

Trump told the gathered law enforcement officials in Washington: 'This wall is very, very on its way. It's happening as we speak. We're building as we speak in the most desperately needed areas.

'It's a big wall. It's a strong wall, and it's a wall that people aren't going through very easy. They're gonna have to be in extremely good shape to get over this one. They would be able to climb Mount Everest a lot easier I think.'

Scroll down for video.

Donald Trump has claimed the 30 foot border wall will be harder to scale than Mount Everest

Members of the caravan of Central American migrants climb the border wall in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, in November last year. Trump made the claim during a speech Wednesday to a conference of the Major County Sheriffs and Major Cities Chiefs Association

Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world and more than 200 people have died trying to climb it. The estimated height for some proposed barriers runs as high as 30 feet.

As of this week, the military had installed about 105 miles of wire barriers along the border, and plans to put in another 140 miles of concertina wire.

The bulk of that will be in California and Arizona, in locations between ports of entry that are identified by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as vulnerable.

The White House announced Thursday that Trump will sign a bipartisan spending deal but will declare a 'national emergency' in an effort to procure funds to build a border wall.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders in a statement: 'President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before he will also take other executive action - including a national emergency - to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border. The President is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country.'

It drew both statements of relief from lawmakers who wanted to avoid another government shutdown but also a threat from Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the emergency declaration.

Trump speaks at the Major County Sheriffs and Major Cities Chiefs Association Joint Conference in Washington. The White House has said the president will sign a spending bill to avoid another shutdown but will declare border emergency too

Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world and stands at 29,000 ft

The Senate adopted the legislative package by a vote of 83-16 minutes after the White House announced its support. The House was to follow suit Thursday night.

But Pelosi, even while touting the package as the product of compromise, bristled at Trump's stated move to get around strict funding limits it included, namely $1.4 billion for border fencing.

Following the 35-day shutdown, Trump allowed a bipartisan group of lawmakers from both parties to negotiate a compromise. Pulling away from it could once again tag Trump with producing a shutdown.

The agreement provides $1.4 billion for border fencing, but not the $5.7 Trump demanded for wall construction. Trump has been tweaking his rhetoric as the deal approached. His Tuesday rally at the Texas border city of El Paso had banners that said 'finish the wall,' and Trump says repeatedly that it is already being built.Just a few weeks ago I stood in Hell Square in the centre of Raqqa, the former capital of Islamic State in Syria, listening to harrowing tales of death and devastation amid razed buildings.

It was cold and I took refuge in a juice bar to talk to young men who told me of the horrors they witnessed under the rule of IS  and which earned this place its name.

Mass executions and numerous beheadings, with the heads of Syrian fighters impaled on a makeshift fence.

An elderly man crosses a mud-covered street near the Al-Naim square, in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa on February 14. Larisa Brown stood in the former capital of Islamic State in Syria , listening to harrowing tales of death and devastation amid razed buildings

A woman walks past a street vendor and a destroyed building in the Syrian city of Raqqa. Mass executions and numerous beheadings took place in the city

I was reminded of a speech Theresa May made in January 2017 in Philadelphia  nine months before Raqqa fell  when she tried to rewrite the British doctrine that defined the Blair years.

The days of failed liberal intervention in the affairs of other nations were over, the Prime Minister announced to a standing ovation from US Republican leaders.

Fast-forward two years and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson couldnt be more gung-ho on future UK military capability. Britain must be prepared to take military action against countries that flout international law or it would risk being seen as a paper tiger, he said this week.

There is little doubt that Mr Williamson was emboldened by events unfolding many thousands of miles away.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson (pictured) couldnt be more gung-ho on future UK military capability, says Larisa Brown

Aided by British and US firepower, Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Defence Force are on the cusp of victory against IS.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Levants sprawling caliphate, which once covered more than 60,000 square miles in Syria and Iraq, is now squeezed into less than one square mile in the Syrian desert.

There, a few hundred jihadists waged some of the fiercest fighting of the war this week, knowing the end is near.

An attempt to negotiate safe passage has failed, and theyre pounded by coalition airstrikes. Yet still they fight back with small arms fire and suicide attacks. It is futile. The extremist Islamic state they dreamed of will be gone in days.

So as the coalition scales down its air campaign and the US starts to pull its troops from Syria, what are we leaving?

Ask any military chief if the battle is won and the answer is a resounding No.

Major General Christopher Ghika, Britains top commander against IS, says it is forming worldwide sleeper cells and ramping up online propaganda to convert others to their murderous creed.

It is not over, he said simply.

Weve come a long way since July 4, 2014, when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi stood in the Grand Mosque in Mosul (pictured in January) and declared a caliphate, an Islamic state

Make no mistake, weve come a long way since July 4, 2014, when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi stood in the Grand Mosque in Mosul and declared a caliphate, an Islamic state. What followed was a rapid accumulation of territory in Iraq and Syria; slick propaganda videos including those showing Jihadi John  the Briton Mohammed Emwazi  beheading Western hostages; a flood of foreign fighters and supporters, such as four schoolgirls from East London; and the emergence of IS as a disciplined force with sophisticated weaponry.

Its success sent shockwaves around the world as its brutality spread to inspire attacks in Paris, London and Manchester, causing the deaths of scores of civilians.

At its peak from 2014 to 2015, IS ruled a territory the size of Britain with a population of eight million. It was thought to have almost half as many soldiers as the British Army. A staggering 900 Britons were lured to Syria and Iraq by the promise of an Islamic state.

On the north-east bank of the Euphrates, IS established an external operations cell in Raqqa  a unit dedicated to exporting terror abroad using the internet and social media.

Al-Naeem Square has been unofficially renamed by locals  its translation of Paradise Square has become Hell Square thanks to all the punishments and executions held there. Prisoners were lashed or thrown from buildings, beheaded, or shot while crowds were forced to watch.

Female fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) gather during a celebration at the iconic Al-Naim square in Raqa on October 19, 2017, after retaking the city from Islamic State

For a time, it seemed almost impossible to imagine how IS would be overcome. It took four and a half years, numerous militias and a coalition of more than 60 countries to get here. The human cost has been enormous, with more than 20,000 civilians thought to have been killed.

IS may have lost its territory, but the ideology has not been defeated. As Patrick McGuinness, the UKs former deputy national security adviser, said in 2017, Britain wont be safe unless IS is wiped from the internet by the tech giants.

British spies and soldiers have hacked into the IS propaganda machine, and the RAF has targeted media factories where extremists recruit jihadists online. But the military can only do so much.

With Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and encrypted apps such as WhatsApp, inciting terror could hardly be easier. Theyve lost their territory, but theyre everywhere, a security source says.

Spy agencies fear IS cells are morphing into a group with Al-Qaeda in nations such as Mali to plot attacks in Europe.

Meanwhile, the surviving British terrorists who went to fight for the caliphate are languishing in Syrian jails or have fled to Libya, Afghanistan or other regions.

The caliphate has been vanquished, but the enemy is by no means defeated.A female teacher who allegedly groomed a 15-year-old schoolboy and sent him explicit selfies has been charged with child sex offences.

The teacher had been 'sexting' one of her pupils at her school in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, police were told on Wednesday.

She was arrested at a home in Wyee at 11pm on Thursday and taken into police custody.

A female teacher who allegedly who groomed a 15-year-old schoolboy and sent him explicit selfies has been charged

She has been charged with groom child for unlawful activity, aggravated indecent assault  victim under the age of 16 and three counts of aggravated sexually touch another person.

The woman has been refused bail to appear in Toronto Local Court on Friday.Shamima Begum is among the estimated 900 Britons who travelled from the UK to join the murderous Islamic State - and now she wants to come back and have her baby on the NHS.

Terrifyingly, as their caliphate crumbles, at least 260 of them are still unaccounted for including dozens of jihadi brides.

The biggest nightmare for the security services is trying to keep tabs on battle-hardened maniacs.

Some 180 with UK passports were killed on the battlefield either by allied warplanes or in fighting on the ground.

An estimated 450 of them are believed to have returned to Britain, where they are kept under as close scrutiny as the security services can manage.

Only a handful have been prosecuted, mainly because of a lack of evidence about what they did to support ISIS' murderous regime.

Here we profile some of the more notorious Britons who went to Syria after the caliphate sprang up in 2014 - and their fates:

DEAD

Mohammed Emwazi/Jihadi John

DEAD: Mohammed Emwazi (picture above) , brandishes a knife in this still file image from a 2014 video

A barbaric killer who horrified the world when he starred in videos beheading orange-clad British and American hostages. Nicknamed Jihadi John, Emwazi was the most notorious member of the British IS gang known as the Beatles who murdered 27 people. Kuwaiti-born Emwazi, 27, who grew up in west London, was finally obliterated in a US drone strike in November 2015.

Reyaad Khan

DEAD: Reyaad Khan (pictured above), a British citizen who died fighting for Islamic State

The former student from Cardiff appeared in a chilling IS propaganda video smiling, clutching an AK-47 assault rifle and urging terror attacks on the UK. David Cameron ordered an RAF drone strike that killed Khan, 21, and fellow jihadi Ruhul Amin, 26, from Aberdeen, in August 2015. Mr Cameron told the Commons: My first duty as prime minister is to keep the British people safe.

Sally Jones

DEAD: 'White Widow' Sally Jones (pictured above) was killed by a drone, according to the CIA

Travelled to Syria in 2013, aged 44, with her son Jojo, nine, who was forced to participate in IS propaganda videos. She recruited jihadis by boasting: You Christians all need beheading with a nice blunt knife... Come here, Ill do it for you. She and her son are believed to have been killed in a 2017 drone strike. Jones, from Chatham, Kent, married Briton Junaid Hussain also recruited by IS  who died in a drone strike in 2015.

STILL IN SYRIA

El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey

Alexanda Amon Kotey, left, and El Shafee Elsheikh (rigth), who were allegedly among four British jihadis who made up a brutal Islamic State cell dubbed "The Beatles

Two members of the Beatles, they were captured in northern Syria in January 2018 and are being held by Kurdish forces. Elsheik, 30, is a mechanic whose family fled to the UK from Sudan in the 1990s. Kotey, 34, converted to Islam as a teenager. Both have been stripped of their British citizenship and are seeking to exploit the legal uncertainty about their future. The fourth supposed Beatle, Aine Davis, 35, has been jailed in Turkey.

Jack Letts

Jack Letts (pictured above), dubbed Jihadi Jack, was reportedly the first white British man to join Islamic State

Nicknamed Jihadi Jack, the British-Canadian went to Syria in 2014. Captured by the Kurdish-led YPG, he has been in prison in Syria for the past 20 months. Letts, 23, converted to Islam while at comprehensive school in Oxford.

Muhammad Saqib Raza

Muhammad Saqib Raza (pictured above) - 40-year-old NHS doctor from Leicester

The 40-year-old NHS surgeon from Leicester was captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces in January 2018 attempting to smuggle himself out the country. He was accused of trying to radicalise colleagues at NHS hospitals before he travelled to Syria in 2016. He told the SDF that he was not an IS fighter but worked as a medic in areas under the groups control. He has pleaded with British authorities to repatriate him to face trial in the UK.

Ashraf Islam

Ashraf Islam (pictured above) previously said he had travelled to Syria in 2015 to help refugees

British-born Islam, 22, has been held for a year by Kurdish forces. He told ITV News that he travelled to Syria in 2015 to help the Syrian people, eventually making it to Raqqa. He claimed he later lost heart and surrendered.

Anwar Miah

Mohammed Anwar Miah (pictured above), British foreign fighter from Birmingham with Islamic State

Birmingham pharmacist was captured by Kurdish forces near Hajin, eastern Syria, last September. A video showed Miah, 40, blindfolded claiming he was a doctor and pharmacist. He said he had been in Syria for just under four years and claimed he had been working in hospitals since he arrived.

BACK IN THE UK

Imran Khawaja

Imran Khawaja, a British jihadi nicknamed "Barbie" who fled a Syrian training camp because he had "had enough" of conditions there

Former nightclub doorman, 31, from Southall, west London, was jailed for 12 years in 2015 after posing with severed heads in Syria. After finding out he had gone there, his mother begged him to come home, saying: When are you going to grow up?

Mustafa Abdullah

Mustafa Abdullah was sentenced to four and a half years in prison

He was jailed for four-and-a-half years in December 2015, but is now out of prison. After he returned from Syria, police found pictures of him posing with firearms. Abdullah, 37, told the Old Bailey: I love guns. I cannot explain it. They look nice.

Mounir Rarmoul-Bouhadjar

Mounir Rarmoul-Bouhadjar (pictured above) wearing a striped top and a beanie hat

He met a Syrian bomb-maker on the border with Turkey, then returned to UK where he was arrested in possession of a bomb manual. Rarmoul-Bouhadjar, 30, was jailed for three years in 2014.

Mohommod and Hamza Nawaz

Mohommod Nawaz (left) and Hamza Nawaz (right) were jailed for conspiring to attend a terrorist training camp in Syria

Brothers Mohommod, 35, and Hamza, 29, attended terror training camp in Syria in 2013. After their return, both were jailed in 2014 but are now free.

Mashudur Choudhury

The 31-year-old man from Portsmouth who planned to travel to Syria to carry out acts of terrorism

The 34-year-old from Portsmouth was jailed for four years in 2014 after returning from the conflict zone.CCPS has also made an effort to publicize the Safe Schools Maryland tipline, which allows people to make tips to law enforcement and schools admins anonymously if they wish and allows officials to reach back out to the tipster for more information or clarification if needed. Reports can be made 24/7 at www.safeschoolsmd.org or by calling 1-833-MD-B-SAFE.Seven Pillars of Wisdom is the autobiographical account of the experiences of British soldier T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"), while serving as a liaison officer with rebel forces during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turks of 1916 to 1918.

It was completed in February 1922, but first published in December 1926. [1]

Title [ edit ]

The title comes from the Book of Proverbs [2] (Proverbs 9:1): "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars" (King James Version). [3] Prior to the First World War, Lawrence had begun work on a scholarly book about seven great cities of the Middle East, [4] to be titled Seven Pillars of Wisdom. When war broke out, it was still incomplete and Lawrence stated that he ultimately destroyed the manuscript although he remained keen on using his original title Seven Pillars of Wisdom for his later work. The book had to be rewritten three times, once following the loss of the manuscript on a train at Reading. From Seven Pillars, "...and then lost all but the Introduction and drafts of Books 9 and 10 at Reading Station, while changing trains. This was about Christmas, 1919." (p. 21)

"The Seven Pillars" rock formation in "The Seven Pillars" rock formation in Wadi Rum

Seven Pillars of Wisdom is an autobiographical account of his experiences during the Arab Revolt of 191618, when Lawrence was based in Wadi Rum (now a part of Jordan) as a member of the British Forces of North Africa. With the support of Emir Faisal and his tribesmen, he helped organise and carry out attacks on the Ottoman forces from Aqaba in the south to Damascus in the north. Many sites inside the Wadi Rum area have been named after Lawrence to attract tourists, although there is little or no evidence connecting him to any of these places, including the rock formations near the entrance now known as "The Seven Pillars". [5]

Speculation surrounds the book's dedication, a poem written by Lawrence and edited by Robert Graves, concerning whether it is to an individual or to the whole Arab race. It begins, "To S.A.", possibly meaning Selim Ahmed, a young Arab boy from Syria of whom Lawrence was very fond. Ahmed died, probably from typhus, aged 19, a few weeks before the offensive to liberate Damascus. Lawrence received the news of his death some days before he entered Damascus. [citation needed ]

I loved you, so I drew these tides of

Men into my hands

And wrote my will across the

Sky in stars

To earn you freedom, the seven

Pillared worthy house,

That your eyes might be

Shining for me

When I came



Death seemed my servant on the

Road, 'til we were near

And saw you waiting:

When you smiled and in sorrowful

Envy he outran me

And took you apart:

Into his quietness



Love, the way-weary, groped to your body,

Our brief wage

Ours for the moment

Before Earth's soft hand explored your shape

And the blind

Worms grew fat upon

Your substance



Men prayed me that I set our work,

The inviolate house,

As a memory of you

But for fit monument I shattered it,

Unfinished: and now

The little things creep out to patch

Themselves hovels

In the marred shadow

Of your gift.



A variant last line of that first stanzareading, "When we came"appears in some editions; however, the 1922 Oxford text (considered the definitive version; see below) has "When I came". The poem originated as prose, submitted by letter to Graves, who edited the work heavily into its current form, rewriting an entire stanza and correcting the others. [citation needed ]

Manuscripts and editions [ edit ]

Some Englishmen, of whom Kitchener was chief, believed that a rebellion of Arabs against Turks would enable England, while fighting Germany, simultaneously to defeat Turkey.

Their knowledge of the nature and power and country of the Arabic-speaking peoples made them think that the issue of such a rebellion would be happy: and indicated its character and method.

So they allowed it to begin...  Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Introduction

Lawrence kept extensive notes throughout the course of his involvement in the Revolt. He began work on a clean narrative in the first half of 1919 while in Paris for the Peace Conference and, later that summer, while back in Egypt. By December 1919, he had a fair draft of most of the ten books that make up the Seven Pillars of Wisdom but lost it (except for the introduction and final two books) when he misplaced his briefcase while changing trains at Reading railway station. [6] [7] National newspapers alerted the public to the loss of the "hero's manuscript", but to no avail; the draft remained lost. Lawrence refers to this version as "Text I" and says that had it been published, it would have been some 250,000 words in length.

In early 1920, Lawrence set about the daunting task of rewriting as much as he could remember of the first version. Working from memory alone (he had destroyed many of his wartime notes upon completion of the corresponding parts of Text I), he was able to complete this "Text II", 400,000 words long, in three months. Lawrence described this version as "hopelessly bad" in literary terms, but historically it was "substantially complete and accurate". This manuscript, titled by Lawrence "The Arab Revolt," is held by the Harry Ransom Center with a letter from Lawrence's brother authenticating it as the earliest surviving manuscript of what would become Seven Pillars of Wisdom. [8]

With Text II in front of him, Lawrence began working on a polished version ("Text III") in London, Jeddah, and Amman during 1921. Lawrence completed this text comprising 335,000 words in February 1922.

To eliminate any risk of losing the manuscript again, and to have copies that he could show privately to critics, he considered having the book typed out. However, he discovered that it would be cheaper to get the text typeset and printed on a proofing press at the Oxford Times printing works. Just eight copies were produced, of which six survive. In bibliographical terms the result was the first "edition" of Seven Pillars (because the text was reproduced on a printing press). In legal terms, however, these substitutes for a typescript were not "published". Lawrence retained ownership of all the copies and chose who was allowed to read them. The proof-printing became known as the "Oxford Text" of Seven Pillars. As a text it is unsatisfactory because Lawrence could not afford to have the proof corrected. It therefore contains innumerable transcription errors, and in places lines and even whole paragraphs are missing. He made corrections by hand in five of the copies and had them bound. [9] (In 2001, the last time one of these rough printings came on to the market, it fetched almost US$1 million at auction.) Instead of burning the manuscript, Lawrence presented it to the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

By mid-1922, Lawrence was in a state of severe mental turmoil: the psychological after-effects of war were taking their toll, as were his exhaustion from the literary endeavours of the past three years, his disillusionment with the settlement given to his Arab comrades-in-arms, and the burdens of being in the public eye as a perceived "national hero". It was at this time that he re-enlisted in the armed forces under an assumed name, for the most part in the Royal Air Force, as described in his book The Mint with the byline "by 352087 A/c Ross", with a period in the Royal Tank Corps as "Private Shaw". Concerned over his mental state and eager for his story to be read by a wider public, his friends persuaded him to produce an abridged version of Seven Pillars, to serve as both intellectual stimulation and a source of much-needed income. In his off-duty evenings, he set to trimming the 1922 text down to 250,000 words for a subscribers' edition.

The Subscribers' Edition  in a limited print run of about 200 copies, each with a unique, sumptuous, hand-crafted binding  was published in late 1926, with the subtitle A Triumph. It was printed in London by Roy Manning Pike and Herbert John Hodgson, with illustrations by Eric Kennington, Augustus John, Paul Nash, Blair Hughes-Stanton and his wife Gertrude Hermes. Copies occasionally become available in the antiquarian trade and can easily command prices of up to US$100,000. Unfortunately, each copy cost Lawrence three times the thirty guineas the subscribers had paid. [10]

The Subscribers' Edition was 25% shorter than the Oxford Text, but Lawrence did not abridge uniformly. The deletions from the early books are much less drastic than those of the later ones: for example, Book I lost 17% of its words and Book IV lost 21%, compared to 50% and 32% for Books VIII and IX. Critics differed in their opinions of the two editions: Robert Graves, E. M. Forster and George Bernard Shaw preferred the 1922 text (although, from a legal standpoint, they appreciated the removal of certain passages that could have been considered libellous, or at least indiscreet), while Edward Garnett preferred the 1926 version.

Literary merits aside, however, producing the Subscribers' Edition had left Lawrence facing bankruptcy. He was forced to undertake an even more stringent pruning to produce a version for sale to the general public: this was the 1927 Revolt in the Desert, a work of some 130,000 words: "an abridgement of an abridgement," remarked George Bernard Shaw, not without disdain. Nevertheless, it received wide acclaim by the public and critics alike, the vast majority of whom had never seen or read the unabridged Subscribers' Edition.

After the 1926 release of the Subscribers' Edition, Lawrence stated that no further issue of Seven Pillars would be made during his lifetime. Lawrence was killed in a motorcycle accident in May 1935, at the age of 46, and within weeks of his death, the 1926 abridgement was published for general circulation. The unabridged Oxford Text of 1922 was not published until 1997, when it appeared as a "best text" edited by Jeremy Wilson from the manuscript in the Bodleian Library and Lawrence's amended copy of the 1922 proof printing. Wilson made some further minor amendments in a new edition published in 2003.Jan Karbaat died in April 2017 aged 89

A Dutch court has given a group of 22 people the right to find out by DNA test if they were fathered by a fertility doctor who switched his own sperm for donors.

Jan Karbaat, who died in April 2017 aged 89, is feared to have fathered up to 200 children while working at the Karbaat's Blijdorp medical centre in Barendrecht, south of Rotterdam.

A court ruled on Wednesday that DNA tests can be undertaken after it was determined there is sufficient evidence to suggest Karabat used his own sperm without declaring it.

The court case began in 2017 when 22 children born after their parents underwent treatment at the centre applied for legal help in resolving their true heritage.

But Karabat died a month before legal proceedings were due to begin, and his relatives fought bitterly against the DNA tests on privacy grounds.

Parents and donor children react after the ruling in the case in which they demanded that the DNA of sperm doctor Jan Karbaat be compared with their DNA

The judge felt at that stage there was insufficient evidence to allow the tests.

His DNA was, however, collected from personal items such as a toothbrush, and secured under the court's orders.

Since then, there have been significant DNA links between Karabat and a child born at the clinic.

And on Wednesday this week the courts ruled that the interests of his possible children outweighed his immediate family's privacy concerns.

'If he did [use his own sperm], without announcing it at the time, his widow and other heirs cannot claim that the doctor's anonymity should be respected,' the judge said.Three people have appeared in court charged with assault after a McDonald's employee was 'locked in a cupboard' and other staff were assaulted.

Simon Robert Miller, 43, a man, aged 20, and a boy, aged 17, had been 'drinking heavily' before they went into the McDonald's in Boston, Lincolnshire on August 7 last year.

The two younger males put Zac MacDonnell in a cupboard, stole his glasses and goaded him about his sexuality, Boston Magistrates Court heard.

Three people have appeared in court charged with assault after a McDonald's employee was 'locked in a cupboard' and other staff were assaulted. Pictured the McDonald's in Queen Street, Boston where the incident happened

The two males attacked Nathan Whittemore after he had asked them to leave the premises.

The group left and then Miller came back in and punched Nathan Whittemore and the youth punched Mr McDonnell.

The 17-year-old also assaulted Oakleigh Weekes.

During the incident one of the youths took a metal strip from the door and used it to cause damage to a window and a wall, before assaulting a staff member.

Following his arrest, Miller said he had only got involved to stop the other two defendants but admitted he did slap Mr Whittemore, in self defence, the Rutland & Stamford Mercury reported.

The incident was described as 'shocking and terrible behaviour' by magistrates.

Miller, of Sleaford Lincolnshire, admitted assault by beating Nathan Whittemore.

The 20-year-old admitted assault by beating plus threatening behaviour with intent to cause people to believe immediate violence would be used against them.

The 17-year-old admitted assaulting Mr Whittemore as well as Oakleigh Weekes and Mr McDonnell by beating.

The boy also admitted threatening behaviour and criminal damage to an external window and an internal wall at McDonald's during the incident.

Prosecuting, Ruth Snodin said the two young men attacked Mr Whittemore after he had asked them to leave the premises.

She said damage was caused to the restaurant by the youth, who damaged a window and a wall.

She added after the group left the restaurant, Miller returned and punched Mr Whittemore and the youth came back in and punched Mr McDonnell.

Martin Newton, mitigating for the two unnamed men, said the incident was 'something out of character' for both.

He said all three had been drinking and 'clearly became the worse for wear'.

He said the two younger ones put each other into the cupboard before putting Mr MacDonnell inside it.

He also explained 'a number of punches were thrown' and that after things had died down, the youth took a metal strip from the door and used it to cause damage to a window and a wall.

Stuart Wilde, mitigating for Simon Miller said he 'had a clash with Mr Whittemore'.

'He came late to the party,' he said 'and at most one punch was thrown.'

The court heard the younger two males apologies to McDonald's about their behaviour.

Simon Miller was fined 378 with 122 in costs and charges.

The 20-year-old was fined 416 with 126 in costs and charges and he was ordered to pay 100 compensation to Mr Whittemore.

The youth's offending 'passed the custody threshold' and he will be sentenced at the Youth Court on March 12.A former truck driver who allegedly raped a teenage girl in 1997 could be responsible to killing three other women in Ohio and Illinois.

Samuel Legg III, 49, was indicted Thursday in Mahoning County on aggravated murder and other charges for the slaying of a 43-year-old Sharon Kedzierski. Her body had been discovered at a truck stop outside Youngstown in 1992.

He was identified after more than 20 years after advances in DNA testing identified him through familial DNA testing. Legg was also tied to the murders of three women at truck stops in Ohio and Illinois, although he has not been charged.

Legg pleaded not guilty earlier Thursday in Medina County to two rape counts for the sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl.

Former truck driver Samuel Legg (pictured), who allegedly raped a teenage girl in 1997, could be responsible for killing four other women in Ohio and Illinois

According to the state Attorney Generals office, a DNA sample that linked Legg to the 1997 sexual assault matched with four other unsolved homicides, one of them Kedzierskis.

Prosecutors used DNA testing to locate Legg, who is from Arizona, for the 1997 rape.

The victim, now 40, told authorities that she hitched a lift from her then home in Lexington, Ohio, to visit her boyfriend in Cleveland.

She had accepted a ride from Legg at a gas station at the U.S. Route 224 exchange in Westfield Township on Interstate 71.

Officials claimed that Legg was a truck driver who drove for a company in Hinckley and worked independently, The Medina Gazette reported.

Lexington police requested a rape kit at a Mansfield hospital and they subsequently turned it over to the Medina County Sheriffs Office.

Medina County Prosecutor S. Forrest Thompson said the prosecutors office decided the evidence was not strong enough to bring charges against him in November 1997.

Even though the rape case was never prosecuted, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said Wednesday that the suspect's DNA stayed in a DNA Index System 'until our technology made a partial hit.'

Analysts subsequently retrieved a DNA sample from an unknown man in one of the unrelated homicides.

They discovered that it was genetically linked to the rape kit in Medina County.

Legg was indicted Thursday in Mahoning County on aggravated murder and other charges for the slaying of a 43-year-old Sharon Kedzierski (pictured)

'(The familial match is) not as definitive as a full DNA workup, but its a very useful tool in trying to identify an unknown suspect. Yost said. 'We have a large DNA network with lots and lots of people in it.'

Thompson and Sheriffs Detective Kevin Ross later flew to Arizona to collect a blood sample, which identified Legg as the rape suspect.

Thompson submitted the evidence to a grand jury, which indicted Legg on two counts of rape in January.

He has also been linked to two homicides in Ohio and one in Illinois, but indictments on those separate cases have not been obtained.

According to the Chronicle-Telegram, Yost said Legg was identified as a suspect in three other homicides at a press conference on Wednesday at the sheriffs office.

He declined to give details as to where the bodies were found, other than to say that two are in Ohio.

'None of the homicides are here in Medina County,' Thompson said. 'I can only tell you all the victims were female, all were found at truck stops and all were left in completely or partially naked states.

'Every law enforcement (agency) on the (Interstate) 71 corridor is taking a hard look at this. As of Friday, other jurisdictions are looking at it.'

They said the murders were carried out in nineties two prior to the alleged rape and one afterwards. Ohio is one of 12 states that use familial DNA in criminal cases.A man armed with a knife has been shot and killed by police at a downtown train station during the morning rush hour on Thursday, Los Angeles police said.

Officers responded to one of the station's platforms just before 7am Pacific after getting a call from officers with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority about a man with a knife, LAPD Officer Drake Madison said.

'They attempted to deescalate, it didn't work and unfortunately an officer-involved shooting occurred,' Madison said.

The man, who has not been named at this time but was reported to have been 'in his 30s or 40s' according to KABC, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A man armed with a knife was shot and killed by police at the 7th Street/Metro Center train station during the morning rush hour at 6.55am Pacific on Thursday, Los Angeles police said. A file photo of the Metro Red Line in Los Angeles from August 22, 2016 is shown

Madison didn't immediately have more details on what threat the man was posing and whether one or more officers fired their weapons.

Shortly after 12pm Pacific, LAPD tweeted: 'UPDATE: At approx 6:55 a.m. LAPD officers were advised by MTA security officers of a male Hispanic with a knife on the upper platform at the 7th/Metro Center train station. Officers responded and attempted to de-escalate the situation with suspect who was armed with the knife.

'One officer deployed a less-lethal option which was ineffective and an Officer-Involved Shooting occurred. The suspect was struck by gunfire and was pronounced deceased at scene. The knife was recovered at scene.'

Officers responded to one of the station's platforms just before 7am Pacific after getting a call from officers with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority about a man with a knife, LAPD Officer Drake Madison said. Time stamps on this tweet are shown in Eastern time

LAPD Officers attempted to de-escalate the situation using a less-than-lethal option before the shooting, but were unsuccessful. Time stamps on this tweet are shown in Eastern time

The man, who has not been named at this time, was pronounced dead at the scene. The knife was recovered at the scene and no others were injured in the incident. Time stamps on this tweet are shown in Eastern time

It's unclear how busy the platform was at the time of the shooting but the station is a major transportation portal located at Seventh and Figueroa streets in downtown Los Angeles, servicing the LA Metro's purple and red subway lines, blue and expo light rail lines, and 14 different bus routes.

'That's the first thing we were thinking of,' Madison said of the officers' mindset during the confrontation.

'On a work day at 6:52am, it's going to be pretty busy down there.

The platform where the shooting occurred takes people to and from Santa Monica, and across from that is the platform that goes to and from Long Beach.

Metro spokesperson Rick Jager said, 'It's very fortunate there were no other injuries involved,' but that he similarly didn't know exactly how many commuters were in the area at the time the incident occurred.

It's unclear how busy the platform was at the time of the shooting but the station is a major transportation portal located at Seventh and Figueroa Streets in downtown Los Angeles, servicing the LA Metro's purple and red subway lines, blue and expo light rail lines, and 14 different bus routes

He said he didn't know whether the man had been threatening passengers before Metro officers called police, but did say the officers had an altercation with him beforehand.

The last known officer-involved shooting at a Metro station was in March 2017, when LAPD officers heard gunshots at a station in Boyle Heights outside of downtown.

Police fatally shot Fred Barragan after they said he pulled a gun as he ran from officers, while his family maintained he had been unarmed.

The shooting sparked protests and led to a $475,000 settlement for Barragan's family.

In October 2016, a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy shot a man who had a knife in each hand and had charged at officers at a Santa Monica Metro station, police said at the time.

The man survived and he was charged with attempted murder.A woman has been killed after she was struck by a moped driven by suspected drug dealers who were being chased by police.

Lesley Bello Hernandez was walking along the road in Cambridge on the afternoon of Wednesday 13 February when she was involved in a collision with a vehicle.

The 67-year-old was treated by paramedics, but was declared dead at the scene on Arbury Road.

A 25-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking and possession with intent to supply drugs, and remains in custody.

Lesley Bello Hernandez (pictured above) died after being involved in a collision in Cambridge

Police at the scene in Cambridge (pictured above). The moped can be seen lying on the floor in the road

A 19-year-old woman was also arrested but has since been released under investigation.

Police had attempted to stop the moped shortly before the collision which happened at around 2.10pm on Wednesday, and have referred the case to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

Speaking today, Ms Bello Hernandez's son Jamie Bello Hernandez said: 'At the moment things are very raw.'

The 37-year-old said other family members had been abroad when the crash happened, and he did not want to comment further until they had spoken.

The collision, involving a moped and a pedestrian, happened shortly after 2pm in Cambridge

A spokesperson for the force said, police attempted to stop the moped shortly before the collision took place

He added: 'We will release a statement in due course.'

He asked for the family's privacy to be respected. Witnesses at the scene described seeing a large emergency services presence, with more than ten police cars and three ambulance vehicles.

One bystander said he saw a moped lying in the road, and paramedics trying to resuscitate a woman.

The road was closed while investigations took place and motorists were asked to avoid the area.

A East of England Ambulance Service spokesman said: 'Three ambulances, a rapid response vehicle and a critical care paramedic attended a serious road traffic accident on Arbury Road this afternoon.

'We treated three people at the scene.'

Anyone who has dash-cam footage of the collision or saw the incident is asked to report online at www.cambs.police.uk/report or call police on 101 quoting incident 232 of 13 February.

Tributes to Lesley have been flooding in on social media all day.

Writing on Facebook, Tony Langley said: 'Witchford Village College folk will remember Lesley. She was my first and best ever French teacher.'

Natalie Welton said: 'Absolutely devastating. An extremely lovely lady, who was a good friend to my family for a long time. Our love goes out to her family.'

Margaret Gooch Barker wrote: 'Deepest sympathy to Lesley's family. She lived on our estate and we knew her well when our children were young. So very sad.'Ohio University freshman Collin Wiant, 18, died on November 12 after a night of drinking at a house affiliated with the Sigma Pi Epsilon fraternity

The family of a college student who died at an Ohio University frat house is accusing the fraternity of directly causing their son's death after months of extensive 'physical and mental hazing'.

A lawsuit filed on Thursday in Athens County Court alleges that Collin Wiant, 18, was beaten with a belt, pelted with eggs, deprived of sleep, and forced to drink a gallon (3.8 liters) of alcohol in an hour, as part of his first year initiation.

He was also forced to consume a toxic cocktail of cocaine, marijuana, Adderall and Xanax, according to his parents, Kathleen and Wade Wiant.

The suit, seeking at least $25,000 in damages, names both the local chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity and the fraternity's Lebanon, Tennessee-based national office as the responsible parties.

It says the 18-year-old freshman from Dublin died on November 12, 2018, of asphyxiation due to the ingestion of nitrous-oxide provided to - and forced on - Wiant by members of the fraternity.

According to the suit, Wiant ominously told a friend that he knew he was going to be hazed by fraternity members on the night of his death.

Colin was rushed to OhioHealth O'Bleness Hospital in Athens where he was pronounced dead. His unconscious body had been found surrounded by nitrous-oxide cannisters (pictured: Owen poses with his sister, and his parents Kathleen and Wade, in 2018)

Colin, a freshman and recent pledge of Sigma Pi Epsilon was at 45 Mills St (above), an unofficial annex of the fraternity, when cops received a 911 call saying he 'drank a little too much' and was 'in and out' of consciousness'

'This is a very strong family,' the Wiant family attorney, Rex Elliot said to the Columbus Dispatch.

'Their objective is to make sure this doesn't happen to another family.'

On the fateful November night, Wiant spent the evening in a number of college bars with Sigma Pi members but wasn't intoxicated, according to the complaint.

He was then instructed to go to an apartment at 45 Mill Street, an extension of the fraternity's headquarters.

Less that three hours later, 911 dispatchers received a call from one of the frat members who told paramedics Wiant had 'drunk a little too much' and had been drifting in and out of consciousness for some time.

The 18-year-old's unconscious body was found surrounded by various drug paraphernalia, including nitrous-oxide canisters, known as 'hippy crack' or 'whippets'.

He was taken to the OhioHealth O'Bleness Hospital in Athens, where he was later pronounced dead.

The lawsuit, filed by his parents Kathleen and Wade, outlines months of hazing prior to their son's death, describing the unnecessary acts as physically, mentally and emotionally taxing on the teenager.

Allegations include belt whippings, deprivation of sleep, egg peltings and being forced to consume a toxic cocktail of cocaine, marijuana, Adderall and Xanax.

The Wiant family say their son was subjected to months of 'physical and mental' abuse that had an adverse effect on both his academic performance and mental health (pictured: Colin prepares to move into his college room in 2018)

Following the devastating incident, the university shut down the Sigma Pi Epsilon fraternity. (Wiant's funeral card pictured above)

The family also say their son was required to be 'on call' at all hours of the day for other Sigma Pi members, which contributed to an sharp decline in his academic performance and mental health.

The Sigma Pi fraternity was ordered to shut down immediately in the wake of Wiant's tragic death.

A longtime friend of the teenager described him as a friendly and popular boy.

'He was friends with everybody. And he could have been really mean to me, but he chose to be very nice. And he always was,' Haley Keller said to ABC.

She added that the fraternities on Mill Street, where Wiant was discovered, are notorious for their excessive partying and drinking.

Kathleen and Wade filed the suit in Athens County Court, naming the plaintiff as the estate of Collin Lewis Wiant - which they oversee

911 call prior to Collin Wiant's death Dispatcher: Athens City Police Caller: Hey, so I just got connected with your  um  so were at 45 Mill Street and one of my friends is just...I mean hes pretty unresp I think he drank a little too much tonight. Dispatcher: OK, is he responsive? Caller: Um he was, and then hes like kind of laid back and ... passed out. Dispatcher: OK, is he still breathing? Caller: Yes. Dispatcher: OK, Ill send them down that way. Caller: I mean he  Dispatcher: Is it there an apartment number? Caller: Um, its 45 Mill St. Well carry him out. Hes pretty in and out, so like Dispatcher: Well lets not carry him out yet. Its really cold outside and the squad takes a little bit, so lets just leave him there and Ill send a officer down and the squads headed that way too. Caller: All right, sounds good. Dispatcher: All right, thanks. Caller: All right, bye. Advertisement

Martha Compton, the director of the Office of Community Standards and Student Responsibility (CSSR), issued a cease and desist letter addressed to the fraternity chapter president.

In the letter she said the university 'has received information which alleges that [the fraternity] has engaged in conduct that puts the health and safety of [its] members at risk' and broke the student code of conduct.

CSSR also initiated an investigation into accusations that the fraternity engages in dangerous conduct.

'We are aware of the tragic passing of Collin Wiant this past November and we continue to extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends,' Sigma Pi National Fraternity said in a statement.

'To my knowledge, Sigma Pi International has not been served with a lawsuit involving Mr. Wiant, so we are not able to comment. If we are served with a lawsuit, our attorneys will review and determine the appropriate response.'

Jonathan Frost, Sigma Pi's executive director, declined to comment on the complaint.A California woman was miraculously pulled from the debris of her home after it slid 75 yards down a hill during a mudslide in Sausalito, California, on Thursday.

The mudslide dislodged the house sending it 'some distance' down a hill side before it slammed into another house, according to Southern Marin Fire Protection District Chief Chris Tubbs, as reported by NBC Bay Area.

The woman, who'd been sleeping at the time of the mudslide, was discovered by a rescue team who saw her hand poking through the wreckage.

The woman and her house slid down the hill side in Sausalito crashing into another home and destroying everything in its path

She was sleeping at the time when the house started to move down the hillside

The woman was rescued by emergency services and pulled from debris with miraculously only minor injuries

She was pinned within the debris of her home and covered from head to toe in mud.

The woman was taken to a hospital with only minor injuries, according to firefighters.

She is expected to make a full recovery.

At least fifty homes in the area needed to be evacuated after the hillside gave way.

Ariel footage shows the full extent of the devastation with more than 50 homes affected

Other homes in Sausalito were completely crushed by the strong weather that has been hitting the west coast of California

Captain Doug Paterson with the Southern Marin Fire Protection District told NBC the woman, who was screaming for help when rescuers found her, couldn't believe she had survived her ride down the hill.

'Based on what we saw and the condition of the home, we didn't think anybody would survive that,' Paterson said.

The mudslide destroyed at least two homes, with that number expected to rise, along with five vehicles.

Strong weather has been hitting the west coast of California due to an atmospheric river for the passed week, saturating hills and raising river levels.More than 300 people stood outside yesterday and parents took children out of class to join the protests

Parents protested against lessons on homosexuality and gender at Parkfield Community School, Birmingham

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More than 300 parents and children gathered outside of a primary school yesterday to protest against lessons on homosexuality and gender.

Some Muslim demonstrators said they would rather leave the UK than allow their children to continue attending Parkfield Community School in Birmingham.

Pupils were kept out of lessons for the first hour of the day. Some joined in with the chants and held placards reading: 'Education not indoctrination.' One child carried a handwritten sign which said: 'Let kids be kids.'

Children taught at the Birmingham school protest against its management who are running lessons about the issues of homosexuality and gender

Some Muslim demonstrators said they would rather leave the UK than allow their children to continue attending Parkfield Community School in Birmingham. Parkfield Community School has said it wants pupils to be 'accepting and to welcome anybody'

The school's childen have even joined the campaign against lessons on equality at the school (pictured at yesterday's protest)

Parents kept their children out of lessons for the first hour of the day yesterday handing them posters and placards

Police were called to the protest outside Parkfield Community School in the Saltley area of Birmingham

The school started its programme four years ago and says it should welcome people of any race, colour or religion and those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender

Parents said that the teaching on LGBT equality at the school is an exploitation of child innocence

Some of the protesters said they were not against homosexuality but accused the teacher of promoting 'personal beliefs'

Full text of leaflet handed out to parents outside Parkfield School 'Brothers and sisters, is it OK for your children to be gay? 'Are you aware of the resource being used in literacy lessons promoting homosexuality? 'Did you know Mr Moffat left his last role because parents believed he had no right coming out to children? They wanted all the lessons containing LGBT to be removed from curriculum. 'Did you know that our children are now being taught the very same thing? 'Have you asked what your children are being taught? What they are reading? 'Please join us in our petition to have the No Outsider removed from the curriculum. 'Please help us make a difference to what children are being taught.' Advertisement

The protest comes amid a campaign against lessons on equality at the school, with parents in the predominantly Muslim area saying they promote homosexuality. Christian evangelists joined them to protest yesterday in a show of solidarity.

Parents' anger is aimed at the school's assistant head Andrew Moffat, who is behind the 'No Outsiders' lessons. He created the scheme to teach children about the Equality Act and British values.

Pupils at the school  rated outstanding by Ofsted  have five of these lessons a year, covering areas outlined in the Act: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

The programme was first piloted at the school in 2014 and is now also taught at dozens of other schools in the country.

Mr Moffat, who is in a civil partnership, was made an MBE for services to equality and diversity in education in 2017. He is currently shortlisted for a 'world's best teacher' award.

He resigned from a previous teaching post at another school after a row with Christian parents over lessons challenging homophobia  and is now facing even more vocal complaints from parents at Parkfield, where 98 per cent of the 750 pupils are said to be from an Islamic background.

Organiser Amir Ahmed uses a loud speaker to address the crowd of more than 300 adults and children at the event

Parents' anger is aimed at the school's assistant head Andrew Moffat (pictured), who is behind the 'No Outsiders' lessons

Protester Mariam Ahmed, whose four-year-old daughter attends the school, has organised a petition against the No Outsiders project. She said she would consider taking her daughter out of school full-time if the lessons continued, claiming children were being affected 'emotionally and psychologically' [File photo]

Protester Mariam Ahmed, whose four-year-old daughter attends the school, has organised a petition against the No Outsiders project.

She said yesterday: 'What they are teaching is not right, they are too young. There are nine parts of the Act and they only seem to be focusing on one, homosexuality, and that is wrong. They need to have an ethos which reflects the area.

'It's not just because we are Muslims, there are Christians here too. We don't have a vendetta against homosexuals and we respect the Act. We respect that Mr Moffat is gay and we are happy for him to teach.'

She said she would consider taking her daughter out of school full-time if the lessons continued, claiming children were being affected 'emotionally and psychologically'.

One father, whose six-year-old daughter attends the school, said his wife wanted to leave the country rather than let her daughter attend the lessons.

The man, who did not want to be named, said: 'My daughter has been asking questions my wife did not know how to answer.

Parents and children demonstrate outside the Parkfield Community School in Birmingham

Some of the protesters at the school in Birmingham said Islam did not accept homosexuality

'She is too young for this. A family who live near me have already returned to Pakistan because of it.'

Some of the protesters said Islam did not accept homosexuality, while others said they were not against it but accused the teacher of promoting 'personal beliefs'.

Mr Moffat said he tried to meet parents but stopped when they became 'personal and aggressive'. He has described receiving threats from parents online. He told the BBC: 'I have felt very threatened ... it's been a challenging couple of weeks.

However, what keeps me going is the support from the school which is absolutely brilliant, Ofsted [and] the city council.'

Currently, Year Five children, aged nine and ten, are taught about puberty and reproduction. Many under-11s currently learn about relationships in Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) classes but this is not mandatory.

The Government is, however, bringing in new compulsory 'relationships' education which will include teaching tolerance of same sex couples and transgender people.

Parkfield Community School has said it wants pupils to be 'accepting and to welcome anybody'.

In a statement it said it was 'disappointed' by the protest but had 'no plans' to drop the 'successful' No Outsiders programme.Mary Boone's 15 minutes are up.

The famed New York art dealer who has represented almost every major American artist of the past 30 years will be spending the next 30 years behind bars a judge ruled on Thursday.

A colorful Boone, outfitted in a purple Marc Jacobs coat and a Roksanda Ilcinic mini-dress, appeared in a Manhattan federal courthouse to be sentenced in her tax fraud case after pleading guilty to hiding away profits from her gallery over the course of two years.

That move ultimately cost the US Treasury over $3 million, which Boone has been ordered to pay back. And once her years-long sentence is over, Boone will have to complete 180 hours of community service.

The gallerist made no comment about the proceedings as she exited court on Thursday afternoon after cloaking herself in a massive pink scarf, also by Marc Jacobs.

Boone has been dragged in and out of course multiple times over the past few yeas, and in addition to her fraud suit was also successfully sued by Alec Baldwin after duping the actor into buying a Ross Bleckner that she had commissioned from the artist and then sold as though it were from the original series.

The gallery owner, who shot to fame in the 80s, has also worked with David Salle, Jeff Koons, Richard Prince, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ai Weiwei.

From Koons to the clink: Mary Boone (above on Thursday) was sentenced to 30 years behind bars after hiding millions of dollars worth of profits made by hr eponymous gallery between 2009 and 2011

Cubist realism: The gallery owner, who shot to fame in the 80s, has worked with David Salle, Jeff Koons, Richard Prince, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ross Bleckner, Will Cotton (above in December with Boone) and Ai Weiwei

Performance art: In 2011, the gallery reported a loss of approximately $52,521, but in reality, the gallery made a profit of approximately $3.7 million (Boone above on Thursday)

Cold houlder: The gallerist made no comment about the proceedings as she exited court on Thursday afternoon after cloaking herself in a massive pink scarf, also by Marc Jacobs

Court filings in the case reveal that Boone engaged in a multi-year scheme to evade paying millions of dollars in federal income taxes for the calendar years 2009 through 2011.

During each of these years, Boone regularly provided false records to her accountant and thereby caused the accountant to prepare false tax returns for Boone and the Gallery.

In 2012, Boone caused her accountant to file false and fraudulent 2011 federal income tax returns for the Gallery and for Boone individually.

Boone caused the Gallerys 2011 partnership return to report a false business loss of approximately $52,521, whereas, in reality, the Gallery made a profit of approximately $3.7 million in 2011.

Boone perpetrated this tax fraud in part by using business funds to pay for over $1.6 million in personal expenses and then falsely claiming these personal expenses as business deductions.

Thius included approximately $800,000 in business checks to pay for the remodeling of Boone's Manhattan apartment, as well as approximately $120,000 more in business checks to pay for rent and other expenses for a second Manhattan apartment where Boone lived while the remodeling was underway.

In order to conceal the personal nature of these and other expenses, and thereby evade income taxes, Boone falsely characterized approximately $1.6 million in personal expenses as tax deductible business expenses in handwritten check registers that Boone provided to her accountant.

For example, Boone falsely characterized a $500,000 payment to a contractor for remodeling Boones apartment as 'commission.'Dr. Reginald Archibald abused hundreds of children between 1940 and 1982. He died in 2007, before his abuse became public

Rockefeller University Hospital has been accused of covering up abhorrent sexual abuse carried out by one of its doctors and storing the nude photographs he took of children after asking them to masturbate for him, claiming that he needed semen samples to predict how tall they would grow to be.

The allegations are laid bare In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Manhattan Federal Court by Jeffrey Poppel, a Florida-based lawyer who is one of Dr. Archibald's hundreds of victims. He agreed to be named on Thursday through his lawyers.

Poppel, now 54, alleges that the hospital not only ignored allegations against Dr. Reginald Archibald for years but held on to the images he took of child patients he was treating for decades.

Poppel fears the hospital still has a photograph of him that Archibald took in 1975 when he was 11 during his first visit. It shows him in the fetal position, struggling to masturbate because his arms were so short they could not reach his penis.

The hospital was made aware of allegations against Archibald in the 1990s and again in 2004 but did not take any action against him, instead claiming to have reported its findings to the Manhattan District Attorney to no avail.

Archibald died in 2007 without ever having been questioned or prosecuted. He stopped working at the hospital in 1982.

In 2018, the hospital contacted his victims for the first time about the abuse and admitted that it had found evidence of it when went back to the 1990s.

It did not, however, turn over the photographs.

Instead, it asked the victims to send any information they had to a law firm it had hired, without explaining why.

Poppel argues in his lawsuit that it was a move carried out in anticipation of the Child Victim's Act, a recently-passed New York law which banishes the statute of limitations that would ordinarily prevent historic sex abuse victims from seeking damages in civil court.

The hospital, it is alleged, wanted to get in front of any potential litigation by gathering information about the people who may file lawsuits.

Rockefeller University Hospital (pictured) is accused of storing the photographs Archibald took and not giving them to patients even years later

The letter went to more than 1,000 former patients and was also posted online.

It read: 'Our records indicate that some decades ago, you may have been a patient at the Rockefeller University Hospital and seen by Dr. Reginald Archibald.

'Based on reports from several former patients regarding Dr. Archibald's interactions with them, we are reaching out to as many of his patients as we can locate.

'If you have information you would like to share regarding your interactions with Dr. Archibald, please contact Helen at [phone number]...Thank you for your consideration.'

Poppel replied demanding to know what the university planned to do with his information and asking for his medical files including the photographs Archibald took.

He never heard back and was re-traumatized by the letter which reminded him of the abuse he'd suffered decades earlier, he said.

In a harrowing account of his first visit to the doctor in 1975, he told how Archibald told his mother that she was not allowed to sit in on the appointment.

Poppel, who lived in northern New Jersey at the time, had 'congenital deformities of the upper extremities'.

This is the letter the victims were sent in October last year, out of the blue, after decades of silence from the hospital. Poppel claims in his lawsuit it was a fishing expedition to gain information on potential plaintiffs in anticipation of a change in the law which has opened the hospital up to lawsuits

'[He was born with] short arms, club forearms, small hands, four fingers on each hand, no kneecaps and coloboma of the eyes,' the lawsuit reads.

The child was 'extremely short for his age' and was often bullied.

In 1975, his mother was referred to Archibald and the hospital and took him for his first appointment.

After being told a nurse would be present in the room, she let her son go with the doctor to be examined.

Archibald stopped working for the hospital in 1982. The first known reports of his abuse were in 1990 and the hospital investigated him again in 2004 but he was never arrested

However there was no nurse and when Poppel entered the 'dimly lit' exam room, Archibald locked the door and told him to disrobe.

He first took photographs of the boy standing naked against a wall with his palms turned out. Then, he told him he needed to measure his penis in both an erect and flacid state.

He claimed it would help him predict how tall the boy would grow up to be.

To arouse himself, he told the boy to masturbate but, because he was only 11, he did not understand.

Archibald told him to 'touch yourself the way you do at home or may do at home' to try to encourage him then said he needed a semen sample to predict his 'future height'.

'All of this sounded just scientific enough to be plausible to an approximately eleven-year-old boy,' the lawsuit states.

It goes on to describe in heartbreaking detail how Poppel struggled to reach his genitals because of his disability and how he had to climb into the fetal position to do as the doctor asked.

Archibald then gestured for him to go and sit on his lap where he started masturbating him himself.

'[He] was terrified, humiliated and confused. He told Archibald that he wanted to leave the room and be with his mother. Archibald told [him] that he could not leave and continued the inappropriate touching.'

Other victims spoke out last year to demand where their photographs are now. When the alleged abuses took place, (L-R) Matt Harris was 14, Mitchell Scher was 5, Gail Coleman was 11 and Robert Granato was 8. None have gotten their records back

At the end of the exam, the boy returned to his mother but did not ever tell her what had happened.

He also felt that he would never overcome his growing problem because he had been unable to ejaculate for the doctor, the lawsuit says.

'He recalls feeling like he was going to die. He wanted to tell his mother what had happened but could not,' he said.

When he received the letter from the hospital in October, he said the horror of what had happened came rushing back to him and left him unable to sleep.

His chief concern, as is the biggest worry of other former patients who have spoken out, is that he does not know where the photographs are of him that the doctor took.

THE CHILD VICTIMS ACT The Child Victims Act was passed in New York earlier this year and was signed in as law on Thursday. The two most significant parts of the bill are that; 1) Victims now have until age 55 to file civil lawsuits 2) They have until aged 28, as opposed to 23, under the old statute to seek criminal prosecution 3) The bill becoming law triggers a one-year period where anyone can file a lawsuit on the basis of historic sexual abuse claims and have it heard in court The third component opens up previously protected institutions and individuals, like the Rockefeller University Hospital, to lawsuits. Advertisement

'He is haunted by the thought that other people have seen them or that they will appear on the internet,' the lawsuit reads.

Despite receiving reports of the abuse in the 1990s, Rockefeller University did not properly investigate them until 2004.

As part of that investigation, the lawsuit claims the hospital spoke to staff members who worked with Archibald when the abuse was happening who said others knew about it.

Last year, a group of victims came forward to demand information from the hospital about their records and the photographs Archibald took of them.

The hospital has posted several statements online expressing regret for the 'pain caused' by is not thought to have given any former patients the images, their records or any information about where they are.

A representative for the hospital declined to comment on the most recent allegations when contacted by DailyMail.com on Thursday, citing ongoing litigation.

The lawsuit is a class action which means that Poppel is not only seeking compensation for himself but for any other victim that experienced similar abuse.

He has asked for more than $5million from the hospital but wants the final amount to be determined at a trial.The purpose of the meeting is to create an open dialogue with parents and the community, according to a Carroll County Public Schools news release. Members of the community are invited to attend and address their concerns or ask questions regarding education topics and issues.A cunning vandal has been using chewing gum to steal thousands of dollars from ATMs and unsuspecting customers.

The man has been placing chewing gum on dispensers around the Gold Coast to stop notes coming out.

When furious customers walk off to complain, he sneaks up, reaches into the back of the dispenser and pulls out the cash before making off.

The bandit has so far stolen at least $1,000 from a single ATM, its operator claims.

A vandal (pictured on CCTV) has been infuriating ATM owners by stealing cash using chewing gum

'He's putting chewing gum up in the dispenser. The money doesn't come out and he is walking up after and taking it out,' the furious operator told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

'It's a nightmare. I don't know how much he is picking up from each machine every week but he's doing well out of it.'

In most cases, the man simply blocks the machine but doesn't take any cash, according to other operators.

Another operator posted a photo of the alleged bandit next to the machine to scare him off - and apparently the tactic worked.

'I probably shouldn't have done it but I haven't had a problem since,' the operator said.

He said it was just a vandalism problem and no cash had been stolen from his ten machines.

No official complaint has been made to police.A young boy died in front of his distraught sister after becoming entangled on a flying fox at a playground.

The eight-year-old was found dead near Wanguri Primary School in Darwin on Wednesday.

He reportedly used an item of clothing to reach the handles of the flying fox before getting entangled.

A young child was found dead in a playground near Wanguri Primary School (pictured) in Darwin

His sister frantically sought help but by the time she found someone her brother was unconscious, a source told The Australian.

The boy was rushed to Royal Darwin Hospital about 7.30pm where he died.

Northern Territory Education Department on Thursday confirmed the tragedy.

'The school principal has been in contact with the family today to offer support where possible,' they said in a statement.

'Counsellors have been working at the school from this morning and will remain here for as long as students and staff require.

'A letter has been sent to families this afternoon to extend support should they also require it either via the school counsellors or through EASA.'

The cause of death has not been identified as police continue to investigate.

'Northern Territory Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the non-suspicious death of a child in Wanguri,' Major Crime Squad senior sergeant Matt Allen said in a statement.

'Enquiries to date indicate that the death occurred as a result of misadventure.

'Investigations are continuing and a report will be prepared for the coroner.'A 34-year-old man has been accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy he met on the gay dating app Grindr.

The 34-year-old man allegedly went to the home of a 13-year-old boy in Killarney Heights, on Sydney's northern beaches, on Wednesday, a day after the pair met on social media.

After arriving, he allegedly sexually assaulted the boy and then left.

A 34-year-old man has been accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy he met on gay dating app Grindr

Police were called and the boy was taken to Randwick Children's Hospital for treatment.

The man was arrested on Thursday evening and charged with the aggravated sexual assault of a victim under the age of 16 and the use of a carriage service to procure a person under 16 years for sexual activity.

He was refused bail to appear at Burwood Local Court on Friday.The wife of White House Communications Chief Bill Shine was ridiculed on social media for claiming that childhood diseases like measles 'keep you healthy and fight cancer.'

Darla Shine caused a furor after she tweeted a series of bizarre comments on childhood vaccinations amid a measles outbreak which is currently sweeping the country.

Shine, whose husband joined the Trump administration last year, claimed that her kids 'sadly' received the MMR vaccine so they 'do not have the lifelong natural immunity' that she has because she didn't receive the shot.

Darla Shine, seen here with husband Bill, provoked furore after she tweeted that childhood diseases 'keep you healthy and fight cancer'

'I had the #Measles #Mumps #ChickenPox as a child and so did every kid I knew - Sadly my kids had #MMR so they will never have the life long natural immunity I have,' before adding, 'Come breathe on me!.'

She called out CNN for reporting 'fake news' on the current measles outbreak in certain parts of the country, even though they cited figures from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and cited advice from public health officials.

Shine later tweeted: ' Here we go LOL #measlesoutbreak on #CNN #fake #hysteria. 'The entire Baby Boom population alive today had the #Measles as kids. Bring back our #ChildhoodDiseases they keep you healthy & fight cancer.

Darla Shine continued to defend her stance throughout the day as she faced criticism on social media.

'I had the measles, that was the whole point of my tweet. I have life time natural immunity,' she tweeted.

The CDC reports nearly all children in the decade before 1963 had measles by the time they were 15 years old and about three to four million people were infected each year.

Her tweets generated hundreds of comments throughout the day with the majority of social media users expressing incredulity at her purporting to promote childhood diseases which can prove fatal without vaccines.

Shine, who writes a blog page called 'Darla Shine's Happy Housewives Club, received a backlash for her anti-vaxxer comments and claiming that she had immunity because she had measles, mumps and chicken pox

She was responding to reports about the current measles outbreak in pockets of the country

One user called Roman Baird responded: 'Well you were lucky. Lucky you aren't deaf. Lucky you didn't contract encephalitis also. (Oh you still can) I had mumps too. I'm sterile. Because mumps.

'Rafts of peer reviewed scientific data or hair on fire conspiracy theories? I'll rely on fact based evidence, thank you.'

Many cited reputable public health statistics which show a large drop in childhood deaths attributable to the MMR vaccine.

Shine is a former TV producer and is married to White House Communications chief Bill Shine. She is pictured here with Donald Trump

Another user Phil Zopinion claimed: 'Immunization has had a major impact on reducing measles deaths. During 2000-2013, measles vaccination prevented an estimated 15.6 million deaths.'

Federal health officials have identified more measles cases, bringing the total nationwide number to 101, latest figures show.

So far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says there are confirmed cases in 10 US states since January 1.

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.

Her stance led to hundreds of comments throughout the day with the majority of social media users expressing incredulity at her purporting to promote childhood diseases

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.

Shine further argued at one point that 'many' of the people contracting the disease in Washington had received the MMR vaccine.

'People texting I'm spreading lies about #vaccines. I'm retweeting physicians, scientific studies, and questioning why #Media covers #MeaslesOutbreak one-sided. Many of the kids w/ #Measles in #Washington WERE #Vaccinated Go ask their #Governor.'

Measles is a highly contagious infection which is now rare due to the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine. Symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose and a total-body skin rash

While people who contract measles do have a lifelong immunity, so do nearly all of the people who receive the MMR vaccine.

The CDC recommends that children get two doses of the MMR vaccine: one at 12-15 months old and another at 4 to 6 years old. After one dose, the vaccine is 93% effective; after two doses, it is 97% effective -- for the duration of someone's life.

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.

Darla has a blog page and claims she is helping 'housewives build their own businesses right from their kitchen'

In 2018, 372 cases of measles were confirmed in 26 states and the District of Columbia, the CDC reported.

Her husband joined the Trump administration earlier this year after resigning from Fox amid questions over his handling of sexual harassment and discrimination allegations that led to the departures of CEO Roger Ailes and Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly.

Darla Shine currently writes a blogpage called happyhousewives.com where she writes has tips on recipes , marriage and parenting, as well as beauty and fashion.

She claimed she always wanted to 'have a big career' but once she gave birth to her son she was 'lucky to be at home' with her children.

In a bio section she writes: 'I want women to realize they can accomplish any thing right from their home. They dont have to choose between their education and their baby. Whatever you were doing you can do from your home.

'I am helping housewives build their own businesses right from their kitchen.'

She is a former TV reporter and producer and also hosted a radio show in 2009.The federal government has opened a multi-agency investigation into more than one dozen Saudi Arabian individuals who have disappeared from at least eight states following being charged or convicted of serious crimes, possibly with the help of their native government.

US Senator for Oregon Ron Wyden was informed of the operation during a meeting with US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan on Wednesday, according to The Oregonian.

After the Saudi government was accused last month of helping five citizens studying in Oregon flee after they were accused of crimes, an investigation by the outlet found similar cases in Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.

Another two cases were discovered in Nova Scotia, Canada.

So far, at least 17 young Saudi men, all studying at college, have disappeared following accusations or convictions of crimes including manslaughter, rape and possession of child porn, with what appears to be assistance from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Federal agencies have launched an investigation into more than one dozen Saudi Arabian students who have fled from at least eight states in the US and parts of Canada after being charged or convicted of serious crimes including manslaughter, rape and possession of child porn, at the urging of US Senator for Oregon Ron Wyden (left), who was informed of the operation during a meeting with US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan (right) on Wednesday

Wyden, a member of the Senates Select Committee on Intelligence, asked McAleenan one month ago to look into the disappearance of five Saudi men who had been studying at a public college or university with assistance from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the time of their arrest.

'I am confident that he is taking this issue seriously,' Wyden said of McAleenan in a statement. 'I urged him to proceed aggressively.'

The men missing from Oregon alone include two accused rapists, two suspected hit-and-run drivers and one man accused of being in possession of a vast collection of child pornography on his computer.

The Saudi government paid the bail and legal fees of at least four of those men. Although three surrendered their passports, all of them have gone missing and at least two returned to Saudi Arabia, federal law enforcement officials confirmed.

Wyden has also formally requested answers from the State and Justice departments and the FBI regarding the fugitives, with no response to date from the three agencies.

Abdulrahman Semeer Noorah (right) is believed to have fled on a jet with the help of the Saudi consulate in June, just weeks before his manslaughter trial was starting over the hit-and-run death of 15-year-old Fallon Smart (left) in Portland in 2016

Abdulrahman Semeer Noorah, 23, is believed to have fled on a private jet with the help of his country's consulate in June last year, just weeks before he was due to stand trial for killing a 15-year-old girl in a 2016 ht-and-run.

Wyden said in a letter, first obtained by The Oregonian, to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, on February 8 that the new theory from authorities that Noorah used an illicit passport to fly home on a private jet provided by the Saudi consulate should be reason to push forward with action.

Noorah's case made international headlines in December following uproar over the killing of US-based Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered inside the country's consulate in Istanbul in October.

Officials revealed in December that they were working to get Noorah extradited back to the US after he removed his court-ordered ankle monitor and supposedly used an illegal passport to flee the country.

The Saudi government only recently informed US authorities that Noorah, who was a Portland Community College student, had returned to Saudi Arabia seven days after he went missing.

Noorah had been released from jail at the time on a $100,000 bond that the Saudi consulate paid. He vanished after being picked up from his college campus in a black SUV.

Portland State University student Suliman Ali Algwaiz (left) was arrested in August 2016 after he drunkenly struck a homeless man with his car. Waleed Ali Alharthi (right), who was an Oregon State University student, was found in possession of child porn in April 2015

Portland State University student Suliman Ali Algwaiz was arrested in August 2016 after he drunkenly struck a homeless man with his car.

He fled the scene but was later sentenced to 90 days in jail.

Algwaiz was serving his sentence at weekends, but vanished before completing the 90 days and a warrant for his arrest is still outstanding.

Waleed Ali Alharthi, who was an Oregon State University student, was found allegedly in possession of child porn in April of 2015.

Police said they found pornographic videos on his laptop involving children. He was arrested and booked on 10 counts of encouraging child sex abuse.

The consulate also put up the security deposit for his $500,000 bail.

Alharthi attended multiple court hearings related to his case but failed to attend a status check in April 2015.

His lawyer told the court that she feared he was dead but authorities learned he had flown from Mexico City to Paris the week before.

In a similar case a few years prior, Abdulaziz Al Duways was arrested in December 2014 over the rape of a female classmate at Western Oregon University.

Arrest affidavits related to his case show that the alleged victim accused Al Duways of giving her marijuana and whiskey shots prior to the attack.

She called 911 during the alleged attack and when police arrived they found her crying in his bed.

Al Duways had allegedly told her: 'Tell them I'm your girlfriend' and 'I'll give you anything. I'll do anything if you don't tell them'.

He was charged with rape and held on a $500,000 bond. Days later, a Saudi consulate official paid his bond and Al Duways vanished before he faced court.

In 2012, Oregon State University student Ali Hussain Alhamoud was charged with raping a young woman.

He was released on bail, which the Saudi government posted, and he flew back to Saudi Arabia that same day.

Abdulaziz Al Duways (left) was arrested in December 2014 over the rape of a female classmate at Western Oregon University. In 2012, Oregon State University student Ali Hussain Alhamoud (right) was charged with raping a young woman

Mohammed Zuraibi Al-Zoabi, (left) disappeared from Canada in December 2018 after being charged with sexual assault, assault and forcible confinement of a woman between 2015-17. Sami Suliman Almezaini, (right) is accused of raping his female roommate in July 2017, the same month he disappeared from Montana

The first four cases were all represented by the same attorney, Ginger Mooney. She has represented at least nine Saudi students since 2014.

Mooney declined to comment in relation to the Oregonian investigation. Her attorney said any suggestion of unethical or improper conduct by her client was 'completely unfounded'.

According to The Oregonian report, men from other states include Mohammed Zuraibi Al-Zoabi, of Nova Scotia, Canada.

He disappeared in December 2018 after being charged with sexual assault, assault and forcible confinement of a woman between 2015-17.

Sami Suliman Almezaini, of Gallatin County, Montana, is accused of raping his female roommate in July 2017, the same month he disappeared.

Saud Alabdullatif, of Spokane County, Washington, disappeared in May 2016. He was charged with forcible second-degree rape and unlawful imprisonment after he forced a woman to perform oral sex on him that month.

Faisal Altaleb, Gallatin County, Montana, disappeared November 2016, after he allegedly sexually assaulted a woman he linked up with at a bar.

Monsour Alshammari, of Utah County, Utah, was charged with first-degree rape and obstruction of justice.

He is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in February 2015. He disappeared in April 2015 and was captured later that month.

Abdullah Almakrami, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, disappeared one month after he allegedly sexually assaulted a woman at his apartment in March 2014.

Hani Alshammary, of Erie County, Pennsylvania, is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in April 2014.

He was charged with attempted rape, forcible compulsion, unlawful restraint, harassment and disorderly conduct.

Hani Alshammary is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in April 2014. He was charged with attempted rape, forcible compulsion, unlawful restraint, harassment and disorderly conduct before disappearing from Pennsylvania

Fahad Al Ghuwainem, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, disappeared in December 2014, two months after he allegedly raped a man with male accomplice after the three linked up at a gay bar.

Taher Ali Al-Saba, of Nova Scotia, Canada, disappeared January 2007. He was charged with sexually assaulting two children the year prior.

Siraj Marakeey, of Snohomish County, Washington, disappeared July 1991. He was accused of first-degree rape for sexually assaulting a child in June 1991.

Abdulrahman Ali Al-Plaies, of Greene County, Ohio, disappeared November 1988. Another student has not been identified.

In June 1988, he was accused of causing a fatal car crash that claimed the life of an elderly woman.

When the case involving Noorah came to light in Oregon last year, Wyden urged the US government to investigate and to take action.

'These are shocking claims in any event, but with the barbaric murder of US resident Jamal Khashoggi, they suggest a brazen pattern of disregard for the law and abuse of diplomatic privileges,' Wyden wrote.

'If they are accurate, they would require significant restrictions on Saudi Arabias diplomatic privileges and call into question the future of Americas bilateral relationship with the Saudis.'

The Oregonian is continually updating the findings of its investigation, here.Steven Watson (pictured) was arrested by police on February 11th and faces charges of manslaughter, after they say he shot Parker Lynch in Central, Arizona on Monday

A man has been killed in Arizona after he allegedly asked his friend to shoot at his bulletproof vest to test its effectiveness, police say.

Parker Ray Lynch, 25, died on Monday evening after his friend Steven Watson pulled the trigger of his .223 rifle and shot him in the stomach.

Lynch was said to be in a tree-lined area, near the town of Central with two friends when the fatal shooting occurred.

According to the Graham County Sheriff's office, Lynch put on the ballistic vest and goaded his friends to fire at it.

Accepting the challenge, Watson fired one round to Lynch's stomach in the early hours of Monday morning.

Police haven't yet revealed if the bullet penetrated the vest or missed it entirely.

Parker Ray Lynch (pictured), 25, died on Monday after a friend shot him in the stomach with a rifle, in an alleged bulletproof vest test gone wrong

According to police Lych was with two friends in a wooded area of Central, Arizona when the shooting took place (pictured: Lynch poses with a single shot rifle, which may be the same weapon that administered the fatal shot)

The 25-year-old was taken to the hospital where he later died during surgery.

Watson has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, and is currently being detained in the Graham County Adult Detention Facility.

Police recovered a rifle, vest and plate from the scene. Their investigation is ongoing.

'My family and I are so sad to confirm that Parker passed away earlier this week,' Lynch's sister Courtney said in a Facebook post.

'He had so much love to share and had so many friends in this life.

'Our family would appreciate any kind words, and of course privacy and respect during this difficult time.'

The Lynch family have set up a GoFundMe page to help cover the costs of his sudden funeral.

They've raised more than $5.000 in less than 24 hours.

Police haven't revealed if the bullet penetrated the vest or missed it entirely. Lynch died in hospital during surgery late on Monday evening

Courtney Lynch paid tribute to her younger brother on Facebook, describing him as a popular young man

According to the Graham County Sheriff's office, Lynch put on the ballistic vest and goaded his friends to fire at it

Last year, a similar incident in Texas saw a man wearing a bulletproof vest shot dead by his friend at a party in Houston.

The victim reportedly put on a vest during that gathering and urged Jason Griffin, 39, to shoot him.

Griffin told police he didn't know the pistol was loaded.

'He said shoot me, and [Griffin] didnt think there was anything in it, and he did,' his girlfriend Mary Warstler KTRK.

'He tried to take the vest off and save him.'

Griffin fled the scene of the shooting, before turning himself into police.

He was later charged with manslaughter.Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe says top law enforcement officials discussed having Rod Rosenstein wear a wire during the days after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.

McCabe's claim, which he shared with '60 Minutes' on CBS, buttresses reporting last September that Justice Department deputy director Rod Rosenstein proposed the idea of secretly recording Trump in the spring of 2017.

He said the idea was seriously discussed and vetted.

'McCabe ... says no, it came up more than once and it was so serious that he took it to the lawyers at the FBI to discuss it,' CBS anchor Scott Pelley said, describing his interview with McCabe.

Justice Department officials said at the time the remark was a joke and meant sarcastically.

Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe described a 2017 discussion of having Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein wear a wire around Trump was taken seriously

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein met with top Justice and FBI officials following Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey

'Well, what do you want me to do, Andy, wear a wire?,' is how a senior Justice officials described the remark to NBC days after the report. That report also indicated McCabe took the remark seriously at the time.

Rosenstein denied the story when the New York Times reported it in September, and felt compelled to state: 'But let me be clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment'  which deals with succession and removal of a president from office.

He said it was 'not perceived to be a joke' during the tense time-period following Trump's firing of Comey in May 2017.

McCabe also says he ordered the start of an obstruction of justice probe into Trump out of fear that if he got fired, investigative work might disappear.

McCabe also spoke of conversations about invoking the 25th Amendment, which deals with a president who cannot perform the duties of the office

Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI, recounted a discussions of removing Donald Trump from office in a television interview that will air Sunday

'I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground, in an indelible fashion,' McCabe said.

Of discussion of invoking the 25th amendment, which allows for removal of a cabinet with a vote of the vice president and a majority of his cabinet, or of a special panel that can be created, he said: 'They were counting noses,' according to Pelley.

The amendment sets up a process that also requires a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress.

'The highest levels of American law enforcement were trying to figure out what to do with the president,' said Pelley.

Trump fired back at McCabe on Twitter on Thursday morning during a block of time in which he usually does have anything on his public or private work schedule

Trump invoked McCabe's wife Jill, who ran for office as a Democrat in Virginia and lost. She had the financial backing of an organization that is close to Hillary Clinton

'Not asking cabinet members whether they would vote for or against removing the president. But they were speculating, this person would be with us. That person would not be, and they were counting noses in that effort,' he added.

Said Pelley: 'There were meetings at the Justice Department at which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment,' Pelley said Thursday. 'And the highest levels of American law enforcement were trying to figure out what to do with the president.'

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders unloaded on McCabe in a statement.

'Andrew McCabe was fired in total disgrace from the FBI because he lied to investigators on multiple occasions, including under oath,' she said. 'His selfish and destructive agenda drove him to open a completely baseless investigation into the President. His actions were so shameful that he was referred to federal prosecutors. Andrew McCabe has no credibility and is an embarrassment to the men and women of the FBI and our great country.'A five-year-old boy is fighting for his life after being hit by a car this afternoon and suffering serious head injuries.

He was hit around 3.30pm outside Launcelot Primary School in Downham, near Bromley, south east London before being rushed to hospital.

The driver of the car - a woman - has not been arrested.

The boy, five, was hit outside of Launcelot Primary School and has been left fighting for his life (file photo)

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'A car is believed to have been in a collision with a five-year-old boy outside Launcelot Primary School.

'The child has been taken to a south London hospital. At this time his injuries are being treated as life-threatening.

'The driver of the car, a female, has not been arrested.

'Enquiries continue.'

A London Ambulance Service spokeswoman added: 'We sent an advanced paramedic, an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and a single responder in a car to the scene.

'We treated a child at the scene for head injuries and took them as a priority to a major trauma centre.'The former acting director of the FBI claims President Donald Trump vented to him after firing James Comey that the suddenly former FBI chief was allowed to fly home from California at government expense.

Comey was giving a speech in Los Angeles when people in his audience told him cable news channels were announcing that he had been terminated.

In his forthcoming book, 'The Threat,' the Comey deputy who took over the law enforcement agency writes that the vindictive president thought Comey should pay for his own airline ticket back to Washington to clear out his desk.

Instead the ousted lawman hopped on the same FBI jet he had used to fly west.

President Donald Trump was irate over James Comey's use of an FBI jet to fly from Los Angeles to Washington after he fired him in May 2017, according to a new book by Comey's deputy

Comey learned he had been sacked while giving a speech in L.A.: he thought members of the audience were joking when they told him TV screens in the auditorium flashed news of his pink-slip while he was on stage

Then-deputy FBI chief Andy McCabe, who took over as acting director before his own firing the next year, says in a new book that Trump wanted Comey to pay for his own flight home even though the FBI's plane already had Comey's security detail on board and had to fly back to D.C. anyway

Newly fired FBI director James Comey left Los Angeles on a plane to return to Washington on May 9, 2017

Video footage showed Comey climbing aboard the government jet, something that enraged the president when he learned about it

'I told him that bureau lawyers had assured me there was no legal issue with Comey coming home on the plane. I decided that he should do so,' McCabe writes, describing a phone call the following day.

'The existing threat assessment indicated he was still at risk, so he needed a protection detail. Since the members of the protection detail would all be coming home, it made sense to bring everybody back on the same plane they had used to fly out there. It was coming back anyway.'

'The president flew off the handle,' McCabe continues, quoting Trump: 'That's not right! I don't approve of that! That's wrong!'

'The president said, I want you to look into that!' he adds. 'I thought to myself: What am I going to look into? I just told you I made that decision.'

The retelling was first published by The Atlantic, in the form of an adapted excerpt from McCabe's book.

The phone call started, McCabe recalls, with Trump calling him on an unsecure, unclassified line and introducing himself by an unfamiliar nickname.

'The voice on the other end said, It's Don Trump calling,' he writes.

'I said, Hello, Mr. President, how are you? Apart from my surprise that he was calling at all, I was surprised that he referred to himself as 'Don'.'

McCabe also writes in his book that Justice Department officials at one point mulled a plan to invoke the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The would have allowed Trump's adversaries in his own administration to remove him from office with a majority vote of his Cabinet and the backing of Vide President Mike Pence.

McCabe is promoting a book, due for a Feb. 19 release

McCabe, whose book is slated for a Feb. 19 release, may have a personal reason to go after the president: He recounts verbal slashing Trump offered on the expense of his wife Jill, who mounted a failed 2015 run for a state senate seat in Virginia.

The president asked after Jill, he writes, asking in a sneering tone: 'Yeah, that mustve been really tough. To lose. To be a loser.'

A statewide political action committee called Common Good VA contributed $467,000 to her campaign. Hillary Clinton headlined a fundraiser for the group shortly beforehand, raising $500,000 for it.

The PAC was run at the time by Terry McAuliffe, then the governor of Virginia. McAuliffe is a longtime Bill Clinton fundraiser and former Democratic National Committee chairman.

Jill McCabe's campaign also received more than $207,000 from the Democratic Party of Virginia, over which McAuliffe exerted significant control.

Common Good VA was the largest single donor to the McCabe campaign.

The president vented at McCabe Thursday on Twitter, saying he was a 'puppet' for Comey

Trump dismissed McCabe Thursday on Twitter, referring to his firing.

'Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a 'poor little Angel' when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax - a puppet for Leakin' James Comey,' Trump wrote.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement read on MSNBC that McCabe 'was fired in total disgrace from the FBI because he lied to investigators on multiple occasions, including under oath.'

'His selfish and destructive agenda drove him to open a completely baseless investigation into the President. His actions were so shameful that he was referred to federal prosecutors. Andrew McCabe has no credibility and is an embarrassment to the men and women of the FBI and our great country.'A Florida charter school is enlisting the help of two military veterans and arming them with semi-automatic weapons in a bid to protect students if there was an active shooter on campus.

Principal Bill Jones has recruited the combat veterans who will patrol Manatee School for the Arts in Palmetto with handguns and Kel-Tec RDB 17-inch semi-automatic long-guns, at all times.

They'll also wear a combat body armor, different to what officers regularly wear.

The school is the first in the county to have a guard who wears a high-powered weapon during the school day, WTSP reported.

The combat veterans will patrol Manatee School for the Arts in Palmetto with handguns and Kel-Tec RDB 17-inch semi-automatic long-guns, and be armed at all times

Jones says if an armed intruder walked onto the campus they would be met with overwhelming force.

'If someone walks onto this campus, they're going to be shot and killed,' Jones said, as reported by The Bradenton Herald. 'We're not going to talk with them. We're not going to negotiate. We are going to put them down, as quickly as possible.'

'And certainly, the long gun gives you a better range,' he added, making it clear that range was a significant factor in the decision making process.

Principal Bill Jones says if someone walks onto the campus armed they will be 'shot and killed'

The first guard has been on campus for a few months. He is a 15-year U.S. army veteran that served in Afghanistan.

The second guard is undergoing training as required by the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.

All schools in Florida were mandated to have armed security on campus following the February 14 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Seventeen were killed. They included both students and teachers.

Manatee School for the Arts' status as a charter school means it can independently hire guards and decide what type of weapon they want them to use

During the Parkland shooting, sheriff's deputies from Broward County, including the school resource officer, sat outside as shots were fired inside the buildings.

Sheriff Scott Israel was suspended last month over the fallout from inadequate law enforcement response.

Manatee School for the Arts' status as a charter school means it can independently hire guards and decide what type of weapon they want them to use.

In contrast, school resource officers assigned to campuses by local law agencies keep their rifles secured in racks built into their vehicles rather than carrying them.

Manatee School for the Arts is attended by 2,100 middle and high school students and has improved other aspects of its security such as adding higher perimeter fencing, going from six feet tall to eight feet and more than 450 surveillance cameras.For me, its really important that someone, and their hatred and bigotry, doesnt get to tell anyone where they get to feel safe or where they get to feel loved, Norse Thomas said. Its important to me to put the signs back up and light them up to show resiliency, but also that the vandal doesnt win. Their message of hate doesnt win.Eight months after making the cover of TIME magazine and briefly becoming the symbol of an unpopular immigration policy that didn't actually affect her, two-and-a-half-year-old Yanela Sanchez is now living in the greater Washington D.C. area with her mother as they await their next date in immigration court.

The iconic photo by Getty photographer John Moore depicted the young Honduran asylum seeker sobbing as she and her mother were taken into custody last summer at the U.S.-Mexico border.

It quickly became a rallying call for opponents of the Trump administration's now-defunct 'zero tolerance' immigration policy, which separated thousands of migrant children from their parents.

Honduran asylum seeker Yanela Sanchez, 2 1/2, cries as her mother, Sandra, is searched by border officials near the U.S.-Mexico border in June 2018. The iconic photo by Getty photographer John Moore became a rallying call for opponents to the Trump administration's policy of separating immigrant children from their parents

Honduran asylum seeker Yanela Sanchez, 2 1/2, and her mother, Sandra, share a moment together in their Washington D.C.-area apartment in February 2019

Honduran asylum seeker Yanela Sanchez is depicted on the July 2018 cover of Time magazine with an image of President Trump looming over her. The magazine later had to issue a retraction after writing that Yanela was one of thousands of children taken from their parents at the Southern U.S. border: She and her mother were never separated

Yanela's image was splashed on the cover of Time with a vivid red background and a looming figure of Trump standing over her. The caption read: 'Welcome to America.'

But the magazine cover quickly became a national punchline when DailyMail.com reported that immigration officials never actually separated Yanela from her mother, Sandra Sanchez.

At the time, her father, Denis Javier Varela Hernandez, told DailyMail.com from Honduras that he had not heard from Sandra for nearly three weeks until he saw the image of them being apprehended in Texas.

'You can imagine how I felt when I saw that photo of my daughter. It broke my heart,' he said in June. 'It's difficult as a father to see that, but I know now that they are not in danger. They are safer now than when they were making that journey to the border.'

Honduran asylum seeker Yanela Sanchez, 2 1/2, and her mother, Sandra, giggle together in their Washington D.C.-area basement apartment, which they share with other immigrants

Honduran asylum seeker Sandra Sanchez carries her daughter Yanela Sanchez, 2 1/2, to their basement apartment on February 11, 2019 in the greater Washington D.C. area

Honduran asylum seeker Yanela Sanchez plays (left) and eats (right) in the basement apartment she and her mother share with other immigrants on February 11, 2019 in the greater Washington D.C. area

Honduran asylum seeker Yanela Sanchez, 2 1/2, eats in the basement apartment she and her mother Sandra Sanchez share with other immigrant

Time issued an apology for the cover story after writing that the girl had been taken 'screaming' from her mother by border officials.

TIME's editor in chief Edward Felsenthal said in a statement that it stood behind the wider point which is that Yanela was 'the most visible symbol of the ongoing immigration debate'

But the damage was done. Trump and his supporters railed against what they said were 'phony stories of sadness and grief' built around a false narrative.

Now, months later, the controversial family separation policy has ended and the young girl and her mother are trying to carve out a life for themselves while they await their fate in America.

Moore followed up the two, documenting their everyday lives over several days this week.

The series of images reveals the happy and mundane reality the girl is living in her newly adopted city: visiting local playgrounds, playing video games and giggling in her mother's lap.

Sandra told Moore that she and Yanela were initially held by U.S. immigration officials for 18 days in three different Texas facilities before being released while she awaited their court date.

Now she and her daughter live in a basement apartment that they share with other immigrants.

Honduran asylum seeker Sandra Sanchez carries her daughter Yanela Sanchez, 2 1/2, on February 11, 2019 in the greater Washington D.C. area

Honduran asylum seeker Sandra Sanchez holds her daughter Yanela Sanchez, 2 1/2, at an indoor play area on February 13, 2019 in the greater Washington D.C. area

Honduran asylum seeker Sandra Sanchez feeds her daughter Yanela Sanchez (left) and cuddles the girl (right) in their Washington D.C.-area apartment in February 2019

Sandra does not have a work permit and is unable to pursue a job legally while she waits for their first immigration hearing.

She is also unable to pay for an attorney to work on behalf of her and her daughter  and despite the publicity around Yanela's image  they have not located a pro bono lawyer at this time.

Her husband previously told DailyMail.com that he had no idea his wife was going to take his daughter to make the 1,800-mile journey to America.

The couple has three other children, son Wesly, 14, and daughters Cindy, 11, and Brianna, 6.

He said he heard from friends that his wife paid $6,000 for a coyote - a term for someone who smuggles people across the border.

Honduran asylum seeker Sandra Sanchez cuddles her daughter, Yanela Sanchez, in their Washington D.C.-area apartment in February 2019

Honduran asylum seeker Sandra Sanchez sits with her daughter, Yanela Sanchez, at a playground on February 13, 2019 in the greater Washington D.C. area

Sandra was part of a group that were caught by Border Patrol agents after making their way across the Rio Grande river on a raft, Hernandez said.

Moore, who has worked on the border with Mexico for years and won a Pulitzer for his photography, has said the the image of Yanela was the last one he took that night.

Speaking to People magazine, Moore said that the girl's mother was the last to be searched and a female agent asked her to put Yanela down so she could pat her down.

Moore said: 'The mother hesitated and then set down the little girl and the child immediately started crying.

'As a father, it was very emotional for me just to hear those cries. When I saw this little girl break down in tears I wanted to comfort this child.

'But as a photojournalist we sometimes have to keep photographing when things are hard. And tell a story that people would never see.'

Honduran asylum seeker Yanela Sanchez, is photographed in Washington D.C. in February 2019

Honduran asylum seeker Yanela Sanchez, is photographed in Washington D.C. in February 2019

Moore crouched 6 feet from the girl as she looked up at her mother and took seven shots, Yanela's mother's hands spread out on the Border Patrol truck.

The image was a major factor in pressuring Trump to reverse on his immigration policy and sign an executive order allowing families to stay together.

The president said that he wanted to look strong but admitted that the 'zero tolerance' policy made him look like he had 'no heart.'

Trump's reversal came after worldwide outrage including British Prime Minister Theresa May who called his policy 'deeply disturbing' while Pope Francis said it was 'immoral'.

A spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) previously told DailyMail.com that Sandra was deported from the U.S. once before in 2013.

Honduran asylum seeker Yanela Sanchez, is held by her mother, Sandra, while the two are taken into custody near the U.S.-Mexico border in June 2018This Brazilian environmental activist is committed to spreading awareness about the destruction of the Amazon forest.

But his method is something nobody should try at home.

Arteval Duarte took up the challenge surrounding himself with venomous snakes and stuck them one-by-one inside his mouth.

In a near eight-minute video clip that will fill most people with goosebumps, the South American environmentalist, who is known as the 'Ninja of Serpents' presents a tutorial on how to pull off a stunt that could prove to be near fatal.

But his cry for the public's awareness towards the deforestation of the Amazon makes it seem worthwhile, at least to him.

Arteval Duarte grins as he holds the six rattlesnakes, whose tails he had just bitten on while protesting the ongoing destruction of the Amazon

Duarte, who shot the video February 6 in the western state of Rodonia, carefully takes control of each snake by holding its head and firmly placing it between his big and index toes.

The Amazon Jungle activist-turned-daredevil then grabs the tail and tapes it before placing the snake inside a clear case with the rest of reptiles.

Duarte later climbs on top of a board covered with dozens of metal spikes while dangling all the rattlesnakes with the stronghold of his dentures.

He takes a bite at the first snakes tail and then lets go of it.

He later shoves fives snakes into his mouth at once as he stands on top of the spikes and then takes another bite at the sixth snake.

Duartes dangerous approach last all but 15 seconds before he stepped off the board.

The determined activist wasnt finished yet with his protest as he placed the rattlesnakes over his head.

Arteval Duarte has been committed to creating public awareness about the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, particularly in Brazil. He lasted about 15 seconds biting down on the tails of six venomous rattlesnakes

The Brazilian environmental activist was recently was filmed biting on six snakes to protest the Amazon's deforestation. He would then top the stunt off by placing all of the snakes on his head

Duarte gave an eight-minute tutorial during his protest against the Amazon deforestation. He grabs the reptile's head and places it between his toes

The Amazon jungle covers Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana, Bolivia, Suriname, French Guiana and Brazil, where 60 percent of the rainforest is located.

The Amazon is home to 1 in 10 of known species in the planet but it has been destroyed at a rate of 200 trees per a minute.

It could be left without any trees by 2030 if it doesn't stop.Antoni Imiela (pictured above) was given seven life sentences in 2004 for a series of rapes

A serial sex offender known as the M25 rapist, who attacked nine women and young girls before being jailed in 2004 died in prison after being treated for severe heart failure, an inquest heard.

Antoni Imiela was found unconscious and slumped against a table in his cell by prison officers carrying out morning checks at HMP Wakefield on March 8 last year.

CPR was performed on the 63-year-old before he was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead by an A&E consultant at Pinderfields Hospital at around 11am.

The category A prisoner was given seven life sentences in 2004 for a series of rapes across the Home Counties against women and girls as young as 10.

In 2012 he was given a further 12 years sentence after being found guilty of rape, indecent assault and another serious sex offence against a 31-year-old mother-of two.

German-born Imiela was last seen by a doctor a day before his death where his medication was increased after complaining of heart problems and swollen ankles.

Imiela was found unconscious in his cell at HMP Wakefield (pictured above)

It was heard that Imiela received a 'good standard of care' at the high-security jail which was equivalent to the level he would have expected in the community.

Antoni Imiela (pictured above) had a criminal history which dated back to 1969

A post mortem carried out by histopathologist Mathew Alemkunnapuzha found that Imiela died on the balance of probabilities as a consequence of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy.

There was no suggestion of any suspicious circumstances or third party involvement, an inquest heard.

But a prison officer did not immediately radio a medical emergency code in line with normal procedure, however, the subsequent short delay did not play a part in Imiela's death.

Officers had initially suspected Imiela was sleeping after finding him slumped in a chair against a table in his D308 cell.

Imiela had a criminal history which dated back to 1969. He was given seven life terms in 2004 for 10 serious sexual assaults.

While in prison, a cold case review took place into a 1987 attack and in 2012 he was sentenced to a further 12 years.

Imiela was taken to Pinderfields Hospital (pictured above) after been found collapsed in his cell

The 63-year-old (pictured under blanket outside Maidstone Crown Court) became known as the M25 rapist after being convicted of the rape of nine women and girls in London, Surrey, Kent, Berkshire and Hertfordshire

Imiela was sentenced in March 2004 at Maidstone Crown Court (pictured above)

Imiela was born in Lubeck in what was then known as West Germany and moved to the UK aged seven in 1961.

He initially lived in Newton Aycliffe near County Durham and left school age 15 before becoming a plasterer.

Imiela then moved to Appledore in Kent where he worked on the railways.

In a statement read out at the inquest, his son Aidan said Imiela had written to him in the days before his death complaining of poor treatment.

M25 rapist: Imelia is pictured in police custody after he was arrested on suspicion of rape

Face of a sex beast: Antoni Imelia is pictured left with his wife Christine on their wedding day

Assistant coroner Oliver Longstaff recorded a conclusion of natural causes.

He said: 'At the time of his death, he was serving a number of life sentences for a number of serious crimes.

'It seems to me that the medical care he received was every bit the standard he could have expected in the community.

'In terms of the immediacy of the medical response, it could have even been quicker.'

Imiela was known as the M25 rapist as many of his crimes took place near the London orbital motorway while he was living in Appledore, Kent.

His first attack dated back to 1987 when he raped a woman on Christmas Day.

The last was in 2002 when he indecently assaulted and attempted to rape a girl of 10 in Birmingham.

He was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court in March 2004.Amazon's decision to drop plans to build a headquarters in New York has been slammed by the city's Mayor Bill de Blasio, who criticized the online retailer for throwing away an opportunity in the face of political opposition.

The online retail giant said on Thursday it was canceling its plans to build in Long Island City, Queens in a stunning reversal to an ambitious plan that would have brought an estimated 25,000 jobs to the city.

Amazon had faced fierce opposition from local politicians, including Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who were furious over the nearly $3 billion in tax incentives Amazon was promised.

The decision was a serious blow to de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who had both lobbied intensely to land the campus within city limits.

The Mayor responded to the news by criticizing Amazon in a series of tweets, saying the company 'threw away' an opportunity and failed to work with the community.

'You have to be tough to make it in New York City. We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity,' de Blasio said.

'We have the best talent in the world and every day we are growing a stronger and fairer economy for everyone. If Amazon can't recognize what that's worth, its competitors will.'

Amazon said on Thursday it was canceling its plans to build a corporate campus in New York's Long Island City after rising opposition from local politicians

Amazon's decision to drop plans to build a headquarters in New York has been slammed by the city's Mayor Bill de Blasio

The decision was a serious blow to de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who had both lobbied intensely to land the campus within city limits

Newly-elected Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was among the more high-profile critics of the deal from the Democratic Party's leftward flank.

'I think it's incredible. It shows that everyday Americans still have the power to organize and fight for their communities and have more say than the richest man in the world,' she said on Thursday afternoon.

When questioned about the loss of a promised 25,000 jobs for New Yorkers, Ocasio-Cortez hit back saying the city was 'subsiding those jobs' anyway.

'So if we were willing to give away $3 billion for this deal we could invest those $3 billion in our district ourselves if we wanted to. We could hire out more teachers, fix our subways,' she said.

'Additionally, there was no guarantee those jobs were for the New Yorkers that were here. I think we can come absolutely together to create an economic plan that actualy invests in New Yorkers and higher wages.'

Amazon's search for a second headquarters, which it described as HQ2, was deemed a massive, year-long public relations success, garnering worldwide publicity and interest from cities across the U.S.

You have to be tough to make it in New York City. We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity New York Mayor Bill de Blasio

The Seattle-based company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, had planned to bring 25,000 jobs to New York and spend $2.5 billion building its offices.

The online retailer's billionaire founder has been embroiled in his own personal saga of late following revelations of his affair with TV anchor Lauren Sanchez and subsequent divorce from his wife MacKenzie.

'We are disappointed to have reached this conclusion - we love New York,' Amazon said in a statement on Thursday.

'For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term.

'While polls show that 70 percent of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.'

The online retail giant announced its plans back in November to build the complex in Queens as one of two new headquarters. The other is planned for northern Virginia. Nashville, Tennessee was a finalist that was awarded a consolation prize of a 5,000-employee location.

Amazon said on Thursday it did not plan to re-open the yearlong search that drew 238 proposals from cities across North America.

'We will proceed as planned in Northern Virginia and Nashville, and we will continue to hire and grow across our 17 corporate offices and tech hubs in the U.S. and Canada,' the company said Thursday.

The decision was a serious blow to Mayor Bill de Blasio (right) and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (left), who had both lobbied intensely to land the campus within city limits. They are pictured at the news conference announcing the headquarters last year

Newly-elected Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (above on Thursday) was among the more high-profile critics of the deal from the Democratic Party's leftward flank

Newly-elected Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was estatic on Thursday following the announcement Amazon had dumped its New York plans

She was among the more high-profile critics of the deal from the Democratic Party's leftward flank and tweeted her opposition as earlier as last year. Above is a tweet from November

Accustomed to fawning advances from municipal leaders around the country, Amazon seemed startled by the brusque, even rude, welcome it got from some New Yorkers when the plans were first announced last year.

Amazon faced fierce opposition from local politicians in New York who were critical of the $3 billion in tax breaks and incentives Amazon was set to receive.

Leading the charge was Ocasio-Cortez, who tweeted triumphantly shortly after the announcement: 'Anything is possible: Today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers and their neighbors defeated Amazon's corporate greed, its work exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world.'

Last year, she tweeted: 'Amazon is a billion-dollar company. The idea that it will receive hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks at a time when our subway is crumbling and our communities need MORE investment, not less, is extremely concerning to residents here.'

WILL AMAZON GO ELSEWHERE NOW IT'S DITCHED NEW YORK? Amazon's search for a second headquarters garnered worldwide publicity and drew 238 proposals from cities across North America. The online retailer announced in November it would be building a complex in Queens, New York as one of two new headquarters. The other headquarters is planned for northern Virginia. Nashville, Tennessee was a finalist that was awarded a consolation prize of a 5,000-employee location. Amazon said on Thursday it did not plan to re-open the yearlong search. It said the company would proceed as planned in Virginia and Nashville, and continue to hire and grow the 17 corporate office across the U.S. and Canada. When rumors were circulating that New York would be dropped, Chicago, Miami and Newark were among the passed-over finalists that expressed interest in another chance to become the home of an Amazon project that could bring 25,000 jobs. Nashville, which was awarded a 5,000-person center, also said it was open to taking on a bigger role should New York withdraw from consideration. Advertisement

Critics saw the project as an extravagant giveaway to one of the world's biggest companies and argued it wouldn't provide much direct benefit to most New Yorkers.

Some residents of the Queens neighborhood mounted protests.

Residents in the neighborhood, once a scruffy haunt of artists that has rapidly gentrified with a burst of recent high-rise developments, had also opposed the plan.

Long-time residents also feared being forced out by rising rents and untenable pressure on already overburdened subway and sewage systems.

In its statement on Thursday, Amazon noted the 'community of Long Island City' and the 'optimistic, forward-leaning community leaders, small business owners, and residents' they had met in recent months.

They added that they loved New York and were grateful to both Cuomo and de Blasio for their support during the process.

'Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio have worked tirelessly on behalf of New Yorkers to encourage local investment and job creation, and we can't speak positively enough about all their efforts,' the statement said.

'We hope to have future chances to collaborate as we continue to build our presence in New York over time.'

Amazon said it has 5,000 workers still in the city and plans to grow those teams.

People briefed on the decision said Amazon had made the decision early Thursday after intense talks starting Wednesday and amid rising concerns about the small vocal minority.

The people said Amazon will not shift any of the planned jobs to Tennessee or Virginia but plans to grow its existing network of locations.

Amazon had planned to have 700 employees in New York as part of the HQ2 project by the end of the year and did not plan to hit 25,000 in Queens for 10 years.

Accustomed to fawning advances from municipal leaders around the country, Amazon seemed startled by the brusque, even rude, welcome it got from some New Yorkers when the plans were first announced last year

The company had begun considering alternatives last week. The online retailer had not yet acquired any land for the project, which would make it easy to scrap its plans.

Chicago, Miami and Newark are among the passed-over finalists that have expressed interest in another chance to become the home of an Amazon project that could bring 25,000 jobs.

Nashville, which was awarded a 5,000-person center, also said it was open to taking on a bigger role should New York falls through.

TAX BREAKS AMAZON WOULD HAVE QUALIFIED FOR IN NY: The total value of the incentive package New York used to lure Amazon totaled $2.988 billion. In simple terms, the city and state were set to pay Amazon $48,000 per job. Here's the breakdown: Amazon was set to receive $897 million from New York City's Relocation and Employment Assistance Program. The program offers business income tax credits to relocated jobs from outside of New York City. It would have also got a 15-year property-tax abatement worth an estimated $386 million via the city's Industrial & Commercial Abatement Program. The online retailer was going to receive $1.2 billion in refundable 'Excelsior' tax credits if its job creation goals - 25,000 full-time, high-paying roles in 2028 - were met. Amazon could have received an additional $505 million in a capital grant. Advertisement

Rival Alphabet Inc's Google said in December it plans to invest more than $1 billion on a new campus in New York to double its current headcount of more than 7,000 people.

Shares of Amazon were down 0.3 percent after the announcement.

Hours before the announcement, Amazon officials in New York betrayed no knowledge of the deal's cancellation when they met with local community members on Thursday morning, said Kenny Greenberg, a neon artist and member of Long Island City's community board.

'Either they are really good poker players or they were not aware,' Greenberg said of the Amazon representatives. 'There was no hint of this at all.'

Greenberg said he had been open to Amazon's arrival if it had led to improvements in infrastructure, but that 'unanswered questions' continued to mount as time went on.

The meeting with Amazon officials had been held to answer concerns from the community about labor conditions for Amazon's warehouse and delivery workers and the company's opposition to labor unions.

'Defeating an unprecedented act of corporate welfare is a triumph that should change the way we do economic development deals in our city & state forever,' Jimmy Van Bramer, a city councilman from Queens who had opposed the project, said on Twitter.

One of the city's most powerful private-sector unions, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, said the company's abrupt exit confirmed its criticisms.

'Rather than addressing the legitimate concerns that have been raised by many New Yorkers Amazon says you do it our way or not at all, we will not even consider the concerns of New Yorkers,' union spokeswoman Chelsea Connor said in a statement. 'That's not what a responsible business would do.'

Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos has been embroiled in his own personal saga after it was revealed he was having an affair with TV anchor Lauren Sanchez

Amazon's stunning announcement to abandon its proposed campus came just two days after the Cuomo administration's economic development czar repeatedly praised the deal during his three hours of testimony before a joint legislative hearing in Albany on the governor's $175 billion state budget proposal.

Several members of the Senate and Assembly voiced skepticism about the state and city incentives that initially convinced Amazon to choose Long Island City, questioning economic development Commissioner Howard Zemsky about its cost for taxpayers.

He responded by focusing on the number jobs and the billions in tax revenues the project was expected to generate over the next two decades.

'There's nothing we can equate this to in the history of the state,' Zemsky said Tuesday. 'It's the largest economic development prize we've ever had.'

On the streets of Queens, reaction to Amazon's decision to cancel its headquarters differed among the residents and local businesses.

Andrew Ousley, a resident of one of the new rental high-rises near the site Amazon had considered, applauded Thursday's news.

'I was afraid that having Amazon in our backyard was going to lead to rent hikes and increased prices in stores and restaurants,' he said. 'Given I both live and operate my business out of LIC, my plan was to move out before they arrived. But now that they're not coming, I'm more likely to stay and see how the neighborhood continues to grow and evolve in a more organic fashion.'

But Tom Grech, president and CEO of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, struggled to express his 'sadness and dismay.'

'An entire generation will look back at these last few months and ask us why,' he said in a statement. 'I hope those that opposed this Amazon deal have the answers to what we lost today. Queens is one of the best places for a tech firm - for any forward-looking business - to expand into, with our diverse talent pool, entrepreneurial spirit, thriving arts scene and boundless energy. It is a shame to lose the opportunity, investment and jobs that Amazon offered, but there are many more ways for businesses in Queens to thrive, and we will be welcoming them with open arms.'A man's explosive joke about needing to quickly use the bathroom at a Home Depot was mistaken by an employee as an actual bomb threat.

Police were called to the Home Depot in Wichita, Kansas on Monday after an employee overheard a customer in the men's bathroom telling people to clear out because there was a bomb in the building.

But it turned out to just be a humorous warning for other customers in the restroom, according to police.

Police were called to the Home Depot in Wichita, Kansas (above) on Monday after an employee overheard a customer in the men's bathroom telling people to clear out because there was a bomb

'You all need to get out of here because I'm fixin' to blow it up,' the man said in the bathroom, according to the police report.

A store employee altered security after another man, who had overheard the comment, later came out of a stall and joked: 'Somebody told me there's a bomb in the building, you need to leave the building.'

The employee immediately left the bathroom and security called 911.

The man was identified by staff as a regular customer and his name was handed over to police.

He had left the store by the time police arrived but they managed to make contact over the phone.

The man told police 'that he had no intention of causing such alarm, and that the comment he said... was meant to be funny,' the police report states.

He said he had overheard the other man making the comment and that he and other men had all laughed because they knew it was a joke.

The men had understood it to be a warning that the man 'was in a serious need to defecate, and that he was attempting to provide a polite warning to the other patrons of the bathroom, the report stated.

The customer told police he was just trying to be funny when he relayed the warning to the employee.

He added that he didn't know the 'men's bathroom humor' would be taken so seriously.A leopard sneaked up on a group of sleeping dogs in India and dragged one away by the neck.

The animal was lying on the ground in a small concrete area when the predator stealthy went in for the kill.

Chilling CCTV footage shows the moment the big cat began to slowly creep towards its prey.

A leopard sneaked up on a group of sleeping dogs in India and dragged one away by the neck

It can be seen in the corner of the frame appearing from behind a wall.

As it got closer to the resting canine the leopard suddenly pounced and grabbed the dog by the back of the neck.

The startled dog moved to get away and escape but was pinned down.

It tried to put up a bit of a fight but was no match for the much larger predator and was carried away in an instant.

The animal was lying on the ground in a small concrete area when the predator stealthy went in for the kill

It can be seen in the corner of the frame appearing from behind a wall

As the leopard ran away two similar-looking brown dogs gave chase, but the leopard was too quick for them.

The other dogs and a cat got up and ran in different directions out of fear.

The CCTV footage shows a few dogs sleeping at a brick kiln in Huliyur Durga village near Kunigal in Karnataka state the night of January 12.

Local residents complained that the leopard has been raiding their homes to carry off pets and even cattle.

They have demanded the forest officials trap the leopard and take it away.A South Korean woman killed her new pet puppy by throwing it against a wall at a pet shop when the store owner would not give her a refund.

The incident took place in the city of Gangneung in the north-eastern province of Gangwon, and the three-month-old puppy reportedly died the next day from a brain hemorrhage.

According to local media, the Maltese dog ate some of its own droppings, common behaviour for many young puppies, and the woman was convinced that the pet shop had 'deceived' her by selling her a sick animal.

The woman took her pet puppy from the dog carrier and hurled it behind the counter because the pet shop would not give her a refund

She faces up to two years behind bars as well as a 20-million-KRW (13,870) fine if she is convicted

She then visited the shop with her husband and tried to return the dog, but the pet shop owner refused and she hurled the puppy at him, according to reports.

CCTV footage of the incident has been uploaded to YouTube where it has been widely shared with more than 1.2 million views.

The woman, identified only by her surname Lee, told local media that she 'threw it out of anger, but I did not know it would actually die'.

She added: 'The next day, I calmed down and I sent a lengthy text message, apologising to the owner and the puppy.

The three-month-old Maltese puppy suffered from brain bleeding after the impact as it fell to the ground and later on died

'I was shocked to hear the puppy has died. I'm very apologetic to the puppy and I'm regretful of my actions. I don't think I could forgive myself.'

The woman has also promised to 'reflect on my actions for the rest of my life and volunteer at stray dog shelters'.

Meanwhile, the local police have confirmed that they have pressed charges against the woman.

Under the law, anyone who kills or tortures an animal can face up to two years behind bars as well as a 20-million-KRW (13,870) fine, according to local media.Three people have been found dead after a triple homicide on Valentine's Day-eve at a gated community in Newport Beach, California.

Newport Beach Police Department were summoned to a home in the Bonita Canyon community on Wednesday night, after an encounter with a man at an emergency room spurred a welfare check at the property.

Officers found two women and a man dead inside 36 Palazzo, Bonita Canyon Drive.

Police say all three of the slain victims were known to one another, and a man has been taking into custody on suspicion of their murder.

Police were altered to the home at the Bonita Canyon community (pictured) after encountering a man in an emergency room

.@NewportBeachPD is investigating a triple murder at a home in a gated community. Investigators say a male suspect has been detained, he is at an #Irvine hospital right now. Police say there is no threat to the public. #CBSLA @CBSLA @KCBSKCALDesk pic.twitter.com/de2myAZUTX  Rachel Kim (@CBSLARachel) February 14, 2019

The suspect has been confirmed to be the same man police encountered at Irvine Medical Center, but officers are refusing to release information about his identity at this time.

He was said to still be at the medical facility in the early hours of Thursday morning, before police transported him to a holding facility at the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

'It appears that all the involved parties were known to each other and there is no ongoing threat to the area,' Newport Beach Police Spokesperson Heather Rangel said in a statement.

Police have not released any details of the suspect or the victims. But Police continue their investigation of the property as of Thursday morning

Much of the road continues to be cordoned off with crime scene tape. There is no other outstanding suspects and police said there was 'no on-going threat' to the area

Police encountered the suspect in Irvine Medical Center (pictured above)

Detectives and investigators remain at the property as of Thursday morning.

Much of the gated community is still cordoned off with crime scene tape.

There are no other outstanding suspects in the case.

'Yesterday on February 13, our department received a call from the Irvine Police Department,' Rangel told MailOnline.

'Irvine PD were in contact with an adult male at the time they sent the request to conduct a welfare check at 36 Palazzo.

'Upon arrival officers' observations confirmed that a further investigation was necessary.

'At this time the cause of death is unknown - the means is homicide.'

Anyone with information or who may have witnessed the crime is urged to contact police on 949-644-3762.A retired detective is convinced the patriarch of his family is the perpetrator of one of America's most notorious unsolved murderers.

Steve Hodel believes his father George, a well-known surgeon based in Los Angeles is the Black Dahlia killer and could also be responsible for a spate of other brutal unsolved murders.

Hodel, a retired LAPD homicide detective, said his father could be the suspect due to the way the body of the Black Dahlia victim was cut up which could only have been learned by someone who attended medical school.

Elizabeth Short, an aspiring actress, was found dead in a vacant lot in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles in January 1947.

Steve Hodel (left) believes his late father Dr George Hodel (right), a well-known surgeon based in Los Angeles, is the Black Dahlia killer due to the way the bodies were left mutilated

Her face had been slashed from cheek to jaw and her body was left positioned on the ground in two halves with the blood drained from it.

Police considered Hodel as a suspect as he had come to the attention of authorities following the death of his secretary, Ruth Spaulding, by a drug overdose in 1945.

However the Black Dahlia case has never been solved and is currently the focus of TNTs new series 'I Am the Night', which was co-created by Patty Jenkins.

The show stars Chris Pine as a roving LA reporter seeking the truth about the mysterious doctor.

Steve Hodel told the New York Post: 'The killer had performed a hemicorporectomy on her [Short].

'Its a unique procedure that was taught at medical school in the 1930s, when he was there, where you cut between the second and third lumbar vertebrae.

He added: 'Its the only way you can divide a body without cutting through bone.'

Hodel is working to prove his late father's guilt and has been writing and researching about the case for decades.

He claimed his father, who worked as a top LA public health specialist, was an art lover with a specific interest in surrealist painters.

Elizabeth Short, 22, (pictured) was famously murdered in 1947 in Los Angeles and her case has never been solved. The aspiring actress was found strewn beside a sidewalk

The case gained national attention and Short was quickly dubbed the Black Dahlia. She was found with her torso chopped in half, drained of blood and a joker smile carved into her face. Pictured: Short's body at the crime scene

Steve believes his father killed Elizabeth Short in the basement of the house where George lived with his third wife Dorothy and their three sons.

According to his research, his father was knew Short as a patient and eventually began an extra-marital affair with her.

He added: 'My investigation began when certain information came to me in the days following my fathers death at age 91 in 1999.'

An early clue which raised alarms bells for Steve was seeing a note the Black Dahlia killer mailed to an LA newspaper that matched his dads block handwriting.

Steve believes his father killed Elizabeth Short (pictured) in the sacrament of house George lived in with his third wife Dorothy

He has linked his father to the Chicago 'Lipstick Murders' of 1945-46, which included a 6-year-old girl who was also given a hemicorporectomy, as well as the 1945 murder of his secretary.

He said he could also be the infamous Zodiac killer, who carried out a spate of murders in Northern California in the late sixties and seventies.

Hodel believes his father wanted to emulate the artwork he loved when carrying out the murders due to the skillful way he carved up and mutilated the bodies of women.

'My fathers personal insanity was directly linked to his belief in surrealism.

A photograph of a threatening letter assembled from newspaper lettering that was addressed to the Los Angeles Herald-Express and claims to have been written by the killer of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short

Rasha Pecoraro (left), her half-sister Yvette Gentile (right) and their mother Fauna Hodel, (center), who was the granddaughter of George Hodel, have released a new podcast about their family and the Black Dahlia case

'He really believed there was no difference between dream and waking states. He was a nihilist, a misogynist and a sadist of the highest order.'

'[The murder] was his homage to Man Ray in replicating his artwork. Man Ray lived just a couple of miles from us. My father would have seen Minotaur and The Lovers  these were photos he did in the thirties.

Both photos are renderings of a disembodied female torso, evocative of the way in which Shorts bisected body was posed at the crime scene.

'I Am the Night' is told through the eyes of Fauna Hodel (played by doe-eyed actress India Eisley), the granddaughter of George Hodel.

Black Dahlia Avenger III: Murder As a Fine Art is Steve Hodel's latest book about his father George and the Black Dahlia case

Given away at birth to an adoptive mother and raised with no ties to her biological parents, Fauna Hodel decides at the age of 16 to look for her genetic family -- a path strewn with pitfalls and dark secrets.

Faunas two real-life daughters, Yvette Gentile and her half-sister, Rasha Pecoraro, 40, host a podcast called 'Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia', which was released on Wednesday.

Pecoraro told the New York Post: 'I one hundred million percent believe that George Hodel killed Elizabeth Short,' Pecoraro tells The Post. It just all makes sense,' Gentille added.

They claimed they did not want to go into their great-grandfathers house, where he is believed to have murdered Short, during production days of 'I Am the Night.'

'Some heavy s**t went down there. The first time we went, I had a panic attack down in the basement.

'My mom got on her knees and started speaking in tongues, which isnt something she does. You just knew  you just knew evil was lurking in those walls.'Richard Harrington (file image) - a Remain supporter who has vowed to resign if Theresa May backs a no deal Brexit - said members of the European Research Group are 'not Conservatives'

Hardline Brexiteers led by Jacob Rees-Mogg are 'traitors' to the Conservatives who should join Nigel Farage's new Brexit Party, a Business Minister claimed tonight.

Richard Harrington - a Remain supporter who has vowed to resign if Theresa May backs a no deal Brexit - said members of the European Research Group are 'not Conservatives'.

He said the champagne party hosted by Mr Rees-Mogg on the night Mrs May lost the meaningful vote was 'treachery'.

The Brexit Party was officially recognised by the Electoral Commission last week and it has been endorsed by Nigel Farage and other ex-Ukip officials as a new Eurosceptic party.

It has vowed to stand candidates in future elections and is now allowed to raise money.

Mr Harrington said the ERG were a 'minority of a minority' - a reference to the hard core of around 30 to 50 Tories MPs among the more than 100 who voted against the deal on January 15.

He told the House magazine: 'The Prime Minister has done a pretty good job of standing up to them up till now, but they were drinking champagne to celebrate her losing her deal and I regard that as being treachery.

'I read that Nigel Farage is setting up a new party called 'Brexit' and if I were them I'd be looking at that, because that seems to reflect their views more than the Conservative Party does.

'They should read carefully what that party's got to offer, because in my view they're not Conservatives.

'There are people who are very solid and stringent in their views and if I were they I would be looking at a party that seems designed for them  Nigel Farage's party.'

Mr Harrington said the champagne party hosted by Jacob Rees-Mogg (pictured today in Westminster) on the night Mrs May lost the meaningful vote was 'treachery'

Mr Harrington has publicly warned the Prime Minister he could quit the Government to vote against a no deal Brexit.

And he was dismissive today of the so-called 'Malthouse Compromise' seen by some as a way of bridging the divide between Leave and Remain supporters on the Irish border backstop.

He said: 'It's basically regurgitated Canada Plus, which we know is not at all suited to our close relationship with the European union, plus a bit of glorified number plate recognition kit, which they've got there anyway.

'I think it's just fanciful nonsense.'We knew all along what he was saying wasnt going to mesh with the way he was actually going to govern, said Al Mendelsohn, former chairman of the county Republican Party. The idea that he should be surprised by the state of the budget is really almost farcical.Ten suspected migrants were picked up off the Dover coast in the early hours of today as authorities brace themselves for more attempting to cross the Channel as the weather warms up.

A boat was spotted at the entrance to Dover Port at 2.15am when HMC Vigilant was sent to the scene where six people were discovered and brought to the Dover shore.

They have been handed to immigration officials for interview.

Then, around 4.30am, the Dover coastguard was alerted to a second sighting of a RHIB in the Channel which was found and then escorted to Dover by CPV Hunter.

Kent Refugee Action Network, which supports migrants when they arrive in the UK, is preparing for a busy spring and summer as they expect more migrants to cross on boats. Pictured: stock image of the cliffs a Dover, in Kent

The four people on board were also passed to immigration officials.

All ten people were found to be medically well and their nationalities have not yet been established.

It is the first discovery of migrants since January 21 when a total of 23 migrants were picked up in two separate incidents.

Kent Refugee Action Network, which supports migrants when they arrive in the UK, is preparing for a busy spring and summer as they expect more migrants to cross on boats.

Razia Shariff, chief executive of the group, said: 'We're very much expecting an increase this spring and summer. The warmer weather and brighter conditions will mean more refugees will want to arrive.

'We'll be preparing for that increase by making sure we're offering more help and support which comes in different forms.

'I think they'll be more arriving by boat. We know that the human traffickers controlling them will exploit the better conditions.

'They will try anything, these journeys are just income generation for them.'

An experienced seaman is also warning of an increase in migrants arriving in the next few months.

The source said: 'It's gone quiet on the migrant front but officials are bracing themselves for a huge influx in the coming weeks. Summer is approaching which means the nights are shorter, the wind goes right down and it becomes much easier. It'll be simple for them.

'They could leave at 10pm and arrive by 2am or even come later. They won't be putting themselves in anywhere near as much danger as before.

'And they've seen the hundreds that have arrived this winter, so if they know it's going to be much easier in the spring and summer even more will arrive. Conditions would be brighter and easier.

'Then there's the confusion over Brexit. Nobody knows what will happen or how it will impact everything. That will be on the front of their minds as well.'

The source added migrant gang bosses in France were looking to increase the number of migrants coming over to the UK to get more money.

He described them as 'evil', 'very dangerous' and 'ruthless'.

He added: 'They'll be looking to steal fishing boats. When they are stolen the migrants can get put on it and then go out of the harbour. It's just like stealing a car, they'll hot wire it.

'You could easily get 50 or more migrants on a fishing boat. The authorities are aware of this. They know there's a new threat emerging.

There's been one or two boats stolen and used to bring migrants over, they are now expecting more.

'Fisherman over in France will be told to improve security and urged to make sure their boats are locked because of this tactic.

'The authorities are aware of these new methods and they'll be trying to clamp down on them.'Advertisement

Longtime Rep. John Dingell was remembered Thursday as 'one of the greats' as lawmakers and former colleagues hailed his record-breaking service in the House.

The 92-year-old Dingell who died last week, served 59 years in Congress, longer than anyone else in U.S. history. The Michigan Democrat was the longtime chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Many of the laws forged over the past 60 years reflect Dingell's influence, former House Speaker John Boehner and other speakers said, and touch on everything from health care to the environment, civil rights and the auto industry, which Dingell fiercely defended throughout his tenure.

'John Dingell was one of the greats, the gentleman from Michigan, the dean of the House, the chairman,' said Boehner, R-Ohio.

Rep. Fred Upton, who followed Dingell as Energy and Commerce chairman, called Dingell 'Mr. Michigan,' and said Dingell's love of his home state was unmatched. Upton, a Michigan Republican, recalled Dingell's famous remark about the committee: 'If it moves, it's energy. If it doesn't it's commerce. We had the world.'

Former President Bill Clinton said the funeral at Holy Trinity Catholic Church marked one of the few times anyone in attendance could be in the same room with Dingell and get the last word.

Mourning: Debbie Dingell (center) was flanked by Bill and Hillary Clinton at the Washington D.C. funeral for her husband John

Public comfort: Bill Clinton hugged Debbie Dingell at the funeral services for her husband John, who died last week. He was the longest-serving Congressman in history with 59 years in the House

Reaching out: Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton shared the front seat at the funeral with Debbie Dingell, who now represents her late husband's district, which runs from the west of Detroit to Ann Arbor, MI

Comfort: Steny Hoyer, the second-most powerful Democrat in the House was also one of the speakers at the funeral and hugged Debbie Dingell after his address

Wit and wisdom: Bill Clinton said that the funeral for John Dingell was likely to be the only time that those present would get the last word over the congressman

Tribute: 'John Dingell was about the best do-er in the history of American public life,' Clinton said, citing Dingell's role in a host of landmark laws, including the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, Endangered Species Act, Clear Air Act and many others.'

Farewell: Bill Clinton touches John Dingell's casket after speaking at Holy Trinity Church at the congressman's funeral mass

Service: John Dingell represented the same district - known most recently as the 12th - for 59 years. It was represented by his father, John Dingell Sr. before him and is now held by his widow Debbie

Among the mourners: Lynda Carter, who played Wonder Woman, was in the church for the funeral for John Dingell. She is a longtime Democratic supporter

Final farewell: Bill Clinton was at Debbie Dingell's side as the coffin was readied to be taken from the church, and walked out arm in arm with his wife Hillary

Support: Debbie Dingell followed her husband's casket with Bill Clinton supporting her on her left and Hillary Clinton on her right

Moment of levity: Hillary Clinton and Debbie Dingell found a moment of humor in Bill's address in tribute to John Dingell

Procession: An Army honor guard prepare to take the casket of John Dingell from Holy Trinity Catholic Church, with Bill Clinton preparing to escort Debbie Dingell, his widow

Final moments: John Dingell's flag-draped casket was taken from Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown, Washington D.C., by an honor guard, before burial at Arlington National Cemetery

Tribute: Bill Clinton led mourners in saluting as John Dingell's casket left for burial at Arlington National Cemetery

Blessing: Bill Clinton received a blessing during holy communion from the principal celebrant of John Dingell's requiem

Comfort: Speaker Nancy Pelosi was among the mourners for John Dingell and spoke to members of his family at Holy Trinity Church, in Georgetown, Washington D.C.

Heavyweights: Among those at the requiem mass were (from left) Democrats Steny Hoyer, the Democratic majority leader in the House; John Lewis, the Georgia Congressman and civil rights icon; Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker; and John Boehner, the former Republican Speaker

Also mourning: Freshmen members of the Democratic caucus in the House were present including Rashida Tlaib, who represents a Michigan seat; and firebrand social media star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Final farewell: An Army honor guard carry the remains of John Dingell to the hearse which will take his casket to Arlington National Cemetery

While Dingell served for nearly six decades, it was what he did while in Congress that matters more, Clinton said.

'John Dingell was about the best do-er in the history of American public life,' Clinton said, citing Dingell's role in a host of landmark laws, including the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, Endangered Species Act, Clear Air Act and many others.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a close friend, called the 6-foot-3 Dingell larger than life and said he was 'imposing' and even intimidating.

'He was our very own Big John,' Hoyer said, noting that while 'sometimes acerbic,' Dingell was 'as tender as he was tenacious and he became a dear friend.'

About 800 people attended a service Tuesday in Dearborn, Michigan, where Dingell lived.

Tribute: Democratic majority leader Steny Hoyer was one of those delivering a eulogy for the late Congressman

Also speaking: John Lewis, the Democratic congressman from Georgia and a civil rights hero, was one of the speakers at the funeral at Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown, Washington D.C.

Comfort: John Lewis hugged Debbie Dingell after speaking in tribute to her late husband

Honor guard: John Dingell's casket was carried to his funeral service by an Army honor guard. He joined in 1944 at 18 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant

Full: The nave of Holy Trinity Church in Washington D.C. was packed for the funeral of John Dingell, at which Bill Clinton was one of the speakers

Farewell: Debbie Dingell was at the door of Holy Trinity to greet the casket of her husband John, who died at 92

Pomp: The flag-draped casket of former Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., arrived at Holy Trinity Catholic Church with an Army honor guard

Prayer: John Dingell was mourned by a packed Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown, D.C.

Prayer: Among the mourners at the service were (behind Nancy Pelosi) House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer

Arriving: Nancy Pelosi, Fred Upton, the Michigan Republican congressman who also eulogized John Dingell, and John Lewis (R-MI), center, and Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), left, arrive to attend funeral services for former Rep. John Dingell at Holy Trinity Catholic Church on February 14, 2019 at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington, DC. Dingell, who represented southeast Michigan for 59 years in the House of Representatives, died last week at age 92. (Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais - Pool/Getty Images)

Congresswomen mourn: California Democrats Maxine Waters (left) and Doris Matsui (right) were at the service

Presidential hopes: Amy Klobuchar, the senior Minnesota senator who is running for the Democratic nomination, walked in to Holy Trinity Catholic Church directly after Bill Clinton

She's running too: New York junior senator Kirsten Gillibrand was among the mourners for the longest-serving congressman in historyAn earthquake has struck yet again in a part of Britain that suffered a 'swarm' of tremors last summer - sparking scores of reports from worried residents.

Newdigate, a village near Dorking in Surrey, suffered a 2.4-magnitude tremor at 7.43am today - recorded by the British Geological Survey and felt by 80 residents.

Local residents and some further afield in West Sussex told the BGS that their 'furniture shook very gently' and 'everything moved forwards then backwards'.

Newdigate, a village near Dorking in Surrey, suffered a 2.4-magnitude tremor at 7.43am today

Stephen Hicks from the University of Southampton and David Hawthorn from the British Geological Survey install a monitoring station in Surrey last July to meisure seismic activity

Others told of 'a loud bang and strong impact and shake as though something had fallen on the house' and 'general rumble that lasted for a couple of seconds'.

Last year the area suffered 15 tremors between April 1 and October 9, but the BGS has insisted they were natural earthquakes - and not linked to local fracking.

How many quakes have hit UK in recent years? Britain expected to have an earthquake measuring 5 or higher on the Richter scale about once every eight years. Tremors between 1 and 1.9 are expected every two-and-a-half days. The biggest earthquake in recent years was on February 27, 2008, with Market Rasen, Lincolnshire at its epicentre. It measured 5.2 on the Richter scale and was felt across much of Britain. In the past five years there have been 14 earthquakes in the UK. Advertisement

Special monitoring equipment was installed last July to better understand what is happening beneath the surface of the area, which is near Gatwick Airport.

BGS seismologist Davie Galloway said: 'It could be the start of another swarm, or it may just be a single event. Time will tell. With the past cluster or swarm we put it down to natural seismicity.

'We live on a dynamic planet. Plates move about all the time. They're bashing and moving away from each other.'

There have been fears that the quakes are being caused by fracking, which sees water pumped into the ground to crack subsurface rocks, releasing oil and gas.

But oil exploration company UKOG has previously insisted that there is no link with the quakes because of its work at its Horse Hill site north of Gatwick airport.

The quake struck at 7.43am in an area hit by 15 tremors between April 1 and October 9 last year

Despite the area suffering from 15 earthquakes last year, the BGS has insisted they were all natural

Special monitoring equipment was installed last July to better understand what is happening beneath the surface of the area, which is near Gatwick Airport

The firm said this is because it does not involve subsurface drilling and so has little to no seismic impact on the surrounding area.

Does fracking cause earthquakes? Earthquakes are usually caused when rock underground suddenly breaks along a fault. This sudden release of energy causes the seismic waves that make the ground shake, and in extreme cases can even split the Earth's crust up to its surface. Fracking works by injecting huge volumes of water into the rocks surrounding a natural gas deposit or hydrothermal well. The water fractures the rocks, creating dozens of cracks through which gas and heat can escape to the surface. Fracking can cause earthquakes by introducing water to faultlines, lubricating the rocks and making them more likely to slip. When two blocks of rock or two plates rub together, they catch on one another. The rocks are still pushing against each other, but not moving, building pressure that is only released when the rocks break. During the earthquake and afterward, the plates or blocks of rock start moving, and they continue to move until they get stuck again. Advertisement

Mr Galloway added: 'Last year there were 15 tremors from April 1 to October 9. They are a natural earthquake - and not linked to fracking or any other similar activity.'

A report from the Oil and Gas Authority in November 2018 also found there was 'no causal link' between oil activity and the earthquakes in the area last summer.

However, scientists from Edinburgh University have concluded that the release of pressure at the Horse Hill site could be a contributing factor to the tremors.

There are roughly 200 to 300 quakes in Britain every year, but the vast majority are so small that no one notices them.

However, between 20 to 30 are over a magnitude of 2, which can be felt over a wider area. Quakes are most often attributed to glacial rebound.

Until about 10,500 years ago, much of the north of the UK was covered by a thick layer of ice - which pushed the rocks down into the underlying mantle.

These rocks have been slowly rising back up ever since the ice melted, causing occasional earthquakes in the process.

The UK is also subject to tectonic stresses caused by the expansion of the Atlantic Ocean, which is slowly pushing the entire of Eurasia to the east.

Britain is also affected by the northward motion of Africa, which is pushing into Europe from the south.Infowars host Alex Jones will have to undergo a sworn deposition in the defamation case brought against him by family members of Sandy Hook school shooting victims, a judge has ruled.

A Connecticut superior court judge ordered Jones on Wednesday to sit for a five-hour deposition by attorneys hired by the families of the Sandy Hook victims.



As part of the judge's ruling, the families of the victims can also depose several other defendants in the case, including those critical to Infowars' business operations.

Jones is being sued by the families for calling the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School a hoax on his Infowars web show.

A Connecticut superior court judge ordered Infowars host Alex Jones on Wednesday to sit for a five-hour deposition by attorneys hired by the families of the Sandy Hook victims

The lawsuit filed in Connecticut by families of the victims say that Jones' comments on Infowars have tormented them and subjected them to harassment and death threats by his followers.

Some of his followers have accused the families of being crisis actors and the lawsuit accuses Jones of orchestrating the attack that has lasted years.

The families allege that Jones knew the false claims about them being crisis actors were lies but he continued to push them because it made him money.

Jones has since admitted he believes the Sandy Hook shooting occurred.

He has defended the discussions on his show as 'rhetorical hyperbole' but denied it was defamation.

Jones has argued he was acting as a journalist and has previously cited First Amendment rights.

The decision on Wednesday comes after the judge ruled last month that the families suing Jones can also review the internal marketing and financial documents of the Infowars site as part of their case.

The lawsuit has been filed by six victims: the parents of four of the children killed and the relatives of two slain educators.

The lawsuit against Jones has been filed by the parents of four of the children killed in the 2012 shooting massacre, including Daniel Barden, Dylan Hockley, Ben Wheeler and Avielle Richman (left to right)

The plaintiffs include: Jacqueline and Mark Barden, parents of Daniel; Nicole and Ian Hockley, parents of Dylan; Francine and David Wheeler, parents of Ben; and Jennifer Hensel and Jeremy Richman, parents of Avielle Richman.

Relatives of slain first-grade teacher Victoria Leigh Soto; and Erica Lafferty-Garbatini, the daughter of slain Principal Dawn Hochsprung, are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

'For years, Alex Jones and his co-conspirators have turned the unthinkable loss of our sweet little Daniel and of so many others into advertising dollars and fundraising appeals,' one plaintiff, Mark Barden, said in a statement after the judge's ruling.

'It is far beyond time that he be held accountable for the pain his false narratives have caused so many, and today's ruling brings us one step closer to doing that.'

Jones is also facing a separate defamation case in Travis County, Texas where his Infowars media company is based.

That case by other families centers on how Jones falsely claimed on his show that one of the victims' parents, Veronique De La Rosa, taped an interview with CNN in front of a studio green screen and not outside a town hall in Newtown after the shooting.

De La Rosa's six-year-old son, Noah Pozner, was among the 20 children and six adults killed in the Newtown, Connecticut, massacre.

The parents contend that Jones had made them part of the Sandy Hook conspiracy with his comments.

Jones is facing an additional lawsuit brought by a man who was falsely identified on the Infowars website as the gunman who killed 17 people in the Parkland school shooting massacre in February last year.

Infowars has also been banned from Apple's App Store, as well as on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Spotify.

Relatives of slain first-grade teacher Victoria Leigh Soto (right) and slain Principal Dawn Hochsprung (left) are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit

Apple said last September that the app violated its rules against 'objectionable content'.

The move makes Apple the latest tech company or social media platform to take action against Jones, a right-wing talk-show host based in Austin, Texas.

Apple said the guidelines Jones violated bar 'defamatory, discriminatory, or mean-spirited content'.

This included 'commentary about religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, national/ethnic origin, or other targeted groups, particularly if the app is likely to humiliate, intimidate, or place a targeted individual or group in harm's way.'

Twitter permanently banned Jones and his website from its platform and Periscope, saying that the accounts had violated its behaviour policies.

Jones and Infowars' accounts were removed from a litany of platforms in the past month, including Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and others.

Spotify led the charge by removing every episode of the Alex Jones Show from the streaming site in August.

Prior to this, Spotify had only gotten rid of specific episodes of the show, leaving most of the library up on its platform.Tennessee lawmakers have proposed a bill that would charge moms with assault if they use drugs while pregnant and their baby is born addicted.

State representative Terri Weaver and State senator Janice Bowling have both backed the bill which was filed last week.

It says that if a woman uses an illegal drug while pregnant and if the child is born addicted or harmed by it then she can be charged, reports Fox 17.

However women can avoid being charged if they enroll in a recovery program before the baby is born.

State representative Terri Weaver, right, and State senator Janice Bowling, left, have backed the bill to charge women with assault if their baby is born addicted to drugs

They then have to complete this program after the birth of their child, regardless of whether the baby is born addicted or not.

If the bill passes it will come into effect this summer, on July 1.

A similar bill was passed in Tennessee in 2014 on a trial basis and this also had a provision for mother's to be able to get treatment.

Carmelita James told Fox13 Memphis that she believes addicted mothers should be sent straight to rehab when they have their baby.

James, who smoked pot while pregnant, said mothers: 'Should automatically be sentenced to rehab. No stops, go straight to rehab.'

Her own daughter was born with birth defects and died of SIDs at two months old.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report showed the number of children suffering from a drug withdrawal syndrome increased by nearly 400 percent from 2000 to 2012.Six Labradors will be killed at the end of a medical trial testing dental implants at a Swedish laboratory.

The two-year-old animals will be killed at the University of Gothenburg so that researchers can continue to test how the implants alter bone and tissue.

As part of the testing, each of the black Labradors have had more than a third of their teeth extracted and replaced with implants.

The Djurrattsalliansen (Animal Rights Alliance) is trying to prevent Venus, Milia, Mimosa, Luna, Lotus and Zuri being killed at the end of their treatment.

Put down: Pictured are dogs used in a previous experiment. Six Labradors will be killed at the University of Gothenburg later this month

The Local reported Goran Landberg, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research at the university, as saying: 'It's difficult for us to reach a consensus on these issues, but dialogue is important.

'As we see it, animal experiments are still needed in some kinds of research, to develop new medicines and treatment methods and gain basic knowledge.'

More than 80,000 people have signed the petition put forward by the Animal Rights Alliance.

One vet told Swedish TV that the dogs would be 'emotionally broken' by their treatment (file photo of a black Labrador)

But the chairman of the organisation has said that despite the signatures 'in two weeks they will be killed' the Harliga Hund reported.

The case has drawn outcry in Swedish media, with a vet called Mark Collins recently speaking on TV4 to deplore the treatment of the dogs.

Mr Collins said 'I do not understand at all' - he described how removing a Labrador's teeth requires great force and would put them in substantial pain.

He added that because of the close bond they have with humans the treatment they have received would leave the dogs 'emotionally broken'.

Under Swedish regulations animal testing is allowed only if researchers can prove it is the only way to obtain the information.

The university have received this approval and say that the research is being carried out by a highly qualified team, which includes vets.

But the Animal Rights Alliance allege in their investigation they uncovered notes relating to the pup called Venus which revealed she was being treated for 'lying sores on her elbows.'

They also said the dog was being kept in a cold room.

Dogs were selected for the dental tests because of the similarity between their saliva and oral bacteria and that of humans.Twitter users have slammed the Home Office for an 'appalling' Valentine's Day tweet about prosecuting couples in sham marriages.

The tweet reads: '#Rosesareredvioletsareblue, if your marriage is a sham we'll be on to you' #happyvalentinesday'.

It was posted by the Governement department in 2013 but has resurfaced five years later after bosses refused to take it down.

Theresa May was Home Secretary at the time, under former Prime Minister David Cameron.

This tweet was posted by a UK Home Office social media spokesman on Valentine's Day 2013

Pictured: Home Office headquarters in Marsham Street, Westminster, London

People branded the post 'disgraceful', 'appalling' and 'embarrassing' and demanded it be removed.

Some shared stories of how the Home Office has 'failed' their families, while others came up with mock Valentine's Day rhymes.

One person posted: 'Who thought this was a good idea?', while another told employees to 'do some real work'.

Someone else commented in response: 'Fire trucks are red Policemen wear blue There's not many left And that's all on you.'

Another funny rhyme read: 'Roses are red My favourite fruit is cherries Remember that time Chris Grayling was sold some invisible ferries.'

One man posted claiming his Italian wife had been sent someone else's details and ID card when applying for UK residency.

Other married couples complained they are forced to live in separate countries due to UK immigration restriction.

Some users appeared to think the tweet was posted today, calling on the Home Office to 'delete' it and 'fire your social media team'.

Afzal Khan, Labour MP for Gorton, posted: 'Absolutely inappropriate from the Home Office. @LabourHomeTeam would never use a day like Valentine's Day for such remarks. Once again a shocking reminder of the Government's Hostile Environment Policy.'

A Home Office spokesman said they could not comment on the tweet, but it 'wasn't in line with current policy'.

Prime Minister Theresa May was Home Secretary when the tweet was posted, not current department leader Sajid JavidFormer Love & Hip Hop: New York cast member Peter Gunz was mercilessly mocked on social media for his congratulatory Grammy post for Cardi B, three years after the two got into fierce argument during the reality show's Season 6 reunion.

Gunz - half of 90s duo Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz and whose real name is Peter Pankey - shared the post on both Instagram and Twitter on Monday.

'20 years ago @lord_tariq Big Pun and I lost at the Grammy awards and I was wondering would I ever see one come home to the Bronx,' the New York native said. 'Well here it is.. Congratulations @iamcardib well deserved very solid album.'

The rapper - half of 90s duo Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz and whose real name is Peter Pankey - shared a post on Monday, congratulating Cardi B for winning Best Rap Album

'20 years ago @lord_tariq Big Pun and I lost at the Grammy awards and I was wondering would I ever see one come home to the Bronx,' the New York native said. 'Well here it is.. Congratulations @iamcardib well deserved very solid album'

The rapper is referring to the group's hit 'Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)' that was nominated for an award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1999. Gunz was also referring Big Punisher's 1999 Best Rap Album nomination for 'Capital Punishment.'

The post was a congratulatory post for Cardi B after she wan the Best Rap Album for 'Invasion of Privacy' at Sunday's Grammy Awards.

But many on social media couldn't help but point out that three years ago, Gunz had a very different tune towards the 'Regular Degular Shemgular Girl from the Bronx' while they sat at the Love & Hip Hop Season 6 reunion.

Many on social media couldn't help but point out that three years ago, Gunz had a very different tune towards the 'Regular Degular Shemgular Girl from the Bronx' while they sat at the Love & Hip Hop Season 6 reunion

'Look what you gave Amina and Tara, babies and that's it,' Cardi said during the exchange. 'Are you paying both of their rent, you know you not paying their rent'

During the episode, the two got into a heated exchange when host Nina Parker asked a question about relationship dynamics.

'Look what you gave Amina and Tara, babies and that's it,' Cardi said during the exchange, referring to the messy love triangle Gunz was involved in on the show with his wife and baby mother. 'Are you paying both of their rent, you know you not paying their rent.'

While only Amina Buddafly jumped to Gunz's defense in the moment, the rapper was quick to jump to the defensive and justify his behavior.

Cardi was referring to Gunz messy situationship with Tara Wallace and Amina Buddafly. During their time on the show, Gunz had a family with Wallace but started an affair and got married to Amina. While married, he repeatedly went back and forth between women.

During the tense argument, neither woman hardly spoke up to defend their man. Amina claimed that he 'paid his part' right after announcing that she was pregnant. It was news to Wallace, who was also pregnant at the show

'I see what I see on TV and men like you are the type of men that I be talking about,' the rapper continued. 'You need to get what you want. You get p***y out of both of them and what are they getting in return? What are they getting in return?'

Gunz retorted: 'You don't know me like that, I don't know if one of those butt shots is leaking into your blood stream but you are being very disrespectful right now.'

But Cardi quickly responded: 'Well thank god none of your nut is in my blood stream because I'll be damned.'

As the two get louder, the crowd reacts and security tries to move in to keep the distance between them.

'I see what I see on TV and men like you are the type of men that I be talking about,' the rapper continued. 'You need to get what you want. You get p***y out of both of them and what are they getting in return? What are they getting in return?'

Gunz retorted: 'You don't know me like that, I don't know if one of those butt shots is leaking into your blood stream but you are being very disrespectful right now'

Gunz asserted that Cardi knows who he is, but she said in response: 'An old washed up f**k that be f***ing b***ch's life up and their reputation. She is a talented woman and Tara is a smart ass woman and you got them looking dumb on National TV. Men like you need to get used.

The now irate rapper told Cardi that she doesn't love herself but she declared that not only does she love herself but that Gunz needed to love his 'wives' and kids.

'Go back to the basement where you got your a** done and your tits done,' Gunz shouted at the now-Grammy award winning rapper.

He asks Cardi who she is and she quickly lets him know that he knows who she is.

The now infamous video has been making its rounds on social media again, with many laughing at the irony of Gunz's latter post.

Cardi B performs onstage during the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards

The now infamous video has been making its rounds on social media again, with many laughing at the irony of Gunz's latter post

One user shared a gif from Cardi B's Pepsi partnership and mockingly asked: 'who are you?'

'Every now and then I think back to the #LHHNY reunion when Peter Gunz tried to come for Cardi B,' said writer Cate Young. 'She's making history and he's making guest appearances on a show he used to star on.'

'To think that three years ago Peter Gunz of all people felt comfortable enough to try and go in on Cardi B, now look at,' another added.

'Cardi B. has a Grammy and Peter Gunz is on a dingy couch somewhere potty training two of his ten kids while opening his new AARP card,' another user added.

The sentiment was shared by @indigogloves, who said: 'You know what I think about a lot? How nasty and rude Peter Gunz was to Cardi B on LHHNY. Always stay gracious, best revenge is yo paper.'

'Life comes at u fast cuz Cardi read peter gunz n he tried to play her..now he praising her..its like that,' added @Maxine_Million.

'Peter Gunz: Who are you? YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHO SHE IS NOW HOME BOI,' declared Kaycee Hodges.

'LMAOOP AT PETER GUNZ SAYING who are you to Cardi B! Well in the words of a KING OF RAP! IF YOU DONT KNOW, NOW YOU KNOW N****A"' added a different user.Missing University of Hull student Libby Squire is pictured in Paris in May 2017 during a gap year when she visited with friends

Police searching for missing student Libby Squire today admitted that she 'may have come to some harm' nearly two weeks after she disappeared.

Fifty detectives and hundreds of uniformed officers have been working around the clock to try to find the 21-year-old University of Hull student, who was reported missing on February 1.

The admission from Humberside Police came as the force released pictures of replicas of clothing Miss Squire was wearing when she was last seen in Hull.

Detective Superintendent Martin Smalley said: 'Over the last two weeks, our inquiries into Libby's disappearance have continued around the clock with detectives and officers working night and day to find her and to understand what happened that night.

'While we do continue to be hopeful and we will always keep an open mind, Libby has been missing for 14 days now and we sadly have to consider she may have come to some harm.

'We are continuing to support Libby's family through this incredibly difficult and distressing time.

'They are understandably distraught not knowing where their daughter and loved one is, and we will endeavour to give them the answers they desperately need.'

Clothes similar to the ones worn by Miss Squire on the night the student disappeared in Hull

Photographs released by Miss Squire's family yesterday show her at home on Christmas Day last year (left) and in Paris in May 2017 (right) when she visited with friends during a gap year

A map of Hull shows the second year philosophy student's movements on the night of January 31 in Hull before she vanished and the areas police have searched

The hunt for Miss Squire today entered its 14th day, after police divers from the regional marine and underwater search unit had yesterday searched beneath the surface of the pond at Oak Road Playing Fields, near her home in Hull.

Other search teams continued an operation to cut back undergrowth near the pond.

Miss Squire is believed to have taken a taxi from The Welly nightclub on Beverley Road, about one and a half miles from her home, after she was refused entry on the evening of January 31.

CCTV footage obtained by the Press Association showed the student outside the club at about 11.20pm that night.

Police search Oak Road Playing Fields in Hull on Tuedsay in connection with the disappearance

Miss Squire's parents Lisa and Russ Squire (pictured) said she 'has a big heart' and is 'much loved' by her three younger siblings

Pawel Relowicz was 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

Police said she was dropped off by the taxi near her home at about 11.29pm and was then seen near a bench on Beverley Road about 10 minutes later, when a motorist offered her help.

Pawel Relowicz, of Hull, was arrested and questioned on suspicion of abduction in connection with Miss Squire's disappearance

More CCTV footage, released last week after it was obtained by ITV News, showed a man getting in and out of a car, minutes after the last sighting of the philosophy student.

In the video, the unidentified man is seen opening the front passenger door before getting back into the car and driving away at about 12.09am on February 1.

The investigation has seen teams from a range of organisations helping with the search.

Large digital posters displaying the face of the missing student have been placed around Hull city centre and petrol stations and local businesses have put up posters on their premises.

Yesterday, her parents Lisa and Russ Squire said she 'has a big heart' and is 'much loved' by her three younger siblings as they issued a series of new pictures of their daughter.

Police search Oak Road playing fields in Hull on Tuesday in connection with the disappearance

Police arrive to search Oak Road Playing Fields in Hull on Tuesday over the disappearance

Timeline: The hunt for missing Libby Squire 11pm, January 31: Libby is refused entry at Welly Club around two miles from her home and put into a taxi 11.30pm: Libby was dropped off on Wellesley Avenue - but does not go inside her house 11.45pm: Libby was seen sitting on a bench around the corner on Beverley Road. A witness says she was seen speaking to the driver of a car. 12.09am: Detectives believe Libby stayed in the area for about half an hour - but is then gone. 12.30am, February 1: A near-neighbour says she woke up after hearing 'blood-curdling' screams. February 6: Pawel Relowicz is arrested on suspicion of Libby's abduction February 8: Police ask for more time to interview abduction suspect. February 10: Relowicz is charged with voyeurism, burglary and indecency - but no charges related to Libby's disappearance. February 11: He pleads not guilty. Advertisement

Mr and Mrs Squire, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, said: 'Libby is a much-loved big sister to her three younger siblings. They all really look up to her and she always expects them to behave.

'Libby has a big heart. She is always happy and having fun. She laughs a lot. She is a real family person and loves spending time at home with them.'

The new photographs showed Miss Squire at home on Christmas Day last year and in Paris in May 2017 when she visited with friends during a gap year.

Last week Pawel Relowicz, of Raglan Street, Hull, was arrested and questioned on suspicion of abduction in connection with Miss Squire's disappearance and police said the 24-year-old remains under investigation.

Residents living on and around Raglan Street have received letters asking if they saw or heard anything unusual on the night the student went missing.

Relowicz was charged with a number of offences unrelated to Miss Squire's disappearance and appeared at Hull Magistrates' Court on Monday, where he pleaded not guilty to charges of voyeurism, outraging public decency and burglary.The fiancee of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi may have escaped being a second victim of the killing, according to Turkish police.

Investigators said the writer's killers were most likely unaware his fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, was waiting for him outside the Saudi consulate, where he was killed on October 2 last year.

The 59-year-old had gone into the consulate in Istanbul to collect divorce papers for his upcoming wedding to Ms Cengiz.

She was left waiting outside for him and his remains have never been found. Turkish police now think if she had entered the embassy she too would have been murdered.

Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed by a 17-man hit squad of Saudi operatives.

Turkish police believe his dismembered body may have been disposed of in a cooking furnace on the grounds of the Saudi consul's nearby residence and burned, according to Turkey's state-run news agency, Anadolu.

CCTV footage of Jamal Khashoggi and his fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, at an apartment building in Istanbul just hours before his death in the Saudi Arabian consulate

Turkish police believe Hatice Cengiz could have also been a victim of the killing if the hit squad knew she was outside

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October last year when he went to pick up divorce documents so he could marry his Turkish fiancee

Police believe Khashoggi's dismembered body could have been carried from the consulate where he was murdered to the consul general's residence nearby where his remains were burnt.

The consulate had two wells and a gas and wood floor furnace that could reach heat of over 1,000 degrees, destroying any DNA traces, Anadolu said today, quoting a report by the Turkish police.

After making numerous contradictory statements about Khashoggi's fate, Riyadh said he had been killed and his body dismembered when negotiations to persuade him to return to Saudi Arabia failed.

Police believe information obtained in the investigation indicated that the dismembered remains of Khashoggi may have been burned, Anadolu said.

Despite Turkey's investigation looking at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul, the consul's residence and several other locations, Khashoggi's remains have not been found.

Khashoggi's killing has severely strained ties between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, although Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has good ties with the Saudi monarch, King Salman.

Erdogan has said Khashoggi's killing was ordered by the highest level of Saudi leadership and has repeatedly called on Saudi officials to identify a 'local cooperator' involved in the killing. Riyadh has rejected accusations that the crown prince was involved.

CCTV footage has emerged allegedly showing Jamal Khashoggi's body parts being carried into Saudi Arabia's consul residence in bags and suitcases on the day he was murdered

Citing police sources, Turkish media said the 59-year-old's dismembered body was carried from the consulate where he was murdered in cases and bags to the consul general's residence where his remains were burnt

Footage from the police report shown on Turkish televisions showed a man believed to be a Khashoggi impersonator walking alongside a man police say is the 'local cooperator' in the case. The identity of the man was not immediately clear.

Last week a UN human rights expert said Khashoggi was murdered in a 'brutal and premeditated killing' carried out by Saudi officials.

Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, made her assessment after visiting Turkey.

Callamard also said that Saudi Arabia undermined Turkey's efforts to investigate the death and that the killing was carried out 'by officials of the State of Saudi Arabia'.

Turkish officials have been frustrated by what they say is a lack of cooperation by Riyadh and have called for an international inquiry.

After denying Khashoggi was killed in the consulate for several weeks, Saudi Arabia indicted 11 people in the killing and is seeking the death penalty against five of them.

Turkey says Saudi Arabia must reveal the identity of a person who is thought to have disposed of the journalist's body and hold all involved accountable.

Khashoggi, a contributor to the Washington Post, was killed on October 2 shortly after entering the kingdom's consulate (pictured) in what Riyadh called a 'rogue' operation

The images feature three men carrying five suitcases and two large black bags into the home of the Saudi consul general in Istanbul, Turkey

There has been speculation that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (pictured) ordered the hit but Riyadh has absolved the de facto leader of any blame

Khashoggi's killing provoked widespread revulsion and tarnished the image of Crown Prince bin Salman, previously admired in the West for pushing deep changes including tax reform, infrastructure projects and allowing women to drive.

US intelligence agencies believe the crown prince ordered an operation to kill Khashoggi.

CCTV footage emerged in December allegedly showing Jamal Khashoggi's body parts being carried into Saudi Arabia's consul residence in bags and suitcases on the day he was murdered.

The images feature three men carrying five suitcases and two large black bags into the home of the Saudi consul general in Istanbul, Turkey.

The residence lies a short distance from the Saudi consulate where Khashoggi was butchered in a killing that has tested Riyadh's relations with the West.

Saudi Arabia has also repeatedly rejected Turkish demands to extradite suspects connected to the murder of the journalist, a critic of the crown prince.

CCTV video showing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi (right) entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2, where he was 'offered a cup of tea' before being brutally murdered and his body dismembered

The journalist had decided to leave his native Saudi Arabia for the US in September 2017, but was lured to the embassy in Istanbul on in October this year to collect papers for his upcoming marriage.

Listening devices planted inside the building by Turkish intelligence captured the 'kill squad' planning the murder in the days before and carrying it out.

A report by the Washington Post, to which Khashoggi was a contributing columnist, says that when he arrived at the consulate a member of the team asked 'whether he would take tea'.

The paper reports that there was an 'edge' in Khashoggi's voice when he accepted the drink that betrayed his sense of unease.

Agnes Callamard ruled the killing of Khashoggi was carried out in a 'brutal and premeditated killing' way

Shortly afterwards, a member of the Saudi 'kill squad' chillingly told the journalist he would be 'going back to Saudi Arabia', before injecting him with a lethal dose of sedative.

Khashoggi's final gasps for air are audible on the tape recordings, officials told the Washington Post.

They added that there was nothing to suggest that the team had any intent to take Khashoggi alive.

Further reports quoting those who have listened to the recordings claim Khashoggi's last words were to tell his killers 'I can't breathe'.

Just moments after his gasps faded, the silence on the tape gives way to the sound of an electric saw, consistent with reports that Khashoggi's body was dismembered. His remains have never been found.We can confirm that the Joint Commission has contacted the University of Maryland Medical Center Downtown campus in regards to the tragic shooting that occurred on February 4 on a public city street and not on the hospital property, said a statement from the hospital. An internal UMMC review of the incident is underway, after which we will provide a detailed clarification and analysis to the Joint Commission for their review.Valentine's Day wasn't getting much love in Indonesia as authorities carried out raids to quash any casual sex and wayward gift-giving, while high school students protested against the celebration.

About 100 pupils in the country's second-biggest city, Surabaya, demonstrated against the chocolates-and-flowers celebration, saying it promoted Western decadence and casual sex.

'Say no to Valentine's now!' the group chanted, most of them teenage girls in hijab head coverings. Some held placards with phrases like 'Sorry Valentine's Day, I am Muslim'.

A group of Indonesian Muslim students took part in an anti-Valentine's Day rally in Surabaya on Thursday

School principal Arief Himawan warned that couples giving each other chocolates or other treats can quickly lead to sin.

'We want to remind our young generation not to be caught up in Western culture,' he said.

Authorities urged amorous couples to call it quits and carried out raids on Thursday in Surabaya, and Makassar city on Sulawesi island to snuff out any celebrations.

But it was a different story in Saudi Arabia, where for the first time no religious police could be found patrolling the towns confiscating Valentine's Day gifts of roses, chocolates and teddy bears.

The two Muslim nations had both previously banned the celebration, which originated in the Christian West; Saint Valentine is thought to have been a Roman bishop martyred in the third century.

But while Indonesian authorities doubled down on their stance - issuing a fresh Valentine's prohibition in conservative Aceh province - the Saudi leadership seemingly relaxed its own.

Anti-Valentine's Day rallies are not uncommon in Indonesia with some conservative Islamic groups denouncing the day as un-Islamic, saying it promotes promiscuity, casual sex and consumption of alcohol as well as being a foreign cultural influence

About 100 students in Indonesia's second-biggest city, Surabaya, demonstrated against Valentine's Day

In Saudi, a 2008 religious fatwa (order) decreed that restaurants must refrain from creating an romantic 'atmosphere' on February 14, and shops are banned from selling Valentine's Day merchandise.

Ordinary people tend to avoid wearing red and most ignore the occasion entirely.

But this year, despite no official announcement, there were signs that the government is quietly permitting discreet festivities to take place.

Some florists are displaying roses in their windows, patisseries are selling heart-shaped cakes and restaurants are decorating tables with red candles and petals, Bloomberg reported.

They likely took their cue from Ahmed Qassim al-Ghamdi, former head of the religious police in Mecca. The senior Islamic figure said Valentine's Day was secular and therefore not haram (forbidden) under Sharia law.

'It's a positive social event and to exchange good wishes for this is not against sharia', he said in an interview with Al-Arabiya.

'It is a kind gesture to share greetings on the occasion of social celebrations or Western parties, including Valentine's Day. It is legitimate to give roses, as long as this is done with peaceful people, who have no resentment or malice towards Muslims', al-Ghamdi added.

Meanwhile in India, anti-Valentine's Day protests by right wing groups, which say they are defending traditional values from western promiscuity, have also become an annual event.

Activists of India's right-winged Bajrang Dal today shouted slogans as they burned an effigy symbolizing Valentine's Day during a protest in Hyderabad.

Activists of India's right-winged Bajrang Dal shout slogans as they prepare to burn an effigy symbolizing Valentine's Day during a protest in Hyderabad, India

Indian students taking an oath to not marry without their parents' consent, at a school in Surat in India's western Gujarat state

Elsewhere more than 10,000 schoolchildren, some as young as six, made a Valentine's Day pledge not to marry without their parents' consent.

The vast majority of Indian marriages are arranged by families and couples who defy tradition to marry outside caste and religion face a severe and sometimes deadly backlash.

Some 10,000 pupils aged six to 17 and even some teachers took a vow at 25 schools to 'love and respect their parents till eternity' in the western state of Gujarat - the stronghold of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was widely hailed as a modernizer but the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in October has harmed his reputation

'I will always respect their decision because no one in the world has sacrificed for me like them,' said student Samadrita Banerjee.

People in swiftly-changing but still largely conservative India also often frown upon unmarried couples who can find themselves being abused and harassed in public places.

In Saudi, modernisation is happening more slowly, despite a serious of high-profile reforms brought in by the young crown prince Mohammed bin Salman since he came to power in 2017.

Men and women may now attend sporting events together, concert halls and cinemas have re-opened, and women were given the right to drive.

But the crown prince is also widely believed to have ordered the brutal murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

And reports have surfaced that at least 10 women's rights activists imprisoned in Saudi for more than six months have been subjected to psychological and physical abuse, including sexual assault.The wife of the white cop who killed Laquan McDonald sobbed on Thursday at a press conference she arranged to speak about him being attacked in his prison cell last week and tell of her fears for his safety.

Jason Van Dyke is currently serving a six year and nine month sentence for shooting Laquan 16 times in 2014 in Chicago. The teenager was unarmed when Van Dyke, 40, opened fire on him while he walked away from him.

He was convicted of second degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery after a highly publicized trial and was sentenced to just six years and nine months behind bars, a sentence which enraged many.

On February 5, On February 5, Dyke was transferred from a prison in Illinois, where he was being held in isolation, to the Danbury Federal Prison in Connecticut.

It is not clear why he was transferred but within four hours, he was attacked in his cell by a handful of other inmates who punched and kicked him.

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Tiffany Van Dyke cried as she spoke at a press conference she organized on Thursday to say she feared for her husband's life after he was attacked in his prison cell by other inmates within hours of being transferred

Jason Van Dyke, 40, (left in January) shot dead 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, right, in 2014 and is serving a six year sentence for the killing

Lawyers for the cop say his injuries were not serious and that no weapons were used. When he spoke to his legal team, he said he had been 'jumped', DailyMail.com can reveal.

On Thursday, his tearful wife Tiffany however said she feared for his life and that she had been through enough.

Demanding that he protected more closely, she wept: 'I have had this pit in the bottom of my stomach since they've taken my husband away that something was going to happen to him. That somebody is going to hurt him.

'There is still the potential that someone is going to really harm him,' she said.

'This is a race issue, this is a gigantic race issue.

'They put my husband in a setting to be harmed because of the fact that he was a white man who harmed a black gentleman in the line of duty.

'I don't need people to go into his cell and attack him. The next time this could happen they could kill him.

'I cannot bury my husband,' she sobbed.

Tiffany cried as she said she did not know how serious his injuries were or if he was being held in solitary confinement now. Lawyers for the cop told DailyMail.com that his injuries were not serious

Attorney Daniel Herber said that those involved with protecting him in prison had to 'look in the mirror' and do more

On Tuesday, Van Dyke told his lawyers about the incident for the first time while they spoke on the phone.

The next day, his wife says their legal team received an anonymous call from someone who works in the prison saying they feared for his safety.

The family is now appealing to prison officials to ensure he is placed back in isolation in a safe facility. As of Thursday morning, it was unclear where the former cop was being held.

'We are all petrified and in fear for Jasons life. Jason just wants to serve his sentence.

'He does not want any trouble. I hope prison officials will take steps to rectify this right away.

'He never should have been in the general population,' Van Dyke's wife Tiffany told The Chicago Sun Times on Thursday.

Van Dyke's lawyers say they did not know that he had been moved until several days after it happened.

It remains unclear if the phone call on Tuesday was his first contact with them since the transfer or if they had spoken before.

Van Dyke was sentenced to six years and nine months imprisonment on a second degree murder charge on January 28 this year.

Van Dyke was transferred from an Illinois prison, where he was being held in isolation, to the federal prison in Danbury on February 5 but it is not known why. He was in his cell when a handful of other inmates attacked him, according to his wife

Laquan was walking away from police on October 20, 2014, when Van Dyke shot him 16 times. Cops had been called to the area in Chicago where he was amid reports he was breaking into vehicles with a knife

Laquan was unarmed but was shot 16 times. He is shown falling to the ground as the shots from Van Dyke's gun ring out

He was also convicted on 16 aggravated battery charges but the judge only sentenced him for the murder charge.

Under those sentencing guidelines, he will only have to complete half of his sentence - a little over three years - before he is released.

The case was among a series of police shootings which caused uproar across the country because the victim in each scenario was black and unarmed.

Van Dyke's trial was highly publicized and his sentence sparked fury when it was handed down in January, with many calling for him to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

The Department of Corrections did not answer questions about the beating on Thursday when contacted by DailyMail.com and Van Dyke's lawyer did not immediately respond.

Tiffany Van Dyke was scheduled to hold a press conference at some stage in the morning.Donald Trump tore into Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI, on Twitter on Thursday morning after the former law enforcement official lifted the lid on conversations within Justice to oust the sitting president.

Trump invoked McCabe's wife Jill's failed candidacy for office in Virginia, where she ran for office as a Democrat with the financial backing of an organization that is close to Hillary Clinton.

The president suggested the connection to the former secretary of state who opposed him for the Oval Office caused McCabe to go easy on Clinton in the FBI's probe into her use of a private email and server.

'Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a poor little Angel when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax - a puppet for Leakin James Comey. I.G. report on McCabe was devastating. Part of insurance policy in case I won,' Trump wrote in two-part tweet.

He said in a second message several minutes later, 'Many of the top FBI brass were fired, forced to leave, or left. McCabes wife received BIG DOLLARS from Clinton people for her campaign - he gave Hillary a pass. McCabe is a disgrace to the FBI and a disgrace to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!'

Donald Trump fired back at Andrew McCabe on Twitter on Thursday morning during a block of time in which he usually does have anything on his public or private work schedule

Trump invoked McCabe's wife Jill, who ran for office as a Democrat in Virginia and lost. She had the financial backing of an organization that is close to Hillary Clinton

Trump has claimed that James Comey, McCabe and cohorts of theirs who worked on Hillary Clinton's email case and the Russian meddling probe were 'crooked' cops, and that's why he got rid of them.

Trump's complaint about McCabe's wife Jill stems from her failed 2015 run for a state senate seat in Virginia.

A statewide political action committee called Common Good VA contributed $467,000 to her campaign. Hillary Clinton headlined a fundraiser for the group shortly beforehand, raising $500,000 for it.

The PAC was run at the time by Terry McAuliffe, then the governor of Virginia. McAuliffe is a longtime Bill Clinton fundraiser and former Democratic National Committee chairman.

Jill McCabe's campaign also received more than $207,000 from the Democratic Party of Virginia, over which McAuliffe exerted significant control.

Common Good VA was the largest single donor to the McCabe campaign.

Trump's all-caps tweet came after McCabe recounted a Justice Department plot to remove him from office. The revelation came during a CBS interview that will air on Sunday.

Previewing the next episode of '60 Minutes,' Scott Pelley, a correspondent for CBS, said Thursday that McCabe told him about a plan to approach Mike Pence, the Vice President of the United States, and ask him to invoke the 25th Amendment.

'There were meetings at the Justice Department in which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment,' Pelley reported on CBS 'This Morning' on Thursday.

Previewing the next episode of '60 Minutes,' Scott Pelley, a correspondent for CBS, said Thursday that McCabe told him about a plan to approach Mike Pence, the Vice President of the United States, and ask him to invoke the 25th Amendment

Pelley said McCabe told him they were 'counting noses' of Cabinet officials who would vote to remove Trump after he fired James Comey in May of 2017.

'This was not perceived to be a joke,' Pelley asserted on CBS.

The journalist said the conversation took place in the eight days between Comey's dismissal and the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel.

Trump met with the Russian ambassador the day after he ousted Comey, the former FBI director, and the Russian foreign minister at the White House.

His campaign, several of his associates, including his one-time National Security Advsior Michael Flynn, were under federal investigation for improper contacts during the election with Russia at the time.

'The highest levels of American law enforcement were trying to figure out what to do with the president,' Pelley reported.

McCabe is the first person to confirm that the 25th Amendment came up in the meetings. The ex-law enforcement official was later fired himself over conversations with the media that an inspector general deemed inappropriate.

Trump has claimed that Comey, McCabe and cohorts of theirs who worked on Hillary Clinton's email case and the Russian meddling probe were 'crooked' cops, and that's why he got rid of them.

In a chapter of his new book, 'The Threat,' McCabe suggests couldn't be reasoned with.

He writes in an excerpt that appeared Thursday in The Atlantic that Trump 'flew off the handle' in a call on an unsecure line the day after he fired Comey over McCabe's decision to allow the former bureau chief to hitch a ride from Los Angeles on a government plane that was flying back to Washington.

Comey was in LA giving a speech when he found out that Trump had fired him. McCabe said he decided as the acting head of the bureau that the threat posed to Comey's life was imminent enough that he should remain under federal protection.

'It was coming back anyway,' he writes of the plane. 'The president flew off the handle: Thats not right! I dont approve of that! Thats wrong! He reiterated his point five or seven times.

'I said, Im sorry that you disagree, sir. But it was my decision, and thats how I decided. The president said, I want you to look into that! I thought to myself: What am I going to look into? I just told you I made that decision.'

McCabe derides Trump in the passage for his willingness to 'comment prejudicially on criminal prosecutions' and investigations 'on ones that potentially affect him.'

'He is not just sounding a dog whistle. He is lobbying for a result. The president has stepped over bright ethical and moral lines wherever he has encountered them,' said the former law enforcement official who Trump targeted on Twitter repeatedly.

Emphasizing his point, he said, 'Every day brings a new low, with the president exposing himself as a deliberate liar who will say whatever he pleases to get whatever he wants.'Emotional testimony was heard in the criminal trial of a self-proclaimed 'master herbalist' who is accused of causing the death of a Los Angeles teenager.

Timothy Morrow, 84, who touted natural cures that helped him overcome cancer stands charged with practicing medicine without a license and child abuse causing a death, related to the passing of Edgar Lopez, 13.

Lopez died in August of 2014 after Morrow told his mother, Maria Madrigal, to deny him insulin in favor of herbal oils he supplied and not to take the boy to hospital during his final days.

'Did he (Morrow) put a gun to your head and tell you not to take Edgar to the hospital?' defense attorney Sanford Perliss asked Madrigal, to which she replied:

'His words were like a gun.'

Morrow has maintained his innocence throughout the trial, which is expected to end this week.

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Emotional testimony was heard in the criminal trial of self-proclaimed 'master herbalist' Timonthy Morrow, 84 (right), who is accused of causing the death of Los Angeles teenager Edgar Lopez (left)

Morrow, who described on his website how the voice of God led him to start using herbs for his prostate cancer, began treating Lopez's Type 1 diabetes with herbs in 2014 after meeting his mother at seminars he conducted, City Attorney Mike Feuer said.

When the boy became sick and semi-comatose in August 2014, Morrow told the parents not to give the boy insulin, but to use herbal oils he was selling, Feuer said.

Morrow's attorney asked Lopez's mother, 'Did he put a gun to your head and tell you not to give Edgar insulin?'

Madrigal said during her testimony that she was brainwashed by Morrow, who she said she often referred to as 'Dr. Morrow.'

'He told me that everything I got from the doctors were things from the devil,' Madrigal said.

When Lopez became sick and semi-comatose in August 2014, Morrow told the parents not to give the boy insulin, but to use herbal oils he was selling. He died three days later

Morrow (pictured), who described on his website how the voice of God led him to start using herbs for his prostate cancer, began treating Lopez's Type 1 diabetes with herbs in 2014 after meeting his mother at seminars he conducted

Perliss asked Lopez's mother if the child asked her to take him to the hospital during his final days.

'Yes, and I immediately called Tim and told him he wanted to go to the hospital. He said, '"on't take him,"' Madrigal said.

On the day Lopez died, Madrigal testified that she and her family called Morrow repeatedly, with her older son asking to call 911 during the final call.

'On my last call, my son was telling him, "May I call 911, may I call 911,"' Madrigal testified. 'My [younger] son could not breathe anymore.'

Lopez later died. The medical examiner determined the boy would have survived if he received proper medical care.

The defense suggested that Madrigal was blaming Morrow for Lopez's death out of fear she may be held responsible, herself.

'I was afraid, I didn't know the process - I didn't know what was going to happen,' Madrigal said, according to an interpreter.

'Were you afraid they were going to arrest you?' Perliss asked.

At that point, the jury was excused, and when they returned, they were instructed that although multiple people may have played a role in Lopez's untimely death, they were only to concern themselves with the actions of Morrow at this time..

'The title of this case is People versus Timothy Morrow,' Judge Victoria Wilson told the jury.

'Whether there is or isn't a pending case of the parents is something you cannot consider.'

'Keep in mind: there are no side effects to herbs, no labels that read "Keep Out of Reach of Children,''' according to the mission statement on Morrow's website for his products (pictured). 'These herbs, in fact, are gentle enough for children.'

Morrow, right, began treating the boy's Type 1 diabetes with herbs in 2014 after meeting his mother at seminars he conducted

Morrow is charged with practicing medicine without a license and child abuse causing a death. His lawyer said he disputes the charges

Morrow's attorney said his client had nothing to do with the boy's death and is not guilty.

'He's never been in trouble in his life,' Perliss said in March. 'He really has a lifetime of helping people.'

The Los Angeles district attorney declined to bring felony charges and referred the case to the city attorney, a spokesman said.

The charges were filed in August of 2017 just before a three-year deadline and Morrow's arraignment was postponed until March, a few weeks after the Los Angeles city attorney announced the charges.



'The allegations in this case underscore the serious health and safety risks of taking medical advice from someone who lacks a license and the proper training that goes with it,' Feuer said in a statement around the time of Morrow's arraignment on the charges, in March of 2018.

'No family should have to suffer the tragedy of losing a child because of irresponsible, un-credentialed medical advice.'

But at least one other family has claimed to have lost a loved one following 'treatment' by Morrow.

After seeing reports of the case pending against Morrow related to Lopez's death, a man came forward to tell KABC-7 in Los Angeles that his wife, Carol Ann Waisanen, died following her refusal to undergo traditional medical treatment, he said at Morrow's urging.

But at least one other family has claimed to have lost a loved one following 'treatment' by Morrow. Carol Ann Waisanen (pictured) died following her refusal to undergo traditional medical treatment, her widower said, at Morrow's urging

After seeing reports of the case pending against Morrow related to Lopez's death Waisanen's widower (second from left) came forward to the detective on the case. .Carol Ann Waisanen (right) died of cancer

Morrow's website, Common Sense Products, touts his story as a testament to the value of herbal remedies as part of a healthy lifestyle. One of Morrow's products is shown

A label on Morrow's products (some shown) reads, 'This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease,' the defense pointed out at trial

Morrow's website, Common Sense Products, touts his story as a testament to the value of herbal remedies as part of a healthy lifestyle.

The site includes products for adults, children and targeted at various health needs, including blood sugar.

Morrow encourages people to take charge of their own health and says, 'We don't force anyone or try to lead anyone.'

'Keep in mind: there are no side effects to herbs, no labels that read "Keep Out of Reach of Children,''' according to the website's mission statement. 'These herbs, in fact, are gentle enough for children.'

There is, however, a label which reads, 'This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease,' the defense pointed out at trial.

Morrow faces up to two years in jail if convicted of the misdemeanor charges.Advertisement

The annual Cobra Gold military exercise got underway in Thailand on Tuesday, which saw US troops undergo a series of grueling and garish tasks in the name of survival.

Twenty-eight other nations were in attendance at the largest event of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region, which teaches troops how to survive in extreme conditions in the jungle.

4,500 members of the US forces will be partaking in crazed drills on land and sea, along side other soldiers from Singapore, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia.

US Marines wasted no time in getting stuck in on Tuesday, as they queued up to slurp the blood of a decapitated cobra - which is said to be an effective hydrator should drinking water not be accessible during a jungle disaster.

Some tentatively presented their tongues with their eyes tightly shut, as their comrades looked on and laughed

Marines were also forced to eat a variation of other creatures indigenous to densely wooded areas, including scorpions and tarantulas

Not for the faint of heart, many of the Marines can we seen with their eyes tightly shut and tongues tentatively presented as the bright red blood is dripped onto their tongue.

But a number can also be seen almost celebrating as they guzzle down the nutritious liquid - described as 'fishy' tasting - in front of their jubilant comrades at Akatotsarot Camp, in Phitsanulok, Thailand.

And the tasks only continue to get stranger from there, as soldiers learn to de-fang tarantulas before eating, as well as ingesting lizards and other creatures indigenous to densely forested areas.

And it wasn't all meat and blood for the troops, the jungle is also rich with vegan options too as some soldiers gobbled down vegetation from the lush environment.

'The benefits of Cobra Gold have been clearly demonstrated through the past years,' said Peter Haymond, the interim charge daffaires at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, during the opening ceremony.

'Our nations represented here today have fought side by side in battlefields and have worked together in humanitarian and natural disasters.'

Other exercise will include military field training, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief drills across the next eight days, before the closing ceremony on February 22.

Cobra blood is said to be a nutritious and hydrating option, should clean drinking water not be available in a jungle disaster

One Marine taking part in the garish exercise described the taste of the blood as surprisingly 'fishy'

Thai soldiers also showed the 10,000 competing troops how to properly kill the snake first

The prospect of eating a raw Gecko wasn't appetizing for all

US Marines queued up to drink the blood of a cobra - with some more enthusiastic about the prospect than others

4, 5000 members of the US military are taking part in the exercise, which concludes on February 22High school students have been suspended after trading slips reading 'Wonka's Golden N-Word Pass,' in what the principal is calling a racist incident.

Around 15 of the 'golden tickets' were circulated in the lunch room on Friday at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Maryland, with the main culprits being three students of multiple races, WJLA-TV reported.

Principal Brandice Heckert harshly criticized those involved in an email sent out to parents on Monday, writing: 'I am deeply disappointed and appalled that any student in our school would chose to engage in such a racist, hateful act.'

But parents of the students involved told a WJLA reporter that administrators 'grossly mischaracterized' what was simply meant to be a spoof, with one of the mother going as far as to call the principal's description of events 'libelous.'

Around 15 of these 'golden tickets' were circulated in the lunch room on Friday at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Maryland

Winston Churchill High has a student body of about 2,100, which is 50 per cent white, 28 per cent Asian, 9 per cent black, and 8 per cent Hispanic

The passes appear to have been printed from a pre-existing image that has circulated on the internet.

Principal Brandice Heckert (above) harshly criticized those involved in the incident

The 'tickets' are based on the golden tickets from the 1971 film Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. The meme version does not contain the actual offensive word, and students at Churchill insist that they never uttered the word either.

'It's a joke that maybe went a tiny bit too far at the most,' sophomore Gavin Norman, who was not directly involved in the incident, told WJLA. 'I never touched the passes though.'

'No one was trying to offend anyone, no one was saying the actual word, and no one thought it was okay to say the actual word,' Norman said.

Norman said that a black female student was upset by the tickets and reported them to administrators.

He said that he knew of four students who had been suspended for periods ranging from one to six days. The school district would not confirm the details of student disciplinary measures.

The 'tickets' are based on the golden tickets from the 1971 film Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, starring Gene Wilder (above)

Norman said that he had been grilled by administrators and pressured to 'snitch' on his friends for their involvement.

'They asked me if I thought the passes were 'offensive.' I said, 'sort of, but not really.' They told me I needed to think it was wrong,' said Norman.

Norman said that he had been given detention after refusing to name those responsible for the N-word passes.

Following the incident, Principal Heckert has scheduled 'an open forum on tolerance, racism, and bias' to be held on February 19.

Winston Churchill High has a student body of about 2,100, which is 50 per cent white, 28 per cent Asian, 9 per cent black, and 8 per cent Hispanic, according to government records.Michelle Carter, the Massachusetts woman who sent her suicidal boyfriend text messages urging him to kill himself, has been branded a 'model inmate', just days after beginning a 15-month sentence for involuntary manslaughter.

Carter, 22, was taken into custody on Monday after a top court upheld her manslaughter conviction in the 2014 death of her 18-year-old boyfriend Conrad Roy III.

Carter has started her sentence at the women's center at the Bristol County House of Correction in Dartmouth. She is currently in the facility's medical area, which is common for inmates new to prison life.

Jonathan Darling, a spokesman for Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, said Carter is doing 'OK' and has already visited the prison library and checked out a book.

Carter (pictured in her booking photo of February 11) has been described as a 'model inmate' at the start of her 15-month prison sentence for encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself via text

'We haven't had any problems with her. She's been very polite with our staff. So far she's been a model inmate,' Darling said, as reported by the Boston Herald.

Darling added that Carter could be moved into the general prison population by the end of this week.

If she is moved into a new cell, staff will want to check she is going to be safe and plan to interview other women inmates to see if anyone says 'she's evil' or 'wants to fight her,' Darling said.

Carter was taken into custody on Monday after a top court upheld her manslaughter conviction in the 2014 death of her 18-year-old boyfriend Conrad Roy III (pictured above)

Following a trial that gained international attention, Carter was sentenced to 15 months 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.

But a judge ruled on Monday that she should start her sentence.

Carter has started her sentence at the Bristol County House of Correction in Dartmouth where she is reported to have checked out her first library book

Carter was 17 when Roy took his own life in Fairhaven, a town on Massachusetts' south coast in July 2014.

Carter and Roy, who had both battled with depression, were from Massachusetts but met in Florida in 2012 while on vacation with their families.

Their relationship consisted mainly of electronic communication.

Carter was sentenced to 15 months in prison back 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

In dozens of text messages revealed during her trial, Carter pushed Roy to end his life, chastising him when he hesitated.

As Roy made excuses to put off his plans, Carter's 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 on the day he died.

Becky Maki, aunt of texting suicide victim Conrad Roy III, is emotional as she faces reporters following the hearing on Monday where Michelle Carter's 15-month prison term was upheld

'I thought you wanted to do this. The time is right and you're ready - just do it babe,' she wrote.

Even though there was no recording of Carter's phone call with Roy, prosecutors pointed to a text that Carter sent to a friend two months later in which she called Roy's death her fault and said she told Roy to 'get back in' the truck.

The juvenile court judge focused his guilty verdict on the fact Carter had told Roy over the phone to get back into the truck when it was filling with carbon monoxide.

The judge said Carter had a duty to call emergency services or Roy's family but had instead listened while he died.

The juvenile court judge focused his guilty verdict on the fact Carter had a duty to call emergency services or Roy's family but had instead listened on the phone while he died

Carter's defense had argued that there was no evidence that Roy would have lived if Carter had called for help.

Daniel Marx, who argued the case for Carter 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 and due process,' Marx said.Prison Boss Vicki Laithwaite (pictured) threatened Mr Plaistow after he complained about the abuse directed at him

A bisexual prison officer who was called a 'p**f' by his colleagues and forced to carry a pink bag to work has won his unfair dismissal case.

Ben Plaistow, 40, was hired as a prison officer at HMP Woodhill in 2014 and was fired two years later after he was accused of gross misconduct.

But today a tribunal found he'd actually been dismissed because of his complaints about the vile abuse he suffered after he told boss Vicki Laithwaite he was bisexual.

Cambridge employment tribunal judge Michael Ord heard Mr Plaistow was subjected to months of abuse from other prison officers and senior staff at the jail in Milton Keynes.

Mr Plaistow was regularly called 'gay', 'p**f' and later 'vermin' by his colleagues, in addition to several physical incidents and vandalism.

The tribunal heard that from the start of his time at Woodhill, Mr Plaistow was asked whether he was gay by other prison officers - based on his haircut and his tidy uniform.

Prison officer Robert Puttock insisted it was just 'good natured banter' and that Mr Plaistow 'joined in and gave as good as he got'.

Puttock also denied calling him 'gay' or 'p**f'. But Judge Ord said Puttock gave no examples of Mr Plaistow responding.

Mr Plaistow would style his hair differently at work and also stopped having his eyelashes tinted to avoid the jibes.

On 22 September 2014, Mr Plaistow's supervisor, custodial manager Victoria Laithwaite asked whether he was gay during his formal induction at the prison in Milton Keynes.

Nicola Braganza, representing Mr Plaistow, said the harassment 'stepped up a notch' after the officer told Laithwaite he was bisexual.

Ms Braganza said officers at the prison coloured in Mr Plaistow's bag with pink permanent marker as well as his name badge.

Laithwaite (pictured) told Mr Plaistow officers would file false reports about him to ensure that he lost his job

Several prison officers claimed that colouring in the bags was normal to distinguish the identical bags from each other.

Judge Ord found no evidence of this and said: 'The colouring of the claimant's bag and the refusal to replace it, meaning that he had to carry a pink coloured bag to and at work on a daily basis were acts of harassment designed to create a humiliating or offensive environment.'

Ms Laithwaite refused to replace his vandalised prison bag despite being asked multiple times, the tribunal heard.

Mr Plaistow attempted to complain about this abuse, Laithwaite told him other officers would turn in false reports to ensure he lost his job.

She denied the conversation took place.

On a separate occasion, Mr Plaistow's work bag was coloured in again and a pink 'fairy cake' was smeared across the inside of the bag.

He then complained about the treatment in a letter to his MP, Andrea Leadsom, and made formal complaints within the prison service.

'I'm not an officer anymore. I'm a little p**f. I've had water thrown over me. My personal possessions and some of my uniform have been coloured pink,' he wrote.

His colleagues were made aware of both this letter and the complaints and some began to refer to him as 'vermin'.

During a morning briefing in June 2015 an unnamed prison officer slapped him with the back of his hand in front of Laithwaite and other officers.

'I felt as if all my dignity had been taken away,' he said. In December 2015, Mr Plaistow was accused of using unnecessary force on a prisoner while breaking up a fight.

He was then suspended and dismissed as a result of this incident in 2016.

But the tribunal heard that Mr Plaistow did not use unnecessary force, backed up by CCTV footage and witness testimony from the prisoner himself, who acknowledged he was at fault.

The tribunal agreed that he had been dismissed because of his complaints, rather than any alleged misconduct.

Judge Ord said: 'From the earliest days at HMP Woodhill he was subjected to verbal (and later physical) abuse based upon his sexual orientation. He was unfairly dismissed and his dismissal was an act of victimisation.'She will forever remain daddy's little girl but she won't forget her last encounter with her father who is the leader of the world's most famous drug cartel and could now be spending the rest of his life in jail.

An emotional Rosa Isela Guzman recalled the last time she met with Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, 61, the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel around three years ago. She said he chided her for bad behavior although she did not elaborate on what that was. '[He] scolded me because I was misbehaving,' she said.

Rosa, who is in her early 40s, said during an interview with Univision: '[I want] to tell the president of the United States to respect the rights of my father.

'If he committed a crime, that's fine, he has to pay for it. But be fair, treat him as a person.'

Rosa Isela Guzman (pictured) says she last saw Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman about three years ago

Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman is expected to be sentenced to life in prison in June after a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, found him guilty on 10 charges. He's pictured above after his arrest in 2017

The Mexican drug lord has 13 children, including Rosa Isela Guzman. El Chapo is seen above in a court sketch during Tuesday's hearing

The meeting with his eldest daughter took place about a year before he was captured during a January 2017 raid in Mexico, leading to his extradition to the United States.

On Tuesday El Chapo was found guilty of all 10 charges, capping off a trial that lasted three months in a Brooklyn, New York, federal court.

Rosa, one of El Chapo's 13 children, who is in remission from cancer, said she has asked her lawyers to reach out to her father's legal team to set up a meeting with her dad.

The mother-of-four, who was born in Mexico but holds U.S. citizenship, was once married to and had two children with Vicente Zambada Niebla, whose father is Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, 71, and led the Sinaloa Cartel with El Chapo before assuming total control of the criminal organization.

Her former husband was arrested in 2009 and extradited to the U.S. He entered a plea agreement with U.S. justice officials in 2014 and was sentenced to 10 years after admitting to working for El Chapo.

However, El Mayo has proven to be an illusive figure and is wanted by the U.S. government.

Vicente Zambada Niebla (pictured) was once married to Rosa Isela Guzman, El Chapo's daughter. They had two children. He also testified against El Chapo during the three-month trial

The United States justice system is also looking to reel in Ismael Zambada, known as 'El Mayo'. The 71-year-old Mexican man headed the Sinaloa Cartel with El Chapo and has proven to be an illusive figure

El Chapo (third from left to right) was captured in a January 2016 raid in Mexico before he was extradited to the United States in January 2017

Rosa spoke about how El Chapo was a good father. 'He was always a person who always gave good examples to us,' she said.

'I work and he always said that he was proud of me because I was very hardworking. He was proud of me. He always told me.'

El Chapo's trial offered gruesome details of how he spearheaded an international organization that relied on murder, kidnap and torture to get its message across and reach its goals.

Rosa spoke about how El Chapo was a good father. 'He was always a person who always gave good examples to us,' she said

Prosecutors said El Chapo built a $14 billion fortune, and was responsible for 33 murders and trafficking more than 220 tons of cocaine as well as vast quantities of other drugs to America, Europe and the rest of the world.

But the distraught daughter, who along with her family members was not called to the witness stand at any point in the trial, said she had no knowledge of his dealings.

El Chapo is scheduled to be sentenced to life in a maximum-security prison without the possibility of parole in June.

'I don't know what he is going to feel, that he will not see us anymore because his adoration was his family, his children and his mother. He always put my grandmother first,' Rosa said.A port worker has survived after a crane lorry fell over him and plunged into the sea off the side of a dock in east Taiwan.

Dramatic footage shows a plastic barge being lowered by the crane attached to the heavy-duty truck when strong winds caused the vehicle to tip over at the fishing harbour in Hualien city on Wednesday.

Three of the workers were seen scrambling to safety while one employee standing near the front of the lorry became trapped and fell into the water.

Dramatic footage shows a plastic barge being lowered by the crane attached to the heavy-duty truck when strong winds caused the vehicle to tip over at the fishing harbour in Hualien city

About half a minute later, the man resurfaces at the side of the dock and rescuers were able to pull him to safety. He did not sustain any serious injuries, according to reports

About half a minute later, the man resurfaces at the side of the dock and rescuers were able to pull him to safety.

The port worker, surnamed Lai, did not sustain any serious injuries, according to Apple Daily Taiwan.

Taiwanese coastguard officials said they believed strong winds contributed to the overturning of the crane lorry, which sunk to the bottom of the harbour.

Three of the workers were seen scrambling to safety while one employee standing near the front of the lorry became trapped and fell into the water

The worker, surnamed Lai, did not sustain any serious injuries after the lorry tipped over him

Taiwanese coastguard officials said they believed strong winds contributed to the overturning of the crane lorry, which sunk to the bottom of the harbour

The workers also reportedly had their measurements off when they were landing the barge into the water.

Having since removed the damaged barge from the sea, they are to salvage the lorry, as well as assess any potential environmental impact the incident may have caused including oil spills.

The accident caused an estimated one million NT (25,000) in damages, according to China Times.

Net users commented on Facebook that the workers were not operating the crane properly, which led to the weight imbalance.She once got lost in a Hawaiian jungle. While on vacation in Kauai, Paternostro and her husband, Jason, strayed from a hiking path and ended up lost for three hours. We saw gorgeous vegetation and flowers, but the creepy part was these abandoned homes we kept coming up on. They were so tiny [and] old but still in good condition, and their surroundings were so picturesque, just empty We kept finding trails that would eventually get smaller and smaller until they just stopped We ended up having to backtrack our steps until we eventually got it right.Advertisement

Temperatures of 59F have made this Valentine's Day one of the hottest days of the year so far in the UK with many Brits braving the sea for a dip whilst others made the most of the unseasonably mild weather and soaked up the sun.

Just two weeks ago snow and ice had much of Britain trapped in a mid-winter big freeze. But that was all forgotten today as people headed to the seaside for a romantic day out, with milder air originating from the Azores leaving the country basking in unseasonably mild highs of 15C (59F) on Valentine's Day.

Some Britons jumped in the water in Bournemouth, while others enjoyed sitting in the sunshine in Portsmouth - only hours after a very misty start led the Met Office to issue a weather warning for fog in southern England.

As the sun set this evening across the country, more and more Brits could be preparing for the sunshine tomorrow as a 61F heat may be in store for the start of the weekend.

Romance in the air: Two people sit on the beach together in Southsea, Hampshire as the sun sets and the tide rolls out

Making the most of it! People fish on the beach as the sun sets behind South Parade Pier in Southsea, Hampshire

One person fishes into the evening as the sun sets and the sea sparkles, while two others take an evening stroll on the beach

A moor hen swims past a fountain as the sun sets in St James' Park this evening, after Britons enjoyed one of the hottest days of the year so far

As the sun set this evening across the country (pictured in St James' Park, London), more and more Brits could be preparing for the sunshine tomorrow as a 61F heat may be in store for the start of the weekend

Students Ana Clark, 22, Karolina Krzyzanska, 21, and Mitoshka Alkova, 21, enjoy the sunshine at Bournemouth in Dorset today

Two men make the most of the warm weather on the beach this afternoon at the Hot Walls in Old Portsmouth, Hampshire

A woman goes for a run in the sea at Brighton in East Sussex today as the country enjoys unseasonably mild conditions

Couples enjoy a romantic stroll on the beach today as warm Valentine's Day weather bathes Bournemouth in sunshine

Temperatures will stay well above average for the time of year over the coming days, with forecasters expecting an almost summer-like peak of up to 16C (61F) in the North East of Scotland and 13C (55F) in northern England.

Ther mercury in London is likely to reach 15C (59F) tomorrow - with a fortnight still to go until meteorological spring. And although some snow could return briefly next month, the milder conditions should stay for a while.

Met Office forecaster Grahame Madge said daytime maximum temperatures in England would normally be around 7C (45F) or 8C (46F) this time of year.

'At the moment we can expect to see temperatures reach well into double figures across the UK,' he said. The warmer conditions are due to a high pressure system moving up from South West Europe.

Today and tomorrow should bring the highest temperatures, said Mr Madge. Northern England, the Peak District and coastal Yorkshire are expected to see the warmest weather, apart from North-East Scotland.

A man rests on a wall as he enjoys the sunshine and warm conditions on the pebbled beach at Brighton today

Sunshine and blue sky make the Dorset resort of West Bay look spring-like today as temperatures rise across the country

A man runs in the sunshine along the promenade in Brighton today in front of a series of colourful beach huts

A man walks his dog in the frost and fog of Windsor Great Park in Berkshire this morning, which later cleared for a sunny day

Clear skies reign this afternoon across most of Britain (left) but it will be cold again around sunrise tomorrow (right)

Above average temperatures are expected for all of Britain this weekend, with many places enjoying 11C or 12C around 4pm

The warmest Valentine's Day on record was in 1998, where temperatures hit 19.5C (67.1F) in Cambridge, not far off the February record temperature of 19.7C (67.46F) set in the same year at Greenwich in South East London.

If the mercury gets above 15.2C (59.4F) today, it will be the warmest February 14 in 21 years. The top temperature recorded as of 2pm this afternoon was 15C (59F) at Aberystwyth in West Wales.

Last year, there was also a very mild spell around the middle of the month, with 14.2C (57.6F) recorded on February 19 in Cardiff, but days later the Beast from the East brought freezing conditions and heavy snowfall.

The Met Office long-range forecast predicts during the first two weeks of March there is the 'potential for some snow' although 'overall temperatures are likely to be near or slightly above average'.

Mr Madge added: 'There isn't any strong signal for an extended cold spell at all. The high pressure looks as if it will remain in charge for most of February if not all of the month and so average or warmer than average conditions are likely to prevail.'

The sky was tinted in a beautiful orange shade in Hampshire this evening as people gathered on the pier to fish

Ships can be seen passing in the distance as people in Hampshire pitch up their camp chairs for a evening of fishingAdvertisement

Hundreds of mourners flocked to the funeral of an RAF hero today following an appeal after fears were raised that only two mourners were planning to attend.

George Peter Osborne, a Bomber Command Signaller during World War Two, passed away last month at the age of 96 with very few close family or friends.

On Tuesday the funeral director for the service made a moving appeal - which was shared thousands of times online - for the veteran to be paid the respect he deserved after his service for his country.

The hearse carrying George Peter Osborne's coffin arrives at Southampton Crematorium where hundreds of people wait to pay their respects

George Peter Osborne (pictured in circled in red) was a Bomber Command Signaller during World War Two. After his service in the RAF he later enjoyed a lengthy career on cruise ships

Hundreds of mourners, many of whom are current or ex-military personnel, at the funeral service of George Peter Osborne

Pictured: A crowd gathers outside the entrance to Southampton Crematorium as a procession of motorbike riders leads the way down the crematorium drive ahead of the hearse carrying Mr Osborne's coffin

Funeral director Paul Cappa bows his head in respect at the lectern as a serviceman performs the Last Post in the East Chapel

Two standard bearers head the procession as George Peter Osborne's hearse arrives at Southampton Crematorium. On Tuesday, this week, the funeral director for the service made a moving appeal - which was shared thousands of times online - for the veteran to be paid the respect he deserved after his service for his country

George Peter Osborne (pictured left and right) was an RAF Signaller during World War Two. He was part of Bomber Command Air Crew which had a total of 126 squadrons

And today 350 people - many of them former and serving members of the military - responded to his call, packing out a crematorium in Southampton, Hampshire, to give Mr Osborne a fitting send-off despite never having met him.

Servicemen and women gave his hearse a guard of honour while mourners lined the crematorium driveway as his coffin was driven in.

The crowd was so large that many could not find seats inside.

Among the well wishers was former Sapper James Wilson, who lost both of his legs while serving in Afghanistan with the Royal Engineers.

The 36 year old from New Milton, Hampshire, said: 'I didn't know him, but that doesn't matter it's about service brotherhood.

'He served on the battlefield like me, and although it was a different battlefield it doesn't matter. War is war.

'That's why we turned up, to show our respects for another brother.

'If I can I always try and come to show my respects for any fallen brother who might not have many friends or family.

'Anyone who severed deserves a decent send off. It was amazing to see so many people turn up.'

George Peter Osborne's coffin is taken out of the hearse by pallbearers at the entrance to the East Chapel. Today 350 people - many of them former and serving members of the military - responded to his call, packing out a crematorium in Southampton, Hampshire, to give Mr Osborne a fitting send-off despite never having met him

George Peter Osborne pictured in front of the Queen Mary Ship. The Queen Mary was an ocean liner that was later converted into a troopship to transport allied soldiers. After the conflict ended it was refitted again for passenger service, before being retired from service in 1967.

Mourners bow their heads in respect as a serviceman performs the Last Post in the East Chapel. A number of military current military personnel also attended the service

George Peter Osborne in his uniform.

Two women wearing medals arrive at Southampton Crematorium to pay their respects to George Peter Osborne

According to friends, after the war Mr Osborne - who was adopted as a child - continued to serve in the RAF before enjoying a lengthy career as a waiter aboard cruise ships

Squadron Leader Tim Hayes at the Defence School of Policing and Guarding turned up with 17 other RAF service personnel in training to pay their respects.

The 45 year old, who has served in the military for 24 years, said: 'We came today to show our respects to a military family member.

'The armed forces is a family as far as I am concerned and that doesn't change when you leave.

'Paying your respects to veterans is important and something we strongly encourage to new officers, that that is the family they have just joined.

'Anyone who has served in the military is a family, we are a community that support each other during and after they leave service.'

David Butts, 73, who served as part of the merchant navy, said it didn't matter who you served with or when, you fought for freedom.

Mr Butts, from Eastleigh, Hampshire, said: 'I came here today to show my respect for a man who was obviously a great and stoic man who served his country.

'It doesn't matter that I never knew him, I knew that he was a man of great courage and strength. Anyone who served during the second world war was a hero in my eyes.

'It doesn't matter which branch of the armed forces you served with, they fought for freedom and that's all that matters.

'And anyone willing to do that deserves a fitting send off.'

In the Facebook post, Funeral Director Paul Capper had said: 'Dear all, I have been entrusted with the funeral arrangements of a very brave gentleman.

'George Peter Osborne died in Southampton General Hospital on the 20th January 2019 aged 96 years. Sadly his executor died a month previously.

'Two friends are arranging his funeral for Thursday 14th February at The East Chapel of Southampton Crematorium at 09.45hrs.

'Whilst looking through a photograph album of his it turns out that he was, according to the RAF Museum in London, a signaller in Bomber Command Air Crew.

'There is, so far, two people attending his funeral, is there anyone out there that could help to swell the ranks and give this brave hero who has no family a fitting send-off?'

According to friends, after the war Mr Osborne - who was adopted as a child - continued to serve in the RAF before enjoying a lengthy career as a waiter aboard cruise ships.

He never married and had no children, they said.The FBI's former acting director said he began an obstruction of justice and counterintelligence investigation involving President Donald Trump and his ties to Russia shortly after Trump fired bureau Director James Comey in May 2017, CBS News reported on Thursday.

'The next day I met with the team investigating the Russia cases,' he said in an interview scheduled for broadcast on Sunday's '60 Minutes' program.

Former FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe said he was disturbed by his conversation with Trump following Comey's dismissal and got the investigations started immediately.

'I was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency and achieveed  and won the election for the presidency, and who might have done so with the aid of the government of Russia, our most formidable adversary on the world stage,' McCabe said. 'And that was something that troubled me greatly.'

Andrew McCabe claims in a forthcoming book that he feared the FBI's nascent Russia investigation would 'vanish' if he was fired after James Comey, and says that's why he gathered his deputies and ramped up the probe

President Donald Trump has insisted for two years that his campaign never colluded with the Kremlin to help him wih the 2016 election

'I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground in an indelible fashion, that were I removed quickly and reassigned or fired that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace.

McCabe is promoting a book, due for a Feb. 19 release

'I wanted to make sure that our case was on solid ground, and if somebody came in behind me and closed it, and tried to walk away from it, they would not be able to do that without creating a record of why they made that decision.'

President Trump wasted little time firing back against the onetime acting FBI director who got his walking papers just two days before his full-pension retirement day because of evidence that he was leaking sensitive material to reporters.

'Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a poor little Angel when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax  a puppet for Leakin James Comey. I.G. report on McCabe was devastating. Part of insurance policy in case I won,' the president tweeted.

'Many of the top FBI brass were fired, forced to leave, or left. McCabes wife received BIG DOLLARS from Clinton people for her campaign  he gave Hillary a pass. McCabe is a disgrace to the FBI and a disgrace to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!'

Trump fired James Comey from the top FBI job, making McCabe the acting director

The president vented at McCabe Thursday on Twitter, saying he was a 'puppet' for Comey

Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed the month McCabe says he started a paper trail on what later became a broad Russai probe. McCabe became acting FBI director when Trump fired Comey.

Mueller's nearly two-year-long investigation has focused in part on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, including the obstruction of justice and counterintelligence probes.

Mueller's office is examining so-far unproven allegations of coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign. Moscow has denied interfering and Trump says there was no collusion.

He routinely calls the probe a 'witch hunt.'

In June 2017, Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee he believed Trump had directed him in February to drop an FBI probe into the Republican presidents former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, as part of the broader Russia investigation.Advertisement

Jaston Khosa, a Zambian in his late 90s and a veteran of Britain's colonial military, faced Italian forces in Somaliland during World War Two and now lives in a crime-ridden shantytown on the edge of the capital, Lusaka

Britain's forgotten African heroes who risked their lives in World War II and were subjected to beatings from cruel superiors were left destitute after the fighting finished.

During WWII over half-a-million African troops were deployed in the British Army - part of the largest single movement of African men overseas since the slave trade, exposing these men to the horrors of battle in the desert and jungle.

British journalist and filmmaker Jack Losh managed to track down some of the last surviving African veterans of the war aged around 100 years old in his new documentary, 'The Forgotten Heroes of Empire.'

These men said they were subjected to beatings by superiors while serving - despite the army outlawing the practice decades prior to the outbreak of the war.

Eusebio Mbiuki from Kenya told Mr Losh: 'Our bodies became so swollen from the beatings. They would beat us and slap us until you accepted everything you were being told.'

Pressure is mounting on the government to apologise to Britain's last surviving African veterans of the second world war after Jeremy Corbyn and three shadow secretaries of state called on their Conservative counterparts to acknowledge the systematic discrimination of colonial-era troops.

Labour's Emily Thornberry, Nia Griffith and Dan Carden  the shadow foreign, defence and international development secretaries  demanded in a letter that Theresa May's administration acknowledge the unfair treatment, launch an investigation into the matter, issue a formal apology and pay veterans compensation.

An MOD spokesperson said: 'The UK is indebted to all those servicemen and women from Africa who volunteered to serve with Britain during the Second World War. Their bravery and sacrifice significantly contributed to the freedoms that we all enjoy today.'

Many of these British subjects were conscripted - another practice which was supposed to have been ruled out by that time.

One tactic that Britain used to recruit African soldiers was propaganda, warning that Hitler wanted to seize their land - land that of course had already been colonised by the British themselves.

'When I got out, they gave me nothing,' said Eusebio Mbiuki (pictured at home in Kenya) 'We were abandoned just like that'

Mr Mbiuki (left) with a fellow solider while serving for the King in the Second World War. He told Mr Losh he was 'abandoned'

Zambian soldiers on parade at a special Armistice Day memorial event in Mbala, where German forces formally surrendered on November 25, 1918, two weeks after war had ended in Europe

Mr Khosa, a Second World War veteran from Zambia, in the backyard of his dilapidated house in a slum south of the capital

'We did not know who Hitler was,' said Eusebio Mbiuki from Kenya, 'We didn't know anything about him. We didn't feel very good about him. We thought this Hitler would come and drive us from our lands.'

Colonial officials were said to have turned a blind eye to how commanders managed to secure fighting men for their regiments, which put the Africans in the firing line against their will.

Gershon Fundi, a former signalman who served in Ethiopia and Somaliland during WWII, said: 'We were not happy being in that war,' speaking at his home in the highlands of Kenya. 'They were treating us as slaves. We were there not because we wanted to be there. But we were forced to go there.'

And then when the fighting was over the men were sent back to their homeland with a paltry sum, while white Africans were given triple the amount as an end-of-war bonus.

Mr Khosa waits to meet Prince Harry at a special event put on for Britain's African veterans and war widows in November

Prince Harry arrives at Burma Barracks in Lusaka, Zambia, to meet war widows and veterans who fought for Britain during WWII

Prince Harry looks at a book at a special event with Britain's African WWII veterans and war widows in Lusaka, Zambia

Prince Harry sits to pose for a picture with some of Britain's African veterans at Burma Barracks in Lusaka, Zambia

This lump sum was based on rank, length of service and on the colour of their skin.

'When I got out, they gave me nothing,' said Mr Mbiuki from Kenya. 'We were abandoned just like that.'

Jaston Khosa, a Zambian in his late 90s, faced Italian forces in Somaliland during World War Two and now lives in a crime-ridden shantytown on the edge of the capital, Lusaka.

He waited to meet Prince Harry when he visited in November, saying he was looking forward to meeting the royal: 'So he can try to report it to UK when he go back and say that Mr Khosa's, his house is not good.'

Some of the men came home with shell-shock, Mr Losh claimed, with no support and little understanding of their mental torment among their relatives.

Mr Mbiuki (right) and Gershon Fundi (left), two veterans of the King's African Rifles, at a war graves cemetery near Mount Kenya

Mr Mbiuki and Mr Fundi examine the war graves of their fallen comrades at a cemetery near Mount Kenya

Mr Fundi, a former signalman who served in Ethiopia and Somaliland during World War Two, rests in the doorway of his home up in the highlands - he said they were treated like slaves

Grace Mbithe, a widow in her late 90s, reads her Bible in her ramshackle home in the Kenyan highlands - she said her husband was forcibly recruited into the army and returned traumatised

Describing how the chief's men abducted her husband and forced him into Britain's ranks, Mrs Mbithe said: 'Where could you hide? It would just happen suddenly, one morning. If you hid, they would just come back another day. We cried a lot when we heard he'd had been captured'

Mrs Mbithe (right), a widow in her late 90s, described how her husband (left) was psychologically scarred after serving in North Africa

Grace Mbithe, a widow in her late 90s, who lives in the Kenyan highlands described how her husband was forcibly recruited to fight for the British.

Describing how the chief's men abducted her husband and forced him into Britain's ranks, Mrs Mbithe said: 'Where could you hide? It would just happen suddenly, one morning. If you hid, they would just come back another day. We cried a lot when we heard he'd had been captured.'

She said he returned from service in North Africa deeply traumatised by the horrors of combat.

'He came back unwell. That illness killed him,' said Mrs Mbithe. 'His heart beat so loudly. At night we couldn't sleep. This happened when he remembered what he had gone through.

Mr Mbiuki walks through his ram-shackle village in the highlands of Kenya. He said he was beaten so badly by British superiors he became swollen

Mr Fundi said: 'I pray for those dead,' as he rested in the doorway of his house in the highlands, 'and I don't know why I'm still alive for all those years'

'During rainstorms, he would get out of bed and stand outside, unable to bear the thundering sound on their corrugated metal roof.

'It would rain on him over and over again, while his heart beat faster and faster, he had a bad heart and that's what killed him.'

Last year as the Secretary of State for International Development, Penny Mordaunt announced Britain would provide 12 million in aid for WWII veterans in the Commonwealth.

The news came as Prince Harry travelled to Lusaka in Zambia to meet with veterans, war widows and relatives of those who fought in the British Army.

Former soldiers of the King's African Rifles - who served after WWII - took part in a 'journey of remembrance' when Mr Losh was filming, paying tribute to African soldiers who served in WWI as well as WWII.

Mr Losh said many of those men acknowledge the injustices perpetrated on the African veterans of WWII but that it was incumbent upon the British government to do more.

Mr Khosa, a WWII veteran from Zambia, walks through his neighbourhood in a squalid slum south of the capital, Lusaka

Mr Losh's film documented a 'Journey of Remembrance' - here David Williams (with his back to the camera, wearing a hat), President of the King's African Rifles Association, listens to a talk given by a historian at the site where, on November 14, 1918, General von Lettow-Vorbeck of Germany heard that his government had agreed to the ArmisticeThe unruly 'gypsy' British tourists terrorising New Zealand have been banned from all Burger Kings across the country after scheming to get free meals by taking other people's leftovers back and claiming they were served cold food.

The ban was announced in a briefing from police revealing what they had been told about the family's alleged actions by staff at one of the chain's branches in Hamilton.

The family had a number of tactics to get their money back, which involved using the children as actors, the briefing said.

The Dorans allegedly also ordered their own food and took bites out of it, before waiting 30 minutes to send it back saying it was cold.

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The unruly 'gypsy' British tourists who terrorised New Zealand have been banned from all Burger Kings across the country (family spokesman Joe Moran left)

'The family appeared to use the children as tools in assisting with this, and getting them to take old food from customers' deserted tables, then trying to demand a refund with the cold food.' The briefing information, obtained by the New Zealand Herald in an official information act (OIA) request said:





The staff also said the children yelled obscenities through a speaker box and were aggressive and rude to other customers.

The employees are not pursuing a formal complaint about the behaviour, however.

'All [family members] were issued with trespass notices for all Burger King Restaurants throughout New Zealand.'

The now infamous family were accused of trashing a beach, leaving a cafe without paying, damaging their apartment and allegedly stealing a journalist's phone.

Briefing information, obtained by the New Zealand Herald in an official information act (OIA) request, said the family would use their children 'as tools' in assisting them (stock image)

Four adult members of the group left New Zealand and arrived at Heathrow Airport on January 27.

Larry Doran said his family had done 'nothing wrong' during their trip and called it the 'holiday from hell'.

Images have shown members of the family standing in public smoking and spitting, some drinking Red Bull while others carried six-packs of beer.

The clan, who have lived in caravan parks across the East Midlands in the UK, became so notorious that a hire car they crashed and abandoned in Auckland was stripped by souvenir hunters.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff previously called them 'a*******s' and 'trash' in interview on a local radio station.

'The family appeared to use the children as tools in assisting with this, and getting them to take old food from customers' deserted tables, then trying to demand a refund with the cold food,' the briefing said (pictured the travellers loading into their car in Levin January 19)A 10-year-old girl died of meningitis just three days after she said she was suffering from an ear infection, her family have said.

Abbigayle Dipietro, an aspiring veterinarian, died at a hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana last Tuesday after falling into a coma.

She had gone to the emergency room with an earache and medics were initially not worried but she soon began vomiting and then had a seizure.

Ten year-old Abbigayle Dipietro, pictured, died of meningitis just three days after she complained of an earache and was taken to the emergency room

The 10-year-old's mother said she had been struck down by bacterial meningitis.

Her mother, Tasha Dipietro-Anderson, told WNDU that Abbi had gone to the emergency room with an earache and was initially told it was just an infection.

The aspiring veterinarian (pictured), died at a hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana last Tuesday after falling into a coma

She then started vomiting and went into a seizure, prompting doctors to check for flue and meningitis.

During the tests she fell into a coma and died on Tuesday evening last week, her mother said.

Paying tribute on Facebook, Mrs Dipietro-Anderson said: 'She loved her family and animals. She was the sweetest little girl.

'She wanted to be a veterinarian. She was so alive and colorful and unique. She was the purest soul I have ever met.'

The family has already received over $12,000 in donations from more than 300 people on a fundraising page.

The donations were initially meant to help the family visit her in the Fort Wayne hospital but will now go towards her funeral and cremation.

Health chiefs in Elkhart County have told the public there was no danger to other students.

However they warned parents that a sore throat or earache could be an early symptom of it.Campaigners are begging a South African zoo to move a 'lonely' elephant to a sanctuary after her mate died six months ago.

Lammie, the last African elephant at Johannesburg Zoo, and her mate Kinkel had been together for 17 years after he was rescued in the wild when his trunk got caught in a snare in 2000.

Since he died last September, animal protection groups want to see Lammie moved to a bigger sanctuary so she does not have to spend her final years alone.

The 39-year-old elephant also suffered the loss of her week-old calf, the death of her parents, the relocation of one of her brothers to a French zoo and the other being moved to a captive facility in Johannesburg.

Lammie refused to eat around the time of her partner's death, according to the zoo, and the day before Kinkel died, she was seen trying to help him get up.

Lammie the African elephant has been 'lonely' since her mate of 17 years, Kinkel, died around six months ago, campaigners say

Animal protection groups want to see Lammie moved to a bigger sanctuary where she can be with other elephants

Elephants develop strong social group bonds and losing family and peers can result in significant grief and trauma, animal protection groups say.

Lammie now spends her days alone in her enclosure without the company of another elephant or any distractions, say campaigners.

They say she has little enrichment, not much shade, insufficient water to bathe, appears to listlessly stand at the gate of her elephant house for hours on end and is overweight.

Elephant experts at Humane Society International/Africa, the EMS Foundation and the Elephant Reintegration Trust are concerned for her mental well-being and are urging Johannesburg zoo in South Africa.

A rewilding sanctuary willing to offer Lammie a new home with other elephants who would become her new family has been found.

But so far the zoo has resisted requests to release Lammie to the sanctuary and has instead suggested it may bring in another elephant to keep her company.

Lammie has been left on her own in her enclosure in Johannesburg Zoo in South Africa

Elephant experts say Lammie has become overweight since her mate of 17 years died and she has been seen standing listlessly at the gate of her enclosure

The campaigners will hand a petition of nearly 300,000 signatures to the zoo, urging bosses to transfer Lammie to the sanctuary.

A letter of support from 13 of the world's most renowned elephant conservationists has also been submitted.

Harry Potter actress, Evanna Lynch, has added her voice to the campaign along with school children who are backing the mercy mission by sending Valentine's card to the zoo.

Evanna Lynch said: 'Elephants are such amazing, intelligent creatures that it is simply heart-breaking to see them reduced to such pitiful circumstances.

'I really hope that the people of Johannesburg zoo will find it in their hearts to let Lammie live with other elephants in a sanctuary, it's the least she deserves after years of captivity.'

Even if another elephant is acquired, the minimum recommended by a number of zoo associations stipulates at least four elephants should be in a grouping.

Actress Evanna Lynch has backed the campaign to get Lammie moved

Elephant experts at HSI/Africa say only having two elephants does not meet the complex needs of the animals which is why nearly 40 zoos around the world are shutting down their elephant exhibits.

Audrey Delsink, wildlife director of Humane Society International/Africa, said: 'Elephants are highly intelligent, extremely social, sentient beings with complex family structures and bonds that last a lifetime.

'Now that Lammie has lost her companion, she is in desperate need of a happier existence and the chance to live out her years with other elephants.

'There is a rewilding sanctuary ready and waiting to offer Lammie a home where she can express normal elephant behaviours and thrive emotionally and physically with a group of elephants who would become her new family.

'Acquiring another elephant would simply be repeating the cycle of suffering all over again, and seeing elephants in a sterile environment provides no educational value at all.

'There are many zoos around the world recognising the welfare challenges of keeping elephants, so this Valentine's day we're urging Johannesburg Zoo to mend Lammie's broken heart and let her go to a sanctuary where she can spend the rest of her days with others of her kind.'

The Humane Society International/Africa, the EMS Foundation, the Elephant Reintegration Trust and schoolchildren are calling for Lammie to be moved

Schoolchildren have written Valentines Day cards to zoo bosses begging them to move Lammie to a bigger sanctuary

South Africa's NSPCA, an animal welfare group, appealed for an end to 'the endless and redundant cycle of continuously condemning elephants to captivity for many years to come'.

The Johannesburg Zoo says it serves an educational role and hosts visitors from low-income communities who don't have the means to visit wildlife parks.

The case of Lammie, who was born in the zoo, echoes that of Happy, an Asian elephant that has lived at the Bronx Zoo in New York since 1977, including over a decade without another elephant in the same enclosure.

Some activists say Happy should go to a sanctuary with other elephants, but the zoo said in 2016 that she is 'healthy and comfortable,' has bonded with the people who care for her and has 'tactile and auditory contact' with the zoo's other two elephants.A high school teacher and former local radio host in Wedowee, Alabama, is accused of repeatedly raping a 15-year-old student.

David Brenton Burkhalter, 30, has been arrested on charges including second-degree rape and sodomy.

Wedowee police said they learned of allegations against the Randolph County High School algebra and geometry teacher last week.

It's unclear who reported the allegations to authorities.

Alabama algebra and geometry teacher David Brenton Burkhalter, 30 (pictured), has been arrested on charges including second-degree rape and sodomy of a 15-year-old student at Randolph County High

Burkhalter is accused of having sexual intercourse and deviate sexual intercourse with the 15-year-old girl between at least December 2018 and January 2019.

Burkhalter's charges include two counts of second-degree rape; one count of second-degree sodomy; one count of enticing a child; two counts of electronic solicitation of a child for sex; and two counts of School Employee Sex Act with Student Less than 19 years of age.

Court documents show Burkhalter use a cell phone to set up meetings with the teenager and invited her into a vehicle at least once for sexual purposes.

Burkhalter's charges include two counts of second-degree rape; one count of second-degree sodomy; one count of enticing a child; two counts of electronic solicitation of a child for sex; and two counts of School Employee Sex Act with Student Less than 19 years of age. Burkhalter is pictured in a photo shared to the Facebook page for the local radio show he co-hosted on, posted on May 18

Court documents show Burkhalter use a cell phone to set up meetings with the teenager and invited her into a vehicle at least once for sexual purposes. Burkhalter is pictured at left and right in photos shared to the Facebook page for The Front Porch radio show. The photo of him at right shows him in a tee shirt that reads, 'Bethel Christian Church'

Authorities learned of the allegations against Burkhalter on February 6, according to AL.com.

An investigation carried out together by the Wedowee Police Department, the Randolph County Sheriffs Department and the Clay County Sheriffs Department determined the allegations were credible, police said.

Burkhalter is a former co-host of The Front Porch, which airs in Alexander City on Lake Broadcasting Inc.s WAXC-TV 3 and WKGA-FM 97.5, according to the Alex City Outlook.

Burkhalter (left) is a former co-host of The Front Porch, which airs in Alexander City on Lake Broadcasting Inc.s WAXC-TV 3 and WKGA-FM 97.5. He left the job eight months, and has had no contact with the company since, Lake Broadcasting president John Kennedy said.

He left the job eight months, and has had no contact with the company since, Lake Broadcasting president John Kennedy said.

Burkhalter was being held at the Randolph County Jail with bail set at $1 million.

Court records do not show whether Burkhalter has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.Optus customers trying to sign in to their own accounts have been stunned to discover they were logged in under someone else's name.

The social media pages of the company were flooded with comments on Thursday afternoon from customers concerned about a potential data breach.

One customer, Tommy Morgan, said his login page was refreshing every two seconds before it eventually logged him into someone else's account.

Optus customers trying to sign in to their own accounts have been stunned to discover they were logged in under someone else's name

'I finally hit the login button in between its two-second refresh cycle. Then when I got in, I was Vladmir. Apparently other people were getting in as Vladmir as well,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

He said he tried three different computers, as he suspected it might be a problem on his desktop  but had the same issue.

Other customers have said they were logged into an account belonging to Sandra.

A spokesperson for Optus told the SMH they had taken the My Account page offline as a precaution.

'We are currently looking into the issue and if required will firstly contact any customers who may have been affected,' the spokesperson said.

Tommy Morgan posted to social media this afternoon saying he noticed his login page was refreshing every two seconds before it eventually logged him into someone else's account

Another customer Daniel Grallelis said he could see the personal information of someone else's account when he tried to log in.

'Optus, I just logged into My Account to check my bill, and I was automatically logged in as a different customer  with their name, mobile number and account number in plain view for me to see,' he tweeted.

The complaints follow reports of Optus customers receiving suspicious emails regarding their bill that appears to be a scam.

Optus has said it is aware of an email scam involving PDF attachments in emails that has been circulating since August 2018.



Newly empowered House Democrats are eyeing Ivanka Trump as a potential witness in their expanded Russia probe and may force the president's daughter to testify.

Although no final decisions are made, House investigators have flagged press reports about her involvement in a project to explore a Trump tower project in Moscow through at least the summer of 2016 campaign. Longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to the House Intelligence Committee about aspects of the project.

'Obviously there are a number of public reports about her involvement in the Trump Tower Moscow deal, and she may very well have relevant information,' a House Democrat said at a roundtable with reporters, Axios reported.

House Democrats could call Ivanka Trump to testify about her involvement in a Trump Moscow tower project that extended well into 2016, as prosecutors revealed

Ivanka Trump told ABC she knew 'literally almost nothing' about the Moscow project, following a report that she and Donald Trump Jr. were involved as far back as 2013.

Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump all visited Moscow and appear to have scoped out potential locations in 2015. Leaked emails obtained by Buzzfeed reveal Russia-born former Trump associate Felix Sater touting his own sway in getting Ivanka access during her Moscow visit.

In a Nov. 3, 2015 email, Sater wrote Cohen: 'Michael I arranged for Ivanka to sit in Putins private chair at his desk and office in the Kremlin I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected.'

Ivanka Trump told ABC she knew 'literally almost nothing' about the Moscow project

LIKE THIS, BUT UNDER OATH: Ivanka Trump arrives on Capitol Hill to meet with Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Todd Young, R-Ind., to discuss the Paid Family Leave legislation,, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019

FUR CONSIDERATION: Ivanka Trump, pictured here on a trip to Moscow, told ABC she knew 'literally almost nothing' about the Moscow tower project

Lawmakers are signaling caution when it comes to the president's daughter, who was on Capitol Hill Wednesday to discuss family leave legislation, with an eye toward getting their ducks in a row before calling her.

They plan to 'sequence the interviews that we do with an eye towards knowing as much as we can before we bring in potential witnesses,' said the lawmaker, who apparently sought anonymity to map out the probes.

House Intelligence chair Rep. Adam Schiff of California has already stated that his panel will extend beyond the search for evidence of collusion between Trump officials and Russia.

"The issue of potential Gulf money is the second-largest area of concern after Russia, said the lawmaker. '[T]hey may be distinct but overlapping when it comes to, for example, funding the inauguration. There may have been efforts to illegally funnel Russian money as well as Gulf money."

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, has told reporters investigators will look beyond Russia

Earlier this month, it was revealed that federal prosecutors in New York have subpoenaed Trump's inaugural committee  which smashed records by raising $100 million  for lists of donors and vendors as well as financial records.

The Trump inaugural chair, Tom Barrack, took heat this week following comments that backed up the regime in Saudi Arabia despite the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Barrack, who has ties to Middle Eastern leaders, apologized after making comments that are at odds with lawmakers who are demanding accountability from Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

So whatever happened in Saudi Arabia, Barrack said, the atrocities in America are equal or worse to the atrocities in Saudi Arabia. The atrocities in any autocratic country are dictated by the rule of law, so for us to dictate what we think is the moral code there, when we have a young man and a regime that is trying to push themselves into 2030, I think, is a mistake,' he said.

Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner reportedly supported a blockade of Qatar supported by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Qatar is reexamining its investment policies following reports it was caught off guard to learn it had been part of a deal to bail Kushner's family firm out of a costly real estate situation.Opinions toward Old Bay transcend party, age, race, gender and ideological lines, said Mileah Kromer, director of the Sarah T. Hughes Field Politics Center at Goucher College. An overwhelming majority of Marylanders view it favorably. Maryland politicians should be wary in expressing any negative opinions toward this most beloved seasoning.The father of one of the 'Bethnal Green three' says Britain has a duty to welcome Shamima Begum back and told MailOnline today: 'She should be allowed to come home and have her baby in peace'.

Abase Hussen, whose daughter Amira is thought to be alive and still alongside ISIS in Syria, said the schoolgirls are victims who should be 'helped, not punished'.

Miss Begum is heavily pregnant with her third child and living in a Syrian refugee camp. She says Amira is alive but Kadiza Sultana, the third girl who fled the UK with them, died in an air strike two years ago.

Mr Hussen, 52, who once was filmed at a London flag-burning rally attended by Anjem Choudary, said the three young jihadi brides had 'just made a mistake'.

'These girls were young,' he told MailOnline. 'They were manipulated by evil people and they should be brought home and helped. Not punished. They pose no threat.

Abase Hussen, 52, the father of Amira Abase, (left today) welcomed news that his daughter and her friend Shamima Begum (right) are alive ans said that they should come back to Britain if then can

Mr Hussen (circled) attended a heat preacher's rally alongside one of Lee Rigby's killers - and took his daughter - yet said he moved to Britain in 1999 for freedom and democracy

Timeline of the London girls' journey into ISIS' heart of terror - but now one wants to come home Sharmeema Begum - the first Bethnal Green girl to flee to Syria before her three younger friends followed 2014 - December - Counter terrorism police question Shamima Begum, Kadiz Sultana and Amira Abase after their friend Sharmeema Begum goes to Syria. 2015 - February 17 - Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-olds Shamima Begum and Amira Abase leave their east London homes at 8am to travel to Istanbul in Turkey from Gatwick Airport. Begum and Abase - who has not yet been publicly named - are reported missing by their families later the same day. - February 18 - Sultana is reported missing to the police. - February 20 - The Metropolitan Police launch a public appeal for information on the missing girls who are feared to have gone on to Syria. - February 21 - Four days after the girls went missing, police believe they may still be in Turkey. It is revealed that at least one of the missing girls had Twitter contact with Aqsa Mahmood, who left her Glasgow home in November 2013 and travelled to Syria after becoming radicalised. - February 22 - Abase's father Abase Hussen says his daughter told him she was going to a wedding on the day she disappeared. Metropolitan Police officers arrive in Turkey, but refuse to confirm whether they are involved in the search for the teenagers. 2016 - August 2016 - Sultana, 17, is reportedly killed in Raqqa when a suspected Russian air strike obliterates her house. 2019 - February 14 - Begum, 19, tells Anthony Loyd of The Times that she wants to return to the UK to give birth to her third child. Speaking from a refugee camp in Syria, she adds she does not regret joining IS and that she believes, contrary to reports in 2018, that her other companion Abase is still alive in Baghuz. Advertisement

'The British government have not done anything to help me or the other parents. We have been badly treated.

'Shamima should be allowed to come home and have her baby in peace.

'I'm just waiting for the time when I can see my daughter. Ever since she left I have had hope. Tomorrow is another day. You never know what will happen tomorrow. The last time I spoke to her was a very, very long time ago.'

When asked if he thinks the girls should be able to return to Britain to restart their lives, he said: 'As a parent there is no question. To have your children around you... there is no question. That would make me happy. It gives me some hope as well.'

He added: 'It was just a mistake that the girls left their families to go to a place like that.

'What I would say to her, if she reads this, is just come back, please. Come home to us. That's all I can say'.

Mr Hussen, who has two other grown up children, said he and his wife had lost contact with Amira last year.

'The last conversation we had with my daughter was over a year ago when she called out of the blue,' he said.

'I was full of so much sorrow that I couldn't speak with her properly. My heart is filled with grief.

'I have two other teenage children and I constantly worry about what they are getting up to and that they might also be radicalised. I'm a humble man, I fear God and don't deserve this.'

Mr Hussen, a security guard, said three families of the runaway girls had been in close contact when they went missing in 2015, but had gradually lost touch.

'There's been no co-ordination in helping our children to return,' he said. 'Nothing is being done for us.

'The intelligence services visited a few times but we've had no help from the government'.

Mr Hussen, who has been in the UK since 1999, originally comes from Ethiopia, where Amira was born.

He blamed police for failing to stop his daughter fleeing to join ISIS.

But months after she vanished it transpired that he had taken her to an extremist rally when she was just 13.

He conceded the teenager was 'maybe' influenced by the rally organised by banned terror group Al-Muhajiroun.

Shocking footage subsequently emerged of him amid a flag-burning mob, screaming in rage at a protest outside the US embassy in London, in 2012.

Also at the rally were hate cleric Anjem Choudary and Michael Adebowale, one of the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby.

He later apologised for attending, but admitted going to two further rallies  with his impressionable daughter in tow.

One took place outside the Saudi embassy in London, in 2013, and is said to have been organised by the Islamic extremist group Al-Muhajiroun, founded by hate cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed and linked to many Islamic terror atrocities of the past decade.

The rally was held against the treatment of Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia after human rights violations, and Mr Hussen, 47, who is from Ethiopia, said: 'We both lost many people back home, we wanted to try to get help for people back home, too many human rights violations there. Many died. Maybe it influenced her.'

Bethnal Green runaway Amira Abase (left in September) used a pictured of a woman in a full veil clutching a knife on her Twitter page, which has been shut down

Mr Abase, 53, says the families of the 'Bethnal Green three' have been badly treated

Ms Begum, now 19, was tracked down by The Times to a refugee camp in northern Syria where she is the bride of an Islamic State fighter, nine months pregnant and has had two infant children who are dead. Her husband is in captivity.

Stating that 'I don't regret coming here,' she told The Times: 'I'm not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago.'

She also told the paper: 'The caliphate is over. There was so much oppression and corruption that I don't think they deserved victory.

'I know what everyone at home thinks of me as I have read all that was written about me online. But I just want to come home to have my child. That's all I want right now. I'll do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child.'

Ms Begum, Kadiza and Amira , who all attended Bethnal Green Academy, left their homes in February 2015 to join a fourth Bethnal Green schoolgirl in Syria who had left London they year before. They each married an Isis foreign fighter, according to The Times.

Kadiza was reported to have been killed in an airstrike on Raqqa in May 2016, while Ms Begum has recently heard second-hand from other people that Amira, and the other schoolgirl who left Britain in 2014, may still be alive.

When she arrived, Ms Begum was put in a house where jihadist brides-to-be waited to be married, she said.

Ten days after arriving in Raqqa in 2015, she wed a Dutchman who had converted to Islam. She claims her husband was later arrested, charged with spying and tortured.

Kadiza Sultana, then 16, Amira Abase, then 15, in images released by police in 2015 after they ran off to Syria. Miss Sultana was killed in an air strike

She left Raqqa in January 2017 with her husband but her children, a girl aged 21 months and a three-month-old boy, both died in recent months. Her son had an unknown illness worsened by malnutrition, The Times said.

Ms Begum said she had a 'mostly' a 'normal life in Raqqa, interrupted every now and then by 'bombing and stuff'.

She told the paper: 'But when I saw my first severed head in a bin it didn't faze me at all. It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam.

'I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance.'When a flight attendant asked passengers who owned a bag that would not fit into an overhead locker, Tremblay, joked, 'There's a bomb in it,' according to a Broward Sheriff's arrest report

A Montreal woman has been arrested after allegedly joking that a carry-on bag contained a bomb on a flight out of Florida.

Nathalie Dorothee Tremblay, 53, of Montreal, was on an Air Canada flight from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Montreal on Tuesday night.

When a flight attendant asked passengers who owned a bag that would not fit into an overhead locker, Tremblay joked to her boyfriend, 'There's a bomb in it,' according to a Broward Sheriff's arrest report.

The flight attendant didn't take the joke lightly and the plane was evacuated, as reported by the Sun-Sentinel of South Florida.

Terminal 2 at the airport was also closed off and three flights delayed.

A bomb squad was called in and the carry-on bag analyzed before it was determined there was no threat.

Tremblay was questioned by deputies and apologized, saying she couldn't remember the exact words used, according to the arrest report.

'I hope there's not a bomb in there,' she told one investigator. Later she said she made 'a stupid joke' about the bag and told the flight attendant that 'it's probably a bomb,' the report said.

The plane was evacuated and a terminal closed. Tremblay was arrested on suspicion of making a false report of a bomb, explosive, weapon of mass destruction

She was arrested on suspicion of making a false report of a bomb, explosive, weapon of mass destruction.

Her defense lawyer told a court on Wednesday, 'I do understand that in the times we're living in, this was basically a horrible joke gone wrong, and I do believe Ms. Tremblay realizes that now.'

A $5,000 bond was set for Tremblay.

The Air Canada flight to Montreal that Tremblay was on prior to her arrest was delayed and landed at Trudeau airport at 4 a.m.Advertisement

Before he became one of the most notorious gangsters in American history, Al Capone lived at a modest two story Chicago red-brick home - and now it could be yours for just $109,000.

Listed for sale on the week of the 90th anniversary of the gruesome St. Valentines Day Massacre, Capone moved into the south-side home in 1923, having arrived from New York to aide the criminal operations of then Chicago Outfit mob boss Johnny Torrio.

Later known as 'Scarface', Capone purchased the six-bedroom property for $5,000 and lived there with his wife Mae, his mother Teresina, and his sister Mafalda Maritote.

According to a Chicago Tribune news clipping from 1927, Capone 'was virtually a prisoner' at the home, with a police car often surveying for criminal misdeeds outside of the property on Prairie Avenue.

Al Capone moved into the home from New York in 1923 to work for the Chicago Outfit mob boss Johnny Torrio

Considered a 'prisoner' at the home, Capone installed a secret tunnel from the basement to the garage to evade police watch (pictured: A police car sits outside the home in 1925)

Al Capone is considered to be one of America's most notorious gangsters, having overseen the US' largest bootlegging operation in Chicago during the Prohibition

To evade their watch, the infamous bootlegger installed a secret tunnel from the home's basement to the garage.

The door believed to be the entrance way to the secret passage is still in place today.

Equipped with hardwood floors and high ceilings the abode still bares a number of other characteristics the Capones originally furnished it with.

'The kitchen on the first floor is probably from the '50s,' Ryan Smith, the estate agent representing the property for Crain's, said.

'That could have still been there when his mother lived there. That doesn't appear to have been updated at any time.'

Teresina Capone, lived at the home for nearly 30 years until her death in 1952.

It was purchased on January 15, 1953 and has been on and off the market ever since.

Equipped with hardwood floors and high ceilings the abode still bares a number of other characteristics the Capone's originally furnished it with

'Scarface' lived at the home with his mother, wife and sister. His mother, Terisina Capone, lived at the property until her death in 1952

Capone bought the property for just $5,000 and its been on and off the market for much of the last 10 years

The property has been on and off the market ever since. It was listed for $450,000 in 2009, but is now listed for just a quarter of that, at $109,900 (pictured: the secret tunnel entrance door is still present at the property, though the tunnel itself has been filled in

Much of the home is considered to be relatively untouched since Teresina occupied the home. In a 1929 Chicago Tribune news clipping,noted the home's 'soft lighting and velvet rugs'

In 2009 the 2,820-square-foot unit was listed for a handsome $450,000, and saw a 50 percent slash to the price tag in 2014 to $225,000.

It's last owner lost the home to foreclosure in 2018.

And now the property is going for an absolute steal for just $109,900 - a far cheaper alternative than Capone's Miami Beach mansion that was put on the market last year for $15million.

Capone was eventually arrested in 1931, on charges of tax evasion - bring much of his reign to an end. He died in 1947 after going into cardiac arrest in Miami

Chicago police open a safe at Capone's home in 1931, the courts and the IRS wanted to gather maximum proof of criminal activity against the man who was considered as public enemy number one

Organized crime ruled the streets of Chicago during the 1920s, and Brooklyn-born Capone played an instrumental part in the Chicago Outfit's Prohibition bootlegging operation, before heading up the mob himself.

The Midwestern metropolis descended into lawlessness as politicians and law enforcement were bribed into silence while the mafia waged bloody warfare across the city.

Despite overseeing a crime syndicate reveling in the outlawed businesses of gambling, prostitution and racketeering, Capone never shone away from the media spotlight and became a national celebrity.

Speaking to reporters in Chicago, Capone refused to apologize for his criminal operations and instead said he was doing a 'public service' to members of the city.

But for all his showmanship and flashy outfits, a darker side to Capone lurked beneath the media's glare.

Trafficking alcohol during Prohibition was a lucrative business for organized crime and Bugs Moran, head of The North Side Gang controlled the majority of shutdown breweries and distilleries that lined the north side of the city.

Determined to monopolize the city's operations, Capone's outfit declared war on the North-side gang, and between 1922 and 1926, 474 mobsters were killed.

These years were defined by fraud, revenge murders, bombings, heists and turf wars; punctuated briefly by an armistice between the two enemy syndicates.

The St. Valentines Day massacre, 1929 - the biggest single-hit mob ambush in history - saw seven of Capone's rival North-Side Gang executed against a wall by two men dressed as police officers

They had been lured to a warehouse in the city on the promise of an intercepted whiskey order of Capone's. The hit was intended for Bugs Moran and his top lieutenants but instead Moran was running late that morning

Chicago Daily News front page reporting the St Valentines Day Massacre in 1929

Capone narrowly escaped death twice himself in 1925 and 1926 after being ambushed by North Side capos.

The conflict came to a climax on February 14, 1929 - history's biggest single-day mob hit that saw seven members of Bugs Moran's North Side Gang executed against a wall by four assassins disguised as uniformed policemen wielding machine guns.

They had been lured to the SMC Cartage Warehouse under the false promise of a stolen, cut-rate shipment of Canadian whiskey that belonged to Capone.

The hit was intended for Bugs Moran and his top lieutenants but instead Moran was running late that morning and missed the massacre entirely by a few minutes.

Photos of the gruesome mass executions were published in newspapers the next day; leaving Americans stunned and speechless over what became known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre

Capone was never charged for orchestrating the massacre but he was finally brought down for tax evasion in 1931.

In the year before his death, a psychiatrist determined Capone to have the mentality of a 12-year-old child, as a result of contracting syphilis at one of his brothels several years earlier.

After suffering a stroke and falling ill with pneumonia, Capone died after going into Cardiac arrest, on January 25 1947.Vice President Mike Pence told a conference of European and Middle East leaders on Thursday that Iran is plotting to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth, and seeks to unleash a 'new Holocaust.'

With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu watching, Pence said in Poland that Tehran poses 'the greatest threat to peace and security' in the region.

Hours earlier, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters that 'confronting Iran' is a necessary step for any nation that wants to 'achieve peace and stability in the Middle East.'

'The three H's  the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah  these are real threats ... you can't get peace in the Middle East without pushing back against Iran,' Pompeo said, referring to the Islamic regime's proxies in Yemen, in Lebanon and in Syria and Iraq.

The U.S. and Poland cooperated in organizing the two-day conference in Warsaw.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other leaders in Tehran celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution on Monday with new threats against Israel

Vice President Mike Pence warned Thursday during a conference on Peace and Security in the Middle east in Warsaw, Poland, that Iran is plotting a 'new Holocaust'

Iran celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution on Monday. President Hassan Rouhani vowed to 'raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground' if the U.S. military should attack.

The Trump administration responded with a video message from National Security Advisor John Bolton,' aimed squarely at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

'For all your boasts, for all your threats to the life of the American president, you are responsible for terrorizing your own people,' Bolton declared. 'I don't think you'll have many more anniversaries to enjoy.'

Pence on Thursday denounced a new initiative by France, Germany and Britain to let European businesses keep operating in Iran despite renewed U.S. sanctions designed to hamstring Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions.

'It's an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU and creates still more distance between Europe and the United States,' Pence said.

'The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us as we bring the economic and diplomatic pressure necessary to give the Iranian people, the region and the world the peace, security and freedom they deserve,' he said.

(L-R) Vice President Pence, Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, from left, stood for group photos on Thursday at the two-day conference on Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw, Poland

As Iran's clerical state marks 40 years since the overthrow of the pro-U.S. shah, Pence vowed maximum pressure while not explicitly urging regime change.

'As Iran's economy continues to plummet, as the people of Iran take to the streets, freedom-loving nations must stand together and hold the Iranian regime accountable for the evil and violence it has inflicted on its people, on the region and the wider world,' he said.

US sanctions 'will get tougher still' unless Iran 'changes its dangerous and destabilising behavior,' Pence said.

The European Union, including summit host Poland, has shown no sign of rejecting the 2015 accord negotiated under former US president Barack Obama in which Iran constrained its nuclear programme in return for promises of sanctions relief.

EU officials say they acknowledge concerns about Iran but believe the deal, with which Tehran has complied, is working and that the clerical state is not the only problematic actor in the region.

Pence's most fiery verbal attacks on Iran focused on the nation's status as 'the leading state sponsor of terror in the world.'

Forty years ago this month, the mullahs seized control of the country  and every year since, they have supported terrorist proxies and militias like Hezbollah, Hamas, and al Qaeda, exported missiles, and fueled conflicts in Syria and Yemen and beyond,' he said.

'Iran endlessly spews hatred against Israel, our most cherished ally. The Ayatollah Khamenei himself has said, It is the mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to erase Israel from the map of the region.'Advertisement

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre a year ago renewed the national debate on guns and school safety, turned some victims' parents and surviving students into political activists and at least temporarily ended the local sheriff's career.

President Donald Trump called the occasion as 'somber anniversary' and vowed to 'recommit to ensuring the safety of all Americans,' while former President Barack Obama even praised the students' gun-control activism in a tweet, saying 'I'm proud of all of them.'

But Thursday's anniversary will primarily be about remembering the 14 students and three staff members who died in the third high-profile mass shooting in Florida since 2016.

Many Stoneman Douglas students arrived on campus Thursday wearing headphones and the burgundy #MSDStrong T-shirts that have become an emblem of the tragedy.

Outside the school, angel stakes for each of the 17 victims bordered the school's landscaped sign. While absenteeism was expected to be high Thursday, freshman Matthew Sabia said he attended to show support and participate in activities.

'I want to show respect to what happened. The students who were here are probably sad and don't want to think too much about it. We don't really talk about it,' he said.

Classes were almost over last Valentine's Day when authorities say a 19-year-old former student arrived on campus and began shooting.

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Victoria Gonzalez and Liam Kiernan, both of whom are students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, comfort each other on Thursday as they remember those lost during a mass shooting at the school in Parkland, Florida a year ago

Suzanne Devine Clark, an art teacher at Deerfield Beach Elementary School, places painted stones at a memorial outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the one-year anniversary of the school shooting on Thursday

Cheryl Rothenberg embraces her daughters Emma and Sophia as they view a memorial on the one year anniversary of the shooting which claimed 17 lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida

Kul Bhushan Mody and his wife Kiran Bala Mody pray outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Thursday

Linda Beigel Schulman, mother of Scott Beigel, a geography teacher and cross country coach who was killed in last year's mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, becomes emotional while speaking to the media about her son

A plaque for Jaime Guttenberg, one of the victims of the Parkland school shooting is shown at a memorial outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the one-year anniversary of the shooting

Margate Fire Rescue Community Emergency Response Team member Peter Palmer (left) wipes his eyes while looking at a memorial outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, as Kara Cannizzaro (right) crosses herself at the site

Jogger Kara Cannizzaro stopped Thursday morning to pray at the memorial outside the school. She says 'every single person of the community has been affected by this.'

Students also will perform service projects and observe a moment of silence and a non-denominational, temporary temple will open in neighboring Coral Springs for people to pay their respects. The structure will later be burned in a purification ceremony. Security throughout the community and at schools will be high.

Obama joined in on the memorials with a tweet reading: 'In the year since their friends were killed, the students of Parkland refused to settle for the way things are and marched, organized, and pushed for the way things should be - helping pass meaningful new gun violence laws in states across the country. I'm proud of all of them.'

President Donald Trump also weighed in, writing: 'On this somber anniversary, we honor their memory and recommit to ensuring the safety of all Americans, especially our Nation's children.'

Friends and loved ones of the victims took the opportunity to share memories that they will forever cherish.

Tori Gonzalez, 18, told the New York Times of her boyfriend, Joaquin Oliver, known as Guac, who was killed in the shooting just months before he was expected to graduate.

'I'm wearing his sweatshirt. I wear it all the time. I'm going to sound really cheesy, but from the moment we met I knew I was going to spend my life with him,' she said. 'Last year I was very sick at this time, and Joaquin was like, 'I really hope you feel better by Valentine's Day.' That day was the first day I went back to school. I'm really glad that I saw him that morning. That morning was probably the best day that we had together.'

Manuel Oliver, father of Parkland victim Joaquin Oliver, read a letter he says his son wrote for a class assignment when he was 12 years old, in 2013, pleading for background checks. 'My son was fighting for this way before me,' he said.

Parkland victims remembered: The 14 students and three teachers who died on February 14, 2018 Jaime Guttenberg, 14, (left) was described by relatives as a 'kind-hearted, sweet' girl. Senior Nicholas Dworet (right) was a gifted swimmer who had his sights set on 2020 Tokyo Olympics success. His devastated college student girlfriend is among those grieving his death. Friends said he was not just a talented athlete, but a 'good guy' who will be missed Martin Duque, 14, (left) was a freshman. Meadow Pollack, 18, (right) was preparing for college Cara Loughran, 14, (left) loved Irish dancing and the beach. Alyssa Alhadeff, 15, (right) was eulogized by her mother who said she was a talented soccer player and creative mind. 'All she had to offer the world was love... I just sent her to school and she was shot and killed' Luke Hoyer (left), 15, was described as a 'precious' child by his grandparents, who said he was a 'good kid' who 'never got in trouble'. Joaquin Oliver, 17, (right), was a Venezuelan immigrant who came to the US with his family for a 'better future' Gina Montalto, 15, (left) was described as a 'light and joy'. She volunteered at a local project called The Friendship Initiative as a buddy for children with special needs. Alaina Petty, 14, (right) was also killed. Her Mormon church said she was a 'valiant' member Carmen Schentrup, 16, (left) was a gifted student who last year was named as a semifinalist in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program. ROTC student Peter Wang, 15, (right) also died. Students said that Peter held the door open for others while they fled Alex Schachter, 14, (left) was described by his father Max as a 'sweetheart of a child' who 'just wanted to do well and please his parents'. Helena Ramsey, 17, (right) was described by relatives as a 'reserved' and studious girl who was due to go to college next year Geography Scott Beigel, 35, (left) was shot dead as he tried to lock the door of his classroom again after letting a group of fleeing students in to hide. They were running away from the gunman. Athletic director Chris Hixon, 49, (right) was also killed shielding students Aaron Feis, 37, (center) died acting as a human shield. The track coach had thrown himself on top of the kids to stop the bullets from hitting him. He was a former student and was also a security guard at the school where he had worked for eight years Advertisement

For many Parkland students, the tragedy was still so raw they couldn't bring themselves to set foot in the building.

Fewer than 300 of the 3,200 students at the high school showed up for what was only a half-day, with classes cut short so that the teenagers would not be there around 2:20 p.m., the traumatic moment last year when gunfire erupted.

Senior Spencer Bloom skipped school to spend the day with students from the history class he was in during the shooting. He said he struggles with panic attacks and feared he might have one if he went in to school.

'There's all this emotion and it's all being concentrated back on one day,' Bloom said.

A moment of silence was observed there and at other schools across Florida and beyond at 10:17 a.m., a time selected to denote the 17 slain.

Reporters were not allowed inside the school, but students packed lunches for poor children in Haiti as part of a number of volunteer projects undertaken to try to make something good come out of the tragedy.

Freshman Jayden Jaus, 14, said the moment of silence was 'a bit emotional and a little intense' as the principal read the victims' names over the public address system.

Devon Fuller puts a plant in the ground at a garden setup in memory of those lost during a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida

Sergio Rosenblat hugs Melaina Plough at a makeshift memorial in front of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

Bouquets are placed at a memorial on campus on the one year anniversary of the shooting which claimed 17 lives

Attendees at several events to honor of the 17 that were killed during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting last year, hug as they gather on Thursday at Trails End Park in Parkland

Around the country: Other schools commemorate the solemn anniversary of Parkland shooting Seventeen empty desks sit on the lawn in front of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Sherborn, Massachusetts on Thursday as a memorial to those killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida T-shirts mourning teen victims of gun violence decorate a fence in front of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School on Thursday, in Bethesda, Maryland. The memorial comes on the one-year anniversary of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Students walk past T-shirts mourning teen victims of gun violence are seen on a fence in front of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Students in Boardman, Ohio clap for police as Sumo, a Boardman police K-9, walks the halls with first responders after a lockdown drill Thursday. Some students around the country marked the anniversary of the school massacre in Parkland, Florida, with moments of silence Thursday or somber vigils while others sought to find threads of positivity in the fabric of tragedy In New York City, a 'wall of Demand' mural and video message created by Manuel Oliver, father of Parkland victim Joaquin Oliver, is seen shortly after its unveiling on the one year anniversary of the mass shooting Emma Gonzalez, a gun control activist and survivor of the the 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, speaks at a press conference in New York City on the one year anniversary of the mass shooting Advertisement

Sophomore Julia Brighton, who suffered nightmares for months after the gunman killed three people in her classroom, placed flowers at the memorial outdoors instead of going inside and 'putting myself through that.'

Alexis Grogan, a junior, said she was spending the day picking up beach trash, dedicating her work to those who died.

'I survived something, and I don't want to waste what I call a second chance at life because those who have passed don't get that,' she said. 'We have to make a difference for them.'

Victims' families said they would spend the day quietly, visiting their loved ones' graves or participating in low-key events like a community walk.

Lori Alhadeff posted an open letter to her 14-year-old daughter Alyssa, who died in the shooting. Alhadeff remembered how Alyssa didn't want to go to school because she didn't have a Valentine. But when she dropped her daughter off, she put a pair of diamond earrings in Alyssa's ears and gave her a chocolate bar to make her smile.

They told each other, 'I love you,' and Alhadeff watched Alyssa walk away in a black and white dress and white sneakers: 'Your long, dark hair dangled. Your makeup looked just right.'

'The last time I saw you alive,' wrote Alhadeff, who was elected to the Broward County school board after the shooting on a platform pushing campus safety.

'We don't need (the anniversary) to remind us what happened. We live with it every day,' said businessman Andrew Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter Meadow died in the attack.

He met with President Donald Trump at the White House after the shooting and became an adviser to Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and his predecessor, Rick Scott.

Other fathers like Fred Guttenberg and Manuel Oliver have become active in Democratic politics.

David Hogg has struggled with his grief while emerging as a prominent student activist who co-founded the March for Our Lives movement.

'We can't move on from this, when it's something that never should have happened,' he told reporters this week, saying he planned to spend the day quietly with family. 'You can't move on from your sister constantly crying, every day, because she doesn't have her four best friends anymore.'

After his 14-year-old son, Alex, was shot dead in English class, Max Schachter left his work in insurance to focus on school safety. As the first anniversary approached, with his wife and other children still processing their loss, he noted there is no blueprint for getting through challenging days of mourning.

'To me, it's just another day that I don't have my little boy. Every day is hard,' he said. 'It's horrible. No one ever thinks that they're going to send their kid off to school and then they not come home.'

Police officers guard the entrance of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Thursday

Students arrive to school on the one year anniversary of the shooting which claimed 17 lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Students walk to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the one-year anniversary of the school shooting on Thursday

Sandy Pohl (left) and Tom Gilmartin, both school crossing guards at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, pay their respects at a memorial set up for those killed a year ago in Parkland, Florida

Wendy Behrend, a school crossing guard who was on duty one year ago when a shooter opened fire in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, pays her respects at a memorial for those killed

People visit a makeshift memorial in front of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Thursday

Victims' relatives from both sides of the political aisle helped lead the successful push to remove Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.

DeSantis suspended the Democratic sheriff last month, citing incompetence in his handling of the shooting. Israel is fighting the suspension in the state Senate and says he will try to win back the office in next year's election.

The massacre also led some Stoneman Douglas students to form the group 'March for Our Lives,' which holds rallies nationwide calling for tougher gun regulations and toured the country registering young adults to vote.

'It was the kids themselves that made Parkland an unusual shooting,' said Adam Winkler, a professor at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law and gun rights expert.

Just in Florida, 49 people died in the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando and five died at Fort Lauderdale's airport in 2017.

There have been other notable mass shootings across the country during that period - at a Las Vegas concert, a Pittsburgh synagogue and a Texas high school. But none resonated politically like Stoneman Douglas.

'What we haven't seen is a mobilization of the students in quite the same way,' Winkler said.

Maverick is covered in kisses as people pet him while visiting a memorial setup near Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in memory of those lost during a mass shooting at the school

A volunteer with a therapy dog arrives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the one-year anniversary of the school shooting. Volunteers will also offer massages and manicures to students stressed by the memorial

People visit a makeshift memorial in front of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Thursday

Painted stones at a memorial outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are shown during the one-year anniversary of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla. A year ago on Thursday, 14 students and three staff members were killed

But Thursday will be mostly a day to push aside politics. Victims' families who have spoken publicly say they will spend the day quietly, visiting their loved one's grave or participating in low-key events like a community walk.

'We are going to simply reflect and remember,' said Tony Montalto, president of the victims' families' organization, Stand With Parkland. 'That is the best thing.' Montalto's 14-year-old daughter Gina died in the shooting.

At Stoneman Douglas, students will mark the tragedy by working on service projects. They also can receive mental health counseling and visit therapy dogs. Volunteers will provide massages and manicures.

Mickey Pope, the district's chief of student-support services, said the staff worked with mental health counselors, community groups, the victims' families and others for four months to devise a plan they believe will honor those killed and allow students and staff to mourn.

Still, many Stoneman Douglas students are skipping school. For some it's too emotional; others don't want to be in the spotlight.

Alexis Grogan, a junior, said she'll spend the day picking up beach trash, dedicating her work to those who died.

'I survived something and I don't want to waste what I call a second chance at life because those who have passed don't get that,' she said. 'We have to make a difference for them.'

In Coral Springs, San Francisco-area artist David Best will open 'The Temple of Time,' which at 1,600 square feet represents the indefinite period it will take for the community to come to grips with the slayings. It's an Asian design with a spire roof that has intricate designs cut into it.

People visit the 'Temple of Time' in Coral Springs on Thursday. The Temple of the Time was built by the artist David Best to pay tribute to victims of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

Artist David Best plans to burn down the temple in May in a 'purification' ceremony in honor of the victims

California artist David Best talks about how he is building a non-denominational, temporary temple for the anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting massacre, on February 5 in Coral Springs, Florida

Best rejected naming it 'The Temple of Healing' because he said that is impossible for the victims and their families.

Since 2000, he has built such temples worldwide, including in Northern Ireland for those killed in political strife and in Nepal for the 2015 earthquake victims.

Like those structures, the Stoneman Douglas temple will be burned along with whatever mementos, writings and art that mourners leave behind. That ceremony will happen in May.

Most construction materials and other expenses are being paid by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's public arts foundation, but neither Best nor his workers are paid.

'When the smoke goes up and the flames go up, it will have a great meaning,' said volunteer Tony Bianco, an Army veteran and artist from Coral Gables.A heroic Arkansas mother got shot in the face with a crossbow and survived after diving in front of her teenage son.

Janet Partain feels she 'lucky to be alive' after she was shot by Joseph Avellino, 34, on Monday, and even managed to drive herself to hospital after the incident.

The 34-year-old shared a photo of her horrifying injuries while in hospital. In one picture, the arrow is still protruding from her face as blood poured from the gash. Later photos show the mom with the arrow removed, and her face stitched up.

'My face is throbbing and I can't shut one of my eyes,' she told WREG, less than 24 hours after the arrow was removed.

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Janet Partain, 34, was pictured with an arrow through her head Monday (left) after being shot in a crossbow incident

After being stitched up, Partain was photographed giving a middle finger salute to the camera while wearing hospital robes

She went into surgery 9am Wednesday morning and the Cross County Sheriff's Office Captain said: 'It was an odd sight to see someone with an arrow in their face and they're still conscious and talking to me'

Joseph Avellino, 34, was charged with battery in the first degree and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child after what law enforcement believe to have been an altercation with the woman.

Cross County Deputies responded to a residence around 4.20pm but deputies found the victim had already left in a vehicle.

Suspect Joseph Avellino, 34, was held in Cross County Jail but Thursday morning Partain said he was roaming the streets again

Partain said she was injured after turning up at Avellino's home near Wynne with her 14-year-old son and 15-year-old nephews to confront him about a theft.

'I told him, Joseph I don't want you on my property no more, this and that. And he was like, "Well I'm going to shoot ya'll",', Partain explained. '[He] was pointing the arrow at them and he fired a shot at one of them, and I pushed them out the way and I got hit,' she said. 'I think I was in shock because once I got hit I said, "I can't believe you almost shot that kid".'

After being stitched up, Partain was photographed giving a middle finger salute to the camera while wearing hospital robes. She went into surgery 9am Wednesday morning.

'It was an odd sight to see someone with an arrow in their face and they're still conscious and talking to me,' Cross County Sheriff's Office Captain Jeff Nichols told WREG.

Partain said she was injured after turning up at Avellino's home near Wynne with her 14-year-old son and 15-year-old nephews to confront him about a theft

Partain posted online: 'When I said I would take a bullet or whatever for my kids!! I meant that!! And I did just that!!'

Thursday morning Partain posted online that she was doing 'great' as friends wished her well

Even when a family member posted the good news about her recovery she seemed nonchalant about the entire ordeal.

'I'm great, 100 100 100,' the victim responded to: 'My auntie is finally out of surgery.'

Her son Tracey posted numerous public updates on his Facebook account throughout the week showing concern for his parent.

Partain posted online: 'When I said I would take a bullet or whatever for my kids!! I meant that!! And I did just that!!'

Avellino was held in Cross County Jail but Thursday morning Partain said he was roaming the streets again.

'He already out!! Cross county!!!' Partain responded to a well-wisher who said the suspect should 'not pass go, go straight to D.O.C.'

The suspect is the brother of Crystal Avellino, the woman killed in an apparent murder-suicide September 2016.

Also deceased Bobby Wright was suspected of being the shooter in the incident which was connected to the resignation of Cross County District Court Judge Joseph Boeckmann in May earlier that year.

The Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission accused Boeckmann of violating the state's Code of Judicial Conduct after not disclosing that he 'maintained an intimate, sexual relationship with Anthony Avellino' since 2001, Arkansas Money & Politics reported.

Anthony managed properties Boeckmann owned.

He was criticized for reducing the man's sister Crystal's $50,000 bond for property theft and abuse of an endangered or impaired person. They each came with three felony charges and eventually she didn't have to post any bail in September 2014.

She was accused of using her position working at Wynne Elder Care to make Luther and Winifred Sigman give her $30,000 in three instalments.

The judge's second connection to Crystal was that she worked for his sister Paulette McClanahan at Wynne Elder Care, a place where he contributed 'several thousand dollars each year'.

Joseph Avellino (left and right) was charged with battery and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child

It also emerged Crystal had a daughter Chloe Carter, fathered by the judge's nephew Charles 'Chuck' Carter.

Boeckman, 73, was sentenced to five years in prison last February for mail fraud and witness tampering. He had faced 260 years behind bars if convicted on all 21 counts, the Associated Press reported.

A court heard testimony of how he would make men with traffic or misdemeanor criminal charges come to his house with 'canned goods for charity' but would photograph the men from behind while making them pick up the items.

Over a period of seven years until 2015, he insisted it was to prove they did community service in turn reducing their punishment.

'He dangled their case dismissals in front of them while making them do his bidding,' a memo said. 'He posed them in embarrassing positions; positions that he found sexually gratifying.

'And when he sensed an opportunity to ask for more, he would take it  using the men's powerlessness and poor socio-economic circumstances to create a personal collection of explicit, exploitative images.'

'My beautiful sister': Avellino posted last May a photo of his sister Crystal's grave and said he and his brother Anthony missed her

But Cross County Judge Joseph Boeckmann (left) was charged accused of violating the state's Code of Judicial Conduct after not disclosing that he 'maintained an intimate, sexual relationship with Anthony Avellino' (right) since 2001A furious wife wrecked a caravan to take revenge on her cheating husband - who was then filmed swearing on a bible that he hadn't slept with escorts.

William O'Donnell was hauled before a priest after his scorned wife alleged he had slept with prostitutes in a hotel room with five of his friends.

A clip, believed to have been filmed in Kildare, Ireland, captures his furious wife as she displays the outside of a caravan she appears to have smashed with an axe in response.

A clip, filmed in an unknown location, captures a furious wife as she displays the outside of a caravan she appears to have smashed with an axe

She then pans the camera around the destroyed interior of the trailer, saying 'Look what I done to the trailer.'

'Him and his five mates slept in the one room with prostitutes. His clean decent wife, wasn't good enough,' she said.

'He didn't want a clean, decent girl, he was getting his thrill out of dirty w*****. He wanted dirty w******.'

A second clip shows William O'Donnell as he stands next to a priest with his hand on a bible

'Everyone who knows me knows the things you've done to me in the last year. Now William you're going to regret this.'

A second clip shows Mr O'Donnell as he stands next to a priest with his hand on a bible.

The priest explains that the man, who is believed to be a traveller, 'is going to make a statement with his hand on God's word, the bible'.

The accused cheater then says: 'Right, I've put my hand on this bible here today that I never slept with no girl in any hotel, I wasn't with any girl in a hotel. The accusations made against me is all lies.

'Whoever said that they have video, send out the video because it never happened so there couldn't be a video.

'I'm sorry to my wife, I love my wife, I want to start up my marriage I don't want to walk away from it.'

The two clips, which both emerged on social media last week, have since been viewed more than a million times.A tourist has been ridiculed online after asking for advice on driving a rental car from Sydney to New Zealand.

Posting to Tripadvisor, the person said they were from India and were keen on flying into Sydney before driving the rest of the trip to New Zealand.

The travel enthusiast first queried whether they could use a single car rental agreement across countries, before asking if they needed a separate visa.

A tourist has been ridiculed online after asking for advice on driving a rental car from Sydney to New Zealand

Posting to Tripadvisor, the person said they were from India and were keen on flying into Sydney (pictured) before driving the rest of the trip to New Zealand

'Hi, I am from India and planning to go to Sydney in December. I want to drive from Sydney-Auckland-Queenstown and fly back to India from there,' the post read.

'Is it possible that I hire a car in Sydney and drive throughout till Queenstown and drop the car there. I am recently told that driving across two countries require seperate car rental agreement.'

'Also, do I have to apply for seperate visas for both the countries or is there any joint visa for for Australia and New Zealand?' the post continued.

The post was quickly met with a lot of ridicule and sarcasm, with many comments telling the user to check a world map or use a water car.

'Hi, You'll need one of these and a lot of luck. Cheers,' one user wrote alone with a link to a water car.

'Please look at a world map,' another person commented.

'Yes sure, one rental agreement and theres (sic) a big bridge that you can drive over. Or perhaps use the tunnel under the Tasman Sea...' another person wrote.

The post was quickly met with a lot of ridicule and sarcasm, with many comments telling the user to check a world map or use a water car

Despite the large amount of advice mixed among the sarcastic replied, the tourist commented once again, not quite grasping the idea it's impossible to drive between Australia and New Zealand.

'Thanks for the information... I want to go to Sydney first and then visit New Zealand. Sydney-Auckland airfare is coming around 20k in December & we are 4 pax (sic) so 80k in total. Is flying cheaper or car will be cheaper?' the enthusiastic traveller wrote.

Luckily, a few users came in with solid advice, informing the tourist they should seek help elsewhere.

'Please don't get me wrong, but since you still seem to think you can drive from Sydney to Auckland, I suggest you visit a travel agent and have them help you plan your trip,' the helpful person wrote.

'Or if you are set on doing this yourself, look at a map and read some travel guides.'Ketan Shah, 48, allegedly collected nearly $1 million dollars in exchange for Super Bowl tickets and VIP accommodations that he never intended delivering

The missing Georgia man accused of running a $1 million Super Bowl ticket scam on about a dozen people, including his mother, has been arrested at a California spa after inadvertently raising the suspicions of a hotel staffer with his rude behavior.

Ketan Shah, 48, allegedly collected nearly $1 million dollars in exchange for Super Bowl tickets and VIP accommodations that he never intended delivering.

In early January, before the alleged scam had been uncovered, Shah had been reported missing by his wife, who claimed he was going through a mid-life crisis. The allegations against Shah were made public at the end of January, before the February 3 Super Bowl in Atlanta.

According to a statement from Gwinnett County (Georgia) police, Shah recently traveled to Miami, Alabama, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Las Vegas, and California, where he is currently awaiting extradition following his arrest.

Shah arrived at the Pechanga Casino and Resort in Temecula, California on Monday, according to San Diego's ABC affiliate . It was there that a 19-year-old employee noticed Shah rudely demanding to be served ahead of other guests waiting ahead of him at reception

Shah arrived at the Pechanga Casino and Resort in Temecula, California on Monday, according to San Diego's ABC affiliate. It was there that a 19-year-old employee noticed Shah rudely demanding to be served ahead of other guests waiting ahead of him at reception.

'He came in with his girlfriend,' the employee, David Halliday, told San Diego's Channel 10. 'Just from the offset, he seemed a bit different from the usual guests we have in the spa.'

Shah further raised Halliday's suspicions by paying cash.

It was then that Halliday did a web search on Shah's name, which revealed the Georgia businessman was wanted for theft.

Halliday reported the information to the local Riverside County Sheriff's Office. After confirming Ketan's identity, a local deputy made the arrest.

Gwinnett County police said in a news release Wednesday that at least six people reported that Shah offered to sell them Super Bowl tickets, and one said he paid $500,000 dollars for his company to host a Super Bowl event at an arena. Shah then disappeared.

Shah owns a printing company and had previously served on the board of a local YMCA

WSB-TV reports Ketan Shah's mother told police she lost $36,000 in the scam. John Brunetti tells WXIA-TV he lost $50,000. Both thought they were buying tickets from Shah to Super Bowl LIII on February 3 in Atlanta.

Shah faces a felony theft charge, but police say the investigation continues and more charges will be added.

Shah was being held in California until he can be brought back to Georgia. It wasn't clear whether he had a lawyer.

A Thursday statement on the Georgia Indo-American Chamber of Commerce's website says Shah has been suspended from its board of directors. The group says it has no connection to the alleged scheme.

Shah owns a printing company and had previously served on the board of a local YMCA.A police officer who had sex with two women while on duty has been banned from ever doing the job again.

PC Alan Russell, formerly of Thames Valley Police, had sex with a female colleague and a 'vulnerable' suspect in an investigation he was in charge of, a misconduct hearing was told.

Mr Russell drove his police car to his colleague's house when she was off sick in August 2017 and the pair had sex.

Two months later he met a woman issued with a restorative justice order who was a suspect in a criminal investigation.

After being appointed the lead officer in the case he sent her 'flirtatious' texts from both his work phone and his personal handset between October 2017 and May 2018, the panel heard.

On May 10 last year he drove to where she lived in his police car while on a night shift and engaged in 'consensual sexual conduct' with her.

PC Alan Russell, formerly of Thames Valley Police, had sex with a female colleague and a suspect in an investigation he was in charge of, a misconduct hearing was told

Mr Russell resigned the day before the misconduct hearing at Thames Valley Police's HQ in Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

The panel said the Abingdon-based officer had not shown remorse and would have been sacked if he had left the force.

They were also told Mr Russell has identified the criminal suspect as 'vulnerable' suspect after her relationship broke down and targeted her.

The woman, identified only as Miss B, said she was 'happy' with the result after the hearing.

It said that Mr Russell had 'abused his position while on duty for his own sexual gain' and that his behaviour had been 'consistent, planned and discreditable, and he failed to comply with lawful orders'.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: 'On August 3, 2017, PC Russell had a sexual relationship with another officer while PC Russell was on duty.

'He used a work-issued mobile phone to remain in contact with her throughout August,' said the spokesman.

'In February 2018, PC Russell also initiated contact with a female suspect in a criminal investigation for which he was the investigating officer.

'He continued contact with her using a police issue mobile phone and then his personal phone.

'During May 2018, PC Russell attended the woman's home while on duty and this then developed into a physical relationship.

'In August 2018, PC Russell failed to attend a meeting with a Superintendent and a misconduct interview, despite being issued with lawful orders to do so.

'The hearing was held at Thames Valley Police's headquarters in front of a panel including Legally Qualified Chairman, Nicola Talbot-Hadley.

The panel concluded PC Russell's actions amounted to gross misconduct and were in breach of the Standards of Professional Behaviour in respect of Orders and Instructions and Discreditable Conduct.'

Deputy Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, John Campbell, said: 'PC Russell's actions were in breach of the Standards of Professional Behaviour and fell far below what is expected of a Thames Valley Police officer.

'His conduct was discreditable, and he failed to comply with lawful orders. Because of this, he has been dismissed from the force without notice.'

The spokesman added: 'Former PC Russell will be placed on College of Policing's barred list, which will prevent him from seeking employment with another police force, for life.'In the finale, scheduled to air April 14 at 9 p.m., Goldman will return to Charm City Cakes and Valastro will return to his Carlos Bake Shop to construct their final space-themed cakes, the release states. Charm City Cakes, which Goldman started in 2002, has locations in Baltimore and Los Angeles.The heartbroken family of an innocent motorcyclist killed during an alleged police pursuit say they hold no blame against anyone over their tragic loss.

Young Perth banker Jordan Thorsager, 24, was enjoying a ride on his beloved motorcycle early on Thursday morning when he was hit by a Ford Falcon on the Leach Highway in Welshpool in the city's inner south-east.

Western Australia Police allege several attempts were made to stop the silver Ford Falcon in the 40 minutes prior to the fatal crash.

Young Perth banker Jordan Thorsager, 24, had his life tragically cut short when he was hit by a female motorist allegedly involved in a police pursuit prior to the fatal crash

Mr Thorsager was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital, where he later died.

Grief-stricken family and friends have remembered Jordan as having a heart of gold and don't blame the driver or police responsible for his death.

'We still don't know how to process it yet in the sense that I never ever thought I'd be burying my children,' his shattered father, Alan, told Nine News just hours after the tragedy.

'As much as I've lost a son, we don't see the point in bitterness or anger.'

'As much as I've lost a son, we don't see the point in bitterness or anger,' Jordan's shattered father Alan Thorsager (pictured left) said

Jordan's brother Nick added: 'He was full of love and pretty inspirational, the best a brother could be for sure.'

Friends also took to social media to pay tribute to the ANZ banker. '

'Jordan Thorsager a better person doesn't exist who could have been caught up in such a horrible tragedy.. I don't even have words to describe how I'm feeling. You lit,' one mate tweeted.

Another friend added: 'He was such an amazing person, it's a huge loss to the world, you couldn't find a more genuine, kind soul. So so sad, I'm so sorry to the family.'

Leach Highway (pictured) in Welshpool remained closed on Thursday morning as police investigated the fatal crash. Police investigations continue

Police allege the female Ford Falcon driver fled the crash scene when she crashed into a power pole.

She was arrested in nearby bushland after a short foot chase.

The woman, 35, remains in Royal Perth Hospital under police guard.

Young Perth banker Jordan Thorsager (pictured) was described as having a heart of gold

Her injuries are not believed to be serious.

No charges have yet been officially laid.

'The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash, and the attempts by police to stop the vehicle, is being undertaken by Major Crash Investigators, with oversight from detectives from the Internal Affairs Unit,' a WA Police statement read.

Jordan was on a late night ride on his beloved motorcycle when tragedy struck

Police Commissioner Chris Dawson also expressed his condolences to Mr Thorsager's family.

'Any loss of life is an absolute tragedy,' he told reporters.

Anyone with information regarding the crash or saw the silver Ford Falcon prior to the crash should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.A violent clash between vegan activists and a farmer who fired two blasts from his shotgun has been captured on video.

Dramatic footage shows Jason Parravicini confronting the activists outside his Harvey property in southwest Western Australia on Wednesday.

Mr Parravicini can be seen approaching Direct Action Everywhere member James Warden and his colleague, who were parked outside the property.

A violent clash between vegan activists and a farmer who fired two blasts from his shotgun into the air has been captured on video (pictured)

The farmer repeatedly asked the pair to stop taking photos of his cattle and to leave his property, but the activists refused to budge and continued to film him.

'Take the camera out of my face,' Mr Parravicini said, while pointing his finger toward Mr Warden's colleague, who was recording the conversation.

He told the pair he understood if people didn't want to eat meat, but said he is a primary producer.

'We're feeding most of the world and a lot of people don't complain, it's only guys like you - so I suggest you move on,' he said.

Not willing to back down, the activists continued to film the farmer, who then gave the pair a fiery ultimatum.

'I'll give her one minute to get rid of that (camera) or I'll remove it from you,' Mr Parravicini said, before he yelled out 'call the cops' to someone else nearby.

'This is ridiculous, move on mate,' he said.

The farmer then tried to grab Mr Warden's car keys from the ignition, resulting in punches being thrown between the pair through the open car window.

'Get the f*** out of my place,' Mr Parravicini screamed at the activists.

'You two, out! You are tormenting Harvey. Get the hell out of it.'

Mr Warden told 7News the farmer eventually went inside his house before emerging a short time later with a shotgun and firing two shots into the air.

Mr Parravicini (right) can be seen approaching Direct Action Everywhere member James Warden and his colleague, who were parked outside the property

Mr Warden (pictured) said the farmer eventually went inside his house before emerging a short time later with a shotgun and firing two shots into the air

'Alright, he's got a gun, he's got a shotgun... he just shot bullets, he just shot bullets,' Mr Warden said in the video, to which a woman replied 'not at us, though'.

Mr Warden told 7News: 'These farming communities are an echo chamber for this type of violence and it does not surprise me whatsoever that they are now targeting and acting in violence towards human beings.'

But Mr Parravicini said he was the one that was being provoked by the vegan activists, who were 'just fabricating story after story'.

He said he would never hurt anyone with a firearm and claimed he regularly uses his shotgun for vermin.

Mr Parravicini also alleged Harvey locals were being harassed and made to look as though they were mistreating their animals.

'People have just had enough. If you want to be vegan by all means be vegan ...that's their choice, but just leave us alone,' he said.Police have identified two persons of interest, including an actor who appeared in Empire, who were captured on surveillance footage near the scene where Jussie Smollett was attacked in a hate crime.

Smollet says he is certain that the two men caught on camera were the same involved in the January 29 incident.

TMZ reports that one of the men is an actor who has appeared in Empire.

Chicago Police Department would not confirm that detail on Thursday when contacted by DailyMail.com but a spokesman said the men being interviewed were the same two filmed walking near where the attack happened at around the same time.

The men have not been charged but were picked up by police at Chicago O'Hare Airport on Wednesday night, according to the TMZ report, which claims they were found by detectives who looked at ride-sharing history records from the night of the attack to find them.

It was also reported that Smollett was being questioned over the incident again but police would not confirm that fact either.

The announcement came on Thursday hours after Smollett spoke at length about the attack in his first interview since and condemned the skepticism he has been confronted with since it became public.

He told Good Morning America that he has 'never' had 'any doubt' that the two people in the image were the ones who attacked him and that when Chicago PD released their image within the first few days of the incident, he became hopeful justice would be served.

Scroll down for video

Chicago PD have identified the two men they described as persons of interest in the Jussie Smollett case earlier this month, two weeks after the actor was attacked and within hours of his first interview about it. The two persons of interest have not been named

Wearing a collection of pins to show support of Pride and Freedom First among others, in his interview with Good Morning America that aired on Thursday, Jussie Smollett spoke in detail about the attack he suffered on January 29 and was overcome with emotion at several points

Smollett became tearful at several points during the interview as he described how he did not want to seem 'weak' when he finally agreed to report the incident to the police

Since then, there have been few developments and the police department has repeatedly spoken of the fact that Smollett did not hand over his phone when asked to do so on the night of the incident.

The two men, whose names have not been released, were filmed near to where Smollett was attacked on January 29 at 2am. They were filmed walking on the same street as the Empire star and getting up after he walked past them on the other side of the street.

To Smollett's despair, no footage of the actual attack has been uncovered yet.

In a Twitter statement on Thursday morning, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi wrote: 'Through meticulous investigation, Chicago Police detectives have identified the persons of interest in the area of the alleged attack of the Empire cast member.

'These individuals are not yet suspects but were in area of concern and are being questioned. Investigation continues.'

He posted a second tweet within a few minutes which read: 'The people of interest are alleged to be in the area where a crime was reported.

'They are not considered suspects at this time as they are currently being questioned by detectives. We remain in communication with the alleged victim. '

In his hour-long interview with Good Morning America that was aired in part on Thursday, Smollett, wearing a collection of badges to show his support of Freedom and Pride among other causes, revealed his frustration at some of the public disbelief surrounding his version of events.

He said he does not think he would have been met with the same cynicism if his attackers weren't Trump supporters and revealed his belief that he was targeted because he is a vocal critic of the president.

Smollett also went into detail about why he did not immediately hand over his phone to the police to verify parts of his story and said he was trying to protect private photographs, videos, songs and phone numbers of high profile people and his partner.

He said he was frustrated that Chicago Police had not yet found surveillance footage of the incident and revealed his disappointment after learning that a camera at the very spot of the attack was turned in the opposite direction when it took place.

Choking back tears, he explained when asked why it took so long for him to contact the authorities: 'There is a level of pride there. We live in a society where as a gay man you are considered somehow to be weak and I am not weak. I am not weak and we as a people are not weak.'

Smollett also shared new photographs of his injuries which he said included a burn on his neck where the rope was placed and facial scratches

Describing the chain of events once police arrived at his apartment at the request of 60-year-old Frank Gatson, his friend who was at the apartment when the attack took place.

'I told them what happened. I asked them to turn their body cameras off. I was like, "Please just come in.

'I don't want a big scene with my neighbors,"' he said, adding that he had left the rope around his neck and his bleach-doused clothes on for them to see.

He said that while he left the rope around his neck, it was not 'wrapped' tightly.

After the police had come into his apartment, he took them down to where the attack happened to walk them through it and became excited when he noticed a camera overlooking the exact spot where it took place.

'I told them what happened. I asked them to turn their body cameras off. I was like, "Please just come in. I don't want a big scene with my neighbors,

'I looked up and saw there was a camera, directly on the post on the intersection.

'Then the detective told me that the camera was facing north so they didn't have it and that was disappointing.'

Later, he added how desperate he was for them to find footage of the attack.

'I want that video found so badly because, for probably four reasons.

'Number one, I want them to find the people that did it.

'Number two, I want them to stop being able to say "alleged" attack.

'Number three, I want them to see that I fought back,' he continued, welling-up.

'I want a little gay boy who might watch this to see that I fought the f*** back. They ran off,' I didn't,' he said.

He was overcome with emotion when presented with the prospect that his attackers might not be found.

'Let's just hope that they are found. Let's not go there yet. I was talking to a friend and I said,"I just hope they find them." And she said, "Sweetie, they're not going to find them."

Trump condemned the attack was 'horrible' when asked about it last month. Smollett said on Thursday that he did not know how to react to the president's reaction

'That made me so angry. I'm just going to be left here with this? They get to go free and go about their life and do this to someone else and I am left with the aftermath of this bulls**t? That's not cool to me.

'I understand how difficult it will be to find them, but we gotta.

'I still want to believe there's something called justice,' he said.

Addressing why he did not hand over his phone to prove that he had been on a call with his manager when the attack took place, he said he did not feel comfortable being without the device for several hours when it contained the private information and phone numbers of celebrities and friends.

'They wanted me to give my phone to the tech for three to our hours. And I'm sorry but, I'm not going to do that because I have private pictures and videos and phone numbers, my partner's number, my family's numbers, my cast mates' numbers, my private emails, private songs, voice memos, pictures, videos...

'Honestly, by then, inaccurate statements had already been put out,' he said, referring to the false reports which emerged in the immediate aftermath of the attack including that the assailants were wearing MAGA hats and that his ribs were broken in it.

JUSSIE'S ACTIVIST PINS 1. The widely recognized Gay Pride flag which encompasses the LGBTQ community. 2. A rainbow ribbon which represents Pride Awareness 3. Freedom First pin in commemoration of Juneteenth Independence Day - the name given to the day slavery was abolished in 1895. It is a symbol of the ongoing oppression of black people and their fight to overcome it. 4. Pride Valentine's Day LOVE gift pin 5. A Black Lives Matter pin to support the movement which represents the 'global network and the movement for Black Lives' Advertisement

Smollett condemned the avalanche of false information and speculation over why he had gone out so late which ensued after it became public.

'I've heard that it was a date hone bad which I so resent that narrative. I'm not going to go out to get a tuna sandwich and a salad to meet somebody. That's ridiculous and offensive.

JUSSIE SMOLLETT ATTACK TIMELINE January 29 12.30am: Neighbor claims to see two suspicious men, one with a rope, outside Smollett's apartment building 2am: Smollett is filmed on surveillance cameras leaving Subway Sometime in the next few minutes, he is attacked by the men as he talked on the phone with manager Brandon Z. Moore. He is picked back up by surveillance cameras entering his apartment building afterwards, 2.35am: Frank Gatson, his friend who was in his apartment, insists that they call the police 2.42am: Police arrive at the actor's apartment and find him still wearing the rope the attackers placed around his neck. It is not fastened in a noose and is slack. Smollett takes himself to the hospital afterwards. January 30: Chicago PD releases surveillance footage of persons of interest seen near the area of attack at around the same time. Smollett's cast mates lead tributes to him and condemnations of the incident Smollett's manager, Brandon Z. Moore, tells Variety they were on the phone at the time of the incident and that he heard what the attackers say. January 31st: President Trump condemns the attack as 'horrible' February 1st: Smollett's family speaks out and labels the attack a 'hate crime' Smollett breaks his silence with his own statement slamming misinformation about the attack. February 2nd: A defiant Smollett plays a sold out show at The Troubador in Los Angeles February 5th: Chicago PD releases incident report which reveals Smollett did not want to call police. There is no mention of the MAGA country remark which he gave in a follow-up interview Brandon Z. Moore, his manager, gives police a screenshot to prove their call. February 11th: Smollett finally hands over redacted phone records to prove the phone call but police label them 'insufficient'. His neighbors say they don't believe his version of events. February 12th: Smollett's rep releases statement to say he is the victim and that he has been telling the truth February 13th: GMA teases interview with Smollett crying. Police say they are no further with inquiries. February 14: Smollett's full interview is aired between 7am and 8am. At 9.40am, police announce they have ID'd the people in the video Advertisement

'Yes there's Grindr... I have not been on that in years. I can admit that I was on that back in the day when I was single,' he said.

Another falsehood was that Smollett had told police his attackers were wearing MAGA hats.

'That I had said they were wearing MAGA hats,' he said, giving an example of the misinformation that was spread.

'I never said that. I don't need to add anything like that.

'They called me a f****t. I don't need to add anything like that. I don't need to make MAGA hat the cherry on the top of some racist sundae,' he said.

'It feels like if I had said it was a Muslim or a Mexican or someone black, I feel like the doubters would have supported me a lot more.

'That says a lot about the place that we are at in the country right now,' he said solemnly.

The attackers called him 'Empire f****t n****r', punched him in the face, and told him 'This is MAGA country!' before fleeing.

Smollett believes they targeted him not only because he is gay and black but because is a vocal critic of the president who he referred to only as '45'.

'I can just assume, I come really, really hard against 45. I come really, really hard against his administration and I don't hold my tongue.'

He said he was stunned when the president addressed the attack in the Oval Office and lent him his support. Trump, when asked about the incident, told reporters: 'I saw it. That's horrible. There is nothing worse as far as I am concerned.'

Smollett was shocked by his comments.

'I don't know what to say to that. I appreciate him not brushing over it,' he said, adding that he believes he was targeted because of his disdain for the president.

'I can only go off their words. Who says 'f****t', 'Empire n****r', 'This MAGA country,' ties a noose around your neck and pours bleach on you, and this is just a friendly fight?' he said.

He added he has 'no doubt' that two people in a surveillance camera image that was circulated by Chicago police are the pair who attacked him.

'I was there. For me when that was released I was like OK we're getting somewhere.

'I don't have any doubt in my mind that that's them. Never did.'

He also said he gave police the 'best description' he could after his friend, Frank Gatson, insisted that they call the police around 40 minutes after the attack.

One of the attackers was wearing a ski mask. Smollett, 36, described him as the 'primary aggressor'.

'I gave the description as best as I could. It's Chicago in winter. People can wear ski masks and nobody's going to question that,' he said.

Last week, police discovered a Chilli Habanero hot sauce bottle which seemed to contain bleach (above). It was found near where Smollett says he was attacked and had bleach poured on him . It was found 10 days after the attack

He said he had a large stature but could not recall any other details of either man's appearance, saying that he did not even see what color their eyes were.

The Empire actor became emotional as he recalled realizing that they had placed a noose around his neck after hitting him in the face and ribs and calling him a racial slur.

'I noticed the rope around my neck and I said, "There's a f****** rope around my neck,"' he said.

If I had said it was a Muslim or a Mexican or someone black, I feel like the doubters would have supported me a lot more.

'I'm p****d off. It's the attackers but it's also the attacks. At first it was a thing of like, listen if I tell the truth then that's it cause it's the truth.

'Then it became a thing of like, "Oh, how can you doubt that? How can you not believe that. It's the truth."

'And then it became a thing of like, "Oh. It's not necessarily that you don't believe that this is the truth, you don't even want to see the truth,' he said.

He also addressed the threatening letter he received in the mail a week before the attack at the Empire studio which contained a powder police believe may have been Tylenol.

A week before the attack, Smollett received this threatening letter at the Fox studio where he works

'On the letter it had a stick figure hanging from a tree with a gun pointing to it. The return address said in big red caps, MAGA.

'Did I make that up too?' he said.

It was not the first attack he has received, he said, adding that he had become accustomed to them as an 'outspoken public figure'.

'I get threatened all the time on Twitter and Instagram and DMs and things like that but it's like, you know, I'm a public figure. I am very outspoken. Sometimes maybe too outspoken. But it's who I am.

'So I get the idea of p****** people off, that you're going to rub people the wrong way.'

Smollett is pictured in the hospital after a friend called the police to report him being attacked. He did not want to involve authorities

In the initial aftermath of the attack, Smollett received an outpouring of support from celebrities and fans alike who all condemned the discrimination he was subjected to.

But in the weeks since, details of the incident have been picked over forensically.

Some of his neighbors have expressed skepticism that it happened the way he said it did and the lack of evidence has done nothing to quell their cynicism.

They have also pointed out repeatedly that Smollett did not immediately turn over his phone records or his phone to prove that he was on a call with his manager, Brandon Z. Moore, when the attack took place as claimed.

It carries special significance because Moore claims to have heard the attackers calling Smollett 'Empire f****t n****r' and shouting: 'This is MAGA country!'

Within the first few days of the attack, he gave an interview to Variety saying he had heard the slurs but he has not spoken about it since.

On Monday, Smollett finally did hand over his records but they were redacted.

Chicago Police Department described them as 'insufficient proof' of the call.

The actor angrily responded that via a representative that he was never told as much and that they were redacted to protect 'personal contacts or high-profile individuals not relevant to the attack.'

The rest of Smollett's ABC interview will be shown on Nightline on Thursday.

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!'Advertisement

These haunting images depict the abandoned malls of Ohio - once gleaming beacons of in-person shopping that have or are soon to become eerie Amazon fulfillment centers staffed almost entirely by robots.

Once upon a time, three of these centers in would have been a complete contrast to the online experience, and constituted prime retail space. But they have succumbed to the internet age and are now earmarked for gigantic Amazon warehouses, where the orders that are distributed to shoppers across the world are pieced together.

Photographer Seph Lawless captured these malls in their abandoned state, snapping the likes of dusty escalators, smashed storefronts and even discarded items that had remained untouched for close to a decade.

After their closures in the late 2000s, Seph visited Euclid Square Mall, in Euclid; Randall Park Mall, in North Randall; and Rolling Acres Mall, in Akron, photographing them on numerous occasions.

According to reports, the Rolling Acres Mall site was recently blueprinted to become a massive Amazon facility, while work continues on the former Euclid Mall space. The Randall Park site opened last year.

Seph, 39, from Cleveland, Ohio is set to publish a book, 'Abandoned Malls of America: Crumbling Commerce Left Behind,' which will document more than 20 abandoned malls and, ironically, be sold via Amazon.

He said: 'The areas where these malls were located have had economic problems for a while now, so I think most people only saw it as a positive change for those areas.

'American malls played an intricate role for many people growing up during the 70s and 80s. They were communal spaces for many of us... like gigantic chat rooms before the internet.

'Abandoned malls fascinate me because they really signal an end to an era, not only how we consumed things, but also the way we communicate with one another. I don't want people to forget those things, so I started taking pictures.'

Seph's work can be found on his website, and his Instagram and Facebook pages.

Randall Park Mall in North Randall, Ohio. Once a gleaming shopping mall, the site has now turned into an Amazon fulfillment center which opened last year

Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, Ohio was abandoned and in a dilapidated state when Seph Lawless photographed it, but the site has now been earmarked by Amazon for another of its fulfillment centers, which are essential to its gigantic operation

These images of Randall Park Mall were shot by Seph Lawless before the site was entirely rebuilt by Amazon, whose new warehouse opened last year. The photographer said that no one has explored more abandoned shopping malls than him

When it opened on August 11 1976, Randall Park Mall (pictured) had five anchor stores: Sears, JCPenney, the May Company, Higbee's, and Horne's - as well as a three-screen cinema. It closed on March 12, 2009. Demolition began building on December 29, 2014 and the new Amazon distribution center on the former site opened in 2018

The Randall Park Mall cost $175 million in total to construct, but Amazon has demolished the stores and built an 855,000-square-foot warehouse instead. Photographer Seph Lawless visited Randall Park during the 2000s, and took these haunting images showing dusty escalators, smashed storefronts and old mannequins

Once a beacon of in-person shopping, a 'mini city' with dozens of stores, the Randall Park site is now a giant warehouse staffed almost entirely by robots. Photographer Seph Lawless said he was fascinated by vacated malls because they 'signal an end to era, not only how we consumed things, but also the way we communicate with one another'. He has captured the eerie nature of the dilapidated Randall Park Mall, where discarded items had remained untouched for close to a decade

Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, Ohio opened to the public on August 6, 1975 with Sears as its main anchor store. It closed on October 31, 2008 after a sharp decline in tenancy throughout the 2000s

The Rolling Acres Mall was photographed by Seph Lawless in its abandoned state and was demolished in 2017. The site has recently been blueprinted to become the latest massive Amazon distribution center in Ohio

Euclid Square Mall in Euclid, Ohio opened in 1977 with two anchor stores: Higbee's, and May Co. Demolition work began in 2017 and was completed the following year. It was once a prime retail space but work is underway to transform it into an Amazon fulfillment center where customers' orders are prepared are distributed all over the world

Amazon is currently building a distribution center on the former Euclid Mall space (pictured), which is expected to open later on this year. Photographer Seph Lawless captured the final state of the former malls, saying: 'I love the 70s architecture that I see in many of the malls. The way [they] were originally designed really makes them a joy to photograph'

At its peak the Euclid Square Mall (pictured) was home to 96 retail stores. The mall was photographed by Seph Lawless, who visited the site s several times from the year it closed. Lawless said he loves 'the natural light that pours down from the skylights into a sea of blackness just enough to illuminate the collapse of the American shopping mall'

According to photographer Seph Lawless, 'Most of the work being done in [Amazon fulfillment centers] is done by automation. These robots move violently fast inside a cage pulling Amazon orders 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They dont need lunch breaks, vacations or benefits. The work I do see being done in Amazon fulfillment centers could easily be replaced by the Amazon robotics division, but I think Jeff Bezos wants to be a progressive company and provide jobs. Im just weary on how long that will last'A.J. Calloway has been spotted for the first time since his sexual assault accusers detailed their alleged encounters with the Extra TV host after he was suspended from the show.

Six women claim they were raped by Calloway between 2003 and 2013 and three of them have filed complaints with police in New Jersey, New York and California.

Jeannie Delgado is the most recent woman to accuse the television personality claiming she was raped by him at his home in February 2009, reports the Hollywood Reporter.

She alleges to have met Calloway, 44, on a flight to Los Angeles in 2008 and stayed over at his home during bad weather when he offered a 'guest bedroom.'

The disgraced television host was spotted near his home in New Jersey, filling his modest Ford Focus with gas and attempting to go incognito with a baseball cap.

Extra Host AJ Calloway was seen looking downcast as he emerged for the first time following multiple detailed rape allegations against him

Calloway was seen taking work gloves out of his backseat and cleaning snow off of his car

He went incognito hiding under a baseball cap as he filled up his modest Ford Focus with gas near his New Jersey Home

A.J. Calloway's sexual assault accusers have detailed their alleged encounters with the Extra TV host with six women saying they were raped between 2003 and 2013

Delgado told the Hollywood Reporter: 'It turned out to be his bedroom. He basically closed the door, locked it and tried to kiss me. I was like, 'No, no, no.'

'Then he went for my pants. He flipped me over, grabbed my hands, held them behind my back. He proceeded to rape me.

Ms Delgado said that when she tried to get away Calloway would 'bear-hug' her and she cried all night until she was raped again when the 'sun came up.'

When Ms Delgado searched Calloway's name online recently she saw an article from June about his alleged 2006 sexual assault of author and activist Sil Lai Abrams.

She then decided to share her own story and went to the police in West Orange, New Jersey, on December 24 and filed a complaint for aggravated sexual assault.

In January, the Daily Beast published assault allegations against Calloway from two women, both using pseudonyms, however one of these is Delgado.

Since then the Hollywood Reporter has spoken to five more women and say that the accusers stories have similarities.

Calloway (right) has been with the show since 2006 but was suspended after two women claimed that he sexually assaulted them

These include four saying Calloway got them into a hotel room or bedroom before allegedly assaulting them.

Daisy, not her real name, claims she was raped by Calloway at his West Hollywood hotel after meeting at an L.A club when she was barely 19.

As her friend drove away Daisy said: 'I'm having that heavy gut feeling. But I didn't want to be mean. I didn't want to be a bitch. I was too nice.'

She added 'I definitely felt I couldn't be the only one' after revealing her story.

Sil Lai Abrams, pictured, took her story to the Hollywood Reporter, which published her accusations against Russell Simmons and Calloway

The Hollywood Reporter also spoke to Nancy, not her real name, who claims she was raped in 2013.

She says she went out with Calloway for an afternoon but while driving her home he started driving in the wrong direction and took her phone.

She claims she tried to get her phone back when they were inside and after Calloway had finished raping her 'threw her phone on the bed.'

On Saturday Calloway, who is now married to Dionne Walker, was suspended from Extra while Warner Bros. investigates sexual misconduct allegations.

Warner Bros. said it had investigated accusations made against Calloway in June, and found no suggestion of workplace misconduct.

But after two more women came forward last month, the company has conformed they have suspended him pending further investigation.

'Upon becoming aware of allegations of sexual misconduct against AJ Calloway, we began an internal review to determine whether there had been any misconduct by Mr. Calloway on Extra and whether any employee of the show had been the victim of any such misconduct,' they said in a statement to the DailyMail.com.

'To date, we have found nothing to suggest that Mr. Calloway has ever engaged in workplace misconduct.

'In light of additional allegations brought to our attention, we are expanding our ongoing inquiries, and Mr. Calloway has been suspended pending further review. We take such allegations very seriously and are committed to doing everything we can to ensure a safe and inclusive workplace for all of our employees.'

Calloway's lawyer, Lisa E. Davis, said her client vehemently denies ever assaulting anyone and looks forward to clearing his name. Calloway is pictured with his wife, Dionne Walker

Last June, model Sil Lai Abrams came forward with the Hollywood Reporter and shared that she was raped by Russell Simmons and assaulted by Calloway.

She shared in an update that since coming forward, nine other women have come forward and shared their stories about the former 106 & Park host.

'I spoke to these women, and they're terrified of coming forward... So when I was writing my Huffington Post piece about the impact coming forward has had on my life, I emailed Blake Bryant, the head of publicity at Warner Bros. Television asking him why they haven't issued any statements,' she explained to the Daily Beast.

'I let him know that I'd spoken with multiple women and there are multiple alleged victims of A.J. I was thinking, Warner Bros. has got to say something, I mean, what are they going to do? I got no response.'

Calloway's lawyer, Lisa E. Davis, said her client vehemently denies ever assaulting anyone and looks forward to clearing his name.

'Mr. Calloway maintains that these unsubstantiated allegations are patently false,' she said in a statement to DailyMail.com.

She told the Hollywood Reporter that: 'Throughout his career, Mr. Calloway has been a tireless advocate for community empowerment and equality and justice for all people regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation or gender expression.'All police officers in a region in north-west China have been banned from drinking alcohol under any circumstances, even when off duty.

The new directive in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region was issued on February 3, just before the start of the Lunar New Year holidays, according to CCTV.

Any member of the police caught drinking would be suspended, investigated and strictly dealt with according to the regulations, the notice said.

Officers in Yinchuan city, capital of Ningxia, were pictured enjoying a Lunar New Year dinner with Pepsi and fruit juice. All police officers in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region have been banned from drinking alcohol under any circumstances, on and off duty

Yinchuan's traffic police chief Kang Jun said in its notice that the department would aim to cultivate 'meaningful interests and hobbies' among staff and 'eliminate the habit of "drinking at the table"'.

Staff are also encouraged to spend more time with their family members and children, chief Kang added.

The notice, titled Ningxia Public Security Organs Prohibition Order, had no definite end date, an auxiliary police officer told The Paper.

The autonomous region is home to a large number of Chinese Muslims, who make up 34 per cent of its population. But the government notice did not mention whether the ban was related to the Islamic practice of banning alcohol.

Alcohol was not present at another Lunar New Year dinner enjoyed by Yinchuan police officers

The Ningxia autonomous region is home to a large number of Chinese Muslims, who make up 34 per cent of its population. But the government notice did not mention whether the ban was related to the Islamic practice of banning alcohol

Officers in Yinchuan city, capital of Ningxia region, were pictured enjoying a Lunar New Year dinner with Pepsi and fruit juice.

There was no alcohol present in the photo which was posted on February 6 on the Yinchuan police department's official Weibo account.

The alcohol ban has sparked heated debate on social media, where many net users argue that the rule is unnecessary.

'Even soldiers in the army aren't restricted this way,' one user commented on Chinese microblogging site Weibo.

The alcohol ban has sparked heated debate on social media, where many net users argue that the rule is unnecessary

'This completely crosses the line. Officers are humans as well - it's perfectly fine for them to enjoy a drink after work at home,' another said.

'I think it's appropriate to ban policemen from drinking when on duty, but I don't care if they enjoy a drink or two after their shift,' one person added.

Local alcohol bans for government workers during official functions had been implemented in provinces and regions including Guizhou, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangsu and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, according to Xinhua in a previous report.A Ryanair jet preparing for take off with was shunted into a wall at Stansted airport after ground crew staff lost their 'bearings' in heavy rain, a report has revealed.

The impact left the Boeing 737 with a damaged tail elevator flap, meaning it could not fly until it had been repaired, the Air Investigations Branch said.

The accident at 11.35am on April 30 happened as the plane carrying 170 passengers and seven crew was being pushed back by a tug to get in position before for the runway.

The Ryanair Boeing 737 was being pushed back into position by a tug (seen just by its side) when it crashed into the blast fencing at Stansted Airport on April 30

But the driver of the tug had a problem seeing the taxiway line markings due to the surface water and pushed the plane back too far.

The aircraft was forced into a blast fence designed to deflect the energy from jet engines from the Stansted terminal building.

A trainee ground crew member standing in front of the aircraft failed to alert the tug driver to the danger as he was confused about where it was going.

Cabin crew sitting at the rear of the plane believe they heard the tail strike something and immediately alerted the pilot.

An engineering team sent to investigate spotted the damage to the left elevator, according to the report.

The plane was grounded and moved to allow the passengers to be disembarked down the stairs to await another aircraft.

The accident took place when the flight had already been delayed for one hour and 20 minutes.

The report said that the pilot had requested a 'push and hold' to a position where they were 'abeam' off a parking area to allow a prompt departure when given the all clear for take off.

The jet pictured at a different angle as it was shunted into the blast fencing. This image was taken by airport CCTV cameras

This grab shows the plane as it was being pushed back. Blast fencing is used to absorb energy from jet engines

But the flight crew felt the tug stop 'abruptly' towards the end of the manoeuvre which was filmed by airport CCTV cameras.

The report added: 'The weather was described as poor visibility with strong winds and heavy rain causing standing water, reflecting the airport lights and making the ground markings difficult to see.

'The aircraft operator reported to the AAIB that the tug driver had highlighted the difficulty of identifying the taxiway line marking due to the surface water, which led to his loss of bearings.

'He also stated that he did not feel the impact of the collision from his position inside the tug, which was why he was not aware of what had happened.

'The headset operator was unsure of the term 'abeam' and thought that abeam was based on the position of the pilot's window.

'This position, he thought, would allow enough clearance behind the aircraft from the blast fence and so he did not attempt to stop the pushback.

'He advised the tug driver that he thought the aircraft had struck the fence, and the tug driver pulled the aircraft forward.

'The headset operator was still in his training period and was being assessed by the tug driver but operating on his own alongside the aircraft.'

A diagram showing stand 43L where the jet was moved from and the location at 50R where it rammed the fence

The report concluded: 'The poor weather, light and poor clarity of the taxi line as seen by the tug driver meant that all his attention was focussed on his task.

'This and his restricted viewpoint from the nose of the aircraft prevented him from monitoring the actions of the headset operator and being aware of the proximity of the tail to the blast fence.'

The report said that the ground crew had initially not realised that the collision had happened after the pilot asked them why the jet had suddenly stopped.

It said: 'The ground crew responded that they had pushed the aircraft too close to the blast fence and were going to pull it forward.

'The Senior Cabin Crew member called the flight deck on the interphone and informed them that she and the cabin crew seated at the rear of the aircraft felt that the tail of the aircraft had struck something.

'The commander checked with the ground crew, who thought it hadn't, but the commander contacted engineering who sent out an engineer.

'On inspection, damage was found to the trailing edge of the left elevator. The commander called the ground controller and informed them of the collision.'

A file photo of a Ryanair Boeing 737 as it prepares to land at Stansted Airport

The Fire Service attended and carried out an inspection, the report continued.

'They determined that there was no immediate danger to the aircraft or passengers, and this was also confirmed by the engineer.

'The aircraft was towed to Stand 50L and the passengers disembarked using the air stairs.'

Ryanair has been approached for comment.An unwitting thief who was filmed smashing a driver's windscreen and stealing a phone has been shamed online after he was filmed on the car's dashcam.

Gavin Rowland's camera filmed the inside of his vehicle after it was triggered by a motion sensor when parked in Liverpool city centre.

When the man was filmed breaking into the car on Tuesday, Mr Rowland's dashcam took HD footage of criminal, which was then posted online.

The man who broke into the car in Liverpool was caught on dashcam footage

The interior camera begins to film once the sensor is triggered and suddenly a man breaks into the driver's window, shattering the glass before putting his shoulder into the debris again to then open the vehicle.

A car alarm is activated but the burglar continues and leans through the driver's window and steals a phone from the penel next to the wheel.

He then opens a middle storage compartment between the two front seats and spots a lighter which he puts in his mouth.

With a phone in hand (ringed) the thief is filmed rifling through the storage in the vehicle

He continues to plunder through the storage before glancing towards the windscreen - completely unaware he is being filmed.

The thief scurries out the vehicle a little and drops his hat on the car seat, takes of his hat to fill it with other stolen items like change before making an escape.

The footage was uploaded with the caption: 'This is the guy who broke into my car last night on School Lane/Hanover Street Liverpool One.'

Stan Kaye responded online: 'Rat mate, but great picture of him. We all should have one of them fitted in cars.'

James Simpson wrote: 'Smack rat.'

Gavin said he captured the crook on an N2 Pro which he bought on eBay for 150.

He said: 'It has full HD inside and out. When the car is off I have it set up so it only records if there's sound or motion.'More than a dozen alleged gang members have reportedly been 'executed' by Brazilian police in Rio de Janeiro.

At least 13 people died during what was first reported as a shootout between armed gangs and police in several favelas in downtown Rio de Janeiro on Friday.

However, family members and locals claim many of the victims were unarmed and had already surrendered to police when they were killed.

At least 13 people were killed during police action in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, pictured, with authorities claiming it was a shootout - and locals say police 'executed' gang members

Residents say that while a majority of the victims were members of local drug-dealing gangs, at least one was a 16-year-old boy with ties to criminal organisations.

'Nothing justifies this,' Roberta Jeronimo, 23, whose 26-year-old brother Carlos was one of the gang members killed, told The Guardian.

'They had surrendered. The police preferred to execute them.'

A mother of two of those killed, a 22-year-old gang members and his brother, 16, whom she says had no links to criminal activity, claims her sons were tortured.

This comes just weeks after the newly elected state governor said police officers had been authorised to 'shoot and kill' criminals armed with rifles.

Rio de Janeiro's newly elected Governor Wilson Witzel, pictured last year, recently authorized police to 'shoot and kill' armed criminals

Friday's victims died during clashes with agents of the Police Operations Command who were carrying out an operation against drug trafficking in the region

A woman kneels in the middle of a police operation that resulted in a shooting, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Friday

Wilson Witzel, who campaigned on promises to fight drug trafficking and corruption, has called drug traffickers 'narco-terrorists'.

In his swearing-in speech on New Year's Day, he said that drug dealers would 'be treated like terrorists.'

'Armed criminals have taken over and dominated portions of our territory, causing disgrace and disorder.

'I will not allow this "parallel power" to continue,' he said in the speech.

Witzel is an ally of the country's new right-wing former Army captain turned president Jair Bolsonaro.

The 63-year-old , who was discharged from hospital on Wednesday after recovering from his third surgery since he was stabbed last year during campaign, was elected last year promising, among other things, to fight rising crime and prison gangs.

On the day he left hospital, Bolsonaro signed a decree that authorises the use of federal forces in prisons to deal with any potential riots.Michael Avenatti (pictured) has given up financial control of his law firm

Stormy Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti has given up financial control of his law firm after he was accused of hiding millions of dollars to spend on himself.

The 47-year-old lawyer was said to have opened six bank accounts to hide legal fees from a bankruptcy court.

It was claimed he had spent them on extravagances such as $3,640 on a Ferrari payment, $150,000 for his troubled coffee company and $53,600 for his ex-wife.

He has now allowed a court to take control of bank accounts, computers and other assets belonging to the firm Eagan Avenatti, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Last year the firm was ordered to pay $10million to former partner at the firm, Jason Frank, who claimed that the company had mis-stated its profits and that he was owed millions.

As part of this latest agreement, Avenatti has agreed to co-operate with Frank's effort to collect the $10million. Frank, in turn, has reportedly withdrawn a fraud allegation against the firm.

Eagan Avenatti LLC was also evicted from its office space in Southern California last year after four months of unpaid rent.

In addition Avenatti personally was ordered to pay Frank $4.85million.

Frank had worked at Avenatti's firm under an independent contractor agreement and was supposed to collect 25 per cent of the firm's annual profits, according to court documents.

Avenatti has been in the public eye since he represented adult film star Daniels in her legal battle with Trump.

Daniels alleges she had an affair with Trump in 2006, which the President has denied.

Avenatti has been in the public eye since he represented adult film star Stormy Daniels (pictured together in California last year) in her legal battle with the President.

She was paid $130,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement signed days before the 2016 election and is suing to dissolve that contract.

Avenatti also toyed with running for President in 2020 in what could have produced a celebrity showdown against Donald Trump.

But in December he announced he would stay out of the race for the Democratic nomination 'out of respect for my family'.

'But for their concerns, I would run,' he said.

In November he was arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of domestic violence but earlier this month it was revealed he would not face charges.

Avenatti criticised the allegation as 'completely bogus' and 'fabricated and meant to do harm to my reputation'.Marylands role in the Underground Railroad and the Civil War are prominently exhibited, as are the postwar struggles of blacks for freedom and education. Also presented are Maryland explorer Matthew Henson  an African-American who, as a member of Robert Pearys 1909 expedition, was widely believed to have been the first man to reach the North Pole  and his contemporary Herbert Frisby, who also explored the pole and then championed Hensons story to bring due recognition. Local historical elements include photographs and memorabilia from Carrs and Sparrows beaches, where African-Americans had access to bay beaches and great music, and Stanton School, where generations were educated.A terrified motorist has shared shocking footage of the moment he came within seconds of being 'obliterated' by a suspect joyrider.

Andrew Jordan's dashcam captured the car driving across a junction in a quiet residential street going around 70mph.

The speeding vehicle zooms past at such speed that its underside hits the road surface, creating a shower of sparks.

Andrew Jordan (pictured) had his dashcam capture the car driving across a junction in a quiet residential street going around 70mph

Mr Jordan, who filmed the footage in Greenwich, London, believes he would have been killed if he had been a second further down the road on Monday night.

One person who commented on the video said they could not 'fathom how fast it must have been going'.

Analysis of the footage suggests the front of the car crosses the road in just 0.4 seconds. According to Google Maps, that is a distance of around 40ft, which suggests he was going at a speed of 68mph in a 20mph zone.

Mr Jordan uploaded the footage with the caption: 'Glad I'm still alive! Happened on Bostall Lane after Co-op shop. Abbey Wood, tonight at 10.15pm!'

In the footage, the car appears on the left hand side of the camera and races through a give way sign, causing sparks and dust to fly up.

Mr Jordan said: 'It was going so fast I saw the wheels lift off the road like something from a movie.

'I was completely stunned. If I'd been a second further on I would have been obliterated.

The car is barely visible as it is driving at such speeds but its headlights can be seen on the right hand side of the shot

The car then speeds from right to left of the shot, ignoring the give way signs

'The driver continued to speed down the residential street with cars parked either side with only just enough room to get speed through. Completely gobsmacked!'

On the fooage, Bridget Donovan wrote: 'Wow that scared me just watching it.'

Sue Watson commented: 'S***. As a driver I felt my heart leap. Cannot even fathom how fast it must have been going.'

Bruce Jamieson said: 'Zero consideration for anything. Their day will come and hopefully only at their own expense.'

Alan Wakeling wrote: 'Absolute dreadful, so glad you never got hit.'The decision to deport rapper 21 Savage was made months before he was arrested on Super Bowl Sunday in Atlanta, where he was held without bond because authorities wrongly believed he had a felony conviction.

It is unclear why ICE decided to wait so long before arresting the 26-year-old, real name She'yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, on February 3.

But immigration lawyer Matt Cameron, who has been following the case, pointed out that the arrest came shortly after 21 Savage debuted a new song criticizing the Trump administration's child separation policy.

Rapper 21 Savage was pictured posing with his mother, Heather Joseph, as they prepared to board a private jet following his release from a Georgia ICE prison on Wednesday

'[Ice] makes the decisions of how and when they pick people up,' The Guardian quoted Cameron as saying.

The agency claimed at the time that the British-born rapper had overstayed his non-immigrant visa and possessed a criminal conviction for drugs - meaning he was not eligible to post bond.

But 21 Savage's lawyer Charles Kuck said his 2014 felony conviction was sealed and vacated with all charges dismissed in 2018.

21 Savage's arrest came just days after he debuted a new song criticizing the Trump administration's child separation policy on Jimmy Fallon on January 28

According to TMZ, the rapper was held without bond because the court records had not been updated. But even when ICE headquarters in Washington D.C began looking into the case and discovered 21 Savage was not a felon, they reportedly still took the position that the rapper should remain in custody.

The British-born recording artist was released on Wednesday from Irwin County Detention Center after he was granted a $100,000 bond by an immigration judge on Tuesday.

He must now await a decision over his application to remain in the U.S., filed in 2017, which will take at years to process.

21 Savage has a good chance of being allowed to stay because he has three young American children, no convictions and has been in the country for around 15 years.

ICE Officials claimed 21 Savage was held without bond because he had a felony conviction in 2014 for drugs which his lawyers have denied, saying it has been sealed and vacated

But changes made by President Trump to the Obama-era immigration precedent mean immigrants are now being deported while their cases are still pending - and can only return once it has been approved. In many cases it could take a decade.

Kuck said 21 Savage is next due to appear at an immigration court on April 11.

In the meantime, he has flown home to Atlanta on a private jet to be reunited with his family.

He was pictured posing with his mother, Heather Joseph, as they prepared to board the plane on Wednesday.

'Today, 21 Savage was granted a release on bond. He won his freedom,' the law firm representing him, Kuck and Baxter, posted on Facebook.

'(H)e says that while he wasn't 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.'

The rapper's birth certificate shows he was born in London on October 22, 1992 at Newham Hospital, to British parents

ICE officials said the British citizen overstayed his non-immigration visa from 2005.

His lawyers have said the rapper was brought to the U.S. when he was 12 and his legal status expired in 2006 through no fault of his own.

According to his birth certificate, he was born on October 22, 1992, at Newham Hospital, in east London, to British parents, Heather Joseph and Kevin Emmons. He lived in the UK for 12 years before moving to Atlanta, Georgia.

His fans were shocked when he was arrested because they believed that he was born and raised in Atlanta given his thick Georgian accent. He has also never denied claims he was born and bred in the city where he is raising three young children.

The rapper quickly rose in the Atlanta underground music scene after a pair of 2015 mix-tapes. Collaborations with Atlanta artists including Metro Boomin and Offset of rap group Migos raised his profile.

He has also collaborated with Drake, Cardi B, as well as Post Malone.

ICE officials have accused him of living a 'false' life in the U.S. 'His whole public persona is false. He actually came to the US from the UK as a teen and overstayed his visa,' an ICE spokesman said.

21 Savage was released from detention on a $100,000 bond, according to immigration lawyer Tia Smith

21 Savage was scheduled to perform at Sunday night's Grammy show prior to his arrest.

He was nominated for two awards at the Grammys, including record of the year for 'Rockstar' alongside Post Malone.

His legal team had previously raised the possibility that 21 Savage was the victim of a vendetta by ICE officials who were angered by his criticism of Trump's family separation policy at the US-Mexico border.

His arrest prompted outcry from other musicians with Kendrick Lamar, DJ Khaled, Cardi B, SZA and Jay-Z all supporting the young rapper.

Jay-Z called the arrest and detention of 21 Savage 'an absolute travesty' earlier this month.

'In addition to being a successful recording artist, 21 deserves to be reunited with his children immediately, #Free21Savage,' Jay-Z wrote in a statement.

Other artists, such as Post Malone, showed their support backstage at the Grammys

Though the rapper isn't signed by Roc Nation, Jay-Z's record label responded to his arrest by hiring attorney Alex Spiro on the case.

His legal team characterized 21 Savage as a 'Dreamer' who has been the victim of a 'great deal of misreporting' that's led to 'false conclusions'.

'Mr Abraham-Joseph has been continuously physically present in the United States for almost 20 years, except for a brief visit abroad,' the statement said, referring to how he was deported for one month in 2005 at age 12 but returned on the H-4 visa.

'Unfortunately, in 2006 Mr Abraham-Joseph lost his legal status through no fault of his own.

Savage called himself a 'Dreamer' before describing how he had 'three US Citizen children' and had been working on a U Visa before he was detained by ICE, in a statement released by his legal team (Pictured: Savage with his father and two sisters as a child)

'Mr Abraham-Joseph, like almost two million of his immigrant child peers, was left without immigration status as a young child with no way to fix his immigration status. These 'Dreamers' come from all walks of life and every ethnicity.'

21 Savage's team insist that he has very permanent ties to the country.

'Mr Abraham-Joseph has three US Citizen children, a lawful permanent resident mother and four siblings that are either US Citizens or lawful permanent residents,' the release said.

'He has exceptionally strong ties in the United States, having lived here since he was in the first grade.

His team stated that the rapper was placed in deportation proceedings 'AFTER' his arrest, and that he wasn't on the run from DHS as he had been working towards obtaining a U Visa since 2017.

'This U visa was filed as a result of being the victim of a deadly shooting in 2013. That visa was filed in 2017 and remains pending,' the statement added.

'When granted, the U visa will afford him lawful status in the United States. Generally, ICE has recognized a pending facially valid U visa as a basis to delay removal proceedings and release individuals from custody.'The Equifax data breach in which millions of Americans had their personal details stolen may have been carried out by a foreign government in a bid to recruit U.S. spies, experts believe.

Hackers took addresses, dates of birth, Social Security details and credit card numbers from 148million people when they targeted the credit ratings giant Equifax in 2017.

But the stolen data has not appeared on any 'dark web' sites which sell personal information for sinister use, analysts have said.

The data's apparent disappearance has led some experts to conclude that it is in the hands of a foreign government, CNBC reported.

A total of around 148million Americans were affected by Equifax's data breach (pictured, the firm's offices in Atlanta), in what may have been the work of a foreign government

One analyst told the channel: 'We are all working to be able to consistently determine whether this data is out there and whether it has ever been out there.

'And at this time there has been absolutely no indication, whatsoever, that the data has been disclosed, that it has been used or that it has been offered for sale.'

Another ex-intelligence worker said personal data could be used by foreign governments to identify powerful people who were having financial problems.

Those people would be prime targets for a bribe or might be attracted by a job offer, he said.

It has also been suggested that the criminals who stole the data feared detection if they sold it online and have kept it to themselves to avoid capture.

Equifax, one of America's three leading consumer reporting agencies, announced the huge data hack in September 2017 and its CEO Richard Smith resigned later that month.

Equifax's former CEO Richard Smith, who announced his retirement after the data breach, testifies in Congress in the wake of the scandal

They initially said 143million people had been affected but the number eventually grew to 148million, equivalent to nearly half the U.S. population.

The hackers targeted the company for 76 days until the attack was spotted, according to a congressional report.

Hackers gained access to 48 databases between May 13 and July 29 when Equifax noticed the intrusion, the report said.

Last year the firm admitted that passport images and information had also been stolen.

The U.S. House committee which investigated the breach said the firm had 'failed to fully appreciate and mitigate its cybersecurity risks'.

'Had the company taken action to address its observable security issues prior to this cyberattack, the data breach could have been prevented,' the committee's report said.Prince Philip will face no further legal action over his Land Rover crash near Sandringham last month, prosecutors have confirmed today.

The Duke of Edinburgh, 97, voluntarily gave up his driving licence after his collision on the A149 that left two women in hospital on January 17.

But today the Chief Crown Prosecutor for the area has confirmed he will not be pursued by police as a prosecution is 'not in the public interest'.

In response, a Buckingham Palace statement said the Duke 'respects' the decision.

CPS bosses say the decision was based on his age and choice to surrender his licence.

Prince Philip (pictured in 2011) will face no further legal action over his Land Rover crash near Sandringham last month, prosecutors have said today

The Duke of Edinburgh, 97 (pictured driving in Windsor in May 2018) voluntarily gave up his driving licence after his collision on the A149 that left two women in hospital on January 17

Prince Philip left two people requiring hospital treatment after his Land Rover rammed into a Kia near the Sandringham estate in Norfolk last month

A close-up picture shows Prince Philip's Land Rover on its side after crashing on the A149

Miraculously the Duke escaped uninjured when his Land Rover Freelander hit an oncoming Kia after being 'dazzled by the sun' last month.

It left Ellie Townsend, the 28-year-old mother-of-two driving the Kia, with minor injuries and passenger Emma Fairweather, 46, with a broken wrist.

Ms Townsend's nine-month-old baby boy was also uninjured in the crash.

The 4x4 flipped over, leaving the Duke trapped, and had to be rescued through the sun roof by a passing motorist.

He faced mounting pressure to forfeit his licence and sparked outrage when he was seen behind the wheel just two days after the crash.

A statement was later issued by Buckingham Palace, which read: 'After careful consideration the Duke of Edinburgh has taken the decision to voluntarily surrender his driving licence.'

Emma Fairweather, 46, broke her wrist when the Kia she was a passenger in was hit by Prince Philip's Land Rover on the A149 near Sandringham in Norfolk

Ellie Townsend, 28, (pictured right) was left 'very shaken' after the Duke of Edinburgh's Land Rover crashed into her Kia near the Queen's Sandringham estate in Norfolk

Just two days after the crash, Prince Philip was back behind the wheel on the Sandringham estate (pictured)

What is the legal limit on driving ages in Britain? The horror accident involving Prince Philip last month sparked a debate on whether he should still be driving. In the UK there are no legal limit on driving ages but motorists have to renew their licences at least 90 days before turning 70. After turning 70, drivers are expected to renew their licence every three years. But a licence can only be renewed if the minimum eyesight requirement is met. DVLA figures show that 100,281 people over the age of 90 hold a valid license. Only 248 people over 100 years own one. Source: Sky News and DVLA Advertisement

Speaking today, Chris Long, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS East of England, said: 'The CPS has carefully reviewed material submitted by the police in relation to a traffic collision on the A149 on 17 January this year.

'We took into account all of the circumstances in this case, including the level of culpability, the age of the driver and the surrender of the driving licence.

'We have decided that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute.

'All those involved in the collision have been informed and provided with a full explanation in writing.'

The decision was made after considering all the evidence submitted by the police and in accordance with the two stage test in the Code for Crown Prosecutors.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: 'The Duke of Edinburgh respects the decision taken by the Crown Prosecution Service.'

Despite no longer having his licence, he will still be allowed to drive on the grounds of the numerous royal estates and on private land.

Ms Fairweather, who has spoken of her distress on TV and in the media, claims the 'roads will be safer' now the Duke is off the road.

A graphic shows how the crash unfolded on the A149 in Norfolk last monthA left-wing Labour group which has John McDonnell as its president has appointed an activist suspended over anti-Semitism claims to its board, it emerged today.

Jackie Walker - who claimed the Jews were the 'chief financiers' of the slave trade - was handed the leadership role by the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), The Times revealed.

She has been suspended from Labour since since 2016 and her case is not due to be finally resolved until March 26.

Jackie Walker (file image) - who claimed the Jews were the 'chief financiers' of the slave trade - was handed the leadership role by the Labour Representation Committee (LRC)

A left-wing Labour group which has John McDonnell (file image) as its president has appointed an activist suspended over anti-Semitism claims to its board, it emerged today

The LRC is a controversial pressure group on the far left wing of the Labour Party that opposes the internationally accepted definition of anti-Semitism.

The shadow chancellor is the group's honorary president and spoke at its conference last weekend.

The Jewish Labour Movement, an affiliated Labour Party grouping, said: 'John McDonnell should distance himself from the LRC.'

A Labour spokesman said: 'John has no day to day involvement in the operation of the LRC and is not responsible for the views of individuals who have participated in LRC events.

'He has repeatedly condemned all anti-Semitism.'

It emerged earlier this week that Labour has expelled just 12 members for anti-Semitism after almost 700 accusations against party members.

Party general secretary Jennie Formby released the figures to MPs on Monday a week after infuriating them by saying racism was impossible to eradicate entirely.

Labour insisted the number of anti-Semites found equate to less than 0.1 per cent of members.

But the figures are likely to fuel claims amid some Labour MPs that leader Jeremy Corbyn has been too slow to react to the anti-Semitism crisis.

The new figures relate only to the period April 2018 to January 2019 and Ms Formby admits the party did not record data before this.

Of the group, 96 members were immediately suspended and 146 received a written warning

Another 220 cases were dismissed because of a lack of evidence, and 211 were issued with a 'Notice of Investigation'.

A total of 42 party members were referred to Labour's quasi-judicial National Constitutional Committee, with five leaving before their case was heard.

Of the 18 NCC decisions which have been made so far, 12 members have been expelled, six were sanctioned and the rest are waiting a decision.

Party general secretary Jennie Formby (file) released the figures to MPs on Monday a week after infuriating them by saying racism was impossible to eradicate entirelyA couple are allegedly receiving rent payments for a government property they don't own.

The case was flagged by a resident concerned by the purported owner allegedly receiving the money from the property's tenant.

The bizarre story started, A Current Affair reported, when the son of a New South Wales state rail worker David George - who was entitled to a generous lease arrangement - died in 2014 with no other family.

Residents said they thought it was odd when the property wasn't reclaimed by the government.

Suspicions were further raised when people then moved into the house backing onto a railway line.

The house's tenant Alan, who lives there with a supposed Kiwi flatmate, said he had been paying rent - $400 a fortnight - to his landlord.

A landlord (left allegedly receiving money from tenant) is allegedly receiving rent payments for a government-owned property she doesn't own

'I'm on the pension so I get cash out of the bank and give it to her every second Friday,' the tenant said.

Landlord Sheryl has claimed taking rent for the property is within her right.

She said David George left the property to her partner Kevin in his will before dying.

'We've got the will. It was left to Kevin,' she told ACA.

Residents said they thought it was odd when the property (pictured) wasn't reclaimed by the government after its deceased owner - who had a favourable lease arrangement with the governmentr

She said she put the rent into a bank account for him and didn't use it herself.

She has not provided the will for public viewing, however.

Lawyer Richard Mitry from Mitry Lawyers said the property did not belong to the couple and even if a will existed it may not be legally valid.

'They don't own the property - nobody owns it except the government.'

Sydney Trains said the matter had been referred to police.The father of one of the teens featured in a shocking video encouraging a classmate to kill herself says his daughter is extremely remorseful and the footage was filmed as a joke.

Social media went into meltdown on Wednesday after a confronting video was uploaded of two Gold Coast schoolgirls telling another teen they would 'stomp' and 'drown' her, before saying she should take her own life.

The girl their explosive tirade is directed toward is not present in the video, which went viral online before the footage was taken down by Facebook.

Horrific video of a pair of schoolgirls hurling abuse and threats emerged this week

The father of one of the girls told the Gold Coast Bulletin the video was filmed as a joke late last year and shared to a private chat room on social media app Snapchat, where it was then forwarded on to the victim.

He claimed the video was never meant to be taken seriously.

'It was just kids mucking around girls egging each other on and being stupid,' the father told the publication.

He said his daughter is a sweet girl who wants to apologise to the victim.

'It was never meant to go to the poor girl that it (the video) was about. It was really bad judgment on my daughter's part and she's beside herself with remorse,' he said.

'This is just not in her nature. It's not who she is. She's actually a very sweet girl and this is just totally out of character.'

His daughter has since disabled her social media accounts and may face disciplinary action where she returns to school on Friday.

In the Snapchat videos, the main instigator in the tirade, a girl in a plain black t-shirt, spits and screams at the camera while another friend giggles in the background.

'F**king roll another f**king durry in the f**king corner to avoid your f**king problems, 'cause everyone f**king hates you and everyone f**king wants to kill you, 'cause you're a little f**king s**t.

'And you're probably gonna kill yourself before I f**king kill you, but you know what, I want to f**king kill you, 'cause you're a f**king slut, 'cause I f**king hate you.'

The father of one of the teens featured in the shocking video says his daughter is a sweet girl who's extremely remorseful and that the footage (pictured) was filmed as a joke

The girl who could previously be heard laughing then jumps at the camera, saying she would 'stomp' the girl with her own shoes.

'If I f**king see you, you're gonna f**king drown and you're gonna f**king die, you know what, you'll probably f**king kill yourself because everyone hates you.'

The man who uploaded the footage says he's a friend of the family whose daughter was the target of the abuse.

The social media post was met with hundreds of comments advising the family to go to police, while others called for the girls involved to be expelled.

The video was viewed more than 58,000 times, where the majority of the comments label the girls involved as 'vile'.

Queensland Police are not aware of a complaint lodged in retaliation to the video.

The expletive-laced tirade has since been taken down by Facebook after the video went viral

The victim's family called for more consequences for cyberbullies.

'This video is alarming because any parent seeing it will be horrified to think that either their child is in the receiving end of such a tirade, or just as bad, that their child would be responsible for such an act,' their statement read.

The Department of Education wouldn't comment on the case but said any situation which threatens students' safety is taken extremely seriously.

'Cyberbullying is not a problem for schools to solve in isolation, it is an issue for the whole community,' a spokesperson told 10 daily.

Cyberbullying organisations have condemned the footage, including the Do It for Bree Foundation.

It was set up by the family of Queensland teen Breannah Piva who took her own life in 2016 after being physically, verbally and emotionally traumatised by her bullies on a daily basis.

'Bullying needs to stop now,' the foundation posted on Facebook on Thursday night.

For confidential support call the Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14 or Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800A mother whose son was stabbed to death has secured Britain first ever life-saving 'bleed kits' in pubs across her home city - with plans to set up 1,000 more in venues across the country.

Lynne Baird, 62, lost son Daniel, 26, when he bled to death in minutes outside The Forge Tavern in Digbeth, Birmingham, after being knifed while out celebrating a new job with friends in July 2017.

Since his death, the mother-of-eight has dedicated herself to preventing other stabbing deaths - raising 12,000 for the Daniel Baird Foundation.

Lynne Baird, 62, left) lost son Daniel, 26, (right, with a friend in an undated photo) in June 2017 when he bled to death in minutes outside a pub in Digbeth, Birmingham, after being knifed

Mrs Baird, a carer, has now revealed her campaign will see Birmingham become the first city in the UK to have bleed control kits and specialist first aid training rolled out in pubs, schools, shops and other venues.

The packs - which include pressure dressings, gauze bandages and tourniquets - are designed to prevent stab-related deaths in the same way public defibrillators have been credited with a drop in heart attack deaths.

Mrs Baird said: 'After Daniel died, all I could think about was 'let's get these kits out there'. I was just worried that someone else might bleed to death.

'Stabbings are still happening now - this is happening in London all the time and even here in Birmingham.

'Stabbing victims are just left on the street, and there is nothing you can do after three to five minutes if their attacker has hit an artery.

'I discovered these kits already existed in the US but when I tried to find some of the kits in the UK, I actually had to put them together myself as they didn't exist here.

What are bleed kits and what do they contain? Bleed kits are regularly used in the US but have only recently been introduced in the UK. The packs are designed to prevent stab-related deaths in the same way public defibrillators have been credited with a drop in heart attack deaths. They include everything needed to stem a bleeding wound, including pressure dressings, gauze bandages and tourniquets. They are advertised online from around 70 to 150. Advertisement

'I got in touch with a medical firm and had a few made up for me, thinking we would just hand some out to the local pubs in memory of Daniel, but they were too expensive for me to fund alone.'

Daniel had just passed his final interview for a new job at Jaguar Land Rover the same morning he was killed and had planned to marry and get a house with partner Gemma.

But he was knifed outside a bar where an altercation broke out between another drinker and one of Daniel's friends.

One man charged with Daniel's murder is currently facing a six week trial at Birmingham Crown Court.

Mrs Baird said: 'Some days I don't want to move - it's just awful. I remember the morning like it was yesterday, that day will never leave my mind. He went to the gym and never came back.

'It was just such a shock because I never saw Dan again, he just said "see you later" and off he went.

'They must have thought "let's go and make a night out of it" after drinking at their local pub, but I wish he had never gone.

'When I asked at the hospital if we could see him we didn't even know that he was dead.'

Since Daniel's (pictured) death, the mother-of-eight has dedicated herself to preventing other stabbing deaths - raising 12,000 for the Daniel Baird Foundation

After Daniel was killed, realising how crucial those few minutes are for stab victims, Mrs Baird set about researching how fatal stab wounds can be reduced.

She discovered a programme was being rolled out in the US, where bleed control kits were being distributed into schools and venues in every state.

But she was shocked to discover that these life-saving kits didn't even exist in the UK.

Now Mrs Baird is working with the West Midlands Ambulance Service and Birmingham City Council's Community Safety Partnership, who have pledged 4,000 to put the kits and training as many places around the city as possible.

The Bulls Head in Birmingham city centre has become the first UK venue to receive one of the kits and Lynne hopes there will be many more to come in a matter of weeks.

Mrs Baird with Harry Higgs, the general manager of the Davenports Bulls Head tavern in Birmingham, with the bleed control kit that has been installed in the pub

Mrs Baird is also in talks with a major pub chain, which has some 1,300 venues across the UK, to get the kits distributed throughout its venues.

But, while she is positive about the work, she is doing to help others, nothing can make her forget the day she lost her son.

She said: 'I wanted to see Birmingham become the first 'control the bleed' city ever in the UK.

'I strongly suspect that other cities and towns will follow this exciting lead. I am so proud to have been a small part of this initiative.'A furious mother is demanding justice after sickening footage of a bully kneeing her 13-year-old daughter is dismissed by police as 'just children fighting.'

Anna Morley was sent the shocking clip of her daughter, being kicked in the head and wrestled to the ground.

The footage was filmed by another teenage girl and circulated on social media and shows the alleged victim in an orange top being confronted by another girl.

A third girl then pushes the attacker towards the victim with her foot.

The 16-year-old alleged bully then grabs the victim's hair, repeatedly kneeing her in the head and then dragging her to the ground.

A girl pushes the alleged attacker towards the victim in the orange coloured top

The 16-year-old has the girl in a headlock. The footage was filmed by another teenager and circulated on social media

The alleged bully then appears to knee the victim in the face repeatedly as she holds onto her

The alleged victim then appears to be thrown to the floor. The assault occurred in Royal Park in Immingham on January 16

The startling footage is another reminder of the violence being meted out on the schoolyard and then circulated on social media in Wild West Britain.

Ms Morley, from Habrough, said although she knows the identity of the girl responsible, aged 16, she said Humberside Police is not taking further action.

She claims the force dismissed the assault as 'just children fighting' and would not pursue the matter.

Humberside Police have been approached for comment about the incident.

Ms Morley said: 'I just find it shocking that they have just dismissed it. It's clearly an assault.

'I don't understand what that's teaching children of today.

'It's showing them it's okay to do that. Something needs to be done.'

The assault happened in Roval Park in Immingham on January 16, with footage of it sent to Ms Morley by another mother.

The 44-year-old said: 'She's angry with the world. She doesn't seem to fit in very well and gets a lot of trouble her way.

'But it doesn't mean that people can go round assaulting her like that - and it's not the first time.

'I think it's just happening far too much. If that's the response that the police are giving, it's not going to stop.'

But officers, she claims, refused to take further action despite repeat contact with the force.

She said: 'I was told they are not taking any further action. Police said as far as they are concerned it is just children fighting.'

Detective Inspector John Cram, from the criminal investigation department at Humberside Police, said: 'When we receive a crime report, we consider various factors including the circumstances surrounding the incident and the level of offending.

'This helps us to deliver a proportionate and appropriate response for each individual incident.

'In this case we did carry out an initial investigation which has resulted in the local neighbourhood team taking forward some action to work with the families involved and the school to resolve the situation.

'We will review the success of this action in due course, but at this current time believe the investigation and resulting action to be proportionate and appropriate to the incident.'Advertisement

With much of the male workforce behind the railways called up for military service during the Second World War, the country had to keep its train network moving.

And so 100,000 women were recruited to help fill the roles  with these remarkable photographs celebrating how they stepped up when their husbands, brothers and fathers marched off to war between 1939 and 1945.

The pictures in a new book depict a gang of women platelayers ensuring the railways were intact, porters hauling crates of goods along a platform, and telephonists answering calls while sheltering under their desks.

Other images in Susan Major's new work 'Female Railway Workers in World War II' show a lampswoman on an elevated rickety platform signalling trains and collecting tickets from members of the public and troops.

Ms Major said: 'During the Second World War many thousands of the men working on the railways in Britain were called up for military service, and many thousands of women were recruited to replace them.

'There had of course been already working in some areas of the railway, such as in clerical, cleaning and catering jobs, although before the war even most of those jobs were carried out by men.

'But in wartime many women were employed in the kind of work which was completely new to females, working as porters and guards, and in maintenance and workshop operations.'

In 1939, Britain's railway companies had almost 600,000 employees, but only 4 per cent were female. During the war period this increased significantly, with it at 7 per cent by 1941 and more than 15 per cent by 1944 .

Ernest Bevin, who was the wartime labour minister, called upon 100,000 women to take up roles on the railway - but said that for every two men away at war, three women would need to be employed to make up the shortfall.

Women take over signal duties on the South Yorkshire section of the London & North Eastern Railway on March 6, 1941. The railway, whose name has been regenerated over the past year by the new operators of the East Coast line, was the second largest of the 'Big Four' railways during the war before being split into four sections after nationalisation in 1948

A gang of women platelayers smile as they work at the Great Western Railway depot at Bristol West in March 1943. With much of the male workforce behind the railways called up for military service during the Second World War, some 100,000 women were recruited to help fill the roles  with these remarkable photographs celebrating how they stepped up

Women take over duties as railway guards at London Victoria on the Southern Railway on July 19, 1943 (left), while Great Western Railway train policewoman P Mitchell works at Bristol Temple Meads train station in February 1942 (right). The pictures feature in author Susan Major's new work 'Female Railway Workers in World War II', published by Pen and Sword

Finishing rods in the machine shop at the Great Western Railway's works in Swindon, Wiltshire. At the start of the Second World War in 1939, Britain's railway companies had almost 600,000 employees, but only 4 per cent were female. During the war period this increased significantly, with it at 7 per cent by 1941 and more than 15 per cent by 1944

Women painters work on a bridge on the Southern Railway network. Ernest Bevin, who was the labour minister in the wartime coalition government, called upon 100,000 women to take up roles on the railway as men went away to fight in the conflict - but said that for every two men away at war, three women would need to be employed to make up the shortfall

Women porters smile as they load parcels from a pallet onto a train on February 27, 1941 for the London Midland & Scottish Railway at London St Pancras station (left), while Mrs HM Rollason from Nuneaton, Warwickshire, blows her whistle and raises a flag next to a train as she works as a railway guard - also for the LMS Railway (right)

A Great Western Railway goods porter works on a 'Mercury Mechanical Horse'. Book author Susan Major has told how many thousands of the men working on the railways in Britain were called up for military service during the Second World War - and 'many thousands of women were recruited to replace them, to keep this vital service running'

London & North Eastern Railway worker Gladys Garlick walks with her colleagues Rita and Irene along the platform at Bowes Park railway station in North London around 1942. The stop in Haringay, which is near Bounds Green Underground station on the Piccadilly line, is still open today and is served by trains running between London Moorgate and Stevenage

Lampswoman Betty Spiller (left) stands on the home signal platform at Evercreech Junction, holding a lamp interior in 1945. The station on the Somerset and Dorset line was shut in 1966, shortly after being featured in a 1963 BBC documentary by John Betjeman about the Evercreech to Burnham-on-Sea line. Women in a Southern Railway workshop are also pictured (right)

Telephonists answer calls while sheltering under their desks while coping with an emergency at the Great Western Railway central telephone enquiry office at London Paddington station. The terminus for services to the West Country was badly hit in a raid on April 16 and 17, 1941, which left 16 people dead and a further 97 injured

Goods porters at a Great Western Railway goods station in Bristol in 1941. The book's author told how there had been women already working in some areas of the railway, such as in clerical, cleaning and catering jobs, by the time the Second World War began. However, she added that before the war even most of those jobs were carried out by men

Great Western Railway goods porters are pictured using a battery-powered, flat-bed mechanised horse. Ms Major said that during the Second World War, many women were suddently employed in the kind of work which was completely new to females, working as porters and guards, and in maintenance and workshop operations

Great Western Railway workers collect tickets from members of the public and troops. In the First World War women were restricted in what work they could do and were mostly employed as porters, locomotive cleaners or train guards. However, by the Second World War they enjoyed far better opportunities, including recording inspecting tunnels and maintaining track

A woman railway worker loads grain sacks on March 11, 1945 onto a carriage on the London & North Eastern Railway. By the end of the Second World War, they were mostly not retained or recruited into operating, maintenance or engineering roles as men returned from the frontline - and it took until the 60s and 70s for anti-discrimination laws to help them work in any job

Staff from Evercreech Junction station in Somerset pose for a picture at the Bell Inn in late 1945 to celebrate the wedding of signalwoman Betty Lambert and driver Ron Spiller. The other people pictured in the photo were named as George Dyke, W Newman and wife, J Reakes, N Light, E Phillips, C Cooper, S Moore, J Hill, Joyce Reakes, Betty Simms and A Fear

A drawing by famed artist Cliff Rowe of a woman cleaning a locomotive at the London St Pancras Cleaning Yard in 1941 on the London, Midland & Scottish Railway. The artist completed a series of cleaning yard paintings during the Second World WarStudents Against Private Police continues its efforts to oppose the creation of a Johns Hopkins University private police force. (Kenneth K. Lam, Baltimore Sun video)ISIS 'elite' militants are being cleared from two more villages today in the last remaining strip of the terror group's 'caliphate' amid fierce fighting with US-backed Syrian forces.

Fanatics have been hiding among the local population and detaining others attempting to flee with women and children escaping the area, the US-led coalition said today.

The coalition said the clearance operations of the remaining terrorists was taking place today in the villages of Shajalah and Baghouz, in eastern Syria near the border with Iraq.

Thousands of people have fled Baghouz as the fighting rages, including women and children but also suspected jihadists.

The SDF believes 400 to 600 jihadists may be holed up there, including foreigners and other hardened militants.

Civilians fleeing the ISIS holdout of Baghouz in eastern Syria, walk in a field to escape the fighting

A veiled woman holding her baby as she and hundreds of civilians flee the last ISIS strongholds

Fighters with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in position during an operation to expel the remaining ISIS jihadists from the Baghouz area

Scores of militants from ISIS - including many foreign fighters - surrendered to US-backed fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) last night.

The surrender brought the Kurdish-led force closer to taking full control of the last remaining area held by the extremists, a Kurdish official and activists said.

Mustafa Bali, an SDF spokesman, said hundreds of women and children escaped the area yesterday.

He said the fighters who remained appeared to be among the IS elite who have lots of experience and are fighting 'fiercely'.

'They also don't have other options. Either to surrender or die,' Bali said.

Since early December, more than 38,000 people, mostly wives and children of ISIS fighters, have fled into SDF-held areas, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

That figure includes around 3,400 suspected jihadists detained by the SDF, according to the monitor.

Opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights shows US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighters looking at smoke rising from a shell that targeted Islamic State group militants, in the village of Baghouz in eastern Syria

A military vehicle with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) during an operation to expel Islamic State jihadists from Baghouz

A SDF fighter taking aim against remaining jihadists in Baghouz. Syrian fighters battled a fierce jihadist counteroffensive as they pushed to retake a last territory from the militants

Ciyager Amed, an official with the Syrian Democratic Forces, confirmed that a number of ISIS fighters who had been holed up in the village of Baghouz gave themselves up, without giving numbers.

He said most of those remaining were Iraqis and foreigners and that few civilians remained in the tiny sliver of land still in ISIS hands, although women and children are continuing to trickle out of the enclave.

The capture of Baghouz and nearby areas would mark the end of a devastating four-year global campaign to end the extremist group's hold on territory in Syria and Iraq.

President Donald Trump has said the group is all but defeated, and announced in December that he would withdraw all American forces from Syria.

A coalition official, however, warned Wednesday that ISIS continues to pose a threat to the security of the region even if their hold on territory ends.

Men believed to be Islamic State fighters and their families walking in a field as they leave the last stronghold of the IS jihadists

Civilians fleeing the Islamic State as Syrian forces vehicles move in to the territory in the east of the country near the Iraq border

'While ISIS is on the verge of collapse, and the end of the physical caliphate is at hand it does not signal the end of this campaign,' said U.K. Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, using another acronym for ISIS. 'We will pursue them until that threat is eliminated.'

The coalition statement said SDF forces are detaining ISIS militants who are attempting to escape among the civilians fleeing the fighting in Baghouz.

Those 'arriving to be screened are the wives of ISIS fighters, some of whom sustained gunshot wounds while fleeing from ISIS,' Ghika said.

The final push to clear ISIS from remaining territory it holds in Syria comes as the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran are meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Thursday for talks about the latest developments in northern Syria.

Hundreds of women and children fled the villages of Shajalah and Baghouz, according to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)

Some IS militants remaining in the embattled villages have been hiding amongst civilians and detaining those who try and flee

Russia, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad, is getting increasingly impatient about militants in Syria's Idlib province.

Russia and Turkey, which supports the Syrian opposition, had brokered a cease-fire for Idlib, the last remaining rebel stronghold that averted a major government offensive but that deal has been strained as al-Qaida-linked militants seized towns and villages in Idlib.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says Russia is going to raise its concerns at the talks about the presence of 'terrorists' there.

SDF fighters prepare equipment in a tent at a hilltop position overlooking Bagouz

U.S.-backed Syrian forces are clearing two villages in eastern Syria of remaining Islamic State militants

An SDF fighter looks out from a hilltop position overlooking the last remaining ISIS strongholdsA alleged burglar captured on CCTV crawling around a home on his belly has been mocked by police.

Western Australian Police from the Midland Station, east of Perth, posted the CCTV footage to social media on Wednesday hoping to identify the hooded alleged thief.

'Midland Police are investigating a burglary incident in Midland overnight,' the police post read.

'Can you help identify the male suspect now known as #Caterpillar?'

A alleged burglar captured on CCTV crawling around a home on his belly has been mocked by police (pictured)

The footage shows the man crawling through the house on Elgee Road in Midlands before inadvertently looking directly into one of the CCTV cameras, police said.

He then allegedly tries to break into a truck in the driveway.

A number of social media users saw the funny side of the footage and were quick to comment.

He then allegedly tries to break into a truck in the driveway (pictured)

'He was doing so well until he looked straight at the camera. Can't fix stupid I guess,' one user wrote.

'Caterpillar- Cocoon- Butterfly. Hope you catch him before he flies away,' another added.

Police said anyone who may be able to identify the man should contact Midlands Police or Crime Stoppers.A furious row between two Russian mothers about social media turned violent in St Petersburg this week, with one suffering eight stab wounds to her head.

Anastasia Markova, 27, blocked Lyudmila Balkovaya-Kunitskaya from the WhatsApp group for parents with children at an upscale nursery school in St Petersburg kindergarten for being 'aggressive' and 'complaining about her poor life'.

Ms Balkovaya-Kunitskaya, 28, hit back at Ms Markova, saying her rival was too 'posh' and acted like a 'tsarina'.

Anastasia Markova, 27, blocked another mother from the WhatsApp group for parents at the St Petersburg kindergarten for 'being aggressive' - after which she was attacked

Violent fight: Lyudmila Balkovaya-Kunitskaya allegedly stabbed Ms Markova eight times in the head after their online row got physical

Both women were treated in hospital after the row spilled into a bloody fight at the door of the upscale state nursery school on Rimsky-Korsakov Prospekt.

Ms Balkovaya-Kunitskaya alleged that as she left after dropping off her daughter, her rival 'was the first to attack, saying 'she tried to turn my pram upside down with my one year old child in it.

'I had to protect myself.'

She admitted using a nail file in attacking Ms Markova, whose bandaged head leaked blood after the fight.

Police said they later seized a penknife from the woman.

Ms Markova strongly denies she had been the first to attack and said that the other woman had earlier reacted to being blocked from the WhatsApp group by messaging her 'that she would blow up my car with my child'.

Injured: he two women ended up in a violent fight outside the nursery, with Balkovaya-Kunitskaya allegedly using a pen knife and a nail file to attack Markova, who suffered eight stab wounds to her head

Allegation: Ms Markova being interviewed by TV on the doorstep of the kindergarten where the conflict took place

Other side: Balkovaya-Kunitskaya has hit back saying Markova was too 'posh' and acted like a 'tsarina' when she blocked her on WhatsApp

Aggressive: Ms Markova claimed Ms Balkovaya-Kunitskaya, pictured, told her: 'I will kill you b****' before attacking her

On the morning of the attack, she claimed Ms Balkovaya-Kunitskaya told her: 'I will kill you b****'.

'She gave me an evil look, then began to shout and to push me outside.'

Then 'she grabbed me by my hair and dragged me down.

'First she struck me in my forehead leaving a wall of blood over my eyes. I fell onto the ground and she hit me with some sharp object.

'I thought it was scissors, but detectives told me she used a penknife.'

'She stabbed me eight times. I had blood in my eyes and the whole life flashed before my eyes. Another mum arrived and "saved me".'

Ms Balkovaya-Kunitskaya alleged that as she left after dropping off her daughter, her rival 'was the first to attack, saying 'she tried to turn my pram upside down with my one year old child in

Teachers rushed to the scene having heard the screams, and Ms Markova was taken to hospital where she was treated for concussion and multiple cuts and bruises.

'I got eight holes in my head,' she said. 'Doctors had to do stitches.

'Neurologists examined me, they feared it could be worse, with blood getting into the brain.'

She has a large scar on her forehead a week after the ugly fight.

As police examine the evidence and take statements, the two women have continued their WhatsApp bust-up.

Ms Markova claimed that Ms Balkovaya-Kunitskaya had annoyed other mothers by stressing how she had fled from the war zone in eastern Ukraine and 'asking if we could help her with money' because of her 'poverty'.

'But she brought her child to school in a taxi,' she said.

Ms Balkovaya-Kunitskaya admitted she was a 'refugee' from the war zone, but hit back: 'It doesn't mean I am evil.

'I did not run away from shell fire (in eastern Ukraine) with my child to let posh St Petersburg mothers beat me with my children.'

An Interior Ministry spokesman said: 'Police are studying all the circumstances of the conflict.'

A decision will be made soon on criminal chargesA drunk driver has been detained by police after he crashed his car into a funeral in north China.

Mourners were attending the ceremony followed by a meal in a shed set up on the side of the road in a village in Langfang, Hebei province on Tuesday at about 10:30pm.

Shocking footage shows the white saloon ploughing into the small hut, overturning the dining tables and the casket before stopping. Fortunately no one was injured.

Shocking footage shows the white saloon ploughing into the small hut where the funeral service was held on Tuesday night at about 10:30pm. Luckily, no one was hurt

Footage filmed by one witness shows offerings and food scattered across the floor in the aftermath of the accident. The large red coffin had fallen onto the ground after being hit

The male driver remained silent as bereaved family members, some wearing mourning clothing, berated and questioned him.

'What's wrong with you?' an upset woman was heard yelling at the man.

'Don't get violent, calm down,' others said.

Footage filmed by a witness shows offerings and food scattered across the floor after the accident.

Police officers were alerted to the scene and the man was arrested for drink-driving

The large red coffin had fallen onto the ground after being hit by the car, which was also damaged in the collision.

Police were alerted to the scene and the man was arrested for drink-driving, according to Sina News.

It is unclear if the man would be charged amid ongoing investigations.Presidential hopeful Howard Schultz has taken aim at the Green New Deal agenda championed by Democrats including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The billionaire former Starbucks CEO, who is considering an independent run for the White House, called the Democratic pledges 'unrealistic' and saying it was 'immoral' to build up trillions of dollars in debt.

The Democratic proposals include a federal jobs guarantee, national health care coverage and a promise to produce 100 per cent of America's energy from renewable sources.

Schultz's comments will put further distance between Schultz and much of the Democratic base, which fears the billionaire could split the anti-Trump vote in 2020.

Howard Schultz, pictured at a town hall event in Houston, said the Green New Deal agenda championed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was 'unrealistic'

Discussing the Green New Deal proposals at a CNN town hall event, he said politicians had to be 'sensible' about their proposals.

He said: 'When I read the proposed bill in terms of the Green New Deal, I read that by 2030 they're suggesting that every building in America becomes clean-energy.

'Just to put that in perspective because it's not realistic, that would mean that between 2,000 and 3,000 buildings a day would have to be reconstructed.

'Let's be sensible about what we're suggesting, let's not just throw stuff against a wall because it's a good slogan.

'When I see politicians start throwing things out that I know are not realistic, that is not being honest from the American people.

'I don't understand how you're going to get a job for everybody, how you're going to give free college to everybody, how you're going to create clean energy throughout the country in every building in the land.

'I think it's immoral to suggest that we can tally up $20tn, $30tn, $40tn, $50tn of debt to solve a problem that could be solved in a different way.

New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (pictured on Capitol Hill last week) has spearheaded the Green New Deal agenda

'It's not that they're disingenuous, I think they're well-intentioned, this is not personal, I just don't agree this is the right way to approach things.'

The Green New Deal has been put forward in a congressional resolution by Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts.

Mitch McConnell has said the Senate will vote on the deal, in a Republican bid to expose tensions among Democrats, some of whom are skeptical of the plans.

Schultz threw his hat in the 2020 ring last month, saying: 'I love our country, and I am seriously considering running for president as a centrist independent.'

But he has been viewed with suspicion by many Democrats, who fear a third-party candidate could help Trump win re-election.

He also drew criticism this week for saying he did not 'see color', a comment which many Democrats saw as downplaying racial inequality.

One poll showed him with just a four per cent favorable rating compared to 40 per cent who viewed him unfavorably, with the majority having no opinion.Samantha Marsh, 33, pictured, from Crisfield, Maryland, was arrested for allegedly performing oral sex on four students

A school nurse is facing criminal charges after she allegedly performed oral sex on students in the back of her van.

Samantha Marsh, 33, who works at Crisfield High School & Academy in Maryland, is accused of having sexual encounters with four of the high school's students.

The incidents are said to have occurred off campus between March 2018 and January 2019, reports WBOC.

Marsh, from Crisfield, Maryland, was arrested on Tuesday but had been placed on administrative leave by the school before this.

Charging documents filed in court claim that all four of the minors involved are 17-years-old and that Marsh communicated with the students through social media.

The first student disclosed that Marsh sent them a Snapchat message in October asking them to come to her home, reports delmarvanow.

A second student was also said to have been contacted on Snapchat and it's alleged that Marsh asked to meet them saying her husband was out of town.

Police have spoken to the four high school students and Marsh, pictured, has since confessed to performing oral sex on three of them

Video courtesy of WJZ13

It is alleged that one of the pupils was contacted on Instagram messenger and told investigators they met up with Marsh in October at a Crisfield Dollar General.

Police have spoken to the high school students and Marsh has since confessed to performing oral sex on three of them.

Marsh faces 10 counts of fourth-degree sex offense, four counts of perverted practice and four counts of contributing to the condition of a child.

She has also been charged with one count of attempted fourth-degree sex offense.

Marsh is being held without bail at the Somerset County Detention Center.A delivery driver has been dubbed Britain's laziest after she twice blocked a residential road when she stopped to drop off parcels.

The Hermes courier was filmed holding up traffic with her grey Nissan Qashqai as she made deliveries on the street twice within ten days.

Motorists had to sit and wait when she stopped her vehicle in the middle of the road - even though there were several empty parking spaces just a few feet away.

A Hermes courier was filmed holding up traffic with her grey Nissan Qashqai as she made deliveries on a West Dulwich, south London street on January 28

The tracksuit-clad driver first parked her car in the middle of the West Dulwich, south London street on January 28.

Traffic was brought to a standstill for 15 minutes - and a motorist and a woman in her 90s were forced to leave their car to try and find the driver.

In a clip, the unnamed delivery driver can be seen arguing with a motorist in a silver BMW who was brought to a standstill as she made her deliveries.

But instead of moving out of the way, she collects an armful of packages from her vehicle and heads to three addresses.

Just 10 days later, on February 7, the delivery driver returned to the street and forced a silver Vauxhall Astra to stop as she dropped off items

A Mercedes then stops behind her as she eventually gets back in her car.

However, the motorist returned to the street and forced a silver Vauxhall Astra to stop just ten days later.

In a second video filmed on February 7, the delivery driver is branded 'selfish' by the waiting motorist as she heads back to her car.

She then appears to say 'f*** you' and tells him to 'shut up.'

But she soon gets back into her car and reverses along the residential street to allow the furious motorist to pass.

The driver has been seen acting in the rude manner before and is well known in the area for her middle-of-the-road parking, reports said.

One witness said: 'That delivery driver has absolutely no consideration for any other road users.

'Britain's laziest delivery driver' was then branded 'selfish' by the frustrated motorist as he waited

'She's constantly seen parking up in the middle of the road - five minutes might be OK, but she often takes 15 minutes plus.

'She is pig ignorant. In fact, I'd got as far to say she is Britain's laziest driver.'

A Hermes spokesman said: 'We would like to apologise to anyone that has been inconvenienced by this unacceptable behaviour.

'We have spoken to the courier and made it clear that this must not happen again.'A human foot has washed up on a Canadian shoreline for the 15th time in a decade, and authorities are seeking the public's help in identifying it.

British Columbia Coroners Service said in a statement on Monday that the foot was discovered still in its shoe on the coast of West Vancouver in September.

DNA testing found no match with the owner and known missing persons, but an evaluation of its bone structure of the foot led a specialist to believe that it belonged to a male under the age of 50.

The latest foot to wash up on a Canadian beach in September 2018 was inside this light grey Nike sneaker

The sneaker was made between February and April 2017 and appears to be in relatively new condition

The man was wearing a 'light grey Nike Free RN shoe with a black Nike swoosh logo and white base, white laces and a blue sock,' the statement said.

'The shoe was a mens U.S. size 9.5 with an OrthoLite insert... manufactured between February 1 and April 17, 2017, and appeared to be in relatively new condition.'

The BC Coroners Service is now appealing for any information about the shoe or its owner, but said it is not currently treating the incident as a suspicious death.

Since August 2007, 15 shoes containing human feet have washed up along the Pacific coastline of British Colombia, Canada's fifth largest and westernmost province.

British Columbia Coroners Service asked for the public's help on Monday in identifying who the foot belongs to

The size 9.5 sneaker was made in China and belonged to a male person under the age of 50, the coroners service said

Of those, 10 have been linked to missing persons but five remain unidentified.

The majority of the feet belong to men, but a pair of female feet were linked to a woman who went missing in 2004.

There are also three other pairs that have been linked by anthropological, circumstantial or DNA analysis.An Australian Army soldier who allegedly raped a 16-year-old girl at a military barracks in Brisbane has been charged.

The teenager reportedly sneaked onto the secure grounds of the Enoggera Barracks before she was allegedly raped on January 2014,' The Courier Mail reported.

Queensland Police charged a man in relation to the incident on Thursday and he is bailed to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on February 26.

An Australian Army soldier who allegedly raped a 16-year-old girl at a military barracks in Brisbane has been charged (pictured)

In a statement issued to Daily Mail Australia on Thursday, the Department of Defence confirmed it was assisting Queensland Police with their inquiries.

'Defence can confirm an Australian Army soldier was taken into custody by the Queensland Police on Thursday, 14 February 2019,' the statement read.

'It is understood the soldier was taken into custody in relation to an allegation of sexual assault.

'The soldier has been formally charged with the alleged offence and has since been released on bail.'

The Department of Defence added it takes all allegations of unacceptable behaviour very seriously and investigates matters thoroughly.

'As the matter is under investigation by the Queensland Police Service it would be inappropriate to comment,' the statement read.A former V8 Supercars grid girl allegedly broke into her neighbour's property and stole a valuable mountain bike, among other items.

Kira Kukovec, 28, allegedly broke into the storage cage on her neighbour's Caringbah property at 4am on November 18 with her fiance.

The 28-year-old appeared at Sutherland Local Court on Thursday and pleaded not guilty for the robbery.

Kira Kukovec, 28, (pictured) allegedly broke into the storage cage on her neighbour's Caringbah property at 4am on November 18

A former V8 Supercars grid girl allegedly broke into her neighbour's property and stole a valuable mountain bike among other items

According to the St George Shire Standard, police allege Kukovec and her fiance stole a Trek mountain bike worth up to $9,749.

They allegedly also took a helmet, Oakley sunglasses, a sewing machine and cushions from the storage cage.

Kukovec is due to face court in the coming months for a hearing alongside her fiance.

The 28-year-old's fiance is currently behind bars on remand following the alleged robbery.

They allegedly also took a helmet, Oakley sunglasses, a sewing machine and cushions from the storage cage

Kukovec's Starnow describes her as an 'Actor, Extra, Model, Producer, Art Department Member, Lighting Crew Member, Runner & Assistant, Sound Crew Member, Post Producer / Editor'.

'Independence is the height of all sexiness, nothing is more attractive than a woman that can hold her own,' the 28-year-old wrote.

In 2011, Kukovec worked as a Bathurst 1000 grid girl and a year later she was a 'Miss Hard & Fast Grid Girl 2012'.OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- Mardi Gras season gets into full swing Saturday as the 44th annual Ocean Springs Elks Mardi Gras Parade rolls through downtown Ocean Springs Saturday.

The Elks parade annually draws tens of thousands into the downtown area and is traditionally the first Jackson County parade each carnival season. It is the third-largest event Ocean Springs hosts each year, behind only Cruisin' the Coast and the Peter Anderson Festival.

Elks Parade Chairman Phil Quigley said Thursday they are expecting at least 80 units to participate, with half of those floats.

Ocean Springs' Levi "Little Levi" Krystosek will lead the parade as the Grand Marshal and will be celebrating his 13th birthday Saturday, as well.

Serving as this year's Elks King and Queen are Matthew Robertson and Cathy Blackburn. Bob Delaney is serving as Parade Captain for the 16th consecutive year.

The theme of this year's parade is "Back to the 80s." Quigley was asked how difficult it is to come up with a new theme each year now that the parade is in its 44th year.

"Pretty doggone difficult," he said, laughing. "We have to come up with a theme that will work for both our ball and the parade. We could do a theme for the ball that wouldn't work for the parade, and vice versa, so we always try to come up with a theme that will work for both.

"So far, we've been able to do it, but the ideas are starting to dry up. We try to look for something that's hot in the media or on television and so forth -- but not the news. We don't need that controversy."

The Elks settle on a theme each year in June, Quigley added.

Saturday's parade, which starts at 1 p.m., will follow the traditional route: from Front Beach Drive up Porter Avenue to Washington Avenue, then north on Washington to Government Street, then east on Government until it ends at Ocean Springs Upper Elementary.

Police will begin closing off streets along the route at noon. The closures include:

Porter Avenue from the Ocean Springs Yacht Club to Washington Avenue

Washington Avenue from Porter Avenue to Government Street

Government Street from Washington Avenue to Holcomb Boulevard

Southbound traffic on Washington Avenue from U.S. 90 will be diverted to DeSoto Street. Roads will reopen after the parade when police determine it's safe to do so.

Parking on private property is not allowed and vehicles will be towed, but only as a last resort once attempts to contact the owner have been unsuccessful.California's Governor has refused to return $3.5billion in federal funding for a struggling high-speed rail project after Donald Trump told him: 'We want that money back'.

Gavin Newsom hit back at the President after abandoning a $77billion plan for a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Trump called the project a 'disaster' and demanded the money back but Newsom said it was 'California's money', taking a dig at the President by suggesting he was desperate for border wall funding.

California had hoped to build a 520-mile line where trains could travel at 220mph but the project, which was years behind and billions over budget, has now been scaled down to a 119-mile link from Merced to Bakersfield.

California Governor Gavin Newsom (pictured during his State of the State address in Sacramento) has refused to pay back $3.5billion in high-speed rail funding from Washington

President Donald Trump, pictured in the Oval Office yesterday, called the project a 'disaster' and demanded California return the money granted by the Obama administration in 2010

Trump took aim at the Democratic Governor on Twitter, saying: 'California has been forced to cancel the massive bullet train project after having spent and wasted many billions of dollars.

'They owe the Federal Government three and a half billion dollars. We want that money back now. Whole project is a "green" disaster!'

Newsom fired back shortly afterwards, saying: 'Fake news. We're building high-speed rail, connecting the Central Valley and beyond.

'This is CA's money, allocated by Congress for this project. We're not giving it back. The train is leaving the station - better get on board!

'Also, desperately searching for some wall dollars??'

The Obama administration awarded the state a total of $3.5 billion in 2010 as part of its stimulus package.

Twitter feud: President Trump demanded the money back from Gavin Newsom but the California Governor said he would use it for a scaled-down project

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 $77billion and was running years behind

The line had been planned to open by 2033 but last year the state forecast the costs had jumped by $13billion to $77billion, and warned that they could rise to as much as $98.1 billion.

High-speed rail had been one of the planks of the 'Green New Deal' spearheaded by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and fellow Democrats.

Announcing the end of the project during his State of the State address, Newsom said: 'Let's be real.

'The current project, as planned, would cost too much and respectfully take too long.

'There's been too little oversight and not enough transparency. Right now, there simply isn't a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to Los Angeles. I wish there were.

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

'Abandoning high-speed rail entirely means we will have wasted billions and billions of dollars with nothing but broken promises, partially filled commitments and lawsuits to show for it.

'And by the way, I am not interested in sending $3.5 billion in federal funding that was allocated to this project back to Donald Trump.'

Trump has frequently clashed with California, which voted overwhelmingly against him in the 2016 election.

Last year he took aim at California's 'illegal and unconstitutional sanctuary policies', saying they 'release known dangerous criminals into communities'.

In January he blamed poor forest management for raging fires in the state, threatening to cut off federal funding.

Newsom blasted Trump in his inaugural address last month, saying he would 'offer an alternative to the corruption and incompetence in the White House.'Mito Kaur, 63, (pictured) picked up the mucor bacteria while being treated for flu-like symptoms at the 1billion Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow

A grandmother is fighting for her life after contracting a fungal lung infection at a Scots hospital where two other patients died during bacterial outbreaks linked to pigeon droppings.

Mito Kaur, 63, picked up the mucor bacteria while being treated for flu-like symptoms at the 1billion Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

The disclosure comes only weeks after it was revealed an unnamed ten-year-old boy and a 73-year-old woman died at the same hospital after contracting the cryptococcus infection, linked to pigeons nesting in the building's roof.

Since December last year, five people have died from hospital infections across Scotland's largest city.

The family of shop worker Mrs Kaur have now criticised hospital staff, claiming they only found out about her condition from reports of a fungal outbreak in a press release on the hospital's website last month.

But a spokesman for the hospital insisted the family were told four days before the press release was published. Mrs Kaur's daughter Raj, 41, told the Daily Record: 'I thought surely that can't be mum. Surely they would have told us, but they hadn't.

'When we asked the doctors, they said it was mucor and it was potentially fatal. We were in a complete state of shock. It was a terrible way to find out.' Mrs Kaur's case follows the announcement that a Holyrood committee is to examine hospital safety.

She was admitted to the hospital on January 7 with flu-like symptoms and pain in her chest. She was fitted with a tube into her windpipe when her breathing became laboured. The family claim they were only then told about the fungal infection.

By February 8, the grandmother-of-nine's family were told she would certainly die, but yesterday her son Bobby said she was conscious and responding to questions by blinking.

He said: 'We don't want a cover-up. We want to know exactly what is causing our mother to be so ill.'

The case comes after a ten-year-old boy and a 73-year-old woman died from an infection linked to pigeon droppings. Pictured: A filthy chair that was left in a hospital smoking area for three months

Pigeons roost on top of the neurology building at the 842million hospital in Glasgow today

Lawyer Aamer Anwar, representing the family, said: 'They appreciate professionals have tried desperately to save their mother's life but this hospital's management stands accused of failing in its duty of care and presiding over a culture of secrecy.'

An NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde spokesman said the family were told of the infection before the press release.

He added: 'We are sorry the family feel our communications have been inadequate. Our clinical team continue to offer support and explain the patient's clinical care.'

The Crown Office is currently investigating the deaths of the boy, 10, and woman, 73, at the flagship hospital.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs last month urged MSPs on Holyrood's Health Committee to investigate, claiming infections were spreading as though in 'Victorian times' at the facility.

The committee agreed to look into the matter and has now announced its investigation will be into 'the scale of health problems linked to the healthcare environment in Scotland'.

As part of its remit, the committee will explore what risks exist and how these should be reported and addressed.

It wants to hear the views of healthcare workers and others affected by these issues, with a formal evidence session to take place on March 19.

Scottish Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald, the committee convener, said: 'Like everyone across Scotland, I was deeply troubled by the nature of the deaths at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

'There are a number of ongoing investigations into what happened but this raises wider issues about the safety and control of healthcare environments in Scotland.

'The committee is determined to understand how standards are upheld and consider existing protocols in place.

'We are also going to look at the adequacy of systems and processes for reporting and controlling outbreaks when they do occur.

'This is why we want to hear from healthcare professionals from across Scotland.'

An investigation is currently underway into conditions at the 1billion flagship hospital in Glasgow

Responding to the development, Mr Briggs said: 'This is an essential investigation and I'm glad there's been little time wasted in getting it under way.

What is cryptococcus and who is at risk? Cryptococcus is a yeast-like fungal infection found in soil and bird faeces that can infect humans who breathe it in. A computer illustration of cryptococcus The infection causes symptoms similar to those faced by people with pneumonia, including coughing, fever and headaches. Cryptococcus, which normally affects people with weak immune systems, can even impact their mental wellbeing. But most people who become infected to do not get sick  and it cannot be spread between people. Pigeons can also transmit the fungal infection of histoplasmosis to humans, as well as bacteria such as E.coli and salmonella  and even a form of encephalitis which can cause the brain to inflame. But most people who are exposed to pigeons have no problems because they do not come in contact with large quantities of infected droppings. Advertisement

'The families of the victims deserve answers and so too do the patients, visitors and staff who use the hospital every day.

'That's exactly why the Scottish Conservatives demanded this probe take place.

'We need to know how this was allowed to happen and what guarantees are in place that such failings won't be repeated here or anywhere else in Scotland.'

The infection was believed to be from pigeon droppings found in a plant room on the roof of the QEUH.

Investigations have been taking place to establish how the bacteria entered a closed ventilation system.

Scottish Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has ordered a separate review of the design, build, handover and maintenance at the QEUH and how they contribute to 'effective infection control'.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'As the Health Secretary has set out in Parliament, an independent expert review will look at the hospital's design, commissioning, construction, handover and maintenance, including how these matters support effective infection prevention and any other areas considered necessary by those carrying out the review.

'The Health Secretary has also asked the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI) to fully inspect and review this incident and to make any further recommendations they consider appropriate.

'Any additional insights the Committee work provides will be welcome and considered carefully.'Alesha MacPhail was found naked lying face down in woodland near an abandoned hotel

A pathologist who examined the dead body of a six-year-old girl told today how there were 117 injuries on her body - and he 'had never seen anything like' them.

Alesha MacPhail, who was 3ft 9in tall, was found naked and face down in an area of woodland on the Isle of Bute.

Pathologist Dr John Williams, 38, said her injuries appeared to be consistent with pressure applied to her face, causing her death - and bleeding was evident.

He added: 'These injuries are indicative of severe, forceful inflicted penetration.'

When asked if the injuries could have been caused by penetration, Dr Williams said: 'They could have been, yes.'

A 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named due to his age, denies raping and murdering Alesha, plus child abduction and defeating the ends of justice.

Alesha was reported missing by her grandmother Angela King shortly before 6.30am on July 2, and the child's body was found at the site of an abandoned hotel just before 9am that day.

Also today, the court heard CCTV captured audio of the boy and his mother arguing on the night Alesha was abducted. He had a party that night, to celebrate the end of exams, his mother said, and had drunk a bottle of wine and Mad Dog 2020.

Alesha's mother Georgina Lochrane (centre) arrives at Glasgow High Court this morning

Alesha suffered injuries from 'smothering' which led to her death, the court heard. Pressure to her neck caused pin-point haemorrhages below her eyes.

Injuries to her spinal cord could have been caused be shaking or gripping her hair and shaking her head, the pathologist said.

Advocate depute Iain McSporran QC said not all of the injuries would be from 'blows inflicted'. Some could also be from the terrain when she was killed, the court heard.

The pathologist, employed by the University of Glasgow, said the girl's feet were uninjured, suggesting she was carried to the scene.

The court was told she had gone to bed the night before with no socks on.

Alesha's father Robert MacPhail (left) and pathologist Dr Edward John Williams (right) are pictures outside Glasgow High Court today

When the scientist told the court he had 'never seen anything like' the injuries she suffered, Mr McSporran paused to ask the jury if they were OK.

Dr Williams said the girl died from 'significant forceful pressure to neck and face'.

When asked if the injuries observed 'were something he had witnessed before' in his years of forensic experience, Dr Williams said: 'No'.

No illicit drugs were found in her body, which was initially examined in the wooded clearing where she was killed.

Further examination continued at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. Dr Williams said: 'It's extremely difficult to give an accurate time of death.'

Alesha's grandparents Angela King and Calum MacPhail are pictured outside the court today

Later, the mother of the accused told the court she was 'puzzled' about why he left the house in the middle of the night.

The woman, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, said her son was 'well-liked with a lot of friends' and was popular and did well in school.

He did parkour and lifted weights, the court was told.

The mother admitted she knew her son smoked cannabis and had done since the age of 14, and said she would see him having a joint behind the garage.

She told the court: 'Obviously I wasn't happy about it but if he wasn't doing that he would be going out with other kids getting drunk.

Alesha (left) with Mr MacPhail (centre) and his girlfriend Toni Louise McLachlan (right)

'I wasn't really that bothered. It wasn't like he was doing it all the time, he done it occasionally.'

She got CCTV installed because a family member with dementia was moving in, the court heard.

Detective Sergeant who visited boy's house gives evidence Detective Sergeant Stephen Hendry, 47, from Paisley special investigations unit, was called to give evidence. He went to the accused's house with another detective. DS Hendry told the court: 'The mother had contacted the police in the interest of eliminating her son from the investigation.' He said the woman had been drinking heavily in the early hours of July 3, and said she wanted to show police CCTV from two cameras - identifying her son leaving the house. The detective recalled that the mother called her son and he came downstairs and sat on the sofa. When asked what he had done that morning and why he took a shower, the teen said he had been smoking cannabis and liked to take a shower afterwards. DS Hendry said: 'He gave an explanation and cooperated.' The detective said the accused's only questions was would the DNA tests 'hurt'. Advertisement

The woman told the court she asked Toni McLachlan to stop selling her son cannabis, and that the 18-year-old laughed and said it was her boyfriend Robert MacPhail who was the dealer.

CCTV captured audio of the mother and son arguing on the night Alesha was abducted, at 12.22am.

He had a party that night, to celebrate the end of exams, the woman said, and the lad had drunk a bottle of wine and Mad Dog 2020.

The mother said she was trying to get him to call his sister, who had left the house with friends.

She said she went to bed, and was awoken the next day to hear shouting outside, as members of the public searched for Alesha.

The mother checked her back garden, then asked her son if he had heard anything. He told her 'no' and went back to sleep, the court heard.

His mother joined in the search party with her dog, and said she saw Mr MacPhail and Miss McLachlan looking 'very upset' as they came down from the woods.

After seeing a police cordon, the woman went into her house.

She told the court: 'I went in and told both the children I thought something had happened to the little girl.'

She checked her CCTV and saw the accused returning home after 3am - and until that point had not realised he had left the house.

Mr MacPhail with his daughter Alesha - found dead last July hours after being reported missing

She saw her son leave the house at 1.54am, dressed in dark trousers, black shoes and a black hoodie and return home at 3.35am.

The woman said he was without the 'dark fleece he had been originally wearing'.

He then had a shower 'making lots of noise', before leaving the house again wearing shorts and bare feet and carrying a T-shirt. He returned seven minutes later.

Watching the original footage again, the mother realised the boy had left walking in the direction of the town centre, and returned from the opposite direction.

She said she initially watched the footage to see if Alesha had passed by the house. She told the court: 'I was wondering why he went out.'

Mr Macphail, who has been attending the trial in Glasgow, is pictured with his daughter Alesha

The woman said she asked her son: 'I see you went out again last night', and said his feet were dirty.

She recalled him saying: 'I don't know, I must've been looking for my phone.'

Neighbour saw footage resembling somebody 'carrying something on their back' A neighbour with four CCTV cameras fitted to his home in the Point area of Ardbeg contacted police after spotting footage which resembled somebody 'carrying something on their back'. CCTV footage from 2:26am was shown to the jury. Alexander McLachlan, a welder, told the court: 'There was movement coming from the shelter, then somebody walking as if they were carrying something on their back.' Mr McLachlan, who is no relation to Toni McLachlan, said: 'There was movement coming from the shelter, then somebody walking as if they were carrying something on their back.' Once he knew a child was missing, he told police he presumed the person walking 'was carrying a little girl'. Mr McLachlan's sister-in-law, Sharie Strathie, lived next door to him. Giving evidence, she told the court that she thought she could see 'legs swinging' as the figure walked along the shoreline. She believed the person walking was carrying something with their legs hanging down. Advertisement

But when asked by advocate depute Iain McSporran QC if that 'puzzled' her, she replied: 'Yes.'

She told a friend about it who advised her to call the police.

The mother said: 'But I didn't think he had actually done anything, it was more to help the police and eliminate him from their inquiries.'

The accused's mother said she told her son 'whoever had done this to this little girl, there DNA would be all over her' - and refused to watch his trial continue.

Quizzed about why she discussed DNA with him, his mother believed it was appropriate to talk about it along with his uncle and a friend, before they sent him to bed.

On July 4, police returned to take him into custody where they checked him over for bruising, the woman said.

She said her son's name and face had become widespread within half an hour.

The mother was shown items found on the beach, and asked by Mr McSporran if they belonged to her son.

When shown a photo of a knife found on the beach across from the MacPhail family home, the woman said: 'It could be from my knife set.'

When asked when a knife was missing from the set in her kitchen, the accused's mother replied: 'I wouldn't know because the police took everything away.

Mr McSporran asked how a knife could have disappeared from her knife set, and the woman said: 'I wouldn't know.'

Photographs shown of the knife block showed it had space for five knives, but two were missing.

Police forensic team team at a house on the Isle of Bute outside Rothesay last July

When shown a black Nike hoodie, the woman said: 'I assume it could be his.'

And quizzed about the jogging bottoms and boxer shorts found on the beach, the woman told the court: 'They do look like his.'

Mr McSporran asked the mother if she knew how her son's clothes may have ended up on the beach. The woman said: 'I've not discussed that with him.'

She told the court she heard the boiler go on when her son came home so thought he was having a shower.

The teen returned home for the second time, at 3.52am after seven minutes out of the house. His mother said: 'He said he was out looking for weed.'

Clothing including men's boxer shorts and jogging bottoms were also found near the scene in Scotland, pictured

Mr McSporran asked if the boy had explained why he had taken a shower and taken his clothes off.

The mother said it 'didn't occur to her', and he had not given her an explanation other than that he was looking for his phone.

The brief told her that the boy had been out a third time - but the mother claimed she did not know about that.

She said: 'I had only watched the bit up until he was wearing his shorts.'

CCTV filmed at 3.58am showed the boy leaving the house with a torch, wearing shorts and a top as well as footwear.

He jumped over the wall and headed left, towards Ardbeg. At 4.07am he returned to his mother's home, still carrying a torch.

When asked by judge Lord Matthews if she wanted to watch the trial continue, she said: 'No, I think I won't.'

The trial continues.Tom Barrack, 71, tried to defend the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by saying 'atrocities in America are equal or worse than the atrocities in Saudi Arabia'

An ally of President Trump has defended the killing of Jamal Khashoggi by saying 'atrocities' in America are 'equal or worse' than those in Saudi Arabia.

Washington Post journalist Khashoggi, 59, was killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.

Tom Barrack, who oversaw the President's inaugural committee and hauled in $107 million for Trump's bash, made the comments while answering questions at the Milken Institute MENA Summit in Abu Dhabi.

Barrack made a joke before claiming the West does not understand the East and its 'rule of law' on Tuesday.

The 71-year-old, who is the chairman of Colony Capital, was asked whether Saudi Arabia's reputation had been damaged since Khashoggi was murdered, reports CNN

Barrack started his answer to CNN's Becky Anderson question by making a joke, saying: 'As long as you don't make me a guest at the Ritz.'

He then said: 'I believe that the problem with what's happened with the Khashoggi incident is the same problems of the West misunderstanding the East that's existed since Sykes--Picot.

'So the West is confused that the rule of law -- doesn't understand what the rule of law is in the Kingdom.'

The reference to 'the Ritz' appears to be in reference to the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh which was used as a prison during Saudi Arabia's crackdown on corruption.

During late 2017 dozens of the Kingdom's princes and senior officials were detained in the luxury hotel.

Barrack continued his answer saying: 'Whatever happened in Saudi Arabia, the atrocities in America are equal or worse than the atrocities in Saudi Arabia.'

Washington Post journalist Khashoggi, 59, pictured, was killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2

Barrack also praised the Kingdom's 'young brilliant new leader' during his speech, but did not mention the Crown Prince by name.

However Barrack later released a statement apologizing for not making it clear that he considered the 'killing reprehensible.'

He added: 'I feel strongly that the bad acts of a few should not be interpreted as the failure of an entire sovereign kingdom.'

At the 2016 Republican National Convention Barrack said that Trump is one of his 'closest friends.'

The Times has also reported that Barrack's company raised more than $7 billion in investments since Trump won the Republican nomination.

They claimed that 24 per cent of that money has come from either the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia.

Trump ally Barrack also praised the Kingdom's 'young brilliant new leader' during his speech in Abu Dhabi but did not mention Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, pictured, by name

Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford told CNN on Wednesday that Barrack's comments, which were made on Tuesday, were unacceptable.

He said: 'There is never a time that you can murder a journalist in a foreign country, dismember them and carry their body off and say that somehow that's justifiable.'

Sen. Bob Menendez said he's working with South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham to 'hold the administration's feet to the fire' over the murder of journalist.

They called the murder of Khashoggi 'barbaric beyond acceptance' and claimed that Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman had a 'hand' in his death.

Sen Menedez said: 'It couldn't have happened without his knowledge and approvals and we're going to take appropriate action.'

Washington Post journalist Khashoggi, 59, was killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

President Trump has been reluctant to criticize Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi's murder and refused to impose sanctions in November.

He's previously tweeted a defiant 'America First' and refused to retreat from a claim he made in a statement that there was no certainty bin Salman ordered the killing.

Trump took to Twitter in November tweeting 'America First' when he refused to impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia

America first: Trump defiantly said he would not blame Mohammed bin Salman for Jamal Khashoggi's murder because he did not want to 'break with Saudi Arabia.'

The President added that sanctioning him and the kingdom would cost American jobs claiming that Russia and China would sweep in and take Saudi investments.

He also denied he had any personal business interest in the Saudi economy, claiming that being president had cost him 'a fortune like you have never seen.'

Standing on the White House's South Lawn in November Trump explained: 'It is all about America first - it is America first.

'We're not going to give up hundreds of billions of dollars of orders and let Russia, China, everybody else have them,' he said.

At Thanksgiving Trump indicated that he wasn't convinced by the CIA's version of the events leading to Khashoggi's death.

He said: 'Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event  maybe he did and maybe he didn't!'A drug-driver who ploughed into a van, killing herself and her five-year-old son, may have had an epileptic fit at the wheel.

Rebecca Smith's BMW hit a white Mercedes Sprinter after veering onto the opposite side of the road.

Her son, Corey Rhodes, died shortly after arriving at hospital and the 24-year-old mother lost her fight for life the next day.

Rebecca Smith (left) may have suffered an epileptic fit, causing the crash that killed her and five-year-old son Corey (right)

Ms Smith had been diagnosed with epilepsy at 13. Her oldest son Kyle, who survived the smash, said she suffered a fit and had taken her hands off the steering wheel.

Witnesses also described her as having a fit at the scene of the crash, an inquest heard.

The mother-of-two was twice the legal drug-drive limit for cannabis, North Staffordshire Coroner's Court was told.

The fatal crash happened in Draycott on August 16 last year as she and her sons were heading to Poundland in Uttoxeter.

Witness Craig Barks told the hearing he saw the white van lift up in the air following the impact.

Tributes were laid at the scene of the crash after the 24-year-old's car ploughed into a van on the opposite side of the road on the A50 in Staffordshire

I was travelling along Uttoxeter Road towards the A50 in a Citroen Picasso,' he said in a statement. 'I was driving behind a Mercedes Sprinter at 35mph.

'I heard an almighty bang and I saw the van in front of me lift up about four or five feet from the surface.

'I got out of the van and approached a silver car and saw a woman sat in the driver's seat.

'She appeared to be fitting as her head was down to the left side and was twitching and she had foam in her mouth.'

Linda Woolliscroft was travelling in the same direction as Rebecca in her Land Rover when she heard a loud bang.

In a statement read out at the hearing, she said: 'I saw a car approaching from behind, it was a silver car that I thought was going to overtake me.

'Then I heard an almighty bang and I wasn't sure what had caused the bang. I looked across and noticed there had been a crash.

'I parked my car on a grass verge, put my hazards on and went over to try to help. I noticed it was the silver car that was behind me moments before.

James Rhodes told the inquest that he had been told his long-term girlfriend had a fit at the wheel

'I noticed there were two young children in the back of the car and the driver of the van was on the phone to the emergency services.'

She said she heard the driver of the van say 'I couldn't stop' during the call.

'I went over to the BMW and one man was trying to assess those in the car,' she added. 'I noticed the young boys in the back and they started CPR on Corey.'

The inquest was told it is not known whether Rebecca suffered a fit before the crash or as a result of the accident.

Corey Rhodes was rushed to hospital but he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the Royal Stoke University Hospital.

Rebecca, from Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, lost her fight for life after undergoing emergency surgery in hospital a day later. Six-year-old Kyle Rhodes survived after being airlifted to Sheffield Children's Hospital.

Rebecca's long-term partner James Rhodes told the court that when he visited Kyle he told him Rebecca had suffered a fit.

He said: 'As soon as I walked through the door, the first thing he said to me was "Mum's had a fit" and that she had no hands on the steering wheel. He would have seen Becky having fits before and he knows what one is.'

James added: 'She started to suffer some more regular fits about eight months before she died in the early part of last year.

'When I was at work the kids would tell me she had a fit and they were around once every three months. On the one occasion she had three fits in one day.

'Her medication was increased and she still had fits. She took her medication but sometimes she'd miss it.

'Becky didn't use any illegal drugs apart from having around three cannabis cigarettes a night when the kids had gone to bed.

'Corey was in reception and was a happy-go-lucky child. Kyle would always wear his seat belt, but Corey from time to time would put part of the belt behind his neck.

'Corey and Kyle could be a distraction in the car if they were fighting as five and six-year-old brothers do.'

Collision investigator PC Roger Wetton said there was no evidence that Rebecca had informed the DVLA about her epilpesy.

PC Wetton said: 'The BMW drove along the central hatch marks into the lane of the Mercedes. The van driver didn't see it as a problem until he had insufficient time to.

'A collision occurred between the front of both vehicles, both rotated in an anti-clockwise direction. Witnesses say the driver appeared to be having a fit.

'Her condition was not disclosed to the DVLA, which would have resulted in her licence being removed.'

PC Wetton said that both Kyle and Corey had not been safely secured in child booster seats.

He said: 'Neither child had a hard seat and Corey was not wearing his seatbelt properly which could have protected him from hitting the rear of the front seat.'

After the tragedy Mr Rhodes wrote on Facebook: 'I'm so broken and don't know what I'm going to do without these two in my life. I would like to thank everyone for all the kind messages means a lot to me.'

He added: 'To people that do not know yet, today has been the worst day of my life. I have had to say goodbye to my little man Corey, the most hardest thing any dad should go through.

'My whole world has fallen apart and I am broken. All I can say is rest in peace my little angel. Look over us now mate, daddy loves you so much.'

Assistant Coroner for North Staffordshire David James recorded that both Rebecca and Corey died from multiple injuries as a result of a road traffic collision.A Colombian paedophile who abused hundreds of children in a year and sold footage of the abuse online has been jailed for life.

Juan Carlos Sanchez Latorre was dubbed the 'Big Bad Wolf' because it was the alias he used online to share images and videos of abuse.

The 37-year-old had been on the run for five years until he was arrested in Venezuela with a fake identity card a year ago.

Sanchez Latorre was extradited back to Colombia to face trial where he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing 276 boys and girls, all 14 years old or under.

Juan Carlos Sanchez Latorre flanked by an Interpol agent and a Colombian police officer after his arrest and extradition back to Colombia

The period of abuse took place over 12 months between 2007 and 2008, Colombian prosecutors stated.

Prosecutors also said he approached his victims online and met them at shopping centres, offering them money and sweets in exchange for sex, before abusing them at his home.

Sanchez Latorre raped his victims then photographed and recorded them to sell the images online outside Colombia, newspaper El Heraldo, which is based in the city of Barranquilla, reports.

The Colombian Prosecutor's Office said in a statement that 'the attacks were photographed or recorded on video and the material shared on social networks on the Internet with users from other countries'.

The authorities' confirmed that the ages of the abused children ranged from eight to 14 years old, with one of his later victims being a 14-month-old baby, according to local media.

Paedophile Juan Carlos Sanchez Latorre arriving in Columbia last year before he was jailed yesterday for 60 years for abusing 276 children

Sanchez Latorre, who used the name 'Lobo Feroz' online, went on the run for five years before pleading guilty to abusing hundreds of children

He went by the name 'Lobo Feroz' online - a fictional character in several of Aesop's Fables and Grimms' Fairy Tales.

Sanchez Latorre was also being hunted by Interpol for sharing around 1,450 indecent photographs of children.

Sanchez Latorre was sentenced to 60 years in prison at a court in the city of Barranquilla, the Colombian Prosecutor's Office said on Twitter yesterday.

Prosecutors described his crimes as, 'several of the most gruesome cases against children...that have been known in the last decade in the country'.

The authorities believe Sanchez Latorre committed other crimes in Venezuela before being finally arrested in the city of Maracaibo and extradited.

His neighbours said they had never suspected he was a dangerous paedophile, BBC Mundo reports.A hooded and masked gunman in blue surgical gloves executed a man at point blank range as he was climbing into an Uber in Queens on Tuesday evening.

The victim, 31-year-old Xin Gu, had left the Shangrila Karaoke bar on Fowler Street in Flushing just after 2.30am.

Footage from CCTV camera's shows an Uber pulling over to let Gu in when man, seemingly a passerby, runs towards him from behind and pulls out a gun.

The gunman was seen on CCTV walking down the street moments before he executed Xi Gu on Fowler Street in Flushing just after 2.30am

The unidentified gunman shot Gu once in the back of the head, police sources told the New York Post.

When Gu hit the ground, the man stood over him shot him multiple times as the Uber driver sped off.

Following the incident, the gunman fled and reportedly climbed into a white Honda sedan.

Gu (left) was climbing into an Uber after leaving a karaoke bar in Queens on Tuesday when he was shot multiple times

The masked and hooded shooter (right) appeared to be just passing but approached 31-year-old Gu from behind and shot him first in the head and then several times in the body

Gu, from Queens, was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Queens, where he was pronounced dead.

Police are still looking for the gunman and have appealed for information.

The motive remains unclear but at this stage police believe Gu was targeted, NBC New York reported.

The gunman's motive remains unclear but police do not believe that it was an attempted robbery at this stageThis is the horrifying moment a base jumper plunges 180ft and nearly dies after his parachute fails to open.

The footage of the death-defying stunt at St Margaret's-at-Cliffe in Kent was posted online by an enthusiast of the extreme sport.

With the bodycam attached to him, the base jumper looks over the edge, revealing just how far the fall is.

The base jumper, whose name is unknown, is seen peering over the edge at St Margaret's-at-Cliffe in Kent

The base jumper throws himself off the edge of the cliff, and immediately knows something is wrong

As soon as he jumps off the edge, he is heard saying 'f***' and hurtles towards the ground.

Luckily the parachute opens at the last second, helping to break his fall and save his life.

He is heard writhing around in agony and then the footage cuts out.

The coastguard saw the injured man and he was rushed to King's College Hospital in London.

A full body CT scans revealed the man broke his pelvis and suffered four broken Thorasic vertabrae with a three month recovery period.A father was a passenger in a stolen car which hit and killed his 12-year-old daughter and was allegedly driven by his cousin who has appeared in court.

Abbie McLaren was knocked down on The Loaning in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, at around 4.15pm on Tuesday shortly after getting off a bus.

Martin McGuire, 38, appeared in Hamilton Sheriff Court today charged with causing the death of Abbie by dangerous driving.

Abbie, from Motherwell, (left) was knocked down at around 4.30pm on Tuesday.

Devastated friends and family today laid flowers at the spot Abbie McLaren was mown down by a car in which her own father was a passenger

Her father John, got out of the car straight after the crash and ran over to the victim to try and help, before realising in horror who it was. 'He just stood there completely frozen, he couldn't move or say a thing,' according to a witness.

Witnesses and paramedics battled to save her at the scene but she died at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow.

McGuire faces a total of five charges including causing death by dangerous driving, causing death while having no insurance, and driving with no licence.

He faces a further charge of driving with no insurance and taking a car without consent.

Abbie, from Motherwell, (left) was knocked down at around 4.30pm on Tuesday. Her father John (right), got out of the car straight after the crash and ran over to the victim to try and help, before realising in horror who it was.

McGuire made no plea and was remanded by Sheriff Alasdair MacFadyen.

He is expected to make a further court appearance next week.

Dalziel High School pupil Abbie was rushed to the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow but could not be saved.

CCTV footage is believed to have captured the horror accident that happened around 4.15pm on Tuesday.

One witness, speaking to the Daily Record, said Mr McLaren was in the car with a male driver, who tried to get medical help.

'The driver ran back up to where it all happened and just kept shouting, 'Does anyone know CPR?'' he said.

Abbies devastated family had rushed to hospital to support her devastated mum, Ashley Kennedy, 29.

She leaves behind four siblings, cousins, and her parents.

Devastated family and friends today laid dozens of items including flowers, balloons and teddy bears at the scene of the crash this afternoon.

Miss Kennedy wept as she read the messages at the shrine which has seen dozens of items left.

In a note, Abbies Auntie Linda wrote: My precious niece Abbie, you are one of a kind, such a special caring girl.

You will be missed always, sleep tight, my special angel.

Another note said: To our wee cousin Abbie. Miss you loads. Until we meet again. Ninaleigh, Nicole, Chelsea.

A heartfelt note from Abbies best friend Eoin said: I hope you have fun up there dancing and being happy.

You were the best friend I could have asked for.

You lit up every room you were in. We will all miss you. I will miss you.

Fly high angel. Taken too soon.

Another note on a serenity bouquet said: Hello my little angel its your big cousin Amber.

You know being the oldest cousin it was my place to look after you all and I cannot tell you how sorry I am to not have been there to protect you.

The emotional tributes today (pictured) come as the local community started a petition to improve road safety around where the crash happened

A GoFundMe page to raise money for Abbies family has raised more than 3000 as heartbroken friends and relatives took to social media to pay tribute.

Other offers of help include a charity carwash being held by a company in nearby Bellshill and an offer of help by a businessman who witnessed the accident aftermath.

Brian Irving wrote: My deepest sympathys to all your family at this sad time.

I own the butchers in the Loaning and I was working when Abbie was being attended by the paramedics.

If theres anything I can do to help please let me know. I will gladly supply a buffet free of charge after any service you may be having or I can make sandwiches or cakes should you need them for any family visiting.. Just let me know. Sending you all my love.

Moving messages in memory of Abbie left by a friend (left) and one of her cousins (right)

This message read: 'Good night and God bless to our beautiful cousin. Will miss you loads'

Robert Birch, Rector of Dalziel High School which Abbie attended said: She was a very popular, happy and talented girl who will be deeply missed by everyone at the school and her family is very much in all our thoughts.

Abbies former primary school, Glencairn in Motherwell, released balloons in her memory.

Local MP Marion Fellows said she was raising concerns over traffic problems in the area with North Lanarkshire Council.

A council spokesman said Following a tragedy such as this, it is understandable that people will raise concerns about road safety.

The councils immediate focus is on supporting pupils, staff and the wider community who are deeply affected by this appalling tragedy and the condolences from everyone at the council are with Abbies family and friends.

We will work with Police Scotland throughout their investigation into the circumstances and will take appropriate action based on their findings.

Against that backdrop and in light of ongoing criminal proceedings, it is entirely inappropriate to speculate on the causes and circumstances of Abbies death.

Police are appealing to any witnesses to the crash, who have not already spoken to the police, to come forward.

If you have information contact the Road Policing Department in Motherwell on 101 , quoting reference number 2471 of February, 12 2019.

Police closed the road near Abbie's home in Motherwell where she was hit on TuesdayDanielle Perrett, pictured outside Ipswich Crown Court in January 2018, will have her applications for permission to appeal against conviction in London today

A 'world-famous' harpist jailed for sexually abusing a schoolboy in the 1980s has lost an appeal which would have allowed her to challenge her conviction.

Danielle Perrett, who has performed for the Queen and several prime ministers, was denied at the Court of Appeal in London today.

Perrett, 59, was handed a prison term of four years and nine months in February last year.

Her application to have her jail term cut was also turned away by appeal judges.

Perrett was sentenced alongside her ex-fiance Richard Barton-Wood, 68, for separately indecently assaulting the boy while he was in his early teens.

They both denied all charges but were convicted following a four-week trial at Ipswich Crown Court in Suffolk.

Perrett, from Alpheton, Suffolk, was found guilty by a jury of six counts of indecent assault.

Barton-Wood, from Wymondham, Norfolk, was found guilty of seven counts of indecent assault and of one count of attempted indecent assault.

He was also sentenced to four years and nine months.

Their victim, now an adult, told jurors that Barton-Wood had worked as a substitute teacher at his school.

He said Barton-Wood sexually assaulted him on sailing and camping trips, and that on separate occasions Perrett took his virginity and performed sex acts on him.

Danielle Perrett, who has performed for the Queen and several prime ministers, has been denied permission to challenge both her conviction and sentence at the Court of Appeal

Perrett assaulted him after being introduced to him by Barton-Wood who took him to watch her play in a hotel recital in 1984.

Judge Rupert Overbury told Perrett and Barton-Wood when sentencing them last year said both had been 'pillars of the community' before their 'dirty secret' was revealed.

He said: 'One of you a teacher and dedicated employee of the museums service who gave time to his community, the other a world-famous harpist with a reputation for kindness and integrity.

'What none of those friends, colleagues and relatives knew was that each of you had a darker side to your character, a side that manifested itself in the systematic abuse of a teenage boy.'

Perrett, from Alpheton, Suffolk, (pictured right, outside Ipswich Crown Court in January 2018) was found guilty by a jury of six counts of indecent assault. Barton-Wood (pictured left outside Ipswich Crown Court in January 2018), from Wymondham, Norfolk, was found guilty of seven counts of indecent assault and of one count of attempted indecent assault

He added: 'I dare say that each of you has, over the last 30 years, hoped that this dirty secret would remain hidden.

'I dare say that as the trial of historic sexual allegations has become more common that you hoped even more that that secret would not be revealed.

'I have no doubt that when [he] contacted each of you some years later that you suspected it would only be a matter of time before your criminal activities came home to roost. '

Perrett had her applications for permission to appeal against conviction and sentence heard by Lord Justice Coulson, Mrs Justice Cutts and Judge Paul Thomas QC.Amazon has paid nothing in federal income taxes for the second year in a row despite making a profit of more than $11billion, it has emerged.

The delivery giant doubled its profits in 2018 but actually received a tax rebate of $129million, a rate of minus one per cent.

In last year's filing Amazon similarly paid no corporate income taxes on its $5.6billion earnings.

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy revealed the negative tax rate was the result of unspecified 'tax credits' and other benefits.

Amazon has paid nothing in federal income taxes for the second year in a row despite making a profit of more than $11billion, it has emerged (stock photo)

Which major U.S. companies have paid little or no tax? The federal corporate income tax rate is 21 per cent, but the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has identified a number of leading companies who pay far less, including: Alphabet - Google's parent company paid 12.3 per cent in the first three quarters of 2018, a large reduction from the previous year Amazon - Has paid no federal corporate income taxes for the second year in a row Apple - Effective tax rate dropped from 24 per cent to 14 per cent in 2018 Facebook - The institute said the social media giant had paid less than half the corporate tax rate over eight years Lockheed Martin - The defense company reportedly paid a corporate tax rate of 12.9 per cent last year Netflix - The same think tank said the streaming service had paid no U.S. income taxes last year Advertisement

Amazon has also won tax incentives to set up its two new headquarters in Virginia and New York in what the institute called further 'lucrative packages'.

Donald Trump's 2017 tax cut, which reduced the corporate tax rate from 35 per cent to 21 per cent, had 'failed to broaden the tax base', the think tank said.

The institute said: 'Last week Amazons leadership ran a gauntlet of public opposition in New York over the scope of the tax giveaways the company has been promised.

'But allies in Congress have, so far, shown little interest in answering the tough questions about why their new corporate tax law cant lay a glove on one of the most valuable and profitable corporations in the world.

'And while the president himself has criticized Amazon for its tax avoidance in the past, the administration has so far displayed no awareness that its own tax package appears to have made the companys corporate tax avoidance even more rampant than before.'

It comes amid an ongoing row between Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and the publishers of the National Enquirer, who threatened to publish nude pictures of him.

Amazon's owner Jeff Bezos (pictured in Washington last year) has been at the center of a bizarre row with the National Enquirer

The Donald Trump-supporting magazine had revealed Bezos's relationship with TV host Lauren Sanchez, which brought the billionaire's marriage to an end.

Bezos hired a private investigator to find out how and why the Enquirer had published the information, suspecting political motivations.

He then published a letter from AMI in which they threatened to expose the intimate photos if Bezos did not back down.

AMI insisted they had conducted 'good faith' negotiations with Bezos, the world's richest man.

Earlier this month it was reported that Netflix had paid no federal income taxes either, according to the institute.Vegan activists have begun performing 'last rites' ceremonies for incoming cows at an abattoir run by a major meat processing company.

Leicestershire Animal Save are hosting monthly roadside vigils in Melton Mowbray in which they tell the cattle 'we love you, we are sorry', before the animals are taken away for slaughter at the plant run by the Foyle Food Group.

The activists have held 35 ceremonies since founding the group in 2015, and continue to protest the slaughter by holding signs which say 'your taste=their death'.

Vegan activists have begun performing 'last rites' ceremonies for incoming cows at an abattoir run by a major meat processing company. Dina Aherne is pictured whispering to cattle 'we love you, we are sorry' moments before they are taken away for slaughter in Melton Mowbray

Leicestershire Animal Save are hosting monthly roadside vigils in which they tell the cattle 'we love you, we are sorry', before the animals are taken away for slaughter at the Foyle Food Group run plant. Ms Aherne said her group has an understanding with abattoir bosses

Group founder Dina Aherne said her group has an understanding with abattoir bosses who allow them to comfort the animals, held inside trailers, for two minutes before they are transported to the slaughterhouse.

Ms Aherne, a 28-year-old former solicitor from Leicester, said: 'We want to make the cows feel at ease every time because they are living and sacred beings.

'Cows have a living soul and conscience. We really want to help comfort them. We have to arrange and give two weeks notice for when we are going to be on site.

Group found Dina Aherne (pictured left) said her group has an understanding with abattoir bosses who allow them to comfort the animals, held inside trailers, for two minutes before they are transported to the slaughterhouse (image from the abattoir pictured right)

'When we arrive usually at about 8am, we gather outside the slaughterhouse on days when the abattoir is operational for about three hours.

'We then stop each of the trucks and are given two minutes to say the last goodbye's before they go and get a bolt gun put through their head.

'We whisper phrases to them like "we're sorry", "we see you" and "I love you"'.

Ms Aherne said she believes peaceful protests are the best way to spread a positive message about veganism and animal welfare.

The activists have held 35 ceremonies since founding the group in 2015, and continue to protest the slaughter by holding signs which say 'your taste=their death (a cow being taken to slaughter)

Ms Aherne, who formed Leicestershire Animal Save, said: 'I am following my heart and these cows deserve compassion and respect just like any other human being' (a cow before it is taken to slaughter at the Melton Mowbray abattoir)

She added: 'Any social movements have different kinds of action and a lot of vegan groups resort to violence.

'But we condemn this and the best way is to peacefully spread the message.

'I am following my heart and these cows deserve compassion and respect just like any other human being.'

Dr Toni Shepard, director of animal welfare campaign group Animal Equality UK, said: 'The movement have done a lot to draw public attention and are very good that telling people that animals are dying for meat.

Foyle Food Group has nine sites across the UK where they slaughter and debone more than 7,500 cattle each week across its processing plants (cow being ferried for slaughter)

The group stood in silence at the gates of St Werburghs City Farm in Bristol and offered vegan mince pies to passers-by next to a sign which read: 'They wanted to live' (cow being ferried for slaughter)

'It can be certainly stressful for the individuals for the people doing it but for the animals themselves, it depends on how it has done as any loud noises could frighten the animals.'

Foyle Food Group has nine sites across the UK where they slaughter and debone more than 7,500 cattle each week across its processing plants.

Another group of vegans held a candlelit vigil outside a farm to mourn nine turkeys which had been slaughtered for Christmas dinner in Bristol.

The group stood in silence at the gates of St Werburghs City Farm in Bristol and offered vegan mince pies to passers-by next to a sign which read: 'They wanted to live'.

MailOnline has contacted the Foyle Food Group for commentTV historian David Starkey has branded Prince Harry's ex-girlfriends 'Eurotrash'.

The presenter, 74, defended Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, 37, claiming she 'displays poise, elegance and confidence'.

He said she is 'so much better' than his previous girlfriends, speaking at the unveiling of a Mary Queen of Scots portrait in Kent.

He told reporters at Hever Castle: 'I think when you look, certainly, at the recent history of the monarchy, she is so exotic, so strange.

'On the other hand, she is so much better than Harry probably would have got if you look at his previous girlfriends. They're Eurotrash.

'She displays poise, elegance, confidence and a degree of assurance, which at the same time is not overwhelming.

'I think she could hardly have done better and it's perfectly clear that the Queen thinks the same.'

David Starkey claimed Prince Harry's ex-girlfriends are 'Eurotrash' at the unveiling of a new portrait of Mary Queen of Scots at Hever Castle in Kent last week

Prince Harry, 34, has a long list of former flames, including socialites Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas.

Ms Davy moved to the UK after going to school in Zimbabwe and Ms Bonas was born and raised in Britain.

He has also been linked to celebrities Caroline Flack, Mollie King and Ellie Goulding.

Mr Starkey, 74, defended Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, 37 (pictured at the Natural History Museum in London this week) claiming she 'displays poise, elegance and confidence'

Mr Starkey made the comments at the unveiling of a rare portrait of Mary Queen of Scots last Friday.

It coincided with the release of the hit film Mary Queen of Scots starring actress Saoirse Ronan in the title role.

Mr Starkey said the modern monarchy is very different from Mary's time because 'commoners' like Meghan and Kate Middleton would never had stood a chance of becoming Queen.

He added that Mary and Meghan are as different as two people could be.

The unveiling of the portrait marked 432 years to the day since the Scottish monarch died in 1587.

Discovered in France, it is believed to have come from the studio of Renaissance miniature portrait painter Francois Clouet but was only recently identified as Mary.

Originally thought to date back to the 17th century, scientific examination of the oak panel on which the portrait is painted revealed it was created after 1547, while analysis of the style confirmed it was created in the mid-16th century.

It shows a teenage Mary, circa 1560, thought to be in mourning dress after the death of her father-in-law, mother and husband within 18 months of each other.

Starkey said of the piece of art: 'This elegant portrait shows the 19-year-old Mary, as she was on her return to Scotland at the beginning of an extraordinary adventure which turned two kingdoms upside down and ended in her own execution at Fotheringhay 26 years later.'

Hever Castle - the childhood home of Anne Boleyn - bought the painting and plans to display it permanently.

Prince Harry, 34, has a long list of former flames, including socialites Chelsy Davy (pictured right) and Cressida Bonas (left)

The portrait event also saw Mr Starkey slam institutions like the National Trust, universities and museums for 'imposing woke values' on the past.

He said of the 'dangers of rewriting history: 'The danger is to pretend that women had a role they didn't or to pretend that the country was half black or something like this.

Mr Starkey made the comments at an unveiling of a rare portrait (pictured) of Mary Queen of Scots last week

'What we're doing now is to sort of make the past look like the present to legitimate it.

'That's very dangerous. And it's, generally speaking, bad history, bad scholarship.

'And I think it deprives the past of its excitement. The excitement of the past is not that it's the same but that it's different.'

The National Trust was criticised by visitors last year for covering up paintings and sculptures of men at a Northumberland home as part of a celebration of the role of women.

And in 2017, it reversed a decision banning volunteers from public facing duties if they refused to wear a gay pride badge at a Norfolk stately home, following an outcry.

Tudor historian Dr Starkey, famous for his Monarchy series on Channel 4, described it as 'profoundly patronising' and 'woke' to rewrite history as some might like it to have been.

He said: 'The real problem is that the fashion from the early 21st century has got absolutely nothing to do with the different values of the past.

'The great challenge of history isn't to impose your own 'woke' values on the past. It's to recognise that they had different values.

Prince Harry has also been linked to TV presenter Caroline Flack (pictured left) and The Saturdays singer Mollie King (right)

Singer Ellie Goulding (pictured at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles last week) is another celebrity Harry has been romantically linked to

'That's the only possible reason for studying history - that you engage in a kind of time tourism.

'And in just the same way now, because we're woke, we recognise that other cultures have got their own values. You need to recognise that our own past has its own values.

'It seems to be profoundly patronising and 'woke' to try and impose your values on the past.'Lauren Wainwright, 32, is pictured arriving at Preston Crown Court in Lancashire yesterday

A trainee benefits clerk has been jailed for a year after being arrested at her desk for stealing more than 41,000 meant for welfare claimants.

Lauren Wainwright, 32, of Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire, stole the money to help fund her airport worker husband's online gambling habit.

The 18,000-a-year administrator had claimed how other juniors in her office at the Department for Work and Pensions had been laughing about how 'easy' it was to take the money.

She claimed on her LinkedIn profile that she was being fast tracked as a future civil service boss - but the DWP later told MailOnline this was not true and she was only a case worker at a low pay grade.

Over one year, the mother-of-one used the National Insurance numbers of claimants to set up nine bank accounts in her own name before secretly paying herself the benefit money.

Wainwright carried out 54 fraudulent transactions before being found out when suspicions were raised over a payment of 331 she processed from a DWP account.

She was arrested at her desk in June last year and confessed, saying: 'All the other trainees laughed about how easy it was, and I was the idiot that tried it.'

Wainwright later said her husband had developed a gambling addiction while working shifts at Manchester Airport and claimed she need the cash because he had squandered all their money for childcare for her son and his daughter playing online fruit machines.

She now faces a proceeds of crime hearing which will decide how much she will pay back of of the 41,466.50 she stole.

Wainwright was sentenced to 12 months of imprisonment at Preston Crown Court (file image)

At Preston Crown Court, Wainwright wept uncontrollably as she admitted to fraud by abuse of position and was sentenced to 12 months of imprisonment.

She will be freed when her stepson starts his first year in preschool.

The court heard Wainwright had been appointed to her post in 2017 and worked in the Universal Credit department but investigations began following concerns about a payment she processed on one of the DWP accounts.

Rosalind Emsley-Smith, prosecuting, said 'Further enquires unveiled in total 54 separate payments had been made.

'The defendant had utilised the National Insurance numbers of 12 accounts to obtain Universal Credit, and these were paid into nine separate bank accounts held by this defendant, seven of which were opened after the defendant started her employment at the DWP.

'Five of these were used for purposes of receiving the fraudulent deposit. The offending persisted for a period of 12 months, and the total value taken was 41,466.50.

'The defendant was arrested at her place of work and when she was searched, bank cards related to the bank accounts were found on her person. There was also a list of the total names of Universal Credit claimants.'

'She made full admissions and she spoke of what she had done. She provided an explanation as to the motivation behind the offending and she explained it was because of financial difficulties. She indicated nobody but her knew what she had done.'

In mitigation, defence lawyer Daniel Prowse said: 'There was a breach of trust over the course of a year but whilst I accept the number of bank accounts suggest more of a sophisticated element, they were all in her name.

The Department for Work and Pensions is based at Caxton House in Westminster (pictured)

'There was no attempt to disguise them and they would have been linked back to her. They were all held by her, and if there was an investigation, as there was, it would have linked back to her very quickly.

'At the time Mrs Wainwright desperately wanted her marriage to work for the sake of their young son and her husbands daughter. Her parents weren't in the area and she had no support in the area other than her husband.

'She worked and her husband worked. There should have been enough money coming in to support their lifestyle, but their lifestyle wasn't exemplary for these two working people.

'Her husband had a gambling addiction. The money that should have been coming in for childcare was spent. He didn't speak of his problems, he denied these problems and wasn't admitting to himself the scale of the problems, and was keeping from her where this money was going.

'This reality led to the marriage being in difficulty, and she explained to me the pressure she felt as she wrote a cheque for the childcare and the worry she would feel if it bounced back.

'She was someone who was in a position of responsibility, in a marriage that was getting worse, she found herself desperate for money, so she began to steal it.

'There were no posh holidays abroad or fancy cars, it was there being used to make sure that the family could go on. She knew it was unacceptable, but because of his gambling, she had no choice other than to proceed with what she was doing.

'Significant steps were taken that would either make or break the relationship and she carried on.

'He has had counselling which has assisted him. She is now in charge of all the finances and she monitors their accounts. The DWP helps to make sure people get supportive housing and there is no suggestion that these people were impacted by this offending.

'The DWP bears the loss from the defendant. The money will be returned to that same public purse from which she took.

'She is the primary carer for her son. Her husband has to work, he works at Manchester Airport in shift patterns. The reality is, he is not in the position to care for their son.

'As a consequence of the childcare cultivated by her, if she is sent to immediate custody for a period of time, this will result in her husband having to stop working at his job to care for their child.'

Sentencing, Judge Graham Knowles QC said: 'You got a job as a civil servant but after four months of starting the job, you were to take 800 per week on 54 separate occasions in different transactions over a 12 month period.

'You dispensed this money into nine different bank accounts during your employment - and it's true all of these accounts were in your name.

'You transferred the money by using 12 different National Insurance numbers which belonged to claimants known to you in your work as you administered Universal Credit at the Department of Work and Pensions.

'You had the view that your fellow trainees laughed about how easy it was and you said you were the idiot that did it. You admitted you committed that offence.

'In your interview you said both you and your husband had debt, and that he had a gambling addiction. You admitted you just wanted to take his money worries away to make him happy and take his worries away, as when he was unhappy everyone was unhappy.

'You wanted your family and your husband to have a nice lifestyle but there is no excuse or explanation for your offending. There was a combination of gambling and secrecy which led to the problems in your marriage.

'What you did was more serious because of the cost to the public. That money is funded by taxation from people who are paid for the work they have done.

'These are people in family housing like that of your own family, who run their houses and live off their own means and they often lose their jobs and their homes and their stability and status, and suffer in their family lives.

'You stated in your letter to me that you didn't see any alternative to dealing with your finances. You say you have begun to speak to your husband about his gambling and he told you he is dealing with it.

'But the offending was persistent and repeated and via the abuse of your position as a civil servant administering Universal Credit.'

After the case, a DWP spokesman said: 'We have zero-tolerance towards fraud. Any suspected cases are investigated by specialist staff who will refer all evidence immediately to the police. Employees are subject to disciplinary action and dismissed where wrongdoing is proven.'A former employee at a popular tourist attraction has escaped a conviction, despite admitting to sexual assaulting a young female co-worker.

On Thursday, Mark William Burnett, 43, refused to comment to waiting media and offered no apology to the victim as he left Ballarat Magistrates Court in Victoria, where he pleaded guilty to grabbing a colleague's breasts without consent.

The incident happened at Sovereign Hill in 2016, while the woman aged in her 20s was looking at costumes to change into at the outdoor museum's Victoria Theatre.

Sporting a bandage on his arm, Mark William Burnett had no message for the former co-worker he sexually assaulted in 2016 as he left Ballarat Magistrates Court on Thursday

A prosecutor told the court the woman felt scared and intimidated afterwards.

The incident led to Burnett being stood down on full pay, but his employment was terminated last November following an internal workplace investigation, Nine News reported.

'The accused [came] towards her with his hands up, and he proceeded to grab the victim's breasts and squeeze,'police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Lisa Schoemaker told the court.

The young woman declined to give a victim impact statement.

Burnett was stood down and eventually fired after grabbing the breasts of a young female co-worker without consent. The woman felt scared and intimidated by him following the incident

The court heard Burnett had worked at the nationally acclaimed tourist attraction since 2009 and was an actor in the 19th century style open air museum.

Defence lawyer Graham Hills said his client's job as a 'dramatic interpreter' meant he often used 'a level of banter that may have been appropriate in the 1950s that by modern standards is considered gaudy in some ways'.

The court was also told Burnett's reputation in the community has been tarnished by media reports of the incident, despite having no prior convictions.

The incident happened at Sovereign Hill (pictured), a nationally acclaimed tourist attraction

'There is nowhere for him to hide in Ballarat,' his lawyer said.

'The impact of the media coverage is profound, because there is great penetration into the Ballarat community'.

Burnett was placed on a good behaviour bond and had his case adjourned for six months.

Burnett's lawyer said his (pictured left) reputation in the Ballarat community has been tarnished by media reports of the sexual assault two years ago

He was also ordered to pay $400 to Theatre Safe Australia.

Magistrate Ross Maxted acknowledged Burnett's unblemished past and hoped the sentence would act as a therapeutic lesson.

Opened in 1970, Sovereign Hill depicts Ballarat's first ten years after the first discovery of gold in 1851.A Missing Banksy that disappeared two-and-a-half years ago has reappeared after a 'hooded figure' was seen repainting it.

People in Liverpool have reported that Love Plane is back after the mysterious artist's piece was taken down in 2016.

The original graffiti, completed in 2011, was removed for use in a street art gallery that never materialised. But the piece 'went missing'.

On Wednesday Dean Paton, who founded Big Heritage which now looks after the city's Western Approaches Museum, called the Liverpool Echo to say it looked as though Banksy had returned to the site.

This piece reappeared at the site yesterday after a hooded figure was spotted paining it on the wall in Liverpool

He reported that a 'hooded figure' was seen repainting the wall as excited crowds watched nearby.

The new piece shows the Love Plane placed inside the hole left when the last piece was removed. A banner bearing the words 'I'm Back' trails behind the plane.

It has not yet been confirmed that the new take is an official Banksy, an artist famed for the fact that fans don't know his true identity.

The graffiti artist has confirmed other pieces are his by posting pictures of them on social media.

The plane appears at the end of the heart-shaped loop just as the original Banksy painting did before it was removed in 2016

When the original was taken away in 2016, Liverpudlians protested at developers who wanted to place it in a street art gallery.

One left a message on the plaque left in its place at the time, writing: 'Dear robbing b*******, street art is not meant to be put in a museum.

'It's here for everyone to enjoy, not for the elite, not for an entrance fee. Lots of love us artists.'

This isn't the first time a new painting has appeared at the site. In 2017 somebody sprayed an apparent tribute to the original on the same wall.

The original (pictured) was removed in 2016 and replaced with a plaque but it went missing

Unlike the original black design, this one was red and had a trail of steam looping behind it.

The red plane appeared next to the plaque, which read: 'Dear Liverpool, the Banksy Love Plane artwork has been removed. It is being restored and will return to Liverpool to feature in your new street art museum.'

At the time it was removed, Twitter user @Liverpool1207 said: 'Word is Banksy himself removed the love plane himself at 6:30 this morning.'Alesha MacPhail was found naked lying face down in woodland near an abandoned hotel

The mother of the boy accused of killing Alesha MacPhail contacted police after the child's body was found because he had been acting suspiciously, a court heard yesterday.

The woman was allegedly concerned about her 16-year-old son's movements on the night the six-year-old was killed on the Isle of Bute last July.

The jury was told the mother had been drinking when she phoned Rothesay police station in the early hours, the day after Alesha's body was discovered.

Before her call, Detective Constable Gavin McKellar said the police were not aware of the boy's alleged involvement and were treating him as a witness.

The mother told officers her son - who cannot be named because of his age - had been out of the house in the early hours of July 2, the court heard.

The schoolboy was described as being 'confident' and 'very co-operative' by Mr McKellar when he spoke to officers around 1am on July 3 at his home.

In a statement read to the jury yesterday, the boy said he left his house in the middle of the night to buy cannabis resin and took a shower after returning home as he was 'really stoned'.

Toni Louise McLachlan (left), the girlfriend of Alesha MacPhail's father, and Georgina Lochrane (right), Alesha's mother, are both pictured arriving at Glasgow High Court yesterday

The accused said he walked through Skeoch Wood, between Rothesay and Ardbeg, to avoid police, before heading to meet a dealer.

He said he had a shower, which he did regularly after smoking cannabis, before realising he had lost his phone and going back out to look for it.

The details were revealed in court yesterday as a teenage girl was accused of abducting and killing Alesha and trying to frame the boy for the murder.

Toni McLachlan, 18, was quizzed over her alleged involvement in the death during the trial of the boy, who denies abducting, raping and murdering Alesha.

The youth lodged a special defence alleging the crime was committed by Miss McLachlan, the partner of Alesha's 26-year-old father, Robert MacPhail.

But she challenged claims she 'brutalised' the child then 'planted' evidence to incriminate the accused.

Miss McLachlan (right) pictured with Alesha (left) and the girl's father Robert MacPhail (centre)

In the boy's statement read to court yesterday, no mention was made of meeting Miss McLachlan or having sex with a girl the evening before Alesha vanished.

Alesha's father Robert MacPhail arrives at Glasgow High Court yesterday morning

The statement went on to say he knew Mr MacPhail was in a relationship with Miss McLachlan but claimed he had never met Alesha, although he knew his dealer had a little girl.

He ended the statement by telling officers he did not go to the MacPhail family home and said if they did not believe him they 'could have my DNA'.

During the third day of the trial at the High Court in Glasgow, Miss McLachlan said she had loved the little girl 'to pieces'.

When asked by prosecutor Iain McSporran, QC, if she had anything to do with Alesha's murder, she replied: 'No.'

Alesha's naked body was found in the grounds of the former Kyles Hydropathic Hotel near Rothesay on Bute on the morning of July 2 last year after she went missing from her grandparents' home.

Miss McLachlan gave evidence from behind a screen so she could not see the accused. She said she had been dating Alesha's father for about two years.

The former college student said the pair had begun seeing each other shortly after her 16th birthday in 2016.

Mr MacPhail with his daughter Alesha - found dead last July hours after being reported missing

During almost two hours of questioning, by both the prosecution and the defence, Miss McLachlan said that she and Mr MacPhail sold cannabis to the teenager accused of Alesha's murder.

She also explained that she had found out only on Monday  the opening day of the trial  that she had been named and implicated by the accused in his defence.

She described her relationship with Alesha and the last moment that she had seen her alive.

Mr McSporran asked her: 'How did you get on with Alesha?' She replied: 'Got on really well  I loved her to pieces.'

Miss McLachlan, who was living with the MacPhail family at the time, recalled giving Alesha a kiss and a cuddle in her bed on the night of July 1.

The teenager then recalled later switching off the sleeping girl's Peppa Pig DVD.

Mr Macphail, who has been attending the trial in Glasgow, is pictured with his daughter Alesha

Becoming emotional, she said: 'I got up to go to the toilet and went into Alesha's room and put off her DVD. She was asleep, facing the wall with her hair on the pillow.'

The following morning, Miss McLachlan was woken by Angela King, Alesha's grandmother, when it emerged the child was missing. A search then began.

Mr McSporran asked how she was feeling at the time and Miss McLachlan answered: 'I could not believe it, but I did not think anything bad had happened as I always thought Rothesay to be a safe place.'

The court heard that Alesha's naked body was found in woodland by local man Jorge Williams at 8.54am.

The jury was told that Miss McLachlan had attempted to get in touch with the accused earlier that morning through Facebook Messenger, after she realised she had missed calls from him at around 1.45am.

She was in touch with him again later that morning, exchanging text messages through the app.

Alesha's grandparents Calum MacPhail, 49, and Angela King, 47, pictured at court yesterday

She explained that she knew him from the area as a family friend and that both herself and Mr MacPhail had previously sold him cannabis.

Jurors were shown the messages between her and the 16-year-old later that morning, after Miss McLachlan had attempted to return the call.

Jorge Williams, pictured at Glasgow High Court yesterday, found Alesha's body last July

They began with the accused writing, 'Sorry doesn't matter,' along with laughing emoticons.

Miss McLachlan wrote back: 'Want to keep an eye out for Rab's wee girl please x' He replied: 'Yeah how  what's happened.'

Miss McLachlan said: 'She's went missing from house. Police are looking for her and helicopter is out.'

The schoolboy replied: 'Oh damn. Am sure she's not went too far x'

She answered: 'Hopefully x'

Mr McSporran went on to ask when Miss McLachlan first learned she was being blamed for the murder and rape. She replied it had been on Monday.

The prosecutor said: 'You now know  through his defence team  that it's said you are responsible. Did you have anything to do with Alesha's murder?'

She replied: 'No.'

Mr McSporran added: 'Did you love Alesha?'

She replied: 'To bits.'

During questioning, the court heard claims Miss McLachlan had said to a friend while searching for Alesha that she had a 'bad feeling' about the boy on trial.

Police forensic team team at a house on the Isle of Bute outside Rothesay last July

But Brian McConnachie, defending, made allegations against Miss McLachlan that she carried out the crimes.

He said: 'You felt threatened by the time and attention Robert gave to Alesha?'

She replied: 'No, I always knew that Alesha would come first. I knew that if I got into a relationship with Robert, I would have to accept both.'

Miss McLachlan denied being 'obsessive' about that or being 'unhappy' at Alesha visiting.

Mr McConnachie went on to claim she had sex with the 16-year-old boy in a shelter in Port Bannatyne, Bute, in late 2017.

The QC asked her: 'For a period of time you and him met in secret for sex?'

She replied: 'No.'

Mr McConnachie continued, saying the 'liaisons' ended then Miss McLachlan got in touch with the boy via Instagram in the early hours of July 2. It was alleged they met and went for a walk before they had sex in a shed. It was said Miss McLachlan provided a condom.

A police cordon at Ardberg on the Isle of Bute during the investigation last July

During a tense exchange, Mr McConnachie said that the pair then apparently went their separate ways after the accused had given her his hooded top.

The QC added: 'You were jealous of Alesha. For whatever reason, you went back to the house. You are the one that took Alesha out of her bed.'

She replied: 'No.'

Mr McConnachie said Alesha did not 'scream' as she knew Miss McLachlan.

He continued: 'You took her to the area she was found. You had with you the condom that the boy used. You attacked Alesha... brutalised her.'

She replied: 'No.'

Mr McConnachie suggested Miss McLachlan 'effectively planted' evidence on Alesha.

The advocate said: 'You murdered her.'

Again, Miss McLachlan replied: 'No'.

The court also heard that Miss McLachlan and Mr MacPhail had moved in together in Rothesay at a different flat in September last year, two months after Alesha's death.

Alesha's body was found in woodland on the Isle of Bute (file picture)

Miss McLachlan said she had moved out again shortly afterwards, splitting her time between her mother's home in Rothesay and Mr MacPhail's house.

During cross-examination by Mr McConnachie, the jury heard that Mr MacPhail is currently on bail for alleged domestic abuse.

Miss McLachlan confirmed that the charge involved herself  but she denied claims that her boyfriend had physically assaulted her.

She explained that the charge had followed a heated row after a drinking session following a friend's funeral.

Miss McLachlan said she had called the police over the incident but confirmed that they are still a couple and that she frequently stays at Mr MacPhail's flat.

Under re-examination, prosecutor Mr McSporran again asked her how she felt to be blamed for the killing.

Miss McLachlan replied: 'Horrible, especially when it is someone you loved. She knew I loved her and that is what I am trying to keep in my head.

'I don't know how to feel... sad, hurt, angry.'

Completing her evidence, Miss McLachlan became visibly upset and sobbed in the witness box.

Asked by Mr McSporran if she was all right, she said: 'No, but as well as I can be.'

Mr McSporran told the jury that they will later hear that Alesha suffered 'appalling' injuries.

The case continues.A father has made a tearful and desperate plea for his three year-old daughter, who was allegedly abducted by her mother and taken to the UK.

Victoria McKay, 43, is believed to have left Melbourne in September, taking her daughter Ruby McKay-Uhd with her to live in a campervan.

A British High Court is urging the public for help finding the missing three-year-old, who has been at the centre of family court proceedings involving her Birmingham-born yoga teacher mother and Australian-born yoga teacher father Peter Uhd.

Mr Uhd, 57, who last saw his daughter when she was two-years-old, told Channel 7 on Thursday he never expected Ms McKay would leave with their daughter.

Ms McKay had lived in Australia for more than 20 years. The couple separated some time ago.

'It was quite a shock - I never thought she would leave. I thought she had so much here she really valued,' the father said.

'I think every child deserves the love and care and respect of both of his parents.'

Peter Uhd, 57, (left with daughter) has made a tearful and desperate plea for his three year-old daughter - who was allegedly abducted by her mother and taken to the UK

The father battled through tears as he revealed Ruby was starting to talk the last time her.

A family court judge has ordered Ms McKay return to Australia with their child.

Justice Michael Keehan expressed grave concerns for the three-year-old's safety and made an appeal for help at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London on Tuesday.

'I am extremely concerned about this young child, who has been abducted from Australia wrongfully by her mother,' said Justice Keehan.

'It is believed she is living an itinerant lifestyle with her mother in a camper van.'

Victoria McKay is believed to have left Melbourne in September, taking her daughter Ruby (pictured) McKay-Uhd with her

Justice Keehan chose to make the identity of the pair public with hopes it would help locate the pair.

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.'

Mr Uhd welcomed the decision to release the identities in hopes Ruby may return to him in Australia, The Australian reported.

Ruby was wrongfully taken to the UK by her mother Victoria McKay (pictured) in September and has stayed there ever since, despite a family court judge ordering their return to Australia

'I don't think she's (Ms McKay) got much money,' Mr Uhd said.

'She's been there over winter. She's got this campervan that's not even a proper campervan, it's a converted work van sort of things. It had a pop-top roof  but it would be freezing up there.'

Lawyers representing Mr Uhd told the court all efforts to find his daughter and Ms McKay had failed.

Barrister William Tyzack told Justice Keehan evidence suggested Ms McKay had 'no desire to be found'.

'Mr Uhd continues to have very real concerns as to Ruby's welfare and about the transient nature of her current life,' he said.

Justice Michael Keehan expressed grave concerns for the three-year-old's safety and made an appeal for help at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court

Lawyer James Netto, also representing Mr Uhd, said the three-year-old and her mother are believed to be living in a blue Renault Trafic campervan.

Mr Netto said it's believed the pair may be living on campsites, caravan parks or on farms.

'Ruby's father remains exceptionally concerned for her welfare as a result of Ms McKay's very transient lifestyle,' Mr Netto said.

'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.'President Donald Trump will today announce a national emergency to allow him to spend $8 billion building his wall after signing a bill to avoid a government shutdown after bitter standoff with Congress.

The White House confirmed Thursday that the president will sign a bipartisan spending deal to avoid another government shutdown but will declare the national emergency in an effort to procure funds to build a border wall.

Trump will hold an event in the White House Rose Garden about the border at 10:00 a.m. Friday. He is expected to sign both the funding bill and the paperwork for his executive actions.

The move announced Thursday drew both statements of relief from lawmakers and a threat from Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the emergency declaration.

Pelosi called it an 'end-run around the will of the people,' speaking to reporters minutes after news of Trump's position broke, while warning it could come back to bite Republicans.

'We will review our options, we'll be prepared to respond appropriately to it,' Pelosi said, asked about Trump's planned emergency declaration.

President Donald Trump has expressed misgivings about a bipartisan deal, but will sign it, the White House said

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi signs a $328 billion spending bill to prevent another government shutdown Thursday

She also brandished the threat a future Democratic president could use the same tactic of Trump moves forward

'I know the Republicans have some unease about it, no matter what they say. Because if the president can declare an emergency on something that he has created as an emergency, an illusion that he wants to convey, just think of what a president with different values can present to the American people,' she said.

'You want to talk about a national emergency? Let's talk about today, the one-year anniversary of another manifestation of the epidemic of gun violence in America,' Pelosi said, referencing the one-year anniversary of the Parkland, Florida school shooting.

'That's a national emergency. Why don't you declare that emergency, Mr. President? I wish you would. But a Democratic president can do that. [A] Democratic president can declare emergencies as well,' she threatened.

Within minutes after the White House announced its support, the Senate adopted the legislative package by a vote of 83-16. The House followed suit, approving the deal in a 300-128 vote.

Sen. Mitch McConnell updated colleagues on his conversation with Trump, saying he 'indicated' he is 'prepared to sign' the budget bill minutes before the White House announced his support

'The precedent that the president is setting here is something that should be met with great unease and dismay by the Republicans,' said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

But Pelosi, even while touting the package as the product of compromise, bristled at Trump's stated move to get around strict funding limits it included, namely $1.4 billion for border fencing.

'So, the precedent that the president is setting here is something that should be met with great unease and dismay by the Republicans. And of course we will respond accordingly when we review our options,' Pelosi said.

WHERE THE $8 BILLION COMES FROM A White House official told CNN: $1.375 billion will come from the Homeland Security appropriations bill $600 million from the Treasury Department's drug forfeiture fund $2.5 billion from the Defense Department's drug interdiction program $3.5 billion from the Defense Department's military construction budget Advertisement

Pelosi also blasted Trump for 'making an end run around Congress.

'The power of the purse, the power to declare war  and of course the responsibility to have oversight.' Although she said Democrats would 'review our options,' and did not commit to filing a lawsuit against the move.

Pelosi said Congress maintains 'the power of the purse, the power to declare war  and of course the responsibility to have oversight.'

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York blasted the move in even more scathing language. 'Declaring a national emergency would be a lawless act  a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract from the fact that President Trump broke his core promise to have Mexico pay for the wall,' Schumer told colleagues moments after the deal passed the Senate.

'It would be another demonstration of President Trump's naked contempt for the rule of law and congressional authority. Congress just debated this very issue. There was not support for the president's position on this issue,' Schumer said, pointing to the legislative history that a court would likely consider.

'For the president to declare an emergency now would be an unprecedented subversion of Congress's constitutional prerogative,' he said.

WHAT HAPPENS IF DEMOCRATS CHALLENGE A TRUMP-DECLARED BORDER 'EMERGENCY' IN COURT? If President Trump declares that a national emergency exists on the U.S.-Mexico border, it's likely that court challenges will quickly seek to stop him from exercising the powers federal law would give him. Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said Thursday that 'the Constitution grants Congress the authority to appropriate federal dollars, so Im sure such action will be litigated in the courts.' Congress passed the National Emergencies Act in 1975 in order to force post-Watergate presidents to explain themselves if they claim powers beyond what Congress has authorized. Trump would have to cite the specific laws he's relying on for emergency spending power. The most likely basis is found in Section 2808 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code. It allows presidents to order the Defense Department to 'undertake military construction projects' during times of emergency 'that are necessary to support ... use of the armed forces.' Trump began sending military troops to the southern border last year, tasking them with supporting border patrol units. Among their jobs has been hanging more than 150 miles of razor wire as a barrier to protect the border agents. South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who met with Trump in the Oval office on Thursday afternoon, said in a Feb. 4 speech 'they're putting up barbed wire. What's the difference between barbed ware and a steel slat? I'm confident the president has the legal ability to do this.' Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said Thursday that 'it will be challenged in court and is of dubious constitutionality.' Trump's opponents will have to find a loophole in Section 2293 of Title 33, which allows presidents to repurpose military 'civil works' budgets to build 'authorized' projects 'that are essential to the national defense.' That law applies in times of war or 'national emergency.' The largely civilian Army Corps of Engineers has already spent the past 18 months contracting out the work of building miles of border walls. It's the Pentagon's civil-works construction agency It's unlikely a federal court would weigh in on whether Trump has the legal authority to use his own discretion in declaring declare a national emergency. The 1975 law leaves that judgment up to the White House. Every president since Gerald Ford has used it at least once. Barack Obama did it 12 times. Americans are still living under the conditions of 31 of the 58 declared 'emergencies.' The U.S. Supreme Court has never invalidated one. But his opponents would likely argue that Section 2808 can't be used to build permanent walls that go beyond what's necessary to protect the troops on border deployments. And lawyers will squabble over whether Section 2293's reference to 'national defense' includes border security in the first place. A White House official said Thursday that the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which provided for wall construction along the border, is enough to show Congress has 'authorized' what Trump might want to fund unconventionally. The official said the administration is betting that federal judges won't want to weigh in on what is and is not related to national defense, a concept federal law has never clearly defined. Trump said on Feb. 1 that while he expects legal challenges, 'we have very, very strong legal standing to win.' It would be 'hard' for Democrats to stymie him, he claimed, 'but they tend to go to the Ninth Circuit,' traditionally America's most liberal and most often-overturned bank of judges. 'And when they go to the Ninth Circuit, things happen.' Advertisement

'President Trump couldn't convince Mexico, he couldn't convince the American people, he couldn't convince their elected representatives to pay for his ineffective and expensive wall. So now he's trying an end run around Congress in a desperate attempt to put taxpayers on the hook for it,' said Schumer.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told fellow senators Thursday that Trump was 'prepared to sign' the budget deal, and the White House soon confirmed it with stronger language.

Said White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders in a statement: 'President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before he will also take other executive action - including a national emergency - to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border. The President is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country,' she added.

With the flurry of action Thursday afternoon, the Senate and House voted in sequence on the $328 billion package.

McConnell made his announcement on the Senate floor after signals of indecision from the White House were once again raising fears of a government shutdown after Friday.

Joint statement from Democratic leaders Schumer and Pelosi on possible declaration of 'national emergency' 'Declaring a national emergency would be a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract from the fact that President Trump broke his core promise to have Mexico pay for his wall. It is yet another demonstration of President Trump's naked contempt for the rule of law. This is not an emergency, and the president's fear-mongering doesn't make it one. He couldn't convince Mexico, the American people or their elected representatives to pay for his ineffective and expensive wall, so now he's trying an end-run around Congress in a desperate attempt to put taxpayers on the hook for it. The Congress will defend our constitutional authorities.' Advertisement

McConnell spoke to Trump Thursday, and told his colleagues the president 'indicated he's prepared to sign' the deal, which was inked Wednesday night.

Declaring a national emergency will allow Trump to repurpose billions of dollars Congress approved last year for other projects at the Pentagon and other agencies. The White House and Democrats have indicated that they expect interest groups to sue, challenging the president's power to sidestep lawmakers' power of the purse.

With Washington on edge a day before another shutdown deadline with no clear signal from the White House, McConnell told colleagues: 'I've just had an opportunity to speak with President Trump, and he would, I would say to all my colleagues, has indicated that he's prepared to sign the bill.'

'He will also be issuing a national emergency declaration at the same time. And I've indicated to him that I'm going to prepare  I'm going to support the national emergency declaration. So for all of my colleagues, the President will sign the bill. We'll be voting on it shortly,' McConnell said.

A top Democrat immediately blasted the move to declare an emergency for funds Congress would not approve.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland intruded on an NBC live broadcast to say 'declaring a national emergency when there is no national emergency is not good for a President to do, and frankly I don't think it's good for precedent for future Presidents.'

A leading Senate Republican opened Thursday's session with a prayer that President Trump would have the 'wisdom' to sign a bipartisan spending deal  after another day of mixed signals from the White House.

'Let's all pray that the president will have wisdom to sign the bill so the government doesn't shut down,' said Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, who has been a powerful defender of Trump's but who also is pushing to make sure Special Counsel Mueller's report gets shared with Congress.

Grassley's appeal to a higher authority came hours after a senior Trump advisor said only that Trump was 'taking a look' at the legislation, which a bipartisan panel of House and Senate lawmakers agreed to Wednesday night.

Vice President Mike Pence, traveling in Poland, said Trump is 'not happy' with the deal  which includes just a quarter of the amount he wanted for a border wall, with funds restricted to existing forms of fencing.

'I think he's been very clear that he's not happy with it. Seeing less than $ 1.4 billion dollars in border wall funding I know is a disappointment to the president, but he's considering the bill,' Pence said.

The president himself was circumspect, tweeting: 'Reviewing the funding bill with my team at the @WhiteHouse!'

Trump's earlier Twitter effort was even less revealing. It said simply 'funding bill', and was an apparent typo.

The public statements came after Trump took actions behind the scenes to try to sell the deal. The New York Times reported he called Fox News hosts Lou Dobbs and Sean Hannity to make the case. Hannity had hammered the compromise on his show as it was emerging. Trump made the case that he had been able to extract concessions he couldn't have gotten without the shutdown. Publicly, Democrats were crowing that they were able to force Trump to sign a deal that did not include funding for his wall.

Negotiators from both parties and chambers reached the deal Wednesday night

FINE PRINT: The final deal limits funds to 'operationally effective designs' as of 2017 including 'steel bollard designs'

The final compromise bill itself expressly restricted funds to existing forms of border barrier.

It limited funds to 'operationally effective designs deployed as of the date of the [2017 funding law] such as currently deployed steel bollard designs, that prioritize agent safety.'

Internally, senior advisors were urging Trump to take the deal and avoid another shutdown.

Other senior elected Republicans were taking a wait-and-see approach to avoid getting out ahead of the president. Prominent voices on the right came out Thursday to urge Trump not sign onto the deal.

'This bill must NOT be signed by @realDonaldTrump,' wrote conservative host Laura Ingraham. She added: 'This bill is tantamount to an illegal immigration 'stimulus'  de facto amnesty to any 'sponsor,' family member or 'potential sponsor' of an unaccompanied minor. #ChainMigrationAmnesty,' and in another swipe, wrote: 'This 1,169 page monstrosity will green light more 'family units' crossing illegallywithout a doubt.'

'Let's all pray that the president will have wisdom to sign the bill so the government doesn't shut down,' said Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa

The president said only he was 'reviewing' the bill

TAKE ONE: Trump deleted his initial tweet

On Thursday morning, the White House had yet to signal Trump was certain to sign the deal, after high-profile conservative commentators balked at the arrangement, which gives the president far less than the $5.7 billion he demanded for a border wall.

White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow told reporters Thursday Trump was still 'looking at' the compromise that finally reached written form late Wednesday.

'He's looking at it. I think it came in very late last night. He's taking a look at that, you'll hear more about it when he's ready,' Kudlow said.

Lawmakers released the text of the 1,159-page bill Wednesday night.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., said he is 'sure' the deal will pass

'I think he's been very clear that he's not happy with it,' Vice President Mike Pence said of Trump

White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow told reporters Thursday Trump was still 'looking at' the compromise that finally reached written form late Wednesday

The deal restricts fencing to existing types already in use

Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama tweeted Wednesday that Trump 'was in good spirits,' and once again called the bill a 'down-payment' on the wall. Trump has indicated he will use other methods to procure wall funds.

Following the 35-day shutdown, Trump allowed a bipartisan group of lawmakers from both parties to negotiate a compromise. Pulling away from it could once again tag Trump with producing a shutdown.

The agreement provides $1.4 billion for border fencing, but not the $5.7 Trump demanded for wall construction. Trump has been tweaking his rhetoric as the deal approached. His Tuesday rally at the Texas border city of El Paso had banners that said 'finish the wall,' and Trump says repeatedly that it is already being built.

Trump said Wednesday he is taking a 'very serious' look at a bipartisan compromise deal to give him just a quarter of the $5.7 billion he wants for a border wall  following reports sourced to his advisors that he is preparing to sign it.

Government funding legislation is once again hinging on President Trump's support for a border wall

'We haven't gotten it yet,' Trump said, in reference to the bipartisan compromise that has yet to be turned into final bill language. 'We'll take a very serious look at it,' Trump added during a meeting with the president of Colombia.

He said he would look for 'landmines' surreptitiously buried in the legislation negotiated by Republicans and Democrats from both chambers of Congress, but would not formally commit to signing it.

There was a last minute standoff over back-pay for federal contractors who lost millions during the shutdown that began in December.

Republican Sen. Roy Blunt said he was told the president would not back the effort.

Senate Appropriations chair Richard Shelby of Alabama says he told Trump the wall funding was a 'down payment'

A bipartisan compromise would provide $1.37 billion for new border fencing

'We'll be looking for landmines, because you could have that,' Trump said, indicating his advisors would be scrubbing legislation to fund the government in search of any surprises. Trump said he would take a 'very serious' look at bipartisan legislation to fund the government

'I've been told the president won't sign that,' Blunt said Wednesday, adding 'I guess federal contractors are different in his view than federal employees.' Negotiators left the proposal out of the final compromise.

'I'm sure it's going to pass. I don't know of any drama,' said House Democrats' chief vote-counter, Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., told the Associated Press.

By accepting the compromise, Trump avoided yet another shutdown after the 35-day partial federal shutdown that began in December, battering Trump and Republicans in public opinion polls.A popular tourist hotspot in Western Australia has introduced drinking restrictions in an attempt to curb alcohol related problems.

Broome, in the state's picturesque Kimberley region, is visited by tens of thousands of sightseers each year, who arrive to experience the unique landscape and laid-back atmosphere.

On Wednesday, the community agreed on the Broome Liquor Accord, a coalition of retailers, residents, and local officials, who have decided to limit the amount of takeaway alcohol that can be purchased in the town.

A popular tourist hotspot in Western Australia has introduced drinking restrictions in an attempt to curb alcohol related problems (stock image)

The 12-month trial, which begins in July, will limit alcohol purchases to two bottles of wine and a carton of beer, or one bottle of spirits per person each day.

A monitoring system will also scan the identification of those purchasing alcohol to stop customers buying booze from different venues to bypass the restrictions.

Although designed to reduce alcohol related problems entrenched in the local community, the restrictions will also apply to tourists visiting the area.

Broome Shire president Harold Tracey is a strong supporter of the restrictions, saying that Broome needed to catch up to other towns in the region that had already implemented restrictions.

'It's devastating; it's heartbreaking to see families and individuals absolutely destroyed by alcohol,' he told the ABC.

The accord follows the release of findings by Western Australia coroner Ros Fogliani into the suicides of 13 young indigenous people.

'Excessive alcohol use in households in the Kimberley communities has a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of children and young people,' she wrote.

She added that alcohol was a 'major causal factor in disruptive behaviours, crime, domestic violence, broken families, children not attending school, and neurological impairment.'

The community on Wednesday agreed to limit the amount of takeaway alcohol that can be purchased in the town (stock image)

Andrew Amor, who runs Broome's drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, said the move was overdue considering the restrictions in other communities in the region.

'People do travel great distances to purchase alcohol and especially to those areas where there are no restrictions,' he told the ABC.

Coles and Woolworths, who run the Liquorland and BWS outlets, are both on board to support the accord.A job recruiter has been left shocked after a potential employee offered to perform a sexual act to secure a job.

Graham Wynn was organising a job interview for his Melbourne-based HR firm, Superior People Recruitment, over text message when the woman made the surprising offer.

She had sent in her resume to Mr Wynn in the hopes of securing a receptionist position, but apparently had other things in mind.

Graham Wynn was organising a job interview for his Melbourne-based HR firm Superior People Recruitment over text message when the woman made the offer (stock image)

Impressed with her application, the HR boss contacted the young woman to arrange a time for an interview, news.com.au reported.

'Hi Graham. Is there anything I can do, specifically to you, that would help me get the job?' the woman replied, adding in a wink emoji.

Not sure what the woman meant, Mr Wynn said he wanted her to come to the interview so they could discuss her future.

The woman wrote back then offering the explicit sexual act.

While he'd been offered bribes in the past, this kind of offer was a first.

The recruiter was shocked and said the message was 'not appropriate', especially in the current political climate surrounding harassment.

'It was a shock in this day and age and all the things around #MeToo,' Mr Wynn said.

Mr Wynn later wrote back to the woman: 'Refraining from ever sending texts like that would help. In general showing unethical traits or an inappropriate sense of humour tends to detract from one's chances of getting a job.'Recent university graduates will have their university fees waived under a new government policy - but there's a catch.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed the ambitious new initiative as he delivered the 11th annual Closing the Gap report in Canberra on Thursday.

The Closing the Gap imitative aims to deliver better health, education and employment outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The PM called for a review of the initiative after it was revealed just two of the seven targets were on track to be met, more than a decade after the original report.

Teachers who work in very remote areas for four years will be eligible to have their university debts cancelled in a bid to lift indigenous education standards

As part of the imitative shakeup, there will be a focus on education, Mr Morrison said.

He said teachers who work in very remote areas for four years will have their university debts cancelled in a bid to lift indigenous education standards.

'So that the next generation of indigenous men and women will have every opportunity to participate in and contribute to our economic prosperity,' Mr Morrison said.

The PM told News Corp he would unveil the ambitious new three-tired education program after consulting with Tony Abbott - his envoy on indigenous affairs.

The initiative will wipe HECS or HELP debt fees for 3100 teachers who commit to working for four years in one of 292 remote schools.

While efforts to get more indigenous children into early education are on track, the report found better life expectancy, infant mortality and employment rates were not.

For instance, child mortality among indigenous Australians has decreased by 10 per cent since 2008. But the target is not on track because the non-indigenous figure has declined at a faster rate.

Mr Morrison said the targets need to be revised to make states and territories more accountable and give indigenous Australians more say.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten welcomed the changes, saying there needs to be a greater partnership with Aboriginal Australians.

But he said the issue was frustrating because, despite there being good intentions, little progress had been made.

Mr Morrison said as part of the Closing the Gap revamp, there will be a focus on improving education for future indigenous Australians

The initiative will include wiping the HECS or HELP debt fees for 3100 teachers who commit to working for four years in one of 292 remote schools

'It's not just the gap in life expectancy or health or educational results or employment opportunities, but the gap between words and actions, the gap between promises and results,' he said.

The opposition leader reiterated that, if successful at the next election, Labor would hold a referendum on having an indigenous voice in parliament.

The changes to Closing the Gap will also hold different levels of government to account and include new priorities on housing, employment, family violence and land and water rights.

State governments will be obliged to make annual public statements on the areas they are responsible for, such as health and education.

The draft targets include an effort to reduce the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in detention by 11 to 19 per cent, and adults held in incarceration by at least five per cent by 2028.Rising Florida-based rapper YNW Melly has been arrested and charged in the double homicide of two of his close friends.

YNW Melly, whose real name is Jamell Demons, and Cortlen Henry, have been charged with two counts of first degree murder for the October 2018 deaths of Christopher Thomas Jr, 19, and Anthony Williams, 21, the Miramar Police Department announced Wednesday.

Police said forensic evidence led them to determine Demons as the suspect who gunned down the two men before he staged the killings as a drive-by with the help of Henry.

The rapper, who recently released the hit track 'Mixed Personalities' with Kanye West, took to his Instagram page hours before his arrest writing: 'To all my fans and supporters, no I did not get locked up in Washington, but I am turning myself in today.

'I want you guys to know I love you and appreciate every single one of y'all, a couple months ago I lost my two brothers by violence and now the system want to find justice.

'Unfortunately, a lot of rumors and lies are being said, but no worries God is with me and my brother @ynw.bortlen and we want y'all to remember it's a ynw Family I love you @ynwsakchaser1 and @ynwjuvy #freeus.'

Florida rapper YNW Melly (pictured above on Instagram) has been arrested and charged in the double murder of his two friends and staging the crimes as a drive-by shooting

Christopher Thomas Jr, 19 (left), and 21-year-old Anthony Williams (right) were fatally shot in October

The rapper recently released the hit track 'Mixed Personalities' with Kanye West

The 'Murder on my Mind' rapper has since deleted his Instagram profile.

Demons was also arrested in January on two misdemeanor drug charges. His tour was scheduled to kick off on Valentine's Day in Phoenix, Arizona.

The two victims were fatally shot on October 26, and were 'already dead' when they arrived to the hospital, police said.

'They arrived with multiple gunshot wounds... they were dead already,' Miramar police spokeswoman Tania Rues told the Treasure Coast Palm at the time.

Thomas went by the stage name YNW Juvy and Williams went by YNW Sakchaser. The pair were an associated act with Demons.

Demons and Thomas hailed from Gifford. Williams was from Fort Pierce.

The victims were an associated act with 19-year-old Demons (above in mugshot)

'They arrived with multiple gunshot wounds. They were dead already,' Miramar police spokeswoman Tania Rues explained about Thomas (left) and Williams (right)

They were all featured in the 2017 song 'Youngins' which had well over 2million YouTube views. The video shows various folks showing off an assortment of handguns.

In August, YNW Melly appeared in YNW Juvy's video for 'Tissue' and the song has more than 89,000 views.

The video shows the rapper galavanting around a house with a machine gun.

A few hours after their deaths, YNW Melly took to Instagram and claimed that the pair were taken from him out of 'jealousy.'

He added: 'They wanna see me break down and stop or in jail or a box but my n****s still need me they parents need me they family need me till we meet again my twins my slimes.'

A few hours after their deaths, YNW Melly took to Instagram to share his thoughts and claimed that the pair were taken from him out of 'jealousy' (all three pictured)

In August, YNW Melly appeared in YNW Juvy's video for 'Tissue'. The video shows the rapper galavanting around a house with a machine gun

Send a prayer for my brothers they mama crying right now but i got them 4 Life they my mama,' the rapper (center in orange) said on Instagram at the time

YNW Melly posted another photo that showed him appearing to pray with another group of men outside of what appears to be a prison or jail.

'Send a prayer for my brothers they mama crying right now but i got them 4 Life they my mama,' the rapper said.

YNW Melly later posted on his Instagram story that he was tired of people hitting him up to check to see if he was OK.

'Leave me the f**k alone, period!' he exclaimed, while seated in a car.

YNW Melly's most famous song, 'Murder on my Mind', has attracted over 42million views on YouTube.Woolworths-owned hotel venues have been accused of plying gamblers with booze in a bid to keep them playing on machines for longer.

The chain is being investigated by the New South Wales gaming regulator after an insider revealed staff were told to cover up the prohibited activity.

In the state it is a criminal offence to provide free or discounted alcohol to person in order to encourage gambling.

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(File picture) Woolworths hotel venues have been accused of plying gamblers with booze in a bid to keep them playing for longer

More than 50 venues run by Australian Leisure and Hospitality - 75 percent owned by Woolworths - were subject to a 'comprehensive' investigation after authorities were alerted to the alleged activity.

Liquor and Gaming NSW said it had 'issued coercive notices to obtain a significant volume of information and records, and formally interviewed current and former ALH staff and patrons,' according to ABC.

The inquiry into the business has been active for almost a year.

The former employee, who revealed insider information, has been assisting authorities with the investigation.

She claims senior staff had given the orders to keep pouring drinks for regular gamblers.

(File picture) Liquor and Gaming NSW said it had 'issued coercive notices to obtain a significant volume of information and records' as part of the investigation

(File picture) More than 50 venues, run by the Australian Leisure and Hospitality, are under a 'comprehensive' investigation

'If they were a regular gambler, or they paid high dollars on our machines then they'd give them a free drink of whatever they drank,' the former gaming room attendant told the publication.

'They'd tell the staff to do the same, and that was right up the line, manager and staff, supervisors, everyone,' she added.

She also said staff at the western Sydney hotel where she worked were instructed to put the drinks for pokie players through the till in the main bar, instead of the till in the gaming room.

ALH head of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs David Curry said the company, which has around 300 licensed venues across the country, was working closely with the regulator to investigate the matter.

He insisted 'complimentary drinks' were not provided in any venue in the country.

(File picture) The inquiry into the business, which is 75 per cent owned by supermarket Woolworths, has been active for almost a year

'We are working closely with the NSW regulator. ALH does not provide any complimentary service of alcohol in any gaming room Australia wide,' he said.

The investigation into the chain began after independent MP Andrew Wilkie alleged the company 'spies on its poker machine customers without their knowledge'.

The claim also led to AHL launching an internal investigation under the command of former Woolworths chief executive Roger Corbett.

The company is believed to have said to state regulators it would update them on its findings.

However, it was reported that ALH had refused to share the entire report with the regulator, and instead handed over only a summary of its findings.

The company claimed it found that some Queensland venues had been handing out free drinks to pokie players, but since the review the freebies had stopped.

They said there was no evidence of similar actions in any other state.

There are thought to be around 12,000 poker machines in the ALH and Woolworths venues across the country.

The company is estimated to earn $1.5 billion from poker machines every year.Boris Johnson is struggling to contain a Cabinet split today as ministers openly said they will ditch face masks the moment they are not compulsory - and suggested that should happen on July 19. George Eustice dismissed the idea he would keep wearing face coverings when they are not required, saying: 'I want to get back to normal.' He also reiterated that the plan is for 'all legal restrictions' to lift in England on the so-called Covid 'Freedom Day' next month. Chancellor Rishi Sunak gave a similar message as he said it is his 'strong expectation' that the unlocking will go ahead on schedule. Asked at the Times CEO summit if he would stop wearing masks when they are not legally required, Mr Sunak said: 'Yes, as soon as possible.' Meanwhile, Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg ramped up expectations of curbs being fully removed as he told MPs that the description of July 19 as a 'terminus point' is likely to mean Covid certificates and other rules are dropped completely. However, in signs of tensions at the heart of government, Downing Street said the PM is only aiming to 'get back as close to normal as is possible' and 'no final decisions have been taken'.The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran hailed the planned US withdrawal from Syria as they met for talks Thursday on how to work more closely together in the country's long-running conflict.

Hosting his Turkish and Iranian counterparts in the southern city of Sochi, President Vladimir Putin said the three welcomed the expected US pull-out from northeastern Syria.

It would be 'a positive step that would help stabilise the situation in this region, where ultimately the legitimate government should re-establish control,' he told a joint press conference after the talks.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin (centre) hosted Iran's Hassan Rouhani (left) and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the southern city of Sochi for talks on Syria

The three leaders met in the Black Sea resort to decide on the future of Syria as the last remnants of ISIS are eradicated in the east of the country

Russia and Iran - who both back the regime of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad - and rebel supporter Turkey have positioned themselves as key foreign players in Syria's long-running war.

The United States has had troops in Syria backing Kurdish-led forces fighting the Islamic State group but President Donald Trump issued an abrupt order in December to pull out all 2,000.

The Kurdish-led fighters were on Thursday battling to expel IS jihadists from the small town of Baghouz in eastern Syria, the last bastion of their 'caliphate' that once controlled large parts of the country.

Putin said Thursday's talks were 'constructive and business-like' and that 'close coordination' was crucial to ensuring long-term stability in Syria.

He said the three leaders agreed to 'strengthen cooperation' in the so-called Astana framework - a process initiated by Russia, Iran and Turkey that has eclipsed parallel peace talks led by the United Nations.

They also agreed to work together to put together a constitutional committee that would work to resolve Syria's political future, Putin said, adding that another round of talks would take place in Astana in late March and early April.

Both Russia and Iran have provided military backing to Assad's forces fighting the rebels in Syria

Turkey has supported rebel groups in the north who have fought with the Kurds throughout the civil war

Rouhani said Thursday's talks were 'very helpful and frank' and insisted on Syria's territorial integrity, calling for a 'purge of terrorists' from the rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib.

He also suggested he did not believe the US was planning to withdraw from Syria.

'We have no optimism about what the Americans say... but if they do withdraw, it will be very good news.'

At a separate meeting Thursday with Putin, Erdogan said the planned US pull-out made it more important for other foreign powers to work together in Syria.

'The US withdrawal decision is one of the most important tests ahead of us. The uncertainty over how the decision will be implemented remains. It is very very important that we work together in this new situation,' he said.

As a sign of cooperation, he said Russia and Turkey had agreed to start 'joint patrols' in order to contain 'radical groups' in Idlib province.

The two countries agreed last year to jointly monitor a buffer zone around Idlib and a statement from the three leaders on Thursday agreed to take 'concrete steps' to further control the zone.

Erdogan also called for the removal of the Kurdish forces battling IS in northeastern Syria.

Kurdish-led forces are battling to expel Islamic State group fighters from the small town of Baghouz in eastern Syria, the last bastion of their 'caliphate'

'Syria's territorial integrity cannot be ensured and that region cannot be returned to its real owners before PYD-YPG is cleared from Manbij and the east of Euphrates,' Erdogan said.

The Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have held the strategic city of Manbij and areas east of the Euphrates since pushing out IS fighters.

Turkey considers the YPG, and its political branch the Democratic Union Party (PYD), as offshoots of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Both Russia and Iran have provided military backing to Assad's forces, while Turkey has supported rebel groups in the north who have fought with the Kurds.

Thursday's meeting was the fourth summit between the countries' leaders since November 2017.

It came as the United States holds a two-day conference in Warsaw devoted to security in the Middle East, with a strong emphasis on Iran.

The conference includes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several Arab powers but has drawn little interest from European powers.

Rouhani dismissed the Warsaw talks as pointless.

'We see what's happening in Warsaw, it's an empty result, nothing,' he said in Sochi.Health authorities have released an urgent Salmonella warning after 11 cases of the disease were linked to a string of Vietnamese bakeries.

South Australia Health said they are investigating a cluster of Salmonella cases linked to three Angkor Bakery stores in Adelaide's northern suburbs.

There have been 11 confirmed cases of Salmonella reported, SA Health said on Thursday.

South Australia Health said they are investigating a cluster of Salmonella cases linked to three Angkor Bakery stores in Adelaide's northern suburbs.

Nine people were hospitalised after falling ill from eating Vietnamese rolls purchased at the bakeries.

The Salmonella cases are linked to the stores at Springbank Plaza in Burton, Hollywood Plaza in Salisbury Downs and Blakes Crossing Shopping Centre in Blakeview.

Those who have come into contact with the contaminated food may experience the symptoms between six and 72 hours after exposure.

The symptoms can last for three to seven days.

Symptoms can include fever, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, headache, stomach, cramps, nausea and vomiting.

More severe symptoms may present in young children, older people, pregnant women and people who are immunocompromised.A young man who doused his girlfriend in petrol before setting her alight wants his jail term reduced.

Brae Taylor Lewis left his then-girlfriend Kyesha Finemore covered in scars after the shocking attack in Marsden, south of Brisbane in May 2016.

With burns covering almost her entire body, Ms Finemore, then aged 17, was left in a coma, fighting for her life after the attack.

Lewis, 20, was found guilty by a Beenleigh District Court jury last year and sentenced to 11 years behind bars, but he is now appealing his sentence and conviction.

Brae Lewis (pictured left) was found guilty of dousing his girlfriend Kyesha Finemore (pictured right) in petrol before setting her alight in Marsden, south of Brisbane in May 2016

The incident stemmed from an argument, before Lewis threw petrol on Ms Finemore (pictured) and set her on fire

His lawyer pro bono barrister Andrew Hoare appeared in Brisbane appeal court on Thursday pushing for a retrial on the basis of a miscarriage of justice and argued an eight- to nine-year sentence was more appropriate.

He said Lewis did not deliberately set his girlfriend on fire - as he only lit the fumes rather than applying the lighter flame to her.

Lewis showed remorse by his immediate attempts to 'quench the flame', Mr Hoare said.

The barrister said his client was only trying to frighten his girlfriend.

'He was simply trying to cease an argument. He was simply trying to cause fear to her so she would retreat,' Mr Hoare said.

'He expresses regret for it and attempts in a meaningful way to diminish the consequences.'

Lewis had become increasingly violent in the months leading up to the assault on Ms Finemore, dousing her in petrol and threatening to set her alight months before doing so.

The couple were emotionally and physically abusive to each other, and on another occasion Lewis threw a screwdriver, which lodged in her leg.

With burns covering almost her entire body, Ms Finemore, then aged 17, was left in a coma, fighting for her life after the attack

At the time of the horrific attack, neighbours rushed to the house after hearing screams coming from the property

Prosecutors opposed the appeal on the basis the Crown had proved Lewis intended to harm Ms Finemore.

'That evidence included, but wasn't limited to, his statement to the complainant prior to flicking the lighter than he intended to set her on fire,' prosecutor Caroline Marco said.

'The appellant has doused the complainant in petrol. She is in close proximity.

'To have then flicked a lighter...it's a very, very, very dangerous act.'

As a domestic violence offender, Lewis must serve at least 80 per cent of his sentence, meaning he could be released in 2025, having spent almost two years in custody by the time he was sentenced last June.

The appeal court judges reserved their decision.A psychologist who slept with a vulnerable married patient after helping him with a mental health breakdown has been banned from practising.

Vesela Popovski, from Melbourne, counselled the patient 12 times between October 2009 and April 2010 to help him through anxiety, depression and alcoholism.

During or shortly afterwards, she began a sexual relationship with him even though he was married.

A psychologist who slept with a vulnerable married patient after helping him with a mental health breakdown has been banned from practising (stock image; not actual)

Popovski was reported by an unidentified person to the regulator but denied the allegations until she finally admitted them three years later in July 2018.

In tribunal documents seen by Daily Mail Australia, she said it was time she 'confronted the truth.'

At a tribunal hearing last week she was banned from practising for three years.

Giving expert evidence, senior psychologist Dr Christopher Lennings told the hearing that what Popovski did was 'seriously wrong.'

'She is an experienced clinician, there is no way that she did not know that her behaviour was wrong, and seriously wrong,' he said.

'A psychologist is required to act in the best interest of their client, to respect them, and not to do harm, and in this matter none of these principles seem to have been engaged with.'

It comes after another psychologist, David Griersmith, was banned for similar misconduct.

Griersmith slept with a woman known as Ms A at his Mt Eliza clinic in Victoria in 2013 while treating her for depression and gambling addictions.Five people were injured when a Delta Air Lines flight experienced severe turbulence and was forced to make an emergency landing.

Flight 5763 was headed to Seattle, Washington, from Santa Ana, California, Wednesday when crew reported the frightening turbulence at 34,000ft, which led to the twin-jet landing in Reno, Nevada, around 1pm.

Three of the injured passengers were taken to a local hospital and their condition was not immediately know, according to Reno-Tahoe International Airport spokesperson Brian Kulpin.

A video posted to Twitter from a man inside the aircraft shows frazzled passengers after the landing. A beverage cart is seen on its side in the aisle, liquid splattered on the ceiling and personal items scattered throughout the cabin.

Delta Air Lines flight 5763 experienced severe turbulence Wednesday. This photo shows the chaos on board after the flight made an emergency landing

Five passengers were injured on the flight due to the turbulence and three were taken to the hospital

'Crazy turbulence and injuries, but the @delta crew handled it perfectly, even the emergency landing,' passenger Joe Justice wrote on Twitter.

'We did a nose dive, twice,' he added.

Photos from the cabin show one woman with a bruise on her elbow and holding a napkin to her bloodied head after injuring it during the turbulence.

Justice's daughter reenacted the bumpy flight saying 'coffee spilled, but it was okay.'

The flight was being operated by Compass Airlines and had 59 passengers and four crew members on board.

The uninjured passengers were provided pizza and soda as they waited for their next flight to their original destination.

An emergency responder is seen holding a little girl who was a passenger on the flight

One passenger called the turbulent flight chaotic and scary

Passenger Joe Justice tweeted out a video of the chaotic scene but commended the crew for handling the situation

'There were people who were shaken up, understandably,' Kulpin said.

Passenger Dave Macias wrote on Instagram after the flight: Ive been on a lot of flights over the last year and a half and this was by far the wildest flight Ive ever been on.

'Thanks @delta and @#renoairport for making the best out of a horrible situation and getting us squared away as quick as possible.'

'We apologize for this experience as we get customers to Seattle,' the airline said in a statement.

The National Weather Service had warned pilots of 'downright dangerous flying conditions with moderate to extreme turbulence'.

'This is a particularly dangerous situation for aviation in the lee of the Sierra over the next few days,' the weather service said Wednesday.

A winter storm warning is in effect for the Lake Tahoe area through 11pm Thursday.

Emergency responders took three passengers to the hospital after the Nevada landing

The flight route from Santa Ana to Reno is seen above on the web site Flight Aware

The aircraft which was flown is an Embraer ERJ-175 (like the one at LaGuardia Airport in New York seen in the above stock image)A pair of British brothers accused of swindling thousands of dollars from elderly people in roofing scams have distanced themselves from the unruly tourist family that terrorised New Zealand.

The two men appeared via video link at the Auckland District Court in New Zealand on Thursday, charged with obtaining $22,648 by deception. One of the brothers also faces an additional charge of obtaining $951 by deception.

Their lawyer Anoushka Bloem said the men had been unfairly linked to the travelling family, and said they weren't part of the group, the New Zealand Herald reported.

A pair of British brothers (one pictured) accused of swindling thousands of dollars from elderly people in roofing scams have distanced themselves from the unruly tourist family that terrorised New Zealand

The two men (one pictured) appeared via video link at the Auckland District Court in New Zealand on Thursday

Heidrun Leonard, 82, has accused a trio of Brits of fleecing her out of thousands of dollars to fix her roof

In applying for name suppression for her clients, Ms Bloem said media reports about the unruly tourist family may have prejudiced the case.

Judge Russell Collins said although the tourist family had gained 'some notoriety', he did not believe naming the men would compromise a trial.

Ms Bloem said she would appeal the decision, meaning there would be an interim suppression order in place.

Both men pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Pensioner Heidrun Leonard, 82, alleges three men charged her $8,800 to mend a hole in her roof before vanishing without doing the work.

Several elderly people have allegedly been defrauded out of thousands of dollars they handed over to scam artists for roof repairs.

Meanwhile, police are also attempting to locate James Anthony Nolan, 26.

Nolan has a warrant for his arrest and he has failed to appear in court.

James Anthony Nolan (pictured right with a family member), 26, has been identified by police after he failed to appear in court

Nolan (pictured) is accused of driving his car at a young woman who filmed him and his extended family when they left piles of rubbish at a Auckland beach last month

He is accused of driving his car at a young woman who filmed him and his extended family when they left piles of rubbish at a Auckland beach last month.

Krista Curnow, who captured dramatic footage of the picnic incident, alleged a man drove towards her as she tried to film the car's number plate.

Nolan went on the run after he was charged with assaulting the woman and on Thursday he failed to appear in court for the second time.

Police are also attempting to locate British nationals Tommy Ward, 26, and William Donohue, 25.

Nolan also faces charges of reckless driving and fraud but has not been seen since he ran away from Auckland District Court when he was given bail on January 25.

A lawyer for Nolan, whose wife and children are still believed to be in the country, told the court on February 7 on he had no explanation for his client's whereabouts.Ben Gravett (pictured) was stabbed to death by Mikel Higgins in December 2016

A bikie has been sentenced to life in prison for the 'vicious, cruel and unnecessary' murder of a man who tried to intervene during a drug-debt collection.

Rebels gang member Mikel Higgins from Adelaide, was sentenced on Thursday at the Supreme Court of South Australia, after he was found guilty by a jury for the murder of Ben Gravett.

The 35-year-old stabbed Mr Gravett 11 times after he stepped in to try and protect a friend from the 'group of thugs' out collecting drug debts at an apartment block in Christie Downs in southern Adelaide in December 2016.

Higgins was given the life sentence with a non-parole period of 22 years, as Justice Nicholson noted he had 'poor' prospects of being rehabilitated.

A second man, 23-year-old Jesse Hunt, was handed a eight-year sentence, with a six year and 10-month non-parole period, after he was found guilty of Mr Gravett's manslaughter.

At the time, Higgins led what the judge called a 'group of thugs', including some members who were armed, through the southern suburbs.

The court heard Higgins' group had already forced their way into another house before they arrived at the block of flats.

Once the group arrived in the vicinity, they bypassed a group of friends, including Mr Gravett, and barged into a flat uninvited, but the man they were looking for was not there.

Mr Gravett (pictured) was stabbed 11 times after he stepped in to try and protect a female friend from the 'group of thugs'

Justice Nicholson said the other people at the flats were 'instantly cowered into submission'.

'All, that is, except one man,' the judge said.

When the thugs appeared to approach a woman, Mr Gravett came to her defence and struck Higgins on the back of the head with a metal pole.

In retaliation, Higgins directed his group to chase Mr Gravett until he was eventually caught and punched by Hunt.

Higgins then used a kitchen knife to stab him 11 times, with some wounds to the head and neck, leaving Mr Gravett to bleed to death at the scene.

(File picture) The 35-year-old rebel bikie was given the life sentence with a non-parole period of 22 years

Handing down the sentence, Supreme Court Justice Kevin Nicholson said Higgins had relied on the violent reputation of outlaw motorcycle gangs, and back-up from his 'group of thugs' on the night of Mr Gravett's death.

'It is common knowledge that many many members of outlaw motorcycle gangs see themselves as operating outside the law,' Justice Nicholson said.

Justice Nicholson added that Higgins had behaved in a 'frighteningly aggressive manner' on the night of the attack.

'The vicious, cruel and totally unnecessary killing of Ben Gravett that night has brought upon family members and friends a world of pain and anguish,' he said.

Taking into account time already served, Hunt will be eligible for parole in 2023 and Higgins in 2039.

A third man, Korii Gebhardt, also faced trial over the murder but was acquitted by the jury of all charges.An Ohio judge accused of drunk driving was caught on camera admitting to police that she was 'absolutely out of her mind' after her SUV drove off an icy ramp and crashed into a ditch.

Authorities say Portage County Common Pleas Judge Becky Doherty was arrested on Sunday around 9.15pm following the crash in Brimfield.

The 55-year-old refused to take a Breathalyzer or field sobriety test, according to the Record-Courier, but she could be heard in body camera footage admitting to police officers that she had been drinking.

As she was placed in the backseat of the police cruiser, Doherty says: 'I am absolutely out of my mind. I am so intoxicated.'

Video from inside the Brimfield Police Station shows Doherty becoming belligerent with officers booking her on a first-degree misdemeanor charge of operating a vehicle under the influence.

She can be heard asking: 'Do you know who I am?'

The judge was locked into a jail cell after getting increasingly loud and refusing to sit down.

Portage County Common Pleas Judge Becky Doherty, 55, was arrested on Sunday after police say she drove her SUV off an icy ramp and crashed into a ditch in Brimfield, Ohio. Body camera footage shows Doherty admitting to officers that she had been drinking

In video released by the Brimfield Police Department, an officer can be heard asking Doherty: 'Have you been drinking?' to which she responds: 'Yes. My name is Becky Doherty, I'm a judge'

As she is placed in the backseat of the police cruiser, Doherty can be heard saying: 'I am absolutely out of my mind. I am so intoxicated'

Body camera video from the scene of the crash shows Doherty sitting in the driver's seat of the silver 2016 GMC Terrain that is reportedly registered to an Akron woman.

An officer asks Doherty if she had been drinking, and she confirms that she had. The officer noted that there was vomit by her seat.

After several minutes, the officer helps Doherty out of the car and tries to escort her up a snowy embankment. She keeps falling, so another officer steps in to help get her into the squad car.

Once at the station, Doherty breaks down in tears several times, telling officers that she was on her way to a funeral on Monday. She repeatedly mentions losing one of her 'kids', presumably referencing a drug court defendant.

The judge, who runs HOPE Drug Court as part of her judicial duties, had previously described the drug court as the 'best part of her week' because she can help people recover, according to the Record-Courier.

'You have no idea how it affected my probation officer and me. I cant keep losing these kids,' she says at one point in the video after her arrest.

Doherty also repeatedly demands that officers contact Portage County Sheriff's Major Larry Limbert.

When officers inform Doherty that they called Limbert and he didn't pick up, she asks for her cellphone, which had been left in a 'puddle of vomit' in her car.

Doherty was brought to the Brimfield Police Department and booked on a first-degree misdemeanor charge of operating a vehicle under the influence

She was placed in a cell after becoming belligerent with officers inside the station

Doherty's arraignment in Portage County Municipal Court in Kent is scheduled for Friday morning.

If she enters a not guilty plea, a special prosecutor will be appointed to hear the case, Portage Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci told the Record Courier.

According to court records, Doherty is still hearing cases in Portage County Common Pleas Court and had hearings on her schedule for Monday, Tuesday and Friday.

The judge was elected as a Common Pleas Court judge in 2015 after having served as chief of the criminal division of the Mahoning County Prosecutors Office since 2009.

Prior to that, Doherty worked as a criminal prosecutor in the in the violent crime unit of the Summit County Prosecutors Office from 1992 to 2008.Irish 'gypsies' are targeting the homes of elderly residents and demanding money to repair damage that doesn't exist, police say.

The scammers knock on the doors of homes in Sydney's affluent northern beaches, telling residents they've cleaned their neighbour's gutters for $40.

The 'grubs' then offer to carry out the same service for the same fee, Northern Beaches Police Area Command said.

'Once they get the yes, another member from the scammers' nest comes along to announce they're from the same company and that the roof needs repairing - for $3,500,' the Area Command wrote on Facebook.

Irish gypsies are targeting the homes of elderly residents and demanding money to repair damage to roofs that doesn't exist (stock image)

The scammers tell their victims a $2,000 up front deposit is required, which can only be paid in cash.

When the deposit is secured, five men arrive to the home the next day to announce the roof is in worse shape than initially thought - and demand another $6,000 cash.

'Money in hand, they disappear having done zero work,' Area Command said.

'A 79-year old Seaforth woman is the first victim of this latest horde of fraudsters to contact us, having made two trips to her bank to retrieve the money from her savings.'

Northern Beaches Police Area Command posted this image on Facebook warning residents of the scam

The woman said the first man to knock on her door was in his late teens or early 20s, while the second, who appeared to be the ringleader was in his late 30s and had a strong Irish accent.

One Sydney resident claimed to have come across the roof scammers, alleging online that 'they are a gypsy family that has been conning lots of people across Australia.'

Northern Beaches Police Area Command is warning the public to pass on the message to friends and family who may be vulnerable to such scams.

'If anyone knocks offering to do work in, on or about your home, especially if they're demanding cash up front, politely decline, close the door and please, contact us,' it said.

'You don't want to lose your hard-earned savings and we want to catch, charge and put them before the courts.'Donald Trump Jr and girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle made their way from the White House to the runway on Wednesday for New York Fashion Week.

The loved up duo sat front row at the Zang Toi show at Springs Studio in New York City on Wednesday evening.

The Malaysian designer's show was America-themed, featuring outfits in red, white and blue and skirts draped with the nation's flag.

The couple were joined in the front row by Marla Maples, Donald Trump's second wife, and Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer.

Hello NYFW: Donald Trump Jr and girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle attended the Zang Toi fashion show in New York City on Wednesday evening

The loved up couple attended the America-themed show at Spring Studios on Wednesday evening

The pair sat in the front row alongside Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer (second right) and President Donald Trump's second wife Marla Maples (far right)

Their eyes were glued to the patriotic outfits that strutted down the runway

Former Fox News host Guilfoyle made a statement in a black dress with butterfly details on the sleeves and black pumps.

Don Jr looked sleek in a navy suit with a pink top for a pop of color.

Maples opted for a purple halter dress with black lace detail while Hemmer looked smart in a simple black suit.

Guilfoyle shared snaps of the exciting show on her Instagram stories, highlighting her favorite looks from the presentation.

In several snaps she captures Marla Maples' excited face and Don Jr's concentration as he analyzes the show.

The show was America-themed and renditions of America The Beautiful and God Bless America played as models strutted down the runway.

Guilfoyle sported a black knit dress with butterfly details on one shoulder for the special show

Trump and Guilfoyle were all smiles as they admired the looks gliding down the runway

Marla Maples couldn't help but whip out her phone to snap her favorite outfits

Don Jr concentrated as the models strutted down the runway

At the end of the show the designer Zang Toi greeted the president's son and his girlfriend in the front row with open arms.

According to Forbes, Toi is a Trump supporter.

This wasn't the first show New York Fashion Week show for Guilfoyle.

The former prosecutor stepped out on Saturday arm-in-arm with Marla Maples and Tiffany Trump to attend the show of Chinese designer Taoray Wang.

After Wednesday's show Don Jr gushed about taking Guilfoyle on fishing and hunting trips as they hit the campaign trail prior to the midterm elections.

'Shes actually doing quite well [at fishing]' he said after the show to Page Six.

Guilfoyle shared her favorite bits of the show on her Instagram stories on Wednesday including snippets of Maples' smiling face and Don Jr focused on the runway

The Zang Toi show was America-themed featuring vibrant looks in red, white and blue

Murica: The show included looks featuring the American flag in skirts and draped over shoulders

Check it out! The group peeped their phones before the show started on Wednesday evening

After the show designer Zang Toi greeted Don Jr in the front row with a friendly handshake

Strike a pose! The two flashed full smiles for the cameras backstage at the show

Friends with the designer! Guilfoyle posed for a snap with designer Zang Toi backstage at his show

Say cheese! Don Jr, Guilfoyle and Maples all smiled for a group photo with Toi

The three also posed for a picture with American sex therapist and media personality Ruth Westheimer

'Shes even been out with me down to Texas with some of my buddies there. They all go, "Hey, its a guy camp, are you sure shes going to be OK?" Im like, "Dont worry, boys, Im making you sign a waiver. Shes going to destroy all of you,"' he added.

He raved about her hunting skills saying, 'She's a very good shot and progressing with that as well.'

Guilfoyle credits her outdoor skills to her beau's teaching.

'He taught me everything I know. I grew up living in Ireland every summer since I was five. I was going fly fishing with my brother and father and so I love to enjoy that with Don,' she said.

The couple revealed they have low-key plans for their Valentines Day.

'I'm probably more of a fisherman than I am a romantic, not to say that you can't do both. We're just going to hang out. We're all traveling a lot over the coming weeks so we're going to do a nice calm thing, just the two of us,' Don Jr said, adding they'll have a quiet dinner at a restaurant.President Trump is considering pushing back the deadline for imposing higher tariffs on Chinese imports by 60 days.

Today negotiators are starting two-days of high-level talks that could decide whether Trump escalates the tariff battle between the world's two biggest economies.

Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will meet with China's top economic czar Liu He over the next two days.

Trump indicated this week he was open to extending a trade truce beyond March 1 depending on progress in Beijing, Bloomberg News reported citing sources.

In December he postponed plans to sharply hike tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports to allow more time for negotiation.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, left, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, centre, are meeting with China's Liu He, right, in Beijing for two days of talks starting today

China and the United States have already imposed duties on more than $360 billion in two-way trade

The two economic superpowers have already imposed duties on more than $360 billion in two-way trade, which has weighed on their manufacturing sectors and shaken global financial markets.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are meeting with China's top economic czar Liu He, seeking to build on progress made in Washington last month.

Mnuchin said they were 'looking forward to discussions today' as he left his hotel this morning for the talks.

While Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that preliminary talks in Beijing were 'going along very well. They're showing us tremendous respect.'

Expectations for a trade deal have grown as China faces pressure from slowing economic growth, and as swooning global markets pose a challenge to Trump and his economic advisors.

Data released Thursday in China showed its trade surplus with the US - a major source of anger within the Trump administration - narrowed in January to $27.3 billion, even as its American imports plunged 41 percent for the month from a year earlier.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, centre, said he was 'looking forward to discussions today 'as he left his hotel for the talks

The two superpowers have already imposed duties on more than $360 billion in two-way trade, which has weighed on their manufacturing sectors and shaken global financial markets

Last year the surplus hit a record $323.3 billion.

China's total imports also sank for the month, pointing to weak demand amid slowing economic growth.

In the talks, the U.S. is pushing for changes in the way China manages foreign trade and its own economy.

Lighthizer has zeroed in on Chinas alleged abuses of intellectual property and state sponsorship of companies, reports Bloomberg.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also plans to meet with the US officials in Beijing this week bolstering hopes for the talks and world markets, reports the South China Morning Post.

Trump also has said he expects to meet with Xi 'at some point' to clinch a trade deal.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office yesterday that preliminary talks in Beijing were 'going along very well. They're showing us tremendous respect'

'Markets will continue to watch -- and react -- closely to the ups and downs of the negotiations,' said Trey McArver of Trivium Research.

'But Sino-US relations are all about the two leaders, and it will ultimately be up to Xi and Trump to come to a deal -- or not,' he wrote Wednesday in a newsletter.

The two sides said major progress was made in talks last month in Washington, but a wide gulf remains on some issues.

The US is demanding far-reaching changes to Chinese practices that it says are unfair, including theft of US technology and intellectual property, and myriad barriers that foreign companies face in the Chinese domestic market.

Beijing has offered to boost its purchases of US goods but is widely expected to resist calls for major changes to its industrial policies such as slashing government subsidies.

The International Monetary Fund warned on Sunday of a possible global economic 'storm' as world growth forecasts dip, citing the US-China trade row as a key pivot point.Sun-seekers could have an endless summer with ridiculously cheap flights up for grabs.

With winter on it way, budget airline Jetstar has launched its sale for tropical destinations.

Among the list of cheap holiday hotspots is Hawaii from Sydney for a measly $199.

As Winter approaches budget airline Jetstar has launched its sale for tropical destinations (stock image)

Skip the chilly Winter days and head to Hawaii for a measly $199 thanks to budget airline Jetstar (stock image)

As Australia starts to cool down, globetrotters could be lazing in the sun under a palm tree.

However, travellers searching for a year-long tan will have to get in quick as the sale ends on Monday, February 18 - or even sooner if the flights sell out.

The airline is offering flights to Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii, where holidaymakers can catch some waves or lounge on the sand.

Another escape from the colder months is Phuket for $189 or Sydney to Bali for $199.

The discount airline is also offering ridiculously cheap flights within Australia such to various holiday spots.

The airline is also offering flights to domestic hotspots such as Brisbane to Whitsunday Coast from $69.

Jetstar is offering the 'Endless Beaches' flights from March until November 2019.

Terms and conditions apply and deals are subject to availability.A Navy petty officer whose car plunged off a soaring bridge in San Diego and killed four people below was convicted Wednesday of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

A jury also found Richard Sepolio, 27, guilty of driving under the influence causing injury but acquitted him of the more serious charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. He also was acquitted of reckless driving and driving over the legal alcohol limit causing injury.

Sepolio could be sentenced to up to 18 years in prison.

Richard Sepolio stands in court after Judge Charles G. Rogers released the jury after delivering a guilty verdict on Wednesday in San Diego

Sepolio is placed in handcuffs by the Sheriff's deputy after Judge Charles G. Rogers ordered him to be taken into custody

Sepolio, left, along with his attorney, Paul Pfingst, look over at the jury who found him guilty. He could be sentenced to up to 18 years in prison

Seconds after the crash: This is driver Richard Sepolio after he plunged his car 60 feet off a freeway bridge into a festival in San Diego in October 2016. He is seen writing around in pain

Serviceman: Navy active-duty service member Sepolio, now 27, could face 18 years in jail

'This was a great outcome on this case,' prosecutor Cally Bright said out of court. But Bright added: 'Nothing will bring back the family members lost that day.'

Prosecutors said Sepolio had been drinking on October 15, 2016, and was arguing with his girlfriend - now his wife - by cellphone when he tried to speed past another car on the San Diego-Coronado Bridge.

He lost control of his pickup truck, which crashed through a concrete and plunged 60 feet off the span into a crowd celebrating a motorcycle rally and festival at Chicano Park. The truck crushed vendor booths where people were standing.

Four people died, and seven were hurt.

The people who were killed were Cruz Elias Contreras, 52, and Annamarie Contreras, 50, of Chandler, Arizona; and Andre Christopher Banks, 49, and Francine Denise Jimenez, 46, both from Hacienda Heights, a suburb east of Los Angeles, the San Diego County Medical Examiner said.

Witnesses had said the four people had been in a vendor's booth when they were crushed by the truck.

A video shot moments after the crash shows the part of the bridge Sepolio crashed down from

Facebook Live video appears to show Sepolio being dragged from his mangled vehicle

Andre Banks, 49 (left), and his girlfriend, Francine Jimenez, 46 (right), were among the four people who were crushed by the truck

Couple killed: Cruz Contreras, 52 (right), and his wife of 35 years, Annamarie Contreras, 50 (left), were killed in the crash, leaving behind three daughters and two grandchildren

A video posted to Facebook by witness Guillermo Gonzalez shows Sepolio writhing on the ground in pain seconds after the crash.

Photos from the scene show the truck's front end crumpled and its mangled hood popped open.

Sepolio's pickup was recorded doing 81 mph going onto the bridge, which stretches across San Diego Bay and links San Diego to the Navy town of Coronado, where Sepolio was an aviation electronics technician.

The prosecution told jurors that Sepolio chose 'to drive irritated, impaired and impatient.'

At trial, Sepolio testified that he'd had two drinks earlier in the day but wasn't drunk and wasn't on the cellphone call at the time of the crash.

The defense and prosecution disagreed on whether several blood and breath tests given to Sepolio indicated he was impaired.

Police stand near the pickup truck that landed at Chicano Park after it flew off a bridge

Police cover the bodies of people that were killed when a pickup truck landed on them after it flew off a ramp to the San Diego Coronado Bridge in October 2016

Defense attorney Paul Pfingst said outside court that he was disappointed that Sepolio was convicted of DUI even though jurors didn't find that he was driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit, KFMB-TV reported.

'My client is a very good, decent, young man who was not driving over the legal limit, and had a traffic accident which has led to this. He will pay a heavy price for that, as will his family,' Pfingst said.

Jurors reached a verdict on Monday. But the judge held off on reading the verdict until Wednesday following a Tuesday court holiday so that family and friends of Sepolio and the victims - some from out of state - could attend the hearing.

Sepolio's wife, their baby and his parents from Texas attended the nearly month-long trial. Pfingst said Sepolio asked him to tell his family to 'stay strong,' the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.New Orleans' widely recognized Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club says its tradition of using black makeup for its Mardi Gras float riders is not the same as 'blackface,' a controversy that has embroiled officials nationwide.

The predominantly black club Wednesday distributed a statement in an effort to head off any criticism of its long-standing custom of parade riders blackening their faces.

The statement first condemned the practice of blackface and the recent influx of politicians seen donning the offensive and racist gesture.

'Blackface' minstrel shows attempted to mimic enslaved Africans on Southern plantations and depicted black people as lazy, ignorant, and cowardly,' Col. Clarence A. Becknell, Sr., Director of Public Relations, said in the release.

The predominantly black Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club distributed a statement on Wednesday in an effort to head off any criticism of its long-standing custom of parade riders blackening their faces

'Recent photographs showing certain high-profile individuals dressed as 'blackface' minstrels reveal their hateful intent to demean, disrespect, discount, and demoralize African-Americans. The backlash to their conduct has thankfully been severe and the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, Inc. joins with countless others in condemning this behavior.'

The group then provided historical context as to why they donned black faces on top of their already majority black faces.

Group started out as 'The Tramps' in the early 1900s but changed their name to the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, Inc. in 1909

'Unlike minstrelsy, which was designed to ridicule and mock black people, the founders of our Social Aid & Pleasure Club chose the name 'Zulu' to honor their African ancestry and the continent's most fierce warriors,' they added.

The statement refers to the Battle of Isandlwana when the severely disadvantaged Zulu Kingdom beat the British Empire in a eleven day massacre in 1879.

The battle was one of the worst defeats that the empire faced against an indigenous foe.

The statement added: Zulu parade costumes bear no resemblance to the costumes worn by 'blackface' minstrel performers at the turn of the century.

Zulu parade costumes more closely resemble and are designed to honor garments worn by South African Zulu warriors.

Becknell explained that nothing that the groups does is meant to be degrading towards people of the African diaspora.

He added: 'Zulu has always been about celebrating African and African-American culture, strength, and pride. After the Civil War, formerly enslaved Africans were left financially crippled. Unable to afford the cost of funerals, illness, and other necessitous circumstances, blacks formed their own societies or Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs which held social events to raise money for needy members.'

Originally called 'The Tramps', the group went through a renaming in 1909 and was featured at its first Mardi Gras parade in 1910.

''Masking' is a central part of Mardi Gras,' explained Col. Clarence A. Becknell, Sr., Director of Public Relations. 'The financial and legal constraints on blacks in the Post-Reconstruction South made makeup (and not masks) the only option available to Zulu members at that time,' the statement continued'

'In the best traditions of carnivalesque practice, Zulu has expropriated racist representations and inverted them as a form of anti-racist resistance,' asserted Loyola University New Orleans Professor C.W. Cannon. 'Those who say people shouldn't try to do that kind of thing just don't get what carnival is. Maybe because it's not part of their culture. But it is a part of ours'

''Masking' is a central part of Mardi Gras. The financial and legal constraints on blacks in the Post-Reconstruction South made makeup (and not masks) the only option available to Zulu members at that time,' the statement continued.

The statement continues with 'insightful commentary' from Loyola University New Orleans Professor C.W. Cannon.

'It's a remarkable testament to the resilience of carnival spirit that, in the midst of the white supremacist era, the Zulu king first stepped off a banana boat in the New Basin canal wearing a lard can crown,' commented the professor.

The professor added: 'The date: 1909. That's why it's so upsetting  also a bit absurd  when people who have no understanding or appreciation for carnival aesthetics and social analysis chime in from hundreds of miles away with self-righteous finger-wagging. What they're about is shaming traditions that are far more revolutionary than they are able to comprehend.

The club's statement comes just weeks before it prepares to roll on March 5, Fat Tuesday

Under the posts and other posts pertaining to the statement, many Facebook users shared their own photos with various members of the group. Most appeared to understand the history behind the group and offered their support.

'It calls into question the extent to which black people should be allowed agency in representing their own experience; it also places limits on how black people themselves choose to enunciate anti-racist arguments.

'In the best traditions of carnivalesque practice, Zulu has expropriated racist representations and inverted them as a form of anti-racist resistance. Those who say people shouldn't try to do that kind of thing just don't get what carnival is. Maybe because it's not part of their culture. But it is a part of ours.'

The club's statement comes just weeks before it prepares to roll on March 5, Fat Tuesday.

Under the posts and other posts pertaining to the statement, many Facebook users shared their own photos with various members of the group. Most appeared to understand the history behind the group and offered their support.

On their website, the group admits that they ran into issues in the 60s during the height of the civil rights movement, when it seemed unpopular to be a Zulu

On their website, the group admits that they ran into issues in the 60s during the height of the civil rights movement, when it seemed unpopular to be a Zulu.

'Large numbers of black organizations protested against the Zulu organization, and its membership dwindled to approximately 16 men,' the site reads. 'James Russell, a long-time member, served as president in this period, and is credited with holding the organization together and slowly bringing Zulu back to the forefront.

The Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, Inc does many events to service black people and other minorities in the community. While it is predominantly black, approximately 5 percent of its membership is white.

The white members do participate in the 'black up' for the parade, the Advocate reports.With 10 Democrats officially declaring their candidacy for president and another 20 considering a run for the White House, it is going to be a crowded field - which is why there could be two stages during this summer's primary debates.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez says he'll announce details of the first two presidential primary debates by the end of the week.

Perez says he plans to include a grassroots fundraising metric as part of the qualifying threshold.

He wants that to make the debate more inclusive than just using polling.

The first two debates are slated for June and July.

The Democratic Party will have its presidential candidates debate this summer. Seen above are two contenders: Senators Elizabeth Warren (left) and Kamala Harris (right)

Senator Amy Klobuchar (left) entered the 2020 presidential race on Sunday, becoming the first moderate in an increasingly crowded field of Democrats. She will have to contend with Senate colleague Cory Booker (right) of New Jersey

They'll be the first two of six debates in 2019, with at least six more to follow in 2020.

Perez reaffirmed Wednesday that he'd 'draw lots' to assign candidates to the two stages rather than separate perceived leaders from a second tier as Republicans did in their large primary field during their 2016 nominating fight.

After earlier reports that there would be two stages, Perez said this was a tentative option being discussed and nothing definitive has been decided.

Senator Amy Klobuchar entered the 2020 presidential race on Sunday, becoming the first moderate in an increasingly crowded field of Democrats vying to challenge Republican President Donald Trump.

Klobuchar became the fifth U.S. senator to announce her candidacy, and the fourth woman in the chamber.

Klobuchar, 58, now in her third six-year term as a senator for Minnesota, will seek to position herself as a contrast to Trump, who is expected to be the Republican candidate in the November 2020 election, focusing on both policy differences but also style and tact.

Klobuchars announcement came amid several news reports of high staff turnover in her Senate office with workers complaining of having to do personal chores, making it difficult to hire high-level campaign strategists.

In 2015, the Republican Party's presidential primary began with 17 candidates, but eventually whittled down to 10. The top 10 are seen above at the start of a debate in Cleveland in August 2015

A former prosecutor and corporate attorney, Klobuchar joins a list of Democratic hopefuls that includes fellow Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kamala Harris of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Warren went to Iowa to campaign on Sunday after formally launching her bid on Saturday. Booker also spent the weekend in the Midwestern farm state.

Im tired of a government that works for a thin slice at the top and nobody else, said Warren, appearing at the University of Iowa. Its pretty straightforward to me, not much fancier than that.

Booker also spent the weekend in the Midwestern farm state.

Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii also declared her candidacy on February 2. A Samoan-American, she was the first Hindu elected to Congress.

Joe Biden, the former vice president, has contacted top donors in the Democratic Party to discuss the possibility of entering the race, CNBC reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, Biden has indicated that he is leaning toward entering the race, but a final decision has not been made.

Former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke (above) will announce at the end of the month if he, too, is running for president

Former Vice President Joe Biden (left) and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (right) are reportedly close to announcing their candidacies

Another big name candidate who is likely to run but has not made an official announcement is Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

Democrats are also anticipating an announcement from former Representative Beto O'Rourke.

The congressman from El Paso, Texas galvanized voters and nearly upset incumbent Republican Ted Cruz during last November's U.S. Senate race.

His grassroots campaign created a buzz around O'Rourke, who is expected to decide by the end of the month if he, too, will seek the Democratic nomination for president.More than 40 Labour MPs defied Jeremy Corbyn to vote in favour of delaying Brexit to avoid no deal tonight.

The Labour leader ordered his MPs to abstain on the SNP proposal telling the Prime Minister to seek an extension of Article 50 of at least three months.

Analysis of the division list found 41 Labour MPs backed the proposal from SNP leader Ian Blackford. Tories Ken Clarke and Sarah Wollaston also voted Yes.

The rebellions will fuel fears in the Labour leadership that pro-Remain MPs could finally breakaway from the party in a catastrophic split.

The new act of defiance came after a senior Labour MP accused Mr Corbyn of helping to deliver a Tory Brexit today.

Clive Lewis, who quit the shadow cabinet to vote against triggering Article 50, warned Labour would be punished by voters for facilitating Theresa May's deal.

Mr Lewis's intervention came as Mr Corbyn was warned he could face a walk out of shadow ministers for failing to demand a second Brexit vote.

The Labour leader has infuriated party activists for insisting he wants to deliver Labour's version of Brexit instead of backing a new referendum.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has insisted that the option of a new Brexit poll remains on the table as he admitted that Labour's preferred scenario of a snap general election is looking unlikely.

Labour has tabled an amendment to today's Government motion requiring Mrs May to either put her deal to a Commons vote by February 27 or allow Parliament to take control of the process.

Mr Corbyn (pictured in the Commons tonight) is tackling conflicting opinions on whether to back a second referendum - with some frontbenchers clear that they would not back one

Clive Lewis, who quit the shadow cabinet to vote against triggering Article 50, warned Labour would be punished by voters for facilitating Theresa May's deal.

Referring to the Lib Dems who formed the coalition with the Conservatives in 2010, Mr Lewis said: 'They were utterly and comprehensively destroyed by the British public and not forgiven because they facilitated austerity.

'They facilitated the Tories doing that. And my fear is that what we are now doing is we are helping to facilitate a Tory Brexit.

'And the ramifications for our party I think will be severe.'

He added: 'And I tell you what, the Tory right wing mainstream media will get behind that narrative.

'And it is us, the Labour Party, who will pick up a lot of the flack for what happens.'

Anti-Brexit Labour MPs, junior shadow ministers and grassroots members have told The Guardian they are prepared to resign if Mr Corbyn does not also lend his support to a pro-referendum amendment later this month.

The news comes as Theresa May (pictured today) faces the prospect of a fresh Brexit rebellion from hardline Tory MPs in a key Commons vote on the Prime Minister's EU withdrawal stance

In January the Labour leader tabled a Commons amendment that would require the Government to provide time for Parliament to legislate for 'a public vote' on the final Brexit deal.

Dutch prime minister claims Britain is a 'diminished' country because of Brexit The Dutch prime minister claimed last night that Britain is a 'diminished' country because of Brexit. During a speech in Switzerland, Mark Rutte also warned that leaving the European Union without a deal would lead to 'insurmountable' consequences for the British economy. During a speech in Switzerland, Mark Rutte (pictured) warned of the consequences of Brexit Calling for more EU unity, Mr Rutte said: 'We should stick together, now more than ever. Because if the chaos of Brexit teaches us anything, it's that there's no such thing as splendid isolation.' However, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith hit back, saying: 'Europe is mired in mess and debt and the UK made a bold decision to join the rest of the world.' Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg added: 'EU leaders are now resorting to mere abuse as their beloved institution flounders. Happily we are taking back control and can afford to laugh at their foibles.' Advertisement

But Mrs May warned MPs they had given too little thought to the damage a second poll would do to public trust.

Mr Corbyn is tackling conflicting opinions on whether to back a second referendum - with some frontbenchers clear that they would not back one.

While others, including Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, have noted that the option of a second public vote should be considered.

Anger in the Labour party reared its head on Wednesday evening, as MP Neil Coyle tweeted Jeremy Corbyn.

He said: 'Members leaving in their thousands over Brexit. Cllrs quitting. MPs will leave. Antisemitism continues in your name. Only you can change all this.'

One Labour MP, Geraint Davies, has tabled an amendment calling for a referendum on Mrs May's deal - which will be voted on tomorrow.

The Labour leadership is set to back a proposal from backbencher Yvette Cooper, expected to be debated on February 27, that would require a vote by the middle of March on delaying Brexit.

The news comes as Theresa May faces the prospect of a fresh Brexit rebellion from hardline Tory MPs in a key Commons vote on the Prime Minister's EU withdrawal stance.

As MPs again vote on Brexit options on Thursday, Eurosceptic Conservatives are threatening to oppose the Government's motion.

Also today, European Council president Donald Tusk expressed frustration at a lack of progress in London.

He tweeted: 'No news is not always good news. EU27 still waiting for concrete, realistic proposals from London on how to break Brexit impasse.'

And Dutch PM Mark Rutte told the Financial Times the Netherlands is already benefiting from businesses relocating from a 'diminished' Britain.

Eurosceptic MPs call on Theresa May to discipline Brexit negotiator following comments in bar Theresa May's chief Brexit negotiator was hung out to dry by ministers yesterday after suggesting the UK's exit from the EU would be delayed unless MPs vote for her deal next month. Olly Robbins angered Eurosceptic MPs after it emerged he had been overheard in a Brussels bar telling colleagues that Parliament would face a stark choice at the end of next month between backing Mrs May's deal or a 'long' extension of Article 50. The comments were not disputed by No 10. Eurosceptic MPs called on Mrs May to rein in Mr Robbins, or even sack him. Former Brexit minister Steve Baker said his comments were 'most unfortunate', adding: 'The Prime Minister is the ultimate negotiator for the UK'. Advertisement

In a bid to keep lines open with EU leaders, Mrs May spoke with French president Emmanuel Macron and Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday evening.

Commons Speaker John Bercow will choose which amendments will be selected for a vote on Thursday.

Leading pro-Europe Tory Kenneth Clarke has tabled an amendment calling for MPs to be able to rank Brexit options in order of preference on a ballot paper under the alternative vote system.

An amendment from Labour MP Roger Godsiff calls for an extension of the Brexit negotiation period to allow for a second referendum.

A cross-party initiative supported by Tory Anna Soubry and Labour's Chuka Umunna tells the Government to publish its most recent official briefing on the implications of a no-deal Brexit for business and trade.

And the SNP has tabled a motion requiring the UK Government to begin immediate negotiations with the European Council to extend Article 50 by no less than three months.

The Government suffered a heavy defeat in the Lords on Wednesday night as peers demanded a 'meaningful vote' on the PM's Brexit deal before the end of the month.

The opposition motion, backed by 155 votes to 69, majority 86, also called on Mrs May to rule out a no-deal split with Brussels.A man who dined at a Mexican restaurant in Alabama scribbled a racist note on the receipt without leaving a tip.

The diner walked into Charritos Bar & Grill on Saturday in Huntsville and ordered food and drinks, the restaurant said on its Facebook page.

When it came time to leave a tip, the man instead wrote: Brown c***s and Trump will f*** you all.

The restaurant posted an image of the receipt on its Facebook page.

We are a local family owned and operated business, our employees and most of our customers are like family, the restaurant wrote in a Facebook post.

Scroll down for video

A man who dined at a Mexican restaurant in Huntsville, Alabama on Saturday declined to leave a tip, though he did scribble a message on the receipt: Brown c***s and Trump will f*** you all

Before leaving the note on the receipt, the man made a racist comment about white people not ever using cash, according to waiters at Charrito Bar & Grill in Huntsville (above)

They have been with us in the good and in the bad times.

We don't care about your political background, your race or what gender you prefer, ALL ARE WELCOME!!!

We treat each customer with respect and we welcome everyone with open arms and a smile.

Last night it was brought to our attention, from another customer, that a customer out of nowhere left this rude and awful message to staff and customers that were sitting in the bar area.

The Facebook post went viral. It was shared more than 500 times and generated more than 900 reactions

We would like to let everyone know that this behavior is not tolerated in our restaurant. Our staff and any customers in our facility require respect.

The Facebook post went viral. It was shared more than 500 times and generated more than 900 reactions.

A waiter at the restaurant said that the man sat down and ate dinner without incident, according to WHNT-TV.

But when he was asked by the waitress if he was going to pay with cash or a credit card, the man replied: Do white people ever use cash?

Vanessa Martinez, the restaurant owner, told WHNT-TV that this was the first incident of this kind to happen.

Our post was not intended to be politically out there or what not, she said.

Everybody has their own opinions.

We just want people who are coming into the restaurant to be peaceful and mindful of other people.Sir Andrew McFarlane wants fertility laws to be re-examined after hearing the case of a transgender man who got pregnant with donor sperm

A transgender man had fertility treatment and fell pregnant with the use of a sperm donor just ten days after completing his legal transition from being a woman.

The anonymous man  known only as TT  was born a female but had legally become a man when he gave birth to the child, known as YY.

He has now sparked a huge debate on UK fertility laws after taking his case to the Family Division of the High Court to be registered as the father on the childs birth certificate, rather than as his mother.

If a senior judge rules in favour of TT, the baby could be the first born in England and Wales who will not legally have a mother.

TT says forcing him to register as the childs mother breaches his human right to respect for private and family life.

TT was born a biological woman but received a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), which allows him to classify as a trans man.

What is a Gender Recognition Certificate? Under UK law, individuals are considered by the State to be of the gender  either male or female  that is registered on their birth certificates. The Gender Recognition Act 2004 enables transsexual people to apply to the Gender Recognition Panel to receive a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). If you are granted a full GRC you will, from the date of issue, be considered in the eyes of the law to be of your acquired gender. You will be entitled to all the rights appropriate to a person of your acquired gender. This will include the right to retire and receive state pension at the age appropriate to your acquired gender. The Standard Application track for a Gender Recognition Certificate requires applicants to demonstrate that: they have, or have had, gender dysphoria; they have lived fully for the last two years in their acquired gender and continue to do so; they intend to live permanently in their acquired gender until death. Source: Gov.uk Advertisement

Just ten days after receiving the certificate, he had intrauterine insemination where one of his eggs was fertilised with the donor sperm.

Top judge Sir Andrew McFarlane wants fertility laws to be re-examined after hearing the case.

Sir Andrew was told civil servants had drawn up a plan to allow the parent to be classed as male mother, but the judge was told the plan was impractical, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Current UK law states that fertility treatment is only currently accessible to women.

Sir Andrew, president of the Family Division of the High Court, suggested the government should review the 2008 Human Fertilisation and Embryo Authority Act.

It is a matter of concern thatthe clinic treated TT whilst openly regarding him as a man, Sir Andrew said speaking to lawyers representing the Department of Health.

I am inviting the government to consider whether the operation of the HFEA Act needs to be looked at.

TT's lawyers directed the judge to laws in other European countries relating to two parents of the same sex.

Belgian and Dutch law allow the mothers female partner to be registered as a legal parent (co-mother) of the child, and thus exercise parental responsibilities together with the mother.

Currently, fertility treatment is only available to women under UK law (file photo)

The HFEA, which has chosen to not be involved in the High Court case, was not present in court yesterday.

It will be at least another week until a judgment is passed.A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with a fatal early morning stabbing.

Police were called to reports of a man having been stabbed in Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, at about 2.35am on Sunday.

The victim, who has been formally identified as 39-year-old Dennis Anderson from Lewisham, was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 3am.

The force said the attacker had approached Mr Anderson in an off-licence shop and a row erupted before Mr Anderson was attacked.

Dennis Anderson was stabbed to death in East Dulwich over the weekend after a man confronted him in a corner shop in an apparent row over a packet of cigarettes

The scene on Lordship Lane in East Dulwich, south London where Mr Anderson was killed

A post-mortem examination held on Tuesday gave the cause of death as an incised wound to the neck, police said.

The Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday evening a 24-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of murder and taken to a south London police station.

Detective Inspector Domenica Catino, who is leading the investigation, said: 'Although we have made an arrest, we still need to hear from anyone that may have been in the area on Sunday morning.

'Any information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, could really help our investigation.

'We are aware of speculation around the motive for this attack and can now confirm that the suspect approached Mr Anderson in an off-licence shop before an altercation broke out and the suspect delivered a fatal attack.

'Our top priorities now are to support Mr Anderson's family.'

Friends said Mr Anderson was popular in the area and was known as a family man who doted on his daughter. He is believed to have been returning home from a party when he was killed

Mr Anderson 'didn't have a bad bone in his body', friends said earlier this week.

His friends have said Mr Anderson was a painter-decorator who was devoted to his teenage daughter and had never even been in a fight before.

Mr Anderson is said to have been returning home from a friend's party when he was asked for a cigarette in a convenience store.

Witnesses said an argument ensued in which he was attacked and killed.

Friend Luke Roche, 29, told The Evening Standard: 'He loved his daughter. He was a family man and very popular, no one had a bad word to say about him. I honestly can't think of anyone he'd had a fight with. He just wasn't part of that life.'

The assistant manager of the store, Muhammad Khan, said a fight broke out over a cigarette which ended with the customer being stabbed to death just 20 seconds later.

He said: 'They had an argument about cigarettes. My cousin was here, he was manager. The guy who had the knife came in about five or six minutes after the man who then got stabbed.

'The guy with the knife asked the other for free cigarettes, like as a favour or something.

'They had an argument and he took out a knife. Everyone was trying to stop him.

'A member of staff behind the counter and other customers tried to stop him too.'

He added: 'We have had no trouble around here before- it's very nice, all educated and wealthy people living around here.'

The brutal killing came on a night of horrific violence in the capital.

A policewoman stands by the cordon of the scene of the stabbing early yesterday

In what is becoming a common sight in London, forensics teams were again out this weekend

In Neasden, North West London a 23-year-old man was critically injured in another stabbing.

On the same evening, a 16-year-old boy received knife wounds in a fight in Hayes, West London.

In an unrelated attack, a 17-year-old boy was fighting for his life in hospital yesterday after being shot in Isleworth, west London.

Yesterday, MPs and local politicians called for an end to the bloodshed after the fifth murder in the last fortnight.

Helen Hayes, Labour MP for East Dulwich tweeted: 'Appalled to learn of a fatal stabbing on Lordship Lane during the night. Another family now devastated due to knife crime. This has to stop.'

Medical equipment remains on the floor, at the scene of the fatal stabbing in Dulwich

MP for the area, Helen Hayes tweeted that the knife crime 'has to stop'. The scene is pictured

Police forensics at the scene of the stabbing in East Dulwich where the victim was said to have had his throat slit with a large knife

Police forensics and officers outside Payless Food & Wine which remains behind a cordon

Florence Eshalomi, London Assembly Member for Lambeth and Southwark, said: 'Sad to wake up to yet another stabbing in Southwark. This has to end.'

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.

Already this year at least nine people have been murdered in the capital including Lejean Richards, 19, who was stabbed near Prince George's school earlier this week

The homicide figures are more pronounced when excluding mass murders such as the London Bridge, Westminster and Manchester terror attacks, which claimed the lives of 35 innocent victims in 2017.

Taking those deaths out, the number of killings increasing by 89, or 15 per cent, from 606 to 695.

London witnessed the starkest concentration of crimes involving knives and sharp instruments, highlighting the capital's ongoing crisis.

So far in 2019 at least nine people have been murdered in the capital including Lejean Richards, 19, who was stabbed to death near Prince George's school.

His mother Lavern Joseph said: 'Lejean was a loving son and brother, a young man determined to turn his life around.'Advertisement

The mother of an unrepentant schoolgirl who fled London to join Islamic State and now wants to return so the NHS can care for her baby says she understands why 'people in this country don't want her back'.

Shamima Begum was just 15 when she and two other girls from Bethnal Green travelled to Syria four years ago and became a jihadi bride by marrying an IS fighter.

Shamima, 19, who is nine months pregnant with her third child, is living in in a refugee camp in northern Syria having chosen to flee the group's last stand two weeks ago over fears for her unborn child.

The teenager said she didn't regret her decision but wants to 'come home to Britain'.

Today Begum's brother-in-law Mohammed Rehman spoke of how her mother had wept after speaking with her daughter on the phone, and how the family can understand the anger of people who don't want the teenager to return to the UK.

He said: 'The family spoke with Shamima today. It was very emotional. There's a mixture of elation and sorrow. We are happy that she's alive but sad that things have come to this. She's lost two children and put us all through a lot of heart ache. She's also gone through a very difficult time herself.

'Shamima's mother broke down when she heard her voice. Until the interview with her appeared in the newspaper we didn't know if she was alive or not. So you can imagine, this has come as a shock to us all.

'At one stage we thought she was dead. There has been no contact with her in almost 2 years. Shamima's mum just cried and told her to come home. She promised to make her her favourite food. We want her to come back so that she can be re-educated. As a family we can't understand how her head was turned like this and why she thought going to Syria was a good idea.

'I can understand why people in this country are angry and don't want her back. What she's done doesn't portray Islam in a good light. But she was only 15 when she went to Syria. We are appealing for compassion and understanding on her behalf.'

Shamima Begum (pictured in her passport photo, and right before she left aged 15) is now 19 and is alive in Syria - she wants to return to the UK

Fully-veiled women and their children carrying their belongings fleeing from Baghuz in eastern Syria, the final ISIS stronghold about to fall and where Begum claims to have been two weeks ago

Shamima Begum and her friend fled to Syria by flying to Istanbul and getting a bus across Turkey to the Islamic State's capital, Raqqa. She moved to Mayadin with her jihadi husband Yago Riedijk but fled Baghuz when he was captured and is now in al-Hawl

Begum is the only known survivor of the three friends from Bethnal Green and her two children died of disease and malnutrition before the age of one as the caliphate fell apart around her.

The schoolgirl claims she lived a 'normal life' in ISIS' capital Raqqa and was 'not fazed' by the brutal execution of its enemies, recounting how she once found an 'an enemy of Islam's' decapitated head in a bin.

But with her third baby now due any day and her jihadi husband Yago Riedijk captured, she has decided to quit and now wants to 'live quietly' back in the UK and ensure her baby survives with the help of the NHS.

Yesterday security minister Ben Wallace admitted she has the right to return to the UK but they would not help her and said: 'Actions have consequences. I'm not putting at risk British people's lives to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed state'.

In an extraordinary interview with The Times' Anthony Loyd, she said: 'I don't regret coming here. But I have to think about my baby as well. After my two kids died I'm scared this baby is going to get sick - that's why I really want to get back to Britain because I know it will be taken care of. Healthcare-wise at least'.

But critics say her lack of remorse proves she is a radical and potential danger to Britain, who should be barred from returning or arrested and prosecuted at the very least.

Dr Kim Howells, a former Foreign Office and Counter-Terrorism Minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, said: 'She sounds to be completely unrepentant, she sounds cynical, she said she wasn't fazed by the sight of these heads in a bin as she described it. And now she wants to take advantage of the NHS. You can bet your bottom dollar there will be a lobby to get this girl home on humanitarian grounds.'

Nigel Farage said: 'This woman shows no remorse for her actions, remains a committed jihadist and is totally unsuitable to come into our country'.

Begum has now fled to the al-Hawl refugee camp near Syria's north-eastern border with Iraq - 200 miles north of ISIS' last stand in Baghuz, where she last saw her Dutch jihadi fighter husband two weeks ago.

She said: 'I'm not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago.

The families of Amira Abase and Shamima Begum had previously appealed for the young girls to return home

Renu Begum (pictured above), eldest sister of Shamima Begum, 15, holds her sister's photo. Renu had previously given interviews to New Scotland Yard in order to assist them with their investigation

'I know what everyone at home thinks of me as I have read all that was written about me online. But I just want to come home to have my child. That's all I want right now'.

She added: 'I'll do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child.'

Britain's Security Minister Ben Wallace said today the ISIS bride will not be rescued - but will be helped back to the UK if she gets to a consulate in Turkey or Iraq and questioned by police, and put in the dock 'if possible'.

He said: 'She's a British citizen, she has rights. That's the reality of it. It's not about me or anyone else saying you can't come. You have rights. But you know, don't be surprised by what reception you get when you come back when it comes to investigations and law enforcement'.

Mr Wallace also also warned she should 'expect to be prosecuted' at the 'very least'.

Her family's lawyer Tasnime Akunjee, who represented the parents of all three girls in the past, today insisted that Shamima is a 'victim' and should not be prosecuted for joining ISIS.

Asked what he made of Shamima's wish to return to the UK, he said he hadn't spoken to her and added: 'It's entirely understandable give her circumstances. My involvement of it was trying to bring Shamima back on behalf of the family but she is doing it herself'.

In an interview where she showed no remorse for joining a terror group - but wants to come back to Britain for the sake of her child, Begum revealed:

Shamima Begum wants to return to the UK for the sake of her unborn child after two of her children died

Her fellow runaways also married jihadis - Kadiza Sultana is dead and Amira Abase is with ISIS fighters currently in their final stand in Baghuz;

Begum says she does not 'regret' joining ISIS and was 'not fazed' by its executions or when she saw an enemy's head in a bin;

Jihadi bride lost two children under the age of one because of disease and lack of food - she wants the third to grow up and 'live quietly' with her in the UK;

Her lawyer Tasnime Akunjee says that she and the other girls are 'victims' - and previously Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe said the trio would not be prosecuted;

Security minister Ben Wallace says Begum has the 'right' to come home - but will not be rescued from Syria and faces arrest if she gets back to the UK;

Begum said she had a 'normal life' with her jihadi husband Yago Riedijk, 27, who she met and married within three weeks of arriving in Syria.

Timeline of the London girls' journey into ISIS' heart of terror - but now one wants to come home 2014 - December - Counter terrorism police question Shamima Begum, Kadiz Sultana and Amira Abase after their friend Sharmeema Begum goes to Syria. 2015 - February 17 - Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-olds Shamima Begum and Amira Abase leave their east London homes at 8am to travel to Istanbul in Turkey from Gatwick Airport (pictured). Begum and Abase - who has not yet been publicly named - are reported missing by their families later the same day. - February 18 - Sultana is reported missing to the police. - February 20 - The Metropolitan Police launch a public appeal for information on the missing girls who are feared to have gone on to Syria. - February 21 - Four days after the girls went missing, police believe they may still be in Turkey. It is revealed that at least one of the missing girls had Twitter contact with Aqsa Mahmood, who left her Glasgow home in November 2013 and travelled to Syria after becoming radicalised. - February 22 - Abase's father Abase Hussen says his daughter told him she was going to a wedding on the day she disappeared. Metropolitan Police officers arrive in Turkey, but refuse to confirm whether they are involved in the search for the teenagers. - February 23 - Mark Keary, the head teacher at Bethnal Green Academy, says police found no evidence the missing students were radicalised there. - February 24 - Turkish deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc criticises British authorities for taking three days to alert the country over the missing schoolgirls. - March 10 - It emerges that the girls funded their trip by stealing jewellery. In Syria, all three girls are married to foreign fighters. 2016 - August 2016 - Sultana, 17, is reportedly killed in Raqqa when a suspected Russian air strike obliterates her house. 2019 - February 14 - Begum, 19, tells Anthony Loyd of The Times that she wants to return to the UK to give birth to her third child. Speaking from a refugee camp in Syria, she adds she does not regret joining IS and that she believes, contrary to reports in 2018, that her other companion Abase is still alive in Baghuz. Advertisement

She said: 'Mostly it was a normal life in Raqqa, every now and then bombing and stuff. But when I saw my first severed head in a bin it didn't faze me at all. It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam. I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance'.

However the 19-year-old says she does not regret joining the terror group and said she was 'weak' for not staying to the bitter end  but now wants to come home.

Up until 2017 ISIS banned women from fighting for them but those who fled the regime said that in the past two years that some jihadi brides had been trained in warfare, using guns and building bombs.

Begum did not say what she had done for ISIS other than marry a fighter and have his children.

She said her husband surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters allied to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and she has not seen him since.

Fellow jihadi bride Kadiza Sultana died two years ago in an air strike, she said, and Amira Abase is still with her ISIS fighter husband but has not been seen since last summer.

Security Minister Ben Wallace today confirmed that Begum 'has a right to come home' and will be allowed back into Britain if she presents herself at a British consulate in Iraq or Turkey - but will not be rescued despite being pregnant.

He said: 'I'm not putting at risk British people's lives to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed state - there's consular services elsewhere in the region.

'British citizens have rights whoever they are but if they have gone join ISIS and return to the UK they can expect to be questioned and, if possible, prosecuted'.

He added: 'Actions have consequences. I think the public will be reflecting on why these people want to return to a country they said they hate'.

Mr Wallace refused to be drawn further on Begum's case but admitted it was 'very worrying' that she had 'no regrets' about joining ISIS, which he called the 'worst terror group in history'.

Times war correspondent Anthony Loyd, who found Ms Begum, told the BBC Today programme she is 'two things' - 'She is the 15-year-old schoolgirl who was groomed and lured to the caliphate, and four years later, with that background, she is an indoctrinated jihadi bride.'

Loyd added: 'She didn't express regret, she said she had no regrets, she was calm and composed but she was also in a state of shock - she had just come out of a battlefield, nine months pregnant, many of her friends dead and she's gone through air strikes and all the rest of it - so I wouldn't want to rush to judge her too harshly.

'She was a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl who made a terrible mistake... and we must do our best to rehabilitate her amongst our own people'.

Today there are calls for Begum to be barred from returning to the UK completely or arrested and jailed if she sets foot on British soil.

But at the time of her disappearance four years ago Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, then Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said if the girls came back they would be treated as 'victims' who were groomed online and would not be prosecuted.

Around 800 men, women and children from Britain went to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS - but 400 returned and only around 40 have been prosecuted for terrorism offences.

The majority have been put in the dock using Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which relates to 'preparation of terrorist acts' and can be applied to jihadi brides if they can prove they were 'assisting others' in preparing or carrying out acts of terror.

Those convicted using this law have been jailed for up to seven years - but the law is being changed to increase this to ten years in prison.

Sir Peter Fahy, former head of Greater Manchester Police, said he could understand why Britain is 'not particularly interested' in bringing her back.

He said: 'If the woman was showing complete remorse, it would be completely different'.

Former Met Chief Superintenden Dal Babu said she and her friends were 'victim of brainwashing'.

Labour MP Harriet Harman said: 'I agree. 4 years ago she was only 14. Groomed online (I presume) lured abroad to be used for sex, became pregnant, lost babies. CPS will consider prosecution if she's committed crimes. But UK is her home'.

Kadiza Sultana, then 16, Amira Abase, then 15 and Shamima Begum, then 15, (left to right) in images released by police in 2015 after they ran off to Syria

Begum is today among the displaced people al-Hawl refugee camp near Syria's north-eastern border with Iraq (pictured last week)

The ISIS bride believes that her baby could die if she is not helped back to Britain because of conditions there

Around a fortnight ago the teenager from London was among those who fled ISIS' last foothold in Syria, Baghouz, where tens of thousands have fled the fighting (survivors in a cap nearby pictured yesterday)

'Our daughters were manipulated by evil people. They should be helped, not punished': Father of one of the 'Bethnal Green Three' - who fled London to join ISIS - claim they 'pose no threat' to Britain The father of one of the 'Bethnal Green three' says Britain has a duty to welcome Shamima Begum back and told MailOnline today: 'She should be allowed to come home and have her baby in peace'. Abase Hussen, 52, (right today) the father of Bethnal Green jihadi bride Amira Abase who once was filmed at a London flag-burning rally also attended by Anjem Choudary, said the schoolgirls are victims who should be brought back to the UK and 'helped, not punished'. Miss Begum is in a Syrian refugee camp about to have her third child and says that her friend Amira is alive but Kadiza Sultana died in an air strike two years ago. Mr Hussen told MailOnline today: 'These girls were young. They were manipulated by evil people and they should be brought home and helped. Not punished. They pose no threat. 'The British government have not done anything to help me or the other parents. We have been badly treated. Shamima should be allowed to come home and have her baby in peace. 'I'm just waiting for the time when I can see my daughter. Ever since she left I have had hope. Tomorrow is another day. You never know what will happen tomorrow. The last time I spoke to her was a very, very long time ago.' Mr Hussen (circled) attended a heat preacher's rally alongside one of Lee Rigby's killers - and took his daughter - yet said he moved to Britain in 1999 for freedom and democracy When asked if he thinks the girls should be able to return to Britain to restart their lives, he said: 'As a parent there is no question. To have your children around you... there is no question. That would make me happy. It gives me some hope as well.' He added: 'It was just a mistake that the girls left their families to go to a place like that. 'What I would say to her, if she reads this, is just come back, please. Come home to us. That's all I can say'. He went on: 'The last conversation we had with my daughter was over a year ago when she called out of the blue. 'I was full of so much sorrow that I couldn't speak with her properly. My heart is filled with grief. 'I have two other teenage children and I constantly worry about what they are getting up to and that they might also be radicalised. I'm a humble man, I fear God and don't deserve this.' 'All the children that have runaway to Syria and been manipulated should be helped home. There's been no co-ordination in helping our children to return. Nothing is being done for us. 'The intelligence services visited a few times but we've had no help from the government'. Abase works as a security guard and originates from Ethiopia. He's been in the UK since 1999. The daughter who's in Syria was born in Ethiopia. Mr Hussen blamed police for failing to stop his daughter fleeing to join ISIS. But months after she vanished it emerged he took his daughter to an extremist rally when she was 13. He conceded the teenager was 'maybe' influenced by the rally organised by banned terror group Al-Muhajiroun. Advertisement

Jihadi bride Shamima Begum should 'still be considered a potential combatant' unless she cooperates with British intelligence, according to a leading security expert.

Will Geddes warned the 19-year-old could be an 'extreme challenge' to de-radicalise as she is yet to show any remorse for joining 'enemies of the UK.'

The counter terrorism specialist, said the expectant mother is now 'exploiting her British nationality'.

Mr Geddes, managing director of security consultancy ICP Group said: 'I do find it quite astounding that she feels she is justified to be able to do so and come back to a country she rejected to use the infrastructure that benefited her originally like the NHS that she has not contributed towards for four years.

'Until recently she was facilitating those who are enemies of the UK - she is exploiting her British national status and there some requirements that she would have to be subject to.

'Fundamentally, unless she was willing to provide critical information to the UK intelligence services and authorities about the Islamic State operation and its people, infrastructure and current circumstances, she should still be treated as a hostile individual and potential combatant towards the UK.'

The director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), Raffaello Pantucci, said the UK needs to 'tackle the issue head on.'

He said it is hard to prosecute for crimes abroad once they are back in the UK and if a national process cannot be established, an international one may be considered for what is a 'very complicated and difficult' issue.

Mr Pantucci said: 'It needs to be a criminal process - a programme to make sure they disengage from their ideas.

'It is very difficult for countries to take them back - another solution could be the use of a third location in setting up international court and international prisons for them to go through this process before they return.'

Hanif Qadir, a reformed extremist who now runs the Active Change Foundation, a de-radicalisation project in London, said Begum deserves the opportunity to transform her life and give birth in safety following her 'naive and childish mistake.'

Speaking from the Republic of Mali, where he is running reintegration workshop, Mr Qadir said: 'Of course she should be allowed to return home, why should she not?

'She is as much a victim in this as anything.

'If you look at why she left to go to Syria and the circumstances surrounding that, I do believe she is not going to be a threat.

Begum said last night she understood why people in Britain would not have sympathy for her but insists that she would 'do anything' to bring her baby back to the UK.

Four years ago she arrived in ISIS' capital Raqqa with her teenage friend and were placed in a home for 'single women'.

They filled out registration forms and expressed preferences over what kind of fighter they wanted to be in a relationship with.

Within three weeks was married to a Dutch jihadi Yago Riedijk, 27 - a Muslim convert from Arnhem - and she is currently pregnant with her third child - the other two died before they turned one.

Sultana married an American, Abase an Australian and friend Sharmeena Begum, who arrived in 2014, a Bosnian.

Miss Begum claimed she had been living a normal life despite the atrocities - but now wants to return to Britain to bring up the baby she's about to give birth to.

When asked about why she had not stayed in ISIS' she said: 'I was weak'.

Miss Begum and her friends, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, fled east London in the footsteps of another Bethnal Green schoolgirl, Sharmeena Begum, who had left the year before.

She said each married a ISIS foreign fighter on reaching Syria.

After they moved Amira used a Twitter account with a profile picture of herself clutching a knife while wearing a full veil.

In a bid encourage others to visit she posted pictures of her heating takeaways in Raqqa.

But as the tide in the war turned ISIS lost territory and the regime collapsed.

Miss Begum said her first two children died in infancy due to disease and malnourishment.

Disillusioned, the young woman told how she had fled the final ISIS stronghold fearing that her unborn baby, who she says is due any day, would suffer the same fate.

She conceived the child with ISIS fighter Yago Riedijk, 27, a Dutchman who converted to Islam. The pair married only weeks after she arrived in Raqqa in 2015. Miss Begum admitted she was aware many would want her barred from returning home.

She conceded 'the caliphate is over' and had witnessed 'so much oppression and corruption that I don't think they deserved victory'.

Shamima Begum one of three schoolgirls at Gatwick Airport as she left the UK to marry a foreign fighter for ISIS

Bethnal Green runaway Amira Abase (left in September) used a pictured of a woman in a full veil clutching a knife on her Twitter page, which has been shut down

In a bid encourage others to run to Syria Abase, using the name Umm Uthman Britaniya, she posted pictures of her heating takeaways in Raqqa

Jihadi bride will not be rescued - but can come home, says minister Britain will not 'risk lives' to save Shamima Begum - but will not block her from coming back to Britain, the minister in charge said today. There is a clamour for the teenager to have her passport revoked and banned from the UK. The Home Office said it does not comment on individual cases, although anyone who returns to the UK after travelling to IS territory faces criminal investigation and stricter laws are now in place. Security Minister Ben Wallace (pictured today) said: 'I'm not putting at risk British people's lives to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed state - there's consular services elsewhere in the region and the strong message this Government has given for many years is that actions have consequences. 'People have gone out in the past to fight for ISIS, when they've decided they've had enough they want to come back to the very country they've abandoned or waged war against. That irony isn't lost on the government, it isn't lost on the public. 'We don't provide consular assistance in Syria. So this lady, like many of the others, we're not going to put British diplomats and other people at risk to go and find them in a war-torn civil war that's under collapse. She is eligible for consular assistance if she makes it to a country where there is that  Turkey, Iraq  we as the UK are obliged to our citizens to make sure that when they seek that support they get the support without discrimination.' He added: 'If she's a British citizen, she has rights. That's the reality of it. It's not about me or anyone else saying you can't come. You have rights. But you know, don't be surprised by what reception you get when you come back when it comes to investigations and law enforcement.' Advertisement

Miss Begum fled the final ISIS stronghold in Baghuz, eastern Syria, as Western-backed Kurdish forces closed in on the town. She said: 'I was weak. I could not endure the suffering and hardship that staying on the battlefield involved.

'But I was also frightened the child I am about to give birth to would die like my other children if I stayed on.

'So I fled the caliphate. Now all I want to do is come home to Britain.'

Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer who was instructed by the Bethnal Green girls' families after they ran away, said he was 'glad (Ms Begum) is alive and safe'.

He told the Press Association the authorities should be reminded of former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe's position at the time of their disappearance.

'The position of the Metropolitan Police was that they should be treated as victims, so long as they hadn't committed any further offences while they are out there,' he said.

Mr Akunjee said he had spoken to the girls' families, who had 'expressed the position that they want time and space to process what's happened'.

He added: 'I personally would like to see somebody like her who's gone through the trauma she had - who's gone out there as a child - get as much help as she can get and get on with her life and I would hope that for any human being'.

Bethnal Green and Bow MP Rushanara Ali said: 'At the time, when Shamima Begum and two other girls disappeared and it was feared they were heading for Syria via Turkey, I made representations to the then home secretary Theresa May and the head of counter-terrorism at the Metropolitan Police.

'I appealed to them to work with the Turkish authorities to prevent the girls from crossing the border into Syria.

'Unfortunately, despite the efforts of the UK authorities, the girls did get into Syria and as subsequent reports suggest, they joined IS.

'If it is the case that Shamima Begum is trying to return to the UK, it is now a matter for the UK police, security services and the Foreign Office, who will rightly need to consider public safety and our national security in cases such as these.'

She also poured scorn on the Western hostages she had watched being beheaded on videos.

She said: 'Journalists can be spies too, entering Syria illegally. They are a security threat for the caliphate.'

It is unclear whether she was referring specifically to the British victims beheaded by ISIS, Alan Henning and David Haines, both killed in 2014.

Return of the jihadis: The law in Britain and how only one in ten returning jihadis have been prosecuted Britain has only prosecuted 40 citizens in five years who fled to join ISIS and then came back. In 2018 security Minister Ben Wallace told MPs 400 Britons who travelled to join ISIS returned home - but only one in ten were put in the dock. Around 850 Britons are believed to have travelled to Iraq and Syria, with around one in six believed to be dead. The Home Office says every person who returns is questioned by police and an assessment made over whether they are a threat to Britain. However few have been prosecuted. The Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill is currently going through Parliament, after its third reading in the House of Lords. It could make travelling abroad to join terror groups an offence which carries a penalty of ten years in prison. The bill has now returned to the House of Commons for consideration of Lords amendments. The lawyer for Shamima Begum's family has asked authorities to treat the girl, and any surviving friends, as victims. It is not yet known if Amira Abase and Sharmeema Begum lived. Advertisement

Miss Begum said Amira and Sharmeena had decided to remain in Baghuz. Kadiza was reportedly killed two years ago.

She said she 'last saw my two friends in June' of last year but had heard 'only two weeks ago' the pair were still alive.

However, she feared that 'all the recent bombing' may have killed them. Miss Begum praised their decision to remain.

'They urged patience and endurance in the caliphate and chose to stay behind in Baghuz,' she said.

'They would be ashamed of me if they survived the bombing and battle to learn that I had left.

'They made their choice as single women. For their husbands were already dead. It was their own choice as women to stay.' Miss Begum told her story to Times journalist Anthony Loyd.

He found her alone in the Al Hawl camp  a facility for around 39,000 refugees in northern Syria.

The three schoolgirls had initially flown to Turkey after telling their parents they were going out for the day. They later crossed the border into Syria. Miss Begum said: 'I applied to marry an English-speaking fighter between 20 and 25 years old.'

Kadiza married an American, Amira married an Australian and Sharmeena married a Bosnian. She said: 'There was a lot of oppressions of innocent people.

'In some cases fighters who had fought for the caliphate were executed as spies even though they were innocent.'

She said that her husband spent six months in prison after being accused of treachery.

She left her home in Raqqa in January 2017 with him and their first child, a daughter who later died along with her son in the all-round chaos of military defeat.

IS told jihadi families to make their own decisions as to whether to flee.

The couple left together but her husband surrendered to a fighters opposed to IS. That was the last time she saw him.

The three girls fled to Syria via Turkey in 2015 by plane and bus - their families claimed that they had no clue they were going and believed they were together getting ready for a wedding

From one hell to another: Inside the overcrowded refugee camp where children of ISIS brides - including a pregnant British teenager - suffer malnutrition and hypothermia after fleeing the battlefield in Syria Standing in line for water and food at the refugee camp in northern Syria are hundreds of women, most of the adults clad from head to toe in black, covering cloth. Some are innocent civilians caught in the crossfire of Syria's continuing civil war, while others are fierce supporters of ISIS and married to those fighting for the murderous terrorist group still desperately clinging on to a sliver of land several hours away. Regardless of alliance to the Syrian government, freedom fighters or ISIS, their children are suffering the worst punishment, with conditions in the overcrowded camp dire as more refugees pile in every day. Truckloads of gaunt women and children fleeing ISIS's last stand near the village of Baghouz, close to the Iraqi border, disembark daily at the Al-Hol camp, including 200 who arrived on Thursday. Women who have fled the area near the Iraqi border which is still under ISIS control is seen in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp of al-Hol in al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria Thousands of women and children, many of them wives of ISIS fighters and leaders, have turned up at the al-Hol camp in recent weeks as US-backed Kurdish forces close in on the terror group. It is not known if the women seen in these photographs are ISIS brides The innocent ones: A baby cries at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp of al-Hol in al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria, where dozens of young children have died in recent months as a result of hypothermia and malnutrition Al-Hol - also known as al-Hawl - has been flooded with more than 25,000 displaced people in recent weeks as military operations ramp up against the terrorist group in the Euphrates Valley, 200 miles away from the camp. It is in this camp that 19-year-old Shamima Begum, who was just 15 when she and two classmates Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase travelled from London's Bethnal Green to Syria in February 2015, now lives. Speaking to the Times, Begum says she does not regret joining ISIS and said she was 'weak' for not staying to the bitter end after her two young children died. However, Begum is desperate to return to the UK as soon as possible, as she is nine months pregnant and fears her third child will die like her others if she gives birth in the Al-Hol camp. There has been little food, water and medicine available in Baghouz, and dozens of children who, unlike Begum's two children, survived the fighting have died on the journey to the refugee camp. The camp is home to thousands who have been forced to leave their homes as a result of the civil war - not all have fled ISIS A Syrian woman holding a child talks to a medic at a makeshift clinic at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp of al-Hol in al-Hasakeh governorate Across war-ravaged Syria, 18,700 children under five are suffering from malnutrition, according to the World Food Programme Medics at Al-Hol, which has been flooded with more than 25,000 displaced in recent weeks as military operations ramped up, do not have the capacity to treat severely malnourished children and must send them on to hospitals in an hour away A Kurdish female fighter, left, walks next to a woman, reportedly the wife of an ISIS fighter at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp of al-Hol A woman holding a young child sits in front of the many tents that make up the IDP camp in al-Hol Syrian medics treat a baby at a makeshift clinic at the camp in northeastern Syria while the child's concerned mother looks on Al-Hol has been flooded with more than 25,000 displaced people in recent weeks as military operations ramp up against the terrorist group in the Euphrates Valley, 200 miles away from the camp 'They're just skin and bones when they get here,' Kurdish Red Crescent (KRC) paediatrician Dr. Antar Senno told AFP at a makeshift clinic in Al-Hol. Conditions in the camp are better than on the road, but the makeshift tents, overcrowding and sparse resources pose a great health risk to children, with at least 29 dying in al-Hol in the past two months, mainly because of hypothermia, the World Health Organization (WHO) said last week. Red Crescent workers quickly scan the infants - particularly those under a year old - for thin limbs, taut and dried-out skin, or signs of diarrhoea, when they arrive said Senno. 'The team combs the entire reception tent. If they see a case that could be malnutrition, they immediately pull the child aside and put him in an ambulance,' he said. But the journey does not end there. Medics at Al-Hol do not have the capacity to treat severely malnourished children and must send them on to hospitals in the city of Hasakeh an hour away. That makes every moment even more precious, said Senno. A Syrian woman holding a child waits at a makeshift clinic at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp of al-Hol in al-Hasakeh governorate A makeshift clinic in a tent provided by UNICEF offers some help, but there are thousands of children in need of care At least 29 children have died in al-Hol in the past two months, mainly because of hypothermia, the World Health Organization (WHO) said last week A woman covered in black from head to toe carries food at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp of al-Hol A displaced woman holding a child sits on the ground outside a clinic in the camp. More than 37,000 people have fled the shrinking ISIS-held enclave in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor as the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces bear down on the jihadists 'They're practically dead when they get here. But if we can catch them and send them to hospital in Hasakeh, we can save their lives,' he said. 'It's not about the same day. It's about the same minute.' More than 37,000 people have fled the shrinking ISIS-held enclave in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor as the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces bear down on the jihadists. Many walk for days in the desert to reach an SDF-run collection point, where they are screened, provided with some food and water and loaded into trucks for the hours-long journey north to Al-Hol. But that desert odyssey can be deadly - at least 35 newborns and infants have died either en route to the camp or just after they arrive, according to the United Nations. One camp worker told AFP he saw women tumble out of trucks cradling lifeless babies, not knowing they had died on the road. Authorities at Al-Hol have imposed tight security measures amid fears jihadists could be posing as fleeing civilians. Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) can be life-threatening for children, particularly infants who could literally waste away. Across war-ravaged Syria, 18,700 children under five are suffering from SAM, according to the World Food Programme. Advertisement

'I'm scared my baby is going to get sick in this camp - I know it'll be taken care of in Britain': ISIS jihadi bride on why she wants to return to UK four years after fleeing to Syria

What pregnant ISIS bride could face back in Britain - if she gets here Shamima Begum's desire to come back to the UK will reignite debate over how the government should handle returning British foreign fighters and their families. Last night, lawyers for the Begum family said she should be treated as a victim as long as she has not committed any crimes abroad. Earlier this week, ministers said they would be happy if jihadis were never brought back to Britain. The young woman's case, however, is sure to be closely scrutinised to determine whether she has committed any offence  and whether she poses a risk if allowed back on to British soil. In 2015, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police indicated to Parliament the Bethnal Green girls will not face terrorism charges if they return. The announcement ran counter to previous warnings to foreign fighters who had returned to the UK, who were told they face prosecution for terrorism offences. But Sir Bernard said 'there are no terrorism issues' if the girls decided to come home. His assistant commissioner, Mark Rowley, agreed with his boss. He told MPs there was a 'difference between the person running around northern Iraq with a Kalishnikov' and three schoolgirls had been tricked into travelling to Syria. Last night, lawyer for the Bethnal Green girls' families, Tasmine Akunjee, said the government must recognise their rights until wrongdoing could be proved. He told The Times: 'I had feared the worst. I'm just really thankful she's alive. Of course there will be some complications now but I'm very grateful. 'I think for those three girls, or two girls now, there was an understanding that as long as they had committed no further offence they will not be prosecuted and can come and be seen as victims. That was our position and that was also the position of the police. Bernard Hogan-Howe [then head of Scotland Yard] told MPs that.' Tory MP Sarah Wollaston, chair of the Commons health select committee, said she had 'no sympathy for so-called A-grade girls travelling to Syria without doing their homework on IS [Isis] rape & murder of women'. Dr Wollaston called for strict measures at the border to prevent under-18s from flying to Turkey without the consent of their parents. She said: 'Joining IS knowingly colludes with their grotesque mass murders, torture, enforced slavery & rape'. Advertisement

Shamima Begum was tracked down by The Times to a refugee camp in northern Syria where she is now 19-years-old, the bride of an Islamic State fighter, nine months pregnant and has had two infant children who are dead. Her husband is in captivity.

Here is the interview in full:

Anthony Loyd [AL]: 'You're one of the Bethnal Green girls right?'

Begum: 'Yes, I'm one of the Bethnal Green girls.

'We crossed the borders and we were in a house full of women for about a week.

'They realised who we were, that we were the three girls and they took us to a house, a man's house.

'And we stayed there for about another week. They didn't tell us why we were there.

'We kept asking his wife 'why are we here?' We want to go to the house of women, we want to see our friend.

'She didn't say anything to use and the afterwards we found out that it was because they suspected we were spies.

'I was only there for about three weeks because after that I got married.'

Loyd: 'Then you lived together in Raqqa or somewhere else?'

Begum: 'In Raqqa'

Loyd: 'Did that fulfill your aspirations?'

Begum: 'Yes, it actually really did. It was like a normal life, like the life they show in the propaganda videos.

'It's a normal life but every now and then there are bombs and stuff.'

Loyd: Did you ever see executions?

Begum: 'No, but I saw beheaded heads in the bins.'

Loyd: What was that like, were these the heads of captives?

Begum: 'Yeah, it didn't faze me at all.'

Loyd: When were you when you heard that Kadiza (Sultana) had been killed?

Begum: 'In Raqqa. Her house was bombed because underground there was some secret stuff going on and a spy had figured out something was going on so her house got bombed and other people died as well.

'I never thought it would happen, at first I was in denial because I always thought it we get killed we would get killed together.

'I have to think about my baby as well. After my two kids died now I'm really overprotective of this baby. I'm scared this baby is going to get sick in this camp that's why I really want to get back to Britain because I know it will be taken care of. Healthcare wise at least.

'Losing them came as a shock, I never expected that.'

Loyd: 'A severed head didn't faze you but you're angry about oppression?'

Begum: 'Because you have to remember that these people, their beliefs are that you kill the non-Muslims but you treat the Muslims good.

'My husband said that when he was in prison there were men that were being tortured so badly that they would just admit to being a spy so they would be killed.

'So Dawlah has actually killed Muslims.'

Loyd: Do you regret coming here?

Begum: 'No, I don't regret it, but when I came here and I saw there was underground oppression and all this happening it was a shock to me.

'I spoke to my mother last when I was in Al Kiswah. Just before they took Al Kiswah I called her on the phone and said I wanted to leave.

'If I do get into camp I need them to be able to help me in my choice to come back to the UK.

'When I first came here the coach ride was really horrible, it was hot and stuff and I thought the contractions had started and I was bleeding so they took me to the hospital. I was there for five days then they took me back.

'I'm officially nine months. I should be giving birth any day now. Especially with this situation I will probably give birth soon.'

Loyd: Do you think this is the end of the caliphate?

Begum: 'Yes I really do, I don't have high hopes. They're just getting smaller and smaller and there is so much oppression and corruption going on that I don't really think they deserve victory.'

- What action might she face if she is allowed to return to the UK? Home Office Minister Ben Wallace has said everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police. This will determine if they have committed criminal offences, and to ensure that they do not pose a threat to national security. 'There are a range of terrorism offences where individuals can be convicted for crimes committed overseas,' he said. - How should Ms Begum be treated by UK authorities? Ms Begum was a pupil at Bethnal Green Academy in east London when she ran away to Syria in February 2015 with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, who also attended the school. Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer who was instructed by the girls' families after they disappeared, told the Press Association that British authorities should be reminded of former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe's position at the time. Lord Hogan-Howe said that the girls would be treated as victims so long as they had not committed any further offences while in Syria. - How many British women and girls joined IS and how many have returned? An absence of public Government data has led experts to warn the number of women and minors linked to IS thought to have returned has been significantly underestimated. An estimated 850 people have travelled from the UK to support IS in Iraq and Syria, including 145 women and 50 minors, according to a report by King's College London released last year. Of the 425 who have returned, only two women and four minors were listed. - Do they pose a threat? Joana Cook, a senior research fellow at KCL who co-authored the study, said the researchers considered the women to be potential security threats based on several factors. She said: '(These include) the physical security roles and related training that women have undertaken in IS-held territory, and the potential to transfer or apply these skills in other locations, or to pass these on to other people... including other women and their children.' - What is left of Islamic State? When Ms Begum left for Syria in 2015, IS had taken control of large tracts of northern Syria and northern Iraq. Millions of people were living in territory controlled by the terrorist group, which had declared the creation of a caliphate. Four years later, following a massive military campaign by regional forces assisted by foreign powers including America, Britain and Russia, IS territory has dwindled to a small village in eastern Syria. Earlier this week, US-backed Syrian forces launched an operation to clear Baghuz where, according to Ms Begum, Ms Abase and a fourth Bethnal Green schoolgirl, Sharmeena Begum, remain. Advertisement

'It appears she's still radicalised and counts herself as a jihadi': The government has a legal obligation to let ISIS bride back to UK - but now it must establish what security threat she presents, expert says

By Charlie Winter, Senior Research Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation

Shamima Begum, one of the three 'Bethnal Green girls' that left London for Syria in 2015, has been found in a refugee camp in northern Syria. Nine months pregnant, she says she only left ISIS's last remaining holdout because she was worried about the health of her baby. She reportedly had two other children while in ISIS territories, but both of them died.

Now, Begum wants to come back to the UK. As a British citizen, it is the government's legal obligation to let her come backthat is, I believe, a good thing.

British supporters of ISIS are a problem, but they are our problem and, where appropriate, they need to be tried under our legal system. Moreover, Begum's unborn child is innocent of any crime and deserves to be delivered from the circumstances under which it currently stands to enter this world.

Renu Begum, eldest sister of missing British girl Shamima Begum, holds a picture of her sister in 2015

The biggest challenge that British counter-terrorism authorities face with a case like this is determining whatif anysecurity threat Begum might present when she is back. Based on the interview she just gave, there are a few things worth highlighting.

Terrorism expert Charlie Winter says Begum cannot claim she isn't a threat based on the myth that women in ISIS aren't allowed to fight

First, it would be wrong to consider Begum a mere 'victim,' which is what her lawyer is asking for. Even if she didn't directly engage in acts of violence while she was living under it, she decided to stay there, and even said she doesn't regret going in the first place. That means she wanted to live somewhere in which non-Muslim women and children were being openly traded as sex slaves and disembodied heads were piling up in rubbish bins.

Second, although Begum says she lived a 'normal life' in ISIS, that doesn't mean she is not a potential security risk if she makes it back to the UK. It has long been rumoured that ISIS has been providing womenespecially foreign womenwith weapons and explosives training. The first time I heard this was from a Syrian defector from ISIS's all-female policing unit in 2015. Moreover, even though ISIS has prohibited women from fighting in the past, that position changed from mid-2017 onwards. For over a year now, it has been explicitly calling for women to engage in combat.

In other words, Begum cannot claim she isn't a threat based on the myth that women in ISIS aren't allowed to fight.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, Begum seems disillusioned with the reality of ISIS but not with the idea behind it. This means that, while she may have disengaged from the group, she hasn't necessarily disavowed the ideology behind it. This is a very important distinction to make, because it strongly suggests she is still radicalised and still counts herself as a jihadi.

There is only so much we can conclude based on this one interview. Now, it is up to the UK's relevant counter-terrorism authorities to assess what danger she may pose, both in the short and medium term.A Minnesota sheriff says a dog named Donald Trump wasn't shot and killed over a political rivalry, despite false claims circulating on social media that have spurred 'violent threats' against some county residents.

The Jackson County Sheriff's office concluded the person who shot Donald Trump the dog Sunday was 'legally protecting their livestock' on private property.

The shooter has not yet been identified.

Randall Thom's dog, Donald Trump, was shot dead after it wandered onto a neighbors property

Randall Thom, who is a big Donald Trump supporter has had 14 prior incidents with law enforcement regarding his dogs over the past three years

The dog's owner, Randal Thom, 58, is an avid supporter of the president and has been featured in dozens of news stories for frequenting his rallies as well as disrupting those held by Democratic candidates.

Some social media users claimed a neighbor, who they believed to be a Democrat, intentionally killed Thom's dog.

Neighbors have lodged 14 complaints about Thom's dogs running loose, killing animals and attacking a person, according to the sheriff.

Thom was convicted on a petty misdemeanor of 'dogs and cats at large' in 2015, according to Minnesota court records.

Randal Thom of Lakefield, Minnesota poses for a photo in front of his Trump flag during President Donald Trump's Make America Great Again last April

Randal Thom regularly protests wherever he can court controversy. Last months he was pictured holding a banner that read 'Keep America Great' at and event held by Democrat Elizabeth Warren. He was latter arrested at the event for being 'very vocal' and 'aggressive'

He could not immediately be reached for comment however he did post a photo of the injured dog on Facebook alongside a heartbreaking comment.

'Having to say my final goodbye to my best best friend Mr Donald Trump. He was shot by a neighbor 4 times and then he never checked if he was actually dead. When I found him about midnight in a cornfield he was actually still warm. The b*****d let Donald suffer for over 14 hrs. Please just pray for my sanity. I LOVED YOU SO MUCH DONALD.'

The Jackson County Sheriff's Office has also released a statement over the incident after what they say were misleading facts posted on social media sites.

'Over about the past 3 years, several neighbors to Mr. Randal Thom have reported 14 prior incidents to law enforcement regarding Mr. Thom's dogs. They include dogs running at large on a roadway, running at large in a county park, running at large onto neighbor's private property, biting a person who required medical attention, attacking pet dogs, killing goats, killing chickens, killing turkeys, chasing cattle, and chasing deer.

Thom owns 10 dogs many of which have been the subject of complaints by neighbors

There have been reports of Thom's dogs running onto neighbors' land, biting people, attacking pets, chasing deer and cows, killing goats, chickens and turkeys

'All of these incidents have been reported and investigated by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office. As a result, two Potentially Dangerous Dog Notifications have been served on Mr. Thom regarding two of his dogs. Mr. Thom also currently has pending misdemeanor charges from incidents related to his dogs.'

The department said, in response to the inaccurate posts, multiple people have made threats of violence toward some Jackson County residents, which the sheriff's office says it's continuing to investigate and assess.

'The Jackson County Sheriff's Office investigated the circumstances of a dog's death on February 10, 2019. This incident is the source of the social media posts. The investigation results indicate that the person who eliminated the dog was legally protecting their livestock on their private property at the time,' the statement continued.

'The Sheriff's Office wants to remind people that when you own a dog, it's your responsibility not only to take care of the animal but also to keep it from injuring people or damaging others property. This includes keeping your dog from attacking and/or killing neighbors' sheep, cows, horses, or other livestock.'

The sheriff's office has said it released information regarding Thom and his dogs, as well as the results of its investigation, in the interest of public safety.A Seattle woman has been filmed driving at a group of men after she claimed a snowball hit her jeep.

The woman is seen mounting the snow-covered sidewalks in the Capitol Hill area of the city and accelerating towards a group of people, who had to run out of the way to avoid being knocked over.

'Oh my god!' the filmer can be heard saying in the video as the Jeep nearly runs over the group.

The furious driver returns to the scene of the snowball fight after claiming one hit her car

Once the Jeep comes to a halt, the woman gets out of the car and approaches one of the passersby, throwing punches at the man.

'You got it... inside my motherf***ing car!' she shouts as she runs over towards him.

The driver is eventually restrained by three men. 'Let go of my motherf***ing leg!' the woman demands.

The lady then suggests the men call the police. When they arrive on scene she was arrested according to KOMO.

The livid driver gets out the car and claims her car was hit by a snowball. The then proceeded to attack the man that threw it before the fight was broken up

The filmer later explained: 'My brother, friends, and random strangers in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle came together for an impromptu snowball fight Sunday evening at approximately 7pm.

'We were all throwing snowballs from one side of the street to the other, and according to the driver of the vehicle, a snowball had hit her car as she drove past.

'No confrontation between the folks playing in the snow and the driver occurred at this time.

'About 10 minutes later, however, she circled back around and became increasingly aggressive with her driving.

At one point, the group had to restrain the woman by holding her leg in the air

Another passerby tried to calm the woman down. Minutes later the police arrived

'She drove right towards me and came within inches of my legs, nearly driving through the 'road closed' barricade, which I was standing behind.

'This is when I suspected something was seriously wrong and began recording.

'As you can see in the video, the girl driving the Jeep got her car stuck on the hill, and a woman watching from her window called 911.

'The police came about an hour later [and] conducted a field sobriety test.'

According to local media, Seattle Police confirmed that they arrested the woman for reckless driving and DUI.The flood crisis in north-west Queensland has killed 500,000 cattle, destroyed homes and caused hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage.

But now the clouds have lifted, the full extent of the deluge has been revealed.

Satellite images show how the 1,000km long, but usually narrow, Flinders River has expanded into a 70km-wide wall of water.

The river is experiencing its most significant flooding in more than half a century, the Bureau of Meteorology said on Wednesday.

The full extent of the north-west Queensland flood crisis revealed via satellite imagery. Left is an image of the barely noticeable Flinders River before the deluge. Right, the floodwaters are clearly viable from space

The Bureau of Meteorology said the main body of floodwaters in the Flinders River is covering an area abou the same size as New Caledonia

'By our hydrologists' calculations the main body of floodwaters in the Flinders River is approximately 300-400km long and 70km wide,' the Bureau said.

'[That's] a total of 16,000 square kilometres. Roughly the same size as New Caledonia.'

The muddy waters of the state's longest river are slowly moving towards the Gulf of Carpentaria, where the usually pure waters have been turned a murky brown.

'The Flinders River system is now a flood plain. This is a mega river making its way up to the gulf,' Sky News Weather meteorologist Rob Sharpe told news.com.au.

Satellite images show how the 1,000km long, but usually narrow, Flinders River has expanded into a 70km-wide wall of water

Pictured: An aerial shot of Richmond, which lies on the Flinders River, taken last week

The muddy waters of the state's longest river are slowly moving towards the Gulf of Carpentaria, where the usually pure waters have been turned a murky brown

'The amount of rainfall has been staggering... A year's worth of rain fell in one week and that's a record flood event for the Flinders River.

'All that water, half a metre of rain, has flowed into one basin combining into one giant river.'

Queensland Flood Services Manager Victoria Dodds said major flooding in the region is expected to continue well into next week.

'Satellite imagery and drone footage has revealed the vast nature of the flood crisis in Queensland and our thoughts are with all those affected,' she said.

Queensland Flood Services Manager Victoria Dodds said major flooding in the region is expected to continue well into next week. A shot of the overflowing Flinders River is seen in Richmond

Pictured: A flood-affected area near Julia Creek near the Flinders River in north-west Queensland

Authorities are racing to dispose of hundreds of thousands of dead animals in the state's west to limit the spread of disease

'Our focus remains on providing detailed hydrology and flood forecasting services for large areas of the state.

'Many catchments and river systems are still impacted by flood waters, and some are likely remain so for days and weeks to come.'

Meanwhile, floodwaters contaminated with a soil-borne bacteria have ramped up the disease risk in parts of the state.

One woman has died and nine people remain seriously ill in Townsville after becoming infected by melioidosis bacteria following unprecedented flooding.

Are road in the Queensland town of Richmond in inundated with water flowing from the Flinders River

Townsville Hospital's Julie Mudd says seven of the sick people remain in hospital in a stable condition, two others are being cared for at home.

'It's a very serious infection,' Dr Mudd said.

About one in five people who contract the infection die, however, the infection can be treated with antibiotics.

The bacteria can enter the body through a cut or a person's airway, and the elderly and children are at higher risk, Dr Mudd said.

The death in Townsville takes the flood toll to three, following the deaths of two men more than a week ago.

This photo shows a flood-affected area near Julia Creek township in Queensland last week

Graziers are braced for major stock losses but can't yet get a handle on what's happened to their animals

Police are still searching for a 35-year-old man who disappeared in floodwaters at Groper Creek, south of the city, on Friday.

Further inland, authorities are racing to dispose of hundreds of thousands of dead animals in the state's west to limit the spread of disease.

Cattle, sheep and wildlife perished in the unprecedented two-week rains, which left large swathes of the state under water.

Their rotting carcasses pose a high risk of botulism and Q fever to clean-up crews and to local water supplies in flooded communities.A university boss whose pay rose by a fifth this year has quit amid allegations he had a business link with the chairman of the committee that decided his salary.

Dominic Shellard, of De Montfort University in Leicester, got a 22.4 per cent increase to bring his salary up to 350,000  the largest pay rise of any vice chancellor this year.

He resigned from his role with immediate effect on Monday, and the Office for Students watchdog launched an investigation into regulatory matters.

Dominic Shellard, of De Montfort University in Leicester, got a 22.4 per cent increase to bring his salary up to 350,000  the largest pay rise of any vice chancellor this year

Now it has emerged Professor Shellard (pictured) held shares in a holding company run by Anthony Stockdale, chairman of the universitys remuneration committee. Mr Stockdale approved this years rise for Professor Shellard.

On Tuesday, Mr Stockdale resigned from the universitys governing board, alongside two others  Tony Payne and Oliver Mishcon  who were members of sub-committees.

Sir Ian Blatchford, chairman of the governing board, resigned from his role in November.

Mr Stockdale is executive chairman of Metamorph Group and Professor Shellard became a shareholder at some point between October 2016 and October 2017, according to records filed at Companies House.

On Tuesday, Mr Stockdale resigned from the universitys governing board, alongside two others  Tony Payne and Oliver Mishcon  who were members of sub-committees. The grounds of the university are pictured

The most recent De Montfort register of interests shows that Professor Shellard disclosed his shareholding in Metamorph, a holding company for legal services. This means that board members were aware of the business link.

A university spokesman confirmed that the board members had left. He pointed out that the OfS said there is no presumption of wrongdoing by the university and added: The university can confirm that it is happy to cooperate fully with the OfS in this matter.

It comes after a report for the OfS found the average vice chancellor salary has risen above 250,000 for the first time. It used to be common for vice chancellors to sit on the committees that decided their pay, but that is now changing following an outcry.

Critics have said remuneration committees must be truly independent of vice chancellors so they can make impartial decisions on pay awards.Francis spoke today at the opening ceremony of the 42nd session of the Board of Governors of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The eradication of poverty, the fight against hunger and the promotion of food sovereignty will not be possible "without achieving rural development, a development that has been talked about for a long time but that has not come to fruition".

Rome (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis says that granting direct agency to the people affected by poverty, without considering them as mere recipients of aid that can end up generating dependency" is the only option in the fight against hunger and malnutrition, in a world where 820 million people suffer from lack of access to food.

The Pope wanted to bring " the desires and needs of the multitude of our brothers who suffer in the world to the opening ceremony of the 42nd session of the Board of Governors of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), held at the headquarters of the FAO, in Rome .

Upon his arrival, Francis was welcomed by the president of IFAD, Gilbert F. Houngbo. Then, after the signing of the Book of Honor and the exchange of gifts, he reached the room where the opening ceremony took place.

In his speech on the theme: "Innovations and entrepreneurial initiatives in the rural world", the Pope highlighted how in a society like ours that has achieved "great results" in different "fields of knowledge", millions of people in the world still "suffer from hunger and malnutrition". Men and women living in "precarious situations": " the air is contaminated, natural resources are depleted, the rivers polluted, the soils acidified; they do not have enough water for themselves or their crops; their sanitary infrastructures are very deficient, their houses scarce and defective. ".

The Holy See, he said, has always encouraged "the efforts made by international agencies to tackle poverty" and looks to the work of the Ifad with confidence to "create unprecedented possibilities", "to dispel any hesitation and put each people in a condition to face the needs that afflict it ".

With a not to the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular, "the eradication of poverty, the fight against hunger and the promotion of food sovereignty", the Pope highlighted that " none of this will be possible without achieving rural development, a development that has been talked about for a long time but that has not come to fruition". "It is paradoxical that most of the more than 820 million people suffering from hunger and malnutrition in the world live in rural areas, are dedicated to the production of food and is made up of peasants".

Speaking specifically on the theme to which Ifad dedicated the 42nd session of the Board of Governors: "It is necessary to wager on innovation, entrepreneurial capacity, the agency of local actors and the efficiency of productive processes to achieve rural transformation, in order to eradicate malnutrition and to develop the rural environment in a sustainable way. And in that context, it is necessary to promote a science with conscience and place technology truly at the service of the poor."

Faced with the problems that "negatively mark the destiny" of many individuals, in fact, it is necessary "to join forces, achieve consensus, strengthen ties. ". The current challenges, in fact, "are so intricate and complex that we can not continue confronting them occasionally, with emergency resolutions ".Paul Manafort breached his plea agreement by intentionally lying to investigators and a federal grand jury in the special counsel in the Russia probe, a judge ruled Wednesday.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson was another loss for the former Trump campaign chairman, who faces years in prison in two separate criminal cases stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

The judge said Manafort lied to Mueller about his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik, his co-defendant who the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence.

The ruling on Wednesday hurts Manafort's chance of receiving a reduced sentence, though Jackson said she would decide the exact impact during his sentencing next month.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson was another loss for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort (pictured in May 2018)

It hurts Manafort's chance of receiving a reduced sentence, though Jackson (pictured in April 2018) said she would decide the exact impact during his sentencing next month

The judge said Manafort lied to Mueller about his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik (circled left), his co-defendant who the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence. Manafort is seen seated at the table second from right

The four-page order resolves a dispute that had provided new insight into how Mueller views Manafort's actions as part of his broader probe of Russian election interference and any possible coordination with associates of President Donald Trump.

Jackson found there was sufficient evidence to say Manafort broke his plea agreement by lying about three of five matters that prosecutors had singled out.

That included his misleading the FBI, prosecutors and a federal grand jury about his interactions with Kilimnik, his co-defendant who the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence.

Prosecutors had accused Manafort of lying about his discussions with Kilimnik about a possible Ukrainian peace plan.

During a sealed hearing, Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said one of the discussions - an August 2, 2016, meeting at the Grand Havana Club cigar bar in New York - went to the 'larger view of what we think is going on' and what 'we think the motive here is.'

'This goes, I think, very much to the heart of what the Special Counsel's Office is investigating,' Weissmann said, adding: 'That meeting and what happened at that meeting is of significance to the special counsel.'

Kevin Downing, Paul Manafort's defense attorney, right, walks to the entrance of federal court on Wednesday, February 13, 2019 in Washington. At left is attorney Tim Wang, another member of the defense team for Manafort

Prosecutors also accused Manafort of lying about sharing polling data with Kilimnik during the 2016 presidential campaign, an allegation that became public accidentally when Manafort's attorney flubbed redactions in a court filing

The meeting occurred while Manafort was still in a high-ranking role in the Trump campaign. Rick Gates, Manafort's longtime deputy and also a Trump campaign aide, also attended.

Prosecutors also accused Manafort of lying about sharing polling data with Kilimnik during the 2016 presidential campaign, an allegation that became public accidentally when Manafort's attorney flubbed redactions in a court filing.

In her ruling, Jackson said prosecutors did not sufficiently back up two allegations against Manafort, saying she could not find that he intentionally lied about Kilimnik's role in witness tampering or what Manafort told investigators about his contacts with the Trump administration.

Kilimnik, who lives in Russia, was charged alongside Manafort with conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

He has yet to appear in a U.S. court to face the charges.

Manafort's sentencing is set for March 13. He faces up to five years in prison on two felony charges stemming from illegal lobbying he performed on behalf of Ukrainian political interests.

Separately, he faces the possibility of a decade in prison in a federal case in Virginia where he was convicted last year of tax and bank fraud crimes.

Sentencing in that case was delayed pending Jackson's ruling in the plea-deal dispute.

Last month, Manafort's lawyers strenuously pushed back against prosecutors in a memo filed under seal before a January 7 deadline  disputing the claim that he intentionally lied despite a deal to cooperate with authorities.

The four-page order resolves a dispute that had provided new insight into how Mueller (pictured) views Manafort's actions as part of his broader probe of Russian election interference and any possible coordination with associates of President Donald Trump

But due to an error, it was possible to read the memo in its entirety  including redacted material  when it was posted on a court web site.

The former Trump campaign chair also 'conceded' that he had discussed a Ukraine peace plan with Kilimnik.

The information about the substantive 'lies' Manafort told prosecutors were revealed in a memo where his lawyer also sought sympathy by revealing the former power operative suffers from 'severe gout' and is sometimes confined to a wheel chair, while suffering 'depression and anxiety.'

The filing is the first disclosure of prosecutors going after Manafort, who chaired Trump's campaign while he wrapped up the Republican nomination for president, for passing campaign information to a Russian contact.

Mueller's probe continues to probe possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and Russians.

Last month, the special counsel got a six-month extension for a federal grand jury.

One passage in the January filing reveals Manafort lawyer Kevin Downing arguing that it was difficult for his client to remember things about Ukraine during the busy campaign season when he was among Trump's top advisors.

 Slide me  Scroll right to see how Manafort's attorney's filing revealed how he slipped secrets to an alleged Russian spy

 Slide me  Oops: A document filed by Manafort's lawyers could be read in full on a court website. Blacked out portion revealed details of a dispute over what the Trump campaign chair revealed about his sharing of poll data with an alleged spy and his conversations about a Ukraine peace plan

'Issues and communications related to Ukrainian political events simply were not at the forefront of Mr. Manafort's mind during the period at issue and it is not surprising at all that Mr. Manafort was unable to recall specific details prior to having his recollection refreshed,' according to the blacked out material in the memo.

They extended that argument to Manafort's contacts with Kilimnik, a Russian national and an individual whom Mueller has identified as having ties to a Russian intelligence service.

'The same is true with regard to the Government's allegation that Mr. Manafort lied about sharing polling data with Mr. Kilimnik related to the 2016 presidential campaign,' according to the Manafort filing.

It provided no further information about what campaign polling he shared, or whether it was internal Trump campaign data.

Previously reported emails reveal Manafort touting his status in the campaign orbit and his desire to become 'whole' with debtors and a Russian oligarch who claimed Manafort owed him millions.

'How do we use to get whole,' Manafort wrote Kilimnik days before he was named a Trump campaign strategist.

Legal experts blame Manafort's attorneys for the redaction failure.

His lawyers apparently submitted the document as a PDF file that did not properly obscure information that revealed potentially damaging information about their client.

Trump has maintained that he didn't know 'anything' about his former campaign chair passing on campaign polling to an alleged Russian spy during the 2016 campaign

Team Manafort argued in an un-redacted portion: 'It is not uncommon, however, for a witness to have only a vague recollection about events that occurred years prior and then to recall additional details about those events when his or her recollection is refreshed with relevant documents or additional information.'

But then the memo reveals another substantive dispute: what Manafort knew about a Ukrainian peace proposal that longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen eventually would hand-deliver to the White House early in the Trump administration.

Manafort and Kilimnik 'may' have discussed the peace plan 'on more than one occasion,' according to one portion that was meant to be blacked out.

The peace proposal was an effort by the non-diplomats to respond to the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory, while also dealing with sanctions that were gnawing at leading Russian figures.

'In fact, during a proffer meeting held with the Special Counsel on September 11, 2018, Mr. Manafort explained to the Government attorneys and investigators that he would have given the Ukrainian peace plan more thought, had the issue not been raised during the period he was engaged with work related to the presidential campaign,' according to a blacked-out portion.

The argument suggests that Manafort neglected to mention it when being questioned about it directly while negotiating the terms of his cooperation deal weeks after he was convicted on eight counts of bank fraud and tax charges.

'Issues and communications related to Ukrainian political events simply were not at the forefront of Mr. Manafort's mind during the period at issue and it is not surprising at all that Mr. Manafort was unable to recall specific details prior to having his recollection refreshed,' his lawyers continued.

The filing cites another document and notes: 'After being shown documents, Mr. Manafort "conceded" that he discussed or may have discussed a Ukraine peace plan with Mr. Kilimnik on more than one occasion)'.

Yet another passage relates to Kilimnik, a Manafort business partner who ran his Ukraine office and is alleged to have been a Russian agent.

'It is accurate that after the Special Counsel shared evidence regarding Mr. Manafort's meetings and communications with Konstantin Kilimnik with him, Mr. Manafort recalled that he had - or may have had - some additional meetings or communications with Mr. Kilimnik that he had not initially remembered,' his lawyers concede in the filing.

COPY PASTE: When readers copied the document and pasted it in a file, it was possible to read the redactions that the government had imposed

Blacked out portions reveal what Manafort told prosecutors in a 'proffer meeting' in September of 2018

But the document disputes that these are 'lies.'

When his memory got refreshed, Manafort acknowledged meeting him overseas.

'After being told that Mr. Kilimnik had traveled to Madrid on the same day that Mr. Manafort was in Madrid, Mr. Manafort "acknowledged" that he and Mr. Kilimnik met while they were both in Madrid,' according to material intended to be redacted.

That meeting between Manafort and Kilimnik hadn't been previously been made public.

Manafort recalled 'some additional meetings or communications with Mr. Kilimnik that he had not initially remembered' his lawyer acknowledged.

The Ukraine peace plan, which would have paved the way for the lifting of sanctions on Russia, made it to the desk of former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn, who was fired after lying about his Russia contacts, and who is cooperating with the Mueller probe.

Cohen also is assisting prosecutors. Also involved was Felix Sater, a former senior advisor to Trump at the Trump Organization who was also revealed to have pitched his ability to help line up a Trump tower project in Moscow during the campaign.

Manafort's lawyers argue that he has indeed been helpful.

'He attempted to live up to the requirements of his cooperation agreement and provided meaningful cooperation relating to several key areas under current government investigation,' they write.

His lawyers in the memo state that they are declining to seek a hearing, noting the 'highly deferential standard' on the government's side. The filing says any factual disputes can be handled during Manafort's sentencing.The Darling River is in the grips of its worst crisis in decades according to locals, as thousands of dead fish fill its waters.

Bill Campbell, who has lived in the area for more than 60 years, said he has never seen the waterway in such poor condition.

The 77-year-old moved to Menindee, far west New South Wales, in the early 1950s and has witnessed his share of droughts and mass fish deaths.

The Darling River is in the grips of its worst crisis in decades according to locals, as thousands of dead fish continue fill its waters

One local, who has lived in the area for more than 60 years, said he has never seen the waterway in such poor condition

The man said he remembers the river being so clear you could see the fish swimming at its deepest points - but now can't see past the top of the water

He remembers a time when the river was so clear that he could see fish swimming at its deepest points - but now can't see past the surface of the water.

Algal blooms, rapid temperature changes and low water flows have all contributed to a series of mass fish deaths at Menindee and elsewhere in the Murray-Darling basin.

'I've never seen the river system the way it is now,' Mr Campbell told AAP in Menindee.

'When the government allowed the river to be used as an irrigation channel, it was the worst thing they could have done.'

Mr Campbell says using the river for upstream irrigators means towns like Menindee don't get enough flows.

Algal blooms, rapid temperature changes and low water flows have all contributed to a series of mass fish deaths at Menindee and elsewhere in the Murray-Darling basin

'I've never seen the river system the way it is now,' Mr Campbell said

The New South Wales government insists the drought is partly to blame for the fish deaths, but some locals aren't convinced

He wants metres on pumps and a federal royal commission into the management of water and the river system.

'Otherwise the top end will survive and the bottom won't,' he said.

Local Graeme McCrabb says it will take up to 30 years for the river to recover after this summer's mass fish deaths.

He remembers being able to go fishing and never seeing Murray cod because they hid in the depths of the river.

Now he sees dead ones floating at the top.

Local Graeme McCrabb (pictured) says it will take up to 30 years for the river to recover after this summer's mass fish deaths

'Everything has been hammered ... it's absolute carnage,' Mr McCrabb said

'Everything has been hammered ... it's absolute carnage,' he told AAP.

The New South Wales government insists the drought is partly to blame for the fish deaths, but Mr McCrabb isn't convinced.

'All the drought has done is highlight the failings of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan,' he said.

The recent final report from a South Australian Royal Commission into the river system, found water allocations in the basin were determined by politics and called for a complete overhaul of the plan.

Mr McCrabb said he remembers being able to go fishing and never seeing Murray cod because they hid in the depths of the river

The recent final report from a South Australian Royal Commission into the river system called for a complete overhaul of the plan

NSW Regional Water Minister Niall Blair said a meter policy was introduced for irrigators in the northern part of the river last year, in response to allegations of water theft aired on the ABC.

Daily extraction limits were also in place for irrigators after flood events.

'There's still a lot of work to be done in the basin plan, we've just been in the implementation stage so far,' Mr Blair told AAP.A team of palaeontologists have discovered a series of dinosaur footprints perfectly preserved after almost 100 million years in a creek bed in the Outback.

The footprints were found in a rock shelf at the bottom of a small creek stretching for 55 metres near Winton, in central west Queensland.

Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones said 20 tracks were made by a single sauropod dinosaur - considered to be the largest animal to live the earth.

Other footprints found in the rock shelf are believed to have belonged to small ornithopod dinosaurs and chicken-sized theropod dinosaurs.

A team of palaeontologists have discovered a series of well-preserved dinosaur footprints in the outback

The footprints were found perfectly preserved in a rock shelf at the bottom of a small creek stretching for 55 metres

'Each of the animal's hind footprints is nearly one metre long,' Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones said

'The sauropod footprints are exceptionally well-preserved the impression of a giant thumb claw is clearly visible on most of the fore feet and, in some, the impressions of individual toes can be identified,' Mrs Jones said.

'Each of the animal's hind footprints is nearly one metre long.'

The excavation was led by Executive Chairman of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum David Elliot in April last year.

He said the tracks were extremely fragile which made the removal from the creek bed a slow process to not ruin the discovery.

'This is a very slow and painstaking process,' Mr Elliott said.

'The total weight of the trackway is in the vicinity of 500 tonnes and we are transporting it back to the Museum, one two-tonne trailer load at a time.'

Footprints on the trackway include 20 tracks made by several different dinosaurs

The excavation was led by Executive Chairman of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum David Elliot in April last year

'The total weight of the trackway is in the vicinity of 500 tonnes and we are transporting it back to the Museum, one two-tonne trailer load at a time,' Mr Elliot said

Ms Jones said the discovery would help boost the tourism industry as the town recovers from the devastating floods.

'These tracks will create international exposure for Winton which will have a significant impact on the outback tourism economy,' she said.

'Outback Queensland has been the site of some of the world's most significant dinosaur discoveries  this is an experience visitors can only get here in the Sunshine State.

'That's why we're working with experts and the local tourism industry to make the most of our unique natural history.'

Mr Elliott is hopeful the attraction, named March of the Titanosaurs, will be open to the public from May 2020.

'These tracks will create international exposure for Winton which will have a significant impact on the outback tourism economy,' Ms Jones saidInmates in Australia's largest immigration centre have been caught smoking ice behind bars and claim the drug is easy to get their hands on.

The detainees say drugs are smuggled in by visitors and staff also bring in narcotics for sale.

In a video captured from inside Villawood Immigration Detention Centre, western Sydney, detainees are seen making a pipe and smoking what they say is ice.

Inmates in Australia's largest immigration centre have been caught smoking ice

The footage, obtained by SBS, was filmed a few months ago by a detainee who wished to stay anonymous.

One of the drug users explained they had began to abuse drugs after their stint in the detention centre.

He explained the bad habit developed amid visa-related stresses which increased in detention.

Most detainees at the detention centre in Villawood are awaiting deportation after their visas were cancelled for committing a criminal offence.

In December 2018 there were 498 detainees, a breakdown of 463 men and 45 women.

In other footage, detainees say they are smoking marijuana and buprenorphine, a heroin substitute.

The detainees say drugs are smuggled in by visitors and staff also bring in narcotics for sale

In a video captured from inside Villawood Immigration Detention Centre, western Sydney, detainees are seen making a pipe and smoking what they say is ice

One detainee said they sometimes share needles when injecting bupe.

Former inmate of Villawood and deportee Justin Miller told SBS News that drugs were all too easy to come by.

'Whatever you wanted you could get your hands on it in there,' he said.

Drug seizures are a weekly occurrence at the centre.

Figures obtained by SBS News via Freedom of Information requests show that there were an average of two drug raids per week at Villawood in 2017.

Most detainees at the detention centre in Villawood are awaiting deportation after their visas were cancelled for committing a criminal offence

Documents from the Department of Home Affairs shows that most of the seizures were for pills and powder. Medicinal drugs, in particular Viagra, were also high on the list.

In 2016, New Zealand man Robert Peihopa died inside Villawood.

The coroner later found his death was caused by smoking ice and getting in a fight.The Canadian man who lost his fight to have his last name on his license plate is instead flaunting the unique surname in large letters on the back of his truck.

Dave's last name is Assman.

Dave Assman, 47, has never been ashamed of his surname, which he pronounces 'Oss-man'.

'I love my name,' Assman told DailyMail.com last week. 'It can stir up a good conversation!'

So when Saskatchewan Driver's Licensing and Vehicle Registration (SGI) denied him the right to flaunt it loud and proud on a personalized plate, he came up with a new way to show off the unique name.

Dave Assman got a large decal with his last name printed on the back of his truck

The Canadian man has been fighting to get his last name on his dream vanity plate. But this week it was denied for being an 'unacceptable slogan'

He posted a photo to Facebook Tuesday night boasting about his new decal

Assman posted a photo of his new decal Tuesday that reads: 'Saskatchewan ASSMAN Land of Living Skies'

His caption read: 'Just as Sgi anticipated me appealing my denial I also anticipated them refusing my appeal !I could have got a plate for the front but I really wanted a vanity plate on the back of my truck! Thank you eternally etched.'

Assman called SGI last week to ask why his license plate was rejected, and was told his last name was an 'unacceptable slogan'.

'I called the office and told them it's not a slogan, it's my last name,' he said. 'They said they understood but other people won't know and may find offense to it.'

The SGI website states that vanity plates won't be approved if the general public could find them 'offensive, suggestive, or not in good taste'.

That includes slogans with 'sexual connotations or slang', 'drug/alcohol connotations', 'general or derogatory slang', or 'racial/ethnic slang'.

SGI spokesperson Tyler McMurchy said that the rule stands even if the phrase is 'someone's name and pronounced differently than the offensive version'.

'That's not something that would be apparent to other motorists who will see the plate,' he told CBC.

Assman first tried to get a personalized license plate 20 years ago and was told his request had been denied because 'it's profanity'.

Assman wanted to get a new license plate for one of his cars

'I tried again and this time it was an unacceptable slogan!' he told DailyMail.com. 'I asked if I should be changing my name if it's so offensive.'

Assman revealed that he now just has fun with his last name, which once got him teased on the playground.

'As a kid and growing up, sure I got bullied a bit,' he said. 'But back then the saying was "Sticks and stones may break your bones, but names will never hurt you!"'

'There is always a few idiots that had to make fun of it to feel important, never really bothered me though.'

Now Assman loves when people get too 'scared' to say his name out loud.

Dave Assman has never been ashamed of his surname, which he pronounces 'Oss-man'

'They're afraid to offend me,' he said. 'When they ask how to spell it, I tell them just the way you heard it - ASSMAN!'

Assman said his last name is especially important to him because it connects him to his great-grandfather, who was a prosperous farmer in the province.

'Farmers would come in the early thirties and they borrowed money from him,' Assman said.

'Instead of him foreclosing on their land, he just either forgave it or let them pay when they could.'

The Assman name even made it onto American television more than 20 years ago.

In 1995 David Letterman interviewed Dick Assman, a gas station worker in Saskatchewan who happens to be Dave's distant relative.

McMurchy said Assman can always appeal the SGI's decision, which would then be evaluated by the personalized license plate review committee.

The committee has rejected the name before, and Assman doesn't think this time around will be any different.

But Saskatchewan law requires only one registered license plate on the rear of each vehicle.

So Assman plans to get his dream vanity plate made anyway. And he's going to put it right on the front of his car.Freshman Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar clashed with President Donald Trump's envoy to Venezuela in a congressional hearing Wednesday, blasting what she suggested was his indefensible human rights record and demanding to know why lawmakers should consider him a credible witness.

Elliott Abrams, Trump's envoy, was an assistant secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan. He was convicted in 1991 of withholding information from Congress during the Iran-Contra scandal, in which U.S. officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran and funneled the money to rebels fighting Nicaragua's leftist government.

President George H.W. Bush pardoned him in 1992. Omar used his past in her line of attack, although she mispronounced 'Contra' as she read from her notes.

'I fail to understand why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful,' she told him.

Elliott Abrams is President Trump's envoy to Venezuela, a country whose socialist government is teetering on the brink of collapse; he testified in a tense House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday

Freshman Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar said Abrams shouldn't be considered a credible witness because he lied to Congress in the 1980s about the Iran-Contra affair: 'I fail to understand why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful'

Abrams, 71, asked if he could respond, but Omar told him it wasn't a question.

'It was an attack,' he snapped back. 'It wasn't right.'

'It's not right that a member of the committee can attack a witness, who is not permitted to reply!' Abrams added.

'That was not a question,' the 37-year-old scolded. 'Thank you for your participation.'

Omar, a Muslim lawmaker allied with Democratic socialist alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, complained about U.S. support for anti-communists in Central America during the Cold War.

She cited Abrams' initial dismissal of reports of the 1981 El Mozote village massacre in El Salvador as left-wing propaganda.

The Salvadoran Army infamously slaughtered more than 800 civilians on a December day that year, carnage for which it apologized 30 years later.

'Would you support an armed faction within Venezuela that engages in war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide if you believe they serve the U.S. interests as you did in Guatemala, El Salvador or Nicaragua?' Omar asked Abrams.

'I am not going to respond to that question,' he replied, calling it an undeserved personal attack.

'It's not right that a member of the committee can attack a witness, who is not permitted to reply!' Abrams, 71, complained. 'That was not a question,' the 37-year-old scolded. 'Thank you for your participation'

Abrams insisted that U.S. involvement in El Salvador was a success since the country has resisted communist insurgencies, despite elections that some observers considered fraudulent.

'From the day that President [Jose Napoleon] Duarte was elected in a free election, to this day, El Salvador has been a democracy. that's a fabulous achievement!' he said.

'Do you think that massacre was a fabulous achievement that happened under our watch?' Omar retorted.

'That is a ridiculous question and I will not respond to it,' he said.

'Yes or no?' she pressed.

'No!' Abrams erupted.

'I'll take that as a "yes",' Omar snarked.

Abrams directed his next comments to the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel.

'I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman, but I am not going to respond to that kind of personal attack which is not a question,' he said.

Abrams drew intermittent outbursts from protesters during Wednesday's hearing.

Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro, pictured Sunday at the launch of new military drills, is facing a battle to maintain power in the country after opposition leader Juan Guaido was recognised by some 50 countries as interim president

'You are a convicted criminal!' one man shouted before U.S. Capitol Police removed him from the hearing room.

Texas Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro asked Abrams if he was aware of the U.S. government transfering any weapons or defense equipment to groups in Venezuela that oppose socialist strongman Nicolas Maduro.

Abrams responded that he was not.

'I ask this question because you have a record of such actions,' Castro said. 'Can we trust your testimony today?'

Engel, expressed concern about Trump's hints that military action was an option in Venezuela, where Maduro is under intense international pressure to step aside and the country's economy is in chaos.

'I do worry about the president's saber rattling, his hints that U.S. military intervention remains an option. I want to make clear to our witnesses and to anyone else watching: U.S. military intervention is not an option,' Engel told a packed hearing room.

Juan Guaido attended a meeting of students in Caracas last Friday with his wife Fabiana Rosales

The head of Venezuela's National Assembly, Juan Guaido, invoked a constitutional provision to assume the presidency three weeks ago, arguing that Maduro's re-election last year was a sham.

Most Western countries, including the United States, have recognized Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate head of state, but Maduro's socialist government retains the backing of Russia and China, as well as control of state institutions including the military.

Under U.S. law, Congress  not the president  must approve foreign military action. At the hearing, Democrats on the committee pressed Abrams on his views on military intervention, but questions about his credibility provoked the most heated exchanges.

Abrams said Washington would keep up pressure on Maduro and his inner circle by 'a variety of means. ... But we will also provide off-ramps to those who will do what is right for the Venezuelan people.'

Panel witnesses described a devastating humanitarian situation.

Steve Olive of the U.S. Agency for International Development said hospitals faced drastically reduced supplies, there were concerns about the power grid and rising reports of malnutrition.

'The situation is deteriorating on a daily basis,' he said.The injuries prosecutors say an 8-year-old boy sustained at the hands of his father and a woman who confined the boy in a basement have been detailed in court.

Pediatric nurse practitioner Ann Swisher said Wednesday one of the U-shaped marks on the boy's buttock was likely the result of him being spanked by a flyswatter.

Prosecutors wrapped up their case against 40-year-old Traci Tyler on Wednesday. The defense didn't call any witnesses.

Both sides will submit their written briefs before the judge rules likely sometime in March.

In this Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019 photo, Traci Tyler sits with attorney Ted Fisher during her trial at the Hardin County Courthouse in Eldora, Iowa

Tyler is accused of helping torture her boyfriend's 8-year-old son and confining him in a basement

Tyler and Alex Shadlow (pictured with son) locked the boy in their home, in a space under the basement stairs, for at least nine hours a day in the summer of 2017

'Her specific intent was to break this kid,' said Assistant Iowa Attorney General Laura Roan.

Swisher said during the bench trial that the other marks she observed on the boy were more difficult to identify because they were healing.

Prosecutors say Tyler and Alex Shadlow locked the boy in their home, in a space under the basement stairs, for at least nine hours a day in the summer of 2017.

The two are both charged with kidnapping.

The boy told authorities he was required to sleep on concrete and use a tin cup for a toilet.

Food was also withheld at times.

Prosecutors say Tyler also urged her dog to attack the boy, which left scars on his back and limbs.

School officials reported their concerns after the boy described his life at the home in Ackley, Iowa.

Alex Craig Shadlow and Traci Lynn Tyler are pictured in their mugshots

School officials reported their concerns after the boy described his life at the home in Ackley, Iowa

One of Tyler's attorneys, Ted Fisher, said she shouldn't be charged with a crime.

'We're not suggesting that putting a kid under the stair enclosure is good parenting ... but parents do have the right to inflict corporal punishment,' Fisher said.

Shadlow's trial will start later.A storm chaser has shared a snap of the powerful moment he proposed to his girlfriend against a dramatic meteorological background.

Thomas Hinterdorfer, 24, proposed to his girlfriend of six months Amber Hardie, 27, in Bellthorpe, in the Sunshine Coast's south-west on Tuesday at about 5.15pm.

The professional storm chaser of six years perfectly timed the romantic moment with the storm breaking just minutes after he popped the question.

Scroll down for video

A storm chaser has proposed to his girlfriend in an open field as a rain bomb was headed towards them

Rain bucketed down about two minutes after Thomas Hinterdorfer (left) his girlfriend of six months Amber Hardie (right) said 'yes' in the perfectly timed proposal

Mr Hinterdorfer bought the ring in December but said he had to delay the engagement until 2019 due to lacklustre storms.

'There were many attempts where I had to pull out because the moment was just not right but everything eventually worked out,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'It wasn't the perfect storm but the imperfection of it was outweighed by the perfection of having my bestfriends and Amber there.'

The field of grass was the ideal proposal spot because it was the couple's favourite spot for witnessing storms.

'It's just the spot we always seemed to end up when we're chasing storms. It had an amazing view,' he said.

The location was also the same spot where he snapped his favourite storm shot two years ago.

He dashed half a kilometre to ask permission from the owners, who had recently purchased the paddock, to access the land for his proposal when he saw the storm had started shaping up.

The 24-year-old managed to get Amber to run with him onto the field to 'chase the storm'.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) showed a heart-shaped map on the MetEye storm forecast on the day of the proposal.

The field of grass was the ideal proposal spot because it was the couple's favourite spot for witnessing storms

The location was also the same spot where he snapped his favourite storm shot two years ago

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) showed a heart-shaped map on the MetEye storm forecast on the day of the proposal.

Although Mr Hinterdorfer bought the ring during the festive season, he said he wanted to avoid a cliche proposal during Christmas or New Year's and opted for something 'unique'.

'Amber has been nothing short of amazing ever since she rocked up in into my life,' he wrote on Facebook.

'She's slotted into this Crazy world of storm chasing and weather monitoring, dealing with my crazy sleepless hours, long days and stressful moments.

'To my gorgeous fiancee, my partner, best friend, my storm chasing partner  and now my future wife .. I'm honoured to have you in my life.'

The pair are due to tie the knot in 2020 after Mr Hinterdorfer embarks on a tornado chasing journey in the US.Multiple petrol stations have been caught ripping off motorists by sneakily overcharging on fuel.

Consumer Protection has charged three petrol stations in Perth and one in Albany for breaching fuel laws.

Each station has been issued a $1,000 on-the-spot fine.

Multiple petrol stations have been caught ripping off motorists by sneakily overcharging on fuel (stock image)

The station in Albany had been caught overcharging drivers 2.4 cents per litre for unleaded petrol for a seven hour period after the 6am changeover.

One Perth petrol station had been overcharging by 2 cents per litre for an hour at the 6am changeover.

While two other retailers in Perth were fined for changing the prices too early.

Staff at those stations had changed the prices at 5am when they were supposed to change at 6am.

Consumer Protection Commissioner David Hillyard told Perth Now the department would take a hard-line on stations that change prices early.

Consumer Protection has charged three petrol stations in Perth and one in Albany for breaching fuel laws (stock image)

'It may seem a minor matter but motorists who fill up prior to 6am expect to pay the same price that is published on the FuelWatch website.

'So we advise fuel retailers to strictly adhere to the 6am changeover time and ensure the prices being charged and displayed on-site are consistent with what is reported to FuelWatch.

'This does the right thing by their customers and removes the potential of action being undertaken by the Department.'Teira Bennett was celebrating his 21st birthday in jail when he allegedly attacked drug lord Tony Mokbel with mate Eldea Teuira.

The men can finally be identified as they prepare to front Geelong Magistrates' Court tomorrow on attempted murder charges.

But neither of the 21-year olds will actually step foot in the court for their brief filing hearing.

Teira Bennett allegedly stabbed Tony Mokbel during his 21st birthday party in Barwon Prison

Tony Mokbel, the drug lord serving 30 years, is fighting for his life after being attacked

Court staff have advised the men will not leave Barwon Prison, where they allegedly attacked Mokbel during a 21st birthday in jail.

Mokbel was allegedly beaten by the men before being 'shanked' with a prison-forged shiv - or knife.

Facebook posts show Bennett celebrated his birthday in jail.

'Happy birthday darlin, hope youre have an awesome day! I wish all the best for you! And Ill see you soon! Love you lots xxxx,' one woman wrote.

In December 2016, Bennett's profile page is littered with well wishes from mates as he prepared to go to jail just before New Year.

Bennett, pictured at the back, comforts cop stabber Jade Hunia months before he stabbed a policeman

Teira Bennett has been charged with attempted murder on his 21st birthday

Another post shows him visiting cop stabber Jade Hunia in hospital.

Hunia was jailed in 2017 for seven years after he plunged a knife between the eyes of a police officer during a frightening home invasion in Melbournes east.

The photo was taken just months before Hunia would carry out the sickening attack.

'Get better soon bro', Bennett posted.

Meanwhile, Mokbel continues to recover in hospital and remains in a serious condition at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

He was allegedly jabbed with makeshift knives with one reportedly hidden in a zucchini by the men.

The attack occurred a day after a News Corp Australia newspaper reported the 53-year-old had intervened in a standover racket run by Pacific Islander inmates.

Mokbel had just seen a visitor when he walked past other inmates celebrating Bennet's birthday when the attack occurred, the outlet reported.

A second victim, aged 31, is back in Barwon after spending Monday night in hospital.

Corrections Commissioner Emma Cassar said it was too early to say what prompted the assault, including whether there was a powerplay within the jail.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the government would not rule out changes to prison operations in the future pending the outcome of a probe into what happened.

Located near Geelong south-west of Melbourne, Barwon Prison (pictured) is home to some of the state's toughest criminals. Mokbel was treated by paramedics on his way out

Prison sources describe Victoria's toughest jail as a 'political mine field' where those who fail to play the right game can wind up seriously hurt or even dead.

The jail where Mokbel was allegedly knifed has housed some of Australia's worst criminals and continues to do so.

Rapists and killers Adrian Bayley and Sean Price grace its halls, alongside mass murderer Julian Knight and serial killer Greg Brazel.

Russell Street bomber Craig 'Fatty' Minogue is there - and he continues to broadcast breaking news tweets from his Barwon cell via mates on the outside.

Over the years the power landscape inside the jail has changed from long-time prison thugs to bikies to Islanders and Muslim gangs.

Mokbel had reportedly been disrupting an extortion racket being run by Pacific Islander inmates.

Two men have been charged in relation to an alleged stabbing at Barwon Prison on Monday

The Herald Sun reported they had been demanding $50 a month from a young prisoner when Mokbel stepped in.

Islander gangs have grown in power over recent years in direct response to racist gangs.by Vladimir Rozanskij

A Catholic-Orthodox conference on "Death and preparation for death in the technological society: bioethics and spirituality". Ilarion: In the West, Christians are being discriminated against in the name of human rights. Mount Athos will welcome all Orthodox, remaining above conflict between Moscow and Constantinople.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Three years after the meeting in Cuba between Pope Francis and Moscow Patriarch Kirill, an international seminar on euthanasia was held in Moscow on February 12 at the Orthodox "Cyril and Methodius" Institute for post graduate research. The theme of the conference was "Death and preparation for death in the technological society: bioethics and spirituality".

The meeting was organized by the Department for External Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow and the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, with professors of the Cyril and Methodius Institute. The opening address was given by Metropolitan Ilarion (Alfeev), who chairs both the Department and the Institute. He noted that on 12 February 2016, at the Havana airport, the meeting of the leaders of the two Churches "was the fruit of many years of dialogue, and indicated a prospect for the development of our bilateral relations for many years to come".

As Ilarion recalled, in order to underline the significance of the historic Caribbean meeting, it was decided to hold a joint conference every year on important issues for todays society as indicated in the declaration signed by the pope and the patriarch in Havana. On the first anniversary there was a meeting at the University of Friborg in Switzerland, on the significance of the Cuba event for relations between the two Churches. In February 2018 the conference was held in Vienna, focusing on the conditions of Christians in the Near East, which precipitated the 2016 meeting. It was during this meeting that a catalog of churches destroyed in the war in Syria was presented, prepared together by the Catholic-Orthodox working group.

This year the theme of euthanasia was chosen, as Ilarion explained, recalling the Christian martyrdom of the first centuries, one of the central themes of the meeting in Havana: "If we are to speak about Christian witness in the twentieth century and in our time, we cannot remain silent about the phenomenon of secularization, which is increasingly felt in European countries of Christian tradition ".

As in the Middle East, Christians are subjected to persecution and genocide, thus in the civilized West there is discrimination against Christians, their values and their symbols, in the name of human rights. The common will of the Pope and of the Patriarch, Ilarion asserts, is aimed at defending Christians in all dimensions of their suffering in the contemporary world.

"Euthanasia is a crime of the person against themselves and against society", the metropolitan admonished, "and its adoption at the level of entire states reveals a global spiritual disease". His words were echoed by the president of the Synodal Department for Social Service, Bishop Panteleimon (Shatov), for whom "the theme of this conference does not only concern our faithful, and not only the sick or those who approach the end of life, but it concerns every human being, every mortal being ". The change in the relationship with death in contemporary society imposes a new spiritual vision of life, able to understand the sense of weakness and suffering, said Panteleimon.

The president of the Pontifical Academy for Life also attended the meeting, Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia, Metropolitan Nifon (Sajkali), representative of the Patriarchate of Antioch, Bishop Antonij (Pantelic) of the Serbian Church, Archimandrite Serafim (Shemjatovskij) of the Church of Czechia and Slovakia and other Catholic and Orthodox representatives, whose presence also highlighted a particular solidarity with the patriarchate of Moscow in this delicate phase of conflict with the patriarchate of Constantinople and other Orthodox Churches, due to the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church.

On 12 February the assembly of the Holy Kinotes of the monasteries of Mount Athos was also gathered, which expressed solidarity with the ecumenical patriarch Bartholomew (Archontonis) and reiterated that the Holy Mountain remains open to all the Orthodox, without participating in the conflicts and without allowing mutual humiliation.A California tech billionaire has been charged with drug trafficking after police discovered briefcases loaded with heroin and meth in his hotel suite.

Broadcom Corp. co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III, 59, and his alleged girlfriend Ashley Christine Fargo were charged on Wednesday in Las Vegas with five drug trafficking and two drug possession charges.

The two were arrested on August 7 after Nicholas called hotel security to help him get into his locked room at the Encore Hotel in Las Vegas. Once inside, security found Fargo unconscious and called the cops.

Police then discovered a stash of methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and tablets believed to be ecstasy and mushrooms believed to contain hallucinogenic psilocybin, in the room.

The drug trafficking charges stemmed from the amount of controlled substances found, according to the complaint.

California tech billionaire Henry T. Nicholas III, 59, and Ashley Christine Fargo have been charged with five counts of drug trafficking and two counts of drug possession after they were arrested in August and found in a hotel room with briefcases filled with drugs

They were both arrested on August 7 and have been out free without bail since, pending charges. They're due for arraignment on March 11

During the raid cops said they found Fargo passed out with a deflated balloon in her mouth.

Nicholas identified a gas canister in the room as nitrous oxide 'for recreational use,' according to a Las Vegas police arrest report.

The arresting officer suggested the balloon could have been used to inhale the gas.

Fargo's lawyer David Brown claimed she was asleep, not unconscious, and woke after hotel security broke through the latched hotel room door.

According to court documents, investigators recovered 82.5grams of meth and 4.24grams of heroin in the room, as per the Los Angeles Times.

Neither Nicholas nor Fargo claimed the briefcases to be their property, even though they were seen carrying what appeared to be the black Pelican cases on surveillance video, according to the police report.

After their arrest last summer the duo were free without bail pending charges. They're due for arraignment March 11 in Las Vegas.

Nicholas' attorney, David Chesnoff, and Fargo's lawyer, Brown, denied wrongdoing and said they'll fight the allegations.

'Dr. Nicholas is a philanthropist, an advocate for victims' rights, a scientist and co-founder of a global company,' said Chesnoff, noting that Nicholas holds a doctorate in electrical engineering.

Nicholas co-founded computer software business Broadcom in 1991, which is a Fortune 500 company. In 2008 he was also indicted in California on federal securities fraud and drug charges that were later dismissed. Pictured above in June 2008 after a hearing

Police reportedly discovered cases stuffed with marijuana, cocaine, heroin and ecstasy inside Nicholas' hotel room at Encore Las Vegas

'He is not a drug trafficker,' he added.

'Ms. Fargo is looking forward to correcting the sensational and erroneous information in some of the media coverage of this case,' Brown said.

Nicholas, who goes by 'Nick', co-founded computer software company Broadcom in a California garage in 1991 but stepped down as president and CEO in 2003.

It is now a publicly traded Fortune 500 computer software, semiconductor and infrastructure company.

Ashley was previously married to Wells Fargo heir Brian Fargo. He previously told DailyMail.com he was 'saddened' by her arrest

He lives in Newport Coast, California. Fargo's attorney.

Fargo lives in Newport Beach and was previously married to Wells Fargo heir Brian Fargo.

Nicholas also funds Marsy's Law crime victim rights campaigns nationwide.

In 2008, Nicholas was indicted in California on federal securities fraud and drug charges that were later dismissed.

That same year he joined his family in rallying for Marsy's Law - a measure that expands the rights of victims of crimes and their families.

The initiative was named after his sister Marsalee 'Marsy' Nicholas who was stalked and killed by an ex-boyfriend 25 years earlier.

The motion which passed in November 2008 and has since been adopted in Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nevada, and Ohio and protects victims and their families from the defendant.

It expands the definition of a victim and lists 17 rights including privacy, protection from the defendant, notice of court and parole hearings and 'full and timely restitution'.

A total of 11 states now have similar laws.

Marsy's Law for All spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said that Nicholas continues to lead the national organization that he funds.

'We have complete faith that the justice system will return the proper result in his matter,' the statement said.Hundreds of refugees and asylum-seekers in offshore facilities have already gotten recommendations from doctors to be transferred to Australia under new medivac legislation.

Up to 300 asylum seekers from Manus Island and Nauru have obtained the crucial paperwork and are awaiting transfer, The Australian reported.

The sudden inlfux comes after the medivac bill passed through the Senate on Wednesday by 36 votes to 34.

Under the bill, detainees on Nauru and Manus Island will be able to seek 'medical or psychiatric assessment or treatment' in Australia.

Hundreds of refugees and asylum-seekers in offshore facilities have already gotten recommendations from doctors to be transferred to Australia under new medivac legislation (pictured, Prime Minister Scott Morrison)

According to the Department of Home Affairs, the government's medical contractor on Nauru International Health and Medical Services has experienced a 'surge of inquiries' from Australian-based doctors seeking medical records of the island's detainees (boat carrying asylum seekers sailing in to Flying Fish Cover on Christmas Island on August 7, 2011)

According to the Department of Home Affairs, the government's medical contractor on Nauru International Health and Medical Services has experienced a 'surge of inquiries' from Australian-based doctors seeking medical records of the island's detainees.

In other cases, paperwork for asylum seekers and refugees had been prepared well ahead of yesterday's passage of the bill, so the documents could be 'ready for lodgement' as soon as the changes become law.

While the medivac bill comes as a win for doctors, detainees and social advocacy groups it comes as a blow to Prime Minister Scott Morrison who staunchly opposed the bill over fears it would re-energise people smuggling to the country.

In a direct response, Mr Morrison confirmed steps had already been taken to reopen the Christmas Island detention facility and that action had been taken to strengthen Operation Sovereign Borders.

'Bill Shorten has done what he has done out of manifest weakness, an inability to stand up to the left wing of his own party, the Greens and others who have applied pressure,' Mr Morrison said on Wednesday.

'He has no strength on this issue and he cannot be trusted to follow through on any of the border protection measures that our government has put in place.'

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton picked up the thread and warned news of the legal changes had already reached people smugglers as parliamentary debates were closely followed overseas.

He said the Christmas Island facility was on 'hot contingency' alert for any new arrivals.

He also suggested the facility could be used to treat sick refugees.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton (pictured) picked up the thread and warned news of the legal changes had already reached people smugglers as parliamentary debates were closely followed overseas

'I just say to people trying to put out the welcome mat for people-smugglers, the medivac legislation applies for people who are already there. It does not apply to anyone new,' Mr Shorten said

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten clapped back at the fear-mongering claims.

He pointed out the medivac bill only applied to asylum seekers and refugees currently stranded on Manus Island and Nauru.

'I just say to people trying to put out the welcome mat for people-smugglers, the medivac legislation applies for people who are already there. It does not apply to anyone new,' Mr Shorten said.

'So if you think that by buying a ticket on an unsafe boat, paying a people-smuggler, a criminal syndicate, youll get a better deal to come to Australia, youre wrong.'

Labor frontbencher Brendan O'Connor went one step further and accused Mr Morrison of actually talking down Australia's border protection.

'It is sending a message  he is advertising like the ad-man he is  to people-smugglers that business is open. And that is an outrageous act,' Mr OConnor said.

In a direct response, Mr Morrison confirmed steps had already been taken to reopen the Christmas Island detention facility (pictured) and that action had been taken to strengthen Operation Sovereign BordersOrganized crime ruled the streets of Chicago during the 1920s as two dueling mob bosses fought to control the city's illegal gambling, prostitution and bootlegging industries. The Midwestern metropolis descended into lawlessness as politicians and law enforcement were bribed into silence while the mafia waged bloody warfare across the city.

Trafficking alcohol during Prohibition was a lucrative business for organized crime and Bugs Moran, head of The North Side Gang controlled the majority of shutdown breweries and distilleries that lined the north side of the city. Moran's monopoly on black market alcohol didn't sit well with his rival: bootlegging Al 'Scarface' Capone, head honcho of the infamous Chicago Outfit.

In 1922, a tempest of violence broke out between the Irish and Italian gangs. The Chicago Sun-Times called it 'the bootleg battle of the Marne' as mafia killings and shootouts shook the city. Between 1922 and 1926, 474 mobsters were killed. These years were defined by fraud, revenge murders, bombings, heists and turf wars; punctuated briefly by an armistice between the two enemy syndicates. Capone narrowly escaped death twice in 1925 and 1926 after being ambushed by North Side capos; causing him to drive around in his famous armored vehiclea three-and-a-half ton fortress on wheels made by Cadillac.

Seven members of Bugs Moran's North Side Gang were ruthlessly executed against a wall on February 14, 1929 by four of Capone's henchmen from The Chicago Outfit. The assassins, disguised as police officers released a stream of 160 bullets on their victims with Thompson sub-machine guns. Making it the worst mob hit ever seen in the United States and going down in history as The Valentine's Day Massacre

Disputes over the Chicago's bootlegging industry reached fever pitch in 1929 after Al 'Scarface' Capone orchestrated a hit on seven members from Bugs Moran's North Side Gang. Moran was the intended victim of the massacre but cheated death by mere minutes because he was running late that morning

Al 'Scarface' Capone (pictured left) was the cold-hearted commander of ' The Chicago Outfit.' His long standing beef with George 'Bugs' Moran (pictured right) turned Chicago into a bloody battle field as they fought for control over illicit alcohol trafficking during Prohibition

The conflict came to a climax on February 14, 1929 - history's biggest single-day mob hit that saw seven members of Bugs Moran's North Side Gang executed against a wall by four assassins disguised as uniformed policemen wielding machine guns. Photos of the gruesome mass executions were published in newspapers the next day; leaving Americans stunned and speechless over what became known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. This year is its 90th anniversary.

Valentine's Day, 1929: the North Side Gang was lured to the SMC Cartage Warehouse on 2122 North Clark Street under the false promise of a stolen, cut-rate shipment of Canadian whiskey that belonged to Capone. The Gusenberg brothers (two of the seven victims) arrived at the warehouse with two empty trucks that were intended to drive to Detroit later that day to intercept Capone's delivery.

A special crime committee is sworn in over the bodies of the victims of the Valentine's Day Massacre on February 15, 1929. Capone was immediately suspected of coordinating the savage crime but was never formally charged because of his airtight alibi-- he was at his vacation home in Miami during the time of the murders

To this day, the Valentines Day Massacre has never been solved despite circumstantial evidence incriminating Capone in the crime

Peter (left) and Frank (right) Gusenberg two of the victims were two of the seven victims. Both brothers were contact killers for The North Side Gang. Frank survived the massacre despite being shot 14 times but refused to break the Mafia vow of silence in identifying his attackers. He died at a local hospital three hours later

The hit was intended for Bugs Moran and his top lieutenants but instead Moran was running late that morning and missed the massacre entirely by a few minutes. It was 10.30 AM and he left his Parkway Hotel apartment toward the warehouse where his men were already waiting. As he approached the building, he noticed a patrol car prowling the area and decided to turn around and bide his time at a nearby coffee shop. A decision that saved his life.

Within minutes, two of henchmen emerged from a Cadillac sedan that blocked the rear entrance of the building while another two dressed as fake police officers emerged from the same 'patrol car' Moran spotted moments earlier. The uniformed men approached Moran's gang and ordered them to line up against the wall; thinking they were under arrest, the seven gangsters complied.

Keeping up with Capone: The man behind The Chicago Outfit Mugshot taken November 1930 Al 'Scarface' Capone was born Alphonse Gabriel Capone in 1899 to Sicilian immigrants who settled in Brooklyn, New York. Scrappy and bawdy, the young Capone earned his infamous moniker from the deep lacerations he sustained during a knife fight with Frankie Gallucio at a Coney Island dance hall. He cut his teeth in local New York City street gangs as a teenager before moving west to The Windy City aged 20. His closest friends called him 'Snorky'a term for a sharp dresser. Capone indulged in his expensive taste for bespoke suits, flashy jewelry, food, cigars and liquor. His drink of choice was Templeton Rye from Iowa and his weakness was women. At the height of his career, Capone ran roughly 6,000 speakeasies and made over $100 million per year. (Roughly $1.3 billion in today's money). Prohibition provided a lucrative business opportunity for organized crime; whose principal dealings in petty theft, gambling and racketeering amounted to trivial sums of money before the 18th Amendment prohibiting was ratified in 1920. Advertisement

The dispatchers then opened fire with Thompson sub-machine guns, systematically spraying their victims from left to right and continuing to shoot after all seven had hit the floor. Two additional shotgun blasts all but obliterated the faces of John May and Albert Kachellek, according to the coroner's report. The other victims were: Adam Heyer, Reinhardt Schwimmer, Albert Weinshank, and the Gusenberg brothers, Peter and Frank.

The crime wasn't reported until a neighbor walked over to the garage and pushed open the door to find the disfigured bodies in pools of blood, gun smoke still lingered in the air. Eye witnesses saw two 'police officers' leaving the garage while prodding their plain clothed associates into a 'police car' that speedily took off down the street. It was all part of the bogus scheme.

Responding authorities arrived on the scene to find Frank Gusenberg miraculously still alive despite having been shot 14 times. When questioned by the police, he said 'No one nobody shot me.' He died three hours later at a local hospital, observing the gangster code of ethics and silence known as omerta. His final words were, 'I ain't no copper.'

The massacre effectively put an end to the tit for tat warfare that waged across Chicago. Capone was instantly suspected in orchestrating the crimes but was never charged since he had a water tight alibi: he was across the country at his home in Miami at the time. Moran broke mafia code and famously told reporters: 'Only Capone kills like that.' When reached for comment, Capone responded: 'The only man that kills like that is Bugs Moran.'

The Chicago Outfit immediately began tying up loose ends by destroying evidence that traced them back to the crime. On Feb 22, 1929, police were called to a garage fire on Wood Street where a 1927 Cadillac sedan was found disassembled and set ablaze. It was determined to be the same car used by the assassins during the massacre a week earlier. Police then announced that Capone allies, John Scalise and Albert Anselmi were suspects in the Valentine's Day killings but they were mysteriously murdered before ever being formally questioned by the police.

Bugs Moran managed to keep control of his territory through the end of Prohibition in 1933, but the North Side Gang never fully recovered from what is widely recognized as Capone's decisive blow. Eventually the Irish mafia kingpin was arrested for an unrelated robbery charge and died in prison at age 63 in 1957.

The Valentine's Day slaughters haunted and shocked Americans as the lurid details quickly spread across the country. The crime went unsolved as authorities weren't able to officially connect Capone with any substantial evidence, he became known in the newspapers as 'Public Enemy Number 1.' This led President Herbert Hoover to command an official order to the FBI: simply 'get' Capone.

Al Capone's bullet proof and bombproof Cadillac photographed in 1933. The V8 engine could whip the 3.5 ton car into top speed at 110 mph; making it the perfect getaway vehicle. In 2012, the car was sold at auction for $341,000

The S-M-C Cartage Company warehouse at 2122 North Clark St. in Chicago was the site of the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre

The massacre set off public outcry for Chicago law enforcement to clean up the city's organized crime that skyrocketed during the 1920s under Prohibition. National support for the 18th Amendment began to wane which posed a big problem for gangsters and the federal government. The FBI ruthlessly shook down mob bosses in an effort to quell gang activity and restore justice. Shortly after the savage slaughters, The New York Times reported, 'Tonight an underworld round-up unparalleled in the annals of the Police Department is under way.' The article went on to quote Chicago's Police Commissioner William Russell, 'It's a war to finish. I've never known of a challenge like this - the killers posing as policemen - but now the challenge has been made, its accepted. We're going to make this the knell of gangdom in Chicago.'

Finally, the notorious gangster's crimes caught up to him and in 1931, he was convicted of federal income tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years behind bars. The larger-than-life mob boss was in poor health when he arrived at Atlanta U.S. Penitentiary. Capone had contracted syphilis at an early age from one his brothels and it began to take a heavy toll on his mental faculties. He was also diagnosed with gonorrhea and suffering withdrawal symptoms from a cocaine addiction that perforated his nasal septum. Capone was released on parole after seven years and died of cardiac arrest in his Palm Island, Florida home on January 21, 1947.

To this day, The Valentine's Day Massacre remains unsolved.

Chicago Daily News front page reporting the St Valentines Day Massacre in 1929Indiana authorities are urging the public to keep passing on tips two years after two teenage girls were murdered during a hiking trip.

Liberty German, 14, and Abigail William, 13, vanished on February 13, 2017, after a relative dropped them off for a hike near an abandoned railroad bridge near their hometown of Delphi, about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis, during a day off school.

They failed to show up at a pre-arranged pickup location, and their bodies were found the next day in a rugged, wooded area following a search.

Police have disclosed few details in their investigation and have not said how the teens were killed.

The bodies of Abby Williams, 13, (left) and Libby German, 14, (right) were found dead in Delphi February 14, 2017, a day after they were last seen

This composite sketch released Monday, July 17, 2017, by the Indiana State Police shows a man they consider the main suspect in the killings of two teenage girls

Carroll County prosecutor Nicholas McLeland said during a Wednesday briefing on the crime that the teens' unsolved killings is not a cold case but remains under active investigation. He said he's confident it will eventually be solved.

Indiana authorities are repeating their call for the public to keep passing on tips in the slayings of two teenage girls killed during a hiking trip, saying the next tip could help solve the crime

McLeland said that more than 38,000 tips have been received to date, but urged the public to keep sending tips to authorities to investigate if they believe that information is legitimate and could help investigators.

'That could be the missing piece that we're waiting on, that ties everything together,' he said. 'Any little tip could be the piece that we need.'

Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter spoke directly to the unknown assailant during the briefing, which was also attended by Carroll County's sheriff, an FBI agent and other law enforcement officials.

'If you're watching, we're coming for you,' Carter said.

Within days of the killings, investigators released two grainy photos of the suspect walking on the abandoned railroad bridge the girls had visited, and an audio recording of a man believed to be the suspect saying 'down the hill.'

That evidence came from German's cellphone. Police have hailed her as a hero for recording potentially crucial evidence.

In July 2017, an FBI artist's composite sketch of the suspect was released.

It depicts a white man with a prominent nose and a goatee and wearing a cap and what appears to be a hooded sweater.

Police said the suspect has reddish-brown hair, stands between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-10 and weighs between 180 and 220 pounds.

A reward of more than $230,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest or arrests and convictions in the teens' killings.

Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland, from left, Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby and Delphi Police Chief Steve Mullin attend a news conference in Delphi, Indiana Wednesday

This photo shows a checklist of tips for investigators trying to solve a two-year-old case of who killed the teenagers

On January 8, Charles Andrew Eldridge, 46, was arrested by Randolph County deputies in an unrelated sting operation after allegedly arranging to meet up a girl he thought was 13 years old for sex.

Charles Eldridge was taken into custody just over a 100 miles from where the killings took place. His mugshot was compared to a sketch of the man suspected of killing two Indiana girls

Upon his arrest, Eldridge reportedly told officers he's had multiple sexual encounters with another child under the age of 13.

After news of his arrest circulated, members of the public started inundating cops with calls.

They claimed his mugshot looked like a sketch of the man believed to be responsible for the deaths of Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14, in 2017.

After a number tips from the public likening Eldridge to the man in both the sketch and photograph, a statement was released by Indiana State Police.

It read: 'The Delphi multi-agency investigative team, and participating agencies continue to receive media and public inquiries asking about the person arrested January 8, 2019, in Union City, Randolph County Indiana for allegations of sexually related crimes against children and if he is connected to the Delphi investigation.

'The team is aware of this arrest and will investigate to see if there could be any connection to the murders that occurred in Delphi, Indiana on February 14th of 2017.

'It is important for the public and media to know that many similar tips and arrests of other persons alleged to be connected to the Delphi murders occur with some frequency in and outside of Indiana.'Officials placed a southern Minnesota school on lockdown for an hour on Monday and called police when tensions over racist comments posted on social media boiled over.

Two students are facing charges of assaulting an officer, among other counts, following an altercation with police at Owatonna Senior High School this week.

Owatonna police says some students posted racist comments over the weekend that were directed at black students at the school.

Students say the situation escalated when another racist social media post was made Monday during lunch, KMSP-TV reported.

Authorities on Monday placed a high school in Owatonna, Minnesota on lockdown for an hour

An officer tends to a student inside the gymnasium at Owatonna Senior High on Monday during the one-hour lockdown

Authorities were called to the school to 'de-escalate' tensions after black students were the targets of racist social media posts

Two students have been charged following an altercation with police on Monday

The situation escalated when a group of students stormed the locker of another student suspected of posting racist messages on social media

Senior Adnan Abdullah says by then everyone had enough and some students stormed a locker room to confront one of the suspected posters.

Police were called and clashed with some students. The school was locked down.

Owatonna Public Schools Superintendent Jeff Elstad says the district continues to work toward racial equity and eradicating racism.

The investigation into the social media posts continues.

Owatonna Senior High School officials say a large group of students started shouting at each other in a common area Monday over the comments targeting black students that were posted on Snapchat Sunday.

Black students make up 8.5 per cent of the school's enrollment. The school is 73 per cent white.

Owatonna police say two students received citations for misdemeanor assault of an officer, but there was no fighting among students and no one was injured.

A third student was cited for trespassing, and then released.

School officials have identified five students they believe are responsible for the posts but have yet to determine how they will be disciplined.

One Snapchat post circulating on social media shows a girl believed to be a student at the school wearing blackface. The caption reads: 'Is this what being a n***** feels like'. Reactions to the post included comments that read this b**** can get slapped

Another student posted on Snapchat: February is Black History Month and henceforth the start of a new tradition...n***** Friday.

One Snapchat post circulating on social media shows three white girls posing for the camera while posting captions which read: Always love teaching my b****es the best vocab and Grace just said N***** for the first time in her life.

An Instagram post believed to be from an Owatonna student that is circulating on social media shows a male teen flashing his middle finger.

Underneath is a caption which reads: F*** you n****** playing the black card to get us in trouble when yall can be all the f*****g racist to us.

Another Snapchat post that angered students showed a female teen wearing blackface.

The caption reads: Is this what being a n***** feels like.

Reactions to the post included comments that read this b**** can get slapped; This b**** bouta get the s*** slapped outta her; and This is why Im moving.

Another student posted on Snapchat: February is Black History Month and henceforth the start of a new tradition...n***** Friday.

Owatonna is about 60 miles south of Minneapolis.

Students criticized school administrators for calling the police to 'de-escalate' the situation.

Local police say when officers arrived they observed students in the common area and gymnasium 'being disruptive.'

As a result, the school was placed on lockdown at 12:30pm. It was lifted an hour later.A central Illinois judge on Wednesday granted a new trial to man who has spent 27 years in prison for his father's 1991 beating and stabbing death after newly unearthed DNA evidence taken from the knives suggest that the killer may still be free.

McLean County Judge Scott Drazewski on Wednesday ruled Donald Whalen, 52, should get a new trial in the killing of his father, William Whalen, who was found stabbed more than 30 times and beaten with a pool cue in a downtown Bloomington bar, The Pantagraph reported.

The judge issued his ruling after three days of hearings on Whalen's request for a new trial, which was based on new information developed since his trial.

Donald Whalen, 52, who has spent 27 years in prison for the stabbing death of his father, William Whalen, will receive a second trial after new evidence emerged showing he may not be the killer. Whalen is seen above in a Bloomington, Illinois court on Wednesday

During the trial, prosecutors claimed that a bloody palm print found on a piece of a broken pool cue was Whalen's.

But that claim was contradicted this week by a retired crime lab scientist, who raised doubts about the original findings.

Whalen's lawyers also cited new DNA tests that were performed on several knives found at the crime scene.

The tests failed to tie Whalen to the crime and potentially implicate an unknown assailant, the judge said.

The jury in the original trial never heard this information because the state lab conducted the tests when it was compelled to do so during Whalen's appeal, years after his conviction.

Whalen's lawyers convinced the judge that the prosecutor who handled the case at the time, Teena Griffith, did not allow the crime lab to compare unidentified finger prints.

Whalen lowered his head and wiped tears from his eyes after the ruling was announced.

He reached out to his mother, Colleen Whalen, who also was crying, before he was returned to prison pending a bond hearing Tuesday.

Whalen lowered his head and wiped tears from his eyes after the ruling was announced. He was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the 1991 murder

Whalen's bond was set at $2million, which means he will need to post $200,000 to be released pending trial.

He is nearing the end of the 30 years he is required to serve of a 60-year sentence.

Drazewski said a new trial is warranted because DNA and fingerprint evidence is great enough to 'undermine confidence in the outcome of the trial.'

Whalen is represented by attorneys with The Exoneration Project, who said they are hopeful the state will drop the case.

Bill Whalen was the owner of Twenty Grand Tap bar in Bloomington, Illinois when he was stabbed to death on April 6, 1991

Elliot Slosar, one of the attorneys with The Exoneration Project, praised Drazewski as 'a courageous judge.'

Slosar called on the state's attorneys office to 'take a deep look into the record and if that actually happens ... the only possible conclusion (is) that there's no longer probable cause and the state should dismiss charges against Donald Whalen.'

The McLean County State's Attorney's Office has 30 days to decide if it will appeal the ruling and if it will move forward with a second trial.

'Once my team and I have had an opportunity to review the court's ruling in detail and compare it to the evidence introduced at trial as well as the post-conviction hearings, we will determine an appropriate path forward,' McLean County State's Attorney Don Knapp said in a statement after the ruling.

In giving his ruling, Drazewski said that second trial is only granted if new evidence surfaces that wasn't available at the time of the first trial.

The judge said that the new evidence should be substantial enough that it could potentially change the outcome of the case.

In this case, DNA evidence which rules out Whalen as the killer is 'clearly both new, relevant and material evidence,' Drazewski said.

Whalen's lawyers have accused another man who was in the bar at the time of the murder, Robert McElvaney, of being the real killer.

Bill Whalen was the owner of the Twenty Grand Tap bar in downtown Bloomington at the time of his death on April 6, 1991.

Hours before he was killed sometime after 2am, Whalen ordered McElvaney to leave the bar.

During the trial, prosecutors claimed that a bloody palm print found on a piece of a broken pool cue was Whalen's. But that claim was contradicted this week by a retired crime lab scientist, who raised doubts about the original findings

Whalen's lawyers have accused another man who was in the bar at the time of the murder, Robert McElvaney, of being the real killer. McElvaney is seen above in a Bloomington, Illinois court on Wednesday

During a court hearing on January 28, McElvaney invoked his Fifth Amendment privileges in response to all 35 questions he was asked by Donald Whalen's lawyers, according to The Pantagraph.

'Isn't it true you killed Bill Whalen sometime after 2 a.m. on April 6, 1991?' McElvaney was asked.

Hal Jennings, McElvaney's lawyer, said he advised his client not to answer because 'once you open the door, it's open all the way.'

During Whalen's trial, jurors did not hear about McElvaney's comments to police in which he told officers: 'I wouldn't hurt Bill Whalen ... what did I do?'The Gruffalo is to feature on a coin soon

A 50p coin featuring the much-loved children's character The Gruffalo is set to be released next week.

A banner on the Royal Mint website teases: 'There's someone coming out of the deep dark wood on 19 February 2019.'

It also says it is celebrating 20 years, and shows a Gruffalo holding a coin.

The Gruffalo, created by former children's laureate Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler, has enchanted a generation of children for two decades.

The rhyming story of a mouse and a monster has sold more than 13.5 million copies across the world, according to publishers Pan Macmillan.

The Gruffalo is a monster  half grizzly bear and half buffalo  that lives in the woods, and befriends a mouse.

Token Publishing said they believe it will be available to buy.

They say: 'It appears the latest 50p coin from the Royal Mint will feature the Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson's scary but delightful monster who first appeared in 1999, and will be available from February 19.

'We aren't sure whether this will go into circulation like the Beatrix Potter and Paddington coins or remain for collectors only (as with the Snowman just before Christmas) - we'll keep you posted!'Covington Bishop Roger Foys (above), who had initially condemned the students' behavior after a video showed a teenage boy face-to-face with a Native American man, wrote a letter to parents saying the students had been 'placed in a situation that was at once bizarre and even threatening'

Investigators hired by a Kentucky diocese have concluded that Covington Catholic High School students at the heart of last month's Lincoln Memorial clash did not instigate the confrontation.

Covington Bishop Roger Foys initially condemned the students' behavior after a video showed a teenage boy face-to-face with a Native American man. Days later, Foys apologized for 'making a statement prematurely'.

The students were in Washington for an anti-abortion rally on January 18 when they encountered a group of black street preachers who were shouting insults at both them and a group of Native Americans.

In a report released Monday, Greater Cincinnati Investigation Inc said it found no evidence students made 'offensive or racist statements' - though it acknowledged that the students performed the tomahawk chop.

In a letter to parents this week, Foys said the students 'were placed in a situation that was at once bizarre and even threatening'.

'The immediate world-wide reaction to the initial video led almost everyone to believe that our students had initiated the incident and the perception of those few minutes of video became reality,' the bishop wrote.

Both the Native American man, Nathan Phillips, and the Covington student facing him in a video that went viral on social media, Nick Sandmann, have said they were attempting to defuse the situation.

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Covington student Nick Sandmann (left) was seen in a viral video wearing a MAGA hat as he stared down 64-year-old Nathan Phillips (right) during an altercation at the memorial in Washington DC on January 18. In a report released Monday, Greater Cincinnati Investigation Inc said it found no evidence students made 'offensive or racist statements'

The four-page report is based on interviews with 43 students and more than a dozen chaperones who were on the trip to Washington.

Investigators reviewed social media videos, tried to contact Phillips and traveled to Michigan to attempt to speak to him, but he was not interviewed.

The videos show Phillips surrounded by students. Many interviewed students told investigators that they felt Phillips was coming into their group to join their own cheers, which were meant to drown out insults from the street preachers, who referred to themselves as the Black Hebrew Israelites.

Many students reported that they were confused but did not feel threatened by Phillips, the report said.

'We found no evidence of racist statements to Mr Phillips or members of his group,' the report said.

'Some students performed a "tomahawk chop" to the beat of Mr Phillips' drumming and some joined in Mr Phillips' chant.'

The investigators also reviewed related videos, including one made the same day in which a young person says: 'It's not rape if you enjoy it.'

The investigators say they determined that person was not a Covington Catholic student.

The investigators were hired by a law firm that represents the school and the Catholic diocese, the report said.

The investigators were hired by a law firm that represents Covington Catholic High School (above) and the Catholic diocese. The school received national attention in the wake of videos which appeared to show students from the school mocking Native Americans

Both Nick Sandmann (left) and Nathan Phillips (right) have said they were attempting to defuse the situation when the confrontation was filmed

Lance Soto, a local indigenous leader who lives in Covington, disagreed with the conclusions drawn in the report.

'I hope that our people realize that its not up to white people to determine what is racist or derogatory toward Native Americans,' Soto, a member of the Cocopah tribe and leader within the Indiana and Kentucky chapter of the American Indian Movement, told Cincinnati.com.

Greater Cincinnati Investigation Inc did not immediately respond to a question about whether any Native Americans were interviewed in the report.

Soto said the local American Indian Movement chapter has called for a public apology addressed to Nathan Phillips and demands that all Covington Catholic staff who were present at the Mall during the incident are fired.

He also said the school should implement new curriculum about Native American history.

'I saw young men mocking and disrespecting an elder, and it made me sad to think about how much work we have to do locally in order for our Native Americans to be recognized as actual human beings,' Soto said.

He said Diocese of Covington officials had been invited to a community meeting on February 3, but none attended.Romance that blossomed between arms factory workers during World War I has been captured in a series of images and accounts being showcased in a new exhibition.

The Love in Wartime display at the Devil's Porridge Museum in Eastriggs, Scotland, contains heartfelt photographs of couples who met under dire circumstances and humorous postcards warning against romance in the factory.

Museum manager Judith Hewitt felt compelled to create the exhibition after finding hundreds of accounts from workers at His Majesty's Factory Gretna who'd found love.

Elizabeth Ann Storey - Bessie, as she was known -was born in 1897 and died 1982. She worked in a bar before World War I and then moved to Gretna in 1916 aged 18. In August 1918 she married William Orwin Hall. William had joined the navy as a boy and during World War I, his ship and crew were loaned to the New Zealand navy. He caught the Spanish Flu and died very quickly. It is thought that Bessie never saw William again after their wedding day

A humourous wartime postcard warns against romancing with women at the munitions factory as their hearts are just as explosive and easily broken as the munition

She said: 'Gretna Green is so close to here, a place of course famous for marriages, and it just seems to chime quite nicely.

'In the first few days I was here at the museum in September I heard quite a few accounts of people who had met at the factory and whose relatives still work here.

'Some of the children and great-grandchildren of those who met at the factory still work in the museum, so they settled in the area.

'So many of the people who worked here were women, and love, life, and family life, particularly at that time in history, mattered to women a great deal.

'These photographs and accounts completed the picture of the women, not just doing their bit for the war effort but also about their lives.

'It just made me think, my own grandfather met my grandmother in World War II on an RAF base, when he opened with the line "I don't like your lipstick" and then within about three weeks they were married.'

Ironic postcard says the only match allowed in the factory is between couples. Workers weren't allowed to carry flammable matches because the factories were full of explosives

In 1915 Britain was in the grip of the shell crisis' when it was feared troops were being forced to ration munitions during relentless trench warfare with the Germans.

In response to the crisis the Minister of Munitions, David Lloyd George, instigated an enormous arms building operation using every part of Britain's industrial might.

His plans also called upon the country's Empire bringing skilled workers in explosives, engineering and chemistry from nations as far away as South Africa and Australia.

They constructed the nine mile long, two mile wide factory in just eight months and employed 30,000 workers, 12,000 of which were women.

The gargantuan site had its own power station and supporting townships.

It had the nickname 'Devil's Porridge' for the gloopy chemical mixture female workers had to mix together in vast vats.

The woman workforce was essential, and they came from all over the UK, often young and seeking independence, or widowed by the war.

Ms Hewitt added: 'It's quite a phenomenon that people got married in haste during wartime.

'When I looked at our own collection I came across this filing cabinet which contained all these wonderful family history accounts people had sent to us after they visited the museum.

Agnes Barr Auchenloss who worked as a doctor at the factory. She graduated from Glasgow University in 1911 and travelled to South Africa where she met and married Swede Gosta Lundholm, an expert in explosives who worked with Alfred Nobel. When the war started Gosta was called upon to work at Gretna and helped build the factory. Agnes came with him and worked as the medical officer

'I think so often the accounts are about the men from war, and with good reason, but you think about the women who were left behind and what they experienced and what it would have been like to cope with loss, there were many women who came to work here after losing their husband.'

Ms Hewitt said work at the factory was heavily advertised and women answered the call to arms from all over the UK.

She said: 'We know that there were Gaelic speakers at the factory, described as 'fisher girls', so they'd probably come from the Western Isles of Scotland, and we know we had a girl from Cornwall, from the Isle of Mann, and quite a lot from the North East of England, and from the Lake District too.

'My research has found out a lot of the men came from the Empire, recruited from Australia and South Africa, and then they ended up marrying the girls here and then the women went back with them after the war.

'It was migration from love which is quite interesting, rather than for reasons of poverty or monetary pressure.

'Of course, that's still true today, a lot of people who move do so because of the people they love.'

Ms Hewitt explained that factory bosses struggled to stop love blossoming among workers in the new townships.

Norman Hudson (standing centre), a chemist from Sydney, Australia, who moved to Gretna to help with the war effort. While he was there he Meg or Margaret Mortimer (seated centre in front of Norman). At the end of the war they were married and lived out in Australia.

She said: 'The local paper bemoaned the morals of the new towns where, it was said, alcohol was being consumed in vast amounts, the Sabbath was being broken and young women were being led astray.

'The Factory had a social and recreation department which put on dances, films and other activities such as talks, workshops and sports.

'The cinema was seen as a particularly 'dangerous' place as it showed films that might excite romantic notions, was dark and might be used for liaisons between men and women.

'The women's police force were often to be found there as well as in other places where fraternisation might take place such as female only railway carriages and dormitories.

Jemima Crombie (right) came from Ayr and had met Francis Causon, who was an English regular soldier in the Royal Scots Fusiliers while he was stationed at Ayr Barracks. They were married in October 1914 and he was killed later that month in France. No known grave exists for him, his name appears on the Menin Gate. Jemima then came to HM Factory Gretna as a widow to work in munitions

'The matrons of the hostels and the women's police were sometimes seen as killjoys but they saw themselves as protecting the virtue of the girls and warding off the advances of predatory males.

'There were curfews and train travel was limited in the evening to limit access to Carlisle.'

As well as bringing people together, the factory also saw families in some instances torn apart as both men and women came there having left a past behind them.

Ms Hewitt said: 'There were two bigamy cases involving workers at the factory, one was a man who said that he believed his wife was dead, so he married a maid here.

'He apparently wrote a letter to his wife at an address where she had previously lived, and then when it was returned he is said to have presumed she was dead and that gave him permission to marry again.

Lily Hurst (left), Alice Morton (middle) and Minnie Morton (right). Minnie was 16 when she and her sister Alice moved to work at the factory in Gretna from their home in County Durham. While she was there, she became close friends with Lily Hurst. Minnie married Lily's brother Joe. They set up home in Eastriggs and lived in Rand Square. Their son Harry Hurst visited the Museum in 2010

'He also had three children with her but reported to not know where they were.

'There was also a girl who was married in Belfast and had two children with her husband but then left the husband and her two children and ended up in Gretna where she married a police officer.

'There were quite a lot of police officers who worked at the factory, to monitor industrial espionage and secrets being given to the Germans.

'But she was found to have been bigamously married and was imprisoned for a month. It seems though the police officer continued to visit her, we don't know what happened, but perhaps the relationship endured the scandal.

Women mixing by hand the cocktail of chemicals used to make the explosive elements of shells. The factory earned its nickname Devil's Porridge due to the chemical mixture's resemblance to the food

'There were lots of cases of lots of people of course who married, and it ended up in the courts, or in divorce proceedings.

'There was one case though of the gentleman, Mr Wright, whose wife was insanely jealous. Every day he would work in the factory and the girls would give him their photos and he would go home with them, making his wife crazy with jealousy.

'His relative told us decades later, even in the 50s, when he asked about his wartime experiences, Mr Wright wasn't allowed to talk about it and his wife would fly out of the room in a rage.

'She was still jealous all those years later, whether she had reason to be or not we don't know.

'Probably my favourite story, is a married couple that came here, the lady is called Agnes, and that's my daughter's name so maybe that's why it stood out.

'The woman, Agnes Bar Auchenloss, despite having a foreign-sounding name, was from Paisley and she studied to be a doctor before World War I in Glasgow.

'She moved to South Africa where she met a dual-Scottish Swedish man called Gosta Lundholm, and they married and had a child and were living out their lives a young married couple.

'When the war started he was called upon as a British citizen to come back and work in a munitions factory, to bring the expertise he had from working in the diamond mines and the explosives factories in South Africa, where he actually worked with Alfred Nobel.

William Mitchell and Florence on their wedding day. William was involved in the construction of the Factory. His whole family moved with him to Gretna when he obtained this position. His son, William Robert, was in the army. William married Florence in Middlesborough in 1921. This photo shows their wedding, their son sent it to the Museum and said that everyone in this photo had been at Eastriggs, some were born there, others had worked there but when the War was over they moved on to find work elsewhere

'He came back to Scotland and actually helped build the factory and Agnes came as well and she worked as a doctor throughout the war, because there were lots of injuries from acid burns, people falling from height, and women who fell pregnant.

'I just like the idea of a young married couple who are living together, working together in separate fields, and think about what it must have been like for them to come to this rural part of the world when they were quite well travelled people.

'You don't hear about many examples of married couples working together like this in World War I.

'We know exactly what house they lived in as well, so when you walk past it makes it even more tangible. And that's the same for many of the buildings here which are pretty much as they were.'

Sadly, much of the factory was reclaimed for scrap after the war but the stories of those who work there lives on in the 'Love in Wartime' exhibition. which runs until the end of March at the Devil's Porridge Museum.A 19-year-old woman turned herself in to police on Wednesday to face charges for allegedly throwing two chairs off a 45th story balcony along a busy downtown Toronto street.

The incident shown in an online video, which was filmed on Saturday at around 10am, has sparked widespread outrage.

Det. Todd Higo said Marcella Zoia turned herself in.

A widely viewed video shot from the apartment balcony shows a woman throwing one of the chairs, which plummets to the street below.

The chairs landed near the front entrance of the towering condo, but there were no reports of injuries.

The apartment where the incident took place was reportedly an Airbnb rental unit, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Marcella Zoia, 19, is seen above hurling a chair off the 45th floor balcony of a downtown Toronto high rise on Saturday morning

Zoia turned herself in to Toronto Police on Wednesday. She allegedly threw another chair

The video, which was posted to social media, went viral and ignited outrage

Zoia was staying at an apartment in a luxury condo at 55 Bremner Boulevard in downtown Toronto

The chair is seen as it falls toward the Gardiner Expressway in downtown on Saturday morning. Luckily, no one was injured

A photo of the Airbnb listing shows the two chairs which are believed to be the same ones that were thrown over the balcony

A photo of the Airbnb listing shows the two chairs which are believed to be the same ones that were thrown over the balcony.

Airbnb said that Zoia has never used the service. Nonetheless, the company did suspend the account of a guest who booked a reservation at the building.

The company said in a statement: 'We are outraged by the blatant disregard for community safety on display in the video.

'We will be suspending any guests accounts that appear to be connected to this incident.'

Local housing advocates in Toronto said the apartment is one of several in the building owned by a single individual who advertises on Airbnb.

Advocates have urged lawmakers in Toronto to crack down on owners of multiple units who rent out the properties on Airbnb.

After receiving tips from the public, police identified Zoia and asked her to turn herself in.

Zoia, who is known on social media as an 'influencer', is charged with mischief endangering life, mischief endangering property and common nuisance.

She had 4,000 followers on her now-deleted Instagram account. Zoia also deleted her Facebook page.

Zoia made a brief court appearance Wednesday afternoon and was released on $2,000 bail and ordered to live with her mother.

She must also not have any contact with the four individuals that were with her at the time.

'She is embarrassed by what happened. She wished it never happened. Of course, she would never wish anyone would be hurt,' said Greg Leslie, her lawyer.

Zoia, who is known on social media as an 'influencer', is charged with mischief endangering life, mischief endangering property and common nuisance

She had 4,000 followers on her now-deleted Instagram account. Zoia also deleted her Facebook page

Zoia made a brief court appearance Wednesday afternoon and was released on $2,000 bail and ordered to live with her mother

Leslie said she understands the public outage. He said he'll have discussions with the prosecution and said it might not go to trial but said he'll see how it develops.

Leslie said she was under peer pressure and they are looking for the others involved.

Zoia left the courthouse smiling with a Starbucks Frappuccino in hand as she entered an Uber.

Constable David Hopkinson said the apartment was being used as a short-term rental.

Airbnb spokesman Ben Breit said the company reached out to Toronto police to offer their full support in their investigation 'of any individuals involved with this abhorrent act.'

'We remain outraged by the blatant disregard for community safety on display in the video,' Breit said.

'We have no evidence at this time to suggest that the accused has ever been an Airbnb user, but we have suspended the account of a guest with a reservation at the building pending further review.'

Jenna Periti, who has known Zoia from the time they attended St. Elizabeth Catholic High School, in Thornhill, Ontario, called her a smart girl and said the video 'does not do her justice.'

Jenna Periti, who has known Zoia from the time they attended St. Elizabeth Catholic High School, in Thornhill, Ontario, called her a smart girl and said the video 'does not do her justice'

She said Zoia came to Canada from Brazil just before ninth grade and lived with her mom

She said Zoia came to Canada from Brazil just before ninth grade and lived with her mom.

'She's a bright girl but sometimes she likes to hang out with people who like to get involved in the wrong things,' Periti said.

Tyler Walton said she believes she rented the same Airbnb unit, suite 4508, on the same day the chairs were thrown.

She said she was told by the host to arrive later because the previous renter left a 'big mess.'

Walton said she saw the chairs outside the front door of the condo building on the sidewalk.

She noted the balcony chairs advertised on the website were not on the balcony when she arrived.

The City of Toronto has examined banning shot term rentals not regularly occupied by the owner, but the potential rules are undergoing review.

'I just hope that people take from the example the consequences that will befall this woman. This is irresponsible behavior that is unacceptable,' Toronto Mayor John Tory said.

'It was not just a lark gone bad. It was grossly irresponsible behavior that could have caused serious injury and death.'A Pakistan-based Islamic extremist group has claimed responsibility. A car full of explosives rammed a bus carrying soldiers. For Mgr Theodore Mascarenhas, "Violence can never solve any issue.

Srinagar (AsiaNews)  At least 40 Indian soldiers were killed in the deadliest attack against Indias military in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The incident took place today in Srinagar, the largest city in the state, in north-western India.

According to the eyewitness accounts, a car filled with explosives rammed a bus carrying troops on the Srinagar-Jammu highway.

Speaking to AsiaNews, Mgr Theodore Mascarenhas, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), condemned "the tragic event on behalf of Indias Catholic Church, which is mourning along with the rest of the country."

According to the latest reports, a Pakistani Islamic extremist group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, claimed responsibility.

On social media, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemned what he called the despicable attack. All of Indias political leaders did the same.

The attack comes at one of the most delicate moments in the history of India, which is deeply divided ahead of next Mays general election.

The violence in kashmir could lead to more chaos, since state is one of the countrys most controversial issue.

Kashmir-and-Jammu straddles the border with Pakistan, and has been divided and disputed ever since the British Raj ended in 1947.

Over the years, tens of thousands of people have died, mostly civilians, as separatists try to take the territory out of the Indian Union.

The previous flareup dates back to 2016 when Indian security forces killed a famous separatist leader, Burhan Wani. In retaliation, militants stormed s military base at Uri killing 18 soldiers.

In Srinagar, residents have been under a tight curfew for months. Some volunteers and the Catholic parish of Srinagar have been able to provide help to ease their suffering.

"Our hearts are saddened and dismayed by this senseless and cowardly act of violence, said Mgr Mascarenhas. No words are strong enough to condemn this barbarism, he added.

We entrust in the hands of the Lord the souls of these brave men who died whilst doing their duty. We pray for the families who lost their loved ones. In the end, Violence can never solve any issue. Hence, we pray for peace and harmony."A woman who accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexually assaulting her in Boston nearly 15 years ago will meet with prosecutors to discuss her allegations, her attorney said Wednesday.

Vanessa Tyson will meet with members of the Suffolk County district attorney's office to detail her accusations against Fairfax, attorney Debra Katz said in a statement. It came days after District Attorney Rachael Rollins sent a letter to Tyson's legal team to inform them that her office is prepared to investigate should Tyson file a criminal complaint.

'Usually in sexual assault cases we are not public in any way, but this individual chose to self-report and issued a statement and has a law firm and I felt compelled quite frankly to make sure that her firm knew that we stand ready, willing and able to assist in any way possible,' Rollins, a Democrat who took office last month, said in an interview Wednesday.

Vanessa Tyson, an associate professor in politics at Scripps College, claims Virginia's lieutenant governor sexually assaulted her 15 years ago

Tyson says Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax forced her to perform a sex act in a hotel room during the 2004 Democratic National Convention

'A lot of people would like to glance away from this,' Tyson said of sexual violence on Tuesday. , adding that 'it's one of the ugliest parts of humanity. Trust me'

Tyson is one of two women who have accused Fairfax of sexual assault, leading to calls for the Democrat to step down. Tyson publicly accused Fairfax this month of forcing her to perform oral sex in his hotel room at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004.

Later, 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 been pressured to resign, but instead insists heis innocent and is threatening to press a charge against his accuser for filing false reports if she moves forward

Fairfax has emphatically denied both accusations and called for authorities to investigate the women's claims. He has said he will not resign from office and vowed to clear his name against what he described as a 'vicious and coordinated smear campaign' being orchestrated against him.

A spokeswoman for Fairfax said earlier Wednesday that he would cooperate fully with an investigation by Boston's district attorney if a complaint is filed.

'In that event, the Lt. Governor will explore all options with regard to filing his own criminal complaint in response to the filing of a false criminal complaint against him,' spokeswoman Lauren Burke said.

Tyson's attorney said she spoke with Rollins on Wednesday afternoon and they are working to schedule a meeting. She also blasted Fairfax's suggestion that he would consider bringing charges against Tyson if she filed a complaint.

'This is a clear effort to obstruct justice,' Katz said. 'Dr. Tyson will not be bullied and she will not be deterred by such threats.'

Tuesday night's event was planned long before Tyson leveled her accusation against Fairfax; she spoke to a capacity crowd while hundreds watched on TV screens in overflow rooms

Under Massachusetts law, the statute of limitations is 15 years for rape and several related crimes, an interval that would expire this summer for Tyson's accusation. But Rollins said her office could argue that the clock for the statute of limitations paused when Fairfax left Massachusetts, meaning Tyson would have even more time to file a complaint.

Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry didn't immediately respond to messages asking whether the second accuser has approached her office about investigating the 2000 accusation at Duke University.

Duke campus police have no criminal reports naming Fairfax, university spokesman Keith Lawrence said Wednesday. The Durham Police Department has no record that any police report was filed at the time.

North Carolina law doesn't include a statute of limitations for prosecuting felonies, according to a University of North Carolina criminal law blog, though defendants can argue certain delays violate due process rights.Advertisement

A lion has been declawed by a Palestinian zoo so visitors can 'play' with the animal, sparking outrage from animal welfare campaigners.

Handlers at Rafah zoo in the Gaza strip put a shroud over the head of the 14-month-old lioness as a vet clipped off her claws with a pair of shears.

Falestine was tranquillised and placed on a table two weeks ago while the vet sewed up a wound from her paw which oozed blood, before the claws were clipped down further on Tuesday.

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Palestinian zoo workers hold up the young lioness called Falestine at the Rafah Zoo in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday

Palestinian veterinarian Fayyaz al-Haddad, holds the paw of the lioness Falestine as he cuts down her long claws with a pair of shears

Young Palestinian children look on at the adolescent lion, who has been touted as safe enough to play with after a vet declawed her

The zoo in the war-battered Palestinian enclave is promoting itself as offering the chance to play with the lion, who has been declawed but still has a full set of teeth.

The lioness is supposed to be placid enough to meet visitors, despite animal rights campaigners saying human beings have subjected her to horrific pain.

'I'm trying to reduce the aggression of the lioness so it can be friendly with visitors,' said Mohammed Jumaa, 53, the park's owner.

The vet takes hold of one of her paws, as one of the zoo workers pins her down and wraps her face in netting to stop her from biting

Two zoo workers carry the young lioness as the vet prepares to clip down her paws after a more significant operation two weeks ago

The Four Paws charity explained removing a lion's claws is equivalent to amputating the fingers of a human up to the knuckle and without them the lion loses vital functions and dexterity

It is the latest unconventional animal care practice in Gaza, where a few dilapidated zoos compete for business.

Fayez al-Haddad, the veterinarian who operated on Falestine two weeks ago, watched her behaviour closely on Tuesday as she was briefly taken out of her cage to be near local residents, including children.

'The claws were cut so that they would not grow fast and visitors and children could play with her,' Haddad said.

A zoo keeper plays with Rafah on the floor - they claim the animal is placid enough to be around children

Fascinated children press against the fence of Falestine's cage as she prowls around and bears a full set of fangs

There is no specialised animal hospital in Gaza so the operation was carried out at the zoo, which campaigners say lacks the proper facilities.

But the vet denied that it was cruel to the animal.

'We want to bring smiles and happiness to children, while increasing the number of visitors to the park, which suffers from high expenses.

'(The lioness) does not lose its innate nature.' He claimed.

Children watch as the animal - which is gripped tightly by the jaws using netting - has her claws lopped off by the vet

The vet Fayyaz al-Haddad claims the procedure is painless for the majestic beast and said they wanted to bring 'smiles and happiness' to children

The vet grins as he prepares to use a set of scissors on the animal as children press up against its cage in southern Gaza

But the Four Paws charity say the procedure is horrific and agonising for the lion.

Four Paws say: 'For big cats, removing the claws is a particularly vicious procedure which causes long-lasting damage.

'Natural behaviour, such as grabbing food or climbing, is hardly possible without an animals claws. Since the amputation was not done in a proper vet clinic, the chance of infection is high.'

The vet inspects the lion's claws following the operation

They explained that removing a lion's claws is the equivalent to amputating the fingers of a human up to the knuckle and without them the lion loses vital functions and dexterity.

The charity claimed that the zoo keeps around 50 animals in deplorable conditions and should be closed - four newborn lions recently froze to death there.

The small zoo in Rafah was opened in 1999 and is in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, close to the border with Egypt.

From there the charity say wild animals are repeatedly smuggled through underground tunnels to and from Gaza, the charity claimed.

Currently, 49 animals  including five lions, a hyena, several monkeys, wolves, emus, cats, dogs and exotic birds  live in tiny and desolate cages there, Four Paws said.

Since the opening of the zoo, many animals have already died due to rocket attacks and war battles.

It was destroyed during an Israeli army bulldozing operation in Rafah in 2004, before Jumaa re-established it two years ago.

A group of laughing children were watching from the other side of a low fence as Falestine was briefly shown out of her cage Tuesday for the first time since her operation.

She interacted and played with zoo keepers, though for now guests were kept slightly apart.

The 14-month-old lioness lies on the deck after the the procedure at the Rafah Zoo. Four newborn lions recently froze to death at the zoo

The zoo was destroyed during an Israeli army bulldozing operation in Rafah in 2004, before Jumaa re-established it two years ago

A Palestinian veterinarian holds down the head of the lionness as she is being declawed at Rafah zoo in southern Gaza for visitors to be able to pet the animal

Lioness Falestine has her head pushed down into the dirt as she lies helplessly in the Gaza strip, far from her natural habitat

Twelve-year-old Anas Abdel Raheem insisted he wasn't scared as he leaned on the fence.

'I am happy because I played with the lion and it did not bite me or tear my clothes,' he said.

'My friends saw the pictures I posted on Facebook and WhatsApp.'

Haddad warned, however, that the claws grow back within six months: 'Lions will not give up their offensive instincts.'

Gaza is home to two million Palestinians but has been blockaded by Israel for more than a decade.

In 2016, the last animals were evacuated from what had been dubbed 'the world's worst' zoo, also in southern Gaza.The actress at the centre of Geoffrey Rush's defamation case has alleged he traced his hand across the side of her breast and touched her lower back when they starred in a Sydney theatre production, according to court documents.

The Daily Telegraph and reporter, Jonathon Moran, will attempt to prove a defence of truth when the case goes to trial in October now actress Eryn Jean Norvill has provided their lawyers with a statement.

Rush is suing the Telegraph's publisher and Moran over articles about allegations he behaved inappropriately towards a female colleague - later revealed to be Norvill - during a Sydney Theatre Company production of King Lear in 2015.

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Eryn Jean Norvill (right) alleged Geoffrey Rush (left) traced his hand across the side of her breast and touched her lower back when they starred together in a Sydney Theatre Company production of King Lear

The 67-year-old Oscar winning actor denies the claims against him.

The Telegraph published the articles in 2017 without Norvill's co-operation and Rush's lawyer claims the STC begged Moran not to publish in an email which stated: 'This is her story to tell.'

But the Federal Court on Thursday heard Norvill had agreed to give her account more than seven months after the first article was published, providing a statement to the Telegraph's lawyers in July.

Their amended defence - based on her statement - includes allegations Rush's hand 'traced across' the side of Norvill's breast during a preview performance, according to an outline of submissions filed by Rush's lawyers.

He's accused of touching her lower back under her shirt, making lewd gestures in her direction and making groping gestures in the air.

Six months after the production, Rush also allegedly sent Norvill a text message saying he thought of her 'more than is socially appropriate'.

Geoffrey Rush (pictured in July) is suing The Daily Telegraph for defamation

Rush's lawyers in the document argue some of the allegations lack precision and there's no explanation why they vary starkly from claims previously made by the Telegraph in an earlier defence.

That defence was struck out by Justice Michael Wigney in March after he found its claims were 'plainly deficient' and 'vague and imprecise'.

The new defence has forced the trial to be delayed by seven weeks and Rush's lawyer, Sue Chrysanthou, on Thursday said he would seek indemnity costs and aggravated damages.

'Mr Rush is suffering continuing trauma because of these proceedings and because of the allegations, so the delay of seven weeks is maybe not a big deal to News Limited, but it is a big deal to him,' the lawyer said in the Federal Court.

She criticised the Telegraph for publishing the original articles without speaking to Norvill.

'They did publish two front page articles accusing my client of sexual misconduct when they had nothing,' Ms Chrysanthou said.

'Now we know what they did have was rubbish.'

The Telegraph's lawyer, Alec Leopold SC, said they were seeking witnesses to corroborate what Norvill said about Rush touching her breast and lower back.

He said the nature of the allegations and Rush's 'position in the acting world' meant not everyone wanted to speak about the claims.

'There are people we know who can corroborate it,' Mr Leopold said.

He rejected Ms Chrysanthou's claim that the STC had begged Moran not to publish.Gregory John Richardson (pictured) was arrested at a house in his pyjamas after being accused of raping several women across three decades

This is the tow truck driver who was arrested at a house in his pyjamas after being accused of raping a dozen people across three decades.

Gregory John Richardson allegedly raped girls as young as 14-years-old between 1989 and 2007 and is a suspect in 20 incidents.

The 51-year-old was arrested Thursday morning and led away from a house in Epping, in north-west Sydney, after tests allegedly revealed 'forensic links' between four sexual assault cold cases.

New South Wales Police allege the man sexually assaulted 12 victims aged between 14 and 40-years-old.

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The tow-truck driver was arrested after DNA allegedly linked him to four sexual assault cold cases, making him a suspect in 20 other rapes over last three decades (pictured is the arrest)

About 20 kilometres north-west of the city, two assaults allegedly occurred in Beecroft in 1989 and four in Cheltenham between 1994 and 2004.

Another assault allegedly happened in Hornsby in 2007 while three other incidents allegedly took place near Wahroonga, Epping and Macquarie Park from 2004 to 2007, 9News reported.

The alleged perpetrator didn't know the victims who were targeted in 'predator-style attacks'.

Child abuse and sex crimes detectives squad established Strikeforce Petit in June to re-investigate the historic assaults.

Police are reexamining a number of other sex attacks in the area dating back to the 1980s.

Detective Superintendent John Kerlate said the alleged victims had put the assaults behind them but the arrest had 'reignited some of those initial feelings'.

'It was mixed emotions, some of them very relieved, some were grateful of the progress and sadly some of them very emotional,' he said.

The 51-year-old was led from a home in Epping, north-west Sydney, in handcuffs at 7am on Thursday after being arrested by detectives from Strike Force Petit (pictured is the arrest)

A neighbour told 9News Mr Richardson's arrest came as 'a shock' while another person said they often helped 'feed his dog' and had a 'key to his house' for when he is out of town.

The 51-year-old reportedly lived at the house with his mother, but she has since died.

The breakthrough came after a review of four cold cases which were previously linked by tendency and modus operandi, police said.

After the man's arrest police executed search warrants at two properties in nearby Ryde and Berrilee.

The Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad swooped after new forensic evidence emerged allegedly linked four historic rapes in Ryde area between 1989 and 2007 (pictured is the arrest)

Strike Force Petit detectives was joined by heavily armed officers from the North West Metropolitan Region Operations Support Group.

The tow-truck driver was escorted down the stairs of his home in handcuffs while wearing his pyjamas, and was taken to Ryde Police Station.

The Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad is comprised of detectives who are specially trained to investigate matters against children and adults, including sexual assault, serious physical abuse, and extreme cases of neglect.

The search warrants are still underway and enquiries are continuing.An Australian architect who has been accused of selling cocaine to tourists with his Indonesian girlfriend has laughed before he was paraded in front of cameras for a press conference in Bali.

Brendon Luke Johnsson has been charged after he was allegedly caught with 11 grams of cocaine in Indonesia.

Dressed in an orange suit and a balaclava, the former architect was surrounded by police for a press conference in Kuta, Bali.

Reports have said he had been living in Bali for four years and bought cocaine worth 39 million Rupiah from a fourth person, who is under investigation

The former architect has been living in Bali for four years. Before he fronted the media the 43-year-old laughed

Johnsson said in the press conference: 'I have a sore leg, stress at work, just yeah. That's pretty much it.'

Local reports stated he had been living in Bali for four years and bought cocaine worth 39 million Rupiah, about $3730, from a fourth person, who is under investigation.

Johnsson's passport lists him as born in South Brisbane, and he is believed to be a former resident of Queensland's Sunshine Coast, Courier Mail reported.

He was arrested on Saturday about 11pm at a boarding house in Kuta, with his girlfriend Remi.

Brendon Luke Johnsson was presented alongside two females on Thursday, with them clad in orange suits and balaclavas as they stood surrounded by police

Johnsson's passport lists him as born in South Brisbane, and he was believed to be a former resident of Queensland's Sunshine Coast

Police received information about a woman called Bena, who others revealed was a frequent drug user, Denpasar Police chief Hadi Purnomo said.

In a raid of her boarding house, they allegedly found a pack of cocaine her pocket, two packets in a sanitary pad package and inside a pillow.

'Based on information from Bena police raided a boarding house of Remi in Jalan Mataram, Kuta. When police raided the house there are two people inside, Remi and her western boyfriend, Brendon.'

Brendon Luke Johnsson (left) was arrested on Saturday about 11pm at a boarding house in Kuta, with his girlfriend Remi (right)

'Police searches at the house found 13 packages of cocaine in a wallet inside a cardboard box that was put in the floor of their boarding house.

Police alleged Johnsson admitted the cocaine was from him and he had bought a large amount worth 40 Million Rupiah from a man called Made on August 3.

Bena was allegedly promised payment from Johnsson for selling four packages.

Police alleged both Johnsson and Remi admitted to using cocaine for five years and neither had been arrested.

Johnsson could now face 20 years in prison for allegedly using and trafficking cocaine on the resort island.One of Sydney's most notorious serial sex offenders will be ordered to wear a electronic ankle bracelet for another two years if he's released from jail later this month.

Graham James Kay, 66, is currently behind bars after he allegedly grabbed and trying to kiss a teenage girl at a Western Sydney supermarket in April, just weeks after an electronic monitoring tag he had to wear for three years was removed.

Juanita and Angela (not their real names), two of Kay's victims from the 1990s rejoiced when Supreme Court Judge Helen Wilson ordered Kay to be electronically tagged again if released when he reappears in Parramatta Local Court on August 24.

Graham James Kay (pictured) will have to wear an electronic ankle bracelet again if he's released from jail on August 24

Known as the North Shore Rapist, Kay (pictured) served time for attacking eight women at knifepoint in the 1990s

A relieved Juanita and Angela punched the air in triumph and described the news as a 'massive reprieve' when the judgement was handed down on Wednesday, The Daily Telegraph reported.

'We're just so happy we can breathe for the next two years and not have to walk down the street looking over our shoulders in fear of seeing him and wondering if he's attacked or raped anyone else,' Juanita told publication.

'Graham Kay has given us a life sentence by what he did to us  it's only right his movements should be supervised.'

Kay (pictured in April) was jailed earlier this year after he failed to tell authorities he was seeing a sex worker. He then allegedly assaulted a teenage girl at a Rosehill supermarket

The pair wrote to Attorney General Mark Speakman earlier this year, pleading for the electronic device be kept on Kay.

Speakman said Kay had been given an opportunity to prove he was a law abiding 'useful member of society' but failed.

Judge Wilson agreed, telling the court Kay was a high risk to the community and likely to reoffend.

Kay was sentenced to four months jail in April after he breached extended supervision orders when he failed to tell authorities he was seeing a sex worker.

The alleged assault of a teenage girl, 16, at Woolworths in Rosehill in April occurred just weeks after NSW Corrective Services officers removed Kay's electronic ankle bracelet.

One of Kay's victims from the 1990s, Juanita (pictured), welcomed Wednesday's judgement. 'Graham Kay has given us a life sentence by what he did to us,' she said

Another victim from the 1990s Angela (pictured) also welcomed news that Kay will have to wear an electronic device again if he's released from jail

He's alleged to have laid a 'slobbery' kiss on the cheek of a 16-year-old supermarket worker on April 17.

'The girl who, from her body language, appeared to neither want nor enjoy the attention, can be seen wiping vigorously at her cheek as she moved to the cash register,' Judge Helen Wilson said.

'In the statement that she later made, she said she was both disgusted and, knowing from press reports of the defendant's criminal past, very frightened by the contact.'

Known as the North Shore Rapist, Kay served time for attacking eight women at knifepoint in the 1990s.

The assaults took place in Balgowlah, Artarmon, Epping, Eastwood and Wollstonecraft on women aged between 16 and 39 between December 1995 and December 1996.

Kay served 18 years of a 20-year jail sentence after he was arrested in 1997.

He was fitted with ankle bracelet monitor when released on parole in 2015, which was removed in March.

Kay told a NSW Supreme Court hearing last year he should have his tag removed because it was awkward at the beach and had complied with 42 conditions imposed upon his release from jail.A confessed killer screamed 'die, bitch, die' when he beat a Korean woman to death as she walked through a Brisbane park, a court has heard.

Alex Reuben McEwan has pleaded not guilty to murdering Eunji Ban in November 2013, but guilty to a lesser offence of manslaughter on mental health grounds.

McEwan's trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court has heard evidence of what he told police during a formal interview after the killing.

Alex Reuben McEwan has pleaded not guilty to murdering Eunji Ban (pictured) but guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter on mental health grounds. Ms Ban was killed as she walked through a Brisbane park in 2013

McEwan's (pictured) defence lawyer argues his schizophrenia left him unable to control himself when he killed Ms Ban

He told officers that he'd said to Ms Ban: 'It's your fault you walked this way because you had to run into me' as he violently attacked her.

He also told her: 'Die, bitch, die' when he strangled, stomped and punched her for what felt to him like 'over a thousand times', the court was told.

'I killed her. Stomped her face in with my feet and my fist. Dragged her across the road,' he told police.

'Can't believe I did that ... I f***ed up.

'I didn't look at her. I just did it.'

Ms Ban didn't scream due to the suddenness of the attack but was begging 'no' and for 'me not to hurt her', McEwan said.

McEwan's defence lawyer argues his schizophrenia left him unable to control himself when he killed Ms Ban.

Family members of Ms Ban are pictured leaving the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Thursday

'It was a f***ing demon, man,' McEwan told police.

'It doesn't feel like me who did it ... feels like I was possessed.

'I felt like I was trying to go kill. This feeling has been troubling me my whole life.

'Felt like the night ... Felt like it was really strong. Really, really strong. Like I was watching a video while it was happening.'

Asked by police if he had a mental health diagnosis, he said: 'No ... that's the reason why this happened.'

He also asked to see a photo of Ms Ban's battered body 'for my personal relief', later claiming the request 'wasn't for relief. It was to hurt myself'.

The trial heard that Ms Ban was found by a tree in the park with head injuries so severe she drowned in her own blood (pictured)

The court was told that McEwan told her 'die, bitch, die' when he strangled, stomped and punched her (pictured: memorial near the scene of the murder)

He said he felt like a 'different person' during the killing after leaving his family's inner-Brisbane unit early on November 24, 2013, to go 'out to kill'.

McEwan said he kept bashing Ms Ban as he dragged her upstairs to Wickham Park, near her Roma Street Parklands unit, because she was making 'weird noises'.

He said he saw bubbles of blood coming from her face.

Ms Ban, 22, was found by a tree in the park with head injuries so severe she drowned in her own blood, the trial has heard.

She was walking to her cleaning job when she was attacked by McEwan, who was 19 at the time.

He repeatedly apologised and expressed remorse throughout the police interview and in letters to his victim's family and his family.

'I will be praying for you,' he wrote to Ms Ban's family.

The trial continues.A tow-truck driver has been arrested after DNA linked him to four sexual assault cold cases, making him a suspect in 20 other rapes over the past three decades.

The 51-year-old was led from a home in Epping, north-west Sydney, in handcuffs at 7am on Thursday after being arrested by detectives from Strike Force Petit.

The Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad swooped after new forensic evidence emerged linked four historic rapes in the Ryde area between 1989 and 2007.

Police told reporters on Thursday afternoon the man is expected to be charged with 20 offences against 12 victims aged between 14 and 40.

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A tow-truck driver has been arrested after DNA linked him to four sexual assault cold cases, making him a suspect in 20 other rapes over the last three decades (pictured is the arrest)

The 51-year-old was led from a home in Epping, north-west Sydney, in handcuffs at 7am on Thursday after being arrested by detectives from Strike Force Petit (pictured is the arrest)

Police are now reexamining a number of other sex attacks in the area dating back to the 1980s.

The breakthrough came after a review of four cold cases which were previously linked by tendency and modus operandi, police said.

After the man's arrest police executed search warrants at two properties in nearby Ryde and Berrilee.

Strike Force Petit detectives was joined by heavily armed officers from the North West Metropolitan Region Operations Support Group.

The tow-truck driver was escorted down the stairs of his home in handcuffs while wearing his pyjamas, and was taken to Ryde Police Station.

The Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad is comprised of detectives who are specially trained to investigate matters against children and adults, including sexual assault, serious physical abuse, and extreme cases of neglect.

The search warrants are still underway and enquiries are continuing.

The Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad swooped after new forensic evidence emerged linked four historic rapes in the Ryde area between 1989 and 2007 (pictured is the arrest)A pioneering Australian climate scientist and award winning conservation author has allegedly been killed by her own daughter in a nursing home.

Dr Mary E. White, 92, was found dead in her room at the Warrigal aged care complex in Bundanoon, southern New South Wales, on Sunday night.

Her daughter Barbara Mary Eckersley, 67, is due to face Goulburn Local Court today after being charged with the murder of the elderly mother-of-five.

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Order of Australia recipient and conservationist Dr Mary E White (pictured) was allegedly murdered by her own daughter at a nursing home on Sunday evening

Barbara Mary Eckersley (pictured), 67, is due to face Goulburn Local Court today charged with the murder of her 92-year-old mother

Police were called to the aged care complex at 9.45pm on Sunday. After three days of investigations they arrested Eckersley on Wednesday.

She was charged with murder and refused bail.

A family member said that after Dr White led a healthy life for more than 85 years, her quality of life had been destroyed by dementia in recent years.

'I think it's tragic because shed been very strong for many years, but that last five years was a very rapid decline,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'The last time I saw she had gone downhill dramatically from the time before.

'It was really hard on the family, but especially on my aunty Barbara - she was very close to her.'

Dr White and her late husband Bill arrived in Australia in 1955, moving their young family from Zimbabwe.

The paleobotanist authored a series of award winning books on climate change and in 2009 was awarded the Order of Australia for her service to botany as a researcher.

Dr White began studying Botany and Zoology at Cape Town University at the age of just 16.

'Mary was a great woman, she just loved the planet and she was a leader in her field,' her close friend Brett Dolsen said.

Dr White was found dead inside the Warrigal Bundanoon aged care facility (pictured) at Bundanoon, in southern New South Wales, on Sunday evening

THE TIMES OF DR MARY E. WHITE: 1955 - Moves from Zimbabwe to Australia with husband Bill and young family 1970s - Worked as a leading consultant on fossils and botany for the Bureau of Mineral Resources 1986 - Authors her first book: The Greening of Gondwana 1994 - Receives a Eureka Prize for her book: After the Greening - The browning of Australia 1999 - Received the Riversleigh medal for 'excellence in promoting understanding of Australian prehistory' 1999-2003 - Authors three more books on conservation and climate change 2003 - Moved to Falls Forest Retreat at Johns River, on NSW mid north coast 2009 - Named to the Order of Australia 2010 - Handed a Lifetime of Conservation award by the Australian Geographic Society 2018 - Found dead at Warrigal nursing home at Bundoona, NSW, on August 5 Advertisement

'She was a champion of conservation and education programs... and just a really good person too.'

After moving to Australia she quickly became a prominent voice on climate change.

She purchased the Falls Forest Retreat for more than $1million in 2003 and turned much of it into a biodiversity and rainforest sanctuary.

Dr White eventually sold off the greatly reduced farm in 2014 for less than she paid originally.

In a statement, Warrigal nursing homes said they were 'busy working with police and assisting them with their enquiries'.

Police said the cause of Dr White's death is unknown.A woman has been charged with murdering her 92-year-old mother inside an aged care facility.

Police were called to the complex in Bundanoon, in the New South Wales Southern Highlands, on Sunday just after 9.30pm following the death of the elderly woman.

Three days later, the woman's 67-year-old daughter was arrested at the Southern Highland Police Station at about 10.30am.

She was charged with murder and refused bail to appear at Goulburn Local Court on Thursday.

The cause of the woman's death is unknown.by Sumon Corraya

Gloria Jharna Sarker, a 40-year-old lawyer and a mother of two, has a long history of involvement as a student in Christian associations and in favour of women. She pledged to work for needy children, women and young people.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) - Bangladesh, a predominantly Muslim country, has its first Christian woman lawmaker. Gloria Jharna Sarker, a 40-year-old lawyer and mother of two children, was elected from the Khulna, southern Bangladesh.

As soon as her victory was confirmed yesterday, the news spread across the country and Christians sent their congratulations. Speaking to AsiaNews, the new Member of Parliament said that this "Victory is not only mine, but of the whole Christian community. I thank God for choosing me to serve the needy."

Ms Jharna Sarker is the first Christian woman to be elected to Parliament since Bangladesh gained independence 47 years ago.

Before her, only two men were elected to parliament. Promode Mankin, a Catholic, was an MP between 2009 and 2014 as well as Social Affairs minister between 2009 and 2012. His son, Jewel Areng, was elected for the first time in 2016 in a by-election and re-elected in last Decembers general election.

Ms Jharna Sarker was endorsed by Card Patrick D'Rozario, archbishop of Dhaka and Bangladeshs first cardinal. For this reason, she is grateful to Pope Francis and Cardinal Patrick DRozario for their blessings, and that is why today I am here.

The new MP is a member of the Awami League of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose party won the election of 30 December 2018. Her party took 43 seats (out of 50) reserved for women in the National Parliament (Jatiya Sangsad).

On Tuesday, the party submitted its list to the Election commission, which validated it yesterday. Gloria Jharna Sarkers name was on it, and the new MP will take the oath of office on 4 March.

A devout Catholic, Jharna Sarker is a member of the Chalna parish, in Khulna. She is a lawyer by training and her husband is a businessman.

She has long history of student activism in Catholic associations and women's groups such as the Young Women's Christian Association, the Bangladesh Christian Association and the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council.

Injured in a blast that killed 24 people and wounded 300 in 2004 in Dhaka, she never thought of giving up on political action.

"I am from a coastal area where people are neglected and struggle to survive. I will work for needy children, women and young people," she said.

In the Khulna area there is a great need for female empowerment, she explained; at the same time, I will focus on what Prime Minister Hasina tells me to do."Sidique Kamara (pictured) was stabbed to death in Camberwell on August 1

Kenneth Umezie, 31, has been charged with the murder of Sidique Kamara, who was also known as Moscow17 rapper Incognito.

Mr Umezie from Camberwell, south London, will appear in custody at Bromley Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, Scotland Yard said.

Mr Kamara, 23, was stabbed to death in Warham Street, Camberwell, on the evening of August 1.

Three other teenagers, aged 16, 18 and 19, who were arrested in connection with the incident have been released under investigation.

Another member of the Moscow17 collective, 17-year-old Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton, was found fatally shot on the same street in May.

The group's tracks have had hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube and include lyrics hostile to long-running rivals Zone 2, from Peckham.

Friends and loved ones left tributes at the scene in south London where rapper Incognito was stabbed to death last week

Police are pictured at the scene of the stabbing in south London. Scotland Yard announced today the arrest of Kenneth Umezie

Earlier this year, Mr Kamara and another member of Moscow17 were cleared at the Old Bailey of murdering teenager Abdirahman Mohamed, a brother of a member of Zone 2.

This weekend, confectionery giant Mars pulled its advertising from YouTube after one of its brands was shown alongside drill rap videos linked to violent crime in the capital.Chris Haycock allegedly found Krystal Simmonds (pictured), 35, driving a Ford Falcon on his farm

A farmer has been left devastated after a woman allegedly broke into a drought-relief centre on his property - before she mowed down his cattle while trying to escape.

Chris Haycock claims to have found Krystal Simmonds, 35, driving a Ford Falcon on his farm in Yeoval, 70km south of Dubbo in regional New South Wales about 9.15 on Sunday morning.

Mr Haycock allegedly confronted Simmonds and called the police - before she ran over his cows while trying to flee the area.

Footage appears to show Simmonds driving on the farm as the shocked Haycock family look on.

Mr Haycock said the cows would've thought they were about to be fed when they heard the car.

'When you see your stock get run over - it's bloody terrible. You're doing your best to keep them alive,' he told the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Haycock's farm was set up as a drought relief centre, and he said Simmonds's alleged actions made life even tougher.

'We're very shocked, it's hard enough here with the drought.

'There's thousands worth of damage to fencing. I don't know how the cows will go now after this.'

About ten fences were damaged and a number of cows were injured, according to NSW Police.

Simmonds was arrested just after midnight on Monday, and allegedly kicked a senior constable's leg and foot.

Police searched her car and found mobile phones, jewellery, an emergency services medal, methlyamphetamine, cash and a pocket knife.

Simmonds was charged with nine offences, and was refused bail to appear at Wellington Local Court on August 21.A Cosplay fan is facing jail for making replica guns with a 3D printer and advertising them online, but he insists he only made the weapons so he could dress up as his favourite fantasy character.

Sicen Sun was arrested in 2017 after he advertised one of his imitation weapons for sale for $1 million  negotiable  on a Facebook buy, swap and sell group.

The 28-year-old from Sydney pleaded guilty to charges including possessing a digital blueprint for the manufacture of firearms, manufacturing a pistol without a licence permit, and possessing an unauthorised pistol.

Sicen Sun was arrested in 2017 after he advertised one of his imitation weapons for sale for $1 million

Pictured are some of the replica guns Sicen Sun printed with a 3D printer back in 2017

Appearing in the NSW District Court on Monday, he said he didn't 'realise how silly, idiotic and naive' his actions were.

I could not even begin to contemplate that a hobby would land me in such strife,' he told the court.

He insisted the replicas, which included a P90 sub-machine gun seen in Stargate and a MA5C rifle from the video game Halo, were to be used as props for when he dressed up.

Sun admitted to wondering about the legalities about his actions but rationalised his thoughts as 'never wanting to fabricate or manufacture a real firearm in the sense it was able to project a projectile'.

However, crown prosecutor Stephen Makin put it to him that he wasnt just doing it for love.

Sun agreed that he'd previously offered other items for sale in the same Facebook group and it was 'perhaps' unrealistic to assume potential buyers he spoke with had good intentions.

He said he didn't keep the replica firearms in a safe but lived in a security building and didnt consider that they could be stolen.

Sun is the first person in NSW charged with possessing blueprints to manufacture firearms

Sun, who is the first person in NSW charged with possessing blueprints to manufacture firearms, said he has created a pamphlet and other material to educate others of the legalities of 3D printing props.

'If someone had done it for me, if someone had just told me the full extent of the offending behaviour that I was committing by printing these things, I wouldn't have done it,' he said.

Judge Penelope Wass on Monday reserved her sentencing decision so she could further consider the objective seriousness of Sun's offences.

The case is next due in court on August 21.

Judge Penelope Wass on Monday reserved her sentencing decision so she could further consider the objective seriousness of Suns (middle) offences



A teenage girl lies with her head on the chest of her sweetheart - just moments before his life support was turned off.

The heartbreaking photo captures the poignant moment Stephanie Ray, 15, bid farewell to her boyfriend Blake Ward, 16, who was tragically swept out to sea last week.

Blake was one of three teenagers rescued from the sea in Tywyn, Gwynedd in north west Wales after being swept away from the shore while on a family trip.

It is thought the boy from Dudley went for a swim to cool down in the heat before being swept out by currents.

Poignant: Stephanie Ray, 15, embraces her boyfriend Blake Ward, 16, for the final time

He was flown to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool where he was placed on life support.

Two helicopters, three lifeboats, two coastguard teams, paramedics and police were called to the seafront on Tuesday to reports of boys in the water, reports the Mirror.

But on Saturday morning doctors and next of kin decided to switch off the equipment, ending his life.

Before this, however, Stephanie was photographed sharing a final moment of intimacy with the much-loved boy.

She was at his side every second from when he was pulled from the water until the moment doctors let him go.

In her final goodbye she climbed into his hospital bed and placed one of Blake's arm around her.

Stephanie snatched a final moment with her beloved moments before his life support machine was turned off by doctors

The much-loved schoolboy attended Hillcrest School and Community College in Netheron, Dudley

Stephanie posted the picture to her Facebook page with the message that Blake has passed away early that morning

The condition of the other two boys remains unknown.

Taking to Facebook that day, Becky wrote: 'Blake, our beautiful, brave, kind-hearted, clever boy sadly passed away at 7.03 this morning.'

Stephanie and Blake's friends and family are raising money to pay for the boy's wake. Their GoFundMe page has raised an astonishing 1,200 so far.

The teen posted the moving picture on her Facebook page with a heartfelt message.

'Today has been the hardest day for me and it will be a day I will never be able to forget,' she wrote.

'As some of you may know Blake was involved in a terrible accident on Tuesday.

Friends and family of Blake are fundraising to pay for the boy's wake. Pictured: Flowers left as tributes to the 16-year-old

Blake's life was also celebrated by a flypast during the Caderman event, a triathlon in Tywyn which see participants go from sea level to summit in one day

RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) boats launch off the coast in Gwynedd, north west Wales

'I have been by his side through it all and I haven't left him. As you all know Blake was a loving a caring person and would do anything for anyone.

'We was told yesterday that Blake would never recover and his brain was to damaged and we had to make the hard decision of turning his machine off and let him go.'

She continued: 'But just know Blake wasn't in any pain and he passed away with his family around him and he will forever be missed and he will always have a special place in my heart and I will never forget you Blake fly high my baby boy and I'm gonna make you proud love you and I always will'.

Others paid heartfelt tributes to the boy over the weekend.

On Saturday morning, local coastguard did a flypast during the Caderman event, a triathlon in Tywyn which see participants go from sea level to summit in one day, and a minute's silence was held.

Blake's headmistress at Hillcrest School and Community College in Netheron also paid tribute to the boy in a speech, local media reports.'Manhattan Madam' Kristin Davis is scheduled to testify before Special Counsel Robert Mueller's grand jury in Washington, D.C. this week likely about her ties with Trump adviser Roger Stone.

Davis, who brought down former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer as part of her busted prostitution ring, spoke with Mueller's team last week.

And now she's being called to testify formally, NBC News reported, as part of the investigation as to Russia's role in the 2016 election and whether there was any collusion with President Donald Trump's campaign.

Trump adviser Roger Stone and 'Manhattan Madam' Kristin Davis are longtime friends

Davis is being called to testify before a grand jury as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe

Stone managed Davis' 2010 gubernatorial bid and is godfather to her son

Investigators are reportedly interested in her ties to Stone, who served as campaign manager for Davis' failed 2010 gubernatorial campaign in New York - an indication prosecutors may be looking to build a case against Stone.

Stone worked on Trump's campaign and there have been questions about contact he had with those potentially involved in the hacking of emails at the Democratic National Committee.

Davis told NBC News in July that Mueller's office contacted her attorney to ask her to speak to investigators and that she believed it had to do with Stone. She added she had no knowledge of Russian collusion.

'It's very out-of-the blue for me, very upsetting,' Davis said. 'For them to come to me for information on Russian collusion  I don't have anything on that.'

Mueller's team has been looking into possible contact between Stone and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during the 2016 presidential contest. WikiLeaks published several of the emails hacked by Russian nationals from the DNC.

Stone also had contact with the Twitter persona Guccifer 2.0, who had claimed online to be a Romanian hacker but prosecutors say it was a Twitter account operated by Russian intelligence officers.

Guccifer helped disseminate the emails hacked from the DNC.

Andrew Miller, a Stone aide who worked on Davis' gubernatorial campaign, has been subpoenaed to appear before the federal grand jury hearing evidence in the Russia probe.

'Roger's one of my best friends,' Davis told The Washington Post in July. 'I have nothing bad to say about him.'

She called the Mueller probe a 'witch hunt' and said 'in terms of Russian collusion I know nothing.'

Stone is godfather to Davis' son.

In a statement to NBC News last week, Stone said, 'Kristin Davis is a long-time friend and associate of mine. She is a brilliant businesswoman who paid her debt to society and remade her life.  She knows nothing about alleged Russian collusion, WikiLeaks collaboration or any other impropriety related to the 2016 election which I thought was the subject of this probe.  I am highly confident she will testify truthfully if called upon to do so.'

Roger Stone had contact with Guccifer 2.0, who helped disseminate the emails hacked from the DNC

Kristin Davis and Roger Stone often post pictures with one another on their respective instagram accounts

Davis is reportedly being called to testify about Stone

Davis was nicknamed the 'Manhattan Madam' by New York tabloids

Davis, a former hedge fund executive, was arrested in 2013 after allegedly selling drugs to an FBI cooperating witness.

She pleaded guilty to a charge of selling prescription drugs and was sentenced to two years in prison. She was released in May 2016.

She is known for running a high-end prostitution ring in the 2000s and was nicknamed the 'Manhattan Madam' by New York tabloids.

She spent several months in New York's Rikers Island jail for procuring prostitution and said publicly that her escort service had about 10,000 wealthy clients.Miguel Angel Corea Diaz, aka 'The Reaper', is being held without bond in Nassau County

An accused MS-13 kingpin has complained about his jail conditions, beseeching a judge to relieve his suffering behind bars.

Miguel Angel Corea Diaz, aka 'The Reaper', is being held without bond in Nassau County, New York, where he faces charges of operating as a major trafficker and second-degree conspiracy.

Corea Diaz is allegedly the Northeast kingpin of the savage international gang MS-13.

However, Corea Diaz told a judge on July 31 that he is merely a devoted father who was separated from his children through no fault of his own.

'Discrimination. I'm suffering in this country,' Corea Diaz, 35, said in Nassau County Court, begging for an improvement to his jail conditions, Newsday reported.

Corea Diaz also complained that he'd been receiving death threats from outside jail.

Corea Diaz is seen being escorted by DEA agents during his extradition to New York in April. He has complained about his jail conditions and asked for more phone privileges

'They call me El Chapo. 'Die, scary guy,'' he told the judge, referring to the accused Sinaloa cartel leader who is awaiting trial in Brooklyn.

Corea Diaz complained that he has been unable to talk to his children.

His lawyer, Scott Gross, said the suspected gang leader has been locked in a cell for about 23 hours a day and only has limited phone access.

Acting State Supreme Court Justice Patricia Harrington will now consider his requests.

Corea Diaz was extradited to New York in April from Maryland, where he also faced drug charges.

Prosecutors say he was the boss of the Long Island Sailors, an MS-13 crew, giving orders on the ground in the US.

Corea Diaz is currently jailed at the Nassau County Correctional Center (above) awaiting trial

DEA officials described him as the 'point man on the East Coast who would report to MS-13 hierarchy in El Salvador.'

An indictment alleges that Corea Diaz ordered beatings and killings and directed the gang's drug operations in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Texas and elsewhere. He was among 16 alleged MS-13 members charged earlier this year.

In 2017, Corea Diaz allegedly ordered the murder of a rival in Elizabeth, New Jersey before police stopped the hit.

There's evidence that the two henchmen ordered on the hit discussed where to dispose the victim's body and how deep to dig the hole before law enforcement thwarted them, Nassau County prosecutors said.

Corea Diaz faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted on the top charge he faces.

Authorities believe MS-13, or the Mara Salvatrucha, has thousands of members across the country, mostly Central American immigrants.A family were left shocked after racist graffiti was left on their house on the day they moved in.

The words 'no blacs n*****s (sic)' was spray painted on their home in an 'absolutely sickening' hate crime that is now being investigated by Greater Manchester Police.

The Kaseses had just set up in their new house in Rochdale, on Saturday and celebrated with a small party and barbecue.

The words 'no blacs n*****s (sic)' was spray painted on their home in an 'absolutely sickening' hate crime that is now being investigated by Greater Manchester Police

Later on in the evening they could hear a 'spraying' noise coming from outside.

When they looked out of the window they said they could see two white men on bicycles making their way away from the property.

A disgusting message had been painted onto the window reading: 'No blacs n*****s'.

The family called police and it is now being investigated as a hate crime.

Detectives have branded the incident 'absolutely sickening'.

The Kaseses are now planning to move house as soon as possible, but are defiantly telling their story to raise awareness of racism.

Lilian Kasese, 24, said: 'I think this needs to be told. I have spoken to one or two black people in the area and they said they have experienced similar things. It needs to be told.

'We moved in that day. We were having a barbecue with some family. It was a normal day.

'My little brother heard some spraying going on. He went to check and said someone was outside. We looked out and we could see two white guys on bikes getting away.

Sabena Kasese with Jay J and Lilian outside their home in Rochdale, where they 'don't feel safe'

'They couldn't even spell properly. The community helped clean it up, we didn't want them to but the police were taking forever to come.'

Lilian, who recently graduated, said: 'We are moving out as soon as possible. We don't feel safe to stay here.

'This is the first day we moved in to Manchester, we have lived all over the UK.

'My brother is 18 - he is more shaken. There seems to be some young boys who have done it. He feels like he is in danger.

'We have been in this country for so long, but it feels like back in the day, like it was in the 1930s. It is shocking.'

The Kasese family, who are originally from South Africa, moved to the UK when Lilian was a baby.

Her younger brother Joseph was born in the UK.

At the time of the incident Lilian's mum, dad, younger brother and sister were at the house at the time.

The family were living in Essex before they made the move to Rochdale.

Sabena Kasese with her children Jay J, 18, and Lilian, 24, outside their Rochdale home

Inspector Rob MacGregor of GMP's Rochdale District, said: 'This is an absolutely sickening crime, that has deeply upset not just the victims, but local residents who have seen what was written.

'Thousands of people live together across Greater Manchester, from different walks of life, and those who write hateful messages will be dealt with accordingly.

'We are treating this as a hate crime and are working closely with our partners, Rochdale Borough Council and Rochdale Borough Housing to fully investigate this matter.

'If you heard any kind of disturbance in the early hours of Sunday morning, or have information that could help us identify who is responsible, please do the right thing and get in touch.

'You can talk to one of our local officers on 0161 856 8549 or make an anonymous report through the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555

Florence Famurewa posted a pictured of the window on Twitter, it has since gone viral.Saudi Arabia appeared to threaten a 9/11-style attack on Canada today after posting an image to Twitter that showed a passenger plane flying towards the CN Tower in Toronto.

The inflammatory photo was captioned: 'As the Arabic saying goes: 'He who interferes with what doesn't concern him finds what doesn't please him'.

The Saudi government-linked Twitter account, which has 354,000 followers, placed another caption over the tower reading: 'Sticking one's nose where it doesn't belong'.

Responding to the mock 9/11 threat Elizabeth Tsurkov, a research fellow at the Israeli Forum for Regional Thinking, said: 'This tweet by an official Saudi propaganda account has now been deleted.

'Seems like they realized that reminding us that 15 of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi is not a great idea'.

Saudi Arabia has appeared to threaten Canada with 9/11-style attack after the nation expelled its ambassador in a row over jailed women's activists

The 1814 feet high CN Tower is one of Canada's best known landmarks. More than 500 people work in the tower which welcomes 1.5million tourists every year.

The apparent threat comes following a disagreement between the two nation's over Canada's criticism of Saudi Arabia for its jailing of women's rights activists.

Saudi Arabia responded by freezing all new trade with Canada and expelling its ambassador over citing 'interference' in the desert kingdom's domestic affairs. It added Canada's actions were a violation of the country's sovereignty.

A spokesman said: 'The Kingdom of Saudi Arabiawill not accept interference in its internal affairs or imposed diktats from any country'.

In response, Canadian foreign ministry spokesman Marie-Pier Baril said the country would 'always stand up for the protection of human rights, very much including women's rights, and freedom of expression around the world'.

Saudi Arabia earlier said it was expelling the Canadian ambassador Dennis Horak (pictured)

Among those detained by Riyadh is Loujain al-Hathloul, 28, who appeared with the Duchess of Sussex, then Meghan Markle, at a One Young World summit in Canada two years ago where they were pictured in a Vanity Fair photoshoot.

Yesterday the leading Saudi women's rights campaigner Manal al-Sharif thanked Canada for 'speaking up' and asked when other Western powers would do the same.

Aviation analyst Alex Macheras said the account was connected to the Saudi royal court.

Desperately trying to wriggle out of the gaffe, the Twitter account responsible, @infographic_ksa, apologised saying:

'Earlier we posted an image, which is why we deleted the post immediately. The aircraft was intended to symbolize the return of the Ambassador, we realize this was not clear and any other meaning was unintentional. We apologise to anyone who was offended'.

Canada last week said it was 'gravely concerned' over a new wave of arrests, including award-winning gender rights activist Samar Badawi, pictured left. Samar is a vocal campaigner for her brother Raif Badawi, a blogger who was arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Badawi's wife Ensaf Haidar, seen holding Raif's photo, has been granted asylum by Canada, where she is raising their three children

Canada last week said it was 'gravely concerned' over a new wave of arrests of women and human rights campaigners in the kingdom, including award-winning gender rights activist Samar Badawi.

Samar is a vocal campaigner for her brother Raif Badawi, a blogger who was arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and later sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail for 'insulting Islam' in a case that sparked international outcry.

Badawi's wife Ensaf Haidar has been granted asylum by Canada, where she is raising their three children now aged 14, 13 and 10 as a single mother.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry said it had recalled its envoy in Canada and also said it would freeze 'all new business' between the kingdom and Canada. Pictured: The Saudi embassy in Ottawa

The move underscores a newly aggressive foreign policy led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (pictured)

Samar was arrested along with fellow campaigner Nassima al-Sadah last week, the latest victims of what Human Rights Watch called an 'unprecedented government crackdown on the women's rights movement'.

Freeland tweeted about the arrests on Thursday.

'Very alarmed to learn that Samar Badawi, Raif Badawi's sister, has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia,' she wrote.

'Canada stands together with the Badawi family in this difficult time, and we continue to strongly call for the release of both Raif and Samar Badawi.'

In April, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (pictured) expressed his 'serious concern' over the continued jailing of Badawi to King Salman

The latest arrests come weeks after more than a dozen women's right campaigners were detained and accused of undermining national security and collaborating with enemies of the state. Some have since been released.

The Saudi foreign ministry slammed the Canadian statement, signalling its growing irritation over Western criticism of the kingdom's poor human rights record.

'Using the phrase 'immediately release' in the Canadian statement is very unfortunate, reprehensible, and unacceptable in relations between states,' the ministry tweeted.

Prince Mohammed, heir to the region's most powerful throne, has introduced a string of reforms such as lifting a decades-long ban on women drivers in a bid to overhaul the kingdom's austere image as it prepares for a post-oil era.The CEO and chairman of NASCAR Brian France (pictured in his mugshot) was arrested for driving while intoxicated and for possession of oxycodone in the Hamptons on Sunday

The CEO and chairman of NASCAR has announced he will be taking a leave of absence after he was arrested for driving while intoxicated and for possession of oxycodone in the Hamptons on Sunday.

Brian France released a statement on Monday saying: 'I apologize to our fans, our industry and my family for the impact of my actions last night. Effective immediately, I will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from my position to focus on my personal affairs.'

He was reportedly stopped by police after he blew through a stop sign in Sag Harbor, his 2017 Lexus, at around 7.30pm.

When he was pulled over, the 56-year-old reportedly brought up his close relationship with President Donald Trump and name dropped a few other famous faces.

But that didn't stop cops from conducting a sobriety test - which France failed. His blood alcohol level was later found to be more than twice the legal limit.

During the stop, France was searched which was when officers found the oxycodone pills, according to police.

France was arrested and taken to a nearby station where he was booked for a DUI and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the 7th degree.

The powerful motorsports mogul spent the night in jail before he was released on his own recognizance on Monday morning after his arraignment.

Sources told TMZ that throughout the process, he brought up his relationship to the Trumps. They have known each other for some time since the president previously proposed the Trump Motor Speedway in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

There was no immediate information on an attorney who could comment on France's behalf.

When France (left) was pulled over, he reportedly brought up his close relationship with President Donald Trump (right)

Brian France, pictured with his wife Amy at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation Hot Pink Gala on May 17, was reportedly stopped by police after he blew through a stop sign in Sag Harbor, his 2017 Lexus, at around 7.30pm

NASCAR says it takes France's arrest 'as a serious matter and will issue a statement after we have all of the facts.

France has been CEO of the family-founded racing organization since 2003.

His grandfather Bill France Sr. founded NASCAR back in 1948 and ran it until Brian's father took over the role from 1972 to 2000.

Jim France, his uncle, and Lesa France Kennedy, his sister, are executive vice presidents. France Kennedy is also the CEO of International Speedway Corp., and Jim France is the chairman. ISC owns 13 of the tracks on which NASCAR hosts 19 major racing events.

Last month, France was forced to refute rumors that he was planning to sell the business.

Reuters reported in May the France family was exploring a sale of NASCAR's sanctioning body, while Forbes said the France family was seeking only minority investors.

Both reports cited unidentified sources, and France referred to them as 'rumors.'

'The France family is locked and loaded in its dedication to NASCAR,' France on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

'We're focused on ruling and managing NASCAR. There's nothing to report on that. Rumors are always interesting, but they're seldom right.'

NASCAR's television ratings are down about 20 percent over the first 16 events of this season, according to figures from International Speedway Corp., which owns and operates the circuit.

NASCAR says it takes France's arrest 'as a serious matter and will issue a statement after we have all of the facts (pictured: cars pit during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 22, 2018)



'Guardians of the Galaxy' actor Dave Bautista knows the franchise's 'Vol. 3' will likely go on without director James Gunn who was fired by Disney, saying it's not what he 'signed up for.'

Bautista, who plays Drax, is contractually obligated to continue on after Disney axed the director for decade old Twitter jokes about pedophilia and rape.

However the larger than life actor took to Twitter himself to express his frustrations over the media company's seemingly ultimate decision to not re-hire Gunn- despite an outcry of support that included a heartfelt open letter from the cast last week.

Bautista tweeted on Sunday that 'Guardians of the Galaxy without James Gunn just isn't Guardians of the Galaxy.'

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Dave Bautista, who plays Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, took to Twitter Sunday to say that while he is obligated to act in the franchise's Vol. 3, its just not the same without axed director James Gunn

He also took a swipe at his 'Guardians' employer, Disney, in his tweet.

'It's also pretty nauseating to work for someone who'd empower a smear campaign by fascists #cybernazis,' Bautista continued, referring to the right-wing commentator Mike Cernovich, who dug-up Gunn's decade old tweets.

Meanwhile Kurt Russell, who played Ego in 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' had his own thoughts on the matter, and approached Gunn's firing with similar disdain.

Russell, 67, speaking to Variety, said 'It's sad. But it's part of our fabric now, and I get it.

'But I do think we're getting a little too sensitive on maybe some of the wrong people,' he added.

Gunn was gearing up to direct the third installment of the popular superhero science fiction franchise when the old tweets were reported on.

Kurt Russell who played Ego (pictured) in Guardians Vol. 2 also expressed his dismay at what appears to be Disney's final decision to not bring Gunn back to direct the third installment

James Gunn was fired after a series of tweets from a decade ago were unearthed that included jokes about rape and pedophilia

(L-R) Actors David Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Pom Klementieff, Chris Pratt, Kurt Russel, Karen Gillan, director James Gunn and actor Michael Rooker attend the UK screening of 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'

The cast posted an open-letter last week expressing their support of James Gunn while cautioning against weaponizing mob-mentality

Though the beloved director apologized and Hollywood, including the full Guardians cast, all rallied around him, the damage had already been done, with Disney severing their business ties with him.

'You have to realize that when you are in the world as a comedian, a writer, whatever you're always stretching the boundaries and trying to find something which lead him to something that the world loves, which is 'Guardians of the Galaxy,' Russell continued.

'He has a wonderful heart and a wonderful mind. I hope he is forgiven.'Refugees from Kyaukme are welcomed by the Aung Su Pan, Shwe Kyin and Namt Sitlynn Buddhist monasteries after their villages come under rebel occupation. Food shortages are however a problem and refugee pupils are unable to continue their education.

Naypyidaw (AsiaNews/Agencies)  Fighting broke out between rebel factions forcing about a thousand people to flee their villages in the Kyaukme area, northern Shan State, local officials reported.

Soldiers of the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and its ally, the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP), have clashed with forces of the Restoration Council of Shan State (Rcss).

Most refugees are from the villages of Namt Pyan, Pan Lawt, Napon-Napyain and Lwal Sar, this according to the Refugee Support Committee in Kyaukme.

A total of 307 displaced people found shelter at the Aung Su Pan monastery, 677 at Shwe Kyin monastery and 32 at Namt Sitlynn monastery

We fled on Saturday night to avoid getting caught in the fighting between the two Shan groups, said Sai Naung, who is staying at Shwe Kyin monastery.

The number of displaced people is likely to increase as fighting between the two armed groups gets closer to other villages, said Thar Zaw, a resident of Kyaukme.

The refugees cant go back their villages, as the armed groups are staying in the village, even in their houses, he explained, adding that the lack of food is the main problem as more and more refugees flood into the camps.

Another major concern is the education of children, who fled just ahead of their final exams.

Nam Saing Ham, a volunteer teacher at Shwe Kyin monastery school, said they plan to give the crucial exams to Grade 6, 7 and 8 students.

The township officer of the Ministry of Education is trying to find another date and place for the children refugees to take their exams, she explained.

The RCSS had clashed with the combined force of Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and SSPP troops in Namtu township in September last year. Fighting resumed after the military declared a unilateral ceasefire in the area on 21 December.

The TNLA and SSPP are members of the Northern Alliance, which has not signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement. The RCSS, which has signed it, often clashes with the Myanmar military as well as the TNLA and the SSPP.The family of a Christian woman whose newborn baby died of jaundice when she and her husband refused medical intervention because, 'God makes no mistakes,' has 'unequivocally condemned,' the couple's actions and distanced themselves from beliefs they say were never part of their home.

Rachel, 31, and Joshua Piland, 37, are each awaiting trial charged with the involuntary manslaughter of daughter Abigail, who died February 9 last year in the home in which she had been born barely three days earlier.

Their bail was set at $75,000 each and, if convicted, each faces up to 15 years in prison for the crime.

Now, in a statement shared exclusively with DailyMail.com, Rachel's brother Aaron Kerr has shed light on the devastating rift this family tragedy has caused.

Rachel, 31, and Joshua Piland, 37 - seen in Lansing, Michigan for the first time since their daughter was taken from them - are awaiting trial after they were charged with involuntary manslaughter for the death of their newborn daughter Abigail last year

The Pilands have three other children, two sons ages two and five, and a newborn daughter Verity who is now in the custody of Child Protective Services (CPS) after a tip that the infant was also showing signs of jaundice

The couple (pictured in their mugshots) allegedly refused to get their baby medical treatment because 'God makes no mistakes.'

He said: 'Abigail passed away after being refused medical treatment by her parents. They chose not to take medical advice and clung to their misplaced belief that God alone heals, rejecting any human medical help and intervention.

'Abigail's parents have shown no remorse and continue to stand by their choices, believing Abigail will be raised from the dead.'

He said: 'I want to be clear. We unequivocally condemn the actionsand the beliefs, which led to them.

'These beliefs were never a part of our home growing up; my sister did not learn them from my parents or any church we were a part of.'

Last week the Pilands who live in Lansing, Michigan were back in the news as Child Protective Services swooped and seized their newborn daughter, Verity, following a tip-off that the infant was also showing signs of jaundice.

She was taken to hospital where she received a life-saving blood transfusion - treatment that her sister Abigail was denied with such devastating consequences.

Verity was the couple's fourth child. Their other two surviving children - boys ages five and two - are currently in the custody of Rachel's parents, Joel and Rebecca Kerr who declined to comment on any aspect of this family saga.

But a source close to the family said that Rachel's family fear that she is 'completely controlled by Joshua and beyond outside help at this stage.'

Both of Rachel's parents are religious - her father Glenn was a pastor for many years and worked as a consultant assisting the translation of the bible into different languages all over the world. He and wife Rebecca worked on missions in their younger years.

Baby Abigail died of jaundice on February 9 last year - three days after she was born - after they refused medical intervention for the newborn

The couple's surviving children are now in the custody of Rachel's parents

But neither, according to those who know them well, has ever espoused the sort of beliefs that saw Rachel and Joshua deny their sick child the medical help she needed.

According to the source there has long been a feeling that former Marine, Joshua, is 'the driving force in the relationship.'

They said: 'He's where these extreme beliefs have come from, it's certainly not the way that she was raised.'

Court documents seen by DailyMail.com tell the sorry tale of Abigail Piland's brief life and tragcially avoidable death.

She was a home birth as all of Rachel's children have been, assisted by the same midwife.

According to that midwife's testimony the birth itself went smoothly and a newborn exam of Abigail the evening she was born, Monday February 6, gave her no cause for concern.

But when she and the doula also present during the birth returned the following day for a routine 20-hour afterbirth check-up, both testified that they 'immediately noticed that Abigail was showing signs of jaundice.'

The fact that the child was showing these signs less than 24 hours after birth added to the potential severity of her situation.

Rachel's brother told DailyMail.com that the family condemns the couple's actions and insisted that 'my sister did not learn [those beliefs] from my parents or any church we were a part of'

The Piland family home in Lansing where infant, Abigail Piland, died in February 2017. All four children were born in the home

The midwife explained to Rachel that Abigail needed proper medical care and should be treated in an ER or seen by a pediatrician. She set out the other symptoms that Abigail would start to show if the jaundice advanced and the damage the potentially fatal condition could wreak on her delicate system.

For a moment, the midwife stated, Rachel 'hesitated' before rejecting her advice with the words, 'God makes no mistakes.'

By Wednesday afternoon, less than 48 hours after her birth, Abigail had started to lose her appetite. She struggled to feed and when she did she spat up bloody phlegm.

At some point that day Rachel told her mother about the midwife's concerns and they put Abigail near a window - sunshine is known to help mild jaundice. But it was an overcast February day.

Abigail was wearing just a diaper. Rachel used a hairdryer to keep her warm. Her mother urged her to take Abigail to the doctor.

Rachel refused and 'went to listen to sermons and pray.' She canceled the follow-up appointment that had been scheduled with the midwife for later that day.

Rachel told detectives that she nursed Abigail twice on Thursday morning and then both fell asleep. By this time Abigail's fists were clenched, her face frowning, the whites of her eyes yellow and her skin a yellowish orange. She was breathing heavily yet neither parent called for help though both admitted registering her state.

Some time between 11am and noon, Rachel realized that Abigail wasn't breathing. She took her to her husband, Joshua who is trained in CPR. But he had never performed it on an infant and so he attempted 'one rescue breath,' instead. It didn't work.

Source say they believe Rachel's husband Joshua is the 'driving force' in the relationship and is the source of these 'extreme beliefs'

To this day neither Rachel nor Joshua have expressed any remorse or regret for what happened

But they didn't dial 911. Instead they took their lifeless baby upstairs to pray for her and 'reached out to friends and fellow church members to come to their home and pray for Abigail's resurrection.'

This was the scene that met the first officers on the scene around 9pm that night. It was Rachel's other brother in California who had called authorities to alert them to the situation.

To this day neither Rachel nor Joshua have expressed any remorse or regret for what happened in their home across the few February days that constituted the entire span of Abigail's life.

When detectives asked Joshua if he would have done anything differently he responded that 'he would not have changed anything.'

Rachel's answer to that question was the same. But one present noted that she hesitated, where her husband did not.

This apparent absence of remorse is one of the most difficult things for Rachel's family to comprehend.

And if they are looking for an explanation from their daughter or son-in-law they may have a long wait.

Indeed, far from showing any doubt, Piland for one appeared to double down on his choice with a post on his Facebook page on August 1 in which he quoted a passage of scripture in which the leader of a synagogue where Jesus is preaching is told by a messenger that his daughter is dead.

The lines posted by Piland read, 'when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, 'Fear not: believe only and she shall be made whole.'

When approached by DailyMail.com near their home in Lansing, Rachel and Joshua declined to comment citing the ongoing court cases - both criminal and over the custody of their sons and newborn - as the reason they could not talk.

For now the Kerr family's focus, according to Rachel's brother Aaron, is on the surviving children. He stated, 'We are doing everything we can to ensure the boys are safe and loved now and in the future.

'No parent should EVER be allowed to put their child's life in danger in this way. We miss Abigail dearly and are so saddened she was denied the opportunity to live a beautiful life.

'We will continue to seek the best possible outcome for the two innocent boys who are caught in the middle of this mess.'A Russian Cold War spy camera, disguised as a cigarette box with real cigarettes, has set a record for a UK auction house.

The sneaky surveillance device sold for 29,000 (about $37,500 USD) despite having an estimate of only 80-100 (about $100-130 USD).

It was part of a collection of other movie-worthy Russian cameras that were concealed in handbags, jacket buttons, briefcases and even an umbrella.

One camera disguised as an umbrella sold for 2,700, and another hidden behind a man's jacket button sold for 1,000.

The collection, sold by Astons Auctioneers in Dudley, West Midlands, was acquired by the owner during his travels to the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 80s.

A Russian Cold War spy camera used by Soviet spies has sold for 29,000, despite having an estimate of only 80-100. The camera, disguised as a packet of cigarettes, was part of other movie-worthy Russian cameras sold by Astons Auctioneers in Dudley

The collection included this Umbrella Spy Camera which sold for 2,700. The F-21 AJAX-12 camera has an f2.8 28mm lens, and is hidden inside a man's umbrella. Raising the outer cover reveals the camera, ready for use

Another camera hidden behind a man's jacket button sold for 1,000. The cameras were part of a collection acquired by the owner during his travels to the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 80s

A JPS spy camera disguised in a cigarette tin was among the collection. The metal 'tin' is fitted with a Kiev-Vega sub-miniature camera with an Industar-M f3.5 23mm lens. The camera fires but cannot be removed from the outer casing for further inspection

This Russian 'button' camera would have been stitched into a coat and then all the KGB agent had to do was squeeze the 'release cable' trigger. Many of the concealed miniature 'button cameras' had a wind-up mechanism - no batteries. One of the most widely used surveillance cameras of this type was the F-21 (seen here), which was manufactured between 1951 and 1995

The fascinating collection, which includes cameras built into buttons, umbrellas, cigarette cases and various bags, went under the hammer on July 12 and made more than 60,000 in total at the auction.

There was even a camera disguised as a camera, designed to shoot photos through the side of the case when it appears to be safely stowed away.

Photographic consultant Tim Goldsmith, from Aston's Auctioneers in Dudley, West Midlands, who handled the sale, said the collection was unlike any other.

'I don't know of another like this,' he said. 'You can find some as individual items if you look, but to find the whole collection like this is rare.

Also among the collection was a replacement button kit, as supplied to the KGB. It is very rare and comes with the original list of parts. Although only one button has the camera mounted behind it, all the buttons could be replaced to present them as a matched set

The stainless steel Riga was the original mini spy camera sold commercially by Minox, and is extremely rare. It was designed in 1938 by Walter Zapp and could easily be concealed in the palm of the hand. The camera used 8mm x 11mm film and could take 50 pictures without reloading. This one is marked 'Made in Latvia'. But when the Russians invaded in 1940, they changed subsequent models to read 'Made in USSR'

The Minox brand was known for its use in the James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (pictured, starring George Lazenby). Roughly the size of a cigarette lighter, they take surprisingly crisp photos and are reputed to have been favoured by agents from both East and West

Pictured is a F-21 Ajax-12 Spy Camera, c. 1955. It is fitted with an uncommon f2 28mm lens and cassette. It was produced at the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Works just outside Moscow

The F-21 Ajax-12 is seen here with various accessories. The model was not only popular with the Soviets but also with its sister organisations who had signed up to the Warsaw Pact - including Poland

This unusual piece of kit is a camera... disguised as a camera. On casual glance, it appears to be a normal Zenith E camera in its case. But opening it reveals a hidden miniature F-21 Ajax-12 camera. It is mounted so the f2.8 28mm lens is pointing out of the side edge of the case. On pressing a small button on the bottom of the case, the internal mechanism cleverly raises a hidden internal flap, the camera shutters fires and the flap immediately closes shut

The 'camera disguised as a camera' user simply carries it over their shoulder in the normal way. However, it can take pictures at 90 degrees without raising any suspicion as it looks like the camera is in its case and not being used. The kit uses 21mm film and has a clockwork drive for multiple shots without detection

Among the lots were several Minox cameras, a brand known for its use in the James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Roughly the size of a cigarette lighter, they take surprisingly crisp photos and are reputed to have been favoured by agents from both East and West.

'We've also got a lady's handbag which takes a cine-camera,' said Mr Goldsmith. 'That was used in honeytrap situations.

'Say a beautiful blonde was sitting at the bar and in comes a man from the American embassy. One thing leads to another, they end up in her room, she puts her bag down and it starts filming.

'We've got a smaller version of that too which is built into a lady's purse or clutch bag.'

A handbag with built-in Cine Camera for the female spy was among the collection. This IMBIR 16mm silent cine camera with an f2 28mm lens is disguised in a ladies' shoulder bag - and would be used in 'honey trap' situations. The camera mount in the bottom of the bag aligns the lens of the camera with a small hole in the outside of the bag

Ladies' clutch bag with spy camera fittings. This one is designed to accommodate an F-21 Ajax-12 camera (not included in this particular lot). A simple but elegant mechanical micro switch in the base of the bag allows a camera (when fitted) to be operated without detection

A rare film splitter for the F-21 Ajax-12 spy cameras. It cuts standard 35mm film down to 21mm for use in reloadable cassettes

A man's attache case with mount for a Zola 35mm spy camera. The Zola was a covert observation camera developed circa 1970 - and was in production until at least 1989

Now play... Spot the spyware!

Here, a respectable-looking gentleman model is cunningly fitted with five of the spy cameras. (Namely, his case, his umbrella, his button, his camera and the cigarettes in his top pocket)

Among the other lots was a camera built into a man's jacket, another built into a briefcase, and of course the one disguised as just another camera.

'It looks like an old Zenit camera, of which there are literally a million around,' said Mr Goldsmith. 'But the clever thing is, this spy camera inside is pointed sideways.

'So if you're going somewhere where you weren't supposed to take photographs, you've got the camera over your shoulder in its case and nobody says anything.

'But you just stand at 90 degrees to what you want to photograph and press the little button on the bottom of the camera, the mechanism inside opens a flap in the side of the camera case.

'The camera fires and the little flap on the side of the case shuts again.'

The cameras went up for auction at Aston's Auctioneers on July 12 and beat the auction house's previous record sale which was 18,200 for a 1970s Rolex Explorer Wristwatch.A law student is believed to have taken her own life months after she was allegedly raped at university.

Khensani Maseko, 23, left a final Instagram post with her date of birth, alongside Friday's date, the day she died.

She accompanied it with the caption: 'No one deserves to be raped'.

A law student is believed to have taken her own life months after she was allegedly raped at university

Khensani Maseko, 23, left a final Instagram post with her date of birth, alongside Friday's date, the day she died. She added the caption 'no one deserves to be raped'

The student politician's death has left Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, in full academic shutdown as the country reels in shock and anger and flags on campus were lowered to half mast.

Fellow students demanded the University to shut down to allow them to mourn Ms Maseko and demonstrate against rape culture at the university. The third year BA student claimed she had been raped there in May.

She was the campus Miss Varsity and was elected to the Rhodes Student Representative Council.

She died Friday afternoon at her family home in Johannesburg, about 600 miles north of her University campus.

The council which she once sat on lobbied the University for the shutdown.

In a statement they said her final Instagram post was a 'haunting suggestion' that her 'suicide' was tied to her 'sexual assault'.

The student politician's death has left Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, in full academic shutdown as the country reels in shock and anger and flags on campus were lowered to half mast

The University has asked police and South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority to launch an inquest into the student's death, vice-chancellor Sizwe Mabizela said.

In an email to students, the University said: 'As the Rhodes University community, we would like to extend our sincerest condolences to her family, loved ones, and everyone that knew her.'

Nhlakanipho Mahlangu, Rhodes Student Representative Council, said in a statement: 'We know the amount of promise she had to offer us all, I mean to offer the entire country.

Fellow students demanded to the University to allow them to mourn Ms Maseko and demonstrate rape culture at the university. The third year student (pictured) claimed she had been raped there in May

'We're very shaken, it's a very difficult time for us as the SRC and we wish her family all the strength and support that we can.'

Her funeral is due to be held on Thursday, the country's national women's day and the 62nd anniversary of a 20,000-strong women's march on August 9, 1956 in protest against the extension of Laws to make black South African women carry a 'pass book'A war hero who was one of the first to land on the beaches of Normandy during D-Day has died aged 102.

John Bellis from Southsea, Wrexham in North Wales died on Sunday after spending a day surrounded by his family.

The great-grandfather, who was known as Jack, was one of the first to land on Sword Beach - one of the five beaches targeted for D-Day in June 1944.

Mr Bellis served as a Bren Gun Carrier driver with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers during the landings.

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John Bellis from Southsea, Wrexham in North Wales has died aged 102. The great-grandfather was awarded the rank of Chevalier in the Ordre National de la Legion d'honneur in 2016 for his bravery

A youthful Jack Bellis aged 22 poses in his uniform (left) and again with his medals aged 102 (right) The former soldier was one of the first to land on Sword Beach during D-Day

The great-grandfather served with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, the King's Shropshire Light Infantry and the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry from March 1940 to April 1946

Mr Bellis was awarded one of France's highest medals of honour, the Chevalier in the Ordre National de la Legion d'honneur in 2016, reported the Daily Post Wales.

His daughter Sandra Davies shared the sad news on Facebook and called his death 'the end of an era.'

She wrote: 'Sad day today, our dad passed away at a great age of 102. He had a great life. An end of a era.

'We had a lovely day with him at the summer fair at Broughton Hall, he sat outside with Me, Roy, Lucy, Betty and Billie, then he wanted to go to bed.

'He will be missed by all who new him.'

His great-grandson Chris Roberts also shared a tribute to the much loved family hero.

Family members have paid tribute to the great-grandfather calling him an 'absolute legend.' After the war Mr Bellis worked as a foreman at Brymbo Steelworks near Wrexham in Wales

Great-grandson Chris Roberts posted this picture of Mr Bellis on a motorbike in a tribute on Facebook. He called his great-grandfather an 'absolute legend'

He said: 'RIP Great grandad Bellis. 102 years old. World war 2 veteran.

'May you rest in peace. In my eyes you Sir are an absolute legend. Surely will be missed. Goodnight and god bless x'

During World War II Mr Bellis served with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, the King's Shropshire Light Infantry and the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry from March 1940 to April 1946.

Tributes to Mr Bellis have been posted on Facebook and Twitter. The 102-year-old veteran helped to raise money for the Poppy Appeal and was well known around his town in North Wales

Mr Bellis was a Bren Gun Carrier driver with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers during the D-Day landings (File picture)

Speaking in 2016 about his time in the war Mr Bellis talked about coming under fire while trying to get to Caen, about nine miles from Sword Beach.

He told Daily Post Wales: 'I started off and we didnt go far, but then the next day we had it.

'We started off and there were shells all going off. We saw these big haystacks which we had to dive into for cover.'

Proud Mr Roberts also posted a picture of great-grandfather Jack Bellis meeting the Queen

He also told how he was involved in fighting around strategically important Pegasus Bridge and said he felt 'terribly lucky' to have survived the war.

After the War Mr Bellis worked as a foreman at Brymbo Steelworks near Wrexham. He retired from the post in the 1970s.

Alongside his wife Gladys, who died in 2013, he also ran a materials stall at Powis Hall Indoor Market in Oswestry for many years, reports Leader Live.Two people are dead and three hospitalized after dangerous rip currents and waves in Lake Michigan prompted human chains to rescue swimmers.

David Knaffle, 64, and an unidentified 20-year-old male both drowned off the shore of Grand Haven State Park in western Michigan on Sunday, when waves were predicted to reach four feet.

Of the three people hospitalized, one was in serious condition and two were in stable condition, officials said.

A red flag was flying, and a beach hazards statement issued before dawn had warned of dangerous rip tides and other dangerous currents in the area.

The tragedy on the lake shore began at around 12.05pm, when bystanders saw Knaffle struggling in the water near the State Park Pavilion building, said Grand Haven Director of Public Safety Jeff Hawke.

Beachgoers help the Grand Haven Department of Public Safety officers form human chains to search for missing people in Lake Michigan at Grand Haven State Park on Sunday

Officers responded to the report of the distressed swimmer, and an off-duty East Grand Rapids Fire Fighter entered the water and attempted to locate the victim, who was not wearing a life jacket.

Five public safety officers and a park ranger joined in the rescue attempt, and beachgoers joined in to help form a human chain.

Knaffle was pulled unresponsive from the water at 12.17pm and police attempted lifesaving measures. Paramedics rushed Knaffle to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Knaffle worked for the public maintenance department of the city of Grand Rapids. A coworker, Sean Norman, remembered him as 'great guy' in a Facebook tribute.

'We sure did have a lot of laughs together at work,' wrote Norman.

David Knaffle, 64, was one of two swimmers who drowned on Sunday in Grand Haven

Luke Nordlund, of Grand Rapids, was one of the beachgoers who joined the human chain rescue attempt.

'I'm 6-foot-7 and over 250 pounds, and I almost got knocked over myself,' Nordlund told the Grand Haven Tribune.

'Probably 30-40 people formed the chain, but had to split into two sections because it was getting too deep,' he said.

Later in the day, around 3.22pm, bystanders pulled a 46-year-old man from Alto from the water, who was hospitalized in serious condition.

At 3.48pm, multiple swimmers were spotted struggling in the water north of the pavilion building.

Beachgoers form human chains at Grand Haven State Park to rescue swimmers on Sunday

Bystanders pulled five swimmers from the water and two were hospitalized in stable condition: a 20-year-old man and 17-year-old girl, both from the town of Lake.

On word that one swimmer had disappeared under the waves, officers and bystanders again formed human chains to find him.

The 20-year-old swimmer from Lansing was found unresponsive in about five feet of water.

Officers performed CPR, and he was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His identity has not been released pending notification of his relatives.

Last year, seven people died in current-related incidents in the Great Lakes. The 10-year annual average is is 12 fatalities and 23 rescues per year in current-related incidents on the lakes.An evil boyfriend killed and dismembered his girlfriend, flushed her 'minced meat' down the toilet and threw her bones to be gnawed by fish in a river.

Dmitry Zelensky, 36, from Russia, had promised his lover, university graduate Tatiana Melekhina, 27, a new start in a big city.

They drove from their remote Russian town of Gubakha - but she never arrived in the regional capital of Perm.

Dmitry Zelensky, 36, from Russia, dismembered his secret lover, flushed her 'minced meat' down the sewage system and threw her bones to be gnawed by fish in a river

Tatiana Melekhina, 27, a university graduate from Gubakha, Russia, was not aware of Zelensky's secret wife and daughter and planned to drive to the city of Perm to start a new life

Miss MeleKhina did not arrive in Perm and police were alerted after she failed to call her father when she arrived

But Zelensky, unknown to his girlfriend, was secretly married with a daughter and had no intention of moving permanently to Perm.

A police source says the 'exceptional cruelty' of the murder had 'shocked even hardened detectives'.

'He did not just dismember her body, he separated the meat and bones, and made mince' said the source.

Detectives say the Zelensky's plan was to 'hide the murder' of his girlfriend

'Then he washed this mince down the toilet into the sewage system.

'He threw the bones into the river.

'This was his plan to hide the murder.'

Tatiana was reported missing by her father after she failed to call him to say she had arrived.

Zelensky had a secret wife and daughter and kept his life with Miss MeleKhina hidden from them

The man's shocked wife, also called Tatiana, (pictured left) told a local news agency: 'I don't know what to say now'

She had promised him before leaving on the 250 mile drive: 'I will call you as soon as I get to the city.'

Police detained Zelensky who confessed to the savage killing and the gruesome details of how he disposed of his lover's body during his first interrogation.

He is expected to be arrested for two months pending further investigations.

Police detained Zelensky who confessed to the horrific killing and disposal of Miss MeleKhina during his first interrogation

Police source said the 'exceptional cruelty' of the murder had 'shocked even hardened detectives'

Police have not specified where Miss MeleKhina was killed.

The man's shocked wife - also called Tatiana - told a local news agency: 'I don't know what to say now'

The couple had been planning to move from the remote Russian town of Gubakha (pictured) to start a new life in the big city of Perm

The 44-year-old said that she been living apart but were not divorced.

'I didn't know he could be so cruel,' she said.The ex-fiance of murdered midwife Samantha Eastwood today visited her house to lay flowers - just hours after his brother-in-law appeared in court accused of killing her.

John Peake and Gemma Eastwood were accompanied by police liaison officers in unmarked cars at around 4.40pm.

Mr Peake arrived at her house in Stoke-on-Trent carrying a bouquet of red and pink flowers. The sister proceeded to leave a bouquet of sunflowers in a green wrapping on the doorstep of the property in Greenside Avenue.

John Peake, ex-fiance of murdered midwife Samantha Eastwood today visited her house on Greenside Avenue in Stoke-on-Trent carrying flowers

He was accompanied by the victim's sister Gemma who also laid down flowers and a photo in front of her house

Mr Peake and the victim's sister proceeded to leave a bouquet of sunflowers in green wrapping on the doorstep of the property in Greenside Avenue

John Peake and Gemma Eastwood were accompanied by police liaison officers in unmarked cars at around 4.40pm.

They spent around 10 minutes looking at other tributes and took some of the cards with messages on.

The pair then left in the white unmarked police car with more flowers to another location. As the day went on the pile of flowers left by friends and family grew.

It comes after Michael Stirling, 32, was last night charged with killing the much-loved 28-year-old - a day after her body was found dumped in a disused salt quarry near Stoke-on-Trent.

Samantha was last seen smiling as she left the city's hospital after a night shift on Friday, July 27, but vanished - and a neighbour claimed they heard screams from her home later that day.

Police forensics officers are carrying out a detailed search at the home of Samantha Eastwood

Wearing faces masks and protective overalls they were seen in a shed on the property

Miss Eastwood and Mr Peake had been a couple for seven years and were due to marry in June, but the midwife ended their engagement at the start of the year

Stirling, whose wife Katie is the sister of Samantha's ex-fiance Jon Peake, had already been held on suspicion of kidnap last week and was re-arrested on suspicion of murder last night as police continue to search his home in Stoke.

Today he appeared for three-minutes at North Staffordshire Magistrates' Court where he confirmed his name, address and date of birth but did not enter a plea.

He was remanded in custody and will appear at Stafford Crown Court on Wednesday.

Two other men, aged 28 and 60, were held on suspicion of assisting an offender and bailed last night. The 60-year-old is believed to be the murder suspect's father Stephen Stirling.

Today it was claimed that in the weeks before she vanished Miss Eastwood had told a colleague she had been threatened and asked the unnamed hospital worker to call the police if she failed to turn up for work.

Michael Stirling, 32, is taken away in a prison van today (left) after appearing in court for the first time accused of murdering midwife Samantha Eastwood (right)

Samantha was allegedly murdered by Stirling, who is the brother-in law of her ex-fiance John Peake (together left) and married to Mr Peake's sister Katie Stirling (together right)

Stirling, 32, (left sketched in the dock today, and right on his wedding day) was initially arrested on suspicion of kidnap before being rearrested on suspicion of murder yesterday

The midwife's body was found dumped at this disused salt quarry in Caverswall near Stoke-on-Trent on Saturday - eight days after she vanished

Timeline: Police hunt for missing midwife Friday, July 27 7.45am: Samantha Eastwood finishes her night shift at Royal Stoke Hospital and drives home in her Volvo SUV 2pm: Neighbour hears a scream from her home - but it is not reported to police until after she disappeared 7pm: Fellow midwives report her missing when she fails to show for her shift Saturday, July 28 Midday: Police search her empty home in Baddeley Green Sunday July 29 8am: Police launch first public appeal for information to find her 2pm: A 32-year-old man is arrested on suspicion of kidnap Monday July 30 5pm: Suspect is released on bail Tuesday July 21 4.15pm: Police release CCTV of her leaving work on Friday as it emerged she had called off her wedding at the last minute and tried to sell her wedding dress Wednesday August 1 1pm: New appeals by her family for anyone who has seen her as it emerged police have been at home of her former fiance's sister and her husband since the weekend Friday August 3 Samantha's sister Gemma makes a tearful appeal for information about her whereabouts. Tellingly she said that if anyone knew where she was they should 'Get her home'. Saturday August 4 Midday: Police teams start searching woodland outside Stoke-on-Trent before finding her body disused salt quarry. Sunday August 5 10am: Michael Stirling - the brother-in-law of her ex-fiance - is charged with her murder. Two other men, aged 28 and 60, held on suspicion of assisting an offender have been bailed Monday August 6 Stirling appears in court - but does not enter a plea Advertisement

Yesterday, police made the unusual decision to publicly confirm that Miss Eastwood's ex-fiance, John Peake, 34, was not one of three men being held in connection with her murder.

His Facebook profile has been targeted with abusive comments and threats from internet trolls.

Miss Eastwood had not been seen since Friday, July 27, when she was seen smiling as she left Royal Stoke University Hospital after a night shift.

CCTV then showed her driving towards home in her Volvo XC60 SUV and she was not seen again.

Her body was found during a search of a disused salt quarry in remote woodland in Caverswall, near Cheadle, Staffordshire.

A post-mortem examination was carried out yesterday - but the results have not been made public by Staffordshire Police.

Yesterday, police made the unusual decision to publicly confirm that Miss Eastwood's ex-fiance, John Peake, 34, was not one of three men being held in connection with her murder.

His Facebook profile has been targeted with abusive comments from internet trolls.

Miss Eastwood and Mr Peake had been a couple for seven years and were due to marry in June, but the midwife ended their engagement at the start of the year.

Mr Peake moved out of the home she bought in 2016 at Stockton Brook on the edge of Stoke-on-Trent and now lives on his own.

Yesterday police were seen entering a house in the Northwood area of the city owned by Mr Peake's sister Katie Stirling, 32, and her husband Michael. The semi-detached property became a focus of the police hunt for Miss Eastwood last week.

An officer present yesterday confirmed the address was now being treated as a crime scene.

A statement from Staffordshire Police said: 'Detectives investigating the death of 28-year-old Samantha Eastwood have charged a man with her murder.

'Michael Stirling, aged 32, from Cromer Road, Stoke-on-Trent will appear before North Staffordshire Magistrates Court tomorrow morning.

'The body of Samantha was discovered during a police search of rural ground near to Caverswall on Saturday August 4. She had been reported missing on Friday July 27.

'Two other men aged 60 and 28, who were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, have been released on conditional bail while inquiries are ongoing'.

COlleagues of Samantha's wipe away tears as they read notes left with flowers outside the University Hospital of North Staffordshire in Stoke-On-Trent today

Tributes have poured in for Samantha, who was described as a lovely lady as well as a skilled and compassionate midwife

A plinth has been put up outside the hospital entrance, where Samantha worked for six years

Parents whose children were delivered by 'amazing' midwife raise cash for her funeral A fundraising page has been set up to generate donations towards covering the cost of Samantha's funeral. Sister Gemma Eastwood, 26, shared the GoFundMe page on her Facebook page and wrote: 'This has been set up so we can give me sister the send off she deserves.' The page was set up by friend Beth Taylor on Sunday and it has already raised 3,400 towards its 10,00 target in less than 24 hours. Many who have donated say Samantha helped bring their children into the world. Sarah Williams wrote: 'Samantha I cannot thank you enough for all you did for me and my twins. You were amazing. Fly high beautiful'. Claire Turner said: 'Sam helped me recently in hospital though a very difficult time, I'm shocked and upset with whats happened to her'. Dawn Fowell wrote: 'I wasn't told that my son was dehydrated until she took over at the weekend . She couldn't of done more she helped me express and feed my son every 3 hours and constantly checked on us, he was soon a lively little baby boy all thanks to her'. You can donate HERE Advertisement

The house is less than four miles from the Bucknall home of Mr Stirling's parents, Stephen, 60, who is believed to work in a garage, and 57-year-old wife Carol.

Officers searched the home yesterday and a small white van was seen being taken away by police on Saturday.

Last night it was claimed that Miss Eastwood had told a colleague at Royal Stoke University Hospital she had been threatened in the period leading up to her disappearance.

A source said: '[After this] Samantha asked one of her colleagues to report it if she didn't turn up for work.

'And that is what happened on the Friday night, that is why the police were called so quickly.

'She must have feared something like this would happen  that's why she set up this raising the alarm thing with her colleague.'

A spokesman for the hospital declined to comment on the claim last night.

Officers searching for Miss Eastwood found a body at Tick Hill Quarry, around eight miles from her home near Caverswall, Staffordshire.

The scene is just seven miles - an 18 minute drive - from the midwife's home In Baddeley Green, Staffordshire, where she is believed to have returned to by car after last being seen on CCTV in her scrubs leaving a night shift at Royal Stoke University Hospital at 7.45am on Friday last week.

Michael Stirling (left) has been charged while Stephen Stirling (right) has been bailed

Murder suspect with his wife Katie on their wedding day and their home is still being searched by police

The former fiance of midwife Samantha Eastwood John Peake (pictured together), who had begged for help in finding her

On Sunday, police were seen searching the home that Mr Peake's sister Katie shares with her husband Michael Stirling, both aged 32 (pictured) where officers used mirrors to check a neighbour's gutter for evidence

Officers using sticks to probe the area around Tickhill Lane in Caverswall, Stoke-on-Trent, on Saturday hours before they found her body in a nearby salt mine

Police wanted to find Samantha's distinctive missing purse - the only belonging that was missing from her home before she was murdered

The development came 24 hours after Miss Eastwood's sister Gemma, 26, made a tearful public appeal for information to help find her 'best friend'.

In a brief statement issued through police yesterday the Eastwood family said: 'We would like to say thank you to all the people who followed Samantha's story and tried their best to help.'

Mr Peake's Facebook page has also been inundated with almost 500 comments  with some trolls pointing the finger at the innocent steam railway manager.

One wrote: 'Of course you murdered her, couple of her mates and a pair of pliers would get the truth out of you.'

A spokesman for Staffordshire Police said: 'We are not naming the three men arrested yesterday but John Peake is not one of them.'

Miss Eastwood was last seen in her Volvo XC60 on CCTV, moments after leaving hospital at the end of a night shift last Friday morning. Colleagues raised the alarm when she failed to return to work that evening.

Ms Eastwood, pictured left, leaving Royal Stoke University Hospital in her scrubs on the day she went missing

Further footage showed her driving her Volvo XC60 away from the hospital car park

Police searching the home of Katie and Michael Stirling in Staffordshire earlier on Sunday as they confirm it is now being treated as a crime scene

Yesterday, police made the unusual decision to publicly confirm that Miss Eastwood's ex-fiance, John Peake, 34, (pictured together) was not one of three men being held in connection with her murder, after he was abused by online trollsA Mexican woman in Chicago is hoping that immigration officials this time around will listen to her cries for help after they originally denied her medical attention before she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Her only wish is to "die with dignity" surrounded by her husband, two children and seven grandchildren with just months to live.

Gloria Barrera, 54, had been living in the United States since 1984. But she lost her green card after she was arrested for three criminal charges for retail thefts of less than US$150 paved the way for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to intervene and deport the grandmother of seven in 2013.

Barrera, whose children were born in the United states, was then abducted in Mexico and held for ransom and forced back in to the United States by a human trafficking ring. She was once again captured by ICE, before she was conditionally released on a bond.

Gloria Barrera (pictured) was diagnosed with Stage 4 cervical cancer after ICE officials denied her medical assistance while in custody. She has been give less than a year to live.

Gloria Barrera (pictured center) at a press conference in Chicago last Friday asking ICE officials to reconsider her deportation proceedings. The Mexican woman was diagnosed with terminal cancer and has been given four months to live.

During her year-long detention, Barrera advised officials about her abdominal pains, which she claims went untreated by doctors.

It wasnt until Barrera was released that she found out that she had Stage 4 cervical cancer.

Its very tough when you have been kidnapped by a gang of abductors, Barrera told Telemundo Chicago. Now not only do I have to worry about my cancer, because I have cancer, but about the deportation.

Doctors have given her less than a year to live, which she hopes to spend alongside her relatives instead of in Mexico.

During a press conference last Friday, she simply pleaded with the government to allow her to stay in the country and be in the company of her husband and family before she dies.

Gloria Barrera (pictured) has been given less that a year to live by her doctors. She now wishes immigration officials can throw out her deportation proceeding and her die with her family by her side.

Her team of lawyers are battling with ICE officials to secure Barrera an I-276 Stay of Removal, which could keep her in the country due to her fatal medical condition.

Another non-profit lawyer is trying to pull all stops, fighting for a T-Visa that is only awarded to people who have been subjected to human trafficking.

I was burned with a cigar. I was thrown around. I was burned with an iron, Barrera told Univision. All I am asking for is to let me die with dignity near my family.

According to ICE guidelines, medical, dental and mental health screenings are required by law within 12 hours of a detainees arrival at a facility.

Under President Trumps anti-immigration policies, ICE has been under attacks for a series of incidents involving undocumented immigrants under its custody at many of its centers.

Augustina Ramirez-Arreola, 62, who was apprehend May 21 after arriving at a U.S. border entry without any proper documentation and later placed at a detention center two weeks later, died on July 26 at a hospital in California after undergoing heart surgery. Arreola became the ninth undocumented person that has died under the agencys watch since October 2017.Advertisement

The war is over: A historic telex informing Sir Winston Churchill of Germany's unconditional surrender in the Second World War has sold for 17,000

A historic document informing Sir Winston Churchill of Germany's unconditional surrender in the Second World War has sold for 17,000.

The one-page telex was sent from the Allied headquarters in Reims, northeast France, to Churchill in the War Rooms on May 7, 1945.

It confirms the surrender of 'all German land, sea and air forces in Europe to the Allied Expeditionary Force'.

The Allies, it states, will also 'cease active operations' and troops will 'remain in present positions' as it could take some time to get the message across to more remote battlegrounds that the war was over.

The telex ends with a warning that no press were to be notified of the surrender before the announcements of the three Governments.

The page has been folded and there is some edge wear and its reverse has been signed by 42 clerical staff working in the Cabinet War Rooms.

One of the workers, Francis Cook, took it home as a memento. She kept hold of it until her death in 1989, at which point it passed into the hands of the vendor.

The document was consigned for sale with London-based auctioneer Spink & Son.

It had a pre-sale estimate of up to 10,000 but sparked fervent bidding and achieved a hammer price of 14,000, with extra fees taking the overall figure paid by a private collector to 17,000.

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The one-page telex was sent from the Allied headquarters in Reims, northeast France, to Churchill in the War Rooms on May 7, 1945. It confirms the surrender of 'all German land, sea and air forces in Europe to the Allied Expeditionary Force'. The Allies, it states, will also 'cease active operations' and troops will 'remain in present positions' as it could take some time to get the message across to more remote battlegrounds that the war was over

The telex ends with a warning that no press were to be notified of the surrender before the announcements of the three Governments. The page has been folded and there is some edge wear and its reverse has been signed by 42 clerical staff working in the Cabinet War Rooms. One of the workers, Francis Cook, took it home as a memento. She kept hold of it until her death in 1989, at which point it passed into the hands of the vendor

After Hitler's suicide on April 30, his successor, Grand Admiral Karl Donitz, sent general Alfred Jodl, Chief of Staff of the German armies, to Reims with the authority to sign the capitulation. Pictured, Jodl (third right), flanked by Admiral Von Friedeburg (second right), signs the German surrender document at Reims

Spink & Son consultant Ian Shapiro said: 'This was a highly important document being the first official notification to Churchill that the war with Germany had ended.

'The significance of this message was not lost on the back room staff, who all signed this as a souvenir of the occasion.'

After Hitler's suicide on April 30, his successor, Grand Admiral Karl Donitz, sent general Alfred Jodl, Chief of Staff of the German armies, to Reims with the authority to sign the capitulation.

The first Instrument of Surrender was signed at 2.41am on May 7 at the College Moderne et Technique de Reims, a red-brick schoolhouse which served as the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force.

It took effect at 11.01pm on May 8.

General Bernard Montgomery, accepts the German surrender on Luneberg Heath, near Hamburg, on May 4, 1945. When it was all over Montgomery is said to have leaned back and said simply: 'That concludes the surrender'Veronica Youngblood, 33, was arrested in Virginia on Sunday night on a charge of second-degree murder for allegedly killing one child and injuring another

A 33-year--old woman from Virginia has been arrested and charged with murder after police say she shot two children on Sunday, killing one and injuring the other.

Officers from the Fairfax Police Department responded to the 1500 block of Lincoln Circle in McLean at around 10.15pm on Sunday for reports of a shooting.

One of the juvenile victims was pronounced dead at the scene. The other child was rushed to an area hospital in what has been described as a life-threatening condition.

Youngblood was apprehended an hour later in Loudon County after an acquaintance of hers contacted the local sheriffs department, saying that the woman had knocked on her front door.

The 33-year-old suspect has been charged with second-degree murder and ordered held in jail without bond.

Police were called to the 1500 block of Lincoln Circle in McLean, Virginia, where the fatally injured child was pronounced dead at the scene

It's been reported the victims were the woman's children. but police could not confirm citing a recently passed state law

Fox 5 DC reported that the two victims of the shooting were Youngblood's daughters, but police have not released any information about them, or their relationship to Youngblood.

The department cited a recently enacted state law that prohibits law enforcement agencies from identifying the juvenile victims of a crime, even indirectly, without parental consent.

Investigators reportedly have recovered the murder weapon. No motive has been identified as of Monday afternoon.

WUSA9 tweeted that in 2016, Youngblood's former spouse had requested a protective order against her concerning a four-year-old child.A two-member bench headed by Justice Malik Shehzad Ahmed heard the plea.

Islamabad: Pakistans Lahore high court (LHC) on Thursday ordered to release Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) President and opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif after approving his bail plea.

The bail has been granted against two surety bonds worth one million each. Shehbaz Sharif had filed bail petition in Ramzan Sugar Mills and Ashiana Housing Scheme cases.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Malik Shehzad Ahmed heard the plea. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) opposed Shehbaz Sharifs petition.

The court said in its remarks that the NAB failed to prove the allegations leveled against the PMLN president. Shehbaz Sharif never remained the chief executive of Ramzan Sugar Mills, LHC said.

While commenting on the verdict, Shehbaz Sharif said the truth prevailed once again and thanked God. We are appearing before courts and will continue to do so, he vowed. He once again claimed to leave politics if corruption is proved against him.

The PML-N president added that he had already said the cases are based on lies, and demanded that accountability of all should be held.

Furthermore, Fawad Hasan Fawads bail plea was also approved by the LHC in the Ashiana Housing Scheme case but rejected in the assets beyond income case. Fawad Hasan Fawad has been accused of owing ten-story plaza in Rawalpindi and other properties.OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- A Moss Point man has been charged with the theft of a $60,000 Skid Steer (commonly known as a "Bobcat") from an Ocean Springs construction site.

Police Capt. Chuck Jackson said police were notified of the theft Monday. The equipment owner said the 2018 Skid Steer was equipped with a GPS locator and the last known location was on Marthler Road in Moss Point.

Investigators traveled to that location and located the Bobcat at 8540 Marthler Rd. In addition, a truck at the Marthler Road location matched the truck seen on surveillance video during the theft of the Bobcat.

Police ran the truck tag and learned it was registered to 40-year-old William Garlock, who was at the Marther Road address and taken into custody without incident.

After arriving at the Ocean Springs Police Department, Garlock admitted to stealing the Bobcat from the construction site on Feb. 9.

Garlock was transported to the Jackson County Adult Detention Center and was later released after posting $25,000 bond.A pet owner in China has saved her dog from being snatched by a suspected thief with one simple movement.

The quick-thinking woman who was sweeping the floor hit the suspect's arm with her broomstick just as he was about to lasso her pet into a fast van, as a surveillance video shows.

Her swift reaction, which happened in a split second, successfully prevented the pooch from being stolen in front of her house.

The dog snatcher approaches the woman and her dog in a van in China, according to the video

The owner hit the suspected thief with her broomstick as he was about to catch her pet

The footage was filmed early in the morning last Friday. It is alleged that the incident occurred in southern China's Guangdong Province.

The woman is said to be living in Tangkent town, Fengshun county.

Every year, thousands of pet dogs are poisoned and stolen in China, and as many as 20 million dogs are killed to satisfy the dog meat industry.

Dog snatchers often drive a van and use a lasso to catch pet or stray dogs.

Toxic darts are sometimes used too. In those cases, the thieves would go back to the location to collect the dogs' body after they are poisoned.

Dog theft is particularly common in southern parts of China, including Guangxi and Guangdong provinces.

The van drives away after the man failed to drag away the pet dog in front of its home

The pooch runs back to the alleyway to play after her owner saved it from being lassoed away

In February, a suspected dog thief was brutally attacked by residents of Fengshun after being caught stealing their pets. It was reported that the man sustained multiple fractures and the tendons on his hands were severed.

One month earlier, a woman was tied to a gate and beaten by angry villagers in China after being spotted killing a dog using poisonous darts.

Last year, Chinese police bust a gang based in central China that sold nearly 200,000 poisonous syringes to dog thieves across the nation through social media network.

Wendy Higgins from Humane Society International UK said the practice of dog stealing is 'too common' in China and called for more attention to it.

In a previous interview with MailOnline, she said: 'It's a cruelty that very often sees people's beloved pets targeted, and the animals involved can suffer enormously.

'HSI's Chinese partner groups routinely find dogs and cats on meat trucks headed to slaughter who are clearly suffering toxic poisoning or who have died from poisoning before reaching their destination.'

The stolen pet dog's meat often ends up on the dinner table and their skin is used to make fashion accessories.Two Russians suspected of carrying out the Salisbury novichok posionings have been identified but the Kremlin will to block the UK's attempts to extradite them, it was reported tonight.

Prosecutors are believed to have finished the extradition paperwork in a bid to put the suspects on trial for the poisonings of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley.

The request is likely to be rejected by Moscow but will likely reignite the bitter diplomatic row which erupted following the poisoning of former spy Skripal and his daughter.

Police have identified two suspects after months of 'painstaking' work to piece together the Russians' movements, the Guardian reported.

Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who betrayed dozens of agents to Britains MI6 foreign spy service, and his daughter Yulia (pictured together), were found unconscious on a public bench in the Wiltshire city in early March

The extradition requests have reportedly been finalised and are 'ready to go' after police tracked down the Russians they believe were responsible.

A source with knowledge of the inquiry said the suspects had been identified through cross-checking CCTV footage with records of people entering the country around the time of the attack.

Neither the Metropolitan Police, which has been leading the investigation into the attack, nor the CPS was prepared to discuss the report.

The Home Office said that as a matter of long-standing policy and practice, the UK would neither confirm nor deny an extradition request had been made or received until such time as an arrest has been made in relation to that request.

The extradition request is likely to be rejected by Russia - and risks inflaming diplomatic tensions between London and Moscow.

In 2007, President Vladimir Putin rejected an extradition request for two Russians suspected of the assassination of the former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London using radioactive polonium.

The Russian constitution forbids the extradition of Russian citizens to another state.

A Whitehall source reportedly said the latest extradition request was 'Litvinenko all over again'.

Skripal, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who betrayed dozens of agents to MI6, and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a public bench in the Wiltshire city in early March.

Three months later Ms Sturgess died after coming into contact with the deadly substance in nearby Amesbury.

Two more victims, Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley (pictured) became ill after handling a discarded bottle of novichok. Mrs Rowley, a mother-of-three, died in hospital

Police in hazmat suits sealed off the bench in Salisbury where the Skripals fell ill in March

The Russians collapsed after a day out in Salisbury, leading to large areas being sealed off

Police believe the Novichok was smeared on the door of Sergei Skripal's house and perhaps discarded in a container that Sturgess's boyfriend Charlie Rowley then picked up.

Mr Rowley said he had found a perfume bottle which he gave to Ms Sturgess, which she sprayed on her wrists. She died eight days later, but he has since been released from hospital.

Britain blamed Russia for the poisonings and identified the poison as Novichok, a deadly group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s. Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attack.

After the attack on the Skripals, allies in Europe and the U.S. sided with Britain's view of the attack and ordered the biggest expulsion of Russian diplomats since the height of the Cold War.

Russia retaliated by expelling Western diplomats. Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement and accused the British intelligence agencies of staging the attack to stoke anti-Russian hysteria.

The motive for attacking Skripal, then aged 66 who was exchanged in a Kremlin-approved spy swap in 2010, is still unclear, as is the motive for using an exotic nerve agent which has such clear links to Russia's Soviet past.

The decision to press for extradition follows a debate within the government, divided between those who want to ratchet up the response to Russia and those who see the request as a futile political gesture, the Guardian reported.Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's nephew has reportedly been charged with cocaine possession.

Harry Hughes, a former staffer for NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts, was arrested at a bar in Sydney's CBD last month, according to The Australian.

Mr Hughes was said to be caught by undercover detectives, who allegedly found 0.7g of cocaine in his possession.

Malcolm Turnbull's nephew Harry Hughes (pictured) has reportedly been charged after he was found in possession of cocaine

The 23-year-old is the son of Michael Hughes, the brother of Malcolm Turnbull's wife.

A statement from NSW Police provided to Daily Mail Australia said officers charged a man over alleged drug possession.

'About 5pm on Friday 6 July 2018, officers from Redfern Region Enforcement Squad stopped and searched a 23-year-old man on Phillip Street, Sydney, before seizing an amount of cocaine,' the statement read.

'The man was arrested and charged with possess prohibited drug.'

Police said the man appeared in Sydney's Downing Centre Court on July 30 where he was granted conditional bail. He will next face the same court on September 10.

Harry Hughes is the nephew of Lucy Turnbull, the wife of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Mr and Mrs Turnbull are pictured together

Mr Hughes was moved on from job as Mr Roberts' staffer last September, reportedly at the request of Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who wanted the planning minister to have fewer political advisers and more planning aides.

He became a lobbyist for property developers within a month and registered Axis Strategic Advisory, which lists clients including Atilol Holdings, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Prime Minister's office for comment.

The allegations come after Ray Hadley's police officer son was arrested and charged with cocaine possession on Friday night.

Ray Hadley's police officer son Daniel Hadley was arrested on Friday night after he was allegedly found with cocaine

Senior Constable Daniel Hadley was allegedly caught with of 0.79 grams of the drug, with a street value of $200, at the Australian Hotel and Brewery at Rouse Hill in Sydney's north-west.

He was admitted to a mental health clinic after being granted bail at the weekend following an internal police investigation.

Police are reviewing Daniel Hadley's employment and removed him from 'operational duties'.

Ray Hadley fought back tears in an emotional press conference following his son's arrest, saying he felt 'inadequate as a father'.

Daniel Hadley is expected to face Parramatta Local Court on September 12.Donald Trump has doubled down on a weekend tweet that insisted California's deadly wildfires could be better fought if the state's water resources weren't 'foolishly being diverted' into the Pacific Ocean.

There is no indication that firefighters are lacking for water to quench the fires, which have killed eight people so far. Most of the operations use flame retardants instead.

Instead, the president's tweets Sunday and Monday are digital sleight-of-hand justifying measures that would take more water out of the state's rivers, canals and aqueducts for agriculture  despite the opposition of environmentalists who have the federal Endangered Species Act on their side.

'Governor Jerry Brown must allow the Free Flow of the vast amounts of water coming from the North and foolishly being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Can be used for fires, farming and everything else,' Trump tweeted Monday afternoon.

'Think of California with plenty of Water - Nice! Fast Federal govt. approvals.'

President Donald Trump's push for a diversion of water resources to fight wildfires is actually a 'smokescreen' to help California farmers in Republic-heavy districts to snag more H2O

Trump tweeted Monday that water was 'foolishlly being diverted into the Pacific Ocean,' a reference to streams that support native fisheries

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (left) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (right), both Republicans, represent farm-rich central California districts that have battled environmentalists for years over the distribution of water in the state

DailyMail.com asked a White House aide on Monday if linking water use to firefighting was cover for Trump's real goal of better irrigating California's Republican- and farm-rich central valley.

'Ya think? The speaker-to-be has wanted it for years,' the aide shot back, adding that it's a smart 'smokescreen.'

The 'speaker-to-be' reference was to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican. It's unclear who will emerge as Speaker of the House after Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan retires  provided Democrats don't seize control of the chamber in November.

California politics have long been scarred by battles between coastal environmentalists and farmers who work a 400-mile stretch of land straddling the state's midsection. The latter represent the only reliably Republican region of the Golden State.

Tensions boiled over in December 2016 when McCarthy teamed up with Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein to push a rider to a federal infrastructure bill, limiting endangered species protections for native fish and directing water to the crop-rich valley.

NOT REALLY THE POINT: More than 400,000 acres of California forests are burning and President Donald Trump tweeted an unlikely prescription on Sunday, aiming for a bank-shot approach to re-irrigating the state's richest farmland

Irrigation of crops is pictured in the San Joaquin Valley fields of Fresno County, California

Then-Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat who retired a month later, criticized the add-on as 'so wrong it is shocking' and revealed that it would also give the incoming Trump administration new powers to approve giant dam projects.

Boxer had authored and sponsored the larger bill, the Water Resources and Development Act.

The 80-page rider was negotiated without any public input or congressional hearings, and attached to the bill at the last minute. Hours before introducing it, McCarthy told reporters it would be a 'little, small agreement.'

Feinstein and McCarthy had tried for years to authorize the redirection of water to drought-stricken farms, but the Obama White House had worked against them.

California authorities and the Obama EPA had argued that diverting water from rivers that flow to the Pacific Ocean would endanger fish species including salmon and delta smelt.

The Los Angeles Times reported last week that this year's five-month commercial salmon season was trimmed back to barely two because of drought.

California's salmon fishing season has shrunk as the state's drought conditions have worsened; less water in rivers means fewer opportunities for the fish to spawn and hatch

Salmon need inland freshwater to spawn and hatch before swimming into the Pacific for a few years and then migrating upriver to spawn again. Lower river levels mean a weaker fishery and tighter restrictions to keep the salmon from dying out.

California strictly metes out water rights for agricultural, fishery, industrial and residential use. The Trump administration is far more amenable to changes than its predecessor.

Pacific Institute co-founder Peter Gleick sided with the green lobby on Monday, complaining in a tweet that 'ignorant' Trump.

'The only water that reaches the ocean these days is what's left AFTER the massive diversions OUT of our rivers for cities and farms,' he said. 'And there's no shortage of fire-fighting water. Nuts.'

Most forest firefighting uses fire retardant chemicals, not water

A co-founder of the Pacific Institute slammed the president, saying it's farmers, not waterways, who are 'diverting' California's water supply

Aside from pleasing McCarthy, Trump has Republican Rep. and House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes as a staunch ally. Nunes' district abuts McCarthy's. Both are in the agriculture-heavy valley.

Trump surprised natural resource experts and White House watchers with his initial broadside on Sunday.

He had tweeted that the wildfires were 'being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren't allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized.'

Like his message a day later, the tweet complained that water was being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. It also called for clearing forests as a means of stopping fires from spreading.

Trump has yet to thank the armies of firefighters who are battling the blazes, or to acknowledge the nine people who have died in the infernos.

The president complained that water is allowed to flow to the Pacific Ocean instead of being 'properly utilized'

Experts are dismissing Trump's complaint since California already has an aggressive water management system

In September 2017 Trump's Interior Department ordered national parks to clear underbrush and small trees as a preventive measure.

Two official White House spokespersons did not respond to a question Monday about what Trump's tweets meant.

But the president's claim about water drew a combination of laughing and head-scratching on Sunday, although years of drought may be one factor in the fires' quick spread.

'It boggles the mind,' said UC Merced professor LeRoy Westerling, who specializes in wildfire and climatology.

'We do manage all of our rivers in California, and all the water is allocated many times over. So Im not sure what he was recommending,' he told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Maureen Kissick sits in the remains of her dining room, looking through what is left of her Noritake china from her wedding 36 years ago, in the wake of the Carr fire in Redding, Calif. on Saturday

Tuolumne County, California sheriff's deputies watched the Donnell Fire as it advanced east along near the Dardanelle Resort on Sunday

Firefighters rushed into a field in High Valley near the town of Clearlake Oaks to fight spot blazes from the Ranch Fire on Saturday

The White House also announced Sunday that Trump had issued a 'major disaster' declaration in affected areas of Shasta County, where about 150,000 acres west of the city of Redding are engulfed in flames.

That move gives Californians access to unemployment assistance, food aid and legal and mental health counseling; and makes federal financial assistance available to cities and counties that will have to repair billions of dollars worth of infrastructure damage.

It also allows federal agencies to help battle the 17 major fires burning throughout the state, including what is now known as the 'Carr fire'  which is just 40 per cent contained and has incinerated more than 1,000 homes.Britain's longest-serving poppy seller has described her MBE for decades of charity service as 'wonderful'.

Rosemary Powell, aged 103, was surrounded by family and celebrated with a glass of champagne after she was presented with the honour.

The great-grandmother, from London, was included in this year's Queen's Birthday Honours List for voluntary service to the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal, having spent 97 years collecting for the charity.

Inspecting the medal during a short ceremony at her west London nursing home, she said: 'Isn't it wonderful?'

Mrs Powell, who sat in a wheelchair draped in a poppy-patterned blanket, was handed the MBE on behalf of the Queen by the Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, Colonel Jane Davis.

Rosemary Powell, aged 103, was flanked by her sons Anthony (left) and Giles (right) and celebrated with a glass of champagne after she was presented with the honour

Britain's longest-serving poppy seller, 103-year-old Rosemary Powell, is presented with an MBE by Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, Colonel Jane Davis

Her sons Antony, Giles and Nicolas as well as granddaughters Emma and Rachel Powell and Celia Speller attended the ceremony at St Mary's Convent and Nursing Home in Chiswick on Monday.

Giles, speaking on behalf of his mother and the family, said: 'The presentation of the MBE has been one of the biggest moments in her life  and mum has lived a very full life.

'It's significant in what it represents in terms of both her loyalty and her commitment. She raised money for all those years due to the impact war had on her own family.

'She lost so many family members it really had an impact on her  it really was the catalyst for her volunteering work for the Royal British Legion.

'It's a really special day for us as a family and we're so proud of her.'

Mrs Powell, whose first fiance died in the Second World War, plans to sell poppies in her care home this November for the centenary year of the end of the First World War, before hanging up her collection tin, the Royal British Legion said.

She helped her mother Evelyn sell poppies on Richmond Bridge for the Royal British Legion's first Poppy Appeal in 1921 at the age of six.

Rosemary Powell with granddaughters Emma Powell (right) and Rachel Powell

Rosemary Powell in her nurses uniform. She lived in Africa for a year in the 1950s but made poppies out of paper to give to local people during Remembrance

They ran out in 'no time', she has previously recalled, and so her mother fashioned new poppies out of red crepe paper bought from a nearby flower shop.

Her father Charles Ashton James served with the 126th Baluchistan Infantry and was left wounded after being shot in the head during the Battle of the Somme.

She lost two godfathers and three uncles during the First World War.

Her first fiance, Robin Ellis, a commander in the Royal Navy, died in 1944 when the Lancaster bomber he was flying in crashed near Inverness.

Mrs Powell's younger brother Peter, a major in the Army, died during the Second World War.

During the Second World War, Mrs Powell trained as a voluntary aid detachment (VAD) nurse providing civilian nursing to the military.

She lived in Africa for a year in the 1950s but made poppies out of paper to give to local people during Remembrance.

During 20 years living in France, Mrs Powell and her Royal Navy officer husband Selwyn sold blue cornflowers  the French equivalent to UK poppies.

When she returned to the UK, Mrs Powell sold poppies in London including at the Kings Mall shopping centre in Hammersmith.

Charles Byrne, director general of the Royal British Legion, said: 'Rosemary is truly inspirational and she is most deserving of this honour.

'Our volunteers go to extraordinary lengths to raise funds to support our Armed Forces community, those who are serving, those who have served, and their families. Rosemary is a shining example of that extraordinary commitment.

'Over the decades Rosemary has helped to change the lives of thousands of Armed Forces personnel, veterans, and their families, and that is a legacy to be truly proud of.

'Rosemary is most deserving of this honour, and everyone at the Legion wishes her a very happy retirement.'Two pilots are set to lose their flying licences after they tried to take off from a taxiway at an airport in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia - endangering the lives of 150 passengers.

The Jet Airways craft accelerated down the taxiway just after midnight on Friday before hitting an unpaved area and aborting takeoff.

The 142 passengers and seven crew members were evacuated from the plane by fire and rescue teams at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport.

Aviation sources told NDTV that the taxiway the Mumbai-bound Boeing 737 had attempted to take off from had not been mapped into the plans of the airport.

The aborted take off occurred at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport just after midnight on Friday

Jet Airways said in a statement via Twitter: 'Our flight 9W523 with 142 guests and 7 crew members from Riyadh to Mumbai of 3rd August aborted takeoff and departed the runway at Riyadh Airport. All our guests and crew have been evacuated safely with no reported injuries.'

An investigation was launched into the pilot's botched takeoff as the airline scrambled to organise alternate travel plans for its passengers.

The regulator said that it had 'suspended the flying licence of both the pilots involved in runway excursion incident, pending investigation.'

An official of aviation regulator DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) had said that the pilots aborted take-off after they were informed about a 'barrier' on the runway.

The Mumbai-bound Boeing 737 attempted to take off from a taxiway beside the site's runway (stock image)

The plane veered off the runway due to 'sudden stopping', the official had earlier said, before the Saudi aviation authorities put out their version.

In a tweet, Jet Airways said its Mumbai-bound flight had aborted take-off and veered off the runway, but without specifying the reason.

Jet Airways in another tweet said the airlines 'is in contact with the DGCA and has extended all co-operation with regard to the said incident'

'The airline will continue to adhere to all requirements laid down by the regulator,' it said and added, 'The matter is currently under investigation and we cannot currently comment on the issue.'A supporter of President Donald Trump's threatened to shoot two CNN reporters during a call into a live broadcast on public television as the battle between the president and the press reached a boiling point.

Trump in a Sunday tweet said journalists are 'dangerous and sick' and 'can also cause war.' He referred to the media in the post as an 'enemy of the people' again.

CNNs Brian Stelter aired a call in response from public broadcasting network C-SPAN during which the caller threatened violence against the Reliable Sources host and a colleague who Trump had derided in a separate tweet.

The man, who claimed to be from State College, Pennsylvania and identified himself as 'Don' to C-SPAN, said in the Friday call that he would shoot Stelter and CNN host Don Lemon.

A supporter of President Donald Trump's threatened to shoot two CNN reporters during a call into a live broadcast on public television as the battle between the president and the press reached a boiling point

Trump in a Sunday morning tweet said journalists are 'dangerous and sick' and 'can also cause war.' He referred to the media in the post as an 'enemy of the people' again

Don said that tensions between the press and the president 'all started' when Stelter and Lemon called all Trump supporters racists -- something that Stelter paused the recording of the threat to dispute.

'Come on. Give me a break. They started the war. I see 'em, I'm gonna shoot 'em. Bye,' the C-SPAN caller said.

Stelter told viewers of his Sunday morning program that he's 'not asking for sympathy' and does not believe he's 'in extreme danger' while acknowledging that press colleagues are routinely threatened.

He played a clip of MSNBC's Katy Tur in which the host who covered Trump on the campaign trail read aloud a disturbing message she'd received from a critic who said 'I hope you get raped and killed.' She said the threats of violence are inherently tied to the president, with the supporter who sent the nasty note using the Trump campaign's acronym MAGA.

New York Times columnist Bret Stephens on Friday recalled a chilling voicemail he received from stranger who used a racial slur against blacks and threatened to murder journalists.

'I dont carry an AR but once we start shooting you f***ers you arent going to pop off like you do now. Youre worthless, the press is the enemy of the United States people and, you know what, rather than me shoot you, I hope a Mexican and, even better yet, I hope a n***er shoots you in the head, dead,' the unidentified male voice said.

Stephens said the call came in May shortly after a column he wrote defending ABC's decision to fire Roseanne Barr for racist commentary.

He brought up a July 20 meeting at which the publisher of the The Times, A.G. Sulzberger, told the president 'his language was not just divisive but increasingly dangerous.'

Sulzberger says he told the president that his calling journalists 'the enemy of the people' is 'contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence.'

CNNs Brian Stelter aired a call in response from public broadcasting network C-SPAN during which the caller threatened violence against the Reliable Sources host

Stephens wrote, 'What cant be ignored is presidential behavior that might best be described as incitement. Maybe Trump supposes that the worst hes doing is inciting the people who come to his rallies to give reporters like Jim Acosta the finger. And maybe he thinks that most journalists, with their relentless hostility to his personality and policies, richly deserve public scorn.

'Yet for every 1,000 or so Trump supporters whose contempt for the press rises only as far as their middle fingers, a few will be people like my caller. Of that few, how many are ready to take the next fatal step? In the age of the active shooter, the number isnt zero.'

He warned, 'We are approaching a day when blood on the newsroom floor will be blood on the presidents hands.'

Stelter later reflected on the dispute between the White House and the press over the president's charged rhetoric toward reporters and outlets he does not like in Sunday's episode of his Reliable Sources program.

Trump had encouraged supporters at a Tuesday rally in Tampa to disparage the media, prompting vulgar gestures from the audience toward CNN's Jim Acosta.

The CNN reporter said in a Wednesday interview that he believes the behavior of the crowds have been 'dangerous for some time' as he argued that Trump is 'essentially putting targets on our backs.'

'I was worried during the campaign that a journalist was going to get hurt, and it has been building,' he said. 'But when you refer to members of the press as the enemy of the people, youre essentially putting targets on our backs and its not just some Joe Schmo on a barstool in Kalamazoo saying this.'

Acosta said: 'This is the president of the United States. And that comes with a serious force behind it. And he has a lot of people out there who are extremely angry at us.'

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told journalists earlier in the day that 'the President condemns and denounces any group that would incite violence against another individual, and certainly doesnt support groups that would promote that type of behavior.

'Weve been clear about that a number of times since the beginning of the administration,' she stated. 'When it comes to the media, the President does think that the media holds a responsibility  we fully support a free press, but there also comes a high level of responsibility with that.'

Rally-goers attempted to keep Acosta from doing his job in Tampa, interrupting his reporting and declaring that 'CNN sucks' live to camera.

Sanders refused to condemn their behavior during her press briefing the following day.

'While we certainly support freedom of the press, we also support freedom of speech, and we think that those things go hand in hand,' she said.

He also played a clip of MSNBC's Katy Tur in which the host who covered Trump on the campaign trail read aloud a disturbing message she'd received from a critic who said 'I hope you get raped and killed

Trump had encouraged supporters at a Tuesday rally in Tampa to disparage the media, prompting vulgar gestures from the audience toward CNN's Jim Acosta. At Thursday's White House press briefing, Acosta tried to get Sarah Sanders to walk back Trump's fiery rhetoric but she reufsed

On Thursday, Acosta was back in the briefing room, where he pressed Sanders to break with her boss and say that it is not her belief that journalists are the enemy of the people. She repeatedly declined to, instead saying, 'The media resorts to personal attacks without any content other than to incite anger.'

The very same morning the president's daughter, Ivanka, had declined to repeat her father's statements about the press during an on-camera interview with the news website Axios.

Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, also refused to call reporters the enemy of the people during an interview on CBS' 'Face the Nation' program on Sunday.

Trump meanwhile hammered journalists in several tweets as 'fake news' as he refuted reports that he's concerned that his son Donald Trump Jr.could be in legal jeopardy in the special counsel investigation into Russian election meddling in 2016.

'The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only because they know its TRUE. I am providing a great service by explaining this to the American People,' he said in his rant. 'They purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!'

He had on Friday evening referred to CNN's Lemon in a tweet as 'the dumbest man on television.'Joanna Krupa secretly married Douglas Nunes three weeks ago in a hush hush ceremony in Los Angeles, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The legal marriage was followed by a religious ceremony in Krakow, Poland, on Saturday in front of close friends and family.

Photographs and video of the service, exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com, show the blonde reality star and model at the altar with her now-husband.

Another sweet snap shows the newlyweds enjoying a kiss, while others show the model, glamorous in a dress by Polish designer Sylwia Romaniuk, exchanging a long look with Nunes.

Newly weds: Joanna Krupa and Douglas Nunes tied the knot in a private ceremony in Krakow, Poland on Saturday

In exclusive pictures obtained by DailyMail.com, the blonde reality star and model is seen at the altar at the historic Tyniec Abbey with her now-husband

Details of the ceremony had been kept under wraps to minimize attention, with just family and some of Krupa's closest Polish friends invited to witness the wedding at the historic Tyniec Abbey.

The ancient abbey, which sits on the Vistula river just outside Krakow, is thought to have been founded in 1040 and remains home to an order of Benedictine monks.

A source told DailyMail.com that Krupa is 'thrilled' to be a wife again and is now considering throwing a party for friends when she returns to Los Angeles.

The 39-year-old also posted a photo on Instagram of her big day, adding a caption that read: 'We did it!

'It was a very private and small family gathering Wish I could have shared it with all the people that I love.'

Nunes also marked the wedding with a post on Instagram, uploading a picture of the couple riding in a car together and adding a caption that read: 'Done deal'.

Krupa's second wedding comes less than a year after she divorced first husband Romain Zago and just five months after announcing her engagement to businessman Nunes.

Miami nightclub entrepreneur Zago, 45, and Krupa had been married for just over three years when she filed for divorce in July 2017.

Kiss the bride: The 39-year-old's second wedding comes less than a year after her divorce from Romain Zago and five months after her engagement to Nunes

Nunes also marked the wedding with a post on Instagram, uploading a picture of the couple riding in a car together and adding a caption that read: 'Done deal'

Their San Diego nuptials was featured on seasons two and three of Real Housewives of Miami, with the Polish blonde admitting she was unsure whether to go through with the ceremony ahead of time.

After getting married, the couple returned to live in Miami but found themselves in what became an increasingly long-distance relationship due to work commitments on opposite sides of the country.

The divorce last August was finalized in just 15 minutes at a Miami courthouse, with the pair agreeing to evenly split their assets and waive alimony.

Speaking after the divorce hearing, Krupa's lawyer Raymond Rafool told DailyMail.com that the couple 'just grew apart.'

He added: 'This might be the easiest divorce I've ever worked on. Everything has been worked out. There's no alimony, just equitable distribution of their assets, and that was agreed to.'

Krupa and Zago's nuptials were featured on seasons two and three of Real Housewives of Miami. The split after four years of marriage

The former couple have remained close friends, although Zago was not invited to Krupa's second wedding.

The model, who now spends most of her time in Los Angeles, is now attempting to offload her apartment in Miami Beach, although the price was slashed by $300,000 in June after the $1.3m property failed to sell.

The home was listed in March  the same month she announced her engagement to Nunes with a post on Instagram that showed off her enormous diamond promise ring.

She captioned the image: 'Just another weekend in the Krupa-Nunes household.'Tom Watson (pictured in March) was the target of an unprecedented social media campaign calling for him to quit and waged by furious Corbynistas

Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson was last night hit by a massive social media campaign calling for him to quit after he demanded tougher action on anti-Semitism.

Corbynistas turned on the senior Labour MP after he broke ranks with Jeremy Corbyn to warn that the party faces 'eternal shame' unless it roots out the racism.

Left-wing activists mounted a massive social media campaign against him - posting nearly 50,000 tweets calling for him to go and making the hashtag 'ResignWatson' trend on Twitter.

Key allies of Mr Corbyn - including ex Labour MP George Galloway and activist Arron Bastani - were among those who led the onslaught.

But Labour MPs including Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi and Wes Streeting, and former Labour minister David Miliband rallied to his defence on Twitter.

Corbynistas accused Mr Watson of 'disloyalty' and peddled theories he only spoke out because he held a grudge about the speaking slot he has been given at the party conference this September.

The attacks - the biggest coordinated wave of vitriol against a Labour politician so far - came after Mr Watson demanded tougher action against anti-Semitism in an interview with The Observer.

He called on the Labour leader to drop inquiries into two Labour MPs  Margaret Hodge and Ian Austin  who both lost family members in the Holocaust - over their outbursts on anti-Semitism in the party.

He spoke out after the party was rocked by revelations that Peter Willsman - a Labour member and strong ally of Mr Corbyn - was secretly taped ranting that 'Jewish Trump fanatics' invented the anti-Semitism.

In an angry diatribe, made at a meeting of Labour's ruling executive committee and secretly recorded, Mr Willsman said said he was 'amazed' there was evidence party members hated Jews.

In an interview with The Observer, Mr Watson said Labour will 'disappear into a vortex of eternal shame and embarrassment' and make itself unfit for government, unless it tackles anti-Semitism.

Former Labour MP George Galloway was among those calling for Tom Watson to quit as Labour deputy leader

Key allies of Mr Corbyn - including activist Arron Bastani - were among those who led the onslaught on social media last night

Labour MP Wes Streeting - who has led criticism of Labour's failure to tackle anti-Semitism - was among those defending Mr Watson

Labour MPs made it clear they did not agree with the campaign being waged and backed their deputy leader

David Miliband, a former Labour frontbencher who is also Jewish, backed Tom Watson and warned that the anti-Semitism scandal is betraying Labour's heritage

But left-wing activists flocked to Twitter to slam the deputy Labour leader and call for his resignation over the comments.

What is the timeline of anti-Semitic scandals which have erupted under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership? Jeremy Corbyn (pictured) has been accused of failing to tackle the racism among his supporters The anti-Semitism scandal has dogged Labour since Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader in 2015. Here is a timeline of the controversies: April 2016: Labour MP Naz Shah is suspended for anti-Semitic posts - including one in which she appeared to endorse calls for Israelis to be deported to the US. She apologised and was given a formal warning. Ken Livingstone goes on the radio to defend Ms Shah - but sparks fresh controversy by claiming that Hitler supported Zionism. He is suspended by Labour but refuses to apologise and has repeated the claim many times. He eventually quits Labour two years later, saying his suspension has become a distraction. June 2016: A two-month inquiry by civil liberties campaigner Shami Chakrabarti finds that Labour is not overrun by anti-Semitism. But the launch is overshadowed when Jewish Labour MP Ruth Smeeth flees it in tears after being accused by Corbyn supporter Marc Wadsworth of colluding with the press. Critics accuse the report of being a whitewash and Ms Chakrabarti is widely criticised for accepting a peerage from Jeremy Corbyn shortly afterwards. October 2016: The Home Affairs Select Committee says Labour is guilty of incompetence over its handling of anti-Semitism and of creating a safe space for people with 'vile attitudes towards Jewish people'. March 2018: It is revealed that Jeremy Corbyn defended an artist who painted an anti-Semitic mural and said the offensive art should be removed. He apologises saying he did not properly look at the picture before he made the post. Jewish leaders take the unprecedented step of holding a demonstration outside Parliament protesting Mr Corbyn's failure to tackle anti-Semitism. Several Labour MPs address the crowds. April 2018: Marc Wadsworth is expelled from Labour after being accused of anti-Semitism. Meanwhile, Labour Jewish MPs tell of the anti-Semitic abuse they have suffered in a powerful parliamentary debate - and round on their leader for failing to tackle it. July 2018: The Labour leadership sparks fresh anger by failing to fully adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism Peter Willsman, a strong ally of Jeremy Corbyn, is secretly taped ranting that 'Jewish Trump fanatics' invented the anti-Semitism storm engulfing Labour. In an angry diatribe at a meeting of Labour's ruling executive committee, he said he was 'amazed' there was evidence party members hated Jews. He claimed 'some of these people in the Jewish community support Trump  they are Trump fanatics' before shouting: 'So I am not going to be lectured to by Trump fanatics making up duff information without any evidence at all.' August 2018: Jeremy Corbyn issues a video insisting he is committed to tackling the racism - but it is panned by Jewish leaders. Corbynistas mount a social media campaign to get deputy Labour leader Tom Watson to quit after he criticises the party's handling of anti-Semitism. The Daily Mail exclusively publishes photos of Jeremy Corbyn holding a wreath at a ceremony where a terrorist linked to the Munich massacre was honoured. The Labour leader insists he was there to honour others killed - but faces fresh calls to quit over the scandal. Advertisement

George Galloway wrote: 'I'm embarrassed that I supported you and persuaded others to do so too. You will enter Labour history as a byword for deception and disloyalty.

'You have no reason to sit there for any longer. In the name of God go. #ResignTomWatson.'

Mr Bastani, a left-wing activist and TV pundit who regularly speaks out for Mr Corbyn and his policies. also posted using the 'ResignWatson' hashtag.

He wrote: 'I'm told by multiple sources that Tom Watson did interview attacking the leadership because he didn't get speaking slot he wanted at conference.

'You threatened to do interview unless you got confirmation from Loto...is that right Tom? If so what an appalling issue to exploit.'

And activists defending Mr Watson on Twitter were met with vile anti-Semitic abuse.

One activist was told she needed a 'shower' - an apparent reference to the gas Chambers when Jews were taken into communal shower blocks told they were going to be washed, but the gassed to death.

Mr Watson hit out at the abuse he received in the onslaught - and thanks supporters who had rallied to his defence.

He wrote: 'It sometimes feels like people have been calling for me to stand down from day one but I never, ever thought I'd be facing demands to #resignwatson for standing up for people who are facing prejudice and hate.'

Labour MPs past and present rallied to Mr Watson's defence and tore into the activists for waging the campaign against Mr Watson just because he dared to speak out against the abuse.

Mr Miliband said: 'Thank you @Tom_watson for recognizing the gravity of Labour's situation.

'Power reveals. In this case it has revealed myopia and sectarianism at the top, betraying Labour's history and failing the needs of the country.'

Mr Streeting said: 'Imagine demanding the resignation of our Deputy Leader because he's called for meaningful action against racism.

'The absolute state of the #resignWatson cesspit and those who swim in it.'

Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi wrote: 'You're a good man Tom. Always keep standing up to hatred & discrimination, especially when the vulnerable/minorities are facing prejudice.

'Those targeting you need to realise that as a movement we need to pull together to tackle anti-Semitism & this shambles of a Tory government.'

Meanwhile, some Labour members are reportedly planning to turn their backs on Mr Watson when he delivers his conference speech in Liverpool this September.

The Labour anti-Semitism row has exploded over recent weeks amid growing anger and accusations that Mr Corbyn has refused to act on his promises to crack down on the abuse.

The latest wave of controversy was triggered when the Labour leadership refused to adopt the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism.

Mr Watson used the interview to urge the Labour leader to immediately adopt the full definition.

He said: 'This is one of those moments when we have to take a long, hard look at ourselves, stand up for what is right and present the party as fit to lead the nation  or disappear into a vortex of eternal shame and embarrassment,' Watson said.

'I think it is very important that we all work to de-escalate this disagreement, and I think it starts with dropping the investigations into Margaret Hodge and Ian Austin.

'I have frequently had very difficult conversations with both Margaret and Ian but what I understand is that your critics are not your enemies. On an issue that is so dear to them, I think people are very, very concerned that these investigations should be dropped quickly.'

On the need to adopt the full IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, the labour deputy leader added: 'We should deal with this swiftly and move on.

'We can't have this dragging on throughout the summer. I have made no secret of the fact that ... we should adopt the full IHRA definition and should do it without delay.'

Mr Corbyn tried to get on top of the row at the weekend by putting out a video acknowledging a 'real problem' of anti-Semitism in the Labour party.

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured leaving his home in Islington today) has been accused of failing to tackle the anti-Semitism crisis gripping his party

He said sorry for 'hurt that has been caused to Jewish people' in a three-minute video posted on Twitter and Facebook on Sunday.

Why is Labour's new code of conduct on anti-Semitism so controversial? The Labour anti-Semitism row erupted again after the party leadership refused to fully adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) definition. The party's code explicitly endorses the IHRA definition, but it omits four examples from the IHRA list: - Accusing Jewish people of being more loyal to Israel than their home country; - Claiming that Israel's existence as a state is a racist endeavour; - Requiring higher standards of behaviour from Israel than other nations; and - Comparing contemporary Israeli policies to those of the Nazis. Labour insisted that while the examples are not reproduced word-for-word, they are covered in the new code. But critics say the decision allows anti-Semitism to continue to fester. Advertisement

But Jewish leaders have dismissed his latest attempt to solve his party's anti-Semitism crisis after the Labour leader posted a video promising to 'root out' racism among his supporters.

Gideon Falter of the Campaign Against Antisemitism said the video was 'another bland statement devoid of any apology' and said he had not promised any specific action.

Mr Corbyn also came under fire for implying that as few as one in a thousand Labour members are anti-Semitic.

The party has been dogged by claims of anti-Semitism ever since Mr Corbyn became leader in 2015.

Jewish Labour MPs have told how they have been threatened with are and murder for daring to speak out.

And they have accused Mr Corbyn of letting the racism fester among his supporters.

Mr Corbyn and Labour's new general secretary Jennie Formby have vowed to finally get a grip on the scandal and deal with the backlog of disciplinary cases of activists accused of being anti-Semitic.

But Labour MPs have rounded on the leadership - accusing them of saying they will tackle the racism but failing to take any concrete action.

And they are furious at the decision of the leader's office to launch investigations into Labour MPs Margaret Hodge and Ian Austin after the pair furiously attacked the failure to stamp out the abuse.

They point out that the MPs are being investigated with far more zeal than those behind the anti-Semitic abuse.

The anti-Semitism row has exposed deep rifts within the Labour party and threatens to cast a dark shadow over its party conference in September.Eleven children who were rescued from a compound in New Mexico on Friday where they were being held by their 'Muslim extremist' parents were discovered after a message was somehow sent to the outside pleading for help.

The children are aged between one and 15. Some are siblings and some are cousins.

They had been held underground at a ramshackle compound in Alamia, New Mexico, for months.

The FBI was monitoring the site for two months but never searched it because they did not have an arrest warrant, Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said on Monday.

On Friday, however, the sheriff's office intercepted a message that was written either by one of the children or by one of their mothers which read: 'We are starving and we need food and water.'

Authorities will not say how the message was delivered or who gave it to them but Sheriff Hogrefe said it meant he could not wait any longer for federal authorities to move in on the site.

Sisters Subhanah Wahhaj, 35, (left) and Hujrah Wahhaj, 38, (right) were arrested on Sunday

Jany Leveille, who also goes by the name Maryam, was also arrested for child abuse on Sunday

Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 39, had an AR-15 rifle, 150 rounds of ammunition and four loaded pistols at the site. He has been on the run since December when he vanished with his three-year-old disabled son from Georgia. The toddler was not found. His brother-in-law Lucas Morton (right) was also charged with harboring a fugitive. He is married to Siraj's sister Subhanah

He enlisted a special forces team to lead the raid because he knew the men inside were heavily armed, he added.

The children were being held there by 39-year-old Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, an imam's son from New York City who has been missing since December when he abducted his three-year-old special needs son from Georgia.

It was this abduction which triggered the FBI investigation.

On Friday, Wahhaj was found in the compound with an AR-15 rifle, five magazines loaded with 30 rounds and four loaded pistols.

This is the New Mexico compound where 11 children were found on Friday being held by their Muslim extremist father and uncle, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, along with their parents

Also on the compound was his brother-in-law, Lucas Morton and three women; Subhanah Wahhaj, 35, Hujrah Wahhaj, 38, and Jany Leveille, 35, who is also known as Maryam.

Sunbhanah and Hujrah are Siraj's sisters and Jany is his wife. She worked for his father, Imam Siraj Wahhaj, at the Masjid At-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn before relocating with her husband to Georgia in 2014. She is not AG's mother.

All three women were charged with child abuse on Sunday after initially being released by police who said they were 'brainwashed and intimidated' by the men.

Siraj's three-year-old son AG, who has hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and requires daily medication, has been missing since December and was not at the compound

Not found was Wahhaj's three-year-old son AG who cannot walk or talk due to hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, a condition caused by brain damage.

When police closed in on the property on Friday, his father initially refused to follow orders.

Police worried that the raid would end violently because of the fact he was so heavily armed.

'We had learned the occupants were most likely heavily armed and considered extremist of the Muslim belief.

'We also knew from the layout of the compound they would have an advantage if we didnt deploy tactfully and quickly,' Sheriff Hogrefe of the Taos County Sheriff Department said in a statement.

The children had been at the site for months without food and were so skinny their ribs were showing.

The only food found on the compound was a box of rice and some potatoes.

Sheriff Hogrefe described the conditions as the saddest he had ever seen in 30 years of police work.

'We all gave the kids our water and what snacks we had  it was the saddest living conditions and poverty I have seen,' he said, adding that the children looked like 'third world refugees.'

The conditions inside the compound were described by police as the worst they had seen in 30 years

There was no food at the compound and the children had terrible personal hygiene, police said

Amalia is 145 miles northeast of Albuquerque and in an isolated high-desert area near the New Mexico-Colorado border

'I've been a cop for 30 years. I've never seen anything like this. Unbelievable.

'They were skinny, their ribs showed, they were in very poor hygiene and very scared.

'They had 'no shoes, personal hygiene and basically dirty rags for clothing,' he told ABC.

Siraj Wahhaj has been on the run since December when he vanished with AG after telling his mother he was taking him to the park.

AG's mother Hakima Ramzi has made desperate social media appeals to find her son again.

Her friends have also set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for the search.

The family has been missing since January when their father, Imam Siraj Wahhaj, appealed for information about them on Facebook

The children's grandfather is Imam Siraj Wahhaj, the leader of the Muslim Alliance of North America and the leader of a mosque in Brooklyn, New York City

The toddler suffers from seizures, developmental delay, wears braces on his legs, cannot walk, and requires daily medication.

His parents were married for 15 years until he vanished in December.

In a Facebook plea for information about her son and husband's whereabouts, Ramzi appealed directly to Subhannah, one of the three mothers found on the compound.

She said: 'It's not about you.

AG's mother Hakima Ramzi was married to his father without incident for 15 years, she said. She has been pleading for AG's return since December and is seen above in a Facebook video appealing for help to find them

'This is all about my son. He needs his medication. My worry is not about Subhannah and her kids. My worry is about my son because he is sick.

'He needs his medication, he needs everything. I don't know if he is alive. Please, please, please, I need your help.

'I need my son back to me and then I will leave you alone,' she said.

Wahhaj is the son of Imam Surraj Wahhaj, 68, who belongs to the Masjid At Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn, New York.

The earliest record of him in the United States dates back to 1983.

It is not clear where he lived beforehand or if he was born in the US.

In January, his father pleaded for information about their whereabouts.

'Dear Brothers and Sisters, please make duas for the safe return of our children and grandchildren: Siraj, Hujrah, Subhanah Wahhaj, son in law Luqman (Lucas) Morton, and daughter in law Maryam (Jany) Leveille and their children (our 12 grandchildren).

'We believe they may be traveling together,' he said in a Facebook post.

He has not commented on his children's arrest. Imam Wahhaj is the leader of The Muslim Alliance in North America.

Police are still looking for three-year-old AG.The funds have been traced and the Bank of Valletta is seeking to have the fraudulent transactions reversed.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told parliament the cyber attack involved the creation of false international payments totaling 13 million euros ($14.7 million) to banks in Britain, the United States, the Czech Republic and Hong Kong.

Bank of Valletta which accounts for almost half of Maltas banking transactions, had to shut down all of its operations on Wednesday after hackers broke into its systems and shifted funds overseas.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told parliament the cyber attack involved the creation of false international payments totaling 13 million euros ($14.7 million) to banks in Britain, the United States, the Czech Republic and Hong Kong.

The funds have been traced and the Bank of Valletta is seeking to have the fraudulent transactions reversed.

Muscat said the attack was detected soon after the start of business on Wednesday when discrepancies were noticed during the reconciliation of international transactions.

Shortly after, the bank was informed by state security services that it had received information from abroad that the company had been the target of a cyber attack.

To minimize risk and review its systems, the Bank of Valletta suspended operations, shuttering its branches on the Mediterranean island, closing ATMs and disabling its website.

Muscat said the fact such an important financial institute had gone off line had impacted the economy and caused problems abroad for credit card holders who needed to make payments, such as to hotels.

Alternative arrangements were being made with credit card companies to help those affected.

Muscat said the Bank of Valletta was also considering how to resume its operations gradually to make sure that such an attack could not be repeated. He told lawmakers that depositors funds had not been touched.

The money did not come from peoples (accounts) and the amounts have been traced, he said.

The bank earlier told customers that their accounts and funds were in no way impacted or compromised and that it was working to resume normal services.

The bank is also carrying out an internal review to establish where exactly the attack originated from and how it was instigated.

Maltese banks have in the past reported cyber attacks but this was the first time that a lender had to shut down all of its operations as a result.Former Maricopa County, Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio told a TV interviewer last month that if Donald Trump were to offer him oral sex, he'd be inclined to accept it.

It wasn't just any television host: Professional spoof artist Sacha Baron Cohen had posed as a Finnish journalist and convinced him to engage in a one-on-ine interview that aired over the weekend on his show 'Who Is America?'

'If Donald Trump calls you up after this and says, "Sheriff Joe, I want to offer you an amazing b***job," would you say yes? Cohen asked.

'I might have to say yes,' he replied.

In characted as Finnish TV presenter 'OMGWhizzBoyOMG,' Sacha Baron Cohen for Sheriff Joe Arpaio to admit he would let President Donald Trump give him oral sex if he asked

The president gave Arpaio a full pardon last year on a contempt of court conviction that stemmed from his refusal to stop targeting suspected illegal immigrants with otherwise reason-free traffic stops.

His fawning attitude may have been driven by a sense of gratitude.

Cohen, in character as 'OMGWhizzBoyOMG,' also asked the former lawman if he thought Trump 'might have had a "golden shower",' a sex act related to urination.

'Wouldnt surprise me,' he replied.

The allegation was contained in a now-infamous 2016 dossier of opposition research funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign. The FBI used it, in part, to justify surveillance on at least one former Trump campaign aide.

Arpaio is a longtime Trump backer (pictured at a January 2016 campaign event) and got a presidential pardon in 2017 after being convicted of contempt of court

Cohen asks Arpaio an uncomfortable question

Arpaio's response sounded serious

The unverified claim related to a Moscow trip Trump took in 2013, and focused on the fear that the Kremlin had gathered embarrassing 'kompromat' dirt on the future president.

It's possible Cohen intentionally confused Arpaio: He had been marveling at how rich Trump is. The president's private aircraft, a customized Boeing 757, includes a stateroom whose showerhead is gold-plated.

But Arpaio told The Arizona Republic after the fake interview in July that he suspected he'd been had after his questioner began to 'zero in on sex.'

'I started to get a little angry. A little sad. But I went through it,' he said three weeks ago.

Speaking in a Scandinavian accent, Cohen unboxed a child's Shokpins toy and named it 'Delish Donut,' a character who then asked Arpaio about the red-meat conservative issue of gun control.

Arpaio spoke to the toy.

'Guns dont kill. People kill,' he said, recounting the National Rifle Association's belief that a 'good guy with a gun' can often stop an armed criminal: 'I'm hoping somebody else in there has a gun that will shoot that person before he kills you.'

'Bad guys are going to get their guns!'

Cohen's other spoofs for 'Who Is America?' have included appearing as a retired Mossad agent who convinced a state lawmaker to shout racial slurs and run a supposed self'defense drill against anti-gay Muslim jihadis

As retired Col. Erran Morad, Cohen also embarrassed former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore

Arpaio ultimately said that even if 'Delish Donut' was anti-gun, he hoped other Shopkins dolls were on his side.

That was too much for Cohen. 'I have 43 guns,' OMGWhizzBoyOMG said.

'Ive been collecting them for the upcoming race war,' he deadpanned, drawing zero reaction from the 86-year-old.

Arpaio told the Breitbart website last month that he had 'signed some kind of contract before filming' but 'did not read all the info.'

'I was kind of shocked,' he said. 'But I figured this is Finland and this is a famous comedian.'An arrest has been made following the brazen doorstep shooting death of a man - as it's revealed the accused spent the last two weeks on the run following the attack.

George Nassif, 46, was fatally shot in the back at a unit in Warwick Farm, western Sydney, on July 22.

The attack took place after Nassif answered the door to the property - home to escort Stacey Jamieson - which he was visiting with his girlfriend Taylah.

Once inside, the gunman, with an accomplice in tow, carried out the allegedly targetted attack, before quickly fleeing the scene.

Marko Krivosic is believed to have been arrested following a brazen doorstep shooting death last month and spent the last two weeks on the run

George Nassif, 46, (right) was fatally shot in the back at the unit of Stacey Jamieson (left) in Warwick Farm, western Sydney, on July 22

Paramedics rushed Nassif, a father-of-four, to the nearby Liverpool Hospital under police escort, where he later died.

On Monday afternoon, police are understood to have arrested 27-year-old Marko Krivosic, who was staying at a Perth motel, in connection with the shooting.

NSW Police investigators are expected to travel to Western Australia on Tuesday to extradite the man back to the state where the shooting took place.

It comes after detectives issued a warrant for Krivosic late last month which saw police plea for him to come forward.

'Investigators believe Mr Krivosic will be able to assist with the investigation and are encouraging him to come forward,' Detective Acting Superintendent Paul Albury said at the time.

After issuing the arrest warrant, police released CCTV footage of the alleged gunman entering the unit block in a hooded jumper.

'We're appealing for anyone who has any information in regards to the incident that occurredor may have been in the vicinity... Sunday afternoon,' they said.A woman has opened up about the terrifying moment her husband tried to kill her by asphyxiating her with nitrogen gas.

Pepita Ridgeway was sleeping inside her caravan on Queensland's Sunshine Coast in July 2016 when she woke to 'a constant little gurgling gas sound'.

She had initially thought it was a water pump next to the caravan, which was metres from the family home, but soon realised the noise was coming from under her pillow.

When she lifted up her mattress, she discovered a series of holes her husband of almost two decades, Robert Ridgeway, had drilled to hide a deadly device in order to kill her after she threatened to divorce him.

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Pepita Ridgeway (pictured) has opened up about the moment her husband tried to kill her as she slept inside her caravan

'I thought he was going to blow up the caravan. And I looked and I could see a hose with some black duct tape and I could hear the gas coming from there,' she told A Current Affair.

She went around to the back of the caravan and noticed the hose sticking up into the back of the caravan, at which point she thought, 'Oh my God, Robert's trying to kill me.'

The hose led to a gas cylinder, which was wrapped in T-shirts.

After turning off the cylinder, Ms Ridgeway ran barefoot to her brother's house, located on the same property.

'I must have been so full of adrenaline that I just said '"That's it, I've got to get out of here",' she said.

'My brain had just turned into flight mode - just get the police here, get this man away from family, from my house,' she said.

Pepita Ridgeway was married to Robert Ridgeway for almost two decades. The couple are pictured together

In a call to triple zero, she said: 'He's gassed something up to my caravan. He's planning to blow it up.

'And I'm freaking out because I'm scared he's got a gun and he's pretty scary.'

She told A Current Affair how fearful she was of her husband.

'I was just in a really frightened state. I knew he had a gun up here but I just didn't know what he was capable of and I wasn't too sure what his intentions were, so I was absolutely frantic,' she said.

She also revealed that while she was 'scared of him', she 'didn't think it would be a death'.

Mr Ridgeway, 64, was charged with attempted murder and was found guilty in June following a two-week trial at Brisbane Supreme Court.

'Had Mrs Ridgeway not woken up on that night she may well have died gasping for air,' Justice Glenn Martin said as he jailed Mr Ridgeway for eight years.

Pepita Ridgeway (pictured) lifted up her mattress inside the caravan where she discovered a series of holes her husband had drilled to hid a deadly device in order to kill her

Mr Ridgeway planned the attempted murder by reading about the effects of nitrogen gas on the internet.

He also purchased supplies for his crime a few days before making the attempt.

Ms Ridgeway had told the Supreme Court that she sought assistance from a domestic violence hotline after a physical altercation in June 2016 and moved into the caravan.

She emailed her husband on July 1, notifying him of her intention to visit a divorce lawyer. Over the next few days, Mr Ridgeway plotted the attempted murder.

Justice Martin declared the crime to be a serious violent offence. This means that Mr Ridgeway will be unable to seek parole until he has served 80 per cent of his sentence.Cops have arrested at least 20 people during a violent clash between alt-right and anti-fascist protests in Berkeley, California, on Sunday.

Officers seized dozens of weapons, including hammers, pepper spray and metal bars, from the protests.

A group of 'extremists' also threw explosives at police. No officers were hurt but three protesters were injured during the event.

Protesters damaged 21 city vehicles; setting one alight and slashing their tires. Vandals also set trash can fires

Cops have arrested at least 20 people during a clash between alt-right and anti-fascist protests in Berkeley, California, on Sunday (pictured, counter-demonstrators confront a pro-Trump supporter)

Berkeley Police make their first arrest during a rally at the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park on August 5

Antifa militants use fencing and trash cans to protect themselves from the smoke bombs shot at them and counter protesters by the police, on August 5

Police fired smoke bombs at Antifa and counter protesters, as protesters try to make their way to the alt-right rally in Martin Luther King Civic Center

'There have now been 20 arrests, most of them for possession of banned weapons in parks, and on streets and sidewalks,' Berkeley police said in a statement. 'Dozens of weapons were confiscated.

'Even though there were many hundreds of people, many of whom came armed and hostile, there were no significant injuries to anyone.'

Authorities say that two groups of alt-right protesters had announced they would be holding a No to Marxism rally at the city's Civic Center Park - sparking plans for a counter Sweep Out The Fascists march. City officials said neither group had sought a permit for their rallies.

Maria Lewis, 29, of Emeryville, was arrested near Francisco and McGee for carrying a banned weapon and working with others to commit a crime.David Siegfried Chou, 26, of Santa Cruz, was arrested near Francisco and McGee, for possession of a banned weapon and working with others to commit a crime,

Bella Podolsky, 27, of San Francisco, was arrested near Civic Center Park for possession of a banned weapon.Javier Cruz-O'Connell, 22, of Berkeley, was arrested near Civic Center Park for possession of a banned weapon.

Jason Wallach, 49, of Oakland, was arrested near Ohlone Park for possession of a banned weapon.Andres Gonzalez, 35, of Oakland, was arrested at Civic Center Park on five counts of carrying a banned weapon. Copy to caption PMS transfer info

Kristin Edith Koster, 50, of Berkeley, was arrested near Ohlone Park for possession of a dangerous weaponKate Brenner, 69, of Oakland, was arrested near Hearst/Grant for possession of a banned weapon.

'We've seen what the patterns are and one of the patterns is using nonviolent protests as a cover for violence and what we encourage people to do is to separate themselves from violence,' Berkeley city spokesman Matthai Chakko told Fox station KTVU on Saturday.

The incident began when 'anti-Marxist' protesters arrived at the Civic Center at around 12.30pm when they approached a table being held by the local Communist book store, and pushed some books off the table.

Police and bystanders intervened before any further action was taken.

'I'm here to stand-up for America and stand-up against the Marxists in this country that are trying to undermine our country from within,' Ben Bergquam of Front Line America, told CBS San Francisco.

Most of the alt-right protesters came from out of town.

The violence quickly escalated and police say the groups began throwing fireworks.

Berkeley police later posted photos on Facebook of some of the weapons they had seized which included rocks, wooden sticks, a hammer, metal rods and pepper spray.

Jamie Louise Hill, 30, of Emeryville, was arrested near Civic Center Park, for possession of a banned weapon.Freddy Martinez, 31, of Berkeley, was arrested near Civic Center Park for battery.

Ericka Sokolower-Shain, 28, of Berkeley, was arrested near Hearst and McGee for possession of a banned weapon.Sarena Lynette Perez, 39, of Oakland, was arrested near Civic Center Park for possession of a banned weapon.

Blake Griffith, 29, of Oakland, was arrested near Addison and Martin Luther King Jr. Way for vandalism.Thomas Parker, 22, of Berkeley, was arrested near Francisco and McGee for working with others to commit a crime.

'We are confiscating weapons and making arrests,' police said.

Sixteen of the arrested protesters, aged up to 69, have been identified as of Sunday evening. Their mugshots show reveal some bloody scrapes and injuries from the demonstrations.

Most of the arrests were weapons related, Fox reports.

Sarena Perez, 39, Jeffrey Garten, 28, Andres Gonzalez, 35, Jason Wallach, 41, and Kate Brenner, 69, all of Oakland, and Ericka Sokolower-Shain, 28, Javier Cruz-O'Connell, 22, and Kristen Edith Koster, 50, all of Berkeley, were all arrested for weapons charges.

Jamie Hill, 30, of Emeryville, and 27-year-old Bella Podolsky of San Francisco were also charged with possession of a banned weapon.

Maria Lewis, 29, of Emeryville, and David Chou, 26, of Santa Cruz, were charged with possession of a banned weapon and working with others to commit a crime.

Berkeley police seized 'dozens of weapons' at opposing alt-right and anti-fascist protests (a hammer and rocks were seized at the event)

Berkeley police later posted photos on Facebook of some of the weapons they had seized which included rocks, wooden sticks, a hammer, metal rods and pepper spray

Thomas Parker, 22, of Berkeley, and Caitlin Boyle, 27, of Oakland were also charged with working with others to commit a crime.

Blake Griffith, 29, of Oakland, was charged with vandalism while Freddy Martinez, 31, of Berkeley, was charged with battery.

Berkeley has been a hotbed of unrest for political groups who have held multiple violent protests in recent yeats.

In February last year, riots broke out and protesters set fires and broke down barricades while protesting against right-wing, former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos's speech at UC Berkeley.

Protesters marched against an alt-right rally on August 5, in downtown Berkeley, California

BERKELEY, CA - AUGUST 05: Ben Bergquam live streams during a rally at the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park on August 5

Counter protesters hold signs protesting the alt-right rally on August 5

Another rally in August last year, also organized by Sunday's No to Marxism organizer Amber Cummings, saw five people assaulted and a dozen arrests.

Sunday's protests came one day after far right groups clashed with police in Portland, Oregon.

There were clashes in Portland between right-wing groups and self-described anti-fascists who have pledged to keep the right-wingers out of the ultra-liberal city.

Far-right group Patriot Prayer held a rally in the Oregon city on Saturday to support founder Joey Gibson's US Senate campaign, drawing an equally large crowd of counter-protesters.

Four people were arrested and at least two were injured by officers, including a counter-protester who had a stung grenade embedded in his helmet.A Korean woman was found in a Brisbane park with head injuries so severe she drowned from internal bleeding, a court has heard.

Alex Reuben McEwan has pleaded not guilty to murdering Eunji Ban in Brisbane's CBD in November 2013, but admitted to causing her death.

His lawyer argues he killed her while suffering schizophrenia and was unable to control his actions.

But the Crown did not accept his guilty plea to a lesser charge of manslaughter, telling his trial that he intended to kill her.

Alex Reuben McEwan (pictured) pleaded not guilty to the November 2013 murder of South Korean woman Eunji Ban, arguing the violence was 'out of character' and he suffers from treatment-resistant schizophrenia

Ms Ban (pictured) was found dead in Wickham Park in the early hours of November 2013 after she was allegedly repeatedly punched by McEwan, then 19, while walking to her cleaning job

'She was punched around the head and face such (to the extent) that there was damage to bones that meant she died of asphyxia,' crown prosecutor David Meredith told Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday.

'That is, she either drowned in her own blood or her airways were compromised by blood.'

Ms Ban, 22, was found dead in Wickham Park on November 24, 2013 after she was allegedly repeatedly punched by McEwan, then 19, while walking to her cleaning job.

She had set out from a Roma Street Parklands unit about 4am, the court heard.

Friends of Alex McEwan, Luke Appleton (left) and Hayden Buchanan, leave the Supreme Court in Brisbane

Blood on the pavement at the scene of the alleged murder at the southern boundary of Wickham Park, off Albert St, in Brisbane, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013

After killing her, McEwan allegedly dragged her body up a flight of stairs to Wickham Park and left her by a tree, leaving a trail of blood.

A hospitality worker saw what appeared to be someone pulling something up stairs at Wickham Park before discovering Ms Ban's body and calling triple-zero, the court heard.

McEwan's friend Hayden Buchanan took a call from him at 5am, about an hour after he killed Ms Ban.

'(He said) 'I've just killed someone. I just went out and bashed someone. I just went for a walk and killed someone',' Mr Buchanan testified on Monday.

'I just felt like it.'

The trial continues on Tuesday.

The parents of murdered Korean student Eunji Ban outside the Supreme Court in Brisbane

McEwan allegedly dragged her body up a flight of stairs to Wickham Park and left her by a tree, leaving a trail of bloodA two-year-old girl who fell down a five-metre deep hole in Brazil was rescued by a firefighter who was lowered in with rope tied around his ankles.

In the clip, filmed in Sao Sebastiao, the rescuer plunges into the earth head-first with no safety gear before emerging seconds later with the girl to a round of applause.

The toddler, named locally as Estela Martins, was left covered in dirt from head to toe after her ordeal but suffered only minor scratches.

She fell down the gap while walking with her father on Sunday afternoon on land which has been set aside for housing development.

The firefighter was lowered into the ground with rope tied around his ankles after a toddler fell into a five-metre deep hole

Sergeant Cosme was chosen to go into the hole, which was a little under 50cm wide, because he was slim enough to fit

She was trapped at the bottom of the hole for around 15 minutes, but rescuers took just 20 seconds to free her.

Due to the width of the hole, which was a little under 50cm wide, the slimmest firefighter in the crew was chosen to take on the task.

Major Gildomar Alves said: 'Sergeant Cosme was picked because he weighs 66kilos (10.5 st) and was slim enough to go down into the gap to grab hold of the child and lift her up to safety without both of them getting stuck.'

Dressed in his uniform tee-shirt and trousers the clip shows him plunging headlong into the tiny space with a flashlight strapped to his head and ropes binding his legs together.

As he is lowered into the darkness, those on the surface call for silence so they can listen out for his instructions on when he is ready to be pulled back up.

Dressed in his uniform tee-shirt and trousers the clip shows him plunging headlong into the tiny space with a flashlight strapped to his head and ropes binding his legs together

One rescuer shouted as he went down: 'Tell the child to close her eyes so the sand doesn't get in them.' He goes on to reassure the tot that her relatives are waiting for her.

Seconds later, Sgt Cosme gives the signal and several men put all their energy into hoisting him out.

The toddler was taken to hospital suffering from scratches and bruises but has no major injuries and has shown no adverse effects from her ordeal, doctors said.

The narrow pit was dug by builders to help identify the depth and shape of the foundation for a house.

The area where the pair were walking is apparently littered with over 20 similar holes, none of which are covered or have any warning signs.

The fire service has launched an investigation into the hazardous areas on the site and alerted health and safety inspectors to possible breaches in construction regulations.

She was trapped at the bottom of the hole for around 15 minutes, but rescuers took just 20 seconds to free her. After being pulled out of the hole she was covered from head to toe in dirtNorth Korean officials have secured all aspects surrounding leader Kim Jong-un's visit to Singapore - from his bullet-proof limousine surrounded by running bodyguards to the use of two decoy airplanes to protecting his stools.

Ahead of Kim's arrival for his historic sit-down with President Donald Trump came an IL-76 transport plane loaded with items to keep Kim safe - his own food supply and a personal portable toilet that 'will deny determined sewer divers insights into to the supreme leader's stools,' reports the Korean news siteChosun Ilbo.

And while that may seem security to the extreme, the CIA and other spy agencies have been known to gather intelligence through feces in the past.

During Mikhail Gorbachev's visit to Washington D.C. in 1987, his decision to stay at the Soviet Embassy instead of Blair House - the residence across the street from the White House where visiting foreign dignitaries are hosted - ended CIA plans to try to collect the Soviet dictator's stools after MI6 failed to collect similar intel during the Gorbachevs' visit to London.

Jack Anderson reported on the attempts in his syndicated column and also wrote that Blair House has at least one toilet with a special collection function.

North Korean officials secured all aspects of leader Kim Jong-Un's security ahead of his arrival in Singapore including the use of two decoy planes and bringing his personal toilet

Kim Jong-Un is said to fear an assignation attempt

Kim's security team brought a personal portable toilet to Singapore that 'will deny determined sewer divers insights into to the supreme leader's stools'

A similar waste-gathering mission was made against King Farouk of Egypt when he visited Monte Carlo.

And French intelligence reportedly had success in collecting a urine sample from Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

Retired French spy Alexandre de Marenches told Time magazine in 2001 that 'our people rented the suite under his and dismantled all the plumbing. They intercepted his toilet flushings and sent the samples to Paris for analysis.'

American presidents can enjoy the same personal protection when it comes to their bodily functions.

The Secret Service reportedly brought a portable toilet for then-President George W. Bush's use on his 2006 visit to Austria.

Stools can provide valuable information about a person's health. A doctor can analyze a person's waste to learn about their colon health, the state of their gastrointestinal tract, test for some diseases, and see if they are on any medications.

Additionally, North Korea used two decoy airplanes to leave observers unsure which plane Kim was on.

Three planes took off in North Korea at about an hour's interval on Sunday - an IL-76, an Air China Boeing 747 and an ancient Ilyushin IL62, Chosun Ilbo reported.

Kim arrived on the Air China flight after dispatching the two decoy flights as a diversionary tactic given the leader's fears of assassination during the summit.

Additionally, the North Korean leader brought his running bodyguards toSingapore.

His suit-clad security detail were spotted running alongside his black limousine shortly after he touched down at Changi Airport on Sunday.

Footage showed the bodyguards jogging next to the car, complete with tinted windows and two large North Korean flags fluttering on the hood, as they escorted Kim to the closely guarded St. Regis Hotel where he is staying.

His convoy included more than 20 vehicles, including an ambulance.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un brought his running bodyguards to Singapore on Sunday ahead of his highly-anticipated summit meeting with President Donald Trump

The bodyguards made headlines in April when video emerged of them sprinting next to the leader's car during a landmark meeting with South Korea.

His trip to Singapore is the furthest he has traveled from his home country since assuming the mantle of Supreme Leader.

Kim is said to be concerned that someone will try to assassinate him.

Hours after Kim arrived in Singapore, Trump descended from Air Force One.

He was whisked away to his hotel, driving along a route lined with police and photo-snapping onlookers.

His suit-clad security detail were spotted running alongside his black limousine shortly after the North Korean leader touched down at Changi Airport on Sunday

Footage showed the bodyguards jogging next to the car, complete with tinted windows and two large North Korean flags fluttering on the hood

The car had tinted windows and two large North Korean flags flying from the front

Trump traveled to Singapore from Canada, where he met with other world leaders whose countries make up the Group of Seven.

Kim and Trump are set to meet Tuesday morning in the first summit of its kind between a leader of North Korea and a sitting U.S. president.

The North Korean leader smiled broadly Sunday evening as he met with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

'The entire world is watching the historic summit between (North Korea) and the United States of America, and thanks to your sincere efforts ... we were able to complete the preparations for the historic summit,' Kim told Lee through an interpreter.

Trump is set to meet with Lee on Monday.

Trump has said he hopes to make a legacy-defining deal for the North to give up its nuclear weapons, though he has recently sought to manage expectations, saying that it may take more than one meeting.

The bodyguards made headlines in April when video emerged of them sprinting next to the leader's car during a landmark meeting with South Korea

Kim Jong-un shook hands with Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan when he stepped off the plane at Changi Airport on SundayThis is the horrifying moment a spectator suffers life-threatening injuries after being trampled by a galloping horse during a race in Brazil.

Miguel Arcanjo Pacheco, 42, wandered onto the racetrack at the Camarao Festival on the island of Marajo, north Brazil, to take a head-on photo of the stallions at full tilt.

Footage taken from the event shows the cameraman and several others invading the track to get a better view.

But as the speeding horses come closer and closer the crowds slowly start to get out of their way.

The crowd can be seen creeping towards the middle of the track (left) before giving way to the on-rushing horses (right)

But Miguel Arcanjo Pacheco, 42, fails to get out of the way in time and is trampled by two of the galloping stallions

As they approach the camera pans around to show Miguel stood motionless in the middle of the dirt racetrack before two speeding horses smash into him.

The jockeys were going all out to reach the finishing line and it seems the 42-year-old misjudged the speed of the horses and was hit at roughly 60mph by the animals.

Mr Pacheco suffered critical head injuries, a broken jaw and severe damage to his spine in the incident.

The organisers said if the horses had swerved out of the way they may have caused more injuries by running into children and other adults watching the race.

He was airlifted to hospital and has been in intensive care since the accident happened on 3 June.

Geraldo Ribeiro, who was on the sidelines filming the traditional event, tracked the racing horses as they galloped past him and caught the instant the horses collided with the victim.

He said: 'Everyone got out of the way with plenty of time before the horses sped past. I turned my camera to catch the end of the race and got the moment the man was run over. It happened in a split second and left everyone stunned.'

The helpless spectator is smashed to the ground (left) before his motionless body could be seen lying on the floor (right)

Mr Pacheco was airlifted to hospital having suffered serious injuries but is now said to be in stable condition

A spokesperson for Muana Council, which stages the yearly event, said they are reconsidering how the race is managed following this incident.

'The annual horse race is always a highly anticipated affair. It's well attended with usually over three thousand people and we've never had a major incident in all the years we've held it,' they told FocusOn News.

'We've kept to our traditional way of running it on a long dirt track with security on hand who warn people to stand back.

'We are now thinking of introducing barriers to keep the crowds under control as we can't allow something like this to happen for a second time, because the next time it could be fatal.'

Doctors reported the victim was in a stable condition but were unable to say whether he would suffer long term complications and when he would be discharged.A mother allegedly egged her daughter on to stab a school mate with a knife in a shocking brawl while onlookers were forced to stand and watch.

The girl's 13-year-old school opponent suffered slashes to her face, arms, hands and chest in the fight, outside a school in Brazil.

She was treated in hospital for her wounds and was examined by forensic police investigating the incident.

The two girls were friends but fell out over a social media posting which led to a fight after school

The girl wielding the knife given to her by her mother, who appears to intervene to pull the victim away from her daughter during the fight

The two girls are meant to have been best friends who fell out following a disagreement over a video posted on social media.

The incident was reported police and the mother, named as Elaine Santiago, is being sought for questioning by detectives over her apparent involvement.

She is alleged to have passed the knife to her 14-year-old daughter and deliberately stood in the way preventing others from intervening to stop the fight.

At one stage, as the pair rolled on the floor, she appears to step in to pull the victim off her daughter by her hair.

She has disappeared with her child and is facing charges of being an accomplice to attempted murder.

As the 14-year-old girl in the brawl pulls out a knife as the pair continue to pull each others' hair

The pair rolling around on the ground during the vicious brawl. The girl with knife's mother grabs her daughter's opponent hair

It is alleged the woman egged her daughter on to stab her opponent as she yelled 'stab the b***h' from the sidelines

According to witnesses, the older woman prevented bystanders from intervening to break up the fight

The fight comes to an end when the mother takes the knife away from her daughter. She has gone on the run with the girl and is facing charges of being an accomplice to attempted murder

The fight apparently broke out in the middle of a road outside the gates of Nossa Senhora das Gracas school in Belem, in northern Brazil, on 6 June.

The footage, which has just emerged, shows the moment two adolescents viciously batter each other grabbing clumps of hair and lashing out with their fists.

The clash turns deadly when one of the teen aggressor's pulls out a knife and stabs her opponent, delivering more than a dozen blows to the back, chest, face and arms.

The tussle is brought to an end when the woman, seen dressed in shorts and a yellow top, appears to whip the knife from the assailant's hand, believed to be her daughter.

According to eye witnesses, the weapon was allegedly passed by the woman to the girl before the fight. The teen reportedly tucked it into her trouser waistband and pulled it out midway through the brawl.

The aggression was said to have been 'encouraged' by the mother who urged her daughter on shouting at her to 'stab the b***h'. Others who tried to separate the students were forcibly pushed out of the way and told to stay back.

The 13-year-old girl who was stabbed suffered cuts to her face during the after school brawl. She has now been enrolled at a different school following the incident

Speaking to Record TV, the mother of the victim, who did not want to be named said: 'The fight started because someone sent a video in a WhatsApp message group used by the friends and made a joke about it.

'One of them didn't like what was being said about the film and they started to argue in the group.'

Locals condemned the mother for her actions with many saying her example 'was preparing her daughter for a violent future with an outcome of either ending up dead of behind bars'.

A spokesperson from the education department (Seduc) confirmed the altercation took place between two students outside the school's grounds.

They said the school was disappointed with the students' behaviour and 'social workers and school psychologists are working with one of the families involved and attempting to contact the other.

'We have a schools' programme that aims to combat violence among students and promotes educational actions against bullying,' the department added.

However, the mother of the victim argued that her family no longer feels it's safe for the injured student to return to the school.

'We have taken her out and we are trying to get her into a different one, so she can start afresh and continue with her lessons without having to face this animosity again,' the mother said.North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has brought his running bodyguards to Singapore ahead of his highly-anticipated summit meeting with President Donald Trump.

His suit-clad security detail were spotted running alongside his black limousine shortly after the North Korean leader touched down at Changi Airport on Sunday.

Footage showed the bodyguards jogging next to the car, complete with tinted windows and two large North Korean flags fluttering on the hood, as they escorted Kim to the closely guarded St. Regis Hotel where he is staying.

His convoy included more than 20 vehicles, including an ambulance.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un brought his running bodyguards to Singapore on Sunday ahead of his highly-anticipated summit meeting with President Donald Trump

The bodyguards made headlines in April when video emerged of them sprinting next to the leader's car during a landmark meeting with South Korea.

Kim had arrived on an Air China flight after dispatching two decoy flights as a diversionary tactic given the leader's fears of assassination during the summit.

His trip to Singapore is the furthest he has traveled from his home country since assuming the mantle of Supreme Leader.

Kim is said to be concerned that someone will try to assassinate him.

Hours after Kim arrived in Singapore, Trump descended from Air Force One.

He was whisked away to his hotel, driving along a route lined with police and photo-snapping onlookers.

His suit-clad security detail were spotted running alongside his black limousine shortly after the North Korean leader touched down at Changi Airport on Sunday

Footage showed the bodyguards jogging next to the car, complete with tinted windows and two large North Korean flags fluttering on the hood

The car had tinted windows and two large North Korean flags flying from the front

Trump traveled to Singapore from Canada, where he met with other world leaders whose countries make up the Group of Seven.

Kim and Trump are set to meet Tuesday morning in the first summit of its kind between a leader of North Korea and a sitting U.S. president.

The North Korean leader smiled broadly Sunday evening as he met with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

'The entire world is watching the historic summit between (North Korea) and the United States of America, and thanks to your sincere efforts ... we were able to complete the preparations for the historic summit,' Kim told Lee through an interpreter.

Trump is set to meet with Lee on Monday.

Trump has said he hopes to make a legacy-defining deal for the North to give up its nuclear weapons, though he has recently sought to manage expectations, saying that it may take more than one meeting.

The bodyguards made headlines in April when video emerged of them sprinting next to the leader's car during a landmark meeting with South Korea

Kim Jong-un shook hands with Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan when he stepped off the plane at Changi Airport on SundayThe Asom Gana Parishad in Assam quit the Sarbananda Sonowal government and snapped ties with the BJP.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 has lapsed because it was not introduced in the Rajya Sabha, that has since been adjourned sine die. Now, this is being viewed as a major victory for the Northeast that had seen not just student and civil society leaders, but as many as five of the regions eight chief ministers openly opposing the bill. Two of the chief ministers  N. Biren Singh of Manipur and Pema Khandu of Arunachal Pradesh  belong to the BJP itself, while the remaining three  Conrad Sangma of Meghalaya, Neiphiu Rio of Nagaland and Zoramthanga of Mizoram  are allies of the BJP-led NDA. It is not surprising to see that there is a lot of euphoria all around with lusty celebrations in most states of the region over the Narendra Modi governments failure to transform the bill into law.

The BJP or the NDA lacked the numbers in the Rajya Sabha and therefore it is presumed that the government did not introduce it in the Upper House, although the Lok Sabha had passed the bill in January. But in an election year, with the polls just about 60 days away, a ruling party may not like to antagonise a sizeable chunk of the population by pushing ahead with an unpopular proposal. The Northeast sends 25 members to Parliament. Moreover, organisations like the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and the apex North-East Students Organisation (NESO) had successfully mobilised nationwide opposition to the bill by managing to get almost all the top Opposition parties to their side by extracting assurances of voting against the bill in the Rajya Sabha. So the bill clearly united forces not only in the Northeast but across the country. In fact, the opposition to the bill helped create another anti-BJP front, even if a loose one.

Does it now mean that everyone who opposed the bill emerged victorious because the government failed to push it through Parliament? If yes, does it mean that the BJP has lost big time as its plan to grant citizenship to allegedly persecuted Hindu migrants from Bangladesh has failed for now? Things are not as simple. The Narendra Modi government has the option to take the ordinance route to enact this law that would grant citizenship to Hindus or other allegedly persecuted minorities like Sikhs, Parsis and Christians from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. But the government may have decided not to go in for an ordinance and the reasons for that are not far to seek.

The whole purpose of coming up with such a bill was to target a particular section of people and make them eligible for all rights, including the right to vote. The BJPs argument was that India was the natural refuge for Hindus. One may like to endorse this argument, but why grant citizenship or set a precedent of granting citizenship on the basis of religion? After all, India has always been accommodative to refugees who have fled persecution and Hindus are no exception because migrants in the wake of persecution on religious grounds are already being provided refuge. Now, however, the BJP or the government of the day might well claim victory saying they wanted to regularise the status of all persecuted minorities from Bangladesh and the two other nations but could not do so because their political opponents stalled the move. It may then tell voters to elect the Modi government once again and see the bill transform into law next time. Thus, both the BJP, which introduced the bill, and the others who opposed it can now claim victory.

The issue is far beyond a win or a loss for parties and groups. It actually refreshed the fundamental issue of the looming menace of illegal migration from Bangladesh and the threat it posed to the indigenous population in Assam and the rest of the Northeast. The BJP found itself on a sticky wicket because the party-led government at the Centre may not have had the correct idea of the extent of anxiety among the people of the region over the threat to their identity. Therefore, when they proposed citizenship to Hindu migrants from Bangladesh, the region rose in revolt. The argument of powerful groups like the AASU was that illegal migrants must be detected and deported, irrespective of whether they were Muslims or Hindus.

In Assam, the BJP adopted a defiant posture, engaging in directly attacking influential organisations like the AASU, even going to the extent of questioning their support base. The BJP in Assam took into account their recent panchayat poll victory as well as victories in several local district autonomous council elections. But the anti-Citizenship Bill forces sought to remind the BJP that elections to the Lok Sabha or the State Assembly could witness a different voting behaviour. Many suggested that the BJP was willing to sacrifice the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam for the 42 Lok Sabha seats the party is eyeing in West Bengal. But, in the end, the BJPs national leaders might have been forced to do a rethink after it found its regional allies drifting away and siding with the masses who were opposed to the bill. The Asom Gana Parishad in Assam quit the Sarbananda Sonowal government and snapped ties with the BJP. But the BJP was forced to take a serious note when two of its party chief ministers  Biren Singh and Pema Khandu  too decided to come out in opposition to the bill. The idea had to be shelved, but ground was prepared to tell voters we tried hard to bring in this legislation.

At the end of this all, one person in the Northeast has emerged as the real hero  National Peoples Party leader and Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma. His government was the first to adopt a Cabinet resolution opposing the bill. Mr Sangma soon became the rallying point of the anti-Citizenship Bill stir, with the powerful student groups citing his example and asking the other chief ministers in the region to work in the interest of their respective states. The issue or debate on citizenship in the Northeast has not ended just yet, it has only got postponed with the bill lapsing.This is the nail-biting moment a Brazilian woman appears to risk her life as she courageously grabs the gun of an armed robber who is wrestling her for her bag.

But it's not all it seems. According to police, the shopper's impressively brave but somewhat foolhardy fight back was because she had a hunch the weapon was a fake. Mercifully she was right.

The thug got away with cash from the till plus the victim's car keys and purse, but not before he headbutted her and hit her with the stump of the gun for stubbornly resisting.

A Brazilian woman appears to risk her life as she courageously grabs the gun of an armed robber who is wrestling her for her bag

The assailant first holds up the cashier who hands over 200 reais, which is the equivalent to 40, from the early morning takings then attacks the shopper who puts up a fight

Police later tracked the dim-witted hoodie to his parent's house after a security camera installed outside the shop registered his face and a tracker on the victim's mobile phone led them to the stolen vehicle which was found parked in the family's garage.

The suspect went on the run and his father was arrested for handling stolen goods.

CCTV outside the bakery in Sao Jose do Rio Preto, south east Brazil, where the assault took place on Tuesday, June 5 at around 8.40am, shows the moment the suspect calmly saunters up to the premises with his hood down.

He apparently pulled it up shortly before entering the shop as footage appears to show the red sweat-shirt wearing man with black rimmed glasses seen outside, is the same deadbeat assaulting the unnamed victims inside.

Pointing the gun throughout the assault, the assailant first holds up the cashier who hands over 200 reais, which is the equivalent to 40, from the early morning takings then attacks the shopper who puts up a fight.

She drops her purse during the aggression which the villain picks up and pockets, but she stubbornly refuses to hand over her belongings, at one stage fearlessly grabbing the nozzle of the gun while gripping her car keys and bag.

The fight ends when the cowardly bandit headbutts his victim sending her pitching backwards to the ground. Only then is he able to snatch her car keys.

The victim suffered bruising to her forehead and was hit over the eye with the butt of the gun after stumbling to her feet. She is still traumatised by the incident.

The woman drops her purse during the aggression which the villain picks up and pockets, but she stubbornly refuses to hand over her belongings

At one stage the woman fearlessly grabbing the nozzle of the gun while gripping her car keys and bag

A tracker on the victim's mobile phone led them to the stolen vehicle which was found parked in the family's garage

It's not clear in the video when the gutsy shopper realised the weapon was a fake, but police warned people not to risk their lives even if they think the gun is an imitation.

Sergeant Ronaldo Pimenta said to Brazil's Petrolandia Noticias: "The gun (used in the mugging) is a replica but it looks very similar to the real thing.

"But whether someone thinks they're being held up with a fake gun or not, we urge people not to react during an assault because those who rob have nothing to lose."

Cops revealed when they arrived at the suspect's property they found the replica weapon, the red hoodie worn by the assailant, cash, the victim's car keys and several stolen mobile phones.

His father denied being guilty of the crime but was arrested for handling stolen goods.

Police said they are confident of catching the suspect who is still at large.This is the moment a newborn baby, buried alive for eight hours, is miraculously dug out from a shallow grave by police in Brazil.

Relatives laid the baby girl to rest believing she had died at birth.

But a harrowing video shows two officers kneeling over a hole in the ground in the dark with only a torch light to see as they shovel dirt away from the top of the baby's head.

Police expected to find a dead body but were shocked to hear a tiny whimper as they scraped away the earth.

Using their bare hands to shift the dry soil, agents pulled the child out of a 50cm deep hole around 10pm on Tuesday.

A newborn baby, buried alive for eight hours, was miraculously dug out from a shallow grave by police in Brazil

She emerged caked in mud still attached to her umbilical cord and struggling to breath after being underground for a lengthy period.

The tot was rushed to hospital with paramedics clearing her airways and administering oxygen in the ambulance.

Doctors transferred her to intensive care following tests and scans and said the resilient child is making good progress despite her traumatic start to life.

Officers were alerted to the incident after receiving an anonymous tip off that the death of the newborn had not been reported to the relevant authorities.

They went to the family's home in Canarana, central west Brazil, to investigate the allegation and to search the grounds.

A harrowing video shows two officers kneeling over a hole in the ground in the dark with only a torch light to see as they shovel dirt away from the top of the baby's head

She emerged caked in mud still attached to her umbilical cord and struggling to breath after being underground for a lengthy period

The tot was apparently born around midday to a 15-year-old Brazilian indigenous Indian girl.

The young mother said she was alone in the bathroom when her contractions started.

She claimed her daughter arrived quickly and fell onto the bathroom floor hitting her head.

The infant suffered two cranial fractures which are being monitored by paediatricians at Agua Boa Regional Hospital.

When the baby apparently failed to cry after being born, the 57-year-old great grandmother, named as Kutz Amin, allegedly told police she believed the baby was dead.

She claimed she followed tribal customs and wrapped the girl in a cloth and buried her in the backyard.

She allegedly said her great-granddaughter 'showed no signs of life' before she entombed and completely covered her with earth.

The tot was apparently born around midday to a 15-year-old Brazilian indigenous Indian girl

According to police the family admitted failing to report the baby's death but 'believed they were following traditional customs' so did not hesitate to point out where the unmarked grave was.

Canarana's military police chief, Joao Paulo Bezerra do Nascimento said to G1: 'The child was buried around 2pm but we were only called to investigate the incident late that night. This was worrying because it was many hours after the event.

'By the time we arrived we never expected to find the child alive.'

The chief admitted to being alarmed by the family's handling of the situation and amazed at the tot's survival.

He said: 'What shocked me most was how the little girl survived under the earth for as long as eight hours. It's nothing short of a miracle.

'We were digging out the hole when we suddenly heard a small cry underground and realised she was alive. It was a thrilling and unforgettable moment.'

The clip shows the officers gently trying to dislodge the baby in an effort to ease her out.

The infant suffered two cranial fractures which are being monitored by paediatricians at Agua Boa Regional Hospital

As one scoops handfuls of dirt out of the hollow area and the other uses a hoe to scrape the loose earth away, the baby lets out a faint cry.

Shouting excitedly: 'She's alive, call the ambulance', the officers frantically increase the urgency of their mission..

'It looks like all the bones in her body are broken,' one concerned onlooker commented when the baby's arm emerges.

Then, slowing down the pace to limit any possible damage to the little mite, Chief Nascimento slides his fingers under the baby's arms which are by her head and begins to pull her out.

To everyone's amazement, the tot is extracted from her tomb without any major injuries.

The teen mother was questioned by police and has been hospitalised with complications following her unsupervised delivery.

Investigators revealed they arrested the great-grandmother on charges of attempted murder. She is expected to appear in court on Thursday.This is the shocking moment a police officer brutally drags a pregnant woman by her hair and repeatedly hits her in the face in front of a crowd of onlookers.

In the video, the woman can be heard shouting at the police who are arresting a man at the back of their patrol car.

One of the officers then walks up to the crowd of onlookers and grabs the woman by her hair and begins slamming his fist into her face.

The startling scenes were filmed in the Santo Antonio Alem do Carmo area of the city of Salvador, in the Brazilian state of Bahia.

This is the shocking moment a police officer brutally drags a pregnant woman by her hair and repeatedly hits her in the face in front of a crowd of onlookers

He then then drags the woman away from the crowd by her hair as an onlooker can be heard shouting 'Calm down man! She is pregnant!'.

The suspect who was being arrested can be seen struggling with officers in the background as the crowd tries to drag the woman away from the aggressive officer.

The officer then lands another punch on the pregnant woman's face before onlookers manage to drag her to safety.

The woman, who does not wish to be named, confirmed she is three months pregnant.

She told reporters: 'The officer who hit my face was not with the same patrol as those who beat the boy (getting arrested). We started shouting because there were a lot of people, a lot of families, we shouted that they were cowards and they were going to kill the boy.

'He did not say anything to me, he did not address me, he came and hit me and people were asking him to let me go. He hit me really hard in the face, people were shouting that I was pregnant and he continued attacking me.'

The suspect who was being arrested can be seen struggling with officers in the background as the crowd tries to drag the woman away from the aggressive officer

She said that nobody knew the boy who was being arrested.

The Military Police confirmed they were investigating the video and the behaviour of the officers during the arrest.

A statement read: 'The images are being analysed by the Commander and the officers, who clearly overstepped the mark, have been removed from operational activities.'

The officer who hit the woman has been suspended and is seeing a psychologist, according to police sources.

Local media report the man who was arrested in the video was charged with drug use and resisting arrest.

He has given a statement and has since been released, according to reports.This is the extraordinary moment police in Brazil prised open a concrete floor tile in a bedroom to find an escaped convict, who had been on the run for over three years, hiding in an underground bunker.

Cops captured Jean Gomes Chiola in the early hours of Tuesday morning following an anonymous tip-off that the fugitive was holed up in the property in Macaiba, north east Brazil.

The bunker was around 10 miles from Alcacuz State Penitentiary where he had been serving time for drug trafficking offences.

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Convicted drug dealer Jean Gomes Chiola was found crouching in a waist-deep hole beneath a bed that was covered with a concrete floor tile

The 39-year-old was arrested with his son, Jean Felipe, 20, in a joint raid between military and civil police who stormed the residence armed with a search warrant.

Along with the astonishing discovery, agents seized a .38 calibre revolver and several wraps of drugs.

'When we knocked on the door it took a long time for the son to open up,' detective Normando Feitosa explained to G1.

'We thought this delay was strange, so we decided to break in and do a thorough search of the property.

'That's when we noticed something was wrong with the floor underneath a bunk bed.'

Jean Gomes Chiola surrendered and clambered out from his makeshift hideaway

The contents of the squat including rubbish and a mobile phone

Police prised open the concrete bedroom tile with a crowbar where they found Chiola

Officers used a crowbar to force open the heavy slab and were amazed to find the missing man hidden beneath.

When the Chiola stood up from his crouched position, the hole was waist deep.

In the footage, filmed by detectives, he is seen surrendering and ordered out of the grubby dugout which is littered with rubbish and a broken mobile phone.

Officers handcuff the man as they ask if there is a gun at the bottom of the hideout.

He is dripping with sweat and squints in the light after coming out of his darkened cubby hole.

Detective Feitosa admitted to FocusOn News, that they never expected to find the fugitive so easily.

Chiola (left) was arrested again along with his 20-year-old son Jean Felipe (right)

Police found a number of drug wraps and a .38 calibre revolver gun

'It was a bit of a surprise to find him cowering in the hole.

'If we hadn't done a meticulous search and noticed the unevenness on the floor he would have escaped again,' he said, adding the clue to his whereabouts came from an undisclosed source.

Chiola, better known as 'Nega An', escaped from Alcacuz in April 2015, according to investigators.

He broke out during the night with 35 other convicts, crawling down a tunnel measuring 55 centimetres in diameter.

Three lags were immediately recaptured.

Chiola escaped Alcacuz in April 2015 after a breakout involving 35 other cons

Wardens found a hole used to escape by the prisoners

The fugitives were placed on a 'most wanted' poster, with Chiola becoming the latest arrest

The excavated route linked Pavilion 2 to the outside and was located just 10 metres from one of the guard towers.

At the time, the jail break was the second largest recorded in the history of the prison based in Parnamirim, some 13 miles from Natal, the state capital.

It followed a prison rebellion the month before that destroyed cells and left prisoners loose in the yard with little supervision.

A poster identifying the escapees was issued after the break out and showed the recaptured man was among them.

In 2017, Alcacuz hit the headlines when rampaging inmates went on deadly riots killing over 26 prisoners in decapitations and mutilations.

Chiola and his son, who are now in custody, face charges of drug trafficking and illegal arms possession. Both will appear in court later this year.A canoeist has become an overnight hero after live streaming his rescue of three turtles seemingly doomed to die after getting caught up in fishing nets off the coast of Brazil.

Rodrigo Oliveira filmed the moment he came across the frantic animals trapped in nets 300 metres long as his went for an early morning row in the Sao Vicente sea off the coast of Sao Paulo on Saturday.

Angered by what he saw, the 42 year old businessman, stopped paddling and hauled the distressed creatures out of the water. All three were found helplessly snarled up in the underwater gear and sinking further beneath the surface as they fought to break free.

The animals would have most certainly drowned as they became increasingly weaker and unable to rise back up for air.

The video, which was over four minutes long, showed the determined seafarer using his bare hands to untangle and rip away the lines - with some difficulty. The mesh was caught in the turtles' beaks, wrapped around their flippers and slicing between gaps in their shells.

As he pulled off the netting, the Good Samaritan gently reassured the sea reptiles telling each one to stay 'calm' because he was there to help them.

Helpless: The footage shows the animals tangled up in plastic net in the water before being scooped up by Oliveira while he was out for an early morning row

And he berated the fishermen calling them 'cowards' for their irresponsible and 'inhumane' practices that endangered the creatures' lives. He spent nearly ten minutes freeing all the exhausted animals.

'I was on my way back to land after going for a two hour trip starting around 6 o'clock in the morning when something caught my eye,' he explained.

'When I looked, I realised there were three turtles floundering underneath the water that were completely twisted up in the nets,' he said to G1.

'It was hard to stay balanced while untangling the knotted lines in the middle of the sea. They live in the wild and are not used to being held and they became even more agitated. I wished at that point I'd brought a knife to cut through the mesh quickly.'

Heartbreaking: Ricardo wanted to live stream the moment in a bid to raise awareness and to 'prick the consciences of fishermen who leave their nets in the sea overnight

After freeing the first one he paddled around to save the second. The third was also successfully released but this rescue was not caught on camera.

The company boss said he decided to live stream the incident in a bid to 'prick the consciences' of the fisherman who leave their nets out at the sea overnight.

'They usually cast their nets close to the rocks where the turtles feed. This means a lot get stuck in the gear and end up dying. This has happened many times. Their actions are inhumane and cowardly because they take no notice of the consequences of their selfish behaviour,' he added (to FocusOn News).

He said by live streaming he wanted people to feel the 'immediacy' of the heartbreaking moment and he hoped to 'raise awareness' through friends who would share and publicise the incident.

Lucky: He was bale to rescue the three turtle but only two were caught on camera. According to the Gremar Institute, 511 turtles were found dead in 2017 on the Sao Paulo coast

The broadcast via Facebook went beyond his expectations racking up thousands of shares and receiving scores of comments with many calling him a 'hero' and a 'guardian angel' while congratulating his single-handed and determined efforts.

'I never expected to receive so much support. The repercussions have been amazing and I'm very happy,' a proud Mr Oliveira said.

'It was lucky I went out to paddle early and found them. I feel blessed to have been able to help them.

'If they had stayed a few hours longer they would have drowned because they need to rise to the surface to get oxygen,' he continued adding he had alerted the environmental military police about the incident.

A spokesperson for the agency said there was 'no vessel available to attend the scene at the time we were called. Agents drove to the area afterwards and found that a civilian had already released the turtles and a vessel was no longer required.'

According to the Gremar Institute, responsible for the rescue and rehabilitation of marine animals, 511 turtles were found dead in 2017 on the Sao Paulo coast and since the beginning of this year 172 turtles have died resulting from man-made causes.

Some suffered internal injuries from swallowing hooks, others had become entangled in nets leading to strangulation or drowning and the amputation of their limbs and quite a few had ingested litter and plastic bags.Jose Ernestor da Silva (pictured) was attacked yesterday afternoon and had his penis ripped off by a shark as he swam in the sea in Brazil

A teenager who had his penis ripped off by a shark as he swam in the sea in Brazil has died.

Jose Ernestor da Silva was attacked yesterday afternoon while bathing in waters off the Piedade beach near Recife, on Brazil's north-east coast.

The shark struck just as lifeguards stationed on the beach had told the 18-year-old to come closer to the shore.

He died at the Restauracao Hospital in the city of Recife in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, having suffered two heart attacks on the way.

The youngster had his left leg amputated and had veins re-attached to his sexual organs in a three-hour operation as doctors tried to stem his blood loss but the victim died hours later.

He had been ordered by his mother not to go to the beach following a horrendous shark attack in April in which a 34-year-old tourist lost an arm and a leg.

A shocking video taken by a passer-by shows the moment a lifeguard pulled Jose from the sea before emergency crews arrived.

The youngster lies limp and unresponsive on the sand and gasps for air as a concerned helper holds his head and tells him to 'keep breathing', while another lifts his leg in a desperate effort to keep him alive.

Despite undergoing emergency surgery, his penis and femur were 'amputated' by the bite of what is believed to be a tiger shark, according to medics.

The Director General of the hospital, Miguel Arcanjo, told reporters: 'He arrived unconscious, with an extremely serious injury. After the surgery he was taken to the Intensive Care Unit.

'He lost a lot of blood, which was replaced, but he suffered hypovolemic shock and passed away.'

Rodrigo Matias, from Recife's fire department, said Mr Ferreira was swimming with his brother and friends in deep waters near the shore, in an area marked by signs warning of shark attacks.

Seeing that the group was drifting further out, lifeguards called for them to return to shallower waters.

Jose Ernestor da Silva is carried away from the beach after suffering the horrific injuries

Emergency services respond at the beach in north-east Brazil after the tiger shark pounced

He said: 'At the exact moment in which the lifeguards asked for them to come closer to the beach, he was bitten.'

Ambulance medic Wagner Monteiro said Mr Ferreira had a heart attack after arriving at the local Aeronautica Hospital, and another as he was being transported to the Restauracao Hospital in the centre of Recife.

Jose's mother Elisangela dos Anjos, 42, told Brazil's JC Online website that he had gone to the beach without her knowing, and she only knew about after his his brother Ezequiel, who was with him, called her from the beach following the attack.

Speaking from the hospital, she said: 'He would go in secret, because he knew that I thought it was dangerous. I wasn't worried because I thought he was somewhere around the house.

'When I heard about it I went crazy, all the neighbours heard me screaming.'

The victim's father also said his son, who is one of five siblings, went to the beach without telling relatives where he was going.

Jose's mother Elisangela dos Anjos, 42, reacts in shock after her son's horrific shark attack

Locals try to come to the teenager's rescue after the shark attack on Piedade Beach

It is the second time in less than two months that a shark attack has left a swimmer in a critical condition at the same beach in the Jabotao de Guararapes district of greater Recife.

On April 15, 35-year-old Pablo de Melo had to have a leg and a hand amputated after being attacked by a shark at almost the exact same spot.

The holidaymaker was admitted to hospital in a critical condition after being bitten in the arm and leg in waist deep water.

The latest incident is the 65th shark attack registered along the coast of Brazil's Pernambuco state since 1992.

Some 80 per cent of the incidents have occurred along the 18-mile stretch of beach in the region of Recife, a popular holiday resort for foreign tourists.

More than 110 warning signs have been installed along the coastline where the attacks have taken place.Bungling armed robbers left thousands of banknotes strewn across a motorway after using too much explosive to blow up an armoured truck.

The incompetent gang of 10 bandits got away with just a few bags of money after panicking and fleeing the scene in Brazil on Monday.

A video of the aftermath showed how the huge blast completely destroyed the truck, leaving security guards and military police scrambling to pick up the cash.

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Bungling armed robbers left thousands of banknotes strewn across a motorway after using too much explosive to blow up an armoured truck

The truck was ambushed on the BR-222 highway about 10.30am and the guards surrendered when they were overwhelmed in a shootout with the robbers.

Witnesses said gangsters in three cars and two trucks sped alongside the Prosegur armoured van and blocked it in between the cities of Umirim and San Luis de Curu.

A bus travelling behind the truck with a handful of passengers was also caught up in the shootout. The robbers wielded high-powered weapons.

The wreck was still smoking an hour after the explosion with pieces of the vehicle flung further down the road and notes mixed with cartridges from the gunfight.

A video of the aftermath showed the huge blast completely destroyed the truck, leaving security guards and military police scrambling to pick up the cash

Passing motorists who slammed on their brakes and jumped out of their cars to 'help' were stopped in their tracks by the agents, as were dozens of residents who tried to gather up some of the cash

The incompetent gang of 10 bandits got away with just a few bags of money after panicking and fleeing the scene in Brazil on Monday

Passing motorists who slammed on their brakes and jumped out of their cars to 'help' were stopped in their tracks by the agents, as were dozens of residents who tried to gather up some of the cash.

'The guards surrendered after being surrounded by the gang who were carrying high calibre weapons that were more powerful than they had,' police said.

'They were forced to get out of the truck at gunpoint and made to watch while the criminals planted the explosives in the vehicle then detonated it.

'It appears, however, that the gang underestimated the force of the explosives used to break into the vehicle and it seems the assault backfired in a way they didn't expect.'

The blast ripped through the strong car, wrecking it completely and sending loose notes, in high value denominations of 50 and 100 bills, flying all over the road.

The blast ripped through the strong car, wrecking it completely and sending loose notes, in high value denominations of 50 and 100 bills, flying all over the road

Detectives warned that anyone found with the cash would be prosecuted but those who returned it voluntarily would not face charges

Witnesses claimed the blundering criminals managed to stuff some of the cash into a few bags before giving up and speeding off, using back routes to getaway.

'We don't know how much the gang got away with and whether they were able to takes pouches filled with cash,' the officer said.

'But there was a lot of money left behind which was scattered all over the road.'

No one was reported injured in the shoot-out or in the explosion.

The assailants have not been identified but investigators said they were piecing together details of the crime and hunting for the culprits.

Detectives warned that anyone found with the cash would be prosecuted but those who returned it voluntarily would not face charges.Cecilia Haddad, 38, was found in the Lane Cove River, in Sydney's north shore, on May 1

The former boyfriend of a woman found dead in a river will reportedly return to Australia as he attempts to clear his name.

Cecilia Haddad, 38, was found in the Lane Cove River, on Sydney's north shore, on May 1, just hours after being reported missing by a group of worried friends.

Her pockets were 'weighed down with rocks', according to the kayaker who found her, and her death is being treated by police as a murder.

Brazilian Mario Marcelo Santoro, a person of interest in relation to Ms Haddad's death, is expected to travel to Australia to prove he did not kill her, the Australian reported.

Mr Santoro's aunt Jaisa Ferreira dos Santos said his family believed in his innocence.

Mr Santoro is expected to provide documents which prove he changed his flights to return to Brazil before Ms Haddad died.

Ms Haddad's mother Milu Muller said Mr Santoro had lived off her daughter's earnings, and that this had contributed to the end of their relationship.

However, Dr Jaisa claimed Ms Haddad was never Mr Santoro's lover.

She said Mr Santoro was on holiday in Sydney at the time of Ms Haddad's death and that he had brought forward the date of his flight back to Brazil at the request of his mother.

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Ms Haddad (left, pictured with a friend) ended her business and personal relationships with Mr Santoro in the weeks before her body was found floating in a Sydney river, according to friends

Mr Santoro (pictured) is expected to provide documents which prove he changed his flights to return to Brazil before Ms Haddad died

Dr Jaisa said Mr Santoro would return to Australia 'with several documents that proved his father's illness, hospitalisations and other things'.

Mr Santoro, who met Ms Haddad many years ago in Rio, arrived in Sydney about 18-months ago, claiming to have a 'big job' in healthcare lined up.

But sources close to the investigation told Daily Mail Australia that Mr Santoro had no such job and came to Australia simply to 'pursue' Ms Haddad.

'Essentially he told his friends and family he'd scored a big job with a healthcare company in Australia, but he lied,' the source claimed.

'He came here to pursue Cecilia. Ostensibly he came to visit her and never left.

'He told Cecilia he had something lined up (for work) here too, but his first job in Sydney was driving an Uber from memory.'

It was so unusual for Ms Haddad to drop off the radar that three friends called police to report her missing on Sunday, having not heard from her since 9.30am on Saturday.

'Three of us that I know of reported her missing within 48 hours, that shows how out of character her disappearance was,' a friend said last week.

Ms Haddad attended a 'brief' barbeque with friends on Friday night before heading home for an 'early night'.

That was supposed to be followed by a mixture of personal and business events the next day, including a meeting with a disabled client she regularly cared for.

'She spent the remainder of Friday evening on the phone to friends sharing her plans for the weekend. This is why we were concerned about her - we knew her plans and should have heard from her,' the friend said.

Mr Santoro, who met Ms Haddad many years ago in Rio, arrived in Sydney about 18-months ago, claiming to have a 'big job' in healthcare lined up

'The BBQ was brief and ended early. I spoke to her on Friday evening, Cecilia was an open book and an open communicator.'

'Her disability clients loved her because she treated them like real people, never like they were disabled... she had plans to provide assistance to one on the weekend.

'She had an impact on everyone she met. She was the most sincere person you ever met.'

Ms Haddad spoke to friends between 8am and 9.30am on Saturday over message and phone calls, but was never heard from again.

Police divers searched kilometres from where her body was found on Friday, the same day her father Jose arrived in Sydney to meet with homicide detectives.A Texas jury convicted a Brazilian couple on Friday of aiding the kidnapping of their grandson and relocating him to the South American country, the latest US-Brazil child custody dispute.

Carlos and Jemima Guimaraes were acquitted of other conspiracy charges in a Houston courtroom.

They were arrested last February while arriving in Miami for vacation and charged with aiding in the kidnapping of their eight-year-old grandson Nico Brann five years ago.

Carlos and Jemima Guimaraes (Pictured) were convicted in a Houston courtroom on Friday of aiding in the kidnapping of their grandson

Chris Brann (pictured with son, Nico) claims his ex-wife took their child to Brazil in 2013 intending to stay permanently, while telling him the trip would only last a few weeks

The couple could face a maximum sentence of three years in prison upon sentencing or a simple fine, according to local broadcast affiliate Fox 35.

The couple's daughter Marcelle Guimaraes, Nico's mother, allegedly relocated the child to Brazil under false pretenses and without the permission of his American father Chris Brann, a Houston physician.

If the verdict is upheld, the grandparents in their 60s could face up to three years in prison.

The couple's daughter Marcelle Guimaraes (pictured), Nico's mother, allegedly relocated the child to Brazil under false pretense

But that verdict was thrown into uncertainty after the presiding judge said he would consider the defense's request to override the jury's findings and acquit on all charges, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Such overrides are rarely granted.

The couple presented evidence during trial that the child's mother was fleeing domestic violence, according to local media.

'I and our side are crushed,' the couple's lawyer Rusty Hardin said outside the courthouse, according to KHOU-TV.

He testified before the US Congress in 2016 to ask Washington to impose sanctions on Brazil for violating an international standard requiring the return of children to their home country, if they were taken in violation of custody agreements.

A similar dispute led to the Sean Goldman Act in 2014, authorizing Washington to take action in international child custody disputes, ranging from public condemnation of other governments to the suspension of US aid.

Brann claims his ex-wife Marcelle Guimaraes took their son to Brazil in 2013 intending to stay permanently, while telling him the trip would only last a few weeks.

'I never wanted it to come to this and the only thing I want is for my son to come home,' Brann said following the ruling. 'I hope they will take responsibility for their actions and do everything they can do have him come home as soon as possible.'

Marcelle Guimaraes's parents allegedly helped her hide her motives, and enrolled Nico Brann (pictured) in a Brazilian school they operated

The physician noted, however, that if his estranged wife was willing to bring back their son voluntarily, he would personally petition the court to exercise restraint against the grandparents.

'Despite all the cruelty they have heaped on my extraordinary son Nico, by obstructing his relationship with me, Nico remains my sole concern.

'If my ex-wife Marcelle returns with Nico to the United States immediately, I will happily appear at the Guimaraes' sentencing hearing to advocate maximum leniency.'

Marcelle Guimaraes's parents allegedly helped her hide her motives, and enrolled the child in a Brazilian school they operated, before the South American country's legal system granted the mother full custody.

In 2016, the parents of seven children illegally taken from the US to Brazil asked then-Secretary of State John Kerry to sanction Brazil under the 2014 law.

They argued Brazil had seen no evidence the US takes such abductions seriously.Unbelievable footage shows a prisoner with a machete lodged in his skull walking and talking as if nothing is wrong.

Convicted armed robber Pedro Ferreira, 34, can be seen sitting on a hospital bed in Brazil and calmly explaining how he was attacked with the weapon.

Ferreira survived his gruesome ordeal and suffered no long-term complications after surgeons at Restoration Hospital in Recife removed the knife during a delicate five-hour operation.

What's the matter? Convicted armed robber Pedro Ferreira, 34, can be seen with a machete lodged in his skull walking and talking as if nothing is wrong

Nothing to see here: The blade sliced through the criminal's black trilby and into his skull but he nonchalantly climbed in the back of the police van as if nothing had happened

He was transferred from the city hospital to a prison ward where his health remained stable. He has since been discharged and returned to his cell.

The criminal, who was jailed in 2004, was involved in a fight last month with another inmate at the Professor Barreto Campelo high security prison on Itamaraca Island.

He identified his attacker as 27-year-old Antonio da Silva.

He said to police: 'I was told to go to Antonio's cell by another inmate. When I got there, I was stabbed in the head with the knife.'

No drama! The chilled out prisoner appeared calm despite the trickle of blood running down his face and the huge knife stuck in his head

He'll be alright! After he was bandaged up, surgeons at Restoration Hospital in Recife removed the knife during a delicate five-hour operation

Maximum security? Ferreira was involved in a fight last month with another inmate at the Professor Barreto Campelo high security prison on Itamaraca Island (pictured)

In the video he can be seen with the weapon plunged into the right side of his skull, inches away from his temple and eye socket.

The blade sliced through a black trilby which has been pulled further up the knife to reveal the sickening injury.

In the footage he's seen being escorted by police to hospital. The officers try to stuff him in the back of their van but the protruding blade won't fit.

Doctors were amazed that Ferreira was conscious, lucid and mobile. They expect him to make a full recovery and there are no concerns about his health.

An investigation launched to discover the motive behind the attack also scrutinised shortfalls in security which allowed the knife to slip through into the prison.DAG is hosting a set of four art exhibitions based on Indias history.

When art and history combined together. An exhibition aims to deliver the same and give a different side to Indias history with a goal to making art accessible to all.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently inaugurated Drishyakala, an amalgam of four art exhibitions taking place under one roof at Barrack No. 4, Red Fort, Delhi. The exhibitions depict Indias history from the pre-historic era to the emergence of print medium and its contribution to the Indian Freedom Struggle.Paula Sengupta, Giles Tillotson, Pramod Kumar K.G. and Kishore Singh along with Paris-based scenographer Adriene Gardere have curated these exhibitions. According to organisers, the exhibitions blend history with art.

With the aim of maximum outreach, the exhibitions have small galleries such as The Inner Eye: Art for the Visually Impaired on each of the three floors. These galleries show tactile artworks accompanied by artwork text as audio and braille. In addition, there is a learning hub for children titled Every Child is an Artist which has regular programmes like workshops, curated walks, and poetry sessions for school and college students.

The first exhibition, Oriental Scenery: Aquatints of India, showing works of artists Thomas and William Daniell depict Indian architecture and landscape experienced through their travels across India.

The second exhibition, A Portrait of Our People, showcases works that capture a changing India through its people. The paintings are portraits of various kings, their consorts and Parsis.

The third exhibition, Popular Prints & the Freedom Struggle, highlights the emergence of print media and how the art of the printed picture became a tool to illustrate a new brand of nationalist literature while, at the same time, it was also a means to reproduce paintings made by the emerging Oriental artists of the time. It led to wider dissemination of an emerging nationalist ideal for popular imagination to subscribe to.

The fourth exhibition, Navratna: Indias National Treasure Artists, showcases works Indias nine most renowned artists like Raja Ravi Varma, Rabindranath Tagore, Amrita Sher-Gil, Nicholas Roerich, Abanindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Gaganendranath Tagore, Sailoz Mookherjea, Jamini Roy. Together, these artists represent a diversity of art traditions and movements but are unified by one common thread: a return to Indian roots through context, theme, subject and an engagement with identity.

Talking about the exhibition, Ashish Anand, MD & CEO, DAG, said, The inspiration for Drishyakala comes from DAGs core aim of democratising Indian art and taking it to a wider audience. He added that the idea to host the exhibition at the Red Fort germinated as it has an in-built museum hub. Where better to showcase 300 years of Indian art than the historic Red Fort? he said.

When asked about his thoughts on the notion that Art is only for the privileged, he disagreed. He said, I truly believe that art belongs to the people. The art is and has been part of Indias civilisation and societal ethos and hence belongs to the people. He was hopeful that art will be democratised, saying, The fact that we are conducting outreach activities with children, college students, the visually impaired, etc  in this historic space, we will further expand the possibilities of making art accessible to a larger audience.

The exhibition is currently on and will continue till July 31.This is the heartwarming moment an abseiling firefighter catches sight of a trembling dog which had become trapped on a tiny cliff ledge for six days.

The rescuer cries out in delight as he spots the animal 50 metres below the precipice.

The dehydrated hound was coaxed from the cliff, unharmed but starving, in Rio dos Bugres - a mountainous region between the cities of Imbuia and Ituporanga in south Brazil.

Emergency services began to search for the poor pooch, named Neguinho, after its owner raised the alarm.

They launched an operation which lasted two days.

Just when they had begun to give up hope they discovered the dog on Monday morning, huddled in a crack on a rock face.

Head-cam footage shows the moment the fire officer gently tempts the mutt out of the tight gap.

It took hours of preparation before rescuers could safely rappel down the mountainside and grab hold of the animal.

The exhausted pup was eventually hoisted up in a harness.

Neguinho disappeared on May 15 during a run through the woods.

The crew started the search on Sunday but had to retire when fading light in the early evening made it too risky to continue.

Firefighters abseil down the side of a mountain in Brazil in search of the dog

One of the firefighters cries out as he finally spots the dog, huddled on a tiny ledge

The operation was resumed first thing Monday morning and, after several hours of searching, the dog was found.

It was returned to its grateful owner at around 9am.

Officer Luis Fernando Alves, one of the three firefighters involved in the rescue mission, said: 'The owner told us his dog had suddenly vanished near the cliff edge while out for a walk. He refused to give up hope and we were optimistic of finding the animal alive.

'We went to the area where he last saw Neguinho and listened for any noise from him.

Pictured: The three firefighters involved in the rescue operation with a still-shaking Neguinho

Now, the owner says, he will keep his faithful dog on a lead when he takes it for a walk

Neguinho looks timid as the firefighter pose with the dog's owner after the rescue operation

'But he was very quiet probably because he was too weak and hungry after being in a vulnerable position for so long and being exposed to the elements.

'He was also quite far down, and we couldn't hear him whimper even when we called his name.

'We took it in turns to scale down the rock face through dense bush to search for him. It was laborious, time-consuming and dangerous but worth the result.

Back home, the famished canine quickly wolfed down his first dinner in six days.

According to his owner, Neguinho is slowly getting back to his old self - but is still displaying a 'few nerves after his frightening escapade'.A four-year-old school girl drowned and two other classmates suffered minor injuries after falling into a cesspit when the concrete surface covering the area caved in while they were playing on top of the structure in a playground in Brazil.

Rescuers fought to save the young student named as Hannah Laranjeira, working to revive her for almost an hour, but she tragically died at the scene from her injuries.

The other victims survived by clinging onto the edge of the tank when the covering crumbled and collapsed inwards. They were treated by paramedics for minor bruising and superficial wounds.

The young student, named as Hannah Laranjeira, drowned after falling into the sewer tank which measured around one-metre deep

The child had died by the time rescuers arrived an hour later

The accident was caused when the concrete surface covering the waste collapsed inwards

The tragedy happened on Wednesday (23) morning at the Professor Lais Sousa Vieira Nobre Children's Education Centre in Fortaleza, north east Brazil.

A group of children were playing together on the concrete surface covering the sewage tank when their combined weight apparently caused the top to collapse, sending the three youngsters plunging into the liquid waste below.

Captain Juliane Freire of the fire department said: 'The tank is at least a metre deep and when the surface gave way, three children fell in. Two of them were pulled to safety almost immediately by day care staff but Hannah, who died, was found trapped at the bottom of the tank when we arrived.

'Her arm had been caught in a ring at the base of the pit when she sank down. Ambulance crew tried their best to revive her, but she did not recover as she had already suffered serious injuries after being submerged for a length of time.'

Hannah's two friends survived by holding on to the sides before being pulled out by day care workers

One of the survivors, five year old Maria Leticia de Sousa, explained to SBT news what happened.

She said: 'I was playing with my friends when the floor suddenly fell in. I grabbed onto the edge of the pit to stop myself from sinking.'

Her mother revealed her daughter, who suffered bruises and scratches to her legs, is still in a state of shock and refuses to return to the school.

Scores of parents gathered outside the day care centre as news spread of the accident.

Scores of parents gathered outside the school in Fortaleza as news of the accident spread

The mayor is set to launch a full investigation into the incident which happened at the Professor Lais Sousa Vieira Nobre Children's Education Centre

Many accused the local authority of allowing the school's structure to fall into disrepair as military police were forced to protect staff from a lynch mob after they accused them of negligence.

An angry parent, who did not want to be named, lamented: 'How could this have happened? We bring our children to school to be educated and never expect them to die while they are there.'

Roberto Claudio, mayor of Fortaleza announced he was launching a full investigation into the tragedy and promised to carry out urgent 'structural risk analyses' of other educational units to reassure students, parents and teachers of their safety.

In a statement, Fortaleza local authority said it 'sympathises with the pain of the family and considers it an unacceptable tragedy that deserves the most rigorous investigation.'

Parents of the child who died refused to comment and asked to be allowed time to deal privately with their loss.

Elpidio Nogueira, secretary of human rights and social development said support and assistance is being given to the deceased school girl's family.A Brazilian murderer died after suffocating in a 230ft-long escape tunnel he had dug from his prison cell toilet, it was reported today.

Judson Cunha Evangelista, 26, had spent months carving the tunnel, and had managed to dig all the way past the perimeter wall of the jail in Boa Vista, northern Brazil.

However, shortly before he was able to dig himself out, he is believed to have suffered an acute lack of oxygen, and despite making it back to his cell, he died soon after.

Prison break: Convicted murderer Judson Cunha Evangelista, 26, had spent months carving the 230ft-long tunnel from his prison cell in Brazil. Pictured is a police officer in the tunnel

After his death, jail staff and police yesterday after the inmate, who was serving time for murder, managed to make it back to his cell after becoming ill inside the hole, but died soon after.

Shocked officers discovered a hole which began underneath the toilet in Evangelista's cell in Wing 7 of the Monte Cristo penitentiary, the largest prison in Brazil's northernmost state of Roraima.

The dirt tunnel continued for 230ft underneath the prison and had already passed under its heavily-fortified outer walls and electric fences, according to prison authorities.

The tunnel is believed to have taken months to excavate and was reportedly just a few metres away from reaching the surface in surrounding forest outside.

Officers found several bags of dirts and an electric cable which ran the length of the tunnel, with a lightbulb on the end.

Suffocation: Evangelista had managed to dig all the way past the perimeter wall, but had not yet made a bit for freedom, when he suffered an acute lack of oxygen and later died

Big jail: Monte Cristo penitentiary is the largest prison in Boa Vista, in Brazil's northernmost state of Roraima

The state justice department, Sejuc, which is in charge of the prison, said 150 policemen took seven hours to locate the tunnel after prison officers were alerted to its existence following Evangelista's death.

It is believed the prisoner was planning to charge other inmates to use the tunnel in a mass escape bid.

The tunnel has now been filled with concrete, a spokesman said.

Last January the Monte Cristo jail made headlines after a bloody rebellion broke out during which more than 30 prisoners were killed.

At the time the prison, which has capacity for 750 inmates, was housing more than 1,400.This is the moment a motorcyclist survived a hijacking in Brazil when an armed robber shot him in the leg after threatening to kill him for his motorbike.

Despite giving up his vehicle without a struggle and running to escape, Luiz Carlos dos Santos Perez, 57, was reportedly still shot by the ruthless thief.

Footage filmed by a camera on the motorcyclist's helmet captures the two flip-flop wearing suspects riding tandem on a bike.

They drive alongside Perez on a road in north Rio de Janeiro with one pointing a gun and gesturing for him to stop.

Luiz Carlos dos Santos Perez, 57, was driving his motorbike on a road (pictured) in north Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

After pulling over near the kerb, the clip shows the armed suspect approaching Perez while issuing death threats and ordering the victim to hand over his bike immediately.

Perez's pleas to the gunman to calm down only infuriates his attacker who becomes more agitated and screams at him to 'hurry up and leave.'

The thief angrily accuses the victim of taking 'too long' to stop and to get off the vehicle.

He tries to pull the motorbike away from under the owner and violently lashes out, hitting the biker on the head with the butt of the weapon.

Getting off the motorbike, the victim starts to run away. But as he does, the robber who is still swearing and vowing to kill him allegedly fires a single shot in his direction.

Looking down, Perez suddenly realises he has been hit in the leg.

Two flip-flop wearing suspects rode tandem on a bike and one pointed a gun (pictured) towards Perez and motioned for him to pull over

He frantically hobbles and drags himself to a waiting car which has stopped to help him.

Jumping in, the motorist asks, 'did they shoot you?' as the wounded man nurses his thigh in the blood soaked trousers.

The driver raced Perez to Salgado Filho Municipal Hospital where he underwent tests and x-rays but didn't require surgery.

Footage registered the faces of the aggressors and the pair have since been identified by police as Franklin Maia de Oliveira Andre, 22, and Felipe de Souza Valeriano, 25.

Detective Fabio Asty said cops are confident on catching the suspects following the camera images which clearly show their faces.

'We believe the pair were riding a stolen bike at the time of the robbery and this has already been recovered,' he reported.

Footage registered the faces of the aggressors and the pair have since been identified by police as Franklin Maia de Oliveira Andre, 22, and Felipe de Souza Valeriano, 25

A motorist pulled over to save Perez and when in the car the victim nurses his bloody leg (pictured)

'Both have criminal records and are known to us. We know the area they operate in and where they live, and we have a team searching for them,' he added.

'I stopped near the kerb, so they could take it but that's when things got even worse. I just wanted to put it down without making them angry but that didn't work,' Perez told Globo TV.

The victim's wife said her husband had a lucky escape as he could have been killed if the shot had been higher.

'He didn't need surgery as the bullet had already exited his leg,' she explained while revealing her husband is 'doing fine but he's still in shock'.

The systems analyst was on his way to work on a new motorcycle, which he had recently bought, when the robbery happened. on Tuesday at around 10am.Tony Abbott has called for Australia to move its Israel embassy to Jerusalem as violent protests in Gaza left 58 people dead.

The former prime minister suggested Australia should copy Donald Trump and move its diplomats from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as the United States opened its new diplomatic mission.

'The U.S. embassy is now in West Jerusalem, which has been Israel's capital for nearly 70 years,' Mr Abbott tweeted on Tuesday.

'Australia should consider following Trump's move.'

Scroll down for video

Mr Turnbull, whose Sydney electorate of Wentworth has more Jews than Anglicans, made the declaration an hour after Tony Abbott tweeted that Australia should copy Donald Trump

Malcolm Turnbull (right) and Tony Abbott have gone to war over the Middle East, contradicting each other over Jerusalem as violent protests erupt over the U.S. moving its Israel embassy

However, his bitter Liberal Party successor Malcolm Turnbull shot down his call, as violent demonstrations against the U.S. relocating its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem left 58 Palestinians dead and wounded another 2,700 people.

'Our embassy will remain where it is and where it has been since it was established,' Mr Turnbull told reporters on Tuesday.

'We've got no plans to move our embassy  because we've taken the view as indeed most countries have that it's more conducive to the peace process to keep the embassies in Tel Aviv.'

Mr Turnbull, whose wealthy Sydney eastern suburbs electorate of Wentworth has more Jews than Anglicans, made the declaration an hour after Tony Abbott tweeted that Australia should copy Donald Trump's lead.

The prime minister (centre) shot down his bitter Liberal Party rival's call for Australia to copy Donald Trump and move its diplomats from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

The present and former PMs of Australia went to war as violent protests erupted on the Gaza border with Israel, as the United States opened its new Jerusalem embassy on Tuesday.

Israeli forces shot and killed 57 Palestinians during mass protests along the Gaza border, while just a few kilometres away in Israel, the U.S. held a festive inauguration ceremony for the new American Embassy in contested Jerusalem.

In addition, a baby died from tear gas inhalation, the Gaza Health Ministry said, bringing the overall death toll to 58.

The demonstrations against the U.S. relocating its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem have left 58 Palestinians dead and wounded another 2,700 people

Israeli forces shot and killed 57 Palestinians during mass on the Gaza, while just a few kilometres away in Israel, the U.S. held a festive inauguration ceremony for the new embassy in Jerusalem (Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner pictured)

President Trump's move was condemned by the United Nations in December in a resolution which Australia abstained from voting on.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry said it disagreed with Malcolm Turnbull and his Foreign Minister's position of keeping Australia's Israel embassy in Tel Aviv.

'Israel has no better friends than Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday.

'Nevertheless we respectfully disagree with their view that re-locating the Australian Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as the U.S. has done, would harm the prospects for peace.'

The move of President Trump (pictured with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu) was condemned by the United Nations in December in a resolution which Australia abstained from voting on

Jerusalem has been Israel's centre of government since it became a nation in 1948, with the Knesset parliament, ministerial offices, the Supreme Court and the residences of the prime minister and the president in the holy city.

The ECAJ argued West Jerusalem was not a part of the so-called 'occupied' territory in the city's east, captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day war.

It added a U.S. embassy there would not curtail two-state solution negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

However, the United Nations in December passed a resolution which said moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem 'risked igniting a religious war across the already turbulent Middle East and even beyond'.

Jerusalem is a 5,000-year-old holy city of religious significance for Jews, Christians and Muslims, with Palestinians arguing it is their homeland.A girl's head was split in half and two of her friends were injured when a lawnmower's blades flew off at high speed.

Nur Afini Roslan, a student at the Tuanku Abd Rahman secondary school in the town of Gemas in the south-western Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan, was on the school playing field when the accident happened.

She was killed when the flying blade cut her head in two, local media report.

14-year-old Nur Afini Roslan, pictured left, was a secondary school student who was playing when a lawnmower's blade split her head in two, causing her to die instantly. Her body, pictured right, has been taken to hospital for a post-mortem exam

The two friends the 14-year-old was with at the time were also injured, though not seriously.

Police Superintendent Hamazah Abd Razak said the accident happened at 10.30am and that the girl was believed to have died instantly at the scene.

Her friends Mohd Farhan Reza Badrol Hesam, 13, and Abdullah Hazlan, 14, received 'light' injuries though they were not detailed in reports.

A small tractor seen in pictures of the aftermath of the incident is believed to have been pulling a mower attachment which malfunctioned disastrously.

A tractor, pictured, is believed to have been pulling the lawnmower when it malfunctioned, sending the blades flying, in the field where 14-year-old Nur Afini Roslan was playing

Police rushed to the scene, pictured, where Nur Afini Roslan died instantly after a lawnmower's blades split her head in two. Two of her friends were also injured, although not seriously

Nur Afini Roslan, 14, pictured centre was a secondary school student in Malaysia who was tragically killed when a lawnmower's blade accidentally flew off and split her head in two

Nur Afini Roslan's father crying next to her body, pictured, after a tragic lawnmower incident caused her death in the field she was playing in. Police are currently investigating the incident

The superintendent added: 'We deployed a team to the scene upon receiving the emergency call.

'The girl's remains have been taken to the Tampin Hospital for a post-mortem examination, while the injured students were taken to the Gemas Health Clinic for treatment.'

The identity of the person operating the mower was not released, and it was not clear who was responsible for its maintenance.

Police say they are investigating the death.A leading newspaper in Malaysia has published a guide on how to identify gay and lesbian people, drawing criticism from activists who say the checklist puts lives at risk.

The article, featured in the daily newspaper Sinar Harian, features bullets points highlighting qualities that are supposedly common in gay and lesbian people.

It suggests that gay men can be spotted by their beard and love of the gym - not for exercise but to admire other men. The piece also picked out branded clothing as an indicator of homosexuality.

A leading newspaper in Malaysia has published a guide on how to identify gay and lesbian people, drawing criticism from activists who say the checklist puts lives at risk

Gay men's eyes light up when they see handsome men, the story claimed. And Lesbians, the newspaper said, tend to hug one another, hold hands and belittle men.

Homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia and carries a sentence of up to 20 years under colonial-era sodomy laws.

What does the list say are the signs someone is gay or lesbian? It says gay men... are dominant and like to wear tight clothes to show off their six packs love to have 'adoptive brothers' adore beards, mustaches and branded clothes It says lesbian women... Hate men and enjoy belittling them Love to spend time by themselves Enjoy hugging one other and holding hands Advertisement

Activitist and social media star Arwind Kumar lashed out at the article, arguing in a video that 'there are much more important issues in this country which need to be addressed'.

'If you really want to educate society then explain to them the traits of a paedophile, a molester, a murderer, a kidnapper, people who actually endanger the lives of others. How the hell does a gay person endanger your life?'

Kumar's video, uploaded to YouTube, has been viewed by more than 100,000 people.

Kumar took the article's writers to task, mocking the idea that facial hair was an indicator of sexual preference.

'I know a lot of priests, I know a lot of [Islamic scholars], I know a lot of of really, really religious people who love keeping beards. Are you trying to say they are gay? That's how stupid this is,' he said.

The increasingly poor treatment of gay, lesbian and transgender people in Malaysia is being driven in part by the increasing influence of conservative Islam, other critics said.

The Sinar Harian article was printed in conjunction with an interview with Hanafiah Malik, a preacher who said that there was an urgent need to stop the rise of homosexuality in Malaysia.

Just last year an 18-year-old student was beaten then burned to death by his classmates and a 27-year-old transgender woman was murdered in her flower shop as a wave of homophobic attacks sweep the country. Pictured: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital

Homophobic rhetoric has also become commonplace in the the country's government.

In March last year Walt Disney pulled the release of its film Beauty and Beast from Malaysia after film censors deemed it could only be approved if a gay scene was cut.

A Malaysian health ministry youth video competition also called for entries on the topic of the prevention and consequences of being gay, lesbian or transgender.

It comes after a spate of recent deaths of people thought to be gay, lesbian and transgender.

Just last year an 18-year-old student was beaten then burned to death by his classmates who labelled him a 'pondon' - an insulting term for a gay man.

A 27-year-old transgender woman called Sameera Krishnan was stabbed with a knife and shot three times while she worked at her florist shop a few months later.

Last year a Human Rights Watch report found discrimination against LGBT people was 'pervasive' in Malaysia.

'If you ask someone not to be themselves that will have an adverse impact on the health and-well being of the person,' said Thilaga Sulathireh, co-founder of transgender activist group Justice for Sisters.

There are no official figures on transgenders in Malaysia, though a health ministry document estimated that the country was home to about 24,000 transgender sex workers as of 2014.A massive 20 foot female python and the tiny male it was mating with were killed by hungry villagers who chopped up the creatures and cooked them in a stir fry.

Locals on the Malaysian island of Borneo found the pair inside a fallen tree while they were on a hunting trip last Saturday.

As they passed, the group heard strange noises coming from inside the dried out hollow log.

Hunters on the Malaysian island of Borneo shot and killed a 20 foot female python and its tiny mate after they found them inside a tree

The creature was so large it took four of them to carry it to the group's pick-up truck

The men were greeted with cheers when they returned to town with the snake, which was large enough to feed the entire town and more

Python is a delicacy in the remote Sarawak region and is grilled over an open fire or fried with vegetable before being served with rice

Using a chainsaw they cut through the bark and were thrilled to see the romping reptiles - which are considered a delicacy in the remote Sarawak region

Several men dragged the beasts out before they were shot and hauled on to a truck. Later they were served up to hungry townsfolk.

Prepared according to local custom, python is grilled over a fire or fried in a pan with vegetables then eaten with rice.

Delighted Tinsung Ujang, 60, who found the pair, said villagers in the town of Bintulu near the Kelawit River would feast on the meat for days.

He said: 'I looked down into the hole in the wood and was surprised to see the female mating with a smaller male snake.

Several men were needed to haul the beast from the tree where it had entwined itself around the substantially smaller male

The female python measured 20 feet, just six feet shorter than the largest python recorded in Malaysia

Delighted villagers in the town of Bintulu near the Kelawit River feasted on the meat for days

'We had to split the timber to reach them and it was difficult to remove the snakes because of their size and the position. They were locked together.

'I was even more surprised because I have never seen snakes mating before and never seen a giant python that was more than five metres long like this. The male python was quite small.

'It was an amazing occurrence and I proceeded to shoot the two reptiles because for our community it is an exotic dish that is also our favourite dish.'

Tinsung said when he returned to town with the pythons on the back of a pick-up truck he was greeted with cheers.

'The snake meat was then divided and its share was distributed equally to villagers and nearby farm workers.'

Reticulated pythons, a species found in Southeast Asia, are the worlds longest and largest snakes.

They are excellent swimmers and, like all pythons, are non venomous constrictors.Some speculate it contains Inca gold and that the Seabed Container went dark so it could search both ships withouth being tracked

Nearby is the SV Inca - a Peruvian transport ship that vanished 100 years ago

The chest was found resting 4KM beneath the surface of the south Indian Ocean

Photos of a 'sunken treasure chest' taken off the coast of Australia have sparked conspiracy theories surrounding the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370.

It comes after the high-tech Seabed Container 'went dark' for three days as it searched for the downed flight last week

The mysterious chest was found resting at the bottom of the southern Indian Ocean, nearly four kilometres beneath the surface, in an area called Shipwreck #1.

Photos of a 'sunken treasure chest' (pictured) have sparked conspiracy theories surrounding the disappearance of MH370

Nearby is Shipwreck #2, thought to be the the SV Inca - a Peruvian transport ship that vanished on the way to Sydney more than 100 years ago.

Its discovery sparked chatter about lost treasure and Inca gold.

Both sites are within the 7th Arc - the zone aviation specialists say is most likely to be where MH370's fuel reserves were exhausted.

Four kilometers inside the area, the century-old ship was spotted by one of the Constructor's predecessors, the Havila Harmony, which mistook the shipwreck for the lost plane's fuselage.

In fact, four sites were found by Fugro - a company previously contracted to search for the missing flight.

Shipwreck #3 was found further north at a depth of 3,700 metres and is thought to be a fishing vessel, intact and complete with nets.

Shipwreck #4 was described as a small wooden fishing vessel with substantial damage to the bow.

Nothing further is known about this wreck, which was also found further north in the search area.

The chest, marked with a red circle, was found four kilometres under the surface of the south Indian Ocean

Much of the ship had disintegrated but an anchor remained which was used to date the ship from 1820

Excitement spread throughout the Frugro Equator on March 7 2015 after its sonar system detected what appeared to be a debris field.

Just 12 miles east of the 7th Arc, a cluster of objects were scattered across the sea floor.

The crew thought they had found the lost flight.

But on close inspection they realised they had discovered a graveyard of sunken ships.

'We got really excited', Fugro CEO Paul Kennedy told a conference in Perth, Australia.

MR Kennedy said: 'We don't know where the ship came from.

'The WA Maritime Museum have got no records of the boat - it may have been coming from South Africa to Australia and just got lost and everybody died on board.'

The Seabed Constuctor (pictured) hired to search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 which mysteriously disappeared for three days was reportedly 'refuelling' in Australia

Some have suggested that Seabed Container detoured to search the mysterious chest

The vessel was tasked with searching the zone aviation specialists say is most likely to be where MH370's fuel reserves were exhausted, dubbed the 7th Arc

The ship's anchor turned out to be the key to identifying the vessel. It was of a style popular around 1820, dating the ship around that time.

Aside from a bell and some bracketing, the only surviving item on the ship was a large, rectangular box.

'What there is down there, the only thing that's really left, is a big chest,' Kennedy said.

'And the whole ship was deteriorating and coming away ... and there's this big chest in about 4,000 metres of water, and our question was 'what's in the box?'

Don Thompson, an original member of the MH370 Independent Group (IG) which advised the government on the possible whereabouts of the missing plane, said he believed the box was likely used to store water.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) attempted to find missing aircraft MH370 for two years. A private company has renewed its pledged to locate the wreckage on a 'no find, no fee' basis

The plane vanished after its aircraft communications, addressing and reporting system (Acars) was switched off less than an hour after taking off

'The Fugro report incorporated in the ATSB's Final Operational Report even describes the box as a 'water tank',' he said.

Fugro Equator, Fugro Discovery and Havila Harmony have all attempted to find the presumably downed plane.

Only three confirmed fragments of MH370 have been found, all of them on western Indian Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon.

Each ship's progress was tracked meticulously by aviation enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists.

Keeping tabs on the Constructor has proved more challenging: the vessel went dark last week, causing massive speculation.

It was in the vicinity of Shipwreck #1 and Shipwreck #2 that freelance search vessel Seabed Constructor switched off its transponder, making it impossible to track.

Unsurprisingly, its still-unexplained disappearance rekindled conspiracy theories surround the fate of the doomed line which vanished en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8 2014 with 239 people on board.

Some speculated the vessel it had found MH370 but planned to keep its location secret until it had confirmed its government-funded fee.

Others thought Ocean Infinity had failed to find the missing Boeing 777 and had instead detoured towards the wreckage of what is believed to be the S.V Inca.

The Constructor's docked south of Perth on Thursday after its brief disappearance and came back online Tuesday.

A multinational search cost Australian, Malaysian and Chinese taxpayers $200million. This piece of aircraft debris discovered on the island of Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania

MH370 was tracked by amateur aviation enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists alike

The Seabed Constructor's Texas-based operator, Ocean Infinity, refused to explain the blackout at the time.

The company only said the ship will be docked for a short time before continuing the search.

It comes after a leading aviation expert predicted a disaster like MH370 will happen again soon.

David Stupples, a professor of electronic and radio systems at City, University of London, said: 'You can't say MH370 won't ever happen again, because it will.'

He was referring to the fact that international requirements for new planes to broadcast their locations every minute don't come in until 2021.

'Until 2040 or 2050, there's going to be a large number of aircraft flying around that don't have that tracking system fitted,' he said.

Currently some airlines including Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Qantas Airways and Qatar Airways track planes every 15 minutes, which will become a requirement this November.

But still a jet travelling at 575mph that has been missing for 15 minutes requires a search zone of 170,000 square kilometers - an area the size of Florida. This makes finding any survivors very unlikely.

On 2 January, The Constructor left the Port of Durban to begin its search on a 'no find, no fee' deal.

It planned to use sonar scanning equipment to find the aircraft, after a failed multinational search cost Australian, Malaysian and Chinese authorities $200million.

The Malaysian Government will pay US company Ocean Infinity more than $55million if it finds the plane within 90 days.

The freelance boat's designated search area was located just outside the 120 square kilometres previously scoured along the 7th Arc.

No sign of the plane was found and an Australian-led hunt - the largest in aviation history - was called off in January last year.Ivana Smit, 18, died on December 7 when she plunged to her death in Kuala Lumpur

Chilling new details have emerged in the death of a Dutch teen model, who was found naked after plunging 14 floors to her death following a 'drug-fueled swingers party' in an American couple's apartment in Malaysia.

Ivana Smit, 18, was building a successful career as a model in Kuala Lumpur when she plunged to her death on December 7, in what local cops called a drug and booze-fueled accident.

Now British private investigator Mark Williams-Thomas, best known for exposing BBC presenter Jimmy Savile as a pedophile, says his findings indicate the death should be treated as a homicide.

A newly released surveillance photo also sheds light on Ivana's final hours, showing her being carried out of a club in the arms of the man whose apartment she fell from later that morning.

Meanwhile, Dutch pathologist Frank van de Goot, who carried out the second postmortem on Ivana, says the lack of blood at the scene of the fall suggests the young model was dead before she fell.

Ivana also had bruises to her upper arms not caused by the fall, suggesting a struggle took place, van de Goot told the Dutch newspaper Telegraaf.

The Dutch teen model fell from a balcony after partying in the apartment of American citizen Alexander Amado Johnson, 45, and his wife Luna (seen together)

New Evidence: At 5.22am on December 7, cameras in a Kuala Lumpur club appear to show Johnson carrying Ivana in his arms through the hall toward an elevator bank

Timeline: At 7.30am, Ivana (right) sent a friend this selfie of herself with Johnson's wife Luna. It is the last known photo of Ivana before her death about two hours later

Final Moments: Police believe Ivana fell from the couple's balcony at around 10am. Her naked body was not found for another five hours though, at around 3pm

Whispers of a cover up by the Malaysian police are bringing increasing international pressure to bear on the local authorities.

Williams-Thomas, in a tweet last week, claimed he had 'direct evidence of organized police protection rackets & organised crime syndicates operating' in relation to the case, promising 'much more on this to come'.

With new photo evidence from the night in question emerging in recent days, Ivana's final hours are coming into focus.

Johnson and his wife Luna are seen together

At 5.22am on December 7, cameras in a Kuala Lumpur club show American citizen Alexander Amado Johnson, 45, carrying Ivana in his arms through a hallway.

Johnson, who has ties to Georgia, is the founder of Everus World, a cryptocurrency company based in Kuala Lumpur.

At 7.30am, Ivana sent a friend a selfie of herself with Johnson's wife, an Indonesian model named Luna believed to be in her 30s.

Police believe that around two hours later, at 10am, Ivana plunged from Johnson's 20th-story balcony and landed on a six-story roof.

Her body, which was naked, was not found until around 3pm that day. Police have still not found Ivana's shoes or her underwear.

She had alcohol and Ecstasy in her system at the time of death, an autopsy found.

Van de Goot's second autopsy also found cocaine in Ivana's system.

A new autopsy suggests that Ivana (above) was dead before she fell 14 stories from a balcony

Johnson said he was asleep between 10am and 3pm on the day of the death, and his wife reportedly claimed to have been taking their four-year-old daughter to school in the morning

When Ivana's father viewed her body in the morgue, he said she had 'bruises' on her neck which looked like finger marks. He fears foul play and does not believe that Ivana fell or committed suicide.

'I saw bruises on her neck, like fingerprints  as if someone had grabbed her there,' father Marcel Smit told Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.

When police said there were 'no criminal elements' to the death, Ivana's grieving family hired the private investigator Williams-Thomas.

'I have no doubt,' Williams-Thomas told Belgium's TV Limburg.

'From the evidence that I have collected this week, and other information that we have through the forensics, we are in a position to say very clearly: If this was being dealt with in the UK, it would be treated as a homicide investigation.'

Ivana's devastated father claims that police wanted to 'close the case quickly' and that neighbors heard 'shouts and an argument'.

He said that he had been told the American couple are 'swingers' who would take young models back to their apartment for parties and sex games.

Ivana's body was found naked with Ecstasy, cocaine and alcohol in her system. Police have still not found her shoes or underwear

Ivana's devastated father claims that police wanted to 'close the case quickly' and that neighbors heard 'shouts and an argument'

When questioned, the couple told the police that neither one of them knew what had happened.

Johnson said he was asleep between 10am and 3pm, and his wife reportedly claimed to have been taking their four-year-old daughter to school in the morning.

Ivana's friends and family in Kuala Lumpur say Johnson and his wife were both taken into custody on drugs charges but they have not been charged over the teenager's death.

The US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur told DailyMail.com in December that it was aware of the situation but was prohibited by privacy laws from confirming Johnson's arrest.

'We are aware of media reports of the detention of a U.S. citizen in Malaysia.

'The Department of State takes its obligation to assist U.S. citizens abroad seriously. Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment,' an embassy spokesman said.

In a statement, Johnson's company said: 'Everus is aware of the ongoing investigations by the Malaysian authorities with regards to one of our employees.

'The company will continue to monitor this matter carefully. Until the relevant authorities release official statements, we are unable to comment further. Thank you.'Kejriwals statement comes a day after a late night opposition meeting that both he and Rahul attended, hosted by Sharad Pawar.

Asked whether the AAP was more eager for an alliance with the Congress, he said the BJP would benefit in a three-cornered contest. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the Congress has nearly said no to an alliance with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi.

Kejriwals statement comes a day after a late night opposition meeting that both he and Congress president Rahul Gandhi attended, hosted by NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

"We are very worried about the nation, so we are more keen (on an alliance). The Congress has almost said no to an alliance," Arvind Kejriwal said.

Asked whether the AAP was more eager for an alliance with the Congress, he said the BJP would benefit in a three-cornered contest.

The various opposition parties decided on a pre-poll alliance to take on PM Modi and BJP in the upcoming general elections.The ship searching for Malaysia Airlines flight 370 has docked south of Perth after mysteriously disappearing for three days.

The Seabed Constructor turned off its transponder in the Indian Ocean, prompting speculation that crew had found the plane's wreckage but wanted to be sure of payment before revealing it to the Malaysian government.

The ship came back online on Tuesday and today docked at Henderson, but still its Texas-based operator, Ocean Infinity, has refused to explain the blackout.

The company only said the ship will be docked for a short time before continuing the search.

The Seabed Constructor (pictured) left the Port of Durban and began searching for Malaysia Airlines flight 370 on January 2

It comes after a leading aviation expert predicted a disaster like MH370 will happen again soon.

David Stupples, a professor of electronic and radio systems at City, University of London, said: 'You can't say MH370 won't ever happen again, because it will.'

He was referring to the fact that international requirements for new planes to broadcast their locations every minute don't come in until 2021.

'Until 2040 or 2050, there's going to be a large number of aircraft flying around that don't have that tracking system fitted,' he said.

Currently some airlines including Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Qantas Airways and Qatar Airways track planes every 15 minutes, which will become a requirement this November.

But still a jet travelling at 575mph that has been missing for 15 minutes requires a search zone of 170,000 square kilometers - an area the size of Florida. This makes finding any survivors very unlikely.

MH370 vanished en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board.

It disappeared after its aircraft communications, addressing and reporting system (Acars) was switched off less than an hour after taking off.

The vessel was tasked with searching the zone aviation specialists say is most likely to be where MH370's fuel reserves were exhausted, dubbed the 7th Arc

On 2 January, The Constructor left the Port of Durban to begin its search on a 'no find, no fee' deal.

It planned to use sonar scanning equipment to find the aircraft, after a failed multinational search cost Australian, Malaysian and Chinese authorities $200million.

The Malaysian Government will pay US company Ocean Infinity more than $55million if it finds the plane within 90 days.

The freelance boat's designated search area was located just outside the 120 square kilometres previously scoured along the 7th Arc - the zone aviation specialists say is most likely to be where MH370's fuel reserves were exhausted.

No sign of the plane was found and an Australian-led hunt - the largest in aviation history - was called off in January last year.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) attempted to find missing aircraft MH370 for two years. A private company has renewed its pledged to locate the wreckage on a 'no find, no fee' basis

The plane vanished after its aircraft communications, addressing and reporting system (Acars) was switched off less than an hour after taking off

The Constructor is not the first to comb over this patch of ocean.

Fugro Equator, Fugro Discovery and Havila Harmony have all attempted to find the presumably downed plane.

Only three confirmed fragments of MH370 have been found, all of them on western Indian Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon.

Each ship's progress was tracked meticulously by aviation enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists.

Keeping tabs on the Constructor has proved more challenging: the vessel went dark last week, causing massive speculation.

One online user speculated the vessel it had found MH370 but planned to keep its location secret until it had confirmed its government-funded fee.

Another speculated Ocean Infinity had failed to find the missing Boeing 777 and had instead detoured towards the wreckage of what is believed to be the S.V Inca - a Peruvian transport ship that vanished on the way to Sydney more than 100 years ago.

Four kilometers inside the 7th Arc, the century-old ship was spotted by one of the Constructor's predecessors, the Havila Harmony, which mistook the shipwreck for the lost plane's fuselage.

A multinational search cost Australian, Malaysian and Chinese taxpayers $200million. This piece of aircraft debris discovered on the island of Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania

MH370 was tracked by amateur aviation enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists alike

On its discovery there were chatters that it was searching for lost treasure and Inca gold.

The Constructor's involvement in this new chapter in the aircraft's bizarre disappearance has not be to everyone's liking.

Aviation journalist Jeff Wise was critical of the new search in his blog.

As a former member of the independent group of investigators tasked with advising the Australian Transport Safety Bureau in its search for MH370, Wise is personally invested in the case.

'As I write this, the scan of the innermost section of the Primary Search Area has been completed, but the assessment has not yet been released.

'However, the fact that Seabed Constructor has moved on to another area suggests that probably nothing was found there, either.

'A big caveat: we don't really know how long it takes the search team to assess the data collected during each pass.A sophisticated search vessel tasked with tracking down Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappeared mysteriously after turning off its tracking system, sparking conspiracy theories.

The Seabed Constructor's Automatic Identification System (AIS) went offline on January 31 - just ten days into its search.

Bizarrely, it reconnected last night after 80 hours of undocumented travel. The reason for this temporary disconnect remains unclear.

The Seabed Constructor (pictured) left the Port of Durban on January 2 and began searching for Malaysia Airlines flight 370

The Constructor left the Port of Durban on January 2 and began searching for the plane, which vanished en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8 2014 with 239 people on board.

The plane vanished after its aircraft communications, addressing and reporting system (Acars) was switched off less than an hour after taking off.

The vessel had been contracted on a 'no find, no fee' deal by Texan exploration company Ocean Infinity.

It planned to use sonar scanning equipment to find the aircraft, after a multinational search cost Australian, Malaysian and Chinese $200million.

Working for the Malaysian Government, the US company was offered more than $55million if it found the plane within 90 days, told Fox News.

The freelance boat's designated search area was located just outside the 120 square kilometres previously scoured along the 7th Arc - the zone aviation specialists say is most likely to be where MH370's fuel reserves were exhausted.

No sign of the plane was found and an Australian-led hunt - the largest in aviation history - was called off in January last year.

The vessel was tasked with searching the zone aviation specialists say is most likely to be where MH370's fuel reserves were exhausted, dubbed the 7th Arc

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) attempted to find missing aircraft MH370 for two years. A private company has renewed its pledged to locate the wreckage on a 'no find, no fee' basis

Malaysia Airlines flight 370 (pictured) vanished en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8 2014 with 239 people on board.

The plane vanished after its aircraft communications, addressing and reporting system (Acars) was switched off less than an hour after taking off

The Constructor is not the first to comb over this patch of ocean.

Fugro Equator, Fugro Discovery and Havila Harmony have all attempted to find the presumably downed plane.

Only three confirmed fragments of MH370 have been found, all of them on western Indian Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon.

Each ship's progress was tracked meticulously by aviation enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists.

Keeping tabs on the Constructor has proved more challenging: the vessel went dark on Wednesday, causing massive speculation.

One online user speculated the vessel it had found MH370 but planned to keep its location secret until it had confirmed its government-funded fee.

Another speculated Ocean Infinity had failed to find the missing Boeing 777 and had instead detoured towards the wreckage of what is believed to be the S.V Inca - a Peruvian transport ship that vanished on the way to Sydney more than 100 years ago.

Four kilometers inside the 7th Arc, the century-old ship was spotted by one of the Constructor's predecessors, the Havila Harmony, which mistook the shipwreck for the lost plane's fuselage.

A multinational search cost Australian, Malaysian and Chinese taxpayers $200million. This piece of aircraft debris discovered on the island of Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania

MH370 was tracked by amateur aviation enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists alike

Inevitably, on its discovery there were chatters about lost treasure and Inca gold.

The Constructor's involvement in this new chapter in the aircraft's bizarre disappearance has not be to everyone's liking.

Aviation journalist Jeff Wise was critical of the new search in his blog.

As a former member of the independent group of investigators tasked with advising the Australian Transport Safety Bureau in its search for MH370, Wise is personally invested in the case.

'As I write this, the scan of the innermost section of the Primary Search Area has been completed, but the assessment has not yet been released.

'However, the fact that Seabed Constructor has moved on to another area suggests that probably nothing was found there, either.

'A big caveat: we don't really know how long it takes the search team to assess the data collected during each pass.

When the Constructor turned its AIS back on last night it was heading for Perth where it is scheduled to dock at Fremantle on February 8.

With little to no information coming from the ship, it remains unclear what, if anything, it has found.

Seabed Constructor is expected to dock in Freemantle to refuel and top up supplies before returning to the search area.A man was strangled to death on his motorcycle by a 12ft long python he was holding by its head.

Unemployed Zaim Khalis Kosnan, 35, had spotted the huge reptile on his way home in Kuala Langat in Malaysia's Selangor state in the early hours of Sunday morning.

He returned on his motorbike with a pair of gloves and a sickle after telling his sister he planned to capture the snake to sell.

A man was strangled to death on his motorbike by a 12ft long python he was taking home

Zaim Khalis Kosnan (pictured) spotted the huge reptile on his way home in Kuala Langat in Malaysia's Selangor state in the early hours of Sunday morning

But his dead body was spotted by passers-by in the morning, with the snake wrapped around it.

They killed the snake in order to free Mr Kosnan's body, Kuala Langat police chief superintendent Azizan Tukiman said.

Firemen were on the scene an hour after getting a call and were given the order to dispose of the snake.

Supt Tukiman said initial investigations found Mr Kosnan fell from his motorcycle on the side of the toad after the snake began to constrict him.

He returned on his motorbike with a pair of gloves and a sickle after telling his sister he planned to capture the snake to sell

A post-mortem examination is being carried out at the nearby Banting Hospital and is expected to confirm death by strangulation.

'I believe he was holding the reptile's head while transporting it on his motorcycle when it started to coil around his body and constrict him,' Mr Kosnan's brother-in-law Mohd Noor Radiman told The Star.

His dead body was spotted by passers-by in the morning, with the snake wrapped around it

Passsers-by killed the snake in order to free Mr Kosnan's body, but it was too late to save him

'We are saddened by this sudden and tragic news,' he said.

Supt Tukiman added: 'The victim had told his elder sister about his intention when he arrived home for the tools.

'Then he left the house with a pair of gloves and a sickle on his motorcycle to capture the snake.'A 30-year-old Sydney woman will fly to Malaysia this year for a radical treatment costing $30,000 after spending 15 years battling a debilitating illness.

Over the course of about eight hours, Sami Coates will have her body heated to 42 degrees, and she will be pumped full of antibiotics through an IV drip.

She will spend a week connected to the drip, barely able to move, before returning home to Australia and then flying back to Malaysia to repeat the process. The therapy is called Hyperthermic Treatment.

Sami was an elite swimmer with a national title to her name, training 11 times a week, with dreams of competing for Australia in the Olympics when she developed glandular fever at 15 and never recovered.

'It was my dream, to get gold for Australia. Becoming so sick really shattered me,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

Sami Coates, 30, is fundraising to receive treatment for a disease that has left her mostly bedridden for 15 years

She developed glandular fever as a teenager and never recovered. More than 10 years later, she was diagnosed with Lyme Disease

After years of tests, days on end spent in bed, unable to move, and thousands of dollars a week spent on pills, a blood test sent to the United States for testing came back with a positive diagnosis of Lyme Disease.

Lyme Disease is an infectious parasitic disease, spread to humans by infected ticks.

'My first real symptom with my Lyme Disease was the fatigue, and then my bowel stopped working - I ended up in hospital a few times because I was constantly constipated,' she said.

Sami says her illness has come in peaks and troughs. When she first became unwell as a teenager, she says she was 'bed bound for weeks on end, not being able to move'.

Over the next few years, the Sutherland Shire woman slowly finished school and went on to finish university.

Despite achieving a primary teaching qualification, she has never been able to hold down steady work because of the unpredictability and debilitating nature of her condition.

Sami will undergo hyperthermic treatment in Malaysia in March, where her body will be heated to 42 degrees and antibiotics pumped through her veins

Sami is desperate to regain control of her life and be able to do the things others her age take for granted.

'I tried as much as I could to live a normal life, get out and experience things, but I feel like my life has been on hold,' she said.

'I haven't been able to hold down a job and save and move out, have a long term relationship, or any of the things my friends are doing.'

The disease has taken a mental toll on the bubbly woman too. Sami said she was thinking of ending her life when she first became sick, and it's a thought she still battles with 15 years later.

The former elite swimmer is now mostly bedbound, with her illness preventing her from holding down a job or being able to live an independent life

She told Daily Mail Australia when she first fell ill, she and her family were spending thousands of dollars a week on antibiotics and drip treatments

'I was close to committing suicide when I first got sick, because nobody believed me and I had no idea what was going on... going from such an active, happy, bright person, to bedridden and not being able to be myself,' she explained.

'I found it very hard to get out of that. I was lucky to get through it all

'Even recently I've been through stages of "this isn't working, I don't want to live like this".'

Before her Lyme diagnosis, Sami had been treated for depression, chronic fatigue and a range of other illnesses as doctors tried everything to control her symptoms.

Because the condition is so rare in Australia, it is not covered by Medicare and barely even acknowledged because there is 'little evidence' of it being contracted in the country, according to the government.

HYPERTHERMIC TREATMENT What is Hyperthermic Treatment? Hyperthermic treatment is where body tissue is exposed to high temperatures, up to 42 degrees Why does it work for Lyme Disease? Borellia Bergdorferi, the bacteria found to cause Lyme Disease in the US, is understood to die at high temperatures. Cancer treatments using Hyperthermia show the body is more able to effectively absorb radiation treatment, and by this logic it is believed Lyme Disease patients are more able to effectively absorb antibiotics. Can patients undergo Hyperthermic Treatment in Australia? Hyperthermic machines are available in Australia for the treatment of cancer, but are not available to Lyme Disease patients as the government does not recognise the illness. Advertisement

Sami was treated for depression, chronic fatigue and a range of other illnesses before a blood test sent to the United States returned a positive result for Lyme Disease

At her worst, Sami and her family were spending 'between three and four thousand dollars a week on antibiotics and drips' to help treat her illness.

'It's scary, I don't want to think about how much we spent - it's a lot.'

To now be able to afford the two treatments Sami believes will change her life, the 30-year-old has been forced to ask the public for assistance through a GoFundMe account.

Conclusions from a Senate inquiry published late last year determined the government needed to be more open in acknowledging tick bourne diseases and prioritise research funding.

But for Sami, the results are too little too late.

'The longer you leave [Lymes disease] the harder it is to treat. It gets into your cells,' she said.

'On a bad day, my mum brings me my food, I lay in bed all day and sometimes I'll venture to the bathroom to have an Epsom salt bath to help ease the pain.

'On the odd occasion I'll be able to get up and go and watch something, but most of the time I just sleep. It's just awful.'

Lyme Disease What is Lyme disease? Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is an infectious parasitic disease caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. How does Lyme disease infection occur? In nearly all recorded cases it is transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected tick. How does Lyme disease start? Symptoms appear on average 14 days after the tick bite. However the incubation period may last between two days and 3 1/2 months. The bacteria can enter a phase in which they do not cause symptoms but are still present. They may still have the potential to cause active disease at a later stage. What are the symptoms of Lyme disease? Lyme disease can affect any part of the body and cause many different symptoms. The commonest symptoms relate to the person feeling unwell, having flu-like symptoms, extreme tiredness, muscle pain, muscle weakness, joint pain, upset digestive system, headache, disturbances of the central nervous system and a poor sleep pattern. In some cases an expanding bulls eye rash appears on the skin. However, a rash in any form is not a universal symptom. If the rash does occur, it is termed erythema migrans or EM rash. It may manifest in a chronic form and be known as erythema chronicum migrans or ECM rash. The list of symptoms known to be associated with Lyme disease is long and diverse. The symptom pattern varies from person to person. See Lyme Disease Action for more information. AdvertisementA callous thief took advantage of an elderly woman distracted by prayers in a mosque to steal her handbag containing thousands in cash.

The robber, dressed all in black, is seen on CCTV as he leans over a row of women in white performing devotions at a mosque in the city of Kota Bharu in the north western Malaysia.

But on his first attempt he is foiled by his intended victim covering her possessions as she leans forward in the 'sujud' position to pray.

The thief, dressed in all-black, is seen on CCTV as he leans over a row of women in white performing devotions at a mosque in the city of Kota Bharu in the north western Malaysia

The thief tiptoes away and returns to the devotees to select a different victim.

After the women have kneeled up and then bowed forward again, he snatches a bag and runs for the door.

Although the alarm was quickly raised, he is reported to have successfully fled with the bag, which the victim, 74, says contained 3,655 plus some jewellery.

Imam Muhamad Lokman Zakaria told local media: 'The woman, being elderly and frail, was praying while seated.

After the women have kneeled up and then bowed forward again, he snatches a bag and runs for the door

Although the alarm was quickly raised, he is reported to have successfully fled with the bag, which the victim, 74, says contained 3,655 plus some jewellery

'She had placed her bag under the chair, thinking that it was secure.

'She, however, realised that someone had pulled her bag away. She managed to grab hold of the thief's hand before yelling for help.

'Her plea for help was heard by several men, who paused their prayers to chase the thief but were unsuccessful.'

The same mosque fell prey to thieves in 2017 too, when they took its public address system.

Advising worshippers not to bring valuables to mosque with them, the imam added: 'What I am disappointed with most is that such a thing is happening in our place of worship, whereas other places of worship do not face this problem'

Advising worshippers not to bring valuables to mosque with them, the imam added: 'What I am disappointed with most is that such a thing is happening in our place of worship, whereas other places of worship do not face this problem.'

The elderly victim, who declined to be named, said: 'This is fated, and there's a blessing behind it.

'This episode however has not hampered my resolve to come to the mosque, only next time, I won't be bringing a bag.'After a 24-hour wait, passengers are preparing to reboard their flight to Kuala Lumpur after a terrifying emergency landing in Alice Springs on Thursday.

Customers began to check in ahead of their replacement flight just after 3.30pm on Friday afternoon after waiting almost a day in the Northern Territory.

The Malaysian Airways flight lost engine power and started 'violently shaking' ahead of yesterday's unscheduled landing at 6pm.

Scroll down for video

Passengers on board the 'terrifying' flight MH122 yesterday have started to re-board the flight

After spending a day in Alice Springs, passengers bound for Kuala Lumpur line up for the flight

Flight MH122 from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur was close to the West Australian coastline when it was forced to divert to Alice Springs at around 6pm on January 18.

Terrified travellers said they feared for their lives after crew members told them to brace for impact only four hours into the flight.

'It was quite scary. We were sitting right on the wing in the aisle and we could hear the motor stop,' one passenger said. 'The engine completely stopped on the left-hand side.

Customers were terrified as the Malaysia Airlines plane made an emergency landing (pictured)

The MH122 was only four hours into its flight when it was diverted to Alice Springs (pictured)

'It was a real gravelly noise and then the aeroplane just started shaking. The staff seemed to be rushing around for a while.'

Passenger Maryna Delport Evetts said engine problems had been blamed for the diversion.

'So just when you think this would never happen to you or it just happens in the movies, on our flight back home, four hours into the journey we had engine failure,' Ms Evetts wrote Facebook.

'We turned back and we are now sitting at the Airport in Alice Springs. Not too sure when we will be leaving but hey ho, we are on terra firma.

'Not a good feeling 10,000 feet up in the air.'

Chris Kanani, the husband of a passenger aboard, told the ABC his wife described the experience as 'hell'.

'The scariest part was that once the engine started to make a loud disturbing noise, the flight attendants all seemed nervous and clueless,' one passenger wrote later on social media

After a 'massive vibration' shook the plane, the crew warned passengers to 'brace for impact'

'She said she was on the loo when she started hearing loud banging noises from the right-hand side of the plane and that's when all it started,' Mr Kanani said.

'It was like hell this flight and they were told to be ready for an emergency landing.'

Another passenger told the ABC there was 'very violent shaking' during the flight and passengers had braced for a rough landing.

After a 'massive vibration' shook the plane, the crew told passengers to 'brace for impact', Donna Edwards told 9 News.

Another scared passenger thought she was 'going to die' when she felt the 'massive vibrations'

Malaysia Airlines said after the incident that 'safety at all times' was their 'number one priority'

'One of the crew stopped near us and one guy said ''are we crashing or are we landing'',' Ms Edwards said. 'The crew member said ''I don't know''. We were just bracing for the worst. I thought I was going to die.'

The flight, which left Sydney Airport at 1.06pm, landed in Alice Springs at 5.48pm (local time). It was scheduled to arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 6.30pm the same day.

Malaysia Airlines released a statement saying 'safety at all times' was their 'number one priority'.

'Safety was not at any time compromised and the commanding captain decided to divert the flight for technical assistance,' the statement read.

The airline said it would provide more information on the technical issue when it was available.Passengers have described their horror as a Malaysia Airlines plane lost engine power and started 'violently shaking' before making a terrifying emergency landing.

Flight MH122 from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur was close to the West Australian coastline when it was forced to divert to Alice Springs on Thursday afternoon.

Terrified travellers said they feared for their lives after crew members told them to brace for impact four hours into the flight.

'It was quite scary. We were sitting right on the wing in the aisle and we could hear the motor stop,' one passenger said.

'The engine completely stopped on the left-hand side.

Passengers were terrified as a Malaysia Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Alice Springs (pictured)

The MH122 flight bound for Kuala Lumpur from Sydney was only four hours into its flight when it was diverted (pictured)

'It was a real gravelly noise and then the aeroplane just started shaking. The staff seemed to be rushing around for a while.'

Passenger Maryna Delport Evetts said engine problems had been blamed for the diversion.

'So just when you think this would never happen to you or it just happens in the movies, on our flight back home, four hours into the journey we had engine failure,' Ms Evetts wrote Facebook.

'We turned back and we are now sitting at the Airport in Alice Springs. Not too sure when we will be leaving but hey ho, we are on terra firma.

'Not a good feeling 10,000 feet up in the air.'

Chris Kanani, the husband of a passenger aboard, told the ABC his wife described the experience as 'hell'.

'The scariest part was that once the engine started to make a loud disturbing noise, the flight attendants all seemed nervous and clueless,' one passenger wrote on social media

After a 'massive vibration' shook the plane, the crew told passengers to 'brace for impact', Donna Edwards told 9 News

'She said she was on the loo when she started hearing loud banging noises from the right-hand side of the plane and that's when all it started,' Mr Kanani said.

'It was like hell this flight and they were told to be ready for an emergency landing.'

Another passenger told the ABC there was 'very violent shaking' during the flight and passengers had braced for a rough landing.

After a 'massive vibration' shook the plane, the crew told passengers to 'brace for impact', Donna Edwards told 9 News.

Another passenger thought she was 'going to die' when she felt the 'massive vibrations'

'One of the crew stopped near us and one guy said ''are we crashing or are we landing'',' Ms Edwards said.

'The crew member said ''I don't know''. We were just bracing for the worst. I thought I was going to die.'

The flight, which left Sydney Airport at 1.06pm, landed in Alice Springs at 5.48pm (local time). It was scheduled to arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 6.30pm the same day.

Malaysia Airlines released a statement saying 'safety at all times' was their 'number one priority'.

'Safety was not at any time compromised and the commanding captain decided to divert the flight for technical assistance,' the statement read.

The airline said it would provide more information on the technical issue when it was available.Passengers were left terrified as a Malaysia Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Alice Springs.

The MH122 flight bound for Kuala Lumpur from Sydney was only four hours into its flight when it was diverted.

The plane was forced to make an emergency landing as crew members were told to brace for impact.

'The scariest part was that once the engine started to make a loud disturbing noise, the flight attendants all seemed nervous and clueless,' one passenger wrote on social media.

Passengers were terrified as a Malaysia Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Alice Springs (pictured)

The MH122 flight bound for Kuala Lumpur from Sydney was only four hours into its flight when it was diverted (pictured)

'The scariest part was that once the engine started to make a loud disturbing noise, the flight attendants all seemed nervous and clueless,' one passenger wrote on social media

After a 'massive vibration' shook the plane, the crew told passengers to 'brace for impact', Donna Edwards told 9 News

After a 'massive vibration' shook the plane, the crew told passengers to 'brace for impact', Donna Edwards told 9 News.

'One of the crew stopped near us and one guy said 'are we crashing or are we landing',' Ms Edwards said.

'The crew member said 'I don't know'.'

'We were just bracing for the worst. I thought I was going to die.'

The flight, which left Sydney Airport at 1.06pm, landed in Alice Springs at 5.48pm (local time) although it was scheduled to arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 6.30pm the same day.

The aircraft, which has 290 seats, was diverted after an engine fault according to China Plus.

Malaysia Airlines released a statement saying 'safety at all times' was their 'number one priority'.

'All affected passengers have been given hotel accommodation, meals and transportation,' the airline wrote on social media.

Another passenger thought she was 'going to die' when she felt the 'massive vibrations'A 54-year-old Sydney grandmother who avoided the death penalty in Malaysia over drug trafficking charges has been released on bail.

Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto was found not guilty last year of attempting to import more than a kilogram of crystal methamphetamine into Kuala Lumpur en route from Shanghai to Melbourne in 2014.

She was acquitted on December 27 after the judge found she was scammed by her online boyfriend and was unaware she was carrying the drugs.

Australian grandmother Maria Exposto (centre) has been found not guilty of drug trafficking

Pictured are the drugs found in Ms Exposto's luggage at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

But she remained in custody after prosecutors launched an appeal. The mother of four was granted bail in a Malaysian court on Thursday, the ABC reports.

Her lawyer says her passport will be surrendered and she will have to report to police each week as a condition of the 30 thousand ringgit (AU$9,552) bail agreement.

Exposto's case will return to court in February so a date can be set for an appeal hearing. The 54-year-old would have faced the death penalty if she'd been found guilty.This is the moment an irate man slapped a Muslim woman in Malaysia when she told him it was her 'right' not to wear the hijab.

Footage shows the attacker berating a number of women sitting at a bus stop in the state of Penang, north west Malaysia and asking one about her faith and why she was not wearing a headscarf.

But when she explained that the hijab 'is our right' and a personal choice, he lashed out with the back of his hand, striking her across the face.

Footage captured the moment an irate man slapped a Muslim woman in Malaysia when she told him it was her 'right' not to wear the hijab

When the woman (right) explained that the hijab 'is our right' and a personal choice, he lashed out with the back of his hand, striking her across the face

The video has sparked fury online in Malaysia and has been viewed more than 700,000 times.

The man, who wears a jumper and a pair of jogging bottoms, had approached a group of women sitting at the bus stop.

He asked the women, who were wearing stylish, fashionable clothing, what religion they followed.

One of them told him she was a Muslim and he asked why she was not wearing a headscarf. Her response threw him into a rage and phone footage shows how he berated her as shocked onlookers watched on.

Footage shows the attacker berating a number of women sitting at a bus stop in the state of Penang, north west Malaysia and asking one about her faith before striking her

He then slapped the unidentified woman, who can be seen wearing a black dress and jewellery.

The woman, who appears to be using a mobile phone, then stands up as if to confront her attacker.

More than 60 per cent of Malaysia's population of over 30 million people are Muslim and social attitudes - particularly outside cities - can be conservative.

Religious conservatism has also been rising in Malaysia in recent years, chipping away at a one-time reputation for moderation and tolerance.Jammu and Kashmir politicians Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah were among the first to condemn the attack.

At least 18 soldiers were killed in an terror attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in J&Ks Pulwama.(Photo: @Irfansm_1 | Twitter)

Srinagar/New Delhi: Politicians across parties expressed their shock at the terror attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in J&Ks Pulwama on Thursday in which at least 30 soldiers were killed.

Terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Decrying the attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. Sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly.

Congress minister Navjot Singh Sidhu condemned the cowardly act and expressed 'dialogue' as the way out.

Navjot Singh Sidhu: It is condemnable, it's a cowardly act. It needs a permanent solution through dialogue, how long will the Jawans sacrifice their lives? How long will the bloodshed continue? People who do this must be punished. Hurling abuses won't help. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/R927il2bx1  ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2019

I spoke to martyred #CRPF soldier H Guru's family over the phone and consoled them. Their grief is heartwrenching. We are with them.

I have instructed officials to speed up the process of compensation.#Pulwama  H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) February 15, 2019

I spoke to martyred #CRPF soldier H Guru's family over the phone and consoled them. Their grief is heartwrenching. We are with them.

I have instructed officials to speed up the process of compensation.#Pulwama  H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) February 15, 2019

Jammu and Kashmir politicians Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah were among the first to condemn the attack.

Disturbing news coming in from #awantipura . Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several have been injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?  Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 14, 2019

Terrible news coming from the valley. A number of CRPF soldiers are reported to have been killed & injured in an IED blast. I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved. #Kashmir  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 14, 2019

Governor Satyapal Malik said, Forces responsible for the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir are desperate and frustrated and just want to prove presence. Visibly it seems to be guided from across border as Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility.

As a soldier and a citizen of India, my blood boils at the spineless and cowardly attacks. 18 brave hearts from the @crpfindia laid down their lives in #Pulwama. I salute their selfless sacrifice & promise that every drop of our soldiers blood will be avenged. #JaiHind  Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) February 14, 2019

Condemning the attack, Arun Jaitley said, Attack on CRPF in Pulwama, J&K is cowardice and condemnable act of terrorists. Nation salutes martyrs and we stand united with families of martyrs. We pray for speedy recovery of the injured. Terrorists will be given unforgettable lesson for their heinous act.

Hon'ble CM Sri KCR condemned the attack on CRPF Jawans in Kashmir. CM has stated that he is extremely moved on the grave loss of lives in the ghastly incident. CM conveyed deep condolences to the bereaved families of the martyrs and wished speedy recovery of the injured.  Telangana CMO (@TelanganaCMO) February 15, 2019

We strongly condemn this cowardly attack, we extend condolences to the kin of the jawans who were martyred. This is the 18th big terror attack in the last 5 years under this Modi government, Randeep Surjewala said.

Im deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a #CRPF convoy in J&K in which many of our brave CRPF men have been martyred and a large number wounded, some critically. My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 14, 2019

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her condolences to the families of the CRPF soliders who were killed.

Saddened that 13 CRPF jawans became martyrs today in Pulwama. We salute our brave jawans and extend our solidarity and condolences to their families. Our prayers for those injured. We wish them a speedy recovery  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 14, 2019

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the country must stand united in this moment of grief.

Extremely shocking news coming from Pulwama (J&K). I strongly condemn the terror attack on CRPF convoy in which many casualties are feared. India must stand united in this moment of grief  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 14, 2019

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his Rajasthan counterpart Ashok Gehlot also expressed their sadness.

Deeply saddened by the martyrdom of so many @crpfindia #jawans in terrorist attack in #Pulwama district of #JammuAndKashmir. Strongly condemn the cowardly act and condolences to the bereaved families.  Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) February 14, 2019

Reports suggest that the terrorists triggered the blast while the CRPF personnel were plying through the Srinagar-Jammu highway.A mother has apologised after posting a video of her toddler crossing a collapsed suspension bridge over deep water to get to school.

Siti Zaharah posted the video of her 40-year-old husband guiding the boy across the bridge in Kuala Lipis, Malaysia, on Facebook.

The 85-metre long bridge moves in the breeze as the pair slowly make their way across holding on to just a thin cable.

Siti Zaharah posted a video of her 40-year-old husband guiding the boy across the bridge in Kuala Lipis, Malaysia, on Facebook

In the clip the 85-metre long bridge moves in the breeze as the pair slowly make their way across holding on to just a thin cable

Her Facebook post said: 'My son is so determined to go to school that I have to be brave to cross this "sophisticated" bridge.

'Already a year and still there is no change, the hanging bridge of Bukit Bentong in Kuala Lipis.'

Since the video went viral, reaching nearly 160,000 views, many have criticised her for endangering her son's life.

Now Jelai state assemblyman Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail has told Mrs Zaharah that repairs on the bridge will start within a week.

The alternative route was inaccessible due to heavy floods, but it is possible to use boats to cross the river.

Her Facebook post said: 'My son is so determined to go to school that I have to be brave to cross this "sophisticated" bridge'A high-tech vessel run by a US exploration firm is en route to resume the hunt for flight MH370 in a new bid to solve one of aviation's greatest mysteries.

The Malaysia Airlines jet disappeared with 239 people on board in March 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing after diverting from its flight path.

No sign of the plane was found in a 120,000 square kilometre zone selected by satellite analysis of the jet's likely trajectory and the Australian-led hunt - the largest in aviation history - was called off in January last year.

A high-tech vessel (pictured) run by a US exploration firm is en route to resume the hunt for flight MH370 in a new bid to solve one of aviation's greatest mysteries

But it looks set to resume soon. Research vessel Seabed Constructor, leased by exploration firm Ocean Infinity, has set off from South Africa for the Indian Ocean with the aim of arriving in the search zone by mid-January, a source familiar with the matter said.

It is hoped by this time the Malaysian government and Ocean Infinity will have finalised a deal for the hunt to resume.

Malaysia's Deputy Transport Minister Aziz Kaprawi said negotiations for the firm to restart the hunt on a 'no find, no fee' basis were in the final stages.

'They [Ocean Infinity] know we are very serious in taking their offer,' he told AFP.

The Malaysia Airlines jet disappeared with 239 people on board in March 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing after diverting from its flight path

A spokesman for the company added: 'The company are awaiting final contract award before the search recommences.'

Ocean Infinity was one of three companies which had bid to resume the hunt.

The source, who declined to be identified, said that the firm had decided to send the Seabed Constructor, a Norwegian research vessel, to the southern Indian Ocean so that it was ready to start searching in a window of good weather expected in January and February.

The vessel is carrying several autonomous submarines which can be launched from the boat to scour the seabed for fragments of the jet.

Australia's national science body CSIRO released a report in April suggesting the doomed plane was 'most likely' north of the former search zone in an area of approximately 25,000 square kilometres.

Only three confirmed fragments of MH370 have been found, all of them on western Indian Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon.Government plans in Malaysia to set up a conversion therapy course aimed at transgender women have sparked outrage.

LGBT activists in the country have slammed the proposed course, which is being organised after a survey of the transgender population by Malaysian authorities.

White participation in the course would be voluntary, transgender activist Nisha Ayub said the course would only deepen the community's isolation.

She said: 'They're looking more to... corrective therapy, which violates everyone's rights in so many ways.

LGBT activists have slammed the proposed course, which is being organised after a survey of the transgender population by Malaysian authorities. Pictured: Kuala Lumpur

'If [transgender people] feel that they cannot change themselves, they will feel like outcasts from society.'

Terengganu executive council member Ghazali Taib said the programme would also include medical, psychological and religious experts  as well as transgender women who have 'returned to normal lives'.

He added: 'Transgender women are part of our society. They are our responsibility.

'At the end, it is up to them to make a choice. The government's concept is not to force.

'We give them a path to make the best choices for their lives.'

There are no official figures on transgenders in Malaysia, though a health ministry document estimated that the country was home to about 24,000

Human Rights Watch has previously warned that discrimination against LGBT people was 'pervasive' in Malaysia

It comes after a Human Rights Watch report this year found that discrimination against LGBT people in 'pervasive' in Malaysia, where there are laws against sodomy that can end up in offenders facing jail time and whipping.

'If you ask someone not to be themselves that will have an adverse impact on the health and-well being of the person,' said Thilaga Sulathireh, co-founder of transgender activist group Justice for Sisters.

There are no official figures on transgenders in Malaysia, though a health ministry document estimated that the country was home to about 24,000 transgender sex workers as of 2014.

Video courtesy KUTV:An Australian grandmother acquitted of drug trafficking may still face the firing squad as prosecutors appeal her not guilty verdict.

Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto was caught with 1.5 kilograms of meth in her bags at Kuala Lumpur airport in 2014 en route to Melbourne.

The 54-year-old was on Wednesday found not guilty by a Malaysian court after a judge ruled she unknowingly carried the drugs after being scammed.

An Australian grandmother (pictured, centre) found not guilty of drug trafficking

Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto (pictured), 54, was caught at Kuala Lumpur airport on route to Melbourne with 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine in her bags

But prosecutors say they will appeal the verdict and have two weeks to file documents disputing the judge's decision.

An appeal would keep Ms Exposto in Malaysia for several months and give her the death penalty if it is upheld by a higher court.

Malaysia is amending laws that no longer bind judges to hand down mandatory death sentences for drug mules.

That law has not yet been gazetted, however, and therefore Ms Exposto would have faced a mandatory death sentence if convicted.

Australian Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto leaves following her release at the High Court in Shah Alam

Australian Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto leaves her hearing at the Shah Alam High Court after being found not guilty

Ms Exposto was to be processed by Malaysian immigration authorities for deportation after the three-year ordeal.

Her lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said that immediately after the verdict Ms Exposto 'was relieved and glad that justice found in her favour. She was more thrilled to be able to call her family in Australia.'

Her long-awaited reunion will instead be delayed, perhaps permanently, dampening the excitement of her brother Hugo

'We were just waiting for it. Once the judgment was out, I was very relieved and happy,' he told Nine News after the verdict.

'We're waiting for her. Me and my family have already spoken to her, we're very excited.'

Co-lawyer, Farhan Shafee said expert testimony from Monica Whitty, cyberpsychologist from Warwick University in the UK, was key to the judge's finding (pictured is Ms Exposto arriving at the court)

Pictured are the drugs found in Ms Exposto's luggage at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Ms Exposto's lawyers argued throughout her trial she had fallen for a complex online romance scam that tricked her into believing she was in a two-year-relationship with a US Army officer.

Ms Exposto was told 'Captain Daniel Smith' was leaving the military and needed her to pick up his discharge papers and take them to the U.S embassy in Australia.

She flew to Shanghai and received a bag from his 'friends' she thought contained the papers and clothes, but had the drugs hidden in the lining.

'She was tricked into carrying the bag by the internet scam, what we call the internet romance,' said Ms Exposto's lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah after the ruling.

'Over and above this the judge also said that the circumstances at the airport itself was described by the judge as overwhelmingly in her favour.

'Because the judge described her as 'naive', not merely innocent but naive.'

The sentence comes after Exposto's (pictured) claims she fell victim to a US military romance scam and was tricked into carrying the drugs

Hugo Pinto Exposto (pictured), the son of Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto at the Shah Alam High Court

At her layover in Kuala Lumpur airport, Ms Exposto mistakenly went through immigration despite being a transfer passenger, where the drugs were discovered.

'It was almost as though she asked for trouble as a trafficker,' Mr Shafee said.

'But because she was not a trafficker, because she is an innocent carrier, tricked into carrying a bag, she did all these innocent things.'

Co-lawyer, Farhan Shafee said expert testimony from Monica Whitty, cyberpsychologist from Warwick University in the UK, was key to the judge's finding.

She gave evidence that the four stages of a cyber crime had been committed by scammers preying on Ms Exposto.

The first stage is to find a lonely victim, secondly an ideal person is presented - in this case a US officer.

Tania Scivetti (pictured, centre), one of the lawyers of Australian defendant Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto, is seen outside a courtroom at the high court in Shah Alam, near Kuala Lumpur

The third stage is the grooming, which for Ms Exposto was a two year online relationship.

The final stage is to create a crisis - 'Captain Smith' needing Ms Exposto to deliver his discharge papers so they could get married.

'He [Smith] made me feel loved, he made me feel wanted,' Ms Exposto told the court, adding that the alleged US serviceman would send her photos of himself.

'Smith would sing to me a few times a day and send love poems as well,' she added.

Ms Exposto said Smith had also asked to marry her in September 2013 at a time when her relationship with her husband was getting 'a bit sour'.

Mr Shafee told reporters that Ms Exposto's testimony suggested her close online relationship with Smith.

'There are probably thousands, mostly women, who have been conned into similar situations. Captain Daniel Smith is one of the many scammers,' he said.

Two Australians were hanged in Malaysia in 1986 for heroin trafficking - the first Westerners to be executed in the country.Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto thought she was going to marry the love of her life when she picked up a bag and got on a plane for Melbourne.

Instead, the Australian grandmother was locked up in a Malaysian jail for three years facing the death penalty after 1.6kg of meth was found in her luggage.

The 54-year-old had fallen for a complex online romance scam that tricked her into believing she was in a two-year-relationship with a US Army officer.

An Australian grandmother (pictured, centre) found not guilty of drug trafficking

Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto (pictured), 54, was caught at Kuala Lumpur airport on route to Melbourne with 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine in her bags

Ms Exposto was told 'Captain Daniel Smith' was leaving the military and needed her to pick up his discharge papers and take them to the U.S embassy in Australia.

She flew to Shanghai and received a bag from his 'friends' she thought contained the papers and clothes, but had the drugs hidden in the lining.

Ms Exposto was on Wednesday found not guilty of drug trafficking by a Malaysian court after a judge agreed she unknowingly carrier the meth.

'She was tricked into carrying the bag by the internet scam, what we call the internet romance,' said Ms Exposto's lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah after the ruling.

'Over and above this the judge also said that the circumstances at the airport itself was described by the judge as overwhelmingly in her favour.

'Because the judge described her as "naive", not merely innocent but naive.'

Australian Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto leaves following her release at the High Court in Shah Alam

Australian Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto leaves her hearing at the Shah Alam High Court after being found not guilty

At her layover in Kuala Lumpur airport, Ms Exposto mistakenly went through immigration despite being a transfer passenger, where the drugs were discovered.

'It was almost as though she asked for trouble as a trafficker,' Mr Shafee said.

'But because she was not a trafficker, because she is an innocent carrier, tricked into carrying a bag, she did all these innocent things.'

Co-lawyer, Farhan Shafee said expert testimony from Monica Whitty, cyberpsychologist from Warwick University in the UK, was key to the judge's finding.

Co-lawyer, Farhan Shafee said expert testimony from Monica Whitty, cyberpsychologist from Warwick University in the UK, was key to the judge's finding (pictured is Ms Exposto arriving at the court)

Pictured are the drugs found in Ms Exposto's luggage at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Whitty gave evidence that the four stages of a cyber crime had been committed by scammers preying on Ms Exposto.

The first stage is to find a lonely victim, secondly an ideal person is presented - in this case a US officer.

The third stage is the grooming, which for Ms Exposto was a two year online relationship.

The final stage is to create a crisis - 'Captain Smith' needing Ms Exposto to deliver his discharge papers so they could get married.

'He [Smith] made me feel loved, he made me feel wanted,' Ms Exposto told the court, adding that the alleged US serviceman would send her photos of himself.

'Smith would sing to me a few times a day and send love poems as well,' she added.

The sentence comes after Ms Exposto's (pictured) claims she fell victim to a US military romance scam and was tricked into carrying the drugs

Ms Exposto said Smith had also asked to marry her in September 2013 at a time when her relationship with her husband was getting 'a bit sour'.

Mr Shafee told reporters that Ms Exposto's testimony suggested her close online relationship with Smith.

'There are probably thousands, mostly women, who have been conned into similar situations. Captain Daniel Smith is one of the many scammers,' he said.

Mr Shafee said Ms Exposto would now be processed by Malaysian immigration authorities for deportation after the three-year ordeal.

He said that immediately after the verdict Ms Exposto 'was relieved and glad that justice found in her favour. She was more thrilled to be able to call her family in Australia.'

Hugo Pinto Exposto (pictured), the son of Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto at the Shah Alam High Court

However, she could remain in custody for months as she awaits the appeal against the not guilty verdict.

Malaysia is amending laws that no longer bind judges to hand down mandatory death sentences for drug mules.

That law has not yet been gazetted, however, and therefore Ms Exposto would have faced a mandatory death sentence if convicted.

Two Australians were hanged in Malaysia in 1986 for heroin trafficking - the first Westerners to be executed in the country.An Australian grandmother has been found not guilty of drug trafficking by a court in Malaysia.

Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto, 54, was caught at Kuala Lumpur airport on route to Melbourne with 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine in her bags.

The verdict comes after she claimed she fell victim to a US military romance scam and was tricked into carrying the drugs.

'She was tricked into carrying the bag by the internet scam, what we call the internet romance,' said Ms Exposto's lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah after the ruling.

An Australian grandmother (pictured, centre) found not guilty of drug trafficking

Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto (pictured), 54, was caught at Kuala Lumpur airport on route to Melbourne with 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine in her bags

'Over and above this the judge also said that the circumstances at the airport itself was described by the judge as overwhelmingly in her favour.

'Because the judge described her as "naive", not merely innocent but naive.'

Ms Exposto had mistakenly gone through immigration despite not needing to as a transit passenger, and was then caught, her lawyer said.

'It was almost as though she asked for trouble as a trafficker.

'But because she was not a trafficker, because she is an innocent carrier, tricked into carrying a bag, she did all these innocent things.'

Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said Ms Exposto will now be processed by Malaysian immigration authorities for deportation after the three-year ordeal.

Malaysia is amending laws that no longer bind judges to hand down mandatory death sentences for drug mules

That law has not yet been gazetted, however, and therefore Exposto would have faced a mandatory death sentence if convicted.

Australian Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto leaves following her release at the High Court in Shah Alam

Australian Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto leaves her hearing at the Shah Alam High Court after being found not guilty

Co-lawyer, Farhan Shafee said expert testimony from Monica Whitty, cyberpsychologist from Warwick University in the UK, was key to the judge's finding.

Whitty gave evidence that the four stages of a cyber crime had been committed by scammers preying on Exposto.

The first stage is to find a lonely victim, secondly an ideal person is presented - in this case a US officer.

The third stage is the grooming, which for Exposto was a two year online relationship.

The final stage is to create a crisis, Shafee said.

Co-lawyer, Farhan Shafee said expert testimony from Monica Whitty, cyberpsychologist from Warwick University in the UK, was key to the judge's finding (pictured is Ms Exposto arriving at the court)

Pictured are the drugs found in Ms Exposto's luggage at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Exposto's online boyfriend was to be discharged from the military and urged her to fly to Shanghai to pick up his discharge papers - so they could marry - and deliver the papers to the US Embassy in Australia.

The papers were fake and she was asked to carry a bag, with drugs hidden in the lining.

He said that immediately after the verdict Exposto 'was relieved and glad that justice found in her favour. She was more thrilled to be able to call her family in Australia.'

The judge referred Exposto to the immigration department for deportation to Australia but she could remain in custody for months as she awaits the appeal against the not guilty verdict.

The sentence comes after Exposto's (pictured) claims she fell victim to a US military romance scam and was tricked into carrying the drugs

Ms Exposto told the High Court in September she fell for a scam masterminded by a certain 'Captain Daniel Smith', who claimed to be a US soldier based in Afghanistan.

Defence lawyers said that she was lured into carrying a bag - which she believed contained only clothing - by 'Smith' who asked her to take it to Melbourne from Shanghai.

She was in transit at Kuala Lumpur airport when she was arrested.

'He [Smith] made me feel loved, he made me feel wanted,' Exposto told the court, adding that the alleged US serviceman would send her photos of himself.

'Smith would sing to me a few times a day and send love poems as well,' she added.

Hugo Pinto Exposto (pictured), the son of Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto at the Shah Alam High Court

Exposto said Smith had also asked to marry her in September 2013 at a time when her relationship with her husband was getting 'a bit sour'.

Defence lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told reporters that Exposto's testimony suggests her close online relationship with Smith.

'There are probably thousands, mostly women, who have been conned into similar situations. Captain Daniel Smith is one of the many scammers,' he said.

Two Australians were hanged in Malaysia in 1986 for heroin trafficking -- the first Westerners to be executed in the country.The uniforms of air stewardesses for AirAsia and Firefly could arouse passengers as they are 'too revealing', according to a Malaysia senator.

Senator Abdullah Mat Yasim said the 'eye-catching outfits' did not portray Malaysia's Islamic roots.

The comments were made yesterday in the Dewan Negara, which is the upper house of the Parliament of Malaysia.

Scroll down for video

'Eye-catching outfits': AirAsia has come under fire from senators in Malaysia for being too provocative

Senator Hanafi Mamat suggested that air stewardesses should wear shariah-compliant clothing, which would show Malaysia is a Muslim country

He added that 'The Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) must really look into this', according to New Straits Times.

The senator is of the Umno political party, which is currently in power.

Abdullah's comments were met with agreement by fellow senator, Megat Zulkarnain Omardin, who is the General Secretary of the Malaysian National Silat Federation.

He felt that Malaysia airline Malindo also dressed their air stewardesses too provocatively. 'My wife is worried whenever I fly alone on Malindo or AirAsia.

'This is a real hassle for me.'

However, Abdullah disagreed that Malaysian aircarrier, Malindo, provided their air stewardesses with inappropriate uniforms.

'Too revealing': Senator Abdullah Mat Yasim said the outfits of air stewardesses on AirAsia and Firefly were inappropriate

He said the outfits were suitable because the 'sensitive areas' were not visible. He did not clarify what the 'sensitive areas' were.

The Dewan Negara (Malaysian Parliament) deputy president Abdul Halim Abd Samad felt the issue was an important one.

He said: 'This is a good topic that many people can relate to as they always take flights.'

The comments come soon after Senator Hanafi Mamat suggested that air stewardesses should wear shariah-compliant clothing.

According to Channel News Asia, he said: 'We are proud that Malaysia is an Islamic country with its own cultural identity, but when our flight stewardesses dress sexily and disrespectfully, this will give tourists who use the services of our national carriers the wrong impression.

'The time has come for the government to provide new uniform guidelines which will portray Malaysia as a Muslim country with strong Eastern values.'A grieving mother has warned Australians against medical tourism after her son died recovering from plastic surgery in Malaysia.

Leigh Aiple, 31, saved up $35,000 to undergo a tummy tuck, liposuction, an upper eye lift, a chin tuck, a thigh lift, chest sculpting and lip filler at the Beverly Wilshire Clinic in Kuala Lumpur in 2014.

'I don't want anyone else to risk it,' his mother Grace Westworth told the ABC on Monday. 'It was totally dangerous. He was high-risk and they didn't stop.'

Heartbroken Grace Westworth (left) is grieving the loss of her son Leigh Aiple who died in 2014

Leigh Aiple traveled to Malaysia for two procedures after he lost a significant amount of weight

Mr Aiple had been overweight and self-conscious, and all he wanted was to 'turn his life around' after being bullied as a child.

He had recently lost a significant amount of weight and wanted to remove the loose skin to complete his weight loss journey, according to Yahoo7.

After two surgeries at the 'boutique medical centre' in the space of five days, he couldn't move, stand, or even roll out of bed. In emails to his mother, he wrote that he was short of breath, had a rapid heartbeat, and was experiencing fainting spells.

After five days, he was given permission to fly home, despite the fact that his wounds from surgery had burst open, oozing fluid and blood into his bed.

Ms Westworth picked up her son from the airport, and was horrified at his condition.

'He came off that plane in a wheelchair, I said: 'How are you Leigh?' [and] he said: 'Horrid  I am in so much pain, I can't describe the pain',' Ms Westworth recalled.

'When I saw the gaping holes I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I could see inside.'

The next morning, he collapsed at his Melbourne home, and died a short while later.

'I am in so much pain, I can't describe the pain,' Mr Aiple told his mother after his plane landed

One of the first things Ms Westworth noticed when her son came home was his swollen foot

Ms Westworth requested that the coroner investigate the treatment and care that her son was given in Malaysia, and it was revealed to be 'well below Australian standards'.

'The Australian medical tourist will not necessarily be aware of the difference in standards of medical practice and management of patient care,' coroner Caitlin English warned.

She emphasised that prospective patients should be aware of the risks involved with overseas medical treatment. An estimated 15,000 Australians each year travel overseas for cosmetic and dental work.

The president of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons and former head of plastic surgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Professor Mark Ashton, said that the care given to Mr Aiple as 'grossly inadequate'.

In Australia, he would have been deemed a 'high risk patient' due to his weight of 124kg, and the operation would not have taken place.

The cause of death was found to be 'deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot in his lung, often associated with flying', which Mr Aiple developed in the clinic before his plane trip home.

It was also revealed that the level of of anti-blood clotting treatment administrated was 'below Australia's recommended levels'.

Experts hope that prospective medical tourists learn from Mr Aiple's experience in Malaysia

Australians are warned that the level of care given overseas is not the same as it is in Australia

Professor Ashton warned that having surgery overseas comes with significant risk, because there is no guarantee as to the standard of care offered to patients.

He likened overseas procedures to 'taking a bet', noting that there is no such thing as an international standard of care, and is it difficult to find out the level of expertise of the surgeons employed by overseas clinics.

Mr Aiple was only given one consultation before his surgery, whereas in Australia a surgeon would require up to four pre-surgery consultations.

Emily Hart, a medical negligence lawyer with Maurice Blackburn, hopes that other people contemplating cosmetic surgery overseas would learn from Mr Aiple's tragic death.

She urged people to remember that such companies 'are putting profit over patient safety', adding that clinics want to perform as many surgeries as possible regardless of the risk.

The coroner has recommended Victoria's Chief Health Officer publish a health advisory warning medical tourism patients that overseas standards of care can differ to medical care in Australia.A private company has renewed its pledge to locate MH370 on a 'no find, no fee' basis after authorities spent $200million on a fruitless search.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) attempted to find the missing aircraft for two years after it vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in 2014.

US-based company Ocean Infinity was this week briefed by the ATSB in London after it earlier offered to take up the search for free should it be unsuccessful.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) attempted to find missing aircraft MH370 for two years. A private company has renewed its pledged to locate the wreckage on a 'no find, no fee' basis

A Boeing 777 flaperon cut down to match the one from flight MH370 found on Reunion island off the coast of Africa in 2015 is lowered into water to discover its drift characteristics

The two-day meeting involved officers of the CSIRO, the ATSB and other bodies which were involved in the original search, The Australian reported.

'We only talked about where they would search,' a CSIRO drift modelling expert told the paper, indicating the original agreement may go ahead.

Ocean Infinity's search could reportedly start in a matter of weeks.

The company struck the 'no find, no fee' deal with the Malaysian Government earlier this year and was to receive $90 million only if it located the wreckage.

It plans to use sonar scanning equipment to find aircraft, after a multinational search cost Australian, Malaysian and Chinese taxpayers $200million.

The three countries agreed to suspend the search in January after 120,000 square kilometres of seabed was combed without finding any trace of the doomed flight.

MH370 disappeared without a trace with 12 Malaysian crew members and 227 passengers from 15 nations on board.

A multinational search cost Australian, Malaysian and Chinese taxpayers $200million. This piece of aircraft debris discovered on the island of Pemba, off the coast of TanzaniaA Dutch model has died in mysterious circumstances in Malaysia amid reports she plunged from a 20th floor apartment after a party.

Ivana Smit, 18, was found dead on a sixth floor balcony of the Persiaran Capsquare block in Kuala Lumpur's Jalan Dang Wangi district and was not wearing any clothes.

Police insist there were 'no criminal elements' to the young model's death, but her devastated family has demanded an investigation.

Dutch model Ivana Smit has died in mysterious circumstances in Malaysia amid reports she plunged from a 20th floor apartment

Ivana Smit, 18, was found dead on a sixth floor balcony of the Persiaran Capsquare block in Kuala Lumpur's Jalan Dang Wangi district and was not wearing any clothes

Police insist there were 'no criminal elements' to the young model's death, but her devastated family has demanded an investigation

The model's body was found at the Persiaran Capsquare block in Kuala Lumpur's Jalan Dang Wangi district

The teenager, who had worked in fashion shows for Chanel and other brands, had been partying but reportedly returned to the flat at 5am last Thursday.

But several hours later her dead body was found naked after allegedly falling from the balcony and landing on the sixth floor of the block.

Police said there were 'no criminal elements' to the death but Ivana's devastated father along with his wife and son have now arrived in the country and contacted Interpol to demand a full probe into the incident.

Ivana's grandfather Fredrik Smit, who has lived in Penang, Malaysia, for over two decades and raised Ivana as a child there, said today: 'We cannot believe she fell from level 20 and the body was found at level 6.

The teenager, who had worked in fashion shows for Chanel and other brands, had been partying but returned to the flat at 5am last Thursday

'She was found there naked. Where are her shoes and underwear?

He added: 'We believe there is a criminal element in Ivana's death. Of course we don't believe the story from the police because they can't give us photographs or a report from the scene. Ivana's father has contacted the Dutch ambassador and Interpol.'

Ivana's father Marcel Smit claims Ivana sent her boyfriend a message and selfie at 7.25am before she was found dead around seven hours later last Thursday afternoon at around 2 or 3pm.

He told Dutch media: 'At about 10am she would have fallen from the balcony at 20 floors high. How is that possible? It is strange that she was not found until 3pm.

'She is tall, 1.81 meters, but the barrier is also 1.20 meters. Only when you bend over, do you fall off. She did not fall and did not jump either.'

Ivana's father Marcel Smit claims Ivana sent her boyfriend a message and selfie at 7.25am before she was found dead around seven hours later last Thursday afternoon at around 2 or 3pm

Ivana (pictured) had first moved to Malaysia 13 years ago and lived with her grandfather Fredrik

Marcel claims that police want to 'close the case quickly' and that neighbours heard 'shouts and an argument'.

According to Ivana's family, alcohol and ecstasy have allegedly been found in the blood of his daughter.

The model's uncle Fred Agenjo said: 'Those are not drugs that you're going to sleep on.

'There are so many questions. Her clothes have been found, but her shoes and underwear are not.

'The police do not look at her mobile phone. The police do not want to say whether the drugs were taken when they were alive. We want a full investigation.'

Ivana had first moved to Malaysia 13 years ago and lived with her grandfather Fredrik.

She was the second runner-up in Malaysia Supermodel Search 2014 and a leading model in the country.

Dang Wangi police chief Assistant Commissioner Shaharuddin Abdullah said the case was 'sudden death' and appealed for more information from witnesses.

He said: 'Our investigations so far and the post-mortem report show no elements of foul play.'People of Delhi will continue to suffer, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said after SC referred issue of clarity on division of power.

AAP said it was unfortunate that there was no clarity in the Supreme Court judgement that delivered a split verdict on who controls services in the National Capital Territory. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday said it was unfortunate that there was no clarity in the Supreme Court judgement that delivered a split verdict on who controls services in the National Capital Territory.

People of Delhi will continue to suffer, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj told reporters after the Supreme Court referred the issue of clarity on division of powers between the Delhi government and the Centre to a larger bench.

A two-judge bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, however, agreed on disputes relating to the Anti-Corruption Branch, setting up of a commission of inquiry, control over electricity boards, land revenue matters and appointment of pubic prosecutors.Girish Dahyabhai Patel, 65, used a blank document, pre-signed by his mother, and printed a will around it

A respected account who brazenly lied after being accused of forging his mother's will to leave her slice of the family's 160million to him has been jailed for a year.

Girish Dahyabhai Patel, 65, used a blank document, pre-signed by his 'astute and devout' mother, before adding a will around it.

He did so - his brother, Yashwant, claimed - in order to get hold of her shares and thus control over a 40m stake in the family's palm oil plantation in Malaysia.

Patel, of Highgate, was caught out by minute forensic analysis, which revealed the faint indentation of her signature elsewhere on the paper. It suggested she had signed the sheet while putting her name to several blank documents, one on top of the other, for use in the family's businesses.

At the High Court in February, Judge Andrew Simmonds QC found the will to be a forgery.

Instead, he upheld a previous will - which left everything to Yashwant.

Girish Patel, who sits as an arbitrator in disputes, was left facing legal costs bills totalling an estimated 1.3m and his reputation in ruins.

And today another judge, Mr Justice Marcus Smith, ruled him in contempt of court - and sent him to Pentonville Prison for 12 months.

Patel had now confessed that the 'detailed factual account' he gave under oath of his mother signing the will 'was false', said the judge.

In his February ruling, Judge Simmonds said: 'Regrettably, I have reached the conclusion that, despite his professional and business achievements, the truth is a flexible concept for Girish, to be fashioned according to his own interests and requirements.'

Patel then lied under oath during High Court proceedings into a family dispute over the will. Pictured: His mother

The court heard the family, originally from Gujarat, India, are successful business people, with their palm plantation the 'jewel in the crown' of an empire thought to be worth around 160m.

However, Girish fell out with his three brothers in 2009, leaving him 'at odds with some, or all' of them, said the judge.

A 'long and acrimonious dispute' has since raged over control of the businesses, with legal cases ongoing in several different countries.

The brothers' mum - Prabhavati Dahyabhai Patel - died aged 88 in September 2011, sparking fresh arguments in court.

First, Yashwant, who is a 69-year-old Newcastle-educated medical doctor and lives in New York, came forward with a will, made in 1986, leaving everything to him.

The document was approved, but Girish then launched a bid to overturn it, for the first time producing a document he claimed his mum had signed in 2005.

Their brother Suresh, 63, backed Yashwant, while another, Rajnikant, 71, played no part in the case.

Girish claimed that, on a visit to London from her home in Singapore in 2005, his mother had asked him to make a new will.

She was concerned that, on her death, some of her money might be given to the Swaminarayan Temple, in Edgware, a Hindu sect she did not support.

Instead, she insisted that the will be in Girish's favour so that he could distribute money to charities of her choosing when she died.

She had gone to his offices in Gorst Road, North Acton, and put her name to the will, translated into Gujarati by him in the presence of witnesses.

Patel appeared before Westmister Magistrates' Court in August where he pleaded not guilty. Today he was sentenced to one year in prison

But Judge Simmonds said that, apart from 'unreliable' evidence put forward by Girish, nothing backed up his account of how the will was signed.

His mum never mentioned it and there was no documentary evidence even of its existence until the beginning of 2015.

Crucially, analysis of the document itself backed up Yashwant's case.

He had told the court of a practice within the family, whereby blank documents were signed in bulk, so business could be conducted in the absence of others.

Under the microscope, an expert found on the 2005 document the indentation on the page of another signature of Mrs Patel's nearby.

Tests also showed specks of printer ink on top of the signature, but none underneath, suggesting the signature came before the text.

'I find that there were available to Girish blank papers pre-signed by the deceased which enabled him to forge the will, utilising a genuine but old signature of the deceased,' said the judge.

Despite being told not to discuss their evidence, Girish and some of his witnesses had got together for a 'last-minute joint revision' session before the trial to make sure their evidence was as consistent as possible.

But Girish, who lives in a private gated development off Fitzroy Park,

Highgate, had 'brazenly lied' when asked about it under oath, and admitted having done so, said the judge.

'Girish is a chartered accountant and sits as an arbitrator,' he continued.

Girish is a self-confessed liar and even when accepting that he had lied to the court, there was a certain insouciance in his responses which increased, rather than allayed, my concerns as to his reliability generally

'I would, in the normal course of events, expect such a witness to be reliable and trustworthy.

'However, Girish is a self-confessed liar and even when accepting that he had lied to the court, there was a certain insouciance in his responses which increased, rather than allayed, my concerns as to his reliability generally.'

Finding that Girish had indeed forged the will, the judge said: 'I consider Girish's account of the genesis and execution of the will to be implausible.'

He 'exercised influence' over crucial witnesses in the trial, enabling him to 'persuade them both falsely to witness the will'.

He continued: 'I accept Yashwant's contention that Girish had a strong motive for forging the will.

'It provided him...with control over a $50m stake in (the palm oil plantation) as well as a number of tactical advantages in the bitterly-fought litigation with his brothers.

'It is hard to account for the peculiar layout of the text of the will, unless it was necessary to fit around the deceased's pre-existing signature.

'The impression of another signature of the deceased on the same paper in close proximity to her actual signature is consistent with her having pre-signed a number of blank sheets, one on top of the other.'

Judge Simmonds' ruling meant that the 1986 document - under which Yashwant gets everything - was Mrs Patel's last true will.

Jailing Girish today, Mr Justice Marcus Smith said he had supported a lying case with sworn affidavits, witness statements and oral evidence.

But he now admitted that the evidence he gave under oath was false and that he was aware of that when he gave it.A search has been launched along the south coast of Western Australia for traces of missing flight MH370.

Amateur wreck hunter Blaine Gibson claims he has found almost 20 pieces of debris on the western side of the Indian Ocean from the Boeing 777 that vanished with 239 people aboard three years ago.

Mr Gibson is now working with Charitha Pattiaratchi, a professor at the University of WA, who told about the location of possible debris in Australia.

Amateur wreck hunter Blaine Gibson claims to have found almost 20 pieces of debris on the western side of the Indian Ocean from the Boeing 777

'Professor Pattiaratchi tells me that the current that swept the debris from MH370s probable crash location could bring it back towards the southern coast of Australia because it merges with the southern Indian Ocean current near South Africa,' Mr Gibson told the West Australian.

Mr Gibson said debris should come ashore anywhere from Cape Leeuwin around to Walpole, Denmark and Albany.

'I urge everyone on holidays this Christmas to keep an eye out for debris,' he added.

Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, with 239 passengers and crew on board.

A Boeing 777 flaperon cut down to match the one from flight MH370 found on Reunion island off the coast of Africa in 2015, is lowered into water to discover its drift characteristics by researchers in Tasmania

French gendarmes and police inspect a large piece of plane debris which was found on the beach in Saint-Andre, on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion in July 2015

A piece of debris believed to be an outboard wing flap belonging to missing flight MH370

Scientists potentially narrowed the search area for the missing airliner to three specific locations in the southern Indian Ocean through new satellite and drift analysis of the crash released last month.

Malaysia, China and Australia agreed to suspend the deep-sea sonar search in January after 120,000 square kilometres of seabed were combed without finding any trace of the plane.

But the drift analysis by Australian science agency CSIRO suggests the wreckage is just north of that area.

A 25,000 square kilometre expanse was identified by a panel of experts as the most likely resting place of the Boeing 777 and the 239 people aboard.

Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, with 239 people on board. A file photo shows a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 in July of that year

That expanse adjoins the original search zone far southwest of Australia that was identified through satellite analysis of the final hours of the flight, which apparently ended when the plane ran out of fuel.

The findings will provide the basis of a new search to be conducted by seabed exploration company Ocean Infinity, based in the US, that is due to begin at the start of 2018.Former South Australian gang boss Vince Focarelli now describes himself as a 'free' man after fleeing to Malaysia earlier this year to escape crime-related deportation.

The devoted Islam convert has established himself a completely new life in Kuala Lumpur; living among a dense Muslim population with his mother at his side.

But the 42-year-old's newfound freedom has come at a cost, as his wife and stepdaughter remain in Australia on beloved home soil, The Advertiser reports.

Former South Australian gang leader Vince Focarelli (left) is a 'free man' since being deported from Australia and establishing a new life in Malaysia

The former Comancheros leader narrowly escaped time in a detention centre over criminal activity, but says his underworld ties are now behind him

'I have never experienced any culture as beautiful as this. I feel free and I sleep well at night,' Mr Focarelli said.

'I am missing two people. I am missing my wife and stepdaughter. When they are here, I will be complete.'

The former Comancheros leader - an Italian native - risked having his Australian visa cancelled because of his 'criminal activity'.

Fearing it would be revoked and he'd be sent to a detention centre, he left the country before an adjudication process could begin.

Focarelli, who became a Islam devout in 2012, survived five assassination attempts at the hands of gangland rivals - the last attempt killing his stepson.

Focarelli (left) fled to southeast Asia before Australian authorities could cancel his visa

Now, he encourages others to celebrate the beauty of life, and hopes to reopen his old Adelaide restaurant, La'Fig Cucin, in Kuala Lumpur.

The daunting task won't be the same without his wife though, given she was 'the backbone' behind their Carrington Street establishment.

'If it wasn't for her, it would never have got off the ground. When they decided to deport me, my wife said she wanted nothing to do with the place without me. So what we did was pack it up, put it on a container and it is now on Malaysian soil.'

Once a man who's life literally involved dodging bullets, Focarelli has now devoted himself to caring for his mother, who has stage-four cancer.More than 60 admirals and hundreds of Navy officers are being investigated over their contact with Malaysian defense contractor 'Fat Leonard' who routinely bribed sailors with prostitutes, liquor and karaoke.

Leonard Glenn Francis, dubbed 'Fat Leonard' for his considerable 350lbs frame, was renowned for throwing extravagant parties which could last for days, according federal records.

Francis, who made a fortune supplying Navy vessels in ports all over the globe, had befriended dozens of admirals, bribing them with booze and girls in exchange for classified information to help his Singapore-based defense contract firm, records show.

Leonard Glenn Francis, dubbed 'Fat Leonard' (left and right) for his considerable 350lbs frame, was renowned for throwing extravagant parties for Naval officers, bribing them with booze and girls in exchange for classified information

The widespread corruption came to light after Francis was arrested in an international sting operation four years ago.

Since then, the Justice Department has charged 29 people, including two admirals, the Washington Post reports.

But the Navy has now revealed that it is currently investigating 440 other active-duty and retired personnel - including 60 current and former admirals - over their potential ties to Fat Leonard and his company.

The 'colossal bribery and fraud scandal' is one of the biggest in Naval history.

An official said the Navy has concluded that 230 of those under review were not guilty of misconduct as they had little to no contact with Francis, or had attended a dinner but under extenuating circumstances.

David Kapaun, right, seen with Singaporean military officers at a 2001 reception. Kapaun has pleaded guilty to fraud for lying about his relationship with defense contractor 'Fat Leonard'

So far, 14 Navy officials have pleaded guilty to either accepting bribes or making false statements, while another ten await trial. Francis and four of his senior executives have all pleaded guilty.

Earlier this year, U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Robert Gilbeau was jailed for 18 months after admitting in 2016 that he lied to investigators when questioned over his relationship with Francis.

Gilbeau admitted lying to investigators by saying he had never accepted gifts from the man which prosecutors claim included prostitutes and parties.

The 56-year-old confessed that when the pair met three times a year, Francis always picked up the tab. Gilbeau received gifts from Francis and met with him three times a year for extravagant dinners for at which Francis, a Malaysian citizen, always picked up the bill.

Gilbeau's business relationship with Francis actually dated back to 1997, during which Francis plied Gilbeau with expensive gifts ranging from fine dining, luxury hotels and prostitutes, prosecutors said.

Fat Leonard's company provided services such as trash and sewage removal, food, water, security and fuel to US Navy ships. The USS Nimitz (pictured) is one ship it serviced

Gilbeau was in his mid-30s when he first met Francis in Bali, Indonesia, and the parties with prostitutes started right away, prosecutors said.

In return, Gilbeau signed off on contracts for services such as removing waste from U.S. aircraft carriers at highly inflated prices, prosecutors said.

Retired Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless, former director of intelligence operations for U.S. Navy and intelligence chief for 7th Fleet, is among then ten awaiting trial. He was arrested in California in March and charged with conspiracy, bribery and making false statements for allegedly taking prostitutes as bribes.

He denies the charges.

US Navy commander David Kapaun pleaded guilty to lying about his relationship with the Malaysian defense contractor earlier this year.

Kapaun said in court that he omitted Francis from a security clearance update form because he knew 'I did have a past association with him that was unfavorable'.

Retired Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless, former director of intelligence operations for U.S. Navy and intelligence chief for 7th Fleet, is among then ten awaiting trial

He also didn't disclose receiving dinners, hotel stays and prostitutes from Francis, said his defense attorney, Victor Bakke. 'He played a minor role in the overall scheme that was conducted by Fat Leonard.

The allegations prompted Kapaun to resign earlier this year from his civilian position as deputy chief of staff for US Special Operations Command Pacific.

He was sentenced in September 2017 to 18 months in federal prison and $75,000 in fines and restitution.

Francis was arrested in September 2013 on fraud and bribery charges. He faces up to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty in January to bribery and conspiracy charges, prosecutors said.

Francis has acknowledged bribing Navy officials with cash, prostitutes and other gifts in exchange for classified information to help his company, Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia.

The company provided services such as trash and sewage removal, food, water, security and fuel to US Navy ships, according to prosecutors. He's awaiting sentencing.

Francis, 53, pleaded guilty in 2015 to bribing 'scores' of Navy officials and defrauding the service of more than $35 million.

But his overbilling of the Navy had been an open secret for years.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) opened separate investigations into Glenn Defense in 2006 but found it slow going until they opened a full blown corruption inquiry in 2009.

Gilbeau admitted lying to investigators by telling them he hadn't received any gifts from Francis in June 2016 (above entering court)

Gilbeau was working on the USS Boxer in 1997 (above) when he became friendly with Francis

Yet, Francis continued to mingle with some of the Navy's top leaders including posing for a photo with Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, the new chief of naval operations, and outgoing, Adm. Gary Roughead at a change-of-command ceremony at the Naval Academy in Annapolis in 2011.

The Navy would not confirm if either admiral was under investigation.

Greenert, who said he hadn't been contacted by investigators, met the defense contractor in the late 1990s and attended at least three of Francis' infamous dinners after he was promoted to vice admiral and took command of the fleet in 2003.

Greenert even sent Francis a holiday greeting card in 2005 featuring a sketch of the USS Blue Ridge, the 7th Fleet flagship, which the contractor had visited as a guest.

The admiral later thanked Francis for the 'superb services' his company provided to the Blue Ridge in a letter.

U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Robert Gilbeau was sentenced TO 18 months behind bars on Wednesday

Greenert told The Post it was not unusual for commanders to send correspondence to contractors to acknowledge their 'responsive and flexible' service, adding he sent hundreds of official Christmas cards as the 7th Fleet commander.

Francis also spent time with Vice Adm. Michael Miller, then the academy superintendent, during his visit to the Naval Academy in 2011.

Miller, who later arranged for a personal tour of his official residence, said he had 'no knowledge' that Francis was under investigation at the time.

The Navy later rebuked Miller, who retired from the Navy in 2015, with a formal letter of censure for failing to adequately reimburse Francis for lavish dinners and other gifts he received from the contractor while in command of an aircraft carrier strike group in Asia.

'Fat Leonard' is being held in San Diego while he awaits sentencing, and has admitted to scamming the Navy out of $35million, though investigators suspect the total may have been much larger.

His firm did business with the Navy for 25 years.The Duchess of Cornwall received a full, flag waving welcome as she visited a school in Kuala Lumpur today.

Camilla was at The International School ParkCity (ISP), a recently opened British curriculum school ranked fifth overall for A-Level results in Malaysia.

Its international student body is made up of over 50 nationalities.

The Duchess, accompanied by Her Majesty The Queen of Johor Raja Zarith Sofiah and the school's principal, Mr Andrew Dalton, toured the impressive facilities.

Students cheering and waving Malaysian flags lined her route clamouring for a sight of their royal visitor.

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Warm welcome: The Duchess of Cornwall received a full, flag waving welcome as she visited a school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia today

The Duchess was all smiles while greeting the children during her visit to The International School at Park City, which is a recently opened British curriculum school ranked fifth overall for A-Level results in Malaysia

The Duchess was accompanied by Her Majesty The Queen of Johor Raja Zarith Sofiah for the visit

She was greeted with flowers from a young pupil as the school's Principal, Mr Andrew Dalton, took her on a tour of the impressive facilities

The Duchess and Her Majesty The Queen of Johor also visited classrooms during the special trip and spoke with children

Students cheering and waving Malaysian flags lined her route clamouring for a sight of their royal visitor. Above they took an all-school photograph to capture the historic event

She also watched a swimming gala and signed a commemorative plaque to officially open the new building. The Duchess also met students in a year six class engaged in a creative writing workshop for The Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition.

Before she left she met meet Malaysian author Tash Aw - one of south east Asia's most successful writer as he undertook a workshop.

Open to all Commonwealth students, the competition is used to build confidence, develop writing skills, support creativity and encourage critical thinking, Camilla, who has placed childhood literacy at the heart of her public work, described the students she met as 'bursting with ideas'.

'It's all there, they are just uncorked,' she said.

The school has 1,100 pupils aged three to 18, from 50 nationalities.

Listening to their dreams for the future from a class of teenagers, based on tolerance and peace, the Duchess said: 'I expect they're coming up with much more original ideas than we have, they're so new and fresh.'

The trio also observed students during a swim practice at the impressive new school

The Duchess seemed to enjoy her time at The International School at ParkCity

The Duchess signed a commemorative plaque at The International School at ParkCity

Listening to their dreams for the future from a class of teenagers, based on tolerance and peace, the Duchess said: 'I expect they're coming up with much more original ideas than we have, they're so new and fresh.'

She told them: 'You're very bright. If children are all like you there is a lot of hope in this world. You're full of ideas.'

Later she met with a group of female equality pioneers at the Majestic Hotel in Kuala Lumpur for a discussion over tea about the role of women in Malaysian society - and was so engrossed in the conversation that the meeting ran over.

Dr Sharifah Hapsah, president of the National Council of Women's Organisations, described Camilla as 'completely charming' and said she was fascinated by the issues discussed.

'Her husband came in earlier to say how much his wife was looking forward to it and how much she wanted to discuss issues such as domestic violence, which is a particular passion of hers,' she said.

She told them: 'You're very bright. If children are all like you there is a lot of hope in this world. You're full of ideas.'

The Duchess is in the midst of a busy and hectic 11-day tour of the south-east Asia and India. The tour involves nearly 50 engagements for the The Duchess, who is aged 70

After her school visit, Camilla attended a meeting on gender equality with Malaysian female business leaders at The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur

'She did raise the issue of violence within the home and wanted to learn more about what services were available for women in Malaysia.'

Charles, meanwhile, shows off his skills in Arabic - by signing his name in the language.

He began the first full day of his maiden visit to Malaysia by touring the national Islamic Arts Museum with the ruler of the state of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah, the deputy Agong.

The heir to the throne, who has a passionate interest in Islamic art, has been learning to read and write the language for around six years.

While Camilla was solo for the day, The Prince of Wales visited the Islamic Arts Museum in Kuala Lumpur. Above he points to his framed signature written in Arabic, which is gifted to the museum during an unveiling by Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, The Sultan of Perak

Above The Prince of Wales enters through a door shaped in the style of Dr Who's Tardis during his visit to Worq Co-working space for Young Entrepreneurs

He presented his name Charles, written phonetically in Arabic, to the museum as a gift and in return received an image of the qur'an by Japanese calligrapher Fuad Koichi Honda.

Charles told the guests who included members of a number faiths: 'For me, ladies and Gentlemen, this museum serves as a reminder of just how important it is that all societies are able to preserve - and be proud of - their cultural heritage.'

He added: 'The Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia is the most wonderful celebration of the great diversity of traditions in Islamic art, and the rich variety of influences that have shaped it over the centuries.

'I am particularly delighted that the Museum has such strong connections with my own School of Traditional Arts which itself aims to ensure that traditional arts and skills continue to enrich our changing world.'

Earlier, the couple made a quick stop in Brunei for just a few hours in the midst of their 11-day tour of Asia

Camilla, 70, joked that she's not as young as she used to be during a hectic 11-day tour of south east Asia and India

When the prince, who is on an 11-day tour of south-east Asia and India, arrived from a brief visit from Brunei last night he signed his name in Arabic and had it framed as a gift.

He also voiced his concern that society needs to put the pedestrian rather than the car at the centre of urban development.

The Prince was attending a meeting of Malaysian town planners, organised in association with his Prince's Foundation

For Building Community. Malaysia is preparing to host the next UN World Urban Forum (WUF) in Kuala Lumpur next year. Meeting delegates, the Prince remarked : 'We should always start by putting the human being - the pedestrian- at the centre of things so that you have a walkable, liveable area that's attractive and reminds people of their local identity and culture.'

Several hours after meeting the Sultan of Brunei, the couple arrived in Kuala Lumpur for their visit to Malaysia

Camilla is said to have enjoyed a productive 45-minute conversation with the wife of the Sultan of Brunei

Camilla enjoyed catching up with Her Majesty Raja Isteri of Brunei

He also stressed the importance of joint-planning by developers. 'I've been trying for years to persuade the utility companies to put their cables and everything else in one trench so that they don't keep digging up the road.'

The couple is in the of a hectic 11-day tour of south-east Asia and India involving almost 50 engagements.

During a meeting with The Raja Isteri, wife of the Sultan of Brunei the Duchess, 70, admitted the pace is taking its toll.

The royal couple, who are on an official tour of Asia on behalf of the Queen, flew into Brunei for a whirlwind meeting with the country's monarch, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah - worth an estimated $20 billion - and tea with his family.

The royal couple enjoyed tea with the Sultan's family in a gilded room bedecked priceless masterpieces on the walls

Charles and Camilla spent just a few hours in the kingdom of one of the wealthiest men in the world between visiting Singapore and Malaysia.

As The Raja Isteri sympathised about the gruelling schedule, asking if she found it tiring, the Duchess replied cheerfully: 'Very tiring. Every day, we're non stop. It's more tiring as you get older.'

She joked: 'I keep trying to tell everybody that I'm not as young as I used to be, and have to slow down.'

Charles and Camilla, who are travelling in the government's official Voyager jet, were met at the international airport after flying in from Singapore by British High Commissioner Richard Lindsay.

The Duchess looked cool in the 84F heat in a loose Anna Valentine tunic and trousers.

Lindsay introduced them to the Sultan's heir, Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah and his wife, the beautiful Princess Sarah, who was a 17-year-old student when she married her husband, then 30, in 2004. She is pregnant with their fourth child.When we finally admit clothes haven't simply shrunk in the wash or the garish Christmas jumper will never again see the light of day, we typically donate them to high street charity stores or leave them in those giant metal recycle bins.

It is usually done in haste to rid clutter of the home - and we might not even check what charity our unwanted clothing is heading to, let alone think about selling it.

So, is it possible that you are sitting on a small fortune when it comes to second-hand clothing occupying valuable space in your wardrobe?

According to online marketplace Vinted, co-founded in 2012 by Milda Mitkute and Justas Janauskas and boasting a community of 21million across the US, UK and Europe, the answer is yes.

Vinted was co-founded by Milda Mitkute and Justas Janauskas and boasts a community of 21m across the US, France, Germany, UK, Poland, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Spain and Holland

Vinted allows users to sell clothes - or even swap them with other sellers - it says, without fees.

On average, you can make around 150 a month through selling clothes (new or second-hand) Vinted claims - and if you get the timing right you could make even more, according to chief executive Thomas Plantenga.

One seller made 800 selling a handbag from a luxury brand in 2018, he adds.

He says women's tops, dresses, jeans, coats, shoes (high heels, boots, trainers) and baby clothing all sell well on the site.

And, if you wait for the right moment, you could make more than you expect. For example, wedding dresses sell well in May ahead of the peak season for getting hitched.

In recent years, the textile industry has been criticised for unsustainable practices that harm the environment and there's an increasing demand for consumers to buy sustainable clothing or to recycle.

If you have plenty of second-hand clothing collecting dust you could take advantage of this trend.

Plantenga explains: 'Often, people end up with perfectly good clothes that they just don't wear anymore.

'Our mission is to give these clothes a second lease on life.

'Aside from the environmental factor, it's also financially beneficial - by selling your unworn clothes, you free up space in your wardrobe and make some extra cash in return.'

The platform is not only used by people selling used clothing but new items too and plugging in the right search criteria could go some way into helping you land a bargain.

To find these items on Vinted search under 'condition', and simply choose 'new with tags' and you'll find quality clothing items that have never been worn.

Five tips to sell clothes successfully online 1. Get money through referring a friend: Some sites will pay you to add friends and family. With Vinted, for example, you get 5 when a friend lists an item and 10 when they sell it. 2. Make sure you list your item correctly: If you're struggling to sell an item make sure you are using clear, up-to-date photos. Get a professional to help you take photos if you're not very good with the camera. 3. Make sure the price is right: Unless it's a really sought after item there's no point in trying to sell it for what you paid for it. You'll be able to glean as to whether the item is priced correctly by the interest you generate. With Vinted, for example, you can see if there's been interest but if there have been no offers to purchase you should reduce the price of the item. Members will be notified in the change in price. You can also offer a discount to buyers who've shown an interest. 4. Give people options: According to Vinted, you attract more buyers if you provide them with more shipping options. If, for example, you live in Kent and advertise the product as collection-only you'll put off buyers living further away. 5. Create a following: If you upload and sell items regularly you could start building a following which, according to Vinted, are three times more likely to buy from you. Remember to share the link of your items on your social media accounts too and encourage your friends to share it.

How it looks: Sellers create a page and list their clothes, including the brand and price they are asking for

How Vinted makes its money

Vinted doesn't charge fees for listing or selling clothing. However, it does impose a buyer protection fee on items that are bought through the site - and that is soaked up by the buyer.

Plantenga explains: 'This fee helps us offer services like tracked shipping, customer support to our members and order insurance of up to 50 in the rare event that something is not right with an order.

'It is made up of two parts: three to eight per cent of an item's price, plus a fixed fee of 30p-80p.

'Our fees are transparent: they're indicated to each buyer at checkout, as well as outlined in our terms and conditions and pricelist.'

For example, a pair of red Carvela shoes offered at 15, ends up costing 20.44 after the buyer protection fee of 1.45 and a postage price of 3.99 are added.

Meanwhile, an 800 Mori-Lee wedding dress will mean a 40.70 buyer protection fee, pushing the total order to 840.70 (order is collection only, hence no postage).

It means that every order is protected and Vinted guarantees a refund if items are never shipped, arrive damaged or not as described.

However, you have just two days to submit a claim after the order has been delivered.

Vinted also generates income through special features that it offers to its members where listings get bumped to the top of Vinted's feed and search results for more visibility.

It adds: 'Using these features costs a little extra but their use is completely voluntary'.

Customers can buy and sell online or through the Vinted app. Vinted makes its money through charging buyer protection insurance, 'bumps' (where listings get featured at the top of the website) and advertising

Where else can you sell unwanted clothes?

Gone are the days where you are forced to doing a car boot or garage sale to stir up an interest in no longer wanted clothes - although, for some, they like the thrill of a 'booty'.

A plethora of websites, such as Asos Marketplace, VarageSale, eBay, Tradesy, Depop and thredUp, give the option of not only selling to our immediate community but also to those living in other towns or countries.

While these sites are similar conceptually, it pays to observe to the terms and conditions as their cost models may differ.

While some may offer free listings others generate money through asking for paid listings, commission on sales or charging the buyer a fee on top of postage and packing costs.Carlos Ghosn will miss out on bonus shares worth 23m from Renault and a 4m severance payment

Ousted Nissan and Renault boss Carlos Ghosn is to lose a 27million golden parachute as he awaits trial for alleged corruption.

Ghosn will miss out on bonus shares worth 23million from Renault, which were subject to his presence at the company, and a 4million severance payment which was unanimously voted down by the Renault board.

The 64-year-old was forced out of the chief executive and chairman roles at Renault after he was arrested in November for alleged financial misconduct at its partner company Nissan.

It came as Ghosns chief defence lawyer Motonari Otsuru resigned without explanation. A new legal team has been appointed.

Ghosn has been held in a Japanese prison for almost three months after being charged over claims that he secretly took millions of pounds in extra pay.

He denies all the charges against him.British-based energy group Ovo has secured 200million worth of investment from Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation.

Once the deal is complete, Mitsubushi will have a 20 per cent minority stake in Ovo, giving the latter a 'unicorn' valuation of around 1billion.

Against a backdrop of tighter regulation, a price cap and a string of smaller energy firms going bust, Ovo is keen to expand its operations abroad and ramp up its work in technology ready for a 'zero-carbon' world.

Deal: British-based energy group Ovo has secured 200million worth of investment from Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation

Founder and chief executive Stephen Fitzpatrick said the investment from Mitsubishi will help the company be at the forefront of the 'global, tech-enabled transition to a zero-carbon energy system.'

With a foothold in the UK and Germany, Ovo said it plans to launch in France in July and in Spain and Australia later on.

As well as international expansion, Ovo plans to steer its focus away from the retail energy sector to focus on services like software which helps bill-payers keep their electricity bills down.

The funding will help Ovo fund its new 'intelligent energy technology' arm called Kaluza.

Kaluza develops software and hardware to support the integration of electric vehicles and battery storage on to an electricity grid.

Expanding into smart home services and investing heavily in new technologies including energy storage and electric vehicle charging, Ovo launched the first domestic 'vehicle-to-grid' charger for electric cars last year.

Looking overseas: Ovo wants to push ahead with its international expansion plans

The stake sale to Mitsubishi will still leave Ovo's founder Mr Fitzpatrick with a majority stake in the company.

Mitsubishi executive vice president Katsuya Nakanishi said Ovo is 'the sort of technology-driven and innovative firm we have been looking for in order to strengthen the downstream business in the energy sector.'

He added: 'Given our global presence and experience in the energy sector, we feel we are uniquely well placed to help Ovo to enhance not only their own business in Europe, but their international expansion plans and broaden their technology offering.'

Ovo has grown rapidly since it was founded in 2009 to challenge the country's Big Six industry giants for a share of the energy supply market.

It is the seventh-largest energy supplier in the UK and has more than 1.5million customers.

Over the past year, nine smaller energy suppliers have gone bust, yet the owners have walked away from any money owed to customers or in taxes. That has left a bill of about 100million for other suppliers.AstraZeneca's sales of cancer drugs increased by 50 per cent in the last year, the group's latest results reveal.

Cancer drug sales surged to 4.7billion, with a new drug for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer called Tagrisso seeing sales rise by 95 per cent over the period.

Within the last three months of the year, strong sales of new medicines and growth in emerging markets gave drugmaker AstraZeneca a further balance sheet boost.

Surging sales: AstraZeneca's sales of cancer drugs increased by 50 per cent in the last year

While other companies are fretting over Brexit, with some suggesting a shortage of medicines could be on the cards, AstraZeneca is confident it is well prepared.

The group said: 'All guidance and indications provided assume that the UK's anticipated forthcoming exit from the European Union, even in the event of no deal, proceeds in an orderly manner such that the impact is within the range expected, following the Company's extensive preparations for such eventuality.'

AstraZeneca's share price is up 5.05 per cent or 289p to 6,010p.

While sales of cancer drugs increased markedly over the year and revenue grew over the final quarter, AstraZeneca's core operating profits fell by 17 per cent in the year.

Pre-tax profits fell by 14 per cent to 1.6billion with exchange rates stripped out.

Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca's chief executive, said: 'Closing the year with another strong quarter, our performance confirmed that AstraZeneca has returned to growth.

'Our new medicines performed particularly well across the therapy areas and the Emerging Markets business went from strength to strength. 2019 will be a year of focus on continued pipeline delivery and flawless commercial execution. The performance of our new medicines demonstrated the ability of our commercial teams to convert the pipeline into successful medicines.

Profit: Pre-tax profits fell by 14 per cent to 1.6billion with exchange rates stripped out

Mr Soriot added: 'Our strategy and plans remain unchanged, with sales growth and a focus on cost management anticipated to drive growing operating profit. I'm pleased that we are fully on track to meet these commitments as we build a sustainable level of growth and a pipeline that is benefitting more and more patients around the world.'

The group gave a bullish outlook for the year ahead, forecasting product sales growing by a high single-digit percentage and core operating profits rising by a 'mid-teens percentage.'

The group's return to growth has been partly driven by a surge in sales across China - up 25 per cent at constant exchange rates to 3billion over 2018.

Graham Doyle, an analyst at Liberum, said: 'Having seen sales return to growth in 2018, in 2019 we will finally see signs of operating leverage.

'Core operating profit will grow at a mid-teens rate, clearly ahead of sales, thanks to operating expenses which will only grow at low single digits.The nightmare for Rolls-Royce over faulty jet engines may be almost over, according to analysts at Credit Suisse.

Rolls has been suffering for major issues with its Trent 1000 engines for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner but Credit Suisse says these problems could finally be fading.

If it can concentrate on making engines rather than fixing faulty ones then it looks much more capable of hitting exacting financial targets, the broker reckons.

The key for Credit Suisse is free cash flow  the spare funds thrown off by Rolls after it has invested in its operations.

Turbulence: Rolls Royce has been suffering for major issues with its Trent 1000 engines for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner but Credit Suisse says these problems could finally be fading

This can be used for expansion, reducing debt or, crucially, plumping up the dividend.

With less turbulence expected, Credit Suisse raised its recommendation on shares to 'outperform', which sent the price flying up 3.1 per cent, or 28p, to 941.6p.

The focus now, from an investor standpoint, should be the reorganisation the company is undergoing and the reported strong performance of its XWB engines.

The FTSE 100, buoyed by growing optimism that US-Chinese trade talks could yield a positive outcome, rose 57.7 points to 7190.84.

Whitbread shares rose 2.9 per cent, or 138p, to 4901p after it said it could afford to give around 2.5billion back to investors following the 3.9billion sale of Costa Coffee.

Stock Watch - Clinigen Clinigen is a company that has grown to become one of AIM's biggest constituents with a market capitalisation north of 1bn. It calls itself a speciality pharma company, but is actually much more than this. As well as having an impressive medicine cabinet of niche drugs, it organises access to life-saving medicines that don't always have regulatory clearance. Shares rose 18.2 per cent, or 134.5p, to 872p, after it did a deal with Novartis to acquire US rights to a cancer drug.

Ahead of its capital markets meetings, broker Liberum was seeking more clarity following the Costa disposal.

Some in the Square Mile think Whitbread, which also owns the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre pub-restaurants, is a prime takeover target, with Intercontinental Hotels Group and Marriott International tipped as potential bidders.

It was another down day for the tour operator Tui, as brokers took out the red pens in the wake of first-quarter results on Tuesday which were preceded by a profit warning last week. The shares slid a further 6.3 per cent, or 56p, to 830.8p.

Relx, down 0.1 per cent, or 1p, to 1726p, the publisher formerly known as Reed Elsevier, found itself on the wrong end of a downgrade to 'hold' from Deutsche Bank.

Its media team prefers shipping journal Lloyd's List publisher Informa (up 0.6 per cent, or 4.4p to 701p), which it reckons could rise 30 per cent. Investors chose to focus on the positives from Galliford Try's first-half results, which came in ahead of expectations.

Its Linden Homes division appears to firing on all cylinders and it expects to recover some money on the scheme to build a bypass around Aberdeen once it has wrapped up negotiations with Transport Scotland. The shares rose 6 per cent, or 43.5p, to 763.5p.

Shares in Tullow Oil (up 3.9 per cent, or 8.2p, at 219.2p) were in demand after it reported its first net profit in five years and said it planned to pay a dividend.

Some analysts would prefer to see it reduce some of its 2.4billion debt pile instead.

Clothing firm Asos tumbled 7.6 per cent, or 236p, to 2886p, after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded it to 'underperform'.

Fellow fashion site Boohoo fell 2.9 per cent, or 5.65p, to 188.5p after being booted to 'neutral' from 'buy'.

Punters weren't in a forgiving mood as they checked out of professional services group WYG, which sounded the earnings alert.

Shares tanked 42.9 per cent, or 16.5p to 22p. Oil removal specialist Mycelx predicted record-breaking figures for 2018, sending shares up 12.5 per cent, or 25p, to 225p.

Another record-breaker was Norman Broadbent, which surged 6.3 per cent, or 0.75p, to 12.75p after the recruiter posted highest revenues for a decade with net fee incomes at their highest level ever.Celebrities like Riteish Deshmukh, Paresh Rawal, and others showed their anger on social media.

Srinagar: Bollywood celebrities today expressed their shock at the terror attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in J&Ks Pulwama on Thursday in which at least 30 soldiers were killed. Post the incident, terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Celebrities like Riteish Deshmukh, Paresh Rawal, Swara Bhasker and others showed their anger on social media.

Paresh Rawal wrote, "The perpetrators of PULWAMA dastardly act should be punished severely and decisively- target the enemies outside and within - we have responsibilities towards our Jawans ."

The perpetrators of PULWAMA dastardly act should be punished severely and decisively- target the enemies outside and within - we have responsibilities towards our Jawans .  Paresh Rawal (@SirPareshRawal) February 14, 2019

Riteish Deshmukh tweeted, "Absolutely tragic news coming from Pulwama - Condolences to the families of the martyrs- & prayers for the injured jawans. Cowards are at it again. Absolutely deplorable. pulwama terror attack".

Absolutely tragic news coming from #Pulwama - Condolences to the families of the martyrs- & prayers for the injured jawans. Cowards are at it again. Absolutely deplorable. #pulwamaterrorattack  Riteish Deshmukh (@Riteishd) February 14, 2019

Always vocal about social issues, actress Swara Bhasker expressed, "Shameful! Tragic & shocking. Jaish-e-Mohammed has brazenly & shamelessly claimed responsibility. These monsters have no soul, no humanity. Pure evil! Why does this terrorist group have safe haven in Pakistan? Imran Khan RIP our brave soldiers, strength to bereaved families."

Shameful! Tragic & shocking. Jaish-e-Mohammed has brazenly & shamelessly claimed responsibility. These monsters have no soul, no humanity. Pure evil! Why does this terrorist group have safe haven in #Pakistan ? @ImranKhanPTI RIP our brave soldiers, strength to bereaved families. https://t.co/p3vteVL23K  Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) February 14, 2019

Reports suggest that the terrorists triggered the blast while the CRPF personnel were plying through the Srinagar-Jammu highway.Industrial production in the eurozone was 0.9 per cent lower in December than November, according to statistics agency Eurostat

Eurozone factories have seen production slump for the second month in a row, in a fresh sign that a slowdown has gripped the bloc.

Industrial production was 0.9 per cent lower in December than November, according to statistics agency Eurostat, following a 1.7 per cent fall the previous month.

There were particularly sharp falls in Malta, Ireland and Netherlands  all countries with close trading ties to Britain  suggesting that the fall may be partly linked to uncertainty over Brexit.

Production across the monetary union has now fallen for four of the last six months recorded.

The eurozone grew by only 0.2 per cent in the final three months of 2018 as manufacturers suffered from a crackdown on global trade by US President Donald Trump.A top executive at Chinese giant Huawei has accused the US of waging a politically-motivated campaign against it.

Eric Xu, one of the firm's three chairmen, claimed American officials were piling on pressure to get leverage over China in trade talks.

Xu said claims that his company's equipment could be used for spying were an attempt to slow its growth.

Spy row: Eric Xu, one Chinese electronics giant Huawei three chairmen, claimed American officials were piling on pressure to get leverage over China in trade talks

His comments  some of the most aggressive yet from a Huawei boss  came after Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, said European countries risked damaging relations with America by using Huawei products.

Washington says its equipment is not secure and the firm is subject to demands for data from the Chinese government.

But Xu said: 'Mr Pompeo's remarks are just yet another indication that the US government is undertaking a well co-ordinated geopolitical campaign.

We have been wondering  is the recent fixation on Huawei truly about cybersecurity, or could there be other motivations? Other people argue they are trying to find leverage for US-China trade negotiations.'

Huawei is the world's biggest telecoms equipment maker and sells smartphones, computers and kit used in internet and phone networks, and has rapidly become a major supplier of telecoms firms.

In the UK, customers include BT, Vodafone, O2 and Three.

Huawei insists its products are secure and there is no risk of them being used for spying.

However questions have been raised by intelligence chiefs and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson about whether its kit should be allowed into sensitive areas of infrastructure.

In the UK, Huawei devices are checked at a centre in Banbury, overseen by spy agency GCHQ, before being approved.

The centre has raised concerns about equipment security because of problems with software.

Xu suggested the US wanted to halt Huawei's growth because its equipment was less susceptible to American spying.Intercontinental Hotels Group has waded further into the luxury holiday market by snapping up resort and spa firm Six Senses for 232million.

Holiday Inn-owner IHG will buy the company from US private equity firm Pegasus Capital Advisors.

Bangkok-based Six Senses manages 16 resorts and 37 spas from the Maldives  where double rooms start at 672 a night  to the Seychelles, Thailand and Oman.

Resort deal: IHG will buy resort and spa firm Six Senses from US private equity firm Pegasus Capital Advisors

It will mean FTSE 100-listed IHG has 400 luxury hotels open or being built, with 108,000 rooms.

It hopes to expand Six Senses to more than 60 sites in the next ten years.

It said there is already a property under construction in West Chelsea in Manhattan.

IHG chief executive Keith Barr, who joined in 2017, said: 'Six Senses is an outstanding brand in the top tier, one we've admired for some time.'

Barr last year said his growth strategy included targeting wealthier travellers  and IHG last year bought 51 per cent of upmarket brand Regent Hotels and Resorts for 30million.

Shares rose 2.2 per cent, or 97p, to 4555.5p.Gambling giant Paddy Power Betfair has been stung with a 49million tax bill in Greece and Germany.

The bookie said a German court found it owes 36million related to a 2012 tax assessment of Betfair Exchange, which operated there until November that year.

It was also hit with a demand for taxes from 2012, 2013 and 2014 financial years which it said was related to paddypowers interim licence in Greece.

Tax bill: Paddy Power Betfair said a German court found it owes 36m related to a 2012 tax assessment of Betfair Exchange, which operated there until November 2012

This found that the company owes 13million in taxes, which it said is much higher than the total revenue it earned in the country.

FTSE 100-listed Paddy Power has paid up in Greece, where it is seeking to recover the cash.

It said: The group strongly disputes the basis of these assessments, and in line with the legal and tax advice we have received, is confident in our grounds to appeal. We therefore intend to do so.

Pending the outcome of these appeals, we paid the total Greek liability in January 2019 while we await clarity with respect to the timing of any cash payment in Germany.

Paddy Power and Betfair merged in 2016 in a 7billion deal. Its shares rose 1.3 per cent, or 80p, to 6410p.Type 'IVA' into internet search engines and you're greeted with sponsored adverts making bold claims:

'Write off 85 per cent of your debt from as little as 75 a month. 'Thousands of Brits in debt are qualifying to have 75 per cent written off. 'People who owe 6,000 or more need to find out more about a little known regulation that the debt collectors probably don't want you to hear about.'

These are just three examples This is Money found with a quick a search online - it appears the Individual Voluntary Arrangement is being billed as the latest life hack to solve your money woes.

Recent figures show record numbers are taking them out, perhaps lured in by these types of adverts, or maybe via social media or word-of-mouth.

Too good to be true? Put the words IVA into Google and you're greeted with ads offering to help you get out of debt and write some of it off - but this shouldn't be considered debt advice

Insolvency Service statistics found that last year the highest number of people since 2011 went insolvent, 61.6 per cent of whom used an IVA to do it.

The growth in insolvencies was principally driven by a spike in IVAs, which rose 20 per cent year-on-year to 71,000, the highest ever recorded.

Stuart Frith, president of insolvency and restructuring trade body R3 blamed the increase in insolvencies on the tightening of credit and rising costs.

When it comes to the rise in IVAs specifically, Peter Tutton, head of policy at StepChange Debt Charity, said: 'The record high number of people entering into IVAs represents a continuation of the rising trend we have seen in recent years.

'There is no one clear reason for the record numbers, however it is likely to be a combination of higher numbers of people seeking or being recommended IVAs, and an increase in people experiencing the conditions which would lead to seeking an IVA.'

But what is this three letter acronym, and are you at risk of being sold one in your search for debt advice, even if it's not the right option for you?

What is an IVA?

An IVA is a form of debt solution that is a formal and legally binding agreement made with your creditors to pay off your debts over a set time period.

According to Citizens Advice, IVAs normally collate debts including bank loans and overdrafts, credit card loans and personal loans, but can also include secured loans and council tax bills.

Your creditors will be unlikely to agree to an IVA unless your total debt is more than 10,000.

IVAs must be set up by a registered professional Insolvency Practitioner, who will charge a fee for the arrangement and will deal with your creditors throughout the IVA, which often lasts around five years.

If the monthly payments you make into the IVA are not enough to pay your debts off in full, then the rest will be written off  which is what many of the adverts mentioned above like to highlight.

What are the potential pitfalls?

Debt charities like StepChange, the Insolvency Service, and the Financial Conduct Authority have all raised concerns within the last six months about the way that IVAs are sold and marketed.

The most obvious reason for that is IVAs are not a one size fits all solution for everybody, and it's certainly not a life hack  it has risks.

Savings and personal pension payments will usually be used to pay your creditors, it may affect your job and you might have to remortgage your home if you own one.

What's more, if your circumstances change you could struggle to keep your IVA payments meaning the arrangement could fail and you could be made bankrupt.

It could also impact your credit score. Citizens Advice says that people with an IVA might find it difficult getting credit in the short term, while getting more than 500 of credit requires you to get written permission from your insolvency practitioner, unless the credit is for public utilities.

Longer-term, it's likely to have an impact even once the IVA has finished. Details of IVAs are kept in a public register called the Individual Insolvency Register. Your IVA will stay on that register for the length of the IVA, and removed three months after the IVA has ended.

Details of the IVA will also be kept on your credit reference file by credit reference agencies, and it will stay on your credit file for six years from the start of the IVA. This means creditors can see you've used an IVA when they check your credit rating before agreeing to lend you anything.

Much of this is not revealed in the advertising.

Jane Tully, director of external affairs at the Money Advice Trust, the charity that runs National Debtline, echoed this and told This is Money: 'This kind of advertising is leading people in debt down routes that may not be suitable for their situation  in particular, people with a small amount of spare income who may be eligible for a debt relief order or bankruptcy instead.

'This is undoubtedly a factor behind the rise of IVAs we are seeing. The free debt advice sector is often left to pick up the pieces, helping people to recover their financial situation after these inappropriate IVAs fail.'

Particularly in the spotlight are so-called 'introducer' or 'lead generating' firms, the companies that market those ads promising to write off your debt, often claiming to be 'government approved' and often masquerading as debt charities.

Targeted ads on Facebook make IVAs look like a clever way for you to clear your debts - but they're often set up by firms working on commission

Peter says of these: 'We continue to see online ads from "lead generators" that make misleading claims or try to pass themselves off as a charity brand.

'This is unacceptable in itself, but we are worried that vulnerable people seeking help with their debts may be poorly treated and not get the help they need from firms prepared to use poor marketing tactics.'

These firms then pass you on to IVA providers, often on commission.

Because they make their money from referring debtors to providers, there is often a commercial incentive to recommend someone an IVA, regardless of whether or not it is the most appropriate solution.

In the small print at the bottom of one website advertised on Facebook, debthelplineuk.com, it states: 'At Debt Helpline UK we do not give advice.

'On completion of our form, we will introduce you to one of our authorised debt solutions partners.'

If you read the small print these ads state that despite sometimes masquerading as debt charities and slapping on a 'Money Advice Service' badge, they're not there to give you advice

Filling in a quick form providing your debt, number of creditors, employment status and how much you could afford to pay back per month on the website is enough to return you a result saying you are eligible and could immediately speak to an 'adviser', although it doesn't say where from.

Both the FCA and Insolvency Service have recently raised concerns about these firms, as well as the 'volume IVA' providers which debtors are often referred to.

A report this month from the Insolvency Service found that 10 providers accounted for over 80 per cent of new IVAs registered last year.

Sites also aren't especially rigorous with their checks, filling in a few details quickly offers you the opportunity to 'speak to an adviser' - one who might be paying them commission

In the same report, the Insolvency Service concluded that 'the quality of advice given to debtors by introducer firms and the checks volume IVA providers carry out once debtors are put in contact with them is questionable in some cases'.

It added it had identified examples 'where it would appear that some debtors may not have been given full and appropriate advice  debtors are being steered towards an IVA without being adequately advised about the options available.'

In a letter addressed to the chief executives of debt packager firms at the start of October last year, the FCA wrote that it had 'concerns' that the business model of debt packagers had 'the potential to cause harm to customers', and that 'the incentive to increase revenue streams could be a driver for a poor conduct culture in which firms may prioritise an IVA referral over a more appropriate solution.'

Who could you be being referred to?

Many of these Google ads disclose little to any detail about who set them up or even where they lead to.

In fact, Peter says that many of these ads are just cheap sites ripping off the name of actual debt charities.

He said: 'In the past year alone, StepChange reported over 50 instances of trademark infringement to search engines, all of which were upheld, which highlights the scale of this problem.

'However, dealing with these problems one-by-one is like a never ending game of whack-a-mole, as when one is removed more simply pop up.'

Some sites however are more transparent when it comes to telling you where you are being referred to.

An ad for one site, 'becomedebtfree.co.uk', states: 'An IVA Debt Solution could qualify you to get up to 80 per cent Of Your Debts Written Off!'

At the bottom of the website it states that the site is Re10, a trading name of Re10 (Finance) Ltd, a small IVA administration firm managed by Andrew Bowers, an Insolvency Practitioner registered with the Insolvency Practitioners' Association.

One of the ads This is Money found, for a site called 'becomedebtfree.co.uk', was actually set up to refer users directly to an professionally accredited Insurance Practitioner

He told This is Money: 'I agree it is annoying that there are private lead generation firms who generate IVA leads on the internet so that they can sell them to IP firms.

'It is also annoying that there are lots of firms operating as authorised representatives of FCA regulated companies advertising in a similar manner, providing advice and steering clients toward one of the IVA volume firms who pay commissions of up to 1,500.

'My firm doesn't take any leads whatsoever from such introducers as we've found that they tend to mislead people into doing IVAs when other solutions might be more appropriate.'

He added he was not ashamed to advertise the fact his West Yorkshire firm administers IVAs, and that he chose to do his own advertising rather than employ the services of a firm driven by commission, which he said 'must be wrong'.

'We only recommend an IVA as being an appropriate debt solution if that is in fact the case', he said.

In a subsequent email, he added that he'd previously made complaints to the FCA about introducer firms, but that they 'simply aren't interested'.

This is Money put this allegation to the FCA but at the time of publication, did not receive a response.

But given that IVAs can only be set up by registered practitioners, that means debtors who are likely vulnerable or looking for advice could still be being taken advantage of by these introducer firms.

Firms which make money by passing people on to registered and accredited practitioners, who are then making money in fees off of the same people in debt, regardless of whether an IVA is the right solution for them.

Michelle Thorp, chief executive of the Insolvency Practitioners Association, said: 'We are aware of the concerns regarding introducer firms and have implemented new regulatory measures to strengthen monitoring of IVA volume providers, which will enable us to address any concerns immediately, including issuing sanctions where needed .

'If insolvency practitioners are found to have advised an individual to use an IVA when another personal insolvency procedure would have been more appropriate, then that should be reported to the regulator through the Government's complaints gateway.'Give 10% of your Christmas spending to food banks: Archbishop of Canterbury makes appeal following increase in number relying on handouts



Number receiving basic supplies trebled over the past year to 350,000

Justin Welby warned cash-strapped shoppers to beware of overspending

Festive appeal: Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has urged Christmas shoppers to give money to Britain's expanding network of food banks

The Archbishop of Canterbury has urged Christmas shoppers to give money to Britains expanding network of food banks rather than splash out on expensive presents.



The Most Reverend Justin Welby made the appeal in reaction to news of a shocking increase in the number of impoverished Britons now relying on food handouts.



With the number of those receiving basic supplies trebling over the past year to 350,000, he said it would be wonderful if people gave a tenth of their festive shopping budget to their local food bank this Christmas.

The Archbishop also warned cash-strapped shoppers to beware of overspending and plunging themselves into debt.



He said: I am not a Scrooge. But what I would say to people is, be sane about it.

Dont overstretch yourself and end up with an enormous debt hangover.



Archbishop Welbys warning comes as it was revealed that Britons will spend an average of 28.70 on each present this Christmas  an increase of 1.70 on the figure for 2012.



And a YouGov survey reported earlier this week that UK households are set to spend 822 on their seasonal celebrations  54 more than last year. The comments are the latest in a string of outspoken pronouncements made by Archbishop Welby in recent months.

Appearing on television earlier this week, he complained about what he called a secular over-the-topness, adding: New this, new that, new the other  its ridiculous, its absurd, it shouldnt happen.



And in an interview with The Mail on Sunday last month, he hit out at energy firms for imposing huge price hikes on struggling families.



Calling on energy suppliers to be conscious of their social obligations, the Archbishop, a former oil executive, said: The impact on people, particularly on low incomes, is going to be really severe, and the companies have to justify fully what they are doing.



The Archbishop's warning comes as it was revealed that Britons will spend an average of 28.70 on each present this Christmas - an increase of 1.70 on the figure for 2012

Another target of Archbishop Welbys criticism recently has been the controversial payday loan firms.



He said it was his dream to compete Wonga out of existence through the growth of credit unions offering much lower lending rates.

The Archbishops focus on food banks chimes with political concerns about rising levels of food poverty.



In October, a cross-party group of politicians was set up to investigate the surge in demand that has led to the creation of about 400 food banks across the UK. And the Red Cross has also announced that it will start collecting and distributing food to the needy in Britain for the first time since the Second World War.

THE SMALLEST THINGS

by Nick Duerden (Elliott & Thompson 12.99, 208pp)

By the time journalist Nick Duerden approached 50, his mother had died and he had lost touch with his father.

So if he wanted to dig into his family history to make sense of his own identity, the only people left were his grandparents, shuffling through their twilight years in a stultifying suburb of Milan.

As a child attuned to the cultural stimulation of London, Duerden dreaded the annual summer visit to their dreary flat.

Their careers had been blue-collar, hard work and poorly paid, he writes. They rarely travelled outside Italy . . . They spoke not a word of English and my Italian was, and remains, pidgin at best.

Journalist Nick Duerden reflects on his upbringing and the relationships he grew to have with his Italian relatives in a new book (file image)

Consequently, I have never had a proper conversation with either of them, no eloquent heart-to-heart, no outpouring of feelings. Nor did he show interest in the war and hardship they had survived.

Yet, as he grew up, he continued his annual pilgrimages to their unchanging home, finding affection for his Nonnas oily salad dressing and his grandfathers reluctance to leave the flat. First he brought the girlfriends. Then the wife. And finally the great-grandchildren.

Because our grandparents are usually settled into sedentary routines by the time we know them, its hard to imagine the dramas of their youth. But Duerdens tender little book reveals that his grandparents had had early lives of great turbulence.

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After his grandfathers death, he learnt that the old man once had a brother, who had committed suicide lying in bed beside him. The method was unclear, but there had been a lot of blood.

It was, perhaps, in seeking an instant family in the wake of this tragedy that Duerdens grandfather had fallen in love with his grandmother, who had already become pregnant by a Russian soldier during the war.

His mother, the matriarch, had not wanted the bastard  Duerdens mother  in the house and the child had been sent away to a convent, where the nuns had not been kind.

THE SMALLEST THINGS by Nick Duerden (Elliott & Thompson 12.99, 208pp)

No wonder strange rages had boiled up with the spaghetti, but Duerden can see both sides  his grandmother, with her illegitimate child, struggling for acceptance in the strict Catholic culture; his mother unable to let go of the pain of abandonment.

Duerdens grandfather probably stayed out of it. The man had never boiled an egg or changed a nappy and was bewildered to see his grandson so deeply engaged in the care of his own daughters. It must have been difficult for this elderly couple to see the social structures for which they had sacrificed so much dissolving before their eyes.

By the end of Duerdens tale, his Nonna is in her 90s, living in a care home. He knows that the last time she visited his mother  when she was dying of pancreatic cancer, aged 56  the pair fought. He wonders if things would ever have changed had his mother lived.

But he looks into his grandmothers still pure blue eyes at the age of 98, and reads her disappointments and mistakes, her secrets, torments, delights and satisfactions, more clearly than ever before. She only ever asks one question: Sei contento? Are you happy? Yes, he replies. Yes we are.Netflix was forced to issue a warning when the public started hurting themselves in the viral #BirdBoxChallenge.

But a new study suggests paediatricians may save more lives if they take inspiration from the thriller.

When simulating resuscitation on a child dummy following a 'cardiac arrest', the blindfolded doctors scored better on their leadership skills.

The researchers believe being blindfolded may improve communication between medics.

A new study suggests that if paediatricians took on the #BirdBoxChallenge they may save more children from cardiac arrest. Sandra Bullock's character Malorie Hayes is pictured swimming to safety with her son Boy in the Netflix thriller released in November last year

The research was carried out by Geneva University Hospital and led by Dr Michael Buyck, of the paediatric emergency department.

Thankfully, children rarely go into cardiac arrest, with around eight cases for every 100,000 youngsters, the authors wrote in the journal Frontiers in Pediatrics.

But this makes it difficult for junior doctors to be trained in paediatric resuscitation.

'Fifty per cent of residents report feeling inadequately trained to lead cardiac arrest teams in an internal medicine study because such events are too rare,' the authors wrote.

Simulation training is therefore often used to prepare paediatricians for these medical emergencies.

'Simulation-based training has been shown to be effective in teaching clinical, communication and leadership skills - improving pediatric residents' confidence, and improving pediatric survival rate,' Dr Buyck said.

Researchers are always looking for novel ways to improve patient outcomes.

'Some authors have evaluated the effect of blindfolding the leader, although not in a randomised controlled trial,' Dr Buyck said.

WHAT IS THE BIRD BOX CHALLENGE? The #BirdBoxChallenge went viral after the Netflix thriller starring Sandra Bullock saw a desperate mother blindfold herself and her children for their safety. If the characters look at the film's mysterious villains, they are driven mad and kill themselves. The film's popularity inspired fans to create the #BirdBoxChallenge, where they would attempt everyday tasks blindfolded. But this resulted in injury, with people running into walls or dangerously close to traffic. Netflix later warned fans: 'Can't believe I have to say this, but PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE. 'We don't know how this started, and we appreciate the love, but Boy and Girl have just one wish for 2019 and it is that you not end up in hospital due to memes.' Boy and Girl are the names of Bullock's character's children. Advertisement

'Our objective was to evaluate the effect of blindfolding the team leader on leadership skills, using a randomised controlled trial design.'

A randomised control trial involves allocating a similar number of people to different groups to test a drug or treatment.

One group has the intervention being tested, while the other has an alternative drug, placebo or nothing at all.

The groups are then followed up to see how effective the experimental drug really was.

The researchers assigned 12 paediatric teams to either wear a blindfold or carry out resuscitation as normal.

Each team had a 'leader', who did not carry out the chest compressions but advised the rest of the medics.

'Expert evaluators' rated the skills of the leaders, with those who were blindfolded scoring higher.

'Having a blindfolded leader requires other team members to verbalize all the important data and explicitly acknowledge instructions,' Dr Buyck said.

'We found that teams who trained with a blindfolded leader became more likely than controls to respond to instructions with audible confirmation of receipt and completion of the task.'

And being blindfolded may help doctors stay focused.

'Blindfolding might improve leadership skills by helping the leader to avoid distraction by irrelevant details or participation in procedures, such as chest compressions,' Dr Buyck said.

The researchers add, however, their study was small, with further trials being required.

'Larger trials with long-term follow-up are warranted based on these promising initial results,' Dr Buyck said.

'Supporting measures, like eye tracking to assess visual distraction in non-blindfolded leaders, could also help to determine how blindfolding affects leadership.'

Following its release in November last year, Bird Box became an internet obsession, with people attempting to do tasks blindfolded to be like Sandra Bullock's character.

'Can't believe I have to say this, but: PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE,' Netflix tweeted.

'We don't know how this started, and we appreciate the love, but Boy and Girl have just one wish for 2019 and it is that you not end up in the hospital due to memes.'

The film tells the story of a mother (Bullock) and her two children, named Boy and Girl, who are forced to wear blindfolds while they search for refuge in a world overrun by villains that drive people to kill themselves with just a glance.The NHS must do more to stop men from dying of prostate cancer.

That's according to the fifth annual National Prostate Cancer Audit, which found that too many are still being diagnosed after it has already spread.

Published today, it revealed a total of 42,975 men were told they had the disease in England and Wales between April 2016 and March 2017.

In England alone, the proportion whose cancer was metastatic  meaning it had reached other organs or tissue  was 16 per cent.

Disappointingly, this statistic remains unchanged from 2015/16.

Late: 42,975 men were told they had the disease in England and Wales between April 2016 and March 2017 - and, in sixteen per cent of cases, it had already spread

The report also showed that more men in England are being diagnosed with locally advanced prostate cancer, when the disease is present in nearby lymph nodes.

Almost two in five men (39 per cent) were diagnosed with locally advanced prostate cancer in 2016/17, up from 35 per cent the previous year.

However, Prostate Cancer UK said it was 'good to see' a reduction in the number of men with a low-risk from the disease who were potentially 'over-treated' last year.

Only 4 per cent of men with low-risk localised prostate cancer underwent surgery or radiotherapy, compared to 8 per cent in 2015/16, with more opting to keep an eye on the cancer instead, the report said.

Heather Blake, director of support and influencing at Prostate Cancer UK, said: 'Unfortunately, there are still too many men being diagnosed with prostate cancer that has already spread, meaning their survival chances are greatly reduced.

'In line with NHS ambitions to diagnose more cancers early, we want to see a significant reduction in the proportion of men diagnosed at late stage.'

Priority: Currently, prostate cancer kills far more UK men than breast cancer kills UK women

Currently, prostate cancer kills more men than breast cancer kills women, yet the latter receives far more funding and focus.

The latest report comes just weeks after it was claimed men who are diagnosed with early prostate cancer live longer than those without the disease.

Figures by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that those diagnosed at stage one had survival rates that were 0.5 per cent higher than those of the general population.

Experts suggest that early diagnoses  which are easiest to treat  can also prompt people to adopt healthier lifestyles.

Survivor: I considered suicide... Retired restaurant owner Ted Wood was 60 when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Doctors caught the problem early and the treatment he received eradicated the cancer. But, crucially, the procedure left him unable to function sexually. Ted Wood from Bristol, who is recovering from prostate cancer, and his wife Jenny My wife Jenny and I had had a good sex life, said Mr Wood, from Bristol. I felt it was too early to give up on that part of my life. Mr Wood sought support, but said his GP was not interested and he later fell into depression. It felt like I was losing my masculinity. I contemplated suicide. But Mr Wood, now 70, is enjoying a happy sex life with his wife again after success with a modified regimen of a drug called Cialis. We had to be very matter of fact about it, he said. But it has worked. Advertisement

Official data shows that of the 200,000 men diagnosed with prostate cancer between 2012-2016, 30 per cent were diagnosed at stage one, compared to 19 per cent at stage two and around 18 per cent at stages three and four.

Survival rates for the stages one and two a year later were more than 100 per cent, meaning that fewer men with prostate cancer died than expected when compared with the general population.

Even 5-year survival estimates were over 100 per cent for stages 1 and 2, with good survival at stage 3 at 96.5 per cent and a larger drop at stage 4 to 47.7 per cent, highlighting the importance of early diagnosis.

Earlier diagnosis for prostate cancer and breakthroughs in treatment for advanced disease have seen overall five-year survival across all stages of the disease rise from 80.2 per cent in 2006 to 87.1 per cent.

The number is 84.9 per cent for those diagnosed between 2006-2010.The shares after opening the day on a positive note further skyrocketed 28.95 per cent to Rs 218 on BSE.

Shares of the company were the biggest gainer on both the indices during the morning trade.

New Delhi: Shares of Yes Bank zoomed 30 per cent in morning trade on Thursday after the company said that the RBI has not found any divergence in the asset classification and provisioning done by the lender during 2017-18.

The shares after opening the day on a positive note further skyrocketed 28.95 per cent to Rs 218 on BSE. At NSE, shares rose sharply by 29.97 per cent to Rs 220.25.

Shares of the company were the biggest gainer on both the indices during the morning trade. Following the sharp jump in its shares, the company's market valuation jumped by Rs 8,590.52 crore to Rs 47,714.21 crore on BSE.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) assesses compliance by banks with extant prudential norms on income recognition, asset classification and provisioning (IRACP) as part of its supervisory processes.

"As part of this process, Yes Bank has received the Risk Assessment Report for FY2018. The report observes NIL divergences in the bank's asset classification and provisioning from the RBI norms," Yes Bank said in a filing to BSE on Wednesday.

The RBI conducted its first asset quality review (AQR) of banks, started in 2015, in order to find corporate loan accounts with severe financial weakness, but was still classified as standard accounts on the books of the lenders.

Post this review, RBI found a large divergence of Rs 4,176 crore in the reported gross NPAs in the books of accounts of Yes Bank for 2015-16. Further, the RBI judged gross NPAs at Rs 8,373.8 crore for Yes Bank for 2016-17 against the declared gross NPAs at Rs 2,018 crore.Almost one in six GP surgeries which existed in England in 2004 are no longer open, according to figures.

The number of patients at each practice has risen by 45 per cent as a result, from an average of 5,891 patients in 2004 to 8,533 today.

The sharp increase is concerning for GPs trying to deal with the pressure of staff shortages, and for patients who face longer waits to see their doctors.

And the effects are creating a postcode lottery, with patients in some parts of the country nearly four times as likely to have to wait a fortnight to see their GP, data has revealed.

Almost one in six GP surgeries that existed in England in 2004 no longer exist, according to figures, leading to the average number of patients at each practice rising by 45 per cent (stock image)

Overall, the number of GP practices has dwindled by 18 per cent, falling to 6,993 surgeries compared to 8,486 in 2004, analysis of NHS Digital data by GPonline revealed.

There are now more practices that patient lists longer than 15,000 than there are practices with fewer than 3,000 patients.

A total of 671 surgeries have more than 15,000 patients according to data for February 2019 - compared with just 652 with fewer than 3,000 patients.

Even more concerning are the seven practices with more than 50,000 patients on their lists  there are 73,453 registered at the largest practice in England.

The British Medical Association's Dr Richard Vautrey told GPonline the reason for the decline was 'a lack of investment over the past 12 years and the consequent problems with recruitment'.

'This is following a trend of practices merging together, getting bigger as the population gets bigger,' he said.

'Increasingly as single-handed GPs reach retirement age those practices are often being merged rather than put out to tender and smaller practices are deciding to merge  to gain a greater degree of resilience in larger groups and to share back office teams.'

The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), a pay-for-performance scheme for general practice, was introduced in April 2004.

In an effort to help staff shortages, QOF promised GPs, who could sign up voluntarily, substantial investment in return for delivering a good quality of care.

The number of practices closing has accelerated since April 2013 when NHS England began to oversee the sector, GPonline said.

Between 2004 and April 2013, practice numbers fell by 380  while in the years since NHS England's formation the total number of practices has fallen by 1,113.

And the trend is expected to continue, official bodies have said.

The Royal College of General Practitioners said 762 practices in the UK are at risk of closing within the next five years, while the BMA warned last year that one in 10 GP practices could be forced to close by 2022.

But Dr Vautrey said he did not expect mergers and closures to continue as practices across England were incentivised to form primary care networks by July 2019.

Under a new five-year GP contract, the groups, covering 30,000-50,000 patients, will receive 38,000 to meet needs.

The contract will also see almost 1billion invested in practises to address workforce and workload pressures, the NHS Long-Term Plan revealed in January.

'Hopefully it will give practices confidence that working together doesn't necessarily mean merging,' Dr Vautrey said.

'Strength will come from working as a group, and the need to merge may be lessened.'

Patients in some parts of the country are nearly four times more likely to have to wait at least a fortnight to see their GP, figures revealParents of a one-year-old boy who had a life-saving heart transplant are searching for the family that donated the organ.

Titus Sickles, of Toledo, Washington, was born in January 2018 with a heart defect that made it difficult for blood to throw through his body properly.

His parents, Rena and Andy, were told he wouldn't survive surgeries because his heart was so weak and he would need a transplant.

Just two months after he joined the transplant list, a donor heart became available and Titus underwent the surgery at Seattle Children's Hospital in April.

To mark his first birthday last month, his parents organized a photo shoot and are sharing it online in the hopes that the donor family will see it and they will have a chance to thank the parents for helping save their son's life.

The parents of one-year-old Titus Sickles, who had a life-saving heart transplant, are searching for the family that donated the organ so they can thank them

Titus (left and right) was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a birth defect in which the left side of the heart does not from correctly. This makes it difficult for blood to throw through his body properly

In one photo, Titus is wearing jeans and plaid suspenders, sitting next to a chalkboard.

A message on the chalkboard reads in part: 'I respect if it hurts too much to reach out to us, but I need this to reach my donor family so I can say thank you for the gift of life. I'm healthy and alive because of you!'

Rena told DailyMail.com she first knew something was wrong with Titus when she went in for her 18-week scan to find out the sex of the baby.

'When I got home, I saw that I had two missed calls,' she said.

'I remember thinking: "Either I left something in the room or there' something wrong. I already had three boys so this was not my first rodeo.

The next morning her OBGYN called her and told her Titus has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a birth defect in which the left side of the heart does not from correctly while the baby is in the womb.

Because the left side of the heart is unable to pump oxygen-rich blood throughout the body, the right side is responsible for pumping blood to both lungs and the rest of the body.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 960 babies are born in the US every year with this defect.

Problems quickly arise soon after birth including difficulty breathing, a weak pulse, and a bluish skin color.

Sufferers may need to take medications to lower blood pressure and strengthen the heart muscles for the rest of their lives.

Surgery is another option to help restore heart function by increasing blood flow throughout the body.

However, if the defect is severe or surgeries leave the heart weak, then a heart transplant is necessary.

Titus's parents said they originally believed their son would undergo three invasive surgeries to correct the problem

Doctors told Rena and Andy that their son would not survive operations and would need a new heart. At the beginning of March, Titus (left and right) was transferred to Seattle Children's Hospital and put on the transplant list

'I called my husband and bawled,' Rena said. 'And then I made the mistake of googling it. I was a wreck for two to three weeks.'

Over the next several weeks, the couple learned Titus has several other heart defects. This included a hole down the middle wall and double outlet right ventricle.

This is a condition in which oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor blood to mix together before leaving the heart, according to Seattle Children's Hopsital.

Additionally, Rena said that his lungs were receiving three-and-a-half to four times more blood than they were supposed to.

At six weeks old, he was a Oregon Health & Science University Hospital in Portland for observation.

Doctors told Rena and Andy, he needed surgery to repair his heart but also that his heart muscle was so weak that he would likely not make it off the operating table.

On March , Titus was transferred to Seattle Children's Hospital and, one week later, put on the transplant list.

As they waited - doctors said it would be at least three months - Titus's condition worsened.

Rena said on Easter Sunday, April 1, she took her other children to an Easter egg hunt and, when she came back, Titus was 'grey'.

'I had to look at the monitor to make sure he was alive,' she said.

'His organs were starting to shut down, his eyes were yellow.

I told my husband: [Titus is] sick of fighting and I don't know how much longer I could ask him to. I was pretty sure God was going to call him home very soon.'

The very next day, they got a call that a donor heart was available.

A donor heart became available in April and, on April 7, Titus underwent the four-hour procedure at Seattle Children's. It was their 200th transplant

Now, Titus (left and right) is at home and thriving. His parents not only hope to thank the donor family but want to raise awareness for transplants and organ donations

On April 7, Titus underwent the four-hour procedure at Seattle Children's.

Rena said that because only an hour passed from when the heart was taken from the donor's body and transplanted to her son, she and her husband believe the family is from the Seattle area.

On Titus's first birthday last month, the family did a photo shoot dedicating it to the donor family.

'We wrote letters to them with no identifying markers - because of privacy rules - and they didn't reach out back,' she said.

'I kept getting this crazy though that was bending the rules. I'd seen signs of someone holding a sign saying: "I'm adopted and looking for my birth parents" but I'd never seen anyone do it for a donor family.'

Rena said that even if the family doesn't reach out to them, she wants to express her thanks.

'I wanted them to see he's doing amazing and thriving because of them,' she said.

She added that she also wants the photo shoot to raise awareness for transplants and organ donations.

'So many lose their battle before their life-saving organ arrives and Titus was almost one of those,' she said. 'If more people realize this maybe they would choose to be a donor.'

A family friend established a GoFundMe page to help cover medical costs and provide financial relief to the family.

So far, more than $5,700 has been raise out of a $15,000 goal.The Government's Treasury department has given the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) a 600million bailout to cover 'unforeseen' costs.

Spending estimates published by the Treasury describe the money as 'reserve funding to cover one-off pressures'.

Analysts believe the DHSC was in danger of breaching its budget of almost 125bn, which could lead to a parliamentary vote on whether extra cash should be given.

The rising cost of generic drugs and preparations for Brexit are thought to have stretched the DHSC  which 'acts as guardians of the health and care framework'  more than normal.

The Government's Treasury department has given the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) a 600million bailout to cover 'unforeseen' costs (stock)

Sally Gainsbury, senior policy analyst at the Nuffield Trust think tank, told the Health Service Journal: 'This looks like the Treasury have allowed the department to draw on reserves to bailout what would otherwise be a breach of its spending limit.

'Our projections suggest there's going to be a reported NHS provider deficit of around 800m this financial year, which NHS England is going to struggle to fully offset.

'It's not clear if the Treasury would usually contemplate additional in-year funding to cover a provider-side deficit, but the DHSC will have been able to point to other one-off costs such as Brexit and generic drug prices which have added to its pressures for this year.'

UK'S LEADING INSULIN SUPPLIER BUILDS FOUR MONTH STOCKPILE Britain's main supplier of insulin said in September it would be stockpiling the medicine in case Brexit disrupts the international supply chain. Around 4.6million people in the UK are thought to have diabetes and many of them rely on insulin to stay healthy. Danish healthcare company Novo Nordisk supplies more than half of the UK's insulin and revealed it would import enough of the vital medication to last four months. The move came just weeks after medical experts warned millions of diabetics would be at risk if there was an insulin shortage after Brexit. Novo Nordisk claimed it is committed to making sure its patients are not affected. The company said at the time it planned to build up a 16-week reserve of insulin by this month. Advertisement

Miriam Deakin, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, called the 600million bailout 'significant' and wants 'more clarity' about how it will be used.

She acknowledged, however, trusts have been working 'flat out' and meeting budgets can be 'difficult'.

The reserve fund is set aside for unforeseen costs that cannot be covered by existing budgets.

According to the HSJ, Brexit is a reason for the forecasted overspend but there are no specific details on how this has cost the NHS money.

Departments must formally request tjhe reserve fund to access it.

It was given a 250million bailout by the Treasury in 2014-15.

Although the DHSC overspent the following year, it avoided going to Parliament due to an 'administrative error'.

The National Audit Office (NAO) accused the department of failing to notify the Treasury of extra receipts from the national insurance fund.

This meant Parliament did not have the opportunity to vote on whether to provide additional funding, the NAO claimed.

The bailout revelation comes after news the NHS is stockpiling body bags amid fears the UK while run out in a no-deal Brexit.

Health Minister Stephen Hammond revealed the stockpiling in a letter to an unnamed Tory MP, which has been leaked on Twitter.

The DHSC has been approached for comment.Waiting times at A&E in England have reached their worst level since the four-hour target was introduced in 2004.

Data from NHS England shows just 84.4 per cent of patients were treated or admitted in four hours in January, compared to the 95 per cent target.

This means once a decision was made to admit them, nearly 83,519 people in January alone waited longer than they should to be officially admitted or found a bed.

And since the target was last hit in July 2015, nearly 333,000 patients have endured unacceptably long waits.

An expert has claimed the 'NHS is fighting a losing battle' in trying to get the public seen on time, while another says the health service is 'on its knees'.

A&E waiting times in England have reached their worst level since 2004 (stock image)

Nuffield Trust's chief economist Professor John Appleby said: 'Today's figures remind us the NHS is fighting a losing battle in trying to meet its commitments to provide timely healthcare in the face of the pressure it is under.

'There is a risk we lose sight of these problems as Brexit distracts us or become numbed as we forget the last time targets were met.

'But this situation has a serious impact on hundreds of thousands of patients and will be demoralising for many staff.'

The data reveals 15.6 per cent of patients spent more than four hours waiting to go to A&E last month.

'It looks like the gap between the service's capacity and the care we need from it is widening,' Mr Appleby said.

'Only two major emergency departments in England met the four-hour target and attendances have risen by an astonishing 85,000 compared with January last year, increasing through the winter when they would usually fall.

'Last year, there was widespread concern as we saw trolley waits balloon, yet today's figures show an even higher level.'

STAFF AND CASH SHORTAGES ADD TO NHS PRESSURES Higher numbers of people visit doctors and hospitals in the winter, making staff busier, but too few staff and funding gaps make it even more difficult for hospitals to run smoothly. There were more than 100,000 empty job posts in September 2018 and analysts feared the situation would only get worse. NHS trusts across England were also 814 million in deficit at the end of June, a shocking quarterly report also revealed. Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said trusts  which run local services and spend money  'are doing all they can'. Commenting on the figures, he added: 'However hard they run, they don't seem able to outpace the increase in demand. 'Trusts tell us they are most worried about the workforce shortages they face, and it's a real concern that these figures have shown such a big increase in vacancy levels. 'It's worrying this problem is getting worse rather than better.' Advertisement

And for planned care, the proportion of patients waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment is at its highest level for a decade, Mr Appleby added.

It is also more than three years since the NHS last met the target for patients being referred to start cancer treatment within two months.

Dr Nick Scriven, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, added: 'Although there is less minor illness associated with flu this year, there are more severely ill people than last year which is putting an even bigger strain on the critical care facilities in our hospitals.'

He also said adult intensive care unit occupancy is higher this year than for the same week in 2018.

'This figure is extremely concerning as it implies there is no more capacity in the system than last year for the very sickest people with many units full,' Dr Scriven said.

'[This leads] to either delays in treatment or vulnerable patients needing transportation to hospitals perhaps many miles away to find the care they need.'

And Dr Chaand Nagpaul, council chair of the British Medical Association, added: 'It is totally unacceptable that, last year, almost 640,000 patients waited on trolleys for over four hours.

'This is only 20,000 fewer than the total number recorded between 2011 and 2014 and it is inhumane, that in the 21st century, patients are facing these conditions.

'Rather than seeing the improved performance that was promised, we are instead seeing a health service that is on its knees, buckling under unprecedented pressure.

'Despite the best efforts of NHS staff who are continually going above and beyond during the busy winter period, very often to the detriment of their wellbeing, the lack of investment and effective long-term planning means patients are growing to expect long waits before they are seen.

'We need to see a tangible release of new funds in the immediate term to address these deficits over and above the proposals in the Long-Term Plan.'

But an NHS spokesperson insists 'thousands more' were treated in A&E within fours hours at the start of December than the year before.

'Despite real pressure particularly over the past few weeks, thanks to NHS staff the health service has seen improved performance since the start of December compared to last winter,' they said.

'Thousands more people [were] successfully treated in A&E within four hours than last year, significantly faster responses to life or death 999 ambulance calls, and unlike last year no national cancellations of routine surgery.

'The wider NHS is also responding effectively, with more children and young people getting fast access to eating disorder services, more adults getting urgent psychological help, and more people with suspected cancer seeing a specialist within two weeks.'

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RECM), which represents 8,000 emergency-medicine clinicians, strongly opposes NHS England's plan to change the four-hour target.

NHS England is reviewing its clinical targets, including the requirement that 95 per cent of all patients attending A&E are treated, admitted or discharged within four hours.

NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens has said a new target will see a shorter waiting time target for treating people with serious conditions such as stroke, heart attack and sepsis.

And people with less critical needs will need to wait longer.

But the RCEM has said scrapping the four-hour target 'will have a near-catastrophic impact on patient safety'.Think of it as decontaminating yourself.

Hospitalized patients with certain superbugs can cut their risk of developing full-blown infections if they swab medicated goo in their nose and use special soap and mouthwash after going home, a new study found.

It's a low-tech approach to a big problem: about five percent of patients have MRSA - antibiotic-resistant Staph bacteria - lurking on their skin or in their noses.

This puts them at high risk of developing an infection while recovering from an illness or an operation.

These can affect the skin, heart, brain, lungs, bones and joints, and most of them land people back in the hospital.

The team, from the University of California Irvine School of Medicine, said the hygiene steps trimmed that infection risk by nearly one-third.

A new study found that hospitalized patients who carry superbugs can reduce their infection risk by applying an antibiotic ointment in their nose after going home. Pictured: Researcher Raheeb Saavedra demonstrates how to use the medicated ointment

A lot has been done to curb infections in hospitals, and now attention is shifting to what happens after patients leave.

Nine states - California, Washington, Nevada, Minnesota, Illinois, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maine and New Jersey - require that hospitals test the most vulnerable patients, such as those in intensive care, for MRSA. Many other places do it voluntarily.

'It's a very simple solution. You don't have to swallow a medicine, you just have to clean the outside of your body for a little while longer,' said lead author Dr Susan Huang, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, involved more than 2,000 patients at hospitals in southern California.

All of them were found to be carrying MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.

They were all given information on ways to avoid infection, and half of them also got special products: mouthwash, liquid soap containing an antiseptic and an antibiotic ointment to swab in the nose.

They were told to use these Monday through Friday, every other week for six months.

One year later, six percent of those in the deep-clean group had developed an MRSA infection compared to nine percent of the other group.

There were no serious side effects. Forty-four people had dry or irritated skin, and most continued using the products despite that.

Heather Avizius was one of them. The 41-year-old nanny has had MRSA infections in the past and entered the study after severe complications of Crohn's disease landed her in St Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, California, eight years ago.

She said she hasn't had MRSA infections since completing the deep-clean regimen.

'I took the regimen very, very seriously', she said. 'I felt cleaner and safer' and less worried about spreading germs to her children.

Nearly half dropped out of the study early or couldn't be found for follow-up.

'Many people may think: "I feel fine, I don't really need to do this",' said Dr John Jernigan of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 'The risk doesn't end once you go home.'

Federal grants paid for the products. They would cost $150 to $200 for six months otherwise, Dr Huang said.

The antiseptic soap was a four percent chlorhexidine solution sold in many drugstores.

Other soaps, even ones labeled antibacterial, 'may not have the active ingredients to remove MRSA,' said Dr Robert Weinstein, another study leader and an infections specialist at Cook County Health and Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

He said it's worth it for patients to do whatever they can to prevent an MRSA infection.

'You left the hospital, you don't want to go back,' Dr Weinstein said.Doctors have accused the Government of neglecting heart failure patients after a study found survival rates have barely improved in nearly 20 years.

The terminal condition  which is often mistaken for asthma or mere old age  currently affects more than 920,000 people in the UK.

But despite medical advances in treating many serious conditions, including cancer, experts at the universities of Oxford and Birmingham warned that the chances of dying from heart failure have hardly changed since 2000 as it has not been a priority area in Government policy or funding.

Doctors have accused the Government of neglecting heart failure patients after a study found survival rates have barely improved in nearly 20 years

Statins should be given to 100,000 more in middle age By Kate Pickles, Health Correspondent Health chiefs want statins prescribed to 100,000 more middle-aged people to reduce risk of heart attacks and strokes. New targets have been launched by a coalition of organisations to improve detection and treatment of atrial fibrillation, high blood pressure and high cholesterol  three conditions that are among the major causes of cardiovascular disease and responsible for a quarter of early deaths in the UK. Led by NHS England and Public Health England, the targets suggest the number of people deemed at high risk of cardiovascular disease and being treated with statins  which reduce levels of harmful cholesterol associated with heart attacks and strokes  should rise from 35 to 45 per cent  from 400,000 to 500,000 people  by 2029. Duncan Selbie, chief executive of PHE, said: Prevention is always better than cure'. Health bosses said they will encourage local authorities to promote the NHS Health Check, a national programme offered to all 40- to 74-year-olds every five years. The check-up involves assessment of cardiovascular risk factors, such as blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol. The new coalition is made up of more than 40 organisations, including the British Heart Foundation, Stroke Association and several universities. Advertisement

After examining the data for 56,000 heart failure patients between 2000 and 2017, the researchers found only gradual improvements.

According to the most recent data, which was collected in 2016, people diagnosed with heart failure have a 21 per cent chance of dying within a year, down from 26 per cent in 2000.

The chance of dying within ten years dropped from 81 per cent in 2000 to 73 per cent in 2007.

Heart failure is a severe condition in which cardiac muscles become too weak to properly pump blood, leaving sufferers weak and out of breath.

The reports authors, writing in the British Medical Journal, said: Heart failure has not been a priority area in Government policy or funding, and other serious conditions, such as cancer, have seen a much greater improvement in survival over time.

The lack of substantial progress in improving heart failure survival rates should alert policy-makers to the need for further investment in heart failure services.

A major report published last year called heart failure a medical emergency, with GPs missing two in three cases, significantly increasing the risk of early death.

Even when patients are diagnosed they are often left for months without follow-ups, and many are given drugs at the wrong dose.

Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said last night: Heart failure is a cruel and debilitating illness affecting hundreds of thousands of people in the UK. But identifying shortfalls [in care] is the first step towards addressing them.Tonight's episode of the BBC documentary Hospital reveals the story of a 15-year-old boy who must raise 29,000 for his own cerebral palsy surgery.

Thomas, who is being treated at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, has been unable to stand for four years because of nerve damage caused by his condition.

He is desperate to receive a spinal operation but he doesn't fit the NHS's funding criteria, which is forcing the GCSE student to raise the money himself.

Tonight's episode is the last of the six-part series, telling the emotional stories of young NHS patients.

BBC Two Hospital reveals the story of Thomas, 15, who has been unable to stand since he was 11 due to cerebral palsy. He falls short of the funding criteria to receive a spinal operation, selective dorsal rhizotomy, and so has been trying to raise the money himself

Also featured is Jaxon, who is barely one-years-old. A tumour on his pelvis threatens the loss of one of his legs, and he has had difficulty feeding because of it

Nine-year-old Abigail, who is also wheelchair bound, is about to undergo the same surgery as Thomas.

But in dramatic scenes, surgeons stumble across a complication which could leave her paralysed.

Alongside their stories is Jaxon, barely one-years-old and fighting a chemo-resistant tumour which threatens the loss of his leg and inhibits his feeding.

All three will be treated at Alder Hey, which is one of only five centres in the country to offer a spinal operation called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR).

The operation, which has only been available on the NHS for eight years, eases the uncontrollable tightening of the muscles caused by cerebral palsy.

Thomas could see his speech, pain, and mobility ease, helping him to stand and feed himself properly again.

His life is controlled by the neurological condition, which is caused when the part of the brain that controls movement is damaged, often during pregnancy or child birth.

He hasn't been able to stand since he was 11 years old, and wakes four to five times a night cramped up in pain.

But the teenager, who was diagnosed at nine months old, just falls short of the criteria.

WHAT IS CEREBRAL PALSY? Cerebral palsy is the umbrella term for a number of brain conditions that affect movement and coordination. Specifically, it is caused by a problem in the parts of the brain responsible for controlling muscles. The condition can occur if the brain develops abnormally or is damaged before, during or shortly after birth. One in every 400 children in the UK are thought to be born with cerebral palsy, meaning around 1,800 children a year have the condition. It's estimated that 764,000 children and adults in the US have one or more symptoms of the disorder. There's no cure for cerebral palsy, but some treatments are available to ease symptoms, such as physiotherapy. Life expectancy is usually unaffected, however, the emotional and physical strain can put a great deal of stress on the body which can cause further problems in later life. Advertisement

The NHS only funds the operation for children between the ages of three and nine and with some ability to walk.

Research has shown that the operation is most beneficial to younger children, but Alder Hey's lead SDR surgeon is gathering data to show that the benefits are significant to older patients as well.

Thomas is determined to have the operation and has raised 29,000 for the procedure and intensive physiotherapy afterwards.

Nine-year-old Abigail, who was born prematurely, is shown in preparation for the SDR operation, used for the treatment of children with cerebral palsy.

The surgeon at Alder Hey has pushed hard to get funding for Abigail before she turns 10.

Her legs are very stiff and she is currently confined to a wheel chair but she has the potential to walk unaided again.

When Abigail undergoes surgery, her surgeon finds the spinal nerves she needs to single out and cut to relax the muscles are all tightly packed together.

If the wrong nerve is cut then the consequences are paralysis and problems with bodily functions. The procedure is irreversible.

Jaxon has been at Alder Hey Childrens on and off for almost half his short life of one year.

He has a slow growing but very large tumour in his pelvic area engulfing the major blood vessels that supply his legs.

It compresses his abdominal organs, and as a result, he has problems tolerating feeds.

Nine-year-old Abigail, who also has cerebral palsy, has had doctors fighting for her to receive funding for the same operation on her spine

The tumour is resistant to chemotherapy but surgery to remove it is very risky and could result in the loss of one of his legs because of major blood vessel damage.

The Alder Hey oncology team turns to cutting edge genetic research, that is yet to become routinely available.

If pathologists can find information about the make up of the tumour from its DNA then they may be able to find drugs to treat Jaxons cancer.

So far, only a few cases in the country have been treated this way.

Lastly, the show tells the story of 81-year-old Joan, who is on the waiting list for a TAVI (Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation) keyhole procedure to replace a failing heart valve.

Twelve years ago Joan had open heart surgery for the same condition but now shes too old to withstand the same, cheaper but much more invasive surgery.

For elderly people, like Joan, TAVI, is their last chance, and patients, once diagnosed, have only two years to live if the failing heart valve isnt replaced.

Liverpools hospitals catchment areas extend across North Wales, where Joan lives.

But the funding criteria for patients living in Wales and England are different.

When the surgeons at Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, the first 'Outstanding' rated specialist Trust in the country, are notified that the Welsh funding panel has turned down their application for Joans TAVI operation, they are determined to appeal.

In England, they believe, the surgery would already have happened on their clinical recommendation.

The series has shown the extraordinary work of some of Liverpools 20,000 NHS hospital staff who have to make crucial decisions for patients.

Hospital is on BBC Two tonight, Thursday February 14, at 9pm.Campaigners have today blasted the decision to push back the release of guidelines into controversial vaginal mesh implants that could maim hundreds more women.

Health officials admitted they needed longer to analyse the long-term effects of the scandal-hit devices, dubbed barbaric by victims, MPs and doctors.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellences (Nice) draft guidelines, which are sent to all medics in the NHS, are now scheduled to be published in April  not February, as originally planned.

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Surgical Mesh Implants (APPG) announced it was deeply disappointed to learn of the delay and called for mesh to be suspended.

Campaigners have branded the decision utterly scandalous, as they fear hundreds more women could be permanently scarred during those extra two months that doctors will have to dish out the implants.

Vaginal mesh implants, made of brittle plastic that can curl, twist and cut through tissue, have been branded the 'biggest medical scandal' since thalidomide.

Thousands of women have been maimed by mesh across the world and have been left on the brink of suicide, unable to work and reliant on wheelchairs.

Tireless fights by campaigners, backed by MailOnline, and 'meshed up' victims have led to internal investigation by the NHS and debates in the House of Commons.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellences (Nice) draft recommendations are now scheduled to be published in April  not February, like originally planned

Sling The Mesh, a 6,100-strong campaign group for those affected by mesh, leaked the email from Nice announcing the decision to delay its guidelines.

The expected publication date has been pushed back until April 2  around seven weeks after it was originally planned to drop on February 8.

The email, sent by health chiefs yesterday, read: 'The change is to allow Nice to take into account data on long term adverse effects.'

The consultation on the draft guidelines for mesh will now run from October 5 to November 15  an extension of less than six weeks.

Kath Sansom, founder of Sling The Mesh, told MailOnline: Its of paramount importance to release these guidelines as soon as possible to stop more women being maimed by these operations.

The fact Nice has pushed them back by two months is utterly scandalous.

Owen Smith, chair of the APPG, added: I'm deeply disappointed to learn that NICE have delayed the publishing of their guidelines on mesh.

WHAT ARE VAGINAL MESH IMPLANTS? THE CONTROVERSIAL DEVICES THAT HAVE BEEN COMPARED TO THALIDOMIDE WHAT ARE VAGINAL MESH IMPLANTS? Vaginal mesh implants are devices used by surgeons to treat pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence in women. Usually made from synthetic polypropylene, a type of plastic, the implants are intended to repair damaged or weakened tissue in the vagina wall. Other fabrics include polyester, human tissue and absorbable synthetic materials. Some women report severe and constant abdominal and vaginal pain after the surgery. In some, the pain is so severe they are unable to have sex. Infections, bleeding and even organ erosion has also been reported. Vaginal mesh implants are devices used by surgeons to treat pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence in women WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF MESH? Mini-sling: This implant is embedded with a metallic inserter. It sits close to the mid-section of a woman's urethra. The use of an inserter is thought to lower the risk of cutting during the procedure. TVT sling: Such a sling is held in place by the patient's body. It is inserted with a plastic tape by cutting the vagina and making two incisions in the abdomen. The mesh sits beneath the urethra. TVTO sling: Inserted through the groin and sits under the urethra. This sling was intended to prevent bladder perforation. TOT sling: Involves forming a 'hammock' of fibrous tissue in the urethra. Surgeons often claim this form of implant gives them the most control during implantation. Kath Samson, a journalist, is the founder of Sling The Mesh Ventral mesh rectopexy: Releases the rectum from the back of the vagina or bladder. A mesh is then fitted to the back of the rectum to prevent prolapse. HOW MANY WOMEN SUFFER? According to the NHS and MHRA, the risk of vaginal mesh pain after an implant is between one and three per cent. But a study by Case Western Reserve University found that up to 42 per cent of patients experience complications. Of which, 77 per cent report severe pain and 30 per cent claim to have a lost or reduced sex life. Urinary infections have been reported in around 22 per cent of cases, while bladder perforation occurs in up to 31 per cent of incidences. Critics of the implants say trials confirming their supposed safety have been small or conducted in animals, who are unable to describe pain or a loss of sex life. Kath Samson, founder of the Sling The Mesh campaign, said surgeons often refuse to accept vaginal mesh implants are causing pain. She warned that they are not obligated to report such complications anyway, and as a result, less than 40 per cent of surgeons do. Advertisement

As we've seen from the recent NHS audit into mesh, the government's own statistics vastly underestimate the problems caused by mesh.

It is imperative that Nice brings forward their guidelines on mesh and suspends its use until we have a proper understanding of the risks of mesh.

The APPG has repeatedly demanded Nice update the guidelines on treating urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse as a 'matter of urgency'.

A spokesperson for Nice said: 'It was necessary to add an additional two months to the timeframe for the clinical guideline on mesh for urinary incontinence in women to allow for an extensive evidence search for long-term data and for the committee members to properly consider this.

'Nice still plans to have draft recommendations available by the end of the year.'

How many women have had mesh?

WHAT ARE THE CURRENT GUIDELINES? Nice currently recommends a ban on vaginal mesh being used in pelvic organ proplapse. However, campaigners hope it will change its stance on recommending mesh for incontinence. A Government audit in April delved into the effects of mesh  but vaginal mesh campaigners Sling The Mesh argued at the time it didnt show the true scale of the disaster. The risks of complications from surgical mesh were shown to be around the 45 per cent mark - unlike NHS assertions it is no more than three per cent. The dangers of mesh for prolapse and incontinence, common medical issues after childbirth, were almost equal, despite Nice only recommending a ban on the former. NHS Digital data shows nearly 130,000 patients have undergone a mesh procedure for stress urinary incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse in the past decade. Advertisement

NHS Digital data shows nearly 130,000 patients have undergone a mesh procedure for incontinence or prolapse in the past decade.

A Government audit in April delved into the effects of mesh  but Sling The Mesh argued at the time it didnt show the true scale of the disaster.

The risks of complications from mesh were shown to be around the 45 per cent mark - unlike NHS assertions it is no more than three per cent.

The dangers of mesh for prolapse and incontinence, common medical issues after childbirth, were almost equal, despite Nice only recommending a ban on the former.

Action around the world

It came after the Government released its three-year investigation into the mesh scandal last September. It rejected calls for a ban at the time.

All forms of pelvic mesh were banned in New Zealand back in December, and a similar move against prolapse has been made in Australia.

Vaginal mesh has been subject of various legal proceedings across the world, with figures suggesting more than 100,000 are suing manufacturers of the devices.

Despite the risks, widely publicised over the past year, most women experience no problem and doctors are adamant the procedure is beneficial.

When did the scandal come to light?

The scandal came to light last April, when the NHS tried to dodge media attention over the implants that left hundreds of women in agony.

Senior doctors immediately called for a public inquiry into the controversial mesh, with some claiming the scandal could be akin to thalidomide.

At the time, 800 women were suing the NHS and device manufacturers. However, it is unsure how many women are now looking to take action in Britain.Our first introduction to medical imaging occurs when a doctor asks us to have an x-ray or scan to investigate an injury, pain or symptom that cannot otherwise be explained.

We can be overwhelmed when we see how complicated, large and noisy some of the equipment is.

Many different types of examinations can be performed to investigate conditions and injuries.

Sometimes more than one of the following medical imaging techniques is required to enable doctors to offer the best advice on treatment options.

Here, in a piece for The Conversation, Giovanni Mandarano, associate professor in medical imaging at Deakin University, explains all.

X-rays are actually photons, or tiny packets of energy (referred to as ionizing radiation) and form part of the electromagnetic spectrum (as does visible light, microwaves and radio waves)

'X-rays' or planar radiography

This is still the most common, widely-available and simplest form of medical imaging, often used to see a broken bone.

X-rays are actually photons, or tiny packets of energy (referred to as ionizing radiation) and form part of the electromagnetic spectrum (as does visible light, microwaves and radio waves).

As an x-ray beam passes through human tissue, these x-ray photons can be absorbed and deflected by dense tissue structures such as bone and may not exit the body. Other x-ray photons may encounter tissue that is less dense (such as muscle) and are able to pass through this quite easily and exit the body.

The exiting x-ray photons then reach a digital imaging receptor or detector where they provide a tissue density pattern for the digital receptor to convert into the x-ray image (or radiograph) that we are familiar with.

Dense tissue such as bone that has attenuated the x-ray beam appears dense or white; less dense tissue such as lungs that are filled with air appear less dense or dark, which we observe with a 'chest x-ray'.

Other tissues in the human body have densities between these two extremes and appear on an x-ray image as different shades of grey.

Patients should be reassured this form medical imaging is straight-forward, and there should be no risk or danger from the radiation when used correctly.

The most common CT exam is to scan a patient's chest, abdomen and pelvis, and the most common reason for this is to identify the spread of cancer

Computed tomography (CT)

This technique uses an x-ray beam to produce cross-sectional images of the human body. When the imaging process is taking place, the x-ray tube continuously emits an x-ray beam and is rotating in a 360 degree circle in a device called a gantry.

While this is happening, the patient is lying on a special CT imaging table that is allowing the x-ray beam through. The x-ray beam is shaped similar to a hand-held fan and is often described as a fan beam.

There are multiple digital detectors located within this circular gantry that continually identify the energy of the x-ray photons that exit the patient.

The motion of the table and patient moving through the gantry allows images to be reconstructed as slices (or tomographs) of human tissue.

The most common CT exam is to scan a patient's chest, abdomen and pelvis, and the most common reason for this is to identify the spread of cancer.

'X-ray dyes' are injected into patients to identify cancer when using CT imaging, as the cancer tissue will absorb the 'x-ray dye' and be more obvious on the image.

With routine CT imaging techniques, there should not be any risks or danger to patients from the levels of radiation used.

MRI uses a combination of a powerful cylindrical magnet and radiofrequency waves to generate an image of the body

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

MRI uses a combination of a powerful cylindrical magnet and radiofrequency waves to generate an image of the body.

It's quite loud and patients must be wearing suitable hearing protection devices such as earplugs or headphones (where relaxing music can be listened to).

Patients normally lie within the magnet cylinder, and a frame (which works like an antennae) is placed around the body area needing to be imaged, as close as possible, so the maximum possible signal can be detected in order to reconstruct highly detailed images.

Our body contains hydrogen, so a radiofrequency is transmitted into the body at the frequency that will cause hydrogen atoms to oscillate.

When the radiofrequency is switched off, the hydrogen atoms continue to oscillate and the frequency of this oscillation is detected by the frame or antennae.

The radiofrequency causes a voltage signal in the antennae, which is identified as an electrical signal. This is then digitised and an image is reconstructed using complex mathematical calculations.

Safety is paramount for patients having an MRI scan, and all patients must complete a safety questionnaire first to ensure they're compatible with the imaging environment.

The safety questionnaire asks if patients have any implanted metal objects such as pacemakers or infusion pumps or similar medical devices.

This is because certain metal objects can cause harm to patients or staff if they enter the MRI environment because of the powerful magnet.

The most common application of MRI is imaging the brain with conditions that relate to neurology or neurosurgery.

PET imaging is a unique imaging process, as it can identify and image functional information such as metabolic (the converting of energy) or chemical processes of internal body organs

Positron emission tomography (PET)

The imaging techniques used with x-rays, CT and MRI, are mostly designed to observe structural information  this includes the arrangement of anatomy and the location of disease or injuries.

PET imaging is a unique imaging process, as it can identify and image functional information such as metabolic (the converting of energy) or chemical processes of internal body organs.

To do this, radioactive substances need to be injected into patients and these are chemically bonded to compounds used by our organs (such as glucose) or molecules that bind to specific receptors or specific types of cells (such as proteins).

These radioactive substances emit gamma rays (another form of ionizing radiation). From their location within the body, the gamma rays pass through tissue and exit the body where they are detected by a PET scanner containing a gamma camera while the patient is lying still.

The PET scanner detects the gamma rays, converts their intensity or strength into an electrical signal and then reconstructs an image based on this intensity.

The detectors are arranged around a patient's body so the originating location of the gamma rays within the patient can be calculated using mathematical processes.

PET imaging is excellent for identifying the activity of tumours within organs that cannot be structurally identified with other imaging techniques.

Even though the thought of being injected with radioactive material may sound dangerous, it actually isn't.

Imaging techniques similar to this have been around for many decades and PET imaging techniques are performed nearly everyday in major hospitals across Australia.

Ultrasound uses sound waves to generate a medical image of human anatomy, and has no known detrimental effects

Ultrasound

Ultrasound uses sound waves to generate a medical image of human anatomy, and has no known detrimental effects. The frequency of ultrasound is higher than the sound wave frequencies that can be detected by human hearing.

Sound waves can only travel through a medium, so a water-based gel needs to be applied to the skin, which allows the ultrasound to be transmitted from the transducer (or probe - the thing that's moved over the area being scanned) into the body.

Ultrasound reflects sound waves differently from all the different tissues within the body, the more dense a tissue is, the more sound waves are reflected and returned to the transducer.

Where tissue is less dense, part of the sound waves will be returned to the transducer and part of the ultrasound will be transmitted through this tissue until it reaches a different type of tissue and the process continues.

When ultrasound waves return to the transducer, the sound waves are converted into an electrical signal, which is then digitised and reconstructed as an image.

The image is formed by calculating the distance from where the reflected sound waves interacted with tissue and the transducer, and is calculated by knowing that in human tissue, ultrasound travels at approximately 1,540 metres per second.

For many ultrasound imaging examinations, patients are asked to hold their breath so internal organs remain still while imaging is taking place. They may also be asked to move into certain positions.

In addition to providing structural information on how anatomy is arranged, ultrasound has the added benefit of providing biomechanical and functional information, as it can also image in real time and observe muscles and tendons moving.

Ultrasound imaging has two important applications. The first is in pregnancy and the second is to see if muscles and tendons are in some way damaged.Exposure to a gender-bending chemical found in receipts and plastic water bottles may cause inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), new research suggests.

Exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), which is also found in the lining of canned foods, causes the same inflammation and gut bacteria changes in mice that occur in Crohn's and ulcerative colitis patients, a US study found.

This occurs after the animals are exposed to 0.05mg/kg of BPA a day, which is the level considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency.

BPA, which reacts with oestrogen and thyroid hormone receptors, has been linked to infertility, autism, ADHD, obesity, type 2 diabetes, premature births and early onset of puberty. BPA is called a gender bender due it encouraging male breast growth.

The US Food and Drug Administration has banned BPA from baby bottles, while the European Commission prohibits the chemical from being added to receipts from 2020.

A gender-bending chemical in receipts may cause inflammatory bowel disease (stock)

DO HAIR PRODUCTS CONTAIN CHEMICALS LINKED TO CANCER? Nearly 80 percent of hair products aimed at black women contain chemicals linked to cancer, infertility and obesity, research suggested in April 2018. Up to 78 percent of relaxers, which are used to permanently straighten hair, contain hormone-disrupting chemicals, known as parabens, a study by the Silent Spring Institute, Massachusetts, found. Past studies suggest parabens, which are used as preservatives, mimic oestrogen and may cause cancer, weight gain and reduced muscle mass. Up to 78 percent of hair products, including leave-in conditioners, also contain phthalates, the research adds. Phthalates are added to prolong products' shelf lives and have been linked to breast and ovarian cancer, as well as early menopause. Out of the 18 products analysed, 11 contain chemicals that are banned under the EU cosmetic regulations due to their links to cancer and female infertility. Previous research suggests black women are more likely to use straightening and moisturising hair products to try and meet social beauty norms. Results further suggest that hair products aimed at black women contain up to 45 hormone-disrupting chemicals, which are not generally listed on their labels. All of the products contain at least one fragrance, which have previously been described as 'gender benders' due to them encouraging male-breast growth. The worst offenders were found in hair lotions, root stimulators and relaxers. Lotions claim to moisturise, while root stimulators are thought to encourage hair growth and strength. Advertisement

How the research was carried out

The researchers, from Texas A&M University, exposed female mice to BPA for 15 days.

The animals were given the chemical every morning dissolved in corn oil.

From days five-to-10 the rodents were also given a type of sugar in water that causes IBD.

Faeces were collected to determine the mice's gut bacteria levels, as well as to assess stool consistency and rectal bleeding, which are both symptoms of IBD.

Their weight was also recorded, which typically goes down in IBD patients.

At the start of the study, the animal's ovaries were removed due to oestrogen being linked to IBD's onset.

BPA worsens IBD symptoms

Results further suggest BPA significantly worsens rectal bleeding in mice, as well as causing weight loss and worse faecal consistency.

Tissue analyses suggest inflammation occurs in the middle portion of the animals' colons following BPA exposure. Raised inflammatory-marker levels confirm this finding.

Dr Clint Allred, who led the study, said: 'These types of studies are important to provide initial evidence that we need to better understand how things in the environment influence our risk of getting or worsening symptoms of diseases like IBD and how we can reduce that risk.'

The findings were published in the journal Experimental Biology and Medicine.

Up to 90% of receipts contain BPA

This comes after research released last January suggested more than 90 percent of receipts contain chemicals linked to infertility, autism and type 2 diabetes.

BPA and its 'healthier alternative' Bisphenol S (BPS) are added to 93 percent of receipts given out in stores, with just two percent having no chemical coating at all, a study by the Michigan-based non-profit organisation The Ecology Center found.

Cashiers and waiting staff, who frequently handle receipts, are particularly vulnerable to the chemicals' effects, the research adds.

Health fears prompted BPA to be replaced with BPS, however, evidence suggests this disrupts babies' development in the womb.

BPA and BPS, which are added to receipts to make their writing darker without using ink, are also often found in plastic water bottles and food containers. According to the bank, the action will help in achieving the recovery of Rs 26,000 crore during current FY 2018-19.

The bank has up to 31 December 2018 recovered Rs 16,600 crore.

New Delhi: Punjab National Bank (PNB), one of the leading public sector banks on Wednesday has stated that it has chosen to put more than 4,000 properties on e-auction all over India as portion of its loan recovery effort, reported by IANS.

As per the bank, activity under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest Act (SARFAESI) will offer assistance in accomplishing recovery of Rs 26,000 crore amid current Financial Year 2018-19.

The bank has up to 31 December 2018 recovered Rs 16,600 crore.

"It is expected that the scheduled e-auctions of these 4,000 properties will substantially add to the overall recovery tally of the bank," the bank said in a statement.

As of late, the state-owned lender reported a net profit of Rs 247 crore for the third quarter ending December 2018 over Rs 230 crore profit after tax (PAT) reported for corresponding quarter of 2017-18.

(With agency input)It's a popular takeaway food, doled out at Chinese and Indian restaurants as a tasty accompaniment to main dishes.

But many struggle to eat all of the rice they get - and decide to put it to the back of their fridge and heat it up later in the week.

Now, a British expert has revealed that you should keep cooked rice in the fridge for no longer than 24 hours before consuming it.

Fiona Hunter, a registered nutritionist for Healthspan, also said it should be never heated more than once and should be refrigerated within an hour.

It's a popular takeaway food, doled out by Chinese and Indian restaurants as a tasty accompaniment to main dishes

She said: 'You can reheat rice but you need to be careful to make sure it is stored properly before you reheat it.

'Uncooked rice can contain spores of a bacteria called Bacillus cereus which can survive when rice is cooked and cause food poisoning.

'If rice is left standing at room temperature after it's been cooked, the spores can grow into bacteria, which will multiply.'

Ms Hunter explained this process produces toxins that can cause bouts of vomiting or diarrhoea.

She added: 'The longer cooked rice is left at room temperature, the more likely it is that the bacteria multiply.

'So it's vital that you get cooked rice into the fridge as soon as possible, within an hour, if you're planning to reheat it later.

'If you have a large quantity of rice left over it helps to divide it up into smaller portions so that it will cool quicker.'

It comes after a food contamination expert warned last February that potentially thousands of adults may be cooking rice wrong.

Professor Andy Meharg, from Queens University Belfast, tested chemical levels after cooking rice three different ways.

He found cooking the grains in excess water helps to flush out arsenic, preventing any possible chemical poisoning.

While soaking rice overnight slashes levels of the industrial toxin - linked to heart disease and cancer - by around 80 per cent.Children exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke may become snorers, scientists claim.

An analysis of existing research suggests their risk of becoming snorers rises by up to 87 per cent, if regularly exposed to lingering cigarette smoke.

The odds of youngsters going on to become snorers rose by around two per cent for every cigarette smoked daily in the home.

Chinese scientists reviewed 24 studies that included nearly 88,000 children to come to the conclusion.

Children exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke may become snorers, scientists claim

Experts welcomed the findings, as snoring is often a pre-cursor to sleep apnoea and has been linked to an array of health issues.

Dr Lucy Popova, a researcher at Georgia State University, who wasnt involved in the study, said: Some parents may think snoring in kids is benign or even cute.

But snoring is often the first step towards developing sleep apnoea and has been linked to high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease.

The study adds to the evidence that shows second-hand smoke can be damaging, especially to young children who are still developing.

Qingdao University researchers combined and reanalysed data from the previous studies, which had taken place in a range of countries.

They compared the exposure of tobacco smoke in thousands of children and their eventual risk of going on to become a habitual snorer.

Experts led by Dr Ke Sun discovered exposure to smoke before and after birth raised a childs odds of habitual snoring, compared to unexposed kids.

Youngsters exposed to smoke while their mothers were pregnant were almost twice as likely to end up snoring.

IS THE END OF SMOKING IN SIGHT? The end of smoking may finally be in sight as 200,000 people gave up the bad habit last year in England, official statistics showed earlier this week. Government data revealed 14.9 per cent of adults across the country smoked in 2017 - the equivalent of 6.1 million people. This is down from the 15.5 per cent (6.3 million people) recorded in 2016, according to figures from the NHS and Office for National Statistics. Charities branded the data 'encouraging', as it also showed around an extra 70,000 smokers from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland also quit. Advertisement

After birth, children whose mothers smoked were 87 per cent more likely to snore than unexposed children.

Other exposures to smoke in the home, including fathers who smoked, raised the risk by around 45 per cent.

And the younger a child is, the more vulnerable they are, according to the study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Dr Sun and colleagues noted their study does not examine how cigarette smoke may make a child more vulnerable to snoring.

Dr Sophie Balk, a paediatrician at Childrens Hospital at Montefiore in New York, who wasnt involved in the analysis, welcomed the study.

She said: People who smoke should talk to their own doctors, or their childs doctor about how to quit.

Medications  such as nicotine replacement therapies  are available to help with the quit-smoking process.

Dr Balk added: Quitting tobacco use entirely is the best way to preserve your own health and the health of your children.Parents who have an addiction to their mobile phones may be to blame for their poorly behaved children, research claims.

Scientists have uncovered a trend between excessive use of the devices by mums and dads and behavioural problems in youngsters.

Almost 200 families were involved in the study of 'technoference' - interruptions in face-to-face interactions because of technology devices.

Technoference at meals can frustrate children, researchers claim, causing them to become hyperactive, whine, sulk or have a tantrum.

Scientists have uncovered a trend between excessive use of the devices by mums and dads and behavioural problems in youngsters

Poor behaviour in children was more closely linked to their mothers' phone usage, the scientists revealed in the journal Pediatric Research.

Recent studies estimate parents use TV, computers, tablets and smartphones for nine hours per day on average.

A third of this time is estimated to be spent on smartphones, often used during family activities such as meals playtime, and bedtime.

Illinois State University and Michigan University experts said they are all important times involved in shaping a child's social-emotional wellbeing.

Dr Jenny Radesky, who led the study, said: 'Children may be more likely to act out over time in response to technoference as opposed to internalize.'

Dr Brandon McDaniel, who also led the study, added: 'In other words, parents who have children with more externalizing problems become more stressed.

'Which may lead to their greater withdrawal with technology, which in turn may contribute to more child externalizing problems.'

The researchers quizzed 172 two-parent families who had a child over the age of five using online questionnaires.

Participants indicated how often per day various different devices interrupted their conversations or activities with their children.

Parents rated their child's internalizing behaviour, such as how often they sulked, and their externalizing behaviour, such as how easily frustrated they were.

The parents also reported on their own levels of stress and depression and their child's screen media use.

Two fifths of mothers and 32 per cent of fathers admitted being addicted to their phones across the six-month study.

Half of the families reported technoference happening at least three times a day. Only a tenth denied it ever occurring.

Being unable to resist checking messages was listed as one of the key features of addiction, alongside thinking about incoming calls and texts.

The study comes as Manchester is to launch a campaign to tackle the breakdown in communication between parents and children caused by technology.

It will become the first authority in the UK to launch such a scheme, which will see parents given nudge-style texts to advise them when to ditch their phones.Rates of opioid overdose deaths among women are rising far more quickly than they are among men, but experts warn that current prevention and treatment methods leave women behind.

Like any other drug, opioids affect men and women differently - and in most ways they pose greater risks to women.

In the US, more men may die of opioids, but women are more likely to be over-prescribed the drugs, to be left untreated during an overdose and are less likely to get into an effective substance misuse program.

Despite these disparities, preventative messaging and treatment plans continue to be one-size-fits-all by design, but it's high time that changed, Yale University experts urge.

Increases in overdose death rates among women are outpacing the rise among men, but differences in how the drugs affect each gender go over-looked too often, Yale experts warn

It's not a new concept: men and women are different. But when it comes to addiction, those distinctions seem to get lost in the higher-level numbers.

Many of these differences put women at higher risks of becoming addicted to opioids, according to a new paper in the Lancet by Dr Carolyn Mazure and Dr David Fiellin of Yale University.

Some 80 percent of people who become heroin users started down the path to addiction with a prescription for an opioid drug.

A woman in the US is more likely to experience the kind of pain for which a doctor might prescribe an opioid. Doctors are also about 15 percent more likely to write that prescription for a woman than they are for a man.

Research suggests that women are more 'sensitive to the aversive aspects of most painful stimuli,' the authors wrote.

This means that from the outset, they are more likely to wind up in need of pain management which all too often is given in the form of prescription opioids.

Once they have the pills in hand, women are actually less likely to become addicted them than men are, but if they start down that path at all, they typically progress down it at an accelerated rate.

It isn't just opioid prescriptions that doctors seem to hand out more liberally to women, who, Mazure reports, were more likely to get other prescriptions alongside the opioids that mix with the addictive drugs in ways that could cause overdoses.

The authors note that opioid addiction is not just a concern for a woman herself, but for any children she already has or may become pregnant with.

The public eye has long been turned toward the issue of opioid addiction in pregnant women and the neonatal abstinence syndrome their drug-dependent babies are often born with.

But the vast majority of women enter pregnancy without such an addiction, and many have never even taken an opioid.

They may have never needed any kind of analgesic in the past, but pain is nearly a guarantee after giving birth, whether vaginally or via cesarean section.

HOW AMERICA GOT HOOKED ON OPIOID DRUGS Prescription opioids and illicit drugs have become incredibly pervasive throughout the US, and things are only getting worse. In the early 2000s, the FDA and CDC started to notice a steady increase in cases of opioid addiction and overdose. In 2013, they issued guidelines to curb addiction. However, that same year - now regarded as the year the epidemic took hold - a CDC report revealed an unprecedented surge in rates of opioid addiction. Overdose deaths are now the leading cause of death among young Americans - killing more in a year than were ever killed annually by HIV, gun violence or car crashes. Preliminary CDC data, published by the New York Times, shows that US drug overdose deaths surged 19 percent to at least 59,000 in 2016. This is up from 52,404 in 2015, and double the death rate from a decade ago. It means that for the first time drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans under 50 years old. The data lays bare the bleak state of America's opioid addiction crisis fueled by deadly manufactured drugs like fentanyl. Advertisement

The two most commonly reported postpartum problems women report are pain and fatigue, according to the american College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Nearly all of the 1,452 mothers surveyed by Plan Against Pain - nine out of 10 - said that taking opioids during or after childbirth was a concern to them.

Yet just 10 percent had a conversation with their doctors about the drugs or any other pain management alternatives.

But what a doctor has injected, served in a dixie cup or scribbled on a prescription pad is not exactly the first thing on the mind of a new mother who has just given birth.

So many women end up heading home in a bit of a fog, with a prescription for drugs that might keep them that way indefinitely.

According to the Plan Against Pain, 51 percent of women who had C-sections were given opioids, whether they wanted them or not. Other estimates range as high as 75 percent.

This is worrisome, given that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecology estimates that one in every 300 women given postpartum opioids will become chronic users.

Yet seeking treatment comes with the fear that a woman might lose custody of her child - an added pressure that is less often present for men, as women tend to be the primary caregivers in their families.

And those prescriptions are helping to drive overdose rates up at an alarming clip, especially for women. Male overdose deaths increased by 404 percent between 1999 and 2014, where as there was a 583 percent increase for women in the same time period.

Ready as doctors are to prescribe opioids to women, one study indicated that emergency responders are three times less likely to administer Naloxone to a woman, suggesting that they do not believe she is overdosing until it is too late.

'As we tackle this epidemic, we must be sure that action plans fully understand and include the influence of gender differences on pain, opioid use, and addiction,' Dr Fiellin said.

'Women and men are not identical, and we must treat all people with attention to their specific risks and clinical needs.'

But right now, there are few woman-specific treatment programs, despite evidence that they produce better results for those who attend them.

'Substance use interventions historically developed around the treatment of men and services often focus preferentially on the concerns of men,' the authors write.

'Consequently, women are less likely than men to enter traditional substance use treatment programmes.'

They urge that doctors need to consider the unique risks of addiction before prescribing opioid to women and that treatment programs and professionals need to treat addiction as well as commonly co-existing mental health concerns.

'Women and men experience different paths to addiction and possess different treatment needs,' Dr Mazure said.

'It is imperative that we understand these differences if we are to help people and save lives.'For years laughing, coughing or exercising could spell disaster for Lisa Stevens.

In fact anything more vigorous than a gentle sneeze could be an issue for her. Thats because Lisa, along with around three million women in this country, has stress incontinence.

Lisas problem began several years after giving birth to her three children, now in their twenties.

In the past four years as Ive got to menopausal age its worsened, adds Lisa, 53 from London, who works in marketing.

I always worried about it happening.

For years coughing, exercising or sneezing caused Lisa Stevens to leak urine

WHAT IS URINARY INCONTINENCE? Urinary incontinence is the loss of bladder control. It affects up to six million people in the UK and 17 million in the US to some extent. Some sufferers occasionally leak urine when they sneeze or cough, whereas others get urges that are so sudden they do not get to the toilet in time. It is more common with age and can occur due to conditions such as arthritis if patients cannot undo their trouser buttons quickly enough. Other causes may include a urinary tract infection, pregnancy, childbirth, menopause, a hysterectomy and prostate cancer. Alcohol, caffeine, carbonated drinks and spicy foods can stimulate the bladder, making symptoms worse. Sufferers should seek help from their GP as urinary incontinence can indicate a more serious underlying condition. It can also restrict people's everyday activities and increase their risk of falls if they rush to the bathroom. People can reduce their risk by maintaining a healthy weight, eating lots of fibre, practicing pelvic floor exercises and not smoking. Source: Mayo Clinic Advertisement

When I went for a jog I had to nip behind bushes'

Stress incontinence most commonly occurs as a result of a weakened pelvic floor, the band of muscles that runs between the pubic bone and the back, helping to support the bladder.

Stress incontinence can, as in Lisas case, also be accompanied by urge incontinence  as the name suggests a sudden and uncontrollable urge to go to the loo.

When I went for a jog I usually had to nip behind bushes, she says. I believed it was one of those things that happens to women so I didnt see my GP. I simply put up with it  when I told my close friends some said they experienced it too.

The menopause can make matters worse as a fall in levels of oestrogen  which helps maintain the strength of collagen, a protein that makes tissue firmer and more elastic  may further weaken the pelvic floor.

Pelvic floor strengthening exercises can help as can lifestyle changes, such as reducing caffeine. Medication may be offered and if all else fails there are surgical options that help better support the bladder.

However these require an anaesthetic and while they can work well for some, complications are not uncommon.

Vaginal wall thickening improves pelvic floor control

Lisa is among the first in this country to try a new option: a laser treatment originally developed by cosmetic surgeons as a tightening procedure, helping with incontinence was seen as a bonus.

It is now being offered by one private clinic to help reduce both stress and urge incontinence.

Called ThermiVa it involves using a plastic probe, slightly longer than a toothbrush, with a tip heated by radiofrequency energy. The idea is it causes tightening of the tissues in the area as they contract in response to the heat.

The treatment heats the vaginal wall, bringing about the formation of new collagen and elastin - another protein that gives tissue its elasticity, explains Ali Juma, a consultant plastic surgeon at the Queen Anne Street Medical Centre, London who is offering the technique.

As a result of the vaginal wall thickening, continence is improved in the pelvic floor. The thicker and tighter vagina means there is added tissue around the urethra - the tube through which urine leaves the body - that supports it.

A medical paper published by experts from the U.S. and India in April 2016 said it has shown promising results in improving stress urine incontinence.

The procedure takes 30 to 40 minutes, and I recommend three treatments as each treatment improves on the previous one, adds Mr Juma.

To perform the procedure Mr Juma uses a disposable plastic handheld probe that is connected to the ThermiVa machine, resembling a PC with a digital display. This monitor controls the temperature at the tip of the probe.

Ideally the temperature when using the probe is 42 to 47 degrees C, he adds.

Most patients can tolerate this. At these temperatures there is more stimulation of the fibroblasts (the cells that make up the connective tissue) - as a result they produce more collagen.

She is one of the first in the country to have a procedure that tightens the vaginal walls

'My confidence is back'

Lisa heard about the treatment through a friend and went for her first 30 minute treatment last September.

It wasnt painful, she says.

Mr Juma spoke to me throughout it, checking if the probe felt comfortable and wasnt too warm, she says.

Once hed finished, I could leave straight away as I hadnt even needed sedation.

Mr Juma said the collagen forming process would carry on during the next few weeks, but I might notice results even sooner. Four days later, I had dinner with friends and didnt need the loo until I got home.

After my second treatment in October I was able to hold off going to the loo for an hour and a half longer than normal.

Lisa had her final treatment in December (2017) and will have a 12-month review in September.

So far, ThermiVa has really worked well for me, I have had no negative side effects and my confidence is back.

The procedure brings a small risk of infection but Mr Juma says there has been a 95 per cent satisfaction rate among patients with incontinence that he has performed the technique on so far.

However the treatment is not a cure as such.

I advise patients to return every nine to 12 months in case they need further treatment, he says. ThermiVa is not permanent - the vaginal wall can change due to factors such as hormonal changes that loosen tissue. Therefore I also tell my patients to do regular pelvic floor exercises to help maintain the tightness.

At the moment the treatment is only available privately at a cost of 900 per treatment or 2,500 as a package of three.

But not everyone is convinced by the evidence so far.

This is interesting, but needs to be investigated in properly conducted trials, says Maya Harris, consultant urologist at the Spire Parkway Hospital, Solihull.

I dont think it would ever become a reliable treatment for incontinence, except perhaps milder cases, where non-surgical measures such as pelvic floor exercises, bladder retraining and medication would work anyway. If you are suffering from incontinence then you really should see an urologist.Health officials yesterday warned frozen sweetcorn could be behind nine deaths in Europe, including two in the UK.

Laboratory tests have shown the vegetable is the culprit for a large proportion of listeriosis cases across the continent.

The Food Standards Agency has urged people to ensure they cook all frozen veg before eating them - even if they are being added to smoothies or dips.

Nearly a dozen cases of listeriosis, which starts with flu-like symptoms, have been recorded in the UK since 2015.

Austria, Denmark, Finland and Sweden have also been struck down by frozen veg containing listeria, with 47 cases of the infection in total.

The Food Standards Agency yesterday revealed that frozen sweetcorn is thought to be behind an ongoing outbreak of listeriosis, which can kill

European Food Safety Authority figures yesterday revealed nine of those ended in death - killing 19 per cent of infected people.

Tests by the organisation, based in the Italian city of Parma, found frozen sweetcorn was to blame for the majority of tested cases.

However, frozen spinach and frozen green beans were also found to carry the same strain of listeria that struck down two people.

A freezing plant in Hungary is thought to be the source of contamination, according to the EFSA.

Two of the 11 UK cases consumed the same brand of frozen corn from the same supermarket, known to be supplied by Hungary.

WHAT IS LISTERIOSIS? Most people that catch listeriosis, caused by bacteria called listeria, will only experience mild symptoms, such as vomiting and diarrhoea. However, more serious complications can develop in those with weakened immune systems, babies, the elderly and pregnant women. Many foods can harbour listeria, but it is usually found in unpasteurised milk, soft cheeses and chilled ready-to-eat foods, such as prepacked sandwiches. Advertisement

Hungarian health officials last week ordered the immediate withdrawal of all frozen vegetable products produced by the plant.

Most people that catch the infection, caused by bacteria called listeria, will only experience mild symptoms, such as vomiting and diarrhoea.

However, more serious complications can develop in those with weakened immune systems, babies, the elderly and pregnant women.

Dr Kathie Grant, head of Public Health England's Gastrointestinal Bacteria Reference Unit, said: 'The best way to prevent listeriosis is to practice good food hygiene.

'We are reminding people that most frozen vegetables, including sweetcorn, need to be cooked before eating. This includes if adding them to salads, smoothies or dips.'

The EFSA said the extent of the outbreak had initially been underestimated, and recent cases showed it was continuing.

Its report added: 'It is strongly recommended that the processing plant concerned is completely cleaned and disinfected.'

The EFSA said that would involve dismantling, cleaning and disinfecting all the plant equipment, as well as any additional surfaces.As a magician, Khevin Barnes made a profession out of the unexpected, but before he retired, his job was to be in the know, and surprise others.

Khevin didn't know that men could get breast cancer.

Then he found himself getting a mammogram, and then a mastectomy.

More than 99 percent of all breast cancer cases diagnosed are in women. The odds that a man gets breast cancer are 1,000 to one.

Khevin is that one.

A four-year survivor of the disease, Khevin, now 68, has made a life of alerting fellow men that breast cancer is not just for women.

Khevin Barnes had a mastectomy to remove the tissue from the left side of his chest in 2014 after discovering that he had breast cancer, which affects just one in every 1,000 men

'I was one of those I was one of these guys that had no clue that men could even get breast cancer,' he says.

In 2014, he had a 'bump' at the left side of his chest. Even today, while most women refer to palpable tumors as 'lumps,' Khevin uses different language.

He didn't see anything to worry about, though. He and his wife were living at a Zen Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, where they spent their days meditating and practicing a peaceful, substance-free lifestyle as part of an extended residency program.

Khevin had retired, but got a new health insurance plan, so he figured he should do his due diligence and see his primary care doctor.

'Everything looked fine, everything seemed fine, and I thought, "I'm fine,"' Kevin says.

Khevin and his late wife, Meg Chrysler Barnes (left) traveled the country performing magic

'But my wife, bless her heart, she said "why don't you have him check that little bump on your left breast?"'

Khevin had complained to her just a couple of times about the spot. The 'little tiny bump' was nothing horrible, just a bit bothersome.

But soon he was scheduled for a mammogram, a procedure he'd never fathomed going through.

On Mother's Day, while Khevin was visiting his mother who was ailing after breaking her hip, he got a voicemail that sounded scripted from a movie no one would want to star in.

'I'm sorry but I have a bit of bad news,' his doctor said.

When he returned her call, the doctor informed Khevin that had breast cancer, stage one, but grade three, which meant that they had caught the cancer early, but that it was an aggressive form.

That early diagnosis would be key to Khevin's survival, and is particularly rare among men.

'The reason that most men are diagnosed at a much later stage - usually three or four - is that guys are kind of wimpy, they get a little bump and think it's something else. A lot of times, it's the significant others that say to go get it checked,' he told Daily Mail Online.

'We're kind of the last ones to get concerned,' he added.

Less than 30 days after his diagnosis, Khevin was taken into surgery to remove his breast tumor and the surrounding tissue in 2014

His wife, Gaga Barnes (left) assisted Khevin (right) with magic performances. She was also the one to convince him to have a doctor check the lump that turned out to be cancer

His doctor told Khevin to focus on his time with his mother, and not worry until he was back in Hawaii.

'On the plane home, it hit me: I have male breast cancer,' Khevin recalls. It was difficult to wrap his head around the idea of fighting for his life against a disease it had never occurred to him to fear.

Nonetheless, Khevin and his medical team wasted no time once he was back in Hawaii. He was fast-tracked for a mastectomy and left with precious little tissue and no nipple on the left side of his chest.

Typically, the next stage in treating breast cancer would have been chemotherapy, but Khevin already knew that the full treatment was not for him.

Seven years prior, his first wife, Meg Chrysler Barnes had died of ovarian cancer at just 47 years old and in spite of chemo.

For three years leading up to her death, Khevin was Meg's constant caretaker as treatment after treatment failed to restore her health.

'I watched the whole process and she often said she wished she hadn't done [chemo],' Khevin says.

So he did one round, a single quick blast of chemo to his body and tried to move on with his life.

His late wife, Meg (left), accompanied Khevin (right, performing on tour in 1988) during his career as a magician before she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer

After a three-year battle with ovarian cancer and miserable round of chemotherapy, Meg died in 1997 at 47 years old (left). Khevin (right) knew he didn't want to endure the same treatments

But his idyllic island home became a kind of symbol for his one-in-on-thousand diagnosis.

'Being in Hawaii, I felt pretty isolated in general,' Khevin says.

He and his wife, Gaga, moved back to the 'main land' and settled in Arizona, but, of course, there were no more men sharing Khevin's experience there than there had been in Hawaii.

Every year, there are some 260,000 new cases of women's breast cancer, but only 2,500 in men.

To stave off the loneliness of his diagnosis, Khevin started writing letters to family, friends and other cancer patients. He got involved in Anti-Cancer Club, and started writing about his experience on the support group's site.

Soon, he was writing his own blog about male breast cancer, and then for CURE magazine, a publication about and for those living with cancer and their loved ones.

'That is my passion now,' Khevin says.

'[Breast cancer] is a business - if you want to call it that - that a very big part of it is on the female side. The support from women has been amazing,' he says, but 'men have breasts and they can get breast cancer.'

Khevin has been cancer and symptom free for four years, but gets mammograms twice a year

He's made it his mission to be the symbol of men's breast cancer - which many men are afraid to be - as well as an educator. He is even writing a musical about breast cancer.

'A lot of men [who have had breast cancer] aren't willing to pose with their shirts off, and we don't have the same connection to breasts as women do, societally. It is pretty much over-looked even by doctors,' Khevin says.

'One of the things we need to do is educate practitioners. Men really don't know how to tell men to check their breasts, so we're approaching it from that end as well, reaching out to men and the professionals.'

Khevin checks his breast tissue in the shower, and gets mammograms twice a year.

'I have an 80 percent chance of living probably 10 years if I do nothing. I've felt great for the last five years and been symptom free,' Khevin says.

'Even if the cancer recurred tomorrow, it's been a good four years.'

But it might not have been if Gaga hadn't been around to ask his doctor about that pea-sized lump.

'Listen to your significant other, have stuff checked out. We're so wimpy about needles and all, but, I'll tell you what, it's a lot better than a mastectomy,' Khevin says.A woman who suffered with problem skin for eight years has revealed how it became so bad she had to take days off work and cancel dates with her boyfriend.

Emma Scholz, 29, was told she had acne in her early 20s but no medication she was given cleared up her sore, red and sensitive skin  it just made it worse.

A second dermatologist then told Ms Scholz, from London, she had severe rosacea, a common rash affecting the face but more commonly diagnosed in older people.

After trying years of different creams and treatments with no success, Ms Scholz's skin became so bad she was sometimes too embarrassed or in too much pain to even leave the house or to see her partner, Florian.

Having had no luck with doctors she turned to internet forums to find out what other people with the condition had tried.

She discovered Kalme skin products, 19.95 creams made with Mediterranean flower buds, capers, and says she hasn't looked back since.

Ms Scholz said: 'My rosacea hasnt gone, it never will, but now it doesnt rule my life and I feel in control of my skin.'

Emma Scholz says her life has been transformed after using a skin cream containing capers to treat her severe rosacea

Ms Scholz says her rosacea started suddenly when she was 20 and, after a lifetime of good skin, she thought it was because she was living in Spain at the time and put it down to acne from the heat and sun cream.

Ms Scholz, an IT consultant, said: 'From that day, it just got worse and worse.

'First it was the soreness and the dryness, then the redness and then came the bumpiness and the intense itching, usually in that cycle.

'It started just in my cheeks but within months it had spread over most of my face and down my neck.

'I tried all the usual treatments for acne like anti-bacterial washes but all these products just made my skin worse.

Ms Scholz suffered with red, bumpy skin for eight years before finding a successful treatment, and was misdiagnosed with adult acne

'My skin felt ultra sensitive and very reactive so I switched to products for sensitive skin as opposed to acne to see if that worked. It didnt, my skin still carried on getting worse.'

By this time Ms Scholz's face was red almost all the time and it was painful for her to put on makeup.

However, she was so upset with how it looked she took the pain because she couldn't bear to be seen in public or at work without cosmetics  but this just made the problem worse.

Acne cream 'stung like hell and made my skin furious'

After years of trying different treatments Ms Scholz went to a dermatologist for a professional opinion, and was diagnosed with adult acne.

'The first dermatologist I saw prescribed an acne cream,' she said.

'It stung like hell and made my skin furious. I carried on anyway hoping it was just my skin adjusting to the treatment, but it became so painful I had to stop using it.

Ms Scholz said when her skin was bad she used to cancel dates with her partner Florian (right) because she didn't want him to see her face

Ms Scholz, 29, tried years of different solutions for her bad skin but said none help to calm the pain or redness

'I felt having tried so many acne treatments that this diagnosis just wasnt correct, so I sought a second opinion.

'The second dermatologist immediately diagnosed me with rosacea.'

Ms Scholz was told she may have been diagnosed wrongly because she is young, and most people don't develop severe rosacea until they are nearing middle age.

Rosacea is common but not well understood

The condition is common but not well understood  it is thought to be caused by problems with blood vessels in the face, or a reaction to microscopic insects which are often found on the skin.

Triggers might make skin flare up particularly badly, such as sunlight, stress, exercise, alcohol and caffeine or spicy foods.

Ms Scholz, who was living in Spain when her skin started to get bad and now works in China, enjoys travelling, but says she used to dread going to new climates

Ms Scholz (pictured with partner Florian) said: 'There would sometimes be days when I simply didnt leave the house as my skin felt so raw and painful I just didnt want to go outside'

There is no known cure but avoiding these triggers can help to relieve symptoms, as well as skin creams and gels.

'Some days my skin got so bad I was unable to go to work because my face was so painful I could barely speak.

'Id have to just stay at home in the cool and try and calm my skin down with cold flannels.

'There would sometimes be days when I simply didnt leave the house as my skin felt so raw and painful I just didnt want to go outside.'

Ms Scholz says she became so depressed about her condition that her friends and family began to worry, and that she was in denial about how bad it was.

Cancelled dates with partner when skin flared up

In 2015 she met her partner Florian during a time when her skin was calmer  although she still did not let him see her without makeup  but when it flared up she cancelled dates because she was so embarrassed.

Ms Scholz says she felt unable to speak to anyone except her dermatologist about the problem.

Ms Scholz, an IT consultant, now feels happier and more confident in her own skin after using Kalme's products which contain capers

She continued: 'It felt as if no one could help me so I decided to take matters into my own hands.

'I hadnt tried anything "alternative" for my rosacea, believing firmly that the medical route was my best hope of a cure.

'So I did what I probably should have done a long time before and I began reading blogs and support groups written by and for people with rosacea.

WHAT IS ROSACEA? Rosacea is a common rash that affects the centre part of the face, usually in middle-aged people. Sufferers are more likely to blush easily, which is followed by persistent redness, bumps and pus spots. What causes rosacea? The cause of rosacea is not fully understood. Many think it occurs due to blood vessels beneath the skin dilating too easily. It is more common in fair-skinned women. Alcohol, excessive exercise, extreme temperatures, spicy food, stress and sunlight can all make rosacea worse. Are there other symptoms? And how is it treated? As well as affecting their appearance, rosacea sufferers may also experience: Depression, anxiety and a reduced quality of life

Swelling around the eyes

An enlarged, red, bulbous nose due to an overgrowth of oil glands

Eye problems, such as a gritty feeling or sensitivity to light There is no cure. Treatment focuses on avoiding triggers and easing symptoms via oral antibiotics and topical creams. Source: British Association of Dermatologists and NHS Choices Advertisement

I tried Kalme products and haven't looked back since

'Products that kept popping up and always with very detailed and convincing reviews were Kalme products.

'So many accounts mirrored my own experiences with rosacea, their symptoms, what medications they had tried, that I decided to try the Kalme products for myself.

'That was just over a year ago and I havent looked back since.'

Kalme's products contain an extract from capers, a flower bud which grows in the Mediterranean.

The company claims the extract causes 'significant anti-inflammatory activity' which reduces redness and discomfort.

In the past there has been scepticism about whether capers work for rosacea, but experts acknowledge they can reduce inflammation.

No scientific evidence it works, but it's 'plausible'

Dr Anton Alexandroff, a British Skin Foundation spokesperson said: 'There is no scientific research that capers improve rosacea in patients at present.

'However there is scientific data that capers can suppress inflammation and vasodilation [widening blood vessels] in general, which are two major mechanisms of rosacea.

'It is therefore theoretically plausible that capers may help to treat rosacea but further research is required to confirm this.'

Ms Scholz claims the products worked for her within weeks.

'Within two weeks I started to see a significant improvement in the state of my skin,' she said.

'Firstly, the itching decreased along with the dryness. The redness and bumps were still there but my skin felt less sore and softer.

'My skin has improved about 90 per cent'

'Then after about four weeks the bumpiness and the redness started to really decrease.

'The relief I felt is indescribable. I have been using the Kalme products for a year now and I would say my skin has improved about 90 per cent.

'My rosacea hasnt gone, it never will, but now it doesnt rule my life and I feel in control of my skin, which has drastically improved my quality of life,' Ms Scholz said

'Even when I have a flare up they are nowhere near as bad as they used to be and go away within a few days.'

Ms Scholz, who is now living in China for work, says improving her skin has had knock-on effects on the rest of her life and she now feels happier and more outgoing.

She added: 'Ive got so much more confidence now I barely have to think about my skin. I can go to a party or a social event and never worry. Im even sleeping better now as I think I have less anxiety.

'My rosacea hasnt gone, it never will, but now it doesnt rule my life and I feel in control of my skin, which has drastically improved my quality of life.'A woman born without a vagina has become the first in the world to undergo reconstructive surgery to have one built out of fish skin.

Jucilene Marinho, 23, from Ceara, Brazil, underwent a neovaginoplasty in April last year after being born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hause (MRKH) left her with no cervix, uterus or ovaries - meaning she will never have children.

The procedure, performed at the Federal University of Ceara involved creating an opening where Ms Marinho's vagina should have been before inserting a genital-shaped mould lined with the skin of the freshwater fish tilapia.

The fish skin was then absorbed into her body and transformed into tissue that lines the vaginal tract.

After spending three weeks in hospital, Ms Marinho - the first of four patients given the procedure - was discharged and is now thrilled with the results.

She said: 'My family and friends took me out to "toast" my new vagina!'

Ms Marinho, who spiraled into a deep depression when she thought she would never have an intimate relationship, has even been able to have sex for the first time with her boyfriend of over a year Marcus Santos, 24.

She added: 'It was a wonderful moment because everything worked perfectly. There was no pain just a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction.'

Scroll down for video

Jucilene Marinho, 23, who was born without a vagina, has become the first woman in the world to undergo reconstructive surgery to have one built out of fish skin

Due to the procedure, she can finally have sex with her boyfriend Marcus Santos (pictured)

The fish skin lined a vagina-shaped mould that was inserted where her genitals should be

'I thought my world had ended'

Despite being born with MRKH, Ms Marinho was not diagnosed until she was 15 years old.

She had a normal puberty and even experienced menstrual cramps despite never having a period.

Speaking of her diagnosis, Ms Marinho said: 'I cried a lot when I found out.

'I thought my world had ended.

'I'd always dreamed of having a baby of my own now I had to accept that wouldn't be possible.'

After having the operation, Ms Marinho experienced minor internal bleeding but was told she could have sex at the end of last year.

She said: 'At first I was very scared to do it because I thought it would hurt and I was worried it might damage the opening.

'I didn't feel any discomfort and there was no bleeding.

'Everything felt sensitive in what I'm told is the right and normal way. It was perfectly natural like the opening had always been there.

'It felt so good to have something the majority of women take for granted.'

WHY IS FISH SKIN USED IN VAGINAL-RECONSTRUCTION SURGERY? Surgeons at the Assis Chateaubriand Maternity School, Brazil, have performed vaginal reconstruction surgery using fish skin in women born without a cervix, uterus or ovaries. Before being used, the fish skin undergoes a special cleaning and sterilisation process followed by radiation exposure to kill any viruses. This removes all the skin's scales and odour, leaving behind a light-coloured gel dressing that can be stored for up to two years in refrigerated, sterile packaging. Tilapia fish skin is used in the surgery Why is the fish-skin method used? The 'fish-skin method' is considered less invasive than the traditional technique of creating a vaginal canal using skin grafts from patients' groins. Dr Leonardo Bezerra, from the Assis Chateaubriand Maternity School, said: 'This procedure can be time consuming and painful as the patient needs to recover from a large incision which leaves a scar that can be unsightly and stigmatising. 'There is also the possibility of discomfort with the reconstructed tissue.' The fish-skin surgery also has a faster recovery rate with no visible scars, or risks of rejection or infections. Patients are typically able to walk after around 12 days, with the mould being replaced with silicone or a sponge for comfort. Traditional surgery requires patients to spend weeks in hospital and essentially relearn how to walk. What does the procedure involve? Dr Bezerra said: 'To make the "new vagina" we insert a vagina shaped acrylic mould, lined with the skin of tilapia, into the space created between the bladder and the rectum. 'The device remains there for 10 days to prevent the walls from closing. 'During this period the skin of the tilapia is absorbed, and the cells and growth factors released by the membrane transforms, like stem cells, into the patient's tissue cells. 'Finally, the patient's body completely incorporates the tilapia skin becoming biocompatible with it. 'The fish skin stimulates cellular growth and the formation of blood vessels and creates a new canal equal to that of an actual vagina.' Why are tilapia fish used? Tilapia fish are readily available in Brazil's rivers and farms. Their skin, which is typically thrown away, contains large amounts of moisture and is rich in collagen, which promotes healing. It is also disease resistant and as strong as human skin. Tilapia skin has previously been used to heal more than 200 severe-burn victims without the use of gauzes that have to be changed regularly. Advertisement

Ms Marinho said having sex for the first time felt 'right' and 'perfectly normal'

Now full of confidence, Ms Marinho's friends and family took her out to 'toast' her new vagina

She spent three weeks in hospital and experienced just minor internal bleeding

The fish skin was first cleaned and sterilised to remove any viruses, scales and its odour

It then forms a gel-like dressing that can be stored for two years in sterile, refrigerated bags

Tilapia fish skin contains lots of moisture and collagen, which promotes healing

To create a 'new vagina', surgeons insert a genitalia-shaped acrylic mould, lined with the skin of tilapia, into the space created between the bladder and the rectumA 12-year-old boy injured in a car accident baffled doctors when he turned blue in the operating theatre as they were about to perform life-saving brain surgery on him.

Medics declared a crisis after his ventilator failed to help him breathe and he began losing colour from the lack of oxygen for almost five minutes.

Luckily the quick-thinking team got the bottom of what was going on - the unfortunate youngster had not only suffered head trauma from a crash but also had his airways obstructed by a 3cm piece of chicken.

The foreign body was removed using a bronchoscope  a flexible tube with a camera and light attached to the end. His ventilation immediately improved and the operation went smoothly.

Doctors in in Malaysia removed a 3cm piece of chicken lodged in the boy's airway

A chest scan taken before the bronchoscopy showed a collapse in a segment of his left lung but no obstruction was spotted as it was so small

A lesson for medics

The patient was found unconscious by the road side and rushed to Universiti Sains Malaysia Health Campus in Kelantan in Malaysia.

Writing in the journal Respiratory Medicine Case Reports, the doctors who assisted him point out that the most common cause of ventilation problems is blockage of the tube by secretion from allergic reaction to drugs.

They published the paper to remind medics of the possibility of obstruction by a foreign body such as food particles.

Moreover, they say it can be difficult to diagnose as chest scans can appear normal in 27 per cent of cases.

They reported that the patient was discharged after a week in hospital.Im sitting at my desk readying an annual review of the state of business and human rights in Asia. The task is a worthy one, but also a rude interruption to the warm and fuzzy feeling Ive been enjoying after a holiday spent in Western Australia. There, amid white sand beaches, clear blue skies, and the towering eucalyptus, I met distant relatives for the first time; these were my second cousins whose ancestors migrated to Australia from England as mine made a new life in the US.

At a Christmas lunch, hosted by my second cousins, I naturally had a chance to talk about my work on Business and human rights issues. I spoke of our efforts to address or draw attention to forced-labour, displacement, environmental degradation, and physical attacks on human rights defenders.

We have such a blessed life here in Perth, Im afraid we dont think about these things very often, one cousin admitted.

In fact, awareness among Australians of the scale and scope of human rights abuses in business operations in Asia has risen considerably in recent years. Only weeks before our visit, the Australian Parliament passed the Modern Slavery Act (MSA) 2018. Australia is among a handful of countries to introduce this type of legislation. The Australian MSA signals a new willingness to bring transparency to the global supply chains of Australian businesses, many of which source from Asia.

As Ive written in a previous blogpost, modern slavery does not have an internationally recognized definition. However, it is generally accepted that modern slavery and forced labor applies to situations in which persons are coerced to work through the use of violence or intimidation, or by more subtle means such as manipulated debt, retention of identity papers or threats of deportation.

In 2018, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Walk Free Foundation estimated that 24.9 million people worldwide were being held captive as forced laborers, half of them in the Asia-Pacific region. These estimates show a marked increase from previous years.

In 2015, journalists from the Associated Press (AP) documented horrifying accounts of modern slavery in Southeast Asia and carefully chronicled the extent to which forced labor was embedded in the supply chains of major food retailers based in the United States.

The AP report inspired consumer boycotts, official investigations and a flurry of legislative and policy responses. Also in 2015, the UK Modern Slavery Act was passed, but only after weeks and months of acrimonious debate. At issue, the UK Modern Slavery Act only encouraged large companies to report on the human rights risks in their supply chains and on any measures to mitigate those risks. Financial or criminal penalties were not included as provisions for failing to do so.

According to many observers, the Modern Slavery Act in the UK, the Corporate Duty of Vigilance Law in France (2017), the EU Directive on Non-Financial Disclosures (2013), and the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (2012), among others, have intensified the discussion on business and human rights amongst consumers, investors, and companies. These laws may have empowered whistleblowers and advocates within firms to get senior management to take action to remedy human rights impacts or revise or develop due diligence practices. Certainly, the MSA and other legislative actions will strengthen policy efforts now underway in Asia.

In 2017, Thailand announced its intention to develop a national action plan (NAP) on business and human rights to consolidate a whole-of-government response to modern slavery and other abuses in supply chains.

In 2018, it strengthened its efforts by inviting UN experts to engage on human rights conditions in business operations in Thailand. The Thai government also indicated that the National Action Plan would be aligned with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011) and reviewed by UN-endorsed experts.

Meanwhile, Malaysia, India and Indonesia have also formally announced their intentions to start developing national action plans. In 2018, Thailand voted to ratify the ILO Convention on Work in Fishing (No. 188), the first Asian country to do so.

I recently asked Vanessa Zimmerman, Board Member and Chair of Human Rights, Global Compact Network Australia (GCNA), for her views on the MSA. The GCNA runs a community of practice for Australian companies to share best practice and challenges relating to the MSA and broader modern slavery risk management.

She said she understood why there was scepticism in some quarters but noted that the MSA has, already encouraged Australian companies that were once absent from the business and human rights arena to start engaging. They now have a better understanding of how their businesses may be involved in modern slavery and broader human rights impacts.

Certainly, legislative and policy action coming from countries at both ends of global supply chains is promising. Pressure from multilateral organizations will also be helpful. Behind these initiatives is a growing appreciation that business has a powerful role in bettering society, and a recognition that governments alone cannot address global challenges fast enough.

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What are your views on how the world can combat Modern Slavery, and ensure responsible consumption? Let us know.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Pink champers on Valentines Day? Not any more. Sales of other pink drinks  from magenta cocktail mixes to pale pink rhubarb-flavoured vodkas  are soaring. Here, Femails drinks expert puts them to the test . . .

A FLORAL TRIBUTE

Eden Mill Love Gin, 22.46, 31dover.com

British beverages expert Helen McGinn gave her verdict on a selection of the latest pink drinks as sales continue to soar, she was impressed with Eden Mill Love Gin (pictured)

Traditionally, pink gin was a simple cocktail made with regular gin and angostura bitters, which was pale pink in the glass.

These days, it refers to a new wave of pink-coloured gins, usually sweetened and flavoured with red fruits.

This is a brilliant example, although its a very subtle shade of ballerina slipper pink  and the gorgeous ceramic bottle means you cant see the liquid until it sploshes into your glass.

Flavourwise, its fabulous. The botanical ingredients include hibiscus flowers and rose, but overall its more like a really good gin with a whiff of flowers about it. Love it. 

ANYONE FOR COLLAGEN?

Collagin Rose, 36.99, notonthehighstreet.com

Helen rated Collagin Rose (pictured) which she describes as sweet, creamy and drinkable 3/5

Theres nothing subtle about this pink gin which contains skin-boosting collagen. For a start, it looks like a giant bottle of perfume, and makers Young In Spirit describe it as a mix of beauty and booze. The colour is practically luminous and the smell more pot pourri than gin. On the palate, its sweet, creamy and drinkable.

Clearly they cant claim this gin will tackle wrinkles, but the sheer fun of it should put a smile on your face. 

RHUBARB AND CUSTARD

Chase Rhubarb Vodka, 40, Waitrose

Chase Rhubarb Vodka (pictured) also scored 3/5, Helen says it works very well mixed with tonic water or as a Pink Martini

Made with early harvest pressed rhubarb, this perky pink vodka has a rhubarb and custard character. The rhubarb is stewed and distilled with vodka made at the Chase distillery, before more fresh rhubarb is added to give a pink tint.

Pretty sweet, but it works very well mixed with tonic water for a Pink V&T  or you can make a Pink Martini by shaking it with dry vermouth. 

TOASTING WITH MARSHMALLOW

Pink Marshmallow Moonshine, 17.95, Masterofmalt.com

Helen gave Pink Marshmallow Moonshine (pictured) 4 stars out of a possible 5, she compares its taste to melted marshmallows

Not strictly pink (the liquid is colourless)  but from the candy pink wax-tipped top of the bottle to the bottom, this is one of the sweetest-looking drinks around.

And being a liqueur, it is very sweet. The spirit is made from sweet potatoes and it really does smell and taste amazingly like melted marshmallows. Drink in small glasses with a heart-shaped ice cube dropped in each. 

FUCHSIA FIZZ BOMB

Flavour Your Fizz Rhubarb Mimosa by Smith & Sinclair, 5.99, Lakeland

Helen was least impressed with Flavour Your Fizz Rhubarb Mimosa by Smith & Sinclair (pictured) and rated the tablets which fizz in your glass just 1/5

These look a little like a packet of Berocca tablets, but rather than fixing you the morning after the night before, these tablets are designed to colour and flavour your drinks pink.

Each tube contains ten tablets and, when dropped into your glass of fizz, adds instant froth, sweetness and tartness.

They lack natural flavour but if youve got a dodgy bottle of old sparkling wine lying around, thisll transform it. 

A FLAVOUR OF WEST SUSSEX

Nyetimber Rose MV, 39.99, Majestic

Helen praised Nyetimber Rose MV (pictured) for its delicate red fruit flavours and rated it 5/5

There are plenty of great English sparkling wines around, but our rose wines are relatively few and far between.

Made in the same way as champagne using classic champagne grapes  Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with a dash of Pinot Meunier  this one from West Sussex is worth splashing out on with delicate red fruit flavours and a whiff of brioche to it. 

BUBBLE GUM GLITTER

Fox & Foreman Rhubarb & Rosehip Shimmer Gin Liqueur 20cl, 6 until next Monday (normally 7), Tesco

Fox & Foreman Rhubarb & Rosehip Shimmer Gin Liqueur (pictured) was rated 3/5, Helen says the flavors of rhubarb and rosehip really do come through

Theres a lot going on in here for such a little bottle. At first glance it looks like another pink liqueur. But give it a shake and it shimmers with gold.

On its own, this is almost unbearably sweet; add it to a glass of prosecco, however, and not only does the gold shimmer look fantastic, the flavours of rhubarb and rosehip really do come through.

Like your drinks shimmery and pink? Youll love this. 

WHAT A RUM ICE LOLLY!

Be My Valentini 35cl, 10, M&S

Helen scored Be My Valentini (pictured) 2/5, she says the pre-mixed cocktail tastes like melted ice-lolly and has a bright colour

This isnt just any Valentines cocktail; this is M&Ss new pre-mixed cocktail.

Made from a blend of white rum, cranberry juice, lime juice and orange peel with other flavourings including apple, cherry, radish and sweet potato.

Overall, its a mishmash, tasting like a melted ice-lolly save for the heat of the rum. But its definitely a conversation starter and the colour is so bright, youll see it with the lights down low. 

HELEN McGINNS new book, Homemade Cocktails (Robinson, 10.99) is out now.James Martin tasted the most mouthwatering local produce in every corner of the UK for his new TV series and book  and here you can try his recipes yourself

This cake is the definition of indulgence - a side of gin & tonic is of course obligatory

Cherries, chocolate and kirsch are in a Black Forest gateau, a staple cake in British homes.This is an up-todate version using gin.

My favourite gin from my travels is Foragers Gin from the Snowdonia Distillery in Wales. Its great with tonic and ice.

They only make small batches but if you find it, tell me what you think.

Serves 8

For the gin syrup

100ml (3fl oz) gin

100g (3oz) caster sugar

300g (10oz) cherries with stalks

For the jam

300g (10oz) pitted cherries

50g (1oz) caster sugar

For the cake (makes 2)

9 eggs

250g (9oz) caster sugar

1tsp vanilla bean paste

40g (1oz) cocoa powder, plus extra

200g (7oz) self-raising flour

For the cream

750ml (1pt) double cream

50ml (2fl oz) gin

Line 2 x 20cm deep-sided cake tins with greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.

Pour the gin and sugar into a pan. Heat to dissolve the sugar, then add the cherries and set aside to cool.

James revealed his favourite gin from during his travels is Foragers Gin from the Snowdonia Distillery in Wales

For the jam, put the cherries and sugar into a pan and heat gently to dissolve the sugar.

Bring to a simmer and cook for 2-3 minutes, until the fruit has cooked down and is jammy.

To make the cakes, whisk the eggs and sugar together in the bowl of a freestanding mixer until thick and mousse-like.

Whisk in the vanilla then add the cocoa and flour and fold in using a metal spoon until everything is combined.

James says... The batter makes enough for two sponges, and they freeze well for up to a month, so you can have one ready for your next dinner party! Thaw overnight at room temperature, then make more syrup, jam and cream to serve Advertisement

Divide the cake batter evenly between the tins and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn each cake out to cool completely.

Wrap one in clingfilm and freeze for up to a month (see tip).

Remove the paper from the other cake. Whip the cream and gin together until soft peaks form.

Spoon into a piping bag with a 1cm nozzle. Put the cake on a board and use a serrated knife to carefully slice horizontally into three layers.

Spoon some gin syrup over each layer. Put the bottom layer on a plate, pipe cream all over and spread with jam.

Put the middle layer on top and repeat.

Put the third layer on top and pipe cream all over it, if you like. Dust with cocoa powder and top with the syrup-poached cherries.

James Martins Great British Adventure is published by Quadrille, 25. To order a copy for 20, visit mailshop.co.uk/books or call 0844 571 0640, p&p is free. Spend 30 on books and get FREE premium delivery. Offer valid until 23/02/2019.James Martin tasted the most mouthwatering local produce in every corner of the UK for his new TV series and book  and here you can try his recipes yourself

Swap potatoes for gnocci for a fabulously sophisticated twist on this lamb dish

To top off my trip through Wales, I had the best meal Ive ever eaten in Britain at Gareth Wards restaurant, Ynyshir, near Machynlleth.

The Rolling Stones were playing on vinyl and the meal was 20 courses. The lamb is great there too.

Serves 4

12 small lamb chops

200g (7oz) Welsh sheeps curd cheese

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

25ml (fl oz) olive oil

500g (1lb 2oz) cooked potato, pushed through a ricer

125g (4oz) plain flour

2 egg yolks

4 heritage carrots, halved lengthways

1 large leek, sliced

8 spears of asparagus, trimmed

 a spring cabbage, leaves torn

50g (1oz) butter

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

A small bunch of mint, leaves chopped

Preheat a flat griddle pan over a medium heat. Using a sharp knife, cut a pocket through the fat of the lamb into the meat.

Set aside half of the cheese, then fill each pocket with 1tsp of the rest.

Season the lamb then drizzle the oil over the hot griddle pan and cook the lamb for 2-3 minutes on each side.

It should be golden on the outside and feel slightly firm when pressed.

Put on a plate, cover and leave to rest. Turn off the heat but leave the griddle on the hob for later.

Mix the potato, flour, egg yolks, remaining cheese and some seasoning together well until smooth.

Divide into 4 portions then roll each one into a long, thin sausage (20cm long and 2cm thick), using a little flour. Cut into 3cm pieces.

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the gnocchi in batches for 2 minutes, then use a slotted spoon to lift them out and set aside.

Bring a separate pan of salted water to the boil and blanch the carrots, leek and asparagus for 2-3 minutes.

Reheat the griddle pan, drain the vegetables well, then put on the griddle pan with the cabbage and cook for 3-4 minutes, coating with the lamb fat.

Spoon onto a plate.

Add the butter, lemon zest and juice, mint and 50ml of water to the griddle pan and stir to make a sauce.

Mix all the vegetables and gnocchi together on the griddle pan, season then spoon onto 4 warm plates. Top with the lamb chops, some sauce and serve.

James Martins Great British Adventure is published by Quadrille, 25. To order a copy for 20, visit mailshop.co.uk/books or call 0844 571 0640, p&p is free. Spend 30 on books and get FREE premium delivery. Offer valid until 23/02/2019.James Martin tasted the most mouthwatering local produce in every corner of the UK for his new TV series and book  and here you can try his recipes yourself

Incredibly moreish and very easy to whip up, there is no faulting this dish

Brown crabs, which like other crabs have both brown and white meat, are extremely commercially important and the crab fishery in British waters is one of the largest in the world.

Brown crabs are found all over the British Isles, where the rocks and weeds provide cover.

Ive never eaten crab as good as the ones I tasted in Cromer, Norfolk, and in the Orkney Islands on this trip. These cakes showcase the delicious flavour of the fresh meat.

Serves 4

For the mayonnaise

3 egg yolks

1tbsp Dijon mustard

1tbsp white wine vinegar

200ml (7fl oz) vegetable oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the crab cakes

400g (14oz) white crab meat

400g (14oz) cooked potato, pushed through a ricer

6 spring onions, sliced

A small bunch of chives, chopped

Juice of  a lemon

1 egg yolk

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

25g (1oz) plain flour, for dusting

Olive oil, for frying

To serve

A small bunch of watercress

1 lemon, cut into 4 wedges

Whisk the yolks, mustard and vinegar together in a medium bowl until smooth.

Slowly pour in the vegetable oil, whisking well  this is easiest with an electric hand whisk.

Continue to drizzle in the oil, whisking all the time, until the mixture has thickened. Season to taste.

Put the crab into a bowl with the cooked potato, spring onions, chives, lemon juice and egg yolk. Season and mix well.

Divide the mixture into 8 portions. Dust your hands with flour and form each into a round fish cake shape about 8-10cm in diameter and 2cm thick.

Heat a nonstick frying pan over a medium heat. Drizzle with oil and pop the crab cakes in.

Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, until golden and heated through. You may need to cook them in batches.

To serve, place 2 crab cakes onto each plate.

Garnish with watercress and a lemon wedge, and serve with mayonnaise on the side.

James Martins Great British Adventure is published by Quadrille, 25. To order a copy for 20, visit mailshop.co.uk/books or call 0844 571 0640, p&p is free. Spend 30 on books and get FREE premium delivery. Offer valid until 23/02/2019.A New Jersey pizzeria has invented an unlikely culinary mash-up, combining Italian and Japanese cuisines in one dish  and their efforts have earned widespread internet attention.

Tony Boloney's, which has locations in Hoboken and Atlantic City, recently unveiled its very Instagrammable Devour Ramen Pizza.

The pizza features a ramen noodle crust, shoyu broth, pickled soy boiled egg, rayu (a Japanese chili oil), shichimi tougarashi (a spice mixture), wageri togarashi (another spice mixture, nori flakes, spicy chili oil, scallions, and toasted sesame seeds.

Yum: Tony Boloney's in Hoboken and Atlantic City, New Jersey is offering a new twist on pizza

Fusion: The restaurant just released its Devour Ramen Pizza, which features a ramen noodle crust, shoyu broth, pickled soy boiled egg, and toasted sesame seeds

Owner Mike Hauke, 37, initially began the restaurant started as a bodega to feed construction workers.

It has seen grown tremendously  and not just in terms of size and locations, but menu items as well.

The Devour Ramen pizza hops on the trend of unlikely and over-the-top pizza ingredients, offering an unexpected twist to adventurous diners.

It was created in collaboration with Instagram food couple Devour Power, mad eup of Greg Remmey and Rebecca Leigh West-Remmey.

The couple share their favorite foods to their Instagram account, which has more than 550,000 followers.

They helped Mike visit more than 30 ramen restaurants over the course of three months to learn different flavor profiles and recipes, according to Insider, in order to create the specialty pizza.

Partnership: The Devour Ramen pizza was created in collaboration with Instagram food couple Devour Power, also known as Greg Remmey and Rebecca Leigh West-Remmey

Famous: The pizza was an instant success with customers, and the restaurant sold more than ten ramen 'pies' the first day it was added to the menu

'I brought three different kinds of pies out, ramen style,' he said. 'And they were like "What the f**k is this? Are you kidding me?" And I was like, "No, no, we're going to do this right, you know.'"

He added: 'And we kind of narrowed down the flavor profiles we liked and we ran with it.'

Of course, it was an instant success with customers, with Mike saying that his restaurant sold more than ten ramen 'pies' the first day it was added to the menu.

'This is something that we didn't even put out there,' Mike said. 'We just put it on the counter and we sold, I think, ten pies the first day.'

Options: An entire Devour Ramen Pizza can be bought at Tony Boloney's for $70. A slice is $8

Passionate: The restaurant is owned by Mike Hauke, 37, who spent three months developing it

An entire Devour Ramen Pizza can be bought at Tony Boloney's for $70, while a single slice is $8.

Tony Boloney's rose to prominence after it debuted its 'taco taco taco pizza', which costs $80 per pie or $12 per slice, and includes house-made queso Oaxaca, carne asada, chipotle asada, and a solid heap of cheese on top of pizza dough.

Once the pizza is cooked, an array of tacos are piled on the outer rim of the pizza, according to Thrillist. And for the finishing touches, the pizza joint adds guacamole and sour cream to the center of the pizza.

The menu also includesMelania Trump was feeling the Valentine's Day spirit on Thursday as she exchanged cards with sick children in celebration of the holiday.

For the second year in a row, the 48-year-old first lady spent February 14 at the Children's Inn at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, where she joined in various arts and crafts projects with the young patients.

Melania looked festive in a $1,795 pale pink coat by Cedric Charlier, which she wore over a matching blush-colored dress.

Feeling the love: Melania Trump visited young patients at the Children's Inn at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, on Thursday for Valentine's Day

That's the spirit! The first lady wore a $1,795 pale pink coat by Cedric Charlier over a matching blush-colored dress

Open arms: Melania made a point to meet with a little girl with a walker who was standing in front of the candy-filled table

The former model, who donned a vibrant red coat last Valentine's Day, topped off her outfit with pink snakeskin pumps that perfectly matched her coat and dress.

Melania was all smiles as she chatted with the children and helped them decorate cards and make candygrams.

The first lady wore her double-breasted designer coat on throughout her visit to the Children's Inn, and her highlighted brown hair was styled loosely around her shoulders.

She kept her jewelry simple, wearing her wedding band on her left hand and another platinum and diamond ring on the other.

Melania arrived at the Valentine's Day event at 3 p.m. and stayed with the children for about 45 minutes.

The red and pink decorated room was divided into five stations: candy box decorating, candy bar, snow globes, 'favorite things,' and candygrams.

The children at the center sat around the tables, which were covered with pink table clothes, and the first lady happily joined them at each station.

The candy table was covered with red and pink confections, cookies, and a sign that said 'Happy Valentine's Day.'

Melania made a point to speak with a nine-year-old girl with a walker named Amber, whom she recognized from last year's event.

Chatting away: The first lady squatted down so they would be at eye level with the nine-year-old named Amber, whom she had met at last year's event

Spreading the love: Melania exchanged Valentine's Day cards with the sick kids in the room, which featured five different arts and crafts stations

Sweet treats: The first lady helped Avery, a 10-year-old girl from Festus, Missouri, fill her box with candy. Avery received a bone marrow transplant for a rare, genetic immune deficiency

How about that one? The children lined up one by one to have Melania help them filled their boxes with sweet treats

She walked towards the little girl from San Jose, California, with open arms and squatted down so they would be at eye level while they spoke.

'I remember you from last year. How are you feeling?' she asked Amber, who has Giant Axonal Neuropathy (GAN), an extremely rare genetic disorder that causes nerves to die and muscles to stop working.

During their conversation, Melania asked Amber what she likes to do, and she replied: 'Play with friends.'

The first lady helped the little girl decorate her candy box and looked for a pink marker for her, telling the other children at the table: 'She loves pink.'

Amber was a fan of Melania's pink coat, and the first lady complimented her outfit in return.

Melania also spoke with another patient at the table, Danielle. The 20-year-old from Jamaica is waiting for a kidney after receiving a curative transplant for a life-threatening blood disorder called severe aplastic anemia.

Several minutes into the conversation, Avery, a 10-year-old girl from Festus, Missouri, tried to get the first lady's attention by tapping her on the shoulder.

Melania eventually responded and went over to a second table, which was decorated with a 'Love' sign and two dogs as well as candy dishes and a cake stand covered with sugar cookies.

Avery received a bone marrow transplant for a rare, genetic immune deficiency and continues to receive supporting treatment. She has stayed at The Childrens Inn 21 times so far, spending several months at the center to recover from the transplant.

Crafty: Melania made sure Amber had a pink marker because she loves the color, The little girl has Giant Axonal Neuropathy (GAN), which causes nerves to die and muscles to stop working

Getting her hands dirty: Melania had no problem reaching into the glass jars and grabbing candy for the kids

Too cute: Josue, a nine-year-old boy from Puerto Rico, couldn't resist licking his lips while looking at the sweet treats

Attention to detail: Melania poured liquid into the snow globes the children had prepared before sealing them closed

End result: The first lady turned over a completed snow globe while chatting with Abbigail, a 12-year-old with periodic fever syndrome from Nova Scotia, Canada

Adorable: The room had a station where the children wrote their 'favorite things' on construction paper hearts

Compliments: 'I love your scarf and jacket. You're very fashionable,' Melania told Serena, a 22-year-old patient who has a rare genetic immune deficiency called GATA2

Her new home: 'My favorite city is Washington,' Melania wrote on her heart

Added touch: The first lady also signed her name on her heart before hanging it in the middle of the other ones

The little girl was joined by Christina, a 24-year-old from Pennsylvania who has a genetic disease called Niemann-Pick, which is also referred to as childrens Alzheimers.

Melania helped Avery and Christina spoon gumdrops, pretzel sticks, and other red, pink, and white candies fill their boxes with sweet treats.

She went on to help Josue, a nine-year-old from Yauco, Puerto Rico, fill his box before moving on to the third station.

Josue is at the center with his nine-year-old brother Caleb, who has brain cancer.

Melania also helped pour liquid into the snow globes the children had prepared before sealing them closed and turning them.

At a station where the children wrote their 'favorite things' on construction paper hearts, Melania shared: 'My favorite city is Washington.'

She signed the heart with her name and stuck it on a board on a wall in the middle of several other posts.

The first lady also added a tiny heart for Washington, D.C. on a multicolored map of the United States.

Melania, who has taken great joy in working with children since became the first lady, also warmly embraced a little boy named Amani during her visit.

Enjoying herself: The former model was all smiles as she sat down with the kids

Tutorial: Amani, a 13-year-old boy from Mombasa, Kenya, showed the first lady how to turn a wooden clothespin into a colorful clip

Making his day: Melania warmly embraced Amani, who has sickle cell disease and is preparing for a bone marrow transplant with marrow donated by his sister

So sweet: Amani presented her with a red heart-shaped box that held a silver necklace with the words 'hope' and 'faith' inscribed on a silver circle

Memorable moment: The little boy showed Melania his own bracelet, which matched her necklace, and she accepted the gift with an outstretched hand

Another gift: The CEO of Childrens Inn, Jennie Lucca, also gave Amani a bouquet of white roses to present to FLOTUS

Touched: Melania thanked the boy and gave him another hug

The 13-year-old from Mombasa, Kenya, was responsible for showing her how to turn a wooden clothespin into a colorful clip.

'This is a big project,' Melania said during the tutorial.

Amani has sickle cell disease and is preparing for a bone marrow transplant with marrow donated by his eight-year-old sister Amana.

The first lady told Amani that she will pray for him, and he presented her with a red heart-shaped box that held a circular silver necklace with words 'hope' and 'faith' inscribed on a silver circle.

The little boy showed Melania his own bracelet, which matched her necklace, and she accepted the gift with an outstretched hand.

The CEO of Childrens Inn, Jennie Lucca, also gave Amani a bouquet of white roses to present to FLOTUS.

In return, Melania left the group with red envelopes containing Valentine's Day cards she had signed.

The first lady's office released a statement on Wednesday announcing her visit to the residential center for the second year in a row.

'First Lady Melania Trump will return to the Childrens Inn at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Thursday for an afternoon of Valentine's Day festivities with some of their young patients,' the statement read. 'Mrs. Trump will spend time making candygrams, heart snow globes, and participating in various other arts and crafts with the kids.

Parting gifts: In return, Melania left the group with red envelopes containing Valentine's Day cards she had signed

Valentine's Day love: The card's featured red hearts on the inside

Timing: Melania's visit to the center came right before the White House announced President Trump will declare a 'national emergency' to procure funds for a border wall

Jokes: Following the news, people took to Twitter to roast the president, claiming he was only declaring a 'national emergency' to avoid spending time with his wife on Valentine's Day

'The First Lady will also be delivering White House valentines to each of the children. Before departing, Mrs. Trump will meet with caregivers and families of patients currently undergoing treatment at NIH.'

Melania's visit to the residential center on Thursday came right before the White House announced that President Donald Trump will sign a bipartisan spending deal  but will also declare a 'national emergency' in an effort to procure funds to build a border wall.

The move drew both statements of relief from lawmakers who wanted to avoid another government shutdown and a threat from Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the emergency declaration.

Pelosi called it an 'end-run around the will of the people' while speaking to reporters minutes after news of Trump's position broke, warning it could come back to bite Republicans.

'We will review our options, we'll be prepared to respond appropriately to it,' Pelosi said after being asked about Trump's planned emergency declaration.

Following the news, people took to Twitter to roast the president, claiming he was only declaring a 'national emergency' to avoid spending time with his wife on Valentine's Day.

'This national emergency thing is a pretty elaborate way to get out of Valentine's Day dinner with Melania,' The Daily Show tweeted.

'So I take it this border wall is Melanias Valentines Day gift?' someone else asked, while a Twitter user named Brandon joked that Trump is just doing this to get out of buying his wife a gift.

Pretty in pink again: President Trump and First Lady Melania welcome Colombian President Ivan Duque and his wife Maria Juliana Ruiz Sandoval to the White House

Special meeting: Melania had lunch in the red room with her Colombia counterpart

Discussion: The two spoke about the opioid crisis during their meeting

'Its just like Trump to declare a national emergency to get out of buying Melania a Valentines Day gift,' he wrote.

On Wednesday afternoon, Melania discussed drug policy and her signature Be Best campaign over lunch with her Colombian counterpart, Maria Juliana Ruiz Sandoval.

Wearing a belted pink and white checked Fendi coat with pink mink fur on the cuffs, the first lady joined her husband in welcoming the president and first lady of Colombia to the White House.

After a photo spray in the Oval Office  where President Trump bumped into his wife while the couples were getting settled  the ladies split off from the men for separate lunches.

Last week the first lady, who has made anti-opioid work a central tenant of her Be Best campaign, said she would speak to Sandoval when they met.

'I will have a plan to talk to her about the crisis of opioids,' Melania Trump said during a briefing with officials at the Office of National Drug Policy.

The two first ladies discussed the opioid crisis, particularly its impact globally on children and young mothers, according to the East Wing.

Melania also discussed the drug addiction problems among the young she is working to combat as part of her Be Best initiative.

'Last week I met with experts at the Office of National Drug Control Policy to learn more about the harmful effects of substance abuse and the steps we are taking to address this problem,' the first lady said in a statement.

'We must continue raising awareness so parents and communities can understand fully the harm that opioids are having on our children.

'My conversation with the First Lady of Colombia today further encouraged a global mission to fighting the addiction crisis and issues facing children domestically and all around the world.'Hailey Bieber has recalled where her very first kiss took place as she revealed one of the most romantic things husband Justin Bieber has done for her.

The 22-year-old model sat down with Harper's Bazaar for Valentine's Day along with Winnie Harlow, Taylor Hill, and others, to discuss their first kisses and romantic gestures they have experienced.

'First kiss that I can remember with a boy that I really, really, really had a big crush on when I was probably 12 or 13,' Hailey said.

Revealed: Hailey Bieber, 22, sat down with Harper's Bazaar to discuss her first ever kiss, which happened when she was 12 or 13 years old

Adorable: The first kiss happened when she was with a boy at her home and they were sledding outdoors in the snow

Love: Hailey also spoke about one romantic gesture she experienced from husband Justin, 24, and it was when he surprised her with flowers for no reason

'We were sledding at my house,' she continued. 'We did a little jump onto the driveway. We were laying there and laughing and there was snow on the ground, and we kissed.'

Cute: The couple has been very open with their relationship as of late as they appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine's March issue

Although Hailey discussed the first kiss fondly, she did admit not everyone she's kissed has been enjoyable.

'Ive definitely had a couple that I was like I wish that did not happen,' she said. 'Weve all had those.'

But now she is off the market and doesn't have to worry about kissing anyone else after her quick marriage to Justin, 24, in September.

During the interview with Harper's Bazaar for Valentine's day, the newlywed revealed one romantic gesture Justin recently did for her that really stuck out.

'I got home from work one day and my husband had flowers just because on the table for me,' Hailey recalled.

'No one had ever done that for me before for just no occasion, no specific reason.'

Cute: Model Taylor Hill, 22, also spoke about her first kiss and she admitted to thinking when she was younger that it was just what people did when they were friends

Incredible: Winnie Harlow, 24, revealed how she 'pinned' her first kiss to the ground and kissed him during a game of freeze tag when she was in kindergarten or first grade

The couple has proudly put their relationship on full display as they appeared together on the cover of Vogue magazine for its March issue.

Hailey was not the only model interviewed about her first kiss. Harper's Bazaar also spoke with Winne Harlow, Taylor Hill, Anok Yai, Hyunji Shin, Krow and Cara Taylor.

Winne, 24, revealed her first kiss happened in either kindergarten or first grade.

'We were playing girls versus boys freeze tag and I ran after my crush, pinned him to the floor and kissed him,' she admitted.

When asked her worst kiss, Winnie said it happened recently with someone she did not name.

'My worst kiss was maybe two years ago or a year ago,' Winnie, who is currently dating rapper Wiz Khalifa, said. 'It was really wet, a lot of tongue.'

#BelieveinRomance: Taylor and her boyfriend Michael Stephen Shank spent their Valentine's Day in New York City at the Ralph Lauren Romance pop-up in Bryant Park

The couple that works together... The Victoria's Secret model and her long-time beau star alongside one another in the latest campaign for the fragrance

Pucker up! Taylor and Michael looked every inch the loved-up couple as they kissed in front of the cameras

Winnie wasn't the only one to have her kiss at a young age. Taylor, 22, admitted to kissing a boy when she was just five years old.

'I dont remember who it was with or where it happened, but Im pretty sure I was outside on the playground,' Taylor recalled.

'I thought it was what you would do if you were friends because I thought my parents were friends and they would kiss.'

Taylor was certainly feeling in the romantic mood on Valentine's Day when she made an appearance at a Ralph Lauren Romance pop-up alongside her boyfriend Michael Stephen Shank.

The pair star in the latest campaign for the much-loved fragrance collection, and they looked every inch the blissful couple as they worked to promote the scent.

Bundled up against the New York City cold in matching collared coats - with Taylor opting for black, while Michael chose khaki - the duo happily hugged and kissed while the cameras snapped away.Barack Obama wants the world to know this Valentine's Day that his 'one and only' wife Michelle knows how to 'get down to Motown.'

The former president, who is no stranger to sharing gushing public messages about his beloved wife, took to social media on Thursday to pay tribute to his spouse of 26 years by sharing a photo of her busting a move on the dance floor.

'Happy Valentines Day to the extraordinarily smart, beautiful, funny, one and only @MichelleObama. Its true; she does get down to Motown,' Barack, 57, captioned the playful image of himself dancing with Michelle, 55.

Look of love: Barack Obama, 57, took to social media on Thursday to share this playful photo of his wife Michelle, 55, dancing in honor of Valentine's Day

Sweet message: The former president wanted the world to know that his 'one and only' Michelle 'does get down to Motown'

In the photo, Michelle is wearing a sleek black gown and snapping her fingers to the music while Barack is gazing at her with love in his eyes.

Less than a half hour after he shared the romantic post, the former first lady posted a Valentine's Day shout out of her own.

Not only did she honor her husband, but she also included their daughters Malia, 20, and Sasha, 17, in her loving message.

As part of the Valentine's Day post, Michelle shared a sweet snapshot of herself and her husband cuddling their daughters when they were young girls.

The image was taken when they were waiting for election returns in Illinois the night Barack was elected senator in 2004.

She also posted a more recent image of herself with her family at a White House state dinner in 2016

Loves of her life: Less than a half hour later, Michelle posted throwback images of herself posing with her husband and their daughters Malia and Sasha (pictured in 2004)

Looking back: One of the images shared on Instagram shows the family enjoying at White House state dinner in 2016

Aww! In the caption of the post, Michelle said she is 'so lucky' to call her husband and their daughters her Valentines

'So lucky to call these three my valentines for all these years,' she wrote.

While it's still early in the day, Michelle and Barack are so far the only president and first lady  present or former  to share public messages of love in honor of the holiday.

George W. and Laura Bush and Bill and Hillary Clinton have yet to post anything  though none of them did last year, either.

Neither Donald Trump nor his wife Melania has shared anything in honor of Valentine's Day yet either. It's not even clear if they will be spending the day together.

For the second year in a row, Melania will be visiting the Childrens Inn at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Thursday to celebrate Valentine's Day with the hospital's young patients.

Heartwarming: The couple often shares sweet messages on birthday and anniversaries

Mum's the word: President Donald Trump and his wife Melania (pictured Wednesday) have yet to share public messages about Valentine's Day

Barack and Obama share sweet messages on social media for most birthdays, anniversaries, and Valentine's Days.

Most recently, the former president named Michelle's bestselling memoir, 'Becoming,' his favorite book while continuing his annual tradition of sharing his favorite songs, movies, and books from the year.

When he listed his wife's book, he sweetly wrote in parentheses 'obviously my favorite!'

Last Valentine's Day, they both shared messages of love, with Barack posting a cute image and heartwarming words.

Michelle, however, took the time to create a Spotify playlist of carefully-selected love songs for the occasion.

Heartwarming: Last year, Barack shared this image of the couple on vacation for Valentine's Day, writing, 'You make every day and every place better'

Kisses: Meanwhile Michelle created a special Spotify playlist of carefully-selected love songs for the occasion

Emotional: She shared this image of the couple in celebration of the playlist, and the romantic holiday event

'Happy #ValentinesDay to my one and only, @BarackObama,' the former first lady wrote. 'To celebrate the occasion, Im dedicating a little Valentines Day playlist to you!'

The list of songs includes classics like Ben E. King's Stand By Me, Barry White's Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe, and Diana Ross' Endless Love.

There are also more modern tunes, like Beyonce's Halo, Janelle Monae's Primetime, and Adele's cover of Make You Feel My Love.

Other highlights include All of Me by John Legend, Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis, Dog Days are Over by Florence + The Machine, Fix You by Coldplay, Just the Way You Are by Billy Joel, Your Song by Elton John, and Shape of You by Ed Sheeran.

There's some rap, too, with appearances by Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Common, as well as a few more upbeat dance options, including two tracks by Calvin Harris.Keeley Hawes has admitted she was hurt by comments speculating that she wore 'ageing' make-up for her latest role in Channel 4 series Traitors.

The British actress, 43, explained how she went make-up free for the role, which sees her take on the role of a female boss in the Cabinet Office alongside Emma Appleton and Luke Treadaway, in the spy thriller set in post-war Britain.

Keeley, who has won countless plaudits for her roles in hit dramas Bodyguard, Line of Duty and The Durrells, admitted it felt 'cruel' to read the comments.

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Keeley Hawes has admitted she was hurt by comments speculating that she wore 'ageing' make-up for her latest role in Channel 4 series Traitors, which sees her play the role of civil servant Priscilla Gardick, pictured

Speaking to The Times, she said: 'I read somewhere that Keeley Hawes had this new look and she has put on ageing make-up.

'I was thinking to myself, 'I don't remember that. It is just me with no make-up at all.' Which was a little bit cruel to read.'

Describing her role as Priscilla Gardick as a feminist professional who is forced to hide her femininity behind oversized suits in a bid to be taken seriously, she said it was all the more apt during the #metoo movement.

'Being a woman in such a male environment was hard and she is just brilliant at it. She says to Feef, 'Do you think I don't know how to do my hair? Being attractive is just not part of something we can do,' she said.

'And it is so alien to us now, but women still against things like it in the age of Me Too, the way Feef is treated and Priscilla has to look and behave to have a career.'

The British actress, 43, explained how she went make-up free for the role, which sees her take on the role of a female boss in the Cabinet Office alongside Emma Appleton and Luke Treadaway, in the spy thriller set in post-war Britain (seen before the BAFTAs last week)

Keeley also recalled the moment her on-screen employee Feef Symonds, played by Emma Appleton, 27, helped her hide a period stain on her clothes from their male colleagues.

Describing it as a 'touching' moment, the actress admitted the scene was 'much debated'.

In a striking departure from her racy Bodyguard role, Keeley will play a frumpy, bespectacled civil servant in the new spy drama, which is set to air on Channel 4 next month.

The actress stars in Traitors as Priscilla, a member of the post-war Civil Service, who is seen with combed-back hair, sparse make-up and demure clothes in a trailer for the Channel 4 show.

Traitors, which will be broadcast later this year, follows Miss Hawes, left, as she suspects colleague Feef Symonds, played by Emma Appleton, of spying on the 1945 Labour government for the Americans, seen right

The prim and proper look is in marked contrast to her glamorous  and often steamy  turns in BBC series Tipping the Velvet and Ashes to Ashes, as well as Bodyguard.

Traitors, which will be broadcast later this year, follows Miss Hawes as she suspects colleague Feef Symonds, played by Emma, of spying on the 1945 Labour government for the Americans.

Her ambition to make something of her life goes unrecognised by her family, and is further complicated by her American lover.

She agrees to spy on her own government for the Americans, who want to make sure Englands burgeoning Socialist ambitions dont play into Soviet hands.

The cast also includes Brandon P Bell and Matt Lauria and the series will air on Channel 4 later this year.Milk, dark and white might be the traditional choice of chocolates, but Fortnum & Mason plumped for something decidedly more unusual for its new range.

The luxury retailer released bars with exotic names like 'pilots fly in pink skies' and 'the peculiar bees of Salt Bay' as part of its ultimate chocolate collection.

The names, which also include 'the obedience of Bubbles the dog', are designed as a nod to the titles of classic paperbacks.

But the idea was lost on Twitter users and they roundly mocked the retailer after the names were shared online.

Luxury retailer Fortnum & Mason's has released a selection of chocolate bars with names such as 'pilots fly in pink skies' and 'the peculiar bees of Salt Bay'

The names, which are meant to be a nod towards classic paperbacks, were bought to light by a Twitter user who tweeted pictures of the bars

Alex Smith tweeted the initial picture of the unique chocolate bars by Fortnum and Masons

They were tweeted by user @alex_t_smith, who wrote: 'I... I hope the person naming the chocolate bars in is doing ok.'

Nearly 2,000 people liked the initial tweet with some saying they had questions for the designer, while another simply joked: 'U you okay hun?'

The treats are part of the new Chocolate Bar Library Collection. They cost 5.95 a bar or 140 for the complete range of 21 bars.

Flavours include Tart raspberry, Cool Mitcham Mint, Zesty Orange and celebratory Marc de Champagne - but the names are far more original.

Commenting on Twitter, one posted: 'I want to meet this person [who came up with the names] so bad! I have questions, so many questions.'

While another joked: 'What do you want from the shop, a twirl, a crunchie, fruit'n'nut?' No actually could you pop to Fortnum's and get me a bar of the Peculiar Bees of Salt Bay pretty please?'

Twitter loved the hilarious tweet and names of the chocolate bars, which included titles such as Pilots fly in pink skies and The peculiar bees of Salt Bay

Others claimed they were 'pretentious'. 'We've officially reached peak hipster pretentiousness,' tweeted one. 'There's nowhere to go but up an avocado mountain wearing only a poached egg.'

While others loved the idea tweeting: 'The packaging looks like paperback books so I imagine the titles are supposed to evoke the same. It's rather fabulous actually and now I want it all.'

But most saw the funny side of the names, with one even saying: 'I feel like the names are too smart for me. Like I'll eat the chocolate and not really understand it.'

Sophie Young, the confectionery buyer at Fortnum & Mason explained the idea behind the chocolate bars to Femail.

She said: 'We wanted our chocolate bars  which can be enjoyed individually or bought as a 'library'  to marry the worlds of chocolate and literature. Both can be sweet, and equally both can be very dark.'

Names of the chocolate bars were a nod towards classic paperbacks and included names such as A bittersweet romance, Breakfast in Bogota and The descent into darkness

Fortnum's said: 'We created titles and stories for each bar that celebrate the exceptional ingredients used, and that make the purchase that bit more special, inspiring and beguiling for our customers'

She carried on with: 'We created titles and stories for each bar that celebrate the exceptional ingredients used, and that make the purchase that bit more special, inspiring and beguiling for our customers.

'We're known to be playful with our language and on occasion it takes on a slightly surreal quality, harking back to the 30s when our commentaries were a little bonkers, in the best possible  and most delightfully Fortnum's  way.

The chocolate bars can also be collected as a set, so that they look like a books on a shelf.The Queen has unveiled a new plaque to mark the centenary of GCHQ - which fittingly contains a hidden message that spies are asking the public to try and crack.

Her Majesty, 92, chose a royal blue coat and a matching hat adorned with a green feathered sprig as she arrived at Watergate House in Charing Cross, where the UK's Intelligence, Security and Cyber Agency first started.

On the steps outside the building, she pulled back a pair of ochre velvet curtains to reveal the green plaque, complete with its hidden message.

Her Majesty, 92, chose a royal blue coat and a matching hat adorned with a green feather and gold sprig as she arrived at Watergate House in Charing Cross, central London

The plaque unveiled by the Queen today at GCHQ's original headquarters in Charing Cross. It contains a coded messages which spies are challenging the public to crack

The brand-new plaque offers a history of GCHQ, which was formed from previous security organisations including The Admiralty's Room 40 and The War Office's M11

Afterwards, the Queen responded by releasing her own coded note on Twitter for the spies to decipher. They promptly did and released their own coded reply. All the messages are below with the solutions at the bottom of this article.

The Queen has been receiving intelligence from the agency for much of its existence - but she joked how her father King George VI would become frustrated with his scrambler phone, modified by GCHQ to make his calls secret.

Afterwards, the Queen responded by releasing her own coded message on Twitter for the spies to decipher

They promptly did and released their own secret reply - which is pictured above

GCHQ's director Jeremy Fleming, speaking at the agency's former London home, told the Queen and invited guests: 'Our work is not often glamorous or easily portrayed in film.

'But over the last 100 years it has saved countless lives, shortened wars, given Britain an edge, and solved or harnessed some of the world's hardest technology challenges.'

Among the guests for the Queen's unannounced visit were Alex Younger, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and known as 'C', and Andrew Parker, director general of MI5, the Secret Service.

Mr Fleming added: 'It's clear to us all that the world is changing at an unprecedented rate. It's more interconnected than ever before.

'And this is driving extraordinary opportunity, innovation and progress. It's also unleashing amazing complexity, uncertainty and risk.

'To keep up in this digital era - to optimise the potential of technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing - we know we need to keep reinventing.'

GCHQ now has its headquarters in Cheltenham.

Pulling back the ochre velvet curtains, the Queen reveals the green plaque at Watergate House, which lies close to Charing Cross Station in Central London

After being presented with a bunch of spring flowers including miniature daffodils, the Queen chats with Jeremy Fleming, Director of the GCHQ, as she prepares to unveil the plaque

A colourful sprig adorns the royal blue hat of the Queen, 92, as she arrives at Watergate House in London this morning to unveil a plaque commemorating the centenary of the UK's Intelligence, Security and Cyber Agency

Ahead of the unveiling, GCHQ Director Jeremy Fleming told crowds the security services in the UK had a history of solving or harnessing 'some of the world's hardest technology challenges'

The Queen listened to Jeremy Fleming as he said: 'Our work is not often glamorous or easily portrayed in film'

Japes: The Queen shares a joke with the head of MI6 Alex Younger as GCHQ Director Jeremy Fleming (far left) looks on

The Queen met Ruth Bourne, 92, a former Bletchley Park code breaker.

When the subject of scrambler phones - used to keep important conversations confidential - was mentioned, the Queen said: "I remember my father had one, he used to get so cross when it didn't scramble.

'Took some time to heat up and then work. The machines used valves, today replaced by transistors, which needed time to warm up before the equipment would work.'

The head of GCHQ said his agency has 'saved countless lives' and 'shortened wars' as the Queen celebrated the 100th anniversary of the intelligence, security and cyber organisation.

The Queen looked relaxed during the visit. She completed her bright blue ensemble with her favoured black loafers, black leather handbag and a pair of black woollen gloves.

A stunning brooch and three-tier string of pearls added a hint of regal glamour.

Earlier today, it was announced that the Duke of Edinburgh will not face prosecution for the car accident he was involved in close to the Sandringham Estate in January.

Close security: The Queen walks past a protection officer as she begins a tour of the building

The Queen wears an elaborate adornment incorporating green feathers on her royal blue hat

The Queen heard about modern advances in security including artificial intelligence and quantum computing

The Queen has regularly received intelligence from the agency throughout her life and joked about the 'scrambler' phone her father, King George VI, had to use

She told Jeremy Fleming: 'I remember my father had one, he used to get so cross when it didn't scramble'

Accessorising with a pair of black gloves and her trusty black leather handbag, the Queen chatted about the organisation's role in British security with Jeremy Fleming, GCHQ DirectorThe British high street is notorious for its deeply confusing sizing system, with baffled women regularly complaining that they are a size 10 in one shop and a 12 in another.

But an online fashion marketplace claims to have created an online tool that shows what size customers really are at some of the most popular high street and online stores.

Sewport.com developed the tool after it emerged that 90 per cent of women are unsure of their clothing size - and so Femail put it to the test.

MailOnline's senior video editor Alicia Watts, 24, (pictured) volunteered to try out the online tool. Her measurements are 32-23-32 and she usually wears a size 6 or 8

To create the sizing tool the company collected data from some of Europe's leading female clothing retailers to compare sizes and discovered huge variances in measurements across the brands.

Now, using the tool women can find out what size they are in each shop simply by putting their bust, waist and hip measurements into the system.

It gives sizing information on clothing from Topshop, H&M, New Look, River Island, ASOS, Boohoo, Missguided, M&S, Zara, Bon Marche, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge, Primark, Warehouse, Oasis, Next, Monsoon, Urban Outfitters, Matalan and PrettyLittleThing.com.

MailOnline's senior video editor Alicia Watts, 24, volunteered to try out the online tool. Her measurements are 32-23-32 and she usually wears a size 6 or 8.

Alicia normally wears a size 6 or 8 - but the results suggest she should be wearing smaller

While Alicia is an XXS in PLT and Missguided, the tool says she's a 4 in the majority of shops

She said: 'I mainly shop at Asos, Topshop, Pretty Little Thing and Missguided.

'At Missguided and Pretty Little Thing I always get the smallest size because the sizes are so big. Everywhere else I would say I'm a size 6, but in H&M I'm an 8.'

When Femail popped her stats into the online tool, the results were surprising. While she is an XXS in PLT and Missguided, as she'd suspected, she is a size 4 in the majority of shops, including H&M.

But she is a size 8 at Bon Marche - and a size 10 in Primark.

Although Alicia normally wears a size 6 or 8, at Topshop (left) she would need a 4. Right: Monsoon jeans, where Alicia would wear a 6

Alicia said: 'I'm so surprised! There's a huge difference being a size XXS at PLT/Missguided and then going to a size 10 in Primark.

'I didn't think I'd be a size 10 in Primark. I've never bought anything that's been size 10. I'm also shocked about H&M as I can never fit into the smaller sizes there.

'I usually buy a size 8, so I think if I went in there to try on a size 4 I wouldn't be able to fit into it.

'It's disappointing that high street shops don't have matching size guides, as it can be very time-consuming to try on several sizes.'

The data also revealed that a size 12 has the most variation across retailers on average, and can range from a 90cm bust measurement in Next to 96cms at PrettyLittleThing.com.

Alicia needs a size 8 in jeans from Bon Marche (left) and a size 10 in Primark (right)

Overall ASOS has the smallest sizing guide and Boohoo.com has the largest. If a customer wears a size 8 from ASOS, they'll be a size 4 at Boohoo.com.

The tool was created in response to research conducted on 2,614 women, which discovered that nearly all of respondents (90 per cent) are unsure of their clothing size, and three quarters (74 per cent) of them have previously bought more than one size of an item.

More than four fifths (84 per cent) are unaware of vanity sizing and two thirds (61 per cent) find shopping less enjoyable due to not knowing their size. 94 per cent of respondents feel there should be a standardised sizing guide that retailers should adhere to.

Size 14: Femail put standard size 14 measurements in the tool to see what sizes brands suggest

While most of the brands agreed that the measurements required a size 14, Urban Outfitters suggested a 16 and Pretty Little Thing suggested a size 12 would fit best

Boris Hodakel, Sewport founder, said: 'Sizing has become a big issue in the industry, especially now that online shopping is more popular.

'Online shopping is great and gives consumers a convenient way to buy clothes, but it's also made it harder for shoppers to find out what size they are and return items that don't fit. What's even more frustrating for shoppers is to think you are a size, to then discover you are a larger or smaller size depending on what shop you're in.

'All of this has contributed to shoppers feeling confused, sometimes upset, and annoyed and it's about time the fashion industry responded.

'It makes sense that every fashion brand should adhere to a standard sizing guide globally, however I think we're a way off that happening.

'In the meantime I hope our sizing tool will enlighten women on what size they are, where, and make shopping enjoyable again!'

Advertisement

The Duke of Sussex spent his first Valentine's Day as a married man in one of the planet's harshest climates, meeting British armed forces taking part in winter survival training in the Arctic Circle.

Harry, who travelled to northern Norway by charter plane, took a flight believed to have cost around 20,000 to meet British servicemen taking part in the gruelling Exercise Clockwork during a whistlestop tour of their base on Thursday.

As part of his visit Harry was shown a Quincey Shelter, resembling a makeshift igloo, that had been decorated with photographs of his wedding to Meghan ahead of his arrival - which he laughingly referred to as a 'shrine' as romantic music played in the background.

The duke, who was dressed in Royal Marines uniform for the first time, met with temperatures just over freezing point when he stepped off the double-engine Cessna Citation Excel at the Bardufoss air station, 200 miles (322km) within the Arctic Circle, this morning.

The state-of-the-art 18ft plane flies in and out of smaller airports while offering 'the comfort and amenities of a midsize cabin jet' according to Cessna.

A direct chartered flight on the Citation Excel - based on a seven-hour round trip from Farnborough to Bardufoss for seven people - would cost between 18,200 and 21,450 according to Luxaviation.

While Kensington Palace declined to comment on details of the flight, royal travel for official engagements is typically funded by the taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant.

That's not very romantic! The Duke of Sussex spent his first Valentine's Day as a married man meeting British armed forces taking part in winter survival training inside the Arctic Circle, while his wife was believed to be at home in London

Harry inside a Quincey Shelter, which resembles a makeshift igloo, that had been decorated ahead of his arrival with photographs of his wedding to the Duchess of Sussex stuck to the walls and a sign saying 'there's snow place like home'

The Duke of Sussex greeted troops during his visit to Exercise Clockwork in Bardufoss, Norway, for a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Commando Helicopter Force and Joint Helicopter Command deploying for extreme cold weather training

The duke, who is due to become a father for the first time in late April or early May, was met with temperatures just over freezing point when he stepped off the double-engine Cessna Citation Excel (pictured) at the Bardufoss air station

What is Exercise Clockwork? The Duke of Sussex only had to brave the conditions at the Royal Norwegian Air Force Station Bardufoss today. But for 800 or so British service personnel taking part in this year's gruelling winter training programme dubbed Exercise Clockwork, the remote training centre in the north of Norway will remain home for several weeks yet. Around 16,000 marines, sailors and airmen have undertaken the arduous training regime at Bardufoss since it was first held in 1969, where recruits are taught to fight, survive and operate in temperatures reaching as low as minus 30C (minus 22F). Bardufoss air station is 200 miles (322km) within the Arctic Circle The exercise involves the Commando Helicopter Force (CHF), which is made up of personnel taken mainly from the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines, as well as some RAF and Army servicemen, who are brought over to Bardufoss from RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset. Engineers will undergo exercises on the flightline to keep aircraft functioning in the difficult conditions, while aircrew will be be asked to carry out night-time snow landings, mountain landings, and troop drills. All personnel who head to Norway will also need to complete a cold weather survival course. It was 1969 when the first Westland Wessex helicopters (now CHF's 845 Naval Air Squadron) arrived in Scandinavia, living out of rudimentary shelters. They conducted trials to show the UK's commitment to defend NATO's northern flank and see if they could support 3 Commando Brigade in the unforgiving environment. Today, Exercise Clockwork is considered vital in readying Royal Marines and Royal Navy personnel. Merlin pilot, Lieutenant Tom Lennon of 845 NAS, who is is well versed in the challenges of operating in the frozen north, said: 'The long-standing Exercise Clockwork, conducted by Joint Helicopter Command some 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle, has been pivotal in delivery of Arctic training to personnel from all three services for the last 50 years.' Advertisement

The Sovereign Grant is the amount of money provided by Government to the royals in support of the Queens official duties, including the maintenance of the occupied royal palaces and royal travel.

The Duchess of Sussex is believed to be at home in Kensington Palace following a turbulent week that saw her father leak details of a 'devastating' letter and her friends hit out at the 'global bullying' they say she has endured.

Meghan, 37, is a self-confessed 'sucker for Valentine's Day' - previously revealing she wakes up every February 14 'waiting with bated breath to be dipped into a kiss'.

Last week, Thomas Markle Sr. leaked the contents of a letter written by Meghan, 37, 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.

Just days earlier, five unnamed friends spoke to People magazine in an effort to counter the social media trolling and 'global bullying' directed at the pregnant duchess.

Harry's trip marks the 50th anniversary of Commando Helicopter Force and Joint Helicopter Command deploying to the remote base.

There, military personnel are taught how to survive, operate and fight in the sub-zero conditions, as well as gaining experience of operating aircraft in severe cold weather and mountainous environments.

The Cessna Citation Excel that carried Harry to Norway on Thursday morning. The state-of-the-art 18ft plane flies in and out of smaller airports while offering 'the comfort and amenities of a midsize cabin jet' according to Cessna

Harry touches down in snowy Norway on Thursday morning local time. The duke, who is due to become a father for the first time when the Duchess of Sussex gives birth later this year, was met with freezing temperatures in the Arctic Circle

The annual winter exercise has trained over 16,000 Royal Marines and Royal Navy sailors and airmen since 1969.

The multinational exercise, hosted by the Norwegian Armed Forces, comprises environmental flying qualifications, cold weather survival, and snow and ice driving courses.

On arrival, Harry was greeted by UK ambassador to Norway Richard Wood, Lt Col Dave West, officer commanding Exercise Clockwork, Lt Col Andy Walker, the UK defence attache, and Col Eirik Stueland, Bardufoss station commander.

Taken inside immediately for a briefing, he met senior personnel from the base before sitting down for a lesson in the history of Exercise Clockwork and a video of the modern day training programme.

It included footage of servicemen undergoing their gruelling ice water plunge, which sees them drop through a hole in the ice into freezing water to learn how to climb out again.

Harry was greeted by an official after arriving in Norway. His trip marks the 50th anniversary of Commando Helicopter Force and Joint Helicopter Command deploying to the remote base, and he understood to be returning to London tonight

Harry in northern Norway on Thursday where he met with British servicemen undergoing the gruelling Exercise Clockwork during a tour of their base. He arrived by charter plane this morning and was met with freezing conditions and icy winds

Harry gave a royal salute after touching down in Norway late morning local time. His trip marked the 50th anniversary of Commando Helicopter Force and Joint Helicopter Command deploying to the remote base

Afterwards, the Duke joined the troops for a hot buffet lunch in the mess, away from the cameras so he could meet men and women of all ranks to speak frankly.

As the snow fell, he was then invited to inspect the four-man, ten-man and 16-man tents used during training, with avalanche rescue gear and a 45kg Bergen backpack ready for inspection.

Spotting Chris Anderson, a corporal in the RAF, dressed in a white, snow-camouflaged suit over his uniform with a mask, the Duke joked: 'You look as though you're loving it.'

Inside a tent, he was invited to lift the heavy bag containing rations, emergency clothing, snow shovel, survival knives, hot flask, cooking equipment and sleeping bags, torch, goggles and gloves. 'I'd like to but I'm not sure' he said, making a quick attempt before dropping it.

'When you're out here, what do you guys look forward to the most?' he asked, quizzing servicemen on how long they had served and how long they are based in Norway.

'Look after yourself,' he told them. 'How's morale been?' he asked, before indulging in some military banter as Captain General Royal Marines by joking: 'The RAF guys will be struggling the most, will they?'

The Duke learned about Exercise Clockwork during his visit today. The multinational exercise, hosted by the Norwegian Armed Forces, comprises environmental flying qualifications, cold weather survival, and snow and ice driving courses

The Duke of Sussex touched down in Bardufoss on Thursday morning. Harry was appointed Captain General Royal Marines in December 2017, taking over the role from his grandfather the Duke of Edinburgh after 64 years on the job

Harry chatted to troops after touching down in Bardufoss on Thursday. He was met with temperatures around freezing point for his visit to the Bardufoss air station, some 200 miles (322km) within the Arctic Circle

Harry arrived at Bardufoss, where military personnel are taught how to survive, operate and fight in the sub-zero conditions, as well as gaining experience of operating aircraft in severe cold weather and mountainous environments

During his visit today, the Duke saw field tents, snow vehicles and a Quincey Shelter, a makeshift shelter built of snow in which the elite forces are able to camp. The duke already has experience of colder climates, facing temperatures as low as -35C on charity expeditions

Before leaving, the Duke was asked to cut a cake celebrating the 50th anniversary of Exercise Clockwork, which featured a helicopter made from rice crispies and marshmallows.

Quizzing Leading Chef Matt Roberts, he learned the troops in Bardufoss had a larger daily food budget to account for the extra calories they need in the cold, joking: 'No wonder you're all so happy.'

Wielding a sword, he ceremonially cut the cake, shouting 'Happy Birthday' to dozens of men and women gathered in the hanger. 'It's really nice to see you all and know that you're having a good time out here,' he told them.

'Use every single day as an experience, and bring that back. I hope you can make the most of it. 'I know lots of you have left your families at home to be out here. It's hugely appreciated. And you still have a smile on your face. 'Congratulations on your 50th anniversary.'

Following Harry's visit today, a Royal Navy Sea King MK4 will be presented as a gate guardian by the UK military to the Norwegian armed forces to mark the programme's 50th anniversary.

Harry, in his role as Captain General Royal Marines, met some of the 1,000 military personnel living and training at the base during his visit today.

Their presence is widely regarded as a show of strength in the face of increased aggression from Vladimir Putin.

Harry joined troops on a walk around the air base. The Duke of Sussex was appointed Captain General Royal Marines in December 2017 shortly after his engagement, taking over the role from his grandfather the Duke of Edinburgh

The Duke of Sussex learned about the training involved in Exercise Clockwork. Harry, in his role as Captain General Royal Marines, met with some of the 800 military personnel living and training at the base, located in the Arctic Circle

Harry donned Royal Marines Uniform as he joined troops staying in Bardufoss for their gruelling winter training programme. Their presence in Norway is widely considered a show of strength in the face of aggression from Putin

Harry joined troops on a training exercise as he joins the Royal Marines in Bardufoss to learn about Exercise Clockwork. The annual winter exercise has trained over 16,000 Royal Marines and Royal Navy sailors and airmen since 1969

The Duke will also see field tents, snow vehicles and a Quincey Shelter, a makeshift shelter built of snow in which the elite forces are able to camp.

One such shelter, which resembles a makeshift igloo, had been decorated ahead of Harry's arrival with photographs of his wedding to the Duchess of Sussex last May stuck to the walls and a sign saying 'there's snow place like home'.

Harry, who was welcomed by Lance Corporal Lee Lovack and air engineering technician Kevin Burns, joked: 'You weirdos.

'It's very kind of you to invite me into your private shrine or whatever you want to call it. And the music, is that part of it? Romantic isn't it.'

And checking that the British troops stationed at the base had remembered to send cards and flowers to their wives at home, he teased them about getting into trouble as he reminisced about his days as a pilot.

Speaking afterwards, AET Burns, 36, from Inverness, said: 'We took him (the duke) through the structure of the shelter, how it's made.

'He is used to the weather, I think, because he said about exercises he had been on, he looked around at the shelter with the pictures and candles and he said we were weirdos.'

On seeing the photographs of his wedding day (pictured) Harry, who was welcomed by Lance Corporal Lee Lovack and air engineering technician Kevin Burns, joked: 'You weirdos. 'It's very kind of you to invite me into your private shrine or whatever you want to call it. And the music, is that part of it? Romantic isn't it'

Inside the Quincey shelter, which resembles an igloo, and had been decorated ahead of Harry's arrival with photographs of his wedding to the Duchess of Sussex last May stuck to the walls and a sign saying 'there's snow place like home'

Harry was given a warm welcome as he arrived at the air base today. The duke already has experience of colder climates, facing temperatures as low as -35C on charity expeditions, in addition to his time in the armed forces

Harry met troops at Bardufoss Air Force Base on Thursday. The duke is due to become a father for the first time when the Duchess of Sussex gives birth later this year, and Meghan is understood to be at home in Kensington Palace

Harry chatted with troops at Bardufoss Air Force Base. Lieutenant Colonel David West, officer commanding Exercise Clockwork, said he was 'honoured' to have the royal there

The Duke of Sussex being briefed on the history and context of Clockwork during a visit to Exercise Clockwork in Bardufoss, Norway. Harry previously took part in treks to the North Pole in 2011 and South Pole in 2013 with Walking With The Wounded

Harry meets troops at Bardufoss today. He was appointed Captain General Royal Marines in 2017, taking over the role from his grandfather, who held the appointment for 64 years

Harry spent three hours in the icy wilds of northern Norway, meeting hundreds of servicemen undergoing the gruelling Exercise Clockwork.

The Duke of Sussex was appointed Captain General Royal Marines in December 2017, taking over the role from his grandfather the Duke of Edinburgh, who held the appointment for 64 years.

The duke already has experience of colder climates, facing temperatures as low as -35C on charity expeditions when he took part in treks to the North Pole in 2011 and South Pole in 2013 with Walking With The Wounded.

Lieutenant Colonel David West, officer commanding Exercise Clockwork, said: 'We are celebrating 50 years of Exercise Clockwork today and are honoured to be able to welcome the Captain General of the Royal Marines to Bardufoss to mark the occasion.'

He added: 'Harry is used to rigours of harsh climates and so will fully understand the dangers of trying to live and operate in such an extreme environment.

Harry at the training base on Thursday. Temperatures were around freezing point for his visit to the Bardufoss air station, some 200 miles (322km) within the Arctic Circle. The duke already has experience of colder climates, facing temperatures as low as -35C on charity expeditions

Harry listens intently to a talk on Exercise Clockwork at Bardufoss today. He previously took part in treks to the North Pole in 2011 and South Pole in 2013 with Walking With The Wounded

The Duke of Sussex was in good spirits for his trip to Norway. Harry previously took part in treks to the North Pole in 2011 and South Pole in 2013 with Walking With The Wounded and has experience in facing extreme temperatures

Harry is at Bardufoss to meet troops and learn more about Exercise Clockwork. The exercise, hosted by the Norwegian Armed Forces, comprises environmental flying qualifications, cold weather survival, and snow and ice driving courses

'Clockwork continues to deliver vital training for our people. It provides essential experience in flying and surviving in the extreme cold hundreds of miles inside the Arctic Circle.

'For 50 years Commando Helicopter Force and its predecessors have operated in this region and the skills learnt here are more relevant than ever.'

Speaking after Harry's visit today, Warrant Officer 1st Class Adrian Shepherd, who has served with CHF for 27 years, said: 'This is the first time His Royal Highness has visited Joint Helicopter Command since becoming Captain General and it is great that he is doing the visit while we're in Norway.

'He was able to get a good look at what we do and how we operate in these harsh conditions. He saw the amount of training that goes into it and why it is so important that we do this exercise every year.

'It is good for the people out here to see their hard work recognised during a significant year for the exercise.'

Harry meets Marine commandos on Thursday. Lieutenant Colonel David West, officer commanding Exercise Clockwork, said he was 'honoured' to have the royal there, after he flew in on a twin engine private jet

Meghan is understood to be at home in London while Harry is in Norway. Harry's trip marks the 50th anniversary of Commando Helicopter Force and Joint Helicopter Command deploying to the remote base

Colour Sergeant Gary Bell is an air crewman for the Merlin and the chief air crewman of Clockwork.

The 40-year-old has operated in Norway nine times  four times in the iconic and now retired Sea King and five times with the Merlin. He said there have been many changes to Clockwork during his time but the focus has always been the same.

'If you can operate in Norway and in these conditions, you can operate anywhere in the world,' he said. 'Clockwork is about ensuring our people have the skillset they need to support 3 Commando Brigade and defend NATO's northern flank.

'This is the harshest and toughest place to look after yourself and operate an aircraft so it really does make you ready for anything.

'During the Duke's visit we were able to show we have those capabilities and the team were able to speak to him about how we achieve it.'Meghan and Kate dazzled with two very different make up styles for their evening engagements this week.

The radiant Duchess of Sussex, 37, chose a glowy 'of the moment' look when she attended the Natural History Museum on Tuesday night, while the Duchess of Cambridge, 37, enhanced her classic English rose complexion when she stepped out at a glittering gala dinner yesterday.

And according to international make up artist Karin Darnell, the secret to the Duchesses' distinct looks is their different palette of colours.

Karin explained: 'Kate is a classic beauty and needs barely any make up to enhance her already stunning features. A slightly peachy/pink shadow has been used on her lids and makes her eyes really stand out and sparkle.'

She continued: 'Meghan looks elegant and her make up is what I like to call my "Symphony of Beige" technique - an expensive look, supremely contoured and beautifully highlighted with yellow, bronze and beiges.'

According to make up expert Karin Darnell, Meghan's elegant appearance is what she calls the Symphony of Beige technique. She goes on to explain that it's 'an expensive look, supremely contoured and beautifully highlighted with yellow, bronze and beiges'

Kate's classic and timeless look is alternatively achieved using peachy colours. 'A slightly peachy/pink shadow has been used on her lids and makes her eyes really stand out and sparkle,' Karin said

Meghan, 37, was the picture of elegance as she joined Prince Harry at the Natural History Museum on Tuesday night.

And it wasn't only her Amanda Wakeley coat and Calvin Klein dress that the Duchess of Sussex which showed off her favourite palette of neutral tones - it was her make up, too.

Karin believes her choice of make up keeps her looking both sprightly and elegant, even as she nears her due date.

'She has full lashes and a lovely open eye, which makes her look bright eyed, bushy tailed, glossy cheeks,' explained Karin. 'A slick of highlighter on the apples of her cheeks adds a hint of glam.'



The Duchess of Sussex attended a gala performance of The Wider Earth, in support of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust and the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy at The Natural History on Tuesday night. Karin said: 'She opted for full lashes to achieve an open eye and a slick of highlighter added a hint of glam'

The Duchess of Cambridge wore a delicate pink Gucci gown as she left the 100 Women in Finance event at the Victoria & Albert Museum yesterday evening. Her softened make up complimented her dress 'beautifully'

Meanwhile, Kate opted for a timeless look when she arrived for a glittering gala dinner at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London on Wednesday night.

And Karin believes the pink colour palette was a deliberate choice to compliment her floor-length Gucci down, which featured a layer of pleated tulle in a soft array of pinks.

It was a busy day of royal engagements for the mother-of-three who had also attended The Royal Foundation's 'Mental Health in Education' conference earlier - yet her skin remained radiant.

The Duchess of Sussex looked radiant as she and Harry arrived at the gala performance in the back of a chauffeur driven car on Tuesday night

Rose-cheeked Kate flashed a smile as she shook hands with Dr Hunt before she made her way inside for the gala dinner yesterday evening

'Kates look is very radiant and her skin is youthful and looks incredibly healthy and dewy,' Karin said.

'A cream blusher may have been used as it creates a softer, dewy look and gives more of a radiant finish to powder blushers.'

She added: 'I would have opted for a slightly softer and glossy diffused lip to really finish this look off to compliment her English rose complexion.'

Prince William joked about the trials of changing a nappy with fathers-to-be during an engagement on Thursday.

The Duke of Cambridge paid a visit to Working With Men, a charity offering support to men and boys, where he met expectant dads.

William, who is a father-of-three, witnessed the men attempt to tackle changing a nappy on a baby doll, telling them 'it's never straightforward.'

His comments come just a day after his wife Kate admitted that she had been 'naive as a new parent.'

Prince William said that nappy changing is 'never straightforward' while watching a father-to-be practicing changing a baby at a charity event today

The Duke of Cambridge paid a visit to Working With Men, a charity offering support to men and boys, where he met expectant dads

At a mental health conference in London on Wednesday she said: 'I was very naive myself as a parent, of really just how important particularly the early years are for children's futures.'

The couple spent Valentine's Day apart with William kicking off his day with a visit to a barber shop in Paddington Central, working to support men with their mental health and wellbeing this morning.

Prince William sat down in a barber's chair today and joked: 'I don't need a haircut anymore, I just take a razor to it!'

The 36-year-old royal, who has inherited his family's tendency to lose their hair early on, decided to tackle the elephant in the room as he visited the Pall Mall Barbers.

Prince William today paid a visit to a barber shop in Paddington which aims to raise awareness surrounding men's mental health

The 36-year-old royal looked his dapper best in a blue blazor and open collared shirt, paired with black chinos

But there was a serious point to his visit, which was to highlight programmes that support men and their mental health.

He spoke at length to barber Ken Hermes, whose father committed suicide when he was just 15, and two customers who have both struggled with depression.

William, in shirt and jacket, but not a tie, urged the barbers to carry on with their work as he arrived, pointing to customer Tom Lunt, saying to his barber, Dan Davies: 'I won't shake your hand. He's got a nice beard there, I don't want anything to happen to it!'

William met with members of the Lion Barbers Collective as well as staff and customers in the shop today

The Duke spent times speaking to members of staff at the barbers - while a patient customer waited to have his shave finished

William toured the facilities while learning more about what the charity does to help vulnerable young men

Barber Ken, 28, told him about the loss of his father: 'I was 15, I remember it all.'

William said: 'This is very interesting. I'm trying to work out how you go about the issue of male suicide. People tell me that suicide is the rawest form of grief, there are so many questions unanswered that it is very hard to believe that anyone can get through it.

'Did you find that talking helped? I'm trying to work out from my side how to frame the whole question of male mental health and suicide.'

Ken told him: ' I think the only way is to be direct. It took me a long time to talk about it but when I did, I couldn't stop.'

The father-of-three looked typically chirpy upon his arrival, waving to well-wishers who had gathered outside in order to catch a glimpse of the royal

Pall Mall Barbers is part of a group known as the Lions Barbers Collective, an international group of leading barbers who have come together to raise awareness for the prevention of suicide and other mental health issues.

Barbers are being trained to recognise signs of depression, are encouraged to listen to their clients and advise them on the best places to go for support.

Many see the barber's chair as an easier place to open up than going for professional help or therapy. Tom Chapman, the founder of Lions Barber Collective, was inspired by the suicide of a close friend in 2014.

'The thing about a barber's shop is that its neutral ground and men can open up in a way that they don't feel comfortable with family, friends and professionals,' Ken explained.

William talked about how 'shocking' the statistics were around male suicide and remarked: 'It interesting, particularly with guys who are so reluctant to open up about their worries, concerns and issues, whether that builds up a lot and causes male mental health issues.

'It's great is that because you are aware of this, you understands that just a bit of empathy, a bit of understanding, a bit of being able to listen in crucial.'

The royal also met Paul Richardson, 32, from Torquay, Devon, who has been helped by a local group called Walking As Lions, with his depression.

Paul spoke movingly about his mental health battles and multiple suicide attempts - including three last year - until he became aware of his condition, through the walking group.

'Until that point I thought it was a quiet, miserable person, ' he laughed, 'but I realised it was something I had to get help with.

'It has changed my life. I have bad days but I know I can get help and get through it. The barbers idea is fantastic.

William toured the facilities while learning more about what the charity does to help vulnerable young men

The father-of-three looked typically chirpy upon his arrival, waving to well-wishers who had gathered outside in order to catch a glimpse of the royal

'When you sit in the chair, you feel you can open up and if the barbers have training to spot the signs, its a really powerful combination. They have an understanding of what people need.'

Dean Hamilton, also from Torquay, who set up Walking As Lions, told the prince about his mental health battles, particularly with depression.

'I found myself dwelling in the past. I would find myself at 10 o'clock at night still sitting in a bath I had run myself at six. It wasn't with the intention of killing myself, but I just didn't care what happened me,' he said.

'I went to the doctors and was diagnosed with depression. I don't want the help as such but wanted to do something about it, so I asked if I could set up a group just for men to walk and talk. The amount of guys who came, it was amazing.

'Over time the group has grown and grown. The strange thing is that people think they are coming for me to help them, but it is actually helping me even more. I know I can turn to every one of those people if I need them.

'I'm just the same bloke I always was, it's just sometimes I find things tough. '

Dean told the prince that part of the benefit of the group, as a man, was that someone would just turn and give you a hug, without shame. 'Well he is very huggable,' laughed the prince.

'Guys actually need support, particularly emotionally,' said the prince. 'It is interesting what you say about how important it is to have someone there who cares about you, who listens to you.

Kate remained at home today following a busy day of engagements on Wednesday. Last night she opted for an elegant powder pink gown from Gucci as she joined female leaders at the 100 Women in Finance charity event at the Victoria & Albert Museum

A right Royal wave! Following the event in London Kate left with a sweet floral bouquet and waved at well wishers and the press as she made her exit

'As men society just expects us to get on with it. I can never understand this. You may be a strong man, but if you are suffering you need to get help. If you have a broken leg you will go to see a doctor, you wouldn't just say 'I'm fine, I can manage this'.

'We need to be more tolerant. We need more education. '

Before he left William praised all those who had spoken so openly and was given a bag full of grooming products to take with him 'for Valentine's Day'.

'Valentine's Day, that's a good point,' he said.

Afterwards Paul said: 'It was so amazing to come here and talk to the prince in such a non-judgemental way. He is remarkable.'

Meanwhile the Duchess of Cambridge has the day off following a busy day of engagements on Wednesday.

Last night saw Kate wow in a bespoke Gucci gown as she joined female leaders for the annual 100 Women in Finance event at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

The delicate floor-length dress featured layers of pleated tulle in a soft array of pinks and was the perfect choice for an engagement on the eve of Valentine's Day.

Earlier that day the Duchess of Cambridge attended The Royal Foundation's 'Mental Health in Education' conference at Mercers Hall in London

In the speech introducing her namesake Duchess, Silverton (right) thanked the royal for 'all the work she has done in the field'

It was Kate's second appearance of the day having attended a mental health conference in the capital earlier that afternoon where she admitted she had been 'very naive' when she first became a parent.

She made the remark during a round table discussion at the Mental Health in Education conference hosted by The Royal Foundation, at Mercers' Hall, East London.

She said: 'I was very naive myself as a parent, of really just how important particularly the early years are for children's futures.'

The Duchess made a second speech on Wednesday evening. After being introduced by Ed Vainker, co-founder and Principal of the Reach Academy in Feltham she said: 'I think you know just how passionate I am about the work that you do, and what you have said here tonight really brings to life the vital role that schools and teachers play in supporting our youngest children.

'Your vision is hugely inspiring and testament to what school, teachers, parents and communities can achieve when they all work together.'

William also took part in engagements on Wednesday, visiting homeless charity The Passage after being announced as its patron.

William first visited as a young boy with his mother Diana, Princess of Wales and has now become the figurehead.

He visited the charity today where he joined volunteers in the kitchen to help prepare and serve lunch to those in need.

The organisation has helped more than 130,000 people in crisis over almost 40 years through its resource centre, homelessness prevention projects and innovative accommodation services.

Diana took William and younger brother Harry to the charity in December 1993, and as a young man William has made numerous public and private trips to the organisation.Queen Letizia of Spain looked radiant this evening as she changed into a red dress for an evening event on the second day of her two-day official state visit to Morocco.

Earlier in the day the royal, 46, had worn a white trouser suit, but she made a quick change into a long red detailed dress, with velvet arms and a velvet waist.

She matched her dress with a large red clutch and red strappy heels for the occassion, where her and King Felipe, 51, met with members of the Spanish community at Morroco's National Library.

The couple looked relaxed and happy as they arrived at the event and King Felipe, who was dressed in a grey pinstriped suit, addressed the crowds at the library.

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Queen Letizia of Spain (Pictured with King Felipe) looked radiant this evening as she changed into a red dress as they met with members of the Spanish community at the National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco

Earlier in the day Queen Letizia, wore a white trouser suit and a matching scarf as a mark of respect as she joined husband King Felipe, 51, in visiting the mausoleum of King Mohammed V in Morocco

Earlier in the day Queen Letizia of Spain looked the picture of elegance as she wore a white trouser suit and a matching scarf as a mark of respect as she joined husband King Felipe, in visiting the mausoleum of King Mohammed V.

Letizia and Felipe arrived in the country on Wednesday, and were welcomed with a lavish dinner party, hosted by King Mohammed VI of Morocco at the Royal Palace.

And on Thursday morning Letizia kicked off day two of her tour in Rabat, visiting the Mausoleum of King Mohammed V, who was Sultan of Morocco from 1927 to 1953, before his death in 1961, aged 52.

The couple looked relaxed and happy as they arrived at the event and King Felipe, who was dressed in a grey pinstriped suit, addressed the crowds at the library

The Queen matched her dress with a large red clutch for the occasion and red strappy heels, as her and King Felipe, attended an event at Morroco's National Library

Queen Letizia and King Felipe also meet with members of the Spanish community at the National Library in Morocco

The mother-of-two opted for a fitted white buttoned blazer and matching wide-legged trousers, which she teamed with a pair of pale court shoes.

Covering her hair with a long white scarf, she offered a glimpse at her pearl drop earrings, completing the look with a touch of lip gloss and blusher.

Meanwhile Felipe looked handsome in a well-cut suit and patterned green tie as they paid their respects ahead of a busy day.

Their day follows a fun-packed evening of lavish celebrations following their arrival in the country on Wednesday.

Queen Letizia of Spain looked the picture of elegance as she embarked on the second day of her two-day official state visit to Morocco on Thursday

On Thursday morning Letizia kicked off day two of her tour in Rabat, visiting the Mausoleum of King Mohammed V, who was Sultan of Morocco from 1927 to 1953, before his death in 1961

Covering her hair with a long white scarf, she offered a glimpse at her pearl drop earrings, completing the look with a touch of lip gloss and blusher

Yesterday the Spanish Royal family were welcomed at a ceremony at the Royal Palace in Rabat.

The couple, who last visited the country in 2014, will also take part in official talks with the country's monarch.

Speaking in 2018, Felipe said of the two countries' relationship: 'The relations between Morocco and Spain are strategic because we are neighbors who have shared concerns and who face common challenges and threats that we can transform into opportunities for close cooperation together with will and determination.'

The mother-of-two opted for a fitted white buttoned blazer and matching wide-legged trousers, which she teamed with a pair of pale court shoes

Meanwhile Felipe looked handsome in a well-cut suit and patterned green tie as they paid their respects ahead of a busy day

Queen Letizia is mother to Princesses Leonor, 13, and Sofia, 10, with husband King Felipe, 50, who ascended to the Spanish throne in 2014.

Over the years Letizia, a former newsreader, has worked hard to promote causes she is passionate about.

These include education, innovation, rare diseases, and particularly in nutrition, working closely with the UNs World Health and Food and Agriculture Organisations.She's already conquered the world of fashion, and now Victoria Beckham has her sights set on the beauty industry with the arrival of her first makeup range.

The designer, 44, revealed on Wednesday via social media that she will be officially launching Victoria Beckham Beauty later this year.

Fans were beside themselves after VB posted a short video on Instagram last night announcing the launch Victoria Beckham Beauty, tipped for an autumn launch.

The mother-of-four, who splits her time between west London and the Cotswolds, has already enjoyed phenomenal success with two sellout collections in collaboration with Estee Lauder.

Victoria Beckham (pictured at a Vogue dinner in Madrid, January 2018) has announced this week the upcoming launch of her first eponymous beauty range later this year

The former Spice Girl said in a statement this week: 'I want to take care of women inside and out, providing them with the must-have items in make-up, skincare, fragrance and wellness that I feel I need in my own life.'

And explaining that the range would initially launch as a digital brand, she added: 'I was going direct to the consumer with regards to fashion before I had a standalone store, so this isnt new to me.

'Just like I spend so much time in the fitting room getting to know what my customers want to wear, Im going to be asking women to tell me which products they want me to develop for them in the beauty and wellness arenas. Its important for me to know what they want.'

Victoria is an avid beauty fan, and once told Vogue that the secret to her flawless skin is eating bee pollen and taking a mind-boggling 60 vitamins and tablets per day.

Big news: The designer, 44, revealed on Wednesday via social media that she will be officially launching Victoria Beckham Beauty later this year, much to her fans' delight

Mixed response: Fans were delighted at the news, with many saying they 'couldn't wait' to get their hands on the range when it goes on sale, but other raised concerns over pricing

Mrs Beckham (pictured in London in September) recently announced she would be dropping exotic skins from her fashion range much to the delight of animal campaigners

Fans were delighted at the news, with many saying they 'couldn't wait' to get their hands on the range when it goes on sale.

However, others were concerned about the price tag - Mrs. Beckham's clothing range costs upwards of 400 for a dress - and begged her to make her beauty range more affordable.

Charley tweeted: 'I love your clothes and I love your style but it's so expensive.'

Another wrote: 'Unfortunately I will be excluded from this along with every other thing you design because I want to but although I work very hard my finances will never stretch to afford [it].'

Victoria launched her own clothing label in 2008, winning over famous fans from Sienna Miller to the Duchess of Sussex, and this week delighted animal campaigners with the news she would be dropping exotic skins from her collections.A terminally ill new mother who was diagnosed with breast cancer just a month after her wedding was treated to a Valentine's Day surprise in hospital.

Daniella Takchi has been spending her time in Westmead Hospital in Sydney's west as she's too sick to leave.

On Thursday, her husband Anthony brought the love to his wife by surprising her with a special lunch made by her favourite celebrity chefs.

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Daniella Takchi has been spending her time in Westmead Hospital in Sydney's west as she's too sick to leave (Mrs Takchi pictured with her husband Anthony and their son)

A terminally ill new mother who was diagnosed with breast cancer just a month after her wedding was treated to a Valentine's Day surprise in hospital (pictured with Romel and Ibby from My Kitchen Rules)

Mr Takchi spent weeks working with the hospital and My Kitchen Rules' Ibby and Romel to organise a special lunch for the 29-year-old, Seven News reported.

Not only is she battling tumours spread throughout her body, she's also still recovering from giving birth just five weeks ago.

'She deserves the world so I wanted to do that for her,' Mr Takchi said.

Mrs Takchi was overwhelmed by the surprise, breaking down in tears when she saw what her husband prepared for her.

'When the boys came in I was like 'oh my goodness!',' Mrs Takchi said.

The 29-year-old was diagnosed with breast cancer just one month after marrying the love of her life.

Mrs Takchi recovered from the cancer and was given the all clear to fall pregnant with a baby boy.

However, in her first trimester the pair made the grim discovery the cancer had returned in other parts of her body.

Mr Takchi spent weeks organising with the hospital and My Kitchen Rules' Ibby and Romel to organise a special lunch for the 29-year-old

The 29-year-old was diagnosed with breast cancer just one month after marrying the love of her life

Now, Mrs Takchi is battling tumours in her brain and lungs and her days left are uncertain.

The Valentine's lunch wasn't the only surprise Mrs Takchi received, as both she and her husband were reunited with their son on Thursday morning.

WHO ARE IBBY AND ROMEL? Ibby Moubadder and Romel Kouyan are contestants on the 2019 season of My Kitchen Rules. Ibby, 30, is a business owner, with three restaurants in Sydney. Romel, 42, is the owner of a talent management business. They're tagged as the Sydney socialites of the season. Ibby and Romel decided to go on the show after Ibby broke up with his girlfriend of seven years. Advertisement

The couple has been apart from their five-week-old son since his birth, but were able to spend the day together after he was discharged from the children's hospital.

Ibby and Romel took to Instagram to express how grateful they felt to be able to put a smile on Mrs Takchi's face.

'We had the pleasure of surprising Daniella today,' the pair wrote.

'Unfortunately Daniellas health isnt great, so we jumped at the chance to meet her and cook her the exact same dishes we served everyone in our Instant Restaurant.

'Seeing a smile on her face was the best thing weve ever experienced. This has been the absolute highlight of our MKR journey.

'Daniella you are in our prayers and we wish you and your family lots of love.'A Canadian woman has revealed that she has been working as a dominatrix for nearly five years to support her sick husband while they are living in London.

On Friday night's episode of the We TV reality series Extreme Love, Natasha 'Tash' Stevens, 28, opens up about trading her career in fashion for a full-time gig as a dominatrix after her husband Aidan James, 29, fell ill.

Tash, who was born and raised in Toronto, says she and Aidan 'clicked right away' when they met in London in 2011, and they got married after just a year of dating.

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Devotion: Natasha 'Tash' Stevens, 28, traded her career in fashion for a full-time gig as a dominatrix after her husband Aidan James, 29, fell ill

Love: Tash, who was born and raised in Canada, met Aidan after she moved to London. The two 'clicked right away' and got married after just a year of dating

'He first started getting sick a little bit after we got married, and then it just kind of snowballed from there,' she recounts. 'He ended up having a stroke and a non-epileptic seizure.'

'I've got very severe weakness and pain on my entire left side of my body,' Aidan adds. 'After doing a lot of strenuous activity, it's very painful and I get very weak.'

The musician admits it took him a long time to stop working because he felt guilty that he was unable to provide for his wife.

Tash, his bosses, and his doctors all warned him that he couldn't keep pushing himself, but he also had financial concerns.

'I thought, "Oh God, what are we going to do?" Because Tasha couldn't sustain us on a fashion worker's salary,' he explains.

The couple's financial woes led Tash to give up her job in fashion and become a dominatrix, which was actually a natural transition for her.

Struggle: Tash recalls Aidan having a stroke and a non-epileptic seizure a year into their marriage. He eventually had to stop working, but he worried about their finances

'I grew up with my dad doing fetish photography for newspapers and stuff, and my primary school was next to a strip club,' she explains.

Tash told Aidan to relax and focus on getting better while she started advertising for sessions as a dominatrix.

In a preview clip from the episode, Tash, who is also known as 'Mistress Komakino,' happily shows off BDSM toys she uses on her clients.

'I like whipping, spanking, flogging,' she says while holding a flogger. 'You know, if you want to cause them a little pain on their bottom, this works great.'

Tash notes that she has 'loads' of vibrators, dildos, butt plugs, and even a 'ball crusher.'

Natural transition? The couple's financial woes led Tash to give up her job in fashion and become a dominatrix

Success: Tash has been working as a dominatrix for nearly five years, and her clients know her as 'Mistress Komakino'

'You put the testicles through there, and they kind of go behind the legs,' she explains.

Aidan doesn't partake in her sessions, but he can hear all the whipping and spanking that is taking place in their home.

Although he is grateful that Tash has taken over the financial reins while he is ill, there is a part of him that feels insecure about their relationship.

'You haven't cheated on me have you?' he asks, prompting Tash to burst into awkward laughter.

The couple made headlines last year after Natasha filmed a group of teenage girls attacking her and her husband. Drinks were thrown at them as well as a chair, an ashtray, and empty cups during the shocking encounter.

It was later revealed that Tash was facing deportation despite being Aidan's only caregiver.

Fetish fun: Tash says she likes whipping, spanking, and flogging her clients

Awkward? Aidan doesn't partake in her sessions, but he can hear all the whipping and spanking that is taking place in their home

Comfortable: Becoming a dominatrix was a natural transition for Tash, whose father did fetish photography

'At his worst he was having 20 seizures a day,' she told DailyMail.com in January 2018. 'He can't lift a coffee cup he's so weak. He has no sensation in his left side. He's in constant pain.

'He wouldn't be alive without me here to look after him. The whole thing is absolutely terrifying,' she admitted. 'You hope love will prevail and everything will be alright but these people just don't seem to care.'

Aidan is constantly in pain as a result of nerve damage and partial paralysis on his left side.

He was diagnosed with mold poisoning caused by negligent conditions in their previous London home and has calcification of the brain, which can cause the motor neuron to deteriorate and lead to further paralysis.

Aidan also suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, and the stress of the deportation battle has only exacerbated his condition.

Tash has been his full-time carer after he collapsed at work in 2013, a year after they said 'I do.' When it was time for her to renew her spouse visa at the end of 2015, the Home Office refused, telling her she had to leave within seven days.

Treasure chest: Tash proudly shows off her sex toys, which includes harnesses and straps

Ouch: The dominatrix happily uses her fingers to demonstrate where she puts her clients' testicles when she is using her 'ball cruncher'

Feeling insecure: Although Tash has become a dominatrix to take care of him, he can't help put ask her if she has cheated on him

'We didn't think there would be any problems,' she said. 'But with the refugee crisis, there seems to be a lot of pressure on Theresa May and the Home Office to cut down on immigration.

'They told me I needed to leave within seven days or I'd be arrested  it was terrifying,' she recalled. 'We managed to fight off immediate deportation but we've been battling it ever since.

'The whole thing has caused Aidan so much pain and emotional distress.'

Although the couple takes home more than the 25,000 ($32,000) annual income threshold, Tash claimed the Home Office 'doesn't like' the fact she is self-employed and that some of their money has been donated by relatives.

'We spent more than a year saying goodbye to each other every single night because we thought I'd get taken away,' she said.

'It breaks my heart what's happening. I love this country, but I feel so disappointed and like they'll do anything to catch me out and send me home.'A bold group of women have ridden through Sydney on motorbikes wearing nothing but lingerie to show that single women can have fun on Valentine's Day.

Donning pieces from Honey Birdette, the group of models and shop assistants took to the streets of the CBD on Wednesday leaving hundreds of onlookers shocked.

They group also wore jackets emblazoned with #NotYourValentine - aimed at empowering women.

Honey Birdette decided to show off their wares in the bright light of day on Wednesday, getting models and shop assistants alike to ride around on the back of motorcycles in Sydney's CBD

Naturally the all-female bikie gang caused a spectacle in the city centre.

People paused on their lunch break to snap photos of the girls who were waving and standing up on the bike footrests at the traffic lights, astride their Ducati bikes.

'You ladies are amazing! I love the confidence and the internet breaking ideas,' a woman wrote on their Instagram page.

People paused on their lunch break to snap photos of the girls who were waving and standing up at the traffic lights astride their Ducati bikes

'You ladies are amazing! I love the confidence and the internet breaking ideas,' a woman wrote on their Instagram page

'Genuine art! This brand just has my total and complete respect,' another added.

A third tagged her friend and said: 'This drove straight past work today when I was coming back from my lunch break. I was SO confused!'

The impromptu flash mob was designed to celebrated the empowerment of women.

A third tagged her friend and said: 'This drove straight past work today when I was coming back from my lunch break. I was SO confused!'

'It sends a message that single women can have an amazing Valentine's Day too,' the company explained

'It sends a message that single women can have an amazing Valentine's Day too,' the company explained.

They began on York Street before making their way down the main row of shops on Pitt and George Street.

The latest collection the ladies were wearing is now being sold in stores and online.The co-founder of Lastminute.com has revealed how potential male investors wouldn't look her in the eye or even speak to her as she tried to get her business off the ground in the '90s.

Martha Lane Fox, 46, opened up to Karren Brady - both baronesses - about her experiences of being a female businesswoman on her podcast Get What You Want.

'One of the meetings we got with a venture capitalist, we had every single detail in place - down to the hotel commissions and the cash flow,' Baroness Lane-Fox, who is now a mother of twins, recalled.

'But the guy taking the meeting with us stood behind his massive mahogany desk, didn't even look at me, not once.

'He just asked one question to Brent, my business partner, and said "What happens if she gets pregnant?".

Baroness Brady asked what her reply was, and she said: 'Well, we were both so dumbstruck and I said, "Well, I imagine I'd have the baby".

Baroness Martha Lane Fox, 46, has revealed how male investors wouldn't look her in the eye and asked about her plans for pregnancy when she was setting up lastminute.com in the '90s

Martha Lane-Fox pictured with her lastminute.com co-founder Brent Hoberman. During meetings, some male investors would only speak to Brent and ignore his co-founder

Baroness Brady started her podcast Get What you Want back in January, interviewing some of the UK's most successful women leaders, including Martha and designer Kelly Hoppen.

Discussing sexism in the industry Karren asked Martha about her experiences of being a women in business 20 years ago.

The lastminute.com website was launched in 1998 by Baroness Lane-Fox and co- founder Brent Hoberman.

At the time, it was unique in allowing users to book holiday packages online last-minute.

Baroness Lane-Fox now sits on the boards of Twitter and Chanel, as well as the Queen's Commonwealth Trust

Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho, who is also Chancellor of The Open University, became the youngest woman to sit in the House of Lords. In 2013 she was awarded the CBE for services to the digital economy and charity.

She stepped down as managing director of the business in 2003, after a horrific car crash in Essaouira, Morocco.

The impact smashed her pelvis in six places, shattered her right arm and leg and she suffered severe internal bleeding that led to a stroke. She spent more than six months in hospital.

Baroness Karren Brady, CBE, started her podcast Get What you Want back in January, interviewing some of the UK's most successful women leaders, including such as Baroness Lane-Fox and designer Kelly Hoppen

In all, she broke 28 bones requiring 28 separate operations. She was left needing a stick to walk.

Talking of its devastating effect, she has said: 'It's not easy being inside me any more. I have to think to move. I'm used to it, but it's still hard. I can't run, I can't drive.

'If you bash your pelvis so entirely that it's smashed, think of all the functions in your pelvis. I can't feel my feet or legs. I face massive physical challenges every day which can knock your confidence very quickly.'

Martha Lane-Fox revealed how investors directed questions to her then business partner, Brent Hoberman (left), instead of her

The accident robbed her of the chance to have children naturally, but she welcomed identical twin boys  born to a surrogate mother in America - in 2016, with her partner Chris Gorell Barnes.

A graduate of Magdalen College, Oxford, she once said one of her biggest fears was not having a sense of purpose.

But this didn't stop her working, launching karaoke company Lucky Voice and joining the board of Marks and Spencers in 2007.

She is currently Chancellor of the Open University, and on the boards of Chanel, Twitter and the Queen's Commonwealth TrustAdvertisement

Valentine's Day is synonymous with roses, romantic dinners and couples strolling hand in hand on intimate dates.

But today, single Australian ladies Shannon Howat, Madolline Gourley and Penny Benjamin will be enjoying the company of their pets instead of a man.

The women spoke to FEMAIL about living alone and why the international day of love isn't all it's cracked up to be.

'Most of my friends are married or in serious relationships so I'll probably be spending Valentine's Day alone, which doesn't bother me at all,' Shannon (pictured) explained

SHANNON HOWAT

The 28-year-old from Queensland's Sunshine Coast said her ideal Valentine's Day date would be a furry friend.

'Most of my friends are married or in serious relationships so I'll probably be spending Valentine's Day alone, which doesn't bother me at all,' she explained.

'It's lovely to walk past restaurants and see happy couples, but I certainly don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.

'On Valentine's Day I'll probably have a "date" with myself and make some cocktails, cook a nice dinner, binge on Netflix and just enjoy my own company.

'But if any of my friends go out and need someone to look after their pets, I'd be there in a flash! I use a website called TrustedHousesitters which lets me house and pet sit for other people. A beloved pet shouldn't spend Valentine's Day alone.'

'On Valentine's Day I'll probably have a "date" with myself and make some cocktails, cook a nice dinner, binge on Netflix and just enjoy my own company,' she explained (Shannon pictured)

The keen traveller said she often felt pressured to 'get married' and 'settle down', particularly as she got older.

'"You won't be pretty forever," people say, "it'll be easier to find a husband while you're still young". Or, "What if you get too old to have kids?". I've heard these lines from close family and complete strangers,' she said.

'Usually they don't mean to be rude, in fact they're often genuinely concerned. I find their reactions fascinating. I think people are actually projecting their own fears and insecurities onto me.

'A traditional life makes them feel complete, but to me, I feel imprisoned. I'm happiest when I'm nomadic. I can wander the world, occasionally finding refuge by house-sitting, and caring for pets provides an outlet for my nurturing instincts.

'I don't need a romantic partner to feel loved, marriage and babies are things that have never interested me, and my lack of interest seems to disturb some people. Some have even reacted quite aggressively.

For Shannon, the best part about being single is the complete freedom she has to do whatever she pleases

'They seem determined to deny me of my full existence until I've completed a checklist of what constitutes an ideal, wholesome woman.'

For Shannon, the best part about being single is the complete freedom she has to do whatever she pleases.

'I can work hard and save every cent for myself, then on a whim I can pack my bags, fly to Scotland and spend months volunteering on a remote island,' she said.

'I don't need to answer to my partner or their extended family. I don't need to make compromises with my time or hard earned money. I can experience life at my own pace.

'I come from a huge, fun, loving Irish family and I have an incredibly supportive network of friends. I never feel alone or unloved, and I think this is why I'm so comfortable with being single.'

In terms of February 14, the vivacious blonde said it does have a place in our yearly calendar.

'Valentine's Day is a sales ruse that fits in perfectly with our capitalist, consumerist society, but that's not necessarily a bad thing,' she reiterated.

'I think humans are drawn to rituals and celebrating things on specific dates, and if people are encouraged to express their love at any time, then thats great.

'But I think Valentine's should be about celebrating love in all forms, whether that be love for your partner, family, a fluffy pet or more importantly, yourself. I just wish people didn't equate the amount of money they spend as symbolic of the amount of love they have to give. Love isn't a tangible thing after all.'

PENNY BENJAMIN

The 31-year-old nutritionist from Brisbane has decided to spend the iconic day with her mother and pooch, Cujo.

'It's true I'll be single on Valentine's day but that doesn't mean I can't celebrate the love I have for my family and our pets,' she said.

She, like Shannon, also pointed to the freedom being single affords a woman as reason to embrace it.

The 31-year-old nutritionist from Brisbane has decided to spend the iconic day with her mother and pooch, Cujo

'Do what you like, when you like - within reason of course. And pets can be wonderful companions who dont judge you on the decisions you make,' she said.

'If I wasn't single I probably wouldn't have seen as many amazing places, made friends I'll have for life and created memories I'll never forget - from picking grapes in Burgundy and pressing them with my own feet, to connecting with my family heritage in Edinburgh, swimming at Aphrodite's birthplace in Cyprus, learning how to grow Tulips in Holland and how to make gelato from a local Italian store owner.

'I've found that when I travel with someone else, I'm less inclined to go outside my comfort zone and meet new people which is why I love travelling solo.'

She, like Shannon, also pointed to the freedom being single affords a woman as reason to embrace it

Saying that Valentine's Day in general is way too commercialised the bubble blonde said it's still nice to have a day that celebrates love

Saying that Valentine's Day in general is way too commercialised the bubble blonde said it's still nice to have a day that celebrates love.

'Whether that's the love we have for our husbands or wives, our parents, brothers, sisters, friends, pets or community. I don't think it has to be exclusively about couples,' she said.

MADOLLINE GOURLEY

This 28-year-old writer and government contractor from Brisbane will be hanging out with her rescue Ragdoll cat Gracie come Thursday evening.

'I think people make comments about settling down all the time but it doesnt really worry me. My manager at a contract job in 2018, although a lovely lady, said that after I returned from my two month house and cat sitting adventure in August, it was time to focus on settling down and cementing my life in Brisbane,' Madolline said.

As an only child Madolline said she's used to travelling on her own.

This 28-year-old writer and government contractor from Brisbane (middle) will be hanging out with her rescue Ragdoll cat Gracie come Thursday evening

'It doesn't faze me and it never has, even when I've been in relationships I have always felt like the day is given too much attention,' she said

'I am pretty used to, and prefer, my own company,' she said.

'But of course, when youre travelling alone, it's great to come home to something that know won't talk, nag or whine at you for hours. And cats have so much personality and won't judge you and the decisions you make. And, unlike humans, you can move on to a new cat, house and city every couple of weeks.'

The stunning brunette has a fairly nonplussed view of Valentine's Day.

'It doesn't faze me and it never has, even when I've been in relationships I have always felt like the day is given too much attention,' she said.A daddy blogger sparked an online debate after he admitted he struggles to tell his own twin daughters apart.

Simon Hooper, 35, from London of Instagram account Father of Daughters, revealed to his 919,000 followers his difficulties distinguishing between three-year-olds Ottie and Delilah.

Sharing a photos of the adorable girls, he wrote: 'I thought I had it nailed - I thought the days of referring to Ottie and Delilah simply as "this one", "that one" and "the twins" were numbered and that I was going to be a parent who could distinguish between my genetic copycats. I was wrong.'

Simon Hooper, 35, of Instagram account Father of Daughters, revealed to his 919,000 followers his difficulties distinguishing between three-year-olds Ottie and Delilah, pictured

Ottie and Delilah have near identical features, with bouncy blonde curls and big blue eyes

Simon with his twin daughters, Ottie and Delilah. He jokingly said that he is tempted to shave the head of one of his children to make sure he can tell the difference

Referring to his wife, Clemmie Hooper, who is behind the wildly popular Mother of Daughters account, Simon continued: 'Thanks to @mother_of_daughters for dressing them as mirror images of themselves, today I was straight back to square one and spent the next 15 minutes playing a real-life guess who - calling them the wrong names only to receive blank faces and zero responses in return.

'I'm strongly considering shaving one of their heads. Screw the curls - the need to identify my own children is more important.'

The light-hearted post was shared last week and later prompted a discussion on Mumsnet.

Kicking off the thread, one user questioned how the father, who has three other daughters, could not tell his own twins apart.

The 35 year old regularly posts images of his twin daughters on his Instagram, which has over 900k followers

The light-hearted post was shared last week and later prompted a discussion on Mumsnet, pictured. Kicking off the thread, one user questioned how the father couldn't tell them apart

She wrote: 'I get that theyre identical (and they really are visibly so) but hes their dad!

'I used to babysit identical twin girls when they were between the ages of 14 months and 2, and within a month I could reliably tell them apart.

'It was partly down to incredibly subtle variations in their appearance (e.g. the way their hair fell), but mostly it was their personalities. They were very obviously two different people.

Simon is married to midwife and Instagram star Clemmie Hooper, who is behind the wildly popular Mother of Daughters account

While some users expressed outrage, others jumped to his defence, explaining that their husbands regularly misidentify their children

'Maybe FODs twins are also identical in their personalities and thats why its so hard, or maybe hes just joking about it for the sake of being funny on Instagram.

'But I must admit I find it weird if its something he cant reliably do, especially as hes clearly a hands on dad!'

However others were quick to defend Simon.

One wrote: 'We have 3 dear children - all different ages, but incredibly alike - my dear husband struggles with baby pictures and has to check with me who is who. To be fair, he will say 'is this dear child 1?' and usually he is right, but not always!

Another commented: 'My dear husband cannot tell the difference between our two non twins when they were babies. I purposely change the photos to black and white so he can't tell by the colour of the clothes and make him guess.'A number of students from the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana council have created a drive-thru where people can go to buy Girl Scout cookies.

The sweets will be available at a parking lot on the school grounds in Butler Lab School on Saturday, February 2.

The cookies will retail for $5 a box and will be sold between 10:00am and 2:00pm, with all proceeds going to the Girl Scout youth organization.

Thinking outside the box! A group of Girl Scouts from a school in Indiana has created a drive-thru where they will be selling Girl Scout cookies to raise funds for the organization

Creative: Students at Butler Lab School (pictured), Indianapolis, Indiana, will be selling the cookies from 10:00am until 2:00pm on Saturday, February 2

The details of the drive-thru were posted by local family and children's Facebook group Indy with Kids.

The post read: 'It might be warming up this weekend, but that doesn't necessarily mean we are ready to brave the elements.

'Thank goodness for the Girl Scout Cookie Drive Thru at The IPS/Butler University Laboratory School #60!

Delicious: Vegan Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Samoas, Trefoils, Savannah Smiles, and Smores are among the cookies that will be sold at the drive-thru

'Saturday morning you can drive up and get your cookies without ever leaving your car!! Those girls thought of everything!' they added.

Over on the Indy with Kids website, it was revealed that the cookies will be available from 10:00am to 2:00pm on Saturday, February 2.

Vegan Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Samoas, Do-si-dos, Trefoils, Savannah Smiles, Toffee-tastic and Smores are among the cookies that will be available at the school.

Writing about the event, the website added: 'Cookies make excellent treats for Super Bowl Sunday.'

The idea of being able to purchase the cookies from the warmth of a car was most-likely thought up after a spell of freezing cold weather that has struck several U.S. states this week.

The weather has been so dangerously cold that the U.S. Postal Service even suspended mail delivery to parts of Indiana, as well as a number of other Midwest states.

Girl Scout cookie season, which usually runs from January through April, sees members of the youth organization going door-to-door selling a variety of sweets.

The annual tradition of selling the sweet treats is aimed at raising funds for trips, camps and different projects carried out within the organization.

Yikes! The Midwest has experienced extremely low temperatures as a deadly arctic deep freeze enveloped the area over the past few days

Tradition: Girl Scout cookie-selling season runs every year from January to April, and sees hundreds of Girl Scouts around the country selling sweets to raise funds for the organization

Information about the cookie sales on girlscouts.org states: 'When you make a Girl Scout Cookie purchase, youre helping the next generation of girl entrepreneurs get an important taste of what it takes to be successful - teamwork, planning, and a positive outlook (for starters).'

'Whether its a trip shell never forget; a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) activity that opens her mind to a whole new world of possibilities; a service project that will change her community forever; or the opportunity to build a lifetime of memories at camp, Girl Scout Cookies make it all happen!

The website adds: 'When you support her success through the Girl Scout Cookie Program, youre narrowing the female entrepreneurship gap by nurturing that go-getter spirit early on and equipping her with the confidence and know-how to dream big and do bigger.'

And this year, a brand new cookie will be available to purchase from your local members.

Girl Scouts have added a gluten-free salty-sweet caramel chocolate chip cookie to the mix, according to the New York Post.

The publication reports that gluten-free cookies tend to retail for a slightly higher cost than regular cookies.

Gluten-free cookies can cost up to $7.59, whereas regular cookies tend to sell for between $3 and $5.She passed away just hours later, as cancer meant she couldn't fight infection

The grandmother was diagnosed with sepsis and put on strong antibiotics

This is the heartbreaking moment a grandmother with pancreatic cancer told her family she wanted to 'die in her own bed' after being diagnosed with sepsis.

Lilian Blandford, 74, was rushed to St George's Hospital in Tooting, south London, with dangerously low blood pressure and pain in her stomach region.

Doctors later discovered that she was suffering from a major infection, putting her on strong antibiotics in an attempt to treat it.

In tonight's episode of Channel 4's 24 Hours In A&E, an emotional Lilian told her husband and granddaughter: 'I want to die in my own bed. I want to go home to my own bed.'

Sadly, Lilian passed away just hours later, as her pancreatic cancer meant she was unable to fight the infection.

Lilian Blandford, 74, from south London, was seen breaking down in tears as she told her family she wanted to die in her own bed while battling sepsis in hospital

During the programme, it was revealed that the grandmother had suffered a number of tragedies during her life, losing four of her six children.

After being told she was fighting a 'massive infection', Lilian was seen breaking down in tears as she told her husband Peter and granddaughter she thought she was going to die.

'I bet it's going to happen. I want to go home, be in my own bed. I don't want to stay here,' Lilian said.

'I want to die in my own bed. I want to go home to my own bed.'

The grandmother, who was suffering from pancreatic cancer, was rushed to St George's Hospital in Tooting. Her story features in tonight's episode of 24 Hours in A&E

Her husband Peter and granddaughter Kelly told Lilian she should stay in hospital to allow the antibiotics a chance to work.

She was moved to an observation ward overnight, but sadly died in the early hours of the morning.

Following her death, Peter had described the pain his wife - who he was married to for nearly 60 years - she was in while suffering with pancreatic cancer.

He said: 'When the doctors first diagnosed her, they said they couldn't give her a time on how long she had left. Her doctor said her liver wasn't right.

'I knew she was ill, and I knew she wouldn't last too long. She was in so much pain, and she was taking so much morphine.'

Peter, who met Lilian when he was 16 and she was just 14, also described the tragedies he and his wife had been through, losing four of their six children.

Lilian (pictured in hospital while receiving treatment) was given oxygen to help with the pain, as well as being put on antibiotics in a bid to treat the infection

The grandmother, who outlived all but two of her six children, sadly passed away just hours after being admitted to hospital

He explained how their daughter Sharon died from sudden death syndrome in 2003, while another daughter Susie died from the same condition in 2008.

Their son Robert, aged 40, died from pneumonia in 2014, while another son Michael died two years later.

Describing the effect the tragic deaths had on Lilian and Peter, their granddaughter Kelly said: 'It was hard, they cried their eyes out. But they had to stay strong for each other.'

Kelly also described how her grandmother had been a 'second mum' to her growing up.

Lilian had told Kelly's mother, who suffered from epilepsy, to move back in with them so she could help look after her children when they were young.

'She used to do Sunday dinner with all 11 of us in the house,' Kelly recalled. 'We always had family holidays.

'Going through everything we've been through, they were very happy memories.'

At the end of the programme, Peter said he would stay strong for his wife. explaining: 'We've got to carry on. I get up for Lil, because she would want me to.'

24 Hours In A&E airs at 9pm tonight on Channel 4Celebrities share the stories behind their favourite snapshots  this week its the turn of actress Jenny Agutter

Jenny Agutter shares the background behind a selection of her favourite photographs taken throughout her lifetime

1955: My father Derek was in the Army and we were living in Singapore when this picture was taken of me, aged three, with my mother Kit and brother Jonathan. I have vivid memories of the place  the smell of the earth after the rain, and of foods such as sweet rice wrapped in leaves. So began my love of different cultures, which I shared with my mother. She came from Liverpool but left home at a young age and adored travelling.

1964: Between the ages of nine and 16 I boarded at Elmhurst ballet school in Birmingham, and when I was 11 I had a screen test for a Disney film called Ballerina. It was such a treat to meet Walt Disney himself, with whom Im pictured here  he was imposing but kindly and very courteous. I got the part, and Ive enjoyed a wonderful acting career ever since.

1968: Around the time I played Roberta in the original Railway Children TV series, I was also in the film Star! with Julie Andrews, about the legendary English stage actress Gertrude Lawrence; I was her neglected daughter Pauline [pictured, with Julie as Gertrude]. Julie was delightful  warm, chatty and very down to earth. Her little daughter Emma was there with her and while we were rehearsing she didnt like me calling Julie Mummy. Shed say, Please tell her you are not her mummy!

1969: Walkabout was a haunting, fantastical story about two children lost in the Australian desert who befriend a young Aboriginal, and this is me with Luc Roeg and David Gulpilil, my co-stars in the film. It was an amazing adventure for a 16-year-old. Id often sleep out under the stars on an old iron bed with a mosquito net thrown over it. Little Luc, the son of the films director Nic Roeg, looked adorable  it was a shame his two front teeth came out mid-way through filming, and he had to wear two false ones! David was brilliant, a true man of the Outback, whod grown up immersed in the myths, legends and tracking genius of his people.

1972: Here I am on my first trip to America, with the Emmy I won for my role in the TV film The Snow Goose, starring Richard Harris. We filmed in Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, partly because Richard was fond of drink, and Frinton had no pubs! But at one point he was joined by a buddy of his, and it was obvious theyd found some booze because he thought it would be funny to dye his reddish-grey hair and beard jet-black. There was a lot of back-lighting until the hair was stripped back to its original colour.

1991: I was based in LA for 17 years, but in 1989 I came back to England to make the film King Of The Wind with Glenda Jackson and Nigel Hawthorne. We were filming in Bath, and thats where I met my husband, the Swedish hotelier Johan Tham. We married in 1990 and our son Jonathan was born later that year  this is him aged nine months. I was delighted when he arrived so late in my life, but it was a shock to discover that after 37 years of doing my own thing, I had dropped very low on the priority list. It was a sea change and a very healthy one.

2000: This was my third foray into the world of The Railway Children, having already appeared in the television serial in 1968 and the film in 1970. In this latest TV movie I took on the role of the mother. Edith Nesbits books had been a part of my childhood, and it was so lovely to be involved in the adaptations. She knew how to put herself inside a childs mind and see things through their clear, innocent eyes.

2012: Im now happily filming the eighth series of Call The Midwife. I love all my co-stars and the young people whove been in it. Were like a family and it feels very real  perhaps because its all based on real-life memoirs. Miranda Hart was lovely as Chummy [pictured, centre, with Jenny as Sister Julienne and Jessica Raine as Jenny Lee] and I wish shed come back. Shes such a fine, sensitive actor.

Jenny is a patron of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, whose Sixty-Five Roses Ball is at Londons Plaisterers Hall on 7 September. cysticfibrosis.org.uk.The Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen has become the subject of a string of hilarious internet memes, after tweeting a snap of himself 'working hard' in his office in Westminster.

The MP for North West Leicestershire, 53, posted the photo of himself on Twitter on Tuesday, in which he can be seen tapping away at the computer keyboard at his desk in his Parliamentary office, with a framed inspirational quote visible leaning against the filing cabinet behind him.

Little did the politician know pranksters wouldn't be able to resist using Photoshop to alter the print - which reads 'Freedom is in peril. Defend it with all your might' - with rather less profound messages, or in one case, a portrait of the TV personality Paul Ross.

Another meme even reimagined Mr Bridgen's somewhat drab office at the Houses of Parliament as the old CBBC Broom Cupboard.

Others replied to his tweet to joke that he wasn't working at all - but playing Minesweeper on his computer.

Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire, Andrew Bridgen, 53,posted the following photo on his Twitter account

The MP's framed print proved an endless source of inspiration for his Twitter followers.

Several people used Photoshop to replace the words in the frame with a joke about what Mr Bridgen was really doing in the photo.

One replaced the words with: 'I'm naked from the waist down.'

Another wrote: 'Anyone have tips for Minesweeper?'

A third, perhaps a thinly veiled reference to the MP's polka dot tie, read: 'Keep calm and dress in the dark.'

Unsurprisingly, Mr Bridgend MP quickly became a finger of fun with several people Photoshopping him

The framed poster behind the MP was a particular source of amusement and led to people Photoshopping messages onto it - such as this one

Many Twitter users speculated as to what the MP was really doing with this person suggesting he was playing the computer game Minesweeper

Several posters believed that the photo was staged and pointed out how the frame in the background would block access to the filing cabinet

Some other people poked fun at the less than overjoyed expression on the MP's while also mocking how he was dressed

As well as coming up with impressively creative memes, many people took to social media to question the photo in writing.

Some wanted to know whether the MP had trouble accessing his filing cabinet with the framed poster in the way, while others questioned why a set of keys was on the mouse mat.

And some Twitter users accused Mr Bridgen of staging the photo entirely.

The bizarre and clearly out of place picture frame in the background caught the eye of many people and many said it proved the photo was staged

One user was more direct and simply asked the MP: 'Are you working or checking your tweets?'

One user had a 'few questions' and asked: 'Is the computer even on? What has happened to your tie? Are you being held hostage? How do you do your filing with a framed poster in the way?'

Commenting on the poster, one person asked: 'It must get very frustrating having to move that picture every time you want to get a file out.'

While another simply wrote: 'Are you working or checking your tweets?'

Mr Bridgen told FEMAIL: 'I am delighted that my tweet has caused so much amusement.'

Several people mocked the Tory MP on Twitter and asked him a series of questions as they suggested that the photo was staged

Since May 2010, Mr Bridgen has been the MP for North West Leicestershire.

He is also a long-term critic of the European Union and supported Brexit in the 2016 EU referendum.

He is a vocal supporter of Eurosceptic pressure group Leave Means Leave.

He made the headlines earlier this month after he issued a letter of no-confidence in Prime Minister Theresa May and said he wanted her removed as party leader.When Ghulam Mumtaz arrived in London from India on a cold October afternoon in 1935, one might have assumed the 29-year-old had a bright future ahead of him.

After all, hed made his passage on The Viceroy Of India, a majestic ocean liner complete with ballroom and pool.

Yet what awaited him was not a fine London apartment, but a modest home in Essex, where his wife Irma and three children awaited him.

His marriage to an Irish-born London girl had so angered his wealthy parents, they cut him off for good, and his recent journey to India would be his last.

Ghulam would die more than three decades later having never reconciled with his family, while his daughter would experience heartbreaking racism: she was called Blackie at school, and ordered to stand in the corner of the classroom with her back turned.

Theirs is one of many poignant tales unearthed in the BBC series A Passage To Britain, in which academic and historian Dr Yasmin Khan explores the ships passenger lists to discover the stories of some of the first British-Asian immigrants.

Academic and historian Dr Yasmin Khan explores the passenger list of The Viceroy Of India ship (pictured) in a new BBC series about some of the first British-Asian immigrants

From early pioneers struggling to assimilate in the 1930s to those fleeing the chaos triggered by Partition in the late 40s, and the optimistic arrivals from the new Commonwealth in the 1950s, their fortunes are intimately interconnected with the history of the faltering Empire and the rise of home rule.

Sometimes theyre trying their luck, sometimes its for romance, for work, fun or adventure. There are so many reasons they came, yet theyre all part of a slice of history, as Dr Khan puts it.

Its a slice with particular resonance for Dr Khan, an associate professor at Oxford University whose career has focused on the history of the British in India and South Asian decolonisation.

Her Pakistani-born father arrived in London from Karachi in the 70s and settled here after marrying her Irish-born mother, making this film her most personal work yet.

When we talk about migration, we sometimes look at the bigger picture and miss the richness of individual stories, she says.

Dr Khan turned to a previously overlooked historical treasure trove to unearth these stories: the early 19th-century shipping companies lists that detailed the name, age and occupation of their passengers.

Her starting point was the lists of The Viceroy Of India for 1933-1935, a ship that made the 17-day trip from Mumbai  then Bombay  to Britain more than any other liner during that decade.

While 70 per cent of its passengers were British, Asian names were also on the list. Most passengers were part of the ruling class, Dr Khan says.

Listed were people running tea plantations, a sherry trader, maharajahs and well-off Indians coming to Britain to study.

Ghulam Mumtaz (pictured taking a photo on his journey to Britain in 1935) was cut off from his family after choosing to marry an Irish-born London girl

One passenger who caught Dr Khans eye was Mulk Raj Anand, whose passage to Britain in 1933 started a journey that would end with him becoming one of Indias foremost writers and an outspoken voice against the Empire.

In his books, Mulk took on not only the Indian caste system, but the British Empire itself, Dr Khan says. He was coming to London to campaign against British rule.

It was a campaign in which he had high-placed allies. He was friends with George Orwell, and the writer EM Forster helped him get his first book published, says Dr Khan.

Mulk was a charming, good-looking character, embraced by the literary Bloomsbury set.

Mulks charisma also caught the eye of one Kathleen Gelder, a vivacious young London intellectual who he married in 1939.

Dr Khan tracked down their niece Ann Jasper, a mother-of-five, who took up the story.

Three years after Mulk and Kathleen married, they had a daughter, Sheila, but by 1945, as India moved ever closer to Partition, Mulk returned to India, leaving his family behind.

Although he continued to visit and support Sheila, he never returned to Britain to live, says Dr Khan.

Dr Khan says meeting Sir Lancelot's grandson for the series is a reminder of the UK's connection with India that many wouldn't imagine (Pictured: Indian crew members as they man the ship)

It caused an irreconcilable rift with his daughter. On her deathbed she wrote to Ann saying she was glad he left as it was better to grow up without him there.

If Mulk and Kathleens marriage was a failure, there were successes too. In the interwar period there were 3,000 marriages between white women and Muslim men, says Dr Khan.

Among them was Ghulam Mumtaz, who first came to the UK in 1926, aged 20, to study law at Londons Kings College.

He was set for a glittering future until he fell in love with a white woman, which led to him being disinherited by his land-owning family.

Without their support, he was unable to continue studying. As his grandson Jeremy Reeve tells Dr Khan, he ended up doing jewellery repairs to support his wife and children.

Heading for London in 1935 was Sir Lancelot Graham, a civil servant during the British Raj who became governor of Sindh province  now part of Pakistan  during its tempestuous lurch towards Partition.

His trip was likely to be about negotiating his tenure as governor, says Dr Khan. The British grip on India was shaky, and Sir Lancelot would have known that the India he knew was disappearing.

Today, Sir Lancelots grandson Christopher lives near Manchester alongside his grandfathers Indian memorabilia.

Meeting him was a reminder of the way so many people you wouldnt imagine in the UK have a connection with India, whether its having worked there, been in the Army or had a family member who came over, says Dr Khan.

It underpins just how intricately Indias history is intertwined with our own.

A Passage To Britain starts on Tuesday 14 August at 9pm on BBC2.A documentary exploring the murky world of sex work has shone a light on the young women raking in thousands sleeping with 'shrivelled' old men.

Channel 5's First Time Call Girl looked at the lives of those who professionally offer the chance for people to share in a more intimate experience, as well as to understand why women from all different walks of life have chosen the career.

Under UK law, selling sex as an independent escort is legal, but escort agencies have to operate within strict guidelines.

Airing tonight, the hour-long film focuses on 22-year-old Alexis's journey as she - disillusioned by online dating - makes her first foray into the sex industry and explores the reasons behind her choices.

Viewers also meet Kat, 32, who has been in the industry since she was 18 and often entertains multiple customers in one day, and high-end escort Cassandra, who lives in Notting Hill and charges clients 3,000 per day, as well as other women who reveal their varied paths into sex work.

After her first month of escort work, Alexis concluded she was delighted with her new career path and clients made her feel 'like a new woman' - but others were more conflicted about their choices...

Alexis, 22, Cardiff

Alexis, who did not give her full name, is one of the young women featured on Channel 5's First Time Call Girl, which follows her first steps into the world of escorting in Cardiff

Speaking on Channel 5's First Time Call Girl this week, Alexis, 22, said she was pursuing sex work in a bid to find 'fun and excitement' after a spate of bad experiences with men

Alexis told how becoming an 150-an-hour escort has made her feel like a 'new woman' after growing disillusioned with online dating.

The 22-year-old entered the murky world of sex work in a bid to find 'fun and excitement' after a spate of bad experiences with men, and told the cameras her first experience was not as 'sleazy' as she thought it would be - though later producers found her shuddering over an encounter with a 'shrivelled' older man.

She signed up to Cardiff's largest escort agency - the name of which was not given - where she offered a 66 per cent cut of her hourly fee.

Alexis's agency manager, Laurence, insists he is selling nothing more than 'time and companionship' - and anything that takes place during a booking is 'mutually consenting' between the woman and the client.

During their first meeting, he told Alexis: 'You've got quite a unique look, we'll present you as an ebony princess.'

Alexis takes part in a raunchy photo shoot to promote her services online. Cameras followed the 22-year-old during her first few weeks as a sex worker for Channel 5's First Time Call Girl

Laurence advised the newbie to ensure her clients hands over cash at beginning of a 'meeting' and to wear 'expensive and classy' clothing.

Alexis - whose family and friends had no idea about her new career path - was quickly inundated with offers from clients and described her apprehension during a fraught taxi ride to her first booking.

'I don't really know what I'm getting myself into,' she admitted. 'I'm just nervous that it's not going to be what I expected it to be.'

But after the hour was up, she was full of praise for her 'really nice' client - while conceding that he was 'quite chubby' and not her usual type.

Alexis speaks to fellow escort, Penny*, about their foray into sex work during Channel 5's First Time Call Girl, which airs on Tuesday night. She was to ensure her clients hands over cash at beginning of a 'meeting' and to wear 'expensive and classy' clothing

'It's not as cheap or sleazy as I thought it would be given that he's quite a bit older than me,' she mused. 'I felt like I was on an expensive date. I felt like I was his wife almost.'

Reflecting on the 'awkward' encounter later on, she said: 'As soon as I gave him the money, he started taking off his shoes and put his socks on the radiator... he took off his jacket and was unbuckling his belt.

'The things he was saying in my ear, it just felt good.' Alexis concluded that for an hour's company, it was 'easy work'.

But when she caught up with producers a few weeks later, she was reeling from a rendez-vous with a 'shrivelled and old' 72-year-old.

Kat, 32, from Manchester

Cameras on Channel 5's First Time Call Girl also followed Kat, from Manchester (pictured), who had been involved in sex work since the age of 18 and wanted to try something different

Mancunian sex worker Kat, who did not reveal her full name, gets ready before a client arrives on Channel 5's First Time Call Girl. She will often entertain multiple customers in one day, raking in thousands of pounds a week

Call girl Kat, from Manchester (pictured clad in lingerie in her flat) said she got into sex work after being bullied at home because it made her feel 'special' on Channel 5's First Time Call Girl

Cameras also followed 32-year-old Kat, from Manchester, who had been working as an escort since she was 18 and admitted sex work made her feel 'special' after being bullied at school.

She told how her clients - many of whom were married - enjoy the 'girlfriend experience' which involves kissing and cuddling, and sometimes no sex.

Charging 120 an hour, and entertaining around five clients a week, she also revealed that some men enjoy experimenting with phallic sex toys.

Kat took her first job as a teenager and has been working in the industry for more than 10 years.

Now she worries that if she changed careers, employers could easily look up her escort work by Googling her name.

Cassandra, from London

Cassandra, from Russia (pictured in her London home on Channel 5's First Time Call Girl) got into sex work after her long-term boyfriend was killed when she was 19, and she struggled to recover from the heartache

Russian call girl Cassandra goes for a manicure in Notting Hill. She raked in 6,000 over the course of two days and was able to enjoy a shopping trip while her client was busy at work, as revealed on Channel 5's First Time Call Girl

Producers spoke to Cassandra, a Russian call girl who charges 3,000 per day (or 500 an hour) and enjoys shopping sprees in Notting Hill while her wealthy clients are at work.

She specialises in fantasy and role play, and says most of her clients are wealthy older men.

Cassandra became emotional as she explained how she got into sex work after her boyfriend died when she was 19, leaving her penniless.

'I thought maybe, if I won't be able to love one person like this anymore then perhaps I can give everything I have to many people,' she said tearfully, in broken English.

Like Kat, the majority of her customers are married men but Cassandra insisted she is 'saving' marriages because she is simply providing a service and does not get 'emotionally involved'.

First Time Call Girl airs Tuesday night on Channel 5, 10pmA heartwarming photograph of a Doctor Who fan with Down's syndrome's meeting with his hero Christopher Eccleston has gone viral on Twitter.

Murdo MacSween tweeted a picture of his brother Martin meeting the Doctor Who star at the London Film and Comic Con this week, after the family chipped in to pay for Martin's trip down from the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides.





He revealed how Martin had idolised Eccleston after watching him in the BBC programme, developing a 'one-sided friendship' with the star that even saw him talk to pictures of the actor and texting a number saved as 'Christopher Eccleston' on his phone, telling his TV hero all about his day.

He said his brother was on 'cloud nine' after meeting his idol - and the actor even recognised his fan from a video of Martin that Murdo had sent to Eccleston ahead of time, and referred to him on the day as 'my pal Martin'.

The sweet post has racked up thousands of likes and shares online - with many users saying the photograph left them 'in tears'.

Martin MacSween got to meet his idol Christopher Eccleston and London Film and Comic Con this week (pictured together)

The picture showed Martin looking delighted as he rested his head on his idol's shoulder for the photograph, dressed in a t-shirt emblazoned with a picture of Eccleston as Doctor Who.

Eccleston, who played the ninth Doctor in 2005, is seen wrapping a protective arm around Martin's shoulder in the snap.

Murdo captioned the picture: 'Anyone who knows my brother Martin will know how huge a thing this is for him. He met Christopher Eccleston!!! He's absolutely delighted and completely on cloud nine!'

As the post began circulating, Murdo went on to reveal how much the moment meant to his brother, explaining that he'd idolised Eccleston since he first starred in Doctor Who in 2005.

The picture was posted by his brother Murdo MacSween, who tweeted that Martin had been on 'cloud nine' after the meeting (pictured)

Martin (pictured on a recent trip to a London theatre) idolised the Doctor Who star and would keep and talk to pictures of him on his iPad

He tweeted: 'During this obsession martin's love for Christopher Eccleston became a friendship that Martin cherished. A one sided friendship.'

Martin carries around an iPad or an iPod touch eveywhere he goes that contains a picture of his idol, according to Murdo.

He continued: 'This picture is Martin's best friend. He shows this Christopher everything that happens in his life. He lifts presents or nice pictures or funny texts and shows them to this picture. As if he's there.'

He added: 'He sounds text messages to a blank number labelled Christopher Eccleston on his iPod touch. Thousands. Pictures too. Of anything and everything.

'His iPod touch often gets full up and we have to wipe it clean.

Murdo (pictured) had sent Eccleston a picture of his brother and the actor recognised him when they met

He revealed that the picture was his brother's 'best friend', which he would often talk to and share memories with (pictured, some of Murdo's tweets about his brother)

'If Martin likes something he also tells us that Christopher Eccleston likes it. It's his stock answer if you ask him any question really. Christopher Eccleston.'

Murdo was able to get Eccleston to watch a video message of his brother before the convention, so when it came to the day he recognised him.

He continued: 'I got Chris' attention so he knew who Martin was when they met at the Comic Con. He said this to Martin immediately before Martin [threw] his hands around him, hugging and kissing him.

Murdo said Eccleston had kissed and hugged Martin when they met at the convention (pictured, some of Murdo's tweets about his brother)

'Chris was lovely to Martin. Took it all in his stride and then held his hand after Martin settled down. He was so giddy. Christopher Eccleston knew him! This was for the autograph signing. The photo session took place and hour later

'There, Christopher spotted him and said: 'here's my pal Martin'. For the photo opp and for the lingering seconds after Martin didn't remove his head from Chris' chest. Martin couldn't believe what had happened.'

The thread has since gone viral, with many Twitter users thanking Murdo for sharing the sweet story.

The thread has since gone viral, with many Twitter users replying to say that it left them in tears (pictured)

One tweeted: 'Reading the thread out loud to my husband and I ended up crying halfway through. This is lovely stuff.'

'Nearly in tears reading that, what an amazing day he must of had [sic],' another wrote.

A third wrote: 'This entire thread is beautiful. Having never even met him, I'm so happy for Martin Kudos and love to Christopher Eccleston, proving yet again that he's much more than a superb actor.

'Isn't Christopher Eccleston so lucky to have a fantastic fan like Martin x,' another said.A 37-year-old woman has shared her disastrous experience with cosmetic eyebrow tattooing after she was left with permanent scars.

Joanne Taylor, from the Gold Coast, now has to 'cake on' her make-up every day just to cover up the botched eyebrow fillers before leaving the house, Gold Coast Bulletin reported.

The woman decided to have her eyebrows touched up with ink added to her existing tattoo in December last year - but instead she was left with uneven blocks.

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Joanne Taylor, from the Gold Coast, has shared her disastrous experience with cosmetic eyebrow tattooing after she was left with permanent scars

The 37-year-old now has to 'cake on' her make-up every day just to cover up the botched eyebrow fillers

When she returned to the clinic three weeks later, the apologetic beautician offered to laser-remove the ink she'd done at no cost.

But Ms Taylor said she was left with excruciating pain after the beautician reportedly failed to do a patch test on her skin.

'Immediately afterwards, I had severe burning pain, headaches, it just burnt to pieces, there was oozing, weeping and bleeding,' she told 9News.

She was taken to the emergency department of Gold Coast University Hospital before she was advised to meet with a burns specialist in Brisbane.

'My face was so badly burned by the laser, all the fluid was rushing to the area. It was horrendous,' she told Gold Coast Bulletin.

'The hair isn't growing back, so I can't go anywhere without caking make-up on my eyebrows.'

The woman decided to have her eyebrows touched up with ink added to her existing tattoo in December last year - but instead she was left with uneven blocks

Ms Taylor said she was left with excruciating pain after the beautician reportedly failed to do a patch test on her skin

She explained how her hair no longer grows in the brow area - and she has to apply make up before leaving the house

Cosmetic surgeon Dr Naomi McCullum - whose Sydney clinic specialises in laser tattoo removal - warned people about the dangers of not doing research.

'Do your research and choose a reputable brand,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'With cosmetic tattooing, I always recommend starting slowly and gradually building the result. It's more expensive to do it this way, but it's your face, so it's worth the extra time, money and effort.'

She explained how common botched cosmetic tattoos occur in the industry.

'It's quite a jungle out there, anyone with an Instagram account can start a cosmetic tattooing business,' Dr Naomi said.

'Bad experiences are due to it being an unregulated market, with a very low barrier to entry for providers and a lack of educational requirements.

'I have seen cases since the early 2000s. Fortunately the serious risks with scarring, infection and hair loss are less common than the more common issues with symmetry and placement of the tattoo.

'For laser tattoo removal, patients should choose an experienced medical clinic.'The September issue of Vogue certainly looks set to be one of the most interesting yet.

Beyonce is reportedly set to star on the cover of the important issue  a fact that will likely make it a bestseller, but is not necessarily an unexpected move by the publication, or its editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.

However, one aspect of the upcoming issue that is sure to raise eyebrows is that porn star and central figure in ongoing Trump dramas Stormy Daniels has reportedly posed for a shoot that is set to appear inside the pages of the high-fashion bible.

Wow! Stormy Daniels is reportedly set to appear in an upcoming issue of Vogue

Making it work: This is just the latest payoff for the 39-year-old porn star since her private relationship with President Donald Trump became very public news

And far from being a last-minute addition to the publication, it appears as though Stormy's appearance in Vogue has been in the works for some time, according to Conde Nast sources.

The Huffington Post reported on Monday that Stormy was photographed by famed celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz several months ago in anticipation of a spread in an upcoming issue of the magazine.

And while Stormy has certainly made quite the name for herself in recent months, she is - by comparison - one of the least well-known subjects to pose in front of Leibovitz's camera.

The famed photographer has shot numerous stars for Vogue in the past, with the likes of Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lawrence, Amal Clooney, Georgina Chapman, Olivia Wilde, Cindy Crawford, and Christy Turlington -all posing for her in the last year alone.

According to HuffPo, Stormy's shoot will feature in either the September or October issues, which will be published in August and September respectively.

The September issue is already garnering plenty of publicity, thanks in large part to reports that chart-topper Beyonce has been given what Huffington Post refers to as 'unprecedented control' over her own cover shoot, with sources claiming that she hired the first black photographer to ever shoot an American Vogue cover.

Rumors also began circulating earlier this year that the 2018 September issue of the magazine will be Anna Wintour's last at its helm, after a 30-year-long run as editor-in-chief.

A report published by Page Six back in April claimed that the editrix was preparing to step down from her roles as Vogue editor-in-chief and Conde Nast artistic director after her daughter Bee Shaffer's wedding, which took place in Long Island earlier this month.

Experience: She previously posed for the cover of Penthouse

Although a Conde Nast spokesperson quickly rebuffed the rumors, reports have continued to persist that Wintour's time at the company is coming to a close.

And being behind Stormy's first ever high-fashion magazine shoot would certainly allow her to leave her mark on the publication.

But while this is certainly Stormy's first shoot of this caliber, it's not her first time posing for a major magazine.

This spring, she appeared on the cover of Penthouse, stripping down for the long-running men's magazine and wearing just a loosely-draped American flag on the cover.

Big deal: Beyonce will reportedly cover the September issue, and was given 'unprecedented control'

She also just signed on to star on Celebrity Big Brother with a 500,000 ($656,800) paycheck.

Vogue, meanwhile, has long featured news-makers alongside fashion plates, picking politicians and controversial figures from both sides of the aisle.

In the past, the magazine has included shoots and interviews with Hillary Clinton, Ivanka Trump, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

It would be particularly interesting if Stormy ends up in the September issue, given that cover star Beyonce has more control than most stars over the cover.

While she doesn't have a sway in what appears in the other pages of the magazine, the Huffington Post reported that she had much more power than others when it came to her shoot, being given 'unprecedented control' in a contract.

Beyonce had control over the cover, the photos of her that are used inside the issue, and the captions  which she has even written herself.

Bey also picked her photographer, choosing 23-year-old Tyler Mitchell for the job  and making him the first black photographer to shoot a Vogue cover since the magazine launched 126 years ago.A woman who was given away for adoption as a baby in the Fifties because her mother couldn't face the abuse she'd get for raising a mixed race child has finally been reunited with her birth family.

Sharon Hearte, 60, from the West Midlands, was given up by her mother Barbara in the 1950s after the barmaid found she was single and pregnant by her Jamaican ex-boyfriend.

Knowing that black and mixed race children were subject to abuse, Barbara had Sharon adopted into a white family and the pair never saw each other again.

Sharon tried desperately all her life to find her birth mum, but it wasn't until she enlisted the help of ITV's Long Lost Family she discovered Barbara had died in 2010.

However, there was a happy ending to her story as she discovered she had four sisters who were all desperate to meet her.

Sharon felt an instant connection to her siblings, and said they made her feel like she 'belonged'.

Sharon Hearte, 60, from the West Midlands, was given up by her mother Barbara in the 1950s after the barmaid found she was single and pregnant by her Jamaican boyfriend. The family had an emotional meeting, with Sharon saying how glad she was that she'd gained four sisters. Pictured left to right: Carol, Sandra, Sharon and Terry

Sharon Hearte, 60, from the West Midlands, finally met her sisters after she went in search of her birth mother on Long Lost Family. Pictured Sharon, far right, Sandra, middle, Terry, right, and Carol, front

Sharon had wanted to tell her mother that she understood why she made the difficult decision to give her up, having suffered racist abuse herself.

She said: 'I experienced racism myself, being called names to do with my colour, so I understand how my birth mum must have felt.

'I just picture my mum being so sad with no help and no one, not knowing what to do next. I need to find her, I need to tell her I don't hold anything against her.'

Sharon tried to find her mother several times throughout her life, including putting an advert in the local paper and ringing around anyone who might have known Barbara.

Knowing that black and mixed race children were subject to abuse back in the 1950s, Barbara had Sharon adopted into a white family and the pair never saw each other again. Pictured, Sharon as a child

After appearing on Long Lost Family, Sharon discovered her birth mother Barbara (pictured) had died in 2010 but never forgot her other daughter, who she often spoke about with Carol

Sharon (pictured) had wanted to tell her mother that she didn't hate her for putting her up for adoption, and wanted her to know she'd had a good life. Pictured appearing on ITV's Long Lost Family

When the show began digging through local records they found Barbara died in 2010 before she could ever meet her daughter.

Sharon was devastated when discovered that her mother had died, saying: '[I feel] sad, really really sad because I didn't want her to go to her grave with a guilty conscience. I wanted her to see me and know that I was Ok.'

However they discovered she had four other daughters called Carol, Bev, Sandra and Terry. However, Bev didn't want to take part in the show.

Carol had been Barbara's first child from her previous relationship, and after giving Sharon up Barbara went on to have three more children with another black man, who she was with for forty years before he died.

Carol had known she had another sister and spoke to Barbara about her often, but swore not to tell her other siblings. Sharon (pictured: front as a child) was adopted into a white family and had a happy childhood

Carol had known she had another sister and spoke to Barbara about her often, but swore not to tell her other siblings.

However, Terry secretly found out when she came across adoption documents, but didn't tell her mother for fear of upsetting her, and the other two siblings never found out.

Carol decided that she would call her daughter Sharon, a decision that delighted Barbara.

Carol said: 'When I was pregnant with my daughter I said I'll call her Sharon and mum's face lit up as if to say ''Would you?'' so mum never forgot. I hope [Sharon's] chuffed because I know mum was.'

Her mother went on to marry another black man (pictured with Barbara) and was with him for 40 years before he died

The sisters stayed in touch and have welcomed Sharon into their family. Pictured left to right: Carol, Terry, Sandra and Sharon

The sisters finally met in The Highbury pub, where Barbara had been a barmaid for fifteen years before she died.

They burst into tears as soon as they saw each other as they group hugged and kissed.

'You're all beautiful! I'm really glad you decided to meet me,' an emotional Sharon said.

Terry told her: 'There's no way we wouldn't.'

After the show the sisters went on a night out together in Birmingham and Sharon met her new extended family.

She said: 'I feel a connection with my mum, although she's not here I feel a connection with her. I may not have got to meet my mum but I've got myself four beautiful sisters.'

Long Lost Family airs tonight at 9pm on ITVA Brazilian model who wrote inspiring posts about her fight against stomach cancer on social media has died.

Popular blogger Nara Almeida had over 4.5 million followers on social media and regularly posted updates about her treatment.

The model, 24, sadly passed away in the Nove de Julho Hospital in the city of Sao Paulo, in the Brazilian state of the same name.

She was known for posting positive messages to her followers despite her fight with cancer and for showing the reality behind struggling with the illness.

Her boyfriend, Pedro Rocha, posted to social media to reveal Almeida had passed away.

Rocha wrote: 'Unfortunately Nara passed away last night, after so much fighting I wanted to have her forever, but she deserved to rest.

Brazilian model Nara Almeida, 24, who wrote inspiring posts about her fight against stomach cancer on social media has died

In her final social media post before her death, Nara revealed she was undergoing immunotherapy in a last bid to save her life

The model, 24, sadly passed away in the Nove de Julho Hospital in the city of Sao Paulo

'Her death leaves a huge space in my heart but she is going to live forever inside me, she will always be my inspiration, making me see the world in a better light.

I am sure she will continue conveying her strength to many people, as this was her objective. Rest in peace my love.'

Rocha's post has received nearly two million likes on social media.

Almeida was diagnosed with stomach cancer on 8th August 2017 and posted photos and videos from every stage of her treatment.

Nara's boyfriend Pedro Rocha, took to Instagram to reveal she had passed away, saying she 'deserved to rest' after her battle with cancer

The model became known for her inspiring social media posts as she documented her fight against cancer

The disease spread to her other organs but even when she was told there was no hope, Nara remained positive.

'The doctors gave me the confirmation that my case was aggravated, there is no possibility of a cure,' she said.

'But once again I repeat to you, "IT'S ONLY A PHASE", I'm sure this will not be my end.'

After spending five day in intensive care in March, she demonstrated her positive attitude in an update to followers.

The popular blogger, known for her positive attitude, previously insisted that her terminal diagnosis was 'just a phase'

Nara Almeida was diagnosed with cancer in 2017 and her health went downhill in recent months

'Nothing surpasses the value of being able to breathe without appliances, she explained.

'I spent three days sedated without having notion of anything, I thought I had lost but I feel God gave me a new chance, each day a new chance is a new improvement!

THANK YOU LORD! I live for you. Thank you for all the prayers, friends, we will not give up living.'

In her last social media post before her death at the end of April, Nara revealed she had turned to immunotherapy, saying: After many tests and a lot of preparation my doctors found a medicine that will do me really well and I have the chance to save my life.

'Now let's hope this drug has a wonderful effect and I get rid of this disease and end this suffering.'

Her boyfriend paid tribute to Nara, saying that she would always be his inspirationAdvertisement

A photographer claims these breathtaking images are proof that you don't need a designer dress to have incredible wedding pictures - after capturing his bride in a 7 ($9.70) dress.

Keow Wee Loong, from Malaysia, set out to prove that it's possible to create stunning images without blowing your budget on a designer gown, after meeting a fellow photographer who claimed you couldn't get good wedding pictures without a fancy dress.

The 29-year-old immediately whisked his wife off to a shopping centre in Kuala Lumpur and the pair bought the two cheapest wedding dresses they could find - the bill came to the equivalent of just 15 ($20.80) in total.

Later that night they set off for Cameron Highlands - a mountainous area in Pahang state - arriving just in time to catch the sunrise.

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Stunning images at bargain prices: Keow Wee Loong, from Malaysia, set out to prove that it's possible to create stunning images without blowing your budget on a designer gown, shooting his wife in a series of dresses starting at just 7

Budget bride: Loong whisked his wife off to a shopping centre in Kuala Lumpur and the pair bought the two cheapest wedding dresses they could find (pictured) - the bill came to the equivalent of just 15 in total

He then set about capturing a series of breathtaking shots of his wife posing in the budget frocks, in a field, on a dirt track and even in the branches of a tree.

Keow said: 'You don't need an amazing high-end designer dress to have amazing high-end wedding photos.

'I was inspired to take up the challenge to show that great wedding photos can be captured even you have a very cheap dress.'

He added: 'Many couples spend thousands to get a good wedding dress but they spend less on a photographer. The photographer is the one that make the magic happen in the photo not the wedding dress.

Wedding shoot: The couple set off for Cameron Highlands - a mountainous area in Pahang state - arriving just in time to catch the sunrise, and shot this jaw-dropping series of images

Loong captured a series of breathtaking shots of his wife posing in the budget frocks, in a field, on a dirt track and even in the branches of a tree

Speaking about the stunning images, Loong said: 'I wanted to tell the world that no matter how expensive the dress you are wearing is, if you don't get a good photographer, your entire wedding shoot will be ruined'

Commenting on his project, Loong said: 'Many couples spend thousands to get a good wedding dress but they spend less on a photographer. The photographer is the one that make the magic happen in the photo not the wedding dress'

'I wanted to tell the world that no matter how expensive the dress you are wearing is, if you don't get a good photographer, your entire wedding shoot will be ruined.

'If you have the cash by all means splash it if you want but if you have limited resources pick skill over material.'

A 2017 survey by global fashion search platform Lyst showed that the average UK bride spends around 832 on her wedding dress, down from 1,112 in 2016 - with Keow's budget gown costing less than 1 per cent of the average price.The Duchess of Cornwall donned a pinny to prepare and serve plates of food to orphans in Kuala Lumpur today as her husband Prince Charles laid a wreath at a Second World War memorial.

Camilla was visiting The Lighthouse Children's Welfare Centre when she offered to chop up strips of papaya and hand it out to the waiting children, along with dishes of delicious chicken curry.

The royal ended up with her hands sticky with food and probably, she said, a few spots on her beautiful flowing green Anna Valentine tunic and scarf, but was bowled over by the 'gorgeous' children she met.

All smiles: The Duchess of Cornwall donned a pinny to prepare and serve plates of food to orphans in Kuala Lumpur today

Camilla arrived at the centre, which helps underprivileged children, after attending church at St Mary's Cathedral in the centre of the city

Prince Charles lays a wreath at the Stone of Remembrance at the Taiping Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery Prince Charles and Camilla Duchess of Cornwall visit Malaysia

Camilla arrived at the centre, which helps underprivileged children, after attending church at St Mary's Cathedral in the centre of the city with Prince Charles mid-way through their 11-day tour of south east Asia on behalf of the Queen.

While her husband flew off by helicopter into the jungle for a day of engagements afterwards, she went to learn more about the valuable work of Lighthouse Children's Welfare Home, which houses 60 disadvantaged children, aged one to 18 years old.

She was also briefed on The Lost Food Project which reclaims high quality surplus food from supermarkets and manufacturers, sorts them, and distributes them to a wide variety of charities.

The organisation currently gives out more than 50,000 meals a month  all made with high quality ingredients - and minimises waste by composting any food unfit for human consumption.

Camilla was visiting The Lighthouse Children's Welfare Centre when she offered to chop up strips of papaya and serve chicken curry

The royal ended up with her hands sticky with food and probably, she said, a few spots on her beautiful flowing green Anna Valentine tunic and scarf, but was bowled over by the 'gorgeous' children she met

The Duchess was greeted by the project's Chairwoman and Founder, Mrs Suzanne Mooney, and shown a wide variety of the fresh produce that is delivered by the Lost Food van to charities throughout Kuala Lumpur.

Camilla also met volunteers and supporters of the projects, as well as staff and residents of the children's home, bending down to chat to the youngsters who were engaged in a variety of craft activities.

Then it was time to roll up her sleeves and help.

Camilla, a mother of two herself and a grandmother five times over, put on her apron and rolled up her sleeves, dextrously chopping up papaya and them sprinkling it with lime juice to make it taste sweeter.

Then, much to the surprise of the staff, she got stuck in handing the plates out  even roping in members of the media to help her too.

The Duchess was briefed on The Lost Food Project which reclaims high quality surplus food from supermarkets and manufacturers and delivers it

Camilla, a mother of two herself and a grandmother five times over, put on her apron and rolled up her sleeves, dextrously chopping up papaya

'Come on, give me a hand,' she laughed.

Once the papaya was chopped up and handed out to the smiling, eager youngsters, she turned her hand to giving out plates of sticky rice and curry with vegetables.

'This looks and smells delicious,' she enthused, ' I think we should stay for lunch.'

At one point the royal had the curry all over her fingers. Looking for something to wipe them on, she joked: 'Unfortunately I can't wipe them on myself today!' pointing to her beautiful outfit.

In the event, she was handed a tea towel  and laughed uproariously when she discovered that it had been specially made for her with the words HRH The Duchess of Cornwall printed on it.

Always a good sport, she held it up for the cameras.

Camilla, 70, also spent time talking to many of the children and was given a pink bead bracelet by Ariana Lewis, four, the grand-daughter of the Lighthouse's founder, and immediate put it on her risk. 'How sweet she is, I love this,' she said.

In the event, she was handed a tea towel  and laughed uproariously when she discovered that it had been specially made for her with the words HRH The Duchess of Cornwall printed on it. Left: She was given a pink bracelet by a young girl

Once the papaya was chopped up and handed out to the smiling, eager youngsters, she turned her hand to giving out plates of sticky rice and curry with vegetables

Indeed, the duchess was so taken by the gift that she went back to ask for another one from Ariana for the Daily Mail's royal correspondent, Rebecca English.

As she left Camilla was given a beautiful handmade portrait of a peacock made from each of the children's fingerprint and appeared genuinely touched by the thoughtful gesture.

A note on the back read: 'Your Royal Highness. This painting was specially done for you and His Royal Highness Prince Charles . We used our thumbprints to do this painting. We put in a lot of colours and also a lot of love for you. Hope you like it!! With all our love from the Lighthouse family.'

'That is just so beautiful she said, thank you so very much,' she replied.

The Duchess of Cornwall meeting staff during a visit to The Lost Food Project - the first professional food bank in Malaysia

The Duchess of Cornwall meeting residents at The Lighthouse Children's Welfare Centre, during a visit to The Lost Food Project

Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales gives a speech as he attends a Gala Dinner to celebrate 60 years of UK/Malaysia diplomatic ties at the Majestic Hotel on November 4, 2017

The Prince received a round of applause as he took the stage to make his speech

Afterwards she headed off to the airport to fly to meet her husband to take tea with His Royal Highness Sultan Nazrin Shah of Perak, Deputy Agong (King) of Malaysia, at his official residence, the Istana Iskandariah.

The Duchess of Cornwall met Sultan Nazrin Shah in October 2017 at Worcester College Oxford where she opened the campus's new Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre. The Sultan is an alumnus of Worcester College, as his her own son, Tom Parker Bowles.

On Friday Charles and Camilla got their very own golden thrones when they met His Majesty The Agong of Malaysia.

The couple met with the country's ruler at the Istana Negara, the national palace, in Kuala Lumpur on the second day of their official visit to the country.

Prince Charles has paid tribute to those who sacrificed their lives in the Second World War as he laid a wreath for both Christian and Muslim servicemen today.

The Prince visited the Taiping Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Malaysia, praising the hard work of the volunteers who look after it.

Prince Charles lays a wreath at the Cross of Sacrifice at the Taiping Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery

Prince Charles during a visit to the Taiping Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery

He was given a walking tour of the pristine graves by Paul Price, the CWG Commissioner, and Colonel Stephen Hall, British defence advisor to Malaysia.

Greeted by a military piper from the Royal Gurkha Rifles Brunei, he first walked to the Muslim cemetery, laying a wreath at the Stone of Remembrance and bowing his head in acknowledgement of their service.

He then crossed the dusty road to the Christian cemetery opposite, where he paused at the grave of VC winner Squadron Leader Arthur Stewart King Scarf.

Laying second wreath at The Cross of Sacrifice, the Prince again bowed his head to reflect.

A card on the wreath read: 'In grateful remembrance of your service and sacrifice.'

Introduced to four local volunteers who tend to the cemetery, the Prince asked them how long they had worked there - two or three years each - and said he had heard there was a problem with wild boars digging in the grass.

'You look like you take very good care of it,' he said. 'It makes such a difference. I can't thank you enough.'

Moving into the shade of a gazebo, the Prince spent time meeting around 60 veterans, who served with the Commonwealth or British forces in the Second World War, Malayan Emergency or Borneo Campaign.

Brigadier General Dato' Lau Kong Cheng (rtd), a Malaysian Air Force veteran who served in the Malayan emergency, said veterans had travelled from far and wide to meet the Prince.

Prince Charles walks along the graves at the Taiping Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery

'He asked us about where we had served and was very interested in listening. It's a great honour.'

Dato' Hj Ahmad Tejuddin bin Hj Abdul Majeed, from the National Malaya and Borneo Veterans Association, said: 'It was fantastic. How do you describe it when you're too happy? Overjoyed!

'I never expected the next King to be so polite and kind.'

First Admiral Datuk Kay Hai Thuan (rtd), Vice President of the Malaysian Armed Forces Chinese Veterans Association, said: 'He was very pleased to see all the veterans here.

'For His Royal Highness to come and see this is quite something.

'The families of the people buried here, will be very proud and honoured.'

Mr Price said the cemetery was currently mostly visited by historians and researchers, and the families of those laid to rest there, as he welcomed the wider interest the Royal visit would bring.

'It's a great honour to have His Royal Highness visit the Taiping Commonwealth War Graves.

'Anything that gets people interested and wanting to visit to learn more is a wonderful thing.

Laying a wreath: Prince Charles arrives to the Taiping Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery

'We want as many people as possible to come, learn about what happened and pay their respects.'

Colonel Hall said the Prince had paused at the grave of Arthur Scarf, listening to the story of how he won his VC at 28 and 'marvelling at his heroism'.

On December 9, 1941, Squadron Leader Scarf had been at the Royal Air Force base at Butterworth, Malaya, when he was on duty as all available aircraft were ordered to attack the Japanese Air Force at Singora, Thailand.

Instead, before the could take off, they were dive-bombed by the enemy, which destroyed or damaged everything but the Blenheim piloted by Squadron Leader Scarf which was already airborne.

Against the odds, and vastly outnumbered, he continued the mission to Singora and completed it, making a forced landing at Alor Star mortally wounded.

Prince Charles and Camilla Duchess of Cornwall attends a service at St Mary's Cathedral

The pair sang hymns during the service in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday morning

Among the nurses working frantically to save his life at the local hospital was Elizabeth Lunn, his pregnant wife who donated her own blood in a lady-ditch bid to help.

Her efforts were unsuccessful. He died and, soon afterwards, she lost their unborn baby.

He now lies in Taiping Cemetery, one of 35 Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemeteries in Malaysia, created by the British Army after the defeat of Japan.

There are 864 Second World War Commonwealth casualties and one Dutch casualty commemorated on the site, built in 1947; more than 500 of whom are unidentified.

Before leaving, the Prince signed and dated the visitor book.

According to staff, it is the first time a member of the British Royal Family has visited the site.

Charles and Camilla were ushered by the king's Grand Chamberlain, Datuk Padua Maharajelela Going, into the Seri Maharaja room to await heir host's arrival.

They were seated in two elaborately gilded chairs that looked like royal thrones as they awaited the arrival of the Agong, His Majesty The Yang di-Pertuan Agong XV Sultan Muhammad V.

After a short wait he joined them, taking his seat in an even larger 'throne' for official photographs.

Suits you Charles! The Prince of Wales looks right at home as he settles down into a throne at the official royal residence of Istana Negara, Yang di-Pertuan Agong XV Sultan Muhammad V

Royal treatment: Charles and Camilla were ushered by the king's Grand Chamberlain, Datuk Padua Maharajelela Going, into the Seri Maharaja room to await heir host's arrival

Old friends: The Prince of Wales and The King of Malaysia most recently met in May 2017 at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies where Charles, who is the centre's Patron, opened its new buildings (Charles is pictured here with a dignitary, awaiting his host's arrival)

The Prince of Wales and The King of Malaysia most recently met in May 2017 at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies where Charles, who is the centre's Patron, opened its new buildings.

During the event the prince gave a speech calling for a strengthening of ties between the Muslim and Western worlds.

The Duchess of Cornwall was mobbed by crowds of excited school children after touching down in Kuala Lumpur on Friday - just hours after joking of her wish to 'slow down'.

Camilla, 70, was visiting the International School at ParkCity in the Malaysian capital with Raja Zarith Sofiah, the Queen of Johor, and the school's principal Andrew Dalton, as part of her south-east Asian tour with husband the Prince of Wales.

The Duchess of Cornwall later changed into a floor-length powder pink gown for a gala dinner to mark 60 years of diplomatic ties between the UK and Malaysia

Prince Charles was dapper in a tux as he escorted his wife into the gala dinner in Kuala Lumpur

The Duchess of Cornwall visits Kuala Lumpur's International School in ParkCity with Principal Andrew Dalton (centre) and Her Majesty Raja Zarith Sofiah, Queen of Johor

Close encounter: Charles was almost mistaken for a Time Lord when he stepped out of a TARDIS at the Worq Co-working space for Young Entrepreneurs - but luckily there wasn't a Dalek in sight

It came after the Duchess told the wife of the Sultan of Brunei: 'It's more tiring as you get older.

'I keep trying to tell everybody that I'm not as young as I used to be, and have to slow down.'

Meanwhile, Charles was almost mistaken for a Time Lord when he stepped out of a Tardis - but luckily there wasn't a Dalek in sight.

The Prince walked into Doctor Who's famous time machine when he visited a co-working space for start-up companies in the city, but was only transported a few feet into a members-only area.

Mobbed: The beaming Duchess is barely visible among the throngs of brightly-dressed pupils as she meets staff and teachers at the International School at ParkCity

Camilla, 70, was visiting the International School at ParkCity in the Malaysian capital as part of her south-east Asian tour with husband the Prince of Wales

Gruelling schedule: The pit stop came after the Duchess told the wife of the Sultan of Brunei: 'I keep trying to tell everybody that I'm not as young as I used to be, and have to slow down'

The heir to the throne, who is on an 11-day tour of south-east Asia and India, met young entrepreneurs, tech savvy school children showcasing projects, and established businesses during his tour of WORQ.

A Tardis has been created as the doorway from the public space into the private members area and, as staff walked through a nearby side entrance, Charles emerged from the replica of the BBC character's sci-fi machine.

He joked with the waiting press saying 'I should have gone through the side (door)' before sitting down to a meeting with executives from some of Malaysia's established technology firms.

Andrew Yeow, 28, co-founder of WORQ which opened in March, said they had tried to create a relaxed, fun and practical working environment for fledgling businesses offering facilities like a gym, sleeping pods and a cafe, and much needed space for firms to grow.

The Prince walked into Doctor Who's famous time machine when he visited a co-working space for start-up companies in the city, but was only transported a few feet into a members-only area

The heir to the throne, who is on an 11-day tour of south-east Asia and India, met young entrepreneurs, tech savvy school children showcasing projects, and established businesses during his tour of WORQ

The Tardis has been created as the doorway from the public space into the private members area and, as staff walked through a nearby side entrance, Charles emerged from the replica of the BBC character's sci-fi machine

Charles joked with the waiting press saying 'I should have gone through the side (door)' before sitting down to a meeting with executives from some of Malaysia's established technology firms

The royal points to his framed signature written in Arabic - a gift to the museum - at its unveiling by Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, The Sultan of Perak, during his visit to the Islamic Arts Museum on Friday

Missing Camilla? Charles looks pensive as he views exhibits during his visit to the Islamic Arts Museum on Friday

Solo engagement: The Prince of Wales meets 12-year-old Ariff Almir Ali with his 'child abuse detector' device, at a tour of MyDigitalMaker Student Showcase during his visit to Worq Co-working space for Young Entrepreneurs on Friday

He said: 'The response to the Tardis has been good so far, a lot of people find it really cool.

'They don't realise it's a door it's quite quirky and helps with the ambience.'

The 28-year-old added: 'This is the first of its kind in Malaysia - a co-working productivity community, what I mean by that is we try and solve two big problems for new businesses.

'Real estate, issues of having to get an office, and issues entrepreneurs have like increasing sales or trying to connect with regulators or partners - we're trying to help them by providing a supportive community.'

Welcome present: The Duchess receives a gift from a child at Pusat Anak Permata Negara (PAPN) Putrajaya during the first day of their visit to Malaysia on Friday

Camilla (seated with Datin Paduka Seri Hajjah Rosmah Mansor, First Lady of Malaysia) is entranced by a group of children who performed a traditional Malay wedding dance for her in the Malaysian capital

Dinner time! The Duchess chats to adorable youngsters during her trip to Pusat Anak Permata Negara (PAPN) Putrajaya

Earlier, Camilla was entranced by a group of children who performed a traditional Malay wedding dance for her in the Malaysian capital.

The Duchess was visiting the Permata Negara, an educational facility for children up to four, when the youngsters, dressed in traditional Malaysian outfits, entertained her with a 'Silat' for the Bride.

'How sweet, they are just adorable,' the royal said.

Camilla was greeted by Datin Paduka Seri Hjh. Rosmah Mansor, First Lady of Malaysia and founder of the PERMATA, who led her on a guided tour of the facility just outside Kuala Lumpur.

Non-stop: Camilla also watched youngsters decorating 'flower eggs,' or Meghias Bunga Telur, and 'creating flowers' ( bunga manggar ), as well as meeting teachers leading the activities

Colour coordination: Her Majesty Raja Zarith Sofiah, the Queen of Johor and the Duchess of Cornwall visit The International School at ParkCity in Kuala Lumpur on Friday

She saw youngsters decorating 'flower eggs,' or Meghias Bunga Telur, and 'creating flowers' (bunga manggar), as well as meeting teachers leading the activities.

Camilla was also charmed after two of the children greeted her with a double handshake while another took her hand and held it to their heart, a sign of honour.

The PERMATA Programmes were founded by the First Lady of Malaysia with the objective of providing a platform that enables children to achieve their potential through cultural learning.

PERMATA Negara cares for new-borns up to pre-school aged children.She's in the midst of a hectic 11-day tour of south-east Asia and India involving almost 50 engagements, so it's no wonder the Duchess of Cornwall is longing for a chance to put her feet up.

During a meeting with The Raja Isteri, wife of the Sultan of Brunei the Duchess, 70, admitted the pace is taking its toll.

The royal couple, on an official tour of Asia on behalf of the Queen, flew into Brunei for a whirlwind meeting with the country's monarch, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah - worth an estimated $20 billion - and tea with his family.

Charles and Camilla are spending just a few hours in the kingdom of one of the wealthiest men in the world between visiting Singapore and Malaysia.

As The Raja Isteri sympathised about the gruelling schedule, asking if she found it tiring, the Duchess, who is 70, replied cheerfully: 'Very tiring. Every day, we're non stop. It's more tiring as you get older.'

She joked: 'I keep trying to tell everybody that I'm not as young as I used to be, and have to slow down.'

Scroll down for video

Camilla, 70, today joked that she's not as young as she used to be during a hectic 11-day tour of south east Asia and India

The Duchess, who looked a little fatigued, admitted the hectic schedule of the tour was wearing her out

The couple are making a quick stop in Brunei for just a few hours in the midst of their 11-day autumn tour of Asia

No rest for these royals! Several hours after meeting the Sultan of Brunei, the couple arrived in Kuala Lumpur for their visit to Malaysia

Camilla is said to have enjoyed a productive 45-minute conversation with the wife of the Sultan of Brunei

Charles and Camilla, who are travelling in the government's official Voyager jet, were met at the international airport after flying in from Singapore by British High Commissioner Richard Lindsay.

The princes sweltered in a lounge suit while the Duchess looked cool in the 84F heat in a loose Anna Valentine tunic and trousers.

Mr Lindsay introduced them to the Sultan's heir, Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah and his wife, the beautiful Princess Sarah, who was a 17-year-old student when she married her husband, then 30, in 2004. She is pregnant with their fourth child.

Prince Charles attends an engagement with the Royal Gurkha Rifles at Edinburgh Palace in Brunei

Prince Charles and the Sultan of Brunei at Istana Nurul Iman

The Duchess enjoys a Gurkha Reception at the Edinburgh Palace in Bandar Seri Begawan

Charles and Camilla were later festooned with garlands when they visited a Gurkha Battalion based in the Brunei

The Duchess chats to Crown Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah during afternoon tea with the Brunei royal family

The royal party walked along a red carpet, through a Bruneian Guard of Honour, as they were introduced to dignitaries and military officials.

The prince and his wife were then whisked by convoy to the Sultan's official residence, the Istana Nurul Inman, for the afternoon.

The Sultan's official residence is vast - with 1,788 rooms, 257 bathrooms, and a floor area of 2,152,782 square feet.

Brunei's 71-year-old ruler is an absolute monarch but is largely revered by his people for a long reign characterised by peace and prosperity.

Camilla enjoyed catching up with Her Majesty Raja Isteri of Brunei

The royal couple enjoyed tea with the Sultan's family in a gilded room bedecked priceless masterpieces on the walls

The Prince of Wales, followed by the Duchess of Cornwall, walk with the Sultan of Brunei as they attend a high tea at the Palace in Bandar Seri Begawan

The Duchess kept her cool in an elegant blue-green tunic and white trousers during the visit

Camilla looked in great form during a Ghurka reception at Edinburgh Palace

Charles and Camilla last visited Brunei in 2008 during an earlier tour of South East Asia.

Their current visit is taking place at the request of the Queen, who has a long and warm relationship with the Sandhurst-educated Sultan, the longest serving monarch in the world after herself.

While the Queen has been on the throne for 65 years, the Sultan of Brunei is currently celebrating his Golden Jubilee.

He was crowned ruler of the oil and gas-rich state on August 1 1968.

Charles is undertaking the visit on behalf of his mother who enjoys a warm relationship with the Sultan - the second longest serving monarch after herself

Charles' mother the Queen has a long and warm relationship with the Sandhurst-educated Sultan

Camilla joked with Her Majesty Raja Isteri about the hectic schedule of the royal tour

The official celebrations took place last month and were attended by the Queen's youngest son, the Earl of Wessex, and his wife, Sophie, the Countess.

The festivities saw the Sultan carried through the streets of the capital on a golden throne.

Charles and Camilla were later festooned with garlands when they visited a Gurkha Battalion based in the Brunei.

They were welcomed by the renown Nepalese servicemen with the traditional greeting as they made a brief stop to the Commonwealth country during their south-east Asia tour.

Charles inspects the Royal Gurkha Rifles at Edinburgh Palace in Brunei

The Duchess looked cool in the 84F heat in a loose Anna Valentine tunic and trousers

Camilla was presented with a very colourful garland to go with her blue tunic

And when the heir to the throne, Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Gurkha Rifles for 40 years, had a chance to chat to the famous fighting force at a reception his questions had a parental tone.

'Are you able to find the things you need?' he asked one group, then made them laugh when he said: 'Can you get enough goat?'

The servicemen are known to use the meat to make curries.

The Royal Gurkha Rifles have a jungle role Battalion permanently based in Brunei.

The Royal Gurkha Rifles are inspected by their Colonel-in-Chief of the of 40 years

Charles looked in excellent spirits despite the pressure of the hectic royal tour schedule

The soldiers, drawn from Nepal, are famed for their bravery and fierce fighting skills typified by their renowned kukri knives they wield in battle.

Lieutenant Colonel Jamie Murray, Commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion Royal Gurkha Rifles hosted the royal couple during the reception at a Brunei royal family residence called Edinburgh Palace.

Later the Duchess was all smiles as she met with Her Majesty The Raja Isteri for a private audience.

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is worth an estimated $20 billion, making him one of the richest men in the world

Camilla and er Majesty Raja Isteri after enjoying a 45 minutes private conversation

The royals were treated to a special tea featuring delicacies such as lobster dumpling, glutinous rice with beef floss, crispy egg wrap and bean curd

Prince Charles and his royal counterpart attend a high tea at the Sultan of Brunei's Palace

The women spoke warmly as they posed for photographs, discussing the Duchess' Commonwealth tour schedule.

As the press were ushered out, the two women embarked on 45 minutes of private conversation, before joining their husbands the Prince of Wales and Sultan of Brunei for tea.

Reunited with the Prince for tea, the Duchess said they had a lot to talk about in the 'very enjoyable' meeting.

Prince Charles attends a Gurkha Reception at the Edinburgh Palace on November

Always on the go! Camilla looked in great spirits despite joking about feeling tired

The royal couple enjoyed tea with the Sultan's family in a gilded room bedecked priceless masterpieces on the walls.

Around 60 people feasted on lobster dumpling, glutinous rice with beef floss, crispy egg wrap and bean curd.

Other offerings on the menu were Chicken Kolo Mee, steamed grained rice in palm sugar, pancake role with coconut filling, fried sesame Ball with red bean paste.

For desert there was layered Malay cake and banana in sweet coconut cream with tea and coffee.Should the repatriation of jihadi bride Shamima Begum go according to the usual script, she will arrive back in Britain on a private jet, chartered at tax- payers expense.

After a tearful reunion with her family, she will be whisked off to the BBC and interviewed sympathetically on the Today programme about the British and American aggression which caused her to join ISIS.

We will hear how she was forced to cower in fear as Coalition bombs rained down indiscriminately on innocent women and children.

Ms Begum will talk about the terrible racism and Islamophobia she suffered growing up in the East End of London and how she came to believe she could only find true safety and fulfilment living in the self-proclaimed Islamic State.

Shamima Begum (pictured above) ho left Britain as a 15-year-old to join the Islamic State group

The 'Jihadi brides' Kadiza Sultana, left, Shamima Begum, center, and Amira Abase going through security at Gatwick Airport in 2015

After being fast-tracked up the housing waiting list, she will move into a council flat with her new baby, claiming an assortment of benefits and reinventing herself as a yuman rites activist.

Pretty soon, shell be reviewing the papers on Sky News and writing a column in the Guardian.

Shell probably sue the Government for compensation. On legal aid, naturally. And win.

If were very lucky, her celebrity will wane eventually and shell be content living a normal life, quietly bringing up her child to be a model British citizen.

Worst case scenario, she straps half a pound of Semtex under her burka and detonates it on a Circle Line Tube train, blowing herself and dozens of other passengers to Kingdom Come.

So is she a victim or a villain? The jurys out, when it should be in the pub over the road with a well-earned pint to celebrate a unanimous guilty verdict.

While I sympathise with those who believe we should strip her of British citizenship and leave her to rot in hell, we are being urged to remember, in mitigation, she was only 15 when she ran away from home with two school friends.

But most girls of that age rebel by getting their navel pierced, or dyeing their hair green.

Shamima Begum (pictured above) before she left her family in Bethnal Green, London

They dont travel thousands of miles to team up with a fanatical religious army, murdering and torturing its way across the Middle East.

Apologists for Ms Begum insist she was just a typical, happy-go-lucky teenager before being radicalised in her bedroom via social media platforms such as Twitter.

The cynical tech giants certainly exercise an irresponsible, pernicious influence over impressionable young minds, callously disseminating all manner of mayhem and filth.

The sites she and her friends followed featured gruesome images of hostages being beheaded, men in cages being set on fire and children mutilated.

Shamima Begum (pictured above) at Gatwick airport before boarding a flight to Turkey

Who in their right mind looks approvingly at such depraved, blood-curdling material and decides: I wouldnt mind some of that?

Yet Shamima Begum and her friends went to great lengths to become Izal brides, intent on breeding a new generation of jihadis.

Shes currently pregnant with her third child, by a Dutch Islamic convert, after two previous children died of illness and malnutrition.

Now that a Times correspondent has tracked her down to a refugee camp in Syria, she says all she wants to do is come home to Britain.

15-year-old Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Shamima Begum before catching a flight to Turkey in 2015

She wouldnt be saying that if Izal hadnt been defeated militarily. She managed to get out just before the terrorists last stand.

By her own admission, married life in Raqqa was normal and the one I wanted. Presumably, if the caliphate hadnt been routed, shed still be more than happy buttering the toast of her semi-detached jihadi Mr Most.

Certainly, she remains unrepentant. When I saw my first severed head in a bin, it didnt faze me at all. It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam. I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance.

Renu, eldest sister of Shamima Begum, 15, holds her sister's photo while being interviewed by the media at New Scotland Yard

That head might have belonged to a British aid worker, for all she knew and cared. As far as she was concerned, all infidels are the enemy.

Fact is, Ms Begum didnt have to travel all the way to Syria to bask in the full glow of radical Islamism. Bethnal Green, where she grew up, the place she now calls home, is part of the Islamic Republic of Tower Hamlets, a virtual Muslim monoculture, right next to the City of London.

The old East End of pearly kings, knees-ups down the rub-a-dub, and gentlemen gangsters who only ever killed their own kind, is long gone. These days Tower Hamlets is a hotbed of fundamentalism. I bet there are more burkas per square yard in Bethnal Green than there are in Bangladesh.

The streets have been patrolled by Islamist vigilantes, menacing women walking alone in immodest clothing and terrorising corner shops selling alcohol.

Girls dont need to go online to be radicalised. They can hear extremist views being peddled in their own backyard.

Its hardly surprising that some impressionable young men and women fall for the romantic vision of jihad and decide to become terrorists themselves, both abroad and at home.

The schizophrenic attitude of the authorities hasnt helped, either. Im not uttering a syllable of criticism against the police anti-terror squad, or the security services who strive valiantly every day to keep us safe.

Yet while politicians talk tough on terror, ever since 9/11 they have pursued a policy of appeasement, hoping a positive, softly-softly approach will reap dividends.

Some hope. Creeping Islamification has gathered pace in British inner-city areas like Tower Hamlets.

This has led to segregation and separate development, creating the conditions in which young Muslims are susceptible to the more extremist interpretations of Islam and may become cannon fodder for terrorist groups.

A couple of years ago, the Government released a report which said that decades of relatively successful integration in Britain had gone into reverse.

The Prevent programme, which was supposed to identify youngsters at risk of falling prey to radicalisation, is widely held to have been a failure.

For too long, hate preachers have been tolerated. Look at the eternity it took Britain to round up Captain Hook, the Ayatollah of Finsbury Park, who was even given a police escort to rant and rave in the street when moderate Muslims quite properly kicked him out of their mosque.

It was left to the Americans to bang him up in a supermax jail, where he belongs, after executing an extradition warrant.

Here, hed be walking the streets again, along with his evil sidekick Ram Jam Choudary, the terrorist recruiting sergeant with links to a string of attacks, including the brutal murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich.

In September 2016, Ram Jam was sentenced to five-and-a-half years for supporting Islamic State, but was released on licence after serving just over two years.

Tough on terror, tough on the causes of terror? I dont think so, do you?

So what should we do with Shamima Begum? And must we take her story at face value?

Our authorities have a habit of believing every British citizen captured in war zones. Funny how none of them have ever been involved in fighting.

They were on a humanitarian aid mission. Or, in the case of the Tipton Taliban, who were picked up in Afghanistan, they claimed to have travelled there to take a computer course. As you do.

Those British detainees  not all of them actual citizens  were given a rock stars welcome when they arrived home from Guantanamo Bay, some by private jet. And interviewed sympathetically by the BBC and papers like the Guardian.

So I was only half-joking when I suggested thats what might lie in store for Ms Begum.

We only have her word that all she did in Syria was get married and keep house.

In 2017, when Izal went into retreat, the terrorists lifted the ban on women bearing arms. Did she pick up a gun? Who knows.

It is a fact that she joined a jihadist army, which took British hostages, murdered, raped and tortured countless civilians, and claims responsibility for mounting terrorists attacks in 70 cities around the world, including London.

Alarmingly, of the 450 Izal fighters who have returned to Britain, only 40 have been prosecuted.

If she does come home, Shamima Begum deserves to be given a long, exemplary prison sentence. But theres no guarantee she would even be charged.

Im not the same, silly 15-year-old girl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago, she says.

Thats what worries me. Now shes a hardened, grown woman with four years experience of being a member of one of the worlds nastiest terrorist organisations. Do we really want to welcome her back?

On balance, its probably best if we strip her of her citizenship and let her rot in Syria.A strike is a weapon of last resort.

Workers who withdraw their labour know they will be out of pocket, and their actions can thoroughly inconvenience people who have nothing to do with any dispute.

Strikes cause resentment and anger, but there's always the hope that taking such a drastic step will rally support for poor working conditions, unfair pay and unfair dismissals and bring about change for the better.

Those were the rules up to the summer of 2018.

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg takes part in the 'School Strike for Climate' at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 25

Now, a series of so-called Youth Strikes by school students in Australia, all over Europe and in the UK this Friday signal that young people are thinking and behaving like adult workers on a wage.

The kids say their strikes are justified because our elected leaders are failing to deal with the devastating effects of climate change, and supporters claim that teenagers are the 'true grown ups' while adults are behaving 'like spoiled and dangerous children'.

The Strike 4 Climate Action campaign was started by a remarkable young Swedish woman, Greta Thunberg, who has Aspergers.

Since August 2018, she has refused to attend school on Fridays, staging a weekly protest outside the Swedish Parliament building. In January, Greta was invited to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Patronising journalists wondered if she had 'help' with her speech because it was so articulate, and asked who was 'behind' her one woman campaign.

The young woman replied: 'I am behind Greta. I have brainwashed my parents. I convinced them not to fly any more and to stop eating meat'.

Students protest for climate action during a school strike in Magdeburg, Germany, last Friday

Now, Greta's campaign has gone global and one of her fans, 13 year-old Alexandria Villasenor from New York, is planning a day of direct action across the US on March 15th.

Using the hashtag FridaysForFuture, thousands of teenagers around the world have been walking out of school and staging marches in city centres.

They've protested in Brussels and Berlin, Switzerland and Sweden. In Australia last November, thousands marched in Sydney, Melbourne and 20 major cities. Reaction from politicians was pitiful, to say the least.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged them to be 'less activist', and one minister moaned that kids should be in the classroom 'learning about mining and science - because that's what we're good at..all you learn from a protest is how to join a dole queue'.

They're both terribly wrong. I joined the Tories and then the Young Socialists in my teens, and went on protest marches again apartheid, nuclear weapons and the war in Vietnam.

I shouted abuse at police, waved my placards and chanted for world peace. I don't know what difference my voice made, but it was something I could not ignore.

Last month, Greta was invited to speak in Davos, and told journalists: 'I am behind Greta. I have brainwashed my parents. I convinced them not to fly any more and to stop eating meat'

Protest marches are the only way that ordinary people can make their voices heard, when most politicians have been privately educated, attended a small group of elite universities, studied the same subjects, worked in law or economics, and all belong to the same clubs.

Learning how to protest teaches you resourcefulness, wit and determination.

But should we be impressed by the actions of teenagers taking to the streets instead of sitting in classrooms learning stuff that might secure them a better job and a chance to be in power themselves one day?

It's easy to be cynical and see the appeal of bunking off school once a week.

Given the perfect excuse for a Friday loafing around a town centre or hanging out in a park, what teenager would refuse to join a protest movement? Particularly one that so many adults agree with.

In Australia, one striking student said 'when kids make a mess adults tell us to clean it up. When our leaders make a mess, they're leaving it for us to clean up'.

True enough.

Students protest against climate change at a strike in Lausanne, Switzerland, on January 18

In Australia, climate change is top of the agenda after months of extreme weather. During my visit last month there was flash flooding, serious bushfires, extreme heat and torrential rain. There is a huge reliance on coal and a reluctance to harness solar and wind power.

A country with a giant desert in the middle is determined to dig up every last seam of coal, come what may, in order to placate the powerful mining interests and the unions. Natural wonders, like the Great Barrier Reef, are devastated and dying.

There's no dispute that adults have failed to deal with climate change, pandering to vested interests and big business every time.

But the way to bring about change is by infiltrating democracy from within, by becoming a powerful voice, a politician and a leader.

Some teacher's unions have said that the strikes will do pupils good and teach them a valuable experience. Others have complained that the disruption should not interrupt their education.

Information and knowledge are what give you power- so maybe schools should harness all this enthusiasm for saving the planet and devise imaginative projects and initiatives which inform as well as educate their pupils.

Australian students gather in Sydney to demand climate change action last November

Responding with the threat of detentions will achieve nothing either.

One middle class female commentator says she applauds the young strikers because they are 'talking more sense than our MPs'. That might be the case, but working class parents will have a different view. Poverty forced both my parents to end their education at 14.

They scrimped and saved for my school uniform and were so proud that I attended grammar school - they would have been outraged if I had walked out of a single lesson.

To them, passing exams and academic achievement was my only way out of dead end jobs and low wages.

They were right.

They never complained about me attending marches as long as my political escapades happened in my free time, on the weekend.

I'm thrilled the younger generation are so idealistic and committed to a better future for us all (just like I was).

I'd just be more impressed if they gave up their Saturday morning lie-ins to fight for their cause.Das Boot was an all-male film set on a German submarine during World War II. The sequel, just out in the UK, somehow contrives to introduce various romantic angles, such as a liaison with a glamorous woman in the Resistance. Other romantic sequels are already in production . . .

Jaws 6: A Love Story

A great white shark known as Jaws starts ruthlessly attacking beachgoers on Amity Island. What can be done to stop it? Rugged, hard-talking police chief Martin Brody tries everything, but the bodycount continues to rise.

At last, he hits upon the idea of introducing into the ocean a curvaceous female great white shark, Lips, who is wearing nothing but a skimpy bikini, which, in the words of one onlooker, a passing cod, leaves nothing to the imagination.

A great white shark known as Jaws starts ruthlessly attacking beachgoers on Amity Island. What can be done to stop it? (file image)

The ruse pays off. Jaws has set his sights on an overweight tourist relaxing on a lilo when his eye is caught by Lips, paddling in shallow water, fluttering her eye-lashes while swinging her hips provocatively to a tune by Beyonce.

For once, Jaws is able to forget about his next meal. Instead, he swims over to Lips and suggests she accompanies him to another nice little bay he knows, just around the corner, where they can find someone nice to eat.

As the loving pair swim off into the sunset, all the holiday-makers in Amity stand on the beach and lovingly wave their remaining arms in the direction of the amorous young sharks.

Six Angry Men

A defendant is up before the court, on trial for allegedly stabbing his father to death. If there is any reasonable doubt, he must be acquitted; if not, he will face the death penalty.

One by one, the jury assemble to consider their verdict  six angry men, followed by six easy-going women. Over a period of hours, the men gradually grow more relaxed, amusing the women with their tales of previous juries on which they have served.

At the 11th hour, a woman juror  played by Scarlett Johansson in a latex crop-top  brings out a music system and, with a cry of Lets Boogie!, switches on a song by Rihanna. And so the men and women of the jury forget about their troubles and enter into loving relationships.

Encouraged by the foreman of the jury to speed things up by returning a Guilty verdict, they leave the courtroom just in time to catch Happy Hour at their local discotheque, ready for an evening of romance.

The Bridge On The River Kwickie

The Bridge On The River Kwickie re-make would star Jennifer Lawrence (pictured) as Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson, the role made famous by Alec Guinness

This thrilling re-make stars Jennifer Lawrence as Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson, the role made famous by Alec Guinness.

Permitted by her Japanese captors to wear only the very skimpiest of jungle swimsuits, Lawrence single-mindedly drives her men to complete the bridge on the River Kwickie to an impossible deadline. Behind her back, the prisoners plot sabotage.

They are exhausted and demoralised, but then the train arrives on the bridge, packed full of hot young models, on their way to a top catwalk assignment on the other side of the country.

Just in time, the men prevent the Bridge on the River Kwickie from being destroyed, and the prisoners, guards and models all enjoy a beach-party with exotic cocktails, to an upbeat background of music by Little Mix.

Revenant 2

In 1823, rugged Hugh Glass is journeying through uncharted wilds in the northern territories, his beard coated with snow, when he comes face to face with a grizzly bear.

Realising that his life is in danger, he takes the only course open to him.

In 1823, rugged Hugh Glass is journeying through uncharted wilds in the northern territories, says Craig Brown in his take on Revenant 2. Leonardo Dicaprio is pictured here in a scene from the original film

Guess it must get kinda lonely out here, these winter nights? he says to the grizzly, just as it is raising its paw to strike him in the face. At this moment, a ray of sun, streaming through the trees, catches a teardrop as it falls from the grizzlys eye.

Too right it does, replies the grizzly. Whats it to do with you?

Without saying anything, Glass scrambles through the address book on his phone and finds the number of another young grizzly bear of his acquaintance  a slim female with a coat of long brown hair and an attractive pout  who lives in a neighbouring forest.

The two bears meet and fall in love, and are so delighted with Glass that they agree to keep him on as their much-loved personal assistant.Election 2019

Maxwell kicks off campaign for county commissionerSen. Tom Killion is pictured at the state Capitol with members of Moms Demand Action at a gun safety event recently.A firefighter was lowered by rope down a rocky embankment in the town of Marlborough early Wednesday to make sure that a car accidentally pushed down the slope was not occupied. See story, page A4.KINGSTON, N.Y.  For the first time in the history of the Ulster County Legislature, the body will vote Tuesday on whether to censure one of its own.KINGSTON, N.Y.  The Planning Board wants the city's director of building safety to review whether a fire escape from a bedroom on the third fBruce Chargois, center, hugs his wife and daughter before being escorted out of the courtroom on Thursday, Feb. 14 , 2019.Since 1990, Patricia R. Doxsey has been a reporter for the Freeman, covering politics, crime, and government affairs.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.Ms. Annette "Honey" Brock age 96 of Dalton, GA, went to be with the lord Tuesday June 22, 2021. She was born October 21, 1924 in Memphis, TN a daughter of the late Edwin Douglas and Ann Louise Johnson. She was also preceded in death by her husband, Paul "Pete" Brock, sisters and brothers, daMATTHEW TOTH

mtoth@dailyamerican.com

Bedford-Somerset Developmental & Behavioral Health Services is working with an Erie-based company to expand its programs for people with intellectual disabilities.

The Barber National Institute has assumed operation of the agencys prevocational and community support programs, originally called workshops. The institute was chosen after completing a four-month consultation project with DBHS. The transition was finalized on Jan. 17.

Carrie Kontis, the institutes vice president for intellectual disability services, said the institute plans to continue several programs while helping people with intellectual disabilities integrate better with their local communities.

We thought that our mission was very comparable, and that we could do some good work to help people who needed service, she said.

The programs support 53 adults in Somerset and 44 adults in Bedford. The institute serves 6,100 children and adults with autism, intellectual disabilities and behavioral health challenges in Pennsylvania.

Kontis said the goal of support programs is to match an individual with activities that help them to socialize and become part of the community. These experiences can include shopping, bowling and volunteer experiences with churches and food pantries.

That could be getting involved with local shops; that might be looking to see what other employment there is and introducing what that looks like and seeing what interests they have moving forward to participate in the event, she said.

Kontis said the hope is these activities and programs will help individuals gain employment in the community.

One of our emphases will be to help people get out into their community, to engage on that level and become even more familiar with activities and opportunities in the Somerset area, she said.

DBHS Administrator Mary Piatt-Bruner said the county was a long-standing provider of services for adults with intellectual disabilities, but under the federal requirements for funding, a group cannot be the provider of both services and oversight.

We play a big part in oversight of services and programs, so we had to divest our provider network, she said. So this is a four-year plan, and this is the last piece of that plan.

Piatt-Bruner said the goal all along was the least amount of disruption possible for individuals the agency was serving.

The institute announced in a press release that 14 agency staff chose to stay during the transition. In addition, three employees were hired in Bedford and six in Somerset.

Were happy about that because of the level of knowledge of the Somerset area and because of the individuals themselves, Kontis said.

Kontis added that she hopes consumers have a level of comfort going through this transition.

Hopefully, they will find our service beneficial to them, she said.Weather Alert

...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM CDT /8 PM EDT/ THIS EVENING THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING... The National Weather Service in Chicago has issued a * Flash Flood Watch for portions of Illinois and northwest Indiana, including the following areas, in Illinois, Ford, Grundy, Iroquois, Kankakee, La Salle, Livingston and Southern Will. In northwest Indiana, Benton, Jasper and Newton. * From 7 PM CDT /8 PM EDT/ this evening through Saturday morning * Several rounds of thunderstorms are expected tonight through early Saturday morning. Flash flooding will be possible as heavy rain producing storms move repeatedly over the same location. * Excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, streams and other low-lying and flood-prone areas. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A Flash Flood Watch means rapid-onset flooding is possible, but not yet certain, based upon the latest forecasts. Flash flooding is a dangerous situation. Persons with interests along area rivers, creeks, and other waterways should monitor the latest forecasts and be prepared to take action should flooding develop. &&Kankakee, IL (60901)

Today

Thunderstorms. Low near 70F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch..

Tonight

Thunderstorms. Low near 70F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch.STORY LINK Pound US Dollar (GBP/USD) Exchange Rate Falls despite Worst US Retail Sales in Almost a Decade

GBP/USD Exchange Rate Falls as US Retail Sales Plummet

GBP/USD Exchange Rate Drops as Theresa May Risks Defeat in Commons

GBP/USD Forecast: Pound Could Rise on Positive Retail Sales Figures

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The Pound US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate is down today and is currently trading around $1.2817 on the inter-bank market.The US Dollar (USD) gained against the Pound (GBP) today despite US retail sales figures for December falling considerably below expectation by -1.2%.The monthly US retail sales excluding autos figure for December also fell unexpectedly by -1.8%, its worst fall in nine years.These were also followed by disappointing US continuing jobless claims figures for February, which increased above expectation to 1.773 million.Meanwhile, many US Dollar investors are awaiting President Donald Trump, who promised to sign a compromise bill to avoid another US government shut down.Trump said yesterday:I dont want to see a shutdown A shutdown would be a terrible thing.Some Greenback traders are remaining optimistic that a compromise looks increasingly likely between the White House and Congress, which will prevent the US government facing another shutdown on Friday.Brexit is also in the spotlight today, with Prime Minister Theresa May in the House of Commons facing heated discussions as MPs prepare to vote on various amendments to her withdrawal deal.Many GBP traders are feeling jittery today, with signs that the Conservative Party faces a revolt as members of the European Research Group have stated their opposition to the new government motion, which effectively removes no-deal off the table.Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, warned Conservative MPs against sending the wrong signal to Brussels, commenting:This is not an academic debate. It's listened to quite seriously by those who will be negotiating with the UK.Pound investors are remaining generally cautious, however, as inter-party disputes increase the Brexit deadlock and raise the likelihood of no-deal.Stephen Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, also warned:We should not give [the EU] that excuse not to engage.The Pound, meanwhile, was further weakened following the printing of the UK RICS housing price balance figures for January, which fell below expectation to -22%  their worst in 10 years.Mark Zorab, a director at Elstons estate agents, commented:Fifty per cent of [the] general public [is] waiting to see what the Brexit outcome is. The other 50% is keen to buy but only at the right price.Pound traders will be looking ahead to the publication of the UK retail sales figures tomorrow.Any increase could see Sterling rise against the US Dollar.Greenback investors, meanwhile, will be looking ahead to the release of the US Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index figures for February, which are expected to increase.Tomorrow will also see the publication of the US industrial production figures for January.The GBP/USD exchange rate will remain sensitive to Brexit developments this week, and any signs that a Brexit no-deal is removed from the table could see Sterling rise.

International Money Transfer? Ask our resident FX expert a money transfer question or try John's new, free, no-obligation personal service! ,where he helps every step of the way, ensuring you get the best exchange rates on your currency requirements.

TAGS: American Dollar Forecasts Currency Predictions Daily Currency Updates Dollar Pound Forecasts Pound Dollar Forecasts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 35-day government shutdown affected credit union members across the country. While they waited, wondering how long it would last, businesses and other organizations jumped in to assist with offers of free meals, services and other help.

Within days of the shutdown, credit unions were doing what they do best, helping people. When members were affected, credit unions throughout the United States began proactively announcing programs designed to ease the burden of not receiving a paycheck.

In the true spirit of the CUNA-League system, we began looking at ways to help get the word out to members, media and government officials in order to make known what options credit unions were offering to assist. Associations and leagues used all available platforms to spread the word. Social media, traditional public relations outreach and direct contact with legislators were all employed. CUNA began collecting information from the states, creating a clearinghouse of information that listed credit unions and what they were able to offer to help their members survive the shutdown. That landing site became a vital source of information for communicating with government officials looking to tell constituents where to find help.

Successful outreach stories started rolling in:

In the Mountain West Credit Union Associations region (Arizona, Colorado and Wyoming), media releases were sent out detailing the programs implemented by the regions credit unions. Those lists were picked up and included in stories on the news sites. From there, they got the attention of state legislators.

The Credit Union Association of the Dakotas (CUAD) sent press releases and engaged social media outlining what credit unions were doing to help. Additionally, they issued a joint statement/press release with two North Dakota state bankers associations urging consumers to contact their local financial institution for assistance. CUAD CEO Jeff Olson testified on behalf of credit unions in the North Dakota State Legislature, which gave the opportunity to say firsthand what financial institutions were offering. In South Dakota, Olson and Jay Kruse, CUADs Chief Advocacy Officer, spent time on the floor educating lawmakers on the actions credit unions were taking to support their members.

The New Jersey Credit Union League reached out on multiple fronts. They used their existing communications vehicles and social media to run stories they generated. Additionally, they proactively encouraged their member credit unions to share their efforts in order to gather and promote them. Finally, the League included stories in their newsletter specifically targeted to lawmakers and reached out to elected officials as opportunities arose.

The Carolinas Credit Union Leagues Advocacy team injected the availability of credit union assistance into regular conversations with legislators. They also tagged legislators on related social media posts which proved successful. For example, after posting about credit unions offering shutdown assistance on Facebook, their post was shared by SC Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey.

The Heartland Credit Union Association (Kansas and Missouri) heard directly from Congressman Emanuel Cleavers staff (D-MO District 5) when they reached out to the Association for help in highlighting how credit unions were helping in the Kansas City region. Together with Congresswoman Sharice Davids (D-KS District 3), Cleaver held a joint news conference promoting the groups that were helping government workers. Credit union representatives joined the news conference and spoke about credit union assistance programs. The efforts garnered a lot of press coverage that helped get the word out.

The Maryland & DC Credit Union Association has strong relationships. That foundation gave them the platform to advise every member of the DC Council, Maryland General Assembly and the Maryland and DC Congressional delegation of what credit unions were offering their constituents impacted by the shutdown. Because of their relationship with Congressman Anthony Brown (MD), the Association was invited to participate in a town hall for his constituents. The message spread from there, reaching other members of the delegation including Representatives Jamie Raskin (who hosted a Facebook Live with MD|DC CUA) and Dutch Ruppersberger (town hall).

And these are just a few examples of league advocacy efforts yielding political support and promotion for credit unions nationwide! If youd like to know more about how your league advocated on your behalf during the shutdown, reach out to your league president, and Im sure they will be more than happy to share.

Credit unions across the nation rallied to do what is at the core of our movement, help members achieve financial stability. And our movement is poised to help yet again, should there be another need. Its in our DNA. Its what sets us apart.In response to a multi-year ballot error in Hamden, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said she is submitting legislation to audit the election records of all Connecticut towns and ensure voters are casting ballots in the correct district.

It was certainly a wake-up call, Merrill said. It may be a bigger problem than we realized.

Merrills bill, which has not been filed yet, will propose hiring independent auditors to review how every town implemented the states redistricting plans from 2011. Her bill would also order the review after each state redistricting  in essence, every 10 years.

For up-to-date information on public policy issues, sign up for the CT Politics newsletter.

Merrills announcement comes days after Hearst Connecticut Media revealed that some Hamden voters were issued the wrong ballots in every state election from 2012 to 2018, as their street was placed in the wrong state Senate district by local registrars of voters.

No one knows how often this kind of error happens in Connecticut, but a similar ballot mix-up came to light in Ansonia just last year.

Currently, there is no state oversight designed to prevent such errors  caused when town voting lists dont properly reflect voting maps created by the legislature.

Merrill, as the top election official in the state, is responsible for the execution of Connecticut elections and oversees training of local registrars of voters.

The redistricting plan is developed by the General Assembly by a committee there, Merrill said. Then, the Secretary of the States Office gets a copy of the maps, and the maps go to the local level.

Theyre implemented at the local level, but no one ever goes back to make sure they are properly implemented.

Residents of about 25 homes on Paradise Avenue incorrectly voted in the 11th Senate district. These voters should have cast votes in the 17th Senate district. The error, made after the 2011 redistricting, was not caught until last month, according to emails obtained by Hearst.

Merrill said she will refer the issue to the State Elections Enforcement Commission with a request for an investigation. Hamden Mayor Curt Leng said he would start a local inquiry into Hamden election procedures.

Also in the 17th Senate District, a mistake by a Derby registrar of voters meant that residents of as many as 36 houses on Park Avenue and Roosevelt Drive voted in the wrong races in the 2016, 2014 and 2012 elections. The voters resided in the 105th House District, but cast ballots in the 104th.

That error, discovered in July 2018, also meant that state Rep. Kara Rochelle, D-Derby, ran in a district where she did not live. She moved to Ansonia in the 104th District in December.

The unfortunate clerical errors with both my district and the 17th Senate District show that there is a true need to take additional measures to ensure our residents can trust the elections process, Rochelle said. For years my neighbors and I were voting in the wrong district, trusting that our voter files on local and state level were correct. I fully support efforts to ensure we do not repeat past instances, and a review will prevent possible errors in other districts before the next election cycle starts.

In a third recent error, in Stratford on Election Day, an estimated 75 voters at Bunnell High School were handed ballots for the 122nd House district, when they lived in the 120th District. The ballot bungle has prompted hearings at the state Capitol because the 120th district race was won by state Rep. Phil Young, D-Stratford, by only 13 votes.

After a split recommendation by bipartisan Committee on Contested Elections, top House leaders are now deciding whether to call a full House vote on holding a new election in Stratford.

Merrill also proposed legislation in response to the Stratford mix-up.

I have a bill in that would make it illegal to use the same [ballot] tabulator for two different precincts, which has caused all the issues with this Stratford situation, she said.

Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, whose district was affected by the Hamden error, said he will work with Merrill to improve the accuracy of local election records.

It is critical we make sure every vote is accurately cast and correctly counted, he said Thursday.

State Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven, who represents part of Hamden, could not be sure she would support Merrills legislation until she saw the details, she said.

emunson@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @emiliemunsonA day of love, will now  for as far as memory stretches  also be linked to a day of hate.

Only hate of the most monstrous proportions could have led to the shooting deaths of 17 students and faculty at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentines Day a year ago.

We in Connecticut know that too well from the crucible of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy.

After the Parkland shootings, students channeled their anguish by organizing a March for Our Lives, joined by students from across the country, to draw attention to the desperate need for gun safety legislation. A national school walk-out in April organized by Ridgefield High School student Lane Murdock kept the momentum going.

Yet, Congress did nothing. And so the mass shootings continue; 138 in this country since Parkland, 37 this year alone, as of Feb. 13.

We in Connecticut realize change can be slow. If the murder of 20 first graders and six educators could not budge the majority of Congress, what could?

We say to the Parkland students, though, keep heart; stay strong. Stay involved.

Bills before Congress might finally come to a vote. One to expand background checks to every gun purchase  something more than 90 percent of Americans say in polls they want  could be raised for a vote, unlike other years.

This week Connecticuts Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy joined U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, whose Florida district includes Parkland, and other legislators to reintroduce the Keep Americans Safe Act that would ban gun magazines of more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

Large capacity magazines are used almost universally in mass shootings because of their ability to maximize casualties, the Florida congressman said. With the memory of those killed in Columbine, Newtown, Las Vegas, and Parkland in our hearts, we introduce this bill to make communities safer.

Some steps you can take:

Tell your members of Congress you demand a yes vote on magazine limits and universal background checks.

Speak out in support of gun safety bills before the Connecticut General Assembly, including a ban of ghost and 3-D printable guns that cannot be traced and safe storage of firearms.

Attend a vigil to honor the 17 students and educators who died at Parkland, and other victims of gun violence, on Feb. 14 from 7 to 9 p.m., at the First Church in Fairfield. The vigil, organized by CT Against Gun Violence, will also recognize the unprecedented accomplishments led by young people over the past year.

Encourage schools to join the free Say Something program offered by Sandy Hook Promise, which trains middle and high school students to recognize warning signs of gun violence and to get help from a trusted adult. Say Something Week will be Feb. 25 to March 1 in thousands of schools across the country.

To Parkland we send the message that resonated from Sandy Hook: We choose love.In the run-up to the second summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, the South Korean government is rushing ahead to prematurely relax pressure on North Korea, which could undermine our last chance to compel real denuclearization. The Trump administration risks following Seoul down this ill-advised path.

When the Trump team began its North Korea diplomacy, it assured the American public it would not repeat past mistakes. Yet a familiar pattern is repeating itself: The United States is getting roped into an unending, unclear process of gradual arms control negotiations with Pyongyang that has only a slim chance of persuading Kim to give up all his nukes - which was supposed to be the plan.

One could argue we are safer while engaged with North Korea, as opposed to the alternative. "Jaw, jaw is better than war, war," the famous quote often attributed to Winston Churchill goes. But even Trump now admits there's only a "decent chance" North Korea will denuclearize. If the Trump administration is changing the goal from denuclearization to arms control, it ought to be honest about that with Congress and the American people.

On Capitol Hill, there's widespread and bipartisan concern that recent moves by South Korean President Moon Jae-in to offer economic concessions to the Kim regime absent any real commitments are undermining U.S. leverage. Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., and Robert Menendez, D-N.J., wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week urging him to keep the pressure on and convince Seoul to do the same.

"The U.S.-South Korea alliance is vital to our national security, and it's important to avoid unnecessary strains which would occur if President Moon moved to prematurely lift sanctions on Kim Jong Un and his regime," Cruz told me, adding that the Kim regime is "seeking to drive a wedge between America and South Korea."

The letter points to several recent Moon administration actions, including moving to reopen jointly operated industrial complexes inside North Korea, promising to break ground on a North-South railroad "within this year," and pressing European countries to consider lifting sanctions on Pyongyang. Last month, Moon said he wanted to lift international sanctions "as soon as possible."

The senators are reminding both the Moon and Trump administrations that North Korea sanctions are enforced by a series of United Nations resolutions and U.S. laws. The letter states it's impossible to be sure Seoul's moves don't run afoul of those laws and Moon is weakening our negotiating position vis-a-vis Pyongyang.

"As we approach the Vietnam summit and look to keep the denuclearization track and the North-South track lashed, we must put a premium on close coordination and alignment on how we approach continued pressure," Menendez told me.

The State Department has been working on better coordination with Seoul, establishing a working group under special envoy Stephen Biegun, the lead U.S. negotiator. But recent reports suggest the United States is moving closer to Moon's position, not the other way around.

Biegun is reportedly preparing an "economic package" for Kim that would include a "pot of gold" escrow account to incentivize him to give up his nuclear arsenal. At a recent speech at Stanford University, Biegun acknowledged there's "little indication" Kim has decided to completely denuclearize, but said the strategy is to "change the trajectory of their policies by changing the trajectory of our own." Biegun also repeated the Trump administration's mantra that "we will not lift sanctions until denuclearization is complete."

But if South Korea moves ahead to normalize its economic relations with North Korea, U.S. pressure will be rendered impotent and Pyongyang's incentive for denuclearizing will vanish.

The original plan was that North Korea would give up its nuclear weapons within "one year." But now, some officials talk of an "indefinite denuclearization process," a perpetual negotiation that allows the United States to claim progress toward denuclearization while providing an alibi for why Pyongyang never actually gets there.

"The 'final, fully verified denuclearization' is impossible, North Korea will never, ever accept it," said Andrei Lankov, director of the Korea Risk Group. "So, the references to the ongoing 'process' will be used to sweeten the pill, to disguise the ugly fact U.S. public opinion is reluctant to swallow: We are talking not 'final, fully verified denuclearization' but good old arms control and arms reduction."

Some argue this is a better outcome than war and perhaps the best we can manage when dealing with an evil yet rational regime that knows how to use its leverage. After all, our own intelligence agencies assess it unlikely Kim will ever give up his nukes, so long-term containment, continued deterrence and some ongoing pressure may be where we are headed anyway.

The problem is, that's not the outcome the Trump administration is promising. And at some point, Trump will have to bring his North Korea deal to the Senate for advice and consent. If he hasn't been straight with the American people about this compromise, they and their representatives will surely cry foul.Bloomberg released its annual list of the 100 wealthiest towns in the U.S., and Fairfield County, CT boasts five locationsfour of them landing in the top 50.

Darien is the top town, but Greenwich is represented twice in the top 50 with the Old Greenwich and Riverside being considered two separate towns. Bloomberg also lists Greenwich's richest residents: Steve Cohen, Ray Dalio, Paul Tidor Jones and Eddie Lampert.

Click through the slideshow to see the average household income of Connecticut's richest towns. Visit Bloomberg for the full report.

According to Bloomberg, the majority of the top 100 richest places are found in the New York City area. Fairfield County's neighbor, Westchester, NY, is also well-represented, with Scarsdale coming in at number two.

"Scarsdale, New York, north of Manhattan, moved up to the No. 2 spot on this year's list as its residents enjoyed a $30,000 increase, on average, in annual household income from the prior year," Bloomberg reports.

Scarsdale Mayor Dan Hochvert, told Bloomberg, "We moved here, as many did, because of the outstanding school system. That 's one of the primary drivers."

Bergen County, NJ, also a New York City metro, makes the cut as well.

Outside the New York City area, Silicon Valley rakes in the most money with the town of Atherton, CA (home to billionaires Eric Schmidt of Google and Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg, according to Bloomberg) coming in at number one for the third year in a row.

To create the ranking, "Bloomberg evaluated inflation-adjusted household data for all U.S. places, as defined by the Census, with a minimum of 2,000 households and ranked them based on average household income. Nearly 6,250 met the criteria"NEWTOWN  If anyone knows how difficult it is to relive a tragedy, its the teenagers here who confront their trauma anew with each anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre.

So Newtown high schoolers know what peers in Parkland, Fla., are going through with Thursdays anniversary of the Valentines Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

To show support, student members of a Newtown gun violence prevention group have planned a day of solidarity on Thursday by encouraging everyone to wear orange.

We want people to remember that in America there is no such thing as a day without gun violence, said Jackson Mittleman, a Newtown High School senior and the co-chairman of the Jr. Newtown Action Alliance. Newtown had a ton of solidarity worldwide on our first anniversary, and we want to show the same respect for the Parkland community on their first anniversary.

The wear-orange event in Newtown is among several local efforts to mark the solemn day in 2018 when a gunman killed 17 students and staff in Parkland  the deadliest school shooting in America since the 2012 massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook School.

The mass shooting motivated a group of teenagers from Parkland to speak out against gun violence, and to encourage peers to vote in the midterm election. The March for Our Lives movement that resulted energized youth here and across the country.

Ridgefield high school student Lane Murdock founded the National School Walkout, for example, and organized a late-April student protest to call for gun violence prevention.

It really is having a ripple effect, and there is so much more potential for the movement, Murdock said on Wednesday.

In Newtown, the Jr. Newtown Action Alliance saw its membership swell, as students found their voices.

Youth leaders from the Jr. Newtown Action Alliance were featured at a spring March for Our Lives Rally in Washington, D.C., and again at an August event in Newtown, when Parkland youth concluded a nationwide Road to Change Tour.

When we look back at this past year and what we accomplished in terms of raising awareness for gun violence prevention and also making it a topic of everyday of conversation, its crazy how much has been done, said Mittleman, whose group lobbied 70 lawmakers earlier this month to sponsor gun safety legislation.

The surge of newly registered young voters in Connecticut and across the country helped Democrats gain a majority in the House of Representatives. In turn, a series of bills have been introduced to ban so-called assault rifles, to strengthen background checks, and to limit the amount of ammunition a firearm can hold to 10 rounds.

Po Murray, the chair of Newtown Action Alliance and a mentor for the youth activists, said the movement sparked by the Parkland students has helped the cause gain ground it lost with the 2016 election of staunch NRA-supporter Donald Trump, and a majority of Republicans in the House and Senate.

We are realistic and dont believe these gun bills will fly out of the Senate easily  if at all  and certainly not that Donald Trump will sign them, Murray said. But over the next two years, we want to work very hard to put the strongest legislation possible up for a vote, and if we cant encourage Republicans to pass it, we will vote them out in 2020.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342HARTFORD  Its the fifth year the Connecticut General Assembly is discussing the creation of a paid Family Medical Leave Trust Fund and the chances it will pass this year were improved by the results of the 2018 election.

The Democratic Party expanded its majority in both chambers and Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont has said he supports the creation of the program, which would deduct 0.5 percent of pay from every working persons paycheck.

The battle this year will be over implementation details.

Lamont, who testified in favor of similar legislation last year as a candidate, has not embraced all the components of the program advocates have been pushing. He declined to say that he would support allowing employees to receive 100 percent of their salary capped at $1,000 per week. This years bill would require employers with only one employee to participate and offers up to 12 weeks of paid leave.

Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven, said they have not seen Lamonts proposal yet and declined to speculate on any specifics.

Eric Gjede, vice president of government affairs for the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, testified that wage replacement for most programs average 65 to 75 percent.

The weekly benefit is 80 percent of salary in Massachusetts and is capped at $850 per week in the Bay State.

In 2017, the Connecticut Office of Fiscal Analysis estimated there were 1,587,400 employees that would be covered by the proposal. There are currently 3,129 employers with 950,117 employees covered by existing FMLA law, according to the report.

The legislation this year seeks to raise $420 million a year or $35 million a month and employees would have to contribute to the fund for a year before being able to access its benefits. It also requires about $13.6 million in startup costs, and about $18 million a year in operating expenses.

Opponents of the proposal, mostly small business owners, included Wendy Traub, owner of Hemlock Directional Boring in Torrington.

Each of our eight employees, including myself and my husband, have specific jobs, and some require specialized training and government certifications, Traub said. Its not like someone can just fill the void and pick up a horizontal drill or properly pump mud. We care for our employees and accommodate it when they need leave, but my husband works day and night to fill in when they are away. This extreme cookie-cutter mandate will severely impact smaller businesses like ours.

Andrew Markowski, state director of NFIB in Connecticut, said its easy for larger corporations to offer paid leave because they have other employees who can fill the void.

But it will become an impossible circumstance for most small businesses, Markowski said.

Gjede said they recently surveyed their membership on the issue and people are actually terrified by this bill. The concerns, according to Gjede, have only grown over the past few weeks.

Home health agencies are also opposed to the legislation.

Deborah Hoyt, president and CEO of the Connecticut Association for Healthcare at Home, said these agencies employ 20,000 nurses, therapists and other professionals who help save the state money by helping patients stay in their homes.

She said many of the associations member agencies already provide their own form of paid leave and should be continued to operate those programs.

Under the legislation the current programs offered by private employers could still exist, but all employees would still need to participate in the states program.

Republican Senate Leader Len Fasano didnt dismiss the idea of a paid leave program Thursday, but he didnt embrace it either.

Fasano said hes concerned about how the ongoing administrative costs of the program will be paid.

If the administrative costs were paid by the payroll tax on employees then he still might not be able to support it because it doesnt resolve his other concerns.

Fasano said he would like to see the wage replacement rate reduced too from 100 percent to something around 66 percent, the same as workers compensation.

Theres a lot of question marks on the economics of this, Fasano said.

Proponents disagree.

Connecticut is now surrounded by states that offer some version of paid Family and Medical Leave.

Sen. Julie Kushner, D-Danbury, said she spent a lot of time talking to voters and small business owners about the legislation and what she found was that employees who need the time are going to take it regardless of whether a program is in place.

They just simply dont get paid, Kushner said.

She said this is a way for small businesses to provide a benefit to their employees that they might not have been able to offer.

Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party, said there are ways for small companies and organizations like her own to accommodate the leave. Farrell has been on maternity twice in the last four years.

Please stop treating us like a liability, Farrell said. We are part of the workforce. We are here to get our jobs done and there are ways to accommodate it.Celebrity Cruises has worked a deal with Chef Daniel Boulud, founder of a restaurant group that spans the world, including his Michelin-starred flagship, DANIEL and Cafe Boulud, in New York City.

The cruise line announced it is joining forces with Boulud and Michelin-starred Chef and Associate Vice President of Food and Beverage Operations, Cornelius Gallagher.

As Celebrity's Global Culinary Brand Ambassador, Chef Boulud will design signature dishes for Luminae, the brand's exclusive restaurant for suite class guests.

Celebrity is also introducing Chef's Table by Daniel Boulud, complete with a private galley tour and five-course dining experience, plus guest chef appearances onboard.

The brand is also working closely with Chef Boulud on a culinary mentorship program where the most talented up-and-coming chefs can hone their craft by learning from the best  both in Celebrity's kitchens and in Chef Boulud's.

"I'm excited to embark on this partnership with Celebrity Cruises as we share a common passion for excellence, personalized service and creative cuisine for our guests," said Boulud. "I'm constantly inspired by the local markets in other destinations when I travel around the worldHe is preceded in death by his father, Leonard Hayes; and niece, Kayla Hayes. He is survived by son, Cody Hayes of Dayton; daughter, Katie Hayes of Rockwood; mother, Opal Hayes of Rockwood; brothers, Randall (Rita) Hayes of Georgia, Greg (Tammy) Hayes of Rockwood, Darrell (Tracy) Hayes of RoWe are analyzing the site. Please wait a few seconds..With uncertainty surrounding Brexit surely reaching the high watermark, it can be difficult to predict the future for UK contractors based in the UK.

But in recent months, we have seen that there are indeed lucrative opportunities for motivated and talented contractors overseas.

In this piece exclusively for ContractorUK, we have pinpointed where those opportunities abound in 2019, in both ever-popular Europe, but also Latin America, writes Nick Broughton, on behalf of overseas contracting and payroll specialists Sigma Management Services SA .

Ireland

Ireland is becoming a popular destination for contractors all over Europe. As one of the fastest growing economies in the Eurozone, there are plenty of opportunities for keen contractors. Sectors such as pharma, construction and IT are looking for talented contractors to work in Ireland.

The country has many valid reasons why you should consider living and working in Ireland. Firstly, due to the attractive taxations rates, many of the worlds biggest and most successful companies have offices or even their headquarters located in Ireland. Furthermore, no work permits are required for EU citizens which means that you can freely move. Finally, the climate in Ireland is mild, the crime rate is low, and the Irish people are generally very friendly.

The Nordics

As a group, the Nordic countries continue to be popular work destinations for UK contractors. This is not a surprising given the fact that Norway, Sweden and Denmark are well-developed countries with stable political and economic environments. For people wanting to work there, they offer great opportunities and a good work-life balance. In fact, the Scandinavian countries consistently rank top in the global UN Human Development Report and OCED Better Life Index.

The Nordic region is a hub for innovation in new and emerging industries. Historically, Norway was known as a world leader in oil and gas. Yet, in recent years, the country has been investing heavily in renewable and energy. These new and emerging innovative sectors make it a popular choice for specialist contractors.

Denmark is another popular destination for contractors looking to move abroad and ranks one of the happiest nations in the world. There are plenty of opportunities for contracting in the high tech and the industrial sectors with big players such as Maersk. Neighbouring Sweden is also home to a strong IT, bio-tech and pharma industry for specialist contractors looking to work in this field.

Switzerland

The other freelance-friendly European destination that should be targeted by UK contractors in 2019 is Switzerland.

Switzerland is known for its stable economy, innovative industry and its constant need for highly-skilled and experienced contractors in the IT sector, as well as engineering, pharmaceutical, bio-technology and bio-pharma. The living standards in Switzerland are enviably high, and employers favour a work-life balance.

So far, all the countries listed are all within a two-hour flight time from the UK, making them easily reachable for contractors. There are, however, a range of other hot destinations further afield for UK contractors to seek opportunities during 2019, where demand is tending to match their typically soaring temperatures.

Brazil

Colourful Latin America houses them all right now, and often suits contractors looking for a real change. Brazil for some time now has been considered a land of opportunity thanks to many growing sectors, and the introduction of the new Labour Reform in 2017 has led to more jobs for locals and expats alike. Opportunities for international contractors are in specialist IT, engineering and telecommunications roles.

Argentina

Another vibrant Latin American country that offers similarly strong opportunities for British contractors this year is the second largest economy in South America, Argentina. Its only the first quarter of 2019, and were already seeing increased demand for expats who have niche technical skill-sets! That specialisation is not altogether surprising, as each major centre tends to specialise in a certain field.

For many contractors, Argentina is attractive because it boasts relative stability, a considerable internal market size and an expanding high-technology sector. But its attractive on the eye too, with a wide array of natural resources and a great outdoors, from beaches and glaciers to bustling cities and mountain wilderness.

But wherever you work overseas

For an expat to work compliantly in Latin America, the correct visa and work permit must be secured. And similarly, whether you chose to work in Europe or further afield like Latin America, its important to have your taxes in order.

So look not just for any operator, but for a payroll and employment company that a bit like you probably, is a specialist, able to help avoid all administrative hurdles. As a minimum, we recommend choosing a company that has experience in the local legislation of the country that youre eying a contract in. Remember, each country has its own set of rules -- ranging from the bizarre and quirky to the downright taxing, meaning youll want peace of mind that your company is looking after you from both a safety and compliance perspective, allowing you to focus entirely on your contract, whether its in Bern or Buenos Aires.The consequences can be argued either way. If the Government is defeated again in the Commons later today, and the cause is European Research Group or other pro-Brexit MPs withholding support, this could turn out be to helpful to the Prime Minister  because the EU will conclude that she needs concessions on the Brexit deal she has agreed to get it though the House.

More likely, a loss of this kind would be harmful, because the EU would judge in consequence that Theresa May really cant get MPs to back her for very long about anything whatsoever. That would make them less inclined, not more, to rework the backstop. Which in turn would risk the Cooper amendment, or something like it, being carried in the Commons sooner rather than later. Which would make Brexit less likely to happen in any form at all.

Either way, the central problem for Downing Street is that trust in it, from all parts of the Parliamentary party, is very low indeed. The success of the Brady amendment a fortnight ago only masked this problem, rather than solving it. The ERG doesnt trust the Prime Minister to seek meaningful changes to the backstop. Nor does it believe that she will pursue the solution proposed by the Malthouse Compromise  but, rather, will aim for additions to the backstop rather than changes in its text, let alone scrapping it (as the Brady amendment proposed).

Furthermore, the ERG itself isnt united on its own aims. Some of its members, plus other Brexiteering MPs, could live with a codicil to the backstop. Others insist that the problems posed by Mays deal reach much wider than the backstop, anyway: this point was obscured by the whole group throwing its weight behind the Brady amendment. There is no way of knowing how the numbers break down. What is clear that Olly Robbins overheard conversation in a Brussels bar has done her no good whatsoever.

Whatever Number Tens intentions when it drafted the terms of its motion for debate today, the ERG is now even more suspicious of May than it was before  over her intentions in relation to extension, and to the Customs Union, as well as to the backstop. And no wonder, since it is clear that under the latest timetable the Government will almost certainly need a short technical extension, at best.

This is because she is simply running out of time for a Withdrawal Bill, and other necessary measures, to pass Parliament before March 29 even if a revised deal wins MPs approval next month. That Downing Street continues to deny this helps to explain why trust, as well as time, is almost exhausted.SDLP on back foot after senior resignation over merger

The alliance between the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Northern Irelands smaller and more moderate nationalist party, and Fianna Fail suffered a blow this week when the formers most high-profile MLA resigned.

Clare Hanna, the SDLPs Brexit spokeswoman, resigned from its Assembly group (although not her actual party membership) after a special conference on Saturday approved the new policy partnership with the Republic party, the News Letter reports.

She said that: I remain unconvinced that an exclusive partnership with Fianna Fail is the right vehicle to deliver the non-sectarian, transparent and social democratic new Ireland I believe in.

SDLP members backed the proposal at the conference, although 30 per cent voted against it. There apparently remains a lot of uncertainty around what exactly the new relationship entails, with senior figures being coy as to whether it would mean a joint manifesto or similar.

Hanna may not be the last to leave: Colum Eastwood, the SDLP leader, was reportedly warned that a group of members were considering their options after the link-up was approved.

In other Irish nationalist news, Sinn Fein have reiterated their belief that a no-deal Brexit would trigger a border poll in Northern Ireland.

According to the Guardian, Mary Lou McDonald described such a vote as a democratic necessity in the event that Britain left the EU without the backstop in place  but declined to say when a referendum should be held.

Writing on this site today, David Shiels has warned ministers that by talking up the prospect of a border poll  in a bid to shepherd unionist MPs behind Theresa Mays withdrawal deal  they are playing into the hands of the republicans.

Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, continues to insist that such a Brexit can be avoided  even has he refused to negotiate with the Prime Minister during her visit to Dublin earlier this week. However Geoffrey Cox, the Attorney General, did meet with his Irish counterpart on that Friday, as well as meeting separately with senior figures from the Democratic Unionist Party.

Sammy Wilson, the MP for East Antrim and DUP Brexit spokesman, has had to insist this week that his party remains united in its opposition to the backstop. The News Letter reports that Arlene Foster had earlier refused to be drawn on whether or not she was still demanding its complete abandonment.

Backlash grows against SNPs new tax

Teachers have announced that they will demand compensation out of public funds if they are subject to the Scottish Governments new car park tax  in a move the Tories estimate could cost 1.7 million in Edinburgh alone.

According to the Daily Telegraph, this move by the unions comes as part of a growing public backlash against the proposals, which would see charges levied on private car parks such as those operated by businesses and other places of work.

There was also outrage when it was revealed that such a tax is liable for VAT if the cost is passed on to employees, pushing the cost to workers up to around 500 per year.

Derek Mackay, the SNPs Finance Secretary, accepted an amendment tabled by the Scottish Greens introducing the levy in order to win their support for his budget, which could not have passed without them.

Opposition parties have also this week criticised Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister, for talking up the prospect of independence whilst on an official trade trip to the United States.

This prompted Stephen Daisley, writing in the Spectator, to urge the Government to re-assert its prerogatives over foreign affairs and start attaching conditions to the Scottish Governments use of public funds outwith its remit. Probably too much to hope after ministers foolish retreat over post-Brexit devolved powers, but definitely a good idea for a bolder, more imaginative leadership to consider.

In other news, the Scottish Conservatives have reportedly declared victory in their campaign to stop Boris Johnson becoming Tory leader. I wrote about the significance of Operation Arse earlier this week.

Labour AM apologises for unacceptable comments about Jews

Jenny Rathbone, a Labour member of the Welsh Assembly, has apologised and been issued a formal warning over unacceptable comments she made about Jewish communities.

Wales Online reports that the Cardiff Central AM said it was really uncomfortable how certain security-conscious synagogues now resemble fortresses, and that siege mentalities might be driving this change. She will now undergo antisemitism training by the Community Security Trust.

Meanwhile Mark Drakeford, the new First Minister, is apparently trying to ease out Wales most senior civil servant in order to get a fresh start.Garvan Walshe is a former national and international security policy adviser to the Conservative Party. He runs TRD Policy.

Its been a busy view weeks for the man opposition demonstrators like to call Viktator. Freedom House downgraded Hungary to partly free, the first EU member state to qualify for this dubious distinction.

On Tuesday Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, troubled Viktor Orban with a visit. The effect was mixed. On the one hand, the Trump Adminstration finds Orbans nationalism congenial. But the US (if not the President himself) is growing increasingly concerned by how close hes got to his fellow reactionary strongman, Vladimir Putin.

Then, on Wednesday, the reinvigorated opposition held another demonstration, this time on the banks of the Danube outside the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Not content with expelling Budapests internationally renowned Central European University, hes now turned his sights on the rest of the higher education sector, seeking to politicise and control it. One by one, Hungarys independent institutions are being snuffed out.

Some four-fifths of all nominally non-state media have been amalgamated into a single foundation controlled by one of his cronies.

New administrative courts are being created, directly under the control of the Ministry of Justice.

And the larger opposition political parties have been hit with arbitrary fines (the office of a smaller one suffered a mysterious fire).

Orban boasts a racist obsession with immigration, saying (according to the official English translation of his remarks): we do not want our own colour, traditions and national culture to be mixed with those of others.

But his real problem is emigration. The now discontinued independent news site Budapest Beacon estimated that 600,000 Hungarians  one-tenth of the working age population  had left to other parts of Europe by 2016.

People have gone not only for better wages, but to escape corruption and politicisation of their work. If youre a heart surgeon, why work for a corrupt political appointee when you can go to Germany or Britain instead? Along with these disproportionately educated and hard working people go their taxes. Public hospitals are now so short of resources that the opposition Momentum party has taken to handing out loo roll to patients.

This is happening despite high nominal economic growth. The country is suffering from a severe labour shortage. Orbans first plan to deal with this was to change the overtime law. This did not first sight seem inherently objectionable  except that the workers would have to wait three years for their extra pay!

His second plan is to find more workers, but hes ruled out the easy way to get them  immigration. In the same speech where he said he wanted a white-only Hungary, he also pledged to keep Hungary as it has been for the past 1,100 years.

His method is import substitution. Perhaps inspired by that German AFD election poster showing two pregnant women under the caption lets make our own, Orban has turned to natalism.

Like other Orban initiatives, this can seem superficially plausible but conceals a much darker reality.

Hungarys fertility rate is low (1.42 births per woman) so in the long run more children are needed to achieve replacement level even with modest immigration.

Increasing fertility to those levels is not impossible. France has a generous system of child benefit and extensive state childcare (40 per cent of children below three and almost all above three are in formal childcare), and a fertility rate of 1.96. Sweden has a similar record (almost 55 per cent and 90 per cent), and a fertility rate of 1.85.

Both France and Sweden have done so without taking too many women out of the labour force. In France, parenthood reduces the average amount of time women spend in work by only about ten per cent (and in Sweden actually increases it fractionally). Yet in Hungary it reduces it by a third  by far the largest amount in any European country.

Instead of following their example, Orban has come up with two policies: the first a gimmick, the second sinister.

His first idea is an income tax cut for women who have four children. Fair enough, you might say. But since Hungarian childcare is so poor, how many women with four children are going to also have the time to earn enough to benefit from the tax cut? Cynics have already pointed out one benificiary: Orbans wife (she has five children).

The second is far more ominous. Married women under 40 (and note, married women only) are to be eligible for a huge loan  of ten million forint, or about 27,000, 30 times the average monthly salary  which will be forgiven if they have three children.

This is a huge amount of money, particularly in poorer parts of Hungary where salaries worth a few hundred pounds per month are normal. It might sound like a nice deal if youre a young woman from an impoverished village: get married, have some children. But what happens if you dont like your husband? Or hes violent or abusive? Or have a terrible pregnancy and dont want another one? Or even if he just loses his job? The payments on the loan would be crippling. The pressure to have more children (and, given the parlous state of Hungarian childcare provision, and difficulty of getting part-time work; and long commuting times in sparsely populated areas) would be severe.

This isnt a positive incentive to have children, but debt-peonage to the state.

Nor would it even work in the medium term, because it takes women out of the labour force, exacerbating the labour shortage, instead of getting them to work in order to relieve it.

This policy wont make a dent in Hungarys labour shortage, but it will put Hungarian women under the thumb of the government and their husbands.

Maybe he needs a new name: Orban the Taliban.Phil Taylor: In its bid for bleakness, Labours broadcast is both glib and deceptive

Phil Taylor is a Conservative activist in Ealing.

In their latest party political broadcast Jeremy Corbyns Labour party has taken the idea of shroud waving to a new level, trying to pin the deaths of thousands of citizens on the government.

But the numbers it uses are misleading in one case and downright bogus in the other.

The hard-hitting film is the third to be made by filmmaker and Corbyn-booster Simon Baker. His first two, Our Town and its follow-up Our Country, were well-produced and hit emotional buttons expertly. This time Baker is going for the righteous indignation button, and is jabbing it as hard as he can.

The characters you see in the broadcast are not patients, doctors, and nurses in the NHS. They are actors. Many of the factual captions displayed on funereal black backgrounds alongside the images are fictitious too.

Teenage suicides have nearly doubled since 2010

The ugliest part of this is the way Labour is talking up the teenage suicide rate. The UK has one of the lowest suicide rates in Europe. At seven per 100,000 in 2015 it is the fourth-lowest out of 28 EU countries, and only two-thirds the EU average.

UK suicide is at historic lows, with 2017 being the best year in the current data series for male suicide. In its latest report the Office for National Statistics (ONS) did not mention teenage suicide as being of particular note.

These deaths are terrible, but thankfully they are rare: 155 young people in the 15-19 age group took their own lives in England in 2017 (the latest year for which definitive statistics are available). This age group are less likely to kill themselves than any other, older age group.

Labour is picking its data very cynically: 2010 was the best year ever for suicide in this age group in England at 3.2 deaths per 100,000 population  so every other year in the time series is worse.

If you want to call calendar 1998 to 2010 the product of New Labour and 2011 to 2017 that of the Coalition and the Conservatives then the average teenage suicide rate under New Labour was 4.30 per 100,000 of population and it was 4.33 in the later period.

Teenage suicide, as sad as it is, is thankfully a relatively small phenomenon and one that has changed little over the 36 years for which we have readily comparable data. Making it into a political weapon and attaching a sound track to it is, in my view, pretty disgusting.

Health and social care spending cuts have been linked to 120,000 excess deaths in England

The most eye popping claim that Labour tries to nail on is that austerity is responsible for 120,000 excess deaths. This claim is based on a lightweight academic paper printed in the British Medical Journal in 2017. The first place to look for evidence of how flimsy the work is is the study itself which notes:

A limitation was that our study was observational and retrospective, thereby our findings likely capture association rather than causation.

At the time this was published in November 2017 academics were pretty scathing. For instance, Dr Richard Fordham, Senior Lecturer in Health Economics at the University of East Anglia, said:

longitudinal studies are fraught with difficulties in proving causality and despite the best statistical efforts of the authors, one should treat their conclusions with some caution.

And Prof. Martin Roland, Emeritus Professor of Health Services Research at the University of Cambridge, said:

the authors overstate the certainty of this link to funding and are highly speculative about the money needed to save lives in future.

For the first time since World War Two, life expectancy is going backwards in the poorest areas

The paper did not mention or test for the most likely explanation of the excess deaths  the strange fact that the Golden Cohort of those born immediately before the Second World War have enjoyed great longevity, are passing quickly, and the succeeding generation do not seem to be as long-lived. This same effect has been seen in in France, Austria, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands and Switzerland.

The paper extrapolates a benign trend in the run up to 2010, assuming it could have run on for years more. Such trends rarely do. It also assumes that health spending could have continued to increase as it had under New Labour.

Although the paper avoids direct political comment it cannot avoid the fact that this counterfactual was never available. The 20 billion Nicholson Challenge cuts had already been kicked off in 2009 by Andy Burnham and numbers of nurses in training had already been throttled back. Furthermore Alistair Darling was promising 46 billion of further cuts to public services if he was still chancellor after the 2010 election.

The BMJ paper was an exercise in statistical voodoo whose numbers have no meaning in real life.

Labour knows that talking about the NHS works well for it. At the last election it offered an impressive-sounding 37 billion to fix its problems. Last year the Conservatives promised to put in an extra 84 billion over the parliament, but even more than doubling Labours 2017 offer is  according to Labour  inadequate.

Labours bleak, feel-bad movie pulls at the heart strings and and glibly deceives.Dr David Shiels is a Policy Analyst at Open Europe and also works on contemporary political history.

Would a No Deal Brexit lead to Irish unity? The possibility of the break-up of the United Kingdom triggered by a chaotic Brexit was reportedly discussed at Cabinet last week, with one minister telling colleagues that the UK was sleepwalking into a border poll.

The reports have upset the DUP, angry that the constitutional question has been brought into the discussion at this stage. Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, said it was a revival of Project Fear. After coming on board with the Brady amendment to give the Government more time to renegotiate the Brexit deal, the DUPs lines on the backstop have hardened in the last few days.

Rightly or wrongly, there is a sense that by talking up the prospects of a No Deal border poll, the Government is feeding into a narrative set by Sinn Fein. From the Government, the message to the DUP seems to be support our deal or take your chances with a referendum. For a party which already sees the backstop as something which undermines the integrity of the United Kingdom, the fact that the Government is thinking along these lines is disturbing.

Meanwhile, the interventions by John Major and Tony Blair have also gone down badly with Unionists, the two ex-premiers having recently spoken about the impact of a No Deal Brexit on the peace process. (It should be remembered that the joint intervention by the former Prime Ministers during the 2016 referendum was claimed to have encouraged an increase in Vote Leave support in Northern Ireland).

Of course, some will say that the DUP are getting what they deserve. Brexit was clearly a provocation to Irish Nationalists and the party should not be surprised that talk of Irish unity is now on the agenda in a way that it was not before the referendum. There is a sense that the party has trapped itself into supporting a hard Brexit  though the recent intervention by Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP Chief Whip, suggests that the Party acknowledges the dangers of a No Deal Brexit and wants to avoid that outcome.

Although the Irish Government has been keen to downplay the possibility of a border poll  no doubt aware of Unionist sensitivities over the backstop  there are plenty of commentators and politicians in Dublin who are contemplating unity in a way they had not done before. Even John Bruton, the very moderate ex-Taoiseach, has pointed out that By backing Brexit at all costs, including a no-deal Brexit, the Democratic Unionist Party has enhanced the likelihood of a border poll that would end the Union.

Despite these conversations about Irish unity, there are no convincing signs that a change in Northern Irelands constitutional position is imminent. True, a number of opinion polls have shown increased support for Irish unity because of Brexit, with more people supporting a united Ireland in that context. The possibility of a No Deal Brexit shows the most dramatic effect, and one opinion poll by the Belfast-based LucidTalk polling company  cited by Bruton  suggested that in the circumstances of No Deal 55 per cent of people would probably or certainly support Irish unity.

It is always difficult to poll for hypothetical situations, however. There is a debate about whether demographics in Northern Ireland favour Irish unity in the longer term  but this would be happening irrespective of Brexit. The most recent actual test of opinion in Northern Ireland  the 2017 General Election  showed that that voters continued to follow traditional patterns of behaviour. The DUPs vote went up by just over ten per cent on the previous Westminster election, while Sinn Feins vote also went up by just under five per cent.

Under the terms of the Belfast Agreement, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland must call a border poll if at any time it appears likely to him [or her] that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a united Ireland. Some may contend that these circumstances have been met, since the Unionist parties are now polling under 50 per cent at Westminster and Assembly elections.

It could equally be argued that the Nationalist parties would have to win a clear mandate for a border poll before one is called. Much may depend on the position taken by the non-aligned Alliance Party, and whether its anti-Brexit position would lead it to endorse a border poll in the circumstances of No Deal (though there is no suggestion that it would do so). There is also a view, taken by Lord Bew, that the Government could actively use a border poll to determine support for the Union.

Clearly, Unionists must proceed with caution, and they should be prepared for all possibilities. As I have argued before, the fact that all the border constituencies have returned abstentionist Sinn Fein MPs is a sign of considerable dissatisfaction with the existing governance arrangements in Northern Ireland, and this has been exacerbated by Brexit. It is right that the Government takes seriously the concerns of Nationalist opinion.

It may also be that if a Brexit deal is secured, the constitutional question will be taken off the table again. For as long as No Deal remains a possibility, it is unhelpful for Ministers to speculate about a border poll  particularly as there seems to be little strategic thinking behind this approach. Raising the question is not only counterproductive in terms of bringing the DUP onside, but also adds another element of uncertainty to the current debate in Northern Ireland.Alison Cork is an entrepreneur specialising in home interiors, and a television presenter. She was among those shortlisted to be the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London.

Far from being paved with gold, the shopping streets of London currently tell a tale of retail woe. Empty units, an unhealthy balance (literally) of fast food outlets, and most depressingly for me, a lack of spark and originality in the brands on offer. High street retail should be an exciting process of discovery and consumer courtship, but more often than not it is now a repetitive and uninspiring affair.

Rent, rates and online retail are normally quoted as the reasons for this malaise, all of which play their part, but I dont feel that this paints a wholly balanced picture.

All businesses have to face competition, whether they are online or physical retail, and to say that online retail should pay supplementary taxes to counteract their supposed advantage seems a counter-intuitive way to deal with the problem (Im not referring here to the well known behemoths of online retail who seem particularly adept at paying tiny amounts of tax  this should definitely be addressed). Im saying that we should be looking positively to reinvent the high street, rather than penalizing online shopping, which appears to be succeeding in serving up speed and convenience to the consumer.

Part of the solution I feel lies in how we use physical retail space and the way in which increasingly we spend our leisure time. Shopping is now less about the mechanics of purchasing an item at the till and carrying it home, and more about having an enjoyable leisure experience discovering new product and services, whilst relaxing and socializing. Physical retail needs to respond to this, particularly the large stores which have such enormous overheads and considerable square footage to monetize.

A few years ago my own homeward brand won a retail competition to run a concession in House of Fraser on Oxford Street for two weeks. Whilst it was a great opportunity and one we hugely enjoyed, I remember feeling a deep sense of foreboding that there were many days when the sales staff seemed to outnumber the customers passing through, and I could only wonder at the electricity bill. Fast forward a few years and we know what happened to HoF. And they are not alone, retail profit warnings generally recently reached a seven-year high, so something needs to be done and quickly.

However, I do believe that large stores could reinvent themselves and provide the lifestyle experience people now want. Increasingly we are working for ourselves, demanding flexible working hours and arrangements, and wanting low overhead workspace, hence the growing success of shared workspace businesses such as Wework.

Why not combine this demand with the more fluid lifestyle people now lead, and build more co-working spaces into large retail units? Places like Pret A Manger already double as mobile offices for many people, but this would be taking the concept to its next logical step and providing a more comprehensive yet still flexible workspace. It would also facilitate networking amongst the self-employed, something I know to be very important from the work we do at Make It Your Business. This approach could also be adapted to help the elderly, providing a more formal place to meet people and socialise, counteracting another big challenge  that of modern-day loneliness.

Add in a bigger choice of eateries, other services such as child care, fun interactive brand experiences harnessing technology and efficient, cost-effective home delivery of purchases (so we can continue our retail experience hands free so to speak) and the overall result might be that we spend more time exposed to the retail proposition and end up spending more. All of a sudden, House of Fraser sounds a bit more interesting and relevant to our everyday needs and changing work/life habits. Physical retail needs to become multi functioning and go beyond its somewhat linear offering.

This is perhaps a solution for the larger stores, but what is the solution to my other point about wanting retail to be a journey of discovery of new product and brands? I think it lies in the other type of shopping street we have in London, the traditional high street of what is often 20th century construct, a parade of shops with retail outlets on the ground floor and more often than not, offices on the first floor and above.

Currently, the ground floor typically would be classified as retail, as it has a street frontage, but it is this very advantage which makes it expensive and beyond the reach of many new and more niche retailers. Why dont we amend or allow more flexibility around our building classification to allow first floor and above also to be divided into smaller retail units (as opposed to office units), which could give rise to a honeycomb of exciting, new and niche brands getting the high street exposure they need. It would also give back the consumer that sense of discovery, originality and authenticity that I think they crave and miss. Take a walk down somewhere like South Molton Street and imagine how much more enticing it would be if every building was three floors of retail discovery. I know Id be there like a shot.

London has the potential to be the best retail destination in the world. We certainly have the creative spirit to deliver on that. Lets match that with some creative retail thinking and policy making.Prime Minister faces defeat on no deal vote

Brexiteers vow to defeat plan to take clean Brexit off the table  The Sun

Up to 80 Tories threaten revolt in Commons showdown  Daily Express

MPs accuse May of ruling out no deal  Daily Telegraph

Blackford repeats claim that Prime Minister lied over analysis  The Scotsman

Theresa Mays claim that she is ready to take Britain out of the EU without a deal appeared increasingly tenuous on Wednesday, as the prime ministers allies admitted that a slew of ministerial resignations could force her to abandon the strategy. Mrs May wants to keep the prospect of a chaotic Brexit on the table as a way of putting pressure on Brussels to finalise a revised exit deal after the House of Commons emphatically rejected her withdrawal agreement last month. But Mrs Mays advisers admitted that a move led by former Labour minister Yvette Cooper and Conservative grandee Oliver Letwin to take a no-deal Brexit off the table was likely to win the backing of MPs in a key vote on February 27. Downing Street is taking seriously the threat that a number of Europhile ministers will finally make good on their threat to quit and support the initiative by Ms Cooper and Sir Oliver. This will definitely be high noon, said one cabinet minister. We cant wait any longer.  FT

More:

Delay or make clean break, industries tell Brussels  FT

Ford warns that no-deal would be catastrophic  Daily Mail

Government must pass over 450 laws before exit day  The Sun

Ireland:

Varadkar insists that no-deal exit can be averted  FT

Sinn Fein insists it would lead to border poll  The Guardian

Comment:

Europe must offer concessions or risk disaster  Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Daily Telegraph

Project Fear is an insult to voters  Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, The Sun

Does Robbins blunder hint at a conspiracy?  John Longworth, Daily Telegraph

>Today:

>Yesterday: Video: WATCH: Hannan  The EUs lack of goodwill shows why Britain must not accept the backstop

and is urged to reform trades union law to woo Corbyn

Theresa May is being urged to rip up the Trade Union Act and allow fast-track strike votes to win Labour MPs support for her Brexit deal. Union bosses are demanding the Government drop all opposition to the e-balloting of their members  something the Tories have bitterly opposed for three years. Downing Street is understood to be considering the request, one source said. It comes as ministers continue to thrash out a workers right package with the TUC and Unite chief Len McCluskey as well as over a dozen of Labour MPs in the bid to win wider support for Theresa Mays Brexit deal. On Tuesday the PM signalled she was preparing to offer other concessions such as rules on agency workers. These include repealing the so-called Swedish derogation, which allows employers to pay their agency workers less.  The Sun

Labour leader blasts May over ferry fiasco- FT

and she fires back on his flip-flopping  The Sun

Trust in Corbyn plummeting, new poll suggests  Daily Express

Shadow Cabinet revolt if leader doesnt back a second referendum  The Sun

Corbyn could face up to ten resignations  Daily Mail

Comment:

Remainers must hold their nerve  Martin Kettle, The Guardian

Britain is hostage to Mays vanity  Philip Stephens, FT

>Yesterday: Video: WATCH: Corbyn presses May on Brexit preparations at PMQs

May warns BBC not to cut free licences for the elderly

T

and pledges to reintroduce FGM law blocked by Chope  The Sun

Food Standards Agency casts doubt on Prime Ministers call for food economising  Daily Telegraph

he BBC must not end free TV licences for over 75s, Theresa May has warned. The Prime Minister said many elderly people would lose out if they dont have the connection with the world which watching television brings. People over 75 are entitled to a free TV licence under a government-funded scheme which is due to end in 2020. A public consultation on the subsidy closed this week. It had five options under consideration: continuing the scheme; scrapping it; raising the threshold to 80; giving over-75s a 50 per cent discount; or means-testing the payment by linking it to pension credit. MPs and campaigners have warned that hundreds of thousands of over-75s will be worse off if the free scheme is ended.  Daily Telegraph

Comment:

A flash of the Blitz spirit  Hannah Betts, Daily Telegraph

Leadsom warns that restoration of Parliament may be at risk

The restoration of Parliament could never happen unless necessary legislation is passed by May  Andrea Leadsom has warned. Allies said the Commons Leader fears the 4 billion project will never get off the ground if it doesnt reach the statute book before the end of the current Parliamentary session. She believes a new Government after a possible General Election could drop it altogether given the spiralling costs, a source said. They added there are fears the Lords could try once more to dilute the project. Under current plans, MPs and peers will have to decamp within five years so essential works can take place to safeguard the Palace of Westminster. In a separate interview yesterday, Ms Leadsom hinted at her concerns by saying she was desperately keen to crack on with introducing legislation to establish independent statutory bodies to oversee the restoration.  The Sun

Defence Secretary accused of blowing Chinese trade talks worth billions

Williamson says gay members of the Armed Forces should be able to wed on bases  Daily Telegraph

A furious Government row has erupted after Gavin Williamson was accused of risking Britains chances to access Chinese markets worth billions. Chinese deputy PM Hu Chunhua was due to hold trade talks with Philip Hammond this weekend. But he dramatically cancelled the meeting on Monday afternoon  just hours after the Defence Secretary publicly lashed Chinas military ambitions. In a fiery speech, Mr Williamson said Britain must be prepared to boost our lethality as he threatened to deploy a British aircraft carrier to Chinas backyard China had been expected to lift their bans on British poultry and cosmetics which have not been tested on animals. The agreements would have opened up access to markets worth an estimated 10.2billion over five years.  The Sun

>Yesterday: ToryDiary: The most pro-intervention speech by a Defence Secretary since the Iraq War

Freeman requests review of Greens knighthood

Theresa Mays former policy chief has asked a Whitehall panel to review Sir Philip Greens knighthood. The formal request from Tory MP George Freeman means the Honours Forfeitures Committee will now have to consider stripping the billionaire of his gong over explosive sexual harassment allegations. Last night Lib Dem chief Vince Cable said he was likely to file a request of his own. The Committee previously ruled that ex-banker Sir Fred Goodwin should lose his knighthood. Speaking in the Commons Mr Freeman urged Theresa May to stand up for decent standards and take action against the Topshop mogul. He said Sir Philip should be stripped of his knighthood for bringing the system of honours and business into disrepute.  The Sun

ISIS bride has right to come home, says Wallace

Their defeat is an example of successful intervention  Michael Fallon MP, Daily Telegraph

James Brokenshire: Like Macmillan, we can deliver a housing market which works for future generations

A jihadi schoolgirl who ran away to Syria to join Isis has the right to come home but could face years in jail, the security minister has revealed. Ben Wallace said as a British citizen, heavily pregnant Shamima Begum, 19, can come back into the country but can expect to face prison when she gets here. He told Sky News this morning: As a British citizen she has the right to home here. But he added: Anyone who goes to fight for Isis, a dreadful, horrendous group, should expect to be interviewed and potentially prosecuted. Last night the teen, who fled from East London to join fighters abroad when she was just 15, said she wants now to come home to have her third child. But she said she didnt regret her decision to go out there, and wasnt bothered by seeing the sick crimes of the terror group.  The Sun

Since we set the bold ambition to deliver 300,000 properties a year by the mid-2020s ministers, including myself, have noted the important connection with Harold Macmillan. Super Mac took up the challenge of rehousing the nation after the Second World War and within three years had managed to gear an industry up to achieve record levels of performance. We rightly look back at this era in awe at the scale of ambition and mine it for lessons we can use today. A recognition of the interconnection between state and industry at a time of significant building was a central theme of the 1950s mass building, and in that spirit I am proud today to announce 250 million of new housing deals to build almost 25,000 much-needed properties across the country. Similarly, there was an approach which brought government together where different parts of the state worked in support of a common political goal. Fast forward to today and under an innovative agreement our housing accelerator Homes England will help deliver more than 10,000 properties on Ministry of Defence sites.  Daily Telegraph

Labour centrists prepare to form breakaway party

McDonnell brands Churchill a villain  The Guardian

Teachers demand taxpayer refunds from SNPs new tax

Moderate Labour MPs are plotting to form a breakaway political party within weeks if Jeremy Corbyn refuses to back an amendment calling for a second referendum. At least half-a-dozen backbenchers have been holding regular conversations about splitting from the party and forming a new, pro-EU centrist group. They say Labour has tacked too far to the left under the leadership or Mr Corbyn, a life-long Eurosceptic who spent decades on the partys fringes. Some MPs say February 27, the date of the next round of voting on Theresa Mays Brexit deal, could be the point of schism if, as expected, Mr Corbyn does not support an amendment backing a so-called peoples vote. Ive talked to them [the moderates] lots of times and they are just so angry. They arent listening any more. It sounds like nothing will stop them breaking away, said one Labour MP.  FT

Teachers will demand the taxpayer refunds them if they are forced to pay the SNPs workplace parking levy at Scotlands schools, union leaders have warned as the public outcry intensified. The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), the countrys largest teaching union, said it would fight for compensation in the next round of pay negotiations for any members who were hit with the levy. Assuming the levy is set at around 500 per year, as happens in Nottingham, the Tories calculated that the refund to Edinburghs teachers alone would cost the public purse 1.7 million. They said there would also be huge rebates for teachers in Glasgow (2.6 million), Aberdeen (818,000) and Dundee (660,000) should their respective city councils implement the levy.  Daily Telegraph

News in Brief:For nearly two years now, Project Treble has served as a source of hope and inspiration for the Android faithful  a magical-seeming fix for a long-standing source of frustration.

Unveiled in the spring of 2017, Project Treble is Google's most ambitious effort ever to rethink the structure of Android, as an operating system, and break the software down in some wild new ways  all with the aim of making it easier for phone-makers to get OS updates out to their devices in a reasonably timely manner. Android upgrades have been a major pain point on the platform practically since the start, and despite all of Google's previous efforts, manufacturers just keep getting worse at providing post-sales software support to their highest-paying customers.

The current Android 9 Pie release is particularly significant because it's the first Android version to take full advantage of all the changes Treble has introduced  and to come into a world where pretty much all of the current flagship phones were built to support it. So in theory, at least, this current Android upgrade cycle should be the one where we see the benefits of Treble in a meaningful and measurable manner.

[Get fresh tips and insight in your inbox every Friday with JR's Android Intelligence newsletter. Exclusive extras await!]

The gist of Treble, in case you haven't been paying attention, is that it takes the guts of Android  the hardware-specific stuff, like drivers that control how the software interacts with a device's processor and modem  and puts them into a totally isolated lower layer, separate from the rest of the operating system. That means manufacturers no longer have to wait for companies like Qualcomm to update all that lower-level code every time a new release comes along and can instead just jump right into their part of the updating process.

So how much of a difference should that evolution make? That's the million-dollar question. And as it turns out, we have an answer: Last year, I had the chance to interview Iliyan Malchev, a principal software engineer at Google and a key architect of the Project Treble program. One of my pressing questions for him was exactly how much of an impact Treble should have on the Android upgrade delivery process, from a real-world perspective. And his answer was pretty unambiguous.

By eliminating that initial part of the upgrade process, where device-makers had to work with silicon vendors and wait for them to update all the code related to the hardware-specific parts of the software, Treble should shave about a quarter of a year off the upgrade process, Malchev told me. That's how long the lower-level code updating typically took, in his estimation  and so without that part of the process in the picture, device-makers were essentially getting a three-month jump.

Well, guess what? I carefully track and measure Android device-makers' performance with upgrade deliveries every year (and for good reason). So now that we're past the six-month mark since Pie's release and my latest Android Upgrade Report Card is complete, we can use all of that data to see if Treble is working the way it should.

Spoiler alert: Prepare to be disappointed.

Android Pie and Project Treble: Current-gen flagship performance

Let's start by looking at how the most significant Android device-makers did when it comes to their current-gen flagship phones at the time of Pie's release. For the purpose of consistency and establishing a standard metric for comparison, my analysis focuses on the amount of time it took each company to get a finished version of Android 9 onto a model of its flagship phone that's readily available in the United States.

We can then compare that to each company's performance  under the same measurement  with the previous Android 8.0 Oreo upgrade, where Treble was not an active factor. And, in theory, we should see that the Pie rollout is a solid three months faster across the board. Right?

Yeah. About that:

JR (Click image to enlarge)

When it comes to current-gen flagships, Google was relatively consistent from Oreo to Pie  no huge surprise there and no cause for complaint, given its near-flawless starting point. HTC, meanwhile, did meaningfully worse with Pie than with Oreo: The company got the Oreo upgrade out in 99 days and to this day has not delivered Pie, meaning it's up to 191 days and counting.

LG, too, has already passed the point of meeting Treble's expected three-month window of improvement. The company took an embarrassing 274 days to get Oreo onto its current-gen U.S. flagship  so shaving three months or roughly 90 days off of that would mean that LG should have gotten Pie to owners of its current flagship a (still quite pitiful) 184 days after the software's release. That would have been last Wednesday, February 6th. And LG still hasn't done a thing.

The same can be said for Motorola, which took 124 days to get Oreo onto its current-gen flagship and has yet to deliver Pie to its highest-paying current customers.

Now, before you drown yourself in a river of virtual tears, there are a couple bits of positive news in this mountain of mediocrity: First, Samsung made a modest amount of improvement on its current-gen flagship upgrade delivery time with Pie, going from a godawful 213 days with Oreo to an only moderately awful 177 days with Pie. That's an improvement of 36 days  not nearly enough to count as a true Treble win, but at least something, right?

Still, when you zoom out and look at the bigger picture, it's tough to say Samsung accomplished much. With Nougat a year earlier, the company took 179 days to deliver the software to its then-current-gen flagship. What's more, Samsung's been on a downward spiral for quite a while now. It took 155 days for current-flagship delivery with Marshmallow and 106 days with Lollipop. So all that really happened with Pie is that Samsung basically went back to its Nougat level of performance but still failed to meet its level of performance from the previous two years before that  neither of which was even particularly impressive. So, yeah: It's hard to chalk that up as being a Treble-related victory.

The second promising nugget is a fair bit better: OnePlus cut down its current-flagship delivery time by 91 days from Oreo to Pie. That's almost exactly three months  right on target! Finally, a result that seems to indicate Treble worked as expected, at least in this one super-specific (and relatively small-scale) instance. But don't break out the bubbly and do a celebratory monkey-dance just yet: There's another side of the equation to consider.

Android Pie and Project Treble: Previous-gen flagship performance

It's easy to focus on current-gen flagships as a metric of Android manufacturers' performance with operating system upgrades  but in reality, the previous-gen phones are equally important. When you buy a flagship phone today, after all, you expect to have it supported for two years at a minimum. And yet, most device-makers treat their year-old customers as even more irrelevant afterthoughts.

To wit:

JR (Click image to enlarge)

With the sole exception of Google and OnePlus, not a single major Android device-maker (within the U.S.-specific focus of this analysis) has delivered Pie to its previous-gen flagship as of this writing  191 days, well over half a year, since the software's release. There's simply no excuse for that, whether Project Treble is present or not.

Speaking of which, not all of these previous-gen devices were updated to support Treble ahead of the Pie rollout. But you know which ones were? The pair of flagships from OnePlus. And yet, while OnePlus did beat most of the pack by actually getting Pie onto its previous-gen products within that initial six-month period, it took longer to do that than it did with Oreo the year before  47 days longer, so not just a rounding error. While OnePlus made appropriate improvements on its current-gen flagship, in other words, it kinda made up the difference by doing meaningfully worse with its previous-gen, Treble-supporting phones.

Pie and Treble: Putting it all in perspective

So what to make of all this? First, let me just say: I hate to be such a downer. Despite my ongoing skepticism about Treble, I had genuinely hoped the project would prove me wrong and show that with the right amount of help and motivation, we'd see some evidence that Android device-makers (beyond just Google) could treat their customers better and show us that maybe, even just a little, they care about more than making an initial hardware sale.

But looking at this data, it's hard not to reach the same conclusion I pointed out as a strong possibility at the get-go: Despite all of the sound logic behind what Google did with Project Treble  and all the validity in the time it shaves off the update process and the effect that should have on software delivery times  Treble can't address an increasingly undeniable reality within the Android ecosystem: the fact that most Android device-makers have little real motivation to make timely OS updates a priority.

The truth, of course, is that this shouldn't be entirely surprising. We've seen Google make numerous other efforts to encourage timely Android updates and make the process easier for manufacturers before, and as we've been reminded time and time again, most of the companies simply don't give a damn.

An effort like Treble can't serve as a fix for companies that just don't care

And really, at the risk of sounding callous, who can blame 'em? Aside from Google, whose business model revolves around software and services and providing an experience that encourages you to use the internet as much as possible, every Android device-maker makes its money by convincing you to upgrade your hardware at a regular interval. And on the surface, at least, providing timely and ongoing software improvements not only requires a significant amount of investment with no immediate return  it also makes your existing phone feel continually fresh and current. And that doesn't exactly inspire you to go out and buy a new model.

Ultimately, all Project Treble can do is cut the amount of time and cost required for a phone-maker to process and deliver an operating system upgrade  and in a situation where a manufacturer is already motivated, that could absolutely make a difference. But as positive of a step as it may be for Android in theory, an effort like Treble can't serve as a fix for companies that just don't care.

The only surefire solution is to educate ourselves about the various device-makers' attitudes and behaviors and then make our own future purchasing decisions with that knowledge in mind. (Screaming and vigorous desk-pounding can also be effective, from what I've heard  though in more of a short-term, stress release sort of sense. Hey, whatever works, right?)

Sign up for my weekly newsletter to get more practical tips, personal recommendations, and plain-English perspective on the news that matters.

[Android Intelligence videos at Computerworld]Robert Lee Alexander passed away in Florissant, Missouri on June 11, 2021, at the age of 90. He was a loving and devoted husband of 64 years to Jacqueline Lee (Blaine) Alexander, who preceded him in death in 2018, and a devoted and loving father to Cindy Sander, and Robert Alexander Jr., andColumbia, MO (65201)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. A few storms may be severe. Low 73F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. A few storms may be severe. Low 73F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%.There are approximately 48 countries in Asia, which guarantees a range of diversity over the thousands of square miles that make up the continent.

The Chinese Students and Scholars Association brought together a taste of these differences during Asian Culture Night on Feb 13. in Alumni Hall in the HUB-Robeson Center.

As the clock struck 5:30 p.m., students flooded through the double doors.

Before them lay over a dozen clubs and organizations setting up interactive games for them to try. A distant sound of rhythmic thudding from tinikling dancing could be heard closer to the front of the hall.

Closer to the doors was the Japanese Friendship Association table, with a tri-fold board decorated with cherry blossoms resting on top.

I would say Penn States Japanese population is pretty small so our clubs goal is to create a community to form relationships and bonds, JFA partnership director Debbie Guerrero said.

Guerrero (junior-communication sciences and disorders) has attended this event multiple times. She discussed the clubs excitement in being able to share Japanese culture with others  especially those she referred to as domestic students.

Guerrero went on to explain that she believes Penn States Asian organizations feel Asian-inclusive.

It almost feels like if youre not Asian you shouldnt be here, she said, but I hope with events like this domestic students feel more welcome, and maybe it will pique their interest into becoming a part of these orgs.

Other clubs at the event included the Malaysia Student Club, Korean Student Association and Vietnamese Student Association, all of which brought a game or activity.

The Chinese Student Association featured a diabolo  a yoyo spun on a string attached to two sticks  and plush animals of the 12 zodiac animals. This year celebrated the year of the pig during Chinese New Year on Feb. 5.

The Malaysia Student Association sold fans and pouches of batik patterns. This groups game was congkak, a type of mancala board game.

I enjoy sharing our culture with other people because sometimes the world is so big, there are so many countries, Malaysia Students Club head of philanthropy Farah Adam said. "You just get so lost in all the things other countries have to offer.

An hour after the event started, two hosts took to the stage as attendees filled in rows of chairs. One host spoke of making connections across distances and being able to showcase the different cultures in one place.

Next, students showcased seven performances of traditional Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysian and Korean dance and singing.

The first performance by Shiqi Xiao titled Nostalgia consisted of delicate hand movements and smooth flips. Dressed in a sequined blue and pink two-piece outfit, Xiao gazed beyond the crowd, seemingly lost in her movements.

At 6:30 a series of performances began, starting with a solo dance titled "Nostalgia" performed by Shiqi Xiao pic.twitter.com/S8U2eiwSn2  Lilly Forsyth (@lillyforsyth_) February 14, 2019

The Japanese Soran Bushi dance that followed contrasted with Xiaos gentle gestures as the group of eight stomped and yelled. The working dance has origins as a sea shanty done by fisherman.

Representing the northern part of Thailand, four dancers wrapped in gold fabric and silver jewelry tiptoed onto the stage. Each of their fingers  except for their thumbs  were tipped with 8-inch bronze nails that curved upward.

The girls moved slowly, each turn of their arms and wrists well-calculated. Their feet picked up speed as they spun around each other across the stage before returning to a slower pace.

One of the dancers, Ravisara Wattana  who is in charge of internal relations for Thai Student Association  explained she wasnt very nervous during the show because in Thailand, most students are required to study Thai dance. Wattana herself studied it for six years.

The momentum speed up as the hosts announced the next performers would be K-Pop dance and music, prompting bursts of cheers.

KPDM had two performances, one set to Yes or Yes by K-Pop group Twice and another to Naughty Boy by boyband Pentagon.

Dressed in red and black clothing, the first performers danced with bright smiles and hints of sultriness. The crowd cheered each time the only male in the group had a spotlight moment. He smiled shyly in response.

The second group began with a colorful umbrella hiding dancers dressed in yellow, green and brown hues. Off-stage, the first group cheered loudly.

You cant help but smile at them cheering you on and that makes us feel better, Danielle Leeman (junior-biology) said. Since this is my first year here, I didnt really have a lot of way to make friends, but just by being here I have met so many types of people.

Fellow KPDM dancer NDaysia Parmer expressed her surprise at the entire event, not expecting so many interactive activities. Parmer (freshman-psychology) was also a fan of the jegichagi game  in which participants kick and pass a feathered object around  provided by the Korean Student Association.

Other acts included a Vietnamese song, Malaysian Salit martial arts and an instrumental piece using an erhu and guzheng, both of which are traditional Chinese instruments.

The evening wrapped up with a buffet of Panda Express and a group photo, concluding this years Asian Culture Night.

All the performers gather on the stage, officially concluding tonight's event. pic.twitter.com/x6nqxRPNez  Lilly Forsyth (@lillyforsyth_) February 14, 2019

I think it went well, though we didnt expect so much food to be leftover, Xiao Zhong (senior-electrical engineering), who helped organize the event, said.

Zhongs favorite part of the evening was Xiaos performance, though he admitted with a laugh that he might be biased toward Chinese culture.

I really like that one, but all the other dancers were good, too, he said.

Zhong initially wanted everyone to dance in traditional clothing, but understood financial barriers to achieving this.

As for the future, Zhong hopes to bring more shows to draw a larger audience. He also hopes it can one day expand to include other world cultures.In November, the United State Department of Education announced possible changes to the current Title IX regulations, which prevent discrimination based on sex or gender in the education system.

The revisions would address how universities handle sexual assault and sexual harassment by creating a versatile response to fit all cases. This would limit individual review of incidents.

Penn State participated in a nationwide discussion against the proposed alterations as a member of the Association of American Universities, the American Council on Education and the Association of Public Land-grant Universities.

As we await further guidance from the Department of Education, Penn State will remain steadfast in its commitment to the safety, security and well-being of its students and employees," Penn State President Eric Barron said in a press release. Sexual and gender-based harassment and misconduct will not be tolerated at Penn State.

In another statement, Barron said that the university currently has a comprehensive policy for such situations and will provide an array of resources to those affected.

RELATEDIf students need a ride to the airport for spring break, UPUA and Lyft have them covered.

Bill #12-13 was brought to the floor on Wednesday night by the College of Engineering representative Ben Cutler, and subsequently passed unanimously.

According to the legislation, UPUA will fund up to 75 $15 Lyft ride coupons for students going to the University Park Airport from Feb. 28 to March 2.

Free Lyft rides will also be offered to students returning from the airport from March 9 to March 11. To obtain the offer, students can use the code UPUASHUTTLE19.

According to a press release, the code will give students anywhere from $5-$30 during the specified time.

In addition, two other pieces of legislation were passed unanimously on Feb. 13. Bill #11-13 was proposed by the chair and vice-chair of Governmental Affairs, Jake Griggs and Tom Sarabok.

The bill called for funding for transportation to Capital Day in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Capital Day is a day in which UPUA members and students alike are invited to speak in front of Pennsylvania legislators to request funding for various projects.

RELATED

In an effort to accommodate the needs of all students, UPUA also passed Resolution #22-13  Support of Diversifying Hair Care Products in the Common Area Markets. The legislation will allow for two new products by Carols Daughter, a multi-cultural beauty brand, to be offered at Penn State.

The new products will be Carols Daughter Vanilla Replenishing shampoo and conditioner.

With this piece of legislation we are encouraging Housing and Food Services and Auxiliary and Business Services to continue to explore how this can expand beyond just these two products, as well as thinking about diversity beyond just hair care products, Ben Cutler, the College of Engineering representative, said.

Providing an update on the upcoming UPUA community seats, Chief Justice Jonathon Kinney announced he will send a report to Speaker of the Assembly Bhavin Shah recommending the organizations that applied and were approved by the Judicial Board.

RELATED

Elections are coming: UPUA to host candidate information sessions beginning tomorrow Polls for UPUA's upcoming election will open in several weeks and you could see your name oIf it werent for her high school guidance counselor, Rebecca Olesnanik may have never found her passion for engineering.

Olesnanik (senior-civil engineering) said her guidance counselor encouraged her to attend the Women in Engineering Day at Penn State Behrend , which was her first exposure to the field of engineering.

The event encouraged young girls to go into the STEM field, Olesnanik said. They basically showed us that this is what we can do, and these are the options out here for us.

Upon coming to University Park her freshman year, Olesnanik said the Women in Engineering Club, better known as WISE, wasnt a very established organization. Penn State used to have a national chapter of the club years ago, but it was ultimately disbanded.

When I was a freshman, there was only about three of us who really tried to pick this club up, Olesnanik, the current president, said. The following year, a lot of our members left, so again, we had to do a lot of rebuilding.

Vice President Kambriea Harker said WISE didnt have an executive board or much support from the university at first.

Essentially, last year, we had to figure out all over again how we were going to structure the club, Harker (junior-natural resource engineering) said. But this year, we are really finally starting to get things smoothed out and perfecting all the small details.

WISE aims to provide students with opportunities to participate in educational programming, receive career networking opportunities and interact with other women in the same fields of study.

Rachel Bartuska serves as the WISE social chair. She plans and organizes all social events for the club.

RELATED

I take input from the WISE girls about events they'd like to see  movies, games, or crafts  and try to work them into everyone's schedules, Bartuska (freshman-industrial engineering) said. For example, last semester we had a free paint [event] where everyone got to relax with a canvas and be creative. We also go into the lounge to play cards together from time to time.

They also host academic-based events, such as resume workshops, faculty presentations and study nights every other week.

Our events definitely change depending on the group we have each year and where their interests lie, Harker said. For example, this past year, the girls were more interested in crafty, hands-on activities. It all just depends.

WISE also offers Special Living Options in Wolf Hall in the Pollock Residential Halls. The housing is designed to suit the needs of female STEM majors through a favorable academic and social atmosphere. To reside on the floor, students need to achieve an active membership status by attending WISE academic programs, social programs and resident assistant-sponsored events.

I met a lot of people through the special living option, Harker said. It was really nice to have people to go to for help or scheduling classes. Its almost like a mentorship.

The members said the male-dominated field of engineering can typically be intimidating to women at first.

Sometimes, I do find that there are fewer women in my classes, but there are also plenty of resources like WISE that at the very least help me be successful in those classes, Bartuska said. WISE is a resource that helps make it easier to picture yourself in the field you'd like to enter.

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Olesnanik also noted the lack of gender diversity.

There are more males than females in all of my STEM classes here at Penn State, Olesnanik said. But as long as I prove myself in everything I do, I am just as good as my male counterpart.

Harker agreed.

It definitely encourages me to study a little harder, Harker said. Being a woman in an engineering major has made me have a little more ambition and push myself a little harder than maybe I would have otherwise.

WISE relied on many professor and mentor lectures to encourage new members to pursue a career in this field. Harker said they often utilize these lectures as a place to ask questions about hardships, struggles and success stories.

We wonder, What did you do when you were in our situation, and what can we do to get to where you are now? Harker said.

Harker believes the lack of exposure to female role models in the STEM field can be discouraging to young girls.

When we are little, we are told that girls grow up with dolls, whereas boys have Legos and get to build things. I think that honestly pushes them into the engineering field more because they have that access to their creative side, Harker said. We should show young girls that they do have female role models and we should provide them with activities to gain their interest.The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will fund a $670 million project to build a highway between the Seven Mountains area and State College on U.S. Route 322, Governor Tom Wolf announced Wednesday.

The project will begin in 2027 and is expected to take three to four years.

The 13-mile stretch between Seven Mountains and State College, which is currently a two lane road, is set to become a four-lane highway.

This project has been in the work for years and was proposed in 2004, before having the federal funding pulled.

The federal government is not funding the project now either, and Wolf said he is disappointed with the government failing to follow through on its commitments.

Were stepping up at the state level, Wolf said. In the absence of federal investments we were all counting on, PennDOT is committing discretionary funding to make the project a reality.

Legislators believe that this investment will improve the economy and safety of the stretch of highway.

This is a major investment and commitment to the quality of life, not only here in Centre County, but the whole of central Pennsylvania, state representative Kerry Benninghoff said.

State Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman stressed the importance of safety being priority during the project.

This is a dangerous road, Corman said. Weve all read in the press over the years of the devastating accidents that weve had on that highway.

Corman said after the passage of Act 83 in 2013, he thought the missing link would get funded before Governor Tom Corbett declined the project.

Corman believes that Tom Wolf will be able to deliver on completing the highway that has been discussed for years.

Finally we got an ear that was willing to commit to it, Corman said. The governor inherited this commitment from other administrations and he is the one thats going to fulfill it.In November 2018, the sculpture Breaking Column III, was installed in front of Penn States Palmer Museum of Art, located on Curtin Road. The piece will showcase its kinetic wonders until its scheduled removal in November 2019.

George Rickey created this piece, beginning to create his kinetic work during his time serving in World War II, and eventually making it his focus.

The structure stands just over 25-five feet tall, and has especially showed its movement during Februarys polar vortex.

It is a kinetic sculpture that moves purely on the air and energy around it, The Palmer Museum said in a Facebook post. In this case, wind and weather cause its movements.

Rickeys sculptures often play with ordinary shape forms, but make something complex and extraordinary about it.

George Rickey (19072002) was born in South Bend, Indiana, but was raised in Scotland and attended Oxford University.

Rickey studied at modern art academies in Paris and returned to the United States in 1930 to pursue a career as a painter and a teacher until he was called to serve in WWII, according to Palmer Museum Director Erin M. Coe.

Rickey eventually became a professor of sculpture art at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and kept studios in Santa Barbara, California and St. Paul, Minnesota, where he died in 2002.

Rickeys work from his lifetime can be found in museums around the world such as, National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Tate Gallery in London, the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh, as well as other museums and public spaces, Coe said.

Coe led the effort to bring the sculpture to Penn State.

Coe said she has been a longtime admirer of Rickeys work, as she used to live in the Capital Region of New York State, close to George Rickeys studio. She said he was an icon in the region as several of his kinetic sculptures are in public areas around Albany and surrounding areas of New York City.

Coe said she finds his work to be both liberating and mesmerizing.

Though comprised of simple geometric forms, all it takes is the slightest air current to bring these forms to life, Coe said. His kinetic sculptures take you out of the mundane tasks of our everyday life and make your mind and spirit soar.

Coe was also familiar with his son, Philip Rickey, from her time living in New York. As the keeper of his legacy, Philip has large knowledge of what inspired his fathers creations and is familiar with their technical aspects.

Coe said Philip played a large part in her understanding and appreciation for his work. Philip and the members of his team install George Rickeys kinetic sculptures all over the world.

Phillip said his father referred to his work as jointed, like our limbs. Coe said all of Rickeys connected and kinetic works, like Breaking Column III, show an improvisation similar to jazz music.

For Breaking Column III, Philip described to me how his father wanted to create a work using simple geometric elements that move through a cone, Coe said. Similar to how our arm moves when we stick it out from our shoulder and then move our hand around in a circle, so when one element moves that causes the single, two or more elements connected to it also to move in response.

We were fortunate to work with them to bring one of his late masterpieces to Penn State, Coe said. Breaking Column III brings me great joy and I hope it does for the students at Penn State.

Eric Shuey was familiar with Rickeys work and knew his son was carrying on his legacy around the world.

I think its a great piece and well known its an interesting piece that was brought to Penn State and people always glimpse at it and get to see it move, Shuey (junior  interdisciplinary digital studio) said.

Justin Coulehan was fascinated by what the sculpture looked like on the snowy day, as the snow seemed to weigh down the sculpture making the usually linear shape appear as a right angle.

Id be a little concerned for peoples safety if it ended up breaking, Coulehan (junior  interdisciplinary digital studio) said.The Foster Auditorium in the Paterno Library showcased books that came alive  literally. The third annual human storytelling event, previously known as the Human Library," took place on Wednesday, Feb. 13 under a new name, All in Voices," where human books" were not just something to check out and read, but acted more as a voice to students to connect with.

All in Voices acted as a place where people shared their stories and their own personal experiences in different 45-minute sessions throughout the day in various locations through the library. The new name, All in Voices, reflects Penn States commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Megan Gilpin, the outreach coordinator for the University Libraries and the All in Voices planning committee chair, said that the name change allowed Penn State to break away from the international organizations expected pillars, and to become more inclusive.

We wanted to have even more of a broader audience," Gilpin said. We are 'All In' this together at Penn State, so we thought the new name was a nice alignment.

The event started at 11 a.m. with a showcase panel, which could have also been reached via online through Mediasite Live with a Penn State login. Through 1 p.m.  5 p.m., individual story sessions took place, where after students listened to a book and asked questions to the storytellers or met after to ask questions individually.

These sessions intended to provide a safe and supportive environment to have conversations in, and it served as an opportunity for not only the different voices to tell their story, but for attendees to listen to their story and gain a new perspective on their way of viewing their own life and relating to their experiences.

I think 'All in Voices' is beneficial because we all sort of live in our own bubble, and we say we know people from different backgrounds, but a lot of times we dont hear their stories, Gilpin said. So, I think it is a good opportunity for people to hear where someone else is coming from because we dont have a lot of opportunities to interact with someone in that way.

These books or voices  were chosen from the local community and the entire university population.

To name a few, Marjorie Miller told her experience, Building a Life After Cancer," and shared her wisdom of taking life one day at a time, something she learned from being a two-time cancer survivor at the age of 26. Jason D. Winters opened up on how he overcame war-related challenges in his story, Finishing What I Started: An Army Veteran Returns to Campus. Michael Keller told his personal story, Michaels Second Wind, about his life-saving double lung transplant while battling Cystic Fibrosis and Grace Hampton told a powerful story about five-generations of achieving Black women in her family, which was inspired by the granddaughter of an ex-slave.

In total, there were 12 voices to be heard and books to be read.

Showcase panelist, Shih-In Ma, told her story, In Search of the Mystery, twice throughout the day. She shared her personal experiences with pain and prejudice against her, and the spiritual insight she found through work in the Peace Corps and her time spent in India with Amma, the Hugging Saint, which inspired her to add Ma to her name, in honor of Amma.

My aspiration for everything is always that people, in suffering, get to be free, Shih-In Ma said. Whatever I can do to help people to see things they have never seen before, or maybe even touch extensively into the truth of their being, I hope people will come to believe that although they may be depressed or really strugglingthere is a way out, and I have come that way myself. Where I am at now is almost unbelievable, considering where I was at a young adult in my inner emotional life.

Salem Awwad, the assistant director in the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, shared his personal experience through three chapters: Birth on an Airplane, which one might find enjoyable, and he sure does think it is a fun story, The Day the Towers Fell a story that shares his experiences as growing up as an Arab and Filipino boy with ADHD, depression, and anxiety in Birmingham, Alabama after 9/11, and The 28th a chapter dedicated to his 28th year, which was when he dealt with heartbreak and loss  his wife telling him she did not love him anymore before he also lost his job shortly after.

Salem Awwad dealt with these dark times with the help of the best medicine: humor.

You can finder humor in the darkest of places, and it is okay to bring that sense of humanity back  no matter how difficult the situation is, Awwad said. If thats your way of dealing with the situation and it is relatively healthy, take it.

In regard to participating in All in Voices, he hopes that students from very diverse backgrounds will feel like they have more of a voice here.

I wanted to show any students that came, especially students of color, that there are people and staff members who have experienced so many different things, Awwad said. Even if they dont look like you, they are here to support you.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.Paul and Virginia (Mauritius): Made out of bronze and designed by Hungarian artist Suzanna Szemok, the statue of Paul and Virginia sits in the courtyard of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi (Mauritius). First published in 1788, the love story of Paul and Virginia is set on the island of Mauritius under French rule. The short novel by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (17371814) tells the tale of two children and their love that blossoms later. To keep her away from Paul, Virginia is sent to Europe. While returning her ship is caught in a storm off the coast of the island. Refusing to take off her clothes in front of the sailors in order to get into the water, Virginia prefers to remain on the sinking ship and drowns as Paul watches. He soon dies of sorrow. This love story is now part of Mauritian folklore. Photo credit: Preeti Verma Lal.ISTANBUL - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan departed for Sochi, Russia, on Thursday, where he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for new talks on Syrian peace following those held in Astana.



Erdogan will have bilateral meetings with each of the two leaders prior to the summit, which the Turkish president's office said is scheduled for 14:00 local time.



The summit is taking place at the same time as a US-led Middle East peace conference, effectively against Iran, is being held in Warsaw.



Putin, Erdogan, and Rouhani will discuss the situation in the Syrian region of Idlib in terms of implementation of agreements reached in Sochi, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, cited by TASS news agency. "The situation in Idlib will certainly be on the agenda, and the parties will discuss the constant presence of terrorist groups and will highlight the need to fully implement the Sochi accords," Peskov said.



"Implementation of the accords on Idlib is among the elements of the pathway to stabilisation in Syria overall and would contribute to fully creating the conditions for reaching a political accord," he said.

A Chinese flag is seen in front of containers at the Yangshan Deep-Water Port, an automated cargo wharf, in Shanghai on April 9, 2018.

The U.S.-China trade war is not only putting investors on edge, but it's also making corporate executives scratch their heads when it comes to their expectations for the future.

As this earnings season starts wrapping up, a common theme emerged from hundreds of conference calls: Managers had difficulty providing concrete guidance for 2019 earnings due to the uncertainty around trade, according to David Kostin, chief U.S. equity strategist at Goldman Sachs.

"Several management teams assumed that the March 1 tariff rate increase would occur. However, some firms remained optimistic about the prospects for a deal in 2019. Additionally, firms are seeing the impact of increased uncertainty in customer decision making," Kostin said in a note.

Trade is the top-of-mind issue for companies whose revenue from China would be directly impacted from elevated tariffs. Optimism toward a long-term resolution has increased in the past couple of days as the high-level trade talks between the two countries made progress. President Donald Trump also expressed willingness to postpone the March 1 deadline reportedly by 60 days. The stock market has risen on trade hopes, with the gaining 1.7 percent this week so far.Engineers have developed wave energy technology that could help to produce low-cost electricity for thousands of households.



In an announcement Wednesday, the University of Edinburgh said that the device could convert wave power into electricity and had been designed "to be incorporated into existing ocean energy systems."



Experiments in an ocean simulator have shown that one full-size device was able to produce the equivalent of 500 kilowatts, the university added. This represents enough electricity for roughly 100 houses.



The device, called a Dielectric Elastomer Generator, uses flexible rubber membranes and can fit on the top of vertical tubes.



According to the university, when these tubes are put in the sea, they partially fill with water that "rises and falls with wave motion."



The university adds that when waves pass the tube, the water inside it pushes trapped air which in turn inflates and deflates a generator at the top of the device. While the membrane inflates, a voltage is produced, which increases when the membrane deflates, producing electricity.



"Wave energy is a potentially valuable resource around Scotland's coastline, and developing systems that harness this could play a valuable role in producing clean energy for future generations," David Ingram, from the University of Edinburgh's School of Engineering, said in a statement Wednesday.



The study was undertaken in collaboration with researchers at the University of Trento, University of Bologna and the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna Pisa in Italy. It was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society A and supported by Wave Energy Scotland and the European Union Horizon 2020 program.

The European Commission has described "ocean energy" as being both abundant and renewable. Ocean energy could potentially contribute around 10 percent of the European Union's power demand by 2050, according to the Commission.



In addition to the work being carried out at Edinburgh, the U.K. is home to a number of interesting marine based renewable energy projects.



In August 2018, for example, Scotrenewables Tidal Power, which is now known as Orbital Marine Power, announced that a tidal turbine had generated record levels of power production in its first year of testing at the European Marine Energy Center in Orkney, Scotland.



The 2 megawatt SR2000 turbine produced more than 3 gigawatt hours of renewable electricity in less than 12 months, according to the firm.[The stream is slated to start at 1 p.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.]

Warren Buffett's longtime business partner Charlie Munger will on Thursday address shareholders of the Daily Journal, the Los Angeles-based publishing company where he serves as chairman.

The billionaire Munger, who turned 95 on New Year's Day, is credited by the Oracle of Omaha for transforming Buffett's initial bargain-based buying strategy and molding it into a long-term value strategy. Munger and Buffett have been partners for about 60 years.

Munger will speak with CNBC's Becky Quick following his annual speech.

Munger is one of the most celebrated investors in history and played a crucial role in Buffett's success. Munger's investing prowess preceded his move to Buffett's Berkshire. From 1962 to 1975, Munger's investment partnership generated 20 percent annual returns versus the S&P 500's 5 percent. Read more about his investment strategy here.

The billionaire's annual comments from the Daily Journal meeting, where he takes questions from shareholders, have been shared on Wall Street among his many followers for years.

Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) waves to the press as he walks with US President Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida, April 7, 2017.

The latest proposals from the Chinese negotiating team do not address either matter, according to The Wall Street Journal . And the U.S. team has not pulled back from its insistence that Beijing limit its subsidies to state-owned firms, Bloomberg reported.

The Chinese government's alleged forced technology transfers as well as its subsidization of domestic industries remain central sticking points as the world's two largest economies try to find common ground on a broad trade deal.

The U.S. and China remain deadlocked on key issues blocking the path toward a trade agreement, according to multiple reports published on Thursday, as representatives for the two countries meet in Beijing.

The Associated Press reported that there was no indication of progress on U.S. demands that China scale back its promotion of domestic robotics makers. Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for a "robot revolution" to spur productivity in the country.

China has denied pressuring foreign firms to hand over technology as a price of admission to its giant consumer market. And Chinese economists have said that the subsidies are essential to the country's developing economy.

But American business groups continue to complain about the alleged technology transfers, as well as about the government subsidies that they say hurt American competitiveness.

While refusing to offer concessions on structural issues, China did offer to boost purchases of U.S. semiconductors to $200 billion over 6 years, a five-fold increase over current exports, according to Thursday's report in the Journal. That offer comes on top of recent pledges by Beijing to purchase U.S. agricultural products.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Trade Representative declined to comment on Thursday. A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce told reporters at a weekly briefing that he had no details about the status of the talks, according to the Associated Press.

China released better-than-expected trade data on Thursday that showed a 9.1 percent bump in dollar-denominated exports compared with a year ago. Exports to the U.S. fell about 2 percent.

WATCH: Trump considering 60-day extension to China trade deadlineAttorney General nominee William Barr arrives for a meeting with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) on January 29, 2019 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson | Getty Images

President Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, William Barr, was confirmed in the Senate on Thursday to take over the Justice Department, where he will oversee special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe. Barr, 68, was confirmed in a 54-45 vote that largely fell along party lines. He was sworn in Thursday afternoon in the Oval Office by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, the White House told NBC News. Barr was widely expected to be confirmed by the Republican-majority Senate on Thursday. He had served in the same role more than two decades earlier in President George H.W. Bush's administration, and had passed procedural hurdles in the Senate Judiciary Committee and the full Senate in recent votes. Lindsey Graham TWEET Today is a great day for the Department of Justice with the confirmation of William Barr to be the next Attorney General. A few senators broke with their party in the final vote, however. Among Democrats, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Doug Jones of Alabama  both of whom represent deep-red states  voted for Barr, as did first-term Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was the only Republican to vote against Barr's nomination.

Barr, a Justice Department veteran, came under heavy scrutiny during his confirmation process. Democrats in particular grilled Barr during congressional testimony about how he would handle Mueller's ongoing probe of Russia's election interference and possible collusion with Trump campaign-related officials. Barr's rise to become the No. 1 law enforcement official in the country would also give him the responsibility to oversee Mueller's investigation. The previous permanent attorney general, Jeff Sessions, recused himself from the government's Russia probes in March 2017 following reports about his contacts with Russia's then-ambassador to the U.S. Oversight duties fell to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein  a circumstance that vexed Trump, who viciously and publicly criticized Sessions' over his recusal until the beleaguered Sessions left the administration in November. Sarah Sanders TWEET A major victory for justice and the rule of law in America: the Senate just confirmed President outstanding nominee William Barr as Attorney General Trump selected Matthew Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney in Iowa, to fill the role in an acting capacity following Sessions' departure. He inherited oversight duties in the Mueller probe, which alarmed Democrats and other critics who were skeptical of his past comments about it. For instance, Whitaker notably argued in an August 2017 op-ed for CNN that Mueller's investigation is "dangerously close to crossing" the so-called red line not to look into the Trump family's finances.President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC on February 12, 2019.

U.S. President Donald Trump is considering a 60-day extension of the Mar. 1 deadline for higher tariffs on Chinese imports, Bloomberg said on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.

Trump was considering the extension so as to give two-way talks more time, Bloomberg added.

A trade delegation led by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin began high-level talks with Chinese counterparts, led by Vice Premier Liu He, on Thursday.President Donald Trump late Wednesday demanded California return the $3.5 billion it received from the federal government for a "disaster" high-speed rail project.

"California has been forced to cancel the massive bullet train project after having spent and wasted many billions of dollars," Trump tweeted. "They owe the Federal Government three and a half billion dollars. We want that money back now. Whole project is a 'green' disaster!"

The $77 billion bullet train project, a planned system linking San Francisco to Los Angeles, has faced cost overruns and delays. California Gov. Gavin Newsom at his first state of the state address Tuesday announced a scale back of the high-speed rail project, saying the current plan "would cost too much and take too long."

However, Newsom responded to Trump's tweet Wednesday by calling it "fake news. We're building high-speed rail, connecting the Central Valley and beyond."

https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1095867826202505216

The Democratic governor also suggested in the tweet that Trump was "desperately searching" for some border wall money.

Newsom said Tuesday during his address at the State Capitol in Sacramento that he approved of going ahead with part of the high-speed rail link  a section between Merced and Bakersfield. He said the state can work toward connecting the Central Valley to other parts of California while also seeking more federal funding and private money.

A decade ago, California voters approved Proposition 1A, authorizing nearly $10 billion in bond money for the construction of the high-speed rail system expected to travel at speeds of up to 220 miles per hour. The state also was awarded about $3.5 billion in federal funds in 2010 to help with the project.

Some observers say the federal government would have a tough time forcing California to cough up the funds.

"As long as they've met all of the guidelines that were required, I'm certain they're not going to have to return the money," said Ray LaHood, who was Transportation secretary during the Obama administration when California was awarded the rail funds. "If the Trump administration wants to pursue it, it will probably have to go to court to do it."

LaHood also believes the federal funds were spent correctly by California, so the Trump administration may have a tough case if it pursues litigation. "The money they received from the federal government was used for the purpose it was intended," he said.

The former Transportation secretary said he still supported high-speed rail projects and was critical of Newsom's plan to scale back the train, calling it "very short-sighted. Obviously, he has no vision for rail  and I think he's made a very bad decision."

Yet the former Transportation official also said it wasn't unusual that massive projects such as the California bullet train experience setbacks.

"All big projects have problems," LaHood said. "That's the way it works. If anyone know this better than anybody it's the president, who has built a lot of projects."

Construction on the 119-mile Central Valley segment of the fast-speed rail line began in 2013. The 520-mile rail system from the San Francisco Bay Area to LA wasn't expected to begin operating until the 2030s.

Newsom acknowledged Tuesday that if the state abandoned the project, it could be forced to give back billions of dollars to the federal government.

"I am not interested in sending $3.5 billion in federal funding that was allocated to this project back to Donald Trump," Newsom said. "Nor am I interested in repeating the same old mistakes."

An audit last year faulted California's High-Speed Rail Authority, or CHSRA, for "flawed decision making and poor contract management." In addition, a business plan released in early 2018 showed its projected baseline cost soared by up to 20 percent from two years earlier and indicated the cost could rise to nearly $100 billion.

The governor Tuesday ordered "new transparency measures" on the rail project and said the state will "hold contractors and consultants accountable."

The U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general initiated an audit last April of the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) oversight of the California rail project, including looking at how federal funds were spent on the Central Valley segment. The results of the federal audit are expected to be issued in spring 2019.

A DOT spokesperson told CNBC in a statement Thursday the agency remains in contact with California regarding the high-speed rail project as they learn more about the state's plans going forward.

"The [Transportation] Department's Inspector General is continuing to conduct an audit of FRA's funding for CHSRA," the spokesperson said. "As the IG noted, continued management attention and strong oversight will remain critical to ensure that federal funds are not subject to an unacceptable level of risk."

Newsom, who took office Jan. 7, has been outspoken against Trump for everything from immigration to climate change. He has also blasted the Republican president for threatening to withhold federal funds to the state for wildfire relief.WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump will sign spending legislation to prevent a government shutdown while declaring a national emergency to try to build his proposed border wall, the White House confirmed Thursday. "President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action  including a national emergency  to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. It came before both chambers of Congress easily passed a measure to keep the government open past a midnight Friday deadline. "The President is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country," she added, as Trump prepared to approve legislation allocating about a quarter of the money he sought for barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border. If Trump follows through, lawmakers and the White House would dodge their second partial shutdown since December, sparing about 800,000 federal workers from more financial pain. But the emergency declaration could quickly spark lawsuits challenging the president's authority, creating yet another fight over his key campaign promise. Trump will speak in the White House Rose Garden after 10 a.m. ET on Friday on what the White House called the "national security and humanitarian crisis on our southern border." The president will announce he seeks $8 billion for wall construction, an administration official told NBC News. Along with the funds allocated by Congress, he aims to use $600 million from the Treasury's drug forfeiture fund, $2.5 billion from the Department of Defense's drug interdiction program and $3.5 billion from the military construction budget, according to NBC and ABC News. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "may" file a legal challenge and will review her options, she told reporters Thursday. "Declaring a national emergency would be a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract from the fact that President Trump broke his core promise to have Mexico pay for his wall," she and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement Thursday. They added: "This is not an emergency, and the president's fearmongering doesn't make it one." The emergency declaration would allow Trump to redirect funds from other parts of the government to the project without congressional approval. The move could in part assuage conservative critics who argued the president should not accept the latest congressional plan, which denied him the funding he demanded for the border barrier. He had threatened the action for weeks, splitting the GOP caucus as some Republicans argued it would set a dangerous precedent. Trump repeatedly cast the emergency declaration as a decision rather than a necessity, which could weaken his legal case for the move.

President Donald Trump speaks during a briefing on Hurricane Michael in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, October 10, 2018. Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell first said Trump is "prepared to sign the bill" but would simultaneously declare a national emergency. The Kentucky Republican "indicated to [Trump] that [he is] going to support the national emergency declaration." His comments came amid confusion among Senate Republicans about how the party would move forward with the spending bill Thursday. McConnell broke into remarks from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to make the announcement. Grassley angrily retorted, "I hope the next time I get a chance to have the floor, I won't be interrupted." Grassley is one of several Republicans who warned Trump against declaring a national emergency. Democratic leaders have also slammed the potential move as an executive overreach. They have also questioned whether it is necessary to address the flow of migrants at the southern border. "I think declaring a national emergency where this is no national emergency is not good for the president to do and is not good as a precedent," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told MSNBC shortly after McConnell spoke. The spending plan Congress aims to pass would put about $1.4 billion toward physical border barriers  short of the $5.7 billion Trump wants. It would specifically not allow construction of new wall prototypes proposed by Trump, putting money toward 55 miles of bollard fencing. The president has claimed the wall will still get built, even as Congress dealt him his latest defeat on a project he repeatedly promised to complete. Republicans and Democrats showed concerns about the spending plan, but congressional leaders from both major parties backed it. The GOP appeared to wait for Trump's support Thursday before voting, as the president waffled on whether to support the agreement Thursday. Senate Republicans looked eager to avoid the second partial government shutdown since December. Without a new spending plan, nine U.S. departments will run out of money at 12:01 a.m. ET Saturday. Funding for about a quarter of the government lapsed for 35 days during December and January. About 800,000 federal employees, furloughed or working without pay, missed two paychecks during the closure. Another shutdown threatened more financial hardship for those workers. Trump's demand for wall money, and Democrats' refusal to yield to him, led to the earlier shutdown. In December, Trump said he would "take the mantle" for the closure. Most Americans eventually did blame him for it, according to polls. Despite Congress' latest blow to his border wall plans, Trump has insisted he will build the wall regardless. He argues he has the authority to allocate funds from other parts of the government to construct it. "The bottom line is on the wall we're building the wall and we're using other methods other than this and in addition to this," Trump said during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday. The notion of an emergency split Republicans. While McConnell supported it Thursday, Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Grassley and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., all criticized it in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Cornyn called it a "dangerous step." Last month, Rubio questioned whether the emergency declaration would hold up in court. He also said it is "not a good precedent." Asked Thursday whether the White House is concerned about the precedent the emergency declaration sets, Sanders responded: "Let's hope we don't have additional national security and humanitarian crises." The White House has identified $2.7 billion it could potentially redirect, according to Reuters. While it is unclear where the money would come from, Trump has previously suggested he could take it from the military.

Guards stand on the US side of the US-Mexico border fence as seen from Tijuana, Mexico, on November 16, 2018. PEDRO PARDO | AFP | Getty ImagesTheresa May, U.K. prime minister, left, and Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, arrive ahead of talks in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A leading pro-Brexit member of Theresa May's Conservative Party has dismissed concerns that members of his hardline faction could attempt late on Thursday to defeat the government in a series of non-binding parliamentary votes focused on the progress of Brexit. After May's negotiated withdrawal deal with Europe suffered a historic humbling in the House of Commons last month, a further parliamentary loss on Thursday evening could prove humiliating for a leader hobbled by her own party's differences. As she seeks out concessions from her counterparts in Brussels to appease domestic critics, even a symbolic loss now could telegraph to senior EU officials and other European heads of state that she is unable to command a stable parliamentary majority that supports her current course of action. With a little over six weeks until the designated deadline for Britain to exit the European Union, lawmakers are scheduled to debate and vote on a parliamentary motion tabled by May's government, as well as any of the several proposed amendments to that motion that the House of Commons speaker may decide to select. The language of the motion itself essentially acknowledges the prime minister's request on Tuesday for more negotiating time, and also endorses her strategy of seeking changes to an unpopular provision of the withdrawal agreement she herself had signed off in December.

The government's motion had initially seemed uncontroversial to most MPs. But on Wednesday members of the hardline Conservative faction known as the European Research Group (ERG) began to protest one of its underlying premises. The several dozen lawmakers have proved to be a political thorn in the prime minister's side over recent months, and some members appeared poised Wednesday night to vote against this seemingly innocuous motion because it implicitly endorsed a previous, non-binding parliamentary vote that indicated the British government should leave the European Union with some kind of deal. That earlier vote, against a "no deal" scenario, which economists and executives alike have repeatedly warned would be catastrophically damaging to British trade and businesses, had quickly proven problematic for some pro-Brexit politicians. Several had actively endorsed that cliff-edge exit from Europe as the purest possible form of Brexit, while others insisted it must remain as a viable government option in order to maintain leverage in any divorce discussions with the EU, for whom "no deal" could also be damaging. But ERG Chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg has now said that Thursday's votes are "not fundamentally important." In an interview with ITV News, he called that implicit endorsement in Thursday's parliamentary motion "a secondary issue rather than a primary one," and explained that it was for this reason that he thought it "highly unlikely that people will be voting against this motion." Some political analysts have also insisted that Thursday's parliamentary votes are nothing more than symbolic. "Fundamentally what really matters is the negotiations and the discussions in Brussels," said Marley Morris, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research. "These are just parliamentary games which are playing out, while people in Brussels kind of watch with some mixture of trepidation and horror really."Australia's largest telecom company Telstra will soon be ready to give customers the next-generation of ultra-high speed mobile internet, known as 5G, its CEO said on Thursday.

Mobile is the "engine room" of Telstra's business and it will be a critical part of the future, Andrew Penn told CNBC's "Street Signs."

"We have had more than 200 sites rolled out on 5G now," he said. "We'll be one of the first global operators to actually put 5G in the hands of our customers in the coming months when handsets are available."

Penn's remarks came after Telstra released its half year results for financial year 2019 on Thursday morning.

Net profit after tax was down 27.4 percent on-year to 1.2 billion Australian dollars (approximately $854 million) in line with expectations. The company said its financial results were affected by a partially-completed fiber network, which is owned by the government. Essentially, Telstra has to pay before it can connect to that network to provide broadband internet to its customers.

"We have a structural change in the industry where, essentially, a significant proportion of our business is being aggressively transferred to this new entity," Penn said, adding that it "basically takes away about a third-to-half of our earnings in a lot of our activity."Man who reported rape convicted in Tunisia for homosexuality Human rights association calls it a 'legal scandal'

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, FEBRUARY 14 - A court in Sfax, Tunisia, has convicted a 22-year-old man who reported being beaten, raped and robbed on January 2 to six months in jail for homosexuality.



Badr Baabou of the Tunisian Association for Justice and Equality (DAMJ) called the ruling against the defendant, known as Anas F., a "legal scandal".



The defendant reported the January 2 crime, which he said was committed by a man he had met on Facebook and an accomplice, to police in Sidi el Bhari, who then arrested him for homosexuality and made him undergo an anal exam.



The two suspects in the crime were also convicted of homosexuality and sentenced to eight months in jail, six for homosexuality and two for robbery.



The LGBT rights groups Shams and DAMJ, as well as Human Rights Watch, are denouncing the conviction of Anas and are calling for his release.



Article 230 of the Tunisian penal code punishes homosexual relations and requires forced anal exams, despite the fact that in 2017 the Tunisian government told the UN Human Rights Council it would put an end to the practice, which is regarded as similar to torture.



On the day of Anas' conviction, the transnational movement All Out sent a petition of over 25,000 signatures to Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, which it collected in a campaign together with Shams to call for the young man's immediate release.



That decision now falls to appeals court judges.(ANSAmed).



"Now, it sounds really fancy...but if we go back in time it was this tiny little airplane," Herjavec tells CNBC Make It . "It had a propeller and only one engine, but I thought it was the biggest jet in the world.

It was shortly after he sold his computer company BRAK Systems to AT&T Canada in 2000. Herjavec bought himself a $6 million plane.

"I just couldn't believe that people could own their own airplane," he adds. "My god, I thought I was so fancy. The first time I got on it, I must have taken 600 pictures on the way from the terminal to the airplane."

Though Herjavec sold BRAK Systems for a reported $30.2 million CAD (which at the time would have been around $20 million US), he didn't come from money. His family fled Yugoslavia in 1970. He arrived in Canada by boat with his parents, a single suitcase and just $20. But Herjavec worked hard  first, waiting tables and delivering newspapers, and eventually launching a computer company from his basement.

Since then, he's made a multimillion-dollar fortune. Now, Herjavec is the founder and CEO of cybersecurity firm Herjavec Group, and for the past decade, has been investing in a number of innovative companies that have graced the stage on ABC's "Shark Tank."

These days, Herjavec can certainly afford to fly private, but it's not just about the splurge.

"Most people think traveling on a private jet is a luxury," Herjavec previously told CNBC Make It. However, "most people with a private jet are not doing it for the luxury, but to save time. I can often save hours by flying private. There is no greater example of the cost of time than that, because every minute you are on a private plane costs money."

Indeed, Herjavec's "Shark Tank" co-star Mark Cuban bought a private jet "because the asset I value the most is time, and that bought me time," he told Money.

Herjavec tells CNBC Make It that the Gulfstream G IV jet he owns now is "a lot bigger," and it's also more expensive. But to him, that first plane had a lot more meaning.

"When I tell you this airplane was tiny, it was tiny," Herjavec says. "But it didn't matter; I had my own airplane. One of the greatest moments of my life. ...I was more excited about the first one than the one I have now."

Like this story? Subscribe to CNBC Make It on YouTube!

Don't miss: This is the No. 1 piece of advice Kevin O'Leary would give his younger self  and it would have saved him a lot of money

Disclosures: NBCUniversal and Comcast Ventures are investors in Acorns. CNBC also owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to ABC's "Shark Tank."

French electrical equipment producer Schneider Electric expects its earnings growth to ease this year, but at a pace slower than the market expects.

The company said on Thursday it sees the 2019 revenue to grow between 3 and 5 percent organically with an expansion in adjusted earnings before interest, tax and amortization (EBITA) margin of 20-50 basis points, leading to an adjusted EBITA organic increase of 4 to 7 percent.

Emmanuel Babeau, Deputy CEO and CFO at Schneider Electric, told CNBC Thursday that the company has "seen very solid progress coming out of 2017 and 2018."

"There's generally a lot of confidence in the market that we'll make that target," he told CNBC's Juliana Tatelbaum. He said the company was continuing to do "a very disciplined review of our structural costs and doing that in ways that it doesn't affect our organic growth performance," he said.

The analysts polled by Schneider had expected current year's organic growth to be 2 percent with a flat adjusted EBITA margin year-on-year.Republican Sen. Rick Scott told CNBC on Thursday that lawmakers should create a path for young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to remain in the country legally.

"Why don't we make sure they have a path to say here?" the Florida senator asked during a "Squawk Box" interview, discussing so-called Dreamers. "We have a lot of people here from other countries under a temporary protective program. Why don't we have a permanent solution for that?"

Lawmakers have long sought a solution to protect the immigrants and made it more of a priority when President Donald Trump tried to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals in 2017.

The issue of immigration became more heated last year, when the Trump administration began separating immigrant children from their parents at the U.S. border as part of a "zero tolerance" policy. Trump formally ended the policy, but some immigration advocates say children are still being separated.

"You shouldn't separate kids from parents," said Scott. He said laws should be changed to prevent family separations.

Citing a poll that says around 60 percent of Hispanics in his state want stricter immigration enforcement, Scott said lawmakers have been all talk for too long. "Florida is an immigration state," the former two-term governor said. "We all want security."

Scott appeared on CNBC as lawmakers on Capitol Hill got ready to vote on a border security compromise to prevent another partial government shutdown. A stalemate in December over Trump's request for $5.7 billion to build 215 miles of wall on the U.S.-Mexico border led to a record-long 35-day government shutdown.

Congress on Thursday aimed to end a dispute with legislation that includes nearly $1.4 billion for 55 miles of new physical barriers but not a concrete wall. The president remains uncommitted to signing an agreement ahead of a midnight Friday deadline, although he has said he doesn't want another shutdown.

Scott predicted that Trump will end up signing the bill.Billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist Richard Branson said Thursday that taxing the rich "makes sense," arguing the extremely affluent have a responsibility to tackle some of the biggest problems in the world, including wealth disparities.

"People like myself are incredibly fortunate," the Virgin Group founder told CNBC's Morgan Brennan in an interview. "I suspect there should be higher taxes for the wealthy around the world and I don't think they would object to that."

Branson  with a net worth of $4.1 billion, according to Forbes  is part of the growing circle of elite business leaders questioning wealth disparity in the world. He said that governments need to get taxes from "somewhere" while helping the middle class and poor.

During the Milken Institute Summit in Abu Dhabi earlier this week, Branson expressed similar views. "We have to try and do everything we can to lift the vast majority of people up, when for the last few years the vast majority have not seen their living standards improve," he told an audience on Tuesday evening.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are pushing the wealthy to pay their "fair share of taxes." Warren  who on Saturday formally launched her 2020 Democratic run for president  is proposing an additional 2 percent tax every year on households with assets over $50 million and 3 percent on households with assets over $1 billion. Ocasio-Cortez, the freshman firebrand, wants a 70 percent marginal tax rate on income above $10 million.

Among the wealthy business leaders who agree with Branson is Bill Gates  known for starting Microsoft and giving billions of dollars away to charity. In an interview this week with The Verge, Gates said he supports "more progressive" taxes on the rich, but proposals targeting high income brackets, like a plan from Ocasio-Cortez, are too narrow. It appears Gates is more closely aligned to Warren's proposal.

Debate around taxing the rich has the GOP, and the wealthy themselves, jittery. Former Rep. Jeb Hensarling  a Republican who represented Texas from 2003 until the new Congress was seated this year  said on CNBC Tuesday, "I am fearful of it because in America we do not traditionally vilify success. We celebrate success." Hensarling's sentiments were also voiced last month among the gathering of global titans at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.ANSAmed - Tomorrow's events in the Mediterranean

(ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 14 - These are the main events scheduled for tomorrow in the Euro-Mediterranean area: PARIS - visit by Tunisian premier Youssef Chahed.



BRUSSELS - visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who will be meeting with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. NAPLES - conference on ''The Mediterranean as Vehicle for Enterprise Internationalization'' as part of Med Blue Economy and its days of meetings and workshops for enterprise foreign development (until February 16). ANKARA - the 13th Ankara Book Fair will kick off with Italy as guest of honor (until February 24). ABU DHABI - exhibition 'Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age: Masterpieces from the Leiden collection and the Musee du Louvre' (until May 18).



ROME - exhibit titled 'Shapes of the Soul' in the Dali Room of the Cervantes Institute with works of painting, sculpture, photography, video and installations by 14 Spanish artists continues (to March 30).



(ANSAmed).



GOP Sen. Marco Rubio's proposal to end preferential tax treatment of share buybacks is flawed, two Republican colleagues of the former presidential candidate told CNBC on Thursday.

"I don't see buybacks as a problem," Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said in a "Squawk Box" interview. "They occur after the investment has been made" in the business and the profits have been generated, he said.

Rubio, chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee, unveiled on Tuesday a plan to tax buybacks like dividends, which are subject to a wide range of rates, instead of have them fall under the capital gains rate.

A day later, in a tweetstorm promising a bill soon, Rubio, of Florida, blasted tax rules that are "in favor of inflating prices of shares at the expense of future productivity and job creation."

Toomey countered by saying, "This is where the fundamental flaw, I think, is in Sen. Rubio's underlying premise."

"That's not the way business managers run their business," contended Toomey, who worked in the financial industry before getting into politics. "They are making every good investment they can. Their goal is to maximize the return they can make. And it's only when they exhausted all those possibilities and they still have cash that they then make that allocation" to repurchase shares.

Critics of buybacks, including Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, argue that many companies could be making capital investments but choose repurchase plans instead because they boost stock prices, which benefits investors on Wall Street instead of workers.

In a Sunday New York Times op-ed, Schumer and former Democratic presidential candidate Sanders proposed legislation that would prevent companies from buying back their own shares unless they first pay workers at least $15 an hour and offer paid time off and health benefits.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told CNBC on Thursday that he does not support Rubio's tax scheme on buybacks nor the Schumer-Sanders proposal.

"I don't believe we need to tell our companies, give them more rules. I want them to think about how they grow and create more jobs," said Scott, who before winning a Senate seat spent eight years as Florida governor and years as CEO of a major hospital chain.

"If companies can't figure out how to get a better return on the cash they have on their balance sheet, give it back to the shareholders," he added.

WATCH: GOP Sen. Rick Scott urges Congress to create a path for 'Dreamers'"If the president can declare an emergency on something he has created as an emergency, an illusion that he wants to convey, just think about what a president with different values can present to the American people," Pelosi said.

Pelosi said she was not advocating for Democrats to declare a national emergency but that Trump was establishing a precedent that should, at least, make Republicans nervous.

Her comments to reporters came shortly after the White House said President Donald Trump would declare a national emergency in order to "build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country."

"You want to talk about a national emergency? Let's talk about today," Pelosi said, referring to the first anniversary of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead on Feb. 14, 2018.

She said the shooting was "another manifestation of the epidemic of gun violence in America."

"That's a national emergency. Why don't you declare that an emergency, Mr. President? I wish you would," she said. "But a Democratic president can do that. A Democratic president can declare emergencies as well."

Sen. Kamala Harris, who is running for president, echoed her fellow Californian's remarks in a post on Twitter, but stopped short of saying she would as president declare a national emergency.

"Declaring a national emergency over this President's vanity project is ridiculous," Harris wrote. "We don't need a wall. Instead, we should address the actual emergencies facing our country  everything from gun violence to the opioid crisis."

Tweet

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, another 2020 contender, wrote on Twitter that gun violence, climate change and the country's opioid epidemic were all emergencies.

"Donald Trump's ridiculous wall is not an emergency," the Massachusetts Democrat wrote.

Tweet

A national emergency declaration makes powers available to the executive that are otherwise impermissible, such as the reallocation of certain funds that have been appropriated by Congress. Scholars continue to debate the legality of emergency powers.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders downplayed the possible ramifications of Trump's expected national emergency declaration.

"Let's hope we don't have additional national security and humanitarian crises," she said.

 CNBC's Eamon Javers contributed to this report.Amazon will not be building a headquarters in New York City, according to a statement released by the company on Thursday which noted that "a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence."

The company's long search for a site of an additional headquarters culminated in a November announcement of plans to locate "HQ2" in Long Island City, New York, and Arlington, Virginia.

One of the most vocal opponents of Amazon's planned presence in Queens was Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose congressional district borders the district that includes Long Island City.

"Anything is possible," she tweeted on Thursday in response to Amazon's decision. "Today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon's corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world."Most of the 25,000 jobs that were supposed to come to Amazon's HQ2 in New York City will now go elsewhere, now that Amazon has announced it's backing out of its agreement with the city.

Amazon's spokesperson told CNBC on Thursday that the bulk of the 25,000 jobs that the company had promised to create in New York City for HQ2 will now go to other corporate offices and tech hubs owned by Amazon across 17 North American cities, including Boston, San Francisco and Vancouver.

New York will still get a small portion of the new jobs created, as Amazon has a huge presence in the city with roughly 5,000 employees. But it's unclear exactly how much of the new jobs will go to New York City, as the 25,000 jobs were scheduled to be created over a 15-year period, the spokesperson said.

The loss of most of the new jobs is a major setback for New York as Amazon's new headquarters and its additional workforce were expected to further accelerate the city's economic growth, especially in certain sectors like technology and advertising. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo previously said the deal would bring in approximately $27 billion in revenue in exchange for the roughly $3 billion incentive package.

"Amazon's decision to withdraw its New York City HQ2 is a setback for the city that illustrates politics and anti-business sentiment can derail economic development despite competitive strengths," said Nick Samuels, VP at Moody's Investors Service.

Amazon announced on Thursday in a stunning reversal that it would cancel its plan for a second headquarters in New York City, following mounting opposition from local leaders and policymakers. The company announced in November that it would create 25,000 "high-paying" jobs over 15 years in Long Island City, an industrial and residential neighborhood of Queens.

Amazon's spokesperson said that the company will continue to create jobs in Seattle as there are multiple new office buildings under construction. It is also committed to creating 25,000 new jobs in Northern Virginia for its other HQ2 location, and 5,000 new jobs in Nashville. There will not be another HQ2 search process to replace New York City, Amazon said in a blog post.Commercial Crew is competitive, with contracts up for grabs for Boeing and SpaceX and their capsules Starliner and Crew Dragon , respectively. Right now the two companies each have two test flights remaining before beginning commercial operations, as well abort tests. NASA said SpaceX plans to launch its Demo-1 test flight, which will not have crew, on March 2, while Boeing does not expect to conduct its unmanned flight test before April at the earliest. The second test flights will be the first with humans on board the capsules.

The most pressing topic was NASA's Commercial Crew program, which is in its final stages of testing. Commercial Crew is the agency's solution to once again launching U.S. astronauts from U.S. soil. Since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011, astronauts have flown aboard Russian Soyuz  at a cost to NASA of more than $70 million per seat.

NASA is focused on using partnerships with companies like SpaceX and Boeing , rather than contracting and operating the rockets and spacecraft itself. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine spoke with CNBC's Jane Wells about the key programs to the future of U.S. space exploration while at the 52nd World Ago Expo in Tulare, California, on Tuesday.

The U.S. government is relying more than ever on private companies to explore and develop technology in space, whether its reaching the International Space Station, returning to the surface of the moon or getting humans to Mars for the first time.

Similarly staggered in timing, SpaceX says its Demo-2 crewed flight will be in July, while Boeing is aiming for no earlier than August. However, Bridenstine says that this does not mean it is certain SpaceX will launch humans before Boeing.

"I think there is going to be less time between the uncrewed vehicle for Boeing and the crewed vehicle for Boeing, and longer time between SpaceX [capsule test flights]  which means, whoever gets to fly that first crew, we don't know right now," Bridenstine said.

A spokesman for Boeing said, "Both Starliner capsules that will fly this year are crew ready. During the uncrewed flight we will evaluate all test objectives except those that require a person in the capsule. Our flight with a crew depends on a successful uncrewed flight."

Because Boeing is reusing its crew modules, the company expects the capsules will be essentially the same between the first test flight and the second. While the schedule has been delayed multiple times over the last several years, Bridenstine said he is "highly confident" that the U.S. will be launching "American astronauts from American soil on American-made rockets" by the end of 2019.

Shifting to NASA's next human spaceflight ambition, Bridenstine addressed President Donald Trump's declaration that the U.S. must return Americans to the surface of the moon and onward to Mars. NASA is announcing more of its plans for returning humans to the moon at a conference on Thursday, focusing on the spacecraft that will land on the surface. Bridenstine said NASA's lunar plans are also "likely to be a public-private partnership" and explained more of his idea of who those customers will be.

"When I say many customers I mean there will be sovereign nations that have their own astronaut programs, and there is going to be space tourists as well, but we are going to be one customer of many customers in a robust commercial marketplace. Well what we are going to do now is we are going to take that model ... and we are going to apply that to everything between the Earth and the moon so that we have a sustainable return to the moon."

Bridenstine also set his expectation for NASA's return, saying "the goal is to have the first human lander on the surface of the moon in 2024."

Why return to the moon? One reason is for the resources on its surface, which include "water ice" and rare Earth metals. Bridenstine gave his case for the value those resources represent, which could be worth "tens of trillions of dollars," he said.

"In 2009, NASA made a discovery, there are hundreds of billions of tons of water ice on the surface of the moon. What does that mean? That means you've got air to breathe: Oxygen. You've got water to drink: H2O. But you've also got rocket fuel on the surface of the moon. Hydrogen and oxygen, cracked into its component parts, put into cryogenic form, it's the same rocket fuel that powered the space shuttles and its abundant on the surface of the moon. We also believe that there could be ... a tremendous amount of value in precious metals on the surface of the moon. We hear about 'rare Earth metals'  rare Earth metals are not Earth metals. Platinum groups metals  these are metals that are impacts, asteroid impacts from space from billions of years ago."

Finally, Bridenstine talked about the agency's long-term ambition of putting astronauts on Mars, which he expects will happen sometime after 2030. He said Trump has not told him to get humans to Mars "whatever it takes," although the president is "very interested" in accelerating NASA's plans for the red planet. He believes there's still a chance that of finding living organisms on Mars.

"I'm here to say I think that the probability is going up that we could find life on another world, namely Mars," Bridenstine said. "That would be an amazing discovery and I think its important that the United States of America make that discovery."Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe feared that he might be ousted before the obstruction of justice and counterintelligence investigations into President Donald Trump's Russia ties  which McCabe says he authorized  were "on absolutely solid ground."

McCabe, who ultimately was fired by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions on the eve of his retirement last year, made the remarks in a CBS interview that aired in part Thursday.

He said that he launched the probes a day after speaking with Trump in May 2017, in a conversation following the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.

"I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground, in an indelible fashion," McCabe said in the interview. "That were I removed quickly, or reassigned or fired, that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace."

Trump, his legal team and the White House have consistently denied any wrongdoing involving Russia.

In a statement Thursday afternoon, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said McCabe "was fired in total disgrace from the FBI because he lied to investigators on multiple occasions, including under oath. His selfish and destructive agenda drove him to open a completely baseless investigation into the President. His actions were so shameful that he was referred to federal prosecutors. Andrew McCabe has no credibility and is an embarrassment to the men and women of the FBI and our great country."

Trump, who has excoriated McCabe on Twitter dozens of times, also pushed back Thursday on the ex-FBI official's account.

"Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a 'poor little Angel' when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax," Trump said in a tweet.

The president also referenced a report from the Justice Department's inspector general, which concluded that McCabe inappropriately leaked information to a reporter and then misled investigators about it. "I.G. report on McCabe was devastating. Part of 'insurance policy' in case I won," Trump said.

Trump TWEET Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a "poor little Angel" when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax - a puppet for Leakin' James Comey. I.G. report on McCabe was devastating. Part of "insurance policy" in case I won....

Trump TWEET ....Many of the top FBI brass were fired, forced to leave, or left. McCabe's wife received BIG DOLLARS from Clinton people for her campaign - he gave Hillary a pass. McCabe is a disgrace to the FBI and a disgrace to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Trump cited guidance from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein when he fired Comey. McCabe reportedly claims in his upcoming book, "The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump," that Rosenstein wrote the memo against his wishes and under order from Trump.

"He said it wasn't his idea. The president had ordered him to write the memo justifying the firing," McCabe recalled Rosenstein saying at a May 2017 meeting, The Guardian first reported.

Eight days after Comey's firing, special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to carry out the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. His ongoing probe has collected indictments or guilty pleas from 34 people and three companies, which include Trump's former campaign chief Paul Manafort, former campaign aide George Papadopoulos, former national security advisor Michael Flynn and a raft of Russian nationals.

McCabe said in the CBS interview that he was deeply concerned about the possibility that Russia helped Trump win the presidential election.

"I was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency and who had just won the presidency, and who might have done so with the aid of the government of Russia, our most formidable adversary on the world stage," McCabe said. "And that was something that troubled me greatly."

Asked how long after that conversation he started the probes involving Trump, McCabe said: "I think the next day, I met with the team investigating the Russia cases, and I asked the team to go back and conduct an assessment to determine where are we with these efforts and what steps do we need to take going forward."

He added that "I wanted to make sure that our case was on solid ground, and if somebody came in behind me and closed it and tried to walk away from it, they would not be able to do that without creating a record of why they'd made that decision."Tom Barrack, American private equity investor and chairman of Colony Capital, issued an apology after saying the U.S. had committed "equal or worse" atrocities than the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Speaking to an audience while at the Milken Institute Summit in Abu Dhabi this week, Barrack, who has spent some four decades doing business in Saudi Arabia, refuted criticism of the kingdom for its role in the murder of the Saudi journalist, which Riyadh has blamed on "rogue" government operatives.

Asked at the CNN-hosted panel about the damage done to Saudi Arabia's international reputation, Barrack replied, "whatever happened in Saudi Arabia, the atrocities in America are equal, or worse, to the atrocities in Saudi Arabia."

The real estate investor, a close friend of President Donald Trump, said that the "problem" with the killing of Khashoggi was "the same problem with the West misunderstanding the East."

Critics took to Twitter to express their alarm over the chairman's statements. Kristian Ulrichsen, a Chatham House fellow and expert on the Gulf region at Texas's Rice University, called the comments "jaw-dropping."

Tweet1

Barrack issued an apology on Wednesday, calling the Khashoggi killing "atrocious and inexcusable."

"I apologize for not making this clear in my comments earlier this week," he said in a statement, immediately adding, "I feel strongly that the bad acts of a few should not be interpreted as the failure of an entire sovereign kingdom."

He asserted that "rule of law and monarchies across the Middle East are confusing to the West" and that "support for change and rule of law is essential as the agony of great change take place."

In response to anger over his comments about American atrocities, he wrote, "I love American and am myself a product of American freedom  I have always believed and continue to believe that America is the greatest country in the world."

Barrack, who also served as a senior advisor to the Trump campaign, has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Middle East real estate. Colony Capital manages $44 billion worth of assets worldwide, according to its website.Investors can expect the "best" returns from Asian stocks in the first half of 2019 as negative sentiment from last year subsides, a J.P. Morgan strategist said on Thursday.

"We're expecting more upside in the first half ... I think the best part of the returns you'll have in Asian equities will be in the first half," Mixo Das, Asia equity strategist at J.P. Morgan, told CNBC's "Street Signs."

At end of last year, investors were worried about multiple factors that could pressure stocks, including a potential recession in the U.S., slowing growth in China and the tariff fight between the world's two largest economies. Those concerns led to a sell-off in global markets, with stocks in Greater China, Japan and South Korea among the biggest losers in Asia.

But many of those events that investors feared could happen this year have not turned out to be as bad as expected, Das noted.

"At we get more clarity on the U.S.-China trade deal, China's growth bottoming out at some time in [the first] half, and the U.S. economy averting a recession in 2019  all these things essentially will reinforce that risks are coming down and that's why equities are going to be going higher in the first half," he added.

The strategist added that he prefers "value stocks"  those trading a price below where investors think it should be  in the first half of this year. He also favors shares in China, Singapore and the Philippines.

But growth in company earnings could weaken in the second half of the year, partly due to disruptions on the trade front, which has started to hit economic activity worldwide, said Das.

With little good news to lift regional stock prices beyond the first six months of the year, the strategist added that "growth stocks"  firms seen to have a lot of potential to expand  would be his preferred picks. Das said such an environment could make growth stocks "the best performers over the course of 2019."MUNICH  The United States has traditionally reassured doubtful allies of its security commitment through such measures as troop reinforcements and military exercises.

However, disruptive times call for unconventional measures.

This weekend, the U.S. will forward deploy more than 40 members of Congress  including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi  to the Munich Security Conference, the biggest such U.S. delegation in the 55-year history of the group, the most significant transatlantic powwow of its kind.

At a watershed moment for Western cohesion, the suggested subtext is unmistakable:

Don't be misled by media reports or Trumpian tweets that suggest the U.S. will weaken or even withdraw from NATO, history's most enduring and effective alliance. We as representatives of American voters will ensure that we safeguard the transatlantic bonds that have helped produce one of the most prosperous and secure periods of human history.

That's reassuring, of course, but only for the short term. U.S. legislators have already done much to legislatively ring-fence the president on NATO on the alliance's 70th anniversary. And President Trump's comparatively positive statement on the alliance in his State of the Union suggests he may have decided to back off threats and instead take credit for many NATO members' recent increases in military spending.

After all, he's got bigger fish to fry: his summit in Vietnam with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on February 27-28 and a possible meeting soon as well with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He also faces growing concerns at home with the Mueller probe reportedly winding down and Democratic investigations ramping up. NATO may be the beneficiary of limited presidential bandwidth.

So, the greater peril in Munich is that the U.S. and its allies, by focusing so much on preventing worst-case outcomes over the past couple of years, haven't prepared for the future. At a time that requires a renewed sense of cohesion and purpose on both sides of the Atlantic, they're hamstrung by ongoing Brexit dramas, transatlantic trade tensions, disagreements on issues ranging from Iran to Russian gas, and a rising tide of nationalist and populist forces.

If transatlantic leaders don't begin now to remind themselves of their common interests and again join in common cause, they'll find that the construct of "the West"  that did so much to shape the last century of history  will lose its ability to shape the future.

The transatlantic future is as much an economic as a security question. The North American-European economy still is the largest and most prosperous economic bloc in the world, accounting for a more than third of global GDP (India and China combined account for just 25 percent). The U.S. and Europe account for 64 percent of global outbound foreign direct investment and 51 percent of global personal consumption. Transatlantic coherence also means more combined weight to counteract authoritarian state-owned enterprises and the ability to counter rules that less democratic countries might set on a whole host of global economic rules and practices.TUNIS - A court in Sfax, Tunisia, has convicted a 22-year-old man who reported being beaten, raped and robbed on January 2 to six months in jail for homosexuality.



Badr Baabou of the Tunisian Association for Justice and Equality (DAMJ) called the ruling against the defendant, known as Anas F., a "legal scandal".



The defendant reported the January 2 crime, which he said was committed by a man he had met on Facebook and an accomplice, to police in Sidi el Bhari, who then arrested him for homosexuality and made him undergo an anal exam.



The two suspects in the crime were also convicted of homosexuality and sentenced to eight months in jail, six for homosexuality and two for robbery.



The LGBT rights groups Shams and DAMJ, as well as Human Rights Watch, are denouncing the conviction of Anas and are calling for his release.



Article 230 of the Tunisian penal code punishes homosexual relations and requires forced anal exams, despite the fact that in 2017 the Tunisian government told the UN Human Rights Council it would put an end to the practice, which is regarded as similar to torture.



On the day of Anas' conviction, the transnational movement All Out sent a petition of over 25,000 signatures to Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, which it collected in a campaign together with Shams to call for the young man's immediate release.



That decision now falls to appeals court judges.WHEN: Today, Thursday, February 14, 2018

WHERE: CNBC's "Squawk on the Street"

The following is the unofficial transcript of a FIRST ON CNBC interview with Cisco Chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins and CNBC's Jim Cramer on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" (M-F 9AM  11AM) today Thursday, February 14th. The following is a link to video from the interview on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/02/14/cisco-ceo-chuck-robbins-on-q2-results-5g-china-trade-and-much-more.html.

All references must be sourced to CNBC.

JIM CRAMER: Wow. Cisco, what a quarter. David, this was one of the great blowouts for a large Dow company. Also raised their buyback, and boosted the dividend, really pretty incredible. Cisco's Chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins joins us first on CNBC from the company's headquarters. Chuck, it is always great to see you.

CHUCK ROBBINS: Thanks for having me, Jim, David. How are you guys?

JIM CRAMER: Real good, but not as good as you, because you started  you answered Jim Suva's question, I love this, you say, 'It certainly is one of the more complex macro-geopolitical environments that I think we've seen in quite a while,' Different moving parts. 'But to be honest, from the first day of the quarter to the last, we saw zero difference and very steady demand' How is that possible? Including the government shutdown?

CHUCK ROBBINS: Yeah, Jim, it was an exceptional quarter for our teams. We've -- they're executing incredibly well. We saw tremendous balance around the world. I mean, our Europe, Middle East and Africa orders grew 11% in the quarter. Asia was up 6. The Americas grew as well. So we saw, you know, phenomenal balance there, we saw balance across our technology businesses, and really balance across the customer segments. And again, we were looking particularly in January, because we have the unique situation of having the third month of our quarter in January and we were looking for any sort of shift in demand from our customers. And we just saw nothing. We saw exact same performance in January that we saw in November and December as well. So, really pleased with how the teams have executed particularly in light of all the complexity out there right now.

JIM CRAMER: You know Chuck, you changed your model rather rapidly, and I'm not sure people understand it. For instance, 65% versus 54% of your software is now subscription. Can you tell people what that means for your margins and for your forecasting ability?

CHUCK ROBBINS: Well Jim, what it really means is that we have an opportunity to first of all, for our customers we'll deliver continuous innovation during the life of the subscription. But then from a business perspective, what you haven't seen yet is the opportunity for us you know, in 2021, 2022 when the bulk of this begins to come back up for renewal, we're going to have an incredible base of software that we'll get to renew and that's different than what we've done for last 25 years, which is, you know, really where we've had to sell 80% of the revenue we achieve in any given quarter, we had to sell during that quarter. So this gives us an opportunity to revisit, continue to deliver innovation and then remonetize the software assets that we have sold to our customers.

JIM CRAMER: Alright, but what people don't understand is there was a downgrade the other day Chuck, I'll do this because you're too much of a gentleman  a downgrade the other day, it was really very ill-advised and it talked about that your forecast might not be that positive. But Kelly Kramer, who is your dynamite CFO, actually talked about margin expansion from the decline in DRAMs and you gave one of the best forecasts for any of the technology stocks. It looks like margin is going up. You have a lot of money. You obviously increased the buyback dramatically, 3% yield and yet you still have $40 billion in cash.

CHUCK ROBBINS: Well Jim, you know, we had balance growth across our security portfolio which was the fastest growth we've seen in our security business in roughly four years. We saw tremendous growth in the applications business, up, you know, 20 plus percent and we saw strong growth in our core infrastructure systems, which you know was one of the big priorities we had a few years ago which is: how do we deliver enough innovation back into our core so we can grow those big franchises in addition to growing the markets we expanded into? And I think we saw the results of that come through this quarter. And obviously our commitment to capital returns are still there, raising the dividend, increasing the buyback. So overall it was a very good quarter for us.

JIM CRAMER: One thing in the conference call people talked about was that you do compete against Huawei in some parts of the country  parts of world, not in China. And you gave an answer I thought was a little circumspective, I just want to drill down a little more. If a major Telecom outfit is trying to choose between Huawei and Cisco, have you noticed a level of discourse which has said 'You know what, we ought to go to Cisco because we need safety and security'?

CHUCK ROBBINS: You know, Jim, what I've said was we haven't seen any material impact from all of the noise in the system around this topic but what I've also said is that we don't need anything else to actually beat these guys or beat enough of our competition in the marketplace, because we have been building tremendous innovation over the last few years. I said yesterday that I think our portfolio right now, the innovation across our portfolio, is as good as it's been in years. So I believe if you look at the numbers and you look at our service provider business in both Europe and Asia where we compete with them, they were both positive. So we were able to compete. We have new technologies coming out this year to support this 5G transition that our customers are about to go through. So we feel very good about our ability to win based on our innovation.

DAVID FABER: Alright, Chuck, it's David. I don't want to get an advertisement from you, but give people a sense as to what you're talking about here when you say innovation and when you say you're able to effectively compete with Huawei or whether it's ZTE in these foreign markets. What would be an example of a win where it was based on the innovation that you're talking about?

CHUCK ROBBINS: Well, if you look at what's happening right now with 5G, we have several customers who are in trials with us around our packet core which is effectively where we terminate the mobile call and convert it to I.P. We have new platforms coming out. Just think for a moment about the capacity and the core networks that is going to be required when you start delivering 1 gig, 2 gig, 3 gig to every end point from mobile devices to IoT devices, to braches. The capacity and the core is going to have to increase significantly. And we have been building next generation platforms for almost 4 1/2 years now, that actually will allow our customers to build that next generation core network to support 5G. So those are examples, but we're also doing it in our enterprise campus switching portfolio. I mean our switching business last quarter, we talked about on the call, was up double digits. And this is a business that three or four years ago, people didn't believe could grow at all. So I think it is -- truly just shows that innovation matters and that's what we're delivering to our customers.

DAVID FABER: You know, Chuck, I'm glad you mentioned 5G of course. We talk about it a lot here. Yesterday our viewers heard about it in the context of John Ledger talking about its importance to allow the Sprint and T-Mobile deal to occur. What are you seeing here in the U.S. in terms of the actual buildout? Can you give us any sense as to a timeline, given the different views we get from the telecom executives and what their plans are?

CHUCK ROBBINS: Well I think what you see happening in the U.S., as well as around the world, is you're seeing in proof of concept trials out there in major markets where they're delivering 5G to next generation mobile devices. We'll be rolling out trials with certain providers here over the next month or so. And then what you'll see is the extension of that to branches, to small business environments. And then I think you'll see the integration of 5G connectivity into the existing networks initially. Because the volume won't require a dedicated separate network. But then as they begin their broad based rollout over you know, 2020 and beyond, they're going to build dedicated 5G backbones in order to actually support the capacity that's needed. And we think that's where we'll begin to see some uplift from that 2020 and beyond when they start to build out these 5G next generation networks.

JIM CRAMER: One last questions. You have a good -- I'd say that you're very close to the trade talks. And we're always trying to figure out where we are in terms of positive, negative. I know you care passionately about intellectual property. I know you think China is important. Worldly guy but also, frankly, I know that you know the skinny. Where do you think we are in terms of getting a deal say in the next five months? Not the next three weeks, the next five months.

CHUCK ROBBINS: Well, I've said all along that I think it's clear that China needs this deal, the U.S. needs this deal. And I think some of the news we've heard over the last few days would support the fact that we're trying to get to a resolution I think from both sides and that's good news. The China market is incredibly important to us. Intellectual property is important to us, but it's important in every country around the world. And in fact you know, some of the most recent intellectual property challenges we've had have been right here in the United States. So we need to solve that globally. but I think as you look forward, I think it's clear that both sides are saying the right things, both sides are negotiating in good faith and I believe that at, you know, a minimum they'll make enough progress to where our President can hopefully extend the deadline and keep negotiating to get to deal in the next couple months and we can move forward and continue the expansion of this global economy that we've seen for the last few years.

JIM CRAMER: Alright  that's fair. And I'll leave it there. That's Chuck Robbins, Chairman and CEO of Cisco. Chuck, congratulations on a really unbelievably great quarter. Great forecast too. Great to see you.

CHUCK ROBBINS: Thank you.

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Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg Matt McClain | The Washington Post | Getty Images

In early 2018, a Facebook user made a public threat on the social network against one of the company's offices in Europe. Facebook picked up the threat, pulled the user's data and determined he was in the same country as the office he was targeting. The company informed the authorities about the threat and directed its security officers to be on the lookout for the user. "He made a veiled threat that 'Tomorrow everyone is going to pay' or something to that effect," a former Facebook security employee told CNBC. The incident is representative of the steps Facebook takes to keep its offices, executives and employees protected, according to more than a dozen former Facebook employees who spoke with CNBC. The company mines its social network for threatening comments, and in some cases uses its products to track the location of people it believes present a credible threat. Several of the former employees questioned the ethics of Facebook's security strategies, with one of them calling the tactics "very Big Brother-esque." Other former employees argue these security measures are justified by Facebook's reach and the intense emotions it can inspire. The company has 2.7 billion users across its services. That means that if just 0.01 percent of users make a threat, Facebook is still dealing with 270,000 potential security risks. "Our physical security team exists to keep Facebook employees safe," a Facebook spokesman said in a statement. "They use industry-standard measures to assess and address credible threats of violence against our employees and our company, and refer these threats to law enforcement when necessary. We have strict processes designed to protect people's privacy and adhere to all data privacy laws and Facebook's terms of service. Any suggestion our onsite physical security team has overstepped is absolutely false." Facebook is unique in the way it uses its own product to mine data for threats and locations of potentially dangerous individuals, said Tim Bradley, senior consultant with Incident Management Group, a corporate security consulting firm that deals with employee safety issues. However, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's general duty clause says that companies have to provide their employees with a workplace free of hazards that could cause death or serious physical harm, Bradley said. "If they know there's a threat against them, they have to take steps," Bradley said. "How they got the information is secondary to the fact that they have a duty to protect employees."

Making the list

One of the tools Facebook uses to monitor threats is a "be on lookout" or "BOLO" list, which is updated approximately once a week. The list was created in 2008, an early employee in Facebook's physical security group told CNBC. It now contains hundreds of people, according to four former Facebook security employees who have left the company since 2016. Facebook notifies its security professionals anytime a new person is added to the BOLO list, sending out a report that includes information about the person, such as their name, photo, their general location and a short description of why they were added.

In recent years, the security team even had a large monitor that displayed the faces of people on the list, according to a photo CNBC has seen and two people familiar, although Facebook says it no longer operates this monitor. Other companies keep similar lists of threats, Bradley and other sources said. But Facebook is unique because it can use its own products to identify these threats and track the location of people on the list. Users who publicly threaten the company, its offices or employees  including posting threatening comments in response to posts from executives like CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg  are often added to the list. These users are typically described as making "improper communication" or "threatening communication," according to former employees. The bar can be pretty low. While some users end up on the list after repeated appearances on company property or long email threats, others might find themselves on the BOLO list for saying something as simple as "F--- you, Mark," "F--- Facebook" or "I'm gonna go kick your a--," according to a former employee who worked with the executive protection team. A different former employee who was on the company's security team said there were no clearly communicated standards to determine what kinds of actions could land somebody on the list, and that decisions were often made on a case-by-case basis. The Facebook spokesman disputed this, saying that people were only added after a "rigorous review to determine the validity of the threat."

Awkward situations

Most people on the list do not know they're on it. This sometimes leads to tense situations. Several years ago, one Facebook user discovered he was on the BOLO list when he showed up to Facebook's Menlo Park campus for lunch with a friend who worked there, according to a former employee who witnessed the incident. The user checked in with security to register as a guest. His name popped up right away, alerting security. He was on the list. His issue had to do with messages he had sent to Zuckerberg, according to a person familiar with the circumstances. Soon, more security guards showed up in the entrance area where the guest had tried to register. No one grabbed the individual, but security guards stood at his sides and at each of the doors leading in and out of that entrance area. Eventually, the employee showed up mad and demanded that his friend be removed from the BOLO list. After the employee met with Facebook's global security intelligence and investigations team, the friend was removed from the list  a rare occurrence. "No person would be on BOLO without credible cause," the Facebook spokesman said in regard to this incident.

The Facebook campus in Menlo Park, California. Noah Berger | Reuters

It's not just users who find themselves on Facebook's BOLO list. Many of the people on the list are former Facebook employees and contractors, whose colleagues ask to add them when they leave the company. Some former employees are listed for having a track record of poor behavior, such as stealing company equipment. But in many cases, there is no reason listed on the BOLO description. Three people familiar said that almost every Facebook employee who gets fired is added to the list, and one called the process "really subjective." Another said that contractors are added if they get emotional when their contracts are not extended. The Facebook spokesman countered that the process is more rigorous than these people claim. "Former employees are only added under very specific circumstances, after review by legal and HR, including threats of violence or harassment." The practice of adding former employees to the BOLO list has occasionally created awkward situations for the company's recruiters, who often reach out to former employees to fill openings. Ex-employees have showed up for job interviews only to find out that they couldn't enter because they were on the BOLO list, said a former security employee who left the company last year. "It becomes a whole big embarrassing situation," this person said.

Tracked by special request

Facebook has the capability to track BOLO users' whereabouts by using their smartphone's location data collected through the Facebook app, or their IP address collected through the company's website. Facebook only tracks BOLO-listed users when their threats are deemed credible, according to a former employee with firsthand knowledge of the company's security procedures. This could include a detailed threat with an exact location and timing of an attack, or a threat from an individual who makes a habit of attending company events, such as the Facebook shareholders' meeting. This former employee emphasized Facebook could not look up users' locations without cause. When a credible threat is detected, the global security operations center and the global security intelligence and investigations units make a special request to the company's information security team, which has the capabilities to track users' location information. In some cases, the tracking doesn't go very far -- for instance, if a BOLO user made a threat about a specific location but their current location shows them nowhere close, the tracking might end there. But if the BOLO user is nearby, the information security team can continue to monitor their location periodically and keep other security teams on alert. Depending on the threat, Facebook's security teams can take other actions, such as stationing security guards, escorting a BOLO user off campus or alerting law enforcement.

street sign reading 'Hacker Way' is seen in the parking lot of the Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California. Robyn Beck | AFP | Getty Images

Facebook's information security team has tracked users' locations in other safety-related instances, too. In 2017, a Facebook manager alerted the company's security teams when a group of interns she was managing did not log into the company's systems to work from home. They had been on a camping trip, according to a former Facebook security employee, and the manager was concerned about their safety. Facebook's information security team became involved in the situation and used the interns' location data to try and find out if they were safe. "They call it 'pinging them', pinging their Facebook accounts," the former security employee recalled. After the location data did not turn up anything useful, the information security team then kept digging and learned that the interns had exchanged messages suggesting they never intended to come into work that day  essentially, they had lied to the manager. The information security team gave the manager a summary of what they had found. "There was legit concern about the safety of these individuals," the Facebook spokesman said. "In each isolated case, these employees were unresponsive on all communication channels. There's a set of protocols guiding when and how we access employee data when an employee goes missing."

Safety firstA man counts Saudi riyal banknotes at his jewelry shop in Tiba market in the capital Riyadh on October 3, 2016. Fayez Nureldine | AFP | Getty Images

Bad for business?

The 28 EU member states now have one month, which can be extended to two, to endorse the list. They could reject it by qualified majority. E.U. justice commissioner Vera Jourova, who proposed the list, told a news conference that she was confident states would not block it. She said it was urgent to act because "risks spread like wildfire in the banking sector". But concerns remain. Britain, which plans to leave the E.U. on March 29, said on Wednesday the list could "confuse businesses" because it diverges from a smaller listing compiled by its Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is the global standard-setter for anti-money laundering. The FATF list includes 12 jurisdictions  all on the EU blacklist  but excludes Saudi Arabia, Panama and U.S. territories. The FATF will update its list next week. London has led a pushback against the E.U. list in past days, and at closed-door meetings urged the exclusion of Saudi Arabia, E.U. sources told Reuters. The oil-rich kingdom is a major importer of goods and weapons from the E.U. and several top British banks have operations in the country. Royal Bank of Scotland is the European bank with the largest turnover in Saudi Arabia, with around 150 million euros ($169 million) in 2015, according to public data.

HSBC is Europe's most successful bank in Riyadh. It booked profits of 450 million euros in 2015 in the kingdom but disclosed no turnover and has no employees there, according to public data released under E.U. rules. "The UK will continue to work with the Commission to ensure that the list that comes into force provides certainty to businesses and is as effective as possible at tackling illicit finance," a British Treasury spokesman said.

Missing 'washing machines'Dutch speciality chemicals company DSM on Thursday narrowly beat analysts' expectations with a 3 percent rise in fourth-quarter core profit, at 370 million euros ($417.1 million), and said it would buy back 1 billion euros worth its own shares.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 3 percent to 370 million euros in the three months ended Dec. 31, while analysts in a Reuters poll had expected it to remain virtually flat at 362 million euros.

"We overdelivered on all of our targets and, therefore on that basis of how we have performed, we look positive in 2019," DSM CEO Feike Sijbesma told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Thursday.

"I think we realise the uncertain economic environment (and) we are well positioned in that environment."Congress passed legislation to avoid another government shutdown Thursday, moving to prevent one crisis even as the fight over President Donald Trump's proposed border wall escalated.

The GOP-controlled Senate easily cleared the bill, which included only about a quarter of the money Trump sought for border barriers, by an 83-16 margin. The Democratic-held House approved the measure comfortably in a 300-128 vote.

The president plans to sign the proposal and declare a national emergency in an attempt to fund the wall. His expected executive action would in part try to appease conservatives who argued he should oppose the plan because it does not meet his demand for $5.7 billion to construct barriers.

The legislation would keep the government running through Sept. 30. Lawmakers and Trump have until midnight Friday to fund nine departments and prevent the second partial closure since December.

If the proposal becomes law, 800,000 federal workers bludgeoned by the last 35-day shutdown would avoid even more financial pain. It will not end the fight over Trump's proposed border wall, as legal battles over the emergency declaration will likely erupt.

The president has said he is "not thrilled" with the spending legislation. It would allocate $1.375 billion for 55 miles of bollard fencing, much less than the $5.7 billion Trump wanted for a wall. The proposal also authorizes funds for more border security agents, customs officers, immigration judges, and technology to detect drugs and weapons.

Outside of the Department of Homeland Security, it includes provisions such as a 1.9 percent pay raise for federal employees, a $1 billion increase in U.S. Census spending and $17 billion for transportation infrastructure improvements.

Eleven Republicans and five Democrats in the Senate opposed the legislation. Four of the five Democratic senators who voted against it  Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts  are running to challenge Trump for the presidency next year.

While House leaders from both parties backed the legislation, both the majority Democrats and particularly minority Republicans saw defections.

Trump has spent recent days attempting to explain his apparent defeat in Congress on border wall funding. The president has argued for weeks that he can use money from other agencies to build the barrier.

"Regardless of Wall money, it is being built as we speak!" Trump tweeted Tuesday.

The potential national emergency declaration has divided Republicans. Several GOP senators argued it would set a bad precedent.

Pelosi said she "may" file a legal challenge and would review her options. She also warned Republicans that a future Democratic president could declare a national emergency over other issues such as gun violence.

Some Democratic House members also floated a vote on a resolution to disapprove of Trump's likely national emergency declaration. It is unclear if party leaders would support it.

Trump repeatedly cast an emergency declaration as a choice rather than a necessity, which could potentially weaken his legal case for it.

Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.

WATCH: The government shutdown faces mounting lawsuits, including over 'involuntary servitude'Congress has unveiled legislation to dodge another government shutdown and  for now  calm the dispute over President Donald Trump's proposed border wall.

The measure would fund nine federal departments through Sept. 30, allowing 800,000 workers who faced the prospect losing more pay to breathe a sigh of relief. Congress aims to vote on the proposal Thursday to beat a midnight Friday deadline. The Senate is expected to vote on it Thursday afternoon, followed by the House Thursday night.

On Thursday afternoon, Trump said he was "reviewing the funding bill with [his] team at the White House." As he often does, the president c

As the spending deal developed this week, Trump grumbled about what he called inadequate funding for border barriers. But barring a sudden change, the president is expected sign the legislation into law and prevent the second partial shutdown since December. On Wednesday, Trump said he would look for "land mines" in the bill after its release then decide whether to approve it.

After a chaplain opened the Senate with a blessing Thursday morning, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, offered a plea of his own.

"Let's all pray that the president will have wisdom to sign the bill so the government doesn't shut down," he said.

CSPAN Grassley prayer video

The legislation clears $1.4 billion to build bollard fencing  not a concrete wall as Trump first proposed  on the border. It would put some limits on where the government can build structures.Germany's second-largest listed bank, still partly owned by the government, is overhauling its business by reducing staff, digitising its back office and expanding its retail customer base.

Shares were indicated to rise 4.3 percent at 0642 GMT.

Net profit attributable to shareholders of 113 million euros ($127.43 million) was above the 75.7 million euros expected by analysts in a Reuters poll, and 75 million euros a year earlier.

The bank said on Thursday that it would further reduce costs this year and next and is targeting a 3 percent growth in revenue a year.

German lender Commerzbank beat analysts' expectations for fourth-quarter net profit with a 51 percent jump as it focuses on a major overhaul.

"Our strategy is right and is working. We are growing in terms of customers, lending volume and underlying revenues. We are making progress," Chief Executive Officer Martin Zielke said in a statement.

The restructuring programme, announced in 2016, is due to be completed in 2020.

Speculation of a merger with larger rival Deutsche Bank has heated up in recent months.

Time is running out for Deutsche Bank to turn around on its own, making a merger with rival Commerzbank more likely, two people with knowledge of the matter said last month.

A major investor has been awaiting market reaction to both banks' earnings over the next couple of weeks before deciding on the need for a merger, a person close to the investor said at the time.

Earlier this month, Deutsche Bank reported a bigger-than-expected loss for the fourth quarter and weakness at its investment bank, overshadowing its first annual profit in four years.

Speaking to CNBC Thursday, Stephan Engel, the bank's chief financial officer said: "I don't want to engage in any speculation on this topic."

In terms of the economic environment, Engel also said: "I'm not concerned about a downturn, I think what we will see is that growth will be a bit slower...but still we are talking growth."A truck moves a shipping container at Qingdao Port on January 14, 2019 in Qingdao, Shandong Province of China. VCG | Getty Images

China on Thursday reported exports and imports data for January that easily topped expectations. That better-than-expected news comes as Beijing's trade dispute with the U.S. and other factors lead investors to worry that China's economy  long an engine of global growth  may be facing a sharp slowdown. Those concerns were compounded last month when China's customs data showed exports and imports both fell surprisingly in December. January's official data, however, painted a much more optimistic picture about Asia's largest economy.

Dollar-denominated exports for the month rose 9.1 percent from a year ago, according to Chinese customs data. China's exports in January were expected to have contracted 3.2 percent from a year earlier, according to economists in a Reuters poll, compared with the previous month's 4.4 percent decline. January dollar-denominated imports, meanwhile, fell 1.5 percent on-year, which was far better than expectations of a 10 percent decline from a year earlier, according to the Reuters poll. Imports in December fell 7.6 percent from a year ago. China's overall trade surplus was $39.16 billion in January. That easily topped the $33.5 billion expected, according to the Reuters poll. That was still lower, though, than December's trade surplus of $57.06 billion.

China's imports from the US plummet

China's closely watched trade surplus with the U.S. fell to $27.3 billion in January, from $29.87 billion in December. In January, China's exports to the U.S. fell 2.4 percent from a year ago, while imports from its trade war opponent tanked 41.2 percent over the same period. Despite the upbeat data, analysts say data from China in the first two months of the year must be treated with caution due to business distortions caused by the timing of the week-long Lunar New Year public holiday, which fell in mid-February in 2018 but started on Feb. 4 this year. Mixo Das, Asia equity strategist at J.P. Morgan, said he would not read too much into a single data point, especially with the presence of such distortions like the national holidays, cyclical trends and ongoing structural changes. Das told CNBC he still expected China's economy to bottom in the first half of the year. "Even if the latest recovery in trade is genuine, the outlook for this year is still downbeat," concurred Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China Economist at Capital Economics.Barney Swan, 25, photographed during the world's first renewable-energy powered expedition to the South Pole in 2016.

When Barney Swan walked out of a meeting with NASA in 2016, he felt frustrated. The then-23-year-old and a handful of colleagues had just partaken in a presentation highlighting the destructive impact Antarctica's collapsing ice shelves are having on the planet. "It was terrifying, actually terrifying," Swan said, recalling that meeting during a UN-partnered sustainability conference in in Singapore in January. "(Antarctica has) 90 percent of the world's ice, 70 percent of the world's freshwater is locked within that ice," he said. "That place has the capacity alone to raise our sea level 20 feet, globally." "I walked out of that meeting with NASA feeling almost disabled," said Swan. But he didn't let the experience deter him. Instead, Swan decided to do something about it: He teamed up with his father, Robert Swan  the first man to ski to both the South Pole and the North Pole in the late 1980s  and set out on an epic journey to prove that sustainability can be achieved on a large scale.

A world-first mission

Three years, and much preparation later, the father-son duo, along with two other colleagues, embarked on a 600-mile skiing expedition across Antarctica. Not only was the journey a grueling personal challenge, it was the world's first Antarctic expedition to be powered solely by renewable energy. A NASA-designed ice melting system powered by solar energy and biofuels provided water to drink and cook with, while portable solar technology powered their electronics.

The team of four carried an additional 20 kilograms of renewable gear during their 600-mile expedition across the Antarctica. Barney Swan

The renewable gear added an additional 20 kilograms (about 44 pounds) to the team's load. But Swan said he wanted to incorporate it to prove that if the technologies can be used under such harsh conditions  as low as minus 55 degrees Celsius (minus 67 degrees Fahrenheit)  they can be easily incorporated into daily life. "My body started decaying," said Swan, now 25. "I'm not showing this to be like, 'Oh, I'm Bear Grylls, action man,'" said Swan. "I'm showing you that I made a risk to prove a point. I think all of us need to take a little bit more risks  sensible risks, smart risks, but risks for our future's sake."

The end is just the start

After three years of planning, the team completed their mission in just 56 days. However, when they reached the South Pole, Swan said he felt a distinct anticlimax, knowing that it was the start of a much longer journey. "I'm standing there, and I'm like: 'Great, I'm looking at the shiny object at the bottom of the planet, what's next?' Hugely anticlimactic," said Swan.

After 56 days of skiing, the team arrived at the South Pole, where the flags of countries part of the Antarctic Treaty are displayed. Barney Swan

He said he realized the next step was to figure out a way for more people to get involved in his mission to combat climate change. "Everything came back to CO2  the elephant in the room," Swan said of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. "You know, you watch a documentary like 'Before the Flood,' and I finish that thing, and I'm like, 'Where is an actual thing that I can do?' There's no solutions, follow up. 'Inconvenient Truth' is not followed by convenient solutions," Swan said of Al Gore's environmental documentary film. "We need convenient solutions, now."

Setting an achievable goal

With that in mind, in 2017, Swan established the ClimateForce challenge, which aims to clean up 360 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere before 2025. He aims to do that by providing individuals and businesses with solutions to reduce energy usage and carbon dioxide emissions. On an individual level, Swan said he believes small steps  like a reduced meat intake and a conscious effort to recycle  can make a difference. "I love meat, but the sad reality is that that indulgent moment of feeling your taste buds explode, every time you do that, that is at the cost of our planet," Swan said.

To make a larger scale impact, Swan is also currently working with Climeworks, a green energy development company, to produce infrastructure that filters carbon dioxide out of the air. Connecting people to the environment is also an important facet of ClimateForce's initiative, he said. "We need to have a connection to things or we're not going to bother protecting it. That's the sad reality."

Inspiring others

Swan and his father are now working on leading an expedition team to the Arctic in June so they can witness for themselves the effects of global warming around the North Pole. Having that authentic, firsthand experience is vital for those who want to support a cause and encourage others to join them, Swan told CNBC Make It.EU Parliament condemns Saudi treatment of women's rights Government web services used by men to monitor women

(ANSAmed) - STRASBOURG, FEBRUARY 14 - A plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Thursday condemned the situation of women's rights in Saudi Arabia and expressed concern over government web services used by husbands and male family members to monitor the movement of women when they travel. On the basis of a resolution that passed with 517 votes in favor, 10 against and 70 abstentions, the parliament underscored that the Saudi political and social system is still discriminatory and relegates women to a sub-class. The MPs also criticized a law adopted recently that calls for Saudi women to be informed by courts of rulings on their separations from their husbands through an SMS sent to their cell phones. The MPs called on the Saudi authorities to introduce an immediate moratorium on the death penalty, which is still used to punish non-violent crimes such as drug smuggling, betrayal, adultery and apostasy.(ANSAmed).



Shanghai (Gasgoo)- The first batch of Tesla Model 3 vehicles is soon be to delivered to customers in China with the recent arrival of the cargo ship Glovis Symphony at Tianjin Port.

The carrier departed from San Francisco on January 23 and entered the Tianjin Port on February 12 after an 18-day journey. It is reported that another two cargo ships carrying the Tesla Model 3 cars, namely, Morning Cindy and Emerald Ace, are going to arrive at Shanghai Port and Tianjin Port respectively next week. Both two carriers came from San Francisco where Tesla vehicles make their way from its factory in Fremont to the loading dock.

Clients who ordered the first batch of Tesla Model 3 vehicles available for China received confirmation mails from the U.S.-based EV maker on November 16, 2018. Nevertheless, the delivery was deferred many times restricted by the bottleneck in production capacity.

To ramp up the production capacity and shorten the delivery period, the Tesla is accelerating the localization of vehicle manufacture in China by setting up a plant in Shanghai's Lingang Industrial zone, which is expected to achieve an annual capacity of 250,000 vehicles by 2020.

Tesla announced on January 4 that Chinese consumers are allowed to place an order for optional configuration sets of the Tesla Model 3's High Performance All-wheel Drive (AWD) version and Long Range AWD version on Tesla China's official website and at Tesla's experience centers in China from then on.

Before the latest shipment to China, cargo ship Glovis Captain transported around 3,000 Model 3 vehicles to the Zeebruggee port in Belgium in the first week of February. All cars will be handed over across Europe. The Tesla Model 3's inroads in China and Europe are significant for the company to execute its long-term profitability strategy.South Africa: Parliament to debate energy crisis

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.

The North West provincial government says it is keen to work with the wildlife sector in order to boost the economy. Speaking at a meeting with game farmers, breeders, hunters and wildlife trans-locaters, Desbo Mohono, the MEC of Rural, Environment and Agricultural Development, said is ready to assist the sector financially and technical... See moreActing FBI Director Andrew McCabe testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee with the other heads of the U.S. intelligence agencies in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill May 11, 2017 in Washington, DC.

"The most illuminating and surprising thing in [McCabe's] interview to me were these eight days in May when all of these things were happening behind the scenes that the American people really didn't know about," "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley said Thursday on "CBS This Morning." Pelley interviewed McCabe for the show.

Comey's dismissal led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller , the former FBI director who is investigating whether Trump's presidential campaign colluded with Russians interfering in the 2016 election. Mueller is also probing whether Trump sought to obstruct the Justice Department's earlier inquiry into that question by ousting Comey and other means.

Those discussions came on the heels of Trump's dramatic firing of FBI Director James Comey on May 9, 2017, according to McCabe 's interview with CBS' "60 Minutes," scheduled to air Sunday evening.

Justice Department officials were so concerned about President Donald Trump 's fitness for office in May 2017 that they discussed whether Trump could be removed from office by convincing Vice President Mike Pence and a majority of the president's Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment of the Constitution, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe reportedly says in a new interview.

"There were meetings at the Justice Department at which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment," Pelley said.

"These were the eight days from Comey's firing to the point that Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel," Pelley added. "And the highest levels of American law enforcement were trying to figure out what do with the president."

In a statement to reporters Friday, McCabe's spokeswoman, Melissa Schwartz, said that McCabe himself did not participate in any discussions about using the 25th Amendment:

"Certain statements made by Mr. McCabe, in interviews associated with the release of his book, have been taken out of context and misrepresented. To clarify, at no time did Mr. McCabe participate in any extended discussions about the use of the 25th Amendment, nor is he aware of any such discussions. He was present and participated in a discussion that included a comment by Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein regarding the 25th Amendment. This anecdote was not included in The Threat, Mr. McCabe has merely confirmed a discussion that was initially reported elsewhere."

The 25th Amendment dictates that the vice president shall become president when the president is removed from office or dies in office, and that the vice president shall become acting president when the president is temporarily unable to perform his or her duties.

Section 4 of that amendment states that the vice president and a majority of either the Cabinet or "such other body as Congress" may make the vice president the acting president when they inform the Senate's president pro tempore and the speaker of the House that "the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office."

Pence, during an interview with NBC News on Thursday, said he was never aware of any discussion of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

"I've never heard any discussion of the 25th Amendment by members of the government and I would never expect to," Pence said. "Frankly I find any suggestion of it to be absurd."

McCabe's interview with "60 Minutes" is part of a promotion effort for his new book, "The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump."

McCabe was fired last March by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who said at the time that both the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General and the FBI's own internal watchdog had found McCabe made "an unauthorized disclosure to the news media," and "lacked candor  including under oath  on multiple occasions."

Pelley said Thursday that McCabe confirmed prior reports that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein offered to wear a recording device during his meetings with Trump. The Justice Department has said Rosenstein's offer was a sarcastic one.

But Pelley said McCabe told him that the offer "came up more than once and it was so serious that he took it to the lawyers at the FBI to discuss it."

On Thursday, the Justice Department reiterated its denial of McCabe's claims about Rosenstein, and said that Rosenstein did not believe there were any grounds to remove Trump from office via the 25th Amendment.

"The Deputy Attorney General again rejects Mr. McCabe's recitation of events as inaccurate and factually incorrect," the Justice Department said in a statement.

"The Deputy Attorney General never authorized any recording that Mr. McCabe references. As the Deputy Attorney General previously has stated, based on his personal dealings with the President, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment, nor was the DAG in a position to consider invoking the 25th Amendment."

The same statement noted that the Justice Department's inspector general "found that Mr. McCabe did not tell the truth to federal authorities on multiple occasions, leading to his termination from the FBI."

Trump personally blasted McCabe on Thursday in back-to-back tweets.

Tweet

TweetTesla has made progress reducing its cash burn but the electric-car maker is not "quite out of the woods yet," Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas told CNBC on Wednesday.

The auto analyst expects Tesla to burn about $600 million, possibly as much as $1 billion, in cash in the first quarter, but said a partnership with a tech company or another original equipment manufacturer "could go a long way."

The key for Tesla is to expand beyond a "standalone electric car company" and find resilience as competition in the electric space heats up, said Jonas, who gained a wide following on Wall Street for predicting the rise of Tesla and electric vehicles.

"The biggest question for Tesla share price, let's say over the next 12 months ... is this company finally at a point where it's self-financing, where it doesn't need external equity capital to fund its very ambitious plans?" he said on "Fast Money."

Tesla plans to reveal an electric truck this summer, but a counterpart can gain an edge with its own electric powertrain in the pickup truck market, Jonas said.

Morgan Stanley has a price target of $283 for the stock, which is more than 8 percent lower than its Wednesday close of about $308.

Tesla faces tougher questions as General Motors and Amazon are rumored to be investing in Rivian Automotive, a Detroit-based technology start-up that is the firm's top pick to compete with Tesla in the near future. Jonas sees Rivian as the next leader in electric pickup trucks.

"Rivian and other start-ups that can get access to the best talent and ... capital and ... have the business-model chops of an Amazon behind it, that could pose ... a much more serious threat to Tesla than, say, the Germans who will have EVs," Jonas said Wednesday, "but the cultural issues are real limiting factors in our opinion."Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort arrives for arraignment on a third superseding indictment against him by Special Counsel Robert Mueller on charges of witness tampering, at U.S. District Court in Washington, June 15, 2018.

Paul Manafort lied to investigators in three of the five examples laid out by special counsel Robert Mueller's office, a federal judge said Wednesday.

In December, Mueller's team alleged Trump's former campaign chairman violated his plea deal by lying during his cooperation with the investigation. Some of those lies were related to interactions with alleged Russian spy Konstantin Kilimnik, who is a former business associate of Manafort's.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in a Wednesday filing the special counsel provided enough evidence that Manafort did lie in some of those instances to the FBI, the special counsel and the grand jury.

The judge ruled that Manafort lied while discussing payments made to a law firm that were material to the investigation.

She also ruled he lied about his interactions and communications with Kilimnik.

The filing said Manafort lied on Oct. 5, 2018 on matters that were material to another investigation conducted by the Department of Justice.

But the judge ruled that the special counsel failed to provide enough evidence that Manafort lied on Oct. 16, 2018 about Kilimnik's alleged role in an obstruction of justice conspiracy as well as his contacts with the administration.

Manafort had cut a deal with Mueller in September just before his trial in U.S. District Court in Washington. He pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy. One count was related to money he earned from his work in Ukraine. The other was related to his attempts to tamper with witnesses against him.

Kilimnik has been criminally charged with working with Manafort in witness tampering efforts ahead of trials against the former Trump campaign chief. Mueller has previously alleged that Kilimnik was linked to a Russian intelligence service, including in 2016, the same year Manafort served as head of Trump's campaign.

Manafort had agreed to help the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election in exchange for lenient sentencing.

In Wednesday's filing, the judge said that because Manafort broke the terms of his deal with Mueller, the special counsel is no longer obligated to recommend a lighter sentence.A bear market could be just the beginning of the pain for most cryptocurrencies, according to one widely followed industry expert.

Barry Silbert, CEO and founder of Digital Currency Group and Grayscale Investments, said besides bitcoin the majority of the once blazing hot crypto market will eventually be worthless.

"I'm not a believer in the vast majority of digital tokens and believe most will go to zero," Silbert told CNBC in a phone interview following a call with Grayscale investors.

The rise in initial coin offerings helped bring the industry's market capitalization to more than $800 billion at the start of last year, according to CoinMarketCap.com. Bitcoin made up roughly 50 percent of that total, with its price climbing to nearly $20,000 in December 2017. Amidst the buying mania, Initial coin offerings, or ICOs, became a popular way to raise money from eager retail investors. But they often touted a project that wasn't live yet, or in some cases turned out to be outright fraud.

"Almost every ICO was just an attempt to raise money but there was no use for the underlying token," Silbert said. "The vast majority of what's out there will be eliminated."

That elimination is already starting. The Securities and Exchange Commission cracked down on the fundraising method last year, and Chairman Jay Clayton repeatedly urged crypto founders to register with the agency. Silbert applauded the SEC's actions and said most of the tokens were illegal offerings.

Bitcoin's price, along with that of other other major cryptocurrencies, came crashing down last year. The world's first and best-known digital currency is down more than 80 percent since its peak and was trading near $3,572 as of Wednesday.

Still, Silbert said he is "as bullish as he has ever been" on bitcoin. As an early investor, he lived through multiple price plunges, all of which were followed by a full recovery. Despite bitcoin's relatively short 10-year existence, it's already on its third bear market plunge of 80 percent or more. The most recent one has yet to bounce back.

Although bitcoin has seen "a really ugly technical chart," Silbert said there's still a high degree of interest from institutional investors. Digital Currency Group has made the most active seed investments in the industry, more than three times the amount of Andreessen Horowitz, according to Pitchbook. The company owns and operates bitcoin brokerage firm Genesis Trading, and the largest digital currency asset management firm, Grayscale Investments.

Grayscale also started the first publicly traded bitcoin investment vehicle, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, which trades under the symbol GBTC on over the counter markets.

Part of the upside Silbert sees in bitcoin is based on its potential to replace gold as a safe haven asset.

"As far as I'm concerned bitcoin has won the race to be digital gold," Silbert said.

Younger investors don't view gold as the same non-correlated, safe haven as their parents, Silbert said. He quoted an Accenture statistic on the investor call, that $30 trillion of baby boomer wealth is going to be handed down in the next 20 years. Some of that is currently in gold, which Silbert is predicting a younger generation would convert to bitcoin as a hedge instead.

"I'm convinced that whatever money is in gold is not going to stay in gold," Silbert said. "That gets handed down to millennials -- I'm highly confident a lot of that will go into bitcoin."

He said the speculation use case has been proven for bitcoin as a "buy and hold strategy." But the question of when meaningful institutional money starts flowing in still remains. Silbert said that heading into 2019, the infrastructure for that to happen safely is finally in place. Fidelity's custody solution and other investment opportunities like a futures market from the Intercontinental Exchange, parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, are all set to go live early this year.

If and when sentiment changes, Silbert predicted bitcoin prices would "snap back hard."

"There are certainty institutional investors that have put money to work and many more are are considering it," Silbert said. "Until now they wanted to make sure they're not catching a falling knife."WHEN: Today, Wednesday, February 13, 2019

WHERE: CNBC's "Closing Bell"  Live from the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco, CA

The following is the unofficial transcript of a CNBC EXCLUSIVE interview with Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and CNBC's Leslie Picker on CNBC's "Closing Bell" (M-F 3PM  5PM) today, Wednesday, February 13th. The following is a link to video of the interview on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/02/13/watch-cnbcs-full-interview-with-goldman-sachs-ceo-david-solomon.html.

All references must be sourced to CNBC.

WILFRED FROST: Welcome back. Goldman Sachs' tech conference is underway in San Francisco. Our own Leslie Picker is there and sitting down now with Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon for an exclusive interview. Leslie, over to you.

LESLIE PICKER: Hey. Thanks, Wilf. David, thank you so much for joining us.

DAVID SOLOMON: Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

LESLIE PICKER: Obviously there are a lot of industry conferences that banks put on, but you chose to be at this tech conference and you've clearly, as CEO, been elevating people who have a tech focus. What -- how does tech fit into the bank's overall strategy and why are you here today?

DAVID SOLOMON: Well, I'm here at this conference because it's a fabulous eventa fabulous event with a large number of our clients here, we have over 1200 institutional investors here. And we're also hearing from a range of companies. We heard from Alphabet, we heard from Google, I know Chuck Robbins is speaking tomorrow from Cisco, I'm going to be talking to Marc Benioff later this afternoon, I spent some time with Sarah Friar who is running Nextdoor now and I believe spoke yesterday, Silver Lake was here. So there's a big collection of clients, but I've come to this conference for years even in past roles, because tech is extremely important in business activity, change, in competitive landscape, disruption. And I've always found it's a great place to come, listen, spend time with clients and really get a sense of what's going on. And so I've always enjoyed this. I get to San Francisco multiple times a year, just generally, given how important the community is out here to our business overall. And I'm glad to be back this year.

LESLIE PICKER: Now, one of the big topics out here in San Francisco, especially in 2019, is the IPO pipeline, a big part of which Goldman is reportedly taking a role in. Is there enough demand from investors to buy into all of the IPOs that are expected to come down the pike this year?

DAVID SOLOMON: When good companies come to market, there's always investor demand for good companies. And when I look at the pipeline right now. I think we're at a moment of time where, for a variety of reasons, that's a pretty significant pipeline of really terrific companies that are finally making the transition from having operated for a long period of time as private companies to the public market. I think we would have seen more of that happening in the early part of this year if not for the government shutdown. I think the government shutdown kind of pushed that out a little bit and we're going to start to see more moment up with respect to that. But I think when good companies come to market, if you have a good company to bring to market, there will always be investor interest and demand. And I think this pipeline is going to get a very, very strong reception from the market.

LESLIE PICKER: So you're saying the pipeline is good then?

DAVID SOLOMON: I think the pipeline is good. I think we've had a real evolution in the market with respect to private capital and public capital where now companies can, for a much longer period of time, fund themselves through private capital, as opposed to the public market. And that's delayed the process of bringing companies to the market for a longer period of time. There are both benefits and detriments to that but one of the results of that is when you do get these companies coming to market at this point, they're more developed, they're further along in their development, they're more known and I think creates great opportunities for investors to buy into some really terrific companies. So we're excited about the pipeline. It should be, if the market environment continues the way it looks today, it should be relatively good for IPOs, particularly here in the United States. Last year, we saw quite a bit out of China. 7 of the 11 significant tech IPOs that we saw last year came out China. We were a booker on all 7 of them. And so we saw a terrific amount of opportunity out of China last year in that context. So, I just think that is going to continue this year with more focus in the U.S.

LESLIE PICKER: Now you mentioned Washington, and one of the big policy moves that's getting a lot of attention these days, especially on the democratic side, is this idea of redistribution of wealth. What are your thoughts on that? Do you believe that the wealthy are being unfairly targeted these days?

DAVID SOLOMON: Well, I think distribution of wealth is an important issue and I think for sure, particularly coming up to a presidential election, there is going to be a lot of discussion on that topic and many others. And there are a number of other topics around taxes or policy that will continue to get debated. As we're focused on our clients and we're running our business, we don't really on a day-to-day basis listen -- we listen to the discussion, but we're concerned more about the current policy parameters are and how the current policy parameters evolve. I think there's reason to think about distribution of wealth and how we bring more people along in our society. I think that's something we've been very focused on at the firm in a variety of ways and I think it's important that corporations think about those issues. But I think we are coming into an election cycle. There will be a lot of discussion. We'll obviously listen to that. But we're more focused on operating and giving our client's advice on the current policy environment, not trying to imagine where things will be.

LESLIE PICKER: One of the big areas that people look at here is kind of closing that income gap and looking at raising taxes on the wealthy as the best way to do that. Do you agree that that is something that could improve the economy?

DAVID SOLOMON: Again, important issues that I think it's important, there's discussion and debate on. But over time, taking that discussion and the debate and particularly the discussion and debate that's driven by political process, it's actually policy that makes sense and really does the right thing  I've got a lot of confidence in our system that when it comes to making policy, we'll drive policy that really serves us best in the long run.

LESLIE PICKER: Do you think this ultimately becomes policy?

DAVID SOLOMON: You know, I'm not going to speculate on how the tax law changes and evolves. But I will notice that over many decades, we've had very few significant changes in tax policy. We've just had one. And so, you know, like everyone else, I'll listen to the discussion but we'll operate in the current policy environment and see what future policy changes come.

LESLIE PICKER: And you mentioned yesterday at another financial services conference that you believe that bankers will be increasingly targeted, you know, in this election season. Why do you believe that? And is this redistribution of wealth kind of part of that?

DAVID SOLOMON: Well, I think what I said was not that bankers would be targeted. I thought  I think that in the environment that we're in politically, banks still fresh out of the financial crisis, ten years is still a relatively short period of time, the narrative around the role that banks play in our society, which is a very, very important role around capital allocation, around lending to support businesses, create jobs, et cetera. I think the banking community can do a better job in talking about that and explaining that. But I do think in the electoral process, there will be certain components of those competing for office that will use that on their platform. Now whether nor not that converts to policy, you know, I don't know. But I think that will part of the dialogue. And our job is to serve our clients and operate around that, but it's not something on a day-to-day basis we spend time thinking about.

LESLIE PICKER: Alright. Wilfred back in the studio has a question for you. Wilf.

WILFRED FROST: Leslie, thanks very much. David, good afternoon. Thanks very much for joining us. Great to speak as always. I don't want to 

DAVID SOLOMON: Absolutely. Thanks, Wilf.

WILFRED FROST: Don't want to labor the tax issue too much, but I do want to talk about a slightly different one from what Leslie has been asking about, and that's buybacks. Your predecessor Lloyd Blankfein exchanged some Tweets with Senator Sanders the other day on the topic of buybacks, something you've been doing a lot of recently. And Mr. Blankfein framed buybacks as something that boosts the economy and jobs, whereas Senator Sanders said buybacks increase the wealth of billionaires, like Mr. Blankfein. What's your view on the topic?

DAVID SOLOMON: So, Lloyd is now in a positive  Lloyd has had strong views on lots of topics, and informed views and interesting views on lots of topics. He's now in an uninhibited position where he can talk about things as he sees fit. You on the topic of buybacks more generally, look: one thing we spend time talking to clients about is capital allocation, how they think about investment, how they think about returning capital shareholders through either dividends or through buybacks. And I think there's a balance that always has to be struck there. You know, companies are stewards of capital for their shareholders. They need to invest in their businesses. They need to invest in their people. Those are very important things that companies need to do. And that's got to be balanced with if they don't see the appropriate opportunities from an investment perspective, getting that capital back to shareholders in the most efficient way possible. And so this is different for every company. I know when we think about it at Goldman Sachs, we think a lot about how we invest in our people, invest our business, but also how we steward that capital for stockholders. And you know, I think it's a reasonable debate for any company to think about what's the right balance.

SARA EISEN: Hey, David, it's Sara. I have an economic question for you. So the market's clearly been very strong this year

DAVID SOLOMON: Sure, Sara. How are you?

SARA EISEN: I'm good, thank you. But we are seeing some signs of slowdown in the U.S. economy. Auto delinquencies are rising. Small business optimism is fading. What's your read right now on whether we're slowing, and if so, how much?

DAVID SOLOMON: Well there's no question that the momentum of growth in the United State has definitely slowed, the trajectory is not quite as strong as it was a year ago. We're through, you know, part of the benefit of tax policy and tax change. And so there's no question that that trajectory is different than it was. That said, economic activity in the United States is still chugging along pretty well. I think we're in a position at the moment where we should see reasonable growth during the course of the year, let's say 2 to 2.25% growth, which is not bad. And so I think we're in a place where the chance of a recession in 2019 is actually quite small and the economic expansion should probably continue.

SARA EISEN: What about globally? How much has the picture deteriorated there?

DAVID SOLOMON: Well, there's no question that certain places around the world where that trajectory has slowed a little bit more and so obviously that contributes to the overall picture with respect to global growth. There's no question that growth in China has slowed, but yet I would say that growth in China is still you know, reasonable by any standard, even though it has slowed. And there's certainly pockets of Europe where we've seen a little bit of slowdown. But I think the comments I made broadly about the U.S., while not quite as strong, when you look at the overall global growth picture, I think things are still chugging along okay at this point in time and I don't see a lot of data to say that slowdown is accelerating or in any way, shape or form leading to global recession.

SARA EISEN: You know, related to all of this is how the trade war between the U.S. and China is solved. There's a lot of optimism in the markets. It sounds like President Trump wants to make a deal. If we did get that, what do you think that would mean to the markets and to the economy?

DAVID SOLOMON: Well, you know, I think, look, if you look at the start to the market year, coming off what was a difficult December, it's been a relatively good start to the year. I think part that have is over time, and you guys have reported this quite a bit in the last 24 hours, you know, the market is coming to a point of view that there will be progress on the trade talks. I think that's an important kind of next step for investors. They want to see that progress. And so, you know, to the degree that progresses, I think that's a positive sign for markets.

WILFRED FROST: David, I wanted to ask you briefly about the 1mdb scandal. And a theme that kind of came out of the earnings call but I don't think was fully clarified, do you feel like you have now already provisioned financially for what you guys have at the moment, your best estimate, for the worst case scenario?

DAVID SOLOMON: Yeah. As we said before, Wilf, you know, we have a responsibility in filing our financials to reserve what we feel is appropriate based on the facts that we have. Based on the facts we have today, we feel we're very appropriately reserved.

WILFRED FROST: And is that a single digit billion dollars number or is it double digit?

DAVID SOLOMON: As you heard on the earnings call, we disclosed what we added to our reserve, we disclosed our possible loss scenario and all that have is what we feel comfortable with at the present time, given information we have today.

WILFRED FROST: Okay. Moving on, on the same topic, recently you decided to withhold a portion of the 2011 incentive packages from three former senior executive employees. The board decided to do that. What was the reason behind it? Is there some implication they were complicit on the scandal itself or just they didn't really do their oversight jobs back when this wrongdoing was committed?

DAVID SOLOMON: No, no implication of that whatsoever. The board took an action to defer, as they were permitted to, to defer compensation that was owed to certain executives based on the fact that they wanted to see this all played out. But there was no, in any way, shape or form of implication, in any way, shape or form to any of those executives that that was the case.

WILFRED FROST: So why were the three 

DAVID SOLOMON: They deferred it, Wilf.

WILFRED FROST: I know, but why were three people singled out?

DAVID SOLOMON: The three were the only three that had that particular award. So everybody else that had that award was retired or cashed out of that award. They were the only three that had that particular award. They were the only three executive officers that had that. And so the board, as they were entitled to, decided to defer decision into paying that award until this is all resolved and that was a board decision.

WILFRED FROST: And finally, David, on the topic, I haven't actually had a chance to speak with you directly on this topic yet, and I know you can't go deep into the details but given that you kind of personally did build the debt capital market and have been head of the investment bank in the past, what level of personal guilt do you feel and personal annoyance with the whole thing that did unfold back in 2013?

DAVID SOLOMON: Well I think, Wilf, I've been very, very clear that I was outraged that we had somebody at the firm that acted in such a criminally difficult -- criminally inappropriate way. That acted in a way, shape or form doesn't meet the standards of behavior that we expect, the level of integrity we expect, broke the law, became a criminal. So I'm outraged by that, as are all partners of Goldman Sachs. So this process will play out, as we've said. We're working to bring a resolution to it. And hopefully we can get that done in an appropriate way, in short order.

LESLIE PICKER: Alright, David, I have a question, more strategically about bank M&A broadly. We saw the SunTrust BB&T merger last week. WisdomTree reportedly held talks with JP Morgan. There's even some news out just today that Goldman was in talks with the boutique bank and those talks fell apart over M&A. Do you expect to see more financial services mergers in 2019 and can we expect to see Goldman to play a role in that?

DAVID SOLOMON: Well, obviously the BB&T SunTrust deal was a big deal. We played a role as adviser in that transaction. And it was a significant consolidation transaction. We haven't seen one in quite some time. I think one of the things that was interesting about it is the stocks of both companies reacted well, kind of indicating that the market would see lots of consolidation. There are regulatory issues that can strain as you move further up the market cap spectrum the ability to see more consolidation. You saw Morgan Stanley do an interesting add-on acquisition over the course of recent weeks. As for Goldman Sachs, we'll continue to look for opportunities to broaden our franchise with add-on transactions as we have, for example, in the wealth management business. But we're really focused on continuing to grow our business with respect to the initiatives that we have. I do think M&A activity broadly will continue at pace in this environment. And I think financial services will have a reasonable contribution to the overall M&A mix. With respect to the article out today about our looking at a boutique investment bank 

LESLIE PICKER: William Blair was the bank

DAVID SOLOMON: I'm actually not aware of those discussions occurring. But we're very focused on expanding our footprint which is something that we do organically by adding bankers and building out our ability to cover a broader array of companies.

LESLIE PICKER: Now the reverse, we talked about add-ons, and potentially pulling back on part of the business, it was reported that you all were scaling back on your commodities business. Are there any other areas that we can expect to see shift under your leadership?

DAVID SOLOMON: Sure. You know, we are looking at all of our business, and we have been on record talking about a review kind of front to back of all of our businesses and opportunities to refine them. With the commodities business, we're very committed to serving our clients in the commodities space but that business has evolved a little bit. We thought it was an appropriate time to refocus on certain areas where our clients really have needs from us in the commodities business and others where there wasn't really good client demand to refocus some of those resources on other parts of the business. So we're always looking at our businesses through the eyes of what do our clients need and how can we best refine those businesses to serve our clients well? And that's an ongoing process that we'll continue.

LESLIE PICKER: Alright. David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, thank you so much for joining us from your conference. Really appreciate it.

DAVID SOLOMON: Thank you so much for having me. Appreciate it. Thanks.

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Rome meeting for Slovenia investment opportunities Innovation and collaboration

(ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 14 - The Italian Trade Commission (ICE) headquarters in Rome will on Thursday be hosting Country Presentation Slovenia, focusing on investment and innovation. Taking part will be Undersecretary for Economic Development Michele Geraci, State Secretary of the Slovenia Economic Development Ministry Ale Cantarutti, ICE chief Carlo Ferro and Director General Roberto Luongo.



For the investment sector, opportunities will be presented for tourism infrastructure and the financial sector. For the innovation sector, collaboration possibilities will be presented in the aerospace sector as well as two of the Strategic Research and Innovation Partnerships - coordinated by the Jozef Stefan Research Center in Ljubljana - which have expressed interest in collaborating with Italy on the Factories of the Future and Smart Cities and Communities projects.



The Networks for the Transition into Circular Economy project coordinated by the Styria Chamber of Commerce will also be presented, which is co-funded by the Slovenian government and the European Regional Development Fund. (ANSAmed).



CLINTON [mdash] Beloved little boy, you've captured our hearts from the first moment we heard yours. Every day falling more deeply in love with you. Hidden away in your momma's belly we watched you grow, and covered you in prayers and kisses. And when the moment came where we saw your precioSubmit a letter to the editor

The CJN provides an open forum for reader feedback and comments. Letters to the editor can be submitted via the form linked below, e-mailed to editorial@cjn.org or mailed to Letters, CJN, 23880 Commerce Park, Beachwood, Ohio 44122 (please type and double space, or write legibly). All submissions must include your full name, town of residency and daytime phone number (phone number will not be printed).

Submit a letter(ANSA) - Milan, February 14 - Kathrin Muehlbronner, Moody's lead analyst for Italy, said Thursday there was a good chance that Premier Giuseppe Conte's League-5-Star Movement government could collapse before the end of its five-year term.

"We see a significant risk of early elections, probably after the European elections (in May)," Muehlbronner said at the Credit Trends Conference in Milan. "It is difficult to say what the government will be.

"The situation is not very clear and it is difficult to price the political risk.

"A new coalition could be necessary with further political uncertainty".

(ANSA) - Rome, February 14 - Infrastructure giant Salini Impregilo said Thursday that it has made an offer to take a controlling stake in troubled construction group Astaldi. The proposal is for a cash capital increase of 225 million euros for 65% of Astaldi (after the capital increase), which would become an "essentially debt-free company".

"The transaction represents an opportunity to create one of the leading global EPC operators with a combined EPC order book of around 33 billion and more than 45,000 employees," Salini Impregilo said. The statement said the proposal would see Astaldi selling off its concessions arm, including the third Bosphorus bridge project and the Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmi highway in Turkey, to pay unsecured creditors.

Fathers Day is always a reminder of a few things. First and foremost, how much I miss my father. How much I enjoy being a father. How great my late brother and brothers-in-law were as fathers and the Cleveland Cavaliers winning a championship five years ago.BRECKSVILLE, Ohio -- Another incredible Empty Bowls fundraiser was put on by the Brecksville Kiwanis and Broadview Heights Lions Club on Feb. 5. Being that my husband and I are now veterans of this event (we went last year), we thought we would beat the crowd and get there right when it started at 5 p.m.

Wrong! As soon as we drove into the Cuyahoga Valley Career Center parking lot, we knew that this was not the best strategy. It looked like most of the over 500 people who bought tickets were already there.

Last year, there was a long line down a hallway when we got there at 6 p.m. This year, the entire lobby of the Career Center was filled, plus the hallway. This was a much longer wait, but I didn't hear one person complaining.

We were all there for the same reason -- to help feed the hungry folks right here in our communities. Friendly chatter, laughter and good will filled the entire place.

Bill Rittman, team leader of the Kiwanis, and Kevin Krcmar, team leader of the Lions, stated that the proceeds of Empty Bowls will go to the Brecksville Food Bank and South Hills Lend-a-Hand in Broadview Heights. (The lion is really Grace Dachtler).

The food this year was even better because of the wider selection of soups from local restaurants. These, combined with bread and salad, made for a tasty meal.

The food was graciously donated by 24 Karrot Kitchen, Burntwood Tavern, Courtyard Cafe, Creekside Restaurant & Bar, Danny Boys, Demetrios Restaurant, Frankie's Wok, Good Olde Daze, Gianpiero's at Dante's County Line Saloon, Simon's Restaurant & Deli, Sokololowski's University Inn, Tom & Chee, Zoup, Reinecker's Bakery, East of Chicago Pizza, Michael Angelo's Bakery, London Pickle Works, Augie's Pizza Independence, Augie's Pizza North Royalton, Austin's, Brecksville Human Services, Sirna's, Wild Eagle Steak & Saloon and Mastro's The 3 Spot.

The bowls were just as beautiful as last year -- hundreds of bowls handcrafted and donated by the Brecksville Center for the Arts, the Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School Arts Club and the NorthCoast Woodturners. These lovely pieces of art were for the guests to take home as a reminder of all the empty bowls in the world. This was part of The Empty Bowls Project -- an international grassroots effort to fight hunger, created by The Imagine Render Group.

This is a combined effort between the Brecksville Kiwanis and the Broadview Heights Lions Club. Bill Rittman, team leader of the Kiwanis, and Kevin Krcmar, team leader of the Lions, stated that the proceeds will to the Brecksville Food Bank and South Hills Lend-a-Hand in Broadview Heights.

Besides the food being donated, many area businesses were major sponsors, including Metro Health, Northcoast Litho, Wild Eagle Steak & Saloon and Mastro's The 3 Spot.

The largest hunger relief organization in the United States, Feeding America, reports that the nation's food banks could soon be overwhelmed by demand. Millions of people are in need, and the number of food recipients has increased dramatically over the last several years. So, the efforts of organizations like the Kiwanis and Lions are needed more than ever.

A big thank you to all the volunteers who stepped up and made this event such a huge success!

Scholarship applications: The Broadview Heights Lions Club, the largest service club in Broadview Heights, announces the availability of its scholarship applications. The Broadview Heights Lions Club has awarded over $175,000 in direct scholarship grants since its inception over 35 years ago, through money raised in community activities, most notably through the operations of the Bloodview Haunted House.

Up to six scholarships, worth $1000 each, are open to students who are pursuing post-high school education or training and are either Broadview Heights residents or recommended by a Broadview Heights Lions member. Applications are available at area high schools or through Broadview Heights Lions members. Deadline for submittal of scholarship applications is April 12.

For additional information, visit https://e-clubhouse.org/sites/broadviewheights/ or contact Lion Kathy Sopko at 440-821-5203.

Seniors of the Year: It's time for nominations for the Brecksville Senior Volunteer Man and Woman of the Year, sponsored by the Department of Human Services and the Brecksville Kiwanis Club. Pick up a nomination form at the Human Services Center. Deadline for nominations is March 15. The annual Volunteer of the Year luncheon is at noon Tuesday, May 21, at the Human Services Center.

Coffee with Dan: If you are a constituent living in North Royalton's Ward 3, you are invited to attend Ward 3 Councilman Dan Langshaw's next monthly constituent coffee from 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, at the Subway located at 5660 Wallings Road in North Royalton. Dan holds these coffees in order to stay in touch with fellow residents and listen to their feedback one on one. No appointment is necessary. Simply stop by and talk to Dan. You may also contact Dan Langshaw via e-mail if you wish, at ward3@northroyalton.org, or call 440-785-4240.

Let the Brecksville, Broadview Heights and North Royalton communities know what is going on with your organization, church, school, business or family. Email me at shirleymac48@att.net.Rotunda Rumblings

Minority report: Ohio Senate Democrats priorities for the next two years will include (among other issues) job creation and training, boosting education funding, gun control, and combatting infant mortality and child poverty, caucus members said during a Statehouse meeting with reporters Wednesday. The nine-member caucus also indicated that they would be open to a gas-tax hike, if the Republican-controlled House passes one. None of us want to see an increase in any taxes, Senate Minority Leader Kenny Yuko said. But theres no other way around this -- we have to fix our roads. We have to fix our public transportation.

Show me the money: Former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann and an ex TV reporter are suing the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System to release details on $300 million it has invested with funds controlled by Glouston Capital Partners, a Boston-based investment company,cleveland.coms Andrew Tobias reports. One of the investments the suit seeks to find out more about is in Drive Capital, a private-equity fund co-founded by Mark Kvamme, a venture capitalist who is close to former Gov. John Kasich.

Mayor Pete: Cleveland.coms Seth Richardson caught up with South Bend Mayor and Democratic rising star Pete Buttigieg, who was in Parma promoting his new book Tuesday. Despite what would be a longshot bid for president in 2020, the 37-year-old Harvard grad and former Rhodes Scholar is seriously considering it. And he feels free to be himself, Richardson writes.

Brown vs. Trump: Aspiring Democratic presidential candidate Sherrod Brown on Wednesday announced his backing for tax and Medicare proposals that have little chance of passing the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate, but will give him ample opportunity to contrast himself with President Trump as he visits early presidential primary states,cleveland.coms Sabrina Eaton reports. We know from the Trump tax cut  that trickle-down economics never works, the Ohio Senator said. There is little economic growth coming from a $1.5 trillion tax cut for the rich, but where you really get economic growth is when you put money into the pockets of middle class and lower income taxpayers who then start spending that money."

Doctor Who: The State Medical Board of Ohio on Wednesday approved 39 new doctors to recommend Ohio medical marijuana. Search here for the 413 by zip code or physician name.

Sick note: The Ohio Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous per curiam, or unsigned, decision that applicants for workers compensation benefits can be subjected to additional medical exams if the state explains why theyre necessary. The court heard a case involving Mary Mignella, a former Warren City Schools teacher who applied for permanent-total-disability benefits. The Ohio Industrial Commission suspended her application until she submits to a second examination, which the court affirmed was its right.

Google the details: Lt. Gov. Jon Husted called news that a Google affiliate is opening a $600 million data center in New Albany as further strengthening our case that Ohio is becoming the tech capital of the Midwest." Mark Williams of the Columbus Dispatch reports that details of what Google will be doing at the Ohio center are scarce.

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail Ohio is the only state lacking an established process to create an action plan to confront Alzheimers and dementia, which cost Medicare and Medicaid billions annually. Sens. Steve Wilson, a Cincinnati-area Republican, and Kenny Yuko, a Richmond Heights Democrat, want to change that with Senate Bill 24, which would create a task force that would gather information to help the state with detection and diagnosis, quality of care, health system capacity and other issues. A similar bill has failed in the past.

Transplant transparency: Legislation is being drafted in the U.S. Senate to toughen transplant regulations after a woman who received a uterus transplant at the Cleveland Clinic had to get it removed, the Washington Post reports. Lindsey McFarland nearly died from the transplant, due to a Candida albicans infection in the uterus. The Miami organization that provided the organ allegedly never disclosed the infection to the surgical team, the Post reported.

Food for thought: Ohio food stamp households will receive some of their March food aid early. Households will receive 50 percent of their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits Feb. 22 and the remainder on their regularly assigned March date. This is because February benefits came in mid-January due to the government shutdown. The state expects to return to the standard calendar in April, barring another shutdown, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

A little bird told us: The U.S. Senate has passed a package of bills to fund the Ohio & Erie Canalway National Heritage Area, as well as a migratory birds conservation program sponsored by Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman, Eaton reports.

Rocky road: Ohio Department of Transportation Director Jack Marchbanks told House Finance Committee members Wednesday that without a new source of funding for transportation projects, our system of state and local roadways will fall into a dangerous state of disrepair, according to Jim Siegel of the Dispatch. Marchbanks didnt specifically endorse raising the states 28-cents-per-gallon gas tax, though he said the state would raise $67 million for each penny increase in the tax.

Packing for school: At least 43 Ohio schools arm their teachers and staff, according to the results of a state survey of more than 5,000 school buildings. As the Dayton Daily News Laura Bischoff reports, state officials wouldnt reveal which school districts have armed staff.

Warranting a closer look: DeWine on Wednesday created a task force to find ways to improve Ohios overwhelmed system for issuing and serving arrest warrants. In a release, the governor said its simply impossible for law enforcement to keep up with the current number of warrants issued. The 27-member panel has until June 3 to issue its recommendations.

Settled: Sen. Joe Uecker, a Cincinnati-area Republican, is paying $20,000 to settle a lawsuit over whether he could block someone from Facebook without violating the persons constitutional rights, the Enquirers Jackie Borchardt reports. Anthony Famby was blocked from Ueckers page after commenting on Ueckers vote on an abortion bill.

Five Questions

Stephanie McCloud is the new administrator of the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation.

1. Of all the positions in state government you could have gone for, why BWC administrator?

I have a long, strong background in workers compensation. ...Ive actually enjoyed it quite a bit. I was really excited about the innovative things that we are going to be able to do at BWC and excited about being able to serve the employers and the injured workers in new ways.

2. Tell me more about the innovations that BWC is doing.

First of all, the substance abuse epidemic  we are looking to increase some of our safety grant programs for helping employers who employ folks with substance abuse issues. We are also looking at some data and analytics. The bureau has a lot of data, but I dont think its been able to be organized in the kind of constructive way it needs to be to for trending, for results, for injuries, for being able to use kind of a predictive model. Weve not been able to do that in the past.

3. There was some big news a few weeks ago about cutting employers workers comp rates by an average of 20 percent. Is there a likelihood of more cuts coming?

We dont know. Obviously, if the good work we do in safety continues to result in claims going down and the good work that our employers are doing and the good work, frankly, that injured workers are doingif those trends continue, there may be an opportunity for that.

4. I read that youre going to place an emphasis on improving customer service. Can you tell me more specifics about that?

As you can imagine, the bureau sends out voluminous amounts of mail and voluminous amounts of standard [form] letters [to employers and workers]. Were re-reviewing all the standard letters. We are looking at our call rates; we are looking at our call answers  how long those are taking. The other thing that were focusing onis simplification. to simplify our communications, improving our technology so [workers and employers] can get information easier and/or faster.

5. Whats something interesting about you that people might not know?

I used to belong to a lawyer theater group when I was in law school and just out of college called the Lawyers Performance Ensemble. I still run into lawyers that I met through there.

On the Move

Dan Dodd, a former Democratic lawmaker, has been hired as vice president of government relations for ZHF Consulting, the lobbying arm of the law firm Zaino Hall & Farrin LLC. Dodd will remain executive director of the Ohio Association of Independent Schools.

Lindsey Short, state Rep. Niraj Antanis legislative aide, has been namedEmployee of the Quarter by Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder.

Birthdays

C. William O'Neill, Ohio's 59th governor (1916-1978)

Straight From The Source

Ending a 104-year streak is gonna be fun.

- Ohio Democratic Party Chair David Pepper, tweeting about the fact that Delaware County hasnt voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since 1916.

Capitol Letter is a daily briefing providing succinct, timely information for those who care deeply about the decisions made by state government. If you do not already subscribe, you can sign up here to get Capitol Letter in your email box each weekday for free.WASHINGTON, D.C. - In a rare break with President Trump, members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus on Wednesday voted with Democrats to end U.S. involvement in Saudi Arabias war in Yemen, which has created a humanitarian crisis with thousands of children starving to death.

Eighteen Republicans including Ohioans Jim Jordan and Warren Davidson voted with Democrats in the 248 to 177 vote directing the United States to stop backing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salmans war against Houthi rebels backed by Iran. Niles-area Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan missed the vote because of a family illness.

House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland said both sides are to blame for the humanitarian disaster, and its time for a change of policy after four years. Davidson, a West Point graduate who served as an Army Ranger, said he backed the measure because great powers dont participate in undeclared wars.

This is at best a half measure in that it stops any active participation in undeclared, unauthorized combat, but it also fails to advance the policy of our country which is to treat Iran as the threat it is, not just to the United States of America, but to its neighbors and our allies in the region, Davidson said on the House of Representatives floor.

The U.S. Senate approved a similar measure in a 56 to 41 vote last December, with backing from Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown and opposition from Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman. Portman said he supported a different measure that condemned Saudi actions, including its role in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and urged the Saudi coalition to lead the effort in negotiating an immediate ceasefire in Yemen and take concrete steps toward ending this humanitarian crisis.

The Trump administration opposed its passage and released a statement saying Trump might issue a veto if the resolution makes it to his desk. The statement said the United States has provided limited support to member countries of the Saudi-led coalition" without committing U.S. troops.

Because the President has directed United States forces to support the Saudi-led coalition under his constitutional powers, the joint resolution would raise serious constitutional concerns to the extent it seeks to override the Presidents determination as Commander in Chief, the statement said. In addition to its erroneous premise, the joint resolution would harm bilateral relationships in the region, negatively affect our ability to prevent the spread of violent extremist organizations such as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and ISIS in Yemenand establish bad precedent for future legislation by defining hostilities to include defense cooperation such as aerial refueling for purposes of this legislation.CLEVELAND, Ohio  Former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann and an ex TV reporter are suing Ohios largest public pension system, seeking the release of details for one of the funds investments.

Danns lawsuit asks the Ohio Supreme Court to force the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System to release details on $300 million it has invested with funds controlled by Glouston Capital Partners, a Boston-based investment company. Those details include how the $300 million has been allocated, how the investment has performed and what fees the firm has charged the pension system.

The state pension system has refused to release many of those details, and Glouston has cited a trade secret exemption under Ohio public records laws, the lawsuit states. The lawsuit argues the details should be public, citing a 2005 Ohio Supreme Court ruling that was a key part of a state political corruption scandal involving investments now referred to as Coingate.

Dann is representing John Damschroder, who worked as a TV reporter and also as an official with Ohio Department of Development in the 1990s during George Voinovichs tenure as governor. He also covered the Coingate scandal for a Cleveland TV station.

Damschroder ran briefly for state treasurer in 1992 as a Republican. He now is a columnist for the Fremont News Messenger in Northwest Ohio, for which he has written critical opinion articles about the state pension systems investments.

Dann, at the time a state senator from the Youngstown area, rose to prominence during the Coingate scandal as a key Democratic critic. He was elected state attorney general in 2006, but later resigned following a series of personal scandals.

A message left with with a spokesman for Glouston was not immediately returned. An OPERS spokesman said the pension fund cant comment on pending litigation.

In an email, Dann said he has kept in touch with Damschroder over the years, and when he learned that Ohio was setting up single-investor funds promoted by politically connected people he grew interested.

I agree with John that the issues raised are important and given the relative health of our public pension funds, scrutiny of their investments is warranted, Dann said.

As part of its deal with OPERS, Glouston started a group of new funds, called Glouston Ohio Midwest Funds, to invest in private equity managers that are based in or have a nexus of activity in Ohio and the surrounding Midwest region, according to the firms website. One of Gloustons investments as listed on the website is in Drive Capital, a private-equity fund co-founded by Mark Kvamme, a venture capitalist who is close to former Gov. John Kasich. Kasich in 2011 recruited Kvamme to move from California to run JobsOhio, Kasichs private economic development nonprofit; Kvamme stepped down the following year.

In a November blog post, an OPERS official wrote the investment with Goulston and and others like it were meant to help support the businesses that provide Ohioans with jobs, wealth and a better way of life while also delivering a return for pensioners.

The lawsuit says that Damschroder filed public records requests last year asking OPERS to provide copies of its contract with Glouston and other private funds. The pension system responded with some documents, most of which were heavily redacted, the lawsuit states. It also didnt respond to a request for detailed performance and accounting records, according to the lawsuit. A section describing management fees appears to have been entirely redacted.

In an initial response, Glouston said the redacted details were trade secrets, which are exempt from disclosure under state public records laws.

Officials with the state Bureau of Workers Compensation made similar arguments when the Toledo Blade in 2005 sued over the release of records related to $50 million in investments in rare coins the BWC made with Tom Noe, a politically connected coin dealer who became the focus of the Coingate scandal. Noe is now serving a state prison sentence after he was convicted of stealing from the fund.

The lawsuit says the records should be public, and cites the 2005 Supreme Court case, in which justices ruled 5-2 in favor of releasing the records to the Blade and the rest of the public.MANSFIELD, Ohio -- A man who carried a concealed-carry weapon into a Ohio State University Mansfield building was brought into custody on Wednesday, according to the university.

The man went into Conard Learning Center on Thursday afternoon, where witnesses reported seeing him with the firearm. No threats were made, according to the universitys release.

UPDATE on February 14 Mansfield campus incident resulting in arrest. MORE: https://t.co/9FAi6EF13h pic.twitter.com/iiVfqTm0Wg  OSU Emergency Mngmnt (@OSU_EMFP) February 14, 2019

Authorities found the man had a concealed carry license, but the Ohio Revised Code doesnt allow for concealed carry of firearms in any area owned or leased by a public or private college, university or institution of higher education, though trustees can approve an exception.

Though Ohio States board of trustees approved a limited exemption for off-duty officers last summer, concealed-carry is still not permitted on OSUs campus.

Information of the arrest was shared via the Buckeye Alert system, according to the university.

The incident comes less than a week after Skylar Williams, 20, was abducted from the Mansfield campus, leading to a police chase that ended with her dead in Kentucky on Monday.

Authorities confirmed Wednesday that the man suspected of abducting her fatally shot her before a Kentucky police officer shot and killed him.

Our deepest sympathies and condolences are with Skylar Williams' family and friends. For those in need, support services are available.  Michael V. Drake (@OSUPrezDrake) February 12, 2019

This is an ongoing story and will be updated with more information.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State University issued a public safety notice about possible occurrences of criminal drugging at off-campus parties and bars.

The university issued the release Thursday afternoon. The release does not specify a number of reports, or where they occurred off-campus.

Cleveland.com has requested the number of possible occurrences and copies of any police reports related to the notice. A OSU spokesman was not immediately able to provide comment on Wednesday afternoon.

The notice reads:

"The Ohio State University Department of Public Safety has become aware of accounts related to possible occurrences of criminal drugging at off-campus parties and bars. Details are limited but law enforcement wants to remind all Buckeyes to take precautions.

Party responsibly

Do not ingest unsealed beverages

Do not set drinks down or leave them unattended

Report suspicious activity to police

Drugging another is a crime and is a serious offense. Anyone with information related to criminal acts should report them immediately by calling University Police at 614-292-2121 or Columbus Police at 614-645-4545."

This is an ongoing story and will be updated with more information.CLEVELAND, Ohio - Agents with the FBI and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation conducted a four-hour search of the offices of Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish on Thursday, and among the items seized were Budishs computer and cellphone.

Agents showed up at the the county executives offices on the 8th floor of the county administration building in downtown Cleveland shortly before noon. Budish and others were told to leave and that they would be notified when they could return.

County spokesman Mary Louise Madigan said agents took five boxes of items, but did not identify the contents, along with two computers, one belonging to Budish, and an envelope with miscellaneous equipment.

Madigan said employees cooperated with the search. After the search ended, she issued a statement [see full statement below] from Budish saying that he has done nothing wrong and that the search was without justification.

We have taken this investigation very seriously, the statement said. Unfortunately, the actions today have turned it into a political circus.

The Office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost recently took over the corruption investigation, which has been going on for more than a year. Yosts office declined to comment on Budishs comments.

Corruption investigators have served 17 subpoenas on Budishs administration over the past year. The latest subpoena sought the complete email accounts belonging to Budish and several of his top executives, as well as the phone records of former jail director Ken Mills. The subpoena required the information be presented to the grand jury by Thursday morning.

But an attorney for Budish said Thursday that the county had asked for and was granted a one-day extension of the deadline for turning over the records.

The other officials whose email accounts were sought include Brandy Carney, chief of public safety and justice; Maggie Keenan, director of the office of budget and management; Ed Morales, director of human resources and labor relations; and Douglas Dykes, chief talent officer.

The latest subpoena is the first to be served on the county since the corruption investigation was taken over by Yost.

The Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office began the investigation, which Initially appeared to focus primarily on the countys IT Department, but eventually investigators began scrutinizing the countys troubled jail operations as well.

County Prosecutor Michael OMalley recused himself because he was in the position of having to defend Budish in a civil lawsuit involving conditions at the County Jail while at the same time investigating possible criminal behavior related to the jail. The investigation has been turned over to Yosts office, but two of OMalleys assistant prosecutors are still involved.

Yost said in a statement to cleveland.com earlier this month that his office would remain fair even if the investigation ultimately includes a focus on Budish.

The county executive, who has not been publicly identified as a target of the investigation, retained former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Steve Dettelbach to represent him. Yost defeated Dettelbach in the November general election after a contentious campaign.

Last month, the grand jury indicted Dykes, a member of Budishs cabinet, and two former county administrators on corruption-related charges.

Dykes, Mills, and former IT administrator Emily McNeeley were charged with a variety of felonies and misdemeanors. All three have pleaded not guilty.(ANSA) - Rome, February 14 - Premier Giuseppe Conte has dismissed speculation that reported tension between the coalition partners supporting his government, the 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the League, could cause it to collapse.

"The government is going forward, even stronger than before," Conte said in interviews published in Thursday's Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica.

The premier also hit back at the criticism he came under when he addressed the European Parliament on Tuesday.

Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the ALDE liberal group, called him the "puppet" of Deputy Premiers Matteo Salvini and Luigi Di Maio.

"My government expresses the change taking place in Italy and in Europe," Conte said.

"That's why they attacked me. Many of them know that they won't be re-elected (in May's European elections).

"It's a sort of swansong.

"It was a missed opportunity. We could have talked about the future of the union.

"Instead, some MEPs turned the floor of the parliament into a talk-show arena".

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The FBI and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation are conducting a search of the offices of Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish.

The offices on the 8th floor of the county administration building in downtown Cleveland were off limits, BCI spokesman Charles Moran told a cleveland.com reporter around noon. A person trying to gain access to the offices was told the area would be off limits for the next few hours.

County spokesman Mary Louise Madigan acknowledged there is a team of law enforcement personnel involved in the search. She said the search personnel showed up around 11:45 a.m. and that Budish and other occupants of the offices were told to go elsewhere and that they would be notified when they could return.

Madigan did not identify those involved in the search but an FBI spokeswoman said her office is involved.

County employees are cooperating with those conducting the search, Madigan said.

BREAKING: FBI, BCI, other law enforcement officials searching Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budishs office. Find out latest. Posted by cleveland.com on Thursday, February 14, 2019

Corruption investigators have served 17 subpoenas on Budishs administration over the past year. The latest subpoena sought the complete email accounts belonging to Budish and several of his top executives, as well as the phone records of former Jail Director Ken Mills. The subpoena required the information be presented to the grand jury by Thursday morning.

The other officials whose email accounts were sought include Brandy Carney, chief of public safety and justice; Maggie Keenan, director of the office of budget and management; Ed Morales, director of human resources and labor relations; and Douglas Dykes, chief talent officer.

This latest subpoena is the first to be served on the county since the corruption investigation was taken over by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. A number of county officials have also been required to appear before the grand jury looking into possible criminal activity.

The Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office began the investigation more than a year ago, but the probe is now being overseen by Yost to avoid a conflict of interest in the prosecutors office.

County Prosecutor Michael OMalley recused himself because he was in the position of having to defend Budish in a civil lawsuit involving conditions at the County Jail while at the same time investigating possible criminal behavior related to the jail.

Last month, the grand jury indicted Dykes, a member of Budishs cabinet, and two former county administrators on corruption-related charges.

Dykes, Mills, and former IT administrator Emily McNeeley were charged with a variety of felonies and misdemeanors. All three have pleaded not guilty.

We will update this post as the story develops.ELYRIA, Ohio  Three Michigan men are facing multiple drug-related charges after they were arrested during police raids at an apartment and motel room.

Corey Williams, 28, Edward Moran, 25, and Damon Holden, 25, all of Detroit, are all facing felony several charges that include possession and trafficking.

Officers with the narcotics unit, detectives bureau and special response team discovered fentanyl pills disguised to look like they were Oxycodone or Percocet after searching a residence at Cincy Urban Apartments on Middle Avenue and a room at Camelot Inn Motel on Griswold Road.

About $7,000 in cash also was confiscated from the two locations during the 7 a.m. raid.

An ongoing investigation shows the men were trafficking drugs from Detroit to Elyria, according to police.

The three men currently are being held in the Lorain County Jail.

To comment on this story, visit Wednesdays crime and courts comment section.CLEVELAND, Ohio  Two men are charged in connection with a crime spree on the citys West Side that included shooting a man at a gas station and another as he sat on his couch, according to court records.

Stanley Rogers, 19, of Circleville, and Nathan West 21, of Cleveland, are both charged with felonious assault, accused of pulling the trigger in the separate shootings. They are being held in the Cuyahoga County Jail on $500,000 bond after their first court appearances on Monday.

Detectives wrote in court records the duo also threatened to kill several people after the shootings.

They are also suspects in a carjacking, court records say. A woman they were with was arrested for illegal firearm sales, according to police reports and court records, although the records do not include specific information on those cases.

The woman who was arrested on suspicion of making illegal gun sales has not been formally charged.

The first shooting happened about 10:20 p.m. Feb. 5 at Qs Gas and Go on Clark Avenue at West 44th Street.

A 21-year-old man told police that he was headed for his car after buying a phone charger in the gas station and noticed a black Kia circle the block several times.

West fired about 11 gunshots, according to one witness, including one that hit the man in the ankle, police reports say. Bullets also struck a car that belonged to the gas stations owner.

The 21-year-old mans friend drove him to MetroHealth, where he was treated, police reports say.

Gas station employees told police they believe the shooting was drug-related, police reports say.

About two hours later, Rogers opened fire on a home on Bush Avenue and West 45th Place in the Stockyards neighborhood, hitting a 55-year-old man in the upper thigh, police reports say.

The man was on his couch when Rogers fired about 10 gunshots into the home, police said. The mans son grabbed a belt, tied it around his fathers leg and called 911.

Officers noted the house had been shot up several other times, and that they found multiple fired bullet casings outside the home, police reports say. Officers investigating the shooting arrested the mans son on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon.

Rogers was sentenced to one year on probation in 2017 after he pistol-whipped a man in the head inside the West 98th Street RTA Rapid station.

West faces several unrelated felony charges in Brooklyn and Cleveland for possessing stolen cars and for trying to steal a car. He is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday on those charges.

He was convicted in 2017 of leading the Ohio State Highway Patrol on a high-speed chase in a stolen car.

If youd like to comment on this story, visit Thursdays crime and courts comments section.CLEVELAND, Ohio  Destination Cleveland this week is launching a pilot project in Chicago with a narrow focus: Engage former Clevelanders in a conversation about their hometown.

The long-term goal is much bigger: Get more people to move to Cleveland.

The pilot project is designed to collect data from a receptive audience  people who used to live here  and find out what theyd like to know about Cleveland and whether they might consider moving back.

Using that information, as well as other resources, Destination Cleveland hopes to come up with a communitywide plan by the end of the year that will help the region better attract and retain residents.

Attracting talent and growing population has been a hurdle for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio for decades, said David Gilbert, president and CEO of Destination Cleveland. We need to work harder and smarter than our competitors and do it right.

If it seems odd that the regions visitors bureau is taking the lead, Colette Jones, Destination Clevelands vice president of marketing and communications, said its a natural fit. Most people dont move someplace without visiting first, she said.

The initiative is a product of what Gilbert describes as a listening and learning tour that Destination Cleveland officials undertook last year, meeting with hundreds of community leaders and organizations over a period of several months.

We were approached by a significant number of companies asking if we could help them attract workers. These were from a number of large employers in town, he said. The No. 1 thing we heard was, Can we use your brand to attract more people here?

The answer, he says, is yes.

Gilbert said he is happy for Destination Cleveland to take the lead, but the campaign needs to be a community effort, with private corporations, nonprofit groups, governments and other organizations working together to sell the city.

The project in Chicago, which launched Thursday morning and continues through April, will use social media, advertising and direct marketing to reach out and engage with former Clevelanders living in Chicago.

Jones said Chicago was chosen because it produces the largest number of Cleveland boomerangs  that is, people who move back home after living away, according to U.S. Census data. The campaign is targeting adults ages 25 to 44.

Initial advertising and social media messaging includes panels that say: Its time we get back together, and We finally got that ring you were hoping for, along with #ComeBacktoCLE and the campaigns website, ComeBacktoCLE.com.

Campaign material to attract the attention of former Clevelanders living in Chicago.

Jones herself used to live in Chicago before returning to Cleveland in 2009. She says she frequently hears from former Clevelanders who want to know whats going on in their hometown. And theres always that little question, Should I move back? They may not say it but they stop just short.

The goal isnt necessarily to get these Chicagoans to move back to Cleveland  though that would be great. Rather, its to communicate with them about their hometown and find out the kind of information they would want to know if they were considering moving.

Project organizers have made a list of possible questions and topics that potential residents might ask about  neighborhoods, schools, employment opportunities community resources -- and identified some potential partners that can be called on to help.

The community infrastructure isnt there yet, Gilbert admitted. Its going to take a lot of people joining together to make it work. Its a big job. But we have to do it.GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio -- A U.S. Marshals task force arrested a woman who is accused of killing a Garfield Heights man she met on a dating website and stealing items from his home.

Shakira Graham, 24, was arrested late Wednesday at a home on Fairmount Boulevard near Claridge Oval in Shaker Heights, the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force said in a news release.

Graham is charged with aggravated murder in the Dec. 17 shooting death of Meshach Cornwall, 27, at a home on Darlington Avenue near Turney Road in Garfield Heights, according to court records.

She waived her right to a preliminary hearing during her arraignment Thursday in Garfield Heights Municipal Court. The case was bound over to a Cuyahoga County grand jury.

A magistrate set Grahams bond at 10 percent of $3 million.

Investigators determined Graham met Cornwall on the dating website PlentyofFish, and that she stayed over at his home on Dec. 15, police said.

She shot and killed him when she returned two days later, police said. She then stole several guns, a TV, several cellphones and his gold 2009 Honda Accord, which was recovered days later in Cleveland, police said.

Cornwalls mother found her son unconscious and bleeding at the bottom of a set of stairs to the basement, according to a police report.

Garfield Heights police officers and firefighters determined Cornwall was dead when they arrived just after 11:40 a.m. He died of multiple gunshot wounds, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiners Office determined.

Cornwalls mother told investigators she last spoke to her son the evening before she found him dead. She called him the morning of Dec. 17 but could not reach him, police reports say.

Cornwalls relatives were aware he dated Graham, and helped identify her as a suspect, police said. Detectives obtained a warrant for her arrest Jan. 22, court records say.

Another man was arrested on suspicion of theft in connection with the case, but has not been charged with a crime, police said Thursday.

To comment on this story, visit Thursdays crime and courts comments page.WESTLAKE, Ohio -- A 28-year-old Lakewood man was found guilty of taking videos up womens skirts in Homage vintage apparel store at Crocker park last summer.

Dominique Williams pleaded no contest and was found guilty of voyeurism, according to Rocky River Municipal Court records.

Rocky River Municipal Court Judge Brian Hagan sentenced Williams to one year of probation. He also must pay a $444 fine and stay off Crocker Park property, records say.

The incident happened Aug. 10, 2018 at Homage. Officers got a call from an employee who saw Williams taking videos up womens skirts in the store, according to a police report.

Police followed Williams on Interstate 90 when he left the store, the report says. He matched the description of the suspect described by Homage employees and officers confiscated his cellphone and tablet as part of the investigation.

Williams admitted that he has been taking upskirt videos for several months and that he knew what he was doing is illegal, the report says.

The victims positively identified Williams as the one they saw in the store.

One of the women told police that she first saw Williams in Urban Outfitters crouched on the ground near her. She saw him again inside Homage with his phone out and looking at childrens clothing, the report says. When she walked past him, he he rushed by her, the report says.

Another woman reported she first saw him leaving Urban Outfitters. He followed her closely, she told police, and pulled her purse closer towards her, the report says.

An employee saw Williams in Homage early in the morning, but he didnt buy anything. Three women eventually walked in and Williams made his way towards them, the report says. He crouched down and the employee thought he crouched down to look at clothing, the report says.

The employee witnessed Williams take out his phone and start filming, the report says. She told her manager who contacted security at Crocker Park who then contacted Westlake police.

If youd like to comment on this story, visit Thursdays crime and courts comments section.GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio  A former Cleveland police officer arrested after he was found in an SUV with a 15-year-old girl is now charged with felony sex offenses stemming from an earlier incident.

Mario Lozada, 55, is charged with pandering sexually-oriented material involving a minor and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor in connection with a July 13 incident in Garfield Heights, according to court records.

The charges accuse Lozada of unlawful sexual contact with the teen girl, who was 14 years old at the time. He is further accused of filming the encounter, court records say.

Lozada was initially arrested Nov. 14 after he and the girl were found in an SUV near Jack C. Donovan Park in Garfield Heights. He was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and improperly handling a firearm in a motor vehicle, both misdemeanor offenses, in connection with that incident.

Those charges were dismissed without prejudice Dec. 18. Court records say a prosecutor was still investigating the matter, and could file other charges.

The felony charges came after detectives conducted additional interviews and collected more evidence from the SUV and a cellphone, Garfield Heights police Lt. Robert Petrick said Thursday.

Lozada turned himself in Thursday morning and waived his right to a preliminary hearing during his arraignment in Garfield Heights Municipal Court. The case was bound over to a Cuyahoga County grand jury.

A Garfield Heights magistrate set his bond at 10 percent of $1 million. Lozada is also ordered to wear a GPS monitor if he posts bond and is released from custody.

Lozadas defense attorney, Paul Daiker, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Thursday afternoon.

Lozada retired after his first arrest, Cleveland police Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia said Thursday. She could not immediately provide his retirement date.

Lozadas Nov. 14 arrest occurred after a Garfield Heights police officer spotted his SUV enter Jack C. Donovan Park just before 11:45 p.m. The park closes at dark.

The officer stopped the SUV on Warner Road near Garfield Boulevard and spoke with Lozada and the girl. He noticed a gun partially concealed under the drivers seat, so he told Lozada to get out of the SUV and checked him for weapons, police reports say.

The officer searched the SUV and found a Cleveland police uniform, badge and other gear inside. Lozada identified himself as a Cleveland police officer. When the officers asked him why he hadnt identified himself sooner, he explained they were wearing body cameras and was not that kind of guy, the police report says.

Lozada initially told the officers he met the girl through his relationship with her mother. Lozada said the girl ran away from home and contacted him via Snapchat, and he went to the park because he knows she goes there frequently, the police report says.

Officers contacted the girls mother, who said she did not know Lozada. He then claimed she knew him by a fake name of Robert Jones, but she came to the scene and confirmed shed never seen him before, the police report says.

Lozada told the officers that the mother was lying, then said he actually met the girl through her older sister. He said hed been in a relationship with the older sister but had not seen her in roughly nine months, the police report says.

Lozada told the officers that the girl contacted him earlier Wednesday on Snapchat and asked him to bring her money so she could buy food, the police report says.

Lozada was arrested and taken to the Garfield Heights Police Department. The girl and her mother were taken to Hillcrest Hospital, where the girl refused a sexual assault examination, the police report says.

To comment on this story, visit Thursdays crime and courts comments page.CLEVELAND, Ohio  A Broadview Heights attorney once known as an expert witness for defendants in child pornography cases, and who digitally manipulated G-rated images and created child porn for his work, must pay a six-figure judgment to two women whose images he doctored despite filing for bankruptcy, a federal appeals court ruled.

Jack Boland filed for bankruptcy in 2016, and among the debts he included were a $300,000 judgment over images he downloaded from a stock photo website and digitally modified, or morphed. The images were of two girls from Cuyahoga County, ages five and six at the time, and Boland altered them to make it seem as if the photos were taken while they were in sexually explicit situations.

Boland presented the doctored images of the two girls and others in courtrooms in Ohio and Oklahoma in trials for which defendants faced child pornography charges.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jessica Price Smith ruled in 2017 that Boland could discharge the judgment along with his other debts. However, a three-judge bankruptcy panel for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed in a ruling issued Wednesday, meaning Boland will be back on the hook for the judgment.

Boland previously went by the first name Dean. He has written pieces over the years for The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com.

He is a former assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor who was on a legal team that defended the state from a lawsuit filed by the estate of Dr. Sam Sheppard in 2000. The suit sought a declaration that Sheppard was wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of his wife Marilyn in Bay Village in 1954, though a jury ruled against the estate.

Boland declined comment when reached Wednesday.

By the mid-2000s, he gained a reputation as an expert consultant in computerized digital imaging for defendants in child porn cases. As an expert, he sought to show that innocent images could be altered to appear that children were having sex or posing explicitly, as part of a defense that some people charged did not knowingly view or possess child porn.

His work won him praise at the time from defense lawyers but condemnation from police and prosecutors. Bill Mason, then the county prosecutor, told The Plain Dealer in 2004 that Boland has gone to the Dark Side.

Boland displayed images he created when he testified as an expert witness at a trial in Oklahoma in 2004. A federal judge admonished him to purge the images from his computer, but Boland did not do so. He subsequently used them in two other cases, according to court records.

The FBI opened an investigation and searched his home in 2005. Boland entered a pre-trial diversion agreement with federal prosecutors in Cleveland in April 2007, in which he admitted to violating a federal prohibition about knowingly possessing child pornography.

He published a statement in the Cleveland Bar Journal in which he apologized to the children whose images he used, along with their families. He said he thought his actions were appropriate under the circumstances but recognized that possessing the images violates federal law.

Two of the children whose images Boland altered sued him in September 2007. U.S. District Judge Dan Polster ordered Boland to pay $150,000 in damages to each victim, who went by Jane Doe and Jane Roe in the lawsuit. Boland filed for bankruptcy in 2016 and the victims argued he should not be able to discharge the judgment along with his other debts.

Smith, the bankruptcy judge, held a trial and ruled in 2017 that Boland could discharge the judgment because it was not for a willful and malicious injury. She wrote there was no evidence that Boland intended harm or knew it would harm the children.

The 6th Circuit bankruptcy panel, in an opinion written by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Judge Guy Humphrey, wrote that Price Smith conducted the wrong analysis to come to her conclusion.

She should have focused on whether Boland meant invade the (childrens) legally protected interests or knew to a certain degree that his actions would do so, the panel wrote. These interests include their reputations, emotional well-being and privacy rights,.

When focused on that, the evidence at trial established that Boland knew or was substantially certain that the childrens privacy and other interests would be harmed, the opinion says. Bolands actions also qualified as malicious under federal bankruptcy law, the court ruled.

Jonathan Rosenbaum, an Elyria attorney who represented the victims, declined comment.

If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Thursdays crime and courts comments section.Happy St. Valentines Day to everyone! One such custom of sending messages of love can be traced back to the 15th century. The British Museum has this piece of history on display from Charles, the Duke of Orleans. He was a French nobleman who was captured by England during the War of 1415. Known as a great poet, he sent a message of love home to his wife. After 24 years, he was returned to France. On a note of reconciliation, he and his captor remained lifelong friends. Fitting for the Valentine narrative!

Counting back a thousand years, the legendary Valentine, Bishop of Terni, had a similar background to Charles. He was a prisoner of Rome, jailed for his religious positions. The legend reveals that he wrote letters of love and support for the blind daughter of Judge Asterius. She was cured of her blindness; Valentine, however, was martyred. In the year 496, Pope Gelasius I declared Valentines sainthood and affixed Feb. 14th as his feast day.

Sailors valentines had their own legends. Many thought these works of art were created by the sailors on their voyages. However, these framed pictures were actually hand-made on the island of Barbados, by native artists who skillfully shaped and adorned the many seashells to form hearts and other designs. They were popular from 1830 to 1890, framed within glass, and featured in an octagon shape.

Why an octagon? It is said that the eight-sided fixture represented infinity. Sailors would come to port in Barbados and purchase these gifts for their loved ones. Depending on the intricate patterns, market value for these sweet keepsakes can be hundreds of dollars today, and they are quite collectible!

Hello Brenda,

I was given this table 50 years ago. Please evaluate.

F. S.,

Cleveland

Hi Faith,

Your tiered mahogany table with elaborate cutouts and designed edges is reminiscent of the Chippendale style. The pedestal-footed base of four ball-and-claw feet completes the highly decorated motifs. Used as a side service table, the rectangular shape differs from the usual round piecrusts. Your 1930s American piece is a classic design adapted from the 1700s. Value would be $400.

If you have an item for evaluation, send a clear picture with history to Yenke Peddler, Brenda Yenke, P.O. Box 361633, Strongsville, Ohio, 44136. You may also email photos and information requests for Brenda to evaluate at kenyenke@aol.com.CLEVELAND, Ohio  Mayor Frank Jackson is taking his message directly to the people.

In an email sent Thursday, the administration invited people to sign up for regular briefings from the mayor outlining happenings at City Hall.

I am the CEO of a major municipal corporation with a budget of more than $1.8 billion and over 8,100 employees whose primary purpose is to deliver services and facilitate economic growth, Jackson said in the email. To keep you updated, in the next few weeks I am launching regular briefings that provide information and insight on the work we are doing at City Hall as well as other issues that impact our city, Jackson said.

The effort comes just as City Council begins hearings on Jacksons proposed budget for 2019.

On Tuesday, the mayor will answer questions about his plans as council opens those hearings.

This isnt the first time Jackson has taken his message directly to the people.

In October, the mayor delivered his state-of-the-city address in the evening at Public Auditorium, citing the need to better reach constituents.

Jackson's previous state-of-the-city speeches were put on by the City Club of Cleveland and held during the lunch hour. That audience was dominated by downtown business and community figures.

What I found with this format was ... in particularly talking to the average person who came ... was that even though I was talking about many of the things that Ive talked about in the past, many of them had never heard ... about it, Jackson said in an interview with cleveland.com after the speech.AKRON, Ohio -- Female students enrolled in the University of Akron's College of Engineering prepared pillowcases full of gifts for 11 children whose lives are affected by cancer or chronic illness.

The volunteer effort was part of The Valentine Project, a nonprofit that sends gift boxes containing toys, candy and stuffed animals to boys and girls in Ohio and the San Francisco Bay area.

Members of Tau Beta Pi, the university's engineering honor society, teamed with the Society of Women Engineers, Women in Engineering students, professional engineering mentors and current and former University of Akron faculty for the project.

Volunteers placed items in one-of-a-kind homemade pillowcases for the children and created bags for the children's siblings.

"We were honored to be a part of this opportunity and to give these children a little joy during this incredibly difficult time," Heidi Cressman, director of the Women in Engineering program, said in a news release.

The local Valentine Project headquarters is located in Alliance, Ohio.

The charitable organization's goal is for all children impacted by chronic illness to "feel special and loved each Valentine's Day," according to its website.

The pillowcases are boxed and sent to each child through the nonprofit's volunteers.

Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.com's 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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 states dioceses, one of the funds administrators announced.

Camille Biros, who also is overseeing similar compensation funds in Pennsylvania and New York, said New Jerseys will be different because all five of the states 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 Jerseys 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 wont 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. Theyre 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 churchs way to get around having to disclose information about their priests.

Biros said there isnt 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.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Schoolhouses are becoming fortresses equipped with surveillance cameras and bulletproof desks, with teachers serving double duty as armed guards. Children are being pushed into terrifying drills to prepare for the possibility of a mass shooting that is statistically unlikely.

Some of those trends may be fueled in part by sensational coverage of such violence. And a growing chorus of voicesincluding those of survivors, victims families, and researchersis urging the news media to rethink the way they approach mass shootings, including those that occur at K-12 campuses and colleges.

ICYMI: Teenage journalists memorialize hundreds of gun-violence victims

When a school shooting occurs, education reporters, who my association represents, are the newsrooms equivalent of first responders. Its time for those reporters to take the lead to ensure their newsrooms include standards and practices for covering school shootings responsibly, with an eye toward fully informing the public while minimizing the potential for harm.

The potential harm of excessive coverageespecially that which focuses primarily on the perpetratorisnt theoretical, Adam Lankford, an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Alabama, says. Such coverage is facilitating and fueling subcultures with people who are disturbed and troubled, according to Lankford, who co-edited a special issue of the journal American Behavioral Scientist examining implications of media coverage of mass killers. While most of those individuals wont commit shootings, he says, irresponsible media coverage is normalizing the behavior and cultivating a fan base for those who do.

After his 18-year-old daughter Meadow was shot and killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018, Andrew Pollack said he wants her killer to be referred to only by his jail ID number. And we must not give him any recognition! Pollack posted on Twitter.

Let's all refer to this thing as 18-1958. And we must not give him any recognition! https://t.co/BlzdkqUqNM Sign up for weekly emails from the United States Project  Andrew Pollack (@AndrewPollackFL) April 25, 2018

Other survivors and their families in Parkland, as well as those affected by prior mass shootings, have made similar pleas. The No Notoriety campaign, created after a 2012 mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, urges the media to limit the use of a shooters name and likeness. The groups recommendations include using the perpetrators name only once per story as a reference point, and never publishing self-serving statements, photos, videos, and/or other manifestos made by the individual.

These recommendations can be undertaken without infringing on journalistic principles, Lankford says. He references coverage of a January 2018 school shooting in Kentucky that left two students dead. Newspapers withheld the juvenile perpetrators name until he was brought to court to face charges, even though his identity was well-known to the immediate community. Agreeing to limit the use of a shooters name could help curtail how frequently the perpetrator shows up in search engines and in social mediafactors in their popularity ranking among those who idolize shooters, Lankford says.

Resetting the bar for how we cover mass shootings will only be effective if the changes come from within the journalism industry, says Frank Ochberg, a Michigan State University professor of psychiatry who helped found the Dart Center on Journalism & Trauma at Columbia University. Its possible to tell the story without contributing to the notoriety of the individual, and thats a worthy goal, Ochberg says. But we cant create strict guidelines that interfere with healthy journalism practices.

Dana Banker, the managing editor of the South Florida Sun Sentinelwhich considers itself the newspaper of record for Parkland coverageagrees. Precisely because this is such an emotional and difficult story to cover, its all the more reason why you want to rely on your basic, guiding, journalism principles, Banker says. Some of that is the five Ws, with one of the Ws being who.

The whoincluding an individuals actual nameis a vital part of such a story. In some cases, reporting the name publicly can help uncover essential details about the life events that shaped a persons path to violence. Responsible news organizations must be in a position to do that work freely, Kelly McBride, media ethicist for the Poynter Institute, says. A blackout on the shooters name by responsible media will only drive people to the darker corners of the internet looking for more and often faultyinformation, she adds.

McBride, Lankford, Ochberg, and Banker agreed that reporters on the education beat have a special responsibility, in their coverage and in precipitating conversations in their newsrooms, about how these kinds of situations are handled. These are not decisions for the heat of the moment, while an incident is unfolding or in its immediate aftermath, Banker says.

During the past year, Ive received multiple requests for advice on how to cover active school shooting events, and how to prepare for the possibility of them. To that end, here are my recommendations.

Be prepared

Education reporters need to take the lead in their newsrooms and find out whether their outlet has a policy for covering mass shooting events, including those at schools. They should ask managers when their news outlets will name perpetrators, and how often. They should also ask whether coverage of such an event will use tweets sent by students who are in lockdown, or share videos and photos from scenes of violence.

Jessica Bakeman, who covers education for WLRN in Broward County, Florida, told me her newsroom has a policy that calls for strictly limiting the use of a perpetrators name, as well as any related audio or visuals, in part to reduce the odds of re-traumatizing survivors. That became especially important after the Parkland shooters cellphone videos came to light. It was clear that one of his primary motives was to get famous, Bakeman says. Our job wasnt to help him do that.

Evie Blad, who covers campus safety for Education Week, mentions a shift in recent years in how the media reports on suicides amid greater understanding of the contagion risk attributed to irresponsible coverage. We have recognized in some areas that being thoughtful about how we present information can serve a public good, Blad says. While a total blackout on naming mass shooters isnt realistic, and perhaps not even advisable, raising the bar for when its deemed necessary is a good step, Blad says. We can stop every time were about to write the name and ask ourselves, Do I need to do that? Have I sufficiently thought about the reasons for doing it? We know the power of our words.

Be especially cautious with numbers

From a statistical standpoint, schools remain the safest place for most children to be during the day, and campus shootings are still an anomaly. Gun violence is significantly more likely to impact children off school grounds, which is why conversations about safety must be about more than preparing for active shooter scenarios. Still, 2018 was a particularly violent year, with at least 50 deaths and 88 injuries in K-12 campus gun-related incidents.

The fact that students face a statistically greater risk of being struck by lightning than being shot and killed in their classrooms hasnt stopped policymakers from investing billions of dollars in school security. And theres a growing push by some education policymakers to focus on preventative measures like lockdown drills, causing some students emotional trauma, as reported by John Woodrow Cox and Steven Rich of The Washington Post.

Writing for The Atlantic, educator Erika Christakis railed against the psychological damage of active shooter drills, especially on those children already facing emotional challenges: How misguided to take young brains already bathed in stress hormones and train them to fear low-probability events such as mass shootingsand how little most of us think about what were doing. We know that media coverage plays a role in shaping public opinion on a wide range of issues. Is reporting that uses school shooting statistics contributing to a skewed view of school safety, and in turn driving policy decisions that are based more on fear than facts? Those are questions journalists need to ask policymakers, researchers, and each other.

In a recent piece, NPRs Anya Kamenetz cast doubt on the reliability of some of the more widely cited statistics on the prevalence of gun violence on campusnot just mass shootings, but any time a weapon was discharged. Reporters should look at broader issues related to school safety, Kamenetz says, including how threat assessments are handled, how potential shootings have been thwarted, and the role mental health services might play in identifying students in crisis. I think in the age of data journalism, theres a responsibility to see the forest for the trees, and when you judge the newsworthiness of an incident to put it in context, she says. The stereotypical school shooter is a figure of fear, but its not the actual violence affecting most students.

Be brave

What would it take to achieve industry-wide agreement on a set of rules for covering school shootings? What we need is the leadership of every single news organizationonline, printto be on board, Poynters McBride, who has written guidance on covering mass shootings, says. We have an absolute moral obligation to minimize copycat shooters, and the way to do that is to be very intentional about when we use the name and when we run a photo or use a video.

Its going to take tremendous will by industry leaders to change the status quo, and to ensure new practices are followed by everyone who ultimately touches a story, from reporters in the field to editors and social media producers who might be eager for clicks. These are difficult conversations for reporters to broach with supervisors. But education reporters can and should be proactive here. If the past year has been a turning point for how our nation talks about school violence, it can also be one for how we cover it.

Read: Q&A with Parkland author Dave Cullen

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Emily Richmond is the public editor of the Education Writers Association and hosts the EWA Radio podcast. She previously covered education for the Las Vegas Sun, and was a 2011 Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan.On Monday night, President Trump gave an interview to Fox News. It was his 42nd with the network since he took office. The interview, with Laura Ingraham, was unremarkable in the sense that it covered the usual Trumpian territorywalls, jobs, how much everyone loves him, racist comments about Elizabeth Warren. After the interview, Trump went out to speak at a rally in El Paso, where a BBC cameraman was attacked. Moments before, Trump was lamenting the unfair coverage of him in the media.

Covering this president is like trying to ride a bike in quicksand. More often than not, the man is lying. His moods are mercurial. His positions and policies constantly shift. What he says at the beginning of an interview may be completely contradicted by the end. His tweets are juggling acts of noun, adjective, and verb, poorly punctuated and badly spelled. And we, the media, scramble to make meaning of it all. To contextualize it. Rate it. Hold it up to the light.

ICYMI: Journalist tracks how Fox News manipulates Trump

Do you simply write his words down and describe the context, like Olivia Nuzzi memorably did for New York magazine? Or do you cut up the segment into digestible sound bites, like Bloomberg News from August of 2018? Do you show the president sparring with a reporter, like 60 Minutes did with Lesley Stahls interview, or do you just show him saying some of the weird stuff he says, like NBCs Lester Holt?

And what should we expect of journalists? Are they required to push back in real time? And how is that even possible? In interviews, Trump likes to claim that the trade deficit with China is $500 billion. It has never been $500 billion. So should a journalist, who has 20 minutes with the president, spend time quibbling over that number? And what even counts as a successful interview?

One answer is relatively simple: The successful interview shows the president for who and what he is. It doesnt go easy on him and it asks him questions hes never been asked before. It doesnt seek to make sense of the nonsensical.

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So right away, we can rule out most Fox News interviews of the president. They are less of an interview and more of what happens when your mom takes the Plumpy card out of the stack in Candyland, so no one has to draw it and go backwards on the board. It looks like a real game, but its stacked. On the surface, Fox News host Harris Faulkner, in her interview with the president, did push him on several issues. If you were watching while making dinner, say, you could convince yourself that he was being pressed. But each of her questions is framed in a way that allows him to spin his narrative unchecked. What do you want America to know about this? she asked in a question about the hush-money payment to a tabloid about Stormy Daniels.

Why did you hire him? she asks about Michael Cohen, allowing the president to distance himself.

Thats as tough as Fox gets. Tucker Carlson framed his interview with the president by topic, which makes Trump seem capable of a cohesive narrative. Rather than pressing the president on issues, Carlson merely asks him to expound on topics. Why is there bipartisan consensus on the issue? Carlson asks when referring to the supposed consensus in Congress that Russia is our chief adversary. On the surface, perhaps its about respect. Carlson talks a lot about respect on his show, but its not respect to defer to the ramblings of a president. Hes clearly capable of shouting down the president, of pushing him to answer the question, but he defers. Sidesteps. Holds back.

Its not just Fox News. In 2017, on CBSs Face the Nation John Dickerson threw Trump his own squishy questions. For example, George W. Bush said this about being president. He said, You think one thing going in, and then the pressures of the job or the realities of the world are different than you thought. Do you agree?

Now, if the point of the question is, Are you even capable of doing this job? then just ask it. Perhaps a better way to frame this, if the core of the question is competency, is look at all these examples of how your transition team was a mess. Why was this so hard? Im not saying the answer would be different, but it frames the question around the core issue.

There is an argument to be made that a journalist throwing the president easy questions assuages any calls of fake news and liberal bias. But with this president, those will come regardless. There is no winning. Plus, its not the job of a journalist to do emotional labor for subjects, especially one so well-versed in the media. You cant jockey to be dubbed the most fair journalist who does not work at Fox News.

Playing who is daddys favorite child with Trump is a dumb game, because he plays it right back. The New York Times Maggie Haberman, interviewing Axios Jonathan Swan, both noticed that Trump likes to screw with reporters. Noted Swan, I also think that he does try to pit reporters against each other. Theres no doubt about that. One thing I like to do  is when there is a report that he says at the time is fake news and then turns out to be 100 percent accurate, I do like to point that out, to remind people.

The first interview the president gave after winning the election was with Stahl, of 60 Minutes. During their meeting, Stahl noted that Ivanka came into the office. The entrance and exit of a rotating cast of characters is a hallmark of Trump presidential interviews. It happened, comically, with Nuzzi. In a sitcom-like set up, Trump had Pence, John Kelly, and Mike Pompeo make appearances, in a ridiculous show of camaraderie in order to convince Nuzzi that everything was fine, just FINE, in his relationship with Kelly. Two months later, in October 2018, Kelly was out.

Stahls assessment of her interview with the president-elect was that he was in shock. And that certainly comes across in the clips. But reading the transcript, Trump just seems like Trump. He filibusters her. He sidesteps questions about stocking his cabinet full of lobbyists. Perhaps the subdued persona comes from subdued questions.

ICYMI: How a Grindr lawsuit could affect Facebook

The next time Stahl interviewed the president was in October of 2018, and this interview was notably more direct. She challenges him on his friendship with Kim Jong Un and climate change. But then afterward, she praised him, and called him presidential. He also said, I am the president and youre not. Stahl laughs this moment off. She says he likes it. He probably does. The exchange feels good for ratings, but not for the national discourse.

Of course its a game. Hes a reality TV president. He loves a camera. Where he seems to falter is on the page. Nuzzis interview, which at the time was criticized for not being more critical, renders the ridiculousness of the enterprise well. Its a time capsule of a moment, where the president, like the Wizard of Oz, is telling everyone not to look. Months later, the curtain comes down anyway.

Nuzzi said in an interview with CJR that the White House was a fan of the interview, because it showed the president how he wanted to be shown. Which then underscores the problem. Nuzzi didnt criticize the president in questioning but rendered the scene on the page. Some analysts argue that the media shouldnt repeat the presidents lies and that by doing so, even when debunking him, they reinforce his message. Others argue, no, let him hang himself with his babble.

In an era of national gaslighting, its hard to hold tight to your moral compass. Examining his words is akin to examining a childs attempt at pointillism its a dotted mess that only resolves into coherence out of the goodness of our hearts.

Which brings us back to the goal of these interviews. Its implausible that Trump will finally crack to a journalist. That hell sit down and say, Okay you got me, I am race baiting. The deficit with China is not that large. My approval ratings are low.

Psychiatrist Charles Ford, in his 1996 book Lies Lies Lies, suggests that when it comes to confronting liars the best approach depends on the liar himself. Sometimes its best not to directly address the lie. Other times, confrontation is key. (Several psychiatrists CJR contacted declined to provide analysis on what to do, citing the Goldwater Rule, which prevents psychiatrists from discussing the mental health of someone they have not treated.)

The result of the indecision is a sort of journalistic nihilism, that goes in for the headlines, the inevitable ratings that come from the president being the president. In an article after their interview with the president, titled What Can You Learn from an 85-Minute Interview, the Times Maggie Haberman and Peter Baker called the president an unguided missile, impossible to pin down. But as far as answering their own question? Well, there is none. Just a kind of journalistic shruggie emoji, that seems to say we dont know why we keep doing this but we do.

So why do we? Its always a good idea to get this administration on record about everything, said Nuzzi. It will all come in handy in the future.

Or maybe it wont.You cant win a game when the opponent decides the rules. The reality is, you learn very little of useful value from talking to the subject about themselves. Especially ones that are well-versed in media-baiting and charade. The real work of understanding a person comes from looking deep into their lives and asking questions about them, until they feel deeply uncomfortable. Only then do you know youre finally getting somewhere.

ICYMI: A reporter was harassed by Roger Stone for years. It ended in a violent confrontation.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Lyz Lenz is a writer based in Iowa. Her writing has appeared in Pacific Standard, Marie Claire, Jezebel, and the Washington Post. Follow her on Twitter @lyzl.Late last month, Virginia legislators tried to expand abortion access with a long-shot billHB 2491that would strike down two medically-unnecessary restrictions. But headlines didnt stay focused on the facts for long: mainstream media outlets soon found themselves tasked instead with debunking claims that the legislation would legalize infanticide.

Following a blundered January 31 radio interview by Virginia governor Ralph Northam about the bill, a handful of YouTube stars helped shape the story into one about baby murderers. Those stars included Stefan Molyneux, who promotes topics like scientific racism to his near-million followers; Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro; and Patriot Nurse, who counsels her viewers on preparing for a potential apocalypse and who has attributed the spread of Ebola to Africans hygiene and culture.

Paranoid theories and deliberately misleading narratives have thrived on far-right message boards for years. But YouTubes sprawling ecosystem of reactionary commentators has created a passageway between these dusty corners and the world at large. YouTubes recommendation algorithm, which is notorious for delivering increasingly extremist content to viewers, is the main driver in helping their ideas reach escape velocity. Following a damning BuzzFeed report last month about conspiracy videos, YouTube finally announced a marginal tweak to the algorithm that it says will prevent such patently false content from appearing in a viewers Up Next queue.

ICYMI: Reporter tracks how Fox News manipulates Trump

But thanks to their already-high profiles and the fact that their videos carefully skim the edges of conspiracy, few of the reactionary stars are likely to be affected. Even if YouTubes tweak temporarily placates critics, the flow of hatefulhighly lucrativevideos is likely to continue. It takes a YouTube influencer covering these ideas for them to go beyond those communities, to Fox News commentators or hosts, Becca Lewis, a researcher at Data & Society, a nonprofit research institute, says.

Lewis calls the community the alternative influence network. In a 2018 report on its metastatic spread and deepening sway, she traced connections between commentatorsguests on a YouTubers show, people appearing in live-streamed debates, hosts with pointedly different viewsto map YouTubes reactionary right. Her network includes Molyneaux and Shapiro, as well as self-described classical liberals like Carl Benjamin, whose philosophies center on rejecting progressivism; more traditional conservatives like Candace Owen and Steven Crowder; and aggressively pro-Western hosts like Brittany Pettibone and Lauren Southern, who were part of a 2017 effort to block migrant rescue missions in the Mediterranean Sea.

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Perhaps the most prominent example of their power came last summer, when news outlets including Vox and the Times scrambled to debunk a conspiracy theory that white South African farmers were being murdered by the hundreds in so-called hate crimes. The idea itself was not new: white supremacists across the world have been raising a false alarm about it for more than a decade, and the fear that black Africans will violently rise up against whites has been a far-right trope since shortly after World War II. What caught the mainstream media off-guard was the abrupt rise of the preposterous story.

In 2017, Stefan Molyneux aired an interview with Simon Roche, a leading proponent of the South African farmer hoax. In June the following year, Lauren Southern, a far-right Canadian citizen journalist, debuted a professional-looking documentary about the subject to her followers, of whom she had 680,000. In August, the conspiracy finally went mainstream and landed on Tucker Carlson Tonight. Within a day, President Trump tweeted about it. The people the story was meant to incite had been won over before fact-checkers could clear their throats to point out it was a terrified, age-old fiction.

YouTube is the No. 2 website in the world. Nearly three-quarters of American adults use it, as do 95 percent of those under 21. A third of the latter group use it specifically for news. On the flip side, just under a third of Americans trust the media, and young people in particular have a loose, amorphous definition of news that includes people who are not reporters.

As politics continues to polarize and tech companies refuse to accept responsibility foror moderatethe content they host and profit from, YouTube commentators, to some viewers, have become just as reputable as journalists. To the stars most devoted followers, they are the only news that matters.

Ordinary people get to have a voice, and they dont have to work through the traditional professional media establishment, the credentials, to get a following, Jennifer Stromer-Galley, a professor focused on political science at Syracuse Universitys School of Information Studies, says. Influencers create their own platforms to speak their truth, whatever that truth is, to their followers.

The reactionary influencer network that Lewis describes in her report originated with Gamergate, the 2014 conspiracy theory that targeted women working in the video game industry. Anti-feminists within that community, led by a software developer seeking vengeance against an ex-girlfriend, began a viciously misogynist harassment campaign under the cover of a manufactured crisis over ethics in video games journalism.

YouTube personalities like Benjamin turned themselves into the movements leaders, shifting from theoretical musing to specific analysis of a controversy steeped in both internet culture and reactionary politics.

An echo chamber formed, one that didnt map neatly onto a left-right axis; its main concern was rejecting progressivism and social justice warriors or SJWs,anyone who believes in the existence of things like white privilege or rape culture. The other hallmark is opposition to the mainstream media, Lewis says. Much like Fox News has often claimed that the mainstream media has a liberal or elite bias, YouTubers see a social justice bias.

Gamergate eventually petered out, but its followers had formed a coalition, primed to pivot toward the ugly politics of the 2016 presidential election. In provocateurs like Milo Yiannopoulos and Richard Spencer, the YouTube commentariat saw kindred spirits: people unafraid to be contrarian, who were good at delivering anti-progressive ideas with measured rhetoric and a blase sense of humor that shocked outsiders.

ICYMI: A reporter was harassed by Roger Stone for years. It ended in a violent confrontation.

In the final weeks of 2016, a handful of journalists said that the experience of watching Trump get elected felt like a Gamergate replay, down to the people involved. If youre just discovering the world of angry, anonymous online dudes masquerading as victims, Matt Lees wrote in The Guardian, Hi, come in. Some of us have been here for a while.

The community is hostile to criticism, real or perceived. As Lewiss report picked up press coverage, for instance, the subjects began ripping it apart. Rebecca Hargraves, who uses her highly personal missives to extol the virtues of anti-feminism and white nationalism, linked Data & Society to George Soros. So did Molyneux, who dismissed the report as morally reprehensible, egregious and propagandistic in a nearly ninety-minute video.

It ended up being a case study for how this ecosystem addresses a piece of research that it disagrees with and doesnt want to see, Lewis says. Although the response videos dripped with sarcasm, most of those videos also took the attention seriously. Benjamins warned his followers that Lewis was advocating for open censorship and that her report was an ideological attack on political YouTube, because political YouTube is broadly not progressive. It would be used over and over, he expected, by outsiders to scrutinize the community.

Stromer-Galley, the Syracuse University professor, points out that the community is constructed around an insider-outsider dichotomy: Really powerful influencers tell a story in which theyre victims of powerful forces out to get them, that theres a complicated network of elites out to destroy what they want.

Its an easy argument to make when traditional media cover YouTubers only when theyre embroiled in scandals, as in the case of PewDiePie, who lost sponsorship because of anti-Semitic jokes, and Benjamin, who was kicked off Patreon for racist comments. In the process, reporters often commit small errors about, say, the nuances of a YouTube stars political ideology; the stars, in turn, dismiss reporters as biased, misinformed interlopers.

The field is not level, and only YouTubers understand how to play on it.

The cynical me says that the media becomes obsessed with YouTube because it makes good stories, sensationalizing this in the same way as the influencers, Stromer-Galley says. Everybodys trying to gain an audience and make a living.

ICYMI: I was plagiarized by Jill Abramson

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Zoe Beery is a freelance writer, editor, and audio producer in New York.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.



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Only $198.95 per year after promotional period.As many organizations rush headlong into public cloud, IT continues to adjust to the complexities these environments create. Cost concerns, security, and a widening skills gap seem to consume todays agenda, but is there a more basic issue at play here?

According to one industry analyst, the answer is yes. A cultural solution to cloud adoption may hold the key to greater success.

In a recent podcast, Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions, discusses this topic with Edwin Yuen, Senior Analyst for Cloud Services and Orchestration, Data Protection, and DevOps at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG)[i]. Several interesting insights from the interview caught my attention.

Its not the technology slowing you down; its the culture

Gardner begins the interview by asking why enterprises are not culturally ready for public cloud adoption. Yuen explained one reason is that the role of IT in this new cloud world is not well-defined.

We see a lot of business end-users and others essentially doing shadow IT  going around IT. That actually increases the friction between IT and the business, explains Yuen. It also leads to people going into the public cloud before they are ready, before theres been a proper evaluation  which can potentially derail things.

Yuen went on to say lines of business (LOB) or other groups are not working with core IT as they deploy to the public cloud; therefore, they are not getting all of the advantages they can. You want to maximize the capabilities and minimize the inconvenience and cost. Planning is absolutely critical for that -- and it involves core IT, says Yuen. To ensure the best results possible, you should involve key players in the organization. For example, the organizations procurement experts should be consulted to ensure you get the best deal for your money.

Budgeting is also important. Companies very quickly realize that they dont have variable budgets, continues Yuen. They need to think about how they use cloud and the consumption cost for an entire year. You cant just go about your work and then find that you are out of budget when you get to the second half of the fiscal year.

The beauty of an as-a-service model is you only pay for what you use. The risk is you have a virtually unlimited capacity to spend money. Remember, while capacity appears unlimited, budgets are not. IT is in the best position to help advise in this area, working with end users and procurement to ensure the organization doesnt overspend in the cloud.

Bridging the cultural divide: a new level of communication

Yuen also brought up the importance of communication within the enterprise. The traditional roles within an organization have been monolithic. End-users were consumers, central IT was a provider, and finances were handled by acquisitions and the administration. Now, everybody needs to work together, and have a much more holistic plan. There needs to be a new level of communication and more give-and-take.

The key for improved cloud adoption, says Yuen, is opening the lines of communication, bridging the divides, and gaining new levels of understanding. This is the digital transformation we are seeing across the board. Its about IT being more flexible, listening to the needs of the end users, and being willing to be agile in providing services. In exchange, the end users come to IT first.

Before public cloud, users of IT didnt have to worry about cost or security issues, because IT handled it all for them. When an organization switches to the cloud without IT involvement, they often dont discover everything IT was doing for them until things go wrong. Conversely, when supporting cloud environments, IT needs to make it fast and easy for users to deploy applications, while also putting guardrails in place. Successfully deploying cloud means working with a full stack team of experts all across the organization before jumping into a cloud operating model.

An inverse mindset

Yuen also brings up something he calls an inverse mindset. Traditionally, organizations maintained and optimized specific infrastructure to impact an application in a positive way. Now, we are managing applications to deliver the proper experience, and we dont care where the systems are. That infrastructure could be in the public cloud, across multiple providers; it could be in a private cloud, or a traditional backend and large mainframe system. They just have to be configured correctly to provide the best return and performance the business requires.

As organizations embrace this inverse mindset, Yuen says it will be critical to monitor everything across all the different environments effectively with tools that automate and orchestrate. Additionally, organizations need machine learning (ML) or artificial intelligence (AI). Once we train the models, they can be self-learning, self-healing, and self-operating. Thats going to relieve a lot of work.

Having the right tools, such as HPE advisory services, can help you identify the best place to run applications. Let HPE help you simplify your hybrid cloud experience with modern technologies and software-defined solutions such as composable infrastructure, hyperconvergence, and infrastructure management. To listen to the full podcast, click here.

Let HPE help you simplify your hybrid cloud experience with modern technologies and software-defined solutions such as composable infrastructure, hyperconvergence, infrastructure management, and multi-cloud management. Cloud Technology Partners (CTP), a HPE company, will work with your IT team to enhance learning, conquer cloud challenges, and accelerate your successful digital transformation. To listen to the full podcast, click here.

[i]Podcast recorded on Nov. 15, 2018. Recently Yuen became Principal Product Marketing Manager at Amazon Web Services.

___________________________________

About Gary Thome



Gary Thome is the Vice President and Chief Technologist for the Software-Defined and Cloud Group at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). He is responsible for the technical and architectural directions of converged datacenter products and technologies.

To read more articles from Gary, check out the HPE Shifting to Software-Defined blog.Much has changed for businesses in the last 40 years. In the 1980s, personal computer growth lead to microcomputers (servers), and by the 1990s, data centers were commonplace. Then, virtualization and the need to process an explosion of data fueled data center growth in the early 2000s. When Amazon launched its commercial web service (EC2) in 2006, cloud computing dramatically changed how businesses handle their data  and their businesses.

As an IT industry analyst, Martin Hingley, President and Market Analyst at IT Candor Limited, based in Oxford, UK, had a front row seat to all of this change. In a recent BriefingsDirect podcast, Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions, discusses some of these changes with Hingley. The two analysts examine how artificial intelligence, orchestration, and automation are helping tame complexity brought about by continuous change.

After 30 years of IT data center evolution  are we closer to simplicity?

Gardner began the interview by asking Hingley if a new era with new technology is helping organizations better manage IT complexity. Hingley responded, I have been an IT industry analyst for 35 years, and its always been the same. Each generation of systems comes in and takes over from the last, which has always left operators with the problem of trying to manage the new with the old.

Hingley recalled the shift to the client/server model in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the influx of PC servers. At that point, admins had to manage all of these new systems, and they couldnt manage them under the same structure. Of course, this problem has continued over time.

Management complexity is especially difficult for larger organizations because they have such a huge mix of resources. Cloud hasnt helped, Hingley explained. Cloud is very different from your internal IT stuff -- the way you program it, the way you develop applications. It has a wonderful cost proposition; at least initially. But now, of course, these companies have to deal with all of this complexity. Managing multi-cloud resources (private and public) combined with traditional IT is much more difficult.

Massive amounts of data: get your house in order using AI

Additionally, consumers and businesses create massive amounts of data, which are not being filtered properly. According to Hingley, Every jetliner flying across the Atlantic creates 5TB of data; and how many of these fly across the Atlantic every day? In order to analyze this amount of data properly, we need better techniques to pick out the valuable bits of data. You cant do it with people. You have to use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

Hingley emphasized how important it is to get a handle on your data  not only for simplicity, but also for better governance. For example, The European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) reshapes how organization must handle data, which has far-reaching consequences for all businesses.

The challenge is that you need a single version of the truth, explains Hingley. Lots of IT organizations dont have that. If they are subpoenaed to supply every email that has the word Monte Carlo in it, they couldnt do it. There are probably 25 copies of all the emails. Theres no way of organizing it. Data governance is hugely important; its not nice to have, its essential to have. These regulations are coming  not just in the EU; GDPR is being adopted in lots of countries.

Software-defined and composable cloud

Along with AI, organizations will also need to create a common approach to the deployment of cloud, multi-cloud, and hybrid-cloud, thereby simplifying management of diverse resources. As an example of such a solution, Gardner mentioned the latest composable news from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).

Announced in November 2018, the HPE Composable Cloud is the first integrated software stack built for composable environments. Optimized for applications running in VMs, containers, clouds, or on bare metal, this hybrid cloud platform gives customers the speed, efficiency, scale, and economics of the public cloud providers. These benefits are enabled through built-in AI-driven operations with HPE InfoSight, intelligent storage features an innovative fabric built for composable environments.

I like what HPE is doing, in particular the mixing of the different resources, agreed Hingley. You also have the HPE GreenLake model underneath, so you can pay for only what you use. You have to be able to mix all of these together, as HPE is doing. Moreover, in terms of the architecture, the network fabric approach, the software-defined approach, the API connections, these are essential to move forward.

Automation and optimization across all of IT

New levels of maturity and composability are helping organizations attain better IT management amidst constantly changing and ever-growing complex IT environments. Gaining an uber-view of IT might finally lead to automation and optimization across multi-cloud, hybrid cloud, and legacy IT assets. Once this challenge is conquered, businesses will be better prepared to take on the next one.

To hear the full interview, click here. To learn more about the latest insights, trends and challenges of delivering IT services in the new hybrid cloud world, check out the IDC white paper, Delivering IT Services in the New Hybrid Cloud: Extending the Cloud Experience Across the Enterprise.

__________________________________________

About Chris Purcell



Chris Purcell drives analyst relations for the Software-Defined and Cloud Group at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. The Software-Defined and Cloud Group organization is responsible for marketing for HPE Synergy, HPE OneView, HPE SimpliVity hyperconverged solutions, and HPE OneSphere. To read more from Chris Purcell, please visit the HPE Shifting to Software-Defined blog.Florida, FL (34429)

Today

Locally heavy thunderstorms during the evening will give way to partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 69F. ENE winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..

Tonight

Locally heavy thunderstorms during the evening will give way to partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 69F. ENE winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.Nearly three weeks after he sent out a report suggesting 58,000 non-U.S. citizens may have voted illegally in past Texas elections  a report that was quickly proven to have significant flaws in it  embattled Secretary of State David Whitley is apologizing to the Legislature.

In a letter to all members of the House and Senate, Whitley said the list of potential noncitizen voters should have been reviewed more carefully before being sent to county elections officials across the state.

The list was based on an analysis of the voter rolls and driver license data from the Department of Public Safety.

Since the list went out in late January, it has been found to include tens of thousands of names of people who indeed are U.S. citizens. Additionally, the effort sparked intense criticism from county elections officials and lawsuits from civil rights advocacy groups who say the voter purge list was calculated to dissuade immigrants from voting.

Before announcing the number of people who may not be eligible to vote, more time should have been devoted to additional communication with the counties and DPS to further eliminate anyone from our original list who is, in fact, eligible to vote, Whitley said in the letter sent Wednesday.

Whitley, the acting secretary of state selected for the job in December by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, said he knows his efforts to notify counties and the public caused some confusion.

To the extent my actions missed that mark, I apologize, Whitley wrote in the letter, first reported by the Texas Tribune.

The apology, which comes as the Senate considers Whitleys confirmation, is a dramatic difference from a week ago.

During a confirmation hearing, Whitley refused to say if his office made any mistakes or whether he had any regrets about the way the lists were created and communicated to counties. Instead, Whitley defended his mission to assure the states voter lists are accurate and dont include ineligible voters.

I will readily level with you that we can always improve the process, Whitley said during that hearing, responding to questions from state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin. But the data is what the data is. And we were confident that that was the best data that we could get from DPS.

In his letter to the Legislature, Whitley characterizes the effort as part of his offices mission to keep accurate voter rolls. The list released last month was the first attempt  using some data more than 20 years old  at an analysis he plans to conduct on a monthly basis.

The secretary of state is required by law to ensure that voter rolls are accurate and do not include persons who are ineligible to vote while ensuring that all eligible voters can participate in the electoral process, Whitley said in the letter. The tasks are complementary: they promote integrity in elections and that, in turn, promotes voter turnout. Democracy in Texas will be strengthened and will endure by striving to achieve two goals: protecting the integrity of elections and combating voter suppression. I will never waver in my commitment to achieving those goals.

The lists Whitleys office sent to counties, which are in charge of voter rolls, included a total of more than 95,000 names of suspected noncitizens who had registered to vote.

State elections officials also had forwarded the names of 58,000 potential non-citizen voters to the Texas attorney general, saying those people had cast ballots in past elections. Its a felony for a noncitizen to vote in a Texas election.

Attorney General Ken Paxton said his office will not begin investigating those names until county elections officials sort through the entries to determine if there in fact are eligible voters on the lists.

Texas has 15.8 million voters. The list of 95,000 of potential noncitizen voters initially was hailed by Republicans, including President Donald Trump, as evidence of rampant voter fraud.

County officials say many of the names on the list are people who later were naturalized and became U.S. citizens. Theres no requirement for people to update their documents with DPS, and few do. About 50,000 people are naturalized each year in Texas, voting rights advocates say.

One civil rights advocacy was quick to dismiss Whitleys letter.

Lets be clear: our top election official isnt apologizing for actions that could have thrown thousands of eligible voters off the rolls, but rather for the way he bungled the release of his voter purge, the Texas Civil Rights Project said in a statement on social media.

A Senate committee had been scheduled to cast a preliminary vote on Whitleys nomination Thursday. However, nominations committee Chairwoman Dawn Buckingham, R-Lakeway, postponed that vote earlier this week.

Whitley eventually will need a two-thirds vote of the Senate to approve his appointment. There are 31 Senators, 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats.

Several Democrats last week made clear they were not pleased with Whitley or his testimony at the nominations committee meeting. State Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, said Whitleys answers during the hearing showed a lack of accountability.

Im not satisfied with the answers I got, she said at that time.

jeremy.wallace@chron.comThe owner of a San Antonio auto lot where the feds hauled off dozens of high-end cars in a money laundering case was denied bail Wednesday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Farrer was presented two differing views of Karen Mgerian: a money launderer willing to kill who could disappear with the help of Russian contacts and a naturalized U.S. citizen who got caught embellishing stories in an undercover federal investigation.

After an hour-long hearing, the judge found Mgerian, 40, posed a flight risk and denied him release on bond, but rejected prosecutors claim that he is a danger to the community.

The businessman, who allegedly told undercover federal agents he had Russian connections to clean large amounts of cash, is charged with money laundering conspiracy, accused of laundering $575,000 provided by undercover agents of the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Related: Fed raids in San Antonio result in seized luxury cars

Mgerian, 40, owns MGM Auto near Rittiman and Interstate 35. Agents seized his inventory there, including exotic cars like a Ferrari and Lamborghini as part of their investigation. About 70 of more than 100 cars have been seized; some were not taken because they were inoperable or belonged to customers at Mgerians separate body shop, Odida Auto, that was also raided, said Jason Gamez, a special agent with the IRS Criminal Investigation division, during testimony Wednesday.

The businessman was introduced to the undercover agents in 2017 by San Antonio resident Jose Luis Magallon Jr., 28, an accused associate of a Mexican cartel who is accused of laundering more than $200,000 for the undercover agents, records show. The agents presented themselves as operatives for drug-trafficking organizations and told both that the large amounts of cash they had came from the sale of drugs, according to court records. In fact, it was government money set aside for such operations.

In Mgerians case, agents said he told them he had been laundering money for more than 20 years, had laundered money for other drug traffickers and that he had partners overseas, including his native country of Georgia, who could help him wash larger quantities of money, according to Gamez.

Gamez also claimed that Mgerian said he hoped to develop a trust with the undercover agents where he would kill, if need be, for them.

Related: Feds say San Antonio college student in luxury car case tied to Knights Templar drug cartel

Besides the $575,000 Mgerian allegedly laundered, he was in negotiations with agents to launder another $4.7 million. Gamez said the process included agents buying MGM for $4.7 million, Mgerian using contacts overseas to wash the money for a 12.9 percent fee and agents providing phony invoices as cover.

At the time of our takedown, he was expecting the first payment of $1 million, Gamez said.

Besides raiding Mgerians businesses, which were in the names of other people, agents also searched his home in the Champions Ridge subdivision in Stone Oak, and a bank security deposit box and found $860,000 in cash. Agents also seized $171,000 in MGM Autos bank account and found he had more than $3 million in another account, Gamez said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gabriel Cohen argued that Mgerian might skip bail if released, and Mgerians claim that he would kill for agents and a misdemeanor record made him a safety risk.

Mgerians lawyer, Mike McCrum, argued that the prosecution had no evidence that Mgerian truly had contacts overseas, or records to show he traveled frequently to his native country, and disputed that his client is a danger. McCrum said Mgerian is a naturalized U.S. citizen and his parents also live here legally and that his misdemeanor record stems from spurious allegations made by his ex-wife and most charges were dismissed.

McCrum also argued that Mgerian would not flee because his U.S. passport was seized and his Georgian citizenship was revoked when he got his U.S. citizenship.

FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox

The defense lawyer further said that, like the undercover agents, Mgerian embellished his stories during negotiations.

He said some things, some crazy things, in order to make a deal with people he thought he was going to be doing business with, McCrum said. It was all puffery, mere puffery.

In ordering Mgerian held without bail, the judge said the offense is alleged to be an extremely complex, deceptive enterprise that might give Mgerian an incentive to flee. Further, the judge told Mgerian he has proficiency in the use of false names and aliases, ties to foreign countries and access to all kinds of cash or liquid assets that would help him flee.

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Mario Figueroa Jr., a Houston graffiti artist better known as Gonzo247, got to work early Wednesday morning on the first permanent mural on the University of Saint Thomas campus.

I wanted to give people a really great splash of impact this morning, so I got here around 5:30 and just started sketching, said Gonzo.

The mural will depict St. Thomas Aquinas, the universitys namesake, amid a vibrant background featuring imagery from the university campus, with the downtown skyline as a base below.

UST, like many educational institutions, is going through a bit of a re-founding and art is a great way not only to tell a story but to bring people together, said University of Saint Thomas Chaplain, Father Chris Valka.

One of the things I like about the mural specifically is it has elements of our Catholic tradition, but in a contemporary mindset, Valka said.

Katie Fleming, a senior political science major, said she thinks the mural will boost school spirit.

I really love that he incorporates a lot of Houston imagery into it, Fleming said. Were a small campus but it makes us feel like were a part of Houston - a part of Houstons history.

Gonzo, whose sister graduated from and later worked at the university, has been familiar with the campus for years. However, he said being commissioned for the two-story mural on the edge of the campus gave him a new perspective.

I just kind of started picking up these different little elements that really caught my attention and then I decided to find a way to incorporate those different elements into the mural, said Gonzo.

I wanted to have this array of elements that you look at and it might not register immediately but then youre walking around the campus and youre like oh wow, I saw that in the mural kind of like Easter eggs.

A Catholic himself, Gonzo recognizes the historical partnership between artists and the Church.

A lot of major art works were originally commissioned by the Vatican so theres a long history of the Church supporting artists said Gonzo. That relationship between the church and the arts isnt new, but its great that we found a way to reconnect those entities.

Some alumni voiced concern Monday on a post on a Concerned UST Alumni Facebook page. Referencing a previously released mockup for the mural, the post alleged that the image of St. Thomas Aquinas that is in the mural is copied from an image of St. Thomas the Apostle and was an inaccurate depiction of the university's patron saint.

In response University spokeswoman Sandra Soliz said The rendering is just a mockup to demonstrate proof of concept. The actual mural hasnt even begun yet and will look different.

Gonzo echoed Solizs statement, saying, A mock-up is generally just an idea of placement and so the image I originally had was a placeholder for the one that we were developing.

The mural will likely be done in about two weeks, depending on the weather, said Gonzo. The University of Saint Thomas will hold a party on Feb. 28 to celebrate Gonzo and the mural.

Art is a great vehicle to promote and instigate thought process and, again, like all the other elements the goal is for people to see it and wonder, the artist said.  Its not going to be written anywhere  the goal is for you to go and find out.

Gonzo said the mural will embody the universitys Be your bold self campaign and hopes to inspire students.

Theyre telling the students to Be bold, be bold, be bold, but if the university does nothing to emphasize that those are just words, Gonzo said. This should encourage [students] to say, if the school did this then I can really do something with myself.A Clear Lake couple accused of killing their infant daughter in the summer of 2018 are now behind bars.

Dylan Christian Daugherty, 23, and Aeriel Louise Spivey, 26, were arrested Wednesday after a months-long Houston Police Department investigation after 6-week-old Brooklyn Daugherty was found dead in her crib inside the couple's Clear Lake apartment June 5.

Around 8 that morning, Daugherty and Spivey reportedly woke up and found Brooklyn unresponsive inside her crib. Houston paramedics rushed to the scene and tried to revive the baby, but she was pronounced dead.

An autopsy showed that Brooklyn had several traumatic injuries to her head in different stages of healing  implying she suffered some sort of abuse over a period of time  and that she died from blunt force trauma, according to Houston police.

Charging documents for Daugherty, who is facing a murder charge, show that police believe he was the one who struck Brooklyn with some sort of blunt object, killing her. Spivey, who's charged with injury to a child by omission, is accused of "failing to protect" Brooklyn during the attack.

Both are booked in the Houston police jail with no bond.

Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text messageThe Houston Police Departments Special Victims Division has opened a criminal investigation of a Catholic priest after two alleged victims accused the cleric of sexually abusing them as children, officials said.

Investigators would not identify the priest, but the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston has already disclosed that it forwarded two complaints to Houston police about Father John Keller, a priest at Prince of Peace Catholic Community who has been temporarily removed from ministry pending an investigation.

The two complaints are among four reported to the Special Victims Division since Jan. 31, when the archdiocese released the names of 40 priests credibly accused of child sex abuse and identified two others  including Keller  who were under investigation.

A third victim has not responded to calls from investigators, police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said. A fourth person mailed a letter outlining an allegation that was too old for criminal charges to be considered but authorities will look into the claim to help build a case, she said.

Police would not say how many priests were identified by the four accusers.

The results of the investigation, which Silva said could take months, will be presented to the Harris County District Attorneys Office to determine if the priest will be charged with a crime.

Meanwhile, the Harris County Sheriffs Office has found insufficient evidence to support criminal charges against a Catholic priest from a 2015 complaint about inappropriate conduct. Authorities took a second look at the claim in light of the churchs recent decision to publicly release information about past allegations, said sheriffs spokesman Jason Spencer. No criminal charges were ever filed.

The allegation was referred to the agency from a third party that was not the archdiocese, Spencer said. The priest in that case was likewise not identified.

Law enforcement authorities would not disclose the years during which the alleged abuse took place. Archdiocese officials said the allegations against Keller dated back 25 to 40 years.

The archdiocese "continues to fully cooperate with law enforcement, officials said Wednesday in a statement.

More than 300 priests were identified as credibly accused on Jan. 31, when 14 of the Catholic dioceses in Texas released the results of internal investigations into past allegations since the 1940s and 1950s. Many of the accused priests transferred from church to church, and sometimes from diocese to diocese, and most are now dead.

Among the 40 priests identified by the Houston-area archdiocese were several who faced criminal charges, including Fernando Noe Guzman, who was convicted of molesting a 14-year-old girl in her grandfathers house in Navasota in 1992. He died in 2006.

The archdiocese received at least two sex abuse complaints against Keller in more than 10 years. The first known allegation was reported in 2001 by a woman who accused Keller of engaging in an inappropriate relationship with her ninth-grade son, but the archdiocese said at the time that the allegation could not be confirmed. A recent CBS News report identified a man who said he came forward to church leaders in December with a claim of sexual abuse against the pastor.

It was not known if the claims now under investigation by Houston police are either of those two alleged victims.

In addition to Keller, one other priest was identified by the archdiocese as being under investigation. Former Conroe priest Manuel La Rosa-Lopez is awaiting trial on four counts of indecency with a child for abuse alleged to have taken place at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe.

La Rosa-Lopez was most recently assigned to a parish in Richmond. He has also been removed from the ministry.

Editors note: The Harris County Sheriffs Office has not provided the name or parish of a Catholic priest who was the subject of a 2015 complaint of sexual abuse. Whether the priest in that investigation is the same priest that Houston Police are investigating on sexual abuse allegations is unclear.

nicole.hensley@chron.comAUSTIN  Many Texas high school students want to go to University of Texas at Austin but cant get in and instead opt for an out-of-state education, according to state officials.

During a Senate Finance Committee hearing Wednesday, lawmakers voiced concerns about the situation and discussed UT-Austins automatic acceptance threshold, which admits Texas high school students who are in the top 6 percent of their high school class.

Lets face it: A lot of students want to come to [UT-Austin]. Its the place to be, State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, said, but the limit on automatic admission has been heartbreaking for many students.

Were doing something wrong, Huffman said. I believe that from the bottom of my heart. . It is wrong that there are so many of our talented students that are going out of state and we lose them.  We are letting our young people down, and I urge us to look at this and try to think outside of the box and try to find a way to meet the needs of the young people and the students who want to be in the state.

At the hearing other state universities and colleges issued various funding requests, ranging from Hurricane Harvey relief to seeking an increase or restoration of state funding.

For instance, at a House hearing Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp requested $55 million before to help close the difference in funding for its flagship Texas A&M University-College Station and the University of Texas at Austin, which receives nearly $900 more in funding per year per student despite TAMU adding more students. The funds would go to hiring 200 faculty members, which would mean smaller classes for students and more services, but would not lower college costs, Sharp said.

On the issue of applications, UT-Austin officials told lawmakers there is a rising demand, which means many students  23,000 this year  will be turned away, according to UT-Austin President Gregory L. Fenves. But its not just because of the 6 percent. Were turning a lot of people away, said Kevin Eltife, chairman of the UT Systems board.

Around 75 percent of UT-Austins admission offers are automatic, and of the 24,000 regular, non-automatic applications that the university receives, only 3,500 are accepted. The automatic admission, commonly referred to as the Top 10 Percent Rule, was enforced by the Senate Bill 175 passed in 2009 which set requirements on automatic admissions.

https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/SB00175F.htm

Last fall, 8,900 students were admitted  the largest freshman class in history, which was a result of the top 7 percent being admitted throughout the state, Fenves said. The number exceeded the universitys target of 7,500 to 7,700 students  an achievable amount that Fenves feels confident that UT-Austin will be able to adequately serve and educate. The large freshman class prompted a reduction from 7 to 6 percent, which was announced in September 2017. Fenves added that a higher automatic admissions threshold also limits the capacity for transfer students.

State Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, said she understood the universitys conundrum and commended officials.

The good news is youre doing a wonderful job, and there are many more students who would want to attend your university than you have space for, Nelson said.

Still, like Huffman, Nelson said she was not confident in the current process, adding that many of her constituents, who are dream students for any university in the country are not accepted to UT-Austin and go out of state.

I receive more calls about this than any other university institution, said Sen. Nelson.

State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, said the high demand and limited space in admissions at UT-Austin is an argument for lawmakers to put resources into other state schools and provide resources so that they can become tier-one research universities separate and apart from UT-Austin.

Many institutions, including schools from the University of Houston System, requested assistance in funding Hazelwood exemptions, an exemption which allows veterans, their spouses and children free tuition and fees. University of Houston has covered a majority of the costs, Rena Khator, who serves as UH system chancellor and UH president, has asked that the state appropriate resources or modify the exemption.

Khator also requested $60 million for the UH Law Center, which has experienced substantial flooding over the years; a total of $40 million for the universitys college of medicine; and assistance with Hurricane Harvey repair system-wide after around 100 buildings throughout the UH system have experienced some damage.

Lone Star College was the only community college to submit a proposal to assist with damage caused by Harvey, which resulted in it temporarily closing six of its nine buildings at the Kingwood campus. Lone Star requested $15 million.

University of Houston-Downtown President Juan Munoz requested $15 million, half of which would go to transforming a building on campus into the universitys first student union building, a place where its many commuter students can congregate and connect.

Various medical schools, including the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston sought funds that would assist with programing and new ventures.

UTMB President David Callendar requested a version of formula funding be created for its hospital, which has been offered similarly to the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center and UT-Tyler. He also asked for a $11 million restoration of cuts from last legislative session that would have supported critical programs and research, and to address the budget for correctional health care programs that serve the incarcerated. Callendar said the costs have gone up, which can put pressure on the institution.

We want to provide this service, and we want to do it at a right level, but we also dont want to be in the situation where were taking money from [academics] to support this service, Callendar said.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston requested a total of $18 million for its UTHealth Womens Health Education and Research Center, which will serve Texas women for a variety of health priorities, including maternal fetal medicine and trauma. The science center also requested $12.7 million per biennium for its work with the child sex trafficking victims office to dedicate an inpatient care system for victims as well as extensive outpatient treatment.

brittany.britto@chron.com

twitter.com/brittanybrittoThink of Buc-ee's as an older brother moving out of the house.

The Texas-based convenience store giant has endeared itself to Texans with Beaver Nuggets, clean bathrooms and endless gas pumps since it first opened in Lake Jackson in 1982. But after the franchise opened a store in Alabama last month, it took the first step toward growth outside the state.

"World domination" is how Texas Monthly described the Buc-ee's expansion effort in its most recent cover story, which chronicles the beginnings of the company with co-founder Arch "Beaver" Aplin.

ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Inside the first Buc-ee's outside of Texas

The story describes a map in the corner of Aplin's office with thumbtacks where he sees more stores outside of Texas. And when the reporter said it looked like an invasion, Aplin didn't budge.

"It does kind of look like an invasion, doesn't it?" he told Texas Monthly.

The Alabama store received a warm reception with around 100 customers lined up outside the store before the opening last month. In addition to the traditional items, the Alabama store includes state-specific gear, such as shirts supporting the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers.

The store also offers exclusive "Beach Express" shirts, along with beach gear for those making a relatively short drive from the store to the coast

Meanwhile, in Florida, local publications have been reporting on the long-awaited locations in the state since at least 2017. Buc-ee's stores are slated to open in St. Johns, Daytona Beach and Fort Myers. News reports indicate the stores were eyeing a 2019 opening date, but the Fort Myers location might be delayed until 2020, the Fort Myers News-Press reported.

Buc-ee's also plans to open in Georgia, where Aplin's map showed his most audacious and conceptual expansion plans, according to Texas Monthly.

Six thumbtacks circle Atlanta, as Aplin hopes to catch drivers traveling in all directions out of the city.

"At that point, Aplin hopes, Buc-ee's will become just as much a way of life for Georgians as it is for Texans," the Texas Monthly article said.

LAWSUIT FILED: Buc-ee's in Alabama is being sued for selling gas for too cheap. The details are at HoustonChronicle.com.

The thumbtacks on Aplin's map stretched all the way to North Carolina. Despite the brand's connection to Texas culture, he told Texas Monthly people outside the state are "looking for basically the same thing."

"I theorize that the people traveling in Texas are very similar to the people traveling in Florida or Alabama," he said in the story.

The article raised questions about whether its expansion could mirror that of Whataburger in the 80s, when the fast foot brand opened locations in Las Vegas and Memphis. It was a short-lived effort that ended with the brand turning its eyes back to Texas, according to the magazine.

But Aplin, described as a ruthless competitor, is sticking to his guns with his motto from day one: Clean, Friendly, and In Stock.

Read the full Texas Monthly story here.

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 wealthy Brazilian couple, sentenced to federal prison for helping kidnap their grandson, sued their ex-son-in-law this week, alleging that he defrauded the court in the trial that led to their convictions.

Carlos and Jemima Guimaraes were sentenced in December for their role in the kidnapping of their grandson, Nicolas Brann, now 9 and living in Brazil with his mother. The boy's father, Christopher Brann, shared joint custody with his ex-wife, Marcelle Guimaraes.

At a news conference Thursday morning, the Guimaraes' lawyer, Jeff Diamant, said Brann had twisted the narrative of his marriage to their daughter, portraying himself as the victim of domestic violence when he was in fact the perpetrator.

BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: Get your Houston breaking news alerts delivered to you.

"This lawsuit is all about the fact that (Brann) built this house of cards on fundamental lies," Diamant said. "His behavior and conduct in the marriage was nothing short of sociopathic."

Brann's attorney, Alan Daughtry, called the lawsuit "frivolous" and "further harrassment" of Brann, a physician. He said Brann intends to file a motion to dismiss the suit.

"(The) claim of 'fraud on the court' has already been rejected, as Dr. Brann has prevailed on the merits before a federal jury, a federal judge, a Texas trial court judge, and the First Court of Appeals," Daughtry wrote in a statement Thursday.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in state district court in Harris County, accuses Brann of sexual and pornography addiction. It includes diary entries, emails and voicemails sent to Marcelle and excerpts from his testimony from court in Brazil  where Marcelle relocated with Nicolas.

"She did this as a mother to protect her child," Diamant said.

The Guimaraes' case garnered international media attention, in part because Brann advocated for courts, legislators and diplomats in two countries to intervene and testified at hearings on Capitol Hill.

The protracted conflict began when Marcelle Guimaraes took Nicolas, then 3, to a family wedding in Brazil in July 2013 and never returned.

Witnesses at the 10-day jury trial said Jemima Guimaraes helped her daughter land a job at a school where she was the director, and enrolled the boy there. Carlos Guimaraes, a businessman, helped pay tuition for the boy at schools in both countries and bought a series of return tickets for Marcelle and the boy that prosecutors said were part of a coverup. Evidence indicated the grandparents provided housing and helped pay attorney fees.

In 2017, Marcelle Guimaraes and her parents were charged under seal, and the grandparents were arrested when their plane touched down in Miami.

The Guimaraeses were convicted in May 2018. The case was one of only 53 international parental abduction prosecutions brought by the Justice Department and the first conviction the U.S. Sentencing Commission could document involving noncustodial grandparents, U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett said in their December trial.

Carlos Guimaraes was sentenced to three months in federal prison. Jemima Guimares was sentenced to one month in a federal facility. After their time in custody, both defendants must serve one year of supervised release.

Marcelle Guimaraes, living with Nicolas in the Brazilian city of Salvador, is considered a fugitive by the U.S. government.

massarah.mikati@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.A Harris County judge has sided with lawyers for the Harris County Sheriffs Office and a slate of new Democratic judges vying to loosen misdemeanor bail rules this weekend, rather than grant a request of three bail bond companies that would have delayed the start of the proposed revisions .

The companies argued Thursday that the court-ordered bail reform  believed to be a key step in a lengthy legal fight over the pre-trial detention of poor, low-level offenders  would jeopardize their Houston bail bonds business.

They wont get to write as many bail bonds as they did before and they wont make as much money as they did before, said Allan Van Fleet, a lawyer representing the judges.

The bail reform is intended to relieve financial disparity among offenders. It would automatically qualify 85 percent of people arrested on misdemeanors for release on no-cash bonds, county officials have estimated. Those arrested for bail violations, repeat drunken driving and family violence would be the only exceptions.

You got money, you can get out of jail. If you dont, you stay there, Van Fleet explained of the current system. All kinds of bad things happen  you lose your job, you lose you car, you plead out to things you didnt do just to get out of jail.

The reform, however, would still require defendants to appear before a magistrate or judge within 48 hours, at which time they also could qualify for no-cash bonds.

The reform, the companies argue, violates state law because it would guarantee many defendants a specific type of bail without first providing them individual hearings before a judge, and because it would require the sheriff to reject some bonds that otherwise would be valid under state law, among other reasons.

We have a constitutional right to make our living by bail bonds and if they want to amend the way the things are, they can do that but it still has to be by state law, said Kevin Pennell, who represented Set Em Free Bail Bonds, A Better Bail Bond and Advantage Bail Bonds in the county suit filed Thursday.

Eightieth Civil Court Judge Larry Weiman countered the argument before he denied the order.

Doesnt the court have to balance the constitutional right of the defendants, those who are arrested and charged with a crime, Weiman asked, before resetting the temporary injunction hearing to March 11.

The judges elected in November 2018 announced the revised bail rules shortly after taking office last month, and chief U.S. District Court Judge Lee H. Rosenthal signaled she would support the proposal at a Feb. 1 hearing in the long-running bail reform lawsuit that now is expected to be settled.

The landmark litigation began in 2016, when attorneys and civil rights groups sued the county on behalf of defendants jailed for days because they could not afford bail on low-level offenses.

In 2017, Rosenthal issued a preliminary injunction upending the county's bail system, which relied on a set schedule that dictated amounts based on the crime and not on a consideration of a defendant's ability to pay. Finding that practice unconstitutional, the judge ordered the county to start releasing low-level defendants on no-cash bonds within 24 hours of their arrest.

The county appealed that ruling, and the U.S. 5th Circuit asked Rosenthal to retool the order, so she gave officials 48 hours to release inmates instead of 24. The misdemeanor judges again appealed, but those Republican officeholders were swept out in November and replaced with Democrats, who withdrew the appeal and announced the proposed bail rules.

Van Fleet warned the judges would have faced contempt of federal court for failing to implement the changes had the judge ruled in favor of the bonds companies. Additionally, the lawyer said the order would have continued to weigh financially on Harris County and those jailed and forced to miss work in order to scrounge money to make that bond.

The reform would dramatically reduce the daily in-custody cost, he said.

The preliminary results of the proposed rules are slated to be reviewed on March 8 before Judge Rosenthal.With their annual Chef Showdown and Halloween Party events, The Woodlands Charities, Inc. raised more than $20,000 last year to benefit Texas Childrens Hospital The Woodlands family fund, which is set up to help the families of children fighting cancer. This year, officials with the group selected a new charity to donate to.

Directors Amy Milstead, Nina Marino and James Stilwell, who lead The Woodlands Charities, Inc., chose to give to a specific program sponsored by the Assistance League of Montgomery County: Operation School Bell.

Operation School Bell identifies economically disadvantaged children within the county whose families may not be able to buy them new school clothes and then sets them up with a shopping spree.

When officials with the Assistance League presented the program to The Woodlands Charities directors, Milstead said it was an easy choice to select this initiative.

How can you not have a heart for children who dont have clothes to go to school? Milstead said.

The leagues president, Carolyn Jones, said that while this program is nationwide, shes seen a great impact locally within the county.

We take all of the economically disadvantaged children in each school and try to serve 11 percent of those students, Jones said. We tell each school what their allotment is, depending on their population, and the school counselor chooses students who are entitled to go to the dressings.

Want to learn more? Check out what The Woodlands Charities does on their website. Read more about Operation School Bell here. See More Collapse

Once theyre identified, the high school students receive $125 to shop, and younger children receive $95 to use at the store. As an added bonus, they get to shop at places like JCPenney and Burlington Coat Factory and buy items tax-free.

With The Woodlands Charities donation this year, that means the league could help upwards of 200 extra kids.

The Assistance League of Montgomery County started the program in the county when they provided clothes for more than 30 children about 30 years ago. Now, all six Montgomery County school districts are served and more than 4,000 children receive funds for new clothes each year.

Because of its scope, the district with the most students served each year is the Conroe Independent School District.

Denise Cipolla, CISDs administrative coordinator of guidance and counseling, said that the program is a tremendous support for students in all grades.

Many of our families never get the opportunity to shop from a retail store. They depend on secondhand and resale shop clothing, so this is a spectacular service for our families in need, Cipolla said, highlighting that the chance to buy brand-new clothes resonates with the families in need.

CISD Trustee John Husbands has also gotten a glimpse of how this program impacts the students. He has served on the leagues advisory council for several years and said Operation School Bell is about more than just new clothes.

If (a child) isnt dressed, if theyre not fed, they cant learn. To think about a child, in a non-embarrassing way being donated clothes so he or she can go to school and feel good about themselves, its helping immensely to build a childs overall self-worth, Husbands said.

The selected elementary and junior high students receive their new clothes in the fall, but the selected high school students get to go shopping around this time of year. The Woodlands Charities normally has their Chef Showdown fundraiser in May and their Halloween Party in October.

jane.stueckemann@chron.comFor years, drivers who frequent Robinson Road and The Woodlands Parkway overpass on Interstate 45 have endured delays and congestion as cars try to merge onto the freeway feeder road and onto the parkway on-ramps. That should all change in the next year under a traffic improvement plan that is intended to make the interchange safer and less confusing.

Richard Derr, city manager of Oak Ridge North, said city officials are finalizing the acquisition of small parcels of right-of-way land from five property owners along Robinson Road at the interchange with The Woodlands Parkway. The project is slated to cost $4.5 million and Derr said officials hope it will be completed by the end of 2019, however that date is not set in stone.

"This has been ongoing...it has been in process for quite a while now," Derr said of the project. "There is funding available, and once we acquire the land, we can enter into an agreement with the county to move ahead (with the project.)"

Andy Dubois, a spokesperson for Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack, said the project is a Precinct 3 initiative and the funding for it is set aside in the coffer of money from the 2015 Montgomery County Road Bond. Dubois also said the completion date of the project is still not finalized as the process cannot move forward until the land needed for right-of-ways is acquired.

"The completion date of the project is contingent on the start date," Dubois said. "If (Oak Ridge North) does not get the right-of-ways by the end of February, the bid process (for the project) will not start. If the bid process, for example, starts in March then the project will likely not begin until after April."

Because the project could take anywhere from 10 months to a year to complete, if the process does not begin until April or later, Dubois said, then the completion date would be pushed into 2020.

The twisting and turning interchange has caused problems for years for motorists, Derr said, especially young drivers who are not as experienced and may become confused by the merging lanes, yield requirements and the complexity of the area. The improvements that are being planned by engineering firm Brown & Gay Engineering, will create a much safer interchange for drivers as well as reduce congestion, he added.

AVOID THESE ROADS: The worst traffic hot spots around Houston's suburbs

"Ultimately the best way to describe this (project) is that there will be no more weave lanes' underneath the overpass," Derr explained. "As you come onto the (I-45) feeder road, there will now be dedicated lanes. There will be no more weaving. You will go right onto the feeder road."

The area in question has become more dangerous in recent months because of faded pavement lane striping as well as confusion about who has the right of way when cars either enter the feeder road on-ramps to either Robinson Road or The Woodlands Parkway as well as for vehicles on both thoroughfares who are trying to access the feeder road and then I-45.

"Everything was so dulled out there, the signs weren't visible. It was super dangerous," Derr said. "(The project) Reconfigures the underpass so that when you enter the overpass, (drivers) won't be yielding and weaving. There is no stopping with this, either. The weave lanes will be gone and there will be designated lanes and additional access to the southeast business park. When you exit the overpass from either way, you will now enter dedicated (straight, no merge) lanes."

Officials with the Texas Department of Transportation have repainted the lane striping at the interchange and repaired some signage in an effort to enhance safety as city officials work to acquire the necessary land for right-of-ways and construction. Once the land is acquired, Derr said the city will work with Montgomery County Precint 3 officials on the project construction.

The total cost is $4.5 million, with $2 million of the total being paid by Oak Ridge North. There is no timelime yet for when construction will begin, however, as a start date is contingent on acquiring the necessary land.

RELATED: Multi-million dollar project to help traffic at I-45, Robinson Road

Derr said the land needed for the project is small bits of current residential parcels in the area affecting five homeowners. The residents are working with city officials on the land transfer, which primarily consists of small areas of land immediately adjacent to the road.

jeff.forward@chron.comMore than 60 people gathered on Tuesday night at the Glade Cultural Arts Center in The Woodlands to hear a panel of public education experts discuss the problems and future of public school funding in Texas.

The event, billed as a community forum on public school funding and property tax reform, was organized by officials with Texans for Public Education, Kira Becker, a politically active resident of The Woodlands, and Lorena Perez McGill, who was the Democratic candidate for the District 15 seat in Texas House of Representatives.

Among the panelists in attendance were former Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor Mike Collier; Jim Cain, the former superintendent of the Klein Independent School District; Chris Tackett, a political activist and founder of Project Educo; Troy Reynolds, the founder of Texans for Public Education; and Gaby Diaz, a teacher in the Humble Independent School District.

Much of the discussion centered around school funding, notably the recent legislation in Texas called Senate Bill 2, which would require voters to approve at the ballot any proposed property tax increase of 2.5 percent or higher. According to Houston Chronicle reports, if the bill is passed into law, it could result in an estimated $1.1 billion loss in revenue for counties across Texas and an additional $1.2 billion in lost revenue for cities. The bill has not yet been heard by the House of Representatives.

Reynolds told the assembled crowd that the biggest challenge to public school funding was SB 2, which he said amounts to politicians, playing with the numbers and the end result is that elected officials will, disempower your local school boards.

They are going to pour a lot of money into the system, Reynolds said. But they are not going to make the structural fix necessary.

Collier, who lost his bid for lieutenant governor to incumbent Dan Patrick, told the audience that the assault on public school funding has been going on for decades, and recited three pieces of legislation dating back to 1991 that he claims have led to the financial problems in funding public schools in Texas. One of the more onerous changes, Collier claimed, was a 1997 law that allowed for large industrial facilities to avoid paying property taxes.

We have not balanced our books in decades. Even if the state says they will fund public education, they cant and they wont, Collier claimed. They are playing whack-a-mole with our money. We are treating the symptom and not the disease. We must reverse one or two of those decisions.

As for Senate Bill 2, Collier said he was staunchly opposed to the proposed legislation, and he also advocated that large industrial facilities be required to pay property taxes, which in turn would add more revenue into the states coffers.

Former Klein ISD Superintendent Jim Cain may have been the most popular speaker on the night, drawing a round of applause from attendees when his turn to speak arrived. Cain said many school districts work hard to be efficient with revenue, and that he was proud of the fiscal responsibility that existed in Klein ISD. However, Cain noted, there are challenges to the system, namely the powerful political action committee called Empower Texans.

Cain detailed how in June of 2018, officials with Klein ISD attempted to raise revenue for teacher raises and benefits via a tax ratification election, but the effort was defeated by voters after what he described as a vigorous disinformation campaign coordinated by officials with Empower Texans.

Empower Texans created misinformation and negativity. They defeated the tax ratification election, Cain said, noting that thousands of employees of the district would not get raises due to the defeat at the ballot box. That money will not be there, and what a shame it is. We cannot let groups like (Empower Texans) control our futures. We have to stand up and support public education and stop these negative voices.

One of the more powerful speakers at the event was Gaby Diaz, a teacher in the Humble ISD who was recognized as a teacher of the year recipient and who earned some social media fame after meeting with Beto ORourke when he was challenging Ted Cruz for U.S. Senate. Diaz spoke out against what she said are unfair teacher performance assessments, teachers who are losing jobs and charter schools which she said have no oversight.

I am tired of hearing about my fellow teachers losing their jobs, Diaz said. We should not give (public) money to charter or private schools that cannot be held accountable by taxpayers.

Diaz also said there are other issues in the education system as a whole, specifically mentioning her view that current student achievement testing is flawed, and that because teacher performance assessments are tied to student test results, there is an unfair correlation that if a student does poorly on the tests, a teacher is blamed.

It is all about shame, Diaz said of the process.

Collier later discussed how many school districts are raising property tax rates, but are at the same time reducing per-pupil spending, claiming that from 2010-2017, residential property taxes increased by about 40 percent but business taxes only went up by about 10 percent. Collier said he is vehemently against the SB 2 proposal to cap property tax at 2.5 percent without a vote by residents.

It wont work. It will be an absolute disaster for public education, he said.

Despite the focus on the current legislation, many on the panel kept returning to the actions of Empower Texans and described how the group is working against public education.

Telephone messages and emails to Empower Texans media office were not returned.

Cain told the audience to be wary of the group, especially in light of the proposed $807 million bond proposal being before the voters this year.

Empower Texans has a playbook on how to defeat bond issues and tax ratification issues, Cain said. They are well funded, they are determined and they are simply anti-public education. They want to see education in our state privatized as much as possible.The world's oceans could harbor an unpleasant surprise for global warming, based on new research that shows how naturally occurring carbon gases trapped in reservoirs atop the seafloor escaped to superheat the planet in prehistory.

Scientists say events that began on the ocean bottom thousands of years ago so disrupted the Earth's atmosphere that it melted away the ice age. Those new findings challenge a long-standing paradigm that ocean water alone regulated carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during glacial cycles. Instead, the study shows geologic processes can dramatically upset the carbon cycle and cause global change.

For today's world, the findings could portend an ominous development. The undersea carbon reservoirs released greenhouse gas to the atmosphere as oceans warmed, the study shows, and today the ocean is heating up again due to manmade global warming.

If undersea carbon reservoirs are upset again, they would emit a huge new source of greenhouse gases, exacerbating climate change. Temperature increases in the ocean are on pace to reach that tipping point by the end of the century. For example, a big carbon reservoir beneath the western Pacific near Taiwan is already within a few degrees Celsius of destabilizing.

Moreover, the phenomenon is a threat unaccounted for in climate model projections. Undersea carbon dioxide reservoirs are relatively recent discoveries and their characteristics and history are only beginning to be understood.

Those findings come from a new research paper produced by an international team of Earth scientists led by USC and published in January in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

"We're using the past as a way to anticipate the future," said Lowell Stott, professor of Earth sciences at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and lead author of the study. "We know there are vast reservoirs of carbon gas at the bottom of the oceans. We know when they were disrupted during the Pleistocene it warmed the planet.

"We have to know if these carbon reservoirs could be destabilized again. It's a wild card for which we need to account," Stott said.

At issue are expanses of carbon dioxide and methane accumulating underwater and scattered across the seafloor. They form as volcanic activity releases heat and gases that can congeal into liquid and solid hydrates, which are compounds stuck together in an icy slurry that encapsulates the reservoirs.

These undersea carbon reservoirs largely stay put unless perturbed, but the new study shows the natural reservoirs are vulnerable in a warming ocean and provides proof the Earth's climate has been affected by rapid release of geologic carbon.

The scientists say it occurred in the distant past when the Earth was much warmer, and it's happened more recently -- about 17,000 years ago at the end of the Pleistocene epoch when glaciers advanced and receded, which is the focus on the new study. Warming was evident due to changes in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, based on ice cores, marine and continental records.

But how did that happen? What forced such dramatic change in the first place? Scientists have been searching for that answer for 40 years, with focus on oceans because they're a giant carbon sink and play a central role in carbon dioxide variations.

They soon realized that processes that regulate carbon to the ocean operated too slowly to account for the surge in atmospheric greenhouse gases that led to warming that ended the ice age. So, scientists around the world began examining the role of Earth's hydrothermal systems and their impact on deep-ocean carbon to see how it affected the atmosphere.

The new study by scientists at USC, the Australian National University and Lund University in Sweden, focused on the Eastern Equatorial Pacific (EEP) hundreds of miles off the coast of Ecuador. The EEP is a primary conduit through which the ocean releases carbon to the atmosphere.

The scientists report evidence of deep-sea hydrothermal systems releasing greenhouse gases to the ocean and atmosphere at the end of the last ice age, just as the oceans were beginning to warm. They measured increased deposition of hydrothermal metals in ancient marine sediments. They correlated glaciation intervals with variations in atmospheric carbon dioxide with differences in marine microorganism ages. They found a four-fold increase in zinc in protozoa (foraminifera) shells, a telltale sign of widespread hydrothermal activity.

Taken together, the new data show that there were major releases of naturally occurring carbon from the EEP, which contributed to dramatic change in Earth's temperature as the ice age was ending, the study says.

Elsewhere around the world, more and more deep-ocean carbon reservoirs are being discovered. They mostly occur near hydrothermal vents, of which scores have been identified so far, especially in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. They occur where the Earth's crust spreads or collides, creating ideal conditions for the formation of deep-sea carbon dioxide reservoirs. Only about one-third of the ocean's volcanic regions have been surveyed.

One such reservoir of undersea carbon dioxide, seen in the accompanying video, was discovered about 4,000 feet deep off the coast of Taiwan. Similar discoveries of carbon gas reservoirs have been made off the coast of Okinawa, in the Aegean Sea, in the Gulf of California and off the west coast of Canada.

"The grand challenge is we don't have estimates of the size of these or which ones are particularly vulnerable to destabilization," Stott said. "It's something that needs to be determined."

In many cases, the carbon reservoirs are bottled up by their hydrate caps. But those covers are sensitive to temperature changes. As oceans warm, the caps can melt, a development the paper warns would lead to a double wallop for climate change -- a new source of geologic carbon in addition to the manmade greenhouse gases.

Oceans absorb nearly all the excess energy from the Earth's atmosphere, and as a result they have been warming rapidly in recent decades. Over the past quarter-century, Earth's oceans have retained 60 percent more heat each year than scientists previously had thought, other studies have shown. Throughout the marine water column, ocean heat has increased for the last 50 years. The federal government's Climate Science Special Report projected a global increase in average sea surface temperatures of up to 5 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, given current emissions rates. Temperature gains of that magnitude throughout the ocean could eventually destabilize the geologic hydrate reservoirs, Stott said.

"The last time it happened, climate change was so great it caused the end of the ice age. Once that geologic process begins, we can't turn it off," Stott said.

Moreover, other similar events have happened in the distant past, helping shape the Earth's environment over and over again. In earlier research, Stott discovered a large, carbon anomaly that occurred 55 million years ago. It disrupted the ocean's chemistry, causing extensive dissolution of marine carbonates and the extinction of many marine organisms. The ocean changes were accompanied by a rapid rise in global temperatures, an event called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maxima (PETM), a period lasting less than 20,000 years during which so much carbon was released to the atmosphere that Earth's temperatures surged to about 8 degrees Celsius hotter than today.

"Until quite recently, we had no idea these events occurred. The PETM event is a good analog for what can happen when undersea carbon escapes through the water column to the atmosphere. And now we know the PETM event was not a unique event, that this has happened more recently," Stott said.

The study comes with some caveats. Much of the ocean floor is unexplored, so scientists don't know the full extent of the carbon dioxide reservoirs. There is no inventory of greenhouse gases from these geologic sources. And ocean warming is not uniform, making it difficult to predict when and where the undersea carbon reservoirs will be affected. It would take much more study to answer those questions.

Nonetheless, the study makes clear the undersea carbon reservoirs are vulnerable to ocean warming.

"Geologic carbon reservoirs such as these are not explicitly included in current marine carbon budgets" used to model the impacts of climate change, the study says. Yet, "even if only a small percentage of the unsampled hydrothermal systems contain separate gas or liquid carbon dioxide phases, it could change the global marine carbon budget substantially."

Said Stott: "Discoveries of accumulations of liquid, hydrate and gaseous carbon dioxide in the ocean has not been accounted for because we didn't know these reservoirs existed until recently, and we didn't know they affected global change in a significant ways.

"This study shows that we've been missing a critical component of the marine carbon budget. It shows these geologic reservoirs can release large amounts of carbon from the oceans. Our paper makes the case that this process has happened before and it could happen again."

The study authors are Lowell Stott of USC, Kathleen M. Harazin of the Australian National University and Nadine B. Quintana Krupinski of Lund University, Sweden. U.S. funding for the study comes from a National Science Foundation Marine Geology and Geophysics Grant (1558990).



Please follow Astrobiology on Twitter.The Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News released the third and final part in the exclusive Abuse of Faith investigation Wednesday, detailing decades of sexual misconduct in Southern Baptist churches across the country.

In the series, the newspapers found that nearly 220 church leaders were convicted of sex crimes and 700 victims.

Part 1: Southern Baptist sexual abuse spreads as leaders resist reforms

Those leaders were pastors, youth pastors and other people in positions of power, the investigation found.

Years of calls from victims and advocates for the Southern Baptist Convention to host a database of these church leaders went unanswered. Instead, the newspapers created their own database.

See the database of Southern Baptist church pastors, leaders, employees and volunteers who pleaded guilty or were convicted of sex crimes here.

The investigation also revealed that several of those who were convicted of sex crimes  including some of the most egregious child sex crimes  were allowed to continue their work at other churches.

Part 2: Southern Baptist churches hired dozens of leaders previously accused of sex offenses

"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,'" said William Rushing, pastor of Woodward Avenue Baptist Church in Alabama.

Of the 220 church leaders convicted nationally, about 100 of them were described as youth pastors or youth ministers, the investigation found.

How can Southern Baptist churches and parents help prevent sexual abuse?

Some of those youth pastors and ministers were convicted of sexually assaulting members their young congregation or having prolonged sexual relationships. Those assaults sometimes happened in pastors' studies or Sunday school rooms.

One of those youth pastors was Chad Foster, who worked at Houston's Second Baptist Church when he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting an underage congregant.

John Van Beekum

"You can't let your guard down," said Amanda Griffith, a federal prosecutor in San Diego who has handled dozens of sex crime cases, including those involving predatory youth pastors. "There's the belief that church is sacrosanct, but this can happen anywhere."

In response to the investigation, August "Augie" Boto, interim president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, said it was a positive revelation about an ongoing problem.

"My initial reaction is anger that (the abuse) happened," Boto said. "Just within the last few months I was in a car that was broken into and my briefcase was stolen. My initial reaction was not embarrassment that I didn't watch the car close enough or that I left the briefcase on the seat. That was not my initial reaction. My initial reaction was anger that the predator did what he did. Taking advantage of the vulnerable is what criminals do. And when that happens, our job is to voice it. Not to hide it."

"I'm all for shining the light of day upon crime," he said.

Help us investigate Southern Baptist sexual abuse.

Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text messageThe Austin-based nonprofit that has sought for months to open a Houston shelter for unaccompanied migrant children now is proposing to house only 16- and 17-year-olds, the city announced Thursday.

Southwest Key Programs, which sued the city last year over permitting issues, may operate as a residential facility once it rectifies several issues flagged by city inspectors at its proposed downtown location at 419 Emancipation.

Those include missing fire sprinkler heads, minor electrical and plumbing repairs, and the removal of locks found on windows that would be used for emergency escapes and rescues.

The initial application for a certificate of occupancy did not satisfy the citys regulatory requirements and was inconsistent with our values of keeping families together, Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a news release. My objection was and always will be about the children.

Though President Trump formally has ended his administrations policy of separating families at the U.S.-Mexico border under a zero tolerance immigration policy, not all children have been reunited with their families.

Southwest Key initially proposed to hold 240 immigrant children aged 17 and under at the Emancipation building that previously had housed homeless families and those displaced by Hurricane Harvey.

In a statement, Southwest Key said it still intends to house more than 200 immigrant children at the facility  called Casa Sunzal  while providing medical care, counseling and educational services.

Southwest Key told the city it will hold residents capable of self-preservation without physical assistance, according to Turners office.

The nonprofit already has addressed the inspection issues referenced in Turners statement and is awaiting its certificate of occupancy, spokesperson Neil Nowlin said.

The vast majority of youth in our care are fleeing extreme poverty and violence in Central America, leaving their homes and families behind to seek safety and a more secure future, Nowlin said.

A mayoral spokesperson said the city has not yet been asked to inspect the repairs, a necessary step before issuing a certificate.

The nonprofit is amending its permit application months after city officials said it should have applied for an institutional building permit.

Though Southwest Key initially was granted a certificate of occupancy as a residential dormitory/shelter, the city restarted the permit process after officials said they had received incomplete information and that Southwest Key should have declared the building use as institutional.

Southwest Key Regional Director Marisela Saldana said in a November declaration that the 16- and 17-year-olds will be sheltered until either a suitable relative or other adult assumes responsibility for them or they are deported as a result of immigration proceedings.

In its federal lawsuit, filed last September, Southwest Key claimed the city was manipulating its permitting procedure and failing to use due process when it invalidated previously issued permits.

Turner and other elected officials have opposed the plan to house immigrant children in Houston. At a June press conference, the mayor said he was in no rush to issue city permits at the facility.

jasper.scherer@chron.com

twitter.com/jaspschererAmid a Gulf Coast cluster of measles and multiple flu-caused school closures around the state, Houston public health leaders on Wednesday sounded the alarm about the risk posed by the state's growing numbers of parents opting not to vaccinate their children.

At a news conference, the leaders noted that many of such unvaccinated children cluster in the same geographic areas where the state is seeing outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. The numbers have grown to the tens of thousands since the non-medical "reasons of conscience" exemption went into effect early in the millennium.

MORE: La Porte student suspected of having measles

"The Texas Legislature has to have the political courage to admit that they were duped by anti-vaxxers into creating dangerous loopholes in state public vaccine laws," said Allison Winnike, president of the Immunization Partnership, a Houston-based advocacy group. "Reach out to legislators to tell them to take the steps needed to keep our families and our communities protected."

Dr. Peter Hotez, a Houston infectious disease specialist who has waged a campaign against the exemption, called the matter "an epic struggle." He said, "we're defending the fundamental rights of children to be protected against deadly infections through vaccination versus the status quo in which children are now denied access to vaccines because of misinformation and phony slogans like 'medical freedom.'"

The news conference followed a week in which seven cases of measles were confirmed in Texas three in Harris County, one in Montgomery County, one in Galveston County and two in other parts of the state. A sixth possible local case  a pre-K student at La Porte Elementary  is being investigated, officials announced Tuesday.

EXPLAINER: Measles is the preventable disease

In addition, at least nine schools across Texas this month have closed for one or more days due to outbreaks of the flu.

In Texas, children are required to have certain sets of vaccinations before they can be enrolled in public school  including the vaccine for measles. Until 2003, the only exception was a medical condition.

But that year, the Texas Legislature allowed parents to choose not to have their child vaccinated for "reasons of conscience." It does not define what constitutes a "reason of conscience," meaning that any parent, for any reason, can decide not to immunize their children.

Since 2003, the number of Texas schoolchildren not vaccinated because of the exemption has skyrocketed from about 2,300 in 2004 to nearly 57,000 Texas schoolchildren in 2018, according to the latest statistics.

The officials said the recent outbreaks of measles, a highly contagious disease thought to be virtually eliminated in the U.S. until recently, are no coincidence. There was only one confirmed case of measles throughout Texas in each of 2015, 2016 and 2017, then nine in 2018 before this year's seven a less than 1 1/2 months into 2019.

A number of vaccination bills have been filed in the Legislature, though none that would strike down the non-medical exemption and at least one that would further loosen the process.

That bill would require the state health department make the opt-out form available not just on its website but in schools. It also would prohibit the state health department from collecting the number of exemptions filed and not require data be reported to the legislature.

A pro-vaccine bill would require a biennial report on any outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases and allow parents to view data about exemption numbers for each school. Current law only makes such information publicly accessible at the district level.

Eliminating the non-medical exemption is considered a non-starter in the current Texas Legislature, but Winnike suggested a groundswell movement could change that.

"The public is starting to demand change," said Winnike. "More and more people are telling us they're sick and tired of their communities getting sick. They don't want to keep paying the price of the Legislature relaxing the law."

Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text messageA former Willis High School substitute teacher was arrested Wednesday and charged with purchasing and providing alcohol to a minor, officials with the Montgomery County Constable Precinct 1 said.

Shadrick Mi Kael Jones, 22, is accused of taking a group of six female students from Willis High School to the Woodlands Mall on Jan. 28. and allegedly supplying them with alcohol, authorities said.The Crighton Theatre needs the communitys help to put a shine back on downtown Conroes Crown Jewel.

The historic theater first opened in November 1935 and now is in need of a major restoration and renovation.

To kick off a $1.8 million campaign for this project, the board members of the Crighton Theatre Foundation have announced a gala fundraiser for Thursday, March, 28, at Madera Estates, 3201 N. Frazier, in Conroe.

The gala is being chaired by Amy Sowers, past president of the Crighton Theatre Foundation, and current board members Marion Franke and Lyn Howard.

We are hoping to raise awareness of the needs at the Crighton Theatre which has not been totally renovated since 1978-89, Sowers said. We only have one restroom down stairs which is a big problem when you have a full house of over 500 people and some of them cant go upstairs.

The immediate need is to create a new concessions area and add more downstairs restrooms in the area adjacent to the theater called the Muse Building. A September thunderstorm caused catastrophic damage to the Muse Building causing the roof to collapse. It has since been cleared out and is an open space resembling an alley currently.

Once that project is complete, then renovations will take place inside the 84-year-old theater that hosted approximately 33,000 patron in 2017.

The community came together before to redo the Crighton. It closed in the mid 1960s. In 1979, the Crighton reopened with a significant restoration effort and the formation of a Foundation to manage it on behalf of the residents of Montgomery County.

And thats the last time major renovations have been done at the theater.

Damage from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 highlighted the need for updates, and the collapse of the Muse Building made those needs dire.

The theme for the gala is Anchors Aweigh - inspired by the previous Stage Right show Anything Goes which played out at the Crighton. Attendees are invited to dress in cruise-casual attire.

Madera Estates owners Kim and Larry Austin, along with their son, Ian Ramirez, have donated space at their event venue for the fundraiser.

A dinner will be served by Cafe Natalie.

A cocktail hour is from 6 to 7 p.m., dinner is at 7 p.m. and a live auction follows at 7:45 p.m.

Among the items to be auctioned off are:

 An original painting by Sam Baker, who is Chairman of the Conroe Region of First Financial Bank Texas.

 A camel-colored cashmere coat with accessories.

 A trip to South Carolina with a stay at a resort near Hilton Head, South Carolina.

 A Sea Scape trip where the winner can chose a resort in Costa Rica, San Diego, Cabo San Lucas, etc.

 A Colorado trip where the winner will have the choice of visiting Aspen, Vail or Beaver Creek.

Table options include:

 $10,000 VIP table includes seating for 10, private waiter, open bar, recognition in program, recognition at event, recognition on Crighton Theatre website, recognition in lobby of the Crighton Theatre.

 $5,000 table includes seating for 10, open bar, recognition in program, recognition at event, recognition in lobby of the Crighton Theatre

 $2,500 table includes seating for 10, open bar, recognition in program, recognition at event

Individual tickets at $150 includes dinner and a drink coupon.

To purchase a table or tickets, call Sowers at 936-520-7525, Howard at 936-499-1855 or Franke at 936-672-1744.

For more information about the Crighton Theatre visit, www.crightontheatre.org.A motion approved by the Conroe City Council last month to help with the development of a new residential neighborhood is being questioned after city staff discovered the action taken was not what several council members intended.

During the councils Jan. 9 workshop meeting, the council discussed several variances for the Signorelli Company including allowing the developer to build the new subdivision off McCaleb Road with street widths at 26 feet for the local roads within the subdivision and 24-foot road on streets with cul-de-sacs within the subdivision.

During the councils regular meeting Jan. 10, Mayor Toby Powell called for a motion to approve the collector streets at 39-foot pavement, local through streets 26-foot pavement and cul-de-sac streets with 24-foot pavement.

Councilman Raymond McDonald made the motion with Councilman Jody Czajkoski seconding the motion. Powell called for the vote with McDonald and Czajkoski voting for the variance with Mayor Pro Tem Duke Coon and Councilman Seth Gibson voting against.

However, before Powell could vote to break the 2-2 tie due to Councilman Duane Hams absence, Coon asked so the motion is to approve 26-foot streets.

Powell said yes and cast his tie breaker vote for the variance making the variance for 26 foot streets and inadvertently eliminating the variance 24-foot cul-de-sac streets.

During the councils Wednesday workshop meeting, City Attorney Marc Winberry alerted the council to the minutes for the Jan. 10 meeting scheduled to be approved under the consent agenda Thursday that state the council only approved the 26-foot streets.

Everything would be 26, except the collector street that would be at the wider width, Winberry said adding if the council approves the minutes as they are written, it would lock in the variance as only 26-feet street. The issue isnt what they were asking for, the issue is what did you intend that they have.

Coon said as the minutes currently reflect, the councils action would eliminate any cul-de-sac streets.

Winberry agrees.

Powell said he thought the action was for the 26 and 24-foot streets.

It is important to emphasis this is where the rubber meets the road because (Signorelli Company) has submitted some stuff showing 24-foot roads for those cul-de-sac streets, Winberry said. So this action when you approve the minutes is going to establish the variance they can use in the subdivision.

That is why I am highlighting this. Its kind of confusion.

City Administrator Paul Virgadamo said the city needed to inform the developer of what the city minutes reflect since it would affect his development moving forward.

Winberry said the council did not have to approve the minutes and could defer them. Coon asked what the councils next step would be.

We would have to approve something at some point to document the item, Winberry said.

The council did not indicate how it would rectify the issue.

The council will meet at 6 p.m. in the council chambers, 300 W. Davis St.WAITING ROOM  Im about as nice a guy as youre going to meet, but I cant make myself enjoy waiting for a nurse to open a side door and say, Mr. Haistner! Mr, Mark Haistner!

I just sat down here in the waiting room of the Office of Digestive Troubles. Thats not the real name, but Id have to go back to the check-in place to find out what its really called. If I did that, I fear Connie would find something else for me fill out. (Not her real name)

During my lifetime, this is only my third appearance in the digestive troubles waiting room. The previous two visits resulted in the scheduling of an upper and lower GI. Im assuming one of those procedures requires a considerably longer tube than the other. Fortunately, I didnt notice because I was knocked out. Knocked out is a good feeling.

There are not many young people in the waiting room. Even if youre without sight, you would discern that from the loudness of each conversation.  Are you sure were in the right place?  Yes, and dont ask me that again!

By the way, Im waiting to see Dr. Ralph Pearce. While the man has probed me twice, he may not recognize my face, but if I walked into his office, turned around and dropped my pants, hed say, Hey, Mark, you ol scudder! You still writing for the paper? Dr. Pearce has a great sense of humor, a quality essential for gastroenterologists. Thats the technical name for doctors who look into places you dont talk about.

I grabbed a Texas Highway magazine before sitting down in one of the only available chairs. This edition is from March 2019. I have yet to find any post dated magazine in a doctors office, hospital, car repair, or realtors waiting room, Theyre usually from six months to two years old. It does little to boost my spirit, but it is a plus.

I think Ill read the article on fairy shrimp at Enchanted Rock. I dont what a fairy shrimp is, but Ive been to Enchanted Rock a few times. Once, it had rained and was so slippery that only a fool would try to make it to the top. And, yes, I made it to the top.

Hayter! Hayter! Wow. She couldnt pronounce my first name, but she nailed the last one. This has not been a long wait. In fact, had she called me sooner, I wouldve still been filling out Form 1D CRX. I may have had some of those abnormalities, but I had no idea they had names.  Yall wait here, and Ill let you know what happens. Back in 30 minutes to two hours. Who can know these things?

ONE HOUR LATER: Well, I just got some bad news and some worse news. The bad news is that day after tomorrow Im having another upper and lower GI. The worse news is that tomorrow I will have to take the laxative cocktail to flush me out and prepare me for the procedure. My last lab work indicated that I continue to be anemic. Im thinking I dont eat enough steak. Dr. Pearce has to scope me out to see if I have an ulcer or membership in a vampire cult.

By the way, I dont know if youre aware, but Dr. Pearce is one of the most interesting men Ive met. I know, because I started asking him questions, in an attempt to deflect the conversation away from stuff I dont talk about. I asked the good doctor when it was that he realized he wanted to be someone who gave colonoscopies. Junior High? He told me that he originally wanted to be an artist, but his dad told him to lose the thought. There was no way an artist could make a living. But a doctor? After Ralph got his doctors degree, he could draw pictures in his spare time.

Well, to please his dad, Dr. Pearce went to LSU where he got a degree in Medicine. I dont know where he got his doctorate, or where he got his degree in Spiritual Psychology. I didnt even know there was such a thing. The mind study somehow combines science with spiritual matters in an attempt to, uh, bring a little more light into life. Something like that. Dr. Pearce quoted Rumi, a 13th Century Persian poet, who wrote, Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. Ill meet you there. I thought Bob Dylan came up with that.

And, get this. Dr. Pearce is an artist. The man did manage to find time to paint and sculpt. He studied classical sculpture in Pietrasanta Italy. Its a place only artists would recognize. He studied classical art at the Florence Academy of Art. Not the one in Florence, Texas. Im talking Italy. I told him I wanted to see some of his work, so he pulled out his cell phone to show me some photos. Phenomenal! When his mother died he created a large bronze statue of a kneeling angel for her marker.

He also showed me a marble sculpture of one of the ancients. Couldve been Ceasar. Maybe Sparatacus. I cant remember; he scrolled too fast. He also showed me two portraits that were wonderfully moving? Like he had captured each womans thought on canvas. I can barely do that with words.

You know whats weird? Ill tell you whats weird. Day after tomorrow, that master of art, mental awareness, and medicine is going to probe me from throat to nether region. Yep, he managed to change the subject on me. A tricky man our doctor.

You can contact Mark at hayter.mark@gmail.com.What does a university do when it is expecting record enrollment and has a growing demand from students who want to live on campus?

The University of Houston-Clear Lake is planning to address that situation with the construction of an 80,000 square-foot, 294-bed residence hall.

According to campus officials, the residence hall, which is scheduled to open in the fall, will be self-sustaining. Bonds to pay for construction, estimated at $22.79 million, will be repaid from housing fees paid by the students living at the facility. Those residents will pay a semester rate of $3,420, $4,305 or $4,700 depending on the type of room they select.

Last fall, the university boasted a record enrollment of nearly 9,000. School officials are predicting enrollment will top that this spring.

Located on the university campus between the Students Services and Classroom Building and the Recreation and Wellness Center, the under-construction building will give students the option of living on-site so students could experience a traditional, on-campus lifestyle similar to that offered at other four-year, comprehensive universities, UHCL Interim Vice President for Student Affairs Daniel M. Maxwell said.

Its a natural step, said Maxwell, for the university to transition from a commuter campus to a comprehensive four-year university.

In 2014, for the first time in its 40-year history, the university began serving freshman and sophomore students. Last fall, the university opened a new STEM and classroom building, adding laboratory and study space, as well as a recreation and wellness center. This spring, UHCL will open the Health Sciences and Classroom Building at its Pearland center.

According to Maxwell, approximately 6 percent of UHCL students are international, and roughly 65 percent live within 15 miles of the university, while others travel from the Houston and surrounding regions. The residence hall, said Maxwell, will be an attractive option for local and commuter students who want the on-campus living experience.

Since 1995, UHCL has had housing on campus through a partnership with University Forest Apartments, which is located on university property, giving students access to school services.

More Information All about the hall The residence hall at University of Houston-Clear Lake will open in fall 2019. It will be approximately 80,000 square feet and include 294 beds. Suite options are: Two single rooms with a shared bathroom (2 beds), two double rooms with a shared bathroom (4 beds) and a single room with private bathroom (1 bed). 12 ADA-compliant rooms (doubles and singles) are planned - three on each floor. Laundry facilities, study lounges and community kitchens will be on each floor The facility will have a live-in staff member. For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2Gk1Edv or call the UHCL Student Housing and Residential Life at 281-283-2615. See More Collapse

But now the college is looking at recruiting younger students with fewer credit hours who are looking for a more on-campus experience.

The planned residence hall should fulfill that need, said Matthew Perry, director of student housing and residential life at UHCL.

The university, he said, is creating a safe, inclusive, and robust residential program that provides students with an opportunity to truly live, learn and engage on campus.

Per-semester rental costs range from $3,420 for a suite-style single room to $4,700 for a single room with a private bath.

UHCL is poised for growth, Maxwell said. Students seek opportunities for growth in a safe environment and a sense of group identity and community. Adding the residence hall will be a transformative step for the institution and its students.

For more on the University of Houston-Clear Lake residence hall, visit https://bit.ly/2Gk1Edv.The city of Montgomery plans to reach out to Sam Houston State University to pay for the repairs of a historic cabin.

Gareth Westlake with Fernland Historical Park located off of Clepper Street informed the council that the parks Crane Cabin, which was built by Confederate Civil War veteran Nickolas Crane in 1867, is in a bad state with six rotting logs.

Unfortunately the cabin is in a state where  I cant give you a timeline  but eventually it will fail, Westlake said.  it is not like the homes we live in, there are no studs or Sheetrock, what you are looking at is what you get. When those logs reach a point, that wall will collapse.

The nonprofit park board has money in the budget to contribute to the nearly $19,000 cost of the project with plans to work with American Log Restoration, Inc. in North Carolina, to repair and replace the logs. The company plans to save an inch of the inside of the pine logs so the inside of the cabin will look historically correct. However, the city who entered a contract with SHSU in 2010 that requires the city to maintain the cabin and to contact SHSU for major repairs, intends to ask the university to pay for the project and review the contract for similar situations in the future.

This isnt maintenance, this is a structural issue , Councilman Jon Bickford said.  I think we need to establish where this line is between maintenance and structural recreation.

The park board said there were no other cabins in need of major attention at this time such as the case with the Crane Cabin. However, they do anticipate expensive and specific wood shingle repairs will be needed for two cabins, where it is deteriorating in several places, within the next couple of years.

The discussion prompted the council to inquire about donations, cabin sponsorships, and other fund raising options to help save the cabin and to continue to support maintenance and repairs down the road. Each are areas that the park officials said have either been considered, explored or utilized. The park also already has donation boxes set up and for nearly a decade it was supported by the indefinitely canceled annual Texian Heritage Festival that is on the radar for revival.

In response to the council, Westlake shared the nonprofit park board has also considered and is open to the option of charging fees for the citys park should the city choose to go that direction, but the park is trying to keep it voluntary with donations at this time, which he said was the boards recommendation.

Well, recommend a dollar from everyone, Councilman John Champagne said.

No action was taken on the discussion, which was tabled to contact SHSU regarding the contract.

mellsworth@hcnonline.comHarris County Precinct 5 Constables Office

A suspect who broke into a womans car as she entered her garage at home then went on a shopping spree is being sought by Harris County Precinct 5 Constables Office deputies.

According to investigators with Constable Ted Heaps Office, the suspect snatched a purse in the 1000 block of Arrow Hill Road in West Houston. The suspect was caught on surveillance video using the victims stolen credit cards to purchase Valentine Love gift cards at a nearby superstore.With school shootings and violence in recent years, students from Memorial High School are pushing for better mental health services to help keep their campus safe.

About 25 students from the schools Mental Health Ambassadors group traveled to Austin on Wednesday, Feb. 6, to meet with state lawmakers and encourage more funding and programs to improve students mental health.

The group formed earlier this school year as a response to last years deadly shootings in Parkland, Fla., and Santa Fe, Texas. Melanie Phillips and Carly Kirk, Memorials two Communities in Schools wellness counselors, saw a need to create an environment where it was more acceptable and encouraging to talk about your emotions, issues and mental health.

We started seeing a lot of students here in our office, and we wanted to really spread the word that were here for students all day at school and that they dont need to be ashamed to come and talk to us, Phillips said. Theres no stigma around talking about your problems. So we saw a lot of these students coming in and just being really open with us about things going on in their lives, and we kind of recruited them to start this movement.

Now, Mental Health Ambassadors has about 50 students. Rita is a ninth-grader who got involved through her experience with the wellness center. She found help there when the pressures of being a high school student started causing her to have anxiety attacks.

I got called into the wellness center, and it helped me calm down. It was a really big step in (my) understanding that even if I felt OK, I wasnt OK because I had that happening to me where everything started boiling over, Rita said.

She encourages other students like her to recognize that their mental health is just as important as their academic pursuits.

I feel like in schools youre always taught academics first, grades first, getting into college first. But its also your mental health, how youre feeling, like your relationships with your friends, relationships with your family, Rita said. A lot of students in this school dont understand that and push down their feelings, and they feel like it isnt cool or accepted to feel the way you should feel. I finally understood that, and thats why Im advocating for mental health.

Visiting the state capital seemed to be a catalyst for 10th grader Jasmine to come home and take more action to help other students.

It was really an experience. It was educational, and I think before I was less inclined to advocate, but now that I know the problems, that I know more about it, I think Im more involved with it than I was before, Jasmine said.

Phillips said the day was worthwhile for the students because it taught them about possible legislation that could better the mental health situations of those around them and also showed them how the legislative process happens. The students had the opportunity to speak with state senators and house representatives to share how Communities in Schools has benefited them.

Communities in Schools is a nonprofit that provides guidance and counseling and helps students navigate available resources so they can succeed. Parents at Memorial High raised funds to bring two CIS wellness counselors onto their childrens campus. With more than 2,500 students at Memorial, Phillips said she and Kirk have been able to sit down with several hundred since the start of the school year.

In the world left behind by tragedies like Parkland and Santa Fe, Phillips urges students to take the See something, say something model to heart and be ready and willing to report what doesnt seem right.

If a student has a concern about a fellow student or they see something on social media or hear something in the hallways, we encourage them to come tell us or tell an administrator at school just so that someones aware, Phillips said. We really encourage that so that our school can be a safe environment, and we want every student to have somewhere to go to talk about their problems.

She added when students dont find an outlet to discuss their concerns and emotions, they bottle things up inside and things can go awry.

Jasmine said the experience showed her that she wants to be an agent for change for her fellow students.

I learned that there is quite a lot of change that needs to happen, and in order for that change to happen, people have to want it to happen, she said. They have to take the appropriate steps to make it happen, and that starts with anyone.  Anyone could make the change: better to start now than to start when everything goes wrong.

tracy.maness@hcnonline.comMark Mulligan, Staff photographer / Staff photographer

The Texas Division of Emergency Management recently awarded $2,708,208 to Harris County to provide necessary funding from FEMA to complete a comprehensive San Jacinto Watershed Master Drainage Plan, according to a San Jacinto River Authority press release.

There is a local match of $677,052 that will be shared between the SJRA, Harris County, Montgomery County and the City of Houston.Approximately 45 people were arrested for felony Driving While Intoxicated charges in Montgomery County throughout the month of January, according to records from a public information request filed by the Chronicle.

In Texas, a person is charged with DWI if their blood or breath alcohol concentration (BAC) is .08 or higher, according to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT.)A day after meeting with residents concerned an affordable housing project planned in the Heights would be out of scale with the neighborhood and lead to traffic and safety problems, the project's developer said it will reduce the size of the proposed building by around 20 percent.

The proposal is now for a four-story building with 67 apartments, down from a five-story building with as many as 85 units. Initially, the building was thought to have 120 units based on an application to the state for federal tax credits.Liquefied natural gas is already poised to power the world's biggest economies as Asian countries increase their reliance on the cleaner-burning fuel, but there is yet another source that could drum up demand for LNG: the shipping industry.

A global shift to cleaner shipping fuels sparked by a change in international marine laws could create a big opportunity for the liquefied natural gas industry, said shipping industry executives speaking at S&P Global Platts conference in Houston Wednesday.

Liquefied natural gas  now an uncommon alternative to heavy, dirty fuel used by large vessels is beginning to gain more traction as a fuel that meets increasingly strict emissions standards set by the International Maritime Organization.

"Environmental sells today. I don't think there are any house wives around town ... that don't take some of these issues seriously," said Peter I. Keller, executive vice president of Jacksonville-based shipping company Tote Inc. "The days of people saying, 'Green doesn't matter,' those days are long gone and as a result LNG and fuels like LNG have a major place going forward."

RELATED:Huge shift to cleaner fuels a jackpot for Texas energy

In less than a year the IMO will aim to dramatically cut pollution from the shipping industry by requiring vessels to burn fuel with a 0.5 percent sulfur content. Conventional analysis suggest that ships will either install expensive scrubbers to clean the sulfur content out of their traditional heavy bunker fuel, or else they will use ultra-low sulfur fuel.

But the availability of LNG is growing, said Keller. Now 9 out of 10 top refueling ports can provide ships with LNG. About 144 deep-sea large vessels are powered by LNG, but there is another 139 deep vessels on order that could come along in the coming months, said Keller who also serves as chairman of SEA/LNG, a cross industry group the aims to help vessels transition to LNG fuel.

With about 50,000 to 60,0000 deep sea vessels in the world, SEA/LNG anticipates that eventually 10 to 15 percent of those vessels will use liquefied natural gas in place of traditional bunker fuels, Keller said.

Other estimates are more modest. S&P Global Platts forecasts that LNG will make up about 7 percent of the total bunker fuel market in 2030, up from less than 1 percent today, said Madeline Jowdy, senior director of Global Gas and LNG Analytics and S&P Global Platts.

Jowdy pointed out that it the gas is already used to power smaller vessels such as ferries, barges and tugboats. It's the large deep sea voyage vessels where the fuel is less common.

The IMO rule change "isn't a game changer" for the LNG industry, Jowdy said, but it certainly doesn't hurt demand and could propel the adoption of LNG as a bunker fuel further,

CONSUMER IMPACT: Cleaner, costlier shipping fuels could mean higher prices

Building a vessel with LNG capability comes with a hefty price tag though - up to $15 million to $16 million more than building a traditional fuel powered vessel. That compares to $8.5 million to install a scrubber. But Keller argues the long-term benefits could pay off as the International Maritime Organization further restricts nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide emissions in the next decade.

Eventually emissions standards could include particulate matter too, he suggested. Liquefied natural gas offers a 20 percent reduction in carbon and a 99 percent reduction in particulate matter compared to existing bunker fuels, Keller noted.

CLEANER?Technology touted for making shipping cleaner, more efficient

Plus some scrubbers  called "open-loop scrubbers"  clean out sulfur from ships' fuel only to d

He pointed to oil majors like Shell and Total that are "investing heavily in LNG as a marine fuel" as a sign that "LNG is here is to stay."

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to clarify a statistic on how much LNG will make up in the total bunker fuel market.A Houston man is behind bars Thursday, accused of offering up his dog for bestiality to an undercover police officer.

Three of his dogs believed to be used for bestiality were also seized.

The 31-year-old man, who has yet to be formally charged, was the target of an undercover sting by the Houston Police Department's major offenders and animal cruelty units, according to HPD spokesperson John Cannon.

BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: Get your Houston breaking news alerts delivered to you.

The man is accused of participating in several online forums surrounding the illegal act, which piqued the interest of investigators.

At some point during the investigation, the man offered up one of his dogs to the undercover officer and others, Cannon said.

RELATED LINKS: Ex-Harris County deputy sentenced for 'horrific' child porn, only on HoustonChronicle.com

Officers raided his home along Amherst Street in the Rice Village/West University Place area Wednesday morning, where they found the three dogs and other evidence, Cannon said.

The three dogs were taken to Houston's BARC Animal Shelter:

Bo, a four-year-old male German shepherd

Sayhass, a three-year-old male Jack Russell terrier

Mozzie, a two-year-old male brindle

The man was taken into custody at a relative's house about a mile away.

The three dogs are at Houston's BARC Animal Shelter, where they will receive medical care, according to BARC spokesperson Lara Cottingham.

Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text messageWhen Johnny Loftis first thought of the concept for his booming beer salt business back in 2016, he called it a "bar napkin idea."

He was sitting in a bar with his wife waiting patiently for their waitress to deliver their ice-cold beers, dressed in salt and lime. After a long wait, his wife joked that she wish she carried limes around in her purse to dress her beers herself.

That's when the idea came to him to create Salteez Beer Salt Strips. The salt and lime flavored stick-on strips are the perfect solutions to avoid the mess of normally-dressed beers and dirty cans and bottles, Loftis said.

"The salt gets everywhere and the bottle gets messy," Loftis said of the typical way bartenders and beer drinkers dress their beverages. He added that many people are not aware of how dirty their bottles and beer cans are when they lick the salt off of them directly.

FREE BEER FOR LIFE? Houston area brewery offers unique lifetime membership deal

"With Salteez you lick the salt off of the strip and not the bottle directly," Loftis said.

After officially forming his company in 2017, Loftis said sales took off after he started selling the strips at festivals. Now, he sells his product online and distributes to about 17 different locations in Houston.

Loftis said after a photo of his beer salt trips went viral Monday, his sales "blew up overnight."

"It's absolutely taken off. So far in 2019, we have well surpassed all of 2018 sales," Loftis said. "It's exciting; it's one of those 'hard work pays off' type of feelings."

The company sells lime-flavor strips and plans to offer chili lime soon, according to the website. The strips last for one to three beers and are 100 percent edible. Loftis said a patent is pending for the strips.

"There is still a very large mountain to climb because I want to go nationwide and sell to bigger stores and distribution companies," Loftis said. "Even though it's exciting I honestly know it's just the tip of the iceberg."

Rebecca Hennes covers community news. Read her on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | rebecca.hennes@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message

Atascocita High School experienced a major drop of attendance on Feb. 1, the day after 17-year-old Mikael Neciosup allegedly shot a 16-year-old student.

About 58 percent of the AHS student population were accounted for on Feb. 1 compared to its 2018 attendance attendance of about 94 percent that same day.

Because of the low attendance that day, the Humble ISD Board of Trustees approved to send a low attendance waiver to the Texas Education Agency.

School districts can request a waiver to excuse any instructional day that has attendance at least 10 percentage points below last school years overall attendance rate for that day, according to the TEA website. School districts that have experienced inclement weather, health or safety issues can submit a waiver.

"Given the circumstances, TEA Commissioner Mike Morath reached out to Dr. Fagen, calling her to express support and indicate that a waiver would be approved, Jamie Mount, Humble ISD Public Communications Director, said. The waiver means that state funding will not be reduced for Feb. 1 even though attendance was low. Humble ISD understood that some families chose to keep their children home on Feb. 1 because the incident that occurred the night before was upsetting and unusual.

kaila.contreras@chron.comLisa Flotlin was 16 and 17 years old when she grew close with her high school Spanish teacher.

He was "well-known and well-liked" at school, she said, and he took students on trips abroad to Spain and Costa Rica.

However, he also brought alcohol to school and shared it with Flotlin, and sent her texts and offered her gifts.

After they came home from a group trip abroad, he invited her to his home, where he "pushed" sexual acts on her, she said.

But Flotlin didn't understand until she was in college that her teacher had taken advantage of her. By that time, "it was too hard for me to come forward" and report him, she said.

It wasn't until she was ready to pursue charges at 25 years old that she, police and prosecutors realized she couldn't. If she'd been assaulted at 15, according to state law, she could have moved forward with a report. But because of the time in her life that the abuse occurred, Washington's statute of limitations prevented her from seeking justice.

"I got hit hard by that," Flotlin said. "I felt very small and quiet  like I did when (the abuse) happened."

RELATED: In limbo: Immigrant survivors of domestic violence, rape, face deportation as they seek relief

A bill updating Washington's statute of limitations is one of several measures intended to protect sexual assault survivors that advocates say are ripe for passage in this year's legislative session.

In the post-#MeToo era, lawmakers could usher in several reforms that would make it easier to prosecute offenders and keep them from contacting victims.

"We need to improve our laws around this issue desperately," said David Ward, senior attorney at Legal Voice, which advances lawsuits and advocates for legislation protecting women's interests. "We're hearing a lot more people from the community who want to see the Legislature take action."

Statute of limitations

In Flotlin's case, because she was older than 16, she had only three years to report the abuse by the popular teacher. But if she had filed a police report within one year of her assault, prosecutors would have had 10 years to pursue legal action.

That's one set of stipulations set forth by a matrix that guides prosecutors on whether they can file charges in a variety of sexual assault crimes. Variables include the date the crime occurred, the age of the victim and whether or not the survivor reported the incident to law enforcement within a year of the crime.

Washington state

State representatives have introduced two bills so far addressing the issue: one would eliminate the statute of limitations for first-degree child rape and first-degree child molestation, and the other is more expansive, eliminating the statute of limitations for 21 different felony sex offenses.

That a cop and a prosecutor didn't know she had no case until they consulted the chart is telling, in Flotlin's view. To her, the laws are too complicated and don't necessarily track with a victim's process in coming to terms with what happened.

"I wasn't able to seek closure through a criminal case," she said  and perhaps that teacher assaulted more teens in the meantime, she added.

Flotlin wants to see Washington's statute of limitations simplified or expanded. Because she couldn't see her attacker prosecuted, she directs her energy to advocating for statute of limitations reform.

Legal Voice advocates for the "strongest protection we can get," Ward said.

RELATED: What's at stake for domestic violence survivors under Trump?

A bill that passed the House of Representatives last year would have eliminated the statute of limitations for most sex offenses, but the Senate didn't bring its counterpart bill to a final floor vote, he said.

King County senior deputy prosecutor Ben Santos, chairman of the Special Assault Unit, said lifting the statute of limitations is "ultimately the right thing to do."

But eliminating the statute wouldn't revive old cases, he added. It would only apply to new cases occurring after the change in law.

A detective had just recently asked senior deputy prosecutor Emily Petersen whether to refer a case to her because he, too, was unsure whether it fell within the statute of limitations.

But, she added, such a reform wouldn't necessarily make proving long-ago assaults easier; memories and evidence still fade.

When presenting a case to a jury, she said, "It's not about what happened, it's what you could prove."

"They still deserve to be investigated," she added.

Third-degree rape: a law in limbo

Of the several felony sexual assault crimes on the books, third-degree rape is one of the hardest to charge.

Second-degree rape requires an element such as physical force, mental incapacitation on the part of the victim, or the attacker's supervisory role over the victim. First-degree rape typically involves a deadly weapon or some type of life-threatening force.

Third-degree rape seemingly bears a lower threshold for charging, but for one thing: It not only requires a lack of consent on the victim's part, but an outright rejection of sex.

In a way, it makes third-degree rape harder to prove than first- and second-degree rape, Santos said.

That keeps victims in danger, he added. Often, victims who resist an attacker's advances may suffer a more serious assault.

"Women who fight back during these kinds of encounters lead to an escalation in violence," Santos said.

RELATED: Mother Nation: Healing the trauma of native women

Because of those challenges, Petersen said that she sometimes has to tell assault survivors that they didn't legally suffer a crime.

A bill introduced in January would simplify that language so that prosecutors only have to prove a lack of consent; not that the survivor explicitly voiced that consent. That measure passed out of the House Feb. 7 and was in a Senate committee as of Feb. 12.

Mary Ellen Stone, executive director of King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, said that many of Washington's rape laws were written in the '70s or '80s and don't conform to what people understand as rape today. Her agency has served "many, many" victims whose cases couldn't be charged because the prosecutor couldn't make the incident meet the definition of rape by law.

"Our goal is to reduce barriers to reporting, close this justice gap and make it easier for victims to give their voice in the criminal justice system," Stone said. "We need to catch up with the times."

And a change in the law would make for more solid cases to present to a jury, Santos said.

"(The reform) will now allow juries to consider the totality of the circumstance," he said. "We're convinced more juries will convict on those."

Sexual assault protection order

Another law that places an extra burden on a survivor, in advocates' view, is the state's standard for securing a protection order after suffering a sexual assault.

The state Supreme Court ruled in January 2018 that a woman raped at the University of Washington couldn't secure a sexual assault protection order that would prevent her from running into her attacker on campus because she had to prove not only that he raped her, but that he also posed a continuing threat to her safety.

"Our Supreme Court interpreted that in a more narrow way than was intended," Stone said of Roake v. Delman.

The basis for acquiring a protection order should be what happened, not what might happen in the future, she added.

The measure introduced in January seeking to clarify the law calls out the Supreme Court case specifically.

"The legislature agrees with the dissenting opinion's view in Roake v. Delman that 'experiencing a

sexual assault is itself a reasonable basis for ongoing fear,'" the proposed reads.

It remains unclear how many of the bills will pass this year.

But Ward, whose organization Legal Voice employs lobbyists to advance such measures, sees bipartisan momentum behind protecting survivors.

"What we're seeing is more legislators are definitely aware of and interested in seeing these bills move forward," he said. "Legislators on both sides of the aisle are very supportive of major reforms."The mother of a child who drowned in the care of a Galveston children's shelter has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the nonprofit that ran the shelter, court records show.

Ashley Garner, whose 16-year old son, Nicholas, drowned during a beach field trip in Galveston on Oct. 14, filed the lawsuit against The Children's Center Inc. on Feb. 12 in the 405th District Court.

Garner's lawsuit alleges that the "gross negligence" of Children's Center employees directly led to the death of her son. Garner is seeking unspecified monetary damages.

James Keel, the CEO of the Children's Center, did not respond to a request for comment.

The Children's Center provides emergency shelter to children and youth, aged 5 to 17, who are in the custody of Child Protective Services and need care while waiting to return home or to be placed permanently.

Read more: State looks to shut down Galveston shelter after 2 boys drown

Nicholas Garner and another boy, Noah Authement, 11, were on a field trip in the care of the Children's Center when they drowned in the Gulf of Mexico close to a beach near 17th Street and Seawall Boulevard in Galveston.

After Authement got caught in the choppy surf, Nicholas dived in to try to rescue him. A bystander called police that evening to report that Noah and a friend were caught in the rip current, authorities said. The friend managed to swim ashore.

Nicholas and Noah were not wearing bathing suits when they entered the water. Noah was wearing grey sweatpants with no shirt, while Nicholas had on blue jeans and no shirt.

On Oct. 16 Noah's body was recovered two miles offshore from 9 Mile Road and FM 3005 near Galveston's West End. Nicholas' body has not been recovered. Noah was in state custody at the time of his death.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission is pursuing revocation of the permit for the Galveston Multicultural Institute, the program operated by The Children's Center that led the field trip, saying the program "poses an immediate threat or danger to the health and safety of children."

The Children's Center has asked for an administrative review of the state agency's decision. That review has not yet been completed.

The Department of Family and Protective Services' residential child care licensing division is also investigating the incident. DFPS had previously removed all its children from the Galveston Multicultural Institute prior to the Health and Human Services Commission's decision to shut down the program.

Nick Powell covers Galveston County for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter and send him tips at nick.powell@chron.comHouston's dynamic restaurant scene has a lot to offer. The culinary profile of America's fourth-largest city has been featured in numerous shows from "Samantha's Brown's Places to Love" to the hit show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" hosted by Guy Fieri.

Fieri visited several local area restaurants in both 2009 and 2017, spanning nearly a dozen episodes.Google Earth

Home Depot has signed a 20-year lease as the anchor tenant in a 106-acre business park Hines is developing next to Sam Houston Race Park.

The 770,640 square-foot warehouse -- located 17 minutes from George Bush Intercontinental Airport and within easy access of I-45, TX-249 and U.S. 290 -- is a component of the company's $1.2 billion strategy to increase the speed of its deliveries. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.A developer planning an affordable housing complex in the Heights may reduce the size of the project after meeting with residents who voiced concern that the scale of the project would create traffic and safety problems.

Chicago-based Brinshore Development, which is under contract to buy a 1-acre property at the northeast corner of Columbia and 4th streets, filed paperwork last month with the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs seeking tax credits worth as much as $15 million over 10 years to help fund the project. In the documents, the company said the project would comprise 120 units, fueling concerns by residents that there could be perhaps a 10-story building on the property.

Scott Puffer, Brinshores vice president of business development, sought to allay those fears Wednesday, telling a residents group that it would likely build an 80- to 85-unit, five-story building on the site.

Early in process they ask you for this information. You can reduce your project size, but you cant increase it, Puffer said, explaining why the number was higher on the paperwork.

After meeting with members of the Houston Heights Association, Puffer said Brinshore would consider reducing the height of the building to four stories, which would also reduce the unit count. The company is still considering how residents would access the building as well as its overall design in an effort to respect the neighborhoods historic architecture.

We want to be accommodating, Puffer said. We take feedback seriously.

The project is slated for a 46,200-square-foot site at 402 Columbia St., a block north of the Interstate 10 frontage road and several blocks east of Heights Boulevard.

It is one 40 low-income housing tax credit projects proposed for Houston; Brinshore is proposing three more in other parts of the city.

At Wednesdays Houston City Council meeting, District C Councilwoman Ellen Cohen tagged a resolution to support the 40 applications for tax credit developments, including Brinshores Heights project, which is located in her district. The resolution will be considered at next weeks council meeting.

Cohen said the one-week delay will give her additional time to learn more about the Heights project and others.

I support affordable housing, Cohen said. District C is a big district and we want to make it accessible to all income levels.

Puffer said Brinshore chose the Heights location because of its proximity to urban job centers and to offer more affordable housing a neighborhood where property values have skyrocketed in recent years.

Its really one of the things that attracted us to this site. Its not necessarily a gentrifying area. Its sort of already gentrified, he said.

Federal tax credit programs such as the Competitive Housing Tax Credit Brinshore is seeking are used as a tool to help finance development of affordable housing for families that make less than an areas median household income.

The credits are competitive, and the state allocates a limited number each year, awarding points to projects to determine which ones receive the tax break. Developers can get points for going through a pre-application process and receiving letters of support, along with other items.

The credits are allocated among 13 regions in the state. Last year, nine projects in Region Six, where the Heights project is located, received $13.6 million in tax credits, Kristina Tirloni, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, said. This year, the estimated amount allocated for the region is about $14.5 million, though that is subject to change, she said.

The type of tax credit Brinshore is seeking is meant to offset some 70 percent of the projects eligible costs. Credits worth $15 million would project a cost of $21.4 million for the Heights project.

Year-end start contemplated

If awarded the tax credits, Puffer said Brinshore would move forward with final plans and possibly start construction by the end of the year.

The Heights complex would include one- and two-bedroom units for residents with a mix of income ranges, including people who make as little as 30 percent to 80 percent of the area's median income, which for a family of two is around $60,000. The bulk of the units would be for people earning 60 percent of median income. There will also be market-rate units not restricted by income.

Brinshore is set to pay $3.6 million for the property, now owned by a family estate, according to a December purchase contract filed with the state agency.

Before the affordable apartment complex was proposed, another developer wanted to build a hotel on the site. The neighbors had similar complaints then, said Kevin Chenevert, president of the Houston Heights Association board. The concerns included increased traffic, safety and how emergency vehicles would be able to access the neighborhoods relatively narrow streets.

After meeting with the developer Wednesday, Chenevert said he was pleased to learn that Brinshores project isnt as large as he and other residents initially thought.

That didnt mean that community support was assured. Heights residents recently submitted a minimum lot size application to the city that, if passes, would require a portion of the developers site to be used only for single-family residential.

nancy.sarnoff@chron.com

twitter.com/nsarnoffChevron Phillips Chemical Company was fined for violating Texas air quality regulations, state regulators said Wednesday.

The company, which is jointly owned by Chevron Corp. and Phillips 66, will pay a little under $250,000 to the state for air quality violations stemming from its failure to comply with allowable emissions limits, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state's environmental agency, decided at its bi-monthly agenda meeting.

Chevron Phillips did not immediately comment.

The commission fined 30 organizations for environmental violations, totaling $878,327. On Feb. 12, the executive director of the TCEQ approved 43 penalties, totaling $93,253.

The Houston-Galveston Area Council for Clean Vehicles Partnership Project will get $124,200 of that to replace older and high emitting buses with lower emitting buses or to retrofit buses with emissions-reducing equipment.

Circle K Stores, Inc., a gas station company based in Arizona, received one of the larger fines of the 30 companies. The TCEQ fined it $110,520 for petroleum storage tank violations that included failing to report suspected leaks at multiple locations.

TCEQ has been criticized by environmental groups for failing to impose hefty enough fines on large companies, like Chevron Phillips, for infractions. Analysis of TCEQ data by Texas Environment found that while there were more than 4,000 reported unauthorized emissions events reported in the state in 2017, the TCEQ only imposed penalties on 58 emissions events that year.

"TCEQ's spotty record of penalizing companies for emissions events has emboldened permittees to continue their violations with little fear of meaningful repercussions," the report states.

While the TCEQ declined to comment on the report specifically, Brian McGovern, TCEQ spokesperson, said the commission "vigorously" defends its enforcement process.

The commission's next meeting will be Feb. 27.Prized Asian art from the home of Florence and Herbert Irving

Florence and Herbert Irving donated over 1,300 works of art to the Met, but they kept many of their favourite pieces for their homes. The first part of their collection realised $31.9 million. The second part is being auctioned this September

Every morning at five oclock, the entrepreneur and philanthropist Herbert Irving awoke to commune with his art. The Fifth Avenue apartment that he and and his wife Florence had transformed into a spectacular gallery housed art from all of the major cultures of East and South Asia, spanning ancient to contemporary, and with a focus on the four materials in particular: lacquer, jade, bronze and ink. We don't have a house, we have a warehouse, Herbert once said. If I have it, I want to see it. In March 2019 a special evening sale of works from their collection was a highlight of Asian Art Week in New York and realised $17,894,750. It has been an honour to present The Private Collection of Florence and Herbert Irving, a grouping recognised for its remarkable quality and beauty, said Jonathan Rendell, Deputy Chairman and Head of Sales Curation at Christies, afterwards. The works offered in the evening sale presented a cross-section of 26 of the best examples from the Irvings most collected categories: lacquer, jade, bronze, and ink. The exceptional results achieved reinforce the importance of provenance and offer a tangible tribute to the exquisite eye, thoughtful connoisseurship, and meaningful impact made by these celebrated collectors. This September additional works from their collection are offered as part of Asian Art Week 2020, including more objects made from lacquer, jade and bronze, as well as an ink painting by Lin Fengmian.



Herbert and Florence were born in Brooklyn, in 1917 and 1920 respectively. They both had modest upbringings and developed a keen interest in art, culture and history, with the galleries of the Brooklyn Museum becoming like a second home. They married in 1941 and after returning from active service in the Second World War, Herbert went on to found a hugely successful frozen foods distribution company. In the autumn of 1967, the Irvings embarked on a life-changing trip to Japan during which they met the celebrated Asian art dealer Alice Boney. She was like a mother, Florence Irving recalled. She really introduced us to Oriental art. Boney sold the Irvings their first substantive Asian work of art  a Chinese jade pillow  and the couple subsequently asked her to help them grow their collection. As their knowledge and collection expanded, the Irvings extended their network, forging relationships with the world's foremost Asian art scholars. We don't collect artefacts, we collect people, Herbert would say of the academics he came to call his friends. Florence also enrolled at Columbia University where she studied Chinese art, ceramics and furniture, and began attending lectures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Florence and Herbert Irving had an unwavering faith in the civic power of art, and a conviction that it should be shared with the public. In the 1980s they began to donate works of art to the Metropolitan Museum, which they could see from their apartment window. For the next 30 years the Irvings were extraordinarily generous benefactors to the museum, donating more than 1,300 objects and over $100 million.

The living room of Florence and Herbert Irvings 5th Avenue apartment, which looked onto the Metropolitan Museum of Art

In every collector there is a wish to own and a wish to share that are not necessarily incompatible, Florence Irving once said. We wanted to share our collection with the greatest number of people, and for that, theres no place like the Met. The museum recognised this support by unveiling the Florence and Herbert Irving Asian Wing in 2004. Regarded as one of New York Citys most generous philanthropists, Herbert Irving passed away in 2016, followed by Florence two years later. Below are some of the sold and upcoming highlights from the collection. Lacquer The tradition of lacquerware  a supremely labour-intensive and time-consuming process married to exquisite craftsmanship  is shared by the major cultures of China, Korea and Japan.

In China, two main decorative traditions came to dominate. The first involved carving through thick layers of lacquer to create a three-dimensional and luxurious effect, as illustrated by the sumptuous 16th-century mallet-form vase, decorated with overlapping peony blossoms, pictured above left, and the 16th-17th century brush pot, above right. The other consisted of painted, gilded or inlaid mother-of-pearl surface decoration.

Jade The reverence for jade in Chinese culture reaches back thousands of years to the Neolithic Period, with jade carvings from the period revealing a high degree of skill and artistry. The mineral came to be associated with human virtue. Confucius is said to have remarked, Anciently superior men found the likeness of all excellent qualities in jade.

The Irvings collection of jade spans 5,000 years of history. The jade or hardstone cong, above right, is a mysterious object carved by the people of the ancient Liangzhu culture in the third millennium BC. While its purpose remains unknown, the presence of such artefacts in burials hints at a ritual or religious function.

Bronze While Asian cultures have produced a range of bronze-working traditions as diverse as the continent itself, one of the most universal applications of the material was in the creation of bronze Buddhist sculptures.

Bronze had the advantage of being durable and portable  small bronze statues of Buddha were disseminated across Asia by wandering monks, pilgrims and merchants. Hollow-cast bronze figures could also be sealed with sacred relics and scriptures.

Ink In East Asian art, ink is regarded as both a profoundly simple and a sublimely expressive material. Its use dates back to Neolithic times, when a combination of pine soot, glue and water is known to have been painted on the sides of earthenware bowls used in burials.

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The masters of Chinas ink-painting tradition were scholar-officials. Their compositions reflected their emotions and character  hills and rivers painted with dark tones and short, staccato brushstrokes suggested an energetic and outgoing man; pale washes and long, string-like strokes indicated a quiet and contemplative spirit.

Wu Guanzhong (China, 1919-2010), Waterfall. Scroll, mounted and framed, ink and colour on paper. 27 x 53 in (68.5 x 135.5 cm). Sold for $975,000 on 20 March 2019 at Christies in New York

Led by masters such as Chinas Wu Guanzhong  whose Waterfall was among the works offered on 20 March 2019  East Asian artists of the past century have pushed the tradition of ink painting in new directions.

Lin Fengmian (1900-1991), Lady. Scroll, mounted and framed, ink and colour on paper. 26 x 26 in (68.3 x 66.6 cm). Estimate: $200,000-300,000. Offered in Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art on 25 September 2020 at Christies in New YorkWesterners view Islam less favourably than other religions, study finds

Significant numbers of Westerners do not see Islam as compatible with the values of their society, new research from YouGov has revealed.

The research, conducted to coincide with the Pope's historic visit to Abu Dhabi last month, found that Westerners tended to view other religions in a more favourable light.

The study also revealed widespread concern about the possible rise of extremism in Islam.

France and Germany were the most negative in their perception of Islam, with 46 per cent and 47 per cent respectively agreeing that 'there is a fundamental clash between Islam and the values of society in my country'. This fell to 38 per cent in Britain and 36 per cent in the US.

Notably lower across Western countries was the proportion of people agreeing with the alternative statement that Islam was generally compatible with the values of society in their country. Britain was the most positive towards Islam, with 24 per cent agreeing with the statement, followed by France (22 per cent), Germany (20 per cent) and the US (17 per cent).

By contrast, Westerners were far less likely to be concerned about a clash of values when it came to other religions.

In the US, only 14 per cent perceived such a clash with Buddhism, 15 per cent with Sikhism and 14 per cent iwth Hinduism.

Similarly, only 6 per cent of British respondents felt there was a values clash with Buddhism, while just 8 per cent said the same for both Sikhism and Hinduism.

Other results from the study showed general impressions of Islam among Westerners to be less favourable than their impression of other world religions.

In France, nearly half of those surveyed (49 per cent) said they felt fairly (18 per cent) or very (31 per cent) unfavourable towards Islam.

This was far higher than the percentage of respondents who had unfavourable impressions of Judaism (19 per cent), Hinduism (13 per cent), Sikhism (14 per cent), Buddhism (9 per cent) and Christianity (15 per cent).

In Germany, over half (53 per cent) felt unfavourable towards Islam, compared with a range of only 10 per cent to 22 per cent who had the same attitude towards the other world religions.

The study revealed a similar trend in the US and UK, although in these countries the overall proportion of people viewing Islam unfavourably was far lower (37 per cent and 32 per cent respectively).

Consistent across the Western respondents, though, was a concern about the rise of extremism in Islam. France and Germany had the highest percentage of respondents describing themselves as very or fairly concerned about this (both 72 per cent), followed by 66 per cent in Britain and 56 per cent in the US.

'As findings show, substantial portions of Western respondents in the survey perceived a clash between Islam and the values of society in their country,' said Dr Joel Rogers de Waal, academic director at YouGov.Ultrasound to be broadcast live in New York's Times Square in protest of late-term abortions

Pro-lifers will be broadcasting live images from the ultrasound of a pregnancy in its third trimester in New York City's Times Square.

Focus on the Family will broadcast the ultrasound live on May 4 in protest against New York's new abortion regulations making it easier for women to access an abortion up to the point of birth in some pregnancies.

The ultrasound will be shown live on the big screens across the New York City landmark using 4-D technology.

Focus on the Family president Jim Daly told CBN News: 'We'll have great speakers. We're going to have music, but we're also going to do a live ultrasound of a third-trimester baby.

'And with the 4-D technology that we have, it looks like a picture of a 1-year-old. There is no way a person is going to be able to say, "That is not a child." It is a child and we want everybody to see it.'

Pro-lifers were angered when the Reproductive Health Act was signed by New York governor Andrew Cuomo last month, with some even calling for the politician, a Catholic, to be excommunicated.

The outcry grew when a failed bill sought to introduce similar measures in Virginia just days later. The measures, which would have allowed abortion in some pregnancies even while the mother was dilating, were defended by Virginia governor Ralph Northam, who was then accused of supporting infanticide.

Daly told CBN that pro-abortion politicians have gone too far.

'I think what's happened in New York and Virginia has prompted a response,' he said.

'These politicians that have overreached, in our opinion, when it comes to reshaping the abortion debate.'

Northam faced calls for his resignation after telling WTOP FM radio station that if the mother of a severely deformed baby was in labour, the infant would be delivered and 'kept comfortable' but then the mother and doctor could have a discussion about what they wanted to do.

'The infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother,' he said.

Daly was angry about Northam's comments.

'Once a baby is born, if it's not viable outside the womb or if it's severely handicapped, they're going to let the baby sit on a table and then the mother and physician decide whether or not to let that baby live  that's not the country we live in. And that's not the law of the land, actually,' he said.Two years after abduction, Raymond Koh's family still want answers

The family of Malaysian pastor Raymond Koh has asked the country's prime minister to order a new investigation into his kidnapping.

Koh was abducted two years ago by 15 masked men in a military-style operation caught on CCTV. His vehicle was taken and has not been recovered. Attempts to discover who took him and why have so far failed.

His wife Susanna Liew told World Watch Monitor: 'It has already been two years and until now there's no result [of the inquiry]. We are at our wits' end. We don't know what else to do than to appeal to the highest authority to look into this matter and resolve it.'

She added that she admired Malaysia's new prime minister Mahathir bin Mohamad's commitment to the rule of law.

Three other victims of abduction, none of whom have been found, were also members of religious minorities in the Sunni Muslim country. Pastor Joshua Hilmy and his wife Ruth were last seen in November 2016, while Shia Muslim activist Amri Che Mat was kidnapped in an operation similar to Raymond Koh's.

Susannah Liew told an inquiry panel at the end of 2017 that she and her husband had been repeatedly harassed by Malaysian officials since 2011 and had been stopped for questioning several times by immigration and Special Branch officers when entering or leaving the country. She said she had even considered emigrating to Australia because of the stress.

Koh's daughter, Esther, told a local source she is suffering from mental torture not knowing where or how her father is.

'We are counting the days to be reconciled with him, but we are also prepared for anything,' said Liew.

The inquiry is expected to release its findings on March 6.Prayers for peace in Nigeria ahead of general elections

The Archbishop of Canterbury is praying that Nigeria's general elections will pass off peacefully this coming weekend.

Nigerians will be casting their votes in the presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday, followed by a second round of voting for the governorship and State Houses of Assembly on March 2.

On Twitter, Archbishop Justin Welby said he was praying for the elections to be 'peaceful and fair'.

'Around the world we are praying with great hope for peaceful and fair elections in Nigeria, which build on the successful voting and calm transition in 2015. May God bless you in His power  and may He bless this wonderful nation,' he said.

Tearfund said its team in Nigeria had asked for prayers ahead of the elections amid concerns that the country is facing a growing humanitarian crisis.

That crisis has been triggered by the terrorist activities of militant group Boko Haram in the north-east of the country, where there have been widespread attacks on churches, schools and other civic buildings, killing thousands.

According to Tearfund, some 2.1 million people have been forced from their homes, with most of them remaining within Nigeria.

Despite some military gains against Boko Haram, the conflict has left many people without enough food or other essential items.

Paul Mershak, Tearfund's Country Representative for Nigeria, said: 'Politicians are desperately vying for positions, leading to a lot of tension in the country. Despite this we are trusting God for free and fair elections. The election is crucial for Nigeria as it tries to find long-term peace.'

Tearfund has suggested the following prayer points:

 As people go to the polls, pray they are free from fear, that the electoral body will do its duty, and that officials will deal with the process with care.

 Pray for peace during the election period, that insurgents won't take advantage of the change of power due to the elections, especially in places facing insecurity.

 Pray that the church will be able to continue being a positive influence on public life in Nigeria.

 Lift up our partners as they continue to do vital work to bring peace during and after the elections.Nigerian priest kidnapped and murdered, family still held

The Archbishop of Canterbury has expressed his sadness over the fate of a Nigerian priest abducted and murdered by kidnappers who continue to hold his family.

Anthony Idris Jata'u, a priest in the Diocese of Sokoto, was kidnapped last Thursday with his wife, three children and two sisters-in-law. His body was found on Saturday.

According to an anonymous source from the diocese who spoke to the Punch newspaper, the kidnappers have demanded a ransom of 10 million Nigerian Naira or 21,500 for the family's release. The source is reported to have said: 'Everybody is sad at the moment and afraid for the lives of his family members still in the custody of the bandits. The church doesn't have such money but it's hoping to raise a substantial sum to secure the release of the victims.

'The abductors separated the kids into different locations as it was glaring [sic] when they called and asked them to speak with the person whose mobile telephone the victims gave them.

'There is panic among worshippers as time is ticking and no one knows what their next line of action will be. Security agencies are aware of the case but there is nothing yet.'

Jata'u had survived a previous kidnapping, in 2006.

Justin Welby told the Anglican Communion News Service he was 'deeply distressed and saddened' by the news.

'My prayers and those of the whole community at Lambeth Palace are with the family of the Reverend Anthony Idris Jata'u, who grieve even as they continue to be held in captivity and great danger, ' he said. 'May God draw near them in comfort, and bring the freedom and justice that are so urgently needed.

'We pray too for the church led by the Reverend Jata'u, for all those suffering persecution for their faith, and for the whole nation of Nigeria, that Jesus Christ would light the path away from violence and towards peace.'Just how guilty is Islamic State bride Shamima Begum?

In a considerable journalistic coup, Times journalist Anthony Loyd has secured an interview with Shamima Begum, the only known survivor of three London schoolgirls who left Britain in 2015 to join Islamic State.

It is, in its way, quite chilling. Begum volunteered to marry an IS fighter, with whom she had two children, both now dead. She is now in a Syrian refugee camp, nine months pregnant with her third child, and wants to come home for its sake. But she has no regrets, and speaks with utter indifference of seeing the severed head of a murdered captive in a bin: 'It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam. I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance.' Asked about videos of beheaded Western hostages, she says that 'Journalists can be spies too.'

She describes herself as 'weak' for fleeing the battlefield; her dead friends, on the other hand, were 'strong'. She wants to come home and live quietly with her child.

It's not as simple as that, of course. In the eyes of the law, she's now an adult, and responsible for her actions in supporting the most brutal and murderous regime of modern times; in the eyes of many others, though, including former counter-terrorism chief Mark Rowley, she's a victim, groomed for violence by cynical adults. Rowley told the Today programme this morning that what was needed was a proper risk assessment with a view to rehabilitation.

And there is, indeed, a case for saying that young people of a certain age are not really responsible for their actions. Uganda's infamous Lord's Resistance Army under Joseph Kony took young children, forced them to kill their parents or other children, and turned them into monsters. Everyone acknowledges the complexities of reaching a judgment in the case of someone like Dominic Ongwen, whose trial continues.

While the moral plasticity of a six- or seven-year-old is undeniable, however, the Bethnal Green Academy schoolgirls were 15. In just a few months, they would have been old enough to join the British army, had they been so minded. Certainly there is a strong case for taking Begum's relative youth into account in any decision about her future. But it's hard to avoid concluding that there are other factors at play here. One is the fetishisation of teenagerhood that sees it as a golden time, an extension of childhood in which youth in all its purity unfolds flower-like to the waiting world. This is an illusion that persists in spite of all evidence to the contrary, and effectively denies moral agency to young people. Yes, they are more easily influenced. But they ought to know rape and murder are wrong, and if they choose not to see that we are entitled to blame them for it.

Another factor is the modern discomfort at the reality of evil. When Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey were outed as serial sex pests, to put it no more strongly than that, their response was not contrition and repentance; that traditional religious route to restoration is old hat. Instead they went into therapy. So, the thinking runs, they didn't do what they did because they were bad, but because they were ill  it wasn't really their fault.

Christians ought to believe in restoration. After all, we have a profound sense of our own sinfulness and need for grace. But the Christian version of restoration is likely to be different from the world's. Will Shamima Begum be brought to see the error of her ways through counselling and therapy? Perhaps, and that would be a good thing. But from the point of view of the victims whose heads she saw, 'unfazed', in rubbish bins, and of their grieving and traumatised families, more appropriate would be a profound sense of guilt at being part of such brutality.

And then, perhaps  and not before  they could begin to talk about forgiveness.

Shamima Begum may have been a victim. Well, so are many of those who have bad reasons for doing bad things. But they are culprits, too.

Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoodsIn the hometown of 21 Coptic Christians murdered by ISIS, miracles are being reported

A new book to be released Friday takes a look at the lives of the 21 Christian men the world saw being beheaded on a Libyan beach in 2015 and how their deaths at the hands of the Islamic State only strengthened the faith of believers in their hometown.

The world was appalled when the brutal terrorist group released footage showing the 21 men  all but one being migrants from Egypt  being led to the shore of a Libyan beach near Sirte dressed in orange jumpsuits.

The video came at the height of the Islamic State's reign of terror that wreaked havoc in places like Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt, and Libya and showcased how brutal and atrocious the jihadi death cult could be.

Iconic photographs and screenshots taken from that Islamic State propaganda video are all over the internet showing the 21 men on their knees with their backs toward the Mediterranean Sea. Behind each of the 21 men was an Islamic State militant standing with a knife that would be used to cut off their heads, thus sending a message to the world.

Four years later, the martyrdom of those 21 men is not forgotten in Upper Egypt as all 21 have been canonized as martyr saints by the Coptic Church.

"You get the feeling in Upper Egypt that they are not in an Islamic country at all. It is a Christian country," popular German novelist Martin Mosebach told The Christian Post in a recent phone interview. "It's mixed in a society there with Muslims but the Christians in Upper Egypt are the majority."

Mosebach was inspired by a picture he saw on the cover or a German Catholic magazine to tell the story of the 21 Coptic martyrs.

The picture on the magazine featured the head of one of the slain Copts killed on the Libyan beach, Kiryollos Boushra Fawzy, who was born in 1991 in the Upper Egypt town of El-Aour.

'This picture caught my eye in 2016,' Mosebach said. 'An image of the face of one migrant worker beheaded by ISIS on the beach in Libya.'

Having authored 11 novels, the German writer was looking to do something different before he began working on his 12th novel.

Mosebach decided to visit El-Aour, the town where 13 of the 21 Coptic martyrs came from. He spoke with families of the men killed and heard stories about how the martyrs are being credited with modern-day miracles.

The new book, The 21 - A Journey into the Land of Coptic Martyrs, is the account of Mosebach's journey to El-Aour.

"It is a very dirty village. It is a very poor and primitive village," Mosebach explained, adding that the Coptic villagers there are very strong and knowledgeable in their faith.

Although Christians in Upper Egypt are always under the threat of persecution, as Egypt has been under Islamic rule for 1,400 years, the faith of the Coptic Church as founded by St. Mark has been unwavering and continues to remain strong today, according to Mosebach.

"These communities and congregations are very educated and know the faith," he explained. "In the spirituality of the Copts, miracles are a very important thing."

In El-Aour, Mosebach said, "everybody is talking about miracles."

According to Mosebach, numerous miracle stories have built up around the 21 martyrs in El-Aour. Some stories include the martyrs being credited with saving children who fall out of windows, curing sick people and even healing a woman of infertility.

"Miracles didn't save the [21] from decapitation but did prove that their sacrifices had made them Christlike and therefore accepted as such," Mosebach wrote.

One miracle involved the son of one of the martyrs. The son was said to have fallen onto the street from the third floor of a building, causing him to break his arm in multiple places. When the son regained consciousness, he claimed that his now-dead father had caught him. Days later, the son's X-rays reportedly did not show any fractures.

According to Mosebach, the term "miracle" is used by the Coptic community as the "next explanation for any phenomenon they see."

"Everything that has happened is according to the will of God," Mosebach told CP. "The miracles are also now seen with the martyrs, which the martyrs heal people."

Although the Coptic community has faced much persecution throughout its history that continues today, Mosebach explained that Copts do not consider themselves to be victims and do not seek revenge.

He added that the villagers in El-Aour are proud of the martyrs for standing strong and dying for their faiths.

The mothers who lost their sons at the hands of the Islamic State know that their sons are now "crowned kings in Heaven," Mosebach said.

"You can go to every family in this region. They will tell you the same thing," Mosebach explained. "That they are ready for martyrdom and they wait for the martyrdom and they are proud of the martyrs. They say that 'our church is the church of the martyrs.' Martyrs are the seeds of Christianity. As long as people are killed for Christianity, the church is living and not dead."

Although El-Aour is a poor and primitive village, it is now a destination for Coptic Christians across the region.

Following the beheading of the 21 Copts, Egypt President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ordered the construction of The Church of the Martyrs of Faith and Homeland in El-Aour. The church has become a pilgrimage site as it is the final resting spot for the bodies of the Coptic martyrs.

According to Mosebach, some Christians travel as far as 350 miles to come to see the church.

"Now it has become a real pilgrimage village, with a hotel and stops to buy pictures and memories of the martyred," Mosebach said of Al-Aour.

While Christian persecution continues to occur in Egypt and it ranks as the 16th-worst nation in the world when it comes to Christian persecution, Mosebach said Christians generally feel safe under Sisi's political leadership, which began in 2014.

Mosebach asserted that dictatorships are more favorable to Christians in the Middle East than democracies are.

"This is one very important thing that one has to learn as a Christian from the Western world. Democracy is, for the Christians, not favorable in Iraq, in Syria, in Egypt," Mosebach said. "They are protected by dictators. This is a harsh lesson. From the point of the views of Christians, Christians have more security, more protection when the state is led by a strong dictator."

"This has been so with Saddam Hussein in Iraq. [Assad] still there in Syria. It is still there with Al-Sisi in Egypt," he added. "It is a very simple thing. For minorities, they can never be strong in democracy."

Mosebach's book was originally published in German last year. It will be released in English for the first time on Friday.

Courtesy of The Christian PostChurch leaders urged to release the power of the gathered community

Christians in the UK have forgotten why they meet together on Sundays, according to the director of Share Jesus International  and it's not just to enjoy fellowship together.

Speaking in advance of a major conference on recovering the power of the gathered community, entitled Ekklesia, Frost said: 'I believe that we have lost an understanding of why we gather as the church. So many of us have been doing it for so long we have forgotten why we gather  the purpose, the power and the impact the gathered community of Christians can have to bring lasting kingdom change.'

The overnight conference is aimed at church leaders and leadership teams, and is designed to provide practical insights and a heightened sense of purpose to see the nation transformed by the gospel.

Among the speakers are Rob Parsons, founder of Care for the Family, and Home for Good founder Krish Kandiah. Leaders from the Church of England, the Methodist Church, New Frontiers, Pioneer and Elim will also bring their experiences to the meeting.

Frost said: 'For almost 2,000 years, groups of Christians have gathered in many different spaces, from people's homes to ornate cathedrals to underground caves. There is something vital about gathering together as followers of Jesus. We gather to be encouraged and remind ourselves that we belong to the family of God. We gather to grow in our faith and understanding of Jesus Christ as our Lord and saviour. We gather to then go out into our week to impact the world we live in as followers of Jesus.'

He said: 'Again and again in the book of Acts the early Church gathered and then went out on the streets proclaiming the gospel in word and deed. It is not an either/or but both  gathered to then be sent!'

He said the Ekklesia conference was an opportunity to look 'under the bonnet' of how different churches work when it comes to gathering, discipling and mission and to look for ideas that will translate to churches across the country.

The conference will run from 6 pm on Wednesday March 20 to 8.30 pm on Thursday March 21 and will be hosted at The Ridgeway Centre, Milton Keynes.Iranian judges sending Christians to 'torture factory' must be sanctioned by Trump admin., NGO urges

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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.Asia Bibi stuck in Pakistan, frustrated and afraid amid threats

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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.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

I once had a conversation with a Pakistani cab driver in New York City. As he drove me to my destination, the subject of anti-Semitism came up, at which point I mentioned, Some people claim that the Jews themselves are responsible for anti-Semitism, since they are the worst of all people.

The driver, not realizing that I was Jewish, replied, Yes, thats true. Jews are the worst.

So, anti-Semitism is not really anti-Semitism because the Jewish people deserve to be hated.

In the aftermath of Rep. Ilhan Omars anti-Semitic tweets, in which she accused AIPAC of paying off members of Congress to stand with Israel, David Duke tweeted, 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 ??????

So, Omar wasnt being anti-Semitic because she was telling the truth.

Duke, himself a proud anti-Semite (as well as former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan), also rued Omars subsequent apology, stating, Im not surprised but its a pity, those tweets exposing the influence of AIPAC where her only positive achievements.

As expected, Dukes twitter feed repeats the standard anti-Semitic tropes, including: the Jews control the money. The Jews control the media. Israel is a genocidal, apartheid state. The Holocaust is a myth. And more. (The title of his 2003 book says it plainly: Jewish Supremacism: My Awakening to the Jewish Question.)

The point of it all is simple.

It is not anti-Semitic to say nasty things about the Jews because the nasty things are true.

And if people do bad things to these evil Jews? Well, the Jews deserve it.

I just finished revising and updating my 1992 book Our Hands Are Stained with Blood: The Tragic Story of the Church and the Jewish People. It tells the story of anti-Semitism in Christian history, also documenting libelous attacks on Israel and the Jewish people until this day, be it from the world of radical Islam or from White Supremacists.

The book apparently hit a nerve and has been continuously in print since its release, being translated into multiple languages, with the new edition due out in September of this year.

But I bring it up here because, in updating the book, I was struck by just how much the song remains the same.

The names may change. The dates may vary. But the theme does not change: The Jews are especially evil. The Jews are responsible for most of the worlds problems. The Jews are guilty and must be blamed.

A bestselling Christian author put it like this: Of all the diseased schools of racial supremacism, I am convinced that the Jewish specimen is the most evil and most threatening to the lives, bodies, and eternal destinies of humankind.

He continues, Zionism has existed as a satanic ideological force in opposition to all things good and even to life itself for three thousand years.

Yes, Zionism and its accompanying religious disease, Judaism, are the champions of all time in terms of the total number of innocent men, women, and children being imprisoned in concentration camps, beaten, bludgeoned, raped, robbed, humiliated, and unmercifully slaughtered.

There you have it, straight from the pen of a Christian author. (Be assured that not a syllable here is taken out of context or misrepresented. Rather, these quotes could be multiplied by the hundreds, all of them found in a series of anti-Semitic books by this same author.)

I have been told (with all seriousness) that Jews were responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

I have read claims that Jews were responsible for the spread of AIDS and that Jews control the Vatican.

Those evil, ubiquitous Jews!

In the first edition of Our Hands Are Stained with Blood, I documented how White Supremacists and Black Supremacists shared an admiration for Hitler and a hatred of the Jews.

Then, within two weeks time last year, Black Supremacist Louis Farrakhan referred to Jews as termites and a White Supremacist slaughtered 11 Jews in a Saturday morning synagogue attack, shouting, All Jews must die!

As I said, the song remains the same, quite tragically.

Thats why it is no surprise to see this headline on Ynet News: Global anti-Semitism report: 2018 saw most deadly attacks on Jews in 25 years. Diaspora Ministry finds 70% of attacks tied to anti-Israel sentiment, singles out UK where phenomenon has reached 'all-time recorded high'; [Naftali] Bennett urges governments around world to take action.

Not only so, but last April, in Germany, Jews were urged not to wear kippahs (yarmulkes) in light of recent attacks. Dont look too Jewish or you might be attacked as well!

This is happening in Germany, of all places, where serious efforts have been made to reverse the evil of the Holocaust.

But anti-Semitism is hard to suppress.

Thats because the Jews, above all people, are evil. And so, its not anti-Semitic to call them out and despise them.

So say the anti-Semites.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

The Houston Chronicle investigated within the Southern Baptist Convention, focusing on sexual abuse among leaders, both on staff and volunteers. The results were appalling. In a three-part series the paper found that since 1998 there have been at least 700 victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by 380 Southern Baptist leaders and volunteers. The victims were mostly children.

As a pastor for almost four decades, I have faced my share of storms in ministry. However, in October of 2007 a pastors worst nightmare took place. A man we all loved and trusted who served as one of our volunteers in student ministry shocked us. He had used his volunteer position to groom and lure young men into his web of sexual deception. We had done three separate background checks all of which came back clean. I cant begin to tell you the devastation this mans actions caused. There were times in this process that I didnt think I was going to make it. I was in despair at the damage this pedophile had caused. Interestingly enough; some people ran to the mans defense because of the swift and strong action taken against him. I realized his wife and son were victims too.

Living in Florida, we are accustomed to hurricanes. I remember saying to the press, This is a category -five storm. Pedophiles are targeting churches because we are people of compassion, mercy and forgiveness. I learned more about this subject than I ever cared to. We had to create a new normal and we would never be the same.

The offender attempted to manipulate the system and blame everyone elsethe victims, the church and the pastor. He pleaded guilty, but on the day of his trial he was going to rescind the plea and let it go to trial, making the victims live through this suffering again. He walked into court, saw all the victims who were willing to face him and tell the truth, and then folded. He went to prison for a long time, not long enough in my opinion. I want to insert here: I believe God can heal anyone and I believe a pedophile can change IF he truly repents and does whatever necessary to seek Gods help as well as professional help. I rarely, if ever, however, see this happen. I do not discount Gods grace and power, but I do question whether most sexual offenders really want to change.

10 Commandments for Weathering the Storm of a Sexual Offense in the Church Where you Serve.

I pray this never happens to you as a pastor or Christian leader, but if it does, you need to be prepared to walk through what will no doubt be the worst thing you have faced in ministry:

1. Learn from what Happened and Put Policies and Practices in Place to seek to Prevent it from Ever Happening Again.

If it has not happened to you, begin now putting these principles in place. We learned so much.

1) Review your Policies concerning Volunteers and Strengthen them

This is a preemptive strike. You can assume nothing. Sexual offenders know how to groom their victims by being kind, giving gifts and spending time. They attempt to build trust among people so no one would believe anything negative about them. Have a background check system in place. Although background checks are not fail-safe, they do help. Run background checks on staff members and volunteers who work with preschoolers, children and youth. When someone moves into your community and comes to your church, before you allow them to volunteer with preschoolers, children or youth, call the church from which the person came. Check them out! Trust any check in your spirit. Dont dismiss too quickly a feeling that something is not quite right concerning another person. It may be the Holy Spirit warning you or others. Also, publicly share your policies. Go on record that you will not tolerate inappropriate behavior, attitudes or words.

2) Communicate with the people you serve that if anyone does anything suspicious or says something questionable, they should report it immediately to the pastor or staff member in charge of that area of ministry.

Follow up on anything suspicious. It IS better to be safe than sorry. You need to create an atmosphere where people have the freedom to share any concerns they have about others.

3) Develop a Code of Conduct for workers involved in preschool, children and student ministries

Specifically, spell out what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior.

4) Ask Law Enforcement to assist you in setting up a safety net

We asked law enforcement to come and meet with the parents of our youth and to answer any questions. They are more than willing to help.

5) Never let your guard downever. Satan is looking for one opportunity, and he will wait as long as he must to make his move.

6) It is better to have a few people upset over your volunteer policies than to compromise the policies to keep the peace.

7) Periodically have speakers come in and deal with this subject

8) Keep the lines of communication open with the area of ministry that was most affected.

Always take every step possible to protect the people within the church.

2. Stay on Your Face Before God and Seek His Grace, Wisdom, Strength and Discernment

You will need much discernment to know what to say and not say. In anger and frustration, there will be many things you will want to say, and you simply cannot. You will experience criticism from those who dont know all the details. You must trust God to be your defense. Just keep doing the right thing.

3. Be Proactive in Communicating with the Church you Serve

Do this quickly. The sooner the better, but make sure you are prepared. Share everything you can without compromising the investigation., the victims, or the family of the offender.

4. Retain a Good Attorney and Follow the Advice Given Concerning Legal and Media Issues

With every statement you make, run it by your attorney. Ask your attorney how to deal with the media. You dont want to say something that would further hurt the victim(s) and the church. You arent getting an attorney to defend what the sexual offender has done, but to protect the church from further pain.

5. Be Proactive with the Media. Get out there as soon as possible.

Take the initiative to make a statement to the media. Let them know you are not trying to hide something. Seek to handle this in such a way that even those without Christ would admire the way you are handling this tragedy. When dealing with the media, script what you are going to say and stick with the script. From the onset, appoint one person whom you thoroughly trust to be the point person to make statements and address the media.

6. Provide Immediate Support for the Victims and FamiliesMake this your Priority

Provide counseling for the victims and families. The church must bear the financial cost of the counseling. Seek to protect the victims and their familys privacy. Have a point person who deals with the victim(s) and families.

7. Let People Know what you say Publicly is the Only Time you will be Discussing the Matter

Refuse to discuss the situation with anyone who wants to bring it up. You can speak in general terms based on what you said publicly but be very discerning here. Provide a printed statement of what you have said publicly.

8. Cooperate Fully and Completely from the Onset with Law Enforcement

This sounds elementary and obvious, however, law enforcement told us that many churches will not cooperate because they dont want the publicity. This will destroy the witness of a church. Let is be said of you and your church that you cooperated fully and enthusiastically with law enforcement.

9. Stay Away from Social Media

It will do you absolutely no good to post on Facebook, tweet or blog about the incident. Dont add to your grief by reading everything the critics have said. Just keep doing the right thing consistently.

10. Remain Humble

If this happens in the church you lead, you will be surprised not only about those who come to your defense and by those who become your critics. Remain humble. Dont attempt to defend what has happened.

I pray this never happens in your ministry. However, you need to begin today to implement practices and policies that seek to prevent this from happening and to act quickly and decisively if it does.

This is a major wake-up call to every SBC church and pastor and churches and leaders of all denominations to do whatever is necessary to protect our children now and in the future.

Dr. Jay Dennis is former pastor of First Baptist Church at the Mall in Lakeland, Florida and Co-Founder of Wingman Nation Mens Ministry and author of Pornography In The Church: A Resource Guide for Pastors and Christian Leaders.(Image source from: Teluguone.com)

Anna Hazare Hospitalised:- Social activist Anna Hazare who has been on fast broke it on February 5th and he was rushed to a hospital after he complained of weakness. The doctors identified that there is lack of blood supply to his brain because of which Anna Hazare was unwell. The 81-year-old veteran has been fasting from some time against corruption. Dr Bapu Kandekar clarified that his weakness was due to blood supply to his brain. Hazare, who lives in Ralegan Siddhi village in Ahmednagar district complained of illness after which he was rushed to the hospital.

He underwent an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan after which he was rushed to a private hospital. The doctors confirmed that he was suffering from neurological problems. Anna Hazare lost 5 kgs during his agitation. He sought appointment of Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and two Union ministers at his village conducted a meeting but did not respond to Anna Hazare's pleas after which he started his fast.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

February 14 used to be called St. Valentines Day by everyone! It was not seen as an especially religious designation  even though spiritual icons like pictures of angels and hearts and other heavenly representations were and are frequently used on greeting cards and decorations for that treasured day. In addition, the designation of this special day by the name of a saint alluded to some to some Godly link. Nevertheless, the day has been a successful target of the current American radical secularization. And the mere word Valentine has become the designation for the kind of greeting card one sends to dear ones who are loved  and no longer the name of a heroic saint, pastor, and martyr from the 3rd century.

Have you noticed that the enduring St. of St. Valentines Day has now disappeared almost without notice? It is missing even in present references to this very special day in announcements at churches and in Christian organizations. For shame!

This notable brother in Jesus was born Valentinus, a common masculine Roman name meaning healthy and strong. When he became a gospel minister in Rome, he said and did a number of things that deeply irritated the pagan Roman authorities. For example, at great risk to himself, Valentine ministered to Christian brothers and sisters whom the rabidly anti-Christian authorities were persecuting severely. He openly identified with those fellow-believers who were objects of hateful violence  through both his caring and praying for them publically.

Pastor Valentine also stirred the ire of pagan authorities by teaching passionate faithful love in marriage, while also warning many people of the degrading sexual perversions of both the Roman leaders and many other people of his time. This pastor was a strong witness for the Gospel and for healthy, faithful, erotic behavior within Godly marital commitments  thereby honoring the LORD God, the inventor of sexual pleasure and passion. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the gracious creator and savior for all women and men. After all, The passionate drive of love is a pure fire of the LORD (Song of Songs 8:6) [www.songofsongs.info].

For this intensely faithful, cogent Biblical teaching, Valentine of Rome was martyred on February 14, 269  exactly 1750 years ago! Surely this year we should honor Pastor St. Valentine. Especially with Pastor Valentines ministries so intensely relevant for 2019, too:

Praying for and caring for persecuted people.

Teaching, encouraging, and exemplifying faithful, passionate romantic love.

By the way, all the while, there was another Pastor Valentine, who was ministering in Terni, 65 miles north of Rome, teaching the same relevant Biblical truths  supporting the persecuted sisters and brothers and nurturing passionate faithfulness in romantic and marital love. He met the same fate, too, being martyred by the Roman authorities in 271. So, there are at least two venerable Pastor St. Valentines from the 3rd century worth celebrating  fully meriting our again honoring their worthy examples and excellent teachings. Happy Pastor St. Valentines Day!Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Believing that the impossible becomes possible by congressional mandate is the essence of what Jacques Ellul called the political illusion. That illusion was on clear display last week when freshman New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey released what they call the Green New Deal.

The summary of their plan was posted on Ocasio-Cortezs website Thursday but then taken down after mockery and criticism, even from within her own party. This Green New Deal was billed as a solution, not only to climate change but pretty much to all of societys ills, and is more ambitious than either its Depression-era namesake or Al Gores wildest dreams.

Writing at The Federalist, David Harsanyi described the proposal as an overhaul of modernity. Among its stated goals was to eliminate all fossil fuels, including oil, coal, and natural gas, as well as nuclear energyall within 10 years. It also promised to phase out 99 percent of existing automobiles and all other combustion-engine vehicle[s], whether on land, air, or sea, replacing them with electric vehicles, for which charging stations will be built everywhere.

Once thats done, the legislators want to retrofit every building in America, yes, thats a quote, againwith state of the art energy efficiency. They also want to ground all airplanes within a decade and replace them with highspeed rail. No word yet on how much the railway to Hawaii will cost.

The Green New Deal also promised a family-sustaining wage, family and medical leave, vacations, and a pension for every American, as well as free education for life, including college and trade school, healthy food, safe, affordable, adequate housing, and economic security for all, even if they are unable orget thisunwilling to work2 Thessalonians 3:10 gives a clear response to that idea.

As many commentators noted, the Green New Deal is really an attempt by a radical wing of the Democratic Party to signal its ideological purity. According to Jonah Goldberg at National Review, this is more utopian Christmas list than it is legislation. Even if Congress were to pass itwhich would never happenthey couldnt actually act on it in any real sense.

And yet, Harsanyi points out, its worth noting that during its very short life, the proposal garnered endorsements from Democratic presidential hopefuls Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Julian Castro, and Beto ORourke. Because it struck such a chord with the up-and-coming of the party, wed be foolish to dismiss it as mere posturing.

There is a worldview behind the Green New Deal, which as Goldberg writes, is dangerous. The proposal, like every worldview, answers at least two questions: (1) whats wrong with the world, and (2) how can we fix it? On both counts, the Green New Deal is profoundly out-of-touch with reality.

Rather than human evil, the breakdown of the family, or the compromise of morality, the Green New Deal identifies the modern economy as the problem, and promises to dismantle it without offering any viable replacement. It also guarantees free money, housing, education, healthcare, and even food, without any realistic way to pay for it.

In short, what Ocasio-Cortez and Markey offer is the state as our savior. And they seem to believe that this is not only wise, but economically and technologically possible, if Washington will only decree it.

The Green New Deal, as unfeasible as it may be, is an expression of a worldview that is very popular and which dominates left-leaning universities and media. It sees all problems as political problems and therefore all solutions as political, too. Though the plan isnt online anymore, you can be sure legislation is forthcoming. After all so many of the legislators in power right now hold to some version of this utopian vision of the state, so it could hardly be otherwise.

If we dont take this worldview seriously, especially in helping the next generation understand and dismantle it, it wont be a laughing matter.Retiring NAE pres. details changing face of evangelicalism, how mov't is evolving

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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.Bible experts Eric Mason, James White clash over racist history of abortion

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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.Conservative Christians denounce Alabama, Supreme Court for denying imam to executed Muslim

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Evangelicals and conservative Christians denounced Alabama officials and the U.S. Supreme Court for denying a Muslim inmate the presence of a cleric when he was executed.

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court vacated a stay of execution for Domineque Ray. As a result, last Thursday Ray was executed via lethal injection while the imam had to be in a separate room.

While Holman Correctional Facility, where Ray was imprisoned, regularly allowed Christian chaplains to be present at the execution, they refused to honor Rays request for an imam. The high court officially granted to vacate the stay of execution due to the lateness in which Ray filed a petition.

On November 6, 2018, the State scheduled Domineque Rays execution date for February 7, 2019. Because Ray waited until January 28, 2019 to seek relief, we grant the States application to vacate the stay entered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, read the decision.

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan authored a dissent, being joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Stephen Breyer.

To justify such religious discrimination, the State must show that its policy is narrowly tailored to a compelling interest. I have no doubt that prison security is an interest of that kind, wrote Justice Kagan.

But the State has offered no evidence to show that its wholesale prohibition on outside spiritual advisers is necessary to achieve that goal. 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.

Rod Dreher, an editor at The American Conservative, author, and an Orthodox Christian, took to his Twitter account to denounce what happened.

This is a profound moral wrong, and should not be forgotten, tweeted Dreher last Friday, getting over a 1,000 retweets and more than 4,200 likes.

Conservative evangelical writer David French of the National Review said that by denying Ray his preferred spiritual adviser, the high court had upheld a grave injustice.

Since the majority didnt reach a decision on the merits, the case doesnt negatively impact substantive constitutional law, but it represents a grave injustice nonetheless. The court could have easily issued an injunction permitting Ray access to his imam of his choice, wrote French.

Rays execution was just. The circumstances were not. The states obligation is to protect and facilitate the free exercise of a persons faith, not to seek reasons to deny him consolation at the moment of his death.

In an op-ed for The New York Times, Alan Cross, a Southern Baptist pastor in Alabama, argued that Alabama officials worsened religious freedom even further when they decided to stop providing chaplains at executions altogether, in response to the case.

"Religious liberty is inconvenient. It sometimes requires that we work together to accommodate the religious practices and needs of various groups. It creates problems for anyone looking for quick, efficient solutions to complex issues  for example, whether a state that provides Christian chaplains in the death chamber must also provide an imam," he wrote.

Cross was also alarmed that those on death row will not hear the Gospel one last time before they are executed in Alabama.

"That message of last-minute mercy is regularly preached in churches all over Alabama. It is repeated by pastors and chaplains in hospitals and on death beds. And, until this week, it was available up until the last moment for those being executed by the state for their crimes.

"But this offer of mercy could be in danger if the state removes all chaplains from the execution chamber. Any last-minute rush of repentance could be met with silence. Some will say that such an end is what the criminal deserves. But mercy from God gives us what we dont deserve: grace, even for the worst of offenders," he wrote.

Michael R. Wear, former deputy director of President Obama's White House office of Faith Based initiatives, saw the decision as a good example of why liberal activists should stop trying to weaken the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Kagans dissent draws on the principles codified by RFRA. I wish the conservative justices would have heeded them here, noted Wear on Twitter.

This case is about what happens when government believes its interests and perspective on theological issues ought to outweigh religious expression. The answer is not to weaken religious freedom for some, but to strengthen it for all.Trump admin. plans to detain migrant kids at toxic site, report says

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A planned detention facility for migrant children is being built on a toxic site, a new report says.

"The area is contaminated with lead, arsenic, benzene, PFAS, and other chemicals associated with increased risk of cancer and neurodevelopmental damage. Other contaminants detected at the site include volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which contaminate the air and threaten human health through vapor intrusion causing nausea, headaches, and damage to the nervous system, kidneys, and liver," the environmental legal advocacy group Earth Justice claims in the Tuesday report.

The Trump administration proposed to house 7,500 unaccompanied migrant children at Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas, according to a July 2018 draft report by the Department of Health and Human Services for the U.S. Air Force.

The Christian Post reached out to the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement for a response but did not hear back by press time.

According to publicly available documents obtained by Earth Justice, the detention facility will partly be placed on top of an old landfill. Other contaminated sites at or near where the children will be held, should the proposal move forward, include a previous small arms firing range, which contaminated the soil with lead, a fuel storage facility, and an Aqueous Film Forming Foam release area, which may have put polyflouroalkyl substances in the soil or groundwater.

"This report makes it clear that detaining migrant children on GAFB is not just ill-conceived, it is dangerous and could damage the lives of thousands of children for years to come. Migrant children fleeing desperate conditions do not belong in cages, let alone chemically polluted cages," the report concludes.

In its July draft report, HHS claimed that any potential environmental harm done to the children will be reduced or avoided before they arrive.

"The Environmental Assessment (EA) analyzes the potential environmental consequences of activities associated with the erection by Air Force and operation by HHS of temporary facilities for sheltering unaccompanied children at Goodfellow AFB, and provides environmental protection measures to avoid or reduce adverse environmental impacts," HHS stated.

The report also proposed that "Environmental Restoration Program sites would be fenced off and inaccessible to HHS & unaccompanied children."

Earth Justice filed a Freedom of Information Act request for more information on the environmental hazards at the site. The Air Force refused to release the records. Now, Earth Justice is suing the Trump administration on behalf of the Hispanic Federation, National Hispanic Medical Association, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, Southwest Environmental Center, GreenLatinos and Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, to get the information.

According to a local paper, GoSanAngelo.com, residents of San Angelo have inquired about how they can help the children, should they arrive, but were told their help would not be accepted.

"The Federal agencies supporting these facilities are unable to accept donations or volunteers to assist the unaccompanied alien children program," a spokesperson for the Administration of Child and Family Services said.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Angelo has also offered assistance.

"The Catholic Church of this area stands willing to assist with the spiritual needs of the residents, and we are also willing to offer any other volunteer charitable services that are allowed by the administrators of the detention center," Bishop Michael Sis wrote in a news release. "Our clergy and volunteers are able to communicate with the residents in Spanish."New Yorks Trinity Church has a diverse investment portfolio worth $6 billion

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As many churches in New York City struggle to survive and keep their buildings, Trinity Church, a land-rich, over 300-year-old congregation in Lower Manhattan, has emerged as a major real estate developer with a diverse investment portfolio worth $6 billion, according to the churchs current rector, the Rev. William Lupfer.

The news comes six years after a legal dispute erupted publicly about whether the Episcopal congregation was doing enough to help those in need.

Jeremy C. Bates, who filed a lawsuit that led to the institution making its financial records public, told The New York Times that he believes the church is now more unified.

We currently work with many partners in New York City and around the world to build neighborhoods, to help develop clergy and lay leadership for the church, and to help our partners resource their ministries, Patti Walsh, a spokeswoman for the church, told The New York Times.

Much of the churchs financial success has been attributed to their tax-exempt status as well as wise management of their holdings which can be traced to a gift of 215 acres from Queen Anne in 1705, the Times said. The church still owns about 14 acres of that grant.

And now that Lower Manhattan is in the middle of a real estate boom, the value of the churchs holdings in an area known as Hudson Square, has helped to improve the churchs wealth immensely.

The churchs real estate arm, Trinity Real Estate, entered into a joint venture that gave it a majority stake in 12 buildings with 6 million square feet of commercial space. Just last year, they signed a $650 million deal with the Walt Disney Company.

It is also building its own glass tower that will house administrative offices, public gathering spaces and commercial tenants while giving its historic sanctuary a $110 million renovation.

While there may have been disagreements over how the church was managing its wealth over time, the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, also a New York City landmark with a nonprofit real estate arm, said there is value in a church paying attention to the bottom line.

Butts real estate organization, which focuses on affordable housing and community development, was forced to sell off properties to satisfy debts after having overextended itself.

We were just trying to do good where others were not doing it, Butts said. We did what we could, hit a bump, and had to sell off real estate.

After focusing on real estate development, Trinity went on to diversify their holdings, and entered into a joint partnership with Norways Norges Bank Investment Management.

The proceeds from that partnership have been $1.73 billion since 2015, and used to reinvest in other areas. The churchs latest audited financial statement from 2017 shows investments yielding a return of $301 million.

Those wise investments have put the church in a position to help other churches with grants. It gives away about $10 million annually and funds humanitarian projects such as a 325-unit affordable residence for older adults and those with disabilities.

While the success of Trinity Church is being celebrated by some, the Rev. Donna Schaper of Judson Memorial Church in the West Village, told the Times that she hopes smaller churches arent replaced by the corporate style congregations like Trinity Church.

My fear is that the very thing that makes New York so lovely and interesting  the variety of our culture  is threatened by congregations becoming restaurants and high-end apartments. Its almost as tragic as losing the beautiful buildings, she said.NeverTrump evangelicals are 'spineless morons' who can't admit they're wrong: Robert Jeffress

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Dallas megachurch pastor and prominent Donald Trump supporter Robert Jeffress issued harsh words about evangelicals who oppose the president while appearing on a conservative radio show Wednesday.

Jeffress, who's pastor of the 12,000-member First Baptist Dallas, appeared on The Todd Starnes Radio Show Wednesday morning and didnt hold back when asked about Never Trump evangelicals.

Let me say this as charitably as I can, Jeffress said. These Never Trump evangelicals are morons. They are absolutely spineless morons and they cannot admit that they were wrong.

Jeffress, who was one of the first evangelical leaders to voice his support for Trump during the 2016 presidential primaries, is known for being outspoken in his support of the president and is no stranger to having his remarks shared in headlines across the internet. However, his remarks Wednesday might be his strongest condemnation yet of the cohort within evangelicalism that has staunchly opposed Trump since the 2016 presidential primaries.

Jeffress told Starnes, a Christian conservative columnist regularly published on Fox News, that he doesnt understand why Never Trump evangelicals cant acknowledge the positive things that Trump has done, especially when it comes to passing pro-life policies.

This is an issue of life and death. This is so black and white, so much about good versus evil. I dont get it, Jeffress explained. It really goes to the core of who we are as a country and what kind of a country we have in the future, and if we cant get this issue of life right  I just dont know where were going to go down the road.

Jeffress continued by pointing out that abortion advocates are still pushing the legal limit of abortion with controversial late-term bills in states like New York and Virginia.

What youre seeing that [New York Gov.] Andrew Cuomo and others have proposed its not only sinful and wrong, it is barbaric, Jeffress said. It is the sign of what Romans 1 in the New Testament calls a depraved mind that would allow that to happen.

Jeffress stressed that Christians must stand up to defend the unborn.

We cannot afford to be like German Christians who, in the rise of the evil reign of Adolf Hitler, just remained neutered. They remained silent. And you saw what happened there, Jeffress said. I think theres a similar wave of godlessness that is rising in our country right now and we must push back against that tide.

Jeffress remarks to Starnes this week isn't the first time that he's called out Never Trump evangelicals.

"We support this president's conservative positions and what is happening right now vindicates our decision to choose Donald Trump as president, Jeffress said last June on Fox News. And I believe the Never Trump movement, the little sliver of it still in evangelicalism, is going to be shut up forever."

On Monday, conservative writer Erick Erickson, a former Never Trumper, announced that he will endorse Trump and Vice President Mike Pence for re-election in 2020.

Jeffress responded.

Remember when @EWErickson questioned whether I was going to heaven because of my support for President @realDonaldTrump? Jeffress asked in a tweet Tuesday. Welcome aboard the #TrumpTrain, Eric! Better late than never.

Jeffress comments on Starnes show drew a strong response from Alan Cross, a Baptist pastor and missional strategist with the Montgomery Baptist Association. Cross is the author of the 2014 book When Heaven and Earth Collide: Racism, Southern Evangelicals, and the Better Way of Jesus.

Robert Jeffress calls anti-Trump Christians, spineless morons, Or, form of Raca, which is Aramaic for fool, Cross wrote in a tweet. Greek word for fool = moros, where we get moron. JESUS: whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. Matthew 5:22. @robertjeffress should repent.

Paul Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, an ordained Baptist minister and senior vice president and editor of Voices on Auburn Seminary in New York City, wrote on Twitter that "being called a fool (for being a Christian who does not support trump) by pastor Jeffress is a welcomed confirmation that all is well with my soul."Missouri woman who claims state's abortion laws 'violate' her satanic beliefs loses fight

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Missouri's Supreme Court has dismissed a Satanic Temple member's religious challenge to the states informed consent law, which required her to wait 72 hours and gave her the opportunity to view an ultrasound before having an abortion.

On Wednesday, Supreme Court judges ruled against the plaintiff, an anonymous member of the Satanic Temple listed as Mary Doe.

Doe alleged that her religious rights were violated by a state law requiring women seeking abortions be provided with a booklet that says "the life of each human being begins at conception." Abortion providers also must give women a chance to view an ultrasound and hear the baby's heartbeat.

But in their ruling, the judges wrote that Doe didn't have to read the booklet and could have declined the ultrasound: "It simply provides her with that opportunity," they wrote.

The case stems back to 2015, when Doe traveled from southeastern Missouri to St. Louis in for an abortion at Planned Parenthood. At the time, she gave a letter to her doctors explaining that some of the state's restrictions on abortion conflict with her beliefs.

Specifically, her letter advised she has deeply held religious beliefs that a nonviable fetus is not a separate human being but is part of her body and that abortion of a nonviable fetus does not terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being, notes the case.

Her letter further absolved the doctors of their responsibility to deliver the booklet to her or to wait 72 hours before performing her abortion, advising them she voluntarily, freely and without coercion was choosing to have the abortion that day. The clinic, however, refused her request. Instead, as required by the law, it gave Doe an ultrasound and the opportunity to listen to the fetal heartbeat.

Missouri is one of five states that have a 72 hour waiting period for abortions. Doe, who eventually had an abortion, told local media that as an adherent to the principles of the Satanic Temple, she believes her body is inviolable, subject to her own will alone.

"I personally would have liked to have the procedure done as soon as possible," she said. "But with all the difficulties, how hard it is to do this, it's been put off for several weeks. If you're right on the edge of the state you've got to go 500 miles just to get to St. Louis, and you have to make arrangements."

The Satanic Temple filed state and federal lawsuits on behalf of Doe in May 2015 and launched crowd-funding efforts on multiple websites to raise the funds to help the woman get her abortion, raising over $45,000.

"Please contribute to The Satanic Temple's legal aid fund to offer exemptions against, and actively challenge, arbitrary, insulting, and outright harmful anti-abortion legislation," stated the Temple on the IndieGoGo page.

Following Wednesdays ruling, the woman's attorney, James MacNaughton, said they're disappointed, but added that there might be "some small measure of vindication" if the court ruling means women can turn down ultrasounds and still receive abortions.

In turn, Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt's spokesman, Chris Nuelle, told the AP his office applauds the ruling, as the measure is "designed to protect women from undue pressure and coercion during the sensitive decision of whether or not to have an abortion."Louisiana College leaves CCCU over support for 'Fairness for All' LGBT compromise

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A private Baptist college in Louisiana has left the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities over its objection to the 180-school networks support for the Fairness for All compromise.

Louisiana College, a school of about 1,000 undergrads affiliated with the Louisiana Baptist Convention, submitted a withdrawal notice to CCCU in January, its president told The Louisiana Baptist Message.

The withdrawal comes months after CCCU officially endorsed the Fairness for All initiative that supports legislative constructs to cement LGBT civil rights protections into federal law in exchange for religious liberty protections.

Louisiana College President Rick Brewer reportedly sent a letter to CCCU President Shirley Hoogstra asserting that Louisiana College could not be "willfully associated" with any entity that endorses Fairness for All legislation even though its long relationship with CCCU has been "beneficial.

Sometimes the answer to such matters is to agree to disagree, Brewer was quoted as writing in the letter. But the import and impact of the Fairness for All initiative calls for Louisiana College to respectfully disagree with CCCUs stance.

Norm Miller, Louisiana College vice president for communications and integrative marketing, confirmed to The Christian Post that the institution dropped out of CCCU because of the association's support for Fairness for All. For other questions, Miller referred CP to the report published by the Baptist Message, the state convention-owned newspaper.

CCCU exists to serve Christian colleges and universities in their mission through public advocacy, professional development, and experiential education. Greta Hays, CCCUs director of communications and public affairs, told CP Wednesday that CCCU membership is voluntary and institutions join and leave CCCU at a variety of times and for a variety of reasons.

In the case of Louisiana College, who themselves disclosed their reason for leaving, we can confirm that they left CCCU due to Fairness for All, Hays wrote in an email. But in general, as it relates to other institutions in the past or future, our practice is not to comment on why individual institutions choose to join or leave our organization  this is something that individual institutions may choose to disclose, but is not our role to comment on.

Fairness for All supports the passage of federal nondiscrimination legislation that protects on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation while bolstering religious exemptions allowing institutions to uphold the traditional Christian teachings on marriage and sexuality in their operations without government coercion.

According to CCCU, Fairness for All would ensure that LGBT Americans can't be denied access to employment, housing, financial credit and social service programs funded by the federal government. At the same time, it would ensure that churches and religious organizations "will not be found to be engaging in discriminatory actions simply because of their religious beliefs."

The initiative comes as Christian colleges across the nation are dealing with religious freedom concerns when it comes to enforcement of state discrimination laws.

Although Fairness for All is seen by some evangelical leaders as an important step that puts down markers in the public conversation surrounding the intersection of LGBT rights and religious freedom, others have objected to the idea and fear that such legislation will only coerce Christians to embrace LGBT rights.

Shirley Mullen, the president of Houghton College in Western New York and vice chair of CCCU's board of directors, defended the Fairness for All initiative earlier this month when talking with reporters after CCCUs Presidents Conference in Washington, D.C.

The debate is not about the importance about the traditional view of marriage, Mullen contested. The debate is about the best strategy for preserving this.

She admits that while there may be some risk associated with Fairness for All, she contested that there is also a risk on the LGBT side of the equation.

Right now, the way our society is polarized, they [religious freedom and LGBT rights] are not on a level playing field, Mullen contended. The sense [in society now] is that one side has to win and one side has to lose.

According to Mullen, the Fairness for All approach is much better than the Equality Act, which is expected to have success in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives. The bill would provide legal protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. However, it would not provide the religious freedom protections that the Fairness for All initiative is seeking.

[I]t, in fact, stereotypes religious freedom ... as something that leads to violence, Mullen told reporters. Now, the Equality Act doesnt say this but I have actually heard people in higher education say that traditional religious protections are bigotry.

CCCU is no stranger to having members schools drop out over LGBT issues.

In 2015, two member schools left CCCU after two other member schools  Goshen College and Eastern Mennonite University  changed policies allowing for the hiring of faculty members in same-sex relationships.

In September 2015, CCCU board announced the results of a survey of member institution presidents. The survey found that 75 percent of CCCU member presidents supported a recommendation to move Goshen College and EMU to nonmember status. EMU and Goshen College ultimately left CCCU and CCCU reaffirmed its commitment to the historic Christian view of marriage.Focus on the Family to put live 4-D ultrasounds on Times Square jumbotron

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In response to New York's new abortion law, which effectively allows unlimited abortion until birth, Focus on the Family launched the largest pro-life effort in the organization's history.

The 12-week campaign, dubbed SEE LIFE CLEARLY, will culminate in a May 4 event in Times Square, "Alive from New York," where live 4-D ultrasounds will be broadcast on a jumbotron.

"Were looking to fill Times Square with pro-life Americans, and it will feature live music, compelling and inspirational speakers, and best of all, live 4-D ultrasounds broadcast on a massive digital marquee in Times Square, powerfully showing the world that a baby inside the womb is fully human and should be given the chance to be born," Focus announced.

Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, believes the images will have a powerful impact.

"We'll have great speakers. We're going to have music, but we're also going to do a live ultrasound of a third-trimester baby. And with the 4-D technology that we have, it looks like a picture of a 1-year-old. There is no way a person is going to be able to say, 'That is not a child.' It is a child and we want everybody to see it," he told CBN News Tuesday.

A series of events in recent weeks have brought more attention to late-term abortions and the killing of babies who survive botched abortions.

On Jan. 22, New York passed a law protecting abortion rights through an entire pregnancy. The law stated that an abortion can be performed for any reason before 24 weeks or "at any time when necessary to protect a patient's life or health." Since the Supreme Court ruled in Doe v. Bolton that the health reasons are defined by the doctor, the law effectively allows unlimited abortion until birth.

Later that week, during a subcommittee hearing in the Virginia legislature, Democrat Kathy Tran was answering questions about an abortion bill and said it would allow abortion while the mom was in labor and dilating. In an attempt to clarify those remarks, Gov. Ralph Northam, who is embroiled in a blackface scandal within his own party, said that the abortion bill would allow doctors to withhold care from a baby born alive, presumably after an abortion failed to kill the fetus.

In response to Northam's comments, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., has been seeking passage of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, to protect the lives of babies marked for abortion but born alive.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., blocked the bill, arguing, We have laws against infanticide in this country. This is a gross misinterpretation of the actual language of the bill that is being asked to be considered and therefore I object."

In a Wednesday Fox News interview, Sasse appeared with Daly to talk about the legislation and the Focus on the Family campaign.

"The reality is, what New York did is try to strip protections from babies right up until the moment of birth and then they went out and they said let's celebrate this and light up the World Trade Center in pink lights," Sasse said.

"The pro-life movement is pro-compassion, it's pro-baby, it's pro-mom and it's pro-science," he added.

The SEE LIFE CLEARLY campaign is asking supporters to sign "A Declaration for Life," attend the May 4 "Alive from New York" event in Times Square, and donate to its Option Ultrasound program.Conservatives greatly outnumber liberals in the United Methodist Church: poll

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Self-identified theological conservatives outnumber self-identified theological liberals in the United Methodist Church, according to a recently released survey.

The UMC is scheduled to have a special session of General Conference on Feb. 23-26 in St. Louis, Missouri, to determine their official stance on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

United Methodist Communications and Research NOW conducted an online survey Sept 27Oct. 4, 2018, that had a sample space of 541 respondents who were UMC laity.

In findings released earlier this month, the survey found that 44 percent of respondents identified as Conservative-Traditional, 28 percent identified as Moderate-Centrist, 20 percent identified as Progressive-Liberal, and 8 percent identified as unsure.

Chuck Niedringhaus, senior director of marketing research and local church outreach at UM Communications, said in a statement Wednesday that the findings counter misconceptions about the UMCs theological makeup.

Oftentimes we think the denomination is equally divided. It was important for us to see that the plurality of people see themselves as more conservative, said Niedringhaus, as reported by United Methodist Insight.

The survey report also found that Conservative-Traditional respondents were the most likely to report attending worship once a week at 35 percent. From there, it was Moderate-Centrist at 27 percent, and Progressive-Liberal at 23 percent.

On the other end, Progressive-Liberal respondents were the most likely to report attending worship seldom, at 18 percent. From there, it was Moderate-Centrist at 8 percent and Conservative-Traditional at 7 percent.

When the survey asked respondents Which should be the primary focus of the United Methodist Church? 88 percent of Conservative-Traditional respondents said, Saving souls for Jesus Christ, but only 32 percent of Progressive-Liberals said the same.

In response to the same question, 68 percent of Progressive-Liberal respondents replied Advocating for social justice to transform this world while just 12 percent of Conservative-Traditional respondents said the same.

After years of divisive internal debate, the UMC is holding a special session to determine whether it will maintain its official biblically-grounded objection to homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

At present, the UMC Book of Discipline labels homosexuality incompatible with Christian teaching, which includes barring clergy from performing same-sex weddings and prohibiting noncelibate homosexuals from being ordained.

Delegates to the special session in St. Louis will consider plans to resolve the internal debate, among them The One Church Plan and The Traditional Plan.

The Traditional Plan maintains the denomination's stance on LGBT issues, plus it guarantees more enforcement and might allow dissenting churches an easy process for leaving the denomination.

The One Church Plan, which is favored by most bishops, would allow regional bodies and congregations to determine their own stance on LGBT issues.Phil Robertson: 10 lies the devil is using to 'destroy' America

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Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson has come out with a new book that aims to blow the lid off the lies that are destroying America.

The conservative Christian reality TV star spoke with The Christian Post to talk about the book and how coming to Christ at age 28 helped him leave his sinful life in the past.

The 72-year-old patriarch of A&E's hit reality series and the co-owner of the Duck Commander Company released his new title The Theft of Americas Soul on Tuesday.

The book purports to expose what he says are 10 essential deceptions and schemes being used by the devil to steal, kill and destroy Americas soul. The new book also shares what Robertson calls 10 counter-truths to those lies.

In the interview, Robertson explained that he was inspired to write the book after witnessing how prevalent issues of drug addiction and sexually transmitted diseases are in todays American society.

Robertson said he fears that United States  as it backs away from its founding on Judeo-Christian principles will one day dissolve because God could leave the country to wallow in its own wickedness.

I hope America wont be like the Roman Empire, Robertson said as he proceeded to quote Romans 1:28: Since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done.

Robertson said the idea of the book is simple: to get people to embrace living a godly life and to get them to love God and love their neighbor.

You go out and get a job and you work and you feed your family. You are the father and you have a mother and you raise your children and you teach them, correct them and rebuke and them and train them, said Robertson after noting how millions of Americans are suffering from some type of drug addiction that has left them hopeless.

We have lost that in America across the board and we are looking at the results of it. I am just trying to remind people that if we keep this up, this whole things is going to fall down upon us.

The 10 lies being used to destroy America that Robertson highlighted in the book are:

-God is dead -There is no devil -The truth is relative -God did not create life -Sex is for self-gratification -Virtue is outdated -Laws can be ignored or changed if they are inconvenient -Unity is not possible -Church participation and day-to-day life should be kept separate -Christians should shut their traps

When asked about the lie of sex being for self-gratification, Robertson noted that the Centers for Disease Control has reported that there are as many as 110 million sexually transmitted infections in the United States.

As STD rates continue to rise to record levels, Robertson believes that this is because too many people are not following Gods design for their lives.

I am just trying to gear people toward the safe way of one-man-one-woman [marriage]. We are not going to sleep around and we are going to keep our sex between each other and no one will ever catch a sexually transmitted disease from that formation, Robertson contended. Why is it that sexually transmitted diseases follow immoral conduct? Well, the writer of Romans, the Apostle Paul, said that it's Gods wrath. He is saying to you, Don't do that.

Robertson was also critical of the many Christians who feel like their faith can be lived out just by going to church on Sundays.

Robertson, who has baptized hundreds of people in a river near his Louisiana home, asserts that Christians are not to keep their mouths shut in the public square but rather are supposed to live out their faith in a 24/7 fashion.

They misunderstand Christianity. The American model is build a [church] building and everybody goes up there at least one time a week, he said.

However, Romans 12 says something different.

If you think about it, the biblical outline of worship is in view of Gods mercy, offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual act of worship, Robertson paraphrased.

Biblically, [faith is more than just] going to church one day a week and calling it a wrap and worship is over. There is 168 hours a week. So if you went to church for a couple hours [on Sunday], there is another 166 hours of what are you doing? It has to be a 24/7-type thing.

Robertson admits, however, that he was not always a professing Christian and didnt always follow Gods design for his life. In fact, he said, there was a time he could barely tell Jesus apart from a billy goat.

I used to get drunk, get high, get laid, Robertson admitted. I was immoral.

Robertson said he began investigating God at the age of 28 in the mid-1970s.

When I read about him, I said, Goodness, there is a way out of here alive, Robertson recalled. I repented and since that time, as amazing as it sounds, now here I am as a multimillionaire if that means anything. How in the world did you go from a nobody and do what you do now? I put my faith in God and I did not waver and I left my life of sin and good things came out. It was either luck or what God said all along.

Robertson said he was driven to look for a deeper purpose in life because, at the time, he felt as if he was as dog chasing his tail.

So I repented and got on my knees before God for the first time. I am 72, so I have been at this for about 44 years now, he said. The more I have studied about God and the more I read my Bible, I realized that this is true and really happening. There is a way out of here alive.

Robertsons book has drawn some criticism. Publishers Weekly criticized Robertson for what was deemed excessive use of religious rhetoric. In its review, the outlet argued that the book suffered from a lack of nuance [that] will turn off many readers.

At the time Robertson responded in a statement saying the review was what he hoped for.

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. It is the one in them, the evil one were the friction comes, Robertson told CP when asked about the review. The Bible says repeatedly, everyone who lives a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. So Jesus said to jump for joy and be happy when people hate you, when they exclude you or insult you or reject your name as evil because of Him. We can take a little flak from time to time. We just smile and we love them and we go on.UN Threatens to Blacklist Major Companies with Locations in Israeli Settlements Share Tweet

The United Nations is set to release a blacklist, warning international and Israeli companies against their business operations in Israeli settlements, which the UN identifies as occupied territory.

The UN Human Rights Council has warned companies such as Coca Cola, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Africa Israel Investments, Bank Leumi, Bank Hapoalim and Israels main transportation and utility companies, about their potential inclusion on the list of 206 businesses operating in the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and eastern Jerusalem, Ynet News reports.

The UN began publishing the blacklist in 2016 when the body passed a resolution condemning companies that operate directly or indirectly in Israeli settlements. The list has been updated each year since then, CBN News writes.

The resolution passed 32-15, leading Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accuse the UN Human Rights Council of being an anti-Israel circus.

Israel and the United States, who pulled out of the UN Human Rights Council last year, have opposed the publishing of the list, but it is scheduled to be released in March at the 40th UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva, according to Ynet News.

Netanyahu called on responsible governments not to honor the decisions of the Council that discriminate against Israel.

CEO of Hot Telecommunications Tal Granot-Goldstein appealed for help from Netanyahu.

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, she wrote in a letter. 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.

By releasing this blacklist, Granot-Goldstein claimed the UNHRC intends 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.

The resolution of the UNHRC followed a fact-finding missions investigation, which reported in 2013 that business enterprises working in the territory had directly and indirectly, enabled, facilitated and profited from the construction and growth of the settlements, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner.

The violations of human rights associated with the settlements are pervasive and devastating, reaching every facet of Palestinian life, the report said. Owing to settlement development and infrastructure, Palestinians suffer from restrictions on freedom of religion, movement and education; their rights to land and water; access to livelihoods and their right to an adequate standard of living; their rights to family life; and many other fundamental human rights.

The report explained that Businesses play a central role in furthering the establishment, maintenance and expansion of Israeli settlements. It called on business enterprises to consider whether it is possible to engage in such an environment in a manner that respects human rights if companies wish to maintain due diligence process in their operations in a complex territory.

Photo courtesy: Unsplash/Robert ByeCoptic Church Canonizes Christian Men Beheaded by ISIS as Martyr Saints Share Tweet

A new book releases Friday that provides insight into the 21 Christian men who were beheaded by ISIS members on a Libyan beach in 2015 in a widely publicized video.

German novelist Martin Mosebach authored the book, The 21: A Journey into the Land of Coptic Martyrs. The book will take a look at the men who were pictured in the photos and videos.

The 2015 photo shows the men on their knees with their backs toward the Mediterranean Sea. Behind the men are Islamic State militants with knives.

Their deaths shook the world and later, the Coptic Church officially canonized the 21 men as martyr saints.

According to the Christian Post, Mosebach saw one of the photos from the beheading on a German Catholic magazine. The picture showed the head of one of the men, Kiryollos Boushra Fawzy.

This picture caught my eye in 2016, Mosebach said. An image of the face of one migrant worker beheaded by ISIS on the beach in Libya.

So, Mosebach visited a town where some of the men had lived and spoke with many of their family members.

These communities and congregations are very educated and know the faith, he said. In the spirituality of the Copts, miracles are a very important thing.

In El-Aour, Mosebach said, everybody is talking about miracles.

According to the Christian Post, handfuls of miracle stories are being circulated about the 21 martyrs. Mosebach shared that some of the stories credit the martyrs with saving children falling out of windows, curing the sick and healing a woman's infertility.

He said one account tells of one of the martyrs sons falling from a three-story building and breaking his arm. When the son woke up, however, he recalled his father catching him and later X-rays did not show any fractures.

You can go to every family in this region. They will tell you the same thing, Mosebach explained. That they are ready for martyrdom and they wait for the martyrdom and they are proud of the martyrs. They say that our church is the church of the martyrs. Martyrs are the seeds of Christianity. As long as people are killed for Christianity, the church is living and not dead.

Photo courtesy: Pixabay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 saidhe 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.

Evin House of Detention in northwest Tehran, Iran. | (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)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 Iran's 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 USA's 2019 World Watch List.

Last May, the Treasury Department's 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 regime's mismanagement and corruption are subject to abuse and mistreatment in Iran's prisons."

The Iranian regime has regularly rejected claims of human rights abuses in Evin Prion.

Courtesy of The Christian PostTheres a lot of opinions out there regarding women traveling during their third trimester of pregnancy. Some people claim its fine to fly even late in pregnancy. But others point out that travel that close to delivery could lead to unnecessary complications. Weve all heard those shocking stories of babies being born on airplanes, right?

Meghan Markle has been missing some royal events and attending others. Fans assumed it was because of her pregnancy  after all, its her first baby, and taking things cautiously is wise. But now its been revealed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be heading to Morocco at the end of February for a historical royal visit. Is that a smart move for a very pregnant Meghan Markle?

Meghan Markle | Jeff Spicer/iStock/Getty Images

Where are Prince Harry and Meghan Markle traveling to?

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will make history at the end of the month when they go on the first royal visit to Morocco in 40 years. A palace spokesperson confirmed that the trip will occur between February 23rd and 25th. While no due date for Meghan Markle was announced yet, small clues have led fans to believe that shes due at the end of April. That would mean her travel plans would happen around her seventh month of pregnancy.

According to People magazine, the trip is meant to solidify ties with the African country. It will build on the close relationship between the U.K. and Morocco. The Duke and Duchess are looking forward to the visit which will highlight the vital roles that girls education and youth empowerment are playing in, and shaping, modern Morocco, the spokesperson explained.

The last time Queen Elizabeth did a royal tour of Morocco was in 1980.

Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, will soon have a child. | Oli Scarff  WPA Pool/Getty Images

How dangerous is the trip?

According to The Bump, most airlines wont allow passengers to board the plane past 36 weeks of pregnancy. Obviously, that wont matter for Meghan Markle, who most likely wont be flying commercial (though its not out of the question). Its because flying late in pregnancy may lead to complications, especially if there are previous high-risk factors.

Pregnancy causes swelling because circulation is strained in your extremities. This becomes even worse when you stay in one position for a long time  like while sitting on an airplane. At worst, poor circulation could lead to blood clots. Changes in air pressure and stress overall could also lead to early labor.

The shorter the flight, the less severre the risk factors. A trip from London to Morocco might span anywhere from three to five hours.

Should Meghan Markle go to Morocco?

Meghan Markle | Jeff Spicer/Getty Images

At the end of the day, the decision on whether to fly or not rests with Meghan Markle and her obstetrician. Even pregnant women flying commercial airlines in their third trimester may be permitted to board the plane with a note from their doctor. If there are no complications or red flags, and if there is a plan in place for what will happen if early labor does occur, it can be perfectly safe.

Well all be sending Meghan best wishes for a safe, productive goodwill trip to Morocco!The proposal by Sen. J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, would spell out that this year  and this year only  state tax returns for 2018 need not be filed until June 15.Its sad to think that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are spending their first Valentines Day as a married couple apart. With Meghan expecting to deliver the newest member of the royal family sometime in the spring, its also the couples last romantic Valentines Day as a family of two.

Instead of cozy at home cooking dinner and enjoying each others company, the pair is apart this Valentines Day while Prince Harry is working.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry | Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Where is Prince Harry spending Valentines Day?

Its not like Prince Harry has a choice about where hes spending Valentines Day  the working royal had to travel to Bardufoss, Norway to visit the Exercise Clock, which is inside the Arctic Circle. Prince Harry has certain duties to perform as Captain of the Royal Marines, and this was one of them. Too bad it had to occur on a day that should be reserved for romance.

Exercise Clock is a place where military personnel get trained on suriving in harsh conditions, including frigid temperatures. The Valentines Day 2019 excursion happened on the 50th anniversary of Commando Helicopter Force and Joint Helicopter Command deploying to Bardufoss for training.

Prince Harrys men made a shrine to Meghan Markle

Prince Harry | Victoria Jones/iStock/Getty Images

Perhaps knowing hed be missing his lovely wife, and all in good fun, the men deployed with the Duke of Sussex had a fun surprise for him. Prince Harry was led into a makeshift igloo called Quincey Shelter and shown a mini shrine to Meghan Markle complete with photos, candles, and music playing from their wedding.

Prince Harry was at least amused by the whole thing. You weirdos, he said upon encountering the display. Its very kind of you to invite me into your private shrine or whatever you want to call it. And the music, is that part of it? Romantic isnt it.

How did Prince Harry and Meghan Markle celebrate Valentines Day in the past?

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Chris Jackson/Getty Images

In 2017, the couple enjoyed a low-key date night at home. Thats where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex tend to be happiest  hanging out at home together, not out partying and socializing. No doubt they wish they were doing the same this year. In 2018, right before their wedding, Harry and Meghan spent February 13 embarking on royal visits in Edinburgh. But at least they were together.

But its possible theyre saving Valentines Day plans for the time after Prince Harry gets home from his mission. After all, theres speculation that the couple is planning a babymoon, or a last quick vacation before the new baby arrives. Theyll have to plan it soon since the couple is going on a royal tour to Morocco at the end of March.

Hopefully in the meantime Prince Harry enjoyed his shrine!With her due date on the horizon, Meghan Markle is most-likely beaming with excitement  and ready to meet Baby Sussex. At this stage in her pregnancy, many mothers-to-be get showered with gifts from friends and loved ones. But, in her new royal life, Meghan Markle has had to let go of such traditions and not partake in a baby shower for her firstborn.



That said, new reports suggest that the Duchess of Sussex could end up showering Baby Sussex after all. Will Meghan Markle have a baby shower? Find out  plus, who would throw the party  ahead.



Royal baby shower rules



Meghan, Duchess of Sussex walks to her car after visiting the National theatre in central London on January 30, 2019 after it was announced that she would be Patron of the theatre. (Photo by Niklas HALLEN / AFP) (Photo credit should read NIKLAS HALLEN/AFP/Getty Images)

Meghan Markle might have planned a high-end nursery (equipped with eucalyptus-infused paint, no less) for her firstborn, but she draws the line of luxury at that. According to several reports, the Duchess of Sussex cant have a baby shower for Baby Sussex. That said, Meghan Markle likes to break the rules and her baby shower is no different.



Will Meghan Markle have a baby shower after all? Take a closer look at why royal baby showers are a no-no, plus find out how the Duchess of Sussex got around the protocol, below.



Royals dont have baby showers



Royal women dont have baby showers. Not because they dont want to celebrate a new royal baby  the royals love a celebration  but because they think baby showers are inappropriate. Since the royal family has wealth (and gets some of their income from British citizens), a lavish baby shower would be seen as highly inappropriate, royal expert Victoria Arbiter confirmed to The Sun. Theres nothing they cant go out and buy themselves, she added.



Baby showers arent as popular in the United Kingdom



In addition to the royal familys traditions, baby showers arent nearly as popular in the United Kingdom as they are in America. Meghan Markle has made a lot of changes in her life and going along with her new countrys customs is ultra important to her, as she represents Her Majesty and the people of Britain.



Meghan Markle can still accept gifts



In true royal fashion, the whole no baby shower rule somewhat contradicts itself. On one end, Meghan Markle cant have a baby shower because she can afford to purchase items herself. But, on the other, the Duchess of Sussex can allegedly accept gifts from loved ones without a formal party. With friends like Serena Williams and Priyanka Chopra, the duchess could still receive some impressive digs for her royal-to-be  sans the party.



Is Kate Middleton planning a baby shower for Meghan Markle?



Despite feud rumors (and traditions), Kate Middleton has allegedly stepped up and offered to throw Meghan Markle a baby shower. The Duchess of Cambridge apparently went out of her way to get the queens permission in order to celebrate her new niece or nephew. Harpers Bazaar reports that since the whole no baby showers thing isnt a royal rule, she didnt need the queens blessing.



What will Meghan Markles baby shower be like? If the reports are true, the party likely wont be as fancy and big as one might think. The royals love a good laugh, so perhaps they will partake in some humorous baby shower games. If the party is in the afternoon, they could decide to make it a tea with fresh scones, sandwiches, and  of course  the queens favorite, Darjeeling tea.



Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook!Even before her wedding to Prince Harry, Meghan Markle was dealing with drama from several members of her family. It seemed that her half-sister and brother were eager to talk to the news media in order to spread as many rumors as possible about the soon to be royal.

Meghan handled it all with grace and dignity. Now that she is officially the Duchess of Sussex, the drama seems to be getting worse by the day. Is all of the conflict causing too much trouble and tension for the royal family?

Why is Meghan Markles family causing negative attention?

As fans of the royal family know, Meghan has been estranged from her half-sister, Samantha Markle, for quite some time. After her engagement to Prince Harry was announced, Samantha quickly began turning to social media to post hurtful comments about her famous sister.

It was even revealed that she would be writing not one, but two tell-all books, letting Meghans fans know all about the drama and family secrets that have been kept for years. Looks like the royal family is getting some negative attention they certainly dont need or want!

How is Prince Harry handling the drama?

Ever the loyal husband, Prince Harry has been standing by Meghans side throughout the family drama. The couple has been renovating their future home, Frogmore Cottage, on the grounds of Windsor Castle, for several months. Hes been doing his best to shield Meghan from the stress that her family is creating, both for her own good and the benefit of the unborn baby.

Although Harry always supports his wife, we have to wonder what strain the drama is putting on his relationship with his brother, grandmother, and the rest of his family.

Are Meghan and Kate Middleton fighting?

Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex | Stephen Pond/Getty Images

Harry has always been close with his sister in law Kate Middleton, and now that he is married, it seems that there is tension between Kate and his wife. It had been thought previously that Meghan and Harry would take residence in the apartment next to Kate and William, and the two families would be as close as ever. However, with Meghan and Harry leaving the palace in favor of a quieter environment in Windsor, fans have to wonder if it has anything to do with the supposed conflict between the two Duchesses.

The letter to Meghans father

Recently, a letter between Meghan and her father was shared with royal fans, and it had all of the details about Meghans feelings about her family situation. This was supposedly quite embarrassing for Harrys grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, as it is well known that she likes to keep personal matters private.

Meghans father, Thomas Markle, shared the letter with news outlets, much to the shock of the royal family. No doubt this hurt Meghan deeply, as this likely betrayed her trust and hurt her relationship even more.

Who is Meghan close with?

Royal fans dont have to worry, because Meghan definitely has some support throughout all of the drama! She and Harry are both very close to her mother, Doria Ragland, and that relationship only seems to be getting stronger. Doria is very excited for the arrival of the baby, and will likely be spending more time in London after Meghan gives birth. This is great, as Meghan will definitely need the love and nurturing ways that her mother can provide her with amid all of the drama she is going through with everyone else.

Fans have spoken out about their support for Meghan, Harry, and the upcoming baby. Harry and Meghan are upset about the tension that they are feeling, but hopefully, things will settle down quickly and the couple can move on!For months now there have been reports about a bitter feud between Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton. Sources have leaked information almost daily about why the duchesses are supposedly at odds. Most people though are cautious not to believe everything they read but others feel if there was ever any truth to the sisters-in-law feuding someone in the family would surely put a stop to it. That person may just have been Prince Charles.

The royal family | Stephen Pond/Getty Images

Heres whats being said about their father-in-law stepping in to make peace and what the palace is doing to combat social media attacks against the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex.

Prince Charles told them to end feud?

The claim that Markle and Middleton are no longer at war because the Prince of Wales told them to knock it off comes from royal biographer,

Robert Jobson.

The author told Australias Sunrise that he believes theres some truth behind what was been reported but the women have ended their feud after a serious chat with Prince Charles.

I think theres no smoke without fire, Jobson said. I do think it has been blown up a little bit, but there have obviously been a few problems between the two ladies  Theres some truth in the rumors. Im sure at Christmas Prince Charles was knocking heads together and you can see that by those photographs of them all walking together in a line. They looked like they had been pushed together in a line, to be honest.

They may not be feuding

The royal family | Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Despite this claim, its important to remember that no one knows for sure if the duchesses really were feuding in the first place and all this chatter could be nothing more than rumors.

The ladies may not be best of friends but thats no reason to think they dislike each other. In fact, to counter these reports some outlets have claimed that its not Middleton or Markle who are feuding but its their husbands, Princes William and Harry, who had a rift.

Palace is monitoring social media amid rumors

Although many senior royals dont have personal social media accounts there are still deplorable comments being made about them on there as well as threats aimed at both Markle and Middleton. For this reason, palace staffers monitor as much as possible online and delete all violent, sexist, and racist comments directed at either of the women.

The Palace has always monitored comments but its a hugely time-consuming thing. They can block certain words, but some of it is quite serious, a source told Hello! magazine. Over the course of last year, with hundreds of thousands of comments, there were two or three that were violent threats. You can delete and report and block people and the police have options around particular people. Its something you have to manage because theres no other way to control it.

Read more: Whos Older Kate Middleton or Meghan Markle?

Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook!TVA River Management teams are preparing Valley reservoirs for above normal rainfall forecasted to continue over the weekend and increase next week.

The current forecast for an inch of rainfall through Saturday could ramp up to bring an additional 3-6 inches mostly during the middle of next week.



After record rainfall in 2018, we are seeing much of the same so far in early 2019, said James Everett, senior manager for TVAs River Forecast Center. With above average rainfall totals on already-saturated ground possible next week, we are moving lots of water through the system to create as much storage as possible in our reservoirs while also limiting flows to protect downstream areas.



TVA has increased spill or sluice released at its tributaries through its Cherokee, Douglas, Norris, Melton Hill and Apalachia dams to create more storage capacity. Increased releases at all nine Tennessee River main stem dams are expected with the possible exception of Kentucky Dam in order to provide flood control operations on the Ohio River.



TVA river management activities  including spilling, sluicing, hydro generation, and reducing flows at some locations  will be ongoing at tributary and main stem sites across the valley, with release strategies being updated around the clock by TVAs River Forecast Center staff as the rainfall forecast develops.



Impacts across the valley include:



 The Tennessee River at Savannah, Tenn., is expected to reach flood stage by Friday tomorrow and continue rising several feet through late next week.



 Continued TVA coordination with the US Army Corps of Engineers to manage flows at Kentucky Dam and Barkley Dam on the Cumberland River to avert flood damage on the Mississippi River and Ohio River, which already is 10 feet above flood stage.

 Possible closures of locks at Watts Bar and Chickamauga dams and commercial navigation through the Nickajack Gorge.

TVA also will be reaching out to the National Weather Service, farmers, marinas, local EMAs and other groups across the Valley to provide advanced warning about rising river levels.



This weather event is a continuation of above average rainfall patterns which resulted in 2018 being the wettest year on record across the Tennessee Valley with a basin average of 67.0 inches of rain, about 16 inches above normal.



In an average year, TVA prevents about $250 million in flood damage in the TVA region and an additional $17 million averted along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers through the operation of its dams.

Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Mark Warner (D-VA), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Angus King (I-ME) introduced the Restore Our Parks Act, bipartisan legislation that would address the nearly $12 billion backlog in long-delayed maintenance projects at the National Park Service (NPS).

Other original cosponsors include Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Susan Collins (R-ME), Kamala Harris (D-CA), John Hoeven (R-ND), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Gary Peters (D-MI), John Boozman (R-AR), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Bob Casey (D-PA), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Steve Daines (R-MT).

This legislation has been praised by Pew Charitable Trusts, the National Parks Conservation Association, the U.S. Travel Association, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Trust for the National Mall. A similar bill is being introduced today in the House led by Representatives Rob Bishop (R-UT) and Derek Kilmer (D-WA), which has more than 90 cosponsors.

For more than a century, the National Park Service has been inspiring Americans to explore the natural beauty of our country, Senator Portman said. My visits to various national parks in Ohio last year made it clear that we must pass this legislation to ensure that they have sufficient resources to maintain our national parks. This bill will create the Legacy Restoration Fund to provide the National Park Service with funds for deferred maintenance projects. This legislation will also help tackle the more than $100 million in maintenance backlog at Ohios eight national parks and will ensure the National Park Service can continue preserving American treasures like Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

The deferred maintenance backlog at national park sites in Virginia is currently over a billion dollars. The Commonwealth trails only California and the District of Columbia in total deferred maintenance needs. Colonial National Historical Park, which is home to Historic Jamestown and Yorktown Battlefield, has over $400 million in deferred maintenance needs alone, said Senator Warner.We owe it to our Commonwealth and to our country to pass this bill and clear the $12 billion maintenance backlog that is holding back essential repairs and renovations at our cherished national parks. This problem will only worsen if we fail to act.

Today, too many of our national parks are in bad shape. American families spending their vacations in our national parks are often shocked to find that so many of the roads, picnic areas, trails, campgrounds and visitor centers are run down or even closed, Senator Alexander said. The Restore Our Parks Act would be the biggest help to the National Park Service in 50 years  it would cut in half the maintenance backlog at our national parks and help restore our 418 national parks so Americans can enjoy them. The legislation is supported by a bipartisan group of senators and representatives, the Trump Administration and more than 100 conservation groups. When an idea this good  fixing our national parks for future generations  gets this much bipartisan support, its going to happen sooner or later. It is my hope we pass the legislation as soon as this year.

From Acadia to Zion, the National Park System captures our countrys diverse natural beauty and is a proud reminder of Americas dedication to preserving public land for all its citizens, Senator King said. As President Theodore Roosevelt once said, There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy, and its charm. We have a collective responsibility to maintain this spirit of the wilderness in our National Parks  and this starts with the $12 billion maintenance backlog. With strong bipartisan support, this bill will ensure our parks are well-maintained so generations of visitors can experience the wonders of our National Parks for years to come.



The Restore Our Parks Act would provide billions of dollars to address the multibillion-dollar repair backlog at our national parks, said Marcia Argust, director of The Pew Charitable Trusts project to restore Americas parks. This investment would help preserve these treasured places and support sites that generate more than $18 billion in annual spending in nearby communities by park visitors.



For years, our national parks have been plagued with underfunding while also dealing with a mounting backlog of repair needs, totaling nearly $12 billion. Grand Canyons water and sewer systems, built during World War II, are failing. Roads in Yellowstone that were originally built in 1905 for carriages, not the millions of cars and RVs that use them today, are sinking. Thanks to the leadership of Senators Portman, Warner, Alexander and King, park staff could get the funding they need to fix our national parks. The bipartisan Restore Our Parks Act would make a much needed and significant investment to address these and so many more infrastructure needs in national parks across the country, ensuring they are ready to welcome the next generation of park visitors, said Theresa Pierno, President and CEO for National Parks Conservation Association.



In 2018, our National Parks contributed $35.8 billion in total economic output and supported 306,000 American jobs. National Parks are a huge attraction for visitors across the country and around the world, which makes investment in the maintenance of our national parks not just an environmental necessity but also an economic priority. U.S. Travel applauds Senators Portman, Warner, Alexander and King for reintroducing the Restore Our Parks Act, which will invest in national park infrastructure and facilities and shrink the nearly $12 billion in deferred maintenance facing our parks, said Tori Barnes, Senior Vice President, Government Relations, U.S. Travel Association.



The nearly $12 billion National Park System deferred maintenance backlog jeopardizes some of our nations most iconic historic resources and cultural artifacts. By creating a reliable federal funding source to reduce the backlog, this legislation will enable the National Park Service and other federal agencies to save the historic structures, landscapes, and necessary infrastructure that enable the public to safely enjoy the places that reflect our nations history. We commend Reps. Bishop and Kilmer and Sens. Portman, Warner, Alexander and King for their leadership in creating a bipartisan path for Congress to secure the future of important historic and cultural resources now at risk, said Thomas J. Cassidy, vice president for government relations and policy for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.



The time is now for Congress to address this national crisis, particularly in the Nations Capital. The National Mall hosts more than 35 million visits each year and has the highest deferred maintenance bill of any National Park across the country. As the greatest symbol of American Democracy, we must improve and preserve this historic legacy for generations to come. We express our gratitude to Representatives Bishop and Kilmer in the House and Senators Portman, Warner, Alexander and King in the Senate for their steadfast leadership of this important legislation, said Catherine Townsend, president and CEO, the Trust for the National Mall.



NOTE: The Restore Our Parks Act would establish the National Park Service Legacy Restoration Fund to reduce the maintenance backlog by allocating existing revenues the government receives from on and offshore energy development. This funding would come from 50 percent of all revenues that are not otherwise allocated and deposited into the General Treasury not to exceed $1.3 billion each year for the next five years.

New TN Promise students for the 2019-20 school year will take part in a signing ceremony at Chattanooga State Community College on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 11 a.m. This ceremony affirms their commitment to enroll in a technical field of their choosing. The ceremony will take place in the Automotive Bay of Building 3 in the Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) located at 4501 Amnicola Hwy.

Chattanooga State Community Colleges participation in the annual National Technical Letter of Intent Signing Day (NC3) is designed to honor students who are entering a technical field and to celebrate the dignity of work. Chattanooga State anticipates signing more than 50 high school seniors for a commitment to attend one of the Colleges 25 TCAT programs.

The deadline to participate in the ceremony is 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 15.

Currently registered students have indicated their commitment to enroll in the technical fields of Administrative Office Professional, Aesthetics, Automotive, Barbering, Collision Repair, Cosmetology, Diesel, Industrial Electronics, Industrial Electricity, Industrial Maintenance-Mechatronics, Motorcycle & Marine, Road Building Equipment Tech, and Welding.

After a welcome by Dr. Jim Barrott, Executive Vice President of Technical College, he will introduce the guest speakers: Dr. Rebecca Ashford, Chattanooga State President; Jim Coppinger, Hamilton County Mayor; Tom Griscom, TBR Regent; Christy Gillenwater, Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce President & CEO; and Dr. Bryan Johnson, Hamilton County Schools Superintendent.

Chattanooga State will join other community and technical colleges across the country in hosting signing day ceremonies tied together by live, nationwide simulcasts. Interested persons can access the Internet feed through this link: https://youtu.be/f0A3FPY7um0

For more information on National Signing Day, contact Dr. Mike Ricketts at (423) 697-4781 or email mike.ricketts@chattanoogastate.edu.City of Cleveland Mayor Kevin Brooks will speak at the Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce "Food for Thought membership luncheon on March 21 with an update about the City of Clevelands downtown development progress and aspired path for continued success.

Prior to serving as City of Cleveland Mayor, Mr. Brooks spent eight of his 12 years in the Tennessee House of Representatives under the guidance of Governor Bill Haslam's administration. Mayor Brooks worked closely with the Governor of Tennessee on many projects that impacted the Cleveland and Bradley County, among them being the vast facelift to the Exit 20 interchange and bridge on I-75, as well as the connector roads just up the road on APD 40 that will feed traffic to the new Spring Branch Industrial Park. Most recently, Mayor Brooks worked closely with Governor Haslam on funding the state's share of the Bradley County Tennessee State Veterans Home; A108-bed facility to be built just off the APD40 bypass.

Mayor Brooks is a public relations professional, with a public servant heart. To highlight a few recent awards and honors, he received the distinguished designation as the 2018 Tennessee School Health Coalition Legislator of the Year. In 2017 he was recognized by the Tennessee Chapter American Academy of Pediatrics Legislator of the Year and 2017 Tennessee Gas Association Friend of the Flame Award recipient. Also honored in 2016 for the Legislative Champion Award, SCORE; and the 2016 Bradley County GOP Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. Mayor Brooks continues to serve on numerous community boards, working hard to make Cleveland a better place to live, work and raise a family. Committed to faith and family, Mayor Brooks and his wife, Kim are the parents of Zach and Elizabeth. They are active members of their church, Westmore Church of God.

The city of Cleveland, also known as the City with Spirit operates under a council/manager form of government with a mayor, city manager and seven council members. Cleveland embodies a small-city feeling with progressive business, excellent medical, educational and cultural facilities, and thriving industry to create an ideal place to live, work, raise a family and even retire.

The noon Food for Thought Dutch-treat luncheon held at the Cleveland / Bradley Chamber of Commerce office requires reservations to facilitate room setup and food. Please call the Chamber at 423 472-6587 to make your reservation or visit the events calendar on the Chambers website, www.clevelandchamber.com, by noon on Tuesday, March 19.

As part of Black History Month, a commemorative service which reflects on the black experience with racism will be presented at Union Hill M. B. Church at 9:45 a. m. on Sunday, Feb. 24. The program will include several generations.

The church is at 1800 North Chamberlain Ave. The era of the civil right movement will be highlighted via individuals expression of their personal experiences with Jim Crow practices. The oldest member, Mrs. Hazel Adams, will be celebrating her 101st birthday and will talk about her experience and will be honored that day.

The Sunday School Ministry especially encourages parents to bring their children to the commemoration. The goals of the presentation are to inform youth and remind adults of the sacrifices our ancestors made toward attaining racial equality. It is hoped for all who attend to be encouraged to work toward attaining the goals Dr. Martin Luther King eloquently expressed in the I Have A Dream speech.Businessman Greg Vital said he was the only speaker who was chided for going over the three-minute time limit at a Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors "listening session."

The Georgetown property owner said, "I was interrupted after I moved past the stated time limit, but the government agency did not interrupt others who exceeded the time limit."

Mr. Vital registered to speak to the board on behalf of four property owners whose private property is being condemned using TVAs government power of eminent domain to pave the way for Project Viper, TVAs once in a lifetime project that relocated the power control center from downtown Chattanooga to property the government bought in Meigs County.

Mr. Vital said, "Multiple speakers exceeded the three-minute time limit, including a 4-minute, 18-second speech by a teacher from Kentucky, where TVA is planning to shutter two coal plants. I was pleased that the board listened to that ladys message because you could feel the sincerity.

He said his remarks were interrupted at the 3:28 mark. "The whole thing was just another example of how out of touch TVA is with its customers. Seven armed TVA police offers, undercover officers with earwigs and a room full of TVA employees pretty much sums up the transparency of TVA. 

In his remarks, Mr. Vital said, The behavior we have witnessed since TVA intentionally misled the Georgetown community in August of last year about Project Viper is that of an arrogant, paranoid, disrespectful bully who could care less about private property rights, regular citizens or the land.

He said after the meeting that he doubts TVA will respond to his request to the board for TVA leadership to come to Georgetown and meet with concerned residents and property owners.

Honestly, I dont believe TVA has the courage to come, said Mr. Vital. These people cant fulfill one of the basic requirements of government transparency, which is a willingness to talk to its customers.

He made these remarks:

Good afternoon. My name is Greg Vital, and I am a resident of Georgetown, Tn. I have lived in Hamilton County for 45 years. Today, I am here representing three neighbors and myself: a young family of four, a 90-plus-year-old woman, a gentleman with Alzheimers and myself, all impacted by eminent domain action by TVA and Project Viper.

The greater Chattanooga area has been good to me in helping build a company of 1,500 employees in five southern states serving seniors. Farmland conservation, our national parks and Native American history have been my passions and hobbies for the past 30 years.

So, it saddens me to stand here to discuss the destruction of farmland, historical areas of significance to The Trail of Tears and a small rural community.

I appreciate the original intent of TVA to protect the Tennessee Valley from flooding and to bring electric service to the region, but its behavior may have outlived their usefulness.

TVA has a long history of trampling over landowners and abusing property rights, while hiding behind the TVA Act of 1933.

Each member of the TVA Board has a background that indicates you understand customer relations and public perception, but nothing we have seen over the past six months reflects that, and the logical conclusion is that TVA has a serious problem in how it treats its customers.

The behavior we have witnessed since TVA intentionally misled the Georgetown community in August of last year about Project Viper is that of an arrogant, paranoid, disrespectful bully who could care less about private property rights, regular citizens or the land.

TVA is the poster child of a government agency that has zero commitment to transparency. All we need to do is look at the Kingston coal ash debacle.

Why did you feel its necessary to intentionally mislead the community about a $26 million powerline expansion until the Chattanooga Times Free Press unearthed the story of a $300 million control center and relocation of over 200 employees from downtown Chattanooga to rural Meigs County?

The name TVA picked for this project  Project Viper  is an accurate reflection of how TVA has treated residents and citizens of Georgetown for the past six months while they planned in secret this project for the prior four years. The picture of a venomous snake slithering along its way accurately portrays the behavior of TVA in Georgetown. It is the 2019 version of the legacy TVA built with the Tellico Dam and Land Between the Lakes land takeovers.

As one of the four property owners who have been drug into federal court, when a  quick take  eminent domain action against our properties was filed in November 2018 so TVA can cut a 1-mile swath through farmland, a private business and a residence in order to get power to the site of Project Viper. Property owners hardly had time to hire lawyers before TVA was granted permission to enter the property.

This came after three months of useless discussions with TVA about changes to the proposed route across the farmland. TVA has not provided alternatives other than on our property but has options along the public right of way. TVA could connect to power lines along the front of the site and will eventually. The intention to stall and not engage in anything resembling good-faith negotiations was obvious each time.

The TVA agenda tomorrow regarding TVA aircraft reminded me of the security helicopters flying over the location of TVAs informational meeting last year, and the planes flying over Georgetown last year during an informational meeting. TVA is the organization that introduced the show of armed guards to escort archeologists and environmentalists now on the property. Again, acts of intimidation and arrogance.

TVA chooses to hide behind eminent domain rather than exhibit transparency and accountability with its Project Viper in Georgetown. Why would any organization name its new develop Project Viper and then use eminent domain and think they can build community support?

Yes, TVA is about to change the face of a rural community with Project Viper, and we ask TVA to change its approach to Georgetown going forward. To start, we invite TVA to come to the community and talk about the impact of Project Viper, the lack of infrastructure and community impact to a rural farming community.

Thank you for the time.

Mr. Vital earlier filed suit in Federal Court against TVA on the condemnation issue, but lost.

Click here for video of Mr. Vital speaking to the board.Residents of rural areas face a lack of access to health care  or to reliable Internet that could bring care to them.Phuc Khanh pagoda was packed two hours before the start of a traditional religious service. Many Vietnamese believe that their fate lies in the star designated for the year in question. In the first days of the lunar New Year, people pray that bad stars do not cause unfortunate events.

Hanoi (AsiaNews/Agencies)  Last night a crowd lined up in long queues outside the Phuc Khanh Pagoda in Hanois Dong Da District to take part in a ritual believed to help avoid bad luck.

The traditional ceremony is set to last until next week, drawing thousands of Buddhists waiting their turn to ward off bad luck and ask for peace and good luck in the lunar New Year.

Many Vietnamese believe that their fate lies in the star designated for that year. Of nine stars, some are considered lucky; others are deemed the source of problems and the cause of troubles in daily life.

For this reason, people visit pagodas in the first days of Tet (Vietnamese New Year) and pray that bad stars do not cause unfortunate events.

The pagoda in Hanoi was packed two hours before the beginning of last nights religious service. At around 6 pm, devout believers had taken up half the authorised space, from Tay Son Street to the foot of Nga Tu So flyover.

Police officers were deployed in large numbers to ensure order during the ceremony.

At the end of the service, people scrambled to ask for "luck" in the form of fruit and tiny cakes handed out by the pagoda.

Similar prayer ceremonies will be performed in the pagoda next week when more participants are expected.

(Photo credit: Vietnam Express).Cemtech Asia 2019 was held at the Avani+ Riverside Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, on 16-19 June 2019. A full conference report is available here, while event photos can be viewed here.



Next event

Our next event is Cemtech Europe and will be held at the InterContinental Hotel in Berlin, Germany, between 30 September  2 October. For more details, please visit the webpage.Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription, or activate your access, to continue reading.















Living in France is the dream for many people around the world, which is not surprising when you consider all that the country has to offer. City slickers can explore the streets of Paris, visiting world-class museums and shopping in designer boutiques, while those dreaming of a quiet life can stay in the idyllic French countryside, where they can enjoy the beautiful landscape.

However, life isnt all croissants and coffee. The reality is that most of us have to work for a living, so in order to live in France, we need to be able to work in France. So, how exactly can we do that?

To get a job in France, it will help immensely if you know French; at least enough to communicate on a basic level with colleagues and customers. Before you go, you should get the basics down (hello, please, thank you, where is the bathroom?, etc), but youll probably find that you pick up a lot while there through immersion in the language and culture.

If you arent fluent in French, dont let that put you off;there are plenty of jobs that dont require you to know French, you just need to be clever about looking for them.

How to find English speaking jobs in France

Be flexible

You may find that the type of job you had at home is not available to non-French speakers, so seek out other areas of employment that are more suited to English speakers, like bar work, teaching English as a second language, or retail work in tourist areas. This will allow you to earn whilst working on your French, should you wish to go back to your original line of work. Also remember to target seasonal jobs as they are likely to come with fewer required (language) skills.

French-ify your resume

French resumes are more concise than you might be used to,with two pages maximum for senior roles. Many companies also still expect a photograph to be attached. Best practice is a professional picture with a smile.

Look in the right place

When youre looking through any French joblisting site, narrow down the results with the websites filter to find those openings that dont require French. Another good tip is to keep an eye on the LinkedIn page of companies that you like, as that can be a great way find a job opening before everyone else and make an impression on the hiring manager. Joining ex-pat groups on Facebook is also a great place to start, as this gives you direct access to a network of people who have already established themselves in the region you wish to live in.

Be respectful

As a general rule, French businesspeople like to be shown respect, which means a firm handshake and a professional attitude, especially during initial interviews. Getting too friendly too fast will seem rude. Pay attention to using vous rather than tu to assure you get your interview off on a great start.

Create your own job

If you cant find a job that you love, then why not create one? You could be your own boss, choose your own hours, and even work from home. You might want to start a hotel that serves as a piece of Blighty in Brittany for other English speakers, become a freelance writer/designer/photographer, or even teach English to French students.

If youre interested in teaching English in France, but dont have a teaching qualification, companies like Daily English will accept you as a host family, providing that you have a university degree and children living with you. The idea is that you host a French student for between two days and four weeks during the school break so that they can learn English from interacting with you and your family. One short lesson a day is required, but you can get help to prepare them according to the childs age and ability.

Keep calm and carry on

While its never easy to find a job in a foreign country without speaking the language, especially in a language-oriented culture such as France, its not impossible and you can find English speaking jobs in Paris, Lyon, Brittany, or anywhere else in France. So persevere and you will prosper.

Hopefully, this article has given you the tips you need to prepare for your job search in France and youll find your dream job soon enough. We wish you the best of luck with your career.Imerys Talc America Inc., which supplies talc for products including Johnson & Johnsons baby powder, filed for bankruptcy protection in an effort to end nearly a decades worth of lawsuits claiming its product causes cancer.

The unit of Paris-based Imerys SA and two other subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware Wednesday, citing the more than 14,000 claims the company faces in U.S. courts. Most have been brought by women alleging Imeryss talc caused their ovarian cancer. Others say they have mesothelioma, brought on by asbestos in the talc.

Under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, the units can set up a trust to deal with the current talc cases and any future claims. It will also corral the cases under a single judge and allow Imerys to pressure plaintiffs to accept lower settlements. Other companies, such as utility PG&E Corp. and building-products maker Johns Manville Corp., have used similar filings to shield the firms from billions of dollars in liabilities tied to lawsuits.

The filing comes as a California jury is hearing evidence in the case of a woman dying from mesothelioma who blames her disease on talc the Imerys units supplied for J&Js baby powder. Shes sued both the miner and J&J, the worlds largest maker of healthcare products. Its just one of more than two dozen trials the companies face in 2019 over their talc-based products.

J&J shares fell as much as 0.7 percent on the bankruptcy filing and were trading at $134.15 at 2:21 p.m. in New York. Imerys SA closed Wednesday down 0.34 euros (38 cents), or 0.75 percent, to 42.05 euros in Paris.

After carefully evaluating all possible options, we determined pursuing Chapter 11 protection is the best course of action to address our historic talc-related liabilities and position the companies for continued growth, Giorgio La Motta, Imerys Talc Americas president, said in a statement.

Company officials concluded its simply not in the best interests of our stakeholders to litigate these claims in perpetuity and incur millions of dollars in projected legal costs to defend these cases, La Motta said.

Mark Lanier, a veteran plaintiffs lawyer who won a $4.69 billion verdict against J&J last year in a talc case, said he wasnt surprised the Imerys units decided to seek protection from their creditors. They knew their product caused immense grief to thousands of women and they knew they couldnt escape accountability in the courts any other way, the Texas-based attorney said.

Imerys Talc Vermont and Imerys Talc Canada Inc. also sought Chapter 11 protection Wednesday. Imerys Talc America and Imerys Talc Vermont listed combined assets of as much as $500 million and liabilities of as much as $100 million, according to the bankruptcy filing.

Officials at the units said the companies will be operating as usual throughout the Chapter 11 process, which is expected to wrap up by 2020. The parent company isnt seeking protection from creditors.

The bankruptcy will probably have a negative impact on Johnson & Johnson in thousands of talc lawsuits as Imerys wont be able to contribute much capital to potential settlements, Bloomberg Intelligence litigation analyst Holly Froum said in an interview.

Its certainly relevant in terms of payment, Froum said. Logistics and timing of the cases could also be affected, but I dont think thats necessarily a negative for J&J. And it wont have an impact on liability.

J&Js Tainted-Talc Risk Expands as Cancer Trials Triple in 2019

J&J faces more than 11,000 claims linking its talc products to cancer, including suits alleging officials knew by the 1970s that some talc used in its baby powder contained asbestos and covered it up to protect its iconic brand, according court filings.

A J&J research scientist noted in a 1969 confidential memomade public during a trialthat tests found asbestos in talc used in the baby powder. The scientist warned that the healthcare company should ready itself for litigation if the information became public.

Both Imerys and J&J reject claims their talc products cause cancer. The talc miner said Wednesday its products safety has been confirmed by dozens of peer-reviewed studies, as well as regulatory and scientific bodies.

Still, the Imerys units settled some talc cases as they came up for trial. In a prescient move, Imerys Talc America agreed to pay more than $5 million in June 2018 to resolve claims by 22 women who blamed their cancers on the companys talc. A jury in St. Louis hit J&J with the $4.69 billion verdict in that same case.

The miner has been tagged with several sizable damage awards in other trials. In April 2018, a New Jersey jury awarded $117 million to a man who said he developed mesothelioma by using J&Js baby powder containing talc supplied by Imerys.

Ernie Knewitz, a J&J spokesman, didnt immediately respond to phone and email messages seeking comment on the Imerys units bankruptcy filing.

Insurance An Issue

With the costs of the litigation mounting, executives of the Imerys units probably decided to use the bankruptcy process to put a fence around the companys talc exposure, said Chuck Tatelbaum, a Florida-based bankruptcy lawyer whos been involved in asbestos-trust cases in the past. Hes not working on the Imerys case.

The filing will allow the subsidiaries to set aside what they consider to be a meaningful amount to resolve all current suits and any future claims, he said. After reviewing the units cash flow and profitability projections, the bankruptcy judge will decide if thats sufficient to resolve the cases while allowing the miner to operate profitably in the future, Tatelbaum said.

In many cases, companies facing waves of mass tort litigation file for protection when disputes arise about expected insurance coverage, Tatelbaum said. Those disputes can be more quickly resolved through bankruptcy than through additional litigation, he said.

Imerys SA officials acknowledged in an earnings release Wednesday the U.S. units bankruptcy filing was driven, in part, by insurers balking at providing coverage for the talc cases. There has been a growing reluctance by the filing entities insurers and third-party contractual indemnitors to provide coverage for increasing settlement and defense costs, the company said.

Since the Imerys units have no debt, the bankruptcy case will pit current talc plaintiffs against those with future claims, Tatelbaum said. Since cancers like mesothelioma can take years to develop, that fight over who gets what will be a tough one, he said.

Independent trustees could be charged with deciding how the money is split among talc claimants, Tatelbaum said. While the companies may exit bankruptcy, the trust could continue to operate over a period of years to oversee negotiation and payments of settlements, he added.

In January, PG&E, the California-based utility facing $30 billion in liabilities over its role in causing wildfires in the state, filed for bankruptcy protection and set up a trust to deal with that litigation. More than 5,600 people have sued the San Francisco-based company over the blazes, and the utilitys officials say they expect claims from thousands more.

Johns Manville Corp., which makes insulation and roofing materials, sought bankruptcy protection in 1982 after being swamped by suits over asbestos, a carcinogen used in insulation. The company was one of the first to set up a trust to handle settlements of such cases. While Johns Manville emerged from Chapter 11 protection in 1988, the trust is still in operation and has paid out at least $3 billion in claims. Johns Manville became a unit of billionaire Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in 2001.

The case is In Re Imerys Talc America Inc., 19-10289, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.Indian Coast Guard, a fleet of the Indian Armed Forces, invites applications in a prescribed format from eligible Indian nationals for selection as Multi-Tasking Staff through direct recruitment. All applications must be submitted through offline mode on or before 11 March 2019.

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Multi-Tasking Staff (Lascar)/Lascar Ist Class. Organisation Indian Coast Guard Educational Qualification Matriculation/Class 10/SSC or equivalent from a recognized Board Experience 3 years experience in Service on Boat Skills Required Desirable Job Location India Salary Scale Level 1 Pay Matrix. Industry Defence Application Start Date February 8, 2019 Application End Date March 11, 2019

Age Criteria And Fees

Candidates interested in applying for the post of Multi-Tasking Staff through Indian Coast Guard Recruitment 2019 must have attained 18 years of age and not exceeded 30 years, with relaxation in the upper age limit for reserved categories and public servants as per Govt. of India guidelines.

For details about fee payment, if any, candidates can refer to the official advertisement given at the end of the article.

Also Read: ITBP Recruitment 2019 For Assistant Surgeons; Earn Up To INR 1.7 Lakh Per Month

Educational Criteria And Experience

Desirous candidates applying for the post of Multi-Tasking Staff through Indian Coast Guard Recruitment 2019 must has passed Matriculation/Class 10/SSC or equivalent from a recognized Board/Institute and must have 3 years experience in Service on Boat.

Selection And Pay Scale

The selection of candidates as Multi-Tasking Staff through Indian Coast Guard Recruitment 2019 will be done based on a Written Test and Skill Test, as detailed in the notification.

Candidates selected as Multi-Tasking Staff will be paid an emolument under Level 1 Pay Matrix.

Also Read: HSSC Recruitment 2019 For 1327 Canal Patwari And Gram Sachiv Vacancies

How To Apply

Candidates applying for the post of Multi-Tasking Staff through Indian Coast Guard Recruitment 2019 must fill the Application Form in a prescribed format attached with the advertisement and submit the same along with supporting documents/certificates and two recent passport size photographs on or before 11 March 2019 through Ordinary Post only.

The envelope cover containing the Application Form and supporting documents must be superscribed as, "Application for the post of Multi-Tasking Staff (Lascar)/Lascar Ist Class." and sent to, "The Commander, Coast Guard Region (A&N), Port Blair, Post Box No. 716, Haddo (PO), Port Blair - 744 102, A&N Islands" on or before 11 March 2019 through Ordinary Post only.

For detailed notification about Indian Coast Guard Recruitment 2019 for Multi-Tasking Staff click hereThe Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC), through a notification release, has invited online applications from eligible Indian citizens for recruiting 430 Forest Beat Officers (FBO) and Assistant Beat Officers (ABO), including carry forward as well as fresh vacancies under the A.P. Forest Sub Service to be appointed across the State of Andhra Pradesh. The application process towards the same will start from 05 March 2019 and will close on 27 March 2019.

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Forest Beat Officers (FBO) and Assistant Beat Officers (ABO) Organisation Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) Educational Qualification Bachelors Degree/B.E. in relevant disciplines Experience Freshers can apply Skills Required Physical Fitness Job Location Andhra Pradesh Salary Scale Rs. 16,400/- to Rs. 49,870/- per month for Forest Beat Officers (FBO); Rs. 15,030/- to Rs. 46,060/- per month for Assistant Beat Officers (ABO) Industry Civil Service Application Start Date March 5, 2019 Application End Date March 27, 2019

Age Criteria And Fees

Candidates interested in applying for the post of Forest Beat Officers (FBO) and Assistant Beat Officers (ABO) through APPSC Recruitment must have attained 18 years of age and not exceeded 30 years as on 01 July 2019, with relaxation (upper age limit) by 5 years (upto 35 years) for SC/ST and OBC candidates.

Candidates must pay a specified amount of Rs. 250/- as application fee and Rs. 80/- towards examination through online (Internet Banking/Debit/Credit, etc. payment gateways) mode only. SC/ST/BC candidates are exempted from paying examination fee of Rs. 80/- as mentioned in the notification.

Also Read: Indian Coast Guard Recruitment 2019 For Multi-Tasking Staff; Apply Before 11 March 2019

Vacancy Details For APPSC FBO/ABO (CF/Fresh Posts)

Post Name No. Of Vacancies Forest Beat Officers (FBO) 330 Assistant Beat Officers (ABO) 100 Total 430

Educational Criteria

Candidates interested in applying for the post of Forest Beat Officers (FBO) and Assistant Beat Officers (ABO) through APPSC Recruitment must have passed Intermediate Examination/HSC/Class 12 or equivalent from a recognised Board, and must meet the Physical as well as Medical Standards as detailed in the notification given at the end of the article.

Selection And Pay Scale

The selection of candidates as Forest Beat Officers (FBO) and Assistant Beat Officers (ABO) through APPSC Recruitment will be done through a Written Test (Computer Based Examination) to be conducted in August 2019 and a Personal Interview.

Candidates selected as Forest Beat Officers (FBO) and Assistant Beat Officers (ABO) will be paid an emolument as under:

Forest Beat Officers (FBO) - Rs. 16,400/- to Rs. 49,870/- per month

Assistant Beat Officers (ABO) - Rs. 15,030/- to Rs. 46,060/- per month

Also Read: APPSC Recruitment 2019 For Forest Section Officers; Earn Up To INR Rs. 63,000/- Per Month

How To Apply

Candidates applying for the post of Forest Beat Officers (FBO) and Assistant Beat Officers (ABO) through APPSC Recruitment must first register online on the official APPSC portal at https://psc.ap.gov.in/(S(k1mwnr3gubcm4ik1go21axy5))/Default.aspx through OTR.

Using the ID generated through OTR, candidates must fill the application form and submit it through the online mode on or before 27 March 2019.

For detailed notification about APPSC Recruitment for Forest Beat Officers (FBO) and Assistant Beat Officers (ABO) click hereOur Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

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You are our people. You Care. We Care2.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.

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Operational and Canadian listing update

Melbourne, Feb 14, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - The directors of Nova Minerals Limited (Nova or Company) ( ASX:NVA ) ( FRA:QM3 ) to provide a operational update to the market across our project portfolio.Snow Lake Resources Ltd (SNOW) (Thompson Brothers Lithium Project)The company is pleased to announce that a total of C$1.35M cash has been raised to date with the last raising and appropriate float taking place at C$0.35c. The company now has sufficient cash holdings to IPO on The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) and will be fast tracking this process.As previously announced on 19 November 2018 Snowlake Resources will own 100% of the Thompson Brothers Lithium Project and its surrounding Crowduck tenements. Nova Minerals consideration for bringing in 80% of the Thompson Brothers Lithium Project and 100% of the Crowduck property in Snow Lake will be 48,000,000 ordinary shares of the current total 64,995,226 ordinary shares to be issued which represents 73.85% of Snow Lake on an undiluted basis. The latest capital raising at C$0.35c affirms a value ascribed to Nova of C$16.8m (A$17.83m) or rounded off to A$0.023 per Nova share.As per announcement dated 6 August 2018 (CEO's Letter to Shareholders) we maintain a strong view that Nova Minerals should be seen through two prisms, One is as a growth story. The other is as a value play.We are further pleased to update that the internal scoping works are progressing and Snow Lake Resources will update the market on operations in due course.Estelle Gold ProjectPlanning is fully underway for the 2019 Exploration Campaign at the Estelle Gold Camp. Primary focus will be given to the Oxide occurrences, which were last drilled by Millrock Resources Inc. in 2010. During last years field season Tom Bundtzen of Pacific Rim Geological Consulting Inc. completed a first pass geological mapping of the Oxide occurrences and identified two high quality targets (ASX Announcement 3 December 2018). These targets were given the designation of Oxide North and Oxide south. The key feature of these targets is that they consist of broad envelopes containing argillic-phyllic to propylitic hydrothermal alteration.A group of chip samples taken by Mr Bundtzen from these alteration envelopes contains moderate (~1% ) arsenopyrite mineralization (+/- pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and tetrahedrite) that returned moderate grades of up to 1.04 g/t Au having an average grade 0.183 g/t Au. Oxide North and Oxide South alteration envelopes measures 1300 to 1600 metres along strike and have widths of between 550 to 600 metres. Total depth extents of these alteration envelopes are unknown at this time.The First Phase of this summer programs will consist of 50 plus km of Induced Polarization geophysical survey. Observable chargeability anomalies should be seen within the survey data associated with the mapped arsenopyrite domains contained within the alteration envelopes (Figure 1). It is hoped that these chargeability anomalies correspond to higher-grade gold material and would be the focus of the first pass diamond drilling. The first pass will consist of 2500 metres with a second round of 2500 metres if positive results are obtained. The company will also infill with RC drilling where suitable. During a possible Second Phase of exploration later in the summer, focus will be given to mapping and sampling the RPM and Shoeshine occurrences. In addition, the other 15 plus occurrences contained within the claim block will be prospected, sampled, and GPS'd to establish their locations coordinates for future mapping, sampling, and drilling campaigns.NVA Managing Director, Mr. Avi Kimelman said:"Despite challanging markets we are pleased with the perseverance of the team to secure sufficient funding and float in order to progress to the next stage of our IPO ambition. Snow Lake is now well positioned as we progress to IPO and look forward to introducing the Thompson Brothers Lithium Project to the North American Market and maintaining the company's fast track development strategy.""Although Nova will be a significant shareholder of Snow Lake with full board represetation. Snow Lake Resources will fund itself and act completely independent of Nova with a group of professional and independent Directors and Audit committee allowing Nova to focus it reserves on developing its Gold Assets.""Dale Schultz and Brian Youngs will lead out the Estelle Project exploration and logitics and between the two of them have in excess of 60 years in project managing large exploration campaigns and projects. They have done fantastic work to date in pre-planning to streamline the project, we will keep the market updated on progress."As mentioned Nova is in the process of planning its next stage of exploration and reconnaissance activities for 2019 at the district scale Estelle Gold Project as described and are currently formalating an additional exploration plan for the Officer Hill Gold Project. With projects runnning parallel, we will continue with our long term strategy of underpinning shareholder value while we offer exploration upside across our project portfolio."To view tables and figures, please visit:About Nova Minerals Ltd

Nova Minerals Limited (ASX:NVA) (FRA:QM3) (OTCMKTS:NVAAF) is a dynamic explorer and developer of its flagship Estelle Gold district in the Tintina gold belt. Nova's strategy is to substantially increase the current 4.7Moz resource on the Korbel prospect. Subsequently to continue to lock in value through moving Korbel towards production whilst increasing the resource base across the pipeline of targets within the Estelle gold district. Nova Minerals also holds strategic investments in Snow Lake Resources Ltd (Thompson Brothers Lithium Project), Torian Resources Ltd (ASX:TNR) and RotorX Aircraft Manufacturing Co.* Username This is the name that will be used to identify you within the system. Choose wisely!

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Australian Merchant Onboarding Update

Melbourne, Feb 14, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - iSignthis Ltd ( ASX:ISX ) ( FRA:TA8 ) ("The Company") following its announcement dated 6th February 2019, is pleased to announce that it has received a number of applications from Australian domiciled merchants for ISXPay's transactional banking capabilities.Highlights- ~12 regulated merchants have applied for facilities- MCC 6211 (equities/trading/CFD/FX) is principal category of merchant applicants- 3 Australian merchant contracts executedThe Company has received more than 12 applications, mainly in Merchant Category Codes (MCC) 6211 (Equities/CFD/FX), with some MCC 7995 (Gambling).The Company has also executed 3 agreements in the MCC6211 category, with GPTV to be advised in due course post commencement of processing. These merchants will commence integration in coming days, with commencement of processing anticipated around 30 days. The first merchants are expected to commence processing during the first week of April 2019 with contribution to revenue in quarter 2 of FY/CY2019.Merchant Onboarding ProcessThe Company has received a number of queries from investors as to how the application process is commenced by merchants and managed by the Company.The underwriting process requires that the Company receives a completed Merchant Application Form (available from our website isignthis.com/documents), together with financial, incorporation and ownership details of the applicant. Underwriting may take as little as five days, or in some cases more than 30 days, depending upon complexity of the applicant's ownership structure and information submission quality.The Company verifies the Merchant's incorporation, operating licenses (if applicable, e.g. AFSL), directors, ownership structure, and ultimate beneficial owners in order to satisfy AUSTRAC and Anti Money Laundering Regulation requirements. A financial assessment, including past processing performance is also conducted, with terms extended to the applicant usually in parallel with the underwiring process.Once underwriting is satisfied, and an agreement is executed with security deposit received (if applicable), the merchant is granted credentials to the Paydentity(TM), ISXPay(R) and Probanx(R) API's and dashboard.Merchants have been known to complete integration in less than 3 business days, with around a month being the usual timeframe for integration to be completed.Upon completion of integration, it is usual for merchants to take up to 2-6 weeks to cycle between their current card processing and ISX facilities, with a gradual ramp up thereafter taking a further 6-8 weeks.About iSignthis Ltd

iSignthis Ltd (ASX:ISX) (FRA:TA8) is a hybrid monetary financial institution and also a RegTech leader in remote identity verification, payment authentication with deposit taking, transactional banking and payment processing capability. iSignthis provides an end-to-end on-boarding service for merchants, with a unified payment, electronic money and identity service via our Paydentity(TM) and ISXPay(R) solutions.

By converging payments and identity, iSignthis delivers regulatory compliance to an enhanced customer due diligence standard, offering global reach to any of the world's 4.2Bn 'bank verified' card or account holders, that can be remotely on-boarded to meet the Customer Due Diligence requirements of AML regulated merchants in as little as 3 to 5 minutes. Paydentity(TM) has now onboarded and verified more than 1.5m persons to an AML KYC standard.

iSignthis Paydentity(TM) service is the trusted back office solution for regulated entities, allowing merchants to stay ahead of the regulatory curve, and focus on growing their core business. iSignthis' subsidiary, iSignthis eMoney Ltd, trades as ISXPay(R), and is an EEA authorised eMoney Monetary Financial Institution, offering card acquiring in the EEA, and Australia.

ISXPay(R) is a principal member of Mastercard Inc, Diners, Discover, (China) Union Pay International and JCB International, an American Express aggregator, and provides merchants with access to payments via alternative methods including SEPA, Poli Payments, Sofort, PRZ24 and others.

Probanx Solutions Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of iSignthis Ltd, provides API based access to CORE Banking solutions, SEPA Core, SEPA Instant and SEPA business scheme, for neobanks, banks, credit unions and emoney institutions, and provides a bridge to the Eurosystem's Central Bank of Lithuania's CENTROLink service.news, act-politics

Chief Minister Andrew Barr has threatened an unprecedented intervention in the price of fuel in the ACT, as a new inquiry looks to haul in retailers to explain the huge cost differences in petrol in Canberra. The territory government announced the inquiry on Sunday, after a campaign from the Sunday Canberra Times about the discrepancies in fuel prices in Canberra when compared to towns in south-eastern NSW. But Mr Barr said he would also not rule out setting a maximum price or retail margin for service stations, off the back of a parallel Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission probe into the factors fuelling petrol prices. "What we are seeking to do here is to hold to account those who are gouging Canberra motorists to get some factual information in relation to retail price margins that may inform a more dramatic government intervention in the future," Mr Barr said. Mr Barr said an intervention may be necessary as price watch schemes "may have some impact but theyre not going to provide a 20 cents per litre reduction in fuel prices". "The schemes already exist, people know where the cheap fuel is in Canberra, we do need to recognise those schemes have limited effect," Mr Barr said. It may well be that the only way to get a territory-wide reduction in the outrageous fuel prices is for a direct government intervention to set a maximum retail margin in this territory but before taking such dramatic action it is important that this Assembly committee undertake that work and that the ICRC provide that information to the government." Consumer affairs minister Shane Rattenbury said the legislative power had not been used since its introduction 26 years ago, and he did not believe any other Australian government had staged such an intervention. However, the government would not use the power lightly. "If we were to step in and start to regulate retail margins wed have to have a really thorough understanding how the market operated, how those retail margins were determined in order to then make a determination on what they could or should be," Mr Rattenbury said. To critics of a government intervention in a market, Liberal leader Alistair Coe said petrol was "so heavily regulated and so restricted that it's barely a market". "You can't just open up a new petrol station easily. You cant just bringing in new petrol into the country or new oil into the country easily," Mr Coe said. "The restrictions on new operators means that this is not a market that is operating well and its certainly not a market thats operating freely so to critics who say this is an unreasonable market interference I think it requires a far more detailed analysis than just those glib lines." Mr Barr also said the Legislative Assembly inquiry would have the power to get retailers and wholesalers in the witness chair to explain why their prices differ so markedly from petrol stations across the border. Labor's Tara Cheyne and Liberals Mark Parton and Andrew Wall will be on the fuel prices committee, and Mr Barr urged them to "demand answers" and "not be afraid to pursue" retailers over the discrepancies. "Throughout the public debate about fuel prices in our city, the voices of these large retailers have been in the past have been absent and continue to be absent so I think its time for these powerful companies to come forward into the public arena and to justify their fuel prices," Mr Barr said. "I think there is a benefit in shining a light upon the practices of certain retailers in this city and making them publicly account for the gouging they are undertaking on Canberra motorists." He also said he hoped the pressure from the dual reviews would force retailers to lower prices over the next six months. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman, Rod Sims this week blamed the market dominance of Coles for Canberra's high prices, with over a quarter of outlets owned by the supermarket giant. However Coles signalled prices could soon fall due to a new deal with their fuel supplier. The inquiry comes as the ACT parliament passed new laws banning service stations from displaying discounted fuel prices on Thursday. As it stands, some stations show prices only available to drivers with discount coupons or loyalty cards and the true cost of fuel is higher. Service stations would have six months to comply with the new rules.

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Hello Canberra! You made it. A parliamentary sitting week like no other, sure, but we have a great basketball spectacle to watch this weekend and some decent weather to enjoy our days off with. Starting with Saturday, when it's forecast to reach a maximum of 30 degrees while staying partly cloudy. Then Sunday, a top of 33 degrees predicted with sun and light winds. Today is expected to reach 29 and stay partly cloudy. Here's what is making news this morning. There may be an unexpected result from proposed new animal welfare laws under ACT government consideration. The bill would ban using dogs to hunt, but the way it's worded could mean a sport with no live ammunition or game may also be illegal. It may create a problem for the ACT Gundog Society, which despite the name is not a hunting club but runs trials for dog breeds that have historically been used in hunting. Katie Burgess with this story on the proposed legislation and the impacts it could have. If you ask ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry, she denies an opposition suggestion she had stopped politicians from visiting Canberra schools. Go to opposition education spokeswoman Elizabeth Lee, and she'll tell you different. As an inquiry begins into the education directorate's visitation policies, the war of words is rising. Daniel Burdon reports on the debate at the Legislative Assembly. ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr will exempt the University of Canberra from paying stamp duty on planned new sub-leases of its land, as the university continues a massive $1.7 billion development in Bruce. The boon was included in reforms to tax laws introduced in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday. Mr Barr said it had been an omission in other changes to allow the university's development to go ahead in 2015. Daniel Burdon with this story. Noticed fewer wasp nests recently? Hearing fewer stories of people getting stung? Well, there's been a drop in the number of nests of non-native European wasps uncovered in the ACT over the summer. Aside from an active program of eradication by the territory government, another reason is that the exceptional heat has displeased wasps, putting them off breeding so pest nest numbers dwindled. According to Jim Bariesheff, the city's wasp expert who deals with nests, there were 450 nests of European wasps found up to the end of last summer compared with 131 so far this summer. Steve Evans looks at what might be a case of inadvertent pest control. If you were at the Adani coal mine protest on the lawns of Parliament House on Tuesday, you might have recognised Wallabies star David Pocock with fellow protesters. He squeezed the rally between ACT Brumbies training sessions and it's all a part of what he says is a responsibility to use his platform for social change. Pocock is one of the world's best openside flankers and earns plenty of praise for what he can do on-field, but it's often his work off it which really gets tongues wagging. He told Eamonn Tiernan he is determined to use his profile to make a difference in society.

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Canberra firefighters look set to vote on taking industrial action after rejecting a 10 per cent pay rise, as their union warns ACT Fire and Rescue needs an extra 204 firefighters to service the city in the next four years. The United Firefighters Union's ACT branch lodged an application for a protected action ballot order with the Fair Work Commission on Tuesday, having failed to agree on several issues despite 26 enterprise bargaining agreement meetings with the Emergency Services Agency since April 2017. The commission must rule on the application by Thursday. Should it proceed, the Australian Electoral Commission will conduct a ballot, giving union members a chance to vote on whether to take industrial action. The union's ACT branch secretary, Greg McConville, said firefighters would still respond to incidents and any action would not compromise public safety. He said union members rejected the agency's offer of a 10 per cent pay rise in December because they wanted the money to instead be invested in the fire service. "The disagreement is about what's necessary to put in an agreement to ensure that community safety is protected," Mr McConville said. Mr McConville said half the pay rise offer was contingent on removing the requirement that the Emergency Services Agency must agree with the union on standards concerning fire stations, uniforms and protective clothing, recruitment and training issues. He said the remainder of the pay rise was offered in exchange for removing workers' compensation make-up pay, allowing the recruitment of senior officers from other jurisdictions ahead of local candidates, and consenting to the introduction of mandatory health and fitness assessments for firefighters. "We would prefer that instead of putting money in firefighters' pockets, [as an incentive] for them to give up conditions, that the government invest in community safety to support a modern fire service for the ACT," Mr McConville said. "What we're saying with the 10 per cent [pay rise] offer is that we think it's more important for that to go into additional firefighters, additional equipment and training for firefighters." Mr McConville said the union was seeking "a package to create a modern fire service for the ACT", including an extra 204 firefighters during the lifespan of the next four-year bargaining agreement. He said the additional firefighters were needed for a variety of reasons, including to staff new fire stations in the city and the Molonglo Valley, an upgraded Ainslie Fire Station and ACT Fire and Rescue's new aerial pumper appliance. ACT Fire and Rescue has an available budget for 344 firefighters. An extra 204 would take the total to 548  a 59 per cent increase in the workforce. The union is also pushing for the new bargaining agreement to include improved training and mandatory skills assessments for firefighters, a firefighter wellbeing package, and minimum standards for fire station construction and renovation. In a statement, Emergency Services Agency commissioner Dominic Lane said the agency had sought an urgent meeting with the union to clarify some of the proposed forms of industrial action. "The ESA will also be seeking the unions assurance that these actions will not affect public safety," Mr Lane said. "The ESA will continue to work with the [union], and will abide by any Fair Work Commission rulings." The United Firefighters Union has more than 330 members in the ACT. For industrial action to take place, more than half the union's eligible members would have to vote in a protected action ballot, and more than half of those taking part would need to vote in favour of industrial action. Mr McConville said the forms of industrial action proposed by the union included placing limitations on work in ways that would reduce output and efficiency. He said firefighters might also display union campaign material in the workplace, and stop work to communicate with the public and the media about why they were taking industrial action. "No industrial action will affect public safety," Mr McConville said. "That would be against the ethos of our membership and against the law."

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Letter to Optionholders

Perth, Feb 14, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - As announced on 11 February 2019, Australian Potash Ltd ( ASX:APC ) (ACN 149 390 394) (APC or the Company) is undertaking a 14 for 3 pro-rata renounceable rights issue (Rights Issue or Offer) of approximately 65,372,802 fully paid ordinary shares (New Shares) to raise approximately $5,229,824. The price of New Shares under the Offer is 8 cents per New Share (Issue Price). The Company will also issue 1 free attaching option (New Option) for every 4 New Shares issued, exercisable at 12 cents per New Option on or before 8 August 2021. The Company lodged a prospectus for the Offer (Prospectus) with ASIC and ASX on 13 February 2019.The Offer is partially underwritten by Patersons Securities Limited. The terms of the underwriting are set out in section 8.4 of the Prospectus.The funds raised under the Offer will be used for expenses of the definitive feasibility study for the Lake Wells Potash Project, corporate, administration and staffing expenses and working capital, as well as satisfying the costs of the Offer.The Offer is being made to all shareholders of the Company (Shareholders) named on its register of members at 5:00 pm WST on 19 February 2019, whose registered address is in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore or Hong Kong.New Shares will rank equally with all fully paid ordinary shares in the capital of the Company (Shares) already on issue.Following completion of the Offer, the Company will have issued approximately 65,372,802 New Shares resulting in total Shares on issue of approximately 370,445,875.OptionholdersThe terms and conditions of the options you currently hold do not entitle you to participate in the Rights Issue unless you exercise your options in time for new Shares to be allotted and to be entered on the Company's register of members on or before 5:00 pm WST on 19 February 2019 (Record Date).To exercise your options and thereby participate in the Rights Issue, you will need to deliver the following to the Company at 31 Ord Street, West Perth WA 6005 or by email to s.raven@australianpotash.com.au:(a) A notice of exercise of options (attached to this letter);(b) An option certificate (where the options are certificated) or a copy of a holding statement (where the options are uncertificated) in respect of those options to be exercised; and (c) Payment for the exercise price in respect of those options to be exercised by way of a cheque made payable to "Australian Potash Limited" or by bank transfer to:Account name: Australian Potash LimitedBank: National Australia Bank LimitedBank address: 1232 Hay StreetWest Perth WA 6005, AustraliaSWIFT: NATAAU3306PBSB: 086-492Account No.: 195900091Reference: [Subscriber's name]To ensure that your new Shares are allotted prior to the Record Date, the above must be received by Australian Potash Limited no later than 5:00 pm WST on 18 February 2019. If received after this date, allotment of new Shares prior to the Record Date cannot be assured.Before deciding whether to exercise any or all of your options, you should read the Prospectus in its entirety.This notice is important and requires immediate attention. If you have any queries concerning the Rights Issue, please contact your financial adviser or Sophie Raven, APC's Company Secretary on +61 8 9322 1003 or 0400 007 906.About Australian Potash Ltd

Australian Potash Limited (ASX:APC) is an ASX-listed Sulphate of Potash (SOP) developer. The Company holds a 100% interest in the Lake Wells Potash Project located approximately 500kms northeast of Kalgoorlie, in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields.

Following the release of a Scoping Study in 2017, APC has been conducting a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) into the development of the Lake Wells Potash Project. The Company is aiming to release the findings of the DFS in H2 2019.

The Lake Wells Potash Project is a palaeochannel brine hosted sulphate of potash project. Palaeochannel bore fields supply large volumes of brine to many existing mining operations throughout Western Australia, and this technique is a well understood and proven method for extracting brine. APC will use this technically low-risk and commonly used brine extraction model to further develop a bore-field into the palaeochannel hosting the Lake Wells SOP resource.

A Scoping Study on the Lake Wells Potash Project was completed and released on 23 March 2017. The Scoping Study exceeded expectations and confirmed that the Project's economic and technical aspects are all exceptionally strong, and highlights APC's potential to become a significant long-life, low capital and high margin sulphate of potash (SOP) producer.news, latest-news

Record levels of dust unseen in the territory have bombarded Canberra this summer, according to scientists. NSW Office of Environment and Heritage principal research scientist John Leys said Canberra's closest dust-monitoring station in Wagga Wagga had seen a record amount of dust hours this summer. Monitors at Wagga Wagga, west of Canberra, had recorded 48 dust hours in January, well above the national average for that month of 38 hours. The last time the Canberra region had seen this much dust was 2009, where monitors in Temora, near Wagga Wagga, recorded 37 hours in November 2009. "We haven't seen dust levels [across Australia] like this since the millennial drought," Dr Leys said. He said December last year had 19 hours where normally throughout the year stations record dust hours in the low teens. Dr Leys said in the last 12 months Dustwatch had recorded the highest number of dust hours in December and January across its network since records began in 2005. "It is dusty. What you're seeing around Canberra is not only a function of what's happening around Canberra but this dust is coming to you from a long, long way," Dr Leys said. The dust was coming from as far west as Lake Eyre in South Australia, blown out by 80 kilometre winds. But Dustwatch data showed Dr Leys things were getting better: better ground cover and better farming practices had helped reduce the amount of exposed topsoil for strong winds to pick up. Professor Simon Haberle from the Canberra Pollen Monitoring Program said Tuesday's dust storm had seen air quality levels equal to the more polluted parts of Beijing, China where the air quality was generally poor. "This is the worst we've seen this spring to summer, period," Professor Haberle said. The program measures the air quality by the amount of fine particles in the air per cubic metre, with Canberra's air normally recording 10 micrograms of the particle per cubic metre. However, Tuesday saw 135 micrograms per cubic metre late into the evening. But Professor Haberle said Canberrans shouldn't worry, Beijing can record levels up to 600 micrograms per cubic metre. He said north Canberra probably copped it worse than south Canberra, with more concentrated dust particles in the capital's northern suburbs. Coarse particles, which people could feel in their eyes or mouth, could trigger respiratory issues but finer particles, which were breathed deeper into the lungs, would make it even worse. Professor Haberle said they used the data to help with a smartphone app called AirRater, with the data put in by users to help understand how Canberra reacts to these extreme events. ACT Health public health specialist Vanessa Johnston said Canberra's hospitals or ambulances had didn't see a spike in traffic last night, with few or no people seeking help with heart or lung problems. "What happened yesterday was a rare event," Dr Johnston said. People most at risk during dust storms were the young, the elderly and those with respiratory or heart problems. She said people should stay indoors during these events, close windows and doors, set air conditioning to recycle and follow any health plans they had.

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/4909b682-0f2a-4f41-88c0-082cce238fde/r0_290_5374_3326_w1200_h678_fmax.jpgHere you'll find our latest collection of Caledonian-Record reports on the coronavirus outbreak and local response, from the beginning of April. Our January, February and March stories are here: https://www.caledonianrecord.com/news/local/our-coronavirus-coverage/collection_5885178c-692e-11e

FY18 Full Year Results Presentation Conference Call Details

Sydney, Feb 14, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Speedcast International Limited ( ASX:SDA ) ( FRA:7SC ) ( OTCMKTS:SPPDF ), the world's most trusted provider of remote communication and IT solutions, will announce its financial results for the full year ended 31 December 2018 on Tuesday 26th February 2019 at 10am Sydney time.Investors and analysts are invited to join a teleconference call hosted by CEO, PJ Beylier & CFO, Clive Cuthell. The call will be a presentation of the Full Year 2018 results followed by Q&A.Conference call details are as follows:- Time: 10.00am (Sydney time), Tuesday 26th February 2019- Hosts: CEO, PJ Beylier & CFO, Clive CuthellDial-In Details (Conference ID: 3879856):Australia: 1800 123 296 / +61 2 8038 5221HK: 800 908 865UK: 0808 234 0757Singapore: 800 616 2288India: 1800 3010 6141USA: 1855 293 1544New Zealand: 0800 452 782Canada: 1855 5616 766China: 4001 203 085Japan: 0120 994 669About Speedcast International Ltd

Speedcast International Ltd (ASX:SDA) is the world's most trusted communications and IT services provider, delivering critical communications solutions to the Maritime, Energy, Mining, Media, Telecom, Cruise, NGO, Government, and Enterprise sectors. With more satellite capacity than any other provider, Speedcast enables faster, seamless pole-to-pole coverage from a global hybrid satellite, fiber, cellular, microwave, MPLS, and IP transport network with direct access to public cloud platforms. The company also integrates differentiated technology offerings that provide smarter ways to communicate and distribute content, manage network and remote operations, protect and secure investments, and improve the crew and guest experience. With a passionate customer focus and a strong safety culture, Speedcast serves more than 3,200 customers in over 140 countries. Learn more at www.speedcast.com.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.We accept many different kinds of announcements. Just click on the button below and submit a form.

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Call us today or click on our logo to visit our website.Donald Edward Fazenbaker, 47, of Mesick is facing two drug-related charges after he was arraigned in 84th District Court Wednesday.The European Union is set to rewrite its two-decades-old copyright rules which will force Alphabet Inc's Google and Facebook Inc to share revenue with the creative industries and remove copyright-protected content on YouTube or Instagram.

Negotiators from the EU countries, the European Parliament and the European Commission clinched a deal after day-long negotiations.

The commission, the EU's executive body, launched the debate two years ago, saying the rules needed to be overhauled to protect the bloc's cultural heritage and make sure that publishers, broadcasters and artists are remunerated fairly.

"Agreement reached on #copyright! Europeans will finally have modern copyright rules fit for digital age with real benefits for everyone: guaranteed rights for users, fair remuneration for creators, clarity of rules for platforms," EU digital chief Andrus Ansip said in a tweet.

Under the new rules, Google and other online platforms will have to sign licensing agreements with rights holders such as musicians, performers, authors, news publishers and journalists to use their work online.

Google's YouTube and Facebook's Instagram and other sharing platforms will be required to install upload filters to prevent users from uploading copyrighted materials.

Google, which has lobbied intensively against both features and even suggested that it may pull Google News from Europe, said it would study the text before deciding on its next steps.

"Copyright reform needs to benefit everyone - including European creators and consumers, small publishers and platforms ... The details will matter," the company said in a tweet.

Spain and Germany in recent years tried to force Google to pay publishers for taking snippets of their news articles, but that backfired after Google News pulled out from Spain and traffic of German publisher Axel Springer plunged after it sought to block the search engine.

EU lawmaker Axel Voss said it was time internet giants pay their dues to rights holders.

"This deal is an important step towards correcting a situation which has allowed a few companies to earn huge sums of money without properly remunerating the thousands of creatives and journalists whose work they depend on," he said.

However, lawmaker Julia Reda from the Pirate Party voiced concerns, saying that algorithms in upload filters cannot tell the difference between copyright infringements and legal parodies.

"Requiring platforms to use upload filters would not just lead to more frequent blocking of legal uploads, it would also make life difficult for smaller platforms that cannot afford filtering software," she said.

Online platforms in existence for less than three years and with less than 10 million euros in revenue and fewer than 5 million monthly users are exempted from installing upload filters.

Nonprofit bodies, online encyclopaedias such as Wikipedia, and open source software platforms such as GitHub will be able to use potentially valuable data for research and educational purposes without being subjected to the copyright rules.

European consumer organisation BEUC expressed disappointment.

"It will become much harder for users to share their own, non-commercial music, video or photo creations online. This reform is not based on the reality of how people use the internet," its deputy director general, Ursula Pachl, said.

The European Magazine Media Association, European Newspaper Publishers' Association, European Publishers Council and News Media Europe gave a thumbs-up to the revamp.

"If we want a future for professional journalism in the European Union, we must take action to support the press and to redress an unbalanced ecosystem," they said in a joint statement.

The agreement needs approval from the European Parliament and EU countries before it can become law. That is expected to be a formality. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ieThe European Union will give Ireland some leeway to establish new border arrangements with NorthernIreland in case of a no-deal Brexit, sources in the bloc's political hub Brussels said.

But they said Dublin would soon have to come up with a plan to ensure the integrity of the EU's single market or face checks on its own goods coming into the rest of the bloc.

"Ireland can get transition periods or some temporary opt-outs on the border in the worst-case scenario," a senior EU diplomat said.

"But soon enough it will have to face up to the fact that either there is a border on the island or a border between Ireland and the rest of the EU," the person added.

EU diplomats and officials dealing with Brexit admit it is impossible to set up full border controls overnight as should theoretically be the case if the United Kingdom leaves the bloc without a divorce settlement on March 29.

The issue of a "hard border" on the island of Ireland has hung over Brexit negotiations from the start and is threatening to sink the divorce deal put together over months of painstaking EU-UK talks as the British parliament opposes the Irish "backstop" part of it.

The "backstop" is meant as a last resort, a way to prevent full-blown border controls on goods crossing between EU-state Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland.

But without a UK-EU free trade deal, yet to be negotiated, that would tie the latter to the bloc's trade rules - anathema to hardline pro-Brexit supporters in Britain and British Prime Minister Theresa May's Northern Irish allies who say it would weaken the province's links with the rest of the country.

Many in Britain, Ireland and the rest of the EU also fear the return of border checks could reignite violence and make checkpoints a target.

In 1998, Britain and Ireland made the Good Friday Agreement to end 30 years of sectarian violence over whether Northern Ireland should remain British or join the Irish Republic. With both states in the EU, checks along the 500-km (300-mile) land border ended.

"The Irish-Irish border is a European border. The Brexit issue is not a bilateral question between the Republic of Ireland and the UK. It's a European issue," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said after talks with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Brussels this month.

But an EU official familiar with the bloc's preparations for a no-deal Brexit said: "In a no-deal scenario, Ireland would have to choose between setting up a physical border with Northern Ireland and de facto leaving the single market.

"If there is no physical border, the customs checks would have to take place on all goods coming from Ireland."

The EU has made a point of publishing contingency plans for areas from transport to social benefits to university exchanges as the risk of an abrupt split grows. But it has kept silent on the Irish border.

Varadkar's stark warning last month that the army may have to be deployed to the border "if things go very wrong" highlighted the risks.

The threat that Ireland could loose at least some access to the EU market is not lost on Varadkar who in Brussels spoke of Dublin's readiness to protect the bloc's common economic area.

"It's core to our economic and industrial strategy, core to our prosperity," he said standing side-by-side with Juncker, promising Irelandwould not become a "back door" to the EU.

But while Ireland is promising the EU it would implement border checks, Varadkar also said: "We are making no preparations, no plans for physical infrastructure on the border."

EU and Irish sources say the only way to ensure customs controls while avoiding border infrastructure is the backstop.

It envisages that many checks would be carried out away from the actual frontier - in market places or production sites.

"It is not possible to erect a border. It's just impossible and a different solution needs to be found," said a second EU official dealing with Brexit. "The backstop is our template. It is a solution that is ready and it works." (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ieRedmi Note 7 is currently the most talked about smartphone in India. Part of Xiaomi's sub-brand 'Redmi by Xiaomi', the smartphone, which has already conquered the Chinese market, will arrive in India on Februarys 28. Xiaomi has already started the registration process. The launch date was announced via a tweet by the official Redmi India handle. Launched in China in January, the smartphone company has sold 10 lakh units of Redmi note 7 in just three weeks.

DO NOT keep calm, #7n will be unveiled on 28th Feb 2019! Register to buy the ticket for the launch event: https://t.co/T9Ftv1Med9. Limited seats! 4800 RTs and we'll giveaway #RedmiNote7. pic.twitter.com/XpXhRZbcCy - Redmi India (@RedmiIndia) February 14, 2019

Redmi Note 7 comes with better hardware and a competitive price point. In China, the phone is priced at CNY 999 (roughly Rs 10,400), and features a 48-megapixel camera on the back.

Earlier in the week, Xiaomi India Managing Director Manu Jain, in conversation with Gadgets 360, had said: "This is probably the device that I'm most excited about for this year." "Maybe if we do everything right, people will remember Indian smartphone industry before and after this device," Jain added.

Redmi Note 7 comes with dual-SIM (Nano) slots and will have a 6.3-inch full-HD+ (1080x2340 pixels) LTPS display with 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The phone is driven by the 2.2GHz Snapdragon 660 octa-core SoC paired with Adreno 512 graphics, and 3GB, 4GB, and 6GB RAM options. Internal storage is at 32GB and 64GB with the option to expand further using a microSD card slot. It measures at 159.21x75.21x8.1mm, and weighs 186 grams.

In China, the starting price of Redmi Note 7 was CNY 999 for the 3GB RAM and 32GB storage option. For the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage option, the phone was priced at CNY 1,199 or Rs 12,400, approximately. There is a 6GB RAM and 64GB storage option, which is priced at CNY 1,399 or Rs 14,500.

The biggest selling point of Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 is going to be its dual camera setup with one 48-megapixel sensor with f/1.8 aperture and another 5-megpapixel sensor. On the front, there is a 13-megapixel selfie camera with several AI features like face unlock, smart beauty, etc. The smartphone packs a 4,000mAh battery with Quick Charge 4 support and comes in Twilight Gold, Fantasy Blue, and Bright Black colour options.

Edited By: Udit Verma

Also Read: Redmi Note 7 creates a record, sells 10 lakh units in 3 weeks in China

Also Read: Xiaomi lines up budget smartphones under Rs 10,000 for India; check out features, price

Also Read: Is Xiaomi launching a new home security camera in India? Its cryptic message suggests soFeb 14, 2019 | By Cameron

By combining a microfluidic system into a direct laser writing (DLW) 3D printer, a team of German scientists printed microstructures consisting of several materials. The achievements of 3D micro and nanoprinters are well established, from 3D printed microfluidic systems to 3D printed movable microstructures. But as outlined by the German researchers, the addition of a few off-the-shelf components can unlock the true potential of (certain models of) direct laser writing 3D printers.

The team was led by Frederik Mayer at the Institute of Nanotechnology (INT) in the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). They modeled their microfluidic system around a Nanoscribe Photonic Professional GT DLW 3D printer using commercially-available microfluidic components such as connectors, flow switches, valves, flow controllers, and switch flow matrices. A star-shaped selector controls which fluid is injected into the build area. The build height of the DLW is only 100 microns due to limits on optical focusing, so only a minuscule amount of fluid is injected into the build area to be selectively cured by the laser. Another fluid material can then be selected and injected for curing, and their prototype microfluidic selector can handle up to seven different materials.

To demonstrate its capabilities, the team 3D printed a deterministic microstructured 3D fluorescent security feature based on multiple emission colors. To fabricate the barely-visible structure, they used seven different liquids within the microfluidic system: a nonfluorescent photoresist for the structures backbone, four photoresists containing fluorescent semiconductor quantum dots and organic dyes with different emission colors, and two developers (mr-Dev 600 and acetone). The developers are solvents used to rinse away the other materials when changing between them.

The result is a five-layered object with a complex grid of different fluorescent markers selectively positioned throughout the layers. The entire object is a mere 112 microns across and only 54 microns tall, so arranging seven different materials into a precise three-dimensional array in an object that small is no small feat. The structure is so tiny, in fact, that all of the fluids experience Laminar flow (a non-turbulent state of flow that occurs when all of the molecules are traveling in a parallel direction) when injected through the microfluidic system. With 26  26  5 possible marker positions in the x, y, and z directions, the security feature can store 7.8 kbit of information.

The authors astutely predict swift adoption of the methodology, stating, It is conceivable that these microfluidic systems will become widely established for the manufacture of complex 3D micro- and nanostructures composed of multiple materials, with applications in diverse fields such as 3D scaffolds for cell culture, 3D metamaterials, 3D micro-optical systems, and 3D security features.

Its just as likely that a company like Nanoscribe will release a new DLW model that incorporates the microfluidic system, or at least an upgrade that standardizes the process. 3D nanoprinting is advancing at a rapid pace; by using conductive and tunable metamaterials in such a system, 3D printed nanobots will be a real possibility.

Posted in 3D Printing Technology

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Yes Bank on Wednesday said the RBI has not found any divergence in the asset classification and provisioning done by the lender during 2017-18. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) assesses compliance by banks with extant prudential norms on income recognition, asset classification and provisioning (IRACP) as part of its supervisory processes.

"As part of this process, Yes Bank has received the risk assessment Report for 2017-2018. The report observes NIL divergences in the bank's asset classification and provisioning from the RBI norms," the bank said.

The RBI conducted its first asset quality review (AQR) of banks, started in 2015, in order to find corporate loan accounts with severe financial weakness, but was still classified as standard accounts on the books of the lenders. Post this review, RBI found a large divergence of Rs 4,176 crore in the reported gross NPAs in the books of accounts of Yes Bank for 2015-16.

Further, the RBI judged gross NPAs at Rs 8,373.8 crore for Yes Bank for 2016-17 against the declared gross NPAs at Rs 2,018 crore. Thus, there was a divergence of Rs 6,355 crore or three times the reported amount.

Also read:Bank credit grows 14.5% to Rs 94.29 lakh crore, deposits up 9.63%

Also read: Realty industry should push to bring entire sector under GST: Manish SinhaBritish superbike brand Triumph Thursday launched new versions of Street Twin and Street Scrambler in India priced at Rs 7.45 lakh and Rs 8.55 lakh, respectively (ex-showroom).

The models now come with many additional features, including 18 per cent increase in power which now stands at 65 PS.

"The Street Twin and Street Scrambler are packed with enhanced performance, improved ergonomics and come with a wide array of customisation options," Triumph Motorcycles India General Manager Shown Farooq told reporters here.

The company has also launched a two-year unlimited-kilometre manufacturer warranty with global coverage to its customers, he added.

Commenting on the company's performance in the country so far, Farooq said the company now has a market share of 16 per cent in the over 500 cc category.

"It has been busy five years for us and we continue to be the fastest growing premium bike brand in the country," he added.

The company, which currently has 16 dealerships across the country, now plans to open one more in Guwahati in the next few months.

"By 2020, we expect to have 20 dealerships which we think would be a good representation across the country," Farooq said.

Triumph had entered Indian market with 10 models in November 2013.DGCA monitoring Jet Airways' flight schedule every 15 days

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Anil Ambani can invest in Rafale but can't clear Rs 550 crore dues: Ericsson to Supreme Court



Telecom equipment maker Ericsson India on Wednesday alleged in the Supreme Court that the Reliance Group has money to invest in the Rafale jet deal but they were unable to clear its Rs 550-crore dues, a charge which was vehemently denied by the Anil Ambani-led company. Anil Ambani told the top court that with the failure of its assets sale deal with elder brother Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio his company has entered insolvency proceedings and is not in control of the funds.



CAG report on Rafale deal: Still enough ammunition for Congress to use against Modi govt



The pivotal report by Comptroller and Auditor General of India over the Rafale aircraft deal was finally tabled before the Parliament on Wednesday. As per the audit report, the deal negotiated by the incumbent NDA government to procure 36 Rafale jets was 2.86 per cent cheaper than the agreement for 126 planes made by the preceding UPA government. The bone of contention was higher cost of deal negotiated by the Modi government despite bringing down the number of jets.



DGCA monitoring Jet Airways' flight schedule every 15 days, says official



Jet Airways, which has been flying for over 25 years, is working with lenders to restructure its debt as well as raise fresh funds. A senior official said the DGCA is reviewing the schedule of flights of Jet Airways every 15 days in order to ensure that there are no sudden flight disruptions due to grounding of aircraft.



Indian Railways to revamp 50 stations for Rs 7,500 crore this year



The redevelopment project of Piyush Goyal-led Railway Ministry will revamp railway stations across the country in order to improve security as well as passenger flow management. Around 50 Indian railway stations are going to be revamped this year as the government plans to invest Rs 7,500 crore in their renovation. The Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC) is planning to give an airport like facelift to the railway stations across the country.



CBI filed corruption cases against over 4,100 govt employees in last 3 years: Govt



Over 4,100 government employees were booked in corruption cases registered by the CBI in the last three years, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said Wednesday. The Prevention of Corruption Act was amended on July 26, 2018, to bring a paradigm shift in tackling corruption in as much as clearly criminalising the act of giving bribe and checking big ticket corruption.



7th Pay Commission: Central govt employees' leave travel concession gets easier



Central government officials availing of the Leave Travel Concession (LTC) benefit to travel to Jammu and Kashmir, the North-East region and the Andaman islands no longer have to limit themselves to the national carrier.While Air India is typically the only airline that government employees can use to claim LTC, even private airlines can now be considered for travel to the above destinations.







































Laying stress on the need for a committed and motivated workforce, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, and Shipping; and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Nitin Gadkari, said team was more important than technology and resources and companies that neglect that while chasing revenues always get into trouble. The minister was delivering the power keynote address at the 6th edition of the Business Today Mindrush event before felicitating 12 captains of industry for excellence in their field.

Gadkari, who is often referred to as the best performing minister in the Narendra Modi-led government and has more than doubled the rate of construction of roads and highways in the last four-plus years, exhorted the industry to look at innovative ways of doing business to stay relevant in future.

"I often tell my people that if A does a job very well and B also does a job very well, then in isolation their productivity is A square plus B square, but when you combine the two together then A+B square yields an extra 2AB, which is a result of collaborative hard work," he said. "There is a lot of stress these days on technology and resources but the importance of team work cannot be understated. Companies that ignore that in their rush for higher revenues will always get into trouble."

Also read: Contradictions are celebrated in India, says Titan MD Bhaskar Bhat

The minister also appealed to industry to generate out of box ideas that may seem quirky at first but have the potential to yield dividends. He gave the example of his own thrust on inland waterways. "When I became the transport minister, there were many naysayers, and we had 403 stalled projects that meant stranded investments of Rs 3,50,000 crore. Through innovative means we saved investments worth Rs 3 lakh crore from becoming NPAs. Further, in the last five years, we have been able to award contracts worth Rs 10 lakh crore," he said. "We are faced with stiff new challenges, particularly related to climate change, and need a fresh approach to answer them. Developing inland waterways that brings down the cost of logistics is one of them. Using biofuel both for road as well as aviation transport is another. We need industry to invest in all of this."

Earlier, while delivering the welcome address, India Today Group Chairman Aroon Purie said over the last two decades companies have started giving more importance to the effects of their business on the planet and this year's CEO awards aptly capture that.

"There are three Ps in business--profit, people and the planet. While profit and people were always important in India, in the last two decades, and increasingly over the last decade, planet has also become important and companies have realised their duty through CSR and sustainabilty measures," he said. "Alongside other intrinsic changes like AI, machine learning, blockchain that are widely talked about, this is another important facet of business."Sandeep Aggarwal of Droom (a marketplace for new and used cars), Neha Kant of Clovia (a lingerie brand) and Sujeet Kumar of Udaan (a B2B marketplace) have had very different journeys, and they have overcome different hurdles on their way. But there is one common factor - they have all gone on to build successful start-ups. What's more, both Aggarwal and Kumar have managed to build two successful start-ups. Before launching Droom, Aggarwal was the co-founder of the managed marketplace ShopClues while Kumar, an IIT-Delhi alumnus, was part of the Flipkart founding team. The trio came together at Business Today's 6th edition of MindRush, the annual flagship business event of the India Today Group themed around Rebrain or Rot, to discuss their experiences and shared some valuable insights which would help aspiring entrepreneurs. Here are some significant takeaways from the panel discussion.

You need to dream, says Aggarwal of Droom

"No one can be an entrepreneur without dreaming," Aggarwal told his audience as he recalled his journey - from studying in the US to working on Wall Street to donning an entrepreneurial hat. "I acted as an entrepreneur 14-15 years before I could become one," he laughed. His success in professional life turned out to be a challenge as people thought he would never dare to take the plunge. But a piece of advice changed all that. "There was one person who told me the best time to start is when you don't have to ask yourself if you are ready. If you are looking for the perfect time (enough capital, a good team and so on), it will never come," Aggarwal shared. According to him, entrepreneurship is a test of conviction. Venture capitalists will always find a reason to accept or reject one's funding proposal. But having faith in yourself and the idea is essential to keep going.

Also read: Need synergy between online and offline, say experts

I gave up my financial freedom to start up, says Kant of Clovia

Kant who grew up in Haridwar and never dreamt that she would become an entrepreneur. For her, the biggest dream at the time was to break free of the small town and gain financial independence. She was in a regular job for seven years, and when she decided to start up, the biggest challenge was to give up her financial independence. Later on, challenges piled up when she had to procure raw materials and look for suitable manufacturers. However, some manufacturers worked in sync with her vision and helped her scale up and also grew their business in the process. As a result, Kant believes that you must have an ecosystem of entrepreneurs around you as they help you on your journey.

Challenges keep me going, says Kumar of Udaan

Udaan has become a unicorn (a start-up with a billion-dollar valuation) in just 26 months, quite unusual for start-up, and Kumar's journey has been no less intriguing. Growing up in a small town in Bihar, all he wanted was to get admission to a good engineering college and then pass the UPSC exam to become a bureaucrat. But after getting his degree from IIT-Delhi, he realised that he was chasing his family's dream and not his own. He decided to take the entrepreneurial route and joined Flipkart back in 2009. When he left the company and decided to start Udaan with other co-founders (all of them are former Flipkart employees), they did have any problem with fundraising. Kumar said they were at the right place at the right time, and their association with Flipkart mattered as it was the most successful start-up in India. The Udaan team secured funding even before they started the venture. Having a team of co-founders in place where the team members knew each other also worked in their favour as a good team is essential for starting a company. According to Kumar, entrepreneurship means taking a lot of tough decisions every day and solving challenges, but you have to take it all in your stride."India is a land which celebrates contradictions," said Bhaskar Bhat, Managing Director, Titan Company, in his keynote address on 'Future of Consumption in India' at Business Today's sixth edition of MindRush, the annual flagship business event of the India Today Group themed Rebrain or Rot. Bhat said the Indian consumer of the future would be a blend of modernity and deep-rooted cultural values, and marketers who could leverage both dimensions would win.

The modern Indian consumer is a bundle of contradictions. To start with, she aspires to own the most swanky car or watch, wants to send her children to the best international schools, but at the same time, she is value-conscious. "Indian consumers may have started travelling by air instead of travelling by train, but there, too, they look for value. It has led to the growth of airlines such as IndiGo, which chase value-seeking consumers," explained Bhat.

The consumption contradiction is also about indulgence and sustenance, he said. Although Indians are not apologetic about splurging on weddings and vacations, they are conscious about buying brands which are sustainable and good for the society and the environment. "While we talk about corporate social responsibility or CSR, individual social responsibility or ISR is becoming equally important," Bhat points out.

There were many such examples. Although Apple has become the biggest watchmaker in the world, thanks to its smartwatches, the demand for mechanical watches is still quite high, and there are enough takers when it comes to a classic Rolex watch. "Buying a Rolex has become as valuable as buying a painting," he said. In fact, Bhat foresees a trend when consumers will opt for a digital detox and unwind as they used to do before, and there lies the opportunity for classical product makers.

Also read: There's need to restore data credibility, say experts at Fireside Chat

Bhat also remarked about the success of e-commerce marketplaces where consumers are browsing through millions of categories and products before making their purchase decisions. But contrary to this 'collectiveness' while making a choice, Indian consumers are also becoming increasingly individualistic. "The success of Titan's Calcutta Collection that had the image of Howrah Bridge embossed was a huge learning for us. Raymond's Made-to-Measure is a huge success too. So, there is immense scope for individualism here," he remarked.

Finally, the India consumption story is mostly about millennials, but according to Bhat, brands could not afford to ignore the 'silvers' or 45-plus consumers as "they are brand loyal, empty-nesters and hence, ready to spend on themselves."Business Today's annual business event MindRush 2019 announces Best CEO Awards 2019 for corporate excellence. Business stalwarts with their peers, rival groups and famous faces of the corporate world were present in high attendance at the India Today Group's flagship business event which was held at The Taj Palace, New Delhi.

Recognised as one of the most coveted industry awards, BT Best CEO Awards are evaluated on several business parameters including the company's growth in revenue and profit, innovation and transformational changes, impactful strategies and contribution to the nation's growth.

Congratulating the czars of the corporate world for their vision, leadership and capabilities, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, and Shipping; and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation said, "Team is more important than technology and resources; a competent CEO will face problems if he doesn't have a good team."

Also read: Contradictions are celebrated in India, says Titan MD Bhaskar Bhat

While talking about innovations and new dimensions for business opportunities, he added while delivering Power Keynote, "I invite the business industry to tap new opportunities like waterways, alternate fuels etc."

This year, the CEOs were evaluated under 13 categories.

In the Auto and Auto Ancillaries sector, the winner was Vinod K Dasari of Ashok Leyland. In the Cement sector, the winner was HM Bangur of Shree Cements. In the FMCG sector, the winner was Varun Berry of Britannia Industries. In Financial Services, Rajeev Jain of Bajaj Finance was awarded. In the IT & ITES category, the winner was CP Gurnani of Tech Mahindra. In Metals category, the winner was Sajjan Jindal of JSW Steel. In the Pharma & Healthcare category, the winner was VC Nannapaneni of Natco Pharma. In the PSU (Ex - BFSI) category, the winner was IS Jha of Power Grid Corporation of India. In the Overall-Small size companies, the winner was Alluri Indra Kumar of Avanti Feeds. In Overall-Medium size companies, the winner was Bhaskar Bhat of the Titan Company. In the Overall-Large size companies, the winner was Kenichi Ayukawa of Maruti Suzuki India.

Mukesh Ambani of the Reliance Industries won awards in two categories -- Champion of Champions and Super Large Companies.

Azim Premji, the chairman of Wipro received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution in the field of business and philanthropy.

Speaking at the flagship business event of the India Today Group, Aroon Purie Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, said, "CEO's must have a very clear vision and should be able to align that vision with the company. Organisations that refuse to change are bound to be consigned to the dustbin of case studies."In one of the biggest ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, at least 44 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were martyred on Thursday evening in Pulwama district's Awantipora town, news agency ANI reported.

A suicide bomber belonging to the terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad drove a SUV packed with 300 kg explosives into a CRPF bus with 39 jawans on board, which was part of a 70-vehicle convoy. The suicide bomber used a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (known as VBIED) to target the convoy.

Terrorist attack took place after the SUV with terrorist crossed security barricades to ram into the CRPF bus. Second bus has relatively suffered lesser damage than the firs bus. A Local Tata Sumo used for attacking the convoy.

Top security sources say there was input that the Jaish terrorists were collecting large quantities of explosives but their exact intent was not known.

As per interception specific info sent to security forces about Masood Azhar close associate Abdul Rasheed Ghazi. Abdul Rasheed Ghazi is a JeM cadre amd trained terrorist. Abdul Rasheed Ghazi is a trained Afgan IED expert and Main Trainer of JeM arms and explosive. He has entered with 2 more terrorist in pulwama south Kashmir.

He has been tasked by Maulana Masood Azhar to impart training to Local Terrorist to Avenge killing of Usman and Talha( Nephew of Masood Azhar).

A suicide bomber targeted a CRPF convoy, which were carrying paramilitary personnel from 54th CRPF Battalion from Jammu to Srinagar, and had over 70 vehicles and more than 2,500 personnel.

US Envoy to India Kenneth Juster reportedly said that U.S. Mission in India strongly condemns today's terrorist attack in J&K. We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. The United States stands alongside India in confronting terror and defeating it, he said.

Sources told ANI that an NIA team with suitable forensic component will leave tomorrow morning for Kashmir to assist the Jammu and Kashmir Police in forensic evaluation of the spot.

At 9:20 pm: Home Minister Rajnath Singh, says,"The attack was carried out by Pakistan backed Jaish e Mohammed. A strong reply will be given and I assure the people of the country this."

#WATCH: Home Minister Rajnath Singh, says,"The attack was carried out by Pakistan backed Jaish e Mohammed. A strong reply will be given and I assure the people of the country this." #PulwamaAttackpic.twitter.com/OdhLUtNK8h - ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2019

At 9:10 pm: We condemn this cowardly terror attack. This is a crime against humanity. The sacrifice of our jawans will not go in vain. The entire nation should condemn this and support Indian govt's fight against terrorism: UP CM, Yogi Adityanath

CM Yogi Adityanath on #PulwamaAttack: We condemn this cowardly terror attack. This is a crime against humanity. The sacrifice of our jawans will not go in vain. The entire nation should condemn this and support Indian govt's fight against terrorism. pic.twitter.com/En7BNyuM75 - ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 14, 2019

At 9:00 pm: Mobile internet services have been snapped in the whole of South Kashmir and speed slowed to 2G in Srinagar district, ANI reported.

Deadliest attack on forces in Kashmir kills 40 CRPF personnel

The convoy of two buses carrying paramilitary personnel from 54th CRPF Battalion was caught in a high intensity IED blast, followed by gunfire from militants on the Jammu-Srinagar highway near Goripora area of Awantipora region which led to the casualties.

Report said that the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for this heinous crime and released a video clip of the suicide bomber, a 'commander' identified as Adil Ahmad Dar.

CRPF officials have reportedly confirmed that around 25 others were also injured in the attack.

Political leaders condemn Awantipora terror attack, say terrorists will be taught lesson Read @ANI story | https://t.co/2ydeKUhbRFpic.twitter.com/fOs1VxSg4l - ANI Digital (@ani_digital) February 14, 2019

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has strongly condemned the terror attack and said that the sacrifices of 'brave security personnel shall not go in vain'. "The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly," PM Modi said in a tweet. He also spoke to National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval.

The Congress party chief Rahul Gandhi said he was "deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack". "My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured," he tweeted.

Mehbooba Mufti, former Jammu and Kashmir CM, tweeted, "Disturbing news coming in from awantipura. Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several have been injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?"

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also condemned the attack. "Extremely shocking news coming from Pulwama (J&K). I strongly condemn the terror attack on CRPF convoy in which many casualties are feared. India must stand united in this moment of grief," Kejriwal said in a tweet.

Former Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah said, "A number of CRPF soldiers are reported to have been killed & injured in an IED blast. I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved."

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said, "We salute our brave jawans and extend our solidarity and condolences to their families. Our prayers for those injured. We wish them a speedy recovery."

Union I&B Ministry issued advisory for television channels in wake of terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir

Union I&B Ministry issues advisory for television channels in wake of #PulwamaAttackpic.twitter.com/rvDvpfeLmPrime Minister Narendra Modi will formally inaugurate the PM- Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) during a two-day farmers' conclave at Gorakhpur on February 24. With its launch, the first instalment of Rs 2,000 under the income benefit scheme will be handed over to farmers. The PM-KISAN scheme was announced in the Interim Budget earlier this month. The scheme promises Rs 6,000 per annum in three equal tranches to small and marginalised farmers with land holding up to two hectares.

PM Modi will inaugurate the PM-KISAN scheme on the second day of Kisan Maha Adhiveshan at Gorakhpur on February 24. The first instalment of Rs 2,000 will be submitted into farmers' bank accounts as the scheme is launched. Around 50 lakh farmers are expected to be paid on the first day.

The first instalment is slated to be handed over to the farmers by March 31. The second instalment is likely to be handed over to farmers by April 1, close on heels of the first instalment. The government is reportedly planning to credit Rs 4,000 into farmers' account before the dates for 2019 General Elections are announced. The agriculture department is reportedly trying to iron out the modalities to roll out the first two instalments before the Model Code of Conduct is put into place for the Lok Sabha Elections.

The Centre has already prompted state governments to prepare a database of small and marginal farmers who will be covered under the PM-KISAN scheme. According to parameters set by the government, a small and marginal landholder family is defined as the one comprising of husband, wife and minor children up to 18 years of age, who collectively own cultivable land up to two hectare as per the land records of the concerned states.

Moreover, Aadhaar has been made optional by the government for availing the first instalment of Rs 2,000 under the recently launched PM-KISAN scheme. However to get the subsequent instalments, it has been made compulsory for farmers to show Aadhaar number for verifying their identity.

The government has sanctioned Rs 75,000 crore to fund the PM-KISAN scheme and has promised more fund in future, if required.

ALSO READ:Sops to farmers, middle class had already been decided; PM-Kisan an act of gratitude towards farmers: Piyush GoyalThe iconic Kalashnikov rifle, also regarded as world's favourite assault rifle, will now be made in India. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi led central government on Thursday approved a proposal to manufacture 7.5 lakh Kalashnikov rifles to be built by Ordnance Factory Board in a joint venture with a Russian firm, suggested media report.

The plant to manufacture the Kalashnikovs, a derivative of the famous AK-47 rifle, will be set up at Korwa, which falls in the Amethi constituency of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. The new rifles, to be used by the troops deployed at the borders, which will replace the indigenous (5.56 x 45 mm) INSAS rifles inducted in 1978.

An inter-governmental agreement to manufacture the 7.62x39 mm caliber AK-203 guns, is likely to be signed on February 15, according to a Times of India report.

The development came after the government told Russia that its firm Kalashnikov concern would have to tie-up with state-run Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), instead of its earlier proposal for a JV with the Adani Group, the leading daily reported.

Last year, the Defence Acquisition Council chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman cleared the procurement of 72,400 assault rifles and 93,895 carbines on a fast-track basis for Rs 3,547 crore to enable the defence forces to meet their immediate requirement for the troops deployed on the borders.

Earlier on Tuesday, India had signed a Rs 647 crore contract to buy 72,400 assault rifles from US company Sig Sauer under the fast track procurement case approved by the Defence Acquisition Council on January 16, 2018. The assault rifles would be manufactured at Sig Sauer's production unit at New Hampshire.

Out of the 72,400 assault rifles, Indian Army would get 66,400, Indian Air Force to get 4,000, and Indian Navy would receive 2,000 of these guns.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar

Also Read: CBDT chairman Sushil Chandra appointed as new Election CommissionerFugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya has hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his apparent reference to him in the PM's last speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Mallya asked why the PM was not instructing banks to recover the money they lent to the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines as he had put his assets before the Karnataka High Court. Claiming the onus was now on the Indian government, the businessman said such offers couldn't be dismissed as "frivolous". He said he was appalled over the recent media reports on the ED claims that he was hiding his wealth. Mallya said it was not possible as he had put around Rs 14,000 crore worth assets "in front of the court".

The Prime Ministers last speech in Parliament was brought to my attention. He certainly is a very eloquent speaker. I noticed that he referred to an unnamed person who "ran away" with 9000 crores. Given the media narrative I can only infer that reference is to me. - Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) February 14, 2019

Following on from my earlier tweet, I respectfully ask why the Prime Minister is not instructing his Banks to take the money I have put on the table so he can at least claim credit for full recovery of public funds lent to Kingfisher. - Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) February 14, 2019

I have made the offer to settle before the Hon'Ble High Court Court of Karnataka. This cannot be dismissed as frivolous. It is a perfectly tangible, sincere, honest and readily achievable offer. The shoe is on the other foot now. Why don't the Banks take the money lent to KFA ? - Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) February 14, 2019

Am appalled to say the least at the media reports on the Enforcement Directorate claims that I hid my wealth ! If there was hidden wealth how could I put approximately 14,000 crores worth of assets openly in front of Court ? Shameful misleading of public opinion but unsurprising. - Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) February 14, 2019

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his last Parliament speech on Wednesday had referred to an unnamed person (apparently Vijay Mallya) who "ran away" with Rs 9,000 crore. "The ones who have run away..is crying that I (Vijay Mallya) ran away with Rs 9000 crores, but Modi has taken back Rs 13,000 crore. After waking up in the morning, they realise that their assets have been confiscated. Next morning, they realise in some other country, other assets have been confiscated. This is the law which we made," said PM Modi. Slamming the Congress party, PM Modi said the Congress let the corrupt steal money but the BJP government is trying to bring it back.

The PM was apparently referring to Vijay Mallya's February 1 tweet that said every other day his properties were being attached, even though the recovery had already exceeded Rs 13,000 crore, which he said were way above what banks claimed he owed to them. "Every morning I wake up to yet another attachment by the DRT recovery officer. Value already crossed 13,000 crores. Banks claim dues including all interest of 9,000 crores which is subject to review. How far will this go and well beyond? Justified?" he tweeted.

Also read: UK home secretary clears Vijay Mallya's extradition to India

Last year, Vijay Mallya had offered to pay back the loan he owed to Indian banks in full as a UK court was hearing a matter over his extradition. But, the ED had recently said that the fugitive businessman decided to hold back substantial funds he had at his disposable even as his Kingfisher Airlines suffered due to debt in its name.

In a massive success for Indian investigating agencies, the UK Home Secretary this month cleared the decks for the extradition of the embattled liquor baron. He will face trial for charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to an estimated Rs 9,000 crore. The matter of Mallya's extradition was pending with the Secretary of State who had to decide whether to agree or disagree with the verdict.

Edited by Manoj Sharma

Also read: Vijay Mallya, UBHL sat on huge funds as Kingfisher Airlines battled debt: EDIndiGo, the country's largest airline, has been cancelling several of its flights since Saturday, but the pace has picked up in the last two days. After cancelling more than 30 flights on Tuesday, the airline yesterday cancelled 49 flights, and the pattern is expected to continue for over a month.

"IndiGo is slightly adjusting its flight schedule in the coming days by approximately 30 flights per day. This is in order to stabilize the network and operations impacted due to various ongoing Notams [notices to airmen] and predicted bad weather in the coming days," the airline said in a statement. Notams are advisories issued to alert pilots about potential hazards and other information that could affect flight operations.

The intense hailstorm that turned Delhi into a winter wonderland last week had disrupted operations for many airlines, causing a total of 36 flights to be diverted. "As part of recovering our schedule, the positioning of the crew and aircraft had to be readjusted. As a result, a number of flights were cancelled," said IndiGo, adding that this "resulted in extended duty times, which then made it necessary to re-roster our crew and optimise our operations". The curtailment of flights will reportedly continue till end-March. The carrier added that passengers are in the process of being informed and re-accommodated.

Flights were cancelled in the Kolkata-Delhi, Kolkata-Nagpur, Kolkata-Chennai, Kolkata-Bangalore, Hyderabad-Kolkata, Hyderabad-Bangalore, Ahmedabad-Udaipur, Ahmedabad-Bangalore, Mumbai-Delhi, and Bangalore-Raipur routes, among others, Mint reported.

"These medium term cancellations have been made to minimise the impact on passengers as alternative travel options have been offered well in advance," IndiGo clarified, adding that the cancellations represent 2% of its flights and that operations would be normalised completely by March 31. The airline, which has cornered more than 41% of the domestic market share, typically operates around 1,300 flights daily.

However, the buzz is that a more serious problem than crew management is plaguing IndiGo: pilot shortage. "The airline is facing a shortage of commanders and pilots and this is forcing the airline to cancel flights from across stations," a source in the aviation industry told PTI.

Also Read: IndiGo offers fares as low as Rs 899 for domestic routes, Rs 3,999 for international flights

"IndiGo has been aggressively increasing capacity and has been facing crew and pilot shortage for quite some time now. This has likely caused the disruptions during the past few days as there were no major issues that could have cancelled or delayed so many flights," a source in the know told the daily. The operations of the other airlines were reportedly not as badly disrupted as that of IndiGo between February 8 and 10.

The budget carrier accounted for close to half of the over 120 planes inducted by domestic airlines in 2018 and aviation consultancy CAPA India's latest forecast sees the Indian fleet expanding by more than 90 aircraft in FY20. Moreover, with the low-cost carriers (LCCs), including IndiGo, expected to post a combined profit of $100-150 million in the coming fiscal - against combined losses to the tune of $700-800 million by Air India, Jet Airways and Vistara - most of the new aircraft deliveries will clearly be bagged by the LCCs.

On Tuesday, a senior official said that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was looking into the "issue" of flight cancellations by IndiGo.

Edited by Sushmita Choudhury Agarwal

With agency inputsDelhi High Court has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to file an affidavit within a week explaining the reasons for extending the implementation deadline of the new tariff plans to 31 March. Amid the confuse roll-out of the TRAI's new tariff guidelines for cable and direct to home (DTH) service, Delhi High Court Chief Justice Rajendra Menon observed the modifications made in the implementation of the guidelines by TRAI, since February 1.

The court also sought an explanation from the authority on why it extended the deadline for the implementation of the new tariffs to 31 March as they had already become applicable on 1 February.

Also Read: TRAI extends deadline to choose TV channels to March 31; here's what will happen if you don't

The Delhi High Court was hearing a challenge by Tata Sky, Airtel Digital TV, Sun Direct and Discovery Communications against TRAI's new tariff scheme. Meanwhile, the case has been deferred till 23 January. The TRAI will have to file its explanation regarding the changes in implementing the new guidelines.

TRAI on Tuesday had allowed the cable and DTH operators to change subscription packages causing a deal of confusion, although it claimed that it is the consumers who have the power of choice. Also, there was no clarity on how the operators will offer channels to customers at old prices when they are asked to pay revised prices to channel owners.

The DTH operators in the court proceedings today complained that TRAI regulations were not framed properly and were ambiguous. The matter is posted for hearing on 21 February.Mukesh and Nita Ambani's eldest son Akash is set to get married to his childhood friend Shloka Mehta on March 9 this year. Shloka Mehta is the youngest daughter of diamantaire Rusell and his wife Mona Mehta. Russell Mehta is the MD of the Indian arm of Rosy Blue Diamonds, a family-owned Indian/Belgian trading company. Mukesh Ambani and Nita Ambani and younger son Anant went to Mumbai's Siddhivinayak temple on February 11 to offer the the first invite for Akash and Shloka's wedding.

The invitation card of the upcoming royal wedding has become public since then.

The invitation is packed in a pink box with an animated disc with Lord Krishna and Radha in the front. Bhajan starts playing as one opens the box. The box opens up to chambers with more pictures of Krishna and Radha. The inner chamber opens to an orange-colored wedding note with the inscription, "O Suryadeva, you are the light in our Akash. You illuminate our every Shloka."

There is also a handwritten note from Mukesh and Nita Ambani in the card. The note reads:

"With prayers to Lord Krishna, with blessings of our parents, and with immense joy and happiness, we invite you to the marriage of our beloved son Akash with his soulmate Shloka.

Marriage is a bond made in heaven, an eternal promise of love and companionship. As Akash and Shloka turn their childhood friendship into eternal love, they also turn our long and deep friendship with Mona and Russell into the loving bonds of family.

We are overjoyed to welcome Shloka in our family as out dearest daughter-in-law, and we wish her and Akash the most glorious life together.

As parents our wish for them is for their love to grow stronger, their friendship deeper and their smiles brighter, every single day. May their path ahead be abundantly and eternally blessed.

As Akash and Shloka set forth on this divine journey, we look forward to celebrating this most joyous occasion with you, and creating memories that will last us a lifetime.

We seek your blessings and good wishes for our children. With love, affection, and our warmest regards."

-- Nita & Mukesh

The next pages of card offer details of wedding functions.

The big wedding day will take place at the Jio World Centre at Bandra Kurla Complex on Saturday March 9, followed by 'Mangal Parv' on March 10. The wedding will wrap up with 'Mangal Ashirwaad'-the reception.

Here's list of functions, dress code and location of the wedding:

Mangal Baraat

Time: 3.30pm

Location: Trident BKC MumbaiI

Tea at 6.30pm

Wedding ceremony at 7.30

Followed by dinner Jio World Centre, BKC, Mumbai

Attire: Indian Ceremonial

Sunday, March 10, 2019 - Mangal Parv

Wedding celebrations at 6.30

Followed by Dinner

Location: Jio World Centre BKC Mumbao

Attire: Formal

Monday, March 11, 2019 - Mangal Arshirwaad

Wedding reception at 7.30pm

Followed by dinner

Location: Jio World Centre, BKC Mumbai

Attire: Lounge Suit/Indian Formal

Akash and Shloka met while they were studying at Dhirubhai Ambani International School in Mumbai. They got engaged last year in June at the Jio World Centre. Akash Ambani will also throw a bachelor's party in St. Moritz, Switzerland from February 23 and 25.The United States and India plan to boost bilateral trade in energy, aerospace, defence, pharmaceuticals and healthcare as part of a continuing commercial dialogue, officials from both governments said on Thursday. They have set up seven working groups of chief executives with top US and Indian firms that will focus on financial trade and investments as well as bring together small and medium enterprises (SME) from the two countries. "The working groups have been formed among the CEOs. They will be providing recommendations to the government," Kenneth Juster, US ...By David Lawder and Michael MartinaWASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - The Trump administration's top two negotiators in trade talks with China will meet on Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but there has been no decision to extend a March 1 U.S. deadline for a deal, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Thursday."The vibe in Beijing is good," Kudlow told Fox News Channel in an upbeat assessment of the U.S.-China talks that are set to conclude on Friday in Beijing.The two sides are pushing to de-escalate a tariff war that has dimmed global growth forecasts, roiled financial ...By Martinne Geller and Arno SchuetzeLONDON/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The process to sell Nestle's skin health division is off to a good start, with strong interest in the business following an overhaul, the chief executive said on Thursday,"We've seen very, very strong interest in this process, and literally people lining up around the block to be part of this process," Chief Executive Mark Schneider told analysts in a conference call. First round bids for the unit, which is expected to fetch around 7 billion Swiss francs ($7 billion), are due on 6 March, two sources familiar with the matter said ...By Sankalp PhartiyalMUMBAI (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics expects a new range of smartphones it will launch in India in the first half of this year to generate sales of $4 billion in 2019, a senior company executive said on Thursday.The South Korean giant will unveil one smartphone from the Galaxy A series every month beginning in March, through June, Ranjivjit Singh, Samsung India's chief marketing officer, told Reuters in a telephone interview.The phones, targeted at millennials, will be priced between 10,000 rupees ($141) to 50,000 rupees ($703), he said, without specifying details."This ...TOKYO (Reuters) - Renault SA Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard is set to meet with Nissan Motor Co Ltd CEO Hiroto Saikawa during a visit to Japan as the automakers reassess their partnership following the arrest and ouster of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn.Three weeks after being appointed chairman of the French automaker, Senard, who is likely to be named to the Japanese automaker's board, was widely expected to visit Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama on Thursday and Friday to meet with board members and management teams.His visit will be the first by Renault's top brass since Ghosn was arrested ...By Devika Krishna KumarNEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices reversed direction and eased on Thursday after the steepest decline in U.S. retail spending since 2009 heightened investor fears of a global slowdown.U.S. financial markets opened lower and global stock markets erased broad gains after retail sales in the world's largest economy recorded their biggest drop in more than nine years in December.The U.S. economy's outlook was further dimmed by other data showing an unexpected increase in the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits last week. [.N]"Oil prices sold off in ...Stones, Bones, and Blood: Rituals to Prevent a House Fire

If youre familiar with household folklore and traditions, youve probably noticed that theres a lot of concern about housefires. While fire was a necessary element for survival  keeping warm, cooking food, boiling water to make it safe to drink and clean wounds with  it was also a hazard, especially in homes made of wood and thatch. Lightning could strike during a storm, and the roof would be set ablaze. An accident or malfunction could happen in the hearth, and the house would be consumed from within. Loss of a home spelled disaster, just as it does today, although fire codes and emergency response units have reduced risks for many of us.

Fiery Gods and Devils

Many household spirits were associated with fire. The German kobold is one example. Kobolds, like alps, were often described as fiery spirits that dwelled near or within the stove and, if they were treated poorly, could cause housefires in vengeance. Feeding the kobold regularly, refraining from speaking ill of him, and keeping the house clean and tidy were good ways to keep him happy and supportive of the household.

Housefires were also attributed to the wrath of storm deities, and so they were often petitioned or guarded against. One method of preventing a fire caused by lightning was finding and keeping a thunderstone. Thunderstones are ancient stone artifacts or meteorites associated in Germanic countries with Thor/Donar/Thunor, god of storms. Benjamin Thorpe writes in his third volume of Northern Mythology: if any one finds a thunderstone, he carefully preserves it; because thunder will never cause any injury in a house where there is such a stone (57). Similarly, oak acorns can be set on windowsills to prevent lightning striking the house  the oak being sacred to Thor and other Indo-European thunder gods.

Powerful Sacrifices

I recently joined a folk magic book club, Queer as Folk Magic, founded by a good friend of mine. The book for last month was The Long Lost Friend by John George Hohman. Naturally, it includes charms and rituals to prevent household fires. One such charm, To Prevent Conflagration, recommends taking:

a black chicken, in the morning or evening, cut its head off and throw it upon the ground; cut its stomach out, yet leave it altogether; then try to get a piece of a shirt which was worn by a chaste virgin during her terms, and cut out a piece as large as a common dish from that part which is bloodiest. These two things wrap up together, then try to get an egg which was laid on maunday Thursday. These three things put together in wax; then put them in a pot holding eight quarts, and bury it under the threshold of your house, with the aid of God, and as long as there remains a single stick of your house together, no conflagration will happen.

I read about a similar, French tradition for home protection for newly constructed houses in Claude Lecouteuxs book The Tradition of Household Spirits:

An old woman holding a black chicken in her hand entered the first room; once she passed over the doorsill, she secured the bird between her legs and slit its throat with the blade of a knife. She poured its blood in front of the house and when the animal was on the verge of expiring, she spilled the last drops on the threshold. The dead bird would then be roasted and served at the meal following the sacrifice. (29)

When asked why she does this, the old woman replies that it prevents anyone living in the household from dying during the first year of occupying the house  in other words, becoming a sacrifice for the household deity. Similarly, a practice in Russia and Poland involved burying the head of either a chicken or black rooster beneath the first stones of a new house (38). Black animals in general are considered to have protective or luck-generating powers in certain cultures, including the UK.

So we can see that the tradition of sacrifice to prevent disaster in homes has a long lineage, traveling across the sea from the Old World to the settlers New World. Most of my research has been into European traditions  the UK, Germany, and Slavic countries such as Russia, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Reading American texts and seeing similarities with European traditions has shown how European settlers kept some traditions and developed new ones with old foundations. We can do the same: keep what is useful and lean upon the old foundations to build new traditions for our places and times.

Works Cited

Hohman, Johann George. Pow-Wows, or Long Lost Friend. Sacred Texts.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/ame/pow/index.htm.

Thorpe, Benjamin. Northern Mythology. Vol. 3. Lumley, 1851,

https://archive.org/details/northernmytholog03thoruoft.By Amanda CooperLONDON (Reuters) - Oil rose for a third day on Thursday to reach its highest so far this year as financial markets drew support from investor optimism that the United States and China could resolve their trade dispute.The price of crude has gained about 20 percent this year, driven primarily by the prospect of a decline in oil supply from OPEC and other top exporters such as Russia."This rally that we're seeing over the last two to three days is completely justified when you put the predicted OPEC production cuts into your global oil supply and demand equation," Tamas Varga of ...By Naomi Tajitsu and Maki ShirakiTOKYO (Reuters) - Top executives from Nissan and Renault on Thursday reaffirmed the importance of an alliance that has been pressured by the ousting of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn, but avoided discussing the potentially contentious issue of Nissan's next chairman. The newly appointed chairman of France's Renault SA, Jean-Dominique Senard, arrived in Japan on Thursday for two days of meetings with Nissan. Speculation has swirled about the future of the alliance, and whether Senard himself would assume the chairmanship of the Japanese automaker.Some in Japan ...By Arjun Panchadar(Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Wednesday, as it benefited from strength in its newer applications and security businesses, while shrugging of the impact of a U.S.-China trade war on its networking gear business.Shares of the Dow component rose about 4 percent in extended trading after the network gear maker also forecast third-quarter earnings above analysts' estimates and boosted its share buyback program and quarterly dividend.Analysts have been worried about the impact of the trade war on Cisco's traditional business of ...By Liz Lee and Anshuman DagaKUALA LUMPUR/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional will unveil a plan this month to deliver more cash to the government by pruning its stakes in non-strategic assets and dialling back its offshore presence in spots such as London, sources told Reuters.This underlines the urgent need for Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to raise money for government coffers, depleted by a fiscal deficit and a massive debt from a multi-billion dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).Under the new strategy, set to be announced ...By Samuel Shen and Shu ZhangSHANGHAI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - China's bad debt managers, whom Beijing hopes to play a key role in resolving financial risks, are in danger of becoming bad credits themselves as the leverage crackdown that fuelled a boom in their business now threatens their own access to funding.The practice of buying banks' non-performing loans (NPLs) at a discount and recovering them for a profit has grown rapidly in China since 2016.It has attracted a slew of new local players as well as foreigners including Oaktree Capital Group and CarVal Investors as Beijing's deleveraging ...By Tom DalyBEIJING (Reuters) - China's aluminium exports surged to a record high in January, according to customs data released on Thursday, as weak domestic demand led to another bumper month of shipments overseas.Exports of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products from China, the world's top producer of the metal, rose to 552,000 tonnes last month, the General Administration of Customs said.That was up 6.2 percent from a revised figure of 520,000 tonnes for December 2018 and up 25.5 percent from a year earlier, beating the previous record high of 542,700 tonnes set in December ...By Karthika Suresh Namboothiri and Swati Verma(Reuters) - Rice export prices fell in top Asian hubs this week on slow demand and rising supply following a quiet start to the year, while limited interest from the Philippines failed to spur a Vietnamese market reeling from Chinese import restrictions. In top exporter India, 5 percent broken parboiled variety eased to $380-$385 per tonne from $383-$388 last week as supply from the winter crop poured in.Demand from Asian and African buyers was subdued, an exporter based in Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh said.India's rice exports ...Slamming the CPI(M)-led LDF government in Kerala over the Sabarimala temple issue, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Thursday said the state needs to protect the faith and beliefs of the people and should introspect on the stand taken by it.

Adityanath alleged that the state government was acting against the believers and trying to "destroy" their faith.

He also alleged that in Sabarimala and Ayodhya, attempts were being made to insult the Hindu community.

"The Karyakarthas of BJP have been jailed after being booked in false cases," Aditiyanath said, adding that the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government has been using the September 28 Supreme Court verdict on the Sabarimala women's entry issue to act against the believers.

He said in Sabarimala, the agitations should be on the lines of the years-long protest that is happening in Ayodhya.

Adityanath also said the BJP workers were facing a "lot of challenges" in the state.

"The whole nation is with you on the Sabarimala issue. The nation has seen what the Kerala government has done to the devotees," Aditiyanath said, addressing party workers at Pathanamthitta district, which was the centre of the Sabarimala protests.

"We need to give a befitting reply to them in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. We need to have more MPs from Kerala to Lok Sabha to ensure Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes back to power," Adityanath said.

The UP Chief minister also said the BJP stood with those who had protested over the Sabarimala issue.

"The Kerala government should stand with the people instead of taking an adamant stand on the matter.

The state government has been using the Supreme Court verdict to act against the believers," he said.

The apex court had on September 28 last year allowed women of all age groups to enter the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple, where earlier women in the menstruating age of 10-50 years were barred from offering prayers.

With the LDF government making it clear that it was constitutionally bound to implement the top court verdict, the BJP and right wing outfits and a section of devotees had launched massive and violent protests on the issue.

Aditiyanath, who was almost three hours late for the event, also referred to the ongoing Kumbh Mela in his state as an example of how to respect traditions and beliefs of the people.

"Lakhs of people are participating in the Kumbh Mela in UP. Both the Narendra Modi-led NDA and UP governments have worked together and are doing their best to provide assistance to the believers who visit the state," he said.

Like how the BJP at the Centre and the UP government have worked together to respect the rights of the believers, the Kerala government needs to respect and protect the beliefs and faith of the people in the state, he said and wanted the Kerala government to introspect on the matter.

Exuding confidence that the the BJP-led NDA government will register "big win" in the coming Lok Sabha polls, he hoped that there would be BJP MPs to the lower house from the southern state, from where party is yet to open its account to the Lok Sabha.

Adityanath said the country has made rapid progress under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"We all know that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, the country has made big strides," he told the gathering.

Adityanath had cancelled his visit to Visakhapatnam, where he was to attend the Maha Kumbhabhishekam as part of the anniversary celebrations of Sarada Peetham in the port city along with his Telengana counterpart, K Chandrashekar Rao.

Earlier, the UP chief minister addressed a meeting of the party's Pathanamthitta booth in-charges and said he was "very happy" to be in Lord Ayyappa's land.

"In Sabarimala and Ayodhya, attempts are being made to insult the Hindu community," Aditiyanath said.

He also said that in Sabarimala, the agitations should be on the lines of the years-long protest that is happening in Ayodhya.

Adityanath met office bearers from Thiruvananthapuram, Attingal, Kollam and Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituencies.

A top BJP functionary told PTI that his visit will boost the morale of the workers ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Police said Thursday they have so far not found any evidence to support the sedition charges levelled against 14 Aligarh Muslim University after protests broke out on the campus earlier this week.

The AMU authorities suspended eight students late Wednesday night in connection with the protest during which a motorcycle allegedly belonging to a member of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), BJP's youth wing, was set on fire.

The police had booked the students for sedition after BJYM activist Mukesh Lodhi filed a complaint, alleging that he was assaulted amid chants of ant-India and pro-Pakistan slogans on Tuesday.

BJP's students' wing ABVP had protested reported plans by AIMIM lawmaker Asaduddin Owaisi to visit the campus. The BYJM members held a separate demonstration against the visit, demanding that the MP should be banned from the campus. There were counter-protest then by other AMU students. Owaisi did not come to the university.

Senior Superintendent of Police Akash Kulhari said all the evidence secured so far on the reported incident at AMU Circle has not revealed anything to suggest sedition.

Police are collecting further evidence, including videos, and if they fail to get anything to substantiate the sedition charges, then it would be dropped, the SSP said.

He confirmed that all pieces of evidence, including video clippings of the clash at the university circle between AMU students and those belonging to the ABVP, have so far drawn a blank on this controversial issue.

The case of sedition and attempt to murder was filed on Tuesday evening on the basis of a written complaint by Lodhi, the Aligarh president of the BJYM.

In his complaint, Lodhi alleged that he was driving across the AMU Circle when these students surrounded him and launched a "murderous assault" while raising anti-India and pro-Pakistan slogans.

When contacted, the AMU spokesman confirmed that Lodhi is the same person who had issued an ultimatum to the AMU Vice Chancellor last week warning him if land for constructing a temple on the campus is not allocated within the next 15 days, "then we will ourselves begin the construction".

When newspersons asked the SSP as to why 14 students of AMU were booked under sedition charges merely on the basis of a complaint by an outsider, he parried the question.

The SSP confirmed that the police are further preparing a list of 55 AMU students against whom non-bailable warrants would be issued shortly.

He said the police would then ask the university authorities to take disciplinary action against such students.

When asked as to why no FIR has been registered on the basis of the complaint filed by the AMU authorities and leaders of the university students' union, the SSP said, "We have asked the AMU authorities to file a single comprehensive complaint and we will file an FIR once we receive such a complaint."



When contacted, AMU spokesman Prof Shafey Kidwai said, "As far as we are concerned, we have not received any evidence to support the charge of sedition against



Asked to explain the reason why AMU's complaints was yet to be registered even two days after the incident, the spokesman parried the question saying, "We have filed the written complaint and we are expecting that our FIR will also be lodged soon."Protesting AMU Students Union (AMUSU) leaders said Thursday it was "ironic" that an FIR has been lodged on the basis of the complainant who has a "vested interest in disturbing the peace and law of the land" whereas there is no response to the complaint filed by a premier central university.

Meanwhile, the AMU authorities suspended eight university students in connection with Tuesday's violence on the campus.

The suspended students have been ordered to remain outside the University campus pending inquiry. Those suspended are Ajay Singh (ABVP leader and a post-graduate student in the Faculty of Law, AMU), Imran Khan, Abdul Mabood, Maneesh Kumar, Pawan Jadon , Farhan Zuberi, Adil Khan and Aman Sharma.

The AMU has constituted a three-member inquiry committee to investigate the incidents of violence. The committee comprises Professor Rashid Umar, Dr Mohd Mohsin and Dr Rashid Ali.

Meanwhile, protesting AMU students, who have been boycotting classes, Thursday demanded that the police should take immediate action against those ABVP members who had "barged into" the AMU campus and had "deliberately provoked violence".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP national secretary H Raja was among nearly 700 workers of the party and various Hindu outfits arrested Thursday for organising an event, without permission, in memory of victims of serial bomb blasts that rocked the city this day 21 years ago, police said.

Workers of BJP, VHP, Hindu Munnani and Bajrang Dal gathered at the RS Puram locality in the city and paid tributes near the place where the first blast had occurred in the evening ahead of senior BJP leader L K Advani's election rally on February 14, 1998.

Several other blasts rocked the city at different places, claiming 52 lives and injuring over 200 people.

Raja, Coir Board Chairman and former BJP MP C P Radhakrishnan were among those arrested for participating in the event for which police had denied permission. All were later let off, police said.

There was tight security cover in and around the area and all shops and commercial establishments in the vicinity downed their shutters.

Earlier, talking to reporters, Raja condemned the February 5 killing of PMK worker Ramalingam who fought against religious conversion in Kumbakonam.

Demanding a ban on Popular Front of India (PFI), he claimed it was time for rooting out Islamic fundamentalism from the soil of Tamil Nadu and bring in a legislation banning religious conversions.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The US national debt has climbed above $22 trillion

Dont like that I (an independent nobody) say it? Then look at MSM and they all say it

WASHINGTON  The national debt surpassed $22 trillion for the first time on Tuesday, a milestone that experts warned is further proof the country is on an unsustainable financial path that could jeopardize the economic security of every American. The Treasury Department reported the debt hit $22.012 trillion

Source: National debt tops $22 trillion for first time, after Trump tax cut

This is a shame and neither party is tackling this potential catastrophe. It is funny when we talk about what is the major threat(s) to our country. We point at Russia, China, Iran and many others.Well, I would say our debt is the number one threat to our country. That is along with the politicians/CEOs that simply run amok, as they spend like children in a candy store

Our path is detrimental. Just like the debt path that crippled so many other nations throughout history. If we do not rein in our spending and taxing from before our birth and to death and beyond, out of everyone associated with the USA, then we are sure to face dire consequences

So warm and so fuzzy

WtROver 800 families suffered damages by a Socfin-KCD plantation, which is funded by Bollore. The plaintiffs lost hope of obtaining justice in Cambodia and so took their case to France.

Phnom Penh (AsiaNews/Agencies)  The French Embassy in Phnom Penh has denied visas to representatives of six Bunong tribal villages in the eastern province of Mondulkiri, who want to take legal action in France against the multinational Bollore.

Eleven people had applied for a visa, including a lawyer, a translator and nine representatives of the indigenous group.

The latter, some 114 people living in Bou Sra commune (Pech Chreada district), said that their land, traditions and ancestral customs are threatened by Socfin-KCD, a company bankrolled by Bollore.

Last year, the residents filed a lawsuit demanding compensation for damages caused by Socfin-KCD, which has operated a rubber tree plantation in the province since 2008.

At a press conference held yesterday in the Cambodian capital (pictured), Kroeung Tola, spokesman for the Bunong community of Bou Sra, explained that the indigenous group turned to a French court after losing hope of obtaining justice in Cambodia.

In January, a court in Nanterre (near Paris) summoned nine members of the indigenous community to appear at a hearing scheduled for yesterday morning.

The hearing had been postponed the previous month because the plaintiffs had been unable to obtain visas to appear before the court.

Mathilde Teruya, a political and press counsellor at the French embassy, said in an email on Tuesday that the visa applications submitted did not comply with EU Schengen regulations. Their presence at the tribunal wasnt compulsory at this stage of the trial, Teruya said.

A report issued last year by the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) said that more than 800 families were affected by Socfin-KCD, most of them ethnic Bunong.

At least 640 families were involved in a land dispute after the private company received a 70-year lease to some 2,386 hectares for rubber plantation and agricultural products.

Mondulkiri provincial authorities claim the land dispute was settled; however, the villagers said they were still involved in lawsuits.UP Cabinet Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar Thursday said he would hand over the charge of the backward class welfare department to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath while expressing disappointment that his recommendations in appointment of state backward castes panel members have been "ignored".

Rajbhar said he would, however, continue to be in charge of the empowerment of persons with disabilities department.

The minister, whose Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) is an ally of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, said "A number of people from backwards castes had applied for various posts in the UP State Commission for Backward Classes. A list was prepared, and names of 28 persons were proposed by us (ministry)."



"After the file reached the chief minister's office, we came to know that names of 27 people are missing. Chairman, vice-chairman were arbitrarily made. Now what is the relevance of this minister?" a disgruntled Rajbhar told PTI here.

"When a minister cannot have a say in selection of a member and all the work is to be done by the chief minister, then what is the point of the department being handled by me. The social justice panel's recommendations are waiting to be implemented. If the Backward Class Welfare Department is with me, then it is my job to fight for them and for their rights," he said.

The committee, constituted in May last year, had in its recommendations to the state government, favoured division of backward castes in three categories backward, very backward and most backward.

Backward classes account for about 44 per cent of the electorate in the state and play a crucial role in making or marring political prospects of any party.

The panel's recommendation to classify various OBC and Dalit sub-castes into three broad categories and provide quota within quota to them is likely to spice up the political scene in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Rajbhar also alleged discrepancies in distribution of scholarship to children hailing from backward castes.

"When you speak about sabka saath sabka vikas, then there should be a parity. When you indulge in 'manmaani' (arbitrary conduct), then what will you do by taking us along? Are we only there to fetch votes for you?," the SBSP leader posed.

Rajbhar said, "I will hand over the backward class welfare department to chief minister requesting him to run it. I do not want it. However, I will continue to run the empowerment of persons with disabilities department."



In 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the BJP had bagged 312 out of 403 seats, while SBSP had won four seats. Another ally of the coalition, the Apna Dal (Sonelal), had won nine seats.

On February 10, the SBSP had warned that it will part ways with the BJP if the recommendations of the Social Justice Committee are not implemented by February 24.

"If the BJP does not agree to the demands raised by us, we will definitely part ways with them. If it does not implement the recommendations of the Social Justice Committee by February 24, then our path would be separate, and subsequently, we will contest in all 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state," SBSP general secretary Arun Rajbhar told PTI.

He also said, "We can even go with the anti-BJP alliance if the need rises. A number of talks have been held with them. This is the last warning. After February 24, there will be no agreement with the BJP.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi Thursday reiterated his demand for a respectable share of seats within grand alliance in the upcoming Lok Sabha poll and said his Hindustani Awam Morcha would contest 20 out of a total 40 parliamentary seats in the state on its own if denied its due.

Manjhi, who had earlier this week stated that he would not agree to a seat-sharing formula that gave a less number to HAM compared with former union minister Upendra Kushwahas RLSP, also cryptically said that he personally saw the Congress as a major player but the prevailing sentiment in my party is that we have a support base in Bihar that is greater than that of the national party.

A meeting of HAM district unit presidents was held here and it was unanimously decided that we would not agree to any formula wherein we were given a number that was less than what any of the late entrants might get, Manjhi told reporters here.

Manjhi had left the BJP-led NDA in February last year and joined the Congress-RJD combine, known as the Mahagathbandhan a term coined by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar while he was in the coalition and which continues to be in use for describing the opposition formation.

After Manjhis HAM, Sharad Yadavs LJD, RLSP and Bollywood set designer-turned-politician Mukesh Sahnis VIP have joined the mahagathbandhan.

Replying to a query, Manjhi said of course,a seat-sharing formula is yet to be finalized in the mahagathbandhan. But my party workers expressed their outrage over media reports which suggested that we may end up getting only one seat. It would be humiliating, if true.

Notably, HAM has only one MLA Manjhi himself in the 243-strong state assembly.

The former cms son Santosh became an MLC last year with the help of the RJD. The party came into existence in 2015 when Manjhi quit the JD(U) in protest against having been made to step down for paving the way for the return of Nitish Kumar as the Chief Minister.

We have said that we are in a position to contest 20 seats. We would end up fighting as many on our own if things do not work out in our favor. We are a recognized political party with the telephone assigned to us as the symbol by the Election Commission, Manjhi claimed.

As I have said, I would soon be meeting RJD supremo Lalu Prasad so that things are finalized by next week. I did speak to Tejashwi but nothing came of that. In any case, as long as Lalu is there, it is he who will be having the last word, the HAM founding president said.

Manjhi has sought to assume an aggressive posture ever since the HAM suffered a setback recently with its state unit chief Vrishan Patel and national spokesman Danish Rizwan quitting the party, though both are critical of each other .

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The West Bengal government has called for a tripartite meeting to resolve the impasse between the jute mill owners and the workers' trade unions, which have threatened to go on an indefinite strike from March 1 over their unfulfilled demands.

A notice issued by the state labour department earlier this week invited the jute unions on February 18 to discuss their charter of demands with the mill owners.

Earlier the meeting was scheduled to be held Thursday.

All trade unions in the jute sector, barring Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress, have agreed to join the strike from March 1 to press for their demands, including wage revision and implementation of Minimum Wages Act.

The jute sector employs over two lakh workers in more than 60 mills in the state.

The strike, if not prevented, may have an impact on the vote bank of political parties across the jute belts of Howrah, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts.

The general election is due this summer.

The jute industry has not seen any major wage revision after 2011. The state government, in the last tripartite meeting held on January 17, had decided to give an interim relief of Rs 70, raising the workers' wage to Rs 327 per day till the new wage agreement was finalised.

The unions, however, contended that the interim benefit was a unilateral decision of the state government.

A former chairman of Indian Jute Mills Association, a body of mill owners, said paying anything more than Rs 327 would not be possible as "margins are already under pressure in the jute business".

"The government should take steps to ensure that there are no disruptions. Strikes will only help the central government to dilute mandatory packaging order in favour of the plastic industry," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Delhi court Thursday granted interim bail for seven days to Rajiv Saxena, arrested in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland money-laundering case, on two sureties of Rs 5 lakh each.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar, while granting the bail, asked AIIMS to file a detailed medical report on Saxena's health and posted the matter for hearing on February 22.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had supported his bail plea yesterday, said the medical report submitted by AIIMS was not detailed.

In the previous hearing on Wednesday, the ED had said that it was not opposing Saxena's bail plea due to his medical condition and the fact that he was cooperating in the probe.

The court asked the lawyer appearing for the ED whether the bail was not being opposed on merits, to which he replied that he was relying only on Saxena's medical condition as he is suffering from leukamia.

To this, the court had said, "remember it will apply in other cases then. We are recording everything, whatever you are saying".

Saxena had sought bail on medical grounds and told the court that he was suffering from a "heart disease" and "advanced-stage leukaemia" (blood cancer).

The court had on Wednesday directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences to file a report on Saxena's medical condition.

It also asked the Tihar jail authorities to comply with the court's February 12 order in which it had directed the authorities to allow Saxena his necessary medicines and sleep apnea machine.

The Dubai-based businessman, Saxena, who was sent to jail till February 18, had said in his bail application that he was extremely sick with advanced terminal diseases and had coronary heart disease with four stents in his heart.

Saxena, who is in custody since January 31 after his deportation from Dubai, said in his bail plea that 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 him the same relief.

Saxena is one of the accused named in the chargesheet filed by ED in the AgustaWestland 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.

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 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.)A Delhi court Thursday granted bail for seven days to Rajiv Saxena, arrested in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland money-laundering case, and sought a detailed medical report on him from AIIMS within a week.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar granted the relief to Saxena and directed him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh with two sureties of the like amount.

It also imposed certain conditions, including that Saxena would not leave the national capital without the permission of the court and he should not tamper with evidence or try to contact any witness.

It also asked him to join investigation as and when called by the investigating officer.

"As per ED, the accused has fully cooperated during investigation and they have not opposed his bail application. Further detailed report regarding his medical condition from AIIMS is awaited. Considering the overall facts and circumstances, Rajeev Saxena is admitted in interim bail till February 22," the court said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) told the court that the report submitted was not detailed enough and it did not contain his full medical history.

The court directed the Tihar jail authorities and the counsel of Saxena to send the necessary medical documents to AIIMS.

"Let copies of the complete examination report as submitted by the jail authority along with medical documents submitted by the counsel of Saxena be sent to AIIMS. The Director/Medical Superintendent, AIIMS, shall furnish detailed report regarding medical condition of the accused within seven days," the court said.

The Medical Superintendent of AIIMS submitted in the court that due to unavailability of Saxena's medical reports when he was admitted on February 12, it was not be possible to file his detailed medical report.

"Saxena was brought directly to AIIMS on February 12 at 8:30 pm and was examined by the Casualty Medical Officer and the casualty papers were handed over to the patient and were not retained by the hospital. Therefore it is not possible to submit any medical report without going through the casualty papers," the medical superintendent said.

The court has put up the matter for next hearing on February 22.

The court said that Saxena's medical report as submitted by the Tihar jail authorities showed that he was suffering from blood cancer and his WBC was 16,200 which is on the higher side.

"Medical examination conducted on February 11 by LNJP hospital showed the WBC to be 14,500. There is rise in he WBC during 2-3 days," the court said.

In the previous hearing on Wednesday, the ED had said that it was not opposing Saxena's bail plea due to his medical condition and the fact that he was cooperating in the probe.

The court asked the lawyer appearing for the ED whether the bail was not being opposed on merits, to which he replied that he was relying only on Saxena's medical condition as he is suffering from leukemia.

Saxena had sought bail on medical grounds and told the court that he was suffering from a "heart disease" and "advanced-stage leukaemia" (blood cancer).

The court had on Wednesday directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences to file a report on Saxena's medical condition.

It also asked the Tihar jail authorities to comply with the court's February 12 order in which it had directed the authorities to allow Saxena his necessary medicines and sleep apnea machine.

Saxena, who is in custody since January 31 after his deportation from Dubai, said in his bail plea that 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 him the same relief.

Saxena, a director of two Dubai-based firms - UHY Saxena and Matrix Holdings, is one of the accused named in the chargesheet filed by ED in the AgustaWestland 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 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 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 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" 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.)Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido Wednesday announced the appointment of a new board for Citgo, the US-based arm of state oil firm PDVSA that until recently was a major source of revenue for President Nicolas Maduro's embattled regime.

Guaido -- who has been recognized as acting president by more than 50 countries and also heads the opposition-controlled National Assembly legislature, which appointed the new board -- is locked in a battle with Maduro for control of the crisis-hit country.

The United States, which is leading the push to topple Maduro, has sanctioned key regime financial assets including the Citgo subsidiary, and on Wednesday President Donald Trump once more refused to rule out military action against the leftist leader.

Announcing the new six-member board on Twitter, Guaido said it "will be made up of qualified Venezuelans, who are free of corruption and without any partisan affiliation."



"With this decision, we are not only protecting our assets, we are avoiding the ongoing destruction and loss of the business," said Guaido, who declared himself interim president after incumbent Maduro announced victory in polls the opposition said were rigged.

Venezuela at one point derived 96 per cent of its hard currency revenues from oil exports, and the US was the biggest cash customer, buying half a million barrels per day.

In announcing the latest raft of sanctions last month, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Citgo can continue to operate, but its earnings must be deposited into a blocked account in the United States, out of reach of Maduro's regime.

As the National Assembly moved to replace Citgo's leadership, Trump was hosting Colombia's President Ivan Duque for talks on the crisis gripping its Latin American neighbour.

Declaring himself "sad" about the "turmoil" in the oil-rich nation, Trump demanded that Maduro unblock US aid shipments to the country, sitting on the Colombian side of the border.

"You'll see," Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if thousands of US troops could deploy.

Duque, whose country has taken in large numbers of Venezuelan refugees, also lambasted Maduro, saying that "obstructing the access of humanitarian aid is a crime against humanity".

The US aid has become the latest flashpoint in the international campaign to oust Maduro, whose socialist government is bolstered by the military and backed by Russia and China.

Much of Venezuela's population is in desperate need, lacking even basics like food and medicine.

But Maduro accuses the United States of using the blocked aid shipments as pretext for an invasion.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Valentine's Day wasn't getting much love in the world's biggest Muslim majority nation Thursday as Indonesian authorities urged amorous couples to call it quits and carried out raids to quash any wayward gift-giving.

About 100 students in the second-biggest city, Surabaya, demonstrated against the chocolates-and-flowers celebration, saying it promoted Western decadence and casual sex.

"Say no to Valentine's now!" chanted the high schoolers, most of them teenaged girls in hijab head coverings. Some held placards with phrases like "Sorry Valentine's Day, I am Muslim".

School principal Arief Himawan warned that couples giving each other chocolates or other treats can quickly lead to sin.

"We want to remind our young generation not to be caught up in Western culture," he told AFP.

Authorities conducted raids in Surabaya, and Makassar city on Sulawesi island to snuff out any celebrations.

In conservative Aceh province -- the only place in Indonesia that imposes Islamic law -- a fresh Valentine's prohibition was issued, citing religious norms.

People are publicly whipped in the region for a wide range of offenses including selling alcohol and gay sex and similar bans have been ordered in previous years. While Valentine's was off the cards for some, many Indonesians practise a moderate form of Islam and celebrate the day with chocolates and flowers for their loved ones.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A former US Air Force counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran despite warnings from the FBI has been charged with revealing classified information to the Tehran government, including the code name and secret mission of a Pentagon program, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The Justice Department also accused Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, of betraying former colleagues in the U.S. intelligence community by feeding details about their personal and professional lives to Iran. Four hackers linked to the Iranian government, charged in the same indictment, used that information to target the intelligence workers online, prosecutors said.

Witt had been on the FBI's radar at least a year before she defected after she attended an Iranian conference and appeared in anti-American videos. She was warned about her activities, but told agents that she would not provide sensitive information about her work if she returned to Iran, prosecutors say. She was not arrested at the time.

"Once a holder of a top secret security clearance, Monica Witt actively sought opportunities to undermine the United States and support the government of Iran a country which poses a serious threat to our national security," said FBI executive assistant director Jay Tabb, the bureau's top national security official.

Tabb said "she provided information that could cause serious damage to national security," though he did not provide specifics.

Witt remains at large in Iran, as do the four hackers, who prosecutors say were acting on behalf of the powerful, government-linked Revolutionary Guard. That group, a branch of Iran's armed forces, has previously been designated by the U.S. government as terrorism supporter.

The indictment was unsealed the same week as Iran celebrates the 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution and as the country denounced a Middle East security conference in Warsaw co-hosted by the U.S. and Poland.

Officials said the indictment's timing was unconnected to the meeting.

Witt served in the Air Force between 1997 and 2008, where she was trained in the Farsi language and was deployed overseas on classified counterintelligence missions, including to the Middle East. She later found work as a Defense Department contractor.

The Texas native defected to Iran in 2013 after being invited to two all-expense-paid conferences in the country that the Justice Department says promoted anti-Western propaganda and condemned American moral standards.

The Treasury Department on Wednesday sanctioned the New Horizon Organization, which organized the conferences Witt attended and hosts events that American officials say promote Holocaust denial, conspiracy theories and serve as a platform to recruit and collect intelligence from attendees.

Witt first traveled to a "Hollywoodism" conference in 2012, when she appeared in Iranian television videos in which she was identified as a former U.S. service member with critical views of America. She was then warned by FBI agents that she was a potential recruitment target for Iranian intelligence.

"She chose not to heed our warning that travel to Iran could potentially make her susceptible to recruitment," Tabb said. "She continued to travel." Later that year, she was hired by an individual who is not named in the indictment but who professed to have ties to high-level officials to help in the filming of an anti-American propaganda commercial.

She returned to another "Hollywoodism" conference in 2013. This time, with free housing and computer equipment, she went to work for the Iranians, supplying information about a classified Defense Department program and assembling into "target packages" research she conducted into the lives, locations and missions of former colleagues, the indictment said.

The accused hackers exploited that research, contacting Witt's former colleagues through imposter Facebook and email accounts. Their goal was to induce the targets to click on links and attachments containing malicious software that could the compromise their computer and networks.

The case was unsealed soon after the Justice Department freed from custody an American-born Iranian television anchorwoman who'd been detained for days by the FBI as a material witness in an unspecified criminal investigation in Washington, where the Witt indictment was filed. Marzieh Hashemi works for the Press TV network's English-language service. She has not been charged with any crimes. Justice Department officials wouldn't say if the investigations were connected.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The US on Thursday condemned the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district and said it stands alongside India in defeating terrorism.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a Jaish suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district, killing at least 39 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

"The US Mission in India strongly condemns today's terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir. We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims," US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster tweeted.

The US stands alongside India in confronting terror and defeating it, he said.

More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir around 3.15 pm.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place about 20 km from Srinagar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Top trade negotiators from the US and China began their talks in "good spirits" here on Thursday amid the optimism generated by President Donald Trump's remarks about extending the March 1 deadline for the world's two largest economies to reach a trade deal.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and his Chinese counterpart Vice Premier Liu He met in Beijing to take the talks forward from their recent meeting in Washington on the topics of trade balance, technology transfer, protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), non-tariff barriers, service sector, agriculture and enforcement mechanism.

Besides Lighthizer, described as a hardliner on China by the Chinese media, the US team also included Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and David Malpass, a Treasury undersecretary who is Trump's nominee for World Bank president.

Trump is pushing China to reduce the USD 375 billion trade deficit and protection of intellectual property rights and more access to Chinese markets. He has already increased the tariffs on over USD 250 billion worth of Chinese exports to the US and threatened to extend tariffs on USD 200 billion worth of Chinese imports to 25 per cent.

Chinese President Xi Jinping was expected to meet the US delegation on Friday while the talks was expected to go into the rest of the week, according to the official media here.

Xi's meeting with the US delegation was stated to be a reciprocal move as Trump had met the Chinese team when it visited Washington early this month.

Trump's comments on Tuesday stating that while he is not inclined to extend the deadline, he might let it "slide for a little while" if talks go well has created a more relaxed atmosphere for the talks.

"Smiling faces, interesting photos China, US kick off new trade talks in good spirits," state-run Global Times tabloid headlined its story on the commencement of talks.

"The mood has changed for the extremely complicated and often tense negotiations between China and the US over their trade issues, or so it seems, judging from photos and other details emerging from the latest round of talks," it said.

Parrying questions on the likely outcome of the talks, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said the top trade negotiators from the US and China be given the best convenience to focus on their job for the benefit of both countries and the global economy.

"The best thing we could do now is to let the negotiators concentrate on their negotiations," she said when asked about the possible outcome of the talks.

All eyes are on the ongoing trade talks, as its results are linked to the whole world's economic growth and stability, Hua said.

"You'll get a better answer after the conclusion of the high-level China-US trade talks," Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said when asked whether the reported that Trump administration plans to add 60 days to the current China tariff deadline is true or not.

As the talks began the new official data said China's export growth to the US slowed in January compared with December, while the imports slide widened, indicating a bleak trade picture between the two economies.

China's imports from the US edged down by 38.6 per cent year-on-year to USD 9.4 billion in January, compared with a 2.3 per cent yearly decline in December, Global Times reported.

In terms of exports, China exported USD 279.4 billion-yuan worth of goods to the US in January, up by 1.9 per cent year-on-year, but slowing from the 8.6 per cent growth seen in the previous month, according to data revealed by the General Administration of Customs on Thursday.

China's January trade surplus with the US widened by 31.2 per cent to hit 188.4 billion yuan, according to the data.

The sliding exports growth and widening imports decline not only show that the uncertainties of the China-US trade situation is forcing the market to take risk aversion measures, but also reflects that China's dependence on US trade is sliding, Bai Ming, deputy director of the MOFCOM's International Market Research Institute, told the daily.

According to Bai, the China-US trade cooperation framework has not been irreparably damaged so far.

"But if there's no solution to the two countries' trade row in the near future, there's a possibility that the China-US trade platform and industrial chain could be harmed, which will hurt the bilateral trade relations to a greater extent than at present," he said.

The January data also pointed out that China's exports and imports both rose at a faster-than-expected rate in January.

Total goods trade rose 8.7 per cent year-on-year in January to 2.73 trillion yuan (USD 395.98 billion), the General Administration of Customs data said.

Exports rose 13.9 per cent year-on-year to 1.5 trillion-yuan last month, while imports grew 2.9 per cent to 1.23 trillion yuan, data showed.

The increase in exports was significantly higher than analyst forecast, partly driven by front-loading by exporters before the Spring Festival, which fell at the beginning of February as compared with the end of February last year, China Merchants Securities said in a research note, state-run Xinhua agency reported.

Amid the ongoing trade war, China's economy sank to a 28-year low in 2018 slowing down to 6.6 per cent year-on-year. It was the lowest growth since 1990.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Australian War Memorial  AU$500M Expansion Plans

by Paul Hastings

Australias largest collection of artifacts from more than a century of conflict, the Canberra-based Australian War Memorial (AWM), is to undergo a massive expansion of its display galleries, at a cost of just under AU$500 million.

On Thursday November 1st, 2018, the institutions director, Dr. Brendan Nelson, announced with detailed plans in Parliament House that over a period of nine years, the Memorials display space will expand by 83 per cent, adding approximately 10,000 square metres of covered display space, and allowing many of the museums larger pieces, such as armoured fighting vehicles and aircraft, to come out of storage and go on public display for the first time. The expansion plans have broad political support including from Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who also spoke at the unveiling of AWMs plans.

The biggest expansion since the Memorial opened in 1941 will see an increased emphasis on the commemoration of Australias post-Vietnam War conflicts such as East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan,

Announcing the expansion on 1 November 2018, AWM Director Dr Brendan Nelson said just a fraction of the collection is currently on display. In crowded galleries, the stories of Australian military service from the Boer War through to the First and Second World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam are all largely told, he said. Yet, the service of 70,000 young Australians in the Middle East Area of operations of the past two decades currently covers only two per cent of available space. We must tell these stories not years or decades after they have occurred, but now. It is also the stories of families who love and support them.

Part of the expansion will see redevelopment of existing galleries, such as ANZAC Hall where the Bomber Command themed Striking at Night and First World War aviation themed Over the Front displays have proved very popular since opening last decade.

Although at this stage no specific aircraft have been identified as forming new displays, significant aircraft such as Department of Aircraft Production (DAP) Beaufort MK VIII A9-557 and Lockheed Hudson MK IV A16-105, which have largely remained in storage since their restoration, may finally go on permanent display.US and Chinese negotiators on Thursday kicked off two days of high-level talks that President says could decide whether he escalates the bruising tariff battle between the world's two biggest economies.

Trump indicated this week he was open to extending a trade truce beyond March 1 depending on progress in He is considering pushing the deadline back an additional 60 days, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources.

In December he postponed plans to sharply hike tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports to allow more time for negotiation.

The two economic superpowers have already imposed duties on more than $360 billion in two-way trade, which has weighed on their manufacturing sectors and shaken global financial markets.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary are meeting with China's top economic czar Liu He, seeking to build on progress made in last month.

We are "looking forward to discussions today", Mnuchin said as he left his hotel Thursday morning for the talks.

Expectations for a trade deal have grown as faces pressure from slowing economic growth, and as swooning global markets pose a challenge to Trump and his economic advisors.

Data released Thursday in showed its trade surplus with the US -- a major source of anger within the Trump administration -- narrowed in January to $27.3 billion, even as its American imports plunged 41 percent for the month from a year earlier.

Last year the surplus hit a record USD 323.3 billion. China's total imports also sank for the month, pointing to weak demand amid slowing economic growth.

Chinese President plans to meet with the US officials in this week, a report in the South Morning Post said Wednesday, bolstering hopes for the talks and world markets.

Trump also has said he expects to meet with Xi "at some point" to clinch a trade deal.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that preliminary talks in were "going along very well," Bloomberg reported.

"They're showing us tremendous respect," he added. "Markets will continue to watch -- and react -- closely to the ups and downs of the negotiations," said Trey McArver of Trivium Research.

"But Sino-US relations are all about the two leaders, and it will ultimately be up to Xi and Trump to come to a deal -- or not," he wrote Wednesday in a newsletter. The two sides said major progress was made in talks last month in Washington, but a wide gulf remains on some issues.Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao cancelled their proposed visit to port city Visakhapatnam Thursday owing to "pressing engagements" back home, sources said.

The two chief ministers were supposed to attend the Maha Kumbhabhishekam as part of the anniversary celebrations of Sarada Peetham in Visakhapatnam.

While Adityanath was said to be busy overseeing the ongoing Kumbh Mela in his state, preparations for the impending expansion of his Council of Ministers made Rao cancel his one-day trip to Andhra Pradesh, the sources said.

Rao visited the Peetham on December 23 after winning the state Assembly elections for the second consecutive term.

When contacted, a source in the Peetham said Adityanath had cancelled his visit to Visakhapatnam as he was preoccupied with the Kumbh Mela being held at Prayagraj (Allahabad).

Another source said, the two chief ministers cancelled their visit to the state due to "pressing engagements."



The Telangana chief minister was supposed to first visit Mangalagiri in the capital region Amaravati for the house-warming ceremony of YSR Congress president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and then leave for Visakhapatnam to attend the Maha Kumbhabhishekam.

As Reddy's house-warming event has been put off, Rao reportedly decided to cancel his trip to Andhra Pradesh.

"Also, he is busy preparing for expansion of his Cabinet. Besides, he is holding a high-level meeting ahead of the scheduled visit of the Finance Commission to Hyderabad. Hence, he has cancelled his AP trip," sources said over phone from Hyderabad.

The Peetham was accordingly informed on Wednesday that the visit of the Chief Minister stood cancelled.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Samajwadi Party Thursday demanded immediate withdrawal of cases against party workers, who had protested against their national president Akhilesh Yadav being stopped from proceeding to Allahabad, forcing adjournment of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.

During the Zero Hour, Leader of Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary raised the matter of protesting party workers being allegedly framed in "fake" cases and demanded their immediate withdrawal.

"The right to protest has been enshrined in the Constitution. The partymen were protesting against humiliation of their leader...we are not enemies... you can also be on this side in the future," Chaudhary said.

In his reply, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna said the right is to stage peaceful protest and not to create "anarchy".

"SP activist slapped policemen in uniform and police used slight force to control the situation which could otherwise have turned bad," Khanna said, adding action has been taken as per rules and no one taking law in his hand would be allowed to go scot free.

Chaudhary asked Speaker Hriday Narain Dixit to give a direction to the government on the issue but was told that cases lodged are being looked into.

As the Speaker took up the next issue on the agenda, SP workers created uproar, leading to adjournment of the House for 40 minutes.

On Tuesday, Akhilesh Yadav said he was stopped by authorities at the Lucknow airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Minister of State and BJP leader Pon Radhakrishnan Thursday made light of the dharna being staged by Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy against Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, saying such agitations were common occurrence in the run up to elections.

Such agitations were clear indication that the elections were round the corner, he told reporters here.

Narayanasamy and others are on the dharna in front of the Raj Nivas in Puducherry since Wednesday demanding that that the Lt Governor accord sanction to 39 government proposals, including a free rice scheme, pending with her.

To a question on DMK chief M K Stalin extending support to the dharna, Radhakrishnan likened it to seasonal Australian migratory birds flocking to India and returning later.

On BJP's alliance for Lok Sabha polls, he said negotiations were on with a few parties.

"There will not be any problem in the alliance talks," he said without elaborating further.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, who reached Bhutan on Thursday on an official trip, is rushing back to Delhi after cutting short his visit in view of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

Gauba had reached Thimpu this morning for a Home Secretary-level dialogue with his Bhutanese counterpart.

He spoke to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh after the terror attack.

"In view of the terror attack in Pulwama, the home secretary is rushing back to Delhi," a home ministry official said.

At least 30 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama district when a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into their bus.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres "strongly" condemned the terror attack against security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, perpetrated by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, calling for those behind the attack to be brought to justice.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a Jaish suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district, killing at least 39 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

"We strongly condemn today's attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district and express our deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and to the Government and people of India," Guterres's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at the daily press briefing here Thursday.

Responding to a question by PTI on the terror attack, Dujarric said, "We of course wish a speedy recovery to those injured and call for those behind the attack to be brought to justice."



When asked about New Delhi's appeal to the international community to support India's proposal to list terrorists, including JeM chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the UN Security Council's Sanctions Committee and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan, Dujarric said the "issue of listing of terror organisations is one that is in the hands of the Security Council".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Indian-origin peers in the House of Lords have initiated a historic debate on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in April 1919 during the British Raj, to be held next Tuesday.

"Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Amritsar massacre", initiated by Lord Meghnad Desai and Lord Raj Loomba, will take place in the main chamber of the Upper House of the UK Parliament and include around nine speakers during what is listed as a short debate.

Both Desai and Loomba are members of the newly-formed Jallianwala Bagh Centenary Commemoration Committee, set up to mark 100 years since the tragic event.

"This is a historic moment as the centenary of the massacre falls on April 13, 2019. The debate proposes discussing the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in detail, as well as the British government's plans to commemorate the centenary," said a statement from the Jallianwala Bagh Centenary Commemoration Committee (JBCC).

"This is the first time in 100 years that there will be a full debate on Jallianwala Bagh. The last time was in July 1920, when the House of Lords, through a vote, condoned the actions of Brigadier General Dyer who killed more than a thousand peaceful protestors at Jallianwala Bagh on 13th April, 1919," the statement noted.

Historical records claim that Dyer had fired on the Baisakhi gathering without warning and continued to fire for 10 minutes even as they were trying to escape, while he blocked the main exit with his soldiers and armoured vehicles.

In their role as JBCC members, Desai and Loomba have also written a letter to British Prime Minister Theresa May requesting an apology for the incident. Previously, former British Prime Minister David Cameron had defended a decision to not deliver a formal apology for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre during a visit to Amritsar in February 2013.

I don't think the right thing is to reach back into history and to seek out things you can apologise for. I think the right thing is to acknowledge what happened, to recall what happened, to show respect and understanding for what happened, Cameron had said at the time.

The JBCCC, chaired by businessman and philanthropist Sardar Balbir Singh Kakar, is made up of a number of Indians and non-resident Indians (NRIs) including Lady Kishwar Desai, diplomat Navtej Sarna and British MP Virendra Sharma.

Along with the Arts And Cultural Heritage Trust, the committee has been supporting the Partition Museum at the Town Hall in Amritsar, near Jallianwala Bagh, to produce and install a detailed exhibition on the massacre titled Punjab under Siege the Jallianwala Bagh Centenary (1919-2019)'.

This exhibition will travel through UK cities of London, Manchester and Birmingham in April, with the help of Manchester Museum.

"There are also requests to send the exhibitions to various cities in India and around Punjab. The exhibition tells the story of massacre through its impact on people's lives, and focuses on the fact that this atrocity was one part of much larger colonial oppression in Punjab, that lasted for months, even years, and left a grievous wound upon the psyche of Punjab," the JBCC said.

The lead up to the Jallianwala Bagh centenary year has also seen a UK Opposition Labour Party drive in favour of colonial history being made a compulsory part of the curriculum in schools across Britain.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)British Prime Minister Theresa May was scrambling Thursday to avoid another defeat on her Brexit plans amid opposition from members of her own party who claim she is moving in the wrong direction in efforts to overcome the impasse blocking a deal.

Hard-line pro-Brexit lawmakers in May's Conservative Party said a motion to be voted on in Parliament later effectively rules out the threat of Britain leaving the European Union without an agreement on departure terms and future relations, a move they say undermines Britain's bargaining position.

"Conservative MPs (members of Parliament) really ought not to be associated with anything, express or implied, which seems to take 'no deal' off the table," said Brexit-backing Conservative lawmaker Steve Baker in a tweet.

Baker and other Brexiteers are threatening to rebel against the government, or abstain, in a vote intended to buy the government more time to seek changes from the EU to a Brexit divorce agreement.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, a prominent Brexit supporter in Cabinet, warned that a government defeat, though not legally binding, would send the wrong signal to EU leaders.

"They will be looking to see whether Parliament is showing consistency," he said.

"I think that there's a danger that we send the wrong signals and I think that we need to understand that the public want us to leave the European Union but they would prefer us to leave the European Union with a deal."



Two weeks ago, Parliament voted to send May back to Brussels to seek changes to a section of the withdrawal agreement intended to ensure an open border between the U.K.'s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland after Brexit.

Lawmakers also voted to rule out a "no-deal" exit, though without signalling how that should happen.

May has chosen to ignore that instruction and refuses to take a "no-deal" Brexit off the table as she attempts to win concessions from the bloc. Most businesses and economists say the British economy would be severely damaged if the country crashed out of the EU on the scheduled Brexit date of March 29 without a deal, bringing tariffs and other impediments to trade.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay told lawmakers that "the only way to avoid 'no-deal' is either to secure a deal on the terms the prime minister has set out" or to cancel Brexit - something the government says it won't do.

Thursday's main vote is on a government motion that essentially treads water, reaffirming Parliament's commitment to its decisions of January 29.

Lawmakers will also get the chance to consider amendments from opposition and pro-EU lawmakers seeking to postpone Brexit or steer the UK away from the "no-deal" cliff edge. None of the votes is legally binding on the government.

The remaining 27 EU nations insist that the legally binding withdrawal agreement struck with May's government in November can't be renegotiated.

Leaders of the bloc have expressed exasperation at Britain's desire for last-minute changes, and its failure, amid seemingly endless wrangling in the UK Parliament, to offer firm proposals.

European Council President Donald Tusk, who chairs summits of EU leaders, tweeted: "No is not always good EU27 still waiting for concrete, realistic proposals from London on how to break #Brexit impasse.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A UAE-based international cooling provider has entered into a 30-year concession with Andhra Pradesh government to build, own, operate and transfer India's first district cooling system in the state's new capital Amaravati.

The agreement between the National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed) and Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) is for a contracted cooling capacity of 20,000 refrigeration tonnes and this will be the company's first plant outside its Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) market, a statement released by the firm said.

Tabreed's district cooling system is part of Andhra Pradesh government's vision for Amaravati to create jobs and homes along with a world-class infrastructure, a green city, and efficient resource management.

In addition and in line with the ambitious plans for this greenfield capital city of Andhra Pradesh to be among the most sustainable cities in the world, Tabreed's system will meet cooling requirements for the the State's Assembly, High Court, Secretariat and other government buildings that are currently under construction, for which cooling services will commence from early 2021.

Tabreed Chairman, Khaled Abdulla al-Qubaisi said as their first district cooling project in India, this signals a significant step for Tabreed to penetrate one of the world's biggest and fastest growing markets.

We see this as an opportunity to establish an initial presence which will be the foundation for further growth in the future, he said.

Sreedhar Cherukuri, Commissioner, Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA), said: Bringing in the best solutions and providers from across the world to build Amaravati, we are excited to select Tabreed, a global district cooling leader, as our partner for our new capital.

"Tabreed demonstrated strong commercial flexibility, operational depth, and understanding of the complexity of well-structured district cooling concession schemes through the bidding process.

Compared to other cooling systems, district cooling uses only 50 per cent of primary energy consumption for cooling urban buildings thereby reducing carbon emissions.

This cost-effective form of air conditioning has associated benefits of improvement in air quality and reduction in general noise levels when compared to other traditional air conditioning systems.

Tabreed CEO, Jasim Husain Thabet, said the company is pleased that its first project in India has increased its presence to six countries.

"Our strong core business, experienced team, structuring capabilities, and proven innovative skills made us the ideal choice to be a long-term partner of APCRDA. Our focus will be on delivering high quality and cost-effective cooling solution to provide long-term benefits for the Andhra Pradesh government, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)British superbike brand Triumph Thursday launched new versions of Street Twin and Street Scrambler in India priced at Rs 7.45 lakh and Rs 8.55 lakh, respectively (ex-showroom).

The models now come with many additional features, including 18 per cent increase in power which now stands at 65 PS.

"The Street Twin and Street Scrambler are packed with enhanced performance, improved ergonomics and come with a wide array of customisation options," Triumph Motorcycles India General Manager Shown Farooq told reporters here.

The company has also launched a two-year unlimited-kilometre manufacturer warranty with global coverage to its customers, he added.

Commenting on the company's performance in the country so far, Farooq said the company now has a market share of 16 per cent in the over 500 cc category.

"It has been busy five years for us and we continue to be the fastest growing premium bike brand in the country," he added.

The company, which currently has 16 dealerships across the country, now plans to open one more in Guwahati in the next few months.

"By 2020, we expect to have 20 dealerships which we think would be a good representation across the country," Farooq said.

Triumph had entered Indian market with 10 models in November 2013.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 22-year-old woman of Odisha, who was allegedly trafficked over one-and-a-half months ago,



was rescued from Rajasthan, police said Thursday.

One person, identified as Sukhbir Singh Jath, of Jhunjhunu district in Rajasthan was arrested in this connection.

Sub-Divisional Police Officer Bhawani Sankar Udgata said some people kidnapped the woman from Bhubaneswar and handed her over to a man and a woman who forcibly married her off to Jath for Rs 1.5 lakh.

The father of the woman had lodged a complaint in the Town police station here in January stating that his daughter went missing, police said.

The police started an investigation and found that she was at Chirawa in Jhunjhunu district.

A police team, along with the parents of the woman, then went to Rajasthan and rescued her on Wednesday, Udgata said.

The police were yet to capture the man and woman who had married her off to Jath at Chhota Bulunda in Jhunjhunu district, Udgata said.

A team set up to arrest the two will leave for Rajasthan soon, the SDPO said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Top BJP leaders from across the country, including Union Home minister Rajnath Singh and party president Amit Shah, would be descending on the city in the next couple of days to attend a two-day convention of its OBC Morcha, aimed at securing a foothold among the sizeable Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the general election.

OBC have been a decisive factor in the of Bihar, a state where the BJP has been hamstrung on account of a pro-upper caste image.

The two-day national conference of the BJP OBC Morcha is scheduled to be inaugurated on Friday by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in presence of leaders like the partys national general secretary in-charge for Bihar Bhupendra Yadav, state president Nityanand Rai, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and Chief Minister of the neighboring Jharkhand, Raghubar Das.

The inaugural session will be followed, later in the day, by a thanksgiving resolution presented by Lok Sabha MP Hukum Dev Narayan Yadav, wherein the Narendra Modi government will be lauded for grant of constitutional status to the OBC Commission.

The Madhubani MP, who has announced that he was hanging his boots and will not contest elections any more, was recently conferred with the third highest civilian honour Padma Bhushan in a move viewed as the ruling BJPs attempt to endear itself to the Yadav community the most populous in Bihar which has traditionally been aligned with Lalu Prasads RJD - a Congress ally.

The Congress had played a crude joke on the OBCs by setting up the Commission but rendering it toothless. This has been the character of Congress about matters relating to social justice. The party had opposed implementation of Mandal Commission recommendations too, state BJP vice-president Samrat Chaudhary and senior party leader and state minister Prem Kumar said in a statement.

The conclave will conclude on Saturday with BJP national president Amit Shah as the chief guest and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and the partys national vice-president Shiv Raj Singh Chouhan among those in attendance.

The convention will also be attended, among others, by Union ministers Uma Bharti, Dharmendra Pradhan, Santosh Gangwar, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Krishan Pal Gujjar and Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya.

With the high-stakes Lok Sabha polls expected to commence in about a month, the BJP is faced with the uphill task of winning over OBCs, who appear upset with the Narendra Modi government over the amendments in the SC/ST Act on one hand and the 10 per cent quotas for the poor among the unreserved category on the other.

The challenge is going to be particularly daunting in Bihar, where the party is yet to come of its own, owing its growth in a great measure to its alliance with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar himself a powerful OBC leader.

Although the party had succeeded in putting up a stellar show in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, which it fought sans Kumar riding the Modi wave, the assembly polls a year later proved to be a reality check as the NDA was trounced by the Mahagathbandhan which had come into being with the Chief Minister tying up with RJD and the Congress.

Cold vibes between Kumar and Modi which have been a stuff of political legend notwithstanding, the BJP seized the opportunity for realignment when the JD(U) leader began feeling uncomfortable in the Mahagathbandhan and the two parties were back as alliance partners, with Ram Vilas Paswans LJP also on board.

Although the NDA looks formidable on paper in Bihar, the alliance is wary of the emotive issue of reservations boomeranging on it during elections.

That the opposition, especially its largest constituent RJD, will play the quota card to the hilt had become clear when its de facto leader Tejashwi Yadav named his recent tour of three districts Arakshan badhao yatra (increase reservations) unlike his previous public interaction programmes when he spoke of Samvidhan Bachao (save the Constitution).

In an apparent acknowledgement of the challenge that lies ahead, Nitish Kumar had stated Wednesday on the floor of the state assembly that he too was in favor of raising the 50 per cent cap on quotas but added that a thorough, caste-based census in 2021 was necessary for this.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A meeting of the Trinamool Congress' extended core committee will be held on February 25 to discuss strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls due in April-May this year, a senior party leader said Thursday.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls will also be discussed at the meeting, he said.

The extended core committee meeting is of immense importance for the party as this will be the last one before the Lok Sabha polls.

All TMC MPs, MLAs, chairmen of various municipalities, members of zilla parishads, panchayat samitis and councillors will participate in the meeting which will be held at Nazrul Mancha here, the TMC leader said.

"Apart from chalking out a strategy, the manifesto for the polls will also be discussed," he said.

The TMC has set target of winning all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, with the aim to oust the Narendra Modi government and forming the next government at the Centre.

TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is one of the prime figures in the anti-BJP alliance.

She had organised a mega opposition rally at the Brigade Parade Ground here on January 19, which was attended by leaders from more than 23 parties.

Banerjee attended the opposition parties rally convened by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the national capital on Wednesday.

At a meeting at Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar's residence in Delhi, top opposition leaders, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Banerjee, agreed to work together for a common minimum programme for a national pre-poll alliance in the coming general election to oust the BJP.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)West Bengal Congress president Somen Mitra on Thursday said the BJP and the TMC were "evil forces", which had the common goal of wiping out his party, even as Congress president Rahul Gandhi and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee have agreed to work together to prepare a common minimum programme for a national pre-poll alliance in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

"On one hand, Mamata Banerjee calls for a united fight against the BJP and on the other, she takes steps to help the BJP in Bengal. This is nothing but double standards. The TMC and the BJP are two sides of the same coin," Mitra told a press conference here.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) talked of a "Congress-mukt Bharat" (Congress-free India) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC), since it came to power in Bengal in 2011, had poached on Congress MLAs and MPs with the sole aim of weakening the party, he said.

"The BJP wants to wipe out the Congress from the country, whereas the TMC wants to wipe out the Congress in the state. Both are evil forces, which want to destroy the secular forces in the country," Mitra, who himself had quit the Banerjee-led party after a stint that lasted a few years, said.

He answered in the negative, when asked whether a wrong signal was sent to the Congress workers in Bengal, where the party is in the doldrums, with Gandhi holding a joint press conference with the TMC chief in New Delhi on Wednesday.

"It will not send out a wrong signal as the two issues should not be mixed up. Rahul Gandhi has extended support to the TMC on the issue of politicising the CBI. But he has never asked us to stop our fight against the TMC in Bengal," Mitra said.

"In this state (West Bengal), the Congress will fight against both the BJP and the TMC," he asserted.

Moving forward on a united anti-BJP front, top opposition leaders, including Gandhi and Banerjee, on Wednesday agreed to work together to prepare a common minimum programme to oust the Narendra Modi government in the upcoming general election and consider forging a national pre-poll alliance.

The meeting of the opposition leaders, hosted by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar at his residence in New Delhi, also saw Gandhi and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal coming together for the first time.

Banerjee, who is the West Bengal chief minister, and her Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu said the entire opposition needed to come together due to "democratic compulsions to save India".

Mitra also came out in support of his predecessor, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who virulently criticised the TMC and its MPs in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday over the Saradha chit fund scam.

"Whatever Adhir has said, we completely support him. He has spoken the truth. Everybody in Bengal knows that TMC leaders are involved in the scam," he said.

Banerjee, who was upset with Chowdhury's attack on her party MPs, had registered her displeasure with United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Thuringia, a state in Germany, has defined India as one of its target markets since 2012, its Minister of Economic Affairs, Science and Digital State Wolfgang Tiefensee has said.

He was speaking at a function here Wednesday where the German India Round Table (GIRT) of Coimbatore and Thuringia signed an MoU to promote trade, commerce and research activities between them.

Since 2012, the German state had defined India as one of its target markets. "We have successively intensified our contacts with Indian business associations and the Indian Embassy through various measure," he said.

Currently 89 Thuringian companies have export relations to India and the region was also active at major international trade fairs, both in India and Germany, he said.

There were 19 cooperation agreements between Universities in Thuringia and India, he said.

In her addrress, German Counsel General, Chennai, Karin Stoll said Tamil Nadu was the second biggest economic cluster in India.

Germany was the biggest trade partner of India in the European Union and the sixth most important trading partner of India worldwide, she said.

Founder and Patron of Coimbatore GIRT, K Ramasamy said the MoU will deepen the relations in Industry and trade between two region.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Three more persons, including a juvenile, were held Thursday in connection with the gang rape of a 21-year-old woman near Issewal village here, taking the total number of those nabbed in the case to six, police said.

"All six accused involved in the gang rape have been arrested," Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta told the media here Thursday.

Of the three held Thursday, one is a juvenile studying in class 11, the DGP said, adding that he was nabbed from New Basti Changran in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir.

The other two accused, Saif Ali and Ajay alias Lalan, both residents of Tibba village in Punjab's Kapurthala district, were arrested in Talwandi Naubad village here, he said.

Sadiq Ali, Jagroop Singh alias Rupi, and Surmo are the three accused arrested earlier. A Ludhiana court on Wednesday remanded them for seven days in police custody.

The DGP said all the accused are either friends or relatives of the woman.

The probe would be completed within seven days and police would try to put the case before a fast track court, he said.

The DGP further said the woman's medical report confirmed rape and sexual assault.

The woman was gang raped last Saturday near Issewal village on the banks of Sidwan canal, about 15 km from Ludhiana, after the car she was travelling in with her friend was stopped and she was dragged out.

The incident rocked the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday with opposition Aam Aadmi Party and Lok Insaaf Party trying to corner the Congress government over "deteriorating" law and order situation in the state.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh told the House he will take up the matter with the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High court for ensuring speedy justice.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Three persons, including two boys, were killed in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly and Jalaun districts on Thursday when lightning struck some parts of the state, police said.

Narendra (12) and Omkar (13) of Sankarpur Nagla village in Bareilly were returning home from their field in the afternoon when lightning struck, killing them on the spot, police said.

In a separate incident, Dilip Singh (32) of Jagmampur village died when lightning struck in Jalaun district, they said.

The bodies have been sent for post mortem, they added.

Two persons working in an agriculture field in Bahgalpur village were injured after lightning struck them, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Three men were arrested for allegedly duping a retired West Bengal police officer on the pretext of high returns, police said Thursday.

The accused Pankaj Gupta (43), Gurnam Singh (52) and Vipin Kumar Luthra (62) were arrested on Wednesday, police said, adding that three mobile phones, different cheque books, fake voter ID and PAN cards were also recovered from their possession.

Ranabir Mukherjee, a retired Deputy SP of West Bengal Police, filed a complaint where he stated that on May 30, 2018, one person who identified himself as Rudrapratap Sharma called him and introduced himself as an LIC agent from area of Parliament Street, New Delhi, a senior police officer said.

The caller duped the complainant by saying that being a loyal LIC customer who is paying premiums every year on time, Mukherjee will be paid loyalty bonus, police said.

The caller demanded a cheque of Rs 25,400 payable at LIC Headquarter Nariman Point, Mumbai with the photocopies of Pan Card, Aadhaar Card and Voter Card to open an account for only 45 days where his loyalty bonus will be reimbursed in his account, police said.

Sharma, along with his other associates, induced the complainant and collected around Rs 22 lakh from him in 12 to 13 different dates through NEFT, the officer said.

However, the accused never sent any papers/documents/SMS/cash to the complainant. Later, Mukherjee refused to pay any further money and filed a complaint after he got to know the he was cheated, G Ram Gopal Naik, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), said.

Investigation revealed that the accounts of the accused persons were opened with fake documents. There were more than eight accounts in different banks on fake ID's which were used for cheating, Naik said



On Wednesday, on the basis of technical surveillance, three accused persons have been arrested, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)It was being dubbed as the Valentine's Day revolt as British Prime Minister Theresa May faced the prospect of another parliamentary bruising during a Brexit vote in the House of Commons on Thursday evening.

She lost the indicative motion in the House of Commons, with 303 MPs voting against it and 258 for it.

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn immediately called on Theresa May who was not in the Commons chamber for the vote to "admit her Brexit strategy has failed".

British MPs began debating the future course for Britain exit plans from the European Union (EU) in the Commons, with a vote on the government motion sealing yet another parliamentary defeat for the British PM over Brexit.

Hard Brexit MPs had threatened to vote against or abstain in order to defeat the motion, which they feel indicates a no-deal Brexit is being taken off the table as a negotiating tactic with Brussels.

They chose to abstain during the Thursday evening vote, making this Theresa May's tenth defeat in a House of Commons vote since becoming Prime Minister in the wake of the Brexit referendum in June 2016.

"It makes sense that we keep no deal on the table, because we know the history of the EU that they do make concessions at the last moment. We need to hold our nerve," said Shailesh Vara, who had resigned as a minister in May's Cabinet last year in protest over her Brexit policy.

The government's motion was an indicative rather than a binding vote on Parliament, effectively reiterating support "for the approach to leaving the EU expressed by this House on 29 January 2019".

The reason this had angered Brexiteers within May's own Conservative Party is because the House had backed two motions on January 29 one seeking an alternative to the controversial Irish "backstop" element of the withdrawal agreement and the second one backed plans for a separate move to stop no-deal Brexit.

The hard-Brexit European Research Group (ERG), led by Tory MP Jacon Rees-Mogg, was leading the latest rebellion to register its opposition against taking a no-deal Brexit off the table.

Downing Street had described the motion as an "anodyne" one in an attempt to persuade MPs to vote in favour to ensure Theresa May's hand is not further weakened when she returns for negotiations on a withdrawal agreement with the EU next week.

The government fears a defeat, even on a non-binding vote, at this stage would imply that the British PM cannot command a stable majority and the EU would conclude that there is no point making further concessions to the withdrawal agreement.

The deal remains uncertain over the EU's insistence that the backstop clause must remain intact as an insurance policy to ensure there is no hard border between EU member-country Ireland and Britain after Brexit.

However, Brexiteers are insisting on alternatives to that insurance policy because they fear the EU would use it to keep the UK tied to the rules of the economic bloc even after Brexit.

Besides the main motion, MPs also voted on a series of amendments in an attempt to try and influence the Brexit process in a number of ways.

Commons Speaker John Bercow had selected three amendments to be put to a vote.

An amendment by the Opposition Labour Party requiring the government to either give MPs a vote on the withdrawal agreement and political declaration on future UK-EU relations by February 27, or make a statement saying there is no longer an agreement in principle with Brussels and so allow MPs to vote on and amend its planned next steps.

That amendment was defeated by MPs, as was a second amendment by the Scottish National Party (SNP) which sought to postpone the Brexit date by at least three months.

A third amendment by Tory backbencher Anna Soubry instructing the government to publish within seven days "the most recent official briefing document relating to business and trade on the implications of a no-deal Brexit presented to Cabinet" was pulled by the MP at the last minute, which meant there was no vote on it.

Even if the amendments had won the backing of a majority of MPs, the proposals are not be binding on the government. However, they were aimed at putting some pressure on Theresa May to change course and influence the future course of Brexit deliberations.

May has promised to return to the Commons on February 26 with a further statement triggering another debate and votes the following day if a deal has not been secured by that date.

However, if a deal is agreed, MPs will have a second "meaningful vote" over a month after Theresa May's withdrawal agreement struck with the EU was rejected in a historic Commons vote in January.

The EU has continued to say it will not renegotiate that withdrawal agreement and with just 42 days to go before the March 29 exit deadline, both sides are trying to reach some sort of a compromise to avert a chaotic no-deal crash-out of the UK from the economic bloc.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)It is being dubbed the Valentine's Day revolt as British Prime Minister Theresa May faces the prospect of another parliamentary bruising during a Brexit vote in the House of Commons on Thursday evening.

British MPs began debating the future course for Britain exit plans from the European Union (EU) in the Commons, with a vote on the government motion set for later in the day.

However, hard Brexit MPs threatened to vote against or abstain in order to defeat the motion, which they feel indicates a no-deal Brexit is being taken off the table as a negotiating tactic with Brussels.

"It makes sense that we keep no deal on the table, because we know the history of the EU that they do make concessions at the last moment. We need to hold our nerve," said Shailesh Vara, who had resigned as a minister in May's Cabinet last year in protest over her Brexit policy.

The government's motion is an indicative rather than a binding vote on Parliament, effectively reiterating support "for the approach to leaving the EU expressed by this House on 29 January 2019".

The reason this has angered Brexiteers within May's own Conservative Party is because the House had backed two motions on January 29 one seeking an alternative to the controversial Irish "backstop" element of the withdrawal agreement and the second one backed plans for a separate move to stop no-deal Brexit.

The hard-Brexit European Research Group (ERG), led by Tory MP Jacon Rees-Mogg, is leading the latest rebellion to register its opposition against taking a no-deal Brexit off the table.

Downing Street described the motion as an "anodyne" one in an attempt to persuade MPs to vote in favour to ensure May's hand is not further weakened when she returns for negotiations on a withdrawal agreement with the EU next week.

The government fears a defeat, even on a non-binding vote, at this stage would imply that the British PM cannot command a stable majority and the EU would conclude that there is no point making further concessions to the withdrawal agreement.

The deal remains uncertain over the EU's insistence that the backstop clause must remain intact as an insurance policy to ensure there is no hard border between EU member-country Ireland and Britain after Brexit.

However, Brexiteers are insisting on alternatives to that insurance policy because they fear the EU would use it to keep the UK tied to the rules of the economic bloc even after Brexit.

Besides the main motion, MPs will also vote on a series of amendments in an attempt to try and influence the Brexit process in a number of ways.

Commons Speaker John Bercow has selected three amendments to be put to a vote.

One amendment is by the Opposition Labour Party requiring the government to either give MPs a vote on the withdrawal agreement and political declaration on future UK-EU relations by February 27, or make a statement saying there is no longer an agreement in principle with Brussels and so allow MPs to vote on and amend its planned next steps.

An amendment by the Scottish National Party (SNP) seeks to postpone the Brexit date by at least three months and the third amendment by Tory backbencher Anna Soubry instructs the government to publish within seven days "the most recent official briefing document relating to business and trade on the implications of a no-deal Brexit presented to Cabinet".

Even if they won the backing of a majority of MPs, all three proposals would not be binding on the government.

However, they could put some pressure on Theresa May to change course and influence the future course of Brexit deliberations.

May has promised to return to the Commons on February 26 with a further statement triggering another debate and votes the following day if a deal has not been secured by that date.

However, if a deal is agreed, MPs will have a second "meaningful vote" over a month after May's withdrawal agreement struck with the EU was rejected in a historic Commons vote in January.

The EU has continued to say it will not renegotiate that withdrawal agreement and with just 42 days to go before the March 29 exit deadline, both sides are trying to reach some sort of a compromise to avert a chaotic no-deal crash-out of the UK from the economic bloc.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir said Thursday that the attack on CRPF jawans in Pulwama was a cowardly act, and its perpetrators will pay for it.

Speaking to the media at Pandharkawda in Maharashtra's Yavatmal district, Ahir condemned the attack and said, "CRPF jawans are bravely fighting militants there (in Kashmir), and knowing this, this cowardly attack was carried out (by terrorists).

"The people of this country will not forget the sacrifice of the jawans martyred in the attack....The government will not remain silent....we see it as a challenge and they (the perpetrators) will have to pay for it," the minister said.

"The jawans will avenge the death of their colleagues," he added.

The attack, claiming at least 39 lives, took place when over 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave, were travelling in a convoy of 78 vehicles in Awantipora in south Kashmir.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In yet another jolt to the ruling Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh, its Lok Sabha member from Anakapalli, M Srinivasa Rao, quit the party Thursday evening and joined the opposition YSR Congress.

He also resigned from the MPs post and sent a letter to the effect to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

The MP's resignation comes a day after Chirala MLA Amanchi Krishna Mohan left the TDP to join the YSR Congress.

In his resignation letter to TDP supremo and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Srinivasa Rao did not give any reason for leaving the party but said he would continue to serve the people of the state and fight for their rights.

Srinivasa Rao has been reportedly sulking over not getting any assurance from the party on fielding him from the Bhimili Assembly constituency in the coming elections.

He was elected to the Assembly from Bhimili when he made his political debut in 2009 as a candidate of the erstwhile Praja Rajyam Party of actor Chiranjeevi.

From 2012 to 2014, he continued as a member of the then ruling Congress in united AP following the Praja Rajyams merger.

In 2014, he joined the TDP and got elected to the Lok Sabha from Anakapalli in Visakhapatnam district.

He set his eyes again on Bhimili, the Assembly segment currently being represented by state HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam Thursday said despite a slew of new projects announced in the budget, allocations for ongoing schemes have not been cut and asserted that steps were afoot to lower revenue deficit.

Listing several new schemes like 2,000 solar power motors for farmers, Panneerselvam, who holds the finance portfolio, told the state assembly that the budget pegged the revenue deficit at Rs 14,314 crore, down from Rs 19,319 crore as per the revised budget estimates of 2018-19.

In the 2019-20 budget presented on February 8, Pannerselvam had announced 36 new schemes worth Rs 20,000 crore.

Also, the budget was prepared keeping fiscal deficit within the three per cent threshold of Gross State Domestic Product.

"We have carefully projected that the State's Own Tax Revenue will only be 13.25 per cent for 2019-20," he said winding up general discussions on the budget.

The government was leaning more on SOTR growth to cut revenue and fiscal deficits and have brought down borrowings.

"We have projected a net borrowing of only Rs 43,000 crore against the net borrowing ceiling of Rs 51,800 crore for 2019-20," he said.

"Amma's government is making appropriate efforts to bring down the revenue deficit in a phased manner," he said.

Taking on DMK chief M K Stalin for dubbing the budget as "useless," (outside the House), he said the Leader of Opposition had viewed the annual financial statement with "hate," and that was why he had reacted in such a fashion.

"This is not a useless budget, this is one aimed at lending a helping hand for the people," he said.

On DMK member Palanivelrajan's remark that benefits should not go to undeserving people, he said several welfare initiatives including the Universal Public Distribution System were not target specific only to avert exclusion errors.

In his reply to the budget discussion, Panneerselvam also took potshots at main opposition DMK, saying people again and again elected Amma's (late Jayalalithaa) government as any other dispensation will cause anguish.

The AIADMK government, which wrested power in 2011 from the DMK, was voted back to office in 2016.

He asserted that the AIADMK government would bag victories as it had done only good for the people.

Citing a list of schemes for the welfare of all sections including minorities and the gold for marriage scheme, he said his party-led goverment was like a beacon light for other State governments.

The Assam government has come up with a similar (gold) assistance plan, he said.

"We are going to face the Parliamentary election with pride that Amma's government had always been in the first place in service of the people," he said.

At a time when his party has not finalised its allies, he said, "let any number of parties come together, we will face them with people's sakthi and win and offer the victory at the altar of Amma."



Be it Lok Sabha election, Assembly bypolls (to 21 constituencies) or the local body polls, only the AIADMK is set to win, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Sweden's ambassador to Beijing has been recalled after claims she brokered an unauthorised meeting over the fate of detained Chinese-Swedish bookseller Gui Minhai, Stockholm said Thursday.

The Hong Kong-based dissident -- known for publishing gossipy titles about Chinese political leaders -- disappeared in 2015 before resurfacing in mainland China. He was arrested on a train to Beijing in January last year while travelling with two Swedish diplomats.

In an online post this week, Britain-based Angela Gui said ambassador Anna Lindstedt had arranged for her to travel to Stockholm to meet businessmen "with connections to the Chinese Communist Party", who claimed they could help negotiate her father's release.

The Swedish foreign ministry admitted Thursday it knew nothing about the meetings until after they had taken place -- and was not even aware Lindstedt was in Sweden at the time.

She was now subject to an internal investigation "due to the information we've received concerning incorrect actions in connection with certain events in January", Rasmus Eljanskog, a foreign affairs press officer, told AFP.

Angela Gui said that in exchange for her father's release, she was told she would have to "be quiet" and "stop all media engagement" on her father's treatment. She also said Lindstedt was present at the meetings and had promised to appear on Swedish television and "speak of the bright future of Sweden-China relations" if Gui was released.

When asked about Gui's allegations, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Thursday she "did not know the latest news" on Gui's situation. Last week, the Chinese embassy in Sweden released a statement dismissing the detained bookseller's daughter's claims.

"The Chinese side has never authorised and will not authorise anyone to engage with Gui Minhai's daughter," the statement read.

"The result of the Gui Minhai case is to be decided by China's law, instead of the so-called 'China's representative' claimed by Gui Minhai's daughter or the press.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will undertake a four-day visit to Bulgaria, Morocco and Spain from February 16, the ministry said Thursday.

In the first leg of her visit, Swaraj will be in Bulgaria on February 16 and February 17.

The visit is a follow-up to the state visit of President Ram Nath Kovind to Bulgaria in September last year. This is the first ever visit of an Indian external affairs minister to Bulgaria, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

During the visit, Swaraj will meet with the deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Bulgaria. The two leaders will discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest.

She will pay floral tributes at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the South Park in Sofia.

The statue was unveiled last year by President Kovind along with his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev to mark the celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary.

She will also interact with the Indian community and Friends of India in Sofia during the visit.

In the second leg of her tour, she will visit Kingdom of Morocco from February 17-18.

The visit is in "pursuit of India's objective of enhanced engagement with the Kingdom and will provide an opportunity to hold in-depth discussions on bilateral, regional and global issues", the MEA statement said.

In Morocco, she will interact with her counterpart Nasser Bourita. She will also call on King Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, Saad Dine El Otmani, Head of Government, and Habib El Malki, President of the Chamber of Representatives, Parliament.

Three MoUs for cooperation in the areas of counter terrorism, housing and human settlements and youth matters are expected for signing during the visit.

During her visit, she will also interact with the Indian community in Rabat.

Swaraj will be in Spain from 18-19 February. She will hold a bilateral meeting with her counterpart Josep Borrell Fontelles to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual concern.

The Spanish government will also confer upon Swaraj the prestigious Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit by the Spanish Government for India's swift response through Operation Maitri in rescuing 71 Spanish nationals from Nepal in April 2015 in the wake of the disastrous earthquake.

Swaraj will also interact with the Indian Community in Spain.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Hundreds of college students here boycotted classes and held protests for the third consecutive day Thursday against "objectionable" slogans allegedly raised by some stranded Kashmir-bound passengers.

On Monday, a scuffle had broken out between a group of students and some of the stranded passengers outside the Gandhi Memorial Science College here but timely intervention by police had brought the situation under control.

The clash had taken place when the students came out of the college to protest the alleged chanting of "pro-Pakistan" and "anti-India" slogans by some of the stranded passengers while protesting the alleged failure of the administration to help them in the hour of crisis.

Students of various collages like the Gandhi Memorial Science College, Maulana Azad Memorial Post Graduate College and others boycotted their classes and and held protests in Parade, Canal Road, Jewel Chowk, Tawi Bridge and Bikram Chowk areas Thursday.

The sit-ins by students led to heavy traffic jams on major roads in the city.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu, Tejinder Singh said action would be taken if anyone was found involved in raising "anti-national" slogans.

A student, Sonali, said they are demanding that a case should be registered against the passengers for raising "anti-India" and "pro-Pakistan" slogans.

We are raising pro-India slogans and demand action against the people involved in raising objectionable slogans, but police is cane-charging the Pro-India students, the students said.

They said they will continue to boycott their classes till action is not taken against those who raised the slogans.

Hundreds of Kashmir-bound passengers, including students, are stranded in Jammu following the closure of the Jammu-Srinagar national highway over the past seven days owing to heavy snowfall and rains which triggered multiple landslides.

On Monday, a large group of the stranded passengers, including students, had come for their registration at a hostel for their subsequent airlifting by the Indian Air Force (IAF) to the valley but blocked the Canal Road outside the college to protest the delay in their airlifting and lack of facilities.

The J&K High Court Bar Association Jammu also held a protest demonstration in the District Court Complex here against the people allegedly raising "anti-national" slogans.

"Nefarious designs of the anti-nationals should be fought tooth and nail and nobody should be allowed to vitiate the otherwise peaceful atmosphere of Jammu to ensure maintenance of communal harmony and brotherhood," said senior advocate B S Slathia.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India on Thursday slammed Pakistan over the Pulwama terror attack carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed and asked the neighbouring country to stop supporting terrorists and dismantle terror infrastructure operating from its soil.

India also strongly reiterated its appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan.

At least 37 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

The Indian government condemns in the strongest possible terms the cowardly terrorist attack on India's brave security forces in Pulwama, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

This heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries, it said.

This terror group is led by the international terrorist Masood Azhar, who has been given full freedom by the Pakistani government to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under Pakistan's control and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity, the MEA said.

The Indian government is firmly and resolutely committed to take all necessary measures to safeguard national security, it said.

"We are equally resolved to fight against the menace of terrorism. We demand that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory, and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries," the statement said.

"We express our sincere condolences to the family members of our fearless security personnel who have made the supreme sacrifice," the MEA said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan on Thursday said the terrorist attack in Kashmir's Pulwama district is "a matter of grave concern" even as it strongly rejected Indian media and government's allegations of the country's link to the strike "without" probe.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India on Thursday slammed Pakistan over the terror attack carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed and asked the neighbouring country to stop supporting terrorists and dismantle terror infrastructure operating from its soil.

India also strongly reiterated its appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan.

At least 39 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in district that also left many critically wounded.

The Indian government condemns in the strongest possible terms the cowardly terrorist attack on India's brave security forces in Pulwama, the said in a statement.

This heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based terrorist organisation proscribed by the and other countries, it said.

This terror group is led by the international terrorist Masood Azhar, who has been given full freedom by the Pakistani government to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under Pakistan's control and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity, the MEA said.

The Indian government is firmly and resolutely committed to take all necessary measures to safeguard security, it said.

"We are equally resolved to fight against the menace of terrorism. We demand that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory, and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries," the statement said.

"We express our sincere condolences to the family members of our fearless security personnel who have made the supreme sacrifice," the MEA said.SpiceJet will start a daily direct flight between Kozhikode in Kerala and Saudi Arabia's commercial capital Jeddah from April 20, the airline said Thursday.

Jeddah is second international destination to be connected from Kozhikode with direct flights.

"SpiceJet's flight SG 792 will depart from Kozhikode at 5.35 am (all local times) and arrive in Jeddah at 8.35 am on the same day.The return flight SG 793 will depart at 9.45 am and reach Kozhikode at 6.05 pm," the airline said



The airline will deploy its 189-seater Boeing 737 MAX aircraft on this route.

SpiceJet also announced a special fare of Rs 13,399 (all inclusive) for the KozhikodeJeddah flight and Rs 12,199 (all inclusive) for Jeddah-Kozhikode.

Owing to its close proximity to Mecca and Medina, Jeddah acts as one of the main transit points for thousands of Hajj pilgrims and tourists across the globe.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday condemned the attack on CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in which 30 CRPF personnel were killed.

He also extended condolences to their families.

"The cowardly attack on a convoy of CRPF and killing of Jawans in Awantipora, Pulwama district in Jammu and Kashmir is a condemnable act. My condolences to the families of the martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for India," Pawar tweeted.

The CRPF personnel were killed when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rescue teams, fishermen, navy and police experts were searching Thursday for 43 people, most from Benin, missing after an overloaded boat bringing them to a market capsized in the Niger River, authorities said.

The vessel foundered as it was battered by powerful winds in Sambera district, southwestern Niger early Wednesday morning, sinking just 200 metres (yards) from its destination.

"Sixty-two people were saved and 43 others are missing, judging from the number of shoes that have been recovered," Sambera Mayor Oumarou Hassane told AFP.

They were aboard a canoe travelling from Gori-Beri in Benin to Ouna in Niger, he said.

The vessel was transporting a large consignment of cereals and about a hundred traders from Benin and Niger heading to the market in Ouna, Hassane said.

In Benin, Moussa Mouhamadou, prefect of the northern district of Alibori, gave a similar toll.

"Sixty-four people were saved," he told Radio Benin.

"We discovered about 40 pairs of shoes at the site (of the accident), and linked them to the people who are missing." "The survivors went home last night and are well. They are being given medical and psychological support," said Mouhamadou.

The Niger River, a popular transport artery in West Africa, broke its banks about two weeks ago, causing major damage to crops. While the flooding has subsided, the river's level remains high.

An official of Niger's gendarmerie told public radio the canoe sank "about 200 metres (yards)" from the jetty.

According to Mouhamadou, navy and police members and fishermen on the scene started evacuating survivors directly after the sinking, and divers from the fire brigade in the capital, Cotonou, were expected to join the search Thursday.

Boat capsizes are common on the Niger. Many are operated by companies that ignore security standards.

Steering is "often given to teenagers to do," a Nigerian security source told AFP.

In October 2017, 17 people drowned and 26 disappeared after a boat carrying about 60 passengers sank on a trip from northwestern Nigeria to Niger.

A month earlier, 56 people perished when an overcrowded boat carrying 150 people, mainly Niger traders, sank in the state of Kebbi, Nigeria.

Many of the passengers of these boats are merchants of livestock and grain traded between Niger, Benin, and Nigeria.

There are only three bridges spanning the river along the 550-kilometre (342-mile) stretch of its flow through Niger, a poor, landlocked country that depends heavily on imports from the port of Cotonou.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court Thursday rejected the Maharashtra government's plea to close the case of alleged corruption involving politicians, bureaucrats and corporates in the Enron-Dabhol power project case.

The USD 3 billion mega power project was set up in Maharashtra by US-based Enron and its associates Dabhol Power Corporation in 1996 after signing of Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) in 1993.

Dabhol Power Company (DPC), now known as Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd, a joint venture of NTPC Limited, GAIL and Government of Maharashtra was established in 2005 to take over and revive the assets of the defunct DPC.

The apex Court had in 1997 admitted the petition of Centre for Indian Trade Union (CITU) challenging a Bombay High Court order upholding the PPA and issued notice to MSEB only on the role of government and its officials in the signing of the PPA.

When the petition came up for hearing Thursday, the apex court was informed by the Maharashtra government about the developments that have taken place since the matter came up before the Bombay High Court in 1996.

The state government had appointed a committee headed by IAS officer Madhav Godbole which in its report in April 10, 2001 suggested the setting of a judicial commission after giving its finding of alleged irregularities in the deal.

Godbole committee also had four other members -- former Union economic affairs secretary E A S Sarma, HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, then TERI chairman Rajendra Pachauri and Maharashtra government official Vinay Mohan Lal.

The report, which was submitted to the Maharashtra government, had dealt with handling of the issues during the tenure of Sharad Pawar as the Chief Minister when he was in Congress Party, the 13-day BJP-led Union government which reworked the deal in 1996, Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray and his government in Maharashtra headed by Manohar Joshi.

According to the suggestion of the Godbole Committee, a one-man enquiry commission headed by Justice S P Kurdukar, former apex court judge, was appointed.

However, proceedings before the Justice Kurdukar Commission, was stayed in April 2003 as the Centre had filed a lawsuit against the Maharashtra Government which was later dismissed paving the way for the commission to go ahead with the proceedings, which never happened.

After taking note of the facts and its various interim orders passed since 1997, a Bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna refused to accept the plea of Maharashtra Government that the issue raised in the CITU's petition has become infructuous and needs to be closed since the project which has been renamed as Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd and is operational from 2006.

"We are unable to agree with the view of the state government that the present petition has become infructuous and therefore its has to be dismissed as infructuous," the bench said and posted the hearing for March 13.

It directed the Maharashtra government through its standing counsel Nishant Katneshwarkar to file an affidavit enumerating the proposed action likely to be taken by the competent authority.

The bench directed that the state government would state clearly as to whether it would prefer the continuance of the Godbole Committee or would like to have the judicial commission.

The apex court also asked the Maharashtra government to place before it the details of officials conversant with the matter.

The Bench noted in its order the last information made available to the apex court on March 7, 2018 by the Centre that the Union of India was no longer interested in the Commission (headed by Justice Khurdukar) to continue.

In that order, the apex court had also said "We would like to know the stand of the State of Maharashtra in this regard namely, whether they would like the Commission of Enquiry to be appointed or the Godbole Committee to continue and submit a report as mentioned by the Godbole Committee or the Justice Khurdukar Commission to continue or they would like the case to be argued on merits.

In an earlier order, the apex court had said it was hearing the matter as a public interest litigation and as the principal issue arising for decision was to determine the question of accountability of the Maharashtra government and its officials.

It had noted that during the pendency of the petition, "there have been several significant developments and subsequent events having far- reaching implications."



A report by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) dated April 1998, and report dated April 10, 2001 by Godbole Committee appointed by the Maharashtra in exercise of its executive power, are available it said, adding that the report of Godbole Committee and the relevant extracts from the report of CAG have been brought on the record of this case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (SBCC) recommended reservation to the Maratha community in government jobs and education was on the basis of unsound and inaccurate findings, the petitioners opposing the quota told the Bombay High Court Thursday.

The submission was made by advocate Pradeep Sancheti, who was appearing for petitioner Sanjeet Shukla.

Sancheti told a bench of Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre that the SBCC had relied on the survey results of a small sample size- just around 43,000 people belonging to the Maratha community- and hence, its findings did not reflect the condition or social status of the entire community.

The Maratha community constitutes around 30 per cent of the total population of the state.

Advocate Sancheti also argued that the Marathas historically belonged to the warrior class and most of them presently held government jobs, or were employed in the Army.

By saying that they were equivalent to the Kunbis and therefore, qualified as OBCs, the commission was bringing down the community, he argued.

"They are not socially backward. And the fact that the commission's conclusion is based on a survey of such small sample size, its findings cannot be held accurate or sound," he said.

Advocate Sancheti also cited a 2015 judgement of the apex court, which ruled that a politically organised group like the Jats could not be included in the OBC list.

"The apex court held at the time that the purpose of caste and community based reservation was to pull up those who were backward or downtrodden," he said.

"However, in the present case, by granting reservation to a community that is not socially backward, the state is relegating the community to a place among those who really are backward," he said further.

The bench has been hearing a bunch of petitions in favour of and against the state's November 30, 2018 decision to grant 16 per cent quota to the Marathas in the state following an intense agitation by the community.

The arguments are likely to continue Friday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma Thursday said the unity of the people and political parties ensured that the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) was not tabled in Rajya Sabha and this was a victory for the northeast.

Sangma arrived here from New Delhi along with Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) leaders Atul Bora and Keshav Mahanta to a tumultuous welcome at the Lokopriyo Gopinath Bordoloi Airport.

"The bill not being presented in the Rajya Sabha is a victory of the people and political parties who voiced their opposition to the bill," he said.

This is definitely an emotional moment and "we were united for a cause and spoke in one voice to protect the interests and identity of the region," he added.

He also thanked all the political parties across the country, who came together to oppose the the contentious legislation according Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India instead of 11 years, which is the norm currently, even if they do not possess any document.

Sangma was the first chief minister of the northeast whose cabinet took the decision of not supporting the bill and was instrumental in bringing together ten political parties of the region along with the JD(U) to oppose it.

Later Bora told reporters at the party headquarters that the northeast came together to show that the centre cannot play with the interest of the indigenous population of the region.

"This should be a warning for the centre that we will in no way compromise with the future of the people of northeast," he said.

The AGP, which is a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led ruling alliance in the state, will in future take the people of the state into full confidence while entering into any alliance, the former minister said.

Asked why the resignation of the three AGP ministers have not been accepted so far, Bora said "the chief minister could only answer that".

Bora along with Keshab Mahanta and Phani Bhushan Choudhury had tendered their resignations last month after the BJP government made it clear to the AGP leadership that the bill will be passed in the Lok Sabha.

The AGP leaders thanked the Meghalaya chief minister for taking the initiative of bringing the different political parties opposed to the bill in northeast on a common platform and ensuring that the bill was not tabled in the Rajya Sabha.

He said the bill has become redundant at present and if the next government wants to bring it again then they have to start the process again from the beginning.

Bora also thanked the All Assam Students Union (AASU), Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), the various organisations and the people of Assam for their concerted efforts to ensure that the bill was not tabled in the upper house of Pariament.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Electronics giant Samsung Thursday said it aims to garner USD 4 billion (around Rs 28,000 crore) in revenue from its Galaxy A series of smartphones in India this year, as it expands the range aimed at millennials.

The company, which is locked in a battle for leadership in the hyper-competitive Indian smartphone market with Chinese player Xiaomi, will line-up new devices between March-June, priced between Rs 10,000-50,000.

"Lats year, our mobile chief DJ Koh had announced that we will bring innovation across our smartphone range to mass and mid-price phones and not limit them to premium flagships. This year, we will have a strong lineup under our Galaxy A series to offer the features that millennials are looking for," Samsung India Senior VP (Mobile Marketing) Ranjiv Singh told PTI.

He added that the company will launch a new device every month between March and June - priced between Rs 10,000-50,000.

"Previous Galaxy A devices have done extremely well in the Indian market and with the new line-up, we are confident of getting USD 4 billion in revenue from the series (Galaxy A) this year in India," Singh said.

According to reports, Samsung India saw its net revenues growing by 10 per cent to about Rs 60,000 crore in FY18. Of this, the mobile business accounted for over Rs 37,000 crore.

Last month, Samsung has launched its new online-only 'Galaxy M' series of smartphones in India and said the series would play a key role in helping the company clock double-digit growth in 2019.

Citing GfK data, Singh said Samsung had 42 per cent share in the Rs 20,000-30,000 category, and 76 per cent share in the Rs 30,000-40,000 segment in value terms in December.

However, reports from other research organisations like IDC and Counterpoint have positioned Xiaomi to be ahead of Samsung (in terms of units shipped) for many quarters now.

Xiaomi has a dominant position in the online smartphone sales and has been aggressively expanding its offline presence over the last many months.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran hailed the planned US withdrawal from Syria as they met for talks Thursday on how to work more closely together in the country's long-running conflict.

Hosting his Turkish and Iranian counterparts in the southern city of Sochi, President Vladimir Putin said the three welcomed the expected US pull-out from northeastern Syria.

It would be "a positive step that would help stabilise the situation in this region, where ultimately the legitimate government should re-establish control," he told a joint press conference after the talks.

Russia and Iran -- who both back the regime of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad -- and rebel supporter Turkey have positioned themselves as key foreign players in Syria's long-running war.

The United States has had troops in Syria backing Kurdish-led forces fighting the Islamic State group but President Donald Trump issued an abrupt order in December to pull out all 2,000.

The Kurdish-led fighters were on Thursday battling to expel IS jihadists from the small town of Baghouz in eastern Syria, the last bastion of their "caliphate" that once controlled large parts of the country.

Putin said Thursday's talks were "constructive and business-like" and that "close coordination" was crucial to ensuring long-term stability in Syria.

He said the three leaders agreed to "strengthen cooperation" in the so-called Astana framework -- a process initiated by Russia, Iran and Turkey that has eclipsed parallel peace talks led by the United Nations.

They also agreed to work together to put together a constitutional committee that would work to resolve Syria's political future, Putin said, adding that another round of talks would take place in Astana in late March and early April.

Rouhani said Thursday's talks were "very helpful and frank" and insisted on Syria's territorial integrity, calling for a "purge of terrorists" from the rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib.

He also suggested he did not believe the US was planning to withdraw from Syria.

"We have no optimism about what the Americans say... but if they do withdraw, it will be very good " - 'Important we work together' -



At a separate meeting Thursday with Putin, Erdogan said the planned US pull-out made it more important for other foreign powers to work together in Syria.

"The US withdrawal decision is one of the most important tests ahead of us. The uncertainty over how the decision will be implemented remains. It is very very important that we work together in this new situation," he said.

As a sign of cooperation, he said Russia and Turkey had agreed to start "joint patrols" in order to contain "radical groups" in Idlib province.

The two countries agreed last year to jointly monitor a buffer zone around Idlib and a statement from the three leaders on Thursday agreed to take "concrete steps" to further control the zone.

Erdogan also called for the removal of the Kurdish forces battling IS in northeastern Syria.

"Syria's territorial integrity cannot be ensured and that region cannot be returned to its real owners before PYD-YPG is cleared from Manbij and the east of Euphrates," Erdogan said.

The Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have held the strategic city of Manbij and areas east of the Euphrates since pushing out IS fighters.

Turkey considers the YPG, and its political branch the Democratic Union Party (PYD), as offshoots of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Both Russia and Iran have provided military backing to Assad's forces, while Turkey has supported rebel groups in the north who have fought with the Kurds.

Thursday's meeting was the fourth summit between the countries' leaders since November 2017.

It came as the United States holds a two-day conference in Warsaw devoted to security in the Middle East, with a strong emphasis on Iran.

The conference includes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several Arab powers but has drawn little interest from European powers. Rouhani dismissed the Warsaw talks as pointless.

"We see what's happening in Warsaw, it's an empty result, nothing," he said in Sochi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The RSS Thursday demanded stringent action against those behind the terror attack in Kashmir, which killed at least 39 CRPF personnel, and said it reflected their desperation due to the government's clampdown on terrorism.

The Hindutva organisation's general secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi strongly condemned the attack and said the RSS, an ideological mentor of the ruling BJP, is with the government and the security forces in this hour of crisis.

In tweets, he also paid homage to the deceased CRPF personnel and expressed condolences to their family members.

"The attack is clearly a sign of desperation and frustration due to the clampdown on terrorism. The government should take stringent action against culprits at the earliest," Joshi said.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a RSS affiliate, blamed Pakistan, with its joint general secretary Surendra Jain seeking action against it.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a Jaish suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district, killing at least 39 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir around 3.15 pm.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place about 20 km from Srinagar, officials said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Gunmen looted Rs 10 lakh in cash from an office of a micro finance company in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district on Thursday, police said.

Employees of the company alleged the around six men barged into the company's branch office at Ahiyapur and looted the money kept in an almirah at gun point, Deputy Superintendent of Police Mukul Ranjan said.

The miscreants came and fled in motorbikes.

Police are investigating the case from all angles, Ranjan said adding that raids are being conducted to arrest the culprits.

The incident came close on the heels of looting of 32 kg of gold worth around Rs 10 crore and Rs 2 lakh in cash by robbers from a finance company's Bhagwanpur branch under Sadar police station area of Muzaffarpur on February 6.

The police, however, recovered 26.5 kg of looted gold and arrested three of the accused from various parts of the state on February 10.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat Thursday said a response is expected from the Modi government to the attack on CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in which 30 CRPF personnel were killed.

Speaking to the media in Nagpur, Bhagwat said, "It is a cowardly act, we strongly condemn it. We expect action in response to this incident."



"We have tolerated a lot and are still doing so, as seen from today's incident," he said. "They will get a reply (to the attack)," Bhagwat said.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar also condemned the attack and extended condolences to their families.

"The cowardly attack on a convoy of CRPF and killing of Jawans in Awantipora, Pulwama district in Jammu and Kashmir is a condemnable act. My condolences to the families of the martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for India," Pawar tweeted.

The CRPF personnel were killed when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in.

The Shiv Sena, BJP's ally, alleged that the Union government's efforts to prevent such attacks were falling short despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assurance to the country.

"This is too painful and disturbing. We pay our respects. But such attacks should not happen. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said such attacks won't happen again," Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said.

The armed forces should be given a free hand to give a befitting reply to Pakistan, she said.

"The language of teaching a lesson to Pakistan was also used (by the BJP-led Union government)....But the efforts are falling short. Intelligence failure is obvious," Kayande added.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis condemned the "cowardly attack".

"Deeply pained. Entire Nation stands with the #CRPF family. We salute the supreme sacrifice for the Nation and pray for speedy recovery of the injured ones!" he tweeted.

Congress leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said the attack was extremely "disturbing and painful".

"My humble tribute to martyrs who sacrificed their lives and condolences to bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of our injured Jawans," he tweeted.

The Maharashtra unit of the Congress, while condemning the attack, accused the Modi government of being "incapable".

"Strongly condemn the cowardly attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama....Heartfelt condolences to the families who made supreme sacrifice for our nation," state Congress president Ashok Chavan tweeted.

"Since 2014, we have lost thousands of soldiers and the incapable Modi government is only to be blamed," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Turkey's state-run agency is quoting a police report suggesting that the Turkish fiancee of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi may have escaped being a second victim of the killing.

Citing an annual report by Istanbul police on Thursday, Anadolu says Khashoggi's killers were most likely not informed that his fiancee Hatice Cengiz was waiting for him outside the Saudi Consulate, where he was killed on October 2.

Cengiz had alerted Turkish authorities over his disappearance. The report also suggests that the journalist's dismembered body may have been disposed of in a cooking furnace on the grounds of the Saudi consul's residence, Anadolu reported. Khashoggi's remains have not been found.

The Washington Post columnist had written critically about Saudi Arabia's crown prince.

Turkey has called for an international inquiry.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced a bill that would impose stiff new sanctions on Russia over its meddling in U.S. elections and aggression against Ukraine.

The new restrictions would target banks, Russia's LNG projects overseas, the country's cyber sector and sovereign debt, Senator Bob Menendez's office said.

Among other measures, the new bill introduces sanctions on Russia's shipbuilding sector in the event that Russia "violates the freedom of navigation in the Kerch Strait or anywhere else in the world". The legislation also imposes restrictions on "24 FSB agents deemed complicit in the Kerch Strait attack, in response to the 24 Ukrainian sailors currently detained by Russia".

It was introduced by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, as well as other members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It is a tougher version of legislation - dubbed the sanctions bill from hell by Graham - the two lawmakers backed last year but which failed to pass.

The bill would have to pass the US Congress and be signed by US President Donald Trump before becoming law, Reuters reported.The US House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to end American involvement in Saudi Arabia's war effort in neighbouring Yemen, dealing a rebuke to President Donald Trump and his alliance with Riyadh.

The chamber voted 248 to 177 to approve historic legislation that would direct the president within 30 days to "remove United States armed forces from hostilities in or affecting the Republic of Yemen", where a years-old conflict has killed thousands of civilians.

Eighteen Republicans joined all voting Democrats in supporting the measure, a striking curtailment of presidential war powers.

The vote puts pressure on the Senate to act.

The Senate easily passed a similar measure late last year condemning the administration's defense of the Saudi kingdom, but it died as the last Congress ended with the then Republican-controlled House not bringing it to a vote.

Today the House is under Democratic control, and the measure moved swiftly on the floor.

"With my resolution passing the House, we are closer than ever to ending our complicity in this humanitarian catastrophe," House Democrat Ro Khanna, who has spent years opposing US military interventions, said on Twitter.

And with Senator Bernie Sanders helping lead the way on the legislation in the Senate, Khanna said, "A War Powers Resolution will pass through both chambers of Congress for the first time in history."



Sanders, who is weighing a 2020 presidential run, applauded the House move.

"The Senate must quickly pass this resolution and finally reassert Congress' constitutional authority over war," he said.

The resolution is a reminder that Congress was given the legal ability to compel the removal of US military forces, absent a formal declaration of war.

Should the Senate pass the resolution, it could force Trump to issue the first veto of his tenure.

Bipartisan anger has simmered in Congress since the murder last October of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by commandos from Riyadh.

The White House's apparent embrace of Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has caused lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle to push back.

Republicans notably have also registered their dissatisfaction over other foreign policy controversies, including the president's plan to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Home Minister Rajnath Singh Thursday spoke to Governor and took stock of the situation in the state after the deadly attack on a CRPF convoy by terrorists, officials said.

He also cancelled all his political engagements in Bihar Friday and is likely to visit

He called up the governor, who apprised him about the prevailing situation in the state. Singh also spoke to Union Home Secretary and Director General of CRPF R R Bhatnagar and gave them necessary instructions, a home ministry official said.

The ministry is also closely monitoring the situation.

In a tweet, Singh said, "Today's dastardly attack on CRPF in (J&K) is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured."



At least 30 CRPF personnel were killed in district when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in.

This is one of the worst terror strikes in the state since the in 2016.BJP Rajasthan president Madan Lal Saini Thursday hit back at Rahul Gandhi for his comments on the RSS, saying the organisation needs no certificate from the Congress president.

Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Thursday, alleging its members wield lathis and spread hatred.

Addressing a meeting of the Congress Seva Dal, he asked Congress men to counter the hatred spread by the BJP and its ideological fountainhead RSS with love.

Saini also challenged the Congress leader for an open debate on the role of the RSS in the freedom struggle.

"He is dreaming of making Seva Dal stand parallel to the RSS but from where they will get dedicated volunteers like that of RSS," said Saini.

Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje also condemned Seva Dal leader Lalji bhai desai's comments against the RSS.

She in a statement said that the insult of the RSS will not be tolerated.

Desai also targeted RSS and made comments against it on Wednesday. Pti sda



http://ptinews.com/images/pti.jpg



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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Taking the Rafale row to Narendra Modi's home state, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday claimed the prime minister conducted "parallel negotiations" with Dassault Aviation on the French fighter jet deal.

Addressing a public rally in Valsad district of Gujarat, Gandhi also claimed that the Modi government refused to waive farmers' loans but wrote off Rs 3.5 lakh crore debt of "15 top industrialists".

Attacking the prime minister over the Rafale jet deal, Gandhi said, "The slogan 'chowkidar chor hai' (the sentry is the thief) is also famous in France and even former French president also says 'chowkidar chor hai'."



"The Defence Ministry and the Air Force said Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducted parallel negotiations with Dassault Aviation on Rafale deal," Gandhi claimed.

Criticising the government's incentives announced in the interim budget, he promised that if the Congress comes to power at the Centre, it will give more than just Rs 17 per day in the income guarantee scheme directly in the accounts of the poor.

The Congress chief has been relentlessly targeting the government over the Rafale jet deal. He had on Tuesday accused Modi of acting as a middleman of industrialist Anil Ambani in the fighter jet agreement with France.

However, the government and Ambani have been strongly rejecting allegations of any wrongdoing in the fighter jet deal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Congress president Rahul Gandhi condoled the killing of CRPF personnel in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday and said it had left him "deeply disturbed".

"I'm deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a #CRPF convoy in J&K in which many of our brave CRPF men have been martyred and a large number wounded, some critically. My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured," he tweeted.

At least 18 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday in a suicide attack, when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in, one of the worst terror strikes in the state since the Uri attack in 2016, officials said.

Paying his party's homage, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala also accused the Narendra Modi government of compromising national security and said the list of terror attacks continued unabated under it.

"Condemn the cowardly terror attack on our jawans in Pulwama, J&K today. Our homage to the 18 brave hearts who made the supreme sacrifice & condolences to their family. Uri, Pathankot, Pulwama- the terror list & compromise of National Security by Modi Govt continues unabated," he said in a tweet.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Amid a raging political row over the Rafale deal, France on Thursday said there was "absolutely no pressure" on it for selecting an offset partner and asserted that there was "nothing stronger" in its system than an inter-governmental agreement to protect the contract.

The French government's strong assertion comes a day after the much-awaited on the controversy-hit contract showed that the signed by the Modi government to procure 36 fighter jets from France's Dassault got 2.86 per cent cheaper price than what was negotiated during the previous UPA regime in 2007.

At an interaction with a select group of journalists here, French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler asserted that there was "nothing stronger" in his country's system than an inter-governmental agreement that protects the deal.

"In our system, when a government signs a deal under its name, we are responsible as a government for supply, price and delivery," he said underlining the strong commitment of the French government to the deal.

His remarks assume significance as they come amid questions being raised over the absence of a sovereign guarantee in the deal.



ALSO READ: More questions on Rafale

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in its report on the Rafale deal, has highlighted the drawbacks of settling for a 'Letter of Comfort' rather than a sovereign guarantee by the French government.

Highlighting its concerns, the CAG has observed that in case of a breach of agreement, India would now have to first settle the matter through arbitration directly with the French vendors.

Asked if there was any pressure from the Indian side to select an offset partner in the deal, the French envoy said: "There was absolutely no pressure on the French government."





The Congress led by its president Rahul Gandhi has been accusing the Modi government of helping Anil Ambani make a profit of Rs 30,000 crore by helping him get an offset contract under the deal.

The government, as well as Ambani, have denied all allegations.



ALSO READ: CAG questions accuracy of benchmark pricing in air defence acquisitions

A French media report last year had quoted former French President Francois Hollande as purportedly saying that the Indian government proposed Reliance Defence as the partner for Dassault Aviation in the Rs 58,000 crore and France did not have a choice.

Hollande, however, later was quoted as saying that France "did not choose Reliance in any way".

When asked whether India had put pressure on Reliance and Dassault to work together, Hollande had said he was unaware and "only Dassault can comment on this".

On France's participation in the Aero India in Bengaluru, the French envoy said his country will bring the strongest foreign delegation with 49 major firms and small and medium-sized enterprises will cover the entire civil and defence aerospace sectors.

France offers co-development and transfer of technology aimed at bolstering India's strategic autonomy and the 'Make in India' programme, he said.Punjab Assembly Thursday authorised Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to take up the issue of SGPC elections with the Centre after Dakha lawmaker H S Phoolka raised it, amid noisy reaction from the SAD-BJP which sought to know whether the Supreme Court lawyer was still an MLA.

During the Zero Hour on the third day of the Punjab Assembly Budget Session here, Phoolka, who had resigned as MLA last year, raised the issue of delay in elections of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex religious body of the Sikhs.

Drawing attention of the chief minister in the House, Phoolka sought that the House should pass a resolution requesting the Central government to appoint chief commissioner of the gurdwara elections for holding the SGPC polls at the earliest.

Concurring with Dakha legislator, Amarinder Singh assured the House that he would certainly meet the Home Minister regarding the delay in the SGPC polls.

"I agree with member (Phoolka). The Gurdwara Act is a national legislation. But the elections (of SGPC) have not been held for last three years. I will certainly meet the Home Minister and tell him that you cannot have in democracy that you do not hold elections for three years. Elections should be held," said Amarinder Singh.

He also sought permission of the Speaker, on behalf of his government, to adopt the resolution moved by the AAP MLA on Wednesday.

Amidst protests by SAD and BJP MLAs, the Speaker put the resolution to vote, as a result of which the House authorised Amarinder Singh to raise the issue with the Union government immediately.

As the resolution was put to vote by the Speaker, the members of ruling party, AAP and Lok Insaaf Party welcomed it with thumping of desks.

Talking to media outside the House, Amarinder Sing said there was unanimity in the House on the issue as the elections were over due by three years.

Only the Akalis and BJP members were not in favour, he said.

Earlier, when Amarinder Singh concurred with Phoolka on the SGPC polls, Akalis asked the Speaker to clear air about the membership of Phoolka who had already resigned as MLA and from the primary membership of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

"It should be clear whether he (Phoolka) is still an MLA or has he withdrawn his resignation," Akali MLA N K Sharma said while stating that it was a "murder of democracy" as a person was still sitting in the House despite resigning from the membership.

Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, while saying that Phoolka was an elected member, retorted "if anybody had problem then let it be".

Leader of Opposition and AAP legislator Harpal Singh Cheema accused Akalis of not wanting SGPC polls, "fearing they might lose their control over the religious body".

Akali and BJP legislators, who were on their feet, sought to know whether Phoolka was still an MLA.

"There is a constitutional crisis here. Who is the member of AAP or who is rebel here? It (AAP) is a B team of the Congress and the match-fixing between both parties are being witnessed in the House," Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia said.

"You hold SGPC elections. You are welcome to hold polls. But there should not be the mockery of the Constitution. Speaker should tell whether he (Phoolka) is still an MLA or not," he asked.

Phoolka said, "Every Sikh wants good management of the SGPC and every Sikh wants SGPC elections which have been delayed."



Later, Speaker Rana KP Singh informed the House that till any decision is taken on the resignation, Phoolka will be the member of the House.

He further informed that Phoolka's resignation was not in "proper format" and a notice has been given to him.

Phoolka, former Leader of Opposition of Punjab Assembly, had tendered his resignation as MLA from Dakha in October 2018 over the alleged inaction by the state government on Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report on desecration of religious texts.

Known for fighting legal battle of 1984 "anti-Sikh" riot cases, Phoolka had also quit the AAP in January this year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan on Thursday said the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district is "a matter of grave concern" even as it strongly rejected Indian media and government's allegations of the country's link to the strike "without" probe.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a suicide bomber from the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district on Thursday, killing at least 39 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

Attack in Pulwama in Kashmir is "a matter of grave concern", the Pakistan Foreign Office said in a statement.

Asserting that Pakistan has "always condemned acts of violence" anywhere in the world, it said, "We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations."



In a tweet, FO spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said, "We have always condemned heightened acts of violence in Valley."



Meanwhile, India slammed Pakistan over the Pulwama terror attack and asked the neighbouring country to stop supporting terrorists and dismantle terror infrastructure operating from its soil.

India also strongly reiterated its appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan.

The Indian government condemns in the strongest possible terms the cowardly terrorist attack on India's brave security forces in Pulwama, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

This heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based terrorist organisation proscribed by the UN and other countries, it said.

This terror group is led by the international terrorist Masood Azhar, who has been given full freedom by the Pakistani government to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under Pakistan's control and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity, the MEA said.

Countries from across the globe also condemned the terror attack in Pulwama, with global leaders like the US, Russia and France asserting that they stand with India in combating the menace of terrorism.

"The US Mission in India strongly condemns today's terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir. We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims," US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster tweeted.

Russia, while condemning the terror attack, stressed the need to combat such "inhuman acts" with decisive and collective response without any double standards.

"We denounce terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and reiterate the need to combat these inhuman acts with decisive and collective response without any double standards," a Russian Embassy statement said.

French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler said France most firmly condemns the heinous attack perpetrated in Jammu and Kashmir.

"France has always been and always will be by India's side in the fight against terrorism in all its forms," he said.

Germany strongly condemned the heinous terrorist attack, saying stands by its strategic partner India.

Australia, Turkey, Canada and Czech Republic also condemned the horrific terror attack.

India's neighbours Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives also expressed solidarity and vowed to combat the menace of terrorism jointly.

"I strongly condemn the deadly terrorist attack in Kashmir today killing at least 40 people. We send our thoughts and prayers to those affected. The Maldives will continue to work with India and the international community to combat terrorism in our region and the world at large," Maldivian President Ibrahim Solih said.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in a message through the country's High Commission in New Delhi said her country remains steadfast in its commitment against terrorism of all forms and manifestations and maintains a zero tolerance policy against any kind of terrorist activities.

"Deeply saddened by the of the horrific terrorist attack in Kashmir. Bhutan strongly condemns terrorist attack of any nature. Our prayers are with the grieved family and we are following the situation closely," Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering said.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena expressed sadness over the dastardly terror attack, saying the world must condemn such brutal terrorist attacks and take effective action to prevent such incidents in future.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also "strongly" condemned the terror attack, calling for those behind the attack to be brought to justice.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russia condemned the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday and stressed the need to combat such "inhuman acts" with a decisive and collective response, without any double standards.

At least 39 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and many injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir in the recent years on Thursday, when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into their bus in Pulwama.

The Russian embassy condemned in the strongest terms the horrific terror attack, which claimed the precious lives of CRPF personnel and left numerous people injured, a statement said.

"We denounce terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and reiterate the need to combat these inhuman acts with decisive and collective response without any double standards," it said.

The embassy conveyed its condolences to the grieving families and wished a speedy recovery of those injured.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan on Thursday said the terrorist attack in Kashmir's Pulwama district is "a matter of grave concern" even as it strongly rejected Indian media and government's allegations of the country's link to the strike "without" probe.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a suicide bomber from the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district on Thursday, killing at least 39 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

Attack in Pulwama in Kashmir is "a matter of grave concern", the Pakistan government said in a statement.

Asserting that Pakistan has "always condemned acts of violence" anywhere in the world, it said, "We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations."



Meanwhile, India slammed Pakistan over the Pulwama terror attack carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed and asked the neighbouring country to stop supporting terrorists and dismantle terror infrastructure operating from its soil.

India also strongly reiterated its appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan.

The Indian government condemns in the strongest possible terms the cowardly terrorist attack on India's brave security forces in Pulwama, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

This heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries, it said.

This terror group is led by the international terrorist Masood Azhar, who has been given full freedom by the Pakistani government to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under Pakistan's control and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity, the MEA said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)First Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia Sergey Shvetsov said that possible new U.S. sanctions against Russia will have less effect than those introduced earlier.

"Even if the laws on sanctions are adopted, we have quite a lot of experience in such conditions," he stressed.

We are much more prepared in the financial market than other countries, so the effect that these sanctions had on 2014 will be much smaller now," TASS cited Shvetsov as saying.

The bill in question was presented on Wednesday by a group of U.S. lawmakers. The document suggests, in particular, the introduction of sanctions against 24 FSB officers, who, according to the American side, are related to the Kerch Strait incident in November 2018. U.S. lawmakers are proposing to limit transactions with newly issued Russian sovereign bonds, as well as impose sanctions on energy projects in Russian state-owned companies outside the Russian Federation and some banks.Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik has directed immediate enhancement of surveillance and review of the security management of all important installations and establishments in the state in view of the Pulwama terrorist attack on Thursday in which 39 CRPF personnel lost their lives.

"Such acts of terror will not deter the resolve of our security forces and the spirit of the people. We will finish these inimical forces to their last. The forces responsible for insurgency in the state are desperate and frustrated. They just want to prove their presence," Malik said.

A suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district on Thursday, killing at least 39 personnel and leaving many critically wounded. The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The governor has urged all commanders of security forces to enhance surveillance on every front and directed the district and divisional civil and police administration to immediately review the security of all important installations and establishments, an official spokesman said.

Malik has expressed sympathy to the families of the soldiers who lost their lives and prayed for the speedy recovery of all the injured persons.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Thursday called off her first press conference after being inducted in the Congress as a Congress general secretary, expressing grief over the deaths of 30 CRPF personnel in a terror attack in Kashmir.

The press conference was meant to wrap up her four-day visit to the state, the first after being appointed in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

This conference was called for political discussions. But when our jawans have been killed in a terror attack in Pulwama, I feel it would not be right if we have political discussions at this time," she told reporters at the press conference venue.

I want to tell their families that every single countryman is with them in their hour of grief, she said.

They should have faith... we are standing by them, she added.

A two-minute silence was also observed as a mark of grief.

The Congress leader has held a series of discussions with party workers over the past four days, with at least one session lasting through the night.

The Congress is trying to revive itself in the state where it faces a challenge from the Bharatiya Janata Party as well as an alliance of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.

Although the new AICC general secretary has faced the press briefly in recent days, this was slated to be her first formal interaction.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Privatising small airports would not be the right approach for the government as they need to be viable in terms of passenger size and growth projections, a senior official of GMR Airports said.

"If the government wants to look at privatising small airports, in my view that is not the right approach. The right approach would be that they look at privatising more profitable airports, which now they are doing," Sidharath Kapur, executive director and board member, GMR Airports, said at CAPA India Airports Summit 2019 here.

The Central government has invited bids for privatisation of six airports -- Lucknow, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Mangaluru and Thirvananthapuram. These airports are currently under the control of the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

"I think there is always a minimal size where an airport is viable (for privatisation)," Kapur said.

"The cost recovery models of these assets demand that there should be certain minimum traffic size. I guess 2.5 million to 3 million passengers (per year) is the ideal traffic size to make sense. And based on that, the growth coming makes sense of the large capex (capital expenditure) involved," he added.

Kapur said GMR Airports -- that currently manages Delhi and Hyderabad airports in India -- does not mind looking at smaller assets. "But in all these assets we see if there is a huge growth potential. All the Indian assets, especially the smaller ones, and the ones which are currently under privatisation, the growth potential is huge," he added.

However, he added that "smaller airports do not make much sense from a private concessions point of view".

He said the government should focus on building smaller aerodromes from the revenues of bigger airports that have been privatised.

"Delhi and Hyderabad constitutes 85 per cent of the revenues of the Airports Authority. This can contribute to the kitty of the government and they can use this cash to construct airport infrastructure in underdeveloped and developing areas. Where there are no airports, they can build some airports, even if the traffic is around 100,000 passengers," he said.

He said his company is not averse to greenfield airports either. "We continue to look at them. Our preference, as anyone's else preference is, brownfield assets that are running assets. The construction risk is not really there," he said.

"I would call the Indian greenfield assets as not truly greenfield. I would say they are more of a whitefield because in most cases -- except Goa which was an exception -- the existing airport is shutdown," he said. "Our Delhi and Hyderabad (airports) are for sure large assets...we will continue to look at international forays. We will continue to look at domestic assets because that is our home market," he stated.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A pregnant Bangladeshi-British teenager, who fled London in 2015 to join the Islamic State terror group in Syria, says she is not the same "silly" girl now, but wants to return to the UK as she is worried about the health of her unborn child.

Shamima Begum, 15, was one of three British schoolgirls who ran away from their homes in the UK in 2015 to be jihadi brides, causing much concern in the country on the impact of online radicalisation, especially among the youth.

Speaking from a refugee camp in Syria, Begum, now 19, has lost two children, told the Times newspaper that she was nine months pregnant and wanted to return to the UK for her baby.

She said she remained scared her unborn baby would become ill in the refugee camp after she fled the jihadists' last remaining enclave in Baghuz, eastern Syria.

"That's why I really want to get back to Britain because I know it will be taken care of - health-wise, at least," she said.

She said she should be giving birth "any day now".

"I'll do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child."



Begum said she had two other children who died in infancy from malnutrition and illness.

Begum and two of her fellow Bethnal Green academy students, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, made headlines when they flew from Gatwick to Turkey in February 2015, then entered Syria.

Begum and Abase were both 15, while Sultana, another Bangladeshi-British, was 16. They had told their parents they were simply going out for the day. Begum said Sultana was killed in an air strike on Raqqa, the stronghold of the ISIS.

But Begum expressed no regrets about fleeing from the UK.

"I'm not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago," she said.

"I don't regret coming here," she said.

After arriving in Raqqa, she stayed at a house with other newly arrived brides-to-be, she told the Times.

"I applied to marry an English-speaking fighter between 20 and 25 years old," she said.

Ten days later she married a 27-year-old Dutch man who had converted to Islam.

She has been with him since then, and the couple escaped from Baghuz - the group's last territory in eastern Syria - two weeks ago.

Begum said her husband who had fought for ISIS, surrendered to Syrian fighters allied to the US- supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) weeks ago and that she had not seen him since.

She is now one of 39,000 people in a refugee camp in northern Syria.

Asked whether her experiences of living in the one-time IS stronghold of Raqqa had lived up to her aspirations, Begum said: "Yes, it did. It was like a normal life. The life that they show on the propaganda videos - it's a normal life.

"Every now and then there are bombs and stuff. But other than that..."



She said that seeing her first "severed head" in a bin "didn't faze me at all".

"It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam.

"I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance," she said.

She told the paper that "the caliphate is over."



"They're just getting smaller and smaller and there's so much oppression and corruption going on that I don't really think they deserve victory," she said.

The ISIS aims to create an Islamic state called a caliphate across Iraq, Syria and beyond. The ISIS, an al Qaeda splinter group, is implementing Sharia Law, rooted in eighth-century Islam, to establish a society that mirrors the region's ancient past.

The ISIS is known for killing dozens of people at a time and carrying out public executions, crucifixions and other acts.

Meanwhile, it is not clear if the British government would allow her to return home, the BBC reported.

The British government has been quite clear that it does not want them to come back to Britain, it said.

Then there are those who went to join the IS group as supporters - and Shamima Begum fits into that category, it noted.

The British government has said it won't help them out of northern Syria but if they manage to get to a place where there is a recognised government then they'll see what they can do.

It is unclear at the moment as to quite what that might be.

British security minister Ben Wallace has suggested that, in those situations, the British government would at least consider helping them to come home, but then there's the possibility of prosecution and a jail sentence for supporting a terrorist group.

A new Pentagon report says the US government is encouraging other countries to accelerate efforts to repatriate foreign ISIS fighters to their home countries for prosecution. Progress has been difficult, though, due to political concerns and the challenges of gathering legal evidence to support prosecutions once they have returned, CNN reported.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A handkerchief, illicit letters and secret visits -- the first three decades of love between a Vietnamese man and his North Korean sweetheart were counted out in stolen moments and small tokens of devotion.

But now this love story is being lauded as an example of the two countries' amity in the lead-up to this month's much anticipated second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi.

The communist state is thrilled to be hosting the high-profile event in Hanoi, an opportunity for Vietnam to boost its diplomatic gravitas on the world stage.

But for the couple, their hopes for peace on the Korean peninsula also carry personal motivations.

"I wish... we can go back for visits more easily," 69-year-old Vietnamese Pham Van Canh told AFP.

He first met his future wife Ri Yong Hui in 1971 at a Pyongyang fertiliser factory, where she was working. Canh was one of hundreds of Vietnamese sent to fellow communist nation



North Korea to study how their country could rebuild after the devastating war with the US.

"I asked others for her name, trying to meet her," he said. "At that time, both Vietnamese and North Koreans were not allowed to love each other." His first token of affection was a handkerchief.

Their courtship included secret visits to her hometown, which were cut short in 1973 when he had to return to Vietnam.

Canh gave Ri 20 envelopes with his mother's work address at the State Bank of Vietnam already written out so she could send letters, skirting North Korea's monitoring of correspondence.

Still the couple sent only two or three letters a year to avoid notice. Mostly, they kept to safe subjects like health and work, in case the envelopes were opened by others.

"We were in love and she had even told me to die together, to commit suicide. But I told her, 'We are in love, why die? Wait for me and I will come back.'" As the years ticked by, he kept an eye on the two countries' relationship, as Vietnam outpaced North Korea in economic growth.

Meanwhile, he set up a friendship club between the countries and organised fundraising to donate rice to the Korean peninsula as its leadership isolated itself from the outside world.

He also appealed to Vietnam's Foreign Ministry, who brought the couple up in bilateral talks to their North Korean counterparts as "a humanitarian matter", he told AFP.

Then in 2002, Canh's efforts paid off.

He was allowed to return to Pyongyang to hold a small wedding ceremony and then take Ri back to Hanoi on the condition she remained a North Korean citizen.

Today, 70-year-old Ri says she has a good life in Hanoi where she lives with Canh in a modest apartment.

But the couple have managed to visit Pyongyang only three times because of its isolation.

"I always have my homeland on my mind," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday at a security conference in Warsaw that Iran is the top threat in the Middle East and confronting the country is key to reaching peace in the entire region.

Pompeo met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the opening session at the conference and said "pushing back" against Iran was central to dealing with all the region's other problems.

"You can't achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran. It's just not possible," Pompeo said alongside Netanyahu.

The Israeli leader lauded the participation of high-profile Arab dignitaries at the conference, saying it signaled a shift in regional priorities.

"In a room of some 60 foreign ministers, an Israeli prime minister and the foreign ministers of leading Arab countries stood together, and spoke with unusual force, clarity and unity against a common threat of the Iranian regime," Netanyahu said before his meeting with Pompeo.

"I think this marks a change, an important understanding of what threatens our future." The U.S. and Poland are sponsoring the conference, which they say is aimed at promoting peace and security in the Mideast but appears to be mainly focused on isolating Iran. Iran has denounced the gathering as an American anti-Iran "circus" aimed at "demonising" it.

US Vice President Mike Pence is attending along with representatives from numerous Arab countries. But France and Germany are not sending Cabinet-ranked officials, and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is staying away. Russia and China aren't participating, either, and the Palestinians, who have called for the meeting to be boycotted, also will be absent.

For Netanyahu, a longtime opponent of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the gathering marks a culmination of his call to unite the world against Israel's arch-enemy of Iran. He's long boasted that Israel has clandestinely developed good relations with several Arab states, despite a lack of official ties. On Wednesday, he met with Oman's foreign minister, Yusuf bin Alawi, and at Thursday's opening session he was seated next to the foreign minister of Yemen, as representatives of Kuwait, Qatar and others looked on.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A top Pakistani court Thursday granted bail to Shehbaz Sharif in two corruption cases, in a major relief to the embattled Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief and Leader of Opposition who is currently in a jail here.

A two-member bench of the Lahore High Court headed by Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed accepted Sharif's plea and granted him bail in the Rs 1,400 crore Ashiyana Housing and Ramzan Sugar Mills scams.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had taken 67-year-old Sharif, the younger brother of jailed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, into custody on October 5. He is accused of allegedly cancelling the contract of a successful bidder in the scheme and awarding the same to his favourite firm.

The former Punjab province chief minister, who has been in the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore, declared the verdict "a victory of truth".

He said false cases were instituted against him on "political grounds". He said if a corruption of a penny is proved against him, he will quit

But Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the government and nation are disappointed with the release of Shehbaz Sharif on bail.

"The message sent to the nation is that the big fishes can still get away," Chaudhry was quoted as saying by Geo

"The NAB chairman should review its prosecution, investigation to see why the cases are not reaching at their logical end."



He said that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party led by Prime Minister Imran Khan broke the entrenched two-party system and started the process of accountability in the country.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader Khursheed Shah welcomed the court's decision, saying "This is a welcome move".

"Now, will take place in an independent environment and with independent thinking," he said.

"The opposition will work together to draft a plan of action for the issues faced by the country," the PPP senior leader further said.

In both cases the NAB prosecutor failed to present evidence and witnesses in support of its claim of corruption against Sharif, Pakistani media reported.

Sharif served as the chief minister of the politically crucial Punjab province from 2013 to 2018. He became PML-N president after his elder brother was barred from holding the top party position and public posts.

Nawaz is also serving a seven-year imprisonment in Al-Azizia Mills corruption case in the Kot Lakhpat jail.

He has filed a bail application in the Islamabad high court on medical grounds. Nawaz has heart related complications and the multi-disciplinary medical board constituted by the government has recommended his care in a cardiac facility 24 hrs a day.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Thursday said a comprehensive action plan had been prepared to check pollution levels in the Beas and Sutlej rivers as well as to restore the water quality of the state's rivers.

Responding to a call attention notice by AAP MLA from Kotkapura Kultar Singh Sandhwan on the third day of the budget session, Singh said given its seriousness, the state government would also take up the issue with the Centre.

Sandhwan had said that the water of Sutlej and Beas had become polluted because of the factory waste being discharged into it and the contaminated water had allegedly given rise to cancer cases in the state.

"Our government is seriously concerned about it and we are committed to restore water quality of state's rivers and have prepared a comprehensive plan in consultation with all departments," Singh informed the House.

The chief minister said that he had already constituted a committee under the chairmanship of the chief secretary, with the concerned administrative secretaries as members, for the regular monitoring of pollution levels in the rivers.

Listing some of the major steps initiated by the state to check river water pollution, the CM informed that that 11 Sewerage Treatment Plants (STP) were installed in 19 towns, and 12 new STPs would be installed in 10 towns by December 31, 2020.

One STP was being upgraded and would be made functional by December 31, 2019, treatment ponds will be provided in 125 villages by June 30, 2020, and 350 cusecs of water would be released from Mukerian Hydel Channel into the Holy Bein, Singh said.

The state health minister Brahm Mohindra further told the House that the newly recruited police personnel in the state were likely to be imparted with driving skills to help them discharge their duties more efficaciously.

The assurance was given by the minister on behalf of the chief minister, who authorised him to respond to the call attention by MLA Dharambir Agnihotri regarding no such training being given to recruits at the Police Training Centre at Jahaan Khelan, District Hoshiarpur.

He stated that in case four-wheeler training programme was to be included in the basic curriculum then the necessary infrastructure and training staff had to be provided and training duration would also be extended, the feasibility of which was being examined by the government.

Punjab Revenue minister Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria assured the House that because of variation in discharge in river Beas in Kapurthala, only a portion of land in villages Safdarpur and Bajja had eroded while other villages remained unaffected.

"To avoid any mishap in future, the department has prepared an estimate of Rs 50 lakh for construction of studs and revetments filled with sand at one of the sites of erosion," said the minister.

He was replying to the call attention notice of Aman Arora, Kultar Singh Sandhwan and Gurpartap Singh Wadala who sought to draw attention of minister towards damage being caused by the river to agriculture land of villages Safdarpur, Arian Juggian in Kapurthala.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday expressed grief over the demise of noted writer and state Assembly's former deputy speaker Vishnu Wagh.

Wagh was a "gifted personality" who excelled in different fields, said Parrikar, who has been suffering from a pancreatic ailment and currently recuperating at his private residence near here.

The 53-year-old former BJP MLA had been ailing since August 2016 after suffering a heart stroke.

He died on February 8 in South Africa while he was on a tour of Cape Town, his wife had said on Wednesday.

"Deeply saddened to hear abut the passing away of Shri Vishu Wagh, my former colleague in the Goa Assembly and Ex Deputy Speaker. Vishnu Wagh was a highly gifted personality who excelled in different fields. May God give his family the courage and strength to bear this great loss. My heartfelt condolences to the family," Parrikar said in tweet.

Wagh was a member of the state Assembly from St Andre constituency in North Goa district between 2012 and 2017.

He wrote over 20 plays in Marathi, three musical dramas, 18 Konkani plays, 16 one-act plays and six volumes of poetry.

He also directed more than 50 plays in Konkani and Marathi languages.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Palm oil imports declined by 2.31 per cent to 8,15,236 tonne in January from the year-ago period, industry body Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) said Thursday.

It, however, indicated higher shipments of RBD palmolein in coming months from Malaysia due to lower duty.

India, the world's leading vegetable oil buyer, had imported 8,34,444 tonne palm oil in January 2018.

The country's total vegetable oil imports declined 3 per cent to 12.75 lakh tonne in January this year compared to 12.91 lakh tonne in the year-ago period.

The share of palm oil is more than 60 per cent in the country's total vegetable oil imports.

According to the SEA, the shipments of palmolein, especially from Malaysia, have increased due to cut in import duty on palm oils, which has reduced the effective duty difference between crude palm oil (CPO) and RBD Palmolein to just 5 per cent against previous 10 per cent.

"This has resulted into sharp increase in import of RBD Palmolein to 1,67,429 tonne in January from 1,30,459 tonne in December 2018, up by 28 per cent," it said in a statement.

This is likely to increase in coming months considering the shipments lined up from Malaysia for export of RBD Palmolein to India, the SEA noted.

Among palm oil products, import of RBD palmolein increased to 1,67,429 tonne in January this year from 1,50,664 tonne a year ago, as per the SEA data.

But the shipment of CPO declined to 6,45,308 tonne from 6,72,762 tonne, while that of crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) too dropped to 2,499 tonne from 11,018 tonne in the said period.

Among soft oil, import of sunflower oil increased to 2,00,027 tonne in January this year from 1,70,831 tonne in the year-ago period.

The shipment of soyabean oil fell sharply to 1,85,906 tonne from 2,24,870 tonne, while that of rapeseed-mustard oil declined to 9,434 tonne from 16,702 tonne in the said period.

As on January 1, about 21.10 lakh tonne of vegetable oil stock is lying at ports and in pipelines. The country's monthly requirement is about 19 lakh tonne, the SEA said.

India imports palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, and a small quantity of crude soft oil, including soyabean oil, from Latin America. Sunflower oil is imported from Ukraine and Russia.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called the U.S. intention to withdraw troops from Syria good news, but said it was difficult to trust Washingtons promises, according to a statement published on its official website.

"We can never trust the words and promises of Americans," Sputnik cited the Iranian president as saying.

In addition, Rouhani noted that Iran considers it important to preserve the integrity of Syrian territory, and therefore declared that the entire territory of Syria should be controlled by Damascus.

In December, U.S. President Donald Trump declared victory over the Daesh* terrorist group and said he would withdraw some 2,000 US troops currently deployed in Syria. Washington, though, said that it would not reveal a timeline for withdrawing its troops, and pledged that the US-led international coalition's fight against terrorism would continue.Pakistan will propose to Saudi Arabia for initiation of a dialogue on a preferential trade agreement (PTA) to balance bilateral trade and promote investment during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's visit here, according to a media report on Thursday.

The Crown Prince accompanied by a high-powered business delegation will arrive in Pakistan on Saturday on his two-day visit to promote economic ties.

The preferential treaty will cover tariff and non-tariff barriers (NTBs) which will help diversify Pakistan's export basket to the kingdom, official sources told Dawn.

Since 2006, there is a complete deadlock in negotiations on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with the Gulf Cooperation Council. So far only two rounds of negotiations have been held on it. Officials sais that this issue will be raised during the crown prince's visit.

Pakistan's bilateral trade with Saudi Arabia has posted a consistent decline, dropping by a half to USD 2.5 billion in 2016-17 from USD 5.08 billion in 2013-14. One reason behind this is the falling value of petroleum products which constitute 50 per cent of total imports.

The country's exports to the kingdom are decreasing as well mainly due to a drop in proceeds of rice, fruits, vegetable preparations, apparel and clothing and made-up articles of textile material.

Rice is one of the major export items to Saudi Arabia but now the commodity's market is being captured by other countries, particularly India.

If an agreement is reached on the PTA, Saudi Arabia will become the second country after Iran with which Pakistan will have a bilateral preferential arrangement, the report said.

Other issues that will be discussed include easing of procedures for business visa which currently involves multiple departments and takes at least six weeks.

Saudi Arabia has also increased the business visa fee to Rs74,000 per person for attending any business activity in the kingdom and Pakistan will be looking for a fee waiver.

Pakistan is likely to raise the issue of removing ban on its shrimp exports to Saudi Arabia as well as seeking licence for State Life Insurance to do business in the kingdom, besides holding single-country exhibitions to promote market access for its products.

Possible areas for investment with Saudi Arabia include the halal food sector, cattle farming, milk, fisheries and other agro industry projects.

For resolving the NTB, two important issues will be discussed; mutual recognition agreement to avoid delay in customs and clearance of Pakistan's export shipments at the kingdom's ports and quality assurance certificates to be recognised by Saudi Food and Drug Authority, the report said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Thursday embarked on a visit to Germany to attend an international security conference in Munich where leaders and defence experts from across the world will discuss security issues.

Speaking to reporters prior to his departure, Qureshi said he will present Pakistan's point of view on different issues of regional peace and security in the conference from February 15-17, the Radio Pakistan reported.

The meeting will be attended by defence and foreign ministers and security experts from across the world.

The foreign minister said he will also hold meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his counterparts from Russia, Germany, Uzbekistan and Canada.

He said Pakistan's role in Afghanistan peace process is being globally "appreciated" and he will present the country's stance on the war-torn nation in the conference.

He said Pakistan has always supported peace efforts to bring stability to Afghanistan.

Pakistan's role in the Afghan peace process is being globally appreciated. We will use this opportunity to present our stance and hear the views of all parties, he said.

Qureshi is also expected to meet key US congressmen and members of the US Senate. The foreign minister said Pakistan-US relations have reached an important stage and it is his effort to reset the relations with the US.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP President Amit Shah Thursday expressed grief over the death of at least 39 CRPF personnel in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir and said Pakistan was continuing its activities despite India carrying out surgical strikes and asking it to mend its ways.

"An unfortunate incident has happened in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan-based terrorists attacked our security forces," he said in address at an intellectuals meet here.

"We had reminded Pakistan through the surgical strikes to mend its ways but it continues doing its activities," he said.

He was referring to India's September 29, 2016 surgical strike across the Line of Control as a response to a terrorist attack on an Indian Army base in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir earlier that month. Nineteen Indian soldiers had died in the attack by Pakistan-backed terrorists then.

Paying tributes to the martyred CRPF personnel, the BJP chief said the entire nation stood like a rock with their bereaved families.

At least 39 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district that also left many critically wounded.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The hanging Vanda and exotic Cattelya orchids were showstoppers of the annual flower show that got underway at the Agri-Horticultural Society of India's (AHSI) three-day flower show here Friday.

In the 192nd edition of the show, around 18,000 exhibits under 285 sections were on display, AHSI joint-secretary Shaikh Rahman said.

"Vanda, Cattelya and Phalaenopsis orchids are easy to grow in the tropical climates of Kolkata so they are mostly in demand compared to the winter blooms like Dendrobium and Cymbidium," Rahman told PTI.

The diversity of horticulture is captured in hundreds of seasonal flowers, perennial flowers, fruits and vegetables, medicinal plants, wide range of foliage plants, cacti and succulents, bonsai grown in pots.

But the main attraction is the small area enclosed under a green canopy that had about 100-odd exotic varieties of orchids.

With people making a beeline, imported orchids from Thailand in the price range of Rs 250 to 1500 were sold like hotcakes.

"The pitcher flower orchid is the most expensive. It is one of the rarest of rare varieties," a stall owner said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)One ultra of the banned Peoples Liberation Front of India (PLFI) was killed in an encounter with the security forces in Khunti district on Thursday, police said.

The encounter took place at Merambir forest area of the district, Deputy Inspector General of Police, A V Homkar said.

The security forces were on anti-naxal operation, the DIG said, adding that the body of the ultra was found in the encounter spot.

The security forces also recovered an automatic rifle from the spot, the DIG added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti condemned the killing of at least 18 CRPF personnel in a terrorist attack in Pulwama district on Thursday.

The CRPF personnel were killed when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in.

"Terrible coming from the valley. A number of CRPF soldiers are reported to have been killed & injured in an IED blast. I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved," Abdullah tweeted.

The vehicle was blown up on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in the district's Awantipora area.

"Disturbing coming in from #awantipura . Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several have been injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?" Mehbooba tweeted.

Several other mainstream politicians took to social media to condemn the attack.

"Very sad coming from Lethpora , any form of killing must be condemned by one and all," People's Conference leader Imran Ansari said.

The Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the incident, officials said.

The casualties are likely to go up.

Several people were injured in the terror attack, which reduced the bus to a mangled heap of iron.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Power-strapped North Korea is exploring two ambitious alternative energy sources tidal power and coal-based synthetic fuels that could greatly improve living standards and reduce its reliance on oil imports and vulnerability to sanctions.

Finding a lasting energy source that isn't vulnerable to sanctions has long been a top priority for North Korean officials. Leader Kim Jong Un used his New Year's address last month to call on the country to "radically increase the production of electricity" and singled out the coal-mining industry as a "primary front in developing the self-supporting economy." For the longer-term, he stressed the importance of atomic, wind and tidal power.

Since further development of atomic energy is unlikely anytime soon, the power-scarce country is developing technology to "gasify" coal into substitute motor fuels. It also is looking into using huge sea barriers with electricity-generating turbines to harness the power of the ocean's tides.

Coal and hydropower are North Korea's main energy resources. The North imports nearly all of its oil and petroleum products from China. Solar panels are visible just about everywhere, from urban balconies to rural farm buildings and military installations. Wind remains a very minor energy source.

The North's renewed focus on oil alternatives underscores what some foreign observers believe are two of its long-term best bets.

Kim's late father, Kim Jong Il, tried to get international support for developing nuclear power in the 1990s before the North ultimately opted instead for nuclear weapons. That brought some of the most intense sanctions ever applied by the United Nations against the country, making its energy situation even more precarious.

But coal is something North Korea has in abundance.

It's used to supply thermal power plants and factories, to heat homes and to make fertilizer and even a kind of cloth, called Vinylon. Slow-running, smoke-belching trucks that use a gasification process with firewood are common in the North Korean countryside. Coal isn't generally seen as a good oil-product substitute because converting it to a liquid form is inefficient and expensive coal gasification was last used on a large scale in Nazi Germany to keep its cars and trucks moving.

Given North Korea's limited options, it's a technology that appears to be paying off.

The output from just one gasifier unit reportedly destined for the North Sunchon Chemical Plant, north of Pyongyang, could yield synthetic fuel amounting to about 10 percent of the North's recent petroleum supply, according to a recent study for the Nautilus Institute by David von Hippel and Peter Hayes, two of the foremost experts on the issue. The study cited as one of its sources a Wall Street Journal report from December that tracked the unit to a Chinese exporter.

The facility is believed to be a center of "C-1" technology, which uses coal to make a kind of gas used to produce synthetic fuels, industrial chemicals and fertilizers.

Now that China has reduced its coal imports from the North in line with the sanctions, there's more available for gasification.

"The project appears to provide a significant benefit to the DPRK, in terms of supplying fuels to compensate for petroleum product imports that run afoul of United Nations Security Council sanctions passed in the last two years, although the project will not completely replace all lost imports on its own," they wrote in the report.

DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The North's interest in tidal energy also reflects a practical desire to exploit existing resources.

Glyn Ford, a former member of the European Parliament with extensive experience with the North, said he has had several discussions with North Korean officials regarding tidal power and even helped arrange a study tour to a facility in the UK a decade ago. He said they have tried to invite experts to the North.

The country is perfectly situated for tidal power.

"The bulk of the Korean Peninsula's west coast is a rich tidal power resource," Ford said in a telephone interview with The AP. "There are some detailed studies of the potential in South Korea and the same resources are there to be exploited north of the Demilitarized Zone." The world's largest functioning tidal power plant is located near the South Korean city of Ansan. It opened in 2011 and produces about enough power to support a city of 500,000.

Kim Jong Un has shown a strong penchant for mobilizing his million-man military on big projects. And the North has shown it can build something like a tidal power plant.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Some of the non-BJP parties have decided to approach the Supreme Court against the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), Chief Minister N said on Thursday.

In his daily teleconference with Telugu Desam Party leaders, Naidu said a decision in this regard was taken during the meeting of 15 non-BJP parties at Sharad Pawar's residence in New Delhi on Wednesday.

A TDP release on the teleconference, however, did not give any further details on the issue.

The TDP has been demanding that use of EVMs be abolished in the upcoming elections and that the of India revert to the old ballot paper system.

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora maintained that "most parties" reposed faith in EVMs and regretted that some were making the EVMs part of their "motivated slugfest".

Naidu also told his party rank and file that the opposition parties decided to forge a pre-election alliance and work with a common minimum programme.

"There is a lot of antagonism towards Narendra Modi's rule across the country. Democracy will be in danger in the hands of incompetent people. Our talks with national parties have been successful," the release quoted the TDP chief as saying.

He, however, did not specify if the TDP would have a pre-poll alliance with the Congress in

The Congress had already announced it would fight the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly elections, due in May, on its own.Washington will not unilaterally withdraw from Afghanistan, the Pentagon chief said Thursday, as NATO said the Kabul government must be urgently brought into US peace talks with the Taliban aimed at ending the country's 17-year war.

Acting defence secretary Patrick Shanahan said any decision to reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan would be taken in coordination with NATO, which runs a training and support mission in the war-torn country.

The United States is leading a push for peace talks with the Taliban, seeking a breakthrough in the grinding conflict, with the Islamists announcing Wednesday a fresh round of meetings in Islamabad.

But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned against any more delay in involving the Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani in the process, saying that without it lasting peace would not be possible.

President Donald Trump wants to end US involvement in Afghanistan, where 14,000 American troops are still deployed -- raising Afghan fears that Washington could exit before securing a durable peace deal.

But, after talks with fellow NATO defence ministers in Brussels, Shanahan said Washington would not act alone.

"There will be no unilateral troop reduction. That was one of the messages in the meeting today. It will be coordinated. We work together," he said after the meeting, which came after a tour of Kabul and Baghdad for Shanahan.

"I feel as though we're creating the diplomatic leverage Ambassador Khalizad needs. We really need to talk about the possibility for peace. This may be our moment."



Zalmay Khalilzad is the US special envoy leading talks with the Taliban and he has expressed hope of finding a deal before Afghan presidential elections scheduled for July.

Washington held major talks with Taliban officials in Qatar last month as part of efforts to convince the militants -- ousted from power in Afghanistan by a US-led invasion in 2001 -- to negotiate with Ghani's government.

Ghani himself has vented frustration at talks going on without him about the future of Afghanistan and warned against rushing into a deal.

"It is very important that the Afghan government as soon as possible becomes fully integrated in the peace process," Stoltenberg said.

"Without that there will be no lasting peace and no strong institutions to make sure any peace agreement is fully enforced."



The militants last week held separate talks in Moscow with a senior delegation of Afghan politicians -- including some of Ghani's leading rivals.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Washington will not unilaterally withdraw from Afghanistan, the Pentagon chief said Thursday, as NATO said the Kabul government must be brought into US peace talks with the Taliban to end the country's 17-year war.

Acting defence secretary Patrick Shanahan said any decision to reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan would be taken in coordination with NATO, which runs a training and support mission in the war-torn country.

The United States is leading a push for peace talks with the Taliban, seeking a breakthrough in the grinding conflict, with the Islamists announcing Wednesday a fresh round of meetings in Islamabad.

But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned against any more delay in involving the Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani in the process, saying that without it lasting peace would not be possible.

US President Donald Trump wants to end US involvement in Afghanistan, where 14,000 American troops are still deployed -- raising Afghan fears that Washington could exit before securing a durable peace deal.

But, after talks with fellow NATO defence ministers in Brussels, Shanahan said Washington would not act alone.

"There will be no unilateral troop reduction. That was one of the messages in the meeting today. It will be coordinated. We work together," he said after the meeting, which came after a tour of Kabul and Baghdad for Shanahan.

"I feel as though we're creating the diplomatic leverage Ambassador Khalilzad needs. We really need to talk about the possibility for peace. This may be our moment."



Zalmay Khalilzad is the US special envoy leading talks with the Taliban and he has expressed hope of finding a deal before Afghan presidential elections scheduled for July.

Washington held talks with Taliban officials in Qatar last month as part of efforts to convince the militants -- ousted from power in Afghanistan by a US-led invasion in 2001 -- to negotiate with Ghani's government.

Shanahan's commitment was welcome to Germany, which has been a frequent target for US criticism since Trump came to power, particularly over its defence spending.

German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said it was important that "there will be no unilateral decisions by the Americans, but that every step, every strategic step in Afghanistan will be discussed within the circle of NATO defence ministers".

Ghani himself has vented frustration at talks going on without him about the future of Afghanistan and warned against rushing into a deal.

"It is very important that the Afghan government as soon as possible becomes fully integrated in the peace process," Stoltenberg said.

"Without that there will be no lasting peace and no strong institutions to make sure any peace agreement is fully enforced." The militants last week held separate talks in Moscow with a senior delegation of Afghan politicians -- including some of Ghani's leading rivals.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday met with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi. They continued a series of bilateral meetings concerning some of the most pressing issues on the bilateral agenda, TASS reports.

According to the Kremlin press service, the two leaders discussed "key bilateral issues and the prospects for boosting integration processes in Eurasia."The UIDAI Thursday told the Delhi High Court that there was no security breach of its database or Central Identity Data Repository (CIDR) and sought dismissal of a petition seeking damages for data "leaks".

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the 12-digit number issuing body, in an affidavit filed before a bench of Justices Ravindra Bhat and Prateek Jalan, said its existing security controls and protocols are "robust and capable of countering any such attempts or malicious designs of data breach or hacking".

"Security of is of critical importance and is given paramount significance by the Respondent. Respondent no-1 (UIDAI) constantly strengthens and reviews its infrastructure and ecosystems in line with the best international security practices and technological standards and has multi-layered security and privacy considerations built into the core strategy of Aadhaar with three basic doctrines of minimal information, optimal ignorance and federated database which give higher level of security to the data," it said.

The affidavit was filed in response to a petition by Kerala-based lawyer Shamnad Basheer who has alleged that there were several breaches of the Aadhaar system leading to leakage of personal information of individuals since January 2018 and contended that UIDAI and the Centre were liable to compensate people whose data were compromised.

The UIDAI claimed that the petition was no longer maintainable in view of the Supreme Court's last year decision in K Puttaswamy case in which it has upheld most of the provisions of the Aadhaar Act and the scheme.

"The writ petition is not maintainable after the Supreme Court's judgment in K Puttaswamy Vs Union of India, by which the Aadhaar Act and scheme were upheld for the most part. Issues raised in the petition are squarely covered by the judgment," it said.



However, the apex court in its majority verdict had said that "A challenge to the Aadhaar project for violation of IT Act and Rules has been filed in the Delhi High Court in the matter of Shamnad Basheer Vs UIDAI and Ors. Therefore, we are not dealing with this aspect, nor does it arise for consideration in these proceedings."



The UIDAI also reproduced in the affidavit some portions of the apex court Aadhaar judgement to show what the top court had ruled on privacy concerns raised by various petitioners.

Denying the "false and baseless" allegations of any data breach, the authorities said Basheer has not been able to demonstrate how his rights have been affected.

"... the data is fully secured/encrypted at all times i.e., at rest, in transit and in storage. For further strengthening of security and privacy of data, security audits are conducted on regular basis, and all possible steps are taken to make the data safer and protected. Further, there are multiple layers of security at physical level in UIDAI Data Centres and is being managed by armed CISF personnel round the clock. Strengthening of security of data is ongoing process and all possible steps are being taken in this regard," it said.

"... UIDAI has taken fool-proof measures to ensure end-to-end security of resident data, spanning from full encryption of resident data at the time of capture, tamper resistance, physical security, access control, network security, stringent audit mechanism, 24/7 monitoring and measures such as data partitioning and data encryption with UIDAI controlled data centres," it said and added that the petition be dismissed for being devoid of merit.

The high court had earlier sought response of the UIDAI and the Centre on the plea raising concerns about Aadhaar data security and privacy of individuals, in the wake of several reported leaks of personal information of people from the UIDAI database.

The plea has also urged the court to direct the Centre to either allow people to opt out of the system or delete the entire existing UIDAI data in view of the security breaches.

Referring to one such alleged breach, the plea has said a media house had allegedly managed to gain access to the entire database by paying a sum of Rs 500.

It has said the breach, which was acknowledged by UIDAI and later led to the lodging of a criminal case against those involved, was a result of a leak of the "access control" given to some individuals.

The petition has contended that the breaches occurred due to the "negligence and willful recklessness" on part of UIDAI to adopt reasonable security measures to secure the private information.

It has also claimed that UIDAI was obligated to frame a comprehensive information security and privacy policy and sought action against the Informatics Centre (NIC) for its alleged failure to adhere to security practices.

The plea has further sought setting up of an independent investigative committee to probe and audit all security and privacy breaches of the Aadhaar database.There was no proposal for providing free power to government schools in Punjab, the government told the state Assembly Thursday, noting that a total of 4,130 government schools in the state had pending electricity bills of Rs 7.03 crore.

During the Question Hour on the third day of the Budget Session here, AAP legislator from Sunam, Aman Arora, asked the state government to give details of the pending electricity bills towards government schools in the state.

Replying to the question, power minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar informed the House that Rs 702.78 lakh was pending against 4,130 primary, middle and senior secondary schools of the Punjab government.

"Fourteen connections of government schools have been removed due to non-payment of electricity bills," the minister said. He said the total annual electricity bill of all government schools in Punjab is about Rs 1,684.87 lakh.

To a question on whether there was any proposal of the government to provide free electricity to government schools, the minister said as on date, no such proposal was under consideration of the government of Punjab.

The Punjab government also informed the House that it would carry out the process of preparing ownership records of houses within the boundary of 'lal lakir' (red line).

'Lal lakir' refers to land that is part of the village 'abadi' (habitation) and is used for non-agricultural purpose only.

Akali MLA Pawan Kumar Tinu sought to know whether there was any proposal under consideration of the state government to register ownership of houses or land inside the red line of villages and cities in name of occupiers.

"Occupiers of land cannot claim ownership on houses or land and they event cannot take loan against them," Tinu pointed out while demanding that ownership of houses or land should be ensured in name of occupiers.

The process of preparing ownership records of houses within the boundary of 'lal lakir' is being carried out by the department of rural development and panchayats.

"A new Act would have to be enacted to create ownership rights in the land records, said Revenue Minister Sukhbinder Sarkaria while taking a swipe at Akalis "for not undertaking" this exercise during its regime.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)NASA will launch a new space telescope in 2023 that could provide a glimpse of the first moments in the history of the universe, and explore how common are the ingredients for life in our galaxy's planetary systems, the US space agency said Thursday.

The Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) mission is a planned two-year mission funded at USD 242 million, according to NASA.

"I'm really excited about this new mission," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement.

SPHEREx will survey the sky in optical as well as near-infrared light which, though not visible to the human eye, serves as a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions.

Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 300 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way, NASA said.

"This amazing mission will be a treasure trove of unique data for astronomers," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

"It will deliver an unprecedented galactic map containing 'fingerprints' from the first moments in the universe's history. And we'll have new clues to one of the greatest mysteries in science: What made the universe expand so quickly less than a nanosecond after the big bang?" Zurbuchen said.

SPHEREx will survey hundreds of millions of galaxies near and far, some so distant their light has taken 10 billion years to reach Earth.

In the Milky Way, the mission will search for water and organic molecules -- essentials for life, as we know it -- in stellar nurseries, regions where stars are born from gas and dust, as well as disks around stars where new planets could be forming.

Every six months, SPHEREx will survey the entire sky using technologies adapted from Earth satellites and Mars spacecraft.

The mission will create a map of the entire sky in 96 different colour bands, far exceeding the colour resolution of previous all-sky maps.

It also will identify targets for more detailed study by future missions, such as NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, the US space agency said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Featuring in and as Captain Marvel helped Brie Larson realise a dream she didn't think was possible. The actor says the film gave her a "larger" platform to contribute to feminism, a cause dear to her heart.

Larson stars as US Airforce pilot Carol Danvers, who becomes one of the universe's most powerful heroes Captain Marvel.

The 29-year-old actor, who is a vocal women's rights activist, said it struck her while working on the Marvel film that she would be able to reach out to more people with the message of gender parity, a privilege not enjoyed by an indie movie that she usually collaborates on.

"It was really powerful and exciting. And it's also allowed me opportunities 'coz the film is so big, I knew I would be able to share certain concepts on a much larger scale than I'd been able to previously in independent films and even carry that over in the press tours.

"I have never had a press tour like this where we were able to work on reaching parity along the way. I feel so lucky that I made my first blockbuster movie and I just get to talk about feminism all day. I never would have thought that was like a possibility for me. That's like my dream, Larson told PTI during a group interview.

With Captain Marvel, which is an origin story set in the 1990s, the actor has become the first woman to lead a standalone Marvel superhero film.

The Oscar winner says she toiled for nine months before she started shooting and the inherent connect with the story made her get up every day, even when she felt like giving up.

"I think you have to have something that kind of transcends the movie, that keeps you going, that gives you fuel every day. Because it takes too long to make it and I trained for nine months. Then the shoot was 75 days. It's almost a year to go at something really hard every single day.

"It's very easy to burn out. So you have to have something that's kind of in the pit of your stomach that is this undeniable thing that you can remind yourself of. That makes it feels important, that makes it feel more that just making a movie, she adds.

Larson, who shot to fame with her role in "Room", says it was important to her that all female characters in the film got their chance to shine.

"For me, getting female complexity on screen, making sure that we had a film that talked about all the different kinds of female experience and we get to that not just with Carol, but also with Gemma's and Lashana's and Annette's character, she adds.

The film also stars Samuel L Jackson, Gemma Chan, Jude Law, Annette Bening, Ben Mendelsohn, Clark Gregg, Djimon Hounsou and Lee Pace.

"Captain Marvel" hits the screens on March 8 in India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nepal on Thursday strongly condemned the terrorist attack in Kashmir's Pulwama district and said such heinous acts of terrorism cannot be justified on any ground.

"The Government of Nepal strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir today that has resulted in the loss of many precious lives," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement here.

It extended heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims as well as the Government and people of India.

"In line with its principled position, Nepal unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and believes that such heinous acts of terrorism cannot be justified on any ground," it said.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a suicide bomber from the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district on Thursday, killing at least 39 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)State-owned firm NBCC (India) Ltd has reported a 26 per cent increase in its profit to Rs 77.74 crore for the third quarter of this fiscal.

It had posted a profit of 61.89 crore in the year-ago period, the company said in a statement Thursday.

The total standalone income from operations for the December 2018 quarter stood at Rs 1,651.62 crore, compared wih Rs 1,321.50 crore in the year-ago period, registering a total growth of 24.98 per cent.

During the April-December 2018 period, total income from operations grew by 30.81 per cent over the corresponding period last year.

NBCC Managing Director Anoop Kumar Mittal said: "We began the new financial year with a target of minimum 30 per cent growth in topline in all our business verticals. Our performance so far this year has been in that line. There are several projects in pipeline which are now getting matured."



The NBCC has been working towards bringing down its employee cost and also controlling overheads, he added.

NBCC's 88 per cent of the business revenue comes under PMC segment which has an order book of nearly Rs 85,000 crore. The total value of projects won from April 2018 to December 2018 stood at Rs 8,311.68 crore.

During this period, NBCC also made a foray into large-scale residential projects with the Supreme Court handing over incomplete projects of private builders to NBCC, for completion.

Its areas of operations are categorised into three main segments: Project Management Consultancy (PMC), Real Estate Development and EPC Contracting.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A school teacher convicted for raping a four-year-old-girl has filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against his death penalty, a prison official said on Thursday.

Mahendra Singh Gond (28) filed the SLP in the Supreme Court on February 11, challenging his death sentence in the rape case, Jabalpur Central Jail's law officer Ashok Singh told PTI.

A trial court in Satna had earlier this month issued a 'death warrant' against Gond after the Madhya Pradesh High Court confirmed his death sentence on January 25, he said.

The trial court had sent the death warrant, fixing his execution for March 2, 2019, through an e-mail to the Central Jail earlier this month.

The convict has other remedies also as he can file a mercy petition before the President, Singh said, adding the death warrant will be executed only after all the available legal remedies are exhausted.

The trial court had sentenced Gond to death under the recently-introduced Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 376(a)(b) (raping a minor under 12 years of age).

Gond was also found guilty under IPC Section 363 (kidnapping), for which he was awarded seven years' rigorous imprisonment, besides being fined Rs 5,000, Singh said.

According to the prosecution, the convict had raped the minor girl after kidnapping her from her house on July 1, 2018 and later dumped her in the bushes.

The girl received severe injuries in the incident and was admitted to a Delhi-based hospital.

Gond was later arrested by the police and a charge sheet was filed against him.

Madhya Pradesh was the first state to enact a law in December 2017, providing for death penalty for rapists of girls below 12 years of age.

The Centre had brought an amendment in the IPC to punish the rapists of girls below 12 years of age with death last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress on Thursday accused the Modi government of "failing" to check terrorism emanating from Pakistan and remaining a "mute spectator" to attacks on security personnel, after at least 39 CRPF men were killed in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

Terming the attack in Pulwama as an "act of cowardice", Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala questioned the government policy on terrorism and Pakistan, and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should not compromise on national security.

"In the past 55 months, Pakistan committed more than 5,000 ceasefire violations at the Line of Control and the International Border -- a whopping 1000 per cent increase compared to the last 55 months of the UPA," he said.

"Where is the '56 inch chest'? Where is the 'laal aankh' (red eyes)?" Surjewala asked.

He claimed this is the 18th major terror attack under the Modi government.

Every day India's jawans are killed on the borders facing terrorists coming from Pakistan or in skirmishes and attacks that happened unprovoked from the Pakistan Army, yet the government remains a mere spectator, the Congress leader told reporters.

"448 jawans have been martyred in Jammu and Kashmir alone, while 280 civilians have died in Pakistan-sponsored terror attacks ... Yet, unfortunately, prime minister has more faith in the dreaded ISI which is the benefactor, protector and harbinger of terrorism and invites them to investigate the Pathankot air base attack," he alleged.

Later, Surjewala tweeted that the Pulwama terror attack was a bigger attack than Uri and the nation was "angry and anguished".

"We reiterate our deepest condolences to the family of martyrs and pray for the injured," he said.

This horrific attack in Jammu and Kashmir is a testimony to the Modi government's utter failure on national security, Surjewala alleged.

"Zero political action and Zero policy to tackle terror has led to an alarming security situation. BJP ruled J&K for 4 years. BJP rules J&K via Governor's rule. BJP plunged J&K into deep turmoil," he said in a series of tweets.

"Is it not true that 18 Major terror attacks have taken place on our security installations including CRPF camps, Army camps, Air Force station & military stations --Gurdaspur, Udhampur, Pampore, Uri, Nagrota, Pathankot, Amarnath Yatra attack, Sunjwan Army Camp?" he said.

Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place about 20 km from Srinagar.

Surjewala said China thwarted multiple attempts to get Jaish-e-Mohammad's chief Maulana Masood Azhar named as a designated international terrorist by the UN.

The BJP government had escorted and released JeM's Masood Azhar at Kandahar, he alleged.

The Congress spokesperson also alleged that it was the most "weak" government in the history of India which has "utterly failed in defending India's borders and in checking terrorism coming from Pakistan".

He also slammed Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju's remarks there has been no major terror attack in the country in the last four-and-half-years due to the action of intelligence agencies.

"The tragic part is that the home minister of the country is most ill-informed and that is the reason why terrorist outfits and terrorists including the ISI and the Pakistan Army continue to act unabated. Is it not true there have been 17 major terror attacks across Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab? Does the minister not have this much of general knowledge,



"Does the minister not know that his colleague replied in Parliament and said that the number of skirmishes and ceasefire violation have doubled in 2018 compared to 2017," Surjewala said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)/ -- The Engineering major Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd. (MEIL) has taken up a unique innovative irrigation system in Telangana as part of the gigantic irrigation project, Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP). Explaining about this innovative project, Mr Bonthu Srinivas Reddy said, "It involves piped water supply to the end user to avoid water from not to be evaporated or sinks into the soil. It does not require even the land acquisition to this new piped irrigation water supply." He further said, "This innovative piped irrigation system is already successful in many countries. Some states include Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat states are implementing this piped irrigation on a small scale. Telangana government initiated this irrigation system in large scale to supply water for 80,000 hectares." The Telangana Government taking all appropriate steps to accomplish its objective to supply irrigation water to one crore acres of farmland. Israel's Outlet Management System (OMS) will be implemented in this project, the first time in Asia. This project is known as KLIP package-21 or the Kondam Cheruvu project. The advantage with OMS is water neither evaporates nor sink into the soil. Laying of the pipelines may obstruct the peasants initially, but thereafter they can be cultivated above the pipelines as normal.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/821971/MEIL_Nizamabad_District.jpg )



Pressurised pipeline network



This project will interlink the Kondam Cheruvu and Manchippa Cheruvu with the pressurized pipeline. The project includes 6,129 kilometers of the pressurized Pipeline system, with the combination of MS, DI and HDPE pipes and the construction works of the pipeline network works has already began with an extensive pitch. MEIL completed 11.4kms MS pipeline work out of 150 km and also completed 10kms of DI pipeline work out of 282 km. After completion of this project, 46,000 hectors of land in Metpally area will have plentiful water for irrigation. Another 34,000 hectors of land in Nizamabad rural, Balkonda, Armoor will get water from Gadkol pump house.

3.5tmc Reservoir at Gadkol



MEIL is constructing a reservoir with a capacity of 3.5 TMC of water near Gadkol in Nizamabad district. MEIL will also take up the pumping work, and also constructing two pumping stations, one at Metpally with ten pumps having a capacity of 2.5 megawatts each. The water will be drawn from the pump house, to be set up on the Nizamsagar canal 14.4kms away. The second pumping station at Gadkol with 8 pumps with a capacity of 2MW. The pumping stations designs are at the approval stage.

Higher yields with OMS: Experts



Irrigation experts expressing the view that, water wastage can be effectively controlled entirely through the piped irrigation is the only solution. With piped irrigation schemes water can be supplied to every last ayacut and also can enhance the farm productivity, they added. The Government officials are figuring out that, after a successful implementation of this innovative project, it can be brought in to new areas.

About MEIL



MEIL has proven experience in mega projects, has an overseas presence in prestigious refinery projects in countries like Kuwait, Jordan, Bangladesh and Singapore. MEIL is known for its timely execution of mega projects with highest quality standards, particularly related to creating infrastructure for establishing raw processing units, compressor plants; gas-based captive power plants etc. MEIL Hydro Carbons division's Engineering Technical Team is using sophisticated modern technology for fabrications, installations, and hook up operations.

Source: Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 23-year-old man was Thursday apprehended at a Delhi Metro station for allegedly carrying a country-made pistol in his bag, officials said.

Rahul K, 23, a resident of Amroha in Uttar Pradesh, was caught at the New Anand Vihar metro station on the pink line at about 4.15 pm after the X-ray baggage scanner detected the weapon in his bag, they said.

He was handed over to the local police by the Central Industrial Security Force(CISF) personnel for further investigation, officials said.

Carrying arms and ammunition in the Delhi Metro is banned by law.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the Syrian issue with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi. During the meeting, Putin said that he is certain the summit in Sochi will give a fresh impetus to the Syrian settlement.

"Today, we are to hold the fourth summit of the Astana process guarantor nations in Sochi. I am confident that we will be able to give a fresh impetus to the normalization of the situation in Syria, both on the ground and as part of political and diplomatic efforts to establish inter-Syrian dialogue," Putin said, noting that Russia and Turkey have done a lot.

"We have come a long way. If we continue working as actively and consistently and seek a compromise, then we will certainly succeed," he stressed.

The Russian leader also offered Erodgan to exchange views on the situation in the region in general and talk about bilateral relations.

At the beginning of the meeting, Putin once again offered his condolences to his Turkish counterpart on the loss of life in the apartment block collapse in Istanbul on February 6.

At the talks, Russia is represented by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, press secretary Dmitry Peskov, presidential aide Yury Ushakov, energy minister Alexander Novak, defense minister Sergey Shoigu, director of the military-technical cooperation committee Dmitry Shugaev, special representative of the Russian Federation for Syrian settlement Alexander Lavrentiev, general director of Rosatom Alexey Likhachev, Chairman of the Board of Gazprom Alexey Miller.

Turkey is represented by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Minister of Treasury and Finance Berat Albayrak, Minister of National Defense of the Republic Hulusi Akar, the head of the national intelligence organization of Turkey, the head of the department of information and communication technologies, the head of the department of the defense industry, the deputy foreign minister and the presidential press secretary.

Ankara has been doing everything possible to prevent militants from attacking Russias Hmeimim military base in Syria,

"We have been making every possible effort to prevent attacks on the Hmeimim military base, the Russian military base. Our militaries have been coordinating their activities in this regard," Erdogan said during talks with Putin.

According to him, Turkeys unmanned aerial vehicles "havent detected any heavy equipment in the area." When speaking about efforts to establish a constitutional committee in Syria, Erdogan pointed out that the issue was yet to be resolved.

The Turkish leader also touched upon Washingtons plans to withdraw troops from Syria. "The United States has said it will start pulling troops out of the country. It is a very important test. It is still unclear how this process will be carried out. I believe that in this connection, we should work together," TASS cited him as saying.

The Turkish leader added that the conclusion was quite obvious but "in reality, it hasnt become clear yet."

In addition, according to Erdogan, it is crucial to eliminate terrorist units in Syria. "There will be no peace unless they are eliminated from areas east of the Euphrates River and Manbij and Syrias legitimate authorities take control of these areas," he said.

Besides, Erdogan said that Turkey and Russia should coordinate their efforts to create a security zone.A 42-year-old man was arrested Thursday for allegedly raping his minor daughter for five years in Odisha's Ganjam district, police said.

The man, a father of three, was taken into custody following a complaint by his 14-year-old daughter lodged on Wednesday, they said.

The victim is the eldest among two sisters and a brother, Inspector In-Charge of Jarada police station Mrutunjaya Swain said.

The accused, who works as a labourer in Chennai, was booked under various sections of the IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said.

The victim, a class 8 student, was rescued from her home and kept in a child care centre, police said.

Apparently her mother was not aware of the situation.

The accused had been sexually abusing the girl for the last five years whenever he came home from his workplace, police said.

The matter came to the fore when the girl narrated about it to her friends in school and one of them informed the Childline on phone.

"We inquired the matter, informed the district child protection officer, the child welfare committee and the police," said Sudhir Sabat, Director of Childline here.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)CPI(M) politburo member and Left Front chairman Biman Bose Thursday said the idea of pre-poll understanding as mooted by Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee will not work.

He also rejected the claim of Banerjee, also West Bengal chief minister, that a common minimum programme will be set for the alliance of opposition parties.

Top opposition leaders including Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Banerjee Wednesday agreed in New Delhi to work together to prepare a common minimum programme.

"I want to make it clear that there will be no pre-poll understanding. There can be no common minimum programme in a pre-poll alliance," Bose told reporters.

Bose said the CPI(M) and the Left Front would try to maximise anti-BJP votes at the national level and for that purpose may get into understanding with some regional parties.

"As for West Bengal, our tactical line is that we have to maximise our votes against the BJP and the TMC in the Lok Sabha elections," said Bose.

Earlier, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has virtually ruled out his party being part of any "mahagathbandhan".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee mourned the death of CRPF jawans at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir in a terrorist attack on Thursday.

"Saddened that 13 CRPF jawans became martyrs today in Pulwama. We salute our brave jawans and extend our solidarity and condolences to their families. Our prayers for those injured. We wish them a speedy recovery", she said in a tweet.

Banerjee, who is also the Trinamool Congress chief, is away in New Delhi, where she went to attend the opposition parties meeting convened by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday, the last day that the present Lok Sabha met, and to discuss with them the strategy to oust the Modi government in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

According to latest reports, at least 18 CRPF personnel were killed as a explosives-laden vehicle rammed into the bus carrying the jawans in J&K on Srinagar-Jammu highway in Awantipora area of Pulwoma district.

Terror group JeM claimed responsibility for the incident, officials said.

Police have identified the terrorist as Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama. He joined the Jaish-Mohammed in 2018, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Lieutenant Governor should not differ routinely with the decision of Council of Ministers and the difference of opinion should be based on cogent and strong reasons, the Supreme Court said Thursday.

Giving a split verdict on the contentious issue of who should control administrative services in a case pertaining to long-running conflict between the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the AAP government in the national capital, the top court said that LG is empowered to form its opinion 'on any matter' which may be different from the decision taken by the ministers.

"Any matter does not mean each and 'every matter' or 'every trifling matter' but only those rare and exceptional matters where the difference is so fundamental to the governance of the Union Territory that it deserved to be escalated to the President," said a bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan.

The top court, however, said there may be contingencies where LG and his ministers may differ and in such circumstances, LG is supposed to refer the matter to the President for decision and act according to the decision given thereon him.

"It means that final say, in case of different between LG and Council of Ministers, is that of the President. Such a scheme of things clearly contemplates that the Council of Ministers is supposed to convey its decisions to the LG to enable the LG to form his view thereupon. The decision cannot be implemented without referring the same to the LG in the first instance," the bench said.

The apex court said that the LG is expected to honour the wisdom of the council of ministers and expected to clear the files expeditiously and is not supposed to sit over it unduly.

"He's under duty to bear in mind expediency and urgency of the subject matter of the decisions taken by the GNCTD, where ever situation so demands. That in fact is the facet of good governance. Likewise , the executive is also expected to give due deference to the unique nature of the role assigned to the LG in the Constitutional scheme," it said.

"By and large, it demands a mutual respect between the two organs. Both should realise that they are here to serve the people of National Capital Territory of Delhi. Mutual cooperation, thus, becomes essential for the effective working of the system," the bench said.

After the difference of opinion on the issue of control of services, the bench dictated the order and said the matter needs to be referred to a larger bench and views expressed by both the judges should be placed before the CJI for constitution of an appropriate bench.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Peej Gram Panchayat in Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district has refused to give a no objection certificate to set up a Solid Waste Management Plant (SWMP) in the area, Urban Development Minister Sarveen Chaudhary said Thursday.

The minister told the assembly that the land was identified by the state government in Peej village to set up the plant for the scientific disposal of municipal solid waste from Kullu and Bhuntar towns.

He was replying to a question raised by Kullu Congress MLA Sunder Singh Thakur.

The village panchayat, however, refused to give the NOC, Chaudhary said, adding that the matter was being examined to decide further course of action in accordance with Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and Forest Rights Act, 2006.

A status report will be submitted in the High Court as per its directions, the minister said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan condemned the terror attack in Pulwama on Thursday in which 39 CRPF personnel have lost their lives.

In a statement, Vijayan said, "We join in mourning with the families of those soldiers who lost their lives in the line of duty. The Union government must take necessary steps to ensure peace in Kashmir," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The siblings of eminent writer and former Deputy Speaker of Goa Assembly Vishnu Wagh, who died in South Africa last week, Thursday alleged that they were kept in the dark about his death.

Wagh's wife, in an audio message released on Wednesday evening, had announced that he died on February 8 during his tour of South Africa.

Wagh's brother Ramrao, a professor in Goa University, and his two sisters - Smita Somnath Naik and Jyotsna Praveen Chumbalkar - issued a joint press statement on Thursday saying they were kept in the dark about his death as well as his whereabouts.

"...It is with deep sadness that we wish to inform you that we have been kept in dark about the of his death and whereabouts ofVishnu Wagh," the statement says.

They said they did not have any information that he was being taken to South Africa when his health was deteriorating.

"Apart from grappling with the loss, we are also trying to gather facts about his death and would like to express our concerns about the manner in which the persons who accompanied him to South Africa have chosen to reveal this matter to public five days after the actual death, bypassing close family members and relatives," it says.

"We would appreciate if people wait for some more time for the truth about his death to emerge and refrain from calling us to inquire details about his last rites," the statement reads.

Wagh, 53, a former BJP MLA and Deputy Speaker died in South Africa where he was on a tour with his wife. He had been ailing since August 2016 after he suffered a heart stroke.

Wagh was a BJP MLA representing St Andre constituency in North Goa between 2012-17.

He wrote over 20 plays in Marathi, three musical plays, 18 Konkani plays, 16 one-act plays and six volumes of poetry.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan has proposed a border crossing point, different to what India suggested for the Kartarpur corridor, the Ministry of External Affairs said Thursday and expressed the hope that an agreement will be reached on this after teams from both sides meet to discuss the issue.

A meeting on the Kartarpur corridor will take place on March 14, MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. The meeting was to earlier take place on March 13.

Kumar said India has also proposed a technical level discussion of engineers, but Pakistan is yet to respond to it.

"They have suggested an alternative border crossing point. We had also proposed a technical level discussion at the level of engineers and this should not be held hostage to the main meeting that will take place on March 14," Kumar said in response to a question during a media brieing.

"We still await response from the Pakistani side on this. We thought it would be in interest of early establishment of requisite infrastructure and finalisation of the alignment of the corridor," he said.

Last month, India shared with Pakistan the coordinates of the crossing point of the proposed Kartarpur corridor which will link Baba Nanak village in Punjab to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Narowal in Pakistan.

Pakistan had said it shared a draft agreement on the Kartarpur Corridor with India and invited New Delhi to urgently send a delegation to Islamabad to negotiate and finalise the proposal.

Both sides are yet to finalise the modalities of travel of the Indian pilgrims to the Gurudwara.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had on November 26 last year laid the foundation stone for the Kartarpur corridor in Gurdaspur district.

Two days later, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone for the corridor at Narowal, 125 km from Lahore.

The decision to build the corridor -- from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to the International Border -- was taken by the Union Cabinet on November 22.

The corridor was a long-pending demand of the Sikh community. Pakistan has committed to open the corridor in November on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In a relief to the Congress-JDS government, the Karnataka Assembly Thursday passed the Finance bill amid the ongoing political turmoil that had kept the ruling coalition on the edge over its numbers.

It was passed without discussion amid uproarious scenes with BJP members staging protests over the attack on party MLA Pritam Gowda's house at Hassan and alleging that JD(S) workers were involved in theattack on the directions from the Chief Minister.

They also raised slogans "down down goonda government."



While presenting the budget, chief minister H D Kumaraswamy had also sought approval for vote on account towards expenditure up to July 31, 2019.

The passage has dispelled doubts raised about it after several disgruntled Congress MLAs skipped the legislature party meetings and the assembly session defying party whip.

There were also reports that the BJP may go all out to defeat the Finance bill, taking advantage of the discord within the Congress and the shaky coalition and absenteeism of their MLAs from the proceedings of the House.

Adding fuel to the speculation about BJP's plans was the party's success in disrupting Governor Vajubhai Vala's address to the joint sitting of the legislature and about 10 members of the ruling alliance being absent from the House.

The assembly passed by voice vote the Karnataka Appropriation (vote on Account) Bill-2019, supplementary estimates, along with motion of thanks to the Governor for his address.

This was amidst din as BJP members were in the Well of the House staging protest over attack on Gowda's house.

Facing allegations that it was trying to destabilise the coalition government by poaching ruling coalition MLAs, BJP had also sought to create an impression that the government might collapse before presenting the budget itself.

The political drama for the last eight weeks also saw both the Congress and BJP sequester their MLAs in hotels and resorts to keep the flock together, that had also triggered speculation about the numbers game.

However, the BJP went on the backfoot after the chief minister released an audio clip about a purported conversation of its state chief B S Yeddyurappa in his alleged attempt to lure a JDS MLA with bribe through his son.

Gripped by anxiety over its errant MLAs, the Congress had petitioned the Speaker Ramesh Kumar requesting him to disqualify four of its rebel law makers under the anti-defection law for violating whip.

The ruling coalition got a relief on Wednesday when Ramesh Jarkiholi, Umesh Jadhav, B Nagendra and Mahesh Kumathali, who had had kept the Congress on tenterhooks for several weeks, and were reported to be in touch with the BJP with an intention to switch sides, attended the assembly.

According to sources, the four decided to attend the proceedings to vote in favour of the finance bill, to save themselves from the disqualification move.

The Congress had petitioned Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar on Monday, seeking action against the four MLAs after warning them to mend their ways and fall in line.

The four lawmakers skipped the CLP meeting on January 18,which was meant to be a show of strength in the backdrop of BJP's alleged bid to topple the coalition government, and another CLP meet Friday last, despite a whip.

The MLAs were earlier given notices, seeking an explanation for their conduct.

Another Congress MLA J N Ganesh, who was reportedly on the BJP's radar for desertion, is absconding ever since he allegedly assaulted fellow lawmaker Anand Singh during a brawl at a resort recently.

The bills and motion of thanks to the Governor for his address were adopted amid the din as BJP protested the government on the issue of attack on MLA Pritam Gowda's residence in Hassan, allegedly by JD(S) workers.

As the House met for the day, BJP members entered the Well and started shouting slogans "down down goonda government", "down to the government that attacks MLA's house".

Alleging that JD(S) workers were involved in the attack on party member Pritam Gowda's house on the directions from the Chief Minister, he said "they have threatened Gowda's life...when about 300-400 people had assembled near his residence only handful of policemen were there."



Pointing out that BJP has submitted a memorandum to the Governor, Yeddyurappa said, "please give protection to Gowda. Anything may happen to him.

Chief Minister was behind it as he not able to digest a young leader's growth in Hassan. We demand a comprehensive inquiry."



Intervening, the Speaker directed the government to provide protection to Pritam Gowda.

"It is my duty to protect him I'm giving directions for providing protection to Gowda, nothing should happen to him. Protection should be given to MLA while out on work also, and also to his family.

I'm giving clear directions," he said.

Despite this, BJP protested from the well shouting slogans "we want justice, down down goonda government..down down down the government that istapping leader of opposition's phone."



As chaos continued, the speaker adjourned the House till late afternoon after the bills were passed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The budget session of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly that was marred by protests andan audio clip controversy, was adjourned sine die on Thursday, aday ahead of its scheduled conclusion.

The session that began on February 6, with the BJP disrupting Governor Vajubhai Vala's address to the joint sitting of the legislature, questioning the legitimacy of the government, and doubts about budget presentation, was mired in political slugfest without transacting business normally.

This is the first session in recent times, where question hour did not take place even for a single day.

All the bills, including the Finance bill, were passed amid din without any discussion.

The only issue that came up for discussion in the Assembly was allegation of "Rs 50 crore offer to book" the assembly speaker Ramesh Kumar in the audio clip involving BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa in a purported conversation to lure a JD (S) MLA in his alleged attempt to topple the Congress-JD(S) government.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has announced an SIT probe into the audio controversy.But, that too did not settle the issue, with BJPopposing the SIT probe and demanding a House committee or judicial probe the matter.

Even before the issue over the probe agency got settled, attack on BJP MLA Pritam Gowda's residence in Hassan,allegedly by JD(S) workers rocked the assembly on Wednesday evening, with the saffron party protesting from the Well ofthe House, terming the coalition administration as "goonda government."



The issue continued to rock the assembly on Thursday too, despite Speaker ordering the government to provide adequatesecurity for the MLA and his family.

Following this, after the passage of certain key bills including the Finance bill, the Speaker adjourned the House till 3 pm.

Again when the House met, BJP continued its protest, calling the government "anti-democratic" and "dictatorial."



Amid the protest, the Speaker allowed the introduction andpassage of The Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (Amendment) bill.

It makes provision for appointment of aprofessor with teaching experience of not less than 5 years in a medical collage affiliated to the University and recognized by Medical Council of India, as the Registrar.

After the bill's passage, the Speaker expressed displeasureabout the way the session went and said"I did not desire this..let this not happen again."



Pointing out that public money was at stake, he said "My heart pains..we think twice before spending money from our pocket..this should not happen."



As BJP member Renukacharya remarked that Speaker should hold government responsible for it, Kumar said every one was responsible and he was not speaking for or against any party.

He then adjourned the House sine die.

Gripped by anxiety over its errant MLAs, the Congressduring the session also petitioned the Speaker requesting him to disqualify four of its rebel lawmakers under the anti-defection law for violating the whip.

The MLAs, however, attended the session since Wednesday.

According to sources, the four decided to attend the proceedings to vote in favour of the finance bill, to save themselves from the disqualification move.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Turkish police have detained 52 Syrian nationals over their suspected links to the ISIS terror group.

The suspects were detained today in the town of Osmangazi, in northwestern Bursa province, Anadolu Agency reported.

The private DHA agency said police conducted simultaneous dawn raids at five separate locations to apprehend them.In April, Indonesians will pick their president, vice president and lawmakers. Political, religious and civil society leaders are worried about voters apathy. The archbishop of Semarang issued an appeal for national unity: "Our opinions and political choices may be different, but Indonesia is us".

Jakarta (AsiaNews)  As Indonesias general election approaches, Mgr Robertus Rubiyatmoko (pictured), archbishop of Semarang (Central Java), warns Catholics against not voting or casting a blank (white) ballot (Golongan Putih).

Such "practices are inadvisable, writes the prelate in a pastoral letter titled express your nationalism by becoming a smart and wise citizen to vote. Instead, Catholics in Semarang Archdiocese should exercise their political rights by going to cast their ballot.

For the first time in the country's history, 190 million eligible voters will elect the president, vice president, Members of Parliament (DPR) and regional representatives (DPD) on the same day, 17 April.

However, political leaders, top clergy and civil society movements are afraid that a large number of Indonesians will not go to the polls.

One possible reason is the fact that the election will be held on the countrys only long weekend of 2019, just two days before Holy Friday (19 April), which is a statutory holiday.

According to some analysts, there is also widespread disillusionment towards politics following two recent events that attracted the attention of public opinion.

One concerns the former governor of Jakarta, Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, an Ethnic Chinese, who was released from prison on 24 January after purging a two-year sentence for blasphemy.

Considered by progressives as a "fighter for democracy" and a role model for every public official, he shocked many of his supporters by divorcing his wife and immediately announcing that he was going to wed the woman who was his wifes former female bodyguard.

Another issue that has divided Indonesian society is the release on humanitarian grounds of radical Islamic leader Abu Bakar Baasyir, which was eventually cancelled because of mounting criticism.

The 80-year-old spiritual guide of Jemaah Islamiah is considered the mastermind behind the 2002 Bali attacks. Baasyir was sentenced in 2011 to 15 years for funding a training camp for extremists in the province of Aceh.

The leaders of the Catholic Church of Indonesia are deeply concerned about voters apathy. For this reason, Mgr Rubiyatmoko is appealing to Catholic voters and politicians.

The archbishop of Semarang wants Catholics to vote after looking at candidates, political programmes and their work, avoiding vote trading.

With respect to political leaders, he reminds them of their moral duty to apply ethical rules of conduct, and that their goal must be the countrys prosperity."

"The election campaign should be seen as a form of political education in which programmes, visions and missions are shown to the public. We urge you to promote social justice for all."

Mgr Rubiyatmoko ends his letter with an appeal to national unity. "Our opinions and political choices may be different, but Indonesia is us".City-based Jupiter Wagons acquired Madhya Pradesh-based CEBBCO through resolution process at a cost of Rs 100-crore, a top company official said Thursday.

Director of Jupiter Wagons, Vivek Lohia said the company had bought the majority stake in CEBBCO which had gone to the NCLT for financial losses.

"The company had been going through financial losses for some time for which it had gone to the NCLT. We have bought the stake from the banks through the resolution", Lohia told reporters here.

CEBBCO, a listed entity, is a supplier to OEMs like Volvo Eicher, Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and Mahindra.

Lohia said, Jupiter Group would be foraying into the road space through this acquisition.

The company has been toying with the idea of supplying brake systems to the Indian Railways for which it has entered into an agreement with Czech firm Dako.

Jupiter Wagons, which has a manufacturing facility at West Bengal, has a capacity to manufacture 3000 wagons per annum and has a turnover of Rs 550 crore.

A new plant would be set at Bandel at an expenditure of Rs 100 crore to be spend over two to three years, he said.

"Next fiscal, we are expecting a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore", Lohia said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Home Minister Rajnath Singh Thursday assured the people of the country that the terror attack on a CRPF bus in Jammu and Kashmir, carried out by Pakistan-sponsored Jaish-e-Mohammed, will be avenged.

In a statement



, he said the central government is determined to foil the designs of those who want to disrupt peace through such a terror attack "sponsored and sheltered by Pakistan".

"Jaish-e-Mohammed has carried out this terror attack. We assure the country that we will undertake whatever it takes to avenge this," he said.

Singh will be visiting Srinagar Friday to take stock of the situation in the wake of the attack on the convoy that killed at least 39 CRPF personnel.

He will also hold review meetings with senior security and police officials to make ground level assessment and review further operational actions.

Singh has cancelled all his political engagements in Bihar Friday.

He called up Governor Satya Pal Malik, who apprised him about the prevailing situation in the state. Singh also spoke to National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Director of Intelligence Bureau Rajiv Jain and Director General of CRPF R R Bhatnagar and gave them necessary instructions, a home ministry official said.

In a tweet, Singh said, "Today's dastardly attack on CRPF in Pulwama (J&K) is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured."



The home ministry is also closely monitoring the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, which is currently under the President's rule.

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi may meet on Friday to take stock of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

The CCS, the country's top decision making body on strategic affairs, comprises the Home Minister, the Defence Minister, the External Affairs Minister and the Finance Minister besides the Prime Minister.

At least 39 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama when the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in.

This is one of the worst terror strikes in the state since the Uri attack in 2016.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Jaish-a-Mohammed (JeM) claiming responsibility of Thursday's terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir has raised questions over the role of the Pakistan spy agency, ISI, in the gruesome strike, a former CIA analyst and South Asian expert here said.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in JK's three decades of militancy, a suicide bomber from Pakistan-based JeM terror group rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district, killing at least 39 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

The JeM has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place about 20 km from Srinagar.

"The self-proclaimed involvement of JeM in the attack raises serious questions about the role of the ISI in supporting the masterminds of this operation," Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst, told PTI.

The terrorist attack, which has direct footprints inside Pakistan, poses the first major challenges to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, said Riedel, who is now a scholar at the Brookings Institute think-tank.

"This will be a real challenge for Imran Khan, the first serious challenge of his administration," he said.

Former Pakistan Ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, said Pakistan "would have to act against the JeM".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least 18 CRPF personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in, one of the worst terror strike in the state since the Uri attack in 2016, officials said.

More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Awantipora area of the district.

Police said the terrorist driving the suicide vehicle was Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama who joined the JeM in 2018.

The casualties are likely to go up.

The terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place about 30 km from Srinagar, they said.

Over 20 people were injured in the terror attack, which reduced the bus to a mangled heap of iron. Body parts could be seen strewn around the area.

"It was a large convoy and about 2,500 personnel were travelling in multiple vehicles. Some shots were also fired at the convoy," CRPF DG R R Bhatnagar told PTI.

The convoy started from Jammu around 3.30 am and was supposed to reach Srinagar before sunset, officials said.

The number of personnel travelling back to the Valley was high as there was no movement on the highway for the last two to three days because of bad weather and other administrative reasons, they said.

Usually, about 1,000 personnel are part of a convoy.

A road opening party was deployed and the convoy had armoured counter-terror vehicles, officials said.

Forensic and bomb analysis teams are on the spot.

The bus that was the focus of the attack belongs to the 54th battalion of the force and had 44 personnel on board, officials said.

CRPF Inspector General (Operations) in the Kashmir Valley Zulfiqar Hasan described it as a "vehicle-bound attack" and said Jammu and Kashmir Police has taken up the investigation.

In the attack on the Uri military base in September 2016, JeM militants killed 18 Army jawans and injured dozens of others.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In the wake of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Thursday asked all private TV channels to be cautious about content which could encourage or incite violence or promote anti-national attitudes.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a Jaish suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district, killing at least 39 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

"In light of the recent terrorist attack, TV channels are advised to be particularly cautious with regard to any content which is likely to encourage or incite violence or contains anything against maintenance of law and order or which promotes anti-national attitudes; and/or contains anything affecting the integrity of the nation," an advisory issued by the ministry said.

It asked the channels to ensure that no such content is telecast which is violative of the Programme and Advertising Code as prescribed in the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act.

All private channels are requested to ensure strict compliance, the ministry said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jammu and Kashmir police had shared an intelligence input, uploaded on a private twitter account a couple of days back, with all security agencies in which Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed had threatened to carry out the suicide attack on security forces, officials said Thursday.

At least 39 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district that also left many critically wounded, officials said.

The input shared by the state police had attached the twitter handle that carried a 33 second video of troops in Somalia being attacked by militants in a similar fashion as was replicated Thursday on a bus carrying CRPF personnel at Pulwama in South Kashmir.

The twitter handle "313_get" is not open for public viewing. It carried a threat "InshaAllah...its will same in Kashmir...endian are flying in parts...InshaAllah (sic)".

The twitter handle is being operated using the virtual private network making it difficult for the security agencies to establish the location of its operator, they said.

The same was shared during the meeting held two days back and all security formations were alerted about a possible terror attack similar to that carried in the twitter handle.

Jammu and Kashmir police had also prepared a dummy video to explain how militants may possibly carry out such an attack, the officials said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik has directed immediate enhancement of surveillance and review of the security management of all important installations and establishments in the state, in the aftermath of a major terror attack on a CRPF convoy, killing at least 18 personnel in Pulwama on Thursday.

He has also said such terror attacks will not deter the resolve of our security forces and people.

The governor strongly condemned the attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Pulwama, in which at least 18 personnel were killed and many injured.

He has urged all the security forces' commanders to enhance surveillance on every front and directed the District and Divisional Civil and Police Administration to immediately review the security management of all important installations and establishments, an official spokesperson said.

Malik has conveyed his grief and sincere sympathy to the families of the brave soldiers, who lost their lives in the attack, and prayed for an early recovery of the injured, he added.

Expressing serious concern on the attack, the governor has observed that the forces responsible for insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir are desperate and frustrated and just want to prove their presence.

Visibly, it seems to be guided from across the border as terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed the responsibility, the governor said.

He added that such actions will not deter the resolve of our security forces and people, and we will finish these inimical forces to the last.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jammu and Kashmir BJP and Congress Thursday condemned the terror attack in Pulwama district which has claimed the lives of at least 39 CRPF personnel.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in the state's three decades of militancy, a Jaish suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district, killing at least 39 personnel and leaving many critically wounded, officials said.

BJP state president Ravinder Raina, said "Pakistan has been unnerved because of peaceful and successful holding of local bodies and panchayat elections by state administration and have caused this dastardly and inhuman act to spread fear among common man in Kashmir in view of impending elections in the state".

Talking to reporters, he said the blood of martyrs will never go waste and the might of Indian Army will crush militancy and their masters across borders.

He expressed his sympathies to the families of martyrs.

JKPCC also described the attack as "cowardly and inhuman" and conveyed deepest condolences to bereaved families of slain CRPF Personnel.

Raina further asked the people to maintain peace in the state and frustrate the designs of enemies of the nation by providing inputs to security forces to neutralize militants.

He said there is anger and strong desire to take revenge among people of the state on this inhuman act.

"Pakistan's frustration and despondency has become many fold since the state administration has started delivering as per wishes of people and ensuring all round development and justice by addressing long pending demands of people and regional aspirations", he said.

He asked the govt to to deal with militants and their supporters sternly.

In a statement J&K Pradesh Congress Committee blamed the Centre for failing to restore peace in the valley, saying the wrong policies adopted by it has vitiated the peace further in Kashmir and there was no end to bloodshed.

Meanwhile, Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) has called for shut down in Jammu on Friday in protest against the brutal killing of CRPF Jawans.

"We announced chakka jam tomorrow here to protest against the killings of CRPF personnel and to press for action in the incident of ani-India sloganeering in Jammu", President JCCI, Rakesh Gupta told reporters here.

The decision was taken by JCCI and Presidents of different affiliated associations including transport operators associations.

He appealed to all the people to observe peaceful bandh and prayed for peace to the departed souls of CRPF Jawans.

He also demanded the stern action against those responsible for shouting anti-India slogan in Jammu.

Hundreds of college students here boycotted classes and held protests for the third consecutive day on Thursday against "objectionable" slogans allegedly raised by some stranded Kashmir-bound passengers.

On Monday, a scuffle had broken out between a group of students and some of the stranded passengers outside the Gandhi Memorial Science College but timely intervention by police had brought the situation under control.

The clash had taken place when the students came out of the college to protest the alleged chanting of "pro-Pakistan" and "anti-India" slogans by some of the stranded passengers while protesting the alleged failure of the administration to help them in the hour of crisis.

Students of various collages like the Gandhi Memorial Science College, Maulana Azad Memorial Post Graduate College and others boycotted their classes and and held protests in Parade, Canal Road, Jewel Chowk, Tawi Bridge and Bikram Chowk areas on Thursday.

The sit-ins by students led to heavy traffic jams on major roads in the city.

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.)Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Thursday said she was outraged by the "barbarous attack" on the CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir and expressed hope that those responsible for it will be brought to justice and made to pay for this appalling act.

At least 37 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district that also left five wounded,



"I am shocked, outraged and deeply grieved by the barbarous attack on the CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir. Our brave CRPF personnel died serving the nation selflessly, at the hands of cowardly terrorists, and their sacrifice will not be forgotten," Gandhi said.

"My heart goes out to the loved ones of each and every victim. I share their grief and pain with all my heart. I sincerely hope that those responsible for this dastardly terror attack will be brought to justice and made to pay for this appalling act, that goes against every tenet of humanity," the former Congress president said.

Senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad also condemned the attack, saying that it was unfortunate that terrorism was again raising its ugly head in Jammu and Kashmir.

He urged the J&K Governor to take all possible steps to compensate the families of those killed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Countries from across the globe condemned the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district with nations such as the US, Russia and France asserting that they stand with India in combating the menace of terrorism.

At least 39 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district that also left many critically wounded.

The US condemned the terror attack and said it stands alongside India in defeating terrorism.

"The US Mission in India strongly condemns today's terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir. We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims," US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster tweeted.

Russia, while condemning the terror attack, stressed the need to combat such "inhuman acts" with decisive and collective response without any double standards.

"We denounce terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and reiterate the need to combat these inhuman acts with decisive and collective response without any double standards," a Russian Embassy statement said.

French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler said France most firmly condemns the heinous attack perpetrated in Jammu & Kashmir.

"France has always been and always will be by India's side in the fight against terrorism in all its forms," he said.

Germany strongly condemned the heinous terrorist attack, saying stands by its strategic partner India.

Australia, Turkey and Czech Republic also condemned the horrific terror attack.

India's neighbours Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives also expressed solidarity and vowed to combat the menace of terrorism jointly.

"I strongly condemn the deadly terrorist attack in Kashmir today killing at least 40 people. We send our thoughts and prayers to those affected. The Maldives will continue to work with India and the international community to combat terrorism in our region and the world at large," Maldivian President Ibrahim Solih said.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in a message through the country's High Commission, here, said her country remains steadfast in its commitment against terrorism of all forms and manifestations and maintains a zero tolerance policy against any kind of terrorist activities.

Bangladesh would continue to work and cooperate with international community including India to eradicate the menace of terrorism, she said.

"Deeply saddened by the of the horrific terrorist attack in Kashmir. Bhutan strongly condemns terrorist attack of any nature. Our prayers are with the grieved family and we are following the situation closely," Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering said.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena expressed sadness over the dastardly terror attack, saying the world must condemn such brutal terrorist attacks and take effective action to prevent such incidents in future.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Belarus expected the Armenian side to announce the date of the meeting with the State Secretary of Belarus Stanislav Zas, spokesperson for Belarusian Foreign Ministry Anatoly Glaz said.

"The CSTO has been working without the secretary general for a long time already. This situation does not benefit the organization and needs to be resolved as soon as possible," Glaz stressed. He recalled that the CSTO heads of state spoke in favor of the candidate from Belarus at the meetings in Astana and St. Petersburg.

The spokesman recalled that back in December of last year, on the instruction of the president of Kyrgyzstan  the CSTO chair at that time, the CSTO Secretariat prepared the necessary draft documents to appoint Stanislav Zas Secretary General, BelTA reported.

Glaz stressed that Belarus looks forward to constructive interaction with Yerevan. We hope we can find common ground. The Secretary General post of the international military and political organization is not a hotel room that you can book, even if you do not have the opportunity to use it again, he noted.

The minister added that the CSTO Member States would not want this technicality to affect the work of the organization and bilateral relations between its members.Director James Cameron, who has pioneered the art of underwater storytelling, says DC blockbuster "Aquaman" could not do justice to the real life of ocean.

The filmmaker, who is currently working on the sequels to his award-winning film "Avatar", said even though he finds the James Wan-directed superhero film "fun" he would never be able to make a movie which is detached from realism.

"I think its great fun. I think its a movie I could have never made. Truthfully. I could have never made that film because it requires this total dreamlike disconnect from any sense of physics or reality. It exists somewhere between a Greek mythic landscape and a fairy tale landscape.

"And people just kind of zoom around underwater because they propel themselves mentally? I guess? I don't know. But it's cool. You buy it on its own terms. But I've spent thousands of hours underwater. I'm very literal about my underwater. It needs to look like it's real. And while I can enjoy that film I don't resonate with it because it doesn't look real," Cameron told Yahoo.

He also criticised "Aquaman" for not properly dealing with the real issue of preserving the ocean.

"And by the way, (Aquaman) doesn't help us with our issues of actually understanding the ocean and exploring the ocean and preserving the ocean though they did throw in a couple things like whales and things like that to remind us we are using the ocean as a garbage dump, so I applaud the film for that.

"Yeah, I couldn't have made that movie. We're doing a lot of underwater in the Avatar sequels and it's going to have such a different feel," he said.

"Aquaman" starring Jason Momoa, Nicole Kidman and Amber Heard released in December and went on to make over USD 1 billion worldwide.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A special CBI court here has sentenced a serving Income Tax Commissioner to seven years' rigorous imprisonment in a 14-year-old disproportionate assets case.

CBI Special Judge Sujata Singh on Wednesday also awarded one year jail term to the officer Shwetabh Suman's 90-year-old mother Gulab Devi besides sentencing his brother-in-law Arun Kumar Singh and his close aide Rajendra Vikram Singh to four years in prison after convicting them under IPC.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 3.50 crore on the IT Commissioner in the DA case after convicting him under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI had registered an FIR against the official in 2005 for acquiring assets beyond his known sources of income in Dehradun, Ghaziabad, Bihar and Jharkhand.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Israel has told the UN Security Council that it opposes a planned visit by the top UN body to the Palestinian territories for a close-up look at the situation, Kuwait's ambassador said Wednesday.

Kuwait and other council members proposed the visit to the occupied territories during a meeting last week on Israel's decision to end the international observer force in the West Bank city of Hebron.

During a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, the council president briefed members on talks held with Israel and the Palestinians on the proposal for a visit.

"He said Israel categorically refused the council visit," Kuwait's Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi told reporters after the meeting.

"They don't want to receive a visit by the Security Council" even though they are prepared to welcome delegations from countries on the council, he added.

"We expressed our regret that this visit will not take place because it has been raised many times by the council."



The Israeli mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The visit would have come at a tumultuous time: Israel is headed for elections in April and the United States is reportedly putting the finishing touches to its much-awaited peace proposals.

The Security Council has adopted several resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process that call for a two-state solution and holds monthly meetings on the conflict.

Israel maintains that the UN body is biased in favor of the Palestinians. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Israel and the Palestinian territories in August 2017 but the Security Council has never traveled on a mission to that region.

In 1979, envoys from the top UN body went to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt as part of a special mission.

Over the past years, several proposals for a visit to Gaza and the occupied territories have been quashed by the United States, a veto-wielding member of the Security Council.

The council later Wednesday travels to Guinea-Bissau and Ivory Coast and is planning a trip to Mali in March. Last year, it made a high-profile visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh to meet with Rohingya refugees.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Delhi court on Thursday said it might call Indrani Mukerjea, wife of former media baron and the prime accused in the murder case of her daughter Sheena Bora, to appear before it in person in the first week of March for hearing on her plea to be a witness in the INX Media corruption case, in which former Union minister is an accused.

The observation of the court came after Indrani, who appeared before the court through video-conferencing from the Byculla jail in Mumbai, where she is lodged in the murder case, told Special CBI Judge Sunil Rana that she did not need a legal aid counsel as she had engaged a lawyer to represent her in the

The court has posted the matter for further hearing on February 28.

Earlier, Indrani had moved the court seeking to be an approver in the case.

She had told the court that she needed to be pardoned and as an accused, she had not engaged a lawyer to represent her before it in the case.

Taking note of the former INX Media director's application, the court had directed the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to appoint a legal aid counsel for her.

Besides Indrani and Chidambaram, the name of the former finance minister's son, Karti, has also cropped up in the case involving Rs 305 crore, which relates to a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval granted in 2007 for receipt of funds by INX Media.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered an FIR in the case on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in the FIPB clearance granted to the media group for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007, during Chidambaram's tenure as finance minister.

Thereafter, the (ED) had also lodged a money-laundering case against the company's founders -- Peter and Indrani -- and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The Mukerjeas are also facing trial in Mumbai for allegedly conspiring to kill Sheena Bora, Indrani's daughter from an earlier relationship, in April 2012.An Indian-origin student who hanged herself on the grounds of her school in London two years ago died as a consequence of a depressive illness, an inquest into her death concluded this week.

Elena Mondal was found unresponsive by her teachers in a wooded area at Hampstead's exclusive girls' school Henrietta Barnett in north London in June 2017.

The 14-year-old had been rushed to hospital after a self-harming incident on the school premises just weeks before her death, the inquest was told.

Andrew Walker, the coroner leading the proceedings to determine the facts behind the death, concluded on Wednesday that the schoolgirl died as a consequence of a "depressive illness".

"What needs to happen is that as a society we need to look at how we treat our young people and ask ourselves some questions, the answers to which may be difficult for us to hear," said Walker.

He made recommendations for improved record-keeping for the school and the health agencies involved with the teenager's care, the Guardian' reports.

The inquest had opened in March 2018 but was adjourned for almost a year to allow an expert psychiatrist to assess the care provided to Elena.

The inquest heard Elena was receiving counselling from the school's child and adolescent mental health service for an eating disorder and self-harming and had been assessed at the Royal Free hospital in Hampstead.

Psychiatrist Dr Cathy Wainhouse told the inquest that on the day Elena died she may have hoped she would be discovered before it was too late.

"She was a kind and good-hearted girl. We hope any further deaths can be avoided and lessons learned. You will always be in our soul until we meet in the next life," said Elena's father, Shyamal Mondal, at the hearing.

Her mother, Moushumi, said her daughter dreamed of becoming a doctor and excelled at music, chess and badminton.

School headteacher Del Cooke said: "As a school, the wellbeing and safeguarding of our students is our top priority and their happiness and welfare are paramount.

"We have extensive wellbeing initiatives and liaise closely with medical, counselling and other professionals to support our students. It is devastating that, despite those efforts, a much loved and cared for student has been lost.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The emergence of India as the world's largest democracy and perhaps the most vibrant one post the World War-II is indeed exceptional, a top Indian diplomat has said.

Part of India's success lies in the historical tradition of people's participation in governance. In that sense, democratic tradition was not completely a foreign one, Deputy Indian Ambassador to the US Santosh Jha told a Washington audience on Wednesday.

"India's emergence as the world's largest democracy, and perhaps the most vibrant one after the end of the second World War, is indeed exceptional," he said in his keynote address at a day-long seminar 'Delivering Democracy in India'.

The event, attended by over 150 prominent representatives from American media, academic institutions, US agencies and think tanks, was organised by the Embassy of India in collaboration with Indian Council for Cultural Relations and prestigious Hudson Institute think-tank.

"With the benefit of the hindsight of seven decades of Indian democracy, there is no doubt that democracy is perhaps the only way to natural way to govern India, given the diversity of its languages, religion, ethnicity, and culture," Jha said.

Economist Surjit Bhalla said that only a democratic form of government can satisfy the interests of all the different sections of the society in India.

"That is why democracy has succeeded in India and why it will continue to succeed, it's in the DNA.

"What I see happening in India today, and it started in 2014, and it concerns (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, is that we are having a major transformation. One example of the transformation is that Indians no longer give the excuse, and this is through Modi, no longer give the excuse that we are a democracy so we can't do it well. Now the refrain is if China can do it so can we," Bhalla said.

Richard Fontaine, acting CEO, Center for New American Security noted that both American government officials and Indian government officials often tout the logic of close US-India ties by invoking this phrase: the bonds between the world's oldest democracy and the world's largest democracy.

"We should acknowledge these differences but see where the two countries could pursue a more values-based agenda that helps democracies defend themselves against authoritarian meddling, help nurture democratic practice where its emerged, supports democrats in places that lack fundamental rights and liberties.

"In a world where our competitors want to divide the democracies... we shouldn't be helping do their job for them. Too much political division is dangerous. It's not just unattractive, it's not just undesirable, but in a world where it will be used and weaponised against us it is dangerous," Fontaine said.

Senior BJP leader from Bihar Sanjay Paswan told the audience that top leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Ram Manohar Lohia, Dr B R Ambedkar and Deen Dayal Upadhyay have contributed immensely towards the development of democracy in India. The best of Indian democracy is yet to come, he said.

"Any state government that has attempted deep reforms, with the exception in the power sector of Gujarat, that has tried deep power reforms, has been voted out of office the next election, every single time that I've seen, deep reforms," said Rick Rossow, senior adviser and Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Observing that India presents the most compelling example, certainly in the development world, of how to grapple with the problems of modernity in a democratic and open framework, Daniel Twining, president, International Republican Institute said that the dangers to India do not emanate from the democracies.

"The dangers to India, to the security of Indian people, emanate from either autocracies or mis-governed components in their neighbourhood," he said.

Development activist Dr R Balasubramaniam told the audience that this narrative of powerful citizen engagement, very quiet subtle silent way of doing it, is indicating to the rest of the country and to the rest of the world that democracy might be noisy in India, but it is actually evolving.

"We have a leadership today which understands political stability and the value of political stability, it understands the rules that need to be framed or the rules that need to be repealed. In a democracy, the authorising environment is framed by enlightened citizens," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India 'A' bundled out England Lions for 140 to take a 252-run first-innings lead and the upper hand in the second unofficial Test here Thursday.

Following on, the visitors ended the second day at 24 for no loss in their second innings, still behind by 228 runs.

Earlier, the Lions fought back strongly to stop India 'A' at 392 after the hosts had resumed at 282 for three.

Test discard Karun Nair didn't add to his overnight score of 14, nicking one to keeper Ollie Pope off Zak Chappell.

Wickets tumbled as the England bowlers stuck to their task. Only K S Bharat, a centurion in the last game, made a significant contribution, with a belligerent 46 before being the last man out.

Chappell was the best bowler for the Lions with 4 for 60 while spinner Danny Briggs recovered from a tough first day to finish with 3 for 71.

The England openers started positively, making 23 in the first five overs before Max Holden departed for 19, leg-before to Navdeep Saini.

Sam Hain, who had scored a fifty in the first 'Test' and Duckett couldn't forge a significant partnership with the latter edging one to Bharat off Varun Aaron, who worked up good pace.

The Indian bowlers came to the fore, striking at regular intervals to dismiss the Lions in 48.4 overs.

The talented Ollie Pope was the top-scorer with 25 as the rest of the line-up faltered against the varied bowling attack which saw medium-pacer Saini and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem pick up three wickets each.

Aaron, who has been out of the national set-up for a while now, bagged two wickets as did Kerala all-rounder Jalaj Saxena, with his off-spin.

England's openers then survived six overs.

Brief scores: India 'A' 392 all out in 144.4 overs (A R Easwaran 117, K L Rahul 81, Priyank Panchal 50, K S Bharat 50, Zak Chappell 4 for 60, Danny Briggs 3 for 71) vs England Lions 140 all out in 48.4 overs (Ollie Pope 25, Navdeep Sain 3 for 30, Shahbaz Nadeem 3 for 32) and 24 for no loss.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress in Assam on Thursday vowed to cancel any ordinance on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that the NDA government might bring ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, once it came to power.

Reaching the party headquarters here in a "victory procession" from the airport after arriving from New Delhi, state Congress chief Ripun Bora claimed that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government was "strategically defeated" due to the initiatives led by his party in the Rajya Sabha as regards the bill.

The contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is set to lapse on June 3, when the term of the present Lok Sabha ends, as it could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha, which adjourned sine die on Wednesday, the final day of the Budget Session.

Addressing a press conference, Bora said, "Though we had the numbers to defeat the bill in the Rajya Sabha, we did not allow them (Centre) to table it at all, even after it was listed for two consecutive days."



Bora, a Rajya Sabha member, said the Congress worked with other opposition parties and even got support from some smaller NDA constituents in opposing the bill, which, he claimed, was anti-constitutional.

"However, one danger is still there. The government may bring an ordinance in place of the bill before the Lok Sabha election. In such a case, we assure you that it will be cancelled after the polls as the Congress is going to form the next government at the Centre," Bora said.

Till the Congress was there in Assam, the interests of the state would always be protected and the Assamese community would always be safe, he added.

"(Prime Minister) Narendra Modi, (Assam Chief Minister) Sarbananda Sonowal, (state minister) Himanta Biswa Sarma and (BJP leader) Ram Madhav had very arrogantly said the bill would be brought, but they failed due to the strategies of the Congress," Bora said.

He thanked the people and the groups opposed to the bill such as the AASU, the KMSS, the NESO, RTI activist Akhil Gogoi and Sahitya Akademi awardee Hiren Gohain, for their sustained protests against the legislation in Assam and other north-eastern states.

Massive protests broke out across the region after Modi had announced in Silchar on January 4 that the bill would be passed as soon as possible in Parliament.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8, seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in the country, instead of the current 11 years, 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.

Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) founder and former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta had urged the Centre on Wednesday not to promulgate any ordinance, after the bill could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha.

The AGP had severed its ties with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state on January 7 over the bill, asserting that the legislation would make the Assam Accord meaningless.

According to the Assam Accord, all illegal immigrants who have come to Assam after 1971, irrespective of their religion, have to be deported.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The idea to bring Raj Thackeray-led MNS on board the grand alliance against the BJP-Shiv Sena combine has been received positively by his party, NCP leader Ajit Pawar said on Thursday.

Pawar said the issue would be discussed with the Congress as well before the nitty gritty of the alliance is worked out.

Sources in the NCP said the issue of taking along the MNS, perceived as being anti-North Indian, was being considered at the level of central leadership of the Congress.

Ajit Pawar and two other senior leaders of the party- Praful Patel and Jayant Patil- said that Parliamentary board of the NCP also pressed for its chief Sharad Pawar to throw hat in the election ring again from Madha Lok Sabha seat.

Party leader Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, who currently represents the seat, said he himself urged Pawar to contest from the seat.

The leaders, however, said it is the NCP who would take a final call in this regard.

"I had met (MNS chief) Raj Thackeray yesterday. I apprised party leaders about it today. We will now discuss the issue with the Congress. The general mood within our party is positive towards taking forward discussion with the MNS," Pawar told reporters.

The meeting between Pawar and the MNS chief, who have in the past engaged in verbal sparring, took place in Dadar in central Mumbai on Wednesday. It lasted for about one-and-a-half hours.

Patel said the final list of the candidates is likely to be announced in the next five to six days.

The Congress and the NCP are talking to alliance partners and would finalise things in two-three days, he added.

Patel exuded confidence that the grand alliance will be able to secure 35 seats in Maharashtra.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), in collaboration with the AIIMS Thursday launched "IndiCleft", a web-based tool which will help in online and offline data recording of patients suffering from cleft lip or cleft palate.

Cleft lip or cleft palate is a condition when the two sides of the lip, developing in an unborn baby, do not completely fuse together. It affects weight, speech and chewing habit of a child and leads to abnormal arrangement of teeth, poor jaw relations and facial aesthetic.

This constitute nearly one-third of all congenital malformations of the craniofacial region with an average worldwide incidence of 1 in 700. Its incidence among the Asian population is reported to be around 1.7 per 1,000 live births or higher.

The robust web-based recording system, which has been developed with the help of the National Informatics Centre (NIC), enhanced with more server space and improved capabilities at ICMR Headquarters, was launched by ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava.

Even though a national epidemiological data is not available in India, many studies from different parts of the country have reported a variation in the incidence of cleft anomaly.

Based on estimates, it is suggested that approximately 35,000 new-born cleft patients are added every year to the Indian population.

IndiCleft is a comprehensive aid for cleft patients covering important components broadly grouped under 10 headings -- demographic, socioeconomic, maternal history, surgical history, dental history, surgical and post-surgical evaluation, ENT evaluation, speech assessment, genetic evaluation and lastly, dental evaluation, Dr O P Kharbanda, the chief of Centre for Dental Education and Research (CDER) at the AIIMS said.

The 'IndiCleft' tool was formulated during the pilot phase of a study, initiated by CDER AIIMS conducted between 2012-2014.

During the study, data of 164 cases with cleft lip and palate anomaly were recorded from three high-volume cleft care centres in Delhi and NCR, involving two public-funded hospitals, the AIIMS and Safdarjung hospital, and a private hospital, Medanta-The Medicity, in Gurgaon.

"It revealed that patients suffering from this deformity had high need for treatment with an immediate need to devise strategies to improve delivery of quality care," Dr Kharbanda said.

Currently, the multi-centric phase of the study is underway in New Delhi, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Guwahati.

"In our study, we also evaluated a few risk factors including maternal smoking and alcohol consumption, intake of drugs during the first trimester of pregnancy and exposure to smoke during the same time by the use of chulha at home or due to passive smoking.

"We also took into account the history in drug intake and radiation exposure in the first trimester of pregnancy and it was concluded that all these risk factors may be related to increased incidence of cleft in the progeny," Sr Kharbanda said.

The government's Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram has identified cleft lip and palate as one of the visible deformities which are recorded under the programme.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iranian television have caused a stir by deftly censoring the famous Red Devil on Man United's emblem during a broadcast of Tuesday's Champions League match over the country's law forbidding the depiction of mythical creatures.

The Red Devil has been synonymous with United since the early 1970s, originally being the symbol of local rugby league side Salford Red Devils, on the initiative of former manager Sir Matt Busby. Before that, the red and yellow stripes of the city's coat of arms was featured on the match instead, RT reported.

For its broadcast of the English Premier League side's UEFA Champions League last 16 match against PSG on Tuesday, an Iranian TV channel were forced to revert to a former version of the badge with the old design, as mythical creatures are banned in the Islamic Republic.The oral proceedings in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case will commence from February 18 before the International Court of Justice at The Hague, the Ministry of External Affairs said Thursday.

Jadhav, 48, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017. India moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in May the same year against the verdict.

A 10-member bench of the ICJ on May 18, 2017, had restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav till adjudication of the case.

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar declined to go into the details of it.

"The oral proceedings on the International Court of Justice are commencing on February 18. India will present its case before the court. Since the matter is subjudice it is not appropriate for me to state our position in public.Whatever we have to do, we will do at the court," he said in response to a question.

The International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, will hold public hearings in the Jadhav case from Monday 18 to Thursday 21 February, 2019, according to the ICJ website.

Pakistan claims that its security forces arrested Jadhav from restive Balochistan province on March 3, 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran.

However, India maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy. Jadhav's sentencing had evoked a sharp reaction in India.

India had approached the ICJ for "egregious" violation of the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963, by Pakistan in Jadhav's case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICAI) would provide training to about one lakh students on the soon-to-be launched Accountants course, a senior official said Thursday.

The government is coming out with (GST) Accountants course and plans to train about 1 lakh Accountants over the next one to one-and-half year.

The course fees would be fully funded by the Government of India, ICAI president Amit Anand Apte told reporters here.

The objective of the programme is to ensure that compliance as far is concerned increases especially in the SMEs sector, he said adding the intention was to serve the sector because there was a gap between availability of trained resources and requirements.

"GST Accountants programme will be launched very soon.. about 1 lakh accountants will be trained specifically on GST compliances.

We are working out the modalities with theMinistry of Corporate Affairs and the course would be tentatively launched by February end," Apte said.



The biggest challenge before the government is that most of the SMEs are not able to comply with the provisions of the (GST) law because they are not equipped enough with right kind of trained accountants who can adhere to the various GST provisions, he said.

The concept is to train 1 lakh accountants across the country who will be able to serve the SMEs sector.

Once these accountants are trained they will be able to serve all the SMEs and the compliance from the field would also improve substantially, Apte said adding this proposal was discussed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and then taken up with NITI Aayog which has approved it.

The course content is almost ready and it would be a 50-hours classroom training.

Besides, there would be a 10-hour practical training wherein the government would impart live training in the form of computerised filing of the returns in various GST offices across the country, he said.

Those from commerce stream could undergo this course and an entrance exam would be conducted by ICAI shortly and those candidates who qualify the exams would be eligible to undertake this GST Accountants course, he said.

The course would be conducted through ICAI's 98 chapters and about 300 extension centres across the country, he added.The Indian Air Force will showcase its all-weather day-dusk-night operational capability at a major exercise in Rajasthan's Pokhran firing range close to the Indo-Pakistan border on Saturday, a Defence official said Thursday.

Numerous aircraft, including fighters, helicopters and force enablers will be participating in the exercise in the presence of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Defence Spokesperson Col Sombit Ghosh said.

The 'Vayu Shakti 2019' will showcase capabilities of various fighter aircraft such as Mirage-2000, Su-30 MKI, MiG 27, Juguar, Tejas, Hawk, MiG-21 Bison, Mi-17 V5, Mi-35 and ALH MKIV besides other platforms, he said in a release.

Prior to the exercise, a Full Dress Rehearsal (FDR) was conducted on Thursday in firing Range in the presence of Air Marshal Anil Khosla, Vice Chief of the Air Staff.

During the rehearsal, the IAF engaged numerous simulated enemy targets with various types of air-to-ground weaponry including guided and unguided bombs, rockets and guns.

Aerial targets were also intercepted using air-to-air as well as surface-to-air missiles.

The entire demonstration lasted two hours.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Auto components maker Happy Forgings Limited (HFL) will set up a manufacturing facility in Punjab with a proposed investment of Rs 550 crore in Ludhiana.

The company announced the decision at a meeting between HFL Chairman Paritosh Kumar Garg and Chief Minister Amarinder Singh here, according to an official release.

The company has already acquired about 20 acre of land and has initiated the process of seeking statutory clearance from 'Invest Punjab' for the project.

It is expected to generate direct employment for at least 1,000 persons and indirect job opportunities for minimum 5,000 persons in the state.

During the meeting, Garg told the CM that the first phase of the facility would be up and running by the end of the next financial year.

The project is expected to strengthen the ecosystem and value chain in the state and is likely to spur more such investments in the automobile and auto-component sector, an official spokesperson said after the meeting.

Following the installation of the new facility, HFL -- which recorded a turnover of Rs 560 crore in the previous financial year and is targeting a 45 per cent growth for the current financial year -- will become the second-largest forging company in India with a capacity of about 10,000 MT per month, said the release.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi High Court Thursday increased the security amount from Rs 2 crore to Rs 6 crore to be deposited by controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi, accused in a cheating and corruption case, to travel to the UAE and Pakistan.

Justice Sunil Gaur increased the amount after noting that a co-accused in the case, businessman Pradeep Koneru, was allowed to travel abroad on furnishing of a security deposit of Rs 6 crore.

The court passed the order on the plea of CBI which requested that the security deposited be increased to Rs 6 crore, contending that the trial court ought to have mandated higher amount as was done by the high court for the co-accused in the case.

Qureshi, on February 1, was allowed by a trial court to travel to the UAE from February 15-23 for attending the Gulf Food Festival and to Pakistan from March 6-20 to attend his niece's wedding.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Quoting Mahathma Gandhi's dictum of practice is better than preaching, a Madras High Court judge on Thursday ordered installation of CCTV camera in his chamber while recommending it for offices of all higher government officials to tackle at work places.

Justice S M Subramaniam directed the court registry to install the CCTV camera in his chamber within two weeks, while disposing of petitions from IPS officer S Murugan and a woman police superintendent who had made charges against the senior police official.

In his order, the judge referred to Gandhiji's quote "An Ounce of Practice is worth more than tons of preaching."



He gave the go ahead for a probe by an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) and the CB-CID which had registered an FIR on the woman officer's complaint.

Justice Subramaniam recommended to the state Chief Secretary installation of CCTV cameras inside the official chambers and office rooms of all the higher officials in order to avoid all such allegations or complaints against higher officials and to safeguard the interest of women employees from

The judge tasked the state Chief Secretary to initiate action against the IPS officer under the service rules which it said was necessary under the facts and circumstances of the case.

The IPS official, among other things, had challenged the validity of the ICC forwarding the SP's complaint to police for registration of an FIR.

On this point, the Judge in his order said the registration of an FIR cannot be found fault with.

"When a woman Police Officer in the rank of Superintendent of Police is making such a statement, this court is of the considered opinion that such a statement requires a serious consideration warranting a deeper enquiry and appropriate action against the person against whom the allegation is made," the Judge said.

The matter had been kept in abeyance for the past about six months unfortunately by raising the dispute regarding constitution of the ICC, the Judge noted.

The woman SP in her original complaint dated Aug 4, 2018 made her intention to initiate criminal action against Murugan clear.

The "employer," in this case, the Director of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (a police wing) ought to have forwarded her complaint for registering an FIR, but contrarily the ICC forwarded it, the Judge noted.

However, the procedure adopted to forward the plaint would not vitiate the FIR which only requires information.

The Judge upheld the constitution of ICC and also directed it to proceed with the enquiry by following the procedures laid down in The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.

Opportunity should be given to all the parties concerned and a report should be submitted within a period of two weeks from the date of order.

The Judge also directed the CBCID to proceed in the matter as per law and commence investigation.

On the probe being put in abeyance for six months by raising a dispute on the setting up of the ICC, the court said higher officials must have held an enquiry by this time and it is mandatory.

A reading of the complaint disclosed allegations affecting the modesty of a woman and registration of a criminal case is "just and necessary.The Delhi High Court on Thursday enhanced the security amount from Rs 2 crore to Rs 6 crore to be deposited by meat exporter Moin Qureshi, an accused in a cheating and corruption case, to travel to the UAE and Pakistan, following a plea by the CBI.

Justice Sunil Gaur increased the amount after noting that a co-accused in the case, businessman Pradeep Koneru, was allowed to travel abroad on furnishing of a security deposit of Rs 6 crore.

The court passed the order on the plea of CBI which requested that the security deposited be increased from Rs 2 crore to Rs 6 crore and also contended the trial court ought to have mandated higher amount as was done by the high court for a co-accused in the case.

Qureshi, on February 1, was allowed by a trial court to travel to the UAE from February 15-23 for attending the Gulf Food Festival and from March 6-20 to Pakistan to attend his niece's wedding.

The high court said it deems it appropriate to put Qureshi on a par with co-accused Koneru and modified the trial court's February 1 order to the extent of enhancing the security amount from Rs 2 crore to Rs 6 crore.

The case was first listed on Wednesday before Justice Chandra Shekhar who had sent it to Justice Najmi Waziri as he was hearing a similar matter related to the co-accused.

During the day, the matter was listed before Justice Waziri who said he cannot hear it and referred it to the chief justice for marking it to some other bench.

In post-lunch session, the matter came up for hearing before Justice Gaur who heard arguments of the counsel for the CBI and Qureshi and later passed the order.

The CBI counsel said the role of Qureshi and Koneru in the cheating case were similar and the same condition should be imposed on them.

Qureshi's counsel said there was no ground for the CBI to seek enhancement of the security amount and he has also approached the trial court for reducing the deposit from Rs 2 crore to Rs 50 lakh.

On February 1, the trial court had directed Qureshi to furnish an additional security of Rs 2 crore in the form of bank guarantee and warned that in case of violation of any of the conditions imposed, the amount would be forfeited.

He was also asked to surrender his passport within 24 hours of his arrival in the country.

The ED and the CBI had opposed before the lower court Qureshi's plea to travel abroad on the apprehension that he may not return to face the trial.

The CBI had urged the trial court that stringent security conditions be put on him as was done in the case of the co-accused by the high court.

Qureshi had sought permission of the trial court to travel to the UAE from February 9-24 to meet buyers and attend the Gulf Food Festival for purposes of promoting and growing his business. He also urged the court to allow him to travel to Lahore and Karachi in March to attend a relative's wedding and to permit him to retain his passport between the trips to obtain visa for Pakistan.

The court had in 2017 granted him bail in a case in which the ED had alleged that Qureshi was involved in hawala transactions through Delhi-based hawala operators Parvez Ali of Turkman Gate and M/s South Delhi Money Changer (DAMINI) in Greater Kailash-1.

The ED has challenged the bail order in the high court which is pending.

The CBI had lodged a case against him after the ED and Income Tax department's probe into money laundering allegations against Qureshi, in which ongoing investigations have allegedly revealed involvement of senior public servants.

The probe agency had earlier alleged that money has been sent abroad by the accused from one of the witnesses in the investigation through hawala channels in exchange for help provided to him in a CBI case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla refused to call off the agitation for a government quota Thursday, saying the bill passed in the Rajasthan Assembly to meet their demand could face legal challenges.

"We have studied the bill," Bainsla said, referring to the legislation that allows a five per cent quota in government jobs and educational institutes to the Gujjars and four other communities agitating for it.

He said the legislation may be quashed in court following a writ petition.

"What is the provision to deal with litigation? Therefore, we are continuing the agitation," Bainsla told reporters.

He said the people of his community want "immunity" for the bill and assurance from the government that it will be responsible if the bill is challenged in court.

Bainsla asked the government to clarify what it will do if the bill, passed Wednesday, is challenged in the court.

Earlier in the day, IAS Neeraj K Pawan handed over a copy of the bill and the resolution passed by the Assembly and government-issued notification to Bainsla at Malarna Dungar in Sawai Madhopur, where he is sitting along with his supporters since last Friday.

The Gujjar protests in the state continued for the seventh straight day on Thursday.

The Delhi-Mumbai rail line and several highways and roads are blocked due to the agitation. The protestors blocked a highway near Masuda in Ajmer on Thursday morning but it was later cleared, DG (Law and order) M L Lathar said.

Several trains have been cancelled or diverted due to the agitation.

Gujjar protesters are sitting on Mumbai-Delhi railway track near Malarna Dungar and Sawai Madhopur-Jaipur rail track at Chauth Ka Barwara in Sawai Madhopur district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A delegation of farmers Thursday met Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in Valsad and sought the inclusion of their demands, including the resolution of land acquisition related issues of Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project, in his party's manifesto.

The Gandhi scion assured the farmers that his party will look into their request.

The farmers, under the banner of Gujarat Khedut Samaj, met Gandhi after he addressed a rally here and gave a memorandum of 24 demands to the Congress chief.

Farmers have been protesting against the acquisition of land for the Bullet train and other government projects in the state.

They are seeking to resolve the issues of land acquisition and environment for the Bullet train project, Vadodara-Mumbai expressway, dedicated freight corridor and industrial corridor projects.

"Gandhi asked the delegation to brief the party's manifesto committee about their demands. He assured them that the party will try to include them in its manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections," Khedut Samaj president Jayesh Patel said.

Upon their request, Gandhi also agreed to address farmers in Bardoli in the coming days, Patel said.

As part of their demands, farmers also sought a review of industrial corridors, granting of land ownership rights for forest land to tribals under the Forest Rights Act, priority to agriculture sector for water allocation, among others.

Delegations of tribals and Asha workers also met Gandhi to draw his attention towards their demands.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The government has shelved plans for strategic sale of SAIL's Alloy Steels Plant in Durgapur, West Bengal.

Steel Authority of India (SAIL) had invited an expression of interest from global and domestic companies for its proposed strategic disinvestment of its Alloy Steels Plant.

This was after the government's clearance for outright sale of state-owned SAIL's three special steel units -- Salem Steel Plant, Alloy Steels Plant and Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant -- in 2017.

"...the process of strategic disinvestment of 100 per cent stake in Alloy Steels Plant (ASP) at Durgapur by Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) ... has been annulled," the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) said in a notice.

As part of the strategic disinvestment, Alloy Steels Plant was planned to be transferred to the strategic investor on a going-concern basis by way of slump sale through business transfer agreement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he did not discuss the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty during a phone conversation on Tuesday with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, TASS reports.

"The issue of the INF Treaty was not mentioned during the conversation with Mike Pompeo," Lavrov told reporters on Wednesday. "When our colleagues are ripe, we will be ready to hold a professional, specific and non-politicized dialogue. Mike Pompeo did not touch on this issue yesterday, this means that the Americans are not ripe now."The Central government has spent Rs 2,374 crore on its publicity in electronic media and Rs 670 crore on outdoor publicity in the last five years, according to an RTI reply by the Bureau of Outreach and Communication under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Giving a break up of expenditure on electronic media, including social media platforms, television and radio, it said Rs 470.39 crore was spent in 2014-15, Rs 541.99 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 613.78 crore during 2016-17.

The sum was Rs 474.76 crore for 2017-18,and Rs 273.54 crore from April 2018 to December 2018.

It added up to Rs 2,374.46 crore being spent on electronic media between April 2014 and December 2018, the Bureau said in reply to a Right to Information query by bureaucrat Sanjiv Chaturvedi.

The expenditure was done on All India Radio, DD National, internet, production, radio, SMS, theatre, TV and on miscellaneous heads among others, the RTI reply said.

The expenditure was made on different types of advertisements in various categories such as employment notices, tenders, other notices and advertisements of various schemes through the Bureau on behalf of various client ministries/departments/public sector undertakings, it said.

A sum of nearly Rs 670 crore was spent on outdoor publicity during 2014 and November 26, 2018, the Bureau said without specifying details of what constituted outdoor publicity.

Of this, Rs 81.27 crore was spent in 2014-15, Rs 118.51 crore during 2015-16, Rs 186.37 crore in 2016-17 and Rs 208.54 crore during 2017-18, the RTI reply said.

A total of Rs 75.08 crore has been spent on outdoor publicity during April 2018 and November 26, 2018, it said.

Chaturvedi sought details of amount spent on all the advertisements related to publicity of central government from June 1, 2014, including the amount spent in print, electronic and social media.

The Bureau provided details of the amount spent on electronic media and outdoor publicity. However, it gave a CD containing the amount paid to newspapers since 2014 without mentioning the exact total amount, ether year-wise or of the past five years.

In case of outdoor publicity, the Bureau of Outreach and Communication also gave details of expenditure since 2009-10.

It said about Rs 19.85 crore was spent during 2009-10, Rs 31.06 crore during 2010-11 and Rs 45.47 crore in 2011-12.

As much as Rs 51.42 crore was spent on outdoor publicity in 2012-13 and nearly Rs 74.35 crore during 2013-14, the RTI reply said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The government has raised Rs 10,000 crore by additional offering of Bharat-22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) on Thursday.

The additional 'on-tap' offering of Bharat-22 ETF was opened for a single day with a base issue size of Rs 3,500 crore and an option to retain over-subscription.

The issue was over-subscribed 10 times and received bids for Rs 4,00,000 crore till 7pm. Bids will pour in till 8pm, the Finance Ministry said.

"The Bharat-22 ETF issue received overwhelming response from all categories of investors including retail investors. The Government has decided to retain approximately Rs 10,000 crore as its divestment proceeds," the ministry said in a statement.

The proceeds from the ETF sale would help the government move towards meeting the Rs 80,000 crore disinvestment target set for the current fiscal.

With the successful Bharat-22 ETF offering, the government has mopped up approximately Rs 46,000 crore by way of disinvestment.

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.

This would be the second ETF offering by the government in the current fiscal which ends in March. In November last year, the government had raised Rs 17,300 crore through a follow-on offer of another exchange traded fund -- CPSE ETF, which comprises shares of 11 public sector enterprises. This was the biggest-ever fund raising from an ETF domestically.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Gujarat University authorities have asked the around 280 foreign students enrolled under its Study Abroad Programme (SAP) not to approach the media or police without permission.

The co-ordinator of SAP, Neerja Gupta, told PTI Thursday that the directive, in the form of a circular issued in October last year, is not a "ban" on interaction with media or on approaching the police.

The circular, issued by Gupta, says a "strict warning is given to all foreign students...that engagement with any outer agency like media or police without prior permission of Gujarat University shall invite immediate expulsion for violating the code of conduct."



The directive was meant for foreign students residing in three hostels under the SAP.

Gupta said the circular should not be looked upon as a ban. "This is a general directive issued every academic year. We are not stopping students from approaching the media or police. We are just telling them to make the authorities aware first," she said.

Students enrolled under the SAP belong to Asian and African countries including Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and South Africa.

Gupta rubbished a media report that these students were allocated hostels as per their food habits. It is wrong to say that some Afghan students were shifted to a hostel in a predominantly Muslim area on account of their food habits.

The only criterion for hostel allocation was the course, not food habits, she said.

"For girls, we have one hostel which accommodates all the girls, be it of under-graduate course, PG or of Ph.D. For boys, we have two hostels. For Post Graduate and Ph.D students, there is a hostel near the university campus. For the UG students, we have rented a building in Lal Darwaja area," said Gupta.

"Food habits is not at all a criterion. Since Lal Darwaja is the main bus terminus, UG students can get better bus connectivity to reach their colleges spread across the city from there," she added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Five people, including a two-year-old child, were killed and another one was injured Thursday when their car rammed into a stationary truck in the Bachrawan area here, police said.

The accident took place under the Kundanganj police station area when the car was on its way to Hardoi from Allahabad, Superintendent of Police Sunil Singh said.

The deceased have been identified as Vibhuti Sharma, 40, his wife Kanchan Sharma, 36, Jasu, 2, Madhuri Sharma, 68, and driver Alok Singh, 27, he said.

Kavya, 5, has been admitted to a hospital and her condition is stated to be serious, Singh said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least three people were stabbed in a mass brawl between Lazio and Sevilla fans in Rome, with one suffering serious injuries, Italian media reported.

Two Spanish fans and an American were hurt in the fight, which broke out ahead of Thursday's UEFA Europa League match, La Repubblica daily said.

"Everything was quiet, when suddenly we heard shouting and the sound of broken glass. We rushed to the window and saw guys with hoods armed with clubs and batons that were attacking other guys," one local bar owner told the daily.

Some forty people were involved in the clashes in Monti, near the Colosseum in the historic centre, which was broken up by police in riot gear, it said.

The Gazzetta dello Sport daily put the number of people being treated in hospital for stab wounds after the attack at four, including one British man reportedly in critical condition.

It said knives had been used in the attack, adding that one of the Spanish fans was also critical, while the other Spaniard and the American were said to be less seriously wounded.

Another daily, Corriere della Sera, said one of the injured fans dragged himself bleeding along the street to call for help from passersby.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who returned here leaving his Vidarbha tour halfway through, rushed to the residence of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray Thursday evening.

He was accompanied by BJP leader and state revenue minister Chandrakant Patil, party sources said.

Senior Sena leader and state industries minister Subhash Desai was also present as Fadnavis met Thackeray at 'Matoshri', the Thackeray family's residence in suburban Bandra.

Fadnavis, who was on Vidarbha tour, cancelled some of his programmes scheduled for Thursday evening and rushed back to Mumbai to meet Thackeray after the Sena chief indicated that he would like to meet, sources said.

The meeting was in progress late Thursday night.

The Sena has been regularly hitting out at its ally BJP on various issues over the last few years.

While the BJP has indicated that it would like to form alliance with it for the coming Lok Sabha elections, the Sena has been giving mixed signals.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The scene of devastation and destruction caused on Thursday by the suicide car bomb attack that killed at least 39 security personnel sent chills down the spine of unsuspecting locals who witnessed the blood bath in district's Awantipora area, about 20 km from here.

The explosive used in the attack was so strong that the blast was heard from 10-12 km away, including some parts of Srinagar adjoining the district, locals said.

Body parts of the terrorist, identified as Adil Ahmad, and the personnel killed in the attack were strewn on the Jammu-Srinagar Highway, where the incident happened.

Some of the bodies were so badly blown up that officials feel it may take some time to identity them.

This was the first suicide car bomb strike in since the 2001 attack on the Legislative Assembly that left 41 persons, including three suicide attackers, dead.

More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when the suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a bus carrying 39-44 jawans, officials said.

There was nothing at the scene of the incident to suggest which type of vehicle was used to carry out the attack except the mangled heap of iron of the bus that was the target.

As soon as the explosion took place, people started running for safety. The shopkeepers at Lethpora market, which is less than 300 metres from the scene of the attack, downed their shutters and fled.

The scene of the incident is not very far from the Commando Training Centre at Lethpora, which was stormed by terrorists on December 31, 2017, killing five personnel.

The Jammu-Srinagar Highway has been witness to several terror attacks on the security forces.

bore the brunt of an attack at Pampore, less than seven kilometres from Lethpora, in June 2016, losing eight jawans while 22 others sustained injuries.

Terrorists had attacked a CRPF convoy in Pampore area in February that year as well, before taking refuge at a government building. The operation against the holed up terrorists lasted more than two days and resulted in death of nine persons, including three Armymen and three ultras.An expert committee has recommended fixing the need-based national minimum wage at Rs 375 per day or Rs 9,750 per month as of July 2018, irrespective of sectors, skills, occupations and rural-urban locations for a family comprising 3.6 consumption unit, an official statement said on Thursday.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment had constituted an expert committee on January 17, 2017, under the Chairmanship Anoop Satpathy, Fellow, V V Giri National Labour Institute (VVGNLI), to review and recommend a methodology for fixation of National Minimum Wage (NMW).

The expert committee has submitted its report on "Determining the Methodology for Fixation of the National Minimum Wage" to the government through the Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment on Thursday, said the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

"...the report has recommended to fix the need-based national minimum wage for India at Rs 375 per day or Rs 9,750 per month as of July 2018, irrespective of sectors, skills, occupations and rural-urban locations for a family comprising 3.6 consumption unit. It has also recommended introducing an additional house rent allowance (city compensatory allowance), averaging up to Rs 55 per day, ie., Rs 1,430 per month for urban workers over and above the NMW," the ministry said in a statement.

Apart from proposing the level of a single national minimum wage at an all-India level, the ministry said, the report has also estimated and recommended different national minimum wages for different geographical regions of the country to suit the local realities and as per socio-economic and labour market contexts.

For the purpose of estimating national minimum wages at regional levels it has grouped the states into five regions based on a composite index and has recommended region-specific national minimum wages.

Listing Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal in group I the committee has recommended a minimum wage of Rs 342 per day or Rs 8,892 per month for these states.

For Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttarakhand Rs 380 per day or Rs 9,880 per month.

For Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu Rs 414 per day or Rs 10,764 per month.

In region IV Delhi, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Punjab Rs 447 per day or Rs 11,622 per month.

For Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Mizoram and Tripura Rs 386 per day or Rs 10, 036 per month.

The report has undertaken a rigorous and meticulous analysis and has generated a large amount of evidence relating to changes in the demographic structure, consumption pattern and nutritional intakes, the composition of food baskets and the relative importance of non-food consumption items to address the realities in the Indian context by using official data made available by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), the ministry said.

The report has now been placed on the ministry's website, for facilitating the process of consultation and dialogue among social partners and stakeholders and seeking necessary approval of methodology from tripartite bodies, it added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Taking the Rafale row to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday claimed that even a former French president agrees that the 'chowkidar' (watchman), a term he often uses for Modi, is a thief.

Gandhi also alleged that Modi conducted "parallel negotiations" with Dassault Aviation, the company which makes Rafale, on the multi-billion dollar fighter jet deal.

Addressing a rally at Dharampur in Gujarat's Valsad district, Gandhi pooh-poohed the NDA government's Rs 6,000 a year income support scheme for farmers, saying a Congress government would offer a better scheme for the poor.

The rally was mostly attended by members of local tribal communities.

The Congress chief repeated his refrain "Chwokidar Chor Hai" (the watchman is a thief) to attack Modi.

As he said "Chowkidar" and paused, the audience chanted "Chor Hai". He then asked people to say it in Gujarati, ("Chor Chhe"), making them chant the slogan with him.

"The defence ministry and the Air Force said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducted parallel negotiations with Dassault Aviation on Rafale deal," Gandhi said.

"The slogan 'Chowkidar Chor Hai' is also famous in France, and even a former French president says 'Chowkidar Chor Hai'," he said.

Gandhi was apparently referring to foremer France president Francois Hollande's reported claim that the French government had no role in choosing industrialist Anil Ambani's company as an offset partner.

Gandhi also accused Modi of being a "middleman" of Anil Ambani in the Rafale deal.

"There is a demand from all over the country that farmers' loans should be waived. But Narendra Modi and (Arun) Jaitley have rejected that demand," he said.

"You do not want to waive farmers' loans but on the other hand you waive Rs 3.5 lakh crore loans of 15 big industrialists," Gandhi alleged.

He ridiculed the income support scheme for farmers announced in the interim Union budget, under which farmers with small land holding will get Rs 6,000 per year.

"In the last two-three months we have been thinking of giving guaranteed income directly to the poor people of this country. This will be a historic step," Gandhi said.

"The way Narendra Modi deposits Rs 30,000 crore directly in the bank account of Anil Ambani, the same way Congress party will deposit the money in the bank accounts of the poor, directly," Gandhi said.

"Clapping went on for five minutes in Parliament (when the finance minister announced an income support scheme for farmers). I was there. I learnt that the BJP has given Rs 3 per day to poor farmers and a total of Rs 17 per family per day.

"After that announcement, BJP MPs continued to clap for five minutes in the House," he said.

"You give Rs 30,000 crore to him (Anil Ambani) and you just have only Rs 17 for the farmers. You are insulting them," the Congress chief said.

"Our income guarantee scheme will be much more than Rs 3 or Rs 17 (per day). The poor people of the country will get the money directly transferred into their accounts. You (people) will be clapping and not those MPs," Gandhi said.

He also took a swipe at the Bharat Mala road connectivity scheme of the Modi government.

"Bharat Mala is 'Bharat Mara' (India killed) scheme. It is killing Bharat as the government is acquiring lands of farmers and tribals," he said.

The Congress chief has been relentlessly targeting the government over the Rafale jet deal.

The government and Anil Ambani have been vehemently denying the allegations of any wrongdoing in the deal. A CAG report says the deal negotiated by the NDA government was cheaper than the earlier one initiated when the Congress-led UPA was in power.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The EU took a major step Thursday towards tightening its scrutiny of foreign takeovers in strategic sectors like communications and artificial intelligence amid concern about investment by China.

Under a proposal adopted by the European Parliament, EU countries would supply information on foreign investment to other members if public order or security are concerned.

"We must defend Europe's strategic interests," European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said as he welcomed the vote passing in the assembly in Strasbourg, France.

"And for that we need scrutiny over purchases by foreign companies that target Europe's strategic assets," Juncker said, while insisting Europe will remain open to investment.

The parliament said it now expects European Union countries on March 5 to endorse the rules it adopted by 500 votes for, 49 against and 56 abstentions.

They would take effect 18 months later.

They aim to protect sectors like energy, transport, communications, data, space and finance as well as technologies such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence and robotics.

European Parliament negotiatiors added sectors such as water, health, defence, media, biotechnology and food security.

The European Commission, the 28-nation EU's executive arm, has pushed for screening such sectors for more than a year amid growing alarm over China's investments.

EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said earlier this week the draft is "non-discriminatory" but acknowledged there "is no secret" about concerns over China.

In December, Commission Vice President Andrus Ansip echoed US warnings about the threat posed by telecoms giant Huawei which Chinese law requires to cooperate with Beijing's intelligence services.

Huawei is seen as an attractive investor in EU countries as they prepare to roll out fifth-generation networks that will bring near-instantaneous connectivity, vast data capacity and futuristic technologies.

Huawei strenuously denies its equipment could be used for espionage.

"Some foreign powers plan their policy of economic conquest abroad," French MEP Franck Proust warned after he steered the legislation through parliament.

"Europe has just armed itself to be able to respond to this kind of strategy and not become a supermarket for great powers," said Proust, a member of the centre-right European People's Party, the largest group in the assembly.

The rules call for sharing foreign direct investment information among EU member states, which can issue comments on FDI targeting other member states.

The Commission can ask for information and send its opinion to the country concerned, which nonetheless makes the final decision.

The new framework will build on and complement various ones in 14 EU countries: Austria, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Britain.

Juncker launched the campaign for investment screening during his annual state of the union speech to the European Parliament in September 2017.

The plan fulfils a request by French President Emmanuel Macron, backed by Germany and Italy, that Brussels draw up a strategy to counter a wave of takeovers by Chinese companies in Europe.

German concerns were sparked by acquisitions at the time in the tech sector, most notably Chinese household goods maker Midea's takeover of industrial robotics firm Kuka last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev has viewed conditions created at a newly-built military unit of the Defense Ministry in Beylagan district, Trend reports.

Minister of Defense Zakir Hasanov and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Najmaddin Sadikov reported to President, Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev.

The head of state was informed that the construction of the military unit, which occupies an area of 13 hectares, started in 2017. The first phase of the construction has already been completed. The work is now ongoing under the second stage. The military unit has administrative, residential and technical buildings, a dormitory, a medical point and a canteen.

President Ilham Aliyev viewed conditions created at the canteen and dined together with the personnel of the military unit.Dalit scholar Anand Teltumbde on Thursday appeared before the Pune police, which questioned him for over six hours in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.

While granting interim protection from arrest till February 22, the Bombay High Court had directed Teltumbde to appear before the investigating officer on February 14 and 18.

"Teltumbde appeared before us, where he was questioned for over six hours. We will question him again on February 19," said Shivaji Pawar, Assistant Commissioner of Police, who is the investigating officer in the case.

Pawar, however, refused to elaborate the details about the questioning.

Teltumbde is an accused in the case, which was filed following violent clashes at Koregaon Bhima village near Pune on January 1, 2018. He was booked on several charges, including sections under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Teltumbde was arrested from the Mumbai airport on February 2. However, his arrest was deemed illegal by a sessions court and he was released on the same day.

Teltumbde was booked following the Elgar Parishad event held on December 31, 2017 at Shaniwarwada in Pune.

According to the Pune Police, Maoists had supported the Elgar Parishad conclave and the inflammatory speeches there led to violent clashes at the Koregaon Bhima war memorial the next day.

Police have named several activists in the FIR. Some of them, including Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj, P Varavara Rao and Gautam Navlakha, were initially put under house arrest on the directions of the Supreme Court.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Egypt parliament has overwhelmingly approved constitutional changes to remove term limits for President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, allowing him to stay on power possibly until 2034.

The changes are part of a package of amendments that will be further examined before final approval in the chamber and a national referendum.

On Thursday, 485 lawmakers in the 596-seat body backed the amendments. Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Al said they would now be discussed by the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee for 60 days before being put to a referendum.

The national referendum will likely take place before early May, the start of the Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A suspected drug peddler was arrested in Jammu and Kashmir's Ganderbal district, police said Thursday.

"Police arrested a drug peddler Wednesday following action against those involved in drug peddling in Ganderbal," a police official said.

The arrested person has been identified as Suhail Ahmed Tantray, he said, adding that 15 bottles of Codeine Phosphate, an opioid analgesic acting by blocking pain, were seized form his possession.

A case under relevant sections of the law has been registered against Tantray in Ganderbal police station and further investigation is underway, the official said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Forty-three people, most of them from Benin, are missing after a boat accident in the Niger River, a local official said Thursday.

The accident happened early Wednesday in Sambera, southwestern Niger, near the border with Benin, Sambera Mayor Oumarou Hassane told AFP.

"Sixty-two people were saved and 43 others are missing, judging from the number of shoes that have been recovered," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The department has floated a Cabinet note on proposed foreign fund infusion plans by India's largest operator Ltd, which is planning up to Rs 25,000 crore rights issue, according to a source.

A department official privy to the development said that the proposal is likely to be taken up by the Cabinet soon.

The official noted that a Cabinet note has already been circulated on the FDI proposal linked to the proposed rights issue of the company.

An email sent to remained unanswered.



Last month, the board of directors of Ltd had approved Rs 25,000 crore fund-raising plan by way of a rights issue to existing eligible equity shareholders.

The promoter shareholders -- Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group -- have informed the board that they intend to contribute up to Rs 11,000 crore and up to Rs 7,250 crore, respectively, as part of such rights issue.

The promoter shareholders have also said that in case the rights issue is under-subscribed, each of the promoter shareholders reserves the right to take up part or whole of the unsubscribed portion, subject to stipulated law.

The Vodafone Idea board has authorised the Capital Raising Committee to decide the nuances of the rights issue, including the instrument, issue price, rights entitlement ratio, record date, timing of the issue and other matters.



The proposed rights issue will arm Vodafone Idea Ltd with firepower to take on market competition intensified by Reliance Jio. Also, Vodafone Idea has recently approached the seeking a two-year moratorium on its annual spectrum payment of about Rs 10,000 crore, citing high debt levels and stress on the balance sheet.

British telecom major Vodafone holds 45.1 per cent stake in the combined entity, while Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Aditya Birla Group controls 26 per cent and Idea shareholders own 28.9 per cent.

The mega-merger was announced a few months after the entry of the deep-pocketed Reliance Jio, whose aggressive pricing and freebies impacted the financials of the entire industry, which has even seen bankruptcies and asset sell-offs.West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Thursday that she has not spoken to the Left parties about an alliance in Bengal, amid speculations that the CPI(M) and the Congress were heading for a tactical tie-up in the state ahead of the polls.

Banerjee, who has been in Delhi for the past two days, has held a series of meetings with opposition leaders, strategising ways to create an united front to fight the BJP at the national level.

"I do not know whether the Left will come with us or not. We didn't talk," she told reporters here when asked if she would tie up with her arch-rival in the state to thwart the BJP.

She said she was used to fighting an united Congress and Left in Bengal.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has virtually ruled out his party being part of any "mahagathbandhan".

Even at the AAP rally on Wednesday, the Left leaders had vacated the stage upon Banerjee's arrival indicating that they were not keen on any strategic alliance in Bengal with the TMC, which has been its traditional rival in the state.

In an apparent reference to the Left, Banerjee said she respected the decisions of those political parties which have not gone for pre-poll alliances.

"There are political compulsions in states. At the national level we must go for pre- poll alliances so that after elections we can claim to form the government... However, the parties which cannot take a decisions on pre-poll alliances, its okay, I respect that they have political compulsions," she said.

In April 2018, at the CPI(M)'s Party Congress, the party had stated that its "aim would be to maximise the pooling of anti-BJP, anti-TMC votes" during the upcoming elections.

Banerjee, who made a courtesy visit to Rashtrapati Bhavan earlier, also said it was wrong to ask her about being the prime ministerial face of the alliance, adding that all the leaders of opposition parties were qualified to lead the country.

Reacting to a query on the Bengal government denying BJP leaders to hold rallies in the state, Banerjee said they were "liars".

"They are lying about us not allowing them to carry on rallies. He (Amit Shah) had swine flu, discharged himself from hospital and still had a rally. They are liars," she said.

Speaking on the BJP's chances in Bengal, the Trinamool Congress chief said the saffron party now has two seats and after the polls it will go down to "zero".

"BJP won't get even one seat in Bengal...they will get zero. Let both (Modi and Shah) contest elections in Bengal, they will lose," she said.

Banerjee said she will visit Delhi against at the end of this month for another round of parleys with opposition leaders.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A special CBI court here has sentenced a serving Income Tax Commissioner to seven years' rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 3.50 crore on him in a 14-year-old disproportionate assets case.

CBI Special Judge Sujata Singh on Wednesday also awarded one year jail term to the officer Shwetabh Suman's 90-year-old mother Gulab Devi besides sentencing his brother-in-law Arun Kumar Singh and his close aide Rajendra Vikram Singh to four years in prison after convicting them under IPC.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 3.50 crore on the IT Commissioner in the DA case after convicting him under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI had registered an FIR against the official in 2005 for acquiring assets beyond his known sources of income in Dehradun, Ghaziabad, Bihar and Jharkhand during the period from April, 1997 to March, 2004.

"Investigation established that the accused abused his official position as a public servant to acquire immovable and movable assets from his ill-gotten money amounting to Rs 3.13 crore in his name and in the name of the co-accused persons, CBI spokesperson Nitin Wakankar said in a statement.

Suman, a 1988-batch IRS officer, was also arrested by the CBI in a separate case in August last year from Guwahati for allegedly seeking a bribe of Rs 50 lakh for giving relief to a businessman in a shell company matter.

The bribe amount was recovered from a middle-man and searches were carried out on the premises linked to Suman in Guwahati, Jorhat, Shillong, Noida and Delhi, the agency had claimed.

The agency had also arrested Pratap Das, Income Tax Officer (Audit), Guwahati, Pranjol Sarmah, who transported the cash, and Ramesh Goenka, an advocate and Income Tax consultant.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)UP Cabinet Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar Thursday said he is giving up the charge of the backward class welfare department, expressing disappointment that his recommendations on appointment of state backward castes panel members have been "ignored".

The minister, whose Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) is an ally of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, said he would, however, continue to be in charge of the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department.

SBSP general secretary and Om Prakash Rajbhar's son Arvind Rajbhar told PTI that a letter in this regard has been handed over to the office of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

"In the evening, Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma met Om Prakash Rajbharji in an attempt to placate his anger, but he did not relent. He handed over the same letter to Dinesh Sharma as well," Arvind Rajbhar said.

The SBSP had earlier in the day reiterated that it would part ways with the saffron party if the state government does not implement the social justice panel's recommendation to classify various OBC and Dalit sub-castes into three broad categories and provide quota within quota to them.

The minister said, "A number of people from backwards castes had applied for various posts in the UP State Commission for Backward Classes. A list was prepared and names of 28 people were proposed by us (ministry)."



"After the file reached the chief minister's office, we came to know that names of 27 people are missing. Chairman, vice-chairman were arbitrarily made. Now what is the relevance of this minister?" he told PTI here.

"When a minister cannot have a say in selection of a member and all the work is to be done by the chief minister, then what is the point of keeping the department with me," Om Prakash Rajbhar said.

He also said that the social justice panel's recommendations are yet to be implemented.

The committee, constituted in May last year, had in its recommendations to the state government, favoured classification of various OBC and Dalit sub-castes into three broad categories, backward, very backward and most backward, and provide quota within quota to them.

Backward classes account for about 44 per cent of the electorate in the state and play a crucial role in making or marring political prospects of any party. The panel's recommendation to is likely to spice up the political scene in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

The minister also alleged discrepancies in distribution of scholarship to children hailing from backward castes.

"When you talk about 'sabka saath sabka vikas', there should be a parity. When you indulge in 'manmaani' (arbitrary conduct), then what is the point of taking us along (in the alliance)? Is our purpose only to fetch votes you?," the SBSP leader posed.

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the BJP had bagged 312 out of 403 seats, while SBSP had won four seats. Another ally of the coalition, the Apna Dal (Sonelal), had won nine seats.

On February 10, the SBSP had warned that it will part ways with the BJP if the recommendations of the Social Justice Committee are not implemented by February 24.

"If the BJP does not agree to the demands raised by us, we will definitely part ways with them. If it does not implement the recommendations of the Social Justice Committee by February 24, then our path would be separate, and subsequently, we will contest in all 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state," another SBSP general secretary Arun Rajbhar told PTI.

He also said, "We can even go with the anti-BJP alliance if the need rises. A number of talks have been held with them. This is the last warning. After February 24, there will be no agreement with the BJP.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Opposition BJP created an uproar in the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly on Thursday on the issue of alleged non-issuance of 'no dues certificates' to farmers, which is necessary for availing fresh loans.

BJP MLAs staged a walkout from the House after their demand for the discussion on the issue was not admitted by the Chair.

Raking up the issue after the Question Hour, BJP MLA Shivratan Sharma said primary cooperative societies throughout the state were not issuing no dues certificate to farmers against their loan clearances.

"In the absence of no dues certificate, farmers were unable to apply for fresh loans which they require for the ongoing Rabi crops," he said.

The state government has been claiming that it has waived all short-term agriculture loans of farmers.

"But it has been two months since the government was formed, but farmers have not yet been issued no dues certificates," he said.

Supporting him on the issue, BJP MLA Ajay Chandrakar questioned why the farmers were not being issued no dues certificates and said the situation is a result of wrong policies of the state government.

BJP members further demanded from the Chair to allow discussion by allowing their Adjournment Motion on the issue. However, Amarjeet Bhagat, who was in the Chair, refused to entertain the matter.

Dissatisfied with the ruling, BJP legislators staged a walkout.

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, soon after taking oath on December 17 last year, had announced to write off short-term agriculture loans to the tune of over Rs 6,100 crore of over 16.65 lakh farmers drawn from cooperative banks and Chhattisgarh Gramin Banks in the state.

While tabling the budget for fiscal 2019-20 on February 8, Baghel, who also holds finance portfolio, had announced to write of short-term agriculture loans of approximately Rs 4,000 crore distributed by the public sector commercial banks along with those distributed by rural and co-operative banks.

According to the government, the total waiver of nearly Rs 10,000 crore will benefit 20 lakh farmers in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The domestic and foreign tourist arrivals in Kerala has witnessed a healthy increase, coupled with a record revenue earning of over Rs 36,000 crore in 2018, indicating that tourism sector has rebounded quickly after the devastating August floods.

Kerala netted a record revenue of Rs 36,528.01 crore from the tourism sector last year, clocking an increase of Rs 2,874.33 crore.

Over 16.7 million tourists visited the state in 2018 as against 15.76 million the previous year, recording an increase of 5.93 per cent, a government press release said.

Of the total footfalls, 1.09 million were foreign tourists, who visited the state that has been rated as one of world's must-see destinations by international media and bestowed with coveted honours by premier tourism fairs across the globe.

The share of revenue from foreign visitors touched Rs 8,764.46 crore, during the period that also saw a spurt in arrival of domestic tourists as well.

Domestic tourism sector also gained during the period with visitors exceeding 15.6 million, showing an increase of 6.35 per cent.

Significantly, in the first quarter of the year upto March 31, tourist arrival in the state recorded an impressive 12.3 per cent growth in the case of foreign visitors and 20 per cent in the case of domestic tourists.

The Nipah outbreak in some parts of the state in May and the crippling floods in August led to a fall in arrivals.

This trend, however, was quickly reversed thanks to the efforts of the state government and Tourism Department, putting back the sector firmly on the growth trajectory.

"It is significant that the number of tourists who visited Kerala almost touched half the state's total population.

This impressive growth has been achieved against adverse factors such as the century's severest deluge," said Tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran.

The UK accounted for the largest number of foreign visitors of over 200,000, followed by the US, France, Germany and Saudi Arabia.

The number of visitors from other European countries like Sweden and Italy also increased during the period.

"It was through hard work and determination of the Tourism department, tourism trade and the coordinated efforts of other departments that the state had been able to achieve this impressive growth," Tourism Secretary, Rani George said.

The campaign mounted through the media, including social media platforms, also played a vital role in this success story, she noted.

Tourism Director P Bala Kiran said the tourist arrivals in the state last year had been both "inspiring and impressive".

"We are sure the state will be able to achieve better results this year on the strength of attractive products and new projects conceived and implemented by the government.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The European Union has condemned the terrorist attack in Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province that led to numerous casualties.

There can be no justification for such an outrageous act of terror. The European Union expresses its condolences to the families of the victims and to the people of Iran; we wish a speedy recovery to those injured," the EU press service's statement reads.

Forty-one people, including military personnel, were killed in a suicide attack in the southeast of Iran, targeting an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) bus. The Sunni militant group, Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), has said it was behind the bombing.Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party Thursday said it was unfortunate that there was no clarity in the Supreme Court's split verdict on who controls services in the National Capital Territory and that Delhiites will continue to "suffer".

While Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal terming the judgment to be against "constitution and democracy" said the AAP dispensation will seek legal remedies, party spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj asserted that there has been no decision on services even four years after the formation of the AAP government.

Bhardwaj alleged the Centre appoints such officers who create hurdles in the works of the AAP government.

Addressing a press conference after the SC verdict, Kejriwal said the apex court's ruling on division of powers is "unfortunate" and "injustice to people" of Delhi.

"The judgment is against the constitution and democracy. We will seek legal remedies," he said.

In a jolt to the AAP dispensation, The Supreme Court Thursday delivered a split verdict on the contentious issue of control of services in the National Capital Territory in the tussle between the Delhi government and the Centre and referred the matter to a larger bench.

A two-judge bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, however, agreed on their views on disputes pertaining to the Anti-Corruption Branch, setting up of a commission of inquiry, control over electricity boards, land revenue matters and appointment of pubic prosecutors.

The apex court also upheld the Centre's notification that its employees cannot be probed in corruption cases by ACB of Delhi government.

Claiming the court order states the elected government has no power to transfer officers, Kejriwal sought to know how the AAP dispensation will work and said the chief minister of Delhi does not have power to appoint even a peon.

"We have been suffering for the last four years. We cannot set up mohalla clinics... What sort of democracy is it?," he posed.

It (court order) says a party (AAP) with 67 seats cannot transfer officers and a party (BJP) with three seats can do it, Kejriwal, who is also the AAP national convener, alleged.

"How will the government function if officers do not obey ministers? The solution to the problem lies with the people of Delhi. They should give all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi to the AAP. We will force the government at the Centre to given full statehood to Delhi," he said.

The division of powers of the National Capital Territory between the Delhi government and the Centre has been a bone of contention between the AAP government and the BJP-ruled Centre.

AAP spokesperson Bhardwaj said, "Since the AAP government was formed, the Centre has been creating hurdles in its functioning. We hoped that there would be a clear order, but even after four years, but there is no clear decision yet. It is very unfortunate."



"It is not only unfortunate for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, but for all the citizens of Delhi. People of Delhi will continue to suffer," he said.

Referring to the Supreme Court's judgment in July last year that made clear the Lt Governor's advice is not binding on the Delhi government, Bhardwaj said the five-judge Constitution Bench had clearly said that except land, public order and police, all issues will come under the Delhi government.

"The two judges (Justices Sikri and Bhushan), who delivered today's judgment, were also part of the five-judge Constitution Bench. I feel today's order is against the one delivered by the five-judge Constitution bench," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Spelling out its strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the AAP said it will strongly rake up the issue of full statehood for Delhi among the voters and seek electoral support for its candidates and the "grand alliance" of opposition parties.

AAP Delhi convener Gopal Rai said winning all seven Lok Sabha seats by the Aam Aadmi Party will become a turning point in providing full statehood status to the national capital.

The party has raised this demand on earlier occasions too, but this time it will come out with a "foolproof" pre-election strategy to up the ante, according to the AAP leader.

The party intensifying the demand comes after the Supreme Court delivered a split verdict on the contentious issue of control of services in the city between the Delhi government and the Centre and referred the matter to a larger bench.

He said that despite winning 67 seats out of 70 seats, the AAP dispensation cannot do anything, but a party (BJP) which won just three seats, "can do everything".

"We have been fighting under legal framework to press for our issues for the last four years, but we have not got much yet.

"We will now go among Delhiites in the Lok Sabha polls and make them understand as to how the status of full statehood will be given to Delhi if the AAP wins seven seats and the grand-alliance forms government at the Centre," Rai told PTI.

He claimed that more than three lakh posts are currently vacant in the Delhi government, but as services does not come under the AAP dispensation, it cannot recruit people.

"There are mohalla clinics where doctors are to be appointed. Teachers are to be appointed in schools. Officers do not obey government's orders as we do not have services.

"In the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, we will request Delhitees to vote in favour of AAP candidates and grand alliance so that Delhi can get its rights," Rai said.

The Aam Aadmi Party has appointed in-charges for six out of total seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. The in-charges are being considered probable candidates in the general election.

The ruling party will launch "Your MLA and councilor at your doorstep" campaign from Friday in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The following were the six contentious issues before the Supreme Court which gave its verdict Thursday on division of powers between the Delhi government and the Centre represented by Lt Governor.

The three areas in which the Delhi government will have powers:



1. Appointment of special public prosecutors or law officers.

This power was already given to Delhi government by the High Court in its 2016 order. Before that order, both the governments used to make the appointments, the standing counsel for the AAP government Rahul Mehra said, but added that each time Delhi government had to assert its right.

2. Fixing land revenue rate.

Earlier this power was with LG. In 2015, the then LG Najeeb Jung had stayed Delhi government's notification on revised circle rates of agricultural land. The Delhi High Court in its 2016 verdict on the power tussle issue between both the governments, had handed this power to the Centre which was challenged by the Delhi government in the Supreme Court.

3. Power to appoint or deal with electricity commission or board.

Earlier, the then LG Najeeb Jung in September 2016 had rejected Delhi government appointee Krishna Saini as chairperson of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission on the basis that it was done without his approval.

Besides, appointment of Delhi government nominated directors on the boards of three power discoms were termed illegal by the High Court in 2016 for not having LG's approval.

Powers given to the Centre:



1. Delhi Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) cannot probe central government employees.

Earlier, Delhi government claimed control over ACB but Lt Governor exercised authority over it. Mehra said that till 2014 this power was with the Delhi government until the NDA government brought a notification in 2014 and took away this right. He said the Delhi government challenged this notification in the high court but it was decided in favour of the Centre.

2. Centre has the power to appoint Enquiry Commission.

This power lay with the Centre even before the verdict.

The undecided issue which has been referred by the apex court to larger bench:



1. Control over service matters involving transfers and posting of officers.

In SC verdict Thursday the contentious issue of control over service matters involving transfer and posting of officers of Delhi government has been referred to a larger bench by the two judges.

The division bench differed on the issue of control of services in the national capital. Justice AK Sikri said transfer and posting of secretaries and Heads of Departments can be done by LG while in case of officer of Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service (DANICS) and Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service (DANIPS), the files need to be sent from the council of ministers to the LG.

Justice Ashok Bhushan, however, differed with the opinion expressed by Justice Sikri and said that under the law, Delhi government has no power to exercise control over services.

Earlier, this issue was with the Centre. It was challenged by the Delhi government in the Supreme Court.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Delhi court Thursday granted bail to one of the main promoters of Sterling Biotech Ltd (SBL) Hemant Hathi in a Rs 8,100-crore bank fraud case.

Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora granted bail to Hathi, a chartered accountant, on a surety of Rs 1 lakh and a personal bond of like amount.

Hathi is one of the accused in the case along with SBL promoters - Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara, Chetankumar Jayantilal Sandesara, Dipti Chetan Sandesara, Hiteshkumar Narendrabhai Patel, Rajbhushan Dixit and middleman Gagan Dhawan.

Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing for Hathi, argued that he has never been arrested during the course of investigation and the complaint has been filed without arrest.

"He has cooperated throughout. He is a chartered accountant by profession and is ready to furnish reliable sureties to the satisfaction of the court," the counsel submitted.

The case relates to 249 companies incorporated in the country by promoters of Sterling Biotech, out of which 200 firms were found to be of 'benami' entities used to siphon off loan funds obtained from various banks.

The agency had said from the investigation conducted so far, the total amount involved in the money laundering, which "was nothing but proceeds of crime" in the matter, has been quantified as approximately Rs 8,100 crore.

The charge sheet, filed under the various provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, accused the company of taking loans from a consortium of banks led by Andhra Bank, which had turned into non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans.

It said the accused manipulated figures in the balance sheets of their flagship companies and induced banks to sanction higher loans.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Investments, defence and security including counter-terrorism and renewable energy are the key issues likely to come up for discussions during Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman's visit to India next week, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

Salman will arrive in India on February 19. Besides holding talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he will also meet President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu during his two-day visit.

"The issues that could come up for discussions are investments, defence and security, including counter-terrorism, and renewable energy," MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in response to a reporter's question here.

Saudi Arabia is India's fourth largest trading partner and the bilateral trade is worth USD 28 billion.

The country supplies 20 per cent of India's crude oil and the Indian diaspora in Saudi Arabia is 20 million-strong.

Recently, Saudi ARAMCO, in partnership with ADNOC of the UAE, entered into a USD-44 billion joint venture for the Ratnagiri refinery and a petro-chemical project.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also facilitates the Hajj pilgrimage of over 1,75,000 Indians every year.

"These factors make this visit very important, The objective is of course to consolidate the strategic partnership we have with the country," Kumar said.

The visit by 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 had agreed to further elevate their existing strategic partnership.

In the recent years, there has been a significant progress in the bilateral cooperation in the key areas of mutual interest, including energy security, trade and investment, infrastructure, defence and security.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla said Thursday a decision on ending the protests over a government quota for his community may be taken in the evening after studying the bill passed on the issue in the Rajasthan Assembly.

The Rajasthan Assembly has passed a bill giving a five per cent quota in government jobs and educational institutes to the Gujjars and four other communities agitating for it.

The Gujjar protests led by community leader Bainsla entered its seventh day in the state even after the passage of the bill Wednesday.

IAS Neeraj K Pawan handed over a copy of the bill and the resolution passed by the Assembly and government-issued notification to Bainsla at Malarna Dungar in Sawai Madhopur, where he is sitting along with his supporters since last Friday.

"Any decision will be taken after examining the bill and the notification. The decision may be taken in the evening," Bainsla told reporters.

The Delhi-Mumbai rail line and several highways and roads are blocked due to the agitation. The protesters blocked a highway near Masuda in Ajmer on Thursday.

Several trains have been cancelled or diverted due to the agitation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The terrorists might have got the information about the movement of a large number of CRPF personnel in Pulwama district which led to the high number of casualties, officials suspect.

The deadliest terror attack on CRPF in recent times in Jammu and Kashmir claiming at least 39 lives so far took place when over 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir around 3.15 pm.

Usually, about 1,000 personnel are part of a convoy but this time it was a total of 2,547 personnel.

Not ruling out violation of Standard Operating Procedures when such a huge movement of central forces is taking place in the troubled state, officials requesting anonymity said a clear picture on loopholes, if any, will be known after a thorough probe.

Such a large movement of troops must have been known to a lot of people. There is a possibility of this information reaching to terrorists, a security official suspect.

Moreover, the number of personnel travelling back to the Valley was high as there was no movement on the highway for the last two to three days because of bad weather and other administrative reasons, they said.

The experts of National Investigation Agency (NIA) and NSG have been asked to assist Jammu and Kashmir police in the investigation of the attack.

All aspects of the attack will be probed by the concerned agencies, they said.

The security forces have not faced such a severe terror attack in recent time in the Valley.

On September 18, 2016, four terrorists had attacked Indian Army brigade headquarters in Uri at 5.30 am in which 19 soldiers were killed.

It is the second deadliest attack faced by the CRPF since 2010 when a team of naxals had ambushed its troops in Dantewada in Chhattisgarh killing 76 personnel of the force.

Seven years later, the force again lost 25 of its men to a similar attack by naxals on April 24, 2017 in Sukma, Chhattisgarh.

In the Valley, the force had faced an ambush on June 25, 2016 when Lashkar-e-Taiba militants attacked its convoy in Frestabal area of Pampore on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway killing eight of its personnel.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das Thursday strongly condemned the terror attack on a CRPF bus in Pulwama district of Jammu & Kashmir which killed at least 39 personnel of the force, saying the martyrdom of the jawans would not go waste.

The martyrdom of the jawans will not go waste. India will definitely take revenge, Das said in a statement.

He said the entire country is with the families of the martyred jawans.

A Jaish suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, killing at least 39 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of the party, will meet on February 26 in Gujarat's Ahmedabad to discuss the current political scenario in the country and review the progress for the upcoming general election.

Newly-appointed Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh East Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is likely to attend her first CWC meeting on the said date.

"It has been decided to convene a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on February 26 at Ahmedabad, Gujarat to discuss the current political scenario and progress made for the upcoming general election," a statement issued by the party said on Thursday.

The meeting assumes significance as the party's strategy for the 2019 polls and its campaign roadmap are likely to be finalised just ahead of the announcement of the general election, which is expected in March.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The ruling CPI(M) Thursday said it would initiate disciplinary action against party MLA S Rajendran for his controversial remarks against the Devikulam sub-collector, after the young woman IAS officer tried to stop the unauthorised construction of a shopping complex in Munnar.

Party state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the MLA's action was "immature" and action would be taken against him after examining the issue.

"Rajendran's action was immature. The party will take disciplinary action against him," he told reporters here when asked his reaction over the issue.

Devikulam legislator Rajendran had made the controversial remarks on February 8 after Renu Raj had attempted to stop the unauthorised construction of a shopping complex in the tourist town of Munnar in Idukki district.

Television channels had aired visuals showing the legislator making the disparaging comments that the sub-collector lacked brains and 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.

Subsequently, the Kerala Women's Commission had registered a case against the MLA over the remarks.

The Kerala High Court had in a 2010 judgement said for any new construction in Munnar, a no-objection certificate had to be obtained.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov left for Germany to take part in the 55th Munich Security Conference scheduled for February 15-17, according to the press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

During the visit Mammadyarov will also hold several bilateral meetings.: The 22nd edition of 'CEOs Sing for GF Kids' will bring together 14 of India's top corporate CEOs, who will sing and raise funds to save lives of children suffering from congenital heart disorder.

Organised by Genesis Foundation, a Gurgaon-based non-profit firm, the musical evening will be held at Hotel Crowne Plaza on February 16.

"The event promises to be an evening of musical fun with an impressive line-up of performers from the corporate world, who will enthral a gathering of more than 100 people with their remarkable singing," the organisers said in a statement.

The evening will witness Lokveer Kapoor of Pine Labs, P Balaji of Vodafone Idea Ltd, and Sanjay Kapoor of Tech-Connect Retail Pvt Ltd among others singing for the cause.

"It's remarkable to see the enthusiasm and talent that CEOs bring to the event. Their commitment to their music as well as to the cause of supporting critically ill children's treatment, is both heartening and gratifying. We look forward to a fun-filled evening," Prema Sagar, founder-trustee, Genesis Foundation, said.

"Over the years,CEOs Sing for GF Kidshas progressively become an institution in fund-raising initiatives tosave little hearts. In keeping with the Foundation's core to build a participatory culture of giving, musically-inclined CEOs come together periodically to raise funds for the critically ill and underprivileged," she added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The next meeting of the Congress Working Committee will be held in Ahmedabad on February 26 in the presence of all the key party leaders.

The announcement was made on Thursday by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) through a communique.

"It has been decided to convene a meeting of CWC on February 26 at Ahmedabad, Gujarat to discuss the current political scenario and progress made for the upcoming general elections," it said.

Top leaders of Congress, including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh and other CWC members are expected to remain present during the crucial meet ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the AICC said.

The announcement came on the day Rahul Gandhi addressed a rally in Valsad district in Gujarat.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress Thursday urged External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to take steps for setting free Indian students detained in America for enrolling in a fake university there.

In a letter to Swaraj, AICC spokesperson Sravan Dasoju said even more than a month since their detention, the students had neither been produced in a court nor allowed to post a bond and get released.

"They are being punished much before the crime is proved in the courts of law," he said in the letter, copies of which were marked to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, TRS working president K T Rama Rao and and US Consul General here Katherine B Hadda.

Those detained belong to middle class families, he said alleging that the students were being subjected to severe harassment and deprived of even quality food.

One-hundred-thirty foreign students, largely Indians, including Telugus, were arrested by US authorities on January 30 for enroling at a fake university allegedly to remain in the US.

Soon after the arrest, India has sought consular access to its students and has impressed upon the Trump administration the need to address the situation at the earliest.

The Congress spokesperson requested Swaraj to have a dialogue with the Federal government in the United States and take steps to rescue the students.

A special team from the Indian government be deputed to the United States and ensure that it coordinates with the US government to "smoothen the procedure", he said.

Dasoju also requested that a communication cell be set up to provide latest updates so that parents of the students are relieved of their anxiety.

In order to avoid unfortunate circumstances like this, he sought publication of a list of universities which were flagged as fake and fradulent by the federal government of America.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress' Telangana unit would conduct a brain-storming session for three days from February 15 to discuss the party's strategy for thecoming Lok Sabha elections and toevolve a plan of action.

State Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy said parliamentary constituency-wise meetings would be held at a private hotel at Gachibowli in the city.

Sitting and former MPs, MLAs, MLCs, PCC office-bearers, District Congress Committee presidents, block and mandal presidents, among other leaders, would attend the closed-door meetings of their respective Lok Sabha constituencies.

On an average, there will be representation of at least 10 senior leaders from each assembly constituency in the meeting, Congress sources said.

There will be discussion on six parliamentary constituencies eachon February15 and 16, while strategy for remaining five constituencies would be chalked out on February 17.

On February 15, a meeting would be held with leaders from Adilabad, Peddapalli, Nizamabad, Zaheerabad, Karimnagar and Warangal Lok Sabha constituencies.

On February 16, the TPCC will discuss strategy for Nagarkurnool, Mahabubnagar, Khammam, Mahabubabad, Nalgonda and Bhongir.

On the last day, the Congress leaders woulddeliberate on Chevella,Malkajgiri, Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Medak constituencies.

"Each day, we will have six-hour long sessions wherein strategy and action plan for each Lok Sabha constituency will be discussed.

The idea behind holding these brainstorming sessions is to involve more number of leaders in preparing an effective strategy to face and win next Lok Sabha polls," Reddy said.

AICC in-charge for Telangana R C Khuntia, AICC secretaries and other leaders would be present.

Meanwhile, former Union Minister and Congress leader Renuka Chowdhary held a meeting with her supporters.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In view of the dastardly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed at least 39 CRPF personnel on Thursday, the Congress has cancelled the lunch it was scheduled to host on Friday for the ambassadors of G20 nations.

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said the party stood in solidarity with the brave jawans who lost their lives, while strongly condemning such cowardly attacks.

He added that Friday's lunch was cancelled as the Congress party stood in solidarity with the fight against terror.

The former Union minister said the lunch for G20 ambassadors was to be attended by top Congress leaders, including party chief Rahul Gandhi.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bus in Pulwama district on Thursday, killing at least 39 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India is closely following the developments related to the peace and reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan and is in regular touch with all the stakeholders and countries, including Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the situation in Afghanistan was also discussed at the India-Central Asia Dialogue held in Uzbekistan last month.

The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of India, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The topic was likely to be discussed at the next Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral foreign ministers' meeting, scheduled to take place at the end of this month, Kumar said.

"India is and will continue to take all necessary steps to bring peace and stability in the region.

"We are not only closely following the developments which are related to the peace and reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan by different stakeholders, but I must also add that we are in regular contact with all other players, stakeholders, including Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia," he added.

Kumar also said last week, the Indian Ambassador to the US, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, met Zalamay Khalizad, the US envoy to Afghanistan, who briefed him on America's efforts in the region.

The two sides agreed to "continue to maintain a close contact with each other" on the matter, he added.

Kumar said India also participated in the ministerial meeting on "Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East" in Poland's Warsaw on February 13-14, which was held at the level of secretaries.

The conference was organised on the initiative of Poland and the US on the topic of peace and security in West Asia.

"India has abiding interest in the region. The region hosts a 9.2 million-strong Indian community, whose well-being and welfare are of paramount importance for us. This region is the source of over 50 per cent of our oil and 70 per cent of our gas needs. It is also a large trading partner, accounting for over USD 110 billion of India's trade in 2016-17," Kumar said.

The emergence of terrorist groups like the ISIS posed a common challenge to India and the countries of the region and the region was also critical for our maritime security and the security of the sea lanes of communication, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Chronological list of all major terror attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir in the last two decades:



* 26 August 2017 -- Three Jaish terrorists storm District Police Lines Pulwama, killing eight security force personnel, before the assailants were shot dead.

* 29 November 2016 -- Three terrorists storm Army artillery camp at Nagrota in Jammu, killing seven soldiers, before the assailants were eliminated.

* 18 September 2016 -- Four Pakistani terrorists storm an Army camp at Uri in Baramulla district, killing 18 soldiers, most of them were in sleep. The assailants were also killed. The incident led to reprisal surgical strikes inside the Pakistan occupied Kashmir by Indian Army.

* 25 June 2016 -- Terrorists open indiscriminate firing on a CRPF bus, killing eight jawans at Pampore on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

* 3 June 2016 -- Terrorists target a CRPF bus at Pampore, killing two personnel before taking refuge in a government building. Two-day encounter ends with killing of three soldiers including two officers and the two assailants. One civilian was also killed.

* 5 December 2014 -- Six heavily-armed terrorists storm an Army camp at Mohra in Uri. Ten soldiers were killed in the gun battle with the intruders, who were all shot dead.

* 24 June 2013 -- Terrorists ambush a bus carrying unarmed Army personnel at Hyderpora in Srinagar. Eight soldiers were killed in the attack.

* 19 July 2008 -- Ten soldiers were killed when terrorists triggered an IED planted by the roadside at Narbal on Srinagar-Baramulla highway on the outskirts of the city.

* 2 November 2005 -- A suicide bomber blew up his car at Nowgam, near the private residence of then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, killing three cops and six civilians.

* 20 July 2005 -- A suicide car bomber blew his vehicle by ramming it into a vehicle of security forces. Three security force personnel and two civilians were killed.

* 24 June 2005 -- Nine army soldiers were killed in a car bomb triggered by terrorists on the outskirts of Srinagar.

* 4 August 2004 -- Nine CRPF jawans were killed in a terrorist attack on their camp at Rajbagh in Srinagar. One terrorist was also killed in retaliatory action.

* 8 April 2004 -- 11 persons were killed in a grenade attack by terrorists on a PDP rally at Uri in Baramulla district. The PDP was demanding opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road.

* 22 July 2003 -- Eight soldiers, including a Brigadier, were killed in a terrorists attack on their camp at Akhnoor. Several other senior Army officers sustained injuries in the attack.

* 28 June 2003 -- 12 soldiers, including an officer, were killed in a suicide attack by terrorists on Sunjwan Army camp. Two terrorists were neutralised.

* 14 May 2002 -- In one of the biggest strikes on an Army installation, 36 persons were killed by three terrorists who stormed the Kaluchak Army Cantonment in Jammu. The assailants were also killed.

* 17 November 2001 -- Terrorists storm a security forces base in Ramban (then part of Doda district), killing 10 security forces. Four terrorists were also killed.

* 1 October 2001 -- Terrorists trigger a car bomb outside the old Legislative Assembly Complex in Srinagar. 38 persons were killed while three assailants were also eliminated.

* 10 August 2000 -- Terrorists hurl a grenade at Residency Road in Srinagar. As the security officials assembled at the spot, they triggered a car bomb, killing 11 persons and a photojournalist.

* 19 April 2000 -- The "human bomb" was used for the first time in Kashmir insurgency. Two soldiers were killed in the suicide car bomb at the Army headquarters at Badamibagh area in Srinagar.

* 3 November 1999 -- Terrorists storm the Badamibagh Army headquarters, killing 10 soldiers including Defence Public Relations Officer Major Purshottam.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court on Thursday held that the national capital was a Union Territory, where the Centre had the power to appoint a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) and not the Delhi government.

The top court said there was no "state government" in the Union Territory and the state government (for this purpose) would mean the central government.

It upheld the August, 2016 judgment of the Delhi High Court, saying the power to appoint a CoI rested with the Centre.

A bench of justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said it was unable to accept the submission of the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government's counsel that the expression "state government" in section 2(a) of the Commission of Inquiry Act would mean the government of NCT (National Capital Territory) of Delhi, a Union Territory.

"It is not for us to deal with the argument...that Entry 45 of List III confers legislative and executive competence on GNCTD and, therefore, GNCTD can pass an appropriate order appointing a Commission of Inquiry in exercise of its executive powers.

"In the instant case, we are concerned with the notification dated August 11, 2015, which was passed under the CoI Act. We, therefore, uphold the judgment of the high court on this aspect," the bench said.

The Directorate of Vigilance of the Delhi government had on August 11, 2015 appointed a CoI to go into all aspects of awarding of work related to the grant of CNG fitness certificates in the transport department and there was a subsequent probe.

The August 11, 2015, notification was issued without placing it before the Lieutenant Governor for his views or concurrence.

On the issue of setting up of a CoI, the bench relied upon the verdict of a Constitution bench of the apex court delivered on July 4 last year in the Delhi-Centre row and said "there is no 'state government' in the Union Territory and the state government (for this purpose) shall mean the central government".

Of the six contentions issues, the Delhi government won in three and lost to the Centre on the critical aspects of power to probe central government employees and setting up of inquiry commissions. The issue related to who would have powers over transfers and postings of Delhi government officers was referred to a larger bench.

The bench said there was no doubt that the definition of "state" in section 3(58) of the General Clauses (GC) Act included Union territories.

"However, we are concerned with the meaning of 'state government', which is defined in section 2(60) of the GC Act. Here, it is specifically provided that in respect of Union territories, the state government would mean the central government," it said.

The Centre's counsel had contended that the August 11, 2015 notification constituting a CoI was violative of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) Act and it was the result of the mala fide powers of the GNCTD.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Captain Marvel fan event on Thursday had an emotional beginning for Marvel fanatics when the cast and crew of the film paid homage to comic legend Stan Lee, who passed away last year at the age of 95.

It is a bittersweet moment that the much anticipated Brie Larson-fronted movie is the first Marvel film to be released after Lee's death in November 2018.

'ExcelsiorThank You Stan1922-2018' appeared on the screen as the team paid tribute to Lee, the co-creator of iconic superheroes like Spider-Man and The Hulk.

What followed next was the post-credits scene of "Avengers: Infinity War" that showed Nick Fury calling for Code Red and barely managing to page Captain Marvel before vanishing into nothingness as Thanos snaps his fingers wiping off half of earth's population.

After waiting for the longest time, the fans' frenzy was piqued by more than a notch when the sound of an airplane announced the entry of the "Captain Marvel" team.

A special segment of 'Super Fans', who were chosen from contests on social media, were stationed in the StarForce box an obvious hat tip to Captain Marvel's association with the Kree elite tactical unit.

Life-like posters of Larson and co-star Gemma Chan flanked the beams at the city-based Marina Bay Sands hotel.

Some fans stood out in the crowd with their choice of outfits. A husband and wife had turned up dressed as a Captain Marvel couple, sending a strong message of gender parity while another fan turned up as the Spider-Man.

A fan got close to assembling the Avengers when he got Jackson to sign the Captain America shield as Fury. He has already managed signatures from Captain America (Chris Evans), Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) and Agent Carter (Hayley Atwell).

Larson, Chan, Samuel L Jackson and director duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck entered the arena with the Marvel Studios theme playing in the backdrop.

Boden and Fleck, dressed in red and blue respectively, were the first to enter. They were followed by Jackson who was greeted with loud cheers. He stopped at the beginning of the walkway to apparently go live on one of his many social media accounts.

One of the fans, who had brought along a light sabre as a nod to the veteran actor's "Star Wars" character Mace Windu, got both his attention and autograph.

Jackson spent a lot of time talking and clicking selfies with the media, which made the restless fans fighting for his attention chant his name.

Jackson, who donned white Armani, cheekily waved to the fans only after they started calling Chan's name.

Chan, who shot to global fame as the independent, sophisticated and ambitious Astrid from "Crazy Rich Asians", directly dived into fan boxes to give autographs and selfies.

Dressed in printed white dress, she interacted with the media for a brief period of time, which left more than a few shutterbugs disappointed.

The loudest cheers and deafening screams were reserved for Captain Marvel herself, who entered guarded with heavy security detail.

The Oscar winner was dressed in a custom black Oscar De La Renta pant and stylised top and sported a golden Captain Marvel badge on her back.

This was Larson's first time in Singapore and like Chan, she too went head on first to meet her fans. A generous Larson interacted with fans and members of the media alike.

The actor said it was the well roundedness of the character that attracted her to the role.

"A lot of times, the film is about getting to the thing, saving the thing. But what it's really about is getting to herself. So we go along with her on this journey of finding herself. It starts with her being tough and strong. But it's really the vulnerability that comes in play that brings her to herself," Larson said.

Boden got a round of applause as she is the first female director to helm a Marvel film. She said they did not expect such an "overwhelming" response and it was a slightly "scary" feeling.

Talking about his role in the 1990s set origin story, Jackson said he missed his youth from the 90s, which elicited a roaring laughter from the audience.

"I was years younger then. I don't know about bringing her (Captain Marvel) into this world as much as helping her get a lost part about herself. I'm growing as a person myself" he said.

The film was special, Jackson said, as he got to work with Larson who is "someone he liked", leading to another round of laughter. This is the duo's third project together.

The fan event was all about getting women at the centrestage. Jackson and Fleck gave a shout-out to the women in their life.

A selected number of Singaporean women - lawyer, reporter, writer, swimmer, race car driver and others - were celebrated by the film's team. A group of children were anointed as agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. by Jackson.

The much anticipated film is set to be released in India on March 8, celebrated as International Women's Day.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A British girl of Bangladeshi descent, who fled to join the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria as a 15-year-old schoolgirl in 2015 and married an Islamist extremist, has appealed to the UK government to allow her to return to Britain.

Shamima Begum, now 19, was traced in a refugee camp in Syria by a war reporter, who found her pregnant with her third child and keen to leave the war zone for the safety of her unborn child.

"I'm not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago. I don't regret coming here," Begum told The Times' in her interview.

"I really want to get back to Britain because I know it (unborn child) will be taken care of health-wise, at least. I'll do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child," she said.

The jihadi bride, who had been married to an ISIS recruit soon after her arrival in ISIS-stronghold Raqqa four years ago, described not being affected by "beheaded heads" and dead bodies on arrival.

Begum was a student of Bethnal Green Academy in east London alongside Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana when the three teenagers hit the headlines in February 2015 as on-the-run jihadi brides women who choose to marry Islamist extremists to bear them children to carry on the fight.

The girls flew from Gatwick Airport near London to Turkey after telling their parents they were going out for the day and later crossed the border into Syria.

After arriving in Raqqa, Begum recalls staying at a house with other newly-arrived jihadi brides-to-be.

"I applied to marry an English-speaking fighter between 20 and 25 years old," she said.

Ten days later she married a 27-year-old Dutch man who had converted to Islam. She has been with him since then, and the couple escaped from Baghuz the group's last territory in eastern Syria two weeks ago.

Her husband surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters as they left, and she is now one of 39,000 people in a refugee camp in northern Syria.

In her 'Times' interview from the camp, she talks about losing two babies one to malnutrition and the other to illness an experience she says was a big shock. With her third pregnancy at its final stages, she said it was her concern for her unborn child that contributed to her decision to leave Baghuz.

"I was weak. I could not endure the suffering and hardship that staying on the battlefield involved. But I was also frightened that the child I am about to give birth to would die like my other children if I stayed on," she said.

Begum said the "oppression" in ISIS territory had come as a "shock" and said she felt the so-called "Caliphate" the group was fighting for was at an end.

"I don't have high hopes. They are just getting smaller and smaller. And there is so much oppression and corruption going on that I don't really think they deserve victory," she said.

She also confirmed reports that her former school friend, Khadiza Sultana, had died in a bombing on a house.

UK Home Office minister Ben Wallace said as a British citizen she has the right to return but anyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police.

"As a British citizen she has the right to home here. Anyone who goes to fight for ISIS, a dreadful, horrendous group, should expect to be interviewed and potentially prosecuted. The message from the government is actions have consequences," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Forty-one people, including military personnel, were killed in a suicide attack in the southeast of Iran, targeting an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) bus, according to Fars.

The deadly attack took place in the Chanali area of the Khash-Zahedan road, between the cities of Zahedan and Khash  an area not far from the border with Pakistan, where drug smuggling and military activities are quite frequent.



Earlier, IRNA reported citing its source that 20 people were killed and 20 more injured.Britain's Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, is not to be charged with any offence in connection with a crash involving a car he was driving last month, the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Thursday.

The 97-year-old prince had voluntarily surrendered his driving licence on Saturday after his Land Rover Freelander collided with another vehicle near the Queen's Sandringham estate in Norfolk last month.

"We took into account all of the circumstances in this case, including the level of culpability, the age of the driver and the surrender of the driving licence," said Chris Long, Chief Crown Prosecutor from CPS East of England.

"We have decided that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute. All those involved in the collision have been informed and provided with a full explanation in writing," he said.

The CPS said the decision was made after considering all the evidence submitted by the police and in accordance with its codes.

"The CPS assessment of any case is not in any sense a finding of, or implication of, any guilt or criminal conduct. It is not a finding of fact, which can only be made by a court, but rather an assessment of what it might be possible to prove to a court, in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors, a CPS statement noted.

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, escaped injury after his vehicle landed on its side following the collision with a Hyundai Kia on January 17. Two days later Norfolk Police said they had given him "suitable words of advice" after he was spotted driving without a seatbelt.

The 28-year-old driver of the Kia suffered cuts to her knee while the passenger, a 46-year-old woman, broke her wrist. Both required hospital treatment but a nine-month-old baby boy was uninjured.

Days later, Philip wrote to apologise to one of the passengers in the Kia Emma Fairweather, who broke her wrist.

"I would like you to know how very sorry I am for my part in the accident," he wrote.

"The sun was shining low over the main road. In normal conditions I would have no difficulty in seeing traffic coming... but I can only imagine that I failed to see the car coming, and I am very contrite about the consequences."



Philip is known to love driving and famously drove the Obamas when the then US President and First Lady visited Windsor Castle in 2016. But in the wake of the recent incidents, Buckingham Palace had announced the royal's plans to stop driving.

"After careful consideration, the Duke of Edinburgh has taken the decision to voluntarily surrender his driving licence," the palace said in a statement last week.

It was expected that the licence surrender would have an impact on any charges being brought against him for the collision last month.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prince Philip, the 97-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II, has escaped prosecution over his nasty car crash as authorities announced on Thursday that it would not be in the "public interest" to proceed further.

The Duke of Edinburgh escaped injury after his Land Rover Freelander collided with another vehicle on January 17 on a road near the Queen's Sandringham country estate in Norfolk. Two women in the Kia car were injured but a nine-month-old baby boy escaped unhurt.

UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Prince Philip will not be charged with any offence in connection with a crash involving a car he was driving last month.

The prince, who is four months short of his 98th birthday, had voluntarily surrendered his driving licence on Saturday.

"We took into account all of the circumstances in this case, including the level of culpability, the age of the driver and the surrender of the driving licence," said Chris Long, Chief Crown Prosecutor from CPS East of England.

"We have decided that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute. All those involved in the collision have been informed and provided with a full explanation in writing," he said.

The CPS said the decision was made after considering all the evidence submitted by the police and in accordance with its codes.

"The CPS assessment of any case is not in any sense a finding of, or implication of, any guilt or criminal conduct. It is not a finding of fact, which can only be made by a court, but rather an assessment of what it might be possible to prove to a court, in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors," a CPS statement noted.

Two days after the horrific accident, Norfolk Police said they had given Prince Philip "suitable words of advice" after he was spotted driving without a seat belt.

The 28-year-old driver of the Kia suffered cuts to her knee while the passenger, a 46-year-old woman, broke her wrist. Both required hospital treatment.

Days later, Philip wrote to apologise to one of the passengers in the Kia Emma Fairweather, who broke her wrist.

"I would like you to know how very sorry I am for my part in the accident," he wrote.

"The sun was shining low over the main road. In normal conditions I would have no difficulty in seeing traffic coming... but I can only imagine that I failed to see the car coming, and I am very contrite about the consequences."



Philip is known to love driving and famously drove the Obamas when the then US President and First Lady visited Windsor Castle in 2016. But in the wake of the recent incidents, Buckingham Palace had announced the royal's plans to stop driving.

"After careful consideration, the Duke of Edinburgh has taken the decision to voluntarily surrender his driving licence," the palace said in a statement last week.

It was expected that the licence surrender would have an impact on any charges being brought against him for the collision last month.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bookings have started for the first commercial run of the Vande Bharat Express, billed as India's fastest train, on February 17 between Delhi and Varanasi, railways said Thursday.

Tickets can be bought over the counter or booked on irctc.co.in.

Train 18, which was recently renamed as Vande Bharat Express by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, became the country's fastest train by hitting speeds of over 180 kmph during a trial run on a section of the Delhi-Varanasi route.

However, speed restrictions on the route will mean that the new train set can hit a maximum speed of 130 kmph.

The train will leave the national capital at 6 am and reach Varanasi at 2 pm. On the same day, it will leave Varanasi at 3pm and reach Delhi at 11 pm. The Vande Bharat Express will operate for five days in a week, except on Monday and Thursday.

From Delhi to Varanasi, an air-conditioned chair car ticket will cost Rs 1,760 and the executive class fare will be Rs 3,310, while in the return journey, a chair car ticket will cost Rs 1,700 and that of a seat in the executive class Rs 3,260. Both fares are inclusive of catering charges.

The chair car fares are 1.4 times the base price of Shatabdi trains running the same distance and that of the executive class 1.3 times of a first class air-conditioned ticket in the premium train.

The Vande Bharat Express is a all air-conditioned luxury train and will take around eight hours to travel between Delhi and Varanasi, halting at only two stations - Kanpur and Allahabad.

The tatkal quota would be five per cent of the total accommodation for the respective classes on the Vande Bharat Express, and no concessions or a different fare for a child passenger are being offered, the railways said.

"However, passes of MPs, coupons of MLAs, other coupons, military/para military warrants and others having fully reimbursable fare to railways shall be allowed. Booking shall be allowed only on duty passes for railway servants.

"No other railway passes like privilege, complimentary, post retirement complimentary passes shall be permissible in this train," a railway order said.

The ticket fares between Delhi and Kanpur will be Rs 1,090 in the chair car (CC) class and Rs 2,105 in the executive class (EC) for a distance of 447 km, it said.

Between Delhi and Allahabad (642 km), the ticket price for CC class will be Rs 1,395 and Rs 2,750 for the EC class, Kanpur and Allahabad (195 km), the price for CC will be Rs 595 and for EC Rs 1,170, the order said.

The price of ticket between Kanpur and Varanasi (319 km) will be Rs 1,020 and Rs 1,815 for CC and EC classes respectively. The train will have differently priced meals as well, it said.

Tickets include meal charges.Passengers travelling from New Delhi to Varanasi in the executive class will be charged Rs 399 for morning tea, breakfast and lunch, and travellers in the chair car Rs 344 for the same.

Those travelling from New Delhi to Kanpur and Prayagraj will be charged Rs 155 and Rs 122 for executive and CC classes, respectively. From Varanasi to New Delhi, passengers Rs 349 in the executive class and Rs 288 in chair car, according to the order.

Passengers cannot opt out of meals. But those travelling from Allahabad to Varanasi and on the return journey Varanasi to Allahabad can opt out of meals, saving Rs 222 on CC tickets and Rs 244 on EC tickets by opting out of the meals provided by the IRCTC.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Thursday expressed confidence of a big win for the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha polls and said there will be MPs from Kerala.

Addressing a public meeting at Pathanamthitta district in south Kerala, which was the centre of the Sabarimala protests, he said BJP workers were facing a "lot of challenges" in the state.

Attacking the ruling left government in the state, he alleged it was against devotees.

"As of now, lakhs of people are there for Kumbh Mela in Uttar Pradesh. Our government is trying to do everything for the devotees.

But the Kerala government is not with the believers. The state government here is trying to destroy the faith of the believers," he said.

Adityanath said the country has made rapid progress under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"We all know that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, the country has made big strides," he told the gathering.

Earlier, he attended a meeting of the party's booth in-charges.

Addressing them, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister said he was "very happy" to be in Lord Ayyappa's land.

Adityanath met office bearers from Thiruvananthapuram, Attingal, Kollam and Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituencies.

A top BJP functionary told PTI that his visit will boost the morale of the workers ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Adityanath arrived at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport late in the afternoon and left by a helicopter for Pathanamthitta.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP chief Amit Shah Thursday hit out at the opposition combine, saying it "lacked" leaders, policies and philosophy and termed the saffron party-led NDA as "strong" that is ready to lead the nation again.

Shah said his party will forge a "strong alliance" to face the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu.

This alliance, which could be forged in a "short span," will contest from all 39 Lok Sabha seats, he said, addressing handloom and powerloom associations in Erode.

"I want to assure the people of Tamil Nadu that the BJP is going to contest the elections in a strong alliance with an ally," he said in his brief remarks on a poll-pact.

Taking potshots at the proposed DMK-Congress alliance, he said it was not being forged for the benefit of Tamil Nadu but only to indulge in "scam and corruption."



"It is an alliance of scam and corruption. They can indulge in scam and corruption only," he said.

Shah said he foresaw two groupings to fight the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

"There are two groupings---in one, under (Congress chief) Rahul Gandhi and other leaders, a gathbandhan (alliance) is trying to take shape where there is no leader.

The other under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was the NDA which is a strong alliance ready to lead the nation, (after polls)," the BJP chief said.

Taking a swipe at DMK president M K Stalin, Shah said the former sometimes accepts Gandhi as leader and sometimes not when there is some opposition to it.

"I don't know what his priorities are," Shah quipped.

He was apparently referring to Stalin's proposal to project Gandhi as Opposition's Prime Ministerial candidate not evoking any reaction from SP leader Akhilesh Yadav and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Incidentally, Stalin had also attended the TMC supremo's mega rally in January against the BJP in Kolkata.

Apparently pointing out at the proposed opposition alliance, Shah said it had "no leader, no principle or philosophy" and that it was "an alliance for power."



On the other hand, the NDA wants to take the country forward, ensure its security and move ahead with the concept of 'sabka saath sabka vikas,' he said, alluding to Modi's oft-repeated reference to inclusive growth.

Taking on Stalin over his repeated criticism of the Centre and what the BJP-led NDA had done for Tamil Nadu, Shah said though he did not find it fit to respond to the DMK leader, he was however obliged to the people of the state to give an account of the Centre's allocations to the state.

"When the UPA (was in power), in which DMK was a key partner, where the 2G scam happened, that government allotted only Rs 94,000 crore during the 13th Finance Commission to Tamil Nadu," Shah said.

Underlining the NDA government's commitment to the southern state, the BJP chief said the incumbent government has increased that allocation by about five times at Rs 5.42 lakh crore.

"I had come across Stalin asking what Modi has done for Tamil Nadu. I want to ask him, what did you (DMK) do for the state during the UPA period," Shah said.

The BJP chief detailed the various sops offered by the Centre to Tamil Nadu, including special package to the textile industry.

He also referred to the crores of rupees given by way of grants, increased EPF contribution for textile and handloom workers and weavers and a rebate scheme for textile exporters, among others, to the state.

The BJP government during its tenure has allocated Rs 1,230 crore for textile development which is 12 per cent of the total amount granted in the budget for the sector,he said.

"We have given our account to people. I want to ask Stalin-- why did you do an injustice to the people of Tamil Nadu by allocating only Rs 94,000 crore. The DMK and Congress have to answer," he said.

While the state had returned just one NDA MP in the 2014 polls, it should help the BJP-led coalition form the government again, Shah said indicating the desire to have more MPs from the combine this time.

"The Modi government believes in sabka sath vikas. We are keen about Tamil Nadu's growth and its progress. It should help NDA form goverment for the next five years and it will strive to restore the state's lost glory," Shah said.

Later, addressing the party's Booth Committee members, the BJP president asked them to be vigilant during the poll and appealed to the workers to strive for the party's victory.

The Central government has implemented a number of welfare and concessional schemes for the benefit of the people living below the poverty line.

The middle class and salaried people would benefit from the recent union budgetary announcements, he said.

"We are showing real patriotism by granting huge money for the defence sector. The Prime Minister is keen in providing a corrupt-free Government," he said.

The Defence Corridor in Tamil Nadu, in particular, would benefit from the increased budgetary allocations, he added.

All walks of life will benefit if the BJP is re-elected, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)KMSS Adviser Akhil Gogoi Thursday slammed the BJP over the Citizenship Bill and alleged that the saffron party with its parent body RSS tried to convert India into another Pakistan through the divisive bill.

Addressing a press conference, the RTI activist-cum-peasant leader, who has been at the forefront of the agitation against the bill for the last two years, said the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS)-led 70 groups will soon approach the Supreme Court to cancel the Passport (entry into India) Amendment Rules, 2015 and Foreigners (Amendment) Order, 2015.

"It was a classic fight of the regional forces of northeast against the communal forces. It showed the actual enemies of Assam and northeast. It proved that RSS and BJP are all time biggest enemies of the region and they cannot be our friends," Gogoi said.

Gogoi, litterateur Hiren Gohain and a senior journalist Manjit Mahanta were booked under sedition charge for their remarks on the controversial bill earlier.

He termed the Centre's inability to table the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Rajya Sabha as a victory of Indian democracy along with a big win for the northeast.

"The people of northeast saved the Indian democracy, the secular fabric and the Constitution. We defeated RSS-BJP and Narendra Modi-Amit Shah, who tried to convert India into another Pakistan the way Jinnah did. We did not allow India to become Pakistan," he said.

"In this fight, the biggest soldier in India are the Assamese people. It is like a win for the northeast Regiment. BJP, RSS tried to make India a religious state like ISIS. This struggle also strengthened the federalism," Gogoi said.

For the first time, a regional struggle became national and parties like JD(U), AAP, Congress, Samajwadi Party, Biju Janata Dal, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, Rashtriya Janata Dal and others opposed the bill, he added.

Gogoi, however, said that the struggle has not ended yet as there is a doubt that an ordinance might be introduced for six months, although the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cannot bring it permanently.

"They have already announced to enact it once (they) come to power again. In the Lok Sabha polls, BJP will again rake up the CAB issue. So, the people of Assam should take a pledge to defeat BJP. It should be considered as a duty and responsibility of all the people," he added.

Gogoi opined that giving votes to BJP in 2016 Assembly polls was a mistake by Assamese people and this struggle proved that communal fascism was always an enemy of Assam, which has a diverse culture with presence of different tribes and communities of the state.

Talking about future course of action, Gogoi said: "We will approach the Supreme Court against Passport (entry into India) Amendment Rules, 2015 and Foreigners (Amendment) Order, 2015."



"The drafting of the petition is going on by Prashant Bhushan. Because of these two documents, we are not able to detect and deport Hindu Bangladeshis who came after 1971," he added.

Thanking all sections of people for opposing the bill, the KMSS leader compared the agitation against the Centre with the anti-grouping movement during the Independence.

"The British force was shaken by the united struggle of the entire northeast. After Independence, this is the biggest movement, even bigger than Assam Agitation, as it shook the Indian state. We showed only black flags to Modi. If he brings in ordinance, he will be completely barred from entering Assam," he said.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is set to lapse on June 3, when the term of the present Lok Sabha ends as it could not be tabled and passed in Rajya Sabha which adjourned sine die on Wednesday.

Massive protests broke out across Assam and other parts of northeast after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced in Silchar on January 4 that the controversial document would be passed as soon as possible in Parliament.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8, seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India even if they do not possess any document.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The BJP's Delhi unit observed "Black Day" on Thursday, marking fourth anniversary of the AAP government, and "purified" Jantar Mantar with Ganga jal, where the ruling party hosted opposition leaders in its 'Tanashahi Hatao, Loktantra Bachao Rally' targeting the Modi government.

Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari accused the Arvind Kejriwal government of committing 74 "frauds" with Delhi people, saying BJP workers will expose the AAP all across the national capital in the run up to the upcoming polls.

"We have come here to purify Jantar Mantar with the sacred Ganga jal because yesterday an alliance of sinful persons with negative thinking was seen here," Tiwari told reporters.

AAP government in Delhi has committed "frauds" by not fulfilling its 70 poll promises and also by "misleading" voters, saying their votes have been deleted. They also did not implement 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker section, "obstructed" Ayushman Bharat scheme, and blamed the prime minister for its own failures, Tiwari said.

Union minister Vijay Goel and BJP MPs Ramesh Bidhuri, Parvesh Verma, Udit Raj and several other senior Delhi unit leaders attended the protest event at Janar Mantar.

Goel said that except victory in Delhi election, Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party could not secure votes more than even NOTA in other states.

"The people of the country have learnt lesson from the results of his government in Delhi," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Protesting the attack on a party MLA's residence allegedly by JDS workers, the BJP Thursday took out a Raj Bhavan march and petitioned Governor Vajubhai Vala against "the deteriorating" law and ordersituation in the state.

The party also staged demonstrations at various places across the state protesting the incident Wednesday when stones were pelted at the residence of MLA Preetam Gowda in Hassan after his name was dragged into the audio clip over BJP's alleged bid to topple the JDS-Congress government.

The JDS workers had accused Gowda, who represents Hassan, of conspiring to of trying to topple the Congress-JD(S) government.

A BJP worker sustained serious head injuries in the incident and had been admitted to a hospital where his condition was stated to be stable, police had said Wednesday.

Condemning the attack, BJP MLAs led by state party president B S Yeddyurappatook out a march to the Raj Bhavan and submitted a memorandum to the Governor alleging that the law and ordersituation in the state had deterirorated.

Speaking to reporters, Yeddyurappa said he informed Vala about the attack on Gowda's house, the alleged abuse of the MLA's parents the "murderous assault" on a BJP worker.

"Despite such a serious issue, the accused have been booked under the bailable sections," he said



He also said the party would bring to the notice of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh about the "deteriorating law and order" in the state.

The attack on Gowda's house came shortly after the JDS released the complete 80-minute audio recording containing purported conversation between, Yeddyurappa, JD(S) MLA Naganagouda, BJP MLAs Shivanagouda Nayak and Preetam Gowda about their alleged bid to destabilise the eight-month old coalition government.

Preetam Gowda had also allegedly spoke ill of JD(S) patriarch and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.

The MLA has, however, denied that he was part of the conversation.

BJP staged protest demonstrations in Hassan, Tumakuru, Mysuru, Shivamogga among other places with the party workers shouting slogans against the JD(S) for its "hooliganism".

In Bengaluru, the BJP Yuva Morcha members also took part in the protest.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Goa deputy Chief Minister and current BJPMLA Francis D'Souza died Thursday evening, his party said.

D'Souza, 64, was undergoing treatment at a private hospital near here after undergoing surgery for cancer in the USA.

With his death, the BJP's strength in the 40-member Goa assembly comes down to 13.

"I am deeply saddened by the ..I extend my deepest sympathies to his family. May the departed soul be at peace," said South Goa BJP MP Narendra Sawaikar on Twitter, announcing the of D'Souza's death.

State BJP spokesman Damodar Naik said D'Souza died at the hospital.

"We lost an iconic leader who started his career from scratch as councillor and rose to a topmost post," Naik said.

"He is an icon for all the upcoming leaders as to how a person should be, and he was loyal to the party till his last breath," he said.

D'Souza had been dropped from the current Manohar Parrikar-led Goa government along with Pandurang Madkaikar on health grounds when he was being treated in the United States.

He was elected to Goa Legislative Assembly in 1999 as Goa Rajiv Congress party candidate, and joined the BJP and was elected to the assembly in 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017 from Mapusa.

D'Souza was appointed deputy Chief Minister when BJP formed a government in 2012 under Manohar Parrikar's leadership. He continued in that post in the Laxmikant Parsekar-led cabinet too.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The BJP-led NDA government's divisive will face huge backlash from the people in the coming Lok Sabha elections, CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said Thursday.

Reddy was speaking after inaugurating the 'Kerala Samrakshana yatra' led by CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan to highlight the "failures" of the central government.

He claimed that the minorities in the country were living under constant fear.

"The minority Muslim community, intellectuals, Dalits, all are living under constant fear and threat.In the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the people of the country will drive away the Modi government," the CPI leader said.

"The divisive of the BJP-led government will face huge backlash from its people," Reddy added.

Praising the Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala, he said the LDF government had set an example to the nation for implementing welfare schemes and development activities for the people.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Left Democratic Front has organised two regional 'yatras' from both ends of the state.

Balakrishnan will lead the march from the southern district of the state--Thiruvananthapuram and CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran from the northern part.

Rajendran's march will begin on February 16 from Manjeshwaram in Kasaragod district and will be inaugrated by CPI(M)'s general secretary Sitaram Yechury.

Both the marches will conclude on March 2 at Thrissur.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Leader of Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said that Nord Stream 2 pipeline project cannot be cancelled as fundamental decisions regarding it have already been taken.

"Nord Stream 2 is not the project that I support with all my heart But fundamental decisions were made earlier. You can't just turn the project back," Kramp-Karrenbauer told the magazine Internationale Politik.

"In addition, we have quite legitimate economic interests in energy supply [It should be] realistic to say that the construction of the gas pipeline cannot be prevented, as there are contracts and permits," Sputnik cited her as saying.

She added that even during the Cold War, economic relations with Russia were maintained, and they were stable.

According to the politician, there is a contradiction in the interests of Germany, Ukraine, other Eastern European countries, and the United States toward the Nord Stream 2 issue.

"The question of whether Germany will become dependent on Russian gas is justified. But now we are building LNG terminals, for example, for American gas. So I don't see such a big danger of becoming dependent", Kramp-Karrenbauer stressed.Maharashtra Animal Husbandry Minister Mahadev Jankar, whose Rashtriya Samaj Paksh (RSP) is an ally of the ruling BJP, said on Thursday that he would contest the Lok Sabha election either from Baramati or Madha seat in the state on his party symbol.

Jankar said he would make an announcement about the constituency on February 24 when the RSP will hold a mega convention in Mumbai to show the party's "strength" ahead of the polls.

He said during the event, his party would also reiterate its demand for reservation for the Dhangar (shepherd) and Muslim communities.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will inaugurate the convention, Jankar told reporters here.

RPI(A) chief Ramdas Athawale and Shiv Sangram leader Vinayak Mete, whose parties are allies of the ruling BJP, will also attend the convention, he said.

Jankar said he has demanded six seats - Baramati, Madha, Parbhani, Hingoli, Amravati and North East Mumbai - for the Lok Sabha elections.

"I am aware that my party's demand for six seats will not be accepted, but I would be happy with Baramati and Madha. We will contest on our own party symbol and remain an ally of the NDA," he said.

On the issue of reservation for Dhangars, he said, "We had promise that a decision on it will be taken in the first Cabinet meeting of the BJP-led state government. But, we were unaware of the technical and constitutional details. The issue of granting quota to Dhangars under the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category is the jurisdiction of the Centre," he said.

Jankar said the RSP would also demand the Bharat Ratna for social reformers Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule.

He refused to comment on BJP president Amit Shah's remark that 'lotus' (the saffron party's symbol) would bloom in Pune's Baramati constituency, the bastion of NCP chief Sharad Pawar and his family.

He also declined to respond to a question on Pawar's announcement that NCP workers want him to contest from Madha seat in Solapur district.

"Pawar is a big leader. It is upto him to decide from where to contest...I don't think NCP will last for long as a party," he said, without elaborate further.

Jankar also said that the proposed alliance between the NCP and Raj Thackeray-led MNS was "not digestible".

"The alliance will be among the leaders and not workers," he said.

NCP leader Ajit Pawar had on Tuesday advocated a tie-up with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) for the Lok Sabha elections.

He had met Thackeray on Wednesday and later told reporters that the decision on alliance with the MNS would be taken by "senior leadership" of the NCP and Congress.

Jankar had unsuccessfully contested against NCP's Supriya Sule from the Baramati Lok Sabha seat in 2014. Prior to it, he had lost to Sharad Pawar in the constituency.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union ministers Ram Kripal Yadav and Dharmendra Pradhan Thursday hit out at the BJD government in Odisha accusing it of neglecting the people belonging to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

Addressing a party meeting for the OBCs at Kantabanji in the state's Balangir district, the two senior BJP leaders alleged that the Naveen Patnaik government has failed on all fronts in the last 19 years and was insensitive to the problems of the backward classes.

"The BJD government has failed miserably to address the problems of people from backward classes. It is only the BJP which is sincerely working for the uplift of these people," Yadav, the minister of state for rural development, said



"The Centre has taken many steps for the welfare of the backward classes ... It will be a boon for OBCs in Odisha if the BJP comes to power in the state in the upcoming polls," he said.

Mounting a scathing attack on the BJD government, the union minister alleged that no work can be done in Odisha without paying commission as corruption was rampant in the state.

"PC (percentage commission) is all pervasive in Odisha," Yadav claimed.

Speaking in the same vein, Pradhan, the union minister for petroleum and natural gas, accused the BJD government of failing to do any work for the people of Odisha, especially for the backward classes.

He said the Narendra Modi government at the Centre constituted the OBC commission to look after matters related to the people of the backward classes.

The Naveen Patnaik government, on the other hand, is not at all sensitive to the wellbeing of the OBCs, he said.

Western Odisha in general and backward Balangir district in particular witnessed speedy development under the BJP rule at the Centre, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A poem on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by acclaimed Punjabi writer Nanak Singh which was banned by the British after its publication in 1920 has now been translated into English.

Singh was present at Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919. He was 22 years old at the time. As the British troops opened fire on the unarmed gathering protesting against the Rowlatt Act, killing hundreds, Singh fainted and his unconscious body was piled up among the corpses.

After going through the traumatic experience, he proceeded to write "Khooni Vaisakhi", a long poem that narrates the political events in the run-up to the massacre and its immediate aftermath.

The poem was a scathing critique of the British Raj and was banned soon after its publication. Its manuscript was subsequently lost.

After long years, the poem has been rediscovered and now translated into English by the author's grandson and diplomat, Navdeep Suri. It will be published by HarperCollins India next month to mark the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Featuring the poem in translation and in original, the bilingual edition is accompanied by essays by Suri, H S Bhatia and by Justin Rowalatt, whose great-grandfather, Sir Sydney Arthur Taylor Rowlatt, drafted the Rowlatt Act.

Singh (1897-1971) is widely regarded as the father of the Punjabi novel. With little formal education beyond the fourth grade, he wrote an astounding 59 books and received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1962.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The long-standing border dispute between Assam and Meghalaya came to the fore again at the Langpih area on Thursday when the Assam police allegedly stopped the employees of a company working for electrification in a nearby village and arrested two persons.

This led to a clash between the villagers and the Assam police personnel, West Khasi Hills Superintendent of Police (SP) BJ Laloo said.

There was no confirmation about the incident from the Assam Police, a report from Guwahati said.

Langpih has been a bone of contention between the two north-eastern neighbours. Meghalaya claims it to be part of West Khasi Hills district, while Assam asserts that it falls under its Kamrup (Rural) district.

Laloo said the incident took place at Umwali village, near Langpih, after the workers of the private company had gone there for electrification work.

He added that the Assam police personnel reached there to stop the work and arrested two persons.

"This led the locals to protest. They started pelting stones at the policemen, who had to resort to a lathi-charge," Laloo said.

A few persons were reportedly injured in the lathi-charge, he said, adding that further details were awaited.

The SP said the Langpih police station in-charge and the SDPO of Mawshynrut were asked to reach the village and submit a report on the incident.

In 2010, four Khasi villagers were killed and eight others were injured in police firing at Langpih.

It is one of the 12 disputed areas along the Assam-Meghalaya inter-state border.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Argentina's President Mauricio Macri will be paying a state visit to India from February 17 to 19, during which he will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind, the Ministry of External Affairs said Thursday.

A high-level delegation comprising the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Emilio Monzo, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Faurie, Government Secretary of Modernisation Andrs Ibarra, Government Secretary of Agriculture Luis Etchevehere, and senior officials will be accompanying Macri during the visit.

Argentina's first lady Juliana Awada will also be accompanying Macri.

Macri will visit Agra on February 17. A day later, he will hold delegation-level talks with Modi and have other official engagements.

He will travel to Mumbai on February 19.

The state visit of Macri is taking place in the 70th year of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Macri's visit to India follows Modi travelling to Argentina in late 2018 for the G20 summit, during which the leaders had a "very productive" bilateral meeting.

"During his visit next week, President Macri will meet President (Ram Nath Kovind) who will host a banquet in his honour and hold talks with the Prime Minister," a statement said.

Bilateral cooperation between India and Argentina span in wide ranging areas including nuclear technology, space, economic, commerce, agriculture, science, culture and tourism.

The trade between the two sides stands at around USD 3 billion.

"This visit will provide opportunity to the two sides to review progress in bilateral ties and to explore new avenues of cooperation," the statement said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ex-Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed said Thursday that the country is seeking to reduce the more than USD 3 billion he estimates it could owe China, some of which he said came in the form of "ill-gotten wealth" for the previous government of President Yameen Abdul Gayoom.

A close adviser to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and candidate for parliamentary elections in April, Nasheed spoke to The Associated Press at a climate change lecture in New Delhi, a day after Maldives' top prosecutor charged Yameen with money laundering.

The charges are linked to USD 1 million allegedly found in Yameen's bank account from a shady government deal to lease islands for tourist development in the Maldives, which is famous for its luxury resorts.

Yameen lost last September's presidential election after a five-year term during which he was accused of corruption and misrule.

Nasheed, who became the Maldives' first democratically elected president in 2008, said an investigation of Yameen for suspected international money laundering is continuing.

"We don't think that we have seen USD 3.4 billion of assets created," he said, "so therefore it will be very difficult for us to pay that back." Nasheed, long an outspoken critic of the "debt trap" resulting from Chinese loans to the Indian Ocean archipelago nation, said an audit will determine "what actually came into the country."



Since Solih's surprise September win, the Maldives government has begun a shift away from China and toward its traditional ally, India, which allocated more than USD 80 million in aid to the Maldives in its interim 2019-2020 budget.

During Yameen's rule, Nasheed spent a year in prison on a terrorism conviction for ordering the detention of a top judge when he was president in 2012. He was given medical leave to travel to Britain, where he received political asylum.

Since returning home after Yameen's defeat, Nasheed, who held an underwater Cabinet meeting while president to draw attention to the threat posed by climate change to the Maldives, has helped steer the Solih government's low-carbon development strategy.

On Thursday, he said the government was soliciting bids for renewable energy projects, and that the country would not install any more diesel-powered generators for utilities.

The low-lying Maldives is also exploring technology to generate new growth of coral reefs, which protect the islands from storm surges and nurture fisheries.

"We are really not prepared to die," Nasheed said. "The Maldives have no intention of becoming some of the first victims of the climate crisis. Instead we are going to do everything in our power to keep our coral reefs intact and our heads above the water.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Massive anti-Pakistan protests rocked Jammu and Kashmir's winter capital on Thursday, in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in which at least 37 CRPF personnel lost their lives.

Demonstrations and candle light marches were held at dozens of places. Braving the rains, people took to the streets in Jewel Chowk, Purani Mandi, Rehari, Janipur, Gandhinagar, Bakshi Nagar, Muthi, Talab Tilloo and Satwari and protested against the killings.

Raising anti-Pakistan, anti-terrorist slogans, the protestors demanded action against Pakistan for "sponsoring terrorism in the Valley."



Members of the Bagrang Dal, Shiv Sena and the Dogra Front were seen protesting in large numbers.

J&K High Court Bar Association, Jammu, in an emergent decision suspended work in all the courts in Jammu, including the high Court and the tribunals, in protest of "the dastardly acts of frustrated terrorists" in Pulwama, Kashmir, a Bar spokesman said.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (Jammu and Kashmir) strongly condemned the terror attack.

Senior office bearers of VHP, including Leela Karan Sharma, held an emergency meeting here and paid tribute to the killed jawans. In solidarity with security forces, they announced a bandh in Jammu on Friday, a VHP spokesman said.

The VHP has appealed to the central and state governments to allow the security forces to retaliate with a free hand.

The Bajrang Dal said it will hold protest demonstrations all across the state on Friday.

Former Minister and President of Dogra Sadar Sabha, Gulchain Singh Charak, expressed shock and grief over the gruesome killings and asked the central government to take strong action against the terrorists.

Kashmiri Pandit organisations, including Panun Kashmir, All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference (ASKPC), All India Kashmiri Samaj (AIKS) and All Parties Migrant Coordination Committee (APMCC) condemned the cowardly attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP national president Amit Shah will visit Sambalpur in Odisha on Friday to hold a party meeting, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan said here.

Shah's visit will further strengthen the organisation and bolster the BJP's prospects in the coming Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections in Western Odisha, Pradhan said Thursday.

Sambalpur is in the heart of Western Odisha, a traditional BJP bastion.

The BJP chief is slated to address booth level workers of four Lok Sabha constituencies -- Sambalpur, Bargarh, Sundergarh and Dhenkanal on Friday.

The petroleum minister inaugurated a slew of developmental projects at Sambalpur railway station before holding parleys with party leaders ahead of Shah's visit.

Pradhan said the country cannot progress without development of the eastern region and the eastern region cannot develop without progress of Odisha, especially its Western region.

Attacking the BJD government in the state, Pradhan said its role over the demand for establishment of a permanent bench of Orissa High Court in Western Odisha was deplorable.

With the demand becoming an emotive issue for the people in this region, Pradhan said the BJP is in favour of establishment of a high court bench in this region.

Instead of submitting a comprehensive proposal including the name of the place where the bench would be located, the state government is indulging in blame game, he claimed.

Establishment of the high court bench is getting delayed because of the evasive approach adopted by the BJD government, the BJP leader alleged.

He inaugurated several facilities, structures and beautification projects in Sambalpur railway station building and surrounding areas which have been completed at a cost of Rs 3.5 crore, an official said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)America is a land of opportunities where failure is considered not as a stigma but a path to success, a top Indian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist from the Silicon Valley told a group of newly-naturalised US citizens.

Addressing some 200 new citizens, after they took oath at the prestigious John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, M R Rangaswami, a Silicon Valley-based software executive, entrepreneur and philanthropist, narrated his personal story as to how this country offers an opportunity to all who work and want to succeed in life.

He was featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

Rangaswami, who co-founded Sand Hill Group, one of the earliest 'angel' investment firms, told the new citizens about his American story, when he left India at the age of 21 for an MBA in the US with a one-way ticket, a student visa and eight dollars in his pocket.

His brother in New York had to sign a financial guarantee for his tuition and boarding at Kent State University.

"On my way from upstate New York to Cleveland, Ohio on a Greyhound bus, someone stole one of my suitcases which contained my pots and pans and spices.

"I was devastated and told my host family at Kent what had happened and they quickly replaced it all! That's when I felt the warmth and hospitality of the American community," said Rangaswami, who in 2012 founded Indiaspora to unite Indian-Americans and to transform their success into meaningful impact in India and on the global stage.

Over the year, Indiaspora has emerged as a catalyst to transform the success of Indian-Americans into meaningful impact in India and on the global stage.

"In 1982, after I had built a reasonably comfortable life in Texas, I was advised to move to Silicon Valley. A lot of questions went through my mind: what was this place? Did I know anyone there? And on and on," he said, adding that he decided to take the risk as he had obtained his green card by then.

"I found a job and joined my first company, which held great promises. The company doubled every year, but after three years it went broke. In many other countries, one might be regarded as a failure, and not given a second chance. But, in America, I was able to recover and try again without any stigma attached," Rangaswami said.

After a few years, he tried his luck at a second startup, only to see it fail.

"Luckily, I recovered once again, and the third time was the charm. I was then able to create my own future in California. Who knew 37 years ago that Silicon Valley would become the center of the universe!" he said.

Rangaswami became a US citizen some 25 years ago.

"For the past 22 years as an investor, I have put my own capital into over 75 startups, many of them started by immigrants. The results have been gratifying, and put me on the Forbes Midas list as a successful venture investor," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Taliban said Wednesday its negotiators would next week meet the top US and Pakistani officials including Prime Minister Imran Khan during a key round of talks in Islamabad as part of the ongoing Afghan peace talks.

Neither Washington nor Islamabad immediately confirmed the announcement by the Taliban.

On the "formal invitation of the government of Pakistan, another meeting is scheduled to take place between the negotiation teams of the Islamic Emirate and the US on 18th of February, 2019 in Islamabad," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement.

The Taliban's delegation would also meet Prime Minister Khan, the statement said.

Mujahid said the regular round of talks was already scheduled to be held on February 25 in Qatar.

He said that in the meeting with Khan, Taliban would have "comprehensive discussions about Pak-Afghan relations and issues pertaining to Afghan refugees and Afghan businessmen".

Though there was no official confirmation, diplomatic sources in Pakistan said that the Taliban delegation would visit Pakistan and hold talks with both American and Pakistani officials.

The Taliban and the US are in a discussion to end more than a 17-year long bloody war in Afghanistan.

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.

Special US Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad recently said after six days of talks with the Taliban representatives in Doha last month that the US has made "significant progress" in its peace talks with the Taliban.

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 in more than 17 years.

US 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.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Azerbaijan's company Azhazelnut has signed a contract for the export of 21 tons of hazelnuts to Russia, while the company A+Co signed a contract for the export of 20 tons of wine to Russia, the Azerbaijani Economy Ministry reported.

The Azerbaijani company Jalilabad Sherab-2 signed an agreement to export 100,000 bottles of wine to Russia.

A number of export agreements on the supply of Azerbaijani goods was signed during negotiations held between Azerbaijani companies and foreign partners participating in the international food exhibition PRODEXPO 2019 in Moscow.

Thus, the Azerbaijani company Gilan Agro and FMCG Group will supply canned products to Russia, the company Cuve will supply hazelnuts, Aznar - pomegranate juice, D fruits - canned fruits and dried fruits, Tac - soft drinks, Buta Agro - fresh fruits and vegetables.ACT Fibernet Thursday said it will expand its services in three new cities and is firming up plans to ramp up its play in the gaming segment as the Internet services provider looks to offer a differentiated experience to customers.

The company, which has about 2.5 million cable and broadband subscribers, has also revamped its brand identity with a new logo. Its broadband services are available in 16 cities in India currently.

"We have recently started our services in Madurai and Warangal, and in the next 3-6 months, we will expand into Lucknow, Jaipur and Ahmedabad. Setting up infrastructure takes time as optical fibre needs to be laid down...We do not want to be seen as a regional player and will be present across India, especially the big cities," Atria Convergence Technologies CEO Bala Malladi told PTI.

He added that the company's capital expenditure was to the tune of about Rs 800 crore in 2016-17 and 2017-18.

ACT offers cable, broadband and enterprise services. It had filed a Draft Red Herring Prospectus in March, 2018 and has recently received all approvals. It now has a year's time to bring out its initial public offering (IPO).

Asked if Reliance Jio's fixed-line fibre broadband service would impact its business, Malladi answered in the negative.

"I don't want to comment on competitors. It is important to remember that there is a huge opportunity in the Indian market. The penetration of fixed-line broadband is about seven per cent, so there is a big opportunity," he said.

Malladi said the company is also aggressively expanding offerings for its broadband customers by forming alliances with content providers.

"We have partnerships with HOOQ, ALT Balaji and others, and are bringing on other players like ZEE 5 and Sony Liv on our platform as well. We want to give choice to our customers and are offering special bundled plans to our users," he said.

Malladi said another area of focus going ahead will be gaming.

"We have seen strong usage of our services in the gaming community. We are in discussions with various players in the ecosystem like console makers, gaming titles publishers, gaming cafes etc to bring these to this growing segment of gaming enthusiasts," he added.

Malladi said the company will also expand its footprint of WiFi hotspots across Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru and offer the service in Delhi in the coming months as well.

ACT Fibernet - which has over 4,000 such hotspots - aims to take the number to more than 5,000. The company is also jointly working with various state governments to enable free WiFi connectivity in public libraries and schools.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Four absconding Sterling Biotech Ltd (SBL) promoters moved a Delhi court on Thursday seeking cancellation of open-ended Non-Bailable Warrants issued against them in the Rs 8,100 crore bank fraud case, saying the NBWs were "illegal", "arbitrary" and "malicious".

Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and directed them -- Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara, Chetankumar Jayantilal Sandesara, Dipti Chetan Sandesara and Hiteshkumar Narendrabhai Patel -- to furnish their address to the agency within 15 days.

The court put up the matter for hearing on April 2.

The ED, through Special Public Prosecutor Nitesh Rana, opposed their plea saying extradition proceedings from Italy and Nigeria are being carried out against the Sandesaras as they have been absconding and an open ended NBW was obtained from the court for this purpose.

Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the promoters, said that the very fact they have adopted and taken recourse of all the legal remedies guaranteed to them under law demolished the entire cause of action for NBWs.

Therefore, he said, NBWs should be cancelled, or alternatively stayed till the next hearing.

"It (issuance of NBWs) was illegal being arbitrary, malicious and non-est (bad) in law," the plea said while seeking directions to the ED to supply the entire material and documents of the case to them.

The promoters have also sought permission to be represented in the court through their counsel.

The application said that the promoters reserved their right to file a detailed reply along with the objections in the proceedings, which was impossible in the absence of any material/documents filed by the prosecuting agency.

"No notice was ever served to the applicants (Sandesaras) and they were appearing before the court in pursuant to the electronic and print media reports," it said.

The court had on January 21 allowed the agency to go ahead with the extradition process initiated against four SBL promoters including Hiteshkumar Narendrabhai Patel.

Another SBL promoter Hemant Hathi, who was earlier chargesheeted by the ED, appeared in the court in pursuance to the summons and moved a bail application. There was no NBW against Hemant.

The court granted him bail on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and a surety of the like amount.

Hathi is one of the accused in the case along with other promoters -- Sandesaras, Patel, Rajbhushan Dixit and middleman Gagan Dhawan.

So far, the agency has chargesheeted over 190 accused, including seven individuals and over 180 companies.

The court had on January 5 issued open-ended NBWs against the four accused. An "open-ended NBW" does not carry a time limit for execution unlike non-bailable warrants.

The agency had on December 24 last year informed the court that it wanted to approach Interpol for issuance of Red Corner Notice (RCN) against the SBL's directors and the Interpol guidelines for opening RCN against the four accused persons required open-ended NBWs from the court.

The ED has registered the alleged bank fraud case against the firm SBL under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The accused are also being probed by the ED for allegedly bribing senior income tax department officials as part of an earlier criminal complaint.

The agency has also attached a number of properties belonging to the accused and a charge sheet was filed against them and others.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two of the main promoters of the Sterling Biotech Ltd (SBL), Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara and Chetankumar Jayantilal Sandesara, along with Dipti Chetan Sandesara on Thursday moved a Delhi court seeking cancellation of Non-Bailable Warrants (NBWs) issued against them in the Rs 8,100 crore bank fraud case.

The Sandesaras moved an application through their counsel before Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora, who directed them to furnish their address to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) within 15 days and listed the matter for April 2.

Besides cancellation of NBW issued against them, the Sandesaras have also sought permission to appear in court through their counsel.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposed their plea, saying extradition proceedings from Italy and Nigeria are being carried out against the Sandesaras as they have been absconding since the investigation and an open ended NBW was obtained from the court for this purpose.

The court had on January 21 allowed the agency to go ahead with the extradition process initiated against four of the Sterling Biotech promoters including the Sandesara brothers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Absconding Sterling Biotech Ltd (SBL) promoters -- Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara, Chetankumar Jayantilal Sandesara and Dipti Chetan Sandesara -- moved a Delhi court Thursday seeking cancellation of Non-Bailable Warrants (NBWs) issued against them in the Rs 8,100 crore bank fraud case.

They moved the application through their counsel before Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora, who directed them to furnish their address to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) within 15 days and listed the matter for April 2.

The promoters have also sought permission to be represented in the court through their counsel.

The ED opposed their plea, saying extradition proceedings from Italy and Nigeria are being carried out against the Sandesaras as they have been absconding since the investigation and an open ended NBW was obtained from the court for this purpose.

The court had on January 21 allowed the agency to go ahead with the extradition process initiated against four SBL promoters including Hiteshkumar Narendrabhai Patel.

Another SBL promoter Hemant Hathi, who was earlier chargesheeted by the ED, appeared in the court in pursuance to the summons and moved a bail application. There was no NBW against Hemant.

The court granted him bail on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and a surety of the like amount.

Hathi is one of the accused in the case along with other promoters -- Sandesaras, Patel, Rajbhushan Dixit and middleman Gagan Dhawan.

So far, the agency has chargesheeted over 190 accused, including seven individuals and over 180 companies.

The court had on January 5 issued open-ended NBWs against the four accused.

An "open-ended NBW" does not carry a time limit for execution unlike non-bailable warrants.

The agency had on December 24 last year informed the court that it wanted to approach Interpol for issuance of Red Corner Notice (RCN) against the SBL's directors and the Interpol guidelines for opening RCN against the four accused persons required open-ended NBWs from the court.

The ED has registered the alleged bank fraud case against the firm SBL under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The accused are also being probed by the ED for allegedly bribing senior income tax department officials as part of an earlier criminal complaint.

The agency has also attached a number of properties belonging to the accused and a charge sheet was filed against them and others.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Muslim cleric, who is absconding as he faces charges of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl, Thursday moved the Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail and claimed that the case against him was "false" and "politically motivated."



A case has been registered against Shafeeq Al Qasimi, the former chief Imam (cleric) of a rural mosque at Tholicode near Thiruvananthapuram, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for luring the girl to an isolated forest area and allegedly sexually assaulting her last week, police said.

The incident came to light after a group of local women had confronted the cleric after seeing him with the school-going girl in the forest, they said, adding that the cleric was absconding since then.

In his bail plea, Qasimi, who was removed as Imam of the mosque soon after the issue surfaced, claimed that the entire allegations were "false" and "politically motivated."



He said the girl and the family used to travel with him.

"The present case is politically motivated and instituted at the instance of the president of the mosque committee who belongs to the CPI (M)," he said in his anticipatory bail plea.

As a religious orator, he used to speak at the platforms of the SDPI (Social Democratic Party of India), a rival political party, it said.

He alleged that the girl was being repeatedly tortured and persuaded to give "false statement" against him.

Qasimi also said he was ready to cooperate with the investigation but apprehended custodial torture in the event of arrest.

Meanwhile, police Thursday recorded the girl's statement in Thiruvananthapuram.

A manhunt is on to nab the absconding cleric, police said.

The girl and her family were yet to submit a former complaint against the cleric and the POCSO case was registered against him on February 12 based on the mosque committee's statement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The North East region is for its indigenous people and not for Bangladeshis, asserted NESO and AASU Chief Advisor Dr Samujjal Bhattacharya, who demanded that the three orders pertaining to foreigners issued in 2015 be scrapped.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday after the Citizenship Amendment Bill was not tabled in the Rajya Sabha Wednesday, Bhattacharya claimed, "the black cloud over the existence of the people of the north east region is still there as the orders granting protection to Bangladeshis are still active".

"Citizenship (Amendment) Order, 2015, Passport (Entry into India) Amendment Rules 2015 and granting of long term visa to Bangladeshi Hindus are still there, they have to be scrapped", stated the North East Students Organisation (NESO) leader.

"Yesterday's victory is due to the north east peoples' united unflinching fight against the CAB. It proved that the north east people don't get anything without agitation. If there was no widespread agitation in the region along with support of the various political parties across India, then the Bill would have not been stopped from being placed in the rajya sabha", he claimed.

"We want to give a strong warning to the government of india....don't play with the future of the indigenous people here. Do not make that mistake. through the bill the government pushed the people of northeast mentally very far", he stated.

"The BJP through Government of India inflicted mental torture on the people of northeast forcing them to take bullets in Tripura, police beatings in Assam and women to sleep on the streets in Manipur. Not listening to the voice of the people, the government brought the bill and the anti-cab movement started", Bhattacharya averred.

"By imposing the bill the government wanted to take away our identity, language, culture and heritage. Even the NRC which will identify the illegal Bangladeshis in Assam", he charged the administration.

"We strongly warn the Government of India that don't polarise Assam and the northeast on lines of religion as the culture here is not religion centric. There is no place for communal forces or fundamentalists in Assam. We resist such moves.

We don't want a second Tripura or Jammu and Kashmir where the indigenous people have become minorities. Northeast is for its indigenous people and not for Bangladeshis", asserted the NESO leader.

On the cab not being tabled in the rajya sabha Wednesday, Bhattacharya said "it is peoples victory. Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma took the leadership to mobilise opinion nationally with other political parties against the bill."



All Assam Students Union (AASU) president Dipanka Nath and general secretary Luringjyoti Gogoi also speaking said the movement has to continue to prevent the government from attempting to bring an ordinance in the lines of cab to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Christians, Jains, Sikhs and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan without documents.

Students leaders of the seven N-E states whose oganisations are constituents of NESO, expressing similar sentiments thanked Chief Ministers Bihar Nitish Kumar his counterparts in Mizoram, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh-- Zoramthanga, N Biren Singh and Pema Khandu respectively for opposing the bill.

They also thanked various other political parties, organisations, intellectuals, media, artistes and others for agitating against the bill.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Aam Aadmi Party is keen on an alliance with the Congress in Delhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed Thursday.

It is now up to the Congress to reciprocate, she said.

"Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi chief minister and AAP chief) wants an alliance with the Congress in Delhi," Banerjee, who is also the Trinamool Congress chief, told reporters.

Banerjee said she respected the decision of political parties which cannot take a call on pre-poll alliance because of political compulsions.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal said the Congress had "more or less" declined to have an alliance in Delhi.

He also said the BJP will benefit in a three-cornered fight in the national capital.

Kejriwal's remark came a day after he had participated in a meeting with opposition leaders, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The AAP government has not yet notified the National Legal Services Authority's (NALSA) scheme for compensating victims of sexual abuse and acid attacks, despite the Supreme Court's direction to notify it by October 2 last, the Delhi High Court was told Thursday.

The Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) told Justice Vibhu Bakhru that the apex court by its order of September 5, 2018 had directed that the scheme be made operational across the country by October 2, 2018.

The submission by advocate Sumer Sethi, appearing for DSLSA, was made during hearing of the pleas of several women, who are victims of acid attack, challenging the cap on the compensation to be awarded in such cases.

Earlier under the Delhi Victim Compensation Scheme of 2015, the compensation amount was Rs three lakh which was in 2017 increased to Rs seven lakh by the AAP government.

However, the victims of the acid attacks have sought much higher compensation ranging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh, apart from employment under the disabled quota and reimbursement of the cost of treatment undertaken at private hospitals.

The Delhi government, represented by its additional standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi, told the court that under the NALSA scheme the treatment would be free and if not available in the public hospitals, then a nodal officer would refer the patient to a private hospital and the medical bills would be later reimbursed.

He said that under the new scheme, the compensation is awarded in accordance with the percentage of burns and is capped at a maximum of Rs eight lakh.

According to the NALSA scheme victims of acid attacks, in case of disfigurement of the face, would get a minimum compensation of Rs 7 lakh, while the upper limit would be Rs 8 lakh.

It also says that if the injury was more than 50 per cent, a minimum compensation of Rs 5 lakh would be given, while the maximum would be Rs 8 lakh.

During the hearing, Tripathi also told the court that under the scheme acid attack victims are included in the disabled category with regard to employment opportunities.

The lawyer for the victims told the court that in states of Punjab and Haryana, the victims can directly go to a private hospital for treatment and the medical bills are reimbursed.

He sought that a similar approach be adopted in Delhi also.

After hearing the arguments, the court asked the Delhi government to examine if the cases it was hearing would be covered by the scheme and listed the matter on March 11.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Celebrating Valentine's Day in a different manner, over 75,000 food packets were distributed to the poor here Thursday under an initiative of the city civic body, supported by CII, hoteliers and others.

The objective of the Feed the Need - No One Goes Hungry initiative was to make the Telangana capital hunuger-free and promote love and compassion among its citizens and Valentines Day was chosen to promote this cause, a CII release said.

CII Telangana and Young Indians-Hyderabad team along with several hoteliers and others joined hands with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation in the initiative.

Hyderabad MayorBonthu Rammohan, who launched the programme, appealed to hotel owners to extend their support to it.

Officials said the initiative would be continued and similar mass feeding would be organised on important days.

Corporation officials said over 75,000 food packets were distributed in different locations.

GHMC Commissioner M Dana Kishore said a special app would be specifically designed for Feed the Need programme to create a network to provide food for the poor and needy people and many hotel owners and NGOs have come forward to join hands with the corporation for this initiative.

The GHMC in 2014 launched a project offering meals for the poor at Rs 5 and around 45,000 people are being daily facilitated food through 150 Annapurna Centres in the city.

GHMC in partnership with an NGO has recently introduced FEED THE NEED public refrigerators where food leftover from weddings and other functions would be stored for the poor.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 72-year-old man here offered to sell one of his kidneys to re-build his home destroyed in the August floods, saying it was an act of desperation as all efforts to get government assistance had failed.

Joseph, who is a farmer, in a handwritten plea on the parapet of the remaining portion of his dilapidated house, said he was ready sell a kidney and that he "did not get even the promised Rs 10,000 assistance of the state government".

Joseph, who lives with his wife Alice, said though he was aware that selling kidney was illegal, he was desperate to draw attention to his plight as panchayat officials had allegedly demanded bribe and denied him relief.

He claimed his wife was mocked when she had gone to meet the officials to seek help.

As television channels aired visuals of Joseph in front of his run down house, Kerala government on Thursday rushed to offer all assistance to the septuagenarian couple in the hilly district of Idukki.

The devastating floods had damaged the roofs and walls of their home six months ago.

"I felt that committing suicide was a cowardly act and hence did not resort to it. Though I am aware that selling kidney was illegal, I had no other choice.

"This was also to highlight our plight," Joseph told PTI.

Authorities have now swung into action to help the couple.

Hailing from Vellathooval in flood-hit Idukki district, Joseph said, "If I sell a kidney I can clean up my well and begin work on reconstructing the house and give a portion to bribe the officials."



According to the Transplantation of Human Organ Act (THO), 1994 selling any human organ in India is an illegal act and a crime.

"I am a person with lot of ailments and especially after the floods and the partial destruction of my home, I always feel dizzy and there were several occasions we had to go without meals as there was no money left," he said.

After the visuals went viral Thursday, Idukki district collector Jeevan Babu, Devikulam MLA S Rajendran and the panchayat president visited the elderly couple and offered all help.

"I hope that the collector understood that it was panchayat's fault that we were denied any kind of flood assistance," Joseph said.

The village officer visited this morning and allotted Rs 2.5 lakh, he said.

The couple have two daughters, who are married and live far away.

Joseph recalled that he was part of the workforce when the construction of the 554.2 feet Idukki dam, the highest arch dams in Asia, began in 1969.

He also undertook other construction works and the money he thus earned was used to build the house.

Two portions of the house had been let out by the couple which was their source of income.

Joseph alleged that genuine applicants were still awaiting assistance.

The elderly man said he had to shell out Rs 70,000 to remove the mud from his house left by the flood waters, and as per reports prepared by officials, only 29 per cent of his house had been damaged.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Constitutional Court has accepted the application submitted by former Armenian president Robert Kocharyans attorneys for proceedings.

Upon a procedural decision, the Constitutional Court has addressed the application that the attorneys of Robert Kocharyan submitted on 18 January and decided to accept it for proceedings," the press release issued by Robert Kocharyans attorneys reads.

The application submitted by Kocharyan's attorneys concerns the legislative regulations provided for in part 2 of Article 419 of the Criminal Procedure Code. In the application, the attorneys also raised the issues regarding the general gap in law in regard to the absence of reasonable time limits for examination of detention in the cassation proceedings and other issues.

The trial over the case is set to start on 9 April, News.am reported.Iraqi priest: "Bartella is the epicenter, but threats also involve Karamles and Qaraqosh. A "demographic distortion" plan is underway, orchestrated by Shiite leaders and supporters in Baghdad. The Iraqi Church rejects armed response and continues in dialogue. We need an institutional police force open to Christians too.

Karamles (AsiaNews) - There is no peace for Christians in northern Iraq. If, on the one hand, the memory of the violence perpetrated by Islamic State jihadists (SI, ex Isis) is still alive, in recent weeks another threat is shadowing the future of the community: the Shiite militias linked to the Shabak, who are in fact hindering Christians return to the Nineveh plain.

The epicenter of this new chapter of anti-Christian persecution is Bartella, increasingly drapped with banners depicting the militia battles against Isis as well as saints and sacred figures of the Shiite tradition.

"Bartella is a problem, a special case", says Paolo Thabit Mekko, head of the Christian community in Karamles, speaking to AsiaNews. "In recent years - he continues - the presence of Shabak has increased dramatically and Christians are afraid to return. At least 600 families who have fled in the IS era are still in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, and have no prospect of return at the moment. There is a real demographic upheaval in the city, which began in 2003 after the US invasion and which has accelerated in the last period ".

The presence of local Shiite militias, adds Don Paolo, "creates unease and the prospects for the future arouse anger and concern". The priest sees a behind-the-scenes attempt to "change the demographics of the area", according to some a "design" orchestrated by the Shiite leadership and maneuvered from the outside, with the complicity of a part "of the Shabak politicians and exponents in Baghdad who support them ".

Until 30 years ago, the population of Bartella was entirely Christian. The demographic changes of the last decades have turned the composition upside down, ending up dividing it in half between Christians and Shabak, a largely Shiite Muslim ethnic group. When the Islamic State (SI, former Isis) conquered much of northern Iraq, including the Nineveh Plain, the entire population of Bartella left the area due to persecution by Sunni radicals.

Today, two years after the ousting of the "Caliphate" jihadists, less than a third of the original 3800 families that populated the town have returned. Most of them are still in exile and there is fear of returning due to persecution, threats and intimidation perpetrated by some members of the Shabak community, which presides over the Shiite militias that control the area.

Following the expulsion of Isis, confessional divisions, militias and armed groups are emerging with increasing strength, trying to get hold of growing sections of territory in northern Iraq, above all in the plain of Nineveh, which was once almost entirely Christian. Qusay Abbas, a member of the Shabaks in Parliament, said the attacks were the work of a small, unrepresentative minority.

But the stories (and complaints) from Bartella and other towns in the area tell another truth: That the Shiite militias are trying - most of the time by force - to eliminate the Christian component. In fact the cases of sexual attacks, thefts, threats and violence against private individuals is becoming more and more frequent. Recently, an ethnic Shabak man fired bullets in the air for over an hour in front of a church in the town.

"What is happening to Bartella - underlines Don Paolo - is repeated, albeit to a lesser extent, in other areas of the plain such as Karamles and Qaraqosh. We are facing a movement that seeks to expand ".

"A council of the sages of the Nineveh plain - he continues - which includes Christians, Arabs, shabaks has initiated dialogue and is trying to resolve the situation. Unfortunately there are no official agreements and there is no way to apply the rare agreements between the parties ".

In this context the Iraqi Church remains firm on the refusal to create a Christian armed militia and strengthens the initiatives of meeting and confrontation. "The situation remains delicate - concludes the priest - and Christians are afraid. One of the solutions that can be followed, and which we hope, is the establishment of an official, institutional police force, within which Christians can also contribute to enlisting the protection of law and order".Six illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, all members of a family, were arrested early Thursday in Assam's Morigaon district, a senior police officer said here.

The family went missing four months ago after the Supreme Court rejected their plea challenging a Gauhati High Court order, which declared them as illegal migrants, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Border), Morigaon, D R Bora, said.

The apex court had also directed them to surrender before police, the DSP said.

"The arrested immigrants, including two women, were declared 'foreigners' by the Foreigners Tribunal here and the Gauhati High Court also upheld the decision.

"The family then approached the Supreme Court, which rejected their petition and asked them to surrender," Bora told reporters.

The immigrants who were arrested Thursday have been identified as Amez Ali, Sirazul Hoque, Somet Ali, Golap Ali, Yumuri Begum and Robisa Begum, he said, adding that all six of them have been sent to a detention camp in Tejpur.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)There are 6.1 lakh more voters in the electoral roll of the national capital than what it was in 2015 and representatives of various political parties have been informed about it, officials of the Delhi CEO office said Thursday.

The AAP has been alleging "deletion" of names of 30 lakh voters, particularly of Purvanchali, Muslims and Bania communities, since the 2015 assembly election in Delhi and attacking the BJP claiming its hand behind it.

"Representatives of recognised national and state-level political parties, including the AAP, Congress, BJP, CPI, CPI(M) met yesterday in the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) here to discuss various issues relating to the electoral rolls and the upcoming general elections," a senior official of the CEO office said.

The representatives of the political parties were apprised of the status of electoral rolls for the period 2015 to 2019, he said.

The Delhi CEO office has also issued a statement on the meeting.

"It was informed that 17,54,356 electors have been added and 11,44,316 electors have been deleted. Hence, there is a net addition of 6,10,040 electors since the year 2015," the statement said.

So, as per the figures, there is a "net addition" in the roll since 2015, the official said.

The representatives were requested to appoint booth-level agents for each polling station of Delhi and create awareness among the citizens here to check if their names are in the electoral rolls, and also enroll themselves either online on the National Voter Service Portal (NVSP) or at voter centres, the statement said.

"In the end, it was unanimously decided to organise special camps at all polling locations on Saturday or Sunday to enroll unenrolled eligible citizens and first-time voters in the age group of 18-19," it added.

According to the final electoral roll published on January 18 ahead of the general elections, over 1.36 crore voters are there in Delhi, an increase of nearly 8 per cent from the total number of electors in the last Lok Sabha polls, officials said.

"The total number electors (in Delhi) during the general elections in 2014 were 1,27,06,366, whereas the count of electors as per the final roll published January 18, stands at 1,36,95,291, an increase of 9,88,925 (or 7.78 per cent)," the Delhi CEO office stated.

However, the figure is 0.87 per cent less than the total number of electors in the last electoral roll, published on January 10, 2018, it said.

The number of electors are likely to increase during continuous update process undertaken before the next elections due in 2019, it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least 39 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district that also left many critically wounded, officials said.

More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir around 3.15 pm.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place about 20 km from Srinagar, officials said.

Police identified the suicide bomber as Adil Ahmed, who officials said joined the Jaish in 2018.

He was driving a vehicle packed with over 100 kg of explosives on the wrong side of the road and hit the bus, in which 39-44 personnel were travelling, head-on, an official at the spot said.

"There are no survivors from the bus," he said, adding that they were yet to ascertain exactly how many people were on the bus.

The powerful explosion, which reduced the bus to a mangled heap of iron, was heard many kilometres away, including in some parts of Srinagar adjoining Pulwama district.

Body parts could be seen strewn around the area.

Officials said 42 CRPF personnel have lost their lives and some others are critical. They refused to give an exact number for those injured.

"The bodies are dismembered and mutilated making it difficult for doctors to give the exact number of casualties," a senior security establishment official told PTI in Delhi.

The bus that was the focus of the attack belongs to the 76th battalion of the force.

"It was a large convoy and about 2,500 personnel were travelling in multiple vehicles. Some shots were also fired at the convoy," CRPF DG R R Bhatnagar told PTI.

The Cabinet Committee on Security will meet Friday morning to discuss the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir against the backdrop of the attack, sources said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who spoke to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and top officials after the attack, termed it despicable and asserted that the sacrifices of security personnel will not go in vain.

In a statement



, Singh said the government is determined to foil the designs of those who want to disrupt peace through such a terror attack "sponsored and sheltered by Pakistan".

"Jaish-e-Mohammed has carried out this terror attack. We assure the country that we will undertake whatever it takes to avenge this," he said.

His deputy Kiren Rijiju said the "cowardly" attack will not go unpunished and it will be avenged in "all way possible".

The convoy had started from Jammu around 3.30 am and was supposed to reach Srinagar before sunset, officials said.

The number of personnel travelling back to the Valley was high as there was no movement on the highway for the last two to three days because of bad weather and other administrative reasons, they said.

Usually, about 1,000 personnel are part of a convoy but this time it was a total of 2,547 personnel.

A road opening party was deployed and the convoy had armoured counter-terror vehicles, officials said.

As of the magnitude of the attack came in, political leaders from across the spectrum spoke out in condemnation and to condole the deaths of the security personnel.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi said he was deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on the convoy in which so many CRPF men were killed.

Stating that he was "pained beyond words", BJP chief Amit Shah described the terror strike as an "act of cowardice" and asserted that security forces will defeat those involved in terrorist activities.

"Our forces will remain firm against such acts of terror and defeat them," he said on Twitter.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the attack in the strongest terms.

Singh, who also spoke to Governor Satya Pal Malik and took stock of the situation, cancelled his engagements in Bihar on Friday. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba cut short his visit to Bhutan.

A team of the National Investigation Agency and National Security Guards will leave for Kashmir on Friday morning to assist in the investigation.

This was the first suicide car bomb attack in Kashmir since the 2001 strike on the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly in which 41 people, including three suicide attackers, were killed.

The scene of Thursday's attack is not very far from the Commando Training Centre at Lethpora, which was stormed by Jaish militants on December 31, 2017, killing five CRPF personnel.

The Srinagar-Jammu national highway has been a favoured route for militants to target security forces.

The CRPF bore the brunt of a militant attack at Pampore, less than seven kilometres from Lethpora, in June 2016, losing eight jawans while 22 others sustained injuries.

In February of that year, militants attacked a CRPF convoy in Pampore area before taking refuge in a government building. The operation lasted more than two days and resulted in the death of nine persons, including three Army men.

In an attack on the Uri military base in September 2016, Jaish militants killed 18 Army jawans and injured dozens of others. The ferocity of the attack led to India conducting a surgical strike against Pakistan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least 37 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district, officials said.

The CRPF headquarters in Delhi issued a statement late night to state the figures even as CRPF officials and Jammu and Kashmir police sources had earlier put the death toll at 39.

"We regret to inform that 37 personnel attained martyrdom and five personnel were injured in the ID blast at Awantipora in Jammu and Kashmir. The injured are being treated at the 92 base hospital of the Army in Srinagar," the CRPF statement said.

More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir around 3.15 pm.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place about 20 km from Srinagar, officials said.

Police identified the suicide bomber as Adil Ahmed, who officials said joined the Jaish in 2018.

He was driving a vehicle packed with over 100 kg of explosives on the wrong side of the road and hit the bus, in which an estimated 39-44 personnel were travelling, head-on, an official at the spot said.

"There are no survivors from the bus," he said, adding that they were yet to ascertain exactly how many people were on the bus.

JeM claimed the terrorist drove the SUV carrying 350 kg of explosives. However, army and other security agencies disputed the claim and said it was a mere propaganda.

The powerful explosion, which reduced the bus to a mangled heap of iron, was heard many kilometres away, including in some parts of Srinagar adjoining Pulwama district.

Body parts could be seen strewn around the area.

"The bodies are dismembered and mutilated making it difficult for doctors to give the exact number of casualties," a senior security establishment official told PTI in Delhi.

The bus that was the focus of the attack belongs to the 76th battalion of the force.

"It was a large convoy and about 2,500 personnel were travelling in multiple vehicles. Some shots were also fired at the convoy," CRPF DG R R Bhatnagar told PTI.

The Cabinet Committee on Security will meet Friday morning to discuss the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir against the backdrop of the attack, sources said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who spoke to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and top officials after the attack, termed it despicable and asserted that the sacrifices of security personnel will not go in vain.

In a statement



, Singh said the government is determined to foil the designs of those who want to disrupt peace through such a terror attack "sponsored and sheltered by Pakistan".

"Jaish-e-Mohammed has carried out this terror attack. We assure the country that we will undertake whatever it takes to avenge this," he said.

His deputy Kiren Rijiju said the "cowardly" attack will not go unpunished and it will be avenged in "all way possible".

The convoy had started from Jammu around 3.30 am and was supposed to reach Srinagar before sunset, officials said.

The number of personnel travelling back to the Valley was high as there was no movement on the highway for the last two to three days because of bad weather and other administrative reasons, they said.

Usually, about 1,000 personnel are part of a convoy but this time it was a total of 2,547 personnel.

A road opening party was deployed and the convoy had armoured counter-terror vehicles, officials said.

As of the magnitude of the attack came in, political leaders from across the spectrum spoke out in condemnation and to condole the deaths of the security personnel.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi said he was deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on the convoy in which so many CRPF men were killed.

Stating that he was "pained beyond words", BJP chief Amit Shah described the terror strike as an "act of cowardice" and asserted that security forces will defeat those involved in terrorist activities.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the attack in the strongest terms.

Singh, who also spoke to Governor Satya Pal Malik and took stock of the situation, cancelled his engagements in Bihar on Friday. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba cut short his visit to Bhutan.

A team of National Investigation Agency and National Security Guards will leave for Kashmir Friday morning to assist in the investigation.

This was the first suicide car bomb attack in Kashmir since the 2001 strike on the Legislative Assembly in which 41 people, including three suicide attackers, were killed.

The scene of Thursday's attack is not very far from the Commando Training Centre at Lethpora, which was stormed by Jaish militants on December 31, 2017, killing five CRPF personnel.

The Srinagar-Jammu national highway has been a favoured route for militants to target security forces.

The CRPF bore the brunt of a militant attack at Pampore, less than seven km from Lethpora, in June 2016, losing eight jawans while 22 others sustained injuries.

In an attack on the Uri military base in September 2016, Jaish militants killed 18 Army jawans and injured dozens of others. The ferocity of the attack led to India conducting a surgical strike against Pakistan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)When the last Soviet tanks rumbled back home across a bridge on the border with Afghanistan 30 years ago, the withdrawal was hailed as a much-anticipated end to a bloody quagmire.

Since then, Moscow's view of the war has changed radically. As Russia prepares to mark Friday's anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal, many see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavour.

Just like the ongoing Russian campaign in Syria, the Afghan war is widely perceived as a legitimate action against U.S.-backed militants.

And in a twist of history, Russia also has emerged as an influential power broker in Afghanistan, mediating between feuding factions as it jockeys with Washington for influence in a country where a U.S.-led coalition has been fighting for more than 17 years.

Ata Mohammad Noor, a former warlord who fought Soviet troops and served as governor of the northern Balkh province from 2004-2018, attended a meeting last week in Moscow that brought together former Afghan officials, opposition figures and the Taliban.

"I don't think that Russia would like to repeat what it did in the past. It's totally different today," Noor said in an interview with The Associated Press. "On the other side, there have been 40 years of war in our country, and the Afghan people are all tired of war. People would support any country that would step forward to bring peace."



The statement carries particular weight coming from a man who played a key role in defeating the Soviet army, was badly wounded in combat, and proudly recalls how his mujahedeen fighters destroyed countless Red Army tanks and dozens of warplanes. After the long U.S. involvement, Afghans are deeply critical of the coalition forces.

Even those who fought in the 1980s give grudging credit to Moscow for leaving a legacy that outshines Washington's. They point out that Russian left behind a strong and disciplined army and a 400-bed military hospital that is still among the country's best health facilities. Some note that while communist President Najibullah's government was ruthless, it was not wracked by the widespread corruption that has plagued Afghanistan's U.S.-backed government.

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, driven by fears that the U.S. could try to establish a foothold next to Soviet republics in Central Asia after losing Iran in the Islamic Revolution. Moscow's initial plans for a quick operation were derailed by fierce rebel resistance, and in the years of fighting that followed, the Soviet Union lost more than 15,000 troops, according to official data. Estimates of civilian casualties in that period vary widely, from more than 500,000 up to 2 million.

The Soviet intervention drew strong international condemnation and imposed a heavy burden on the struggling Soviet economy. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ordered the pullout amid his efforts to conduct liberal reforms and end confrontation with the West. Afghanistan's communist government held for three more years, collapsing shortly after the December 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.

Nikita Mendkovich, a Moscow-based expert on Afghanistan, said Russia's economic meltdown after 1992 resulted in the abrupt termination of fuel supplies to Afghanistan, triggering the fall of Najibullah.

"The tragedy of Afghanistan was one of many other tragedies caused by the Soviet breakup," he said.

Mendkovich emphasized the changing public perception of the war, saying that it's now widely seen as "painful, but necessary and even inevitable." Many Russian officials and lawmakers argue that the U.S. performance in Afghanistan has been far less successful than that of the Soviet Union.

"The army trained by the Soviet Union could stand alone for three years," said Zamir Kabulov, President Vladimir Putin's envoy for Afghanistan. "As for this one trained by the Americans, you listen to the Afghans. They aren't sure about even one month." He acknowledged that the Soviet Union made many errors in Afghanistan, driven by communist dogmas and ignoring local conditions.

"The Soviet leadership has become hostage of its own decision," he said. "They wanted to look at Afghanistan as a new socialist state. That was a mistake." In one example, he recalled how Soviet advisers stubbornly tried to conduct a socialist-style land reform, distributing tracts that belonged to tribal leaders to farmers, who then turned it back to original owners.

Kabulov charged that the U.S. ignored the Soviet lessons and made the same mistake in trying to foster the creation of a Western-style democracy in Afghanistan. "It's a pity that our American colleagues don't learn history; they prefer to make history," Kabulov said with a sardonic smile.

He noted that the U.S. support for the mujahedeen played a key role during the Soviet war, adding that the U.S. later paid the price for backing insurgents like Osama bin Laden who was among those who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan.

"They (the Americans) were obsessed with building Vietnam for the Soviet Union," Kabulov said. "They believed everything is good to crush bloody Russians, so they got it back now." Afghanistan veteran Sergey Zhidkov recalled that in the early stages of the Soviet war, clashes were rare and roads were relatively safe, but the rebels quickly strengthened and ambushes became routine.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Three men have been arrested near Laxmi Nagar here for allegedly supply pistols to criminals in the northern states of the country, police said Thursday.

Aslam (36), Sukhvinder Singh (30) and Rupesh Sharma (34), reportedly members of an Uttar Pradesh-based gang and supplied weapons in parts of UP, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, they said.

The arrests was made on Wednesday. Aslam was spotted in Laxmi Nagar area with a bag and after sometime, when two men arrived and received pistols from him they were nabbed, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East)Jasmeet Singh said.

During interrogation, Aslam, who had been in jail a number of times, told police that he came in contact with weapon manufacturers in Munger in Bihar and Meerut in UP, and started supplying weapons to criminals, the police officer said.

Four sophisticated semi-automatic pistols, seven country-made pistols, four magazines and 52 cartridges have been seized, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In the last few years, globalisation has come under renewed attack. Some of the criticisms may be misplaced, but one is spot on: Globalisation has enabled large multinationals, like Apple, Google, and Starbucks, to avoid paying tax.

has become the poster child for avoidance, with its legal claim that a few hundred people working in Ireland were the real source of its profits, and then striking a deal with that countrys government that resulted in its paying a tax amounting to 0.005 per cent of its profit. Apple, Google, Starbucks, and companies like them all claim to be socially responsible, but the first element of social responsibility should be paying your fair share of tax. If everyone avoided and evaded taxes like these companies, society could not function, much less make the public investments that led to the Internet, on which and Google depend.

For years, multinational corporations have encouraged a race to the bottom, telling each country that it must lower its taxes below that of its competitors. US President Donald Trumps 2017 tax cut culminated that race. A year later, we can see the results: The sugar high it brought to the US economy is quickly fading, leaving behind a mountain of debt (which increased by more than $1 trillion dollars last year).

Spurred on by the threat that the digital economy will deprive governments of the revenues to fund function (as well as distorting the economy away from traditional ways of selling), the international community is at long last recognising that something is wrong. But the flaws in the current framework of multinational taxation  based on so-called transfer pricing  have long been known.

Transfer pricing relies on the well-accepted principle that taxes should reflect where an economic activity occurs. But how is that determined? In a globalised economy, products move repeatedly across borders, typically in an unfinished state: A shirt without buttons, a car without a transmission, a wafer without a chip. The transfer price system assumes that we can establish arms-length values for each stage of production, and thereby assess the value added within a country. But we cant.

The growing role of intellectual property and intangibles makes matters even worse, because ownership claims can easily be moved around the world. Thats why the United States long ago abandoned using the transfer price system within the US, in favour of a formula that attributes companies total profits to each state in proportion to the share of sales, employment, and capital there. We need to move toward such a system at the global level.

How that is actually done, however, makes a great deal of difference. If the formula is based largely on final sales, which occur disproportionately in developed countries, developing countries will be deprived of needed revenues, which will be increasingly missed as fiscal constraints diminish aid flows. Final sales may be appropriate for taxation of digital transactions, but not for manufacturing or other sectors, where it is vital to include employment as well.

Some worry that including employment might exacerbate tax competition, as governments seek to encourage multinationals to create jobs in their jurisdictions. The appropriate response to this concern is to impose a global minimum corporate-income tax. The US and the European Union could  and should  do this on their own. If they did, others would follow, preventing a race in which only the multinationals win.

Since its inception, the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project has made an important contribution to rethinking the taxation of multinationals by advancing understanding of some of the fundamental issues. For example, if there is true value in multinationals, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Standard tax principles of simplicity, efficiency, and equity should guide our thinking in allocating the residual value, as the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (of which I am a member) advocates. But these principles are inconsistent either with retaining the transfer price system or with basing taxes primarily on sales.

Politics matters: The multinationals objective is to gain support for reforms that continue the race to the bottom and maintain opportunities for tax avoidance. Governments in some advanced countries where these companies have significant political influence will support these efforts  even if doing so disadvantages the rest of the country. Other advanced countries, focusing on their own budgets, will simply see this as another opportunity to benefit at the expense of developing countries.

The OECD/G20 initiative refers to its efforts as providing an Inclusive Framework. Such a framework must be guided by principles, not just politics. If the goal is genuine inclusiveness, the top priority must be the wellbeing of the more than six billion people living in developing countries and emerging markets.

The writer is the winner of the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. His most recent book is Globalization and its Discontents Revisited: Anti-Globalization in the Era of

Project Syndicate, 2019From the US to Russia and from Sri Lanka to Bhutan, the world condemned Pakistan-backed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) attack on an Indian security convoy that claimed the lives of over 40 CRPF personnel.

"The US strongly condemns today's terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir," tweeted US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster.

"We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. The United States stands alongside India in confronting terror and defeating it."

Russian said it "condemns in the strongest terms the horrific terrorist attack in Kashmir's Pulwama district, which claimed precious lives of more than 40 CRPF personnel and left numerous people injured".

"We denounce terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and reiterate the need to combat these inhuman acts with decisive and collective response without any double standards," the statement said.

"May we express sincere condolences to the grieving families of the deceased and wish a speedy recovery to those injured."

In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 43 troopers and leaving the security establishment stunned.

The JeM claimed responsibility for the horror and released a video clip of the suicide bomber, a 'commander' identified as Adil Ahmad Dar, which it claimed was shot before the young man carried out the strike in Lethpora, about 30 km from here.

The External Affairs Ministry statement said "India is firmly and resolutely committed to take all necessary measures to safeguard national security".

French Foreign Minister M. Jean-Yves Le Drian also conveyed his condolences to the families of the victims and expressed his country's solidarity with the people and government of India in a message over Twitter.

Sri Lankan Prime Ranil Wickremesinghe also strongly condemned the "brutal terrorist attack" in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989.

"I express my condolences to @narendramodi and the families of police officers who lost their lives," Wickremesinghe tweeted.

In a message to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid condemned the attack and conveyed the Indian Ocean atoll nation's sympathy to the people and government of India.

"It was with deep shock and horror that I learnt of the bomb blast in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, that caused tragic loss of life and distress to many dozens of CRPF personnel. The Government and the people of Maldives join me in condemning this cowardly act of terror.

"At this time of sorrow and devastation, I wish to extend on behalf of the government and the people of the Maldives and in my own name, profound condolences and sympathies to your excellency, the government and the people of India, and especially to the bereaved families of the brave Indian Army," Shahid said.

He said that the Maldives "is fully committed to the fight against terrorism and will continue to work closely with India, and the international community in eliminating this global menace".

Bhutan Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji said that he was "shocked and saddened to hear of the dastardly terrorist attack in Kashmir".

"We strongly condemn this heinous attack and express our solidarity with the families of the victims, and the people and government of India," Dorji tweeted.

--IANS

ab/prs

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bordered by great powers but with their own distinct cultures, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia lie at the crossroads of Asia and Europe. In his book, The Caucasus: An Introduction, Thomas de Waal explains this fascinating region. Carnegie Europe published an interview with researcher.

- What made you want to study and write about this part of the world?

- Ive been going to the region for more than thirty years. When I was a student then a journalist in Moscow, I used to enjoy traveling south, where they still spoke Russian but I wasnt in Russia. The people were friendly and the food was certainly better. There was lots to coverit was a turbulent time with ongoing conflicts and state breakdown. Eventually, I became less of a Russia expert and more of a Caucasus expert, writing a book about the Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Later I realized there was a gap in the market to write a short, readable introduction to the Caucasus as a whole. My pitch was that the book should be bought by someone traveling to the region. When they got off the plane, that person would know the basics. The first edition came out in 2010, so this is the updated version. I actually met someone in the Istanbul airport reading it, so that imaginary reader came to life!

- Where is the Caucasus? Is it considered Europe or Asia?

- I call the Caucasus the lands in between. Geographically, the countries lie between Europe, Asia, Russia, and the Middle East. Culturally, they are on the border where Islam meets Christianity, and where democracy meets authoritarianism. Is the South Caucasus in Europe? Its a bit of an open question. The conventional practice is to call it Europe and it is quite a secularized Europeanized place, but that means that Turkey to the west is in Asia and Azerbaijan to the east is in Europe. Its a confusing, interesting region, which is a borderland in more ways than just geography.

- What is the region's geography like and how has it influenced its development?

- It is defined by two huge mountain ranges: the Greater and Lesser Caucasus. The book is about the southern side of the mountains, the Greater Caucasus, which is the highest mountain range in Europe. There is an enormous variety of climates and landscapesfrom desert to subtropical fertile on the Black Sea coast of Georgia to temperate wine country. I call it three in three in three. There are three big neighbors which are all former imperial powers (Persia to the south, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia). There are three nation states: Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. And there are three (disputed) breakaway territories: Nagorny-Karabakh (between Armenia and Azerbaijan), and Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which split from Georgia de facto in 1992-3 and were recognized as independent by Russia in 2008.

- What are some of the differences between the countires that make up the Caucasus?

- It is incredibly diverse, ethnically and linguisticallythe three main nations all have different alphabets and the languages belong to different groups. This is a product of both history and the regions mountainous geography. Historically, it has been regarded as a land of conflict, but I like to stress that it is not fated to have conflict, that most people living there manage their differences pretty well most of the time. Obviously there is one big unresolved conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorny Karabakh. That dates back more than 30 years, pits the two nations against one another in almost perpetual hostility and holds back the forward development of the region.

There are two ancient Christian nations, Armenia and Georgia. Back in the early fourth century, the kingdoms of Armenia and Georgia were the first two nations to convert to Christianity and their people have been Christian ever since. Armenia and Georgia have an uneasy friendshipthey mostly get along but can be competitive.

Azerbaijan is the largest of the three countries and also very wealthy, thanks to oil and gas. It has a fascinating history. Azerbaijanis are ethnically Turkic but also predominantly Shia Muslim and they were Russified by the Soviet Union. So they have a mixed Turkic-Iranian-Russian cultural leagacy. Through the bigger historical sweep, all three have managed to trade, intermarry, and largely get along with each other.

- What do they have in common?

- It makes sense to think of these three small countries as one region. They have a shared common historyfor some 200 years, they were part of the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union. They share cultural traditionsthere are similarities in the way food is served and guests are treated. More importantly, they also have a shared regional economy, although more in potential than in reality. The regions biggest international asset is its status as a transport hub.

- What is the biggest mistake to make when thinking about the Caucasus?

- One mistake people make, which became even clearer to me as I updated the book, is to think too much in terms of Russia and to call the South Caucasus Russias backyard. People who dont know much about it try to see it through the prism of Russia or even Putin but that is an outdated model. These countries have been independent for 25 years. They are not just neighbors of Russia. China is there, the EU is there, Turkey is there. For example, in the spring of 2018, there was a peaceful revolution in Armenia. Most of the coverage was focused on Russia. But Russia did nothing. The idea that this is Russias backyardwhen Armenia doesnt even share a border with Russia, just a close economic and security partnershipwas shown to be outmoded. People need to hit refresh on that concept.

- What about the Caucasus might most surprise people?

- This is a region with many curious details. I have some small capsules of those in the book. For example, Georgia is the oldest wine-making country in the world. There are fermented grape pips that prove they were making wine several thousand years before anyone else. For Georgians, wine drinking is more than just a matter of taste. German anthropologist Florian Muhlfried argues that its also very political. It is one way the Georgians assert their difference from othersparticularly the vodka-drinking Russians.

There is also a passionately believed myth that Winston Churchill liked to drink Armenian brandy, or cognac, after being given a bottle by Joseph Stalin. Unfortunately, this was actually an invention of a popular Soviet spy drama called Seventeen Moments of Spring.

There is also a jazz scene in Azerbaijan and Georgia, which dates back to the 1960s. Comparatively speaking, the region did better than Russia during Soviet timesBaku and Tbilisi had a cosmopolitan culture, a jazz culture.

Finally, there is a new development, which is ecotourism. It is a stunningly beautiful region and nowadays there are opportunities for hiking in the mountains, mountain trails and small guest houses where tourists can stay.

- What is the future of the region likely to look like?

- It is a cliche that the future is unpredictable, but at least it will keep me employed. There is one major unresolved conflict over Karabakh and two somewhat smaller ones in Georgia. If Azerbaijan and Armenia go back to war, it could set the region back by a generation. As a whole, I feel that although the region is small, it has many assets. It is a place at an international crossroads, with a well-educated population and lots of potential. Personally, I feel optimistic, as I can see that this region has come a very long way in the last quarter of a century since I first started going there.Rome, Feb 15 (IANS/AKI) Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Thursday denied he would be a candidate for the anti-establishment 5 Star Movement in the European Parliament polls in May to help revive its flagging fortunes.

"I am Prime Minister, not a candidate for the European elections. No one has suggested this to me and I have not had to turn anyone down," Conte told Milan-based Corriere della Sera.

Conte, a non-partisan university law professor is said to be close to the 5 Star Movement led by Luigi Di Maio, which governs Italy in coalition with Matteo Salvini's anti-immigrant League party.

Conte is often accused of being a "puppet" for his two deputies Di Maio and Salvini, who were unable to agree on who should be premier when the government was formed last year.

However Conte enjoys a level of popularity among Italians which his predecessors did not, according to an Ipsos poll published last month.

--IANS/AKI

pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actor Naveen Kasturia says his upcoming social drama "Waah Zindagi" reflects the reality of the society.

Dinesh S. Yadav directorial "Waah Zindagi" is based on the concept of 'Make in India'. It revolves around a man's struggle to combat market occupancy by Chinese products to make Indians self-sufficient and improve their livelihood.

"Our film reflects what's happening in our country. It talks about certain things which are necessary to inform people. Our local people, artisans, craftsmen are suffering a lot," Naveen told IANS after the teaser launch of the film here on Thursday.

"I am glad that through our film we are promoting 'Make in India' initiative. I can't say that the film will bring a change in society or improve the conditions of our local manufacturers in a single day, but I am sure it will leave an impact to some extent," the actor added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the 'Make in India' initiative in 2014 with the aim to encourage companies to manufacture their products in the country.

Actress Plabita Borthakur is honoured to be a part of the film.

"I am fortunate to be a part of such film which deals in promoting this initiative," she said, urging people to use Indian manufactured goods "whenever possible".

"Waah Zindagi" also stars Sanjay Mishra, Vijay Raaz and Manoj Joshi. It is slated to release this March.

--IANS

sim/sug/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The US has charged a former Air Force officer with spying for Iran in an operation that targeted her fellow officers, according to an indictment unsealed in a federal court.

Monica Witt, who was also a former counterintelligence officer for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, defected to Iran in 2013, according to the indictment on Wednesday. She remains at large, CNN reported.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says that Witt, 39, was last seen in southwest Asia in July 2013.

According to the Department of Justice, Witt was targeted and recruited by Iran and after she defected, she allegedly revealed to Tehran the existence of a "highly classified intelligence collection programme" and the identify of a US intelligence officer, "thereby risking the life of this individual".

Witt is accused of sharing the US government secrets, including the name of agents and specifics of operations, with Iran as early as January 2012. In a charging document, investigators said she was deployed by the US to locations in the Middle East to conduct classified counterintelligence operations.

Four Iranian citizens were also charged with attempting to install spy software on computers belonging to Witt's colleagues.

"It is a sad day for America when one of its citizens betrays our country," Assistant Attorney General John Demers said.

Prosecutors said that Witt had been granted the highest level of US security clearance and worked in the US Air Force from 1997 to 2008.

The US Department of Treasury also sanctioned two Iranian companies - New Horizon Organization and Net Peygard Samavat Company - for their role in the plot.

Officials say that she sent a message to her Iranian contact in 2012 saying: "I loved the work, and I am endeavouring to put the training I received to good use instead of evil. Thanks for giving me the opportunity."

Witt, according to investigators, was recruited after attending two conferences hosted by New Horizon Organization, which was working on behalf of the Iranian National Guard's Quds Force to collect intelligence on attendees.

The FBI had earlier stated in its missing persons poster that Witt was working as an English teacher in either Afghanistan or Tajikistan, and had lived overseas for more than a year before vanishing.

While in Iran, she allegedly converted to Islam during a TV segment after identifying herself as a US veteran and delivered several broadcasts in which she criticized the US.

--IANS

soni/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US and Chinese officials on Thursday began a two-day meet here to sort out their trade differences as the March 1 deadline for the truce in their festering trade war draws near.

If the two sides fail to patch up before March 1, Washington will raise the existing 10 per cent tariffs to 25 per cent on Chinese goods worth $200 billion, taking the spat to the next level.

So the Chinese and the US officials are racing against time to avert such a scenario, which, experts worry, will also have an impact on the global economic growth.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met China's Vice Premier and its point man on trade Liu He, Xinhua news agency reported.

Lighthizer and Mnuchin are also likely to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the last day of the parleys.

Even though US President Donald Trump has said he might extend the deadline if something substantial is achieved, experts say a deal in this meeting looks far-fetched.

"If we're close to a deal where we think we can make a real deal and it's going to get done, I could see myself letting that slide for a little while. But generally speaking, I'm not inclined to do that," Trump said earlier this week.

The world's two largest economies are locked in arguably the biggest trade war in history with both sides slapping each other's goods with tariffs worth $360 billion.

Trump accuses China of arm-twisting American companies to transfer technology to their Chinese counterparts and ballooning trade deficit.

Beijing denies these charges and accuses Washington of containing it.

The bruising trade dispute has hurt the already flagging Chinese economy which grew at 6.5 per cent in the third quarter, the slowest since 2009.

--IANS

gsh/in/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has underscored the importance of radio, saying it reaches more people than any other media platform even in the world of digital communications.

"It conveys vital information and raises awareness on important issues. And it is a personal, interactive platform where people can air their views, concerns, and grievances. Radio can create a community," Guterres said in his video message on the occasion of the World Radio Day, which falls on Wednesday.

For the United Nations, especially its peacekeeping operations, the UN chief said, radio is a vital way of informing, reuniting and empowering people affected by war, Xinhua news agency reported.

"On this World Radio Day, let us recognise the power of radio to promote dialogue, tolerance and peace," he said.

World Radio Day 2019 is celebrating the theme of "Dialogue, Tolerance and Peace".

The Unesco has said an event open to the public would take place at its headquarters on this day. Two radio stations would be broadcasting live, including Radio Unesco, a temporary radio station dedicated to the Day.

In addition, 10 "Speed Workshops" will be offered for all to gain hands-on experience in radio production, Unesco said.

February 13 was chosen for World Radio Day as UN Radio was established on this date in 1946.

The day aims to raise greater awareness on the importance of radio, to encourage decision-makers to establish and provide access to information through radio, and to enhance networking and international cooperation among broadcasters.

--IANS

pgh/

(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.)US President Donald Trump's former election campaign chief Paul Manafort breached his plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller by lying to prosecutors, a US judge has said.

US District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled Manafort "made multiple false statements" to the FBI, Mueller's office and a grand jury, the BBC reported.

Mueller leads a probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.

This related to his work as a political consultant in Ukraine.

Manafort, 69, then accepted a plea deal on other charges in return for co-operating with Mueller's investigation.

In her ruling on Wednesday, Judge Berman Jackson said there was evidence that showed Manafort had lied about -- among other things -- contacts he had with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian political consultant. Prosecutors claim Kilimnik had ties to Russian intelligence.

The judge also cleared Manafort of allegations that he lied on two other subjects.

The verdict means that Manafort -- who has been held in a detention centre in Virginia since June -- could now potentially face harsher sentences or have charges against him re-filed.

Last year, Mueller said that Manafort lied "on a variety of subject matters" after signing the plea deal.

Last August, Manafort was convicted on eight counts of fraud, bank fraud and failing to disclose bank accounts.

A month later he pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy against the US and one charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice in a plea bargain with Mueller. The agreement avoided a second trial on money laundering and other charges.

The plea deal meant Manafort would face up to 10 years in prison and would forfeit four of his properties and the contents of several bank accounts -- but deadlocked charges from the previous trial would be dismissed.

It was the first criminal trial arising from the Department of Justice's investigation into alleged Russian interference in the presidential election.

However, the charges related only to Manafort's political consulting with pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine, largely pre-dating his role with the Trump campaign.

--IANS

pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US President Donald Trump's former election campaign chairman Paul Manafort breached his plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller by "intentionally" lying to prosecutors in the Russia probe, a federal judge has ruled.

Manafort "made multiple false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, special counsel and the grand jury concerning matters that were material to the investigation", including his contacts with his Russian associate during the 2016 presidential campaign and later, Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote on Wednesday.

Mueller is leading a probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.

The judge's finding about Manafort, 69, can add years to his prison sentence and came after a set of sealed court hearings, CNN reported. He was convicted of various financial crimes in August relating to his work as a political consultant in Ukraine.

A month later, Manafort pleaded guilty on September 14 to conspiring to defraud the US, violate lobbying laws and obstruct justice - by witness tampering - in connection with years of undisclosed work in Ukraine for a pro-Russian political party and former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

He then cut a deal to plead guilty to two charges of conspiracy and witness tampering in return for co-operating with Mueller's investigation.

In all, Jackson on Wednesday determined Manafort intentionally lied about $125,000 he received for the legal bills, about another unnamed Justice Department criminal investigation and about his interactions with his longtime Russian associate Konstantin Kilimnik while he was campaign chairman and later.

Jackson said that two of the topics Manafort lied about, Kilimnik and payments he received for his legal bills were "material to the investigation".

Manafort's actions mean Mueller's office "was no longer bound" by the plea agreement including prosecutors' promise to support a possible sentencing reduction for Manafort accepting responsibility for his crimes, according to the Washington Post.

Manafort is scheduled to be sentenced in DC on March 13. His lawyers claim that he did not intentionally lie.

"Manafort did not lie," they wrote in a redacted memo filed on Wednesday. "Despite the considerable efforts of the Office of Special Counsel it cannot prove what did not happen."

Manafort was seen as a potentially valuable witness for Mueller in his Russia investigation and potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow. He worked for nearly half a year on the campaign before resigning in August 2016 over revelations of his lobbying on behalf of the former Ukrainian President.

Manafort's former business partner, Richard Gates, who also worked on the Trump campaign, had also pleaded guilty and been cooperating in the investigation.

Gates and Manafort were two of six Trump associates to be charged in connection with the investigation. The special counsel had also indicted more than two dozen Russians for using social media and hacking to meddle in the election.

--IANS

soni/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Thailand's Constitutional Court on Thursday agreed to hear an Election Commission petition seeking to dissolve a political party for nominating Princess Ubolratana Mahidol as candidate for the post of the Prime Minister in the upcoming polls.

The party had on last Friday filed the nomination of Princess Ubolratana, King Maha Vajiralongkorn's elder sister, for March 24 polls. It was the first time a close relative of a Thai monarch was to contest polls.

But her candidacy was invalidated by the Election Commission after the King called her involvement in "highly inappropriate".

The poll panel on Wednesday moved the Constitutional Court seeking to dissolve the opposition Thai Raksa Chart Party.

The court decided to accept the petition on Thursday and gave the party seven days to submit a written defence, a statement said. The court will convene to hear the matter again on February 27, Efe news reported.

The dissolution of the party would mean banning members of its executive (including Ubolratana) from for 10 years and will also prevent them from contesting the upcoming elections even if they join another party.

After the court's decision, the party announced suspension of its campaign to prepare its defence.

It's the first general election in the country after the military seized power in a bloodless coup in 2014.

The Thai Raksa Chart Party is linked to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose Puea Thai Party has won every election held since 2001. His sister Yingluck Shinawatra was the Prime Minister when the government was overthrown nearly five years ago.

Educated in the US, Ubolratana relinquished her royal titles in 1972 around the time of her marriage to an American. But following their divorce in 1998, she returned to Thailand with their children.

She was not the first member of the royal family to contest elections in Thailand, but she is the first direct relation of a monarch to run.

--IANS

soni/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will be on a four-day visit to Bulgaria, Morocco and Spain from Saturday to strengthen India's relations with these three countries, expand avenues of cooperation and discuss key regional and global issues, an statement said.

In the first-ever visit by an Indian Foreign Minister to Bulgaria, Sushma Swaraj will be in the East European nation on February 16 and 17, said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) statement.

During her visit, which is a follow-up to the state visit of President Ram Nath Kovind in September last year, she will meet the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister and discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest.

Sushma Swaraj will also pay floral tributes at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the South Park in Sofia. The statue was jointly unveiled by the Indian and Bulgarian Presidents last year to mark the celebrations of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

"She will also interact with the Indian community and Friends of India in Sofia during the visit," the statement said.

In the second leg of her tour, Sushma Swaraj will visit Morocco on February 17 and 18 in pursuit of India's objective of enhanced engagement with the north African kingdom and to hold in-depth discussions on bilateral, regional and global issues.

During the visit, she will interact with her counterpart Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

She will also call on King Mohammed VI, Saad Dine El Otmani, the Head of Government and Habib El Maliki, the President of Chamber of Representatives, Parliament.

Three Memorandum of Understandings for cooperation in the areas of counter-terrorism, housing and human settlements and youth matters are expected for signing during the visit.

She will also interact with the Indian community in Rabat.

In the last leg of her visit, Sushma Swaraj will travel to Spain on February 18 and 19 at the invitation of her counterpart Josep Borrell Fontelles and discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual concern with him.

The Spanish government will also confer upon Sushma Swaraj the prestigious Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit for India's swift response through "Operation Maitri" in rescuing 71 Spanish nationals from Nepal in April 2015 in the wake of the disastrous earthquake.

She will also interact with the Indian community in Spain.

--IANS

rak/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that the masterminds behind the deadly suicide bomb attack against the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that claimed 27 lives will be brought to justice.

At least 13 others were injured when a suicide bomber targeted a bus carrying IRGC members on a highway near the city of Zahedan, located close to the borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan in Iran's Sistan-Balochistan province, on Wednesday.

According to the semi-official news agency Fars, Jeish al-Adl, a Sunni extremist group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

"Without a doubt, all perpetrators and those who ordered this vicious, flagrant act will be punished soon with the hard work of powerful security forces," Rouhani said in a statement from the presidential office.

"This crime is another shame in the dark history of the main sponsors of terrorism at the White House, Tel Aviv and their regional agents who are making ridiculous, airy attempts for promoting Iranophobia and claiming to be fighting terrorism and creating security for the Middle East," Rouhani added.

He offered his condolences to the relatives of the victims and wished the wounded a speedy recovery, Efe news reported.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamed Javad Zarif linked the attack to the US-organized Middle East summit in the Polish capital Warsaw.

"Is it no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day that Warsaw Circus begins... the US seems to always make the same wrong choices, but expect different results," Zarif tweeted.

The region of Sistan-Balochistan is predominantly populated by the Baloch ethnic group, who are also present in the adjacent regions of Pakistan.

A previous attack by gunmen disguised as soldiers on a military parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz last September killed at least 29 people, including 12 members of the IRGC.

That attack was claimed by the Islamic State terror organization.

--IANS

soni/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Panel discussion "Economic Growth - Vital Necessity for Germany and Russia: Old Recipes and New Concepts" was held yesterday in the Russian-German house in Moscow. One of the panelists, professor of the University of Wurzburg, member of the advisory council of the German government on macroeconomic development, Peter Bofinger, discussed Germany's experience that can be applied to Russian economy in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.

- Given Germany's experience, what do you think about key points of growth that can be used in Russian economy?

- The German experience shows that it's very important to have good relationships between the employers and the employees. I think that's a big part of Germany's success story. We have very good relations between the workers and the management. We have a system of codetermination. There are representatives of the trade union that are in boards of big companies. And I think that's really helpful and really unique, because the strength of economy is what people do, how effective they are, how their engagement is. I think that's very important that we have very good relationships between management and labor.

Another imporant recipe in Germany is that we have combination of very big players, companies, but also of a lot of small and medium sized companies, so called champions, that are spread all over the country. They are specialized on very small things, but have very high expertise. I think these small and medium sized enterprises have realized at a very early stage how important it is to become global. Many of them have become very active in China 25 years ago, and they are very successful in that. So I think this combination of big players like Siemens, Volkswagen and Mercedes, but also these champions are very important. I think what characterizes them is that most of them are family-owned, have very long family tradition.

If you want to have another recipe, which is very close to what I said, it's that the German economy has started to become very open, and has also become very global in the last three decades. So I think it's remarkable how the share of exports relative to GDP has increased since the early 90s. We have 25% exports to GDP about 30 years ago, now it's almost 50%. So we have realized that it's important to go global, to use opportunities that global markets can offer, and we've been very successful with this.

- What are the major internal obsticles for the Russian economic growth?

- I think what's really important is a stable legal system, when property rights are clearly defined. I think it's important for people who invest in a country from abroad that they can rely on stable, reliable legal system with no corruption. What I can see from outside, is that I think that's what investor think when they ask themselves: "Should I go to Russia?"

- Can you tell us a few words about relationship between Germany and Russian in economic sphere?

- I think Germany and Russia are long-term partners for decades. Siemens started this great relationship by building a telegraph system for Russia. We are long-term partners in economics, and I think that for both sides so far this has been a good cooperation. So I hope and I'm optimistic that this cooperation will continue.

- What will change in contacts with Russia after Angela Merkel will leave chancellor post?

- I assume that German foreign policy will not change fundamentally. Same parties will be in power. I think that Angela Merkel didn't have personal foreign policy, it's a policy of the German government. Even if the SPD might be no longer in the government, which we don't know right now, but I don't think that whatever political changes in Germany will have any impact on the relations between Germany and Russia.The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday approved Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif's bail petitions in Ashiana Iqbal Housing Scheme and Ramzan Sugar Mills corruption cases and ordered his release.

The decision was taken by a two-member LHC bench headed by Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan, Geo News reported.

Pakistan's anti-graft watchdog, the National Accountability Bureau, had arrested the leader of the opposition on October 5, 2018, in connection to the multi-billion Ashiana Iqbal Housing case.

Sharif had been charged with misuse of authority during his tenure as Punjab province's Chief Minister from 2013 to May 2018 by unlawfully assuming powers of the board of directors of the Punjab Land Development Company and awarding a contract to an ineligible proxy firm that resulted in the failure of the housing scheme.

The scam reportedly caused losses of millions of rupees to the national exchequer and deprived 61,000 applicants of houses.

In Ramzan Sugar Mills case, Sharif has been accused of using public funds to benefit the Mills, which belongs to his family.

He had denied all the charges against him as false and frivolous and his counsel had sought relief of bail on 30 grounds, including one on medical reasons.

--IANS

soni/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Calling the Supreme Court's verdict on the powers of the Delhi government to transfer officers "unfortunate" and "injustice to the people of Delhi", Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the order is against the Constitution and democracy.

Speaking to the media after the judgement, Kejriwal said the judgement says the elected government will not have the power to transfer officers.

"A question which arises is that if a government can't even transfer officers, how will it function," he asked.

Talking about the judgement, he said it is "very unfortunate and is an injustice to the people of Delhi".

"We respect the apex court, but the judgement is an injustice to the people who elected a government by giving 67 of the 70 seats (to a party)," he said.

He further said the party with 67 seats will not have the power to transfer officers, "but the party with three seats has the power to transfer officers".

In 2015 Delhi Assembly polls, the AAP won 67 of the 70 seats, while the BJP bagged only three.

Calling himself powerless, despite the major victory, he said the opposition party will appoint officers who will not work and not let them work.

"We are suffering from past four years."

"The ACB (Anti-Corruption Bureau) was under the Delhi government for 40 years, now it is not under it. What will I do if someone comes and tells me that there is some corruption? Do I have to approach the opposition party, the BJP, (and ask them) to take action (against the corrupt officer)? The opposition party is the one doing all the 'gadbad'," he said.

The AAP chief said, according to the judgement, the basic structure of the Constitution cannot be tampered. "But democracy is the biggest structure and if an elected government has no power, how will it function? What kind of democracy is this? The judgement is against the Constitution and democracy."

He also said that if for every file, "we have to protest at the LG's office for clearance, how will the government function?"

He said the real solution lies with the people.

"Statehood for Delhi will solve all these issues. In the coming Lok Sabha elections, don't vote for electing a PM. Give all the seven seats to AAP, so that in the coming five years, we will force the government to give statehood to Delhi," he said.

On former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit welcoming the court's verdict, Kejriwal said: "I respect Dikshit a lot. I want to request her that at times, the issue is big, the nation is bigger and for short term politics, such comments are not good."

He further said his government doesn't have even 10 per cent of the powers she had.

"She had all the powers. She also got the benefit of having Congress at the Centre, but despite that we did more work in four years than she did in 15 years.

"I want to request you, today it is my government. Tomorrow it may be your government. You will also need these powers. Talk for Delhi, its people and its government," the Chief Minister said.

A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a split verdict on the issue of transfer and posting of Delhi government officers.

While Justice A.K. Sikri said transfers and postings of joint secretaries and officers above will be in the domain of Lieutenant Governor, for those below them, the recommendation will be routed through the Council of Ministers of the elected government in Delhi.

However, Justice Ashok Bhushan differed saying that the Delhi government has no control over appointments. Transfer and appointment of "higher" officers will rest with the Centre, he added.

--IANS

nks/oeb/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Division Bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a split verdict on the issue of control of services between the Delhi government and the Centre, and referred the matter to a larger bench.

While Justice A.K. Sikri said the transfers and postings of joint secretaries and officers above were the Lieutenant Governor's domain and those below them were controlled by the Delhi government, Justice Ashok Bhushan said services were totally outside the purview of the Delhi government.

Pointing to out that "Entry 41" relating to services in the list of State subjects of the Constitution was not available in the Delhi Assembly, Justice Bhushan said, "There is no occasion to exercise any executive power with regard to services by the GNCTD, since the executive power of the GNCTD as per Article 239AA(4) extends in relation to matters with respect to which the Legislative Assembly has the power to make laws."

Holding that the Delhi government had no executive powers over services, Justice Bhushan said, "With regard to services, the GNCTD (Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi) can exercise only those executive powers, which can be exercised by it under any law framed by Parliament or it may exercise those executive powers which have been delegated to it."

The bench said the Centre alone can control the Anti-Corruption Bureau and pass orders under the Commission of Inquiry Act.

The bench rejected the Centre's contention that it alone had independent powers to appoint special public prosecutor, and said the Delhi government had the power to appoint special public prosecutors and the Lt. Governor had to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers under Article 239AA.

It said the Delhi government had the power to decide the minimum rate of agricultural land in the national capital and regulate electricity.

Speaking for the Bench on issues other than services, Justice Sikri said there had to be mutual respect between the Delhi government and the Lieutenant Governor as it was an essential part of good governance.

The court asked both the Lieutenant Governor and the Delhi government to realise that they were there to serve the people and that the Lieutenant Governor must not routinely differ with the state government.

Justice Sikri said on issues where differences are fundamental backed by cogent reasons, the Lieutenant Governor could refer the matter to the President for a decision, which would be binding.

The court also made it clear that the Lieutenant Governor should not unduly delay referring matters to the President in which there is a fundamental difference of opinion with the Delhi government.

The court asked the Delhi government to give due deference to the unique nature of the role assigned to the Lieutenant Governor in the Constitutional scheme and described it "the facet of good governance".

The verdict referred to the Supreme Court's Constitution Bench judgment of July 2018 on the powers of the Lieutenant Governor and the Delhi government, which held that in all those matters that do not fall within the discretionary jurisdiction of the Lieutenant Governor, he is bound to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.

--IANS

pk/rtp/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris said on Thursday that sanctions will remain in place until North Korea denuclearizes, as Washington and Pyongyang are preparing for their second summit later this month.

Harris was speaking at a forum in Seoul where he discussed the meeting that will be held between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27 and 28 to advance the dialogue on disarmament, Yonhap news agency reported.

"The US and our South Korean ally are in complete agreement that sanctions will remain until DPRK denuclearizes," he said in a statement.

"Our goal remains the same: To achieve our shared objective of a final, fully verified denuclearization of the DPRK as committed (to) by Chairman Kim in Singapore," he added.

Kim and Trump met for the first time in Singapore last year to discuss North Korea disarmament. During that meeting, Kim agreed to work towards the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula but with little clarity on how to achieve that long-elusive goal.

It is expected that the second summit will serve to refine differences and clearly agree on what kind of disarmament Pyongyang would be willing to carry out and in what terms it could comply, as well as to establish compensation measures from Washington, the report said.

Pyongyang has requested compensation such as aid, the lifting of sanctions and the signing of a peace treaty to end the state of war which still technically prevails over the Korean Peninsula since the end of the conflict that devastated the region between 1950 and 1953.

Harris said that North Korea could expect a "brighter, more secure and more prosperous future", if it fulfils its denuclearization promise.

He also credited South Korea's President Moon Jae-in for his role in the groundwork for peace, as well as Beijing.

"Without China's support on sanctions, we wouldn't have achieved (the) progress that we have made so far."

The envoy also used his speech to promote Washington's policy for a "free, open" Indo-Pacific. "Developments on the Korean Peninsula are an important part of the US commitment to a free, open Indo-Pacific. This is not just the US' interests but in all of our nations' strategic interests," he said.

"When we say open, we want all nations to enjoy open access to the seas and airways. And we want a peaceful resolution of territorial and maritime disputes, key to international peace," Harris added.

--IANS

soni/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Grammy-nominated musician Ryan Adams has been accused of sexual misconduct and emotional manipulation by multiple women, including his former wife and actress Mandy Moore. He has denied all the allegations.

A report in the New York Times outlined a pattern of manipulative behaviour, including accusations of psychological abuse from Moore, reports bbc.com.

A woman said Adams sent explicit texts and exposed himself during a Skype call when she was a teenager.

The star, who rose to fame in the early 2000s, has denied the allegations through a Twitter post.

"I am not a perfect man and I have made many mistakes," Adams said.

"To anyone I have ever hurt, however unintentionally, I apologise deeply and unreservedly. But the picture that this article paints is upsettingly inaccurate. Some of its details are misrepresented; some are exaggerated; some are outright false. I would never have inappropriate interactions with someone I thought was underage. Period," he added.

Acclaimed indie artist Phoebe Bridgers was among the seven women and dozens of associates who were interviewed for the New York Times article.

She said that Adams reached out to her when she was 20, offering to release her songs on his record label. Their relationship turned romantic, but Adams became obsessive and manipulative, she claimed, demanding to know her whereabouts and threatening suicide if she did not reply to his texts immediately.

When she broke off their relationship, Adams "became evasive about releasing the music they had recorded together and rescinded the offer to open his upcoming concerts", the New York Times reported.

"This Is Us" star Moore also described a pattern of abuse, describing instances of "destructive, manic sort of back and forth behaviour" during their six-year marriage.

"Music was a point of control for him," she added, saying the star had belittled her own musical career.

"He would always tell me, 'You're not a real musician, because you don't play an instrument'."

According to bbc.com, another woman, identified only by her middle name, Ava, told the paper her relationship with Adams started in 2013, when she was a teenaged bass player.

Although they never met, she shared 3,217 text messages she had exchanged with Adams over a nine-month period when she was 15 and 16, describing how their correspondence became sexually explicit.

In one text he wrote to her: "I would get in trouble if someone knew we talked like this".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Congress President Rahul Gandhi here on Thursday accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of spreading hatred in the society. The Congress wanted to change the country by spreading love and harmony, Gandhi said.

At the Congress Rashtriya Seva Dal national meet referreing to the morning 'shakhas' the RSS holds across the country, Gandhi said those wearing a pair of shorts and holding 'lathis' in the morning only spread hatred.

India was now facing an ideological battle, he said. On the one side, there are the RSS and the BJP, which, he alleged, were spreading hatred, on other side was an ideology that spread love and peace.

Gandhi attacked Prime minister Narendra Modi for saying there had been no progress in the country in the last 70 years.

Referring to a statement by Modi that the 'elephant' called India was sleeping before he became the Prime Minister, Gandhi said: "He means to say Mahatma) Gandhi did nothing, Sardar Patel did nothing, Jawaharlal Nehru and Ambedkar did nothing. The Chief Ministers of states, farmers, workers and people did nothing."

Modi's statements were an insult to each and every person in the country, he added.

Launching an scathing attack on Modi, he said: "The 'chowkidaar' did not do 'chowkidaari' of farmers, youths and poor, but acted as a watchman for only 15-20 people of India."

Gandhi apologised to the Congress Seva Dal members and admitted they did not get the respect they deserved.

"Right now, Seva Dal workers from Bihar brought to my notice that at a big rally there I had named all Congress outfits but not the Seva Dal. Hence I apologise. Now it will not happen. The Seva Dal is backbone of the Congress and not NSUI or Youth Congress," he said.

The Congress President said, "Like my apology, I also have a complaint. The Seva Dal workersdid not fight for their right the way they should have. Now, this group should come up as a strong unit."

Exhorting the volunteers to work hard, Gandhi said, "Look at Gandhi and Ambedkar. This country symbolises love, not hatred. The Seva Dal will have to show the right way to the Congress. What they used to do earlier will have to be done again by them."

"You should be congratulated for discussing such an ideology," he said.

Asking the volunteers not to be scared of anyone, the Congress President said, "Gandhiji was not afraid of anyone. He stood in front of British and defeated them. British had banned Seva Dal in India. As Modi wanted a Congress 'mukt Bharat', British wanted a Seva Dal 'mukt Bharat'. But no Seva Dal worker apologised to British."

"We need not be frightened of anyone. We shall defeat them, but not erase them, by spreading love," said Gandhi.

--IANS

arc/pg/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)After a successful launch of two industry-first Galaxy 'M' series smartphones in India in January, Samsung is geared up to launch 'M30' for a starting price of Rs 15,000 in February.

Industry sources told IANS on Thursday that the sale of Galaxy 'M30' with a triple rear-camera system and a massive 5,000mAh battery will begin in the first week of March.

Samsung will bring Super-Amoled Infinity V display to 'M30', making it a power-packed offering for young millennials.

Powered by latest Exynos 7904 processor, Galaxy 'M30' comes with 4GB RAM-64GB internal memory variant. The device is also likely to have a 6GB-128GB variant.

Samsung India in January launched Galaxy 'M20' and 'M10' smartphones at a starting price of Rs 10,990 and Rs 7,990, respectively, to take on Xiaomi's budget "Redmi" series in the country.

Galaxy 'M20' is priced at Rs 12,990 for the 4GB+64GB variant, while the 3GB+32GB variant costs Rs 10,990.

Galaxy 'M10' is priced at Rs 8,990 for the 3GB+32GB variant and Rs 7,990 for the 2GB+16GB.

Both the devices were a complete sell-out on Amazon India on February 5, making an "unprecedented" first day sale record for the South Korean tech giant.

--IANS

na/mag/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday held a series of meetings with top security officials in wake of the Pulwama terror attack that killed at least 43 CRPF troopers and left the security establishment stunned.

His meetings came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked to him and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

The Cabinet Committee on Security will meet on Friday morning to discuss the terrorist attack and the security situation in the state.

Rajnath Singh met Central Reserve Police Force Director General R.R. Bhatnagar and NSA Doval to discuss the security situation. Sources said that Bhatnagar briefed the Home Minister about the Pulwama attack in detail.

The Home Minister will visit Srinagar on Friday to take stock of the situation and meet senior security and police officials to make a ground-level assessment and review further operational actions.

The Home Ministry also rushed teams of National Investigation Agency operatives and forensic experts to Jammu and Kashmir to carry out an investigation into the attack.

Arrangements were made to airlift the mortal remains of the killed troopers.

In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 43 troopers.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the horror and released a video clip of the suicide bomber, a 'commander' identified as Adil Ahmad Dar, which it claimed was shot before the young man carried out the strike in Lethpora, about 30 km from Srinagar.

--IANS

bns/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Congress President Rahul Gandhi will meet envoys of G-20 and neighbouring countries on Friday in a significant interaction ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

French Ambassador Alexandre Ziegler will also be attending the lunch at Taj Palace Hotel and there is speculation whether the Rafale deal with the French manufacturer Dassault Aviation will figure in the discussion.

Envoys from China, Sri Lanka and Nepal are likely to attend the interaction. The Pakistan envoy may not be invited.

Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, BJP's then Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had a similar interaction with envoys of EU and also met the British High Commissioner.

--IANS

and/vsc/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday launches his 2019 election campaign from the same tribal Lal Dungri village in Gujarat's Dharampur where his grandmother Indira Gandhi in 1980, his father Rajiv Gandhi in 1984 and his mother Sonia Gandhi in 2004 started and romped home to power.

The party believes Lal Dungri (translated as Red Onion) brings good omen for it to rule the country. Many remote villages in this South Gujarat region recognise only the Congress' hand symbol and remember only former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Not losing out on the fact that the Congress attaches historic importance to this region, the Bharatiya Janata Party moved in Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis from neighbouring Maharashtra to Dharampur on Wednesday, a day ahead of Rahul Gandhi's Jan Akrosh Rally, to galvanise over 4,000 party workers at a 'cluster meeting' of the party's rank and file in presence of state chief Jitu Vaghani.

The meeting, held at Rajchandra Ashram hall in Dharampur, was to address party workers of three Lok Sabha constituencies in South Gujarat dominated by Adivasis.

Fadnavis told party workers that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government had got a clean chit on the Rafale fighter jet deal from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) while the Congress leaders' hands were sullied in AugustaWestland chopper deal.

Rahul Gandhi, meanwhile, was expected to make a strong statement against land acquisition for the bullet train in this region where angry farmers who are losing their fertile fields are locked in a battle with the government, the matter now awaiting a judgment in the Gujarat High Court.

Sources say there is also a move to hold a meeting of the party's highest decision making body, the Congress Working Committee (CWC), in South Gujarat to demonstrate the importance the party gives to the state.

The decision to choose Gujarat over the Congress ruled states is a pointer in this direction.

This is besides Rahul Gandhi choosing to walk in the footsteps of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in Lal Dungri.

Though Fadnavis' Dharampur visit was announced by the party only on Tuesday, BJP Gujarat General Secretary Bharatsinh Parmar insisted their meeting had been fixed earlier than the Congress rally.

The Congress party had announced to hold its 'Jan Akrosh' rally from here on February 6.

The Congress has pulled out all stops for the Lal Dungri rally and the state unit has galvanised its 75 legislators to ensure a big show.

Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chavda and Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani have been camping in the district headquarters of Valsad to oversee the preparations.

--IANS

desai/in

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Head of the International Relations Department of the Azerbaijan National Conservatory, Azerbaijani expert on the intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO, Jahangir Selimkhanov discussed latest trends in Azerbaijani culture in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.

- In recent years Baku became a platform for significant international cultural events, such as the World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue. How do such events affect Azerbaijan's image abroad?

- Our state, the Ministry of Culture does a lot of work in this direction. In addition, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, headed by first Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva, is doing a great deal of work. A lot of attention is paid to hosting large cultural events in the country, as well as presenting Azerbaijani culture abroad. We want to show the outside world not only our national traditions, but also who we are today. Azerbaijan is now recognized not only as land of ancient culture, but also as modern, dynamically developing country. It came as a surprise for many people abroad that Azerbaijan won Eurovision and then hosted this song contest; We have become regular participant of the Venice Biennale - the most prestigious forum of modern art; Our musicians have been performing at the Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, for many years. Modern art exhibition project "Fly to Baku" was held in many capitals of the world, including London, Rome, Berlin, Moscow...

- Over the past ten years several pieces of Azerbaijani culture have been included in the List of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity...

- Azerbaijan is consistently active in this field. Based on number of elements included in the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Azerbaijan is one of the leading countries of the region. But the point is not just to get on this list - the main goal is to prove that cultural element that is on the UNESCO list is actively supported by the state and local communities, by the people. We have done a lot to ensure that mugham, ashug art, carpet weaving, art of playing on tar and other manifestations of national culture included in the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage are supported.

- Are Azerbaijani cities other than Baku also attractive in terms of cultural industry?

- UNESCO has Creative Cities Network project, which Shaki joined in 2017.

It has different categories - City of Gastronomy, City of Literature, City of Music... I travel a lot and come across things like that. For example, you visit Austrian city of Graz, and you can find a lot of signs that mention that it's a city of design. You come to Poland's Katowice, you can find a lot of signs that mention that it's the City of Music. Shaki began to position itself and develop as the City of Crafts. In some countries, such decentralization is a prerequisite for cultural policy. Germany, France, Great Britain, have incredible operas and exhibitions in many small towns. Poland, Romania, Spain are strong examples of distribution of culture among cities and regions. We haven't reached something like that in Azerbaijan yet. Pomegranate festival was held in Goychay, classical music festival was held in Gabala, and the Silk Road festival was held in Shaki, but such examples are still pretty rare.

- At the end of last year, St. Petersburg hosted a humanitarian forum, at which museum experts discussed possibility of creating branches of major world museums in other cities. Can Azerbaijan create such branches in the near future?

- A few years ago we disscused creation of the New York Museum of Modern Art branch in Baku (such branches exist in Las Vegas, Venice, Bilbao, Abu Dhabi, Guadalajara). This project hasn't been implemented. I don't know why, but perhaps museum has requested too much, since it's such a huge brand. At the request of our New York colleagues, I discribed my own vision of the Museum of Modern Art in Baku. I still believe that transfer of someone else's experience to a different territory means means that it's just a work with the brand, and museums must be created organically. We need to build our own collection, which would reflect our own history and our moder art, reflect what's relevant right now, and what's in demand by local audiece.

In this sense, practice of the Heydar Aliyev Center, reflecting global trend to bring interesting collections and exhibitions to the country as temporary exhibitions, proofs itself useful. I remember how many priceless exhibits have been shown at the Heydar Aliyev Center over the past few years: Andy Warhol, Tony Cregg, Wim Delvoye, portraits of Shah Ismail and Shah Tahmasib from the Uffizi Gallery, photographs of Henri-Cartier Bresson, posters of Alfons Mucha, costumes of Grace Kelly, knights armor from Austria, audio-visual installation by Brian Eno and much more. Many museums prefere to hold temporary exhibitions for about half a year. Famous Design Museum in Milan doesn't have permanent exhibitions at all; every six months it hold new exhibition using the museums collection. There is an interesting practice in the Louvre - they invited famous cultural figures, intellectuals (for example, Italian philosopher and writer Umberto Eco, French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, American theater director Robert Wilson) and gave them access to exhibits stored in their vaults. These invited expert's task is to evaluate these items with different look, give them a new meaning. They choose something, arrange exhibits. In other words, today the interpretation is more important for museums than possession of specific objects.

The Heritage of the Shirvanshahs in the Museums of the World exhibition has just finished at the Palace of Shirvanshahs complex, main exhibits were brough from the Istanbul Military Museum. Four helmets belonging to last ruler, Shirvan Farrukh Yasar, were brough from the Shirvanshah Palace as a trophy at the beginning of the 16th century. There were also battle armor of Shirvanshah Kay-Kubad and Shirvanshah Khalilullah I. This exhibition was prepared for 10 years. Getting exhibits from the Istanbul Military Museum was worth the effort.

- Can you tell us about your musical project involving young pianist and violinist Osman Eyublu, who will perform on March 16 at the Moscow Conservatory?

- This concert is part of the "Azerbaijani Performers in Chamber Halls of the Moscow Conservatory" cycle, which is held at the initiative of the people's artist of Azerbaijan, professor of the Moscow State Conservatory, Faraj Karayev. The Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan supported this significant cultural project, and thanks to that a number of our wonderful performers gota an opportunity to present their art to Moscow audience. Among them are pianists Ulviya Gadzhibekova and Gulshen Annagiyev, singer Farida Mamedova, young violinist Elvin Khoja Ganiyev.

Concert program is pretty unusual, primarily because Osman Eyublu plays violin and piano. In addition, it's not just a concert, but also a musical performance with a minimal presence of non-musical elements.

Osman has a special musical talent. According to family tradition, his parents decided to teach him music, but they couldn't decide what instrument should he play (his grandfather was a violinist, while his grandmother was piano teacher). At the age of five he began to learn to how to use both instruments and began to experiment. Listeners often don't believe that both instruments can be played that way, they think that his twin brother comes to the stage.Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday established a connect with the crowds here in Gujarat, scoffing at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's development claims in his home state and alleging that GST had killed the state's small and medium scale businessmen who were its true pillars.

"Sardar ney humko rasta dikhaya tha, Mahatma Gandhi ney rasta dikhaya tha, ab Gujarat ke log firse dikhayenge kaise logon ko ek karte hain, sahi vikas kya hain (Sardar showed us the way, Gandhi showed us the way, now people of Gujarat will once again show how to unite the country, what is real development)," he declared to loud applause.

As the crowds listened in rapt attention, Gandhi made an sentimental appeal: "Gujarat has given immense love and respect to me, I will never forget this. There is nothing bigger for me. I love to come here as many as times as possible. I love the people of Gujarat, I love the food here."

As the crowds cheered and whistled, he said: "Whenever Gujarat calls me, I will be there. Wherever I am, I promise, whenever you call me I will come."

Taunting Modi's 'Mann Ki Baat' radio programme, the Congress chief added, addressing the crowd: "You are our masters. The farmers, the tribals, the downtrodden are our masters. Not Anil Ambani, not Nirav Modi, not Vijay Mallya."

There was loud applause when he referred to Jay Shah, son of BJP President Amit Shah.

"He converted Rs 700 crore black money into white through a cooperative bank (Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank of which Amit Shah is a director). But Narendra Modi will not speak about this," he asserted.

Just as Gandhi exhorted the crowds to shout after him "chowkidar chor hai" he said: "Delhi mein kehte hain chor hai, Gujarati mein bolte hain Chor Chhey." The people broke into huge laughter and some shouted back "mahachor chhey" and "paako chor chhey".

Gandhi said "Modi's Gabbar Singh Tax (Goods and Services Tax)" had sounded the death knell of the small and medium scale businessmen who were the true pillars of Gujarat's economic prowess. And GST came as an insult to injury to the common men after demonetization, he added.

"The UPA government in 2019 will bring real GST, where it will be a truly simple tax and truly one tax, not the present version."

Gandhi said the Congress brought National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Food Security Act and a progressive and people-oriented land acquisition law. "And now we are coming with a concept of guaranteed income.

"Under this, money will be directly transferred in your bank account... We have been planning for this for over three to four months."

Referring to the Bharatmala project, Gandhi said it was "bharat-maara not Bharatmala" through which lands of farmers and poor were being snatched.

He challenged the BJP government to implement the Land Acquisition Act which the UPA government had brought in 2013. "We implemented it in Chhattisgarh immediately after our party came to power. Our government got the Tatas to return thousands of acres of unused land according to the law," Gandhi added.

--IANS

desai/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) said Thursdays terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 43 security personnel were killed, was an act of desperation due to the growing clampdown on terrorism.

"The attack is a sign of desperation and frustration due to the clampdown on terrorism," RSS general secretary Suresh Joshi said in a statement.

Condemning the attack, the RSS asked the Narendra Modi government to take stringent action against the culprits at the earliest.

In the worst attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) bus on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway in Pulwama district, leaving the security establishment stunned.

--IANS

and/arm/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Maria Ressa, a high-profile Philippines journalist and Time magazine Person of the Year, was freed on bail on Thursday after her arrest overnight on charges of "cyber-libel" drew international condemnation.

Ressa is the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Editor of news website Rappler which is critical of the government of President Rodrigo Duterte.

The journalist posted bail of 100,000 pesos ($1,900) after she was accused of libel for an article published in 2012 - four months before the law under which she is accused was enacted.

Ressa has been accused of "cyber-libel" over a seven-year-old report on businessman Wilfredo Keng's links to illegal drugs and human trafficking. The charges against her carry a potential 12 years in prison, the BBC reported.

"The message is clear. It's an abuse of power, it's a weaponisation of the law. Another line was crossed but if they wanted to scare me, this isn't the way to scare me," Ressa said.

Activists and press freedom groups around the world criticised the Rappler CEO's detention. Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called it an "outrageous" arrest that "must be condemned by all democratic nations".

Human rights group Amnesty International said the Duterte government was using legal threats to "relentlessly intimidate and harass" journalists.

On Wednesday evening, Ressa was in the Rappler newsroom when plain-clothed officers from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) entered to hand-deliver her arrest warrant.

Although the order was signed by a judge on Tuesday, the authorities handed the document to her in the evening when most of the courts were about to close, therefore reducing the likelihood of posting bail.

A judge then refused the posting of bail, forcing her to spend the night in custody.

The Department of Justice presented cyber libel charges against Rappler, Ressa as its CEO and journalist Reynaldo Santos for the story on businessman Keng.

Three prosecutors from the Justice Department ruled last month in favour of Keng, who in October 2017 filed a complaint against Rappler's story.

Keng filed his complaint five years after the story's publication to the Office of Cybercrime at the NBI, which dismissed the case in February 2018 over lack of grounds and because the one-year deadline to file a libel complaint had expired.

However, the Justice Department reopened the case the following month based on a "continuous publication" argument as the report was still available online.

The cyber libel law under which Ressa was charged came into force four months after the publication of the story and was not retroactive, according to her lawyer J.J. Risini.

Last November, another arrest warrant was issued against Ressa for five offences of tax evasion, both against Rappler as a company and against her personally.

Duterte has been vocal about his animosity towards Rappler, which he has accused of being financed by the US' Central Intelligence Agency, and in February 2018 banned Rappler reporters from the Presidential Palace.

--IANS

soni/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Maria Ressa, a high-profile Philippines journalist and Time magazine Person of the Year, was freed on bail on Thursday after having been detained overnight in connection with "cyber libel" charges against her news website Rappler.

The Chief Executive Officer and Executive Editor of Rappler posted bail of 100,000 pesos ($1,900) after she was accused of libel for an article published in 2012 -- four months before the law under which she is accused was enacted.

Rappler is critical of the government of President Rodrigo Duterte.

"The message is clear. It's an abuse of power, it's a weaponization of the law. Another line was crossed but if they wanted to scare me, this isn't the way to scare me," Ressa was quoted as saying by Efe news.

On Wednesday evening, Ressa was in the Rappler newsroom when plain-clothed officers from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) entered to hand-deliver her arrest warrant.

Although the order was signed by a judge on Tuesday, the authorities handed the document to her in the evening when most of the courts were about to close, therefore reducing the likelihood of posting bail.

A judge then refused the posting of bail, forcing her to spend the night in custody.

The Department of Justice presented cyber libel charges against Rappler, Ressa as its CEO and journalist Reynaldo Santos for a story published in May 2012 on businessman Wilfredo Keng.

So far, no arrest warrant has been issued against Santos, a researcher who no longer works for Rappler.

Three prosecutors from the Justice Department ruled last month in favour of Keng, who in October 2017 filed a complaint against Rappler's story, which was based on intelligence reports and linked him to illegal drugs and human trafficking.

Keng filed his complaint five years after the story's publication to the Office of Cybercrime at the NBI, which dismissed the case in February 2018 over lack of grounds and because the one-year deadline to file a libel complaint had expired.

However, the Justice Department reopened the case the following month based on a "continuous publication" argument as the report was still available online.

The cyber libel law under which Ressa was charged came into force four months after the publication of the story and was not retroactive, according to her lawyer J.J. Risini.

This is not the only judicial process facing Ressa. Last November, another arrest warrant was issued against her for five offences of tax evasion, both against Rappler as a company and against her personally.

Duterte has been vocal about his animosity towards Rappler, which he has accused of being financed by the US' Central Intelligence Agency, and in February 2018 banned Rappler reporters from the Presidential Palace.

--IANS

soni/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US Vice President Mike Pence has rebuked Washington's European allies over their efforts to shield their businesses from American sanctions on Iran.

Pence's comments came on Wednesday during a conference on the Middle East organised by the US in the Polish capital. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Trump's son-in-law and special aide on the Middle East Jared Kushner were also in attendance.

The Warsaw meeting was attended by leaders of over 60 nations, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But major European powers like Germany and France, party to the landmark 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, refused to send their top diplomats over fears that the summit was designed largely to build an alliance against Tehran.

Iran, Palestine, Turkey, Lebanon and Russia were also not present at the conference.

"A scheme set up by the EU (European Union) to facilitate trade with Iran was an effort to break American sanctions against Iran's murderous revolutionary regime," Pence said during the event.

"It is an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU and create still more distance between Europe and the US," he was quoted as saying by the Guardian on Thursday.

Washington's sanctions on Tehran were eased by the Obama administration but were re-imposed after Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement last year.

The US' move came despite the fact that independent monitoring agencies and the remaining signatories, which included China, Russia, the UK, Germany and France, insisted that Iran had upheld its side of the bargain, de-escalating its nuclear programme in exchange for the partial lifting of economic embargoes.

Pompeo on Thursday said that it was impossible to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran. "There are malign influences in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq," he added, referring to Iran-supported groups. "The three Hs: the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah - these are real threats.

"But you can't get peace in the Middle East without pushing back against Iran," he told the press alongside the Israeli Prime Minister on the second day of the summit.

Pompeo also thanked NATO and the European Union for joining the summit. He also hailed as "historic" a dinner that took place on Wednesday evening. "Arab and Israeli leaders were in the same room, sharing a meal and exchanging views," he said.

"They all came together for a single reason, to discuss the real threats to our prospective peoples emanating from the Middle East," said Pompeo.

He said action was needed on Syria, Yemen, proliferation, the peace process, terrorism, Iran, cyber security and humanitarian crises.

Netanyahu earlier thanked Pompeo, Pence and President Donald Trump's administration for "putting together an extraordinary conference".

--IANS

soni/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)On Valentine's Day, a reluctant Shiv Sena on Thursday suggested a new proposal to forge an electoral alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - the demand for Maharashtra Chief Minister's post.

In a deviation from its known strategy of seat-sharing formula of different permutations and combinations for Lok Sabha and Assembly polls this year, this time the Sena Tiger has lunged for a direct kill - the post of CM.

Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut also clearly indicated that the Sena may be in a mood for negotiations as the elections loom ahead, but now with a difference, amid speculation that the Yuva Sena leader Aditya Thackeray may enter the electoral fray.

"All the allies in the NDA are strong in their respective states. If you want to have an alliance with them at the Centre, then the CM in the state must belong to that ally," Raut said on Thursday, citing the example of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to prove his point.

However, the BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari quickly shot down Raut's proposal, saying that "any alliance shall only be finalized by the top leaders of both parties".

On the reference to the Bihar NDA partner, Bhandari pointed out that "Nitish Kumar has become the CM on his own strength" - a clear reminder that in Maharashtra the situation is entirely different.

Since the past couple of months, the BJP has been wooing the Sena for an alliance and despite claims of backroom negotiations, officially nothing has materialized so far.

At the end of 2017, the Sena unilaterally declared that it would go alone in all future elections while the BJP has repeatedly expressed confidence that an alliance will be finalized soon.

Last month, the Sena said that since the days of its founder-patriarch, the late Bal Thackera, the party had "always been, still is and would continue to remain the 'Big Brother' in Maharashtra politics", after which the BJP asked its cadres "to remain prepared for contesting all the 48 Lok Sabha seats" irrespective of what emerges later.

The Sena went a step further and declared that not only Lok Sabha, it was fully prepared to contest the 288 Assembly seats if there were simultaneous elections.

--IANS

qn/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the killing of CRPF troopers in a suicide attack and blasted central Minister Jitendra Singh for "playing politics" over the bloodbath.

"I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured and condolences to the families of the bereaved," the National Conference leader tweeted after a suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a CRPF bus and detonated it.

"Jaish (Jaish-e-Mohammad) has claimed the blast as a suicide (fidaeen) attack reminiscent of the dark days of militancy pre 2004-05," Abdullah added.

After Minister of State Jitendra Singh in a tweet called "to question those who while living in India describing themselves as mainstream Kashmir politicians tend to be apologetic about these terror activities", Abdullah hit back.

"Shame on this apology for a Minister! Mainstream Kashmiri politicians condemned the attack hours before the PM even got around to saying anything. This man has the audacity to play with the dead and injured CRPF soldiers," he said.

--IANS

mr/rs

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Asom Gana Parishad on Thursday said that it had snapped ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party over the Citizenship bill but did not rule out any alliance with it in the future.

AGP president Atul Bora said that his party has come out of the alliance due to its differences with the BJP but did not emphatically rule out a possibility of tying-up with it for the upcoming general elections.

"See we have been repeatedly telling that the AGP is against Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. We opposed from day one and tried our best to convince the Central government about the negative impacts of the Bill in the northeast. However, when we came to know that the BJP is going ahead with the Bill, we decided to come out and announced the same," he told media persons here.

To queries about the future, Bora said: "How can I tell you if we are going have an alliance with the BJP in future or not? I can tell you that we are not in the alliance now. The rest of the issues we have to discuss in the party forum... whether to have an alliance with it or not and how we go ahead for the Lok Sabha polls."

The AGP's differences with the BJP cropped up due to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 which seeks to speed up the process of granting citizenship to refugees from the Hindu and five other minority communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan but faced widespread opposition across the northeast due to concerns about its impact on the indigenous residents.

The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha last month but has not been passed by the Rajya Sabha, and has effectively lapsed since this was the last session of the present Lok Sabha.

"There is an election ahead of us. So how to go to the polls and whether we should join the BJP or not, how can I say?" Bora said while adding that the party will also discuss any issue with the regional political parties of the region, who stood firm shoulder to shoulder with against the Bill.

The AGP, which was a coalition partner in the BJP-led state government since 2016, withdrew from the government in January this year. While its three ministers tendered their resignations to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, he is yet to forward them to the Governor for approval.

Asked about why their resignations are yet to be accepted, Bora said that the party's ministers had resigned as per the party's decision and they were not concerned as to why the resignations had not been forwarded.

"The Assembly session is on and we have requested the Speaker to allot us seats as an opposition party," he added.

--IANS

ah/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Thursday said 147 girls and 32 boys from Nepal, the victims of trafficking, will be sent back to their country.

The Minister tweeted that the External Affairs Ministry has given permission to safely repatriate them to Nepal.

These Nepalese youths were being allegedly sent to Dubai via Myanmar when they were rescued in Imphal, Manipur.

The Minister had ensured that the detained youths were kept in safe houses. Rehabilitation programmes were also initiated for them by her ministry.

--IANS

som/arm/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday condemned the "dastardly attack" on the CRPF in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district which left at least 30 troopers dead.

"The attack on the CRPF personnel in despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack," Modi tweeted.

"The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly."

--IANS

rs/mr/pg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)China and the US will hold high-level economic and trade consultations on Thursday and Friday. Both the US top leader's position and the US market reaction show the country's optimism about reaching a trade deal. While the US started the trade war, it is now more willing to reach an agreement with China. Global Times reports in its article China calmly awaits result of negotiations that China's attitude has been stable. On the one hand, China faces the trade dispute with a healthy mind-set. China aims at meeting people's needs for a better life and developing its economy. China has tried to meet the US halfway. On the other hand, China sticks to its bottom line of economic sovereignty and national security.

China will never harm its fundamental interests. The policy has been tested by the trade war and we have seen the change in Washington's attitude.



US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he would consider pushing back the deadline for trade negotiations with China if both sides are close to making a deal.



Trump also said that he expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and "make the parts of the deal that the group is unable to make."



Looking back upon the trade war, people's understanding is more profound. Although the US national strength is greater than China's, it's hard to tell whether Washington's impact or China's resistance is more powerful.



If the trade war goes on, which country will hang on longer? However, China does not expect such a situation.



But compared with the time when the trade war had just started, there are now fewer American people who believe China will be hurt worse and yield more easily.



China and the US should be calmer after the trade war. There is a general trend that the two countries will reach an agreement. Their remaining disputes are to be resolved, and won't affect the whole situation.



Some US elites wish that the US is the only winner. They expect the trade deal could stop China's rise. But we believe President Trump understands that the true meaning of trade is reciprocity. He should know that negotiation is not the final deal, and negotiators shouldn't always be tough. A trade war is not a real war, anyway.



China-US trade consultation is entering a late stage. China should stay calm and cherish the hard-won current situation. The trade war is unlikely to deteriorate in the long run, but a single agreement cannot resolve all the disputes.



Even when a deal is reached, it is possible that China-US trade relations will experience twists and turns. If they cannot reach a deal, the two countries may keep consulting and wait for another chance.



Chinese people should respect the US. Meanwhile, we should firmly respect ourselves. Doing our own jobs properly is more important than negotiating with others. This should be our unchanging attitude and principle.The Punjab Police on Thursday said that all six accused in the gang rape of a 21-year-old woman in Ludhiana district have been arrested.

Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta told the media here that the three remaining accused were arrested from various locations in neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir.

Three accused had been arrested by the police earlier this week. A court in Ludhiana, 110 km from Chandigarh, on Wednesday sent the three accused to seven days' police remand.

The young woman was allegedly gang raped in Issewal area of Ludhiana district on February 9 night.

Those arrested so far include Jagroop Singh, Sadik Ali, Surma, Ajay, Said Ali and a juvenile.

The DGP said that police investigations have revealed that six men were involved in the gang rape of the victim when she was driving along a canal in a car with her male friend.

The victim had alleged that she was gang raped by at least 10 men after she and her friend were attacked and abducted.

Both were taken in their car to an isolated plot and the woman was gang raped while her friend was held captive. The couple were set free on Sunday. The police registered a case of rape under sections of the Indian Penal Code against the accused.

The police had earlier admitted that there were lapses by the local police in dealing with the matter.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Vijay Rattan was on Monday suspended for dereliction of duty as he had failed to investigate the matter seriously and did not inform his seniors about it after receiving a complaint about the incident, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) R.S. Khatra said earlier.

The accused had called up a friend of the rape victim's friend and demanded a ransom of Rs 2 lakh. The friend approached the police following the call but the police did not take immediate action.

--IANS

js/rs/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Probing the Hotel Arpit Palace fire in which 17 people were killed, the Crime Branch of Delhi Police here on Thursday issued a look out circular against its owners who have been absconding after the incident, said a senior Crime Branch officer.

"Multiple teams of the Crime Branch are raiding all possible hideouts of the hotel owners -- brothers Rakesh Goel and Shardendu Goel -- in Goa, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. They are untraceable till now. We have issued a look out circular to arrest them," Additional Commissioner of Police Rajiv Ranjan told IANS.

The look out circular is an alert to the immigration officers, informing them that the persons are wanted by the police. Apart from international and domestic airports, it may be used even at sea ports, said an officer who is part of the investigation.

"Phones of Rakesh and Shardendu are switched off. Their last location was traced near Karol Bagh. The police teams also searched their home in the Bank Street in Karol Bagh and tried to take possession of their passports but they could not find it. The police team also failed to obtain their passport numbers," the officer said.

The police suspect they have fled from the country, but are making all efforts to trace them. "The intelligence officials at the Nepal border have also been alerted," he said.

"During investigations, it was found both the brothers were aware that use of inflammable materials in the building could endanger the lives of guests. There was no panic alarm; unauthorised kitchens were operating; and inflammable materials like rubber, ply-board and plastic were used for decoration of corridors, gallery and lobby. There was no proper signage to guide the guests to the emergency exit," the officer said.

The FIR accessed by IANS, filed on the complaint of Sub-Inspector Shri Narayan, said: "Most victims died after inhaling smoke. The victims staying on the first to fourth floors could not escape find their way out as a thick black smoke engulfed the entire area when they woke up after the fire broke out. There was no ventilation," the officer added.

(Sanjeev Pal can be contacted at sanjeev.p@ians.in)

--IANS

Sp/oeb/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The public hearing in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case will commence from Monday before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

Jadhav, 48, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court for espionage in April 2017 following which India moved the ICJ. A 10-member ICJ bench restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav till the case was adjudicated.

Pakistan had stated that "Jadhav was not an ordinary person as he had entered the country with the intent of spying and carrying out sabotage activities" in Balochistan. India denies the charges.

Jadhav was apprehended on March 3, 2016 after illegally crossing into Pakistan from Iran, according to Pakistani officials. Indian officials say he was abducted from Iran and taken to Pakistan against his will.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar declined to go into the details of it.

"The oral proceedings on the International Court of Justice are commencing on February 18. India will present its case before the court. Since the matter is sub judice, it is not appropriate for me to state our position in public. Whatever we have to do, we will do in the court," he said in response to a question.

The ICJ will hold public hearings in the Jadhav case from Monday to Thursday, according to the ICJ website.

Pakistan claims that its security forces arrested Jadhav from restive Balochistan province on March 3, 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran.

However, India maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy.

Jadhav's sentencing had evoked a sharp reaction in India.

India had approached the ICJ for "egregious" violation of the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963, by Pakistan in Jadhav's case.

--IANS

rak/prs

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Karnataka Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar adjourned the House till 3 p.m. on Thursday amid protests by BJP legislators against the attack on its MLA's residence in Hassan.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators walked towards the Speaker's podium and raised slogans against the attack on Preetham Gowda's residence by Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) workers in Hassan, about 180km from here.

JD-S workers had attacked Gowda's house by pelting stones on Wednesday after he allegedly bad-mouthed its supremo H.D. Deve Gowda, who represents the district in Lok Sabha.

Hassan is Gowda clan's home constituency.

BJP's state unit president B.S. Yeddyurappa urged the Speaker for a thorough probe into the incident.

"We have submitted a letter to Governor Vajubhai Vala on the stone pelting issue. Our legislator (Preetham Gowda) and his family were threatened by the JD-S workers," Yeddyurappa told the media earlier in the day.

Anti-government protests by the BJP have marred the state Budget Session, which began on February 6.

--IANS

bha/in/mag/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the arrest of Maria Ressa, the chief of news portal Rappler, who was arrested earlier on Wednesday in Manila for an alleged "cyber libel" case.

"Freedom of the press is an essential pillar of democracy and Human Rights. The arrest in the Philippines of Maria Ressa, founder and executive editor of the news website Rappler, is an alarming development," CPJ said in a statement to the media

It also called on the government to "immediately release" the journalist and "drop all charges" against her, Efe news reported. Rappler's investigative report linked Keng to alleged drug and human trafficking.

CPJ's board chair Kathleen Carroll said that "the arrest of Maria Ressa is an outrage", adding that "she should be freed immediately and the Philippines government needs to cease its multi-pronged attack on Rappler, its talented leader, and its brave staff".

The organisation said on Wednesday the letter was launched after its board of directors, made up of influential journalists, approved an exceptional resolution in a meeting held at their New York headquarters.

Ressa was arrested in her office at the Rappler headquarters in Manila, for a story published in May 2012 about local businessman Wilfredo Keng.

The Justice Department of the Philippines filed charges of "cyber libel" against Rappler, Ressa, as the portal's CEO, and investigative journalist Reynaldo Santos for the story published in 2012.

Three Justice Department prosecutors ruled in Keng's favour in January even though Keng filed his complaint five years after the report was published, even though the statute of limitations established by Philippine law for a defamation charge is only one year.

Rappler has been very critical of the administration of Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte. However, this not the only case pending against Ressa.

Last November, an arrest warrant was issued against her on five charges of alleged tax evasion. Ressa had posted bail at the time and the case is still pending trial.

The Philippine President has made no secret of his hostility towards Rappler, accusing it of being financed by the CIA and banning its reporters from the presidential palace in February 2018.

--IANS

in

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An Indian tourist couple was killed and five others from their family, including two children, injured after their speeding vehicle flipped over multiple times during a desert safari in Sharjah.

The couple, who were on their first visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for a family reunion, were being taken back after the safari when their vehicle crashed on Tuesday, the Khaleej Times said in a report on Wednesday.

Rohinibahen Vinodbhai Patel, 42, died on the spot while her husband Vinodbhai Patel, 47, suffered a cardiac arrest after the accident and died a few hours later at a hospital. The family hailed from Baroda in Gujarat.

An official from the Sharjah Police said the driver, who was from a private tour company, was speeding when he lost control over his vehicle on Al Nazawi Road in the Madam area around 10.30 p.m. He sustained injuries and had been hospitalised.

The family came to the UAE on February 8, said Rohinibahen's brother-in-law, Dipak Patel, a US citizen. He was the only member of the family who rode in another car during the desert safari.

According to the report, he had gone ahead of the other family members and got the shocking news when he asked their tour company where his family was. They were all hoping to enjoy a reunion as they had not seen each other for over 12 years, the daily said.

"Rohinibahen is my wife Vaishali's oldest sister. My wife, our kids - Charmi, 13, and Manav, 9 - and Rohinibahen's younger brother, Yogesh, and his wife, Meghna, formed the holiday group," said Dipak Patel.

"We went to Ferrari World Abu Dhabi and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and we were having a great time... We were supposed to enjoy this short trip in Dubai and return to India. I was going to head back to Chicago with my family on February 23," he added.

Yogesh's wife, Meghna, was in a critical condition, while Dipak Patel's wife, Vaishali, suffered a fracture on her hip and injuries on her neck and shoulders. The children suffered minor injuries.

--IANS

soni/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)There may be a golden lining for India in the dark clouds of the tariff war waged by US President Donald Trump against China, and it is likely to increase its exports by as much as $11 billion if the proposed tariffs go into effect next month, according to the UN's trade arm.

Statistics for India obtained by IANS from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) show that the nation will benefit the most as a result of the tariffs proposed by the US on Chinese imports, increasing exports by $8.3 billion.

It will gain $2.65 billion from China's tariffs on US imports.

Explaining the effect of the tariff war on other countries, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, the head of UNCTAD's international trade division said recently: "The US-China bilateral trade will decline and be replaced by trade originating in other countries."

"Our analysis shows that while bilateral tariffs are not very effective in protecting domestic firms, they are valid instruments to limit trade from the targeted country," she had said while launching a study, Key Statistics and Trends in Trade Policy 2018, earlier this month.

As Trump announced a series of tariffs on imports totalling $250 billion from China last year, Beijing retaliated with tariffs on imports worth $110 billion from the US.

The two countries agreed in December to keep them in abeyance till March 1, while they try to negotiate a compromise that would bring down the US trade deficits. The trade negotiations are underway and could reduce the amount of tariffs and change the increases in exports projected for India and other countries.

The breakdowns for India - that is not in the published study, which is an overview - was provided by UNCTAD to IANS and they showed that chemicals and plastics will be the top sector benefiting from Chinese tariffs on the US, gaining about $1 billion, while on the US side it will be communications and office equipment with a gain for India of $2.44 billion.

India's exports of machinery is expected to go up by $2.4 billion because of US tariffs, and only $714 million because of China's tariffs.

Motor vehicles and transport equipment may benefit $442 billion from US tariffs and only $22 million from China's.

In various other areas, India's exports are likely to go up by $1.9 billion from US tariffs and $222 million because of China's.

According to the World Bank, India's exports to the US in 2017 were $46 billion, and to China the figure was $12.5 billion.

The study projected that European Union's exports will increase the most, capturing about $70 billion of the US-China bilateral trade, while Japan, Mexico and Canada will each benefit by more than $20 billion.

However, it warned that "while some countries will see a surge in their exports, negative global effects are likely to dominate" because of the "unavoidable impact that trade disputes will have on the still fragile global economy".

It said that economic downturn will have have an important effect on developing countries.

Despite the assertions by Trump that the tariffs will reinvigourate domestic US manufacturing, the study estimated that of the $250 billion in Chinese exports to be hit by US tariffs, only about 6 per cent will be captured by US firms, while about 82 per cent will go to businesses in other countries.

Similarly, of the $110 billion US exports to be covered by China's tariffs, only about 5 per cent will be captured by Chinese businesses and about 85 per cent will go to firms in other countries, the study said.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)

--IANS

al/soni/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An improvised explosive device (IED) was found outside a school here on Thursday morning but it did not explode, police said.

The IED was kept in a steel container outside the Catholic School in Canchipur area, adjacent to Manipur University. The bomb disposal squad made a controlled explosion in a paddy field nearby.

Though no insurgent group claimed responsibility, security has been beefed up around the school, which was closed for the day.

The school authorities have opposed the deployment of armed police and paramilitary personnel in its premises.

Manipur's Christian missionary schools have been at the receiving end of insurgent groups in a bid to extort money.

--IANS

il/rtp/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The ghastly attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday killing 26 personnel indicates a significant tactical shift in the strategy of terrorists as security agencies fear that the vehicle-ramming assaults, last seen in 2001 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly car bombing, could become a new norm.

The agencies were already devising plans to deal with rising incidents of Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts which had returned to the state recently after a gap.

Terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the attack, said to be the deadliest in the last two decades. It is being termed as second only to the car bombing in 2001 which killed 38 persons. The Scorpio being driven by local Kashmiri Adil Ahmed from Kakpora in Pulwama was said to be carrying 350 kg of explosives.

Two Army personnel, including a Major, were killed in what was described as the deadliest IED attack in the Nowshera sector along the Line of Control (LoC) on January 11.

The return of IED blasts in Jammu and Kashmir after a gap of three years was first noticed in Sopore in Baramulla district last January when four policemen were killed in the attack. The incident had forced the Jammu and Kashmir police to work out a strategy to deal with IED blasts.

The CRPF has been battling such attacks in Chhattisgarh where Naxals have mastered the craft of using IEDs to an effect. The terror groups in the North-East have also used IEDs to attack security forces.

The tactics in Jammu and Kashmir, however, was different as the terrorists, generally small in numbers, would break into a military installation inflicting heavy casualties in the initial breakthrough and engaging the forces as long as possible.

The officials said the use of IEDs also indicates that there is desperation among terrorist groups after security forces have been able to eliminate top terrorists in a massive crackdown. The security forces killed 223 terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir in 2018, the highest in eight years.

The boots-on-the-ground strategy has forced the terror groups to change tactics as India has blunted Pakistan's move to engage directly with separatists. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi spoke to Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelanit forcing India to warn of consequences.

--IANS

gd/prs

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will take part in the 55th meeting of the Munich Security Conference. The Munich Forum is considered to be one of the most authoritative and representative discussion platforms on topical issues in the field of Euro-Atlantic and global security. This conference is traditionally attended by heads of states and governments, ministers of foreign affairs and defense, representatives of international and regional organizations, as well as prominent political scientists and economists.

During the event, its participants will discuss current state and prospects of European security, issues of arms control and strategic stability, issues of conflict settlement in Euro-Atlantic region, situation in the Middle East. Lavrov is expected to give a speach on February 16 at a high-level plenary meeting. He will also meet with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono. Bilateral meetings between Sergey Lavrov and foreign ministers of Germany, South Korea, Belgium, Pakistan, Mongolia, Armenia, Croatia, and Japan are also discussed.

As Handelsblatt writes in an article "Germany, France, Britain fail to fill leadership vacuum in European defense", major European countries, and especially Germany, are still far from being able to ensure their own security as US President Donald Trump pulls back from defending Europe, according to a report prepared for this weeks Munich Security Conference.

The annual conference in the Bavarian capital is the worlds largest meeting on security issues. Some 35 heads of state and government will be attending this year, compared to only 20 last year. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will attend, though French President Emmanuel Macron canceled at the last minute. Vice President Mike Pence will head a large US delegation that includes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The conference report  which is entitled The Great Puzzle: Who Will Pick Up the Pieces?  warns of a fundamental problem beyond the series of small and big crises. Wolfgang Ischinger, a former German ambassador to the US who chairs the Munich conference, wrote in a foreword: A new era of great power competition is unfolding between the United States, China and Russia, accompanied by a certain leadership vacuum in what has become known as the liberal international order.

With this perception of a crumbling world order, the role of stabilizing its own region and neighboring territories falls to Europes three biggest countries  Germany, France and Britain. But two years after Trump came to office, these countries are still far from meeting this challenge, Ischinger said at a press conference presenting the report. We hope that Europe puts itself in a position this year to take over this important role, Ischinger said.

The report concludes that Germany is a big contributor to this strategic weakness. France, for its part, sees a European defense union as a way to expand military strength, whereas Germany looks at military cooperation as a means to greater European integration. Despite a modest increase in its defense budget, Germany does not seem to have the political will for its forces to fight alongside those of France, the report says.

Britain is the strongest military power in Europe, but it remains fully open what part Britain will play in a European defense strategy after Brexit.

The report also sees risks in the growing loss of confidence among Europeans in political leaders. A previously unpublished survey by the Pew Research Center finds that President Trump comes out worst among major leaders for retaining Europeans confidence. In Germany and France, one-third to one-fourth of those surveyed trust Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping to make rational decisions. Only 10 percent have the same confidence in Trump.

Merkel and Macron rank well ahead of those three in most countries  including in the US. This confidence places a huge responsibility on the two leaders, the report says. In fact, a joint address by the two was planned for Saturday but Macrons cancellation means Merkel will speak alone. The French president, under pressure from the yellow vest protests, said he needed to devote himself to domestic affairs.A recent European Union intelligence sharing exercise with India has revealed that Lockheed Martin, the US-headquartered company which manufactures the F-16 fighter jets, has been up to mischief mongering on the Rafale issue.

The Rafale jets, which India wants, is manufactured by the French aerospace company Dassault Aviation, a rival of Lockheed Martin.

That Lockheed Martin could be working in the shadows to sour the Rafale deal for India so that it could move in with its own deal was validated when Vivek Lall, Lockheed Martin's high-profile head of strategy and India operations, said that the company was in the process of finalising the sale of 200 fighters to India.

During the UPA regime, the government had signed an MoU for 126 Rafale fighter jets to replenish a major shortcoming in air defence preparedness because the Indian Air Force did not have quality fighter jets. When the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power, this deal was revised and an inter-government deal was struck to receive 36 fully-loaded Rafale jets. The controversy now raging in India is related to the pricing for the fighters negotiated by the NDA.

In December when the Rafale case came before the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi observed that processes were generally followed over the procurement. He also noted that the controversy had been triggered by comments by former French President Francois Hollande over the selection of the offset partner and that mere comments could not form the basis for a probe.

However, this has not prevented the Rafale purchase controversy from becoming a high-octane political battle between the Congress party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Repeatedly over the past few months and more stridently now in the lead-up to the Lok Sabha elections, Congress President Rahul Gandhi has led a no-holds barred attack on the government and the Prime Minister specifically on the issue. From the earlier public disinterest on the controversy, it is now now getting some traction -- the Congress party believes this could be possible because it has relentlessly raised the matter at all public forums.

Bringing up the case of the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) was said to be part of the orhestrated plan to present the case of the American companies while also appearing nationalistic. In the government's estimate, HAL's record is abysmal and it cannot be given a big responsibility like building fighter jets -- more so in the light of the safety record of MiG fighters purchased from Russia and made under licence from HAL.

The BJP-led government at the Centre believes -- and it is certain it has evidence of this -- that the Congress party is doing this as it has become a party to corporate rivalry between the US and French aerospace companies. For the record, Lockheed Martin is believed to have found a sympathetic ally in another US aerospace major, Boeing, which manufactures the F-18. Dassault has another rival in French manufacturer Airbus Industrie, which is associated with BAE for the manufacture of the Eurofighter. It is also angling for a fighter jet contract with India.

Rahul Gandhi's attacks on the government over the Rafale issue started after his visit to the US in August 2017 when he met several defence lobbyists, CEOs of US defence companies and Pentagon officials.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been obtuse in accusing the Congress of becoming a pawn in corporate rivalry. She made the comments during a recent seminar on 'India's strategic interest in the context of the Rafale deal'.

The government's efforts to trace the footprints of the dramatis personae at the forefront of the campaign to target the government over the Rafale deal has produced surprising results. It has found what it believes are eye-opening linkages between Prashant Bhushan, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie -- who filed a PIL in the Supreme Court accusing the Prime Minister of corruption in the deal -- and arms dealers and defence manufacturers. At least in one case, the linkages show deep connections between members of Shourie's family with aerospace companies, arms dealers and defence lobbies.

A deeper look found a correlation between the end of Shourie's dreams of being appointed Union Finance Minister and the beginning of his tirade against the Prime Minister on one issue or the other.

The government is also aware of the links between a top BJP leader's son-in-law and a French manufacturer. The son-in-law is said to be advising Rahul Gandhi and is believed to be making government documents available to him for the campaign against Rafale.

Lockheed Martin's alleged actions to work the political ecosystem to pull down the Rafale procurement deal also has a larger strategic context. Contrary to popular perception, the Trump administration is said to be extremely unhappy with India because the NDA government under Modi has been successful in building strong relationships with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The BJP government in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday introduced a bill in the Assembly proposing to rename an upcoming medical university after its leader and former Prime Minister, late Atal Behari Vajpayee.

The Himachal Pradesh University of Health Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2019, is likely to be listed for debate in the 68-member House on Friday.

The state government has decided that the name of the Himachal Pradesh University of Health Sciences be renamed as the Atal Medical and Research University, Himachal Pradesh, said Health Minister Vipin Parmar, who introduced the bill.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi High Court on Thursday increased, to Rs 6 crore, the security amount which has to be deposited by meat exporter and alleged hawala dealer Moin Akhtar Qureshi for travelling to the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan.

Justice Sunil Gaur increased the amount from Rs 2 crore to Rs 6 crore which Qureshi has to furnish as additional security in the form of a fixed deposit receipt (FDR) or bank guarantee.

The court's order came after the Central Bureau of Investigation sought increasing of the security amount. It observed that businessman Pradeep Koneru, who is also a suspect in the case, was allowed to travel abroad on furnishing of a security deposit of Rs 6 crore.

The court had, on February 1, allowed Qureshi to travel to the two countries.

Qureshi had sought permission to go to the UAE for business purpose from Feb 2 to 24. He has also requested the court to grant him permission to travel Lahore and Karachi from March 6 to 20 as he has to attend a marriage in his family.

The Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate has alleged that Qureshi had "extorted" Rs 7.5 crore from two businessmen, Koneru and Satish Sana on the pretext of helping them in the pending court cases using his influence.

The ED said that Qureshi used the names of then CBI directors Ranjit Sinha and A.P. Singh as he promised the businessmen to help them in their CBI cases.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Healthcare on Thursday reported a 35.07 per cent rise in net profit for the October-December quarter.

Its net profit for the third quarter of the current fiscal was Rs 221.06 crore against Rs 163.66 crore reported for the year-ago period, GSK Consumer Healthcare said in a regulatory filing to the BSE.

The company's total income for Q3FY19 was Rs 1,241.07 crore, 12.82 per cent higher than Rs 1,100.02 crore earned during Q3FY18, it said.

On the amalgamation of the company with Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), it said "presently, the company is in the process of seeking other requisite approvals" after the Competition Commission of India approved the proposed amalgamation on January 23.

On December 3, 2018, the GSK Consumer Healthcare board of directors had approved the plan of amalgamation with HUL.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)As a measure of support for India's cashew industry, the government is working on eliminating the import duty on cashew kernel, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu said on Thursday.

Addressing the Kaju India 2019 global cashew buyer-seller meet organised by the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI), he also said that under the new National Agriculture Export Policy, the government has identified specific agriculture export zones and clusters that are well connected with ports and airports in the country.

"The government reduced customs duty to 2.5 per cent on cashew kernel and is now working on 0 per cent import duty.

"The new agriculture policy has been jointly prepared by the ministries of Commerce, Agriculture, and Food Processing. The Commerce Ministry will also set up a series of centres in states to help farmers and exporters to brand and sell products to international market," he said.

According to CEPCI, India processes 17 lakh tonnes of raw cashew nuts per annum. Of this, around 9 lakh tonnes are imported, mainly from African countries.

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).

CEPCI Chairman R.K. Bhoodes said on Tuesday that in view of issues being faced by the sector, the Council 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 an 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.

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 African countries, 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

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)On Valentine's Day, Google doodled the star-crossed iconic character from "Mughal-E-Azam", Anarkali, made indelible in movie lovers' mind by the effervescent Madhubala who would have been 86 on Thursday.

"The Marilyn Monroe of Bollywood" as the Google blogpost said was raised in the slums of Bombay. She started supporting her family as a child star at the age of nine, before becoming a leading lady known for her elegance on screen.

Born in Delhi on this day in 1933, Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi was raised in a town located near the Bombay Talkies film studio, said Google alongside her iconic "Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya" dance "mudra" doodle created by Bangalore artist Muhammed Sajid.

Madhubala appeared in her first film as Baby Mumtaz. In 1947 she landed the lead role in "Neel Kamal", then just 14, taking her moniker that made her famous.

As her family's main breadwinner, she worked tirelessly to support her parents and four sisters. In 1949, she appeared in nine films, including blockbuster "Mahal" opposite Ashok Kumar, when she dazzled with a spell-binding breakout performance.

Her breathtaking appearance earned comparisons to Venus, although Madhubala flourished mostly in an understated style well suited for comedies, dramas, and romantic roles alike.

She fell in love with Dilip Kumar, her co-star in the 1951 romance "Tarana", which changed the course perhaps forever for the young girl, whose father-cum-manager interfered and made it a star-crossed pattern for the woman, who was yet to blossom.

The epic historical drama "Mughal-E-Azam" directed by K. Asif remains one of the most popular and expensive movies in Bollywood history; the Dilip Kumar-Madhubala chemistry was "undeniable and unforgettable".

With a tragically brief career Madhubala was billed "The Biggest Star in the World" in 1952 by Theatre Arts magazine, died on February 23, 1969 at the age of 36 after prolonged illness.

In 2008, she appeared on a commemorative postage stamp in India, where she is remembered by many as one of the greatest to ever grace the silver screen.

She had acted in over 70 films over the course of a tragically brief career. Her film "Chalak" opposite Raj Kapoor remained incomplete as she did not have the strength to continue.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Finance Ministry has asked the six remaining public sector banks, currently under Prompt Corrective Action (PCA), to improve on seven parameters to get the government's support for coming out of the PCA framework.

"We have told these banks to improve upon net interest margins (NIMs), CASA (current account savings account), RWA (Risk Weighted Assets), NPA recognisation, divergence (disparity in loan recognisation), operating profit and non-core asset selling to be able to get our support for being out of the PCA," official sources said.

Earlier, a Finance ministry official had said all the six banks were expected to come out of PCA over the next two quarters or by June.

Out of a total of 11 banks put under PCA last year, three have already moved out while another two will merge with a stronger entity. This leaves six in the list of weak banks that also face restrictions on lending.

The recent recapitalization has taken care of the banks' tier-I core capital requirements. As per Basel III norms, all banks need to meet both risk-based capital minimum Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) requirement of 4.5 per cent and the target level CET1 requirement of 7 per cent.

The government had infused capital in banks that was used to increase provisions and lower the net NPA ratio enabling RBI to lift restrictions on the three banks - Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce.

Breaching net NPA ratio of 6 per cent is one of the conditions that trigger restrictions. The immediate impact of banks under PCA is loan growth is impacted since they cannot lend to below AAA rated corporates.

CASA ratio of a bank is the ratio of deposits in current and saving accounts to total deposits. A higher CASA ratio indicates a lower cost of funds, because banks do not usually give any interests on current account deposits and the interest on saving accounts is usually very low: 3-4 per cent.

Last year, while the government allocated Rs 88,139 crore for bank recapitalization (predominantly through recap bonds), Rs 52,311 crore was allocated to 11 PSU banks under PCA. Since then Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce have moved out of PCA and IDBI Bank has been taken over by LIC and Dena Bank is being merged with Vijaya and Bank of Baroda and are by default out of PCA.

The Reserve Bank has specified certain regulatory trigger points as a part of PCA Framework in terms of three parameters -- capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR), net non-performing assets (NPA) and Return on Assets (RoA), for initiation of certain structured and discretionary actions in respect of banks hitting such trigger points.

Recently, when BoI, BoM and OBC were taken out of the PCA, they were falling short of meeting the RoA norms. But since none of these banks have met the requirement for 'return on assets', it appears that the trigger has been diluted.

An official said the norm for RoA as per the PCA rules is that the bank should not make losses for two years straight, but a lot of banks will have to report losses for FY19 as well.

The banks under PCA are Allahabad Bank, United Bank of India, Corporation Bank, UCO Bank, Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank.

Under the PCA, banks face restrictions on distributing dividends and remitting profits. Besides, the lenders are stopped from expanding their branch networks and need to maintain higher provisions. Management compensation and directors fees are also capped.

The recovery plan, as presented by these banks, include cost cutting, reducing branches size, closing foreign branches, shrinking corporate loan book as well as selling risky assets to other lenders.

-IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)After indie dramas and romantic-comedy entertainers, Oscar winner Brie Larson found it extremely satisfying to take on action scenes as Captain Marvel in the forthcoming eponymous Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film.

"They were all so fun. Some of my favourite days were doing fight sequences because it was this new skill I was learning.

"It's very satisfying in a way that making art isn't always that satisfying because it is upto your interpretation constantly. You're doing this scene with someone, and you're constantly like 'should I edge over this way or that way'.

"But with a fight sequence, it's very clear cut that there's a right and a wrong way to punch, and that's it. So then you can go home feeling satisfied because there's a target and you hit the target," said Larson, who was here for an Asia press meet on Thursday.

Dressed in a soft and subtle dress, but sporting a strong demeanour, the "Room" actress spoke candidly about how in an attempt to embody "female strength", she underwent nine months of training to test how strong she could get.

"For me, it's all about bringing in all my experiences which allow me to confront myself with all the real things... I went on this path of training every day for nine months to see what makes me strong."

It was life changing for Larson, who has become the first to lead a female superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

"It changed my mind, it changed the way I view the world, especially martial arts. It is crazy how differently you tend to view the world... It's weird that once I started doing more judo, I would be like 'That guy has a jean jacket on, I could totally throw him right now'," she joked, eliciting laughter from the crowd of journalists.

What Larson realised in the course of playing Captain Marvel is: "There's something about pushing yourself beyond a threshold that's comfortable and then going a bit further than that.

"I was lucky to have a good trainer. It was these moments of that breakthrough, of going through beyond what you thought would be possible, what you thought your body isn't capable of doing."

"Captain Marvel", directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, will release in India on March 8. It also stars Jude Law, Samuel L. Jackson and Gemma Chan.

If she was given a chance to feature in "Captain Marvel 2", which superhero would she like to pick?

Larson said: "My dream would be that Miss Marvel gets to come into play in a sequel."

(The writer's trip is on an invitation by Disney India. Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former army chief, Gen. Shankar Roychowdhury (retd) on Thursday blamed intelligence failure for the Pulwama terror attack and suggested some non-governmental Indian agency raise a "fidayeen" (suicide squad) against Pakistan to avenge such incidents.

"Obviously, there was an intelligence failure. They (the Indian military authorities) should not have sent such a big convoy of 70 trucks. They should not have done so many things.

"But now, they have to get this gang, or group, find out those who have perpetrated it, and eliminate them. That is what is to be done," Roychowdhury, who headed the Indian Army 1994-97, said.

He said like terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad is also an old outfit, and intelligence agencies have lot of information about them.

"The terrorists have to be tracked down, for which the intelligence agencies have to start working. It may be difficult to eliminate them at one go. They have to be hunted down one by one and killed," he said.

However, he said there might be complications if the terrorists have infiltrated from Pakistan.

"But I think, the perpetrators must have gone to some local hideouts," he said.

Asked whether he saw a Pakistan hand in the militant strike, he said: "I have always maintained that Pakistan has a role (in such incidents).. They have to be punished."

Roychowdhury said he has for long been advocating that India must raise a fidayeen squad.

"I have been saying we must also have our own fidayeen. But the government or the army can't do it. That's not their job. We have to devise some other way...

"We need a third party... a third group... some non-governmental agency which can take up the job. Unless we retaliate, respond in kind for every person we lose, these things will go on and on.

He said there were problems both in Kashmir and across the border. "So many groups can't come from across the border. Where did they make the weapons and bombs and transported them to the spot?"

But he discounted the theory that terrorism and talks cannot go together. "That is wrong. Terrorism and talks can go together. But for that, first we need to respond in kind, and then carry on the talks."

In the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 43 troopers and leaving the security established stunned.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A six-member team of the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday held a consultation session with major political parties in Odisha to discuss preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state.

The ECI team, led by Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, held the discussion with representatives of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and Communist Party of India (CPI) among others.

The political parties urged the ECI to conduct free and fair elections in the state.

"We informed the ECI about the misuse of government agencies by both the Centre and the Odisha government. We also requested for a free and fair election protecting the integrity of elections," said Congress leader Narasingh Mishra.

BJD leader Amar Patnaik said they had informed the ECI about the involvement of BJP leaders in violence during the Bijepur Assembly by-elections and urged the officials to take steps to prevent repeating such violence.

"We also informed the team about the cash hoarding at petrol pumps and cash transferred through the petrol pumps. Attention should be given on attempts being made for communal violence in the area to disrupt the election process," said Patnaik.

BJP leader Bhrugu Baxipatra said they had informed the ECI team about the Biju Yuva Vahini and misuse of power by the ruling party in the state.

"We informed the EC team about possible poll rigging and violence by the BJD workers during the polls. We also told them about the previous poll violence in which BJP workers were killed by BJD workers," said Baxipatra.

The ECI officials, along with the state government officials, will review the law and order situation on February 15.

IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The European Union reached a provisional deal on Wednesday on new rules governing import gas pipelines, casting doubt over the operating structure of Russias planned Nord Stream 2.

Reuters reports in its article EU gas pipeline rules could slow Russia's Nord Stream 2 that the Russian pipeline already faces uncertainty after Denmarks potential ban on its planned route through its territorial waters and sanction threats by the United States. The draft law calls for all import pipelines to meet EU rules by not being directly owned by gas suppliers, applying non-discriminatory tariffs and transparent reporting and opening at least 10 percent of capacity to third parties. EU Commissioner Arias Canete, who is responsible for energy, said that the EU was closing a loophole as its dependency on natural gas imports increases. Exceptions were only possible under strict procedures, the European Commission said, adding it would play a decisive role.

The new rules ensure that EU law will be applied to pipelines bringing gas to Europe and that everyone interested in selling gas to Europe must respect European energy law, Canete said in a statement. The deal reached by representatives of the European Commission and parliament and the 28 member states should lead to a new law in the coming months. EU countries would then have nine months to transpose it into national law.

The draft law could slow but not stop the project, led by Russian state energy firm Gazprom in partnership with five Western firms - Germanys Uniper and BASFs Wintershall unit, Anglo-Dutch firm Shell, Austrias OMV and Frances Engie. We will continue observing the process and we will study the new legislation once it has been made available, Nord Stream 2 said in a statement. We refrain from speculation about potential impacts of draft legislation that has not yet been formally approved.

Nord Stream 2 has divided the EU as Eastern European, Nordic and Baltic Sea countries see the 1,225 km (760 mile) pipeline, which is already under construction, as increasing EU reliance on Moscow, while those in northern Europe, especially Germany, prioritize the economic benefits. Nord Stream 2 says the project will make a positive contribution to the Energy Union goals by securing an additional route of gas supply.

Denmark faces a foreign policy quandary as it has to decide whether the pipeline can go through its territorial waters after it passed new legislation on pipelines allowing it to ban Nord Stream 2 on foreign policy and security grounds. Moscows military posturing in and around the Baltic Sea has rattled nerves in the Nordic states and Denmarks Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen, who has been urging a common European stance, cautioned that a Danish decision on the route would still be based on a broader assessment in relation to its defence, security and foreign policy interests. I would like to emphasize that nothing the Russians are doing is currently pulling towards an approval, he said. In case of a Danish no, the project would still be likely to go ahead as the consortium has applied for an alternative route avoiding Denmarks waters.The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the partys highest decision-making body will meet on February 26 in Prime Minister Narendra Modis home state Gujarat to chalk out and finalise the roadmap for the Lok Sabha elections.

To be presided over by party President Rahul Gandhi, the meeting in Ahmedabad will also be attended by newly appointed General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi among other prominent leaders and office-bearers.

Besides the issues to be incorporated in the manifesto, the selection of candidates and electoral understandings both at the national and state levels will be high on the agenda.

With the Election Commission expected to announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha in the first week of March, the central leadership has instructed all the state units to finalise the respective candidate lists before the CWC meeting where the names will be finally approved.

The state units have also been asked to identify seats which can be given to prospective allies.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Notwithstanding talk of a post-poll alliance, the Congress is all set to tie-up with the Left against the ruling Trinamool Congress for the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal where it won 4 seats with a vote share of nearly 10 per cent in 2014.

Battling a surge of defections to the Trinamool and fund crunch, the state leadership, as opposed to the central leaders' wishes for a truck with the Trinamool, insists on a tie-up with the Left with whom it had an electoral arrangement during the 2016 Assembly polls.

Congress leaders privy to the development told IANS that an agreement has been reached on contesting the polls jointly with the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) in at least 30 of the 42 seats.

Besides Congress President Rahul Gandhi and CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury discussing the issue, the Bengal Congress has been in talks with the Communist leaders to work out the modalities of the tie-up.

"The CPI-M and CPI have agreed for a tie up. Talks on seat-sharing are at an advance stage. We will jointly contest in at least 30 seats if not more," a Bengal Congress leader told IANS adding that Left Front constituents Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) have not agreed to be part of the understanding.

The RSP had in 2016 too protested tooth and nail against a tie-up with the Congress.

The Congress appears to be a divided lot over its Bengal plans both at the central and state levels. While the central leadership is keen on aligning with the Trinamool Congress, a fair section of the state leadership insists on a tie-up with the Left. Yet another section wants to go it alone.

Signifying its intent to woo the Trinamool, Gandhi in September removed known Mamata-baiter Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury as the state unit chief and brought in Somen Mitra, a former Trinamool MP who had rejoined Congress in 2014.

However, contrary to the central leadership's hopes, Mitra has opposed any truck with Mamata. Critical of the Trinamool for allegedly attacking and killing Congress workers and supporters, Mitra wants the Congress to contest the polls alone.

On the other hand, state General Secretary O.P. Mishra, who was the architect of the Congress-Left tie-up for the 2016 Assembly polls, asserts an understanding with the Left was imperative for the Congress.

"The Congress-Left collaboration ensured the BJP's vote share plummeting to 10.2 per cent from its all time high of nearly 17 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. An understanding with the Left is imperative especially when the Trinamool is having a tacit understanding with the BJP," Mishra told IANS.

Pointing to the Congress-Left combine winning 76 of the 294 seats and registering about 38 per cent vote share in the 2016 polls, Mishra said the combine was looking at incremental gains and confident of both the Congress and the Left improving their respective tallies in the Lok Sabha polls.

While the Left was reduced to two seats with a vote share of nearly 30 per cent, the Congress with a vote share of around 10 per cent won four seats in 2014. Of the 42 Lok Sabha seats, the Trinamool won 34.

"The difference between Trinamool's vote-share with the Congress-Left combine in 2016 was merely 6 per cent. At a time when there is huge anti incumbency against Mamata and massive resentment against Modi, the Congress-Left collaboration stands only to gain," added Mishra.

Somen Mitra, a votary of the Congress going it alone, said that any arrangement with the Trinamool would be a disaster citing party workers and supporters being killed and attacked by the state's ruling party.

"It would also facilitate the rise of BJP and Hindutva forces in Bengal," said Mitra.

While asserting that the Congress should go it alone, Mitra said he was not averse to a tie-up with the Left.

A central leader of the party, however, said the Trinamool was important in the Congress' scheme of things as it could emerge the third largest party after the Congress and the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls.

"Trinamool, along with the SP-BSP combine, will be the kingmakers that cannot be denied. While we had hoped for a mahagathbandhan' which has not materialised, a post-poll alliance is on the cards," a central party leader told IANS.

"Time and again the opposition has displayed its unity, although a pre-poll alliance has not happened. But all the parties realise the importance of joining hands and we are confident that it will happen state-wise and after achieving the common goal of defeating the BJP, the contours of the UPA 3 will be finalised," he added.

(Anurag Dey can be contacted at anurag.d@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Thursday targeted the Congress once again and slammed it for invoking the National Security Act (NSA) against Muslims for alleged cow slaughter in Madhya Pradesh.

In a statement, the four-time former UP chief minister said that while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government had been doing a similar thing in the state, the Kamal Nath government was no different.

Mayawati, who recently got active on Twitter and changed her handle from SushriMayawati to Mayawati earlier in the day, said that both the Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh governments were spreading terror, specially in the minds of minorities. She cited the example of AMU students being booked by the UP police.

Both the acts were equally condemnable and acts of terror, she said.

The Dalit leader further said: "The CAG report presented in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday about Rafale deal was "incomplete in the eyes of the people".

"The CAG report is neither complete nor correct in totality," she said, adding that the constitutional institutions were unable to work fairly.

Mayawati said: "This had left the "nation worried".

The BSP has two legislators in Madhya Pradesh and its support is crucial for the Kamal Nath-led Congress government which crossed the majority mark with the support of three independent legislators, two of the BSP and one of the Samajwadi Party.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP President Amit Shah on Thursday accused Congress President Rahul Gandhi of betraying Karnataka's farmers.

"Gandhi promised to waive loans of all farmers across Karnataka. But his coalition government waived only Rs 1,000 crore out of Rs 41,000 crore promised by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy months ago," said Shah at a party meeting in the state's northern region, 400 km from Bengaluru.

"The BJP is progressing under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government announced Rs 6,000 per annum in the interim Union Budget for fiscal 2019-20 to farmers having 5 acres of land across the country," he said in his address to the members of the Shakti Kendra Pramukh Samavesh.

He also dared Gandhi to name the leader of 'mahaghatbadhan' (the opposition grand alliance).

Noting Kumaraswamy had said he became Chief Minister due to former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and not because of the people, Shah also mocked him for saying recently that he was working like a clerk owing to the Congress.

Shah is on a two-day visit to the state for pre-poll campaign ahead of the general elections.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress party's electoral promise to raise the procurement rate of paddy at Rs 2,500 per quintal in Chhattisgarh is set to put an additional burden on the state treasury. This is because the Centre has refused to procure the entire produce from the state citing violation of the prescribed norms as the state has set a higher procurement price.

As per rough estimates, Chhattisgarh, which last week presented a Rs 91,542 crore budget for 2019-20, would have to shell out another Rs 11,600 crore for paddy procurement - but has budgeted only Rs 5,000 crore.

According to a Food Ministry official, the Chhattisgarh government has been informed that the Food Corp of India (FCI) would procure about 2.4 million tonnes of rice for the public distribution programmes and 2.4 million tonnes of boiled rice - both at Rs 1,750 per quintal - the Minimum Support Price (MSP) fixed by the Centre.

Total paddy production the state is expected to touch 8 million tonnes this year against 7.1 million tonnes last year. The FCI would procure 4.8 million tonnes, which means the state government will have to bear the entire expense for purchasing the remaining 3.2 million tonnes.

In addition, for the 4.8 million tonnes, it will have to shell out the difference between the state announced rate and the central government's MSP, which comes to an additional Rs 750 per quintal.

"We are procuring 2.4 million tonnes of paddy that will be used for the welfare schemes including the National Food Security Mission. Despite the violation of the norms, we have granted an exemption. We will also procure 2.4 million tonnes of boiled rice, all at the MSP of Rs 1,750 per quintal," said the official.

The Chhattisgarh government has allotted Rs 21,597 crore for the agriculture sector in the 2019-20 budget, earmarking Rs 5,000 for paddy procurement. It's unclear where the remaining Rs 6,600 crore will come from.

Apart from the state's own production, a significant chunk of farmers from adjoining states of Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra are likely to sell their paddy produce in Chhattisgarh because of the attractive price it offers.

Even if the state government takes care of the expenses, the central government is concerned over the increase in the paddy acreage and challenges from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for violating multilateral trading rules due to farm subsidy.

"We are trying to divert a part of cultivation to cereal grains as they are nutritious and require less water. The Chhattisgarh government's decision will not just encourage farmers to go for paddy cultivation but it may lead to farmers from the other states seeking higher rates as well," said a source.

(Saurabh Katkurwar can be contacted at saurabh.k@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)One of the three schoolgirls who left the UK in 2015 to join the Islamic State terror group has said that she has no regrets despite seeing "beheaded heads" in bins, but wishes to return to her home.

In an interview with the Times newspaper, Shamima Begum, 19, who is nine months pregnant, talked about the horrible sights she witnessed adding that they "did not faze her". However, she wanted to come home to have her baby, the BBC reported.

UK Security Minister Ben Wallace, without directly commenting on Begum's case, said on BBC's Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday that "actions have consequences".

He said that UK nationals choosing to come back to the country after travelling to the IS territory should expect to be "prepared to be questioned, investigated and potentially prosecuted for committed terrorist offences".

"People who went out there often as amateurs are now professional terrorists or professional supporters of terrorism, and we have to make sure we mitigate that threat should they come back," he said.

Speaking from a refugee camp in Syria, Begum told the newspaper that "the caliphate is over". She said that she had had two other children who both died over the last four years. She also told the daily how one of her two school friends who had left the UK with her died in a bombing. The fate of the third girl was unclear.

Bethnal Green Academy pupils Begum and Amira Abase, were both 15, while Kadiza Sultana was 16, when they left the UK in February 2015.

They flew from Gatwick Airport to Turkey after telling their parents they were going out for the day. Later they crossed the border into Syria.

After arriving in Raqqa, she stayed at a house with other newly arrived brides-to-be, she told the Times.

"I applied to marry an English-speaking fighter between 20 and 25 years old," she said. Ten days later she married a 27-year-old Dutch man who had converted to Islam.

She has been with him since then, and the couple escaped from Baghuz - the terror group's last territory in eastern Syria - two weeks ago. Her husband surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters as they left, and she is now one of 39,000 people in a refugee camp in northern Syria.

Asked whether her experiences of living in the one-time IS stronghold of Raqqa had lived up to her aspirations, Begum said: "Yes, it did. It was like a normal life. The life that they show on the propaganda videos -- it's a normal life.

"Every now and then there are bombs and stuff. But other than that..."

She said that seeing her first "severed head" in a bin did not faze her. "It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam. I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance."

"I'm not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago," she told the Times. "I don't regret coming here."

She always thought she would die along with her husband, who is in a prison. "I don't have high hopes. They are just getting smaller and smaller. And there is so much oppression and corruption going on that I don't really think they deserve victory," she added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)One of three schoolgirls who left London in 2015 to join the Islamic State has said she has no regrets despite seeing "beheaded heads" in bins, but wishes to return to her UK home, media reports said.

In an interview with the Times, Shamima Begum, 19, who was nine months pregnant, talked about the horrible sights she witnessed adding that they "did not faze her", however, wanted to come home for her baby, the BBC reported.

Speaking from a refugee camp in Syria, she said she had had two other children who both died over the last four years.

She also described how one of her two school friends had left the UK with her has died in a bombing. The fate of the third girl was unclear.

Bethnal Green Academy pupils Begum and Amira Abase, were both 15, while Kadiza Sultana was 16, when they left the UK in February 2015.

They flew from Gatwick Airport to Turkey after telling their parents they were going out for the day. Later crossed the border into Syria.

After arriving in Raqqa, she stayed at a house with other newly arrived brides-to-be, she told the Times.

"I applied to marry an English-speaking fighter between 20 and 25 years old," she said. Ten days later she married a 27-year-old Dutch man who had converted to Islam.

She has been with him since then, and the couple escaped from Baghuz - the terror group's last territory in eastern Syria - two weeks ago.

Her husband surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters as they left, and she is now one of 39,000 people in a refugee camp in northern Syria.

Asked whether her experiences of living in the one-time IS stronghold of Raqqa had lived up to her aspirations, Begum said: "Yes, it did. It was like a normal life. The life that they show on the propaganda videos -- it's a normal life.

"Every now and then there are bombs and stuff. But other than that..."

She said that seeing her first "severed head" in a bin did not faze her out. "It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam. I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance," she said.

"I'm not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago," she told Times. "I don't regret coming here."

She always thought she would die along with her husband, who is in a prison.

"I don't have high hopes. They are just getting smaller and smaller," she said. "And there is so much oppression and corruption going on that I don't really think they deserve victory," she added.

--IANS

in

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will soon form a strong electoral alliance in Tamil Nadu to contest all 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state, its President Amit Shah said on Thursday.

Addressing the members of the Handloom and Powerloom Associations here, he said the BJP is preparing its poll manifesto after gathering inputs from people across the country and he has come to get the views of the textile and handloom sector stake-holders.

The BJP chief also listed out various Central government schemes implemented for the textile sector.

Attacking the opposition parties, he said that DMK President M.K. Stalin accepts the leadership of Congress President Rahul Gandhi sometimes and does not at other times.

Later addressing the party cadres here, Shah termed the DMK-Congress alliance as an "alliance for corruption".

"The alliance between Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Congress is an alliance of parties following dynastic It is an alliance of corruption to create wealth for their families.

"It is only the BJP which is known by its cadres and not by its leaders."

He said the BJP does not win elections by its leaders alone but by the hard work of the party cadres.

The nationwide mood is to re-elect Narendera Modi as the Prime Minister, he said.

Shah said there are two types of political camps that exist in the country now - the Rahul Gandhi-led Congress and DMK alliance and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) under Modi.

"I ask Stalin, you were a part of the Central government for 10 years. What did you do?" Shah asked, and answered himself that the DMK was involved in scams.

Citing achievements of the Modi government, he said that the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, during its 10-year rule, wrote off farm loans worth Rs 53,000 crore whereas the Modi government has announced the farmers income scheme whereby they will get Rs 750,000 crore in 10 years time.

"The Modi government gave huge relief to the small- and medium-sized enterprises by increasing the exemption from the ambit of Goods and Services Tax (GST)."

He also listed the other various projects and the amounts sanctioned by the Central government.

Saying that the BJP government is moving ahead with the vision of corporate social responsibility (CSR), he alleged that for DMK, the acronym means "corruption scam raj".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP veterans, including L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, are likely to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, notwithstanding an informal bar on those above 75 years occupying ministerial and organisational posts.

A final decision in this regard would be taken by the party's Central Election Committee when it meets after the announcement of the election schedule, likely in the first week of March. Sources in BJP said the party leadership had given an informal green signal to these veterans.

They said the leadership wanted to persuade Advani (91) to vacate the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat for her daughter Pratibha but he is said to have turned down the proposal. Advani's stance was that having fought against dynasty throughout his career, he cannot compromise on it. Instead, he is keen on contesting the coming polls.

Advani, currently the oldest member of the Lok Sabha, has represented the Gandhinagar constituency since 1991 and has been winning all the last five general elections by a big margin.

In the 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP faced a tough fight from the Congress and its tally was restricted to 99 of the 182 Assembly seats. The party failed to open its account in districts like Morbi, Amreli and Gir Somnath while in Gandhinagar the BJP won five of the seven Assembly seats.

If Advani contests, he would become the oldest MP ever to fight the Lok Sabha elections after Ram Sunder Das of the Janata Dal-United, who won from Hajipur in 2009 at age 88 and vacated office at the age of 93.

Besides Advani, party veterans Murli Manohar Joshi (84), Shanta Kumar (85), Kalraj Mishra (77) and Bhagat Singh Koshyari (77) are also likely to be fielded in the Lok Sabha polls, the sources said.

Joshi, who won in 2014 from Kanpur, was the BJP President between 1991 and 1993 and has also represented Allahabad and Varanasi in Parliament. In 2014, he was shifted to Kanpur after the party decided to field Narendra Modi in Varanasi.

Advani and Joshi, considered three top leaders of BJP after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, did not find a place in BJP's highest decision-making body, the Parliamentary Board when the BJP President took charge. Instead he created a Marg Darshak Mandal that comprises Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Shah himself as well as Joshi and Advani.

Shanta Kumar has been representing Kangra constituency in Himachal Pradesh. The former Chief Minister of the hill state was first elected from there in 1989. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998, 1999 and 2014 from Kangra.

Mishra, the BJP's prominent Brahmin face in Uttar Pradesh, is representing Deoria in the current Lok Sabha. He was inducted into Modi's Council of Ministers as MoS independent charge of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises but dropped later on age grounds.

Koshyari, a former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, represents Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar constituency. He also served as a Rajya Sabha MP.

Sources in BJP said the party leadership had given the green signal to these leaders after taking their consent.

The change in BJP's position on veteran leaders is being seen as a move giving weightage to winnability of candidates than their age.

This also comes in the wake of opposition parties joining hands ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

The sources said the move was well calculated as the BJP does not want to trigger any controversy by denying the veterans a ticket.

"The age bar set by the party leadership is not official or written in its constitution. It is just an arrangement. As far as my knowledge goes, the age bar is not for contesting elections but for holding party and government posts," a top BJP functionary told IANS on the condition of anonymity.

(Brajendra Nath Singh can be contacted at Brajendra Nath Singh)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Bharat 22 ETF issue has been subscribed over 10 times and the government will retain about Rs 10,000 crore as divestment proceeds from the additional offering period of the exchange traded fund.

Additional offering of Bharat 22 ETF was opened for a day on Thursday. The base issue size was fixed at Rs 3,500 crore.

The issue received overwhelming response from all categories of investors including retail investors. The issue was oversubscribed over 10 times of base issue size till 7 p.m. and received about Rs 40,000 crore. The government has decided to retain about Rs 10,000 crore as its divestment proceeds, said the Finance Ministry.

The government, struggling to fill the gaps in the disinvestment goal of Rs 80,000 crore, will use the proceeds for meeting the target in current fiscal which is at Rs 35,500 crore now without this proceeds.

Since its launch in November 2017, the government has raised Rs 22,900 crore through Bharat22 ETF through two tranches.

The government offered additional units of Bharat 22 Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) on Thursday. The follow-on offer of Bharat 22 ETF - comprising shares of 22 public sector companies - is as part of the disinvestment program announced by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), Ministry of Finance.

Thursday's follow-on offer is the third tranche of sale of the Bharat 22 ETF. The government planned to raise Rs 3,500 crore via sale of additional units of Bharat 22 ETF. The proceeds from the Bharat 22 ETF sale would help the government move towards meeting its disinvestment target of Rs 80,000 crore for the current fiscal year.

The S&P BSE Bharat 22 Index is designed to measure the performance of select companies disinvested by the central government according to the disinvestment program. It is a highly liquid index - more than 99 per cent of index constituents are available under Futures & Options (F&O), HDFC Securities said in a research note.

Launched in August 2017, the Bharat 22 ETF comprises six sectors (basic materials, energy, finance, FMCG, industrials and utilities) and is rebalanced annually.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BHARIP Bahujan Mahasangh and AIMIM had a meeting yesterday 13th February 2019 at Edi gah ground in Malegaon which was attended by nearly 50000 people.

The meeting began at 4 pm in the afternoon amidst much cheer and applause from the huge gathering of well wishers and supporters of both the parties.

MP Assaduddin Owaisi, who was expected could not come but Prakash Ambedkar, the supremo of BHARIP Bahujan Mahasangh was present and that was enough to draw the crowds who stayed in the ground till 9 pm when the meeting concluded with the announcement of Kamal Hashim as the potential candidate to contest from Dhule, Malegaon in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

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This announcement was welcomed by both the party members .

Kamal Hashim, 50, is a Pune based businessman from Malegaon with an engineering degree from Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, Mumbai and another degree in Political science from Havard, USA.

Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi formed by Owaisi and Ambedkar with the intention of extending solidarity to each other  Dalits and Muslims and to fight together to oust communal forces from Maharashtra.

Prakash Ambedkar electrified the audience with his powerful speech addressing all the concerns of both Dalits and Muslims such as mob lynching, atrocities, discrimination, other unemployment, poverty, reservations and scholarships.

The other speakers were Dr. Khalil, corporator from MIM and Sufi Gulam Rasool.

SN Ansari, TwoCircles.net with photographer Ali Akbar has covered the event:Inclement weather on Thursday forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cancel his rally at Rudrapur in Udhamsingh Nagar district of Uttarakhand, a top BJP leader said.

State BJP President Ajay Bhatt said the Prime Minister's helicopter remained stranded at the Dhikala Range in the Jim Corbett National Park and could not fly to Rudrapur where Modi was to address a big rally.

"The Prime Minister addressed the Rudrapur gathering through telephone and expressed his regret for not reaching the venue due to inclement weather," Bhatt said.

Earlier, the Prime Minister was held up at Jollygrant Airport in Dehradun for more than four hours due to rain. Modi, who landed at the airport at 7.15 a.m., could only fly to Kalagarh to visit the Corbett National Park around noon.

During his visit to Rudrapur, Modi was supposed to launch the State Integrated Cooperative Development Project and distribute loans to select beneficiaries of the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Farmers Welfare Scheme of the state government.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Argentine President Mauricio Macri will visit India from Sunday at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the External Affairs Ministry said on Thursday.

The three-day visit will provide an opportunity to the two sides to review progress in bilateral ties and to explore new avenues of cooperation.

Macri, accompanied by First Lady Juliana Awada, will be in India between February 17 and 19. On the first day in India, Macri will visit Agra.

Macri will meet President Ram Nath Kovind, who will host a banquet in his honour, and hold talks with Prime Minister Modi.

Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Emilio Monzo and other senior officials will accompany the President.

The main day of official engagements in Delhi will be on February 18. Macri will be in Mumbai the next day.

Modi visited Argentina for the G20 from November 30 to December 1, 2018 and met Macri there.

Bilateral trade at present is around $3 billion.

India exports mainly two-wheelers, iron and steel, agro chemicals, yarn, organic chemicals, bulk drugs and drug intermediates and motor vehicles, while Argentina exports to India mainly vegetable oils (soya bean and sunflower), finished leather, cereals, residual chemicals and allied products and pulses, said a Ministry statement.

Indian companies have made investments in IT, agro-chemical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic sectors in Argentina. The total Indian investments in Argentina are to the tune of $1 billion.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Delhi court on Thursday granted interim bail to Dubai-based businessman Rajiv Saxena till February 22 in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar asked the businessman to furnish two sureties bond of Rs 5 lakh each and also sought a detailed medical report of Saxena from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday told the court it was not opposing Saxena's bail plea on medical grounds as he was cooperating in the VVIP chopper deal probe.

Saxena told the court he was suffering from radiating back pain, numbness and heaviness in legs, neck pain and other ailments. Despite this, he has been cooperating, he said.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) security agencies had picked Saxena from his Dubai residence 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 a corporate structure across the globe to launder money for payment to various political leaders, bureaucrats and Indian Air Force officials to influence the contract for supplying 12 VVIP helicopters in favour of AgustaWestland.

A non-bailable warrant was issued against Saxena after he did not join the investigation despite repeated summons.

Saxena's name was mentioned in a charge sheet filed against his wife, Shivani, who has been out on bail after being arrested by the ED earlier.

--IANS

akk/in/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least eight CRPF troopers were killed on Thursday when militants detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) and opened fire at their vehicle on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, police sources said.

The audacious attack took place at Lechpora, about 30 km from Srinagar.

The sources said the death toll could rise as some of the injured Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were in a serious condition.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group claimed responsibility for the attack.

--IANS

sq/mr/prs

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 43 troopers and leaving the security established stunned.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the horror and released a video clip of the suicide bomber, a 'commander' identified as Adil Ahmad Dar, which it claimed was shot before the young man carried out the strike in Lethpora, about 30 km from here.

Even as a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and comprising the Home, Defence, External Affairs and Finance Ministers, was called for on Friday morning, the government said it was "firmly and resolutely committed to take all necessary measures to safeguard national security".

While precise details of the attack were still unclear, police sources said the suicide bomber-driven SUV came along the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bus when a 78-vehicle convoy carrying 2,547 security personnel was going from the transit camp in Jammu to Srinagar and rammed it into the bus around 3.15 p.m., triggering a deafening explosion.

So devastating was the attack -- one report spoke of 200 kg of explosives, including probably RDX, packed into the SUV -- that the CRPF bus was left a mangled heap, many of its occupants losing their limbs.

CRPF officials said the bus which was the main target of the militants was destroyed fully while another CRPF vehicle was partly damaged. "It is difficult to believe how anyone in that bus could have survived," said a police officer.

In a statement to a local news agency GNS, a caller claiming to be a spokesman of JeM said it was a 'fidayeen' (suicide) attack.

All the injured were shifted to the Army's 92 Base Hospital in the Badamibagh cantonment of Srinagar city. Some of them were in critical condition.

All traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway came to an abrupt halt. Senior police and CRPF officers rushed to the spot for a post-explosion analysis.

An officer said the CRPF and police would carry out a detailed investigation to understand the circumstances in which the attack took place.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in condemning the horror.

"The attack ... is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs," he tweeted.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was to visit Bihar on Friday, is set to reach Srinagar instead. Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba cut short his visit to Bhutan to rush to Srinagar for a high-level security meeting on Friday.

"Today's dastardly attack ... is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation," Rajnath Singh said.

The government, stressing that the "heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries", demanded that Pakistan "stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries".

New Delhi also reiterated its appeal to the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM Chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

This is the worst single attack in Jammu and Kashmir since a nascent Pakistan-backed separatist campaign began in 1989. It is also the worst attack carried out by militants after the one on the Uri Army camp on September 18, 2016 left 19 soldiers dead -- forcing New Delhi to launch 'surgical strikes' on terrorist camps in Pakistan.

Officials said the reason why so many CRPF personnel were on the move at one go was because the Srinagar-Jammu highway had been shut the past two days due to bad weather. The convoy left Jammu before dawn.

--IANS

team/vd/prs

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 42 troopers and leaving the security established stunned.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the horror and released a video clip of the suicide bomber, a 'commander' identified as Adil Ahmad Dar, which it claimed was shot before the young man carried out the strike in Lethpora, about 30 km from here.

While precise details of the attack were still unclear, police sources said the suicide bomber-driven SUV came along the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bus when a 78-vehicle convoy carrying 2,547 security personnel was going from the transit camp in Jammu to Srinagar and rammed it into the bus around 3.15 p.m., triggering a deafening explosion.

So devastating was the attack -- one report spoke of 200 kg of explosives, including probably RDX, packed into the SUV -- that the CRPF bus was left in a mangled heap, many of its occupants losing their limbs. The bus was transporting 39 troopers.

CRPF officials said the bus which was the main target of the militants was destroyed fully while another CRPF vehicle was partly damaged. "It is difficult to believe how anyone in that bus could have survived," said a police officer.

Jammu and Kashmir Police chief Dilbag Singh said it could have been a suicide attack. This was confirmed by other officials later.

In a statement to a local news agency GNS, a caller claiming to be a spokesman of JeM said it was a 'fidayeen' (suicide) attack.

All the injured were shifted to the Army's 92 Base Hospital in the Badamibagh cantonment of Srinagar city. Some of them were in critical condition.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in condemning the horror.

"The attack ... is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs," he tweeted.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was to visit Bihar on Friday, is set to reach Srinagar instead. Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba cut short his visit to Bhutan to rush to Srinagar for a high-level security meeting on Friday.

"Today's dastardly attack ... is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation," Rajnath Singh said.

All traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway came to an abrupt halt. Senior police and CRPF officers rushed to the spot for a post-explosion analysis.

An officer said the CRPF and police would carry out a detailed investigation to understand the circumstances in which the attack took place.

This is the worst single attack in Jammu and Kashmir since a nascent Pakistan-backed separatist campaign began in 1989. It is also the worst attack carried out by militants after the one on the Uri Army camp on September 18, 2016 left 19 soldiers dead -- forcing New Delhi to launch 'surgical strikes' on terrorist camps in Pakistan.

Officials said the reason why so many CRPF personnel were on the move at one go was because the Srinagar-Jammu highway had been shut the past two days due to bad weather. The convoy left Jammu before dawn.

--IANS

sq-rak/mr/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 34 troopers and injuring many others.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Moahammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the bloodbath and released a video clip of the suicide bomber which it claimed was shot before the young man carried out the audacious attack in Lethpora, about 30 km from here.

The group said one of its commanders, Adil Ahmad Dar, was the suicide bomber.

Police sources and other officials said the suicide bomber-driven SUV came along the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bus when a 78-vehicle convoy carrying 2,547 security personnel was going from the transit camp in Jammu to Srinagar and rammed it into the bus around 3.15 p.m., triggering a deafening explosion.

The first report spoke of eight deaths. But the death toll quickly mounted as other CRPF personnel who rushed towards the targeted bus found it in a mangled heap. The bus was said to be transporting 39 troopers.

CRPF officials said the bus which was the main target of the militants was destroyed fully while another CRPF vehicle was partly damaged. "It is difficult to believe how anyone in the bus could have survived," said a police officer.

Jammu and Kashmir Police chief Dilbag Singh said it could have been a suicide attack. This was confirmed by other officials later.

In a statement to a local news agency GNS, a caller claiming to be a spokesman of JeM said it was a 'fidayeen' (suicide) attack.

All the injured were shifted to the Army's 92 Base Hospital in the Badamibagh cantonment of Srinagar city. Some of them were said to be in critical condition.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in condemning the horror.

"The attack ... is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs," he tweeted.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was to visit Bihar on Friday, is set to reach Srinagar instead. Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba cut short his visit to Bhutan to rush to Srinagar for a high-level security meeting on Friday.

"Today's dastardly attack ... is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation," Rajnath Singh said.

All traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway came to an abrupt halt. Senior police and CRPF officers rushed to the spot for a post-explosion analysis.

An officer said the CRPF and police would carry out a detailed investigation to understand the circumstances in which the attack took place.

This is also the worst attack carried out by militants in Jammu and Kashmir after the one on the Uri Army camp on September 18, 2016 left 19 soldiers dead -- forcing New Delhi to launch 'surgical strikes' on terrorist camps in Pakistan.

Officials said the reason why so many CRPF personnel were on the move at one time was because the Srinagar-Jammu highway had been shut the past two days due to bad weather. The convoy left Jammu around 3.30 a.m.

--IANS

sq-rak/mr/pg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 30 troopers and injuring many others.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Moahammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the bloodbath and released a video clip of the suicide bomber which it claimed was shot before the young man carried out the audacious attack in Lethpora, about 30 km from here.

The group said one of its commanders, Adil Ahmad Dar, was the suicide bomber.

Police sources and other officials said the suicide bomber-driven SUV came along the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bus when a 78-vehicle convoy carrying 2,547 security personnel was moving from the transit camp in Jammu to Srinagar and rammed it into the bus around 3.15 p.m., triggering a deafening explosion.

The first report spoke of eight deaths. But the death toll quickly mounted as other CRPF personnel who rushed towards the targeted bus found it in a mangled heap. The bus was said to be transporting 39 troopers.

CRPF officials said the bus which was the main target of the militants was destroyed fully while another CRPF vehicle was partly damaged. "It is difficult to believe how anyone in the bus could have survived," said a police officer.

Jammu and Kashmir Police chief Dilbag Singh said it could have been a suicide attack. This was confirmed by other officials later.

In a statement to a local news agency GNS, a caller claiming to be a spokesman of JeM said it was a 'fidayeen' (suicide) attack.

All the injured were shifted to the Army's 92 Base Hospital in the Badamibagh cantonment of Srinagar city.

All traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway came to an abrupt halt. Senior police and CRPF officers rushed to the spot for a post-explosion analysis.

An officer said the CRPF and police would carry out a detailed investigation to understand the circumstances in which the attack took place.

This is also the worst attack carried out by militants in Jammu and Kashmir after the one on the Uri Army camp on September 18, 2016 left 19 soldiers dead -- forcing New Delhi to launch 'surgical strikes' on terrorist camps in Pakistan.

Officials said the reason why so many CRPF personnel were on the move at one time was because the Srinagar-Jammu highway had been shut the past two days due to bad weather. The convoy left Jammu around 3.30 a.m.

--IANS

sq-rak/mr/rtp/pg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Yes Bank announced after market hours yesterday, 13 February 2019, that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) assesses compliance by banks with extant prudential norms on income recognition, asset classification and provisioning (IRACP) as part of its supervisory processes. As part of this process, Yes Bank has received the Risk Assessment Report for FY2018. The report observes NIL divergences in the bank's asset classification and provisioning from the RBI norms.

Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) announced after market hours yesterday, 13 February 2019, that due to full-time engagement with other assignments within the company, Harshil Mehta, has expressed his desire to resign from the position of whole time director (designated as joint managing director & CEO) from the board of directors of the company with immediate effect. However, he would continue to be associated with the company and shall hold the designation of executive president-retail business with effect from 14 February 2019. The board of directors of the company have accepted his aforesaid resignation from the board with effect from 13 February 2019.

The Nomination and remuneration committee of the board of directors of the company has recommended to the board the appointment of Sunjoy Joshi as an independent director and Srinath Sridharan as a non-executive director of the company subject to receipt of requisite approvals from the regulatory authorities.

ABB India announced after market hours yesterday, 13 February 2019, that its board discussed segregation of the company's power grids business from the other businesses conducted by the company. Following such discussions, the board granted in-principle approval for the segregation of the company's power grids business from the company's other businesses. Having discussed various options for structuring such segregation, the board determined that a court-approved demerger is the preferred option. The board authorised the management of the company to take preparatory steps in this regard, including the appointment of advisors and presentation of a detailed proposal for a demerger. The board will consider the detailed proposal before making a final decision and the company will make appropriate disclosures to the stock exchanges once the board has taken a final decision in this regard.

Trident has been granted a patent for 'Air Rich Yarn and Fabric and its method of manufacturing' by United States Patent & Trademark Office. The present invention describes the novel "Air Rich Fabric" and "Air Rich Yarns" with pores throughout the cross section of the yarn. The invention is directed at producing Air Rich Fabrics and Yarns which have high breathability, quick absorbency, easy dryability, and increased bulk. Unlike regular terry fabrics which become harsh after multiple washes, Air Rich Fabrics (Terry) retains softness and become more bulky even after multiple washes. That is why we call such fabrics- "Start Soft, Stays Soft". The grant of this patent provides further recognition of the quality of the innovation being carried out by the Trident team. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 13 February 2019.

Tata Power, The AES Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation inaugurated India's first grid-scale battery-based energy storage system in Rohini, Delhi. This 10 MW project is located at Tata Power Delhi Distribution's (Tata Power-DDL) sub-station in Rohini, Delhi and will provide grid stabilization, better peak load management, add system flexibility, enhance reliability and protect critical facilities for 2 million consumers served by the company. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 13 February 2019.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Yes Bank rose 20.08% to Rs 203 at 9:34 IST on BSE after the Reserve Bank of India cleared the private sector lender of any divergence in asset classification and provisioning.

The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 13 February 2019.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 44.29 points, or 0.12% to 35,989.82.

On the BSE, 46.66 lakh shares were traded in the counter so far compared with average daily volumes of 42.43 lakh shares in the past two weeks. The stock had hit a high of Rs 218 and a low of Rs 185.95 so far during the day.

The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 404 on 20 August 2018. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 147 on 29 November 2018.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) assesses compliance by banks with extant prudential norms on income recognition, asset classification and provisioning (IRACP) as part of its supervisory processes. As part of this process, Yes Bank has received the Risk Assessment Report for FY2018. The report observes NIL divergences in the bank's asset classification and provisioning from the RBI norms.

Yes Bank's net profit fell 6.96% to Rs 1001.85 crore on 36.3% rise in total income to Rs 8849.81 crore in Q3 December 2018 over Q3 December 2017.

Yes Bank is India's fourth largest private sector bank with a pan India presence across all 29 states and 7 Union Territories of India, headquartered in Mumbai.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)By Najiya O, TwoCircles.net

On February 5, 2009, 19-year-old Zakariya left his home in Parappanangadi to head to the mobile shop located 20 kilometres away in Tirur, Malappuram, where he was working. He never returned home. The worried family searched for him but in vain. After some days, the family got a call from Zakariya himself informing them that he was under police custody in Bengaluru. Since then, he has been an undertrial toiling at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison.

Zakariya is the 8th accused in the Bangalore bomb blast case which took place on July 25, 2008, and has been charged under the draconian UAPA. He is accused of having provided technical assistance for the bomb blast. The Karnataka police reportedly caught him from Tirur and took him away to Bengaluru without informing the local police or the concerned family. The police are also understood to have frightened his mother Beeyumma to not to bring this news out and that her sons release would be difficult if the media came to know of it.

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The Karnataka police had two witnesses  Nizamudheen and Haridas  both of whom later spoke against the statement publicly, according to reports. The former confessed that he did not know Zakariya and the latter said he was tricked into signing a paper on which something was written in the Kannada language which he did not know. However, the court has decided to ignore both and go forward with the police version.

A Documentary about disapearance is a docu-fiction about Zakariya, directed by Adv Hashir K Muhammed in 2017. Hashir recollected his only encounter with Zakariya in a post on Facebook some time back  that was when the latters elder brother died. The young man, who has been toiling in one of the most notorious jails of the country for nearly 8 years then, confided in Hashir that he could have been released from the prison if he said a lie  a lie that he had helped in the bomb blast. A few persons caught in connection with the case had agreed to go with the police version and had been released after spending three years in jail.

During these 10 years, Zakariya has got bail only twice-two days each time  once for the wedding of his brother and the other when that brother died suddenly. Bail can be denied to an accused only if he is politically strong and powerful enough to suppress facts and threaten witnesses, said Adv Hashir to TwoCircles.net. Even a powerful film star in the state like Dileep was given bail after 90 days in prison. But here, bail has been denied to Zakariya who is not politically or economically powerful and influential in the society, one who cannot suppress facts with power. The procedures in the case are going forward by denying the basic legal rights of a person. Normally bail can be given once the investigation is completed. In this case, the investigation has been completed, the trial has begun and witnesses have been presented.

Beeyummas husband Kunju Muhammed died when Zakariya was a young child. The four children then grew under the care of her brothers. Zakariya began to study B.Com after finishing Class 12 but soon gave it up to do a course in Electronics with the intention of getting a job soon. After completion, he joined a mobile shop in Kondotty and then in Tirur. And soon, he was caught in this case.

Being the mother of a terrorist has not been an easy task. For nearly five years, family and local people hesitated to be with or cooperate with them and instead chose to believe the police version. Things were moving towards an unofficial boycott for Beeyumma and children. The innocence of Zakariya was first brought out by documentary film-maker KP Sasi and journalist Jisha Josh. They came to know of Zakariya from Abdulnaser Maudany, who is also accused and jailed in the same case when they met him at the prison. When the truth was brought out, it facilitated the family to knock all possible doors for help. The Justice for Zakariya Action Council was formed with cooperation and support from social and political activists, some Muslim organisations and local people.

Zakariya was first taken to the prison at Belgaum where he was in solitary confinement and not given proper food or water etc. During summers, the jail, with a tin roof, would get severely hot while it would get bone-chillingly cold during winters as per reports. Having been mentally and physically worn out is the result of his decade-long prison life and solitude. Zakariya now suffers from severe headaches and many other illnesses.

The charge sheet was filed four years after the arrest. The trial is moving at a snails pace. Out of the nearly 100 witnesses, the prosecution has been reportedly been able to produce only a small number. As a result, a teenager has already spent a decade in prison and there seems to be no end in sight to his plight.Headline indices of the Mainland China equity market closed mixed on Thursday, 14 February 2019, as better-than-expected China trade data offset by caution before outcome of the Sino-U. S. trade negotiators talks. At closing bell, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index advanced 1.36%, or 35.66 points, to 2,653.90. The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, added 0.66%, or 9.16 points, to 1,398.84. The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 0.15%, or 5.11 points, to 3,402.14.

China's exports unexpectedly returned to growth in January after a shock decline the previous month, while imports fell much less than expected. China's January dollar-denominated exports rose 9.1% from a year ago, ompared with the previous month's 4.4% decline, according to Chinese customs data. China's imports fell 1.5% over the same period. Imports in December fell 7.6% from a year ago. Thus, China's overall trade surplus of $39.16 billion in January. China's closely watched trade surplus with the U.

S. fell to $27.3 billion in January, from $29.87 billion in December. In January, China's exports to the U. S. fell 2.4% from a year ago, while imports from its trade war opponent tanked 41.2% over the same period.

Investors were watching for developments coming out of Beijing today and tomorrow as they sized up positive remarks by US President Donald Trump about trade talks with China. Today, US Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will meet with Chinese officials to try and come up with a deal. They are also scheduled to meet with Xi Jinping.

U. S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of imports from China are scheduled to rise to 25% from 10% if the two sides do not reach a deal by March 1.

On Wednesday, President Trump told reporters at the White House that trade talks with China were going along very well, a comment that came ahead of high-level meetings between Chinese vice premier Liu He and central bank governor Yi Gang, and US trade representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The negotiations over the next two days will centre on structural changes demanded by the US of China relating to forced technology transfer, intellectual property protection, non-trade barriers, cyber intrusions and cybertheft among others.

Investors are also optimistic about avoiding government shutdown. The White House has said that the President is likely to sign the deal negotiated between the Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

CURRENCY NEWS: China's yuan eased against the U. S. dollar on Thursday. Prior to market opening on Thursday, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the midpoint rate at 6.7744 per dollar, 69 pips or 0.1% weaker than the previous fix 6.7675. In the spot market, the onshore yuan opened at 6.7702 per dollar and was changing hands at 6.7620 at midday, 20 pips weaker than the previous late session close but 0.18% stronger than the midpoint.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In a blow to the Arvind Kejriwal administration, the Supreme Court on Thursday held that the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) has the power to set up an inquiry commission, but gave a split verdict on the issue of jurisdiction on control of "services" in the capital.

A division bench comprising Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan differed on whether the L-G or Delhi government has control over "services" which includes transfer and posting of bureaucrats in the capital.

Delivering a split verdict, the two judges held that the matter be heard and decided by a larger bench.

Justice Bhushan observed that the issue of "services" was totally outside the purview of the Delhi government.

On November 1 last year, the apex court had reserved its verdict on pleas challenging notifications related to control over "services", setting up of a commission of inquiry and the issue of jurisdiction over the Anti-corruption Bureau.

The bench unanimously held that the Centre/L-G has the power to set up an inquiry commission, a ruling which will allow the L-G to order an inquiry into corruption cases.

The Centre and Delhi government have been at loggerheads on who has the jurisdiction to set up an inquiry commission and the judgement is a setback for the Aam Aadmi Party administration led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Justice Sikri said that transfers and posting of officers at the level of joint secretary and above will be under domain of the L-G while other officers below joint secretary-level will fall under the Delhi government.

The bench also ruled that the Anti-corruption Bureau will also come under the Centre.

The Electricity Board will come under the Delhi government, which is the appropriate government under the Electricity Act. The Delhi government will also have power to appoint special public prosecutors, the bench said.

The court said the Delhi government's revenue department will decide minimum rates of agricultural land.

The Delhi government and the LG have had several tussles over bureaucratic appointments, security issues, appointment and transfer of bureaucrats, governance in the capital.

The judgement came on a batch of appeals filed by the Delhi government arising out of the August 4, 2016 verdict of the Delhi High Court, in which it was held that the L-G was the administrative head of Delhi.

By its July 4, 2018 verdict, a five-judge Constitution bench of the apex court had held that the council of ministers had supremacy over the L-G in governance, except in matters of police, land and public order as they fell under the domain of the L-G's executive powers.

Laying broad parameters for governance of the national capital, the top court had held that Delhi cannot be accorded the status of a state but also trimmed the powers of the L-G.

It said the LG has no "independent decision-making power" and has to act on the aid and advice of the elected government.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday assured the people of the country that a strong response will be given to the terror attack carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Pulwama.

"The attack was carried out by Pakistan backed Jaish-e-Mohammed. A strong reply will be given and I assure the people of the country this. The country pays tribute to the brave jawans who were martyred," the Home Minister told ANI.

Singh will be visiting Srinagar on Friday to take stock of the situation in the wake of the attack and will hold review meetings with senior security and police officials to make a ground level assessment and review further operational actions.

Meanwhile, arrangements are also being made to airlift the mortal remains of the soldiers who lost their lives in the ghastly attack.

Around 40 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday in the deadliest terror attack on security forces in a decade when their convoy was targeted in Pulwama district on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway.

The convoy comprised 78 buses in which around 2500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar.

A bus, in which 42 CRPF personnel were travelling, was extensively damaged in the blast which was followed by firing on the vehicle. The injured have been shifted to a hospital.

Earlier in September 2016, an Army camp was stormed by terrorists in Uri, killing 19 soldiers.

Prior to that, 28 BSF personnel were killed in an attack on a convoy of the paramilitary force in 2004.

Pakistan-based terror outfit JeM claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out by a suicide bomber, according to a local news agency.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemned the attack and asserted that the sacrifices of the brave security personnel will not go in vain.

President Kovind too condemned the attack and assured that the entire nation is united to fight against the forces of terror and evil.

A host of other leaders also condemned the attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)After Samajwadi party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and wished that the latter returns to power after the General Elections this year, posters thanking the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister appeared here on Wednesday.

The poster carried a message, "Thank you Mulayam Singh Yadav, today you reiterated the wish of 125 crore Indians in the Lok Sabha."

In a surprising statement which left the opposition squirming, Mulayam in the Lok Sabha said he wished to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi back as Prime Minister of India.

Notably, Congress leader and United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi was sitting next to Mulayam in the Lok Sabha.

Mulayam's comments came at a time when his son and Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav has been seen supporting Opposition leaders in forging an anti-BJP alliance to oust Prime Minister Modi-led government from the Centre.

"I congratulate the Prime Minister because he has tried to take everybody along. I want to say that all members must win and come again and Narendra Modi should become the Prime Minister again," he said in Lok Sabha.

Acknowledging with folded hands, Prime Minister Modi thanked Mulayam twice for his laudatory remark.

In January, the SP and BSP forged an alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls posing a formidable challenge to the ruling BJP at the Centre. Among all states, Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of 80 Lok Sabha seats and plays a crucial role in government formation at the Centre.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Lahore High Court granted bail to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday in Ashiana Housing Scheme scandal and Ramzan Sugar Mills case.

According to Geo TV, a two-judge bench heard bail petitions of Shehbaz and Fawad Hasan Fawad, the former principal secretary to then prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

The bench rejected Fawad's bail petition in a case pertaining to holding assets beyond his means. However, his request for bail in the Ashiana Housing case was accepted.

On October 5, Sharif, the leader of Opposition in National Assembly and brother of Nawaz Sharif, was arrested by the NAB on charges of misusing authority and corruption in the Rs 14 billion Ashiana Housing Scheme during his tenure as the Punjab Chief Minister (2013 to 2018).

Sharif, however, had denied the allegations and termed them as "baseless".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Opposition parties in Assam celebrated after the Citizenship (amendment) Bill failed to make it through the Rajya Sabha.

Attempts by the Central government to introduce the Bill in Rajya Sabha in the past six weeks were thwarted by the Opposition which sought it be referred to a Select Committee.

The issue in the past gave rise to numerous protests in the state.

Celebrations were also seen outside Congress office in Guwahati after Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 did not get passed in Upper House.

Commenting on the issue, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb said, "My government will not allow anyone to disrupt the peace and harmony in the state."

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which was passed in 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.

Under the proposed amendments, the minimum residency period for citizenship is being reduced from the existing 12 years under the present law to 7 years. However, citizenship will be given to them only after due scrutiny and recommendation of district authorities and the state government.

The passage of the Bill in Lok Sabha has led to widespread protests in the North East.

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) were imposed in East and West Imphal districts ahead of the proposed tabling of citizenship Bill in Rajya Sabha.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday asserted that the nation expects an action against the Pulwama attack which claimed lives of 40 CRPF personnel.

Dubbing the attack as "cowardly" the RSS chief said, "We condemn it. Action should be taken, everyone expects it."

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will be travelling to Kashmir tomorrow, to take stock of the situation. He told ANI that "A strong reply will be given".

In the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir, around 40 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday when their convoy was targeted by a suspected suicide bomber of Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pulwama district on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway.

Strongly condemning the attack, the Prime Minister termed it as "despicable" and asserted, "The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs."

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi too called the attack "barbarous" and said, "I am shocked, outraged and deeply grieved by the barbarous attack on the CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir."

The convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack at around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora.This is the deadliest attack on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier in September 2016, an Army camp was stormed by terrorists in Uri, killing 19 soldiers.

Prior to that, 28 BSF personnel were killed in an attack on a convoy of the paramilitary force in 2004.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Widely known as 'The Marilyn Monroe of Bollywood', Madhubala is sorely missed by millions of her fans. Madhuri Dixit proved that she too is one of them with her latest post today.

The 51-year-old actor paid tribute to the late legendary actor on her 86th birth anniversary. Madhuri reminisced the time when she re-created one of Madhubala's iconic performances.

Madhuri also shared how the evergreen actor won her heart ever since she was a little girl.

Dressed up like the late actor, Madhuri shared a photo of her alongside a heartfelt note on her Twitter handle that read, "A smile that won millions of hearts! #Madhubala ji's mystical on-screen presence won my heart ever since I was a little girl. It was an honour to re-create one of her iconic performances and continue her glorious legacy. Remembering the eternal shining star on her birthday."

In the snap, Madhuri looks beautiful as ever in an ethnic outfit coupled with stunning traditional jewellery, trying to recreate Madhubala's iconic pose with a dupatta on her head.

Known for her beauty, personality and sensitive portrayals of women in various films, Madhubala, or Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi was raised in a town located near the Bombay Talkies film studio.

Raised in the slums of Bombay, she supported her family as a child star and soon became a leading actor known for her elegance on screen and her brilliant acting abilities.

In 1947, she landed the lead role in Neel Kamal at the age of 14, taking the name Madhubala.

She famously fell in love with actor Dilip Kumar, her co-star in the 1960 classic 'Mughal-E-Azam'. Her character as Anarkali and the chemistry between the two is still remembered and etched in millions of hearts across the country.

Appearing in over 70 films over the course of a tragically brief career, Madhubala was called "The Biggest Star in the World" in 1952 by Theatre Arts magazine.

Madhubala's career and life was cut short when she breathed her last on February 23, 1969, due to prolonged illness.

Meanwhile, Madhuri, on the work front, will be next seen in 'Total Dhamaal' and 'Kalank'.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)By Inder Bisht for TwoCircles.net

Discontent over unemployment spilt over on to the streets of Delhi on February 12 when thousands of students, teachers and activists from different parts of the country came together for a protest march against the policies of ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) government in the national capital.

Along with the job crisis, the protesters also raised their voices on the issues of underfunding of public education, full implementation of reservation for backward groups, and the increased saffronisation of education.

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Vijay Kumar, a student of Panjab University who travelled from Chandigarh for the event said: The space for free-thinking is shrinking in the university campuses as people hand-picked by the BJP have been appointed vice-chancellors in various universities all over the country and they dont always appreciate critical and rational thinking.

In terms of women protection, the Gender Sensitization Committee against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH), which is an elected body, has been replaced by a nominated body by the administration called The Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) which has been found to be quiet lenient towards the perpetrators, especially when they are from the administration, he added.

Narrating his personal account, Faizan, a student of Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, said, In the last few years, the scholarship for meritorious students has been slashed from Rs 30,000 to Rs 11,000 in the Masters of Computer Application course while the number of seats available for PhD has come down from seven to eight per year to one or two.

Faizan also claimed that due to the reduction in the education budget, funds for programmes like campus placement events have been stopped or reduced by the university administrations around the country.

Students also raised the issue of 13-point roster system at the march which they said was an attempt to dilute the representation of SC/ST communities on the campuses.

The protest in Delhi happened amid the swirling controversy around the alleged withholding of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) report, which had purportedly stated that unemployment in the country had reached 6.1 percent  highest in 45 years, by the government.

Although the government has dismissed the alleged leaked NSSO survey  which first appeared in a news report of a national dailyas unverified, two members, including the chairman, of the National Statistical Commission (NSC), the organisation which publishes the NSSO report, has resigned from their posts citing non-publishing of the survey after it had been approved by the NSC as the reason.

The controversy came on the heels of another survey conducted by a private organization Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) which had reported a loss of 11 million jobs in India in 2018.

Commenting on the issue, Mahesh Vyas, managing director & CEO of CMIE said: Steady fall in the investment rate since 2011-12, demonetization shock in November 2016, and the GST shock in July 2017 are the main reasons behind the job losses we see in 2018.

Vyas further stated that the government needs to intervene immediately and spur investment in order to pull the economy out of the spell of low employment generation in the country.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recently lost three major states in the Assembly elections in December last year where analysts termed the widespread farm-distress prevailing in many parts of rural India as the major factor behind the poll outcome.

Although unemployment is not believed to have had a significant impact in deciding the outcome of an election until now, the emergence of new data about the shape of the economy, particularly with regard to the employment level in the country in reports like CMIE, could swiftly change the mood of the nation, especially among the youths against the party.

Present at the students protest march, Yogendra Yadav, president of Swaraj India said: Although I have been involved mostly with the farmers issue, I think that, unemployment in the country at present is a much bigger issue than the farmers distress. The only thing is that it has been invisibilised.

Protest marches and gatherings like these will reveal the truth of the economic performance of the government and will make the voters, especially the youth, aware about it. Our aim is to localize protests like these in different parts of the country, Yadav added.

Yadav blamed the misplaced priorities of the government behind the current situation.

Its clear that investment is their (governments) priority, employment is not; production is their priority, the producer is not; aspirational youth is their priority, struggling youth is not. So there was no strategy to tackle this issue in the first place, Yadav said.

Employment generation was one of the highlights of the BJP manifesto in the 2014 general elections where it had termed the then ruling UPAs ten-year rule as jobless growth.

Then BJPs prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, had even promised one crore jobs per year at an election rally in Agra in November 2013 in the run-up to the general elections 2014.

In its election manifesto, the saffron party had promised to accord high priority to job creation and strategically develop high impact domains like labour-intensive manufacturing, tourism and strengthen the traditional employment bases of agriculture and allied industries.

In light of the CMIE data, all these promises look hollow now as the current scenario paints a different picture.

In the absence of formal employment opportunities in the country, informal jobs like road-side vending are being passed on around as a substitute to the former by the BJP.

Within the larger debate of unemployment, stagnation in vacancies in government jobs is another issue which has affected lakhs of educated youths who have been preparing for the entrance examinations for government jobs for years.

Representatives of sixty youth organisations last month had gathered at Delhis Constitution Club and demanded that the situation of unemployment be declared a national disaster.

The delegates, who were mainly representing disgruntled job aspirants who felt cheated after a spate of paper-leaks in government examinations were discovered, asked the government to fill up vacancies in government jobs across the country on a priority basis and ensure that a fair and corruption-free selection process is held in government examinations.

The representatives at the end of the gathering declared that if their demands were not accepted by the government in a month, a nationwide protest would be launched starting from the national capital on 27 February.

Speaking to TwoCircles.net, Govind, who is an engineer by education, said: Government in parliament recently admitted that around 24 lakh posts are vacant in central and state governments presently in the country. The government has been unable to create new jobs in the country but, at least, the ones which have been sanctioned should get filled.

Some of the representatives expressed fear that the central government might scrap four lakh job vacancies in various departments shortly.

India has witnessed steady GDP growth in the 21st century; however, employment growth has not matched pace with the growth of overall economy prompting the critics to call it a jobless growth.

Indias unemployment rate has been gradually rising in the last year, with unemployment rising to its highest level in 27 months at 7.38% as of December 2018, according to the CMIE data.

The report titled Unemployment Rate in India has shown that about 396.9 million working-age Indians were employed as of December 2018, compared to 407.8 million in December 2017.N+P is a leading partner of Temenos in Europe and Asia Pacific providing IT consulting, digital and software engineering services to major enterprises.

This acquisition is synergistic to Syncordis acquisition that LTI announced in 2017. Syncordis is a leading Temenos T24 Core Banking Platform specialist with widespread presence in Europe, whereas N+P has built comprehensive expertise in the front office of Temenos WealthSuite.

Together with Syncordis, N+P strengthens LTI's capabilities as a global expert of Temenos suite of products and enriches company's offerings to banking clients. Upon integration, N+P's Temenos will be consolidated under the brand of Syncordis, while software engineering will operate and expand as part of LTI Germany.

Sanjay Jalona, LTI Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, said: "The acquisition of N+P will help us further establish LTI as a formidable player in the fast-growing market for Temenos and help our clients navigate their digital transformation journey."

This is the fourth acquisition by LTI since the company got listed in 2016. In January 2019, the company acquired Ruletronics, a boutique Pega Consulting company.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Several countries from across the globe stood in support of India in the wake of a deadly terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 security personnel.

The convoy comprised of 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar. A bus, in which 42 CRPF personnel were travelling, was extensively damaged in the blast which was followed by firing on the vehicle.

From Bangladesh, Israel ato the US, all expressed their condolences over the deaths of the CRPF personnel in the suicide attack claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) an outfit based in Pakistan.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her condolences over the Pulwama attack, adding that Dhaka remained committed to fighting terrorism and continue to maintain a zero-tolerance policy against terrorist activities.

"At this sad moment, we stand by the people and government of India. We offer was condolences to the members of the families who lost their dear ones. Our thoughts and prayers are speedy recovery of those who got injured," Hasina said.

"Bangladesh remains steadfast in its commitment against terrorism of all forms and maintains a zero-tolerance policy against any kind of terrorist activities. We would continue to work and cooperate with international community including India to eradicate the menace of terrorism," she added.

Spokesperson for Afghanistan's interior ministry Sediq Seddiqi condemned the heinous attack in Pulwama.

"While strongly condemning the heinous #KashmirTerrorAttack on CRPF personnel, we stand united with India to combat terrorism in any form as we have done it as a nation in the past 18 years," he wrote on his Twitter handle.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences over the death of the security personnel and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

"Please accept my most sincere condolences in connection with the death of Indian law enforcement officers as a result of the terrorist act in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. We strongly condemn this brutal crime. Perpetrators and sponsors of this attack, should be punished," Putin said in a statement.

"I would like to confirm the readiness for the further strengthening of counter-terrorism cooperation with our Indian partners. Russia shares the grief of the friendly people of India and hopes for the speedy recovery of the injured," he added.

Echoing similar sentiments, France's ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler also condemned the heinous attack and reiterated that France would collaborate with India in its fight against terrorism.

"France most firmly condemns the heinous attack perpetrated in Jammu and Kashmir. Our thoughts go out to the families of the fallen soldiers. France has always been and always will be by India's side in the fight against terrorism in all its forms," he tweeted.

Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih expressed his condolences and condemned the terror attack.

"I strongly condemn the deadly terrorist attack in Kashmir today killing at least 40 people. We send our thoughts and prayers to those affected. The Maldives will continue to work with India and the international community to combat terrorism in our region and the at large," he tweeted.

Thailand's ambassador to India Sam Chutintorn Gongsakdi too condemned the attack.

"The Royal Thai Embassy in New Delhi condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir on Central Reserve Police Force personnel and express our condolences to the families & loved ones of those affected by this act of violence & cowardice. We stand by India," he wrote on the micro-blogging site.

Sri Lanka's Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the attack and wished for speedy recovery to those injured.

"We in #SriLanka strongly condemn the attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir today. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the fallen soldiers, and we wish a speedy recovery to those who are injured. @MEAIndia @SLinIndia @IndiainSL #lka," the ministry tweeted.

Israel's ambassador to India Ron Malka condemned the terror attack and said that Israel stood by India during the difficult hour.

"Israel strongly condemns the terror attack in #Pulwama and stands by our Indian friends during this difficult hour. We send our deepest condolences to the CPRF and their families, the people of India and the Indian government following the terrible," he tweeted.

Furthermore, the foreign ministries of Czech Republic and Germany expressed their condolences over the deaths of the 40 CRPF personnel and said they stood with India in its fight against terrorism.

"The Czech Republic strongly condemns today's terrorist attack perpetrated in Jammu & Kashmir. Our thoughts and condolences go out to the families of the victims. The Czech Republic will stand by India's side in the fight against terrorism in all its forms," Czech Republic's foreign ministry tweeted.

"Horrible terror attack on a police convoy in the Indian State of #Jammu&Kashmir: at least 40 police personnel reportedly killed, many injured. We condemn terrorism in all its forms. Germany stands by its strategic partner #India," German foreign ministry wrote on the micro-blogging site.

Echoing similar sentiments, Canadian High commissioner in India Nadir Patel condemned the cowardly terrorist attack.

"Our deepest condolences to the families of the victims of today's cowardly terrorist attack in #Pulwama. Canada strongly condemns this attack, and stands with India in the fight against terrorism. #KashmirTerrorAttack #Pulwamaattack @MEAIndia @IndianDiplomacy @CanadainIndia," he tweeted.

In the US, Congressmen Tom Suozzi and Raja Krishnamoorthi tweeted their condolences.

"I strongly condemn the terrorist attack in Jammu-Kashmir today, the deadliest strike on Indian soldiers in 30 years. The United States stands strongly with India and I send my condolences to the families of the victims," Suozzi wrote on his Twitter handle.

"I condemn the terrorist attack in Pulwama in the strongest terms, and I send my heartfelt condolences to the victims of this attack and all those touched by it. We must all stand united against terrorism," said Krishnamoorthi.

Around 2,500 personnel were travelling in 78 vehicles which were part of the convoy when the incident occurred.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Advocates from the Tirupati Bar Association on Wednesday staged a protest demanding constitution of a High Court bench in the temple town.

Some advocates protested by standing in metal drums filled with water for the entire day.

Speaking to ANI, Vasu, a senior advocate, said, "We have already made a mistake by concentrating on High Court in Hyderabad and since Hyderabad is in Telangana, again the Chief Minister (N Chandrababu Naidu) is doing the same mistake and he is concentrating on Amaravati. The Chief Minister has taken a unilateral decision and established Andhra Pradesh High Court at Amaravati."

"Again a bench at Kurnool was proposed, and Amaravati and Kurnool are not far away from each other. We demand a High Court bench should be constituted at Tirupati. We have been being agitating for the last few years and it is very sad that the government is not even consulting Tirupati Bar association members," he added.

Vasu further said that since Tirupati is a well-renowned place, a High Court bench should be constituted at the earliest.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The consensus on gold is that interest is back. Market participants believe that sentiment on the precious metals has turned more bullish.

With central banks like China buying gold for the first time in years and funds that were previously not interested in gold starting to add the metal to their portfolio, investors have been showing more confidence. Gold could offer the best protection for investors as fears of a recession continue to rise. Two important measures are at levels not seen since World War II -- global debt is at record highs and central banks are buying gold at ...Shares of small-cap companies continued to be under pressure with the S&P BSE SmallCap index hitting a fresh 52-week low of 13,286 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Thursday. Thus far in the current calendar year 2019 (CY19), the BSE Smallcap index slipped 10 per cent, as compared to 9 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Midcap and a 0.42 per cent fall in the benchmark index S&P BSE Sensex.

Out of 860 stocks from the smallcap index, 60 per cent or 540 stocks have underperformed the index by falling more than 10 per cent during the period. Of these, as many as 149 stocks have seen their ...Leading UAE property developer Emaar has opened the doors to the highest point in Burj Khalifa at levels 152, 153 and 154, towering at an imposing height of 575 meters, with the unveiling of The Lounge, Burj Khalifa.



Billed to become the must-visit destination to relax, unwind and chill away the evening in the company of friends and family, The Lounge, Burj Khalifa spans the three floors that have been converted into a state-of-the-art lounge that serves a fascinating selection of beverages and canapes for the truly discerning. The Lounge, Burj Khalifa, also features an outdoor terrace and will add to the list of Dubais must-visit attractions for tourists and residents



There are several lifestyle experiences awaiting visitors: From 12:30pm to 4pm, they can take in magnificent views of the city while indulging in High Tea. From 5:30pm to 7pm, it is sundowner time with cocktails and canapes, which will then move to an evening cocktail setting from 7:30pm to midnight, when guests can celebrate with the finest selection of beverages and canapes.



Taking the citys nightlife to the next level, The Lounge, Burj Khalifa will feature live music daily and will feature international artists and performers. To celebrate the opening month, the performer line-up includes live musicians, pianists, and DJs taking centre stage to regale the guests.



The High Tea is priced Dh550 ($149.7) per person, inclusive of a lavish spread of fresh bakes, delicate desserts, finest teas and of a glass of house beverage. The Sundowner and Evening experience are Dh600 ($163.3) per person, inclusive of unlimited gourmet canapes and one house beverage.



Level 152, 153 and 154 have distinctive settings  each assuring never-before-seen views of the city. While the former features majlis style coffee tables and lush couches, the latter will have only cocktail tables.



Reservations to The Lounge, Burj Khalifa can be booked at www.burjkhalifa.ae, and the guests will be guided through the Armani Hotel Dubai lobby or the At the Top, Burj Khalifa entrance in The Dubai Mall. - TradeArabia News ServiceBoth nations decided to expand the number of working groups of chief executives with top US and Indian firms  from four to seven  with a new focus on financial trade and investments as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs). However, with the absence of US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, there was no joint statement, as the sides simply resolved to further expand and strengthen trade and commerce ...

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.



As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



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Digital EditorThe Supreme Court on Thursday declined Maharashtra governments plea to close the case of alleged bribing in the Enron-Dabhol power project. It was reported that the then bidders of the project, Enron, had paid money to politicians and bureaucrats to clinch the deal.

A three-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, while turning down the plea moved by the state, asked it to submit by March 13 a plan on how it intended to bring the case to a logical conclusion. The Bench also asked the state to submit details of the steps it had taken so far on the ...Royal Jordanian is celebrating Valentines Day with its customers by offering a 40 per cent discount on fares.



The one-day sales promo is only available through rj.com and RJs mobile app and is valid for travel to all RJ destinations, except North America, between March 15 and May 31.



RJ president and CEO Stefan Pichler said: "RJ is glad and satisfied with the interest the public shows in the sales promos; as a result, we are seeing more and more bookings on RJ aircraft all year round.



Pichler has urged customers to take advantage of RJ's great connectivity on its route network, or on those of the oneworld airline members. - TradeArabia News Service



Following a hugely successful inaugural event, The International Travel & Tourism Awards (ITTAs) will return bigger and better in 2019 celebrating excellence in the travel and tourism industry in a brand-new venue.



The ITTAs will take place on November 5 during the week of WTM London (November 46).



After a phenomenal first year which saw the likes of Canary Islands Tourism, VisitFlanders, Turismo do Centro de Portugal and Air Canada walk away with gold awards in front of an audience of 500 senior industry professionals, the second event will again recognise the success of national, regional and city tourist boards as well as outstanding private sector companies and individuals.



This years awards are being held at Magazine London, a brand new modern event space for the capital, the largest of its kind in London. Magazine London offers the ITTAs the space to grow and attract an even larger audience. The new location is also just a stones throw away from ExCeL  London, making it quick and easy for WTM London delegates to travel to the ITTAs.



Following feedback, a new award for Best Attraction has been added to the categories. Other categories include Best Tourism Board Campaign, Most innovative use of technology, Best Agency for Tourism Marketing, Best Regional Campaign, Best City Campaign, Best Digital Strategy in Tourism, Best Digital Influencer Campaign and Best PR campaign. Awards categories will open for entries on March 1.



Also new for 2019, a high profile Advisory Committee has been put in place to help shape and steer the awards and take them to the next level. Committee members include responsible tourism Professor Harold Goodwin, Ken Robinson CBE, Wellness Tourism Association president Anne Dimon and Kieron Dodd formerly of Telegraph Travel, Travel Weekly, News International and Great British Chefs. The committee will be chaired by ITTAs founders Paul Nelson and Charlotte Alderslade.



Other categories available to enter which reflect the WTM London official events programme include Best in Wellness, Best in Responsible Tourism, Best in Adventure Tourism and Best in Food Tourism.



A final award for Outstanding Contribution to the Industry, nominated for by WTM London Media Partners, will be the ultimate finale to these show-stopping awards.



Organised by WTM London, with the support of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), along with an independent panel of expert judges, the awards will showcase the best in class of the global travel and tourism industry, in front of an audience of senior industry professionals.



Nelson said: We are delighted to announce the return of the ITTAs in 2019 after such a hugely successful launch in 2018."



The ITTAs are really the only opportunity to celebrate and reward those destinations and private sector companies who go above and beyond with their global campaigns and strategies and see outstanding results, which deserve to be recognised."



WTM London is the perfect backdrop for this as more than 50,000 senior travel and tourism industry professionals from 182 countries are in London to conduct more than 3 billion in business deals, he said. - TradeArabia News Service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

Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Thunder possible. Low 71F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Thunder possible. Low 71F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.WTM London 2018 will generate a record 3.4 billion ($4.4 billion) in travel and tourism industry deals, surpassing the figure of 3.1 billion from WTM London 2017.



The global travel and tourism industry continues to grow with more than 1.4 billion trips predicted to taking place globally in 2019, with the number predicted to rise to 1.8 billion by 2030. Inbound tourism to the UK is approaching 40 million trips annually, while Brits make almost 73 million outbound trips each year.



WTM London 2018 reflected this growth with an increase in visitors of more than 4 per cent to a record 32,462, with the event seeing a total of almost 89,000 (88,742) visits from 51,409 participants. In total 4,664 exhibitors from 182 countries and regions took part in the event.



Independent research of WTM Londons exhibitors reveals WTM London 2018 will generate a massive 3,353,042,708 ($4.3 billion) in travel industry deals, either through contracts signed at the event or from negotiations with WTM Buyers Club members  the buyers with the greatest purchasing responsibility in the travel industry  which will lead to deals signed before WTM London 2019.



The record number of visitors and business conducted demonstrates the success of WTM London 2018s new Ideas Arrive Here concept, which included the introduction of five regional Inspiration Zones  UK&I and International Hub, Europe, Asia, Americas and Middle East and Africa. These Inspiration Zones led to an increase in content, ideas and inspiration for participants to take back to their business and implement to help fuel the growth of the travel and tourism industry.



This strategy saw a greater number of senior CEOs and tourism ministers take part in the content programme  including easyJets CEO Johan Lundgren and UK tourism minister Michael Ellis. Meanwhile, more research was added to the programme  including dedicated regional research sessions  from respected research organisations including Euromonitor International, Mintel, ForwardKeys and Nielsen.



Furthermore, two new launches in Travel Forward and the International Travel & Tourism Awards (ITTAs) grew WTM Londons reach further. Travel Forward  the event to inspire the travel and hospitality industry with the next generation of technology  was a great success with more exhibitors and visitors than its predecessor The Travel Tech Show at WTM. The inaugural ITTAs saw an almost 500-strong audience celebrate excellence within the travel and tourism industry.



WTM London senior director, Simon Press, said: I am delighted with the record amount of business conducted at WTM London 2018. This success firmly positions WTM London as the event where ideas arrive and a must-attend for national and regional tourist boards, global brands, luxury and technology companies.



The record visitor numbers at WTM London 2018 alongside the 3.4 billion in business generated shows that WTM London  as it approaches its 40th event in 2019  and the travel and tourism industry are both in good health. - TradeArabia News ServiceSign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC

Its their green dream!

A tiny Cobble Hill park that a developer will refurbish as part of its scheme to build a seven-building complex in the neighborhood must include amenities that make it more inviting to the community, according to locals who attended a recent meeting about the redesign.

What if you want to have a performance? If you want to have a puppet theater come in, or do karaoke, or a poetry reading, for example. We could create a space where that might be possible, said Glenn Kelly, the Chairman of Parks Committee for Community Board 6, at the Feb. 7 gathering.

Roughly 40 residents attended the meeting sponsored by local civic group the Cobble Hill Association, where they debated the future of the park, which Fortis Property Group is renovating as part of its deal to make over the former Long Island College Hospital complex.

Fortis must seek public input on any changes made to the green space at the corner of Henry and Pacific streets and two other neighborhood parks  all of which are privately owned but open to the public  on the property due to a 1995 agreement the city made with former hospital leaders, which the builder inherited when it got the green light to redevelop the medical-center site in 2014.

The miniature meadow is the smallest of the three Fortis must redesign, and has been closed for almost two years due to the construction of the first of the developers seven buildings going up at the hospital site, a 15-story condo tower on Henry Street dubbed 5 River Park.

The rectangular recreation space currently features just six chess tables and several benches scattered throughout it, leaving plenty of room for reimagination, a Fortis rep said.

Currently its just a boring square. From my perspective, its not engaging in any way, shape, or form, said George Fontas.

Fontas and other reps for the developer presented attendees with renderings of new park amenities, such as water fountains, more benches, and lampposts, in two aesthetic styles used by the citys Department of Parks and Recreation  a classic Victorian style, and a so-called 1964-contemporary style, which Fontas admitted is not as modern as its title suggests.

1964 isnt contemporary, but it is for Parks, he said.

And although some in the room demanded more built amenities in the meadow, others suggested its redesign should incorporate more landscaping to improve the parks visual appeal.

Personally, I would like more planting and green space, said Cobble Hiller Thomas Spath.

But no matter what new features Fortis may ultimately install, the builder must keep the chess tabletops, which one attendee called a hallmark of city green spaces.

Theres something very New York about a park with chess tables, said Alec Baxt.

Spath agreed, claiming the gaming spaces give the park an intimate, secure ambiance.

The tables make the park feel more inviting and safe, he said.

Fortis leaders also plan to make both of the parks entrances on Henry and Pacific streets handicap accessible as part of the redesign, a change all attendees cheered because disabled residents can now only enter via Henry Street.

Along Pacific street there is not any handicap access. So wed like to change that, Fontas said. We think it would be good to make both sides accessible.

The developer will present a new round of designs for the Henry Street park at CB6s Parks Committee meeting on March 20, where locals will get another opportunity to weigh in on the plans.

Fortis bigwigs will then submit a final scheme to the Parks Department for approval, with the hope of kicking off construction this summer, its reps said.

And the builder will share its proposed makeovers of the two other Cobble Hill parks in the coming months, as it begins work on more buildings in its seven-structure complex.Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC

Last June, Democrats throughout Brooklyn and the outer boroughs condemned personnel at Fort Hamilton Army Base for contacting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when officials discovered a man delivering pizza to the base was an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador with a warrant for his deportation. The pols held press conferences and rallies in support of Pablo Villavicencio-Calderon, whom most accounts at the time described as a devoted family man with no other criminal history.

Earlier this month, a purported MS-13 gang member allegedly pumped at least five bullets into the face of a 20-year old rival gang member on a Queens subway platform, in broad daylight. Days later, officials with the federal immigration agency said the suspect is in the country illegally. President Trump in his State of the Union address cited the hell straphangers witnessed that day, saying, An MS-13 gang member was taken into custody for a fatal shooting on a subway platform in New York City  we are removing these gang members by the thousands. But until we secure our border, theyre going to keep streaming right back in.

But, for the most part, many of the pols who grandstanded in support of Villavicencio-Calderon have said nothing in the wake of the Queens shooting. And this columnist has one reason to explain that silence: It is more politically expedient for those officials to ignore a tangible example of the dangers that illegal immigration poses on this city, and country, than to acknowledge the situation  and, in turn, bolster the case for Trumps beloved wall at the U.S.Mexico border.

The Queens shooting occurred in the district of freshman Democratic Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez  who ousted her powerful predecessor Rep. Joe Crowley to become the youngest woman ever elected to Congress at 29-years-old, and the new face of her party. Not surprisingly, however, Ocasio-Cortez has paid little attention to the incident. In fact, one week after authorities slapped the suspected shooter with murder, gang-assault, and weapons-possession charges, Ocasio-Cortez called on Congress to defund the federal immigration agency, saying that it [does] not deserve a dime for their radical agenda.

But it is not radical to send away purported gang members here illegally  especially if they open fire on subway platforms. It is common sense. Unfortunately, political convenience prevents other local Dems from standing up to the Congresswoman, or admitting Trump may be right about his push to further secure our border.

During my time as former Rep. Vito Fossellas Brooklyn Director, the number-one casework issue in our Bay Ridge office was immigration. I witnessed thousands of people trying to enter the country, or help their family members get here, the legal way. The context behind Villavicencio-Calderons arrest helped me better understand the lefts outrage over his subsequent deportation threat, but there is no reasoning that can explain Democrats relative silence about an alleged gang member and murderer  especially one here illegally, according to the Feds.

And Im not alone  other New Yorkers are fighting back against calls to eradicate the federal immigration agency. On Feb. 10, members of a new group called Latinos for ICE  who include attorney Manny Alicandro, a pro-Trump Republican running in the special election for Public Advocate  debuted their organization at a press conference at the same subway station where the shooting occurred.

Mayor DeBlasios sanctuary-city policies can also be blamed for what happened on that subway platform, because they forbade local officials from notifying the Feds about the immigration status of the shooter  whom cops previously busted 12 times, including an arrest last December, and who was recently indicted on conspiracy to commit burglary and drug-possession charges along with a dozen other purported MS-13 members.

The aftermath of the Queens shooting is just the latest example of how our polarized political system, and many Democrats knee-jerk resistance to Trump, prevent common-sense solutions to issues of national, and local, safety. It wasnt long ago that Dems openly voted to fund border barriers, and pols wouldnt hesitate to condemn a subway killing in broad daylight.

Bob Capano is a professor of political science of more than 15 years, who has previously worked for local Democratic and Republican pols, and as the chairman of the Brooklyn Reform Party.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

A non-bank lender has released a passionate letter in support of brokers, pledging to stand behind them as the industry faces changes to remuneration.

Bluestones open letter said the recommendation to remove commissions was seen in the industry as a potential death knell to thousands of small businesses.

The group said the potential decline of the industry carried a real threat to consumer outcomes, reducing choice and competitive pressure among lenders.

The letter continues, As a non-bank, Bluestone does not have the benefits of an extensive branch network. As such, along with dozens of other non-banks, credit unions, non-majors, regionals and specialist lenders, our ability to offer more options for borrowers is tied closely to the continued vibrancy and competition the mortgage broking industry offers.

In an industry without brokers, many consumers across Australia would simply have little option apart from the local branch of a major bank. As smaller lenders disappear, so would the competitive price tension they bring to the market, ultimately leading consumers to be forced into less choice at higher cost.

Bluestone said it remained entirely supportive of brokers and the work they do, saying brokers were passionate advocates for their clients, and without this source of professional guidance, many borrowers would be unable to realise their financial goals.

The non-bank also took the time to reassure brokers that the recommendations were not set in stone, praising the inspiring camaraderie and peer support in the sector, referencing the number of campaigns currently ongoing.

We want our brokers to be absolutely assured that Bluestone will stand behind you during this time, and we continue to support all efforts to help the sector retain its viability and strength, the letter concluded.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

A fintech has announced a new home loan product for self-employed borrowers who do not fit the conventional finance mould.

The new CO:Lab home loans is a collaboration between Tic:Toc and La Trobe Financial, which can help self-employed Australians and business owners excluded by traditional eligibility requirements, as well as customers looking to refinance to invest money into their business.

Tic:Toc launched its instant home loan in July 2017 in partnership with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and is now working with another lend to extend its reach to business owners.

Announcing the launch of CO: Lab, Tic:Toc founder and CEO, Anthony Baum, said while major lenders continue to tighten lending to small businesses, Tic:Toc has specifically broadened its home loan suite to offer digital home loans to many more Australians, including a broader range of self-employed professionals and small business owners.

More than 17% of Australians work for themselves, so its important home loans keep pace with the shifting workforce to support self-employed customers, he said.

Australias self-employed and small business owners have traditionally endured a notoriously difficult home loan process, with an often impractical burden to provide large amounts of documentation.

Our partnership with La Trobe Financial, one of Australias longest operating and leading non-bank credit specialists, has created a broader set of loan options via Tic:Tocs streamlined home loan assessment and approval technology. This means business owners and self-employed customers now have more loan options, with less hassle and at a lower cost.

For example, a business owner can use the equity in their home to invest in their business at home loan prices. This could save them up to around 6% per year on standard business loans from the major banks, and they can apply and be approved the same-day via our award-winning online platform.

La Trobe Financial president and CEO, Greg ONeill said, As a key shareholder in Tic:Toc, were excited to partner with Tic:Toc in developing and launching digital CO:Lab home loans and bring this unique digital approach to market for Australias business owners needing finance at such a very important time in the credit cycle.

As one of Australias longest operating and leading non-bank credit specialists, we want to support innovation in our industry. We are very proud to back Tic:Toc as they embrace smarter and more customer centric ways to assess and secure home loan and other finance for a broader range of clients moving forward.Srinagar, India: A suicide bomber rammed a car into a bus carrying Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir on Thursday, killing 44 of them in the deadliest attack in decades on security forces in the disputed region, raising tensions with arch foe Pakistan.

The Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack. The Indian government demanded that Islamabad take action against militant groups operating from its soil.

Kashmir is a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan. The neighbours both rule parts of the region while claiming the entire territory as theirs.

The explosion targeting a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was heard from several kilometres away, according to witnesses. Mohammad Yunis, a journalist who reached the site minutes later, told Reuters he saw blood and body parts scattered along a 100-metre stretch of the main highway running through the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.Queenslanders will be asked whether voluntary euthanasia should be available to people aged under 18.

The Health, Communities, Disability Services and Domestic and Family Violence Committee released an issues paper as part of its 12-month inquiry into aged and palliative care, end-of-life and voluntary assisted dying on Thursday.

(From left) the Queensland Government Health Committee's Barry O'Rourke, Joan Pease, Aaron Harper, and Michael Berkman at a press conference at Parliament House in Brisbane on Thursday. Credit:AAP

People will be asked whether they think voluntary euthanasia should be allowed in Queensland, whether it should be limited to people aged 18 and over, and if doctors should be allowed to conscientiously object.

People will also be asked what safeguards are needed to protect vulnerable people from being coerced, whether counselling services should be provided for people considering euthanasia, and what circumstances should determine eligibility, such as after the diagnosis of a terminal illness or pain and suffering that a person considered unbearable.The big four banks will face another Parliamentary inquiry in the immediate aftermath of the banking royal commission, as victims groups criticise royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne and the Morrison government for failing to provide meaningful redress for thousands of customers.

Labor passed the terms of reference for the Senate inquiry on Tuesday after securing the support of the crossbench. It will examine whether financial service providers have used the legal system to pressure customers into accepting settlements and whether the bank-funded Australian Financial Complaints Authority is doing its job.

Farmers and small business owners have been left disappointed by the royal comission's 76 recommendations, which focused heavily on structural issues, but offered few salves to those who have had millions tied up in disputes over decades.

Kenneth Hayne made 76 recommendations for sweeping reforms across the financial services industry. Credit:

"If the bank attacked me today I would have no more rights than what I had before the Hayne royal commission," said Tony Di Donato, who has been battling Comminsure for more than 10 years over a case involving his graphic design business.No one should retire, said Sir Richard Branson during a fireside chat at The Retail Summit in Dubai, UAE, adding that if youre doing something interesting, you should carry on doing it.



If youre in a position to make a difference, you should make a difference, he told the delegation of global retailers gathered at Atlantis, The Palm for the first day of The Retail Summit.



Speaking to Gary Thatcher, CEO and co-founder of The Retail Summit, the business mogul praised the Dubai government for their appointment of a Minister of Tolerance, and believes now is the time for world leaders to become better at resolving their differences.



If you have conflict everything else falls apart, said Branson. In this day and age, we need more good leaders to compromise in order to resolve issues quickly. Great Britain needs a Minister of Tolerance, it would be wonderful.



The founder of the Virgin Group discussed issues ranging from sustainability to space travel and said he has no plans of slowing down or retiring.



Ive never seen myself as working in a job. From the age of 15 Ive created things that I can be proud of, and people around me can be proud of, and had a lot of fun doing it. I see every day as one long learning process; Im learning all the time.



I love challenging myself and the people around me. I will continue doing what I love doing because I enjoy it and Im in a position where I can make a difference.





Thanking the organisers of The Retail Summit for their donation to his non-profit foundation Virgin Unite, in exchange for his participation in the event, he also called upon investors to get behind companies that will make the world better for future generations.



We need billions to be invested in positive things that make sure climate change can be beaten, said Sir Branson.



Every year we ask our staff, what are the most audacious ideas that need fixing? and we set up organisations in the same way as setting up a business, to tackle these issues. We try to use our entrepreneurial skills to tackle issues differently.



Finally, he talked in more detail about his newly announced plans to fly to space in July 2019, following the successful launch at the end of 2018, which saw two new astronauts created from his Virgin Galactic team. It had been 14 years of joy and tears and joy, and in December we finally got into space and it was a very emotional day, he said, revealing that he is now getting fit for his own mission.



One of the most compelling and motivating sessions on the opening day of the event was from Jo Malone CBE, Founder of Jo Loves, who talked about how her battle with breast cancer helped make her into a more passionate business leader. She cited passion, resilience and respect for the currency of creativity as the three most important values in developing a new brand.



Dont be afraid of the hard times, because they will come and theyre on our doorstep, she said. Unity will get us over the challenges. You will learn resilience and learn to be a much better CEO, founder, leader because resilience is so important.



Invest in creativity. That will be our future. And ask, how do we change the world with our products? How can you change the world? I created a paintbrush that paints your body with fragrance. That one single product has opened a global market for me. Walk towards your goals and make them happen. Stick to your guns.



Held in partnership with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Meydan One, The Retail Summit has brought together a new generation of retailers who are delivering a winning combination of outstanding service and ground-breaking use of technology to deliver memorable shopping experiences.



With more than 80 speakers and 900 participants, The Retail Summit has brought together disruptive brands and legacy retailers to discuss the future of retail in the digital age.  TradeArabia News ServiceWe know federal politics can be a lonely profession, sometimes leading to unfortunate adventures in places as exotic as, oh, Hong Kong or naughty Fyshwick, but really, could it be THIS lonely?

An ageing senator named Brian Burston does not necessarily strike the casual observer as the stereotypical subject of propositional desire.

Senators Pauline Hanson and Brian Burston in the Senate last year. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

You wouldnt confuse him in a bar, or anywhere, really, with, say, George Clooney.

Nevertheless, Burston has made the head-exploding claim that Pauline Hanson had propositioned him over the years.The Coalition will delay a key part of its plans to overhaul the $2.8 trillion superannuation sector and hope it can win over the entire Senate crossbench in its last two days of sitting before the May election.

The government and the Greens were locked in last-minute negotiations over the government's package on Thursday, which could see savings of up to $3 billion on insurance premiums scuppered if the Coalition fails to win majority support in the upper house.

The decision to split its super package means it will get through two thirds of its legislation that will ban exit fees and allow the Tax Office to hoover up zombie accounts on Thursday, but leaves its insurance package hanging on its negotiation skills with crossbench senators.

Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The government wants to require young people and those with balances under $6000 to opt in for insurance through their super.Nearly 800 nurses were assaulted in WA hospitals in the first six months of last year, shocking new figures have revealed.

There was also a big spike - more than 50 per cent - in assault cases on nurses across the entire WA health system in the first six months of 2018 compared to 2017, the figures have also shown.

Nurses were the victims of nearly 800 assaults in the first six months of 2018.

The data tabled in State Parliament this week documents every assault on a nurse across the state in the first six months of 2017 and 2018.

The figures, requested by the state opposition, show between January-June 2017 there were 504 cases of nurses assaulted at work.He freaks out, he doesnt know what to do, Mr Scanlon's lawyer said. In his head, he is going back to prison and he will be blamed for this. Scanlon took Mr Whites body 45 metres away from the campground and buried him in nearby bushland. He then filled the grave using Mr Whites own shovel, put broken branches over the dirt and took Mr Whites Toyota Landcruiser and camper trailer. The court was told Scanlon assumed Mr Whites identity and used his bank card to make a number of purchases at local service stations.

When the bank tried to put a stop to the payments because they seemed inconsistent with Mr Whites usual spending, Scanlon pretended to be the deceased man and asked them to issue a new PIN number, re-routing Mr Whites address to that of his ex-wife. He later drove back to Queensland in Mr Whites car to be with his former partner. The court was told Scanlon tried to conceal the vehicle by spray painting it, and had his nephew take apart a back fence on his property so he could store it there in case police were called. He had the car until July 23, when he crashed and rolled it about 30 kilometres north of Brisbane. He fled the scene, although police later tracked him down through a fingerprint left on the rear of the vehicle. During this time, Mr Whites family became concerned when he didnt respond to texts and calls about his fathers death.

He had been missing for nearly a year when WA Police issued a fresh call for information on his whereabouts. A day later, his body was found in a shallow grave at the campsite, about 160 kilometres north of Quairading, near where he was last seen. The remains were so decomposed police were unable to determine a cause of death. WA Police later travelled to Queensland and extradicted Scanlon to face charges in Perth. He was charged with interfering with a corpse to hinder an inquiry, and a string of other offences relating to stealing a number of cars throughout WA, Mr Whites own vehicle, and using Mr White's credit cards after his death.

Scanlon pleaded guilty to all seven charges, although it was argued he should be made eligible for parole if he was handed an immediate imprisonment. Mr Scanlons lawyer said his offending had been exacerbated due to drug use and a relationship breakdown, and he had since expressed sincere remorse for his actions. Mr Scanlon wishes he had acted completely differently on that day, he said. He understands Mr White did not deserve to be buried in the bush in the way that he was, and left there. He understands the effect it has had on Mr Whites family.

However the state prosecution said it was clear Scanlon had tried hard to conceal what had happened and he had lied to police. When interviewed by police, Scanlon denied he had any knowledge of Mr Whites death, and said "he had known him from a previous stint in prison". Scanlon told police Mr White had been a drug runner, and "his bikie friends had threatened to kill him". He said Mr White was still alive and had in fact driven him back to Queensland. He expressed such outrage at police at their accusations, the state prosecutor said. Eventually after four hours, Scanlon changed his story and told police the truth about what he knew, and where they could find the body.B

A teenager was killed when he was hit by a truck while riding his bike along the Princes Highway on Victoria's south-west coast. Credit:Warrnambool Standard

A teenager was killed when he was hit by a truck while riding his bike along the Princes Highway on Victoria's south-west coast.

The cement mixer truck was travelling west on the highway near Ziegler Parade in Allansford, near Warrnambool, when it struck the cyclist before rolling about 4.45pm.

Police said a 16-year-old boy from Allansford was treated by paramedics but he died at the scene.Fifty homelessness and family violence organisations in Melbourne will no longer refer people to unsafe and squalid motels and boarding houses as a form of emergency housing.

The group of services in Melbournes north and west will today discuss a rolling boycott of dodgy accommodation providers as it launches a new report, A Crisis in Crisis.

Billie Jo experienced family violence and then homelessness and had to live in a motel for three months with her children. Credit:Jason South

Services were drawing a line in the sand, said Zoe Vale, a representative of the North and Western Homelessness Networks, and a senior manager in the homelessness sector.

Yes, there is a risk that we would be turning people away without assistance, which is not something we do lightly, Ms Vale said. [But] were not funded to create harm, were funded to help people. What were saying is that we need to stop doing this."They were two of thousands of women out on the town that Saturday night, drinking and dancing to music.

Around 4am, they ended up on Lygon Street, looking for a snack on their way home. What allegedly followed was the stuff of nightmares.

The girlfriends had started their night out on June 16 last year at the Doutta Galla Hotel in Flemington before heading to Club Retro in the CBD around midnight for some dancing.

After leaving the club, the two friends took a cab to Carlton, stopping at a 7-Eleven store.Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has asked television networks to include bullying warnings in pre-program viewer advice.

Ms Palaszczuk has also written to the chief executives of Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Google, reminding them they had obligations to protect children from online bullying.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk (left) with Emergency Services deputy commissioner Bob Gee (right) . Credit:AAP

Cyberbullying and awareness campaigns will be rolled out in Queensland over the next two years at a cost of $2 million.

The Premier advised Queensland Parliament on Wednesday of the state governments response to the 2018 cyberbullying taskforce report.A soldier has been accused of smuggling a 16-year-old girl into Brisbane's Enoggera Barracks in the boot of his car and raping her.

Police arrested the 24-year-old man on Thursday and charged him with one count of rape.

One of the entrances to the Gallipoli Barracks in the Brisbane suburb of Enoggera. Credit:Google Maps Street view

It will be alleged the rape occurred on January 14.

The accused was released on bail and will appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on February 26.Pierce Brosnan's upcoming gold heist thriller The Misfits will begin shooting later this month at Abu Dhabi's Jumeirah at Etihad Towers.



Directed by action veteran Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Skip Trace), the project will be set mostly in the Middle East.



"We are extremely excited to have him on board, said Harlin. Pierce and I have been friends for many years and have been looking for a project to collaborate on for some time. I could not have hoped for a better actor to play our lead.



The Misfits, scripted by Robert Henny, follows the story of renowned criminal Richard Pace, who finds himself caught up in an elaborate gold heist that promises to have far-reaching implications.



Brosnan will star alongside American actress Jamie Chung and British actress Hermione Corfield in the film.



"After visiting and scouting Abu Dhabi, we were blown away," said producer Kia Jam. "We all agreed in order to do the film justice, production would have to take place primarily on location in Abu Dhabi rather than L.A., and we set up our base at the spectacular Jumeirah at Etihad Towers."



The producers say the project will begin shooting February 18. The announcement was made on Tuesday at the European Film Market. - TradeArabia News ServiceThe Flinders River has experienced its most significant flooding in the last 50 years with the overflowing river appearing on the weather bureau's satellite images, having grown from a modest stream to 70 kilometres in width.

The river and surrounding areas had broken yearly rainfall records, with the river receiving its annual rainfall total in a matter of 10 days and some places copping 800 millimetres.

The Flinders River has received record rainfall and was overflowing during the flood event in Queensland. Credit:Bureau of Meteorology

Bureau of Meteorology issued a major flood warning for the lower Flinders River and a moderate flood warning for the Norman River, and flood warning for the Gilbert River on Thursday.

BoM meteorologist Adam Blazak said record rainfall in places due to the flood was also breaking out into nearby catchments.The search continues for the phone belonging to a drowned Sunshine Coast doctor whose body was found on Dicky Beach on Thursday, as tributes are shared for the victim.

Gemma Diessel, 27, was found by an off-duty lifesaver just after 5am and investigators believe her phone could be crucial to shedding further light on her movements before entering the water.

Gemma Diessel drowned while swimming at the Sunshine Coast. Her body was found at Dicky Beach. Credit:Facebook

Dr Diessel graduated from university at the end of 2018 and worked as a doctor at Sunshine Coast University Hospital. Her death is being treated as non-suspicious.

She had been working in her dream job as a general doctor at Sunshine Coast University Hospital for the past month after graduating from Griffith University on the Gold Coast.Mass police raids on Brisbane's southside have cracked an alleged drug-trafficking syndicate, with 22 people arrested and more than 100 charges laid.

Cocaine, methamphetamine, cash, guns and allegedly stolen goods were seized after 21 homes were raided, with some having their doors smashed down, between Monday and Wednesday last week.

Part of the drug haul seized by Brisbane detectives. Credit:Queensland Police Service

Detectives from Upper Mt Gravatt and South Brisbane arrested two women and 20 men on 130 charges related to drug trafficking, supply and possession as well as firearms and stolen property.

Senior Sergeant Murray Cumner said police had received numerous tip-offs from residents.The size of the publisher pool with an appetite for political post mortems has shrunk considerably after Melbourne University Publishing punted chief executive Louise Adler as part of its re-found interest in scholastica.

Credit:Shakespeare

But we're pleased to report that progress on Malcolm Turnbull's tome, which is being shepherded into print by publisher Sandy Grant at Hardie Grant, is continuing in earnest.

Grant is tight-lipped on the contents of the manuscript, but hes told us to expect less snark and more laughs. There are some funny stories in there about Christopher Pyne who warmed up this week by describing Turnbull as his Aslan and recounting how he cried on the day his Prime Minister was crucified.

What sets it apart, says Grant, is that Turnbull was an avid note-taker and that he kept extensive diaries throughout the Abbott years that will make for riveting reading.A woman who was last seen in Adelaide on Monday afternoon is believed to have travelled to Canberra.

Police have appealed for public assistance to locate Amanda McPhee, who is believed to have travelled to Canberra. Credit:South Australia Police

South Australian Police have appealed for public assistance to locate Amanda McPhee, 41, who was last seen at Pooraka, Adelaide at 4.30pm on Monday.

Ms McPhee is 170cm tall with a slim build, long straight brown hair and brown eyes, South Australian Police said.

She is believed to be travelling in a blue Toyota Rav4 with South Australian registration S518ALR.It will be at least two weeks before Canberra firefighters start any industrial action as part of a dispute with the Emergency Services Agency over their employment conditions.

United Firefighters Union ACT branch secretary Greg McConville said his members were prepared for a protracted battle, warning it was "just the beginning" as firefighters pushed for the money from a 10 per cent pay rise they rejected to instead be invested in the fire service.

United Firefighters Union ACT branch secretary Greg McConville, left, with firefighters outside Fyshwick Fire Station on Thursday morning. Credit:Karleen Minney

Dozens of firefighters wearing union T-shirts and carrying flags stood with Mr McConville outside the Fyshwick Fire Station on Thursday morning as he spoke of nearly two years of "frustrating" enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations.

Mr McConville revealed exclusively to The Canberra Times a day earlier that the union had applied to the Fair Work Commission for a protected action ballot order.One three seven: studio glass by Alexandra Chambers, Mel Douglas, Benjamin Edols & Kathy Elliott and Tom Rowney. Beaver Galleries. Until February 24.

Alexandra Chambers, Lost & found in one three seven at Beaver Galleries.

These five artists have all studied at one time or another at the ANU School of Art. Alexandra Chambers, originally from Colorado in the USA, continued her studies at the Canberra School of Art, graduating in 2001. Benjamin Edols and Kathy Elliott are both ANU School of Art graduates (1992) while Tom Rowney and Mel George graduated from the same School of Art in 1995 and 2000 respectively.

Rowney is currently technical manager at the Canberra Glassworks  a position he has held since 2006.

Alexandra Chambers has had residencies at Bundanon and the Canberra Glassworks and has wide experience teaching and working in glass studios both here and abroad.It took 10 years for his crime to catch up to him but on Thursday a former Australian Navy lieutenant commander was sentenced for his role in a massive US Navy bribery and corruption scandal.

Alexander Bryan Gillett avoided time behind bars and was instead sentenced to 23 months to be served in the community by way of an intensive corrections order.

The judge warned Gillett that the sentence carried strict conditions, including that he complete 150 hours of community service, which if breached could see him locked up.

While federal prosecutors had pressed for full time jail, Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson pointed to his early guilty plea and his assistance to authorities, including in the US, in her decision to afford him leniency.Things reached a boiling point when Tracey popped over to a friend's house one day and came back to find that, with no explanation, George had upped and gone. "And he didn't come back," she says. "He literally did not come back." Loading To be close to their children, George rented a granny flat five houses up the road from Tracey. At first, the pair tried to stay amicable. But when Tracey discovered that George had moved in with the woman he'd been seeing while they were married, she was gutted. "It just highlighted how much of a stranger this man had become, and how many secrets he'd kept." For a handful of years, Tracey couldn't bear the thought of being friends with George. "I was jealous that he'd been making my life hell, yet he had all this other life filled with happiness." While George would have liked to be closer to Tracey, he understood her pain. As time wore on, Tracey decided that, for the sake of their children, the pair needed to be on better terms. "My children deserved intelligent and adult parents to get their shit together and get over themselves. So I did."

She was also sick of her anger, and didn't want to use George as a "scapegoat" for why her life wasn't working out as planned. She'd been a stay-at-home mother for the duration of her marriage, she then launched her own business after they split. While it wasn't easy, Tracey made an effort not to pick fights with George about things that had no impact on her and began including him in family events. George readily stepped up to the plate. He was there for Tracey when her sister was dying, has helped her move house, paid for her new car, and spends Christmases with her and the kids. "It's not easy and I don't know too many people who are friends [with their ex]," says George, who believes that just because the relationship ended, their friendship didn't have to be destroyed. The pair chat at least twice a week and have a strong mutual respect for each other. "I know there's stuff he doesn't tell me, but then he doesn't tell his kids or his family, either," says Tracey. "That is George and I accept that is how he is now. For better or worse, I guess. He's a good man with a good heart." "We just get on like a house on fire. We wake up and go to a cafe together."

Jade Kennedy, 38, is a personal trainer and gym owner, and Luke Kennedy, 32, is a motivational speaker. Luke and Jade met when they were both students at personal training college. There was a strong attraction and the pair soon struck up a relationship that saw them moving in together after a few months, with Luke proposing soon after. Jade didn't hesitate to say yes: "We laughed a lot, we got on really well  it was just easy between us." The relationship was smooth, but soon after they married their passion dwindled. The strain of starting a business together, combined with 4.30am starts and financial worries, meant sex took a back seat. The couple tried to reignite those early flames, to no avail. Three years after they wed, Jade and Luke mutually decided to end their relationship. "No one wants to feel like they're failing in a marriage, but when you intuitively know there's something missing, you don't have to ride out these times when you feel it's not working," says Jade. While the conversation was painful, she says she and Luke "left our egos at the door" and spoke honestly.

"There were a lot of tears and crying and hugging," says Luke. But there was no animosity, nor any question about whether they would remain friends. They still loved each other; they were just no longer in love. They both felt that moving past feelings of attachment for each other would enable them to continue as friends. Loading That friendship deepened when they became flatmates a year ago. Living together again has been remarkably easy for the ex-spouses. "We just get on like a house on fire," says Luke. "We eat dinner together, wake up and go to a cafe together." They bring new romantic interests home with no issue, with Jade even likening their current relationship to being like siblings. Mind you, she jokes that she hasn't had many boyfriends since their split, musing that telling potential partners you live with your ex-husband may be off-putting. However, she's quick to add that anyone who meets Luke and sees how their relationship works instantly feels at ease. While there was never any question about the pair remaining on good terms, each fondly regards the other as their best friend. "For us it's been such a nice experience," says Jade. "You hear so many horrible stories, and you've got to get to a stage in this life where you just move past all this bullshit and just let each other be. That's how Luke and I live."

"I'd always hear my mum saying, 'Go on, Pauly, do it for the kids.' " Paulette McCormack, 46, is a university lecturer and business owner, and Mark McCormack, 46, is a retail manager. Paulette was a 23-year-old New Zealander on a gap year in the UK when she met Mark. The pair hit it off instantly and life soon followed a neat trajectory: marriage, then a baby. But everything changed when Paulette's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Devastated, a pregnant Paulette scooped up her young daughter and flew to New Zealand to be with her mother, leaving Mark behind for three months. Within months of Paulette returning to the UK and giving birth to her second baby, she suffered the loss of both her beloved grandmother and her mother. Understandably, she was swamped by grief: "People would describe me as a bit of a robot. I just got through the days as best I could."

While Paulette was in pain, Mark was going through his own battles. He felt the pair had "really grown apart" and ultimately made the agonising decision to leave. Loading "I hated him, I absolutely hated him for what he did," says Paulette. "When I most needed someone in my life, that person walked away." Her anger persisted until she decided to move to Australia five years later. (She chose Australia so she would be as far away as possible from Mark, who had a fear of flying.) At first, the pair only stayed in contact through Skype once a fortnight, when Mark spoke to his daughters. But when Mark did a course to overcome his fear of flying so he could come to Australia, Paulette was impressed. She'd also started toying with the idea it was time to "suck it up" and be more understanding of Mark, for the sake of her children. "I'd always hear my mum sitting on my shoulder saying, 'Go on, Pauly, do it for the kids.' "Is this what we want, what we really, really want?

Victoria Beckham, fashion designer and former Spice Girl, has announced plans to launch her own beauty brand, Victoria Beckham Beauty.

Victoria Beckham continues to build her brand, launching a beauty collection later this year. Credit:Doug Peters

Beckham announced the launch on Instagram on Thursday, writing to her 28 million followers, "SO excited to announce that I will be launching Victoria Beckham Beauty later this year! Cannot wait to be able to share it with you!! Subscribe at the link in bio for exclusive news and updates. #VBBeauty x Kisses."

The announcement follows Beckham's recent collaboration with Reebok on a line of activewear (a remarkable turnabout from the days when Beckham was only ever snapped wearing towering heels) and the tenth anniversary of her eponymous brand, an occasion Beckham celebrated by showing at London Fashion Week for the first time.The significant rise in lifestyle-related diseases and the developments in healthcare infrastructure are expected to influence the demand for pharmaceuticals in Saudi Arabia, said a recent study.



The Saudi Arabia pharmaceutical market was estimated to have procured products worth $5.209 billion at a y-o-y growth of 6 per cent over 2015. The mounting demand for branded drug products will continue to incite the growth of the Saudi Arabian pharmaceutical market, said the "Saudi Arabia: Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2016-2026" report by Future Markets Insights.



The demand for pharmaceuticals in Saudi Arabia is expected to register substantial growth owing to the increasing penetration of health insurance companies and the rising incidence rate of non-communicable diseases.



Furthermore, the exceptional rise in the per capita income of Saudi Arabia is also expected to foster the demand for branded pharmaceutical drugs. Another key factor driving the growth of the pharmaceutical market in Saudi Arabia is the countrys strategic move to allow 100 per cent FDI in the pharmaceuticals sector, said the study.



Although, the shortage of profound indigenous research capacity in the pharmaceutical industry and the delayed registration of drug and medicine patents is expected to limit the expansion of the market in 2016 and beyond.



Based on the product type, the pharmaceutical market in Saudi Arabia is expected to witness an upsurge in the prescription-type branded drug products. In terms of market value, the branded drugs are estimated to reach $2.760 billion by 2016-end.



The demand for generic drugs is projected to secure steady growth, attributing to the insisting promotion of generic drug adoption by healthcare insurance providers.



On the basis of the diseases, the pharmaceutical drugs used for treatment of cardiovascular diseases will continue exhibiting robust growth in 2016. The demand for cardiovascular medications will continue to surge due to the prominence of circulatory disorders in Saudi Arabia.



Additionally, the rising prevalence of disorders related to body sugar levels is expected to make diabetes a rapidly growing disease-based sub-segment in the Saudi Arabia pharmaceutical market.



The pharmaceutical market in Saudi Arabia is also segmented on the basis of distribution channel, where retail pharmacies will continue to account for 80 per cent market share compared to hospital pharmacies.



The westernised modernisation of retail pharmacies in Saudi Arabia has led to the availability of a wide range drugs and medicinal products, thereby attaining a considerable growth in the retail pharmacy sub-segment in 2016 and further.



The rising resource potential in Saudi Arabia is projected to positively reform the production environment for pharmaceutical manufacturers. In order to expand the markets size, structuring alliances with well-established native companies is predicted to be a key strategy for global pharmaceutical leaders.



The key players in the Saudi Arabia pharmaceutical market include Novartis AG, SPIMACO, Pfizer Inc., and Glaxosmithkline, Jamjoom Pharma, and Tabuk Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Co among others, it stated.  TradeArabia News ServiceThe historic former Ford Motors factory in Geelong will be re-established as a manufacturing hub after Danish energy giant Vestas unveiled plans to build wind turbines on the site.

Vestas has partnered with local manufacturer Marand Precision Engineering to build the turbines for Tilt Renewables Dundonnell wind farm and Global Power Generations Berrybank wind farm, being constructed nearby.

A new wind turbine factory in Geelong will help supercharge the construction of two major wind farms nearby. Credit:Photo

These new wind farms would provide enough energy to power all of Ballarat, Warrnambool and Geelong, Tilt said on Thursday.

It is the first time in more than a decade that wind turbines will be built in Australia.A new payment-times investigator is on the cards, with the federal government asking small businesses for feedback on creating a register to track how long it takes big businesses to pay smaller suppliers.

Small and family business minister Michaelia Cash announced consultation on the payments reporting scheme on Wednesday, setting wheels in motion for companies with turnover of $100 million or more to be required to publish how long it takes them to clear invoices.

Michaelia Cash is calling on smaller operators to help decide how the payments reporting scheme will operate. Credit:Lukas Coch

In a discussion paper on the plan, small businesses have been asked to weigh in on whether they'd prefer big businesses to publish their payments history on their own websites or through a centralised database.

The report outlines the types of information that may have to be reported under the scheme, including a company's standard terms of payment and their performance against this promised benchmark.Breville Group is cashing in on our obsession with homemade lattes, smoothies and acai bowls.

The global health and coffee craze helped lift earnings at the Sydney-based small appliances company, which reported a 20 per cent rise in profits for the six months to December 31 to $43.5 million.

Our obsession with homemade smoothies, acai bowls and coffees helped drive sales at Breville Group. Credit:Linsey Rendell

Chief executive Jim Clayton told investors on Thursday there was a health trend and the company was introducing a new range of blenders and tea makers to capitalise on this.

Looking globally at a macro level  I think we also see a systemic move to quality in the coffee category, Mr Clayton said.Dr Fuller says vulnerable people, such as the elderly or pregnant women, should avoid mould-tainted food altogether, as eating it can cause damage to the immune system, worsening existing illnesses. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video "Cutting it out is not safe enough," he said adding that removing even substantial areas around the mould may not eliminate the unseen toxins. "It's no guarantee." Leonie Mills, who's been a chef for 25 years and now teaches cookery at Geelong's Gordon School, said attention should also be paid to the type of food. Where it might be OK to cut mould from dry aged beef, she "certainly wouldn't do it with chicken or pork".

Loading Ms Mills said when it came to cheese, firmer cheeses were less risky to cut mould off, whereas soft cheeses should be thrown out. "The bacteria might be able to permeate a softer substance." Dr Kim-Yen Phan-Thien, senior lecturer in food science at the University of Sydney, said certain species of mould, such as Penicillium, are present in cheeses such as Gorgonzola to form its white outer skin or blue veins throughout. These moulds are safe to eat. "There are so many species of fungi out there and many are not hazardous to humans," Dr Phan-Thien said.

Food items with a higher water content were more at risk of the mould spreading. "Fluffy bread mould is less risky because once it's stale it's usually become hard," she said. "Lower water activity is generally safer." Is the three-second rule fact? Dr Fuller said modern society had perhaps become "too fixated" on germs, bugs and bacteria.

He says you can probably pick food off the floor and eat it if it's been dropped for three seconds  or even longer  if you're confident the floor is relatively clean. "We don't need to be using disinfectant all the time and worrying about these types of things," he said, adding that germ exposure can be useful for growing children. "If it's in your own home, depending on what it is, it will likely be fine." Whats the difference between a best-before and a use-by date? "Best before" is the food suppliers recommendation of when the food is at its best, referring to food quality. But Ronni Kahn, chief executive of food rescue charity OzHarvest, believes it is "perfectly safe" to eat food after this date.

Dr Fuller advises consumers to apply the "smell test". "If it's a dairy product, you can do the smell test to make sure it hasn't turned off. If it smells fine, you can have dairy products a few days after that date." "Use by" is related to food safety and is the manufacturers' guide to when the product should be used for food safety reasons. Dr Fuller said this date could act as a guarantee that food will be fine to eat up until that date, but you will be at risk once that date passes. "Depending on what it is, you could be putting yourself at risk." Should you always observe use-by dates?

Dr Phan-Thien said you should always abide by use-by dates. "Because the judgment is on safety. If there is a use-by date, stick by it." But when it comes to best before, it's up to the consumer to apply their judgment. "It might not make you sick, but it might not taste as good or perform as well in your cooking." Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video OzHarvest's Ms Kahn said food label confusion was a major source of food waste, adding that the US and UK were reviewing all food labelling to limit waste.Telecoms equipment giant Huawei has hit back at mounting US pressure, claiming American calls for allies to block its technology from the rollout of 5G telecom networks will have minimal impact on its global business.

Speaking with journalists at the company's headquarters in Shenzhen, Eric Xu, one of Huawei's three rotating chairmen, accused Washington of launching a "coordinated geopolitical campaign" against the company in order to gain leverage in a trade war.

But he played down the importance of bans on Huawei's 5G technology by Australia and New Zealand, two members of the so-called "Five Eyes" group of intelligence-sharing nations that also include the US, the UK and Canada.

Under fire: Huawei has accused the US of deliberately targeting it to advance its interests in the trade war with China. Credit:AP

"We certainly don't expect our 5G equipment to be chosen by all countries," Mr Xu said.Amazon.com Inc will not move forward with plans to build a headquarters in New York after rising opposition from local politicians, the third most-valuable public US company has announced.

Amazon's search for a second headquarters, which it described as HQ2, was deemed a massive, year-long public relations success, garnering worldwide publicity and interest from cities across the United States.

But its choice of New York ran into immediate criticism in the US financial capital from potential neighbours in the Queens neighbourhood it chose and for billions of dollars in tax breaks.

People briefed on the decision said Amazon had made the decision early on Thursday after intense talks starting on Wednesday and amid rising concerns about the small vocal minority. The people said Amazon will not shift any of the planned jobs to Tennessee or Virginia but plans to grow its existing network of locations.Magellan Financial Group posted a stellar first-half result, boosted by soaring management and performance fees and a steady inflow of new retail investors.

Total net cash inflows for the six months ended December 31 was $1.4 billion, taking Magellan's average funds under management 35 per cent higher to more than $72.1 billion. The share of retail investors piling into its funds jumped by 43.5 per cent to $475 million.

Hamish Douglass was one of the best-performing Australian fund managers last year, reaching a 9.8 per cent return for his global fund. Credit:Daniel Munoz

The fund manager has experienced average monthly retail net inflows of about $79 million over the six months to December 31, up from $55 million a month in the previous corresponding period. The retail component of its funds under management now makes up 27 per cent of the total.

Magellan's adjusted net profit jumped 62 per cent to $176.3 million in the December half.Want to praise someone or get something off your chest? Darts and Pats is the place to do it.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An Instagram account that published comic strips depicting the struggles of gay Muslims in Indonesia has disappeared following a frenzy of outrage online in the world's biggest Muslim nation.

The Ministry of Communications said the account under the username Alpatuni was pornographic, which violated the law on information and electronic transactions.

Instagram, however, said it had not removed the account. The company said there were many reasons an account may no longer be accessible, including the account holder deleting it, deactivating it or changing the username.

The comics depicted gay characters facing discrimination and abuse, which has become increasingly common in Indonesia since late 2015 when conservative politicians and religious leaders began a campaign of portraying LGBT people as a threat to the nation.

An account of the same name on Facebook, which owns Instagram, was also no longer accessible.

Instagram's content guidelines, published in Indonesian, say the service is a mirror of the diversity of the community.

Human Rights Watch's Indonesia researcher, Andreas Harsono, criticised the government's demands that the account be blocked.

"That account describes mostly the problems of gay individuals in Indonesia," he said.

It's no secret that many LGBT individuals are arrested, their houses raided, some are sentenced to prison terms.

"The Indonesian government does not help them in demanding the removal of that account."

The ministry said it appreciated that members of the community reported the account, which "accelerated" its removal.

Some users, in turn, congratulated the ministry. On Twitter, Fahmi Alfansi Pane, a policy analyst in the Indonesian parliament, thanked officials for "acting decisively" to protect public morality but also told the Associated Press he had never seen the comic strips.DHL Express, a leading global express and logistics provider, has appointed Ali Aryan as the new general manager of its Middle East and Africa distribution hub and gateway facility, headquartered in Bahrain.



Celebrating 31 years with DHL, Aryan is the first Bahraini to hold this important position, and brings with him a wealth of industry knowledge and business-related experience, said a statement from the company.



Aryan joined DHL in 1988 as a courier, and since then has held various positions within the company, including customer service and telesales in the Bahrain Country Office. He later moved to DHLs Bahrain Hub where he took up a variety of posts across different departments, rising through the ranks to eventually take on the role of general manager of DHLs Bahrain Hub and Gateway, which is the companys main Hub in the region.



As general manager, Aryan is responsible for supervising the hubs operations and ensuring efficiency and superior quality of service for its customer base, it said.



Bachi Spiga, vice president of operations at DHL Express  Middle East and North Africa (Mena), said: We are very proud of Aryan, he is a success story for DHL and a true testament to how the company values and invests in its people. We believe in organic growth and promoting talent from within, motivating dedicated, hard-working employees to climb the corporate ladder and to in turn inspire others around them.



Hiring local talent is very important to our company since they know the market best; our strategy across the network is to empower them, building local experts with global industry knowledge, he added.



Aryan said: It goes without saying that this is a significant milestone in my career, and a very proud moment for me as the first Bahraini to occupy this position. I have been working with DHL for over three decades, and proof that perseverance, loyalty and dedication can lead to excellent results.



DHLs Bahrain Hub facility, the first to be set up by the company in the Mena region 42 years ago, the hub and country office boasts over 80 per cent Bahrainisation rate, and is home to nearly 400 trained certified international specialists, it stated.  TradeArabia News ServiceCork City have signed another striker with just over 24 hours to go until the start of the new SSE Airtricity Premier Division season.

Matthew Gillam has joined on loan from English League One side Rochdale until July.

Gillam's acquisition comes after John Caulfield allowed

Read More:

 NEW SIGNING | We're delighted to announce the signing of forward Matty Gillam on loan from @officiallydale .



Read more:https://t.co/p23SVmuJgd#CCFC84 pic.twitter.com/oD5F7Qohlr  Cork City FC (@CorkCityFC) February 14, 2019

This is a big challenge for me, coming away from England to try and get some game time, but hopefully I can do well. There are a few lads at Rochdale who have been at the club and I have spoken to them quite frequently to try and see what things were like, so they have been a big help, he told CorkCityFC.ie.

The boys have been very welcoming, everyone has been good, so I have really enjoyed it. I played a few games at Rochdale towards the start of the season, but I need to be playing a lot more, so this is a good opportunity for me.

City boss John Caulfield said: Matthew is another forward player. I saw him play a couple of times before Christmas with Rochdale. He is an energetic player and can hold the ball up well; he can play as a centre forward or out wide. He wants to get game time over here and establish himself.

With Liam Nash and now Matthew coming in, it gives us two more forward options which was an area we wanted to strengthen. He is strong, energetic, quick and good at holding the ball up. He scored a lot of goals underage at Rochdale and we have been very happy with him in training this week. He has a great attitude and really wants to do well here, so we are looking forward to seeing him get involved.

Cork's season begins away to St. Pat's tomorrow night.The trial collapsed today of a public health nurse on trial by judge and jury for the alleged theft of over 11,000 from a patient in her eighties.

Today was the sixth day of the trial of Deirdre Kenneally, 47, of Leitrim, Kilworth, County Cork, who pleaded not guilty to 59 theft charges and three other related charges.

Judge Gerard OBrien discharged the jury of five women and seven men at Cork Circuit Criminal Court shortly after the trial recommenced this morning.

The decision by the judge to discharge the jury followed legal discussion in the absence of the jury.

The case against the defendant was then adjourned to the October sessions of Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

The last evidence the defence heard was from the defendant herself. The prosecution had closed its case and the defence called the accused who spent almost all of yesterday in the witness box.

During her testimony, Deirdre Kenneally said, I never dishonestly took anything from Alice Twomey. Anything I took was monies owed to me as logged in my small diary.

There is no greater insult as a nurse than to be told that you had stolen from a patient, from someone that you are helping. There is nothing more cruel or insulting that could be said about me.

Defence barrister Tom Power asked her what was the arrangement she had with Ms Twomey. She said they rounded it off to 300 a week for ten hours a week which she would fit in on evenings and weekends around her nine to five nursing job.

I entered into the arrangement with her in a private capacity. As she was getting the services she would prefer I would accept the payments. They were her wishes, the defendant testified.

She said Ms Twomey gave her her debit card so that she (the defendant) could pay herself and buy whatever was necessary for her (Ms Twomey).

Cross-examining the defendant, prosecution barrister Donal McCarthy, said, The prosecution case is that when you made withdrawals when the lady was in hospital you had the card and you took advantage of it and you took the money. You took out 8,640 when the lady was in hospital and in the nursing home between May 2016 and July 2016.

Deirdre Kenneally replied, All the withdrawals were made for monies owed I dont think all of those withdrawals are my withdrawals. All the withdrawals made were for monies owed to me.Ruth Morrissey who is terminally ill with cervical cancer was told to source her own counselling when she sought support from the HSE, the High Court has heard.

At one stage the young mother who is suing over the alleged misreading of her smear slides which were taken under the CervicalCheck screening programme was "very low" but told to source her own psychotherapy and furnish the receipts, a care expert said.

Specialist care consultant Noreen Roche said she thought it was appalling that somebody such as the 37-year old mother who has a maximum of two years to live still had to source her own psychotherapy or psychological support.

Ms Roche was giving evidence in the continuing action by Ruth Morrissey who is suing the HSE and two US laboratories over the alleged misreading of her cervical smears in 2009 and 2012.

At one stage Ms Roche said Ms Morrissey was feeling very low and she was told to source her own psychotherapy and furnish receipts.

The care expert told Mr Justice Kevin Cross the original plan was to put in support for these women but to date, no such support has been put in place.

They are told to source their own counselling and furnish the receipts, she said.

She added: I think it is appalling for somebody in Ruth Morrisseys condition that she still had to source psychotherapy or psychological counselling. Number one, she has no energy or the knowledge.

She told the court she would have hoped the HSE would have sourced the appropriate person to provide counselling and psychotherapy.

These women are left to their own devices to source all the support, Ms Roche said.

She said Ruth Morrissey presents as a serene woman who considers herself as mentally strong.

Ruth Morrissey with her husband, Paul

Ms Morrissey, she said, dreads the side effects of chemotherapy. Ms Roche, who met Ms Morrissey last May, said the 37-year old woman is consumed with guilt that she cant do normal activities with her young daughter.

The young mother she said has pain in her right leg and she was unsteady on her feet and needed to use the walls and furniture to help her get around.

Ruth Morrissey and her husband Paul Morrissey of Kylemore, Schoolhouse Road, Monaleen, Co Limerick 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.

The case before Mr Justice Kevin Cross continues tomorrow.A doctor in a Dublin hospital accident and emergency department has received an apology and damages over false allegations made against him in his workplace.

Joseph McKeever, a consultant in James Connolly Memorial Hospital, Blanchardstown, was exonerated following two independent investigations.

The hospital and HSE apologised to him in the High Court following settlement talks and described him as "an outstanding doctor".

Mel Christle SC, for Mr McKeever, said the case had been listed for three weeks but had now been resolved with an apology to be read out on behalf of the defendants.

Peter Ward SC, for the defendants, said the settlement was on terms including the payment of damages to Mr McKeever.

The apology stated that between 2010 and 2014, a number of allegations were made against Mr McKeever by servants or agents of the defendants.

The defendants appointed two separate independent investigators who "thoroughly investigated" the allegations.

The defendants accept and hereby acknowledge unreservedly that Mr McKeever was exonerated by the reports of the independent investigators.

They also "acknowledge and deeply regret the suffering their actions have caused to Mr McKeever, professionally and personally, and to his family.

"They acknowledge the distress and damage to his reputation as a result of his treatment at the hands of the defendants".

They "apologise unreservedly for their failure to honour his rights including his rights to natural justice".

The apology added: "Mr McKeever is an outstanding doctor of the highest integrity and reputation.

"He is held in the highest regard both personally and professionally by the defendants".

Mr Justice Seamus Noonan congratulated the parties in reaching agreement and struck out the proceedings with orders as to costs.A Dublin man has been jailed for five years for transporting a loaded gun and possessing over 42,000 of drugs to offset his debts to criminals

Keith Gilroy (26), a father-of-two of Bunratty Road, Coolcock, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possessing 2,590 of cocaine at Sean O'Casey Avenue, Dublin, on August 27, 2016.

He admitted possessing over 40,000 of cannabis and crack cocaine and laundering 4,415 at the same location on February 27, 2017. He also pleaded guilty to possessing a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver and 11 rounds of ammunition at Howth Road, Clontarf, Dublin, on July 16, 2018.

His four previous convictions are for minor drugs crimes and he was on bail for possessing the cannabis and cocaine when he committed the firearms offence.

Judge Melanie Greally gave Gilroy credit for his candid admissions to gardai and his early guilty pleas. She imposed an eight year sentence with the final three years suspended.

The court heard gardai with a search warrant went to the Sean O'Casey Avenue address and found Gilroy lying in a bed. He told officers where to find drugs located on the premises and admitted supplying grass to offset a debt.

He said he had been holding the cocaine for others for the same reason.

Detective Garda Caitriona Brody told Monika Leech BL, prosecuting, that she got a warrant for the same address in February 2017 after seeing Gilroy engage in suspected drug dealing.

During this search, gardai found 15,347 of cannabis, crack cocaine worth 25,309 and 4,415 in cash. Gilroy took responsibility for the drugs and revealed he had a cocaine and cannabis habit.

He said he was holding the cocaine and acting as run around in selling cannabis to offset his now 30,000 drug debt.

Det Gda Gilroy agreed with Fiona Murphy SC, defending, that this debt had been increased because of the drugs seized in the earlier offence. The detective further accepted that Gilroy was no more than a pawn in the operation and that there were ongoing threats against his family.

Gardai intercepted Gilroy in a taxi with a shoebox containing a loaded revolver and ammunition in July 2018.

He told gardai he'd gotten a call to say a message needed to be dropped to a certain place. He said he had handed the shoebox to someone else about three weeks previously and when it was returned to him, it was heavier.

Gilroy said he was told not to look inside the box and attributed the extra weight to it being full of cocaine. He claimed he didn't know it had contained a firearm.

Ms Murphy submitted to Judge Greally that her client had been used as a pawn after he lost control over his own drug habits. She said he was genuinely remorseful.

Judge Greally noted that the evidence in general, in spite of the enormously serious nature of the offences, has been largely favourable due to Gilroy's co-operation and the pressure put on him.

She suspended the final three years of his sentence for that period and ordered that he undergo 12 months post release supervision.A farmer accused of murdering his love rival told gardai he had a "hunch" about what happened to DJ Bobby 'Mr Moonlight' Ryan and found the things the deceased's girlfriend told him "strange" and "intriguing".

In interviews following the discovery of Mr Ryan's remains, Patrick Quirke also told gardai that Mary Lowry, Mr Quirke's former lover and then girlfriend of the deceased, had a "couldn't care less attitude" about the disappearance of her boyfriend.

Mr Quirke, 50, of Breanshamore, Co Tipperary has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Ryan, a part-time DJ going by the name Mr Moonlight, on a date between June 3, 2011, and April 2013.

Mr Ryan's body was found in a run-off tank on the farm leased by the accused and owned by Ms Lowry at Fawnagown, Tipperary in April 2013.

The prosecution claims that Mr Quirke murdered Mr Ryan so that he could get back with Ms Lowry, 52, with whom the accused had previously had an affair.

On April 30, 2013 gardai were alerted by Mr Quirke's wife Imelda to the presence of a body in a tank on Ms Lowry's farm.

Inspector David Buckley told prosecuting counsel Michael Bowman SC that he met Mr Quirke at the scene and asked him to accompany him to Tipperary Garda Station to make a cautioned voluntary statement. Mr Quirke agreed to go and did not want to speak to a solicitor.

In the interview, Mr Quirke detailed how he found the body, saying he was trying to empty a slurry tank and needed more water as the slurry was too thick.

An open tank that he would usually draw water from was empty but, he said, he knew there was water in the underground tank beside the milking parlour.

He had not opened this tank since 2008, he said, but he knew it was there because the previous owner of the farm, Martin Lowry, told him about it.

Mary Lowry at an earlier court sitting.

Covering the tank were two concrete slabs so he prised one of them aside using a shovel and put a suction pipe through the gap to draw whatever water was there.

As the water was being sucked up he noticed what he thought was a plastic dummy or an inflatable doll in the tank.

He turned off the pump and pulled off the second slab, which he said was easier to move. He said: "I could see clearly it was a body."

He was "shocked" and phoned his wife Imelda who arrived, confirmed it was a body and phoned her friend Garda Tom Neville.

Garda Buckley put it to the accused that he was "fairly clean for a man doing a dirty job". The accused replied that he was "only getting into it" when he made the discovery.

On the day that Mr Ryan disappeared, Mr Quirke said he was on the farm at about 8.40 that morning to let two bulls in with his cows.

He was going on a family holiday that day and left a short time later. He said he didn't see anyone at the tank, adding: "It was a case of get in and get out."

He said he was not jealous of Bobby Ryan and didn't take issue with the relationship he had with Ms Lowry.

He said he had to "take it on the chin" that she had left him for Mr Ryan. He denied ever having heated words with Mr Ryan and said he chose to meet him and Ms Lowry socially, something he wouldn't have done if he had a problem.

When Gda Buckley asked him if he knew that the body was in the tank all along he said: "No. These are nice questions now lads."

He denied having any role in Mr Ryan's body being in the tank and said the only things he knew about Mr Ryan's disappearance were the things Ms Lowry told him, like how she couldn't be clear about whether it took ten minutes or two minutes for Mr Ryan's van to leave her driveway the morning of his disappearance.

He also asked how she found Mr Ryan's van so quickly later that day in the car park leading into Kilshane Woods.

He wondered why, when she was looking for Mr Ryan, she did not travel along a route he would normally have taken but instead drove to the local beauty spot where she found the van.

The deceased's daughter Michelle Ryan has previously told the trial that it was her idea to travel to Kilshane Woods as she had a "terrible feeling" she was going to find her dad's van in a woods.

Mr Quirke also wondered, he said, about how she saw Mr Ryan's van as it would not have been visible from the road.

"I found it strange," he said and later said he found it "intriguing". She had a "couldn't care less attitude about it," he added and recalled an incident where he urged her to go to gardai with information but she didn't.

He added: "I asked questions and like everyone else I had a hunch what happened. Everyone had notions he was attacked. Did he leave for Spain? I asked questions and I thought the answers strange and I read too much into it."

The trial continues in front of Justice Eileen Creedon and a jury of six men and six women.Health officials have been accused of failing to provide TDs with a detailed report on the children's hospital costs before a meeting last week amid ongoing claims they are delaying access to key information.

Dail public accounts committee members said the "foot-dragging" is a deliberate tactic.

At the latest PAC meeting, Fianna Fail's Sean Fleming, Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy, Sinn Fein's David Cullinane and Labour's Alan Kelly raised questions over when relevant files are being released.

Noting the release on Wednesday night of the Mazars construction cost review of the children's hospital - which revealed there was a 56% increase in the project's costs between April 2017 and December 2018 - TDs hit out at the delay in publishing the record.

The TDs said that despite asking the Department of Health, HSE and the national paediatric hospital development board itself for all relevant financial records at recent meetings, it was not given the Mazars report which "answers a lot of the questions".

The report was concluded in late November and given to the Department of Public Expenditure and Department of Health in early December, at which point it was read by ministers and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

However, it was not given to PAC members before the recent meetings, leading to claims the group is being deliberately left in the dark.

"We've had to drag the information out from the Department of Health, and others, in terms of the costs. How in God's name did the Department not give us the Mazars report before coming in? The Mazars report nails a lot of these questions," Sinn Fein TD David Cullinane told the committee.

"The Mazars report highlighted all these weaknesses, and wasn't given to us until afterwards. It was disingenuous in my view," he said, adding it is his belief the apparent delay is "a deliberate tactic" and that officials may need to now come back for "a real meeting" on costs.

Leo Varadkar dismissed questions on the Mazars report at a separate event.

"It's November since the last time I read the Mazars report, I would have to look over that section again to give you a proper answer... if I am being asked a specific question about a specific report that I read two months ago I would like to see that again before commenting.

"It would be like me asking you a question about an article that maybe you wrote two or three months ago."Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company's (GPIC) contributions in the field of occupational safety and community development through its various awareness programmes was praised by Bahrains Interior Minister, said a report.



Bahrains Interior Minister, General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, visited the GPIC pavilion during the 13th Professional Development Conference, which was held in Bahrain.



The event, organised by the American Society of Safety Professionals, was held from January 27 to 31.



GPIC president Dr Abdulrahman Jawahery and members of the companys executive management received the minister, reported Bahrain News Agency (BNA).



The minister was briefed on the company's work, achievements and awards in the field of security and safety, which it is committed to promoting in the community.



General Shaikh Rashid praised the company's efforts in promoting a culture of public safety and contributing by making it a community culture aimed at improving performance, providing occupational health and preserving the environment.



He pointed out that GPIC's is not only one of the most important industrial companies in Bahrain, it is also a model for the strict application of occupational safety, health and safety standards. He said this confirms the Company's outstanding position in the field of professional safety.



The minister praised the capabilities of Bahrains companies working in the oil industry and the achievements of GPIC as well as the distinction it has achieved in the production of petrochemicals and fertilisers. He spoke of the contributions of the company and its role in supporting conferences and specialised events in Bahrain and expressed admiration for the development of the company.



Dr Jawahery said that the visit of the minister comes in recognition of the company's efforts in the field of occupational safety and its excellent record in achieving record working without a lost time accident.



GPIC President pointed out that the company is keen to cooperate with the Interior Ministry at all levels. He said the two sides have an active partnership in many programmes and initiatives that serve their common goals.Five prison officers have come forward to make sexual harassment protected disclosure complaints since last summer amid concerns over the safety of staff in their workplace.

The Irish prison service confirmed the protected disclosures have been made since July 2018 in addition to four other cases which are currently being examined by officials.

In a wide-ranging 22-page letter to the Dail's public accounts committee responding to previously unanswered TD questions, the Irish prison service said it is aware of nine sexual harassment complaints over the past two years.

While giving no details on where the alleged incidents occurred, what was involved, and what if any disciplinary action has since been taken, the Irish prison service confirmed five cases have been made under new protected disclosure rules - while four other are already being examined.

"There are currently four cases of alleged sexual harassment under review within the Irish prison service. One case commenced in 2017 and the remaining three in 2018.

"Since July 2018 when the revised protected disclosure policy was introduced, the prison service has received five protected disclosures," the letter read.

The revelations are likely to lead to fresh concerns over the safety of staff in Irish prisons, and about the culture within the workforce in prisons.

In the same letter, the Irish prison service also confirmed while 250 prisoners are "ordinarily" receiving care for mental health and drug addiction.

The letter also said that between 61% and 79% of the prison population has some form of alcohol or drug addiction. However, it added this mental health and addiction information is based on records that are up to 16 years old.

The national forensic mental health services has confirmed its current caseload includes up to 250 patients who are ordinarily in the custody of the Irish prison service.

"Information on the level of mental health conditions in the prison population is derived from studies done in 2003 and 2005 which found that drugs and alcohol dependence were by far the most common problems, present in between 61% and 79% of prisoners," it read.

The Irish prison service letter said among the most common addictions are those involving alcohol, benzodiazepines, cannabis and other stimulants.

However, it added that while the service has access to a "limited" number of beds at the central mental hospital, they are only for use by prisoners with a "severe" mental health condition - with between 20 and 30 prisoners placed there at any one time.Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy has defended the Governments housing policy saying that housing stock has increased drastically with eight times the number of new builds being completed in recent years.

There were 4,251 new social housing builds in 2018 with 2,022 built by local authorities, 1,388 by Approved Housing Bodies and 841 homes provided through the Part V requirement on new developments.

This was 4% below target, but the department said the rate of construction last year was 85% higher compared to 2017.

The Minister told RTEs Morning Ireland that one in four houses built in the country last year was social housing.

Mr Murphy also defended Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) saying that 400million would be spent on the scheme this year which works with the private rental sector to help keep people out of homelessness.

He added, its very important to keep people out of homelessness.

The vast majority of people on the HAP scheme are in secure rental accommodation.

Mr Murphy also said that he hopes that new legislation to introduce a Rent Register (where tenants can access information on the amount of rent paid by previous tenants in a property), will be in place before the Easter recess.

He said he has the support of other political parties for the legislation which will also include enhanced powers for the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB).

The Minister acknowledged that only half of the budget allocated for Traveller Accommodation had been spent last year, this was because of objections to projects. It is a difficult budget to spend.

However, he said it was never the case that the budget was not spent, it would instead be reprofiled and spent in other areas to help keep people out of homelessness.A High Court action brought by a south Dublin businesswoman against her former partner over an alleged entitlement to a share in a property business she claimed they built up together has been settled.

Ali Barker had sued businessman Mr Owen Owens, with an address at Rochfort, The Burnaby, Greystones, Co Wicklow, and a company founded by him, Dunbury Holdings.

Mr Owens disputed Ms Barker's claims in respect of what he said was his business, and in a counterclaim, he sought orders requiring her to leave the house where she currently lives.

Today the High Court was informed by Martin Hayden SC for Ms Barker that the parties had resolved their differences and the proceedings could be struck out.

No details of the settlement agreement were given in open court. The case was expected to run for up to ten days before the court.

Mr Justice John Jordan congratulated the parties, and their lawyers, for arriving at a settlement.

He told them that it was better to resolve their differences themselves rather than await the judgement of the court which he said could have been "a very different outcome." than what had been agreed.

One could only be impressed with what both parties had achieved, the Judge added.

The Judge said he appreciated the parties had found themselves in "exceptionally difficult circumstances", describing it as "a cauldron of emotion" and expressed his hope that they can move on with their lives.

Ms Barker sought various declarations including that the company constitutes a quasi-partnership between her and Mr Owens and they are each entitled to 50 per cent of the equity in the partnership.

She also claimed the company and Mr Owens business activities was a partnership between the two and that she was a cohabitant within the meaning of the 2010 Civil Partnership Act entitled to seek reliefs under that Act.

Ms Barker, of Hillcourt Park, Glenageary, Co Dublin, also sought damages.

In his defence, Mr Owens said no business partnership ever existed between him and Ms Barker. The couple split in 2010, after 17 years together.

She claimed that on his invitation in the 1990s she quit her job in retail and worked with him in what became a substantial and successful property business.

She claims she was very actively involved with the business, and that allowed them to enjoy a privileged lifestyle.

They had a substantial home in Wicklow, a 1.6 million holiday home in France, a personal staff contingent, luxury vehicles, a 47ft yacht, horses, luxury travel, and significant spending power, she claimed.

In 1999 they had a daughter together.

In 2010 the relationship broke down and she claimed Mr Owens cynically engineered a situation to end their personal relationship in order to deprive her of the protections and rights she says she would have been entitled to under the 2010 Civil Partnership Act.

In his defence and counterclaim, Mr Owens denied all the allegations and said she had no entitlement to anything in the business.

He also sought orders including for possession of the house where she resides in Glenageary, claiming he was the owner of that property.High Court proceedings have been brought over the selection process used by the organisation that represents Irish racehorse owners to select its representative on the board of Horse Racing Ireland.

The action has been brought by businessman James Gough who has been the Association of Irish Racehorse Owner's (AIRO) nominee to the board of Horse Racing Ireland for the last four years.

Mr Gough wants to be re-nominated to the board of Horse Racing Ireland, which is the governing body for Irish horse racing.

However, he claims that AIRO's Council has prevented his name being put forward to the membership.

He claims that another person's name has been put forward instead.

He has raised an issue in regards to that nomination process and says the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine is legally obliged to determine this dispute.

He claims the Minister is yet to determine the matter but claims the AIRO intends to press on with the nomination of their other person to the board of Horse Racing Ireland.

In a letter to the court, AIRO's lawyers' dispute Mr Gough's claims.

It says the nomination is valid, has been done in accordance with the organisation's rules, that Mr Gough is not entitled to bring proceedings and the matter does not need to be determined by the Minister.

In his proceedings, Mr Gough of Cois Fharraige, Silverbeach, Gormanston, Co Meath seeks orders including an injunction restraining AIRO from holding a general meeting of its members for the sole purpose of electing a nominee to site on the board of the Horse Racing Ireland.

MJr Gough also seeks an order restraining AIRO from nominating a member to the board of Horse Racing Ireland.

Mr Gough who has been a member of AIRO for 18 years was elected by the association's membership to be its representative on the Horse Racing Ireland.

In his action, it is claimed the current situation has come about because of a change in the constitution where only a member of AIRO's council could be appointed as the association's representative to Horse Racing Ireland..

Before that change was implemented Mr Gough claims the nominated representative only had to be a member of AIRO.

Mr Gough claims is that the council has arranged the nomination in such a manner so there is no election for the position on the Horse Racing Ireland board at the organisation's AGM.

He has referred the matter to the Minister for Agriculture for determination.

He claims that until the Minister makes a decision on the dispute it is inappropriate for AIRO to proceed with the nomination of the other person.

The case came before Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds at the High Court today.

However, the matter was adjourned by the judge after solicitors for AIRO in a letter offered certain undertakings to Mr Gough.

The organisation while disputing all his claims, and stating the complaint is misconcieved has agreed not to proceed with a meeting where the nominee for appointment to the board of Horse Racing Ireland will be selected for a period of 21 days.

The AIRO also agreed on a timetable for the exchange of documents in the case.

The case will return before the courts in early March.Around 500 ambulance service personnel who are members of the Psychiatric Nurses Association will go on strike tomorrow as part of an ongoing dispute over trade union representation rights.

Announcing three further strike days earlier this month the union said it demonstrates the resolve of ambulance personnel to be represented by the union of their choice, not by a trade union that the HSE wants to force them to join.Dubai-based Shreem International Consultancy said its CEO Pooja Srivastav has been awarded the prestigious Adam Global Outstanding Leadership Award for her efforts to create toxin-free, sustainable body, buildings and structures in the UAE and across the world.



Adam Global is a multidisciplinary professional network of lawyers, accountants and business advisors in the world. Its member offices are independent firms spread over five continents with the headquarters in London.



The award was presented by Paul Clark, the former UK Transport Minister, at a ceremony which took place during the Adam Global International Business Conference in Dubai which was attended by Lords, ministers of state, ambassadors and business icons from the UK and Europe.



More than 200 business leaders from five continents representing over 100,000 corporate clients, investors and business owners took part.



Srivastav, Dubais first building biologist, is a pioneer in bringing energy solutions to the UAE and is a known electromagnetic radiation expert, said a statement from the company.



She also possesses a deep understanding of Geopathic Stress  a distortion of the earths natural electromagnetic field that weakens human immune system, thereby making us more vulnerable to illnesses.



Commenting on the win, Srivastav said: "Id like to thank Adam Global for acknowledging our efforts. This will serve as an encouragement as we aim to create further awareness about green buildings which are eco-sustainable and emit positive energy, inside and outside."



"World over, builders and developers have begun using building material that reduces electromagnetic radiation and geopathic stress, a pollution that many people are not aware of, but which has consistent and gradual impact on our physical and mental well-being," he noted.



Srivastav has been consistently working with different organisations, creating awareness for mothers, children and young students and participating in events such as Walk for Dubai, energy sessions for students at Westford University, holistic sessions for ladies groups in the UAE and self-care sessions for corporates such as Danube Welfare Center  all in line with meeting Vision 2021 goals of the UAE.



She further conducted awareness programmes on Electromagnetic Rectification and Geopathic Stress Rectification at Saudi-German Hospital (Dubai), Aster Hospital (Dubai), Prime Hospital (Dubai), Dubai Silicon Authority, Hamariya Free Zone and Skyline College University (Sharjah).



Our vision is the same as that of the UAE government, and were working towards reaching the sustainable goals set by the government. We also aim to create further awareness in the UAE so that all of us can work towards an environment free of toxins, added Pooja.



Commending her initiative to promote geopathic stress rectified buildings, Taher Akhter, the founder and chairman of Adam Global, said: "We are proud to recognise Srivastav at the Annual General Meeting in Dubai with the Outstanding Leadership Award."



"Adam Global has associate offices in more than 200 countries and gathering such as this provides talents like Pooja a great opportunity to network with all our cross country officials," he added.-TradeArabia News ServiceBusiness groups have backed the Daa in its efforts to remove restrictions on overnight flights from its new North Runway, as protests from local residents opposed to the plan intensify.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Transport Minister, Shane Ross, were on hand to turn the sod on Dublin Airports new 320m North Runway project, which the Daa says is "urgently needed" for long-term Irish economic growth.Developer Harry Crosbie has received another setback in his hotel building plans for the capital.

It follows People Before Profit TD, Brid Smith, and party colleague, Cllr Tina McVeigh, putting a halt - for now - on Mr Crosbies plans to construct a new eight-storey, 185-bedroom hotel at Vicar Street in the Dublin Liberties.

The appeals lodged against the development follow Dublin City Council last month refusing planning permission to Mr Crosbie to convert his home at Hanover Quay into a luxury boutique hotel.

Last month in the aftermath of Mr Crosbie securing planning permission for the Vicar Street hotel, a spokesman for Mr Crosbie stated that it was hoped that construction work would commence on the project in the next number of weeks and that the hotel will be open for business in 2020.

However, that timeline has now been thrown into question with the appeals lodged by Deputy Smith and Cllr McVeigh and a second appeal by Louise Leonard.

The case is due to be decided in June, though as a result of a current backlog in cases at the appeals board, it may be later in the year before there is a decision on the case.

The Smith-McVeigh appeal is accompanied by around 120 names supporting the appeal.

The vast majority have addresses from the Dublin 8 area with a small number from Tallaght and Finglas.

Cllr McVeigh confirmed today that Mr Crosbie has now made contact. She said: We welcome the opportunity for dialogue with Mr Crosbie - dialogue that should have happened before this planning application was finalised and submitted.

Harry Crosbie.

The new hotel is to create 80 jobs when operational and Walls Construction is to construct the hotel.

In the appeal, Deputy Smith and Cllr McVeigh repeat their contention that rather than more hotels, apart hotels or luxury student accommodation, planners should refuse planning permission to any further developments that do not positively contribute to the stock of residential housing.

They said: This is essential if we are to solve the housing crisis on the one hand and retain the community, residential and urban neighbourhood character of the inner city of Dublin.

A report accompanying the plans stated that the development will contribute significantly towards the implementation of a Core Strategy of the City Development Plan in respect of regeneration, urban design and economic and tourism development.

The report also stated that the development can provide a catalyst and dynamic for the regeneration and redevelopment of the Liberties area and will enhance the attractiveness and diversification of the citys tourist accommodation offer.

Failte Ireland made a submission with the City Council in support of the application.

A spokesman for Mr Crosbie had no comment to make today on the appeals.HALIFAX - A man who filled his suburban lakeside home with historic artifacts and art stolen over decades of pilfering so stealthy that many of his targets didn't even know they'd been victimized has died.

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John Mark Tillmann, right, charged with possession of stolen property, is escorted by sheriffs from provincial court in Dartmouth on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013. A man who filled his suburban lakeside home with historic artifacts and art stolen over two decades of pilfering so stealthy that many of his targets didn't even know they'd been victimized, has died. John Mark Tillmann was 57. Tillman stole from universities, libraries, museums, antique dealers and private collections across Atlantic Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

HALIFAX - A man who filled his suburban lakeside home with historic artifacts and art stolen over decades of pilfering so stealthy that many of his targets didn't even know they'd been victimized has died.

John Mark Tillmann was 57.

The wealthy Tillmann  he owned both a Porsche and BMW  stole from universities, libraries, museums, antique dealers and private collections across Atlantic Canada.

Among about 1,300 items seized by police from his two-storey home in Fall River, north of Halifax: Early editions of Daniel Defoe's 1719 classic "Robinson Crusoe" and a 1758 letter written by Gen. James Wolfe.

There was also a spear. A gas mask. A glass lantern. A model canoe. Paintings depicting centuries-old scenes. A brass telescope. An 1819 watercolour from Nova Scotia's legislative library.

Many of the institutions weren't even aware the items had been stolen.

Tillmann was caught when RCMP pulled him over in a July 2012 traffic stop and found the Wolfe letter, which the British general had written to an uncle in Dublin.

It had disappeared from Dalhousie University's archives years earlier.

Dalhousie archivist Mike Moosberger said they realized the letter was missing after a 2009 inventory, but no one knew whether it had been stolen or merely misplaced. Similar Wolfe letters have fetched US$18,000 at auction, he said.

The letter was returned to Dalhousie after Tillmann's arrest, but it had been torn and was missing some writing.

Moosberger refused to comment Thursday on Tillmann's death, other than to note "enhanced security protocols ... have been put in place" since the theft.

"Beyond that, I don't believe there is anything else to say," he said.

Tillmann died two days before Christmas in Musquodoboit Harbour, according to a certificate of death obtained by CTV, which first reported the story of the infamous art thief's death this week.

Tillmann had been charged with trying to kill his mother in 2009, and also served a two-year sentence for extorting, assaulting and threatening an ex-girlfriend. Media reports have also documented a history of racism and anti-Semitism.

But it was the art and artifact thefts that drew the most attention to Tillmann.

When he was arrested, police held a show and tell of the seized items. Cpl. Scott MacRae said officers found a trove of artifacts worth well over $500,000 in a home that had been turned into a veritable museum.

"When we first arrived, it was almost set up to be on display," MacRae said at the time.

"Lots of the items were from antique dealers, so there's historic value. There's value to personal collections, universities and just people in general in Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada."

At the time, police worked with authorities in the United States to determine whether some items had been sold, including a first edition of Charles Darwin's "The Origin of Species."

In 2013, Tillmann pleaded guilty to 40 charges and was sentenced in Nova Scotia Supreme Court to nine years in prison.

Tillmann was also ordered to forfeit his home  valued at between $400,000 and $700,000  and all of its contents including the two luxury cars, as well as $300,000 in his bank account.

He was granted parole in 2016.OTTAWA - A shortage of sailors is making it hard for the Royal Canadian Navy to operate its ships and work on replacing them at the same time, according to a senior naval officer.

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This article was published 14/2/2019 (861 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Shipbuilders look at Lockheed Martin Canada's design of 15 new Canadian Surface Combatants to be built at Irving Shipbuilding's Halifax shipyard in Halifax on February 8, 2019. A shortage of sailors is making it hard for the Royal Canadian Navy to operate its ships and advance critical projects such as replacing Canada's aging warships at the same time, according to a senior naval officer. The revelation by Commodore Steve Waddell, head of naval strategic readiness, follow similar concerns from the Royal Canadian Air Force about the difficult choices it is facing thanks to a shortage of experienced pilots. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

OTTAWA - A shortage of sailors is making it hard for the Royal Canadian Navy to operate its ships and work on replacing them at the same time, according to a senior naval officer.

The revelation by Commodore Steve Waddell, head of naval strategic readiness, follow similar concerns from the Royal Canadian Air Force about the difficult choices it is facing thanks to a shortage of experienced pilots.

Taken together, they underscore the severe personnel challenges facing some parts of the Canadian Forces, which tend to be overshadowed by the numerous problems facing the military procurement system.

In fact, Waddell indicated during a presentation to a defence conference this week that the navy's personnel shortages could threaten the Trudeau government's "ambitious" defence policy.

That policy  entitled Strong, Secure, Engaged  says the military must be able to conduct several missions at the same time. It also sets aside billions of dollars for upgrades to the navy, including new warships and modernized submarines.

Some of those projects have already been delayed, such as the construction of new support ships, though the blame for many of those delays rests outside of the navy and with private shipyards or other federal departments.

The navy nonetheless has its work cut out for it, including imminent talks with U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin and Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax to decide the final design for its new $60-billion fleet of warships.

"In terms of delivering on Strong, Secure, Engaged, what I think is going to really fundamentally be a constraint in the next little while is the reality of the workforce," Waddell said.

While the navy is at least 10 per cent short of trained sailors, he said it is facing a shortfall of up to 40 per cent in some places when sailors it does have are unavailable because of training, medical problems or other reasons.

"So when you're trying to deploy and have a forward presence ... while at the same time trying to account for the institutional needs of delivering on Strong, Secure, and Engaged, you can imagine the bit of a dance that's in front of us."

The navy's problem is different from the air force's: the navy is struggling to simply recruit people while the air force is losing experienced pilots to civilian jobs.

Yet there are also parallels, as Waddell said the navy, like much of the rest of the military, is fighting industry for employees at a time when unemployment is low, demographics are changing and there are other opportunities for people.

Not that the navy is completely without a plan. Waddell and others have talked about using technology, particularly in its new ships, to ease the navy's personnel requirements as well as attract a new generation of recruits.

In a recent interview with The Canadian Press, navy commander Vice-Admiral Ron Lloyd talked about using artificial intelligence to ease workload and the addition of wireless networks to ships as areas where change is coming.

"What does it mean to be a digital navy is what we're focused on," he said. "I think that's going to be key to our ability to attract (people) and then recruit them and then hopefully retain them."

 Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter.Quebec Premier Francois Legault says he wants the federal government to settle with engineering firm SNC-Lavalin "as soon as possible" in order to protect jobs and the company's corporate headquarters in Montreal.

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Quebec Premier Francois Legault responds to the Opposition during question period, Tuesday, February 12, 2019 at the legislature in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Quebec Premier Francois Legault says he wants the federal government to settle with engineering firm SNC-Lavalin "as soon as possible" in order to protect jobs and the company's corporate headquarters in Montreal.

The embattled firm is vulnerable to a foreign takeover, Legault told reporters Thursday in Quebec City. And the longer its legal troubles drag on, the greater the chance it could fall prey to another company, he said.

"I want to do all we can do to protect this headquarters and protect the thousands of good, well-paying jobs we have at SNC-Lavalin."

The company has been lobbying the federal government for a remediation agreement to avoid a criminal trial on charges of bribery and fraud related to its efforts to secure government contracts in Libya.

Under a remediation agreement the prosecution would be dropped in exchange for SNC-Lavalin admitting its wrongdoing and paying a financial penalty. The Globe and Mail newspaper reported last week that the Prime Minister's Office pressured former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to agree to such an agreement.

Legault said SNC should pay for its alleged crimes, but its employees and the province's economy shouldn't suffer as a result.

"We know that SNC-Lavalin, that they didn't follow legal rules  in Libya especially  and they have to pay for that, especially the people that were involved," he said. "SNC-Lavalin, I met the president, they are ready to put on the table very large amounts of penalty."

Without a settlement, he added, the case could drag on for years and SNC-Lavalin's business would suffer.

SNC-Lavalin had its debt rating downgraded Wednesday by Standard & Poor's. The agency cited the criminal charges against the engineering and construction giant and the 10-year ban from bidding on federal contracts that would accompany a conviction among its reasons for the downgrade.

Legault said the firm's legal woes are bad for the province. "Right now there is no controlling shareholder, so there's a real risk that this company could be bought by somebody, for example from the U.K. For me, it would be bad news for Quebec," he said.

He said that in discussions with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau he has asked, "Can you settle as soon as possible in order that we keep those jobs? We need those jobs."

Added to the company's troubles is news this week that Quebec prosecutors are working with the RCMP on the possibility of new criminal charges against SNC-Lavalin, in connection with a contract to refurbish Montreals Jacques Cartier Bridge.

While Legault had plenty to say about the federal charges, he stayed away from commenting on the provincial allegations. "I have no intention of doing (anything) with what's happening in Quebec jurisdiction," he said.HALIFAX - New court documents reveal details of how one of the masterminds of a foiled plot to attack a Halifax mall on Valentine's Day plans to appeal her life sentence.

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American Lindsay Souvannarath arrives at provincial court in Halifax on Friday, March 6, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

HALIFAX - New court documents reveal details of how one of the masterminds of a foiled plot to attack a Halifax mall on Valentine's Day plans to appeal her life sentence.

Lindsay Souvannarath is serving life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years for plotting to kill shoppers at one of Atlantic Canada's busiest malls on Feb. 14, 2015  four years ago Thursday.

The 27-year-old American conspired to throw Molotov cocktails into the food court at the Halifax Shopping Centre and then open fire, planning to end the massacre by committing suicide.

Documents filed this week with the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal lay out four grounds for appeal, including that the sentence was excessive for a youthful offender with no record and that it reflected the range for terrorism offences rather than conspiracy to commit murder.

Court documents also claim it was unjust to expect the accused to prove she was remorseful and renounce her anti-social beliefs, and that the sentence was dramatically longer than that imposed on an accomplice.

Her main co-conspirator was found dead in his home on the eve of the planned attack, while a third accomplice, the so-called cheerleader of the plot, was sentenced to a decade in jail.

The plot  dubbed "Der Untergang," or The Downfall  was concocted after Souvannarath developed an online relationship with Halifax teen James Gamble.

They began an online relationship, sharing a fascination with mass shootings and exchanging explicit intimate photographs, according to court documents.

Then they began plotting an attack, talking about weapons, ammunition and maximizing the number of dead and wounded.

The pair discussed whether they would taunt the victims before killing them, and what body count they would be happy with. They planned to carry knives with them, and stab people when they ran out of bullets.

They agreed to post a video of the slayings online to solidify their fame amongst the world's mass-murderers, the court documents say.

Souvannarath flew to Halifax on a one-way ticket with $33 in cash.

The plot was averted when police received an anonymous tip. Gamble killed himself as police tried to arrest him, while Randall Shepherd and Souvannarath were arrested at Halifax's airport on Feb. 13, 2015.

"The three fancied themselves to be mass shooters and were inspired by the shootings at Columbine High School," the appeal documents filed this week said. "All three appear to have lived isolated lives with few friends, and spent most of their time on the internet."

Souvannarath's parents have said she was bullied in school, rejected by her peers and struggled with being biracial.

During sentencing in Nova Scotia Supreme Court, Justice Peter Rosinski said Souvannarath continued to pose a threat to public safety.

He said she had not expressed remorse for her murderous plot, nor had she renounced her ideological motivations. He called her prospects for rehabilitation "very questionable."

Rosinski said "she continues to maintain her intended actions were justifiable. She has not expressed remorse for her involvement in this conspiracy to murder multiple persons."

He recommended intensive psychological and psychiatric counselling and treatment.

Souvannarath's appeal suggests the judge committed an error by imposing a burden on her to prove she was remorseful.

In court documents, her lawyer, Peter Planetta, called the sentence "crushing," saying it risks snuffing out any chance of rehabilitation.

"It is well beyond the normal range of sentences in conspiracy to commit murder cases."

Planetta also suggested the judge erred by comparing the offence to terrorism cases, saying "terrorism is about more then carnage and killings, it is an assault on democracy and our institutions, our way of life."

Rachael Collins, a criminology professor at Saint Mary's University in Halifax who teaches about mass murder, said Souvannarath could be at risk of recidivism unless she gets "massive counselling."

She said most school shooters, such as the Columbine killers, will commit suicide or are sentenced to hundreds of years.

"We don't have a lot of information about whether or not they will recidivate because they're never getting out," Collins said in an interview. "The question is what happens when somebody gets out?"

Collins says Souvannarath exhibits signs of extreme narcissism.

"She could be a sociopath," she says, noting that the term describes people with a lack of empathy often as a result of a trauma such as bullying, social isolation, being ignored and extreme loneliness.

"It's never one answer. It's compounding issues."WHITEHORSE - The federal government has announced $20 million in funding aimed at reducing diesel reliance in Canada's rural and remote Indigenous communities but experts say challenges remain.

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WHITEHORSE - The federal government has announced $20 million in funding aimed at reducing diesel reliance in Canada's rural and remote Indigenous communities but experts say challenges remain.

Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi said the money will help ensure isolated communities have the capacity to develop their own solutions led by local people as they move toward renewable sources of energy.

"Once they have their plans they can apply for funding," Sohi said Wednesday.

An all-Indigenous panel will select up to 15 communities to receive support and develop their own energy plans over the next three years, the department says in a release.

Nicholas Mercer, a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo and an expert on remote off-grid communities throughout Canada, said developing local expertise to transition off the fuel used for electricity and heating is the way to go.

"I just think there has not been enough money put into the program to get the communities off diesel," he said.

In 2015, a Senate committee said the northern electricity systems are "aging, under performing and at capacity'' but getting off diesel is not quick or easy.

Mercer said installing a diesel generator costs about $1,500 per kilowatt but a wind turbine or a solar panel may cost anywhere from $7,000 to $8,000.

He said the diesel-produced cost is 90 cents per kilowatt hour in Newfoundland and Labrador but wind energy would cost less than 25 cents a kilowatt hour.

"The problem is the upfront costs for diesel are significantly less expensive than the upfront costs for renewable energy technologies," Mercer said. "So, renewables are cost competitive in the long term, you're not buying any more fuel but it's still really difficult to come up with upfront capital."

There's also a historical dependence on diesel because it's the only form of power source many of the communities have known and jobs are linked to it, he said.

"Diesel is deeply embedded in the communities. It's been around for about 50 or 60 or 70 years," he said.

Dylan Heerema, a member of the Pembina Institutes remote communities team, said providing energy in the region comes with lots of challenges.

"The biggest one is the remoteness and construction and everything is more expensive. It's difficult to step projects off the ground," he said.

Some communities have managed a partial transition using both diesel and a form of renewable energy, which produces less pollution.

Three years ago, the Dene hamlet of about 150 people north of Great Bear Lake became the first in the North to replace its near-derelict diesel generator with a combination of diesel, batteries and a solar array capable of generating 160 kilowatts.

Heerema said those communities had local as well federal support.

Even as diesel generators grow old, Heerema said they will continue to be an important source of backup power in many communities.

"It's definitely going to take a number of years for all of Canada's communities to transition off of diesel," Heerema said. "We're talking about a multi-year effort and it will require both public and private investment."

 By Hina Alam in VancouverSAINT JOHN, N.B. - Richard Oland's final moments as he was bludgeoned to death in his office are being traced in court through the patterns of bloodstains and spatter that radiated around his body.

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The building where businessman Richard Oland was found dead is seen in Saint John, N.B. on July 14, 2014. Richard Oland's final moments as he was bludgeoned to death are being traced in the patterns of bloodstains and spatter that radiated around his body at the murder trial of his son, Dennis Oland. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

SAINT JOHN, N.B. - Richard Oland's final moments as he was bludgeoned to death in his office are being traced in court through the patterns of bloodstains and spatter that radiated around his body.

RCMP Sgt. Brian Wentzell, a forensic bloodstain expert, is taking the murder trial of Oland's son, Dennis, through a detailed analysis of the trajectory of blood as the multimillionaire businessman was killed by repeated blows.

Wentzell said Thursday blood "radiated in all directions," with some spatter landing more than three metres from the body.

He said Richard Oland's office desk, where it appears he was sitting when the attack began, had "in excess of 100" stains on it.

A few bloodstains, especially on one side of Oland's desk, indicate that his head was at a low level at some point during the attack, meaning he was likely on the floor as the blows continued.

He was hit over 40 times in an attack with a sharp-edged and blunt, hammer-like weapon or weapons that cracked his skull in several places. Deep cuts on his hands suggest he tried to protect himself from his attacker.

No weapon was ever found.

Wentzell's examination of the victim's clothes also found "biological material" on his blue sweater and in nearby blood spatter  another indication of the ferocity of the attack.

Richard Oland's body was found on July 7, 2011, lying by his desk in his uptown Saint John office. The 69-year-old former Moosehead Breweries executive was killed sometime during the evening or night of July 6, 2011.

His only son, Dennis, 51, is the last known person to have seen his father alive. He was charged with second-degree murder in 2013. He was convicted by a jury in 2015 but the verdict was set aside on appeal in 2016 and the new trial ordered.

The current retrial is expected to last until mid-March.

Wentzell was not called in by Saint John police until July 10, 2011, and he arrived from Halifax on July 11. By that time, the body had been removed, a few things had been shifted around and there had been considerable traffic in and out of the crime scene.

He said he was unable to specify the origins of several transfer bloodstains in the Oland office, including a couple located on the floor. Wentzell told the court he could not detect any pattern in the transfer stains that would clearly identify them as coming from footwear. He also found transfers on the back of Oland's office chair.

Wentzell noted that some of the bloodstains radiating around the office appear to be from cast-off blood, possibly from the weapon as it was repeatedly raised and lowered.

Wentzell's testimony is important to the defence team, which is expected to cross-examine the bloodstain expert on Friday. During the first trial in 2015, defence lawyers used Wentzell's analysis to question how someone could carry out such a violent attack and not be covered in blood.

Very little blood was traced to Dennis Oland despite an extensive police search of the car he was driving when he visited his father on the day of the murder and items he was carrying at the time.

Wentzell told the court he examined several articles of clothing seized by Saint John police from Dennis Oland's home a few days after the murder. The court has been told in opening prosecution statements that the only confirmed bloodstains were found on the brown sports jacket Oland was wearing on July 6, 2011.

Photos of the jacket shown in court Thursday indicate stains on several locations of the jacket, including on the outside and inside of the sleeves. Because of the dark colour and twill pattern of the Hugo Boss jacket, it is difficult to see the stains on the outside of the jacket with the naked eye.

The jacket was dry cleaned in the days following the July 6, 2011, murder.

In his interview with police on the day his father's body was found, Dennis Oland said he was wearing a navy jacket. But eyewitnesses and security video made it clear he was wearing the brown jacket. His defence team has insisted it was an honest mistake.

The stains on the brown jacket were subsequently found to match the DNA profile of his father.UAE-based Drake & Scull International (DSI), a regional leader in engineering and construction services, has appointed Tawfiq Abu Soud as its new Group chief executive officer, replacing Yousef Al Mulla, who stepped down from his post in December along with the group chairman Abdullah Atatreh.



In his new role, Abu Soud will be responsible for spearheading DSIs operations and securing robust business pipelines, said a statement from the top Dubai contractor.



A regional industry veteran, Abu Soud has a stellar record of accomplishment of inspirational leadership and boasts more than 35 years experience in delivering consistent results and leading global business expansion.



He had previously served as the CEO for ADC Energy Systems and also for Arabtec Subsidiaries besides being the managing director for DSIs MEP and Water and Power subsidiaries, and also the operations director for Manco.



Abu Soud holds an MBA from the University of Hull, and is a certified Mechanical Engineer (Southern Illinois University). He also holds certifications in Quality Assurance from the British AQMC Council and Martin & Martin, as well as Project Management for Engineers from ASCME, and Management Institute in California.



The company is concurrently co-ordinating with the external advisors and the Securities and Commodities Authority to call for a General Assembly Meeting later this month to approve its organizational restructuring programme.-TradeArabia News ServiceSamsung has partnered with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (Debit Cards), Dubai Islamic Bank, Finance House, MAF Najm Cards and Noor Bank and to enable their customers access to the digital payment and digital wallet solutions of Samsung Pay.



The announcement of these five new issuer partnerships extends Samsung Pays partnership ecosystem to provide greater flexibility, access, and choice for customers, while also accelerating mobile payment adoption.



Consumers in the UAE and throughout the Middle East are digitally in-tune and continue to seek and harness the convenience of digital-first solutions. Since its inception, Samsung Pay has provided unparalleled choice, flexibility and access to users across the region via safe and secure payment solutions, said Mohammad Gharaibeh, head of Enterprise, Mobile Business at Samsung Gulf Electronics.



Through our ever-expanding network of financial partners, we are thrilled to include and welcome ADCB, Dubai Islamic Bank, Finance House, MAF Najm cards and Noor Bank, to the Samsung Pay ecosystem, and we are sure their customers will take advantage of our widely accepted, leading mobile payment solution.



ADCB was one of the first Banks in the UAE to launch Samsung Pay in 2017 for its Credit Card customers. We are excited to extend this payment feature to our Debit Card holders who can now enjoy the convenience and security of paying with Samsung Pay. We have seen a steady growth in digital and mobile payments within the past 18 months and expect the growth to continue as consumers switch to digital wallets, said Abdul Shakeel, head - Retail Banking, ADCB.



DIB possesses a distinctive approach to innovation, championing technology that brings value and visible benefits to our customers in the form of a vastly enhanced banking experience. The adoption of digital wallets is a key element in the UAE Governments objective of creating a cashless society and we are delighted to play our part in realizing this vision through our partnership with Samsung Pay, said Nasser Al Awadhi, chief of Consumer Banking, Dubai Islamic Bank.



Al Amir Gamal, head of Retail Finance at Finance House, said: We are proud to be one of the first Financial Institutions in the United Arab Emirates to launch Samsung Pay. We shall continue working diligently to innovate and incorporate additional digital solutions to enhance our customers experience.



Rasool Hujair, chief executive officer at Majid Al Futtaim Finance commented: The disruptive change created by smartphone users and the fast adoption of mobile wallets and contactless payments by consumers, contributed largely to the evolution of mobile payments. Launching Samsung Pay is one of many initiatives by Najm to enhance our customers experience. We are delighted to partner with Samsung Pay, enabling fulfilling moments for our customers through seamless mobile payments.



Mufazzal Kajiji, head of Retail Banking at Noor Bank also commented: We are delighted to partner with Samsung to offer the convenience of a fast and secure way of making payments. With Samsung Pay, our customers can pay for a wide range of goods and services with a simple tap of their mobile phones.



Samsung Pay works with Samsungs patented Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology as well as with Near Field Communication (NFC). MST replicates a card swipe by wirelessly transmitting magnetic waves from the supported Samsung device to a standard card reader. Through MST, Samsung Pay will work seamlessly on most point of sale terminals in the UAE. The UAE was the first country in the Middle East to introduce the service and the 14th in the world, following successful launches in the United States, Korea, Russia and more.



In the UAE, Samsung Pay is currently available for the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, Galaxy Note 9,Galaxy Note 8 , Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+, Note 5, Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 (2016) and Galaxy A8 Series (2018). Samsung Pay is also available for the Gear S3.  TradeArabia News ServiceThe sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now.

Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market.

In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender.

India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex.

Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted.

But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted?

Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner.

If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems.

I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now.

I want more variation in masturbation

I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own.

If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end.

What is sex toys for Indian?

Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation.

It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms.

They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable.

Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner.

The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner.

It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past.

In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping.

Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order.

In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing.

Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome.

Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own.

But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance.

More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around.

Sextoy situation in India

Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years.

In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India.

Mumbai

Kolkata

Bangalore

Delhi

Chennai

Hyderabad

These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India.

In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well.

If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too.

If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it.

What are Sextoys for beginner?

Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms.

Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy.

I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion.

I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy.

If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma.

Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it.

Advantages of using sextoy for Indians

There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians

You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways.

Can have stimulating sex

Can develop new sexual zones

If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern.

However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways.

You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation.

Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever.

There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure.

This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it.

When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems.

It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms).

For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles

[Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou...

Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India.

Sextoy for beginner men in India

So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners.

For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men!

The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men

Masturbator

Cock rings

Love Doll

Sex Lubricants

Toys for the prostate

Lets check each one in detail.

Masturbator

The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products.

It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands.

Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands.

They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.)

Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much.

Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! !

Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa   SEXToys India PR  (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018

Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood.

If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here

Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ...

[For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien...

Cock Ring

A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis.

It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow.

It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber.

In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection.

Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction.

It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it.

Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time.

Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function.

Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy.

You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect.

[Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat...

Love Doll

Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex.

There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women.

Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price.

The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true.

You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste.

There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice.

You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls.

If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here

Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to...

Sex lubricants

Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules.

It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution.

Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse.

There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent.

Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent.

If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here.

What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many...

Toys for the Prostate

Another sextoy for men is prostate toys.

The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line.

Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men.

Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men.

What is the prostate?

The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm.

You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus.

By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms.

Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.)

The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation.

Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure.

sextoy for beinner women in India

The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy.

The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy.

Vibrator.

Dildo

Electric Masserger

Lets check out what each one is in detail.

If you want to check out womens toys, click here.

[BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm...

Vibrators

A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator.

Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy.

It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy.

Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women.

For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators.

Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex.

Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself.

This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual.

Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men.

When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons.

Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most...

Dildo

A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis.

It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass.

A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it.

They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well.

It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device.

A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo.

Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands.

For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis.

This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one.

To learn more about dildo, please click here.

What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th...

Electric Masserger

A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores.

It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low.

Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels.

Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation.

It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure.

For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm.

It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out.

If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager?

To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here.

What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th...

How to choose a sextoy for Indian

Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one.

Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points:  Does the size fit you (the partner)?

Does the size fit you (your partner)?

Is the environment able to produce sound without problems?

Price range

First of all, the choice of size is quite important.

Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women.

For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage.

Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems.

Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise.

If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level.

Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it.

Finally, there is the price range.

The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest.

Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy.

Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy?

I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance.

For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics.

If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out.

How to buy sextoys in India

The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping.

For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below.

Sextoy is one of them.

Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping.

SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India.

They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry.

Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card.

To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy.

ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal.

Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on.

Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture.

Cautions for Indians using sextoy

When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind

Keep sex toys clean

Watch out for electrical leakage

Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy

As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone.

Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there.

It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case.

In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness.

Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful.

If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it.

You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly.

Summary

What did you think?

In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India.

The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future.

As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values.

However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health.

If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try?

Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women.

I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it.PR Newswire

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 14, 2019

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- California-based Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLP has filed the first adversary proceeding in Pacific Gas & Electric Corporation's bankruptcy proceedings seeking class action status for the victims of the Camp Fire. We are fighting to protect the rights of the victims of the Camp Fire, as the Bankruptcy Court considers how to reorganize the utility company and pay off its debts.

Pierce Bainbridge's Tom Warren, who previously represented the Trustee in the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities liquidation in the recovery of billions of dollars, was on the ground at the office of the U.S. Trustee today seeking a seat at the table for victims on the Tort Claimants Committee. "We have great confidence that the Bankruptcy Court and the U.S. Trustee can resolve all of this in an expeditious manner, which is best for all victims and the State of California," said Warren.

While all other class actions have been stayed because of the bankruptcy, Pierce Bainbridge seeks to certify a class of victims under the auspices of the Bankruptcy Court to ensure PG&E does not hide behind the protections of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing to the detriment of the Camp Fire victims.

The lawsuit alleges that the Camp Fire was caused by PG&E as it knowingly failed to properly maintain its equipment. The Camp Fire virtually erased the town of Paradise from the map, destroying 14,000 homes and hundreds of commercial buildings and everything inside of them, injuring an untold number of people, and killing 88 others. Pierce Bainbridge currently represents renters and business owners in their lawsuit.

The case is Herndon, et al. v. PG&E Corporation, et al., Adv. Proc. No. 19-03000 (Bankr. N.D. Cal. Feb. 13, 2019).

About Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLP

The attorneys of Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLPwith a home office in Los Angeles and offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, and Cleveland have collectively recovered more than $3 billion for victims of corporate misbehavior and fraud, and we stand ready to help make whole those impacted by this most recent and terrible turn of events. Our tireless attorneys have taken major corporations to trial around the country to press our clients' rights.

If you wish to discuss your rights with our attorneys, please visit our website dedicated to helping victims of the Camp Fire: https://piercebainbridge.com/fires/

Attorney Advertising

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

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SOURCE Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLPReciba en su email: noticias de ultima hora, analisis tecnicos o el cierre de mercado

Email no valido Nombre requerido Recibira las informaciones mas relevantes del dia en tiempo real Que informacion desea recibir? Noticias de Ultima hora Boletin Cierre de Mercado Boletin analisis tecnico Boletin Fundsnews Debe seleccionar un tipo de boletin Acepto la Politica de privacidad Debe aceptar la politica de privacidad Responsable EMPRESAS DEL GRUPO WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Finalidad La remision de informacion, novedades y promociones Establecimiento o mantenimiento de Relaciones Comerciales. Legitimacion Consentimiento del interesado. Interes legitimo en el desarrollo de la relacion comercial Destinatario Empresas del Grupo WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Derechos Acceso, rectificacion, supresion, limitacion, oposicion y portabilidad Informacion adicional Politica de Privacidad de nuestra pagina Web + INFORMACIONPR Newswire

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 13, 2019

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- BDSmktg is pleased to announce their strategic partnership with AJIS, Co., Ltd., the largest retail solutions company in Japan, to expand their best-in-class Technical Break Fix service to Asia.

Recognizing that service excellence for a rapidly changing, interactive retail environment required a uniquely skilled technician, BDS pioneered the Technical Break Fix service to improve the overall consumer experience and drive sales for both brands and retailers. Today, this service has evolved into a fully integrated support ecosystem that seamlessly works across brands, retailers and their supply chain partners to deliver world class service and performance, establishing BDS as the leader in this category.

AJIS, Co., Ltd., the largest retail solutions company in Japan with over 2,500 clients in Japan and other Asian territories, has signed a multi-year licensing agreement with BDS to bring their proprietary Technical Break Fix strategy, operations, tools, and technology to makers and retailers throughout Asia. AJIS will be announcing the partnership with BDS along with their expansionary Break Fix plans at Retail Tech Japan 2019 this March.

"We are excited to announce that our partnership with AJIS will expand our Technical Break Fix model throughout Asia. AJIS has an outstanding reputation for quality service, and their strong client relationships will enable the Technical Break Fix model to grow quickly," said Mike Britton, President and Chief Strategy Officer for BDS. "We have an innovative multi-year strategy for a global Technical Break Fix solution, and Japan is an incredibly important market, which makes this extension a natural next step. We look forward to many years of partnership with AJIS on a global stage."

"AJIS reviewed the Break Fix service provider landscape in both Asia and the U.S., and selected BDS as the best-in-class provider of this service. We are excited, and it is an honor to partner with BDS to launch Break Fix in Japan and Asian territories," said Akio Saito, President and CEO of AJIS Co., Ltd. "AJIS will be launching Break Fix as the first provider in Japan. AJIS will do our best to be BDS' great partner in retail solutions."

About BDSmktg

BDSmktg is an award-winning retail marketing and sales agency. With 35 years of experience guiding customers through the buying journey, they are experts at influencing sales for the world's top brands. BDS offers their clients fully integrated solutions that drive brand demand and sell-through: Research, Advocacy, Digital, Experiential, Readiness, and Environments. Founded in 1984, BDS is headquartered in Irvine, California with regional offices in Chicago, Illinois; New York City, New York; and Columbus, Ohio. BDS Marketing, LLC. is a division of BDS Solutions Group, LLC. For more information, visit http://www.BDSmktg.com.

About AJIS Co., Ltd.

AJIS is the corporation with the top share in inventory counting services. Located in Chiba, Japan, AJIS has over 2,500 clients and provides various retail support services for the chain-store industry. AJIS' business is expanding in most Asian territories. AJIS is listed on JASDAQ stock market. Visit https://www.ajis.jp/ to learn more.

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Ugandan 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.

Ugandan journalists sit outside the office of the Daily Monitor, which was closed by armed police. The Monitor's website was recently ordered to suspend publication over a regulatory dispute. (Isaac Kasamani/AFP)

On February 6, the Uganda Communications Commission, a broadcasting and telecommunications sector regulator, wrote a letter to the Daily Monitor's 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 authorisation 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 Monitor's 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 Commission's use of already problematic online regulations sends a message that journalists can expect editorial interference in the guise of regulation," said CPJ's 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 healer's claims in the suit were "defamatory", contained inaccuracies about the speaker's career progression, and that Kadaga had gained her political standing through hard work, not "witchcraft".CPJ emailed Kibirige's office on February 8 and did not receive a response. Speaker Kadaga's 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 Uganda's 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 Monitor's 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 it--and this is my personal view--the 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 commission's corporate affairs director, Fred Otunnu, did not respond to a phone call or a WhatsApp message sent this afternoon.Thousands of photos were taken by Australians passing through Egypt en route to the First World War, one hundred years ago. An exhibition of these photographs has now been brought to Egypt by Dr Anne-Marie Willis, in partnership with the Australian Embassy and the Arab Association of Civilization and Islamic Arts.

The historic photographs tell stories of military history and the lives of individual Australians. Willis, who lived in Egypt for several years and recently returned to Australia, has curated these extraordinary photos of Egypt from the National Library of Australia, the Australian War Memorial, and other public collections.The exhibition shows places that have become invisible as Cairo has grown, such as the Delta Barrage Bridges and Baron Empain Palace, surrounded by sand dunes. Other photos show the effects of the First World War on Egypt, with a vast military camp in front of the pyramids, and thousands of Egyptian men recruited to support the British war effort.Egyptian Images from Australia is supported by the Australian Government through the Council for Australian-Arab Relations of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.Theres no painless way for South Africans to deal with the power utility crisis. Shutterstock

How is power generated and distributed in South Africa?

Is this monopoly situation unusual in the 21st century?

Whats the trouble with Eskom?

How did it get here?

What are the answers?

Electricity markets in most countries consist of three parts: generation, transmission and distribution. Most electricity is generated by using heat to boil water to create steam which in turn spins a turbine that generates electricity.South Africas cheap and abundant coal resources made coal generated electricity an obvious choice for many years. Initially, power stations were owned by municipalities and large mining and industrial concerns. But as the costs of recapitalisation emerged, government was persuaded to take over responsibility for power.Eskom is among the biggest power utilities in the world , famous for its ability to handle vast tonnages of low grade coal. Eskom accounts for over 90% of power generating capacity. Its power plants are mostly coal with one nuclear station and some pumped storage (water). Only a few minor power generators have remained outside Eskoms fold.More recently, international climate change pressure caused government to introduce renewable power generation through bidding rounds . These private investors were given 20 year price guarantees underwritten by government  some at exorbitant prices. Nevertheless, as these technologies became more globally popular, some of them  solar (photo voltaic) and wind power  emerged as the lowest cost generators.All power generation is tied into Eskoms national transmission grid that moves electricity from generation stations to demand areas. Transmission is a natural monopoly. If you want to use the transmission grid you need Eskoms permission.Transmission lines end where high voltage power is stepped down to distribution networks until it reaches residential customers  at 220 volts. In many areas Eskom sells to municipal distributors.So, Eskom is a vertically integrated near monopoly responsible for generation, transmission and distribution.In many countries competition between power generators has been encouraged to drive down prices. Transmission, being a natural monopoly, remains just that; but like toll roads they are open to all who obey the road rules and pay the toll. The same goes for distribution to a lesser extent.Eskom has two major problems. Its operating costs are too high and it cant pay its debt. It owes over R400 billion and does not generate enough cash to pay even the interest on its debt. Its reached the end of the road.Eskom has been getting steep tariff increases in recent years but these have driven some customers off-grid and shut others down. Eskoms sales have been declining by about 1% per annum . The less it sells, the higher the tariff it wants, and the less it sells  the utility death spiral.The main cause of its troubles is its decision to build two of the biggest coal fired generating plants in the world, ( Medupi and Kusile ). These plants are running way behind schedule, theyre over budget and the bits that are complete dont work properly. They are probably the single largest disaster in South Africas economic history.State capture (patronage networks), corruption and poor management have led to over staffing and neglected maintenance, resulting in constant breakdowns . Electricity theft, a culture of non-payment and defaulting municipalities have deepened the crisis . Eskom is owed over R30 billion Eskom needs to simultaneously reduce operating costs, increase tariffs and shed a big chunk of its debt. There is no painless way for South Africans to deal with their Eskom crisis. And it cant wait until the national elections on 8 May 2019.President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed a team of advisers and has announced that Eskom is to be split into three subsidiaries: generation, transmission and distribution. This has been a government policy since 1998. This should increase cost and debt transparency and may lead to increased efficiencies, especially if competition is allowed.Ramaphosa hinted that Eskom will be allowed to invest in renewables, possibly to absorb surplus staff and avoid retrenchments that have been so vehemently opposed by the unions. Some think this is too little too late. He passed the debt hot potato to the minister of finances budget speech on 20 February 2018.Energy Minister Jeff Radebe said Eskom must prepare for increased competition, presumably in generation. The transmission network needs to be opened to allow this. The courts have stopped Eskom from switching off defaulting municipalities. Esokms crisis gets worse every day. Government will have to sort out municipal non-payment or allow towns and cities to go dark or let Eskom collapse.Until the Presidents statement, government seemed paralysed. Will words turn into the effective action thats needed to save South Africa from its power utility?This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article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.#StartupStory sponsored by

#StartupStory: How Pineapple grew in the AWS cloud

Shifts in customer behaviour and market trends have altered the traditional insurance business model as we know it. In the traditional insurance model, clients pay premiums into a central pot which is used to settle claims but the funds that are left are the insurer's profit.





Marnus van Heerden, co-founder of Pineapple

We chat to Marnus van Heerden, co-founder of Pineapple to find out how Amazon Web Services cloud has allowed the insurance company to innovate and enhance the insurance customer journey within South Africa.



Could you tell us a bit about Pineapple? Could you tell us a bit about Pineapple? Today customers are demanding simplified and on-demand services and better returns of value. In response to this need, Pineapple was established. As a decentralised insurance service, Pineapple only charges a fixed fee and returns unutilised premiums every year.We chat to Marnus van Heerden, co-founder of Pineapple to find out how Amazon Web Services cloud has allowed the insurance company to innovate and enhance the insurance customer journey within South Africa.

What is your role in the company? What is your role in the company?

When, how and why did you start Pineapple? When, how and why did you start Pineapple?

Traditional financial institutions have one choice: transform or die With fintechs, big-techs and startups already eating into traditional financial institutions' market share, banking and insurance company chief executives need to identify their organisations' strengths and build on them...

So tell me, how does Pineapple work? So tell me, how does Pineapple work?

There's been a shift in customer behaviour and market trends have altered the traditional finance model as we know. Could you tell us some of the changes that you have seen over the years? There's been a shift in customer behaviour and market trends have altered the traditional finance model as we know. Could you tell us some of the changes that you have seen over the years?

Consumers want to know they are being charged fairly and that they can contact you instantly. Insurtech addresses these shifts in behaviour.

The concept of cloud computing in insurance seems to be quite a hot topic at the moment. How will the cloud transform the way we do insurance? The concept of cloud computing in insurance seems to be quite a hot topic at the moment. How will the cloud transform the way we do insurance?

The cloud is vital for insurance growth With the number of insurers using cloud computing services tripling over the last few years, those still undecided as to its relevance need to start making a serious investment...

There are several cloud services available, what cloud service provider does Pineapple use and why? There are several cloud services available, what cloud service provider does Pineapple use and why?

When and how did you decide that it was time to take the business to the cloud? When and how did you decide that it was time to take the business to the cloud?

What are the pros and cons? What are the pros and cons?

Amazon Web Services to open data centres in SA Amazon Web Services announced it will open an infrastructure region in South Africa in the first half of 2020...

Would you encourage other insurance companies to take their business to the cloud? Why? Would you encourage other insurance companies to take their business to the cloud? Why?

In your opinion, what is the future of insuretech? In your opinion, what is the future of insuretech?

Evan-Lee Courie's articles About Evan-Lee Courie Editor: Marketing & Media; Head of Content for Entrepreneurship

Editor: Marketing & Media; Head of Content for Entrepreneurship

Pineapple is an insurtech (insurance tech) that allows immediate distribution of insurance cover digitally. It eliminates lengthy sales calls as well as the excessive loadings to premiums to fund call centres. The user simply snaps to insure. You can also access any unused premium, in cash.Pineapples business model needed great tech and reliability and Amazon Web Services has been central to this. AWS solutions such as AWS EC2 has allowed us to keep various versions of our app by allowing us to rent virtual computers on which to run our own computer applications.Amazon Web Services has also allowed us to manage high load requests. Additionally, AWS solutions like AWS Lambda lets us run code without provisioning or managing servers. We pay only for what we consume - there is no charge when our code is not running. This cost saving element is incredibly valuable to any startup.I am one of the three founding members. With the agility and pace of progress of a startup, we all do what is best for the company and the Pineapple Community on any given day, whether this is sales, ops, strategy, innovation - keeping our product fresh and our customers happy is the role of all of us.We started Pineapple to solve the issues of a stale industry whereby the process of getting or dealing with your insurer is burdensome. The actual business model is designed not with the best interest of the consumer at heart and consumer understanding of the products was failing. We wanted to turn this around with an entirely new business model, which still provides comprehensive insurance but so much more as well.We took these insights into consideration when we developed the Pineapple platform. Our API was initially on a self-hosted infrastructure with no defined deployment strategy and we werent able to keep track of releases/versioning. Since switching to AWS EC2, weve been able to add that facility of tracking app versions with our code repositories. EC2 has also allowed us to do add load-balancing to our API service, enabling us to deal with high load requests, as at the same time keep our customer experience smooth and enjoyable.Our databases are also hosted on EC2 and backups are automated to save to S3 per interval. EBS Volume backups are also automated. We use CloudWatch to monitor the state of our instances.The process is fairly simple. You first download the app, then you snap a pic of items you want to insure to get a quote. Once you've made your decision, you can insure and get immediate cover.Then, the premiums you pay go into your Pineapple wallet. Your wallet helps pay for claims of the community, admin and reinsurance and you get to see this in real time.All leftover premium in your wallet is yours to withdraw in cash - every single year, regardless of whether you claim or not. All our policies are month-to-month and you can cancel at just the tap of a button.A key part of Pineapple is the saving of images and voice notes as supporting media for policies and claims. We created a Content Delivery Network using S3 and put them on edge distribution using CloudFront.Consumers of financial services have become increasingly more discerning with their needs, as well as with their spend. That coupled with the immediate access to services through tech is fundamentally changing how products such as insurance are being consumed.Cloud hosting is a tool that also allows any business to be nimble and move quicker and if combined with a drive to proactively change the way we do insurance then it is a great resource. It has enabled us to offer an innovative yet reliable solution to our customers.We predominately use Amazon Web Services (AWS). Our decision was fundamentally based on our business requirements, our own personal experiences with cloud providers and our expertise. AWS powers some of the worlds largest companies and their infrastructure and this is essentially the trajectory we plan on taking ourselves. We have a lot of expansion plans in the near future and we cannot compromise on the performance of our infrastructure. Hence AWS.Day one, it was not even a debate.The key benefit is paying for what you use. We do not have to use the high expenditure of actually acquiring a great deal of infrastructure to adapt to our needs. The performance offered by AWS is unmatched in that regard. Its also beneficial.Of course, anyone who uses AWS knows how expensive it can get once you start experiencing high volumes. Fortunately, we are on the AWS Activate Programme, which Amazon offers to startups. This allows us to make use of free credits to help us hit the necessary scale to accommodate even higher volumes.Yes! Hosting is not an insurance company's core competency. Employing teams of people to manage IT infrastructure yourself will never yield the results or have the cost benefit that the likes of AWS can achieve.Insurance is probably the one industry that has not caught onto the sharing economy. If you look at some of the leaders in this economy (Uber, Airbnb, etc.), they have seen such success because they have effectively taken the economy of their industries and given it back to the people. This is where we believe the future of insurance lies, and Pineapple will be pioneering that revolution.When people were still using a horse and cart, what would Henry Ford have said is the future of cars?Speech by Mr Jerome H Powell , Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, at "Rural Places, Rural Spaces: Closing Financial Services Gaps in Persistent Poverty America", a policy forum sponsored by Hope Enterprise Corporation, Mississippi Valley State University, Itta Bena, Mississippi, 12 February 2019.

Thank you for that kind introduction. I also want to thank Hope Enterprise Corporation for inviting me to speak and Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU) for hosting us on its lovely campus.

It is a great pleasure to visit the Mississippi Delta. This region gave America the priceless musical heritage of the Blues. It was also the site of some of the watershed events of the civil rights movement. But the Delta, like many rural areas, has long confronted the challenge of poverty. Today I'll speak about three areas of opportunity for addressing the challenges of rural poverty--education and workforce development, entrepreneurship and small business development, as well as access to financial services-the topic of this conference.analytica Vietnam 2019 in Ho Chi Minh City will be celebrating not just its tenth anniversary but also its biggest trade fair event yet. Approximately 130 exhibitors from 15 countries will be on show in the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC) from April 3 to 5, 2019. The exhibition area has grown by around one third compared with 2017. analytica Vietnam is the country's foremost industry platform for laboratory technology, analysis, biotechnology and diagnostics. Awaiting the trade fair visitor alongside Vietnamese and international exhibitors' product highlights is a comprehensive supporting program comprising the analytica Vietnam conference, tutorials, buyer-seller meetings and lab safety shows, entirely focused on knowledge transfer.

The 2019 trade fair exhibitors include national and international industry giants such as Agilent, Eppendorf, Merck, Metrohm, Mettler Toledo, Shimadzu, Saigon Instruments and Waters. Germany, China and Singapore will be represented with their own country pavilions. "We are pleased that this year's analytica Vietnam will be bigger than ever before. The opportunity to exchange expertise being extremely highly rated by participants in previous events, once again this year we have crafted an extensive supporting program with the focus on scientific dialog", explains Gabriele Kraus, Executive Director of event organizer IMAG.

Expertise on offer from top-class speakers

Prestigious international speakers will explore topical industry issues in their scientific context and present the findings from the latest studies at the analytica Vietnam conference taking place on April 3 and 4 in parallel with the trade fair. For example, in his speech, Prof. Dr. Ralf Zimmermann of the University of Rostock will be looking at new chemical and biological analytical techniques in air quality research. Prof. Dr. Pham Hung Viet of Vietnam National University in Hanoi will be presenting a study on micro-plastics in the environment. Prof. John McLean of Vanderbuilt University in Nashville will be giving an overview of pioneering developments in systems biology.

New laboratory working practices

There will also be two practical tutorials on laboratory working practices on both days of the conference. The two half-day workshops "Fundamentals of Quality Assurance in the Analytical Laboratory" and "Automated Sample Preparation for LC/MS and GC/MS in food, forensic and materials research analysis" are directed at laboratory staff and students and require advance registration.

The Exhibitor Forum, yet another plank of the supporting program, provides exhibitors with a platform for presenting their products and services live and in detail. Once again there will be an impressive experimental presentation twice daily by asecos on laboratory health and safety and the correct storage of dangerous substances.

Participation in both the trade fair and supporting program is free of charge for visitors.For Immediate Release, February 14, 2019 Contact: Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity, (503) 484-7495, ngreenwald@biologicaldiversity.org

Taylor Jones, WildEarth Guardians, (720) 443-2615, tjones@wildearthguardians.org

Rebecca Bullis, Defenders of Wildlife, (202) 772-0295, rbullis@defenders.org Lawsuit Launched to Protect Imperiled Lesser Prairie Chicken Western Bird Faces Threats From Climate Change, Fossil Fuel Extraction WASHINGTON Conservation groups filed a notice today of their intent to sue the Trump administration for failing to protect severely imperiled lesser prairie chickens under the Endangered Species Act. The groups petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the birds in September 2016. The agency promised to make a decision on that protection by the end of summer 2017, but failed to do so. The Trump administrations foot dragging is placing these unique, dancing birds at serious risk of extinction, said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center. The Endangered Species Act has saved more than 99 percent of the species under its protection. It can save the lesser prairie chicken too, but only if the birds are listed as a threatened or endangered species. In 2014 the Fish and Wildlife Service listed the lesser prairie chicken as threatened. But protection was overturned on procedural grounds after a lawsuit from the Permian Basin Petroleum Association and four counties. The bird lives in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. It is severely threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation caused by oil and gas development, cropland conversion, livestock grazing and roads and power lines. Listing the lesser prairie chicken as threatened or endangered is the first step toward recovering this iconic species, said Jason Rylander, senior counsel at Defenders of Wildlife. The lesser prairie chicken has waited long enough for Endangered Species Act protection. Its time for the Trump administration to act. In addition to habitat loss, the lesser prairie chicken is threatened by climate change. The summer of 2011 saw some of the hottest and driest conditions on record in the Southern Plains, with ground temperatures exceeding 130 degrees Fahrenheit, a critical threshold above which lesser prairie chicken eggs cannot survive. The following year prairie chicken populations plummeted to their lowest levels in decades. Overall, global warming is expected to drive a four-fold increase in the number of 100-plus degrees days on the Southern Plains. These incredible birds deserve better than continuing neglect from the Trump administration, said Taylor Jones, an endangered species advocate at WildEarth Guardians. Threats from climate change and habitat loss continue to grow, and this species needs the strongest legal protections possible to escape extinction. The lesser prairie chicken  an icon of the Southern Plains  once numbered in the millions but has declined to just roughly 38,000 birds across less than 17 percent of its original range. Experts estimate the population of lesser prairie chickens at 3 million birds before the beginning of Euro-American settlement on the Great Plains. The petitioners are WildEarth Guardians, Defenders of Wildlife and the Center for Biological Diversity.For Immediate Release, February 14, 2019 Contact: Paulo Lopes, (202) 849-8398, plopes@biologicaldiversity.org Congress to Fund Trump's Destructive Border Wall Barriers Will Permanently Harm Wildlife, Borderland Communities WASHINGTON Congress today prepared to accede to President Trumps demands for border wall funding, releasing details of a budget plan that will give him nearly $1.4 billion to build 55 miles of new barriers in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Some lawmakers have made a distinction between funding fences instead of walls, but the barriers allowed under this agreement will do the same amount of damage to wildlife, the environment and borderland communities. This despicable deal will wall off the Rio Grande Valley. It will permanently destroy spectacular ecosystems and wildlife habitat, and seize private land from Texas families, said Paulo Lopes, public lands policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity. Trump and Republicans have doubled down on their racist agenda to build a monument to hate and fear. Anyone who votes for this is voting for Trumps border wall, no matter what euphemism they try to hide behind. This is an enormous waste of taxpayer money that will do nothing to stop illegal drugs or human trafficking. Since January 2017 Congress has authorized $2.4 billion in border enforcement, including $1.7 billion to build 73 miles of border barriers. The budget deal increases the length of border wall Congress has approved under Trump to 128 miles. A 2017 study by the Center identified more than 90 endangered or threatened species that would be threatened by wall construction along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border including jaguars, Mexican gray wolves and ocelots. The Center filed the first lawsuit against Trumps border wall in April 2017. The Center also sued the Trump administration to challenge waivers that sweep aside public health and safety laws to speed construction of border walls in California, Texas and New Mexico. All of the lawsuits are pending. Beyond jeopardizing wildlife, endangered species and public lands, the U.S.-Mexico border wall is part of a larger strategy of ongoing border militarization that damages human rights, civil liberties, native lands, local businesses and international relations. The border wall impedes the natural migrations of people and wildlife that are essential to healthy diversity.

Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points Memo is BACK! O'Reilly is on Newsmax TV to give specifics on why the Democratic party objects to a barrier on the border.

O'REILLY: Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly, and this is the Talking Points Memo.



You know, this whole border wall thing is phony. It's not what the powers that be want you to believe it is. It's really disturbing. So the Democratic Party opposes building a border fence, wall, barrier or whatever it may be.



Why?



There is never a cogent reason - you can give all the stats you want. Millions of people come in here through the southern border. Tons of narcotics flow in every month. People get hurt all over the border region.



So why would you object to a barrier? Again, no cogent reason. But here it is, you ready? The Democratic Party has taken control of the nation's largest state California.



It's a one party state. Republicans don't have a chance to for power in California. They used to, Richard Nixon came out of California. Ronald Reagan, two term governor even Arnold Schwarzenegger who is a kind of Republican he got elected.



Not anymore.



1970, there were three million Hispanics living in the Golden State, Latinos. All right. three million. Today 15 million, 55 percent of Hispanics eligible to vote in California are Democrats, 55 percent. Only 17 percent are Republican, 24 percent.



So they have no party allegiance that has driven the Democratic Party to power in the Golden State. Because you go from 3 million to 15 million. All right. And more than half are Democrats.



You just do the math and people are moving out of California because of the progressive policies, high taxation. Now Democratic Party saw that and they control the largest amount of electoral votes in the presidential election because California's biggest state. The same things happen here in New York. Same thing, influx of foreign nationals. It's changed the whole voting pattern.



Democrats control New York City. Top to bottom. OK.



Alexandra Ocasio Cortez was out of the Bronx and because the city is so huge they dominate the state. So the Democrats hold the governorship and both houses in the state legislation in Albany and what do we have? Progressive policies. So the Democratic Party sees this. They know this and they say you know what. If we can have open borders, if we can get as many Latinos in through Mexico we're going to obtain power in other states like Arizona, which is much more liberal than it used to be. And we're going to be able to spread that as the Latino community expands in the United States and breaking 3 to 1, 3 to 1 Latinos give the Democratic Party over the Republican Party. And that makes sense. Because if you are a foreign national, a poor person in particular and you come to the hyper competitive society that is America you need the help. You don't speak English. You're going to need help. And what party promises you entitlements, the Democratic Party. The Republican Party favors a safety net but they're a party of self-reliance. They don't want big government intrusion. The Democratic Party wants to hand out everything to everybody.



Every time there is a welfare bill that demands work most Democrats vote against it. Now Bill Clinton signed such a bill if you remember President Clinton, not anymore.



So if you're a foreign national you come to the United States you're going to sign up with the party that's going to promise you stuff. Right? That's going to promise you income equality, that's going to promise you social justice, that's going to promise you that they will punish the white power structure.



And that's what the Democratic Party is all about these days. You know, everybody knows it. Undeniable that that's what the border wall stuff is all about a secure southern border stops the flow of millions of Latinos into the United States. This is not a racist thing. It's just a fact thing. This is a political thing. Nothing to do with race. If Latinos were breaking three to one Republican, the Democrats would oppose. They put the wall up so fast, you go what's that?! I'm Bill O'Reilly for Newsmax and that is the Talking Points Memo.



I remind you that we do commentary on BillOReilly.com every night - we hope you check it out.When Pedro Sanchez became Spain's prime minister in June as part of a minority government, Stratfor predicted that his government would struggle to pass legislation amid constant calls to hold an early election. The government's defeat in a budget vote, along with the imminent prospect of snap polls, confirms that forecast.

What Happened

Spain is getting closer to calling an early general election. On Feb. 13, the Spanish Congress of Deputies rejected Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's budget plans for 2019, 191-158, with one abstention, meaning a snap election is all but certain. Holding just 84 of 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies, Sanchez's Socialist government has long been rickety, requiring support from other parties, including pro-independence parties from Catalonia, to pass the budget. The Catalan parties, however, voted against Sanchez's budget to protest the start of a trial this week against a dozen secessionist leaders. A spokesperson for the Spanish government said Madrid would make an announcement about its future plans on Feb. 15 amid media speculation that a general election could occur on either April 28 or May 26 (the latter of which would coincide with European Union parliamentary elections).

Why It Matters

The Socialists' trouble comes at a time of political fragmentation. Opinion polls show that Spain's four main political parties, the Socialists, the center-right People's Party, the centrist Ciudadanos and the left-wing Podemos, possess relatively similar levels of political support  entailing that at least two parties would need to join together to form a government. Spanish parties, however, are finding it increasingly difficult to agree on coalitions. An inconclusive general election in December 2015 precipitated another vote just six months later because the parties failed to cobble together a coalition. And with polls suggesting that the fragmentation of the electorate will continue, a similar scenario is in the offing after the next general election. Meanwhile, prolonged political uncertainty could take its toll on the Spanish economy, which is currently posting one of the fastest growth rates in the eurozone.

Opinion polls also suggest that Vox, a nationalist party that obtained just 0.2 percent of the vote in 2016, could now receive around 10 percent. Vox vociferously opposes Catalonia's push for secession and wants to abolish the current system of autonomous regional governments in favor of a more centralized state. Vox's sudden rise in popularity has also pushed the People's Party and Ciudadanos to toughen their position on Catalonia. Last month, Vox helped the People's Party and Ciudadanos form a government in the southern region of Andalucia, which shows that Spain's mainstream conservative parties are willing to make deals with the formerly fringe party.

Considering the probable fragmentation in Spain's next parliament, Vox could become kingmaker in a right-wing coalition government, scuttling the chances of rapprochement between Madrid and Barcelona. Moreover, a central government including Vox could prompt Catalonia's secessionist parties to abandon their current disputes and circle the wagons against a common rival. While Vox's electoral program mostly focuses on domestic issues, it also has Euroskeptic positions, which means that a government that includes the party might experience friction with Brussels.

What Happens Next

In the probable event that the Spanish government announces an early election, Catalonia will play a central role in the campaign, with conservative parties likely to propose a tougher stance on secessionism as center-left and left-wing parties insist on the need for dialogue with Barcelona. Other issues, such as Spain's high levels of unemployment, depressed salaries and the fate of controversial reforms from earlier in the decade (such as labor reform) will also dominate any electoral campaign. And even if Sanchez decides not to call an early election this week, the writing is still on the wall for his government, as it has little chance of limping on until the legislative term ends in July 2020.

US First Daughter Ivanka Trump (37) is the the star of the American delegation at the Munich Security Conference!



The 37-year-old talks with BILD about her new project, Chancellor Angela Merkel and also about her father - the most powerful man in the world.*

BILD: What is the most important topic to you at MSC?

Ivanka Trump: I will be particularly focused on the importance of womens economic empowerment and how it correlates with national security and global stability. Economic empowerment is, simply put, good defense policy. When we empower women, they invest back into their families and communities, having a transformative impact that creates more peaceful and prosperous societies. This is an issue that the United States is deeply committed to, and I am personally excited to share more about last weeks launch of the White Houses bold new initiative: the Womens Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative.

W-GDP, which aims to reach 50 million women around the world by 2025, is the first-ever, all of U.S. government approach to advancing global womens economic empowerment. W-GDP is grounded in the priorities of the Presidents National Security Strategy and we hope to work with our international partners, multilateral institutions and the private sector to tackle some of the greatest barriers that constrain womens full and free participation in the global economy. True global security and stability can only be realized when women and men alike are able to contribute to economies at all levels.

Is there any political issue on which you are carrying a message from the President to convey to the Germans?

Trump: We look forward to continuing our partnership with Germany and advancing the common interests of the American and German people.

What will be your message to the Germans on the 2 percent spending goal for Nato?

Trump: I know Germany is working on a plan to reach the 2% goal and look forward to seeing it carried out.

Lesen Sie auch Interview mit Ivanka Trump Ich bin stolz auf meinen Vater US-Prasidententochter Ivanka Trump ist bei der Munchner Sicherheitskonferenz Stargast der amerikanischen Delegation!

In which areas do you believe there could be more cooperation between Germany and the United States?

Trump: Germany is one of the United States greatest allies in countless different areas, particularly as it relates to the economy and security. Supporting womens economic empowerment is one area that we can work collaboratively to ensure that women can fully participate and thrive in the global economy. This is in our collective national security interests. Women often face institutional barriers to entering the economic marketplace, both in the public and private sector, and these are barriers that we have the power to address to reach our shared goals for economic growth, security and stability. I had the honor of joining Chancellor Merkel at the W20 in 2017, and there she made it very clear that the economic empowerment of women is a top priority for Germany, when she committed to Germany joining the United States in being a founding member of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi). During that visit I also saw firsthand, at the invitation of the Chancellor, Germanys leadership in vocational education and skills training, which is an issue that the President and myself are also deeply committed to expanding in the United States. President Trump created the National Council for the American Worker, representing 14 federal agencies that are working to better coordinate resources so that all American workers of all ages and backgrounds have the skills necessary to compete in an increasing digital economy.



Additionally, last May, a number of leaders across industry, education, and labor presented a plan to the President outlining a new vision for industry-recognized apprenticeships, building in part off Germanys model. We are in the early stages of implementing this plan and helping more Americans earn a paycheck while receiving valuable on-the-job training.



G20-Summit 2017 in Hamburg: Ivanka Trump with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, former World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim, her father Donald Trump, Angela Merkel and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (from left) Foto: AFP/Getty Images



When Chancellor Merkel visited the White House you were sitting next to her. How do you view her as one one of the most dominant figures in global politics? What was your personal impression? Do you consider her a role model for girls?

Trump: I have great respect for Chancellor Merkel and her leadership role on the world stage. On a personal level, I also very much appreciate her company and sense of humor!

We have had many positive opportunities to engage with each other; the Chancellors dedication to vocational education and the economic empowerment of women are just two areas in which we share common goals and interests.

The MSC is mainly about global conflicts. Which conflict around the world worries you the most?

Trump: One of the main challenges is the lack of economic opportunities for people around the world. That is why I am so focused on womens economic empowerment, because too often, women are left out of the conversation. Economic opportunity is vital to the security of states, and no country can truly succeed without equal participation for half of its population. Research shows that states with higher female participation in the labor force exhibit lower levels of international violence and are less likely to use military force to resolve international conflict. Creating more economic opportunity and greater prosperity can help us address many of the other key issues and conflicts around the world.

The President announced that he wants to visit Germany and the places of his ancestors. Are there any details yet? Are you going to travel with him?

Trump: President Trump does indeed hope to visit Germany soon. As friends and close allies, we share many issues of mutual importance with Germany. I have had so many positive experiences in Germany over the past two years, in Berlin, Hamburg, and now here in Munich.

As you know, President Trump is viewed very critically by many Germans. Many Germans trust President Putin more than President Trump. What is your message to them?

Trump: I think Germans understand that they have far more in common with America than with Russia. We agree on individual freedom, the rule of law and the importance of equality of economic opportunity. We should not allow those with a political agenda to try to divide us.

Also the German media is very critical of President Trump. As his daughter, what can you tell them they are missing or getting wrong about him?

Trump: I am very proud of my father and what hes accomplished as President of the United States. This Administration has implemented significant reforms to make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous. The United States economy is booming and thanks to the Presidents commitment to creating economic opportunity for all Americans we have more people working in the United States than ever before. We also recognize the critical importance of working with our partners to achieve global stability and are committed to that goal.



What are you especially looking forward to seeing in Munich?

Trump: I am looking forward to the opportunity to engage with many of the worlds national security and defense leaders at the Munich Security Conference and to be leading a panel discussion on the importance of Womens Economic Empowerment. And, while I expect our schedule to be packed, I do hope to have the opportunity to see the clock in Marienplatz!

Is there anything special you want to bring back from Germany? A gift? A souvenir? And also: Any political success you hope to achieve?

Trump: One of the key components of W-GDP is recognizing there is a role for both the public and private sector to play in advancing womens economic empowerment around the globe. I am looking forward to meaningful discussions on best practices and opportunities to further this goal and hope to walk away with new ideas and collaborative partnerships to create real and lasting impact.



On another note, my kids are hoping I also bring back some delicious Bavarian chocolatesand I fully intend to!

* The interview was conducted in writing.

Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death.

Go to formSpearfish, SD (57783)

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Thunderstorms. High 78F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

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Showers and thunderstorms likely. Low 58F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.VHS courses for refugees

Courses for refugees are funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Labour, Integration, and Women

These courses are aimed at refugees, asylum seekers, and persons who have been granted residence permits in Germany on humanitarian grounds and who would otherwise have no access to integration and other language courses.

These courses each comprise four to five modules with a total of 80 to 120 hours of instruction. Each participant may take advantage of up to 400 hours of free instruction. On completion of the courses, a test is taken to certify the participants German language skills at either A1 or A2 level. The course materials are provided.

Who can attend the courses?

are otherwise not entitled to participate in other publicly-funded German language courses (such as integration courses or ESF -funded courses)

-funded courses) are no longer required to attend school

and are registered with the city of Berlin as residing here

How can you register?



What documents do you need to bring?



residence permit, registration card

Integration courses for refugees

Refugees and asylum seekers who

Integration courses funded by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees can now be attended by people who have fled Syria, Iraq, Iran and Eritrea and who currently do not hold German residence permits.

How can you register?



Register during the registration and advice sessions for German language courses at the Volkshochschule closest to you. Here you can submit an application for admission to an integration course at that time.

What documents do you need to bring?



This effort will raise donations to help Central Oregons creative artists  musicians, visual artists, performers and creative workers  by offering grants and a platform to bring attention to the talent that needs help to continue thriving in this community throughout the pandemic and beyond.

More InfoBangladesh is to deploy hundreds of soldiers to Saudi Arabia for demining operations along the kingdoms border with war-torn Yemen under a new bilateral defense deal between Dhaka and Riyadh, the Bangladeshi foreign minister said.

Senior military officers from both countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Riyadh on Thursday, sealing the first ever agreement on defense cooperation between the two nations, Bangladeshi officials confirmed. Bangladeshs government, however, did not release a copy of the MoU.

It calls for sending 1,800 troops to Saudi Arabia in a non-combat role, Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen told BenarNews on the eve of the MoUs signing.

According to the deal, the members of the Bangladesh armed forces will clear the landmines planted on the Saudi border with Yemen, he said. Our forces will work to protect the two holy mosques in Mecca and Medina, if attacked. Other than this, they will not take part in any combat activities.

The deal aims to enhance military cooperation and intelligence sharing between the two countries, among other objectives, Bangladeshi foreign ministry officials said.

Lt. Gen. Mahfuzur Rahman, the principal staff officer at the Armed Forces Division in the Bangladesh prime ministers office, signed the MoU in the Saudi capital with Lt. Gen. Mutlaq S. Al Ozaime, deputy of general staff of the Saudi Armed Forces, according to officials.

Today the defense MoU has been signed. The signing of the MoU will bolster bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia, Nazrul Islam, the deputy chief of Bangladeshs mission in Riyadh, told BenarNews. The MoU will remain valid for five years. Subjected to approval of both sides, the agreement can be extended.

The Bangladeshi embassy there also issued a statement.

Based on the existing friendly relations and in line with the foreign policy, this MoU was signed with the hope that it will enhance international peace and stability.

Terms of the MoU call for Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia to cooperate on activities including military training, exercises and education, exchanging military information and intelligence, and working with each other to ensure maritime security, Bangladeshi officials said. Bangladesh has previously sent troops to Saudi Arabia, but only for training missions.

Landmines

Former Foreign Secretary Mustafa Kamal, a military officer turned diplomat, told BenarNews the Bangladesh Army earned its global reputation in clearing landmines planted in Kuwait by Iraqi forces during the first Gulf War in 1991.

The Bangladesh Army successfully demined all of Kuwait. The reputation of our army in clearing landmines is known to Saudi Arabia and other countries in the world. Possibly, that reputation encouraged Saudi Arabia to sign the MoU, he said.

The assignment of demining Saudi Arabia is an opportunity for Bangladesh Army to demonstrate its standard of professionalism and contribute to keeping civilians safe, he said.

He warned that Bangladesh troops should not get involved in Saudi Arabias proxy war in Yemen, where Riyadh is supporting the government in fighting Houthi rebels who are backed by Iran, Saudis arch rival in the Middle East.

This is because Yemenis are also Muslims, he said.

In late 2018, the United Nations described the Yemeni Civil War  which has dragged on now for nearly four years and where a famine threatens the civilian population  as the worlds largest humanitarian crisis. The country was facing the threat of the worst famine in a century, the U.N. declared in November.

The signing of the MoU came a day after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for an end to military support for the Saudi-led coalition operating in Yemen. The Senate previously passed similar legislation that went against the Trump administrations support for the Saudi government.

Bangladesh had joined the Saudi coalition to bring down Islamic State militants based in Iraq and Syria, as the extremist group sought to expand its brutal campaign in the Middle East and beyond, officials said.

Parliament reaction

On Thursday, Bangladeshi lawmakers representing partners in a ruling alliance headed by the Awami League party announced their opposition to the MoU with Saudi Arabia.

Rashed Khan Menon, a former minister and chief of the Workers Party, started an unscheduled discussion on the parliamentary floor about the memorandum.

We have to examine whether this agreement violates Article 25 of our constitution, he said, adding the constitution stipulated that Bangladesh would not get involved in disputes between countries. Saudi Arabia had been carrying out attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen, he noted.

Article 25 states that Bangladesh will base its international relations on the principles of respect for national sovereignty and equality, non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, peaceful settlement of international disputes, and respect for international law and principles enunciated in the United Nations Charter.

The U.N. Secretary-General said Yemen was the worst humanitarian disaster on Earth. Our army will go there to clear landmines. Why would they sacrifice their lives in the pretext of demining, Menon said.

When our army personnel are deployed at the frontier, naturally there will be disputes (with Yemen), he said.

Jatiya Party MP Fakhrul Imam agreed with Menon, saying the government had bypassed parliament to sign the MoU.

The parliament has been in session. But I watched on television that a defense deal is being signed. What was the problem in discussing it in the House, he said.Manhattan, KS (66502)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. A stray severe thunderstorm is possible. High 97F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms, some strong during the evening, will give way to cloudy skies after midnight. Damaging winds and large hail with some storms. Low near 70F. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.It's a sign of how seriously the PSNI took the Police Ombudsman's latest revelation that it held a press conference to address the matters raised before they were even in the public domain.

Four hours after Dr Michael Maguire yesterday issued a statement - embargoed until midnight - PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin appeared at an embargoed press conference.

Read More

The force clearly didn't want this story breaking without its response included. It's fully aware of how much is at stake.

The PSNI's failure to disclose "significant sensitive information" to Dr Michael Maguire's office is not just a legacy issue. It affects how nationalists view police in the here and now.

The force's handling of Troubles-related issues has already undermined its credibility with the community it is so eager to court. Its reputation will take another battering with the latest revelation.

Dr Maguire's office and the PSNI have been at odds about much over the years but, on this one, the force yesterday put its hands up and took a hit.

It apologised unreservedly and announced that it sought to give the ombudsman full and unfettered access to its legacy systems. That's a very significant and long-overdue step.

Expect some politicians who have an instinctive antipathy for Dr Michael Maguire's office to oppose this move. But it should be remembered that the ombudsman is not just for one community. He deals with cases brought by bereaved families from every section of society, including relatives of murdered security force members.

The PSNI insists it didn't deliberately withhold any information. Mr Martin said it could not deal with the volume of legacy material. There are 44 million pages of records. They aren't stored in one place, but are on paper, microfiche and microfilm, at a range of locations.

Yet given our history, victims' families understandably remain dubious. The Kingsmill families were highly sceptical when in 2016 a palm print found on the getaway van was finally matched to a suspect. The PSNI had mistakenly failed to match it twice. The 30 families of UFF victims affected by the latest mistake are equally distrustful.

Fionnbharra O'Hagan was just five years old when his father Bernard, a Sinn Fein councillor, was shot dead by the UFF outside Magherafelt College where he lectured. He had been told shortly beforehand that Army files containing his details had fallen into loyalist hands.

The O'Hagans have long claimed collusion. Nobody was ever arrested over the 1991 murder. The family say that although many staff and students witnessed the killing, only two witness statements were presented at the inquest.

Mr O'Hagan said the ombudsman's revelation reinforced his historical view of police. "There was no transparency then and there is none now," he said.

It's the PSNI's battle for the hearts and minds of younger nationalists that is really what's at stake in this latest controversy.A recent intemperate outburst by Professor John Brewer highlighted a problem at Queen's University, Belfast. Donald Tusk certainly ratcheted up the rhetoric over Brexit when he spoke about "a special place in Hell" for the promoters of Brexit, but Professor Brewer tweeted: "Special place in Hell for no-deal Brexiteers. Hell is too good for them."

John David Brewer is an English sociologist and a professor in the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queen's. He is also a professor in the Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, which was launched by Queen's in 2016.

His outburst attracted widespread criticism - even from some Remainers - and councillor Peter Martin, a DUP representative from Bangor, wrote to Queen's vice-chancellor, Professor Ian Greer, about the matter. There were also some messages of support for Professor Brewer and Professor Tony Gallagher tweeted that he was "proud" of his "friend and colleague".

Dr Joanne Murphy, a senior lecturer at Queen's Management School and wife of former SDLP MLA Conall McDevitt, extended her "sympathies" to Professor Brewer, claiming he has been subjected to "huge abuse" due to his remarks.

However, there seems to have been silence from Queen's University itself. Indeed, that seems to be the normal response to outrageous statements by senior academics.

Dr Peter Doran is a lecturer in the School of Law and the Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, which also includes Professor Brewer as one of its academics. He was a Sinn Fein election candidate for the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2017 and, during the election campaign, he was asked to condemn the murder of Edgar Graham, who had also been a law lecturer at the university. Edgar Graham was shot by an IRA gunman in the grounds of the university in December 1983.

Peter Doran spoke of his "profound sorrow", but refused to condemn the murder and his refusal drew heavy criticism. So, what did Queen's University say? And what did Queen's University do? The answer appeared to be nothing.

So, what are we to make of such incidents, whether it be the refusal of Dr Doran to condemn a murder, or the outburst from Professor Brewer?

Such incidents certainly tell us something about the individuals, but they also tell us something about the university. I was particularly struck by the number of people who are coming to the view that the university is now a "cold house for Protestants". Whether that is right, or wrong, there is certainly a widespread perception that there is an equality issue at Queen's and that is a perception that needs to be addressed.

Last year, the university declined a request from An Cumann Gaelach QUB for Irish language signage across the university campus and Sinn Fein hit back. Two Sinn Fein politicians met senior staff at the university and the vice-chancellor issued a statement saying, "I wish to apologise unreservedly for any offence caused. I would also take this opportunity to reinforce the university's commitment to the Irish language."

So, perhaps it is time for the university to meet with mainstream representatives from the unionist community to consider their perceptions. Indeed, the letter from the DUP councillor may well be an appropriate way to open that conversation.

Universities play an important and influential role within society and, therefore, openness, inclusion, equality and transparency should be priorities.

This is about much more that an outrageous statement by Professor Brewer; it is about how people across society view the university and about how academics connect to and relate to our different communities in Northern Ireland, including cultural communities. Now, I have a personal affection for the university, having spent a very enjoyable year there studying for a Diploma in Education. But that was back in 1973 and we are in a very different world today.

Whether rightly or wrongly, there seems to be a perception among many unionists that the university has become something of a "cold house for unionists", so it's time to really talk about it.Couples speak to journalists before they file lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of Japans rejection of same-sex marriage (Chika Ohshima/Kyodo News via AP)

Thirteen gay couples are filing Japans first lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the countrys rejection of same-sex marriage.

The Valentines Day lawsuits to be filed in Tokyo and in other courts around the country on Thursday argue that the law violates same-sex couples constitutional rights to equality.

They want the government to follow the example of many other nations in guaranteeing marital freedom.

Ten Japanese municipalities have enacted partnership ordinances for same-sex couples to make it easier for them to rent apartments together, among other things, but they are not legally binding.

Ken Kozumi and Kenji Aiba, who have lived as a married couple for more than five years, are among the 13 couples filing lawsuits.

Right now we are both in good health and able to work, but what if either of us has an accident or becomes ill? We are not allowed to be each others guarantors for medical treatment, or to be each others heir, Mr Kozumi, a 45-year-old office worker, said in a recent interview with his partner Mr Aiba, 40. Progress in Japan has been too slow.

In a country where pressure for conformity is strong, many LGBT people hide their sexuality even from their families, fearing prejudice at home, school or work.

The obstacles are even higher for transgender people, who face extra difficulties in a highly gender-specific society.

Resistance to allowing full gender equality was evident in a Supreme Court ruling last month upholding a law that effectively requires transgender people to be sterilised before they can have their gender changed on official documents.

The LGBTQ equal rights movement has lagged behind in Japan because people who are silently not conforming to conventional notions of sexuality have been so marginalised that the issue has not been considered a human rights problem, experts say.

Expand Close Kenji Aiba, left, and his partner Ken Kozumi (AP Photo/Toru Takahashi) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Kenji Aiba, left, and his partner Ken Kozumi (AP Photo/Toru Takahashi)

Many people dont even think of a possibility that their neighbours, colleagues or classmates may be sexual minorities, said Mizuho Fukushima, a lawyer-turned-lawmaker and an expert on gender and human rights issues.

And the pressure to follow a conservative family model, in which heterosexual couples are supposed to marry and have children, is still strong.

Prime minister Shinzo Abe and his ultra-conservative supporters have campaigned to restore a paternalistic society based on heterosexual marriages.

The government has restarted moral education class at schools to teach children family values and good deeds.

Whether to allow same-sex marriage is an issue that affects the foundation of how families should be in Japan, which requires an extremely careful examination, Mr Abe said in a statement last year.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has repeatedly come under fire for making remarks deemed discriminating against LGBTQ people.

But while the law and many politicians lag behind, public acceptance of sexual diversity and same-sex marriage has grown in Japan.

According to an October 2018 survey by the advertising agency Dentsu, more than 70% of the 6,229 respondents aged 20-59 said they support legalising same-sex marriage.

Some companies have adopted policies to extend employee benefits to their same-sex partners.

A few womens universities have announced they will start accepting male-to-female transgender applicants, and some schools are allowing both boys and girls to choose between trousers and skirts.

Increasingly, genderless public toilets are becoming available for everyone.

Mr Aiba said he felt a bit scared to go public and was worried about possible repercussions.

But he and Mr Kozumi decided to act on behalf of all their peers who are too afraid of coming out because of discrimination and prejudice that we still face.

It will be our dream comes true if our marriage certificate is accepted one day, Mr Aiba said. We want to make that happen.Vice President Mike Pence has accused Britain, France and Germany of trying to break US sanctions against Iran.

In an unusually blunt speech to a Middle East conference in Poland, Mr Pence called on European nations to join the US in withdrawing from the landmark 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.

He criticised the three countries and the European Union as a whole for remaining parties to the agreement after the Trump administration withdrew from it last year and reimposed tough sanctions on Iran.

The criticism threatened to further chill US-European ties which have already been badly strained, including over the Iran focus of the Warsaw conference co-hosted by the US and Poland.

Expand Close Vice President Mike Pence criticised European countries (Michael Sohn/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Vice President Mike Pence criticised European countries (Michael Sohn/AP)

France and Germany declined to send their top diplomats to the foreign minister-level meeting and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also stayed away.

Mr Pence was especially critical of Britain, France and Germany for unveiling last month a new financial mechanism that US officials believe is intended to keep the nuclear deal alive by evading American sanctions.

He praised other nations for complying with the sanctions by reducing Iranian oil imports but said the Europeans fell short.

Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative, Mr Pence said. In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions.

He said the mechanism, known as the special purpose vehicle, is an effort to break American sanctions against Irans murderous regime.

Its an ill-advised step that that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU, and create still more distance between Europe and the United States.

You can't achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran. It's just not possible.Mike Pompeo

Mr Pence then called for Europe to abandon the nuclear agreement.

The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us as we bring the economic and diplomatic pressure necessary to give the Iranian people, the region and the world the peace security and freedom they deserve, he said.

Earlier, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Iran the top security threat to the Middle East, and said confronting the country is key to reaching peace in the entire region.

Mr Pompeo, who met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the opening session of the conference, said pushing back against Iran was central to dealing with all the regions other problems.

You cant achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran. Its just not possible, Mr Pompeo said.

The US and Poland say the conference is aimed at promoting peace and security in the Middle East and discussing issues such as Syria, Yemen, the fight against the Islamic State, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, cyber crime and terrorism.

The conference was attended by representatives from numerous Arab countries but notable absences include Russia, China and the Palestinians, who have called for the meeting to be boycotted.

Iran has denounced the gathering as an American anti-Iran circus aimed at demonising it.Undated Babylon Health handout photo of a smartphone using Babylon Healths app that puts a GP in your pocket, and allows users to have consultations and organise specialist treatment without having to leave home. (Babylon Health/PA Images)

A virtual GP service has been given the green light to expand to a second major city after health leaders dropped their objections.

NHS England confirmed it had found a solution to previous concerns around access to immunisation and screening programmes for GP at Hand patients and lifted its objections to it expansion.

The decision paves the wave for the service, created by healthcare technology firm Babylon Health, to launch in Birmingham.

But senior medics branded the decision disappointing and premature and said it was inappropriate to allow GP at Hands expansion before an independent evaluation of it is published.

GP at Hand offers a GP consultation via a smartphone 24 hours a day to patients who live or work in various locations in London, with the promise of a video consultation within two hours of booking.

If a patient needs a face-to-face appointment, they must travel to clinics in commuter hubs.

It is hosted by Hammersmith and Fulham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Babylon Health said more than 40,000 people were registered to use GP at Hand.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has previously described GP at Hand as revolutionary and said: I want to see GP At Hand available to all, not based on their postcode.

But the service has proved controversial since it was launched in the capital last year, and has been accused of cherry-picking healthy patients.

Birmingham and Solihull CCG has previously objected to the expansion of GP at Hand into the city, raising concerns about fragmentation of care and patient safety.

Plans to expand the scheme to Birmingham were initially blocked by NHS England due to concerns about patient access to screening, but NHS England has now confirmed a solution had been found.

NHS England said it will work with GP at Hand, Hammersmith and Fulham and Birmingham and Solihull CCGs and national screening services to launch the new service and agree a start date.

A spokeswoman added: As set out in the Long Term Plan, the NHS will see an increasing use of digital technology and from 2021 every patient in England will have access to online and video consultation  if they choose it  and this practice is just one of the ways of providing that.

But the British Medical Association said it was wholly inappropriate to allow the expansion before an independent evaluation of GP at Hand had published its findings.

Dr Richard Vautrey, BMA GP committee chair said: We are incredibly disappointed with this decision, which is not only premature, but flies in the face of place-based care delivered by practices embedded in local communities, which the recent changes in the GP contract are committed to deliver.

The independent evaluation into GP at Hand is yet to publish its findings, so it is wholly inappropriate to allow this services expansion with no assurances over its safety and effectiveness.

But a Babylon GP at Hand spokesman said the service meets and exceeds all standards in the NHS GP contract.

He added: People have a right to choose the NHS practice that best fits with their lifestyles and the needs of their families.

Vested interests will always try to stop innovation, but what matters is the needs and desires of patients.

The NHS England decision to allow Babylon GP at hand to expand to Birmingham underlines and supports this.The Duke of Edinburgh on his final engagement before his retirement (Hannah McKay/PA)

The Duke of Edinburgh hit the headlines early in the new year when he miraculously escaped serious injury in a car crash involving a mother and a baby.

The 97-year-old had been quietly enjoying his retirement before becoming embroiled in the road accident and ensuing PR disaster.

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On the afternoon of January 17, the Land Rover Freelander Philip was driving was hit by another vehicle when he pulled out of a driveway on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk on to a busy A road, after being dazzled by the low sun.

The dukes car flipped over and he was trapped, and had to be rescued through the sun roof by a passing motorist.

Philip, who was driving without a protection officer, was left very shocked and shaken.

He reportedly said Im such a fool as he was pulled from the wrecked car by witness Roy Warne.

The other vehicle  a Kia  was carrying a nine-month-old baby boy, his mother, who was driving, and another woman  Emma Fairweather.

The baby was unhurt, but both women had to be treated in hospital, and passenger Ms Fairweather, who broke her wrist, called for Philip to be prosecuted if found to be at fault.

Buckingham Palace said well-wishes had been exchanged with the occupants, but Ms Fairweather said she had only received a message from her police family liaison officer saying: The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh would like to be remembered to you.

She described her upset that no-one from the royal family had contacted her to offer an apology.

Shortly before her newspaper interview was made public, a lady-in-waiting for the Queen called and left a voicemail.

The duke was given a precautionary check-up in hospital the day after the crash, and was said to have no injuries of the concern.

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Criticism was levelled at Philip for driving at the age of 97.

But AA president Edmund King said GP and family advice is more significant than a persons age when it comes to how long someone should keep driving.

The dukes brand-new replacement Land Rover was delivered to the Sandringham estate just hours after the incident.

He was then seen driving without a seatbelt 48 hours after the crash.

Ms Fairweather branded Philip highly insensitive and inconsiderate, and he was accused by the chairman of the British Safety Council of sending the wrong message to the rest of us by not wearing his seatbelt.

Police spoke to the duke about the legal requirement to wear a belt and he also underwent an eyesight test, which he passed.

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Author Gyles Brandreth wrote in The Oldie magazine: What the pictures of the prince back behind the wheel  show is that he wants to live the rest of his life his way and is determined to do just that.

The duke eventually got in touch with those involved in the accident in the days that followed, writing in a letter to Ms Fairweather: I would like you to know how very sorry I am for my part in the accident at the Babingley crossroads.

He added of her broken arm: I am deeply sorry about this injury.

I wish you a speedy recovery from a very distressing experience.

Three weeks after the crash, Buckingham Palace announced that Philips driving days on public roads were finally over.

After careful consideration the Duke of Edinburgh has taken the decision to voluntarily surrender his driving licence, the palace said.

Norfolk Police confirmed that a file on the investigation into the crash had been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which, five days later, announced that Philip will face no further action.

Chris Long, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS East of England, said the level of culpability, the dukes age and his surrender of his driving licence had been taken into account, and it had been decided it is not in the public interest to prosecute.Theresa May listens to a question during Prime Ministers Questions in the House of Commons

Downing Street has denied that Theresa May is taking a no-deal Brexit off the table.

Eurosceptic Tories are threatening to rebel in a key vote today over a motion tabled in the Prime Minister's name which they claim would commit her to avoiding EU withdrawal without a deal.

Read More

The motion asks the House to reiterate its support for the approach agreed on January 29, when the Commons backed an amendment authorising Mrs May to go back to Brussels to renegotiate the controversial backstop.

But members of the backbench European Research Group (ERG) say that it effectively endorses another amendment approved by MPs the same day which rules out no deal but is not binding on the Government.

Leading ERG member Mark Francois told the BBC: "We cannot vote for this as it is currently configured because it rules out no deal and removes our negotiating leverage in Brussels.

"The Prime Minister, if she went through the lobbies for this tomorrow night, would be voting against the guarantees she has given in the Commons for months. It is madness."

Mrs May's official spokesman said: "What the motion reflects is the position the Prime Minister set out after those votes, which is that Parliament wants the UK to leave with a deal, but in order to do so it requires us to secure legally binding changes in relation to the backstop."

"No deal is an eventuality we wish to avoid, but one we continue to plan for.

"Does no deal remain on the table? The answer is yes."

The spokesman declined to discuss reports that senior negotiator Olly Robbins was overheard in a Brussels bar saying that Mrs May planned to wait until the end of March before confronting MPs with a choice between her deal or a lengthy delay to Brexit.

But he rejected suggestions that the backstop arrangement - designed to keep the Irish border open in the absence of a wider trade deal - was being treated as a "bridge" to a future UK/EU relationship. He instead insisted that it is "an insurance policy that is never intended to be used".

There were howls of anger from Eurosceptics over Mr Robbins's reported comments, with former Ukip leader Nigel Farage calling for him to be sacked for "treachery and incompetence".

But Conservative vice-chairman Chris Philp said: "What a civil servant might speculate in a bar after a few drinks is, frankly, not that important."

Answering questions in the House of Commons, Mrs May insisted the Government's position concerning the Article 50 withdrawal process had not changed.

"We triggered Article 50 - in fact this House voted to trigger Article 50. That had a two-year timeline. That ends on March 29," she told MPs at Prime Minister's questions.

"We want to leave with a deal. That is what we are working for."

European Council president Donald Tusk appeared to express frustration with London's stance.

He tweeted: "No news is not always good news. EU27 still waiting for concrete, realistic proposals from London on how to break #Brexit impasse."

Meanwhile, Bertie Ahern said Brexit made him feel like fairytale character Rip Van Winkle, who fell asleep for 20 years and "woke up to find out that everything had changed".

Giving evidence to MPs yesterday, the former Taoiseach said there was "no possibility of the Irish Government or the Irish people saying the backstop could be time-limited".

He also sought to kill off the idea that a hard border could be avoided through technology.

"As of now, there is not the technology and they have looked at every border situation to see if there was any case, anywhere where it was possible to trade without physical infrastructure. Unfortunately, there are none," he said.

He said while technology might be available in the "dim and distant future", it is not an alternative to the backstop in the withdrawal agreement.

The former Fianna Fail leader, who was Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, was appearing before the cross-party Brexit Committee in Westminster.

He told MPs there was "almost total unanimity" in the Republic behind Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's insistence on the backstop, which is designed to keep the border open by keeping the UK in the EU's customs union and Northern Ireland observing certain single market rules until a wider trade deal is agreed.Security minister Ben Wallace said the UK advises against all travel to Syria (John Stillwell/PA)

The security minister has ruled out launching a rescue mission to Syria after an east London schoolgirl declared that she wanted to return to the UK four years after she joined Islamic State.

Ben Wallace said he would not put British lives at risk to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists, adding that actions have consequences.

His comments came after Shamima Begum gave an interview from a refugee camp in northern Syria saying she wanted to come home.

She was one of three schoolgirls, along with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, from Bethnal Green Academy who left the UK in February 2015.

They flew from Gatwick Airport to Turkey and later crossed the border into Syria.

Another girl, Sharmeena Begum, also from Bethnal Green but not related to Shamima, had travelled to Syria two months earlier.

Ms Sultana was reported to have been killed in an air strike in 2016.

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Shamima Begum said she had recently heard second-hand that the other two girls may still be alive.

She told The Times that I dont regret coming here, adding: Im not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago.

Now 19, she said she was nine months pregnant with her third child. Her other two children have died.

In the end, I just could not endure any more, she said. I just couldnt take it.

Now all I want to do is come home to Britain.

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Ms Begum was married 10 days after arriving in Raqqa in 2015 to a Dutchman who had converted to Islam.

She said: Mostly it was a normal life in Raqqa, every now and then bombing and stuff.

But when I saw my first severed head in a bin it didnt faze me at all. It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam. I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance.

The couple left Raqqa in 2017 and two weeks ago they escaped from Baghuz, ISs last territory in eastern Syria.

Ms Begums husband surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters, while she is now one of 39,000 people in a refugee camp in the north of the country.

Mr Wallace said: The UK advises against all travel to Syria and parts of Iraq.

Im not putting at risk British peoples lives to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed stateBen Wallace, security minister

Everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police to determine if they have committed criminal offences, and to ensure that they do not pose a threat to our national security.

While refusing to comment on individual cases, he later told the BBC: Im not putting at risk British peoples lives to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed state.

Theres consular services elsewhere in the region and the strong message this Government has given for many years is that actions have consequences.

Ms Begums brother-in-law Mohammed Rehman told Mail Online that the family had spoken to her on the phone.

He said: It was very emotional. Theres a mixture of elation and sorrow. We are happy that shes alive but sad that things have come to this.

Shes lost two children and put us all through a lot of heart ache. Shes also gone through a very difficult time herself.

Shamimas mother broke down when she heard her voice. Until the interview with her appeared in the newspaper we didnt know if she was alive or not. So you can imagine, this has come as a shock to us all.

At one stage we thought she was dead. There has been no contact with her in almost two years. Shamimas mum just cried and told her to come home. She promised to make her her favourite food.

We want her to come back so that she can be re-educated. As a family we cant understand how her head was turned like this and why she thought going to Syria was a good idea.

I can understand why people in this country are angry and dont want her back. What shes done doesnt portray Islam in a good light. But she was only 15 when she went to Syria. We are appealing for compassion and understanding on her behalf.

The former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Lord Carlile, told BBC Radio 5 Lives Emma Barnett that Shamima Begum will have to be accepted back into the UK if she has not become a national of any other country.

The question of how authorities manage the return of UK nationals who travelled to IS territory has been the subject of fierce debate since the group came to prominence.

In 2017, then Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation Max Hill QC, who is now the most senior prosecutor in England and Wales, suggested allowances could be made for the return of individuals such as the Bethnal Green schoolgirls.

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Speaking around a year before his appointment as Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Hill said it was right for security services to leave space for those who travelled out of a sense of naivety, at a young age and who return in a state of utter disillusionment to be diverted away from the criminal courts.

Clarifying his comments shortly after, Mr Hill stressed that he had at no time said that returning foreign fighters should be welcomed rather than prosecuted.

He said: I indicated that we should allow some space for individuals who do not fit into the categories requiring the legal sanctions I have listed, but who may be very young and naive; by which I mean for example the teenage girls who left a London Academy school in order to travel to Syria via Iraq.

Even such teenagers would not escape prosecution if there is evidence that they have committed serious criminal offences, but if not, surely we should make an allowance for their return in circumstances where they were simply brainwashed, as immature and vulnerable teenagers.

The Government estimates that around 900 people of national security concern travelled from the UK to engage in the conflict in Syria and Iraq.

Of these, approximately 20% have been killed while overseas, and around 40%  roughly 360  have returned to the UK.

Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer who was instructed by the Bethnal Green girls families after they ran away, said he was glad (Ms Begum) is alive and safe.

He told the Press Association that, at the time of the girls disappearance, the position of the Metropolitan Police was that they should be treated as victims, so long as they hadnt committed any further offences while they are out there.

Mr Akunjee said he had spoken to the girls families, who had expressed the position that they want time and space to process whats happened.Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald has accused Prime Minister Theresa May of "playing a game of chicken" with Irish interests over Brexit.

Speaking after a meeting with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in Westminster, Ms McDonald insisted that a no-deal Brexit would trigger a border poll referendum on Irish unity.

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Ms McDonald said: "We are very disheartened at the manner in which Mrs May, it seems to us, is playing down the clock - and therefore playing a game of chicken with Irish interests.

"We are here to say again that Ireland won't be the collateral damage in a Tory Brexit."

Describing talks with Mr Corbyn as "extensive", the Sinn Fein leader said: "We are of one mind in terms of protecting the Good Friday Agreement.

"In terms of the need for a backstop.

"We have said to him that there is a backstop. It is the backstop. It is the only backstop that there is. And that it represents the bottom line for us.

"He has heard that message very, very clearly.

"We have also set out for him that in the event of a crash, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, that the Irish question will loom even larger in British politics.

"Because in those circumstances there will be a democratic imperative to reach for the Good Friday Agreement and to trigger the referendum provision in that agreement and to put the issue of the border and Irish unity to the people."

Asked if the Labour leader agreed with Sinn Fein's stance on a border poll, Ms McDonald said: "He understands that clearly, as does Mrs May, that I'm making statements of fact here.

"It is a fact that the Good Friday Agreement provides a mechanism for a democratic decision on the border and on Irish unity."

In a statement issued after the meeting, Ms McDonald added: "We stressed the need to protect Irish interests in Brexit and have the power sharing institutions of the North re-established on the basis of the agreements, rights and respect. The Labour leader agreed in the Brexit process the Good Friday Agreement must be protected and there could be no return to the borders of the past."An investigation has been launched and officers are appealing for witnesses to Sundays crash (David Cheskin/PA)

A man has died days after being involved in a car crash which left him needing treatment in hospital.

The 69-year-old sustained minor injuries in the crash on the A912, south of the junction leading to the disused Balcanquhal Quarry in Perthshire, at 7.40am on Sunday.

He was the passenger in a Toyota Yaris and was taken to Perth Royal Infirmary by the Scottish Ambulance Service for treatment with the 71-year-old female driver.

They were later released but police say the man died in the early hours of Thursday morning at an address in Glenrothes.

An investigation has been launched and officers are appealing for witnesses to Sundays crash.

FATAL ROAD TRAFFIC COLLISION, A912, NEAR TO THE BALCANQUHAL QUARRY We are investigating following a fatal road... Posted by Fife Police Division on Thursday, February 14, 2019

Sergeant Ewan Pearce, of Fife Divisions Road Policing Unit, said: This is a tragic incident and our thoughts are with the gentlemans family at this time.

We are now investigating this collision and I would ask anyone who was on A912, near to the disused Balcanquhal Quarry, on Sunday, February 10, and has any information that can assist our inquiries, to please get in touch with us as soon as possible.

The 35-year-old male driver of the silver Mercedes Sprinter that was also involved in the incident was uninjured.

Those with information can contact 101, quoting incident number 1310 of February 10, or anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.Zofija Kaczan died after being attacked by Artur Waszkiewicz in a street robbery (Derbyshire Police/PA)

A sordid and petty criminal has been handed a 15-year prison sentence for killing a 100-year-old Nazi prison camp survivor in a street robbery.

Self-confessed heroin addict Artur Waszkiewicz attacked Zofija Kaczan from behind as she was walking to church  knocking her to the ground, snatching her handbag and leaving her bleeding in the road on May 28 last year.

Polish-born widow Ms Kaczan survived the unimaginable horror of a prison camp and even imminent execution at the hands of the Nazis in her home country  but her life was instead ended by the drug addict who needed 20 to buy heroin.

Expand Close Polish-born Zofija Kaczan died after suffering multiple injuries in an attack in Derby on May 28 (Stacia Fitzsimmons/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook

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Ms Kaczan, who had prayed for the mugger shortly after the robbery, suffered multiple injuries including a fractured neck and cheekbone  something a judge described as a crime of the meanest, most despicable type.

She died from pneumonia in hospital on June 6  a condition brought on by the injuries from the attack close to the junction of St Chads Road and Empress Road in Normanton, Derby.

Waszkiewicz, of Hilary Road in Shepherds Bush, west London, was unanimously convicted of manslaughter and robbery by a jury at Derby Crown Court on Wednesday.

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As the 40-year-old was sentenced on Thursday, Waszkiewicz, who was also born in Poland, bowed his head throughout the sentencing hearing flanked by one dock officer.

The muggers latest convictions have been added to a series of other offences  including battery, shoplifting, creating fake identity documents and motoring offences.

After striking Ms Kaczan from behind, Waszkiewicz then snatched her green handbag with so much force that the handle was ripped off and the pensioner was left with severe bruising on her arm.

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Jailing Waszkiewicz, Judge Nicholas Dean QC said: In this trial, you demonstrated the arrogance of the cowardly petty criminal you are.

The evidence you faced overwhelmingly showed you to have been the man who attacked Zofija Kaczan on May 28 last year, soon after her 100th birthday.

True to your nature as a petty criminal and heroin addict, this was opportunist crime of the meanest, most despicable type.

The judge continued: You are a coward. Of course, you did not know that Mrs Kaczan was as old as 100 years, but you certainly knew she was elderly, and you could see that she was diminutive  she was vulnerable and that you knew full well when you chose to attack her.

You pushed her from behind with considerable force and at the same time you snatched her handbag, again with considerable force.

All this for modest gain and for you to satisfy your craving for heroin.

There is tragic irony in the fact that Mrs Kaczan had survived the unimaginable horror of a Nazi concentration camp and slave labour, as well as imminent execution  only to meet her end because of the cowardly and sordid actions of a petty criminal and drug addict on the streets of Derby.

The judge added: Mrs Kaczan would not have wanted her life to be defined by the circumstances of her death. She had prayed for and forgiven her attacker which is testament to the good person she was.

Ms Kaczan had been separated from her family during the war but had managed to find peace with her husband when she moved to Derby in 1948.

Friends said she did not want to celebrate her 100th birthday because the day marked the same date she had been sentenced to death by the Nazis.

Police arrested Waszkiewicz after finding his fingerprint on a receipt in the handbag and spotting his Seat Leon car on CCTV at the scene at the time of the attack.

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He attempted to cover his tracks in the days following the robbery  cleaning his car, drastically altering his appearance and changing the insurance details on the car.

Despite his efforts, the killer was arrested after he was found hiding under a bed at his mothers address in Shepherds Bush.

When questioned by police, Waszkiewicz originally said he was too unfit to be interviewed due to his withdrawal from heroin.

His trial heard he was so desperate to find cash for drugs that he had tried to sell his dog, and asked neighbour John Shinners for money.

He needed an easy target to steal from and decided to pick on small, vulnerable Ms Kaczan.

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The muggers defence barrister David Nathan QC told the court: Mr Waszkiewicz did not simply rob Ms Kaczan of her handbag, he robbed her of her life.

I would respectfully submit he is not a monster.

No doubt over the last few months in custody he will have realised what he has thrown away.

After Waszkiewiczs conviction, a spokeswoman for the Polish community of St Maksymilian Kolbe, the church Ms Kaczan attended, said: She had a very difficult early life. Coming to Derby in 1949, she had found a degree of stability and tranquillity. That tranquillity was shattered by the brutal events of May 28 2018.

Despite the pain and suffering that she was in for the last week of her life, she had the capacity to pray for her attacker before she died. We believe she has found peace in the arms of her Heavenly Father.Harry looking at one of his wedding photos on the wall of a Quincey Shelter in Norway (Victoria Jones/PA)

The Duke of Sussex may have been many miles from the UK but two British servicemen on winter weather training in the Arctic Circle ensured the duchess was never far from Harrys mind on Valentines Day.

A tiny makeshift igloo dug into the fresh Norwegian snow was just large enough to fit framed images from Harry and Meghans wedding, while candles and soft music also welcomed the duke as he edged his way inside the Quincey Shelter to meet Lance Corporal Lee Lovack and air engineering technician Kevin Burns.

The royal, spending his first Valentines Day as a married man with hundreds of British military personnel at the Bardufoss training base, laughed as he spotted the mementos.

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You weirdos, he joked.

Its very kind of you to invite me into your private shrine or whatever you want to call it.

And the music, is that part of it? Romantic isnt it.

Speaking afterwards, AET Burns, 36, from Inverness, said: We took him (the duke) through the structure of the shelter, how its made.

He is used to the weather, I think, because he said about exercises he had been on, he looked around at the shelter with the pictures and candles and he said we were weirdos.

Harry spent three hours in the icy wilds of northern Norway, meeting hundreds of servicemen undergoing the gruelling Exercise Clockwork.

Expand Close The temperature when the Duke of Sussex arrived in Norway was minus 2C (28.4F)  much milder than the minus 35C (minus 31F) servicemen and women can expect (Victoria Jones/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp The temperature when the Duke of Sussex arrived in Norway was minus 2C (28.4F)  much milder than the minus 35C (minus 31F) servicemen and women can expect (Victoria Jones/PA)

The duke, who is due to become a father for the first time when the Duchess of Sussex gives birth later this year, arrived by private plane with temperatures just below freezing  much milder than the minus 35C many can expect to experience at the Bardufoss air station, some 200 miles (322km) within the Arctic Circle.

Harrys visit marked the 50th anniversary of Commando Helicopter Force and Joint Helicopter Command deploying to Bardufoss, where military personnel are taught how to survive, operate and fight in the sub-zero conditions and gain experience of operating aircraft in severe cold weather and mountainous environments.

The Duke of Sussex, Captain General @RoyalMarines, meets deployed ranks at Exercise Clockwork, 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle in North Norway a where military personnel are taught how to survive, operate and fight in the extreme cold weather #ExerciseClockwork pic.twitter.com/E6KqJFx6Oc  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) February 14, 2019

The duke, in his role as Captain General Royal Marines, also viewed an Apache AH1 helicopter similar to the one he used to pilot  an experience he said he missed.

Major Huw Raikes, of the Army Air Corp, 34, from London, said: He misses flying the aircraft. He was reminiscing about his experiences, asking what life was like back in Suffolk (where the duke was once based) and reminiscing about a few people we know.

I was suggesting he would be able to start it (the helicopter) up, it all comes back very quickly.

He misses the aircraft, he misses the exercises he had while flying it.

It was a fun period for him  he had a focus, a job and a role. He misses that brotherhood.

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Harry cut a birthday cake marking the 50th anniversary with a sword, and thanked those present for their work.

He said: Its really nice to see you all and know youre having a good time out here. I think most of you would be somewhere else, Salisbury Plain or somewhere miserable, this gives you an opportunity to get out there and use every single day as an experience.

The royal is expected to arrive back at Kensington Palace in time to spend Valentines Day evening with his wife.

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Warrant Officer 1st Class Adrian Shepherd, who has served with CHF for 27 years, said: This is the first time His Royal Highness has visited Joint Helicopter Command since becoming Captain General and it is great that he is doing the visit while were in Norway.

He was able to get a good look at what we do and how we operate in these harsh conditions. He saw the amount of training that goes into it and why it is so important that we do this exercise every year.

It is good for the people out here to see their hard work recognised during a significant year for the exercise.The DUP backed Theresa May's Government in the Commons on the defeated motion supporting her approach to Brexit.

The motion called on MPs to reiterate their support for the approach set out in an earlier set of votes on January 29.

On that occasion, the Commons voted for a Government-backed amendment calling on ministers to re-open negotiations with Brussels on the Northern Ireland backstop.

However it also voted for a non-binding cross-party amendment rejecting a no-deal break with the EU.

Furious MPs said supporting the motion would have amounted to an endorsement of efforts to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

MPs voted by 303 to 258 against the motion.

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The DUP voted against an amendment put forward by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on the government providing for a meaningful vote by February 27, or to rule out a no deal. That amendment was defeated by a majority of 16.

Speaking during the debate the DUP's Westminster leader Nigel Dodds said: "We want to get a deal with the European Union.

"But isn't it the case you take a no deal off the table that's the surest way of ensuring the other side digs in on their current position. That is just a fact of life.

"So those who call for no deal to be taken off the table are actually playing into the hands of the possibility of a no deal."

He said Irish officials "played a crucial role" in the EU talks.

"They can't hide behind Brussels and likewise Brussels can't hide behind Dublin on theses issues," he added.

Lady Sylvia Hermon did not support the government. She asked the Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay if the government would confirm it had "no intention" of replacing the backstop. The minister did not respond.

DUP MP Sammy Wilson said he welcomed the assurance from the Brexit secretary the UK would the EU on March 29 saying that was important as it would give the prime minister the leverage required.

"Ordinary people outside will be thinking what kind of idiots we are here in this house if we think that it is wise to send someone in to negotiate and at the same time say to them 'and by the way you are not allowed to walk away from those negotiations'.

"Ordinary people in the street understand the importance of that."

He also said leaving on the stated date would "remove the element of uncertainty" for businesses and the solution was to be found in the 'Malthouse alternative'.

The plan involves a "recasting" of the Northern Ireland backstop as "free trade agreement-lite" with a commitment on all sides there should be no hard border on the island of Ireland and an extended transition period to December 2021.

Ian Paisley asked for the government to confirm it had begun drafting "textual, legally binding changes to the withdrawal agreement".

Brexit Minister Chris Heaton-Harris said they were "firm" any change would be legally binding but it would not be appropriate to provide a running commentary on the process.

Following the government defeat, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Mrs May needed to accept her strategy had failed and come forward with a plan that could bring people together to prevent the catastrophe of no-deal.A convicted terrorist has been banned from being involved in the running of schools in order to protect children from dangerous influences.

Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, an associate of Anjem Choudary, was barred under Section 128 of the Education Act.

He was previously a proprietor of the unregistered Siddeeq Academy in Tower Hamlets, east London, which closed in 2015 after his arrest.

In 2016 he was jailed for five-and-a-half years, alongside Choudary, for inviting support for Islamic State.

The Government has a duty to protect children from dangerous influencesDepartment for Education

Rahman was released from prison in October 24 last year, prompting Education Secretary Damian Hinds to issue the direction which was made last month but only published on Thursday.

It is the third time powers under section 128 have been exercised since it came into force in September 2014.

The direction states that Rahman is unsuitable to take part in the management of an independent school (including an academy or Free School).

It continues: The barring decision also has the effect of disqualifying the person from being a governor at a maintained school.

As well as the 2016 conviction, in 2006 Rahman was convicted of inciting racial hatred, the following year he was convicted of solicitation to murder.

The direction issued by Mr Hinds further states: He (Rahman) also engaged in social media activity that was aimed at undermining fundamental British values and, in addition, was so inappropriate that, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, it makes Mr Rahman unsuitable to take part in the management of an independent school.

A Department for Education spokesman said: The Government has a duty to protect children from dangerous influences and Mizanur Rahman, who has been convicted under the terrorism act, quite clearly has no place in our schools.

We will always act swiftly and decisively to safeguard our young people and this order is evidence of that.

The first ever barring order was issued in 2015 to Tahir Alam who was at the heart of the alleged Trojan Horse plot by hard-line Muslims to take control of governing boards.

It said he engaged in conduct aimed at undermining fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

In 2017, Waseem Yaqub, former chairman of governors of Al-Hijrah School in Birmingham, was found to have engaged in inappropriate conduct which made him unsuitable to take part in the management of an independent school.

The direction said that: In his various roles on Al-Hijrahs governing body, Mr Yaqub promoted, permitted or failed to challenge inadequate financial monitoring and decision-making on the part of the governing body.An east London schoolgirl who left Britain as a 15-year-old to join Islamic State group is now heavily pregnant and wants to come home.

Shamima Begum was tracked down by The Times to a refugee camp in northern Syria where she is now 19-years-old, the bride of an Islamic State fighter, nine months pregnant and has had two infant children who are dead. Her her husband is in captivity.

Stating that I dont regret coming here, she told The Times: Im not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago.

She also told the paper: The caliphate is over.

There was so much oppression and corruption that I dont think they deserved victory. I know what everyone at home thinks of me as I have read all that was written about me online. But I just want to come home to have my child. Thats all I want right now. Ill do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child.

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She was one of three schoolgirls  along with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase  from Bethnal Green Academy who left their homes and families in February 2015 to join a fourth Bethnal Green schoolgirl in Syria who had left London they year before. They each married an Isis foreign fighter, according to The Times.

Ms Sultana was reported to have been killed in an airstrike on Raqqa in May 2016, while Ms Begum has recently heard second-hand from other people that Miss Abase, and the other schoolgirl who left Britain in 2014, may still be alive.

When she arrived, Miss Begum was put in a house where jihadist brides-to-be waited to be married, she said.

Ms Begum was married 10 days after arriving in Raqqa in 2015 to a Dutchman who had converted to Islam. She claims her husband was later arrested, charged with spying and tortured.

She left Raqqa in January 2017 with her husband but her children, a girl aged a year and nine months old and a three-month-old boy, both died in the recent months. Her son had an unknown illness worsened by malnutrition, The Times said.

She said she had a mostly a normal life in Raqqa, every now and then bombing and stuff.

She told the paper: But when I saw my first severed head in a bin it didnt faze me at all. It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam. I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance.

The family went to Baghuz and she left there two weeks ago along a three-mile long corridor east of the town. Her husband surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters allied to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and she has not seen him since, according to The Times.

The Home Office said it does not comment on individual cases, although anyone who returns to the UK after travelling to IS territory faces criminal investigation and stricter laws are now in place.

Security Minister Ben Wallace said: The UK advises against all travel to Syria and parts of Iraq. Anyone who does travel to these areas, for whatever reason, is putting themselves in considerable danger.

Everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police to determine if they have committed criminal offences, and to ensure that they do not pose a threat to our national security.

There are a range of terrorism offences where individuals can be convicted for crimes committed overseas and we can also use Temporary Exclusion Orders to control an individuals return to the UK.Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street, London, for the House of Commons ahead of a Brexit vote. (Steve Parsons/PA)

Theresa May has suffered another humiliating Commons defeat after MPs again voted down her latest Brexit plans.

On another dramatic day at Westminster, MPs voted by 303 to 258 against the motion endorsing the Governments approach.

The defeat came after the pro-Brexit Tory European Research Group announced they had taken a collective decision to abstain.

Heres the latest from Westminster:

6.40pm

Jeremy Corbyn reacts to MPs voting down the Governments motion.

6.35pm

Following the vote, a Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister would continue with her strategy to secure changes to the backstop.

Jeremy Corbyn yet again put partisan considerations ahead of the national interest  and yet again, by voting against the Governments motion, he is in effect voting to make no deal more likely, the spokesman said.

While we didnt secure the support of the Commons this evening, the Prime Minister continues to believe, and the debate itself indicated, that far from objecting to securing changes to the backstop that will allow us to leave with a deal, there was a concern from some Conservative colleagues about taking no deal off the table at this stage.

The motion on January 29 remains the only one the House of Commons has passed expressing what it does want  and that is legally binding changes to address concerns about the backstop. The Government will continue to pursue this with the EU to ensure we leave on time on March 29.

6.30pm

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said: The vote this evening demonstrates a complete failure of Theresa Mays Tory Government and Parliaments rejection of more reckless time-wasting as they drag us closer and closer to the cliff edge.

Theresa Mays brinkmanship may seem to her as a clever tactic in trying to force MPs to support her deal, but tonight Parliament rejected this ploy. The reality is the Prime Ministers political game in refusing to take no deal off the table is having a serious effect on peoples day-to-day lives.

The Liberal Democrats have campaigned for a peoples vote for over two years. Tonights defeat of the Government makes clear it is long overdue that the Prime Minister took no deal off the table, and offered the public a final say on Brexit with the option to remain in the EU.

6.22pm

Pro-Europe Tory Anna Soubry told the Press Association: This is a serious blow to the credibility of the Prime Minister.

We are in such a mess, Im afraid, that Parliament is going to have to take back control of this.

It is a symbol, Im afraid, of the profound lack of leadership, actually, in both political parties.

6.20pm

Asked if the defeat weakened the PM in Brussels, Justice Minister Rory Stewart told the Press Association: Im not so sure about that.

I think either Brussels wants to get a deal through, or make a concession, or they dont.

6.15pm

6.05pm

Leading Tory eurosceptic Sir Bernard Jenkin described the outcome of the votes as a fiasco for the Government.

Sir Bernard told Sky News: Its an unfortunate fiasco that the Governments clumsiness created.

I dont know why the Government doesnt consult a bit more widely before they table these motions. There are 110 eurosceptic Tory MPs who helped defeat the Withdrawal Agreement  not one of us was consulted.

He played down the significance of the result, saying: We dont attach much significance to it. What matters is the votes in a fortnights time when the Government has continued to pursue changes to the backstop.

6.02pm

Speaker John Bercow replied: It is not obligatory for the Prime Minister to be present on this occasion  other representatives of the Treasury bench are here and if the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU wants to take to the despatch box its open to him to do so, but hes not obliged to do so, or if the Government Chief Whip wants to do so chuntering from a sedentary position.

Both Stephen Barclay and Julian Smith declined to answer to shouts from the opposition benches.

Mr Bercow added: Its not incumbent upon them, theyve been invited but they are not obliged to do so.

6pm

To shouts of where is she?, Jeremy Corbyn called for the Prime Minister to work with him to prevent a catastrophic no-deal Brexit.

Its surprising the Prime Minister is not even here to hear the result of this vote, he said.

I was going to ask her to come to the despatch box now and admit her strategy has failed and bring forward to the House a coherent plan.

A coherent plan that can deal with the stresses and anxieties that so many people all over over this country are feeling that can be brought to this House so we can make some progress forward to bring people together and prevent a catastrophic no-deal Brexit on 29th March.

5.57pm

Labour MP David Lammy, a supporter of the Best for Britain campaign for a second referendum, said: This is a Valentines Day massacre for the Government and a damning indictment of the Prime Ministers Brexit plan.

As well as enjoying another humiliating defeat, the Government has been forced into publishing its no-deal advice. Now we wait to see what these papers contain.

No doubt, having been kept in the dark until now, they give further weight to the mountain of evidence that leaving the EU without a deal will be an economic, security and political catastrophe.

The Prime Minister has nowhere left to hide. Her threats to throw the country off a cliff-edge if MPs do not vote for her deal will be exposed as deeply cynical by a leader more concerned with the future of her party than her country.

She should now rule out no-deal and put her deal to a public vote with the option of remaining in the EU.

5.55pm

Following the result, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded the Prime Minister, who was absent from the Chamber, come back to MPs with a coherent plan.

He said: Tonights vote shows theres no majority for the Prime Ministers course of action, and yet again her Government has been defeated.

The Government cannot keep on ignoring Parliament or ploughing on towards 29th March without a coherent plan.

She cant keep on just running down the clock and hoping that something will turn up that will save her day and save her face.

5.45pm

MPs have rejected a motion to endorse the Governments approach to Brexit by 303 votes to 258  majority 45.

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5.40pm

Labours amendment was defeated by 16 votes.

5.30pm

MPs defeated the SNP amendment to extend the Article 50 period.

They rejected amendment I by 315 votes to 93, majority 222.

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5.25pm

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5.15pm

MPs have defeated Labours proposal to push Theresa May to either put her Brexit deal to a Commons vote by February 27 or give Parliament the opportunity to take control of the process.

They rejected amendment A by 322 votes to 306, majority 16.

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5.10pm

Pro-EU Conservative Anna Soubry confirmed she would not push her Brexit amendment to a vote in the House of Commons, but said she would be ready to table it again in a fortnights time if the Government failed to meet her demand to publish advice it has received on the economic impact of no-deal.

Government has agreed to meet to identify and then publish the relevant papers detailing the devastating effect a #NoDeal #Brexit will have on businessas and trade. No need to push my amendment to a vote & if Govt does none of the above Iall be back on Feb 27 ...  Anna Soubry (@Anna_Soubry) February 14, 2019

5.05pm

European Research Group deputy chairman Steve Baker said there has been a collective decision by the group to abstain on the main Brexit motion if it is unamended.

4.45pm

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4.30pm

Theresa May has a scared duty not to deliver Brexit, but to prevent it, former Attorney General Dominic Grieve said.

He also said that if the PM fails to stop behaving in this absolutely crazy fashion, then: There is going to become a time, when my ability to support this Government is going to run out completely.

The MP for Beaconsfield said his party leader talks about her sacred duty over Brexit, but he dismissed it as a pretty profane matter.

He said: To plunge us into a national crisis, it seems to me that we have a scared duty to prevent it  and I am therefore really alarmed that I find that she does not appear to understand that.

4.20pm

Away from the Commons, Mrs May has had further phone calls with EU leaders in a bid to keep lines of communication open.

She has spoken with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Austrias Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, prime minister Stefan Lofven of Sweden and Portuguese premier Antonio Costa today, after conversations with French President Emmanuel Macron and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday evening.

4pm

MPs are debating a number of amendments to the Prime Minister's motion on leaving the European Union, but what are amendments and how do they work?



We asked Liam Laurence Smyth, the Commons Clerk of Legislation, to explain#BrexitNextSteps pic.twitter.com/Gy40gCMS0g  UK House of Commons (@HouseofCommons) February 14, 2019

3.40pm

Tory Brexiteer Sir William Cash (Stone) said he could not vote for the Government motion, which he labelled doublethink and said further undermines public trust.

He said: Were now truly entering the world of George Orwells Ministry of Truth.

In his book 1984 Orwell said doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in ones mind simultaneously and expecting both of them.

This double motion is doublethink in action and I cannot possibly vote for it.

3.15pm

Protests continue outside Parliament while MPs debate.

2.50pm

Labour MP Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) confirmed she will table an amendment to extend Article 50 in the event of no deal, which she said was vital to avoid living in a fantasy world where no deal could be avoided in another way.

Ms Cooper, who chairs the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: If we dont do something sensible like this its like were just all living in a fantasy world in which we talk about alternative arrangements we say something is going to come along and sort it out and it just doesnt.

Its as if were all standing around admiring the finery of the Emperors new clothes and actually the Emperor is running around stark naked and everyone is laughing at us  or at least they would be if it wasnt so sad.

So I really hope the Government will show some responsibility, I hope they will end up supporting this Bill and I hope they will end up frankly sorting it out even before we get to that point, before it is too late.

2.40pm

Tory former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab indicated he may not support the Government in tonights vote.

Mr Raab said: We have heard nothing about whether (the Malthouse Compromise) has been formally tabled with our EU friends and partners.

I understand it has been raised and discussed with Michel Barnier but has a document, a written version of this, actually been shared? This was the basis on which the Brady amendment was adopted and I think it is a legitimate question to ask.

At the moment I am struggling with the idea of voting for the principled motion but I will listen very carefully to the further assurances ministers will give in winding up because I would rather be in a position of supporting the Government.

2.20pm

European Research Group chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg said it was highly unlikely that eurosceptic Tories would vote against the Government in Thursday evenings votes.

Mr Rees-Mogg told ITV News: Todays business is not fundamentally important. It is all about where the Government is going.

This is a secondary issue, rather than a primary one, and that is why I think it is highly unlikely people will be voting against this motion.

Could the ERG rebellion be over?



Jacob Rees-Mogg tells @PaulBrandITV why he thinks it's 'highly unlikely people will be voting against' the government Brexit motion: https://t.co/qItFAoAL06 pic.twitter.com/Q5sVvtDaUQ  ITV News (@itvnews) February 14, 2019

2.15pm

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Meanwhile in Dublin, Irish premier Leo Varadkar denied being complacent over the UK crashing out of the EU.

He said: As we are not certain we have put enormous preparations into making sure that Ireland is as ready as we can be for a no-deal, so this is not complacency, but it is competence.

Ireland certainly wants an orderly Brexit, rather than an disorderly one, the UK does too, so does the EU.

When everybody wants that to happen we will work extremely hard to achieve that but dont think for a second that is complacency at all. We are making all the preparations for a no-deal.

2pm

Sir Keir said MPs must now put a hard stop to running down the clock and so Labour will back the Yvette Cooper amendment later this month calling for an extension to Article 50 in the event of no deal being agreed by mid-March.

The simple fact is this, we cant declare that we are against a no-deal outcome and then do nothing, he said.

The Government is failing to act so we must act, hence the next step is to ensure a hard stop to running down the clock to ensure that on 27th February the Prime Minister must either put her deal or allow Parliament to decide what happens next.

I would hope that anyone who genuinely opposes no deal would see that an extension by that date, 13th March, is unavoidable.

1.45pm

Sir Keir Starmer came under pressure from his own party colleagues to confirm holding another referendum on the Brexit deal would now be the next step for Labour.

Labour MP Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) urged him to act sooner rather than later and said: The Government has clearly rejected Labours offer of a less damaging Brexit and to wait until the end of March to activate our unanimously agreed conference policy in favour of a public vote would be far, far too late.

Sir Keir admitted the Prime Minister had been non-committal but said discussions continued, although he refused to disclose details as they were confidential.

He added: There must come a point where the options are clarified and reduced, then voted upon, and I agree with that proposition and it needs to be done before the end of March.

1.40pm

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1.20pm

Wallasey Labour MP Angela Eagle intervened in Sir Keirs speech, saying: Is he not as astonished as I am that we have a Prime Minister and a Government that are willing to play this kind of reckless gamble with the future prosperity of our country just to keep their rotten party together.

Sir Keir replied: Well it is a gamble.

He added: The plan is to put essentially the same deal back to this House as a binary choice, my deal or no deal. Perhaps with some additional words which the attorney (general) can say have real significance, but it will be essentially the same deal. That is not holding your nerve, that is plain reckless and we have to say no.

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1.20pm

Sir Keir drew on his past dealings with the PM as he said he did not think Mrs May would take the UK out of the EU without a deal because of her deep sense of duty.

The former Director of Public Prosecutions said he had worked with Mrs May when she was Home Secretary, saying she had a deep sense of duty, adding: And deep down I do not think that this Prime Minister will take us out of the EU on the 29th of March, and thats the basis that we should be having this conversation.

Sir Keir also suggested the likelihood of getting an improved deal which fixes the issues some MPs have with the backstop before we are due to exit the EU are slim.

The shadow Brexit secretary said: The simple and painful truth is this; if there had been a viable alternative to the backstop there would never have been a backstop.

1.15pm

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer urged MPs not to be fooled the Prime Minister was continuing to negotiate in earnest.

He said: It is obvious what the Prime Minister is up to  she is pretending to make progress while running down the clock.

A non-update every other week to buy another two weeks of process, inching ever closer to the 29th March deadline in 43 days. We should not be fooled.

Shadow Brexit Secretary, @Keir_Starmer is speaking in favour of @jeremycorbyn's amendment to the #BrexitNextSteps motion, Amendment (a).



We asked why this amendment has been put forward. pic.twitter.com/EcEYfGXuBv  UK House of Commons (@HouseofCommons) February 14, 2019

1.10pm

Mr Barclay said the Malthouse Compromise had been taken forward with the EU and raised with the EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, who had initial concerns.

Tory MP Charlie Elphicke (Dover) asked if the so-called alternative arrangements were now Government policy and asked will he take a fully worked up proposal to the EU as part of negotiations.

Mr Barclay said: We have taken it forward with the EU  I have raised it with Michel Barnier and I will be discussing it again with him.

The Malthouse Compromise contains two choices to be offered to the EU: one for how the UK will leave with a deal, and one for how it will leave without. Plan A is similar to the current Withdrawal Agreement, but with changes to the Irish backstop and the implementation period. Plan B assumes that agreement on the Withdrawal Agreement is not possible and creates a transitional standstill period.

1pm

Referring to the position of European leaders, Mr Barclay said: If the EU were to make changes to the backstop, whether that would enable a deal to pass That is why its important a clear message is sent from this House as part of those negotiations.

Colleagues should be in no doubt that the EU will be watching our votes tonight carefully for any sign that our resolve is weakening.

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12.50pm

Mr Barclay said the desire for a deal was shared by many across the EU because they recognise that no deal is in neither sides interests. They recognise that no deal is disruptive.

DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds intervened: Of course we want to get a deal with the EU, but isnt it the case that if you take no deal off the table thats the surest way of ensuring the other side dig in on their current position?

So those who call for no deal to be taken off the table are actually playing into the hands of the possibility of a no deal.

No news is not always good news. EU27 still waiting for concrete, realistic proposals from London on how to break #Brexit impasse. pic.twitter.com/8vcDlAJeAn  Charles Michel (@eucopresident) February 13, 2019

12.40pm

Opening the debate the Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said Theresa May must be given more time to take Parliaments mandate for a deal to the EU.

He said: On the 29th of January a majority of honourable and right honourable members told this House, and our country, that they would support a deal.

But this support was conditional, that members were prepared to compromise on issues but not on the overriding issue of the backstop.

Mr Barclay said todays motion confirms the Commons support for Sir Graham Bradys amendment which was passed last month, which in effect gives this Government an instruction which has been taken to our European partners.

He added it is clear the priority is to address the indefinite nature of the backstop.

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12.20pm

Commons Speaker John Bercow has selected three amendments for consideration:

 Amendment A, Labours proposal to push Theresa May to either put her Brexit deal to a Commons vote by February 27 or give Parliament the opportunity to take control of the process.

 Amendment I, the SNP push to extend the Article 50 period.

 Amendment E, Tory former minister Anna Soubry, joined by colleagues and MPs from other parties, with a proposal for the Government to publish within seven days the most recent official briefing document, relating to business and trade, on the implications of a no-deal Brexit presented to Cabinet.Michael D Higgins speaks during his visit to the Liverpool Irish Centre (Peter Byrne/PA)

The Irish president has called for Britain and Ireland to build on their links as he hailed the extraordinary connection Liverpool has with his country.

Michael D Higgins and wife Sabina visited the Liverpool Irish Centre on Wednesday on the final day of their visit to England.

More than 200 people turned out to see the president as he made a speech and posed for photos.

In President Higginsa first term in office, his first official visit overseas was to #Liverpool.



Now, on his first official visit of his second term, President Higgins is back in the same city.https://t.co/zkMhmfxXg7 pic.twitter.com/AXT7VWenux  President of Ireland (@PresidentIRL) February 13, 2019

He said: Irrespective of whatever happens in proximate political events its so important that we build on those important links of interaction we have.

He praised the commitment of people at the centre in their care for the community.

Mr Higgins spoke about the contribution Irish people had made to the infrastructure of Merseyside, including the building of the Manchester Ship Canal, roads and houses, after hundreds of thousands emigrated to Liverpool in the 1800s.

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He said Ireland could claim three of the Beatles, adding: I think Ringo is the only one who gets away.

There is no area of life into which we will not find this, he said.

This is what is happening in the best of worlds when people share life together.

He said the relationship between England and Ireland had reached a point of maturity and commented on the countries shared history.

He said: We have moved to a new place in which we are able to walk in the shoes of each other and be able to concentrate on the present and future.

Liverpool, this most Irish of cities, has such an extraordinary connection with Ireland.

Mr Higgins said he was glad to be back at the centre, which he first visited in 2012 shortly after he had been elected for his first term.

He began his visit to England in Birmingham on Monday, and on Tuesday met the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall at Liverpools Victoria Gallery and Museum.

The president was shown more of Liverpools Irish connections on Wednesday afternoon as he visited the citys Central Library.

Catherine Morris, the librarys first writer in residence, showed him documents from the archives including a workhouse register and letters from Irish children who were sent abroad by the Catholic Emigration Association.

Among those included in the workhouse register was a 12-year-old Michael Higgins, who had arrived at the citys Clarence Dock from Ireland and was put in the workhouse with his family in 1897.

Mr and Mrs Higgins also visited Liverpools World Museum, where they viewed Aztec manuscript the Codex Fejervary-Mayer.Work continues at the site of the new National Childrens Hospital at St. James Hospital in Dublin (Brian Lawless/PA)

The Government has rejected a claim that retendering the construction contract for the National Childrens Hospital would save half a billion euro.

Independent TD Mick Wallace told the Dail that cancelling the current deal would make financial sense in the long term.

The predicted cost of the new hospital, on the campus of St Jamess Hospital in Dublin, has soared from an original estimate of 650 million euro to more than 1.7 billion euro.

The controversial overrun has heaped pressure on Health Minister Simon Harris.

An independent inquiry by PWC, which was set up to assess the errors, is expected to be completed by the end of next month.

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Mr Wallace said it was not too late to cancel the current contract before costs spiralled further.

During leaders questions he told Tanaiste Simon Coveney: We have not reached a point of no return.

The extra cost that we are looking at now will be far exceeded in time if you continue on this road. I think you need to stop and retender.

The Wexford TD, a property developer himself, added that such a complex engineering project was better suited to a re-measurable contract rather than the current fixed price model.

I suggest you could save yourself in the region of half a billion if you retender it and go for a measurable contract rather than stick with a fixed price contract which is going to cost you a lot more than 1.7 billion, he said.

I have already said I dont expect it to stop at 2.2 billion.

Mr Coveney acknowledged that Mr Wallace was bringing expertise to the debate.

But he insisted the advice being given to Government was that retendering would not result in a saving.

He said a significant mistake had been made when costs and quantities were initially estimated.

Those mistakes have been corrected and we now have a more expensive project but nobody is suggesting, as far as I am aware of in terms of the advice to Government, that by retendering here we would get this done for less money, he said.

My understanding is that retendering this project at this stage to deliver the same project would not result in a significant saving of moneySimon Coveney

So I think it is important not to make suggestions here without backing that up.

My understanding is that retendering this project at this stage to deliver the same project would not result in a significant saving of money.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he will ensure lessons will be learned and that the project will be delivered on time and on budget.

Speaking at Dublin airport on Thursday, he said: We shouldnt lose sight of the bigger picture here. The National Childrens Hospital is a project that has been spoken about since the 60s, was called for by doctors in 1993, and is now at long last under construction.

When its built, just like so many other projects, nobody is going to regret that we built it and no one is going to think its a bad investment.

There are many problems, and part of what PWC is doing is working out exactly what went wrong and how things might have been done differently.

The decision was made to go for a two-phase contract so we knew what the first phase cost, and only had an estimate for the second phase which turned out to be wrong.Niall Cox, who appeared with Karen McDonald at Dungannon Magistrates Court charged with the murder of Pat Ward

A judge was required to clear a courtroom after an outburst from family and friends of Pat Ward as two people accused of his murder were returned to the cells after being charged.

Despite a very heavy police presence at Dungannon Magistrates Court prior to and during the hearing, emotions boiled over.

Mr Ward was murdered in what has been described as a brutal, frenzied attack. His body was discovered in a Clogher alleyway last Saturday morning.

The 30-year-old was a married father of four children all aged under 11 and a member of the Travelling community.

Originally from Sligo, it is understood he only moved to the Clogher area recently.

The family of Mr Ward had arrived at court early, visibility distressed and some looking exhausted.

One of his son's clutched a framed photograph of his father to his chest.

Appearing in the dock were Niall Cox (23) and his partner Karen Marie McDonald (33), both of McCrea Park, Clogher. Cox is originally from Sligo and, prior to moving to Tyrone, resided in Kesh, Co Fermanagh.

They are jointly charged with murdering Mr Ward on February 9.

More than 50 relatives and friends of the victim were in the public gallery, with some required to stand.

Separating them from the dock was a row of 11 police officers, with others standing in a position to block access to the custody door from where the pair emerged.

On being brought to the dock, some of those in the gallery rose to their feet and started to shout abuse.

District Judge John Meehan warned: "I will have the court cleared if required.

"There will be no breach of the peace in this court or the justice process."

Mr Ward's family comforted each other, some of whom sobbed uncontrollably as the charges were read.

His widow moved to the side of the dock, accompanied by a police liaison officer, and through tears, fixed her eyes on the accused throughout the short hearing.

Slightly behind her, Mr Ward's mother wept uncontrollably. Both women were comforted by family members.

A detective inspector confirmed the charges against both Cox and McDonald could be connected.

No details of the incident were disclosed and there was no application for bail at this stage.

Cox and McDonald spoke only to confirm their identities and that they understood the charges.

Before being removed to the cells a defence lawyer for Cox advised the court: "Once issues such as an address have been sorted it is anticipated bail will be applied for."

Mr Meehan remanded the pair in custody to appear again by video-link next month.

On being returned to the cells, tensions boiled over as members of the victim's family applauded and jeered loudly, shouting various comments.

With matters very tense, Judge Meehan ordered the court to be cleared.

Mr Ward's family and friends left quietly without further incident.

Speaking outside court afterwards, his widow, who carried a framed photograph of her husband during the hearing, said: "This is a pain that will never go away."At the launch of the exhibition in the Guildhall in Londonderry were Mary Hamilton, Denis Bradley, Mayor John Boyle, Paul Gallagher from The Injured Group, Alan McBride, WAVE chairperson, and Gerry Canning, The Injured Group

Northern Ireland's political parties are incapable of dealing with legacy issues, it has been claimed.

Denis Bradley, co-author of a report into the legacy of the Troubles with Archbishop Robin Eames, said responsibility should be given to the British and Irish governments.

Mr Bradley was speaking at the opening of an exhibition by the Wave Trauma Centre victims' group in Londonderry.

The exhibition, which features 10 people from across Northern Ireland left with severe life-changing and life-limiting injuries, is part of Wave's pension campaign.

The organisation is seeking a small pension for around 500 of the most disabled Troubles victims - a move that would cost the Government approximately 5m per year.

Mr Bradley, former vice-chairman of the Policing Board and a former priest, said the collapse of Stormont offered the group its best chance of success over the pensions.

He explained: "There has never been a better time to solve this. The reason for that is that in our report we said our local politicians could not deal with the past - the only people to deal with the past were the (British and Irish) governments.

"The two governments didn't ask our politicians to deal with policing - they dealt with it. They didn't ask the local politicians to deal with decommissioning - they dealt with it. They should never have asked our local political parties to deal with the past. They cannot do it.

"They will fight this to kingdom come and they will cry about all the compassion they have for people in wheelchairs, but they will not solve it.

"This is the moment to solve it. Karen Bradley, go to her, petition her, fight her. Simon Coveney, go to him, fight him.

"This is the moment to challenge both governments and to solve this and solve it as soon as possible.

"Forget our local political parties. Our local political parties will say, 'Thank God for that'."

Alan McBride, a spokesman for the Wave victims, said he also believed the Secretary of State could bring their campaign to a satisfactory end.

"We have been asking the Government now for the past seven years to make this pension a reality," he said.

"We didn't fare that well when the Assembly was up and running.

"Everyone supported the pension, but they couldn't make it happen because of the eligibility issues around Sinn Fein and the DUP.

"There is an opportunity now for Westminster to do something the Assembly couldn't do.

"We are asking Karen Bradley to take this away from our politicians and to do it now that the Assembly is down.

"Now is the time to make this pension become a reality. We are hopeful it will happen."Tory MPs have been warned against rebelling in a key Commons vote on the Prime Ministers EU withdrawal stance as it could send the wrong signal to Brussels.

Eurosceptic Conservatives are threatening to oppose the Governments motion when the Commons votes again on Brexit options on Thursday evening.

Tory critics insist the motion effectively means Theresa May is abandoning a no-deal exit option.

Parliament has got a duty to ensure that we send the correct signals that represent those views of the British people and represent them to those we are negotiating withLiam Fox

But International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told potential rebels Parliament was not an internal debating society and European negotiators would be watching to see if MPs were showing consistency.

What we say is looked at and listened to by those that we are negotiating with, he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

They will be looking to see whether Parliament is showing consistency because in the debates and the votes we had recently there were two things: one was that Parliament said we dont want there to be no deal, and that we will sign up to the Prime Ministers deal if we are able to get changes to the Irish backstop.

Our European partners will be watching our debate and listening today to see if they get the impression that if they were to make those concessions, Parliament would definitely deliver on that.

Dr Fox added: I think that theres a danger that we send the wrong signals, and I think that we need to understand that the public want us to leave the European Union but they would prefer us to leave the European Union with a deal.

And therefore Parliament has got a duty to ensure that we send the correct signals that represent those views of the British people and represent them to those we are negotiating with.

But former Brexit minister Steve Baker said Conservatives should not be associated with anything that seems to take no deal off the table.

Members of the European Research Group of Leave-backing Tories have been pressing the Government for two days to amend the wording of the motion to avoid any suggestion that it endorsed a block on no-deal. But Downing Street confirmed on Thursday morning that it would not be changed.

ERG sources said conversations would continue over the course of the day and declined to put any figure on the size of any potential rebellion.

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But Eurosceptic backbencher Lee Rowley told the Press Association: The Government is essentially asking me to vote for something tonight  taking no deal off the table  which isnt Government policy.

We are all genuinely scratching our heads this morning asking what on Earth they are doing. Instead of putting forward badly-worded motions, the Government should be properly focusing on the Malthouse compromise  the one and only option which brings together Leavers and Remainers and, vitally, will command a majority in Parliament.

Mrs Mays official spokesman told reporters: It is important that MPs support the Prime Minister today in order to send another clear message to Brussels on the need to address Parliaments concerns about the backstop, so we cna leave on time with a deal on March 29.

The latest showdown comes as European Council president Donald Tusk expressed frustration at a lack of progress in London.

No news is not always good news. EU27 still waiting for concrete, realistic proposals from London on how to break #Brexit impasse. pic.twitter.com/8vcDlAJeAn  Charles Michel (@eucopresident) February 13, 2019

He tweeted: No news is not always good news. EU27 still waiting for concrete, realistic proposals from London on how to break #Brexit impasse.

Dutch PM Mark Rutte told the Financial Times the Netherlands is already benefiting from businesses relocating from a diminished Britain.

Mrs Mays spokesman said that the PM had been clear about her position in talks with EU leaders including Mr Tusk over the past fortnight.

I dont think the Prime Minister had left her fellow leaders in any doubt as to what is necessary in order for Parliament to support the deal, he said.

Responding to Mr Ruttes comment, the PMs spokesman added: I disagree entirely. Employment is at a record high, exports are at a record high, companies are continuing to invest in the UK.

Deloitte named the UK as Europes leading destination for foreign direct investment and London as the worlds top city for investment just last month.

In a bid to keep lines open with EU leaders, Mrs May spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday evening and is expected to make further phone calls over the course of Thursday.

But she faces an immediate threat in the Commons as Tory Brexiteers have expressed concern over part of the Government motion.

Many back the fact it reiterates support for the direction agreed on January 29, when MPs supported an amendment authorising Mrs May to return to Brussels to renegotiate the controversial Irish backstop.

But members of the backbench European Research Group (ERG) say it effectively endorses another amendment approved by MPs that day, which rules out no deal but is not binding on the Government.

Though Mrs May is expected to be able to weather a defeat on the Government motion, such an outcome would be embarrassing as she seeks to get the EU to agree to changes regarding withdrawal proposals.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn is facing up to 10 resignations from Labours top team if he fails to push the case for a new Brexit referendum, according to The Guardian.

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Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has insisted that the option of a new Brexit poll remains on the table as he admitted Labours preferred scenario of a snap general election is looking unlikely.

Labour has tabled an amendment to the Government motion requiring Mrs May to either put her deal to a Commons vote by February 27 or allow Parliament to take control of the process.

The Labour leadership is also set to back a proposal from backbencher Yvette Cooper, expected to be debated on February 27, that would require a vote by the middle of March on delaying Brexit.Police are investigating a report that schoolgirls were spied on as they used the changing room of a County Antrim leisure centre

Police are investigating a report that schoolgirls were spied on as they used the changing room of a Northern Ireland leisure centre.

A woman has said her daughter was left traumatised after a person used a mirror with a camera attached in Ballymena's Seven Towers Leisure Centre earlier this month.

Writing on social media, the woman said: "My daughter and other girls were very upset about an incident that happened in the cubicles. Some sick person using a mirror with a camera attached to it was looking at them while they were getting changed.

"I am really furious at what has happened.

"Now my daughter is afraid to go back swimming."

The leisure centre staff are working with the police, but Councillor Donna Anderson said consideration should be given to installing floor to ceiling partitions in all council changing facilities.

She described the incident as "truly shocking" and added: "I want to offer my best wishes to the schoolchildren affected.

"I know the leisure centre is working closely with the police investigation and are doing everything they can to reassure parents, including increasing the number of staff in the changing rooms."

Ms Anderson said shared changing facilities are becoming more common "but they do throw up an increased potential for incidents like this".

"Perhaps council needs to review what can be done to make everyone safer, but particularly with children using shared changing rooms and one possible solution could be ceiling to floor cubicles," she said.

"This was a truly shocking incident and I know it is something that all parents will be alarmed by, but I know the council do take public safety very seriously, demonstrated in the speed at which this incident was reported to the police."

A Mid and East Antrim Council spokeswoman said: "Leisure staff are committed to protecting children and young people and follow robust safeguarding procedures. Council is a member of Leisure Watch.

"Council wishes to reassure visitors that this is an extremely rare incident and more staff will continue to be deployed to cover changing rooms."

PSNI Inspector Michelle O'Neill said: "Police in Ballymena are investigating an incident reported to have taken place in the changing rooms of the local swimming pool on Monday, February 4.

"As part of our enquiries we will be reviewing CCTV footage. Anyone who was using the facilities between 11am and noon and could assist can contact us on 101 quoting reference 1093 04/02/19."The PSNI has said it is simply not equipped to deal with the burden of investigating the past as it issued a "deep and sincere apology" to the families affected by its disclosure failings.

Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin was speaking after the Police Ombudsman found that "significant, sensitive information" around a mass shooting at a bookmakers' in south Belfast was not made available to his investigators.

Five people were killed on February 5, 1992, when members of the UFF opened fire on the Sean Graham bookmakers shop on the lower Ormeau Road.

"On behalf of the Police Service, I want to say to the families who have been affected by these disclosure failings we are deeply and sincerely sorry," said DCC Martin.

"PSNI never sought to deliberately withhold this information from PONI (the Police Ombudsman) and we deeply regret that the researchers were unable to find and disclose it.

"This error became apparent when, in line with our commitment to maximum transparency, a different researcher working elsewhere in the PSNI found the material while preparing for disclosure in response to civil litigation.

"We are transparent and open about disclosure. On this occasion the PSNI made a mistake and for that we are deeply sorry," he said.

"We acknowledge the damage to public confidence and we are deeply disappointed, but the Chief Constable, only months after being appointed in 2014, spoke publicly about this very issue. The PSNI is not equipped to deal with this.

"In 2014 we were promised a Historic Investigations Unit and we still don't have it. Enough is enough. We will invite the Ombudsman to have full and unfettered access to our legacy systems and he can decide what is relevant to his investigations.

"The Chief Constable has sought legal advice as to how to make this possible and we will seek to make progress as quickly as we can. This is a bold step in demonstrating we have nothing to hide.

"We have some 44m legacy records on paper and microfiche only. Many millions more of other records on IT platforms," he said.

"Some of those platforms are now sufficiently old and vulnerable that we are down to two or three terminals. We have systems with no search facilities, systems that don't talk to each other. Tens of millions of pieces of information are in disparate parts of the organisation and we don't have officers of experience and built up corporate memory.

"In the last 20 years we've had this organic growth in the need to investigate the past. In September 1999 the Patten report did not envisage this.

"Many officers who left the service under the Patten arrangements were hired back as temporary workers. That was criticised and the Chief Constable removed those temporary workers from employment. One of the consequences was that we lost experience.

"We recognise the thirst for information and that the police service has an important part to play, but the weight of burden sits on our shoulders.

"Now we're telling the Ombudsman let's work together - you make the decision about what you need. This is a step to try to address public concern that the police are trying to delay, thwart and impede these investigations. Nothing could be further from the truth.

"PSNI is committed to improving our disclosure processes. As soon as this organisational failing came to our attention, we commissioned work to address it and we anticipate that we will have made substantial changes in the coming months.

"We would welcome any independent review to support us in that work but the changes required will need significant financial investment.

"PSNI have for a long time made clear that we are not adequately resourced to deal with the past and we have an outstanding business cases with the Department for Justice for further substantial investment in our disclosure processes."The PSNI is under fire for failing to disclose "significant, sensitive information" about a loyalist massacre to the Police Ombudsman.

Sinn Fein last night said it was seeking an urgent meeting with Chief Constable George Hamilton to discuss the force's "appalling and unacceptable" failure.

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Victims' groups also hit out at the PSNI, which has apologised for its actions.

Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire has asked the Department of Justice for an independent review into how police disclose information.

The Relatives for Justice campaign group said this "should begin as a matter of urgency".

The Police Ombudsman revealed that the PSNI hadn't disclosed information, some of which related to covert policing, to its investigators working on the UFF's 1992 massacre at Sean Graham's bookies on Belfast's lower Ormeau Road.

Dr Maguire said the material's existence came to light when police prepared to disclose it to the bereaved families as part of civil proceedings.

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The PSNI insisted it hadn't withheld the information deliberately and put the omission down to human error.

The ombudsman's office said the material in question had opened new lines of inquiry in its investigation into the bookies massacre in which five people died.

It also did the same regarding a range of loyalist killings in the north west between 1988 and 1994, and the ombudsman's investigation into the 1993 murder of teenager Damien Walsh at a west Belfast coal depot.

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Reports outlining the findings of these investigations, which had been due to be published in coming weeks, will now be delayed.

In a significant step, the PSNI last night offered to now give ombudsman investigators "full and unfettered access" to police legacy systems. A spokesman for the ombudsman's office welcomed the move.

In a statement yesterday, Dr Maguire said: "My staff became aware that police were preparing to disclose a range of material as part of impending civil proceedings.

"Following a request from this office, police released this material to us which helped identify significant evidence relevant to a number of our investigations.

"Following on from this, police have now also identified a computer system which they say had not been properly searched when responding to previous requests for information.

"In that instance, it would seem information which police told us did not exist has now been found."

Dr Maguire said effective disclosure of information was vital in dealing with the past.

"The public must have confidence that, when asked, police provide all the relevant information they hold on given matters," he said. "The police have told us the problems came about through a combination of human error arising from a lack of knowledge and experience and the complex challenges associated with voluminous material - some 44m pieces of paper and microfilm records - that is stored in various places and on a range of media and on archaic IT systems."

Dr Maguire added: "In the interests of public confidence in policing, I have contacted the Department of Justice to ask that an independent review be carried out into the methods police use in disclosing information."

It is understood that the material has implications for up to 30 murders.

Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly said: "The revelations that the police failed to disclose key information to investigations by the Police Ombudsman into dozens of killings by loyalist death squads is appalling and unacceptable.

"Many people will see this as further evidence that the cover-up of the role of British state forces in the conflict in Ireland is systemic.

"The PSNI may claim that it is an error but how long was it after the PSNI hierarchy knew about this failure before they informed the Police Ombudsman or the families affected?"

Mr Kelly said his party would be seeking an urgent meeting with George Hamilton and would also be raising the issue at the Policing Board.

"The PSNI or the British Government saying sorry is not enough. Confidence in policing is diving to its lowest level in many years. Immediate action is needed," he added.

Former Police Ombudsman Baroness Nuala O'Loan told the Belfast Telegraph that her heart went out to the families.

"They have been fighting for so long to try and get to the truth of what happened and now this," she said.

"The PSNI have had decades to get their files in order and still it has not been done.

"The question must be what else lies where they found this material? How many other cases are affected? How has this come to pass?"

Baroness O'Loan continued: "What the Chief Constable needs to do now is to do what was supposed to be done years ago - release all the Special Branch files and other material in compliance with the law.

"Those who suffered during the years of the Troubles and who still suffer, deserve the truth, not empty promises, not handwringing, not vacillation.

"The future of policing must not involve ongoing failings of this magnitude.

"It does not have to be like this. It is appalling."

The director of the Committee on the Administration of Justice, Brian Gormally, said the PSNI's claim of human error "simply insults our intelligence".Police are examining 240,000 hours of CCTV footage as part of an investigation into the alleged abuse of patients at Muckamore Abbey Hospital, the High Court heard today.

A team of eight officers has currently been assigned to go through the material, with further requests made to double their numbers.

Details emerged as another two nurses who worked at the hospital in Co Antrim commenced legal attempts to have their suspensions lifted.

Last week seven of their colleagues successfully appealed the step taken against them by their regulatory body.

The court held there was insufficient evidence for the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to impose interim suspension orders on the seven individuals.

They can now practice in the UK, but remain temporarily suspended by the Belfast Trust pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation into allegations that vulnerable patients were subjected to physical and mental abuse.

In court today a judge was told the NMC cannot consent to applications by the other two nurses at this stage.

A lawyer for the regulatory body said it was liasing with the Trust and the PSNI over the release of further information.

Police, however, are not prepared to disclose footage at this stage, the court heard.

Counsel representing the PSNI responded by claiming the release of footage they have received could prejudice its investigation.

He said: "There are approximately 240,000 hours of CCTV footage, (and) approximately 90 hours from four individual wards.

"The police are extremely anxious to go through this material as quickly as possible."

The barrister revealed that eight officers have been allocated to viewing the footage.

A resource request has also been made for the number of staff involved to be doubled to 16.

"The reason why police feel it cannot be disclosed at this stage is the CCTV evidence represents the centrepiece of this investigation," counsel continued.

"Patients don't have capacity to provide statements, there aren't witnesses to the events, and the investigation really does focus on the CCTV footage."

Concerns were raised about material being disclosed and then potentially put to suspects as part of the NMC's regulatory duties.

Following submissions Mr Justice Huddlestone agreed to a one-week adjournment.A nurse raised concerns about the mental state of a "very tearful" soldier who smelled of alcohol four months before he took his own life at a Co Down Army base, an inquest has heard.

Civilian nurse Louise McPherson assessed Darren Mitchell (20) on October 1, 2012 after he reported how episodes of vomiting meant he could not report for duties, she told a coroner yesterday.

The Londoner was found hanged in his room at Ballykinler on February 10, 2013, just months after Lance Corporal James Ross (30) was found hanging in his room at the base.

During the assessment, Ms McPherson noted a "strong odour of alcohol" from Mr Mitchell, who was "anxious and withdrawn" and said the "very tearful and tired" serviceman was not willing to open up about his emotional wellbeing.

Ms McPherson noted he continued to appear anxious the following day when she obtained his consent to share concerns with his chain of command.

However, Sergeant Andrew Beattie told the inquest that he dismissed concerns over Mr Mitchell's low mood as a reaction to pending disciplinary proceedings as a result of several incidents of lateness.

However, the now retired serviceman said he did ask officers to keep an eye on Mr Mitchell while on training exercises.

Ms McPherson, who said she was unable to pass concerns on to the resident medical officer because they were not on site, failed to account for why she did not do so when they returned.

She rejected the family representative's claim that she failed by not doing so. "I could have informed a doctor, A&E or other MoD clinics," she said.

However, Ms McPherson did accept that information which may have been relevant to someone who knew Mr Mitchell well was "lost in a black hole" as she insisted there was no reason to believe he was suicidal.

Former Rifleman Chris Ingham claimed his best friend "completely changed" following an altercation in a Belfast nightclub and a row on the phone the night before he died.

He told the inquest that the pair drank around 10 pints of beer in the Beach Club where Mr Mitchell was caught up in a confrontation with people slagging off soldiers in the smoking area.

"His posture completely changed," Mr Ingham said. "It was quite unusual because we are in Northern Ireland, because the IRA are still kicking around so you don't say 'I'm a soldier'."

The inquest continues.The former Stormont Finance Minister Mairtin O Muilleoir described the Northern Ireland economy as a "backwater" and said over half of those coming through the doors of his south Belfast constituency centre were from a unionist working class background.

However, he later corrected himself saying 51% of those through the doors of his officer were not from the nationalist community.

Apologies @BelTel & @stephennolan Got my stats mixed up - I was wrong to say 51% of Ormeau SF centre advice clinic users are unionist. As I Corrected on Nolan Live - 51% are not from nationalist community. Thatas a https://t.co/nT1Abtf9jt  MAirtAn A Muilleoir (@newbelfast) February 14, 2019

The Sinn Fein MLA appeared on the BBC's Nolan Live on Wednesday evening. He said he knew of an increase of feeling among "middle-class unionists" for a border poll.

He was asked to make a pitch for a united Ireland.

He said: "It is my believe, the only independent research into the economic benefits of a united Ireland says there will be a 35 billion euro uplift over eight years.

"It says the economy in the north will grow by 7.5%.

"If you look at the backwater economy here, you look at the fastest growing economy in the south."

He was asked why he would describe the economy as a "backwater". Mr O Muilleoir said as a former finance minister he had seen it "first hand".

"We have the lowest productivity in these islands," he continued, "We have the longest enduring long-term employment in this region in these islands.

"We have the highest number of people on minimum wage. This economy, sadly, has failed the people that live here. And it is time for a change that will bring us the benefits."

The veteran politician said that for the 10 years Sin Fein was in government "every day we worked to improve the lot of the people."

"But if you are saying is there a way we can build a stronger economy, yes it is within an all-island economy.

"That was the great words of Sir George Quigley who was a unionist who said an all-island economy would bring benefits to everyone. So that is my belief.

"But I will put my arguments and then you will cast your vote if you are not afraid of a unity poll. We will see which argument will come out."

Mr O Muilleoir was asked for specifics on what would happen if a border poll resulted in favour on a united Ireland.

He said the futures of the PSNI, the BBC, health service, or education service would all have to be discussed but it was "too early" to go into those specifics and a debate would be needed.

"The argument and debate will start now," he said.

He did however, say he would not expect those institutions to disappear overnight and there would likely be a transition period and people should "absolutely" keep their citizenship.

"Those are decisions for the Irish people to make,"he said.

"We need to find a way to manage the change, which is coming.

"I want a united Ireland to be rights based, which is respectful, which cherishes the British and Irish tradition which is an agreed Ireland."

Mr O Muilleoir said Brexit had "changed everything" and more were considering Irish unity including some unionists.

"I meet some middle class unionists. I would not exaggerate it more than than... I'm not exaggerating."

He was asked about how he had supported working class unionists.

"It seems to me those that lose out the most in this society are working class unionists."

He explained how Sinn Fein had delivered money for the Taughmonagh Day Care Centre and was helping one man deal with an issue with the banks which had put his home under threat of repossession.

"Fifty-one percent of the people that come into the Sinn Fein centre are working class unionists," he said.

He later stated 51% of those entering the Ormeau Road office "were not from the nationalist community".The mother of a teenager murdered by loyalists in a case impacted by information which police failed to release to a watchdog said she does not accept an apology from the Deputy Chief Constable over the matter.

Police Ombudsman Michael Maguire found that significant, sensitive information around a notorious loyalist mass shooting at the Sean Graham bookmakers on the Ormeau Road in south Belfast was not made available to his investigators.

The material also sheds new light on investigations into a number of other murders, including the killing of 17-year-old Damien Walsh by Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) gunmen on March 25 1993 as he worked at a coal and fuel depot.

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Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin apologised to the families impacted by the information.

But Mr Walshs mother Marian told the Press Association that she does not accept his apology.

The case of her sons murder is the longest running on the Police Ombudsmans books, ongoing since 2004 when Mrs Walsh first approached the watchdog.

It was referred to the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) in 2007 when it was first set up.

The HET found the Army had been watching the shopping centre because it had been frequented by the IRA and they had information that bomb-making material was being stored there. The HET report found that Mr Walsh had no paramilitary involvement and had not been the intended target of the loyalist gunmen.

(Mr Martin) didn't apologise to me personally, I just heard he apologised somewhere to somebodyMarian Walsh

The Police Ombudsman continued its investigation into how the police murder investigation was carried out.

Mrs Walsh had been due to receive the report following that investigation.

But instead, this week she was told that police had handed over material to a civil case which it had previously said did not exist.

I thought the report must have been ready, but then I was told it wasnt ready again, she said.

This morning, when I saw it all in print, I just broke down.

I just thought, I am so tired now, I have just got so old, so sick and I dont know how I am going to go on with this. And then I rallied and thought, I have no choice, I have to keep going to see this through.

Mr Martin told a press conference the PSNI never sought to deliberately withhold this information, adding police deeply regret that researchers had previously been unable to find it.

He said the error emerged when a different researcher preparing material for a civil case found it.

He didnt apologise to me personally, I just heard he apologised somewhere to somebody, Mrs Walsh said.

It is just a sham, and excuses. How come one person was able to find it and yet all these other ones couldnt.

Damien had been working on a Youth Training Programme at a fuel store at the back of a supermarket at the Dairy Farm shopping centre close to Twinbrook when he was attacked. He died in hospital the following morning.

No-one has been brought to justice for his murder.

Mrs Walsh, who has been diagnosed with PTSD after fighting for justice for her son for 26 years, said she did not feel hopeful anyone ever would.Stormont politicians have been paid 12m since the suspension of the Assembly, it has been revealed.

Lady Sylvia Hermon told MPs they should recognise the anger over the bill during an urgent question on restoring devolution, which has been out of action for two years.

Challenging Northern Ireland Secretary of State Karen Bradley over whether she had "done her homework", Lady Hermon announced the figure for MLAs' salaries.

The independent unionist MP for North Down said: "Can I ask if she really appreciates the deep sense of anger, continuing anger, among the general public in Northern Ireland that MLAs continue to receive their salaries with only minor reductions?

"The last time I asked how much it had cost the taxpayer to pay MLA salaries since the collapse of the Assembly two years ago in January 2017, unfortunately, she wasn't able to tell me.

"But I'm confident she has done her homework since then and will be able to (confirm) to this House and the public whether it is 12m which has been paid in salaries to MLAs when they have not been doing their full job."

Mrs Bradley said she would write to Lady Hermon with the most "up-to-date" figure.

She added: "I do understand that anger and I do hear that anger - I hear that anger every day in Northern Ireland.

"I know that people want to see their politicians back doing the job they were elected to do."

However, Mrs Bradley failed to rule out Westminster taking direct control of politics here.

Asked if she was considering reverting to direct rule as political parties continue to fail to come to an agreement over power-sharing, Mrs Bradley only said she was looking to get a deal done as soon as possible.

Former Northern Ireland secretary Owen Paterson said the region needed "political direction", adding: "There comes a point where I think we are responsible for the lives of citizens in Northern Ireland.

"I ask the Secretary of State, although very reluctantly, has she begun to consider taking powers back into this House for what one would hope would be a brief period to deliver public benefits?

Mrs Bradley said she "shares (the) exasperation that the parties have been unable to come together to find an agreement".

But she added: "My priority is finding that basis, finding the way for the parties to come together, because there is no good, long-term, sustainable way that decisions can be made for the people of Northern Ireland, except if locally elected politicians make them."

DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds said the preconditions of one party should not be allowed to hold back progress.

The North Belfast MP added: "As we approach the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, it will be vital that ministers are in place in Northern Ireland to ensure decisions are taken following that event. The decisions that will be required cannot be taken under the current scenario.

"The reason, however, that devolution is not functioning is down to the preconditions set by one party. Four of the five main parties would restore the Assembly immediately.

"It is Sinn Fein which talks of Brexit as an existential threat, yet boycotts the House of Commons and boycotts the Assembly.

"We need to move forward without preconditions, and the DUP supports any talks or process which can allow that to happen."Wayne Boylan was murdered in a house in Warrenpoint last month.

A 26-year-old man arrested on suspicion of the murder of 37-year-old father-of-two Wayne Boylan last month has been released.

Mr Boylan was shot dead when two gunmen burst into a house on the Lower Dromore Road in Warrentpoint and shot him in the head with a shotgun.

A 21-year-old woman was also seriously injured in the attack after being struck in the face and neck by shotgun pellets.

The suspect arrested on Thursday was also questioned on suspicion of attempted murder.

He was released pending further investigation.A man accused of inciting hatred of Muslims at a rally in Belfast spoke about love and friendship, a court has heard.

Prosecutors claim Paul Rimmer was intent on stirring up fear by warning of "a wolf coming down the track".

The 56-year-old, of Modred Street in Liverpool, allegedly told a crowd Muslims were colonizing and taking over British cities.

But a defence lawyer argued that he was only referring to social change in areas of Birmingham and Bradford.

Sean Mullan insisted Rimmer, who previously stood for Mayor of Liverpool, had expressed the Christian faith of love and extending the hand of friendship.

"He does not think all Muslims are terrorists, he stands for peace," the barrister contended.

Rimmer, who previously stood for Mayor of Liverpool, is on trial along with Paul Golding, 37, the leader of far-right group Britain First, over their speeches outside City Hall in August 2017.

Jayda Fransen, 32, the grouping's one-time deputy leader, and 61-year-old John Banks, of Acacia Road in Doncaster, south Yorkshire, are also charged.

All four deny using threatening, abusive or insulting words intended to stir up hatred or arouse fear.

The case at Belfast Magistrates' Court centres on their speeches at the 'Northern Ireland Against Terrorism' event.

Demonstrators had gathered on the same day as a republican march to mark the use of internment without trial by the British Army at the height of the Troubles in 1971.

The court was shown footage of each of the accused addressing those gathered at the rally.

Golding allegedly referred to a mosque in Newtownards as part of his claims about Islam's colonisation.

During his speech he said: "We have got a problem with one religion and one religion only, that is Islam."

The court heard Fransen told those gathered there was no moderate version of Islam, and stated: "These people are baying for our blood."

Rimmer allegedly warned: "There's a wolf coming down the track; if you don't wake up it will devour us all."

A Crown lawyer argued their comments had nothing to do with terrorism, but were instead focused on stirring up fear and hatred against Muslims in Northern Ireland.

None of the four defendants gave evidence at the contested hearing.

But the defence argued they are entitled to freedom of expression - no matter how offensive their speeches may be.

Mr Mullan stressed the rally was lawfully organised, with police approval, and took place at a neutral venue rather than outside a place of worship which would have inflamed tensions.

Rimmer is not a member of Britain First and spoke spontaneously, the court heard.

"Any reference to Muslims is very limited and one must look to the broader context of this at an anti-terrorism rally," counsel said.

"Mr Rimmer uses references to the IRA, the 'tyranny of Nazism', and he continues to express a viewpoint.

"He did not think his speech could be construed as threatening or menacing or insulting to other cultures, he references social change, social transformation, and his speech was for those taking a stand against terrorism."

District Judge George Conner reserved his verdict following the two-day trial.Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street, London, for the House of Commons ahead of a Brexit vote. (Steve Parsons/PA)

Labour has failed in an attempt to stop Theresa May running down the clock to a no-deal Brexit, after MPs voted down the partys demand for the Prime Minister to bring her Withdrawal Agreement back to the Commons by February 27.

But the PM was facing probable defeat in another dramatic night for Brexit, after eurosceptic Tory backbenchers announced they would abstain on a key Government motion.

They said that the motion tabled by Mrs May would amount to an effective endorsement of efforts to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

A Labour amendment, requiring the Government to stage a second meaningful vote on its Brexit deal by February 27 or give Parliament control over the next steps, was defeated by 322 to 306.

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Ahead of the votes, Government ministers urged MPs to back Mrs May, arguing that defeat for the Prime Minister would undermine the UKs chances of securing concessions from Brussels on the controversial backstop arrangements for keeping the Irish border open.

But members of the European Research Group of Leave-backing Conservatives emerged from a last-minute meeting in a Westminster committee room to say that they would abstain.

The PMs motion asks the House to reiterate its support for the stance taken by MPs in the last round of Brexit votes on January 29.

On that date, MPs voted not only to authorise the PM to go back to Brussels to renegotiate the controversial Irish backstop, but also for a non-binding amendment to block EU withdrawal without an agreement.

In a day of debate in the Commons ahead of the Valentines Day votes, senior Brexiteers voiced reluctance to lend their support to anything which appeared to endorse ruling out no-deal.

Although Downing Street insisted no-deal would remain firmly on the table, former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said he was struggling with the idea of backing the Government motion.

And veteran eurosceptic Sir William Cash said he could not vote for a piece of doublethink which would further undermine public trust.

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Opening the days debate, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay warned that European leaders would be watching the evenings votes for any sign that our resolve is weakening.

And International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told the BBC: Our European partners will be watching our debate and listening today to see if they get the impression that if they were to make  concessions, Parliament would definitely deliver on that.

A Scottish National Party proposal to delay Brexit for three months beyond the scheduled date of March 29 was defeated by 315 to 93.

Pro-EU Conservative Anna Soubry indicated she would not force a vote on her cross-party amendment, which would have required the Government to publish its latest advice on the economic impact of a no-deal Brexit.

Ms Soubry was offered a meeting with the effective deputy prime minister David Lidington to discuss which documents could be released.

Government has agreed to meet to identify and then publish the relevant papers detailing the devastating effect a #NoDeal #Brexit will have on businessas and trade. No need to push my amendment to a vote & if Govt does none of the above Iall be back on Feb 27 ...  Anna Soubry (@Anna_Soubry) February 14, 2019

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer told MPs that deep down he did not believe Mrs May was ready to take the UK out of Europe without a deal on March 29.

He maintained she was taking the Brexit debate to the wire in order to be able to confront MPs with a last-minute choice between her deal or no-deal.

He confirmed Labour will back a cross-party plan from backbencher Yvette Cooper  expected to go to a vote on February 27  which would force the Government to conclude its deal by March 13 or allow MPs to vote on no-deal or a second referendum.

It is obvious what the Prime Minister is up to  she is pretending to make progress while running down the clock, said Sir Keir.

A non-update every other week to buy another two weeks of process, inching ever closer to the March 29 deadline in 43 days. We should not be fooled.

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The latest Brexit showdown came as Dutch PM Mark Rutte told the Financial Times the Netherlands is already benefiting from businesses relocating from a diminished Britain.

But Mrs Mays spokesman said Number 10 disagrees entirely with Mr Ruttes stance, adding: Employment is at a record high, exports are at a record high, companies are continuing to invest in the UK.

Deloitte named the UK as Europes leading destination for foreign direct investment and London as the worlds top city for investment just last month.

In a bid to keep lines open with EU leaders, Mrs May held phone calls on Thursday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Austrias Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, prime minister Stefan Lofven of Sweden and Portuguese premier Antonio Costa.

Peoples Vote protesters seeking a second EU referendum gathered outside Parliament to demonstrate against what they termed a blindfold Brexit.

And pro-Brexit campaigners from the Leave Means Leave movement delivered a Valentines Day card for the Prime Minister to Downing Street.The Secretary of State has refused to establish a public inquiry into allegations of abuse at Muckamore Abbey Hospital.

East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson called for proper scrutiny of the Muckamore Abbey scandal and said it is time for Karen Bradley to act in the absence of an Assembly.

"Everyone knows that this was supposed to be a sanctuary for adults with learning disabilities," the DUP man said.

"Instead they were physically abused and assaulted by people who were entrusted with their care.

"Investigations should take place with no stone left unturned.

"The Secretary of State knows that she is the only person through the Inquiries Act who can open a public inquiry into this.

"There are families that deserve answers and who need to have closure on this matter."

Mrs Bradley is coming under increasing pressure to respond to growing concerns over the extent of abuse and neglect suffered by patients at the Co Antrim hospital.

Paula Bradshaw, Alliance Party health spokeswoman, said: "The dark cloud that now hangs over Muckamore Abbey Hospital does a disservice to those health care professionals who work or have worked there with the highest levels of professionalism and dedication.

"An independently-led inquisitorial inquiry will shine a light on where there was bad practice or failings in their duty of care for the patients."

However, the Northern Ireland Office said any decision to establish a public inquiry can only be made by the Executive.

Meanwhile, it was reported that the Belfast Trust is to review the governance, leadership and management at Muckamore in relation to the abuse allegations.

An oversight committee is to be established and will include the trust's three directors and deputy directors, the BBC reported.

It emerged last weekend that the High Court has ruled the regulatory body for nurses was incorrect to suspend a number of nurses over their conduct at Muckamore Abbey.

Between December 2017 and January 2019, the NMC received 10 referrals from the Belfast Trust in relation to allegations of abuse at the hospital. Temporary suspension orders were granted against nine of the 10 nurses.

Seven of these nurses appealed the suspension and were successful after the High Court ruled there was insufficient evidence to impose an interim suspension order.

The NMC subsequently said it must be allowed to access controversial CCTV footage, which is alleged to show scenes of shocking abuse, in order to carry out is regulatory duties. However, the Belfast Trust said it cannot hand over the footage as it is now in the possession of police. Last night detective chief inspector Jill Duffie said: "The CCTV footage captured in relation to the allegations of ill-treatment of patients at Muckamore Abbey Hospital is crucial evidence within the ongoing police criminal investigation.

"The handling, viewing and distribution of that evidence for purposes other than the criminal case therefore has to be carefully considered for fear of prejudicing or damaging any future criminal trial.

"The ongoing safeguarding enquiries and staff disciplinary procedures initiated by Belfast Trust and other professional bodies are separate and independent of the PSNI investigation.

"We recognise however the importance of those processes and have been working very closely with our partner agencies to try, as best as possible, to allow those disciplinary processes to progress alongside the police investigation."

She said police have offered a number of solutions on how the Belfast Trust could provide the necessary information to the NMC regarding the allegations.

She added that the NMC is currently identifying the specific information which it requires.

Speaking after an all-party meeting with the Belfast Trust, Sinn Fein MLA Pat Sheehan said the handling of nurses accused of wrong-doing demonstrated the need for a full public inquiry.Irelands premier has denied being complacent over the UK crashing out of the European Union.

Leo Varadkar said the Irish Government has put in enormous preparations for a no-deal Brexit.

Following reports that the Taoiseach said he expects the UK to leave the EU by the end of March with an agreement, Mr Varadkar said on Thursday that no one can be absolutely sure a Brexit deal will be agreed.

Speaking at the official sod-turning ceremony for a new second runway at Dublin Airport, he said: As we are not certain, we have put enormous preparations into making sure that Ireland is as ready as we can be for a no deal, so this is not complacency, but it is competence.

Ireland certainly wants an orderly Brexit, rather than an disorderly one. The UK does too, so does the EU.

When everybody wants that to happen we will work extremely hard to achieve that, but dont think for a second that is complacency at all. We are making all the preparations for a no deal.

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We will have the legislation at Cabinet on Tuesday, publish it next week, making the adjustments we have to make here at Dublin Airport, Dublin Port and Rosslare.

Lots of other things are happening to prepare the country for no deal.There are more children in the care system in Northern Ireland than ever before (Ian West/PA)

Foster carers are desperately needed at a time of unprecedented pressure on Northern Irelands care system, a senior social worker has said.

There are more than 3,000 children in care, with around 16 young people newly admitted each week in the 2017-18 year.

Finding a bigger range of carers who can look after children with different needs is a priority, said Colm McCafferty, assistant director of corporate parenting with the Southern Trust.

There has never been a higher number of looked after children in Northern Ireland, he said.

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Theres unprecedented pressures on the foster care system to meet the needs of children coming in.

Friday marks the fourth annual care day, celebrating children who have had experience of the care system, and their carers.

As of March 2018, there were 3,109 children in care  a figure which increased by almost a quarter since 2011, according to the Department of Health.

The Southern Trust had the largest proportion of admissions across all of Northern Irelands five trusts in the 2017-18 year.

Mr McCafferty, who has been a social worker for 25 years, said while the trust is successful in placing around one in three children with their extended family, the rest need other placements.

He said foster carers who can take in siblings, look after young people with disabilities, and carers from black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are particularly welcome.

He said: Every child is unique, every foster carer is unique. Every foster carer has his or her own priorities whether its to their own family or, in many circumstances, to the foster children theyre already committed to, so we would desperately want to have a broader pool of carers to enable us to get that match right from the outset.

Fostering can be a really, really rewarding and positive experienceColm McCafferty, social worker

The greater number of children in need is a reflection of significantly increased complexities in society including the effects of austerity on vulnerable families, he said.

I think vulnerable families are less equipped to deal with pressures, he said.

Going back maybe a generation, I think there were more sophisticated extended family support networks whereas a lot of the children that now come in to the care system dont have that extended family network.

While fostering is a challenging experience, it is also a very rewarding one, said Mr McCafferty, whose own parents became foster carers.

He said: Fostering can be a really, really rewarding and positive experience.

The vast majority of those children (in care in the Southern Trust) are in very settled, long-term foster placements and become very, very ingrained into that family.

Its a two-way relationship. I certainly know foster carers who see the benefits and see a child making progress. Its exceptionally rewarding.

Care Day takes place across the UK on February 15, celebrating the rights and experiences of young people who are or have been in care.

A gala show, organised by Northern Ireland charity Voice of Young People in Care (VOYPIC), is due to be held at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast on Friday evening.

To find out more about fostering, visit www.adoptionandfostering.hscni.net or contact the Regional Fostering Service on 08000720137.Following a review by Facebook, the PSNI had access to their pages reinstated.

The PSNI had its Facebook pages shut down for sharing a picture of a bag of illegal drugs, it has emerged.

On Wednesday evening, the social media giant revoked the PSNI's access to its community pages after it was deemed to have breached Facebook's community standards rules.

The post related to a crime committed in Northern Ireland and was accompanied by a picture of bank notes and a bag of drugs.

Police took to Twitter to inform the public they had been locked out of their accounts with one account joking they were in Facebook jail.

All of our district Facebook pages are experiencing a temporary lock out currently. We're working on a resolution, but in the meantime expect an uplift in Twitter activity! pic.twitter.com/tqpAi0Cze2  Police Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon (@PSNIABC) February 13, 2019

Following a review by Facebook, the PSNI later had their access reinstated.

A PSNI spokesperson said: "PSNI lost access to Facebook after a photo used on one of the local pages contravened Facebooks community standards.

"The picture contained bank notes and a small bag of drugs and Facebook deemed it contravened their community standards on guns, drugs and other regulated goods.

"PSNIs Digital Hub requested that the post be reviewed and, following review, Facebook updated that the picture did not breach community standards and access was reinstated."A day and a year after the last failed attempt to restore devolution, the five main Northern Ireland parties are to meet with the British and Irish Governments at Stormont in a bid to restore power sharing.

And the two main parties appear as far apart as ever with Sinn Fein dismissing the talks saying the two governments should provide a solution.

With the DUP accusing its former partners in government of "playing the politics or ransom" with "pre-conditions" for an Irish language act.

"We offered a compromise of restoring the institutions and having a time limited parallel talks process. This offer still stands," a DUP spokesman added.

The parties are to meet with Karen Bradley and Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney at Stormont on Friday afternoon.

Both the DUP and Sinn Fein have confirmed they will attend.

Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy said there was "no indication that the DUP or the British government are serious about resolving the outstanding issues and removing the obstacles to power sharing".

This is not a serious or credible attempt to restore the political institutions of the Good Friday Agreement.

This is about the British government positioning themselves on Brexit and a pretence to extend their legislation (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions Bill) next month.

Sinn Fein will not be part of a sham process to give credibility to the continued denial of rights."

Northern Ireland has been without government at Stormont since January 2017.

Last year, on Valentine's Day, DUP leader Arlene foster pulled the plug on talks saying there was "no prospect" of a deal. It came just two days after Theresa May and Leo Varadkar visited Belfast in the hope of sealing agreement.

In the fall out Sinn Fein published some details of what it claimed was an agreement brokered with the DUP before the collapse.

Sinn Fein will not be part of a sham process to give credibility to the continued denial of rights.

That included an Irish Language Act, an Ulster Scots Act and a Respecting Language and Diversity Act. Mary Lou McDonald said that while there was no "meetings of minds" on same-sex marriage, there was a recognition no one party could table a petition of concern and the matter would likely be considered by a private members bill.

There was also agreement to review the "abuse" of the Petition of Concern and establishing a committee to look at the Bill of Rights, it was claimed.

Arlene Foster said there was no deal she could put to party officers for consideration.

Since Secretary of State Karen Bradley has said the government's "top priority" was restoring power-sharing while she had resisted calls to implement full direct rule.

In the Commons this week it was revealed Northern Ireland's 90 MLAs had been paid 12m.

Of Friday's talks Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy said his party would be "seeking credible and urgent proposals to resolve the issues at the heart of this impasse.

"We have no interest in talks for the sake of talking. It must be about delivery," he said.

If the DUP is not prepared to deal with the outstanding issues then the two governments must set out how they will implement the agreements and secure the rights of citizens including women, the LGBT Community, Irish Language speakers and victims of conflict.

Both governments should bring forward proposals to deal with these outstanding issues.

A DUP spokesman added: "Four of the five main parties would restore devolution today. SF refuses to form an Executive because of pre-conditions about the Irish language. That is the politics of ransom."A local doctor who also happens to be a chef has spoken about raising thousands for a school meals charity.

Philip McCrea (60) worked as a consultant in occupational medicine before realising his culinary dream of opening a restaurant - the Corin in Bangor.

After moving on from his busy double career, he now works as chief medical officer for BHSF Occupational Health in Birmingham.

But he keeps his hand in cooking-wise by hosting private dinner parties to raise money for charity Mary's Meals.

His efforts have raised thousands - enough to feed an entire school in Zambia with a daily meal for an entire year.

Still dividing his time between England's second city and Belfast, he said the charity drive was the perfect way to continue his passion for fine dining.

"I have always wanted to give something back to society and this felt like the natural option after a change in my day job meant I had to leave the restaurant I opened in Bangor," he explained.

"By treating diners to a fine dining experience, they get to have restaurant-quality food in their own home while also supporting such a worthy cause.

"I design a menu to suit the guests - shop, prep, cook the food, serve it, wash up and go home. All the diners have to do is sit back and enjoy the experience.

"I love that I can combine my devotion to food and help Mary's Meals give children around the world a good meal at school."

All money raised by Philip is being matched by the UK Government and his employers.

The Chisomo School in Zambia will see 361 children receive Mary's Meals every day.

The charity has been working in the country since 2014, now reaching around 120,000 children on a daily basis.

Zambia has high rates of malnutrition, poverty and food insecurity, with more than 360,000 primary school age children out of education.

The guarantee of a good meal helps children attend school every day and improve their future.

Commenting on Philip's work, head of fundraising for Mary's Meals UK Hannah Stewart said: "Our wonderful supporters never cease to amaze us with their kindness and determination to help us reach the next hungry child with Mary's Meals.

"We are incredibly grateful to Philip for all his efforts and delighted that during our Double The Love campaign we have a wonderful opportunity to create an even bigger impact by transforming the lives of many more hungry children in Zambia with the gift of food and education."

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt added: "UK Aid Match would not be a success if it was not for the creativity and effort of people like Dr Philip McCrea.

"Dr McCrea's dinner guests will be donating to a UK Aid Match campaign that will ensure some of the most vulnerable children in Zambia receive free school meals that improve attendance and give them a ladder out of poverty through education."

Until March 1, public donations to the charity's Double The Love campaign are being matched by the Government up to 2 million to transform the lives of more hungry children in Zambia.

For further information visit www.marysmeals.org.ukLondonderry's Peace Bridge was built with the help of EU funding

Concerns have been raised about the roll out of more than 400m in funding to support peace-building in Northern Ireland after Brexit.

Last month, Secretary of State Karen Bradley announced a 300m funding package from the government for the joint EU-UK PEACE Plus programme, a successor to the peace-building scheme set up in 1995.

The programme also includes a further 109m from the EU - bringing the total funding package to 409m - and will support projects from 2021 to 2027.

When the UK funding was announced in January, however, Mrs Bradley linked it to Prime Minister Theresa May's faltering withdrawal agreement, which the PM is currently trying to renegotiate with the EU - with only 43 days to go until the Brexit deadline.

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"This funding flows from our joint commitment within the EU in the withdrawal agreement to maintain funding for vital work on reconciliation and a shared future for Northern Ireland until at least 2027," the Secretary of State said.

"It is a clear example of the certainty that the withdrawal agreement provides to the people of Northern Ireland and why it should be supported."

Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg this week, Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson called on the European Commission to provide clarity on the roll out of the PEACE Plus funding.

"I have real concerns with the proposed roll out of the new PEACE Plus funding stream which has been agreed between the United Kingdom and the European Union," he said.

"We need clarity and detail on how these funds will work after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.

"When I look back to meetings with Jacques Delors in the mid 1990s, it was clear that he really understood the potential that the PEACE funding would have in helping to transform communities in Northern Ireland.

"But the path that the current Commission, led by Jean Claude Juncker and Michel Barnier, is taking, by attempting to impose a Brexit policy that will be hugely harmful to Northern Ireland, is a long way from the genuine support Jacques Delors gave to Northern Ireland."

These funds are for social and economic progress in Northern Ireland and the border regions of the Republic of Ireland, and not a political bargaining chip. Jim Nicholson

Among the project to have benefited from PEACE funding in the past are the 14.5m Peace Bridge in Londonderry and programmes supporting victims of the Troubles, young people and shared spaces.

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Mr Nicholson criticised Karen Bradley for suggesting the funding was dependent on support for Theresa May's Brexit deal.

"Back in May 2018 the EU and the UK set out the basis for the roll out of PEACE Plus funds until 2027. Now the Secretary of State is attempting to change the parameters and say that funding is conditional on support for the Prime Minister's withdrawal agreement.

"This shows a deep level of - whether intentional or unintentional - misunderstanding of the history of the fund.

"These funds are for social and economic progress in Northern Ireland and the border regions of the Republic of Ireland, and not a political bargaining chip."A murder suspect has had his bail revoked by a senior judge who commented that the accused "seems to be incapable" of complying with conditions imposed.

Lee Smyth is due to face trial later this year on charges arising from the December 2015 murder of west Belfast father-of-one Christopher Meli (20).

Smyth - who Belfast Crown Court heard has been "in and out of custody for a very substantial period of time since the terrible events that give rise to this case arose" - committed further breaches this month.

When arrested for the breaches, the 21-year old told police: "You are all scumbag b******* and you need a hole in the back of your head."

Launching the application to revoke bail, a Crown prosecutor told Mr Justice Colton that the latest breaches since he was last granted bail on January 18 were against a "constellation" of previous breaches.

On that occasion, Smyth was ordered to reside at an address in Co Antrim and a number of conditions were imposed - including observing a 7pm to 7am curfew, being tagged, and allowing only family members in his flat.

The prosecutor outlined a series of breaches carried out at this address this month, and asked the Judge to revoke his bail.

Telling the court there have been "issues of disorder in the locality", the prosecutor revealed this included a 999 call being made to report Smyth being assaulted by three men in the street, and a report to police of a separate fight outside the flat involving two men.

Smyth breached his bail by having three young people in his flat who he claimed were his cousins but who the Crown believe were not relatives, and by not being present in the flat during the curfew on several occasions.

Telling the court it was the Crown's view that Smyth's behaviour on bail warranted his bail to be revoked, the barrister said: "He has amply proved to the court he will not abide by any conditions the court will impose ... he is not a suitable candidate for bail."

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Defence barrister Tom McCreanor addressed the incidents in and around Smyth's flat, and pointed out that at no stage was his client arrested or charged with any offence, adding: "He is not responsible for the conduct of people in the street who may know him,"

Mr McCreanor said that while police were "keeping a close eye on this address and Mr Smyth", they had also displayed a "tolerant attitude".

Regarding the curfew breaches, the barrister revealed it was Smyth's case that he was at home and that he had been experiencing difficulties with his electronic tag. He did, however, accept that his girlfriend has been in the flat.

Describing Smyth as "a young man, living on his own, away from family and away from his home", Mr McCreanor said that while some of the breaches this month are accepted, he cited his client's bail conditions as "restrictive ... and have impacted on him and his life greatly."

Mr McCreanor urged Mr Justice Colton not to revoke Smyth's bail, and noted that as the murder trial has been scheduled for September, this would mean "a lengthy period of time this young men would have to spend in custody."

Mr Justice Colton said bail conditions were imposed for a reason and spoke of "multiple, multiple" breaches by Smyth in the past. Telling the court "the risk of reoffending remains", the Judge said Smyth "simply seems to be incapable of complying, therefore bail is refused."

As he was being led from the dock by prison staff, Smyth said: "That's G4S for you."The leaflet that was circulated in south Belfast.

An Alliance MLA has spoken of her concern after leaflets promoting the far-right group Britain First were circulated in south Belfast.

Paula Bradshaw said that she had been approached by a concerned constituent from the Lisburn Road area who had received the leaflet.

Ms Bradshaw said that many people from many different backgrounds live in south Belfast.

"People will know that this is one of most ethically and culturally diverse neighbourhoods in the city and as such it serves no purpose other than to instil fear, prejudice and hatred," the south Belfast MLA said.

"The contribution from immigrant families and individuals from around the world is to be appreciated, especially in their contribution to our health service, local businesses and academia.

"For me Britishness is not exclusionary, neither is Christianity in its truest form."The son of a murdered Sinn Fein councillor has said the PSNI's failure to disclose "significant sensitive information" about loyalist atrocities to the Police Ombudsman proves the force is "no different to the RUC".

Dr Michael Maguire's office found that information relating to the 1992 UFF massacre at Sean Graham's bookies in the Lower Ormeau had not been made available to his investigators. Some of the information related to covert policing.

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Fionnbharra O'Hagan last night told the Belfast Telegraph he was "disgusted, angry and heartbroken" at the latest revelation.

Relatives for Justice and the SDLP have also expressed deep concern and have supported the ombudsman's call for an independent review of the PSNI's disclosure methods. The material has opened up new lines of inquiry into the ombudsman's investigation of the gun attack on Sean Graham's as well as the 1993 murder of a Belfast teenager and UFF killings from 1988 until 1994 in the north west.

Mr O'Hagan's father Bernard was shot dead in Magherafelt in 1991. His family have long alleged security force collusion.

"We are disgusted, angry and heartbroken at this latest development," Mr O'Hagan said.

"The PSNI is just the same as the RUC. Only the name changed, the same ethos prevails. There was no transparency then, and there is none now. The police have just been caught out holding back information and I don't for a second believe their excuses."

Relatives for Justice, which represents a significant number of those killed and injured in the attacks affected, described the development as "alarming" and said: "There clearly is a systemic problem in terms of disclosure concerning state killings and in particular killings where collusion is a feature.

"It is only recently that the PSNI 'discovered' a computer concerning voluminous material relating to the British Army and relevant to numerous killings before inquest and other inquisitorial and civil processes, years after they claimed it did not exist.

"That is why we also endorse the call by Dr Maguire for an independent review of how the PSNI deal with their legal obligations regarding disclosure. This review should begin as a matter of urgency."

The SDLP said it would be raising the issue with the PSNI.

Upper Bann MLA Dolores Kelly said the families had "every right to be angry" and she asked who would be held account for what had happened.

"So many years down the line, it is alarming to note the unacceptable policing failure in the disclosure of information," she said. "If the Department of Justice and the British Government are serious about resolving legacy here, they must invest in the best technology available to ensure the access of relevant information. The SDLP is scheduled to meet the PSNI Assistant Chief Constables on March 4 and we will raise the matter with them."

Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry said the revelation had the potential to undermine confidence in the criminal justice system. He called for the Policing Board to be convened immediately to examine "whether it was systemic or a human error" and how many cases may be affected.

"The Department of Justice also needs to look at this to establish how much a lack of resources contributed to this failure to make all the relevant information available to the ombudsman," he added.

DUP MLA and Policing Board member Mervyn Storey said: "We need to recognise that the police worked to gather information during a terrorist campaign. Evidence gathering took place in an often dangerous and difficult environment.

"Today there are families who are still looking for answers and justice. Therefore it is important that any new information is fully investigated. I will be raising this matter during our discussions at a Policing Board level."

The Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) said: "The Police Ombudsman's office relies on the PSNI acting in good faith to assist it in its investigations as RUC archive material remains within its control.

"These developments clearly expose the lack of willingness or capacity of the PSNI to provide full disclosure to the Police Ombudsman to allow him to carry out independent and effective investigations."The victims of the attack on Sean Graham bookmakers. Top left to bottom right: Jack Duffin, Peter Magee, William McManus, James Kennedy and Christy Doherty. Photo: Pacemaker.

A solicitor representing the families of five people killed at a shooting in a Belfast bookmakers in 1992, has said that the families believe that "dark forces" were working to keep information about the killings from the Police Ombudsman.

Niall Murphy was speaking after it was revealed that the PSNI failed to disclose "significant, sensitive information" about the Sean Graham bookmakers shooting to the Police Ombudsman.

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Five people were shot dead at the bookmakers on the Lower Ormeau Road in an attack by a UFF death squad.

Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire had been due to publish his investigation into the shooting in the coming months, but this is now expected to be delayed.

The new evidence's existence came to light when police prepared to disclose it to the bereaved families as part of civil proceedings.

The ombudsman's office said the material in question had opened new lines of inquiry in its investigation into the bookies massacre in which five people died.

The families feel that 20 years after the Good Friday Agreement there are unfortunately dark forces who are trying to undermine the Police Ombudsman's office. Niall Murphy

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The PSNI has insisted it hadn't withheld the information deliberately and put the omission down to human error.

However, Mr Murphy told BBC Radio Ulster's Nolan Show that the families did not accept that it had been a mistake.

He said that the new evidence filled 30 lever arch files which could feature over 13,000 pages.

"Regrettably they fear that this is actually a policy which is designed to ensure that Dr Maguire does not publish his report, he has only five months left of his statutory tender that cannot be extended beyond July," he said.

"To be told that previous promises that were given in good faith by Dr Maguire cannot now be honoured is devastating.

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"The families feel that 20 years after the Good Friday Agreement there are unfortunately dark forces who are trying to undermine the Police Ombudsman's office."

When it was pointed out that police had brought the evidence forward eventually Mr Murphy said that this did not absolve them of blame.

"Another analysis might be that they have achieved their ambition that Dr Maguire will not publish another report," he said.

"The circumstances that give rise to this bare to be considered more closely, (police) have legal obligations, they are not simply duties that he is attempting to fulfill. They are duties that must be fulfilled and are imposed on every Chief Constable in this jurisdiction."

Mr Murphy, of KRW law, said that he believed the new evidence may relate to the importation of guns from South Africa, which were also used in the Loughinisland massacre.

"We know from the Loughinisland report published in 2016 that there was a covert policing operation with regards to this importation from South Africa," the Belfast based solicitor said.

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"We suspect that the material that has been withheld from the Police Ombudsman relates to that covert policing operation around this importation.

"These VZ-58 weapons had never been in this jurisdiction before ever. They would then go on to kill over 70 people. The arms importation that had Browning handguns, grenades, rocket propelled launchers would go on to kill 229 people.

"This is the most serious of issues, this is not civil disclosure in a row in a police station. This is the most serious of allegations that can be made. This material was withheld from an oversight body that was incepted to give confidence in policing."

Mr Murphy suggested that the information may not have been revealed if not for the civil litigation proceedings.

"When I advised the Police Ombudman's investigators to ensure that they had access to all of that information, the Ombudmsan told the families he was satisfied he had seen everything that was relevant, it appeared that it wasn't and that there was sensitive material that does give rise to further leads for investigation that had not been disclosed. That's a disgrace."

PSNI never sought to deliberately withhold this information from PONI and we deeply regret that the researchers responding to the PONI request were unable to find and disclose it. PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin

Mr Murphy said that he believed the new leads would be followed up but that it was "regrettable" that the information took "so many years" to come to light.

"Cockup or conspiracy? Either are not good enough. This information was known to both the Police Ombudsman and senior command of the PSNI before Christmas, this should have been a matter discussed at the policing board last week," he said.

Mr Murphy called for an urgent meeting of the Policing Board to be held to discuss the issue.

He said that the Irish Government should attend as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement "to ensure that they are satisfied that the mistakes that have happened satisfy their obligations as co guarantors of our police process".

In a statement on Wednesday the PSNI acknowledged the mistake and offered to give ombudsman investigators "full and unfettered access" to police legacy systems.

Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin apologised to the families affected and said police were "deeply and sincerely sorry".

PSNI never sought to deliberately withhold this information from PONI (Police Ombudsman Northern Ireland) and we deeply regret that the researchers responding to the PONI request were unable to find and disclose it," he said.

"This error became apparent when, in line with our commitment to maximum transparency, a different researcher working elsewhere in the PSNI found the material while preparing for disclosure in response to civil litigation.

The fact that one part of the organisation was able to find the information while the other did not is a result of a number of issues including the differing levels of experience and knowledge of our researchers, the sheer volume of the material involved and the limitations of the archaic IT systems."A man arrested in England last week for stealing a sandwich has appeared in court in Londonderry charged with theft of a wallet from a man who was later found dead beside Derry's City Walls.

Adrian Vasile Aitoneau, of no fixed abode, is charged with robbing Conall Kerrigan on August 23, 2015.

Mr Kerrigan, who was 25, came from Claudy. He had been out drinking with friends in the city centre after returning home from England to start up a plumbing business.

He was found close to the Millennium Forum Theatre, and at the time police said that prior to his death he had been the victim of a robbery, but they were not linking the two events.

The defendant denies robbing Mr Kerrigan of his wallet and cash on the day when the body was found.

He also denies stealing iPhones - each valued at 600 - from two women on the day before.

At Derry Magistrates Court yesterday a police officer told District Judge Barney McElholm that she could connect the defendant, who was accompanied by an interpreter, to the three charges.

She said the defendant was arrested in Sheffield last Monday and brought back by PSNI officers.

The officer said the police strongly opposed bail on the grounds that the defendant had neither ties nor an address in Northern Ireland and because he had a substantial criminal record in Romania.

The court also heard that Aitoneau had a record for begging and pickpocketing in Dublin in 2014 and 2015.

The police witness also said she believed that if granted bail the defendant would immediately flee.

She said, given his criminal record, she believed he also presented a huge risk of reoffending if granted bail.

The officer said that a co-defendant in the same case fled immediately after being granted High Court bail in 2016.

She added that following the August 2015 offences with which the defendant has been charged, police forces throughout the UK were alerted that the PSNI were actively seeking him.

The constable said CCTV images relating to the robbery of Mr Kerrigan and photographs of the defendant were distributed to the media as a result of which a Garda officer saw the defendant's photograph in the Irish Independent newspaper and contacted the PSNI.

She said while violence was not used during the theft of Mr Kerrigan's wallet, the force used was substantial.

Applying for bail, defence solicitor Seamus Quigley said the defendant has been living openly with his pregnant partner and their two children in Rotherham for the last year.

He said the defendant had no criminal record in Northern Ireland and only a caution in Rotherham for stealing a sandwich last week. He added there was nothing to suggest that the defendant had been actively evading the PSNI since August 2015.

The solicitor said he was not convinced that the robbery charge in relation to Mr Kerrigan's wallet would remain, but he believed the theft charges of the two mobile phones would remain.

Mr Quigley added that it could take up to six months before the case was finalised.

Refusing bail, Mr McElholm said the defendant's co-defendant had fled after being granted High Court bail and he believed the defendant would do likewise if granted bail.

"I have no confidence that he would turn up for his trial here and it is stretching credulity to a breaking point that he did not know his co-defendant had scarpered," he added.

The defendant was remanded in custody for a video-link hearing on February 28.House-hunting is a fraught business. It's not only a question of finding a house you like that's within your budget - and, if you're a couple, you both have to like it - but then there's getting the report on its soundness from your architect or surveyor. And let's face it, they are a cautious bunch, rarely giving their wholehearted approval, particularly if there are renovation works involved.

It was this very cautious approach that Tim Andrew was relying on when his wife Mairead spotted the house of her dreams.

It was a huge old farmhouse, with an unwieldy extension and a massive barn - all in terrible condition, Tim felt it was too ambitious a project for himself and Mairead to get stuck into, particularly with twin babies on their hands. So he relied on their architect John Lavery to give it the thumbs-down.

Sadly, or so it seemed at the time, the architect gave it a resounding thumbs-up. "He looked at it for a long time and then he turned around and said: 'I'm sorry, Tim, I see nothing wrong. We could do a great job here'," Tim recalls with a laugh.

In fairness to Tim, he knew when he was beaten, so he and Mairead undertook the project and gave it their all, and, as a result, they have a stunning home.

The genial couple have a lot in common when it comes to their priorities around family life and their home, though there is an age gap, and they come from very different backgrounds in Northern Ireland.

Tim is from the country; he grew up in the pretty coastal village of Whitehead in Co Antrim, where his father, who was originally a baker, had a business supplying baking ingredients to the trade.

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"My father was a baker in England, but his mother was from Larne. At the end of the war he met my mother, who was a cake decorator, and they came over here. He had a company selling everything a baker (would need) to make bread and cakes."

After finishing school Tim felt there was no room in his dad's small company, as his much older brother already worked there, but he took a summer job in the storeroom with the intention of staying two weeks. "It was very physical work, we didn't even have a forklift truck then," Tim muses, adding: "That led to me filling in for someone else, and then someone else. I just stayed. I was never given a title or a role, I just did what was needed."

In 1979 Tim's father died, and in 1998, when his brother decided to retire, Tim bought him out.

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In 2015 the company, Andrew Ingredients, celebrated 70 years in business, and Tim, now MD, is proud that he has expanded the already extensive range of baking ingredients he sells to include the many gluten-free and vegan products needed to satisfy current tastes. As well as selling to bakeries, Tim now also sells his products to hotels and restaurants. The warehouses, now in Lisburn, have increased from 8,000 square feet to 33,000, and the workforce has increased from eight employees in the early days to 30 now. The workforce includes his daughter Clare from his first marriage, who looks after marketing. His second daughter Susan is a midwife.

Mairead grew up in west Belfast; the daughter of a single mother, Mairead is one of four girls. "There were bullet holes in our house," she says. "My uncle used to live in the house and the IRA came to take away his car. They wanted it for a job, but he said no, and they sprayed the house with bullets.

"He had to move out. We moved in. My mother wasn't nervous about moving in there; she was a strong woman, and said it would be bad publicity for anyone to attack a single mother with four daughters."

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Mairead, who went on to train as a primary teacher, and then got a Master's in information systems and computers, says she wasn't academic in her teens, but she got hugely into sport.

"I went to school on the Falls Road," Mairead says. "I got into outdoor pursuits - they were great, they took me away from everything going on on the Falls, although it was a lovely community with lovely people; a few bad people caused the grief." Mairead found she had a talent for rowing and sailing, and she went on to sail across the Atlantic many times as part of the voluntary crew on the Ocean Youth club sailing boat, taking interested teenagers on the trip.

It was through sailing that she and Tim first met in 1989. He had sailed all his life, and they met while both were part of a crew sailing across the Atlantic. At that stage they just became friends, but it blossomed into something more in the mid-1990s and they married in 1998.

"It was an interesting time. Mairead had lost her sister to cancer the year before, and then she finished her degree in 1997," says Tim. "Around the same time I bought my brother out. The legal details were going on forever and then I said: 'We have three weeks before the legals will be resolved, why don't we go to the Caribbean and get married?'

"Our travel agent initially thought we were planning for the following year, but when she realised we meant right now, she pulled it off. So we went to Barbados, we had a Baptist minister and we got married there and then. It was lovely."

Mairead felt one needed to be jolly for primary teaching, but after her sister died, jolly was the last thing she felt, so she did the Master's in IT instead. Her Master's project was designing the computer systems and the website for Tim's company. She then went on to work in IT.

She took time out to look after the twins when they arrived, and while she's a director of the Andrew company, she only works now when the children are at school. Their arrival 15 years after the couple married was a surprise - though there was always a chance of twins, as twins run in Mairead's family and she herself is a twin.

It was because of the arrival of the twins Ronan and Jamie, now five, that they decided they needed to move house. "We lived in Annacloy, a small farming village. It's a lovely wee place and we had lovely neighbours. The house was just right for the two of us.

"When we had the twins, we thought should we expand or find somewhere else," Mairead says. "I used to work in Belfast and I drove past this house every day on my way home from work. I particularly noticed it because it had a weather vane and big clock that caught my eye. It was a nice big house."

Tim takes up the tale: "It had been for sale for three years. It was too big and too dear. Then it changed agents and the price came down, and we said: 'Let's look at it to rule it out'. When we came to see it, it was a mess - the kitchen had been taken out; all the electrics and plumbing had big signs saying 'Do not use'; there were dead birds everywhere; there was grass growing out of the gutters. It was not inviting. There was nothing appealing about it at all," Tim says.

However, Mairead was smitten. "I saw potential, but I think I was a little bit green as well. I knew we could make it look good, but I had no idea of the amount of work involved."

That was probably just as well. They bought it in 2015, but didn't move in until 2017. The first year they devoted to planning what they'd do with the space, right down to the door handles and the hinges.

In consultation with architect John Lavery, they eventually decided to gut the buildings and to create a new home out of the combination of the old house, which was a traditional 19th-Century farmhouse; the existing extension, and the barn, making them all part of the same house. They had to gut all the buildings, retaining period features like cornicing where possible, and install new wiring, new plumbing, new floors, doors and windows.

They had to fit a new staircase to the front of the house, and they had to raise the staircase in the back.

They filled the whole house with light, with double-heights in some areas and many expanses of glass - the huge kitchen has three sets of sliding glass doors; there are marvellous electric skylights in some rooms and an indoor, glass-filled balcony.

What they have now is a home comprising more than 5,000 square feet, with six bedrooms, all en suite; an open-plan kitchen/dining/living room; a formal dining room; a formal living room; a tv room; and a playroom with an en suite - this room could be converted for Mairead's mum, should she want to live with them in the future.

It's also on a wonderful site, five acres of gorgeous countryside, much of which they've planted - they've added 1,000 trees. In fairness to Mairead, she does know both her and Tim's limitations. "We put fake hedging to the front. I know us - we would never prune it, never mind weed it," says Mairead.

With their busy working lives, it's obvious they've a lot of ingredients on their plates already.

See andrewingredients.ieA Co Armagh nurse who laid bare her year-long battle to lose weight in front of a national television audience last week says she is now planning her wedding day after an 18-year engagement.

Lurgan-born Tracey Geddis (52), who now lives in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, and works at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital National Spinal Injury Centre, appeared last week on ITV's This Time Next Year, hosted by Davina McCall.

The show highlighted the efforts of ordinary people from all over the UK who were willing to try and turn their life around within a 12-month period.

Tracey, who at her heaviest weighed 29 stone, vowed in front of millions to lose 10 stone within a year.

She succeeded in her endeavour and in turn saved her own life.

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Tracey says her motivation was to be able to fit into her wedding dress and finally marry her fiance, Jason Smith (52), whom she nursed back to health after he was paralysed in a motorbike accident.

She says her weight crept on while dealing with two big losses in her life, that of her dad in 2009, and then her best friend Ruth Ingram, who passed away in 2016.

"I lost my dad 10 years ago," she says. "He was my rock, he directed me. He got sick with a brain tumour. I came back to Northern Ireland and nursed him until the end. It was hard. Dad always encouraged me to travel and told me never to let anyone hold me back.

"It was so hard when he wasn't there. I was a comfort eater, I binge ate as I dealt with my grief. Then three years ago my flatmate, Ruth, died. She was only 49-years-old. We worked together in the spinal unit for 27 years.

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"I was home in Ireland at a wedding and I was texting her photos from it. I was messaging her and emailing her. Then I got a phone call from her brother to say that she had passed away.

"We don't know what happened. The inquest was inconclusive. It was weird because at the time I was holding down probably three jobs. I said to Ruth that I wasn't going to see 50 as I was working too hard. It was just too ironic that she passed away at the age of 49.

"When we came back to England it was awful putting the key in the door of the flat we shared. We used to walk together to work, we shopped together, we did everything together. It was just horrible. After it happened I would work late and then I didn't want to go home and put the key in the door.

"So instead I drove to McDonald's and sat in the car park until the early hours, because she wasn't there anymore. I think I got myself into a bit of a dark hole. I put on a lot of weight."

Tracey says carrying so much extra weight put a terrible strain on her body.

"At my heaviest I was 29 stone," she admits. "It was awful. I had lymphedema in my legs. I couldn't zip up my boots. I couldn't walk long distances. My breathing was laboured and I had an admission to hospital with shortness of breath. Even putting on an apron at work or climbing stairs was difficult.

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"I hated myself. I felt invisible. I could talk confidently about my topic - spinal injuries - but if the focus was on me I hated that.

"I loved clothes but I couldn't wear the ones I wanted. I had to go to specialist plus-size shops. I felt that it wasn't fair on Jason that I was this big girl. I had to lift his wheelchair in and out of the boot of the car, too, which was a struggle. It was just all a downward spiral for me.

"I remember my colleague at work saying to me that she noticed that I couldn't breathe, that my breathing was very laboured, that I was going to have to do something about it.

"I think that I was heading for gastric surgery. I was surrounded by doctors at work and in my family. One doctor told me that I should pick out a coffin because if I didn't lose weight I would need one."

Then Tracey's colleague saw an advertisement for ITV's This Time Next Year and told her about it.

She says she remembers pressing send on the application and thinking her life might be about to change.

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"The week before filming started I began attending Slimming World and working with a personal trainer. Within four months I'd lost four stone. I really didn't want to got to the gym.

"I was just too self conscious. I remember the first morning I went to the gym I actually vomited in the car park. I was just sick, thinking about exposing myself as a big person. But I couldn't have been more wrong. Everyone there was so nice and so welcoming. I worked with my personal trainer, Mark, and I started to see my body take shape. I started to get an hourglass figure. I saw my waist, something I hadn't seen in years. I had to buy a completely new wardrobe."

But one of the biggest positive factors for Tracey was the fact that, 18 years after her partner Jason asked her to marry him, she finally felt ready to don a beautiful wedding dress.

The couple met when Jason was admitted to the spinal injury unit Tracey worked in after a motorbike accident 20 years ago left him paralysed from the chest down.

"Jason came off his motorbike while on his way to work in 1999 and broke his back," she says.

"I nursed him on the ward after the accident and we got together after he was discharged from hospital.

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"Because you are with the patients from the very beginning of their journey you become very good friends with them. At that time we socialised with them, because we lived on site - all the physios, occupational therapists, nurses, everyone. We all used to go into the town in the evenings because that is where they learned their skills in the wheelchairs, going up on kerbs and accessing pubs. So we all became good friends. Then after Jason was discharged from hospital he asked me out for dinner and that was that. There was no looking back.

"Eighteen years ago he flew over to Northern Ireland to ask my dad if he could marry me. He has a fear of flying. I didn't even know he did it."

Tracey says the relationship is not without its challenges but that she doesn't see Jason's disability, and he didn't see her extra weight.

"Jason says he never saw me as overweight," she says. "And I don't see his chair. My job is to rehabilitate patients to get used to life after spinal injury. Because I rehabilitate patients I make life accessible for them.

"Jason and I have flown all over the world. I lecture a lot and I'm asked to do presentations because of the job I do, and Jason comes with me. We are just back from Sydney, Australia, and Christchurch in New Zealand. When we were there we met Jason's best friend and he was able to get back on a bike again, as a pillion passenger. He has been deep sea diving. I try not to see the obstacles. My weight was an obstacle. It stopped me from doing things but losing the weight was like finding myself again."

Tracey is thrilled to be planning her wedding now after a very long engagement.

"One of the reasons I didn't want to get married was because I didn't want to wear a wedding dress," she says. "I just felt that I couldn't have everyone's eyes on me in a big white dress.

"I thought there was no way I would look good in one.

"While we were filming my friend booked an appointment with Curvy Chic in Belfast who cater for the larger lady. The girls there were so lovely. I didn't realise that wedding dresses were bodiced and held you in. I tried on around six. My mum and my friends were there and we were all very emotional. When I came out I felt elated because I had thought that I would have looked like the doll who sits on top of the toilet rolls, but I looked in the mirror and I saw some prettiness there. And that was lovely.

"I sent some of the pictures to Jason and he said he would be proud to marry me. He was emotional too. We haven't set a date for the wedding yet but it will happen. I'm 52 and life is too short. We are going to just do it."

Tracey says she hopes her journey will help someone else take action about their life.

"After the show my friend Clare texted me before and after pictures of me," she says. "She wrote underneath it 'you just saved your life'. And I did save my life. And if by telling my story I can save someone else's life then it's worth it.

"I hate the world inspirational, because I put myself there. I overate, I was an emotional eater, so I don't feel proud of myself. I was just putting right what I had done wrong. But people have contacted me and said that they have begun their own weight loss journey.

"And that humbles you because you think if I could show them the light at the end of the tunnel, that's a job done. And if I can help others, then that is the cherry on the cake."Car giant Ford has warned that leaving the European Union without a deal next month would be "catastrophic" for the UK's auto industry.

The company did not confirm a newspaper report that it was stepping up preparations to move production out of the UK.

A Ford spokesman said: "We have long urged the Government and Parliament to work together to avoid the country leaving the EU on a no-deal, hard-Brexit basis on March 29.

"Such a situation would be catastrophic for the UK auto industry and Ford's manufacturing operations in the country.

"We will take whatever action is necessary to preserve the competitiveness of our European business."

The Times said Ford told Prime Minister Theresa May during a telephone call with business leaders that it was preparing alternative sites abroad.

The car industry has been warning about the impact of a no-deal Brexit, with some already cutting back on jobs and production plans.

Nissan said last week it would no longer build its X-Trail car in Sunderland, Jaguar Land Rover has announced plans to cut 4,500 jobs in the UK and Ford could cut about 1,000 jobs, mainly at its Bridgend engine plant.

Unite national officer Des Quinn said: "This latest warning from Ford underlines the catastrophic consequences of a no-deal Brexit on the UK's world-leading car industry, its integrated supply chain and wider manufacturing communities."Packaging giant Smurfit Kappa has said its UK businesses, including a Co Armagh factory for corrugated packaging, is largely insulated from the impact of a no-deal Brexit.

But the firm is keen to see a deal between the UK and the EU, according to chief financial officer Ken Bowles.

Smurfit's UK operations, including the factory in Lurgan, account for up to 800m (701m) of its annual 8.9bn (7.8bn) in revenue.

Mr Bowles said the company had seen no sign of its customers engaging in stockpiling in the run-up to the March 29 withdrawal date.

Chief executive Tony Smurfit said he took part in a conference call with Theresa May and she appeared to be intent on steering clear of a hard Brexit.

"I think she's determined to try and avoid a no-deal Brexit if she can because she recognises, from talking to business, that this could be very damaging for the UK economy and, ergo, jobs. Politically, (it) would be very bad for her," he told Reuters.

But Mr Bowles said the impact of no deal on his company, which also has two paper mills and other plants in the UK, would be limited and that the business had not engaged in any specific preparations.

"It's quite insulated," said Mr Bowles of the UK business. "What we make in the UK in terms of paper, we generally sell in the UK in terms of boxes.

"We bring in some very specific paper, but in reality it operates as an island economy, so tariffs wouldn't necessarily be an impact on our UK business.

"In our role as a supply chain partner to our customers, we're not necessarily seeing them make any shift in terms of stockpiling in advance of anything.

"We all hope a deal gets done and that both parties have a willingness not to have some sort of hard exit, but every day that passes without a deal is another day closer to that."The logo of technology company Kx, which is owned by Newry-based software and consulting business First Derivatives, will adorn the new Aston Martin Red Bull Racing F1 car.

The Formula One team has already been using Kx technology, but in a strengthening of ties, it was recently upgraded to 'innovation partner'.

In its extended role, it will be deployed to enhance areas such as aerodynamic testing and high-performance analytics.

First Derivatives acquired Kx Systems in its entirety in July 2008 for 47.5m.

The Kx logo will appear alongside those of IBM, AT&T, Siemens and Hewlett Packard.

Matt Cadieux of Aston Martin Red Bull Racing said: "The analysis of sensor data, particularly time-series, is critical to the success of a modern F1 team.

"Working with Kx, we have seen how its lightning-fast performance provides us with an edge, and we look forward to extending it across our operations."

Kx chief executive Brian Conlon added: "We are delighted to be extending our relationship with Aston Martin Red Bull Racing. We are both driven by precision and performance, and we share similar philosophies around the importance of continual innovation."A major investment in over 100 new homes in Northern Ireland will address a shortage of affordable properties for first-time buyers, it's been claimed.

Developers KAP Properties said prospective buyers had camped out overnight to be first in line to put down deposits for the new homes at Saul Road, in Downpatrick, Co Down.

Did you snap up one of the homes? Contact digital.editorial@belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Read More

The development will create 30 new jobs and is being part-funded by Danske Bank.

The houses are on sale for between 140,000 - above the average house price in Northern Ireland - and 175,000.

It comes as the latest house price index from Land and Property Services reported that house prices have grown by 5.5% over the last year to hit an average of 136,699.

And new housing starts in the province have also hit a nine-year high.

Northern Ireland experienced the highest percentage growth of anywhere in the UK between the final quarter of 2017 and the end of 2018.

The house price index, which includes cash sales and auctions ales, says prices are now up 40% from their lowest point in 2013.

However, they are still 39% below their 2007 peak of 224,670.

Ulster Bank chief economist Richard Ramsey said house price increases here were now rising at twice the UK's rate of increase of 2.7%. But he said that following the house price crash of 2007, prices here were recovering from a low base.

And he said the year had seen the highest number of housing starts at 8,624 - a nine-year high. During the final quarter alone, housing starts at 1,840 were up one-third year on year.

KAP Properties was set up in 2014 and has built several developments in Downpatrick.

The new Saul Acres housing scheme will be built across three phases in the next two years, with phase two going on sale next month.

Philip Polly, director of KAP Properties, said: "The first-time buyers market is experiencing a resurgence in the Downpatrick area.

"We've completed 20 units on our first site and we had people camping outside the estate agents the day before they went on sale."

Paula Owens, business manager at Danske Bank, said: "KAP Properties is a relatively young company but it has built an impressive reputation in a short time.

"Philip is known for creating properties to a high standard that are priced competitively in a challenging market.

"This new housing development will be welcome news to people in the local area."Causeway Coast and Glens mayor Brenda Chivers at the launch of the Atlantic Link Enterprise Campus Development Brief with the councils Paul Beattie, Niall McGurk, Paul Besley and Richard Baker, and Lisa McAteer of CBRE

A business campus on the north coast is hoping to attract 'data heavy' sectors like cyber-security, pharma and media clients as it starts the search for new tenants.

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council has launched the development plan for Atlantic Link Enterprise Campus in Coleraine.

It's now actively seeking tenants after a year of talking to as many as 250 companies about their headquarter requirements.

The close-to-vacant 12-acre site on the Portstewart Road in Coleraine was designated an 'enterprise zone' in 2014, where companies would benefit from favourable tax incentives and planning arrangements.

Development began when anchor tenant 5NINES opened a major data centre on the site last year.

It's close to the first landing-point for Project Kelvin, the underwater high-speed communications link-up between Northern Ireland and the US. While the area is already home to major employers like food giant Kerry Group, Armstrong Medical and electriconics maker AVX, the council is hoping the park will help it draw more inward investment.

Anchor tenant 5NINES invested 20m in the 45,000 sq ft facility at the centre, which was added to other data centres around the world in France, Finland, the US and Netherlands.

Mayor of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council Brenda Chivers said: "We are extremely proud to be the home of Northern Ireland's first enterprise zone which presents such a significant economic opportunity for our area.

"The development represents a new digital era for the Causeway Coast and Glens and the vital infrastructure will bring increased employment opportunities and showcase our area as a highly attractive business proposition."

The council has said that the sectors which would bring most benefit to the campus are cyber security, big pharma, film and television and health and life sciences.

Paul Besley, general manager at 5NINES, said: "The facility which 5NINES has established at the Atlantic Link Enterprise Campus offers the opportunity for the Northern Ireland economy to flourish in the future.

"Data-heavy sectors such as financial services, programming, film and television production, pharma and many others will have access to our high security, purpose-built facility to store, process and distribute their data.

"Our data centre is connected to multiple national and international connectivity networks, including the low latency, high capacity transatlantic cables offered by Project Kelvin.

"In addition, because the site is an enterprise zone, other companies can take advantage of enhanced capital allowances and other benefits which will prove a draw to companies from all sectors in the future."

Lisa McAteer, director at commercial property agents CBRE, added the campus was an opportunity for inward investors to establish themselves in the area.Some 30 years ago today the volunteer crew of Portrush Lifeboat launched in dreadful conditions to reports of two Spanish trawlers in difficulty. This was when the famous Portrush picture was taken by photographer Ian Watson

The full story behind Portrush lifeboat's most terrifying rescue call-out, which was immortalised in an iconic photograph, has been told for the first time.

It was 30 years ago that photographer Ian Watson captured the Richard Evans lifeboat as it set out on the afternoon of February 13, 1989 after reports that two Spanish fishing vessels on Lough Swilly had run aground on the Donegal coastline.

Amid 100mph winds and 40ft high waves, the lifeboat had just battled out of the harbour when one of the seven crew, Terry Murdoch, was thrown against the wheel by the force of the storm and cracked two ribs.

After half an hour, the crew received a call to say that they would not be required after all.

However, the severity of the storm prevented them returning to shore and they had to spend the night in Greencastle Harbour, not returning to Portrush until the next day.

The dramatic photograph of the vessel during what was said to be the worst storm ever seen in the area, is regarded as one of the most stunning images of a lifeboat at sea, conveying the sheer courage of the crew in the face of danger.

At the time Ian Watson lived near the harbour and despite the challenging weather conditions, he described capturing the scene as just luck.

The strong winds meant he couldn't stand up, and every time he tried to take a shot, the camera lens got covered in spray.

Instead Mr Watson went back to his house, wedged himself in the hallway and took the pictures from there.

One of the crew, Mark Mitchell, who was 21 at the time, had already done several call-outs from the north coast base but said this was the most dangerous to date.

Recalling the terrifying events of three decades ago for the first time, he said: "We sat at the harbour entrance for what seemed like a lifetime as we strapped in and prepared.

"We were all well-experienced seafarers, but we knew this one was going to be bad.

"I was terrified. But we weren't allowed to say so because we were men in a man's world.

"In those days we couldn't show our fear."

Mr Mitchell added: "In a lesser boat we would have been dead, but the legendary stability of the Richard Evans Arun Class Lifeboat pulled us back to something resembling an even keel.

"As we hit the wave's trough, the sea exploded around us. We were completely submerged.

"The constantly moving window wipers, designed to quickly clear heavy spray, were stopped by the force of the sea.

"Every rivet and bolt shuddered as the Richard Evans fought her way back to the surface."

Just then the radio message came through that the two Spanish trawlers were no longer in any danger.

Despite being told to return to base, Mr Mitchell said he knew that no boat could turn in those conditions without inevitable capsize.

He said: "We had no choice but to go on towards the shelter of Lough Foyle and the haven of Greencastle.

"Normally a 45-minute passage, we battled on for three hours to keep upright."

When safely back in port, Mr Mitchell said for the first time that night there was "an almost painful silence" among the crew.

"There we were, alive and alone with our own thoughts" he added.This article is a portion of a book titled "Challenges, Risks and Opportunities in Today's Spine World" edited by Stephen Hochschuler, MD, Frank Phillips, MD, and Richard Fessler, MD. You can find links to the previous chapters at the end of this article.

In 1971 Dr. Ralph Rashbaum and I met while stationed in the Air Force in Wichita Falls, Texas. At that time, we were not orthopedic spine surgeons but were functioning as general medical officers.

We rapidly became aware that a large number of our patients presented with the complaint of back pain. Unfortunately, at that time all back pain was viewed similar to how abdominal pain had been viewed 70 years earlier; that is, abdominal pain was abdominal pain was abdominal pain. There was not a clear definition between a ruptured appendix, a ruptured gall bladder, intestinal torsion or multiple other diagnoses. These evolved over time.

Likewise, in regard to back pain, back pain was back pain was back pain. There was no clear etiology as to whether the symptoms were facet pain, discogenic pain, radicular pain or the cause of radicular pain. Spinal stenosis was just beginning to be described, and people really did not know what it was. There were also questions concerning whether one could get pain secondary to soft tissue, such as ligamentous hypertrophy as compared to disc herniation, or some other tissue abnormality. No diagnostic category for internal disc derangement existed.

I had 3 years formal training in general surgery at Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Rashbaum had a year or two of general surgery training. As we finished our military experience we both went into full orthopedic residencies.

Once completed, I developed the spine program at the VA hospital at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas. Dr. Rashbaum completed two fellowships, one with Dr. Henry Bohlman, for 18 months. Thereafter, he became the first spine surgery fellow of Dr. Richard Rothman in Philadelphia. Dr. Rashbaum and I had become friends in the military, stayed in touch, and I was able to convince him to come back to Texas from Philadelphia to start a spine institute.

In 1977 we began this process. Dr. Rashbaum and I visited Dr. Vert Mooney at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in California. We saw a model that we thought was the appropriate model for dealing with back pain patients: an integrated multispecialty model that included prevention, conservative care, surgical care, rehabilitation, research and development. We returned to the Dallas area and started to implement the plan. Our goal was to take the narrow niche of spine and integrate it vertically; i.e., we wanted to do everything from ergonomic analysis, industrial back school and prevention through to fellowship training, research, new product development, and everything in between.

In 1982 Dr. Richard Guyer became our third founding partner. Our growth process was one of evolution, not revolution. We were, however, proactive, not reactive. We made several mistakes along the way; but because we moved slowly but progressively toward our goal we survived the evolutionary process.

Now more than 40 years later we are what we had hoped to become: the most academic private practice in spine. Texas Back Institute is the largest independent multidisciplinary academic spine practice in the world.

Lessons Learned

Along the way we learned many lessons. In the early days of the institute very few diagnostic techniques were available for evaluating a person with back pain. As in most specialties, one relied heavily on the history the patient gave followed by the physical examination.

When Texas Back Institute first started, oil soluble myelography was the only thing available. It was not until several years later that water soluble myelography became available. Initially, we had to do all of our own diagnostic and therapeutic procedures such as myelography, facet joint injections, facet blocks, selective nerve root injections selective nerve root blocks and epidural steroid injections. The only implants available at that time were Harrington instrumentation or what was coming onto the scene called Knodt rods. We felt obligated to implement new protocols for conservative care and physical therapy as well as new surgical approaches to the spine.

Texas Back Institute became the second center in the United States to do multiplanar reconstruction of CT scans. We visited with Dr. William Glen in California who initiated this whole process. We learned much along the way from physical therapists including Dr. Stanley Paris and Robin McKenzie. We adopted their protocols early on and have used their treatment procedures throughout the history of Texas Back Institute. Other physical therapy procedures have been incorporated as we progressed.

In San Francisco we visited Dr. Art White who developed the first back school in the United States. We rapidly incorporated this treatment concept into our program and became the second back school in the United States. We had a 12-hour back school program, and we charged on $120. The program was taught by a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a psychologist and a surgeon.



Blue Cross Blue Shield, meeting with us at the time, was amazed at the cost and asked how we could do that. We related that we made no money on the program and were doing it solely for the benefit of our patients and, hopefully, differentiating Texas Back Institute from other facilities. When we asked if that meant they were impressed and would pay for it, they said they were impressed but they had no means of paying for it since there was no CPT code. This turns out to be the story each time improvements are made in medical care. Insurance companies are reluctant to embrace new treatments.

As things progressed, we became the first institution in the country to prescribe outpatient myelography. At the time we instituted this, we unfortunately lost two of our best nurse practitioners since they felt this was malpractice. It is always interesting when you innovate and apply new techniques how there is a hesitancy for change. As we all know, if one does a myelogram today, it is performed as an outpatient procedure as are many other spine procedures.

We were also asked to help in the development of the MRI scan. We worked with Dr. Ken Miravela from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas and also had multiple discussions with Dr. Leon Wiltse in California. Although the initial impression was that it was very difficult to get an image that was of any value, MRI subsequently has turned out to be the study of choice.

Along the way we became very interested in discography. We published a paper on the Dallas discogram description along with Dr. Dave Selby, and this became pretty much the standard of care for those who believed in discography. Unfortunately, discography in and of itself became a battle due to the fact geographically people either believed it had value or believed it had no value. To this day, it is still controversial depending on who you speak with and their criteria for performing the evaluation.

Research Foundation

Early in our development, we realized a desire to have an academic component to our private practice. This was accomplished by the establishment of a non-profit research foundation. Texas Back Institute Research Foundation was formed in 1985 with Dr. Barton Sachs. Dr. Donna Ohnmeiss joined the Foundation in 1986. TBIRFs mission is to improve care for individuals with spine problems through research and education.

We became actively involved in any and all spine meetings with podium presentations and chairing symposia. We had a key role in the formation of the North American Spine Society, and several of our group became members of the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine. In addition, we found it important to have each of our partners involved in each of the major spine societies. These included the Scoliosis Research Society, Cervical Spine Research Society, American Spinal Injury Association, International Association for the Study of Pain, and we played an integral role in the formation of the Spine Arthroplasty Society to become the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery.

The primary focus of the research program has been on diagnostic evaluations and treatment outcomes. These clinical studies have involved discography, MRI, pain drawings, presurgical psychosocial screening, minimally invasive procedures, and total disc replacement. Biomechanical projects have also been performed. Currently, TBIRF is involved with numerous clinical outcome studies evaluating long-term results of various treatments. About 4 years ago, we added a spine performance lab dedicated to research. The lab has the capability to analyze gait, balance, and muscle activity as measured by EMG. These studies have resulted in our publishing extensively in the peer-reviewed medical literature since 1987. In addition to publications, the research studies have led to numerous presentations at national and international spine conferences.

The Foundation has been involved in the publication of spine-related medical textbooks and monographs including Rehabilitation of the Spine, The Spine in Sports, Lumbar Disc Disease, Cervical Disc Disease, and Spinal Arthroplasty: A New Era in Spine Care.



Programs

Under the leadership of Dr. Richard Guyer, the Texas Back Institute Spine Surgery Fellowship program was initiated in 1986. Currently, Dr. Guyer and Dr. Jack Zigler are directors of the Fellowship. To date we have trained 118 surgeons from all over the United States. The creation of the Fellowship sparked the development of our weekly Neuroscience conference which is CME accredited. The Fellowship program also includes a weekly interesting case conference and a monthly journal club. In addition to the formal year-long fellowship program, we have visitors from all over the world who come to observe the latest in new technology being developed in the United States.

We have created automated patient education programs and an interactive informed consent process. All the responses are documented automatically, signed and placed in the EMR record.

In addition to the back school, we have also initiated other patient education programs. Approximately 15 years ago we developed a series of ten videotapes. In most operative procedures we perform, the patient is taught preoperatively by watching the tapes with a nurse clinician and then answering questions related to their understanding of the procedure. Naturally, the surgeon reviews the proposed surgery with the patient as well and answers any questions that may still linger.

More recently we have created an automated, interactive informed consent process. The patients view high-quality computer graphics accompanied by text and audio. At the end of the program, the patient is asked to respond to questions concerning their understanding of the risks related to surgery; verifying that all their questions have been answered to their satisfaction; and giving their consent to have the surgery. All the responses are automatically documented, signed and placed in the chart. A nurse educator is available throughout the process to answer questions.

We have authored numerous books for the lay public including Back in Shape and two editions of Treat Your Spine Without Surgery. In addition, we have been on public television and have participated in educational symposia for the public. Our goal has been to utilize all the new information technology potential for educating patients. We are involved in both Spine Universe and Spine-Health and have been integral in preparing content as well as helping to develop these web sites.

Texas Back Institute has been involved every step of the way in regard to new product development. The initial pedicle screw and rod fixation system developed was first conceived by Dr. Ralph Rashbaum on a napkin that he gave to Dr. Art Steffee of Acromed. Dr. Steffee called this first construct the Texas Connection. Since that time, many other systems have evolved.

It should be noted that from 1980 to 1981 we played a role in the formation of bone banks. The initial concept for cross sections of femur bone to be used in anterior lumbar interbody fusion is something I had taken to Osteotech.

One problem we encountered with this bone was that it was somewhat eburnated, and the concept thereafter was to cross hatch the bone with tire treads and see if this would help. Unfortunately, it did not make much difference, and Dr. Steffee and I considered using a curved nail that would go from the superior vertebral body through the medullary canal of the femur bone into the vertebral body below. This seemed a little difficult, and Dr. Will Smith from Atlanta had the idea of using a screw in front of the graft that would serve as a doorstop. This turned out to be the simplest solution, and consequently, has been incorporated since then.

Clinical Trials / New Technology

We participated in the clinical trials of the first two threaded fusion cages  the BAKTM and the Ray TFCTM. Personally, I was concerned as to how one of these cages would be extracted if it became infected. There was also some concern about the potential for subsidence of the metal cages into the vertebral bodies.

In our Research Foundation, we tested the first cylindrical threaded femur bone. This was presented to the North American Spine Society in a poster presentation in 1992, and several years later this technology was picked up by the Florida Bone Bank. They manipulated the technology somewhat and came out with a femur bone dowel that was thereafter marketed by Medtronic.

Due to concerns of the threaded metallic cages cutting into the toughest part of the bone, the endplates, we worked with Spinal Concepts to design a product called InFix. It basically rests on the endplates and preserves lordosis, while avoiding the potential complication of positioning a cylindrical cage too deeply and perhaps hitting a nerve root. This product has recently received FDA approval for vertebrectomy. In addition, we have been instrumental in the development of various cervical plates, percutaneous systems and vertebroplasty systems.

In 1989 we became very interested in the artificial disc and invited Dr. Karin Buttner-Janz, co-inventor of the first total disc replacement, to visit the Texas Back Institute. We were intrigued by the fact that surgeons in the United States continued to do fusions of the spine, and yet in regard to the hip and the knee, this was not the case. Fusions had become passe, and people were replacing hips and knees. Consequently, we worked with Dr. Buttner-Janz to translate text related to the development of the prosthesis from German to English and to publish this with her in the United States. Almost ten years later we were able to work with the Link company to start the FDA clinical trial on the Link SB Charite prosthesis. Almost simultaneously, we were the initial site for the investigation of the Spine Solutions ProDisc.

Our goal several years ago was to become one of the major arthroplasty spine centers in the world, and consequently, we have been very active in the whole arthroplasty realm. We do this not just for the sake of doing things, but it truly keeps our level of interest high in regard to the intellectual challenge of the development of the science of spine and to ultimately improve care for back pain patients.

Texas Back Institute is presently focused on five major areas for downstream development of the science of the spine:

 Arthroplasty, which is subcategorized to total disc replacement, nuclear replacement, annular repair, extraligamentous repair, and facet joint replacement

 Minimally invasive surgery of the spine

 Image guidance and robotics

 Genetics and biomaterials

 Nanotechnology and MEMS (microelectromechanical systems)

We are positioned with relationships with various academic and private institutions to maximize our knowledge in these realms.

Recently, we also formed a for-profit product development company which was called Innovative Spinal Technologies to more rapidly develop some of our intellectual properties and thereafter, as many universities have done, bring these to the public marketplace.

In 1992 Fortune Magazine featured Texas Back Institute in a five-page spread. As a result, Dr. Reggie Herslinger, a professor at Harvard Business School, sent three of her MBA fellows to study us as the focus factory in spine similar to the Scholdeis clinic for hernias or certain cancer institutes that deal with a narrow niche but are integrated vertically.

Integrating multiple specialties within Texas Back Institute has been a labor of love but not easy. There are always turf battles. When we first brought in an exercise physiologist, the physical therapists did not accept him. It became a process of slow integration. When we elected to bring in chiropractors, we had turf battles and much concern. The way we have successfully gotten around this has been by doing it slowly  bringing in the best of the best, and consequently having the opportunity to have members of our group learn from these distinguished people in their own realms.

We have also integrated within Texas Back Institute neurology, occupational medicine, physical medicine and rehabilitation, physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing, psychology, exercise physiology, chiropractic, orthopedic spine surgery, neurosurgery, general surgery and internal medicine.

New Challenges

Over the years, physicians have had to deal with consistently decreasing revenues and increasing costs of malpractice insurance and health insurance for employees. They have had to become HIPAA compliant, cope with the time required to get insurance approval for various procedures and deal with other management issues. This has driven an increased need to address the business aspects of delivering quality spine care to patients.

One method of addressing the problem is the creation of boutique hospitals in which physician groups partner with hospitals to create specialty hospitals. This allows the physicians more control, reduces the amount of time wasted and provides revenue sharing. Input from the owner/physicians can also improve the quality of care for their patients in the hospital setting.

One must improve care while cutting costs is the incorporation of technology into all aspects of daily practice. New specialty hospitals can be designed to incorporate a paperless computer-based system. In the clinic, technology such as electronic medical records and digital imaging systems improve service and greatly decrease costs by eliminating or significantly reducing the need for record storage, record staff, transcription services and the processing or radiographic images. Technology also can help streamline processes related to coding and billing.

Throughout our history our goal has been and continues to be to perform as a center of excellence, integrating the best of science and education with the best business practices for the wellbeing of patients.

Previous chapters:

Challenges, risks and opportunities in today's spine world

Spine care - Balancing cost with innovation

What are big data and predictive analytics

Predictive Analytics and Machine Learning

The HSS Spine Care Model, Part 1

The HSS Spine Care Model, Part 2

The Rothman ModelThe owners of A&G Spinal Solutions and pain management physician Michael Frey, MD, received prison sentences after pleading guilty to their roles in a kickback and Medicare fraud scheme, according to News-Press.

Five notes:

1. Dr. Frey was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. The pain management physician also paid a $2.8 million settlement in connection with the investigation.

2. As part of the plea deal, Dr. Frey admitted to a fraud conspiracy with A&G Spinal Solutions. Dr. Frey said he earned a share of the company's profits for referring patients to A&G Spinal Solutions.

3. A&G Spinal Solutions made kickback payments to Dr. Frey through his wife, who was falsely listed as an A&G Spinal Solutions employee. Dr. Frey said he received payments between 2013 and 2015 for referring patients to a specific pain cream prescription.

4. A&G Spinal Solution owners Ryan Williamson and William Pierce pleaded guilty to their roles in the kickback scheme. They were sentenced to one year and nine months, respectively.

5. Dr. Frey also admitted to receiving a "speaker fee" payment from Insys Therapeutics. Investigators said that Insys paid him to get him to write prescriptions for its products.Andrew Hecht, MD, chief of spine surgery at The Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, outlines the key trends and big opportunities in the spine device space moving forward.

Question: What emerging technology or technique do you think will have the biggest impact on the spine field five years from now?

Dr. Andrew Hecht: The biggest technology innovation will fall under a few different categories. The first big technological innovation will be increasing the use of image guidance and robotic technology to try to make procedures less invasive and improve the overall accuracy of the placement of instrumentation. The other big technological innovations will revolve around improvements in the use of biologics for both the enhancement of spinal fusion and disc biology and repair.

Q: Where do you see the biggest room for innovation in spine?

AH: The biggest innovations in spine will continue to grow out of biological solutions to spine disorders. Some of the most promising avenues of research involve the reversal of disc degeneration and annular repair. The disc represents a unique therapeutic target for anti-catabolic and pro-anabolic solutions. Annular repair also represents an area of increased interest and therapeutic potential for both post-discectomy repair and annular disruptions.

Q: Which technologies do you think will disappear in the next five years?

AH: Technologies that should hopefully disappear over the next several years will be lumbar disc replacement as well as things like sacroiliac joint fusion. These technologies I think will, in the end, prove to be of little benefit to patients over time.

To participate in future Becker's Q&As, contact Laura Dyrda at ldyrda@beckershealthcare.com.

For a deeper dive into the future of spine, attend the Becker's 17th Annual Future of Spine + Spine, Orthopedic & Pain Management-Driven ASC in Chicago, June 13-5, 2019. Click here to learn more and register.Following a similar move by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Nashville (Tenn.) General Hospital has opened a food pharmacy for its oncology patients, according to the Nashville Post.

The food pharmacy, which will offer patients free healthy foods, will mainly serve patients in the hospital's oncology department getting chemotherapy treatment. But hospital leaders said the food pharmacy will also be able to support malnourished patients and those with hypertension, heart disease and diabetes.

The decision to create a food pharmacy came after a community needs assessment identified three major needs for patients, including access to healthier foods, access to healthy food sources and assistance with buying healthy food.

Additionally, hospital leaders pointed to research that found cancer patients who maintain their weight or lose the least amount of weight during treatment are less likely to develop toxicities.

Read the full report here.Riverstone Capital, a insurance carrier based in Bakersfield, Calif., may file for bankruptcy after failing to pay medical claims for more than 100 employers, according to The Modesto Bee.

Three things to know:



1. On Feb. 1, the U.S. Department of Labor filed a complaint against Riverstone and two associated companies accusing Riverstone of charging low premiums to attract customers. The complaint argues the premiums were unsustainable and that the company charged exorbitant fees.



2. As of late December, Riverstone managed medical plans for about 112 employers, according to the complaint, cited by The Modesto Bee. More than 16,000 of the employers' medical claims were unpaid, totaling $24 million in outstanding payments.



3. A Riverstone employee inadvertently revealed the bankruptcy plans in a voicemail left with a reporter for The Modesto Bee. The Riverstone employee thought he had called a senior trial attorney with the Labor Department.



For the full report, click here.Fairfield, Calif.-based NorthBay Healthcare may recover $16 million-plus from Blue Shield of California after a federal jury in San Francisco found the health insurer underpaid the hospital system for emergency care.

On Feb. 13, after a six-day trial, the jury found Blue Shield owed NorthBay 67 percent of its billed charges, according to law firm King & Spalding, which represented NorthBay. The exact amount of damages has yet to be determined, but is currently estimated at more than $16 million.



The case stems from December 2016, when Blue Shield and NorthBay ended their contract for in-network care. Blue Shield then allegedly paid NorthBay low rates for emergency services provided to Blue Shield members, which prompted NorthBay to sue the health insurer.

NorthBay operates NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield and NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville.



In an emailed statement to Becker's Hospital Review, Blue Shield said it is "a nonprofit health plan whose goal is to give people access to quality care that's sustainably affordable. This case went to trial because the amounts NorthBay Healthcare Group charged for emergency services for our members ran counter to that goal. The jury determined that the value for these services was far lower than what NorthBay had billed Blue Shield, and far lower than the amounts that NorthBay had argued to the jury as the reasonable value of its services. Neither the jury nor the court have determined what additional amounts may be owed, and the jury portion of this case is just the first phase of the lawsuit. While NorthBay's hospitals currently are not in our provider network, we remain open to working with any provider who shares in our quality and affordability goals."



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

The Cleveland Clinic is facing pushback from unionized employees over a minimum wage increase that excludes them, according to The Plain Dealer.

Cleveland Clinic in December announced plans to raise the minimum wage for employees to $15 by 2020. The organization bumped the hourly rate for an estimated 1,900 employees to $14 in January.

But the raise reportedly does not apply to about 90 union employees at Cleveland Clinic Lutheran Hospital and Cleveland Clinic Children's. The employees, who earn less than $14 per hour, are members of the Service Employees International Union District 1199.

Cleveland Clinic told The Plain Dealer hourly rates for these unionized employees must be part of negotiations scheduled to begin next year.

"We welcome the discussion about a wage increase with them, but those are not stand-alone negotiated items," said Eileen Sheil, executive director of corporate communications for Cleveland Clinic.

Ms. Sheil said Cleveland Clinic is unable to do raises "in isolation" since they are associated with benefits and salary schedules, which must be negotiated.

"We absolutely expect that that will be on the table" in negotiations, she said.

But union officials contend the raise should apply now to SEIU employees.

Destiny Bates, a housekeeper at Cleveland Clinic Lutheran, told The Plain Dealer she sees the situation as unfair.

"Everybody should be involved in the raises," she said.

More articles on human capital and risk:

NYC nurses show up to protest; counts differ

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California hospital wins order from court telling strikers to quiet downIroquois Memorial Hospital in Watseka, Ill., and Riverside Healthcare in Kankakee, Ill., have discontinued merger discussions roughly four months after signing a letter of intent to combine their organizations.

Although the organizations have ended formal merger discussions, they intend to continue to collaborate on ways to best serve patients in Iroquois County, according to the Daily Journal.

"With our campus in Watseka and facility in Gilman, we are committed to meet the healthcare needs of the region," Riverside President and CEO Phil Kambic said in a press release, according to the Daily Journal. "We will continue to work with officials at IMH to ensure we are serving the community in the most efficient way."

This is the second time Iroquois Memorial Hospital and a Kankakee hospital have ended merger talks. Iroquois Memorial Hospital explored a merger with Presence St. Mary's Hospital in Kankakee in 2013, according to the report.

More articles on healthcare industry transactions:

For-profit hospital operator M&A update: 8 latest deals involving CHS, Tenet and HCA

Dignity Health, CHI merge into $29B system

CHS sells New Jersey hospitalOrthopedic surgeon Evan Argintar, MD, performs dozens of narcotic-free surgeries in the Washington, D.C., area, and is a former a former assistant team physician for both the NBA's Washington Wizards and MLB's Washington Nationals. Becker's ASC Review interviewed Dr. Argintar about the pain management trends affecting ASCs.

Note: Responses have been edited for style and clarity.

Question: What are the trends and innovations impacting pain management in ASCs?

Dr. Evan Argintar: As ASCs become more popular and available, trends are moving toward doing all elective surgeries in the centers, and even larger surgeries that have historically been inpatient. This includes hip and knee replacement. As innovations in pain management have improved tremendously, the advantages of lower infection rate have made ASCs more attractive for surgery.

Q: What advice would you give to other surgeons wanting to perform narcotic-free surgeries in the outpatient setting?

EA: Perhaps the most important factor in performing narcotic-free surgery is having a well-trained anesthesia block service that is well-versed regional nerve block anesthesia. Working hand-in-hand with this team, optimal pain management protocols can be implemented.

Q: What non-narcotic pain management solution would you recommend to other surgeons?

EA: My preference is to use long-acting local anesthetic (Exparel). Half of this solution is incorporated in the regional nerve block, and depending on the extremity location, the other half is mixed with a regular local anesthetic. This is done to decrease the volume such that a more regional intraoperative field block can be effectively performed.

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.Last week, The North Carolina Department of Health denied Chapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC Health Care, Durham, N.C.-based Duke University Health System and Raleigh, N.C.-based WakeMed's ASC development applications, releasing the applications to the public days later. Triangle Business Journal dug through the applications, describing a cut-throat environment.

What you should know:

1. The Business Journal describes the applications as, "a silent, cutthroat competition within the pages of these documents, [where] providers relentlessly call out every possible error their competition could have made."

2. For example, UNC and WakeMed harshly criticized Duke's $34 million ASC proposal, which sought out four of the six available operating rooms.

WakeMed's application read, "In an era where cost containment remains a significant issue in healthcare delivery, the Duke [ASC project] capital cost is unreasonably excessive when compared to other applicants."

3. In another example, Duke critiqued UNC's two proposals, a $16.6 million ASC in Cary, N.C., and a $16.2 million USC in Garner, N.C., pointing to the "significant delays" the health system experienced with its current developments as reason for denial.

4. WakeMed's project was also met with criticism. WakeMed sought to build two ASCs in Cary and Raleigh for $8.6 million and $11.3 million respectively. Unlike the others, WakeMed wanted to position its new centers by existing hospitals to increase efficiency.

UNC directly disputed the claims saying, "it implies that [WakeMed] has not worked with its potential surgeon partners to identify locations that would expand geographic access for patients as well as physician practices."

5. North Carolina approved one-room ASC proposals from RAC Surgery and Raleigh-based OrthoNC, leaving four ORs still available.A Florida House of Representatives committee approved a bill that would require hospitals and ASCs to poll staff members about patient safety, WGCU Public Media reports.

What you should know:

1. Developed by the state's Agency for Health Care Administration, the surveys would include questions on whether staff members would be willing to undergo procedures at the facilities where they work.

2. Surveys would be designed to measure issues such as adverse medical event frequency, comfort reporting potential mistakes, level of teamwork among staff and patient-safety regulation compliance.

3. ASCs and hospitals would be required to report results to the state to be made public.

4. The State Consumer Health Information and Policy Advisory Council, which includes members from hospitals and ASCs, unanimously opposed the measure in December 2018. David Shapiro, MD, is among the opponents.

"Putting these out in the public domain would diminish our ability to use them to create that really important culture of patient safety to ensure that we take care of the patients to the best of our ability," he told WGCU Public Media.

5. Despite the council's opposition in December, Florida's Health Market Reform Subcommittee passed the bill by an 11-2 vote.

More articles on turnarounds:

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NY insurer files suit over $28M in 'fraudulent and abusive' claims from ASC, physicians & pain companies: 7 things to knowNew images have been released in the case of Samuel Little, a 78-year-old man who the FBI says may be among the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history.

Little is currently serving three consecutive life sentences in connection with three murders from 1987 to 1989. He was first arrested at a Kentucky homeless shelter in 2012, and a DNA match tied him to those killings, authorities said.

The Texas Rangers say he confessed to a total of 90 murders, and dozens of agencies are working to match his confessions with women who turned up dead from California to Florida between 1970 and 2005.

He is in poor health and will likely stay in prison until his death, the FBI said. Authorities are now looking to identify his victims and provide closure on the unsolved cases.

Little recently created 16 drawings of his victims based on his memory. One of the victims, only identified as a black female between 25 to 28 years old, was killed in Houston between 1976 and 1979 or in 1993, the FBI said.

The FBI's website includes more information about Little's past, as well as a map of some of his alleged killings.

Anyone with information about the victims or the case can call the FBI's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program at (800) 634-4097

Editor's note: In a previous version of this story, Chron.com reported that Samuel Little was jailed in Texas. That information was based on an FBI news release dated November 27, 2018. However, we have learned that Little was transferred to California since that release was issued. Wise County, Texas Sheriff Lane Akin confirms that Samuel Little was taken to the California State Prison, in Los Angeles County in January, 2019.

Click through the slideshow above to see if you know any of the women he killed across the county.

Julian Gill is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | julian.gill@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.Three adults are dead in an apparent murder-suicide at a Pearland home, police said.

Police responded to a third-party call around 10:20 p.m. Wednesday out of the Shadow Creek Ranch subdivision. When officers arrived, they found three bodies inside the home near the intersection of Creek Run and Castlewind.A 23-year-old man turned himself in to authorities Monday after learning that there was a warrant for his arrest in connection to a late December aggravated robbery, according to information from the Port Arthur Police Department.

Chance Ratcliff allegedly robbed several people at gun point in the 1700 block of Duff Drive on December 29.The vacant Gander Mountain store at Dowlen Road and Eastex Freeway will soon be filled by an Aldi grocery store, so kudos to all involved. Will the owners of Central Mall in Port Arthur be as fortunate with their soon-to-be vacated Sears site? Well find out this summer.

Sears announced the closing of that site in December after it had survived several scares. The Sears store in Parkdale Mall is still open, and this week a bankruptcy judge gave Sears Holdings owner Eddie Lampert one last chance to save the retail icon.

But Central Mall will have to fill an anchor site soon, and it will be tough.

Back in the day, when a store left a mall, owners just plugged in another. Its clearly not like that now, ever since Jeff Bezos started becoming the richest man in the world with a garage startup known as Amazon. Perhaps youve heard of it.

You have, of course. Online shopping with Amazon and other web wizards has transformed commerce in this country, and stunned almost every retailer in the process. More and more shopping is done over the internet, which is why mom-and-pop shops and even giants like Sears are struggling.

Thats a double-whammy for vacancies like the upcoming one in Central Mall. There are fewer retailers in general, and even fewer big players left to fill a big gap.

When malls have gaping holes like that, it looks bad and contributes to the downward momentum. At Central Mall, the Sears store is on the north end facing FM 365. You cant miss it, and that visibility could make it attractive for a new tenant. Some malls are thinking out of the big box for these openings with a Pilates studio or adult education center, since they have good parking and access. If it boosts foot traffic, its a good idea.

Fortunately for Central Mall, it does have a JCPenney and Target outlet at the south end. Thats the part that faces U.S. 69, so the visual is still positive from that perspective.

Target seems to be in reasonable shape for a huge retailer, though its hardly booming. JCPenney is struggling like Sears, and recently announced it would stop selling big appliances  which it started doing to try to reverse its internet-induced slide.

But refrigerators, washers and dryers take up a lot of floor space, and you go shopping for them every five or 10 years at the most. If that was the only lure that would get you into a Penneys store, it wasnt happening often enough.

At Central Mall, JCPenney still has a big red banner on the south wall proudly proclaiming, We sell appliances. That will have to come down.

Ive lived in Mid-County for years and spent many a retail dollar at Central Mall  and Sears, for that matter. Central Mall doesnt have the depth and breadth of Parkdale Mall, so if youre planning a long shopping expedition, youre probably heading there. But Central Mall also doesnt have the congestion of Dowlen Road. Its easy to get in and out of, and you can walk from one end to the other in a few minutes.

I visited the mall last weekend, and it had shoppers and walkers. It wasnt jam-packed, but it wasnt desolate either. The play area for kids is a nice touch that is well-used, and most retail sites are filled.

The Sears store had some enticing markdowns, such as 50 percent off mattresses, 35 percent off ranges and 30 percent off table saws and riding mowers. If youre looking for a bargain, check it out.

Unfortunately, the north end by Sears already has two other smaller vacancies. When Sears locks its doors, it might be better to close off that section until the gaps are filled.

The Sears store will close March 10 and then need a couple of weeks to clear out remaining inventory and equipment. A mall spokesman said there are no prospects now to fill the site, but they are hoping for leads at a big convention in Las Vegas in May. Even then, it would be the summer at the earliest before cash registers were humming again there.

The coming closure will be a big change for Mid-County. Sears had anchored that north end since 1982, when the mall opened. In the 80s and 90s, it would have been hard to imagine it closing one day. The day has unfortunately come. As a Mid-County dweller, I hope the mall overcomes this hurdle, and hangs on. Ill drop by now and then; if enough other shoppers do, it just might.

ttaschinger@beaumontenterprise.comYou have permission to edit this html.

Edit CloseYou can reach Sam Morgen at 661-395-7415 or smorgen@bakersfield.com. You may also follow him on Twitter @smorgenTBC.Images

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images.Police: 'Bomb threat' at Home Depot was just a warning from man needing to poopTeen who inspired many by walking while on life support has diedNorth Korea is getting increasingly angry at the US, as talks are deadlocked and tensions between the two countries are on the rise, a source familiar with the discussions told CNN.By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

The Czech Republic is interested in a mutual increase of the tourist flow with Azerbaijan, Milan Ekert, the Czech Ambassador to Azerbaijan, said at a press conference in Baku on February 13, Trend reports.

The ambassador noted that it is also in the interests of the Czech Republic to expand the flow of tourists beyond the already popular destinations, such as the likes of Prague, Karlovy Vary and Baku.

"In order to attain positive results in this area, the Czech Embassy in Azerbaijan is considering providing help with summoning experts for the development of ecological tourism in Azerbaijan," Ekert said.

The ambassador stated that Czech experts are ready to visit Azerbaijan in April and discuss further cooperation with representatives of the relevant Azerbaijani structures.

Milan Ekert touched upon the topic of readiness of Czech companies to take part in the expansion of the Baku public transport system.

He noted that both ground transportation and the subway are included. Ekert also added that many of the Czech companies are ready to consider organizing joint production with Azerbaijani partners.

"There are some examples of such projects. One can mention the production of Tatra trucks at the Ganja Automobile Plant, the participation of the Moravia Steel a.s. company in the reconstruction of the Azerbaijani section of the North-South railway corridor," Ekert said.

Also, the ambassador went on to say that there are projects of cooperation in the field of defense, including modernizing the fleet of Azerbaijans Czech-produced L-39 training aircraft.

Speaking about the Azerbaijani-Czech cooperation in 2018, the ambassador noted that, in terms of Azerbaijani-Czech bilateral relations, the past year can be called a year of the emergence of new dynamics, forming a basis for strengthening the strategic partnership between the countries.

The ambassador remarked that the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic grew by 12 percent and reached 1.1 billion euros in 2018, with Azerbaijani exports to the Czech Republic growing by 15 percent and exceeding 1 billion euros. On the other hand, as noted by Ekert, the number of products exported from the Czech Republic to Azerbaijan dropped by 19 percent, making up 63 million euros.

"Thus, attracting Czech companies to enter the Azerbaijani market is one of the priorities of the Czech Embassy in Baku for the coming year," said the Czech ambassador.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Abdul Kerimkhanov

A business forum was held in Tashkent with the participation of the business circles of Uzbekistan and Sweden.

It was organized by the Uzbek Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade and the Swedish Trading and Investment Council Business Sweden.

A delegation led by Ingrid Tersman, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Sweden to Uzbekistan, arrived in Uzbekistan to discuss promising areas for the development of trade, economic and investment cooperation.

The business mission included Andreas Giallurakis, Director of the Swedish Trade and Investment Council of Bussiness Sweden for Eurasia and specialists of the organization, heads of the companies ABB Safegate, Scania, Ericsson, Alfa Lacal Potok, Sandvik: Mountain mining and mining technologies, Epirus and EF Education First.

Ingrid Tersman noted in her speech that parties held an event for the first time in February 2017, when Uzbekistan was just entering the path of reforms.

The Ambassador said that during this period, she has been in Uzbekistan several times and observed gradual positive changes, which were reported to representatives of Swedish companies.

I would like to note that Uzbekistans intention to develop relations with neighboring countries is good. This will undoubtedly lead to sustainable economic growth, improve the standard of living of citizens. Sweden is a small country and is far enough away from Uzbekistan, but we have a number of companies that have already wanted to enter foreign markets for several years. I am convinced that working together with Swedish companies will also contribute to the implementation of sustainable development commitments, said Tersman.

Swedish companies represent such sectors as energy, oil and gas, mining and processing industries, construction materials and food products, high-tech solutions in aviation and air transportation, information and communication technologies.

During the business forum, representatives of authorized departments of Uzbekistan made presentations, where potential areas for cooperation were demonstrated.

Today, Sweden is an industrialized country with significant natural resources, an efficiently formed internal and external transport infrastructure, and a highly skilled population.

A special place in the economy of Sweden is occupied by the manufacturing industry, which accounts for the majority of total exports and imports of goods. The leading industries include diversified automotive industry, pulp and paper, woodworking, metallurgy, mining, production of telecommunications equipment.

One of the main tasks to strengthen the Uzbek-Swedish relations is to expand the legal framework between countries: the signing of a number of bilateral agreements aimed at increasing the dynamics of trade, transfer of knowledge and developments in the field of science and technology and creating a favorable economic environment.

Promising industries include such areas as the production of pharmaceuticals, light and food industries, education and technology.

Today, on the territory of Uzbekistan, 10 enterprises with the participation of Swedish capital operate, of which - one enterprise with 100 percent foreign capital.

Following the event, the company EF Education First and the Uzbek Ministry of Public Education signed a Memorandum of Understanding.

According to the signed memorandum, the parties will share experience in the field of human capital development and cooperate in the field of training foreign language teachers, including English and assessing their knowledge.

Diplomatic relations between Uzbekistan and Sweden were established on April 8, 1992.

---

Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

Turkey wont abandon the purchase of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) in exchange for the acquisition of the US Patriot SAMs, head of the Turkish parliamentary commission on international affairs Volkan Bozkir said, Trend reports with reference to the Turkish media.

He said that Ankara is committed to agreements with Russia regarding the purchase of the S-400 SAMs.

If the US offers Turkey reasonable prices, Ankara may also purchase the US Patriot SAMs, said Bozkir.

On Jan. 17, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the delivery of the Patriot SAMs to the Turkish Armed Forces is linked with a number of issues.

Cavusoglu pointed out that one of such issues is the date of delivery of the US SAMs, with the other being the possibility of their purchase through a loan.

He pointed out that Turkey also intends to organize production of the American Patriot SAMs, as agreed with Russia, which also intends to supply the Turkish Air Force with its S-400 SAMs.

Previously, the US administration made a decision to sell the Patriot surface-to-air missile systems to Turkey for a total of $3.5 billion.

The US is actively taking steps to prevent the purchase of Russian S-400 SAMs by Turkey. Washington has warned Ankara, in particular, that in case of acquisition of these systems from Moscow, the US may refuse to sell its fifth-generation F-35 multi-role combat aircraft to Turkey.

The initial reports of negotiations between Russia and Turkey regarding the S-400 came in November 2016. The signing of a contract was confirmed by the Russian side on Sept. 12, 2017.

The Turkish Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar stated that the deployment of S-400 is set to begin in October 2019.

As stated by Sergei Chemezov, head of the Russian State Corporation Rostec in December 2017, S-400 costs around $2.5 billion for Ankara.

Turkey is the first NATO member to acquire SAMs of such type from Russia.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Abdul Kerimkhanov

Tajikistan plans to increase electricity exports to Afghanistan and Uzbekistan in 2019, said Chairman of the state energy holding Barki Tochik Mirzo Ismoilzoda at a meeting with journalists in Dushanbe on February 13.

He added that negotiations were underway with the Afghan and Uzbek energy sector on the volumes and prices of supplies.

At the peak of electricity production (spring-summer season), the republic can offer Afghanistan and Uzbekistan more electricity than in 2018.

According to preliminary agreements, it is planned to supply about 3.2 billion kWh of electricity to neighboring countries, that is, 1.6 billion kWh for each country.

Commenting on whether the export tariffs for Uzbekistan will change compared to 2018, Ismoilzoda noted that this issue is being discussed with Uzbek colleagues and the Tajik side suggests raising it.

The head of Barki Tochik also noted that Tajikistan supplied to Uzbekistan 1,48 billion kWh at a price of 2 cents per kW in 2018.

Tajik energy officials claim that there is plenty of snow in the highlands of the country this year, and the new energy capacity introduced allows for an increase in electricity production in the spring-summer period.

According to the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, more than 2.4 billion kWh of electricity was supplied outside the country in 2018. Due to these supplies, Tajikistan earned about $ 77 million.

The publication notes that the cost of each kW of energy for Afghanistan last year was 4.11 cents, and for Uzbekistan - 2 cents.

Most of the electricity in Tajikistan is produced at hydropower plants.

The country has significant potential in the field of hydropower, which is still little realized. The total volume of hydropower resources is estimated at 527 billion kWh, including 202 billion kWh that are technically possible for use, and 172 billion kWh that are economically feasible for construction.

Open Joint Stock Holding Company "Barki Tochik" is the state national energy company of Tajikistan, located in Dushanbe.

The main goal of Barki Tochik is the production, transportation, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity and heat mainly on the local market in Tajikistan.

The company deals with the operation of power plants and networks of the republic, the generation, transmission, distribution and sale of electrical and thermal energy in the state.

The structure of "Barki Tojik" includes 26 enterprises in which more than 12,000 people work.

In the field of construction and design, a supply of equipment and materials, the company maintains partnerships with more than 12 countries. The company also trades electricity from neighboring countries.

---

Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

Iran's Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami announced that the country is going to buy a number of aircrafts.

Eslami made the announcement, referring to the special channel opened for Iran to purchase airplanes, Trend reports via Mehr news agency.

Eslami refused to answer whether the desired aircrafts are new or second-hand, saying that "there are no new or second-hand aircraft; they are very good planes."

On February 2, Iran Air CEO Farzaneh Sharafbafi, pointing out that the company had been working on a special channel for aircraft purchase before the INSTEX (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges).

"I hope, that along with that, the financial channel for aviation will also be launched," he said at the time.

INSTEX (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges) is a mechanism, created to facilitate non-dollar trade with Iran, allowing European companies to trade with the Islamic Republic without being hit by the sanctions.

On Jan. 31, three European countries  France, Germany and the UK (shortened as E3)  officially announced the creation of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), a special purpose vehicle, to allow them bypass US sanctions on trade with Iran. INSTEX facilitates non-dollar trade with Iran, allowing European companies to trade with the Islamic Republic without being hit by the sanctions.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

Kazakhstans Kyzylorda region will start exporting rice to Iran this year, Trend reports via the press service of the regions administration.

"Last year, along with traditional varieties, production of Iranian varieties was launched in the region for further export to Iran. Currently, negotiations are underway to send the first batch of 500 tons of Iranian rice varieties," the administration said.

It was also noted that despite the lack of water, Kyzylorda rice farmers reaped a good harvest of 473,000 tons in 2018.

Last year, rice sown area in the Kyzylorda region was reduced by 3,000 hectares, and oilseeds, in particular safflower sown area was increased from 1,659 hectares in 2013 to 8,404 hectares in 2018. This made it possible to organize the production of safflower oil and for the first time to enter the Chinese market with this product in 2018.

Since last year, the region has also begun work on the introduction of high-yielding crops such as soybeans, and forage crops such as Sudan grass and sweet sorghum.

This year, it is planned to reduce rice sown area by 2,171 hectares and increase forage sown area by 4,068 hectares and acreage of potatoes, vegetables and melons by 1,293 hectares.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzRichwood, TX (77531)

Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. High near 90F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 80F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.By Trend

Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces on Wednesday departed Tehran for Moscow to pay an official visit to the neighboring country, Trend reported citing IRNA.

Major-General Mohammad-Hossein Baqeri, heading a high ranking military delegation travelled to Russia to discuss issues of mutual interest with the Russian officials, in particular his Russian counterpart.

The visit is taking place upon an official invitation from the Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu.

Bilateral military cooperation and fighting terrorism are expected to be the main topic of the Iranian commander discussions with the Russian officials.

Baqeri will also attend the Russia-Turkey-Iran summit on Syria, scheduled to be held on February 14 in Sochi city of the Black Sea.

The day-long Sochi Summit in Russia on Thursday is to concentrate on the joint counter-terrorism measures in the region, the restoration of tranquility, the return of the refugees and the settlement of political stability in Syria and cooperation in reconstructing the crisis-stricken country.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is expected to leave for Russia on Thursday to attend the Sochi Summit.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

Iran had higher expectations from the EU, Faryal Mostowfi, member of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, told ISNA, Trend reports.

Mostowfi said that, after 9 months of negotiations, the expectations on the EU's step on securing economic exchanges with Iran turned out to be unfulfilled, also saying that INSTEX (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges), the financial mechanism of the EU, is primarily meant as a tool for propaganda and politics.

"Because the European Union shows that it is committed to protecting and maintaining the nuclear deal [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] with Iran," he said.

Mostowfi continued that, although the nuclear agreement is important for Europe, what is now being provided (in INSTEX) is, by and large, more limited than what the Iranian side has in mind.

Commenting on conditions, such as Iran's joining FATF (Financial Action Task Force) in connection with INSTEX, Mostowfi added that Iran should join this international convention.

According to Mostowfi, Iran hopes that, at the very least, there will be no shortage in terms of medicine supplies by the EU.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov left for Germany to take part in the Munich Security Conference scheduled for Feb. 15-17.

Along with participation in the 55th Munich Security Conference, during the visit Mammadyarov will hold several bilateral meetings.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Laman Ismayilova

Love makes everything possible. Falling in love brings up all kinds of additional emotions. Your heart races, your tummy gets tied up in knots when you meet your soul mate.

Being in love makes you feel inspired. It makes you feel as if you can do anything. There's no explanation for it, no rationale.

But one thing we do know is that, whether you've love and won or loved and lost, when love is real, it's always worth it.

February is the month of love for all the hopeless romantics.

Every February 14, lovebirds spoil each other and express just how much they love and appreciate their better half.

Sweethearts exchange cards, flowers, candy and teddy bears in the name of St. Valentine.

Have you ever wonder why February 14th is considered the day of love? The history of Valentine's Day goes back to a mysterious, third century saint.

During the middle ages, Valentines Day was a day to commemorate the acts of Valentinus.

Emperor Claudius II banned marriages, because he believed that it distracted soldiers.

St. Valentine is thought to have arranged marriages in secret. When Claudius discovered Valentine's acts of defiance, he sentenced the priest to death.

There, St. Valentine fell in love with the jailers daughter and sent her a love letter signed "from your Valentine" on February 14th, the day of his execution, as a goodbye...

Julia planted almond and pink blossom beside his grave symbolizing lasting friendship and love.

It's a sad story that teaches us a lot about love and sacrifice, the true meaning of Valentine's Day.

Today, sweethearts around the world celebrate this day in many ways.

Japanese people celebrate Valentine's Day in a very unique style. One of the main differences is that Valentine's Day is mainly about woman gifting to men. Japanese women usually give chocolate as opposed to flowers, jewelry, or other gifts like that.

South Koreans have a different kind of Valentines Day. The couples share love on the 14th of every month. These days range from the White Day to Hug Day and everything in between.

In Denmark, Valentines Day is celebrated with white flowers called "snowdrops." They give the flowers to both friends and lovers.

Romanians express their love on February 24 during the Dragobete festival. Lovebirds pick flowers from the forest and wash their faces in snow.

In Bulgaria, Valentines Day is also known as Winemakers Day. On this day, Bulgarian couples share a glass of their favorite wine to make it special.

France has long celebrated Valentines Day as a day for lovers. Traveling on Valentines Day to Paris is a great option, as the city is full of romance. It's been said that the first Valentine's Day card originated in France. Charles, Duke of Orleans, sent love letters to his wife while imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1415. Today, Valentine's Day cards are still popular tradition in France.

In Azerbaijan, people exchange cards and gifts with their partners while others bring their loved one to dinner in a restaurant.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, stores in Baku are flooded sparkling jewelry, chocolate hearts, stuffed animals.

After flowers, perfume is the number-one choice for a romantic gift.

Hearts, red and pink roses, images and statues of cupids decorate the streets of Azerbaijan's capital.

People who fall in love are sometimes said to be "struck by Cupid's arrow".

If you really like someone, but have not dared to tell her or her, Valentine's Day is an opportunity to finally take the "first step".

Some people may choose this day to propose or get married.

As you can see, there are many ways to celebrate the day of love.

No matter where in the world you celebrate Valentine's Day, the only thing that matters is how much you love.

---

Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijans Culture Minister Abulfas Garayev has left for Coventry, UK.

As a part of his visit to Great Britain, the minister met with Michael Ellis, Secretary of State for Arts, Heritage and Tourism.

The sides exchanged views on the state of cultural relations between the two countries.

During the meeting, the officials decided to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on cultural ties between the two countries and prepare an action plan on its basis.

Abulfas Garayev stressed that the Azerbaijani side is seriously studying the British experience in the development of culture and creative industries and cooperates with the British Council to this end, Trend reported.

The minister provided detailed information on the 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue and on the 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, which will last from June 30 to July 10.

The 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue will be held in Baku on May 2-3.

The Forum aims to be an international platform to enable and encourage people, countries and organizations to advance concrete actions to support diversity, dialogue and mutual understanding as foundations for sustainable peace and inclusive development.

Expected participants include heads of governments, ministers, heads of various international organizations, senior policy makers, cultural professionals, goodwill ambassadors, experts, journalists, practitioners, prominent intellectuals and activists.

Abulfas Garayev invited Michael Ellis to visit Azerbaijan's capital.

Highly appreciating Azerbaijan's role in UNESCO, Ellis wished success in the organization of the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee in Baku.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Laman Ismayilova

Maslenitsa, a week of festivities is finally upon us.

Slavic festival will be held in the Old City on March 9, Trend Life reported.

The holiday marks the end of winter with ancient traditions.

The festival offers special menus with a huge variety of pancakes to try.,

Various games, competitions, master classes, face art, colorful show await the guests of the event.

Maslenitsa, also known as Pancake Week, is the last week before Lent. It celebrates the end of winter, symbolized by the burning of effigies.

In Slavic mythology, Maslenitsa is a sun-festival, personified by the ancient god Volos, and a celebration of the imminent end of the winter. In the Christian tradition, Maslenitsa is the last week before the onset of Great Lent.

Everyday there is a special activity. For example, on Tuesday different games are held in the open air. Everyone can take part in them. On Wednesday you have to visit your mother-in-law and eat pancakes at her place. On Thursday you can go sled-riding. On Sunday a straw effigy symbolizing winter is burnt.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

In Azerbaijan, it is necessary to simplify the reporting system for small entrepreneurs in order to increase the level of voluntary compliance with tax regulations, Azerbaijani Minister of Taxes Mikayil Jabbarov said at an expanded meeting of the board.

The minister noted that in general, the tax authorities should form an individual approach for each category of entrepreneurship, being small, medium and large.

In particular, Jabbarov noted that when working with large companies, it is necessary to adhere to the risk assessment policy and a broad analytical analysis, to give preference to the use of electronic auditing.

When working with medium taxpayers, the minister continued, the tax authorities should work to eliminate the elements of the shadow economy.

As for small business, it is important to ensure transparent tax accounting, legalization of the turnover of business entities, expansion of the service sector, as well as to carry out work on education.

According to the new definition of the category of enterprises, a company with a staff of 11-50 people and an annual income of 200,000 - 3 million manats is considered a small business.

The category of medium-sized enterprises includes companies with a staff of 51-250 people and an annual income of up to 30 million manats, while the category of large enterprises includes companies with a staff of over 251 people and an annual income of over 30 million manats.

Finally, emphasizing the importance of more reliable protection of taxpayers' rights and the improvement of the tax appeal system, Mikayil Jabbarov said that after investigating the best practices of developed countries and conducting research aimed at creating new and more effective mechanisms that would protect the rights of entrepreneurs, Institute of tax ombudsman will be created in Azerbaijan.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Leman Mammadova

Automative sector is currently developing fast in Azerbaijan, as more plants engaged in the production of cars are being launched across the country.

"Khazar" plant will export Dena cars to Ukraine, head of the international relations department at Iran Khodro Sabina Nubar said, AZERTAC reports.

Dena cars produced at Khazar plant in Neftchala will be exported to Ukraine this year. These cars are also of interest in Belarus. It is planned to open sales center in Belarus by the end of the year, she noted.

Nubar added that cars of the Khazar plant are not left behind cars manufactured in European countries in terms of quality and comfort. The quality factor has increased the interest in these cars.

The joint Azerbaijani-Iranian plant Khazar in the Neftchala industrial park opened on March 29, 2018, during a two-day visit of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Azerbaijan.

AzerMash OJSC - Iran Khodro Joint Venture Khazar car plant, with an annual production of 10,000 vehicles, will produce 6,000 vehicles at the first stage, such as Runna, Samand, Soren, Dena, Peugeot, Reno, by the end of 2019. These cars will be sold mainly on the local market.

The enterprise is expected to export 2,000 vehicles annually. Khazar cars are expected to be exported, first of all to the Russian market, then to be delivered also to Ukraine and Central Asian countries in the future.

A major Iranian automaker Iran Khodro and Azerbaijani company Azeurocar, a subsidiary of AzerMash, signed an agreement on August 6, 2016 to establish a joint automobile plant in the Neftchala Industrial Zone.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $ 14.08 million. Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan holds 75 percent share while 25 percent belongs to Iran. Regarding the quality, brand received a quality certificate of "Euro 5". Cars have been sold since summer 2018.

Recently, production of Peugeot cars under the brand name Khazar has been launched in the Neftchala industrial park.

Azerbaijan, which is currently working to develop its car industry and encouraging interior purchases, is developing its own automobile manufacturing market.

As many as 969 cars were produced in 2018, which is 32.4 times more than in 2017.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

As many as 15,627 farmers in 23 Azerbaijani districts (cities) will receive subsidies worth 23,038,900 manats for 230,400 tons of raw cotton in Azerbaijan, Trend reports with reference to Azerbaijans Agriculture Ministry.

Such a decision was made at a meeting of the Republican Commission in Azerbaijans Agriculture Ministry.

The commission also decided to provide subsidies worth 247,400 manats to 531 farmers in 12 Azerbaijani districts (cities) for 2,700 tons of dried tobacco and 22,500 tons of raw tobacco, subsidies worth 1,106,600 manats to 1,936 farmers in 25 Azerbaijani districts (cities) for 276,600 tons of sugar beet.

The chairman of the commission, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ilham Guliyev reminded that subsidy worth 0.1 manats is provided for every kilogram of raw cotton (conditional weight), subsidy worth 0.05 manats is provided for every kilogram of dried tobacco and ten kilograms of raw tobacco, and subsidy worth 4 manats is provided for every ton of sugar beet.

Documents on the provision of subsidies to producers of cotton, tobacco and sugar beet have been submitted to the Ministry of Finance, Kapital Bank OJSC and state agricultural development centers of the Ministry of Agriculture.

(1.7 AZN = 1 USD on Feb. 14)

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

The e-agriculture system will allow providing the Azerbaijani farmers with necessary information, as well as rendering consulting services to them, Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ilhama Gadimova said.

Gadimova made the remarks at the presentation of the e-agriculture information system in Baku, Trend reports on Feb. 14.

"The farmers' work will be simplified thanks to this system," she said. "There will be no need to submit documents somewhere. It is enough for the farmers to indicate the data electronically."

Gadimova also stressed that the main principle of the Ministry of Agriculture for this year is to be closer to the farmers.

The e-agriculture system is a unified system of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Agriculture, the main principles of which are to be closer to farmers, transparent and effective management and the introduction of innovations.

This system includes all business processes that cover the entire process from the initial stage to the final stage.

The e-agriculture system enables to customize control mechanisms to ensure the development of agriculture, as well as monitor processes in real time.

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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 Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijani food products are showcased at PRODEXPO 2019 exhibition in Moscow to promote the Made in Azerbaijan brand and Azerbaijani products in the foreign markets.

The Azerbaijani company Azhazelnut has signed a contract for the export of 21 tons of hazelnuts to Russia, while the company A+Co signed a contract for the export of 20 tons of wine to Russia, Trend reports on February 14 with reference to Azerbaijans Economy Ministry.

In turn, the Azerbaijani company Jalilabad Sherab-2 signed an agreement to export 100,000 bottles of wine to Russia.

A number of export agreements on the supply of Azerbaijani goods was signed during negotiations held between Azerbaijani companies and foreign partners participating in the international food exhibition PRODEXPO 2019 in Moscow.

Thus, the Azerbaijani company Gilan Agro and FMCG Group will supply canned products to Russia, the company Cuve will supply hazelnuts, Aznar - pomegranate juice, D fruits - canned fruits and dried fruits, Tac - soft drinks, Buta Agro - fresh fruits and vegetables.

Prodexpo 2019 exhibition opened at Moscow Expo Center on February 11 and will last till February 15.

This year, Azerbaijan became the general sponsor of this 26th international exhibition.

During the exhibition, more than 30 Azerbaijani companies dealing in food, wine and other alcoholic beverages, showcased their products at a single stand of Azerbaijan.

The exposition of Azerbaijani companies offers fresh agricultural products, canned food, mineral water, various alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, tea, nuts, walnuts, dried fruits, confectionery products and so on. Those who come to the "Alcoholic Drinks, Wine, Beer" show may get acquainted with ancient wine traditions of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu made a speech at the opening of the exhibition and said that 31 companies of our country are participating in the exhibition this year.

The exhibition is a great opportunity for participating countries to enter to the Russian market, to conclude beneficial contracts, to increase commodity exchange between our countries and to enhance the well-being of our peoples, he said.

Ambassador also mentioned an increase in the prospects for trade cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia this year and recalled the recent visit of Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin to Azerbaijan.

Prodexpo, organized by Expo Center with the support of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture, is the largest-scale exhibition of food industry products in Russia and Eastern Europe, which is among the top ten food exhibitions in the world.

More than 2,300 companies representing food products and various drinks from 65 countries are taking part in the exhibition with a total area of over 100,000 square meters. The 30 thematic halls offer a wide range of food, beverage and beverage industries.

The exhibition aims to enhance the competitiveness among the food manufacturers, expand the range of products, create new qualitative changes in the domestic food market, search new partners, and while determining the vector of activity in modern economic conditions to achieve new frontiers in business.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Leman Mammadova

In recent years the expansion of bilateral economic relations, the organization of economic missions, business forums, as well as other activities opened a new phase in practical cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Netherlands.

Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev met Former President of the Senate of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Honorary President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Chairman of Dutch-Azerbaijan Friendship Group Rene van der Linden.

Mustafayev underlined the contribution of Linden to the development of the Azerbaijani-Dutch relations and emphasized the expansion of economic and trade relations between the two countries and the importance of reciprocal visits.

During the meeting, the bilateral cooperation in the fields of agriculture, industry, chemistry, ecology and other spheres, growth of trade turnover last year, the role of business forums, business meetings in the expansion of economic ties, noted.

Mustafayev noted that up to 130 Dutch companies registered in Azerbaijan in services, construction, transport, industry, trade, communications, banking and insurance. The general plan and general project of the Baku International Sea Trade Port Complex commissioned last year was developed by the Royal Dutch company "Royal Haskoning". In addition, Azerbaijan cooperated with Dutch companies in rehabilitation of lakes in Absheron, including Boyukshor lake.

He also noted that Azerbaijan's increasing transit potential, important projects in this area - North-East, East-West transport corridors, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, International Sea Trade Port, international airports create great opportunities for transit-logistics cooperation.

Simplification of visa regime and introduction of electronic visa in Azerbaijan have further increased the number of tourists coming to the country. Only last year, the number of tourists coming from the Netherlands to Azerbaijan increased by 26.6 percent compared to 2017.

Speaking about Azerbaijan-Netherlands relations in the field of education, the minister emphasized the fruitful cooperation between ADA University and Maastricht School of Management and noted that Azerbaijani students study at that university.

Rene van der Linden appreciated the application of the Maastricht School Management Program at the ADA University in the development of education in our country. He also mentioned that representatives of the Sumgayit Chemical Industry Park are in the Kemelot industrial park of the Netherlands and pointed out opportunities for Azerbaijani companies to operate at Kemelot.

Rene van der Linden noted that the Netherlands is interested in North-South, East-West corridors, special economic zone of Free Trade Zone type in Alat, cooperation in alternative energy sources, agriculture and other spheres, as well as expansion of existing relations.

Azerbaijan and the Netherlands are cooperating on development of the Baku Sea Trade Port and its connection with the Dutch ports. Presently the representatives of specific hubs in the Netherlands work on creation of the Netherlands-Azerbaijan business hub, trying to link the port Alat with the Dutch Greenport and port of Venlo.

Although Netherlands doesnt participate in the Southern Gas Corridor project, envisaging transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, it attaches great importance to this project, as the Netherlands is extremely interested to support the energy security in the EU as a whole.

The Netherlands recognized the independence of Azerbaijan in 1991. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1992. Azerbaijans Embassy was opened in the Hague in 2007. The Dutch embassy was established in Baku in 2009.

Relations between the two countries develop gradually especially in the economic sector. Trade turnover between the countries increases annually.

Earlier, Charge dAffaires of Azerbaijan in the Kingdom of the Netherlands Jalal Mirzoyev said that the level of trade turnover between the Netherlands and Azerbaijan increased 12 times in 2017 compared to 2016.

According to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, trade turnover with the Netherlands in January-September 2018 amounted to $142.2 million. As compared to the indicator for the same period of the last year, the trade turnover between the countries increased by 70 percent, while the exports of Azerbaijani products increased almost four times.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijans State Migration Service has reminded about the conditions for granting the countrys citizenship.

The Migration Service told Azernews that foreigners or stateless persons who have continuously and legally resided in the territory of Azerbaijan for the last five years, have a legal source of income, who are obliged to abide by the Constitution and the laws of Azerbaijan and who submit a document proving the knowledge of the Azerbaijani, regardless of origin, race or nationality, political or other convictions, may be granted citizenship of Azerbaijan upon their own request in accordance with Article 14 of Azerbaijans Law On Citizenship of Azerbaijan dated Sept. 30, 1998.

The decision on granting the citizenship of Azerbaijan is made in accordance with paragraph 20 of Article 109 of the Constitution of the Azerbaijan Republic.

The term of permanent residence of a foreigner or stateless person in the territory of Azerbaijan is calculated since the date of granting a permanent residence permit, issued in the manner prescribed by law.

In addition, foreign and stateless persons may be granted Azerbaijans citizenship without taking into account the residence period indicated above, if:

- the person has high achievements in the fields of science, technology, culture or sports;

- is of particular interest to Azerbaijan and in other exceptional cases.

Persons residing in Azerbaijan apply for Azerbaijani citizenship to the State Migration Service, while persons residing in foreign countries apply to the diplomatic missions or consulates of Azerbaijan.

Documents on the acceptance of Azerbaijani citizenship received by diplomatic missions and consulates of Azerbaijan abroad are sent to the Foreign Ministry.

If a person applying for citizenship of Azerbaijan calls for a violent change of the state system enshrined in the Constitution of Azerbaijan, commits actions that harm state security, public peace, health or morality of the population, promotes racial, religious and national exclusivity, and also if this person is associated with terrorist activity, the application for citizenship is denied.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

Azerbaijan's car industry is on the rise at the moment, since the country does everything possible to establish new production facilities in order to meet the domestic demand and organize exports.

Azerbaijani Minister of Economy Shahin Mustafayev met with Director General of Russias KAMAZ OJSC Sergey Kogogin, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Economy told Trend.

Mustafayev stressed that the two countries are cooperating well in all areas and the expansion of ties testifies to the political will of the Azerbaijani and Russian presidents.

Mustafayev stressed that during Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkins visit to Azerbaijan several days ago, the foundation of GAZ automobile plant was laid in the Hajigabul Industrial Site, which is a joint project of Azermash company and the Russian GAZ group of companies.

It should be noted that the volume of investments in the enterprise will be 14 million manats. At the initial stage, 100 people will be employed at the plant. The enterprise will assemble GAZel NEXT and GAZel BUSINESS light commercial vehicles, as well as GAZon NEXT medium trucks. AzEurocar, a AzerMash subsidiary, will deal with the distribution and maintenance of GAZ vehicles in Azerbaijan.

The discussions were also held in connection with the possible cooperation between the Ganja Automobile Plant and the Russian Kamaz and Ural plants, Mustafayev added.

An agreement was signed between KAMAZ OJSC and the Ganja Automobile Plant in February 2015. According to the agreement, Kamaz cars are assembled at the Ganja Automobile Plant.

Kogogin said that presently, Kamaz cars are produced in more than 80 countries and more than 40 Kamaz service centers operate in the CIS countries.

Stressing the attractiveness of the Azerbaijani market, Kogogin said that Kamaz OJSC is considering the possibility of producing agricultural equipment in Azerbaijan. Moreover, the regional service centers may be created for the new generation of Kamaz vehicles in Baku and the regions.

The possibilities of expanding cooperation, organizing the production of a number of spare parts in Azerbaijan were discussed during the meeting.

Azerbaijan has taken active steps to establish a car assembly to prevent currency outflows and meet the needs of the population and entrepreneurs in vehicles.

Cars, trailers and semi-trailers were produced in the country worth 106.6 million manats according to the results of 2018, which is 31 times more compared to 2017, according to the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan.

As many as 969 cars were produced in 2018, which is 32.4 times more than in 2017.

Such a sharp increase in the production of cars in the country was achieved due to the opening of a joint Azerbaijani-Iranian factory Khazar in the Neftchala industrial park on March 29, 2018.

By the way, starting from the current year, Khazar cars are expected to be exported, first of all to the Russian market.

In addition, the Nakhchivan facility opened in 2010 assembles eight models of Lifan passenger cars designed by Chinas Lifan Group, which provides all the necessary spare parts for cars to the plant so they may be assembled in Azerbaijan under the direct supervision of Chinese automotive specialists.

Meanwhile, there is a significant potential for establishing in the country of production not only cars. As many as 297 buses were imported into the country in 2018, which is 110 units, or 58.8 percent more than in 2017, according to the data of the State Customs Committee (SCC) of Azerbaijan.

In recent years, in the direction of the automotive industry development, there is an active cooperation with the manufacturers of vehicles not only in Russia and Iran, but also in Belarus. Thus, Belkommunmash will supply four large-capacity E321 electric buses to Azerbaijan to launch a pilot electric bus route in the Ganja city in 2019, Belkommunmash Holding Management Company OJSC reported.

The growth in population size and well-being, on the one hand, and the improvement of the business climate in the country on the other, create opportunities for the development of the automotive industry in order to meet primarily domestic demand for vehicles in the country.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Trend

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have 27 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Feb. 14, 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.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzArmenia will buy more Sukhoi Su-30SM fighter jets from Russia after receiving the first batch of such aircraft, according to Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan.

The Defense Ministry in Yerevan confirmed last week the signing of a Russian-Armenian contract on the delivery of four Su-30SMs to the Armenian Armed Forces. A ministry spokesman hinted at more such acquisitions in the near future.

Yes, we will not content ourselves with the four planes, Tonoyan told reporters on Wednesday. He described Su-30SM as the best modern multirole fighter jet of its kind.

The Armenian Air Force has had no fighter jets until now. It currently consists of 15 or so low-flying Su-25 jets designed for air-to-ground missions.

The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported on February 1 that Yerevan will use a Russian loan to buy four Su-30SMs at internal Russian prices set well below international market-based levels. It did not specify their total price.

The Armenian Defense Ministry has refused to disclose the cost of the acquisition, saying that that is classified information.

Tonoyan made the comments five days after his latest visit to Moscow during which he met with Russias Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu and the head of a Russian government agency overseeing arms deals with foreign states.

Tonoyans office said that he and Shoygu discussed, among other things, supplies of Russian-made state-of-the-art and precision-guided weapons which would give the Armenian military preventive superiority over its adversaries. It did not elaborate.

The Russian Defense Ministry noted the friendly and constructive character of the talks between the two ministers. It said Shoygu thanked Armenia for its humanitarian assistance to Syria.

The talks came as Armenia deployed 83 army medics, demining experts and other military personnel to Syria.With Nigerias presidential election just two days away, two political heavyweights are competing to lead the African giant through a critical four years.

Supporters of the opposition People's Democratic Party in the town of Jimeta. Photo: Luis Tato/AFP/Getty Images

Why it matters: The winner will govern a country with massive unfulfilled economic potential and worsening humanitarian and security crises. There are fears a bruising and close-fought election could give way to violence and instability.

Nigeria is Africas largest economy but the government is almost entirely reliant on oil revenues. The country is ranked among

Nigeria has a laundry list of challenges, and its hard to see any positive inroads on any of them, says Matthew Page of Chatham House, a U.K. think tank. He says the question is: Can they take them on or will they just twiddle their thumbs as Nigeria barrels toward this moment of catharsis?

Incumbent Muhammadu Buhari made history in 2015  three decades after he was toppled as a military strongman  by becoming the first opposition candidate to defeat a sitting president.

Buharis appeal rests on his incorruptibility, but institutionalized corruption remains unscathed after four years, according to Transparency International

It has been a grueling four years. Buhari has faced health struggles, economic headwinds and a relentless Boko Haram insurgency.

Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, represents the Peoples Democratic Party, which ruled Nigeria for 16 years until Buharis election. This is his fourth run for the top job.

Abubakar, a wealthy businessman, says hell open the country up for more investment. He has been dogged by allegations of corruption and almost symbolizes Nigeria's infamous system of political patronage, Page says.

As Max Siollun puts it in Foreign Policy

Both men are in their 70s. Both are Muslims from Nigerias north. Neither is proposing transformative reforms. This is kind of their last bite at the apple before a younger generation comes in, Page says.

The big picture: The population has doubled over the past two decades to 200 million and is set to double again by 2050  at which time Nigeria will have the third-largest population on Earth.

Nearly 3 in 4 Nigerians polled told Gallup

Confidence in the fairness of elections is improving

John Tomaszewski, Africa director for the International Republican Institute, says that beyond who wins, its essential that this election keeps Nigerias democracy moving forward.

What hes watching for: Voter intimidation from police or security personnel, a lack of transparency from the electoral commission, long lines and confusion at polling places, and tensions spilling over into possible violence.

The bottom line: Nigeria needs to get this right for Nigeria, first of all. That will have reverberating effects all around Africa but also for Europe. This is an important election for the world, Tomaszewski says.Top of the Morning

Icons by Gan Khoon Lay via the Noun Project; Chart: Lazaro Gamio/Axios

Venture capital is still very much a boys club, according to a new Axios analysis.

Only 9.65% of decision-makers at U.S. venture capital firms are women.

at U.S. venture capital firms are women. The breakdown was 105 women decision-makers out of an industry total of 1,088.

That's up from 8.93% in a similar analysis last year, and 7% in 2017. The 2016 mark was 5.7%.

in a similar analysis last year, and 7% in 2017. The 2016 mark was 5.7%. We defined "decision-makers" as the top level of a firm's investment management, and excluded administrative positions like CFOs and heads of investor relations. In other words, people with checkbooks.

As in the past, we only included firms that had raised at least one fund of $100 million over the past five years (in this case, 2014-2018). That means the sample changes slightly each time. This year it included 284 firms. We also exclude corporate VC funds, since it's often unclear who makes final decisions.

Yes, progress is still very slow, even in a year that saw brand-name firms like Andreessen Horowitz, Benchmark, Redpoint Ventures and Union Square Ventures add their first-ever women general partners.

A big part of that is that VC partnerships simply don't turn over too often, regardless of gender. But, that said, only 19% of the "added" decision-maker spots last year went to women.

Firms are clearly concerned about the optics, with more and more obfuscating job titles on their websites  including several who position junior-level females (including EAs) above the male general partners on their team pages.

Each time we do this, some Pro Rata readers email to say it's a waste of time. "Venture is a meritocracy, gender parity doesn't matter, etc." With all due respect, I don't respect such opinions.

The bottom line: Do better.

 Status quo: The CEOs of Sprint and T-Mobile U.S. were on Capitol Hill yesterday, testifying on their proposed mobile mega-merger. The bottom line, per Axios' David McCabe, who was in the room:

Democratic lawmakers are clearly concerned about the deal. But there were no clear missteps by the executives. The deal still has a hill to climb, there just wasnt one moment out of the hearings that changed the narrative around it.

 Podcast: Our new episode focuses on California's high-speed rail fail, and why America seems unable to do large-scale infrastructure projects on-time and on-budget. Listen here.Catholic dioceses in New Jersey and Virginia on Wednesday separately released the names of a total of 246 clergy whom officials said have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children.

The big picture: The disclosures are the latest by a growing number of U.S. dioceses that have admitted to covering up child sex abuse allegations, amid a still-growing crisis that has jeopardized the Catholic Church's credibility. Officials noted that many of the clergy members are dead or have been removed from ministry.Electric vehicle infrastructure giant ChargePoint is using some of its recent $240 million fundraising haul to position itself for interlocking changes that await: the electrification of different types of vehicle fleets and the rise of autonomous tech.

What's new: CEO Pasquale Romano says in an interview with Axios that despite it being early stages of autonomous vehicle technology, AVs should be included in the infrastructure industry's long-term planning.

Everything we know about transportation is going to get disrupted ... including charging. ... What we have to do is make sure that we are early in supporting that."

How it works: If AVs, EVs, and the electrification of fleets  think ride-hailing services, commercial delivery vehicles and government vehicles  were a Venn diagram, there would be lots of overlap.

Most AVs will be ultimately be electric. AVs and electric fleet vehicles are likely to charge at different places than personal vehicles. Charging will probably be concentrated in depots that can handle a range of vehicle types, Romano notes.

Between the lines: That's a seismic shift over the long-term.

It changes your architecture for your products. It changes the scope of what your software has to talk to on the fleet side, it changes the scope of what your hardware has to deal with on the fast-charge side."

 Romano

Why youll hear about this again: Romano, whose California-based company says it has the world's largest commercial charging network, agrees with projections that as AVs rise, so will total vehicle miles traveled (VMT).

"As long as we are attached economically to VMT in some way, we should be fine. This is a huge market, Romano says.

Romano says that preparing for the use of EVs and AVs, especially in vehicle fleets, means "you have got to be thinking literally with a 20-year lens"  and even much longer.

Here are a few more takeaways from my interview with Romano, whose decade-old company is expanding in the U.S. and Europe...

1. The red state opportunity: He expects that southern states where automakers are expanding EV production  he mentioned Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee  will be a charging growth area.

The primary reason is there is actually really good economic alignment. It is hard to be making something in your state and not promoting the use of it in your state, Romano said.

2. The European market: My assumption is that there will be continued consolidation. It is not going to 1 player. It is too large a market, right? But it cant be 20, he said, noting companies need scale to compete.

3. The future of retail: In addition to electrified bus fleets, which is a focus for the company, Romano sees the growth of online retail presenting a big opportunity.

Electrification of delivery vehicle fleets already makes sense from a cost perspective, but there are currently few options, he notes.

But more vehicle makers like Daimler (one of ChargePoint's investors) are developing more products. "When the vehicles are here for all the different sizes of trucks, then I think that is going to electrify quickly," Romano says.

Those fleets are operating globally, so the charging infrastructure vendors ... are going to have to operate globally [too], because you dont want to ... have a regional patchwork," which would make it too complicated, he says.

Go deeper:FUJIFILM India unveiled its exclusive experiential store in Bangalore  Wonder Photo Shop, making it the third concept store of its kind for the ultimate photo printing and brand experience in India. Located at Phoenix Market city, Whitefield Main Road, the latest Wonder Photo Shop in the city aims to celebrate Bangalores love for photography, art and culture. The store embodies a holistic vision of photography, from picture taking to printing, sharing and social networking, as a creative life experience. With the theme Photo Renaissance, the store offers an opportunity to experience an immersive and interactive retail space with Fujifilms state-of-the-art products and services to meet the aesthetic taste of discerning customers especially the youth.

Today the consumers are passionate about exploring their creativity to print photos and organize them in a fun and imaginative manner. Staying true to its commitment to spread the joy of photo developing, Fujifilms Wonder Photo Shop enables customers to discover the wonder of photography and learn how they can bring their favorite photos from smartphones and cameras to life by printing, personalizing, decorating and framing their image creations based on their personal preferences and artistic palate along with unique DIY photo creations.

Wonder Photo Shop will be a learning center, giving customers an opportunity to experience the various product features thus enhancing the ultimate customer experience.

With the full range of Fujifilms instax instant print cameras and Share Printer SP-2, the award-winning line of X Series digital cameras and high-quality lenses on display to touch and try, consumers will see the true photographic heritage of Fujifilm and develop their own vision of how to creatively use their photos.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Haruto Iwata, Managing Director, Fujifilm India said, After the success of our Photo Shop stores in Chennai and Mumbai, we are delighted to take another step towards our goal of bolstering our imaging business with this third store launch in Bangalore. With this expansion, we are confident that we will receive the same recognition and appreciation from our consumers. Bangalore is renowned for its food, culture, art, architecture and diversity. We hope that with the launch of Wonder Photo Shop in the city, customers will experience an ultimate photography experience with memorable prints.

This Wonder Photo Shop has been shaped in line with the brands philosophy of Value from Innovation to create a warm, welcoming environment for guests to spend their time and discover new ways of enjoying photos and to raise the level of creative output to newer heights. A few of the exciting products and services include: Personalized Value Added Printing Products, Wonder Print Station Printings, Photo Related Goods and Accessories.

@Technuter.com News ServiceStarting this Valentine's Day in February, Volkswagen Philippines will make it easier for the public to check out their lineup of vehicles by holding mall tours and exhibits in major malls within Metro Manila. These mall tours are said to represent the efforts of Volkswagen Philippines to bring that unique motoring lifestyle of the brand within reach of more hardworking Filipino motorists and their families.

The mall tours have the theme of German Technology Within Your Reach. The display booths will be able to provide up-to-date information about all things Volkswagen and an on-site online browsing on Smart TVs for visitors. Mall goers will also be able to see up close and personal Volkswagen Philippines current line up of models: The Santana, Santana GTS, Lavida, Tiguan, and Lamando.

As for the schedule, the first exhibit of the mall tour series will be held at the Fashion Hall of SM Megamall beginning February 14 to 20. From March 21 to 31, the tour will then make its way to the Luxury Lane of the Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong City. The tour then heads south of Metro Manila from April 9 to 15 at SM Southmall in Las Pinas City. The last round of the tour will then be held at the SM Mall of Asia Main Mall Activity Area in Pasay City from April 25 to May 1.

Customers who purchase a vehicle during these mall tours will be offered with special financing offers. Premium Volkswagen items as well as fuel cards worth up to Php 5,000 will also be given away to customers who purchase a unit durning the exhibit days.

For more information about Volkswagen Philippines and its lineup of vehicles, log on to www.volkswagen.com.ph. You may also visit Volkswagen dealerships located in these locations: Volkswagen BGC at 938 28th Street City Center, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City; Volkswagen Quezon Avenue at 1229 Quezon Avenue, Quezon City; Volkswagen Alabang at Caltex along Alabang-Zapote Road, Madrigal Business Park, Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa City; and, Volkswagen Greenfield District Service Center at 833 Sheridan Street, Barangay Highway Hills, Mandaluyong City.Google Philippines has just announced that they are making some major updates to the Google Maps, many of which can be very useful at avoiding hassles for motorists.

Chief of these updates is a feature that allows Google Maps to provide route options if your car is adversely affected by the MMDA's UVVRP, a scheme more commonly known as number coding.

UVVRP (Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program) bars motorists from using their cars in certain areas of the metropolis based on the ending digit of their vehicle license plate (or conduction sticker, for the many vehicles still without plates). Many other cities within the metropolis have already adopted their own versions of UVVRP. Theoretically, number coding can reduce traffic by banning up to 20% vehicles on any given weekday.

Waze, another crowdsourcing navigation app that Google also owns, already has a feature that warns users of areas along their route that are covered by number coding, though this is the first time that Google Maps will get it.

The user will have to enter their vehicle's ending number into the app, and it will warn the user if the roads on the way are affected by number coding, and supposedly offer alternate routes to try and avoid coding roads.

Google says the feature will start to get rolled out via app updates in the next few weeks. We actually updated and checked the Google Maps app, and it seems the feature is still just a warning.

In the meantime, here's our comprehensive guide to the un-unified number coding and the roads and routes of Metro Manila.Updates upon updates have transformed the Tesla car into something of a computer on wheels. It offers possibilities not available on most other cars, from self-driving to on-board farts . And as of this week, the number of such possibilities increases even further with the rollout of the new Sentry Mode.Sentry Mode is an alarm system with eyes and brains. One that can turn any threatening action toward the car and its contents into a very embarrassing and public moment for the wannabe thief.Designed to take care of the car when left unattended, Sentry Mode will permanently monitor the vehicles surroundings using the existing cameras. It will also fight back if a threat is detected.When that threat is deemed to be minimal, say when someone leans against the car, a message is displayed on the central tablet, telling the one doing the leaning to stop it, as he is being watched.If by any chance that person doesn't get the message and attempts a more aggressive approach, the cars alarm switches on and the center display begins shining brighter. You know, like the lights in the rural town of Hawkins, Indiana do when Eleven uses her powers.But that's not all. The system will also play music at full volume, so that police know where the party is.The car will even tell on the thief by sending alerts to the owner via the mobile app. Ten minutes worth of recordings can be downloaded by the owner as proof of the incident.Tesla says this new feature has already begun being downloaded in Model 3 vehicles in the U.S., with the Model X and Model S to follow.To use the feature, owners will have to enable it each time by accessing Controls > Safety & Security > Sentry Mode.As expected, during the press conference held on Wednesday NASA announced it is officially ending efforts to resurrect the machine, after more than half a year of failed attempts. The announcement comes only days after Opportunity celebrated its 15th anniversary on Mars.Even if it was officially pronounced dead, its legacy would endure for years to come. When it arrived on Mars in 2004, it had only one task: survive 90 days and travel 1,100 yards (1 km). It lasted 15 years and covered 28 miles (45 km), making it the longest-lasting man-made machine ever sent on another planet."For more than a decade, Opportunity has been an icon in the field of planetary exploration, teaching us about Mars' ancient past as a wet, potentially habitable planet, and revealing uncharted Martian landscapes," said in a statement Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate."Whatever loss we feel now must be tempered with the knowledge that the legacy of Opportunity continues  both on the surface of Mars with the Curiosity rover and InSight lander  and in the clean rooms of JPL, where the upcoming Mars 2020 rover is taking shape."NASA lost contact with Opportunity back in June last year, during a massive dust storm . Although the rover's communication's freeze during the storm was to be expected, hopes were it could power back up as soon as the sky and it solar panels cleared.That didnt happen, and NASA was forced to come up with a plan to wake it . That plan unsuccessfully concluded last night, when the final transmission was sent via the 70-meter Mars Station antenna at NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Complex in California.As per Ford, around 1.48 million F-150 pickup trucks sold in the United States and Canada and equipped with a 6-speed automatic transmission are at risk of a crash because of this fault.Specifically, the powertrain control module could at times experience an intermittent loss of the transmission output speed sensor signal. This in turn could trick the transmission to automatically shift into first gear, regardless of the speed of the car or the driver's intentions.Such an occurrence is not only very damaging for the car itself, but depending on the speed of travel, it could result into the driver losing control of the car and crashing.There are reportedly five incidents that may be related to this problem, says Ford, including one report of whiplash.The pickups that need to go back to dealers have been assembled at the Dearborn Assembly Plant from April 2010 to October 2013 and at the Kansas City Assembly Plant from May 2010 to November 2013. The fix for the issue requires no intrusive intervention into the car, but only an update of the powertrain control module software.Separately, Ford said it is also recalling 4,200 2019 Ford Mustang Lincoln Nautilus , and Lincoln Navigator to fix the instrument panel cluster assemblies that may be blank upon vehicle startup.27,000 Lincoln Continental built from 2017 to 2019 are also being recalled for the risk of the door to open while driving. This problem is caused by the buildup of silicon in the door latch motor.As usual in such cases, dealers will inspect and fix the cars at no extra cost for owners.The full details of Fords three recalls can be found in the document attached below.Yeh is joined by partners William Fong, Steven Sha, and Paul Tang.

The exciting addition of a private equity-focused four-partner team sends a strong message to the market that we're determined to grow our role advising leading private equity clients on their most important Asia-Pacific deals, added John Reiss, head of global M&A.

Most in-house teams expect to increase AI spending

The expansion of the use of artificial intelligence in the legal profession has been examined in major new study.

Analysts at Ari Kaplan Advisors carried out the study on behalf of UK-US firm Seal Software and found that 37% of law department leaders at (mostly) Fortune 100 companies said they are already using AI for analysis and review of contracts and agreements, and half expect their spending on contract AI to increase this year.

Along with the most common uses for AI, 91% are applying it to risk assessment, sourcing and contract management, followed by compliance and procurement at 82%. With data privacy of paramount importance, 55% of respondents who use contract AI identified GDPR and similar regulatory mandates among its leading use cases.WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2019 / Standard Newswire / -- Judicial Watch announced today that it sent an official complaint to the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General (IG) calling for investigations into leaks of information about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. The complaint asks for an investigation of any leaks to CNN about the controversial raid on the home of Roger Stone and for leaks to Buzzfeed suggesting that President Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress.On January 25, 2019, CNN was the only media outlet to be present and shooting exclusive footage of the swat-team type raid by the FBI when it arrested former trump associate Roger Stone at his home in Florida. Though CNN has claimed that its being on site in the dark of night was merely a matter of "good instincts," Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker told a congressional committee last week that "It was deeply concerning to me as to..."Catholic Answers Partners with 5 Stones

Contact: Kerry Beck, Marketing Manager, Catholic Answers , 619-387-7200, kbeck@catholic.com EL CAJON, Calif., Feb. 14, 2019 / Standard Newswire / -- Catholic Answers, the leading media ministry for apologetics and evangelization, announced that it has partnered with 5 Stones to expand its global shipping fulfillment."Catholic Answers Press has grown to the point where we can no longer warehouse enough products to satisfy order requests," said Kerry Beck, Catholic Answers marketing manager.Through their partnership, Catholic Answers and 5 Stones can now meet the growing demand for products received daily through Catholic Answers' online shop."We are committed to continue Catholic Answers' tradition of excellent customer service and dedication to expanding the reach of its message," said Miles Foley, general manager and director of client services for 5 Stones.Thanks to the new partnership, customers will now receive Catholic Answers products faster than before. "This move allows us to continue to grow while our customers benefit from quicker shipping times from a more central location," Beck said.Working with 5 Stones, Catholic Answers can focus on its mission to serve Christ by explaining and defending the Catholic faith and allow 5 Stones to exercise its fulfillment expertise."We are humbled and blessed to partner with the folks at Catholic Answers," Foley said. "Their dedication to the evangelical mission of the Catholic Church is inspiring to all of us at 5 Stones."About Catholic AnswersCatholic Answers is a media ministry that serves Christ by explaining and defending the Catholic faith. We help Catholics grow in their faith, bring former Catholics home, and lead non-Catholics into the fullness of the truth.To learn more about Catholic Answers, please visit: www.catholic.com About Five Stones5 Stones is a Catholic nonprofit that partners with mission-driven organizations to magnify their messages of truth, beauty, and goodness. It provides creative solutions and support for development, fulfillment, marketing, customer service, and design.To learn more about 5 Stones, please visit: www.weare5stones.com Media Contact:Kerry BeckMarketing ManagerCatholic Answers619.387.7200RELATED LINKSHow to Make Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

Dip Into Some Love With Homemade Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

Sure, a heart-shaped box of candy, a candlelit dinner and some bubbly champagne is a wonderful way to celebrate Valentines Day or any romantic evening with that special someone, but if you really want to score major points, try dazzling your date with a sweet homemade treat that doesnt require you to be Duff Goldman in the kitchen.

RELATED: Foods for Better Erections

Chocolate-covered strawberries are easy to prepare, look impressive, and taste delicious. Heres a step-by-step guide to making this sexy dessert.

Ingredients:

8 oz good-quality chocolate chips or chopped dark or milk chocolate (not baking chocolate)

1 lb medium to large strawberries (about 15-20)

2 oz white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate

Instructions:

At the supermarket or farmers market, look for large, firm, deep red-colored strawberries without bruises. Check that the green stems look fresh and are not wilted.

Rinse and dry the strawberries with a kitchen towel or paper towel, making sure they are completely dry. (Otherwise, the chocolate wont stick to them.)

Line a large tray or cookie sheet with a sheet of parchment or waxed paper.

Place dark or milk chocolate (depending on your preference) in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 15-second intervals, gently stirring between intervals until smooth. Be careful not to burn the chocolate. You can also melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan (see below) with a few inches of simmering water, but be careful not to get any water into the chocolate or it will seize and become grainy.

Getty Images

With the strawberries to one side, the chocolate in front of you and the tray to the other side, start dipping the strawberries, one at a time. To dip them: Hold the strawberry by the stem and dip into the chocolate two-thirds of the way in so that its not touching the leaves, and swirl to make sure the bottom is completely coated.

Lift up, giving it a gentle twirl to remove excess chocolate, and lay the dipped strawberry on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining strawberries.

If the chocolate gets too thick, place it back into the microwave for 5 seconds, then stir until melted again. If you start to run out of chocolate in the bowl, use a spoon to coat the remaining strawberries.

Let the strawberries sit until the chocolate is set and dry to the touch, for about 15-30 minutes. You can put the sheet into the fridge to speed things up.

When the strawberries are set, melt the white chocolate in the microwave or on the stove the same way you melted the dark or milk chocolate.

Transfer the melted white chocolate to a small ziplock bag and seal. Push the melted white chocolate to one corner of the bag and snip a small hole in the corner. Gently squeezing the bag, quickly drizzle the white chocolate over the strawberries in big sweeping motions.

Let the white chocolate set. The strawberries can be refrigerated or kept at room temperature for a few hours before serving.

Getty Images

If you want to get in touch with your inner Buddy Valastro, try using white chocolate to dip the strawberries, and then roll them in shredded coconut, or use melted dark chocolate for half the strawberries and milk chocolate for the remainder. You can also dip the coated strawberries into chopped nuts or pink sprinkles before the chocolate sets.

You Might Also Dig:South Africa: Eskom battles under mounting debt

High levels of debt and default risk have left Eskom in dire straits as the power utility battles to meet demand.

The embattled parastatal is facing a R420 billion debt burden and the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) says the State-owned entity (SOE) will cease to exist at the current trajectory by April this year.

The department, led by Minister Pravin Gordhan, on Wednesday briefed the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises on the issues emanating from the State of the Nation Address, progress in addressing audit findings of the Auditor-General on the department and SOEs for the 2017/18 financial year.

Appearing before the committee, Eskom said it is technically insolvent.

[Eskom] will cease to exist at the current trajectory by April 2019. The high levels of debt currently are at R420 billion of the sovereign debt. Default risk is threatening the economy, the committee said in a statement issued after the briefing.

At the SONA on 7 February, President Cyril Ramaphosa had announced a bold move to salvage the company, which would see Eskom be broken up into three divisions: Generation, Transmission and Distribution -- all under Eskom Holdings, while at the same time, remaining the property of the State.

In the subsequent SONA debate on Tuesday, Gordhan said the Eskom Board will appoint a panel of experts to do an assessment of all the power supply challenges that the utility has encountered over the past few days, as load shedding continues to intermittently plunge the country into darkness.

In responding to the presentation by the power utility, the committee on Wednesday reminded Eskom of the ministerial task team and war room set up to deal with Eskom.

The committee questioned what happened to the ideas of the war room? The committee said it heard of another war room that has been established with experts.

The committee wanted to know if the [war room] is operational and if it is offering expertise to assist the current crisis facing the country of load shedding, the statement said.

Similarly, the committee wanted to know if the department is investigating the possible issue of sabotage at Eskom after reports alluded to possible sabotage.

The increase of employees and costs came under scrutiny after the power utility said employee costs increased significantly, driven by employee benefits. In its report, Eskom said the number of employees increased from 32 000 in 2007 to 48 000 in 2018, with associated costs growing from R9.5 billion for R29.5 billion.

High cost of Medupi and Kusile

Eskoms Build Programme has added to the cost overruns and poor performance at the power utility. Medupi and Kusile have suffered massive delays and cost overruns due to poor planning, poor engineering designs, poor procurement practices and corruption.

The costs for the plants have escalated significantly to over R300 billion.

Gordhan said the designs of Kusile and Medupi were badly done and were then changed. In his SONA debate, the Minister had attributed the non-performance of these two plants to the bad designs.

The committee expressed concern and wanted to know how changes in construction were done without government not being aware.

The committee proposed that DPE should submit a special report of the cost breakdown of Medupi and Kusile so that it knows of the real problems that have transpired.

The committee wanted to know if there are discussions with National Treasury with regard to municipal debt, which has increased by R1.6 billion from R17 billion in September 2018 to R18.6 billion in December 2018.

The committee said this matter involves the economy of the country, and possible funding needs to be injected with credible business plans.

In order to urgently address the operational problems at Eskom, chief amongst which is generation, Gordhan and Eskom chairman Jabu Mabuza, have called on ENEL, one of the worlds leading energy suppliers, to provide the power utility with external technical assistance.

ENEL will send two or three coal power station engineers to South Africa shortly.

Over the years, Gordhan said, Eskom has also produced a number of top engineers, many of whom left Eskom during the period of corruption and State capture, and are now working in countries like Tunisia.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.Of custody and crypto The normally staid world of custody banking is now having to embrace the wild child of global assets: cryptocurrency. And this is happening just as bitcoin, the poster child of cryptocurrency, seesawed from US$30,000 one week to $40,000 the next, shedding then recovering 30% of its value. Some bitcoin bulls are talking of $100,000 by year-endStephane Breitwieser, the serial art thief who raided museums around France, Switzerland, Germany and other countries on the continent from 2004 to 2011, has been arrested again in his native region of Alsace. He had been under surveillance since 2016 when he offered a 19th-century paperweight on eBay.  The Art NewspaperQatar Airways is the Official Airline Partner of the Qatar Show 2019, which will take place from 20-25 February at the Doha Exhibition and Conference Centre.

The exhibition will bring together more than 400 international luxury brands and a range of exquisite classic and contemporary collections from international and local designers, all under one roof.



Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: Qatar Airways is delighted to be the Official Airline Partner of the Qatar Show 2019. The glamour and luxury of this unique event is something very special and is the perfect showcase for Qatars truly unique Arabian hospitality. We look forward to ensuring that visitors to the show have an unforgettable journey onboard Qatar Airways, and to making their visit to Doha even more special.



Qatar Airways Marketing and corporate communications senior vice-president, Salam Al-Shawa, said: This year we have designed a number of special package options for our passengers to help promote Qatar as a stop-over destination and the exhibition. We are also proud to be flying in a number of influential media and influencers for the opportunity to experience our unique country and culture and to visit the exquisite Qatar Show.



Visitors to the Qatar Show will also have the opportunity to experience Qatar Airways award-winning business class offering, Qsuite, which will be on display.Qatar Airways Group chief executive Akbar Al Baker has welcomed the publication of the Doha Declaration, a manifesto that calls for a radical review of the existing aviation regulatory framework.

The Declaration, which was announced at the conclusion of the CAPA Qatar Aviation, Aeropolitical and Regulatory Summit held last week in Doha, comes 75 years after the historic Chicago Convention, which established the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and is the primary source of law governing international aviation.



Commenting on the Declaration, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, H.E. Mr. Al Baker, said: Qatar Airways wholeheartedly endorses the Doha Declaration and calls on airlines all over the world to join us in supporting it.The full text of the Doha Declaration is as follows:



Doha Declaration



75 years after the aviation regulatory framework was established, it is time for a serious global review of its relevance today; the business of freedom underpins 10 per cent of global GDP. It is too important to be constrained by economic regulation that was designed to meet entirely different conditions.



Recommendation



Governments should:



Relax restrictive airline ownership and control rules, which underpin the bilateral air services system, constraining rationalisation of market access



Increase efforts to encourage plurilateral liberalisation, for example as promoted by the European Union;



Enhance sustainability  in its broadest meaning  in the aviation sector;



Actively encourage aeropolitical discussion and further engagement at the highest levels.



The Declaration follows the recent announcement that the State of Qatar and the European Union have concluded their negotiations for a landmark Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement.



Al Baker said: Last week, Qatar Airways was proud to celebrate the milestone of becoming the first country in the Gulf region to achieve a Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement with the European Union. This agreement, allied to the Doha Declaration, shows the world that we are committed to building trust among nations, overcoming the fear of competition and embracing the benefits of liberalisation.



Speaking at the conclusion of the CAPA Conference, the first event of its kind to be held in the Middle East, , Director General Mobility and Transport at the European Commission, Henrik Hololei, commented on the Doha Declaration, saying: It is a good conclusion of the one-and-a-half days we have spent here.Dr. Dmitry Rogozin, Director General of the Russian State Corporation Roscosmos, visited Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centres (MBRSC) head office in Dubai this week.

He was welcomed by His Excellency Yousuf Hamad Al Shaibani, Director General of MBRSC. This comes within the framework of the strategic partnership between MBRSC and Roscosmos.

Dr. Rogozin was briefed on MBRSC's programmes and initiatives, notably the launch of KhalifaSat, the first satellite developed 100% in the UAE by a team of highly qualified Emirati engineers from MBRSC, offering competitive services in satellite imagery. Dr. Rogozin was also briefed on the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM)  Hope Mission, which is set to arrive in Mars in 2021 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UAE, and the Mars 2117 Project, which aims to establish a human settlement on the Red Planet, with the help of international scientific research groups.

"Our partnership with Roscosmos is an important step in our efforts to promote the space sector in the UAE. This supports the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who called for the establishment of a space sector according to global standards, to contribute to building a knowledge-based economy. A series of tests were conducted, in cooperation with Roscosmos, to select the first Emirati astronauts within the UAE Astronaut Programme, which aims to prepare Emirati astronauts and send them on various scientific missions to the International Space Station (ISS) to be ambassadors of the UAE. These astronauts will conduct advanced scientific research that will serve mankind and contribute to the development of the UAEs space sector," said Al Shaibani

MBRSC had signed an agreement with Roscosmos, in June 2018, to send the first Emirati astronaut to participate in scientific research in a Russian space mission to ISS. This supports MBRSCs strategy to establish the UAE's global position in the field of space. Al Shaibani commended the efforts of Roscosmos officials, their cooperation with MBRSC, and the provision of facilities for Emirati astronauts during the training and preparation period in Russia.

"We have just completed discussions with our partners at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and confirmed details related to Emirati astronaut mission to the ISS, which is part of the UAE Astronaut Programme. The two Emirati astronauts, Hazza Al Mansouri and Sultan Al Neyadi, are already training at the Star City. This is an exciting step in the development of our space cooperation with the Arab region, said Dr. RogozinIn 2004, LGBT activist and journalist Mike Rogers posted a story on his websiteBlog ACTIVEsuggesting that Edward Schrock, a Republican congressman representing Virginias second district, solicited sex with other men through a phone service.

For years, Schrock had advocated a variety of anti-gay policies. Not only did he oppose same-sex marriage, but he objected to LGBT people serving in the military. Schrock never denied the allegations Rogers made, and not long after the story came out, Schrock announced that he would end his campaign for a third term in Congress.

Rogers started his blog in 2004 at a time when Republicans had added anti-gay marriage initiatives to ballots in 11 states. He claimed that some of the Republican operatives pushing these initiatives were themselves gay and made it his mission to expose them.

Many closeted homosexual men were at night going out to gay bars, getting laid, having sex, and then by day running some of the most homophobic political campaigns, he told The Blade. Rogers asserts the right to privacy ends when youre oppressing the very group that youre a member of.

In recent years, Rogers blog has been largely inactive. But the concept of outing has made its way back into the national political conversation. In September 2018, comedian Bill Maher alleged Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is gay while criticizing the congressman for his defense of Brett Kavanaugh.

Likewise, on National Coming Out Day in October, television host Chelsea Handler suggested Graham is gay in a tweet. Both Handler and Maher faced backlash from the right and the left for their comments. Many on the left disapproved of the statements because they took them as a suggestion that being gay is somehow funny or shameful. Despite the pushback, others have made similar comments about Graham in the following months.

Shortly after Handler tweeted in October, Graham addressed the years-old rumors and said he is not gay. But regardless of the senators sexual orientation, the issue has raised the question of whether its unethicalor even homophobicto speculate about a politicians sexuality, particularly while criticizing them.

Rogers would maintain that it isnt. But his approach remains controversial, and not all agree with it.

Jerri Ann Henry, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, opposes outing in all circumstances.

Ill tell you first and foremost with no hesitation that I think outing is something that is terrible and that we should refrain from doing, she said. She said coming out is a personal decision and a personal experience. Theres always factors involved that we on the outside may not know.

In respect to Handlers recent tweet about Graham, Henry worries that outing is re-emerging as a political tactic. When we start using this as a political tool, it takes away from the beauty of somebody celebrating their sexuality and coming out, even though there is sometimes legitimate difficulty with that and legitimate strife, she told the Blade. She sees speculating about or revealing an individuals sexual orientation or gender identity as nothing more than a form of bullying.

The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ young people, largely echoed Henrys stance on the issue. It is absolutely never okay to out someone without their permission, as folks sexual orientation and gender identity can be a deeply personal part of their narrative, Trevor Project Senior Trainer Joie DeRitis told the Blade. We know that being outed can have a profound negative impact on folks mental health, and their physical and emotional safety.

Jim Kolbe, a former U.S. congressman from Arizona, holds a position somewhere between the stances of Rogers and Henry. Kolbe came out as gay publicly in 1996 after The Advocate threatened to reveal his sexual orientation in an article due to his support for the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996. The bill, signed into law by President Bill Clinton after passing the House and Senate with a veto-proof majority, defined marriage as a union of one man and one woman.

Kolbe was not happy when he learned The Advocate was planning to out him, but in retrospect, it was the best thing that ever happened to me, he told the Blade this week. That doesnt change the problems with the practice of outing, he says. I think that individuals have to make the decision themselves when they want to.

He said an exception can be made if a certain politician or person in power is actively pushing virulently anti-LGBT policies and consistently speaking out against the LGBT community. He doesnt believe his 1996 vote in favor of DOMA put him in this category, though. People can have different views on gay marriage and be gay, he said.

Outing as a political tactic and as a general practice remain controversial. Most agree that revealing the sexual orientation of an individual who has done no harm to the LGBT community is unethical.

In some cases, outing can even subject LGBT people to physical danger. More than 70 countries criminalize same-sex relationships, and a few of those nations retain the death penalty for homosexual acts.

In these areas, outing can send its victims to prison or a far worse fate. As recently as November 2018, the government of Tanzania launched an anti-gay crackdown and asked residents to report anyone they knew to be gay to a hotline. In the United States and other countries where same-sex marriage is legal, outing can have other consequences.

For young people, in particular, it can affect family relationships and place already vulnerable individuals in further danger. Roughly 40 percent of the 1.6 million homeless young people in the U.S. identify as LGBT, according to various studies. Many of these kids were forced out of their homes because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Some others likely left after experiencing hate and abuse from their parents or other family members.

But the question becomes more complicated when the discussion centers on powerful politicians who have pushed anti-gay agendas. In those circumstances, the intent behind it is a real sense of betrayal or anger, former National News Media Director at GLAAD Cathy Renna told the Blade.

What is clear is that the community hasnt made up its mind on the issue of outing and likely wont reach a uniform agreementat least not anytime soon.Airbus confirmed today that production of the A380 will end in 2021 following the decision by Dubai-based airline Emirates to cancel outstanding orders for the Superjumbo.



It reduced its fleet requirement from 162 to 123 aircraft. It will take delivery of the last 14 of the type over the next two years  they will be the final deliveries of the aircraft that has proved to be popular with passengers  but not with accountants.

The airline softened the blow for the European manufacturer by opting for 30 A350-900 aircraft and 40 A330-900

As a result of this decision we have no substantial A380 backlog and hence no basis to sustain production, despite all our sales efforts with other airlines in recent years. This leads to the end of A380 deliveries in 2021, said Airbus chief executive Tom Enders. The consequences of this decision are largely embedded in our 2018 full year results.

The A380 is not only an outstanding engineering and industrial achievement. Passengers all over the world love to fly on this great aircraft. Hence todays announcement is painful for us and the A380 communities worldwide. But, keep in mind that A380s will still roam the skies for many years to come and Airbus will of course continue to fully support the A380 operators, Enders added.

The A380 has been synonymous with the Gulf airline whose president Sir Tim Clark in recent years has been calling on the manufacturer and its engine suppliers to look at development to reduce the cost and improve efficiencies. Sources at the airline say there was increasing frustration with issues over under performance. Clark has also been an advocate for a larger variant of the A380.

But undoubtedly the aircraft has been an important part of Emirates growth  and that of the Dubai International hub.

The A380 is Emirates flagship and has contributed to the airlines success for more than ten years. As much as we regret the airlines position, selecting the A330neo and A350 for its future growth is a great endorsement of our very competitive widebody aircraft family, said Guillaume Faury, President of Airbus Commercial Aircraft and future Airbus CEO. Going forward, we are fully committed to deliver on the longstanding confidence Emirates is placing in Airbus.

The decision to select the A330neo and reviving an interest in the A350 after axing an order in 2014, will be a relief to engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce which is on

Airbus will start discussions with its social partners in the next few weeks regarding the 3,000 to 3,500 positions potentially impacted over the next three years. However, the ongoing A320 ramp-up and the new widebody order from Emirates Airline will offer a significant number of internal mobility opportunities.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and CEO, Emirates Airline and Group, said: After many months of discussions, we have come to an agreement with Airbus and Rolls-Royce.

Emirates has been a staunch supporter of the A380 since its very inception. While we are disappointed to have to give up our order, and sad that the programme could not be sustained, we accept that this is the reality of the situation. For us, the A380 is a wonderful aircraft loved by our customers and our crew. It is a differentiator for Emirates. We have shown how people can truly fly better on the A380, and Emirates has set the standards for that by introducing customer experiences that are unique to the A380 like our shower spas and onboard lounge.

The A380 will remain a pillar of our fleet well into the 2030s, and as we have always done, Emirates will continue to invest in our onboard product and services so our customers can be assured that the Emirates A380 experience will always be top-notch.

Chris Cholerton, Rolls-Royce, President  Civil Aerospace, said: We welcome the news that Emirates is further extending its relationship with Airbus and Rolls-Royce. The addition of Airbus A330-900 and Airbus A350-900 aircraft to the Emirates fleet will make the airline one of the largest users of Trent engines in the world and we look forward to continuing to support them and their customers.

Analyst Saj Ahmad commented: Airbus termination of the A380 programme left Emirates with a very hard decision. By selecting A330-900neos and A350-900s, both powered by Rolls-Royce engines, as well as reducing its future commitments to the A380, Emirates has effectively reduced its exposure to the giant jet and arguably introduced more fleet flexibility  this is critical with its deepening relationship with flydubai in its pursuit to expand and capture efficiencies across its growing fleet.

While theres been no mention of the 787-10, its likely that contract will remain unchanged unless otherwise explicitly announced to the contrary.

Ahmad adds: Given that Emirates leases all its A380s, it has shielded itself against a new defunct programme and an asset whose values will only decline as time goes on.

Critically, there will be further impetus now to expand the 777X order  not just to replace the existing fleets of 777-200LRs and 777-300ERs, but also with a view to providing capacity uplift for when the earliest A380s in its fleet come off lease.

For Airbus, this deal will have been a very hard pill to swallow given the immense costs associated not just with producing the A380, but also to close it down. It will also have had to endured significant financial challenges to make the A330-900neo and A350-900 elements for Emirates attractive too.Marysville, CA (95901)

Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 92F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low 62F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.Uncertain future for fraudsters

Fraudsters who cheat on their taxes, launder money or con insurance companies are facing uncertain times. New statistical methods are increasing the likelihood that they will be caught.

MONEY LAUNDERING: New statistical methods can outsmart money launderers. Photo: Ola Sther

The underground economy in Norway is flourishing. Each year, at least NOK 150 billion in direct and indirect taxes is lost to evasion.

The Norwegian Tax Administration, Gjensidige Forsikring and Den norske Bank (DnB) have now joined forces with researchers at the University of Oslo and the Norwegian Computing Center to outmanoeuvre financial criminals. Their project has been given the resounding name Personalised Fraud Detection.

Cheats

DnB needs better methods to hunt down money launderers, an activity they are legally required to report.

Gjensidige Forsikring wants to expose those who report damage that is more serious than in reality, and those who claim excessive values for stolen items.

The Tax Administration wants to adopt new methods to combat the underground economy. The project is good news for all those who do not cheat on their taxes: Those who follow the regulations should not lose out against those who do not follow the regulations.

Thanks to new digital capabilities, the three actors will have access to far more information than in the past. This offers tremendous opportunities.

Cheating on VAT

One of the Tax Administrations main issues is to find new ways to expose those who cheat on reporting value-added tax (VAT).

Each year, the Tax Administration receives 1.6 million VAT returns. Many of them contain errors. The errors are caused when filers deliberately overreport expenses, underreport revenues, misunderstand the regulations or make incorrect entries.

STATISTICIAN: Ingrid Hobk Haff is developing new statistical methods that will make it possible to find cases with a high probability of fraud. Photo: Yngve Vogt

It is impossible to manually check all VAT returns.

The Tax Administration must therefore have an automated system to screen out prospective tax cheats. The case must then be forwarded to a case manager for more a thorough assessment, says Ingrid Hobk Haff, associate professor at the Department of Mathematics at the University of Oslo.

Each year, 34,000 new VAT-liable companies are established. The Tax Administration also wants to create a statistical model that can indicate the risk of who is going to cheat already from day one.

Related fraud

Although money laundering differs from insurance fraud and tax fraud, there are some similarities. The similarities will be used to develop completely new statistical methods that will uncover the swindlers.

The three collaborators are not going to exchange each others datasets, but by taking on different datasets with related issues, the statisticians can make strides.

Todays methods do not work well enough. Ingrid Hobk Haff is therefore developing new methods for exposing fraud.

Each time a new case comes in, we want to calculate the probability of fraud.

The project is part of BigInsight, a centre for research-based innovation at UiO. The centres speciality is developing all-new statistical methods to uncover irregular patterns in enormous amounts of data.

The goal of the researchers is to calculate the probability that something is wrong and that the case should undergo further scrutiny.

Most attempts at fraud are never checked. Even if a case is worthy of examination, it is still not certain that it pays to check it out. The computer program will therefore simultaneously estimate the expected gain from examining the case.

Exposing the swindlers

The new statistical methods are tested on datasets whose content has already been checked. That means that the statisticians know in advance whether or not someone is a swindler.

We can then check our results against the answer. The downside is that we dont get to check our program on the cases that have not already been checked. The cases that were checked might have had something suspicious about them in the first place, so they werent selected at random.

The control dataset can therefore be skewed because the cases that have been manually selected for control have already been chosen according to certain criteria.

Ingrid Hobk Haff therefore wonders whether there is information in the rest of the dataset that complements the information they already have, and whether it is possible to exploit this information in some way.

We must then distinguish between Yes, we know the answer, and No, we dont know the answer. The whole point is to find the data that stands out.

The data that stands out doesnt necessarily have to be fraudulent.

And although the new statistical method can expose more fraud, it is not certain they will be able to find everyone. That doesnt matter that much.

If we make the method just a little better, it can still lead to huge gains.

The method must also take into account that fraudsters change the way they cheat.

If we expose fraud, the fraudsters will try other methods instead. We must therefore continually develop new methods.

Mathematically tricky

One of the many mathematical intricacies is unbalanced datasets. Fraud cases constitute only a small percentage of all cases. Since it is difficult to pick them out, there is a risk that the case managers will be told to check out many law-abiding cases in relation to fraudulent cases.

We only want to find the cases where the probability of fraud is high.

Another tricky problem for the mathematicians is not only the large quantity of data, but also the many dependencies between the different data.

Because multiple variables in a dataset can provide the same information, many of the statistical methods start to struggle.

And as if this is not enough.

We have a lot of information with different statistical properties. Some of the information may have all possible values and some may have only a few values. This combination can be mathematically difficult.

Business secret

Norway is not the first country in the world to conduct research on how to detect fraud. Ingrid Hobk Haff has therefore checked what other researchers have done.

We have tested their methods, but they dont solve our problems the way we would like.

However, this does not mean that no one in the world has tried to crack the fraud code.

I would certainly assume that big insurance companies and banks out in the big world have solved the problem with their own statistical methods. They dont publish their solutions. They therefore remain well-guarded secrets, says Ingrid Hobk Haff.

Weather Alert

...THUNDERSTORMS INCREASING THIS AFTERNOON... Area radars showed thunderstorms developing this afternoon and they will affect extreme southeast portions of Sawyer County and Price County. Some areas that may see a storm include, Catawba, Prentice, Phillips, Ogema, and Brantwood. The storms will most likely contain heavy rain and frequent lightning but also could have some small hail and gusty winds. It's possible a storm or two could strengthen further over the next few hours and become severe producing large hail and damaging winds. This would be most likely over the southern half of Price County.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



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The Smartwatch market made substantial gains over the course of 2018, according to the most recent report from NPD Group, but the overwhelming majority of the spoils went to just three manufacturers. As many as 88-percent of the wearables sold during that 12-month period bore Apple, Samsung, or Fitbit branding.

Traditional watch manufacturers such as Fossil as well as fitness-focused brands including Garmin have made some headway in the space.

Sales for the year fell in at almost $5 billion with US sales alone rising 51-percent in terms of dollars and 61-percent with regard to total sales.

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Growing relevance

The jump in sales wasnt entirely unpredictable and tracks closely with what other firms have predicted for the smartwatch category of the wearables market. In November, for example, Gartner predicted a 27.71-percent increase in total global smartwatch shipments from 2017s figures, accounting for roughly 29.6-percent of the overall wearables market. International Data Corporation (IDC) made similar estimations toward the middle of 2018.

In both of those cases, the trend has been predicted to continue through 2022, although Gartner speculates that ear-worn wearables will surpass smartwatches by the end of that year.

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NPD Group chalks up the growing relevance of the smartwatch category to the addition of LTE in many top-selling devices. Samsungs prominent Galaxy Watch is among those that feature the network connectivity option, allowing users to leave their smartphone behind and depend more heavily on the wearable itself.

The market research firm notes that the value added in terms of smart home control, notifications, and messaging served as a tipping point as compared to wearables that rely on Bluetooth connectivity between a watch and handset. As many as 15-percent of smartwatch owners claim to utilize their watch to control their IoT ecosystem.

From a demographics perspective, NPD Groups Consumers and Wearables report shows that 4-percent more adults in the US bought into the technology than in 2017 but that teenagers and younger users made the most impact. Approximately 16-percent of adults now own a smartwatch. Among users from age 18 up to age 34, around 23-percent own a smartwatch. That growth is expected to continue in older segments as smartwatches with a more health-focused approach become more common.

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Google isnt even making a ripple

If recent reports turn out to be accurate, that may be at least a partial reasonas to why the company might be considering launching its own Pixel-branded smartwatch at some point in 2019. Industry insiders have said the search giant is actively pursuing the endeavor in order to provide a stronger alternative to Apples Apple Watch Series 4, although that isnt the companys only problem in that space.

Despite being behind the worlds most popular mobile OS and partnering with a significant number of fashion brands on the gadgets, Googles Android-based Wear OS is conspicuously absent from any of the top three manufacturers. Each of the top three companies utilize a proprietary operating system instead, whether thats watchOS, FitbitOS, or Samsungs Tizen.

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If Google hopes to compete, it isnt unreasonable to speculate that it will need to do so with its own hardware and on its own terms.A large number of seemingly official renders depicting various Samsung case designs and colors for the upcoming Galaxy S10 series was obtained recently by tech blog Droid Shout. The leak also contains a list clarifying what accessories will be reserved for which Galaxy S10 model, and further suggests that the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active smartwatch will be released in four colors including black, silver, green, and rose gold, while the Galaxy Buds wireless earphones will come in black, white, and yellow.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 series has been leaked numerous times already, and on many occasions, the leaks came in the form of either third-party renders or dummy units used by third-party case manufacturers to create their product according to official specifications. This time, however, the latest image gallery to hit the Internet ahead of the Unpacked event seemingly contains official renders. Unsurprisingly, the showcased accessories appear to be more of the same compared to last year and the year before.

The range of cases and covers for the three upcoming Samsung flagships is quite generous. It includes Clear and Silicone covers, LED and LED View covers, screen protectors for all three models, as well as Leather covers. All of these accessories except for the screen protector and transparent covers  will be available in a variety of colors including Black, White, Silver, Green, Berry Pink, Blue, Navy, Yellow, and Red. Evidently, the shades will differ depending on the materials used, and not every color will be available for every accessory  see the list embedded in the image gallery below for more information.

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Samsung previously launched the Gear IconX wireless earbuds in more than just black and white, including flavors like blue and pink, but apparently, this year will be the first time the wearable will be available in yellow. The added color will also mark the rebranding of Samsungs wireless earphones as they will be known as the Galaxy Buds moving forward.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 series itself is expected to launch in a variety of color options regardless of accessories, but once again certain flavors will be reserved for some models. For instance, the Samsung Galaxy S10e is the only model which might be released in Canary Yellow, while another leak earlier this month suggested that the color red could become available for the Samsung Galaxy S10 in a limited-edition anime variant.

The OEMs upcoming smartphones and wearables including the aforementioned earbuds and the freshly redesigned Samsung Galaxy Watch Active are all expected to be unveiled on the same day  February 20  and they should become available for pre-order moments after the official announcement. The products should then remain available for pre-order for roughly two weeks before finally hitting the shelves in mid-March.

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Samsung could also prepare pre-order bonuses for various markets, with bundles that may include some of the accessories seen in the image gallery below. Another rumor circulated last week suggesting that the flagship series could be bundled with the Galaxy Buds as a pre-order bonus in Russia, and possibly other regions, but only time will tell if Samsung will be this generous or aggressive in its marketing this year.Huawei seems to be developing a new smartphone bearing the P Smart brand, as the OEM filed to trademark the P Smart X moniker with the European Union Intellectual Property Office earlier this week. The application was filed in the United Kingdom indicating that the device is likely planned for release in Europe or the UK at the very least. It contains no information about the device itself but confirms that the moniker is entirely related to smartphones and no other category of consumer electronics.

The Huawei P Smart (2019) was just unveiled in December and to our knowledge, no P Smart variant unveiled so far carries the X suffix in its moniker. Having said that, the Huawei P Smart X spotted in the EUIPO database earlier today is likely a new device, possibly a follow-up version to the model launched late last year, or at the least, it might be another variant of the same device differentiated by several key changes.

The recently-launched Huawei P Smart is equipped with a 6.21-inch IPS LCD display boasting a resolution of 2,340 by 1,080 pixels and a 19:5:9 image format, leading to a screen-to-body ratio of around 83 percent and a pixel density of roughly 415ppi. The screen has a teardrop-shaped display notch at the top and the device carries a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and dual rear-facing cameras.

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Powered by Huaweis own Kirin 710 chipset launched in mid-2018, as well as 3GB of RAM and 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, the Huawei P Smart (2019) is technically an upper mid-range device. Having said that, it remains to be seen whether this mysterious Huawei P Smart X will fit in the same category, and even if it doesnt then time will tell whether the X-labeled device will push towards the higher-end market or make some compromises in favor of a lower price tag. If it will be a direct sequel to the model release in December then its logical to assume that it will feature upgraded components, but if its a spin-off device as part of the same series, it could go either way.

Huawei applied to trademark the moniker on February 13 and since the Huawei P Smart X is likely to be released across Europe or at least in certain European countries, there is a chance that the mysterious device will be unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month, prior to hitting the shelves later this year.

The event will open its doors to the public on February 25 and not only is Huawei expected to showcase new mobile devices at the conference, but the OEM also confirmed that it will bring new 5G technologies to the stage. Meanwhile, rumors claim that the tech giants first foldable phone which will also boast 5G networking will be showcased at the same event.

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The OEM also seems to be considering the return of its Mini branding according to a previous EUIPO trademark application discovered earlier this year, indicating that flagship phones wrapped in smaller packages could make a return to the market in 2019, at least as far as Huawei is concerned.Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the companys investment plans for the U.S. throughout 2019 in a recent blog post, revealing major expansions in 14 states and a new wave of investments of more than $13 billion in new data centers and offices across the country. Following these investments in the Midwest, South, Northeast, and West, Google is expected to expand its footprint over a total of 24 states across the U.S. by the end of the year.

2019 will be the second consecutive year in which Google will expand faster outside of the Bay Area than in it, following last years round of investments worth $9 billion. This year, $13 billion will be invested in the construction of new data centers and offices while expanding existing ones across the country. The company expects more than 10,000 construction jobs to be created by this endeavor in various states including Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Virginia.

In the Midwest, the tech giant will develop new data centers in Nebraska and Ohio, while expanding existing ones in Chicago. Meanwhile, in the coming months, the offices in Wisconsin will be relocated into a larger space.

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In the South, Googles workforce in both Virginia and Georgia is expected to double following the construction of new offices in both states as well as a new data center in Virginia. Likewise, Texas should have a new Google office and data center by the end of the year, while existing data centers in South Carolina and Oklahoma will expand further.

In the Northeast, a new office will be built for Massachusetts which already hosts one of Googles largest sales and engineering communities outside of the Bay Area. At the same time, the Google Hudson Square campus in New York will continue to be pushed towards the finish line this year, however, the tech giant expects the campus to be operational sometime before 2022.

Last, but not least, in the West of the United States, Google is now building the first data center in Nevada, while the office in Washington is expected to further expand throughout the year. The Spruce Goose hangar and Westside Pavilion mall in Los Angeles will also continue to be redeveloped into office spaces with the help of this new round of investments. Its plans for converting part of the Westside Pavilion shopping mall into a new campus were revealed in January by the propertys co-owners Hudson Pacific Properties and Macerich. The news broke after Google signed a 14-year lease on the property, and the co-owners claimed that to their knowledge, Googles new campus will be a Class A creative office space.

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Googles end goal for expanding more outside of the Bay Area is to improve its products and deliver better services to its customers and business partners around the world. About a year ago the tech giant also invested 250 million for the construction of a new data center in Belgium, and last August it confirmed the building of a new data center in Singapore, but no additional details regarding potential investments outside of the United States throughout 2019 were revealed in the latest blog post.Alba Martinez, a transgender woman, alleges she was attacked by five gay men outside a bar in West Hollywood, though there is no police report from the event.

Martinez created a GoFundMe post to cover groceries, bills and medical costs, according to WeHoville.

As a Trans Woman of Color, there are virtually no spaces where I am safe, and getting ganged up on by 5 gay men in West Hollywood (the supposed gay capital of LA) was absolutely terrifying, she wrote in her GoFundMe post. I was violently attacked in the face, bruised and cut up, and left unconscious in a dark alleyway.

Martinezs post features a photo of her swollen and bruised face. She said her mental health forced her to withdraw from UCLA and that she is no longer getting the financial aid she was receiving. So far, shes raised $8,799.Amazon on Thursday announced it killed the plan to add a second headquarters in New York City to its operations, adding that it presently has no intention of revising the initiative in the context of another location. The move doesnt affect its existing effort to establish another corporate HQ in Nashville and Northern Virginia, a company spokesperson said.

The Seattle, Washington-based firm said it deliberated on the move for some time, ultimately deciding the risk is not worth it due to poor public support for the initiative certain NYC structures, primarily political ones. Amazon accused local politicians of now being willing to play ball and commit to establishing relationships that are required to go forward.

As part of the same announcement, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, and their administrations received deep thanks from Amazon for their cooperation, making it unclear who exactly is the conglomerate criticizing. While the opposition to the initiative must have been substantial for one of the worlds richest companies to drop the idea of pursuing it, it wasnt largely public. One of the rare few instances of structured criticism against the project originating from someone with a say in the matter came in December during a hearing organized by the NYC Council. On that occasion, Democratic Council Member Inez Barron told Amazon it doesnt enjoy unanimous support from local decision-makers and should prepare for significant opposition moving forward. Increased housing costs, new obstacles to efficient transportation, and

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Despite the HQ2 project being essentially dead for good, Amazon intends to continue growing its presence in Manhattan, Staten Island, and Brooklyn, where it already employs more than 5,000 people. That isnt to say new offices or other places of business will be opening in those neighborhoods but overall NY investments wont grind to a halt.

The unapologetic fanfare surrounding the HQ2 project has been going strong for some seven months now as numerous state and local administrations mustered to tempt Amazon with massive tax cuts and other benefits in order to lure the e-commerce juggernaut to their neighborhoods. Amazon promised to spend some $5 billion on the project just in terms of construction costs, estimating it will attract much greater investments in the long run. Various legislators also quite publicly salivated at the idea of eventually charging Amazon taxes, though the firm is still deeply involved in the process of carrying losses through its fiscal years.

Amazons last round of auditions started in January and was a fast-paced one but its presently unclear whether the finalists that werent picked will have greater chances at hosting the company in the future or if any subsequent search for suitable expansion terrain it holds will be restarted from scratch. In the meantime, Amazon continues to enjoy record growth and its stock remains stable even as its founder remains embroiled in a bizarrely public clash over some private photos of him allegedly obtained by the National Enquirer which he then accused of blackmail and a coordinated effort to hurt his image conducted alongside the Trump administration.Andover, MA (01810)

Today

Clear skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 56F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Clear skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 56F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.



Have any questions? Please give us a call at 907-561-7737The Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) wants United States lawmakers to reject the recently introduced Bicameral Congressional Trade Authority Act of 2019, arguing that it threatens steel and aluminium sector jobs and investment.

"Rather than weakening available national security trade tools, Congress should reaffirm its support for a fair and level playing field and urge other countries in the strongest possible terms to confront their own, and China's, protectionism, AAM president Scott N. Paul said in a letter to Congress on Tuesday February 12.



The bill put forth by Senator Pat Toomey (Republican, Pennsylvania) and US Representatives Mike Gallagher (Republican, Wisconsin) abandons Congress' commitment to trade enforcement, an essential part of the 'three-legged stool' of US trade policy  alongside expansion and adjustment," he added.



Specifically, Paul argued that congressional approval of the proposed bill would slow national security action and open the door to a surge in imported steel.



The bill requires Congress to pass an approval resolution within 60 days for any Section 232 action to take effect, a burdensome obstacle that delays a national security trade action, Paul said. In the months that would pass between the announcement of a Section 232 action and congressional approval, domestic producers and American workers would face a massive surge of imports as foreign producers and importers race to stockpile product before tariffs could take effect.



This unrealistic process would only make matters worse and further deteriorate domestic production capabilities already determined to be at risk, he added. Congress delegated this authority to the executive branch knowing full well that the legislative process is not well suited to reacting to national security concerns with agility and speed.



Paul also argued that the legislations efforts to retroactively terminate the Section 232 tariffs "endangers the substantial progress already being made to restore our domestic steel and aluminium production capabilities, he said in the letter.



The Section 232 action on steel and aluminium has provided the United States with its most significant negotiating leverage in years to force collective global action against China and others to curtail the industrial overcapacity that has put our national security at risk, Paul said.



However, the Toomey-Gallagher bill would effectively undermine these talks and put the [World Trade organization] and [Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development ] back in charge of finding a global solution  something that alluded them for years, he added. While these are well-meaning institutions, they lack the enforcement powers necessary to tackle major global trade challenges  ones that are putting our national security at risk.



Industry response

Steel industry groups views on the proposed legislation varied.



The administrations trade actions and tax and regulatory reform policies, in addition to the strong economic climate enabled by those policies, have allowed the American steel industry to begin to recover after more than a decade of low capacity utilization and weaker earnings due to repeated surges in imports fueled by global steel overcapacity, Thomas J. Gibson, president and chief executive officer of the American Iron and Steel Institute, said in a February 8 statement opposing the bill.



But this recent progress will disappear and our steel industry will again suffer dire circumstances if the tariffs are prematurely terminated. The massive overcapacity in steel still exists globally. And China, in particular, is producing steel at record levels -- exceeding one billion net tons in 2018. This means there is plenty of excess supply that will flood into our market but for the continuation of the Section 232 tariffs, he added.



Meanwhile, John D. Foster, chairman of the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS), feels that the initiative opposing Section 232 reform is a disservice to the many more thousands of steel-using companies and the men and women who work in them than are working in US steel mills, as well as to the multiple tens of thousands of maritime and retaliation-affected industries now suffering under the Section 232 regime," he said in response to AAMs letter to Congress opposing the Bicameral Congressional Trade Authority Act of 2019.



Thwarting quality and cost-competitive imports that benefit downstream manufacturers and American consumers is not the answer to achieving a nationally secure steel industry, Foster said. Rather, using the globally efficient technology already in place in parts of the US steel sector is the most effective and least trade-distorting way to reach this goal.



To mitigate pressure from imported steel, the domestic industry must build globally competitive mini-mills and micro-mills - similar to the ones being constructed by Nucor in Florida and Missouri, he noted.



In my opinion, that is what could truly level the playing field in a free and responsible market fashion and put the domestic industry on a more globally competitive footing, Foster told Fastmarkets on February 13.



We very much appreciate the important effort of Senators Toomey and [Virginia Democrat Mark] Warner [another backer of the bill] to restore the appropriate constitutional balance of authority between the legislative and executive branches of our government, AIIS president Richard Chriss told Fastmarkets via email. Congress has every right to be cautious about how it delegates its authority to the President with respect to unilateral trade actions. The Toomey-Warner bill is a timely and significant contribution to this debate.



Separately, the AIIS filed a lawsuit last June challenging the constitutionality of the Section 232 tariffs. The groups request for a three-judge panel to hear the case was granted by the Court of International Trade (CIT) in September, with oral arguments held in New York on December 19.



The AIIS is currently awaiting the CITs decision, Chriss said.



Fastmarkets daily US Midwest hot-rolled coil index stood at $34.28 per hundredweight ($685.60 per ton) on February 13, down by 5.3% from $36.21 per cwt at the beginning of the year and off by 25.2% from a nearly 10-year peak of $45.84 per cwt recorded in July of last year.



Today I discovered, thanks to an article by Jason Hopkins , writing at the Daily Caller, that Ms. Abrams has other financial issues that I failed to discover. He writes:

Last week I wrote here questioning the Democrat leadership's political wisdom in picking Stacey Abrams, their recently defeated Georgia gubernatorial candidate, to deliver the party's rebuttal speech to Donald Trump's State of the Union address. I pointed out that Abrams is no poster child for responsible behavior, especially when it comes to her finances  she's a tax attorney turned tax evader who has run up huge balances on her credit cards and may be a deadbeat on her college student loans.

Third Sector Development, a nonprofit started by Abrams that focuses on registering black voters, was hit with three separate tax liens in the past year for failing to pay state unemployment tax, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Tuesday. The three tax liens, filed by Georgia state regulators, total roughly $3,500. This isn't the first time state regulators have targeted Abrams' organization. The Georgia Department of Labor issued four tax liens worth $13,000 against Third Sector Development between 2014 and 2016, also citing unpaid employment contributions.

What is even more interesting was that Abrams had been generously compensated by Third Sector Development, which she founded and headed, as well as another get-out-the-minority-vote non-profit, also an Abrams creation, the Voter Access Institute, to the tune of almost a half-million dollars in a three-year period. That hefty salary was funded out of $12.5 million in donations from sources Abrams refuses to reveal, a quite unusual stance for non-profits to take when their operations are aboveboard.

According to a September 2018 Daily Caller report by Hopkins, Abrams's highly paid efforts to get out the minority were less than a rousing success:

The non-profits accomplished little in reaching their implicit goals, despite the large amount of money involved. The Georgia Democratic Party only received 3 percent more votes in the 2014 gubernatorial election than in 2010. Black voter turnout actually declined by more than two percentage points.

Apparently Ms. Abrams couldn't manage her non-profit agencies any more successfully than her personal life. During her 2018 run for governor, the true extent of her debt was revealed, and was again reported on by Hopkins at Daily Caller in this July 2018 piece:

Abrams owes back taxes amounting to $40,201 for 2015 and $13,851 for 2016. She owes $96,512 in student loan debt and another $77,522 in credit card debt spread over nine different accounts. In total, she is about $228,000 in the red. This number is actually higher if you count her $178,500 in real estate debt and her $4,434 car loan.

With arrogance that only a liberal Democrat can muster, Abrams actually attempted to squeeze lemonade from this bag of rotting lemons, trying to convince voters that having made such a mess of her own personal finances made her better qualified to manage the fiscal affairs of Georgia because so many voters struggle with debt. But as Hopkins pointed out, assuredly not on the scale of Stacey Abrams, whose student loan debt is three times the national average while her credit card debt is five times that average. He also noted that Abrams has managed to accrue all these negative balances in spite of being well compensated for many years, having stepped into a $95,000 job as soon as she graduated from law school.

Stacey Abrams can check all the boxes to qualify for Democrat leadership: she's a dishonest black female graduate of an Ivy League law school, a tax-evading advocate of big government taxing and spending, thoroughly grounded in the concept of personal deficit spending. Abrams is a proven loser in multiple ways who still has the chutzpah to stand before huge audiences and spout silly Democrat talking points with a reasonably straight, if somewhat comical, face  in other words, the perfect Democrat to deliver the SOTU rebuttal.

I was wrong last week. In picking Abrams Democrat leaders knew exactly what they were doing  for once.It is becoming more obvious by the dayeven by the tweet-hourthat newly elected Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is anti-Semitic and is peddling her anti-Israel and anti-Jewishness through the well-known and effective drip-by-drip method. It is a strategy, as we have seen from Islamists in Europe, where an anti-Israel or anti-Jewish statement is made and then partially retracted after an uproar. It is repeated multiple times, followed by multiple half-hearted retractions with the goal and effect being the slow but inevitable seepage of anti-Jewish caricatures into the countrys political discourse and into the minds of its people. This successful strategy has poisoned Europes discourse against Jews and Israel and is being imported here with the arrival into Congress of Ms. Omar and Ms. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). The question today is: Do the leaders of the U.S. Congress, and especially House Speaker Ms. Pelosi, have the conviction and will to oust this never-ending shower of anti-Jewish rhetoric as they would if such was being said against other groups. Will they permanently shut this down before it metastasizes as it has in Europe and is unfolding in front of our very eyes? There is no question that Ms. Omars playing-innocent type of apologies are done in such a manner to momentarily quell the outcry against her remarks while assuring her base that she has not capitulated to the powers outside her community. Her nonchalant use of anti-Semitic stereotypes and language is furthermore disturbing for it reflects a communal comfort with and approval of anti-Semitic ideas that most Americans deem beyond the pale. Of course she should be censured and, beyond that, removed from the very powerful and influential House Foreign Affairs Committee that Speaker Pelosi surprisingly granted to this first-year legislator. Omars thinking, her conduct, and her blithe willingness to inject anti-Semitic tropes into the legislative process make her unfit to hold such a strategic position. She and Ms. Tlaib have come to Congress with an unprecedented brazenness, defiance, and impropriety that go beyond mere difference of opinion. Right out of the gate, both women have overridden expected norms as single-minded propagandists eager to use their presence and committee positions as platforms to propagandize against Israel, and Jews who support Israel, by making the heretofore unacceptable now acceptable. No one should be afraid to censure and remove Ms. Omar from the Committee as a way of stopping the drip-by-drip plot to sully Israel and the Jewish people; nor be afraid of being labeled anti-woman, or racist, or Islamophobic. Her defenders, and organizations here such as CAIR, will label her censure indicative of the power of the Zionists, but what it will in fact be is the power of justice and the American way.In 2015, there were 995 fatal shootings. Here is how the numbers break down:

The news media feed the belief to the American public that police officers are racists. The number say otherwise. Here is the summary of the data from a team of journalists at the Washington Post ( not a right-wing website ).

Whites: 497

Blacks: 259

Hispanics: 172

The rest of the numbers is filled in by other groups. But the most important number is the next one.

Unarmed: 94

In 2016, there were 963 fatal shootings.

Whites: 466

Blacks: 234

Hispanics: 160

The rest of the numbers is filled in by other groups.

Unarmed: 61

In 2017, there were 987 fatal shootings by police officers. Here is how the numbers break down:

Whites: 459

Blacks: 223

Hispanics: 179

And the rest of the numbers are filled in by other groups.

Unarmed suspects: 68

In 2018, 998 were fatally shot.

Whites: 405

Blacks: 210

Hispanics: 148

And the rest of the numbers are filled in by other groups.

Unarmed suspects: 47

We don't know the backstories of the unarmed suspects, like possible violent resistance to arrest, as Michael Brown of Ferguson did, back in 2014, before the Washington Post kept a tally. But not all of the suspects were black, and not all of the police officers were white.

However, if a police officer appears to break the law, then all the facts must be gathered together before looting and rioting erupt. For example, in Ferguson, the Obama DOJ cleared Officer Darren Wilson of any wrongdoing. So the riot and destruction flowed out of a lie. However, the police officer shooting in the back a black fleeing suspect in South Carolina, on April 8, 2015, was sentenced to twenty years. The law worked, eventually.

It could be said that blacks make up 13% of the general population, and the percentage of them who were fatally shot exceeds 13%. That's true, but what is the cause or correlation of this discrepancy? The Left says it is vague notions like a "racist power structure" or a "racist system." Of course, those are ill defined, standard left-wing buzz words that provide no solution that can be identified or measured. I am not qualified to answer the question about causes, but surely two big factors have to be accounted for: high levels of black single-parent households and out-of-wedlock births relative to other communities. (See the disproportionate numbers here and here.) These deep social dysfunctions must be addressed. If the Left generally and the black Left specifically keep denying there's a problem, then no solution will be found.

Finally, let's put the fatal shootings in perspective. Out of a nation of about 327 million, those numbers in those four years are remarkably low. The police officers do a great job, despite the fiery images the news media display.

James Arlandson's website is Live as Free People, where he has posted Leftwing Hillsong Pastor Carl Lentz Misses Facts on Race and What Happens at Judgment to People Who Never Heard Gospel?But if the OECD and other European countries get their way, that will end.

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. tech companies, for instance, have often sold into countries via a unit based elsewhere, often in low-tax Ireland. The local unit is tasked with marketing and support, and the unit that makes the sales reimburses the local unit for expenses, leaving little taxable profit.

Countries such as France, Spain and the U.K.frustrated by years of slow progress in trying to get companies to report more profits where their customers liveare planning to move unilaterally to tax tech firms. In some cases, companies worry they could be taxed twice on the same income.

Spains government last month sent parliament a new bill, nicknamed the Google Tax, that would slap a 3% levy on the gross revenue of some digital services. France will later this month introduce similar legislation.

The result: tech companies could pay tax once on revenue from customers in a given countryand again on the profit derived from that revenue, which may be reported in another country, such as Ireland or the U.S.

Such a scenario is pushing the U.S. Treasury Department to offer an alternative that is focused on all companies, rather than just digital ones. The objective is to relieve some of the pressure from countries to take unilateral approaches, Chip Harter, the lead U.S. negotiator, said in a speech this month.Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been found guilty on all 10 counts at his drug-trafficking trial at a federal court in New York.

It's over, and El Chapo is apparently headed for a prison in Colorado, according to news reports :

Guzman, 61, was convicted on numerous counts including the distribution of cocaine and heroin, illegal firearms possession and money laundering. He has yet to be sentenced, but the verdict could mean life in jail.

We will wait for the sentence, but we can safely predict that El Chapo won't be celebrating any more birthdays in his cherished Sinaloa.

What is the common denominator of his crimes? The answer is a porous U.S.-Mexico border.

Over the last few years, El Chapo made a fortune selling illegal drugs in the U.S. It's true that not all of those drugs came through the U.S.-Mexico border, but lots of them did.

As El Chapo sent drugs north, he got lots of cash and guns the other way. Again, not every high-powered rifle came from the U.S., but a lot of them did. These deadly guns were used to fight other cartels and kill many Mexicans.

All of this has made Mexico a very violent country, as recent statistics confirm.

I lived and worked in Mexico in the 1980s. It was a safe country. You could travel in the countryside without fears of criminals hijacking your car or your family getting kidnapped. I remember Mexico City as a safe city. I took business trips to Monterey, Guadalajara, and Saltillo and felt totally safe. In fact, I used to tell my U.S. friends that overdoing salsa on your food was the most dangerous thing in Mexico.

As a Mexican friend told me recently, "El dinero compra politicos y las armas matan inocentes." The translation is that cash buys politicians and guns kill innocents.

The guns and cash went south because there are portions of the border that are wide open for criminality. Mexican politicians cannot say that publicly, but everyone south of the border knows what's going on.

Don't want to build a wall? Read El Chapo's verdict and ask yourself a question: "Would this man have become the #1 criminal in Mexico if we had border security?"

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.Chicago Police hint Jussie Smollett's story a hoax

The Jussie Smollett story seems to be quietly dying, but it shouldn't. New updates by Chicago police are giving way to the claims that Smollett's story has been a hoax all along. Police had asked to see Smollett's phone or his phone records immediately to verify his and his manager's account that they were on the phone with each other at the time of the attack. Smollett refused, saying he could not be without his phone for the length of time it would take for investigators to download his call log. Two weeks afterwards, on Tuesday, Smollett finally offered police a PDF file of his call log, which was heavily redacted. Police refused to use it as evidence, saying the computer file could easily have been edited and they need the information to come directly from the carrier instead. Jussie Smollett has still not complied with their request.

The most compelling development is the video surveillance of Smollett's steps that evening. Police have gathered and raked through hundreds of hours of footage and narrowed down that the attack supposedly happened in a 60-second time frame that happened to be off all cameras. No other persons are seen entering or leaving the same frames in that period of time. The "persons of interest" police have asked the public to help identify are seen sitting on a bench across the street at the time the assault is claimed to have happened. TMZ reported an interesting clue into the police thinking on Tuesday. The Chicago P.D. has confirmed that it has video of Jussie Smollett with the rope, tied in a Windsor knot, around his neck in the lobby of the building that he eventually called police from. Yet when a reporter asked if police also had video of Smollett with the rope around his neck outside that building, police said they could not confirm that, as it would "interfere with the investigation." If the rope was really around his neck before he entered the building, it wouldn't interfere. That was already assumed when Smollett declared that the rope was placed around his neck during the attack and he wore it until he reached his friend's apartment. Failure to confirm the actor's own statement indicates that he could have placed the mass-produced clothesline around his own neck upon entering the building. That could be the key to whether the entire crime was manufactured. The police aren't the only ones casting doubt on Jussie Smollett's story. Neighbors from the area in which he claims he was attacked have come forward, saying they have doubts about Smollett's description of the events as well. Agin Muhammed told reporters, "I've been in this neighborhood five years. I don't believe it, not around here[.] ... Half the people are gay and the other half are black[.]" Law enforcement confirm that if this is a hoax, they will charge Smollett with filing a false police report. It is much harder to prove that a crime has been fabricated than it is to say they can't find evidence of the crime. The absence of video evidence of the assault and Smollett withholding his phone records are not enough to convince a states attorney that he has committed a crime. Basically, he would have to confess, as hundreds of others who have claimed false hate crimes have done in the past. Mr. Smollett is unlikely to do so, but he is feeling the pressure. Smollett has just hired Harvey Weinstein's public relations team, Sunshine Sachs. The firm is clearly effective at its job, since we barely hear about Harvey Weinstein anymore. Perhaps Jussie should hire a lawyer next; I don't recommend Michael Avenatti. Perhaps life imitates art and could give insight into Smollett's ulterior motives. His own music video that he performed in and directed in March of 2017 called "F.U.W." has the imagery of a black man standing under a noose. Right after appears a man in a Donald Trump mask standing behind the TV actor. The song and accompanying music video are essentially just liberal porn and a manifestation of Smollett's personal deep fears of President Trump. Even if this all turns out be a hoax, so much time has passed that it doesn't matter. Thanks to just the accusation, the narrative that MAGA-supporters are evil, violent racists has already been written in stone  and in too many opinion pieces. Liberals would rather believe that Trump-supporters are lurking on Chicago streets at 2 A.M. in subzero temperatures, waiting to commit hate crimes, than that one person is breaking the law to perpetuate his own misguided ideas. A single tale, since that's all this is, can be used to justify actual violence against Trump-supporters. Police have subpoenaed Jussie Smollett's phone records and are still investigating. One thing is certain: a hate crime hoax will not get the same coverage by the mainstream media as an alleged hate crime. Connect with Taylor Day on Facebook and Twitter.In a hearing on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Omar got her big moment to show her foreign policy chops, and started in by misstating the actual name of the State Department's grizzled old special envoy for Venezuela, the well-known Elliott Abrams, calling him 'Adams.' Then, sneering and smiling weirdly, she brought up a tangled political controversy Abrams had been involved in, the Iran-Contra scandal, dating from before she was born and cited that as proof Abrams could not be " truthful ." After insulting her witness, she then insolently refused to allow Abrams to reply, and Abrams, who comported himself very professionally, accurately called that an attack.

The unfitness of Rep. Ilhan Omar for the House Foreign Affairs Committee has already been brought up based on her persistent anti-Semitism, her strange habit of repeating Russian propaganda , and her apparent abuse of U.S. immigration law. Now a new and very big reason has come up: Her cringe-inducing ignorance of actual foreign affairs.

Here's a perfectly curated tweet with video from Scott Johnson of Power Line:

While Rep. Ilhan Omar questioned Special Envoy for Venezuela Elliott Abrams in a House Foreign Affairs hearing, I got the eery feeling that Rep. Omar had no clue what the Iran-Contra Affair actually was. pic.twitter.com/cKDfYeCKeA  Mike (@Doranimated) February 13, 2019

Mr. Adams [sic], in 1991 you pleaded guilty to two counts of withholding information from Congress regarding your involvement in the Iran-Contra affair, for which you were later pardoned by President H. W. Bush. I fail to understand why members of this committee or the American people any testimony that you give today to be truthful.

If she claimed he couldn't be truthful and insisted the whole declaration "was not a question," why was she asking him anything at all? You don't talk to people you don't think are truthful, nobody does. But there she was, carrying on after that attack when she should have departed the scene immediately.

Next up, she brought up the El Salvador wars of 40 years ago, sounding as though this was a place she had just heard about. (Notice she wasn't particularly interested in Venezuela, the topic of the hearing). Here's her amateur-hour "question," as recounted by the Daily Beast:

She quoted Abrams as having said years ago that U.S. policy in El Salvador had been a success. Do you think the massacre was a fabulous achievement, she asked. That is a ridiculous question, Abrams retorted. He noted that after the election of Napoleon Duarte as president, every government since has been democratically elected, and he considers that a success.

After that, she slid into Russian propaganda talking points, warning that Venezuela's democrats were going to stage massacres and she wanted to know if he'd be happy about those. Seriously, that's straight from Russian propaganda talking points, derived from its Ukraine war, and Moscow could only be smiling.

Here's Breitbart's story about it:

Rep. Omar went on to suggest that Abrams would support an armed faction within Venezuela that engages in war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide if he believed it would advance U.S interests, claiming that is what he did in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. I am not going to respond to that question, a seemingly annoyed Abrams replied when asked if he would support such an armed group.

So after all that ignorant crap about El Salvador, blaming the U.S. for some decades-old civil war crime it had nothing to do with, we finally get to her issue about Venezuela: The horrible danger from ... Venezuela's opposition. Never mind the starvation, never mind the people fleeing, never mind the ruined institutions, never mind the dining out on zoo animals. In Omar's addled mind, the big risk in that country is ... Venezuela's democrats.

Nobody in Venezuela's legitimate government, run by President Juan Guaido, is talking massacre - or even throwing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in jail, actually, which shows the extent of Omar's ignorance. The thrust of the talks in Caracas is how to get him out of there, with some Venezuelans saying a comfortable exile would be acceptable just to get him out over the alternative of leaving him in. The whole democracy movement in Venezuela has been an incredibly peaceful one, with gargantuan crowds of people and Venezuelan-led. It's been marked by a focus on urging Venezuela's military to abandon Maduro and join them. And the reason for the uprising is very serious: Millions of Venezuelans are starving, dying of disease, or fleeing for their lives. Armed revolt talk is not just a smear on Venezuela's already abused democrats, in a place where gun ownership is illegal and troops are crying out for weapons, it's not even possible. What Omar was doing was smearing Venezuela's democratic opposition - which has already been jailed, tortured, and beaten (one of the top four opposition leaders, Maria Corina Machado, had her nose broken in the Venezuela assembly by socialist thugs). She was also repeating Russian propaganda points derived from its invasion of eastern Ukraine.

I heard this bizarre exchange and could only conclude that Congress had descended into something out of an old V.S. Naipaul book. A third world doofus of partial education and substandard literacy, enamored of some third world ideology or other, brimming with pride and victimhood, goes into a confusion-and-resentment laced rant against the perceived wicked super-power of America, all the while desperately seeking its benefits (and in her case, power) on the side.

The Daily Beast's Ron Radosh had a superb summary of just why that's a problem:

Omars comportment at the hearing, as well as her obvious belief that the United States is an imperialist and reactionary nation that by its very nature abuses human rights, should alone be reason enough to have her removed before she can do real damage.

The case is growing for throwing this unfit person off that committee. There's even a rapidly growing public petition calling for it. She doesn't belong there, and as Radosh notes, the more she opens her mouth, the more she damages the Democrats. She should be thrown off and given her some Play-Doh with which to work her issues out. Not even Democrats can afford this kind of idiocy.What exactly did Councilman Diaz do? Did he assault someone, commit larceny or voter fraud?

New York City Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr. is in major trouble. In fact, he may be expelled from the NYC Council.

Not exactly. He said the following, which is in a sense being treated worse than the above crimes:

The City Council is controlled by the homosexual community.

Diaz also stated that openly-gay council speaker Corey Johnson is married to a man.

In response, Johnson demanded that Diaz apologize for his homophobic remarks, which have no place in New York City.

Even Diaz own son, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., reprimanded his father for his grave sin, tweeting:

NYC is a place where we celebrate our diversity and inclusivity. The LGBTQ community is unequivocally an essential voice in our City. @revrubendiazs sentiments are antagonistic, quarrelsome and wholly unnecessary. He should apologize.

Thankfully, Diaz Sr. is sticking to his guns. Although he is otherwise a liberal Democrat, he is anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage -- something incredibly rare these days in the Democratic Party. Diaz Sr., unlike almost all other Democrats, has not drunk the Kool-Aid.

The New York Times reported further:

The City Council is already exploring disciplinary action against him: The Committee on Standards and Ethics, at the behest of several Council members who have complained, will open an investigation. If Mr. Diaz is found guilty of disorderly conduct, which could include violating policies against discrimination and harassment, Mr. Diaz could be reprimanded, censured, fined or expelled from the City Council by a two-thirds vote of its members. The Council speaker, Corey Johnson, who is gay and H.I.V. positive, used his personal Twitter account to note that he shared the anger and pain of Mr. Diazs colleagues about deeply offensive comments about the gay community. We are currently reviewing all potential disciplinary scenarios, Mr. Johnson said in a statement. Nothing is off the table. My personal viewpoint is that he should resign. Its unacceptable. Its Trumpian,..

Speaker Johnsons hysteria is misplaced. Rather than be upset at Diaz for a comment, maybe he should take a look at himself and the truth of Diaz words. To be precise:

The New York City Council has a  Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Caucus , in which Mr. Johnsons name prominently appears.

Two of the last three New York City Council speakers were openly homosexual.

The Council, through its powerful LGBT Caucus, has thus far passed almost 20 pro-homosexual measures

Did Johnson ever consider that Diaz point might be correct, rather than mindlessly attacking it?

This scenario is symptomatic of something far deeper that is happening in America, in which the homosexual community attempts to muzzle and bully its opponents into submission -- or else. The sad truth is that Diaz Sr. and other Americans who hold to some notion of Biblical values are basically not permitted by the pro-gay lobby to express their opinion on these issues.

Case in point: New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker recently questioned judicial nominee Neomi Rao, incessantly pushing her to disclose whether she felt that homosexual relationships are sinful. Booker was obviously trying to interject the homosexual agenda into the judiciary selection process, maintaining that it was not acceptable to harbor unfavorable beliefs about gay relationships.

I am proud that the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV) condemned Booker for this. CJV President Rabbi Pesach Lerner remarked:

It is outrageous that Senator Booker would use religion as a weapon with which to exclude an eminently well-qualified candidate from public service, and not only because factoring in a candidates personal religious views violates Article VI of the Constitution. The Bible expressly declares homosexual activity to be sinful, so the Senator would apparently disqualify Moses himself, the original judge, from holding that office -- much less anyone in our day who adheres to the same Biblical values that our nations founding fathers held dear.

In contemporary politically-correct society, when one is not embracing something in the liberal agenda, he is audaciously assigned a contrived mental disorder, in order to deflect and stifle his opinion. One who opposes the gay agenda is homophobic; one who is perceived as being against Islam suffers from the malady of Islamophobia.

It is high time for the homosexual lobby to stop the intimidation and bullying tactics and take a good look in the mirror. It just might be that homophobia could then become a legitimate term, reflective of decent people who have been menaced and victimized by the homosexual community solely on the basis of the formers principled beliefs and innocuous expressions.I live nine miles from Parkland, Florida. Weeks after Nikolas Cruz murdered 14 students and three staffers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, I wrote that Cruz was the byproduct of "it takes a village" guaranteed-to-fail Democrat outcomes.

Most of the same dysfunctional officials in charge at the time of the shooting are still running the dystopian show in Broward County, which is Florida's version of New York City and San Francisco. There is one positive exception: Broward's Sheriff Scott Israel was removed last month from his post by newly elected governor Ron DeSantis. Israel, whose monthly salary was $16,000, will appeal his exile.

Parkland was a perfect storm of collective failure. The FBI failed to follow up on Cruz on several occasions. Obama educational standards, enacted without Congress's approval and designed to reduce minorities' encounters with law enforcement, peddled lax disciplinary standards for troubled students. The Broward County Public Schools were aware, for over a year, of Cruz's school shooting obsession. And not only did Israel's deputies fail to act on several tips about Cruz's alleged violent tendencies, but they also failed to act the day of the massacre. Post-Parkland, Israel proclaimed himself an "amazing" leader.

Democrats' Tragedy Rorschach Test

In the aftermath of such a shocking event, it is somewhat difficult to view events through the lens of real time, as law enforcement and Parkland officials were receiving tips and statements from Cruz's classmates. Though it was smaller in scale than the September 11, 2001 Islamic terrorist attacks, the same questions were asked about Parkland: what went wrong, and how do we prevent this from happening again?

It's accurate that local law enforcement were somewhat limited in their ability to stop Cruz due to state laws that make it difficult for police to arrest those who make threats against non-family members or non-specific targets (there is proposed legislation to broaden law enforcement's pre-emptive powers).

How Democrats respond to tragedies is their Rorschach test. The legacy of Broward's schools; its superintendent, Robert Runcie; and Israel is that they've attempted to cover up their egregious incompetence by exploiting the tragedy, in an attempt to further infringe upon our God-given, constitutionally guaranteed Second Amendment rights. Runcie claimed he was unaware of Cruz's threats to shoot up the school, which was an astounding admission, considering that Broward schools have the highest rate of students who brandish weapons on school grounds among all South Florida school districts.

Some Parkland parents thrust their traumatized kids into the roles of activists and force-fed them the usual Democrat and DMIC (Democrat Media Industrial Complex) lies, myths, and conspiracy theories of the anti-gun cult. The sycophantic DMIC fawned all over them. We shouldn't be angry at the kids who have been initiated into the anti-gun cult; they've been duped into believing that they're gun policy and Bill of Rights experts, who really know what James Madison meant when he penned the Second Amendment.

"It Takes a Village" Kills Indiscriminately

Parkland is a city of 24,000 mostly upper-middle-class and affluent whites. While it's not quite as blue as the rest of Broward, it's still primarily a Democrat city. Its mayor and city council are nonpartisan (although we know there's really no such thing as nonpartisan), but its state senator, state House representative, and U.S. representative (Ted Deutch) are all Democrats. You'll recall Deutch's appearance at CNN's town hall a few weeks after the shooting, which gave him a prime-time platform to promote his "weapons of war" nonsense.

I am in no way suggesting that the Parkland community "got what they deserved." As a parent of two daughters, their anguish is unfathomable to me.

Cruz should have never been able to make his way onto the school grounds, because he didn't attend the school. If a district can't stop known potential violent offenders, why should anyone trust it to stop unknown potential offenders?

My sampling's small, but in ten conversations with Parkland parents, I asked if they would have agreed, pre-school shooting, with moderate to heavy security at all entry and egress points on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas campus. Everyone told me "no"; such security is found only in schools in the ghetto, they said, and Parkland ain't the ghetto  not with a household median annual income of $131,340 and an estimated median house value of $596,212, according to the 2016 U.S. Census.

Those same parents have also told me that complete strangers still have unhindered access to school grounds most of the day, save for the occasional patrol of local police and school resource officers. What about armed teachers, one of the recommendations of the Parkland commission report? I am sympathetic to parents' ambivalence about armed teachers. But for the Obamas and Clintons and Bloombergs of America, who are adamantly opposed to armed teachers and access to firearms for school personnel, why is it that when they visit a school, or a hospital, or a place of worship, they insist on having their Secret Service detail, or armed bodyguards, accompany them? It's impossible to know, but if an armed teacher or staffer had been in the immediate vicinity of Cruz when he began opening fire, chances are Cruz would have been stopped, and there would have been zero, or fewer, victims.

The Parkland mass shooting was unnerving, as well as bloody, raw red meat for Democrats and the DMIC, because it occurred in a place where it wasn't "supposed" to  namely, a tony, "progressive" white Democrat locale. Shootings in Baltimore, Newark, or Chicago, or some other city run by super-majority Democrat rule for tens of thousands of consecutive days? Business as usual  just another day in the ghetto.

"It takes a village" results in kids killing kids. Republican-conservative communities are in no way immune to violent crime, but time and time again, it's been proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, that wherever Democrats control the local power structure  government and education  death and suffering follow.

Are Nikolas Cruzes Everywhere?

Cruz legally purchased his firearm, but the vast majority of gun-related crime is committed by those illegally possessing guns. The same student who told the school district about Cruz's school shooting threat told police after the shooting that Cruz had planned to purchase a firearm privately. Had she told this detail to the school district, would it have made any more of a difference? Doubtful.

When threats of school shootings are made, especially by those with a troubled history, should they be monitored by law enforcement, with evidence-based warrants? Fifth Amendment and 14th Amendment due process and equal protection are guaranteed rights. Had all agencies paid more attention to Cruz, I believe they would have likely prevented the horror of February 14, 2018, without having violated Cruz's constitutional rights.

In the Broward village, the village idiots haven't done much over the years to protect innocent kids from the problem children. Death and youth victimization are always found in municipal Democrat monopolies. I hope and pray that Broward and Parkland residents figure this out quickly, before more innocent children die. We can only wonder how many Nikolas Cruzes there are among our loved ones.How the Trump Administration can Improve Health Care Coverage

In October 2018, the Trump administration issued a proposed rule that would greatly expand the use of Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRAs). HRAs are account-based group plans that employers can utilize to provide pretax health care funds to their employees. Employees with HRAs can use these accounts, which are funded exclusively by employers, to pay for qualifying health expenses, such as out-of-pocket costs for a medical procedure. Unused funds roll over to the following year. In the executive order that spurred the proposed rule change, President Donald Trump directed the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury to increase the usability of HRAs, to expand employers ability to offer HRAs to their employees, and to allow HRAs to be used in conjunction with nongroup coverage.

The proposed rule would increase access to HRAs and allow employees more ways to use them, reversing the approach of the previous administration. HRA funds could be utilized to cover premiums for individual health insurance coverage, and a new excepted benefit HRA would permit employees to use HRAs to pay for short-term, limited-duration health insurance plans, according to an October report by Health Affairs. Short-term, limited-duration plans are much more affordable than the plans now offered in Obamacare exchanges. The Treasury Department estimates 800,000 employers and 10 million employees would take advantage of HRAs once the new rules are fully implemented. Although the proposed HRA rule is a major step forward, there is still room for improvement. In particular, the rule should be expanded so that employees can use HRA funds to pay for direct primary care (DPC) agreements. DPCs have received significant attention in recent years from health care reform advocates because they reduce health care costs and improve the quality of primary care services. Under a DPC arrangement, patients pay a primary care physician a flat monthly fee for a package of services. These include annual exams and essentially unlimited (up to 25 per year) visits for anything from unexpected problems to management of chronic disease. Commonly ordered labs and imaging and some prescriptions are often included or available at a significantly reduced price. Care that is provided outside the scope of service, such as less common prescriptions, labs or imaging, or care by a specialist, is offered at a previously negotiated, discounted cash price. These prices are often less than the typical copay for these services under traditional insurance. Patients can join a direct primary care practice for a monthly fee of roughly $75-$100 for an individual or $150-$200 for a typical family of four. Catastrophic health insurance is usually purchased to cover rare and expensive medical events. Such policies cost far less than traditional comprehensive insurance plans. The total cost of all components is usually far less -- about 30-60 percent less -- than a traditional insurance arrangement. DPC agreements save money and improve quality by removing the health insurance middleman from the patient-doctor relationship. The physician is free to focus on the patient instead of spending countless hours on insurance paperwork and unnecessary documentation and meeting useless quality measures. With DPC, the patient becomes the primary judge of quality, rather than a far-off, uninterested bureaucrat. In places where DPC practices have been permitted to exist, they have thrived. New practices are starting up all over the country. During the proposed rules public comment period, a pro-DPC think tank, the Docs 4 Patient Care Foundation (D4PCF), submitted a comment suggesting that the monthly fees associated with DPCs are qualified medical expenses which can be offset by HRA funds. If employees with HRAs could use those funds to pay the monthly fees of direct primary care instead of paying astronomical insurance premiums, they could save thousands of dollars each and billions of dollars in total. The Trump administration has made numerous important health care reforms over the past two years, including expanding association health plans and enhancing short-term, limited-duration health policies. Like those reforms, expanding and improving HRAs to pay for direct primary care would help families struggling with increasingly higher health insurance costs. Michael McGrady is a syndicated columnist covering public health care policy, foreign affairs, and technology. Dr. Michael Koriwchak is the vice president of the Docs4PatientCare Foundation.Color and Politics

It's not that easy being green, when I think it would be nicer being red, or yellow, or something much more colorful than that, even in a blue world alone. Certainly, most political parties agree even about green when choosing colors, as well as symbols, rosettes, and ties, officially or informally, to represent them or their point of view. Colors are part of the identity of parties, or of ways of life, as lavender and pink often refer to homosexuality, or gold to capitalism, or orange to Christian democracy, red to leftism and revolution, or blue to conservatism, except in American politics, or green for environmentalism, or black for fascist or Nazi policies, and now for ISIS. Shifts in color used by a party may reflect changes in policy. Some colors may be avoided: no party, for fear of being considered dull, is likely to adopt gray. To the distress of the world, black has been found interesting. Blackshirts, Italian squadristi, date from March 1919, formed of disaffected soldiers and paramilitary groups as opponents of political and economic organizations of socialists, then against communists, Catholics, and trade unionists. With original membership of about 200,000 dressed in black uniforms and prone to violence and intimidation, they were loyal to their leader, Benito Mussolini, later Il Duce, who became important with the March on Rome on October 28, 1922.

Blackshirts were imitated in many countries, especially in Britain with the rise in 1932 of the British Union of Fascists, led by Sir Oswald Mosley, anticommunist, anti-Semitic, eager to replace parliamentary democracy with dictatorship. The BUF was dissolved in 1940 after Mosley and prominent members of his party were arrested and interned as a threat to national security in World War II. With the advance of environmentalism, the color green may be more present in politics. Already, there is a plan in Congress for a Green New Deal intended to cut greenhouse gas emission and generate all U.S. electricity from clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources. Recent political activity in France and in the U.S. reflect the political use of color. First France, where yellow has become a symbol of resistance to governmental authority manifested by the gilets jaunes, the Yellow Vest movement. At its start, largely organized through social media groups, as opposition to the proposed governmental increase in the fuel tax, on November 17, 2018, 287,000 protesters demonstrated. In spite of proposed government concessions, further demonstrations took place each week for thirteen consecutive weekends, though the numbers who took to the streets has declined: on February 7, 2019, it was 69,000. The color yellow has appeared to be a unifying factor for the movement, which has no formal structure or leadership or common theme. On the contrary, among the protesters, there are internal divisions, with differing proposals, including the storming of the Elysee Palace, the presidential residence; direct talks with government; lower taxes and social charges; equal pay for men and women; and institutional changes, such as combining the positions of president and prime minister. From the beginning, the Yellow Vests have been violent, and protesters have in some places created a virtual war zone, not only fighting the police, but also infighting among themselves as rival groups did in Lyon on February 9, 2019. Violence has included destruction of boards of the National Assembly, the use of tear gas canisters, bottles of wine as projectiles, graffiti thrown on French national places, tollbooths on major waterways burned down, and defacing of the Arc de Triomphe and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The most egregious action has been an arson attack on the country home in Motreff in the Finistere Department of Brittany of Richard Ferrand, president of the National Assembly and close friend of President Emmanuel Macron. In spite of the violence, injuries occurring, and losses to tourism and to businesses, the Yellow Vests are, according to an ITOP poll on February 4, 2019, not condemned. About 58% of the population have positive views of them, 31% supporting and 27% expressing sympathy. Another poll, Harris, in December 2018, reported that 72% supported the Yellow Vests, though 85% opposed violence. The Yellow Vests constitute a puzzling problem. In a sense, they can be seen as angry, populist, nihilist, without meaningful or specific target but with symptoms of collective despair and little hope for a better world. They are supposedly abandoned in the Peripheral France and in a globalized world, though in general they are not poor. They can be seen in a negative way as hating elites, those coming from ENA, and also concerned with immigration from Africa. Yet in the rhetoric spouted in the demonstrations, there are references to parallels with the French Revolution of 1789. They sing the Marseillaise, not the Communist Internationale; they wave the tricolor, not the communist red flag. A march was held to the Place de la Concorde in Paris, the place of many executions during the French Revolution. It remains to be seen whether Macron, a complex individual, can imitate King Louis XVI and get together the elite, the clergy, and the citizens to discuss finances. The color white has not often been used symbolically, except as a signal of surrender or despair. Such was not the case in the U.S. House of Representatives on February 5, 2019, when Democratic congresswomen dressed in white at the presidential State of Union address as a general protest of President Trump's handling of issues  health care, equal pay, issues that women think are important. This is not the first time that some women wore white for political purposes. This was done by Shirley Chisholm in 1969, Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, and Hillary Clinton in July 2016, as well as women at the presidential address in February 2017. A century ago, the British suffragettes on the original women's march on February 28, 1909 used white to symbolize purity in person and purpose. It remains to be seen if the congressional women in white, even those running for the presidency, are equally pure in person and purpose.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An Indiana woman on Wednesday became the first defendant to be sentenced in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and avoided time behind bars, while a member of the Oath Keepers extremist group pleaded guilty in a conspiracy case and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in a major steCOLUMBIA, Md. (February 14, 2019)In the college application process, one little box is worth thousands of dollars: the one linked to in-state tuition.



Checking that box for the University of Maryland College Park, for example, saves you $24,600the difference between paying in-state tuition of $8,651 for the current academic year versus $33,272 for out-of-state students.



Some students, however, may be getting an in-state tuition break who shouldn't be. With 176,000 students registered within the University System of Maryland's (USM) 12 institutions and two regional centers, errors can quickly add up to a substantial loss of revenue. About 20% of the students at Maryland state universitiesabout 35,000come from out-of-state, according to the Department of Legislative Services.



Two state audits released in January revealed that proper controls were not being followed at two state universities to ensure that students who claimed in-state residency actually met the requirements. These were the same problems auditors found in recent years at the state's largest universities.



The Office of Legislative Audits' two most recent university reports uncovered a lack of oversight at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) and at Morgan State University (MSU).



For instance, one test by auditors of nine first-time residency determinations and 11 residency changes found UMES improperly gave in-state rates to four students over several semesters. In that small sample alone, applying the incorrect rates resulted in about $78,000 in lost tuition revenue, the audit found.



Widespread issue



Audits over the past three years shows that similar problems related to student residency were uncovered at:



 University of Maryland College Park (10-11-18)



 Bowie State University (10-31-17)



 Towson University (11-1-16)



 University of Maryland Baltimore (9-22-16)



 University of Maryland Baltimore County (3-23-16)



 Coppin State University (3-4-16)



According to state auditors, the proposed in-state tuition for the 2019-2020 academic year averages $9,700 among the state's public four-year institutions. The difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition ranges from $4,800 to more than $26,000, or almost $13,800 on average.



Those figures are lower than the national average of $10,230 for in-state and $26,290 for out-of-state tuition, as published by the College Board for 2018-19.



Towson University President Kim Schatzel testified at the House Appropriations Committee last week, MarylandReporter.com photo by Diane Rey



Kim Schatzel, president of Towson University, which has an enrollment of more than 22,500 students, said maintaining accurate records of student residency is a continuous process. "There's a lot of nuances to it," Schatzel said.



"We're very rigorous and transparent about how it's managed," she said. "Every university wants to make sure they do it the right way."



System Chancellor Robert Caret agreed, saying by and large, the system works.



"It's a matter of making sure we do it right and fairly," Caret said.



Yet, auditors and universities may disagree ultimately about how much oversight is needed on residency determinations.



Given that numerous state universities have been cited for the same residency issues, MSU spokesman Larry Jones called for collective action.



"It may warrant a larger discussion regarding the possible gap in the expectations of the auditors and university administrators regarding acceptable risk mitigation strategies," Jones stated in an email. "This appears to be more of an issue at large for higher education in the state of Maryland, and something that should be addressed collectively."



Year residency required for in-state rates



To qualify for in?state tuition in Maryland, students must have lived in the state for at least a year, have substantially all their personal property in Maryland, have paid Maryland income tax, have their vehicle registered in the state, have a valid Maryland driver's license and have registered to vote in Maryland, if they previously registered in another state. They must also be in the state for reasons other than education.



Non-residents in certain circumstancessuch as active-duty military, university employees or undocumented immigrants who attended Maryland high schools and then community collegescan temporarily qualify for in-state tuition.



A bill before the Maryland General Assembly this session would lessen some of the requirements for a student to be granted in-state tuition. HB318, sponsored by Del. Charles Sydnor, D-Baltimore County, and heard before the House Appropriations Committee Tuesday, repeals the one-year residency requirement and grants in-state tuition if a student has received a Maryland high school diploma, lives in Maryland and has a Social Security number.



His proposal would still allow undocumented immigrants to qualify for in-state tuition under certain conditions through the "Dream Act," which became law in 2012.



Eastern Shore university makes changes



University of Maryland Eastern Shore logoThe University of Maryland Eastern Shore has already made changes to address concerns raised in the audit, including hiring four new senior administrators.



Within the fiscal compliance audit for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, auditors looked at the systems in place at UMES from 2013 to 2017 and found it lacked controls needed to determine student residency.



According to the report, UMES did not perform an independent supervisory review of initial residency status made and recorded by the admissions department, graduate studies department or the pharmacy school from student applications.



The report adds that UMES stopped performing independent supervisory reviews of changes to a student's residency status in April 2016 when the employee who performed these reviews retired. The audit recommended that residency status and changes are reviewed by independent supervisors and documented, and called for a change in status to the four students within the test group that had been inaccurately classified as in-state students.



"The University concurs with the recommendations and has put in place controls and procedures to ensure the appropriate residency designation is established for all students," said UMES President Heidi M. Anderson in a statement.



Anderson started at the campus in Princess Anne on Sept. 1, 2018, replacing Juliette Bell who stepped down as president on June 30. The audit period fell under Bell's administration.



UMES spokesperson William Robinson said Anderson has hired four new senior administrators to fill vacancies or positions that had been staffed on an interim basis.



Anderson's Chief of Staff Robert Mock Jr. said the university has a campus-wide committee that reviews petitions for residency changes. Re-establishing that committee was among the university system's responses to the audit findings submitted.



"The residency status for three of the students noted in the audit has been corrected to reflect out of state of billing. One account could not be adjusted since the student left UMES after Spring 2016 and before the conclusion of the audit," according to the audit response.



Audit recommends Morgan State do more



Auditors found similar issues at Morgan State University in Baltimore, the largest of Maryland's historically black colleges and universities.



For fall 2018, Morgan's total enrollment was 7,712 students, of which 5,309 or just under 70% were classified as Maryland residents. In-state tuition for the 2018-2019 year is $7,900 compared with $18,167 for out-of-state students.



The audit, which covered July 1, 2013 to January 3, 2017, found that "documented supervisory reviews of student residency determinations were either not performed or not adequately performed in certain instances." It recommended that the university perform and document independent reviews of initial residency determination for undergraduate and graduate students, at least on a test basis.



The university's response, signed by Morgan President David Wilson states: "The University will comply and implement the recommendations by fiscal year-end. Please note that it is not the industry norm to test initial residency status determinations, but rather only changes. We will expand the independent contractor's review in any event."



MSU has a current operating budget of $261 million, of which $100 million is appropriated by the state, according to spokesman Larry Jones.



University officials see few in-state error reversals



At universities across the state, reactions to the audit are sparking conversations about how many students are wrongly classified and what can be done better.



Brian Leak, coordinator of residency reclassification services at the University of Maryland College Park, said in his experience, mistakes in student residency rarely happen without getting flagged, and if students owe more in tuition, they are billed.



"There are several processes in place to determine if a student is justifiably classified in-state," he said. "All information is cross-checked in the system."



Tracey Jamison, director of articulation and enrollment services for the University System of Maryland, said tracking the number of students who get charged in-state rates in error is "not a data point that we collect." In her view, however, it doesn't happen often, she said.



When discrepancies reach her desk, "We backtrack it to the institution and make sure they've followed the policy."WASHINGTON (February 13, 2019)With the threat of another government shutdown looming, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, took aim at President Donald Trump's claims of a border emergency, saying "there is no crisis."



"The bottom line he found is (the shutdown) isn't good for the country, it's not good for the economy it's not good for our federal employees, but it's not good for every American who is served by the federal government, " Hoyer said at a Capitol Hill press briefing.



Hoyer seemed confident that another shutdown will not happen, but said that he wasn't sure what Trump would do, adding the president "hasn't indicated that he won't sign."



The House and Senate are expected to vote as early as Thursday on the final legislative package that includes some funds for more border fences and beds for detaineesfar less than the nearly $6 billion Trump sought for a border wall. Congress must pass the bill and the president must sign it by a Friday deadline to avert another partial government shutdown.



Trump expressed confidence that he would get his way on border security.



"I want to thank all Republicans for the work you have done in dealing with the Radical Left on Border Security," Trump tweeted. "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!"



Trying to combat Trump's claims of an emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, Hoyer visited the El Paso area last weekend with Reps. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas; Deb Haaland, D-New Mexico; Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pennsylvania; and Xochitl Torres Small, D-New Mexico.



"The first, most dramatic thing we found was there is no crisis at the border," Hoyer said.



The House's No. 2 Democrat said there wasn't one specific factor that needed to be addressed to make the border more secure, but rather a combination of many factors, including more personnel and additional technology and infrastructure such as heat sensors and drones.



After speaking with border personnel, Hoyer said, "nobody said there was a crisis at the border."



"That doesn't mean that there weren't challenges at the borderI want to make that clear," Hoyer added. "(It) doesn't mean that we don't need to make sure that our borders are secure."The Executive Director of Siosiomaga Society Incorporated (OLSSI), Fiu Mataese Elisara has returned from Ouarzazate Morocco where he attended the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) 10 year anniversary meetings.

The event was held over two days, on the grounds of the Noor Concentrated Solar Panel complex, the worlds largest solar power site.

Fiu was invited to speak in the closing ceremony of panellists, alongside the head of CIF Mafalda Duarte, the senior director on climate change in the World Bank John Roome and Al Moustapha Garba, the Nigerien Minister of Environment Urban Safety and Sustainable Development

He used the privileged opportunity to share Samoas frustrations with a weakening global dialogue on the urgency of climate change action, as displayed at the Conference of the Parties in Poland last December.

But he described CIF as a doctor that generates hope for Samoa, as it continues to invest in radical climate change technologies.

We greatly appreciate the fact that CIF has actually paved the way for other climate financing, to learn from them the kind of models they are presenting, Fiu said.

Even at the country level, we have heard that political oppositions have been able to come together and talk very collaboratively because of the fact that your transformational change and programming approach have actually forced many of our own countries to engage and talk to one other.

But as the voice of civil society in the fight against the impacts of climate change, Fiu was careful to make note of the impacts that climate investments can have when indigenous peoples and communities are not properly engaged.

There has to be, in my view from civil society, we needed to have some balance on issues of how that economic benefits are actually impacting on the lives of our people, on the limited and finite resources that the economic aspirations actually depend upon, he said.

The CIF Stakeholder Advisory Network (SAN), which includes official observers like Fiu has been an innovative approach, Fiu said, and he is waiting to see other climate financiers buy into the concept.

One of the biggest things has been that for the first time we have been asked and engaged by the governments in their own national processes, said Fiu.

To be invited to be part of the dialogue at a national level is a big step forward for civil society, he said.

But there is room for criticism too. Fiu made note of how adaptation, mitigation and technology transfers require funding and investment of between 500 and 600 billion US dollars each.

But donors to the CIF are each reducing their climate change portfolios.

The enormity of the problem, versus the resources that can be mobilised to address that is immense, Fiu said.

But CIFs recent meetings on its 10 year journey has Fiu positive about the future.

And Im really happy because right now, the fact that CIF has the guts and boldness to get itself to be evaluated and be able to have that as the basis to self-direct its course is very positive and the fact that there is the ongoing plan of learning of the experience, thats huge.

CIF is one of the largest climate funds in the world. It spans 300 projects across 72 countries, and currently has about US$8 billion to its name.

In Samoa, CIF has invested nearly US$30 million in two major projects, under the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience: Enhancing Climate Resilience for West Coast Road Project and Enhancing the Climate Resilience of Coastal Resources and Communities.

It is funded by the African Development Bank Group, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank Group.On Saturday, Nigerians will be forced to choose the lesser of the two evils once again.On February 14, Valentines Day, the corporate capitalism machinery will distract the general population with yet another consumerist holiday in which we are made to feel lonely, inadequate and/or obliged to spend money in order to demonstrate affection for loved one.

Apart from enforcing the idea of heteronormative and monogamous relationships, Valentines Day has also come to represent the gross commodification of love and relationships. For some, the day will pass in spending money, for others  in wishing they were spending money, and still others  in wishing they could be with their beloved.

Indeed, on Valentines Day, there will be many partners and lovers who will suffer, being forcefully separated by racist policies and colonial borders. For Palestinians, this is just another fact of life that Israel enforces upon them.

So many Palestinians are unable to build their lives with their loved ones because they are simply banned from being in the same place.

One of the primary ways in which Israel prevents Palestinians from being together is through its racist and colonial ID system. Colonial and settler colonial entities have long employed different tiers of identification in order to divide and conquer native and indigenous peoples.

Israel imposes several different forms of identification on Palestinians which regulate how much mobility they have, where they can live and essentially what rights they have access to. In addition, a series of legislations and Israels total control over all Palestinian borders make their power over various aspects of Palestinian lives absolute.

Although the Israeli regime has been putting restrictions on Palestinian lives, which has inevitably affected intimate relationships for decades, the situation got much worse after the Second Intifada. In 2003, the Israeli Knesset passed the Citizenship and Entry Law which effectively denied legal status in Israel to Israeli citizens spouses who come from the West Bank and Gaza. Moreover, applications for family reunification of Palestinians with Israeli passports with their partners holding Palestinian papers are routinely denied to such couples.

This has affected thousands of families of Palestinians who have had to make difficult decisions on whether to move abroad or live in constant fear of their spouse being expelled.

This particular law disproportionally affects East Jerusalemites, who already live in a constant state of apprehension of losing their residency. Indeed, their permanent residency status requires that they have to regularly prove they live in the city; if they fail to, they risk having their permanent residency revoked.

For them, the Citizenship and Entry law means that if they marry someone from the West Bank, they can only live in a few Jerusalemite neighbourhoods, such as Kufr Aqab. These neighbourhoods, while technically being part of Jerusalem, have been cut off from the city by the apartheid wall and are located on the West Bank side. They are overcrowded and lack basic infrastructure and services, but many couples with mixed IDs have found refuge there.

In Gaza, Palestinians have been locked under a crippling siege since 2006 with major restrictions on entry and exit. Hardly any Palestinians are allowed to leave the strip, let alone to live elsewhere in historic Palestine.

In fact, Palestinians who have other forms of ID, including an Israeli one, and who had gone to live in Gaza with their spouses before the siege are essentially trapped there because if they leave, the Israeli authorities will not let them back in. Their decision to remain with their loved ones means that they have to endure a horrific life in a virtual open-air prison.

Similarly, there are Gaza Palestinians who live in the West Bank with their spouses without the permission of the Israeli authorities. They also live in constant fear of being detained and sent back to Gaza by the Israeli army.

Those who are married to foreigners are also affected by restrictive Israeli policies. Because Israel controls the entry to and the exit from the West Bank and Gaza, it can choose who to let in and who to deny entry to. Foreigners married to Palestinians have routinely been denied entry and in more recent years, have been asked to pay bond deposits of thousands of dollars to obtain short-term visas.

Those who have loved ones jailed have even more restrictions. Palestinian prisoners are frequently denied family visits and are never permitted conjugal visits. Administrative detainees, those held for long periods without trial, and their partners live in constant uncertainty never knowing when they might be reunited. Relationships are pushed to the extreme, many conducting them via letters, conversations on smuggled telephones. There is even a thriving sperm smuggling operation, that allows women to give birth even in the face of lengthy incarcerations.

Israeli policies which deny Palestinians the right to family life through a variety of restrictions and regulations  yet another pernicious feature of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and the annexation of East Jerusalem  are in clear violation of international law.

As a report by the Palestinian human rights NGO Al Haq points out, this deliberate fragmentation of Palestinian society constitutes community engineering. It aims to disrupt Palestinian individual and communal life in order to erase Palestinians from historic Palestine.

Yet, just like other people around the world who face physical barriers to love imposed by criminal regimes, Palestinians are standing up to their oppressors. American author and feminist Bell Hooks once wrote, you need to have courage to love and Palestinians certainly have plenty of it.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, is kicking off a district-wide tour on Tuesday with a town hall meeting in Bessemer, the congresswomans office announced Wednesday.

The town hall gets underway at 6 p.m. on Feb. 19 at Bessemer City Hall at 1700 3rd Ave. North.

Every year, Sewell tours all 14 counties in her congressional district.

The forums give constituents a chance to ask Sewell questions as well as receive legislative updates on the congresswomans work in Washington.Authorities have released the name of a man who took his own life in front of a Birmingham city school on Wednesday.

The Jefferson County Coroners Office identified the man as Danny Floyd Cronan. He was 60 and lived in eastern Birmingham.

The man drove up to W.J. Christian K-8 School on Mountain Road, parked his car and shot himself in the vehicle, which was stopped at the front of the school entrance. Birmingham police and Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service were called to the school at about 11:51 a.m. The man was pronounced dead on the scene.

Police say they do not believe students witnessed the incident. The school was placed on lockdown and students ushered to another part of the building. Cronan was not on staff at the school, but authorities have not publicly released any additional possible relationship to anyone at the school.

Here are warning signs to watch for if you fear someone is suicidal and resources that can help those thinking of harming themselves or who fear a loved one might harm themselves.

WARNING SIGNS

Threatening to hurt or kill oneself or talking about wanting to hurt or kill oneself.

Looking for ways to kill oneself by seeking access to firearms, available pills, or other means.

Talking or writing about death, dying, ''ending the pain'' or suicide.

Feeling hopeless.

Acting reckless or engaging in risky activities - seemingly without thinking.

Feeling trapped - like there's no way out.

Increasing alcohol or drug use.

Withdrawing from friends, family, social support and society.

Feeling anxious, agitated, or unable to sleep or sleeping all the time.

Experiencing significant mood changes.

Seeing no reason for living or having no sense of purpose in life.

Feeling rage or uncontrolled anger or seeking revenge.

HOW TO HELP

Ask the person directly if he or she is having suicidal thoughts, has a plan to do so, and has access to lethal means.

If you think the person might harm him- or herself, do not leave the person alone.

Take seriously all suicide threats and all past suicide attempts, even if he or she minimizes your concerns.

Be direct. Talk openly and matter-of-factly about suicide.

Be willing to listen and be non-judgmental. Don't debate whether suicide is right or wrong, or whether feelings are good or bad. Don't lecture on the value of life or whether suicide is viewed by some as a sinful, selfish or angry act. Respect that suicidal feelings are most likely related to ending emotional or psychological pain.

Get involved. Become available. Show interest and support. Take into account other trusted friends, family members or allies who can be a part of a supportive team.

Don't dare him or her to do it.

Don't act shocked. This may translate as criticism or judgment and weaken trust between you.

Don't be sworn to secrecy. Acknowledge that all suicidal risk is to be taken seriously and firmly and gently explain that you are seeking support.

Offer hope that alternatives are available but do not offer glib reassurance.

Take action. Remove means, such as guns or stockpiled pills.

Get help from persons or agencies specializing in crisis intervention and suicide prevention.

Resources in Alabama

Alabama Suicide Prevention and Resource Coalition

Crisis Center, Inc. (Birmingham)Phone: (205) 323-7777Kids Help Line: (205) 328-KIDS (5437)Teen Link: (205) 328-LINK (5465)Senior Talk Line: (205) 328-TALK (8255)Hours of Operation: 24/7

Crisis Services of North Alabama (Huntsville)Phone: (256) 716-1000Toll Free: (800) 691-8426Hours of Operation: 24/7

Lifelines/Family Counseling Center of MobilePhone: (251) 431-5111Toll Free: (800) 293-1117Hours of Operation: 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (CST) Monday-Friday

Sources: The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and The Alabama Suicide Prevention and Resource CoalitionA convicted felon has been charged in the shooting death of Birmingham police Sgt. Wytasha Carter.

One month and one day after Carter died in a predawn shooting in Birmingham, authorities formally charged 31-year-old Jeremy Elwin Owens with capital murder in the slaying. Owens also is charged with attempted murder for the wounding of Officer Lucas Allums and for allegedly shooting at North Precinct Sgt. Talana Brown.

"Today is a very difficult day,'' said Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith.

Owens was taken into custody Thursday morning by State Bureau of Investigation agents and Birmingham police when he was released from UABs Spain Rehabilitation Center. Owens, who has limited mobility since the Jan. 13 shooting, was transferred from the hospital to rehab more than a week ago.

Press conference regarding the arrest of the man charged with shooting Birmingham police Sgt. Wytasha Carter. Posted by al.com on Thursday, February 14, 2019

According to court records, the warrants against Owens were issued on Jan. 25. They were not served on him until today because he was not officially in police custody, though he has been under guard since the deadly shooting. He is charged with capital murder, two counts of attempted murder, certain persons forbidden to possess a pistol, third-degree receiving stolen property and first-degree possession marijuana, all for offenses committed on Jan. 13, records show.

"We are grateful to the men and women of the Birmingham Police Department and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency for their work in this case under very difficult circumstances,'' said Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr.

Owens, in a wheelchair, declined comment as he was released from rehabilitation. More than a half dozen officers in their dress uniforms were on hand for the release. Owens was transported to the Birmingham Police Department headquarters and then taken from there to the Jefferson County Jail without bond. He was booked into the county jail at 12:22 p.m.

He was transported wearing the handcuffs that belonged to the slain sergeant. "I only felt it was fitting that if this man is going to jail, were going to use Sgt. Carters handcuffs,'' Smith said, calling Carter "an incredible officer, an incredible sergeant and an honorable man. This is one small way we can honor him.

Jefferson County sheriffs Capt. David Agee said jail officials will determine where Owens will be housed within the jail. "If he needs to be in medical confinement, he will,'' Agee said. If he needs to be separated from other inmates, he will.

Smith said he spoke with Carters family to notify them of the formal charges. He described their reaction as bittersweet.

The shooting happened about 2 a.m. that Sunday when officers were working a special detail dealing with a rash of car break-ins in that area. An undercover officer spotted at least two suspects who appeared to be trying door handles to see if they were locked in the 900 block of Fifth Avenue North outside the 4 Seasons Bar and Grill. The officer called for backup, and the sergeant arrived.

The officer and the sergeant approached two suspects. "What I can tell you is it appears our officers were unable to respond,'' the chief said. They were taken completely by surprise.

Carter, Officer Lucas Allums and Owens were rushed to UAB Hospitals Trauma Center by Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service. Both of them were shot in very critical areas,'' the chief previously said of the officers.

Carter, shot in the head, was pronounced dead at the hospital. Allums was critically wounded but released from UAB Hospital nine days after the shooting. He is still recovering.

"Trust and believe me when I tell you he has a very long road to recovery,'' Smith said. Hes in rehabilitation right now and were very much wishing for a strong recovery and his return to the department.

At least one other officer on the scene shot Owens. An 18-year-old initially jailed in connection with the incident was released without being charged with any crime. However, police on Thursday announced charges against him - Michael Todd - for third-degree receiving stolen property and first-degree possession of marijuana. The gun used to kill Carter was stolen.

The Birmingham Police Departments Crime Reduction Team took Todd into custody without incident at 671 Earline Circle.

Michael Edward Todd

Owens, who lives in the Center Point area, was arrested in December 2011 after Birmingham police said he robbed another man at gunpoint and shot at him. He pleaded guilty on Nov. 5, 2012 to first-degree robbery and the attempted murder charge against him was dismissed.

Owens was sentenced to 20 years in prison with three years to serve. He was released Jan. 1, 2015, according to an Alabama Department of Corrections spokesman.

He was arrested again by Jefferson County sheriffs deputies on Nov. 28, 2018 on charges of possession of a controlled substance, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of marijuana, reckless driving and other traffic violations.

According to court records, deputies tried to pull over Owens because they noticed he was driving without use of his seatbelt and he fled from lawmen. A short time later, he lost control of the vehicle, crashed. According to an arrest report, deputies repeatedly ordered Owens  still in the crashed vehicle  to show his hands but he refused. The offender appeared to be reaching for something underneath his seat, possibly a gun, according to the arrest report. A supervisor kicked out the car window to keep Owens from possibly getting the gun, the report states, and Owens was taken into custody.

The offender was resisting and attempted to get on his feet to flee, a deputy wrote.

Owens 14-year-old stepson was in the vehicle with him at the time of the chase, records state. He was crying and visibly upset from the incident, a deputy wrote in charging documents. The driver drove recklessly, almost causing several wrecks.

A subsequent search of Owens Chevy Malibu  which was totaled in the crash - turned up two scales with narcotics residue on them, as well as three loaded handguns that were in a black book bag. One of the weapons had been reported stolen to Bessemer police and another had been reported stolen to Birmingham police. Authorities noted in charging documents that there were multiple extended clip magazines and 50-round drum loaded.

Authorities also confiscated heroin, Molly, marijuana and unused sandwiches baggies. Owens stated that he has firearms because he is the head of the house, the report stated. Owens advised that he just purchased the narcotics the day prior and has to keep his guns because selling dope can be dangerous.

Owens was booked into the Jefferson County Jail and released on his own recognizance Nov. 30. He was set to appear in court on April 3 to give him time to hire an attorney.

Noting the November 2018 arrests, the Jefferson County District Attorneys Office in December filed a motion to revoke Owens probation on the 2012 robbery conviction. These new allegations against Mr. Owens indicate that his being at large will pose a real and present danger to himself and the public at large, a prosecutor wrote in the motion. Moreover, this latest arrest is a blatant violation of the terms of his probation.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Teresa Pulliam on Dec. 21 directed a clerk to issue a probation violation warrant against Owens and ordered that once he was arrested, he would be held on no bond. It was that warrant that was outstanding against Owens when the Jan. 13 deadly shooting happened.

On Jan. 30, Pulliam ordered that warrant to be recalled after she learned his probation actually ended in January 2018, not January 2019, as initially believed. That recalled was entered into the court system on Wednesday.

The following day  on Jan. 31 - Jefferson County Deputy District Attorney Louvenia Borom filed a motion to revoke Owens bond on the November 2018 arrests, noting the new, and violent, charges against him. District Judge Shanta Craig Owens on Feb. 1 agreed with the prosecutors request, deeming that his bond on the older cases was insufficient based upon the new charges against him.

Judge Owens ordered a no bond for the suspect and said a formal bond revocation hearing would be held following his arrest.

Thursdays press conference was held at the North Precinct, where Carter last served. Behind the chief and other ranking officers in attendance was the sign Rule #1 - Everyone Goes Home.

"That why we are here. We stand behind that rule and were going to do everything we can to uphold that rule,'' Smith said. And when that rule is broken, were going to do everything we can to apprehend that person.The city of Birmingham is asking a judge to maintain his ruling that overturned a state law protecting Confederate monuments.

In a court filing last week, city attorneys opposed a motion by the state attorney general to stay the decision while Alabama appeals.

A judge last month ruled a 2017 state law barring the removal or alteration of historical monuments violates the free speech rights of local communities.

The state argued that staying the order would prevent cities from removing monuments while the state appeals.

Birmingham lawyers said the city has made no suggestion that a Confederate monument would be removed during the appeal.

Alabama sued the city of Birmingham in 2017 after officials erected a wooden box that obscured the view of a 52-foot-tall obelisk honoring Confederate veterans.A man who was charged with capital murder in Jefferson County when he was just 16 is now jailed in California, accused of opening fire on a San Diego restaurant in a possible hate crime.

Stefano Markell Parker, 29, is being held in the San Diego County Jail on nine counts of attempted murder and other gun-related crimes following the Tuesday-night shooting. He is held without bond.

The shooting happened at 7:40 p.m. at The Asian Bistro in San Diegos Hillcrest community. San Diego Assistant Police Chief Albert Guaderrama said officers responded to the scene after multiple calls of a man firing the rifle into the restaurant, which is on University Avenue.

There were nine patrons in the restaurant at the time, who had to duck and cover, Guaderrama said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference. The suspect fired several rounds into the restaurant from the street and then fled the scene on foot.

No one was wounded by the gunfire, though some possibly received minor injuries from shattered glass, according to local media reports. California media reported at least 19 rounds were fired into the bistro.

Officers immediately arrived and started searching the area. A witness told officers they saw a man disrobing and provided a description of what he was wearing.

Guaderrama said police found the suspect in the east alley of 3500 Fourth Avenue and took him into custody without incident. A rifle was found nearby.

San Diego police identified the suspect as 29-year-old Stefano Markell Parker. According to Parkers Facebook page, he attended Minor High School and only recently moved to San Diego.

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer at the Wednesday press conference called the shooting a terrifying incident and said city and police officials are looking into the possibility that the shooting was a hate crime but said no determination has been made. Parker on Jan. 31 posted this on Facebook: Who told all these gayfers it was safe to come outside..? According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the area where the shooting took place is popular with the citys LGBTQ community.

What we have right now is a Facebook posting that was quite disturbing, he said.

The mayor said he held a briefing about the shooting with leaders in the LGBTQ community. We pride ourselves on being a very diverse city that celebrates unique culture and that is never going to change, the mayor said. We will stand together to denounce violence and we will stand together to support our brothers and sisters in the LGBTQ community.

Acts of violence like this have no place in San Diego, Faulconer said, adding they were beefing up patrols in the area.

In addition to the nine attempted murder charges, Parker also is charged with one count of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He does have a felony record. He was arrested for a homicide in Alabama, Guaderrama said. The gun was not reported stolen and obviously it was not registered to him.

Alabama court records show Parker was charged with capital murder in a 2005 shooting that killed 14-year-old Rochine Thomas in Docena. He was charged as an adult with one count of capital murder and three counts of attempted murder.

He pleaded guilty in 2006 to a reduced charge of felony murder. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison with four years to serve. A co-defendant in the case pleaded also, and received a similar sentence.

Parker was arrested by Adamsville police in 2017 on drug charges. Those cases were forwarded to a grand jury for indictment consideration but court records dont reflect any disposition for those charges.

Parker posted this on Facebook about six hours before the shooting:

How many of us fell victim to the streets. Is life based off the decisions that we make or the way we play the hand we are dealt. What defines us, what intertwines us. Why are we here. As life begins, as we start our journey, its seems the answers unravel at our feet. Its not until the depths of our journeys that we encounter obstacles and things began to hinder us from completing our goals at hand.

Why is this .....

What is it to be born into a world that doesn't accept our niche, our life purpose. A world that must be persuaded into alignment with our driven purpose.

Born free but as we grow into maturity the definition of freedom can get complicated or simplistic based on individual desires.

It's crazy how care free and simply free we are as infants but as we grow into adolescence and adulthood accepting responsibilities of self and our life's purpose, we can easily and often loose the understanding, comfort, and vision of what freedom is.

To loose the best understanding of freedom that we have developed in our early stages of life and to regain that freedom later on in adulthood can be a drastic, yet blissful change. A change so drastic for some the transfer to freedom can be a simple yet feared process.

For me, I feel like my childhood interpretation of freedom has been much trampled and a bit destroyed. So my process to grasp a personal understanding of freedom, to regain freedom, may be of a somewhat of a different approach then the approaches used by others. For me, age is also a factor that should be thrown into the formula to derive the solution of my individual understanding of freedom....

Dont get this post misunderstood........ Owners of the Red Bar, the iconic Grayton Beach restaurant and bar, are vowing to rebuild after its building was destroyed by fire.

Red Bar co-owner Oliver Oli Petit told the Northwest Florida Daily News thanked the community for its support and vowed to reopen.

On behalf of my family and the staff of The Red Bar, I want to thank the community for the tremendous outpouring of support that we have already received. It means a lot to me that we live in a county where our leaders recognize the importance of our shared history, and the efforts so many of us make to shape our community in a positive and unique way.

I want to tell our patrons and my staff that we will be back, and we will rebuild to the exact previous specifications  maybe with a better bathroom. Life goes on.

Firefighters were called to the bar around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday after reports of heavy smoke and flames from the building.

The South Walton Fire District said the blaze appears to have originated in the dining area within the front section of the restaurant. During the fire, the roof and walls collapsed which created large piles of metal and wood debris which made extinguishing the fire difficult. Heavy equipment was used to remove debris and clear the area so an investigation can begin.

The Florida State Fire Marshals Office is investigating the cause of the blaze. They said they source was undetermined but electricity could not be ruled out.

The fire was mostly contained to the bar but some neighboring homes experienced exterior damage. The bar was a total loss, with damages estimated between $350,000 and $500,000.This is an opinion cartoon.

Nothing but love for the Parkland shooting survivors. A year after the Valentines Day massacre that killed 17 at their school, they are still standing their ground. They stand in the blood of 17, they are encircled and fueled by the love of the 17.

The Parkland shooting survivors remain the most energetic and articulate voices in the fight against gun violence.

How the Parkland shooting led to a generations spiritual awakening

Excerpts from my essay a year ago:

If youre waiting for someone to make America great again, you wont have to wait much longer. Theres a new crop of kids itching to vote. And lead.

Standing in the blood of classmates empowers this generation to stand their ground against the almighty NRA.

When the fearful far right tries to smear you with crisis actor conspiracy theories, theyre grasping at straws and shaking in their boots. Stand your ground, kids.

The Parkland shooter could have/should have been stopped before - and during -the carnage. Despite multiple warnings and run-ins with authorities, he passed a simple background check and was able to buy an AR-15, the mass shooters weapon of choice - without a waiting period - at the age of 18. A thorough social media-conscious, expanded universal background check - with a waiting period - hopefully would have exposed his many red flags and kept a weapon out of his hands.

Had the shooter not been able to buy the AR-15 he would have found another way to inflict his anger and kill 17 people, right?

But he didnt have to.

He didnt have to figure out how to make a bomb out of a pressure cooker. He didnt have to charge into school with a knife or a sharpened broom stick. He didnt have to drive a truck through the hallways of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

He didnt have to.

Here's your gun, son. Now run along and play, with your pretty red flags flapping in the wind.

Why do we make it so easy for evil to have its way?

After the assault weapons ban of 1994, mass shooting deaths were cut in half for 10 years. Since the ban expired in 2004, mass shooting deaths have tripled in the U.S., and they continue to escalate.

Stand your ground, kids. The soul of the country needs you.

Check out more cartoons by JD CroweIn rural Lawrence and Morgan Counties, downriver from Decatur in north Alabama, many homeowners have been afraid to drink their tap water since 2016 due to high concentrations of certain man-made chemicals found in the water supply.

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it was moving forward with plans to set a nationwide limit on those chemicals in drinking water as part of what the agency described as an unprecedented action plan to address contamination issues nationwide.

Critics of the plan say the agency is moving too slowly to regulate chemicals known to be associated with numerous health problems in humans and that the agency has not made a binding commitment to set firm drinking water limits of the chemicals, though EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler said he had every intention of doing so.

The chemicals -- called per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances or PFAS -- were manufactured for decades at the 3M facility in Decatur, on the banks of the Tennessee River. One Alabama water utility has already spent millions on new filters to treat its water after the EPA issued a health advisory in 2016, warning that lifetime exposure to low levels of the chemicals had been associated with health problems, including kidney and testicular cancers, liver damage, developmental issues in fetuses or breast-fed infants, immune system impacts and cholesterol changes.

Wheeler announced the agencys PFAS Plan at a press conference Thursday morning in Philadelphia.

The PFAS Action Plan is the most comprehensive cross-agency plan to address an emerging chemical of concern ever undertaken by EPA, Wheeler said. For the first time in Agency history, we utilized all of our program offices to construct an all-encompassing plan to help states and local communities address PFAS and protect our nations drinking water. We are moving forward with several important actions, including the maximum contaminant level (MCL) process, that will help affected communities better monitor, detect, and address PFAS.

Wheeler said that by the end of 2019, the agency would propose setting a MCL for PFOA and PFOS, two of the most common PFAS chemicals, under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

In addition to moving toward a formal limit for the chemicals in drinking water, Wheeler also said the EPA has begun the process of listing the chemicals as hazardous under the Superfund law, which could make it easier to force responsible industries to clean up old PFAS contamination.

The compounds were used for decades in consumer products like Teflon and Scotchgard to create grease-resistant or non-stick coatings. They have also been used extensively to create stain-resistant products like carpets or other fabrics, waterproof clothing, food packaging and fire-fighting foams used widely at military facilities and air fields.

PFAS are sometimes called forever chemicals, because they are extremely slow to break down in the natural environment and can build up in the tissue of people and animals. Studies have shown that nearly every person tested has some level of PFAS in their blood.

The 2016 EPA health advisory warned that negative health impacts were associated with exposure to the chemicals in drinking water at concentrations of 70 parts per trillion, setting the advisory level there. However, emerging research has begun to show concerns about exposures to far lower doses of the chemicals.

In June 2018, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, issued a draft toxicological profile for PFAS, recommending minimal risk levels that equate to about 7 parts per trillion for PFOS and 11 ppt for PFOA. At least four states -- Vermont, New Jersey, Minnesota and California -- have set state limits for PFAS chemicals in drinking water that are more strict than the EPA health advisory standards.

When the 2016 health advisory was issued, eight Alabama water systems had PFAS concentrations higher than the 70 ppt threshold. Most of those were able to change their water source or mix in alternate water sources to bring their PFAS concentrations below 70 ppt.

However, the West Morgan East Lawrence Water and Sewer Authority (WMEL), which draws its water from the Tennessee River downstream of Decatur, was forced to install a temporary granular activated carbon filtration system to meet the health advisory level and advised customers not to drink their tap water until the filter was installed. The temporary filter cost about $4 million, and now WMEL is seeking to install a permanent, reverse-osmosis filter that could cost $30-50 million. WMEL has filed a lawsuit against 3M in efforts to recover the costs of the new filtration systems.

WMEL has asked the state to join the lawsuit against 3M, highlighting the $850 million settlement between 3M and the state of Minnesota regarding PFAS pollution in that state. Alabama AG Steve Marshall said he would discuss the matter with WMEL, but has not committed to joining the suit.

Reaction to EPA plan

While Wheeler said in the press conference that the agency had every intention of setting a nationwide limit for PFAS this year, some critics responded that there was no binding commitment for the agency to adopt a national standard and that the agency was not acting quickly enough to deal with a significant public health threat.

Alabama-based environmental group Tennessee Riverkeeper, which is suing 3M in an attempt to force the chemical giant to enhance cleanup and removal of PFAS from the Tennessee River, issued a statement Thursday morning saying the EPA was dragging its feet, on protecting the drinking water of north Alabama residents.

Americans have a right to stringent drinking water standards for PFAS as soon as possible, said David Whiteside, Tennessee Riverkeepers founder and executive director. "Unfortunately, it seems that Andrew Wheeler and the leadership at EPA act to benefit polluters at the expense of nearly 33 percent of the U.S. population.

No voter wants such alarming pollutants in their water supply, no matter how they vote.

U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a news release the EPA plan unveiled today was insufficiently protective," and noted that it had been nearly a year since then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt pledged his agency would decide on whether or not to set drinking water standards for PFAS.

It has taken the EPA nearly a year just to kick the can even further down the road. While EPA acts with the utmost urgency to repeal regulations, the agency ambles with complacency when it comes to taking real steps to protect the water we drink and the air we breathe, Carper said. I urge Mr. Wheeler to reverse course and treat this public health threat with the urgency it deserves."

Meanwhile, the National Groundwater Association, an organization representing groundwater professionals, said they support the EPA plan as presented.

PFAS contamination is a national crisis that requires national leadership, and EPAs announcement is an important step in providing that leadership, said Lauren Schapker, government affairs director at NGWA. As EPA begins implementation of the PFAS management plan, NGWA will continue to work with the Agency to address the unique challenges facing rural areas and private well owners, and to ensure the technical and financial resources are made available to address the crisis.The authorities have identified the two men who died Wednesday in a triple shooting in Tuscumbia, a small city in northwest Alabama.

Alontae Nalls and Gavin Cole were killed by gunfire, said Colbert County Coroner Justin Gasque. The mens specific ages werent immediately available.

A third man was being treated at UAB Hospital, Gasque told AL.com.

The triple shooting happened near Willie Green Recreation Center The center is at South East Street and East 10th Street in Tuscumbia, a city of about 8,400 people in the Shoals area.

Initially officers were called to a reported wreck, police Chief Tony Logan told AL.com news partner WHNT News 19. Once on the scene, officers found a man suffering a gunshot wound inside a car. The man, Cole, was taken to Tupelo Hospital in Mississippi, where he died Wednesday evening, the authorities said.

Nalls was found dead in a nearby wooded area, Logan told WHNT.

Police havent released information about a motive or any potential suspect.

Because of proximity to the shooting scene, Tuscumbia City Schools temporarily implemented heightened security procedure. The lock down was lifted around 1:45 p.m., school officials said in a statement.Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on February 14, 2019

2019/02/14

At the invitation of Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai of Thailand, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will travel to Thailand for strategic consultation from February 15 to 16.

Q: According to reports, US Special Envoy to Venezuela Elliott Abrams said on February 13 that China may stop offering loans to Venezuela due to concerns that the country won't be able to repay its debt. What is China's comment?

A: I have made my position clear many times on China-Venezuela cooperation. Here I'd like to reiterate that China-Venezuela relations are normal state-to-state relations. Our practical cooperation, following the principle of equality, mutual benefit, common development and commercial rules, is lawful and beneficial to our two peoples. China will continue its across-the-board exchange and cooperation with Venezuela while upholding the above principles.

Q: Can you give us any information on the time and venue of the meeting that will possibly take place between the heads of state of China and the US?

A: We have noted that President Trump has said on many occasions that he looked forward to meeting again with President Xi. The Chinese side stands ready to stay in close contact with the US side in various ways. Regarding the specifics, I have no information to offer at the moment.

Q: It is reported that the former director of the National Cyber Security Centre of the UK's Government Communications Headquarters, wrote in the Financial Times that the NCSC has never found evidence of malicious Chinese state cyber activity through Huawei, and that western countries should not shut out the products and services of a future global tech power. What's your comment on this?

A: I have noted relevant reports. Indeed, security issues must be backed up by facts. I believe many of you still have a fresh memory of the PRISM surveillance program. It is not China that conducts eavesdropping and surveillance around the globe, even including on its own allies.

Cyber security is a common concern of all countries including European countries and China. If countries can cast aside prejudice, enhance mutual trust and avoid politicizing normal economic behaviors, they will be fully capable of resolving issues of concern. I hope all countries can truly respect market principles of fair and free competition, and foster a fair, just and non-discriminatory market environment for the normal cooperation between companies to ensure the sound development of relevant sectors.

Q: US Indo-Pacific Command chief Philip Davidson said on Tuesday that Chinese militarization of the South China Sea has prompted the United States to begin discussing the possibility of relocating US forces and opening bases in the region. I was wondering if you have any comment on this?

A: The remarks by the US military official are nothing but an attempt to justify the US beefing up military deployment in the South China Sea and the Asia-Pacific. I wonder what "militarization by China" could possibly mean? I am sure you all remember that just a few days ago, two US warships trespassed into waters adjacent to reefs in China's Nansha Islands (also known as the Spratly Islands).

We may also compare behaviors of China and the US in the South China Sea. The US not only sent its advanced warships and aircraft all the way across half the globe to the South China Sea, it even brought cutting-edge strategic weapons into these waters. In contrast, since last July, China's maritime rescue center on Nansha Islands have performed 8 search and rescue missions, rescuing 15 people and 2 ships in distress, and saving more than 12 million yuan's worth of assets. The facts speak volumes. Who is seeking militarization? The answer is self-evident.

It is hoped that relevant countries will respect the will and effort of China and ASEAN states to maintain the peace and stability of the South China Sea, refrain from provoking trouble and work constructively with others to jointly maintain the peace and stability of these waters.

Q: Regarding the trade talks between the US and China, does China believe that an agreement can be reached before the deadline of March 1? How does it view Trump's suggestion that he might be willing to let the deadline slide if a deal is within reach?

A: I understand your keen interest in the China-US high-level trade consultations beginning today. I think we all hope that a deal could be reached. At present all we could do is ensure that the two delegations could concentrate on having a good round of consultation and work for a mutually-accepted and mutually-beneficial outcome, which is also to the benefit of the world at large.

Q: Will the Chinese leader meet with the US trade delegation in Beijing tomorrow?

A: We will release more information on China-US high-level trade consultations in a timely manner.

Q: It has been reported that a terror attack in the southern Iranian city Zahedan on Wednesday killed 27 and injured about 13 people. Do you have any comment?

A: China has noted relevant reports. We condemn the attack. We offer our condolences to the victims and sympathies to the injured and the bereaved families.

Q: It has been reported that US National Security Advisor John Bolton spoke by phone on February 13 with El Salvador's President-elect Nayib Bukele. The two discussed ways to strengthen bilateral friendship and counter Chinese predatory practices in the western hemisphere. What is your comment?

A: China and El Salvador established diplomatic ties on the basis of the one-China principle, which is consistent with the trend of the times, conforms with international law and basic norms governing international relations, and serves the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples. It does not target or affect either's relations with other countries. The Chinese side is glad to see the US and El Salvador developing relations on the basis of mutual respect and non-interference in each other's internal affairs. Likewise, US-El Salvador relations should not jeopardize the maintenance and development of relations between other countries and El Salvador.

China has no intention of engaging in geopolitical rivalry in Latin America. Cooperation between China and Latin American countries including El Salvador is for mutual benefit and win-win outcomes. Such cooperation is aimed to realize common development by fully leveraging complementary strengths. Fundamentally, this is also what drives our cooperation. China-Latin America cooperation has created a large number of local jobs and strongly boosted the host country's development and improved people's livelihood. The US accusations against China-Latin America cooperation are completely baseless and unreasonable. We have faith in the people, with whom rests the final judgment. We hope that certain individuals will view China-Latin America cooperation and China-El Salvador relations in an open, inclusive and level-headed manner.

Q: A Japanese businessman who was working for the biggest trading company in Japan, which is called Itochu, was detained last February. Could you confirm and give us the reason why he was detained?

A: I am not aware of it and would refer you to competent authorities.

Q: According to some reports, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Viet Nam Pham Binh Minh had a stopover today in Beijing on his way back after visiting the DPRK. Will Chinese officials meet with him?

A: I have no information on that at the moment.While U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, a Republican from Huntsville, has long been an immigration hardliner and a proponent of a border wall sought by President Trump, Brooks took a different tact Thursday to make his point.

He blasted his colleagues in Congress.

Mr. Speaker, an extraordinarily weak and conflicted Congress is of no help, Brooks said in a speech on the House floor. Worse yet, this Congress is a hindrance.

As such, Brooks said, Trump should act on his own via Constitutional authority to construct the border wall.

Brooks also said the 2,977 people who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks would pale in comparison to hundreds of thousands of Americans who are dead, or will die, over the years because of illegal alien homicides and overdoses caused by deadly drugs shipped across Americas porous southern border.

Brooks speech came three days after a bipartisan congressional committee, which included Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby as the lead Republican negotiator, announced a budget deal to avoid another partial government shutdown at midnight on Friday.

That deal included less than 25 percent of the money Trump sought for a border wall and was met with dissension from the House Freedom Caucus  the lower chambers most conservative wing, of which Brooks is a member.

Later Thursday, Broooks announced he would vote against the funding bill.

The massive 1,169 page spending bill is a debt junkies dream," Brooks said in a statement, that forces me to choose between two really bad choices: vote to shut down the government or vote to aid and abet the killing of at least 50 Americans per day who die from illegal alien homicides or from overdoses on poisonous drugs shipped through our porous southern border.

Trump tweeted on Thursday morning that he was reviewing the deal but he has given no assurances he will sign it. Earlier this week, though, the president said he did not expect another government shutdown.

Reviewing the funding bill with my team at the @WhiteHouse!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2019

Trump has also said he has located money from elsewhere within the government to build the wall, though he has given no details.

In his speech, Brooks said that Trump should utilize his Constitutional authority over the military to build the wall.

Title 10, Section 284 of the United States Code empowers presidents to order Americas military to assist federal drug and law enforcement agencies in the fight against drug and transnational organized crime, Brooks said. Pursuant to this law, the president may deploy active military and National Guard troops to:

Establish and operate bases of operations;

Detect and monitor surface traffic in Mexico and in the United States within 25 miles of the southern border;

Construct roads, fences, barriers and lighting to block drug smuggling corridors across the southern border; and

Use aerial and ground reconnaissance.

Brooks concluded his speech by saying the U.S. deserved the same border control that the military provides in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Americas military protects the borders of, and lives in, South Korea, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Europe, and many other countries, Brooks said. America, and Americans, deserve no less protection.

Updated today, Feb. 14, 2019, at 1:53 p.m. with Brooks announcing he will vote against the funding bill.A suspect who was extradited from Florida to Baldwin County accused of stealing a motor vehicle was also charged with murder Wednesday afternoon.

Nicholas Ryan Young, 35, is charged in the October killing of Ronald Jeffery Higginbotham, 53, at an apartment in Foley.

Youngs whereabouts were unknown until the Santa Rosa County Sheriffs Department in Florida picked him up during routine patrols on Nov. 29. An outstanding warrant for his arrest in Baldwin County relating to the theft of Higginbothams vehicle was active, according to Baldwin County law enforcement.

He was arrested and extradition proceedings began. Initially, Young refused to sign a waiver for his removal from Florida. Young has been held in Baldwin County Jail since arriving back in Alabama.

Young was not charged with Higginbothams murder until Feb. 13, nearly 10 weeks after he was arrested.

Lt. Andre Reid, commander of the Baldwin County Major Crimes Unit, a multi-agency task force for serious crimes, did not say what evidence they had against Young or what the motive might be, but said that a break in the case allowed them to charge Young with murder.

Officials also confirmed that a knife was used in the killing.

While no other suspect is being sought in connection with the killing, officials have asked anyone with additional information to come forward.Alabama Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy Worley said today the party will hold new elections for leadership after a committee of the national Democratic Party upheld challenges to last years election.

The Alabama Democratic Executive Committee elected Worley by a vote of 101-89 over Montgomery attorney and lobbyist Peck Fox at a meeting in Montgomery in August.

But a hearing officer who spoke to the national partys credentials committee today in Washington found a number of procedural irregularities in the vote. One key finding was that there was no way to verify that everyone who voted was a member of the state committee. The vote was conducted by having people stand and be counted.

Worley, who has chaired the state party since 2013, said today she looked forward to a new election.

We welcome that opportunity because we know that everything was done correctly, Worley said.

Worley said the date and place for a new election has not been determined. Worley and Vice Chairman Randy Kelley remain in place until the new election.

Fox said today he would not run for chairman again but would support Myron Penn, an attorney, former state senator and former chairman of the Bullock County Commission. Penn confirmed he is running for the chairmanship.

Today in Washington, hearing officer Michael K. Lewis outlined his findings to the national partys credentials committee. He had held a hearing on the challenge on Monday.

The state party held last summers leadership election at the Davis Theatre in Montgomery. The meeting was open to the public. When it came time for the executive committee to elect officers, committee members were asked to move to the center section of the theater. Thirty-five members of the committee had been newly appointed that morning by the state partys minority caucus.

Lewis said about 26 of those new members did not have credentials at the time they moved to the center section and voted. Because of that, he found that there was no way to determine if everyone in the center section was a committee member and entitled to vote. He found there were insufficient safeguards to make sure only committee members sat in the center section.

Lewis wrote in his report: Two problems existed -- guests were told to sit on the sides of the theater, but no one really knows if all guests heeded that rule, and the absence of credentials for a significant number of eligible voters means that there was no sure way to check on who was voting.

Worley said shes confident that everyone in the center section was a committee member even though some were not wearing the red card to indicate that.

Many of them had rushed in and didnt stop and pick up their credentials, Worley said.

Lewis, the hearing officer, also noted that a request for a roll call vote was turned down after Worley said a vote of two-thirds of the committee was required to request a roll call. Lewis said the committee had no such rule. Lewis said Vice Chairman Kelley should have decided the roll call request because Worley was a candidate.

Ive actually been in meetings where it did take two-thirds," Worley said today. "But thats basically a rule that should be established by the body.

Worley said she considers the standing vote a form of roll call.

Counters working in the two aisles flanking the center section of the theater counted those standing.

The hearing officer did not find fault with the way that was done, although it was challenged, too.

Lewis found some merit to a complaint that the party provided inadequate notice for the August 2018 meeting. Executive committee members received a letter to notify them, but the party did not issue a press release or announce the meeting on social media. Worley was interviewed for an Associated Press story on the meeting that ran one day before the meeting.

Lewis wrote that the party did little or nothing to ensure that Democrats at large were notified about the meeting in a timely manner.

Lewis also found some merit to the complaint that party procedures fail to broadly promote diversity on the executive committee.

African-Americans are well provided for in the processes available, but others, such as Hispanics, Asians, youth and LGBTQ get short shrift, Lewis wrote.

Last summers meeting was contentious. U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, the only Alabama Democrat to hold statewide office, nominated Fox and said the party has floundered under its current leadership and provides little support for candidates.

Worley has said she has worked to reduce the partys debt. Her supporters say she has worked hard to improve the partys financial condition without taking a salary.

Penn, 46, said his goals are to unify and energize the party and to attract independent voters by clarifying the partys platform.

Penn said he applauded Worley and Joe Reed, the longtime vice chairman for minority affairs, for all their work for the party.

But theyve done those things in their season, Penn said. Its just a new season now. And with this new season were going to have to grow new people and new leadership and thats what I stand for.

Penn, who served in the administration of Gov. Jim Folsom, said he would not take a salary if he is elected chairman.

This story was updated several times, including at 7:11 p.m. to add information from the hearing officers report.Nine members of the now-closed Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity at Louisiana State University have been arrested and accused of hazing.

An LSU spokesperson said the alleged hazing incidents occurred in the fall of 2018 and range from misdemeanors to felony charges, NOLA.com reported. Arrested were:

Charles Eugene Brakenridge, 23, Ferriday, Louisiana: one count each of principal to criminal hazing and criminal hazing, representative duty to report. Both are misdemeanors.

Blake Andrew Chalin, 20, Gretna, Louisiana: three counts of misdemeanor criminal hazing.

Cade Rain Duckworth, 23, Lafayette, Louisiana: three counts of misdemeanor criminal hazing (misdemeanor) and one count each of attempted second-degree battery, second degree battery and false imprisonment. All are felonies.

Gaston Thomas Eymard, 23, Kenner, Louisiana: one count each of misdemeanor criminal hazing and felony second degree battery.

Shakti P. Gilotra, 22, hometown not listed: one count each of misdemeanor criminal hazing and felony second degree battery.

Joseph Dylan Harkrider, 19, Zachary, Louisiana: one count of misdemeanor criminal hazing.

Malcolm Richard McNiece, 23, Baton Rouge, Louisiana: four counts of misdemeanor criminal hazing and one count of felony second degree battery.

Alexander Joseph Rozas, 23, Jennings, Louisiana: one count each of principal to criminal hazing and criminal hazing, representative duty to report. Both are misdemeanors.

Garrett Joseph Sanders, 21, Minden, Louisiana: one count each of principal to criminal hazing and criminal hazing, representative duty to report. Both are misdemeanors.

The arrest followed the universitys increased oversight on Greek activities following the hazing death of an LSU freshman in fall 2017.

This type of behavior is unacceptable and at complete odds with what we expect from our students. It does not belong at LSU, according to a written statement from Jason Droddy, LSUs interim vice president for strategic communications.

LSU freshman Max Gruver died after consuming massive amounts of alcohol in fall 2017 during a hazing incident at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. The chapter was banned from campus and there were several arrests in connection to the incident.One person was killed and another injured in a shooting in Birminghams Fountain Heights community Wednesday night, Birmingham police said.

About 7:25 p.m., North precinct officers responded to multiple calls of two people shot in the 1100 block of 14th Street North, said Sgt. Johnny Williams. Police arrived and found a man lying in the grass unresponsive. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

A second person suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound and was taken to UAB Hospital for treatment.

Williams said police are working to talk to the hospitalized victim once he is able to communicate.

Police do not have a suspect in custody at this time. Further details about the investigation were not immediately available. This story will be updated as soon as more information becomes available.Two people died in a triple shooting near a recreation center in a small north Alabama city Wednesday, authorities said.

The shooting happened near Willie Green Recreation Center in Tuscumbia at East 10th Street and South East Street. Tuscumbia Police Chief Tony Logan told WHNT News 19 the original 911 call was for a reported wreck. Police arrived and found a man shot inside a car, Logan said.

The man was taken to a hospital in Tupelo for treatment, where he later died, police said. A second man who was shot went to Helen Keller Hospital by private vehicle.

Investigators say a third man suffered a gunshot wound inside the car and was found dead in the woods near the shooting scene, according to WHNT. Colbert County Coroner Justin Gasque told AL.com that man was pronounced dead on the scene.

Gasque said the victims body will be sent to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences for an autopsy. Officials said all three of the men who were shot were in their late teens, or early 20s.

Tuscumbia City Schools were temporarily on a perimeter lockdown. The lockdown was lifted around 1:45 p.m., school officials said in a Facebook post.

Further details about the shooting were not immediately available.

This is a developing story. This story will be updated when new information becomes available.Valentines Day is today, Feb. 14.

And you may be wondering: Why is it called Valentines Day?

It was named for the patron saint of lovers.

Who is St. Valentine? As with any saint in the Catholic Church, there is a story there, and it may be embellished in legend.

St. Valentine was a priest in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius II, according to Christian tradition.

Claudius was having difficulty enlisting enough soldiers for his army, which he attributed to men being reluctant to leave their wives and families.

"He wished to extend his empire," said the Rev. Brian McKay, prior of the Carmelite Monastery in Dublin, Ireland, which claims to have the bones of St. Valentine in its church. "And he believed that in order to do that, all his young men should be available to fight. And so, he didn't want them to get married."

So, Claudius banned marriages and engagements.

"Their strength was to be kept purely for the battlefield," McKay said in an interview with Catholic News Service. "This presented a huge problem for the Christian church. For Valentine, it was most important that with the new Christian religion that sexuality was kept within the sacrament of marriage."

Valentine defied the edict and continued to perform marriages. He was arrested, beaten and beheaded. He was executed on Feb. 14, in about 269 A.D., according to church tradition. St. Valentine, it seems, was a martyr for upholding the importance of love and marriage.

"He literally gave his life to achieve this purpose," McKay said.

The bones of St. Valentine were sent to Ireland in 1836, a gift from Pope Gregory to a Carmelite priest in Dublin, McKay said. The church is a year-round pilgrimage site for lovers.

I think Valentine speaks hugely of the importance of commitment, that love is not something that one has today and that one discards tomorrow, McKay said. But that couples come to St. Valentine, hoping that his blessing will ensure that they stay together - commitment, endurance, constancy, and above all, belief in the sacrament of matrimony.The Top Issues Facing Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.  Alabama business executives believe education and workforce training remains the top issue currently facing the state. Education and workforce training also ranked first in the 2016 and 2017 surveys.

Business executives are surveyed annually by the Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) in The University of Alabama's Culverhouse College of Business on various topics related to issues facing the state and their respective companies.

Over 70 business executives participated in the latest survey in November 2018. The survey has been conducted since 2013 and asks for opinions of the Alabama Business Confidence Index (ABCI) panelists.

In issues affecting companies directly, business executives expressed similar concerns and ranked workforce their top issue, the same as in the 2017 survey.

"Business leaders expressed concern in their comments over the tightening labor market," said Viktoria Riiman, socioeconomic analyst at CBER. "Businesses report that competition for talent is fierce."

Riiman noted that government regulations and taxes remained the second top issue impacting companies. The economy in general and company finances and development were the third and fourth-ranked issues.

While education and workforce training (89 percent of respondents) and infrastructure (68 percent) top the issues facing the state, economic and business development (61 percent), dissatisfaction with government (49 percent), and job growth (34 percent) rounded out the top five issues facing Alabama.

Each quarter, business executives across the state take the ABCI survey. More than 80 percent of ABCI panelists use the confidence index as a general indicator of local or regional economic outlook. About 54 percent of business executives also compare personal projections to others' viewpoints and 51 percent use the ABCI results as background information for estimating future trends. Additionally, 25 percent of business executives share results with others and 22 percent use the ABCI results in short-term planning.

The ABCI panel is open to business executives across the state. Registration is available here and current and historical results are available on the ABCI website. Newsletters with results are provided for Alabama and for the Birmingham-Hoover, Huntsville, Mobile, and Montgomery metro areas. Panelists can take the Q2 2019 survey during March 1-15.

CONTACT: Viktoria Riiman, Socioeconomic Analyst, 205-348-3757, vriiman@cba.ua.edu

The Center for Business and Economic Research in the Culverhouse College of Business at The University of Alabama was created in 1930, and since that time has engaged in research programs to promote economic development in the state and provide economic and demographic data, analysis, and forecasts.An automobile made in Alabama is garnering praise from a well-known marketing survey firm.

Hyundais Santa Fe has been recognized as most dependable midsize SUV in the J.D. Power 2019 Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS).

Santa Fe ranked highest in its class in the annual Vehicle Dependability Study, now in its 30th year.

The study examines problems experienced during the past 12 months by original owners of 2016 model-year vehicles. Overall dependability is determined by the number of problems experienced among 100 vehicles, with a lower score reflecting higher quality. The study covers 177 specific problems grouped into eight major vehicle categories.

Barry J. Ratzlaff, vice president of customer satisfaction for Hyundai Motor America, said the award recognizes the strong effort of our R&D, Manufacturing and Quality teams as well as our dealers who all work together to support our owners.

Along with great vehicles, Hyundai also offers our customers the assurance of a great shopping and ownership experience, Ratzlaff said.

The Santa Fe was redesigned last year, In January, its total sales grew by two percent, while retail sales of the model were up 20 percent. Those numbers, as well as Hyundais Kona SUV, powered 51 percent of Hyundais sales for the month. Hyundais total sales for January 2019 were three percent over the January 2018 numbers.

Santa Fe also took Redesign of the Year honors from ALG, the analytics subsidiary of TrueCar.A push to replace an aging construction workforce in Alabama is among the reasons for a new certification program being offered through Jefferson State Community College.

The school has announced it is offering a 12-month program for students who want to become field engineers. The class is being offered through a partnership with Go Build Alabama, an ongoing campaign of the Alabama Construction Institute, The Alabama Associated General Contractors will be organizing the course that will begin Monday,

The Go Build campaign began in August 2010 to prepare for the anticipated shortages as older tradesmen leave the workforce. One-third of all skilled tradesmen in the construction industry are older than 50. Currently, only one tradesman is entering the industry for every four who leave.

The Field Engineer Program will meet Monday and Tuesday nights from 5 to 8 p.m. at Jefferson State Community College, beginning Feb. 18. The program offers instruction in technical mathematics, building layout and surveying, site layout, blueprint reading, data collection and other skills.

Prior experience as a field rodman or commercial carpenter is preferred for those looking to sign up. For more information or to apply for the courses, call (205) 266-7202 or email Joshc@alagc.org.

Jason Phelps, executive director of Go Build Alabama, said the top priority is "placing skilled workers in the field, and training programs like this one at JSCC are a great way for young people to learn a trade and enter the workforce.[February 13, 2019] Sharpen Technologies Offers Logic and Action Bots to Modernize Omni-Channel Workflows Sharpen Technologies, developers of the agent-first omni-channel cloud contact center platform, has launched Logic and Action bots that transform traditional interactive voice response systems into omni-channel workflows. The bots eliminate the need to create and update IVR trees for each communications channel. Using an intuitive graphical interface, contact centers can now easily customize bot-driven workflows once and apply them across all channels for a more consistent customer journey, an improved agent experience, and increased efficiencies. "All the buzz - and promise - around bots has contact centers eager to incorporate them into their customer experience environments," said Sheila McGee-Smith, founder and principal analyst at McGee-Smith Analytics. "Yet they find themselves confused by the number of components and amount of integration required. By building Logic and Actions directly into the Sharpen (News - Alert) platform with no additional fees or integration, the company simplifies the deployment process for customers and makes it more cost-effective." The Logic and Action bots make use of Sharpen's application programming interfaces to access data from communications streams, ticketing systems, CRM systems, and other third-party databases. Based on this data, the bots determine the intent of an interaction and either respond directly to it or route it to an agent. Sharpen monitors these workflow interactions, giving contact centers real-time analytics and alerts that further optimize the customer and agent experience.

Sharpen's Logic and Action bots include the following capabilities: Handle incoming interactions of all types-voice, video, text and data-and respond directly or route to the best agent or queue.

Offer self-service using intelligent automation to respond, complete tasks, or trigger subsequent actions.

Use APIs to access Sharpen data and data from CRM and other third-party systems for responses or actions.

Support PCI (News - Alert) -compliant credit card payments over the phone.

Communicate using natural language processing and understanding for speech-to-text and text-to-speech.

Support voice biometrics to authorize users by the tone of their voice. "We designed Logic and Actions to solve a clear industry problem: Traditional IVR is a lost cause in an omni-channel world," said Kevin Schatz, Sharpen's chief technology officer. "Tweaking existing IVRs has left an inefficient and disparate mess. And vendors offering bot-powered workflows through acquisitions and partnerships have made these solutions cost-prohibitive and complex. Logic and Actions leapfrog these solutions to give contact centers an accessible way to streamline workflows across any and all channels." To learn more about Sharpen's Logic and Action bots, visit: https://sharpencx.com/actions/. About Sharpen Technologies Sharpen Technologies is a customer experience technology provider that offers a cloud-native, agent-first, omni-channel contact center platform. Its solutions address decades-old agent issues responsible for poor customer experiences. Sharpen's proprietary Agent Experience Score (AXS) gives contact centers a new way to measure and track not only performance, but overall agent well-being. The company's unique omni-channel approach gives agents a single interface for communicating across multiple channels. A global, cloud-native platform eliminates scalability issues while delivering mathematically unbeatable voice quality. Sharpen was named among the Best Places to Work in Indiana. The company is also a recipient of the Stevie American Business Awards, is a winner of CUSTOMER Magazine's 2018 Contact Center Technology Award, and was named by Nemertes Research as a 2018 Top Rated Contact Center Solutions Provider. Sharpen was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind. Visit www.sharpencx.com or call 855.249.3357. 2019 Sharpen Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. Sharpen Technologies and the Sharpen logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Sharpen Technologies. All other company names and logos may be registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190213005810/en/

[ Back To SIP Trunking Home's Homepage ]Ankara is disappointed with the Western response to the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, which Turkish officials believe was ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Ankaras apparent determination to force Saudi Arabia to account for the slaying of Khashoggi also appears set to widen the existing gap between Turkey and the established Arab regimes in the Middle East.

Most of these regimes have lined up behind Riyadh for economic and political reasons, or merely out of a sense of Arab solidarity in the face of what they see as Turkish meddling in Arab affairs.

Many statements out of Western capitals condemning this murder and demanding accountability, as well as moves in the US Congress to impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia, have failed to make any significant difference so far.

Turkish officials are concerned that Western governments are refraining from pressuring Riyadh because of the economic and strategic importance of Saudi Arabia to their interests.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is particularly annoyed with Washington over its equivocal position on the topic, which is reflected in the different positions taken by the Donald Trump administration and the US Congress.

In an interview with the state-owned TRT network on Feb. 3, Erdogan reiterated the gory details of Khashoggis murder and underlined that the CIA had briefed members of Congress about these.

I cant understand Americas silence in the face of such savagery.  We say let all be revealed. What are you hiding and why are you hiding it? Erdogan said accusingly.

It is our duty to reveal this savagery.  The Saudi administration has to answer for this, Erdogan added, taking his criticism of Riyadh and Washington to a different level.

We see those who are involved in coups around the world, and in Egypt. The mentality that slaughtered Khashoggi is no different, he said.

Erdogan was referring to the US attempt to topple Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela and to Saudi Arabias support for the coup in Egypt in 2013, which brought Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to power.

During a public address in Istanbul in January, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused some Western countries of actively seeking to cover up the Khashoggi murder.

I say this openly and clearly. There are some Western countries that are trying to see this matter closed," Cavusoglu said. "We also see how those in the world who talk about press freedom are trying to cover up this affair once they see the money."

He added that Turkey would pursue this matter to the end and announced Ankaras intention to have an international investigation opened into Khashoggis murder.

Turkeys efforts to promote such an investigation, however, have provided few results so far.

Turkish officials are currently making much of Agnes Callamard's visit to Istanbul this month. The delegation led by the UNs special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings set out to investigate the Khashoggi murder.

Callamard was not allowed into the Saudi Consulate to investigate, and judging by her contacts during her visit, her findings will be based mainly on evidence provided by the Turkish side.

Ankara is trying now to elevate Callamards visit to a level of international significance that it did not have.

Saudi Arabias foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, told CBS Feb. 10 that Callamards visit to Turkey was her own decision, and that her opinions are not United Nations opinions.

Callamard, who arrived in Turkey on Ankaras invitation, admitted to as much in an interview while in Istanbul, saying she visited on her own initiative.

There being, to date, no signal that the UN and member states intend to demand officially or implement an international criminal investigation, I felt the duty, she told Hurriyet Daily News.

She appeared skeptical, however, when asked about the effect the report on her findings, which she will submit to the UN Human Rights Council in June, would have.

The council members no doubt will consider, if not debate  at least to some extent  my recommendations, but as to whether or not they will accept those recommendations and then take action accordingly remains to be seen, Callamard said.

Turkish officials are also aware of the limitation of Callamards mission, but are hoping that her report will contribute to keeping the heat on Riyadh.

Middle East analyst Sigurd Neubauer, however, believes there is little appetite internationally to act against Saudi Arabia because of its position as a major player in global oil and arms markets.

"We also know how that for [Callamard's] report to go anywhere, it needs support from the big powers. And the US and others seem to have concluded that they're going to stick with the Saudi leadership, even if it was behind a brutal murder," Neubauer told Al Jazeera.

Although Turkey has gotten little satisfaction over this matter so far, it nevertheless appears determined to keep the pressure on Saudi Arabia.

Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Erdogan, believes that it is not only Turkeys job but also its responsibility to push for an international investigation into this murder.

Alerted by Khashoggis Turkish fiance Hatice Cengiz, Aktay was the one who blew the whistle after Khashoggi went missing, having entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 and failing to come out again.

Acknowledging that Callamard has limited powers and is not in a position to enforce anything, Aktay wrote in his column in the pro-government Yeni Safak daily that Callamard, who he met and briefed, was looking to Turkey to take the initiative.

Despite its febrile efforts to do just that, it is not clear what more Ankara can do at this stage, given the apparent reluctance of Western governments to act more energetically to bring those behind Khashoggis murder to justice.

Turkey is not getting much support in this regard from its regional partners Russia and Iran. Iran has preferred to remain silent over this affair, even if it involves its bitter regional rival Saudi Arabia.

The Russian position, on the other hand, was made tangibly apparent in the warm high five Crown Prince Salman and President Vladimir Putin exchanged at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires in November.

With Russias own record on extrajudicial killings of journalists, Moscow appears to be the last place Ankara can rely on for support in this matter, which is significant given that Russia is a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council.

This overall picture suggests that Turkey may ultimately find itself alone in pursuing its campaign for justice for Jamal Khashoggi, despite the lip service being paid in the West on the need to make Riyadh account for this crime.

By pursuing the matter, Turkey is also risking further isolation in the Middle East, where it has made more enemies than friends since the failed Arab Spring.

Many believe that Ankaras interest in this case has more to do with its sympathy and support for the Muslim Brotherhood  which Khashoggi reportedly also had links to  than anything else.

From Saudi Arabia to Egypt, most of the key Arab powers in the region loathe the Brotherhood, which they see as an existential threat to their rule.

This makes it almost inevitable that they see Ankaras campaign to seek justice for Khashoggi as being essentially driven by its sympathy for the Brotherhood.

This, in turn, is driving a wedge between Arab powers and Turkey  a wedge that emerged after Ankara made its strong support for the Brotherhood even more apparent and deeper.

Since the Arab Spring, the realities that govern the Middle East, which are also being driven by the economic and political interests of global powers and their regional allies, have defied Turkish expectations on many counts.

This has also undermined Ankaras efforts to be the leading regional power and a beacon for Arab nations as they overthrow their authoritarian rulers one by one.

It appears that Ankaras latest attempt to leave its mark in the Middle East, this time through the Khashoggi affair, may also be destined to fail, while adding to the residue of anti-Turkish sentiments among regional Arab regimes.The case of a Tunisian man who told authorities he was gang raped only to end up behind bars has refocused attention on the continued harassment of individuals based on sexual orientation in Tunisia. The 22-year-old, known by his initials A.F., had sought police assistance in the southern Tunisian town of Sfax in January. He was promptly arrested on charges of homosexual conduct. Yesterday, A.F. was sentenced to six months in prison for violating Article 230 of Tunisias penal code, which proscribes same-sex relations.

The court sentenced A.F.'s assailants to six months under the same law and to an additional two months for robbery and assault. A.F. later retracted his claim of rape, presumably to avoid imprisonment, but he was still sentenced.

Badr Baabou runs the Tunisian Association for Justice and Equality, or DAMJ, the countrys oldest grass-roots lobby group for the LGBT community. He called the affair a legal scandal and described the evidence used against A.F. as a total sham. Baabou said supporters would appeal the verdict against A.F. today.

A.F. was subjected to a forced anal examination at a local hospital, supposedly to assess whether he had engaged in same-sex relations or not. The practice involves doctors penetrating individuals with their fingers.

Baabou told Al-Monitor that the doctor who examined A.F. was known to pronounce alleged "homosexuals" as "straight" and had reportedly done so in the latters case as well, making the verdict against him all the more unjust. Police seized A.Fs cellphone, which violates the countrys revamped privacy laws, and scoured through his Facebook and other social media messages to incriminate him, a pattern repeated time and again by the police, Baabou observed.

Tunisia told the United Nations Human Rights Council in September 2017 that it would end anal testing. But it did so with a caveat. Medical examinations would be consensual and carried out in the presence of a medical expert.

Human Rights Watch described the procedure as highly unreliable and said it constituted cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment that can rise to the level of torture.

However, an openly gay businessman from the southern city of Djerba, who declined to be identified by name, told Al-Monitor, Things are not so bad for homosexuals in Tunisia, and even less so in the capital Tunis and at tourist resorts in Hammamet and Sousse. In Tunis, for example, Yuka, a popular gay-friendly club, operates unhindered. Harassment of the LGBT community, the man insisted, was limited to homophobic police abusing their power, much as they did before the [2011 Jasmine Revolution]." As for bisexuality, he said, "it's everywhere." He credited modern Tunisias determinedly pro-secular founding dictator, Habib Bourguiba, and his embrace of French law, for a relatively tolerant environment unmatched in the rest of the Arab world.

Mounir Baatour, president of Shams, another prominent advocacy group, had a darker view. Homophobic attacks, he said, remained depressingly common. He receives death threats via the organizations Facebook page every day.

"I have reported the threats to the police and they have done absolutely nothing about it, Baatour, a French-trained lawyer, told Al-Monitor.

Baabou said his organization was aware of at least 22 violent assaults against gay individuals last year. Last year, DAMJs office was broken into, its laptops stolen  an unresolved crime that may well have been committed by police.

Baatour said he had no hope that things would change anytime soon, nor that Article 230 would be repealed, because the Islamists are in power. He was referring to the Ennahda party, which shares power with secularists in an increasingly shaky cohabitation deal that was struck in 2014. Islamic conservatives publicly condemn same-sex relations; yet, so long as they are not openly advertised, they are tolerated and Tunisia's Islamists and secularists can sometimes switch roles.

The only Jewish minister in the Cabinet, Rene Trabelsi, is a member of Ennahda.

The countrys president, Beji Caid Essebsi, an old-style secularist, famously claimed that same-sex relations would be legalized over my dead body. Rachid Ghannouchi, the Ennahda leader, on the other hand, has pronounced himself neither categorically against nor for Article 230, saying that peoples sexual preferences should remain a private matter.

Yet, in June 2018, the Individual Freedoms and Equality Committee, a body appointed by Essebsi, proposed decriminalizing same-sex relations. In October, some 14 lawmakers tabled draft legislation that would scrap capital punishment and Article 230, among other things. It has yet to be adopted.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Algeria, a 20-year-old medical student was murdered Sunday in an apparently homophobic attack in Algiers. Assil Belalta was discovered in his university dorm room in a pool of blood with his throat slit. The words he is gay were allegedly scrawled on the wall with his blood, ObservAlgerie reported.ISTANBUL  Turkeys plans to create a buffer zone in northern Syria after the United States withdraws its forces suffered a setback on Thursday, when Russia and Iran said at a summit that any such zone would require the approval of their ally, Damascus.

At their tripartite meeting in the Russian city of Sochi, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian and Iranian counterparts welcomed President Donald Trumps decision to pull out American troops fighting the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, with Vladimir Putin calling it a positive step.

But Putin and Irans Hassan Rouhani argued that the area the US troops vacate must be returned to President Bashar al-Assad. "The only correct solution will be to transfer those territories under the Syrian government's control," Putin said.

For his part, Erdogan reiterated Turkeys aim to establish a safe zone south of its border to rid the area of a Syrian Kurdish militia it views as a threat to its national security. But its capacity to do so without backing from the other countries with forces on the ground in Syria is highly uncertain.

With much of the international community absent from efforts to end Syrias devastating war, Turkey, Iran and Russia have taken the lead in negotiating a political resolution, despite supporting opposing sides in the conflict that has killed more than a half million people and is set to drag into its eighth year next month. On Thursday, Erdogan said he was more hopeful than ever that a political resolution was within grasp.

But the complexities Turkey faces in working with countries with clashing interests in Syria has become more apparent since Trumps surprise announcement in December that the United States would withdraw from Syria, creating a likely power vacuum that Turkey and its rivals will compete to fill.

Russia is urging Turkey to first seek approval from Damascus before launching an incursion into Syria, even though Turkey has refused to negotiate with Assad since 2011, throwing its support behind opposition fighters working to topple him. Erdogan has softened his stance in recent weeks, acknowledging earlier this month that Turkey and Syria have engaged in low-level foreign policy through their intelligence agencies.

Turkeys priorities have shifted from ridding Syria of Assad, who appears set to remain in power with Iranian and Russian support, to clearing its border of the Peoples Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian Kurdish militia that makes up the core of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has fought alongside the United States against IS.

Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to roll in to Syria to quash the YPG, which has links to Kurdish insurgents who have waged a three-decade armed campaign for self-rule within Turkey. Before the summit, Erdogan said he wanted to coordinate with Russia on the safe zone and that the YPGs presence there undermined Moscows stated aim of ensuring Syrias territorial integrity.

Russia and Iran are trying to reassure Turkey that its security is a real concern, but I dont see this resulting in a green light for a military operation for Turkey, said Marc Pierini, a former EU ambassador to Turkey and a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe. Nobody in Damascus  or Moscow or Tehran  will ever consent to a Turkish military operation there.

Talks with Washington have failed to produce a coherent agreement on a buffer zone, and the NATO allies are seemingly at cross-purposes over whom such a zone would safeguard: The United States has said it is to protect the Kurds, while Turkeys main aim is to rid the area of the YPG.

In Sochi, Erdogan expressed frustration again with the slow pace of negotiations with the United States, saying members of the Trump administration are slow-walking the withdrawal, which may now occur in April or May.

His anger over US cooperation with the YPG taps into strong anti-American sentiment in Turkey ahead of critical nationwide municipal elections in Turkey next month, in which Erdogans party faces challenges due to a severe economic slowdown.

Talking negatively of the US pays off politically in todays Turkey, Pierini said. But the reality is that Turkey may have relied on the United States, as well as a small contingent of French troops, to contain the YPG in northeast Syria.

There was convenience with US troops on the ground, and diplomats and intelligence, in moderating the YPG not to provoke Turkey on the border. Who can guarantee that Assad will serve Turkeys interests by controlling the Kurds? Pierini told Al-Monitor. If all these Western troops go, and the Kurds are left in a void, inevitably the Assad regime has the upper hand.

Meanwhile, battles between the SDF and IS fighters raged on Thursday, according to news reports, with the jihadists making a last stand to defend their remaining one square kilometer of territory in eastern Syria by the Iraqi border. Hungry women and children were trickling out of the town of Baghouz, where a few hundred fighters of various nationalities held out, Agence France-Presse said. US fighter jets were bombarding the area from the skies.

In Sochi, Rouhani said the Kurds were integral in shaping the future of Syria. Despite their allegiance with the United States, Syrias Kurds have taken pains since the Syrian war broke out to avoid a rupture with Damascus, stave off a Turkish attack and retain at least some of their hard-won autonomy.

Turkey is also at odds with Iran and Russia over the fate of Idlib, the last anti-Assad opposition stronghold. Turkey wants to avoid an all-out attack on the province, fearful it could unleash a humanitarian disaster and force another influx of refugees into Turkey, where almost 3.6 million Syrians are already sheltering.

Erdogan convinced Putin to agree to a cease-fire for Idlib in September, promising to rid the province of hard-line jihadists through its influence over more moderate militants. But an al-Qaeda-linked force has since consolidated its control, effectively wrecking the cease-fire.

Putins patience seems to be running out, and he called for the complete elimination of this hotbed of terrorists at the summit. Later, his spokesman appeared to walk back the comments, saying the three leaders had not agreed to a military operation in Idlib.

Iran and Russia dont hold all the cards. Turkey already controls about 1,500 square miles of Syrian territory after launching two incursions in 2016 and 2018, against IS and the SDF, respectively, giving it a firm spot at the bargaining table over Syrias future.

Moscow is also keen to sell Turkey a missile defense system that could give Russian military officers access to NATO hardware. And Iran, under pressure from US sanctions, relies on its neighbor Turkey for trade and political support. Both Ankara and Tehran have squared off with Saudi Arabia in recent years.

There was one thing Erdogan, Rouhani and Putin could agree on at the summit: They all welcomed the United States imminent departure from Syria.RAMALLAH, West Bank  Vivien Sansours quest to restore the rare seeds of Palestine started with a search for Palestinian red carrots.

Stuffed red carrots used to be her favorite dish from her childhood in the 1980s, so when she returned from the United States to Palestine in 2013, she went to the local market to buy a few. I searched all over the market in Beit Jala but was told that red carrots were no longer available anywhere. I finally came across a vegetable peddler, who told me that I have to order them beforehand so he can get them from another vegetable peddler who sold them on demand, she told Al-Monitor. Finally, I returned home with two because that was all they had.

She continued, I had two options  either to stuff and cook the carrots and enjoy my favorite stuffed red carrots, a Jerusalemite dish popular in the West Bank, or to plant them and extract seeds.

The two carrots in her hand demonstrated to her, beyond statistics, how some of the plants and seeds of Palestine were on the way of extinction. Their loss would mean the [end] of the tastes and colors of my heritage, my own Palestinian identity. Growing crops and farming are a central theme in Palestinian culture. So I decided to protect what I could get my hands on, she said.

Within a year, Sansour founded the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library to work with Palestinian farmers to ensure that the vegetables of her childhood would reach the coming generations. The library, located in Beit Sahour, east of Bethlehem, aims to preserve Palestinian local seeds that have been pushed to the brink of extinction, particularly after various hybrid seeds swept the Palestinian markets. Farmers across the West Bank can come to the seed library to borrow seeds and learn, through workshops, how to grow them.

Born and raised in the Palestinian town of Beit Jala west of Bethlehem, Sansour grew up playing in the orchards around her home. She then went to the United States to study anthropology, political science and theater at East Carolina University. Her work as a producer, writer and photographer took her to agricultural communities across the world  in Honduras, Uruguay and Palestine. After returning to her homeland, she wrote about the lives of Palestinian farmers for international publications. She also began connecting with farmers through her Facebook posts, and then visited their land and acquired some rare seed varieties.

Sansours journey to establish an heirloom seed library was a bumpy one. Not everyone around her understood her quest, since she had a good and steady income working as an agricultural writer and photographer for the Canaan Palestine Company.

Her plan was to establish a collective initiative with the farmers who would borrow seeds from the library. She received a donation from the Qattan Foundation and tapped into her own savings. In a short time, farmers and growers started borrowing seeds from the library to plant and produce crops. Then they would also donate seeds to be passed down to the coming generations and to encourage local diversity.

Khader Shawky Khader, a farmer from the town of Nisf Jubeil, north of Nablus, was among the first to get in touch with Sansour. Ever since he started working in agriculture in 2008, Khader had relied on organic farming. With the help of Sansour, he switched to heirloom seeds, such as white cucumbers, that once grew once across Palestine and were handed down by Palestinian farmers for many generations.

Today, Khader has carved out a niche for his organic and heirloom products in Nablus. His plans include selling his produce to one of the citys hospitals to be used for hospital meals, especially for cancer patients.

Khader told Al-Monitor that he now cultivates many vegetables he did not know existed in the southern West Bank. Both he and Sansour take pride in the fact that her efforts are paying off and that seeds that had been on the verge of extinction are back in the fields.

Sansour said these products are more suitable to the land than imported seeds. These seeds grow in our climate  [and] also withstand harsh conditions, such as drought and lack of water, Sansour said.

Sansour also works on forging partnerships with companies, organizations and individuals abroad who also want to protect local seeds. Her library has just started cooperating with the Experimental Farm Network, an American nongovernmental group that advocates innovation in sustainable agriculture by facilitating unprecedented collaboration on research and the free sharing of resources. She has obtained from them a sample of an ancient wheat that used to grow in the Gaza Strip  and she now aims to see if it can grow in the West Bank.

Sansour also plans on opening local branches of her library in the coming months. Her first step will be transferring the library from Beit Sahour to a permanent headquarters in the agricultural town of Battir west of Beit Jala in March.Iraqis and foreigners flooded the 46th annual Baghdad International Book Fair to see the latest publications of hundreds of Iraqi and Arab publishing houses, enjoy musical performances and poetry evenings and meet dozens of well-known writers, economists and other public figures.

But the bustling cultural scene, which will run through Feb. 18, is darkened by the shadow of a terrific crime targeting one of Iraq's outspoken novelists, Alaa Mashzoub, earlier this month. On the evening of Feb. 2, Mashzoub was shot in front of his Karbala home and died at the scene at the age of 50.

Such a crime in the holy city, where security is very tight, frightened and angered Iraqi intellectuals and filled the social media with various speculation about the crime's motivation.

"It takes a bastard and a coward to shoot an unarmed person who has nothing but words and dreams," wrote author Ahmed Saadawi in a Facebook post. Saadawi, whose novel "Frankenstein in Baghdad" won the 2014 International Prize for Arabic Fiction and found success worldwide, urged the local Karbala authorities to bring his killers to court as soon as possible.

Culture Minister Abdul Amir al-Hamdani named this year's book fair after the assassinated novelist and urged the police to hasten their investigation to avoid a social rift.

"Arresting the culprits would end the rumors raised for political ends," wrote the minister in a statement on Saturday, "It is a great loss to Iraq's cultural scene. Mashzoub had always devoted his pen to promoting national unity and fighting against extremism and terrorism."

Many intellectuals, however, see the crime a reminder of the grim environment for Iraqi creatives and question the country's freedom of expression after the democratic transition in 2003.

"The assassination an unarmed intellectual riding a bicycle in a city that most Iraqis hold in great sanctity tells us that there are lines that should not be crossed," Nahidh al-Ramadhani, an Iraqi novelist and playwright from Mosul, told Al-Monitor.

Mashzoub's killing brings back nightmares of similar assassinations of prominent figures over the past few years.

Ramadhani expects similar crimes to follow, saying, "Previous assassinations went silently without anyone being prosecuted. The only role available to the educated now is to applause the corrupt political class and to distract citizens' attention from the current regime's great imbalances."

At the peak of sectarian violence, terrorist and other militant groups killed many notable figures, including actor Mutashar al-Sudani, comedian Waleed Hassan Ja'az, well-known calligrapher Khalil al-Zahawi and secularist writer Kamil Shiaa, who was a senior adviser to the Culture Ministry.

In 2011, famous radio talk show host Hadi al-Mahdi was killed in Baghdad after criticizing the government's harsh response to the protests. More recently, models have become the targets of radical militants. One group brutally stabbed model and fine arts student Karrar Nushi to death in July 2017 and killed beauty blogger Tara Fares in September 2018.

While no suspects have been arrested so far, Karbala police said a high-level security team is investigating the case and warned the press against "spreading fake news."

Nabeel Hamza, a parliament member representing Karbala, called the murder a random crime with no larger implications. "Karbala is one of Iraq's safest provinces," he said in a press statement. "This crime is not a common phenomenon as depicted by some media outlets."

London-based Iraqi-British novelist and artist Emily Porter lamented the lack of interaction between Iraq's intellectuals and society.

"The Iraqi cultural act is somehow individual or limited to small communities," Porter told Al-Monitor. "There was no strong interaction with ordinary citizens. This encourages those in power to get rid of any source of annoyance and threat, fully aware there will be no huge public protests to defend the educated elite."

Mashzoub was a prolific writer who published 20 books, including novels, poetry collections and research into Karbala's cultural history. He won several local and regional literary awards. He criticized sectarianism, corruption and foreign and religious interference in Iraq's domestic affairs. In 2017, he celebrated the legacy of Iraq's once flourishing Jewish community in a novel titled "The Jewish Bath."

The Baghdad-based Sutoor Publishing House anticipated the wide interest in "The Jewish Bath" due to the sensitivity of the novel's theme. The novel's main character moves to Karbala rather than Israel and runs a public bath in the holy city, raising questions about whether Muslims can trust their personal cleanliness to a non-Muslim.

"I felt sad to hear of Dr. Mashzoub's assassination in Karbala," said Ronen Zeidel, a lecturer on Iraqi history and literature at Haifa University. "His novel 'The Jewish Bath' is a notable work and a prominent call for tolerance and acceptance of minorities in Iraq. I am so sad he is not at Baghdad's Book Fair now enjoying his achievements in literature."

In the heart of Baghdad, dozens of people including Mashzoub's colleagues protested the crime, carrying pictures of him and calling for the perpetrators' arrest and punishment.

Their wrath echoed beyond Iraq's borders. Pen America, an organization defending free expression in the United States and worldwide, condemned the murder.

We mourn the loss of a prominent intellectual and writer in Iraq, said Karin Deutsch Karlekar, director of the organization's Free Expression at Risk Programs. It is critical that those who are willing to raise their voices and express dissident viewpoints in Iraq have the freedom to do so."

The public reaction has also been strong. The popular Facebook page "Da Vinci in Baghdad" intends distribute a thousand of Mashzoub's books on al-Mutanabi Street, Baghdad's cultural hub, for free.

"As the obscurantist powers wanted to silence the voice of Dr. Mashzoub, and as words will remain louder than the sound of bullets, we launched this initiative," read a post by the account. "It is a way to keep his ideas alive."

Mashzoub's work did make it to the book fair in the form of the writer's last novel, "A Black Street," for which the publishing house held a signing ceremony by his son Mustafa.

"It was among the best-selling books," wrote Iraqi novelist Khudair Fleih al-Zaidi on Facebook. "Mashzoub did not develop that stardom in his life. That is sad."

However, there were opportunities for protest at the fair, according to al-Zaidi. "The book fair visitors lined up to buy the book and express their rejection of violence," he said. "It is a protest against bloodshed and hate speech."Iranian authorities have vowed revenge after a suicide attack killed 27 border guards belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on its southeastern border.

Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a statement saying, A group who devoted themselves to protecting our borders and guard our security were martyred in an attack by terrorists. The statement continued, The connection between the agents of this crime with the spy agencies of some countries in the region and outside of the region is certain. The responsible agencies of [our] country must focus on that and pursue it seriously.

The al-Qaeda-linked-Salafist extremist group Jaish al-Adl took credit for the attack in the southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province. Iran has long complained that Pakistan has not taken seriously the threat this group poses to Iran and has not done enough to deter their attacks.

Commander of the IRGC Mohammad Ali Jafari issued a statement requesting that Pakistan take a more aggressive approach to this group on their border. From the brotherly government of Pakistan and the security institutions and the army of this neighboring country, it is expected  with increasing actions and security measures on the shared borders with the Islamic Republic of Iran, the arena for takfiri terrorists and the mercenaries of the enemies of both countries  to remove the potential from any anti-security and hazardous action from them by confronting them firmly, read the statement from the IRGC commander.

President Hassan Rouhani vowed a strong response and also blamed foreign countries for the attack. This crime is another spot of shame on the black resume of the prime supporters of terrorism in the White House, Tel Aviv, and regional agents who both make ludicrous and arrogant actions toward Iran phobia and also claim to be fighting terrorism and creating security in the Middle East, the presidents statement read.

Rouhani also indirectly addressed Pakistan Feb. 14 when speaking to reporters before traveling to Sochi to meet with his Russian and Turkish counterparts. He asked neighboring countries to not allow terrorists to take advantage of their territory. He added, If this continues and they cannot stop the terrorists, from a legal and international regulations viewpoint it is clear that we have rights and at the necessary time we will use these rights.

While Iranian officials were vague and indirect in their accusations, Jahan News was far more direct, saying a powerful foreign backer had increased its support to terrorist groups in this region in the last few months. The article said the foreign backer could be assumed given the statements coming out of the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The article also noted that the US-led Warsaw summit to discuss peace and security in the region, which was mostly focused on combatting Iran, was linked to the attack, calling the attack the military branch of the Warsaw summit.

All of the casualties were from an IRGC unit from Esfahan. The IRGC had previously taken over border control after a number of attacks on conscript border guards. The bus in which they were attacked by a suicide bomber was traveling from Khash to Zahedan. The bodies of the dead arrived in Esfahan Feb. 14 for burial.The House voted 248-177 Wednesday to end US support for the Saudi-led coalition against Yemens Iran-backed Houthi rebels, a move that could potentially cause President Donald Trump to issue the first veto of his presidency.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., had attempted to force a vote on the issue since 2017, only for Republican leadership to block a floor vote. But with Democrats now in control of the House, they have sought to capitalize on the bipartisan backlash stemming from the Yemen war and Saudi Arabias murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Khanna views the vote as a way for Congress to reassert its authority over foreign military intervention in order to curtail Trumps hard-line anti-Iran agenda in the region.

This is such a powerful message that Congress is sending that we dont want more engagement in the Middle East and were stopping the intervention in Yemen, even the smallest US involvement, Khanna told reporters ahead of the vote. Certainly, were going to prevent any broader conflict with Iran.

Specifically, Khannas resolution directs Trump to remove United States armed forces from hostilities in or affecting the Republic of Yemen  with an exception for operations against al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

Republicans contend that Democrats are abusing the War Powers Act and that Democrats are taking an overly broad view of what constitutes hostilities under the Vietnam-era legislation. Progressive Democrats argue that hostilities include midair refueling of Saudi coalition warplanes, which the Trump administration ended last year, as well as logistical and targeting support.

The White House issued a veto threat on Monday, arguing that the premise of the joint resolution is flawed and that refueling and logistical support do not amount to hostilities.

This resolution really stretches the definition of hostilities to cover non-US military operations by other countries, Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, the top Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee, argued ahead of the vote. It reinterprets US support to those countries as engagement in hostilities. This overreach has dangerous implications far beyond Saudi Arabia.

McCaul argued that passing the resolution would allow any lawmaker to use the War Powers Act to force a vote ending numerous US security cooperation agreements with other countries.

This resolution misuses the tool to try to get at the different issue of security assistance to third countries, said McCaul.

The Defense Department has no publicly disclosed US soldiers fighting the Houthis inside Yemen. But Yahoo News reported last year that the Defense Department is also conducting classified operations to assist the Saudis against the rebel group, which may involve ground troops.

While there was overwhelming Republican opposition in the House, the bill gained enough bipartisan traction in the Senate last year to pass 56-41. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who introduced the bill, expects it has enough support to pass again in the new Congress  even if it cant override a presidential veto.

Still, todays vote marks a significant victory for Win Without War, a coalition of anti-war activist groups that has lobbied Congress to end US involvement in the Yemen war for years. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which waded into the debate this week with a letter to lawmakers, did not fare as well.

The ACLU opposed an amendment offered by Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., clarifying that the Khanna bill does not include intelligence-sharing agreements. The House passed the Buck amendment 252-177.

The Senate will now have to clean up the legislative mess passed by the House, said Christopher Anders, the deputy director of the ACLU. In a resolution that could have been used to shut down all American support for the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen, the House instead caused more problems than it solved.

The ACLU had voiced support for the Yemen resolution if and only if it included a separate amendment from Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass. That amendment would have further clarified that the resolution was neither an authorization for the use of military force nor a modification of existing authorities the Trump administration uses in operations against al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

McGovern, who controls the House floor as chairman of the Rules Committee, had initially planned on offering the amendment. But he ultimately did not put it on the floor despite the ACLUs efforts.

While we think the amendment would have strengthened the resolution, after some thoughtful conversations, we believe the best course of action is to send it to the Senate with as few changes as possible from what they have already passed, a spokesman for the House Rules Committee told Al-Monitor.

Republicans further altered the resolution with an unrelated amendment condemning anti-Semitism from Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., which passed 424-0, with two voting present. Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., offered his support for the amendment.

The Kustoff amendment comes after a member of Engels committee, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., apologized earlier this week for her use of an anti-Semitic trope after coming under fire for condemning the influence of pro-Israel lobbying money in US politics.

The anti-Semitism amendment notably contains language calling for strong bipartisan support for Israel and opposition to restrictive trade practices or boycotts fostered or imposed by any foreign country against other countries friendly to the United States. Omar is one of two lawmakers who supports the pro-Palestinian boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel.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).Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier?

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Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page.WASHINGTON, D.C.  The Savannah River Site is healthy and in a competitive position going forward, current and former leaders said at the Nuclear Deterrence Summit on Wednesday.

"I think we're in a really good place. I've not been at a site that was this exciting to be at since I was part of high-level waste startups back in the mid-90s," Savannah River Nuclear Solutions President and CEO Stuart MacVean said.

The management and operations chief pointed to "lots of good, steady support from Congress," concrete missions and future opportunities as his proof.

The National Nuclear Security Administration, alongside the U.S. Department of Defense, last year recommended bringing plutonium pit production  longterm in the fullest sense  to SRS, and MacVean himself on Wednesday spoke of a serious uptick in tritium operations.

"I think there's a lot of really good, positive stuff going on," MacVean said.

Plutonium pits are nuclear weapon cores, often referred to as triggers.

Savannah River National Laboratory Director Vahid Majidi agreed with MacVean. The director said there's wholesome trust between the national lab and the NNSA, and lab ventures have proven repeatedly successful.

Former SRS manager Jack Craig, who did U.S. Department of Energy work for approximately 30 years, had similar things to say.

"The Savannah River Site in my opinion  has made tremendous progress in a number of very difficult areas," Craig said.

The former manager, who left his SRS post about a year ago, described the site as a "can-do" complex, one that is home to top-tier environmental efforts.

The ongoing liquid waste work at SRS  processing millions of gallons of nuclear waste; closing aging, underground storage tanks; and operating a behemoth waste glassification plant, among other tasks  is unmatched, Craig continued.

The DOE Office of Environmental Management is the SRS landlord; Savannah River Remediation, an AECOM-led team, is the current liquid waste contractor.

Aiken Mayor Rick Osbon, who was on the same discussion panel as Craig, put it simply: "The state of SRS is strong."

The mayor, who publicly endorsed South Carolina-based pit production at the start of 2018, said the site is headed down a path of "great success."

That prosperity, he said, is held up at least partially by a nest of communication, teamwork and familiarity.

"SRS is not just an economic driver for our city," Osbon said, "it is our neighbors, it is friends, it is our community."On the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, celebrated on Monday, President Donald Trump tweeted an iconic image taken by photojournalist Yalda Moayeri showing an unidentified protester in Tehran during demonstrations in 2017. 40 years of corruption. 40 years of repression. 40 years of terror. The regime in Iran has produced only #40YearsofFailure, Trump tweeted. I felt cheated and abused, it causes me great sorrow to see the man who is inflicting so much pain upon me and my compatriots to use my image for his own agenda, the photographer said after seeing the tweet.Among some computer engineers, Lena is a mythic figure, notes Wired: Whether or not you know her face, youve used the technology it helped create; practically every photo youve ever taken, every website youve ever visited, every meme youve ever shared owes some small debt to Lena. Now a 67 retiree living in her native Sweden, Lena was Playboys magazine Miss November of 1972. A copy of the issue turned up at the University of Southern Californias Signal and Image Processing Institute, where engineering professor Alexander Sawchuk and his team happened to be looking for a new photograph against which to test their latest compression algorithm.Felicia Honkasalo s new book started with a box of rocks.

The Finnish photographer received an unusual inheritance  rather than family heirlooms like brooches and strings of pearls, she was bequeathed a box of mineral samples and a collection of mining books. Determined to unlock the rocks secrets, she enrolled in a geology course, visited factories and mines, and started photographing her late grandfathers belongings, at first simply to catalog them and then as an investigation into the things he had lived with. The result is her book Grey Cobalt, which AnOther calls a time capsule of a lost world.

I wanted to create something that I have no memory of, who he had been, says Honkasalo.

Having never known her late grandfather, the process of remembering actually required the use of imagination, notes AnOther. This lead her to question the way memory itself works: If I had no grounded memories of the person who had passed away, did he really exist? asks the photographer. Could I find the memories somewhere else? Could I create them?

Meanwhile, 21-year-old Ossi Saarinen captures up-close views of wild forest animals living in Finlands mystical woodlands. His resulting images look like something from a real-life fairytalefox cubs are captured playing, majestic owls perch in snow-covered trees, and squirrels busily hoard their nuts, notes My Modern Met.

_

Felicia Honkasalo: Grey Cobalt

Felicia Honkasalos book Grey Cobalt unlocks the secrets of rocks  and memory.

The artists fascination with how memories are locked inside natural artifacts explains why her native, mysterious Finnish landscape is constantly revisited in her photographs," notes AnOther, which describes Grey Cobalt as a cabinet of curiosities,  images of her late grandfathers possessions combined with Finnish landscapes. I like to think that the geographical landscape keeps within it layers and layers of history, a silent witness to the history, says Honkasalo.

It was a visit to a metal refinery furnace in the Northern Finnish town of Tornio that inspired Honkasalo to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather, who was a metal scientist.There, notes AnOther, she was inspired by the molten metals connection to human history, as it is precisely in this state that the earth once was, and how the core of the earth still is. She explains, in a furnace, we fast track through all that history, back to the start of our time.

Honkasalo weaves in a history of her native Finland into the work; a national story inseverable from the artists idea of her grandfather, notes Wallpaper of the work. She paints pictures of the wet lunches held at the mine headquarters during cold-war Finland,' musing on the historical moment the objects stem from, and the present they have found themselves in.





Ossi Saarinen: Finlands Real-Life Fairy Forests

Twenty-one-year-old photographer Ossi Saarinens vision is focused on Finlands untouched forests, which cover almost three-quarters of the country. But in their own way, the charming close-up images of forest landscapes and creatures tap into imagination. Finnish animals appear to be very mysterious, fascinating and charming just like they've stepped out from fairytales, notes Bored Panda, one of a number of websites to spotlight the work.

Saarinen spends hundreds of hours [amid] the picturesque landscape, patiently waiting for the timid animals to emerge. His resulting images look like something from a real-life fairytale, agrees My Modern Met. Wildlife photography is very challenging which makes it even more interesting. Sometimes it means hours and hours of waiting with no result but when I finally get the shot I wanted its all worth it, says Saarinen.

I spend lot of time with [the animals], says Saarinen. I start carefully from a far distance and then slowly, day-by-day, I try to get closer. I learned to know how the animal behaves and reacts to my presence. No sudden movements or loud noises. Over time they start trusting me more and let me closer.Beef exports continued to set records in November, according to the USDAs latest trade figures and an analysis from the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

November exports were up 1 percent from a year ago, while export values for beef grew by 6 percent. From January through November, beef exports were up 8 percent and values were up 16 percent.

These numbers highlight the strong international demand for U.S. beef, as exports are accounting for a larger share of growing U.S. production and are fetching higher prices, with some U.S. cuts trading at record prices in Asia, the USMEF says in its analysis.

The export value per head averaged just under $323 in November, up 5 percent from a year ago and up 14 percent over the first 11 months of 2018. Exports accounted for 13.1 percent of total November production.

Pork exports, on the other hand, were down 8 percent in November, thanks in large part to retaliatory tariffs in major markets. From January through November, pork exports were nearly even with year-ago figures, while pork values were down 1 percent.

2018 was truly a remarkable year for U.S. beef exports, which shattered previous records in both volume and value and reached new heights in several of our top markets, says USMEF President and CEO Dan Halstrom. In the first half of the year, pork exports were also on a very positive trajectory, but unfortunately U.S. pork has been heavily targeted for retaliation.

We remain hopeful that these disputes can be resolved soon, so that U.S. pork can get back on a level playing field with its competitors.Suburban Diagnostics, one of Indias leading diagnostics centres, has launched their #LoveWithPride campaign this valentines week. This opportune campaign aims to celebrate relationships that have been shunned by the modern world and emphasize the importance of a happy and healthy lifestyle.

Curated and executed by Jack in The box Worldwide, a part of The 120 Media Collective, the campaign focuses on breaking away from the shackles of the society and imbibing #LoveWithPride

The first video of the series has been appreciated for the crucial message it conveys.SITI Networks Limited, an Essel Group company, with 55 million+ consumers and presence across 580+ locations in India, has reported a spike of 21.4 per cent YoY in its subscription revenue for the third quarter ended December 31, 2019 to Rs 2,571 million, aided by the steady growth in digital subscription. Nine-month subscription revenue grew even faster at 24 per cent and was at Rs 7,268 million.

In Q3 FY2019, SITI ended with an Active Subscriber base at 11.55 million. SITI added 36,000 HD customers and currently has an active HD subscriber base of 4.24 lakh.

On the back of disciplined execution, SITIs Operating EBITDA grew by 1.4x QoQ and 1.9x YoY. SITIs Operating EBITDA Margin also expanded significantly by 975 bps YoY to 24.5 per cent in Q3 FY2019. This was also supported by flattish operating expenses on a YoY basis and effecting a reduction of 7 per cent QoQ.

Blended ARPU increased substantially by 19 per cent YoY. This ARPU improvement was broad based across phases, with SITIs ubiquitous presence in Phase 3 and 4 showing 23 per cent and 35 per cent growth, respectively. SNL also ensured subscription collection efficiency of 94 per cent in Q3 FY2019.

While commenting on the results, Rajesh Sethi of SITI Networks Limited, said, SITI Networks continued its strong growth trajectory and grew its 9-month subscription revenue by 24 per cent YoY. This, coupled with leveraging inherent operational synergies, allowed us to deliver stupendous 9-month Operating EBITDA at Rs 2,161 million, a growth of 118 per cent YoY. Simultaneously, a focus on prudence and lean operations expanded Operating EBITDA margins 1.9x to 20 per cent.

Sethi further said, We made extensive preparations for a considered migration to the new tariff order regime with a focus on customer choice, business associate exigency and regulatory compliance. The functionality of our Subscriber Management System was significantly enhanced to allow for seamless transition.There are some initiatives that surprise the audience, some that make people think & then there are some rare initiatives that push people to make things better and contribute towards something substantial. Hindustan Unilever Limiteds Start A Little Good  Swachhta ki Sawari manages to do all the above.

Empowering the boatmen community of the region, the company has joined hands with Kumbh Mela authorities in keeping the Sangam clean this year. Sangam  a confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers is considered a holy spot, a dip in it  referred to as  Snaan  is believed to wash off ones sins. The river is only accessible by boat and considering the volume of visitors, a substantial amount of littering (plastic bags, flowers, garlands and other offerings) ends up polluting the river. It is carelessly left to the authorities alone to manage after the mela is over, a mammoth and an almost impossible task.

To address this challenge, Hindustan Unilever partnered with Ogilvy to conceptualize a simple & innovative solution - Swachhata Ki Sawari that aims to keep cleaning the river unceasingly.

The mechanism involves simply attaching two nets on either side of 100 boats, which ferries devotees to and from the Sangam. Once the boat is in the river, the nets which are closed at one end, collect floating garbage during the journey and once it reaches the shore to disembark passengers, a team of cleaners remove the garbage from the nets and reinstall clean nets. The cleaners then transport the collected waste to the designated garbage area on each ghat.

Explaining the idea, Kainaz Karmakar and Harshad Rajadhyaksha, Chief Creative Officers, Ogilvy India (West), commented on this project, Simplicity is the most difficult thing to achieve. This idea achieves that. Practical, low cost and highly effective, this innovation turns everyday boats into vehicles of cleanliness.

Speaking about the newly launched initiative, Executive Director, Homecare, HUL, Priya Nair, said Start A Little Good and Swachhata Ki Sawari are all about finding simple yet effective solutions to tackling growing issues like plastic pollution and waste management that we face today. We hope that this initiative will benefit in keeping the Sangam clean during the Kumbh and create awareness amongst consumers.

On visiting Kumbh Mela, Harshvardhan Bajpai, MLA, Prayagraj North said, To me, Swachhata Ki Sawari nets are the result of out of the box thinking; a very simple idea to a very practical problem. Deceptively basic, its a great example of building a sense of responsibility within the Nishad (boatmen) community and pilgrims who visit Kumbh Mela. And its almost poetic how the boats that ferry pilgrims to cleanse their soul in the Triveni Sangam also subconsciously help them in keeping it clean.

The initiative managed to create a beautiful synergy between a mega brand like HUL and the limitless power of the common man to bring a sustainable change, a start for a lot of good!The VIP Industries Ltd board today approved appointment of Mr. Sudip Ghose 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 Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai, and has attended Clarion College of Communications for his Post Graduate Diploma studies.World's biggest religious gathering Kumbh Mela has started from January 15, at Prayagraj (erstwhile Allahabad). This nearly two-month-long (January 15 to March 4) religious congregation is expected to see 130-140 million pilgrims and tourists. A major chunk of these devotees are known to come from across India, including rural and small towns. To make their experience a safe and comfortable one, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL), the largest homegrown home and personal care Company in India, has rolled out multiple initiatives of its brands such as Goodknight Power Chip, Godrej Protekt Mr. Magic, Godrej No.1 and Godrej Nupur.

GCPL has in recent past launched many product innovations that are democratizing categories like household insecticide, hair colors and hand wash not only in urban but also in rural and small towns of India. To strengthen connect with pilgrims from these regions; the companys brands have created multiple avenues across city to drive their proposition to visitors at Kumbh. Moreover, to break away from the brand clutter in the main commercial area of mela, GCPL has also expanded its activity avenues to hotels that are spread across the city.

Speaking on the companys vision behind these initiatives at Kumbh Mela, Mr. Sunil Kataria, CEO  India and SAARC, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL), said, As the largest home-grown home and personal care company, GCPL aims at being present across all relevant consumer touch points to engage with consumers in a personalized manner. Kumbh Mela is amongst the largest religious pilgrimage of faith facilitating an emotional connection with people. Be it Goodknight Power Chip giving protection from mosquitoes, Protekt Mr. Magic that offers hand hygiene, Godrej No.1 or Godrej Nupur, all brands are seamlessly integrated to empower pilgrims and ensure a memorable experience for them at the Kumbh Mela.

As part of the hotel initiative, Goodknight Power Chip has tied up with 25 hotels across Prayagraj (Allahabad) to offer devotees at Kumbh, a stay at a hotel, protected from mosquitoes. Over 800 rooms of partner hotels have the Goodknight Power Chip pre-plugged in the rooms. Goodknight Power Chip, a revolutionary product with the power of 100 coils, ensures complete protection from mosquitoes to guests. To ensure sustained protection for complete mela period, a promoter team makes weekly visits to hotels for refurbishment of chip and machine. This entire service is being offered in the hotels on a complimentary basis for entire Kumbh period. Presence of the product in room is giving the brand an opportunity of generating product experience for consumers. The initiative is also promoted through customized branded collaterals like hotel facade branding, reception tent cards and door tags in each room.

Further, on the way leading to snan ghats, GCPL has created dedicated brand zones. These zones are managed by a team of promoters who engage the consumers through brand thematic activities. In one such zone made for Godrej Protekt Mr. Magic hand wash, a wash basin unit has been set-up wherein visitors can wash their hands using Godrej Protekt Mr. Magic hand wash. Additionally, near snan ghats Godrej No.1 and Godrej Nupur Henna based hair color have also done branding of female changing rooms to enhance brand visibility amongst core audience.It is rare that we take a conversation with an industry leader to a two-part series. However, Anand Chakravarthy, Managing Director - India, Essence, has a whole lot share from the immense experience and insights amassed over a period of more than two decades.

Part 1 of this exclusive interaction dwelled on the journey of Essence in India, the transition from digital-only to a full-service integrated offering, march of digital and where traditional media stands today. In Part 2, Chakravarthy takes an indepth look at the new age tools such as machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, Programmatic Advertising, Voice and their intersection with brands, the ground realities of their understanding and adoption by brands, data protection as well as his vision for Essence in 2019.

How is Essence leveraging Artificial Intelligence to benefit its clients?

A lot of the tools used within platforms like Google and Facebook are already AI-enabled. It has also become kind of a buzzword that is cool to talk about. However, machine learning has been a part of doing DBM 360, as we have called it for a long time. What is going to change, however, is the application of how you use machine learning and AI is going to be evolving much faster. At Essence, we have a technical team called 2Sixty. This team is mainly based out of London, who builds our tools. One of our big drivers for 2019 is to drive automation of campaigns at scale for our clients. Thats something we will be rolling out for the next two quarters, that is, tools that will help our clients automate their campaigns, with us helping them manually. Since we have a very digital bent of mind at Essence, we make a lot of right investments at the right time. A lot of investment in terms of technology and people is going in there and a transfer of all of that to India will happen very soon.

Most agencies have been structured on very old principles. The amount of investment that has been made in hiring technical people, that is, engineers and coders has not been big. They have usually outsourced their tool creation to a third party. Thats where the understanding and the know-how does not exist within the agency today. If you look at agency hierarchies, even at senior leadership levels while you have upgraded your knowledge of machine learning, as a practitioner you have never used it yourself and your team certainly hasnt.

A lot of it has to do with building the right structures and bringing in people with the right skill sets in your organisation. One of our big drivers this year is to do that; we want to build our tech team and bring in people from an engineering background so that we are not just able to have a strong offering for our clients, but also build knowledge, expertise and learnings within the industry. That is going to become something that everyone has to do.

How much do clients understand this technology?

I think the marketers who have been spending significant amount of money on digital and who have seen the advantages of digital, they have recognised the need to continuously evolve their digital ecosystem within their organisation. A lot of those marketers are the ones driving change within the organisation. You see a lot of investment happening in brands where digital is very core to the business. I think these clients have invested ahead of the curve rather than the agencies. The reality of application of digital depends from business to business.

Has this industry really understood programmatic? What are the grey areas?

People define programmatic very loosely. It is like the new buzzword and it goes back to what digital has to offer, the ability to target the right consumer with the right message and at the right moment and automate that process. This is the purest form of programmatic advertising. But have the brands been able to do this is a question, because they have started doing it a long time ago. Being able to target the right consumer with the right message in the right context and being able to automate it is the real challenge.

It isnt necessary that everyone should be doing programmatic advertising. Many brands are successful in India because of the large population. For brands which are building the fundamental base/ foundation or when you are building a new vertical, targeting very narrow can be dangerous.

If you look at Tier 2 market growth, what we call as 24x7 cities, their contribution to the GDP is growing significantly faster. If I keep focussing on targeting just the 8 metros then Ill lose the opportunity to talk to them. Digital allows you to talk to them in the metros. But your future opportunity will not be coming from there. So, programmatic isnt necessary; it depends on the brand and the kind of people you want to talk to and finally, the price point at which you want to sell it.

Secondly, it depends on the investment appetite, because going completely programmatic comes at a cost. Therefore, you have to weigh the pros and cons while deciding on whether to go for programmatic or fundamental advertising.

How do you see Voices growth?

Google report for 2018-19 clearly states that there will be a growth of the three Vs  Video, Vernacular and Voice. In the case of vernacular, its not a surprise that it is growing, English is actually declining because as millions of new audience enter the digital platform, they will prefer vernacular. Even Star India has launched IPL in 4 languages; Tamil, launched last year, was a huge hit. T-Series is the largest channel in the world and its all Hindi, Punjabi and other languages.

Voice is very interesting because it does two things, it removes the barrier to the next 2-3 million consumers and lets people search in spite of their inability or unwillingness to type. Indians adapt to changes much faster, so talking to your phone isnt really a silly thing, contradictory to what would happen in the West.

At the Vibrant Gujarat Summit earlier this year, Mukesh Ambani called data the new oil. Your comments.

Data is not something that you can choose to use or not use and I do believe that data is the new oil. The form of data has changed because it has become digital in most of the smart markets and is being used for research, sales and gauging consumer behaviour. The usage of data has always been there. What has changed is the scale of data that you are handling today as well as the granularity of insights that you can get.

We use a lot of the Google platforms for campaigns, and clients obviously have a lot of data store from each of the campaigns, what it takes for us is a very fundamental tactic. Thus, you are constantly looking at campaign as well as non-campaign data to help optimise our campaigns or segment and target audiences better. In my mind, there is no choice for any agency today. Data is a fundamental driver of our business. Yes, the evolution of how you use data continuously will change in terms of data that we have access to, and for that we have also started a practice called data strategy.

Data strategy is one of the verticals that allows us to help clients who are sitting on large volumes of data to actually design their platform on which their data rests, what are the kind of things they should have to store their data, how will their data get stored and how they can pull it out, and the touch points that go with it  that is a practice that we are building with data strategy. This will fundamentally allow us to partner with clients and maximise the value coming out of the data that we have.

Mukesh Ambani has called for a movement against data colonisation. What will it take to migrate the control and ownership of Indian data back to India? What are the challenges involved?

Looking at the facts, today the top 3 or 4 mobile handsets in this country are Chinese and we are all buying them. Chinese platforms and apps are the fastest growing in this country. The truth is that whether we like it or not, the potential of our data going out is already is there. Now, one can sit and argue about the fact that it is not right and that it doesnt protect the democracy, but the fundamental truth is that we cant do without data.

While some in the industry have alleged that the plan to bring Indian data back to India is set to benefit only certain brands, protecting consumer privacy is the most important thing. I think the SriKrishna Committee is a great step as it is really pretty stringent data protection law.

I firmly believe that data protection is extremely critical and as individuals we will hate to think that our data is freely available out there. We cringe every time we get a call from a telemarketer and thats when you realise that your data has gone to someone else, which is not restricted to just your phone. However, we shouldnt make this about Indian versus foreign, we dont want consumers to stop to buy products from global brands.

Democracy gives consumers the freedom to choose the products they want to use, but you have to ensure that the legislation protects their rights as citizens of a Republic and their privacy is protected with the best quality laws, offerings and are implementable. Its a good thing to have one full document prepared well. Its not easy for a country like us to create something so huge overnight. We need to take the right steps to get there, otherwise there will be the danger of exploitation in multiple ways.

What is your vision of Essence in 2019 and the road ahead?

We are a new kid on the block, we are small and we have a long way to go. The first year has really been about consolidating the new clients who came on board and ensuring that they saw the value of becoming a part of Essence.

Year 2 will be a lot about maintaining the relationships and bringing more value to the products and the value to the business. At the same time, it will also be a year of expansion for us, where we will start focusing on simple businesses and start looking to work with clients where we think the Essence product has built synergy with provision of that content. Essence is a young organization with a very strong base in India. We are like an 'accelerated startup' in a way, and are building our presence through a growth plan that ensures we can leverage our strengths for the right kind of clients One of the things that we do want to add to this market is bringing in some of the global Essence edge in terms of tools, technology and philosophy of thinking. So, we are launching a global framework as to how we will look at India and how the flagship programme would be rolled out, which will add a lot of sheen and depth to our products.

I dont have any inhibitions about who we are, we just have to strengthen our foundation and now, we are building the first floor and we will get there.In a landmark judgement on September 5, 2018, the Supreme Court decriminalised Section 377, thus bringing great cheer and relief to Indias LGBTQ community and supporting diversity. This Valentines Day marks a milestone in India, allowing every couple to celebrate and express their love, openly and freely.

Its the first Valentines Day after the repeal of Section 377, but the battle for its social legitimacy is far from over. With our society being laced with prejudices, brands have come forward to celebrate unconventional forms of love and invoke a sense of pride and acceptance from all.

The long Intezaar ends

To commemorate this occasion, It Gets Better Projects Indian affiliate, It Gets Better India started by hotelier Keshav Suri, released a beautiful short film of just over 3 minutes. Shot by two independent creatives, this film looks at those who werent as fortunate as todays youth to flaunt their love stories. It tells the story of an old man who probably lived his whole life inside the closet, but this Valentines Day, finally gets to wear his heart on his sleeve.

Said Keshav Suri, I was fortunate to find the love of my life at the right time and get married to him. But because Section 377 was so delayed in India, many Indians werent as lucky as me. Fortunately, that is about to change, today is the first Valentines Day that LGBTQ members can celebrate freely with their partners. Today, this film shows how the long wait has taken its toll and, in a way, hopes that by the next Valentines Day theyll be free to celebrate it with their same-gender spouses.

Fastrack calls for equal love for all

As the society evolves, there are certain mindsets that find it difficult to accept change. Acceptance for the LGBTQ community stems from this same mindset. As a way to dispel the notion and help the community find pride in their individuality, Fastrack is starting a dialogue by showcasing love for what it really is. It is unabashed, unapologetic and has no filter.

Fastrack invited 7 photographers to shoot real intimacy between couples from the LGBTQ community across the country. They were given an open brief to interpret love through their lens. These photographs will be artistically displayed in public places of crowded metros. The message with of each photograph encourages the thought of adding more colours to love.

The campaign has been conceptualised by Lowe Lintas, Bangalore.

Ayushman Chiranewala, Marketing Head, Fastrack, Titan Company Limited, commented, The Supreme Courts verdict on Section 377 is a step towards shaping a progressive generation to come. But it has not helped change the societys mindset about accepting love. While there is a lot being spoken, we saw 14th February as the perfect day to normalise the concept of love and promote acceptance. As a brand that has always voiced the youths opinion, Fastrack has taken a stance to trigger a discussion that multitudes are shying away from.

Hari Krishnan, President, Lowe Lintas, elaborated, There are no barriers or divides bigger than the ones created by society. Youth are not bound by these real or imaginary barriers. Fastrack decided to truly celebrate love this Valentines Day, by reminding everyone that love is an emotion, equal for all.

Borosil celebrates #FirstValentine

This Valentines Day, Borosil, too, is showing its support for the LGBTQ community and spreading the message of love is love by telling a story of a real couple thats both honest and heartfelt. This story, told through a film, makes viewers realise how Valentines Day, a cliched symbol of love for most, could hold a completely different meaning for those whose love had been deemed unnatural by the law for centuries.

We at Borosil have always believed in having a positive impact as a brand that belongs to and relates to all. The Decriminalisation of Section 377 was a big milestone for India as a country and its citizens. We are celebrating this victory of universal love this Valentines Day, said Priyanka Kheruka, Head of Brand, Borosil.

It's inclusive love for Pizza Hut too

Pizza Hut held a one-of-its kind get-together on Valentines Day celebrating love and inclusivity. The event saw couples across different age groups, sexual orientation, ethnicity and religion coming together to enjoy with their partners at Delhis renowned One Golden Mile.

Prashant Gaur, Chief Brand and Customer Officer, Pizza Hut India Subcontinent, remarked, This Valentines Day, we endeavoured to celebrate inclusiveness by getting couples from different walks of life to come together and share their unique love stories while enjoying the tastiest Pan Pizzas in town. It was a heart-warming and delightful experience to host these couples who transcended outmoded societal barriers to spend a day of love and togetherness with us. We look forward to many more such occasions.

It isn't love if it doesn't turn your life upside down by Netflix India

#LoveWillFindAWay Campaign by bigbasket

The film highlights some unconventional stories like that of a same sex couple and the dilemma of a widow who finally decides to change her relationship status on social media. The Voiceover in the video has been given by veteran actor Vijay Raaz, which has added to the flavor of the film. Team Pumpkin conceptualized and scripted the 2-minute video film that shows us that real love is never easy; life happens and throws many obstacles our way, but its never too early or too late to take the plunge.

Uber India petitions for a Pride Heart Emojibigbasket (https://www.bigbasket.com/), Indias largest online supermarket has made its foray into thebeauty and cosmetics category.The company is already a leader in FMCG sales, staples, and fruits and vegetables, has about 10 million subscribers, and is clocking over 1 lakh orders per day. With this new category, bigbasket has cemented its place as the one-stop-shop for all customer needs in groceries.

The vast range of cosmetic products on the beauty store by bigbasket include eyeliners, kajal, face creams, nail colors, lipsticks, hair colors, perfumes, deodorants, etc. can be purchased on the website or through the app. Some of the prominent labels featured include Lakme, LOreal, Garnier, Elle18, Lotus Herbals, and Maybelline, among others. Customers can make choices based on their skin type, preferred brand, benefits, formulation, etc. There are also exciting discounts of about 25% to 40% on selected brands and products.

Speaking about this, Mr Seshu Tirumala, National Head, Buying and Merchandising, bigbasket, said, bigbaskets customers can now look forward to far larger variety in our offering with our most recent addition of beauty products. The foray into beauty and cosmetics category comes at a time when we are already growing at a frenetic pace in the market. With this category, we aim to transcend our existing customer base and take the venture a notch higher  both in terms of the customer base and revenue. We will be providing the widest range of affordable and regularly used beauty products to our customers.

With a dominant share in the market space, bigbasket now aims to raise additional investments up to $200 million over the next few months. The FMCG sales overall (food and non-food) contribute to over 50% of its business, another 30%comes from staples (including 14.5% from private labels) and 18% is from fruits and vegetables. The Alibaba-backed company expects to break even in the 10 large cities by next June and aims at becoming a billion-dollar company by the next fiscal year. The company has a presence in 25 cities and plans to launch its operations in Kochi soon.

Recently, bigbasket acquired Pune-based RainCan and Bengaluru-based Morning Cart to deliver milk to 20,000 customers. The service has been launched in 7 cities and is expected to roll out to another three cities among the top 10 metros. The milk delivery business is expected to clock Rs 10 billion by next year.Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, Indias leading private general insurance company today unveiled its new brand identity as Caringly Yours. The new identity was revealed through a hoarding at high traffic vantage location in Pune, which expresses the tag line in the formation of around 1500 actual helmets. The objective behind adopting such innovative way to launch its tagline is to pass on the message to people of this city on Valentines Day that, If you love, show care by wearing helmets, which not only ensures riders safety, but also a peace of mind for their loved ones.

Mr. Sanjiv Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance; Mr. Tapan Singhel, MD & CEO, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance in presence of Dr. K. Venkatesham, Commissioner of Police  Pune City and Ms. Radhika Apte, Renowned Actress unveiled this hoarding encouraging the people to ride safely.

With this new identity, Company aims to reposition itself in the minds of Indian consumers as a brand that protects and cares in great detail about all their financial worries around their most prized possessions - their health, home & content, vehicles, businesses etc.

The underlying philosophy of the brand with this new identity is the belief that no one should compromise on their day to day happiness because their problems arent being met with adequate solutions. Since most of the worries stem from a financial standpoint, the brand envisions to be there as Caringly Yours for all its customers by creating ecosystems that protect them against all such everyday worries and problems.

Highlighting the new brand objective, Tapan Singhel, MD & CEO, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance said that, At Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, our philosophy has always been to work towards addressing the worries of people in whichever manner possible and being there with them when they need us. We felt that caring about the customers is taken for granted many a times and yet should be the backbone of any service industry. Be it care at the stage of consideration, purchase, experience, claim or renewal, with Caringly Yours our intention is to make insurance a seamless part of the customers lives where they will be able to relate their everyday worries to the product and allied services that we will be able to provide. With this we aim not just to take our service to the next level, but also aim to provide the best customer experience at every touch point.

Speaking about the brand transition, Chandramohan Mehra, Chief Marketing Officer, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance said, The refreshed brand transformation reflects on our commitment towards solving customers worries through our proactive solutions. Humanising the brand further, it embodies our values of care, agility and innovative. As a leader of the category, we aim to transcend the general insurance category from transactional to emotionally engaging.

Utmost commitment to its customers and their needs has been the cornerstone of the companys brand communication. It has always been ahead of the curve by translating needs

of consumers into affordable products and exceptional services that deliver value for money. Its new tagline shall help it to clearly differentiate and distinguish its brand identity in the marketplace and help it to positively influence awareness, image as well as its vision of being the first choice insurer for customers.With the vision to target the segment that keeps #deshkorakheyaagey, ABP News network announces a series of Youth Debates  2019 Ke Joshilay which will be held across key colleges of India. This unique platform is designed for the countrys youth to debate, discuss and deliberate ideas with key politicians from various political parties on the same stage.

The show will be hosted by renowned anchor Sumit Awasthi and will be aired every Saturday between 8:00 PM  9:00 PM starting 9th February and the repeat will be telecasted every Sunday between 10:00 AM  11:00 AM. The first episode will capture the sentiments of the students of Miranda House, New Delhi followed by IIT Kanpur, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management - Pune, Mithibai College - Mumbai, ITM Gwalior and Shri Shankaracharya Institute of Professional Management and Technology  Raipur. The show will be further expanding its footprints and will be organized in famous colleges in different parts of the country.

Mr. Avinash Pandey, CEO, ABP News Network said, As the countdown for general elections has begun, we are targeting the first-time voters who are instrumental in keeping #deskkorakheyaagey. 2019 ke Joshilay is a unique concept that has been designed by ABP News to gauge the sentiments of Indias youth before the General Elections  2019. In a dynamic country like India, youth has been an active participant in shaping and deciding the future of the country. This platform will be an ideal start to exchange dialogue between youth and politicians and their mutual expectations from each other.Cal Fire Rescues Two from Lindo Channel on the Esplanade

Cal Fire rescued two people and a dog from the waters of the Lindo Channel across from Anthony's Liquor on the Esplanade at around 4 a.m. Thursday morning. Crews also had to rescue a driver who drove around a "road closed" sign on the flooded Cox Road Wednesday night.

Shasta County in State of Local Emergency

Shasta County is in a state of local emergency due to the snow. I-5 has reopened north of Redding, with chain controls in place. Thousands are without power and Redding has opened a warming center at Crosspoint Community Church. There are also lots of school closures.

Gov. Newsom Set to Visit Camp Fire Burn Areas

Governor Gavin Newsom is set to visit Camp Fire burn areas to meet with Butte County leaders and survivors. He'll be at Pine Ridge Elementary School in Magalia around Noon.

Richvale Area in Butte County Under Evacuation Warning

The area of Richvale is now under an evacuation warning. The possible flood area includes anywhere between the Sacramento River and Highway 99, from Nelson Shippee Road to Highway 162.

Concerns Over Selling Homes in Paradise

It turns out people who want to move out of Paradise are worried their homes won't sell. But realtors we spoke with say buyer demand is there and that you can sell your home at pre-Camp Fire values.

Highway 99 Closed due to Flooding

Highway 99 is closed from Highway 36 in Red Bluff to South Avenue in Corning due to flooding.

Butte County Sheriff's Office Issues Evacuations for Rock Creek Area due to Flooding

An evacuation ORDER has been issued for the area of Hamilton Nord Cana Highway and Wilson Landing Road, south of Rock Creek due to flooding of Rock Creek. An evacuation WARNING has been issued for the community of Nord due to flooding of Rock Creek.Sagarmatha Network Pvt. Ltd. is the organization dedicated in the field of printing, publishing service since 2001. As part of media, we've been publishing Review Nepal, an English medium weekly registered at District Administration Office (DAO) Kathmandu with registration number 130-162-163 and reviewnepal.com as an online digital newspaper, with registration number 849-075-076 at Department of Informational and Broadcasting (DIB) from Kathmandu, Nepal since 2003.OROVILLE, Calif. - The Oroville California Highway Patrol is on the scene of a major injury crash in the area of Larkin Road and Almond Avenue.

Officers say the driver of a Ford Focus hydroplaned, and landed on the flooded side of Larkin Road, in the Orchard. The driver of a Jeep tried to pull the Ford Focus out of the water, when the driver of a Hyundai sped around the corner, hydroplaned and hit the Jeep and a pedestrian at around 6:50 a.m.

It is not known at this time if the pedestrian was one of the drivers. Larkin Road is closed at this time as crews work to clear the scene. Officers say this is a major injury crash, but could not release further details.

The road was not closed by flooding, but the road is wet, and officers believe this is a weather-related crash.

This is a developing story, check back for more details.Butte County, Calif. --

California Governor Gavin Newsom is set to travel to Butte County to tour areas burned by the Camp Fire and meet with local leaders and survivors.

In a press release, the Governor says he will meet at Pine Ridge Elementary School in Magalia at 12:45 p.m. Thursday. This is one day after the Governor signed a package of fire recovery and emergency response bills.

The Governor says AB 72 and AB 73 provide emergency funding to local governments like those in Butte County which have been rocked by recent California wildfires. By backfilling local property taxes, the funding allows schools to reopen, and local government to stay afloat and begin rebuilding efforts.

The new funding will help keep kids in classrooms at schools like Pine Ridge Elementary, a recently reopened school that many students who survived the Camp Fire now attend. On Thursday afternoon, Governor Newsom will be at the school, meeting with local leaders who are directing recovery efforts and talking to students who were uprooted by the fire.

This will be Governor Newsom's third visit to the Camp Fire burn areas since the fire. Governor Newsom says, quote, "One of the things that also needs to be said is once the cameras are gone, the press is gone, the rest of us gone, we need to make sure we're there for the folks that have been impacted by these fires the next year, two, five, ten as we rebuild the community," then Governor-elect Newsom said on November 17. "So that's an important message I want to make as well, that we're there for the long haul."Instagram Celebrity

Joined by his mother, the 'Bank Account' rapper boards a stylish private jet to return to Atlanta after being held at the immigration detention center in southern Georgia for ten days.

Feb 14, 2019

AceShowbiz - 21 Savage is a free man for the time being after ten days in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. The English-born rapper was released from the immigration detention center in southern Georgia on Wednesday, February 13 after he was arrested by ICE over Super Bowl weekend over allegations of overstaying his visa.

The 26-year-old star immediately flew back to Atlanta after his release. In a picture obtained by TMZ, the "A Lot" hitmaker and his mother were seen boarding a private jet at a landing strip near the immigration detention center where he had been held. They flashed a big grin as they posed outside the red-painted plane.

21's lawyer, Alex Spiro, gushed about the rapper's ride home, "That's how we take people home when they win." He reportedly would be welcomed by his friends and family in the ATL area to celebrate his release.

21 was arrested on February 3 amid allegations he's a U.K. national who has been living in America since 2005 without the correct paperwork. While he admitted that he was born in London, 21 said that he arrived in the U.S. In 2005 on a valid visa and "lost his legal status" through no fault of his own. He applied for a U visa in 2017.

Words are ICE officials wanted to deport 21 on aggravated felony charge, but have since dropped the plan. They allegedly took issue with the rapper's criminal record, in which he pled guilty to felony drug charges in 2014. His lawyers, however, pointed out that the conviction was vacated last year.

21 will now face a lengthy deportation hearing, after which it will be decided whether or not he can remain and work in the U.S.Music

There is also a scene of the rapper standing in a red room with his children's names, Kody and Kulture, scrawled on the walls.

Feb 14, 2019

AceShowbiz - After postponing the release of his debut solo album for sometime, Offset has finally given fans the first taste of the upcoming effort. The Atlanta rapper unearthed the album's lead single, "Red Room", along with its accompanying music video on Wednesday, February 13. The visuals was directed by Aisultan Seitov.

Clocking in four minutes and forty four seconds, the visuals coincides with the lyrics of the song, which talks about his dramatic life story. From growing up with no father to getting involved in a shooting outside Miami, the Migos member sure has been through a lot. At one point in the visuals, Offset reenacts his brutal car crash, which landed him in the hospital last May.

There is also a scene of him standing in a red room with his children's names, Kody and Kulture, scrawled on the walls. "Sleep on my feet/ Money turn homies to zombies, they eat/ Miss my grandma, she was humble and sweet," he raps on the Metro Boomin-produced track. "I don't speak, let the check talk for me/ I can't sleep 'less the Tec in my reach/ Hit the dope, make me choke, make me wheeze."

"Red Room" was accidentally put on streaming services in November 2018, but was taken down shortly after without explanation. Offset said of the song, "My first solo project I want to express my life let my fans know a little more about myself and of course some turn up."

Allegedly titled "The Set Gala", the long-awaited effort is set to be released on February 22. The album is preceded by solo releases from his fellow Migos members, Quavo's solo album "Quavo Huncho" and Takeoff's "The Last Rocket". Following the release of Offset's album, the three members of the hip-hop group will reunite to prepare for "Culture III", which is expected to be released in early 2019.TLC Celebrity

A source alleges that Colt will also hold his own divorce party on a different day so that they 'won't see each other' and risk another blowout fight.

Feb 14, 2019

AceShowbiz - Larissa Dos Santos Lima is set to celebrate her divorce from estranged husband Colt Johnson with a party. It has been reported that the Brazilian star is planning to a party at Crazy Horse 3 club in Las Vegas on March 2, with sources alleging to The Blast that Colt will also celebrate his newfound single life on the previous day.

According to the publication, bosses at the strip club decide to plan both events separately so that the former couple "won't see each other" and risk another blowout fight. There also won't be extra security at the upcoming bash because the parties are on different nights.

As for what the "90 Day Fiance" stars will get to enjoy during the bash, it's said that they will be receiving first-class treatment with the two being provided by SUVs for transportation. Staff at the Crazy Horse even make sure that the air conditioning is fully functioning as Larissa previously came at Colt for his lack of air conditioning.

This arrives after Larissa accused Colt of cheating on her for months during their marriage. She opened up about the issue while doing an Instagram Q&A with fans. When one fan asked her whether it was too fast for her to be in love, she replied, "Not for someone who was being [cheated on] for months and not having any attention [from] her husband."

Colt filed for divorce from Larissa on Friday, January 11, shortly after she was arrested and charged with domestic battery. In the court documents, Colt stated that they had no joint property to split, nor did they share any debt together. Larissa responded to his filing on February 8, requesting that he pay her $1,000 per month in spousal support. She also reportedly asked to split their joint bank accounts and home possessions evenly, so they each walk away with 50 percent.Twitter Celebrity

The former singing hopeful allegedly worked as a courier for a drug ring when she was arrested in Norfolk last October.

Feb 14, 2019

AceShowbiz - Former "American Idol" contestant Antonella Barba has been officially charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, heroin and fentanyl. The fan favorite in season 6 of the reality singing competition series was arrested in Norfolk, Virginia in October 2018 on a felony charge of heroin distribution.

According to newly unsealed court documents, the 32-year-old was trying to deliver almost two pounds of fentanyl. She allegedly worked as a courier for a large scale drug ring when she was arrested four months ago. She was indicted last week on 11 federal charges, including 10 counts of distribution or possession of cocaine, heroin and fentanyl with the intent to distribute.

Antonella was initially arrested for allegedly selling or intending to sell 100 grams or more of heroin. She pleaded not guilty to that charge. She was released on bond while waiting trial on the felony heroin distribution charge. Antonella, who now lives in Los Angeles, returned to custody on Monday until a hearing on February 14 in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.

The indictment alleges that Antonella was one of several members of a drug conspiracy that was active in Hampton Roads between late 2017 and the fall of 2018.

Antonella was previously arrested in December 2010 in New York City for allegedly shoplifting in an Urban Outfitters outlet. She was reportedly caught attempting to smuggle a pair of gloves. She was charged with two misdemeanors for shoplifting and was required to complete a day of community service.

The New Jersey native was in the top 16 of "American Idol" season 6, which saw Jordin Sparks as the winner. After getting eliminated from the show, she returned to college and earned her architecture degree.

Antonella continued to pursue her singing career, saying in 2009 that she was working on a debut studio album. She began releasing original music in 2010. In 2012, she competed in an episode of "Fear Factor".Facebook Celebrity

According to a police statement, the rapper and his friend Cortlen Henry conspired to make it seem like their best friends were killed in a drive-by shooting.

Feb 14, 2019

AceShowbiz - YNW Melly, an up-and-coming rap artist from Florida, has been arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder, authorities confirmed on Wednesday, February 13. The rapper, whose real name is Jamell Maurice Demons, turned himself in Miramar Police for the deadly shooting of Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr. last year. Both of them were Melly's close friends.

According to a statement from the Miramar police, Melly and his other friend, Cortlen Henry, conspired to make it seem like Williams and Thomas Jr. were killed in a drive-by shooting. Both victims were transported in a Jeep Compass to Memorial Hospital Miramar emergency room, where they were pronounced dead.

Police added that they believed Henry was the one who drove the jeep while Melly shot the two men, though they didn't note what precipitated the shooting.

Prior to turning himself in, Melly issued a statement on Instagram suggesting that he was falsely accused. "I want you guys to know I love you and appreciate every single one of y'all, a couple months ago I lost my two brothers by violence and now the system want to find justice," he said. "Unfortunately a lot of rumors and lies are being said but no worries god is with me and my brother @ynw.bortlen and we want y'all to remember it's a ynw Family I love you @ynwsakchaser1 and @ynwjuvy #freeus."

Williams and Thomas Jr., who were also known as YNW Sakchaser and YNW Juvy respectively, were killed in October 2018. Shortly after the news of their death, Melly's lawyer Bradford Cohen stated that his client was mourning. "He's sad, he's upset, obviously. Those were his best friends," he said at the time.

Both victims were featured prominently in Melly's YouTube documentary. At the end of the clip, on-screen text noted that four days after the film was completed, "YNW Melly and his friends were the target of a drive-by shooting in Miami, Florida. YNW Juvy and YNW Sakchaser were killed."WENN/Adriana M. Barraza Music

Joining the 'Endless Love' hitmaker in paying homage to the record label founder at 'Motown 60: A Grammy Celebration' are Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Ciara and Ne-Yo.

Feb 14, 2019

AceShowbiz - Diana Ross led the tributes to Berry Gordy as the record executive celebrated 60 years of his famous label Motown Records on Tuesday, February 12.

Diana was joined by Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Ciara and Ne-Yo at "Motown 60: A Grammy Celebration", held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

The former The Supremes star, who was a part of Motown's roster in the '60s, sang numerous songs, both on stage and sitting next to Berry, including "My Man".

"This is your legacy," she gushed. "I want you to know that you have been a gift to all of us."

John covered Motown act Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me", Ne-Yo sang The Jackson 5's "I'll Be There", and Ciara belted out Rick James' "Give It to Me Baby", while Stevie closed out the all-star line-up performing more than half a dozen songs, accompanied by his harmonica.

"My dream was to make music for all people," Berry, 89, told the audience. "Well, my dream came true. I want to thank all of you fans, and your parents, and their grandparents. All around the world. I could say their great grandparents, but that would make me older than I want to be."

Smokey Robinson and Cedric the Entertainer acted as hosts for the evening, with the music special airing on U.S. network CBS on April 21.

The concert comes days after Jennifer Lopez was criticised for her Motown medley at the Grammys on Sunday. Many viewers felt like an African-American artist should have been chosen for the honour, which saw Jennifer sing some of the genre's most famous songs, including "Dancing in the Street", "Please Mr. Postman" and "My Girl".Instagram Celebrity

Additionally, a source reports that the 'Crank That' rapper and the mother of two have been dating for more than a week after talking over Instagram.

Feb 14, 2019

AceShowbiz - It appears Blac Chyna is really off the market shortly after breaking up with Kid Buu. Hours after rumors swirled that the video vixen is dating Soulja Boy, the latter might have confirmed that the reports are indeed true in a Twitter post.

Taking to the micro-blogging site on Wednesday, February 13, Big Draco simply posted, "In love," along with heart-eye and shrugging emojis. In addition to that, he retweeted several tabloid reports about him dating Chyna.

In love   Soulja Boy Big Drako (@souljaboy) 13 Februari 2019

Romance rumors between the two sparked after both Chyna and Draco shared on Instagram pictures of them cozying up to each other at KidSuper Grammys after-party in Los Angeles. One picture showed the former "Rob & Chyna" star leaning close to the "Crank That" rapper, along with a caption that read, "DrakoChyna." Another picture featured him smiling sweetly to Chyna while holding hands.

A few days later, the alleged couple stepped out to get manicure/pedicure together, with Draco documenting their outing on Instagram Stories.

According to TMZ, Chyna and Draco have been dating for more than a week. The relationship reportedly blossomed after they started talking over Instagram before eventually meeting up at Sean Kingston's penthouse in Los Angeles.

Prior to this, Chyna dated the likes of Rob Kardashian and Tyga, both of whom were recently dissed by the Lashed Bar owner in an Instagram Live video. "You know what's so wild to me is that I never asked Tyga for child support, Rob for child support or whatever and then we just went to court, or whatnot, and I tried to squash it, which I did," she said. "But none of that comes out. It's only negative s**t with Chyna, Angela White."

She continued, "Rob didn't help me, Tyga ain't help me, Toni ain't help me, but like try to like, smack me down, period, and I'm just letting y'all know this, all this s**t, I built by myself."WENN/Regina Wagner Celebrity

The half-sister of the Duchess of Sussex wants the actor/director 'not to make statements without full facts.'

Feb 14, 2019

AceShowbiz - George Clooney has made himself get on the bad side of Meghan Markle's half-sister Samantha. The latter recently slammed the actor/director on Twitter after he defended his royal friend following criticism that she's been receiving since marrying Prince Harry.

During his panel discussion for his new Hulu show "Catch-22" in Pasadena, California, the actor compared what's happening to the Duchess of Sussex was starting to look similar to what happened to Princess Diana. Samantha, however, begged to differ. "Hey Looney Clooney! Your lawyear wife [Amal Clooney] should have taught you not to make statements without full facts #Clooney #Markle #piersmorgan," she tweeted.

She later added, "I doubt #GeorgeClooney would ghost his mother for no legitimate reason. Be quiet Georgie."

Samantha Markle goes after George Clooney after he defends Meghan Markle.

George previously slammed media for "chasing Meghan Markle everywhere," adding that "she's been pursued and vilified." The "Gravity" star continued saying, "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."

He also criticized the press for publishing alleged handwritten letter from Meghan to her dad Thomas in which she told Thomas that her heart was broke "into million pieces" seeing her dad telling falsehoods to the media. Of that, George said, "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."

This arrived after Thomas published the letter. The retired lighting director said he initially intended to keep the note private "out of respect for Meghan," but later he decided to release the details after false reports surfaced about the specifics of the letter.GENEVA/LONDON, Feb 14: A suicide bomber killed 27 members of Irans elite Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday, state media said, in a southeastern region where security forces are facing a rise in attacks by militants from the countrys Sunni Muslim minority.

The Sunni group Jaish al Adl (Army of Justice), which says it seeks greater rights and better living conditions for the ethnic minority Baluchis, claimed responsibility for the attack, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The heavy losses among Irans premier military force prompted a senior Revolutionary Guards commander to issue a warning to the countrys foes.

Our response in defence of the Islamic Revolution will not be limited to our borders, Ali Fadavi was quoted as saying by Fars.

The enemies will receive a very firm response from the Revolutionary Guards like before. He did not specify which enemies or what actions Tehran would take.

In the past Iran has accused its regional rival, Sunni Arab Saudi Arabia, of supporting Sunni separatist groups who have attacked its security forces. Riyadh has denied the charges.

Irans Shiite Muslim authorities say militant groups operate from safe havens in Pakistan and have repeatedly called on the neighbouring country to crack down on them.

A suicide bomber driving a vehicle laden with explosives attacked a bus transporting members of the Guards, the force said in a statement. Thirteen people were wounded.

A video posted by Fars showed blood and debris at the site of the attack on a road in a volatile area near the Pakistan border where militants and armed drug smugglers operate.

The bus was turned into a twisted pile of metal, a photo published on Fars showed. Reuters could not independently verify the image.

While Sunni militant groups are not regarded as a major threat, the attack dealt a fresh blow to Irans security establishment, which has often said it can repel any threat no matter how big, even from the United States and its ally Israel.

MILITARY MIGHT AND BUSINESS INTERESTS

The assault in impoverished Sistan-Baluchistan province - among the worst ever on the Guards - illustrated that Irans elite force, which answers directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, can be vulnerable to guerrilla-style operations.

The Guards estimated 125,000-strong military, with army, navy and air units, has acted as the sword and shield of Shiite clerical rule in Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The force also operates outside of Irans borders in countries such as Iraq and Syria where it works with proxies to promote Tehrans interest. It runs a business empire in Iran worth billions of dollars.

The self-sacrificing military and intelligence children of the people of Iran will take revenge for the blood of the martyrs of this incident, Fars quoted Foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi as saying.

Irans Guards fired missiles at Islamic State militants in Syria in 2017 and 2018 after the group claimed responsibility for two attacks in Tehran and Ahvaz. In 2018, the Guards launched missiles at an Iranian Kurdish armed opposition group in northern Iraq.

Wednesdays violence comes during a month in which Iran has been commemorating the 1979 Islamic Revolution which swept the U.S.-backed Shah from power. Tehran showed off ballistic missiles in defiance of U.S. efforts to curb its military power. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif appeared to blame the United States for the attack, citing a U.S.-sponsored conference in Warsaw aimed at rallying support to further isolate Iran.

On Twitter he asked: Is it no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day that #WarsawCircus begins?

Iran had enjoyed relative stability compared to Arab neighbours who have grappled with political and economic upheaval touched off by popular uprisings in 2011.

But economic hardships fuelled by U.S. sanctions have triggered waves of protests that sometimes call for Irans clerical leaders to step down.

Twelve members of the Guards were among 25 people killed last autumn by gunmen on a military parade in the city of Ahvaz in the southwest. The Sunni Islamic State and an Arab separatist group both claimed responsibility.

Jaish al-Adl emerged as the main armed opposition movement in the southeast after members of another Sunni group, Jundullah, joined it after their leader was captured on a plane in 2010. He was tried and executed.WENN/FayesVision/Lia Toby Movie

The 'Black Panther' star is likely joined by Jean Reno and Delroy Lindo, who are said to be in negotiations to star, in the movie that revolves around Vietnam veterans.

Feb 14, 2019

AceShowbiz - "Black Panther" star Chadwick Boseman has been tapped to star in Spike Lee's next movie "Da 5 Bloods".

The director has been enjoying huge success with his most recent film "BlacKkKlansman", which was nominated for six Oscars - including Best Picture and a nod for Lee as director.

And now he's plotting his next move, after signing up to take the helm of "Da 5 Bloods", which "follows Vietnam veterans who return to the jungle to find their lost innocence," according to Variety.

The industry publication adds that Netflix is already in talks to distribute the film, which is based on an original screenplay by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, and a rewrite by Matthew Billingsly.

Lee is also set to produce the film with Beatriz Levin, Lloyd Levin and Jon Kilik.

Speaking about the upcoming project, Lee told Variety, "To quote my brother Jay-Z from Da People's Republic of Brooklyn 'On to Da Next One'."

It's expected that production on "Da 5 Bloods" could start as early as next month (March 2019) - following the Oscars and conclusion of Lee's awards campaign for "BlacKkKlansman".

"Leon: The Professional" actor Jean Reno and "Get Shorty" star Delroy Lindo are also said to be in negotiations to star in the film. "Da 5 Bloods" wouldn't be the first time Lindo has teamed up with Lee - they have previously worked together on movies "Clockers", "Crooklyn" and "Malcolm X".

Like Lee, Boseman enjoyed a stellar 2018, following the release of "Black Panther", in which he plays the title role. He's gearing up for the release of "Avengers: Endgame", which will see him reprise the character, and also recently finished shooting action flick "17 Bridges", in which he stars opposite Sienna Miller, J.K. Simmons, and Taylor Kitsch........... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

Minutes after merging onto the freeway to go Downtown on Thursday morning, Tanner Barnes, 21, was shot and left bleeding on the side of the interstate, waving from the ground for help.

I thought he was going to act like (he was shooting) and kind of scare me, and he just shot me, Barnes, 21, said Thursday night, less than 10 hours later, during a phone interview from the intensive care unit at an Albuquerque hospital.

Barnes, who is from Albuquerque, said he was shot by someone in an SUV, and he had no idea who was in the vehicle. Police said they are looking for a Hispanic man with glasses and a goatee.

They said Barnes was shot just before 10:30 a.m. as both vehicles traveled in the southbound lane near Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.

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Gilbert Gallegos, a police spokesman, said the offenders vehicle was a 2008 to 2010 dark blue Nissan Armada, with a temporary license plate and very dark tint on the windows. The suspect vehicle continued south after the shooting, Gallegos said.

Barnes said he first noticed the SUV in his rearview mirror while driving west on Interstate 40 near Wyoming. He couldnt see through the tinted windows, but it was moving fast and passing people, at times by driving on the shoulder.

Barnes said the vehicle sometimes swerved across all lanes of traffic or into tight spaces between cars.

He was driving like a maniac, Barnes said. He had to have hit somebody.

Barnes said he sped up, too, so the SUV wouldnt pass him. Shortly after they merged onto southbound Interstate 25, he was parallel with the SUV and its windows were down, he said. Barnes said a woman was driving, and a man sat in the passenger seat, holding a gun.

If you cut someone off you shouldnt have to worry about dying, Barnes said.

Barnes said a bullet went through the door of his Nissan Altima. He was struck in the back of the left leg, where the bullet damaged an artery, and then went in and out of his right leg.

I couldnt feel my legs. Blood was pouring out of my jeans, he said. I was in shock.

Barnes said he pulled over and was too anxious to unlock his phone. He opened his door, fell out of his vehicle and started signaling for help.

He estimated he lay on the ground in a panic for about seven minutes. He said more than 100 cars drove past, including a police car, before a tow truck driver stopped to help. By that time he had calmed down enough to call 911. He wrapped clothing around his leg to stanch the bleeding, he said.

Barnes said he was thinking about how such a common activity  he drives on the freeway regularly  turned into a life-and-death matter.

I saw my life flash before my eyes today, he said after his surgery to repair his left leg.

Barnes isnt the first Albuquerque driver to be shot while in a moving vehicle.

In 2014, a woman was shot in the face when she was driving on Paseo del Norte between Golf Course and Unser on a weekday afternoon. Police at the time said it appeared that the shooter was firing from a pedestrian bridge or a nearby mesa. The victim survived. And in 2015, 4-year-old Lilly Garcia was shot and killed in an apparent road rage incident. She was a passenger in a vehicle traveling on Interstate 40.

Police seek information

Police are asking anyone who witnessed Thursdays shooting to call Crime Stoppers at 843-STOP (7867)........... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

PARKLAND, Fla.  Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High and other schools across the U.S. bowed their heads in a moment of silence and took part in volunteer projects Thursday to mark the anniversary of the shooting rampage that claimed 17 lives. But for many Parkland students, the tragedy was still so raw they couldnt bring themselves to set foot in the building.

Fewer than 300 of the 3,200 students at the high school showed up for what was only a half-day, with classes cut short so that the teenagers would not be there around 2:20 p.m., the traumatic moment last year when gunfire erupted.

Senior Spencer Bloom skipped school to spend the day with students from the history class he was in during the shooting. He said he struggles with panic attacks and feared he might have one if he went in to school.

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Theres all this emotion and its all being concentrated back on one day, Bloom said.

The massacre on Feb. 14, 2018  Valentines Day  inflamed the nations debate over guns, turned some Parkland students into political activists and gave rise to some of the biggest youth demonstrations since the Vietnam era.

Many Stoneman Douglas students arrived wearing the burgundy #MSDStrong T-shirts that have become an emblem of the tragedy. Outside, clear plastic figurines of angels were erected for each of the 14 students and three staff members killed.

A moment of silence was observed there and at other schools across Florida and beyond at 10:17 a.m., a time selected to denote the 17 slain.

Reporters were not allowed inside the school, but students packed lunches for poor children in Haiti as part of a number of volunteer projects undertaken to try to make something good come out of the tragedy.

Grief counselors and therapy dogs were made available along with massages and pedicures. An interfaith service occurred later in the day at a nearby park.

Freshman Jayden Jaus, 14, said the moment of silence was a bit emotional and a little intense as the principal read the victims names over the public address system.

Sophomore Julia Brighton, who suffered nightmares for months after the gunman killed three people in her classroom, placed flowers at the memorial outdoors instead of going inside and putting myself through that.

Victims families said they would spend the day quietly, visiting their loved ones graves or participating in low-key events like a community walk.

Lori Alhadeff posted an open letter to her 14-year-old daughter Alyssa, who died in the shooting. Alhadeff remembered how Alyssa didnt want to go to school because she didnt have a valentine. But when she dropped her daughter off, she put a pair of diamond earrings in Alyssas ears and gave her a chocolate bar to make her smile.

They told each other, I love you, and Alhadeff watched Alyssa walk away in a black and white dress and white sneakers: Your long, dark hair dangled. Your makeup looked just right.

The last time I saw you alive, wrote Alhadeff, who was elected to the Broward County school board after the shooting on a platform pushing campus safety.

Victim Joaquin Olivers girlfriend, senior Tori Gonzalez, organized a group of a dozen students and alumni to read poems to a large crowd outside the school in the late afternoon. They brought a life-size statue of Oliver, who was 17.

My mind runs each and every route that could have saved your life, she read tearfully. It wasnt Cupid shooting arrows of love  it was an AR-15.

More than a thousand people gathered in the evening at Pine Trails Park, about a mile from the school, for an interfaith service that opened with a video highlighting dozens of service projects launched in honor of the victims, including plantings at a beach to halt erosion, a campaign to help abandoned animals and the remodeling of a dance studio.

Among those gathered was Sydney Mills, 13, who used to dance with shooting victim Jamie Guttenberg. She said she had written notes to her friend and to some of the other victims at another park earlier in the day. It felt sad, but it also felt nice to be honoring her and knowing that everyone there was thinking of everyone that died, she said.

Ilise Bogart, whose daughter was in one of the classrooms that were attacked, said it had been a difficult year. I think all the days are hard, but today is bringing back memories of everything that happened, she said.

Elsewhere around the country, at Broadman High in Youngstown, Ohio, the school rang a chime 17 times and honored local first responders. But in a sign of the times, an active shooter drill was also held.

Senior Jack Pendleton helped plan the days anniversary activities. We turn away from the dread and have to look more toward whos helping us, he said.

Students at Marylands Bethesda Chevy Chase High School displayed 671 white T-shirts bearing the names of teenagers killed nationally by gun violence last year.

At Fort Lauderdale High, a 30-minute drive from Stoneman Douglas, junior Jake Lynch paused with 20 other students in his law class as the school observed its moment of silence.

Its a permanent sore spot, Lynch said. Forever, me going forward, Ill feel this day, and this time and those names. It reminds me of where I want the world to be.  From suffering, better things come out.

In Rio Rancho, New Mexico, a student at V. Sue Cleveland High School fired a shot in a hall and ran away, authorities said. He was soon captured. No one was hurt.

The former student accused of opening fire with an AR-15 assault rifle in the Parkland attack, Nikolas Cruz, now 20, is awaiting trial.

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Find all The Associated Press coverage marking one year since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, at https://apnews.com/ParklandFloridaschoolshooting.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

RIO RANCHO  A single gunshot fired in a hallway at Cleveland High School before classes began Thursday morning ignited fears of an active shooter, causing the school to be evacuated and todays classes to be canceled.

Students and staff poured out of the building, congregating first at a soccer field, then at the nearby Santa Ana Star Center arena, where they waited to be reunited with their parents.

No one was injured, and police quickly took a 16-year-old student into custody.

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Joshua Owen, 16, is facing three counts: attempted murder, unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon and unlawful possession of a handgun. He has been booked into the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center.

Police have not said if he was targeting anyone and have not commented on a possible motive.

The shooting came on a date already marked by gun violence, as some schools nationwide held vigils or moments of silence in remembrance of the 17 people killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., a year ago Thursday.

Some Cleveland High students were told to shelter in place, then were evacuated to the soccer field designated as a safe area. Older teenagers who drove to school were allowed to leave the school campus on their own, while the rest were bused to the Santa Ana Star Center.

Amy Stoker said that when she got the call from her 16-year-old son that someone had fired a gun in the school, she thought it was a joke. Then, her 17-year-old called and told her he was there when it happened.

My son initially said, I was shot at, but I later found out he was not shot directly at, just up in the air, Stoker said. He was in the closest proximity  he, his girlfriend and the teacher.

She said the three were told to stay in a locked classroom  while everyone else was evacuated  so they could be interviewed by police. She said her son did not know Owen but had seen him around school.

It seemed surreal, Stoker said. It seemed like it wasnt really happening.

School will resume Tuesday, the day after Presidents Day for the more than 2,500 students who attend Cleveland High. Counselors will be available to talk with any students who want help.

Police response

Rio Rancho police officers, fire personnel and students and staff at district schools have been training for a school shooting, so when they got the call, they were ready, said Rio Rancho Police Chief Stewart Steele.

Steele discussed some details of the incident at a news conference Thursday morning, flanked by Mayor Gregg Hull, district Superintendent Sue Cleveland and other police department and school personnel.

This morning, a little after 7 oclock in the morning, we received a phone call about a shot fired here at V. Sue Cleveland High School, Steele said. Officers were on scene within minutes.

He said when they arrived they found that one shot had been fired. A handgun was left behind and officers were told the suspect student  later identified as Owen  had run out of the building. No one was injured.

Officers did a really good job of tracking the suspect. In their search they located the suspect off campus, Steele said. They took the suspect into custody, and the suspect has been transported and is doing interviews at this time.

He said Owen was found less than a mile south of the school, in an arroyo.

Investigators are trying to determine a motive.

RRPD officers and SWAT teams combed the campus, and New Mexico State Police officers helped keep traffic at bay for much of the morning.

It was extremely scary, Steele said. Its in my heart and my throat, and I wasnt in the school. I cant imagine being a student here and what they went through. Thank God it ended the way it did, with no injuries.

Students shaken

Three miles from the school, students congregated at the Santa Ana Star Center. The main arena of the center was a hub of activity and restrained chaos, as parents and students walked around trying to connect with one another.

Students recounted hearing what sounded like a shot, followed by announcements over the public address system to go outside and that it was not a drill. Others described arriving at school and being unable to enter because of the sea of students pouring out.

A cellphone photo began circulating on social media showing a gun with an attached clip lying on the floor  presumably the shooters gun. Rio Rancho police could not confirm if that was the handgun used.

Sophomore Kayleigh Barela, 15, stood outside the center clutching a teddy bear that she had brought to school as a Valentines Day gift for a friend.

Instead, it comforted her Thursday morning.

I just got off the bus and went to the bathroom and the next thing I know I heard kind of a loud pop, she recalled. Its Valentines Day so I just assumed it was a balloon. The next thing you know, you hear adults telling everybody to evacuate. So I began telling all the girls in the bathroom to evacuate.

It was just after 7 a.m., and the students were instructed to walk to a soccer field outside the school, where Kayleigh ran into a friend who told her that she and her brother were standing behind the shooter when the gun was fired. The shooter, she was told, shot the gun up into the air and then dropped it and evacuated with everybody else.

Kayleigh said she became particularly anxious because the evacuated students were outside for more than an hour before buses took them to the Santa Ana Star Center. During that wait, she said, my stomach dropped because I was thinking the shooter could be outside with us.

The event has left Kayleigh uneasy.

Im not sure I feel safe anymore coming to school, she said. It gives me anxiety knowing its so easy for someone to bring a gun to school, and you dont know if someone else will do it, too. This isnt OK. It shouldnt happen here. I think we need stricter gun-control laws.

Kim Fletcher, mother of a 14-year-old freshman, said its crazy that an incident like this should happen at a high school in Rio Rancho.

Im not totally surprised, but still, its scary, she said. Unfortunately, its a sign of the times. I know theyre beefing up security and maybe its time for metal detectors........... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

WASHINGTON  Congress lopsidedly approved a border security compromise Thursday that would avert a second painful government shutdown, but a new confrontation was ignited  this time over President Donald Trumps plan to bypass lawmakers and declare a national emergency to siphon billions from other federal coffers for his wall on the Mexican boundary.

Money in the bill for border barriers, about $1.4 billion, is far below the $5.7 billion Trump insisted he needed and would finance just a quarter of the 200-plus miles he wanted. The White House said hed sign the legislation but act unilaterally to get more, prompting condemnations from Democrats and threats of lawsuits from states and others who might lose federal money or said Trump was abusing his authority.

The uproar over Trumps next move cast an uncertain shadow over what had been a rare display of bipartisanship to address the grinding battle between the White House and lawmakers over border security.

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The Senate passed the legislation 83-16, with both parties solidly aboard. The House followed with a 300-128 tally, with Trumps signature planned Friday. Trump will speak Friday morning in the Rose Garden about border security, the White House said.

Trump is expected to announce that he will be spending roughly $8 billion on border barriers  combining the money approved by Congress with funding he plans to repurpose through executive actions, including a national emergency, said a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly. The money is expected to come from funds targeted for military construction and counterdrug efforts.

House Democrats overwhelmingly backed the legislation, with only 19  most of whom were Hispanic  opposed. Just over half of Republicans voted no.

Should Trump change his mind, both chambers margins were above the two-thirds majorities needed to override presidential vetoes. Lawmakers, however, sometimes rally behind presidents of the same party in such battles.

Lawmakers exuded relief that the agreement had averted a fresh closure of federal agencies just three weeks after a record-setting 35-day partial shutdown that drew an unambiguous thumbs-down from the public. But in announcing that Trump would sign the accord, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also said hed take other executive action, including a national emergency,

In an unusual joint statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said such a declaration would be a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract from Trumps failure to force Mexico to pay for the wall, as hes promised for years.

Congress will defend our constitutional authorities, they said. They declined to say whether that meant lawsuits or votes on resolutions to prevent Trump from unilaterally shifting money to wall-building, with aides saying theyd wait to see what he does.

Democratic state attorneys general said theyd consider legal action to block Trump. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello told the president on Twitter well see you in court if he makes the declaration.

Despite widespread opposition in Congress to proclaiming an emergency, including by some Republicans, Trump is under pressure to act unilaterally to soothe his conservative base and avoid looking like hes lost his wall battle.

The abrupt announcement of Trumps plans came late in an afternoon of rumblings that the volatile president  whod strongly hinted hed sign the agreement but wasnt definitive  was shifting toward rejecting it. That would have infused fresh chaos into a fight both parties are desperate to leave behind, a thought that drove some lawmakers to ask heavenly help.

Lets all pray that the president will have wisdom to sign the bill so the government doesnt shut down, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Thursdays Senate session opened.

Moments before Sanders spoke at the White House, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took to the Senate floor to announce Trumps decisions to sign the bill and declare an emergency.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters there were two hours of phone calls between McConnell and the White House before there were assurances that Trump would sign.

McConnell argued that the bill delivered victories for Trump over Pelosi. These included overcoming her pledge to not fund the wall at all and rejecting a Democratic proposal for numerical limits on detaining some immigrants, said a Republican speaking on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

In a surprising development, McConnell said he would support Trumps emergency declaration, a turnabout for the Kentucky Republican, who like many lawmakers had opposed such action.

Democrats say there is no border crisis and Trump would be using a declaration simply to sidestep Congress. Some Republicans warn that future Democratic presidents could use his precedent to force spending on their own priorities, like gun control. GOP critics included Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who said emergency declarations are for major natural disasters or catastrophic events and said its use would be of dubious constitutionality.

White House staff and congressional Republicans have said that besides an emergency, Trump might assert other authorities that could conceivably put him within reach of billions of dollars. The money could come from funds targeted for military construction, disaster relief and counterdrug efforts.

Congressional aides say there is $21 billion for military construction that Trump could use if he declares a national emergency. By law, the money must be used to support U.S. armed forces, they say.The Defense Department declined to provide details on available money.

With many of the Democrats liberal base voters adamantly against Trumps aggressive attempts to curb immigration, four declared presidential hopefuls opposed the bill in the Senate: Cory Booker of New Jersey, New Yorks Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kamala Harris of California. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota voted for it, as did Vermont independent Bernie Sanders, who is expected to join the field soon.

Notably, the word wall, the heart of many a chant at Trump campaign events and his rallies as president, is absent from the compromises 1,768-page legislative and descriptive language. Barriers and fencing are the nouns of choice, a victory for Democrats eager to deny Trump even a rhetorical victory.

The agreement, which took bargainers three weeks to strike, would also squeeze funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in an attempt to pressure the agency to detain fewer immigrants. To the dismay of Democrats, however, it would still leave an agency many of them consider abusive holding thousands more immigrants than last year.

The measure contains money for improved surveillance equipment, more customs agents and humanitarian aid for detained immigrants. The overall bill also provides $330 billion to finance dozens of federal programs for the rest of the year, one-fourth of federal agency budgets.

Trump sparked the last shutdown before Christmas after Democrats snubbed his $5.7 billion demand for the wall. The closure denied paychecks to 800,000 federal workers, hurt contractors and people reliant on government services and was loathed by the public.

With polls showing the public blamed him and GOP lawmakers, Trump folded on Jan. 25 without getting any of the wall funds. His capitulation was a political fiasco for Republicans and handed Pelosi a victory less than a month after Democrats took over the House and confronted Trump with a formidable rival for power.

Trumps descriptions of the wall have fluctuated, at times saying it would cover 1,000 miles of the 2,000-mile boundary. Previous administrations constructed over 650 miles of barriers.

___

Associated Press Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro and reporters Padmananda Rama, Lolita Baldor and Matthew Daly contributed........... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

The massive Natural Resources Management Act approved overwhelmingly by the U.S. Senate on Tuesday contains a public lands package that would create a dozen new wilderness areas in New Mexico, the most in almost 30 years.

Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, both D-N.M., said the package includes bills to establish such areas in the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument and the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument.

(These) are two of New Mexicos most special places  and these undisturbed areas within them deserve the special protections that wilderness designation confers, Udall said in a statement.

This legislation will provide permanent protection to some of the most breathtaking natural landscapes in Dona Ana County and iconic rugged areas of Taos, all while preserving traditional practices, and keeping the land accessible for hunting, fishing and recreation, he said.

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Heinrich said in a statement: By passing these wilderness designations, we are completing the communities vision for these treasured places and assuring permanent protection for the wildest, most rugged places within both monuments. I have no doubt that future generations will be grateful for all we have done to protect these world-class destinations.

Specifically, the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Conservation Act would establish 10 permanent wilderness areas within the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, according to a news release.

Udall said a coalition of leaders, including military veterans, Native Americans, sportsmen, business owners, faith leaders, conservationists, local elected officials and others, came up with the proposal over a decade to protect wilderness in Dona Ana and Luna counties.

The Cerros del Norte Conservation Act would create two wilderness areas within the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument: the Cerro del Yuta (Ute Mountain) and Rio San Antonio.

Ute Mountain is a 10,000-foot-high volcanic dome that overlooks the Taos Gorge, and the Rio San Antonio runs below a plateau, creating a unique riparian area and recreational opportunities, Udall said.

The area is one of the most stunning and ecologically significant in the state, and a destination for tourists and outdoor enthusiasts, he said.

Overall, the Natural Resources Management Act  permanently authorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund  consists of more than 100 land and water conservation bills designed to expand the nations public lands and natural resources.

It passed the Senate 92-8. To become law, the bill must be approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and signed into law by the president........... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

SANTA FE  For more than 50 years, New Mexico has held annual legislative sessions that vary in length  30 days in even-numbered years and 60 days in odd-numbered ones.

But a Democratic state senator is pushing a change to the states Constitution that would set the length of sessions at 42 days  in both odd and even-numbered years.

Sen. Joseph Cervantes of Las Cruces said the idea is intended to make it easier for lawmakers with full-time jobs to serve in the Legislature.

Im trying to double down on the idea of a citizen Legislature, Cervantes told the Journal. A two-month session makes it very difficult for anyone whos not retired or paid to be here.

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New Mexico is the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary  they do get per diem payments intended to cover food and lodging expenses  and many lawmakers hold regular jobs.

Although some have proposed paying lawmakers, Cervantes said that could make New Mexicos Legislature function more like Congress.

Instead, he believes having shorter legislative sessions in odd-numbered years would make it easier for unpaid legislators to temporarily step away from their work.

At the same time, his proposed constitutional amendment, Senate Joint Resolution 14, would extend the shorter sessions held in even-numbered years.

Those 30-day sessions are currently limited in scope to budgetary matters and issues approved for consideration by the governor, but that would change under Cervantes proposal.

Legislation on any issue would be fair game in every regular legislative session, said Cervantes, an attorney who sought the Democratic nomination for governor last year.

I do think theres a need for greater efficiency during the time were here, he said. If were doing our jobs properly in the interim, six weeks should be more than enough time to move legislation through.

Nationally, the length of legislative sessions varies by state, and states like Texas and Montana only hold legislative sessions every other year.

New Mexico used to have such a system, but began holding annual sessions in 1965 after a constitutional change was ratified.

The 42-day New Mexico session proposal is currently awaiting its first hearing in the Senate Rules Committee. If passed by both the House and Senate, it would go to statewide voters for final approval  likely in 2020........... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

Copyright  2019 Albuquerque Journal

The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday gave its blessing to a bill that would establish a required minimum amount transferred to a popular scholarship program for New Mexico students.

The proposal, previously passed by the Senate Education Committee, now goes to the Senate floor.

The legislation, Senate Bill 283, sponsored by Jacob Candelaria, D-Albuquerque, and John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, proposes to remove the mandate that the New Mexico Lottery transfer 30 percent of gross sales and require it to turn over a minimum of $40 million to the Legislative Lottery Scholarship program in fiscal year 2020. That minimum would increase to $40.5 million in fiscal 2021 and to $41 million in fiscal 2022 and subsequent fiscal years. In addition, an amendment was added to the bill that would transfer forfeited lottery prizes to the tuition fund starting in fiscal 2023.

Were trying to find a compromise that puts the Lottery in a stronger financial footing, Candelaria told committee members. The 30 percent cap sounds good. Over the years, however, we have not seen growth in the amount of money in the Lottery Tuition Fund.

If the changes didnt work out in three years, the proposal provides for a return to the 30 percent requirement.

Lottery officials have backed similar proposals in recent years, contending that the 30 percent mandate hurts sales by limiting the funds available for prizes, but the Legislature has resisted doing away with the mandate. The 30 percent law, enacted in 2008, has resulted in scholarships receiving an average of about $42 million a year over the past five years, according to Lottery statistics.

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The bill would also set up a schedule restricting operating costs to no more than 17 percent of revenues in fiscal 2020, decreasing to 16 percent of revenues in fiscal 2021 and 15 percent thereafter. The proposal defines operational costs as everything that is not prizes or transfers to the tuition fund. Vendor fees are considered part of operational costs.

More than 117,000 students from across the state have attended New Mexico public colleges, universities and technical colleges since the Legislative Lottery Scholarship program started in 1996. More than 66,000 of those students have graduated from college, according to the lottery.

The lotterys contribution for scholarships has had ups and downs through the years. It dropped to $37.8 million in 2017 from $46.3 million in 2016, a decrease of 18 percent. A recovery took place last year, with $40.2 million earmarked for scholarships........... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

WASHINGTON  Thank you, Ilhan Omar.

The first-term Democratic representative from Minnesota did something ugly Sunday night. Responding to a tweet about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, the young Somali American suggested U.S. lawmakers defend Israel because Its all about the Benjamins, baby.

And who is paying American officials these Benjamins  slang for $100 bills  to be pro-Israel? AIPAC! Omar tweeted, referring to the pro-Israel lobbying group.

Wealthy Jewish interests bribing U.S. lawmakers to sell out America? In addition to being false  the real power backing current Israel policy in the United States is evangelical Christianity  this is Protocols-of-the-Elders-of-Zion stuff.

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What happened next, though, was as inspiring as Omars initial action was appalling. Denunciations rained, not just from Jews and opportunistic Republicans, but also from Democrats, almost as furiously as they did after Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam acknowledged wearing blackface.

Monday, the Democratic House leadership issued a joint demand for an apology, saying Omars use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israels supporters is deeply offensive.

Ninety minutes later, Omar issued an unequivocal apology, saying 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.

Contrast that with what happened when President Trump on Saturday appeared to joke about the genocide of Native Americans. Again referring to Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas, Trump tweeted: See you on the campaign TRAIL, Liz!

And the outraged demands from Republican leaders for an apology? Were still waiting.

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.

A revival of anti-Semitism on the left threatens that coalition. The bigotry, mostly found in the BDS movement, is isolated in the Democratic Party, but it complicates the important work of uniting against Trump.

Omars apology, if genuine, is welcome. But more important is for Omar  and for Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, another Muslim Democratic freshman who has been in similar controversy  to understand that their recent actions hurt not just Jews, but also Muslims, Democrats and ultimately all who support tolerance.

During her election campaign, Omar told a synagogue audience that the BDS movement is not helpful in reaching a two-state solution because its pressure stops the dialogue. But days after she was elected, Omar declared her support for BDS.

Last month, a 2012 tweet by Omar surfaced in which she said, Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel. She said her use of the anti-Semitic trope was unwitting.

Tlaib, meanwhile, tweeted last month that senators who supported the anti-BDS legislation forgot what country they represent. Days later, a man who has equated Zionism and Nazism posted a photo with Tlaib, saying they just had a private dinner. It then emerged that a man who organized campaign events for Tlaib had posted a video in 2018 calling Jews satanic and questioning the Holocaust.

Tlaib has said she cant be held responsible for supporters actions and called herself the victim of right-wing media, saying, Yes, I am Muslim and Palestinian. Get over it.

I understand the anger toward Israel. I have criticized the Israeli governments moves toward authoritarianism and away from negotiated peace, and warned against building an ultranationalist apartheid state.

But accusations that pro-Israel Americans are unpatriotic puppet-masters is vile. And though the BDS movement isnt necessarily anti-Semitic, it attracts those who are  and many who favor Israels elimination. BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti has said Zionism is based on irredeemable racism and the current Zionist state of Israel was criminally built.

As a Jew and an American, Ive denounced Trumps anti-Muslim conspiracy demagoguery, his proposed Muslim ban and resulting travel ban. The Anti-Defamation League and Jewish leaders have fought anti-Muslim discrimination because they understand that, as religious or racial minorities, we are all in this together.

Many American Muslims feel this way, too. Remember the crowdfunding campaign by Muslim Americans for victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre?

There is nothing wrong with criticizing the Israeli government. There is something very wrong with alleging the corrupting influence of American Jews, and with joining those who seek the Jewish states destruction.

If Tlaib and Omar can see that distinction, we can together confront the real haters........... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

Copyright  2019 Albuquerque Journal

An estimated 5,000-8,000 people in Albuquerque are currently homeless, according to city officials  a situation Mayor Tim Keller said will take more than just city government resources to fix.

Now the city has the help of the states largest university.

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Keller and University of New Mexico officials have signed a letter of intent signaling a willingness to collaborate in seeking and providing solutions.

We clearly have a humanitarian imperative to alleviate suffering and help our most vulnerable neighbors, Dr. Paul Roth, chancellor of UNMs Health Sciences Center, said during a Wednesday news conference announcing the new agreement. I view our partnership as an opportunity  one that offers the possibility of affecting real change in our community.

UNM President Garnett Stokes said the university has much to contribute, including research prowess, health care expertise and the volunteer potential of a large employee and student population.

Homelessness in Albuquerque is complex social problem that requires attention and support on many fronts, she said.

The new agreement says the city, UNM and UNM HSC will explore partnering on a more comprehensive response to homelessness, including the potential development of emergency shelter facility(ies) with supportive services, and expanding ways to improve access so that the homeless populations may receive high-quality and coordinated health care services, including medical, psychiatric and addiction-related services.

Keller said building a centralized shelter facility is a top priority. The city currently operates an emergency shelter on the West Side where about 325 people now sleep nightly. But he has called it a Band-Aid because its just a place to sleep and shower; it provides no food or medical care.

A new shelter would offer nightly accommodations but also serve as a gateway to health care and social services.

The city needs a place people could go 24/7 with no questions asked, regardless of your state of mind or your condition, Keller said. That is what almost every major city in America has; that is what Albuquerque has never had.

And I believe we will never make a significant dent in our homeless population unless we provide that location.

That could cost about $28 million to build, and the city is currently asking the Legislature for that amount in capital outlay funding. The city may also seek funding through this Novembers capital improvement bond election.

Officials have not identified a shelter site, but Keller said options will likely include property already owned by the city or UNM.

But with a new shelter still likely years away, the city will continue to operate its West Side facility and is working with UNM on a plan to bring in health care providers.

Carol Pierce, director of the citys Community and Family Services Department, said the shelter  located about 20 miles from Downtown  is currently averaging seven to 10 calls per week to 911.

That can be a drain on the citys emergency medical systems, she said, especially since many problems could be adequately managed with some on-site medical staff.

Roth said the UNM Hospital emergency room has for years been a destination for those who are homeless and have no other place to go. An ER physician, Roth said he remembers the department offering clothing and food to such patients.

If the community can successfully develop a plan to reduce homelessness, he said it would also reduce strain on UNMH, which sees some of the states most serious medical cases as New Mexicos only Level I trauma center.

We do have social workers and others that we can turn to  doctors to turn to, nurses to turn to  to help (homeless patients) arrange transportation or even work with the city on some of the housing vouchers, but wed really rather dedicate operations of the emergency department to the critically ill and injured, he said.Guwahati: Over 10 million individuals in northeast India lack access to affordable, quality healthcare services and bridging this gap through appropriate healthcare services would result in a healthier population and a robust economy.

Fulfilling this pressing need requires a multi-dimensional effort encompassing educating various sections of society, continuous advocacy, concerted actions and societal collaboration. As an initiative to pursue the multi-dimensional objective, Dr Nomal Chandra Borah designed a unique healthcare model named as GNRC Medical. On completion of the fourth year of operation on February 13, Dr Madhurjya Borah, CEO of the hospital presented the progress report at GNRC Medical Campus in North Guwahati and reiterated its commitment towards their guiding principle  Health for All, Smiles for All.

Affordable quality healthcare is the pillar of a healthy economy and is central to preventing epidemics, improving women & childrens health and managing the rising burden of non-communicable diseases such as heart & neurological conditions, said Dr Madhurjya adding that lack of affordable quality healthcare causes over 60 million Indians to slide into poverty every year.

He highlighted that over six lakh outpatients had visited GNRC since 2014 and over sixty thousand patients were admitted. Over thirty thousand individuals were benefitted from the 24 hour free healthcare services and over three million diagnostic procedures were carried out at GNRC Medical, added Dr Madhurjya.

The program was also addressed by Dr Manoj Agarwala, medical superintendent of GNRC Medical and Gautam Rajkhowa, deputy hospital superintendent where they informed that GNRC Medical as an institution under affordable health mission pledged to serve the society and the nation with all their commitment........... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

SANTA FE  Groups or individuals spending big money on political advertisements in New Mexico would face more stringent donor disclosure requirements under a bill that passed the Senate on Wednesday.

The Senate voted 36-6 to approve the measure, Senate Bill 3, which is sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe.

While federal court rulings have limited the states ability to regulate certain political spending, the bill would give voters the information they need to know where the money is coming from, said Wirth, who has also pushed similar proposals in past years.

Its supported by Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat who implemented similar requirements through rulemaking in 2017.

That action, which is now facing a court challenge, came after then-Gov. Susana Martinez vetoed a similar campaign finance bill.

Senate Bill 3 represents a major step forward on transparency and accountability in campaign finance reporting, Toulouse Oliver said in a statement.

The six no votes on the legislation were cast by Republican Sens. Cliff Pirtle of Roswell, Pat Woods of Broadview, Craig Brandt of Rio Rancho, William Sharer of Farmington, and Mark Moores of Albuquerque.

They were joined by Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, who said he supported most of the legislation but objected to a provision dealing with campaign contribution limits.

This years measure now advances to the state House.

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SANTA FE  Darryl Blakey is said to have been doing everything he can to make amends for beating his son and causing serious injuries, and thats why prosecutors and a Santa Fe judge agreed that he should not face mandatory prison time.

Blakey, 43, had pleaded guilty Monday 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.

Wednesday, Judge T. Glenn Ellington gave Blakey a 12-year suspended sentence with five years of supervised probation and one year of electronic monitoring. He must also complete domestic violence and parenting programs.

Blakey could go to prison if he violates any of the conditions in his plea deal. He 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.

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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 the injuries had the potential to be life-threatening, according to a criminal complaint.

Blakey told deputies that was upset over his son getting in trouble at school and admitted he lost control of the situation. Blakey spent 15 days in the Santa Fe County jail before being released on electronic monitoring and later on an appearance bond.

Ellington commended Blakey for the progress hes made. State Children, Youth and Families Department case worker Yvonne Lucero told Ellington during the hearing that Blakey has been compliant with his case plan and said the department may consider reuniting Blakey with his son in the future.

I could not have imagined the criminal case could have come to this type of resolution, given the type of injuries your son had, Ellington told Blakey in court.  You have done absolutely everything thats been asked of you.

Blakey chose not to address the court Wednesday. His wife died of an illness before Blakey and his two sons moved from Pennsylvania to New Mexico, and Ellington acknowledged Blakey had to do a lot as a single father.

Prosecutor Martin Maxwell said the boys foster parent thought the plea deal for a suspended sentence with probation and electric monitoring was too harsh on Blakey.

The reason were suggesting this plea is because of how well he (Blakey) is doing, Maxwell said.

Blakeys attorney, Sam Ruyle, asked Ellington for a conditional discharge that would eliminate the felony convictions if certain conditions were met. But Ellington denied the request and said the felonies would have to stay on Blakeys record due to the severity of the childs injuries.

He took full responsibility for this, and it eats him up inside, Ruyle said. He wants to be a better dad.Staff reports

Aberdeen News

I was disappointed that American News decided to promise that the newspaper would be delivered Jan. 30, although it might be arriving late.

The U.S. Postal Service announced that day it would not deliver mail Jan. 31 in South Dakota, as well as nine other states. These are professionals with special clothing for the job. People had been advised that the cold was life-threatening, and frostbite could occur within five to 10 minutes. My grandson's paper route takes him about two and one-half hours to deliver, if people have shoveled. More than a few of his customers hadn't shoveled since the snow Jan. 27 because of the cold, so it took him more than three and one-half hours to deliver papers on Jan. 30.

The Brown County Highway Department was not plowing any roads due to the weather, and all schools in the area, including colleges, had cancelled classes. I don't understand the urgency in getting people the breaking news, "Colder Than Antarctica."

Comfort Hauck

AberdeenAlan L. Neville

Aberdeen

Much like the Wild West of the late 1800s, South Dakotans can now pack heat and carry concealed weapons without a permit.

Gov. Kristi Noem signed a bill allowing people to carry concealed pistols without a permit in South Dakota It seems that common sense regulation and safety now take a back seat to easy access to firearms.

It is interesting to note that those who drafted and supported Senate Bill 47  an act to repeal and revise certain provisions regarding permits to carry a concealed pistol  found it necessary to use the term constitutional carry. They must believe that most South Dakotans are unfamiliar with the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It states, A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. I do not think the founders of the U.S. Constitution had in mind unlimited access to firearms by anyone at any time. Furthermore, I do not think the founders had in mind bump stocks, high-capacity magazines, assault-style weapons, ready access to firearms by virtually anyone including children, lack of proper instruction in firearms operation and safety, to name a few.

Before I get accused of being anti-gun, let me point out that I am a former member of the National Rifle Association, possess a valid concealed pistol permit in South Dakota, own firearms and enjoy target shooting. However, what the governor and those who support permit-less carry fail to point out is the value of some common sense safety precautions. As a reminder, every day, 100 Americans are killed with guns, according to the Everytown For Gun Safety website.

Although it has not yet happened, I predict a class action lawsuit will be successful against gun manufacturers for wrongful deaths in the future. As evidence to support my prediction, I suggest that you take a look at the tobacco industry and what has happened as a result of class action legal action.

A recent look at the tragic consequences of gun violence:

2017 Las Vegas shooting, 58 killed.

2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, 49 killed.

2007 Virginia Tech shooting, 32 killed.

2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, 27 mostly young children killed.

2017 Sutherland Springs church shooting, 26 killed.

2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, 17 mostly students killed.

2009 Fort Hood shooting, 14 killed.

1999 Columbine High School shooting, 13 mostly students killed.

This list is only a small sampling. Firearms are the second-leading cause of death for American children and teens and the first leading cause of death for black children and teens, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.

We need to work together to find common sense regulation to help ensure that we are not contributing to gun violence. Imagine if one of your own children was killed due to easy and unregulated access to firearms.George F. Will

Washington Post Writers Group

Soon, in a federal court that few Americans know exists, there will come a ruling on a constitutional principle that today barely exists but that could, if the judicial branch will resuscitate it, begin to rectify the imbalance between the legislative and executive branches. It is the nondelegation doctrine, which expresses John Lockes justly famous but largely ignored admonition that institutions like the U.S. Congress, vested with the power to make laws, and not to make legislators ... have no power to transfer their authority of making laws, and place it in other hands. The doctrines revival might result from the Peanut Butter Criterion.

Acting under authority improvidently given by Congress to presidents in Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the current president has, in the name of national security, imposed tariffs (taxes, collected at the border, paid by American consumers) on steel and aluminum imports from, among other nations, Canada, a U.S. military ally. How Canada threatens U.S. national security by selling inexpensive metals to U.S. defense industries, thereby effectively increasing the U.S. defense budget, is a puzzle for another day.

The U.S. Court of International Trade, which sits in New York, is mulling the argument, made on behalf of American steel importers and foreign steel producers, that the discretion that presidents enjoy under Section 232 is so vast that it amounts to unconstrained lawmaking. Hence it is an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power. The Trump administration not only makes the dubious assertion that imports have imperiled vital domestic metals manufacturers, it breezily says national security depends on a vibrant economy that is imperiled by imports. How the administration squares its fears about the dangerous fragility of the U.S. economy with the presidents boasting about the economys awesome strength is another puzzle.

During oral argument in December, one judge on the three-member panel asked a lawyer defending the administrations position if there is any product that the president does not have the congressionally conferred power to restrict imports on national security grounds: Could he, say, put a tariff on peanut butter? The judge got a foggily evasive answer.

Gary Lawson of Boston University School of Law has argued that the Constitutions structure and a background or embedded principle permit Congress to delegate to presidents discretion regarding matters ancillary to a statute but not regarding fundamental matters. He says that the Constitutions Framers were not redundant when they said Congress could make laws necessary and proper for the exercise of an enumerated power (e.g., to regulate commerce with foreign nations). The two words have independent meaning: A proper law is not only necessary but consistent with, among other things, the separation of powers. Larry Alexander of the University of San Diego School of Law and Saikrishna Prakash of the University of Virginia School of Law have argued that a law cannot properly give to the president discretion to make rules for the governance of society, which is legislating.

As when a president has an unreviewable power to impose taxes (tariffs) on an unlimited number of things (peanut butter?) in the name of an uncircumscribed goal (national security). Not since the Supreme Courts accommodation of  actually, capitulation to  the New Deal, has the court held (in the 1935 Schechter case) that although Congress may permit an executive agency or other entity to make subordinate rules within prescribed limits, it must stipulate policies and standards. In another 1935 case, the court voided a congressional grant of vast discretion to the president because, in the granting statute, Congress did not declare or even indicate any policy or standard to guide or limit the president.

If the Court of International Trade revives the nondelegation doctrine, this might reach the Supreme Court, which upheld Section 232 in a 1976 case that did not turn on the constitutional questions now presented. The court might flinch from the task of defining excessive delegation that makes a law not proper. However, that task  judging  is the courts raison detre.

The Constitutions first words after the Preamble are: All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress. All. James Madison was, as wise people usually are, an accomplished worrier who rarely worried about the wrong things. It turns out, however, that he did when, in Federalist 48, he worried about Congress drawing all power into its impetuous vortex. For generations, Congress has been a centrifugal machine, spinning off powers. Limited government requires a limited president, which requires limits on what Congress can give away.Shannon Marvel

smarvel@aberdeennews.com

Coteau Des Prairies Hospital in Sisseton has denied allegations in a civil lawsuit that it negligently failed to provide proper labor, delivery and fetal monitoring care.

The lawsuit claims the hospitals actions caused a newborn to suffer birth-related trauma, according to court documents.

The response was filed in federal court on Jan. 28. The plaintiffs, Kameron and Stephanie Brooks, filed the lawsuit on behalf of their child. They are seeking at least $75,000 in damages.

The defendants are the hospital, Coteau Des Prairies Health Care System, Dr. Linda Peterson, Brittany Fryer, Rosanne Roark and unknown John Does and Jane Does.

According to the response, the defendants admit that they provided medical care to Stephanie Brooks and her child on Jan. 26, 2017.

In response to the allegation that the newborn was a viable and healthy fetus upon her arrival to the hospital, the defendants claimed that they can neither deny nor admit due to lack of sufficient knowledge or information to form a belief, according to court documents.

The defendants deny that the childs condition deteriorated due to the failure of the defendants.

The lawsuit alleges the child was a viable and healthy fetus. Over the course of the day, the childs condition deteriorated due to the failures of the defendants, the documents claim.

An emergency cesarian section was performed on Brooks that day. Her child has been diagnosed as suffering from extensive hypoxic ischemic injury, cerebral palsy and other birth-related traumas, according to the paperwork.

The Brooks now live in Texas, but were residents of South Dakota when their child was delivered via C-section.

Both parties have requested a jury trial.Aberdeen News

It took 21 years on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation before local officials connected one of the reservation pediatricians, Dr. Stanley Patrick Weber, to a host of sexual abuse charges.

Thats according to a joint investigation by Frontline PBS and the Wall Street Journal in an article published last week in the Wall Street Journal.

The story has tangental ties to Aberdeen.

Reporting highlights repeated incidents in which Indian Health Services, including two people in the Aberdeen office, were made aware of concerns about Webers conduct. But no criminal charges resulted.

One Pine Ridge IHS official said he contacted the agencys region office in Aberdeen after a 2006 incident to get permission from his supervisor to reach out to law enforcement, as required, according to the Wall Street Journal. But, the official said, he never heard back.

That Aberdeen IHS official was not identified in the story.

Weber, now 70, started his career at the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1995, according to the Wall Street Journal, and questions about his conduct were raised within the first few months. Concerns about Weber cherry- picking patients were also raised by a fellow pediatrician, Dr. Mark Butterbrodt, who was later transferred to North Dakota with a pay cut.

The Wall Street Journal story also mentions Dr. Ron Cuny, formerly of Aberdeen, who was top regional doctor for IHS. Cuny reviewed Butterbrodts transfer in 2011 and concluded that he was unfairly punished. Cuny also reviewed questions about Webers conduct and dropped his investigation, which took into account the agencys earlier findings in 2009.

Rear Adm. Michael Weahkee, an officer in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the acting head for IHS, has since promised an investigation into how Weber was able to prey on children in the agencys care, according to the Wall Street Journal. He also said anyone who had knowledge of Webers activity but allowed it to continue is complicit.

Tribal investigators ultimately led the charge on an investigation in 2015, according to the investigation and article. Tribal prosecutor Elaine Yellow Horse followed up on Butterbrodts concerns and found one of Webers victims. Federal agents were then contacted. That led to federal charges in South Dakota that were filed in 2017, per the Wall Street Journal. Additional federal charges in Montana were filed in 2018.

Weber faces 12 criminal charges in South Dakota, according to court documents. They include a combination of aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse and sexual abuse of a minor.

The charges stem from alleged incidents on the Pine Ridge Reservation as early as May 1998. The latest incidents listed on Webers indictment are alleged to have been between June and July 2011.

Trial is set to begin Sept. 23 and run through Oct. 1.

Weber has already been convicted in federal court in Montana on two counts of attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child and one count each of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and abusive sexual contact with a minor. Those charges stem from the 1990s on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

Weber was sentenced to 220 months, or a little more than 18 years, in prison. Hes appealing his conviction.Russian President proposes imprisonment of up to 15 years for gang leadership

 RIA Novosti

16:45 14/02/2019

MOSCOW, February 14 (RAPSI)  Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted a bill envisaging imprisonment for up to 15 years for organizing, leading criminal gangs and participating in them to the State Duma. The document has been published on the database of the parliaments lower house.

Amendments are proposed to the Criminal Code of Russia.

Under the bill, gang leaders would face prison sentence ranging from 8 to 15 years with fines of up to 5 million rubles ($75,000) and supervised release for a term of up to 2 years.

The most dangerous and serious crimes are committed by criminal groups, an explanatory note to the bill reads. Gang leaders usually coordinate criminal wrongdoing, create stable criminal links between different organized groups, divide up spheres of criminal influence and ill-gotten gains, direct criminal activities and therefore pose the highest public danger. However, they generally escape liability, according to the draft law.Human Rights Council appeals to UN over Ukraines ban on Russian election observers

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

10:40 14/02/2019

MOSCOW, February 14 (RAPSI) - Chairman of Russias Council for Human Rights Mikhail Fedotov has appealed to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet over Ukraines refusal to register Russian observers at Ukrainian presidential elections, the advisory bodys press service reports Thursday.

Earlier, Ukrainian authorities sent a notice of registration denial to Russian observers to the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

According to Fedotov, this unprecedented move is a gross breach of international election process standards binding on all UN member states.

Moreover, the rights of more than 2.5 million Ukrainian citizens currently locating in Russia to vote in the elections are being violated as Verkhovna Rada has taken a decision not to open voting stations in the territory of the Russian Federation.

The Chairman of Russias Council for Human Rights has expressed hope that the United Nations Human Rights Council will discuss these problems and reach a favorable decision during its regular 40th session on February 25.En espanol | Legislation introduced on Thursday would help restore federal age-discrimination protections in the workplace that lawmakers and advocates say were eroded by the Supreme Court.

The Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act (POWADA) was introduced by bipartisan teams of legislators in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. POWADA effectively would reverse a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court decision that made it more difficult for older workers to prove they were discriminated against because of their age.

The 1967 federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects workers age 40 and older from being forced out of jobs or denied employment due to their age. But in a 2009 ruling (Gross v. FBL Financial Services Inc.), the high court said that in order to prove illegal bias, older workers have to show that their age was a decisive factor in the employers decision to discipline, fire or not hire them.

That standard poses a much higher bar than the courts require for other forms of discrimination, such as those based on race, sex, national origin or religion. POWADA clearly states that victims of age discrimination do not have to demonstrate that age was a critical reason for the employers action in order to prove their case.

We commend these lawmakers for sponsoring this crucial legislation, says Nancy LeaMond, AARP executive vice president and chief advocacy and engagement officer. Too many older workers have been victims of unfair age discrimination and are denied a fair shake in our justice system. The time for Congress to act is now.

POWADA is sponsored in the House by Reps. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) and Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and is supported by Reps. Alma Adams (D-N.C.), Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.), Will Hurd (R-Texas) and John Katko (R-N.Y.). In the Senate the bill is being sponsored by Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and is supported by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

AARP research has found that many older workers experience age bias on the job. More than 60 percent of workers age 45 and older have seen or experienced age discrimination, and 76 percent say that they consider age discrimination to be a major obstacle to finding a new job. What's more, 1 in 4 older workers have been subjected to negative comments about their age from supervisors or coworkers. More than 9 in 10 agree that older workers should be protected against age discrimination as strongly as people are protected against other types of discrimination and support efforts to strengthen the law.Bob Edwards: Hello, I'm Bob Edwards with an AARP take on today.

This week, AARP The Magazine held its 18th Annual Movies for Grownups Awards in Beverly Hills. The awards celebrate 2018's standout films with unique appeal to movie lovers with a grown up state of mind. They also recognize the inspiring artists who make them. Comedian Martin Short hosted.

Martin Short: Welcome to the AARP's Movies for Grownups Awards, or as I call them, the Olden Globes.

Bob Edwards: The star studded awards ceremony included a touching tribute to career achievement award honoree Shirley MacLaine. Nominees for Best Actress included Sandra Bullock, Glenn Close, Viola Davis, Nicole Kidman, and Julia Roberts.

Glenn Close: Thank you so much for all my fellow players in this incredible, incredible profession.

Bob Edwards: And nominees for Best Actor: Willem Dafoe, Hugh Jackman, Viggo Mortenson, Robert Redford, and John C Reilly.

Viggo Mortensen: I would like to dedicate this honor to anyone who stands up against discrimination, defamation of character, and injustice of any kind, and demands to be treated with dignity and respect. Thank you very much.

Bob Edwards: Tune in to watch the Movies for Grownups Awards on Friday, February 15th at 9:00 PM Eastern on PBS. You can also watch online the following day at PBS.org/moviesforgrownups and PBS apps.

Announcer: Madam Speaker the President of the United States.

Bob Edwards: And on Tuesday of this week, President Trump gave his rescheduled State of the Union address. His speech earned praise and criticism alike, but one part earned the applause of both sides when he talked about skyrocketed prescription drug prices.

President Trump: The next major priority for me and for all of us should be to lower the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs and to protect patients with pre-existing conditions. [crosstalk] We must do more. It's unacceptable that Americans pay vastly more than people in other countries for the exact same drugs, often made in the exact same place. This is wrong. This is unfair and together, we will stop it, and we'll stop it fast.

Bob Edwards: AARP's CEO Jo Ann Jenkins responded that the organization was heartened to hear the President tackle the issue. She in a statement that, "Too many Americans are being forced to choose between paying for their medicines, or for food or rent."

To read more analysis on the President's speech, and reactions to it, go to AARP.org

Who doesn't love packing their bags and hitting the road? But the reality is it can be hard on your wallet.

By planning early and strategically, you can turn an otherwise expensive vacation into a budget friendly trip. Whether it's close to home, or on the other side of the world, there are many ways to stretch your budget and make the most out of your time away.

I caught up with AARP's Maria Gillen to learn more about the ways to save on travel, and get the biggest bang for your travel bucks.

Welcome, Maria.

Maria Gillen: Thanks Bob.

Bob Edwards: AARP recently released its travel trend survey. What are some of the most surprising findings?

Maria Gillen: There are a lot more people are planning ahead for their vacations in the following year, in 2019.

Bob Edwards: Why are so many people planning their travel earlier than before?

Maria Gillen: Part of a strategy for saving money is planning ahead, and there is definitely a stronger interest in traveling more in the following year.

Bob Edwards: What are some ways to save?

Maria Gillen: There are a couple strategies. I think the most important one is definitely planning ahead, and picking and understanding what you want to do as far out in advance. I mean, for an international trip, you would want to plan three to six months out, a little bit shorter for a domestic trip. If you're going to be staying close to home, then you know, you can afford to not plan as far ahead, but of course, the trip would be different.

But saving, you plan ahead, and that would give you an opportunity to really understand what the airfare is, and airfare fluctuates considerably leading up to a time that you would want to take that trip.

Bob Edwards: Yeah, but three to six months out? I mean, things change remarkably in three to six months.

Maria Gillen: Well, for international trips, for example, if you are planning a trip in the summer for a trip to Italy for example, you had better get your itinerary in order in January, in February, and really monitor those airfares. As you get closer, if you make that a last minute trip, you know what? You're gonna be paying a premium.

That said, you know, you can find deals and another strategy is to definitely stay on the ball and be vigilant about deals and alerts that might come up last minute. But then you're gonna take a different kind of trip, right? Another budget saving strategy is definitely to consider the different types of destinations, right?

One of the things that we've seen in our survey is that National Parks are still a very popular destination for people 50 and older. They are a beautiful way to see the country. In some cases, the Grand Canyon, for example, rates as a bucket list trip, and that's here within the United States. I like to tell everyone that if you're working, there are a number of people, Gen X, who are 50 and older now, and they're working.

Take a long weekend, and head out to a State Park. Every state, whether it's a National Park or a State Park, every state has a part that's probably within driving distance. That's a good way also to create a budget friendly trip.

Another strategy for saving money is to take advantage of rewards programs. Now, that could be through your credit card. That could be through frequent flier. A multitude of ways that you can take advantage of a deal through just looking at your rewards points that you've collected over time.

Bob Edwards: What about, once your trip is underway? How do you save money there?

Maria Gillen: You can be pretty creative. You can go to a big city. Just because you go to a big city, like for example, D.C. or New York, you can still create an experience that is budget friendly by picking the things that are on the budget side.

You can see free museums in D.C., you can see free museums in New York. Or for New York, where there are museum fees, you can still find time periods where you can enter a museum for free.

Bob Edwards: Tell me about multi-generational trips?

Maria Gillen: A multi-generational trip is definitely a popular way of people taking trips. What we see in terms of saving money on a multi-generational trip is that people can afford to stay in certain accommodations or they can take cruises, right? These are ways you can accommodate the multi-generations. Within those categories of trips, you can choose to go budget or choose to go luxurious, right?

But that is definitely a way to travel.

Bob Edwards: What is some budget friendly destinations in the United States?

Maria Gillen: In the United States, what we have seen is that traveling to not the tier A cities, but some of the smaller cities, such as for example on the East Coast, Greenville, South Carlina is a nice destination that is smaller and has nice food scene. You can get there pretty easily, especially if you're on the East Coast.

One of my favorite places that I go to is the state of New Mexico. Albuquerque and Santa Fe are definitely two of my favorite places to go. Beautiful scenery, a wonderful part of the country, and less expensive. It's a little bit off the beaten path.

Of course, I love going to big cities. I lived in New York City for some time, and loved going there, but you can go outside of the city and explore parts of the Catskills and upstate New York, and get a really nice feel for a smaller or less costly side of the trip.

Bob Edwards: And internationally?

Maria Gillen: Internationally. When we think about the proximity to the United States, of course Canada and Mexico, the Caribbean are definitely popular destinations. It's much easier to get to in terms of flights, and there's also the option for driving to those destinations for some.

When you look farther out, what you want to try and avoid are those cities and those countries that are little bit over popular. Like for example, Venice was in the news recently for having its fair share of perhaps too many tourists. Going to places that are outside of big cities, like Lyons, France, for example, would be a nice place outside of the beaten path internationally.

Bob Edwards: What are some of the things people should do to prepare for an international trip?

Maria Gillen: That's a great question. In the case of an international trip, preparation is definitely key. When we think about planning for an international trip, the packing is definitely something you should take into consideration carefully. Travelers 50 and older who travel internationally will have to take into account medication, for example. Making sure that all your medication is properly packed, all together with the appropriate prescriptions. Making sure that your documents are all together in one place. Preparing in terms of calling your bank in advance. That's one way to make sure that you don't run into trouble while you're away.

Enrolling in the State Department's Safe Travel Enrollment Program is a way to stay safe while you're overseas, making sure you have the appropriate alerts. So those are the types of things you should consider. Even travel insurance and trying to understand the types of scenarios you might find yourself in when you're traveling internationally.

Bob Edwards: Where can we get more travel information?

Maria Gillen: You can find more information, whether it be vacation ideas, tips on being safe and planning on a budget, as well as member benefits at AARP.org/travel.

Bob Edwards: Thank you very much.

Maria Gillen: Thank you, Bob.

Bob Edwards: For more, visit AARP.org/podcast. Become a subscriber. Be sure to rate our podcast on Apple Podcast, Google Play, Stitcher, and other podcast apps. Thanks for listening. I'm Bob Edwards.Camp slaves performed essential tasks in an army that was always outnumbered and short on supplies. The historical record makes clear that they were not, on the whole, happy participants in the war effort; they routinely committed acts of disobedience, including running away to join the Union army. But the photograph of Andrew and Silaslikely taken early in the war, when enthusiasm was at its heightreinforced the widely held belief among white Southerners that slaves supported the Cause. The presence of men such as Silas reassured Confederates that invasion, battlefield loss, and even emancipation itself could not sever the strong bonds of fidelity between master and slave.

Doesnt the Northam yearbook photograph send a similar message, if only subconsciously? The performance of blackface reinforces the belief that blacks smiled through slavery, and later, the post-Reconstruction period of white-supremacist terrorism, on through the indignities of Jim Crowthat these darkest periods of American history were, in fact, not so dark, but joyous times when all people knew their place. The man in blackface stands next to a man in Klan costume, like Silas next to his master, preposterously content in the company of his oppressor.

More here.Jennifer M Morton in Aeon:

Education is crucial to a democratic society because it is how we ensure that future citizens will have the knowledge and skills our societies need. In countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and France, some educational institutions play a further role  they educate the elite. All of the current Supreme Court Justices in the US attended either Harvard University or Yale Law School. In the UK, 41 out of 54 of the countrys past prime ministers received their education at the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge. Seven recent French presidents and 12 prime ministers attended the Paris Institute of Political Studies, commonly called Sciences Po. These universities pride themselves not only in offering superb educational opportunities, but in educating those who will go on to hold influential positions.

One might reasonably ask, how is a system of educational institutions for the elite democratic? Ideally, a democratic society should make sure that the interests of all sectors of society are represented. Those in the elite have disproportionate power in making their voices heard, whether through lobbying, writing policy briefs, or deciding what news gets coverage in The Times or The Wall Street Journal, while voices from groups and classes with less power are chronically underrepresented. The idea of an elite would seem to be at odds with central democratic values.

More here.Ex-school principal fined $750 for extortions in educational institution

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

15:59 14/02/2019

MOSCOW, February 14 (RAPSI) - A court in Elista, a city in the southern part of Russia and the capital of the Kalmykia Republic, on Thursday fined ex-school principal Marina Gederim 50,000 rubles ($750) as part of a case over abuse of office by extortion, victims lawyer Vitaly Zubenko told RAPSI.

Additionally, a judge collected 30,000 rubles ($450) from Gederim in favor of victim Larisa Yakupova as compensation for moral harm, the attorney said.

A prosecutor earlier demanded a 2-year suspended sentence and 1 year of probation for the defendant.

Victim Yakupova has complained to President Vladimir Putin during his television question-and-answer session that the school authorities had demanded money from parents for various needs including buying new school furniture and schoolbooks.

According to Zubenko, in 2017, Gederim asked parents of first-grade pupils to buy the furniture masquerading as voluntary donation.

In August 2018, a court in Kalmykia acquitted Gederim in this case while prosecutors sought a 2-year suspended sentence for her.

Prosecutors and victims have appealed the acquittal. In October, the republican Supreme Court overturned the ruling and ordered retrial.



(Republicans conduct a simple straw poll at their caucuses.)

Under this new system, the Democratic Party will still report the number of state delegate equivalents for each candidate. But the party also will report the total number of votes a candidate received at the initial stage of the caucus, as well as after realignment.

We think this is a worthy step toward transparency and accountability. Recall, after the 2016 caucuses  when Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders finished in a near-tie in state delegate equivalents  the Sanders camp demanded that raw vote totals be released. They werent.

In 2020, this will be done. But it does raise the question: What metric will now be used to declare the winner? It is conceivable that one candidate might have the most state delegate equivalents, but another might come out on top in the number of overall supporters.

That could have the potential to create confusion as the news media report the results. Or as campaigns spin them.

Price told us the party will award convention delegates based on state delegate equivalents. As for declaring a winner, he said: We just release results.Russian female activist discharged from liability for extremism

 RIA Novosti

13:07 14/02/2019

MOSCOW, February 14 (RAPSI)  A court has released Russian civic activist Oksana Pokhodun, who had been earlier convicted of extremism, from responsibility and punishment, her attorney Vladimir Vasin has told RAPSI.

According to the lawyer, criminal prosecution of Pokhodun was connected with her citizen activism.

In April 2018, the woman received a 2-year suspended sentence with a 2-year probation for incitement of hatred and enmity on the grounds of religion, nationality and origin.

Investigators claimed that in 2012, Pokhodun created a page under a pseudonym on VKontakte social network. From July 2015 to May 2016, she allegedly published several extremist images there.

Pokhodun has pleaded not guilty.I counted her as one of my first teachers even before I started school, Stern said.

After a hail storm the librarian saved some hail stones to show Stern and the other children.

This was at a public library, and it made such an impression on me that when it came time to choose a career. (Working at a library) wasnt what I started with, but it was the natural progression for me to end with.

Before becoming a librarian, Stern worked in schools as a teacher.

Her first teaching job was in Florida, where she spent six years before returning to Iowa. From there she taught at Humboldt, where she became the school librarian.

From there she went to West Des Moines, and helped open their ninth-grade school, where she was able to pick out books for the opening collection.

It was a like a dream, Stern said.

From there she became librarian at Cedar Falls High School.

There is always room for expanding, said Stern. Right now one of the most important things is to increase our connections and strengthen our connections.DES MOINES  Legislation to prohibit traffic enforcement cameras got a yellow light Wednesday as a House subcommittee advanced the bill, but members indicated they anticipate regulating the devices rather than banning them.

Although he has concerns about cameras, Public Safety Committee Chairman Jarad Klein, R-Keota, conceded they may serve the public interest so hes willing to look for middle ground  something less than an outright ban, but more than the largely unregulated use of cameras to catch motorists who speed and run red lights.

There are some of these cameras that are definitely useful for safety, Klein said during a hearing on House Study Bill 125. But I also think there are a lot of them out there that are being used as a revenue-generating source.

Speakers told the subcommittee revenue is being used to hire police officers, pay for cities to upgrade equipment  such as radios that can be a part of a statewide communication system  and other public safety priorities.

While it remains to be seen how Klein will modify his bill, lobbyists for Iowa cities with cameras and the companies that supply them encouraged legislators to establish a regulatory framework rather than a ban.We know there were issues with him urinating and smearing feces on things, he said.

During closings, the two sides offered their interpretations of a seven-minute video showing the boy standing in the dining room and screaming and shuffling his feet while apparently needing to go to the bathroom.

The defense noted Tyler told officials the boy often held in his urine and refused to go to the bathroom, and Fisher said there was no evidence on the video she was preventing him from going.

The state said Tyler, who apparently filmed the video with her cellphone, wouldnt let the boy use the restroom. Roan said the boy glanced toward Tyler in the video as if pleading with his eyes for permission.

The boy wasnt questioned about the video  and four similar but shorter videos  when he took the stand.

Judge Ellefson took the case under advisement at the close of Wednesdays proceedings and allowed the parties until Feb. 27 to file briefs and further written arguments. He will issue a ruling at a later date.

The defense waived a reading of the verdict in court.TAMA  An Oregon man who pulled a shotgun on another man in a casino parking lot has been sentenced to federal prison on weapons charges.

Judge Linda Reade sentenced Harold Ray Amos, 40, of Coos Bay, who also has a Traer address, to eight years in prison during a Wednesday hearing in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. Amos will have to serve three years of supervised release following prison. He pleaded guilty to prohibited person in possession of a firearm.

Authorities allege Amos is barred from handling firearms because of prior felony drug and domestic abuse.

On March 14, Amos was at the Meskwaki Bingo Casino Hotel in Tama when he got in an argument with others. He and another person involved in the argument left the building, and Amos retrieved a shotgun from his pickup truck, according to prosecutors. He pointed the weapon at the other man, and took $400 in cash from him, according to court records.

Traer man arrested in armed Tama casino parking lot robbery TAMA  A Traer man has been charged in connection with a March shotgun robbery in the Meskwa

Police were notified and discovered a loaded sawed-off shotgun in Amos truck.

Amos had been arrested on state robbery charges in connection with the incident, and he pleaded to assault while participating in a felony and was sentenced to up to five years in prison.

Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer began high-level talks with Vice Premier Liu He today in Beijing today in hopes of negotiating an end to the ongoing trade war between the two largest economies in the world. President Trump had threatened to ratchet up tariffs on $200-$250 billion of Chinese imports from 10% to 25% on March 1, 2019, if the two countries were unable to negotiate a new mutually acceptable trade deal.

By James DiGeorgia

Hopefully reports that President Trump is considering a 60-day extension to his March 1, 2019, drop-dead deadline to negotiate a new trade deal with China are accurate. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer arrived in Beijing yesterday and began renewed negotiations Vice Premier Liu He and the rest of Chinas trade negotiators.

Fresh off his partial government shutdown humiliation, taking less than he was originally offered by Democrat lawmakers in December, President Trump is need of a validating win. He desperately needs to show hes every bit the masterful negotiator he has portrayed himself to be during his 2016 election campaign.







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With more than a dozen Democrats already or about to enter the 2020 race, President Trump is facing one of the toughest modern-day re-election campaigns in decades. Michael London of WorldOpportunityInvestor.com (WOI) points out

President Trump has shown he dares to confront the trade inequities that have existed for decades with our trading partners like China, European Union and our North American neighbors to the north and south during his first two years in office. Now he has to show he can deliver solutions and is capable of getting substantial concessions.

The growing likelihood of a global recession that could smother economic growth in the United States is putting some serious new pressure on him. The last thing Trump wants is to run for re-election in 2020 and have to deal with a recession. That kind of economic environment limited Presidents Carter and George H. Bush to one term presidencies.

The latest Gallup poll shows that Trumps job approval rating jumped from 37% to 44% thanks to the end of his partial government shutdown. His disapproval number also showed a big improvement; falling from 59% disapproval to 52%, which of course is going to make his re-election very difficult.

Trump needs a deal, the Chinese know it and by giving Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer another 60 days culminating in a face to face meeting to finalize a trade deal makes solid sense.





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Meanwhile, Chinas exports posted a surprise jump which may indicate our Asian trade partners economy may be stronger than believed. Exports grew by 9% in US dollar terms in January over last year.

Fears that the U.S. China trade war could slow down the second largest economy in the world has alarmed business leaders and investors across the globe. Fear that President Trump would ratchet up the tariffs put in place last year has prompted concerns on over a possible global recession. Companies like Apple, Caterpillar have blamed China weakness for their recent disappointing earnings reports.

Despite the rebound in China exports in January, many economists and business leaders are skeptical that it will continue unless the Trump and Xi Administrations can reach a trade deal soon.

Michel London of World Opportunity Investor suggests a firm announcement of an extension of U.S. Chinese trade negotiations and the setting of a date for face to face between Presidents Trump and Xi would be enough good news for a relief rally in both U.S. and Chinese equities.









President Trump has hinted that he will most likely sign the border-security deal since he doesnt want another government shutdown on Friday. Two close sources to Trump confirmed that he will sign the agreement although he isnt happy with the deal, CNN reported. The House (majority Democrats) and Senate (majority Republicans) presented Trump with an agreement of $1.375 billion, which is far less than the $5.7 billion that Trump originally requested.

According to New York Times, $1.375 billion would be used for new fencing along the border with Mexico but Trump was aiming for more funding because he wanted the border to be made of concrete or steel.

The deadline for him to decide if he wants to go forward with the deal is midnight by Friday.

Trump is thinking about getting more funding elsewhere

Many of the Republicans from the Senate suggested that Trump accept the agreement and look at it as a down payment, although he isnt too happy about the budget. Trump talked about how he wants to take away funding from less important areas so he can add more money to the border wall. He hinted that he would find other ways to fund the wall from different sources so he could avoid another shutdown since he made it clear that he does not want that to happen again.

CNN mentioned a few more options he can choose to seek more funding for the border wall.

Several of those options include the Army Corps civil works funds, military constructions funds, and Treasury forfeiture funds.

Government shutdown in 2018

The United States had the longest government shutdown in American history, ending after 35 days. Previously, hundreds and thousands of federal employees were forced to work unpaid and miss more than three pay periods of paychecks because of the shutdown that happened on December 22nd.

Many employees had to call out because they didnt have enough money for gas or transportation. Food assistance programs were going through a great deal of shortage because thousands of families had a high demand for food. This was due to them being unable to support themselves. Mental health issues arose due to the stress of the shutdown.

Trump has a big decision to make in little time.The House and Senate are hoping that he will sign the border-security deal although he didnt get the funding he wanted. If he does not sign the deal before Friday, federal workers will be affected again. More families will suffer and poverty will increase.The Duke and Duchess of Sussex took time off to spend Tuesday evening at the Natural History Museum in London watching The Wider Earth. The Duchess is in an advanced stage of pregnancy and is expecting her first child this spring. This is the time in the life of any would-be mother when she has to keep her mind free of tension. She deserves praise for the way she has mastered the art of ignoring those who try to criticize her lifestyle and want to take credit for predicting the unpredictable.

People reports that the play is about a subject that is close to their hearts.

Its theme is protecting forests around the world. Once inside the museum, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry met donors and children. They also went around the museum taking in the exhibits. One of these was the first copy of Charles Darwins book "On The Origin of Species."

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, arrives with Prince Harry at the Natural History Museum in London. https://t.co/UgTR4VqpiE pic.twitter.com/X3Z1IaMRBe  ABC News (@ABC) February 12, 2019

It is all about caring for the environment

The Wider Earth is a play showing at the Natural History Museum in London. The story relates to the journey Charles Darwin had in the HMS Beagle. The event was to extend support to the Queens Commonwealth Trust.

Prince Harry is closely associated with it as the president. He is also the productions official charitable partner whose objective is to conserve indigenous forests across the globe. Incidentally, there was an accident in 2017 outside this museum when a car plowed into people and injured many of them.

People.com says the name of the charity is The Queens Commonwealth Canopy (QCC).

During the royal tour to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and Tonga the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were deeply involved in spreading the message about the preservation of forests. The royal couple has included caring for the environment as a core area for their involvement. They have plans to go on a short visit to Morocco at the end of the month.

Conservation of nature and wildlife

Harpers Bazar adds that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attended a gala performance of the play The Wider Earth at London's Natural History Museum. The play highlights the importance of taking care of the environment and the Royal couple is promoting this concept. The Queen's Commonwealth Trust extends support to young leaders on a global basis to work for the conservation of forests.

The latest outing of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry to the museum comes after the Endeavor Fund Awards that honors ill and injured veterans. Harry has his own charity Invictus Games for war veterans and Meghan was seen for the first time in public during her appearance at the 2017 games in Toronto.Moscow court withdraws attachment of ex-minister Ulyukayevs assets

 RIA Novosti, Ramil Sitdikov

12:30 14/02/2019

MOSCOW, February 14 (RAPSI)  The Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow on Thursday lifted an attachment of assets belonging to the former economy minister Alexey Ulyukayev sentenced to 8 years in prison for corruption, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

The court granted Ulyukayevs motion due to the payment of a fine imposed on the convict as part of his sentence.

The former officials property freed from the seizure includes land plots, a residential house, a car and other valuable objects.

In late October, the court held that the seizure of monetary assets belonging to Ulyukayev could be lifted. The ruling thus enabled a fine imposed on Ulyulayev as part of his sentence to be collected by bailiffs.

The former economy ministers property was seized further to two court decisions issued in November 2016 and January 2017.

Ex-official was sentenced to 8 years in high security prison and a 130-million-ruble fine (about $2 million) on December 15, 2017. Moscows Zamoskvoretsky District Court held that his involvement in the bribery was proven by witnesses testimony and other examined evidence. The defendants words about innocence were regarded as attempt to evade criminal liability. Later, the Moscow City Court upheld the prison term for Ulyukayev despite slightly changing the sentence itself.

Ulyukayev was arrested on November 14, 2016, when leaving the office of Rosneft oil company. The Federal Security Services (FSB) officers found a bag holding $2 million in cash in his official car. He was charged with extortion a grand bribe. According to the Investigative Committee, he threatened to create obtrusions for Rosneft with the use of his position.

The defendant stated that the case was fabricated. He noted that there was a provocation, orchestrated by FSB and that there was no sound evidence in the case, aside from testimony provided by Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin.House of Byfield fashions are instantly recognizable. Bold, trendy and eye-catching, they are the creations of designer Carmichael Byfield who established his luxury brand in 2011. Carmichael is heavily inspired by Jamaican culture, and he refuses to create boring, typical, monochromatic offerings. Instead, his suits and dresses are colorful and contain bold patterns that instantly set his work apart.

Carmichael hailed from Kingston Jamaica and started his career in fashion as a model before turning his attention to creating colorful outfits. His work has skyrocketed him to fame in the Netherlands where he works as a top designer.

His name in the fashion industry is now globally recognized via the inclusion of his fashion collections on runways in Los Angeles, Jamaica and New York.

February 2019 marked the launch of International Fashion Week which led to the showcase of House of Byfield at Manhattans Art Hearts Fashion event. Carmichael created a series of largely black-and-white ensembles which were sophisticated yet bold, comfortable, and undeniably his.

Recently Carmichael Byfield, The King of Prints, discusses his fashion career and future plans via an exclusive interview.

Modeling, apparel collections, and Jamaican pride

Meagan Meehan (MM): You grew up in Jamaica, so how does your cultural background influence your artistic Style?

Carmichael Byfield (CB): Indeed, I grew up in Jamaica and Jamaica is known Globally for its cultural heritage with great reggae music throughout the World. Therefore, its intentional that I, as one of the many international fashion brands from Jamaica, continue to carry the Jamaican flag highly on the rightful path of fashion and to continue enforcing that artistic style with colorful and bold prints--especially with unique designs for men.

This way I'll show the world that Jamaica is also known for having creative directors globally apart from just our known reggae musicians.

MM: How did you first get interested in modeling and how did that lead to you designing your clothing?

CB: I first started modeling in high school while living in Brooklyn, NY. And during that era in the early '90s, it was the likes of powerhouses such as Versace & Moschino who ruled catwalks globally.

I thought to myself one day I'll work so hard also to rule catwalks globally.

MM: What was the first piece of apparel you designed and how did you get your fashions showcased on international runways?

CB: The first apparel was created on May 14, 1995. And the first major fashion show was in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on October 19, 2011. The first international show was DFMM on February 14, 2013, in Morocco.

MM: What inspires your bold patterns and how do you select which colors to combine?

CB: I looked throughout the fashion market in the Netherlands, and I thought to myself I'm not going to be like any of those boring Dutch fashion brands who only use standard and dull colors. I wanted to be outstanding and unique, so I've created something new in the Netherlands which never existed before.

MM: What was the inspiration behind the latest 2019 black and white collection?

CB: There wasn't any inspiration behind the lasted FW19 collection. I went fabric shopping and came across the prints and immediately decided that they would be the new prints for the House of Byfield FW19.

MM: How did you get involved with the Art Hearts Fashion show in NYC and what makes this show unique?

CB: My first show with them was on February 19, 2015. That was when the Art Hearts Fashion was part of the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. They were on the official schedule, and we still have a great collaboration with the creative director, Erik Rosete.

Fashion shows, ultimate goals, and the Netherlands

MM: Of all the fashion shows you participate in do you have any favorites?

If so, which ones and why?

CB: That'll have to be the Serbia Fashion Week! The protocol and production of their platforms is PERFECT--too good to be true. In Serbia they have a great team, they are entirely well organized, and the platform is the greatest for starting or knowing designers.

MM: How did you become so famous in the Netherlands and which countries are you currently gaining traction in?

CB: I am not sure if I'm famous as yet in the Netherlands. I'd like to think that I'm known there. I am very humble and kind and have reached out to many and will continue reaching out as much as possible. But I guess it's just by me being myself that makes me a famous person in the Netherlands.

MM: What are your ultimate goals regarding your career as a fashion designer?

CB: I've already reached my goals since 2015. However, my next goal now is to fly the first flagship store for the brand and I'm currently working towards that.

MM: What exciting events are coming up for you in 2019 and what sorts of fashions can fans expect from you in 2020?

CB: The most exciting thing is to head over to Dubai where I'm showcasing at a major event in October 2019. And what to expect for the brand in 2020 is the House of Byfield flagship store!

* * * * *

To learn more Google "House of Byfield" and connect with the brand on social media.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.The United States and Israel will lead a new push to pressure Iran at a conference on Thursday in Warsaw which is as notable for its absences as its attendees. US Vice President Mike Pence and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are both set to address the 60-nation gathering on Valentines Day, which will promote a US-led vision of the world that includes no love for Iran.But most major European nations sent only low-level officials, alarmed at President Donald Trumps bellicose tone on Iran.And Russian President Vladimir Putin has managed to divert the spotlight by holding a simultaneous summit in the resort of Sochi with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the future of war-battered Syria.Also casting a cloud over the Warsaw talks, a suicide car bombing in southeastern Iran on Wednesday killed 27 troops of the elite Revolutionary Guards who were returning from patrol, according to the force.Iran quickly linked the attack to the Warsaw conference, where supporters of the formerly armed opposition plan a second day of protests on Thursday.Dubbing the meeting in Poland the WarsawCircus, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said it was no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day the talks began.But an extremist group from the Sunni Muslim minority claimed responsibility for the attack in the volatile southeastern Baluchistan region bordering Pakistan.Sunni militants were also held responsible for a major assault on a military parade in southwestern Iran in September.The latest violence and the conference come just as the Shiite clerical regime was celebrating 40 years since the Islamic revolution that overthrew the pro-US shah.Growing US pressure on IranIran has been comparatively stable in a turbulent region in recent years. But President Donald Trump has boasted of growing unrest and economic insecurities after he slapped on biting sanctions.Trump walked away from what he called a terrible 2015 deal negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama in which Iran constrained its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.The European Union has defied Trump by not only backing the accord, with which UN inspectors say Iran is complying, but setting up a financial tool for European firms to skirt US sanctions and keep doing business in the Middle Easts second most populous country.Even Poland always eager to please the United States as it fears a resurgent Russia has gone to pains to say that it still backs the agreement alongside other European members.Poland and the United States toned down the conference to a vague goal of seeking stability in the Middle East without specifically mentioning Iran.Netanyahu has been unflinching in his criticism of Irans leaders, who do not recognise Israels right to exist.One result of Netanyahus campaign has been to put him into an unofficial coalition with Israels longtime Arab adversaries that also dislike Iran.Netanyahu tweeted a photo of himself meeting in Warsaw with Omans foreign minister, Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, calling it a revolution in Israels foreign relations!The Israeli leader paid a rare visit last year to the Gulf sultanate, which has no official ties with Israel but has sought to smooth relations with powers across the region, including Iran.Guarded hopes on YemenThe sole senior official from a major European power to attend is British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who said he wanted to focus on ending the crisis in Yemen.Several million Yemenis are on the brink of starvation and the country has suffered one of the worst cholera outbreaks in modern times, as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates backed by the United States seek to bomb and blockade Iranian-linked Huthi rebels into surrender.Hunt whose country is also a major arms supplier to Riyadh met Tuesday evening in Warsaw jointly with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and senior officials from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.In a joint statement, the four countries said they hoped to expand on a seven-week ceasefire that has largely held in the crucial port city of Hodeida but accused the Huthis of presenting obstacles.The ministers agreed that there is a window of opportunity to end the conflict in Yemen and to redouble their efforts to reach a political solution, they said.(AFP)

The United States and Israel will lead a new push to pressure Iran at a conference on Thursday in Warsaw which is as notable for its absences as its attendees.

US Vice President Mike Pence and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are both set to address the 60-nation gathering on Valentines Day, which will promote a US-led vision of the world that includes no love for Iran.

But most major European nations sent only low-level officials, alarmed at President Donald Trumps bellicose tone on Iran.

And Russian President Vladimir Putin has managed to divert the spotlight by holding a simultaneous summit in the resort of Sochi with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the future of war-battered Syria.

Also casting a cloud over the Warsaw talks, a suicide car bombing in southeastern Iran on Wednesday killed 27 troops of the elite Revolutionary Guards who were returning from patrol, according to the force.

Iran quickly linked the attack to the Warsaw conference, where supporters of the formerly armed opposition plan a second day of protests on Thursday.

Dubbing the meeting in Poland the WarsawCircus, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said it was no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day the talks began.

But an extremist group from the Sunni Muslim minority claimed responsibility for the attack in the volatile southeastern Baluchistan region bordering Pakistan.

Sunni militants were also held responsible for a major assault on a military parade in southwestern Iran in September.

The latest violence and the conference come just as the Shiite clerical regime was celebrating 40 years since the Islamic revolution that overthrew the pro-US shah.

Growing US pressure on Iran

Iran has been comparatively stable in a turbulent region in recent years. But President Donald Trump has boasted of growing unrest and economic insecurities after he slapped on biting sanctions.

Story continues

Trump walked away from what he called a terrible 2015 deal negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama in which Iran constrained its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.

The European Union has defied Trump by not only backing the accord, with which UN inspectors say Iran is complying, but setting up a financial tool for European firms to skirt US sanctions and keep doing business in the Middle Easts second most populous country.

Even Poland always eager to please the United States as it fears a resurgent Russia has gone to pains to say that it still backs the agreement alongside other European members.

Poland and the United States toned down the conference to a vague goal of seeking stability in the Middle East without specifically mentioning Iran.

Netanyahu has been unflinching in his criticism of Irans leaders, who do not recognise Israels right to exist.

One result of Netanyahus campaign has been to put him into an unofficial coalition with Israels longtime Arab adversaries that also dislike Iran.

Netanyahu tweeted a photo of himself meeting in Warsaw with Omans foreign minister, Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, calling it a revolution in Israels foreign relations!

The Israeli leader paid a rare visit last year to the Gulf sultanate, which has no official ties with Israel but has sought to smooth relations with powers across the region, including Iran.

Guarded hopes on Yemen

The sole senior official from a major European power to attend is British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who said he wanted to focus on ending the crisis in Yemen.

Several million Yemenis are on the brink of starvation and the country has suffered one of the worst cholera outbreaks in modern times, as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates backed by the United States seek to bomb and blockade Iranian-linked Huthi rebels into surrender.

Hunt whose country is also a major arms supplier to Riyadh met Tuesday evening in Warsaw jointly with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and senior officials from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In a joint statement, the four countries said they hoped to expand on a seven-week ceasefire that has largely held in the crucial port city of Hodeida but accused the Huthis of presenting obstacles.

The ministers agreed that there is a window of opportunity to end the conflict in Yemen and to redouble their efforts to reach a political solution, they said.

(AFP)A crackdown on the media in Sudan is hitting press coverage of the continuing protests against President Omar al-Bashir and his government, according to Reporters Without Borders. "The ultimate objective is evidently to economically stifle the press, said Arnaud Froger, head of the Africa programme at Reporters Without Borders (RSF).Confiscating newspapers is not only part of a strategy to limit coverage of the demonstrations against Bashir, but is intended to further suffocate the media financially, according to Froger.Some 63 newspapers have been confiscated by the Sudanese security forces since the start of the protests in December, he said, referring to both copies of newspapers being confiscated and action to stop newspapers going to the printing presses in the first place.The crackdown on the Sudanese written press has led to significant additional costs for many publications who not only lose the money spent on printing, but also the associated advertising that they have been unable to carry, according to RSF.Froger estimated potential losses to Sudanese publications of between 500 US dollars to several thousand US dollars for each instance of newspapers being confiscated. Since the start of the demonstrations and targeting of newspapers the cost has run into tens of thousands of US dollars.RSF also said that the number of journalists arrested during coverage of the Sudanese uprising has reached 79 people. Journalists in Sudan are the first victims of repression, according to Froger, and some 16 reporters still remain in detention.Protests in Sudan against the government were born out of demonstrations over the increasing price of basic goods. Protests have morphed from an anger over the price of bread and fuel into a more general movement against Bashirs government.For the security people, journalists who are covering news or protests are also dangerous like the protesters, Mohamed Nagi, editor-in-chief of the Sudan Tribune, told RFI. When you cover protests, you reflect something that they dont want the international community to see.The protests have brought together a broad collection of political parties, civil society groups and armed Sudanese rebel groups. The demonstrations have been coordinated by the Sudanese Professionals Association.You cant cover the revolution in Sudan, you cant write news stories about what happened, you cant publish pictures because the government takes your newspaper, Mohamed Al-Asbat, a spokesperson for the Sudanese Professionals Association, told RFI.Asbat, a former journalist who has previously spent time behind bars for his work, said officers from the intelligence agency frequently infiltrate newsrooms to try and monitor how events in the country are being covered.Journalists who are arrested by the authorities are subject to harassment, beatings and intimidation, according to Asbat. Theyll do every bad thing [to you] that you can imagine, he said.The latest statistics on the media crackdown in Sudan were announced during a press conference in Paris on Wednesday. The event brought together members of the French branch for the Coordination for the Support of the Sudanese Revolution group. The group hopes to rally support for the uprising in a revolution that it described as based on liberty, peace and justice, according to a press release.Bashir recently released a number of journalists in detention following a meeting with a number of editors.People are very interested and want to know more about the protests. The news about whats going on and the political situation in Sudan is terrible, said Sudan Tribunes Nagi.

A crackdown on the media in Sudan is hitting press coverage of the continuing protests against President Omar al-Bashir and his government, according to Reporters Without Borders.

"The ultimate objective is evidently to economically stifle the press, said Arnaud Froger, head of the Africa programme at Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Confiscating newspapers is not only part of a strategy to limit coverage of the demonstrations against Bashir, but is intended to further suffocate the media financially, according to Froger.

Some 63 newspapers have been confiscated by the Sudanese security forces since the start of the protests in December, he said, referring to both copies of newspapers being confiscated and action to stop newspapers going to the printing presses in the first place.

The crackdown on the Sudanese written press has led to significant additional costs for many publications who not only lose the money spent on printing, but also the associated advertising that they have been unable to carry, according to RSF.

Froger estimated potential losses to Sudanese publications of between 500 US dollars to several thousand US dollars for each instance of newspapers being confiscated. Since the start of the demonstrations and targeting of newspapers the cost has run into tens of thousands of US dollars.

RSF also said that the number of journalists arrested during coverage of the Sudanese uprising has reached 79 people. Journalists in Sudan are the first victims of repression, according to Froger, and some 16 reporters still remain in detention.

Protests in Sudan against the government were born out of demonstrations over the increasing price of basic goods. Protests have morphed from an anger over the price of bread and fuel into a more general movement against Bashirs government.

For the security people, journalists who are covering news or protests are also dangerous like the protesters, Mohamed Nagi, editor-in-chief of the Sudan Tribune, told RFI. When you cover protests, you reflect something that they dont want the international community to see.

Story continues

The protests have brought together a broad collection of political parties, civil society groups and armed Sudanese rebel groups. The demonstrations have been coordinated by the Sudanese Professionals Association.

You cant cover the revolution in Sudan, you cant write news stories about what happened, you cant publish pictures because the government takes your newspaper, Mohamed Al-Asbat, a spokesperson for the Sudanese Professionals Association, told RFI.

Asbat, a former journalist who has previously spent time behind bars for his work, said officers from the intelligence agency frequently infiltrate newsrooms to try and monitor how events in the country are being covered.

Journalists who are arrested by the authorities are subject to harassment, beatings and intimidation, according to Asbat. Theyll do every bad thing [to you] that you can imagine, he said.

The latest statistics on the media crackdown in Sudan were announced during a press conference in Paris on Wednesday. The event brought together members of the French branch for the Coordination for the Support of the Sudanese Revolution group. The group hopes to rally support for the uprising in a revolution that it described as based on liberty, peace and justice, according to a press release.

Bashir recently released a number of journalists in detention following a meeting with a number of editors.

People are very interested and want to know more about the protests. The news about whats going on and the political situation in Sudan is terrible, said Sudan Tribunes Nagi.Kumasi and its environs will soon benefit from a 13-million fully customised waste water treatment plant to be known as the Kumasi Waste Water Treatment Plant (KWWTP).



The project, which will be completed in 18 months, is the result of a partnership between the Jospong Group of Companies (JGC) and a Hungarian engineering technology firm, Pureco Limited.



The water treatment plant is expected to create about 1,000 direct and indirect jobs in the area when completed.



Speaking at the sod-cutting ceremony for the project at Adagya, a suburb of Kumasi, the Executive Chairman of the JGC, Mr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, praised the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, for releasing the 130-acre land for the project, saying this is a mark of the Kings dedication to the development of his people.



He said the facility, which would be managed by Sewerage Systems Ghana Limited (SSGL), a subsidiary of the JGC, would have the capacity to treat 1,000m3 of waste water every day and turn waste water into compost for the agrarian community of Ghana.



Replication



Mr Agyepong stated that feasibility studies had been concluded to replicate the same project in Tamale, Takoradi and Tema.



He said the facility would also serve as a research centre for the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, among other institutions.



He gave an assurance that further collaboration with the Hungarian government would see the JGC procuring 100 cesspit emptying trucks and 100 compaction trucks to further ensure that the Presidents vision of making Ghana clean was achieved.



The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Mrs Cecilia Abena Dapaah, in a speech read on her behalf by the Deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Mr Michael Gyato, said it was estimated that 90 per cent of Ghanas faecal sludge was untreated, for which reason the installation of the facility in Kumasi was timely and strategic.



She said since assumption of office, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had made environmental sanitation a key priority, hence the establishment of the Sanitation Ministry to directly supervise the sector very well.



She expressed the belief that the innovation between the JGC and Pureco would help curb open defecation in communities in the Ashanti Region.



Mrs Dapaah expressed the governments gratitude to the Hungarian government and for the partnership and the development of relations between Ghana and Hungary.



First Hungarian Ghanaian partnership



The Hungarian Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Adras Szab, lauded the partnership and said it was the first contract between a Hungarian company and a Ghanaian firm to bring development to the people.



The Deputy Secretary of State for Export Development of Hungary Foreign Affairs, Mr Ivan Joo, said the project was the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa.



He lauded the JGC and its subsidiary the SSGL for the initiative and urged them to continue the good works for Ghana and its people.



The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Simon Osei Mensah, in his welcome address, urged all partners and stakeholders to give the project the attention it deserved to ensure that it was completed on schedule.



He called for more of such collaborations from the private sector and gave an assurance that President Akufo-Addo would continue to create a congenial environment for the private sector to thrive.



The contract was signed by Mr Agyepong and the Chief Executive of Pureco Limited, Mr Balint Havarh.



The project will be jointly financed by the Hungarian Exim Bank, the government of Hungary and the JGC.

Source: Daily Graphic









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Featured VideoVice President Mike Pence has accused Britain, France and Germany of trying to break US sanctions against Iran.

In an unusually blunt speech to a Middle East conference in Poland, Mr Pence called on European nations to join the US in withdrawing from the landmark 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.

He criticised the three countries and the European Union as a whole for remaining parties to the agreement after the Trump administration withdrew from it last year and reimposed tough sanctions on Iran.

The criticism threatened to further chill US-European ties which have already been badly strained, including over the Iran focus of the Warsaw conference co-hosted by the US and Poland.

Vice President Mike Pence criticised European countries (Michael Sohn/AP)

France and Germany declined to send their top diplomats to the foreign minister-level meeting and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also stayed away.

Mr Pence was especially critical of Britain, France and Germany for unveiling last month a new financial mechanism that US officials believe is intended to keep the nuclear deal alive by evading American sanctions.

He praised other nations for complying with the sanctions by reducing Iranian oil imports but said the Europeans fell short.

Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative, Mr Pence said. In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions.

He said the mechanism, known as the special purpose vehicle, is an effort to break American sanctions against Irans murderous regime.

Its an ill-advised step that that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU, and create still more distance between Europe and the United States.

Mr Pence then called for Europe to abandon the nuclear agreement.

The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us as we bring the economic and diplomatic pressure necessary to give the Iranian people, the region and the world the peace security and freedom they deserve, he said.

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Earlier, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Iran the top security threat to the Middle East, and said confronting the country is key to reaching peace in the entire region.

Mr Pompeo, who met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the opening session of the conference, said pushing back against Iran was central to dealing with all the regions other problems.

You cant achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran. Its just not possible, Mr Pompeo said.

The US and Poland say the conference is aimed at promoting peace and security in the Middle East and discussing issues such as Syria, Yemen, the fight against the Islamic State, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, cyber crime and terrorism.

The conference was attended by representatives from numerous Arab countries but notable absences include Russia, China and the Palestinians, who have called for the meeting to be boycotted.

Iran has denounced the gathering as an American anti-Iran circus aimed at demonising it.A teenager who ran away from Britain as a 15-year-old schoolgirl to join the Islamic State group now wants to return home.

Heavily pregnant with her third child, Shamima Begum, now 19, was tracked down by The Times to a refugee camp in northern Syria.

Here are some key questions her case raises:

 What action might she face if she is allowed to return to the UK?

Home Office Minister Ben Wallace has said everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police.

This will determine if they have committed criminal offences, and to ensure that they do not pose a threat to national security.

There are a range of terrorism offences where individuals can be convicted for crimes committed overseas, he said.

Home Office Minister Ben Wallace said everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police (John Stillwell/PA)

 How should Ms Begum be treated by UK authorities?

Ms Begum was a pupil at Bethnal Green Academy in east London when she ran away to Syria in February 2015 with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, who also attended the school.

Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer who was instructed by the girls families after they disappeared, told the Press Association that British authorities should be reminded of former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howes position at the time.

Lord Hogan-Howe said that the girls would be treated as victims so long as they had not committed any further offences while in Syria.

Amira Abase going through security at Gatwick Airport before catching a flight to Turkey with Kadiza Sultana and Shamima Begum (Metropolitan Police/PA)

 How many British women and girls joined IS and how many have returned?

An absence of public Government data has led experts to warn the number of women and minors linked to IS thought to have returned has been significantly underestimated.

An estimated 850 people have travelled from the UK to support IS in Iraq and Syria, including 145 women and 50 minors, according to a report by Kings College London released last year.

Of the 425 who have returned, only two women and four minors were listed.

 Do they pose a threat?

Joana Cook, a senior research fellow at KCL who co-authored the study, said the researchers considered the women to be potential security threats based on several factors.

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She said: (These include) the physical security roles and related training that women have undertaken in IS-held territory, and the potential to transfer or apply these skills in other locations, or to pass these on to other people including other women and their children.

 What is left of Islamic State?

When Ms Begum left for Syria in 2015, IS had taken control of large tracts of northern Syria and northern Iraq.

Millions of people were living in territory controlled by the terrorist group, which had declared the creation of a caliphate.

Four years later, following a massive military campaign by regional forces assisted by foreign powers including America, Britain and Russia, IS territory has dwindled to a small village in eastern Syria.

Earlier this week, US-backed Syrian forces launched an operation to clear Baghuz where, according to Ms Begum, Ms Abase and a fourth Bethnal Green schoolgirl, Sharmeena Begum, remain.At least 44 Indian paramilitary soldiers were killed on Thursday in Indian-administered Kashmir after a suicide bomber rammed a car into the bus carrying them. The blast took place on the heavily guarded Srinagar-Jammu highway about 20km (12 miles) from the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir, Srinagar.The Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack, which is likely to ratchet up tensions between nuclear-armed arch rivals India and Pakistan. New Delhi has long accused Islamabad of supporting militant groups."The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain," Indian Prime Minister Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, calling the attack "despicable".The attack saw explosives packed inside a van rip through buses in a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying some 2,500 members of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).The attack could put Modi, who faces a general election due by May, under political pressure to act against the militants and Pakistan.Decades of hostilityThursday's assault surpasses that of 2016, the biggest in 14 years and which killed 19 soldiers in a brazen pre-dawn raid by militants on the Uri army camp.India blamed militants in Pakistan for that attack and responded with surgical strikes.New Delhi's foreign ministry, in a statement late Thursday, again blamed Islamabad.The US ambassador to India, Ken Juster, condemned the attack, saying in a tweet that Washington stands alongside India in confronting terror and defeating it.Kashmir is a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan. The neighbors both rule parts of the region while claiming the entire territory as theirs.

At least 44 Indian paramilitary soldiers were killed on Thursday in Indian-administered Kashmir after a suicide bomber rammed a car into the bus carrying them.

The blast took place on the heavily guarded Srinagar-Jammu highway about 20km (12 miles) from the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir, Srinagar.

The Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack, which is likely to ratchet up tensions between nuclear-armed arch rivals India and Pakistan.

New Delhi has long accused Islamabad of supporting militant groups.

"The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain," Indian Prime Minister Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, calling the attack "despicable".

The attack saw explosives packed inside a van rip through buses in a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying some 2,500 members of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

The attack could put Modi, who faces a general election due by May, under political pressure to act against the militants and Pakistan.

Decades of hostility

Thursday's assault surpasses that of 2016, the biggest in 14 years and which killed 19 soldiers in a brazen pre-dawn raid by militants on the Uri army camp.

India blamed militants in Pakistan for that attack and responded with surgical strikes.

New Delhi's foreign ministry, in a statement late Thursday, again blamed Islamabad.

The US ambassador to India, Ken Juster, condemned the attack, saying in a tweet that Washington stands alongside India in confronting terror and defeating it.

Kashmir is a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan. The neighbors both rule parts of the region while claiming the entire territory as theirs.Labour has failed in an attempt to stop Theresa May running down the clock to a no-deal Brexit, after MPs voted down the partys demand for the Prime Minister to bring her Withdrawal Agreement back to the Commons by February 27.

But the PM was facing probable defeat in another dramatic night for Brexit, after eurosceptic Tory backbenchers announced they would abstain on a key Government motion.

They said that the motion tabled by Mrs May would amount to an effective endorsement of efforts to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

A Labour amendment, requiring the Government to stage a second meaningful vote on its Brexit deal by February 27 or give Parliament control over the next steps, was defeated by 322 to 306.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay warned that European leaders would be watching for any sign that our resolve is weakening (House of Commons/PA)

Ahead of the votes, Government ministers urged MPs to back Mrs May, arguing that defeat for the Prime Minister would undermine the UKs chances of securing concessions from Brussels on the controversial backstop arrangements for keeping the Irish border open.

But members of the European Research Group of Leave-backing Conservatives emerged from a last-minute meeting in a Westminster committee room to say that they would abstain.

The PMs motion asks the House to reiterate its support for the stance taken by MPs in the last round of Brexit votes on January 29.

On that date, MPs voted not only to authorise the PM to go back to Brussels to renegotiate the controversial Irish backstop, but also for a non-binding amendment to block EU withdrawal without an agreement.

In a day of debate in the Commons ahead of the Valentines Day votes, senior Brexiteers voiced reluctance to lend their support to anything which appeared to endorse ruling out no-deal.

Although Downing Street insisted no-deal would remain firmly on the table, former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said he was struggling with the idea of backing the Government motion.

Story continues

And veteran eurosceptic Sir William Cash said he could not vote for a piece of doublethink which would further undermine public trust.

(PA Graphics)

Opening the days debate, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay warned that European leaders would be watching the evenings votes for any sign that our resolve is weakening.

And International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told the BBC: Our European partners will be watching our debate and listening today to see if they get the impression that if they were to make  concessions, Parliament would definitely deliver on that.

A Scottish National Party proposal to delay Brexit for three months beyond the scheduled date of March 29 was defeated by 315 to 93.

Pro-EU Conservative Anna Soubry indicated she would not force a vote on her cross-party amendment, which would have required the Government to publish its latest advice on the economic impact of a no-deal Brexit.

Ms Soubry was offered a meeting with the effective deputy prime minister David Lidington to discuss which documents could be released.

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Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer told MPs that deep down he did not believe Mrs May was ready to take the UK out of Europe without a deal on March 29.

He maintained she was taking the Brexit debate to the wire in order to be able to confront MPs with a last-minute choice between her deal or no-deal.

He confirmed Labour will back a cross-party plan from backbencher Yvette Cooper  expected to go to a vote on February 27  which would force the Government to conclude its deal by March 13 or allow MPs to vote on no-deal or a second referendum.

It is obvious what the Prime Minister is up to  she is pretending to make progress while running down the clock, said Sir Keir.

A non-update every other week to buy another two weeks of process, inching ever closer to the March 29 deadline in 43 days. We should not be fooled.

Peoples Vote supporters wearing blindfolds and carrying placards in Parliament Square ahead of the Brexit debate (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The latest Brexit showdown came as Dutch PM Mark Rutte told the Financial Times the Netherlands is already benefiting from businesses relocating from a diminished Britain.

But Mrs Mays spokesman said Number 10 disagrees entirely with Mr Ruttes stance, adding: Employment is at a record high, exports are at a record high, companies are continuing to invest in the UK.

Deloitte named the UK as Europes leading destination for foreign direct investment and London as the worlds top city for investment just last month.

In a bid to keep lines open with EU leaders, Mrs May held phone calls on Thursday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Austrias Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, prime minister Stefan Lofven of Sweden and Portuguese premier Antonio Costa.

Peoples Vote protesters seeking a second EU referendum gathered outside Parliament to demonstrate against what they termed a blindfold Brexit.

And pro-Brexit campaigners from the Leave Means Leave movement delivered a Valentines Day card for the Prime Minister to Downing Street.French and Italian officials are due to meet to discuss an extradition request for a former member of a left-wing armed group wanted for crimes committed during Italys Years of ... Italys justice ministry has not made the identity of the fugitive public, but has indicated he was convicted of acts of terrorism during a period of political turbulence from the late 1960s to early 1980s.Frances justice ministry indicated it had received an official extradition request and that it was studying other cases with its Italian counterparts.Talks between the French and Italian Justice ministries are being held over 15 cases, ministry spokesperson Youssef Badr told Reuters agency on Monday.Badr added he was expecting a second official request in the coming days.More than 400 people died in political bombings, assassinations and street clashes by rival far-right and far-left extra-parliamentary groups during the Years of Lead.In the twilight years of the period, as many as 300 members of left-wing groups fled to France, where they received protection under a policy that judged they could not be assured of fair treatment in Italys justice system.One of the most famous of these was Cesare Battisti, who also lived in Mexico and Brazil for many years before fleeing to Bolivia, where he was arrested and extradited in January.Within days of Battistis return to Rome, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini urged French President Emmanuel Macron to send home other former guerrillas to serve prison sentences in Italy.According to the Italian daily La Repubblica, the list of fugitives includes three convicted for playing a role in the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of former Prime Minister Aldo Moro.

French and Italian officials are due to meet to discuss an extradition request for a former member of a left-wing armed group wanted for crimes committed during Italys Years of ...

Italys justice ministry has not made the identity of the fugitive public, but has indicated he was convicted of acts of terrorism during a period of political turbulence from the late 1960s to early 1980s.

Frances justice ministry indicated it had received an official extradition request and that it was studying other cases with its Italian counterparts.

Talks between the French and Italian Justice ministries are being held over 15 cases, ministry spokesperson Youssef Badr told Reuters agency on Monday.

Badr added he was expecting a second official request in the coming days.

More than 400 people died in political bombings, assassinations and street clashes by rival far-right and far-left extra-parliamentary groups during the Years of Lead.

In the twilight years of the period, as many as 300 members of left-wing groups fled to France, where they received protection under a policy that judged they could not be assured of fair treatment in Italys justice system.

One of the most famous of these was Cesare Battisti, who also lived in Mexico and Brazil for many years before fleeing to Bolivia, where he was arrested and extradited in January.

Within days of Battistis return to Rome, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini urged French President Emmanuel Macron to send home other former guerrillas to serve prison sentences in Italy.

According to the Italian daily La Repubblica, the list of fugitives includes three convicted for playing a role in the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of former Prime Minister Aldo Moro.Romanian operator Blue Air 'has been unable to receive the necessary clarity', according to Liverpool's John Lennon Airport.

British holidaymakers have responded angrily after a Romanian airline cancelled flights from Liverpools John Lennon Airport, reportedly due to uncertainty over Brexit.

Dozens of passengers expecting to fly to Rome and Alicante complained that their flights with Blue Air had been cancelled on Wednesday night but tickets were still available to buy online.

A spokesman for John Lennon Airport said the Brexit impasse had left the carrier unable to receive the necessary clarity around its ability to operate flights between the UK and countries other than Romania.

While Blue Air will continue to operate flights between the two countries, services from the UK to any other country could be affected if the UK leaves the EU without a continuation of current EU legislation.

Blue Air flights between Luton and Turin are also expected to be affected.

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Blue Air also did not respond to requests for comment but the airlines official Twitter account has blocked at least one angry customer on the social network.

The man, who declined to give his name, said he received an email on Wednesday saying his flight to Rome on March 6 had been cancelled for operational reasons.

On replying asking for a refund I got an automated response which asked to fill in a form which I think was in Romanian, he told the Press Association.

Seats for the flight are still available to buy online.

Tickets for an Alitalia flight to Rome operated by Blue Air, listed to depart at exactly the same time, are also available but for more than double the price.

The man continued: It was my Xmas present and I go on my birthday so I need to get there somehow, even if it means Ive now spent an extra 160 to get there and took another day off work.

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Sara Kavanagh, 27, was due to fly to Rome for her wedding anniversary on March 18 but also received a cancellation email.

The marketing manager from Manchester said: Weve looked online and they have two other flights available but for three times the price we paid in January.

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My flights were before March 29 so really Brexit shouldnt be an issue here, she added.

Daniel Northover, 46, from Liverpool, was due to fly with Blue Air to Alicante for his mothers birthday on March 2 but has had to find new flights after his were cancelled.

He said: I can understand it but we havent left yet if their response is true, its potentially the first clear manifestation of Project Fear being identifiably real.

A spokesman for John Lennon Airport said: Blue Air has successfully operated its based aircraft for two years in Liverpool serving a wide range of routes.

Unfortunately, as a Romanian Air Operator Certificate (AOC) holder, the current Brexit impasse means that the carrier has been unable to receive the necessary clarity regarding their ability to operate seventh freedom services which are currently possible under EU Open Skies.

The carrier will continue to serve Liverpool John Lennon Airport and will increase flights this summer to Bucharest and Bacau.

Seventh freedom services under the EU Open Skies agreement refer to flights between countries which are not an airlines home country.

A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: We are committed to ensuring that flights between the UK and EU continue, and the European Commission has published a proposal to make sure this happens.

This clearly shows that in the event of no deal, both sides are committed to maintaining connectivity.The Duke of Sussex may have been many miles from the UK but two British servicemen on winter weather training in the Arctic Circle ensured the duchess was never far from Harrys mind on Valentines Day.

A tiny makeshift igloo dug into the fresh Norwegian snow was just large enough to fit framed images from Harry and Meghans wedding, while candles and soft music also welcomed the duke as he edged his way inside the Quincey Shelter to meet Lance Corporal Lee Lovack and air engineering technician Kevin Burns.

The royal, spending his first Valentines Day as a married man with hundreds of British military personnel at the Bardufoss training base, laughed as he spotted the mementos.

Harry was invited into the Quincey Shelter as he spent Valentines Day in Norway (Victoria Jones/PA)

You weirdos, he joked.

Its very kind of you to invite me into your private shrine or whatever you want to call it.

And the music, is that part of it? Romantic isnt it.

Harry laughed as he spotted the mementos inside the shelter (Victoria Jones/PA)

Speaking afterwards, AET Burns, 36, from Inverness, said: We took him (the duke) through the structure of the shelter, how its made.

He is used to the weather, I think, because he said about exercises he had been on, he looked around at the shelter with the pictures and candles and he said we were weirdos.

Harry spent three hours in the icy wilds of northern Norway, meeting hundreds of servicemen undergoing the gruelling Exercise Clockwork.

The temperature when the Duke of Sussex arrived in Norway was minus 2C (28.4F)  much milder than the minus 35C (minus 31F) servicemen and women can expect (Victoria Jones/PA)

The duke, who is due to become a father for the first time when the Duchess of Sussex gives birth later this year, arrived by private plane with temperatures just below freezing  much milder than the minus 35C many can expect to experience at the Bardufoss air station, some 200 miles (322km) within the Arctic Circle.

Harrys visit marked the 50th anniversary of Commando Helicopter Force and Joint Helicopter Command deploying to Bardufoss, where military personnel are taught how to survive, operate and fight in the sub-zero conditions and gain experience of operating aircraft in severe cold weather and mountainous environments.

Story continues

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The duke, in his role as Captain General Royal Marines, also viewed an Apache AH1 helicopter similar to the one he used to pilot  an experience he said he missed.

Major Huw Raikes, of the Army Air Corp, 34, from London, said: He misses flying the aircraft. He was reminiscing about his experiences, asking what life was like back in Suffolk (where the duke was once based) and reminiscing about a few people we know.

I was suggesting he would be able to start it (the helicopter) up, it all comes back very quickly.

He misses the aircraft, he misses the exercises he had while flying it.

It was a fun period for him  he had a focus, a job and a role. He misses that brotherhood.

Harry shared his experiences flying Apache helicopters (Victoria Jones/PA)

Harry cut a birthday cake marking the 50th anniversary with a sword, and thanked those present for their work.

He said: Its really nice to see you all and know youre having a good time out here. I think most of you would be somewhere else, Salisbury Plain or somewhere miserable, this gives you an opportunity to get out there and use every single day as an experience.

The royal is expected to arrive back at Kensington Palace in time to spend Valentines Day evening with his wife.

The Duke of Sussex is expected to be back in the UK this evening (Victoria Jones/PA)

Warrant Officer 1st Class Adrian Shepherd, who has served with CHF for 27 years, said: This is the first time His Royal Highness has visited Joint Helicopter Command since becoming Captain General and it is great that he is doing the visit while were in Norway.

He was able to get a good look at what we do and how we operate in these harsh conditions. He saw the amount of training that goes into it and why it is so important that we do this exercise every year.

It is good for the people out here to see their hard work recognised during a significant year for the exercise.LUXEMBOURG (AP) _ Globant SA (GLOB) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter profit of $11.5 million.

The Luxembourg-based company said it had net income of 31 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for stock option expense and costs related to mergers and acquisitions, came to 50 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 48 cents per share.

The information technology services provider posted revenue of $140.1 million in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $139.6 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $51.7 million, or $1.41 per share. Revenue was reported as $522.3 million.

For the current quarter ending in April, Globant expects its per-share earnings to range from 45 cents to 49 cents.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $144 million to $146 million for the fiscal first quarter.

Globant expects full-year earnings in the range of $2.10 to $2.20 per share, with revenue ranging from $635 million to $645 million.

Globant shares have climbed 21 percent since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $68.25, a rise of 47 percent in the last 12 months.

_____

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on GLOB at https://www.zacks.com/ap/GLOBModel Michelle Lewin was enjoying a tropical bikini-clad photo shoot on the islands of the Bahamas when she was attacked by wild pigs.

The 32-year-old fitness influencer was visiting Big Major Cay island in Exuma, which is an area known for its feral pig population.

Many models and tourists have visited the location to swim with the pigs, but when Lewin went to create the same type of exotic photo shoot, things went horribly wrong.U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort breached his plea agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office by lying to prosecutors about matters which are material to its Russia probe, a judge ruled on Wednesday. The ruling concludes weeks of wrangling between Manafort's lawyers and the special counsel over whether he had intentionally lied to prosecutors, impeding their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is overseeing the Manafort case in a Washington court, found there was a "preponderance" of evidence that Manafort lied on three different topics, including his communications with his former business partner Konstantin Kilimnik, whom prosecutors say has ties to Russian intelligence.Kilimnik has denied such ties.Jackson cleared Manafort of allegations that he intentionally lied on two other subjects - Kilimnik's role in an obstruction of justice charge and statements Manafort made about his contacts with members of the Trump administration.Nevertheless, the ruling will almost certainly dash Manafort's hopes of avoiding significant time in prison, as Mueller's prosecutors are now released from their obligation to support a lighter sentence.Sentencing experts have said Manafort, 69, could face a decade in prison.Michael Zeldin, a former federal prosecutor, said one possible reason Manafort chose to lie was because he was hoping for a presidential pardon -- echoing speculation raised by one of Mueller's prosecutors at a court hearing last week."Why he lied is a great mystery unless he is covering up something of significance," Zeldin said. "Unless he is pardoned he is going to spend the rest of his life in prison."The heart of the matterThe judge found that Manafort lied about his interactions with Kilimnik including about the sharing of polling data on the Trump campaign and their discussions over a "Ukrainian peace plan," a proposal that envisioned ending U.S. sanctions on Russia - long an important objective of Russian President Vladimir Putin's government.A court transcript released last week showed that Mueller's team believed those lies to be "at the heart" of their investigation into potential collusion, which Trump and Russia have both denied.In a court filing ahead of Wednesday's ruling, Manafort's lawyers repeated their argument that their client never intentionally lied to prosecutors and stressed that he corrected any mistakes once they were pointed out to him.Manafort struck the deal with Mueller in September when he pleaded guilty in Jackson's court to conspiracy against the United States, a charge that includes a range of conduct from money laundering to failing to register as a lobbyist for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine, as well as conspiracy to obstruct justice for his attempts to tamper with witnesses in his case.Manafort also faces sentencing in a separate case in Virginia where a jury in August convicted him of financial crimes including failing to pay taxes on some $16 million he pocketed for his political work in Ukraine.Manafort lawyers have said he is suffering from depression, anxiety and gout while in detention awaiting sentencing.Given his age and health issues. Manafort had been in a position to receive some leniency prior to Jackson's ruling, said sentencing expert Mark Allenbaugh."That is gone now," he said. "Manafort will serve a minimum of 10 years' imprisonment, maybe more, for both cases."(REUTERS)

U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort breached his plea agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office by lying to prosecutors about matters which are material to its Russia probe, a judge ruled on Wednesday.

The ruling concludes weeks of wrangling between Manafort's lawyers and the special counsel over whether he had intentionally lied to prosecutors, impeding their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is overseeing the Manafort case in a Washington court, found there was a "preponderance" of evidence that Manafort lied on three different topics, including his communications with his former business partner Konstantin Kilimnik, whom prosecutors say has ties to Russian intelligence.

Kilimnik has denied such ties.

Jackson cleared Manafort of allegations that he intentionally lied on two other subjects - Kilimnik's role in an obstruction of justice charge and statements Manafort made about his contacts with members of the Trump administration.

Nevertheless, the ruling will almost certainly dash Manafort's hopes of avoiding significant time in prison, as Mueller's prosecutors are now released from their obligation to support a lighter sentence.

Sentencing experts have said Manafort, 69, could face a decade in prison.

Michael Zeldin, a former federal prosecutor, said one possible reason Manafort chose to lie was because he was hoping for a presidential pardon -- echoing speculation raised by one of Mueller's prosecutors at a court hearing last week.

"Why he lied is a great mystery unless he is covering up something of significance," Zeldin said. "Unless he is pardoned he is going to spend the rest of his life in prison."

The heart of the matter

The judge found that Manafort lied about his interactions with Kilimnik including about the sharing of polling data on the Trump campaign and their discussions over a "Ukrainian peace plan," a proposal that envisioned ending U.S. sanctions on Russia - long an important objective of Russian President Vladimir Putin's government.

Story continues

A court transcript released last week showed that Mueller's team believed those lies to be "at the heart" of their investigation into potential collusion, which Trump and Russia have both denied.

In a court filing ahead of Wednesday's ruling, Manafort's lawyers repeated their argument that their client never intentionally lied to prosecutors and stressed that he corrected any mistakes once they were pointed out to him.

Manafort struck the deal with Mueller in September when he pleaded guilty in Jackson's court to conspiracy against the United States, a charge that includes a range of conduct from money laundering to failing to register as a lobbyist for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine, as well as conspiracy to obstruct justice for his attempts to tamper with witnesses in his case.

Manafort also faces sentencing in a separate case in Virginia where a jury in August convicted him of financial crimes including failing to pay taxes on some $16 million he pocketed for his political work in Ukraine.

Manafort lawyers have said he is suffering from depression, anxiety and gout while in detention awaiting sentencing.

Given his age and health issues. Manafort had been in a position to receive some leniency prior to Jackson's ruling, said sentencing expert Mark Allenbaugh.

"That is gone now," he said. "Manafort will serve a minimum of 10 years' imprisonment, maybe more, for both cases."

(REUTERS)Ghana has been selected to host the 5th biennial international conference of African health economists and financing and policy experts. The conference will deliberate on strategies towards attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) on the continent, and seek to suggest Primary Healthcare (PHC) as the most important first step towards reaching this goal within various African countries.



The idea that governments should focus on primary healthcare was first proposed in 1978 at Alma Ata in the then Soviet Union, but has gained renewed emphasis in the era of universal health coverage as a concrete initial step to attaining the longer term goal. This was reaffirmed in the Astana (formerly Alma Ata) Declaration last year, to which many African countries, including our host country, Ghana, were signatories. The new momentum to promote PHC as the foundation for attaining UHC is partly a recognition of the realities of low income and lower middle income countries (LICs/LMICs) who have more limited resources and must invest these very wisely in the very high impact and cost-effective PHC interventions that affect the greatest number of people as well as 90 percent of health conditions that affect people throughout their lives.



The Conference being organized by the Africa Health Economics and Policy Association (AfHEA) is under the auspices of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the School of Public Health (SPH) of the University of Ghana, Legon and the Centre for Health Systems and Policy Research (CHESPOR) and is expected to host health ministers, top health policy makers, researchers, practitioners and students among others, in an attempt to push the PHC and Universal Health Coverage agenda on the continent.



This years conference slated for March 11-14 at the Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel in Accra, is on the theme, Securing Primary Healthcare for all: the foundation for making progress on UHC in Africa, and projected to be attended by well over 250 local and foreign participants.



AfHEA is an international health economics and policy organization dedicated to the promotion and strengthening of the use of health economics and health policy analysis in achieving equitable and efficient health systems and improved health outcomes in Africa, especially for the most vulnerable populations. It has supported health policy development in many countries on the continent.



Spending on healthcare on the continent has been low and is reflected in the health outcomes of many people living in Africa, especially south of the Sahara. Various attempts have been made to increase governments expenditure on health. These attempts have not been very successful.

The 2001 Abuja Declaration committed African Union countries to allocate at least 15% of their budget to improve the health sector. Tracking of budgets and expenditures by WHO has shown that no more than a few (usually less than 5) countries in any year manage to attain that target. Other, more pertinent, international health financing targets, such as the Macroeconomic Commission on Health and High Level Forum on Health Financing, which both advocate a more relevant per capita spending level on health by countries, have also been observed more in the breach. The inability to achieve these targets are a key reason why the health indicators of many countries are so poor and why their MDG targets were missed.



Like many other African countries, access to healthcare in Ghana is below average. The main vehicle being used to provide financial access to healthcare in Ghana is the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) which has less than 40% coverage of the population.



It is believed that if governments would focus and channel a big part of their healthcare budget to providing access  financial and physical  to primary healthcare for all citizens, it would quicken the march to UHC and greatly improve the countrys health indicators.



Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 advocates for good health and well-being. It also calls for the attainment of Universal Health Coverage, including financial risk protection and access to quality essential health-care services for all by 2030.



With Ghana holding the co-chairmanship of the UNs Eminent Group of SDG Advocates, and health being a core part of the goals, it would be expected that the country takes the lead in ensuring that she reaches the goals even faster. Some experts have opined that a focus on primary healthcare provides a good opportunity to attaining goal 3 of the SDGs.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Featured VideoThe Dutch Brexit monster (in the t-shirt)  with the countrys foreign minister, Stef Blok (Stef Blok)

Brexit has become a monster  officially.

The Dutch government has unveiled a big, blue, furry monster called Brexit complete with ministerial approval.

Stef Blok, the Dutch Foreign Minister, bizarrely tweeted a picture of himself with the creature, which is wearing a white T-shirt with the word Brexit in red letters, lying on his desk and stopping him from working.

The fluffy creature does have a serious point though.

The Brexit monster will appear in a Dutch campaign to make sure businesses prepare for the UK exit from the European Union (Brexitloket)

The Dutch government says the idea of the blue monster is to raise awareness among Dutch businesses of the impact of Brexit, especially if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal on March 29.

Make sure Brexit doesnt get  or lie  in your way, Mr Blok, who has his arms raised in a gesture of mock frustration, said in the tweet.

Its a sort of funny way of warning for Brexit, but in a relaxed way, a Dutch government source told AFP, adding that the creatures name was Brexit.

The Dutch mickey-taking, with a serious point, comes as Britain still searches to approve a deal for leaving the European Union.

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If it does not, Britain could leave without a deal, which many businesses have warned against, next month.

The tweet also features a link to a government website  www.brexitloket.nl  where firms can check for the potential fallout to their business.

Brexit  the monster  also features in a full-page advertisement in the Dutch newspaper Financieele Dagblad newspaper on Thursday as well.

The so-called Brexit muppet will also feature in a social media campaign literally getting in the way of business by blocking trucks and conveyor belts, the government has said.

The humorous Dutch take on Brexit belies the fact that the Netherlands is making major preparations to deal with the impact on its economy, which is closely linked with Britain, reports AFP.

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Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in an interview published in the Financial Times on Thursday that around 250 businesses were close to a decision to move to the Netherlands from a diminished Britain because of Brexit.

He also said that Britain is a waning country, which is too small to stand alone in the world.Shamima Begum wants to return to the UK after she travelled to Syria to join Islamic State (Met Police)

The pregnant British schoolgirl who wants to return to the UK after she fled London to join Islamic State in Syria will not be rescued, the security minister has confirmed.

Shamima Begum left Britain when she was 15 to join the terrorist organisation in Syria but, after being tracked down by The Times at a refugee camp in the north of the war-torn country, she now says shell do anything to return and have her baby.

But Ben Wallace said he would not put British lives at risk to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists, adding that actions have consequences.

The pregnant 19-year-old wants to return to the UK to have her child (Met Police)

While refusing to comment on individual cases, Mr Wallace later told the BBC: Im not putting at risk British peoples lives to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed state.

Theres consular services elsewhere in the region and the strong message this Government has given for many years is that actions have consequences.

Now 19 years old and heavily pregnant, Begum, the bride of an Islamic State fighter who is in captivity, has already had two children who are dead.

Stating that I dont regret coming here, she told The Times: Im not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago.

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She also told the paper: The caliphate is over. There was so much oppression and corruption that I dont think they deserved victory.

I know what everyone at home thinks of me as I have read all that was written about me online.

But I just want to come home to have my child. Thats all I want right now. Ill do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child.

Begum was one of three schoolgirls  along with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase  from Bethnal Green Academy who left their homes and families in February 2015 to join a fourth Bethnal Green schoolgirl in Syria who had left London the year before.

They each married an Isis foreign fighter, according to The Times.

Sultana was reported to have been killed in an airstrike on Raqqa in May 2016, while Begum has recently heard second-hand from other people that Abase, and the other schoolgirl who left Britain in 2014, may still be alive.

Story continues

When she arrived, Begum was put in a house where jihadist brides-to-be waited to be married, she said.

Begum was tracked down by The Times to a refugee camp in northern Syria (Twitter)

She was married 10 days after arriving in Raqqa in 2015 to a Dutchman who had converted to Islam. She claims her husband was later arrested, charged with spying and tortured.

She left Raqqa in January 2017 with her husband but her children, a girl aged a year and nine months old and a three-month-old boy, both died in recent months. Her son had an unknown illness worsened by malnutrition, The Times said.

Begum said she had a mostly a normal life in Raqqa, every now and then bombing and stuff.

She told the paper: But when I saw my first severed head in a bin it didnt faze me at all. It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam. I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance.

The family went to Baghuz and she left there two weeks ago along a three-mile long corridor east of the town. Her husband surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters allied to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and she has not seen him since.

Begum (right) travelled to Syria with Amira Abase (left) Kadiza Sultana (centre) (Met Police)

What action might she face if she is allowed to return to the UK?

The Home Office said it does not comment on individual cases, although anyone who returns to the UK after travelling to IS territory faces criminal investigation and stricter laws are now in place.

Home Office Minister Ben Wallace has said everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police. This will determine if they have committed criminal offences, and to ensure that they do not pose a threat to national security.

However, Begum was a school pupil when she ran away and Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer who was instructed by the girls families after they disappeared, said that British authorities should be reminded of former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howes position at the time.

Lord Hogan-Howe said that the girls would be treated as victims so long as they had not committed any further offences while in Syria.

Mr Akunjee said: The position of the Metropolitan Police was that they should be treated as victims, so long as they hadnt committed any further offences while they are out there.

Do the girls pose a threat?

Joana Cook, a senior research fellow at KCL who co-authored the study, said the researchers considered the women to be potential security threats based on several factors.

She said: (These include) the physical security roles and related training that women have undertaken in IS-held territory, and the potential to transfer or apply these skills in other locations, or to pass these on to other people including other women and their children.PANAMA CITY (AP) _ Copa Holdings SA (CPA) on Wednesday reported a fourth-quarter loss of $156 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Panama City-based company said it had a loss of $3.67. Earnings, adjusted for asset impairment costs and non-recurring costs, were $1.04 per share.

The results missed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.06 per share.

The holding company for Panama's national airline posted revenue of $656.1 million in the period, which also did not meet Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $673.6 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $88.1 million, or $2.07 per share. Revenue was reported as $2.68 billion.

Copa Holdings shares have risen 20 percent since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $94.83, a decrease of 26 percent in the last 12 months.

_____

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on CPA at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CPAJuan Carlos Sanchez Latorre was arrested in the city of Maracaibo in Venezuela (Wikipedia)

A Colombian man has been jailed for 60 years after he was admitted abusing nearly 300 children over a decade ago.

Juan Carlos Sanchez Latorre, in his late 30s, used the alias Big Bad Wolf to share sickening images and videos of his abuse online.

A court in the city of Barranquilla heard how Latorre committed the crimes in 2007-08.

Latorre was extradited to Colombia following his arrest in September 2018 (Flickr/stock photo)

Prosecutors at his trial said Latorre approached his victims online before letting them at shopping centres, offering them money in exchange for sexual contact.

Victims who refused were often attacked by Latorre, prosecutors said.

After five years on the run, Latorre was eventually arrested in the city of Maracaibo, Venezuela.

MORE: I dont regret it: Pregnant British schoolgirl who fled London to join Islamic State wants to return to UK

MORE: Heroin addict mugger convicted of killing 100-year-old widow in street robbery

It is believed he committed other crimes while in the country.

Latorre was extradited to Colombia in September 2018, where he will now serve out his sentence.

Neighbours of Latorre said they never once suspected that he could be a dangerous paedophile.Russian Doll is a big hit for Netflix, both with critics and viewers alike. Starring and co-produced by Natasha Lyonne as Nadia, the series was a perfect blend of black comedy, sci-fi and heart-warming drama. The story features Lyonnes character dying over and over again on her 36th birthday and she eventually finds a man, Alan, who repeatedly dies at the same time. Neither initially understands why this is happening to them, but realise there are issues in their lives they need to resolve.

The series ended with episode eight, where we saw Nadia and Alan figuratively walking off into the sunset.

Without giving too many spoilers, it closes the story very nicely for viewers. However, as Russian Doll was so good, people are asking whether there will be a second season on Netflix. Also, a fan on Reddit has a theory that is much darker about the series.

Season 2 possibilities for Russian Doll

As noted by Good Housekeeping, Russian Doll was co-created and produced by Amy Poehler, Leslye Headland and Lyonne and Headland told The Hollywood Reporter that when first approaching Netflix, they pitched three seasons of what they called heartfelt, bonkers, passionate stories. Reportedly Netflix said that was great and the more of it the merrier.

Dear @Nlyonne. I wanna live in Nadias world, with her friends, her clothes, her sense of humor, her courage, her questions, her answers, her heart. Brava to you, your co-creators, directors, writers, cast and crew. RUSSIAN DOLL is a brave and dicey joyride. Thanks for it. pic.twitter.com/d8WMR8gpXl  Ava DuVernay (@ava) February 10, 2019

Netflix has kept mum about whether there will be a season two, but fans certainly wouldnt turn it down, as the first season was so enjoyable.

The plot of season one has been compared to Groundhog Day for the fact Nadia and Alan kept repeating the same day. Only thing is, in this case, that had to die, repeatedly, for that to happen.

Fan theory about Alan in Russian Doll

We are led to believe the series shows a woman and man, learning about themselves in a heart-warming way.

However, Digital Spy reports on a Reddit fan theory that makes the plot much darker. The Redditor posted that they believe Alan understood about the repeating situation far sooner than Nadia did.

Spoiler alert: In one episode, Alan admits to having committed suicide after he found out his girlfriend was messing around, on the day he was ready to propose.

The Redditor believes Alan may have committed suicide more often than just once. They believe that the fact that Nadia dies each time she leaves her birthday party is somehow related to Alans suicides. Whether this is the case or not, no one knows. It is clear that Alan does have mental health issues, while Nadia isnt exactly leading the perfect life either.

Why does Russian Doll feel so quietly revolutionary? Look at how it uses its men. https://t.co/Zg8BqlF9il  Vox (@voxdotcom) February 10, 2019

With all the possibilities and mysteries surrounding the series, it does look likely a second season could happen. Lyonne would probably return in the role of Nadia, and maybe she will experience time loops again.

If it is going to happen, Digital Spy quotes an informed guess as saying the second season of "Russian Doll" could happen around this time next year.Government Reporter

Erin came to Tyler from Vermont, where she worked for VTDigger.org and previously the Rutland Herald. She received her B.A. in Economics and Spanish from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she also attended journalism school.Empire star Jussie Smollett has given a TV interview following an attack reported in Chicago.

But media reports have doubted elements of the story.

Chicago law enforcement have not been able to find proper surveillance footage of the attackers, though police did release photos of two persons of interest, who have yet to be identified.

Speaking to Good Morning America, Smollett said he saw the camera during the attack, but it was pointed the other way.

Smollett was allegedly on the phone with his music manager at the time the attack occurred  however, Smollett has refused to hand over his complete phone records to the police, which has given doubters ammunition for negative chatter on social media. Earlier this week, Smollett submitted phone records from within the hour of the early morning attack, but Chicago law enforcement said the records were limited and heavily redacted.

Im sorry but Im not going to do that, Smollett said on the morning show about turning his phone over. I have private pictures and videos and numbers. My partners number, my familys numbers, my cast mates numbers, my friends numbers, my private emails, my songs.

According to a statement released by the Chicago Police Department following the incident, Smollett was beaten by two men who approached him by yelling out racial and homophobic slurs at approximately 2 a.m. and proceeded to assault Smollett and poured an unknown chemical substance on him. The two men are said to have put a rope around Smolletts neck before fleeing, and then Smollett transported himself to a hospital.

Source: Variety

RelatedNetflix has nabbed the Breaking Bad movie sequel, written and directed by creator Vince Gilligan, according to US reports.

It has been previously reported Aaron Paul will reprise Jesse Pinkman, but its unclear if Bryan Cranston will return as Walter White.

Earlier reports via the New Mexico Film Office indicated a film titled Greenbrier was scheduled to film in Albuquerque from November to mid-February.

The official description of the film states: Greenbrier tracks the escape of a kidnapped man and his quest for freedom.

Source: Variety

Related



I have written on this often. Members of the US Congress do not have vetted information security clearances. They have access to government secrets because of their constitutional office as elected representatives of the citizens of the US. This is true in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. This is true because they are members of a part of government co-equal with the Executive Branch. The Executive Branch controls the clearance process created by presidential executive order and the co-equal congress cannot in our system be denied information by the executive. Congressional staffs, however, ARE required to submit themselves to the executive branch clearance process.

What brings this to mind is are the statements and behavior of Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota's 5th Congressional district, a jurisdiction wedged in between Minneapolis and St. Paul and probably not very typical of Minnesota.

Members of Congress are immune from restrictions on their speech in Congress and generally during the sessions of their term in office. "Treason, felony and breach of the peace" are exceptions to that immunity.

Ilhan Omar's statements and attitude in her interrogation of the execrable Elliott Abrams yesterday raise the question for me of whether or not she can be trusted with US government secrets. She spent four years of her childhood in a Somali refugee camp in Kenya. She seems to have acquired there a deep antipathy to the US as a country. She seems to regard herself as a Muslim penetrant in the US government, a penetrnt who will automatically, as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, have a great deal of access to US Government secrets. She is openly supportive of various jihadi movements and the Maduro government of Venezuela. How can we know what she will communicate outside the government and to whom?



It is impossible know the exact motivations of anyone, but I will hazard a guess that Omar is falsely sworn as a member of Congress. What did she think these words meant?

"I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. [So help me God." wiki

Was there a certain irony in yesterday's confrontation between the arch neocon and the Muslim activist? Of course there was, and it was on many levels.

Nevertheless, you can be sure that the FBI will be watching and listening closely. pl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_or_Debate_Clause

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_office

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilhan_OmarA long-haul bus crashed into and destroyed a house in Nha Trang, the coastal capital of the south-central Vietnamese province of Khanh Hoa, as one of its tires abruptly went flat, sending the vehicle barreling into the building on Thursday morning.

No one was in the house at the time of the incident that unfolded at around 6:15 am, when the 40-seater bus veered off National Route 1 in the resort citys Vinh Luong Commune, according to eyewitness accounts.

The bus caused a wall of the building to collapse before ending up overturned, a witness said.

One of the passengers, Le Xuan Thanh, said one of the vehicles tires burst after it had run for a short distance from a gas station with its tank filled.

An overturned passenger bus lies next to house rubble after one of its tires went flat in Nha Trang City, south-central Vietnam, February 14, 2019. Photo: Dinh Cuong / Tuoi Tre

The driver suffered a broken leg and was taken to hospital together with 26 passengers, according to Nguyen Van Dan, director of the transport department in Khanh Hoa Province.

Local police attributed the incident to a flat rear tire that made the bus hurtle out of control.

The scene at a house hit by a passenger bus in Nha Trang City, south-central Vietnam, February 14, 2019. Photo: Dinh Cuong / Tuoi Tre

Two of the bus wheels are seen after it slammed into a house in Nha Trang City, south-central Vietnam, February 14, 2019. Photo: Thai Thinh / Tuoi Tre

The passenger bus is seen after crashing into a house in Nha Trang City, south-central Vietnam, February 14, 2019. Photo: Thai Thinh / Tuoi Tre

Injured passengers lie in bed at a hospital in Khanh Hoa Province, south-central Vietnam, February 14, 2019. Photo: Thanh Truc / Tuoi Tre

Police work at the scene where the passenger bus hit a house in Nha Trang City, south-central Vietnam, February 14, 2019. Photo: Thai Thinh / Tuoi Tre

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Police in the northern province of Dien Bien on Thursday launched criminal investigation against a local man for allegedly killing a delivery girl and stealing her belongings in a murder that shocked the country and sparked disturbing rumor last week.

The 22-year-old victim, referred to only as D., was helping her mom sell live chickens at a market in the provincial capital of Dien Bien Phu on February 4, the last day of the previous lunar year, when a man came to buy 13 of the chickens and asked for the poultry to be delivered to his address.

The college student set off for the delivery the same afternoon, but never returned home. Her family members were unable to reach her on the phone and had no information on her whereabouts.

On February 7, the victims body was found at an abandoned house more than 20 kilometers from her home, wearing only her top and underpants, according to police.

Autopsy results showed D. died from being strangled. Police officers immediately launched a search for the murder suspect.

Police officers search an abandoned house in Dien Bien Province where the body of a female college student was found days after her murder. Photo: Thanh Trung

One week after her body was found, Dien Bien police said on Wednesday it launched a criminal investigation into D.s murder. Vuong Van Hung, the man who ordered the delivery of the 13 chickens, was also placed under investigation for suspected murder and property appropriation."

Hung, 35, has a history of three criminal charges including theft, swindling, and abusing trust to appropriate property, according to provincial police chief Sung A Hong.

Hong refutes unfounded rumor that has been circulating online that D. had been gang-raped by a group of five men for days before her killing.

This information was not released by police, as we are still waiting for results of ongoing tests and investigation, Hong said.

If there is sufficient evidence to suggest Hung is guilty of another charge [other than the two he is being investigated for], we will launch an additional criminal investigation, the police chief said.

Officers have also searched the house of Hungs uncle, Vuong Van Nghia, where the suspect had stayed before his arrest.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Read what is in the news today, February 14!

Society

-- Police in Ba Ria-Vung Tau on Wednesday arrested the director of a debt collection firm after they intercepted him on a road and discovered drugs and knives in his car. Weapons were also found at his house and company.

-- A tire of a passenger bus suddenly went flat, sending the vehicle barreling into a house and causing 35 people to be hospitalized on Thursday morning along National Route 1 crossing the south-central city of Nha Trang.

-- Nine people were injured in a collision between a car and a minibus on the Noi Bai-Lao Cai Expressway in northern Vietnam on late Wednesday afternoon.

-- A 35-year-old man in the mountainous Vietnamese province of Dien Bien was arrested on murder and robbery charges in a case that has rocked the country for the past several days. He has been suspected of killing a woman who was delivering chicken to her mother on the night of February 4, police said.

-- Doctors at a hospital in the southern province of Soc Trang on Wednesday saved a middle-aged man who had no recognizable heart rhythm nor breathing, with pale skin and unmeasurable blood pressure at the time of the admission.

Business

-- Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a plan for Vietnam to be completely able to exploit the technologies of satellite remote sensing and satellite creation by 2030.

-- Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has rejected the defense ministrys proposal to export around 25 million cubic meters of salt coming from sea port dredging, an activity that costs VND6 trillion (US$258 million).

-- The head of the commerce and trade department in Can Tho, a major city in Vietnams Mekong Delta, has suggested banks give a VND1 trillion ($43 million) loan support package to companies purchasing rice from farmers at a time of insufficient bank loans and declining rice prices.

Education

-- A group of under-18 Hanoi students brought home 47 awards, including two golds and 15 silvers, from the four-day International Talent Mathematics Contest that wrapped up in Thailand on February 11.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh and his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-ho have consented to enhance their countries relationship, as part of the formers business trip to North Korea.

Minister Minh, who is also Vietnams deputy prime minister, and a delegation of high-ranking officials joined talks with Minister Ri in Pyongyang on Wednesday, within the framework of his official visit from February 12 to 14.

During the meeting, the Vietnamese foreign minister affirmed that Hanoi is willing to promote bilateral cooperation in the areas that match the potential and interests of each side, as well as national and international regulations, for peace and development in the region and the world.

The Southeast Asian country is ready to share its experience in national construction, socio-economic development and international integration, he continued.

Vietnam will consistently support dialogues aimed at maintaining peace, security and stability on the Korean Peninsula, and actively contribute to the efforts, Minh added.

Replying to his guest, Minister Ri stressed his intention to further foster bilateral ties, as the two nations will mark their 70th anniversary of diplomatic relationship in 2020.

He agreed on exchanging measures to enhance the bilateral relationship commensurate with the new situation.

The official also took the occasion to thank Vietnam for its contribution to the dialogue process for peace, security, cooperation and development on the Korean Peninsula.

Both sides consented to continue coordination at international and regional forums, namely the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, ASEAN Regional Forum, as well as international conferences and forums among political parties.

On the same day, Minister Minh also held a meeting with Ri Su Yong, vice-chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers Party, during which he stressed that the Vietnamese Party and government want to cement traditional friendship with their North Korean counterparts.

The Workers Party and government treasure the relationship between both countries, considering it a valuable asset that needs to be preserved and upheld, said Vice-chairman Ri.

He expressed his belief that Minhs ongoing visit will make important contributions to reinforcing and promoting the Vietnam-North Korea traditional friendship and partnership.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Several young Vietnamese people and a foreigner have come together in a volunteer group called SaSa that aims to safeguard sea creatures along the coast of the central city of Da Nang and neighboring localities.

One day in June 2018, Le Chien, a volunteer of an aquatic life charity organization called One Ocean, was informed that a shark-attacked dolphin was found stranded in a beach in Da Nang.

He and his friends then rushed to the rescue of the mammal, and later named it SaSa.

A few weeks later, Chien and ten other volunteers who love to work for wildlifes sake founded a group of the same name, tasking themselves with protecting marine creatures in Da Nang and neighboring localities.

The wildlife volunteers now dive into the sea to find problems with local coral reefs and collect garbage stuck there almost on a weekly basis, according to group leader Chien.

They may also rapidly come to the rescue of animals whose lives are threatened by plastic waste and fishing nets.

Its during the diving that we realize an awfully disturbing reality caused by rubbish that humans dump at sea, Chien said.

He added a single fishing net could kill a piece of coral as it may be covered with algae over time, therefore blocking sunlight that will otherwise reach the coral.

Chien is the only member with an official job in wildlife protection while the others are amateur. A member named Minh Thu is an economics graduate and the only foreign member, Rhys, is an American surfer.

The grassroots group was trained in sea diving, animal health care and first aid.

They now rent a building in Da Nang for running a coffee shop where those desiring to protect the sea can gather for discussion.

The facility is expected to showcase creations from recyclable waste as a way to raise public awareness of keeping the natural ecosystem safe.

The group has planned a community-based campaign of collecting trash along a 400-kilometer coastline stretching from the central metropolis to southern Vietnam, Chien said.

SaSa latterly helped two sea animals in trouble but one of them was unlucky at the end.

In the first case, the group quickly responded on residents report to see a seriously wounded turtle found along the coast of Hoi An, a city in Da Nangs neighbor Quang Nam Province.

The reptile was at that time unable to eat anything.

We named it Chi [which means 'limb' in Vietnamese] because its in a pitiful situation, with the front legs completely paralyzed when we took it, Chien recollected. We called it that way in the hope that it would recover.

The group tended the reptile with antibiotics but later had to carry it to a hospital to the surprise of a doctor who gave it medical treatment.

A man examines a turtle that SaSa transports to a hospital. The animal then dies of injuries. Photo: Le Chien / Tuoi Tre

Doctors found a number of items like plastic straws and a fishing net in the turtles stomach but managed to remove only some of them.

The animal died due to injuries, which was quite saddening to SaSa, Chien said.

In late July 2018, the group again received a report that a dolphin was found injured off the coast of Quang Nam.

They first asked people gathering around the mammal to move away.

The dolphin is intelligent. If humans approach it in the wrong way, it may panick and feel disorientated and charge against rock. The injury would be more serious then, Chien explained.

The volunteers hurriedly cleaned its wounds and fed it on that pitch-dark rainy night occasionally lit up by lightning, and when dawn just broke they bought the creature horse mackerel, one of dolphins favorite types of food.

A SaSa member helps a dolphin named Mun (Black). Photo: Le Chien / Tuoi Tre

After taking care of the dolphin for nearly 18 hours in water, they released it back to the sea.

They did not forget to keep track of its swimming along the coast for a while to make sure it did not wash ashore.

SaSa named the lucky dolphin Mun, which means black in Vietnamese, to remember the rescue effort during the dark night.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!A pagoda in Hanoi has become busy since the beginning of this week as young people from around Vietnam visit it to offer Valentines Day prayers in the hope of finding their better half.

The Ha Pagoda in Cau Giay District, Hanoi is known for granting peoples romance-related wishes.

The Buddhist temple has got especially busy these days when the youth flock to visit the pagoda, bringing with them offerings, and pray for a better love life.

Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day, is celebrated annually on February 14 and recognized as a celebration of romance and romantic love in many regions around the world, including Vietnam, despite it being not a public holiday in the country.

Im notorious for being unlucky in love, so I visit this place in the hope that my romance path will see some improvement, said Tran Le Truc Ly, 23, who had traveled nearly 150 kilometers from Thanh Hoa Province with her friends to pray at the Ha Pagoda.

Visitors make offerings at the Ha Pagoda in Hanoi. Photo: Ha Thanh / Tuoi Tre

Geographical distance did not stop Tran Trinh Thuc Doan, 24, from flying all the way from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi to pay a visit to the famous pagoda on the Valentines Day occasion.

Like her peers, Doan said her only wish when visiting the pagoda is to have better luck in love.

I hope my prayers will be answered so I can soon have a lover with whom to visit this pagoda once again, Doan said.

Two 17-year-old boys, Nguyen Hoang Duong and Hoang Duc Hinh, could be spotted having fun posing for photos outside the pagoda with a bouquet of roses.

Both attending a high school in Hanoi, Duong and Hinh said they have decided to visit the Ha Pagoda after learning of a saying that goes one never leaves the pagoda single."

Since we dont have a female friend with us, we decided to form a pair of our own for the photos, Duong said.

My wish for this Valentines Day is to be given some chocolate [by someone].

Two boys pose for a funny photo outside the Ha Pagoda in Hanoi. Photo: Ha Thanh / Tuoi Tre

Two boys pose for a funny photo outside the Ha Pagoda in Hanoi. Photo: Ha Thanh / Tuoi Tre

Visitors make offerings at the Ha Pagoda in Hanoi. Photo: Ha Thanh / Tuoi Tre

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!As it is said that the way to a woman's heart is through her stomach, some Vietnamese guys want to make sure their Valentines Day gifts will win both the heart and stomach of their girls on the day of love.

Valentines Day is when couples express their love for each other with a gift. But there is an unspoken law in Vietnam, where men often give the women they love gifts such as roses and chocolates on this special occasion.

But who said only chocolates or roses should be given during Valentines Day?

For certain Vietnamese men, Valentines Day is also an occasion to express their sense of humor, rather than solely love, so they would give their girlfriends delicacies Vietnamese people usually enjoy during their celebrations of the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival as gifts of love.

The idea apparently stemmed from the fact that the day of love falls less than a week after the Tet break ended in the Southeast Asian country on Sunday.

A photo of a heart-shaped banh chung as a gift for Valentines Day is widely shared on social networks.

One of the proponents of this new trend is Nguyen Thanh Binh, 25, who planned a Valentines Day surprise without roses or chocolates for his girl, whom he has been dating for five months.

I planned to gift my lover a heart-shaped banh chung, Binh told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Wednesday, referring to square glutinous rice cakes, a Tet specialty favored by northern Vietnamese.

I bought a banh chung and cut it into a heart-like shape, he added.

A photo of a heart-shaped banh tet (Vietnamese traditional cylinder glutinous rice cakes for Tet) as a gift for Valentines Day is widely shared on social networks.

Pictures of different heart-shaped banh chung were shared on Facebook on Wednesday, indicating that Binh was not alone in giving such a Valentines Day gift.

Some, like a Facebook user named Chinh Nguyen, even pushed the humor a bit further by suggesting that a gift combo for the day should be banh chung, sausages and chrysanthemum.

And as Tet delicacies also include boiled chicken and jellied pork, these foods just add to the list of jocular presents for Valentines Day.

Besides chocolates, I will also give my lover jellied pork as my family has a pot of this food that hasnt been touched since Tet, reads a playful comment by Facebook user Nguyen Quang Minh.

From the recipients perspective, some Vietnamese girls think that it would be fun to get these edible gifts.

Its better to be presented with banh chung than to spend the day without receiving anything from anyone, Vu Loan jokingly commented under a Facebook post.

A photo of a heart-shaped banh tet (Vietnamese traditional cylinder glutinous rice cakes for Tet) as a gift for Valentines Day is widely shared on social networks.

However, not everyone finds the idea amusing as those Facebook photos of the banh chung and other bizarre Valentines Day gifts did receive negative reactions.

How can a man gift his girlfriend a banh chung, a Tet leftover? female Facebook user Mai England commented.

Other Internet users advised that boys had better consider the personalities of their girls before giving these weird presents.

It will be okay with someone who also love to joke, while those who are fastidious and strict are likely to think that the givers are mean and not serious, which may easily lead to break-up, a twenty-something man named Nguyen Tien Anh said.

Anh added that he also prepared a pair of banh chung to gift his girlfriend.

I do that just to make her laugh because she has the same sense of humor as mine, Anh said, adding that he still prepared chocolates and roses to surprise his girlfriend later.

A bouquet-shaped cake is on sale at a bakery in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Bong Mai / Tuoi Tre

Those who love to give edible Valentines Day gifts can also buy them, as the market this year is full of presents of this type for the day of love.

For instance, bouquet-shaped cakes priced between VND660,000 (US$28) and VND750,000 ($32) are among the best-sellers, with bakeries having had to stop taking orders from Wednesday afternoon, one day before Valentines Day.

Customers who come [on the right day] may not be able to buy Valentine's Day cakes because we will stop making new products [on Wednesday night], said a bakery representative in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City.

Some other bakeries, which did not produce Valentines Day cakes as their employees had yet to return to work after Tet, had to add patterns and designs of hearts and roses on ordinary cakes as a temporary solution to maintain sales during the occasion.

In addition to cakes, traditional Valentines Day gifts such as flowers and chocolate-covered fruits also attract many customers.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Pham Thi Phuong Thuy is one of the ten young scientists honored with the Golden Globe Awards 2018, a science award for young Vietnamese talents in the science-technology field.

The female scientist, who has a doctorate, won the award in the category of Environmental Science.

I have seen a viral clip of a worker going down underground sewers to clean up all the garbage there, Thuy said. I feel ashamed of the lack of consideration of many Vietnamese.

Having studied abroad for many years, Thuy is used to streets and sidewalks free of garbage. But when she came back to her home country, Thuy has witnessed many people littering without even covering up their actions.

This was one of the main reasons that encouraged her to pursue environment studies and lead an environment-friendly lifestyle.

Being an environmentalist, the 35-year-old academic refuses to use single-use plastic products, especially cups, straws, and boxes for take-away food.

She would never return to any coffee shop that provides single-use plastic cups even for customers who consume their drinks in-house.

Not everyone knows that the widely-used plastic cups are usually made of recycled plastic, which has a negative impact on human health, Thuy said, adding that a lack of understanding is the main reason for the abuse of single-use plastic products in her country.

Volunteers help workers take out the garbage stuck in a channel in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Q. Ng. / Tuoi Tre

Thuy graduated from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, after which she received a scholarship to study for a masters degree in South Korea. She stayed in the East Asian country to work as a researcher and finish her doctorate.

She then moved to work in Singapore for three years before returning to Vietnam, where she teaches at the University of Food Industry in Ho Chi Minh City.

As a college lecturer, Thuy takes advantage of her meeting with young people to share with them how important it is to have a green and environment-friendly lifestyle.

Thuy said she does pride herself on the positive impacts she can make as a college lecturer and a role model for young adults.

Thuy now leads a study on using temperature and high pressure to turn solid waste into coal, a form of combustible resource for energy, a research topic she pursued during her time in Singapore.

She also has plans to study the feasibility of turning waste generated by apartment dwellers into fertilizers that will be used for the green space of the same building complex.

Thuy said she is concerned about the lack of public trash bins in Vietnam, which she believes is partly to blame for widespread littering in the streets.

But I believe this can be changed if both authorities and members of the public are determined, she added.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!GENEVA/LONDON -- A suicide bomber killed 27 members of Irans elite Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday, state media said, in a southeastern region where security forces are facing a rise in attacks by militants from the countrys Sunni Muslim minority.

The Sunni group Jaish al Adl (Army of Justice), which says it seeks greater rights and better living conditions for the ethnic minority Baluchis, claimed responsibility for the attack, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The heavy losses among Irans premier military force prompted a senior Revolutionary Guards commander to issue a warning to the countrys foes.

Our response in defense of the Islamic Revolution will not be limited to our borders, Ali Fadavi was quoted as saying by Fars.

The enemies will receive a very firm response from the Revolutionary Guards like before. He did not specify which enemies or what actions Tehran would take.

In the past Iran has accused its regional rival, Sunni Arab Saudi Arabia, of supporting Sunni separatist groups who have attacked its security forces. Riyadh has denied the charges.

Irans Shiite Muslim authorities say militant groups operate from safe havens in Pakistan and have repeatedly called on the neighboring country to crack down on them.

A suicide bomber driving a vehicle laden with explosives attacked a bus transporting members of the Guards, the force said in a statement. Thirteen people were wounded.

A video posted by Fars showed blood and debris at the site of the attack on a road in a volatile area near the Pakistan border where militants and armed drug smugglers operate.

The bus was turned into a twisted pile of metal, a photo published on Fars showed. Reuters could not independently verify the image.

While Sunni militant groups are not regarded as a major threat, the attack dealt a fresh blow to Irans security establishment, which has often said it can repel any threat no matter how big, even from the United States and its ally Israel.

Military might and business interests

The assault in impoverished Sistan-Baluchistan province - among the worst ever on the Guards - illustrated that Irans elite force, which answers directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, can be vulnerable to guerrilla-style operations.

The Guards estimated 125,000-strong military, with army, navy and air units, has acted as the sword and shield of Shiite clerical rule in Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The force also operates outside of Irans borders in countries such as Iraq and Syria where it works with proxies to promote Tehrans interest. It runs a business empire in Iran worth billions of dollars.

The self-sacrificing military and intelligence children of the people of Iran will take revenge for the blood of the martyrs of this incident, Fars quoted Foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi as saying.

Irans Guards fired missiles at Islamic State militants in Syria in 2017 and 2018 after the group claimed responsibility for two attacks in Tehran and Ahvaz. In 2018, the Guards launched missiles at an Iranian Kurdish armed opposition group in northern Iraq.

Wednesdays violence comes during a month in which Iran has been commemorating the 1979 Islamic Revolution which swept the U.S.-backed Shah from power. Tehran showed off ballistic missiles in defiance of U.S. efforts to curb its military power. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif appeared to blame the United States for the attack, citing a U.S.-sponsored conference in Warsaw aimed at rallying support to further isolate Iran.

On Twitter he asked: Is it no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day that #WarsawCircus begins?

Iran had enjoyed relative stability compared to Arab neighbors who have grappled with political and economic upheaval touched off by popular uprisings in 2011.

But economic hardships fueled by U.S. sanctions have triggered waves of protests that sometimes call for Irans clerical leaders to step down.

Twelve members of the Guards were among 25 people killed last autumn by gunmen on a military parade in the city of Ahvaz in the southwest. The Sunni Islamic State and an Arab separatist group both claimed responsibility.

Jaish al-Adl emerged as the main armed opposition movement in the southeast after members of another Sunni group, Jundullah, joined it after their leader was captured on a plane in 2010. He was tried and executed.Samsung Galaxy M series phones, introduced last month in India, are on sale on Amazon India. Today is the fourth day of sale for the Samsung Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20 phones and is also the Valentine's Day. It is never easy to find the perfect gift but you can express your love and give away the cheapest Infinity Display smartphone to your loved ones. Other than the Infinity Display, Samsung Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20 come with features like large batteries and fast charging technology.

The Samsung Galaxy M10 is priced at Rs 7,990 for the 2GB RAM + 16GB storage option and Rs 8,990 for the 3GB RAM + 32GB storage option. On the other hand, Galaxy M20 is priced in India at Rs 10,990 for the 3GB RAM + 32GB storage option and Rs 12,990 for the 4GB RAM + 64GB storage option.

As far as the specifications of Samsung Galaxy M10 are concerned, the dual-SIM (Nano) smartphone runs Android 8.1 Oreo on top of Samsung Experience 9.5 UX and features a 6.2-inch HD+ (720x1520 pixels) Infinity-V Display panel along with an 19:9 aspect ratio. The smartphone is powered by Exynos 7870 SoC. Galaxy M10 comes with 2GB and 3GB RAM options. On the other hand, Sasung Galaxy M20 features a 6.3-inch full-HD+ (1080x2340 pixels) Infinity-V Display along with an 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The smartphone is powered by Exynos 7904 SoC, paired with 3GB and 4GB RAM options.

In terms of the optics, Galaxy M10 has a dual rear camera setup that includes a 13-MP primary sensor along with an f/1.9 lens and a 5-MP secondary, ultra-wide sensor. For selfies, there is a 5-MP sensor at the front. Galaxy M20 houses a 13-MP primary sensor with an f/1.9 lens and a 5-MP ultra-wide sensor. On the front, there is a 8-MP sensor along with an f/2.0 lens.

As part of the launch offers, Amazon is offering the Total Damage Protection plan for the Galaxy M10 at Rs 699 and for the Samsung M20 at Rs 1,199. There is also a no cost EMI offer for the Galaxy M20 for up to six months. Other deals include the Jio Galaxy Club offer that will give benefits worth Rs 3,110 to the Jio subscribers in the form of additional data on the Rs 198 and Rs 299 prepaid plans with the purchase of the Samsung Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20.

Also Read: Love is in the air, thanks to PUBG! Couple gets engaged after finding each other on mobile game

Also Read: Instagram to now allow users to send direct messages from webMost Southeast Asian markets were muted on Thursday as risk sentiment remained high on hopes for a breakthrough in the trade impasse between United States and China, while Vietnam and Philippines shares posted mild gains in the regional markets.

With the latest round of high-level talks kicking off earlier in the day, investors across Asia were wary of taking on risk, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan easing 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, China's January dollar-denominated exports rose 9.1 percent from a year earlier, while imports dropped 1.5 percent, both beating analysts' expectations, official data showed on Thursday.

Singapore shares shed previous session's gains to trade 0.1 percent lower on Thursday.

Leading banks such as Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd and United Overseas bank Ltd posted solid gains earlier in the session and were seeing some positioning ahead of their earnings next week.

"Singapore banks' share prices have gained 3.5 percent - 5.7 percent since the start of the year, as better sentiments from a less hawkish U.S. Fed and progress made on the U.S.-China trade talks improve risk appetite," Joanne Goh and Eugene Leow, strategists at DBS Group Research said in a note.

Malaysian shares were largely unchanged after the country said its economy expanded 4.7 percent in the October-December quarter from a year earlier, in line with expectations, ending four quarters of slowing growth.

Indonesian shares traded lower ahead of trade data slated for release on Friday.

Indonesia likely suffered another wide trade gap in January even though imports probably contracted for the first time since June 2017, a Reuters poll showed.

Meanwhile, Vietnam shares, the biggest gainer in Southeast Asian markets, edged 0.6 percent firmer to their highest since mid-December.

Real estate sector stocks dominated the gains, with property developer Vingroup JSC climbing as much as 3.7 percent to a 10-month high.

Philippine stocks, which were poised to snap a four-day losing streak, were lifted by the financial sector.

Lender BDO Unibank rose up to 1.4 percent, while Bank of the Philippine Islands added 2.2 percent to the index.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!OPINION: "I am disheartened by our current administrations pattern of blanket giveaways, as opposed to judiciously allocating the funds to where they are most needed," writes Tucsonan John Newport.The Center for Integrative Medicine will now be known as the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine.A Tucson man who had been kept alive on a ventilator at St. Josephs Hospital while his family searched for a long-term care facility for him has died.

David Ruiz II, was incapacitated since suffering a stroke on New Years Eve. Doctors declared Ruiz, 32, brain-dead Jan. 13. His family says his heart stopped beating Thursday, Feb. 7.

Ruiz was placed in the hospitals intensive-care unit on New Years Eve and was declared brain-dead two weeks later. His family said the hospital stopped providing nutrition and water to Ruiz on Jan. 13 and 17, respectively.

His mother Patricia Adames took to social media to pressure the hospital into restoring hydration and nutrition while the family made plans to move Ruiz to a care facility. The pleas garnered national support from advocacy groups for patients in Ruiz situation and their families, including the Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network, which put the family in contact with lawyers and doctors for support.

The family also created a GoFundMe page with a $150,000 goal to pay for transfer to a long-term care facility. They raised about $14,000 before his death.

A newspaper obituary said Ruizs services were Wednesday. He is survived by his two daughters, mother, father, siblings and extended family.

Contact Mikayla Mace at 573-4158 or mmace@tucson.com. Follow on Facebook and Twitter.A flood watch was issued for a broad swath of Arizona due to widespread rainfall expected from a storm moving in from California.

The flood watch was to be in effect noon Thursday to Friday afternoon. It includes Tucson.

Other communities in the watch area included Kingman, Prescott, Lake Havasu City, Wickenburg and Safford.

Phoenix is not included.

Rain totals up to 1 inch are possible across lower deserts, with higher totals in higher terrain, the National Weather Service said

The weather service's Flagstaff office said "mountains will experience the brunt of this weather event, causing creeks and streams to run, possibly heavy at times."Even with the moon out, it can be very, very dark there. Its scary, Leon told the jurors.

You dont know whats out there, Leon said. Even if you hear someone say policia, how can you be sure?

The jury found Osorio Arellanes guilty of the murder charges, as well as four counts of assault on a Border Patrol agent; carrying a firearm during a crime of violence; conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery; and attempted interference with commerce by robbery.

Osorio Arellanes is scheduled to be sentenced April 29 before U.S. District Judge David C. Bury.

Brian Terrys family will never have its hero back, but his loved ones now have justice, said U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer of the Southern District of California.

The final suspect in the shooting, Jesus Favela Astorga, was arrested by Mexican authorities. He will be extradited to the United States and tried in Tucson, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office in Southern California, which is handling the case.A Delhi court Thursday sent corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar with alleged links to fugitive Vijay Mallya to 14-day judicial custody in a money laundering case. Special judge Santosh Snehi Mann sent him to judicial custody as his custodial remand with Enforcement Directorate (ED) ended. The court has posted the matter for next hearing on 28 February.

Deepak Talwar was extradited from Dubai on 30 January along with Dubai-based businessman Rajeev Saxena and presented before Patiala House Court on 31 January which granted seven day custody of Talwar to ED. The same was extended later.

Also Read: AgustaWestland case: Rajeev Saxena may turn witness; unmask politicians, bureaucrats who received bribe money

The ED has alleged that Deepak Talwar had links with fugitive Vijay Mallya in a money laundering case pertaining to the negotiations favoring foreign private airlines, causing loss to Air India.

The probe agency also said that Talwar was being probed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as one of his companies allegedly received Rs. 200 crore in its account in Singapore. Talwar had fled to Dubai after Indian agencies started probing his role in hiding the income of over Rs 1,000 crore as well as facilitating aviation contracts during the UPA regime.

He is accused of lobbying for getting government approval for foreign companies, brokering aviation sector deals, and using his ties with UPA functionaries to secure favors for clients.

Talwar was booked by the ED and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in corruption cases, as well as by Income Tax Department for tax evasion. Talwar is alleged to have been involved in money laundering cases to the tune of Rs 90 crore.PHOENIX  Rejecting claims it was ignoring the will of voters, a Senate panel voted Wednesday to alter the rules governing the use of vouchers of state dollars by parents to send their children to private and parochial schools.

Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, acknowledged many of the provisions in her SB 1395 were sent to voters last year as part of Proposition 305, which was rejected by voters by a 2-1 margin.

But Allen told members of the Senate Finance Committee she is not trying to override that vote. Allen said whats in her bill wasnt the focus of voters  or the cause of defeat for changes in the program formally known as empowerment scholarship accounts.

What they were focused on and heard over and over again was this was expanding the program to all families, that rich people were going to benefit from these ESAs, and that this money was going to religious schools, she said. All were part of Proposition 305.Second, Mesnard has crafted his plan to mirror the federal system.

As he envisions it, each party would choose its own gubernatorial nominee. Then, after the primary, the nominee would choose a running mate, with the pair on the ballot as a ticket.

Mesnard figures that process ensures that voters know not only who is at the top of the ticket but who would be next in line if it came to that. And, of course, it also would mean that when a governor left office before a term ends, the successor would be of the same political party.

The plan has other parallels with the federal system.

If the lieutenant governor left office, the governor could appoint a replacement, but only with the consent of the majority of both the House and Senate.

And if there were a vacancy in both the positions of governor and lieutenant governor, then the existing line of succession would kick in, meaning secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer and superintendent of public instruction.

Sen. Martin Quezada, D-Glendale, said he agrees with some aspects of what Mesnard is proposing. But Quezada said hes not convinced the Department of Administration should be headed by a politician who was chosen by the gubernatorial candidate to be part of a ticket.

According to the National Association of Lieutenant Governors 26 states already have this kind of system where the governor and lieutenant governor are elected on the same ticket.

On Twitter: @azcapmediaPHOENIX  Republican lawmakers and their business allies are moving once again to put new hurdles in the path of citizen groups that want to propose their own laws.

SB 1451, approved Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee, would impose new requirements on paid circulators and the organizations that hire them to collect signatures. These range from a mandate to provide a phone number and email address to insisting that when petitions are turned in they are grouped by circulator.

Sen. Martin Quezada, D-Glendale, said the new requirements appear to be a way to provide those who oppose what voters are proposing additional opportunities to keep them off the ballot.

These are purely technical hurdles, he said.

What this does is it gives more ammo for those who wish to challenge and deal with these issues in court rather than at the election box, Quezada argued. He said it could result in the disqualification of otherwise legitimate signatures asking to put an issue to voters solely because the person who circulated the petition failed to provide an email address.

Thats also the assessment of Rivko Knox of the League of Women Voters to the additional mandates.Everyone could hear what was happening, what was going on in the vicinity of the first friends phone  so (Grant) started talking to this first friend, Thompson said. And then the first friend said, Grant? How can you hear me? I havent answered the phone! And (Grant) looked at his phone, and it looked like it was still ringing.

Grant called his friends, sister and mom multiple times on FaceTime to see if the incident was a fluke. It was not.

Each and every time it worked, Thompson said. So at that point, we started our quest to notify Apple in some fashion.

Thompson said it took a few weeks to get in touch with Apple. She first filed an incident report, to which Apple did not reply.

From there, she posted vaguely about her sons discovery on Facebook and Twitter, tagging Apple support and Apple CEO Tim Cook in her various posts.

A couple of weeks passed, and she still hadnt heard back. So she snooped a little deeper and found an email address for Apples product security department and their general counsels fax number. She sent both parties a message with her law firms letterhead.Four months after he was mauled by two grizzly bears in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in northwest Wyoming, Brad Johnsons memories of the attack are frighteningly detailed.

Maybe its because he is a doctor, well versed in anatomy. Maybe the violence is so burned into his brain that hell never forget, no matter how many months pass.

In a video made with his backpacking buddies for their Minnesota Plymouth Covenant Church, Johnson recounts the pain, trauma and fear of being eaten alive. He gave the Billings Gazette permission to use his retelling for this story. Readers are advised that his descriptions are graphic and disturbing.

Hike gone bad

It was early September of last year when Johnson and his three friends began what was supposed to be a five-day hike into the wilderness area from the Clay Butte Lookout Trailhead in the Shoshone National Forest. They were aiming for Granite Lake, which straddles the Montana border, for the first nights campout. Johnson was leading the pack, as excited as a little kid to be in the mountains, hiking ahead of the rest of the group.

Suddenly the dream day turned nightmarish.

After topping a steep hill he looked to his right and saw two bears running toward him.

The bear or bears were on me immediately, he recounted. And I cant tell if one or both of them mauled me.

Looking uncomfortable, taking deep breaths, swallowing hard and sometimes reading from notes, the 48-year-old recalled how even though he had a can of bear spray in his hand when he saw the bears running at him from 30 feet away, he couldnt get the safety cap off in time to discharge the pepper spray. Instead, he threw the canister at the first bear but it sailed high.

I can still see the image of that can flying over the bears head. I couldnt believe I missed it, he said.

Face down

Then he turned away from the bears, dropped to his chest on the ground and awaited the onslaught. Hed learned when younger that playing dead was a last resort during a bear charge, but he wondered, How in the hell do you play dead when youre being ripped apart?

Johnson, although staying still, couldnt help screaming in pain as the attack began.

And then a sharp excruciating pain ripped into my right shoulder. And the bears teeth tore through the muscles of my shoulder, and I remember I made this highest pitched screaming noise that I ever heard myself make, and I remember the tearing of the muscles, but mostly I remember the unbearable pain as the bears teeth found my shoulder blade and really got into it. I remember hearing the crunching and the grinding but feeling it as well. It broke my shoulder blade and that was just so painful.

After shredding his right shoulder, the bear paused for a moment. Johnson remembered looking to his right side.

There was this big gush of blood I saw flying through air. And at that point I was certain it had ripped into an artery. I thought I was really going to die out there, and I was going to bleed out, and that was the end.

Although the bear or bears were no longer biting him, Johnson said it felt like one or both of them were standing on his backpack, clawing at it and repositioning themselves. At some point one of them pushed a claw through the side of Johnsons cooking pot, piercing it like a bullet.

So if I hadnt been so poor in my packing you know that would have been my head that it was squashing. And I was silent as they were doing that, just hoping it would be over.

Second assault

Unfortunately for Johnson, the bear or bears would do even more damage, now moving to his left side.

Then the teeth sank into my left shoulder. The pain was much worse than that on the right. It was so sharp and so intense. As it was pulling and crushing I was screaming again, that crazy high-pitched scream. The bear ripped the muscles of my shoulder and crushed a portion of my (left) scapula or shoulder blade, its teeth then slid further down to my left arm, ah, and ripped off the majority of my triceps.

As the teeth found purchase in my bone the pain was far more worse than anything on the right. The teeth and the bone gave that crunching and grinding feeling and sound but there was also a sharp piercing and shooting pain that was unreal. Later I realized that this was the nerves being torn and ripped and stretched. At this point I screamed kill me.

Im pretty ashamed of that. Im ashamed that I would give up (on my wife and children) so easily.

In the process of that second attack, Johnsons elbow was broken and there was a large hole torn in the back of his arm down to the bone where his triceps had been ripped out. The tearing of his flesh had exposed his ulnar nerve  responsible for controlling a persons fourth and fifth fingers  but miraculously the nerve was not damaged. At some point Johnson was also bitten in the right buttocks and upper thigh.

As I lay there in the most intense, excruciating and unrelenting pain, I wondered what was next. I was face down the entire time. I dont remember hearing the bears leave.

Certain that he only had a short time to live, he began reciting portions of Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want 

Despite the persistent pain, thoughts of his wife and children flooded his brain. He grieved that he would miss his daughters weddings, holding grandchildren and growing old with his wife. Yet as blood poured from his tattered body he slipped into a feeling of peace, saying that his fate was by then in Gods hands.

Meanwhile

As Johnson was being attacked, his friends were hiking the same trail, not far behind him. The third time Johnson screamed his friend Justin Reid, a fire captain in Minneapolis, began running up the trail to see what was wrong. The odd scream had sounded like an eagle or hawk, Reid said, a really high-pitched, otherworldly sound.

Reid almost ran past his friend, who was lying on the other side of a log just off the trail.

I could tell immediately he was in shock.

Reid said his firefighting training kicked in after the initial disbelief at seeing his friend lying bloody and mauled on the ground. An attempt to pick Johnson up on a homemade stretcher crafted from trees by Reid and fellow backpackers Tom Therrien and Todd Green didnt work, so Reid sent his two friends back down the trail to get to a phone and call for help.

Luckily, Therrien and Green ran into two local hikers, one of them a trail runner, who sped ahead to get help. By the time the two hikers made it to the trailhead, a forest ranger was already on site.

Meanwhile, Reid and Johnson staggered about a quarter-mile down the trail to a meadow where they would be more visible should rescuers arrive by air. There was no rest for Johnson when he plopped to the ground, sitting propped next to a log.

I was hoping for a sleep number bed or something like that, he joked.

Laying on my wounds was so miserable. It only made the pain so much worse, but there was no other way to lay.

Looking up through the pine trees at the blue sky he says, I remember thinking it would be so beautiful if I wasnt in so much pain.

Help arrives

When the life-flight helicopter finally arrived it took the two-man air ambulance crew and Reid to slowly carry Johnson to the helicopter. Given the rugged terrain, it was a strenuous, exhausting process. There was no room for Reid in the helicopter as Johnson was airlifted to surgery in Billings. Staying behind and alone not far from where the bears had attacked his friend, Reid waited for a search and rescue ground team to reach him.

It was about a half-hour flight to Billings for Johnson. He was still conscious in the emergency room and a chaplain asked if he wanted to make a call. Johnson said yes. After the chaplain retrieved Johnsons cell phone and entered the access code, Johnson embarrassingly recounted telling the man, OK, shes under hot stuff in his contacts.

Everyone burst out laughing and from then on his wife was known as hot stuff during his hospital stay.

Looking back

Following extensive surgery and physical therapy Johnson has regained near normal function in his right arm, although his left arm is still deficient. Despite this legacy, he sees it as a miracle that his injuries were not more life-altering considering the intensity of the bears attack.

Im able to do a lot of things I never thought I would do, he said.

Theres just so many takeaways from this whole experience and Im still processing them all.

Philosophically, Johnson says everyone experiences situations in life that can feel somewhat like being mauled by a bear  whether thats losing a job or spouse, or the loss of a lifelong dream. Instinctively, Johnson said he turned to God, and now counts the many blessings that hes received from friends and family following his mauling. He also noted the importance of such relationships in his life.

Without my friends, I wouldnt be here today.

Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 1 Sad 3 Angry 0The potential site of a state-run skilled nursing facility for veterans has been a major point of contention in the Wyoming Legislature over the last few months. In the choice between Casper and Buffalo, lawmakers have repeatedly wavered. And both communities have been caught up in the competition.

Last week, it seemed the Senate had settled on Casper. But a vote on Tuesday amended the recommendation to Buffalo.

Logically, the decision of where to locate a skilled nursing facility for veterans should be where veterans would receive the best care. However, the decision to build the facility in Buffalo seems motivated by the potential economic development opportunity it could provide for the community. This makes no sense.

Buffalo is a desirable community with much to recommend it. And it is the current home to the veterans assisted living facility. But according to medical professionals in the community, Buffalo now struggles to employ enough CNAs in what nursing facilities the town already has. The new facility would strain their pool of nurses, nursing assistants, therapists and other medical professionals needed to operate a skilled nursing facility well.To the Wyoming Legislature,

I am Dr. Lee Warren, Caspers only neurosurgeon and currently the only neurosurgeon doing trauma brain and spine surgery in the state of Wyoming, save a little work being done in Cheyenne by a part-time surgeon there who refers most complex patients south into Colorado.

I work at Wyoming Medical Center, the hub of trauma care for the vast majority of the patients in the state.

Im also a veteran, fourteen years in the US Air Force, retired as a major, and deployed to both Germany (2004) and Iraq (2004-5) in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

This letter is to seek your support in placing the planned VA nursing home in Casper rather than Buffalo. Casper is the major medical destination for the state. People in nursing homes have frequent need for high-acuity medical care when they fall, have strokes, suffer heart failure or heart attacks, etc. Those patients wind up in Emergency Departments, and if the patients needs exceed the capabilities of the local facility, they must be transferred to another city at great cost, with significant treatment delay and often at the risk of a worse outcome.No doubt an opinion piece in Forbes magazine struck a nerve when its author smeared Wyomings Republican legislators with the tar of corporate tax proposals pushed in Congress by Democrats. Mentioning Wyoming Republican legislative leaders and Nancy Pelosi in the same breath is notable, even if only for shock value.

Yet the reception to the Obermueller bill in Wyoming has been on the positive side. There seems to be no hue and cry against it from Riverton, Rawlins or Wright.

Large taxpayers in the states minerals industries recognize the attractiveness of a tax they will not pay. The mom and pop taxpayers  facing no impact to the pocketbook from a tax levied on out-of-state companies  seem receptive. Thats no surprise given the all too human inclination to point the tax collectors toward someone  anyone  else.However Buffalo, which has been the home of the Wyoming Veterans Home for more than a century, won out as the final choice, largely due to its potential to offer a continuum of care for residents at the home, said Johnson County Commissioner Bill Novotny.

"The operational cost savings by not having a sixth state facility is really what swayed the most votes," he said. "Despite what [The Star-Tribune] has said, I have never been about economic development: I have been about the veterans in my community and in that facility, and their desire to stay."

"Our longest resident has been there for more than 30 years," he added. "When he asks you to help him stay so he doesn't have to leave the only home -- he's a Vietnam vet, and has a lot of issues -- those are your marching orders. This has taken a lot of twists and turns, but in the end my community will come out stronger and better."The parking provision of the bill has a loophole that is likewise a mile wide  one that would allow UW to satisfy it by constructing one single new parking space rather than a parking garage that is already needed even for the existing dormitories (and would be even more needed for anything new). The bill also proposes destroying the existing parking near the Wyoming Union, making it nearly impossible for visitors and those doing business with the university to find parking anywhere near it.

Finally, the bill would harm local residents  people whom the Legislature is supposed to represent  for the sake of a selfish, corporation-like entity whose greed citizens count on our elected officials to rein in. By severely impacting the tax base that supports vital services in the community, and using citizens own tax dollars to compete unfairly with the rental housing in which so many of them have invested, it would destroy their retirement savings and greatly harm the quality of life in Laramie. Residents are particularly concerned that, once the additional housing is constructed, the university (which already ties its housing services to its educational services by requiring freshmen to live in the dorms) will move ahead with proposed plans to require this of sophomores as well, further impacting the local tax base and local providers of rental housing.

The states interests, the communitys interests and (ironically) UWs own mission would be best served by a very different plan: replacing the Hill and Crane dormitories with a multilevel parking garage while performing economical overhauls of White and McIntyre halls. All Wyoming residents should insist that UW go back to the drawing board and  rather than wasting our tax money and compromising the quality of instruction at our one state university  come up with a sensible, economical plan that does not pit UWs greed, flamboyance and extravagant ambitions against the interests of citizens.

Brett Glass is an electrical engineer in Laramie, Wyoming. He founded the worlds first wireless Internet service provider and owns and manages half a dozen small rental properties.

Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0Kellogg's, the world's second-largest snack foods company, is exploring options to move beyond breakfast cereals and planning to take a big bite of India's snack king Haldiram's, which could be one of the biggest deals in Indian consumer brand.

Snacks and sweets maker Haldiram's, which has acquired a pan-India presence in packaged snacks, started as a small shop at Bikaner in 1937 and gradually forayed into Delhi in 1982. Haldiram's has pipped Hindustan Unilever's packaged food division or Nestle Maggi and American fast food rivals Domino's and McDonald's to become India's largest snack maker, clocking a revenue of over Rs 4,000 crore in financial year 2015-16.

Currently, the company has its presence all across India - there is Haldiram's Snacks and Ethnic Foods in Delhi, Nagpur-based Haldiram's Foods International, which caters to West and South India and Haldiram's Bhujiawala in Kolkata. The company also operates retail chain stores and a range of restaurants in Nagpur, Kolkata, Patna, Lucknow, Noida and Delhi.

Haldiram's Snacks and Ethnic Foods is the largest group with revenue of Rs 2,619 crore for the year ending March 31, 2018, according to data from rating agency firm ICRA. This is followed by Nagpur-based Haldiram's Foods International with annual sales of Rs 2,413 crore in FY18 and Kolkata's Haldiram Bhujiawala with revenues of Rs 324 crore in FY17.

The American breakfast cereal giant is in exclusive negotiations with only two branches of the group which are based out of Delhi and Nagpur, two people close to the development told Economic Times.

According to the report, Kellogg's is eyeing a 51 per cent stake in the in the Delhi and Nagpur arms of Haldiram's, valuing the Indian major at around USD 3 billion (Rs 20,000 crore).

Given that the Indian operations of Kellogg's have sustained a double-digit growth in the past few years, the deal may boost its operation in India. ET quoted industry sources as saying if Kellogg's is able to pull this deal off, it will be quite a big win considering that Haldiram's is a completely split-up brand across all regions - being run by separate parts of the family.

"Kellogg is keen to diversify beyond its core breakfast cereal category and enter the ethnic snacks & sweets segment and has initiated talks to invest a 'significant' amount in the Delhi & Nagpur arms of Haldiram's. Deutsche Bank is advising Haldiram's on this proposed transaction," ET quoted one of the two sources as saying.

In the past many private equity firms like KKR, Everstone and General Atlantic tried to sign a deal with Haldiram's, but they never materialised.

Also Read: Why Indigo has cancelled so many flights up till March-end

Also Read: Mahindra XUV300 launched at starting price of Rs 7.90 lakh; check images, featuresA federal appeals court ruled last week that a U.S. District Court judge was correct in dismissing former Casper City Councilman Craig Hedquists lawsuit against the city and two local officials.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling comes nearly five years after Hedquist filed suit against the city, then-City Manager John Patterson and then-City Engineer Andrew Beamer. He alleged Patterson, Beamer and the City Council worked together to unlawfully keep Hedquists construction business from participating in city projects.

The suit further alleged Patterson attempted to derail Hedquists 2012 political campaign and pushed him into an exchange with Beamer where Hedquist told the then-city engineer, You f- going to stand up, b?

We are happy that the city and Mr. Patterson were exonerated, Mayor Charlie Powell said Wednesday.

Powell said it was unfortunate that both Hedquist and the city had to pay a significant amount in legal fees, but he felt that the city had no other choice. Powell said he never doubted that lawsuit would be dismissed.

We were placed in a position where we had to defend ourselves, he said.

A Hedquist attorney was unavailable for comment Wednesday afternoon.Coal newcomer

While little information is available about the potential buyer of the Kemmerer mine, its financial guarantor is led by a man with a unique history in the coal business.

Clarkes business deals have been headline news from Virginia to Minnesota since he bought into coal during the recent downturn. Coal mines were going for a song in the broken market for buyers willing to pick up cleanup obligations. Clarkes nonprofit, for example, took on hundreds of millions in cleanup costs after acquiring a number of mines in West Virginia from bankrupt Patriot Coal, according to a New York Times profile on Clarke in 2016.

The unlikely new coal baron said he was inspired in his new venture by a desire to push and pull the industry in a green direction, according to the Times. Arguing that he could change the coal industry from within, he explained to the newspaper a scheme to take advantage of federal green credits during the Obama era by planting trees worldwide and attaching the green credits for that activity to every ton of coal sold to the power industry.

But the coal plus environmental credit tonnage model wasnt popular, as of the time of the New York Times profile.Travelling by foot from as far away as Brussels, thousands of car worshippers are flocking to Luxembourg this weekend for the start of the annual celebration known as the Autofestival.

The festival, which is held around this time every year and has its roots in Roman chariot worship, is one of the most important religious observances for the Grande Regions estimated 250,000 devotees.

Dillan Huart, a 24-year-old pilgrim from a village in deep Lorraine, departed with two friends more than two weeks ago. By his estimate, this is the sixth time he will have made the journey.

We make this walking trek to honour Auto, god of individual mobility, born of Ferro, god of steel and Petrolia, goddess of carbon fuel, he said. Also, Im looking for a good deal on a 2015 Peugeot 206.

Using his right hand, he made a pious gear-shifting gesture before chanting vroom vroom and continuing down the well-worn path.

Joined by her husband Marcus, Luxembourger Sonia Platz, 39, departed last Friday from their home, just over the border in Konz, Germany. She says that paying respect to Auto is important to show our deep appreciation for cars.

In the past, when Auto was displeased, he implored his mother to cause a great petroleum draught in which all the worlds oil wells ran dry, she said. And he begged his father to send the trickster metallurgist Stannum to turn all the steel to tin. Car drivers were forced to ride bicycles or worse  use electric scooters.

My family is growing, she continued. We have four children, and a baby on the way. It is time for the sacred rite of purchasing a large family vehicle. We seek a used Mercedes Vito that can hold up to seven people.

While in recent years some non-believers have dismissed the event as outdated and founded on superstition and myth, believers continue to cite amazing price reductions of up to 30 percent, on all new and used models, as proof of Autos existence and power.

Read more at wurst.lu



Photo credit: J.P. GomezLUXEMBOURG-VILLE  A man who only moved to the Grand Duchy last month nearly starved to death over the weekend after his pleas for help went ignored.

On Sunday morning, Yusef Kaplan, 28, realized with horror that he had neglected to restock his refrigerator the day before.

Where Im from, supermarkets are always open, so I forget that almost everything here is closed on Sundays, he explained from a hospital bed where he was recovering from third-degree hunger pangs.

I was totally famished when I woke up, but there was literally nothing in my fridge except for some old spinach, a bit of swiss cheese, and a half-empty bottle of cremant, the compliance officer said. And some cream, but it was expired. And a bunch of sauces, too, but nothing to put them on.

Thats when Kaplan recalled a rumor hed heard  that some supermarkets are indeed open on Sunday mornings. He launched an urgent appeal to fellow members of a popular Luxembourg expats Facebook group. Kaplan and many other recent arrivals rely on the group for survival tips such as how to find a reliable cleaning lady, where to get a cheap haircut in Howald, and which is the best internet provider.

What shops are open today? Kaplan posted at 8:49 a.m. By midday, however, when none of the approximately 10,000 members of the group had offered him live-saving information, Kaplan feared he would not survive. Can anybody help me, please? he commented that afternoon under his original post. Still, no one responded. Please. Im dying. Ughhh, was his final post at 6:12 p.m.

It was not until late that evening, almost 22 hours since hed last eaten, that Kaplan made the difficult decision to try a search engine known as Google.

Its not easy using Google for stuff like that, because, well, you sometimes get adverts, the informations wrong, or, you know, a websites in French or something, he said.

And yet, as if by divine intervention, at the top of the search results was an expats website for needy people just like Kaplan, and best of all, it was in English.

It said theres a deli market in Strassen thats open until 10 p.m., every day of the week, Kaplan said as tears crept down his cheeks.

Using his last reserves of energy, he crawled into his BMW and drove from his apartment in Beggen all the way to Strassen, where he found the deli and purchased a microwavable Thai meal, a bag of Doritos, and a large can of Batin  just enough to keep him alive while paramedics rushed him to the hospital.

Kaplan says that he doesnt blame the members of the Facebook group for his ordeal, but he wishes that more experienced expats would have sympathy for people like him.

Its not easy moving here and having to learn to navigate Luxembourgs Byzantine customs by the time-consuming and archaic method of asking people in the street, he said. We expats need to be more supportive of each other, and to take the time to answer questions, no matter how obvious the answers might seem.

Otherwise, how are people like me supposed to know which Mexican restaurant serves tacos? he added. Or when Im supposed to change my winter tires?

The Luxembourg Wurst is a humour and satire website about life in the Grand Duchy.

Read more at wurst.luA local man who has been putting away money for a special trip has announced he is finally taking his girlfriend on the taxi ride theyve always dreamed about.

The trip is set for St. Valentines Day and will start at 7 p.m. at the couples home in Bivange, says Vincent Flamand, who has been planning the surprise for his girlfriend Anais since last year.

The driver will transport the couple to the airport in Findel as if they were wealthy business people for whom taking local taxis is not a big deal. The taxi will briefly stop in the drop-off lane while the two passengers drink a glass of cremant and take a selfie.

It will be a long romantic moment, but not too long because the meter will be running and I just dont have that kind of money, Flamand says.

Before departing, Flamand plans on proposing, offering his girlfriend of four years a one-carat diamond ring that is still less expensive than the dream taxi ride.

Afterwards, the driver will return the couple to their home where they will spend the rest of the evening recounting their favourite parts of their costly luxury voyage.

Anais has always wanted to see the city from inside the sort of vehicle only rich people can afford, Flamand said. I cant wait to see the look on her face.

Flamands girlfriend is also going to offer an expensive gift, according to sources. She will use the entirety of last years work bonus to take Flamand out in the centre to have a simple mens haircut at one of the salons there.

Read more at wurst.lu

Photo credit: Pexels and J.P. GomezIt certainly seems to be the prevailing opinion in Facebook's many Luxembourg Expat-groups that it is, but I cant understand why.

Every once in a while someone will join one of Facebooks many expat groups and ask for help in deciding whether they should make the move to the Grand Duchy - usually to pursue a career opportunity. Without fail and within minutes answers will start rolling in warning their potential new neighbour that Luxembourg is about as exciting as a bowl of bellybutton fluff.



From the discussions I have observed the general consensus seems to be that regrouting a public loo is preferable to a night out in Luxembourg City, and if you're young and single you may as well get used to the idea of dating whatever critters you find behind the toilet while you're at it - because you will have no chance at all of finding another single human in the Grand Duchy. In essence, it's easy to get the idea that Luxembourg is one of, if not the most boring countries in the world. But on the plus side, you will have ample opportunity to perfect your grouting technique. Living here will do nothing for your cleaning skills, however, as having a cleaning lady seems mandatory in Luxembourg (at least from personal observation).



As someone who has never had a particularly strong urge to seek out fun - I generally find it overrated as fun tends to be loud, dirty, and disorganised - I struggle to understand what exactly makes some people think that Luxembourg is so boring. I did a bit of web-sleuthing through some recent discussions to find out, and it essentially seems to come down to sub-par nightlife and there being few people out and about in the city.

I can't really say whether the nightlife is boring as I tend to go to bed around 10pm, and certainly find my dreams every bit as interesting here as they have been elsewhere - i.e. not at all. It is however objectively true that not many people live in Luxembourg by international standards, but there isnt really much we can do about that  nor should it come as much of a surprise to anyone.

I do find it sad to see people describe Luxembourg as a boring place to live, because to my mind it does have a lot to offer, even to people whose idea of fun is different to my own. There are lots of bars, restaurants, clean public spaces, castles, vineyards, stunning nature, museums, various music venues that somehow manage to attract A-list acts, and a highly diverse population - so you would think Luxembourg has the raw ingredients needed for 'fun' to happen. This leads to the question of why it apparently is not, which must come down to something less tangible. Could it be that Luxembourgs job market attracts people who favour organised fun, active bar scenes, clubbing and the like, while its geography and broader demography offers more for those of us who prefer quiet?

Whatever the reason is, I think it is easy to lose sight of what we have and focus on that which we dont - not least when life is relatively easy and rather comfortable, as it tends to be for most of us in Luxembourg. For that very reason I think we should all draw a bit of inspiration from Mike McQuaide, better known as An American in Luxembourg and author of a book with that very name. I have followed his page for a couple of years now, and if he does one thing it is proving time and again that Luxembourg is only as boring as you make it. Far from expecting fun to find him, he goes out there and makes it happen for himself  and has managed to attract an audience of over 15,000 people who eagerly follow along on his adventures around Luxembourg.

With that said, it would be interesting to hear from some of the people who do find Luxembourg boring. If you are one of them, feel free to drop a comment  perhaps we can pull together and make some fun happen.

Martin Jonsson is a freelance journalist and produces Letzcast, a podcast about Luxembourg.A 'no deal' Brexit is looking increasingly likely as the British parliament remains in a state of limbo. In the Grand Duchy, on the contrary, there is a flurry of activity to prepare for a no-deal scenario, especially in light of its impact on the aviation industry.

The European Commission is working on a plan of the specific and concrete impact of a no-deal Brexit on the aviation industry. As we reported earlier, those plans would be the main topic of discussion for the MPs in the parliamentary commissions on foreign affairs and transport.

Luxembourg especially has a keen economic interest in aviation and an ensuing interest in relations not disintegrating. The United Kingdom remains a significant destination for the cargo airline Cargolux.

With the clock ticking, preparations are at an all-time high. There are only 45 days left until the United Kingdom officially leaves the European Union. According to Democratic Party MP Gusty Graas, a number of important questions remain to be clarified. There would be no way for Luxembourg to resolve each and every issue in the short time frame.

National Interests

As explained by the Green Party MP Stephanie Empain, the main topic is of course aviation. In light of Cargolux's significance in the sector, the issue of a no-deal Brexit is one that affects Luxembourg's national interests.

If there is no withdrawal agreement set for the transition period following 29 March, all the regulations that have applied to the United Kingdom would instantly no longer be applicable. In order to prevent air traffic between the EU and UK from coming to a complete standstill, the European Union is negotiating the rights that the British will still have despite Brexit - at least, for a short time.

The negotiations concern fundamental issues such as whether British airlines will be permitted to land in Europe or not. The hopes of these negotiations are that the UK will accord the European Union the same rights, which is of particular interest to Luxembourg: this would mean Cargolux would still be authorised to land in London.

EU Consensus

However, there is no consensus at an EU level. While member-states have worked on a communal position, it remains to be seen whether the European Parliament will pass the agreement.

Luxembourg is adamant that the so-called fifth freedom of the air, which "allows an airline to carry revenue traffic between foreign countries as a part of services connecting the airline's own country," must be maintained. The fifth freedom of the air would, for example, allow Cargolux to fly to London, and then continue to New York. It would give Cargolux the right to transport wares from London to New York.

When asked whether they believe that it will not come to a no-deal Brexit and the withdrawal agreement will pass, MPs responded that they hope so. However, it seems few truly believe in this prospect.In December, London Gatwick Airport came to a standstill for two days following the sighting of a drone near the runway. Could Luxembourg Airport be paralysed in a similar manner?

LSAP MP Mars di Bartolomeo submitted a parliamentary question on the issue to Minister of Mobility Francois Bausch on whether the airport in Findel has had to deal with similar incidents. Bausch confirmed that two drones had indeed been sighted near the airport's boundaries in the last four years.

One of those drones nearly brushed an incoming Luxair aircraft during its landing five kilometres away from the airport. This incident occurred on 14 April 2015 and at an altitude of 700 metres.

The police were unable to identify and suspend the drone pilot. There have been further sightings of drones in proximity to flights over the last few years.

In terms of the threat that these aerial vehicles could pose to the security of passengers, Bausch conceded that developing and installing a system to detect and neutralise these drones is an incredibly complex process.

Drones are often too small to be detected by air traffic radars, as only military equipment has the sensitivity required to locate them.The government plans to implement 33 new infrastructure projects in the next few years, in everything ranging from extending the tram to adding bus lanes. However, the Chamber of Deputies expressed some hesitancy.

On Tuesday, the government presented no fewer than 33 infrastructure projects at the orientation debate. Individual parties had a number of detail questions for the government, but overall agreed that the projects remained important. The only parties to have a more critical view of the projects were the ADR and the Pirate Party.

ADR MP Jeff Engelen focused on the tram projects, claiming that the tram is causing more issues in Luxembourg City than it is solving. Speaking specifically about commuters, Engelen was adamant that the tram does not resolve any issues for commuters into the city. As a consequence, Engelen and his party believe that the government should not continue planning the development of the tram before putting the current plan into effect. This should then be followed be an independent study on the benefits and drawbacks of the tram infrastructure. A crucial aspect required in the study, Engelen explained, is how the tram affects other means of traffic to their detriment.

The CSV highlighted the need for some of the projects, which it believes are significant for Luxembourg's mobility development. One project that has the support of the CSV, albeit with caveats, is the introduction of bus lanes to the stretch of the road between Gonderange and Waldhaff. However, MP Serge Wilmes did acknowledge that there is an issue in adding these bus lanes as the roads are insufficiently wide. However, the MP remained confident that the project would be beneficial to expand Luxembourg's bus networks, especially for residents in the east of Luxembourg.

If that project got the green light, then Wilmes hoped that other similar projects would follow.

The 33 projects will focus on health services, schools, and the justice system in addition to the transport and road network.Democrat Dan McCready and Republican Mark Harris could meet again in a do-over election. Photo: McCready for Congress 2017, Shutterstock

Remember that North Carolina congressional race that never got called last November and then sank into a quagmire of fraud allegations against the Republican campaign that looked initially like a winner? While its been out of the national news, its been the source of continued angst in the Tar Heel State, beginning with a refusal by the state election board to certify Mark Harriss apparent win last November.

The underlying issue was extensive evidence of absentee ballot tampering by a local fixer who was working for Harriss campaign:

The board is looking into 14,056 absentee ballots requested for voters across the 9th District, according to Josh Lawson, the boards general counsel. Of these, 10,651 were returned, and 3,405 were not. The board has concerns about whether irregularities and fraudulent activities could have affected ballots in both categories  ballots illegally completed or tampered with and counted, or ballots illegally discarded 

Harris racked up a winning margin of 1,557 votes in Bladen County, and 61 percent of the absentee ballots were cast for him even though just 19 percent of those ballots were cast by registered Republicans.

The fixer in question, who was linked to canvassers reportedly collecting absentee ballots illegally, was Bladen County water and soil commissioner Leslie McCrae Dowless. The dude had a checkered past, as the Raleigh News and Observer reported:

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A man who worked as an independent contractor for Republican Mark Harris campaign in North Carolinas 9th Congressional District is a convicted felon who faced jail time for fraud and perjury, according to court records.

Over the last two decades, he has been paid by at least nine candidates, all for get-out-the-vote work, according to state records.

Leslie McCrae Dowless was convicted of felony fraud in 1992 in Iredell County, according to court records. Dowless and his wife were accused of taking out an insurance policy on a dead man and collecting nearly $165,000 from his death, according to a 1991 Fayetteville Observer article. He served more than six months of a two-year prison sentence, according to court records.

Just the man you want running a county for your campaign.

In any event, the state investigation that was turning up the dirt on Dowless ran into its own twilight zone when a court zapped the election board it was working for, in unrelated litigation. The board was shut down at years end, and after the Republican legislature passed a new board authorization over Democratic governor Roy Coopers veto, the state eventually got a new five-member board, when Cooper appointed three Democrats and two Republicans to it on January 31. The new board has now been briefed in investigators findings, and will hold a public hearing on them on February 18, as Kirk Ross reports:

The new chairman of the state Board of Elections said he expects to reach a turning point on the disputed 9th Congressional District election, with a vote to either certify the results or hold a new election after a Feb. 18 evidentiary hearing.

In its first in-person meeting in Raleigh, the newly appointed board met in closed session for nearly four hours to learn from state investigators what will be presented at that Feb. 18 hearing.

While no one knows for sure what will happen at and after the hearing, there definitely seems to be enough evidence of wrongdoing by Harriss authorized representatives to make his certification unlikely, particularly by a majority-Democratic board. On the other hand, the boards rules require four of its five members to vote for any new election. That would mean at least one Republican voting for that dramatic remedy.

Hanging over the entire proceeding is the fact that the U.S. House is the ultimate arbiter of the qualifications of its members. It can effectively order a new election by declaring the seat vacated. With Democrats controlling both the House and the North Carolina governorship (which would have to call the new election), that seems like a very plausible course of events. The timing of and conditions for a new election are another matter. Under the original state law a new election would have been a do-overa new general election contest between Harris and McCready. But the North Carolina legislature intervened to require a primary, too, as the New York Times reported:

The bill, backed by substantial majorities among both parties, could eventually place Republicans in the awkward position of choosing whether to stick with Mr. Harris, who appeared to have narrowly won a primary and general election  both now buffeted by allegations of irregularities including tainted absentee ballots  or replace him on the ballot.

If the U.S. House deems the seat vacated, it will likely defer to state law and a primary will ensue, though theres been some talk of a congressionally ordered do-over of the general election as well.

After a long period of inaction in this saga, things may soon be popping.

Note: this article has been updated and revised to reflect better information on the nature of a new election, if it occurs.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)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.It's great that members of Congress have located specific legislative language permitting the president to build a border wall, but I'm wondering: Has anybody read the Constitution?

It says:

"The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States."

"(The president) shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."

With millions of foreigners illegally pouring across our border, it sure looks like the laws are not being "faithfully executed." I wonder if the commander in chief has any authority to stop it.

The Constitution was expressly designed to make it difficult to do what our military does all the time -- fight wars around the globe -- and easy to do what our military never does -- defend our own country.

Congress was given power to "declare war," but not to "make war," for the precise purpose of stalling the march to war. It was a selling point that the legislative branch takes forever to do anything.

But we had a country to protect, so the Constitution gave the energetic, fast-moving president the authority to deploy the military defensively.VATICAN CITY (AP)  Pope Francis has approved a miracle needed to make Cardinal John Henry Newman, a prominent Anglican convert, a saint, the Vatican announced on Wednesday.

Francis' predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, beatified Newman during a visit to Britain in 2010. In the Catholic church's saint-making process, one miracle is necessary for beatification, and a second miracle, occurring after the beatification ceremony, must be certified by Vatican experts for sainthood to be conferred.

The Vatican didn't give details in announcing Francis' approval on Tuesday of this second miracle. But Catholic media last year reported that a pregnant woman's recovery, with no scientific explanation, from a life-threatening illness, had been confirmed by church officials and attributed to Newman's intercession.

The London-born Newman, who died in England in 1890, had been hailed by Benedict as a model for ecumenism. Newman renounced an illustrious academic career at Oxford University to convert to Catholicism in 1845, convinced that the truth he sought could no longer be found in the Church of England.

Anglicans split from Rome in 1534 when the English monarch Henry VIII was denied a marriage annulment.

No date was immediately announced for a sainthood ceremony.This editorial appeared in the Feb. 10, 2019, edition of the Chicago Tribune:

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 downstate 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 what's 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 aren't 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.CHICAGO  A Chicago-based appeals court says a trial judge was right to enhance an embezzler's prison sentence on grounds she took advantage of her Indiana victim's computer illiteracy.

The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin reported Tuesday that the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Anastacia Vann Maclin's arguments that her 15-month sentence was too high, including because the judge deemed her victim uniquely vulnerable.

Maclin worked for psychiatrist Farzana Khan's practice in northern Indiana. She was convicted of Medicaid theft for redirecting over $80,000 from Khan's business account to her personal account.

The sentencing judge said he'd never seen anyone "so technologically unsophisticated" as Khan, who neither used email nor banked electronically.

The 7th Circuit said had Khan been adept at monitoring accounts electronically she would have detected the fraud sooner.

Contact Roger Miller at (309) 820-3233. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_rmiller

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0The disabled vehicle was moving slow enough that the woman and girl were able to get out along Illinois Route 140, police say. Authorities continued following Austin but weren't sure if he had any other people in the vehicle, police said.

At some point along Route 140, Austin tried to carjack another vehicle, and he fatally shot Price. Korando said Price had been driving a pickup on Route 140 when he apparently pulled to the shoulder because he saw the police lights from the pursuit coming toward him.

"He was doing the right thing," Korando said of Price, for pulling over. "It's terrible."

Austin didn't take Price's vehicle, but instead kept his own and continued to flee police in Bond County. He tried to carjack another vehicle but couldn't. Police didn't elaborate.

Austin got out of his SUV at a dead end of Old Nebo Avenue near Terrapin Ridge Road and fired several rounds of gunfire at pursuing officers, Korando said. An officer with the Illinois State Police returned fire. Police soon found Austin dead.

"At this time, we don't know if the officers shot him or it was a self-inflicted gunshot wound," Korando said.Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

The bill specifies a doctor who violates the act would be committing a felony, which is also part of current state law, and could lose his or her license. It also creates an avenue for the woman, her husband or the womans parents to file a lawsuit and receive financial awards for psychological and physical injuries.

Julie Lynn, manager of external affairs for Planned Parenthood of Illinois, said the vast majority of abortions occur very early during a pregnancy. When they occur later, it is almost always because a womans health or life is at risk, or because the child cannot survive.

There is no such thing as an abortion up until birth. Its simply not how medical care works, and its frankly irresponsible to imply that it is, she said.

Democratic lawmakers filed legislation Wednesday, after announcing intentions to do so at a news event in Chicago, to repeal Illinois abortion law and replace it with more up-to-date language.

Their effort follows Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzkers pledge to make the state the most progressive state in the nation for access to reproductive health care, according to his spokeswoman, Jordan Abudayyeh.Now headed elsewhere. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Whats remarkable to me about Amazons statement about abandoning its plan to build a second (or third) corporate headquarters in New York is how many times it says Long Island City.

Weve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens, the company said, adding that a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.

Amazon has to specify that it wont be going to Long Island City because the company still intends to grow in New York City. Specifically, it says it expects to boost the current workforce of 5,000 Amazon employees who work in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island.

Amazon is still coming here. Theyre just not going there.

Not to brag, but this is consistent with what I wrote last week: that the deal could fall apart because neither party truly needed the other. New York City didnt need a new corporate headquarters campus, particularly one it would need to subsidize to the tune of $3 billion. And while Amazon needs to have a large and growing workforce in New York City, it doesnt necessarily need as many as 25,000 employees here, and those employees dont need to form the anchor of a new office district the city had hoped to foster in an outer borough.

There are some lessons here for New York policy-makers.

One is that its not good enough for the mayor and the governor to decide something is a good way to spend billions of dollars; they cant necessarily commit extensive financial resources to a deal that doesnt enjoy broad political support.

Another lesson is that one of the valid goals of the Amazon plan is going to be very hard to achieve. For a number of reasons, the city would like to spread more office jobs outside the Manhattan office cores. There are particular benefits for use of our subway infrastructure: A large corporate campus in Long Island City would not add new peak-hour commuters through already taxed tunnels into Manhattan, and would allow more reverse commuters to use under-capacity trains running from Manhattan to Queens in the morning.

But as I noted in November, Long Island City has had trouble attracting and retaining corporate office tenants. MetLife moved to the neighborhood and then moved back to Manhattan; JetBlue has happily made the neighborhood a home, but the airline is an unusual case because of its need for proximity to the airports in Queens.

One company that is planting a stake in Long Island City is Macys, which has signed a lease to take nearly 1.1 million square feet of office space in two new buildings near Queensboro Plaza. Thats right across the bridge (and one subway stop) from Macys flagship Bloomingdales store, and allows the company to enjoy lower rents than it would in Manhattan. On the other hand, Citibank is planning next year to vacate 1 million square feet of office space in LIC. The bank had been hoping to leave a little early and hand much of its space to Amazon for a temporary headquarters; presumably, they now need a new plan.

Rob Speyer, the CEO of Tishman Speyer, which is developing the buildings where Macys will locate, told the Commercial Observer in November that the Amazon deal will help every piece of real estate in Long Island City. It was good timing for the company to get an expansion of the Macys lease done while everyone expected Amazon to come to the neighborhood.

Amazon was willing to take millions of square feet of office space in Queens at a price, and as the deals detractors correctly noted, Amazon is willing to site a substantial operation in New York City without being given a special price. But the company wasnt willing to go to Queens on less favorable terms than it had negotiated.

If New York policy-makers deem it important to have a lot of offices in Long Island City, theyre probably going to hand a bunch of subsidies to someone at some point to get it done. It wont have to be Amazon, and it probably wont have to be $3 billion. But it wont happen for free.

Sign Up for the Intelligencer Newsletter Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world. 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.This theme of close connection with nature continues with Lotus, which will provide a reprieve from more serious fare to transport the audience to the world of a young girl living in rural Thailand. This poetic experimental documentary provides a glimpse through a childs eyes of a people whose deep poverty is mitigated by a transcendent relationship with their land and the spiritual and economic bounty it provides them.

Finally, The Story of a Forest will inspire you to take to the trees to defend the environment from the destructive hands of economic development. This film documents the over 10-year campaign of the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition to stop the construction of a biotech institute on forested land in Florida that provides critical habitat for many species. The activists deploy a relentless mix of direct-action protests and legal challenges, but ultimately end up losing much of the forest. However, their efforts serve as a model to groups everywhere defending the rights of nature.Peterson, who was department chair from 1986 to 1995, retired from SIU Carbondale in 2001 and spent 32 years in the English department. In 2002, recounting how the university was able to attract the nations top writers, Peterson discussed the universitys tradition as a welcoming place for writers.

You just hope you have a sufficient track record in recognizing talent that you can bring in the next Russo, or Haruf or Perillo  that once you have established yourself as a home for writers, other writers will recognize it, he said. But it does seem to me that this is a great place for writers. Theres something about SIUC that seems to be fertile ground for the imagination.Duke Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure, Gas Utilities and Infrastructure, and Commercial Renewables. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure segment generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electricity in the Carolinas, Florida, and the Midwest; and uses coal, hydroelectric, natural gas, oil, renewable sources, and nuclear fuel to generate electricity. It also engages in the wholesale of electricity to municipalities, electric cooperative utilities, and load-serving entities. This segment serves approximately 7.9 million retail electric customers in 6 states in the Southeast and Midwest regions of the United States covering a service territory of approximately 91,000 square miles; and owns approximately 50,807 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity. The Gas Utilities and Infrastructure segment distributes natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial, and power generation natural gas customers; and owns, operates, and invests in pipeline transmission and natural gas storage facilities. It has approximately 1.6 million customers, including 1.1 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, as well as 541,000 customers in southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky. The Commercial Renewables segment acquires, owns, develops, builds, and operates wind and solar renewable generation projects, including nonregulated renewable energy and energy storage services to utilities, electric cooperatives, municipalities, and commercial and industrial customers. It has 21 wind, 150 solar, and 2 battery storage facilities, as well as 11 fuel cell locations with a capacity of 2,282 MW across 19 states. The company was formerly known as Duke Energy Holding Corp. and changed its name to Duke Energy Corporation in April 2005. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Read MoreBy the end of 2019, you should be seeing this screen a lot less. Photo-Illustration: Select All; Photo: Apple

For the vast majority of Americans, robocalls and spam phone calls are a fact of daily life. I get far more robocalls and spam calls than actual calls at this point. I never pick up the phone unless I recognize the number, which has led to me ignoring calls from people I actually want to talk but arent in my contacts. First Orion estimates 50 percent of all mobile phone traffic is robocalls or spam, and YouMail puts the total number of robocalls to Americans just in January at 5.2 billion. Thats 167.3 million robocalls a day, or 1,936 robocalls every second, and on pace for at least 62 billion spam calls in 2019. But 2019 is also the year where, if all goes according to plan, robocallers and spammers are going to find much harder to make your phone ring.

In January, T-Mobile became the first carrier to roll out an early version of the STIR (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited) and SHAKEN (Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs) standards to its customers, working only on its network. STIR/SHAKEN is simple in theory, and complex in execution, but boils down to this: Every outbound gets a certificate verifying that the call is coming from the number is legitimate, no caller ID spoofing allowed (with exceptions made for something like a hospital that may want to have one central callback number). The phone call is passed along to the inbound phone, while the inbound phones carrier checks the certificates public key against a heavily encrypted private key. If the two match and everything is kosher, the calls is sent through. If not, or the phone call doesnt have a certificate, then it either gets flagged as suspicious or doesnt reach your phone at all.

This means theres now a very small number of people getting a peek at what the future will look like for all us. If you use Samsung Galaxy Note 9 on T-Mobile and get a legitimate, non-spoofed phone call from someone else on T-Mobile, the calls gets Call Verified tag attached on your phone screen. For the first time, instead of your carrier warning you that a phone call might be spam or a scam, T-Mobile can assure some of its customers that a phone call is safe to pick up.

If you think this sounds like it wont do much to stop robocallers and spam callers, youre right. It may well be a beginning, but the beginning of the end of robocalls, thats still quite a ways off, says Brent Struthers, the director of the Secure Telephone Identity Governance Authority at the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), an industry group that has been working with carriers on STIR/SHAKEN for over four years. Whats really needed is for every carrier to implement STIR/SHAKEN, so that if a T-Mobile customer calls a Verizon customer, or someone on AT&T calls a Sprint customer, both sides of the call can be authenticated.

Carriers have plenty of incentive to get STIR/SHAKEN up and running. While the FCC under Ajit Pai has has shown little appetite to regulate the telecom industry, the one big exception is robocalls. In a statement released February 13, Pai used both the carrot and the stick urging carriers to get moving. American consumers are sick and tired of unwanted robocalls, said Pai. I applaud those companies that have committed to deploy the SHAKEN/STIR framework in 2019. This goal should be achievable for every major wireless provider, interconnected VoIP operator, and telephone company  and I expect those lagging behind to make every effort to catch up. If it appears major carriers wont meet the deadline to get this done this year, the FCC will have to consider regulatory intervention.

When contacted by New York, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile all confirmed their commitment to implementing STIR/SHAKEN in 2019. But while T-Mobile has already started rolling out STIR/SHAKEN, its very hard to get a sense of when the roll out across all carriers will actually happen beyond it occurring sometime in 2019.

To be fair, theres still some significant work to be done. Job number one: establishing a third-party governance body that would issue certificates to legitimate carriers. This body would be paid for by carriers, but also independent of them  and the details of who pays what is still an active topic of conversation, which may also be delaying matters. We hope to have somebody named as a policy administrator in May, says Struthers, and thats as far as weve gotten so far. I dont know if July is realistic, but were on track to have a policy administrator up and running this year.

Theres also the matter of who gets a certificate at all. If a carrier comes and would like a digital certificate, they have to get approved by the policy administrator, says Struthers. We havent set those rules out as to who qualifies this point, so thats yet another thing were working on. You can see while were implementing this were also developing and refining the rules.

Theres even active discussion of how exactly to display legitimate calls. Will there be a standard way to show customers, like a lock, a checkmark, or something else to show customers that a numbers been verified? says Struthers. More ideally, carriers would simply start blocking calls more aggressively. The customer wouldnt even have any idea that the calls are not getting through, because theyre not ringing their phone at all, says Struthers.

Both Struthers and McEachern warn that even in a world where STIR/SHAKEN is fully implemented, there will still be issues. People will fraudulently obtain certificates, or gain access to real numbers and attempt to use those. More complex schemes, where a robocaller farm masks itself as a legitmate enterprise to gain a certificate, will almost certainly be attempted. But it will be much, much easier to start squashing spammers before they really get started.

But STIR/SHAKEN gives carriers and regulators real tools  and real data  to use against robocallers, unlike the current caller ID system, which provides almost no information at all. Until now, whether it be a whitelist, a blacklist, or the various apps that monitor and block calls, theyre all making decisions based on caller ID that can be spoofed, so theyre all building it on sand, says Jim McEachern, principal technologist at ATIS. And what were doing is creating a concrete foundation that you can now start building something reliable on.

I often liken this to email spam, where 15 years ago we thought that email was going to be unusable because of the growth in spam, says McEachern. Then things like Bayesian spam filtering and other techniques evolved, to the point where most people rarely see spam. As spam became harder to get in front of peoples eyes, it became less profitable, and is now on the decline around the world.

My hope is in the next two to five years, people will start going, Oh yeah, remember how bad phone spam used to be? I only got one spam call today, says McEachern. That hope may seem distant right now  I got six spam calls while writing this article  but STIR/SHAKEN is the best real shot to fix things.

Long before robocall farms became the plague they are today, Americans still dealt with telemarketers, autodialers, and various phone scammers using the old copper-wire telephone system. And even once STIR/SHAKEN is implemented, robocallers and spam callers wont simply give up  many have spent years and years perfecting techniques to earn as much as possible. But as it becomes harder to get anyones phone to ring, less money will be made. Robocallers and spammers will move to more lucrative schemes, and one day not too long from now, youll be able to pick up your phone once again.One of the strangest political figures ever lost his influence and following in recent years. Photo: Bettmann Archive

One of Americas contributions to the 20th-centurys rich legacy of dangerous political cult leaders, Lyndon LaRouche, has reportedly died at the age of 96. The native of New Hampshire was already in his 40s when he first made his mark as a Marxist New Left leader in the late 1960s who fought with other factions over the carcass of the once-influential Students for a Democratic Society. By the mid-1970s he had developed a tightly organized cult of personality that veered far right, and then became a pervasive if annoying presence from the street corners where LaRouches ubiquitous pamphlets and publications were distributed, to the candidate debates where his movements articulate if borderline-deranged apostles appeared for years in every corner of the country.

Get your political fix. Get the Intelligencer newsletter, a political magazine that unfolds right in your inbox. 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.

As a 1979 profile of LaRouches U.S. Labor Party (as his movement was originally branded) in the New York Times reported, his devoted followers shifted rapidly in the 1970s into right-wing conspiracy theories and intelligence gathering:

Beginning in 1976, the party voluntarily transmitted intelligence reports on leftwing movements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and local police departments. In 1977, the group attempted to commercialize its intelligence network. According to former members, reports on antiapartheid groups were prepared for South Africa, student dissidents were investigated for the Shah of Irans Savak, and the antinuclear movement was examined for power companies.

Mr. LaRouche announces to the members several times a year that he is targeted for assassination by various conspirators. The latest, according to the candidate, include the Queen of England, bigtime Zionist mobsters, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Justice Department and Mossad, the Israeli security agency.

Originally in an effort to help Ronald Reagan by dividing his opposition, the LaRouche movement began depicting itself as a Democratic Party faction in 1980. LaRouche himself would run for president seven times as a pseudo-Democrat, despite promoting an ever-more-right-wing agenda. All over the country, journalists and voters alike were puzzled by LaRouche candidates in Democratic primaries who came across as calm, articulate, and completely out of their minds as they promoted some of their idols favorite delusions, most notably the idea that Queen Elizabeth II was in charge of a global drug cartel.

The high point of this perpetual campaign of deception by LaRouchies posing as Democrats was in 1986, when, in a low-turnout primary in Illinois, LaRouche candidates won the Democratic nominations for lieutenant governor and secretary of state. They basically wrecked what had been a promising year for Illinois Democrats, who had to create a separate ticket to avoid pulling these unwelcome parasites into office.

Eventually LaRouche was undone by his sloppy finances and deceptive practices, and served five years in federal prison on fraud and tax charges. But he made a comeback before eventually eating his own movement in the early years of the 21st century by trying to recruit a new cadre of young people via an attack on the very baby boomers who had followed him for so long. A suicide by the man who had long run LaRouches publishing arm had a powerful effect on the groups membership and finances, though subventions from his devotees always kept LaRouche flush personally.

LaRouche had always maintained an organizational presence in Germany, and its there that he last made waves, as Foreign Policy reported during a German national campaign in 2017:

A week before Germanys federal elections, Berlin is blanketed in a layer of campaign posters, from Angela Merkel and the Christian Democratic Unions bland slogan For a Germany in which we live well and happily to the far-right Alternative for Germanys proclamation of preferring bikinis over burqas.

But one set of signs are particularly bizarre, even cryptic.

The future of Germany is the New Silk Road! reads one pinned to a streetlight near Berlins main train station.

Cultural renaissance instead of barbarism, reads another. And, Germans can stop world war!

These posters, in a matching blue and yellow color scheme, all urge Berliners to vote BuSo.

What the posters dont say is that BuSo  short for Burgerrechtsbewegung Solidaritat, or Civil Rights Movement Solidarity  is a political party founded and operated by eccentric American millionaire Lyndon LaRouche and his German wife, Helga Zepp-LaRouche.

LaRouche was seizing on the idea that a German-Chinese alliance could save the world. And there was a lot of evidence that his real audience wasnt in Germany but in Beijing:

Journalists associated with the LaRouches news outlet, the Executive Intelligence Review, are regularly invited to Chinese government press conferences in Washington and are quoted extensively in Chinese state media, where they often parrot government propaganda 

[T]heres the dangerous possibility that Chinese officials and academics actually think the LaRouche movement is a serious Western group. For a middle-aged Chinese official with little experience in or contact with the West, distinguishing between LaRouches Schiller Institute and, say, the Brookings Institution, the Cato Institute, or other mainstream think tanks is tough.

Deceptive to the end, LaRouche passes from the scene having migrated from Marxism to quasi-fascism, and from fake Democratic to fake German allegiances. Its never been clear to what extent Lyndon LaRouche was a con man, or just a megalomaniac who drank too deeply of his own Kool-Aid. But he left a lot of damage in his wake. And in the end, the drug dealer Elizabeth II got the last laugh by outliving him.The Undead Archives

I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world.As is usually the case, things arent very fun in the world/circus of the New York Knicks this season. But they at least have some intriguing young players, such as 19-year-old rookie Kevin Knox.

And during the Knicks-76ers game on Wednesday night, the ninth overall pick out of Kentucky put Philadelphias Ben Simmons on a poster with a powerful two-handed slam.

DeAndre Jordans reaction summarized the dunk.

However, the Knicks of course lost, 126-111. Their 10-47 record is the worst mark in the NBA, but its at least setting them up for the possibility of Zion Williamson joining Knox in throwing down dunks like this at MSG next season.Paul Manafort Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Last night, a federal judge ruled that Paul Manafort violated his plea agreement by lying repeatedly to federal prosecutors about the Russia investigation. Some of Manaforts lies go very much to the heart of what the special counsels office is investigating, a prosecutor told the court. In particular, Manafort deceived prosecutors about a meeting he had with his former partner and active Russian agent, Konstantin Kilimnik. At this meeting, the two discussed a peace plan to resolve Russias invasion of Ukraine, the top Russian foreign policy priority. Manafort passed on polling data to Kilimnik, data that was very detailed and very focused, not just some topline numbers. And according to prosecutors, Manafort did all this in hopes of getting a pardon from President Trump.

Here we have, in this case alone, every single element one would need to establish collusion. There was a meeting between Trumps campaign manager and a Russian operative; the discussion of something Russia would gain from a Trump victory (a favorable Ukraine settlement); the exchange of information that would assist Russian campaign intervention (polling data that would allow Russia to target its social-media attacks). Also, they left the meeting place via separate entrances. This isnt merely suspicious. Its a scene from The Americans.

And perhaps most curious of all, you have the interest of the president. If Manafort was just running a side hustle behind Trumps back, Trump would have little reason to care about him getting caught. Prosecutors have already charged that Manafort maintained secret contacts with the White House as recently as 2018. Howard Fineman reported last year that, according to friends and aides of the president, Trump believes Manafort isnt going to flip and sell him out.

The revelations about Manafort have dribbled out slowly enough that its easy to lose track of how far along they have come. The prosecution of Manafort began by nabbing him for the most easily detected crimes. This is exactly what youd expect in the prosecution of a massive conspiracy: The prosecution works its way from the bottom up and the outside in, finding crimes by key figures to force them to testify against higher-ups. Instead, conservatives have treated every step in the prosecution as evidence that Manafort did nothing wrong with Russia.

When the first Manafort indictment came down in 2017, the Wall Street Journal reassured its readers that Trump was guilty of nothing more than poor judgement in hiring a notorious Beltway operator, as it called the man who had been directing Russian overseas political operations in Ukraine. One popular theory is that Mr. Mueller is throwing the book at Mr. Manafort so he will cop a plea and tell what he knows about Russian-Trump campaign chicanery, reasoned an editorial. But that assumes he knows something that to date no Congressional investigation has found.

The next year, a gimmick filing by Manaforts attorneys seized on the fact that prosecutors had not charged him with colluding with Russia yet to present him as innocent. Mollie Hemingway breathlessly wrote it up in the Federalist. Manaforts legal team also reveals the government has provided no evidence of any contact between Manafort and Russian officials, she declared. Former George W. Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer, impressed by this evidence, declared, If Manafort did not illegally collide [sic] with Russia, its hard to imagine anyone who did.

Last summer, Byron York was still proclaiming, Theres no collusion in the case against Manafort.

This defense has been smashed to pieces. Theres a ton of collusion in the case against Manafort. Of course we havent even seen the full extent of the charges, much of which is still hidden in the procession of indictments beneath tantalizing black lines. What we already know is that Trumps campaign manager was working tightly and in secret with Russia during the campaign, and that his interests and those of Donald Trump have been very much in alignment.The Lower Columbia Community Action Program is asking for help to find housing for 17 former Common Rooms tenants who lost their apartments in a pre-Christmas fire.

Nearly two months after the Dec. 21 fire destroyed the boarding house at 1226 11th Ave., the areas low vacancy rate has prevented the former tenants from finding new housing, said Melissa Taylor, CAP Program Development Director.

Its a very tight housing market anyway, and having all these people at the same time looking for a place makes it tough, Taylor said.

Taylor said the Common Rooms housed some of our most vulnerable community members, including a man confined to a wheelchair experiencing organ failure and an elderly woman with a terminal diagnosis. About 30 people were displaced by the fire.

CAP has been paying to house the former Common Rooms tenants in hotels for about a month, after funds from the American Red Cross and donations through Love Overwhelming ran out, Taylor said.

Taylor said CAPs funding is not unlimited and the organization is trying to find affordable housing for the tenants by the end of the month. CAP is asking landlords, property managers or anyone who may have a room for rent to contact Landlord Liaison Jack Hansen at 360-425-3430 ext. 239.In the mid-1980s, the corps built a 125-foot-high sediment retaining dam to intercept the silt flow. The structure, maligned by some anglers and many residents of the Toutle Valley, has prevented hundreds of millions of cubic yards of sediment from flowing downriver. But it has largely filled up with debris and is passing silt downriver despite undergoing a slight raise to its spillway several years ago.

The corps last fall completed a long-awaited plan to address the continued flow of silt. It calls for raising the sediment-retaining dam another 23 feet, building other silt-retaining structures upstream of the dam and dredging the Cowlitz as necessary. It also will build a new fish trap below the dam.

Engineers acknowledged that the sediment flow will continue well into mid-century and may cost another $384 million through 2035 to keep Longview, Kelso, Castle Rock and Lexington safe.

Fisheries concerns delayed the plan, which took nearly a decade to complete. With such potential costs and the high stakes involved for public safety and fisheries resources, the Ruckelshaus Center says it hopes to create a collaborative process to address challenges related to the long-term management of the Spirit Lake/Toutle-Cowlitz River system.

Contact City Editor Andre Stepankowsky at 360-577-2520.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0Her brother, Mike Green, echoed that sentiment.

Ive heard stories all my life, said Green, Dicks nephew. When we went to the airport to receive his remains, its like it all stopped being stories. Its real now.

Almost 50 people attended the funeral service. Although most of the crowd never knew Dick personally, they came to pay their respects to a local hero and honor the memory of all those lost in the attack.

I didnt know him, but one of the things you learn in the military is you never leave anyone behind, no matter how long it takes, said Michael Burton, retired Air Force colonel and co-chair of the Vancouver Community Military Appreciation Committee.

U.S. Navy Chaplain Lt. Shawn Hazel focused the service on remembrance, and the importance of remembering heroes like Dick, who sacrificed their lives for the county.

Today we get to recognize and honor not only Frances sacrifice, but the sacrifice of all those other still unidentified sailors and Marines who are still waiting to be brought home, Hazel said, reading from the eulogy prepared by Bobby Jones, Kerry Jones husband.Marty Bennett of Bennett Boats in Seaview, Wash., is the guest speaker at a free Salty Talks event open to the public starting at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 21, at the Salt Hotel and Pub, 147 Howerton Ave., Ilwaco.

A fabricator of custom, open-ocean watercraft, Bennett will discuss the design and building elements needed to make boats safe and perform well in the water.

The Salty Talk presentation is in partnership with the Salt Pub and Hotel, the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum and the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission with support from the Friends of the Columbia River Gateway.

For details, call the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum at 360-642-3446 or send an email to pr@cphm-ilwaco.org.

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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.Images of West African masks, Liberian landscapes and civil war histories by Portland resident and artist C. Apala Barclay are on exhibit today through April 2 at the Alcove Gallery located in the Community Arts Workshop at CAP, 1526 Commerce Ave., Longview. The entrance to the gallery is next door to the Sylvester Apartments.

Gallery hours are from noon to 3:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. A reception for the artist takes place from 1 to 3 p.m. Feb. 20. Refreshments will be served.

The work tells the story of his life in Africa and the United States, according to a press release.

Barclay was born in Liberia, West Africa, into a family of historians and politicians. As a child, he traveled to several African villages where he learned local traditions including rituals, dances and how to make masks. In the beginning, his tools were dry clay and charcoal. He had a knack for drawing which became one of his most effective forms of communication, notes the release.

He studied art in high school, college and with Liberian artists. Before and during the Liberian Civil War, Barclay worked as an artist, a craftsman and a political cartoonist.

After being displaced from Liberia, he went to college in the U.S., before moving to Portland.Last year, Minneapolis Jewish Democrats met with Ilhan Omar to discuss their concerns over her support of terrorist group Hamas and her vicious anti-Israel rhetoric.

Well, great job, Minnesota Dems. Omar is now laughing at youand laughing all the way to the bank.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) California Political Action Committee (PAC) revved its fundraising machine for Omar when she was running for Congress last year.

And this new fundraising link now asks to stand with Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to fight hatred and to reclaim our democracy.

But apparently not democracy for Somali girls, as Omar rejected Muslim reform-driven efforts against gender discrimination and female genital mutilation (FGM)

Via Free Beacon.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) is fundraising off the backlash to her anti-Semitic tweets over the weekend that included a call by President Donald Trump for her to resign. A page is set up reading Pledge to stand with Ilhan. Donald Trump wants Ilhan to resign, but I stand with Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to fight hatred and to reclaim our democracy, along with ways to donate.

Via Clarion Project.A campaign of arrests in southern Syria has targeted people who were involved in the reconciliation agreements reports Etihad Press.

Regime security forces and allied militias have arrested dozens of young men and a number of women in various parts of Daraa province in southern Syria.

Regime authorities in the province have carried out an unprecedented campaign of arrests, the most violent since they took control of the area. The campaign has included a number of cities and towns in Daraa. Widespread arrests have been carried out, including dozens of young men, in addition to two women, after a raid carried out by the regimes State Security branch for the town of al-Yadoudeh in the central sector, in addition to raids in the city of al-Hara and Nawa.

Direct charges were not applied to those who were arrested. Known to be among them in the city of al-Hara is the former head of the local council, Mamoun al-Balili, and his brother Ibrahim al-Balili. National Security militias are continuing the raids of residents houses in the town of Nawa without the reasons being clear.

Arrests are still affecting leaders of the reconciliations, with members of the State Security branch arresting Moeed al-Zouabi, former head of the Ahrar al-Yadoudeh brigade in the Jaysh al-Thowra. Eyad al-Ghanem was also arrested by the Military Security.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.The fourth trilateral summit between Turkey, Russia and Iran will explore the ongoing violence in Idleb and the formation of the constitutional committee reports Anadolu Agency.

On Thursday, the Russian, Turkish and Iranian presidents will meet in the Russian coastal city of Sochi for a summit on Syria.

According to a Turkish Presidency statement on Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will depart for Russia on Thursday to attend the fourth trilateral summit on Syria.

Russias Vladimir Putin and Irans Hassan Rouhani will also attend the summit, the statement added.

The joint efforts, conducted on the ground and within the political process created by the Astana track, in order to find a lasting solution to the Syrian conflict, will be reviewed at the summit, it read.

Erdogan will address regional issues and bilateral relations during his bilateral meetings with Russian and Iranian counterparts, it said.

The three leaders are expected to concentrate on a long-term settlement to the Syrian crisis at the fourth trilateral meeting slated for Thursday.

They will also discuss the increased violence in Syrias northwestern Idleb, the US withdrawal from Syria, and the ongoing efforts to form a Syrian constitutional committee.

Turkey and Russia, together with Iran, are the guarantor countries which brokered a cease-fire in Syria in December 2016, leading to the Astana talks, which are running parallel to the Geneva talks.

The last trilateral summit was held in Iranian capital Tehran with a focus on the latest situation in the de-escalation zone in Idleb. It wrapped up with a call for a cease-fire in Idleb.

After a Sochi meeting between Erdogan and Putin last September, the two sides agreed to set up a demilitarized zone in Idleb, in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

The following month saw all heavy weapons withdrawn from the de-escalation zone by the Syrian opposition and anti-regime groups.

Nevertheless, according to the White Helmets, at least 30 people in Idleb were killed in January, including women and children, while another 180 were injured in Idleb, Hama and Lattakia, by regime drone attacks and artillery fire.

Last month also saw the regime targeting Idlebs southeastern countryside, along with rural parts of Aleppo, Lattakia and Hama province.

This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.Faisal Mikdad hailed the efforts of UNICEF to rebuild damaged schools and run vaccination programs for children writes SANA.

On Wednesday, the Deputy Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Faisal Mikdad, received the UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Geert Cappelaere.

Discussion during the meeting touched upon the bilateral cooperation between the Syrian government and UNICEF in the fields of care for children, girls, health, education, women and youth.

Cappelaere hailed the role of the Syrian government and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) in securing a humanitarian aid convoy to the al-Rukban Camp for internally displaced people.

He used the meeting to highlight the UNICEF activities in Syria in terms of rehabilitating schools damaged during the war, in addition to carrying out vaccination campaigns for children in various areas of the country, in cooperation with the Syrian Health Ministry.

For his part, Mikdad highlighted the Syrian governments keenness to ensure that all Syrian children have access to education, in reference to the ongoing cooperation with the UNICEF in this regard.

This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.For many years now, Gebran Bassil has demonized Syrian refugees living in Lebanon and has repeatedly called for them to return home writes Al-Araby al-Jadeed.

From time to time, Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil will toss off a noise grenade to sow fear about the presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Once they were a time bomb threatening Lebanons stability and comprised a terrorist threat to Europe. Another time, they were disrupting the export of Lebanese apples. Another, they were ruining the tourist season. Most recently, it is the Ministers opinion that the refugees have become a threat to Lebanons social fabric.

International statistics say that the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon before the end of 2017 was fewer than a million people. Tens of thousands have returned since that time for various reasons, most importantly, the racist practices to which theyve been subjected at an official level. The racism of some municipalities has reached the point of orders being issued to prevent Syrians from walking at night. This has been met with condemnation by Lebanese civil society organizations active among refugees. This shameful practice has been explained as a way to prevent violations that some refugees have committed.

Among the refugees, there are people who do not respect the laws and who have carried out abuses acceptable to no one. This has happened in Lebanon and in other countries of refuge, such as Turkey, where dozens of incidents have occurred on its territory. However, the Turkish government has absorbed many violations by dealing with them and placing them in their contexts, and this has prevented them being used to criminalize Syrian refugees on their territory, who have received great understanding and have been given a chance to offer their best. Syrians have become a model of productivity and integration in work, perseverance, and good neighborliness.

Whoever has prepared Bassils statements over the years has concluded that the presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon is a danger to the future of coexistence, and that they are a time bomb which will explode the current Lebanese formula based on sectarian balance. By combining the idea of a time bomb, with the term social fabric, Bassil is suggesting the potential for partition, which is a bogeyman waved by political leaders in Lebanon, and which they previously used against the Palestinians whose numbers grew until fears expanded in the public imaginationand then statistics showed that their numbers did not exceed half of the announced number and have not been given citizenship except for a small portion.

Whether the Minister weighed the impact of his latest statement, or he made it without calculation, the reputation of Syrian refugees is on Bassils lips. He has continued to blame them, when appropriate and when inappropriate, to the extent of inciting the world to press the refugees to go back to Syriaby standing with the Syrian regime, which plays the refugee card in order to request international assistance for reconstruction and to conscript young men for frontline service. It is strange that the ears of the Coalition and the Negotiations Committee are deaf to Bassils abuse, and that they do not make a move, when they have every legal justification to raise a lawsuit against the Lebanese Foreign Minister before international human rights courts, given that asylum and respect for the dignity of refugees are protected by international agreements.

Gebran Bassil expresses a racist mood which has spread in Lebanon over a long period. This pathological symptom has transformed from time to time. In the not-so-distant past, it was the Palestinians and the children of other sects who were the targets. The Syrian refugees have been added to them. Bassil is playing this card, knowing full well the effectiveness of populism. He is a man who reached the position of foreign minister in Lebanon without political qualification, but only because he is the son-in-law of President Michel Aoun. His view is long-term, and he accepts nothing less than the inheritance of a general who came to power on the wings of his alliance with Hezbollah, Damascuss ally, who kept him out of the country for nearly 15 yearsuntil he returned through the door of loyalty and obedience.

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.Manafort pictured in December 2017. Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort intentionally achieved a Triple Crown of false statements, lying about his contacts with a Russian agent to the Mueller investigation, the FBI, and a grand jury. In the ruling, Judge Amy Berman Jackson determined that any chance for Manafort to get cooperating benefits through his plea deal with the special counsel are officially kaput.

Judge Jackson, of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., decided that Manafort lied about a $125,000 payment allegedly routed through a pro-Trump PAC to cover his legal bills, and for lying about his contacts with Russian political consultant Konstantin Kilimnik. A longtime business associate of Manaforts and a graduate of a military school that produces Russian intelligence agents, Kilimnik is believed to be Person A in Muellers indictment of the former Trump campaign manager  a person that the special counsel maintains has active ties to a Russian intelligence service.

In January, Manaforts best legal minds accidentally revealed that their client had passed polling data to Kilimnik, when his lawyers improperly redacted their public response to Robert Muellers filings. (If you copy and pasted the redacted parts into a new doc, you could read the blacked-out words.) As New Yorks Jonathan Chait tidily summed up the leak:

Before he took a job managing Trumps campaign, Manafort worked alongside a known Russian intelligence agent for years and years to elect candidates with pro-Russian policies. He continued to work with him while directing the Trump campaign.

At which point, Manafort lied about it in three separate inquiries. According to a top special counsel deputy, Manafort made it seem in his testimony as if he met with Kilimnik on just one occasion, in August 2016; it was only when the special counsel showed Manafort evidence of his three meetings with the Russian after Trumps election that Manafort came clear. Prosecutors also told Judge Jackson that Manafort deceived them about transferring Trump campaign polling data to Mr. Kilimnik during the campaign, according to the New York Times.

Unfortunately for Manafort, whos already in his eighth month of incarceration, he will not be able to change his guilty plea filed in September 2018. And with Judge Jacksons decision on Wednesday, its unlikely that Manafort will receive any leniency in his March 13 sentencing for his charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and witness tampering. (Jackson will also be the judge to deliver Manaforts sentencing next month.) The decision on Wednesday could also impact Manaforts sentencing in Virginia, where he was convicted on eight counts of financial crimes, including tax evasion and bank fraud. That sentencing has no date yet.

Paul Manafort is now the fourth Trump surrogate to be caught lying to investigators about campaign contacts with Russia, joining the red-handed crew of George Papadopoulos, Michael Flynn, and Michael Cohen. As the Mueller investigation marches toward its second anniversary, it appears that the middlemen are accounted for  the remaining question is if anyone named Trump will be indicted before campaign season heats up.We are sorry, but, the blog or user you are looking for can not be found.

Checkout some of the blogs in our showcase.UPDATED: Protest gatherings will return to Slovakia one year after the murders of Kuciak and Kusnirova

The gatherings will be held under the slogan We wont forget! We will continue!.

The For a Decent Slovakia protests will be held around the country on September 20, including in the biggest cities like Bratislava and Kosice (Source: SME)

Slovakia will commemorate the one-year anniversary of the cold-blooded murder of investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova on February 21.

On the very same day, several protest gatherings organised by the For a Decent Slovakia will be held under the slogan We wont forget! We will continue! As the organisers stressed, the murders have changed our lives forever and have changed Slovakia.

We have been gathering on squares for a year, calling for decency and justice, the organisers wrote on Facebook. We have created a community that demands new ways of good governance, asks for decency, rejects arrogance and hatred, and demands truth and justice instead of lies and unrestrained populism.

Thanks to the activities, people could have a chance to have a full view of how corruption has been swept under the carpet, how police officials have misused the police and how the innocent and weak have been harmed.

However, some politicians still use hatred and conspiracy as their working methods, as they reminded.

We are angry at those who do not have the courage to take personal responsibility, the organisers continued. Titles, ranks, and positions are more valuable to them than humility and respect for the truth and education. We are ashamed of the cynicism and disrespect of people holding public offices.

The organisers of the protest gatherings also mentioned mockery, personal assaults and lies they have been the victims of in response to their activities. However, they do not plan to give up in the fight for a decent and fair Slovakia, and persist in their demands that include the proper investigation of the double murder and the revelation of the people who actually ordered it.

The murder has changed Slovakia and we will not give up, we will continue, the organisers continued. Each one of us, everyone who came to the squares, everyone who was following the happenings and was interested, is part of the large community we were waiting for, and the community is growing. He and she are the ones we have been waiting for.

Where will the gatherings take place?

Slovakia:

Abroad:

Aalborg (Denmark), February 21 at 18:00

Auckland (New Zealand), February 21 at 18:00

Berlin (Germany), February 21 at 19:00

Brno (the Czech Republic), February 21 at 17:00

Brussels (Belgium), February 21 at 18:00

Copenhagen (Denmark), February 21 at 18:00

Dublin (Ireland), February 21 at 18:00

Helsinki (Finland), February 21 at 17:30

London (the UK), February 21 at 19:00

Luxembourg (Luxembourg), February 21 at 17:30

Melbourne (Australia), February 21 at 18:30 (State Library of Victoria)

Palo Alto (the USA), February 21 at 18:00

Paris (France), February 21 at 20:00

Prague (the Czech Republic), February 21 at 17:00

Raleigh (the USA), February 21 at 18:45

Sheffield (the UK), February 21 at 18:00

Stockholm (Sweden), February 21 at 19:00 (Berzelii Park)

Tallinn (Estonia), February 21 at 19:30

The Hague (the Netherlands), February 21 at 19:00

Vancouver (Canada), February 21 at 19:00 (Robson Square)

Warsaw (Poland), February 21 at 18:00

Zlin (the Czech Republic), February 21 at 17:00

Zurich (Switzerland), February 21 at 17:30

14. Feb 2019 at 13:56 (modified at 20. Feb 2019 at 14:20) | Compiled by Spectator staffEx-anti-corruption unit head Krajmer leaves his Interior Ministry job

His presence at the crime scene following the murder of Jan Kuciak sparked controversy.

Robert Krajmer (second left) at the crime scene in front of Jan Kuciak's house. (Source: TASR)

Font size: A - | A +

Upon his own request, former head of the anti-corruption unit of the National Criminal Agency (NAKA), Robert Krajmer, is leaving his job at the Interior Ministry.

Mr Krajmer asked for the termination of his employment contract and will leave the Interior Ministry as of March 1, 2019, the ministrys press department reported, as quoted by the TASR newswire.

Read also: Anti-Corruption Unit head Krajmer resigns Read more

Krajmer left his post as NAKAs anti-corruption unit head last year, after the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova. He was criticised for his presence at the crime scene at the beginning of the investigation, even though the crime did not fall within the scope of his job.

Shortly after leaving NAKA, he worked as a head of the prevention and communication department at the Police Corps Presidium, and since September 1, 2018 he has worked at the Interior Ministry, TASR reported.

14. Feb 2019 at 13:51 | Compiled by Spectator staffPolitical analyst Miroslav Kusy has died

He was one of the first signatories of Charter 77. After the revolution, he co-founded several organisations and served as rector of Comenius University.

Political analyst Miroslav Kusy died at the age of 87 years after heart failure.

His wife, Jolana Kusa, confirmed his death to the Dennik N daily.

Who was Miroslav Kusy?

Kusy studied at the Faculty of Ars of Charles University in Prague, where he also graduated from postgraduate studies. He later worked at Comenius University in Bratislava, where he became a professor of Marxist philosophy in the years 1967-1970. He was also a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Slovakia, leading the ideology department.

He was kicked out of the party after 1969 and banned from teaching. During the period of normalisation, he worked as a librarian at Comenius University.

In February 1977 Kusy was the third one to sign Charter 77, a petition drawn up by several Czechoslovak writers and intellectuals. He was subsequently laid off by the university and had to become a blue collar worker.

He was also regularly checked by the communist-era secret police StB, detained several times and monitored after the code name Renegate. Kusy spent 10 weeks in prison in 1989, waiting for the trial due to the suspicions of treason and state subversion. He was released shortly before the November 1989 Velvet Revolution.

Kusy belonged among significant figures of the Velvet Revolution, during which he became deputy chair of the Public Against Violence (VPN) movement. He was later appointed head of the Federal Office for Press and Information.

Moreover, he founded the Slovak Helsinki Committee, the Milan Simecka Foundation, and presided over the UNESCO committee for human rights in Slovakia.

He later became the rector of Comenius University.

Ex-president Rudolf Schuster awarded him the Ludovit Stur Order 1st class in 2001.

Also active in later years

Kusy commented on various topics despite his advanced age and was a regular contributor to Slovak media.

Back in 2016, the Hungarian media reported that he trained Andrej Danko, chair of the Slovak National Party (SNS) before the parliamentary elections. He reportedly recommended him to get rid of the main speakers from the old era and stop the hate speech towards Hungarians, the Sme daily reported.

Kusy later confirmed the information, adding that he was meeting Danko at the time he took the party from Jan Slota. The meetings were initiated by Danko, they met about 10 times and discussed the topics, he told Sme.

When Danko recently called the MP for the opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party, Lucia Duris Nicholsonova, a little Gypsy, Kusy criticised him, calling the statement primitive.

14. Feb 2019 at 13:48 | Compiled by Spectator staffJustice Clarence Thomas might yield way to a young right-wing appointment for Trump. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

The health of 85-year-old Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been in the news off and on since she suffered a fall and was then diagnosed with lung cancer late last year. But as legal journalist Jeffrey Toobin points out, RBGs plans are very clear so long as her amazing stamina allows her to function:

[I]n January, she missed oral arguments for the first time in twenty-five years on the Court, and there is no guarantee that she will be there when the Justices next hear cases, on February 19th. Still, the retirement drama regarding Ginsburg is straightforward. She will hang on for as long as she can, in the hopes that a Democratic President will appoint her successor after the 2020 election.

But as Toobin notes, there is another, less frequently discussed retirement drama involving 70-year-old Justice Clarence Thomas, who has been on the Court for 28 years and has made it clear to friends that he doesnt enjoy the job very much. If Ginsburg is hanging on in hopes of a Democratic president, the same calculations could lead Thomas to retire right now, giving President Trump a chance to appoint a young justice who could extend the conservative hold on the Court for another generation.

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Is it possible Trump has been quietly encouraging Thomas in that direction? Toobin thinks so:

Trump has shown unusual solicitude for Justice Thomas and his wife, Ginni, a hard-right political activist. The President and the First Lady had the Thomases to dinner, and then Trump welcomed Ginni and some of her movement colleagues to the White House for an hour-long discussion. 

[T]he President listened as the group asked that more of their allies be given jobs in the Administration. Trump rarely engages in this kind of cultivation, and its reasonable to speculate that hes trying to persuade the Justice that his seat would be in good hands if he decided to leave.

The dynamics of a confirmation battle over a Thomas successor would be quite different from what would happen if Ginsburg leaves while Trump is still president. Its hard to imagine any replacement who would be more conservative than the often-isolated and rigidly ideological Thomas. With Republicans holding 53 Senate seats, confirmation would probably be a foregone conclusion if Thomas were to retire this calendar year (a 2020 retirement might create uncomfortable parallels with Republican refusal to consider Merrick Garland in 2016).

Still, as Toobin notes, the most likely replacement hed choose for either Thomas or Ginsburg will be controversial:

The President would likely nominate as a replacement Amy Coney Barrett, a forty-seven-year-old judge on the Seventh Circuit. A former professor at Notre Dame Law School, Barrett was nominated to the appeals court by Trump, in 2017, and she has already been considered for a Supreme Court seat  the one that went to Kavanaugh. Her politics appear even more conservative than Kavanaughs or Gorsuchs; she has been open in her disdain for the concept of abortion rights for women. She is a devout Catholic and has, in the past, expressed a willingness to overturn precedent, which some observers think makes her even more certain than Kavanaugh and Gorsuch to vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.

If Barrett were appointed to succeed Thomas, there would be some wailing and gnashing of teeth in progressive circles. If she were appointed to replace Ginsburg, it would be a declaration of holy war.

There is one issue about Thomass replacement that could serve as a problem for Trump, though not necessarily one he would care much about: Replacing Thomas with Barrett would deny the Court African-American representation for the first time since LBJ appointed Thurgood Marshall more than a half-century ago, in 1967 (Thomas succeeded Marshall). There are no obvious latter-day Clarence Thomases currently available (i.e., a relatively young right-wing African-American jurist). But this factor could add to the resistance generated if Thomas retires very soon and Trump chooses among a largely white list of potential successors.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.







Nigerians rushing into Canada after Trudeau invited them to "enrich" Canada away from "racist Whites".

I

As the Moral Conscience of Canada, I, Minister Hussen, demand that Canada becomes brown as fast as possible to defeat White Supremacy!

t is hard to believe that Trudeau could have done anything more foolish than in 2017 inviting failed asylum-seekers who were staying in the U.S. to come to Canada.However, by recently extending his welcome to a Saudi female teenager who does not get along with her parents, he has potentially opened Canadas borders even wider and may have unwittingly created another massive crisis for himself and all of Canada.Here is some of the damage already done.According to the Immigration and Refugee Board, close to 40,000 Irregulars (illegal immigrants) accepted Trudeaus foolish invitation and crossed Canadas border illegally, almost all at the Quebec/New York State border.Thats about 20,000 in each of the years 2017 and 2018. The exact figures are about 18,059 in 2017 and 19,419 in 2018.What about the costs? According to Canadas Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), Parliaments Financial watchdog, the average cost for each irregular migrant who entered Canada in 2017 and 2018 was $14,321 per irregular migrant for the entire claim process. That will increase to $16,666 in 2019-20. This amounts to a total variable cost of $340 million in 2017-18. That cost would rise to $396 million in 2019-20.The total includes all costs beginning from the initial port of entry into Canada to the final decision from the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) and/or Federal Court, as well as removal costs.The cost per migrant can vary depending on the determination of the eligibility of the asylum claim. For an irregular migrant that entered Canada in 2017-18, the PBO estimates that the cost to the federal government can vary between $9,915 and $33,738. The lower cost is incurred in cases where the asylum claim is accepted at the first hearing, while the higher cost relates to claims which are initially denied, and the claimant exhausts all appeal options and is ultimately removed from Canada.The PBO undertook a sensitivity analysis of future variable costs relating to irregular migration. These costs are projected to be between $208 million and $538 million for Fiscal Year 2018-19, and between $211 million and $609 million for 2019-20.To further compound the Quebec / New York State fiasco, Trudeau set up an RCMP office on the border to handle all claims by people continuing to cross our border there.According to a senior retired immigration official, instead of doing that, Trudeau should have stopped the bleeding by negotiating an INSTANT RETURN policy with American authorities for these illegal entrants. Canadas position should have been that those failed claimants had started their refugee claim process in the U.S. Therefore, the U.S. should finalize its dealings with these failed claimants by returning them to their home countries. For most of these people, that should have been Canadas SO LONG proclamation! The cost to any of these people of a subsequent return to Canada would have been prohibitive.Since Trudeau took office in 2015, he has spent an enormous amount of time apologizing to ethnic groups for so-called historical wrongs. Trudeaus biggest problem is that he knows little, if anything about any of Canadas history and has relied on highly-biased ethnic sources to justify his apologies. If anything, he should be spending the rest of his months in office apologizing to all Canadians for having wasted so much of the first 45+ years of his life.He also should also apologize to all of Canada for hiding his ignorance by trying to sound educated. The most notorious example of that was his unprecedentedly stupid statement that Canada is the worlds first post-national state. As Trudeau is learning, that sentence and his 2017 Welcome to fake refugee claimants who had been rejected by U.S. refugee authorities will cost him dearly.His appointment of incompetent Immigration Minister Hussen (a Somali refugee who seems intent on creating another Somalia here) are compounding Trudeaus troubles.At the time of Hussen's appointment, Hussen taunted Canadians to accept the NEW NORMAL of 350,000+ immigrants per year! Instead of showing gratitude to Canada, Hussen continues to show contempt for Canada.Trudeaus many equally-treacherous actions against Canadas majority population have solidly established him as Canadas undisputed First Official National Fool, not as a respected 23rd Prime Minister.If word of Trudeaus latest action (giving refugee status to a Saudi Arabian female teenager who did not get along with her parents) spreads, Canada could face another major disaster : a huge inflow of refugee claims from immature foreign teenagers. That will make the crazy and crooked refugee claims made by huge numbers of Sikhs, Chinese, Sri Lankans, Muslims and other ethnic groups look sensible.Here is the key point in this situation : By accepting the excuse given by the Saudi teenager (and having Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland support him with an equally ridiculous statement), Trudeau has further extended Canadas definition of the the term refugee. This is another extremely foolish precedent. And there seem to be signs of even more foolishness on the horizon. As a result of political and economic turmoil in Venezuala, Trudeau may soon create even more foolish extensions. If there is one thing that Trudeau is adept at, it is in making stupid decisions.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.People protest the government shutdown outside a federal government building in New York, on January 15, 2019. Photo: Wang Ying/Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images

President Trump wont sign a spending package that includes back pay for federal subcontractors, Republicans told members of the press on Wednesday afternoon.

Freedom Caucus chairman Mark Meadows has talked to Trump and says he is confident back pay for federal contractors will *not* be included in the spending bill. Unlike government employees, contract workers weren't guaranteed back pay from the 35-day shutdown.  Paul McLeod (@pdmcleod) February 13, 2019

Federal workers are guaranteed back pay after a government shutdown. However, contractors arent  a problem Democratic legislators had hoped to rectify. Senator Tina Smith, a Democrat from Minnesota, introduced a bill that would have granted back pay to low-wage contractors affected by the shutdown; Democrats have tried to attach it to a spending package that would avert a second government shutdown on Friday.

As the Federal Times explained, during shutdowns companies that hold federal contracts can pay workers out of company savings, use vacation day donation pools or not pay some of their employees at all for the shutdown period. During last months rollout, Smith noted that federal agencies had already budgeted to pay companies during the shutdown; her bill would direct agencies to pay out that money, which would then go toward workers missing wages.

If you think about it, theyre paying people for work they would have done but for the shutdown, Smith said, according to Vox. In many cases, that money was already budgeted; it just hasnt been spent.

The bill does have limitations: It is designed specifically to assist low-wage contractors, and cap[s] payments at $965 per worker per week, so it would make workers whole only if they earn less than $50,000 annually, HuffPost reported.

That would still be a major help to many contractors, who faced heavy burdens as the shutdown dragged on. Workers missed rent, fell behind on bills, and rationed medicine  and theyve only had three weeks to pull themselves out of this financial morass. A second shutdown would cause devastation. Smiths back-pay proposal, though, has garnered opposition not just from Trump but from members of his party. A source told Vox on Wednesday that the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is responsible for some of the pushback, though McConnells spokesperson disputed that allegation.

To correct 2 big inaccuracies:



1) Our bill uses a process that has been used 1000s of times to pay contractors. Its not new & argument that it'd be $$$ to implement is bogus.



2) We've been working on this for weeksidea that we brought this to the table too late is just false. https://t.co/fToTCPdhSu  Senator Tina Smith (@SenTinaSmith) February 13, 2019

Trump, of course, is no stranger to stiffing contractors. USA Today reported in 2016 that Trump, his companies, and properties were subject to 200 mechanics liens, filed by contractors and workers who said they hadnt been paid for their work:

On just one project, Trumps Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, records released by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission in 1990 show that at least 253 subcontractors werent paid in full or on time, including workers who installed walls, chandeliers and plumbing.

When Trump ran on his business credentials, perhaps this is what he had in mind. Unions, meanwhile, have trained a spotlight on the issue of contractor pay. On February 16, Unite Here, the American Federation of Teachers, and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA will protest at airports in major cities even if legislators manage to avoid another shutdown. On a joint website, the coalition cites contractor back-pay as a motivation for the protests. A true general strike would take months of planning. But we cannot allow that to stop us from taking action now. We must do what we can immediately, they write.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...Connected physical security equipment, like networked surveillance cameras and smart access control systems, offer many advantages for facility and safety managers responsible for securing the premises of retail, industrial, government, and other organizations.

Research on this physical security slice of the Internet of Things (IoT) device market and real world events, however, show adoption of these systems introduces complex cyber risk issues.Greetings, Future Tensers,

From revenge porn to sextortion, the advent of social media has been a boon for cybercrimes involving hacking and the nonconsensual sharing of pornographic images. Though most victims of sextortion schemes dont have the power and money of billionaire Jeff Bezos, April Glaser argues that the Amazon CEOs move to use his privilege to very publicly confront his blackmailers may help show others just how pervasive this problem is. But will demonstrating that even the worlds richest man can fall prey to this kind of threat finally push tech companies and law enforcement to start taking victims seriously?

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Elsewhere on Future Tense, weve been looking at how the rest of the world has been dealing with social media. Tamara Evdokimova explains how were not entirely sure if Google recently started to comply with Russian demands from state censors. Samm Sacks and Lorand Laskai discuss how China is having an unexpected privacy awakening. And Rebecca Heilweil looks at how Hasan Minhajs Netflix show uses comedy to put a spotlight on the ways big Silicon Valley platforms perpetuate injustices worldwide.

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Other things we read while bird-watching in Central Park:

Nervous laughter: Will Oremus explains how all those Super Bowl ads about robots show us that our fear of A.I. is being redirected into satire.

Uncoordinated: When a bunch of Amazon employees sent suspiciously similar tweets criticizing efforts by fulfillment center workers to unionize, Aaron Mak decided to investigate.

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Theres an app for that? Charles Kenny explains the app Apple and Google are hosting that lets Saudi men control where women under their guardianship can travel.

Unchained: Trust is key for blockchain technology. So what can advocates do to win it from users who are still wary?

Harvested: Faine Greenwood explains why humanitarians are worried about an infamous big data firms new partnership with a major U.N. relief agency.

Alt-right swag: Those looking to rep their favorite alt-right groups, fascist slogans, and lib-baiting on T-shirts and hats may be out of luck: Square, Chase, and PayPal have all recently pulled their payment services from the Proud Boys e-commerce store.

To the new period emoji,

Anthony Nguyen

For Future Tense

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.Last April, two successive tremors shook the business of sex on the internet. The first was the dramatic FBI shutdown of Backpage, a website for posting online personals that had attained outsize importance among sex workers. Days after that, President Trump signed two new bills into law, the Stop Enabling Online Sex Trafficking Act (SESTA) and Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), which together make websites that knowingly allow sex trafficking to happen liable for hosting the illegal activitythus making it much easier for prosecutors to go after the proprietors of sites like Backpage. Both of these moves were meant to help some of the most vulnerable people impacted by the availability of sex online: individuals, often minors, being trafficked by pimps who sought out customers on sites like Backpage. Other venues took notice: Craigslist, for example, took down its personals section for fear of being held liable for activity on it. But like so many well-intentioned policies, these actions to help victims harmed another group in the processpeople engaged in consensual adult sex work. When Backpage shuttered, I was like, Im fucked, a sex worker who calls herself Raven told me. For me, I was like this has been the only way I have known how to survive.  Raven, 27, has been a sex worker in some form or another since she was kicked out of her parents house at 18. She relied on Backpage to find and vet clientsand most importantly, work for herself without an agency or pimp.

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Cracking down on the forums where pimps solicit sex on behalf of trafficking victims was probably always going to affect a broader group. Its an unfortunate irony that while FOSTA and SESTA were supposed to make it harder for pimps to coerce or force people into sex work, the websites they targeted were favored by sex workers who wanted to avoid pimps. Whats clear, 10 months after the passage of those laws, is that a solution that will safeguard both those who are being trafficked and those who are engaged in consensual adult sex work remains elusive. An array of Band-Aidlike solutions for vetting clients online only illustrates the depth of the problemthat until the law sees consensual adult sex work differently, itll remain dangerous no matter what ingenious solution or policy emerges.

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Given what happened on it, few would argue for restoring a site like Backpage. A lengthy Senate investigation into the sites founders, Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin (who also previously ran Village Voice Media, a chain of alt-weeklies that included the Village Voice), found internal emails that allegedly showed how the sites administrators edited posts with software that scrubbed words from ads that signaled illegal work with minors, like amber alert and Lolita, rather than passing the information on to law enforcement.* Lacey and Larkin, along with the sites CEO Carl Ferrer, were all charged with money laundering and pimping. That investigation brought to light terrifying stories of young trafficking victims whose pimps relied on Backpage and who were raped hundreds of times, which gave momentum to the passage of FOSTA and SESTA.

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Without Backpage, Raven has mostly left sex work, save for rare jobs with friends who need a partner because a client requested oneperhaps a positive outcome in the view of the laws authors, but for Raven, who suffers from chronic pain and mental health issues, its been the only job where I could feasibly do a lot of work when I can. At times when Ive had steady jobs with a schedule I always get suicidal and fuck it up. Others who previously relied on Backpage or Craigslist have gone to work for escort services, pimps, dungeons, or massage parlors that are known for offering a little extra, which all generally take a hefty cut of what clients pay. One sex worker I spoke to from New York told me some women she used to work with now drive for Uber. Some have returned to street work. And others still have tried to replace Backpage with other online services so they can still work independently. One newer option is Switter, a sex work-friendly social space made in Australia, where the sex business is largely legal. There are also sites like TNA Board, Tryst, and Eros, which all cost money to be on.

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Importantly, most of these sites are not based in the United States, though Americans are able to post on them. The new laws chip away at the immunity enjoyed by websites under the 1996 Communications Decency Act, a bedrock internet law that has ensured online forums, including social networks and news sites with comments sections, generally arent liable for what users post. Without that immunity, the legal risk of running a website that allows sex workers to advertise but could also attract sex traffickers is much, much higher. Its become more of a buyers market, a sex worker based in the Bay Area who goes by Chloe told me, explaining that without having as many potential clients to pick from, many in her community are returning to men theyd rather not see again. When you look at screenshots that have surfaced from some of the client forums, you can see some of these guys who are real monsters celebrating about how now that the sites are down women cant charge whatever they want, Chloe said.

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The creator of Switter wanted to create an option so sex workers could avoid such situations. Sensing that the Backpage investigation was coming to its end and that the passage of an anti-internet trafficking law was imminent, Lola Hunt, a sex worker based in Australia who was also a Backpage customer, decided to collaborate with a friend on creating a new platform for sex professionals to congregate. Switter launched at the start of April, about a week before Backpage and Craigslist closed and FOSTA was signed into law. By May, the site had ballooned to around 70,000 users. But Switters growththe site now counts more than 209,000 users, according to Hunthasnt been free from turbulence. Within 10 days of FOSTA being on the books and less than a month of being operational, Switters content delivery provider, Cloudflare, gave it the boot, forcing Switter offline and in search of a new option. The reason, according to Cloudflares general counsel, was related to our attempts to understand FOSTA, which is a very bad law and a very dangerous precedent. Whatever they felt, Cloudflare was treading cautiously around the new status quo.

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What all of these annoyances and limitations add up to is a greater likelihood of sex workers turning to the streets to solicit sex.

And it wasnt the only company unwilling to support a site for sex workers after Backpage and FOSTA. In order to cover the costs of running Switter, Lola and two other colleagues launched Tryst, a paid platform for sex workers that allows them to maintain anonymity and still verify they are the person in posted ads. (Switter, by contrast, is more a Twitter-like social feed.) The lowest package on Tryst starts at about $35 a month for sex workers. But building a way for the site to accept money has been nearly impossible, according to Hunt. In Australia weve been rejected from multiple banks without reason. And they have every right to because sex work is not protected by anti-discrimination rules, says Hunt. Widely used American payment companies like Stripe and PayPal were out of the question, Hunt said, because we cant use a company that stores our users data in the United States. Thats out of the cards. Still, Hunt and her colleagues have managed to find workarounds, and Switter and Tryst are currently operating.

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Jenny, a sex worker who also runs a nude housework business in Seattle, told me she lost all of her old regulars after Backpage and Craigslist because, she figures, theyre afraid of getting busted. She now uses TNA Board, an online message board with local forums that costs money to use, but that hasnt been as steady as Craigslist and Backpage. Im in the red now. I dont have any savings, she told me. I usually like to keep a few hundred cash in the house. But right now, Im worried because Im not getting as many calls or emails. Its dead. Switter has certainly worked for somebut not all. For one thing, it operates like an open social network, and to ensure your posts are visible requires social-media savvy and regular use. It sorts posts using hashtags, which can make the site feel cacophonous, with some posters cramming in long strings of keywords. But the biggest problem is scale: None of these alternatives has as many clients as Backpage did, which means the sex workers have fewer of them to vet.

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What all of these annoyances and limitations add up to is a greater likelihood of sex workers turning to the streets to solicit sex. In San Francisco, people who live in neighborhoods that are adjacent to strolls where street-based sex workers pick up clients have been complaining to the police about the uptick in prostitution in their neighborhoods, as one resident of the Mission neighborhood in San Francisco told CBS 5 KPIX earlier this month: Weve had recently sex workers performing their trade in our front yard, under our daughters window. Pike Long, the deputy director of St. James Infirmary, a health and safety clinic for sex workers in the city, told me the clinic estimates the number of sex workers now doing street work in San Francisco alone has tripled since Craigslists personals section and BackPage went offline. The uptick led to the creation of a Sex Workers Abatement Unit within the Mission police station, which often gives sex workers the choice of either going to jail or going through a diversion program. In Longs view thats coercive, since many sex workers often choose jail over going through a police-sanctioned program.

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While there have been other anecdotal reports of upticks in solicitation for sex on the streets around the country that some police departments have attributed to the closure of Backpage, its hard to get a full picture. One problem is that police generally lump sex workers and victims of human trafficking into the same statistics, making it hard to tell if there have been more arrests due to one or the other.

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Consensual adult sex work and sex trafficking will likely always operate in overlapping spaceswhether online or offline. And just as the crackdown on Backpage has changed the landscape for sex workers, its also pushed more sex trafficking onto the streets, where theres no telling who a client is before getting into a car. The internet certainly made it easier for everyone to sell sex, but it made it safer for a lot of people, too. If the goal is to improve outcomes, lawmakers should consider the reality that sex trafficking victims and sex workers arent the same. And in such a criminalized area, built on informal economies and fragile business arrangements with often deeply imbalanced power dynamics, any crackdown that attempts to help one community could be a tragedy for another.

Correction, Feb. 15, 2019: An earlier version of this article misidentified Jim Larkins first name as John.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.Amazon announced Thursday that it has decided to cancel plans to build a headquarters in New York City.

After much thought and deliberation, weve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens, said Amazon spokesperson Jodi Seth. Executives had reportedly been meeting with union leaders, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo in recent days and came to conclusion that there was no viable path for the company to set up shop in New York.

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Amazons decision to come to New York came after a yearlong competition among cities to land the coveted HQ2. The company ultimately split its choice. It had said it planned to create more than 25,000 jobs in New York, which in turn promised close to $3 billion in incentives. Amazon also plans to set up a campus in Crystal City, Virginia, and a smaller operations center in Nashville, Tennessee. The company stated that it will proceed with expanding to those locations, but will not re-open a search to find a replacement for New York City.

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In a longer statement released shortly after the announcement, the company praised Cuomo and de Blasio for their commitment for the project. However, Amazon blamed other officials for stymieing the plans. A number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City, the statement read.

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Amazon faced backlash when it announced its decision to establish a hub in New York. Local activists began crowding public forums soon after the plans were made public to decry the secretive process through which the incentive packages were determined and to raise concerns about gentrification, especially given that the location for the new headquarters was near one of countrys biggest public housing developments .

Local powerbrokers, some of whom initially supported Amazons arrival, also began to sour on the deal. State Sen. Michael N. Gianaris and City Council Deputy Leader James Van Bramer, among the most outspoken opponents of HQ2 in recent weeks, reportedly rescinded their approval because the deal had been designed to circumvent City Council. State and city lawmakers have also taken issue with the fact that public subsidies were going to the worlds most valuable company.

Local unions, such as the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and the Teamsters had been also helming an aggressive campaign to put the deal on hold until Amazon agreed to let workers in Queens unionize. A company executive publicly testified before the City Council that it would oppose such efforts.

The opposition stalled and made uncertain New Yorks approval for Amazons subsidies. While Virginia lawmakers quickly passed its $750 million incentive package for Amazon in January, the New York state Legislature was not expected to give final approval until 2020.Theres a saying among lawyers: Dont take a case to the Supreme Court unless youre sure youll win. Diplomats follow a similar rule: Dont call a large international summit unless it promotes your agenda. By that measure, the 60-nation summit in Warsaw, Poland, this week has been a disasteranother sign of the shallow thinking and clueless incompetence that has marked U.S. foreign policy since Donald Trump entered the White House.

The two-day event, co-sponsored by the U.S. and Polish governments, was originally intended to be a conference of the anti-Iran coalition. But when most of the European nations bowed out, the billing was changed to address Middle Eastern issues in general. Few were fooled; most Europeans, to the extent they attended at all, sent lower-level diplomats rather than heads of state or foreign ministersa clear signal that they assumed no important decisions or remarks would be made.

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the delegates that regime change was not U.S. policy toward Iran. But his assurances were drowned out by the appearance of Rudy Giuliani bellowing the contrary to a crowd of activists outside the meeting hall. (Giuliani stressed that he was representing Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, an anti-Iran militia, for which he has long lobbied, but he is, of course, also Trumps personal lawyer, so if the administration were serious about messaging, he could have been blocked from attending.)

Then there was the video that national security adviser John Bolton released on Monday, in which he said, as if addressing Iranian leaders on the 40th anniversary of their revolution, I dont think youll have many more anniversaries to enjoy.

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If youre wondering why much of the world views the United States as petty, arrogant, and spiteful, this can stand as Exhibit A.

The big rift over all this is that the other signatories to the Iran nuclear dealwhich Trump abrogated last yearare still trying to make the accord work. These include Britain, France, Germany, and the European Union, as well as Russia and China. The deal, signed in 2015, required Iran to dismantle its nuclear program and open its facilities to outside inspectors; in exchange, the other powers would lift economic sanctions. Since those sanctions had been imposed as a penalty for Irans illegal nuclear activities, it seemed like a fair and reasonable trade. When Trump withdrew from the deal, he reimposed sanctionsand threatened to punish other countries that didnt follow suit.

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The EU is now trying to set up a financial mechanism that will allow countries to do business with Iran in some currency other than dollars. Vice President Mike Pence denounced this effort in Warsaw, calling it an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU, and create still more distance between Europe and the United States.

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It was an absurd pronouncement, since Trump is the one responsible for this distance. It was Trump who abrogated a perfectly functioning deal, enshrined in a U.N. resolution, for no reason at allexcept that he doesnt like Iran, doesnt like deals that he didnt make, and especially doesnt like deals made by Barack Obama. And then Trump further insisted that all the other nations on the planet should abide by his prejudices, threatening to punish them financially if they didnt. If youre wondering why much of the worldallies and adversaries alikeviews the United States as petty, arrogant, and spiteful, this can stand as Exhibit A.

The Poles agreed to set up the tent for this circus because they desperately want a permanent U.S. military base in their country and are doing all they can to appease the American president, who doesnt care much for NATO commitments, even offering to name the base Fort Trump. Even so, Polands consul general in New York, when asked on Tuesday whether Iran posed a threat to his country, skirted the question, saying, Poland has never said Iran is a threat to Poland. Poland is engaged in a lot of multilateral efforts to bring about stability and peace in the Middle East and the world.

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Then, at the Warsaw conference on Thursday, Polands foreign minister, Jacek Czaputowicz, said he was concerned about the possible results of Irans nuclear program as well as the unconstructive role of the country in the region. His statement was still ambiguous (possible results?) but seemed sufficiently anti-Iranian to get back in Pence and Pompeos good graces.

The thing is, the American officials could be making a much more potent case against Irans bad behavior in the Middle East if they werent so obsessed with Obamas triumph. By making the nuclear deal the center of their concern, and by demanding the EUs obeisance to Trumps view of that deal as the central test of trans-Atlantic relations, they are pushing away our long-standing alliesand, ironically, giving Iran a free pass. As long as Irans genuinely disturbing actions (supporting terrorism, building ballistic missiles, pursuing an expansionist policy) are coupled to the nuclear deal (which Tehran is fully obeying), other countries will resist U.S. policies on both.

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Meanwhile, on other matters in the Middle East, Pence and Pompeo condemned Irans role in the war in Yemen, but said nothing about Saudi Arabias even deadlier assaults therewhile, at the same time, back home, the House of Representatives voted to end U.S. support of the Saudi campaign.

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Trump is building an alliance that includes only Israel and the Sunni Arab nations of the Middle East, especially the Saudis and the United Arab Emiratesin effect, taking one side of a regionwide sectarian war, against Iran and the Shiitesat the cost of alienating other nations, including the Europeans, whose cooperation we need not only in that conflict but on other issues of still greater importance to us. And he is doing so without the support of what has been, until now, a pliant Congress.

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Does Trump plan to go to war against Iran? If so, it would be a stupid move: Iran has twice the population, and nearly four times the area, of Iraq, and while many its people, especially in the cities, detest the regime and admire much about the West, these loyalties would shift dramatically in the face of an outright invasion.

Pompeo has said Trump wants to pressure the Iranian leaders into renegotiating the nuclear deal, but this is naive at best. President Hassan Rouhani already risked plenty by signing an accord with the West. If the promised economic benefits dont materialize, he could be replaced, likely not by Western-leaning democrats but by hard-line mullahs and the Revolutionary Guard. Even if Rouhani did have a freer hand, whygiven Trumps capricious pullout from this dealshould any Iranian trust him to abide by some future deal?

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The only real problems with the nuclear deal are what it doesnt address: Theres an expiration date for some of its provisions; it places no restrictions on ballistic missiles. But these complaints are true of all arms accords. The appropriate way to deal with these sorts of issues is not to toss out the deal but to build on it.

This was how the nuclear arms treaties with the Soviet Union, and then Russia, evolved: from SALT to the Vladivostok Accords to SALT II to START to New STARTeach deal restricting, then reducing, an expanding category of weapons. Some criticized those treaties for not barring short-range nukes or for not requiring Moscow to renounce communism. In the end, the Soviet empire and its ideology unraveled anyway; the exposure to the West, and the fact that negotiations did evolve, might have had something to do with that. (By the same token, though in reverse, renewed U.S.-Russia tensions, spurred by Vladimir Putin and his nostalgia for empire, are now jeopardizing the arms accords.)

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The Iran nuclear deal, and the opening of that country to the West, may, over time, spark a breakdown in Tehran. Or maybe it wont, in which case, if Iran is to remain a hostile power, better that it not be bristling with nuclear-tipped missiles. That was the logic behind making the deal. Trump rejected the logic but has nothing to replace it. He is reveling in sheer anarchy. The nothingness of the Warsaw conference should tell him that hes spinning his wheelsbut he still thinks hes a high-speed racer in command of the road. Thats the definition of delusionand danger.This piece was originally published on Just Security, an online forum for analysis of U.S. national security law and policy.

President Donald Trumps orientation toward Russia has become a central mystery of his presidency. He has demonstrated a strange affinity for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has also signaled openness to advancing Russian strategic goals that have long been considered anathema to American national security interests and those of close U.S. allies. Further, Trump has rejected and resisted intelligence products and briefings that challenge his Russia assumptions.

Special counsel Robert Muellers counterintelligence investigation related to Russian active measures is probing suspicious contacts between Russian intelligence and a number of people in the Trump campaign or otherwise in his orbit. Whats more, Trumps mystifying behavior and questionable campaign contacts have made the unthinkable thinkable: Is the president of the United States a witting or unwitting agent of Russian intelligence?

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One of Trumps most aberrant and alarming behaviors has been his repeated efforts to engage in unaccompanied conversations with Putin. Former National Security Council staff have raised alarm bells about those practices, reminding the president that it is in U.S. national security interests to have people on the U.S. side with a record of these interactions so that the meetings cannot be mischaracterized by the Russians, and so NSC staff can advise the president in real time if Putin is seeking to extract an unwise commitment. And it has intensified Democrats suspicion of Trumps motives.

Democrats are now poised to scrutinize Trumps two-hour private meeting with Putin in Helsinki on July 16, a meeting he resisted disclosing. Without other meeting participants on the U.S. side, the language translator will be at the eye of the storm. As the Washington Post notes, Trumps interpreter, Marina Gross, could be seen emerging from the meeting with pages of notes. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told reporters he was not in a position to understand fully or talk about what happened in Helsinki. Underscoring the risks of one-on-one meetings, the most information publicly available about their interaction comes from a Russian document published by Politico.

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Under its new chair, New York Rep. Eliot L. Engel, the House Foreign Affairs Committee formed an investigative subcommittee (a recommendation made on Just Security here) that is now led by California Rep. Ami Bera. Engel signaled that committee investigators will seek State Department records of Trumps encounters with Putin, including the closed-door meeting with the Russian leader in Helsinki last summer. Last September, under Republican leadership, the committee rejected legislation seeking the Helsinki notes. On the Senate side, a similar request by Democrats in August was also rebuffed. Per Engel: Its been several months since Helsinki and we still dont know what went on in that meeting. Its appalling. It just makes you want to scratch your head.

Broadly speaking, executive privilege is an assertion of presidential authority to withhold information from a judicial or congressional proceeding in order to preserve executive branch confidentiality interests. It is a controversial and contested doctrine of constitutional dimensions, especially in the context of a struggle between Congress and the president. The concept encompasses a number of different types of executive branch confidentiality interests. In the Russia investigation, two rationales for executive privilege would be at play in a request for the diplomatic translators notes: one related to relations with foreign governments and one related to the internal functionality of the executive branch.

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The very first assertion of executive privilege can be traced back to a congressional demand for diplomatic communications. The Jay Treaty represented one of the greatest controversies of President George Washingtons term in office. Critics accused John Jay of having given up the store to the Brits during negotiations (including compensation for the capture and forced labor of seamen and confiscation of slaves at the Revolutionary Wars end). After Senate ratification, critics asserted the House of Representatives had a discretionary power of carrying the Treaty into effect, or refusing it their sanction. Thereafter, the House passed a resolution calling on Washington to provide a copy of the instructions Washington gave Jay as well as other documents related to treaty negotiations.

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In response, Washington wrote:

The nature of foreign negociations requires caution; and their success must often depend on secrecy: and even when brought to a conclusion, a full disclosure of all the measures, demands, or eventual concessions, which may have been proposed or contemplated, would be deemed impolitic; for this might have a pernicious influence on future negociations, or produce immediate inconveniences, perhaps danger and mischief, in relation to the other powers. The necessity of such caution and secrecy was one cogent reason for vesting the power of making treaties, in the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate; the principle, on which that body was formed, confining it to a small number of members. To admit, then, a right in the House of Representatives, to demand, and to have, as a matter of course, all the papers respecting a negociation with a foreign power, would be, to establish a dangerous precedent.

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The executive branch has thereafter extended Washingtons rationale to other national security information. As noted in a 1989 Office of Legal Counsel opinion: The privilege was most frequently asserted in the areas of foreign affairs and military and national security secrets. Protecting communications with foreign governments in the course of diplomatic negotiations remains a core confidentiality interest for the executive. For example, the George W. Bush and Obama administrations resisted providing information outside appropriate Executive branch channels about diplomatic assurances related to the repatriation and third-country resettlement of Guantanamo detainees cleared for transfer.

However, as Louis Fisher recounts, there is not a monolithic historical precedent, with examples in which the executive branch has not objected or objected but eventually relented to providing Congress with sensitive diplomatic information.

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At present, per North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is about to push out the door an assessment of the Obama administrations response to Russian election interference and disinformation. It will be interesting to see how the Trump administration handled Obamas head-of-state diplomatic communications. For example, did the Trump White House hand over transcripts of Obamas red-phone communication with Putin in which Obama told Putin that U.S. intelligence knew about the election interference attempts and to back off?

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The fact that the Helsinki meeting notes may be covered by executive privilege is not the end of the inquiry.

A second rationale for executive privilege here relates to the role of a translator. A translators primary job is to ensure that there are no inadvertent miscommunications in diplomatic communications. There are also subsidiary roles. A translator may create a record of the interaction so that the executive can refer back for purposes of creating due-out lists, following up on commitments made in the course of a meeting, or correcting the record if the other party to the conversation tries to mischaracterize the discussion. In addition, the president may rely on a translator for substantive and atmospheric advice. As such, translators notes may be covered by other components of executive privilege, including deliberative processes (shielding internal decision-making discussions) and presidential communications (shielding presidential-level conversations with advisers). The Clinton-era case In re Sealed Case (Espy) provides a sophisticated analysis of these two types of executive privilege.

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However, if translator meeting notes become a source of discovery for political adversaries in Congress, then that could instill presidential wariness of translators in a manner that could undermine their utilityindeed, it could lead to decisions to rely solely on the other sides translator, a course that also could have serious national security consequences. In fact, Trump has already jettisoned a U.S. interpreter to rely on Russias team and been criticized for it both because it suggests potential ill motives for secrecy and compromises the U.S. sides ability to shape the meeting and its aftermath.

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This argument is somewhat similar to an argument advanced by the Clinton administration seeking court recognition of an evidentiary privilege barring testimony by the Secret Service about its protectees. There, the courts rejected the argument, but here the translators role has a stronger nexus to the presidents substantive work such that deliberative process and presidential communications privileges could very much be in play.

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The fact that the Helsinki meeting notes may be covered by executive privilege is not the end of the inquiry. One of the main takeaways of United States v. Nixon is that executive privilege is qualified rather than absolute. (Even the absolutist language of the state secrets doctrine articulated in United States v. Reynolds of that variant of executive privilege has been treated by some lower courts as qualified.) More recently, the congressional subpoena litigation over Operation Fast and Furious, Oversight Committee v. Holder/Lynch, reinforced the qualified nature of the privileges. Those confidentiality interests the executive seeks to shield from disclosure must be weighed against the acuteness of congressional need. And that balancing is done in a political contextthe more suspicious the activity the less likely courts, commentators, and the public will be to sustain the executives position. Here, President Trumps aberrant behavior on Russiaunusual campaign contacts, Putin praise, NATO alliance skepticism, desire to shield meetings with Putin from public disclosure and keep other U.S. participants outsignificantly strengthens Congress hand.

In the medium term, the executive retains functional control of the information in dispute. Congress will either need executive, or whistleblower, cooperation. A formal legal ruling will not come, if it ever comes, until after a long process of escalation within the congressional investigation, followed by subpoena enforcement litigation. However, that fight itself will help shape the political environment. Moreover, even if the Trump administration successfully withholds provision of these notes, a future administration may come to a different determination.

At present, as congressional investigators determine their next moves whether thats subpoenaing the notes or subpoenaing the interpreter or other stepsthe ball appears to be in Congresss court to press its case.

More From Just Security

ICC Judge Schmitt Counsels Resilience to Preserve International Justice

So This Is What Congress Getting Involved in Foreign Affairs Looks LikeTo listen to the discussion, use the player below:

Get More of the Political Gabfest Slate Plus members get extended, ad-free versions of our podcastsand much more. Sign up today. Join Slate Plus Subscribe to the Political Gabfest Copy this link and add it in your podcast app. copy link copied! For detailed instructions, see our Slate Plus podcasts page.

Listen to Slates Political Gabfest via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

On this weeks Slate Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the deal to avoid a second shutdown, Jeff Bezos claims of sextortion, and Ilhan Omars tweets about Israel.

Here are some of the links and references from this weeks show:

 Steven Mufson for the Washington Post: Trump Urges Tennessee Valley Authority to Keep Open an Aging Coal-Burning Power Plant

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 Caitlin Dickerson for the New York Times: Why Border Wall Talks Suddenly Became a Showdown Over ICE Beds 

 Peter Beinart for the Forward: The Sick Double Standard in the Ilhan Omar Controversy

 Michelle Goldberg for the New York Times: Ilhan Omars Very Bad Tweets

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 Eugene Volokh for Reason: Is Threatening to Publish Bezos Nude/Lewd Pics Criminal Blackmail?

 Jeff Bezos for Medium: No Thank You, Mr. Pecker

 Dan Savage for the New York Times: Jeff Bezos, Please Release Your Dirty Selfies

Here are this weeks cocktail chatters:

 Emily: Zach Despart and Keri Blakinger for the Houston Chronicle: Kim Oggs Request for 100 More Prosecutors Criticized by Reformers; Grits for Breakfast: Hiring More Harris Co. Prosecutors Would Harm the Rest of the System

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 John: Andrew G. McCabes book excerpt in the Atlantic: Every Day Is a New Low in Trumps White House

 David: Laura Helmuth for Smithsonian magazine: Abraham Lincoln, True Crime Writer; Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mothers Will to Survive by Stephanie Land

 Listener chatter from Rick Zucker @rnzucker: Shane Dixon Kavanaugh for the Oregonian: Not Just Oregon: Saudi Students in at Least 8 States, Canada Vanish While Facing Criminal Charges

For this weeks Slate Plus bonus segment, John, David, and Emily discuss whether sexism is behind the stories that Sen. Amy Klobuchar is a bad boss.

Topic ideas for next week? You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest. Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter or post it to our Facebook page. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Become a fan of the Political Gabfest on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @SlateGabfest. The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com. (Email may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank.

Research and show notes by Bridgette Dunlap.Vladimir Putins interest in Latin America is well documented. In Venezuela, Russia has gained a foothold in the energy sector and vast oilfields in exchange for financing Nicolas Maduros regime. It should come as no surprise that Russia has refused to recognize Juan Guaidos interim presidency or that the Kremlins RT website repeatedly parrots Maduros deceitful talking points. But with Maduros government now on the brink of collapse, Russia has begun to look elsewhere. If a recent high-level conference is any indication, Putin and his cronies have managed to find a new willing partner even closer to the United States: Mexico.

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In a Feb. 7 meeting, covered with great fanfare by both RT and state-run news wire Sputnik, Mexican lawmakers welcomed a Russian delegation to discuss investment opportunities in Mexicos energy sector. Congressman Manuel Rodriguez, who chairs the lower chambers energy commission, sang the guests praises. Its a great honor to be here among members of the Russian legislature and a group of businessmen from Russia, a great nation and a friend of Mexico, Rodriguez said. Cora Pinedo, a senator, told reporters that, given its vast experience in the field, Russia has plenty to teach Mexico. She then echoed her colleague Rodriguezs excitement: She had been honored to host the Russian delegation.

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By itself, the meeting might not be newsworthy: Members of the Mexican Congress have the prerogative to open the Senates doors to guests from abroad, and they certainly have the right to be overwhelmed with fervor for whomever they see fit.

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But this Russian group wasnt just any group. The delegation that visited Mexico was led by Sen. Alexander Babakov, deputy chair of the Russian Federations Council Committee on Foreign Affairs. Babakov has become a poster boy for the brazen kleptocracy that has made Russia one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Though in recent years his reported annual income has only been $128,000, he is reportedly building a fortune. Property records, for example, indicate that the humble Babakov and his family own a chateau in France and an apartment in Paris. Babakovs name also appears in the Panama Papers as the likely beneficiary of dishonest enrichment schemes in Ukraine through a company called VS Energy. Babakov has been sanctioned by the United States and the EU for his role in the annexation of Crimea and is also believed to have been a crucial player in the financing arrangements between Russia and Marine Le Pens National Front in France.

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Russias interest in Mexico should come as no surprise.

As if Babakovs presence wasnt enough to give Mexican lawmakers pause, the Russian group also included a woman by the name of Anastasia Samarkina, who praised her Mexican hosts for having plenty of soul. Samarkina was introduced as the head of a company called Bureau Legint. There is scarce information available on the businessfounded just a year agoand even less so on the woman who runs it. The companys very basic website, made up primarily of stock photographs, does not list any clients or employees. It does offer a summary of Bureau Legints services, including things like investigation activities and political technology services (such as study and analysis of problems related to military and political security in the country and in the region). Samarkina herself is mostly a ghost as well. There is no information available that would justify the presence of the company or its CEO as viable international partners in an interparliamentary forum in a country like Mexico. This didnt stop Samarkina from promising Mexican lawmakers prompt results. In the Mexican Senate, Samarkina announced she would head back to Moscow where she would prepare a report that she would the share with the countrys most important companies.

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How does a woman with no discernible public presence have connections in such high places? Perhaps the answer involves Victor Boyarkin, the man who, according to public registries, was in charge of Bureau Legint until a few weeks ago (Boyarkin even represented the company at a conference in April as its CEO). A former Russian spy and alleged arms dealer, Boyarkin has been identified by U.S. investigators as the link between Paul Manafort and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a close Putin ally who has built a fortune in the aluminum industry. Boyarkin apparently collected debt from Manafort on behalf of Deripaska and, according to the U.S. Treasury (which has sanctioned him), also helped his boss intervene in the 2016 elections in Montenegrowhere Deripaska has major investmentsby financing a local political party. In December, the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee applauded the sanctions on Boyarkin. The addition of Victor Boyarkin, one of Mr. Deripaskas key lieutenants, to the sanctions list will help counter some of Russias malign influence efforts, and is a welcome step, read a statement from the committees leadership.

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Russias interest in Mexico should come as no surprise. Like Venezuela, the country is an important player in the energy sector and a valuable piece on the geopolitical chessboard. Russia will probably seek to consolidate a presence in the Mexican market through liquefied natural gas and coal. But Russia is not a normal investment partner. In Venezuela, it has used its vast economic influence to stake a crucial regional position that has helped sustain the countrys corrupt and brutal dictatorship.

Perhaps coincidentally, a couple of days after the Russian delegations visit, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced his intention to open the country to investment from countries known for their honesty. Surely, one hopes, hes not thinking of Vladimir Putins cesspool.On Friday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo named Elliott Abrams as the United States special envoy to Venezuela, tasked with handling all things related to our efforts to restore democracy in the country.

Abrams has years of experience working on U.S. policy in Latin America, which means hes been involved in a number of controversial American actions. Most notably, he pleaded guilty in 1991 of two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress related to the Iran-Contra affair.

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Rep. Ilhan Omar, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, did not waste her opportunity to press Abrams on his tenure in the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations.

I fail to understand why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful, she said, to protests from Abrams.

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Im being attacked, Abrams said. It was an attack.  It is not right that members of this committee can attack a witness who is not permitted to reply.

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But Omar pressed on, moving to one of the more shameful moments in Americas history of intervention in Latin American affairs. On Feb. 8, 1982, you testified before the Senate Foreign Relations committee about U.S. policy in El Salvador. In that hearing, you dismissed as communist propaganda the reports about the massacre at El Mozote.

The massacre Omar was referring to remains the largest single massacre in recent Latin American history. In December 1981, the Salvadoran military, trained and armed by the U.S., killed nearly 1,000 unarmed people in and around a number of small village in hopes of squelching an uprising. In that massacre, an operation to locate guerillas in the nearby hills began with an aerial bombardment of the village and proceeded with a mass interrogation and execution of the villagers. Men were separated from women and children; women and girlssome as young as 10were raped; and children were herded into a small building that the soldiers then riddled with bullets and set on fire. According to the New York Times, at least 143 victims, with an average age of 6 years old, died in that building.

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The U.S. was accused of ignoring the rampant human rights abuses conducted by the Salvadoran government and military out of support for their fight against leftists guerrillas. In 1993, a U.N. commission found that out of 22,000 reported atrocities, 85 percent could be blamed on the Salvadoran security forces or right-wing death squads, rather than the guerrillas. As many as 85,000 civilians were killed or disappeared in the conflict during the time, according to the Times.

Omar isnt wrong in accusing Abrams of dismissing reports from El Mozote. After reports of the massacre were published in the Times and the Washington Post, Abrams told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that because of the reports, they were likely propaganda: It appears to be an incident which is at least being significantly misused, at the very best, by the guerrillas, according to the Post. A Human Rights report from the time concluded Abrams had artfully distorted several issues in order to discredit the public accounts of the massacre and lavished praise on a battalion that participated in the massacre.

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Abrams, in the wake of the commissions report a decade later, called the attacks on the Reagan administrations record in El Salvador a post-Cold War effort to rewrite history.

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Omar repeated Abrams words from the 1990s to him. You later said the U.S. policy in El Salvador was a fabulous achievement, she said. Yes or no, do you still think so?

From the day that President Duarte was elected in a free election to this day, El Salvador has been a democracy, Abrams replied. Thats a fabulous achievement.

Yes or no, Omar pressed. Do you think that massacre was a fabulous achievement that happened under our watch?

That is a ridiculous question, and I will not respond to it, Abrams said. Im sorry, Mr. Chairman, I am not going to respond to that kind of personal attack, which is not a question.

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Would you support an armed faction within Venezuela that engages in war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide if you believed they were serving U.S. interests as you did in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua? she asked Abrams.

I am not going to respond to that question, Abrams said. Im sorry. I dont think this entire line of questioning is meant to be real questions and so I will not reply.

Omar continued to press Abrams for a statement on the prioritization of human rights. Abrams told her it was always the position of the United States to prioritize human rights.

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But as Omar had just noted, Abrams has been accused of more than involvement in the Iran-Contra affair (he was later pardoned by President George H. W. Bush) and rallying to defend war criminals in El Salvador. In Guatemala, Abrams argued for support of President Efrain Rios Montt, who was found guilty in 2013 of genocide against Guatemalas indigenous Mayans, as the Intercept noted in a roundup of Abrams misdeeds. At the time, according to the Intercept, Abrams argued that the U.S. should disregard the Guatemalan states atrocities because if we take the attitude dont come to us until youre perfect; were going to walk away from this problem until Guatemala has a perfect human rights record, then were going to be leaving in the lurch people there who are trying to make progress.Decisions, decisions. Photo: MICHAEL REYNOLDS/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Facing a midnight on February 15 deadline for avoiding another partial government shutdown, congressional negotiators seem to have reached an agreement on a funding deal. It looks like a pretty clear defeat for the presidents border-wall demands, but it includes some concessions from Democrats on other issues. The bill will quickly be voted upon in both houses, and at this point its entirely possible Congress will adjourn and leave town not knowing for sure if Trump will sign it. And that may be deliberate if Trump continues to lie in the weeds, as Fox News Chad Pergram reports:

Congress intends to get out of town as soon as it passes the spending bill. So, if the President doesnt sign itor vetoes itits all on him. The departure tactic is a move by Congress to put pressure on the President to sign the legislation.  Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) February 14, 2019

For the last week, all the signals from the White House have indicated a grudging willingness to go along with whatever congressional negotiators agree to, with the caveat that Trump will look elsewhere for border-wall money to plus up whatever he can wring from Congress. This will enable him to accept what would otherwise look like an abject surrender, since the border-wall funding in the bill headed his way is less than what was provided in the December bill he refused to sign, touching off the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

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But with Trump, a done deal isnt done until its really done. And as Roll Call reports, conservatives are taking to the Fox News airwaves to trash the deal:

The Fox morning show [Fox and Friends], which Trump often live tweets, aired several segments Thursday with conservative figures pointing to what they call poison pills.

Michelle Malkin, a conservative syndicated columnist, said she already had found language she contends would give border-area mayors veto power over whether the border barrier  or fence, as the legislation calls it  could be built in their cities.

She also panned the bill for failing to overhaul the countrys asylum laws and failing to adequately fund an increase in immigration judges to process additional cases  something Trump has repeatedly called for.

Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach appeared on the program to warn that Democrats have likely loaded the bill with things to which Trump will object.

The most authoritative source for determining the presidents leanings, his Twitter account, has been very noncommittal:

Reviewing the funding bill with my team at the @WhiteHouse!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2019

Another potential source of last-minute presidential heartburn is the deals compromise over ICE detention beds, which cuts current funding without going quite as far as Democrats as demanded.

Even if the bill sails through both houses of Congress (as everyone expects) and then Trump signs it, there are areas where Democrats didnt get what they wanted. Most notably, Republicans refused to include back pay for federal contractors (as opposed to federal employees) who went unpaid during the earlier shutdown. This could be addressed in separate legislation, but some feel this represented an unexploited political opportunity for Democrats:

Demanding pay for the 500,000 federal contractors who were locked out of work for 35 days seems like one of those things Democrats could take to the American people and shame Trump and other Republicans into doing the right thing.



But  hey!  who wants to be here on Friday?  Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) February 14, 2019

The bill also did not include an expected extension of funding for the programs associated with the Violence Against Women Act, but in this case Democrats preferred to push for a more extensive reauthorization in separate legislation.

It does appear that the funding bill is rapidly approaching take-it-or-leave-it territory, so Team Trump may be reviewing it to determine the spin he places on whatever he decides to do rather than considering the decision itself. A second government shutdown seems unlikely. But if you own a farm, dont bet it on any outcome just yet.Everyone from Trump-friendly interim Attorney General Matt Whitaker to Trump-unfriendly national security writer Marcy Wheeler agrees: Robert Mueller seems close to wrapping up his special counsel investigation of Russias attack on the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign. Meanwhile, a series of major developmentsnew courtroom revelations in former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manaforts case, the January indictment of longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, and the late November admission by former Trump attorney Michael Cohen that he lied to Congress about a Moscow development projecthave sharpened the picture of Trumpworlds relationship with Russia.

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But was there criminal collaboration between the president and the foreign saboteurs? On Tuesday, I spoke with Mimi Rocah, a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York whos now a distinguished fellow in criminal justice at Pace Law School, about the possibility of charging Trump or his advisers with involvement in a criminal conspiracy. As Rocah has explained previously to Slate, conspiracyan agreement to achieve an illegal goal that can be based on either an explicit quid pro quo or a simple implicit understandingis the actual legal concept that most closely matches the widely discussed idea of collusion. To join a conspiracy, you need to know a general illegal purpose. You dont have to know all the goals or the extent of it. It just has to be reasonably foreseeable, Rocah told me. And then, knowing that, you do something that helps to further those aims.

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On that front, previous indictments filed by the special counsels office have accused Russian hackers and operatives of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and conspiracy to defraud the United Statescrimes that, according to Justice Department guidelines, involve impairing, obstructing or defeating the lawful function of any department of government. In these documents, Muellers office has asserted that Russias sabotage campaign interfered with the U.S. prerogative to hold elections free of foreign interference; the special counsel has also charged several individuals involved in the 2016 election with tangential crimes involving unregistered foreign lobbying. Heres the best case that can be made using publicly available evidence that similar charges should be filed against Trump (when he leaves office, or via impeachment) and/or his top campaign advisers.

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Trump (via the Trump Organization) began pursuing a lucrative real estate deal with the Russian government in September 2015. Thanks to BuzzFeeds reporting and former Trump attorney Michael Cohens admissions, we know that Cohen and an ex-con named Felix Sater began pursuing the development of a Trump-branded Moscow skyscraper in the fall of 2015. (The special counsels office has disputed BuzzFeeds assertion that theres evidence Trump told Cohen to lie to Congress, but the rest of the publications Trump Tower Moscow reporting has proved solid.) Trump was aware of the project, signing a letter of intent to confirm the Trump Organizations interest that October. Cohen and Sater had sketches of the potential building drawn up and discussed the project with banks, prospective local partners, and Russian government officials; as late as June 14, 2016, they were trying to get what you might call juice behind the effort by finagling a meeting with Vladimir Putin. If consummated, the deal would have involved local builders paying Trump a sizable licensing fee to put his name on the building and manage its hotel space.

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The Russian government began stealing email and data from Democrats in 2016, distributed the stolen material, and engaged in social media propaganda in order to harm the Clinton campaign. According to a special counsel indictment, Russias GRU intelligence agency began the (illegal) process of hacking into the Democratic National Committees servers and Clinton campaign chairman John Podestas email account in March 2016. According to the special counsel, Russian operatives then distributed the stolen material via dcleaks.com, which appears to have been operated by the hackers themselves, and Julian Assanges WikiLeaks. A separate indictment charges Russias Internet Research Agency with creating fraudulent social media accounts to spread propaganda that disparaged Clinton.

U.S. intelligence agencies say the intent of the leaks and propaganda was to benefit Russia by portraying one of its enemies behaving in crass and unflattering ways. Clinton had long been critical of Putins authoritarian policies and international aggression, and the U.S. intel community believes Russia thus sought not just to reduce her chances of becoming president but also to damage her public standing in order to limit the amount of power shed have in the event that she did become president.

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Trump campaign advisers were aware that Russia wanted to establish relations with the campaign and damage Clintons candidacy. In April 2016, court documents say, a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser named George Papadopoulos was told by a Russia-connected influence peddler named Joseph Mifsud that Russia had dirt on Clinton in the form of thousands of emails. Mifsud also told Papadopoulos that Russian officials were interested in meeting with Trump campaign figures. Papadopoulos is known to have sent emails about the Russian outreach to campaign advisers including Paul Manafort. (He also apparently discussed the dirt emails with an Australian diplomat at a London bar, but we dont know if Papadopoulos knew the emails in question were stolen or if he mentioned them to Manafort.)

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Then, in June 2016, a lawyer and lobbyist named Natalia Veselnitskaya arranged a meeting with Donald Trump Jr. (who worked for both the Trump Organization and the Trump campaign), Jared Kushner, and Manafort at Trump Tower in New York. The meeting, which has been described in public accounts and testimony, was set up by an intermediary who wrote to Don Jr. that Veselnitskaya wanted to provide incriminating material about Clinton to the campaign as part of Russia and its governments support for Mr. Trump.

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There is no evidence that the DNC or Podesta hacks were discussed at the June Trump Tower meeting; according to its participants, Veselnitskaya offered the Trump campaign officials relatively inconsequential information about potential Clinton-related campaign finance violations. However 

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Russia lobbied the Trump campaign to eliminate economic sanctions. At the Trump Tower meeting, Veselnitskaya made a case to Trump campaign officials that the U.S. should revoke sanctions that limit certain Russian individuals and businesses access to the global financial system. In January, Veselnitskaya was indicted by federal prosecutors in New York on obstruction of justice charges for obscuring her connections to the Russian government during her work on a sanctions-related case that does not have a direct connection to Trump.

Trump (and everyone else) learned in June 2016 that Russia may have hacked the Democrats. The Washington Post published a story on June 14, 2016, revealing the DNC hack and evidence of Russian intelligences likely involvement therein.

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The Trump campaign was reportedly receptive to the sanctions lobbying and promoted other Russia-friendly policies too. Testimony indicates that the Trump officials at the June Trump Tower meeting told Veselnitskaya and the other Russians that they would revisit the sanctions issue if Trump won the presidential race. At some later point before the election, according to a report in Mother Jones, Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Flynn has also admitted to discussing sanctions during a phone conversation he had with Kislyak shortly after the election. And Yahoo News has reported that Trump officials attempted to begin the process of sanctions relief after taking office, before abandoning the project when information about Flynns conversations with Kislyak became public.

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On another track, the special counsel says Manafort discussed a Russia-friendly plan to resolve ongoing violence in Ukraine (and lift yet another set of sanctions against Russia) with a Russia-connected business partner named Konstantin Kilimnik at an August 2016 meeting in New York City. This discussion took place after the Trump campaign had already intervened at the Republican National Convention to eliminate a Ukraine-related provision hostile to Russiaand after Trump had suggested publicly that he supported Russian positions regarding NATO and Crimea. A special counsel filing has said Kilimnik had active ties to Russian intelligence at the time but did not explain the basis for making that statement. Court records further suggest that Manafort shared campaign polling data with Kilimnik at the August 2016 meeting as well. (Manafort, at the time, was still campaign chairman.)

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The Trump campaign allegedly sought information and assistance from WikiLeaks, an entity that it knew had possibly received material stolen by the Russian government. The special counsels indictment of Roger Stone alleges that an unnamed senior Trump campaign official contacted Stonea longtime Trump adviser and associate, but one who was not officially affiliated with Trumps presidential campaignin July 2016, just after WikiLeaks had released some stolen DNC emails, to ask if he could find out what other Clinton-related materials WikiLeaks had. The indictment says that Stone attempted to contact WikiLeaks Julian Assange via intermediaries, and that he thereafter told senior Trump Campaign officials about materials possessed by [WikiLeaks] and the timing of future releases. At the time of this correspondence, Trump campaign advisers would have seen speculation in the press that WikiLeaks material was obtained from Russias hackers, an assertion that the special counsel has since made in court.

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Trump promoted the leaked documents and said publicly that he hoped Russia would hack Clinton further. At a July 2016 press conference, Trump responded to reports of Russian hacking with what seemed at the time like a tongue-in-cheek request for the country to find the 30,000 emails that are missing, a reference to messages that Clinton deleted from the private server she used for official business as secretary of state before handing over its contents to the State Department. (Clinton said she deleted the emails in question on the basis that they were personal and not covered by government transparency rules.) And he spoke constantly during the closing month of the campaign about the Clinton-related material posted on WikiLeaks, making such on-the-nose endorsements of its activities as I love WikiLeaks.

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So where does this leave us, as far as evidence that Trump or his advisers implicitly entered into an agreement to illegally impair, obstruct, or defeat the lawful functioning of the United States government? If the relevant news reports and special counsel filings are accurate, we know:

 That the Trump Organization pursued a Moscow real estate deal during the 2016 presidential campaign.

 That while this pursuit was ongoing, a well-connected Russian individual successfully scheduled a meeting with Trump campaign officials by offering incriminating material about Hillary Clinton, then lobbied those Trump officials for sanctions relief despite not being registered as an agent of the Russian government.

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 That the Trump campaign (and everyone else) then learned that Russian operatives may have hacked Democrats and distributed the hacked material with the intent of damaging the Clinton campaign.

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 That Trump advisers subsequently discussed sanctions relief with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. and met with an individual with connections to the Russian government to discuss sanctions relief and pass on proprietary polling data.

 That Trump campaign officials attempted to use surreptitious back channels to learn more about the Clinton-related material that they knew had possibly been stolen by Russia.

 That Trumps campaign and Trump himself celebrated the existence of the stolen material and called for more of it to be stolen.

According to Rocah, the former prosecutor, either there are a lot of coincidences here all happening at once, or people around Trump were part of this conspiracy. She cites Manaforts willingness to meet with Kilimnik and Trump Jr./Manafort/Kushners willingness to meet with Veselnitskaya as particularly tangible signs of conspiratorial agreement. (While we dont have any evidence that the campaign knew about stolen emails before the June Trump Tower meeting, keep in mind that its participants did discuss sanctions and campaign support with an off-the-books emissary of the Russian government while Trump was still seeking Russian approval for a lucrative business deal.)

A trickier question, perhaps, is whether the Trump campaigns statementsprivate messages and public comments conveying willingness to consider sanctions relief and eagerness to find out what material WikiLeaks had receivedalso constitute legally meaningful signals of agreement to participate in Russias conspiracy. Rocah says she thinks it would be plausible to make a case that such statements incentivized the countrys efforts to sabotage Clintons campaign and undermine previously imposed sanctions; one might analogize the situation to someone who hears his friends are planning a bank robbery and begins telling all of their mutual acquaintances, without using the words bank robbery per se, that he happens to have some great investment ideas that could be of interest to anyone who was to suddenly come into possession of large sums of cash. Rocah also notes that while discussion of Trumps exposure to potential obstruction of justice charges has generally revolved around what he might have done as president to prevent investigation of himself and his advisers, anything he did to obstruct the investigation of Russias actions could also count as a sign of participation in the countrys schemedriving the getaway car, if you will. (Bear in mind that Trump repeatedly insisted in 2016 that Russia might not have been behind the hack even after his top advisers had already met with well-connected Russians trying to distribute incriminating material about Clinton.)

The person whose read on all of these events matters most of all is Robert Mueller, and he is not available for interviews. But one way or anotherwhether he finishes his investigation with blockbuster conspiracy indictments of top officials and Trump family members, or simply closes up shop after having prosecuted a number of accessory cover-up crimes but no central plotwell soon find out what he thinks.This week, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has taken to talk shows and Twitter to promote his newly filed Freedom to Compete Act, which would ban the use of noncompete agreements for certain low-wage workers. Its a smart move for him to talk about an issue with potential bipartisan appeal. After all, allowing people to move to new jobs and having a free labor market should be something we can all agree on. When employers limit that mobility, it threatens innovation and economic growth. Sadly, though, Rubios bill is little more than window dressing and falls far short of what is needed to protect workers freedom to change jobs.

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Noncompetes have traditionally been used for high-ranking employees to prevent them from taking trade secrets or confidential information to a competitor, but an increasing number of employers (nearly 20 percent, according to a recent study) are using noncompetes to keep a broader range of employees in place.

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As former government lawyers, weve spoken with many low and moderate wage employees subject to noncompetes: fast-food workers, custodians, receptionists, customer service representatives, nurses, and health care aides, among others. The Rubio bill would ban noncompetes for a mere fraction of these workers because it links coverage to federal overtime eligibility, which currently exempts a significant number of workers. While the bill might allow a minimum-wage fast-food worker to head for the door, it would leave the assistant manager of that location covered by a noncompete, as long as she made more than $23,660 per yearprecluding her from getting a job at a different restaurant that pays more, is closer to home, or that gets her away from a harassing boss. Even if that monetary threshold is increased by several thousand dollars, as the Labor Department is expected to propose, far too many workers will still be excluded in Rubios framework.

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Under Rubios proposal, what would actually happen if an employer violates the law and imposes a noncompete on low-wage workers? Impacted workers could get only legal and equitable relief, but there is no mention of penalties or other punishment that would more easily convince an employer not to violate the law. As weve seen in our investigations, noncompetes are typically enforced informally, so even a noncompete that may not hold up in court can have a big impact: An employer can intimidate workers into not looking for a new job just by mentioning the existence of a noncompete, because what worker wants to risk being sued? Weve also spoken with employees who have had job offers rescinded when their current employer calls the new boss and warns of the noncompete. Because the very existence of a noncompete can chill employee mobility, the law must impose real costs for using them illegally.

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Critically, the Rubio bill does nothing at all for mid- and upper-level workers. But surely they, too, should have some protections from out-of-control noncompetes. For example, the now-infamous Jimmy Johns noncompete sought to restrict employees from working for any business that earned more than 10 percent of its revenue from selling submarine, hero-type, deli-style, pita, and/or wrapped or rolled sandwiches within three miles of any Jimmy Johns Sandwich Shop anywhere in the country. This is patently unreasonablenot just for minimum wageline employees, but also for Jimmy Johns managers and mid-level staffers. Some states have case law providing needed guardrails to protect against such overreach. For example, in New York and Illinois, noncompetes can only be used to protect an employers legitimate business interest, and must be reasonably limited in terms of how length of time and geographic scope. Any federal statute about noncompetes should contain similar restrictions. (The Rubio bill does not.)

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Many employees, meanwhile, arent even aware that they signed a noncompete until they try to leave their jobs. To them, their noncompete agreement was just one more box they clicked online during the employee onboarding process on their first day. Any bill on noncompetes should require employers to provide meaningful notification to workersbefore they accept a jobthat a noncompete will be a condition of employment. (Again, the Rubio bill does not.)

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Critically, the Rubio bill does nothing at all for mid- and upper-level workers.

Some states have begun to take action. Noncompetes have long been unenforceable in California, although there are no penalties for employer misuse. Illinois and Massachusetts also recently passed laws on noncompetes, with similar bills introduced in almost a half-dozen states. The Center for American Progress recently issued a report on noncompetes, with sensible recommendations for needed legislation. And the Workforce Mobility Act, which Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy proposed last year would prohibit noncompete agreements for pretty much all employees, with a penalty of up to $5,000 per week of violation, as well as punitive damages.

Rubios bill on noncompetes is an echo of the foolhardy proposal he floated last summer to create paid family leave by allowing people to borrow from their Social Security retirement money. In both cases, he has tried to position himself as a moderate who cares about ordinary people. But ordinary people deserve meaningful solutions and his flimsy proposals offer no real fix. Congress should pass a law restricting noncompetes, but in a way that will truly provide all workers with the freedom to seek a better life.Get More Whistlestop Slate Plus members get extended, ad-free versions of our podcastsand much more. Sign up today. Join Slate Plus Subscribe to Whistlestop Copy this link and add it in your podcast app. copy link copied! For detailed instructions, see our Slate Plus podcasts page.

Listen to Whistlestop via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play or wherever you get your podcasts.

This episode of Whistlestop travels to the spring of 1787, when 55 men of property and elite status argued in Philadelphia at the Constitutional Convention for what President John Adams called the greatest single effort of national deliberation that the world has ever seen, where the American Presidency was born.

Whistlestop is Slates podcast about presidential history. Hosted by Political Gabfest host John Dickerson, each installment will revisit memorable moments from Americas presidential carnival.

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Email: whistlestop@slate.com.

Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Research by Brian Rosenwald and Elizabeth Hinson.The launch of the 2020 presidential contest has triggered yet another round of uniquely American anxiety around the stability of character.

Were only a few weeks into the nascent primary campaign, and already the public discourse is mired in a debate that seems to be consumed with which of the Democratic candidates is in fact tricking us.

Amy Klobuchar appears to be a sweet Minnesota girl, but is she secretly a crazed, potentially abusive harpy? Elizabeth Warren holds herself out to be a wonky economic populist  so then why did she dabble in all that bonkers Native American ancestry stuff? Kamala Harris says shes a genuine liberal, but she was also a brutally tough prosecutor. Cory Booker is trying too hard to be an Obama reboot. Beto ORourke seems like he could be the real thing, except that he also seems like he was hatched in an underground lab to simply seem like the real thing. Kirsten Gillibrand says shes a feminist but she was for gun rights before she was against them, and Julian Castro is Hispanic but he also might be too Hispanic, but then is Kamala Harris really black enough and dont get me started on Sherrod Brown and whether hes a folksy blue-collar guy or just a rumpled blue-collar guy.

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It is deeply strange, this American fixation with political authenticity. We would rather have a flat, one-dimensional stick figure run for office than sit with the possibility that human beings are multifaceted and evolving andby necessity and designapt to show different faces to different people over the course of a political lifetime. This transcends the much-ballyhooed American proclivity to prefer presidents whom they can have a beer with. Its not so much that we want a president who is like us; its that we abhor the notion that our politicians may appear to be one thing sometimes but are something totally different at other times.

Think back to the core attacks against Hillary Clinton in 2016. Not only was she tarred as a rich person pretending to be a poor person, and a war person pretending to be a peace person, but she was also unerringly slammed as being some version of guarded, secretive, evasive, and, above all other things, inauthentic. There are thousands of articles and entire books devoted to Clintons alleged authenticity problem, and indeed, of all the fake scandals that stuck to her like glue, the apotheosis was the claim that she had used a private server as secretary of state and deleted emails before handing her files over to State Department record-keepers. She was thus confirmed, in the popular imagination, to be a keeper of secrets, a hider of truths, a chameleon always shifting with the political winds, as she held her true self away from our gaze. There is something profoundly and almost pathologically American about the fear of being fooled by our leaders into believing they are someone they are not, and this was at the core of the fears surrounding her potential presidency.

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We would rather have a flat, one-dimensional stick figure run for office than sit with the possibility that human beings are multifaceted and evolving.

Consider too that Clintons two rivalsBernie Sanders and Donald Trumpwere exactly and unfailingly who they held themselves out to be. Both are, in a way, perfectly authentic, right down to Sanders practice of delivering the exact same speech over and over again. Donald Trump is even more authentic, as measured by that standard: We know exactly who he is, exactly what he will say, and exactly how he will react in virtually every setting. He has held himself out as a money-and-image-obsessed billionaire who does deals and loves America and virtually never departs from performing that one TV-burnished character, whether hes bigfooting his way through foreign policy or shutting down the federal government because he deems its workers basically useless. Indeed, Trumps few inauthentic moments have come whenever hes tried to play anything but that character, be it when hes tethered to a teleprompter or talking about compassion.

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Trumps careful tending to the hackneyed Monopoly Man seems to prove that the voters quest for authenticity is in fact easily satisfied by flat caricature. In Trumps case, theres something extra perverse about the caricature he affects, which is, essentially, his opposite. He isnt as rich as he holds himself out to be, isnt as religious as he holds himself out to be, isnt as competent as he holds himself out to be, and isnt as youthful or healthy as he holds himself out to be. In fact, his claims about his tan, his hair, his weight, his work habits, his intelligence, and his religious zeal are all delivered with a kind of winking, over-the-top braggadocio that might just convey that you and he are actually colluding on the joke, except that so many people arent in on it. In a way, Donald Trumps political success can be attributed to the fact that, above all else, he holds himself out as authentic by sticking to his limited menu of invented traits (businessman and tough and manly), reveling in their transparent phoniness and repeating them so frequently that they come to appear genuine. He is, in short, the most cunningly crafted, authentic forgery in U.S. political history.

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Which brings us back to the current internecine warfare into which we are about to descend, as we rend a whole bunch of more or less genuine people to bits because they come to us with complicated stories. In order to even believe in them, we need to wrestle them down into paper dolls. We can hardly help it, which is part of how we ended up with the monomaniacal sociopath we have in office. He may have no idea how to do the job, but at least he says only what he means, which was Lionel Trillings original definition of authenticity.

Is this a uniquely American thing? In his landmark work The Paranoid Style in American Politics, Richard Hofstadter laid out how the modern (it was 1964) right wing was obsessed with the ways in which American virtues had been corroded by cosmopolitans and intellectuals and that these entities infiltrated American capitalist and government institutions by way of schemes and plots and cunning dual loyalties. This paranoid fear of forgers and fakers has combined, as Hofstadter predicted it would, with mass media and modern consumer culture to create an American political shopper who is as desperate for branded authenticity as she is afraid of fakery. It isnt simply that Donald Trump is a reality shows idea of an authentic and fully realized character; its that anyone too complicated to be slotted into a reality show trope of personality types is now irredeemably inauthentic.

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The truth is that the current field of Democratic nominees is full of messy and complicated individuals. Thats fine. It is one thing to demand that political leaders be consistent and coherent about policy. It is something else entirely to demand authenticity in the form of being either familiar enough to be a cartoon character or completely uncomplicated in all matters of character and temperament. Before we begin to trash people who havent even begun to become the leaders we hope for, lets recognize that this kind of fundamentalism helped bring us a president who can only be counted on to never surprise us at all.Listen to the Waves by clicking the arrow on the audio player below:

Get More of the Waves Slate Plus members get extended, ad-free versions of our podcastsand much more. Sign up today. Join Slate Plus Subscribe to the Waves Copy this link and add it in your podcast app. copy link copied! For detailed instructions, see our Slate Plus podcasts page.

Listen to the Waves via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

On this weeks episode of the Waves, Christina is joined by Refinery29s Ashley Edwards and Slates own Rachelle Hampton to discuss the glamorization of serial killer Ted Bundy, whos back in the spotlight thanks to the Netflix docuseries Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes and a Zac Efronled biopic, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. How did the myth of the clever, charismatic murderer arise in the first place, and how does it compare with the reality? Then, 2020 candidate Amy Klobuchar has long been praised as Minnesota nice by her colleagues and constituentsbut some staffers have come forward to paint a very different picture of their bosss behavior in the workplace. The hosts debate what we should make of the allegations and how they might affect her presidential campaign. Finally, Uber, Marriott, and some civilians are attempting to stop human trafficking by scrutinizing womens behaviorbut is this kind of surveillance helpful or harmful?

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In Slate Plus, we answer a question from a listener: Is indoor plumbing sexist?

Other items discussed on the show:

 Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes

 Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

 Ted Bundy Wasnt Special or Smart. He Was Just White by Ashley Edwards in Refinery29

 Why Is Ted Bundy Suddenly Everywhere? by Tori Telfer in Vulture

 The Real Problem With Zac Efrons Ted Bundy Movie Isnt the Heartthrobs Hotness by Sam Adams in Slate

 The Ted Bundy Movie Starring Zac Efron Sure Does Love Ted Bundy by Alissa Wilkinson in Vox

 Staffers, Documents Show Amy Klobuchars Wrath Toward Her Aides by Molly Hensley-Clancy in BuzzFeed News

 Sen. Amy Klobuchars Mistreatment of Staff Scared Off Candidates to Manage Her Presidential Bid by Molly Redden and Amanda Terkel in HuffPost

 The Devil Wears Prada

 Everyone Stop Being Sexist so We Can Have an Honest Conversation About Nancy Pelosis Political Leadership by Christina Cauterucci in Slate

 Are You a Woman Traveling Alone? Marriott Might Be Watching You by Elizabeth Nolan Brown in Reason

 Is There Really a Huge Upsurge in Sex Trafficking Over Super Bowl Weekend? by Ruth Graham in Slate

 Cindy McCain Apology Shows Challenge for Mixed-Race Families by Jonathan J. Cooper in AP News

Recommendations:

 Rachelle: Alexander Chees How to Write an Autobiographical Novel

 Ashley: What I Know About My Best Friends Murder by Carolyn Murnick in the Cut

 Christina: Renting a mobile petting zoo

This podcast was produced by Danielle Hewitt. Our production assistant is Alex Barasch.

Please remember to like our Facebook page. Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com. And come to our live show at the Sydney Opera House on March 10!This piece originally appeared in the Conversation.

According to a 2018 New York Times article, Instagram users have taken to issuing weekiversary posts, where they diligently mark the duration of their romance. The piece explains that the weekiversary posts have the unintendedor very much intendedconsequence of shaming people who are not in love. The article also noted that this phenomenon makes some doubt the intensity of their own relationships. They wonder why their partners are not similarly starry-eyed and gushing online. Some even admitted that this phenomenon prompted them to stay in relationships longer than they should have: They go on celebrating their weekiversaries, just to keep up appearances.

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In truth, this could apply to any of the social media platforms, where people increasingly feel the need to act their lives in real time in a public format, documenting every event and incident, no matter how remarkable or mundane. As a philosopher researching the topic of privacy, I found myself thinking about the brave new culture of digital sharing. What does it say about love that many are compelled to live their romances aloud, in detailed fashion?

Why Display Your Love?

On one hand, there is nothing new here. Most of us seek the approval of otherseven before our own, sometimes. Others approval, or their envy, makes our joy sweeter.

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Philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau recognized something like this when he distinguished between amour de soi and amour propretwo different forms of self love. The former is love that is instinctual and not self-reflective. Rousseau sees it in pre-social man, who is unconcerned with what other people think of him. Largely, he loves himself unconditionally, without judgment.

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Society, which complicates our lives irredeemably, introduces amour propre. This is self-love mediated through the eyes and opinions of others. Amour propre, in Rousseaus view, is deeply flawed. It is hollow and flimsy, if not downright fraudulent. The opinions and judgment of others change rapidly and do not make for a firm foundation for honest, enduring, and confident self-love, and any emotions related to or rooted in it.

This suggests an unflattering view of weekiversary posts. Are they just ones way of satiating the need for amour propremeeting the approval and stoking the envy of online witnesses? Are they for ones lover at all? Or are they for public affirmation?

Curating Our Life Stories

Is there a more positive way to make sense of weekiversary posts?

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Philosopher Paul Ricoeur argued that humans have an inherent need to view their lives in a narrative fashion. This is a prime way in which a person makes sense of her world. Specifically, one aims to project a narrative structure onto life and give it a beginning, a climax, and, hopefully, a fitting conclusion. The individual also wishes to situate her life story within a greater narrative, be it social, historical, or cosmic.

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Social media, I believe, gives us newfound powers to curate the story of our lives and, if need be, change characters and dominant plotlines or background themes, how and when we like. In documenting everyday events and occurrences, we could even elevate them and lend them a degree of significance. So it might seem perfectly natural that people would like to narrate their budding romances.

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I am now long and happily married, but I remember how first love is both exhilarating and confusing. Its a mess of emotions to work out and understand. Among the many mixed messages issued by family, society, and the media, it is often difficult to know how best to navigate romance and determine if you are doing things rightor if you have found the one.

In fact, I sought to get a handle on it all by writing down my many thoughts. This helped give me clarity. It objectified my thoughtsI literally projected them on paper before me and could better understand which were more resonant, powerful, and pressing.

Love and Insecurity

Social media, on the other hand, is not designed for introspection or soul-searching: Posts must be relatively short, eye-catching, and declarative. Twitter emissions only tolerate 280 characters. Ambiguity has no place there. Social media isnt the place to hash through a host of conflicting emotions. You are either in love, or you are notand if you are in love, why declare it if it isnt blissful?

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As Facebook discovered, negative posts tend to lose followersand many people want to keep up their viewership. The legal scholar Bernard Harcourt argues that social media sharing evokes the great American tradition of entrepreneurship. From this perspective, in issuing weekiversary posts, individuals are creating an identity and a storythey are generating a brand that they can market widely.

Its hard to see how this phenomenon contributes to or makes for lasting and fulfilling relationships. If, for example, as Ricoeur says, social media effusions are attempts to elevate the mundane, the simple, and the everyday, and lend them special meaning, it begs the question: Why might one feel the need to do this repeatedly, persistently? I would argue that it betrays an air of insecurity. After all, at some point, all the affirmation one needs should come from your lover.

True Love

There is an understandable need for young lovers to pronounce their joy in public. But love, when it matures, does not live publicly. Loving couples are not necessarily easy to pick out in public. I think of my parents, and my in-laws, married for nearly 50 years. They can sit with each other in comfortable silence for long periods of time. They can also communicate with each other without saying a word.

Love is largely a private relationship, and demands intimacy. Only in intimacy does the inherent ambiguity or complexity of love emerge. Only in intimacy are you and your partner fully seen and known, with all your shortcomings or contradictionsand they are forgiven. It is in these intimate moments that lovers learn to tolerate ambiguity, negotiate differences, and endure.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.

For this dispatch on hair dryers, we spoke to celebrity hairstylists Andrew Fitzsimons and Adel Chabbi of Adel Atelier; Pariss most famous hairstylist David Mallett; Rubi Jones, the Bumble and Bumbletrained stylist that we once dubbed The Braid Whisperer; Paul Labrecque, the stylist who owns two luxury salons in New York City; and blowout experts  RPZL lead trainer Stephanie Angelone, and Maria Tritto, the president of Soho blowout bar Haute Air. Each of them sent me a description of what makes for a good hair dryer, and sent a suggestion of which brands and models are the absolute best and why. We compiled their answers below  according to their descriptions of weight, performance, and dry time  and made a few alternative suggestions here and there. Take note that some of these superstar hair dryers occupy multiple categories, so we made sure to give them their due within each.

Powerful

Parlux Eco-Friendly 3800 Hair Dryer ($199)

While most of our stylists were divided on the best hair dryer overall, two of them directed me to the Parlux models for their power and resilience. The brand was created in Italy, just celebrated its 40th birthday (mazel!), and has 13 different models that are  according to Parlux itself  known for their light bodies and powerful, but quiet, motors. Rubi Jones tells us that the Parlux Eco-Friendly 3800 model is her favorite because it ticks off all the boxes: 2,100 watts for speedier blowouts; a nozzle that is small and narrow, so its easier to direct the air, helps dry hair faster, smooths hair more easily, and reduces frizz; and multiple heat and airflow settings, including a cool shot setting for helping set a style. It also has a very compact body for fitting into small bags, and for traveling.

Parlux 3200 Ceramic Iconic Dryer ($158)

Another powerful hair dryer that came recommended by David Mallett is the Parlux 3200. Mallett likes that its robust, strong, and easy to use, and if youre the butterfingered type, he says that its particularly resistant, too: Its basically impossible to break, extremely lightweight, and has heat controls that are easy to use. His staff use it with a nozzle diffuser or open neck to perfect their signature, messy French blowout. Its slightly less powerful at 1,900 watts, but more lightweight than this Parlux 3500 that writer Fiona Byrne recently praised for its ability to deliver a powerful punch and its blow-dry strength that cut my drying time in half.

Prevents Hair Damage

Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer ($399)

Of course, its hard to talk about the best hair dryers without mentioning the Dyson Supersonic. Its become the most-talked-about new hair invention of recent years, and it doesnt hurt that its partnered with Kardashian hairstylist Jen Atkin. Other celebrity stylists, like Adel Chabbi, use one in their salon; beauty veteran Linda Wells is a fan; and with a handful of accolades to its name, its definitely a top-of-the-line choice if youre a professional or are just super gung ho about at-home blowouts.

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Chabbi says this is because the Dyson is best in its class for speed, weight, and noise. She points out the fast dry time (around six minutes for long hair) and the super-quiet motor thats located in the handle instead of the head for a more lightweight feel. Its great for all hair types, and even for women who wear extensions, leaving the hair smooth and shiny. On dyed hair, any other dryers will change the tone of the color through overheating the hair, but not the Dyson. (Editors note: It has an internal thermometer that prevents the dryer from exceeding 300 degrees)

Lightweight

Bio Ionic 10X Ultralight Speed Dryer ($295)

Across the board, when I asked what made for a good-quality hair dryer, everyone mentioned the word lightweight. If thats your priority, you wouldnt be wrong to reach for the 1.8-pound Dyson or Parlux 3200, but youd probably be better off with Bio Ionics 10X Ultralight Speed Dryer, which the Cut last year also dubbed the fastest hair dryer of all. At under one pound, Andrew Fitzsimons says its remarkably lightweight for a person like him who has to use it for long periods of time, but also for the average person. I can imagine women at home appreciate the lightness, too, as we all know that a self-blowout can feel like a Pilates class, he says.

Harry Josh Pro Tools Ultra Light Hair Dryer ($500)

No one here called out the Harry Josh Ultra Light Hair Dryer specifically, but we thought it was worth mentioning as a Dermstore best seller and a very lightweight option. Kathleen Hou calls this the Bentley of hair dryers for its light weight  less than one pound  and speed. Its probably faster than the car you drove in high school, since it blows air at a consistent speed of 94 miles per hour. On top of all that, its so quiet that you can actually have full-on conversations while using it.

Elchim Classic 2001 Hair Dryer ($146)

Given that I only surveyed professionals, its not surprising that no one recommended a truly cheapo hair dryer. The most affordable option came our way from Maria Tritto, who mentioned that Elchim blow-dryers were the brand of choice in her salon for their practicality (they range from $85 to $250). I prefer Elchim for its lightweight body, as well as its amazing lifetime warranty. They are priced fairly and deliver all the essentials I need: high heat settings, high power, and something thats lightweight enough to be sufficiently used in a hair salon.

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She didnt recommend a specific model, but when our own beauty guru Rio Viera-Newton asked her mother about how she maintains her enviable curls, she suggested this Elchim Classic 2001 hair dryer: Typically I air-dry my hair, but if I have to go out in a hurry, I like to use my Elchim hair dryer on hot, low pressure, with the Elchim bi-diffuser attachment. It dries the hair while allowing it to maintain the curls. This one has up to 2,000 watts of power for a faster dry time, but is not as lightweight as the others at 2.6 pounds.

Conair 1875 Watt Ionic Ceramic Hair Dryer ($35)

Should you want something even more budget friendly that dips below $50, we highly recommend this Conair 1875 hair dryer that has over 2,000 mostly positive reviews, and great specs for such a cheap hair dryer: 1,875 watts of power (more than the Dyson, by the way), a 1.7-pound body, and good heat settings with a cooling shot. Ive tried it personally, before I switched over to a professional one (this scented Hai one), and honestly dont see that much of a difference.

Several Heat Settings

Sedu Revolution 4000i ($200)

If a variety of heat settings are your thing, first of all, the Harry Josh Pro Tools hair dryer has a whopping 12, but another that Stephanie Angelone tipped us off to was the Sedu Revolution 4000i, which she says has six different heat settings, ceramic ionic plates to protect the hair from damage and control static, a locked-in cooling button, and a lightweight body.

Ergonomic

Gamma Piu Ion Ceramic S ($189)

And if youre going to be holding a hair dryer for long periods of time, its also important that it feel comfortable in your hands, which is where this hair dryer from Italian brand Gamma Piu comes in. Paul Labrecque says that he values hair dryers like this that are gentle on hair, easy to use, and reliable  but also easy to grip: With this dryer, the heat is always steady, and theres a cooling button thats perfectly positioned for styling, with a trigger finger to lock in the setting. Its a lightweight model with a rounded handle that fits well in the hand, made for easy gripping, and this particular model infuses oxygen in the hair, helping to make hair look shiny as I style it. We should mention that it could also round out categories of weight and power, too, since it runs up to 2,300 watts of power (more than any on this list) and weighs merely a pound.

Great for Travel

T3 Compact Folding Hair Dryer ($119)

Or, if you want something that will help you avoid using an awful hotel hair dryer when youre traveling, we would also recommend one of these super-reviewed foldable hair dryers. This T3 version (the brand thats famous for its stylist-approved curling irons) is dual voltage, which makes it perfectly suited for travel, and comes with tourmaline and ceramic ion technology to keep your hair smooth, even in humid weather.

Drybar Baby Buttercup Hair Dryer ($135)

And this folding Baby Buttercup Blow Dryer from blowout brand Drybar is another great choice thats dual voltage, has two heat settings, weighs merely 13 ounces, and is a Drybar best seller at Sephora (along with its full-size counterpart, the Buttercup).

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.Rural electrification in the 1930s was critical to allowing sparsely populated regions to compete with urban centers for residents and business  akin to the need for high-speed internet in rural areas today.

Broadband can serve as the great equalizer, allowing those in even the most isolated corners of the state to conduct business and communicate with the rest of the globe. Several entrepreneurs have capitalized on their broadband connections to launch successful ecommerce operations, while countless Nebraska workers and companies benefit from telecommuting.

Despite the importance of high-speed internet, its availability is spotty in much of greater Nebraska. Speeds, too, arent necessarily accurate for every address.

Plymouth Sen. Tom Brandt has reintroduced legislation that aims to provide a measure of broadband at the most detailed level possible for the entire state. This proposal is an intriguing idea to better map internet access in every corner of Nebraska.

When Brandt met with the Lincoln Journal Star editorial board during last falls campaign, he reiterated the importance of broadband in his mostly rural district. He said the data werent granular enough to provide residents the necessary detail to make informed decisions.It is incredible to me that the leaders of our intelligence communities, all appointed by President Trump, all with outstanding records and representing the thousands of professionals within the intelligence community with years of experience, can be called naive, passive and wrong by the president, who says they need to go back to school.

He disagrees with them about Russias ongoing efforts to undermine Western democracies, about North Korea, about ISIS, about Syria, and instead seems to be more aligned with Vladimir Putin on all these concerns than with his own government. And, we find out he has had a meeting with Putin with no American translators present and no record of the conversation on our side.

Everything he does with Putin is secret and kept from our intelligence community. Russia knows what is going on, but we dont. He seems to trust Putin more than his own appointed leaders of our intelligence community. He ties one hand behind our back in all of this while giving Russia not only both hands free, but his own helping hand to them.

You may be glad about conservative judges being appointed, you may share his view on immigration, but are you comfortable with him ignoring the best advice available to him from our intelligence community while instead siding with Putin?

Republican leaders in the Senate and House also disagree with the president in his attacks on the intelligence community, while Putin praises him. How about you? - Jerry Eaton, Sioux City

Love 7 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1In her Feb. 10 Regulars column in the Journal, Linda Holub suggested that President Trump displayed the most compassion for government workers and willingness to negotiate, while the Democrats showed their true colors - they want open borders" (in effect, laying the issue on Democrats).

Trump creates the issue and the problem, then demands others resolve his malfeasance.

Compassion? Seriously? Simply by fiat, he held 800,000 workers hostage for bargaining purposes (and, in effect, their families) for 30-plus days, with no pay. Where's the compassion? There. Is. None.

Open borders? A damning, yet incomplete statement. Democrats are for enhanced border security, just not an all-encompassing border wall. Consider comments from some people who actually live near the border - Rep. Vincente Gonzalez of McAllen (population 140,000, larger than Sioux City) says that they did not have a single homicide in 2018; Sheriff Richard Wiles says El Paso has been one America's safest cities for three decades.

Concern about a wall is a major deflection from the long-term damage this administration is causing, both on the domestic and foreign relations fronts. (Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.) - Timothy Getty, Sioux City

Love 15 Funny 6 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 2Et tu, McCabe? Photo: CBS

Less than four months after becoming president, Donald Trump fired the director of the FBI for handling an investigation into his associates in a manner he did not like. By that point, the commander-in-chief had already attempted to get the head of federal law enforcement to pledge personal fealty to him, disparaged the CIAs assessment that Russian intelligence had intervened in the 2016 election, and declared the federal judiciary to be a national security threat.

All of which left the FBI feeling a little freaked out. In an (as yet unaired) interview with Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes, the bureaus former deputy director Andrew McCabe reveals that top Justice Department officials seriously considered trying to remove Trump from office. Specifically, McCabe says that they discussed lobbying members of the Trump administration to invoke the 25th Amendment, a constitutional provision that allows cabinet officials to initiate a procedure for removing presidents for office on grounds of incapacity (as opposed to the high crimes and misdemeanors standard officially required for impeachment).

There were meetings at the Justice Department at which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment, Pelley said on CBS This Morning Thursday, summarizing what McCabe had told him. These were the eight days from Comeys firing to the point that Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel. And the highest levels of American law enforcement were trying to figure out what do with the president.

In the course of said meetings, McCabe claims that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein earnestly floated the idea of wearing a wire during conversations with Trump, so as to buttress the case for the presidents unfitness for office. This is consistent with a New York Times report from September of last year, but contradicts Rosensteins claim that he was joking when he offered to secretly record his conversations with the president.

McCabes story is buttressed by his own official memos from May 2017. As the Times reports:

According to one of those memos written by Mr. McCabe, an excerpt from which was provided to The New York Times, the former F.B.I. agent wrote that we discussed the presidents capacity and the possibility he could be removed from office under the 25th Amendment and the deputy attorney general indicated he looked into the issue and determined he would need a majority or 8 of the 15 cabinet officials. Mr. McCabe added that Mr. Rosenstein suggested that he might have supporters in the attorney general and secretary of Homeland Security.

Some political observers  on both the left and right  have found McCabes disclosure alarming. In their view, federal law enforcement attempting to oust a (sort of) democratically elected head of state sounds uncomfortably like a coup detat.

But such fears are unfounded. McCabes aborted plot to oust Trump from office was always too delusional to be a threat to democracy.

The fundamental flaw in McCabes plan  and the reason why the 25th Amendment is not actually the break in case of coup loophole in our Constitution that some fear it to be  is simple: A majority of the Cabinet can unilaterally declare a president incapable of executing his duties, and immediately remove him from office  but only if said president accepts their judgement.

If the commander-in-chief thinks he is actually doing an amazing job, and refuses to step down, then said Cabinet officials would need the overwhelming support of both chambers of Congress to permanently oust the president. In more precise terms, a Cabinet vote, by itself, is sufficient to strip a president of his (or her) powers for four days. But if two-thirds of the House and Senate do not approve the Cabinets assessment during that four-day period, then the president promptly reassumes his powers.

As Michigan State law professor Brian Kalt wrote for New York in 2017, the 25th Amendment is really designed for removing a president who is incapable of upholding his duties on a very literal level  i.e., one who is in a coma or severely demented. It is more or less useless as a means of removing a president whose unfitness for office is rooted in authoritarian instincts or personality defects. Which is to say: If the president is capable of putting up a fight, then impeachment is actually a quicker and easier means of removing him (or her) from office than the 25th Amendment.

To be sure, theres still something a little unnerving about the FBI leadership holding meetings where unelected law-enforcement agents brainstorm how they can evict the president from the White House. For progressives  whose policy goals are not always perfectly aligned with the preferences of cops or national security bureaucracies  the specter of deep-state sabotage might be especially concerning.

But the 25th Amendment establishes a threshold for removing democratically elected leaders that is exceptionally high. Removing a duly-elected prime minister in a parliamentary democracy is much easier than removing a president through the mechanism that McCabe once contemplated. If a majority of a presidents own Cabinet  and two-thirds of both chambers of Congress  all vote to replace the president with his chosen successor, thats not a coup; its a resounding vote of no confidence. More importantly, in the universe we live in, it is also a delusional fantasy.

Anyhow, there are more pragmatic ways of mitigating the dangers inherent to having a senescent narcissist occupying our nations most powerful office  like, say, revoking his authority to unilaterally initiate nuclear war.She also touted the "Dakota Advantage Program," which offers in-state tuition to students from the nearby states of Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

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"Another way USD will be able to help fulfill our state's workforce needs is by attracting students from out of state, who would otherwise have never had the benefit of living and working in South Dakota," Gestring said. "It's estimated that 30 percent of these students that attend a South Dakota public university, will stay in South Dakota after graduation."

During a brief interview with the Journal following the ceremony, Gestring said she would like to explore renovations and improvements to the aging Fine Arts building. She noted a survey taken by the student government association showed that a majority of students would like to see updates to the facility.

Gestring also said USD's law school, which in the past has struggled with poor bar exam passage rates, financial challenges, fewer applicants and threats to its accreditation, is moving in the right direction.SIOUX CITY -- Western Iowa Tech Community College and Wayne State College will sign new articulation agreements Friday that allow WIT students to seamlessly transfer a wide array of associate degrees to earn a bachelors degree at Wayne State.

At a public ceremony set for 3:30 p.m. Friday at WIT's Sioux City campus, WIT President Dr. Terry Murrell and Wayne State President Dr. Marysz Rames will sign the new transfer agreements.

Thirty-one program articulations have been written, each laying out the pathway of courses and academic credits from the start of the WIT program all the way through to the completion of the WSC bachelors degree. These pathways will serve students and the WIT and WSC advisers working with the individual students on their plans of study.

Pathways from AAS to bachelors degree in technology include Accounting Specialist, Cyber Security and Digital Crime, Financial Services, Human Resource Management, Management, Mechanical Engineering, Network Administration and Security, Office Management, Technology Studies, and Welding Technology.

There is also an agreed pathway for WITs Video and Media Production AAS to WSCs Mass Communication and Electronic Media bachelors degree.DES MOINES -- A Milford, Iowa, social worker has voluntarily surrendered his state license after a state board accused him of having inappropriate sexual contact with a former client.

A final order filed Monday by the Iowa Board of Social work said that Scott Cox would immediately turn in his license to the board and his case is resolved.

The board on Dec. 3 found probable cause to file a statement of charges accusing Cox of having sexual contact with a former client within five years after terminating the client relationship.

The statement of charges said that Cox provided therapy to the client from June 2015 until September 2016. In the spring of 2017, Cox entered into a sexual relationship with the client, the charging document said.

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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.DES MOINES -- A physician who formerly practiced in Mapleton, Iowa, has voluntarily surrendered his Iowa medical license because he sent sexually suggestive messages to a co-worker for whom he also provided medical care.

In a settlement agreement filed Feb. 8, the Iowa Medical Board issued Alan J. Schenne, D.O., 53, who practiced family medicine, a citation and warning and ordered him to pay a $5,000 civil penalty.

In the agreement, the board alleged that Schenne sent suggestive text messages to the female co-worker in Mapleton and also engaged in sexual relations with her.

Schenne also was charged with sexual harassment for sending sexually suggestive text messages to two other female co-workers in Mapleton.

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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.DES MOINES  Legislation to prohibit traffic enforcement cameras got a yellow light Wednesday as a House subcommittee advanced the bill, but members indicated they anticipate regulating the devices rather than banning them.

Although he has concerns about the cameras, Public Safety Committee Chairman Jarad Klein, R-Keota, conceded they may serve the public interest so hes willing to look for middle ground  something less than an outright ban, but more than the largely unregulated use of cameras to catch motorists who speed and run red lights.

There are some of these cameras that are definitely useful for safety, Klein said during a hearing on House Study Bill 125. But I also think there are a lot of them out there that are being used as a revenue-generating source.

Speakers told the subcommittee revenue is being used to hire police officers, pay for cities to upgrade equipment  such as radios that can be a part of a statewide communication system  and other public safety priorities.

While it remains to be seen how Klein will modify his bill, lobbyists for Iowa cities that have cameras and the companies that supply them encouraged legislators to establish a regulatory framework rather than a ban.Protesters unfurl anti-Amazon banners from the balcony of a hearing room during a New York City Council Finance Committee hearing at New York City Hall on January 30, 2019. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Like many a disillusioned NYU freshman, Amazon is pulling out of its plans to make a home in New York. Just 13 weeks after announcing that it would build one of two second headquarters (dont try to do the math) in Long Island City, Queens, the e-commerce titan released a statement that it was backing out.

There were already rumors that Amazon was planning on putting the kibosh on the deal, due mainly to the the appointment of State Senator Michael Gianaris to the Public Authorities Control Board in early February. Gianaris, who represents Queens, has been a vocal opponent of the Amazon deal. In order for Amazons plans to move forward, it needed the approval of the board, any one member of which can veto any deal in front of it. With Gianaris in place, the Amazon deal suddenly looked much more risky.

Amazons statement reads, in part:

After much thought and deliberation, weve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens. For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term. While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.

Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio did everything in their power to land the Amazon offices, with Cuomo at one point joking that he would change his name to Amazon Cuomo. (Very cool and funny joke to have the executive of your state rename himself after a company, and definitely not dystopian.) Amazon was also able to extract nearly $3 billion in state and city incentives in order to build a large campus in Long Island City, which would have brought in 25,000 jobs.

It was the $3 billion in tax incentives that attracted most of the negative attention: Plenty of tech companies, from Facebook to Google, have built out large presences in New York City without requiring billions in giveaways. But Amazon, a company that has always run on thin margins by seeking ways to save or make money however possible, was able to work over state politicians.

There was also worry from local residents that Amazon would drive up already high housing costs in Queens, and that the city wouldnt be getting commensurate tax revenue from the company to support the added infrastructure 25,000 new workers would need.

Amazon also said it would not reopen the search for a new city for part of HQ2, and would instead simply build out more in Virginia and Nashville, as well as across its 19 other offices in the U.S. and Canada.

In the larger scheme of things, the loss of 25,000 tech jobs isnt devastating to New York. In November 2018, Forrester estimated there were 330,000 tech workers in the New York City region (23,000 more than in the Bay Area). By that measure, Amazon would have added an additional 7 percent of tech workers and their income tax revenue. It would have been significant, but New York will soldier on. And meanwhile, New York City officials wont have to spend time working with the worlds richest man build a private helipad.

Sign Up for the Intelligencer Newsletter Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world. 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."I am sorry I am weeping, but this is therapy. I love therapy," she told the audience.

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Bush Hager said her parents and grandparents understood a key point that helped her develop into her own person, after the types of personal doubts that teen girls often feel. That point is older family members should give guidance on key values they want to instill, but never insist the lives of children must be lived a certain way.

"People thought of (Barbara Bush) as old school because of her hair and her pearls," but she saw the need to adapt to societal change, Bush Hager said. She said that was proven in a big way when she famously and unexpectedly hugged a man with HIV, in order to show people with the disease should not be spurned and "to break down the stigma."

Bush Hager did not refer to President Donald Trump by name, but did reference the 2016 presidential campaign. She said she didn't like how women such as Hillary Clinton and former Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly were talked about in the campaign. Bush Hager said she is ready for a female president, and "hopes that will happen sooner rather than later."SIOUX CITY -- More than 150 people came to North High School to discuss ways to end gun violence in schools and other places, in a Wednesday event that was kicked off by comments from a student survivor of a mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school in February.

We wanted to demand that morally just leaders are put into office, Jaclyn Corin said, since the National Rifle Association has such a stranglehold on lawmakers."

Corin is a Parkland school shooting survivor, and she said many Parkland students, after the incident that killed 17 people, "decided we weren't going to let the media cover the story the wrong way."

Therefore, the survivors have used social media to air views, appeared on news shows and some are now participating with the Road To Change Tour that is making Midwest stops through June 29. Among the other Parkland students on hand in Sioux City were Sofie Whitney, although Emma Gonzalez, who has gotten a national profile, was not present.

Corin also told the crowd, "You don't just need to register to vote, you need to get out to the polls.SIOUX CITY -- Emma Gonzalez got an hours-long look at the hallway outside the downtown office of U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, but didn't get to discuss gun control policy with his staff members.

Gonzalez was one of several survivors of a high-profile school shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, who came to Sioux City on Wednesday with the Road To Change Tour.

In the morning, about 150 people gathered at North High School to discuss ways to elect new officeholders in order to advance gun control legislation. Then, Gonzalez was among 100 who went to the downtown Federal Courthouse holding King's congressional office.

One Parkland student, Cameron Kasky, led off the boisterous protest on the sidewalk along Fifth Street. Kasky contended the $11,000 King has taken in campaign contributions from the National Rifle Association makes him beholden to that lobby.

"Steve King is a scary, scary racist who doesn't care if kids get shot," Kasky said.

Gonzalez, who has been involved in a war of words with supporters of King and his own campaign office, followed Kasky. In a Facebook post written in March, King mocked Gonzalez, who is of Cuban heritage, for wearing a Cuban flag patch on her jacket as she spoke at the March For Our Lives rally in Washington in March.

In the weeks since that time, Gonzalez has had an increasing national profile for her outspoken stances in discussing policymakers and gun laws.

When she spoke Wednesday, Gonzalez read the names of teens who have been killed in school shootings. She said 96 people die every day from gun violence in the U.S., so "we must come together to save lives and end gun violence."

She then referenced King, saying, "He called me a Communist, because my family is from Cuba."

Among the March Facebook post comments and replies, a person on King's team wrote, Pointing out the irony of someone wearing the flag of a Communist country while simultaneously calling for gun control isnt picking on anyone."

The rally participants sought to speak with people in King's office inside the building. Kasky said he was asked to leave the office, but shared that a representative politely said she would hear views of people, two at time inside the office. However, Kasky and rally participant Matt Deitsch, of Florida, said that changed and people were shortly thereafter locked out of the office.

At 4 p.m., Gonzalez and 20 other people were seen waiting in the hall outside King's office, where they had been for more than an hour. She declined to give an interview, saying she was busy "making friends" with the people sitting on the floor. The group remained there until 5 p.m., when the building was closed for the day.

Deitsch said it was unfortunate that King's team can ridicule Gonzalez but not hold a policy discussion on guns with her.

Earlier this year, Leslie Gibson, a Republican candidate for office in Maine, called Gonzalez a skinhead lesbian." A speaker at the North High event erroneously said that statement came from King.

Nikolas Cruz, 19, used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to kill 17 students and staff members at Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14. The Parkland survivors have used social media to air views, appeared on news shows and participated with the Road To Change Tour that is making Midwest stops through June 29.

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Love 13 Funny 4 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 13DAKOTA CITY -- A South Sioux City man has pleaded guilty to forcing his wife and children into a vehicle at gunpoint and threatening to shoot them.

Jose Ibarra Cisneros, 41, entered his pleas Tuesday in Dakota County District Court to single counts of possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited person, first-degree false imprisonment, third-offense domestic assault, child abuse and terroristic threats.

Sentencing was set for May 10. According to terms of a plea agreement filed earlier, prosecutors will be limited to ask for a prison sentence of up to 10 years. Twelve other charges will be dismissed.

Ibarra Cisneros was accused of forcing his family out of their South Sioux City home and into a vehicle at gunpoint on Aug. 26 and threatening to shoot his wife, children and himself. The vehicle later became stuck, and Ibarra Cisneros fled. His family got the vehicle unstuck and returned home.

Ibarra Cisneros was arrested later in the day after flipping a stolen all-terrain vehicle on Nebraska Highway 35 near Emerson while trying to flee from authorities. He was armed with a loaded handgun and a knife when arrested. A .22-caliber rifle was found on the ATV.

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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.LE MARS, Iowa -- A man who impregnated a 14-year-old girl was placed on probation Thursday and ordered to register as a sex offender.

District Judge Patrick Tott suspended a 10-year prison sentence and placed Saqueo Carreto Perez on probation for three years.

A Plymouth County jury in November found Carreto Perez, 23, guilty of third-degree sexual abuse.

Carreto Perez must register with the Iowa Sex Offender Registry, and Tott ordered him to serve a lifetime special sex offender sentence in which he will be under supervision as if on parole. If he were to violate terms of the special sentence, he could be sent to prison.

Carreto Perez was arrested in August after the girl told police that she was pregnant and Carreto Perez was the father. The girl told police she willingly had a sexual relationship with Carreto Perez for about a year, and the two had lived together during that time.

Le Mars Community School officials contacted police to check on the girl, who was registering for classes. Police learned that the couple had recently moved to Le Mars. The girl attempted to convince police she was 17, but police confirmed that she was 14 by checking with schools she had attended in the past.

Police later learned that the girl was a reported runaway from El Paso, Texas.

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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 -- A judge has removed himself from presiding over a Sioux City murder case because he may have personal knowledge of the defendant's psychological history, an issue that may be raised as a defense.

District Judge Zachary Hindman issued the order late Thursday, saying that while serving as Jordan Henry's defense attorney during a probation revocation case two years ago, he "may or may not have obtained personal knowledge of facts that are or may become at issue" in the murder case and that he must recuse himself.

Chief District Judge Duane Hoffmeyer will assign the case to another judge.

Henry, 29, of Sioux City, is accused of strangling Elizabeth Bockholt in a Sioux City hotel room on Jan. 24 and then setting fire to the room. Henry pleaded not guilty earlier this week in Woodbury County District Court to first-degree murder and first-degree arson.

Hindman canceled a Friday hearing in which attorneys were to discuss whether Hindman should recuse himself.

First Assistant Woodbury County Attorney Mark Campbell on Wednesday filed a memorandum in which he said that Hindman should recuse himself because it appears possible that Henry's defense team may use a psychological or intoxication defense in the case.Just know they work together as nimbly as fingers on a hand.

A bit with Zippo lighters showed just how precise they could be (and how fickle a lighter is). A couple of routines with brooms let they show off their dancing skills.

Stomp has a little tap, a bit of hip-hop and a whole lot of show-off.

Created by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, the show glides from one number to another, often using those simple tools to provide transitions.

At one point, four hung from a big wall and pounded on drums and tubs.

At another, several stomped (sorry) out on oil drums like they were stilts.

The shows floor had a series of microphones which let something as simple as sweeping resonate. It also had plenty of give so that when the eight were jumping around they didnt risk major injury.

Performed without an intermission, Stomp has been honed for maximum effect.

Some routines rely entirely on the personalities of their performers. In one featuring The Sioux City Journal (yup, the paper was a supporting character), a percussionist turned the pages into feathers and paraded around like a turkey  original and intriguing.Queen Letizia of Spain and Princess Lalla Meryem, Chairwoman of the National Observatory of the Childs Rights (ONDE), visited on Thursday the second chance school in Sale, lEcole Nationale de Cirque ShemsY, considered as a lever for inclusion and social justice for equitable development.

During the visit, ONDE executive director Lamia Bazir made a presentation on the measures taken at state level to give a second chance to out-of-school children and help them have access to education.

She explained the functioning of the non-formal education programs and of the Second chance School, as a mechanism for the reintegration of school dropouts in the educational system, adding that these programs are promoted as part of the Cities without street children initiative.

Afterwards, Queen Letizia of Spain and Princess Lalla Meryem visited schoolrooms and workshops and chatted with some young people who have benefited from the Schools non-formal education and training programs.

Queen Letizia had accompanied her husband King Felipe VI of Spain who paid an official visit to Morocco February 13 and 14.Google on Wednesday announced plans to build a data center in the Omaha area.

The company provided few details, with CEO Sundar Pichai saying in a blog post that it plans to invest $13 billion in new data centers and offices across the U.S. this year.

It specifically mentions a new data center in Nebraska, and a map shows its location in Omaha.

State and local officials said little about the announcement, with both the governor's office and the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce referring questions about the announcement to Google.

In a news release, Gov. Pete Ricketts said the state has "built a reputation for itself as the Silicon Prairie and a hub for tech companies, startups and entrepreneurs.

Todays announcement from Google underscores that reputation and will bring great opportunities for Nebraskans."

Though Google did not say where in the Omaha area it plans to build, the Omaha World-Herald reported in December that a large data center project, dubbed "Project Wizard," was coming to a 275-acre site northwest of Highway 50 and Schram Road in Sarpy County.FILE PHOTO: U.S. Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY) speaks during a pro-Israel rally organised by local Jewish communities in front of New York City hall in New York July 14, 2014. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

By Doina Chiacu and Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday said Congress would oppose U.S. military intervention in Venezuela and challenged the credibility of President Donald Trump's special envoy, Elliott Abrams, over his past embrace of American covert action.

The Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel, expressed concern about Trump's hints that military action was an option in Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro is under intense international pressure to step aside and the country's economy is in chaos.

"I do worry about the president's sabre rattling, his hints that U.S. military intervention remains an option. I want to make clear to our witnesses and to anyone else watching: U.S. military intervention is not an option," Engel told a hearing on the OPEC nation.

The head of Venezuela's National Assembly, Juan Guaido, invoked a constitutional provision to assume the presidency three weeks ago, arguing that Maduro's re-election last year was a sham.

Most Western countries, including the United States, have recognised Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate head of state, but Maduro's socialist government retains the backing of Russia and China, as well as control of state institutions including the military.

Under U.S. law, Congress - not the president - must approve foreign military action. At the hearing, Democrats on the committee pressed Abrams on his views on military intervention, but questions about his credibility provoked the most heated exchanges.

Abrams, an assistant secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan, was convicted in 1991 of withholding information from Congress during the Iran-Contra scandal, in which U.S. officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran and funnelled the money to rebels fighting Nicaragua's leftist government. He was pardoned by President George H.W. Bush.

Story continues

Representative Joaquin Castro asked Abrams if he was aware of any transfers of weapons or defence equipment by the U.S. government to groups in Venezuela opposed to Maduro. Abrams responded that he was not.

"I ask this question because you have a record of such actions," Castro said. "Can we trust your testimony today?"

Representative Ilhan Omar discussed U.S. support for anti-communists in Central America during the Cold War and cited Abrams' initial dismissal of reports of the 1981 El Mozote massacre in El Salvador as left-wing propaganda.

"Would you support an armed faction within Venezuela that engages in war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide if you believe they serve the U.S. interests as you did in Guatemala, El Salvador or Nicaragua?" Omar asked.

"I am not going to respond to that question," Abrams replied. He called her questioning a personal attack.

Abrams also drew intermittent outbursts from protesters at the hearing. "You are a convicted criminal!" one man shouted before being escorted out.

PRESSURE ON MADURO

Abrams said Washington would keep up pressure on Maduro and his inner circle by "a variety of means."

"But we will also provide off-ramps to those who will do what is right for the Venezuelan people," he said.

Engel warned about the possible effects on the Venezuelan people of U.S. sanctions on state oil company PDVSA. The United States in January imposed sanctions aimed at limiting Maduro's access to oil revenue.

"I appreciate the need to squeeze Maduro," Engel said. "But the White House must think through the potential repercussions that these sanctions could have on the Venezuelan people if Maduro does not leave office in the coming weeks."

Panel witnesses described a devastating humanitarian situation. Steve Olive of the U.S. Agency for International Development said hospitals faced drastically reduced supplies, there were concerns about the power grid and rising reports of malnutrition.

"The situation is deteriorating on a daily basis," he said.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Rosalba O'Brien)Money is the currency of transactions, trust is the currency of interactions

When introducing Frontier Digital Ventures (FDV) to executives or investors, Im frequently posed with this question:

Why bother with the instability of emerging and frontier markets?

We have investments in 17 countries like Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Panama  places one wouldnt always associate with major investments. So, its not really surprising that some might question our choice to focus efforts there.

However, our prominent success in these markets justifies our decision.

I developed a passion for online classifieds during my time as General Manager of the REA Group and then leading the iProperty Group.

Over the years, the focus in this space has changed from simply advertising houses or cars to connecting buyers and sellers while facilitating transactions  of which I remain fascinated by how unique the online classifieds business model is from other digital businesses.

Most importantly, and in answer to my investors question, Ive found that the greatest impact and satisfaction comes from working with A grade entrepreneurs in these local markets to accelerate them.

Something which I dont think I would have achieved at the same scale in other markets.

And the surprising ingredient to all this success?

Well, I discovered that our platforms worked because we were building trust between buyers and sellers. These emerging frontier markets where FDV is present, tend to operate in a low-trust environment.

Simply put, there is a lack of trust between buyers and sellers  or what we call a trust deficit  they dont tend to trust each other because of previous bad experiences such as scams or misrepresentations.

These abound in an environment where regulations are less clear, and when a quick buck can be more appealing than investing in creating an actual long-term business.

In low-trust societies, transactions dont happen as fast or as frequently as they should  simply because consumers are always questioning if theyre getting a fair deal.

Story continues

Thats where platforms like Encuentra24.com, Infocasas and CarsDB come in. Theyre more than just websites with free features for consumers.

Together, we work to design digital environments which are transparent and interactive.

Imagine if a buyer finds that a seller has acted with less than complete honesty, that seller is going to be called out immediately for all the platforms users to see!

In essence, our community of buyers and sellers are able to self-regulate because of the open and transparent platforms we provide.

Designing for trust

To be honest, we didnt originally design our business with trust in mind.

We did, however, know that we wanted to provide the best experience for our users and build sustainable future-proof businesses. And I guess, thats essentially what trust is!

So, can you purposely design your business for trust?

I believe so and heres how we did it:



#1

Thinking back to our early days, many of iPropertys competitors suffered from fake property listings which greatly impacted how consumers viewed their brand.

Back in 2010, I even found my own house (which I was living in at the time!) listed for rent on iProperty.com.

When I called the agent to find out the details, he conveniently mentioned that it was recently rented out but he could show me other properties. Needless to say, the agent got some serious feedback about how they were advertising on iProperty!

Also Read: Why be a thought leader at Echelon Asia Summit 2019?

Since then, its been very important to me personally that we verify sellers and listings across our platforms. And if we do find a fake listing (like my home!) then we go back to the drawing board to make sure that we improve the experience for our users.

This is our way of being proactive about creating a platform our users can trust.

#2

Consumer experience, CX, has been the buzz-phrase of the last few years.

With the advent of technology, people are looking at how AI or big data analytics can help businesses better understand customer behaviour, and tailor services and actions accordingly.

But when your platform is dealing with potentially life-changing decisions  buying your first condo or upgrading your car  consumer experience takes on a whole different meaning.

For many of our consumers, using our platform is a matter of spending their life savings.

So I stress to my team that its our duty to provide a seamless consumer experience, making the buying process as painless as possible.

If this is done well the power of a positive experience for a consumer quickly takes hold by way of word of mouth and thats the best reference any online business can hope for.

#3

FDV couldnt possibly have gotten off the ground if our investors didnt trust us.

They did so because of the reputation we built over the years, as our ability to source, grow and develop successful online classifieds businesses was proven by the success of iProperty.

But it doesnt stop there.

I believe that we not only need to continue cultivating the trust of our investors but also to expand it.

We have to persistently listen and communicate with them so that our ideas and goals are constantly aligned, and an open and transparent relationship between both parties can be fostered.

Both are keys to establishing trust.

The same applies to the entrepreneurs we back.

Aside from providing the right capital to grow their business, our role as investors also include matching opportunities for them and to ensure their growth.

Whenever we deliver what we promised it helps cultivate a more trusting relationship between us.

As the digital economy continues to grow, the world is conversely getting smaller and smaller. People are more connected now than ever, and we need to understand how this changes their behaviour.

Looking back at the low-trust environments we operate in, our users may not trust a stranger off the street or even in an office with their money, whereas they trust our digital platforms.

Heres another example: Airbnb.

We all know the story of how investors dismissed them because they didnt believe strangers would trust others with their physical space, and how since theyve been proven absolutely wrong.

Today, Airbnb is a business worth US$38 billion.

Also Read: Theres hope for markets in 2019 despite 2018s crypto winter, heres why

Building a trustworthy brand may seem like something for businesses to consider  but in a few short years, itll be way past mere consideration.

As the market grows increasingly demanding and sophisticated, any business that wants to survive the long-term will need to be designed to be trustworthy.

As Rachel Botsman, an expert on trust and technology, puts so accurately, Most businesses that we interact with are built around money, and money only goes so far.

Money is the currency of transactions. Trust is the currency of interactions.



Image Credits: tsyhun

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The post How trust can create a sustainable business appeared first on e27.After generals seized power in Thailand in a 2014 coup they turned to Beijing to kickstart growth and buff up their vision of an innovative, developed country steered by wise leaders and buoyed by China-backed infrastructure. Thailand's economy sagged in the first years after the power grab but the junta is staking its hopes for an economic turnaround on the Asian giant. Yet concerns are mounting of an over-reliance on Beijing and the opacity of deals cemented by the generals. Few can predict what will happen in a country known for coups and backroom political plots -- uncertainty that was in focus last week after the king scuttled a bid by his sister for prime minister. Junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha is looking to hold onto power and drive through the largest investment programme in Thai history -- with China's help. Tourism remains the kingdom's banker -- accounting for a fifth of the economy -- and Chinese visitors are integral, making up a quarter of Thailand's projected 41 million visitors this year. Lavish Lunar New Year celebrations at the start of the month, including Chinese acrobats, arts, crafts and dragon dances, were expected to rake in over $300 million. Wang Ziying was among those who took part, emerging from a mass of incense-wielding devotees at a Bangkok shrine -- one of more than 11 million Chinese expected to visit Thailand this year. "Travelling here is quite cheap," said Wang, 27, with red bunting and lanterns festooning the streets around her. Last year, tourist Xu Xiao, 28, prayed at the same shrine for a successful marriage. Her husband was with her this time. "Thailand is a country full of warm-hearted people," she said. - Bet the house - Chinese investment in Bangkok condos is surging, while international schools are being filled by parents tiring of Shanghai and Beijing prices. But junta critics say the rush for Chinese investment, carried out with virtually no public scrutiny, has left Thai markets vulnerable to price manipulation and economic shocks. Thai rubber was hit hard by the trade war between the United States and China, while concerns abound over inducements likely to be offered to investors in special economic zones. "Thailand has shown signs of overdependence on the China market," said Michael Montesano, coordinator of the Thailand Studies Programme at Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. Approved investment deals from China in the first nine months of 2018 stood at 20 billion baht ($640 million), nearly double the amount recorded over the entire previous year, according to Thailand's Board of Investment. But the junta's flagship project, the Eastern Economic Corridor, aims to dwarf that. A mix of tech, airport and port upgrades, high-speed rail and manufacturing, the EEC is a $45 billion plan across three eastern seaboard provinces, and Thailand is courting investors from several countries. "But without the kind of Chinese investment they are hoping to get, the Eastern Economic Corridor doesn't get off the ground," said Benjamin Zawacki, the author of "Thailand: Shifting Ground between the US and a Rising China". Late last year, Thailand hosted more than 500 Chinese executives and investors, selling the EEC as a link to Southeast Asia to satisfy Beijing's Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. But junta opponents are on the lookout for any deals hustled through in the run-up to next month's election before a new civilian administration takes power. The generals have also spent large sums on Chinese military gear, unencumbered by oversight. Junta number two Prawit Wongsuwan has served as the frontman, buying tanks, guns and three submarines -- costing nearly $400 million each -- that have yet to be delivered. - Thailand 4.0 - Once Southeast Asia's most dynamic economy, Thailand has been beset by protests and political instability since an earlier coup in 2006, a period dubbed the "lost decade". In that time, Thailand's education system calcified. Shortly after their last power grab, the generals imposed fresh layers of rote learning across schools, focusing on loyalty to the monarchy, discipline and national pride. Yet junta leader Prayut has simultaneously touted a future of "Thailand 4.0" -- a tech hub fed by highly-skilled, educated Thai workers. To buttress the vision, a $320 million investment last year by e-commerce giant Alibaba was hailed by Prayut and Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma as a sign of the bounty to come. But critics say a woeful education system cannot feed into a pipeline of skilled workers without massive reform. The race for Chinese cash has unsettled many Thais concerned by the warping of their markets by China's massive economy. A "pro-China stance" has been criticised by a wary Thai public, independent analyst Sasiwan Chingchit said, especially those affected by the government's "poor performance". "A lot of people... are so sick of this government," she said.French automaker Renault unveiled Thursday a sharp drop in earnings as profit plunged at its Japanese partner Nissan, posing a fresh challenge for their alliance after the shock arrest of former chief Carlos Ghosn last November. The results came as Renault's new chairman Jean-Dominique Senard was in Japan for talks with Nissan, hoping to smooth relations which grew strained under Ghosn's leadership. Renault's net profit for 2018 fell 37 percent from a record 5.1 billion euros ($5.75 billion) the previous year, reflecting a slump in profits at Nissan, in which Renault holds a 43 percent stake. Earlier this week Nissan slashed its full-year forecast as nine-month net profit dropped 45 percent. The earnings put additional pressure on the Renault and Nissan, which along with Mitsubishi form an alliance which has become the world's top-selling automotive group. "We all, within the alliance, want more of an alliance... it is one of our most valuable assets," Thierry Bollore, Ghosn's successor as Renault CEO, said at a news conference. "We confirm the strategic plan objectives," for the future, Bollore added, saying he aimed for an operating margin of 6 percent this year. That would be down from the 6.3 percent margin reached last year, as the company grappled with demand slumps in emerging markets like Argentina and Turkey, and the halt of operations in Iran after the US re-imposed sanctions over Tehran's nuclear programme. - Restore confidence - Ex-Renault CEO Ghosn remains stuck in a Tokyo jail on charges he under-reported millions of dollars in salary as head of Nissan, the biggest partner by sales in an alliance built up by Ghosn. He resigned as CEO last month -- having already been stripped of his chairman titles -- ahead of a trial which could still be months away. Ghosn has denied the charges, accusing Nissan executives of treachery. Renault's new chairman Senard told reporters before leaving for Japan that he intended to "re-establish confidence, transparency and loyalty" between the partners. He will join Nissan's board in April, but the question of overall chairmanship of the Nissan-Renault group remains a bone of contention, with the Japanese fearing conflicts of interest. - Record sales - Looking ahead, Renault is aiming for world sales of five million vehicles by 2022, worth some 70 billion euros, and a 7 percent operating margin. The company sold a record 3.9 million vehicles last year. "Both the global and European market are expected to be stable compared to 2018," Bollore said. "The commercial and financial results demonstrate the group's resilience and its rapid adaptation to a more challenging environment. This performance is the result of a clear strategy, increasingly stringent execution and the efforts of all group employees," he added. Bollore also stressed the importance of new electric cars -- including the Zoe and Kangoo utility van -- whose world sales increased by 37 percent, and now account for 3 percent of the group's revenues. In the meantime Bollore will have to navigate Ghosn's efforts to secure millions of euros of pay he is due since leading Renault since 2005. The automaker's board said Wednesday that it would block a major payout as the group seeks to avoid the prospect of an embarrassing "golden parachute". It said that it would not pay two years' worth of salary as part of a noncompete clause, and that Ghosn would miss out on stock options issued between 2015 and 2018, since they were "subject to his presence within Renault."WARSAW (Reuters) - The United States aims to "get as far down the road as we can" ahead of a summit with North Korea in Vietnam this month, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday.

President Donald Trump announced last week he would hold a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi on Feb. 27 and 28.

"We are aiming to get this as far down the road as we can in what is now a couple of weeks," Pompeo told a news conference in Warsaw after a conference on the Middle East.

"That's not just along the denuclearisation pillar of what they agreed to in Singapore," he said, referring to a groundbreaking first summit between Kim and Trump last June.

"We'll certainly talk about how we...reduce tension, reduce military risks, take down that risk so we can get peace and security on the peninsula as well."

The United States has been demanding that North Korea give up a nuclear weapons programme that threatens the United States and Trump has been eager for a second summit even though the Singapore meeting produced only vague commitments from Kim and little concrete progress since.

North Korea for its part has been seeking a lifting of punishing U.S.-led sanctions, a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, and security guarantees.

In an interview with CBS News on Wednesday, Pompeo said of Kim that "now it's time for him to deliver."

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun is expected to hold further talks with his North Korean counterpart next week to prepare for the Hanoi summit.

Biegun held three days of talks in Pyongyang last week, which he said would be aimed at mapping out "a set of concrete deliverables" for Hanoi, but the State Department has offered no indications of any progress in these.

South Korean media said Biegun told a South Korean parliamentary delegation that in Pyongyang the two sides agreed not to negotiate, but to make clear their respective positions, and they would seek to narrow their differences in the next round of talks.

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Additional reporting by Adam Charlish; writing by Justyna Pawlak and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Alistair Bell)Spain has renewed its support for the political process led exclusively by the United Nations to reach a settlement of the Sahara issue, in the framework of Security Council resolutions.

This position has been reiterated by Spanish Foreign Minister, Josep Borrell, Thursday in Rabat, at a joint press conference with his Moroccan peer Nasser Bourita.

Spain defends the centrality of the United Nations and supports the efforts of the UN Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy to achieve a political solution in the context of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, said the Foreign Minister who was part of the delegation that accompanied King Felipe VI during his official visit to Morocco Feb.13  14.

Spains position on the Sahara issue is accurate and unwavering, Josep Borrell insisted, adding that it is a state position that has not changed.

The clarification made by Josep Borrel comes in the wake of the false statements attributed to the Spanish ambassador in Algiers, Fernando Moran Calvo-Sotelo, by the Algerian media.

These media claimed that the Spanish diplomat told Algerian National Assembly President Mouad Bouchareb that there was a convergence of views between Algeria and Spain on the Sahara issue.

The maneuver orchestrated by Algeria, the mentor of the Polisario separatist movement, was all the more insidious that it intervened on the eve of the Spanish Kings visit to Morocco.

During the joint press conference, Nasser Bourita said King Mohammed VI considers Spain as a natural strategic partner of Morocco.

He added that the rich, in-depth and fruitful talks King Mohammed VI held with his Spanish guest shall give a new qualitative impetus to bilateral relations. These talks touched on the multidimensional relations existing between the two countries, whether in the political, economic, security or cultural realms, as well as on topical regional and international issues, Bourita said.

He noted that the global strategic partnership signed, Wednesday in Rabat, during a ceremony co-chaired by the two Sovereigns, completes the Treaty of friendship, neighborliness and cooperation signed by the two countries in 1991, and translates the shared will to upgrade bilateral ties to a much higher, more ambitious level. Moroccan-Spanish partnership, he added, is based on trust, mutual respect and serenity in dealing with all matters as part of a win-win cooperation.

At the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting held Thursday, Head of the Moroccan government, Saad Eddine El Othmani, described King Felipes visit to Morocco as a historical event that crowns the remarkable evolution of relations between the two kingdoms.Almost 6 years ago, I, like a few hundred others, found myself in the universitys auditorium commemorating the end of my formal education.

Its difficult to know exactly what to feel in the midst of mingling with coursemates and taking photos for social media, when concurrently, youre trying to process 16 years of late nights and early mornings, making friends but losing most as the years pass, and the sinking or soaring feeling when receiving your exam results.

Its even more difficult to know exactly what the future has in store, because even with the hope and relief (mostly the latter) that comes with a convocation, theres also much confusion.

Because if you were to shut out all the chatter and calls for selfies, theres an undeniable thought resonating through all fresh graduates minds as they leap from the nest that is formal education  How can I clinch my dream job?

Unfortunately, the reality is that the search for the perfect career is a journey that never ends, but for a fresh-faced first jobber, getting started can already be a hurdle in itself.

To get some tips that job seekers (whether first, second, or third jobbers) can apply to their career journey, I attended the Snagging your dream job  What does it take? masterclass at the Todo Todo Skills Marketplace, where Christine Liu, co-founder of cloud-based recruitment platform StaffOnDemand shared some career guidance and insights on what employers are thinking when they put up a job listing online.

Christine Liu, Co-Founder of StaffOnDemand

As someone who has worked in the private, public, and non-profit sectors, she also revealed some interesting tidbits on how work cultures and skill sets differ among each of them.

When Staying Relevant Is More Important Than Dream Jobs

1. Things, and thus jobs, are not forever

Christine started off with the example of the rise and fall of Detroit, which went from being the richest city in the US in 1960 to filing for bankruptcy in 2013.

Story continues

At its heyday, Detroit was the Silicon Valley of the US, thanks to industrialisation and the booming automobile industry.

However, the 1970s marked a time when American manufacturers started facing increasing competition from abroad, and needed to move production to cheaper locations to cut cost.

This resulted in a sharp rise in unemployment rates, due to workers being made redundant in the face of fewer jobs and machinery taking over certain processes.

Bringing it back to the local context, she cited the case study of how in the 1970s, silicon wafer production in Singapore was the booming industry to be in. However, as the years went by, finance and service became the new sectors to aspire towards.

Now, the tech industry has taken centre stage, with elements of it being incorporated into every other sector as well.

The phrase things are not forever is thus especially true in this day and age, where technological disruption is happening at every turn.

As such, one needs to contend with the possibility that their current dream job might not even exist in a matter of a few years.

2. Predicting the future

Thats not to say that one should abandon all hopes of clinching the job theyre dreaming of, though.

Christine continued, stating that while innovation is not going to be slowing down any time soon, individuals dont need to think of themselves as being helpless in the face of changes.

While no one can predict the future of jobs with 100% accuracy, there are definitely trends that anyone can pick out by watching the news with a discerning eye, or keeping up to date with industries and fields that interest them.

3. Be industry agnostic

On the topic of industries that interest an individual, Christine also advised that instead of having a stubborn adherence to a particular firm or sector, its actually better to be industry agnostic.

Dont think about job functions (and) industry, but what skills you can learn (from the job).

As a fresh graduate, the true question you should really be asking is what skills do you want to hone in on?

More than just looking at the job scope, she stated that it would be better to find an industry that best fits [ones] skillset and to use their period of employment as a means to learn skills that can be transferable across firms and even industries.

Image Credit: Todo Todo

4. Think of yourself as an asset

Having a university degree used to be something that guarantees an individual a job, but thats simply not the case anymore.

To truly stand out from the hundreds of degree holders applying for the exact same position as you are, its more prudent to develop and showcase skills that a potential employer requires.

Think of yourself as an asset, she urged, suggesting that individuals look to online resources like Coursera and Udemy to pick up and enhance their skillsets at their own time and target.

5. Choosing between public, private, and non-profit

As someone who has experience in the all three, Christine said that their differences mainly lie in the objectives of each organisation.

For the public and non-profit sectors, they are more driven by public, social good agendas with a focus on their main target beneficiaries.

For the private sector, the companys objectives [which are more profit-driven in nature,] will trickle down to the work culture and in turn, the key measures of performance for their employees.

That said, the soft skills acquired from each sector are surprisingly inter-operable, and staying in a particular sector simply boils down to personal choice.

You can, most definitely, traverse across the sectors and enjoy the different work experience!

6. (Company) size doesnt matter

Theres definitely a sense of prestige that comes with working at a multinational corporation (MNC) or a larger company, but most of it is linked to better benefits and the perceived job stability it offers.

However, the rise of successful startups and highly-profitable smaller enterprises in recent years has proved that many times, (company) size really doesnt matter.

Dont worry about the size of the company, and instead, focus on what you want to get out of the work experience.

Opportunities come in all shapes and sizes, Id say!

7. Do your research before applying

When embarking on the job search and application process, Christine advised that its best to read the job descriptions carefully, and focus on acquiring the skillsets needed for the position.

Concurrently, a savvy applicant can also find out more about the company via Glassdoor (where former and current employees can submit anonymous reviews about working at the firm), or even contacts who are working in the organisation and industry in question.

A caveat here though  just like there isnt a perfect employee, first-time jobbers shouldnt view opportunities with rose-tinted lenses.

Come prepared and calibrate your expectations, and you would have a much easier time adjusting to the new chapter of your work life.

8. When it comes to job applications, quality > quantity

As tempting as mass-sending job applications sounds, Christine shared that quality is infinitely better than quantity.

One way to make your application stand out from the rest is to tailor your CV and cover letter to best show off how and why youre the most relevant candidate for the job.

Or better yet, incorporate the research youve done on the firm into your cover letter to show that youre a candidate who is truly interested in the opportunity, and not indiscriminately casting your net far and wide.

Bringing in her personal experience from StaffOnDemand, she revealed that the first page of a CV is the goldmine that applicants should take more care in crafting, as thats sometimes the only section that (typically very busy) HR staff look at to shortlist candidates.

Learning Doesnt End At Graduation

Image Credit: Todo Todo

Perhaps one of the biggest takeaways is that learning doesnt end at graduation, and the acquisition of applicable and transferable skills should not simply be a means to an end (in this case, employment).

In a time when information about practically anything is just a click away, guidance can come from peers, mentors, and even strangers; all one needs to do is take the first step.

To attend more events like the masterclass by Christine, check out Todo Todos event page here, or check out the articles here to read more inspirational career-related pieces.

This article was written in collaboration with Todo Todo, a joint initiative by National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and Peoples Association (PA).

Also Read This Spore-Based App Lets Us Video Call A Doctor  Did We Manage To Get An MC?

The post MNC, SME, Or Public Service: What Should Fresh Grads Dream Jobs Be In? appeared first on Vulcan Post.Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort could face a much longer prison sentence than expected after a Washington judge ruled Wednesday that he had broken his plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Federal district judge Amy Berman Jackson agreed with prosecutors that Manafort had "intentionally" lied to investigators about his contacts with a suspected Russian operative, Konstantin Kilimnik in 2016 and 2017, despite having pledged to cooperate as part of his September plea agreement. Jackson also ruled that Manafort had lied about a secretive payment he made to a law firm, and lied on another occasion when investigators queried him about a separate, still secret investigation related to the Mueller probe. The ruling meant that Mueller no longer has to abide by the deal, in which Manafort agreed to plead guilty to two reduced conspiracy charges, carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. It could also elevate whatever punishment arises from the 69-year-old's guilty verdict in a separate jury trial last year in Virginia. Mueller's side is "no longer bound by its obligations under the plea agreement, including its promise to support a reduction" in Manafort's sentence, Jackson said. Theoretically that could mean Manafort is also vulnerable to new charges, though prosecutors have indicated they want to move quickly to sentencing and not spend more time on the case. The breakdown of the deal set back what had been seen as a major success of the 21-month-old Mueller probe in turning Manafort into a possible key witness against President Donald Trump, his family and other top aides. Manafort is one of seven former Trump campaign associates who have been charged by Mueller's team. He was convicted in August in a Virginia court on eight charges of banking and tax fraud related to his work for Russia-backed political parties in Ukraine between 2004 and 2014. He was separately charged in Washington with money laundering, witness tampering and other offenses, which were consolidated into the two conspiracy charges in the plea bargain. - 'Deep secrets' - The mostly secret arguments over the lying accusations in between December and February bared tantalizing hints at possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, the core of the Mueller investigation. While he now faces spending possibly the rest of his life in prison, Mueller's team and analysts say Manafort may have lied to protect Trump in hopes of getting a pardon. Telling the truth would have "negative consequences in terms of the other motive that Mr. Manafort could have, which is to at least augment his chances for a pardon," one of Mueller's prosecutors told the court. "I think Paul Manafort is protecting deep, deep secrets that if he told them, would probably put himself and his family and the president, his best chance at a pardon, at risk," Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell told CNN Thursday. In a November 28 interview with the New York Post, two days after prosecutors accused Manafort of breaking the plea deal, Trump left the possibility of a pardon dangling. "It was never discussed, but I wouldn't take it off the table. Why would I take it off the table?" he said. "You know this flipping stuff is terrible," he added about Mueller's efforts to get people like Manafort to cooperate.Japanese megastore Don Quijote to open its first Hong Kong location

Japanese discount megastore Don Quijote is set to open its first Hong Kong location in the middle of this year, occupying a basement location in Tsim Sha Tsui, in a bid to tap local consumers and booming growth in mainland tourism.

The Tokyo-based chain, known for its diverse product offerings, will move into 15,000 sq ft basement space of Mira Place Two, according to sources.

Miramar Hotel and Investment, the owner of the building, has yet to make an announcement on the lease agreement.

Don Quijote will pay a monthly rental of HK$1 million (US$127,000) for the site at 118 to 130 Nathan Road, according to the source.

The location, the first by the Japanese retailer in Hong Kong, should be open in July.

Miramar Hotel and Investments shares rose 1.7 per cent in Hong Kong on Wednesday, ending the session at HK$16.40.

Don Quijotes Tsim Sha Tsui location can attract mainland tourists who travel via the high-speed rail and mega bridge, said Helen Mak, senior director and head of retail services at Knight Frank.

Instead of shopping for luxury items, these same-day visitors usually spend money on cosmetics, health care items and food, products that are most celebrated at the [Japanese] store.

Known for its convenience and discounts, many Don Quijote locations in Japan are open 24 hours.

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge opened on October 24 while the high speed rail connecting Hong Kong to multiple mainland destinations began operation on September 23.

On February 7, the third day of the Lunar New Year, about 104,200 visitors entered Hong Kong via the high-speed rail link and 159,800 visitors entered by transiting the new 55km bridge link, according to the Immigration Department.

Mak said the launch of the Japanese retailer appears to be well timed.

Aside from the shopping area, the Hong Kong branch also has a cafe, which aims to create a one-stop dining and shopping space for both locals and tourists, she said.

The Japanese retailer operates three locations in Singapore, two in Hawaii, and 160 throughout Japan.

Story continues

It also plans to open its first store in Bangkok later this year.

This article Japanese megastore Don Quijote to open its first Hong Kong location first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019.PHOTO: Screengrab from Gov.sg YouTube channel

When Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen rose in Parliament on Monday (11 February) to try and heal the raw wounds that the recent National Service training-related deaths have opened, we saw a different man.

No more the stern-looking politician who joined the Peoples Action Party (PAP) as part of the so-called Super Seven group in 2001, DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam being one of the notable members of that team. The cancer-surgeon-turned politician used to show shades of the late Lee Kuan Yew in the way he spoke and expressed his body language.

Very early in his political career, as Acting Manpower Minister, Dr Ng displayed this dont-mess-with-me characteristic when he chewed out two Nanyang Technological University economists for releasing statistics that showed most of the jobs created between 1998 and 2003 went to foreigners.

In a high-profile press conference, Dr Ng said his ministrys statistics showed just the opposite. If your figures are right, you must not sensationalise. If they are wrong, then it is irresponsible and unprofessional, he admonished Tan Khee Giap and Chen Kang publicly.

Sixteen years later, we saw a man mellowed by a new Singapore stunned by four training-related deaths in 16 months, especially that of actor Aloysius Pang. The Channel 8 stars celebrity status made his story a national one, becoming a talking point especially in Mandarin-speaking homes. Not to forget, residents in these homes make up a very important voting bloc for the PAP.

As the 60-year-old reached the tail end of his Ministerial Statement and as he spoke of the value and necessity of NS, bringing up the examples of Iraqs invasion of Kuwait and the economic blockade of tiny Qatar by mighty Saudi Arabia and its other neighbours, his voice quivered a little.

A changed ministry?

(From left to right): Chief of Army Major-General Goh Si Hou, Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General Melvyn Ong, Commander of Combat Service Support Command Colonel Terry Tan and Chief Army Medical Officer Colonel Edward Lo. PHOTO: Dhany Osman/Yahoo News Singapore

The Ministry of Defence (Mindef) is also showing signs of a ministry trying very hard to be transparent, with top commanders answering queries from mainstream media at length and even opening up to some segments of the online media.

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Days before Dr Ngs speech, Mindef officers went to the office of at least one online media outlet to brief its journalists on what the Minister was going to say. The ministry even released a video showing how the Singapore Self-Propelled Howitzer (SSPH) gun barrel is lowered, even though it must have known that it was frightening to watch as one could imagine how Pang could have been crushed between the end of the gun barrel and the SSPH cabin.

A lot of the information given in Parliament by Dr Ng came from a preliminary investigation of an earlier incident when a Bionix vehicle reversed and crashed into a Land Rover, killing full-time national serviceman Liu Kai. Mindef and other government organisations are well-known for hiding behind the oft-used phrase preliminary investigation because of the fear that such information can prejudice a case. Ngs release of the preliminary findings was therefore highly unusual, given Mindefs secretive nature.

There was a time when the ministrys statements on such mishaps had just one brief paragraph. For journalists reporting on defence matters, it was like shooting in the dark. Said a former reporter, It was always the standard we will assess and get back to you again. Then no sound until you keep chasing them.

All the new moves, though to be welcomed, are just band aids if the culture of safety is not ingrained in all of SAF staff. For that to happen, that culture has to start at the top. The leadership at every level must show by example that those who commit safety breaches, wherever he is in the hierarchy, will not be tolerated. And those down the line must be convinced that when they report lapses they will be taken seriously, not penalised.

In short, the fear of reporting a supervisors lackadaisical approach to safety must be removed once and for all. Said a former NSman: In my time in the 90s, we were all expected to just obey orders and get on with it. Even something as simple as a survey regarding the quality of the lunch at the cookhouse could get you a telling-off if not enough men gave it a good ranking.

I hope that kind of fear doesnt exist today.

P N Balji is a veteran Singaporean journalist who was formerly chief editor of Today, as well as an editor at The New Paper. He is currently a media consultant. The views expressed are his own.

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Aloysius Pangs death: Dont cry, mom. If you cry, I will cry too

NSF Liu Kais death: Bionix driver kept reversing despite commands to stopThe company plans to launch in Taiwan, Australia and Indonesia plus two other unnamed countries

Circles.Life, the Singaporean mobile data plan operator, announced today it has raised US$50 million from Sequoia India to finance international expansion.

Circles.Life plans to open in five countries over the next 18 months, beginning with a launch in Taiwan in Q2. The plan is to launch in Australia the next quarter, according to Channel News Asia, Indonesia is also one of the five countries included in the launch.

The company plans to spend quite a bit as it pursues its international goals, expecting to, invest more than $50 million in each launch.

Furthermore, Circles.Life has dedicated US$25 million to its engineering center in Bangalore. It plans to use this money to use data science to improve its personalised offerings to customers.

In Singapore, Circles.Life operates by purchasing bandwidth from the local telco M1 and then selling it to customers at discounted prices (or giving a huge amount of data).

For example, just this week, the company pulled a clever marketing stunt by announcing it was killing its 20GB for US$20 plan at the end of February. Then, a day later, it announced that it was offering unlimited data for US$20 a month.

The company claims it has 5 per cent of the Singaporean market and calls itself Singapores fastest growing telco (although, technically, it is not a telco).

Circles.Life was built on a mission to give power back to the customers. Because of this mission and our innovative digital platform, we have raised the bar in Singapore and telco space. The significant investment from a blue-chip venture capital firm is a testament to the impact we bring to the industry, said Rameez Ansar the Co-founder and CEO of Circles.Life.

Also Read: Bullied to succumb: Should tech companies bow to societys homophobic demands?



Considering its position in Singapore, Circles.Life is still very young, having been launched to the public in May, 2016. In the 2+ years of existence, it has grown into a very well-known brand in the Lion City.

Story continues

Circles.Life has a fresh and disruptive approach in reimagining what the telco experience of the future can be for millions of people, said Mohit Bhatnagar, Managing Director at Sequoia Capital India Advisors.



The post Circles.Life raises Series C from Sequoia India to expand abroad appeared first on e27.* February output to fall on seasonal trend and holidays -

trader

* Palm oil may keep hovering above 2,249 rgt/T range - techs

By Emily Chow

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures

edged higher at the midday break on Thursday, in line to chart a

first day of gains in five, on expectations of slowing February

output in line with seasonal trend.

The benchmark palm oil contract for April delivery

on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 0.3 percent to

2,257 ringgit ($555.50) a tonne at the midday break.

Trading volumes stood at 11,727 lots of 25 tonnes each at

noon. (1FCPO-TOT)

"The market is up on production expectations," said a Kuala

Lumpur-based trader, adding that the market was expecting output

in February to decline.

Output of palm oil, the world's most widely used edible oil,

typically declines during the first quarter of the year in line

with seasonal trend.

The trader added that production would also decline as

February has fewer working days due to national holidays for the

Lunar New Year in Malaysia.

Malaysian palm oil output in January had declined 3.9

percent to 1.74 million tonnes from the previous month,

according to data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board.

In other related oils, the Chicago March soybean oil

contract was down 0.1 percent, while the May contract on

the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.1 percent.

The Dalian January palm oil contract was up 0.1

percent.

Palm oil prices are affected by movements in soyoil rates,

as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oil market.

Palm oil may keep hovering above a support at 2,249 ringgit

or bounce towards a resistance at 2,285 ringgit per tonne, said

Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy

technicals.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0450 GMT

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL FEB9 0 +0.00 0 0 0

MY PALM OIL MAR9 2217 +9.00 2210 2220 635

MY PALM OIL APR9 2257 +7.00 2249 2262 4844

CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY9 4780 +6.00 4754 4780 227222

Story continues

CHINA SOYOIL MAY9 5704 -8.00 5668 5710 242042

CBOT SOY OIL MAR9 29.96 -0.03 29.94 30 2741

INDIA PALM OIL FEB9 558.60 +0.50 558.60 559.7 42

INDIA SOYOIL FEB9 773.3 +0.20 773.3 773.3 70

NYMEX CRUDE MAR9 54.17 +0.27 53.90 54.22 21859

Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne

CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound

Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne

India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg

Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel

($1 = 4.0630 ringgit)

($1 = 70.8660 Indian rupees)

($1 = 6.7623 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Emily Chow; Editing by Shreejay Sinha)Pennsylvania Real Estate (PEI) came out with quarterly funds from operations (FFO) of $0.52 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.54 per share. This compares to FFO of $0.51 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an FFO surprise of -3.70%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this shopping mall real estate investment trust would post FFO of $0.36 per share when it actually produced FFO of $0.35, delivering a surprise of -2.78%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus FFO estimates just once.

Pennsylvania Real Estate, which belongs to the Zacks REIT and Equity Trust - Retail industry, posted revenues of $95.33 million for the quarter ended December 2018, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.60%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $97.97 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 FFO expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Pennsylvania Real Estate shares have added about 22.2% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 9.5%.

What's Next for Pennsylvania Real Estate?

While Pennsylvania Real Estate 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 FFO outlook. Not only does this include current consensus FFO 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 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 estimate revisions.

Story continues

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Pennsylvania Real Estate 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 FFO estimate is $0.30 on $87.36 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $1.44 on $369.35 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, REIT and Equity Trust - Retail is currently in the bottom 40% 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



Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PEI) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment ResearchAlgerian Electricity and Gas Regulatory Commission (CREG) has revealed that fraud on energy installations, unlawful connections to the power grid in particular, caused the loss of 11 billion Algerian dinars ($92,500,731) to the Electricity and Gas Distribution Company (SDC) in 2018.

According to the commissions figures, 2,430.5 MWh of electricity were trafficked over the past year.

This damage is mostly the result of illegal connections to the network, and illegal handling of electricity meters to reduce the amount of energy consumed.

About, 20,555 complaints have been recorded in the last three years for fraud on electrical installations.

Algeria has achieved a national integration rate of 60%. The country is set to relaunch its Renewable Energy Development and Energy Efficiency Program (PENREE), which aims to produce clean energy by 2030.

Solar projects are expected to be implemented in the Algerian Highlands (north) by 2030. They should produce 22,000 MW, according to Reuters, which quotes a source from the Ministry of Energy.

The national oil company, Sonatrach, has already signed an agreement with Italian company ENI to build a solar power plant in the country.

Algeria is currently using gas to generate 98 percent of its power output of 19,000 MW.The skyline of the central business district in Singapore. (File photo: Reuters/Edgar Su)

By Jonathan Stearns

The European Parliament approved a free-trade agreement with Singapore as Europe continues a campaign to counter the protectionism of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The European Union assemblys green light on Wednesday in Strasbourg, France, means the market-opening accord may take effect later in 2019 following years of legal delays.

EU governments must still give their final endorsement of the deal, which requires Singapore to set up a register of European farm products protected by their specific geographical origin.

After many twists and turns, were at last at the final stage, said David Martin, a U.K. member of the EU Parliament. While Donald Trump wants to build walls to separate nations, we are tearing them down, keeping fair and free trade alive.

Negotiators for the EU and Singapore reached the commercial deal in December 2012. The pact then got held up by a European court case over the role of EU national parliaments in the ratification process.

Trade in goods between the EU and Singapore was worth 53.3 billion euros ($60.4 billion) in 2017, according to the European Commission, the blocs executive arm. Services commerce between both sides was valued at 44.4 billion euros in 2016, says the commission.

Under the accord, the EU will eliminate virtually all tariffs on imports from Singapore over five years and the Asian nation will end duties on the few remaining goods such as beer from the bloc that arent already duty-free. EU duties on petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals from Singapore are among the levies to be scrapped.

The agreement will also scale back technical barriers to trade and anchor deregulation of services markets including banking and insurance.

Meanwhile, the EU has been championing the entry into force of landmark free-trade accords it reached with Canada and Japan. The bloc has said such deals show the benefits of reducing commercial barriers worldwide and are a counterbalance to trade obstacles and threats by the Trump administration.

 2019 Bloomberg L.PBy Francois Aulner and Foo Yun Chee

LUXEMBOURG/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - BP, BASF and more than 30 other multinationals stand to benefit after EU judges overturned an order demanding Belgium revoke a tax break.

The European Commission failed to prove that the Belgian tax break constituted aid, said the ruling by the General Court, the lower branch of the Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

"The Commission wrongly considered that the Belgian system relating to the excess profit of multinational companies constituted an aid scheme," it said.

The ruling marks a setback for the EU's crackdown on tax avoidance by multinationals, a drive led by Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

The European Commission in 2016 had ordered Belgium to recover some 700 million euros (615 million) from companies which benefited from the scheme.

In addition to BP and BASF, Wabco, Cellio, Atlas Copco and Belgacom (now Proximus) benefited from the tax break.

Belgium and U.S. manufacturer Magnetrol had challenged the Commission in cases filed with the General Court.

It's possible that the Commission will now pursue individual cases in the Belgian tax break case, according to one lawyer.

"The Commission can take a new decision qualifying each individual case," said Jacques Derenne, a partner at law firm Sheppard Mullin.

Elsewhere the European Commission's crackdown on large companies avoiding tax has seen it order Ireland to recover some 13 billion euros from iPhone maker Apple.

Luxembourg was instructed to claw back 250 million euros from Amazon, about 120 million euros from France's Engie and up to 30 million euros from Fiat Chrysler.

The Netherlands has been instructed to recover 20-30 million euros from Starbucks.

(Reporting by Francois Aulner in Luxembourg and Foo Yun Chee in Brussels; editing by Jason Neely)Singaporeans aged 65 and above are tipped to double to 900,000 by 2030. (Photo: Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun)

By Francis Kan

Singapores population is greying faster than most of the world, according to the United Nations. The country also faces rising rates of chronic illnesses, including diabetes, which, according to the Ministry of Health, affects close to one in nine people here.

These dynamics not only put pressure on the countrys healthcare system, but have deep implications for its coffers, impacting how much income tax can be collected, as well as the amount allocated to healthcare. Not surprising, then, that healthcare is expected to feature high on this years budget, say economists and consultants.

On their wishlist for Budget 2019, economists and consultants are expecting tax reliefs for households and individuals for medical insurance and caregiving costs, and moves to sweeten the childbearing deal. But alongside the carrots, consultants also expect some sticks  moves that will tackle health concerns like diabetes.

Here are some of the changes they expect or hope to hear on Monday when Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat will present the Budget in Parliament at 3.30pm.

For the individuals: health and wellness

Assistance package for Merdeka Generation

This particular Budget wish appears to be a sure-thing with the government having announced last year that some 500,000 Singaporeans born in the 50s in Singapore  the so called Merdeka Generation  will received a host of Budget goodies this year, similar to what the Pioneer generation (Singaporeans born before 1949) enjoyed in 2014. The Merdeka Generation Package will cover subsidies for outpatient care, Medisave top-ups, MediShield Life premium subsidies and payouts for long-term care, the government has said.

Tax relief for medical and health insurance

Introducing a standalone tax relief for premiums paid on medical or health insurance policies could encourage Singaporeans to take up additional health coverage for themselves and their families, to help with healthcare costs, say tax consultants.

Story continues

Specifically, EY Singapore proposes allowing a tax deduction that is not tied to CPF contributions, subject to a cap of around S$5,000, for premiums paid for such policies. Tax relief for costs incurred by those over 50 years old for health screenings every other year could also be considered to encourage preventive care, EY adds.

Fitness Tax Credit

Because prevention is better than cure, PwC Singapore is proposing a Fitness Tax Credit system that rewards Singaporeans who participate in community wellness programmes, and who exercise routinely.

Digital devices such as smart watches can be used to track a persons level of physical activity. The initiative can also be tied to the ActiveSG app, which allows users to discover and sign up for facilities, activities and programmes across the nation. Beyond tax credits, the government could also consider other incentives, such as NTUC vouchers, says PwC.

Tax deductions for caregiver expenses

Raising a child in Singapore is an expensive affair, which often means both parents work full-time, with their children being looked after by a live-in maid or in child care centres. Ageing family members, or those with special needs, meanwhile, may require nursing aides and specialised caregivers.

PwC recommends tax deductions for caregiver expenses to help defray the costs of caring for the very young and very old. EY proposes that a tax deduction of up to S$10,000 be granted to taxpayers who incur costs of hiring specialised help. Meanwhile, Deloitte Singapore suggests that child care tax relief be introduced for both working parents.

Support for new mothers to continue working

While more employers are creating child-care facilities to encourage mothers to return to work, many new mothers choose not to  or take extended leaves of absence to care for their newborns. PwC believes that funding or tax relief to help families defray the cost of infant care could encourage new mothers to return to the workforce after their maternity leave.

More sin taxes

The number of Singapore residents with diabetes is projected to reach one million by 2050 if nothing is done to curb the rising trend, the Ministry of Health said in December last year.

A public consultation by the Ministry on measures that would encourage the manufacturers of sweetened drinks to lower the sugar content in their products indicates that a sugar tax might be on the way. Consultants support the move, with Deloitte suggesting that the additional tax revenue be used to subsidise healthcare costs and support healthier lifestyles. Also anticipated is a rise in alcohol tax. It was last raised five years ago. Ninth Circuit going en banc to reconsider intersection of Eighth Amendment juve jurisprudence and federal sentencing guidelines | Main | "Justice Scalia's Eighth Amendment Jurisprudence: The Failure of Sake-of-Argument Originalism" 

February 14, 2019

US Senate confirms William Barr to be US Attorney General (again)

As reported in this NBC News piece, "President Donald Trump's attorney general nominee William Barr was confirmed in the Senate on Thursday to take over the Justice Department as attorney general, where he will oversee special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe." Here is more:

Barr, 68, was confirmed in a 54-45 vote that largely fell along party lines. He will be sworn in Thursday afternoon in the Oval Office by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, the White House told NBC News. Barr was widely expected to be confirmed by the Republican-majority Senate on Thursday. He had served in the same role more than two decades earlier in President George H.W. Bush's administration, and had passed procedural hurdles in the Senate Judiciary Committee and the full Senate in recent votes. A few senators broke with their party in the vote, however. Among Democrats, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Doug Jones of Alabama  both of whom represent deep-red states  voted for Barr, as did first-term Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was the only Republican to vote against Barr's nomination.

Though various folks will continue to speculate what new leadership at DOJ might mean for the Mueller investigation, I am unsurprisingly most interested to see how new AG Barr approaches the implementation of the FIRST STEP Act and how he deals with state marijuana reforms.

Prior related posts:

February 14, 2019 at 03:04 PM | Permalink

Comments

Post a commentBank of Valletta, the largest bank of Malta was hit by a cyber attack, attackers attempted to steal 13 million euros ($14.7 million).



Bank of Valletta the largest bank in Malta that accounts for almost half of banking transactions in the country, had to shut down its operations on Wednesday after hackers attempted to withdraw 13 million euros ($14.7 million).

The news was confirmed by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, hackers broke into the systems of the bank and transfer the funds overseas.

Muscat told parliament that threat actors attempted to transfer funds to banks in the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Britain, and the US.

The reason for my statement is to put peoples minds at rest that their money is safe in the bank, Muscat insisted, adding that BOV was an important cog for the Maltese economy.

It is no joke having a bank that controls half the economy shut down for a whole business day but at this stage caution trumped every other consideration,

The Government of Malta is the largest shareholder of the Bank of Valletta, the financial institution shut down its systems, closed branches and ATMs, and suspended mobile and Internet banking and internal email.

After the disclosure of the attack, the website of the bank also went offline.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told parliament the cyber attack involved the creation of false international payments totaling 13 million euros ($14.7 million) to banks in Britain, the United States, the Czech Republic and Hong Kong. reported the R euters .

The funds have been traced and the Bank of Valletta is seeking to have the fraudulent transactions reversed.

The customer accounts were not affected and the services will be restored as soon as possible.

The authorities were able to trace the transactions and reverse them.

The Bank is working with local and international police authorities to investigate in the case.

During routine reconciliations that the Bank carries out regularly it was noticed that there were discrepancies in eleven payments having a total value of around EUR 13 million emanating from the Banks foreign payment accounts. The Bank took immediate steps to address this issue by requesting the international banks involved to stop these payments, the bank said in a statement reported by MaltaToday.

Pierluigi Paganini

( SecurityAffairs  Bank of Valletta, hacking)

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Share OnUN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) has said it allowed a US airstrike on al Qaeda fighters in the southern city of Ubari.

The raid, according to spokesman for GNA leader Faiez Serraj, hit Wednesday a number of fighters of the terror group near Ubari, 900 km south of Tripoli.

This joint work between the Presidency Council of the GNA and the US Government coincided with the meeting of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Foreign Minister Mohamed Sayala at the Global Coalition to Defeat Islamic State meeting last week, said Mohamad Al Sallak.

Al Sallak did not say whether the airstrike killed any militants or not.

Libya, slid into chaos following the fall of Muammar Gadhafis regime in 2011. The country, left without a central government, became a fertile ground for terror groups including al Qaeda and the Islamic state group (ISIS).

The US has conducted several and precise raids against the terror groups in Libya.

The airstrike came amid ongoing campaign in the south by GNA-rival administrations military led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. The Haftar forces launched last month a military campaign with the aim of stamping out terror and gang groups.One fine day in his sleepy coastal New Zealand town, after being booted out of living in his mom's garage, petty criminal wannabe (in the local parlance, "Bogan") John, and his dopey pal Gaz, decide to screw over their boss, Shelton, for some stolen money from a rival Asian gang setting up shop across town. In the process, by way of one of those curious Chinese antique shops that exist only in the movies, John comes into possession of a magical bracelet that, he will soon discover (from himself), lets him travel a few moments back in time at the press of a button.

This becomes, well, timely, when their ill advised scam unravels, John is ratted out as being the mastermind (in the local parlance, "Bloody Dynamic"), and Shelton sics the rest of his bogans, along with the local crooked cop, on rubbing him out.

John uses the bracelet not only to make an escape, but to then form his own gang -- all of whose members are, him. Hilariously reckless with his new toy, and before you can read Primer-for-Dummies or recall that 1990s movie with Michael Keaton, he has violated the space-time continuum by hooking up himself with a small band of time-paradox clones of himself to form his own, cue the crash zoom, "Mega Time Squad."

He then sets out to fulfill the dream of getting some of that "Sweet Chinese Money," with the possibly of hooking up with Shelton's bomb-building sister from the big city, whom he spied earlier and took a fancy to after watching her soldering together a suicide vest for her brother. You know, just for shits and giggles.

Wasting not a moment, the movie kicks off into high gear, doling out clever filmmaking gags and plot machinations with the left hand, while the right hand obfuscates just how sophisticated the craft is, by building memorable characters, both major and minor, who are steeped with hysterically specific regional dialogue (think Taika Waititi's loser-goofball dad in Boy, or for that matter, his CGI alien rebel in Thor: Ragnarok). This is the type of 'Swiss-Watch crafted silliness' (patent pending) that one thinks of with Joe Dante, or Edgar Wright -- and yes, Mr. Waititi. Welcome to the party, Tim van Dammen, there aren't many people making comedies with this kind of razor-sharp filmmaking craft and built in repeat watchability!

The sub-subgenre of 'ancient magical curio' in the hands of irresponsible white folks is alive and well, from 1984's Gremlins to 2012's The Brass Teapot, but gets a nutty Kiwi spin with Mega Time Squad. For all of its genre familiarity and adept movie referencing that spring from character (spot the subtle blink and you miss the nod to Revenge of the Nerds or the kinetic set-piece by way of The Thomas Crown Affair - and, no, not the Norman Jewison original) it is the care with which van Dammen and his team construct a scene, joke or a composite gag while still keeping the actors free to create characters that are fun to hang about with. Even if they are not playing nice with one other.

Anton Tennet, who has to act against himself as much as the other actors, has an affable quality to dealing with adversity, and improvising temporary (temporal?) solutions through his own off-kilter worldview that is challenged when his much stronger and more confident would-be girlfriend tells him to 'grow some nuts.' He's a good cunt though, and gets on, in spite of himself.

Like almost any clone story, when you meet yourself and plot with yourself, trouble is not far around the corner, before long you want to kill yourself. Add Shelton marshaling his not-quite-ept forces, and the Chinese Triads en route, it a fun time at the movies to see John grow those nuts, drink a few over-sized pints with himself, and maybe, just maybe, take his life back to the future.

Review originally published during Fantasia International Film Festival in July 2018. The film will open in the U.S. on Friday, February 15.Sentient Dairy Products, Rogue Werewolf Soldiers, Robots Gone Wild, Sexy Cyborgs, Alien Spiders And Blood-thirsty Demons From Hell Converge In An 185-minute Genre Orgy Of Stories Not Suitable For The Mainstream

This is something for the grown ups in the crowd. This is also something that the rest of you will also watch when we grown ups knock off for bed at night.

Love Death + Robots is the upcoming animated anthology of animated short films presented by Deadpool's Tim Miller and Gone Girl's David Fincher. The series will debut on Netflix on March 15th and a NSFW trailer dropped today.

Have a look for yourself. It is a frantic bit of editing and we are sure there is something naughty in there, it just happens so damn fast. No doubt we have not missed the violence but the naughty bits? So, if you are going to slow it down do so in the comfort of your own privacy, okay?Submit an Obituary

Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. Obituaries submitted by family members are also accepted pending proper verification of the death.

Submit an ObituaryAlgerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika Wednesday dismissed national police Chief Mustapha Lahbiri and named the former Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra, as his diplomatic adviser.

A statement from the interior ministry said the President has appointed Abdelkader Kara Bouhadba, director of the judicial police, in replacement of Lakhdar Lahbiri.

Lakhdar Lahbiri took over in June last year from Abdelghani Hamel who was dismissed by the President amid a scandal that erupted following the seizure of 701 kg of drug in the harbor of the western city of Oran late May last year.

Lahbiri, during his short tenure, proposed several changes at the head of various police departments but the proposals had been frozen by the interior ministry, AFP reports.

The appointment of Lamamra, who held the Foreign Affairs portfolio from 2013 to 2017, has not been announced officially yet but has been reported by local media.

These appointments are made just few weeks ahead of April 18 elections.

Bouteflika last weekend ended the suspense and announced his candidacy for a fifth term in office.

Criticized for his health condition which his opponents believe will prevent him from running the country for another five years.

The new appointments are seen as part of the ailing, 81-year old Presidents election campaign. Lamamr is reportedly the prospective campaigner to the Algerian diaspora abroad.Hordes of Chinas private firms are now going under after guaranteeing others loans.

Chinas debt crisis has been christened many unflattering names, including a mountain, bomb, horror movie, and treadmill to hell. Well, the reality is that its probably a combination of all the above.

The unfolding collapse in the countrys complex web of debt guarantees clearly highlights the vulnerability of its financial system even as it opens up a hazardous front for an economy deep in the throes of the most dramatic slowdown in growth in three decades.

China has been trying to slam the brakes on unsustainable levels of debt that have powered the economy for decades. But the extent of just how much the country had come to rely on borrowed money is now beginning to unravel.

Financial deleveraging

Financial deleveraging was a key goal of President Xi Jinpings 2015 supply-side structural reform plan. The campaign was meant to curb growing risks in the countrys overheating financial markets mainly through tighter asset management and clamping down on shadow financing.

A couple of years down the line, hordes of private Chinese firms have been folding up as they struggle to raise new funds to repay old debts let alone survive. Corporate debt defaults tripled in 2018 after reaching a record 115.45 billion yuan and experts have warned to expect even more.

Yet, another unexpected problem has surfaced: many companies that guaranteed other s loans are unable to honor their obligations. This contagion risk in a web of cross-guarantee system is the last thing that the country needs even as the government calls on state banks to boost lending to the private sector. The warning bells have already sounded in the once-prosperous city of Dongying, a famous oil refinery and industrial hub. Related: Gold Inches Upward On Dollar Weakness

According to Reuters, no less than 28 firms in the city are now seeking to avoid bankruptcy by restructuring their debts as the loans they guaranteed for other firms turn soar. Among the 28 include iconic names such as Shandong Jinmao Textile Chemical Group and Shandong Dahai Group, both of which featured in the list of Chinas top 500 best-run private enterprises for 2018.

Private firms in China, especially those that operate in traditional, capital-intensive industries, often require substantial collateral or guarantees by other companies before they can secure bank loans. But in a nation so heavily indebted, theres a strong likelihood that the guarantors themselves have taken on loans guaranteed by other firms--ad infinitum. Unfortunately, the two companies mentioned here are simply the tip of the iceberg. Cross-guaranteeing is a common practice in China where defaults can quickly cascade across the system when a single loan goes bad and threaten to disrupt new lending and local financial systems.

You can hardly blame private firms for being overzealous when lending a helping hand to a friend in need. The Chinese system is incredibly skewed in favor of government enterprises with private firms only receiving 25 percent of loans disbursed despite contributing 50 percent of taxes; 60 percent of GDP and 90 percent of new hires. With funds hard to come by, the sector has to rely heavily on guarantees which add 2-3 percentage points to their financing costs.

Non-performing loans surge

How bad is the cross-guarantee problem? Probably worse than you would imagine. Shandong Dahai Group has guaranteed debt for 14 companies adding up to 2.67 billion yuan ($394 million) or nearly half of its total assets. Of the 14, 6 have already run into financial or legal trouble while two have been blacklisted by the courts as dishonest debtors due to their abysmal creditworthiness.

Related: Major Gold Analysts Predict A Good Year For Precious Metals

Meanwhile, the resource-rich Dongying area has seen two prominent banks-- Guangrao Rural Commercial Bank and Dongying Bank  hit by a sudden surge of non-performing loans that threaten their very survival. More than 95 percent of Guangrao Rurals bad loans were backed guarantors who themselves were heavily indebted.

Chinas top banking regulator, Guo Shuqing, has been calling for banks to double their funding allocations to private companies to 50 percent. But even with the country having cut down reserve requirements five times in 2018, banks are preferring to use the freed up liquidity to buy expensive bonds than lend to local businesses. This clearly illustrates just another reason why the country is now facing the worst slowdown in economic growth in decades.

By Alex Kimani for Safehaven.com

More Top Reads From Safehaven.com:Editor's note: This story contains graphic descriptions that may be disturbing to some readers.

Four months after he was mauled by two grizzly bears in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, Brad Johnsons memories of the attack are frighteningly detailed.

Maybe its because he is a doctor, well versed in anatomy. Maybe the violence is so burned into his brain that hell never forget, no matter how many months pass.

In a video made with his backpacking buddies for their Minnesota Plymouth Covenant Church by Chapel Video Production, Johnson recounts the pain, trauma and fear of being eaten alive. He gave the Billings Gazette permission to use his retelling for this story.

Hike gone bad

It was early September when Johnson and his three friends began what was supposed to be a five-day hike into the wilderness area from the Clay Butte Lookout Trailhead, between Red Lodge and Cooke City, in Wyomings Shoshone National Forest. They were aiming for Granite Lake for the first nights campout. Johnson was leading the pack, as excited as a little kid to be in the mountains, hiking ahead of the rest of the group.

Suddenly the dream day turned nightmarish.

After topping a steep hill he looked to his right and saw two bears running toward him.

The bear or bears were on me immediately, he recounted. And I cant tell if one or both of them mauled me.

Looking uncomfortable, taking deep breaths, swallowing hard and sometimes reading from notes, the 48-year-old recalled how even though he had a can of bear spray in his hand when he saw the bears running at him from 30 feet away, he couldnt get the safety cap off in time to discharge the pepper spray. Instead, he threw the canister at the first bear, but it sailed high.

I can still see the image of that can flying over the bears head. I couldnt believe I missed it, he said.

Face down

Then he turned away from the bears, dropped to his chest on the ground and awaited the onslaught. Hed learned when younger that playing dead was a last resort during a bear charge, but he wondered, How in the hell do you play dead when youre being ripped apart?

Johnson, although staying still, couldnt help screaming in pain as the attack began.

And then a sharp excruciating pain ripped into my right shoulder. And the bears teeth tore through the muscles of my shoulder, and I remember I made this highest pitched screaming noise that I ever heard myself make, and I remember the tearing of the muscles, but mostly I remember the unbearable pain as the bears teeth found my shoulder blade and really got into it. I remember hearing the crunching and the grinding but feeling it as well. It broke my shoulder blade, and that was just so painful.

After shredding his right shoulder, the bear paused for a moment. Johnson remembered looking to his right side.

There was this big gush of blood I saw flying through air. And at that point I was certain it had ripped into an artery. I thought I was really going to die out there, and I was going to bleed out, and that was the end.

Although the bear or bears were no longer biting him, Johnson said it felt like one or both of them were standing on his backpack, clawing at it and repositioning themselves. At some point one of them pushed a claw through the side of Johnsons cooking pot, piercing it like a bullet.

So if I hadnt been so poor in my packing you know that would have been my head that it was squashing. And I was silent as they were doing that, just hoping it would be over.

Second assault

Unfortunately for Johnson, the bear or bears would do even more damage, now moving to his left side.

Then the teeth sank into my left shoulder. The pain was much worse than that on the right. It was so sharp and so intense. As it was pulling and crushing I was screaming again, that crazy high-pitched scream. The bear ripped the muscles of my shoulder and crushed a portion of my (left) scapula or shoulder blade, its teeth then slid further down to my left arm, ah, and ripped off the majority of my triceps.

As the teeth found purchase in my bone the pain was far more worse than anything on the right. The teeth and the bone gave that crunching and grinding feeling and sound but there was also a sharp piercing and shooting pain that was unreal. Later I realized that this was the nerves being torn and ripped and stretched. At this point I screamed kill me.

Im pretty ashamed of that. Im ashamed that I would give up (on my wife and children) so easily.

In the process of that second attack, Johnsons elbow was broken and there was a large hole torn in the back of his arm down to the bone where his triceps had been ripped out. The tearing of his flesh had exposed his ulnar nerve  responsible for controlling a persons fourth and fifth fingers  but miraculously the nerve was not damaged. At some point Johnson was also bitten in the right buttocks and upper thigh.

As I lay there in the most intense, excruciating and unrelenting pain, I wondered what was next. I was face-down the entire time. I dont remember hearing the bears leave.

Certain that he only had a short time to live, he began reciting portions of Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want 

Despite the persistent pain, thoughts of his wife and children flooded his brain. He grieved that he would miss his daughters weddings, holding grandchildren and growing old with his wife. Yet as blood poured from his tattered body he slipped into a feeling of peace, saying that his fate was by then in Gods hands.

Meanwhile

As Johnson was being attacked his friends were hiking the same trail, not far behind him. The third time Johnson screamed his friend Justin Reid, a fire captain in Minneapolis, began running up the trail to see what was wrong. The odd scream had sounded like an eagle or hawk, Reid said, a really high-pitched, otherworldly sound.

Reid almost ran past his friend, who was lying on the other side of a log just off the trail.

I could tell immediately he was in shock.

Reid said his firefighting training kicked in after the initial disbelief at seeing his friend lying bloody and mauled on the ground. An attempt to pick Johnson up on a homemade stretcher crafted from trees by Reid and fellow backpackers Tom Therrien and Todd Green didnt work, so Reid sent his two friends back down the trail to get to a phone and call for help.

Luckily, Therrien and Green ran into two local hikers, one of them a trail runner, who sped ahead to get help. By the time the two hikers made it to the trailhead, a forest ranger was already on site.

Meanwhile, Reid and Johnson staggered about a quarter mile down the trail to a meadow where they would be more visible should rescuers arrive by air. There was no rest for Johnson when he plopped to the ground, sitting propped next to a log.

I was hoping for a sleep number bed or something like that, he joked.

Laying on my wounds was so miserable. It only made the pain so much worse, but there was no other way to lay.

Looking up through the pine trees at the blue sky he says, I remember thinking it would be so beautiful if I wasnt in so much pain.

Help arrives

When the life-flight helicopter finally arrived it took the two-man air ambulance crew and Reid to slowly carry Johnson to the helicopter. Given the rugged terrain, it was a strenuous, exhausting process. There was no room for Reid in the helicopter as Johnson was airlifted to surgery in Billings. Staying behind and alone not far from where the bears had attacked his friend, Reid waited for a search and rescue ground team to reach him.

It was about a half-hour flight to Billings for Johnson. He was still conscious in the emergency room and a chaplain asked if he wanted to make a call. Johnson said yes. After the chaplain retrieved Johnsons cell phone and entered the access code, Johnson embarrassingly recounted telling the man, OK, shes under hot stuff in his contacts.

Everyone burst out laughing and from then on his wife was known as hot stuff during his hospital stay.

Looking back

Following extensive surgery and physical therapy Johnson has regained near normal function in his right arm, although his left arm is still deficient. Despite this legacy, he sees it as a miracle that his injuries were not more life-altering considering the intensity of the bears attack.

Im able to do a lot of things I never thought I would do, he said.

Theres just so many takeaways from this whole experience and Im still processing them all.

Philosophically, Johnson says everyone experiences situations in life that can feel somewhat like being mauled by a bear  whether thats losing a job or spouse, or the loss of a lifelong dream. Instinctively, Johnson said he turned to God, and now counts the many blessings that hes received from friends and family following his mauling. He also noted the importance of such relationships in his life.

Without my friends, I wouldnt be here today.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0A bill that would change the name of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day cleared the Montana House on Wednesday.Former Florence physician Chris Christensen will not get another extension to file court transcripts from the Montana Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, the court ruled that Christensen had until March 1 to deliver transcripts of his trial to the court or be forced to explain why he shouldnt be held in contempt and sanctioned accordingly.

Christensen, 70, was sentenced to 20 years in prison with 10 suspended a year ago after being convicted of 22 felonies, including two counts of negligent homicide.

That sentence was immediately stayed pending Christensens appeal to the Montana Supreme Court. He remains free on bail.

Since then there have been missed deadlines and a series of extensions granted to Christensen, including three extensions to file the court transcripts needed by the high court to consider Christensens appeal.

Christensens attorney, Josh Van de Wetering, said his client has had challenges accessing funds for his defense and became gravely ill last summer from a bout of sepsis acquired during his time in the Ravalli County jail, which created additional delays.From January through October of every year, tennis star Sloane Stephens is in a different city competing. Based out of Florida, she visits her mother in Los Angeles as often as she can  and also checks in on the Sloane Stephens Foundation, which utilizes education and tennis to uplift vulnerable children. I honestly dont remember where exactly (my first tennis tournament was), but I do remember that I had a lot of fun and met friends that I grew close to and continued to see at tournaments, Sloane said from Paris, where she was competing in the French Open. That positive first experience with tennis is why I stuck with it. That is the type of environment we create with the kids at the Sloane Stephens Foundation. We give you all the tools to take tennis as far as you want, but the most important thing is that you are finding a pathway to be healthy, happy and have a positive experience. Stephens  who serves on the WTA Players Council  stays in touch with fans on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sloanestephens/), Twitter (https://twitter.com/SloaneStephens) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Sloaneposts).While making important strides at the state level, Montanans must also continue to pressure federal authorities to do better  to treat reports of missing Native Americans with the seriousness and urgency they deserve, but have long been denied.

Native American women experience violence at rates far disproportional to their population. At last count, 30 percent of the missing women in Montana were Native Americans, according to the Montana Department of Justice. This despite the fact that they make up just slightly more than 3 percent of the state's population.

This month, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester used his seat on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee to demand that the BIA and FBI explain the lapse in reporting Henny Scott as missing, saying in a letter to the two agencies' directors that "Law enforcement owes a much higher standard to protecting citizens in Indian Country."

"There are still many unanswered questions surrounding the circumstances of Henny's death, but it has become clear that the initial law enforcement response was unacceptable," Tester wrote. "I am troubled by the trend of inadequate responses to these types of situations. We cannot hope to solve the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women epidemic if we do not address how law enforcement initially responds in these cases."Regardless of which political party you support, it should be obvious that in a functioning democracy, district lines should be drawn fairly rather than rigged to benefit one side or the other.

Last May, Ohioans voted overwhelmingly for a bipartisan plan that will give the minority party much more say in the drawing of congressional maps. Lima's Matt Huffman played a major role in developing the plan, which should result in fairer maps and more competitive elections for Congress starting in 2022. Ohio lawmakers think their reform could be a model for how states can fix gerrymandering on their own.

...

The U.S. Supreme Court fumbled an opportunity in June to deal a death blow to political gerrymandering when it disposed of two cases on narrow procedural grounds. But two new cases to be heard later this year give the court an opportunity to atone for that abdication in time to ensure that all congressional and state legislative district lines drawn after the 2020 census will be fair.

...

The Supreme Court has agonized about partisan gerrymandering for more than three decades. It's time to rule.

 The Lima (Ohio) News

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Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0Sen. Casey Murdock, a Panhandle legislator, wants to give his constituents the right to opt out of State Question 788, a voter-approved law allowing medical marijuana.

Imagine that: Medical marijuana could be safe, legal, regulated and taxed in one county and prosecuted a few miles down the road. What gets you over the nausea of chemotherapy in Guymon, gets you thrown in jail in Boise City.

The state could license a doctor-recommended drug to people in Woodward County, but they better not get caught holding it in Beaver County.

That's not the way it's supposed work, Sen. Murdock.

If it were, there are lots of laws we might want to suspend in our part of the state.

Murdock points out that voters in his Senate district overwhelmingly rejected SQ 788 last summer. In Texas County, for example, the "no" vote got more than 64 percent of the vote.

But the voters of Oklahoma  all of Oklahoma, voting as a single state  approved SQ 788 by nearly 57 percent.

We are one state. If we get into the habit of having a different set of criminal laws according to local tastes, we might as well not be.Moroccan Customs agents have seized lately nearly two tons of cannabis in the northern city of Tetouan. The drugs were hidden in a commercial vehicle having a fake number plate.

An investigation is underway to bring to justice all those involved in this major smuggling operation.

Early January, over 13.7 tons of cannabis were seized at the Tangier-Med port. Last December, Moroccan authorities seized more than one ton of cocaine and captured seven people linked to an international criminal network specialized in trafficking cocaine between Latin America, Morocco, and Europe.

International smugglers are trying to use the strategic position of the North African Kingdom as a transit point to the European market.

The international community recognizes Moroccos efforts and supports its policies to fight cannabis cultivation and trafficking.There are good reasons to consider not moving the time.

There is a body of research that suggests that time switching has a negative effect on things like sleep patterns and can be linked to increase headaches. Moreover, the change can be linked to an increase in depression-like symptoms. One of the other benefits was that there was a lower crime rate, which can probably be explained by more people being active during the daylight, and fewer nighttime hours.

Originally, Daylight Saving was also thought to save energy by maximizing sunlight. However studies that researched the issue showed that actually more energy was used instead of less.

One of the main themes is that humans and their sleep rhythms are disrupted twice a year by the switch. In fact, some studies have linked an increase in heart attack and stroke in the weeks directly following the switch because of the change.

While we support the idea of picking a time and staying with that change, we believe staying on Daylight Saving could be an option -- just so that we would keep consistent throughout the year.We hope last Thursday's executive order is a step toward reversing that trend  and more.

Indeed, the order also created something else that Thursday's press release does not mention. Far down the list of Executive Order 19-12  in the 26th of 27 paragraphs  the governor directs the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to:

"Create the Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection to help prepare Florida's coastal communities and habitats for impacts from sea level rise by providing funding, technical assistance and coordination among state, regional and local entities."

That's right. "Climate change," that taboo phrase in the Scott administration, gets its own office in the DeSantis administration.

Make no mistake: this could be a huge advance for the state of Florida as the existential threat of sea-level rise becomes more and more apparent, no matter your views on the underlying cause. Our collaborative editorial-page project, The Invading Sea, has been arguing for months for action at the state level to bolster localities that are organizing to make their regions prepared and resilient for the higher waters.

...Jarrod Otta, plant manager for Glanbia Nutritionals in Sioux Falls, told the House committee the company has been contacted by two "very large customers" to process hemp protein. Otta said he couldn't disclose the companies but called them "large household names that you would all know."

"Every month we go by with the hemp laws written the way they are is a lost opportunity for our state," said Otta, noting the company has a facility built to process plant proteins. "Please help us legalize hemp so we can add another product to our portfolio and grow the plant here in this state."

House Bill 1191 contains safeguards to permit state regulation of hemp and prevent abuse. Growers must be licensed and pass background checks. State officials can obtain samples for testing. Only hemp strains that contain trace amounts of the active ingredient in marijuana would be allowed.

Hemp and marijuana are both cannabis plants but with important differences. They may look alike but one is pot and the other rope. Attempting to grow pot among hemp plants would result in cross-pollination and yield unsaleable marijuana, according to Canadian law enforcement.Please log in to keep reading.

Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.I can't think of anything that would have as detrimental an impact on free speech as having guns on college and university campuses.

I am retired USAF and was active duty June 9, 1972, and helped rescue people on that fateful day. The peaceful greenway that remains is not an appropriate place to build a military display.

There is no such thing as "constitutional carry" with which most weapons proponents like to frame Amendment 2 to the constitution. A "well-regulated militia" is the very first clause of amendment 2 and the militia is mentioned again in Amendment 5.

I would hope that CHS will be investigated. If they are housing children with behavior problems, I would think they'd at least have a chain link fence around the place with a secured gate.

To the person who had a negative comment on President Trumps accomplishments: Yes, he has accomplished a lot unlike our past presidents, and the tax breaks are for everyone, not just the rich.

As a Vietnam veteran, I am very happy the bone spurs are finally healed and now Donald Trump will be finally be going to Vietnam at the end of this month.

Trump's approval was 52 percent this week by Rasmussen; obviously the majority see the good he has done.

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Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0Hanzel said the city worked with a parking meter company  IPS Group of San Diego  on revenue projections and found the new parking meters would pay for themselves within the first year.

A profit projection using a feature on the meters that detects the presence of a vehicle says the city stands to make $3.1 million in the first five years. The life expectancy of the meters is six to seven years.

Any profits from the meters would flow into a separate parking fund that could be used for parking maintenance, future development or adding a city parking manager to oversee city lots and enforcement.

Both Sumption and City Attorney Joel Landeen said a parking manager could work well for Rapid City and noted that Sioux Falls has one in place.

The fee structure, time limits and other considerations with the new meters will need to be worked out through the city council. Currently, Hanzel said they are considering 25 cents per 15 minutes but a $1 minimum for credit card transactions.

A free button for quick 10 or 15 minute trips could also be programmed into the meters, according to Hanzel.

Beyond the potential for profit, Hanzel said the data from the meters will also be valuable.Sitts, who oversees the Quality of Life unit, said citations and arrests will only occur in "rare circumstances when everything else fails."

He estimated that more than 90 percent of complaints will be able to be handled without enforcement efforts.

Sitts said that while certain state laws, such as disorderly conduct, stalking and assault, could cover some of the behavior, it's a "custom" for cities to have their own ordinances on the books.

When asked how police would judge whether an action is truly threatening when it could be based on stereotypes, Sitts said that the actions must be based on threatening behavior.

"If you're not threatened by them, and they're not threatening you" it doesn't count, he said.

He said a group of men walking down the street at night toward a woman wouldn't be illegal, but if they start to run toward the woman and yell threats at her, it would be.

A group of intoxicated people speaking loudly in the daytime would also not be illegal, he said.

"We've adopted it towards behavior and not towards speech," Sitts said of the proposed ordinance.Another $8,375 of funding would be contributed by the U.S. Geological Survey, which operates the gauges, and a $3,788 contribution would come from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, for a total of $23,175.

Tuesdays vote was the boards fifth on the issue since May 2017. The board voted 6-2 that month to renew its longstanding financial contribution to the gauges, but then voted 5-4 against the funding in July 2017, followed by another 5-3 vote against the funding in August 2017, and finally a 4-4 tie vote in October 2017. The tie vote was ruled a failed motion, and the losing side finally surrendered, resulting in the elimination of the board's funding for the gauges.

The recurring votes on the stream gauges were a symptom of an ideological split between two factions of the board. While some of the boards directors described the gauges as wasteful government spending, other directors  along with a vocal contingent of public activists  described the gauges as vital components of a network of 167 stream gauges in South Dakota, plus thousands of additional gauges across the country. The gauges are operated by the USGS with financial help from partner organizations at the state and local levels.The legislation was welcomed by Meskee Yatsayte, an advocate in New Mexico for families with missing loved ones on the Navajo Nation. She said she hoped lawmakers and officials would include victims' families and advocates in their discussions.

"It's a good step forward," Yatsayte said. "But it can't be something where they meet and then nothing is done about it."

Bills in South Dakota and North Dakota include mandates for law enforcement training programs on conducting investigations.

Rep. Tamara St. John, a South Dakota Republican and member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, said she's co-sponsoring the measure to put a spotlight on the cases.

Rep. Gina Mosbrucker, a Washington state Republican, introduced a bill signed into law last year that requires the Washington State Patrol to provide an estimate by June of how many Native women are missing in the state. That measure paved the way for similar legislation in other states.

This year she proposed another measure that would require the state patrol to have two liaisons on staff to serve tribes seeking information about cases.

"I truly believe this is an intense emergency and we have to put this on the front burner," Mosbrucker said in a committee hearing late Tuesday. "What we learned is we didn't want to wait."

 Associated Press reporter James Nord in Pierre, S.D., contributed to this report.

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Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0King Mohammed VI and King Felipe VI who is currently paying an official visit to Morocco are both determined to make of the relationship between their two countries an example of a strong and innovative North-South partnership for the well-being of both peoples.

The two Monarchs are also both resolved to have their countries contribute to peace, stability and prosperity in the Mediterranean basin and beyond.

This shared strategic vision was translated again on Tuesday with the signing of eleven agreements on the multidimensional strategic partnership binding the two countries.

The Morocco-Spain special relationship is actually the result of the two countries common will to inscribe this relationship in continuity and duration, to transcend political contingencies, and to further promote a state-to-state relationship based on common values and shared ambitions.

As a symbol of this enduring partnership, political and economic relations are constantly growing, making of Spain Moroccos leading supplier and customer for five years in a row. In 2018, trade flows exceeded 12 billion and in view of this momentum, trade is expected to double over the coming few years.

Besides, given the geographical proximity between the two kingdoms, more than 1,000 Spanish companies are operating in Morocco and nearly one million Moroccans are settled in Spain.

The dynamic economic cooperation between Spain and Morocco has thus enabled the two neighboring countries to become important trading and financial partners who seek to set up an innovative North-South partnership.Its Deadwoods largest winter weekend gathering, replete with thousands of beads, dazzling costumes, free Cajun cuisine, a colorful nighttime parade, and two evenings of live Zydeco music that are sure to get your feet stomping.

This years Mardi Gras celebration, set for Friday, March 1, and Saturday, March 2, even features a masquerade party and king and queen coronation with the sounds of Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble.

We bring the Mardi Gras carnival from the Gulf Coast to the Black Hills, complete with all the fixings, said Deadwood Chamber Executive Director Lee Harstad, whose organization stages the event. Some winter weekends need to be spiced up, and thats exactly what we do for this one. People come from all over to take in the festivities, including a parade, plenty of free Cajun food and plenty of opportunities to be festive, including live Zydeco music throughout the weekend. We put on a carnival experience that isnt 1,500 miles away, all with a Deadwood twist.

Harstad said some folks come for the party and parade, while others show up simply for the food.That left us with no way, nothing to say goodbye to. There wasnt any closure, he said.

Sylvester decided to deal with his loss by giving out as many hugs as he could.

He started with a 2002 bicycle tour from Washington State to his hometown of Philadelphia.

Over the years he has also biked internationally, from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa in 2004; Istanbul, Turkey to Beijing, China in 2007.

Other North American tours included San Diego to New York City in 2008, and Minneapolis to New York City in 2011.

In 2015, he pedaled from Sydney to Melbourne in Australia.

Sylvester has also made special trips to other parts of the country that have suffered devastating losses, including the sites of mass shootings in Las Vegas, San Bernadino, Calif., and Orlando, Fla.

Todays stop in Belle Fourche, however, is inspired by a similar trip to Lebanon, Kan., the geographical center of the lower 48 states, for Valentines Day in 2017.

Sylvester figures people here who have been through a cold, snowy winter need another reason to smile,When it came down to it, Kobylski is the one who can "get the kids and the parents on board, and the district can move past the state citations and everybody will be on the same page and moving in the same direction," Potts added.

Potts also liked that Kobylski applied for only one position outside of his current positions in Wisconsin, and that one position was here.

"He wanted to come here," Potts said. I'm very optimistic about his talents and the skills he brings to the table."

Board member Julie DeSalvo said Kobylski brings "a great deal of experience. We were happy with that."

But his interaction with many of the community groups was very telling, she added.

There were at least 100 members of the community who met the candidates and there were very good comments about Kobylski from the people in those sessions, DeSalvo said.

The feedback from almost everyone in those groups was, "he's the one they wanted," Potts said. "He's the one they thought could do the job for us."

DeSalvo said she also was impressed by Kobylski's research on the area.While a technician trimmed her toenails, Guinevere lay limp on a table, sleeping soundly throughout the procedure without a twitch or movement, perhaps for the first time in her life.

Guinevere, a Dutch rabbit  which generally appear to be wearing a tuxedo because of their black-and-white or brown-and-white markings  was spayed in early February.

She is among thousands of Quad-City pets that will be spayed or neutered this year. Some Quad-City veterinarians spay and neuter as many as 100 animals in a single week. Most of the procedures are still for typical house pets such as dogs and cats. But the surgery is also becoming commonplace for other animals too, such as rabbits and other exotic animals.

When I started six years ago, I would do maybe one bunny or two a month," said Dr. Lauren Hughes, a veterinarian at Animal Family Veterinary Care Center in Davenport. "Last year, I did 75 bunny neuters and 50 spays. Its definitely increased.

People are often surprised that smaller animals, such as rabbits, skunks, guinea pigs and rats, can be altered, Hughes said. When altering small animals, veterinarians consider how theyll respond to anesthesia and whether their behavior is that of a predator or prey.

Hughes has neutered a lot of Guinea pigs to decrease their cage aggression. Guinea pigs are susceptible to ovarian cysts, so she recommends spaying the females too.

Ive done a few mouse neuters, but I do rat spays relatively frequently because they have high risk for breast cancer," she said. Sometimes the reason the procedures dont happen is that people aren't aware that the surgery is available for smaller pets. "Its just not something that is common knowledge.

Hughes also has spayed an iguana and a chameleon. Normally, reptiles are spayed in an emergency situation, such as when an egg gets stuck, she said. She also has altered several skunks.

Every small pet owners worry is anesthesia, she said. The most important thing is finding a veterinarian that you trust that has experience doing these things.

Predators and prey

According to dogtime.com, in 1969 the first low-cost spay and neuter clinic opened in Los Angeles. That led to discussions across the country about the benefits of spaying and neutering. Before that, advocates presented information about animal sterilization as a convenience to the pet owner instead of as an animal-welfare issue.

In 1972, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals began requiring sterilization for all adopted animals. Shelter intake rates continued to drop, and feral cat trap-neuter-release programs emerged in the 1990s.

Now the euthanasia rate has decreased to about 12.5 dogs and cats per 1,000 people, a drop of nearly 90 percent compared to numbers recorded 50 years ago.

Over the next several decades, shelters and rescue groups campaigned to create more awareness to change not only the language on spay-and-neuter literature but also the public mindset.

Now that the procedures are spreading to other animals too, its not just the physiology that makes spaying animals as rabbits and guinea pigs different from dogs and cats. For example, rabbits are prey species, while dogs and cats are predators.

The procedure

Bunnies have more of a fight or flight reaction if they are in pain or discomfort, and they are more susceptible to panic than some predators. We give them special medication prior to surgery to lessen that risk, Hughes said. Panicked bunnies could become scared and try to flee.

But the surgery itself is similar; surgeons enter the abdomen pretty much the same way as with a dog or cat.

Hughes uses a surgical laser that cauterizes blood vessels while it cuts. Meanwhile, Guinevere the rabbit is closely monitored on a breathing machine.

The linea alba, also known as the white line, goes down and connects the two layers of muscle together on the abdomen. I like to enter through there because there is minimal blood supply, she said. When you suture it back together, it creates more of a permanent seal and less painful seal.

After cutting into the rabbits abdomen, Hughes extends the incision both ways, cranially and caudally. Once the GI tract is out of the way, she pulls out the uterus.

The body of the uterus is pretty darned large considering how small a bunny is, Hughes said. The ovaries look like Good & Plenty candies.

Hughes uses a special suture that contains antimicrobial properties and dissolves over time. Some veterinarians use surgical staples.

The younger they are, the better. I like them less than a year of age, she said. They havent gone through as many reproductive cycles, so the blood vessels and things arent quite as developed. They have not had as much of a chance to create as much fat around the uterus. Fat can hide things, like major blood vessels and ligaments. "

Younger is better for males too, she said. Youth decreases anesthesia risks and aids in recovering from anesthesia when the procedure is finished.

In about 10 minutes, its all finished. I try to keep the procedure relatively short, she said. Neuters are about six minutes.

Guinevere breathes quietly and rhythmically, and her abdominal wall is closed. In bunnies, Hughes tries to bury the suture under the skin so bunnies are less likely to lick the healing incision and cause an infection or alter the suture.

Guineveres tiny incision is barely noticeable.

Managing rabbits post-surgery is different from most household pets because they generally dont wear collars or belly wraps. Theyre already stressed out, Hughes said. 

Wraps keep them from grooming and eating cecotrophs, a kind of night dropping that rabbits must consume to stay healthy.

For rabbits, neutering reduces the chance of testicular cancer in males and decreases female hormonal behavior. It also can decrease nesting behaviors and hormonal behavior toward litter- or house-mates. It eliminates the risk of uterine cancer in females.

A lot of people dont know this process even exists for small mammals, or birds or reptiles, she said. A lot of time they dont realize what pain measures we take. Also, we do cold-laser therapy afterward on every animal."

A few hours later, Guinevere and her sister Merida, who was spayed the same day, are back home with their owner, Caitlyn Warner of Davenport.

Warner says spaying not only extends the rabbits lives but also helps with other behaviors that indicate aggression, such as physical bullying, nipping and other territorial behaviors.

All my bunnies are altered  100 percent, all the way, Warner said.

A high-volume day

By 8 a.m. on a Thursday at the Quad-City Animal Welfare Center in Milan, Dr. Billee Rindsig is busily spaying a German shepherd. Right behind that dog, another is prepped for the procedure, and right behind her another pooch is being prepped.

More than 40 feline and canine surgeries were scheduled for that day. Dog spays were first on the docket, with bigger dogs taking priority. Dog neuters followed, and then cat spays and cat neuters.

The spay-and-neuter program is open to everyone with a pet. The waiting room became crowded with a line of people and animals.

One woman held a meowing carrier. Behind her, a man held a wriggling puppy in his arms as the line continued to form behind him. One by one, each pet owner checked, while staff members answered questions and tried to calm both the patients and their people.

We do this every Thursday and Friday, offering spay and neutering to the public, said Patti McRae, executive director at the Milan center.

Among the groups with which the center works closely are Clinton Humane Society, Kings Harvest and Friends of Strays in Princeton, along with smaller rescue groups.

Kelli Horch and her wife, Karol Patrick, of Davenport, brought in three Chihuahuas to be altered.

I dont want to overpopulate, Patrick said. Its crucial  absolutely imperative.

If you take your kid to the doctor, you need to take your pet to the vet, Patrick added. Its that simple.

The three little dogs were part of the lineup for Dr. Billee Rindsig, who has been in practice almost 31 years.

Rindsig appreciates the heavy-volume days. You can do a lot of animals that arent under anesthesia for very long. I think its a safer way to go.

A few minutes after she performed surgery on one dog, technicians brought another into the operating room. Her hands were seldom still while she performed surgery after surgery.

All the animals were sent to recuperate in a recovery room, where they dozed on and off while being monitored. Like day care, owners began to pick up their pets about 4 p.m.

Among the volunteers on hand were Mary Vandevoorde, Milan, and Pamela Hildebrant, Davenport. Hildebrant has been doing some form of rescue 14 years and has been a volunteer at the clinic for six years.

Im an animal lover, Vandevoorde said. I have three special-needs animals adopted from here. She volunteers to make things easier for the staff, she said. They have so much on their plates.

Four times weekly, Rindsig is at the Humane Society in Scott County or a facility in Aurora, Ill., spaying and neutering animals.

In this part of the country, she thinks people understand the importance of spaying and neutering. (Quad-City) people do get it, she said.

But Its a whole different world down south, she said. Shelters (in the Midwest) are drawing from shelters down south because they dont spay and neuter. Were getting stuff under control. Were spaying and neutering colonies.

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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.A good Valentine's Day to all. The folks at the National Weather Service have put their hearts into today's forecast so let's take a peek at it.

1. Warmer today

Today will be cloudy with a temperature rising to near 41 degree by 9 a.m., then falling to around 35 degrees during the remainder of the day. South winds between 10 to 15 mph will become west in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy then gradually becoming mostly clear with a low around 6 degrees. Wind-chill values will be as low as -10 degrees. A northwest wind between 15 to 20 mph will gust as high as 35 mph.

Friday there will be increasing clouds with a high near 15 degrees and a low around 8 degrees. Wind-chill values will be as low as -5 degrees.

Saturday will be mostly sunny with a high near 26 degrees.

Saturday night snow is likely after midnight with a low around 21 degrees. The chance of precipitation is 90 percent with new snow accumulation of around 2 inches possible.

Sunday snow is likely before noon. Skies will be cloudy with a high near 29 degrees and a low around 16 degrees. The chance of precipitation is 70 percent.UPDATE:

Davenport police said that Steven Bradford has been located and is safe.

EARLIER:

Davenport police are seeking the communitys assistance in locating a missing Davenport man.

Steven Bradford, 62, who has been reported as a missing person, is described as being 5-feet, 9-inches tall, weighing 248 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.

Bradford was last seen wearing a black jogging suit with a black winter jacket in the area of 1000 W. Locust Street on or around Jan. 22.

Anyone with information about Steven Bradfords whereabouts are asked to call 9-1-1.

Quad-City Times

Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0Habitat for Humanity-Quad-Cities will receive a $40,000 grant from the Republic Services Charitable Foundation to continue its revitalization work in Moline's Floreciente neighborhood.

The grant will pay for exterior improvement and beautification projects along highly visible 4th Avenue between 4th and 5th streets, representing the fourth year of Habitat's "Rock the Block" project, Mary Chappell, Habitat's neighborhood revitalization director, said.

Work on 23 projects that already have been identified will begin in March and be completed by September, she said.

Examples include tree removal and tree and flower planting, installation of porch lights, porch repair and painting, fence repair and painting, installation of new doors and concrete work such as new steps and sidewalk and driveway sections.

Some work, such as tree removal, will be hired out, while other projects will be accomplished by a combination of property owners  as with all Habitat projects, there is a sweat equity requirement  volunteers, Habitat staff and employees of Republic Services.

Ray Carter, general manager at Republic Services of Davenport, said in a news release that, "we feel privileged to work alongside our employees, our families and other volunteers to help enhance this community."LINCOLN, Neb. (AP)  Federal regulators have ordered a Nebraska rancher and county officials to clean up a remote stream after it was deluged with enough sand and sediment to change the shape of the waterway.A man was arrested Wednesday on drug and gun charges in connection with an investigation into the sale of heroin and methamphetamine in the Quad-Cities.

Adam Christopher Smith, 34, was booked into the Scott County Jail on charges of possession with intent to deliver, a Class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison; possession of a firearm or offensive weapon by a felon, a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison; unlawful possession of prescription drugs, a serious misdemeanor; and possession of drug paraphernalia, a simple misdemeanor.

Bond was set at $20,000 cash or surety. He has a preliminary hearing Feb. 22.

On Dec. 23, the Davenport Police Departments Tactical Operations Bureau and the Bettendorf Police Department executed a search warrant at Smiths apartment in the 2900 block of Hawthorne Drive, Bettendorf.

The search was part of an investigation into the sale of heroin and methamphetamine by Smith, according to an arrest affidavit filed by Davenport Police in support of the complaint.

During the search officers located 2.2 grams of heroin, one gram of methamphetamine, a digital scale, packaging material, 19 Alprazolam pills, a .40-caliber High-Point pistol with a defaced serial number and a Stevens 410 shotgun.Frogs are cold-blooded creatures that hibernate in the winter, occasionally coming out when the weather warms. When it turns cold, they return to hibernation.

"I have heard frogs calling many times in the fall and winter when it is warm," Christopher Phillips, curator of amphibians and reptiles at the Illinois Natural History Survey of the University of Illinois, wrote in an email to the Times.

"It's not unusual at all and nothing to be alarmed about. One of the theories is that these young males are 'practicing' their calls in preparation for spring. I'm not sure there's any data to support that theory, but it sounds plausible."

But Jennifer Anderson Cruz, Iowa state biologist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, is not so sure.

Her concern for the frogs is that "the more they come out, the more energy they use up. They can go in and out, but it takes its toll." Calling, she explained, is "energetically expensive."

If they are coming out with increased frequency, that could deplete their energy stores so when the true spring mating time arrives, they have fewer resources for calling and reproduction.WHAT WE KNOW: Bishop Hill has been selected for a $1.3 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant and a loan of $490,000 for a new water tower, a backup well and new water mains.

WHAT'S NEW: Mayor Mike Funke and Trustee Ben Strand met with IMEG engineer Scott Kammerman on Wednesday to review drawings for the project. Funke would like to remove the old wooden water tower intact so it might be displayed in the historic community.

WHAT'S NEXT: The next step will be a review list for other IMEG engineers and specifications approval by state engineers, according to Kammerman.

 LISA HAMMER/rlhammer15@gmail.com

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0The deadline is approaching for manufacturing facilities tours Feb. 25-27 and March 4-6 through TalentLink, a workforce development partnership formed in November by The Moline Foundation and Eastern Iowa Community College.

The group has teamed with John Deere Harvester Works, John Deere Davenport Works, M.A. Ford, Sears Seating, the Rock Island Arsenal and Arconic to allows parents and high school students to tour the facilities.

Company representatives will explain products, processes, job opportunities and education/training pathways. Students will have the opportunity to discuss internships, apprenticeships and concurrent enrollment courses in high school, part-time or seasonal job.

For more details, contact Christine Caves at 563-441-4373 or clcaves@eicc.edu.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1His tractor is so noisy that, when driving it, the man who calls himself "just a farmer from Butler County" puts his cellphone under his cap, set on vibrate.

Charles Grassley, 85, who has served in the Senate longer than all but 11 of the 1,983 other senators -- and who still runs 3 miles four mornings a week -- does not have ample time for farming because he has visited all of Iowa's 99 counties every year for 38 years, and last missed a Senate vote 8,300 votes ago, when Iowa was flooded in 1993.

He is a non-lawyer who just left the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee to become chairman of the Finance Committee. In his 45th year in Congress (he was in the House 1975-1981), he will help this institution recover some of the power it has improvidently -- and perhaps unconstitutionally -- delegated to presidents.

His committee's purview is vast -- he intends to address prescription drug prices -- but trade policy will be at the top of the committee's agenda. There is the revised agreement with Mexico and Canada to approve, and a developing agreement with Japan to partially undo the damage done by the president's scrapping of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.In every jury trial, the jurors are the "finders of the facts" -- the sole judges of the facts.

That means that the jurors decide the case by hearing the witnesses, evaluating their truthfulness, and deciding the weight to be given to the testimony of each.

But occasionally, after hearing the evidence, the jury comes away with the impression that all the witnesses on both sides are telling half-truths, if not outright lies. How does a jury render a true verdict when every witness is either lying or telling half-truths?

In the realm of American politics, the voters are the judges of the facts. So how do the voters find the "true" facts when the Democrat and Republican politicians supported by their partisan medias each have their own parallel versions of "truth?"

I suggest that the voters are put in an impossible position. Decision making by the voters is reduced to a crap-shoot; to emotion, luck.

To illustrate my point, and not to criticize, I reference two recent opinion pieces that appeared on this page. Consider the two parallel impressions of the president's recent immigration speech to the nation.McCombie said she was discouraged by the bill's Democratic sponsors' lack of willingness to compromise.

"We asked for a face-to-face meeting for a compromise, and they said there is no appetite to amend this bill," McCombie said. "We want to talk about regionalism. The cost of this is going to hit all of our schools and our businesses."

Pritzker has said the overall cost of the increase would be about $1.2 billion, but McCombie said the actual cost would be much higher.

"There are other workers who have higher minimum wage by statute, and that would have to go up, too," McCombie said. "And that doesn't take into account the cascading wages. I know it's five years  I get that  but one of our colleges did a projection for me.

"If we were to get a 5 percent raise annually, it would take 12 years to get to $15 an hour, and a 3 percent raise would take 20 years. It shows the five-year spread is not long enough.

"Four percent of the population is at minimum wage, so we're looking to influence policy for a minority of the population."

McCombie said she is open to increasing the minimum wage, but she wants a compromise based on what the market determines it should be.MOLINE -- The search for a police chief has been put on hold until a new city administrator is hired.

Former Police Chief John Hitchcock retired Oct. 15 after he was placed on administrative leave following his arrest for driving under the influence the evening of Sept. 7 in Scott County. He became chief in January 2018.

Former City Administrator Doug Maxeiner resigned suddenly Jan. 22, but settled with the city on a separation agreement that includes a severance payout of 20 weeks of pay, or $62,505. He became administrator in May 2017.

Mayor Stephanie Acri said the administrator position should be filled first since the chief of police reports to the administrator.

"We thought it was important not only for the administrator to be able to choose their team, but also for such an important position as police chief, to come into the organization understanding who they will report to," Acri said.

"If we can't quickly recruit a new city administrator, we may make an adjustment on that," Acri said.

Public Works Director J.D. Schulte is serving as interim city administrator.KEWANEE  The League of Women Voters of the Kewanee Area will host a mayoral candidates forum at 7 p.m. Feb. 21 in Kewanee City Hall, 300 E. 3rd St.

A Feb. 26 primary will narrow the candidates from five  Robert Kuntz, Gary Moore, Steven Lamanski, Steve Faber and Mike Yaklich  to two for the April 2 general election.

Candidates will make opening statements and then answer questions from the audience and the LWV moderator. Closing statements also will be presented.

Refreshments will be provided.

Questions can be submitted before the event by mailing them to Sharon Deahl, 16 NW 3rd St., Galva, IL 61434. All questions submitted by mail must be signed by the person asking the question. The League reserves the right to determine if a question is appropriate.

For more details, contact Carla Hillman at 309-852-5215 or hillmanc@bhc.edu, or visit lwv.org or lwvil.org.

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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.John Marx Columnist/Reporter John is a columnist and reporter for Dispatch-Argus-QCOnline.com. Follow John Marx 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

He's 97 and will turn 98 come April. Few things surprise Burnett "Burnie'' Sutter, a longtime Moline resident who now calls Frisco, Texas, home.

Leave it to the French government to change that.

Sutter was surprised and honored recently when the French government gave him its highest military service award - the French Legion of Honor Medal - for the part he played in liberating France from the Nazis.

"A touching day,'' Sutter's daughter, Jodi Richards, said of the day her father, who served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army during World War II, received the medal. "A proud day as well.''

According to a published report from the Frisco Enterprise, Alexis Andres, the French general consul based in Houston, Texas, made the presentation to Sutter in front of friends and family at St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Plano, Texas.

The French Legion of Honor was the brainchild of Napoleon Bonaparte. It was established in 1802 to recognize soldiers in service to France. Today, American veterans who fought in one of the four main campaigns of the liberation of France -- Normandy, Provence, Ardennes and Northern France -- are eligible to be decorated as knights of the Legion of Honor.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As tentative peace talks aimed at ending 17 years of war and instability in Afghanistan progress, many observers are worried that hard-won, fragile advances in womens rights will be reversed if a deal is reached with the Taliban and U.S. troops withdraw.

Freshta Jalalzai, an Afghan-American journalist covering the war for RFE/RLs Afghan Service, known locally as Radio Azadi, says these fears are well-founded, but the uncertain future of Afghan women and girls is only part of the story.

As someone who grew up as a girl under the Taliban in the nineties, of course Im worried, but its not just womens rights that are at risk, said Jalalzai. Its true that I wasnt allowed to go to school under the Taliban, but neither was my brother, in effect, because there were only religious schools. Every childs access to education is endangered, as are the rights of religious minorities, LGBTQ people, press freedom, freedom of thought and expressionall are in jeopardy depending on what kind of deal, if any, will be reached with the Taliban.

The Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001, enforced a strict interpretation of Sharia law that was especially brutal towards women. Now, the Taliban says its prepared to embrace womens rights, but only on its own terms.

An Opaque Process

Following six days of peace talks between the U.S. and the Taliban in Doha in January, U.S. officials announced significant progress had been made. However, the Taliban still refuse to talk directly with the Afghan government and its 12-person delegation, which includes three women, meaning Afghan women are so far excluded from the process.

There is so much we dont know, said Jalalzai. In my reporting Ive spoken to some analysts who say the Taliban has changed, but some say they havent. The problem is that we dont really know what they want. They state officially that they want all foreign troops to leave, but then what? Do they want Sharia law? And there is also confusion from the U.S. side. Are they leaving or not?

Whats Really At Stake

Equal rights for women are guaranteed by the Afghan constitution, and there has been a big push over the last decade to increase access to education for girls and to political office for women. Jalazai cautions, however, that the gains in womens rights achieved in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, though significant, should not be overstated. She says foreign media have a habit of lauding the opportunities now available to women in Kabul and major cities where international investments in womens advancement have been focused, but these opportunities are still unimaginable for the majority ofAfghan women, who live in rural areas that are very traditional and conservative.

From our reporting, weve found that most of the investment from international NGOs has been focused on Kabul, but we have 34 provinces in Afghanistan, and the experience of women and girls in the capital is not representative of the whole country, she said.

Whatever the outcome of talks with the Taliban, Jalalzai says in order to see a real improvement in the lives of women and girls in Afghanistan, the country first needs peace and stability, followed by a sea change in attitudes towards women, both of which she expects will take a very long time.

There is such a deeply rooted devaluation of women in Afghanistan that talking about womens rights seems a luxury, she said, citing the pervasiveness of domestic violence, as well as frequent maimings and honor killings. We have to first decide that women matter enough to live at all. Then we can talk about education, work, and political engagement.

Pointing to the peace talks as a bell-weather, Jalalzai says if women continue to be excluded from the peace process, there is little hope of their interests being considered at all.

Peace without justice is meaningless and justice prevails when victims are heard. Afghan women are victims of wars they did not start, and its time all victims voicesmen and womenwere heard said Jalalzai. It will take a long time to recover from 17 years of war, and the recovery cant happen without women.



Emily Thompson

RFE/RL's Radio Azadi is an online pioneer and media leader in Afghanistan, reaching 36 percent of the adult audience nationally on radio, SMS, and the internet.Valeriya Yegoshyna, an award-winning member of the hard-hitting investigative Schemes team of RFE/RLs Ukrainian Service, is helping to root out and expose corruption in Ukraine.

Her reporting has exposed high-level malfeasance and abuse of power among Ukraines local and regional authorities, oligarchs, and politicians, and even the prime minister and president.

Our team calls out those who are suspected of stealing money, property, and resources from our country, and those who abuse power for personal gain, Yegoshyna tells RFE/RL Pressroom.

An investigation led by Yegoshyna about a historic building in the Podil district of Kyiv that was privatized by a shadowy company and then left in a dilapidated state prompted a court to return ownership of the nineteenth century building to the city. The digital project and documentary, titled Vanishing Heritage, won Yegoshyna the countrys 2018 Vasyl Sergienko Award for the Best Investigation Online.

Her teams investigation into the luxury cars belonging to employees of the Economic Department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), whose official salaries could not support such purchases, put public pressure on parliament to begin reforming the SBU.

The video report won Yegoshyna the 2018 National Investigative Journalism Award at the Mezhyhirya Festival in June 2018, as well as a place on the shortlist for the Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award.

Yegoshyna says reporting on the SBU in Ukraine is especially challenging because of the organizations secretive nature, but also because it has hardly been reformed at all since it was the KGB during Soviet times.

The SBU attempted to prevent the storys release by threatening Yegoshyna with criminal charges under a law to prevent terrorism. Schemes team lawyers attested to the legality of the investigation, and the SBU were unable to stop the report from airing.

Yegoshynas investigation into the delayed delivery of U.S. high-speed boats promised to the Ukrainian Navy after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 exposed President Petro Poroshenkos ties to a shipyard in Kyiv called Kuznya na Rybalskomu that builds similar vessels. Poroshenko denied holding up the delivery of the U.S. boats to encourage the Ukrainian Navy to purchase ships from Kuznya na Rybalskomu instead, and called the Schemes team betrayal backers. After the report aired, however, bureaucratic barriers were suddenly lifted to allow for the ships to be delivered in 2019.

Yegoshyna says the report spurred more action in six months than we saw over the past few years.

In some cases, investigative reporting done by Yegoshyna and the Schemes team has laid the groundwork for criminal charges to be brought against the subjects of their stories.

But having such a significant impact has not come without consequences.

Behind all the research, the data, verifications, editing, and production that go into an investigative report, there is huge pressure against investigative journalists in Ukraine, including threats, intimidation, and obstruction of access to information, said Yegoshyna.

Schemes reporters have been subject to physical assault, online threats, and slander and harassment by government officials and Ukrainian oligarchs. The Prosecutor-Generals office sought to gain access to the mobile-phone data of Schemes author and host Natalia Sedletska in August 2018, but was stopped in September by order of the European Court of Human Rights.

Being a woman journalist can also lead to unexpected consequences, adds Yegoshyna, noting the occasion she was forced to undergo invasive security checks in order to attend a Kyiv court hearing where the president testified via video link.

RFE/RLs Ukrainian Service Director Maryana Drach says Yegoshyna is known for her persistence and diligence and, despite obstacles, remains committed to investigative journalism.

Claudia Shute

Schemes: Corruption In Details is a weekly television program exploring the underside of Ukrainian politics, produced by RFE/RLs Ukraine Service in partnership with Ukraines First Public TV channel (UT-1). Its creators are among the journalists that founded YanukovychLeaks, a reporting project that uncovered massive corruption under the government of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.Ad Resource Stock Digest 1,163 Interested This Week

Could This Be the Biggest US Gold Discovery in Years?

See how this tiny, unknown gold company secured a prime land package right next door to the worlds two largest gold producers in Nevadas famed Carlin Trend where 84 Million gold ounces have already been extracted. Best of all, investors can still get in well below US$0.50 per share.GLENS FALLS  A man from Troy was arrested Thursday for allegedly selling crack cocaine in Glens Falls last fall, police said.

Jimmy C. Smith, 35, was charged with felony counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a controlled substance, according to Glens Falls Police.

He is accused of selling crack last October, weeks after he was paroled from state prison for an unrelated burglary conviction in Washington County, Glens Falls Police Detective Lt. Peter Casertino said.

Smith had been jailed in Rensselaer County for alleged parole violation, and was returned there after the arrest.

Glens Falls Police Detective Sgt. Kyle Diamond made the arrest, assisted by the Washington County Sheriff's Office, State Police and Hudson Falls Police.

Love 0 Funny 8 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0While it does not appear these Revolutionary War soldiers were laid to rest in coffins, they were at least laid in separate burial plots.

+3 State: Lake George remains were part of a planned 18th-century burial site LAKE GEORGE  Twelve distinct human remains have been found at the site of a housing project

The state has 21 archaeologists sifting through the remains, and the state Office of Historic Preservation is the lead on the investigation. At The Citizen, we did not get very much information from the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision for how the remains were removed.

I never got an answer, too, about whether other property owners in Auburn were going to have their backyards checked out. Historical records showed at least 350 people were buried in that plot, and while there were records of other exhumations, who knows?

The state didn't seem too concerned about digging around more to make sure all were accounted for. They said they were working with Auburn "in the event that any more remains were discovered," but here, in Lake George, there is a halt to a construction project and New York State Museum archaeologists are taking time to sift through everyone that's buried there.

 Gwendolyn Craig

Reporter Gwendolyn Craig can be reached at (518) 742-3238 or gcraig@poststar.com. Follow her on Twitter @gwendolynnn1.

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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 refreshing pragmatism infuses Quantum Theatres production of The Gun Show (Can We Talk About This?) (2013)  a kind of low-tech, iconoclastic exuberance thats reminiscent of the early films of Godard. Its a classic one-man, story-telling performance  with some audience interaction  that comes off somewhere between Spalding Grays Monster in a Box and a lively Al-Anon meeting. And it has that rare quality of unimpeachable honesty thats hard not to appreciate, like that of your old college friend who isnt afraid to break the rules of decorum when something really needs to be said for your own good.

The derivativeness from Monster in a Box is pronounced, especially because the key prop of The Gun Show (heres your trope alert) is a cardboard box. And the second is the desk that the character sits behind. In fact, both come directly from Grays performance monologue and 1992 film. But whereas for Gray the box held his 1900-page novel, for playwright E.M. Lewis it holds the tokens and memories of her dead husband.

However, Lewis adds a swerve of her own: the speech of the play, which is her story  the story of a woman  in monologue form, is delivered by a male actor. Talk about casting against type. You just dont see this direction of gender-reversal in todays theatre, and it may be one of the few contemporary Brechtian alienation devices that does the job it was meant to do: it makes you really listen.

Lewis speaks to the audience as herself, albeit through the voice of actor Andrew William Smith, which is kind of freaky, in that we are constantly hearing a man talk as a woman. He furthermore addresses himself, er, herself, as the playwright, who  and here is the big surprise  is actually sitting in the audience. So if you know someone who refers to him/herself in the third person as a habit, then take them to this play so they can experience what everyone goes through listening to them. This eccentric trait may not be a bad thing, though, as Psychology Today notes that studies have found that this is an excellent way to improve emotional regulation and self-control reducing ego-centric bias.

Not only does Lewis-as-actor-Smith address herself during the play, but Smith often shines a big, black flashlight on her, like a de-facto spotlight. As contrived as this sounds, it actually works. Why use a $1,000 klieg light when a $10 flashlight will do? Which is really a metaphor for the ethos of this entire production.

Smith is ideal for such a role as hes the kind of actor who holds back as much as he can before committing to any sort of intent on stage. And The Gun Show is all about holding back. The action, if we can call a monologue action (Aristotle certainly would not) is loosely framed around five stories involving guns, recounted from the playwrights life, which range from the idyllic to the tragic.

The first  and the only one that doesnt succeed  is a recitation of the climax of the film Reservoir Dogs. A story that tells the story of another story is an oft-used conceit, usually to pump-up the emotional intensity in an easy, cheap way, like when a band plays recorded music before the start of a concert to whip up the crowd. Its too much telling in a play that has to depend on a lot of telling, and very little showing.

But things become interesting as things always do when they become personal. We learn of the playwrights romance with the man who becomes her husband. We hear how they bonded over guns, how important guns are if you live in rural Oregon, and how enjoyable it is to go shooting in the woods. The Freudian associations of guns, courtship, and sexual titillation simmer throughout these recollections, and the big, black flashlight, which sits on the desk and is picked up by Smith throughout the play, becomes a sort of gun that is pointed at the author again and again.

Director Shelia McKenna takes an organic, less-is-more approach, which is fitting, because the Carnegie Library space is simply a lecture platform  hardly a formal stage  and nothing is done to detract from the idea that this is about members of a community coming together to share an experience in a bonding environment. Thus, all superfluous dramatic trappings are eschewed. We could be sitting there waiting for a book discussion. Its not Hamlet in street clothes; its more like bringing the Living Theater to the local chess club.

Steve Shapiros sound designs come off like Brian Enos statement about ambient music, which he felt should be as ignorable as interesting, and is high praise in this context. And the same can be said for C. Todd Browns lighting.

I would encourage people to see this show because it might be the one time you hear about the joys and horrors of gun ownership, and how it can result in love and death, but not be told what to think about it. Thankfully, this is not a didactic, let alone, political work.

However, the performance doesnt really offer us a catharsis, either. Nothing actually changes in the character, and I would question whether it does in the audience  which Smith constantly addresses, sometimes as you and sometimes as America.

The only truly disappointing aspect of the piece  especially for a serious theatrical work  are the predication cliches you always hear, like I own a gun or I dont want to take your guns away. These expressions are recycled so often in public conversations that they have turned into political chestnuts. Its the same kind of a doublespeak  to use a post-Orwellian term  ostensibly thrown out by politicians to incur good faith, when they really mean, on a deeper level, How can I talk about this and appear to tackle it, but still stay in/run for office?

At the end of the play we are left in the wake of this well-acted tableaux of stories with a sense of tragedy; but, in a tragic age, does the recounting of yet another tragedy achieve anything?

The character tells us that This gun thing is about safety and thats what we all have in common. We want to be safe. Yet his syllogism: Guns dont equal safety. No-guns doesnt equal safety is never concluded. Its a null set. We are given a dialectic without a synthesis. Instead, the character is resigned to admitting, I know that this is complicated, but we are in this together.

If there is any sense of denouement it occurs in the post-show conversation  admirably facilitated by Quantums Patron Services Associate, T.J. Parker-Young  when the audience is given the opportunity to share its stories. Its at this point that the we really come away with something. If not a catharsis, or conclusion, then certainly a stronger sense of community.

The Gun Show continues through March 3rd at the following locations:

February 817: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Homewood

February 2024: CCAC  Allegheny Campus, West Hall

February 27March 3: The Tull Family Theater

Tickets $33-37. 412-362-1713 or www.quantumtheatre.comCourts have considered gender discrimination under the Fifth and 14th amendments, but not with the same level of analysis used to evaluate discrimination based on race, religion or country of origin. Because courts apply intermediate scrutiny to gender discrimination and the higher, strict scrutiny to discrimination based on race, religion or country of origin, it is easier for the government to discriminate on the basis of gender. All of these classifications should be treated the same by the government. The ERA will level the playing field."Gary's work shines a light on what happens when Americans with mental illness end up in jail," Virginian-Pilot Editor in Chief Marisa Porto said. "It's clear from his stories that the criminal justice system is often used as a warehouse for those who fall through the cracks.For several decades Harowitz worked with the USO, to which his parents had introduced him in Richmond in 1940, according to a 2002 article about him in a Jewish Family Services publication. He started working with the organization as an emcee and doing odd jobs. He met Bob Hope and was proud to tell the story.The Virginia Zoo breaks ground on the new Nature Play area, which is slated to open this summer. From left to right, Angela Benard, Virginia Zoo Development Director; Hearst Vann, Rotary Club of Virginia Beach; Lorna Cochrane, Rotary Club of Norfolk; Michelle Lewis, Virginia Zoo Education Manager; Lori Lampert, Operations Manager, Pamela Webb Tubbs, President of the Rotary Club of Norfolk, and Greg Bockheim, Virginia Zoo Executive Director. (Courtesy Virginia Zoo)Dozens of tiny houses are listed for sale in the state, most in the middle to western regions. An 8-foot by 8-foot house on wheels in Avon with two beds and a kitchenette is listed for $8,500. A house on wheels in New Bern, a coastal town susceptible to hurricanes, measures 102 square feet and sells for $24,000. Tiny house communities have sprung up in Florida.Earlier this year, it became the first Virginia Beach hotel to receive a AAA Diamond Rating for hotels, joining two other Hampton Roads hotels which have received the honor for several years in a row.Credit: CC0 Public Domain

From parrots to lizards, hundreds of animal species could be at risk of extinction because of a policy process that responds slowly to scientific knowledge, according to a new study in Science.

International wildlife authorities will gather in May to vote on wildlife trade restrictions at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Conference of the Parties (CoP). The study suggests concrete steps policymakers can take to speed up a wildlife protection process that can take more than two decades.

"New trends in wildlife trade can develop quickly, with some species going from common to near extinction in just a few years," said Eyal Frank, a co-author of the study and an assistant professor at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy. "A policymaking process needs to respond quickly to new information in order to prevent extinction for hundreds of animals and plants. That's why it's absolutely critical that policymakers allow science to inform a speedy protection process."

Frank and his co-author, David Wilcove from Princeton University, analyzed 958 species on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List that are endangered by international trade. Of those, they discovered that 28 percent are not protected by CITES, the primary international framework for preventing species extinction due to international wildlife trade.

When studying how quickly species from the Red List became protected under CITES, they found that 62 percent needed to wait as long as 19 years for protection under CITES or are still waiting to be listed up to 24 years after being first considered. These patterns are the same for even the most threatened species.

At the same time, the study points out that 36 percent of species studied were protected by CITES before making it on the Red List. This could be because the CITES authorities had information not available to the IUCN, or it could be due to staffing and other resource constraints at the IUCN.

"CITES and the Red List are two of the most important tools we have to save wildlife threatened by international trade. It's vital that these two institutions work together closely and quickly to stop the killing," said Wilcove, who is based at the Princeton Environmental Institute and Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Frank and Wilcove recommend that any nation that is part of CITES advocate that Red List species threatened by international trade be quickly protected under the treaty in order to clear the backlog, with the goal being that any threatened species on the Red List that is threatened by trade receive a prompt vote for immediate protection under CITES. Independently from CITES, all countries can use the Red List as a source of information and take measures to protect threatened species found within their borders.

The paper, "Long delays in banning trade in threatened species," was published in Science as a Perspectives piece.

Explore further Scientist champions conservation of neglected predators

More information: E.G. Frank at University of Chicago in Chicago, IL el al., "Long delays in banning trade in threatened species," Science (2019). Journal information: Science E.G. Frank at University of Chicago in Chicago, IL el al., "Long delays in banning trade in threatened species,"(2019). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi  1126/science.aav4013Swiss authorities said Thursday they have indicted a woman who allegedly persuaded dozens of people to provide their online banking details over the phone from the Netherlands.

Federal prosecutors said the woman managed to use the banking details to steal more than 2 million Swiss francs ($1.98 million) between March 2016 and July 2018.

Prosecutors said about 50 people fell victim to the scam, known as "voice phishing." They provided no further details on how she managed to sweet talk her victims into divulging their details.

They said the woman, who was not identified, was working with an "internationally active group" that also used spam emails in the scheme.

She was among two people arrested in the Rotterdam area last June. Dutch authorities extradited the woman to Switzerland.

The scam involved emails purporting to be from banks being sent to people who then "logged into" a fake banking website. Those details were then transmitted to the culprits, who then sent another email to the customers asking them to read out security numbers over the phone.

Andre Marty, a spokesman for the Swiss attorney general's office, said prosecutors were urging people not to provide their banking details in response to emails or phone calls.

Explore further Swiss charge three suspects in global phishing case

 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The media have become key agents of socialization in the construction of teenagers' and young people's identities. In particular, media representations of sexuality and love become informal educational agents of the first order on these issues.

A very good example of this was the series for Spanish teenagers Fisica o Quimica (2008-2011), produced by Ida y Vuelta and broadcast on Antena 3, of which some episodes reached more than three million viewers. The series focuses on the stories of a group of high school students and their teachers. The success of the series extended to other countries like France, Portugal, Italy, the United States and countries in Latin America, where it received acclaim and support from teenage audiences.

Fisica o Quimica also gave rise to social controversy, for and against, due to its the representation of sexuality, gender-based violence and teenage pregnancy, among others. "These polarized perspectives of Fisica o Quimica are neither new nor unique to this series", states Maria Jose Masanet, a researcher with the Department of Communication at UPF and co-author of a paper that performs a qualitative analysis of the contents of the series. This research was published jointly with Frederik Dhaenens, a researcher at the University of Ghent (Belgium) on 22 January in Journal of Youth Studies.

Analysing how young people interpret the representation of gender-based violence

The main goal of this study was to analyse how young people interpret the representation of gender-based violence in the series Fisica o Quimica, focusing on how the audience discusses the representation of male aggression towards women represented through the teenage characters Ruth and Gorka. In addition, the authors analysed how audiences are reflected in gender stereotypes and romantic inequalities and/or teenage sexual relations. In this fictional television series, the characters Ruth and Gorka have a stormy romantic relationship characterized by psychological abuse by the boy towards the girl. Although they split up on several occasions, they always end up getting back together and the abuse intensifies throughout the series until serious health problems arise and the relationship breaks up definitively.

"Studying the discourse of the young people about gender-based violence in Fisica o Quimica has provided us with an insight into their way of thinking about this issue and about romantic myths, as well as the role that the series plays in shaping adolescents' outlook on violence," say the authors of the study.

The authors analysed the feedback in the fans' forum of the series Fisica o Quimica and, more specifically, the comments dealing with issues or scenes related to gender-based violence among the adolescent characters. The aim was to explore the meanings the audience gives to the violence depicted in the series and how they reflect on gender stereotypes and romantic myths. For example, the work found that "participants in the forum did not identify Gorka's verbal and psychological abuse towards Ruth until the violence became unbearable."

These data concur with previous studies that have shown that Spanish young people and teenagers do not consider issues such as controlling time, money or friends, blackmail or threats and insults as being aggression. They perceive verbal abuse as just another aspect of the relationship and can go as far as justifying it "in the name of love". Abuse is mainly associated with physical aggression.

As a result of the analysis, this study reveals that teenagers have internalized a set of stereotypes and myths of romantic love that can be very dangerous because they justify male violence towards women. The value of this work is twofold. First, it provides us with information on how gender-based violence and romantic relationships among adolescents are perceived and discussed in Spain, since the research exposes how they understand gender-based violence and the motives or actions that lead to justifying it or criticizing it. Secondly, "our work also has an educational value. We demonstrate that a teen series has the potential to explore and work to prevent gender-based violence. The series provides material for a debate on controversial and provocative representations without trying to lecture its audience on morals and providing a discussion on its fans' forum," conclude Masanet and Dhaenens.

Explore further How to prevent abuse in teenage relationships

More information: Maria-Jose Masanet et al, Representing gender-based violence in teen series: young people's discourses on the Spanish series Fisica o Quimica, Journal of Youth Studies (2019). Maria-Jose Masanet et al, Representing gender-based violence in teen series: young people's discourses on the Spanish series Fisica o Quimica,(2019). DOI: 10.1080/13676261.2019.1570096

Provided by Universitat Pompeu Fabra - BarcelonaGDPR provides an existing remedy. Credit: Shinonome Production/Shutterstock

From concerns about data sharing to the hosting of harmful content, every week seems to bring more clamour for new laws to regulate the technology giants and make the internet "safer". But what if our existing data protection laws, at least in Europe, could achieve most of the job?

Germany has already started introducing new legislation, enacting a law in 2018 that forces social media firms to remove hateful content. In the UK, the government has proposed a code of practice for social media companies to tackle "abusive content". And health secretary Matt Hancock has now demanded laws regulating the removal of such content. Meanwhile, deputy opposition leader Tom Watson has suggested a legal duty of care for technology companies, in line with recent proposals by Carnegie UK Trust.

What's notable about many of these proposals is how much they reference and recall the EU's new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Hancock, who led the UK's introduction of this legislation (though he has also been accused of a limited understanding of it) referred to the control it gives people over the use of their data. Watson recalled the level of fines imposed by GDPR, hinting that similar penalties might apply for those who breach his proposed duty of care.

The Carnegie proposals, developed by former civil servant William Perrin and academic Lorna Woods, were inspired by GDPR's approach of working out what protective measures are needed on an case-by-case basis. When a process involving data is likely to pose a high risk to people's rights and freedoms, whoever's in charge of the process must carry out what's known as a data protection impact assessment (DPIA). This involves assessing the risks and working out what can be done to mitigate them.

The important thing to note here is that, while earlier data protection laws largely focused on people's privacy, GDPR is concerned with their broader rights and freedoms. This includes things related to "social protection, public health and humanitarian purposes". It also applies to anyone whose rights are threatened, not just the people whose data is being processed.

Existing rights and freedoms

Many of the problems we are worried about social media causing can be seen as infringements of rights and freedoms. And that means social media firms could arguably be forced to address these issues by completing data protection impact assessments under the existing GDPR legislation. This includes taking measures to mitigate the risks, such as making the data more secure.

For example, there is evidence that social media may increase the risk of suicide among vulnerable people, and that means social media may pose a risk to those people's right to life, the first right protected by the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). If social networks use personal data to show people content that could increase this risk to their lives then, under GDPR, the network should reconsider its impact assessment and take appropriate steps to mitigate the risk.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal, where Facebook was found to have failed to protect data that was later used to target users in political campaigns, can also be viewed in terms of risk to rights. For example, Protocol 1, Article 3 of the ECHR protects the right to "free elections".

As part of its investigation into the scandal, the UK's Information Commissioner's Office has asked political parties to carry out impact assessments, based on the concern that profiling people by their political views could violate their rights. But given Facebook's role in processing the data involved, the company could arguably be asked to do the same to see what risks to free elections its practices pose.

Think about what you might break

From Facebook's ongoing history of surprise and apology, you might think that the adverse effects of any new feature in social media are entirely unpredictable. But given that the firm's motto was once "move fast and break things", it doesn't seem too much of a stretch to ask Facebook and the other tech giants to try to anticipate the problems their attempts to break things might cause.

Asking "what could possibly go wrong?" should prompt serious answers instead of being a flippant expression of optimism. It should involve looking not just at how technology is intended to work, but also how it could be abused, how it could go too far, and what might happen if it falls victim to a security breach. This is exactly what the social media companies have been doing too little of.

I would argue that the existing provisions of GDPR, if properly enforced, should be enough to compel tech firms to take action to address much of what's wrong with the current situation. Using the existing, carefully planned and highly praised legislation is better and more efficient than trying to design, enact and enforce new laws that are likely to have their own problems or create the potential for abuse.

Applying impact assessments in this way would share the risk-based approach of enshrining technology firms with a duty of care. And in practice, it may not be too different but without some of the potential problems, which are many and complex. Using the law in this way would send a clear message: social media companies should own the internet safety risks they help create, and manage them in coordination with regulators.

Explore further Irish data authority probes Facebook photo breach

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.Credit: Anete Lusina/Unsplash

The world is warming and ecosystems are dying. To avoid disastrous climatic change, massive reductions in CO 2 emissions are required in all sectors, reaching net-zero globally no later than 2050. This requires an unprecedented and rapid change in our ways of life.

In this, the world of research is challenged for two reasons. First, researchers are the source of the increasing number of warnings about the state of our climate and biodiversity, and their credibility would be damaged by not setting an example. Second, because researchers have the training and tools to critically appraise their colleagues' conclusions, they're well placed to understand the seriousness and urgency of the situation, and act accordingly, by reducing their own CO 2 emissions.

The carbon footprint of aviation

Air traffic currently accounts for about 3% of global emissions, which is three times more than the total emissions of a country like France. Traffic is growing by 4% per year and is projected to double by 2030. This is in complete contradiction with the objectives of the Paris agreement, which will require halving current greenhouse gas emissions by around 2030. With the growth projected, by 2050 the aviation sector alone could consume a quarter of the carbon budget for the 1.5C target, i.e., the cumulative emissions from all sources that cannot be exceeded to limit global warming to this target.

Technical progress toward more efficient planes and better organised airports will have only marginal impact at best. Real change can only be achieved by a massive transition toward biofuels or a dramatic reduction in demand. The first solution would be to the detriment of food security and biodiversity, and providing better nutrition to a growing population while remaining within planetary boundaries already presents a huge challenge. We are left with the second option: flying significantly less.

Researchers on the move

For better and for worse, researchers have been flying for a long time. The benefits include scientific and human exchanges, and the creation of larger networks with broader scope, giving more robust results. The cost is the international "meeting mania", which consumes time, energy and money, and whose carbon footprint is enormous.

"A researcher isolated is a researcher lost," as the saying goes. Today, unless scientists are advanced in their careers, those who give up flying are marginalised. They transgress the rules of an environment that values frequent exchanges and hyperactivity. In doing so, they miss opportunities to make contacts for new collaborative projects, and run the risk of not being "in the loop".

This observation is not specific to research: it concerns all competitive environments, which in our globalised world is a very large number of professions. To emit less CO 2 is to reduce one's activities; to reduce one's activities, when one is alone in doing so, is to exclude oneself from the competition. If the first to act loses, it's no surprise that governmental climate commitments are far from sufficient, and even unmet.

By reducing its emissions voluntarily, the scientific community would be exemplary for two reasons. First, it would show that the science  the severe warnings of climatologists and ecologists  must be taken seriously. Second, it would prove that a professional sector can overcome the fatal "first to act loses" attitude and collectively change its behaviour.

Conferences

The first project to change the situation could be addressing scientific conferences. Historically, they allowed important results to be shared quickly, at a time when communication with journals took place by post. Publishing an article was necessarily a slow process, and once published, its circulation was limited by journals existing only on paper. Today it is possible to publish in record time, and articles are instantly available online.

Conferences have essentially become areas for collective brainstorming, where a mixture of the official programme and informal encounters produces fruitful exchanges. However, they can also be a source of significant carbon emissions.

There are three ways to limit the carbon footprint of conferences.

Go to fewer of them. Major world scientific meetings emit tens of thousands of tons of CO 2 . However, under the pretext of human contact but also of communication (even of "buzz"), they multiply without real justification. It is not rare to have three, four or even more conferences of global significance each year on the same theme, each with separate organisers.

Organise events that preserve social interaction while limiting travel, and therefore CO 2 emissions. This is the concept of multiple-site conferences, where regional hub sites are linked together with videoconferencing. In this case the choice of central locations (relative to the expected audience), instead of pleasant but often remote places, would reduce the total distance travelled. Shorter distances also make trains increasingly practical, and in countries where trains operate on low-carbon electricity, they produce much less CO per passenger and kilometre than planes.

Virtualise encounters: "no-fly conferences" to which everyone can connect from home. Pilot experiments have been encouraging, and technological developments should allow increasingly sophisticated formats including both official programs (easy to virtualise, including for questions and answers) and informal scheduled or improvised discussion sessions. The latter are less easy to organise, but they will need to be preserved because they contribute to the interest of these events.

Meetings

While it might be hoped that teleconferences will gradually replace face-to-face meetings, the two are in fact growing in parallel. This is similar to what is happening with energy: production from renewable sources is rising rapidly, yet fossil-fuel consumption continues to grow.

The importance of making and maintaining good relationships through direct human contact, and also of efficiency  we work better when we know each other  are good reasons to travel. But not to the point of ignoring the reality of our environmental situation.

The carbon budget beyond which we risk falling into an uncontrollable climate situation is now estimated at about 800 billion tons of CO, a little more than 100 tons for each of the 7.5 billion inhabitants of the planet. Spread over 30 years, this gives an average of 3 tons per year per person. Two transatlantic round-trips in economy class are enough to consume this budget, which we drastically exceed already since the average European emits 9 tons of CO per year.

The question is no longer just whether to travel less. It is to quantify the carbon footprint of travel, to set reduction targets (which should be transparent regardless of how ambitious they are), and to verify that these are met.

Better now than later

The net-zero world soon awaiting us requires carbon abstinence. Air travel is just one aspect; information and communication technology (ICT) is another. This should be organised and adopted without delay, at the risk of being forced upon us later on by worsening conditions. Meeting physically with colleagues who live thousands of miles away is not an inalienable right. Ignoring the science of greenhouse gases and the resulting threat posed to humanity would be irresponsible.

To continue to emit CO 2 that future generations will then have to capture from the atmosphere to guarantee their own survival would be inexcusable. Many research institutions already have policies in place to encourage their members to adopt good practices for occupational risk prevention, data protection and ethical decision-making. Now is the time for institutions to also embrace policy for flight reduction or carbon abstinence. Our collective future depends on it.

Explore further What is on the horizon for global carbon emissions?

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.Ghosn is accused of under-reporting millions of dollars in salary as head of Nissan

French automaker Renault unveiled Thursday a sharp drop in earnings as profit plunged at its Japanese partner Nissan, posing a fresh challenge for their alliance after the shock arrest of former chief Carlos Ghosn last November.

The results came as Renault's new chairman Jean-Dominique Senard was in Japan for talks with Nissan, hoping to smooth relations which grew strained under Ghosn's leadership.

Renault's net profit for 2018 fell 37 percent from a record 5.1 billion euros ($5.75 billion) the previous year, reflecting a slump in profits at Nissan, in which Renault holds a 43 percent stake.

Earlier this week Nissan slashed its full-year forecast as nine-month net profit dropped 45 percent.

The earnings put additional pressure on the Renault and Nissan, which along with Mitsubishi form an alliance which has become the world's top-selling automotive group.

"We all, within the alliance, want more of an alliance... it is one of our most valuable assets," Thierry Bollore, Ghosn's successor as Renault CEO, said at a news conference.

"We confirm the strategic plan objectives," for the future, Bollore added, saying he aimed for an operating margin of 6 percent this year.

That would be down from the 6.3 percent margin reached last year, as the company grappled with demand slumps in emerging markets like Argentina and Turkey, and the halt of operations in Iran after the US re-imposed sanctions over Tehran's nuclear programme.

Renault's Japanese partners want to be sure that Jean-Dominique Senard is not another Carlos Ghosn

Restore confidence

Ex-Renault CEO Ghosn remains stuck in a Tokyo jail on charges he under-reported millions of dollars in salary as head of Nissan, the biggest partner by sales in an alliance built up by Ghosn.

He resigned as CEO last monthhaving already been stripped of his chairman titlesahead of a trial which could still be months away.

Ghosn has denied the charges, accusing Nissan executives of treachery.

Renault's new chairman Senard told reporters before leaving for Japan that he intended to "re-establish confidence, transparency and loyalty" between the partners.

He will join Nissan's board in April, but the question of overall chairmanship of the Nissan-Renault group remains a bone of contention, with the Japanese fearing conflicts of interest.

Record sales

Looking ahead, Renault is aiming for world sales of five million vehicles by 2022, worth some 70 billion euros, and a 7 percent operating margin.

Renault's new chief executive Thierry Bollore presented the French carmaker's 2018 results at its headquarters outside Paris on Thursday

The company sold a record 3.9 million vehicles last year.

"Both the global and European market are expected to be stable compared to 2018," Bollore said.

"The commercial and financial results demonstrate the group's resilience and its rapid adaptation to a more challenging environment. This performance is the result of a clear strategy, increasingly stringent execution and the efforts of all group employees," he added.

Bollore also stressed the importance of new electric carsincluding the Zoe and Kangoo utility vanwhose world sales increased by 37 percent, and now account for 3 percent of the group's revenues.

In the meantime Bollore will have to navigate Ghosn's efforts to secure millions of euros of pay he is due since leading Renault since 2005.

The automaker's board said Wednesday that it would block a major payout as the group seeks to avoid the prospect of an embarrassing "golden parachute".

It said that it would not pay two years' worth of salary as part of a noncompete clause, and that Ghosn would miss out on stock options issued between 2015 and 2018, since they were "subject to his presence within Renault."

Explore further Renault denounces Nissan over Ghosn investigation: report

 2019 AFPNon-oxidised platinum nanoparticles have virtually no toxic effect on normal cells (bottom left). Once inside liver cancer cells (top right), the platinum is oxidised, releasing its toxic effect. Credit: ETH Zurich / Helma Wennemers

Researchers at ETH Zurich recently demonstrated that platinum nanoparticles can be used to kill liver cancer cells with greater selectivity than existing cancer drugs.

In recent years, the number of targeted cancer drugs has continued to rise. However, conventional chemotherapeutic agents still play an important role in cancer treatment. These include platinum-based cytotoxic agents that attack and kill cancer cells. But these agents also damage healthy tissue and cause severe side effects. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now identified an approach that allows for a more selective cancer treatment with drugs of this kind.

Platinum can be cytotoxic when oxidised to platinum(II) and occurs in this form in conventional platinum-based chemotherapeutics. Non-oxidised platinum(0), however, is far less toxic to cells. Based on this knowledge, a team led by Helma Wennemers, Professor at the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, and Michal Shoshan, a postdoc in her group, looked for a way to introduce platinum(0) into the target cells, and only then for it to be oxidised to platinum(II). To this end, they used non-oxidised platinum nanoparticles, which first had to be stabilized with a peptide. They screened a library containing thousands of peptides to identify a peptide suitable for producing platinum nanoparticles (2.5 nanometres in diameter) that are stable for years.

Oxidised inside the cell

Tests with cancer cell cultures revealed that the platinum(0) nanoparticles penetrate into cells. Once inside the specific environment of liver cancer cells, they become oxidised, triggering the cytotoxic effect of platinum(II).

Studies with ten different types of human cells also showed that the toxicity of the peptide-coated nanoparticles was highly selective to liver cancer cells. They have the same toxic effect as Sorafenib, the most common drug used to treat primary liver tumours today. However, the nanoparticles are more selective than Sorafenib and significantly more so than the well-known chemotherapeutic Cisplatin. It is therefore conceivable that the nanoparticles will have fewer side effects than conventional medication.

Joining forces with ETH Professor Detlef Gunther and his research group, Wennemers and her team were able to determine the platinum content inside the cells and their nuclei using special mass spectrometry. They concluded that the platinum content in the nuclei of liver cancer cells was significantly higher than, for instance, in colorectal cancer cells. The authors believe that the platinum(II) ions  produced by oxidation of the platinum nanoparticles in the liver cancer cells  enter the nucleus, and there release their toxicity.

"We are still a very long and uncertain way away from a new drug, but the research introduced a new approach to improve the selectivity of drugs for certain types of cancer  by using a selective activation process specific to a given cell type," Wennemers says. Future research will expand the chemical properties of the nanoparticles to allow for greater control over their biological effects.

Explore further Gold Nanoparticles Delivery Platinum Warheads to Tumors

More information: Michal S. Shoshan et al. Peptide-Coated Platinum Nanoparticles with Selective Toxicity against Liver Cancer Cells, Angewandte Chemie International Edition (2018). Journal information: Angewandte Chemie International Edition Michal S. Shoshan et al. Peptide-Coated Platinum Nanoparticles with Selective Toxicity against Liver Cancer Cells,(2018). DOI: 10.1002/anie.201813149Eastern Long Neck Turtle encrusted by a marine tubeworm during the 2008-2011 drought in South Australia. Credit: Deanne Smith (Alexandrina Wildlife)

Western Sydney University has contributed to new Australian research into native turtle populations in the Murray River and some of its associated waterways. The study finds that species are in decline in the lower Murray River region, and some were undetected in many locations in South Australia.

According to Associate Professor of Ecology Ricky Spencer (opens in new window) from the School of Science and Health at Western Sydney University and a School-based member of Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, the decline was first predicted over 30 years ago but a combination of funding limitations, political constraints, and limited data has pushed our native species to the brink of extinction.

"This is the first time research in the field takes such as deep and systematic look at turtle populations throughout the southern Murray River catchment, to identify likely hotspots of turtle declines and map geographic trends in turtle population," says Associate Professor Spencer. "Our research provides further evidence that freshwater turtle populations in southern Australia are rapidly declining. Even in areas where they are abundant, most populations have only older adults, resulting in few babies entering the river."

The research assessed the conservation status of the three native speciesthe broad-shelled turtle (Chelodina expansa), eastern long-necked turtle (C. longicollis), and Murray River turtle (Emydura macquarii).

The data indicates that populations of the three species were generally highest in the mid-Murray region, reaching from north-central Victoria and south-central New South Wales. Overall turtle abundance decreases as the Murray River approaches the ocean, resulting in zero or very few turtles of any species caught at several locations in South Australia, including Calperum Station, Ramco Lagoon, and Currency Creek.

Associate Professor Spencer adds that Australia is now at the stage where the effects of invasive species and habitat destruction are being observed through species declines and extinction events.

"The drought in the Murray-Darling Basin increases stress levels on declining species such as the Murray River turtles. Turtles fulfil an important ecological role as scavengers of dead fish and the consequences of high mortality rates are significant for the health of the whole river ecosystem.

"Australia deals with some unique factors leading to a decline in turtle population including introduced predators that ruthlessly destroy most nests each year, disease, road mortality and the fact that we are dry country and water resources have many competing demands," says Associate Professor Spencer.

He adds that a novel disease has caused the near-extinction of an Australian freshwater turtle (Myuchelys georgesi), and may be a symptom of deteriorating water quality and climate change.

Across Australia, nearly half of all turtle species are listed as vulnerable or worse by state or federal agencies. Previous studies found turtle declines of up to 91% have been observed in sections of the Murray River.

The report Conservation implications of turtle declines in Australia's Murray River system was first published in Scientific Reports.

Explore further Citizen scientists sought to help save turtles from extinction

More information: J. U. Van Dyke et al. Conservation implications of turtle declines in Australia's Murray River system, Scientific Reports (2019). Journal information: Scientific Reports J. U. Van Dyke et al. Conservation implications of turtle declines in Australia's Murray River system,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-39096-3NASA's Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) mission is targeted to launch in 2023. SPHEREx will help astronomers understand both how our universe evolved and how common are the ingredients for life in our galaxy's planetary systems. Credits: Caltech

NASA has selected a new space mission that will help astronomers understand both how our universe evolved and how common are the ingredients for life in our galaxy's planetary systems.

The Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) mission is a planned two-year mission funded at $242 million (not including launch costs) and targeted to launch in 2023.

"I'm really excited about this new mission," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "Not only does it expand the United States' powerful fleet of space-based missions dedicated to uncovering the mysteries of the universe, it is a critical part of a balanced science program that includes missions of various sizes."

SPHEREx will survey the sky in optical as well as near-infrared light which, though not visible to the human eye, serves as a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions. Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 300 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way.

"This amazing mission will be a treasure trove of unique data for astronomers," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "It will deliver an unprecedented galactic map containing 'fingerprints' from the first moments in the universe's history. And we'll have new clues to one of the greatest mysteries in science: What made the universe expand so quickly less than a nanosecond after the big bang?"

SPHEREx will survey hundreds of millions of galaxies near and far, some so distant their light has taken 10 billion years to reach Earth. In the Milky Way, the mission will search for water and organic moleculesessentials for life, as we know itin stellar nurseries, regions where stars are born from gas and dust, as well as disks around stars where new planets could be forming.

Every six months, SPHEREx will survey the entire sky using technologies adapted from Earth satellites and Mars spacecraft. The mission will create a map of the entire sky in 96 different color bands, far exceeding the color resolution of previous all-sky maps. It also will identify targets for more detailed study by future missions, such as NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope.

NASA's Astrophysics Explorers Program requested proposals for new missions in September 2016. Nine proposals were submitted, and two mission concepts were selected for further study in August 2017. After a detailed review by a panel of NASA and external scientists and engineers, NASA determined that the SPHEREx concept study offered the best science potential and most feasible development plan.

The mission's principal investigator is James Bock of Caltech in Pasadena, California. Caltech will work with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to develop the mission payload. JPL will also manage the mission.

Ball Aerospace in Broomfield, Colorado, will provide the SPHEREx spacecraft and mission integration. The Korea Astronomy & Space Science Institute in Daejeon, Republic of Korea, will contribute test equipment and science analysis.

Explore further Proposed astrophysics mission to conduct the first infrared spectral survey of the entire skySumming a constant parameter c warps the phase  into angle , according to a relationship that quickly becomes intricate (top). When this operation is applied to electroencephalogram signals, it seems to more clearly reveal the differences in synchronization while either resting or imagining to move a hand and while imagining to move either the left or the right hand (bottom) Credit: Ludovico Minati

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology found a simple, yet effective way to improve how synchronization is measured in chaotic systems. The technique consists of adding a constant parameter to the "analytic signals" in a way that emphasizes certain aspects of their timing. This could improve brain-computer interfaces designed to aid disabled people.

Humans are good at detecting whether separate things happen simultaneously, for example, if two lights flash together or not. When two swings move with a regular motion, it is easy to tell whether there is any temporal relationship or "synchronization." However, the trajectory of some objects, such as kites, can be very complicated while still exhibiting some pattern, even though it may be difficult to detect; such systems are called "chaotic." In physics, chaos does not mean lack of order; it indicates the presence of a very complicated type of order. Chaotic order can be found across many systems, including the activity of neurons.

When trajectories, which do not necessarily correspond to physical movement and can instead represent electrical signals, are sufficiently complicated, it becomes challenging to determine if they are synchronized. In many cases, only some aspects of their motion might be interrelated. Hence, measuring synchronization is difficult and has been the subject of research for decades.

Usually, when a trajectory approximately repeats itself in a loop, it is useful to consider at what point of this cycle the system we are observing is at a given time; we call this its "phase." Meanwhile, when a trajectory is irregular, the size of the loop also changes and each cycle may be larger or smaller than the previous one; this is called the "amplitude." These two aspects are independent and can be extracted from any signal via a mathematical trick called the "analytic signal."

Measuring whether the phases of two systems are related ("phase locked") is crucial across many fields of interest. Obtaining the degree of phase locking between all possible electrode combinations represents a good way of guessing what someone is thinking about via voltages measured via electroencephalogram. Such techniques are not yet very detailed, but can detect some forms of imaginary movements as a data source for brain interfaces to aid disabled people.

However, these brain-computer interfaces are generally slow and inaccurate. Now, researchers in Japan, Poland and Italy propose a new approach to measuring the synchronization between electroencephalogram signals. This research was the result of a collaboration between scientists from Tokyo Institute of Technology, in part funded by the World Research Hub Initiative, the Polish Academy of Sciences in Krakow, Poland, and the University of Catania, Italy.

The idea is straightforward and consists of adding a constant after calculating the "analytic signal"; this effectively has a warping effect, as shown in Figure 1. One consequence is that synchronization between the phases and amplitudes of two signals is captured jointly in a way that depends on the value of this added constant.

The research team first analyzed the effects of adding this constant in simple theoretical systems before moving on to more representative cases, such as a network of transistor oscillators. Then they applied their approach to a dataset of electroencephalogram signals for which users were told either to rest or imagine moving their left or right hand. The added constant clearly helped the team measure the synchronization between electrodes, ultimately allowing them to increase the classification accuracy for these imaginary actions.

Although simple, the approach resulted in significant improvements in the cases analyzed by the team. In future efforts, they will continue to investigate this method so that it hopefully has an impact in practical applications.

Explore further Scientists reveal for first time the exact process by which chaotic systems synchronize

More information: Ludovico Minati et al, Warped phase coherence: An empirical synchronization measure combining phase and amplitude information, Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science (2019). Ludovico Minati et al, Warped phase coherence: An empirical synchronization measure combining phase and amplitude information,(2019). DOI: 10.1063/1.5082749Princeton seismologist Jessica Irving, an assistant professor of geosciences, sits with two meteorites from Princeton University's collection that contain iron thought to be from the interiors of planetesimals. Irving uses seismology to investigate the interior of our own planet, recently finding mountain-sized topographic roughness on the 660-km boundary at the base of the mantle's transition zone. Credit: Denise Applewhite, Princeton University

Most schoolchildren learn that the Earth has three (or four) layers: a crust, mantle and core, which is sometimes subdivided into an inner and outer core. That's not wrong, but it does leave out several other layers that scientists have identified within the Earth.

In a study published this week in Science, Princeton geophysicists Jessica Irving and Wenbo Wu, in collaboration with Sidao Ni from the Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics in China, used data from an enormous earthquake in Bolivia to find mountains and other topography on a layer located 660 kilometers (410 miles) straight down, which separates the upper and lower mantle. (Lacking a formal name for this layer, the researchers simply call it "the 660-km boundary.")

To peer deep into the Earth, scientists use the most powerful waves on the planet, which are generated by massive earthquakes. "You want a big, deep earthquake to get the whole planet to shake," said Irving, an assistant professor of geosciences.

Big earthquakes are vastly more powerful than small onesenergy increases 30-fold with every step up the Richter scaleand deep earthquakes, "instead of frittering away their energy in the crust, can get the whole mantle going," Irving said. She gets her best data from earthquakes that are magnitude 7.0 or higher, she said, as the shockwaves they send out in all directions can travel through the core to the other side of the planetand back again. For this study, the key data came from waves picked up after a magnitude 8.2 earthquakethe second-largest deep earthquake ever recordedthat shook Bolivia in 1994.

"Earthquakes this big don't come along very often," she said. "We're lucky now that we have so many more seismometers than we did even 20 years ago. Seismology is a different field than it was 20 years ago, between instruments and computational resources."

Seismologists and data scientists use powerful computers, including Princeton's Tiger supercomputer cluster, to simulate the complicated behavior of scattering waves in the deep Earth.

The technology depends on a fundamental property of waves: their ability to bend and bounce. Just as light waves can bounce (reflect) off a mirror or bend (refract) when passing through a prism, earthquake waves travel straight through homogenous rocks but reflect or refract when they encounter any boundary or roughness.

"We know that almost all objects have surface roughness and therefore scatter light," said Wu, the lead author on the new paper, who just completed his geosciences Ph.D. and is now a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology. "That's why we can see these objectsthe scattering waves carry the information about the surface's roughness. In this study, we investigated scattered seismic waves traveling inside the Earth to constrain the roughness of the Earth's 660-km boundary."

The researchers were surprised by just how rough that boundary isrougher than the surface layer that we all live on. "In other words, stronger topography than the Rocky Mountains or the Appalachians is present at the 660-km boundary," said Wu. Their statistical model didn't allow for precise height determinations, but there's a chance that these mountains are bigger than anything on the surface of the Earth. The roughness wasn't equally distributed, either; just as the crust's surface has smooth ocean floors and massive mountains, the 660-km boundary has rough areas and smooth patches. The researchers also examined a layer 410 kilometers (255 miles) down, at the top of the mid-mantle "transition zone," and they did not find similar roughness.

"They find that Earth's deep layers are just as complicated as what we observe at the surface," said seismologist Christine Houser, an assistant professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology who was not involved in this research. "To find 2-mile (1-3 km) elevation changes on a boundary that is over 400 miles (660 km) deep using waves that travel through the entire Earth and back is an inspiring feat. ... Their findings suggest that as earthquakes occur and seismic instruments become more sophisticated and expand into new areas, we will continue to detect new small-scale signals which reveal new properties of Earth's layers."

What it means

The presence of roughness on the 660-km boundary has significant implications for understanding how our planet formed and continues to function. That layer divides the mantle, which makes up about 84 percent of the Earth's volume, into its upper and lower sections. For years, geoscientists have debated just how important that boundary is. In particular, they have investigated how heat travels through the mantlewhether hot rocks are carried smoothly from the core-mantle boundary (almost 2,000 miles down) all the way up to the top of the mantle, or whether that transfer is interrupted at this layer. Some geochemical and mineralogical evidence suggests that the upper and lower mantle are chemically different, which supports the idea that the two sections don't mix thermally or physically. Other observations suggest no chemical difference between the upper and lower mantle, leading some to argue for what's called a "well-mixed mantle," with both the upper and lower mantle participating in the same heat-transfer cycle.

"Our findings provide insight into this question," said Wu. Their data suggests that both groups might be partially right. The smoother areas of the 660-km boundary could result from more thorough vertical mixing, while the rougher, mountainous areas may have formed where the upper and lower mantle don't mix as well.

In addition, the roughness the researchers found, which existed at large, moderate and small scales, could theoretically be caused by heat anomalies or chemical heterogeneities. But because of how heat in transported within the mantle, Wu explained, any small-scale thermal anomaly would be smoothed out within a million years. That leaves only chemical differences to explain the small-scale roughness they found.

What could cause significant chemical differences? The introduction of rocks that used to belong to the crust, now resting quietly in the mantle. Scientists have long debated the fate of the slabs of sea floor that get pushed into the mantle at subduction zones, the collisions happening found all around the Pacific Ocean and elsewhere around the world. Wu and Irving suggest that remnants of these slabs may now be just above or just below the 660-km boundary.

"It's easy to assume, given we can only detect seismic waves traveling through the Earth in its current state, that seismologists can't help understand how Earth's interior has changed over the past 4.5 billion years," said Irving. "What's exciting about these results is that they give us new information to understand the fate of ancient tectonic plates which have descended into the mantle, and where ancient mantle material might still reside."

She added: "Seismology is most exciting when it lets us better understand our planet's interior in both space and time."

Explore further Lab experiments offer credence to theory that subducted crust exists at the base of Earth's upper mantleStudents are invited to give feedback on teachers performance at Australian universities. Credit: from www.shutterstock.com

University students, like many in society, demonstrate bias against women and particularly women from non-English speaking backgrounds.

That's the take home message from a new and comprehensive analysis of student experience surveys.

The study examined a large dataset consisting of more than 500,000 student responses collected over 2010 to 2016. It involved more than 3,000 teachers and 2,000 courses across five faculties at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney.

Most bias in science and business

Interestingly, the bias varies.

In parts of science and business the effects are clear. In the science and business faculties, a male teacher from an English-speaking background was more than twice as likely to get a higher score on a student evaluation than a female teacher from a non-English speaking background.

But in other areas, such as arts and social science, the effects are almost marginal. In engineering, effects were only detected for non-English speakers.

When one looks at the probability of scoring very high ratings, and dissects the categories into genders and cultural background, the results are clear. The disparities occur mostly at the very top end: this is where bias creeps in.

Previously the university had looked at just the average (mean) ratings of teachers of different genders, and found that they are more or less indistinguishable (unpublished data). But this new study goes further and provides information that is not evident in superficial analyses.

Should we abandon student feedback?

Student feedback can be a useful mechanism to understand the varied experiences of students. But student feedback is sometimes used inappropriately in staff performance evaluations, and that's where the existence of bias creates serious problems.

One can make the case for abandoning student feedback  and many have.

But it's problematic to turn a deaf ear to the student voice, and that is not what national approaches such as the Quality in Learning and Teaching processes (QILT) are doing.

This is because feedback can often be helpful. It can make things better. In addition, it is often positive. Sometimes the feedback is actually the way students say thanks.

However, sometimes it can be very hurtful and damaging, particularly if it is motivated by prejudice. We have to be aware of that and the barriers it can create.

We know that minority groups already suffer from reduced confidence and visibility, so biased teacher evaluations may exaggerate existing inequities.

What do the numbers mean?

It is very important to be cautious when looking at the raw numbers.

Firstly, let's consider what the numbers mean. Students are not evaluating teaching and learning in these surveys. They are telling us about their experiences  that's why we call them MyExperience surveys at UNSW. We resist the idea that they are student evaluations of teaching, as are used in some settings.

Peer review can make contributions to evaluating teaching while assessments can help evaluate learning  however they may not be enough to overcome bias. When considering professional performance at UNSW, we do not exclude the feedback that students provide on their experience, but we look at a basket of indicators.

Secondly, one has to be serious about the biases that emerge, acknowledge them and confront the issues. Most universities pride themselves on being diverse and inclusive, and students support this.

But this study reminds us that we have work to do. Biases exist. The message is strong. You are more likely to score top ratings if you come from the category of white male: that is, if you are from the prevailing establishment.

The influence of history

These results may be surprising given the diversity of the student and staff body at Australian universities.

But our cultural milieu has been historically saturated by white males, and continuing biases exist. The important thing is to be aware of them, and when looking at the numbers to realise that the ratings are provided in the context of a particular society at a particular moment in time.

The scores should not be blindly accepted at face value.

Most universities, including ours, are working on being more inclusive. At UNSW a new Deputy Vice-Chancellor Equity, Diversity and Inclusion  Eileen Baldry  was recently appointed, and we are working hard to combat bias and to introduce new strategies aimed at supporting diversity. For example, the university will introduce new training for members of promotion panels, explaining the biases detected in our new study. By understanding the problem, we can begin to address it.

All staff across all of our universities can benefit from becoming more aware of issues around bias  especially those in powerful positions, such as members of promotion committees.

Reducing bias will have great benefits for society as university students represent a large proportion of future leaders in government and industry.

It is clear that negative stereotypes will contribute to the partiality that exists within our student community. Encouraging more women and cultural minorities at all levels in higher education, in leadership positions and in membership of key committees will help shrink these biases.

Training in values

Training students is challenging, especially at large modern universities such as UNSW, which has a cohort of over 50,000 coming from more than 100 countries. But our study found similar levels of bias in local students, as we did in international students.

In training students we have to remember that we provide knowledge, but also communicate values via our words and our behaviours.

If we are to continue to listen to the student experience, we need to be careful with the results. Rigorous statistical analyses such as this study, can help us recognise bias and work to address it. If our students graduate with less bias than when they entered their degree, we will be contributing to creating a more equitable and inclusive society in the future.

It is not easy to uproot prejudices but the data are clear. We expect people will be on board and be pleased to contribute to moving things in the right direction.

Explore further Gender and cultural bias exists against teachers at university level

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.Credit: CC0 Public Domain

National Forest Inventories (NFIs) provide statistically sound data, for example, to support evidence-based policy making. DIABOLO, a European Union Horizon 2020 project, has now provided new solutions to support policy making related to climate, environment, land-use and the bioeconomy. Over 20 countries have taken into use mathematical models that have been developed in this project that has brought together 33 scientific institutions in 25 countries.

Forest inventory data varies a great deal among European countries. When the data is harmonised, the data becomes comparable and summable. By developing and further enhancing mathematical models describing forest resources and their development the DIABOLO project has responded to European, regional and national challenges while addressing global Sustainable Development Goals. When exploited by the NFIs the results from the DIABOLO project can support the development of a sustainable and circular bioeconomy.

Forest inventory experts and scientists, forest data providers, national and regional policy makers and forest managers from over 30 countries gathered at the DIABOLO Final Conference in the Koli National Park, Finland, on 1214 February. Presentations focus on future possibilities to exploit the results and tools developed in the project.

Among the speakers of the final conference were Antti Asikainen, Executive Vice President Research of Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), and Peter Mayer, Director General of Austrian Forest Research Institute. International organisations involved in forest statistics and forest outlooks are represented by Roman Michalak from the UNECE, Anssi Pekkarinen from the FAO, and Katarzyna Bialan from the European Environment Agency (EEA).

The conference is organised back-to-back with the following events: National Forest Inventories towards 2020 in the context of DIABOLO and the UNECE Forest Sector Outlook Day.

As coordinator of DIABOLO, Prof. Dr. Tuula Packalen from the Natural Resources Institute Finland, Luke, explains: "We have provided solutions for sustainable, resilient and climate-smart forestry. For example, bioeconomy investments across Europe rely on the availability of natural resources. At the same time, ecological sustainability of the environment must not be compromised. DIABOLO solutions help understand the trade-offs between different forms of land-use and forest services and products."

Explore further Using big data to help manage global natural assets

Provided by Natural Resources Institute FinlandCredit: CC0 Public Domain

Beneath the waters of Australia, plants are helping fight climate change.

Breathe deeply. All that lovely oxygen you're getting right now was recycled somewhere by plants (and plankton). But it's not just the land-based plants responsible for restoring Earth's oxygen supplymarine plants also play an important role.

Mangroves, seagrasses and inhabitants of salt marshes are just some of the plants responsible for creating something called blue carbon. But this important part of underwater ecology looks more brown and green than a pretty aqua hue.

Cracking down on carbon

It works like this: marine plants capture carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, just like their terrestrial siblings. The plants transform the carbon into carbohydrates, which are then used by the plant to grow stems, leaves and flowers. When the plant dies, the carbon locked in its tissues is trapped, stored underground.

Mat Vanderklift, a marine ecologist at CSIRO, says because this trapped carbon is waterlogged, very little oxygen gets to it and it cannot decompose. The carbon can remain trapped much more efficiently than land-based carbon traps, like trees.

This removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are rising, causing global warming, and human-caused carbon dioxide is the largest contributor.

Australia and many other countries around the world are looking at how we can harness blue carbon to help combat global warming.

Mat is researching how Australia can create a blue carbon economy.

A blue carbon economy is a model where businesses can pay to support renewing wetlands and coasts to help prevent environmental damage. It can help make a business environmentally ethical and balance out its own carbon emissions. For certain businesses like fisheries, blue carbon economies can even help secure their future.

"In salt marshes, seagrasses and mangroves, the carbon is stored underground," Mat says.

These marine ecosystems are such great carbon catchers they can be more effective than rainforests in cleaning our atmosphere of carbon dioxide.

The mangrove disappearing act

Unfortunately, while we're pumping more carbon dioxide into the air than ever before, we're also losing vast swathes of our blue carbon ecosystems.

The world has lost 50% coverage of its tidal marshes and mangroves in the past 10 years alone. Deforestation, farming, construction and climate change all contribute to these losses. What's more, when we lose the mangroves and marshes, the carbon trapped by these plants can re-enter the atmosphere.

It's not all bad news though. Scientists like Mat and the general public are all getting together to bring back these marine ecosystems.

"If all you want to do is trap carbon, well that's easy to upscale. But that's often not all we want to do. We want to replenish fish stocks or increase biodiversity and bring back the plants and animals that used to live in these ecosystems," Mat says.

Bringing back mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses also helps bring back animals that call these ecosystems home.

Stopping the great ocean grab

This is particularly good news for coastal communities that rely on fishing for food and work. Mat says working with these coastal communities is a vital part of making sure replenished marine environments survive.

"The old colonial way doesn't work. We can't just go in and tell people what to do. We have to start conversations with them so they understand the benefits to their communities."

By working with local communities, we can clean the air, restore our ecosystems and increase available fish for local communities.

Explore further Are we losing one of our biggest carbon dioxide sinks?

This article first appeared on Particle, a science news website based at Scitech, Perth, Australia. Read the original article.The skeleton of a rabbit once in the collection of Charles Darwin, from which the scientists took a DNA sample. Credit: Trustees of the Natural History Museum

Nearly seventy years after myxomatosis decimated the rabbit populations of Australia, Britain and France, a new study reveals how the species has evolved genetic resistance to the disease through natural selection.

An unprecedented study of rabbit DNA spanning 150 years and thousands of miles has revealed the genetic basis for the animal's fightback against the deadly myxoma virus. Using the latest technology, an international team led by the University of Cambridge and CIBIO Institute in Porto, extracted DNA from nearly 200 rabbits dating from 1865-2013, including one owned by Charles Darwin. The scientists then sequenced nearly 20,000 genes to pinpoint mutations that have emerged since the myxomatosis pandemics of the 1950s.

The study, published today in the journal Science, establishes that modern rabbits in Australia, the UK and France have acquired resistance to myxomatosis through the same genetic changes. The scientists also discovered that this resistance relies on the cumulative impact of multiple mutations of different genes.

Lead author, Joel Alves said: "We compared rabbits collected before the virus outbreak in the 1950s with modern populations that evolved resistance, and found that the same genes had changed in all three countries. Many of these genes play a key role in the rabbit immune system. Often evolution works through big changes in single genes, but our findings show that resistance to myxomatosis likely evolved through lots of small effects spread across the genome."

Three particularly significant mutations were discovered in the IFN-alpha 21A gene which sets off a protein-based alarm in rabbit cells when a virus is detected. In the lab, the team produced the form of the protein found in rabbits in the 1950s and the different form found today. Senior author Professor Francis Jiggins from Cambridge's Department of Genetics said: "We sent these proteins into battle with different strains of the virus and that's when we saw, on a molecular level, how rabbits have been fighting back over all these years."

Australia unleashed myxomatosis on an out-of-control rabbit population in 1950. The European rabbit is thought to have been introduced to the country by Thomas Austin, an English settler, in the 1850s. Within a century, they numbered hundreds of millions. The species wreaked havoc on Australia's native plants and animals but in less than three months, myxomatosis had spread 2,000 km and killed 99 per cent of infected animals. In 1952, the virus was illegally introduced in France and in 1953 it reached the UK, leading to similarly devastating results in both countries.

Scientists soon began tracking the evolution of both the virus and the rabbits, and in all three countries, they observed a substantial drop in fatality rates. They concluded that this was due to the disease becoming less virulent but also rabbits becoming more resistant. Animal populations exhibit considerable genetic variation in susceptibility to infection which allows for rapid evolution of resistance when exposed to new diseases. The pandemics of the 1950s triggered a particularly intense process of natural selection. Those initial findings have become a textbook example of host-parasite coevolution but this new study offers a far more detailed picture of what has been happening in rabbits.

The team collected historical samples from 11 natural history museums in the UK, France, Australia and the United States. One of the rabbits from which DNA was sequenced belonged to Charles Darwin and is now housed in London's Natural History Museum (images attached). Joel Alves said: "It wasn't easy to get samples from so many long-dead rabbits. Not all natural history museums keep rabbits because they are not very exotic compared to other species. But the museums we worked with have done a great job of keeping their specimens well preserved for decades. This and the availability of new technology gave us a unique opportunity."

At a time when rabbit populations are collapsing across the UK and mainland Europe, this research may provide clues to the animal's future. The team found that the protein that helps rabbits fend off the myxoma virus also has an antiviral effect on an unrelated virus called vesicular stomatitis. Miguel Carneiro, from CIBIO, University of Porto, said: "While battling myxoma, rabbits may have increased their resistance to other viruses including, perhaps, rabbit haemorrhagic disease which is killing so many animals right now."

Meanwhile, myxoma remains a serious threat to rabbits. Joel Alves said: "Viral evolution appears to be finding ways to counter the genetic adaptations which we've observed. Recent, more virulent recent strains of myxoma virus, have been found to be extremely immunosuppressive. So the arms race goes on."

Explore further Towards winning the war on feral wild rabbits

More information: J. Alves el al., "Parallel adaptation of rabbit populations to myxoma virus," Science (2019). Journal information: Science J. Alves el al., "Parallel adaptation of rabbit populations to myxoma virus,"(2019). science.sciencemag.org/lookup/  1126/science.aau7285Credit: CC0 Public Domain

When it comes to accumulating and assessing research evidence, meta-analyses are considered the gold standard as they allow researchers to analyze results from many studies on the same question. It is sometimes the case, however, that two meta-analyses on the same question, both pointing to hundreds of studies to back them up, draw completely opposite conclusions. The debates on whether or not video games cause violent behavior is one prominent example.

Meta-analyses often arrive to very different conclusions because in the process of conducting them, researchers make many conscious and unconscious choices that can affect the end result. Documenting all of these decisions can be overly cumbersome, but without this information, it's difficult to accurately judge the credibility of a meta-analysis.

Kweku Opoku-Agyemang, a Research Fellow at the Center for Effective Global Action at the University of California, Berkeley, believes that blockchain, with its ability to create tamper-proof, time-stamped records of events, can strengthen the transparency and reproducibility of meta-analyses.

At the 2019 American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meetings, he will present his idea of how blockchain can be applied to social science meta-analyses, where reproducibility is a growing concern. Opoku-Agyemang looks to build a cloud computing platform that would continuously record a researcher's workflow and track analysts' decisions, such as how studies are collected and analyzed as part of a meta-analysis. In cases where meta-analyses present contradictory results on the same question, blockchain can help pinpoint exactly how they vary based upon individual timestamps of analytic decisions. The proposed platform would seamlessly create dependable records without adding to the already difficult process of conducting a meta-analysis.

"My hope is that blockchain can not only make meta-analysis research more efficient, but inspire new lines of research to help solve the many economic and social problems we all care about" says Opoku-Agyemang. "I also hope that it will facilitate collaboration, as the social sciences in general, and economics in particular, are still lagging behind other disciplines." In the next step of the project, Opoku-Agyemang is looking to pilot his concept using the literature on microcredit, which is an increasingly popular poverty alleviation tool among policymakers, but one that is heavily contested in the research community.The paired sensors -- one placed between the ninth and 10th ribs and the other on the abdomen -- track the rate and volume of the wearer's respiration by measuring the local strain on the application areas. Credit: Josh Kim / UCI

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a wearable, disposable respiration monitor that provides high-fidelity readings on a continuous basis. It's designed to help children with asthma and cystic fibrosis and others with chronic pulmonary conditions.

The inexpensively produced sensors were created by UCI biomedical engineers using the popular children's toy Shrinky Dinks, thin sheets of plastic that are painted or drawn on and then shrunk with heat.

Placed in two positionsone between the ninth and 10th ribs and another on the abdomenthe Band-Aid-like devices track the rate and volume of the wearer's respiration by measuring the local strain on the application areas. The information gleaned could, in the case of asthma, help warn of an oncoming attack.

"The current standard of care in respiration monitoring is a pulmonary function test that's often difficult to perform and limited in terms of the snapshot it provides of a patient's respiratory healthmeaning problems can sometimes be missed," said Michael Chu, UCI graduate student researcher in biomedical engineering and lead author of a paper on the innovation published today in npj Digital Medicine. "Our new stretch sensors allow users to walk around and go about their lives while vital information on the health of their lungs is being collected."

The devices are made by applying a very thin layer of metal to a sheet of the plastic toy and then heat-shrinking it to cause corrugation. The film is then transferred to a soft, stretchy materialsimilar to small bandagethat can be adhered to a patient. Signals from embedded sensors can be transmitted via Bluetooth to be displayed on a smartphone app.

Michelle Khine, UCI professor of biomedical engineering, in whose lab the devices were developed, said she was inspired to pursue the innovation after the birth of her son nine months ago. Complications required the newborn to be confined to the neonatal intensive care unit hooked up to an array of machines supplying oxygen and monitoring his breathing.

"Despite having his whole tiny body covered in sensors, all the hospital staff could get was respiration rate information. If you looked at the vitals monitor, you'd see this waveform, so it looked like they were getting [respiration volume] information, but they weren't," Khine said. "I felt so helpless with my child just lying in this box. I wasn't allowed to carry him for eight days, so it was heartbreakingbut also frustrating to see all of these wires hooked up to him but not giving all the information we wanted."

She said those days in the hospital following the birth of her son were strongly motivating to her as a biomedical engineer: "I sent some pictures of him all wired up to my students, and I said, 'We have to be able to do better than this. This is 2018. It's insane.'"

Khine's lab is well-known for employing Shrinky Dinks as a platform for medical applications. About a decade ago, she innovated the use of the toy to produce microfluidic devices.

"It's amazing that this toy for kids has enabled us to create these robust sensors that may one day benefit children and others around the world," she said.

So far, members of the Khine lab have tested the new technology on healthy subjects, but there are plans for a pilot trial with a small number of asthma sufferers in the coming months.

Explore further The Shrinky Dink solution

More information: Michael Chu et al, Respiration rate and volume measurements using wearable strain sensors, npj Digital Medicine (2019). Michael Chu et al, Respiration rate and volume measurements using wearable strain sensors,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41746-019-0083-3The spleen is one of the immunological organs where follicular B cells (blue) and germinal center B cells (green) develop high-affinity antibody responses. In contrast, B1 cells are innate-like B cells and predominantly located in the peritoneal and pleural cavities. Credit: Chu Van Trung, MDC

A new MDC study may resolve a decades-old debate in immunology. A team led by Professor Klaus Rajewsky reports in Science that distinct progenitor cells are not required for the development of B1 cells. Instead, the team's experiments show that B1-typical B-cell receptor can reprogram B2 cells into B1 cells, suggesting that B1 cells emerge as a consequence of their special B-cell receptors.

In the fight against diseases, one thing is absolutely vital: B-cells. These particular cells, which belong to a class of white blood cells called lymphocytes, are the only cells in the immune system capable of making antibodies. The Y-shaped proteins latch onto foreign structures such as bacteria or viruses, thus marking them as intruders for elimination by phagocytes and other immune cells.

B1 cells are already present in newborns and play an important role in natural immunity

There are two types of B cells. B2 cells, which make up the largest portion of the white blood cells in the body, mainly circulate in the blood and in the lymphoid organs such as the thymus, spleen, lymph nodes, and bone marrow. B1 cells, on the other hand, are mainly present in the peritoneal and pleural cavities, and hence in the areas around the intestinal tract and the lungs. They respond to a wide range of foreign proteins, called antigens, but also to some of the body's own antigensand in a different manner than the highly specialized B2 cells.

B1 cells constitute the majority of all B lymphocytes in newborns, but in adults the proportion of B1 cells drops to only a few percent. This is one of the reasons why B1 cells are considered carriers of natural immunityi.e. the innate immune systemwhile B2 cells are mainly responsible for adaptive immunity, which emerges, for example, after an infection or a vaccination.

For decades, immunologists have debated the origin of B cells

Until now, it was unclear how the different types of B cells developed. "Some immunologists think B1 and B2 cells emerge from different progenitor cells," says Dr. Robin Graf, one of the lead authors of the Science article and a member of the Immune Regulation and Cancer research group at the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin, which is headed by Professor Klaus Rajewsky. "Other immunologists believe special autoreactive B-cell receptors trigger the formation of B1 cells."

The new study, in which also other scientists from Rajewsky's group who were at the time in Cologne and Boston played a major role, now provides clear evidence for the validity of the second hypothesis. "We replaced the B-cell receptor in mature B2 cells with a B1-typical B-cell receptor, which is found in nature only on B1 cells," explains Graf.

The manipulated B2 cells assumed the properties of B1 cells

This procedure transformed the B2 cells into B1 cells. "We were able to show that the cells acquired the B1-typical surface markers," reports Graf. The manipulated B2 lymphocytes also took on the functional properties of B1 lymphocytes. "When we transplanted them into mice, they were homing to those parts of the body where B1 cells are naturally found," says the MDC researcher.

In addition, the cells began to spontaneously produce antibodies. "That's also a typical feature of B1 cells," explains Graf. What's more, once the B1-typical receptor was expressed on the B2 lymphocytes, the cells started to multiply in great numbers over a period of one to two weeks. This strikingly resembles the natural development of B1 cells at early stagesa process that has barely been studied.

The end to a longstanding debate is in sight

Later in the study, Graf measured the activity of thousands of genes in the manipulated B2 cells. "Here we found that the same genes were active in these cells as in normal B1 cells," reports the scientist.

Graf expects that the new study will convince immunologists that B1 cells emerge as a consequence of the specificity of their B-cell receptors.

More information: "BCR-dependent lineage plasticity in mature B cells" Science (2019). Journal information: Science "BCR-dependent lineage plasticity in mature B cells"(2019). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi  1126/science.aau8475Some Austrian retailers have accused Amazon of deleting them from product rankings

Austria's competition authorities said Thursday it was launching a probe into whether US online retail giant Amazon was abusing its dominant position to favour its own products against those of Austrian retailers selling on its market place.

The Austrian Federal Competition Authority (BWB) said in a statement that it was investigating complaints received in December 2018 about Amazon's alleged "unfair trade practices".

The suspicion was that Amazon "discriminates against other retailers and thereby tries to inordinately favour its own products on the Amazon market place", BWB said.

According to the complaints, Amazon allegedly terminated sellers' accounts abruptly and for no apparent reason.

It also allegedly forced retailers to disclose their prices and added incorrect delivery details to the sellers' accounts.

The retailers also accused Amazon of deleting them from product rankings and introducing jurisdiction clauses making it difficult for them to take legal action.

"The digital world is not a legal vacuum. Companies operating on a global scale must adhere to applicable Austrian laws and regulations," said BWB chief Theodor Thanner.

BWB decided to launch the investigation after consulting the European Commission and Germany's federal cartel office, which had started a similar probe against Amazon last November, he said.

Internet giants such as Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook are coming under increasing scrutiny worldwide for their business practices, the way they collect and store user data, as well as their efforts to avoid taxes.

Other countries, such as Japan and France, but also the EU Commission have all launched probes against such companies recently.

In June 2017, the EU Commission slapped a 2.4-billion-euro fine on Google for abusing its dominant position.

The BWB said on Thursday that its investigation could eventually lead to warnings, sanctions or even fines being imposed on Amazon, if the cartel court finds it breached EU and Austrian law.

"The results of the examination must be awaited before taking next steps," said BWB chief Thanner.

Explore further Amazon targeted in German competition probe

 2019 AFPClimate-driven CO2 exchange: The spectral colors show the anomalies in the CO2 exchange on land during El Nino years. FLUXNET data have been upscaled by machine learning. Radiation anomalies are shown in red, temperature anomalies in green and water anomalies in blue. Credit: Martin Jung

A study by German scientists from Jena and Hamburg, published today in the journal Nature, shows that artificial intelligence (AI) can substantially improve our understanding of the climate and the Earth system. Especially the potential of deep learning has only partially been exhausted so far. In particular, complex dynamic processes such as hurricanes, fire propagation, and vegetation dynamics can be better described with the help of AI. As a result, climate and Earth system models will be improved, with new models combining artificial intelligence and physical modeling.

In the past decades mainly static attributes have been investigated using machine learning approaches, such as the distribution of soil properties from the local to the global scale. For some time now, it has been possible to tackle more dynamic processes by using more sophisticated deep learning techniques. This allows for example to quantify the global photosynthesis on land with simultaneous consideration of seasonal and short term variations.

Deducing underlying laws from observation data

"From a plethora of sensors, a deluge of Earth system data has become available, but so far we've been lagging behind in analysis and interpretation," explains Markus Reichstein, managing director of the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, directory board member of the Michael-Stifel-Center Jena (MSCJ) and first author of the publication. "This is where deep learning techniques become a promising tool, beyond the classical machine learning applications such as image recognition, natural language processing or AlphaGo," adds co-author Joachim Denzler from the Computer Vision Group of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU) and member of MSCJ. Examples for application are extreme events such as fire spreads or hurricanes, which are very complex processes influenced by local conditions but also by their temporal and spatial context. This also applies to atmospheric and ocean transport, soil movement, and vegetation dynamics, some of the classic topics of Earth system science.

Artificial intelligence to improve climate and Earth system models

However, deep learning approaches are difficult. All data-driven and statistical approaches do not guarantee physical consistency per se, are highly dependent on data quality, and may experience difficulties with extrapolations. Besides, the requirement for data processing and storage capacity is very high. The publication discusses all these requirements and obstacles and develops a strategy to efficiently combine machine learning with physical modeling. If both techniques are brought together, so-called hybrid models are created. They can for example be used for modeling the motion of ocean water to predict sea surface temperature. While the temperatures are modelled physically, the ocean water movement is represented by a machine learning approach. "The idea is to combine the best of two worlds, the consistency of physical models with the versatility of machine learning, to obtain greatly improved models," Markus Reichstein further explains.

The scientists contend that detection and early warning of extreme events as well as seasonal and long-term prediction and projection of weather and climate will strongly benefit from the discussed deep-learning and hybrid modelling approaches.

Explore further Expert discusses machine learning and climate modeling

More information: Markus Reichstein et al. Deep learning and process understanding for data-driven Earth system science, Nature (2019). Journal information: Nature Markus Reichstein et al. Deep learning and process understanding for data-driven Earth system science,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-0912-1Inflorescence branch and flowers of Aloe sanguinalis and sap as it develops to the rich dark red color, which gave the name of the new species. Credit: Barkworth M, et al.

Aloe sanguinalis, or Somali Red Aloe, forms large, conspicuous clumps and has blood red sap. Its can easily be spotted from the road, but the species has only just been named and described in the open access journal PhytoKeys.

It remains a mystery how this beautiful and showy aloe species has remained undescribed by science for so long, but one of the theory is that the plant was 'hiding in plain sight"' in an area not usually known for its hight biological diversity.

The locals in the area have long known that the plants were different from other kinds of "Dacar", (the Somali name for Aloes) in the region and were referring to them as "Dacar cas" or "Red aloe".

Similarly, the scientific name for the new species - Aloe sanguinalis - is based on one of its most distinct characters, its bright red color, coming from the peculiar blood-red sap the plant produces. The leaves also become reddish as they mature.

The story of the formal recognition of "Dacar cas" or Aloe sanguinalis, however, began when Ahmed Awale, a leading Somaliland environmentalist, spotted the large, reddish clumps plants, while driving through the country on behalf of Candlelight, an NGO focused on the environment, education, and health.

Later on, when the plant came to the attention of Mary Barkworth, a botanist interested in building botanical capacity in Somaliland. After listening to Ahmed, the two of them began looking formally into the possibility that "Dacar cas" was, indeed, an undescribed species. They were soon convinced it was. After the initial excitement, the next step required demonstrating that "Dacar Cas" differs from all the other 600+ known species of Aloe. That step took longer, but finally it has been done.

Large, conspicuous clumps of Aloe sanguinalis, or Dakar Cas, together with Ahmed Awale, a leading Somaliland environmentalist who first spotted it while driving through the country. Credit: Barkworth M, et al.

"This news comes from a region which had experienced periods of conflict and instability, climate change effects and accelerated environmental degradation, whereby much of the people's attention has been focused on promoting livelihoods and resilience. With this positive piece of information we hope that we inspire scientists to further explore the area," explains Dr. Barkworth.

The new species is currently known from only two locations, but it is hoped that naming and sharing pictures of it online will encourage discovery and documentation of additional locations.

Inflorescence of Aloe sanguinalis in its natural habitat at Lafarug, June 2018. Credit: Barkworth M, et al.

Explore further What effect does oral Aloe Vera have on diabetes?

More information: Mary E. Barkworth et al, Dacar Cas/Somali Red Aloe: a new species of Aloe (Asphodelaceae) from Somaliland, PhytoKeys (2019). Journal information: PhytoKeys Mary E. Barkworth et al, Dacar Cas/Somali Red Aloe: a new species of Aloe (Asphodelaceae) from Somaliland,(2019). DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.117.28226Seizures of pangolins and their scales and skins from Africa, destined for Asia, are increasing. Credit: 2630ben/Shutterstock

Pangolins, a group of unique African and Asian scaly mammals, are considered to be one of the most heavily trafficked wild mammals in the world. They are hunted and traded for their meat, scales, and other body parts, and used as traditional medicines in parts of Africa and Asia.

Of the eight pangolin species, four are found in Africa. These are the whitebellied, blackbellied, giant, and Temminck's ground pangolin. Three of these species live in Central African forests. The tree-dwelling white-bellied and black-bellied pangolins, weighing approximately 1.5 to 3kg (comparable to a small rabbit), and the ground-dwelling giant pangolin can weigh up to 33kg (the weight of a small Labrador dog).

But little is known about population sizes, mortality rates, and reproductive potential of African pangolins. Mounting evidence suggests that as the availability of Asian pangolins declines, and international trade flows increase, traders increasingly supply the more abundant and less expensive African pangolins to meet demand.

Seizures of pangolins and their scales and skins from Africa, destined for Asia, are increasing with over 53 tons seized in 2013 alone. These estimates likely represent a fraction of all pangolins traded, and an even smaller portion of the number of pangolins hunted.

To better understand how many pangolins are hunted in Central Africa each year, I and a team of researchers collated information on the quantities of animals that hunting villages extract from the forest, from studies conducted over the last 20 years. By doing this we can provide crucial information on regional trends which can be used to inform conservation actions and policy.

What we found

We looked into the number of animals hunted in villages and offered for sale by collating data from research and reports that covered over 100 areas in sub-Saharan Africa between 1975 and 2014.

We extracted information on whether the animal was eaten or sold, how they were hunted, the sex, age category, and price. Other species typically hunted for meat include blue duikers, brush-tailed porcupines and greater cane rats.

For Central African forests in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo, we estimated that at least 400,000 pangolins are hunted annually for meat.

Seized pangolin scales from Cameroon. Credit: Linh Nguyen Ngoc Bao/MENTOR-POP

But we don't yet know whether pangolins can withstand these levels of hunting. This is mainly because we don't yet have reliable pangolin population estimates for any of the species that inhabit Central African forests. Ideally, we would also need population and hunting data in the same location to be able to understand the levels of hunting that lead to population declines.

Pressures

The pressures on African pangolins are likely increasing for several reasons.

Firstly, increasing deforestation across West and Central African countries has reduced their habitat, particularly for the semi-arboreal white-bellied pangolin and the arboreal black-bellied pangolin, which rely on forest habitats.

As the human populations grow in West, Eastern and Central Africa, this may exacerbate trends in deforestation and wildlife consumption.

Secondly, increases in the accessibility of remote areas to people and extractive industries may lead to more pangolin hunting. For example, a recent study showed that Asian industry workers in Gabon requested pangolins from hunters more than any other species.

Finally, the international trafficking of pangolins over the past decade has boomed. They are one of the most trafficked wild mammals in the world. For example, eight tonnes of pangolin scales trafficked from Nigeria, one of the largest ever hauls of scales, was intercepted a couple of weeks ago in Hong Kong.

Time to act

While the media has greatly increased its coverage of the plight of pangolins in recent years, financial and political support for conservation is still greatly needed. This includes support for pangolin population monitoring, identification of pangolin strongholds and areas in need of conservation, and the identification, design and testing of conservation interventions, where needed.

Without these steps we may see the African pangolins follow in the footsteps of their Asian counterparts.

Explore further New footage released of rare giant pangolins in Africa

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.In drive hunting, fishermen force dolphins into a cove where the panicked animals get tangled in nets, suffocate and drown

Environmental campaigners have filed an unprecedented lawsuit in a bid to halt the so-called "drive hunting" of dolphins in Japan, arguing the practice is cruel and illegal.

In drive hunting, fishermen force dolphins into a cove by beating on boats to disorient them. The panicked animals often get tangled in nets, suffocate and drown.

Activists say some dolphins smash into rocks and die of injuries, while others are killed by fishermen who thrust a long metal rod repeatedly into the body just behind the blowhole to damage the spinal cord.

In the suit filed last week, the plaintiffs are demanding the governor of western Wakayama prefecture revoke a three-year drive hunting permit in the port town of Taiji.

The practice was filmed in the 2009 Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove", which sparked controversy when it thrust the annual hunt into the global spotlight.

Many in Japan felt it unfairly targeted the town's fishing community, but others were horrified by the disturbing footage.

The lawsuit is the first-ever legal challenge to the hunt in Taiji, according to a lawyer involved in the filing.

It argues that the hunting method violates Japan's animal welfare act, which stipulates animals shall not be abused or killed unnecessarily and thatwhen they must be killedtheir pain must be minimised.

The town of Taiji in Japan where a three-year dolphin 'drive hunting' permit was granted

"Many Japanese see dolphins as fish and mistakenly believe the animal welfare act does not apply to them," said Ren Yabuki, head of an environmental NGO, who brought the action along with a Taiji resident who asked for anonymity.

"I've seen many times that half-killed dolphins are taken away on small boats, thrashing about in pain," Yabuki said, adding it can take dozens of minutes for the animals to die.

The suit challenges the way the hunt is carried out, rather then all kinds of dolphin hunting.

It also claims fishermen are catching more dolphins than allowed by legal caps.

No immediate comment was available from Wakayama officials on the lawsuit.

Dolphins are traditionally caught for meat in Japan, and defenders of the hunt say it is an important part of local culture and point out that dolphins are not endangered.

Nowadays, an increasing number of dolphins are being trapped and sold live for aquariums rather than killed, as demand rises from China or elsewhere, Yabuki said.

Japan has strongly defended its hunting of dolphins and whales, a rare piece of provocative diplomacy for the country, which has generally pursued an uncontroversial foreign policy since its World War II defeat.

It sparked outrage in December when it decided to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission, saying it would return to commercial whaling as part of its cultural heritage.

Explore further Season's first dolphins killed in annual Japan hunt

 2019 AFPGoogle logo is seen on an android mobile phone. (Photo: Getty Images)

Google Philippines announced that it is launching its free WiFi initiative Google Station this month in 50 public locations across the country.

Mahesh Bhalerao, global director for the Next Billion Users initiative, said the platform is a crucial step in expanding connectivity in the nation.

Google Stations allow Filipinos from Luzon, Visayas or Mindanao to connect to open, free, and high-quality internet, Bhalerao said.

Google has partnered with PLDT for the infrastructure.

Do you think Googles free WiFi will be dependable? Have your say in the poll and leave us a comment below.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

Related story:

Google to bring free public WiFi stations to parts of the PhilippinesRice stakeholders protesting against the rice tarrification bill | UNTV News & Rescue

MANILA, Philippines  Several rice industry groups gathered in Mendiola on Thursday (February 14) to protest against the Rice Tariffication Bill which is only a signature away from becoming a law.

The groups call on the President Rodrigo Duterte to veto the measure, citing the possibility of a phase out of low-priced rice in the market currently distributed by the National Food Authority (NFA).

They fear the removal of NFAs marketing support to local farmers because it will open an opportunity for traders to take advantage of the situation.

The groups also oppose the removal of NFAs function to regulate and control the importation of rice because it will lead to rampant smuggling and allow businessmen to manipulate the local rice industry.

They said the government should have a strong regulation and control of rice importation similar to how it regulates the entry of imported garlic, onions and other goods.

Anumang buwan (ay) tuloy-tuloy ang pagiimport ng bigas. Ito ay masama sa ating ekonomiya lalong lalo na sa farmers, argued Orly Manuntag, national PRO of the Confederation of Grains Retailers Association of the Philippines, Inc. (GRECON).

With such a bill, the group said, NFA will no longer have its function to inspect private warehouses and confiscate hoarded supply because there will be no proper inventory of stocks.

Once the bill is enacted into law, they argued, it will cost the jobs of some 4,000 employees of the NFA.

The decision to ratify the rice tariffication bill now depends on whether President Duterte will sign or veto the measure which is due to lapse on February 15.  Marje Pelayo (with reports from Rey Pelayo)

The post Rice industry groups call on Duterte to veto rice tariffication bill appeared first on UNTV News.Session Hall of the House of Representatives Complex in Constitution Hills, Quezon City

PASAY CITY, Philippines  The 3.75 trillion 2019 proposed national budget is now in the hands of President Rodrigo Duterte for his final approval before it gets implemented this year.

Despite the controversies, some lawmakers insist there are no pork barrel insertions in it.

According to Coop-NATCCO party-list Representative Anthony Bravo, there is indeed a P160 million allocation per solon in the budget.

Pero dahil gusto nating i-redistribute, equitably but equally ang resources ng gobyerno para umabot po, pantay-pantay sa ating mga kababayan ay nag-peg ng P160 million. I dont think that is a pork, Bravo argued.

The lawmaker added that the items under the 2019 budget are already transparent, and may be scrutinized by the public.

On the other hand, Senator Panfilo Lacson had earlier argued that the said pork insertions in the budget may cause corruption of the part of the proponents of the projects.

All you have to do is to talk to contractors to find out ilang porsyento ang ibinibigay nila doon sa mga proponent ng mga projects, Lacson said.

Lacson said, however, that his only hope is that the President and his economic managers will thoroughly scrutinize the proposed budget for alleged pork insertions which could then be vetoed by the president himself.  Nel Maribojoc

The post Lawmakers insist P160-M allocation per solon in 2019 budget, not pork barrel appeared first on UNTV News.The iconic Lions Head monument on Kennon Road that marks the entrance to Baguio City. | Lawrence Ruiz/Wikimedia Commons

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines  Kennon Road is now temporarily opened to motorists from Thursday (February 14) to Monday (February 18) to give way for the Philippine Military Academys (PMA) alumni homecoming.

After the homecoming, it will be opened again from February 22 to March 4 for the conduct of the Panagbenga Flower Festival.

The measure is expected to ease traffic flow along Marcos Highway due to the expected influx of participants and tourists to the two events.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) clarified, however, that the main road will only be open to light vehicles with a maximum weight of five tons and only one lane going to Baguio City will be opened.

Meanwhile, motorists bound for the lowland areas may take Marcos Highway, Naguilan Road or the Asin-Nangalisan-San Pascual-Tubao Road.

Only residents of Barangays Camp 3 to 7 are allowed to ply on Kennon Road when leaving Baguio City.

Due to the two important events, rehabilitation works were temporarily suspended along Kennon Road including rock netting in landslide and rockslide-prone areas.

Rehabilitation works will resume on March 4.

Kennon Road, known for its scenic view and landmark lion head, is the major road connecting Baguio City to lowland areas of La Union.

The zigzag road was closed in June 2018 for rehabilitation due to risks of landslide and rockslides.  Marje Pelayo (with reports from Grace Doctolero)

The post Kennon Road temporarily opens for light vehicles on Feb. 14 appeared first on UNTV News.Googles Philippine office yesterday held its first Google for Philippines event where the information technology giant announced its key updates and product launches that are tailored specifically for the local market. One such tool that Google will be updating soonbefore the end of the month we were toldwill be its Google Maps app as it adds a few new features to it.

The first is the new Number Coding feature. Created in collaboration with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the new feature will help drivers get to their destination while avoiding restricted roads on their coding day. Users simply input their assigned coding day in the app and Google Maps will then recommend route options that avoid the restricted roads. Atty. Yvez Gonzalez, the former Director and Officer-in-Charge of the MMDAs Traffic Discipline Office and who now works for Google Philippines as its Public Policy and Government Relations chief personally led the demonstration of the new feature.

Motorcycle Lane

Another new feature on Google Mapsspecifically for iOS usersis the Motorbike mode. Already available for Android devices since 2018, the Motorbike mode gives motorcycle riders more accurate travel times and easy routes using landmarks.

Lastly, as part of Googles support for the local tourism industry, Google worked with the Department of Tourism and the Municipality of Malay to update the Street View images of Boracays world-famous beaches to reflect their new and improved beauty. Currently, while some Street View images of Boracay were taken in 2016, photos of the iconic White Beach strip photos were only taken in January 2019.

Incidentally, the first two new features are already available on the Waze GPS navigation app which Google acquired in June 2013.

What Google Philippines didnt clarify though is if the Number Coding feature will also reflect the number coding scheme in cities and municipalities that have its own rules and regulations on the said scheme that are independent of whats being enforced by the MMDA like Makati and Pasig. Well update you once we hear back from Google Philippines.

UPDATE: According to our source from within Google Philippines, the Number Coding feature on Google Maps will also include local government unit-specific regulations like Makati and Mandaluyongs No Window hours. Whats not yet included though is Pasigs odd-even scheme.

The post Google Maps Will Soon Help You Beat the MMDAs Number Coding Scheme appeared first on Carmudi Philippines.MANILA, Philippines  The Rice Tariffication Bill remains pending in the Office of the President after it was ratified by the Senate and House of Representatives (HOR) earlier last year.

If President Rodrigo Duterte will not veto the proposal, it will lapse into law by Friday (February 15).

The bill aims to replace rice import limits with tariff system to liberalize the process by removing non-tariff barriers.

Budget secretary Benjamin Diokno is confident that President Duterte will not veto the bill.

He also sent a letter to the Office of the President strongly urging the signing of the measure.

We just sent a memo to the president strongly urging the signing of the Rice Tariffication Bill. I understand there are some strong lobby for veto, but lets wait. It could either lapse into law or the president will approve it; but certainly a veto is not possible I think, Diokno said.

Once enacted into law, rice traders no longer have to secure import license from the National Food Authority (NFA) as the agency will lose its regulatory function in rice importation.

The Department of Finance (DOF) will also have to resolve the debt of the National Food Authority (NFA) amounting to P200 billion, according to Diokno.

The budget official also added that the economic managers are looking for ways to improve the agriculture sector.

In 2018, the said sector only contributed zero point one percent in the Philippines economic growth.

We have to put pressure on this sector to improve themselves, and increase productivity because right now, they are not competitive. Our production cost is much higher than the whole price of rice for example, the Budget Secretary noted.

During the last cabinet meeting of President Duterte, the agenda included discussions on alleviating the lives of farmers and fisherfolks, providing them better access to credit and loan facilities and improving agricultural productivity.  Rosalie Coz

The post Diokno: Duterte wont veto Rice Tariffication Bill appeared first on UNTV News.Blue Bottle Jellyfish | Wikimedia Commons

BORACAY ISLAND, Philippines  Environment authorities in Western Visayas warned beach goers to steer clear of the venomous bluebottle jellyfish spotted ashore the east coast of Boracay Island and along Puka Beach.

Bluebottle jellyfish venom is powerful enough to kill fishes and their sting is painful, though unlikely life-threatening to humans.

Although there are no sightings of this species on the front beach, we still appeal to the public to remain vigilant and never touch these creatures as their stingers are still active even if they are out of the water, According to the advisory of the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (MENRO) posted on DENR-Western Visayas website.



Authorities remind the public that if stung by a bluebottle jellyfish, immediately approach the deployed life guards along the beach for first aid.

Although very rare, it is possible that bluebottle sting may result to anaphylactic shock or severe allergic reaction which can be fatal.

In such a case, immediate medical help should be sought.

Bluebottle jellyfish also known in Atlantic Portuguese as man-of-war, is common in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.  Marje Pelayo

The post Beach goers warned against bluebottle jellyfish spotted in Boracay Island appeared first on UNTV News.THE National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) has removed over 650,000 campaign materials all over Metro Manila.NCRPO Director Major General Guillermo Eleazar urged the candidates to also do their

A FORMER police officer who had been declared absent without leave (Awol) was killed in a drug bust Thursday dawn, February 14, in Pulilan, Bulacan.

Former Police officer 3 Rowell Reynon allegedly drew his gun and shot at the operatives after he sensed that he was dealing with policemen.

Senior Superintendent Chito Bersaluna, Bulacan Provincial Police Office director, said the operation was conducted in Barangay Lumbac in Pulilan, Bulacan around 4 a.m. on February 14.

Said operation turned into a shooting encounter shortly after the suspect, who sold one transparent plastic sachet containing suspected shabu in exchange for 500 pesos to undercover poseur buyer but sensed that it was planned operation so he suddenly drew his concealed handgun and fired at the operatives which dictates the lawmen to defend the aggression and able to retaliate that resulted to the neutralization of the suspect, said Bersaluna.

Bersaluna said Reynon was dismissed from police service in 2010 after being involved in illegal drugs transactions.

He said Reynon was a former member of the so-called Alabang Boys, a top level drug group of wealthy personalities. (SunStar Philippines)Economists who argue that there is no retirement income crisis are missing the point. The crisis is not today, it is 20 years in the future .



But the time to act is now, before it's too late.



Every day, millions of Americans go to their jobs, work hard, and play by the rules to pay the bills and put food on the table each night. But they often struggle to then find any way to save for retirement .



Currently, almost half of all American families do not have any retirement savings . That's a time bomb waiting to go off, putting families across this country in jeopardy for generations and placing our economy at risk.



The challenges are clear: More than one-third of all private sector workers do not have access to a workplace retirement plan. Projections show that 44 percent of Baby Boomers and Gen Xers risk running short of funds for retirement. And 40 percent of American adults would be unable to come up with $400 for an emergency expense account, without borrowing money or selling a possession .



We face a looming retirement crisis that will impact millions of elderly and soon-to-be elderly Americans, as well as our children and grandchildren who will have to bail out those generations.



By 2035, and for the first time in U.S. history, Americans over the age of 65 will outnumber our children. If we stay on trend, America's old-age dependency ratio in 2020 will be 3.5 working-age adults for every person of retirement age. By 2060, that ratio will fall to about 2.5 to one .



The reality of the aging of America must be considered with current income trends. A recent study from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis showed that between 1989 to 2013, there has been some wage growth among older families. Yet families in which the head of the household is 61 years old or younger actually saw wage declines over the past two decades by about 30 percent. That's a stark reality for too many families struggling to pay the bills, who often aren't able to save for retirement .



In two decades, Americans will be older and older Americans will be poorer. That reality begs the question: How we will afford to care for older Americans when most American families have no or very little retirement savings?



There are steps we can take to help address this looming retirement crisis.



First, individuals and families must make saving for retirement a priority . It can be difficult to think about your 401(k) or IRA when you're living paycheck to paycheck, but putting a little bit away each month will make all the difference. The earlier you start saving, the better off you'll be.



The long-term solution lies in the adage "time is money," or at least the opportunity to make money . If you put in a little bit in savings each year starting at a young age, it will add up to a lot of money by the time you're 65 years old  and much more than if you start saving for retirement when you're 40 or 50 years old. A recent CNBC.com article showed the benefits of starting saving for retirement at 25 or 30 years old.



A $650 monthly deposit into a 5 percent compounding account will yield $ 1million after 40 years . A little over $10 dollars a day (the price of an average dine-in lunch) would yield half a million dollars. Run those same numbers over a 20-year period, and the results are $267,000 and $132,000, respectively.



The answer is obvious: start saving early, even if it's a small amount, and get regular tax-free savings.



Second, Congress must act as well. This retirement crisis is not news for policy makers .



Last July, while I was still serving in the U.S. Senate, I worked with Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Todd Young (R-IN) on a bipartisan package of common sense bills that would help boost retirement security for individuals and families. It was strongly endorsed by the Bipartisan Policy Center. I hope these bills are reintroduced this Congress because they are needed.



Congress needs to invest in hard working families by helping make sure they can save for retirement now, so they will be set up for success in later years. But it also must be careful to avoid further complicating an already overly- complicated retirement savings system.



The dirty little secret is that government can provide all the incentives in the world for workers and families to save for retirement. But none of it will matter unless those workers and families make saving for retirement a priority as well .

provided they get the governance and risk-sharing right

Heidi Heitkamp, the former US Senator (D) of North Dakota wrote a comment for CNBC, A looming retirement crisis threatens us and future generations. Here's how we can avoid it The dirty little secret, or not-so-much of a secret for longtime readers of this blog is America's broken retirement system is failing millions of Americans and the brutal truth on 401(k)s and DC plans is they will only aggravate pension poverty down the road.Don't get me wrong, Heidi Heitkamp is right about individuals taking responsibility by saving and investing wisely starting at a young age but the problem is a) very few are able to save and b) even when they do manage to save, most aren't investing their money wisely and are retiring with far less than they could have.What about millennials? They're very frugal, savvy, investing in diversified low-cost ETFs or through robo advisors, demanding workplace perks like flexible working arrangements, medical coverage, and a 401(k) match.They may be more savvy and frugal but that's mostly out of necessity and by the time they retire, they too might be confronted with the same problem, a gross retirement savings shortfall. Don't forget, the younger generations will be living longer and they run an increased risk of outliving their retirement savings (longevity risk).There's another bigger problem, the next thirty years are going to be very tough, you can forget about 7-8% annualized return, I'm not even sure 5% annualized will be achievable depending on how long economic stagnation lasts.This problem is even more acute for retail investors who don't have access to quality private market funds that big institutions have access to, investing in their funds and co-investing alongside them on direct private deals.All this to say, all these young, savvy investors might be doing everything right, saving diligently, investing in low-cost ETFs, diversifying across sectors and geographies, and come time for them to retire, many might still confront the same nightmare that many baby boomers will confront over the next ten years, namely, retiring in pension poverty.So, while congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez battles to create a "Green New Deal," gaining praise by some and scorn by others , I think it's also high time the US looks at adopting a "Pension New Deal" to make sure millions don't end in pension poverty down the road.In order to do this properly, however, the US will need to offer all its citizens a well-governed defined-benefit pension plan backed by the full faith and credit of the US government. Take the governance elements that have led to the success of Canada's large public pensions and expand that coverage to every working American. Only then will Americans realize what many Canadians are now realizing, the value of a good pension That is the only real long-term solution but in a country that views universal healthcare as socialist and not an inalienable right, I can't imagine offering people a universal defined-benefit pension will fly over too well even if it makes great long-term sense,That's why more and more Americans will fall through the cracks in the years ahead and don't kid yourself, the pension crisis exacerbates rising income/ wealth inequality and it will detract from growth, making it harder to achieve high returns. It's part of the vicious deflationary cycle I'm worried about and when it hits us full force, it will cap growth for years to come.Heidi Heitkamp is right to worry about the looming retirement crisis. I agree with her diagnosis, we saw evidence of it during the recent government shutdown when government workers living paycheck to paycheck were forced to borrow money and get food at food banks in order to survive.Where I partially disagree with Heidi Heitkamp is in her thinking that more savings into a 401(k) and starting to invest at an early age will be enough to fend off the retirement crisis down the road.It won't be, things are only going to get worse unless the US adopts a "Pension New Deal" or at least enhances Social Security and model it after the Canada Pension Plan where assets are managed properly at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board where they invest across public and private markets all over the world.Don't hold your breath on the Pension New Deal or Green New Deal which already off to a very rocky start and has detractors from many people, including Howard Schultz who thinks it's not realistic and immoral The problem is we have a global climate crisis and retirement crisis, and unless we tackle these issues with sensible policies that work over the long run, both crises will only get worse.The retirement crisis is much worse for some countries, like the United States, where millions have already succumbed to pension poverty.Below, former United States Senator and CNBC contributor Heidi Heitkamp joins CNBC's "Power Lunch" team to discuss the wealth gap and proposed tax plans in Washington. Heitkamp is from North Dakota and served as a Democratic senator from 2013 to 2019.She's right about one thing, even if you increase taxes on the wealthy and redistributed the money to people, most won't put it in their 401(k), they will opt to pay down debt or spend it on frivolous things, which is why I would make pension contributions of a Pension New Deal proposal mandatory (like Social Security), not voluntary like 401(k)s. I know, it will never happen, at least not until the US reaches a breaking point.Colombia Hoy



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Chavez Cuanto te queremos!



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Algun dia Colombia volvera a la ideologia de Bolivar



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LOS REVOLUCIONARIOS NO TOMAN CACA-COLA No se trata solamente de un capricho, sino de una sana actitud en todos los sentidos. Desde la solidaridad con el pueblo colombiano donde la empresa Caca-Cola ha cometido los mas grandes abusos contra sus trabajadores incluyendo el presunto secuestro y asesinato de los dirigentes del sindicato, hasta la proteccion de la salud de nuestros hijos, enviciados por ese jarabe de cola y azucar, que les produce obesidad prematura. Pensemos tambien los revolucionarios, que ese dinero que gastamos en los refrescos es utilizado por esas empresas para financiar el terrorismo en nuestro pais. Es cierto, no se trata solo de la Caca-Cola, sino tambien de la cerveza, de los cigarrillos y todos esos articulos innecesarios y mas que eso, daninos para nuestra salud. Podriamos incluso pensar en un dia de parada para cada uno de ellos. Es cuestion de irnos organizando. Pero para empezar, que tal si dejamos de comprar Caca-Cola y sus similares?



Cuando lo extraordinario se vuelve cotidiano...



Discurso del Acto de Grado en Barinas en 12 de Febrero del 2005 Queridos Graduandos:



Mas que un discurso, quiero dirigirles algunas palabras que escribi anoche, despues de visitar en las clinicas, a los estudiantes heridos, a consecuencia de los enfrentamientos con la policia de hace apenas dos dias.



Me ha tocado por razones del destino, ser la persona que les otorgue el titulo que bien merecieron con sus estudios. Y me siento sumamente orgulloso de serlo. Me consta que la Universidad de Los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora, a pesar de lo dicho por los enemigos de esta universidad, es una universidad de primera.



No tendremos la mejor planta fisica, en los salones hace calor. En el comedor hace calor. Pero no es en lo material que las cosas deben valorarse. El mayor capital es el ser humano. Y en eso, nuestra UNELLEZ, lo digo con conocimiento de causa, esta sobrada. Los llaneros venezolanos son nobles, valientes, de coraje.



En la UNELLEZ hacen vida, en este momento, aproximadamente 67000 personas. El 97% de ellas son estudiantes. Jovenes que, como Ustedes hasta el dia de hoy, buscan ese titulo, que constata los anos de dedicacion y de estudio.



Los jovenes son el rio de la vida, ustedes graduados deben ser los capitanes de esos barcos que naveguen por el rio de la vida.



Nuestra Patria atraviesa momentos muy dificiles porque decidio dejar de ser esa matrona de edad vetusta y complaciente, para ser joven, rebelde y altanera. Nuestra imagen ya no es la de una acaudalada ricachona mayamera. En nuestro rostro brilla ahora la sonrisa del Che Guevara, con su diente delantero torcido, su pelo largo y su boina con la estrella.



Entender esto, a mi me ha tomado practicamente toda la vida. Tengo 53 anos, y ya perdi mi oportunidad de derramar sangre joven a causa de un ideal.



Ustedes son jovenes, estan en la flor de la vida. No cometan por favor el error de renunciar a su instinto de rebelion. El Che Guevara fue Ministro de a Economia en Cuba. Los billetes y las monedas se adornaban con su rostro. Nada de eso le importo. Primero fue a Angola donde paso un penoso ano de combate. Despues se fue a Bolivia, donde encontro la muerte. El Che era el ultimo que comia, el que cargaba la mochila mas pesada. Siempre se sacrificaba por los demas en un estoicismo que mas parecia fervor religioso que ideologia marxista.



Si quieren un modelo de vida. Ahi lo tienen.



Dije hace unos momentos que el 97% de la poblacion de la UNELLEZ es estudiante. Se imaginan Ustedes la Universidad que podriamos tener si todos los estudiantes tuvieran la abnegacion, la combatividad del Che?



Los momentos que se avecinan van a requerir de una gran unidad del pueblo venezolano. La alternativa de continuar siendo libres o regresar a la pobreza se nos planteara en los proximos dias de forma enmascarada, o quizas peor, desenmascarada, vestida con uniforme de soldado del Imperio.



Por nuestra parte podemos esperar lo mejor. La macroeconomia no podria ir mejor, la justicia social ha mejorado notablemente. Las misiones ocupan un papel muy importante en el pago de dicha justicia social. Aqui en Barinas ya hemos cumplido con dos de las misiones, la mision Robinson y la mision Sucre. No hay analfabetismo y no hay exclusion en la educacion superior, en estas tierras de Zamora.



Pero ay malhaya! Son precisamente estos exitos los que nos hacen mas antipaticos al Imperio. Para ellos, somos inclusive un mal ejemplo que se esta contagiando al resto del continente y cuidado sino al resto del mundo.



Nunca venceremos al Imperio. Estara siempre ahi, acechando. Por lo menos hasta que el mismo no se autodestruya. Porque, sepanlo senores, el neoliberalismo es canibal. Cuando le ataque el hambre, se devorara a si mismo.



Ustedes, queridos graduandos, a partir de hoy pasan a conformar la elite profesional que debe sostener este pais en los proximos cuarenta o cincuenta anos. Anos decisivos para el logro de nuestra libertad y del rescate de nuestra Soberania.



No se dejen comprar. No se dejen corromper. No se dejen gritar. No se dejen pisar. Que nadie les diga que comer, o que vestirse, o que leer. Sean siempre autenticos, rebeldes, contestatarios. Pero eso si, profundamente patriotas, dignos de ser hijos de Bolivar.



Muchas gracias y que Dios los bendiga.





Alguna duda?



Medio siglo de Holocausto Palestino



Oscar Zanartu Nacio en Caracas en 1960. Ha realizado exposiciones individuales en las galerias Minotauro, Clave y San Francisco, y en salas de Coro, estado Falcon, y Puerto Ordaz, estado Bolivar. En Paris su obra ha sido exhibida en el Centro Cultural Tanagra, en la Exposicion Cite Internationale des Arts, en las galerias De Mars y Arver Space, al igual que en la Galeria Municipal Levallois, en Levallois Perret (Francia). En muestras colectivas, su obra se ha expuesto en Belgica, Francia, Estados Unidos y Venezuela; en Caracas intervino en la exposicion "Del genesis a la memoria", 1995, organizada por la Fundacion La Previsora. En 1982 obtuvo el Premio Nacional Critven y en 1990 la Mencion de Honor Jose Antonio Paez, en la Embajada de Venezuela en Paris. En 1991 se le concedio el primer premio de Pintura Itinerante, en Levallois Perret, Francia.



OZ1



OZ2



OZ3



OZ4



Homenaje a Jason Galarraga



La Victoria de Samotracia



Odalisca



Mas fotos de la nevada del pasado agosto 2008



La Sierra Nevada de Merida



Nuestro precioso Churum Meru



Homenaje a Picasso



Autoretrato



Sabes lo que bebes en una Coca-Cola?

La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.

Mi profesion?

Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.

Sal en la Coca Cola?

A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.

De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:

Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gusto

Acido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)

azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)

Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantas

Mucha Cafeina

Conservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o Potasio

Dioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebe

Sal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracion

El uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.

Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.

Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.

En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).

Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.

La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.

Bebidas Light?

Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el

Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.



Publicado por loretahur



En realidad, la formula secreta de la Coca-Cola se puede detallar en 18 segundos en cualquier espectrometro optico, y basicamente la conocen hasta los perros. Lo que ocurre es que no se puede fabricar igual, a no ser que uno disponga de unos cuantos millones de dolares para ganarle la demanda que te metera la Coca-Cola ante la justicia (ellos no perderian).La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gustoAcido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantasMucha CafeinaConservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o PotasioDioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebeSal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracionEl uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el aspartamo , despues de tres semanas mojado, pasa a tener gusto de trapo viejo sucio.Para evitar eso, se agregan una infinidad de otros productos quimicos, uno para alargar la vida del aspartamo, otro para neutralizar el color, otro para mantener el tercer quimico en suspension porque sino el fondo de la gaseosa quedaria oscuro, otro para evitar la cristalizacion del aspartamo, otro para realzar el sabor, dar mas intensidad al acido citrico o fosforito que perderia su sabor por el efecto de los cuatro productos quimicos iniciales... y asi sucesivamente.Un consejo final !!Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.Publicado por loretahur

MARGARINA o MANTEQUILLA La margarina fue producida originalmente para engordar a los pavos; cuandolo que hizo en realidad fue matarlos.Las personas que habian puesto el dinero para la investigacion quisieronrecobrarlo asi que empezaron a pensar en una forma de hacerlo.Tenian una sustancia blanca, que no tenia ningun atractivo como comestible,asi que le anadieron el color amarillo, para venderselo a lagente en lugar de la mantequilla.Que tal esa?... Ahora han sacado algunos nuevos sabores para vender mas alos incautos como usted y yo.CONOCE USTED la diferencia entre la margarina y la mantequilla?Siga leyendo hasta el final... porque se pone bastante interesante!Comparacion entre mantequilla y margarina:

1.- Ambas tienen la misma cantidad de calorias.

2.- La mantequilla es ligeramente mas alta en grasas saturadas: 8 gramos,comparada con los 5 gramos que tiene la margarina.

3.- Comer margarina en vez de mantequilla puede aumentar en 53% el riesgo deenfermedades coronarias en las mujeres, de acuerdo con un estudiomedico reciente de la Universidad de Harvard.

4.- Comer mantequilla aumenta la absorcion de gran cantidad de nutrientesque se encuentran en otros alimentos.

5.- La mantequilla provee beneficios nutricionales propios mientras lamargarina tiene solo los que le hayan sido anadidos al fabricarla.

6.- La mantequilla sabe mucho mejor que la margarina y mejora el sabor deotros alimentos.7.- La mantequilla ha existido durante siglos mientras que la margarinatiene menos de 100 anos.

Ahora... sobre la margarina:

1.- Es muy alta en acidos grasos trans. (Si, esos que recien ahora loscientificos descubrieron que son malisimos y los gobiernoscomenzaron a prohibirlos) .

2.- Triple riesgo de enfermedades coronarias.

3.- Aumenta el colesterol total y el LDL (el colesterol malo) y disminuye elHDL (el colesterol bueno).

4.- Aumenta en cinco veces el riesgo de cancer.

5.- Disminuye la calidad de la leche materna.

6.- Disminuye la reaccion inmunologica del organismo.

7.- Disminuye la reaccion a la insulina.

Y he aqui el factor mas inquietante (AQUI ESTA LA PARTE MAS INTERESANTE! ):A la margarina le falta UNA MOLECULA para ser PLASTICO...!!Solo este hecho es suficiente para evitar el uso de la margarina de porvida, y de cualquier otra cosa que sea hidrogenada (esto significaque se le anade hidrogeno, lo cual cambia la estructura molecular de lassubstancias).Usted puede ensayar lo siguiente:Compre un poco de margarina y dejela en el garaje o en un sitio sombreado.Dentro de unos dias notara dos cosas:

* No habra moscas; ni siquiera esos molestos bichos se le acercaran (esto yale debe decir a usted algo).

* No se pudre ni huele mal o diferente porque no tiene valor nutritivo; nadacrece en ella. Ni siquiera los diminutos microorganismos puedencrecer en ella.Por que? Porque es casi plastico!!



No a la guerra, Si a la Paz



Misterios de la ciencia...



Los costos de la guerra



medicos y capitalismo...



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!

From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As...Discussion about wargaming and military history, primarily WWII in North Africa. Also discussion about AFV's and artillery.Venezuelas oil production could feasibly fall to just 500,000 barrels per day by years end, according to the US State Departments Special Envoy to Venezuela in a Wednesday hearing on the crisis-stricken Latin American nation on Wednesday.

The cause for the expected production declines, said Rep. Elliot Abrams, was the impact of US sanctions on Venezuelas state-run oil company, PDVSA.

The crisis in Venezuela, of which its floundering oil industry is merely one part, is entirely manmade, according to House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot L. Engel, who is also the Co-Chair of the House Oil and National Security Caucus, a champion for US energy independence, and serves on the Commission for Human Rights, who today did not mince words when he laid blame for the Venezuelan disaster squarely on Nicolas Maduros and Hugo Chavezs doorstep. Two leaders, Engel said, who have driven the country off the edge of the cliff.

In his opening remarks as chairman, Engel went on to definitively dispel the notion that US military intervention in Venezuela could possibly be used in the future, despite what he referred to as President Donald Trumps sabre rattling on the issue, stressing that such action would require Congressional approval, which would never be given.

Despite that preface for Wednesdays hearing, a heated exchange between Rep. Elliot Abrams and Rep. Ilhar Omar sprung up, with Rep. Omar asking of Abrams, Yes or no, would you support an armed faction within Venezuela that engages in war crimes, crimes against humanity or geocide if you believe they were serving US interest, as you did in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua? To which Abrams refused to reply.



Related: Oil Rises Despite Rising Oil, Product Inventories

Venezuelas oil productionwhich accounts for 95% of the countrys export revenuesis but a shadow of its former glory days of 3 million barrels per day as it was in 1997. By 2017 its production had fallen to 2 million bpd, and by this time last year, Venezuelas production had fallen again to 1.5 million bpd.

According to OPECs latest monthly oil market report, Venezuelas production last month fell to 1.1 million bpd.

Depending on what point is being made, one could believe that Maduro and Chavez are responsible for the inexorable production decline in Venezuela, who has hundreds of billions of barrels in oil reserves. One could also believe the US back patting that suggests its new round of US sanctions levied in January on Venezuela is the cause of the reduced oil output by tying the hands of its customers, and by holding back shipments of the essential diluent that Venezuela needs to keep the oil flowing.

Should its oil output indeed sink to 500,000 bpd by the end of this year, customers of Venezuelas heavy oil, including India and the United States, may find it hard to purchase a suitable heavy substitute, as all oil is not equal.



By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:It is genuinely difficult to predict what the Iran conundrum would lead to in the end, however, the current setup appears to be a very sophisticated collision course. Quite remarkably, Tehran has not made recourse to provocations in the Hormuz Strait, despite all the previous tough talk and, it seems, would not be discomfited if a final diplomatic solution would be hammered out. The US sanctions have hurt the Iranian economy and its energy sector, yet due to the introduction of waivers to eight carefully chosen nations the impact was partially mitigated. The next calibrated blow to Iran will be designed to do even more economic harm, however, would still not be enough to bring about the oft-professed goal of US foreign policy  bringing Iranian crude export to naught.

Three full months into the sanctions period, one can surely state that Iranian production plummeted by 1mpbd within six months. By December 2018 already, crude output dropped to 2.75mbpd and has stayed around that level since. In this respect, it has to be pointed out that since October 2018 Iran has stopped informing OPEC about its current monthly production estimates, however, the OPEC data based on secondary sources has been quite accurate, thus allowing us to assess the scope of the reduction. The 1mbpd production decline did not result in Iran lacking in crude  in fact, exports have shrunk even more steeply, by some 1.5mbpd since May 2018 when the November 04 sanctions deadline was firstQuality matters, not quantity.

That was the message from the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its latest Oil Market Report. The world has plenty of oil, but perhaps not the right type of oil.

A series of events have caused the market for light oil to diverge from that of medium and heavier blends. This trend has been underway for some time, but the deviation has magnified recently, and could cause havoc as 2019 wears on.

The backdrop is the surge in U.S. shale production. The multi-year boom in light sweet oil from Texas and North Dakota, among other places, has added huge volumes of light oil to global supply. The U.S. Gulf Coast, where much of this oil is heading, has not been able to keep up. Refiners are churning out as much as possible, which has led to a glut of gasoline. But excess barrels have been increasingly exported, adding huge volumes of light oil onto the global market.

To accommodate steadily rising barrels of light oil, OPEC and its non-OPEC partners have backed out their own supplies in order to prevent a crash in prices. But many OPEC members produce medium and heavier blends. The quantity of global supply may not be vastly different, but the quality of the crude slate has changed dramatically.

Refiners cannot easily swap out one type for another. The upshot is that the world is seeing a glut of light oil at a time when supply of medium and heavier barrels are relatively tight. Related: Looming Elections Could Exacerbate Albertas Pipeline Problems

But this trickles over into the product markets as well. Because light sweet oil from Texas produces relatively more gasoline, prices for gasoline around the world have dropped relative to diesel. Meanwhile, the lack of medium and heavier barrels, which produce relatively more diesel and other distillates, means that margins for diesel have shot up.

As such, there is a two-speed market for both crude oil and for refined products.

U.S. sanctions against Venezuela and Iran are magnifying this trend, knocking even more medium and heavier barrels off of the market. Sure, U.S. shale will ramp up supply to offset the supply losses, as many analysts and shale-boosters like to point out, but that only makes the divergence between light/heavy oils and gasoline/distillates even more pronounced.

The IEA said that these quality differences could cause some problems this year. In quantity terms, in 2019 the US alone will grow its crude oil production by more than Venezuelas current output, the agency wrote in its Oil Market Report published Wednesday. In quality terms, it is more complicated. Quality matters.

Bloomberg reports that prices for heavier crudes in Asia are already gyrating after U.S. sanctions on Venezuela. Bitumen prices have soared in China.

The IEA also highlighted this rather bizarre pricing movements. With heavy barrels being removed from the market, refiners have to pay more. The premium of Light Louisiana Sweet crude over Mars crude has fallen to below $1/bbl from more than $4/bbl in November, the IEA noted in its Oil Market Report. Since the US sanctions against Venezuela were announced, the premium of Mars over WTI has soared from $4.50/bbl to over $7.50/bbl. Related: Venezuelan Opposition Could Soon Take Over Citgo

Meanwhile, OPEC+ production cuts could erase the supply surplus in the near future. Saudi Arabia has promised to cut more than required, lowering output in January by 350,000 bpd while also promising another 500,000 bpd cut by March. [C]ore-OPEC producers are adopting a shock and awe strategy and exceeding their cut commitment, Goldman Sachs said in a note, predicting that Brent oil prices will average $67.50 per barrel in the second quarter.

At the same time, the U.S. EIA just published its Short-term Energy Outlook, in which it revised up its forecast for U.S. shale growth by an additional 300,000 bpd. The agency believes the U.S. will average 12.4 mb/d in 2019, up sharply from last months forecast of 12.1 mb/d. The revision suggests that the U.S. shale industry may not slow down as much as previously thought, at least according to the EIA.

To reiterate, the OPEC+ cuts will take medium and heavy barrels off of the market at a time when U.S. shale continues to rise. The divergence in both the crude oil and refined product markets will only grow over the course of this year.

By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:The European Commission, the entity responsible for negotiating trade deals on behalf of the European Union, announced last week that they will now allow soybeans grown in the United States to be used for biofuel in the EU. This move came as part of a campaign to improve trade relations with the United States. The European Commissions statement stipulates that the allowance of U.S. soybeans for use in biofuels will be valid until July 1, 2021, with a possible extension if the deal meets the sustainability criteria set by the EU in the future (2021-2030).

This is not the first that the step the EU and U.S. have taken to boost trade in the last year. In July, the Trump administration agreed not to place a tariff on European Union car imports. At that time, the two economic powers were already discussing the issue of soybeans as part of a potential no-tariff deal that also included non-auto industrial goods and liquified natural gas (LNG).

Despite this months change in policy for soybeans, experts say that European markets dont need to be worried about a flood of new soybean imports. The United States has already been exporting 14 million tonnes of soybeans each year to the European Union, to be used strictly for animal feed. As such, all soybean oil byproduct had to be shipped back to the United States. Now, under the new regulations that oil can be used for biofuel instead. So, on its face, it does nothing to increase soybean exports in the EU, a lobbyist for the U.S. biodiesel industry told Reuters. It just helps European farmers capture the full value and saves U.S. farmers shipping costs. Related: BP: Renewables To Become Largest Source Of Power By 2040

Currently, biofuel producers in the EU use relatively very little soybean oil in their biofuel production. In 2018, they used an estimated 400,000 tonnes of soybean oil, a drop in the biofuel bucket compared to the 5.9 million tons of rapeseed oil they used in the same year, according to numbers provided by Claus Keller of German commodity analysts FO Licht. Keller said that he believes that the European Commissions decision will boost U.S. soybean imports, but not drastically, pointing to trade relations between the U.S. and China and the future of Argentinas biofuel industry, whose product is taxed in the United States and soon could be in Europe, as variables.

There has already been a major uptick in soybean imports however, just in the last year. Since July, there has been a whopping 112 percent rise in U.S. soybean imports to the EU. The United States is by far the blocs biggest purveyor of soy, providing 75 percent of the European Unions total soybean imports. Part of the reason for this major increase is the diminishing price of U.S. soybeans, which took a major hit from China imposing tariffs on U.S. soy during its 2018 trade war with the Trump administration. Related: Fifty Shades Of Shale Oil

Despite the conservative estimates for further increase of imports, this could just be the beginning for the rise of U.S. soybeans in the EU. With the European Union pushing away from palm oil, which is linked with heavy deforestation and other environmentally endangering practices, soybeans could step up to take its place. This would be a major blow for Indonesia or Malaysia, who currently supply the EU with large amounts of palm oil, but are plagued with controversy over the clearance of tropical forests to make room for the crop. In fact, Indonesia has already pledged to fight back against what it deems a discriminative directive from the EU to cut down on its palm oil imports.

The EUs step back from palm oil comes at the same time that the 28-nation bloc is working toward a new rule which stipulates that 14 percent of transportation fuel consumed in the EU needs to be from renewable sources by 2030. This means that the EU will need to replace the palm oil they currently rely on in a hurry, and then some. U.S. soybeans, now that they are eligible sources of biofuel in the EU, could be in the perfect place at the perfect time.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:I spoke with @St_Vincent about her show-stealing #GRAMMYs duet with @DuaLipa, how "Masseduction" and "One Kiss" are "two sides of the same coin" and why they bridged them with Aretha Franklin's "Respect." https://t.co/usGb9dMJBU  Kory Grow (@korygrow) February 12, 2019

St. Vincent on how to empower more women in the music business: "If you're not at the table, you're on the menu" https://t.co/u957sUWWRU pic.twitter.com/LNTaAGKtEE  Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) February 12, 2019

-St. Vincent & Dua Lipa share the stage for mashup performance of their respective songs, 'Masseduction' and 'One Kiss.-"So lucky to have shared the grammy stage with my twin for the night...the coolest, kindest and most talented St. Vincent "(Dua Lipa)-Dua Lipa responded to the sexist President of the Grammys in her win by stating that the women this year stepped up their game.-St. Vincent said she was glad she said that because women are expected to work harder than men to achieve what they want, and how ignorant and arrogant what Recording Academy President Neil Portnow said last year.-Remember when Rock bands/musicians would open the Grammys?-She won for Best Rock Song, and thanked Laura Sisk who engineered the song. Her recent album had a slew of female guests and mixers.-Says the songs chosen: Masseduction and One Kiss are about seduction and sex.-St. Vincent won Best Rock Song for Masseduction, and says that she loves playing guitar and rock music and was thrilled to win.-States that both her and Dua Lipa wanted their performance to have this pull-push sexuality with similar short bob haircuts. She states that she wanted it to be sexy and intense.-Says that the great thing about music is that at the core people being honest about their humanity, their flaws and strengths."Im going to talk about the reality of the human condition. Talking about it makes it less scary and making it less scary means that other people feel less alone, and if people feel less alone people feel more empathy towards each other and less violence happens. Less shit happens and less constant critiquing happens, and thats the point.-States she's on a coalition with Alicia Keys to encourage female songwriters and engineers.-Working on directing a film soon and currently producing Sleater Kinney's new album.-Also states that she sees the tide turning-Equality for all doesnt mean at the detriment of this person or that person, it means equality. I didnt get to see all the awards, but I was so impressed by H.E.R. She could really fucking sing and play guitar, and shes so young. It was so exciting to see the ratio of men and women playing guitar seem pretty equal, between H.E.R., Brandi [Carlile] and me.Sources: 1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.

Its not your usual job ad, and its not for everyone.

But an advertisement in a Sri Lankan newspaper is seeking two professional hangmen with excellent moral character and mental strength.

Sri Lankas 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.

Anticipating that capital punishment could soon be used again, the prison service is hurrying to recruit two 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, told Reuters.

The ad was published in a Sri Lankan newspaper on Monday. Source: Reuters

An advertisement published in the state-run Daily News on Monday put the monthly pay at $284, which would be 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.

Mr Upuldeniya said the job interviews will be conducted next month.

Sri Lankas war on drugs

Sri Lanka began advertising for hangmen this week as the countrys president pushes ahead with a hardline policy, modelled on the Philippines, to combat drug trafficking.

The last execution in Sri Lanka was 43 years ago, but President Maithripala Sirisena said last week he wants to resume the use of capital punishment for drug traffickers in the next two months.

During a state visit to the Philippines in January, Sirisena had praised President Rodrigo Dutertes war on drugs, despite international criticism of a campaign that has resulted in thousands of people being killed in encounters with police.

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.

The Sri Lankan hangman job pays more than any other government position. Source: Getty/file

At least 25 people convicted for drugs offences, including two drug dealers, could be executed, Upuldeniya said.

Story continues

There were also 436 people including six women on death row for various crimes including murder, he said.

Government officials told Reuters 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.

Police have arrested more than 50 people since the middle of last year after busting a drug smuggling ring last year.

Do you have a story tip? Email: y7newsroom@yahoo7.com.au.

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoo7s daily newsletter. Sign up here.We hate to burst your loved-up bubble, but it turns out the history behind Valentines Day isnt as warm and fuzzy as we all thought.

While most of us will pick up a bouquet of flowers a box of chocolates or anything that makes us feel all gooey inside, the story behind the age-old tradition is actually pretty grim.

St. Valentine is said to have been born in Umbria, Italy in 226 AD and went on to become an esteemed catholic priest.

Top view of beautiful young couple holding red paper hearts, looking at camera and smiling while lying on the floor. Photo: Getty Images

Many versions of the story has been told over the years, however, the most common one is that the Roman Emperor at the time, Claudius II, banned marriage, because he thought it made men bad soldiers.

St. Valentine the rebel

Old romantic, St. Valentine, apparently was having none of this and decided to marry men and women in secret  all in the name of love.

Soon enough, Claudius found out about St. Valentines escapades and threw him in jail. This is where things get a bit grisly.

St. Valentine was sentenced to death but before he was killed, he is said to have fallen in love with the daughter of one of the jail guards.

Just before his death, St. Valentine is said to have written a love letter to the woman, signing it, From your Valentine.

Another version of the story claims that St. Valentine was actually imprisoned for helping convicts to escape prison in Rome.

St.Valentine was sentenced to death, all in the name of love. Photo: Getty Images

In 1836, the remains of St. Valentine were brought to Ireland, after they were gifted to an Irish Carmelite by Pope Gregory XVI.

There is now a shrine dedicated to St. Valentine at Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin.

Bizarre Roman festival

Roman Catholics had celebrated the feast of Lupercalia for years, from February 13th to 14th.

During the weekend festivities, men would whip women with the hides of animals they had sacrificed, in a fertility ritual.

Men would draw a womans name from a jar and she would be matched with him for the whole festival.

Its thought the Christian church later wanted to turn that festival into a Christian celebration and decided to honour the life of St Valentine at the same time  which later became St. Valentines Day.

Story continues

Throughout the years, authors have romanticised the day, eventually turning it into the lovefest that it is now.

Got a story tip? Send it to lifestyle.tips@verizonmedia.com

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Or sign up to our daily newsletter here.STUDIOCANAL AND NICKELODEON ANNOUNCE GLOBAL DEAL

FOR ALL-NEW PADDINGTON TELEVISION SERIES





BEN WHISHAW RETURNS AS BELOVED VOICE OF PADDINGTON

FIRST LOOK IMAGE REVEALED

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Original post:

 STUDIOCANAL, Nickelodeon and award-winning producer David Heyman today announced a global deal for a brand-new Paddington (working title) television series for preschoolers. Actor Ben Whishaw () will reprise his role as the beloved voice of the title character in the new CG-animated series, which follows the adventures of a younger Paddington. Paddington will air on Nickelodeons networks worldwide in 2020, while local broadcast partners will be secured in France, Canada, China and Japan.Fully animated in 3D, the new Paddington series sees a younger Paddington writing to Aunt Lucy from Windsor Gardens. Each episode will open and close with Paddingtons letters as he tells Aunt Lucy what he has learned about life through the days new exciting adventure. The series will invite a new generation of fans into Paddingtons world full of heart, kindness, slapstick humour, fun and generosity.Currently in production, Paddington is a Heyday Films and STUDIOCANAL production in association with Copyrights. Paddington is helmed by Adam Shaw of Blue Zoo (), and developed for television and written by Jon Foster and James Lamont ().The much-anticipated Paddington television series will be produced by multi- award-winning David Heyman (producer of all eight of thefilms,), Karen Davidsen () and Simon Quinn (). The series is executive produced by Rosie Alison) and co-produced by Rob Silva.comments:adds:saidstatedconfirms:A first look of Paddington is also released today.The story of Paddington 3 is currently in development with STUDIOCANAL and Heyday.For 60 years, British-born writer Michael Bond has delighted children and families all over the world with his stories about Paddington, the bear from Darkest Peru famous for his love of marmalade. Paddington is popular with both children and adults who feel affectionate and warm towards him and the charm and humour of the Paddington stories is the key to their enduring popularity.Paddingtons adventures have been adapted several times for television and at the end of 2014 Paddington made his debut onto the big screen. The movie, produced by STUDIOCANAL, part of the international content and media group Vivendi, is the best-selling non-Hollywood family movie ever released. A second Paddington movie, Paddington 2, launched globally at the end of 2017.In 2016, Vivendi took full ownership of the Paddington brand worldwide, with the exception of the classic publishing rights.Michael Bond died in June 2017, leaving a legacy of one of the best loved childrens characters in the world. 2018 marked the 60th Anniversary of the first book, A Bear Called Paddington, which was published by William Collins on 13th October 1958.Follow Paddington on Twitter at @paddingtonbear Like Paddingtons Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/PaddingtonBear/ STUDIOCANAL, a 100% affiliate of CANAL+ Group held by Vivendi, is Europes leader in production, distribution and international sales of feature films and TV series, operating directly in all three major European markets - France, the United Kingdom and Germany - as well as in Australia and New Zealand.STUDIOCANAL owns one of the most important film libraries in the world, boasting more than 5,500 titles from 60 countries. Spanning 100 years of film history, this vast and unique catalogue includes among others the iconicandSTUDIOCANAL has fully-financed box office hitsand. Upcoming films backed by STUDIOCANAL include Marjane Satrapisfeaturing Rosamund Pike,produced by David Heyman starring Colin Firth, Aardman Studios stop-motion filmSTUDIOCANAL is actively developing and distributing high-end TV series through its network of award-winning European production companies, including TANDEM in Germany () and the UKs RED Production Company (). STUDIOCANAL is also an associate of Danish-based SAM Productions founded by Sren Sveistrup and Adam Price () as well as of UK-based GUILTY PARTY PICTURES; Benedict Cumberbatchs production company SUNNYMARCH TV (); URBAN MYTH FILMS () and Spains BAMBU PRODUCCIONES (). In 2018, STUDIOCANAL launched a new label in France, STUDIOCANAL ORIGINAL.Nickelodeon, now in its 39year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, digital, recreation, books and feature films. Nickelodeon is one of the most globally recognized and widely distributed multimedia entertainment brands for kids and family, with 1.2 billion cumulative subscriptions in more than 500 million households across 170+ countries and territories, via more than 100+ locally programmed channels and branded blocks. Outside of the United States, Nickelodeon is part of Viacom International Media Networks, a division of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), one of the worlds leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com . Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc.Actor Ben Whishaw will reprise his role from thefeature films as the voice of the beloved bear in the CGI-animated series, set for a 2020 premiere. It will air on Nickelodeons networks worldwide, with local broadcast partners to be secured in France, Canada, China and Japan.It is a Heyday Films and STUDIOCANAL production in association with Copyrights. The series is helmed by Adam Shaw of Blue Zoo (), and developed for television and written by Jon Foster and James Lamont (1 & 2).Executive Producer David Heyman noted, It is a joy to bring this uniquely life-enhancing bear to a whole new audience of younger children. We are thrilled that the inimitably brilliant Ben Whishaw will continue to voice Paddington. And we are excited to be collaborating with the vibrant and dynamic animation team at Blue Zoo, working from scripts by the wonderfully talented screenwriting team Foster and Lamont. With producers Karen Davidsen and Simon Quinn, were all set for a glorious new chapter for Paddington.STUDIOCANAL CEO Didier Lupfer added, Paddington is such a beloved character for all of us at STUDIOCANAL. We are incredibly happy to be back in his world introducing new generations to his kindness, generosity and spirit. We are inspired by the talented animation team at Blue Zoo partnering once again with our friends at Heyday. Foster and Lamonts writing is so beautifully crafted we cant wait for Nickelodeon and our local broadcast partners to premiere the series.We cant wait to welcome Paddington, one of the worlds most beloved characters, to our global Nickelodeon family with a series that will take him on fun and exciting new adventures, while staying true to his original heartfelt charm and spirit, said Layla Lewis, senior VP of global acquisitions and content partnerships at Nickelodeon.I am absolutely delighted to see Paddington back on TV. The series will engage a whole new generation of Paddington-lovers across the world thanks to the bears inherent kindness and generosity, stated Simon Gillham, chairman of Copyrights.The story of Paddington 3 is currently in development with STUDIOCANAL and Heyday. Created by Michael Bond, the iconic character has been adapted for TV several times and made his film debut in 2014. In 2016, Vivendi took full ownership of the Paddington brand worldwide, with the exception of the classic publishing rights.The originalseries previously aired on Nickelodeon UK , as part of the channels Nick Jr. programming block.This area is reserved for members of the news media. If you qualify, please update your user profile and check the box marked "Check here to register as an accredited member of the news media". Please include any notes in the "Supporting information for media credentials" box. We will notify you of your status via e-mail in one business day.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is planning to hold a vote on the Green New Dealbut not because the Republican wants it to pass.

The joint resolution by Democrats was proposed last week by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey. Theyve offered a non-binding resolution intended to set the tone for legislation addressing climate change and economic inequality. It includes a range of goals such as a shift to renewable energy sources, carbon neutrality by 2030, and a federal jobs guarantee.

McConnells scheduling a vote is strategic, intended to leverage a lack of Democratic unity behind the Green New Deal as a means to tackle climate change.

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A number of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates are co-sponsors of the bill including senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, and Kirsten Gillibrand.

The bill has 67 co-sponsors in the House, where Democrats are in the majority, and 11 in the Senate, where Republicans outnumber Democrats.

McConnell announced during a news conference Tuesday that the vote would give everybody an opportunity to go on record and see how they feel about the Green New Deal.

With the 2020 election already underway, however, a vote will force Democratic members of the Senate to make a political calculation to determine whether or not they will support the bill. Its a move that McConnell and the Republican Party could later exploit, pitting Democrats on either side of the issue against each other.

But Ocasio-Cortez is not deterred. In a statement to CNBC, her office said, McConnell thinks he can end all debate on the Green New Deal now and stop this freight train of momentum. Unfortunately for Mitch, all hes going to do is show just how out of touch Republican politicians are with the American people.(Reuters) - A white man who killed a black man with a sword in the hopes of starting a race war was sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday in New York, multiple media accounts said.

James Jackson, 30, a former U.S. Army specialist, apologized for the slaying, before the State Supreme Court Justice Laura A. Ward sentenced him to the maximum allowed under the law, the New York Times reported.

Last month, Jackson plead guilty to first-degree murder in furtherance of an act of terrorism, in the March 2017 death of Timothy Caughman, 66.

He turned himself in at a police station after police circulated surveillance video of the killing.

Jackson, of Baltimore, told detectives that the traveled to New York City because it is the U.S. media capital and he believed that the killing would start a race war.

"The racial World War starts today," Jackson wrote in a manifesto that included a swastika, the Times reported. "This political terrorist attack is a formal declaration of a global total war on the Negro races," he wrote.

Neither an attorney for Jackson nor state prosecutors were available for comment early Thursday.

In January, Cyrus Vance, New York's district attorney, said in a statement, "If you come here to kill New Yorkers in the name of white nationalism, you will be investigated, prosecuted, and incapacitated like the terrorist that you are."

Jackson served as an Army specialist until 2012 and was deployed in Afghanistan for nearly a year beginning in December 2010. He was awarded several medals for his conduct.

(Reporting by Rich McKay, editing by Larry King)Emory professors Carol Anderson (left) and Tayari Jones are nominated for NAACP Image Awards for books they authored. Winners will be announced March 30.

The honors keep coming for Emory College of Arts and Sciences professors Carol Anderson and Tayari Jones, most recently as nominees for the 50th annual NAACP Image Awards for books they authored.

Anderson, a historian who serves as Charles Howard Candler Professor and chair of African American Studies, is one of five nominees in the category of Outstanding Literary Work  Youth/Teens for We Are Not Yet Equal, the Young Adult adaptation of her book White Rage, which won the 2016 National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism. The book examines policy responses to political and economic advancement by African Americans.

Jones, a professor of English and creative writing at Emory, is among the five nominees in the category of Outstanding Literary Work  Fiction for her novel An American Marriage. A New York Times bestseller and 2018 pick for Oprahs Book Club, the novel tells the story of newlyweds whose pursuit of the American dream is violently interrupted when one of them is incarcerated for a crime he did not commit.

The NAACP Image Awards celebrate the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature and film, as well as people or groups who promote social justice or creative endeavors. Anderson and Jones join fellow nominees who range from Michelle Obama to LeBron James for the 50th anniversary of the iconic awards.

The awards show will be held March 30 and broadcast live on TVOne.Kris Osborn

Security,

An amazing site.

I Went to an F-35 Stealth Fighter 'Factory': Here's What I Saw

(Ft. Worth, Texas) -- Filled with stacks of fuselage panels, engine components and a wide assortment of pipes, electronics and avionics, the spralling F-35 construction facility in Ft. Worth, Texas, resembles a small city filled with engineers, mechanics, electricians and airplanes at various stages of construction.

While some stations include vertically-hanging airplane wings, rudders, pipes and intricate collections of wires running through the fuselage, others contain little more than an assortment of seemingly disconnected small parts. Farther along the mile-long construction strip, heavily trafficked by workers, builders and engineers, there are bays with nearly completed F-35 with a light-green exterior. These about to be finished F-35s, roll into a separate environmentally-controlled hanger where they await a final coat of blended gray paint - giving the aircraft its color.

After watching a certain amount of varying airplane structures and configurations, to include pipes, computer parts and larger components such as wings, tails, rudders, engines or a mounted 25mm cannon - an observer can begin to discern the differences between the variants. The F-35C is the largest, built with a larger wingspan and tail for carrier landings; the F-35A includes a visible fuselage/wing-mounted 25mm cannon buried beneath a stealthy, rounded exterior blending the weapon into the body of the plane; the F-35B is, developers say, the most expensive and technically complicated of the group.

During construction of an F-35B, a visible LiftFan is engineered into a forward part of the center fuselage just behind the pilot to enable massive downward vertical thrust. Horsepower is sent to the LiftFan from the main engine through a spiral belevel gear system, Rolls Royce information states.

This horsepower, when combined with the LiftFan, generates the downward thrust necessary to enable the hover ability and vertical landing. An F-35B has what looks like an square door or opening on top of the fuselage behind the pilot and above the lift fan to maximize downward air flow. Engineers explain that the massive thrust, sufficient to propel the aircraft up to speeds beyond the sound barrier, results from a four fold process. Air ducts on either side of the nose suck in air to the engine, the air is then compressed before being ignited with gas -- generating what looks like a controlled explosion of fire coming out of the back. The force generated through this process, enables the speed, maneuverability and acceleration of the aircraft.

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Mechanical information provided by F-35B engine maker Rolls Royce states To achieve STOVL, the lift fan component of the LiftSystem operates perpendicular to the flow of air over the aircraft." The LiftFan can operate in crosswinds up to 288mph, Rolls Royce data explains.

F-35 Stealth Engineering

Stealth, or Low-Observability operations hinge entirely upon a specific set of specialized construction techniques, according to engineers familiar with the process. While many if not most of these techniques are, understandably, not available for public reports for security reasons, there are many public elements of the technology written about for public consumption by engineers and many of the industry developers involved in F-35 construction offer detailed profiles of their contributions to the airplane.

A seamless-looking exterior -- devoid or sharp contours, external structures and protruding edges more recognizable to enemy radar -- contains a secret blend of composite materials designed to engineer a radar-absorbent airplane. Weapons can be carried internally so as not to expose shapes vulnerable to enemy radar. One commonly discussed element of stealth coating includes the use of carbon fibers to - among other things - reflect electromagnetic energy from the surface of the material.

Carbon materials are long-known to have contributed to stealth configurations. Interestingly, a 2016 essay from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum cites a 2008 expert assessment in which Northrop Grumman engineers sought to determine if a 1943-built German Horten 229 prototype aircraft contained elements of stealth technology - decades ahead of its time. The Nazi aircraft was beset with technical problems and failed a few test flights. It never saw combat, but some of the adhesives, wood and other materials - coupled with its horizontal all-wing like configuration, have inspired many to view the aircraft as an early iteration of what became stealth technology. Carbon-like materials were found in the investigation; the engineers Dobrenz and Spadoni write "during our inspection of the Horten 229 at the Smithsonian museum, it appeared that a material similar to carbon black or charcoal was mixed in with the glue between the thin layers of the leading edge shape.

Whatever the particular composition of material, the stealthy exterior of the F-35 represents an effort to achieve low-observability, survivabilty and lighter weight to enable speed and maneuverability. The seamless F-35 structure is, by design, a result of a particular engineering technique.

Every hinge, every bolt, every fastener and every panel is closed back up when we are done with work on the airplane, so every time we take off we are in that stealth, non-detectable configuration, Billie Flynn, F-35 Pilot, Lockheed Martin, told Warrior Maven in an interview.

Electronic pings generated by enemy radar, need specific structures against which to bounce off - sending a return signal. If a fuselage is configured such that it does not offer those structures and edges against which an electromagnetic ping can collide, shapes and contours defining an aircraft are more difficult to detect. In essence, it blinds or removes the return signal, and radar is unable to produce a rendering of the fighter jet. As an electronic signal, radar emissions travel at the speed of light - a known entity. If the speed of light, which is fixed, is known and the amount of travel time is also able to be determined, then algorithms can calculate the exact distance, shape and even speed of an object.

We hide the radar, antenna and fuel -- they are all protrusions which reduce hope that you would ever reduce vulnerability, Flynn said.

Flynn explained that the stealth engineering contributing to the F-35 has some origins as far back as the Gulf War-era F-117 NightHawk. With the F-117, we learned how to embed antennas in the leading edge of the airplane. This concept went right into the F-22, Flynn added.

Flynn also explained that every F-35 sensor was flush-mounted, or built into the skin of the aircraft, making the plane less detectable to enemy radar.

Reducing the heat emissions, or thermal signature, is also known to be of vital importance to preserving stealth. There are a variety of ways this can be accomplished, such as burying engines inside an airplane to lessen the release of heat. The F-35 is built with small coolant tubes running under the wings into the body of the aircraft, designed to dissipate the heat generated by the airplanes avionics and electrical systems. This avoids overheating and controls overall airplane temperatures. Controlling temperature also enhances the stealth properties of the aircraft. Fuel traveling through pipes underneath the airplane also brings a cooling effect, engineers say.

We can take full advantage of our stealth signature to penetrate enemy defenses, whereas a 4th Gen fighter will have to operate outside of those areas. We can go inside there and fill that close-in air support role, Flynn said. We can stay outside of small arms fire because of the sensor suite.

Overall, Lockheed has delivered more than 360 airframes to 16 bases worldwide and plans a production rev up to meet growing international and US military demand, Edward Stevie Smith, Lockheeds Domestic Director of Development for the F-35, told Warrior Maven in an interview.

Smith explained that all eight original partners, and new ones such a Japan, South Korea, Belgium and Israel, are advancing plans to produce and develop the aircraft.

We are on target now for the A-models to be at or less than 80-million per copy, Smith said.

Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army - Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has a Masters in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.

This first appeared in Warrior Maven here.

Read full articleBy Richard Cowan and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers late on Wednesday completed writing a border security bill that was expected to deny President Donald Trump's request for $5.7 billion to help build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, with the Senate and House of Representatives expected to vote on the bill Thursday.

A House Democratic aide said the final draft of the legislation was circulating among a group of 17 negotiators and was expected to be made public soon.

The aide added that the Senate would first vote on the bill sometime on Thursday. If it passes there, the House would then vote on final approval that evening, which would clear it for signing into law by Trump by a Friday deadline.

Without the legislation, about one-quarter of federal government agencies would be forced into a partial shutdown for lack of operating funds.

Trump has not yet said that he would embrace the measure but on Wednesday appeared to be edging toward backing the deal once he saw final details.

Trump, widely blamed for a five-week shutdown that ended in January, said he did not want to see federal agencies close again because of fighting over funds for the wall, one of his signature campaign promises in the 2016 election.

The Republican president did not commit himself to backing the government funding agreement struck between Democratic and Republican lawmakers this week. But two sources and a Republican senator close to the White House said he would likely sign off on it.

"I don't want to see a shutdown. A shutdown would be a terrible thing. I think a point was made with the last shutdown," Trump told reporters. "People realized how bad the border is, how unsafe the border is, and I think a lot of good points were made."

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said Trump was "inclined to take the deal and move on."

Graham told reporters that Trump would then look elsewhere to find more money to build a wall along the U.S. southern border and was "very inclined" to declare a national emergency to secure the funds.

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With a Friday night deadline looming before a shutdown, there is little time for the White House and the political parties in Congress to agree on funding.

Funding is due to expire for the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and several other federal agencies.

LESS MONEY

The outline of a congressional agreement reached on Monday falls far short of giving Trump all the money he wants to help build the wall. Instead, congressional sources say, it includes $1.37 billion for new barriers - about the same as last year - along 55 miles (90 km) of the border.

Like Trump, congressional Republicans have little appetite for a repeat of the 35-day partial shutdown in December and January - the longest in U.S. history - which closed about a quarter of federal agencies and left some 800,000 federal workers without pay.

"It's time to get this done," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor on Wednesday, in reference to voting on the compromise.

OTHER OPTIONS

A White House spokeswoman, Mercedes Schlapp, told CNN that lawyers were reviewing the administration's options should Congress not provide Trump's demanded money for the wall.

A variety of sources close to the White House said Trump was likely to explore using his executive power to reallocate other federal funds for barrier projects along the southern border. He was weighing the use of an executive order, among other options, the sources told Reuters.

"The president is going to get that money (in the legislation) and he's going to find other ways to come up with the rest and he's going to build the wall," said one Trump adviser. "At the end of the day, the result is going to be the same."

Trump previously threatened to declare a "national emergency" if Congress did not provide money specifically for the wall - a move that would almost certainly draw opposition in Congress and in the courts.

"We think the president would be on very weak legal ground to proceed," said Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House.

Speaking to sheriffs and police chiefs of major cities, Trump said later on Wednesday he was determined to "fully and completely" secure the U.S. border, including providing more law enforcement, closing legal loopholes and finishing the border wall.

Trump has come in for criticism from the right for wavering on support for the wall, which the administration says will cut illegal immigration and drug smuggling.

"Trump talks a good game on the border wall, but it's increasingly clear he's afraid to fight for it," right-wing commentator Ann Coulter tweeted on Tuesday.

Trump abandoned a planned compromise on funding for the wall in December after similar criticism.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan and Steve Holland; Additional reporting by , Susan Cornwell, Roberta Rampton, Amanda Becker, Susan Heavey and Lisa Lambert; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney)Last year was a topsy-turvy one for Walmart (NYSE: WMT) investors. The stock climbed to all-time highs early in 2018 due to excitement about the company's growing e-commerce sales. That enthusiasm gave way to reality when its more than 50% year-over-year growth fell to 23% in the final quarter of 2017 (reported in late February of last year), putting investors on notice that it would take longer to build Walmart's budding digital empire. The stock has since climbed out of that hole and is back near its record highs, as shareholders were relieved that the company's 40% year-over-year online sales goals seemed achievable.

Walmart is scheduled to report its fiscal 2019 fourth-quarter financial results before the market opens on Tuesday, Feb. 19. Let's recap the company's showing last quarter and see if it provides any insight into what investors can expect when the company reports earnings.

Woman removing large box from a Walmart pickup storage locker.

Image source: Walmart.

Improved comps and growing pains

Walmart reported mixed results for the third quarter. The company generated sales of $124.9 billion, an increase of 1.4% year over year, and up 2.4% in constant currency. This fell short of analysts' consensus estimates of $125.45 billion. Profits fared better, with adjusted earnings per share of $1.08 up 8% compared to the prior-year quarter, beating expectations.

The best news came from comparable-store sales, which improved 3.4% year over year in Walmart's U.S. markets, resulting from 2.2% ticket growth and a 1.2% increase in foot traffic. Sam's Club produced even better comps, up 5.7%. Digital sales at Walmart in the U.S. climbed 43% year over year, while Sam's Club online sales jumped 32%.

This was the first quarter that included Walmart's recent acquisition of India's e-commerce giant Flipkart. Walmart isn't breaking out those results, but reporting them as part of its international sales segment. The company said the 44 days of results from Flipkart hit gross margins by 42 basis points, as it "drove significant operating income dilution in line with expectations."

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What the quarter might hold

A recent report indicates that Walmart's same-day grocery delivery ambitions may have hit a snag. Deliv, one of the company's earliest delivery partners has cut ties with the project, saying its drivers were waiting as much as 40 minutes to pick up orders from Walmart stores. The project is still ongoing; Walmart is still working with seven other delivery companies, and same-day service is still available from 800 of the company's 5,000 stores in the U.S. It's likely this will be discussed on Walmart's conference call.

Walmart doesn't provide a quarterly forecast, but revised its full-year guidance in the wake of its third-quarter results. The company is now expecting comparable-store sales in the U.S. of "at least" 3% compared to its previous expectations of "about" 3%. That may seem like semantics, but remember we're dealing with billions of dollars here. This outlook is also notably up from the 2% comparable-store sales growth the company forecast for the U.S. market this time last year.

Additionally, Walmart reduced its full-year earnings-per-share guidance to a range of $2.26 to $2.36, down from its previous expectations of $2.65 to $2.80. Much of the decrease is related to Flipkart.

To put that into the perspective of Wall Street sentiment for Walmart -- and while we don't want to fall victim to its short-term mindset -- analysts' consensus estimates are calling for revenue of $138.66 billion, which would represent an increase of 1.7% year over year if achieved. Analysts are also expecting adjusted earnings per share of $1.33, which would be flat compared to the year-ago quarter.

While all of the numbers will be scrutinized, all eyes will likely be focused on two of Walmart's most carefully watched metrics -- comp sales and e-commerce sales -- which reflect the current reality and give insight into the company's future.

We'll know more when Walmart reports earnings before the market opens on Tuesday, Feb. 19.

More From The Motley Fool

Danny Vena 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.LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's lead Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins has said lawmakers 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 (AFP) - A British teenager who fled to join the Islamic State group in Syria is living in a refugee camp and wants to return home, The Times reported on Thursday.

Shamima Begum, now 19, expressed no regrets about fleeing her London life four years ago but said that two of her children had died and, pregnant with her third, she wanted to return.

She left the jihadists as they staged their last stand in Baghouz in eastern Syria, near the Iraqi border.

"I was weak. I could not endure the suffering and hardship that staying on the battlefield involved," she told the newspaper from the Al-Hawl camp.

"But I was also frightened that the child I am about to give birth to would die like my other children if I stayed on.

"So I fled the caliphate. Now all I want to do is come home to Britain."

Video: ISIS Stronghold in Syria Growing Smaller and Smaller

For more news videos visit Yahoo View.

She described life under IS with her Dutch husband, who surrendered as they left, telling The Times: "Mostly it was normal life in Raqqa, every now and then bombing and stuff.

"But when I saw my first severed head in a bin it didn't faze me at all. It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam.

"I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance."

She added: "I'm not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago. And I don't regret coming here."

Begum was one of three schoolgirls from the same school in the east London district of Bethnal Green who ran away to join the IS group in 2015.

Another girl from the same area left the year before.

One of the girls, Kadiza Sultana, has been reported killed and Begum said the other two, Sharmeena Begum -- no relation -- and Amira Abase stayed on in Baghouz.

"They were strong. I respect their decision," Begum said of her friends.

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"They urged patience and endurance in the caliphate and chose to stay behind in Baghouz. They would be ashamed of me if they survived the bombing and battle to learn that I had left."

She added: "They made their choice as single women. For their husbands were already dead."

Begum said she was nine months pregnant, and her two previous children had died -- a daughter, Sarayah, who was ill, and a son, Jerah, whose death was linked to malnutrition.

"In the end, I just could not endure any more," she said of her desire to get out. "I just couldn't take it."By Lesley Wroughton and Joanna Plucinska WARSAW (Reuters) - Foreign ministers and senior officials from 60 nations gather in the Polish capital Warsaw on Wednesday where the United States hopes to ratchet up pressure against Iran despite concerns among major European countries about heightened tensions with Tehran. The absence of foreign ministers from major European powers, Germany and France, highlights festering tensions with the European Union over U.S. President Donald Trump's decision last year to withdraw from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimpose sanctions. EU policy chief, Federica Mogherini, who was a key player in the Iran nuclear deal, will also not attend the two-day conference due to scheduling issues, an EU official said, although U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to Brussels on Friday to meet with her. Pompeo, who will be joined by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence in Warsaw, played down the absence of leading European ministers at the event during a brief stop in the Slovak capital Bratislava on Tuesday, before he headed to Warsaw. "Some countries are having their foreign ministers come. Other countries are not. That's their choice," he told a news conference. "We think we will make real progress. We think there'll be dozens of nations there seriously working towards a better, more stable Middle East, and I'm hoping by the time we leave on Thursday we'll have achieved that," he added. While countries such as France, Germany and Britain have opened a new channel for non-dollar trade with Iran to avert U.S. sanctions and keep the nuclear deal afloat, they have criticized Tehran's ballistic missile program. "There will be discussions about Iran's influence in the Middle East, what we can do to help get Iran on a more helpful footing that it has been, to collectively push back on some of its malign behavior in the region," a senior U.S. official said of the Warsaw agenda. New U.S. sanctions, mainly targeted at cutting off revenue from Iran's oil sector, have largely succeeded in persuading European companies to abandon business with Iran. Iran has threatened to pull out of the deal unless the European powers enable it to receive economic benefits. The Europeans have promised to help companies do business with Iran as long as it abides by the deal. In other policy differences, Washington's European allies have also voiced concern over Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. ATTENDANCE QUESTIONS The conference will also hear from White House adviser Jared Kushner, who is Trump's son in law, over plans by the United States for peace between Palestinians and Israelis. While Kushner is not likely to divulge too many details of the plan, it will be one of the first occasions he will publicly discuss the U.S. efforts. Palestinian officials have said they will not attend the Warsaw conference because of Washington's decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will, however, attend, alongside several officials from Gulf states. It was unclear which ministers would be attending since organizers refused to release the list of participants ahead of Wednesday's meeting. Hosting the event is a chance for Poland's conservative government to bolster its ties with Washington at a time when it faces mounting isolation within the EU amid a dispute over its adherence to rule of law standards. "It's a clear effort to underline their desire to please Washington," said Piotr Buras, a director of the Warsaw office of the ECFR think tank. "The goals of the conference are also defined by the U.S., not by Poland. Poland is just the implementer." But Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said transatlantic cooperation was necessary to resolve problems in the Middle East. "The European Union alone does not, in my opinion, carry sufficient political weight to try to really influence the situation in the Middle East," he told reporters in Warsaw. "Only working together with the United States , and broadly speaking the community of democratic countries, can we have a positive influence and achieve peace and the stabilization of the situation in the Middle East," he added. Michal Baranowski, who heads the Warsaw office of the German Marshall Fund, said the outcome of the conference could either showcase divisions or more agreement over Iran. "The proof is very much in the pudding whether this conference is something that will show great consensus or whether it will show greater division," he said. (Additional reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw; editing by Justyna Pawlak and Tom Brown)By Lesley Wroughton and Justyna Pawlak WARSAW (Reuters) - A U.S.-sponsored Middle East conference aimed at building a coalition against what Washington sees as the threat posed by Iran also produced signs of a warming of ties between Israel and some Arab countries on Wednesday. Foreign ministers and other officials from more than 60 countries were gathering for the conference in Warsaw, which was starting on Wednesday evening and whose agenda included Iran, conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Israeli-Palestinian peace. On the sidelines, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Oman's foreign minister. "Many are following this (Omani) lead, and may I say, including at this conference," a video released by Netanyahu's office showed him telling Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, whose Gulf state hosted the Israeli leader in October. Oman does not formally recognize Israel. Nor do Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, which also sent envoys to Warsaw and which share Israel's concerns about Iran's nuclear program and involvement in several regional flashpoints. Speaking to Netanyahu, bin Alawi said: "People in the Middle East have suffered a lot because they have stuck to the past. Now we say, this is a new era, for the future." Netanyahu - who has been trying to play up his diplomatic gains ahead of Israel's April election - has frequently hinted at warmer ties with Gulf Arab states. A photo-op with Netanyahu and senior figures from Arab countries in Warsaw would be a win for Washington as it seeks to ratchet up pressure against Tehran. The Iranians say it is U.S.-aligned forces in the region, and not they, who are belligerent. Leading European countries Germany and France opted not to send their foreign ministers over concerns the meeting could highlight big-power tensions over Washington's decision last year to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions against Tehran. Vice President Mike Pence is leading the U.S. delegation, accompanied by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House advisor Jared Kushner. "We're trying to expand the number of nations who are engaged and have a stake in the future of a peaceful and prosperous Middle East," Brian Hook, the State Department's special representative for Iran, told Reuters. Arab nations and Israel faced a common threat of Iranian regional aggression and Washington was working closely with these nations to counter this, he said. "Iran isn't behaving like a normal country. They have a very expansionist foreign policy and that destabilizes other countries," said Hook when asked whether the absence of Germany and France's top diplomats at the meeting mattered. EU policy chief Federica Mogherini, a key player in the Iran nuclear deal, will also not attend the two-day conference due to scheduling issues, an EU official said, although Pompeo will travel to Brussels on Friday to meet with her. ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PLAN Kushner, who is President Donald Trump's son-in-law, will brief delegates behind closed doors on Thursday on U.S. plans for peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Palestinian officials, viewing the current U.S. administration as having a pro-Israel bias, declined to attend the conference. Hosting the meeting is a chance for Poland's conservative government to bolster ties with Washington at a time when it is increasingly isolated within the EU amid a dispute over its adherence to rule-of-law standards. Transatlantic cooperation was necessary to resolve problems in the Middle East, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said. "The European Union alone does not, in my opinion, carry sufficient political weight to try to really influence the situation in the Middle East," he told reporters. (Additional reporting by Alan Charlish and Joanna Plucinska in Warsaw, Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Editing by Frances Kerry)The future hydrographic and diving support vessel, the MV Edda Fonn, that the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) ordered has arrived in Frederikshavn, Denmark, for its conversion into a naval platform.

The future hydrographic and diving support vessel, the MV Edda Fonn, that the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) ordered has arrived in Frederikshavn, Denmark, for its conversion into a naval platform.

A view of the deck of the Edda Fonn (Picture source : Ship Technology)

The 2003-built Edda Fonn vessel, which has been working in the offshore oil and gas industry for years will be outfitted with the dive and hydrographic systems required by the NZ Defence Force, before being delivered to Devonport Naval Base in May 2019.

Once ready for operations, Edda Fonn will replace two vessels that have been decommissioned from the New Zealand Navy. The dive and hydrographic vessel will replace HMNZS Resolution and HMNZS Manawanui. The two vessels were decommissioned from the RNZN in 2012 and 2018 respectively, following several decades of service.

The ROV / survey vessel has an overall length of 84.7m, or 75m between perpendiculars, a breadth of 18m and a 9.1m moulded depth. It has a registered tonnage of 4,505gt and registers a deadweight of 2,354t. It has a deck area of 700m, a 41m cargo deck length and a capacity of 800t. The vessel has sufficient storage for 1,113m of marine oil, 428.1m of fresh water and 1,883.1m of ballast water.

The deck equipment includes two Effer 17tm cranes that can carry out a 1.62t lift at 10.29m and a Heila 15tm provision crane that can lift 1.1t at 14.76m. It has a 10t Karmy tugger winch and a Hydramarine 1.1t 2,500m wire transponder winch. There are two anchor windlass/mooring winches forward and two Karmy capstans aft.Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish media on Thursday published images of a so-called "local collaborator" who allegedly helped the Saudi hit squad dispose of the body of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, citing Istanbul police.

The dissident journalist and Washington Post contributor was dismembered after being killed on October 2 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul but his remains have not yet been found.

CCTV images leaked previously showed a Saudi agent leaving the consulate after the murder wearing Khashoggi's clothes, who was identified as a "body double".

At one point, a hooded man was seen walking alongside him, who was identified in an Istanbul police report as a "local collaborator, the private NTV television reported.

After weeks of denial, Saudi Arabia admitted that Khashoggi had been killed after entering the consulate to obtain the paperwork necessary for his upcoming marriage to a Turkish woman called Hatice Cengiz.

Turkey says he was killed by a team of 15 Saudis who strangled him, and Ankara has repeatedly asked Riyadh to identify the local who allegedly helped them dispose of the body.

The police report also said that after the murder, the hit team ordered a large quantity of meat which was then delivered to the Saudi residence near the consulate where there was a large industrial oven.

Several Turkish media outlets speculated whether the oven may have been used to dispose of the dismembered corpse.

"Was barbecuing meat... one of the previously made plans?" wondered the police report, which was published by the state-run Anadolu news agency.

The murder sparked international outrage and hurt the kingdom's image.

Riyadh arrested a number of senior Saudi officials allegedly involved in the murder.Long before the Great Migration  the 20th-century exodus of millions of African Americans from the Deep South to the North  the opportunity to own land attracted many blacks to Oklahoma. But it was specifically the oil boom at the turn of the 20th century that lured two entrepreneurs, O.W. Gurley and J.B. Stradford, to the city of Tulsa and set in motion one of the most remarkable, tragic and often forgotten stories in American history  the creation, destruction and rebirth of Black Wall Street.

Now, nearly 100 years after white mobs burned down Tulsas Greenwood district and murdered many of its residents, local leaders are working to teach the community about Greenwoods prosperous past and recapture its entrepreneurial spirit.

Gurley and Stradford literally laid the groundwork for what would become known as Black Wall Street by purchasing undeveloped land in Tulsa and building commercial spaces and housing. Boosted by the petroleum business in what would soon be known as the oil capital of the world, Greenwood residents worked as doctors, lawyers and entrepreneurs. Many made a solid middle-class living as domestic workers in the homes of rich white Tulsans.

More: In search of Wakanda: A new world of black agency and identity

Black folks came to Oklahoma and they called it the promised land because it was supposed to be a place where you could get away from what was happening in the Deep South with the lynchings, the low wages and the sharecropping. You were supposed to be able to go to Tulsa and have a good life, says Shomari Wills, author of "Black Fortunes: The Story of the First Six African Americans Who Escaped Slavery and Became Millionaires."

Mt. Zion Baptist Church in the Greenwood district of Tulsa after it was set afire by a white mob in 1921.

Whites in Tulsa, however, seethed at Greenwoods economic success.

There was a very large white supremacist contingent in Tulsa, Wills says. He adds that, like everybody else in the West, Tulsans of all stripes were gunslingers. He says, So you have a heavily armed and self-determined black population that is economically independent. They also had an extremely high literacy rate and were well-educated. Then, on the other side of the tracks, you have a white supremacist contingent whos irritated by that.

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On May 31, 1921, white mobs seized on rumors that a black man had sexually assaulted a white girl in an elevator, and they went on a rampage in Greenwood, killing an estimated 100 to 300 black residents, destroying homes and businesses and leaving thousands homeless.

(A 2001 Oklahoma state commission report on the case concluded that the elevator incident was probably minor and essentially innocent. The young man, Dick Rowland, 19, most likely tripped and stepped on the foot of elevator operator Sarah Page, 17, the report said. She may have shouted in surprise, prompting him to run from the elevator. A clerk at a nearby store heard the shout, saw Rowland hurrying away  and inferred that Rowland had tried to rape Page.)

For years, the horrific events that followed have been referred to as the Tulsa Race Riots, but thanks in large part to survivors and their descendants, another, more accurate term is gaining favor: the Tulsa Race Massacre.

Today, the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission works to ensure that the story continues to be told. It is also working to empower and assist Greenwoods community of black entrepreneurs.

Right now in the Greenwood district, there are a few black-owned businesses, but nothing like it was back in that day, says commission project manager Jamaal Dyer, a Tulsa native. Dyer says one of the main goals of the commission is to not only talk about African-American entrepreneurship, but actively seek programs and funding to bring these entrepreneurs to the Greenwood district, by working alongside people in the community doing similar work.

A march from Tulsa's Greenwood district to Reconciliation Park on May 31, 2018, marks the 97th anniversary of the racist violence that devastated the thriving area once known as 'Black Wall Street.'

The group operates a pop-up space that rotates among an array of small businesses. We have some very gifted entrepreneurs here in Tulsa, Dyer says. One young lady who occupied the space makes hand-poured candles. Before that, we had an 11-year-old boy who makes homemade cookies. We have so many people in our community who still embody the spirit of our Greenwood ancestors.

Last summer, the commission hosted 40 Oklahoma teachers for a four-day intensive course on the massacre. Theyve also created lesson plans and other resources for educators.

Sadly enough, I didnt learn about it in school, says Dyer, who attended high school in Greenwood. I dont remember talking about this in school. But weve have made significant strides to try and make sure thats not the case going forward, and we applaud the teachers who have been teaching this for years. We want to build on what theyve already done.

Dyer attributes the collapse of Tulsas African-American business community not only to the massacre, but also to mid-century urban renewal and the construction of a highway through the area.

He argues passionately that the real story of Greenwood is one of resilience.

You cant tell the story of Greenwood without talking about the massacre," Dyer says. "But what we want people to know about more than anything is that these African-American men and women, who were very brilliant and very innovative, built businesses from the ground up. Then, despite the devastation of the massacre, they rebuilt. We want people to know that this community in the Greenwood district was able to overcome and continue to survive and thrive.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tulsa works to restore entrepreneurial spirit of 'Black Wall Street'Donald Trump cant win in 2020, but the Democrats can lose, and they seem determined to give it their best shot.

Straight-line predictions are the undoing of every pundit and prognosticator. But it seems safe to say that if present trends hold, President Trump has no path to winning a majority of the popular vote.

In 2016, Trump lost the popular vote by more than 2.8 million ballots. He carried the Electoral College by very narrow margins: about 10,000 votes in Michigan, 22,000 in Wisconsin, and 45,000 in Pennsylvania. In January, according to Morning Consult, Trumps approval ratings in these states were 40 percent, 40 percent, and 43 percent, respectively. An NPR/PBS/Marist poll last month found that 57 percent of Americans say they will vote against Trump while a mere 30 percent said they will definitely vote for him. He is underwater in a slew of states any Republican needs to win, and he has never once broken 50 percent in approval ratings nationally.

Just going by the numbers, barring a compelling independent candidacy of someone likely to siphon votes from the Democratic column, it seems impossible for Trump to get reelected.

Of course, its not impossible, because we never get to the future as the crow flies. In the heat of an election, many Trump-skeptical Republicans and Republican-leaning voters will come home. But if that happens, it almost surely wont happen because Trump moderated his behavior.

If the president could pivot to a more presidential persona, he would have done it already. When British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was confronted with calls to turn away from her market-liberating reforms, she famously declared, The ladys not for turning. Trump, while a very different kind of leader, could give a speech declaring, The man is not for pivoting.

So the only variable in the binary presidential election lies on the left side of the ledger. If the Democrats present a face that is scarier than the reality show of the previous four years, many Americans could vote against the Democrats rather than for the Republicans.

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That process is already starting. Erick Erickson, a prominent Never Trump conservative in 2016 and a Trump critic since then, announced on Monday that he will be voting for Trump in 2020.

Democrats would be wise to pay attention. Erickson hasnt suddenly fallen in love with Trump; hes grown decisively horrified by the Democrats. And I cant blame him. Just last week, Democrats unveiled the Green New Deal, a wild-eyed fantasy of an agenda that would cost trillions, destroy whole industries, and serve as a Trojan horse for socialism.

Not long before that, Senator Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) cavalierly admitted that Medicare for all would wipe out the insurance policies of more than a 100 million Americans. She has done some backpedaling since, but other leading Democrats remain committed, including Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who recently said eliminating private insurance was an urgent goal.

The scandals unraveling the Democratic party in Virginia have obscured the fact that the controversy started because someone was appalled by Governor Ralph Northams defense of legislation that seemed to support the right to terminate the life of delivered babies.

Theres ample room to criticize the way Trump has handled immigration and shoved all his chips into the center of the table for his wall, but some of the Democrats rhetoric about immigration  the need to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement, for example  hasnt made them appear like a reasonable alternative.

A host of other story lines, largely ignored or downplayed by the mainstream media, have caught the attention of conservatives nonetheless, from increasingly open hostility to Catholic judicial nominees to greater tolerance for anti-Semitic rhetoric.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) seems to grasp that its in her partys interest not to go overboard in response to Trump, but collectively its as if the Democrats think that the savvy political response to the radicalism they see in Trumpism is an alternatively radical agenda. The problem is that Trumps actual agenda (so far) hasnt been as radical as the disorientating nature of his norm-defying personal conduct and his obvious contempt for institutional safeguards has led many liberals to believe.

In many respects, the parties are mirroring each other, as the incentive structure on both sides is geared toward the extremes. Politics is no longer about capturing the center where most voters gravitate but revving up the ranks of the most passionate. Faced with that reality, enough Americans may hold their noses and vote against the devil they dont know.

 2019 TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC

More from National ReviewWASHINGTON  Frustrated at Congress' refusal to give him the $5.7 billion he has demanded for a border wall, President Donald Trump has promised to shift money from "far less important" federal programs to build more miles of barrier than lawmakers have been willing to consider.

White House aides have been working behind the scenes to identify unspent money that could be used for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border in the hopes of showing Trump's supporters he is delivering on a central promise from his 2016 campaign.

Congress is set to vote Thursday on legislation that includes $1.375 billion to build about 55 miles of barrier, far short of the 234 miles of new wall the administration sought in January.

But acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has said Trump has options that would not require congressional approval, nor would they require the president to declare a national emergency at the border  a step that is controversial among Republicans and Democrats alike.

Neither Trump nor Mulvaney have said where they would get the money or how much they believe could be freed up. Experts say the White House can move funds around  particularly at the Pentagon  but they cautioned those options carry risks and won't solve the president's need for billions more to build a wall.

President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Feb. 12, 2019, in Washington.

"Youre talking about going into the Department of Defense, because there's no other place to go," said James Dyer, a veteran former Appropriations Committee aide. "I cant imagine the political disruption that this is going to cause."

Trump has said he is not happy with the measure but has stopped short of threatening to veto it. The legislation also provides the funding of government agencies needed to avert another government shutdown when current spending authority runs out Friday at midnight.

He has also made clear that he believes he can come up with more money without going to Congress.

"We have options that most people dont really understand," Trump told reporters at the White House Wednesday.

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The White House is eyeing Army Corps of Engineers funding, though it's not clear if disaster relief funding  which had been considered previously  is still a possibility, according to sources with knowledge of the options who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discus proposals that havent been formally announced. The approach drew bipartisan criticism this year when it was reportedly considered as part of Trump's plan to declare a national emergency.

Others pointed to a provision in federal law that allows the Defense department to support drug interdiction and anti-gang efforts, including with the construction of "roads and fences." The law does not require approval from Congress before the secretary of Defense can embark on those activities.

Others pointed to the possibility of Trump using asset forfeiture accounts at the departments of Justice and Treasury, which together have a combined balance of about $3.5 billion. It's not clear if Trump has the authority to move that money, though, without approval from Congress.

Also not clear is whether the White House intends to transfer the money to Customs and Border Protection, the agency that has traditionally received barrier money from Congress, or whether it is considering using money at the Department of Defense. Current law allows the Department of Defense to transfer up to $4 billion in its budget to other accounts if "such action is necessary in the national interest."

Federal agencies, by practice, seek signoff from congressional committees before moving large sums, but Congress also occasionally grants the administration a pre-approval, up to a cap, to do so.

The Office of Management and Budget did not respond to questions about which accounts are being considered.

Experts predict Trump will be limited both legally and politically from moving significant money around to pay for a wall. Even in cases where he has legal authority  such as at the Department of Defense  he could face pushback from lawmakers if raiding a pot of money means withholding a pet project for their district.

And lawmakers also have the power to tighten the rules on how the administration moves money around, making it more difficult for agencies to transfer money for purposes in the future.

"My sense is theyll have a firm legal basis for doing," said Gordon Gray, director of fiscal policy at the American Action Forum. "But smashing norms right and left doesnt necessarily serve them, either."

The idea has drawn cautious reaction from members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, who are charged with deciding how federal tax dollars are spent.

Id like to see what theyre trying to do and what program it affects, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the Senate Appropriations chairman said in response to a question about Trump's desire to shift money within the budget. As long as hes doing it within the confines of his constitutional duties, well go from there."

For weeks Trump has threatened to declare a national emergency on the border, which would give him power to activate spending measures he can use only during a war or an emergency. But that approach, which Republicans close to the White House say is still under consideration, has drawn criticism from some Senate Republicans.

More: Government shutdown: What's in the tentative deal on border security?

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said he has urged Trump not to declare an emergency, and believes the administration can pull money from elsewhere.

I think there are reprogramming opportunities for him outside of [an] emergency, Wicker said.

Contributing: Eliza Collins, Tom Vanden Brook

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump vows to find more money to fund a border wall. Where is he looking for it?WASHINGTON (AP)  President Donald Trump on Wednesday called Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's refusal to accept humanitarian aid a "terrible mistake" and the decision an example of what can happen when the wrong government holds power.

Trump seemed also to hint at future action by the U.S. and its allies against Maduro, who has blocked shipments of food and other assistance sent by the U.S. and other countries for the people of Venezuela. Political and economic turmoil has led to vast shortages of basic goods, forcing many Venezuelans to flee to neighboring Colombia or participate in massive street protests in an attempt to pressure Maduro to leave office.

The U.S. and other nations favor that outcome and have recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's rightful leader.

Asked if he had a backup plan should Maduro retain power, Trump said: "I always have Plan B. And C and D and E and F. ... A lot of things are happening in Venezuela that people don't know about."

During an Oval Office appearance with Colombian President Ivan Duque, Trump said many countries want to help Venezuela.

"We'll be seeing a lot over the next few weeks," he said.

Maduro has blasted the humanitarian aid as part of a U.S.-led coup to topple him. Trump said Maduro made the wrong call in denying his people the assistance, noting that Maduro has blocked the bridge closest to where the aid is being warehoused on the Colombian border, but not other crossings.

"I think he's making a terrible mistake by not allowing" the aid to be distributed, Trump said. "It's showing bad things and, really, we're trying to get food to people that are starving. You have people starving in Venezuela, and it just shows what can happen with the wrong government."

Guaido said this week that he will try to run caravans of the badly needed food and medicine into Venezuela, starting Feb. 23.

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Duque publicly committed Wednesday to making sure the supplies get into Venezuela.

"Obstructing the access of humanitarian aid is a crime against humanity," the Colombian leader said.

Russia, which backs Maduro, has said Venezuela should be allowed to solve its issues internally and peacefully, a sentiment that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a telephone conversation Wednesday, according to Lavrov's office.

Trump repeatedly has said he has not ruled out any option, including military action, for dealing with the turmoil in Venezuela.

Asked Wednesday whether he would send in U.S. troops, Trump replied, "We'll see." But Elliot Abrams, the president's special representative for Venezuela, was more direct during an appearance Wednesday on Capitol Hill, telling House lawmakers military action "is not the path that the U.S. is pursuing."

Several members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said they would oppose U.S. military intervention. Abrams said he believed increasing international pressure and the pain of sanctions against Venezuela will eventually lead to Maduro's ouster.

On another top concern, Trump chastised Duque over illegal drugs during the public portion of their meeting. Colombia is the world's largest exporter of cocaine and the steady growth of its coca crop in recent years has tested relations with the United States.

"We are working together so that Colombia eradicates some of what they're growing in Colombia," Trump said. "I wouldn't say that at this moment you're ahead of schedule, but hopefully you will be at some time in the near future."

Duque defended his administration, asserting that more cocaine has been eradicated in the first four months of his term than during the eight months before he was sworn into office in August 2018. He said the administration has a "moral duty" to rid Colombia of illegal crops and narcotrafficking.

"We have to deliver. We will deliver, because it is our moral duty," Duque said.

___

Associated Press writer Luis Alonso Lugo contributed to this report.

___

Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleapWASHINGTON  President Donald Trump will declare a national emergency to speed up funding for his proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, but experts said the move would create a legal morass that could take until the middle of next year to resolve.

The White House announced Thursday that Trump will make the move that he'd suggested for weeks. The announcement came as Congress readied legislation that would devote $1.375 billion to the border wall, far less than the $5.7 billion Trump demanded.

Declaring an emergency would let Trump sidestep Democratic opposition to more wall funding, but it could draw legal challenges from lawmakers and others who viewed the move as a power grab. Although that could delay construction of his border barriers, an extended legal battle would give Trump a potent political issue to run on in the 2020 presidential election.

"Everyones going to come out of the woodwork," said Stephen Vladeck, a University of Texas-Austin law professor who teaches national security law. "I think were going to see an array of lawsuits that actually would all have to be dealt with separately."

More: How congressional Democrats could fight a Trump wall emergency declaration

More: What to know about national emergencies and their role in US history

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the administration is "very prepared" for legal challenges.

The potential for an extended legal battle may explain why Trump backed away from the emergency scenario last month. The president, who faced criticism from some Republicans for the idea, said he wouldn't declare an emergency imminently. Republicans noted a future Democratic president could also use an emergency to work around Congress.

Litigation could go all the way to the Supreme Court, which has smacked down attempts by both Trump and President Barack Obama to make end runs around Congress. How long that takes would depend on several factors:

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 Which programs the White House might try to tap for funding.

 Whether Trump tries to speed the seizure of property from unwilling owners.

 Who could be harmed by the order and would have the right to sue.

 What court or courts are chosen by challengers seeking favorable verdicts.

For weeks, Trump weighed invoking a national emergency as the political impasse over the wall led to a partial government shutdown that became the longest in U.S. history. White House aides acknowledged that lawyers reviewed the ramifications.

The president expressed confidence in the legal strategy. "The law is 100 percent on my side," he said.

Democrats blasted the move. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer called the decision a "gross abuse of the power of the presidency" in a joint statement.

Legal experts differed over how much latitude Trump would have to free up money for the wall on his own. They cautioned that those who favor an emergency declaration may trade a deadlock in Congress for a lengthy legal fight in the federal judiciary.

Walter Dellinger, an assistant attorney general and head of the Office of Legal Counsel under President Bill Clinton, said a lawsuit could reach the Supreme Court in a matter of months but probably would not be resolved quickly.

I think that a clear majority of the Supreme Court will be deeply troubled by the invocation of emergency authority in this case, Dellinger said. "In the normal course, we might not expect a decision until June of 2020 at the earliest."

Presidents have broad authority to declare an emergency but are more restricted in how they can use it. White House officials zeroed in on provisions that would let Trump capture unused money Congress set aside for other purposes.

None of these statutes is a blank check," Vladeck said.

Another question that would have to be decided early in the process: Who has the right to sue? Lawmakers might sue by arguing the president usurped their power through an emergency declaration. Homeowners on the border whose property could be seized to build the wall also might have a case, experts said.

Litigation may turn in part on whether Trump erred in declaring an emergency in the first place. Though the president described the situation on the border as a "security and humanitarian crisis," the number of people apprehended attempting to cross the border illegally has fallen considerably over the past decade.

Courts have traditionally given presidents leeway to decide matters of national security.

"Theres just not a lot of guidance in these statutes about what actually constitutes a national emergency," said Margaret Taylor, senior editor and counsel at the legal blog Lawfare and a former Democratic aide on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "Congress and the courts have been deferential to presidents on that decision."

On the other hand, presidents have faced successful challenges after they took action to sidestep Congress. Obama's effort to shield from deportation about 5 million undocumented immigrants through an executive order faced a high-profile lawsuit from Texas that dragged on for months before the Supreme Court killed the program.

Challengers presumably would bring their lawsuits to district court judges they considered likely to look askance at Trumps action  a practice known as forum shopping thats used by both liberals and conservatives to improve their chances. Liberals often file cases within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, based in California; conservatives often opt for the 5th Circuit, which includes Texas.

Signaling that he may have learned from the extended legal challenge that for months blocked his travel ban on predominately Muslim countries, Trump predicted opponents might try to bring a challenge to an emergency declaration in the 9th Circuit.

"What will happen? I'll be sued. It'll be brought to the 9th Circuit. We'll probably lose there, too," Trump said. "And then hopefully we'll win in the Supreme Court."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's emergency declaration would trigger a drawn-out legal fightThree people were taken to hospital after a Delta Air Lines flight experienced severe turbulence and had to make an emergency landing.

Flight 5763 was heading to Seattle from Santa Ana in California, when the turbulence struck at 34,000ft. The plane was diverted to Nevada.



One of those taken to hospital was a flight attendant. Another two passengers were injured but were not taken to hospital.

Passengers spoke about the plane taking a nose-dive twice because of the extreme conditions.

One of the injured passengers (Barbara Belcher)

The turbulence was so bad that it caused a flight attendants drinks cart to flip over in the aisle, dislodging its shelves and contents, according passengers onboard.

One, Dave Macias, told Fox News: We just saw the drink cart go up in the air. The flight attendant was tossed around like a rag doll. It was wild.

The incident happened on a Delta Air Line plane in the US (PA)

Another, Joe Justice, posted a video on Twitter showing the aftermath of the crazy turbulence but praised the actions of the crew.

Crazy turbulence and injuries, but the @delta crew handled it perfectly, even the emergency landing, said Justice on Twitter.

He added: We did a nose dive, twice.

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There were 59 passengers and four crew on board the flight.

The turbulence came after forecasts of heavy storms in the vicinity of the planes flight path.

In a statement, Delta apologised for the incident.

We apologize for this experience as we get customers to Seattle, said Delta.

Another passenger, Barbara Belcher, said passengers were offered free pizza after the incident.Theresa May loses latest Brexit vote after rebellion by hardline Tory Brexiteers

Crushing defeat means she no longer has support of a majority of MPs for her Brexit strategy

Nor is there any parliamentary majority for what happens next

Defeat is a blow to the authority of Mrs May, who will now struggle to convince the EU she can deliver any form of Brexit

Brexiteers, led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, branded treacherous by Tory minister

The PM must now find consensus among MPs ahead of crucial vote on February 27

Theresa May has been hit by another humiliating defeat in the Commons at the hands of Brexiteers.

Hardline Tory Eurosceptics abstained from voting on the PMs latest Brexit motion, saying it effectively meant the Government is abandoning the option of a no-deal Brexit.

This rebellion led to a loss for Mrs May by 303 votes to 258  with Labour branding it a massacre.

The Prime Minister, who didnt even turn up for the crucial vote, was asking MPs to reiterate their support for her Brexit plan.

That approach, which was voted through by a majority of MPs in January, gave her backing to go back to Brussels and seek alternative arrangements to the Irish backstop. On the same night, most MPs also voted in opposition to no deal.

But this previous show of solidarity with Tory Brexiteers, such as Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg, has now crumbled, leaving Mrs May exposed just weeks before Brexit is due to take place on March 29.

Jeremy Corbyn demanded Theresa May come to the Commons to answer questions about the defeat (PA Images)

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded that the Prime Minister come to the Commons to respond before saying the vote showed there was no majority for Mays Brexit strategy. He said she could not keep ignoring Parliament or ploughing on towards 29 March without a coherent plan.

He added: She cannot keep on just running down the clock and hoping something will turn up.

Mr Corbyn said her strategy had failed and she needed to come to Parliament and outline how she was going act to the catastrophe of a no-deal exit.

Story continues

On a bruising night for the PM, a Labour attempt to force the Government to hold another meaningful vote before the end of the month was defeated by a margin of 14 votes.

Labour MP David Lammy, who supports a second referendum, called the defeat a massacre for the government and a damning indictment of her Brexit plan.

In a further sign of divisions within the Conservatives, the Business minister Richard Harrington branded hardline Tories treacherous, and said his colleagues should to join Nigel Farages new Brexit party.

However, the Prime Minister did manage to see off a challenge that would have forced her to delay Brexit as MPs voted heavily against an SNP plan to extend Article 50 for at least three months. In a setback for Jeremy Corbyn though, 41 Labour MPs defied their leader and backed the amendment, offering a further indication of the partys own divisions.

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A vote that would force Theresa May to publish its no-deal planning papers was withdrawn by Remain MP Anna Soubry, allowing the PM to swerve another pummelling.

Ms Soubry said she withdrew her amendment after receiving assurances from the Government that relevant papers would be published.

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What does this mean about the possibility of no deal?

The PM knows she need the support of the ERG to get any potential deal through the Commons so she is trying to keep them on side by not officially ruling out no deal.

However, with a clear majority in the House to block it, dozens of ministers could resign in opposition at leaving the EU without a deal.

Business leaders have previously warned about their concerns over a no-deal Brexit, adding even more pressure to Mrs May to rule it out.

The Prime Minister has been accused of abandoning a no-deal Brexit (Getty)

But if she cannot renegotiate the terms of her existing Brexit deal with the EU, any hope of deal being voted through is seemingly dead in the water.

The PM will be hoping that she can fix the Irish backstop issue to the ERGs liking and get a deal through but if she cannot, there is a strong possibility of a no-deal Brexit.

What happens next?

Tonights vote does not change much in reality, but another major defeat on Brexit is a humiliation and a blow to the authority of the Prime Minister.

It marks a setback for her efforts to convince Brussels she can command a majority of MPs support for any deal.

Brussels is thought to want evidence that any concessions it grants on the Irish backstop would actually ensure a deal could pass through Parliament.

With just 43 days before Britain exits the EU, time is running out for Mrs May to renegotiate the Irish backstop.

The outcome of that will likely dictate the future of the country  and possibly the fate of the PM.The First Lady of Kenyan hip-hop Nazizi Hirji is madly in love.

The versatile music act, formerly of Kenyas pioneer reggae and dancehall group Necessary Noize alongside Wyre, is celebrating one year of a blissful romantic relationship with her hunk of a man.

The 37 -year-old mother of one has been dating one, @boy_caro on Instagram, a runway/ commercial model who takes his fitness seriously.

Taking to Instagram on Wednesday to mark one year since her life changed, Nazizi poured her heart out in praise of Boy Caro.

13.02.18 My life changed.

Thanks for the highs and the lows the ups and the downs and mostly for being there for me through thick and thin.

Thanks for all the times you had to sit backstage at my gigs. For sacrificing your time and energy towards my goals and dreams.

Thanks for being my personal photographer my trainer and most of all my Very own Nurse for all those days and nights I was sick and no one knew.

Thanks for being an amazing friend to [my son] @tafari_firoz it means the world. I love you happy anniversary.

Boy Caro was equally stoked as the couple celebrated their one year anniversary just a day before Valentines Day. He also returned the favor on his Instagram, saying there is no one like Nazizi.

There is no one like you

Theres no one that can take your place

The way you smile, the way you look

The way you always know what I am thinking about, the way you give me hug when all was needed,

The way you cry, listen and love.

You share your hopes and dreams and help me share mine; you touch my life and there will never be another you.

You have touched me more profoundly than I ever thought you could touch me.

I love you happy first anniversary my love.

We dug up some photos of the lovebirds.

Photos/InstagramBy Patpicha Tanakasempipat and Panarat Thepgumpanat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's election commission said on Wednesday it is seeking the disqualification of a party that nominated a princess for prime minister, in what would be a set-back for the opposition loyal to ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thailand will hold a general election on March 24, its first since a military coup in 2014. The contest looks set to be a showdown between the military-backed, royalist Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and supporters of Thaksin. Last week, a party allied with Thaksin said its candidate for prime minister, if it won the election, would be Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Barnavadi, the king's older sister. The announcement caused a sensation in a country where the royal family has traditionally remained above politics. Hours later, King Maha Vajiralongkorn made clear his opposition to his older sister's political foray, calling it "inappropriate" and unconstitutional. Thailand has been a constitutional monarchy since 1932, but the royal family wields great influence and commands widespread devotion, with the king considered to be semi-divine. The election commission disqualified the princess on Monday and on Wednesday said it also aimed to dissolve the Thai Raksa Chart party, which nominated her. The party was one of several set up by Thaksin loyalists as back-up parties in case his main Pheu Thai party is disqualified for some reason. The election commission said in a statement the Thai Raksa Chart party had violated an electoral law with its nomination of the king's sister, which was "antagonistic toward the constitutional monarchy". "Therefore, it is agreed that a petition will be submitted to the Constitutional Court to consider dissolving the Thai Raksa Chart Party," it said in a statement. Thai Raksa Chart officials told reporters the party did not violate the electoral law and it would ask the Constitutional Court to be "merciful". The court said it would decide on Thursday whether or not to accept the case. If found guilty, the party would be dissolved, and its board members banned from standing for political office. Parties loyal to Thaksin, a former telecommunications tycoon, have defeated pro-establishment parties to win every election since 2001. 'SORRY' Ubolratana apologized on Tuesday for causing "problems" for the people. "I am sorry my genuine intention to work for the country and Thai people has caused such problems that shouldn't have happened in this era," she said on Instagram. Ubolratana relinquished her royal titles in 1972 when she married Peter Jensen, an American and fellow student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She lived in the United States for more than 26 years before they divorced in 1998. Some social media users urged her to serve the people as a member of the royal family, but Ubolratana responded: "I don't want to be in that position anymore. I gave that up a long time ago." The March poll is shaping up to be the latest confrontation in nearly 15 years of political conflict between the mostly Bangkok-based royalist-military elite and the largely rural-based populist movement backed by Thaksin - marked by street protests, violent clashes and military coups. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court upheld eight-month jail sentences for six pro-establishment activists who led an occupation of the prime minister's offices in 2008, during months-long protests against a pro-Thaksin government. The six leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), including media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul and retired general and former Bangkok governor Chamlong Srimuang, had appealed two-year prison terms issued by a lower court in 2015. The Supreme Court upheld their convictions for encroachment and damage to public property, but dropped charges of treason and disturbing public peace, said their lawyer Suwat Apaipak. PAD protesters seized Government House for 193 days and laid siege to many government offices and parliament. They also shut down Bangkok's two main international airports for more than a week during the 2008 protests against a pro-Thaksin government. (Additional reporting by Panu Wongcha-um; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Robert Birsel and Darren Schuettler)Thailand's constitutional court on Thursday said it would hear a case to dissolve the party which proposed a princess for prime minister, an ill-fated candidacy which threatens to sink the election strategy of the powerful Shinawatra clan.

The Thai Raksa Chart party nominated Princess Ubolratana for premier last Friday, a bombshell move bringing Thai royalty to frontline politics for the first time since the 1932 establishment of a constitutional monarchy.

Hours later the princess's brother -- Thailand's powerful king Maha Vajiralongkorn -- scuttled her political ambitions, hitting out at the attempt to bring her into politics as "highly inappropriate" and against royal traditions.

In the days since, chaos has enveloped Thai Raksa Chart, which falls under the tutelage of Thaksin Shinawatra, a divisive billionaire ex-premier who sits at the heart of Thailand's bitter political schism.

On Wednesday the Election Commission (EC) handed the case for dissolution of Thai Raksa Chart to the constitutional court on the grounds the party had taken "action considered hostile to the constitutional monarchy".

The court "unanimously agreed to accept the request by the Election Commission", it said in a statement.

The next hearing is on February 27.

Party officials fear the case is being hustled through ahead of the March 24 election, which is already stacked in favour of the ruling junta, whose leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha wants to return as a civilian premier.

"We feel the case has been irregularly expedited," Thai Raksa Chart key member Chayika Wongnapachant, who is a niece of Thaksin Shinawatra, told AFP before the court delivered its statement.

- 'Loyalty and respect' -

"Without Thai Raksa Chart in the play, I believe it is going to be hard for the people to win a majority in parliament," she said, adding the loss of the party's 278 candidates could land a hammer blow to the aspirations of anti-junta parties.

Story continues

The party acted in good faith, with "loyalty and respect... and we hope the court sees that," she added.

Thai Raksa Chart aimed to add to the vote bank of the bigger Shinawatra electoral vehicle, Pheu Thai, in an election where secondary parties are targeting seats via a party list system.

After five years of junta rule Thailand remains a deeply divided kingdom.

Parties affiliated with Thaksin -- who is adored by the rural poor but loathed by the Bangkok-based establishment -- have won every election since 2001, but their governments have been battered by two coups and a barrage of court cases.

The junta wants to embed its influence after elections, scripting a charter that created a fully appointed upper house and limits the number of constituency seats up for grabs in elections.

Thaksin and his sister Yingluck, who was toppled by a 2014 coup, both live abroad to avoid convictions they say are politically motivated.

Thais have struggled to unpick the meaning behind Princess Ubolratana's fleeting foray into politics, but have been left open-jawed by the rare sight of palace intrigue playing out in public.

Ubolratana renounced her royal titles to marry an American, but is still treated by Thais as member of the revered royal family.

burs-apj/jeTelus Corp. acknowledged Thursday that the deployment of its fifth-generation wireless network could be delayed and be more expensive than anticipated if Ottawa chooses to ban equipment from Huawei Technologies Inc.

Telus Corp. (T.TO) is warning that a federal government ban on equipment from Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. could have a material impact on the companys deployment of a 5G cellular network.

Ottawa is reviewing whether it will permit the use of the Chinese telecom giants equipment in Canadian 5G networks, or join nations including the United States, Australia, and New Zealand in banning the components.

Huawei has long faced scrutiny over perceived links to Chinas government, an allegation the company denies. Security experts, including former Canadian Security Intelligence Service director Richard Fadden, have pressed Ottawa to exclude the company from participating in Canadian 5G networks, citing espionage risk.

A decision prohibiting the deployment of Huawei technology without compensation or other accommodations being made by the Government of Canada could have a material, non-recurring, incremental increase in the cost of Telus 5G network deployment, the Vancouver-based company stated in regulatory filings released on Thursday. We are continuing to work with the government as it conducts this cybersecurity review.

A government ban on Huawei equipment would shrink the pool of top vendors to Swedens Ericsson (ERIC) and Finlands Nokia Corp. (NOK), both of which are seen as pricer alternatives to their Chinese rival.

A reduction to an only two global supplier environment could permanently affect the cost structure of 5G equipment for all operators, Telus stated. In the case of a ban, there is a risk that the Canadian telecom market would undergo a structural change.

Telus and its larger rival BCE Inc. (BCE.TO) have used Huawei equipment to explore ways to build out a next-generation telecom network. Neither has announced the choice of its 5G vendor.

BCE has downplayed the impact of a federal government ban on Huaweis 5G networking components. Chief executive officer George Cope told analysts on a recent conference call that Bell would chose another supplier, and said the timing of the companys 5G plans would not be affected.

Story continues

Analysts at CIBC recently estimated it would cost $1 billion to remove and replace existing Huawei equipment, and suggested an outright ban would bring about some problems for both Telus and Bell.

Telus reported a four per cent rise in quarterly profit on Thursday reported net income of $368 million, or 60 Canadian cents per share, in the fourth-quarter ended Dec. 31, up from $354 million, or 59 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. Total operating revenue rose to $3.76 billion from $3.54 billion.

Telus shares rose 0.90 per cent to $47.34 on Thursday at 10:24 a.m. ET.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.As the first anniversary of the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, approaches, young people around the world are reflecting on the staggering amount of gun violence that's taken place since.

To make a powerful statement on the dire need for change, a group of teen journalists came together and spent the past year reporting on gun-related deaths of children.

The group worked with The Trace, The Miami Herald, and McClatchy to write obituaries for 1,200 children killed by gun violence since the Parkland shooting on Feb. 14, 2018, to create Since Parkland, a website to honor and remember the victims.

Since Parkland, a website to honor the memory of children killed by gun violence over the past year.

Image: screenshot/sinceparkland.org

SEE ALSO: March For Our Lives activists go dark on social media to mark Parkland anniversary

"Over the summer, more than 200 teen reporters from across the country began working together to document the children, ages zero to 18, killed in shootings during one year in America," the website reads. "The stories they collected go back to last February 14, the day of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, when at least three other kids were fatally shot in incidents that largely escaped notice."

The website currently lists all 1,200 names of the children who died by gun violence, each of which can be clicked on if you're interested in learning more about the individual. Several entries are accompanied with photographs and there's also an option to search by name, state, or specific category, such as "Musicians," "Gamers," "College-bound seniors," and more.

Since Parkland database

Image: screengrab/sinceparkland

Since Parkland database

Image: screengrab/sinceparkland

In addition to children lost to school shootings, Since Parkland documents kids who were killed as a result of "armed domestic violence, drug homicides, unintentional discharges, and stray bullets." It should be noted, however, that the reporting excludes around 1,000 people who were "killed while injuring someone else or in police-involved shootings, nor children who died in gun suicides."

Story continues

The goal of the young journalists who created Since Parkland was ultimately to humanize these statistics by telling the personal stories of the lives lost. The teens also used their voices to bring attention to every story related to the child gun violence epidemic in the past year, rather than simply highlighting the high profile ones that made headlines.

"We all remember Parkland. Were still frightened. Frustrated. Angry. But if this project has taught us anything, its that were not powerless. We can bring awareness to the true scope of the issue. Student journalists have that power. We refuse to stand idly by," the journalists wrote.

The website officially went live on Feb. 12, two days before the Parkland anniversary, but the journalists are still planning to report additional cases as they occur.

Visitors to the site are encouraged to alert the group of any deaths that were overlooked and submit special photos or memories of those already listed by reaching out to sinceparkland@thetrace.org.

You can visit Since Parkland to learn more about the stories of the 1,200 children who died, the dedicated team of journalists, and what they learned from their reporting.Taubman Centers (TCO) came out with quarterly funds from operations (FFO) of $0.91 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.89 per share. This compares to FFO of $1.03 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an FFO surprise of 2.25%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this shopping center real estate investment trust would post FFO of $0.86 per share when it actually produced FFO of $1.01, delivering a surprise of 17.44%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus FFO estimates three times.

Taubman, which belongs to the Zacks REIT and Equity Trust - Retail industry, posted revenues of $152.07 million for the quarter ended December 2018, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.30%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $172.18 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 FFO expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Taubman shares have added about 7.5% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 9.5%.

What's Next for Taubman?

While Taubman 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 FFO outlook. Not only does this include current consensus FFO 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 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 estimate revisions.

Story continues

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Taubman was unfavorable. 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 #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform 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 FFO estimate is $0.91 on $146.02 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $3.70 on $613.94 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, REIT and Equity Trust - Retail is currently in the bottom 40% 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



Taubman Centers, Inc. (TCO) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment ResearchShe tweeted that men are not women, and for that, Meghan Murphy, feminist journalist, was banned from Twitter. An anodyne statement of biological reality qualifies as hate speech for some of the gnomes at Twitter HQ. Murphy received a rote notification that you may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.

Excuse me, but that sound you heard was me spitting my coffee across the desk. I cannot count the number of times Ive been harassed on Twitter on some of the above grounds. Twitter has benefits, but lets face it, threats, vile abuse, and harassment have become a key part of Twitters brand. Louis Farrakhan has an account. Terrorists romp through its pixels with ease, and the Russians deploy bots like biological agents. Only a select few offenders are punished or banned.

When founder Jack Dorsey was asked on Sam Harriss podcast why suspensions and other disciplinary actions always seem to go in a PC direction, Dorsey was phlegmatic, I dont believe we should optimize for neutrality. That was Silicon Valleyspeak for We are not fair.

That is his right. Its a free country, and, though hailed as the national cyber townhall, Twitter is a private company. It has declined to engage Murphy directly (Dorsey: We dont have a robust appeals process) but has churned out agitprop about hateful conduct with metronomic regularity. This is not to say that Twitter applies even its own vague and shifting standards evenly. I and others have tweeted concerns about the trans movement  particularly with regard to children  without repercussions. But that must have been sheer luck. In Murphys case, the company targeted her for violating a policy that it had changed without any public notice. This is the new ban on so-called deadnaming  using the former name of a person who transitioned to the other sex. If Murphys lawsuit gains any traction, the company may have to explain itself. Until then, we are left to consider the Orwellian dystopia that travels under the name progressivism.

Story continues

One of Meghan Murphys thoughtcrimes consisted of asking, in response to someone else, How are transwomen not men? What is the difference between a man and a transwoman? That is what is known as a challenge, not an epithet. It earned her a warning. She also referred to a trans-identified male as he  that is the forbidden practice of misgendering.

Murphy, along with many feminists and some conservatives, resists the trans movements efforts to permit people who are born male to enter womens restrooms, locker rooms, prisons, and other environments where, as Murphy puts it, women feel uncomfortable seeing a penis. This is a live issue. In Washington D.C., women at a downtown health club have retreated to toilet stalls to change clothes, since the club now refrains from stopping men who enter the womens changing room. Whos to say who belongs where? Wouldnt want to put a foot wrong in the new gender-neutral utopia. One trans person Murphy identified in print as male was seeking to counsel women at a rape crisis center in Vancouver, though the center hires only women.

Murphys website, Feminist Current, has questioned the science and ideology behind transgenderism, and Murphy is indignant that people with XY chromosomes can compete in womens sports. Personally, I might have taken a softer tone, adding some acknowledgement that people with gender dysphoria deserve compassion. But Murphy is expressing a point of view, dammit, and way too many opinion arbiters here in Oceania wont have it.

Twitter is hardly alone. Many a mandatory diversity workshop, college orientation, and hotel policy does the same. Three female undergraduates are suing Yale for a fraternity culture that they say enables harassment. Fraternity parties, they claim, place men in positions of power. Ok, but notice the language in the lawsuit: Simply put, fraternities elevate men to social gatekeepers and relegate women and non-binary students to sexual objects. Non-binary students?

Murphys objection is that this sudden reimagining of what it means to be human has been imposed, not agreed upon, and certainly not discovered by science. Many women, concerned about hurting someones feelings, especially  as Murphy phrases it, someone from a marginalized group  are shy about standing up for themselves and their own comfort. Above all, these matters need frank discussion, not authoritarian diktats issuing from our Twitter overlords.

 2019 creators.com

More from National ReviewBy Simon Johnson STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden said on Thursday it had replaced its ambassador to China after her "incorrect" handling of unauthorized meetings intended to help free dissident bookseller Gui Minhai. The Hong Kong-based, Swedish publisher of books critical of China's communist leaders was abducted in Thailand in 2015 and later appeared in custody in mainland China. His daughter Angela Gui said this week she had met ambassador Anna Lindstedt and two businessmen in Stockholm in January, where she was advised to keep quiet about her father's case while negotiations were proceeding. Sweden's Foreign Ministry said that was not an official meeting, and Lindstedt had now returned to Sweden with an interim envoy sent to Beijing during an inquiry. "Neither the Foreign Ministry nor the Foreign Minister were informed until after the event," ministry spokesman Rasmus Eljanskog said in an emailed statement. "As a consequence of the incorrect manner in which the said meetings were handled, we are now conducting an internal investigation." Gui, 54, became a Swedish citizen after studying there in the 1980s. After the abduction, he was released in October 2017, but his whereabouts were unclear until January last year when his daughter said he was seized by Chinese agents on a Beijing-bound train in the presence of Swedish diplomats. China later confirmed it had detained him again. In her blog, Angela Gui said Lindstedt invited her to Stockholm to meet two businessmen who could help secure her father's release. "OUTRAGEOUS SCANDAL" "The businessman said, 'you care about Anna (Lindstedt), right? If you keep talking to the media it'll damage her career. You don't want her to come to any harm, do you?'", she said in the post on blog portal Medium. "In order for this to happen (negotiations), I was told I needed to be quiet. I wasn't to tell anyone about this, or say anything publicly about the case," she added. "I'm not going to be quiet in exchange for ... an arbitrary promise that my father 'might' be released. Threats, verbal abuse, bribes, or flattery won't change that." China's Foreign Ministry declined comment, with spokeswoman Hua Chunying saying she knew nothing about Gui's latest situation. On its website, China's embassy in Stockholm said it had not authorized anyone to "engage" with Gui's daughter. "The Chinese side handles the Gui Minhai case in accordance with law and legal procedure," it said. Gui's original abduction - along with four others in the Hong Kong book trade - fed worries about interference from Beijing despite guarantees of wide-ranging freedoms for the former British colony which returned to Chinese rule in 1997. The four others have since returned to Hong Kong. The United States and European Union have urged Gui's release. Sweden said it was continuing to seek Gui's freedom, as Lindstedt faced scathing criticism for what the leader of Sweden's Left Party called an "outrageous scandal". "A Swedish ambassador has done the bidding of a dictatorship and tried to silence the daughter of a Swedish political prisoner in China," Jonas Sjostedt told local TV. "I don't think we have seen a worse scandal in Swedish foreign administration for decades." Lindstedt could not immediately be reached for comment. (Reporting by Simon Johnson and Johan Ahlander in Stockholm, Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)Khartoum (AFP) - Sudan on Thursday threatened to take legal action against campaigners spearheading nationwide protests against the government of President Omar al-Bashir, accusing them of threatening national security.

The warning by acting Information Minister Mamun Hassan came a day after some of the leaders of the protest movement vowed to push on with their "uprising" against Bashir's rule of three decades.

"The government will take legal action against those who are calling for violence, threatening national security and pushing the country into danger," he said in a statement.

On Wednesday protest campaigners held their first news conference since deadly protests erupted in December, at the offices of the main opposition National Umma Party.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) that is spearheading the protests and its allies ruled out negotiations with Bashir's government and called on other political groups to join their movement by signing a "Document for Freedom and Change".

The text outlines a post-Bashir plan including rebuilding Sudan's justice system and halting the African country's dire economic decline, the key reason for nationwide demonstrations.

"It is confirmed what we always said that this Freedom and Change group is calling for violence," Hassan said.

The National Umma Party, which has thrown its weight behind the protests, also pledged to push on with the movement that has held nationwide rallies for almost two months.

"We will continue our uprising until this regime is overthrown," said Sara Najdullah, the party's general secretary, at Wednesday's news conference.

Party leader Sadiq al-Mahdi, a former prime minister whose government was the last one to be democratically elected in Sudan before it was toppled by Bashir, last month called for the president to step down.

Protests first erupted on December 19 in the farming town of Atbara after a government decision to triple the price of bread.

But they quickly escalated into near-daily demonstrations across cities and towns that analysts say pose the greatest challenge to Bashir's rule since he took power in a 1989 Islamist backed coup.

Officials say 30 people have died in protest-related violence so far, while Human Rights Watch says at least 51 people have been killed.by Wallace Wyss 

In mid-February the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles will celebrate Ferrari again with a Cruise-In and Car Show on the upper level of the museums parking structure. A fitting honor considering that more Ferraris are sold in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world.

The show takes place February 17, 2019 from Sunday 8:00 AM  11:00 AM at 6060 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90036.

A spokesman for the FCA of America SW region said that there will be over 200 Ferraris and possibly even more than that since Los Angeles has been plagued with rain for several weeks and if the rains gone, the Ferraristi will come out to play.

By 7:30 a.m. you can count on a line of precious metal along Fairfax Avenue, waiting to enter the Petersens parking structure. The Ferraris will be let into the parking structure for free but not other cars. Warning: parking on the street has some strange rules, so its best to park inside.

In addition if you want to go into the Museum itself, you have to go down to the first floor and buy a ticket.

Thank you for supporting My Car Quest

Ferrari likes to point out that, despite annual sales of less than 10,000 cars, their profits are soaring, due in part to marketing the Ferrari name itself. From shoes to watches to hairdryers  Ferrari sells the rights to use their name on certain products. Ferrari also operates 16 retail stores, 30 franchised locations, and two theme parks.

The Petersen Museum was founded in 1994 by HOT ROD magazine publisher Robert E. Petersen. In 2015, the museum underwent an extensive $90 million renovation. The buildings facade was redesigned by the architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox.

It is a blast to see the new exterior which stands out because of the stainless-steel ribbon assembly, made of 100 tons of 14-gauge type 304 steel in 308 sections, with 25 supports and 140,000 custom stainless-steel screws.

Let us know what you think in the Comments.Khartoum (AFP) - Sudan on Thursday accused campaigners spearheading protests against President Omar al-Bashir's rule of threatening national security and advocating violence, as hundreds of demonstrators staged more rallies.

The country's acting Information Minister Mamun Hassan warned of taking legal action against protest leaders after campaigners vowed to push on with their "uprising" against Bashir's three-decade rule.

"It is confirmed what we always said that this... group is calling for violence," Hassan said in a statement.

Protest campaigners on Wednesday held their first news conference at the offices of the main opposition National Umma Party since demonstrations erupted in December.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), which is leading the protests, and its allies called on other political groups to join their movement by signing a "Document for Freedom and Change".

The text outlines a post-Bashir plan including rebuilding Sudan's justice system and halting the African country's dire economic decline, the key reason for nationwide demonstrations.

A senior representative of the National Umma Party, which has thrown its weight behind the protests, said at the event that it would continue the "uprising until this regime is overthrown".

Party leader Sadiq al-Mahdi, a former prime minister whose government was toppled by Bashir in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989, last month called for the president to step down.

- 'Systematic arrests' -

Protests first erupted in Sudan on December 19 in the farming town of Atbara after a government decision to triple the price of bread.

They quickly escalated into near-daily demonstrations across cities and towns that analysts say pose the greatest challenge to Bashir since he took power.

Officials say 30 people have died in protest-related violence so far, while Human Rights Watch says at least 51 people have been killed.

Story continues

The authorities led by the feared National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) has launched a sweeping crackdown to quell the protests.

Rights groups say hundreds of protesters, opposition leaders, and activists have been arrested, while media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said Thursday that at least 79 journalists have been arrested.

"These systematic arrests have targeted not only reporters covering protests ... but also journalists who themselves dared to protest against the regime's policy of censorship," the press freedom group said.

Protesters have pushed on with their near daily rallies despite the clampdown.

Hundreds demonstrated Thursday in central Khartoum after campaigners called to show support for millions affected by conflicts in the country's three war-wracked regions of Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

Protesters chanting "freedom, peace, justice," the rallying cry of the anti-government movement, demonstrated were quickly confronted by riot police with tear gas, witnesses said.

Police later broke up the rally, but demonstrators took to the streets in the northern district of Bahari, witnesses said, adding that they too were confronted with tear gas.

Crowds of people living in a camp for the displaced in conflict-wracked Darfur in western Sudan also staged a rally, residents said.

"The residents of camp Zam Zam, mostly young men and women, are chanting anti-government slogans in the centre of the camp," resident Mohamed Issa told AFP by telephone.

- 'We are one nation' -

Over the years, tens of thousands of people have been killed in Sudan's internal conflicts and millions more displaced, with hundreds of thousands still living in sprawling camps, especially in Darfur.

The war in Darfur erupted in 2003 when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, accusing it of marginalising the region.

"Those who are demonstrating across the country are saying that we are one nation," said Hassan Adam, a resident of Zam Zam camp.

"We want to build a new Sudan that does not differentiate between a Zurga (black African) and an Arab."

President Bashir -- indicted for war crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court -- has remained defiant in the face of the protests, promising to promote development and peace across the country, including in conflict-hit states.Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

Today well look at SSP Group plc (LON:SSPG) and reflect on its potential as an investment. Specifically, well consider its Return On Capital Employed (ROCE), since that will give us an insight into how efficiently the business can generate profits from the capital it requires.

First, well go over how we calculate ROCE. Next, well compare it to others in its industry. Last but not least, well look at what impact its current liabilities have on its ROCE.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

ROCE is a measure of a companys yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. All else being equal, a better business will have a higher ROCE. In brief, it is a useful tool, but it is not without drawbacks. Author Edwin Whiting says to be careful when comparing the ROCE of different businesses, since No two businesses are exactly alike.

How Do You Calculate Return On Capital Employed?

The formula for calculating the return on capital employed is:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT)  (Total Assets  Current Liabilities)

Or for SSP Group:

0.20 = UK193m  (UK1.6b  UK581m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2018.)

So, SSP Group has an ROCE of 20%.

See our latest analysis for SSP Group

Does SSP Group Have A Good ROCE?

When making comparisons between similar businesses, investors may find ROCE useful. SSP Groups ROCE appears to be substantially greater than the 8.5% average in the Hospitality industry. I think thats good to see, since it implies the company is better than other companies at making the most of its capital. Setting aside the comparison to its industry for a moment, SSP Groups ROCE in absolute terms currently looks quite high.

Story continues

Our data shows that SSP Group currently has an ROCE of 20%, compared to its ROCE of 12% 3 years ago. This makes us think the business might be improving.

LSE:SSPG Last Perf February 14th 19

Remember that this metric is backwards looking  it shows what has happened in the past, and does not accurately predict the future. ROCE can be deceptive for cyclical businesses, as returns can look incredible in boom times, and terribly low in downturns. ROCE is, after all, simply a snap shot of a single year. Since the future is so important for investors, you should check out our free report on analyst forecasts for SSP Group.

Do SSP Groups Current Liabilities Skew Its ROCE?

Current liabilities include invoices, such as supplier payments, short-term debt, or a tax bill, that need to be paid within 12 months. Due to the way ROCE is calculated, a high level of current liabilities makes a company look as though it has less capital employed, and thus can (sometimes unfairly) boost the ROCE. To counteract this, we check if a company has high current liabilities, relative to its total assets.

SSP Group has total assets of UK1.6b and current liabilities of UK581m. As a result, its current liabilities are equal to approximately 37% of its total assets. SSP Groups ROCE is boosted somewhat by its middling amount of current liabilities.

Our Take On SSP Groups ROCE

Even so, it has a great ROCE, and could be an attractive prospect for further research. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with modest (or no) debt, trading on a P/E below 20.

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

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.Smoking cannabis as teenager could increase the risk of depression by almost 40 per cent, Oxford study finds

Smoking cannabis as teenager could increase the risk of depression in adulthood by almost 40 per cent, a landmark study by Oxford University has found. Researchers warned that use of the drug in adolescence may be responsible for around 60,000 cases of the condition in subsequent decades - around one in 14 of all cases.

They urged parents to be less relaxed about teenage use of cannabis, warning that some of the strains being pushed today are 10 times as strong as the drugs which were dealt 30 years ago.

And they called on ministers to prioritise prevention of drug taking, warning that the damage caused by cannabis was now a public health risk with devastating consequences.

The research examined 11 major studies involving more than 23,000 individuals from adolescence until their 30s.

It found that those who tried cannabis in their teens had a 37 per cent higher risk of depression between the ages of 18 and 32, and more than three times the risk of attempting suicide.

Professor Andrea Cipriani, from the University of Oxford, said: "It's a big public health and mental health problem."

"The number of people who are exposed to cannabis, especially at this vulnerable age, is very high and I think this should be a priority for public health and the mental health sector."

The study by researchers from McGill University in Canada and the University of Oxford, is the largest meta-analysis in the field. It included teenagers who had used cannabis at least once before the age of 18 and did not distinguish between the frequency of use.

In England, about four per cent of adolescents aged 11 to 15 years old in England are estimated to have used the drug within the last month.

Animal studies have suggested a link between exposure to cannabinoids, the active component of cannabis, and the onset of depressive symptoms in adulthood.

Prof Cipriani said: For teenagers there may be an effect which is biological, with some consequences which can be devastating.

Story continues

It is a vulnerable period of development of the brain - [so] exposing young teenagers to cannabis is likely to increase the risk of depression.

The father of two teenagers said parents needed to know the facts about the risks of drug use. He said the evidence did not support having a relaxed attitude towards teenage experimentation.

My bottom line message is to avoid using cannabis, he said.

I think we should stress the importance of education and prevention programmes.

The studies were observational, meaning they could not prove that use of the drugs triggered the later depression, researchers said. It it possible that those who were struggling in adolescence were more likely to turn to drugs, they said.

Professor Cipriani said: "Although the size of the negative effects of cannabis can vary between individual adolescents and it is not possible to predict the exact risk for each teenager, the widespread use of cannabis among young generations makes it an important public health issue.

"Regular use during adolescence is associated with lower achievement at school, addiction psychosis and neuropsychological decline, he said.

Fellow researcher Dr Gabriella Gobbi, from McGill University, said teenagers often thought cannabis was safe because it was derived from plants.

Its very important to inform adolescents about the risk and about the kinds of cannabis they use, she said.

Today, it is not as in the 1980s and 1990s, when THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) was about three per cent in joints. Now we have joints of 10, 20, 30 even more per cent and adolescents must be aware of this.

She also highlighted the dangers of consuming hash cookies and other foods containing drugs.

Many cannabis today, we have edibles. Adolescents buy cookies with THC and cannabidiol with different percentages. They are not aware that edibles have some risks, she said.

It comes as the Royal College of Psychiatrists reviews its opposition to the legalisation of cannabis, with politicians including former Tory leader William Hague among those calling for a change in the law.

Prof Sir Robin Murray, Professor of Psychiatric Research, Institute of Psychiatry Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London (IoPPN), said the study appeared robust, but had limitations.

He said: Information about the patterns of cannabis use in the original studies being re-examined is not very detailed; for example they do not quantify the amount of cannabis being smoked or what kind of cannabis is being used -we know from studies of psychosis that the risk is much greater with daily use of modern high potency (high THC/Low CBD) cannabis than old fashioned low THC varieties.

Dr Joseph Firth, Senior Research Fellow, NICM Health Research Institute at Western Sydney University, said: Among young adults worldwide, depression is the leading cause of disability, and suicide is the most common cause of death.

"By linking cannabis as a contributing factor to both of these huge issues for public health, this latest study provides new insights into importance of reducing adolescent cannabis use.

However, it is important to consider that not all cannabis is equal. In particular, high-THC strains of cannabis are typically associated with more severe impact on mental health  whereas another component of cannabis (known as CBD) may even attenuate some of the adverse effects.

He called for further research on the varying affects of different types of cannabis use and the impact of policies which aimed to cut drug use.

If such schemes actually can produce significant reductions in the incidence of mental illness and suicide among young adults, these efforts could lead to population-scale prevention strategies for tackling the severe mental health issues currently affecting many young adults all over the world, he said.

Dr Lindsey Hines, from the University of Bristols Centre for Academic Mental Health said: "This study has taken the results of multiple studies of teenagers published over the past 15 years, and pulled together the results from those studies to get a clear, good quality estimate of the association between using cannabis as a teenager and mental health in adulthood.

We know that cannabis use co-occurs with anxiety, depression and self-harm in teenagers, but this research suggests that teenage cannabis use is still related to mental health in later years. However, we don't know if cannabis use as a teenager is causing these adult mental health problems. It could be that these behaviours are all due to shared underlying risk factors, such as early adversity or genetics," she said.

Sign up for your essential, twice-daily briefing from The Telegraph with our free Front Page newsletter.

Cannabis in numbers

4 per cent of adolescents aged 11 to 15 years old in England are estimated to have used the drug within the last month.

37 per cent increased risk of depression among young adults who had smoked cannabis in their teens

Tripling in rates of attempted suicide among such adults

60,000 cases of depression might be avoided among adults in their twenties and thirties if teenagers avoided all cannabis, researchers say

1 million young people likely to take cannabis if it was legalised, estimates suggest

Smoking cannabis at teenage parties ended with depression at university

Like many teenagers, Liam* started smoking cannabis at parties and at friends houses when their parents were out.

At first, the habit he began at 16 was occasional.

But by the time he was 18, he found himself smoking cannabis everyday with his friends, reflecting that he originally started because it looked cool.

He said he and his group of grammar school friends then kept it up because it felt good.

But it was just a year later - during the Summer before he left his home in Buckinghamshire to go to university in Sheffield - that Liam, a sociable and outgoing teenager, noticed an unfamiliar shift in his mood.

He was feeling increasingly lonely and unproductive, and experiencing low moods that he didnt understand how to deal with over his three years at university.

I had no idea what anxiety or even depression were. At the time I didnt realise how common they were, therefore I didnt realise it was affecting me, said Liam, now 24.

My symptoms also reflected the paranoia I experienced when I was smoking, and I had a friend going through a similar thing, he added, describing how he now believes his symptoms, which often surfaced at night, were directly related to his use of the drug.

In his mid-twenties now and working in sales, Liam has completely stopped smoking cannabis, having taken a break from it at university - he said he has pretty much fully recovered, although you always have that doubt.

Although the salesman, who now lives in London, thanks exercise and good relationships for helping him out of depression, he isnt shocked by the new findings. To me, the link is obvious, he said.

*Liams name has been changed at his request

By Laura FitzpatrickBy Joshua Schneyer and M.B. Pell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senators scolded real estate executives and Pentagon leadership over "unacceptable" conditions in privatized military housing on Wednesday, vowing urgent reform to protect service families from widespread health and safety hazards in base homes.

At Senate Armed Services Committee hearings in response to Reuters reports describing U.S. military families facing squalid living conditions, lawmakers proposed fixes to hold private landlords and military branches accountable for hazards including peeling lead paint, mold and vermin infestations.

"The testimony suggests the system is broken," Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, told executives from five of the largest private companies that operate military housing. "The problems were obvious to military families, but they weren't obvious to you."

Senator Jim Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma and the Committee's chairman, pledged to make military housing reform the subject of further Senate hearings and said Congress must halt the problems.

"We will fix this," he said. "Today's hearing is just the beginning."

On the hot seat Wednesday: Real estate executives and Defense Department brass who manage the largest housing privatization program in U.S. history, operating more than 200,000 homes for service member families across more than 100 U.S. bases. By handing management responsibilities to private firms under confidential 50-year contracts, the military had promised to bring the housing stock up to snuff.

Instead, developers had failed many military families, said Arizona Republican Martha McSally, a 26-year Air Force veteran. "I'm infuriated by what I'm hearing today ... they left you hanging, they put you in harm's way."

Among the fixes Senators explored:

- Allowing families to withhold their government rent stipends from base landlords when conditions warrant the action;

Story continues

- Re-negotiating scores of DOD housing contracts with private real estate firms;

- Letting local building code enforcement officers onto federal bases to inspect housing, as they do in civilian settings;

- Slashing millions in management or incentive fees private contractors receive;

- And, potentially ordering military branches to take ownership of the maintenance and construction problems plaguing swaths of their housing.

Companies whose executives testified Wednesday admitted problems exist, and said theyre pursuing remedies.

"We let down some of our residents. I'm sorry and we're going to fix it," said John Picerne, President of the Corvias Group, which operates housing on 13 Army and Air Force bases nationwide.

An earlier Reuters report described housing breakdowns at Corvias bases in three states.

Robert H. McMahon, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment, said the military will visit one of those bases  Army Fort Meade in Maryland  on Thursday in an effort to define the scope of housing lapses. McMahon also said the Defense Department is exploring how it could revise housing contracts with its private partners to ensure improved conditions.

McMahon said the 20-year-old housing privatization program has improved the quality of military housing, but admitted some base housing remains troubled.

"I would like to apologize for the horrible experiences," Phyllis L. Bayer, an Assistant Secretary of the Navy, told families who shared their housing ordeals. "It is evident where we and our housing partners didn't always do what we were supposed to."

Both Army and Air Force officials said their Inspector General offices have recently launched investigations into housing on their installations. The Army, for instance, is conducting spot visits to inspect homes for lead poisoning risks. The Air Force said it was working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to examine potential instances of housing fraud, without citing specifics.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren told real estate executives: "I want to know more about how you make your money. Your agreements are not transparent."

Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, called the problems "shocking" and said they only came to light as a result of press reports. "I want to thank Reuters," he said from the dais.

(Editing by Ronnie Greene)Democratic Senators Tammy Baldwin, Debbie Stabenow and Sherrod Brown introduced legislation on Wednesday that would allow people to buy into Medicare at 50 years old.

Baldwin said the bill will help expand coverage, as the Affordable Care Act continues to be challenged in court and in Congress.

I think now is the time for bold discussion about how we continue to bring down costs, said Baldwin in an interview with Yahoo Finance.

Though other Democratic senators -- including 2020 presidential candidates -- have proposed Medicare for all, the Medicare at 50 Act would only expand access to people between 50 and 64 years old. Generally, Medicare benefits are available for people age 65 and over.

"I support universal coverage and I believe one of the best ways to get there is by opening Medicare up for people in their 50s to voluntarily buy in," said Brown in a statement.

Speaking with Myles Udland and Jen Rogers on The Final Round, Baldwin said the proposal will expand access to health care while lowering costs.

Medicare has very low administrative costs compared to private insurance. It also doesnt have the profit motive that many private insurance companies have. We also know that that age range between 50 and 64 tends to be maybe slightly less healthy than maybe 26 to 50. And so if those slightly less healthy people are choosing Medicare and buy into it, it should lower prices for other people participating in the Affordable Care Act exchange and marketplace, said Baldwin.

The Federation of American Hospitals issued a statement opposing the plan, saying it would weaken the coverage of people who currently depend on Medicare.

Instead of focusing on Medicare buy-ins and other variations of single-payer proposals, Congress should work to sustain and expand affordable private coverage. Medicare should be left alone to continue its successful mission of making sure seniors have access to care, said FAH President and CEO Chip Kahn.

Story continues

Jessica Smith is a reporter for Yahoo Finance based in Washington, D.C. Follow her on Twitter at @JessicaASmith8.

Read more:

Congress readies for marijuana banking hearing

Senators propose legislation to end Congressional pensions

Border security talks stall as deadline quickly approachesNiamey (AFP) - Rescue teams, fishermen, navy and police experts were searching Thursday for 43 people, most from Benin, missing after an overloaded boat bringing them to a market capsized in the Niger River, authorities said.

The vessel foundered as it was battered by powerful winds in Sambera district, southwestern Niger early Wednesday morning, sinking just 200 metres (yards) from its destination.

"Sixty-two people were saved and 43 others are missing, judging from the number of shoes that have been recovered," Sambera Mayor Oumarou Hassane told AFP.

They were aboard a canoe travelling from Gori-Beri in Benin to Ouna in Niger, he said.

The vessel was transporting a large consignment of cereals and about a hundred traders from Benin and Niger heading to the market in Ouna, Hassane said.

In Benin, Moussa Mouhamadou, prefect of the northern district of Alibori, gave a similar toll.

"Sixty-four people were saved," he told Radio Benin.

"We discovered about 40 pairs of shoes at the site (of the accident), and linked them to the people who are missing."

"The survivors went home last night and are well. They are being given medical and psychological support," said Mouhamadou.

The Niger River, a popular transport artery in West Africa, broke its banks about two weeks ago, causing major damage to crops. While the flooding has subsided, the river's level remains high.

An official of Niger's gendarmerie told public radio the canoe sank "about 200 metres (yards)" from the jetty.

According to Mouhamadou, navy and police members and fishermen on the scene started evacuating survivors directly after the sinking, and divers from the fire brigade in the capital, Cotonou, were expected to join the search Thursday.

Boat capsizes are common on the Niger. Many are operated by companies that ignore security standards.

Steering is "often given to teenagers to do," a Nigerian security source told AFP.

Story continues

In October 2017, 17 people drowned and 26 disappeared after a boat carrying about 60 passengers sank on a trip from northwestern Nigeria to Niger.

A month earlier, 56 people perished when an overcrowded boat carrying 150 people, mainly Niger traders, sank in the state of Kebbi, Nigeria.

Many of the passengers of these boats are merchants of livestock and grain traded between Niger, Benin, and Nigeria.

There are only three bridges spanning the river along the 550-kilometre (342-mile) stretch of its flow through Niger, a poor, landlocked country that depends heavily on imports from the port of Cotonou.King Felipe VI of Spain and Queen Dona Letizia arrived this Wednesday in Rabat on a two-day official visit to Morocco at the invitation of King Mohammed VI.

The Spanish guests were welcomed at the airport by the Moroccan Sovereign, who was accompanied by Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan, Prince Moulay Rachid and princesses Lalla Khadija, Lalla Meryem, Lalla Asmae, Lalla Hasnaa and Lalla Oum Keltoum.

The royal procession then headed to the Royal Palace in Rabat going through the main avenues of the capital city, where an official welcome ceremony was held in honor of the Spanish Royals.

During this visit, the two Sovereigns will hold official talks and will preside over the signing of several agreements.

In the evening, King Mohammed VI will host a dinner banquet in honor of his guests and their accompanying delegation.

The official visit will also be marked by the holding of a business forum to be attended among others by the two countries employers unions.

The visit reflects the depth and quality of bilateral relations, and the shared desire to consolidate the multidimensional strategic partnership between the two neighboring and friendly countries, had stated the official statement announcing the Spanish kings visit.

The visit will undoubtedly give a new momentum to the relations of friendship uniting the two countries and the two peoples and consolidate further their economic ties.

This is King Felipe VIs second official visit to Morocco after the one he paid to the neighboring Kingdom in 2014.Sochi (Russia) (AFP) - The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran hailed the planned US withdrawal from Syria as they met for talks Thursday on how to work more closely together in the country's long-running conflict.

Hosting his Turkish and Iranian counterparts in the southern city of Sochi, President Vladimir Putin said the three welcomed the expected US pull-out from northeastern Syria.

It would be "a positive step that would help stabilise the situation in this region, where ultimately the legitimate government should re-establish control," he told a joint press conference after the talks.

Russia and Iran -- who both back the regime of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad -- and rebel supporter Turkey have positioned themselves as key foreign players in Syria's long-running war.

The United States has had troops in Syria backing Kurdish-led forces fighting the Islamic State group but President Donald Trump issued an abrupt order in December to pull out all 2,000.

The Kurdish-led fighters were on Thursday battling to expel IS jihadists from the small town of Baghouz in eastern Syria, the last bastion of their "caliphate" that once controlled large parts of the country.

Putin said Thursday's talks were "constructive and business-like" and that "close coordination" was crucial to ensuring long-term stability in Syria.

He said the three leaders agreed to "strengthen cooperation" in the so-called Astana framework -- a process initiated by Russia, Iran and Turkey that has eclipsed parallel peace talks led by the United Nations.

They also agreed to work together to put together a constitutional committee that would work to resolve Syria's political future, Putin said, adding that another round of talks would take place in Astana in late March and early April.

Rouhani said Thursday's talks were "very helpful and frank" and insisted on Syria's territorial integrity, calling for a "purge of terrorists" from the rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib.

Story continues

He also suggested he did not believe the US was planning to withdraw from Syria.

"We have no optimism about what the Americans say... but if they do withdraw, it will be very good news."

- 'Important we work together' -

At a separate meeting Thursday with Putin, Erdogan said the planned US pull-out made it more important for other foreign powers to work together in Syria.

"The US withdrawal decision is one of the most important tests ahead of us. The uncertainty over how the decision will be implemented remains. It is very very important that we work together in this new situation," he said.

As a sign of cooperation, he said Russia and Turkey had agreed to start "joint patrols" in order to contain "radical groups" in Idlib province.

The two countries agreed last year to jointly monitor a buffer zone around Idlib and a statement from the three leaders on Thursday agreed to take "concrete steps" to further control the zone.

Erdogan also called for the removal of the Kurdish forces battling IS in northeastern Syria.

"Syria's territorial integrity cannot be ensured and that region cannot be returned to its real owners before PYD-YPG is cleared from Manbij and the east of Euphrates," Erdogan said.

The Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have held the strategic city of Manbij and areas east of the Euphrates since pushing out IS fighters.

Turkey considers the YPG, and its political branch the Democratic Union Party (PYD), as offshoots of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Both Russia and Iran have provided military backing to Assad's forces, while Turkey has supported rebel groups in the north who have fought with the Kurds.

Thursday's meeting was the fourth summit between the countries' leaders since November 2017.

It came as the United States holds a two-day conference in Warsaw devoted to security in the Middle East, with a strong emphasis on Iran.

The conference includes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several Arab powers but has drawn little interest from European powers.

Rouhani dismissed the Warsaw talks as pointless.

"We see what's happening in Warsaw, it's an empty result, nothing," he said in Sochi.By Vladimir Soldatkin and Andrew Osborn SOCHI/MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia, Turkey and Iran had agreed to take unspecified extra steps to clear Syria's Idlib region of what he called "a hotbed of terrorists," but the Kremlin said there would be no military operation there. Putin, one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's closest allies, was speaking after hosting a summit in southern Russia to weigh the future of Syria with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. All three countries have forces on the ground in Syria, where they have coordinated their efforts despite sometimes differing priorities and interests. But tensions between Moscow and Ankara over Syria have risen in recent months, fueled in part by a planned withdrawal of U.S. forces which promises to free up territory controlled by U.S. or U.S.-backed forces, spurring a race to fill the vacuum if and when it opens up. Before the summit, the Kremlin had made clear it wanted a green light for action in Idlib where it says Islamist militants have made significant inroads despite the area's technical status as a Moscow- and Ankara-backed demilitarized zone. "...We should not put up with the presence of terrorist groups in Idlib," Putin told Erdogan and Rouhani. "That's why I propose we consider practical concrete steps that Russia, Turkey and Iran can take to completely destroy this hotbed of terrorists." At the summit's close, Putin said the three countries had agreed to take unspecified extra steps, a formula used at previous meetings, but did not say what they were. Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, told Russian news agencies that no new military operation against Idlib had been agreed on. Rouhani had said he backed tough action, but Erdogan was more circumspect. He did not respond to Putin's suggestion of a joint plan in his opening remarks, and after the summit said that Turkey would continue to do all it could to stabilize Idlib. But he also repeated a warning he has often made about the need not to spark a humanitarian catastrophe there. Moscow is keen to help Assad retake territory from rebels and militants, including eventually the northwestern Idlib province, but Ankara, which has called for the Syrian leader to leave power, has so far successfully pushed back. It brokered a deal with Russia in September to enforce a demilitarized zone in Idlib. The agreement, which envisaged clearing the province of heavy weapons and jihadists, helped avert a Syrian government assault on the region, the last major bastion of Assad's opponents after almost eight years of war. But Moscow has since complained that Turkey has not done enough to keep its side of the bargain and that Islamist militants who used to belong to the Nusra Front group have seized control of much of Idlib. Putin's difficulty however has been persuading Erdogan to sign off on what would be a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive in a region that borders Turkey. Ankara is concerned about potential refugee flows from Idlib in the event of a military operation, and wants to retain its influence there. It also does not want developments in Idlib to distract from its own plan to set up a safe zone in the northeast of Syria. SAFE ZONE TENSIONS Turkey's plan to create that safe zone has also stirred tension with Moscow. It wants the area near the Turkish border to be cleared of the U.S.-backed Kurdish YPG militia and to move into territory there, some of which is currently controlled by U.S. forces. Earlier on Thursday, Russia told Turkey it had no right to create such a safe zone unless it sought and received the consent of Assad. "The question of the presence of a military contingent acting on the authority of a third country on the territory of a sovereign country and especially Syria must be decided directly by Damascus," Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in answer to a question about the Turkish safe zone plan. "That's our base position." After Thursday's summit, Erdogan said Russia, Turkey and Iran were "on the brink" of taking certain steps east of the River Euphrates. He did not say what they were. (Additional reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu, Ece Toksabay, Daren Butler and Dominic Evans in Turkey, by Tom Balmforth, Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber and Christian Lowe in Moscow, and by Parisa Hafezi in Dubai, Editing by Mark Heinrich, William Maclean)The Hague (AFP) - Europe's largest port faces "unrest and insecurity" if Britain leaves the EU without a deal, Rotterdam harbour's chief executive said Thursday.

The Dutch port is a main point of entry and between Britain and the European Union, handling some 54 million tonnes of goods yearly between the two countries, according to port figures.

But officials have raised fears that many truck drivers could arrive at its doorstep without the proper documentation in place to export to a country outside the EU should London leave the bloc without a deal in place on March 29.

"The first days after Brexit will for sure bring unrest and insecurity" if Britain leaves without a divorce agreement, Allard Castelein said as the harbour released its 2018 results.

"We have done everything to be as well-prepared as possible, but there will always be problems," he said in a transcript of a speech confirmed to AFP.

Some 600,000 trucks a year carry loads into the Rotterdam port destined for Britain, port figures added.

The harbour within the next few weeks will be preparing a large piece of land south of the port as a temporary holding space for 200 trucks, allowing drivers to sort out permits and continue as part of a contingency plan, port officials said.

"A similar terrain to the north still has to be found," port spokesman Sjaak Poppe told AFP.

The Netherlands has made major preparations to deal with the impact on its economy, which is closely linked with Britain.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in an interview published in the Financial Times on Thursday that around 250 businesses were close to a decision to move to the Netherlands from a "diminished" Britain because of Brexit.

The Dutch Institute for Transport Policy recentky concluded that Brexit will have a "significant impact on bilateral trade between the Netherlands and Britain, decreasing by 25 to 50 percent, depending on post-Brexit scenarios."BAGHDAD (AP)  A roadside bomb north of Baghdad killed nine members of the Iraqi security forces on Thursday, including a counter-explosives official and a commander in a militia headed by populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, authorities said.

The blast, which took place on a road in the Makhoul mountains approximately 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of the capital, killed Col. Ghalib Dawri, head of counter-explosives operations in Salahuddin province, said Member of Parliament Muthana al-Samarraie.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, and officials did not identify any suspects.

Eight members of the Saraya al-Salam militia, or the Peace Brigades, were also killed, including commander Hussein Attiyeh, according to a security official and a militia spokesman, who both spoke on the condition of anonymity, in line with media regulations.

The militia manages security for the nearby holy city of Samarra, home to the al-Askari Shrine, revered by Shiite Muslims. It is a part of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of militias that has been incorporated into the country's security apparatus.

Al-Sadr, the cleric in command of Saraya al-Salam, is also a leading political figure. His political coalition came in first in parliamentary elections last year.

But the blast is the latest in a string of bombings, ambushes, kidnappings, and targeted assassinations along roads and in villages in areas north and west of Baghdad. The Islamic State group has claimed many of them. The Iraqi government claimed victory over the organization in late 2017 after four years of war.By Ron Bousso LONDON (Reuters) - Global demand for renewable power will soar at an unprecedented pace over the coming decades, BP said in a benchmark report on Thursday, while China's energy growth is seen sharply decelerating as its economic expansion slows. Still, China is set to remain the largest energy consumer by a long stretch into 2040 although India should overtake it in terms of demand growth beginning in the next decade, the British oil and gas giant said in its 2019 Energy Outlook. China's energy demand rose by 5.9 percent over the past 20 years, but is set to grow by only 1 percent by 2040 as its economy shifts from energy-intensive industries to services and as Beijing introduces stricter rules on air pollution. BP revised down its forecast of China's energy demand by 7 percent from last year's report, "reflecting the pace at which China is adjusting to a more sustainable pattern of economic growth". Under BP's base-case Evolving Transition scenario, global energy demand will increase by around one third by 2040, driven by rapidly expanding middle classes in Asia. (GRAPHIC: BP 2019 Energy Outlook: Energy demand, https://tmsnrt.rs/2UWCVPB) (GRAPHIC: BP 2019 Energy Outlook: Industries, https://tmsnrt.rs/2UW8uJi) RENEWABLES EXPLOSION Renewables are expected to be the fastest-growing energy source with an annual gain of 7.1 percent, accounting for half the growth in global energy. Their share in primary energy is seen rising from 4 percent today to around 15 percent by 2040. Compared with the level in last year's report, BP raised by 9 percent its 2040 forecast of demand for renewable power such as solar and wind. Renewables and natural gas, the least-polluting fossil fuel, will account for 85 percent of the growth in energy demand. "Renewables will penetrate the energy system quicker than any other fuel ever," BP Chief Economist Spencer Dale told reporters before the release of the report. Solar power will increase by a factor of 10 by 2040 and wind by a factor of five under BP's basic scenario. While the share of oil in world energy demand rose from 1 percent to 10 over 45 years in the early 20th century, renewables are set to reach the same share over 25 years, Dale said. (GRAPHIC: BP 2019 Energy Outlook: Renewables, https://tmsnrt.rs/2UY8d8C) EMISSIONS RISING In a world struggling to tackle climate change by curbing greenhouse gas emissions and to bring billions of people out of poverty, demand for electricity is set to account for around three quarters of the growth in energy. Global energy-related carbon emissions hit a historic high of 32.5 gigatons in 2017, after being flat for three years, due to increased energy demand and the slowing of energy efficiency improvements, the International Energy Agency said last year. The unprecedented growth in renewables is, however, not sufficient to meet U.N.-backed targets set under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement to curb carbon emissions in order to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, he added. Under the Evolving Transition scenario, carbon emissions will grow by 10 percent by 2040, much faster than in the past. OIL DEMAND BP expects oil demand to plateau at around 108 million barrels per day (bpd) by the mid-2030s, amid growth in electric vehicles and higher engine efficiency. Transportation continues to be the main driver of growth in oil consumption, with its share remaining stable at around 55 percent by 2040. Demand for transport services will almost double by 2040, but gains of nearly 50 percent in engine efficiency for cars and trucks mean energy consumed by the sector should grow by only 20 percent. Oil used to produce plastics is the largest source of demand growth over the period, increasing by 7 million bpd to 22 million bpd. The growth in oil supply will initially come from rapidly expanding U.S. shale production, which BP expects will grow by 6 million bpd over the next 10 years, peaking at 10.5 million bpd in the late 2020s. As U.S. shale output declines, production from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will take the lead. (GRAPHIC: BP 2019 Energy Outlook: Oil consumption, https://tmsnrt.rs/2BL77X1) (GRAPHIC: BP 2019 Energy Outlook: Electric vehicles,https://tmsnrt.rs/2UXatNC) TRADE WARS BP warned that an escalation in trade disputes could significantly reduce energy demand due to slowing economic growth. A 6 percent reduction in global gross domestic product in the period to 2040 versus BP's base-case scenario would lead to a 4 percent decline in energy demand, it said. Lower demand and slowing energy trade flows would have the biggest impact on oil and gas exporting countries such as Russia and the United States, BP said. (GRAPHIC: BP 2019 Energy Outlook: Trade wars, https://tmsnrt.rs/2URxnG2) (Additional reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Dale Hudson)PARIS (AP)  In its first results since the downfall of former chairman Carlos Ghosn, French carmaker Renault reported a 35 percent slump in profits last year and warned about the impact to business if Britain crashes out of the European Union next month without a deal.

Renault said Thursday that sales last year declined by 2.3 percent to 57.4 billion euros ($64.9 billion), which contributed to a sharp fall in net profit to 3.45 billion euros, compared to 5.3 billion euros the previous year. A lower contribution from partner Nissan also hit profits  Renault has a 43.4-percent stake in the Japanese firm.

Chief Executive Thierry Bollore said growth this year was likely to be moderate with the company targeting an operating margin of around 6 percent.

"We expect the worldwide market and, the European market to remain stable, on the condition there is no hard Brexit," Bollore said. "But we're making simulations, we are getting prepared."

The French car maker said the downturn in sales was mainly due to a withdrawal from the Iranian market and to the decline in diesel sales. The company noted that the loss in revenue was because of differences in exchange rates.

Ghosn, the face and driving force for the alliance among Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, has been detained in Tokyo since November. He has been charged with falsifying financial reports in under-reporting compensation and breach of trust in having Nissan Motor Co. shoulder investment losses and paying a Saudi businessman.

His arrest has rocked the alliance, which is reshaping its management. Renault's new chairman, Jean-Dominique Senard, is set to meet with Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa during a trip to Japan this week to discuss the future of their partnership. Asked by a reporter, Bollore did not say whether Renault is pushing to have Senard  who is likely to join the Nissan's board appointed Nissan's new chairman.

Also asked whether Nissan should get more say in their future relationship as Nissan is making more in profit than Renault, Bollore said the alliance "should benefit each company. We are not reasoning in terms of relative weight."

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Bollore made only a few comments on the former chairman's situation but said he is regularly catching up on Ghosn's news. He added Renault's internal investigation on Ghosn's past activities is nearly completed.

"We are going to let people work, it will take a few weeks and then we will find out whether irregularities took place within our company."

Renault said earlier this week it won't pay Ghosn millions of euros in compensation. Renault also canceled shares granted to Ghosn from 2015 to 2018, which were subject to his continued presence at Renault. The board noted "that such condition is not met, thereby triggering the loss of Mr. Ghosn's rights to the definitive acquisition of such shares."

A spokeswoman from Renault said around 450,000 shares will be canceled. At the current share price of around 57 euros ($64), that is worth almost 26 million euros ($30 million).French automaker Renault unveiled Thursday a sharp drop in earnings as profit plunged at its Japanese partner Nissan, posing a fresh challenge for their alliance after the shock arrest of former chief Carlos Ghosn last November.

The results came as Renault's new chairman Jean-Dominique Senard was in Japan for talks with Nissan, hoping to smooth relations which grew strained under Ghosn's leadership.

Renault's net profit for 2018 fell 37 percent from a record 5.1 billion euros ($5.75 billion) the previous year, reflecting a slump in profits at Nissan, in which Renault holds a 43 percent stake.

Earlier this week Nissan slashed its full-year forecast as nine-month net profit dropped 45 percent.

The earnings put additional pressure on the Renault and Nissan, which along with Mitsubishi form an alliance which has become the world's top-selling automotive group.

"We all, within the alliance, want more of an alliance... it is one of our most valuable assets," Thierry Bollore, Ghosn's successor as Renault CEO, said at a news conference.

"We confirm the strategic plan objectives," for the future, Bollore added, saying he aimed for an operating margin of 6 percent this year.

That would be down from the 6.3 percent margin reached last year, as the company grappled with demand slumps in emerging markets like Argentina and Turkey, and the halt of operations in Iran after the US re-imposed sanctions over Tehran's nuclear programme.

- Restore confidence -

Ex-Renault CEO Ghosn remains stuck in a Tokyo jail on charges he under-reported millions of dollars in salary as head of Nissan, the biggest partner by sales in an alliance built up by Ghosn.

He resigned as CEO last month -- having already been stripped of his chairman titles -- ahead of a trial which could still be months away.

Ghosn has denied the charges, accusing Nissan executives of treachery.

Renault's new chairman Senard told reporters before leaving for Japan that he intended to "re-establish confidence, transparency and loyalty" between the partners.

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He will join Nissan's board in April, but the question of overall chairmanship of the Nissan-Renault group remains a bone of contention, with the Japanese fearing conflicts of interest.

- Record sales -

Looking ahead, Renault is aiming for world sales of five million vehicles by 2022, worth some 70 billion euros, and a 7 percent operating margin.

The company sold a record 3.9 million vehicles last year.

"Both the global and European market are expected to be stable compared to 2018," Bollore said.

"The commercial and financial results demonstrate the group's resilience and its rapid adaptation to a more challenging environment. This performance is the result of a clear strategy, increasingly stringent execution and the efforts of all group employees," he added.

Bollore also stressed the importance of new electric cars -- including the Zoe and Kangoo utility van -- whose world sales increased by 37 percent, and now account for 3 percent of the group's revenues.

In the meantime Bollore will have to navigate Ghosn's efforts to secure millions of euros of pay he is due since leading Renault since 2005.

The automaker's board said Wednesday that it would block a major payout as the group seeks to avoid the prospect of an embarrassing "golden parachute".

It said that it would not pay two years' worth of salary as part of a noncompete clause, and that Ghosn would miss out on stock options issued between 2015 and 2018, since they were "subject to his presence within Renault."Renault profits fell sharply last year, the French automaker said Thursday in its first annual results since the shock arrest of former boss Carlos Ghosn.

Net profits for 2018 plunged 37 percent from a record 5.1 billion euros ($5.75 billion) the previous year, hit by a lower contribution from its Japanese partner Nissan and changes in exchange rates in some emerging countries.

"This decline came mainly from Nissan's contribution, down 1.282 billion, which notably benefited in 2017 from a one-off gain of 1.021 billion," Renault said in a statement.

Nissan on Tuesday slashed its full-year forecast as nine-month net profit dropped 45 percent.

The results came as Renault, Nissan and its partner Mitsubishi Motors are seeking to turn the page on Ghosn's arrest in Tokyo in November.

Ghosn is accused of under-reporting millions of dollars in salary as head of Nissan, Renault's partner in an alliance Ghosn built up into the world's top-selling auto group.

Last month he resigned as CEO of Renault, having already been stripped of his chairman titles at Nissan and Mitsubishi.

He has been in a Tokyo detention centre for three months with little prospect of release before a trial that could take months to materialise.

Renault said sales were down 2.3 percent at 57.4 billion euros, largely due to the effect of falling currencies in Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Turkey where the group has strong presence.

The company last month announced record sales of 3.9 million vehicles in 2018.

Operating margins fell 6.3 percent to 3.61 billion euros, or 6.3 percent of revenues.

"In 2018, Groupe Renault maintained its strong performance, despite the business environment deterioration," said Thierry Bollore, Ghosn's successor as CEO.

"The commercial and financial results demonstrate the Group's resilience and its rapid adaptation to a more challenging environment. This performance is the result of a clear strategy, increasingly stringent execution and the efforts of all Group employees".

In 2019, the group said "both the global and European market are expected to be stable compared to 2018," and Renault aimed to increase revenues and achieve an operating margin of around 6.0 percent.The European Parliament adopted Tuesday with a resounding majority the new fisheries agreement with Morocco, including the Sahara, a historic vote which prompted the appreciation of the North African country looking upbeat over the future of Morocco-EU strategic partnership.

In a press release issued by the Moroccan Foreign ministry, Rabat expressed its appreciation for the collective action of the European institutions and EU member states, praising their continued commitment to the strategic partnership with the North African Kingdom.

This adoption also confirms that the Kingdom of 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, affirmed the ministry, adding that 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.

After the adoption last month of the farm deal, Tuesdays vote confirms the commitment of 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, underlined the statement.

The new Morocco-EU fisheries agreement was adopted with 415 votes in favor, 189 against and 49 abstentions. It provides for sustainable fishing, a 30 pc increase 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 to increase benefits for the local Sahara populations 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.

After the accord is endorsed by the Moroccan parliament, vessels from 11 EU countries (Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, The Netherlands, Ireland, Poland and United Kingdom) will resume their fishing activities in Moroccos waters, including the Southern provinces.Washington (AFP) - The US House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to end American involvement in Saudi Arabia's war effort in neighboring Yemen, dealing a rebuke to President Donald Trump and his alliance with Riyadh.

The chamber voted 248 to 177 to approve historic legislation that would direct the president within 30 days to "remove United States armed forces from hostilities in or affecting the Republic of Yemen," where a years-old conflict has killed thousands of civilians.

Eighteen Republicans joined all voting Democrats in supporting the measure, a striking curtailment of presidential war powers.

The vote puts pressure on the Senate to act. The Senate easily passed a similar measure late last year condemning the administration's defense of the Saudi kingdom, but it died as the last Congress ended with the then Republican-controlled House not bringing it to a vote.

Today the House is under Democratic control, and the measure moved swiftly on the floor.

"With my resolution passing the House, we are closer than ever to ending our complicity in this humanitarian catastrophe," House Democrat Ro Khanna, who has spent years opposing US military interventions, said on Twitter.

And with Senator Bernie Sanders helping lead the way on the legislation in the Senate, Khanna said, "a War Powers Resolution will pass through both chambers of Congress for the first time in history."

Sanders, who is weighing a 2020 presidential run, applauded the House move.

"The Senate must quickly pass this resolution and finally reassert Congress' constitutional authority over war," he said.

The resolution is a reminder that Congress was given the legal ability to compel the removal of US military forces, absent a formal declaration of war.

Should the Senate pass the resolution, it could force Trump to issue the first veto of his tenure.

Bipartisan anger has simmered in Congress since the murder last October of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by commandos from Riyadh.

The White House's apparent embrace of Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has caused lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle to push back.

Republicans notably have also registered their dissatisfaction over other foreign policy controversies, including the president's plan to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan.TORONTO  Racing Point has put the cash-starved Force India days behind it and now has the resources to show Formula One what it can really do, the Canadian-owned team said on Wednesday.

Technical director Andrew Green told a livery launch, where Kenyan betting company SportPesa was announced as new title sponsors, that the buzz at the factory since the change of ownership was incredible.

"The investment that's in the team is absolutely unprecedented, there's a real sense of we can show people what we can really do now. They have given us the tools to be able to move forward," he said.

"It's not a new chapter in the history of this team, we're a new book now.

"We're all eager to prove that we can do more. If you give us a little bit more, we can do a lot more. Over the coming months you'll see the team grow and develop and the performance of the car will increase at quite a dramatic rate."

Force India went into administration in July last year with only 240,000 pounds ($308,376) to its credit while outstanding gross wages due at the end of that month totaled 2.2 million pounds.

Bankers Santander had already frozen the company's accounts, a report by the administrators later revealed. There were also significant debts, including 13.7 million pounds to engine providers Mercedes alone.

Racing Point, a consortium of investors led by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, whose son Lance is now driving for the team, paid 90 million pounds in August to take over the assets and has brought in new backing.

"In years past we've had ... financial pressures. Those pressures have been lifted thanks to the consortium as well as our partners," said team principal Otmar Szafnauer.

"Now we have other pressures, and those are to perform at an even higher level than we have before.

"The resources over time will now increase, and the performance has to be commensurate. We are all focused on making sure our on-track performance not only stays where it was but gets closer to those top three."

Story continues

Force India were the fourth ranked team in 2016 and 2017 before last year's troubles. Racing Point finished 2018 seventh out of 10  some achievement given that they started with a clean slate from August.

Szafnauer had talked last year of the name Racing Point being temporary, but he said they had now decided to keep it.

"We've all come to the conclusion that basically we are a team of racers. And there's nothing wrong with it, and actually it encompasses who we are," he said.

"We all talked together and thought that's an appropriate name, let's make it wonderful and take that name and give it some history in time and some heritage of us being racers and ultimately winners."By Andreas Rinke

MUNICH (Reuters) - Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece should fight high youth unemployment levels with labour market reforms, less bureaucracy for business and investment in innovation, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said on Thursday.

Speaking in Germany, Lagarde said the structural reforms, with backing from the European Union, were needed to ensure that incomes in poorer members of the bloc catch up with their richer neighbours - a process referred to as convergence.

Successful convergence would help the bloc weather a storm taking shape in the form of populist parties that are opposed to the EU, discord over immigration policy and pressure on the global trading order, she said.

"The continent's next generation, which is still suffering from the economic scars of the global financial crisis, is searching for quality jobs and a stable future," Lagarde at a dinner on the eve of the Munich Security Conference.

"One in four young people in the EU are now at risk of being in poverty. Solving these challenges requires a renewed commitment to shared prosperity in Europe," she added.

"So our goal should be clear: Restarting convergence and ensuring the fruits of economic growth are shared broadly across the EU. This will help restore faith in the European project."

Lagarde praised labour market reforms in Portugal that have encouraged companies to offer young people permanent jobs.

But she said Portugal, Italy and Spain should all increase spending on research and innovation and facilitate venture capital financing. In Italy alone such measures could raise gross domestic product by 5 percent on the long run, she said.

The economies of Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece were hit more severely by the financial crisis just over a decade ago than their richer neighbours, such as Germany and the Netherlands.

Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Cyprus sank into debt crises and had to be bailed out from their euro zone partners, the European Central Bank and the IMF.

Story continues

While those economies have largely recovered, they still suffer from high rates of youth unemployment.

The youth unemployment rate in Italy, Greece and Spain is more than 30 percent, compared with less than 7 percent in Germany and the Netherlands.

(Editing by Alison Williams)Police have made an arrest in the death of Valerie Reyes, whose body was found bound stuffed in suitcase along a Connecticut road last week.

According to prosecutors for the United States Attorneys Office in the Southern District of New York, 24-year-old Queens, N.Y., resident Javier Da Silva was arrested and charged with one count of kidnapping, resulting in the death of Valerie Reyes.

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Prosecutors said that Da Silva, reportedly Reyes ex-boyfriend, bound her by her legs and hands, put packing tape over her mouth, put her in a suitcase, and drove to Greenwich where he dumped her body.

On Feb. 5, highway workers spotted a suitcase containing the body of Reyes, a 24-year-old, New Rochelle, N.Y resident just off a road in Greenwich, Conn.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Greenwich police said Da Silva was taken into custody for allegedly using a debit card belonging to Reyes.

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. Greenwich police said in a statement.

Police also said autopsy reports confirming Reyes cause of death are pending.Staff at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette have accused the paper's publisher of threatening to burn the place down and punish them for engaging with their union.

(Photo: Raymond Boyd via Getty Images)

The publisher of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is accused of going on a drunken verbal rampage in its newsroom Saturday night in which witnesses say he threatened to burn the place down and close the whole paper.

John Robinson Block, the vice chairman of Post-Gazette owner Block Communications Inc., is facing a federal labor complaint over the incident. Employees described Block as ranting like a madman as he blasted their union and threatened staff, all while forcibly tugging along his sobbing 12-year-old daughter, according to local news outlet The Incline.

Several employees recounted the scene to the newsrooms union, the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, which published the accounts on Wednesday after Blocks company downplayed the situation as an unfortunate exchange.

Block Communications regrets if anyone present may have misconstrued what occurred as anything other than an indication of strong concern and support for the legacy and future of the Post-Gazette, Allan Block, John Blocks brother and the chairman of BCI, said in a statement to The Incline. We want the entire staff to know that we will continue to value all of our employees and their contributions to the PG.

A representative for BCI, which also owns Ohios Toledo Blade newspaper, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

According to the published accounts, Block arrived at the newsroom around 10 p.m. and took issue over a sign reading Shame on the Blocks! that was posted on the Guilds newsroom bulletin board. The sign had been posted to protest the companys refusal to cover price increases in employee health care costs and 13 years without raises.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

Block ordered that the union sign be taken down or hed close the whole paper, paginator Alex Miller recalled to the Guild.

When that didnt happen, Block allegedly grabbed his daughter and ordered that a staff photographer take a picture of them in front of the sign for the next days front page.

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She was screaming that she didnt want to, crying hysterically and red-faced. I felt terrible about what I was watching, recounted reporter Andrew Goldstein.

He yelled at his daughter, up to her face: Youre a Block dont you forget it. Youre a Block, youre not one of them, repeatedly as he firmly jabbed his finger into her shoulder, web editor Marianne Mizera said. It was clear he was intoxicated.

Goldstein also described hearing these comments.

He was screaming in his daughters face about the Block family legacy: Do you want to be high class or low class? Youre a Block, youre one of us! You have to learn how to lead! he said. She was shaking and saying that she didnt want to.

Miller said the way Block acted would have gotten any ordinary employee fired on the spot and escorted out of the building for everybodys safety.

He appeared totally out of control. He was loud and violent, and it was frightening to witness because he was so erratic. There was no way for anybody to know what he might do next, he said.

In addition to creating a disturbance, Block allegedly threatened to fire employees for engaging in union or other protected concerted activity, and to discourage such activities, according to the guilds complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday, the Post-Gazette reported.

Block reportedly returned to the newsroom on Wednesday while accompanied by the papers editorial director Keith Burris. There was reportedly no apology or acknowledgment to the staff from Block about what happened, according to the Guild.

Burris did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment.

This is not the first time Blocks actions have made news outside of his paper. Last year he ignited outcry for firing an editorial cartoonist who complained that his sketches that criticized President Donald Trump were constantly being pulled. The firing of Rob Roger drew condemnation from Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto.

The Poynter Institute also reported on Blocks apparent push to move the papers content to the right last June, while highlighting other of his editorial decisions, including ordering an editorial on Martin Luther King Jr. Day that questioned racism.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Ten Havanese-mix dogs rescued from a hoarding situation in Florida have come a long way in just a short amount of time thanks to love, veterinary care and a heavy dose of grooming.

I find that animals bounce back quickly when they are cared for, Sherry Silk, CEO of the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, told HuffPost in an email.

The Humane Society of Tampa Bay took in the dogs after the Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center removed them from their former home earlier this month due to terrible living conditions.

JoJo is a bit ill, but the The Humane Society of Tampa Bay is hopeful she will soon recover fully enough to go up for adoption. (Photo: Adam Goldberg/AGoldPhoto)

Silk described the dogs at that point as filthy, suffering from fleas and hair loss, and extremely unsocial and shut down.

When you walked in the room, you could smell the urine-soaked coats of the dogs, she said.

Multiple local pet groomers stepped in to volunteer to help clean up the dogs, and photographer Adam Goldberg reached out to the shelter about doing a before-and-after photo shoot. Goldberg took the after photos two days after shooting the before pictures, and for many of the dogs, the physical transformation mirrored the emotional shift they were also undergoing.

They were pretty aloof on the initial day and stayed pretty still while we took their photos, he told HuffPost in an email. Two days later, they were not nearly as still but with some of them, we could tell they got their confidence back.

Wendy, who Goldberg described as having "the most dramatic transformation" of all the dogs he photographed. "All she wanted to do was give the groomer kisses," he said. (Photo: Adam Goldberg/AGoldPhoto)

Six of the dogs have already found new homes. Of the remaining four, two were available for adoption as of Thursday and two will need a little extra attention before theyll be put up for adoption. One dog, JoJo, is ill and under medical care, while a dog named Maggie is by far the most stressed out and will need lots of TLC before shes put up for adoption, said Silk.

Silk, who noted the hoarding situation is still an active case, emphasized that the former owners of the dogs are dealing with mental health issues and that in most hoarding cases, owners love and care about the animals but have simply lost complete control. She wants the public to be aware that if they see a person who is struggling like this, most animal welfare agencies will help before it gets this bad.

Story continues

See all the before-and-after photos below:

Buttons

Connie

JoJo

Maggie

Rover

Sasha

Shelly

Snowey

Tank

Wendy

Also on HuffPost

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Purebred Golden Retriever dog outdoors on a sunny summer day.

Senior man walking with his German Shorthaired Pointer in city park

Senior dog with a missing fang

Old senior retired bluetick coonhound pet hunting dog lying down on blanket looking sleepy tired exhausted relaxed sad depressed sick ill frail comfortable lonely

It is now over a decade since Bella's mum broke loose one night. However, Bella still enjoys life to the extreme; she loves going for walks, but when it is going uphill, frequent rest stops are called for. She loves flopping flat on the floor and watching the world go by and this typical stance begs the question: 'How can anyonw resist?a

An old dog resting in grass.

Senior Husband And Wife Who Take A Walk In The Meadow With A Dog

Senior Chocolate Labrador Retriever standing on dock

A woman pets her dog

An older dog.

Senior German shorthaired pointer female, almost 15 years old

Portrait of Woman with Golden Retreiver

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Philippine journalist Maria Ressa was freed on bail on Thursday following an arrest that sparked international censure and allegations she is being targeted over her news site's criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Ressa, 55, spent a night in detention after authorities arrested the veteran reporter at her Manila office Wednesday in a sharp upping of government pressure on her and her website Rappler.

The site and Ressa have been hit with tax evasion charges and now a libel case after clashing repeatedly with Duterte over his deadly crackdown on narcotics that has killed thousands.

"The message that the government is sending is very clear... be silent or you're next," an emotional Ressa told reporters outside a Manila court.

She stumped up a bond of 100,000-pesos ($1,900), the sixth time since December she has paid bail on a government case.

"I am appealing to you not to be silent, even if -- and especially if -- you're next," added Ressa, who was named a Time Magazine "Person of the Year" in 2018 for her journalism.

International condemnation from dignitaries, press freedom and human rights groups has poured in since plainclothes agents appeared at Rappler to serve an arrest warrant.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland tweeted she was "deeply troubled" by Ressa's arrest Wednesday.

"A free press is a bedrock of democracy. Canada reiterates its call for due process to be respected and for journalists to be free from harassment and intimidation," Freeland added.

Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, tweeted in support: "The arrest of journalist @mariaressa by the Philippine government is outrageous and must be condemned by all democratic nations."

- Duterte attacks on media -

The libel case against Ressa and former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos, Jr. stems from a 2012 report written about a businessman's alleged ties to a then-judge on the nation's top court.

Story continues

While investigators initially dismissed the businessman's 2017 complaint about the article, the case was subsequently forwarded to prosecutors for their consideration.

The legal foundation of the case is a controversial law aiming to crack down on online offences ranging from harassment to child pornography.

Ressa's team has argued the legislation did not take effect until months after the story was published and is not retroactive, however the government countered that it is fair game because the story was updated in 2014.

"In essence in the contemplation of the law it is a new article because of the modification, republication," Markk Perete, spokesman for Department of Justice prosecutors, told AFP. "That is deemed as a new article."

Rappler concedes the story was updated, but notes it was to fix a typo and no substantive changes were made.

Ressa's lawyer JJ Disini said he will formally ask the court within the week to dismiss the case as the publication and the modification were made more than a year ago.

He argues the maximum period set by law for a legal action to be brought has already lapsed.

"That's disincentive for people to speak out," Disini told reporters, "I think there would be grounds to raise these issues in the Supreme Court."

The businessman who accused Rappler, Wilfredo Keng, on Thursday welcomed the charges, saying the website "destroyed my reputation and endangered my life".

Duterte said late Thursday he did not know Keng or his motive for filing the case, and dismissed allegations the suit was part of a media crackdown.

"Far from it, actually," he told reporters, saying he had never prosecuted the press during his more than 20 years as a government official.

Duterte has lashed out at other critical media outfits, including the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper and broadcaster ABS-CBN.

He threatened to go after their owners over alleged unpaid taxes or block the network's franchise renewal application.

Some of the drug crackdown's highest-profile detractors have wound up behind bars, including Senator Leila de Lima, who was jailed on drug charges she insists were fabricated to silence her.Yahoo News photo illustration; photos: Jose Luis Magana/AP, Getty Images

The term identity politics seems to have become a redundancy all of a sudden, like restful nap or talking movies or race-baiting Ann Coulter. The modifier is unnecessary.

The resurgence of identity started, I guess, with Donald Trump and his overt affinity for white, male grievance and ethnic pride. The effect of his presidency, along with the #MeToo uprising and the simplifying effect of social media, has been to bifurcate the culture, with white men assumed to be on one side and most everyone else on the other.

And now the left has re-embraced identity  race, gender, sexuality  as its chief organizing principle, too.

Rebutting the political theorist Francis Fukuyama in Foreign Affairs (an odd place for this debate, but such is the state of our politics), Stacey Abrams, the almost-governor of Georgia, offered an eloquent and much-praised defense of identity politics, arguing that the Democratic Party ought to mainly be a place where marginalized groups can amplify their collective power.

This first wave of presidential hopefuls has heard the call, too. Kamala Harris announced her candidacy on Martin Luther King Jr.s birthday, in case anyone missed the significance of her candidacy. Kirsten Gillibrand has put feminism front and center as a rationale.

Elizabeth Warren has experienced the hard road of the Native American. Or at least she once drove a Cherokee Sport.

But then you have the unlikely candidacy of 37-year-old Pete Buttigieg, who would rather talk about his record as the two-term mayor of South Bend, Ind., or about his resume as a Rhodes scholar and a combat veteran, than about his identity as the first openly gay man to seek the Democratic nomination.

At a moment when other candidates are talking endlessly about the historical resonance of their candidacies, Buttigieg seems bent on relegating his to a subtext. Which makes his campaign intriguing  and, if you ask me, underestimated.

If youre assuming that Buttigieg is only de-emphasizing his personal identity now because he wants to seem more electable to the masses, then you dont know much about Buttigieg (and, really, theres no reason you should).

Story continues

As it happens, Buttigieg was an undergraduate at Harvard when I taught a seminar there about 17 years ago. I knew him then, but I got to know him much better later, when he was embarking on a political career, and we had some long conversations about how to handle those jackals in the press corps.

Buttigieg was in his 30s and already serving as mayor when he came to terms with his own sexuality and met the man he would marry. What he struggled with then wasnt whether to come out publicly (he never had any intention of hiding and felt the voters should hear it directly from him) but rather how to keep his sexuality from defining him as a politician.

Buttigieg had no interest in becoming known as the gay mayor in Indiana, or in transforming himself into a spokesman for the cause. He wanted to be the rising Democratic star who, by the way, happened also to be gay.

We talked then about President Obama  about how he had eschewed the politics of racial resentment, how he had been secure enough to discuss the political novelty of being black without letting it become the only thing he was. It was much the same way that John Kennedy, nearly 50 years earlier, had made Catholic identity a part of his political identity, but not the only thing people saw.

Buttigieg understood, even then, that the time was coming when being gay wouldnt be any different from being Catholic or being black in each of those moments. Some people might hold identity against you, sure, but even more of them would admire you for pushing past it and focusing on commonalities instead.

Now Buttigieg is holding firm to that ideal, even if the moment has come back around to a place where it might seem more advantageous, in a Democratic primary, to lead with his own sense of alienation from the power structure. He leads, instead, with his experience as mayor.

That may seem like a stretch for the presidency, but to this point, other than Cory Booker, Buttigieg is only one of a few candidates who have run anything as large as a midsize Midwestern city.

I think we want Washington to begin to look more like our best-run cities and towns, and not the other way around, he told me this week. Its less personality-based, more results-based. And I think thats how politics should be.

Thats certainly not how politics is right now.

It wouldnt surprise me if Buttigieg did a lot better in the coming campaign than people think, outperforming some of the candidates who are more widely considered now to be in the partys top tier.

Just as Obamas race gave him automatic credibility with the left, so too may Buttigiegs status as the first plausible gay candidate liberate him from the ideological litmus tests that might doom another candidate with sensible ideas. In other words, his identity may guarantee him a hearing, even if its not the basis of his pitch.

His appeal for a younger generation of leadership, coupled with a quiet authenticity and a pragmatic approach, may strike a lot of Democrats as a refreshing alternative to the somewhat older, Washington-based candidates who already are competing to see who can grovel the most on calls for social justice  especially if some of the better-known and less ideological candidates, like Joe Biden, stay out of the race.

But whether or not he hangs around past Iowa and New Hampshire, Buttigieg seems likely to stick in the upper echelon of Democratic politics for a long time to come. And hes bound to do something more historically important, in terms of identity, than most of the candidates who would like to surround their campaigns now with historical symbolism.

Like Obama or Hillary Clinton (both the 2008 and 2016 versions), Buttigieg is set to clear a path for a generation of candidates to come. Hes about to prove, perhaps, that you can be a serious candidate for president who happens to be gay, rather than the gay presidential candidate.

And the truth is, thats how real progress happens in politics, and how parties almost always win in divisive times. Not by reducing candidates to a single marginalized identity, but by demonstrating  through sheer tenacity  that the best of our leaders can be many things at once.

_____

Read more from Yahoo News:Paul Manafort, Donald Trumps former campaign manager, breached his plea deal with special counsel Robert Muellers office by intentionally lying to prosecutors, a federal judge has ruled.

As a result they will not have to recommend a lighter sentence for him.

There was a preponderance of evidence that Manafort lied on three different topics, including his communications with his former business partner and alleged Russian operative Konstantin Kilimnik, Judge Amy Berman Jackson in the US District Court for the District of Columbia found.

However, she cleared the 69-year-old of allegations that he intentionally lied on two other subjects.

Mr Mueller, who is investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, released a court transcript last week which suggested Manaforts alleged lies were central to their investigation into potential collusion  something both Mr Trump and Russia have denied.

The special counsel contends that the former political operative lied about the number of times he and Mr Kilimnik discussed a Ukrainian peace plan  a reference to a proposal that would result in the US lifting sanctions on Russia, one of the Kremlins top objectives.

Mr Kilimik, a Russian citizen was a long-time employee of Manaforts political consulting firm and had done extensive lobbying work for him in Ukraine on behalf of the countrys then pro-Russian President, Viktor Yanukovych.

He has denied allegations that he has ties to Russian intelligence.

In a court filing ahead of the ruling, Manforts lawyers repeated their argument that their client did not intentionally lied to prosecutors and stressed that he corrected any mistakes once they were pointed out to him.

The political operative was convicted of financial fraud relating to his work as a political consultant in Ukraine in August, although this pre-dated his role with Mr Trumps presidential campaign.

He accepted a plea deal on his other charges in exchange for cooperating with Mr Muellers inquiry.

Story continues

Mr Trumps former aide had been hoping for leniency at his 5 March sentencing under the plea deal.

If he is found to have intentionally lied to the FBI, the government could seek a tougher sentence  including a maximum of life in prison.Tunisias flagship carrier will shed over 1,000 jobs by 2020 as part of austerity measures by the state to keep the airline in operation.

Transport minister Hichem Ben Ahmed has told administrative reforms committee in the parliament that 1,146 jobs will be cut off from the current 7,800 at the airline.

The carrier operates 30 aircraft and 7,800 jobs are deemed oversize (220 per plane), according to international standards, which require 80 agents per jet.

The state-run airline has been nosediving with performances falling under expectations. The airline authorities have suspended less profitable destinations in a move to mitigate losses.

The governments rescue plan also includes injection of 100 million dinars ($33 million) and to balance the companys financial figures.

The airline will place order for five Airbus A320 neos and apply for the lease of several other aircrafts in view of replenishing its aging fleet.Pedestrians walk past a Patisserie Valerie cake store, owner by Patisserie Holdings Plc, in central London, U.K., on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018. Patisserie Holdings Plc finance chief Chris Marsh was arrested as U.K. fraud prosecutors opened a probe into an accounting scandal that threatens to shutter the cake bakers 200-plus stores. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Patisserie Valerie has been rescued in a deal that saves 117 stores and 2,000 jobs.

Administrators KPMG said on Thursday that a total of 96 Patisserie Valerie stores have been acquired by Dublin-based Causeway Capital. The Financial Times, which first reported the Causeway deal, said Patisserie Valeries management, including new CEO Steve Francis, were also taking part in the transaction.

Separately, food retail, wholesale, and distribution company A.F. Blakemore & Son has acquired all 21 Philpotts stores across the UK. Philpotts cafes were also owned by the Patisserie Valerie company.

David Costley-Wood, partner at KPMG and joint administrator, said in a statement: To have been able to secure the future of the majority of the Patisserie Valerie and Philpotts business, along with such a significant number of jobs, all against a challenging backdrop, is really pleasing.

It was clear from the outset of our appointment that the loyalty shown in the brands from their very many customers was a significant factor in ensuring that these businesses would remain part and parcel of our high streets.

Patisserie Valerie collapsed into administration in January after discovering a devastating fraud in its accounting last October.

While 117 stores have been rescued today, 75 loss-making branches were closed last month at a cost of 920 jobs.

Costley-Wood said: We are particularly grateful for the support of stakeholders, including the suppliers and employees, whose support throughout this process has been integral to securing such a positive outcome.

KPMG are still overseeing a sale process for bakery chain Baker & Spice, which was also owned by the Patisserie Valerie group. KPMG said an announcement will be made in due course.One year after gunfire began in the freshman building of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the movement those bullets sparked has swept through the US and opened a new chapter on guns in America.

Guns have come to dominate political debate this past year in way unseen previously in the US, with massive protests from March for Our Lives attracting headlines and major news coverage  and virtually all Democrat presidential candidates supporting stricter gun control. Meanwhile, dozens of states have moved to pass new gun control laws in an historic effort, as communities across America continue to be scarred by gun violence.

And, for gun control advocates, the last year has proven that the National Rifle Association (NRA)  for so long seen as an unstoppable force in American politics  is finally tumbling.

I think there was this perceived power from the NRA for a long time. Now the curtain has been pulled back, and we see this is an organisation that is extremist, Andrew Patrick, a spokesperson with the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, told The Independent. "The NRA is at their weakest point that they've been at in a long time."

In the year since 14 students were killed by an AR-15, alongside three adults, more than 1,200 American children have been killed by guns, according to an analysis and project developed to tell the stories of many of those young people.

Those deaths  in cities and rural communities, impacting virtually every social and economic group in the country  have fuelled the progress gun control advocates have seen. More than 20 states have passed new gun regulations, including new measures in Florida, a state known for its lax gun laws, according to the Giffords Law Centre.

Gun control advocates have also seen success in elected government, with 95 candidates backed by the gun control group Giffords being elected to the House of Representatives in last years midterm elections while 32 top politicians back day the NRA lost their seats.

Story continues

Last November we elected a new Congress ready to fight unapologetically to keep Americans safe from gun violence. But these leaders weren't elected in a vacuumthey represent a clear shift in the politics of guns. Previously, it was a third rail, Peter Ambler, Giffords Executive Director, told The Independent.

Today, candidates run on gun safety and they're elected on gun safety. That's because voters demanded change, they demanded action. They rejected the lies peddled by the NRA and sent a clear message to Congress that now is the time to act," he added.

In the immediate aftermath of the Parkland shooting, the NRA was thrust into the spotlight with student survivors name checking the lobbying group for the money it pushes into American politics to maintain the right to access guns of all kinds in the US.

That attention saw major setbacks for the group. At least 20 major American companies severed ties with the organisation, including the likes of Delta Airlines and United Airlines. While the NRA argued that Americans have the right to buy the types of semi-automatic rifles that have been used in mass shooting after mass shooting, major retailer Dicks Sporting Goods announced it would no longer carry the weapons in its stores  and the company saw sales increase by over 4 per cent in the quarter that followed that announcement.

With those boycotts as a backdrop, member dues also fell off for the NRA, leaving the organization in the red for the second year in a row. Just two years after spending a record $54m in the 2016 election  including $30m to support Donald Trump  the NRAs spending in the 2018 midterms dropped sharply, with just over $10m being spent by the group in campaign donations and outside spending, according to the nonprofit the Centre for Responsive Politics.

Democrats running in 2020 appear poised to make gun control a major campaign issue  at least in the primaries  after years in which gun control advocates say the party appeared afraid to make waves.

Major contenders in the Senate  including Kamala Harris Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren  have all co-sponsored an assault weapons ban.

With the Democratic primary season fast approaching, theres little difference between many of the candidates' proposals. They all want to pass gun control legislation that they say will keep American communities safer than the active shooter drills at schools, which have horrified parents and frightened school children.

When you have the energy of the youth vote, it changes everything. Social movements are built form the ground up and weve been doing a lot of hard work for a long time, Mr Patrick said. I think that, because of the way the American people became fed up with this issue and (because) the survivors really started speaking out  it became a rallying cry.

Like all social movements, the last to get the message are the elected officials, he said.Jerusalem (AFP) - A Warsaw conference jointly organised by US President Donald Trump's administration lacks credibility as it aims to "normalise" the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, a Palestinian official said in remarks published Thursday.

"By fully siding with the Israeli government, (the Americans) have tried to normalise the Israeli occupation and the systematic denial of the Palestinian right to self-determination," Nabil Shaath, an adviser to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, wrote in a column published by Israel's Haaretz newspaper.

The two-day conference, which convened for its main session in the Polish capital on Thursday, is officially devoted to security in the Middle East, with a strong emphasis on Iran.

But Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is expected to offer hints of the US administration's proposals for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Shaath said the Palestinians had refused to go to the conference.

"The Warsaw conference is part of this context," he wrote.

"A peace process cannot be turned into an attempt to obtain amnesty for war crimes or to make one of the parties surrender its basic rights under the UN charter."

The Palestinians have refused to talk to the Trump administration since the US leader recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December 2017.

The Trump administration has since dealt a series of harsh blows to the Palestinian Authority, including cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Palestinians.Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

This article is written for those who want to get better at using price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). Well show how you can use Jain Irrigation Systems Limiteds (NSE:JISLDVREQS) P/E ratio to inform your assessment of the investment opportunity. Jain Irrigation Systems has a P/E ratio of 9.36, based on the last twelve months. That is equivalent to an earnings yield of about 11%.

See our latest analysis for Jain Irrigation Systems

How Do I Calculate Jain Irrigation Systemss Price To Earnings Ratio?

The formula for price to earnings is:

Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price  Earnings per Share (EPS)

Or for Jain Irrigation Systems:

P/E of 9.36 = 51.2  5.47 (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2018.)

Is A High P/E Ratio Good?

A higher P/E ratio means that investors are paying a higher price for each 1 of company earnings. All else being equal, its better to pay a low price  but as Warren Buffett said, Its far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.

How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios

Probably the most important factor in determining what P/E a company trades on is the earnings growth. Thats because companies that grow earnings per share quickly will rapidly increase the E in the equation. That means unless the share price increases, the P/E will reduce in a few years. Then, a lower P/E should attract more buyers, pushing the share price up.

Jain Irrigation Systems increased earnings per share by a whopping 41% last year. And its annual EPS growth rate over 5 years is 44%. With that performance, I would expect it to have an above average P/E ratio.

How Does Jain Irrigation Systemss P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers?

The P/E ratio indicates whether the market has higher or lower expectations of a company. The image below shows that Jain Irrigation Systems has a lower P/E than the average (18.5) P/E for companies in the machinery industry.

Story continues

NSEI:JISLDVREQS PE PEG Gauge February 14th 19

Its relatively low P/E ratio indicates that Jain Irrigation Systems shareholders think it will struggle to do as well as other companies in its industry classification. Since the market seems unimpressed with Jain Irrigation Systems, its quite possible it could surprise on the upside. You should delve deeper. I like to check if company insiders have been buying or selling.

A Limitation: P/E Ratios Ignore Debt and Cash In The Bank

Dont forget that the P/E ratio considers market capitalization. Thus, the metric does not reflect cash or debt held by the company. Theoretically, a business can improve its earnings (and produce a lower P/E in the future), by taking on debt (or spending its remaining cash).

Such spending might be good or bad, overall, but the key point here is that you need to look at debt to understand the P/E ratio in context.

Is Debt Impacting Jain Irrigation Systemss P/E?

Jain Irrigation Systemss net debt is considerable, at 169% of its market cap. This level of debt justifies a relatively low P/E, so remain cognizant of the debt, if youre comparing it to other stocks.

The Bottom Line On Jain Irrigation Systemss P/E Ratio

Jain Irrigation Systems trades on a P/E ratio of 9.4, which is below the IN market average of 15.6. The company has a meaningful amount of debt on the balance sheet, but that should not eclipse the solid earnings growth. If the company can continue to grow earnings, then the current P/E may be unjustifiably low.

When the market is wrong about a stock, it gives savvy investors an opportunity. As value investor Benjamin Graham famously said, In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine. So this free visual report on analyst forecasts could hold they key to an excellent investment decision.

Of course you might be able to find a better stock than Jain Irrigation Systems. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have grown earnings strongly.

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.Parkland (United States) (AFP) - Students, parents and politicians marked the first anniversary of the Valentine's Day shooting at a Florida high school Thursday with somber tributes, prayers and calls for action.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a former student killed 14 students and three staff members a year ago, cancelled classes for the day and offered counseling services instead.

A moment of silence was held at 10:15 am (1515 GMT) by the few students who turned up at the school in Parkland, Florida.

"It's a hard day," said Victoria Gonzalez, 18, standing next to a flower garden surrounded by 17 angels that she helped create to remember those who died.

"I lost my best friend," Gonzalez said of Joaquin Oliver, 18, who was among those killed by a troubled ex-Stoneman Douglas student armed with a semi-automatic weapon.

Thousands of people later gathered in the Pine Trails Park for a brief interfaith service at which the names of the victims were read.

Many people wore red Marjory Stoneman Douglas shirts, while others wore shirts bearing the names of those killed in the shooting.

"Seeing all these people come out and care, it means a lot," said Julia Brighton, a 16-year-old survivor who lost both of her best friends and a neighbor in the attack.

Parents of the victims took to Twitter to express their grief.

"Exactly one year ago, to the minute at around 7am, I sent two kids to school," said Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime was among those killed.

"Only my son Jesse came home," Guttenberg wrote. "I am forever haunted by my memory of that morning, rushing my kids out the door rather than getting one last minute.

"Did I say I love you?" he asked.

Andrew Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter Meadow was killed, said he lost his "Princess Meadow" a year ago.

"Everyday hurts the same as the first," Pollack said.

"Meadow, my life will never be the same without you, but I've been fighting everyday to make sure this never happens again," he said.

Story continues

Stoneman Douglas students have become crusaders against gun violence under the banner "March for Our Lives," lobbying for tougher gun control laws and organizing protests and rallies.

But Emma Gonzalez, one of the leaders of March for Our Lives, said the movement will go offline and stay silent from Thursday through the weekend.

"Like so many others in our community, I'm going to spend that time giving my attention to friends and family, and remembering those we lost," Gonzalez said.

"The 14th is a hard day to look back on. But looking at the movement we've built -- the movement you created and the things we've already accomplished together -- is incredibly healing," she said.

- 'We love Parkland' -

The school marked the anniversary with a "non-academic" day and closed its doors before 2:20 pm, the moment the shooting started.

"For this date, we wanted to stay quiet, simply out of respect," said 15-year-old shooting survivor Ryan Servaites.

"You know, this affected us very personally," Servaites said. "We love Parkland and we simply don't want to turn this into a day of protest when it really should be a day of mourning."

President Donald Trump vowed to ensure that US schools are safe, calling it a "top priority" and claiming that "tremendous strides" have already been made.

"Let us declare together, as Americans, that we will not rest until our schools are secure and our communities are safe," Trump said in a statement.

He specifically cited a ban on bump stocks -- a modification allowing store-bought semi-automatic weapons to fire similarly to a full automatic weapon.

Trump, whose Republican Party opposes most gun regulation, also said that care for mental health and school security had been much improved since last year.

Much of the momentum for tighter gun laws has come from the grassroots lobbying efforts of the Stoneman Douglas students.

According to the Giffords Law Center, legislators in 26 states and the nation's capital, Washington, passed 67 new gun safety laws in 2018.

In seven states, background checks for gun buyers were added or existing laws strengthened. Four states raised the minimum age to purchase firearms.

Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, pointed to a bill approved in committee that would expand background checks on gun buyers.

"Tragically, gun violence remains an epidemic in our country, stealing the lives of nearly 40,000 Americans last year, including 47 children and teenagers every single day," Pelosi said.

"We must continue to turn our pain and heartbreak into action."

While the measure is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled House, it faces an uncertain future in the Republican-held Senate.

Former president Barack Obama praised the Parkland students.

"In the year since their friends were killed, the students of Parkland refused to settle for the way things are and marched, organized, and pushed for the way things should be -- helping pass meaningful gun violence laws in states across the country," Obama tweeted.

"I'm proud of all of them."Pyongyang (AFP) - Making their way around displays of bright red begonias, military officers from North Korea's traditional allies China and Russia toured a flower festival celebrating late leader Kim Jong Il on Thursday.

Pausing for selfies and laughing at times, the uniformed group - also including defence attaches from Iran and Cuba - gave every appearance of enjoying their visit to the Kimjongilia exhibition in Pyongyang.

"The exhibition of Kimjongilia flowers is yet another testament to the unlimited love and devotion of the Korean people to the great leader of the entire nation, Comrade Kim Jong Il!" the Russian representative wrote in the visitors' book.

It was a demonstration of the nuclear-armed country's enduring alliances, even after a year of rapid diplomatic developments on and around the peninsula, with three summits between North and South and a first-ever meeting between US President Donald Trump and leader Kim Jong Un - Kim Jong Il's son and successor.

A second US-North Korean summit is due in Vietnam at the end of this month, but in marked contrast to the speculation circulating in Washington and elsewhere, the North's official KCNA news agency has barely mentioned the meeting.

KCNA did say, however, that a delegation from Vietnam led by Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh returned home Thursday after a three-day visit.

The North has yet to announce the date to its own people, and KCNA last referred to the meeting three weeks ago.

Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear arms and the ballistic missiles to deliver them to the US mainland has left it isolated on the global stage, subject to multiple sets of sanctions from the UN Security Council and other bodies.

Even so, it still has some backers and supporters. At past flower festivals, blooms have been sponsored by the leaders of Syria, Laos and Palestine, but this year the Nigerian president figured among them for the first time.

Donors sponsored flowers to "display their reverence for General Kim Jong Il", said guide Ri Yun I. "So year after year the participants are increasing and the number of foreigners also increased."

Story continues

While Trump has proclaimed that he and Kim fell in love through an exchange of letters there were no flowers from US authorities or American organisations.

"Not yet," said Ri. "Maybe in the future."

- Blooming -

According to Pyongyang's orthodoxy, Kim Jong Il was born on February 16, 1942, at a secret camp on Mount Paektu, the spiritual birthplace of the Korean people, where his father, the North's founder Kim Il Sung, was fighting the Japanese.

But outsiders point instead to official Soviet records showing he was born a year earlier in a Siberian village where his father was in exile.

Either way, the North celebrates the anniversary every year with skating and synchronised swimming shows, fireworks and the flower festival.

The Kimjongilia - a large tuberous begonia -- was bred by Japanese botanist Kamo Mototeru, who guides say presented it to the then North Korean leader.

His father had previously been honoured in 1965 with the Kimilsungia, a purple orchid named after him by Indonesian leader Sukarno.

A total of 30,229 blooms were arranged into displays, many of them featuring the Mount Paektu camp and others the flag of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.

A few highlighted development -- with one showing a train and others the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital -- but the rockets and weapons that have been prominent at past shows were absent.

In the centre of the main hall lay a giant map of a unified Korea, with an illuminated star identifying Pyongyang as its capital.

"National reunification is the strong desire of all Korean people, so whenever I see a map of our country I want to unify our country," said Ri.

"Our country is a single nation, with one blood and one culture and one language."Ohio Sen. Joe Uecker will pay $20,000 as part of a settlement reached in a lawsuit filed after the senator blocked a constituent from posting on his official Facebook page.

Uecker, a Republican from Miami Township in suburban Cincinnati, denied he violated Anthony Famby's constitutional free speech rights when he blocked him on Facebook following comments about Uecker's vote on an abortion bill. Under the agreement, Uecker does not admit guilt but will pay damages and attorney's fees totaling $20,000.

Uecker also cannot block Fambry from his Facebook page unless Fambry threatens or harasses the lawmaker in violation with the social media service's terms. The settlement expires when Uecker leaves office.

Uecker unblocked Fambry within hours of the lawsuit being filed. His comments pressing Uecker on his position on abortion reappeared on the Facebook page soon after.

Fambry, who lives in Batavia, called the settlement a win. He hopes it means other Ohio lawmakers and elected officials won't make the same mistake.

"The message is simple: Public servants can't silence us," Fambry said. "Just because they don't like what we say, they can't silence us."

Ohio Senate GOP spokesman John Fortney said the issue was resolved almost immediately when Uecker unblocked Fambry and wasn't worth litigating long term.

"As always, there are multiple ways for Ohioans to communicate with the General Assembly and we look forward to hearing from them," Fortney said.

The lawsuit is the first of its kind in Ohio, but similar complaints have been made in other states. A federal court judge in New York last year ruled President Donald Trump could not block people on Twitter. Just last month in Wisconsin, a judge ruled state GOP lawmakers violated free speech rights when they blocked a liberal group on Twitter.

A Kentucky judge reached a different conclusion last year, siding with Gov. Matt Bevin in a preliminary ruling in a case brought by the ACLU.

Presidents Day Sale: Support local journalism for just $1 for the first three months

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio lawmaker who blocked constituent on Facebook will pay $20,000 in lawsuit settlementNotch another victory for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The freshman Democratic representative celebrated online retailer Amazons decision Thursday to scrap its plans to build a new headquarters in her New York City district.

I think its incredible, Ocasio-Cortez responded when asked to comment on Amazons about-face. It shows that everyday Americans still have the power to organize and fight for their communities and they can have more say in this country than richest man in the world.

Earlier Thursday, the company announced it was reversing the plan, announced in November, to build new East Coast headquarters buildings in New York City and in Arlington, Va. The Virginia part of the plan will go ahead. The company said it would not look for a new location to replace the cancelled $2.5 billion project.

"After much thought and deliberation, weve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens, Amazon spokeswoman Jodi Seth said in a statement.

Ocasio-Cortez was one of the leaders of the fight against the proposed deal, largely over the $3 billion in tax breaks the city and state promised the company.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is thrilled that Amazon will not be opening offices in Long Island City, NY, (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: AP, Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

New Yorks chronic shortage of housing and the overburdened mass transit system were also cited by opponents.

The deal would have meant an estimated 25,000 new jobs for the city.

We were subsidizing those jobs, Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday. The city was paying for those jobs. Frankly, if we were willing to give away $3 billion dollars for this deal, we could invest those $3 billion in our district, ourselves, if we wanted to. We could hire out more teachers. We can fix our subways. We can put a lot of people to work for that amount of money if we wanted to.

But as New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin pointed out after the company walked away from the city, Amazons gain wasnt necessarily going to come out of New Yorks coffers.

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Mayor Bill de Blasio, who partnered with Gov. Andrew Cuomo in hammering out the deal, issued a stinging statement over the companys latest decision.

Story continues

You have to be tough to make it in New York City. We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity, de Blasio said in a statement. We have the best talent in the world and every day we are growing a stronger and fairer economy for everyone. If Amazon cant recognize what thats worth, its competitors will.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who represents New Yorks 12th District, where the Amazon headquarters was slated for construction, expressed her disappointment.

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Cuomo was also disappointed, but he took out his anger on the legislators who worked to torpedo the deal.

[A] small group [of] politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community  which poll after poll showed overwhelmingly supported bringing Amazon to Long Island City  the state's economic future and the best interests of the people of this state. The New York state Senate has done tremendous damage. They should be held accountable for this lost economic opportunity.

_____

Read more from Yahoo News:By Terje Solsvik and Gwladys Fouche

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's government approved on Thursday the building of a copper mine near Europe's northernmost point despite years of opposition from indigenous Sami herders and fishermen.

Norway's decision on the copper mine has been viewed as a litmus test for the Arctic, where climate change and technology are enabling mineral and energy extraction, shipping and tourism, but threatening traditional ways of life.

"The mining project will strengthen the industrial base in the north," Industry Minister Torbjoern Roe Isaksen of the centre-right coalition government said in a statement.

"It will contribute positively to the local community, with new jobs and skills."

The Nussir ASA project is expected to bring jobs and investment to the Kvalsund municipality, but the digging could damage summer reindeer pastures and a plan to dump tailings in the fjord would destroy spawning grounds for the coastal cod.

"I am shocked by the government's decision. I had hoped that the Norwegian government would have heard our arguments ... They do not take us seriously," reindeer herder Nils Mathis Sara told Reuters. "We will definitely protest against this decision."

A group of reindeer herders will discuss whether to take legal action in an attempt to stop the mine, he said.

One green group, Nature and Youth, was planning a demonstration in front of the Royal Palace in Oslo on Friday when the cabinet holds its weekly meeting with King Harald.

MINIMAL INTRUSION

Nussir says the area contains an estimated 72 million tonnes of copper ore - Norway's largest reserve - and plans to invest more than 1 billion crowns ($115.8 million) in the mine while making only minimal intrusion in the local way of life.

Local officials gave a green light in 2012, but the project has since been stuck awaiting an operating license, with big industry players paying close attention to the process, the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry has said.

Story continues

Kvalsund, a village of painted wooden houses on the Repparfjord with 1,027 inhabitants, said the mine would boost a municipality which spends 40 percent of its income caring for the elderly as young people move away.

Herders around the Arctic in other Nordic nations, Russia, Canada and Alaska, echo the Norwegian Sami concerns, citing threats from climate change, mining, oil spills and poaching as well as thoughtless behaviour from townspeople and tourists.

Global majors, including Eni, Equinor, Gazprom, Glencore, Lukoil and Rio Tinto, are all grappling with how to square their prospecting plans with the interests of people whose views count more than in the past.

Average temperatures in the Arctic regions of the world, where some four million people live, have risen more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6F) since pre-industrial times, twice as fast as the world average, according to research for the intergovernmental Arctic Council.

($1 = 8.6376 Norwegian crowns)

(Editing by Richard Pullin/Tom Hogue and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)The African Union (AU) Monday announced it hopes to see Libyans casting their votes in October after it succeeds in holding an international conference under auspices of the United Nations, for reconciliation among protagonists in the oil-rich African country.

The Pan-African bloc in a statement hoped to stage the conference mid-July while asking the commission to take, jointly with the United Nations and the Libyan government, all the necessary measures for the organization of presidential and legislative elections in October 2019.

Libya has been embroiled in political chaos with two different governments receiving foreign support. The UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) based in Tripoli is at tug war with its rival in the eastern part of the country.

The UN has been in talks with various parties to hold a national conference but the efforts have been fruitless as differences between the two sides become increasingly important.

The AU move comes as Egypt, one of the east-based administrations backers, takes the chairmanship of the African organization.

The Egyptian President Fattah al-Sisi has called for African solutions to African problems.People walk with signs against the NRA during "March for Our Lives", an organized demonstration to end gun violence, in downtown Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 24, 2018. REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon

The Los Angeles City Council may have picked a Constitutional battle Tuesday, passing a new ordinance requiring prospective city contractors to disclose whether they do business with the National Rifle Association.

The measure passed unanimously, with 14-0 vote, and also requires potential contractors, including individuals, entities, and associations, to disclose any sponsorships they offer to NRA members, such as discounted fees, goods or services.

Disclosure, generally, is not something that the Constitution prohibits, Robert Peck, president and founder of the Center for Constitutional Litigation said.

We have campaign finance disclosures and all sorts of other types of disclosures that generally do not pose First Amendment problems. A government, for example, can require that it do business only with businesses that use recycled products, Peck explained.

What does raise Constitutional issues is when compulsory disclosures are likely to cause retribution against those who are required to disclose.

In the citys case, that could depend on whether it takes any discriminatory or retaliatory action against a prospective contractor based on its disclosure requirement under the new law.

In addition, Peck said, courts have ruled that contractors for government entities do have certain First Amendment rights and have sided with contractors whose agreements were withdrawn by the government after the contractors refused to donate to political campaigns.

As justification for LAs new law, the ordinance points to the citys interest in promoting and legislating gun safety. Its preamble cites national U.S. statistics on mass shootings, firearm homicides, deaths and injuries, and accuses the NRA of ignoring the will of its own members, 69% of which claim to support sensible gun control.

On average, 100 Americans are killed with guns on a daily basis, while hundreds more are injured, the law states, also mentioning the November 7 shooting in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Thousand Oaks, where 12 people, mostly young adults, were killed.

Story continues

The Citys residents deserve to know if the Citys public funds are spent on contractors that have contractual or sponsorship ties with the NRA, the law states.

Unanswered questions

Here we have an unanswered question of Constitutional law, Peck said. Can the Citys policies, which may be pro gun safety, reflect a position that is consistent with its policies that it wont do business with those who do business with the NRA?

Essentially, Peck said, a court would weigh the public policy interest of safety against the ability of the mandated disclosure law to achieve the policy goal. A court would also consider whether the rights of private contractors have been compromised. For example, does the new law actually addresses public policy, or simply permit the government to carry out animus toward a political position?

I think it would be hard for a contractor to challenge this as a fundamentally wrong Constitution problem if there is no [retaliatory or discriminatory] action taken, Peck said. On the other hand, when you can show an actual injury as a result  that you did not get a contract that you otherwise very likely would have but for your disclosure  then you know the court has to go through all those balancing tests.

The Supreme Court held Shelton v. Tucker that despite a states interest in the quality of its school teachers, the interest did not justify a requirement that teachers disclose organizations with which they were affiliated. According to Peck, the teachers in Shelton can be distinguished from the contractors who now fall under the LA ordinance because they were employees.

Excluded from the laws disclosure requirements are contracts for the citys investments in bonds, pension funds, and other investment agreements, as well as urgent goods and services, and those available only through a single source.

Yahoo Finance reached out to the NRA, as well as Councilman Mitch OFarrell who sponsored the bill, and did not receive immediate responses.Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel's prime minister's office has quitely toned down talk by Benjamin Netanyahu of a shared interest with Arab states in "war" with Iran, replacing the word with "combating" in its English-language transcript.

Netanyahu made the comments on Wednesday on the sidelines of an international conference in Warsaw organised by Washington to discuss Iran and the region, and attended by the foreign ministers of a raft of Gulf Arab states.

Netanyahu and his US ally have sought to play up the rare public appearance of senior Arab officials at a common forum with an Israeli prime minister.

Both have highlighted the shared hostility towards Iran of Israel -- which regards Iran as its biggest foe -- and Saudi Arabia -- which sees it as the main challenger to its influence in the Middle East.

In video footage of his comments that remained on his official Twitter account on Thursday, Netanyahu clearly speaks of a shared interest in war with Iran, using the Hebrew word milhama.

"What is important about this meeting - and this meeting is not in secret, because there are many of those - is that this is an open meeting with representatives of leading Arab countries, that are sitting down together with Israel in order to advance the common interest of war with Iran," he said.

The prime minister's office also used the word "war" in its first English-language translation of his comments.

But two hours later, it published a "reissue" of its transcript, altering the English translation of the final phrase to "combating Iran."

It gave no explanation for the change when asked by AFP.

Netanyahu has repeatedly pledged to use all means at his disposal, including military, to prevent Iran acquiring advance bases on Israel's doorstep.

In recent months, he has broken with the conventional ambiguity of Israeli leaders about military operations to speak openly of Israel's air war against Iranian targets in neighbouring Syria.BRUSSELS (AP)  The United States will not reduce its troop presence in Afghanistan unilaterally, the top Pentagon official said Thursday, pledging that any moves will be fully coordinated with its allies.

"There will be no unilateral troop reductions," Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan told reporters after his first meeting with NATO defense chiefs. "That was one of the messages: It will be coordinated. We're together."

Frustrated with America's longest war, President Donald Trump has said he wants out of Afghanistan, raising doubts about NATO's Afghan troop training operation in the strife-torn country. Around 14,000 U.S. troops are deployed there, just over half with NATO and the rest doing counterterror and combat operations.

Shanahan made clear that if U.S. troop cuts are made, either in connection with peace negotiations with the Taliban or in other circumstances, Washington will consult with NATO to ensure coordination.

"What we talked about was, how do we double down on support for Afghan national defense and security forces to put even more pressure on the Taliban," Shanahan said.

Were U.S. troops to leave the NATO operation, countries like Germany and many smaller allies wouldn't be able to do their job as they rely on American air support.

NATO's top military officer, U.S. General Curtis Scaparrotti, said that he has not been asked to plan for any drawdown.

"I don't have the direction to do it, or the guidance to do it, or the decision to drive it," he told reporters.

The U.S. and NATO troops are mostly advising and training, but 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 they were ousted by a U.S.-led coalition, the Taliban control, influence or hold sway over nearly half the country, and the conflict is at a stalemate.

NATO is wary of setting any timeline for a possible withdrawal as the Taliban have been content to wait international forces out in the past.

Story continues

Still, NATO knows that the Taliban want foreign forces off Afghan soil and that its possible departure could be a powerful bargaining chip in any peace talks. NATO, though, would not leave empty handed. It would want guarantees that the Taliban will live up to any promises in those talks, and perhaps would even want to stay to monitor the peace moves.

For the moment though it is too early to tell. Upcoming elections in Afghanistan will further complicate the picture for NATO, as those polls decide what parties should be involved in peace moves.

"We are in this mission together and we will take decisions regarding the future of the mission together. And of course our military commanders are constantly assessing our posture," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said after chairing Thursday's meeting.

U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is meeting with the Taliban and others to try to end the conflict, and the results of those talks could help determine the future of NATO's mission. However, the Afghan government is not yet involved in the political moves to set up peace talks.

"I think it is very important that the Afghan government as soon as possible becomes fully integrated into the peace process," Stoltenberg said. "We need the Afghan government playing a key role, because without that, there will be no lasting peace."

Envoys from the 29 NATO nations will discuss the Afghan operation again next Wednesday.NASA said its goodbyes to the nearly 15-year-old Mars Opportunity rover Wednesday after a final attempt to make contact on Tuesday night was unsuccessful.

I learned this morning that we had not heard back and our beloved Opportunity remains silent, said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASAs Science Mission Directorate, speaking from NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. It is therefore that Im standing here with a sense of deep appreciation and gratitude, that I declare the Opportunity mission as complete.

Science is an emotional affair. Its a team sport, and thats what were celebrating today, Zurbuchen continued, adding that the Mars Exploration mission transformed our understanding of our planet.

Everything we do and think about in our planetary neighborhood with Mars and elsewhere, relates to the research that came from [the Mars Exploration mission], and the engineering breakthroughs that came from that, he said.

A dust storm covered roughly a quarter of the planet in June, forcing Opportunity to go into a low-power mode meant to conserve energy until skies clear and its solar panels could once again charge. Despite this conservative state, it appears Opportunity was unable to recover. The last time NASA heard from Opportunity was June 10.

While Wednesdays announcement is certainly a sad goodbye, Opportunity achieved much more than NASA ever expected. The robot was designed for a short mission, but ended up spending years helping examine meteorites and discover traces of ancient acidic lakes.

When this little rover landed, the objective was to have it be able to move 1100 yards and survive for 90 days on Mars, said NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine. And instead, here we are 14 years later, after 28 miles of travel, and today we get to celebrate the end of this mission.

When Opportunity landed on Mars in 2004, it was accompanied by another robot, Spirit. Spirit stopped communicating in 2010, possibly due to a stuck wheel that left the rover in a position difficult for its solar panels to charge.

The two robots of the Mars Exploration mission are survived by the Curiosity Rover, which has been exploring Mars since 2012 researching the planets habitability, and the InSight Lander, which touched down just last year to investigate Mars formation.By Thu Thu Aung YANGON (Reuters) - New political groups are emerging to contest Myanmar's next election in 2020, aiming to challenge the hegemony of national civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi after she has been weakened by escalating ethnic conflicts and slowing economic growth. Those factors were blamed by party officials for the poor performance of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) in by-elections in November, when it won only seven of the 13 seats up for grabs as regional and army-linked parties made gains. "Now that ethnic parties have allied with one another and prepared, we can't fully rely on the power of the party. We must try harder than before to win the trust of the people," said Dashi La Seng, an NLD lawmaker from the northern state of Kachin, where the party lost a seat in November. At stake is the future of Myanmar's transition to democracy. The NLD swept to power in a landslide in 2015, winning a comfortable majority in parliament despite 25 percent of the seats being reserved for the army. While the NLD is still expected to do better than other parties in 2020, its majority could suffer severe losses, say analysts. "It's questionable whether the NLD will win enough seats to form the government. If they don't, they'll have to form a coalition or negotiate with other parties," said Ye Myo Hein, an analyst at the Tagaung Institute of Political Studies. Suu Kyi has responded to recent setbacks with a flurry of activity. The Nobel laureate has faced criticism from ethnic leaders that her government is high-handed and lacks understanding of the political demands of the country's myriad minorities, while investors have long complained about the slow pace of reform. In the space of one week in January the Nobel laureate - often seen as aloof in style - popped in to a school in a Muslim neighborhood of Yangon and launched an investment conference in the commercial capital touting the country's plentiful resources and youthful population, while her party floated changes to the military-drafted constitution. POLITICAL RIVALS COME OUT The burst of activity was interpreted as an attempt by Suu Kyi to more actively push the government's message to constituents and investors. But rivals have been busy, too. Former junta No. 3 Shwe Mann, the influential former lower house speaker who has been Suu Kyi's ally, last week announced the formation of a new political force, the Union Betterment Party. Shwe Mann was ousted as the head of the army-linked Union Solidarity and Development Party in 2015 and has surrounded himself with moderates from the previous regime. Ko Ko Gyi, one of the legendary leaders of the student protests in 1988 against junta rule, has also started a party called the People's Party. He has tempted other groups, including ethnic parties, to launch a joint bid for power. "Even if one party can't win, we can combine in parliament as an alliance. We can stand as one and avoid having our votes split," said Ko Ko Gyi. Nowhere are the headaches for the NLD bigger than in the western state of Rakhine, where it is dealing with the fallout from an army offensive that in 2017 forced around 730,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh. The European Union is considering trade sanctions on the country over the crisis, potentially stripping it of tariff-free access to the world's largest trading bloc. The measures could include Myanmar's lucrative textile industry and potentially put hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk - many in the areas that overwhelmingly voted NLD in 2015, such as Yangon and Mandalay. Suu Kyi is also facing a fresh threat from the Arakan Army, a Rakhine rebel group that wants greater autonomy for the state, where the mainly Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group makes up the majority. The International Crisis Group said in a report from January that the fighting signified "a dangerous shift from politics to insurgency as the means of addressing ethnic Rakhine grievances". The Rakhine ethnic party, Arakan National Party, had a strong showing in the 2015 polls, but it has been denied major roles in the local administration, fuelling resentment against the NLD government in the state. Oo Aung Than, who runs Thazin Community Development Institute, an organization that works on equal rights and development in Rakhine, has complained that the NLD ignored the political will of the Rakhine people in 2015. "We, ethnic people, can see how they value ethnic people," said Oo Aung Than. "The landslide victory will not happen again in 2020." (Additional reporting by Poppy McPherson; Editing by Alex Richardson)Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

Weve lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. 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 Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CCO).

What Is Insider Buying?

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, 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 equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Harvard University study found that insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year.

Check out our latest analysis for Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings

Mario Gabelli made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$79k worth of shares at a price of US$4.55 each. That implies that an insider found the current (approximate) price enticing. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. In any event its generally a positive if insiders are buying shares at around the current price. Mario Gabelli was the only individual insider to buy over the year. Notably Mario Gabelli was also the biggest seller, having sold US$22k worth of shares.

You can see the insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

Story continues

NYSE:CCO Insider Trading February 14th 19

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Does Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Boast High Insider Ownership?

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Insiders own 0.5% of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings shares, worth about US$9.3m, according to our data. We do generally prefer see higher levels of insider ownership.

So What Do The Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Insider Transactions Indicate?

The fact that there have been no Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings insider transactions recently certainly doesnt bother us. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Wed like to see bigger individual holdings. However, we dont see anything to make us think Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings insiders are doubting the company. Of course, the future is what matters most. So if you are interested in Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, 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.Decades after the Soviet Union's disastrous venture into Afghanistan, Russia is emerging as a major player in the region with ties to the Taliban and Afghan politicians as US troops withdraw from the country.

This week Moscow brought together the Taliban and powerful Afghan politicians for two days of unprecedented talks Tuesday and Wednesday, the insurgents' most significant engagement with Afghan leaders in recent memory.

In incredible scenes broadcast around the world, former president Hamid Karzai and other leaders shared prayers and meals with the Taliban while discussing the future of the conflict-riven country at a hotel that belongs to the Kremlin.

"This is a turning point," Andrei Serenko, an expert at the Centre for Contemporary Afghan Studies, told AFP.

"From reacting to other players' initiatives, Russia has switched to generating its own initiatives in the region."

Washington's decision to draw down troops from Afghanistan in a bid to extricate itself from the nearly 18-year war can become both a boon and bane for Russia, analysts say.

On the one hand, Moscow will burnish its credentials as a major player and mediator in the region; on the other hand, the US withdrawal will increase risks of instability and violence in Central Asia, seen as Moscow's sphere of influence.

"Russia is returning to Afghanistan using it as a platform for confrontation with the United States," independent expert Arkady Dubnov told AFP.

Dubnov added that Russia was vitally interested in seeing stability and security in the impoverished country's northern provinces.

While he said Moscow would not send troops to the country given the Soviet Union's painful experience in Afghanistan, Russia could provide other forms of assistance.

"If there's a request from the leadership, money and arms supplies cannot be ruled out," Dubnov added.

- 'A more involved role' -

The Soviet Union's 1979-1989 invasion of Afghanistan has deeply scarred the nation.

Story continues

The 10-year conflict, which saw Moscow intervene in support of the Afghan communist government, claimed the lives of more than 14,000 Soviet troops, and has come to be seen in Russia as a huge foreign policy blunder.

"A more involved role for Moscow has surprised many, mostly due to Russia's bloody history in Afghanistan," said The Soufan Center, a non-profit security analysis group.

Despite the presence of US troops and support for the government of Ashraf Ghani, Washington may find itself marginalised in the country as regional powers like Russia come to the centre stage, the group said.

While Moscow has sought to distance itself from the conference, calling it an initiative of the Afghan diasporas, few doubt the Kremlin's deep involvement.

Representatives of the Kabul government were not present at the conference.

Instead, the Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan under a ruthless interpretation of Sharia law between 1996 and 2001, sat down for talks with Ghani's rivals including Mohammad Haneef Atmar as the country prepares to hold presidential elections in July.

"Moscow does not believe in Ghani's future," said Serenko of the Centre for Contemporary Afghan Studies, suggesting Russia was backing Atmar in the run-up to the polls.

- 'Romance with Taliban' -

Serenko also said Moscow used this week's conference to legitimise its long-held ties with the Taliban which Russia still designates as a terrorist group.

"For the past ten years Russia has been romantically involved with the Taliban. Now this romance has been made public," Serenko said.

"Today the Taliban, who only respect force, and Russians speak the same language."

The Moscow meeting came a week after the insurgents held separate peace talks with American negotiators in Doha, where Ghani was again not invited to the table.

Ghani's allies in Washington insist Afghans should lead the peace process, and ostensibly the months-long push by the US to engage the Taliban has been aimed at convincing them to negotiate with Kabul.

The Russian government also held a meeting on Afghanistan in November.

Some frown upon Russia's involvement.

"By getting the Afghan opposition to talk to the Taliban, Moscow risks fracturing an already fragile yet fledgling peace process-and provoking a fresh crisis within an Afghan government already riven by deep divisions," Michael Kugelman, an analyst at the Wilson Center in Washington, told AFP.

But organisers of the Moscow conference said Russia's perceived neutrality during Washington's war in Afghanistan made the country well-suited for the mediation.

"During the past 18 years, Russia has proved that it supported neither side in the conflict," said Ghulam Mohammad Jalal, one of the conference's organisers.

"That is why it has earned in Afghan society the status of a neutral country with a neutral position."Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

Today well evaluate Haitian Energy International Limited (HKG:1659) to determine whether it could have potential as an investment idea. In particular, well consider its Return On Capital Employed (ROCE), as that can give us insight into how profitably the company is able to employ capital in its business.

First of all, well work out how to calculate ROCE. Second, well look at its ROCE compared to similar companies. And finally, well look at how its current liabilities are impacting its ROCE.

What is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

ROCE is a measure of a companys yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. Generally speaking a higher ROCE is better. Overall, it is a valuable metric that has its flaws. Renowned investment researcher Michael Mauboussin has suggested that a high ROCE can indicate that one dollar invested in the company generates value of more than one dollar.

How Do You Calculate Return On Capital Employed?

The formula for calculating the return on capital employed is:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT)  (Total Assets  Current Liabilities)

Or for Haitian Energy International:

0.062 = CN86m  (CN1.2b  CN150m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2018.)

Therefore, Haitian Energy International has an ROCE of 6.2%.

View our latest analysis for Haitian Energy International

Does Haitian Energy International Have A Good ROCE?

One way to assess ROCE is to compare similar companies. It appears that Haitian Energy Internationals ROCE is fairly close to the Renewable Energy industry average of 6.3%. Aside from the industry comparison, Haitian Energy Internationals ROCE is mediocre in absolute terms, considering the risk of investing in stocks versus the safety of a bank account. Investors may wish to consider higher-performing investments.

Story continues

Haitian Energy Internationals current ROCE of 6.2% is lower than its ROCE in the past, which was 8.5%, 3 years ago. This makes us wonder if the business is facing new challenges.

SEHK:1659 Last Perf February 14th 19

When considering ROCE, bear in mind that it reflects the past and does not necessarily predict the future. ROCE can be deceptive for cyclical businesses, as returns can look incredible in boom times, and terribly low in downturns. ROCE is, after all, simply a snap shot of a single year. How cyclical is Haitian Energy International? You can see for yourself by looking at this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

How Haitian Energy Internationals Current Liabilities Impact Its ROCE

Current liabilities include invoices, such as supplier payments, short-term debt, or a tax bill, that need to be paid within 12 months. Due to the way ROCE is calculated, a high level of current liabilities makes a company look as though it has less capital employed, and thus can (sometimes unfairly) boost the ROCE. To counter this, investors can check if a company has high current liabilities relative to total assets.

Haitian Energy International has total liabilities of CN150m and total assets of CN1.2b. Therefore its current liabilities are equivalent to approximately 12% of its total assets. This is a modest level of current liabilities, which would only have a small effect on ROCE.

Our Take On Haitian Energy Internationals ROCE

If Haitian Energy International continues to earn an uninspiring ROCE, there may be better places to invest. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with modest (or no) debt, trading on a P/E below 20.

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

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.It seems as though even former first lady Michelle Obama isnt immune from the occasional teasing from her mother.

The Chicago native unexpectedly appeared at the Grammys on Sunday evening, surprising millions of viewers at home  including Marian Robinson, Ms Obamas mother.

On Tuesday, Ms Obama posted screencaps of the text exchange she had with her mother on Instagram, with the caption: "When your mom doesn't think you're a "real" celebrity...Tonight in Phoenix, I shared this text thread from my mom from #Grammys night, and I just had to share it with all of you. #TextsFromMom"

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In one of the texts, Ms Robinson poked fun at her daughter, asking if she met any real stars while at the award show.

The full text exchange between Ms Obama and her mother is below:

Ms Robinson: I guess you were a hit at the Grammys

Ms Obama: I'm sitting here with Valerie and this text is so typically you. Did you watch it?!

Ms Robinson: I saw it because Gracie called me. Did you meet any of the real stars or did you run right after you were done

Ms Obama: I told you I was going to be on it

Ms Robinson: No you did not. I would have remembered that even though I don't remember much.

Ms Obama: I thought I told you

Ms Obama: And I am a real star...by the way...

Ms Robinson: Yeah

Ms Obama: (heart emojis)

The former first lady made a surprise appearance at the beginning of the Grammys, sharing the stage with host Alicia Keys alongside Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga and Jada Pinkett Smith, to acknowledge the power music has to unite people.

"Whether we like country or rap or rock, music helps us share ourselves, our dignity and sorrows, our hopes and joys, Ms Obama said on stage on Sunday.

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?"It doesn't matter how famous, successful or presidential you are  mothers will always find a way to humble you, as Michelle Obama was reminded Sunday.

During her "Becoming" tour stop in Phoenix on Tuesday, the former first lady shared a text conversation with her mom about her surprise appearance at Sunday's Grammy Awards, which she opened with a speech about the power of music.

And although the music industry treated her like a rock star, Marian Robinson wasn't so impressed.

MObama in the house: Michelle Obama makes surprise appearance at Grammys 2019

'Becoming' tour hits Phoenix: What we learned from Obama's latest stop

Turns out, Obama's famously low-key mom almost forgot she was on the show at all and was more interested in hearing about whether she met any "real stars."

Former first lady Michelle Obama shares a text exchange between her and her mother on Grammys night.

Their text conversation, which was displayed on the screen above the stage, read as follows:

"I guess you were a hit at the Grammys," Robinson wrote in a text to Obama. "Did you meet any of the real stars or did you run right after you were done?"

The first lady wrote back, "I told you I was going to be on it."

Obama later posted the screengrabs to Instagram and noted that she'd shared the texts with her Phoenix audience.

"When your mom doesn't think you're a "real" celebrity," the former first lady captioned the post.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Michelle Obama's mom reminds her she's not a 'real celebrity'For those hoping for a new heart, liver, bone marrow or other organ, the wait for a compatible organ has always been part of the excruciating drama of transplantation.

If an organ isnt tissue-matched  that is, if it doesnt bear an immunological resemblance to the patients own tissue  the patients body will likely reject it. Even when the organ is a close match, there are enough differences that the organ recipient will likely have to take anti-rejection drugs, possibly for life. These drugs have toxic side effects and leave patients vulnerable to infections.

All of this may change in the future because of a set of collaborative discoveries by Agnieszka Czechowicz, MD, PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine, and her colleagues at Stanford, Harvard, Boston Childrens Hospital and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Czechowicz began the work as a graduate student in the laboratory of Irving Weissman, MD, who directs Stanfords Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. She continued her research during her residency and fellowship at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute/Boston Childrens Cancer and Blood Disorders Center before returning to Stanford as a faculty member.

In a pair of papers published online Feb. 6 in Nature Communications, the researchers describe how an antibody-drug conjugate seeks out and eliminates blood-producing stem cells in mice. This is particularly important because other studies in animals and patients have shown that replacing blood-producing stem cells with a donor's blood-producing cells can promote the immune acceptance of tissues from that donor. Unfortunately, current methods of eliminating blood-producing stem cells rely on toxic levels of chemotherapy or radiation, or both, that not only have acutely damaging and long-lasting side effects, but also leave the recipient vulnerable to infection while the transplanted cells engraft.

No damaging side effects in mice

In the first study, Czechowicz and her colleagues found that the antibody-drug conjugate could effectively and specifically eliminate blood-producing stem cells in a mouse without damaging side effects. Once eliminated, the researchers could replace the original blood-producing stem cells with others from an immunologically identical donor animal. Czechowicz shares lead authorship of this study with Rahul Palchaudhuri, PhD, a former postdoctoral scholar at Harvard. Derrick Rossi, PhD, associate professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard, and David Scadden, MD, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, are the senior authors.

The study showed that a single dose of the antibody-drug combination could specifically target blood-forming stem cells and kill more than 99 percent of them without harming other sorts of cells. Transplanted cells could then easily take up residence in the bone marrow. The animals immune reactions were not significantly affected and could continue to defend against various pathogens during the procedure.

This type of approach would be exciting news for clinicians who currently rely on blood-forming stem cell transplants to cure their patients of a variety of blood and immune disorders, including cancer. It would also be exciting news for researchers developing blood-forming stem cell gene therapies, as this treatment could also enable safe engraftment of gene-modified cells.

Using nonmatching stem cells

But theres more. In the second study, the researchers found that this same antibody-drug conjugate, in combination with a short-course of immune suppression, could also be used to replace some of a mouses blood-producing stem cells with donor stem cells that do not match those of the recipient.

The result is a chimera  a mix of original and transplanted blood stem cells  in the recipient, Czechowicz said. Mice with these mixed blood and immune cells did not develop any complications and were able to accept a skin transplant from the stem-cell donor even many months later, the researchers found.

Using this technique to make recipients tolerant to donor organs is incredibly exciting, Czechowicz said. It indicates that we could have a relatively safe method of inducing tolerance without the need for chronic immune suppression, and do that without needing to match donors and recipients for tissue type. This approach could be transformative for the transplant field.

Czechowicz shares lead authorship of this second study with Zhanzhuo Li, MD, PhD, a staff scientist at NIAID. Co-senior authors of the paper are Rossi and Philip Murphy, MD, chief of the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology at the institute.

Czechowicz and her colleagues caution that this work has so far only been done in mice and has yet to be proven in clinical trials. However, the work shows that it may be possible to someday safely and easily restore patients blood and immune systems with no chemotherapy or radiation, and moreover give patients an organ from a mismatched donor, with minimal immunosuppression.

The first study was supported by the Boston Childrens Hospital Trust, the Jake Wetchler Foundation, the Harvard Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator Fund, the American Society of Hematology, the National Institutes of Health, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine the Gunn/Olivier Research Fund, the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research, the Stinehart-Reed Foundation, the HL Snyder Medical Foundation, the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, the New York Stem Cell Foundation, the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the American Federation for Aging Research.

The second paper was supported by the Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Boston Childrens Hospital Trust, the National Institutes of Health, the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, the New York Stem Cell Foundation, the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the American Federation for Aging Research

Stanfords Department of Pediatrics also supported the work.New York (AFP) - Mexican mobster Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was found guilty Tuesday by a New York jury of crimes spanning a quarter of a century as head of one of the world's most powerful drugs gangs.

The 61-year-old former head of the Sinaloa cartel -- famed for his brazen escapes from Mexican prisons -- faces a possible life sentence after being convicted of smuggling tons of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States.

He was also found guilty of money laundering and illegal weapons possession charges.

In a three-month trial that unfolded like a real-life telenovela, Guzman's ex-henchmen and a former mistress took the witness stand under the gaze of the onetime drugs kingpin. His young wife, onetime beauty queen Emma Coronel, was ever present in the courtroom.

In his closing arguments late last month, Guzman's lawyer 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 one in 2015 through a tunnel from a shower area in his cell.

"Do not let him escape responsibility. Hold him accountable for his crimes. Find him guilty on all counts," US assistant attorney Andrea Goldbarg said in her closing arguments.

During the trial, the government presented 56 witnesses and troves of incriminating material, including intercepted calls between Guzman and his associates, and conservations taped secretly by informants, over a period stretching almost three months.

Story continues

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 even a former lover.

Most are serving prison sentences and hoped to have their penalties reduced in return for their cooperation with prosecutors.

"Those witnesses not only admitted to lying every day of their lives, their miserable, selfish lives -- they lied to you here in the courtroom," Lichtman said.Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that President Trump will sign the homeland-security-spending bill pending before Congress while simultaneously declaring a national emergency in order to fund his long-promised border wall.

The spending bill, which provides just $1.35 billion for the construction of new physical barriers on the southern border, will receive a vote in the Senate Thursday afternoon, and will then go to Trumps desk to be signed into law, narrowly averting another government shutdown.

McConnell also announced Thursday on the Senate floor that he supports Trumps national-emergency declaration, breaking from a group of Senate conservatives critical of ceding more authority to the executive.

Ive just had an opportunity to speak with President Trump, and he would, I would say to all my colleagues, has indicated that hes prepared to sign the bill, McConell said. He will also be issuing a national-emergency declaration at the same time. And Ive indicated to him that Im going to prepare  Im going to support the national-emergency declaration. So for all of my colleagues, the president will sign the bill. Well be voting on it shortly.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed Trump would declare a national emergency in a Thursday afternoon statement.

President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action  including a national emergency  to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border, the statement read. The President is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country.

The announcement comes after a protracted conference-committee negotiation over Department of Homeland Security funding, which began after Trump signed a short-term spending bill in late January, ending a record 35-day government shutdown. Trump agreed to sign the stopgap bill in exchange for a commitment from Democrats to negotiate in the three weeks before the next deadline for a shutdown, which is this Friday.

Story continues

Since negotiations first began, Trump has cast doubt on the ability of congressional negotiators to deliver adequate border-security funding and repeatedly invoked the possibility of declaring a national emergency as the only route to deliver on his campaign promise.

Under the emergency declaration, which is sure to be met with a legal challenge, Trump will attempt to appropriate discretionary military funds to make up the difference between the $1.35 billion Congress has appropriated for the border wall and the $5.7 billion he has long demanded.

More from National ReviewPhoto credit: William Widmer

From Woman's Day

I have worked for six years in the cardiac unit at Rose Medical Center in Denver. As a cardiovascular registered nurse (CVRN), Ive cared for people of all ages, sizes, ethnicities, and backgrounds who have had chest pain and heart attacks. I know that heart trouble comes in many forms, and that sometimes its predictable and sometimes its surprising. I know exactly what the warning signs are, so Ive rolled my eyes at people who stroll into the emergency department reporting chest pain that has been going on for two days. Why would anybody risk his or her life by delaying treatment?

Then I became one of those people. And I let mine go on for six days.

Michael Wahl, MD, cardiologist, Rose Medical Center: 300,000 people a year die from sudden cardiac death at home. So they have either sudden symptoms or symptoms they didnt recognize.

1 a.m. Saturday: start of symptoms

One Saturday last February, I woke up in the middle of the night with a dull, burning ache radiating down my left arm. I figured I had slept on it wrong-I was only 47, and fit!-so I repositioned myself in bed and tried to sleep. But the pain didnt go away. So I walked around a bit and gave the cat a snack, and still the pain was there. I also felt sweaty and vaguely nauseated.

Top four symptoms of heart attack in women

Chest pain

Pain or discomfort in one or both arms

Shortness of breath

Sweating, nausea

Yes, Jennifer was experiencing three out of four.

Sean, the charge nurse on my unit that night, had been on the job for 20 years; if my heart stopped, he was just the guy to start it back up again. I called him at the hospital at 3 a.m., told him my symptoms, and asked him, half jokingly, if he thought I was having a heart attack. In his straightforward style, he said, Well, it doesnt sound good. Are you pale? I walked into the bathroom to check. I wasnt pale-I was white. Maybe even a little gray. Thats when the panic set in. Which is bad for your blood pressure, by the way. I popped an aspirin and drove myself to my hospitals emergency department.

Story continues

 Driving when you might be in the midst of a heart attack? Not a good idea. If you have symptoms, recruit a driver or call 911.

The intake staff started moving very quickly when I told them I thought I was having a heart attack. They whisked me into a room, took my vitals and some blood for analysis, and hooked me up to an IV and an electrocardiogram (EKG).

I felt at home, and I trusted my coworkers, so the panic started to recede. Bonus: The EKG came back perfectly normal, and my heart rhythm was beautiful. The panic receded a bit more. My levels of troponin-an enzyme that signals damage to heart muscle-were normal as well. My panic was soon replaced with boredom: I had to hang around for a few hours for more blood work, but at that point I knew it was a false alarm. I slept.

The day nurse, Kellie, showed up in a couple of hours to check my troponin levels again. We had a laugh about how overly cautious nurses were. After she was done, I removed all my EKG stickers and got dressed and was practically in the parking lot when the second troponin reading came back. Now my levels were slightly elevated. I was admitted to my own cardiac unit. About four hours had passed since the arm pain and nausea had awakened me, so I decided it was time to call The Boyfriend. He was clearly irritated that I had waited so long to contact him.

Lance Harlan (The Boyfriend): The thought kept going through my head: Ive finally found a woman I love, and shes going to drop dead on me.

But hey, I hadnt called him sooner because I hadnt wanted to worry him over nothing. He met me at the hospital, equally concerned and exasperated.

My first doctor was convinced that my just-above-normal troponin numbers were a false positive. My arm pain was probably a pinched nerve. After all, I had zero risk factors-I exercised regularly, my cholesterol numbers were excellent, my body mass index was low and lean, and I had no family history of cardiac disease. So I was a perfectly healthy heart attack victim with every reason to delay, doubt, and just maybe die.

Heather Harris, director of cardiovascular services, Rose Medical Center-Jennifers superior, friend, and mentor: We see a lot of people who have been waiting for the chest pain to just go away on its own. And all that time their hearts arent getting enough blood! Time is muscle. The faster you get treatment, the more of it you can save.

My doctor told me, Well cycle another troponin, give you a treadmill stress test this afternoon, and get you out of here before sunset. That all sounded good to me...until the next troponin came back even more elevated. They canceled my stress test-no need to bring on a heart attack-and booked me overnight in the hospital.

Lance and I sat around killing time for most of the afternoon. I didnt allow any other visitors: I didnt want my staff to see me all gowned up as a patient, especially one experiencing what I thought was a massive false positive. I had a symptom-free night, enjoying a forced mini vacation even if it was in a hospital room.

Photo credit: William Widmer

1 p.m. Sunday: 36 hours since start of symptoms

On Sunday I aced my stress test and was cleared for discharge-finally. But there were still worries. My discharge doctor said there was no good reason for my pain and elevated troponins. (That is, aside from the one I kept talking myself out of: That I was having a heart attack, maybe even right then.)

Dr. Wahl: Most heart attacks damage the heart within 12 hours. Thats why we try to do things so fast in cardiology. The arteries in Jens heart were probably opening and closing during the course of the few days beforehand. So during those 36 hours, she might have been intermittently having a heart attack.

1 a.m. Wednesday: 96 hours since start of symptoms

Instead, I doubled down on the pinched-nerve theory. So much more reassuring than the myocardial infarction theory! I slept fitfully for four hours, then dragged myself out of bed and went to work. It was Valentines Day-you know, the holiday thats all about your heart. I mentioned to Heather that I was feeling like crap again, and she suggested that I make my follow-up appointment with my general practitioner and perhaps book a massage.

Dr. Wahl: The ejection fraction [EF] is the percentage of blood that pumps with every heartbeat. If your heart is normal, it should pump about 60% of the blood with every heartbeat. Later on in her treatment, when we tested Jennifers EF, it was about 45%. That can make you look and feel like hell.

I scheduled an appointment with my GP for the next morning and one with my massage therapist for Saturday. I swallowed an ibuprofen, with minimal effect. I went to meetings and helped the floor nurses, all the while struggling to catch my breath and feeling unsettled.

Heather Harris, mentor: We all want to think of reasons this couldnt be a heart attack. You dont want to be sick. But if something doesnt feel right, have it checked out. You can be lucky only so many times.

Around 1:30, I felt Id had enough. I told the charge nurse I was leaving early. But then a patient fell. And there was an unhappy family that I had to visit with. And I helped troubleshoot some staffing issues. By the time I got into my car to drive home, it was 4:00.

Repeat: Do not drive a car when youre having heart attack symptoms!

I took more ibuprofen when I got home, tried some stretching, rolled my shoulder blade around on a tennis ball looking for relief. Nothing. I took a hot bath, downed more ibuprofen, and crawled into bed. Still no relief.

1 a.m. Thursday: 120 hours since start of symptoms

I had never experienced pain of this sort before. With a pulled muscle or a pinched nerve, theres usually some relief with OTC painkillers-you can get into a comfortable position in bed and sleep. Not this time. Whatever the position, the burning, unsettling ache was there. Getting no help from ibuprofen, I tried acetaminophen. (Yeah, nurses play pain-pill bingo too.) I curled into a ball and slept for about three hours. When I woke up, the pain had migrated away from my left arm and shoulder and planted itself squarely under my left breast: directly over my heart.

Thursday morning, I was up early and at work, really for no other reason than that I felt the need to keep moving and be around people. I reached the cardiac floor about 6:45. I told Heather I still felt like crap. Where are you? she texted. On the floor of my office, I responded. The only way I could feel remotely comfortable was lying flat with my left arm over my head. Heather ordered me to go straight to the emergency department. Nah, I responded, Ill be fine.

Finally, 9:30 arrived and I walked next door to my doctors office for my appointment. She could see how uncomfortable I was. She took a repeat troponin level, gave me an EKG, and ordered a neck X-ray and an outpatient echocardiogram. I assume the EKG was normal, because I was sent on my way.

I walked down the hall to book the echo-but I didnt tell the scheduler I was having chest pain right that minute, so she booked it for three weeks out. I shrugged and went back to work.

Meanwhile, Heather wasnt buying my denials. She asked Jeff, one of our echo techs, to skip his lunch and give me the test. We chatted casually throughout the exam-he was pointing out this and that, like a tour guide. But at one point he went quiet. He finally broke the silence, saying, You know, I really hope we find something, because at least then youll have an explanation for the pain. I knew then that hed found something.

Photo credit: William Widmer

Dr. Wahl called within 30 minutes and asked me to meet him to go over the findings. He showed me the echo images, using words I knew too well: wall-motion abnormality (heart wall malfunction caused by dying muscle tissue); decreased ejection fraction (heart-pump misfire); cardiomyopathy (heart-muscle disease). These familiar terms suddenly had new and horrific meaning when used to describe my heart.

He mentioned a few potential diagnoses: takotsubo cardiomyopathy, a temporary stress-related weakness of the heart muscle; a virus; or (a remote possibility) spontaneous coronary artery dissection, a.k.a. SCAD. The last was a killer of relatively young, healthy women (like me). That just couldnt be my diagnosis!

Dr. Wahl told me Id immediately be going into the heart catheterization lab, where they diagnosed and treated arterial blockages. His sense of controlled urgency told me everything I needed to know. He said hed give me a few minutes to process and make phone calls. Step one: Cry over the phone while talking to Lance and then my parents, 1,700 miles away in New Jersey.

1 p.m. Thursday: 132 hours since the start of symptoms-treatment begins

Things started to move very quickly. In the cath lab, three nurses descended on me. One started an IV; one drew blood for more lab tests; one started shaving my groin so they could send a catheter up my femoral artery. Heather ran in and gave me an aspirin to chew. Bitter, right? Just like this turn of events in my otherwise healthy life.

A Texas study found that chewed aspirin reaches the bloodstream seven minutes faster than swallowed aspirin, encouraging blood flow and just maybe saving heart tissue that would otherwise die.

Oh my God, I said to Heather. Do they think Im having a heart attack?

Yep, she said, as if I had asked her if we could get pizza for lunch.

For the first time, I realized I might not survive this. But everyone in the cath lab just kept saying, Weve got you, Jen, weve got you. Id failed to take care of myself-theyd do it for me.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Jennifer Gaydosh

When Dr. Wahl got a look at my heart vessels during the angiogram-in which they shoot dye into your arteries and view blood flow via X-ray-he knew I was in trouble. He called in two of his colleagues, and Heather joined them.

Looking at the images of my failing heart, Heather asked, Where is her LAD? She meant my hearts left anterior descending artery, which supplied blood to the left ventricle-the pump. Lose that blood flow, and you likely lose your life-which is why they call the LAD the widow(er)-maker.

One of the doctors said, I think its gone.

The diagnosis was in fact SCAD, exactly what had worried me. Muscle fibers within my LAD had shredded, blocking the artery like a flag sucked over an air-intake vent. A clot had formed, and blood flow had stopped dead. I would have too, except that my brilliant, strong heart had begun forming collateral circulation-alternate routes through smaller blood vessels-to keep my heart muscle alive. Athletes develop collateral circulation during the stress of exercise, or it can happen spontaneously during a heart attack. Either way, it might have saved my life.

Boyfriend Lance Harlan: Unless youre in the medical world, you dont realize how smart the heart is. It was basically saying to Jennifer, I cant seem to make my way down this highway. Im going to make a new highway to get there. Her heart fixed itself. In other words, she was lucky.



I blame myself for dismissing my symptoms and avoiding treatment-but I should also take credit for what I was doing right. Id been strengthening my cardiac muscles with exercise, regularly jacking my heart rate up to 160 beats per minute in Spinning class-and that may be why those collateral blood vessels were available. My gym membership is so worth it.

Usually when theres an arterial blockage, the cardiologist will insert a balloon, via catheter, to open up the artery, then shore up the opening with a mesh tube called a stent. But with SCAD, the artery is vulnerable to further shredding, and barging in with a balloon and a stent can close down more sections of it. Because my artery was closed downstream in a smaller portion of the artery, we opted for no surgical treatment at all. Dr. Wahl prescribed the anticlotting agent coumadin and a baby aspirin every day to keep my life-saving collaterals open and prevent new problems after the injury to my heart. Meds are keeping me going now that my LAD cant.

Im the textbook case of SCAD: female, 42 to 53 years old, with few cardiac risk factors. Nobody knows why 80% to 90% of SCAD victims are women. It could be hormones, or curlicue arteries, or inflammation, or genetics. But the symptoms are clear as day: chest discomfort, shortness of breath, nausea, light-headedness. (Youll watch for those, right? Dont explain them away like I did.) And all those symptoms were complicated by an advanced case of procrastination.

But thats what women do. We think, Unless I have blood spewing from the artery in my neck, Im fine. I cant be sick. My kids need me. My coworkers need me. I dont want to upset any of the people in my life.

In the recovery room afterward, I told Lance, I couldve died. He said, But if you had, then youd just be dead, and you wouldnt even know it. And Id be the one who was suffering.

Photo credit: William Widmer

Heather Harris: Women especially dont recognize the symptoms of a heart attack. They dont have the classic elephant sitting on your chest, the way men do. They just dont feel right. Their shoulders are uncomfortable, or their backs hurt. And then theres the sense of denial: I have too much to do to have a heart attack right now!

My heart-building workouts may have saved me. But aside from building up your heart muscles with exercise, dont do what I did. Dont convince yourself your symptoms are nothing. Dont worry about looking like a drama queen in the emergency room. Dont worry about inconveniencing people, or about leaving work early, or about what your boyfriend, husband, boss, kids, or parents might think.

Dont wait. Live.

This story originally ran in Preventions February 2019 issue. For more stories like this one, subscribe to our print magazine.

('You Might Also Like',)Zagreb (AFP) - Forget romantic dinners and roses, the place to be on Valentine's Day is Zagreb's Museum of Broken Relationships, a paean to personal objects and stories of heartbreak.

From a toaster to an exercise bike and a pair of lacy bras, the small museum imbues seemingly ordinary objects with meaning through captions that detail their role in the unravelling of relationships around the world.

The stories swerve from humourous to heart-wrenching.

The museum was buzzing Thursday, Valentine's Day, with groups of friends and also some couples seeking out an unorthodox way to celebrate love.

"Today being Valentine's Day, it's beautiful to read these small little stories," said Kriti Pandey, who came with her husband Pathak.

One of the lighter rooms, called "Take the bitter with the sweet," showcases objects like a box of pizza-making ingredients -- a love letter to one woman's break-up with gluten -- and a diet book with the caption: "This was a present from my ex-fiance... Need I really continue?"

But the mood is heavier in "Love in the trenches," an exhibit with items like a wedding dress from Turkey, never worn because of the groom's unexpected death.

Nearby is a prosthetic leg from a veteran from Croatia's 1990s war.

"The prosthesis endured longer than our love," the caption reads.

The unusual idea was born from heartbreak itself.

After a break-up, the museum's two Croatian founders, artists Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisic, both turning 50 this year, didn't know what to do with their shared belongings and wanted to create an option other than the garbage bin.

More than a decade later, they have taken the museum on tours to 50 cities around the globe, collecting new objects and stories along the way.

"When we started with the project I had no idea what (kind of donations) we were going to get... but it turns out that people are so interesting, everybody has a story to tell," co-founder Grubisic told AFP, adding that they receive around 200 objects by mail per year.

Story continues

Jon Turner, a 33-year-old British tourist travelling solo in Zagreb, agreed the authentic portrayal of love was a fitting occasion for any visitor on February 14.

"It's really beautiful, some things have made me laugh out loud, some things have made me cry, but yeah I think it's really nice you get a snapshot of people's lives," he said.

The theme of the museum's next overseas stop, the city of York, will revolve around a different kind of break-up: Brexit.

Organisers have put out a local call for donations that will put a personal spin on the political drama.

"Recently ended a relationship? Wish to unburden the emotional load by erasing everything that reminds you of that painful experience?" the call of submissions asks.

"Don't," it advises, "one day you might regret it."WASHINGTON (AP)  The Latest on congressional border security negotiations and President Donald Trump (all times local):

7:10 p.m.

President Donald Trump appears 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 a shutdown to take place this weekend. The president has been under mounting pressure from fellow Republicans to accept the compromise.

Trump strongly signaled that 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.

Lawmakers have tentatively agreed to provide nearly $1.4 billion for border barriers, about one-fourth of the amount Trump has sought for his wall.

___

2:55 p.m.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says President Donald Trump got a "pretty good deal" in border security negotiations, even though funding falls short for the long-promised wall with Mexico.

McConnell says he spoke with the president and recommended Tuesday that he sign the bill into law.

Congress is racing to prevent another partial government shutdown Friday over Trump's $5.7 billion demand for the wall. The tentative deal provides about $1.4 billion.

The Republican leader said Trump did "just fine," adding he hopes the president agrees.

McConnell also said he thinks the president should "feel free" to use other tools to secure the border.

Trump has talked about invoking a national emergency order or other options to build the wall. McConnell had previously cautioned against such a move.

__

12:55 p.m.

President Donald Trump says that despite his unhappiness with a tentative agreement to prevent another partial government shutdown, he's "thrilled" about the direction of border wall construction.

Story continues

He says the bottom line is that "we're building a lot of wall."

Trump says he's able to do that by "supplementing things and moving things around." He says the money is coming from "far less important areas."

Trump said he needs to look further at the agreement to avert the shutdown, which would grant far less than the $5.7 billion he wants for a long wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Republicans and the White House are anxious to avoid another bruising shutdown.

__

12:15 p.m.

President Donald Trump says 'I can't say I'm thrilled' with a congressional compromise on border security designed to avert a second government shutdown.

A committee negotiating new border security measures tentatively agreed Monday night to dedicate $1.4 billion to Trump's border wall, far less than his $5.7 billion goal.

The huge funding measure, which combines seven spending bills into one, would fund several federal agencies through Sept. 30.

The question now is whether Trump will sign the measure. He says he can't say he's happy. Still, he says the wall is getting built. Trump also says he doesn't believe there will be another shutdown.

__

10:40 a.m.

The White House says it needs more time to assess a bipartisan border security deal.

Spokesman Hogan Gidley says it's difficult to say what will and won't be acceptable before officials have a chance to review details of the proposal House and Senate lawmakers agreed to Monday night. Gidley says the White House wants to focus on what's actually in the document, not "what could be" in it.

President Donald Trump has demanded $5.7 billion to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall but Congress has refused to provide the money. Negotiators instead have tentatively agreed to $1.4 billion for border barriers  well below the amount Trump has sought.

Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, a lead negotiator, said Monday that the White House has been consulted "all along."

__

10:35 a.m.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is urging President Donald Trump to accept the emerging border security deal and "not, not, not cause another shutdown."

Schumer called the tentative accord "welcome news" and a "path forward."

The New York senator argued that neither side will achieve everything they wanted from the deal. But he says "hopefully this agreement means there won't be another government shutdown."

Congress is pushing toward a deadline Friday to fund the government or risk another partial federal shutdown.

Trump has not said whether he'll accept the deal reached late Monday by budget negotiators. It provides about $1.4 billion for border barriers, but falls far short of the $5.7 billion Trump was demanding for the border wall with Mexico.

__

10:25 a.m.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says a bipartisan border security deal is "good news" as Congress races to avert another shutdown by Friday's deadline.

McConnell opened the Senate on Tuesday by saying he was hopeful the chamber "can act on this legislation in short order."

President Donald Trump has been demanding $5.7 billion to build the wall with Mexico along the southern border, but Congress has refused to provide the money. Instead, bipartisan negotiators struck a tentative accord with nearly $1.4 billion for border barriers, far short of what Trump wanted.

The emerging deal also drops Democratic demands to seriously limit detentions of immigrants illegally in the U.S.

Congress hopes to vote on the measure before Friday's deadline to fund the government.

__

12:30 a.m.

A tentative agreement to fund the federal government through the fiscal year averts a shutdown but gives President Donald Trump far less money than he sought for building a border wall with Mexico.

The deal hammered out Monday night provides nearly $1.4 billion, not the $5.7 billion the president had demanded and was at the center of the dispute that sparked last month's record shutdown.

The agreement calls for 55 miles of metal slats or other types of new fencing, not a concrete wall. The fencing would be built in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

The pact includes money for other border security measures, including advanced screening at border entry points and customs officers.

Aides revealed some details under condition of anonymity because the agreement is tentative.Abuja (AFP) - Nigeria's presidential candidates wrapped up their election campaigns on Thursday, making a final pitch to voters before Africa's most populous country heads into the polls.

Two days before election day, President Muhammadu Buhari headed to his home state of Katsina in the northwest, while his main challenger, Atiku Abubakar, returned to his base in Adamawa, in the northeast.

Both were due to address supporters at their final rallies before voting in their villages on Saturday.

Buhari, 76, is seeking a second, four-year term of office but is facing a strong challenge from Abubakar, 72, who has campaigned largely against the president's record in office.

There has been little or no reliable opinion polling but observers expect a close race. In 2015, results were announced some 48 hours after polls closed.

In what he called a "state-of-the-nation address", Abubakar said Buhari had failed to address insecurity, led a one-sided anti-corruption campaign and weakened the economy.

"Nigeria cannot survive another four years of this misdirection and maladministration," he said, declaring that Buhari's re-election would spell "disaster" for Nigeria.

Despite his age, Abubakar, a former vice-president representing the Peoples Democratic Party, has portrayed himself as a pro-business, modern and tech-savvy candidate.

In particular he has appealed to the 18-35 age group that make up just over half of the 84 million registered voters, including by publishing a manifesto entirely in emojis.

Buhari is "better left to take a long rest (to) attend properly to his health", he added, referring to the president's illness that saw him spend months abroad.

The former military ruler, from the All Progressives Congress (APC), conceded his time in office "has not been an easy journey".

But he maintained the government had made "great progress".

"Some of these achievements are visible for everyone to see. Some are still in the works," he said in a video message, asking for support "to consolidate" the progress so far.

Story continues

- Port Harcourt clashes -

Buhari, Abubakar and some 70 other presidential candidates on Wednesday signed a "peace accord", promising a peaceful vote and to accept the result.

Security was expected to be tight across the country, given Nigeria's long history of election-linked violence.

On Thursday, APC supporters in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt clashed with police.

Protesters carrying placards tried to storm the local offices of the election commission, calling for APC candidates to be put on the ballot for parliamentary and governorship votes.

Police fired teargas and the crowd dispersed, an AFP correspondent said.

A factional split in the state APC saw two separate primaries held for candidates and competing court cases to determine the legitimacy of one or the other.

The Supreme Court has since ruled that neither was valid. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the deadline has passed for the submission of candidates

Rivers state, of which Port Harcourt is the capital, has long been a flashpoint for political violence: in 2015, there were APC protests at the election results and claims of rigging.

On a national level, there have been warning that both main parties could try to rig by buying biometric cards needed by voters to cast their ballot.

Concerns have also been expressed about the ability to vote of some of the 1.8 million people made homeless by the Boko Haram conflict in the northeast.

Ten polling stations have set up for the displaced in Borno state while three sites will be open for "IDP (internally displaced people) voting" in neighbouring Adamawa, INEC said.

No timeframe has been given for when the results will be unveiled. In 2015, they were announced some 48 hours after polls closed.

ola-cs-joa-phz/ri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.Laredo Petroleum (LPI) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.16 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.20 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.19 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -20%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this oil and natural gas company would post earnings of $0.30 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.27, delivering a surprise of -10%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has not been able to surpass consensus EPS estimates.

Laredo Petroleum, which belongs to the Zacks Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - United States industry, posted revenues of $215.29 million for the quarter ended December 2018, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 11.26%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $240.34 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three 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.

Laredo Petroleum shares have added about 0.3% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 9.5%.

What's Next for Laredo Petroleum?

While Laredo Petroleum 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 Laredo Petroleum 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 $0.10 on $213.46 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $0.49 on $832.21 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, Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - United States is currently in the bottom 16% 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



Laredo Petroleum, Inc. (LPI) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment ResearchAMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Hundreds of workers of Air France's Dutch subsidiary KLM gathered at its office in Amstelveen, Netherlands, on Thursday to deliver a petition voicing support for the subsidiary's CEO Pieter Elbers.

Elbers' 4-year term expires in April, and Air France's board is due to meet in Paris on Feb. 19 to discuss strategy ahead of earnings on Feb. 20.

New CEO Ben Smith has pushed for deeper integration among the airline's operating divisions since his appointment last autumn. KLM has fiercely guarded its structure and brand since its acquisition in 2003, leading to tensions between Elbers and Smith.

The petition was signed 25,000 times by KLM employees, out of 35,000 total, in a strong display of support for Elbers. Signatories credited him with the airline's success and said they were afraid of the consequences if he is dismissed.

"There would be a very real risk of unrest among the employees and unclear and potentially unstable management if Pieter Elbers were to be forced to step down," a letter accompanying the petition and addressed to Air France chairwoman Anne-Marie Couderc said.

The relative outperformance of the Dutch subsidiary under Elbers has also caused tensions within the group. Air France was hit by repeated costly strikes, even as KLM staff weathered successive rounds of cost-cutting and layoffs.

For the first 9 months of 2018, Air France Group reported operating profit of 328 million euros ($370 million), while KLM had operating profit of 960 million euros.

Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra has also voiced support for Elbers, and met his French counterpart Bruno le Maire on Monday to discuss the situation at Air France-KLM.

The French government holds a 14.29 percent stake in the group.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling. Additional reporting by Laurence Frost; editing by David Evans)Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

The big shareholder groups in The India Cements Limited (NSE:INDIACEM) have power over the company. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones. I generally like to see some degree of insider ownership, even if only a little. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb said, Dont tell me what you think, tell me what you have in your portfolio.

India Cements is not a large company by global standards. It has a market capitalization of 25b, which means it wouldnt have the attention of many institutional investors. Our analysis of the ownership of the company, below, shows that institutional investors have bought into the company. Lets delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about INDIACEM.

See our latest analysis for India Cements

NSEI:INDIACEM Ownership Summary February 14th 19

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About India Cements?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

India Cements already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own 48% of the company. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we cant rely on that fact alone, since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of India Cements, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

NSEI:INDIACEM Income Statement Export February 14th 19

We note that hedge funds dont have a meaningful investment in India Cements. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Story continues

Insider Ownership Of India Cements

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. The company management answer to the board; and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board, themselves.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

We can see that insiders own shares in The India Cements Limited. It has a market capitalization of just 25b, and insiders have 2.1b worth of shares, in their own names. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public holds a 15% stake in INDIACEM. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 29%, of the INDIACEM stock. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While its hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. 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.Dozens of communities won approval to join a new Muslim-led territory in the Philippines' south, results showed Thursday, yet the exclusion of a key rebel stronghold raised concerns about the peace process in the restive region.

The results are from the second and final round of a landmark referendum that was the culmination of a decades-long process seeking to halt Muslim separatist violence that has claimed some 150,000 lives since the 1970s.

Voters had already overwhelmingly approved last month the so-called Bangsamoro region, which is centred on the island of Mindanao in the majority Catholic nation's south.

Locals will have more control over their territory and see an influx of government cash for development projects aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty and violent extremism.

The second round of voting on February 6 focused on whether a string of smaller communities would get approval from the municipality or region that surrounds them to join the Bangsamoro.

Official results released Thursday by the Philippines' electoral commission showed 63 of 67 villages in the North Cotabato region would join.

However, in an expected outcome, voters in the majority-Christian region of Lanao del Norte refused to allow six local towns to become part of the Bangsamoro.

The result is that at least one major rebel camp belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, whose peace deal with Manila prompted the vote, won't be inside the boundaries of the Bangsamoro.

That is important because the rebels are supposed to lay down their arms and transition into leading the newly formed territory.

Experts said it is unclear what impact the Lanao del Norte vote will have on long-term peace prospects as fighters under the MILF should still give up their weapons even outside the Bangsamoro.

A key commander of those forces is also in line for a high-level job in the Bangsamoro's new government, which was widely seen as an effort to keep him and his troops in the fold.

Still, Zachary Abuza, a security expert at the National War College in Washington, told AFP some fighters would surely be unhappy with the vote's result and could be a threat to peace.

"I think it's a very delicate situation," he said. "If it's mishandled it could be bad."Nairobi (AFP) - A Kenyan inquest on Friday found five police commanders liable in the death of a six-month-old baby who was killed in a crackdown on election protests in August 2017.

The baby, Samantha Pendo, became a symbol of unchecked police brutality during a drawn-out and disputed presidential election in which at least 92 people died over four months in 2017, according to rights groups.

Her parents said police had forced their way into their home during protests in western Kisumu, raining blows on the couple while the mother held Samantha in her arms.

"I have evaluated the entire evidence presented before me and I am satisfied that the deceased did not die as a result of natural consequences but due to severe head injury caused by blunt force trauma inflicted on her by the police," said Beryl Omollo, the magistrate in the Kisumu court.

An autopsy had shown that Pendo had suffered acute head injuries, her scalp cracking as a result of brutal force by the police.

Omollo found five senior officers "liable" for the death, based on the principle of command responsibility, and called on the director of public prosecutions to arraign them.

Rights groups condemned the behaviour of police during protests that followed the announcement of election results in August and the ensuing months after the Supreme Court overturned the result and called for a second election.

Police denied excessive use of force in clamping down on protesters.

Extra-judicial killings are rife in Kenya, and justice is rare with few examples of police being held to account.Jussie Smollett got emotional about his Jan. 29 assault Thursday on "Good Morning America," telling anchor Robin Roberts he is upset, not just by the people who physically harmed him, but also by what he sees as a willful ignorance of the truth.

"It's the attackers, but it's also the attacks," said Smollett, who's black and openly gay. "It's not that you don't believe this is the truth; you don't even want to see this is the truth."

He also said he believes that he would have been taken more seriously if his attackers were Muslim or minorities.

"It feels like if I had said it was a Muslim, or a Mexican, or someone black, I feel like the doubters wouldve supported me a lot more, and that says a lot about the place that we are in our country right now, he said.

As for the motivation behind his attack, Smollett guessed it could be attributed to his opposition of President Trump, saying, I can only go off of their words."

Smollett told Roberts he gets threatened all the time through social media, acknowledging he is "sometimes maybe too outspoken, but its who I am.

Smollett also provided more details on the threatening letter he received at Fox's Chicago studio, which is being investigated by the FBI.

He said he believes the letter is linked to his assault "because on the letter, it had a stick figure hanging from a tree with a gun pointing towards it with the words that said 'Smollett, Jussie you will die,' " he said, adding that the return address was simply listed as "MAGA."

The 36-year-old also recounted details of the attack, which the Chicago Police Department is investigating as a "possible" hate crime, explaining he was on a food run when he heard someone trying to get his attention.

I heard Empire,' and I dont answer to 'Empire.' My name aint 'Empire,' and I didnt answer," he said. "I kept walking, and then I heard "(Homophobic slur) 'Empire' (N-word).' So, I turned around and I said, '(What) the (expletive) did you just say to me?'

Story continues

"And I see the attacker, masked and he said, 'This MAGA country, (N-word).' Punches me right in the face," Smollett continued. "So I punched his (expletive) back. And then we started tussling and it was very icy.

"We ended up tussling by the stairs, fighting, fighting, fighting," Smollett added. "There was a second person involved who was kicking me in my back, and then it just stopped. And they ran off.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

Though Smollett estimates the attack couldve lasted maybe 30 seconds, he said he was unsure of how long it actually went on.

I noticed the rope around my neck, and I started screaming," he told Roberts. "I said, 'Theres a (expletive) rope about my neck.' "

Due to the nature of the attack, Smollett says he does not have much in the way of descriptions of his assailants.

"I cant tell you what color their eyes were, and I did not see anything except the second person I saw running away," he said. "And the first person, I saw his stature. I gave the description as best as I could.

"You have to understand also that its Chicago, in winter," he said. "People are can wear ski masks and nobodys going to question that."

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

The prospect of his attackers not being brought to justice brought Smollett to tears.

I was talking to a friend and I said, I just want them to find them. And she said, Sweetie, theyre not going to find them, " he said. "That just made me so angry because (that means) Im just gonna be left here with this?

They get to go free and go about their life and possibly attack someone else, and Im here, left with the aftermath of this bull?" Smollett said. "That not cool to me, thats not OK.

"So, I understand how difficult it will be to find them," he added, "but we gotta. I still want to believe, with everything that has happened, that theres something called justice.

The story he told Roberts matches the account in his police report, filed in the early hours of Jan. 29. Later that day, Chicago Police. Chief Communications Officer Anthony Guglielmi told USA TODAY that Smollett was approached in the early hours of the morning by two people who "gained his attention by yelling out racial and homophobic slurs towards him," adding that they punched him in the face, poured a chemical on him and wrapped a rope around his neck.

When Smollett made his initial public statement about the attack on Feb. 1, he expressed concern with how his case was being reported in the media.

"I am working with authorities and have been 100% factual and consistent on every level," he said. "Despite my frustrations and deep concern with certain inaccuracies and misrepresentations that have been spread, I still believe that justice will be served."

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

On Tuesday, Chicago Police Sgt. Rocco Alioto told USA TODAY that Smollett's submitted phone records from the night of the incident "do not meet the burden for a criminal investigation as they were limited and heavily redacted."

During his "GMA" interview, Smollett addressed his initial refusal to give his phone to authorities, which he said was due to concern for his privacy.

Because I have private pictures and videos and numbers," he explained, noting his phone contains "my partners number, my (family members numbers), my castmates' numbers, my friends' numbers, my private emails, my private songs, my private voice memos.

Earlier: Police reject 'Empire' star Jussie Smollett's 'limited and heavily redacted' phone records

Smollett also said the experience has permanently altered him, for better or worse.

He told Roberts, "I will never be the man this did not happen to. I am forever changed, and I dont subscribe to the idea that everything happens for a reason, but I do subscribe to the idea that we have the right and responsibility to make something meaningful out of the things that happen to us  good and bad."

Jussie Smollett says he's OK after attack: 'My body is strong but my soul is stronger

'I fought ... back': Jussie Smollett tearfully speaks out at first concert since attack

Contributing: Cydney Henderson

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jussie Smollett recounts violent attack on 'GMA': I saw the rope 'and I started screaming'WASHINGTON (AP)  House Democrats are stepping up their efforts to investigate President Donald Trump and his associates, hiring new lawyers and staff as they take on oversight responsibility and prepare for a showdown over access to special counsel Robert Mueller's final Russia report.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler on Tuesday said he has hired two veteran lawyers and Trump critics as his panel gears up to investigate the Justice Department and review Mueller's final conclusions, whenever they are released. Nadler and other Democrats have pressured Trump's nominee for attorney general, William Barr, to release as much of that report as possible.

The two prominent lawyers, Barry Berke and Norman Eisen, could also provide expertise for impeachment, if Democrats decide at some point to pursue this. The hires signal that while Democrats have been cautious on whether they may eventually choose to try to remove the president from office, they are moving forward aggressively with oversight as they wait for Mueller to finish his own investigation.

The 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," Nadler said. He said Berke and Eisen have been retained on a consulting basis as "special oversight staff" and they would consult on matters related to the Justice Department and Mueller's investigation into Russian interference and connections to the Trump campaign.

Nadler did not mention impeachment in the statement announcing the hires, but noted that Trump faces "numerous allegations" of corruption and obstruction.

"His conduct and crude statements threaten the basic legal, ethical and constitutional norms that maintain our democratic institutions," Nadler said. "Congress has a constitutional duty to be a check and balance against abuses of power when necessary."

Story continues

The House intelligence committee is also preparing a broad investigation into Trump's finances and foreign connections and has added new staff with experience at the National Security Council. One of them, Abigail Grace, worked for both Trump and former President Barack Obama on the NSC.

While committee investigations could cause significant heartburn for Trump, lawmakers know they are somewhat limited in what they can do because they don't have the ability to conduct a criminal investigation as Mueller does. So they say access to his final report will be significant.

It's unclear what the special counsel's final report will look like. Barr has said he wants to be as transparent as possible under Justice Department regulations, but those regulations require only that a report explain the decisions to pursue or to decline prosecutions. Democrats have said they want much more information than that  and are prepared to fight to get it. Nadler has said repeatedly that he would subpoena Mueller for a report or require him to appear.

To that end, top Democrats in the House and Senate have been discussing ways to bolster their legal teams in anticipation of that battle. As part of their strategy, several Senate Democrats who met with Barr told him that if he didn't make a comprehensive report on Mueller's probe available to Congress, their House colleagues would consider subpoenaing Mueller's investigators, a person familiar with the matter said. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in order to discuss private conversations.

In several meetings Barr had with key Democrats, he was asked specifically if he would block subpoenas or efforts to compel the investigators to appear before Congress but gave noncommittal answers, the person said.

Both Eisen and Burke have been high-profile critics of Trump, and they co-authored a Brookings Institution report released last year that laid out a case for his impeachment. The report said "it has become apparent that the president's pattern of potentially obstructive conduct is much more extensive than we knew."

Eisen served as a White House counsel for Obama and has focused on government ethics and corruption as a co-founder of the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Berke is a top trial lawyer and white collar criminal defense lawyer who is based out of New York.

Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, criticized the hires and the "sharply partisan op-eds" that Eisen and Berke have written together.

"Looks like Democrats are staffing up for impeachment before Mueller's report is even out," Collins said.

___

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.Yahoo Finance Editor-in-chief Andy Serwer sits down with Jill Abramson, former New York Times executive editor and author of "Merchants of Truth." After the interview was taped, Abramson was accused of plagiarism in her new book. Yahoo Finance reached out to Abramson for a follow-up interview to address the allegations. She declined, opting to issue a statement. Serwer sat down with Yahoo Finance Senior Writer Melody Hahm, who got a chance to question Abramson the night after the allegations came to a head, to talk about the controversy. In Abramson's interview with Andy, she discusses how media companies old and new are grappling with the digital age. Abramson gives her take on how news media covers President Donald Trump, and also reflects on being fired from the New York Times.Tunis (AFP) - As the net closes on remaining Islamic State group diehards in eastern Syria, the fate of captured foreign fighters and their families has grown into a major international headache.

Many countries remain reluctant to repatriate their jihadist citizens, due to public opposition, the cost of prolonged detentions and concerns that they could pose a security threat.

But pressure is rising on governments to take responsibility for those captured, especially after US President Donald Trump declared in December that American troops will be withdrawn from Syria, leaving local allies facing a struggle to keep prisoners in detention.

North African states Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria have between them seen thousands leave to join jihadist groups in recent years and each has grappled with the issue in its own way.

Tunisia has been one of the key sources of foreign fighters heading to conflicts around the world, with the UN in 2015 saying that some 5,000 citizens had flocked to mainly Syria and Libya.

Under the country's constitution the authorities say they have an obligation to accept those who come home of their own accord, and at least 800 jihadists were either detained or placed under surveillance after making their own way back by late 2016.

But while it has been willing to let people in if they come themselves, the government has categorically rejected helping organise the return of those captured abroad.

Rights activists say this has left children paying a heavy price.

Approximately 200 children and 100 women claiming Tunisian nationality "have been held abroad without charge for up to two years", mostly in Syria and Libya, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report this week, citing Tunisian government figures.

"Legitimate security concerns are no license for governments to abandon young children and other nationals held without charge in squalid camps and prisons," said HRW researcher Letta Tayler.

Story continues

- DNA tests -

Tunisia's government worries that repatriating children will only accelerate the return of their jihadist parents, according to a local rights group, the Rescue Association of Tunisians Trapped Abroad.

"The Tunisian state does not have a strategy to take care of these troubled children, who are on average between four and six years old," complained campaign group head Mohamed Iqbel Ben Rejeb.

But a Tunisian government source insisted that the authorities have made efforts to bring children home, citing a list of 43 children of IS fighters in Libya that was compiled in 2017.

Three on the list were repatriated that year, the source said, but difficulties in legal cooperation with Tripoli have since bogged down the process, and confirming the nationality of children can be a challenge.

In late January, Tunisian forensic police travelled to Libya to take DNA samples from six children whose parents were killed in Sirte, an ex-IS stronghold, according to the local Red Crescent.

A Tunisian government source said a forensics team confirmed the the children's nationalities and they were then repatriated.

But Human Rights Watch says no Tunisian nationals have so far been brought home from Syria or Iraq.

- 'Majority are dead' -

Fellow North African nations Morocco and Algeria have seen fewer of their citizens tempted into the ideology of foreign jihad.

In 2015, the number of Moroccans in the ranks of extremist groups in Iraq and Syria was estimated at more than 1,600.

Since then, some have been killed "in suicide attacks" or by the international coalition fighting IS, while others have fled towards third countries, according to Abdelhak Khiam, the head of Morocco's Central Bureau for Judicial Investigations.

Any returnees are systematically arrested, interrogated, and brought to justice, Khiam said.

An AFP journalist near Baghouz -- where IS is making its last stand in Syria -- said on Thursday that several Moroccan families had left the group's holdout in recent days.

After a short on-the-spot interrogation in the middle of the desert, those detained were set to be transferred to prisons run by US-backed forces.

While there is no official data for the number of Algerians who have gone to fight abroad, a judicial source told AFP that 205 Algerians were wanted for terrorism abroad in late 2017.

"The majority are (presumed) dead in Libya and the Sahel countries, (and) around sixty in Syria and some in Iraq", she said.

There is no official Algerian data on the return of fighters.

But authorities do not look to recover these jihadists and those that try to come back are sent "directly" to prison, said one security source, who did not want to be named.

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Inflation and Stock Market SPX Record Highs. PPI, FOMC Meeting in Focus - 15th Jun 21TOKYO (AP)  Thirteen gay couples filed Japan's first lawsuit challenging the country's rejection of same-sex marriage Thursday, arguing the denial violates their constitutional right to equality.

Six couples holding banners saying "Marriage For All Japan" walked into Tokyo District Court to file their cases against the government, with similar cases filed by three couples in Osaka, one couple in Nagoya and three couples in Sapporo.

Plaintiff Kenji Aiba, standing next to his partner Ken Kozumi, told reporters he would "fight this war together with sexual minorities all around Japan."

Aiba and Kozumi have held onto a marriage certificate they signed at their wedding party in 2013, anticipating Japan would emulate other advanced nations and legalize same-sex unions.

That day has yet to come, and legally they are just friends even though they've lived as a married couple for more than five years. So they decided to act rather than waiting.

"Right now we are both in good health and able to work, but what if either of us has an accident or becomes ill? We are not allowed to be each other's guarantors for medical treatment, or to be each other's heir," Kozumi, a 45-year-old office worker, said in a recent interview with his partner Aiba, 40. "Progress in Japan has been too slow."

Ten Japanese municipalities have enacted "partnership" ordinances for same-sex couples to make it easier for them to rent apartments together, among other things, but they are not legally binding. Japanese laws are currently interpreted as allowing marriage only between a man and a woman.

In a society where pressure for conformity is strong, many gay people hide their sexuality, fearing prejudice at home, school or work. The obstacles are even higher for transgender people in the highly gender-specific society. The Supreme Court last month upheld a law that effectively requires transgender people to be sterilized before they can have their gender changed on official documents.

Story continues

The LGBT equal rights movement has lagged behind in Japan because people who are silently not conforming to conventional notions of sexuality have been so marginalized that the issue hasn't been considered a human rights problem, experts say.

"Many people don't even think of a possibility that their neighbors, colleagues or classmates may be sexual minorities," said Mizuho Fukushima, a lawyer-turned-lawmaker and an expert on gender and human rights issues. "And the pressure to follow a conservative family model, in which heterosexual couples are supposed to marry and have children, is still strong."

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ultra-conservative supporters have campaigned to restore a paternalistic society based on heterosexual marriages. The government has restarted moral education class at schools to teach children family values and good deeds.

"Whether to allow same-sex marriage is an issue that affects the foundation of how families should be in Japan, which requires an extremely careful examination," Abe said in a statement last year.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has repeatedly come under fire for making remarks deemed discriminating against LGBTQ people. In January, party veteran Katsuei Hirasawa said "a nation would collapse" if everyone became LGBTQ. Last year, another ruling lawmaker, Mio Sugita, was condemned after saying in a magazine that the government shouldn't use tax money for the rights of LGBTQ individuals because they are "not productive."

But while the law and many lawmakers lag behind, public acceptance of sexual diversity and same-sex marriage has grown in Japan. According to an October, 2018 survey by the advertising agency Dentsu, more than 70 percent of the 6,229 respondents aged 20-59 said they support legalizing same-sex marriage.

Some companies have adopted policies to extend employee benefits to their same-sex partners. A few women's universities have announced they will start accepting male-to-female transgender applicants, and some schools are allowing both boys and girls to choose between trousers and skirts. Increasingly, genderless public toilets are becoming available for "everyone."

Aiba said he feels a bit "scared" to go public and is worried about possible repercussions. But he and Kozumi decided to act on behalf of all their peers "who are too afraid of coming out because of discrimination and prejudice that we still face."

"It will be our dream comes true if our marriage certificate is accepted one day," Aiba said. "We want to make that happen."

Pressures for change are mounting.

Japan's refusal to issue spouse visas to partners of same-sex couples legally married overseas is a growing problem, forcing them to temporarily live separately. A group of lawmakers is lobbying the Justice Ministry to consider a special visa for them.

In August, The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, and its counterparts from Canada, Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, called for legalizing same sex marriages, , saying Japan' loses out because talented LGBTQ people choose elsewhere to work.

The primary goal of the lawsuit filed Thursday is to win marital equality for same-sex couples. But transgender people are also hoping for such a change, which would eliminate the need for anyone to be sterilized just so they can get married.

___

Associated Press journalist Kaori Hitomi contributed to this report.

Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchiTehran (AFP) - A suicide attack that killed 27 troops in Iran's restive southeast on Wednesday was claimed by Jaish al-Adl, a Sunni Muslim extremist group that only emerged seven years ago.

Jaish al-Adl -- Army of Justice in Arabic -- is seen as the incarnation of Jundallah, or Soldiers of God, which began a bloody rebellion against the Islamic republic in 2000.

For a decade, Jundallah waged a deadly insurgency on civilians and officials in the restive southeast.

Jundallah has been weakened since Iran executed its leader Abdolmalek Rigi in 2010 after capturing him in a dramatic operation.

Rigi had been on a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan that year when Iranian fighter jets intercepted the airliner he was travelling on and forced it to land before arresting him.

Like its predecessor, Jaish al-Adl operates from bases in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan and neighbouring Pakistan, where it gets support from ethnic Baluch tribes.

Sistan-Baluchestan province is home to a large community of minority Sunni Muslims who complain of discrimination in Shiite-dominated Iran.

Jaish al-Adl was founded in 2012 by Salahuddin Farooqui, a militant known for his opposition to Iran's support for President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war.

Since then it has claimed responsibility for dozens of deadly bombings, ambushes and other attacks on Iranian security forces in the restive region, as well as abductions.

Iran considers the organisation -- which it calls Jaish al-Zolm (Army of Injustice in Arabic) -- a terrorist group supported by the United States and Israel as well as regional rivals Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Jaish al-Adl abducted 12 Iranian security personnel in October near the border with Pakistan, five of whom were later released and handed back to Iran by Islamabad.

In October 2013, 14 Iranian guards were killed in an ambush near the border with Pakistan that Jaish al-Adl said it carried out in response "to the crimes of the Revolutionary Guards in Syria".

Story continues

Iran in retaliation said it executed 16 "rebels" and that its forces later killed four Jaish al-Adl militants near the frontier town of Mirjaveh.

The following month, the public prosecutor for the city of Zabol, which lies near the Afghan border in Sistan-Baluchestan province, was gunned down in an assassination claimed by Jaish al-Adl.

In February 2014, five Iranian soldiers were abducted and taken across the border from Iran into Pakistan, straining tensions between the two neighbouring countries.

At the time, Tehran warned it could send troops on a cross-border raid to free them.

It also summoned Pakistan's charge d'affaires to demand Islamabad "act firmly against the leaders and members of the terrorist group who have fled into Pakistan".

Jaish al-Adl executed one of the troops in March, before the releasing the other four and handing them over to Iran, along with the body of the fifth soldier.Torn between China and the United States, which have been in a trade war for the past year, Israel is performing a tough balancing act between its two main economic partners.

Washington has raised concerns over China's increased role in infrastructure and sensitive sectors such as technology of its close ally Israel, with which it shares close intelligence and military cooperation.

These have reportedly been aired during visits to Jerusalem since January by both US Assistant Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette and National Security Advisor John Bolton.

The latter's talks focused on the northern Israeli commercial and naval port of Haifa, according to Israeli media.

Hong Kong-based Shanghai International Port Group won a tender four years ago to manage a new wharf at the port complex where US warships regularly dock.

Former Israeli ambassador to China Matan Vilnai has said it was "madness" to entrust China with the management of such a "national security asset".

Nadav Argaman, head of Shin Bet, the domestic Israeli security service responsible for counterintelligence, has reportedly warned against Chinese investments that could facilitate espionage activities.

A former chief of the Mossad spy agency, Ephraim Halevy, has delivered similar warnings.

- Espionage -

Danny Catarivas, a foreign trade expert at the Manufacturers Association of Israel, says Washington is putting pressure on Israel for tighter controls.

"The United States is now pushing and insisting that Israel follow its example and create a foreign strategic investment control agency," he told AFP.

He said Israel's security cabinet has decided to set up a committee -- including representatives of the intelligence services -- to oversee any foreign investment considered "strategic".

Asked by AFP, several official spokespersons refused to comment, with one saying that relations with China were "hyper-sensitive".

Story continues

A transport ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Haifa contract was awarded to the Chinese group "on purely professional criteria".

Uzi Rabi, a Middle East expert at Tel Aviv University, told AFP that Israel must examine contracts with China "not only from an economic point of view, but also diplomatically and geo-strategically".

Chinese companies are making spectacular advances in Israel.

They have won contracts for the construction of a new port in the southern city of Ashdod and tunnels for new light railway lines in Tel Aviv.

According to experts, the Chinese make a third of their Israeli investments in the key hi-tech sector.

Chinese firms are also interested in building a fast railway connecting Tel Aviv to the Red Sea resort of Eilat and constructing a desalination plant, according to economic media reports.

China has become Israel's leading partner for infrastructure, roads, tunnels and ports.

- Chinese breakthrough -

Trade between China and Israel exceeded $12 billion in 2018, nearly 200 times the level in 1992 when the two countries established diplomatic relations, data from Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics shows.

China has become Israel's second largest trading partner overall after the United States, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in October proposed a free trade agreement between the two countries.

Trade expert Catarivas, however, said: "Transparency is not the strong point of Chinese investment.

"You never know if the money comes from private companies and persons, or from the state and the Communist Party."

He said Israel could not cut off China, "a market in full expansion", but the priority was to avoid damaging relations with the US.

Israeli companies active in China or under the partial or total control of Chinese investors may one day be excluded from the US market if relations between the two superpowers deteriorate further, he said.

In the key defence sector, US pressure has already had an impact on Israel, which receives nearly $4 billion in annual US military aid.

The Jewish state has pledged not to sell weapons or dual-use civilian and military technologies to China.

Israel had its fingers burned in 2000 when the US vetoed the sale to China of an airborne command and control system equipped in part with US components.

Israel was obliged as a result to pay several hundred millions of dollars in compensation to China for breach of contract.Irish firm Teckro said on Thursday that it had raised $25m to speed up clinical trials. Pic: PA

Irish healthcare startup Teckro, which uses machine learning to speed up clinical trials, said on Thursday that it had raised $25m (19.5m) in series C funding with a view to doubling its 100-strong workforce within the next 18 months.

Teckro said on Thursday that there had been a 240% increase in the number of clinical trials conducted using its platform over the past year, and that 10,000 users from over 80 countries now make use of its offering.

The firm was founded in 2015 with the goal of both simplifying and modernising all aspects of clinical trials using machine learning. Its mobile-first platform helps connect drug companies, researchers, and patients and allows them to track trials as they progress.

The companys CEO, Gary Hughes, told Yahoo Finance UK that the company would invest heavily in its platform, and that the majority of its new hires would focus on product development.

The series C investment, which brings the firms total haul to date to $43m, was led by Northpond Ventures. Series C funding is when a company that has already proved its business model  and had success in the sector and market  goes for a third round of investment in a bid to expand.

Headquartered in the Irish city of Limerick with bases in Dublin and Nashville, the company will also look to establish a presence in Asia in the future, Hughes noted.

The momentum thats there in terms of customer traction, the adoption of the platform by doctors and nurses around the world is also reflected in the appetite that the investors continue to invest and back the company, Hughes said.

Founders Fund, an early investor in Facebook and Stripe, also participated in the round, as did Sands Capital Ventures, Bill Mariss Section 32 venture fund, and Borealis Ventures.

In a statement, the company pointed to the fact that, in spite of supposed digital transformation, the actual experience of participating in a clinical trail has changed little in the last 20 years.

Story continues

The industry still relies heavily on paper, on working off retrospective data, it said.

We are building a new digital infrastructure and toolset for clinical research that makes the conduct of trials simpler, more transparent and more inclusive.

The firm has partnered with leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies, it said.

Teckro was founded by Hughes, his brother Nigel, and Jacek Skrzypiec, who sold their previous venture Firecrest to clinical research giant Icon (ICLR) in 2011.

This time around, Hughes said, our focus is very much going for the longer term. We want to go all the way with this company.

I think that reflects in the investors weve brought on.Warsaw (AFP) - US Vice President Mike Pence demanded Thursday that Europeans drop a nuclear deal with Iran and join in seeking to cripple the regime, a cause that united Israel with longtime Arab rivals at a conference in Warsaw.

Major European powers sent low-level representation to the US-initiated meeting, suspicious of US President Donald Trump's hawkish impulses and convinced the 2015 deal under which Iran drastically scaled back its nuclear programme is working.

But Pence took direct aim at allies Britain, France and Germany, denouncing their new initiative to let European companies operate in Iran in defiance of unilateral US sanctions.

"It's an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU and creates still more distance between Europe and the United States," he said.

"The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us," he said.

The Warsaw conference is timed just as Iran's clerical regime celebrates 40 years since the Islamic revolution ousted the pro-US shah.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, visiting the Russian resort of Sochi for a simultaneous summit called by Russian leader Vladimir Putin that also included Turkey, retorted: "We see what's happening in Warsaw, it's an empty result, nothing."

Pence stopped just short of calling for regime change in Iran, which has been comparatively stable in recent years amid unrest throughout the Middle East.

Pence threatened further US sanctions as "the people of Iran take to the streets" and its "economy continues to plummet".

He accused Iran of plotting a "new Holocaust" with its opposition to Israel and regional ambitions in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

"Freedom-loving nations must stand together and hold the Iranian regime accountable for the evil and violence it has inflicted on its people, on the region and the wider world," Pence said.

Story continues

- EU rejects pressure -

Pence tacitly acknowledged that Iran is in compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal but said the issue was the accord itself, brokered under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who did not go to bloc member Poland for the talks, said the Europeans shared many US concerns but disagreed on the accord.

"For us, the implementation of the nuclear deal with Iran is a matter of European security -- to avoid that Iran can develop a nuclear weapon -- and we see it is working," she told reporters in Brussels shortly before Pence's speech.

"For us it is a matter of priority to keep implementing it in full," she said.

Poland -- which is eager to please the United States amid fears of a resurgent Russia -- said it also backed the nuclear deal but that it was important to seek common ground among allies.

"If we stand together and act in a united manner, we can come closer to resolving security problems in the Middle East," Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said at the close of the conference.

Pence only briefly mentioned concerns with Iran's Arab adversaries, saying the Trump administration would keep looking at Saudi Arabia's killing of US-based dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi.

But Pence hailed the Arab front against Iran.

Top officials of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain -- none of whom recognise Israel -- sat down with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Warsaw starting with a dinner Wednesday at the Royal Castle.

Netanyahu called the talks a "historical turning point" and voiced hope they could lead to a greater normalisation of relations.

"An Israeli prime minister and the foreign ministers of the leading Arab countries stood together and spoke with unusual force, clarity and unity against the common threat of the Iranian regime," Netanyahu told reporters as he arrived for Thursday's main session at a football stadium.

Israel only has diplomatic relations with two Arab countries, neighbouring Egypt and Jordan.

- US promotes peace plan -

Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser, made a rare public appearance to brief countries on plans for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians which he will present after Israel's elections on April 9.

A senior European official who listened to the closed-door presentation was underwhelmed.

"Nothing new at all. It is obvious that everybody is now waiting for the outcome of Israeli elections," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Pence later told reporters the United States was making a "good faith effort" to reach the kind of deal "that has eluded the region and the world for generations".

"While there will be compromise, the United States will never compromise on the safety and security of the state of Israel," he said.

But the Palestinian Authority says it can no longer trust the United States as a broker after Trump in 2017 recognised Jerusalem -- holy to the three major monotheistic religions -- as Israel's capital.

Nabil Shaath, an adviser to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, wrote in Israel's Haaretz newspaper that the Warsaw meeting had "tried to normalise the Israeli occupation and the systematic denial of the Palestinian right to self-determination".PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP)  The president of Kosovo said Thursday he thinks there is "good momentum" to reach an agreement this year to normalize ties with Serbia.

Kosovo commemorates its 2008 declaration of independence on Feb. 17 each year. It is recognized as its own country by 116 nations, but not by the one from which it unilaterally separated, Serbia.

Kosovo is a success story, President Hashim Thaci told The Associated Press in an interview.

"Kosovo's independence has brought more peace and stability in the Western Balkans," he said.

Thaci mentioned strong support from the United States and the European Union, and Russia's pledge to accept a Pristina-Belgrade agreement.

Many challenges lie ahead, all of which should be resolved through the EU-facilitated dialogue with Serbia that started in 2011, he said.

The talks are stalled, however.

Last year Kosovo decided to set a 100 percent import tariff on Serb goods until Belgrade recognized its sovereignty and stopped preventing it from joining international organizations.

Serbia has said the tariff is costing a lot to its businesses and it won't take part in the dialogue until the measure is lifted.

Thaci urged his government to temporarily suspend the tariff, but also said Serbia should not make it a condition of resuming dialogue.

Both Washington and Brussels have urged an end of the tariff. Pristina has not responded so far.

Kosovo's stubbornness seems to have angered Washington, Kosovo's biggest strategic partner. An army general who was due to visit Kosovo for the 11th independence anniversary canceled his trip.

"But there is no coldness (from U.S.) toward Kosovo as a country or its population," Thaci said.

The European Union has told Serbia and Kosovo they need to settle their differences before joining the EU.

___

Llazar Semini contributed from Tirana, Albania.

___

Follow Llazar Semini on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lseminiA teenage Instagram influencer has appeared in court charged with endangering life after allegedly throwing chairs over a 45th floor balcony.

Marcella Zoia was charged with mischief endangering life, mischief damaging property under $5,000 and common nuisance.

The incident, which happened in Toronto, Canada, was filmed on video and sparked widespread outrage after being shared online.

The video showed the chairs being thrown over the balcony and landing near the apartment buildings front entrance.

Marcella Zoia (PA)

There were no reports of any injuries, but police have described her actions as an abhorrent act and very callous.

The apartment where the incident took place was reportedly an Airbnb rental unit, according to Canadian media.

Zoia, 19, has been freed on $2,000 (1,175) bail but could be sent to prison for the incident.

She was also ordered to live with her mum as part of the bail arrangement.

A smiling Zoia leaves court after appearing on charges related to the chair throwing incident. (Rick Madonik/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Detective Todd Higo said Marcella Zoia had turned herself in to the police.

She is embarrassed by what happened. She wished it never happened. Of course, she would never wish anyone would be hurt, said her lawyer, Greg Leslie.

Toronto mayor, John Tory, said: This is irresponsible behaviour that is unacceptable.

It was not just a lark gone bad. It was grossly irresponsible behaviour that could have caused serious injury and death.

Zoia has now deleted her Instagram page (Instagram/Marcellacz)

Zoia, who is thought to be originally from Brazil, had several thousand followers on her Instagram page but has since deleted it following the incident.

Her actions have been widely criticised with some calling on Zoia to be jailed for a long-time, and others claiming she is enjoying the subsequent attention.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UKDonald Trumps envoy to Venezuela was left flustered and visibly angry following an interrogation by Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar over his controversial political past.

Elliot Abrams was appointed special envoy to Venezuela last month to help lead the US response to the political crisis in the South American country, which is seeing widespread hunger and violence following the collapse of its economy.

On Wednesday, Mr Abrams, who served in the Reagan administration, testified in front of the House foreign affairs select committee, where he was subjected to a fierce line of questioning by Ms Omar.

The 37-year-old, elected to the House in November, raised Mr Abrams role in the Iran-Contra affair, in which he was found guilty on two counts of withholding information from Congress. He was later pardoned by President George HW Bush.

I fail to understand why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful, Ms Omar said, who added it wasnt a question when an agitated Mr Abrams tried to respond.

She next raised Mr Abrams denials of an infamous 1982 massacre against civilians by the USfunded El Salvadoran military at El Mozote, which occurred while he was the US governments assistant secretary of state for human rights.

Mr Abrams at the time dismissed reports of hundreds of deaths as not credible while testifying to a Senate committee.

In that hearing you dismissed as communist propaganda reports about the massacre of El Mozote, Ms Omar said.

Noting up to 800 people had been killed, Ms Omar observed Mr Abrams had hailed US policy in El Salvador a fabulous achievement.

Yes or no: do you still think so? she asked.

From the day that President Duarte was elected in a free election, to this day El Salvador has been a democracy, Mr Abrams said. Thats a fabulous achievement.

Ms Omar responded. Yes or no: Do you think that massacre was a fabulous achievement that happened under our watch?

Story continues

That is a ridiculous question Mr Abrams said before Ms Omar cut him off, Yes or no?

No! Mr Abrams said, visibly angry.

Ms Omar moved onto questioning Mr Abrams over his planned approach to Venezuela.

Yes or no, would you support an armed faction within Venezuela that engages in war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide if you believe they were serving US interests, as you in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua? she asked.

I am not going to respond to that question, Im sorry Mr Abrams said. I dont think this entire line of questioning is meant to be real questions, so I will not reply.

Ms Omar countered: Whether under your watch a genocide will take place and you will look the other way because American interests are being upheld is a fair question.

Because the American people want to know that any time we engage a country that we think about what our actions could be and how we believe our values are being furthered.

That is my question. Will you make sure that human rights are not violated and we uphold international and human rights?

Mr Abrams said: The entire thrust of American policy in Venezuela is to support the Venezuelan peoples effort to restore democracy to their country.Hyatt Hotels (H) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.62 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.22 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.23 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 181.82%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this hotel operator would post earnings of $0.25 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.33, delivering a surprise of 32%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times.

Hyatt Hotels, which belongs to the Zacks Hotels and Motels industry, posted revenues of $1.14 billion for the quarter ended December 2018, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.15%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $1.18 billion. 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.

Hyatt Hotels shares have added about 4.1% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 9.5%.

What's Next for Hyatt Hotels?

While Hyatt Hotels 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 Hyatt Hotels 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 $0.40 on $1.12 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $2.01 on $4.76 billion 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, Hotels and Motels is currently in the bottom 44% 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.



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Hyatt Hotels Corporation (H) : Free Stock Analysis Report



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Zacks Investment ResearchThe government is finally pushing ahead with the long-stalled plan to build a common rail station in Metro Manila.

The grand station at the corner of Edsa and North Avenue in Quezon City will link Light Rail Transit Line 1, Metro Rail Transit Line 3, the planned MRT 7 and the Metro Manila Subway. The common station is expected to ease the burden of about 500,000 passengers daily once completed in 2022. It will cover an area of 13,700 square meters and provide commuters a seamless transfer from one line to another. The project, says the Department of Transportation, would have a roofed transit for the passengers operated by an automated fare collection system, allowing the users of better point-to-point comfort and mobility. The station's reach will actually be bigger than estimated once all the pending rail projects are completed. The interconnection will serve passengers from San Jose del Monte, Bulacan in the north to Cavite in the south. The LRT 1 is being expanded over 33 kilometers, from Roosevelt in Quezon City to Niog, Bacoor in Cavite City.Rail networks and their adjuncts are vital in efficiently moving people and goods. They decongest traffic in the metropolis and use cleaner fuel. Infrastructure projects like the common rail station are what the Philippines needs to sustain a booming economy. The inauguration of the construction of the North-South Commuter Railway Project (Malolos to Tutuban) today, for instance, will make commuting faster and reliable. The project is a 37.9-kilometer railway connecting Malolos, Bulacan and Tutuban in Manila with 10 elevated stations. This particular railway will boost traffic along the area and ease the plight of workers residing in the northern fringe of Metro Manila. The government, meanwhile, should seriously pursue a modern railway line connecting Metro Manila to the Bicol region in the south and to as far as the Ilocos provinces in the north. Alternative transportation modes offer competition to traditional buses. They will eventually cause lower transportation fares and result in a more efficient service.Hudson Pacific Properties (HPP) came out with quarterly funds from operations (FFO) of $0.49 per share, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. This compares to FFO of $0.52 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

A quarter ago, it was expected that this real estate investment trust would post FFO of $0.47 per share when it actually produced FFO of $0.47, delivering no surprise.

Over the last four quarters, the company has not been able to surpass consensus FFO estimates.

Hudson Pacific, which belongs to the Zacks REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry, posted revenues of $198.43 million for the quarter ended December 2018, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 11.29%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $189.33 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future FFO expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Hudson Pacific shares have added about 14.5% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 9.8%.

What's Next for Hudson Pacific?

While Hudson Pacific 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 FFO outlook. Not only does this include current consensus FFO 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 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 estimate revisions.

Story continues

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Hudson Pacific 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 FFO estimate is $0.48 on $181.51 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $2 on $736.88 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, REIT and Equity Trust - Other is currently in the bottom 40% 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



Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc. (HPP) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment ResearchBy Tom Wilson

LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC has reduced the cost of settling foreign exchange trades by a quarter through its blockchain-based system, an executive overseeing the project told Reuters, offering a glimpse of the savings the technology could offer banks.

The bank processes between 3,500 and 5,000 trades a day on its "FX Everywhere" system, settling trades worth $350 billion, Mark Williamson, chief operating officer of FX cash trading and risk management, told Reuters.

The HSBC platform is a rare example of blockchain technology being put to practical use by a major bank. Last month the London-based lender said it had processed FX trades worth $250 billion on the platform since February last year.

The fresh details of the scale of the HSBC project suggest that the potential of blockchain to make significant cost savings in the financial services industry - long touted by its proponents of the technology - is being realized.

"We going at a pace now," Williamson said. "We're able to demonstrate that this is not a one-off proof of concept or just one or two trades."

HSBC would not give data on overall forex trades settled by traditional processes, saying only that those settled on the platform represented a "small" proportion.

Supporters say blockchain - a shared database that can securely process and settle transactions without the need for third-party checks - could transform industries from finance to real estate by obviating cumbersome and inefficient processes.

That hype, though, has rarely been backed up by examples of large companies moving beyond tests on a limited scale.

Financial institutions have so far taken a cautious approach with the technology originally conceived to underpin of the bitcoin cryptocurrency. Many are concerned by uncertainty over security, regulation and the impact on existing systems.

HSBC coordinates payments across its Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific trading hubs on the platform, a type of blockchain known as a "shared permissioned ledger", which allows approved multiple parties to amend and update in real time.

Story continues

Williamson said that HSBC settles "billions of dollars" worth of payments every day, helping the bank to manage risk by allowing it to see real-time exposure across multiple balance sheets.

He did not give precise figure for daily transactions but said that a significant amount of overall internal flows are likely to be settled on the system.

The bank is aiming to provide the tools to corporate clients with complex, cross-border forex flows.

"The more participants that you have joining the HSBC shared permissioned ledger and the ecosystem, the more efficient we're going to become in providing services to our clients," Williamson said.

(Reporting by Tom Wilson; Editing by David Goodman and Kirsten Donovan)Three weeks ago, Elliott Abrams returned to government. This was very good news for U.S. foreign policy. He is the State Departments special representative for Venezuela. And his presence on the public stage has reignited passions about the Reagan administrations record in Latin America.

Abrams was the assistant secretary of state for Latin America in Reagans second term. During the first, he had been assistant secretary for international organizations, and then for human rights. (Abrams joined the administration when he was in his early 30s.)

Like many others he was caught up in the Iran-Contra affair, and he pleaded guilty to withholding information from Congress. (Two misdemeanor counts.) He was pardoned by the first President Bush. There is a story to be told about all this, which we will not get into here. Abrams told it in a book, Undue Process: A Story of How Political Differences Are Turned into Crimes.

The second President Bush made Abrams part of his national-security team, first in the area of democracy and human rights. Then he gave Abrams a Middle East portfolio. Later, Abrams wrote a memoir, Tested by Zion: The Bush Administration and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. In recent years, he has been a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

In short, Elliott Abrams is one of the wisest, most experienced foreign-policy heads in this country. He is also a steadfast advocate of freedom, democracy, and human rights, or American values, if you like.

Yesterday he appeared on Capitol Hill and encountered Ilhan Omar. She is a freshman House member  a Democrat from Minnesota  who has had a lively first month. We editorialized about her and anti-Semitism on Monday (here).

She called Mr. Abrams Mr. Adams. (Congratulations, Elliott, youre a Gentile!) She got a lot else wrong too. She swiped at Abrams for the Iran-Contra affair  and refused to let him defend himself. She went on to accuse him of being complicit in the rape, murder, and mayhem of Central America  El Salvador, in particular.

Story continues

To see this performance on C-SPAN, go here.

A great many hailed this performance, certainly on the old anti-Reagan left. It was as though the Christic Institute and CISPES had come back to life. Social media rang out with the old charges, the old smears, the old libels. Not all of Abramss enemies are on the left, of course. David Duke, of Klan fame, or infamy, chimed in with Rep. Omar clashes with Zionist war criminal.

Look: When Reagan and his people took office in 1981, dictatorship was the rule in Latin America (as in the world at large). A rare exception was . . . Venezuela. Funny to think of at present, in a dark way. El Salvador was in the grip of its civil war. In 1980, Archbishop Romero had been murdered as he was celebrating mass. Groups on left and right, throughout Latin America, murdered with abandon. These were dirty wars, in the phrase of the day.

Remember, too, that the 1980s were Cold War times. The Soviets and their Cuban proxy were doing everything they could to Castroize the region.

Reagan, with Vice President Bush, George Shultz, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Elliott Abrams, and stalwart others, worked energetically for democratic transitions  in Latin America, yes, but in other parts of the world too (e.g., South Korea). In El Salvador, the administration backed Jose Napoleon Duarte, the Christian Democrat. He was opposed by the FMLN on the left and ARENA on the right. Reagans policy was controversial on our own right. Many conservatives backed ARENA, chief among them Jesse Helms.

In 1984, Salvadorans went to the polls, braving terrorism, and, in a free election, chose Duarte. El Salvador, for all its problems, has been democratic ever since. This is a fabulous achievement, as Abrams tried to explain to the congresswoman.

Duarte made a state visit to Washington in 1987. Reagan said, President Duarte, having fought the brutality and repression of Left and Right, has come to symbolize the struggle for democracy in this hemisphere. He also said, If peace is to prevail, so must democracy.

The Salvadoran president, for his part, did something startling and memorable. He said, Ive seen through my life many times when people with hate in their heart put fire to the American flag. This time, permit me to go to your flag and, in the name of my people, give it a kiss. And so he did.

Before the Reaganites left office, the countries of Latin America had democratized or were well on their way. Speaking at Moscow State University in 1988, Reagan said, The growth of democracy has become one of the most powerful political movements of our age. In Latin America in the 1970s, only a third of the population lived under democratic government; today over 90 percent does.

In 2012, there was a Chilean film, No, about the 1988 plebiscite. This was the vote that saw the dictator Pinochet out of office. Elliott Abrams wrote about the movie, here. He describes a scene: Two men are talking about the upcoming plebiscite. They are on either side of the question. The Pinochet man says that America is supporting his guy, the incumbent, the dictator. The other man says no: Los gringos estan con nosotros (The gringos are with us).

Yes, they were. Yes, we were. There were some rotten choices to be made in Latin America, from the point of view of the U.S. government, and there were often not many democrats on offer. But the Reaganites record is honorable, even laudatory, and this silly, ignorant House freshman, though she did not intend so, has given us the happy opportunity of lauding them again.

More from National ReviewMike Novogratz Bitcoin price

Bitcoin guru Mike Novogratz went where few have gone in expressing his optimism about the cryptocurrency. Beyond merely referring to it as digital gold, he said that its role in the crypto market is akin to golds on the periodic table.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

Novogratz made that connection on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Milken Institute MENA Summit being held in Abu Dhabi. He discussed some of the reasons that he believes Crypto Winter is finally coming to an end, including the arrival of more institutions in the nascent marketplace.

Novogratz: Bitcoin is [Still] Digital Gold

The periodic table analogy may have caught many off guard. No matter, Novogratz doubled down on explaining why Bitcoin is still like digital gold, even after an 80 percent market crash.

Read the full story on CCN.com.There are some things you should definitely steer clear of mentioning when you're sending an opening message on a dating app. The Troubles in Northern Ireland is high up on that list.

Who would anyone do that, you may well be wondering? Well, we hereby present exhibit A as evidence of one of the very worst exchanges in Bumble history.

SEE ALSO: My terrible online dates live on as zombies on Instagram

Irish Twitter user @Blaisinsquad tweeted screenshots of her interactions with a man in New York City.

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"Hey how's your Sunday goin," the messages began. "Or should I say Sunday Bloody Sunday."

"Cuz bono," he added. "Irish."

Image: twitter.com/BlaisinSquad

@Blaisinsquad suggested he give that reference a Google.

The bloke promptly Googled the term 'Bloody Sunday' and realised what it actually refers to  and the historic context behind the U2 song.

Bloody Sunday describes events that happened on Jan. 30 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland, when 28 unarmed civilians were shot by British soldiers during a protest march. Fourteen people were killed during the incident.

@Blaisinsquad told Mashable she responded saying "you weren't to know," and thought that would be the end of their exchange. But he then asked her out for a drink.

"I politely declined," she said.

Not to sound harsh, but that was probably the right call.By Lizbeth Diaz and Mica Rosenberg

MEXICO CITY/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States began sending Central American families seeking asylum back to Mexico this week, a Mexican immigration source said on Thursday, while U.S. human rights groups sued the Trump administration, saying the policy puts migrants in danger.

Five families with a total of 16 people, including children from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, arrived in the Mexican border city of Tijuana on Wednesday, according to a person who works in migration for the Mexican government, who asked not to be named.

In late January, the United States began sending non-Mexican migrants who had crossed at the U.S. border with Mexico back to Mexico to wait as their asylum requests are processed, a program called Migrant Protection Protocols. But until this week, only individual adults had been sent back, not children in family groups.

Rights groups say the program endangers asylum seekers by forcing them to remain in regions of Mexico experiencing record levels of violence.

"Both the U.S. and Mexican governments know that the border area is unsafe for women and children," Michelle Brane, director of the Migrant Rights and Justice program at the Women's Refugee Commission (WRC), said in a statement on the decision to return the families to Mexico.

"The U.S. government knows full well that asylum-seeking families are no threat to this nation."

Sixty-three people have returned to Mexico so far under the program, the government source said.

Two shelters in Tijuana said they had received the families. They asked not to be named to avoid revealing their location.

The American Civil Liberties Union and immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit on behalf of 11 anonymous asylum seekers on Thursday. The groups asked a U.S. judge to revoke the policy and order the government to bring the migrants back to the United States while their cases are processed.

The 11 asylum seekers from Central America were returned to Mexico since Jan. 30 to wait out their immigration cases, and now fear for their lives, according to the complaint.

Story continues

The plaintiffs include a lesbian who said she was raped because of her sexual orientation and was forced to flee Honduras after her partner's family threatened to kill them.

The lawsuit alleges the policy endangers migrants and violates U.S. immigration and administrative law, as well as universal norms of international law.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice said the government would defend the policy in court.

"Congress has explicitly authorized the Department of Homeland Security to return aliens arriving from a contiguous foreign territory to that territory during that alien's immigration court proceedings," said Steven Stafford of the DOJ.

In another sign of the political tension over immigration, the White House on Thursday said U.S. President Donald Trump will declare a national emergency to try to obtain funds for his promised wall on the Mexican border when he signs a bill to avert another government shutdown.

Mexico's National Migration Institute and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City, Mica Rosenberg in New York and Kristina Cooke in San Francisco, Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; writing by Julia Love; editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Rosalba O'Brien)In 1994, the Clinton administration decreed a bright shining future for education. Its Goals 2000 legislation proclaimed that by that year Americas high-school-graduation rate would be 90 percent and American students would lead the world in math and science achievements. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D., N.Y.) was unimpressed: That will not happen. It didnt, to the surprise of no one with an inkling of realitys viscosity.

Bill Clintons (then Congresss) goals, which Moynihan compared to the Soviet Unions penchant for delusional grain quotas, illustrated what the senator called the leakage of reality from American life. Speaking of which:

Democrats, including many presidential candidates, have endorsed something that makes Goals 2000 look like the soul of sobriety. The Green New Deals FAQ sheet says:

In ten years America will have only non-carbon renewable energy. (Exxon Mobil plans to produce 25 percent more oil and gas in 2025 than in 2017.) By then, every building in America will be environmentally retrofitted, farting cows (methane gas; say goodbye to hamburgers) will be on the way out, fast electric trains will make airplanes unnecessary, every combustion-engine vehicle will be gone (but relax: charging stations will be everywhere).

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, averse to government by arrested-development teenagers, dismissed the Green New Deal (GND) as a suggestion. Its enthusiasts, buffeted by gales of derision, responded with gusts of dissembling as implausible as the GND: Their fact sheet was a mere draft, or a dirty trick (doctored), or something.

Do they know how the actual New Deal fared? It was devoted to curing unemployment, but the unemployment rate never fell below 14 percent until 1941, eight years into the New Deal, as America prepared for war. The 193738 depression within the Depression was the 20th centurys third-worst recession.

Story continues

Every endorser of the GND thereby endorses its claim to life-and-death urgency, yet  cognitive dissonance alert  every endorser knows that none of it will happen. Its authors say, There is no time to waste. Strange. The last Democratic administration, which departed just 25 months ago, proposed approximately none of what the GND says we cannot survive without.

The GND has no practical importance but much significance. First, it underscores the rise of the politics of gestures that are as flamboyant as they are empty: Donald Trump has his wall, the left has its GND. Second, it reprises the progressive desire to militarize everything but the military, to conscript everyone into vast collective undertakings that supposedly justify vast excisions from personal liberty and the setting side of pesky constitutional impediments. See Franklin Roosevelts call in his first inaugural address for power as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.

Third, the GND reveals progressives embrace of Trumps political style, a stew of frivolity and mendacity. Remember his campaign boast that he would erase the national debt  not just the budget deficit, the then$19 trillion debt  in eight years, meaning by more than $2 trillion a year? This was ludicrous, but not more so than the GND, which is not the only example of the Trumpification of the left. The Wall Street Journals James Freeman notes that last year Elizabeth Warren said this on NBC:

My mother and daddy were born and raised in Oklahoma. My daddy first saw my mother when they were both teenagers. He fell in love with this tall, quiet girl who played the piano. Head over heels. But his family was bitterly opposed to their relationship because she was part Native American. They eventually eloped.

Bitterly? Because of the mothers Native American part? Which could not have been much more than Warrens still-hypothetical miniscule part? As Freeman writes: If Native American ancestry was so distant on her mothers side that the senator has never been able to name any native relatives  and even now her own DNA expert cannot rule out the possibility that she has no such relatives at all  how would her fathers family have known enough to object?

What a tangled web we weave . . .

It is now reasonable to conclude that Warren has made birther claims for self-serving reasons that remain opaque, claims that are no more factual or unimportant than the birther fabrications Trump concocted for use against Barack Obama. What explains Trump and his progressive emulators? No doubt many things, but begin with the leakage of reality from American life.

(c) 2019, Washington Post Writers Group

More from National ReviewShelley Harrison Reed says her 7-year-old daughter wrote a heartbreaking message on her arm during a school lockdown. (Photo: Shelley Harrison Reed via Facebook)

A little girl wrote a gut-wrenching message to her parents while hiding in her classroom during a school lockdown.

Seven-year-old Vanessa was at school in Hockessin, Del., on Feb. 7 when officials declared a lockdown because a caller made a bomb threat to an upperclassman building, mom Shelley Harrison Reed told Yahoo Lifestyle. Vanessas 10-year-old brother, who attends intermediate school, was also on campus.

So my kids school had a genuine lockdown today, Reed wrote on Facebook after school. Some whack job called in a bomb threat. Police came and everything was fine, Thank God!

It wasnt until later when Vanessa was changing out of her school uniform that I saw this on her arm, wrote Reed, posting a snapshot of her daughters arm. The sleeve of Vanessas sparkly cat sweater was pushed up, and a note written in marker read: LOVE MOM AND DAD.

So my kids school had a genuine lockdown today. Some whack job called in a bomb threat  Police came and everything Posted by Shelley Harrison Reed on Thursday, February 7, 2019

Reed asked her daughter why she wrote the message. She says, In case the bad guy got to us and I got killed, you and Daddy would know that I love you, and she started to cry (as did I, as I watched a little piece of her innocence get stolen away). To know that my 7yo was put in a position to think that though is absolutely gut wrenching and its killing me inside.

Its now been a couple hours, and I cant seem to shake this awful feeling, feeling of sadness, fear, and plain disgusts for this new normal our kids have to deal with on any given day, Reed wrote. Its a very scary and disturbing society we now live in, and its heartbreaking.

The school had conducted drills prior but never an actual lockdown. Vanessa said she was scared because her classroom didnt lock from the inside and the bad guy could have gotten in, Reed told Yahoo Lifestyle. She wrote it because, If I got killed and my parents came, they would see it when they found my body. Vanessa said she hid in a corner between a bookshelf and the wall with her marker.

Story continues

Vanessas father, Jeff, told Yahoo Lifestyle that Vanessa was offered therapy in school after the scare. Her older brother is doing OK, he said, but the little girl feels better keeping the message written on her arm.

We tried washing off the note, but she pulled her arm back and wouldnt let us, Reed tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Shes even written over it with a different colored marker. If that offers her comfort, we wont object.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day"It was significant for atleast six reasons."

According to author Patrick McSherry and other analysts, the May 1, 1898 Battle of Manila Bay was significant for at least six reasons. First, the United States became recognized not just as a naval power but a world power overnight. Before the battle, the US Navy had been a subject of derision internationally for years. The US changed that with the advent of its new steel navy. At a time when a countrys military was rated according to the strength of its navy, the Battle of Manila Bay was the first time that the ability of both the U.S. warships and their well-trained crews were shown to be an important world force. Second, it was a complete and final victory, ending any threat from the Spanish naval forces involved. All major seven Spanish ships under Spanish Admiral Patricio Montojo were destroyed or captured, without any significant damage occurring to the American Forces. Third, no Americans died during the battle. One died from tension on the way to the battle. Another died from stress after departing from the battle. Nine Americans were wounded. None of George Deweys six ships were lost. The two American deaths did indirectly occur which may be attributable to the battle. Many Spaniards died161; 210 Spanish sailors were wounded. Thus, the Americans look at the victory as a bloodless battle, whereas the Spanish obviously do not, wrote McSherry. Fourth, the American attack was very daring and dangerous, based on what the Americans knew at the time, but not as risky when looked at in hindsight. Many world powers, who were not aware of the American naval build-up over the past decade and a half, considered the US Asiatic Squadron to be little or no threat to the Spanish naval forces. The Americans also over-rated the Spanish navys ability and determination to fight, and many authorities considered the fleet to be sailing into a veritable deathtrap. In addition to the naval forces, many Spanish gun batteries existed in the fortifications around Manila Bay. These guns alone should have been enough armament to destroy the American squadron. Fifth, the American Asiatic Squadron was not sufficiently supplied with ammunition for wartime service and the nearest site for resupply was California, 7,000 miles away! reported McSherry. Sixth, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, the Spanish defeat in the Battle of Manila Bay contributed to the final US victory in the Spanish-American War. Said historynet: The Spanish-American War lasted a mere 109 days, but it propelled the US to the forefront of world affairs.Finally, with the defeat and under the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, the Americans began the colonization of the Philippines, for nearly half a century, from 1898 (the same year General Emilio Aguinaldo had declared independence from Spain) to July 4, 1946, when the Philippines declared independence from the US. Sadly, some say, the US colonization of the Philippines remains to this day. Which makes President Duterte very angry. Said Dewey in his memoirs: Hitherto the United States had been considered a second-class power, whose foreign policy was an unimportant factor beyond the 3-mile limit of the American hemisphere. By a mornings battle, we had secured a base in the Far East at a juncture in international relations when the parceling out of China among the European powers seemed imminent. According to historynet, Following the Civil War, the US had renewed its westward expansion that took American interests beyond the countrys Pacific coast, across the ocean and into Asia. New markets in China and rapidly modernizing Japan drew the US into a region that had long been exploited by European colonial powers such as Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Spain. Spains Philippines colony, given its superb strategic position astride the main western Pacific sea-lanes, and the fact that Manila Bay was the finest natural port in Asia, was of particular interest to Americans (notably Theodore Roosevelt) who longed for a U.S. Pacific empire. On Dec. 10, 1898, under the Treaty of Paris, the Philippines, along with Guam and Puerto Rico, was sold to the US by Spain for $20 million. Cuba, however, gained its independence under the same treaty. Said Wikipedia: The Treaty of Paris was not well received in the Philippines. Filipino nationalists were incensed at the arrogance of the imperial powers to bargain away their independence for the tidy price of US$20 million with not so much as a pretense of consultation with Filipinos. Said historynet, Filipino nationalists, however, soon recognized Deweys rapid conquest of the Philippines as merely one occupying power, Spain, being replaced with another colonial master, the United States. On Jan. 23, 1899 General Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed the Malolos Constitution and the First Philippine Republic. The hostilities in the Philippine War of Independence began on Feb. 4, 1899 and continued for two years. The United States needed 126,000 soldiers to subdue the Philippines. The war took the lives of 4,234 Americans and 16,000 Filipinos. As usually happens in guerrilla campaigns, the civilian population suffers the worst. As many as 200,000 civilians may have died from famine and disease, said Wikipedia. Aguinaldo was captured on March 23, 1901 in Palanan, Isabela. He pledged allegiance to the US. With succeeding events until today, it appears as if the United States never left the Philippines despite President Dutertes pivot to China.Brussels (AFP) - With just 43 days until Britain is due to leave the European Union, EU leaders increasingly fear Theresa May is playing a dangerous game of chicken.

Prime Minister May has made a great show of reopening talks with Brussels, but officials here say she is playing for time until a no-deal divorce is imminent.

Then, with the economic consequences of a no deal threatening not just Britain but its trading partners on the continent, they expect May to push her anti-Europe MPs to back a lightly-tweaked accord.

It is perhaps a desperate strategy from a leader whose original Brexit plan was defeated by a record margin in her own parliament, and her counterparts in Brussels see it as a reckless one.

And, where once officials and diplomats here spoke cautiously of their frustrations, not wanting to stir up Britain's domestic drama, they are now sounding the alarm.

After a new Brexit secretary, May's third in two years, came to Brussels on Monday for yet another inconclusive round of talks, EU Council president Donald Tusk let loose.

"No news is not always good news. EU27 still waiting for concrete, realistic proposals from London on how to break Brexit impasse," tweeted Tusk, who represents EU leaders.

Tusk's outburst came after he stirred up Britain's boisterous press a week earlier by saying leaders of the pro-Brexit campaign deserved a "special place in Hell".

And Tusk is not the only EU official voicing frustration. This week the normally measured chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier insisted "something has to give" on the British side.

Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel complains the British Brexit camp's response to everything is "no, no, no" while his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte lashed out Thursday.

"My impression is that the ball is heading towards the precipice and everyone screams to stop, but nobody does anything to stop it, at least, from the British side," he told several newspapers.

Story continues

In Brussels, diplomats and officials think May's do nothing stance is deliberate brinksmanship, an attempt to strengthen her hand both at home in London and in EU talks.

"Her strategy is to get as close as possible to the deadline and to use the fear provoked by the perspective of a no deal to get her parliament to accept a reworked accord," one said.

"It's a risky strategy," the senior European diplomat told AFP, comparing May's challenge to lawmakers to the fatal game of chicken in James Dean movie "Rebel Without a Cause".

Rather than facing down the anti-European, anti-deal wing of her own Conservatives, Brussels would prefer May seek support from the opposition Labour Party's ranks.

- Less to concede -

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has written to May proposing that he might back a deal that would see Britain stay in the EU customs union indefinitely after Brexit on March 29.

This plan could be included in a political declaration on future ties, meaning European leaders would not have to agree to re-open the withdrawal agreement they signed in November.

Both Tusk and Barnier have dubbed Corbyn's offer "interesting", but May appears bent on winning back Tory support rather than reaching out to the equally divided Labour benches.

"The way forward is cross-party, not kicking the can towards a disastrous deal," pleaded the head of the EU parliament's Brexit steering committee, Liberal group leader Guy Verhofstad.

May's tactic, however, has been to demand legal guarantees that Britain will be able to unilaterally quit the so-called Irish backstop clause in the deal -- a no-go for Brussels.

"This is politics and in politics, everything is decided close to the deadline," one senior EU official deeply involved in the non-negotiation negotiations told AFP.

"There's no question of re-opening the withdrawal agreement," he insisted, even if a more cynical EU diplomat puts another nuance on this oft-repeated vow.

"There's no point in re-opening now, because the longer we wait the less we'll have to concede to the British to get it through," the diplomat said.Paris (AFP) - The driver of a French cash delivery van, who made off with about three million euros ($3.2 million), managed to hide half his haul before being arrested, according to police.

Adrien Derbez, 27, disappeared at the wheel of his armoured car Monday morning, leaving two colleagues stranded outside a Western Union office in the northern Paris suburb of Aubervilliers.

The Loomis company armoured van was found soon afterwards a few blocks away with its doors wide open but without the bags of cash.

Derbez was arrested on Tuesday in the city of Amiens, some 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Paris, after jumping through a window as police busted into a flat where he was hiding.

Police also detained the owner of the flat along with her brother.

Le Parisien newspaper reported Thursday police found cash in a car in which an unidentified man and woman had fled the area. But after carefully counting it they realised about half the estimated 3.1 million euros was still missing.

"More than half" the money has still not been recovered, police told AFP.

The theft was similar to one carried out by another French armoured van driver in November 2009.

Toni Musulin also fled in his van taking 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 behind a double wall in a garage was recovered.

He served four years in prison and was released in 2013. But nearly 2.5 million euros of the money was never found.

A film about the case, called "11.6", was released in 2013.Paris (AFP) - France said Thursday it is toughening its internet abuse laws after an outcry over young media executives who ran a macho "boys' club" that bullied female colleagues online.

Two government ministers said new rules will be tabled before the end of June to force YouTube and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to pull hateful posts.

Eight journalists and public relations executives who belonged to the "League of LOL" Facebook group have either been suspended or stepped down this week since they were accused of targeting feminists and minority colleagues online.

The affair is being dubbed the "French media's #MeToo", with the closed group branded a "boys' club" which harassed women online with pornographic memes and off-colour jokes about rape culture.

France's Digital Affairs Minister Mounir Mahjoubi, who described those behind the League of LOL as "losers", said the government was also considering changing the legal status of social networks to make them face up to their responsibilities.

He said Facebook and Twitter's existing status as sharing platforms "significantly limits their responsibility" for online abuse and harassment.

Mahjoubi said they could be reclassified somewhere between platforms and publishers, which would expose them to heavier fines and regulation, as already happens in neighbouring Germany.

- Twitter 'not up to scratch' -

And he was particularly critical of Twitter.

"If we want to fight against harassment, platforms have to step up and invest, and today Twitter is not up to scratch," he told France Inter radio.

Equality minister Marlene Schiappa, who is working with Mahjoubi on the new rules, said earlier she was considering extending the six-year cut-off for prosecuting alleged crimes.

Under the law as it stands, only online bullies who put up abusive posts after 2013 can be prosecuted under the statute of limitations.

Story continues

Mahjoubi said Thursday that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube had "particular responsibility" to act on online bullying and hate, and the new "legal and non-legal steps being considered to regulate the chain of hate" would oblige them to take down such content.

He said the reforms would be part of a package of online measures already being examined under a review ordered by President Emmanuel Macron.

The government wanted to protect online anonymity, but "it depends" on how it is used, he added.

"There are certain areas where we cannot go on having it, as in online petitions where there should be no anonymity," Mahjoubi insisted.

The League of LOL scandal, which first surfaced at the weekend, continues to rock the French media, with many of its predominantly-male members apologising for their behaviour or for not speaking out.

Victims of the group recounted how the attacks and pranks had pushed one woman to quit journalism and left another suicidal.

In a separate episode, three journalists from the French edition of the Huffington Post news site were sacked on Monday for making "unacceptable remarks in a work context".

Le Monde newspaper -- which has a stake in the site -- said the three were fired over their posts on another closed Facebook page.A young couple was married live on the air on Thursdays Fox & Friends as part of the shows Valentines Day celebrations, and viewers were quick to weigh in on the broadcasted nuptials.

Former Air Force medic Priscilla Pazmino and current New Jersey police officer Joseph Muller Jr. took part in a wedding ceremony performed by wedding officiant Christopher Shelley. Pazminos two young children served as ring bearer and flower girl.

Everyone knows that all the best marriages begin on Fox & Friends on a Thursday morning, Shelley said to open the proceedings. You will prove all that to be true.

Pazminos dress was donated by Camden County, New Jersey after a wedding dress store shut down and the county was asked to donate the remaining dresses to military families.

Unfortunately a few sweet moments seemed to get overshadowed by things like Pazmino stepping on her dress while she walked, a host calling a child the wrong name, the rings getting stuck in the ring bearers pants, a ring later being dropped into the flower basket by accident, occasional out-of-place commentary from Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade and awkward silences. And it made for a lot of criticism on Twitter.

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But there were others who saw the love in it all and enjoyed the ceremony, especially the fact that Pazminos children were involved.

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So whether or not people enjoyed the event, not many couples out there will be able to tell the tale of their Valentines Day wedding on Fox News.

On behalf of Fox & Friends, and me and the entire viewing audience, Shelley concluded. I pronounce you well on your way to a long happy marriage.

Watch Jennifer Lopez tell Ellen about the reality TV star that she fangirls over:

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, or leave your comments below.Fossil Group Inc. FOSL released fourth-quarter 2018 results, wherein both top and bottom lines missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The top line continued to decline year over year. Moreover, management provided an unimpressive sales outlook for 2019, as it expects currency headwinds and business exits to impede results. Shares of this renowned watch retailer lost almost 16% during yesterdays after-market trading session.



In fact, Fossils stock has tumbled 17.6% in the past three months compared with the industrys decline of close to 12%. Nonetheless, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company is committed toward transforming its business model to keep pace with consumers changing preferences. This is likely to aid a turnaround in its stock.









Q4 in Detail



Fossils adjusted earnings came in at $1.01 per share, significantly lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.27. This marked Fossils first earnings miss in a long time. However, the bottom line fared much better than the year-ago quarters adjusted earnings of 64 cents. Fossils year-over-year bottom-line growth was hurt by currency movements to the tune of 9 cents. Otherwise, bottom-line growth was fueled by improved margins and lower interest expenses.

Fossil Group, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise







Fossil Group, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Fossil Group, Inc. Quote

Worldwide net sales of $787 million declined nearly 15% year over year and also fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $810 million. Currency negatively impacted net sales by $15.6 million. On a constant-currency (cc) basis, worldwide net sales tumbled 13%. Results were largely impacted by lower promotional discounts and unfavorable pricing in the United States, persistent softness in Europe owing to political and economic hurdles, and delayed deliveries of new generation display watch supplies.



Markedly, the company witnessed lower watch sales in the Americas and Europe, partly offset by a slight rise in Asia sales at cc. Category wise, sales declined across watches, leather and jewelry businesses. At cc, connected watch sales grew moderately in Asia, while it declined across the Americas and Europe. Traditional watch sales were dismal in the Americas and Europe, though it remained flat in Asia.



Fossil progressed quite well in the digital space, as global direct e-commerce sales increased double digits yet again in the Americas and Asia, though it went down moderately in Europe.



Global retail comps declined 7%, owing to softness across all categories and geographies..



Moving on, gross margin expanded 430 basis points (bps) to 53.0%, courtesy of reduced promotions, enhanced off-price margins, favorable year-over-year comparison related to an inventory valuation reserve, and margin enhancement efforts stemming from the companys New World Fossil (NWF) plan.



The company posted an operating income of $67.3 million, up 31.2% year over year. The upside was backed by lower operating expenses. This was somewhat negated by lower sales.



Performance Based on Business Categories



Category wise, sales in the watches segment declined 13% to $636 million in the quarter. Sales in the jewelry and leather businesses also fell 29% to $51 million and 20% to $86 million, respectively.



Region-Wise Performance



Region wise, sales dropped 15% in the Americas to $377 million, mainly owing to weak sales in the United States.



Sales declined 19% in Europe to $272 million. The downside was mainly caused by weak Eurozone sales, and softness in Eastern Europe and the Middle East distributor markets. France, Germany and the U.K. witnessed maximum downsides.



Net sales from Asia slipped 5% to $135 million as improvements in China, India and Hong Kong were countered by weakness in most of the other regions, with maximum declines recorded in Australia, Japan and Taiwan.



Other Updates



At the end of the quarter, the company had cash and cash equivalents of $403.4 million, long-term debt of $269.8 million and shareholders equity of $588.6 million. Additionally, the company expects to incur capital expenditures of nearly $30 million in 2019.



Fossil operated 484 stores as of Dec 29, 2018, including 236 full-priced accessory stores, 8 full-priced multi-brand stores and 240 outlet stores. Out of all Fossil stores, 215 are located in the Americas, while 173 and 96 are located in Europe and Asia, respectively.



Outlook



Management remains impressed with its 2018 performance, wherein the company achieved its important targets of improving overall profits and solidifying its financial position. Notably, Fossil concluded 2018 as a smaller but more profitable entity, with considerably higher operating income and lower debt level.



For 2019, management is committed toward leveraging opportunities in the connected watch space, stabilizing sales of its traditional watches and enhancing overall efficiency. All said, Fossil is focused on expanding market share in the growing global watch space.



2019 Forecasts



Fossil expects net sales to decline 7-12% in 2019. This includes negative impacts stemming from business exits and currency movements of 2.5% and 1.5%, respectively.



The company expects gross margin to be 51.5-53.5%. Operating margin is anticipated to be 0.5-3.0%. Interest expenses are expected to be roughly $35 million.



Q1 Forecasts



For first-quarter 2019, the company expects net sales to decline 16-22%, considering the negative impacts of approximately 3.5% from business exits and 4% due to unfavorable currency movements. Gross margin is predicted to be 51.0-53.0%. Interest expenses are expected to be roughly $9 million.



3 Retail Stocks to Bet on



Boot Barn Holdings BOOT, with long-term earnings per share growth rate of 20.7%, carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



DSW Inc. DSW, with long-term earnings per share growth rate of 9%, carries a Zacks Rank #1.



Zumiez ZUMZ, with a Zacks Rank #1, has long-term earnings per share growth rate of 12.5%.



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To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment ResearchA former firefighter is under investigation after a camera that doubles as a phone charger was found in a fire station bathroom. (Photo: Getty Images)

A former Dallas Fire-Rescue (DFR) firefighter has been arrested and charged with attempted invasive visual recording for allegedly planting a hidden camera in a fire station bathroom. The matter is currently under investigation.

Another firefighters wife first discovered the device, which doubles as a phone charger, on Thanksgiving Day last year when she removed it from the downstairs bathroom at DFR Station 11 to charge her phone upstairs. Her husband was reportedly the one who first realized the charger actually also functioned as a camera, but he didnt come forward at the time because he was new to his job and didnt want to draw attention to himself, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by CBS affiliate WFAA.

Two months later, Capt. Daniel Puente discovered the camera and started questioning firefighters to find its owner. Thats when Craig Lawrence, the firefighter accused of misconduct, allegedly exhibited nervous behavior and ultimately admitted on Jan. 21 that the USB device was his, though he claimed he didnt know it doubled as a camera.

According to the affidavit, Lawrence began to break down later that day, telling Puente, Im about to lose everything. Im going to jail. Im going to lose my job and my kids, [my wife] is going to divorce me.

DFR spokesperson Jason Evans told Yahoo Lifestyle in a statement that Lawrence was placed on administrative leave while police launched an investigation. But on Jan. 24, Lawrence resigned from DFR  where he had worked for five years  and started working as a full-time firefighter for the city of Wilmer, Texas.

Lawrence reportedly has a history of sexually explicit behavior at work, including telling sexually graphic stories, showing off sex toys and spending an inordinate amount of time on his laptop with the screen hidden, according to WFAA.

Investigators searching Lawrences home reportedly found sexual-related props as well as a hand-drawn caricature of a Dallas firefighter sitting on the toilet with his pants down. According to the affidavit, a search of the firefighters web browser history revealed visits to voyeur porn sites, some of which showed what appeared to be footage from hidden cameras in bathrooms of women using the restroom.

Story continues

When questioned by authorities last Friday, Lawrence changed his story. He said he had purchased the camera to try to determine who had been rummaging through his duffel bag at work, according to the affidavit, and that it accidentally made its way into the bathroom. He denied planting the device himself. He also initially told police he didnt own a laptop  but then later said his laptop had broken and that hed thrown it away. Authorities were unable to recover any footage from the camera, as its memory card was damaged.

On Wednesday, Lawrence was booked into Dallas County Jail and charged with invasive visual recording, a class A misdemeanor. His new employers in Wilmer have placed Lawrence on administrative leave until further notice.

Lawrences alleged behavior has been condemned by Jim McDade, president of the Dallas Firefighters Association. Its absolutely inexcusable, and not forgivable at all, he said to WFAA. A station is where firefighters spend a third of their lives. Its our home away from home, and we expect it to be able to be safe so we can bring our families here. This is not representative of who firefighters are and what we stand for.

He did, however, praise the firefighters who reported the misconduct. They did exactly what they were supposed to do, he said. They recognized it as a direct threat to their families and all of our employees.

Yahoo Lifestyle has reached out to representatives from Wilmer for comment.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.WASHINGTON  Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe is speaking publicly about the investigations into President Donald Trump's Russian ties and his possible obstruction of justice, telling CBS in an interview that Justice Department officials weighed asking the Cabinet to consider invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

McCabe made the revelation during an interview with "60 Minutes" that is scheduled to air on Sunday.

In September, the New York Times reported that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had discussed using the 25th Amendment on Trump and that he had considered wearing a wire to record his conversations with the president. Rosenstein has strongly denied the report.

"60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley said Thursday on CBS "This Morning" that McCabe told him "there were meetings at the Justice Department in which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment."

Pelley said those conversations took place in the time between Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey on May 9, 2017, and May 17, 2017, when Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate a potential conspiracy between Russian intelligence operatives and the Trump campaign.

On Thursday, the DOJ again denied that officials considered using the 25th Amendment.

"As to the specific portions of this interview provided to the Department of Justice by 60 Minutes in advance, the Deputy Attorney General again rejects Mr. McCabes recitation of events as inaccurate and factually incorrect," a spokesperson said in a statement. "The Deputy Attorney General never authorized any recording that Mr. McCabe references."

What to know about the 25th Amendment: It's never been used, but ex-FBI head says officials thought about it

McCabe told Pelley in an excerpt of the interview released Thursday that he met with agents looking into Russian election meddling the day after Trump fired Comey to make sure the investigation was on "solid ground" in case he was removed from his position or fired.

Story continues

He said he wanted to make sure "that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace. I wanted to make sure that our case was on solid ground and if somebody came in behind me and closed it and tried to walk away from it, they would not be able to do that without creating a record of why they made that decision."

More: Fired FBI official Andrew McCabe kept personal memos regarding Trump

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The 25th Amendment, ratified after the assassination of President John Kennedy, outlines the procedures for the vice president to assume office. Section Four of the amendment says that the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet can rule "that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office."

McCabe was fired last March by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions for "an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor  including under oath  on multiple occasions." Trump called McCabe's firing "a great day for Democracy," but the White House denied any role in his ouster.

McCabe denied the allegations, which have been referred for investigation to the U.S. Attorneys office in Washington, and blasted his firing as part of the Trump administrations "war on the FBI."

Trump responded Thursday to the news of McCabe's interview by calling him a "disgrace to the FBI and to our Country" who was trying to pretend to be a "poor little Angel" in a tweet Thursday. He also repeated many of his past criticisms of McCabe, who he says helped start the "Russia hoax" and was biased in favor of Hillary Clinton.

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Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday that "the writings of a disgraced FBI agent" won't detract from Trump's accomplishments and he said he was unaware of any talk about invoking the 25th Amendment.

"Ive never heard any discussion of the 25th amendment by members of the government and I would never expect to," Pence told NBC News during an interview from Poland where he is attending a conference on security in the Middle East on security in the Middle East.

McCabe's "60 Minutes" interview precedes the release next week of his book, The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump."

Contributing: The Associated Press

Russia probe: Mueller hasn't said a word about the Trump investigation. It's possible he never will.

More: Yes, the Mueller investigation is costly. But the millions seized from Manafort have it on track to break even

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fired FBI official McCabe says Justice Department considered asking Cabinet to remove TrumpWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former top FBI official Andrew McCabe said he began an obstruction of justice and counterintelligence investigation involving U.S. President Donald Trump and his ties to Russia after Trump fired bureau Director James Comey in May 2017, CBS News reported on Thursday.

McCabe, who became acting director after Comey's firing, said he was disturbed by his conversation with Trump following Comey's dismissal and got the investigations started the following day, according to excerpts from an interview with "60 Minutes" to be broadcast on Sunday.

"I was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency and won the election for the presidency and who might have done so with the aid of the government of Russia, our most formidable adversary on the world stage. And that was something that troubled me greatly," said McCabe.

In the first public confirmation of the investigation by an official who was involved, McCabe described events that occurred in the eight days between Comey's firing and the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller to take over the investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, CBS said.

"I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground in an indelible fashion that were I removed quickly and reassigned or fired that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace," said McCabe, who is promoting a book to be released next week, "The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump."

McCabe confirmed a New York Times report in September that there were meetings at the Justice Department about whether the vice president and Cabinet members could be gathered to remove Trump under the Constitution's 25th Amendment, which outlines how a sitting president can be removed.

McCabe also confirmed the newspaper's account that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein considered wearing a wire in meetings with Trump, CBS reported.

Story continues

Rosenstein denied the report at the time and a Justice Department spokeswoman said on Thursday that Rosenstein again rejects McCabe's account as "inaccurate and factually incorrect."

Mueller's office is examining possible coordination between Moscow and the Trump campaign. Moscow has denied interfering and Trump says there was no collusion with his campaign.

Trump, who has frequently criticized Comey, McCabe and the Russia inquiry, on Thursday attacked McCabe on Twitter as a leaker and a "disgrace to the FBI."

In June 2017, Comey told a Senate committee he believed Trump had directed him to drop a probe into the Republican presidents former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, as part of the broader Russia investigation.

McCabe himself was fired in March 2018 by then-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who cited an internal Federal Bureau of Investigation watchdog report that found McCabe leaked information to reporters and misled investigators about his actions. McCabe said he was targeted over the Russia probe.

The Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Lindsey Graham, called on McCabe to appear before the panel to "answer questions about what appears to be, now more than ever, bias against President Trump."

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; editing by Grant McCool)The International Monetary Fund downgraded its global growth forecast last month, partially due to weakness in Europe. Photo: Mark Renders/Getty Images

Its exactly as economists had feared.

The European economy failed to maintain its growth momentum last year, with new Eurostat figures showing eurozone expansion slowed to 1.8% in 2018, down from 2.4% in 2017.

It was a similar story for the larger 28-member European Union, which grew by 1.9% last year, down from 2.4% in 2017.

The Thursday data showed European growth waned as the year wore on. Experts have blamed issues including trade war tensions, car manufacturing issues and Brexit uncertainty.

This comes as official data from Germany showed that Europes manufacturing powerhouse grew by just 1.4% last year, down from 2.2% in 2017. Ominously, Germanys economy stalled completely in the final few months of the year and it just narrowly avoided a recession.

Germanys Federal Statistics Office showed on Thursday the economy posted zero growth in the final quarter of the year after shrinking by 0.2% in the third quarter. These stats compare each quarter with the period directly beforehand, dubbed quarter-on-quarter growth. When you have two consecutive quarters of contraction, thats considered a recession.

The German economy escaped a technical recession with the smallest margin possible. The black eye just got blacker. Still, the upside from todays data is that it can hardly get worse, said Carsten Brzeski, a leading economist at ING.





The European Commission predicted last week that growth across the European Union would stumble and slow. The Commission blamed a range of temporary factors for contributing to the slowdown, including disruptions in car production, social tensions and fiscal policy uncertainty.

Growth in Britains economy also slowed considerably at the end of last year, putting a drag on UK gross domestic product (GDP) for the entire 2018. GDP grew by just 1.4% in 2018, the weakest level since 2009, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The Bank of England predicted last week that Britains economy would slow further this year, with growth of just 1.2% in 2019 and 1.5% in 2020. Back in November, the central bank forecast that the economy would grow by 1.7% each year.

Story continues

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also recently issued a downgraded outlook for global growth in the coming years. Last month, it predicted growth of 3.5% in 2019 and 3.6% in 2020.

The IMF called out the negative effects of tariff increases enacted in the United States and China, and also noted that Germanys car manufacturers have struggled because of new emissions testing standards. These were just some of the key factors contributing to its recent downgrades.

READ MORE: Italy has tipped into a recession"The Philippines needs more veterinarians particularly with the urgent need to look after our countryis food security in this time of climate change and an uncertain economic future."

After a period of renovation, the anatomy collection center of the University of the Philippines College of Veterinary Medicine in Los Banos, Laguna has reopened and is now ready to once again to receive visitors. The facility was named the Dr. Jose A. Solis Museum of Veterinary Anatomy in 2009, in honor of the man who was one of the greatest achievers in that field. In fact, many of the specimens in the museum were prepared by Solis. Solis graduated from UP CVM in 1934. He placed second on the veterinary board examination of 1936. He completed graduate studies in veterinary anatomy at Iowa State College in 1954, obtained a diploma in Veterinary Teaching and Research from the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural College of Denmark in 1964, and taught at UP CVM for decades, beginning as an instructor in 1937 and retiring as Professor 8 in 1977. He died in 1981. I was at UP-CVM last week for a meeting with colleagues in government and we were given the honor of a sneak peek at the museum the day before the reopening ceremony. Thanks to Dr. Ceferino Maala, professor emeritus of the College and former assistant dean, we got a tour of the museum and saw the specimens and other exhibits up close. There are excellent mounted skeletons of two horses, a pig, cow, carabao, tiger, and a very large dog. One of the skeletons, that of a large German horse, was donated by Dr. Romy Modomo, an expert in equine medicine, who was with us on that visit. Another interesting skeleton was that of a false killer whale, its spine about two yards long. There were also horse and cow skulls, their sections painted different colors and used as teaching aids. The museum has specimens other than bones. The skins of a horse, dogs, and other animals are displayed on the wall. Shadow boxes on the wall hold sagittal sections of a horses forelimbs, which Modomo said were very well-made because the tendons could be seen quite perfectly. There is a stuffedand a tigers head, as well as several large birds, likely raptors, that are miracles of taxidermy. Eleven glass display cases hold jars of preserved fetuses and anomalies. UP-CVM is the only museum in the country that features malformations and anomalies of domestic animals, said Maala. Examples of these anomalies include no-faced and two-faced animals that I did not take close looks of, lest they be the stuff of my nightmares. Maala added that the museum is waiting for the skulls of a Philippine crocodile and Palawan crocodile from the Palawan Wildlife Reserve Center. To prevent the deterioration of all its specimens, the museum is fitted with four air conditioners. They will also help make guests more comfortable; according to Maala, the museum is one of the most-visited sites at UPLB, attracting hundreds of students of all ages each year for educational and research purposes.The museum was revamped in connection with the 60th anniversary of the Venerable Knight Veterinarians fraternity and Venerable Lady Veterinarians sorority (VKV-VLV) of the College, which donated most of the funds for the renovation. Maala himself sponsored a new exhibit, a photo gallery of whos who in veterinary anatomy, among them Solis. Maala says they hope to put up in the near future an audiovisual room beside the museum where visitors can watch videos on topics such as the parturition of different domestic animals, meat inspection, embalming of animals for the gross anatomy laboratory, stuffing of birds, and surgical procedures. As we were leaving, one of our party, an alumnus of the College, went back inside the building carrying sacks containing a horse skull and other horse parts, additions to the museum and for use as teaching aids. UP-CVM is fortunate that its alumni care so much for it. I hope that more specimens will be donated. I didnt see a cat skeleton, and the museum should have one of a tarsier (perhaps the College can request one from the sanctuary at Bohol?) and other animals endemic to the Philippines. The Philippines needs more veterinarians particularly with the urgent need to look after our countrys food security in this time of climate change and an uncertain economic future. The Dr. Jose A. Solis Museum of Veterinary Anatomy is poised to provide additional knowledge for veterinary students and those who wish to learn more the subject, as well as provide the spark that could inspire young people to become veterinarians. Congratulations to UP-CVM, Dean Eduardo B. Torres, Dr. Maala, VKV-VLV, and everyone at the College who worked hard to make the museum renovation a success. * * * Museums are necessary because they preserve and display items of significance to society.Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - The European Union reached a provisional deal Wednesday to overhaul the bloc's online copyright law, a top official said, after a tense battle that has pitted media firms against internet giants like Google.

The European Parliament and the European Council, which represents the 28 member states, struck the agreement after three days of intense negotiations led by the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.

"Agreement reached on #copyright! Europeans will finally have modern copyright rules fit for digital age with real benefits for everyone: guaranteed rights for users, fair remuneration for creators, clarity of rules for platforms," European Commission Vice President Andrus Ansip tweeted.

He said the rules would give people "more possibilities to use and access copyrighted material with full legal certainty. Freedom of expression is guaranteed, and users will have the power to swiftly contest any unjustified removal of their content by platform."

EU Parliament president Antonio Tajani added on Twitter that "the agreement just reached on the #copyright directive protects European creativity.

"Musicians, actors, writers, journalists, audiovisual, will be entitled to fair remuneration from web giants too."

The deal must still be formally approved by the European Council and European lawmakers ahead of European parliamentary elections in May.

The commission proposed reforms in September 2016 designed to modernise copyright for the digital age, sparking a major debate between member states.

Under the deal, online platforms will be required to pay "neighbouring rights" fees to media for links to, and short excerpts of, news stories.

News organisations, including AFP, have pushed for the move, arguing that giants like Facebook and Google make billions in revenue from advertising tied to news stories, while publishers suffer.

This sparked a fight between media and creators seeking payment for online content on the one hand, and lobbyists defending the business model of the Silicon Valley giants backed by internet freedom activists on the other.

Another part of the agreement intends to ensure that platforms such as YouTube pay more to those who provide its content.

The European Parliament backed a draft law of the copyright reform in September last year, but it was held up in negotiations with EU member states, notably because of a disagreement between France and Germany in the text.By Francesco Guarascio STRASBOURG (Reuters) - The European Commission added Saudi Arabia, Panama and four U.S. territories to a blacklist of nations it considers a threat because of lax controls on terrorism financing and money laundering, the EU executive said on Wednesday. The move is part of a crackdown on money laundering after several scandals at EU banks, but it has been criticized by several EU countries, including Britain, that are worried about their economic relations with the listed states, notably Saudi Arabia. The United States has also disapproved. The Saudi government said it regretted the decision in a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency, adding: "Saudi Arabia's commitment to combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism is a strategic priority". Panama said it should be removed from the list because it recently adopted stronger rules against money laundering. Despite pressure to exclude Riyadh from the list, the commission decided to list the kingdom, confirming a Reuters report in January. Apart from reputational damage, inclusion on the list complicates financial relations with the EU. The bloc's banks will have to carry out additional checks on payments involving entities from listed jurisdictions. The list now includes 23 jurisdictions, up from 16. The commission said it added jurisdictions with "strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing regimes". Other newcomers to the list are Libya, Botswana, Ghana, Samoa, the Bahamas and the four United States territories of American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam. The U.S. Treasury said the listing process was "flawed" and rejected the inclusion of the four U.S. territories on the list. The other listed states are Afghanistan, North Korea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and Yemen. Bosnia, Guyana, Laos, Uganda and Vanuatu were removed. BAD FOR BUSINESS? The 28 EU member states now have one month, which can be extended to two, to endorse the list. They could reject it by qualified majority. EU justice commissioner Vera Jourova, who proposed the list, told a news conference that she was confident states would not block it. She said it was urgent to act because "risks spread like wildfire in the banking sector". But concerns remain. Britain, which plans to leave the EU on March 29, said on Wednesday the list could "confuse businesses" because it diverges from a smaller listing compiled by its Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is the global standard-setter for anti-money laundering. The FATF list includes 12 jurisdictions - all on the EU blacklist - but excludes Saudi Arabia, Panama and U.S. territories. The FATF will update its list next week. London has led a pushback against the EU list in past days, and at closed-door meetings urged the exclusion of Saudi Arabia, EU sources told Reuters. The oil-rich kingdom is a major importer of goods and weapons from the EU and several top British banks have operations in the country. Royal Bank of Scotland is the European bank with the largest turnover in Saudi Arabia, with around 150 million euros ($169 million) in 2015, according to public data. HSBC is Europe's most successful bank in Riyadh. It booked profits of 450 million euros in 2015 in the kingdom but disclosed no turnover and has no employees there, according to public data released under EU rules. "The UK will continue to work with the Commission to ensure that the list that comes into force provides certainty to businesses and is as effective as possible at tackling illicit finance," a British Treasury spokesman said. MISSING "WASHING MACHINES" Criteria used to blacklist countries include weak sanctions against money laundering and terrorism financing, insufficient cooperation with the EU on the matter and lack of transparency about the beneficial owners of companies and trusts. Five of the listed countries are already included on a separate EU blacklist of tax havens. They are Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago and the three U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam and U.S. Virgin Islands. Critics said the list fell short of including several countries involved in money-laundering scandals in Europe. "Some of the biggest dirty-money washing machines are still missing. These include Russia, the City of London and its offshore territories, as well as Azerbaijan," said Greens lawmaker Sven Giegold, who sits in the European Parliament special committee on financial crimes. Jourova said the commission will continue monitoring other jurisdictions not yet listed. Among the states that will be closely monitored are the United States and Russia. (Additional reporting by Alistair Smout in London and Mohamed El-Sherif in Cairo; Writing by Francesco Guarascio in Brussels; editing by Mark Heinrich and Rosalba O'Brien)By Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ece Toksabay

ANKARA (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan made clear on Monday that Turkey would not allow a "safe zone" that it is considering setting up in northern Syria to become a base for Kurdish separatists.

Last week, following U.S. President Donald Trump's decision on Dec. 19 to withdraw all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, Erdogan said he and Trump had discussed Turkey setting up a 20-mile-deep safe zone inside Syria along the length of their border.

Erdogan said Turkey would work with anyone willing to provide it with logistics support for the zone, but that it would take action in Syria if promises were not kept.

"We will never allow a safe zone that will turn into a new swamp for Turkey like the one in Northern Iraq, where we still experience problems," Erdogan said.

"We are not talking of a safe zone (as protection) against Turkey, but rather one against terrorists."

Turkish planes regularly attack bases in northern Iraq belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been fighting for three decades for autonomy for southeast Turkey. It is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and European Union.

On Sunday, Erdogan told Trump that Turkey was ready to take over security in Syria's Manbij, where two U.S. soldiers and two American civilian staff died last week in an attack claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State.

Turkey has welcomed Trump's decision to pull out U.S. forces as it makes preparations for an offensive in northern Syria against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which Turkey says is linked to the PKK.

U.S. forces have been helping the YPG to drive Islamic State out of swathes of northern Syria, and Trump's decision, which confounded his own national security team, has prompted accusations at home that he is abandoning an ally.

U.S.-Turkish ties have been strained for months over U.S. support for the YPG and a host of other issues.

Story continues

"If the promises made to us are kept and the process continues, all the better. If not, we have already largely completed our preparations, so we will start taking steps in line with our own strategy," Erdogan said.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a militia allied to the YPG, said last week it was ready to help create the planned safe zone.

(Editing by Kevin Liffey)Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., listens during a news conference on prescription drugs Jan. 10, 2019 at the Capitol in Washington.

WASHINGTON  Rep. Ilhan Omar sparked more controversy on Wednesday after getting into a heated exchange with the administration's newly appointed envoy to Venezuela during a House Foreign Affairs hearing.

The Minnesota Democrat confronted Elliott Abrams over the former assistant secretary of state's role in the Iran-Contra affair and his support of Central American governments that committed human rights abuses during the Cold War.

"I fail to understand why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful," Omar told Abrams (whom she mistakenly referred to as "Mr. Adams"), referencing his 1991 guilty plea on two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress.

Abrams immediately asked for the chance to respond to her statement, but Omar refused.

"It wasn't a question," she said.

"It was an attack," Abrams said as he and Omar spoke over each other. "It is not right that members of this committee can attack a witness who is not permitted to reply."

Omar then went after Abrams for his effort to downplay a massacre committed by the El Salvadoran military when he was serving under the Reagan administration. After hundreds of civilians were killed in the village of El Mozote in December 1981, including 131 children under the age of 12, Abrams and other administration officials dismissed reports of the massacre as exaggerations. The Atlacatl Battalion, which committed the massacre, was trained by U.S. advisers and two months after El Mozote, Abrams cited the battalion's "professionalism."

"On Feb. 8, 1982, you testified before the Senate Foreign Relations committee about U.S. policy in El Salvador. In that hearing, you dismissed as communist propaganda the reports about the massacre at El Mozote," Omar told Abrams.

"You later said the U.S. policy in El Salvador was a 'fabulous achievement.' Yes or no, do you still think so?" she asked Abrams.

Story continues

"From the day that President Duarte was elected in a free election to this day, El Salvador has been a democracy. Thats a fabulous achievement," a visibly agitated Abrams replied without hesitation. Jose Napoleon Duarte was elected in 1984. Prior to that, the country was governed by a joint civilian-military junta.

"Do you think that massacre was a fabulous achievement that happened under our watch?" Omar asked.

"That is a ridiculous question, and I will not respond to it," Abrams replied. "I am not going to respond to that kind of personal attack, which is not a question."

The Reagan administration regularly defended the El Salvador government's human rights record during the 1980s to justify the military aid being sent there to combat communist guerrillas, despite atrocities such as the El Mozote massacre and the December 1980 rape and murder of four American nuns.

The administration feared that if it did not support the El Salvadoran regime, the country could fall to the guerrillas and become a Soviet satellite state. Abrams has maintained that despite the El Salvadoran government's abuses and flaws, the people of that nation would have suffered far more if the country had fallen to communist rule.

Officials in the Reagan administration funneled arms to anti-communist guerrillas, despite a congressional ban on such activity. Abrams was aware of the operation, but withheld that fact during congressional testimony. Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh had been prepared to seek a "multi-count felony indictment" against Abrams for lying to Congress before Abrams agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanors.

President George H.W. Bush pardoned him in 1992.

On Friday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appointed Abrams to act as a special envoy to Venezuela as that country wrestles with economic collapse under the administration of socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

Omar asked Abrams if he would "support an armed faction within Venezuela that engages in war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide if you believed they were serving U.S. interests, as you did in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua."

"I am not going to respond to that question," Abrams said. "Im sorry. I dont think this entire line of questioning is meant to be real questions and so I will not reply."

Omar's confrontation with Abrams came one day after President Donald Trump said the freshman congresswoman "should either resign from Congress or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee" after she sent a tweet that both Democrats and Republicans said was anti-Semitic.

Omar apologized for the tweet on Monday and on Wednesday she fired back at Trump's call for her to resign, tweeting, "You have trafficked in hate your whole life  against Jews, Muslims, Indigenous, immigrants, black people and more. I learned from people impacted by my words. When will you?"

Republicans have protested Omar's placement on the Foreign Affairs Committee since she was given the assignment last month because of a tweet she posted in 2012 in response to an Israeli military offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel," the tweet said.

More: Rep. Omar starts furor with tweets on 'compromised' Sen. Graham, Israel 'evil doings'

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Elliott Abrams bristles at Rep. Ilhan Omar's 'attack' for his Iran-Contra roleCairo (AFP) - Egypt's parliament on Thursday gave preliminary approval to constitutional changes that would allow President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to stay in power after his second term ends in 2022.

A total of 485 lawmakers out of 596 "endorsed in principle the constitutional amendments after three consecutive sessions that lasted more than 10 hours," a statement on parliament's website said.

It did not say how many MPs voted against but Haitham al-Hariri, a member of a small opposition group, said 16 MPs opposed the proposals.

The amendments will now be submitted to parliament's legislative commission which must draft them into legislation and return them to parliament within 60 days for a final vote.

If the vote is passed by a majority of two thirds, parliament will then hold a referendum in line with the conditions of the 2014 constitution.

Backers of Sisi, a former army chief who was re-elected president in March 2018 with over 97 percent of the vote, have been pressing parliament to repeal an article in the constitution limiting presidents to two consecutive four-year terms.

The key amendment endorsed Wednesday calls for extending the president's term in office from four years to six, parliament said on its website.

But critics of this amendment have cried foul.

"We are placing absolute powers in the hands of one person... at a time when the people were expecting us to give them 'bread, freedom, social justice and human dignity'," lawmaker Ahmed Tantawi said on Wednesday in a rare criticism of the government, using the slogan of the 2011 uprising that ousted veteran president Hosni Mubarak.

Eleven non-governmental rights groups have also said they reject the amendments, namely the one that would extend Sisi's presidency and another that would empower the army "to defend the constitution".

The "proposed amendments threaten stability and sanction (the) lifelong presidency" of Sisi, they warned in a joint statement released Wednesday by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS).

Story continues

"These amendments... exercise unprecedented unilateral authority; while granting custodianship over Egypt's constitution and democracy to the military establishment, despite the military's utter disrespect for both since Sisi's ascension to power," it said.

Signatories included the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, the Egyptian Front for Human Rights and the Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms.

Sisi led the army's overthrow of Mubarak's successor, Mohamed Morsi, in 2013 following mass protests against the Islamist leader's rule.

Sisi won his first term as president the following year.

His government has been widely criticised by rights groups over the repression of dissidents.

As well as a crackdown on dissent, Sisi has overseen a military campaign against Islamic State group-linked militants in the Sinai Peninsula.The Hague (AFP) - What's big, blue, furry and causes trouble? For the Netherlands the answer to this riddle is simple: Brexit.

While the British government has had trouble imagining what its exit from the European Union will actually look like, the Dutch government unveiled its own vision in the form of a hairy monster.

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok tweeted a picture of himself with the creature, which is wearing a white t-shirt with the word "Brexit" in red letters, lying on his desk and stopping him from working.

"Make sure Brexit doesn't get -- or lie -- in your way," Blok, who has his arms raised in a gesture of mock frustration, said in the tweet.

"It's a sort of funny way of warning for Brexit, but in a relaxed way," a Dutch government source told AFP, adding that the creature's name was "Brexit".

The government says the idea is to raise awareness among Dutch businesses of the impact of Brexit, especially if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal on March 29.

The tweet also features a link to a government website -- www.brexitloket.nl -- where firms can check for the potential fallout for their business.

A picture on the site meanwhile appears to show the so-called Brexit muppet as a pest for the "Me Too" era, sitting on a female office worker's lap and preventing her from reaching her computer.

The same picture features in a full-page advertisement in the Financieele Dagblad newspaper.

The so-called Brexit muppet will also feature in a social media campaign "literally getting in the way of business" by blocking trucks and conveyor belts, the government has said.

The humourous Dutch take on Brexit belies the fact that the Netherlands is making major preparations to deal with the impact on its economy, which is closely linked with Britain.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in an interview published in the Financial Times on Thursday that around 250 businesses were close to a decision to move to the Netherlands from a "diminished" Britain because of Brexit.

The Dutch cabinet has meanwhile been granted emergency powers to deal with the impact and has set aside 100 million euros (US$114 million) for preparations, including the appointment of 900 new customs officers.Democrats refused Donald Trump's demand for $5.7bn for a border wall with Mexico - AP

Donald Trump will declare a national emergency to find extra funds to build his Mexico border wall, the most senior Republican in the US Senate announced on Thursday, setting up the prospect of a new court battle.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate leader, said Mr Trump had pledged to sign a compromise deal that would provide more than $1 billion for barriers along the border but would also go one step further.

"He also will be issuing a national emergency declaration at the same time. I indicated to him Im going to support the national emergency declaration, Mr McConnell said.

The announcement, made on the floor of the Senate as Mr McConnell was seeking to secure votes for the compromise package, came as a surprise and triggered a backlash from Democrats, civil rights activists and even some Republicans.

"Declaring a national emergency would be a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract from the fact that President Trump broke his core promise to have Mexico pay for his wall," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Credit: AFP

Mr Trump had long floated the idea of declaring a national emergency, which would give him extra powers to unilaterally move around funds, as a way of circumventing Congress and ensuring he could deliver his campaign promise to build a Mexico border wall.

However the prospect of a lengthy battle in Americas courts  a legal challenge is all but inevitable  and vocal opposition from scores of Republican senators was thought to have convinced Mr Trump not to go down that path.

Even Mr McConnell had criticised the idea publicly, saying last month: I dont think much of that idea.

But Mr Trump had come under criticism from leading right-wing US figures over a compromise deal that had been struck between Republican and Democrat congressmen this week.

Story continues

The US president had demanded $5.7 billion for more than 200 miles of wall along the US-Mexico border. That demand had led to a 35-day government shutdown, the longest in US history, before it reopened for three weeks of talks.

Construction continues on a new, taller version of the border structure in Calexico, Calif Credit: AP

But the new agreement included just $1.375 billion for 55 miles of new border barriers. Furthermore the barrier would be fencing rather than a concrete wall, as Mr Trump had once envisioned.

Sean Hannity, the Fox News presenter who is close to the president, had dubbed the agreement a garbage compromise. Mark Meadows, the Republican congressman who leads the influential Freedom Caucus, had also been critical.

The US Senate overwhelmingly passed the compromise spending bill on Thursday before the House of Representatives followed suit later in the day, with a vote of 300 to 128. Mr Trump must sign the bill by midnight on Friday to avoid yet another government shutdown.

By signing the bill and declaring a national emergency, Mr Trump would both avoid another shutdown  which he risked getting the blame for  and be able to show his supporters that he is still building the border wall.

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Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat House speaker, said she may launch a legal challenge and warned the move would create great unease and dismay among her party.

It is not an emergency, what is happening at the border, Ms Pelosi said, calling the claim an illusion.

She insisted that the constitution gave the power of the purse to Congress, appearing to question whether Mr Trump was overstepping his powers.

Mr Trump has repeatedly stated he will look to other federal sources to fund his wall, noting on Wednesday that the administration has access to "a lot of money" being repurposed from existing federal funds to cover unmet wall construction costs.

But some Republicans have been warning that an emergency declaration would set a potentially problematic precedent.

"I have concerns about the precedent that could be set with the use of emergency action to re-appropriate funds," veteran Republican Senator Chuck Grassley said in a statement.

"Accordingly, I will study the president's declaration closely."

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National emergencies have been declared 58 times since the laws were reformed in 1976, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, but none of those occasions was over spending which Congress would not grant.

The move theoretically opens up at least 123 different powers that a US president could use, according to experts. But each one has a tight legal definition which Mr Trump would have to meet.

There has been speculation that the Trump administration has been looking at two particular powers linked to military construction. But in both cases the government would have to be prove why the border wall is needed for national defence.

Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator and close confidante of the president, said: He has all the legal authority in the world to do this and I will stand behind him.

Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said "we're very prepared" when asked about the possibility of a legal challenge but added that she did not expect one.Coty (NYSE: COTY) stock recently rallied after German conglomerate JAB Holding made a tender offer for up to 150 million shares at $11.65 apiece. The offer, which values Coty at a 38% premium to its 90-day volume-weighted average share price prior to the announcement, could increase JAB's stake in Coty from 40% to as much as 60%.

The offer came shortly after Coty's second quarter earnings topped Wall Street's expectations and the cosmetics maker signed a new licensing deal with Burberry. Coty stock has now surged about 50% in the span of a week, but it remains down 45% over the past 12 months.

Cash flies out of a woman's tablet.

Image source: Getty Images.

That sell-off was caused by supply chain issues, department store closures, and tougher competition from stand-alone brands like Ulta Beauty and LVMH's Sephora. All of these factors have weighed on Coty's revenue and earnings growth recently.

JAB's offer seems to indicate that the stock, which trades at about 15 times forward earnings after its recent rally, is undervalued. However, investors shouldn't get too excited about this tender offer and assume that it will lead to a full takeover.

A tender offer isn't a takeover

A tender offer is a public bid for investors' existing shares. This means that JAB is looking to buy 150 million shares from existing shareholders at $11.65 per share. If JAB doesn't convince investors to tender at least 50 million shares by a not-yet-specified date, the deal will fail.

Many investors might consider JAB's bid to be too low, since the stock was trading in the low $20s just a year ago. By tendering their shares, investors who have owned the stock for a few years would lock in significant losses. On the other hand, the tender offer is an opportunity for investors who bought shares within the past three months to score a quick windfall.

JAB's bid values Coty at only 18 times this year's earnings and 16 times next year's earnings -- so long-term investors might prefer to wait for a higher offer. In the meantime, they can continue to collect Coty's generous dividend, which currently has a 4.5% yield.

Story continues

A video blogger introduces cosmetic products.

Image source: Getty Images.

Why does JAB want to control Coty?

JAB has been invested in Coty for nearly three decades. In its press release, JAB stated that Coty "has the potential to address its challenges and prosper over the long-term, and that ... recent management changes are an important first step" towards improving its performance.

Those changes include a CEO change last year (Coty's fourth over the past five years) and the appointments of a new CFO, a new chief global supply chain officer, and a new COO of the consumer beauty business since the beginning of 2019. The consumer beauty division, which was significantly expanded in late 2016 by Coty's takeover of Procter & Gamble's (NYSE: PG) specialty beauty business, has been in a slump ever since.

Coty is relying on the growth of its luxury brands to offset that mass-market slowdown. Nevertheless, analysts expect its revenue and earnings per share to both decline 6% this year. Meanwhile, Procter & Gamble benefited from the divestment of its weaker beauty brands. Analysts expect it to grow its revenue and EPS by 1% and 5%, respectively, this year.

JAB was already Coty's largest investor, and it has previously pushed the company to change its leadership and business strategies. JAB likely believes that gaining majority control would allow it to implement those changes more quickly.

Could this lead to a full takeover?

Over the past few years, JAB has built a diverse portfolio, buying up majority stakes in Peet's Coffee & Tea, Caribou Coffee Company, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, and Keurig Dr Pepper. It also owns Krispy Kreme and Panera Bread, which were both facing major challenges before JAB swooped in.

Given that track record, investors might be wondering why JAB doesn't simply buy Coty. After all, Coty's market cap of $8.4 billion seems comparable to the $7.5 billion JAB paid for Panera Bread.

However, Coty's enterprise value is close to $16 billion because it's shouldering more than $7 billion of net debt -- much of which came from its $12.5 billion takeover of P&G's brands. JAB likely doesn't want to inherit that debt, and it would be much cheaper to gain control of the company with its $1.75 billion tender offer.

Therefore investors shouldn't confuse JAB's tender offer with a takeover attempt. There's a good chance that investors will spurn the offer, causing the stock to quickly give up its temporary gains.

More From The Motley Fool

Leo Sun owns shares of LVMH Moet Hennessy L.V. (ADR). The Motley Fool is short shares of Procter & Gamble. The Motley Fool recommends Ulta Beauty. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy."Some of the candidates are running for the wrong reasons."

With the start of the official campaign period for national positions, the big question is who will make it to the Senate. Survey results indicate the preponderance of reelectionists and old names, with only one or two newbies seen likely to walk the halls of the august body come July 1st. The surveys tell us that the leading contenders are those with the highest awareness percentages among the electorate. Hence, the current topnotcher has a 97-percent awareness rating, and the cellar dweller among 60 bets languishing at 0.2 percent. The survey results do tell us that popularity or name recall counts a lot for candidates to score high. What they dont tell us is the character of the candidates, their track record in public office, and their position on key issues affecting the nations future. For many politicians, a seat in the Senate means prestige as it denotes a national constituency and is a stepping stone to higher political office. But the Senate is not for two-bit politicians, the overly ambitious and out-and-out clowns with nothing to offer the nation. In fact, we expect our senators to be able to discuss issues intelligently, whether its politics, economics, foreign policy, national security, and so on. We do not expect them to be experts in these fields, but at the minimum, they should be able to ask the right questions so they can be sufficiently educated to make the right decisions on important legislation that need to be passed. Unfortunately, not a few of the current crop of senatorial candidates can hardly pass the tests of unsullied integrity, proven competence and sterling track record. Whats worse, from where we sit, is that some of the candidates are running for the wrong reasons. One wants to be in the Senate because he said the President wanted him to run. Given his leading role in implementing the administrations bloody war on drugs, we seriously doubt if he can make an informed judgment on complex issues requiring political acumen and keen discernment. Another claims to want to serve the public by putting up centers to help the poor, but thats the work of the executive branch, not of lawmakers. The job of lawmakers is to study national issues requiring new laws or amendment of existing ones, not to make oneself visible in gatherings and functions simply for media mileage. What were saying is that we should vote wisely in the coming midterm election, as this is one political exercise thats going to determine whether we preserve and enhance our democratic system of governance and arrest the dangerous trend towards authoritarianism, while ensuring that economic growth is sustained to reduce poverty in this country.We cannot achieve the goals of political stability and economic growth if we continue to elect to high office those already tainted by corruption and already facing graft and plunder charges before the courts, the unqualified, the incompetent, and the utterly useless.The Naga City Masonic Lodge No. 257 (NCML 257), located in Naga City, Camarines Sur, and one of the more than 400 lodges under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines, will hold its 38th Installation of Elected and Appointed Officers on Feb. 16, 2019, 2 p.m., at Avenue Plaza Hotel located along Magsaysay Avenue, in Barangay Balatas, Naga City. The new set of officers will be led by Philip Mark Olivan, who will be installed as the 35th Worshipful Master of NCML 257. Olivan, born totally deaf in Naga City, grew up and studied in Canada and USA, and was made a Master Mason in Granada Hills Lodge No. 378 under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of California, USA, and affiliated with NCML 257 in 2012 upon his return to his hometown to join and help his family in managing their various enterprises. Olivan, fluent in American Sign Language and also an accomplished lip-reader and oralist, will be the first-ever Deaf Worshipful Master not only in the 37-year history of NCML 257 and in the 100-year institutional history of GLFAMP, but also in the 250-year recorded history of Masonry in the Philippines. Initial research also indicates that Olivan could be the first-ever Deaf Worshipful Master in the world. Olivan will be installed by Arthur Allan Ponce, a Deaf rights advocate and Past Master of Quezon City Masonic Lodge No. 122, and he will be assisted by two Past Masters of NCML 257, Manuel Perez Jr. and John C. Buendia as Master of Ceremonies and Assistant Master of Ceremonies, respectively. The guest of honor and keynote speaker is John Choa, a well-known Deaf and PWD rights advocate and Past Grand Master of GLFAMP. The installation ceremonies are open to invited non-Masons, one of the very rare occasions that a Masonic lodge opens its temple doors to the public.By Amanda Becker WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Elizabeth Warren issued a pointed campaign finance challenge to fellow Democratic U.S. presidential contenders at her official 2020 White House election launch. "I'm not taking a dime of PAC money in this campaign. I'm not taking a single check from a federal lobbyist. I'm not taking applications from billionaires who want to run a Super PAC on my behalf. And I challenge every other candidate who asks for your vote in this primary to say exactly the same thing," Warren said during her rally last Saturday in Massachusetts. Warren's move regarding money from lobbyists and political action committees (PACs) - entities formed by corporations, unions and others to raise and spend money to back or oppose candidates - highlights the tricky role money is expected to play in a Democratic primary battle that could draw dozens of candidates vying to challenge Republican President Donald Trump. The Democratic candidates are expected to push one another to show their commitment to getting big money out of politics, following the lead of Democrats who helped the party retake control of the U.S. House of Representatives from Trump's fellow Republicans in last year's congressional elections. Many Democrats have decried the influence of money from corporations and wealthy individuals on elections. But some strategists worry that the candidates could go too far and hamper the party's chances in the November 2020 general election by giving a financial edge to the Republicans. All of the Democrats who have launched a 2020 campaign or are formally considering a run have sworn off accepting corporate PAC money, campaign contributions that are pooled by corporate fundraising committees. Some of the 2020 contenders are taking the pledge a step further by promising to reject donations from registered lobbyists and other PACs, while discouraging support from some types of so-called Super PACs that can raise and spend unlimited sums. Senators Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Warren of Massachusetts will not accept donations from registered lobbyists, according to the candidates and campaign aides. The campaign of former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, a Texan, already has returned money to several lobbyists, an aide told Reuters. Most of the candidates, including Klobuchar, Harris, Booker, Gillibrand, Warren and Castro, have said they also will discourage single-candidate Super PACs from operating on their behalf, though they cannot prevent them from doing so. During Booker's first campaign swing through Iowa, the state that holds the first party nominating contest in early 2020, he said he was frustrated that a donor had started a Super PAC on his behalf, and he did not want its support. "My campaign is going to be run by the people," Booker said. "We're going to power this election principally by low-dollar contributions." 'HAND-WRINGING IN WASHINGTON' Legally, Super PACs are supposed to operate independently of candidates and cannot contribute to them directly. In reality, they often are run by donors close to the candidates and their campaigns. David Donnelly, president of Every Voice, a campaign finance watchdog group, said candidates are smart to "think twice about winking and nodding at the Super PACs that are set up for themselves." They "may be more of an albatross than a benefit" with Democratic primary voters, Donnelly said. Promising to reject all Super PAC support, however, could cause consternation. Super PACs supporting Trump, the presumed Republican nominee, have continued raising money throughout his presidency. Donnelly said that "you'd see a lot of hand-wringing in Washington about a candidate" who would forsake any Super PAC support, saying such a stance could be read as a "signal you're not serious about winning." Money is spent by the millions of dollars in presidential races. With donations to candidates from PACs capped at $5,000, these entities play an insignificant role in these elections. In contrast, Priorities USA Action, which is the largest Democratic Super PAC and is not tied to a specific candidate, spent more than $190 million to help Democrat Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics. It is not yet clear if a Democrat would discourage the support of Super PACs like Priorities once becoming the party's nominee. Priorities is remaining neutral in the primary battle but likely will have hundreds of millions of dollars at its disposal for the general election. Gillibrand told reporters she did not think individual candidates should have Super PACs but did not weigh in on Super PAC support more generally. The Harris campaign told Reuters she "rejects Super PAC activity" but did not specify whether that extended to groups like Priorities. The campaigns of Warren, Booker and Klobuchar likewise did not respond directly to questions from Reuters about how they would handle support from such entities. Castro's campaign said he would discourage all Super PAC activity. Foregoing big money groups will put more focus on a Democratic candidate's ability to attract large numbers of small-dollar donations. Klobuchar's campaign said it raised more than $1 million from "online and grassroots supporters across the country" in the 48 hours after she announced her candidacy on Sunday. Supporters who heeded Klobuchar's call to "text Amy" received this reply: "This team is powered by YOU (i.e. NOT Super PACs). Chip in now to help support this movement." (Reporting By Amanda Becker; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Will Dunham)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)Once again, The Daily Show has struck comedy gold.

Meet Bricky, a border wall mascot that the show sent to El Paso to talk to fans of President Trump ahead of his Monday night rally in El Paso, Texas. (That's the one where a Trump backer attacked a BBC cameraman.)

The Trump fans didn't disappoint  exposing a lack of humanity and a deep ignorance while parroting Trump's talking points. From pointing out the flaws in plans to make Mexico pay for the border wall to fear-mongering stories about ISIS fighters being part of the caravan, Bricky let the pro-wall folks do the hard work for him.

In the end, the video winds up being almost as sad as it is funny, revealing just how easily some are manipulated by Trump's agenda. Especially at the moment when Bricky is escorted from the rally, shouting, "You're separating me from my family!"

Thank god for the joke because if we didn't laugh, we'd cry.An investigation conducted by an independent firm found no evidence that the Covington High School students involved in the viral confrontation with an elderly Native American man near the Lincoln Memorial last month used offensive or racist statements.

The Diocese of Covington hired Greater Cincinatti Investigation Inc. to look into the incident after the school and its students were subjected to a torrent of online hate due to the misperception that the male students, who were in Washington, D.C. to participate in the March for Life, surrounded and harassed Nathan Phillips, an elderly Native American man.

After a more complete video of the encounter emerged, it became clear that Phillips approached the boys and began banging a drum just inches from one boys face.

Four licensed investigators spent a total of 240 hours reviewing recordings of the encounter posted to social media and interviewing witnesses, according to a four-page report released by the diocese Wednesday, which

We found no evidence that the students performed a Build the wall chant, the report said, debunking a view that was widely-held among the boys online detractors in the days following the incident.

The report further found that Phillipss account of the incident contain some inconsistencies that could not be explored because investigators were unable to reach him.

Phillips initially claimed that they boys approached him but later admitted that he walked into their group after a video emerged debunking his initial claim. According to his second account, Phillips was attempting to defuse a confrontation between the students and a group of Black Hebrew Israelites, who can be heard on video shouting racial and homophobic slurs at the boys.

Roger J. Foys, the bishop of Covington, celebrated the report as a vindication of the students.

Our students were placed in a situation that was at once bizarre and even threatening, he said in a statement. Their reaction to the situation was, given the circumstances, expected and one might even say laudatory.

More from National ReviewCopa Holdings (CPA) came out with quarterly earnings of $1.04 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.06 per share. This compares to earnings of $2.36 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -1.89%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this holding company for Panama's national airline would post earnings of $1.42 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.36, delivering a surprise of -4.23%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates just once.

Copa Holdings, which belongs to the Zacks Transportation - Airline industry, posted revenues of $656.06 million for the quarter ended December 2018, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.61%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $675.58 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates just once 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.

Copa Holdings shares have added about 18.9% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 9.5%.

What's Next for Copa Holdings?

While Copa Holdings 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 Copa Holdings 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 $2.15 on $700.63 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $7.26 on $2.76 billion 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, Transportation - Airline is currently in the top 4% 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.



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To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment ResearchWashington (AFP) - President Donald Trump plans to declare a national emergency to fund his controversial border wall, the White House said Thursday, a move that alarmed US lawmakers shortly before they passed legislation to avert a government shutdown.

Trump has signaled he will sign the massive spending measure keeping federal agencies operational through September 30.

But it does not specifically fund a wall on the US-Mexico border, and Trump's emergency declaration would help him bypass Congress to locate and redirect billions of dollars in funding to build it.

Trump will take the action "to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said shortly before the Senate passed the spending bill.

The House of Representatives followed suit hours later, and Trump has until a midnight Friday deadline to sign it and prevent the government from going into shutdown for the second time this year.

Signing the spending bill would bring an end to a rolling, two-month battle over government funding. But by declaring an emergency, Trump opens a new confrontation -- and creates some of the riskiest legal peril of his term.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Trump's Democratic nemesis in Congress, said members of her caucus were "reviewing our options" about how to respond to Trump's move.

"Declaring a national emergency would be a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract from the fact that President Trump broke his core promise to have Mexico pay for his wall," Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he backs the president, but several others in the Republican camp have expressed deep reservations.

"I have concerns about the precedent that could be set with the use of emergency action to re-appropriate funds," veteran Republican Senator Chuck Grassley said in a statement.

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Senator Susan Collins said it "would be a mistake on the part of the president" to declare such an emergency, warning it would "undermine" lawmakers' all-important role as financial appropriators.

Many lawmakers have said they have no idea from where Trump will draw the funding. Democrats in particular have signaled that the move would open the door to future presidents declaring emergencies on various topics, from gun violence to climate change to the opioid crisis.

- Court challenges likely -

Under the National Emergencies Act, the president can declare a national emergency, providing a specific reason for it.

That allows the mobilization of hundreds of dormant emergency powers under other laws, which can permit the White House to declare martial law, suspend civil liberties, expand the military, seize property and restrict trade, communications and financial transactions.

Trump has repeatedly stated he will look to other federal sources to fund his wall, one of his top campaign trail promises from 2016.

There is broad expectation that Trump's move would be challenged in court.

And House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler expressed support for a joint congressional resolution to "terminate" Trump's emergency declaration.

That resolution would likely pass the Democratically-controlled House, but it would face a tough road in the Senate, where several Republicans may not wish to cross the president.

Even if it passed, Trump could veto it.

The spending measure includes only $1.375 billion for border barriers or fencing, far from the $5.7 billion that Trump has sought for his long-promised border wall -- a demand that led to the recent 35-day government shutdown, the longest in US history.

The compromise package funds until September 30 the 25 percent of the government whose operations would lapse if the bill is not signed by Trump by the midnight Friday deadline.

Pelosi expressed disdain for the president's upcoming emergency declaration, warning that he was doing "an end run around Congress."

"It's not an emergency, what's happening at the border," she said in comments echoed by multiple Democratic lawmakers.

- Conservative ire -

Trump is widely seen to have suffered politically more than Democrats over the previous shutdown fight.

But he also needs to assuage conservatives livid that the president retreated from his wall-funding demand, a longtime campaign pledge.

"This bill must NOT be signed by @realDonaldTrump," tweeted Fox News host Laura Ingraham, warning it would serve as a "stimulus" for illegal immigration in part because it puts limits on law enforcement's ability to deport some undocumented immigrants.

The bipartisan spending measure, negotiated for weeks, notably does not contain the word "wall" in its 1,165 pages, instead calling the structures physical barriers and pedestrian fencing.Congress is set to resolve its clattering brawl with President Donald Trump in uncommonly bipartisan fashion as lawmakers prepare to pass a border security compromise providing a mere sliver of the billions he's demanded for a wall with Mexico and averting a rekindled government shutdown this weekend.

With Mr Trump's half-hearted signature widely expected but hardly guaranteed, congressional leaders planned votes Thursday on the sweeping package. Passage first by the Republican-led Senate, then the Democratic-controlled House, was virtually certain, with sizable numbers of both parties' members set to vote "yes". Bargainers formally completed the accord moments before midnight Wednesday.

"I'm sure it's going to pass. I don't know of any drama," said House Democrats' chief vote-counter, Representative James Clyburn.

Mr Trump's assent would end a raucous legislative saga that commenced before Christmas and was ending, almost fittingly, on Valentine's Day. The low point was the historically long 35-day partial federal shutdown, which Mr Trump sparked and was in full force when Democrats took control of the House, compelling him to share power for the first time.

Mr Trump yielded 25 January after public opinion turned against him and congressional Republicans. He had won not a nickel of the $5.7 billion he'd demanded for his wall but had caused missed paychecks for legions of federal workers and federal contractors and lost services for countless others. It was a political fiasco for Mr Trump and an early triumph for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The fight left both parties dead set against another shutdown. That sentiment weakened Mr Trump's hand and fuelled the bipartisan deal, a pact that contrasts with the parties' still-raging differences over health care, taxes and investigations of the president.

The product of nearly three weeks of talks, the agreement provides almost $1.4 billion for new barriers along the boundary. That's less than the $1.6 billion for border security in a bipartisan Senate bill that Mr Trump spurned months ago, and enough for building just 55 miles of barricades, not the 200-plus miles he'd sought.

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Notably, the word "wall"  which fuelled many a chant at Mr Trump campaign events and rallies as president  does not appear once in the 1,768 pages of legislation and explanatory materials. "Barriers" and "fencing" are the nouns of choice.

The compromise would also gradually pressure Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to gradually detain fewer unauthorized immigrants. To the dismay of Democrats, it would still leave an agency many of them consider abusive holding thousands more immigrants than it did last year.

The measure contains money for improved surveillance equipment, more customs agents and humanitarian aid for detained immigrants. The overall bill also provides $330 billion to finance dozens of federal agencies for the rest of the year.

Mr Trump has talked for weeks about augmenting the agreement by taking executive action to divert money from other programs for wall construction, without congressional sign-off. He might declare a national emergency, which has drawn opposition from both parties, or invoke other authorities to tap funds targeted for military construction, disaster relief and counterdrug efforts.

Those moves could prompt congressional resistance or lawsuits, but would help assuage supporters dismayed that the president is yielding.

Representative Mark Meadows, who leads the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, told reporters "it would be political suicide" if Mr Trump signs the agreement and did nothing else to find added money.

The measure was expected to be carried by pragmatists from both parties. Many of Congress' most liberal members were expected to oppose it, unwilling to yield an inch to Mr Trump's anti-immigrant policies, while staunch conservatives preferred a bill that would go further.

"I made a promise to my community that I wouldn't fund ICE," said Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a freshman who's become a face of her party's left wing and a leading proponent of eliminating the agency.

Though Mr Trump lost the highest-profile issue at stake, he all but declared victory Wednesday.

At the White House, he contended that a wall "is being built as we speak." Work on a small stretch of barriers is due to start this month in Texas' Rio Grande Valley under legislation Congress approved last year.

Swallowing the deal would mark a major concession by Mr Trump, who has spent months calling the situation at the southern border a national security crisis.

In private conversations, Mr Trump has called the congressional bargainers poor negotiators, said a person familiar with the conversations who wasn't authorized to speak publicly. Mr Trump has also made clear that he wanted more money for the wall and has expressed concern the plan is being framed as a defeat for him in the media.

Mr Trump has repeatedly vowed Mexico would pay for the wall, a suggestion that country has spurned. His descriptions of the wall's size have fluctuated, at times saying it would cover 1,000 of the 2,000-mile boundary. Previous administrations constructed over 650 miles of barriers.

Facing opposition from Mr Trump, Democrats lost their bid to include language giving federal contractors back pay for wages lost during the last shutdown. Federal workers have been paid for time they were furloughed or worked without paychecks.

Also omitted was an extension of the Violence Against Women Act. Democrats say this will give them a chance later this year to add protections for transgender people to that law.

Associated PressThe bullet train is dead.

Mostly.

Californias new governor, the prim and grim Gavin Newsom, announced that the project would be taken off its $650-million-a-month life-support apparatus and euthanized. The end of the project leaves Californians with no way to travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco except a 90-minute, $149 flight.

(Or driving.)

For perspective, if you went to Starbucks 35 times for a venti latte, youd spend more money  and more time  than you would on round-trip air travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco. This is the problem that California has tried to solve with a $77 billion boondoggle.

At the time of its demise, the bullet train was years behind schedule, had spent more than seven times its originally allocated budget, and, of course, carried no passengers.

Governor Newsom  and this is the truly hilarious part  apparently intends to finish up the little bit of the project that already has been started, meaning that there will be a high-speed bullet train connecting Bakersfield with Merced, 100 miles away. This will come at a cost that is simply astonishing.

The same people who brought you this ingenious plan want to take over the majority of the U.S. economy  agriculture, transportation, manufacturing, utilities, and more  and put those commanding heights under political discipline deployed in exactly the same immeasurably stupid way for exactly the same immeasurably stupid reasons. They are calling it the Green New Deal this time around.

But it has been called many other things. Sing along if you know the words:

Were at war with the Germans!

The government must take over the economy!

Theres a Great Depression!

The government must take over the economy!

Were at war with the Germans again!

The government must take over the economy!

Stagflation!

The government must take over the economy!

Some people make a lot more money than others!

The government must take over the economy!

Story continues

Global warming?

The government must take over the economy!

I have this weird pain in my right shoulder. I think it may be the rotator cuff, but Im not entirely sure. Makes a funny clicking noise when I do bench presses.

The government must take over the economy!

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously!

The government must take over the economy!

Etc.

Progressives love trains. They hate cars. Theres a reason for that.

The fundamental progressive idea is central planning. In the progressive imagination, society is a puzzle to be solved, a grand Rubiks Cube that can be adjusted and readjusted and experimented with until  perfection! The progressive looks at society the same way a child looks at a model railroad set or an ant farm  which is to say, from a point of view that is effectively godlike. Human beings, their families, their desires, their pleasures, their dreams, their businesses, their associations, their communities  all of these are only chessmen to be moved around in pursuit of utopia.

A car can go basically anywhere its driver wants. A train can go only where the central planners have preordained. It is for this reason that trains have long been at the center of the progressive vision. And not only the progressive vision: Such modern utopians as Ayn Rand find in the railroad the model of the kind of society they desire: a society that is designed, that proceeds according to plan. Whose plan? Preferably one of their own, of course, but theyll get on board for almost any old plan if the alternative is no plan at all.

There is another vision of society: that it is organic, that many of its best and more effective institutions are spontaneous orders, that all sorts of magnificent and enriching things are the result of systems that have no one in charge of them at all. That isnt a manifesto for anarchism, but for what conservatives call well-ordered liberty. What is that? Arent ordered and liberty mutually exclusive? As conservatives understand things, the purpose of government is to govern: enforcing contracts and protecting property, rights, and liberty, which provides the security that is necessary for spontaneous orders to thrive.

Progressives sometimes point out  correctly  that many of these rules and protocols appear to be fundamentally arbitrary. Some of you probably know the story (which is not the whole story) of how the capacity of a compact disc (kids, ask your parents) originally was determined: a Sony executive wanted a single CD to be able to handle all of Beethovens glorious Ninth Symphony, specifically the leisurely version of it recorded at Bayreuther Festspiele in 1951 under the baton of Wilhelm Furtwangler. It mattered less what provided the standard for CDs than that there was a standard, which enabled any ordinary CD to be played in any ordinary CD player. Picking a different piece of music might have yielded different dimensions or a different sample rate (44.1 kHz was not ordained by any deity) or other technical differences. A different set of rules for intellectual property would have changed the way Silicon Valley technology companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers are organized. This or that change in the way labor markets are organized and regulated would result in different wage distributions.

From that, progressives conclude  also correctly  that these institutions are subject to change and renegotiation. But human beings and their relationships are not infinitely plastic, and even arbitrary standards and procedures may provide great value by simple virtue of the fact that they enable social cooperation. There is no existential mandate that gasoline pumps in Amarillo are in form and operation identical to those in Boston, but it does making filling the car up easier. American Express and Visa help to simplify complicated legal and financial issues related to doing commerce across national borders. These things develop over time, with input from many different people and institutions (no single person or entity invented the CD or the internal-combustion engine); sometimes, government is one of those institutions.

A healthy society with an intelligent politics never falls for the illusion of Year Zero, that we rational and enlightened moderns  each generation of which always imagines itself to be the first of its kind  can begin anew, building from the foundations up. Under the auspices of the Green New Deal, a group of ordinary people with no special knowledge or ability believes that it can deputize itself to radically overhaul  from first principles of its own distillation  everything from the way soybeans are grown to how people get from New York to Los Angeles. That they couldnt even figure out how to get people from Los Angeles to San Francisco while burning through $77 billion  an amount that exceeds by many billion dollars the market capitalization of BlackRock, Inc., a financial behemoth that is  take note, here  the worlds largest asset manager.

Ordinary market processes (in air travel, a heavily regulated industry) created the system by which anybody who wants to travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco can do so in less than two hours for the cost of a few dozen cups of coffee. The central planners failed to create an alternative even with enormous sums of money at their disposal and enormous power to command.

With the state of California and all its splendid glories as their model-train set, they couldnt even best Alaska Airlines.

Put these po-faced generalissimos in charge of reinventing the U.S. economy from the ground up?

Hard pass.

More from National ReviewCincinnati Bell (CBB) came out with a quarterly loss of $0.55 per share versus the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.14. 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 -292.86%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this regional telephone company would post a loss of $0.17 per share when it actually produced a loss of $0.16, delivering a surprise of 5.88%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates just once.

Cincinnati Bell, which belongs to the Zacks Diversified Communication Services industry, posted revenues of $399 million for the quarter ended December 2018, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.63%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $427.10 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates just once 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.

Cincinnati Bell shares have added about 15.9% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 9.8%.

What's Next for Cincinnati Bell?

While Cincinnati Bell 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 Cincinnati Bell 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 -$0.11 on $391.93 million in revenues for the coming quarter and -$0.35 on $1.57 billion 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, Diversified Communication Services is currently in the top 42% 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.



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To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment ResearchBEIJING (AP)  China's January exports rebounded from a contraction amid a tariff battle with Washington while Chinese purchases of U.S. goods plunged.

The data were announced Thursday as Chinese and U.S. negotiators began talks President Donald Trump says might decide whether he escalates a fight over Beijing's technology ambitions by going ahead with a March 2 tariff hike on $200 billion of imports.

Total exports rose 9.1 percent from a year earlier to $217.6 billion, an improvement from December's 3.5 percent decline, customs data showed. Imports declined 1.5 percent to $178.4 billion.

Exports to the United States sank 2.4 percent to $36.4 billion, squeezed by Trump's tariff hikes.

Imports of American goods plunged 41.2 percent to $9.2 billion, reflecting retaliatory Chinese duty increases and orders to importers to find other suppliers.

The talks in Beijing this week may decide whether Trump allows another increase on $200 billion of imports from China to go ahead March 2.

Weakness in global demand for Chinese goods has increased pressure on the ruling Communist Party to make peace with Washington at a time when Beijing is trying to reverse an economic downturn. The government has warned Chinese exporters the global environment is "complicated and severe."

"The downbeat outlook for global growth means that this year is likely to be challenging for Chinese exporters, even if the ongoing U.S.-China trade negotiations culminate in a deal," said Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics in a report.

Chinese trade data early in the year are disrupted by the Lunar New Year holiday, which comes at different times in January or February each year. Factories rush to fill orders and then close for up to two weeks.

China's global trade surplus for January was $39.2 billion. The surplus with the United States was $27.3 billion.

Exports to the United States held up through much of 2018 despite Trump's tariff hikes, but fell 3.5 percent in December as the impact of the increases began to depress demand. Forecasters say American orders should slump this year.

Story continues

Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed on Dec. 1 to postpone additional tariff hikes by 90 days while they negotiated. But penalties of up to 25 percent already imposed on billions of dollars of each other's goods remain in place, raising the cost for American and Chinese buyers of soybeans, medical equipment and other goods.

Trump is pressing Beijing to roll back plans for state-led creation of Chinese global competitors in robotics and other tech fields. Washington, Europe and other trading partners complain such policies violate its market-opening obligations.

Chinese leaders are trying to reduce reliance on trade and nurture self-sustaining economic growth based on domestic consumer spending. But their plans call for keeping exports stable to avoid politically dangerous job losses.

Some companies have shifted production of goods bound for the United States out of China to avoid Trump's tariffs. Others are lining up non-Chinese suppliers of industrial components.

___

General Administration of Customs of China (in Chinese): www.customs.gov.cnREAD: Measles outbreak: 70 dead

The measles scare has reached Mindanao as health personnel in Sarangani Province are closely monitoring several villages in at least two municipalities due to the alarming rise in cases of the highly contagious disease since last month. Dr. Arvin Alejandro, Provincial Health Office chief, said they have dispatched teams to treat cases of suspected measles and conduct immunization activities in Alabel and Malungon towns to control the spread of the disease. Since the first week of January, he said that they have already recorded a total of 48 cases of measles in the entire province. The official said most of these cases were mainly from two areasBarangays Poblacion of Alabel and Poblacion of Malungon. About 85 to 90 of the cases involved infants and children who were not immunized for measles, he said in an interview over Brigada News FM. Alejandro said such a situation was also found among children in other areas, where measles cases were reported since last year. He cited the outbreak from November to December in Barangay Upper Suyan, Malapatan town that killed 23 children and affected 144 residents. Citing their records, he said that about 95 percent of the children infected with measles in Upper Suyan had no history of immunization. Alejandro admitted that there were areas not reached by health teams during the immunization activities last year due to their remoteness and inaccessibility due to security problems. He said some parents refused immunization for their children due to the Dengvaxia controversy. Alejandro said they consider the current measles incidence in the area as alarming and are regularly updating the Department of Health-Region 12 and central office to facilitate the needed interventions. On Monday, he said, the DOH relayed guidelines to their office for the conduct of a massive measles immunization drive. Infants and children aged nine to 59 months should be immunized for measles, which is given in two doses, he said. He said the province has enough supply of vaccines and these were already distributed to the seven municipal health offices. Were not just focusing our immunization activities on infants and children. Were also covering adults, especially mothers, to ensure that households are protected, he added. The Integrated Provincial Health Office of South Cotabato, meanwhile, has stepped up its monitoring and vaccination activities against measles as suspected cases continued to increase since last month. Dr. Rogelio Aturdido Jr., chief IPHO, said Wednesday they already recorded at least 39 cases of measles infection from Jan. 1 to Feb. 11 in six of the provinces 10 towns and lone city. Aturdido said Polomolok town posted the most number of cases with 26 and with one fatality, followed by Koronadal City with four, Norala and Banga with three each, Tampakan with two and Surallah with one. A four-month-old baby from Polomolok died Sunday to complications caused by suspected measles, he said. South Cotabato is one of the hotspots [for measles], in Region 12 [Soccsksargen] in general. We cannot just sleep on it, the IPHO said. Citing a report from the IPHOs epidemiology and surveillance unit, Aturdido said most of the cases involved infants and children, with the youngest at four months old. Most of the patients did not have a history of immunization for measles, Aturdido said. The IPHO recorded at least 128 suspected measles cases during the first half of 2018, with two deaths reported in Koronadal City and Tboli town. The official said they are currently conducting catch-up measles immunization activities in the entire province, especially in the affected areas, to prevent further spread of the disease. Senator Richard Gordon called for urgent efforts to increase vaccination coverage. READ: Measles outbreak: Politics rears ugly head At a meeting of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council meeting, Gordon, chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, said the Department of Health should boost its information drive on the importance of immunization to close the gaps in vaccination coverage. What you need right now is a call to arms to make sure that everybody is conscious of the need to immunize and that kids must be immunized. The vaccination gap should be closed, he said. You have to exert more effort to dispel the peoples ungrounded fears about vaccination. You have to make the public understand that they should not fear and disregard the vaccines included under the Expanded Program on Immunization because these vaccines are safe, he added, Gordon noted that while the Dengvaxia controversy may have contributed to the significant drop in vaccine confidence last year, although a declining trend in vaccination coverage had already been noted since 2014. He warned against declaring a state of calamity at present since the number of measles cases is still manageable and does not yet justify such declaration. Theres no need to create a national emergency here. Were not in danger of a pandemic or an epidemic right now. Its manageable, he said. Meanwhile, the local government of Kawayan, Biliran issued an executive order declaring a dengue outbreak in the entire town on Wednesday. Mayor Rodolfo Espina Sr. said the declaration is in response to the recommendation of the towns health office to put the town under dengue outbreak status after the illness killed a 5-year-old boy and downed 81 others in 10 villages during the first six weeks of 2019. The villages with clustered cases are Mapuyo, Tucdao, Kansanoc, Burabod, Ungale, Madao, Villa Cornejo, Poblacion, Balite, and Balacson. Christine Balasbas, the towns health officer, said in a phone interview on Thursday that some patients are still being treated. Fogging operations are being done in areas affected by dengue. The coastal town of Kawayan is about 128 kilometers northwest of Tacloban, the regional capital. The Department of Health regional office said aside from the measles outbreak, they are also looking at the rising dengue cases in the region. The region recorded 11,023 dengue cases with 61 deaths in 2018. For Jan. 1 to Feb. 9, a total of 1,169 cases were recorded by the Health department. Of the 1,169 cases in the region, 396 have been recorded in Samar, 254 in Leyte, 244 in Northern Samar, 171 in Biliran, 65 in Eastern Samar, and 39 in Southern Leyte. READ: PAO chief: Vaccines lack led to outbreak In the past five weeks, dengue deaths have been reported in Kawayan, Biliran; Tacloban City, and Guiuan, Eastern Samar.. Those who suffered dengue after their hospitalization should have a regular check-up for 10 days to monitor their condition. If they turn positive in a rapid diagnostic test, it is very important that patients should stay in the hospital, the DOH said. The DOH repeatedly asked communities to continue the search and destroy activities for the breeding ground of mosquitoes as these are the most effective strategy to combat dengue.By Brendan O'Brien (Reuters) - Five Roman Catholic dioceses in New Jersey on Wednesday released the names of 188 clergy members who have been accused of sexually abusing children dating back decades, including a former cardinal facing defrocking by the Vatican. The disclosure was the result of an internal investigation of archdiocese records and all of the priests and deacons listed have previously been reported to law enforcement and none remain in the ministry, Newark Archbishop Cardinal Joseph Tobin said in a statement. "It is our sincerest hope that this disclosure will help bring healing to those whose lives have been so deeply violated," he said, noting some of the abuse dates back to 1940. New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal formed a task force in September to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy in his state, along with any efforts to cover up such abuse. "I am pleased to see that our task forces grand jury investigation has prompted the dioceses to finally take some measures to hold predator priests accountable," Grewal said in a statement on Wednesday. "Our investigation remains ongoing," he said, adding, "We anticipate taking criminal action wherever appropriate." Grewal could not be reached for further comment. "SOLACE TO SURVIVORS" The Newark Archdiocese released the names of 63 clergy members, 33 who are deceased and 33 who are accused of having multiple victims. Some of the deceased are among those accused of having multiple victims. The Paterson Diocese had 28 clerics on its list, the Camden Diocese listed 57 clerics, the Trenton Diocese had 30 and the Metuchen Diocese listed 11 clergy. One priest on the Newark list also appeared on the Paterson list. "We hope that seeing these names in print will bring solace to survivors and let victims who may still be suffering in silence find the strength to come forward," the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said in a statement. Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who rose to be a power broker in the American Church as archbishop of Washington, D.C., from 2001 to 2006, was among the clergy members on the Newark list. He has previously responded publicly to one of the allegations, saying he has "absolutely no recollection" of an alleged case of sexual abuse of a 16-year-old boy more than 50 years ago. He has not responded publicly to separate allegations by several priests and ex-priests. McCarrick resigned last year and is living in seclusion in a remote friary in Kansas. He will likely be dismissed from the priesthood, which would make him the highest profile Roman Catholic figure to be defrocked in modern times, according to Vatican sources. (Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; editing by Bill Tarrantand Leslie Adler)Madrid (AFP) - The lead defendant in the trial of 12 Catalan separatist leaders, former regional vice president Oriol Junqueras, refused to answer prosecutors' questions in court on Thursday.

"I am being persecuted for my ideas and not for my actions... I will not answer questions from the accusers," he said as he took the stand in Spain's Supreme Court in Madrid for the first time.

Junqueras faces 25 years behind bars if he is convicted of rebellion and misuse of public funds for pushing an independence referendum in October 2017 in defiance of a court ban.

The referendum was followed by a declaration of independence by leaders in the northeastern region, which sparked Spain's worst political crisis in decades.

"I consider myself to be a political prisoner," said Junqueras, in response to questions from his own lawyer.

Junqueras has been held in pre-trial detention for more than a year.

"Nothing which we did is a crime, nothing, absolutely nothing. Voting in a referendum is not a crime. Working peacefully for independence is not a crime. We have not committed a single one of the crimes we are accused of," he added.

The 11 other accused in the politically charged trial which got underway on Tuesday include members of Catalonia's former executive, the two leaders of the 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.

In total, nine defendants have been charged with rebellion. They have all been in pre-trial detention for months, some of them for more than a year. The three others are accused of disobedience and misuse of public funds.

Under Spanish law, rebellion is defined as "rising up in a violent and public manner". But the key question is whether there actually was any violence.

Prosecutors point to "violent incidents" during protests orchestrated by two grassroots groups in the lead-up to the referendum.

Story continues

Activists surrounded a Catalan economy ministry building on September 20, 2017 while national police carried out a search inside to try to stop the vote from going ahead.

The defendants deny that the referendum drive was carried out in a violent manner. They point to violence by police who raided voting stations on the day of the referendum.

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.The chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that he will be stepping down amid controversy amid a row over alleged misuse of government resources and unauthorised travel expenses.

Brock Long announced his resignation in a statement on Wednesday, stating that he will officially step down from his position on March 8. Peter Gaynor, Mr Longs deputy, will serve as the acting administrator.

While this has been the opportunity of the lifetime, it is time for me to go home to my familymy beautiful wife and two incredible boys, Mr Long said in a statement. As a career emergency management professional, I could not be prouder to have worked alongside the devoted, hardworking men and women of FEMA for the past two years.

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After its investigation, the Department of Homeland Securitys inspector general determined that Mr Long lavishly used government resources for personal trips throughout his term as FEMA chief.

The inspector general determined last year that Mr Long unauthorised use of government resources cost the American taxpayer the following: $94,000 in staff salary, $55,000 in travel expenses and $2,000 in vehicle maintenance.

The investigation was prompted by reports that Mr Long would use government-issued vehicles for his personal leisure despite his agencys counsel informing him it was unethical.

DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Mr Long will have to pay the government back for his use of of government cars and staff during these personal trips. The lot of these trips were used to travel between Washington, DC and his home in North Carolina.

In an email to FEMA staff, Mr Long wrote that his resignation was one of the toughest decision he has ever made.

This is one of the toughest decisions I have ever had to make, Mr Long wrote in the email, according to Bloomberg. Thank you for an incredible journey and for the support you have shown me. Whether you agreed with my vision for the agency or not, thank you for standing with me as we tried new concepts designed to ultimately save lives and better our profession.

Story continues

Mr Long led disaster relief agency through a record term of natural disasters, including a hurricane that demolished Puerto Rico.

Under his term as chief, FEMA was heavily criticised for its response Hurricane Maria and its impact on the small Caribbean island.

The tropical storm left Puerto Rico without electricity for months on end and resulted in the deaths of an estimated 2,975 people.A British schoolgirl who fled to Syria to join Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has said she does not regret it, but wants to return to the UK to give birth.

Shamima Begum, 19, vanished from her home in Bethnal Green in London four years ago, along with two other teenage girls, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase.

A girl who identified herself as Shamima Begum, was found in a refugee camp in Syria as the Isil caliphate collapsed, the Times reported.

In an interview with the newspaper she described how she had been living in the caliphate and had married an Isil fighter from the Netherlands called Yago Riedijk.

She was heavily pregnant and due to give birth any day.

Kadiza Sultana, Amira Abase, and Shamima Begum Credit: PA

The girl is living in the al-Hawl refugee camp in northern Syria along with 39,000 other refugees.

She described having seen a severed head in a bin during her time with Isil, and escaping bombs dropping, the Times reported.

The teenager also said she had already given birth to two children, both of whom died in infancy.

She told the Times: "Im not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago. And I dont regret coming here."

She added: "I am scared this baby is going to get sick in this camp, that's why I want to get back to Britain, because I know my baby will be looked after."

The three girls had joined another London teenager, Sharmeena Begum, in Syria. All were married off to jihadists.

Shamima Begum said at least one of her friends, Kadiza Sultana, had been killed when a bomb hit a house in Raqqa.

Renu, eldest sister of Shamima Begum, 15, holds her sister's photo while being interviewed by the media at New Scotland Yard, central London Credit: PA

The other two girls reportedly stayed on to fight in Baghuz in eastern Syria, along with a few hundred Isil fighters, as the caliphate came to an end.

Shamima Begum and her husband fled instead, and the husband surrendered to Kurdish forces.

The girl told the Times she had spoken to her mother in the UK and asked for her support when she goes home.

She had also read what had been written about her online by people back in the UK.

Story continues

"The caliphate is over," she told the Times. "There was so much oppression and corruption that I dont think they deserved victory. I know what everyone at home thinks of me. But I just want to come home to have my child. All I want to do is come home to Britain."

British teenagers Kadiza Sultana, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum passing through security barriers at Gatwick Airport, en route to Syria in 2015 Credit: AFP

The Home Office said it does not comment on individual cases, although anyone who returns to the UK after travelling to IS territory faces criminal investigation and stricter laws are now in place.

Security Minister Ben Wallace said: "The UK advises against all travel to Syria and parts of Iraq. Anyone who does travel to these areas, for whatever reason, is putting themselves in considerable danger.

"Everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police to determine if they have committed criminal offences, and to ensure that they do not pose a threat to our national security.

"There are a range of terrorism offences where individuals can be convicted for crimes committed overseas and we can also use Temporary Exclusion Orders to control an individuals' return to the UK."

A displaced Syrian woman and a child walk toward tents at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp of al-Hol in al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria Credit: AFP

Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer who was instructed by the Bethnal Green girls' families after they ran away, said he was "glad (Ms Begum) is alive and safe".

He told the Press Association the authorities should be reminded of former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe's position at the time of their disappearance.

"The position of the Metropolitan Police was that they should be treated as victims, so long as they hadn't committed any further offences while they are out there," he said.

Mr Akunjee said he had spoken to the girls' families, who had "expressed the position that they want time and space to process what's happened".

The Western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are expected to announce the territorial defeat of Isil in the coming days.

Around 2,000 US special forces are expected to be brought home by April.

Giving evidence to MPs in the wake of the British schoolgirls's disappearance, in 2015, senior police officers said they would not be treated as criminals if they returned home.

They said there was a "difference between the person running around with a Kalishnikov" and three schoolgirls who had been duped into travelling to Syria.

The girls funded their travel to Syria by stealing jewellery from relatives, paying more than 1,000 in cash to a local travel agent for their flights to Turkey.

Donald Trump has said Isil is "defeated"and that an announcement is imminent on "100 percent of the caliphate" having been retaken.

The war to push Isil out of its so-called caliphate had lasted more than four-and-a-half years.

The area once covered part of Syria and Iraq that was around the size of Britain.

Pentagon officials have warned that Isil remains an "active insurgent group in both Iraq and Syria".

Sign up for your essential, twice-daily briefing from The Telegraph with our free Front Page newsletter.21 Savage poses in the press room at the MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York - Invision

UK-born rap artist 21 Savage, who has been in custody in Georgia for nine days on immigration charges, was granted bond on Tuesday and will be released from custody on Wednesday, his lawyer said.

The entertainer, whose real name is Sha Yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was arrested on February 2 by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents over accusations he had overstayed his visa by more than a decade. Officials said he came to the United States from Britain in 2005.

Atlanta US Immigration Court Judge Dan Pelletier granted the 26-year-old bond during a hearing on Tuesday, his attorney Charles Kuck told Reuters by phone.

The bond amount was set at $100,000, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported. Kuck declined to confirm the amount.

His legal team earlier on Tuesday released a statement that said he had been released. Kuck later said Abraham-Joseph remained in ICE custody because the bond was not granted before a daily 2pm deadline, but said he would be released on Wednesday.

21 Savage was born in the UK Credit: AP

The rapper, who was born in Plaistow, east London, but moved to the US with his mother when he was seven, was granted an expedited hearing after speaking with ICE officials to clarify his legal standing and bond eligibility, his legal team said in a statement.

"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," they said.

ICE officials were not immediately available for comment.

The rapper still faces deportation proceedings in federal immigration court, Kuck said.

"His case is not over by a long shot," he added.

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Abraham-Joseph was convicted on felony drug charges in Georgia in 2014, and was arrested as part of a targeted operation with the cooperation of local law enforcement, an ICE spokesman told Reuters when the rapper was taken into custody.

21 Savage was nominated for two Grammy Awards for the hit "Rockstar," with Post Malone, including the coveted record of the year category, but was unable to attend the glitzy awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday because he was being held in Georgia.

His Facebook page shows he has several concerts scheduled in the coming weeks.Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative MP who supports a hard Brexit. Photo: John Stillwell/PA Wire

A government minister has accused Brexiteer MPs of treachery as they inflicted a humiliating defeat on Theresa May over her Brexit plans.

Business minister Richard Harrington even told rebels to join Nigel Farages new Brexit Party in an extraordinary attack on his own colleagues in the Conservative party.

It comes as a large number of hardline Eurosceptics abstained and others voted down a motion of support for Mrs Mays Brexit strategy in Parliament on Thursday evening.

The prime minister had asked MPs not only to back her aim of renegotiating the Irish backstop, but also to state their opposition to no deal  a move Brexiteers could not accept.

Harrington vented his fury at the European Research Group (ERG) of Conservative Brexiteers, led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, in comments likely to widen divisions in his party even further.

READ MORE: May hit by humiliating revolt in Commons over block to no-deal Brexit

Mr Harrington told The House magazine: The Prime Minister has done a pretty good job of standing up to them till now, but they were drinking champagne to celebrate her losing her deal and I regard that as being treachery.

I read that Nigel Farage is setting up a new party called Brexit and if I were them Id be looking at that, because that seems to reflect their views more than the Conservative party does.

They should read carefully what that partys got to offer, because in my view theyre not Conservatives. There are people who are very solid and stringent in their views and if I were they I would be looking at a party that seems designed for them  Nigel Farages party.

He also risked angering Eurosceptic colleagues still further by calling the so-called Malthouse compromise, an alternative Brexit plan favoured by many Brexiteers, just fanciful nonsense.

Harrington, who backed Remain in the 2016 referendum, added that resigning from the cabinet would only help the ERG and mean giving in to a minority of a minority.



The Bank of England has issued frequent warnings about the impact of Brexit. Photo: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

If you think Brexit hasnt truly hit the UK economy, think again.

The Bank of England estimates that uncertainty stemming directly from the Brexit referendum has cost the British economy 40bn ($51.5bn) per year, according to Gertjan Vlieghe, who is part of the central banks key monetary policy committee.

In a speech on Thursday, Vlieghe outlined that the Bank of England calculated the UK economy took a 2% hit since the Brexit vote compared to where it otherwise would have been.

That amounts to around 40bn per year, or 800m per week of lost income for the country as a whole, he said.

Growth in Britains economy slowed considerably at the end of last year, putting a drag on UK gross domestic product (GDP) for the entire 2018. GDP grew by just 1.4% in 2018, the weakest level since 2009, according to the Office for National Statistics.

This slowdown came as Europes economy also weakened, with the European Union posting growth of 1.9% last year. This led Brexit supporters to blame outside factors for the weakness in the UK.

People voting to leave the European Union in 2016 had been spurred on by promises from Brexiteer campaigners that ditching EU membership meant the UK could stop sending vast sums of money to the bloc.

A famed Brexit bus was emblazoned with the words: We send the EU 350 million a week. Lets fund our NHS instead. Vote leave. Lets take back control.

That 350m figure was widely discredited, with the UK Statistics Authority saying the statement was misleading because it didnt take into account the money that the UK received back from the EU.

Given the high level of public interest in this debate it is important that official statistics are used accurately, said Andrew Dilnot, the chair of the UK Statistics Authority, in a pre-referendum letter in 2016.

The 39bn Brexit bill

The UK is still expected to pay a so-called divorce bill worth an estimated 39bn to the EU as part of prime minister Theresa Mays Brexit deal.

Story continues

This amount is meant to cover the UKs share of its EU spending commitments that it made whilst it was an EU member. The money wont be paid all in one go, but most of it is expected to be paid in the next four years.





If the UK parliament does not approve Mays Brexit deal, the financial settlement will not become legally binding, according to researcher Matt Keep in the House of Commons Library. So its possible the country could leave the EU without paying the bill.

Even so, the UK is still expected to make some form of payout to avoid angering its powerful ally and largest trading partner.

The governments view is that it has financial obligations that it will meet and not doing so could see the UK portrayed as an unreliable partner, Keep said in his December report.

The UK is set to leave the EU on 29 March 2019 at 11PM local time.

READ MORE: We are all 1,500 worse off since the Brexit vote, says think tankLondon (AFP) - "CANCEL BREXIT": Katharine Hamnett's slogan t-shirts express the mood of many fashionistas ahead of London Fashion Week starting on Friday, with Britain's withdrawal from the EU on March 29 weighing heavily on the industry.

The British designer created the clothes as "a knee-jerk reaction" to the 2016 referendum result, she told AFP -- others feature slogans such as "FASHION HATES BREXIT" AND "SECOND REFERENDUM NOW".

Why does she hate it? Because Brexit "would be a disaster for the UK economically, socially, educationally, culturally, diversity-wise, employment, security-wise, defence-wise", she said.

Hamnett is known for her political activism but is far from alone in her views.

A study by consultants Fashion Roundtable found 96 percent of business leaders in the British industry voted to stay in the EU.

Their almost unanimous hostility to Brexit reflects a feeling across much of British cultural life, but also the fears of a sector strongly dependent on international trade.

- Fear of no deal -

Like many other parts of the British economy, the fashion industry particularly fears the prospect of leaving the EU with no agreement.

In this "no deal" Brexit, trading conditions between Britain and its closest economic partner would dramatically change overnight.

"Not only is there a risk of higher tariffs on goods both imported and exported, but the movement of goods could also be delayed due to increased customs declarations," said Samantha Dover from research firm Mintel.

This spells trouble for designers who need flexibility to work with Paris or Milan, whether it's sending accessories at the last minute, preparing catwalk shows or showrooms, or simply exporting their goods to the continent.

British fashion house Burberry warned last month that a "no deal" Brexit would result in "tens of million of pounds" in extra duty costs.

Story continues

- Relocation -

"It's not so much the practical difficulties," said Lulu Kennedy, the director of the Fashion East collective.

"It's also the message that (Brexit) sends out, it's so negative... this message of not cooperating and not being part of the European family."

It is not surprising that the British Fashion Council, which organises London Fashion Week, recently came out in support of a second Brexit vote to avoid a no-deal exit.

Faced with the risks, some labels have already decided or are planning to relocate to EU countries, to maintain the advantages of being in the bloc's single market and customs union.

"We took avoiding action early at quite some cost, so all our product development, manufacturing and logistics are now located in Italy," said Hamnett.

It is a similar story at menswear designer Oliver Spencer.

"If there is a bad Brexit, I will use my manufacturing facilities and warehouse facilities in Portugal to service my market," he told AFP.

He is more relaxed about Brexit than many of his fashion colleagues -- even if, like them, he voted against it.

"The problem is not knowing what is going on," he said.

But he added: "I find in times of disturbance, political unrest, and recession that a lot of creative people are more creative."BOSTON (AP)  A woman who accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexually assaulting her in Boston nearly 15 years ago will meet with prosecutors to discuss her allegations, her attorney said Wednesday.

Vanessa Tyson will meet with members of the Suffolk County district attorney's office to detail her accusations against Fairfax, attorney Debra Katz said in a statement. It came days after District Attorney Rachael Rollins sent a letter to Tyson's legal team to inform them that her office is prepared to investigate should Tyson file a criminal complaint.

"Usually in sexual assault cases we are not public in any way, but this individual chose to self-report and issued a statement and has a law firm and I felt compelled quite frankly to make sure that her firm knew that we stand ready, willing and able to assist in any way possible," Rollins, a Democrat who took office last month, said in an interview Wednesday.

Tyson is one of two women who have accused Fairfax of sexual assault, leading to calls for the Democrat to step down. Tyson publicly accused Fairfax this month of forcing her to perform oral sex in his hotel room at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004.

Later, 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.

The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they are victims of sexual assault, but both women have come forward voluntarily.

Fairfax has emphatically denied both accusations and called for authorities to investigate the women's claims. He has said he will not resign from office and vowed to clear his name against what he described as a "vicious and coordinated smear campaign" being orchestrated against him.

A spokeswoman for Fairfax said earlier Wednesday that he would cooperate fully with an investigation by Boston's district attorney if a complaint is filed.

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"In that event, the Lt. Governor will explore all options with regard to filing his own criminal complaint in response to the filing of a false criminal complaint against him," spokeswoman Lauren Burke said.

Tyson's attorney said she spoke with Rollins on Wednesday afternoon and they are working to schedule a meeting. She also blasted Fairfax's suggestion that he would consider bringing charges against Tyson if she filed a complaint.

"This is a clear effort to obstruct justice," Katz said. "Dr. Tyson will not be bullied and she will not be deterred by such threats."

Under Massachusetts law, the statute of limitations is 15 years for rape and several related crimes, an interval that would expire this summer for Tyson's accusation. But Rollins said her office could argue that the clock for the statute of limitations paused when Fairfax left Massachusetts, meaning Tyson would have even more time to file a complaint.

Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry didn't immediately respond to messages asking whether the second accuser has approached her office about investigating the 2000 accusation at Duke University.

Duke campus police have no criminal reports naming Fairfax, university spokesman Keith Lawrence said Wednesday. The Durham Police Department has no record that any police report was filed at the time.

North Carolina law doesn't include a statute of limitations for prosecuting felonies, according to a University of North Carolina criminal law blog, though defendants can argue certain delays violate due process rights.

___

Associated Press reporters Julie Pace in Washington, Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia, and Jonathan Drew in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

___

Follow Alanna Durkin Richer at http://www.twitter.com/aedurkinricherREAD: Facing tax evasion cases, Rappler vows to fight back

The Palace and the Justice department said Thursday the arrest of Rappler chief executive Maria Ressa had absolutely nothing to do with press freedom, saying even high-profile journalists are not exempt from the rule of law. On Wednesday evening, agents of the. A Pasay night court refused to process her bail, citing jurisdiction on the case. Ressa, who was released after posting P100,000 bail on Thursday, bemoaned the weaponization of the law, but Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo denied that the administration was trying to silence her. He said President Rodrigo Duterte did not even know the complainant, a businessman named Wilfredo Keng. Why would he be interested in this case, he doesnt even know who filed it. In other words, there is absolutely nothing. There is no connection, whatever. This case is absolutely unrelated, he said. He also reminded Ressa that she was not exempted from the law. Maria should know that even though youre a high-profile journalist, you will be exempted from the complaints of an ordinary citizen, he said. He said Ressa was correct to say the rule of law should be observed. She was charged because were observing the rule of law. As far as the complainant is concerned, she violated his rights, he said, noting that the case progressed because authorities found probable cause for Ressas supposed crime during the preliminary investigation. He said Ressa seemed to be enjoying the limelight. I watched her from the place she got arrested up to the NBI even until dawn, she was smiling, it seems shes enjoying everything, he said. How can you say theres a violation of freedom of expression when she continued to criticize inside the NBI? Panelo said.Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra also denied that the arrest was an attack on press freedom. The cases against Rappler and Ms. Ressa have nothing to do with press freedom. Anyone who breaks the law shall be prosecuted, Guevarra said. The DOJ will not file charges for the purpose of harassing journalists. Not under my watch, he added. READ: Rappler chief arrested for cyber libel Guevarra said Ressa was given due process as she was given chance to refute the charges during the earlier preliminary investigation conducted by the DOJ on the complaint filed by Keng and the National Bureau of Investigation. He said Ressas camp could have prevented her arrest by posting bail even before the warrant was served. The arrest of Ms. Ressa is simply procedural, he said. We are following criminal procedures here. Keng, in a statement, said he was deeply grateful that after the conduct of a lengthy, careful and meticulous investigation, the Department of Justice has categorically resolved to criminally charge Rappler Inc., Maria Angelita Ressa and Reynaldo Santos Jr. with cyber-libel in court. He said he was committed to see the legal battle against Ressa and Rappler to the very end. READ: Rappler chief posts bail; support pours in



WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress lopsidedly approved a border security compromise Thursday that would avert a second painful government shutdown, but a new confrontation was ignited  this time over President Donald Trump's plan to bypass lawmakers and declare a national emergency to siphon billions from other federal coffers for his wall on the Mexican boundary.

Money in the bill for border barriers, about $1.4 billion, is far below the $5.7 billion Trump insisted he needed and would finance just a quarter of the 200-plus miles he wanted. The White House said he'd sign the legislation but act unilaterally to get more, prompting condemnations from Democrats and threats of lawsuits from states and others who might lose federal money or said Trump was abusing his authority.

The uproar over Trump's next move cast an uncertain shadow over what had been a rare display of bipartisanship to address the grinding battle between the White House and lawmakers over border security.

The Senate passed the legislation 83-16, with both parties solidly aboard. The House followed with a 300-128 tally, with Trump's signature planned Friday. Trump will speak Friday morning in the Rose Garden about border security, the White House said.

Trump is expected to announce that he will be spending roughly $8 billion on border barriers  combining the money approved by Congress with funding he plans to repurpose through executive actions, including a national emergency, said a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly. The money is expected to come from funds targeted for military construction and counterdrug efforts.

House Democrats overwhelmingly backed the legislation, with only 19  most of whom were Hispanic  opposed. Just over half of Republicans voted "no."

Should Trump change his mind, both chambers' margins were above the two-thirds majorities needed to override presidential vetoes. Lawmakers, however, sometimes rally behind presidents of the same party in such battles.

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Lawmakers exuded relief that the agreement had averted a fresh closure of federal agencies just three weeks after a record-setting 35-day partial shutdown that drew an unambiguous thumbs-down from the public. But in announcing that Trump would sign the accord, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also said he'd take "other executive action, including a national emergency,"

In an unusual joint statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said such a declaration would be "a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract" from Trump's failure to force Mexico to pay for the wall, as he's promised for years.

"Congress will defend our constitutional authorities," they said. They declined to say whether that meant lawsuits or votes on resolutions to prevent Trump from unilaterally shifting money to wall-building, with aides saying they'd wait to see what he does.

Democratic state attorneys general said they'd consider legal action to block Trump. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello told the president on Twitter "we'll see you in court" if he makes the declaration.

Despite widespread opposition in Congress to proclaiming an emergency, including by some Republicans, Trump is under pressure to act unilaterally to soothe his conservative base and avoid looking like he's lost his wall battle.

The abrupt announcement of Trump's plans came late in an afternoon of rumblings that the volatile president  who'd strongly hinted he'd sign the agreement but wasn't definitive  was shifting toward rejecting it. That would have infused fresh chaos into a fight both parties are desperate to leave behind, a thought that drove some lawmakers to ask heavenly help.

"Let's all pray that the president will have wisdom to sign the bill so the government doesn't shut down," Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Thursday's Senate session opened.

Moments before Sanders spoke at the White House, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took to the Senate floor to announce Trump's decisions to sign the bill and declare an emergency.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters there were two hours of phone calls between McConnell and the White House before there were assurances that Trump would sign.

McConnell argued that the bill delivered victories for Trump over Pelosi. These included overcoming her pledge to not fund the wall at all and rejecting a Democratic proposal for numerical limits on detaining some immigrants, said a Republican speaking on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

In a surprising development, McConnell said he would support Trump's emergency declaration, a turnabout for the Kentucky Republican, who like many lawmakers had opposed such action.

Democrats say there is no border crisis and Trump would be using a declaration simply to sidestep Congress. Some Republicans warn that future Democratic presidents could use his precedent to force spending on their own priorities, like gun control. GOP critics included Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who said emergency declarations are for "major natural disasters or catastrophic events" and said its use would be of "dubious constitutionality."

White House staff and congressional Republicans have said that besides an emergency, Trump might assert other authorities that could conceivably put him within reach of billions of dollars. The money could come from funds targeted for military construction, disaster relief and counterdrug efforts.

Congressional aides say there is $21 billion for military construction that Trump could use if he declares a national emergency. By law, the money must be used to support U.S. armed forces, they say.The Defense Department declined to provide details on available money.

With many of the Democrats' liberal base voters adamantly against Trump's aggressive attempts to curb immigration, four declared presidential hopefuls opposed the bill in the Senate: Cory Booker of New Jersey, New York's Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kamala Harris of California. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota voted for it, as did Vermont independent Bernie Sanders, who is expected to join the field soon.

Notably, the word "wall," the heart of many a chant at Trump campaign events and his rallies as president, is absent from the compromise's 1,768-page legislative and descriptive language. "Barriers" and "fencing" are the nouns of choice, a victory for Democrats eager to deny Trump even a rhetorical victory.

The agreement, which took bargainers three weeks to strike, would also squeeze funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in an attempt to pressure the agency to detain fewer immigrants. To the dismay of Democrats, however, it would still leave an agency many of them consider abusive holding thousands more immigrants than last year.

The measure contains money for improved surveillance equipment, more customs agents and humanitarian aid for detained immigrants. The overall bill also provides $330 billion to finance dozens of federal programs for the rest of the year, one-fourth of federal agency budgets.

Trump sparked the last shutdown before Christmas after Democrats snubbed his $5.7 billion demand for the wall. The closure denied paychecks to 800,000 federal workers, hurt contractors and people reliant on government services and was loathed by the public.

With polls showing the public blamed him and GOP lawmakers, Trump folded on Jan. 25 without getting any of the wall funds. His capitulation was a political fiasco for Republicans and handed Pelosi a victory less than a month after Democrats took over the House and confronted Trump with a formidable rival for power.

Trump's descriptions of the wall have fluctuated, at times saying it would cover 1,000 miles of the 2,000-mile boundary. Previous administrations constructed over 650 miles of barriers.

___

Associated Press Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro and reporters Padmananda Rama, Lolita Baldor and Matthew Daly contributed.Brasilia (AFP) - Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro was embroiled in a government crisis on Thursday after a key ally accused him of washing his hands of a campaign finance scandal and sending his son to manage it.

Bolsonaro, who is six weeks into his presidency, is under pressure over reports that one of his ministers -- a former leader of his party -- may have misused campaign funds in last year's election.

Rodrigo Maia, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, accused the president of using Carlos Bolsonaro to "ask a minister to resign" rather than finding a solution himself.

"It's a huge risk for a government that needs to show leadership and unity because there are some important challenges," said Maia, who is from a party allied to Bolsonaro's PSL.

Gustavo Bebianno, Secretary General of the presidency and former head of the PSL, is suspected of involvement in a scam in which fake PSL candidates were registered during last year's election campaign in order to obtain funds.

Bebianno, who was one of Bolsonaro's main campaign organizers, tried to play down the crisis and claimed to have spoken several times with the president at a time when the far right leader was recovering from surgery in hospital.

But Carlos, one of the president's four sons, caused a storm on Thursday with a tweet denying that those meetings ever took place.

Bolsonaro, who left hospital on Wednesday after a 17-day stay, then accused Bebianno of "lying" and said he'd asked police to open an investigation into his minister's connection to the illicit campaign financing.

"The government is escalating a problem," Maia told GloboNews channel. "It gives the impression that the president is using his son to ask Bebianno to resign."

Bebianno vowed Thursday to hang on.

"If there's a problem, he (Bolsonaro) must find a solution, he cannot... get his family to intervene as that creates insecurity," said Maia.

Carlos, a councilor for Rio de Janeiro, is not the only Bolsonaro son involved in a scandal.

His eldest, Flavio, a senator, is suspected of involvement in illegal financial transactions.WASHINGTON  A week after his death in Dearborn, former U.S. Rep. John Dingell was remembered Thursday in the nation's capital by several legislative colleagues and one old hunting buddy  former President Bill Clinton.

"The thing that I loved most about him was that he was a world-class doer," said Clinton of Dingell, who during more than 59 years in Congress helped write and pass some of the most important civil rights, environmental and health care legislation in the nation's history. "John Dingell was just about the best doer in the history of American public life."

Dingell, a Democrat who became the longest-serving member of Congress, died last week at age 92. A funeral was held for him in Dearborn on Tuesday and another service began Thursday shortly after 10:30 a.m. at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in northwest Washington, D.C.

A veteran, he is expected to be interred at Arlington National Cemetery on Friday.

Speaking at Holy Trinity, where Dingell and his wife, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, were married in 1981, Clinton and others recollected Dingell's tenacity, friendship and often acerbic wit.

"Let's be honest, one of the reasons none of us would have missed this," Clinton joked, "is that this (is) the only time we were in the same room with John Dingell that we got the last word in."

After a legislative career that lasted from 1955 to 2015, Dingell, Clinton remarked, turned to Twitter, employing sharp, often comic remarks to gain a following of hundreds of thousands of people.

"Until his last day on Earth, John Dingell was doing," Clinton said. "When his body wouldnt work anymore and his mind wouldnt stop, he turned to Americas national obsession, tweeting, and became a Zen master."

Other speakers included former House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio; House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, and U.S. Reps. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, and John Lewis, D-Georgia. Other dignitaries in the church included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

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Upton, who would go on to succeed Dingell as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and remained a longtime friend of the Dingells, spoke of his long friendship with John Dingell. He also spoke of how, when Dingell took office in 1955 to replace his own father, said, "If I can be half the man my father was, I will feel a great success."

"Mr. Chairman, let me assure you, your dad would be awfully proud," Upton said.

Upton, despite being in the opposition party, was among those who pushed to have the committee room named after Dingell after he became the longest-serving member of Congress in 2014.

Lewis, a civil rights leader who has been in Congress since 1987, reminded people of Dingell's vote for the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which led to a tough primary against a fellow Democrat, former U.S. Rep. John Lesinski Jr., who voted against the bill. It was one of the few tough elections Dingell ever faced.

"John didn't run away from his decision ... He stood on the courage of his conviction and won that primary by 5,000 votes... People respect you when you stand up for what you believe," Lewis said.

"Thank you for your friendship. I will miss you.  but I do deeply believe in my heart that we will see you in the morning."

The service at Holy Trinity in Washington attracted a large number of legislators, especially since many of those who had expected to be able to attend the service in Dearborn on Tuesday had their flights turned back because of bad weather in Detroit.

Clinton, who was in office from 1993 to 2001, was one of 11 presidents in office during Dingell's remarkable tenure.

While not a big hunter, Clinton was known to have taken at least one trip to Maryland's Eastern Shore to go hunting with Dingell and another legislator, U.S. Rep. Bill Brewster, D-Oklahoma. A late start, however, led to the men taking only one duck, which Clinton later had stuffed for Dingell.

"Ive been in a duck blind with him when it was so cold, the ducks wouldnt come out," Clinton remembered, " and I said to him, 'Look on the bright side  it saved us a lot of criticism from the animal rights people."

"He never snuck around behind your back," Clinton went on, talking about how Dingell, when he disagreed with you politically, let you know it and didn't shy away from a fight, even with a friend. "He didnt say one thing behind your back and then call somebody to get a little press with someone else ... He was an old-fashioned man who did things in an old-fashioned way that we should adopt for new times."

Boehner remembered how Dingell always badgered him about quitting smoking and how he offered him advice when Boehner first became a committee chairman.

In his remarks, Hoyer, who served with Dingell for more than three decades and remained a longtime friend, reminded those in attendance of how tough Dingell could be.

He remembered a time when Dingell, who as chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee vastly expanded its reach, quickly closed a vote when he saw that he was going to lose the balloting on some measure.

Hoyer remembered Dingell saying, "You may have the votes but I still have the gavel."

Hoyer saw Dingell just before he died.

"He knew the end was nearing but even at the threshold of death, he was in command. He was concerned. He was ready for the next day. The next tweet. The next fight. As Debbie said, he was classic John Dingell. But that was how I will always remember him ... Godspeed Big John."

Dingell, during his tenure, rose to become one of the most influential members of the House, helping to write and pass some of the most significant legislation enacted by Congress during that period, including Medicare, the passage of which he presided over in 1965; the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. He also helped craft and pass the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, in 2010.

His wife was elected to his seat after he stepped down.

More: Michigan's John Dingell, longest-serving member in Congress, dies at 92

More: John Dingell: What ex-Michigan lawmaker was like in private

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @tsspangler.

Live blog recap: John Dingell funeral in Washington, D.C.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Bill Clinton at John Dingell funeral: He was a 'world-class doer'Sebastien Roblin

Security,

History tells us why.

The Biggest Threat to a U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier: Catching on Fire

At 8:18 the exhaust heat triggered the fifteen-pound warhead of one of the Zuni rockets. The resulting blast ruptured the Phantoms fuel tank, which poured burning JP-5 jet fuel onto the deck, catching three more Phantoms on fire. Amongst the first victims of the conflagration were two operators of the huffer unit and the F-4 pilot.

A series of collisions involving U.S. Navy destroyers in 2016 and 2017including two incidents recent tragedies that left sixteen sailors deadhave raised questions as to why the maritime fighting branch appears to be suffering the same accident again and again.

(This first appeared several years ago.)

However, it can take time for organizations to learn from mistakes and implement solutions to deal with them. This fact was illustrated when it took no less than three catastrophic fires on U.S. aircraft carriers between 1966 and 1969 that killed more than 200 sailors before major reforms decisively improved safety onboard the giant flat tops. This final article in a three-part series looks at the last incident which occurred on the USS Enterprise.

All three of the disasters were triggered in part by rocket munitions. In 1966, a magnesium flare tossed into an ammunition locker caused rockets to detonate aboard the USS Oriskany, killing forty-four. Then in 1967, a Zuni rocket mounted on a fighter onboard the USS Forrestal accidentally launched due to a power surge, blasting into the side of an A-4 attack jet. This began a chain-reaction of detonating bombs and jet fuel that threatened to consume the conventionally-powered supercarrier.

However, these last two incidents occurred while the crew were undergoing the stress of launching dozens of jet aircraft a day into combat over Vietnam. Such was not the case for the USS Enterprise as she cruised seventy miles southwest of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on in January 1969. The 1,100-foot long Enterprise was the worlds first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Escorted by the destroyer USS Rodgers and the missile cruiser USS Bainbridge, the supercarrier was undergoing flight drills in preparation for another deployment to Vietnam.

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At 6:45 AM on January 14 the carrier began launching a mix of F-4J Phantom fighters, A-6 and A-7 attack planes, and E-2 and KA-3 support aircraft. By 8:15 AM there were a total of fifteen aircraft prepping for launch on the flight deck. These included Phantom fighter 405 which was loaded with six 500-pound Mark 82 bombs and two LAU-10 rocket-launching pods, each containing four unguided five-inch Zuni rockets. As usual, an MD-3A huffera tractor-mobile heating unit used to warm up jet-engineswas positioned on the starboard side of the fighter, ready to prepare for it takeoff.

However, several crewmen noticed that the exhaust from the huffer was gusting onto one of the Phantoms rocket pods only two feet away. At that distance, the heat would have amounted to more than 320 degrees while Fahrenheit the huffer was idling. The crew were not trained to know the cook-off temperature of the weapons they were handling, but several mentioned their concern to a nearby ordnance chief and other personnel. However, they were either preoccupied with fusing bombs in time for launch, or he couldnt hear what was being said over the noise of nearby jet engines. Despite four different surviving crewmen admitting afterwards that they were aware of the unsafe positioning of the huffer, nobody acted on the situation in time.

The Zuni rocket employed a Composition B warhead, composed of 60 percent RDX and 40 percent TNT mixed with wax that was prone to cooking off when exposed to roughly 350 degrees of heat. M65 bombs made of Composition B had inflicted the lions share of the damage in the Forrestal fire, and the navy was then in the process of converting to more stable Composition H6 munitions.

At 8:18 the exhaust heat triggered the fifteen-pound warhead of one of the Zuni rockets. The resulting blast ruptured the Phantoms fuel tank, which poured burning JP-5 jet fuel onto the deck, catching three more Phantoms on fire. Amongst the first victims of the conflagration were two operators of the huffer unit and the F-4 pilot.

A horrible chain reaction unfolded, similar to that which had occurred on the USS Forrestal. The heat from the burning fuel caused three more Zuni rockets to explode after two minutes, blasting a hole into the aircraft hangar belowallowing burning jet fuel to pour in.

The devastation had only just begun. The growing blaze then caused a 500 pound bomb mounted on the Phantom to detonate, gouging an eight-foot diameter hole into the deck, setting off secondary fires three decks below.

In his definitive book on the incident, Enterprise crewman Michael Carlin recalled the moment:

Everyone was stunned by the explosion and the shrapnel that hit all about the island. Both twin agent units [full of flame-retardant foam] were knocked out. Hoses flopped about wildly, geysering spumes of foam and salt water. Men were on fire, the wounded moved feebly, the dead were still.

As ordnance detonations rippled across the ship, a rack of three Mark 82 bombs detonated all at once, blowing out a giant eighteen by twenty-two foot hole in the deck and causing a large KA-3 tanker to ignite with thousands of gallons of fuel onboard, sending a massive fireball scything into damage control crews.

More than eighteen explosions would tear open the Enterprises deck in eight places. Fortunately, her crew reacted efficiently to combat the blaze. Her skipper, Captain Kent Lee, turned the ship portside into the wind to blow away smoke, while sailors rushed forwards to combat the fire despite the detonating munitions, managing to roll the remaining bombs off the deck into the ocean before they could catch fire. The destroyer Rodgers put herself at risk by slewing in closely beside the Enterprise in order to spray her down with fire hoses. The efforts paid offdespite suffering a total of eighteen ordnance detonations, the crew brought the fire under control after forty minutes, and extinguished it entirely by noon.

The raging blaze had injured 314 crewmen and killed twenty-eight. Fortunately, this was significantly lower number of fatalities than had occurred on the Oriskany and Forrestal. Indeed, Captain Lee attributed the lower death toll to firefighting lessons learned from the earlier catastrophes.

Twisted and scarred by the blaze, with fifteen of her jets reduced to smoldering wrecks, the Enterprise limped back into Pearl Harbor, where she underwent fifty-one days of repairs costing $126 million ($866 million in 2017 dollars). The venerable carrier went on to serve forty-three more years before being retired in 2012. As for Captain Kent Lee, he would play an important role in the development of the FA-18 Hornet fighter jet. He passed away this August of 2017.

The painfully won experience from the Enterprise fire inspired a final round of introspection from the navy, which you can read in the mandatory JAG investigation here. Prior to the fire, sailors were already aware of the danger posed by the huffer heating units to aircraft weapons, due to earlier, nonlethal incidents. The crew of the USS Constellation had even devised longer huffer hoses for safer use. However, this awareness did not lead to navy-wide policies which could have prevented the accident, and the ordnance crew on the Enterprises deck failed to react promptly to a deadly threat to their safety despite spotting it in advance.

The succession of devastating accidents in the 1960s cost hundreds of lives. However, they did have one positive aftereffect: they confronted the navy with major deficiencies with its safety culture, and forced it to implement serious reforms to training and upgrades to its equipment, including the installation of flight deck wash down systems and employing more stable munitions. While carrier operations remain an inherently dangerous business, there have so far not been any catastrophic accidents on the scale of those that occurred in the 1960s. Tragically, those lessons were paid for in blood before their importance was fully realized.

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Vienna (AFP) - Austria's competition authorities said Thursday it was launching a probe into whether US online retail giant Amazon was abusing its dominant position to favour its own products against those of Austrian retailers selling on its market place.

The Austrian Federal Competition Authority (BWB) said in a statement that it was investigating complaints received in December 2018 about Amazon's alleged "unfair trade practices".

The suspicion was that Amazon "discriminates against other retailers and thereby tries to inordinately favour its own products on the Amazon market place", BWB said.

According to the complaints, Amazon allegedly terminated sellers' accounts abruptly and for no apparent reason.

It also allegedly forced retailers to disclose their prices and added incorrect delivery details to the sellers' accounts.

The retailers also accused Amazon of deleting them from product rankings and introducing jurisdiction clauses making it difficult for them to take legal action.

"The digital world is not a legal vacuum. Companies operating on a global scale must adhere to applicable Austrian laws and regulations," said BWB chief Theodor Thanner.

BWB decided to launch the investigation after consulting the European Commission and Germany's federal cartel office, which had started a similar probe against Amazon last November, he said.

Internet giants such as Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook are coming under increasing scrutiny worldwide for their business practices, the way they collect and store user data, as well as their efforts to avoid taxes.

Other countries, such as Japan and France, but also the EU Commission have all launched probes against such companies recently.

In June 2017, the EU Commission slapped a 2.4-billion-euro fine on Google for abusing its dominant position.

The BWB said on Thursday that its investigation could eventually lead to warnings, sanctions or even fines being imposed on Amazon, if the cartel court finds it breached EU and Austrian law.

"The results of the examination must be awaited before taking next steps," said BWB chief Thanner.At least 37 Indian paramilitary soldiers were killed on Thursday in Indian-administered Kashmir in one the deadliest attacks on government forces there, police said.

The suicide bombing outside Srinagar claimed by an Islamist group is likely to ratchet up tensions between nuclear-armed arch rivals India and Pakistan, with New Delhi long accusing Islamabad of supporting militants.

"The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain," Indian Prime Minister Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, calling the attack "despicable".

The attack saw explosives packed inside a van rip through buses in a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying some 2,500 members of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

Two blue buses carrying around 35 people each bore the brunt of the massive blast, heard miles away, around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the city of Srinagar on the main highway to Jammu.

The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported that at least 39 people were dead, while other press reports said the number could exceed 40.

Some of the bodies were so badly blown up that officials feel it may take some time to identity them, PTI reported. The convoy was bringing the troopers back from leave to rejoin active service.

It was unclear whether the van containing the explosives was driven into the convoy or whether it was detonated when the buses were adjacent.

"It was a powerful explosion. The explosive was car-borne," CRPF spokesman Sanjay Kumar told AFP.

Photos showed the blackened, mangled remains of at least one vehicle littered across the highway.

Reports said that there were 350 kilos (770 pounds) of explosives used.

Local media reports said the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed Islamist group claimed responsibility.

A spokesman for the group told a local news agency that the "suicide attack" was carried out by Aadil Ahmad, alias Waqas Commando, a known militant from the area.

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After the attack, hundreds of government forces cordoned around 15 villages in the district the bomber came from and started searching house-to-house, a police officer and witnesses said.

The last major car bombing, which killed 40 people including three suicide attackers, was also carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed, in 2001. The target was the local parliament building in Srinagar.

- 'Not in vain' -

The US condemned the attack in "the strongest terms" on Thursday, and called on "all countries...to deny safe haven and support for terrorists."

State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said Washington was "resolutely committed to working with the Indian government to combat terrorism in all its forms".

The attack surpasses one in 2016 that was the biggest in 14 years, claiming the lives of 19 soldiers in a brazen pre-dawn raid by militants on the Uri army camp.

India blamed militants in Pakistan for that attack, and responded with strikes across the heavily-militarised Line of Control, the de-facto border dividing the nuclear-armed nations.

The "surgical strikes" several kilometres (miles) inside Pakistan-controlled Kashmir remain a source of national pride for Modi's government and were the subject of a rip-roaring recent Bollywood film.

India's foreign ministry, in a statement late Thursday, blamed Pakistan.

"This heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries," the foreign office said.

"India is firmly and resolutely committed to take all necessary measures to safeguard national security. We demand that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory," it added.

Islamabad, however, rejected the suggestion that it was involved and said it had "always condemned acts of violence."

"We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations," the Pakistan foreign ministry said.

Before Thursday's violence, the biggest attack on Indian forces was in May 2002, when militants attacked an Indian army camp in Kaluchak in Jammu city, killing 34 people, including family members of soldiers.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since independence. Rebels have been fighting for an independent Kashmir, or a merger with Pakistan, for 30 years.

Last year was the deadliest in a decade, with rights monitors saying almost 600 people died, most of them civilians. Thousands more have been maimed in recent years by pellet-firing shotguns used by Indian forces.

Pakistan says it only provides diplomatic support to Kashmiris' right to self-determination.Stock markets were under pressure Thursday as traders anxiously awaited news from high-level US-China trade talks under way in Beijing.

European indices, which had gained ground earlier, had mostly slipped into the red by the close, and Wall Street was also lower in the late morning in New York.

London, however, managed to eke out a small closing gain thanks to pound weakness which boosts earnings of FTSE-listed multinationals with much income in other currencies.

Earlier, Asian markets had already dropped as traders reacted to a batch of mixed earnings updates.

In company movement, shares in Airbus jumped in Paris after the European plane maker said it would stop building its A380 owing to poor demand for the superjumbo.

The announcement was made alongside news that Airbus net profit soared 29 percent in 2018 on strong demand for its smaller planes.

David Madden, analyst at CMC Markets UK, said strong Chinese trade data bode well for talks with the US.

"That fact that China's economy is showing some signs of improvement might mean Beijing will be less susceptible to pressure from the US regarding the trade dispute," he said.

- 'Positive signals' -

Negotiators have kicked off discussions in the Chinese capital aimed at defusing a row that has already triggered tariffs on billions of dollars' worth of exports and threatened to stymie global growth.

Failure to resolve the dispute would initiate a sharp hike in US tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods, although US President Donald Trump indicated this week he could extend his March 1 deadline if progress is made.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that preliminary discussions in Beijing had gone "very well", Bloomberg reported, adding that the US president was considering a 60-day deadline extension according to unnamed sources.

"Based on the positive signals from the US-China trade negotiations, further tariff hikes will likely be suspended," noted Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics, as US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met with China's top economic czar Liu He.

Story continues

China's trade surplus with the US narrowed in January even as its American imports plunged, buffeted by a slowing economy and the tariff battle with Washington, official data showed Thursday.

The surplus fell to $27.3 billion from $29.9 billion in December.

- Key figures around 1645 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 7,197.01 points (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 0.7 percent at 11,089.79 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.2 percent at 5,062.52 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.6 percent at 3,182.66

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.4 percent at 25,434.10

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: FLAT at 21,139.71 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.2 percent at 28,432.05 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 2,719.70 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1281 from $1.1270 at 2130 GMT Wednesday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2794 from $1.2848

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 110.69 yen from 111.02 yen

Oil - Brent Crude: UP 49 cents at $64.10 per barrel

Oil - West Texas Intermediate: UP 7 cents at $53.97

burs-jh/nlaThe Daily Beast

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photos Linkedin/FacebookThe British billionaires daughter-in-law who killed a top police officer in Belize is breaking her silence to tell the story of how she accidentally shot himand how she is now locked in a battle to see her own children.I feel like Im living in a movie and I dont know what the endgame is, Jasmine Hartin, the partner of Lord Michael Ashcroft, told the Daily Mail in her first interview since her arrest.Hartin is charged with mansBy Stephen Nellis (Reuters) - Apple Inc said Thursday that it will resume selling older iPhone models in its stores in Germany, where they were banned last year due to a patent infringement ruling. The iPhones will be sold in Germany only with chips from Qualcomm Inc, instead of a mix of chips from Qualcomm and Intel Corp. Qualcomm is in a global legal battle against Cupertino-based Apple over patent licensing, and the German case was part of the chip supplier's efforts to rack up smaller wins ahead of a major lawsuit with Apple that goes to trial in April in San Diego. Qualcomm last year also won a ban on sales of some iPhones in China. Apple said it had "no choice" but to stop using some chips from Intel Corp in iPhones headed to Germany in order to comply with the patent infringement ruling. Qualcomm, the world's biggest supplier of mobile chips, sued Apple in Germany alleging that some older iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models violated Qualcomm patents around so-called envelope tracking, a feature that helps mobile phones save battery power while sending and receiving wireless signals. The alleged patent violation stemmed not from Intel chips but yet another Apple supplier - Qorvo Inc - whose chip was only present in older phones with Intel modems. The court sided with Qualcomm and banned sales of some iPhone models that used Intel modem chips, leading Apple to pull the devices from its 15 retail stories in Germany and its online store in the country. The ban was a victory in Qualcomm's legal conflict with Apple. The iPhone maker has alleged that Qualcomm engaged in illegal patent licensing practices to protect a monopoly on so-called modem chips, which connect mobile phones to wireless data networks. Qualcomm has in turn alleged that Apple has infringed its patents. A major case between the two goes to trial in the United States in April. Apple began phasing in Intel's modem chips in 2016 after years of using chips exclusively from Qualcomm. In last year's iPhone models, Apple dropped Qualcomm's chips completely in favor of Intel's. But Qualcomm has continued to supply Apple with chips for older models, and Apple on Thursday said it would use only those for German iPhone 7 and 8 models. "Qualcomm is attempting to use injunctions against our products to try to get Apple to succumb to their extortionist demands," Apple said in a statement to Reuters. Qualcomm and Qorvo did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Newer iPhones with Intel chips remain on sale in Germany. "Intel's modem products are not involved in this lawsuit and are not subject to this or any other injunction," Steven Rodgers, Intel's general counsel, said in a statement. (Reporting by Stephen Nellis; Editing by Christopher Cushing and David Gregorio)Maria Ressa

Rappler chief executivethat sparked international censure and allegations she is being targeted over her news sites criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte.in a sharp upping of government pressure on her and her news website Rappler.and now aafter clashing repeatedly with Duterte over his deadly crackdown on illegal drugs that has killed thousands. The message that the government is sending is very clear... be silent or youre next, an emotional Ressa told reporters outside a Manila court. She posted a bond of P100,000, the sixth time since December that she has paid bail on a government case. I am appealing to you not to be silent, even ifand especially ifyoure next, added Ressa, who was named a Time Magazine Person of the Year in 2018 for her journalism. International condemnation from dignitaries, press freedom and human rights groups has poured in since plainclothes agents appeared at Rappler to serve an arrest warrant. The arrest of Maria Ressa is an outrage, said Committee to Protect Journalists Chairperson Kathleen Carroll. She should be freed immediately and the Philippines government needs to cease its multi-pronged attack on Rappler. Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, tweeted in support: The arrest of journalist @mariaressa by the Philippine government is outrageous and must be condemned by all democratic nations.and former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr. stems from a 2012 report written about a businessmans alleged ties to a then-judge on the nations top court. While investigators initially dismissed the businessmans 2017 complaint about the article, the case was subsequently forwarded to prosecutors for their consideration. The legal foundation of the case is a controversial law aiming to crack down on online offenses ranging from harassment to child pornography. Ressas team has argued the legislation did not take effect until months after the story was published and is not retroactive, however the government has countered that it is fair game because the story was updated in 2014. In essence in the contemplation of the law it is a new article because of the modification, republication, Markk Perete, spokesman for Department of Justice prosecutors, said. That is deemed as a new article. Rappler concedes the story was updated, but notes it was to fix a typo and no substantive changes were made. Ressas lawyer JJ Disini said he will formally ask the court within the week to dismiss the case as the publication and the modification were made more than a year ago. He argues the maximum period set by law for a legal action to be brought has already lapsed. Thats disincentive for people to speak out, Disini told reporters. I think there would be grounds to raise these issues in the Supreme Court. Duterte has lashed out at other critical media outfits before, including the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper and broadcaster ABS-CBN, threatening to go after their owners over alleged unpaid taxes or block the networks franchise renewal. Some of the drug crackdowns highest-profile detractors have wound up behind bars, including Senator Leila de Lima, who was jailed on drug charges she insists were fabricated to silence her. Ressa insists Rappler is not anti-Duterte, saying it is just doing its job to hold the government to account. National Bureau of Investigation officers arrested Ressa at Rapplers bureau in Manila at 5 p.m. Wednesday, making it impossible for her to post bail on the same day.Rappler streamed video of the arrest made by officers in civilian clothes on its Facebook page. The arrest warrant was issued by Presiding Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46, Rappler reported. Former Rappler researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. has also been charged in the case, reports said. The NBI had previously closed its investigation on the case because it found no basis to proceed with the complaint, but recently reversed that decision to pursue the charge, Rappler reported. Penalties for violations under the 2012 Cybercrime Prevention Act include imprisonment and fines. Ressa told CPJ before her arrest today that the cyber libel charge was political and that the law is being weaponized in an attempt to control the public narrative. We will not be intimidated and will continue to shine the light on actions of impunity, she said. On Nov. 20, 2018, the CPJ bestowed its 2018 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award on Ressa, a former CNN reporter, at its annual International Press Freedom Award ceremony held in New York City. Opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said the latest move to persecute Ressa unmasked President Dutertes despotic regime and his fear of accountability. We must unite and stand for press freedom in these trying times, as Duterte systematically destroys our democracy, he said. Another member of the opposition, Senator Risa Hontiveros, said Ressas arrest was a sad, dark day for Philippine press freedom. She said the arrest also highlights Dutertes predilection for selective justice, given how it stands in stark contrast to the administrations unwillingness to carry out the arrest warrant against Imelda Marcos, the wife of Dutertes idol, and its inability to bring to justice Dutertes friend and accused drug lord Peter Lim. READ: Palace, DOJ chime in on Ressa: Rule of law should be observed She stressed there is no question that Ressas arrest is meant to intimidate members of the media  especially those engaged in reportage critical of the administration. I, along with many others, stand with Maria Ressa and Rappler in their fight against the administrations latest assault on the freedom of the press and its other efforts to erode our democratic institutions, she said. Senator Francis Escudero said the government should avoid creating a chilling effect on members of the media because a free and unbridled fourth estate is essential to democracy. Senator Nancy Binay said it is saddening to see how journalists around the world are being restricted, intimidated, silenced, attacked, and constantly threatened even in countries where there is seemingly a democratic space. We have fought hard to regain press freedom, she said, adding that the media have never been more under threat since 1986. Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV condemned Ressas arrest, calling it a government ploy to silence its critics, including journalists. De Lima said like the Justice department, the NBI has been reduced to a tool of oppression.On the same day that NASA declared the 15-year-old Mars rover Opportunity dead, the official Twitter account for the Curiosity Rover paid tribute to the older rover with a poem styled after Elton John's "Candle in the Wind."

Curiosity has been exploring Mars since 2012. Opportunity reached Mars with its identical twin Spirit in 2004. Opportunity far outperformed its initial mission: to operate as a geologist for just three months after reaching Mars.

Curiosity's Twitter account posted the tribute Wednesday:

It seems to me you lived your life like a rover in the wind never fading with the sunset when the dust set in.

Your tracks will always fall here, among Mars' reddest hills; your candle's burned out long before your science ever will.

The tweet concluded: "#ThanksOppy. I owe you so much.

Opportunity was declared dead after becoming caught in a massive dust storm in June. The storm lasted months, cutting off the rover's solar power and its contact with earth. It also was likely left vulnerable to bitter Martian cold.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

Scientists and engineers who work with the Mars rovers share a close bond with the machines. Some regard them almost like their own children.

The tweeted tribute was closely styled after Elton John's "Candle in the Wind," a 1973 tribute to Marilyn Monroe that was famously revised and performed at Princess Diana's funeral, CNN reports.

Opportunity roamed the red planets surface for an unprecedented 28 miles. It outlived its identical twin, which was declared dead in 2011.

Contributing: Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Like a rover in the wind': One Mars rover pays tribute to another on NASA Twitter accountAn "atmospheric river" triggering torrential rains across much of California flooded roads Thursday and could lead to dangerous mudslides in areas swollen from days of rain and still recovering from devastating wildfires.

Up to 3 inches of rain will fall along the coast from San Diego to the Oregon border, AccuWeather said. Some mountain slopes could see twice that; 8 inches or more was possible in mountainous areas.

High in the Sierra, already overwhelmed with snow, up to 7 feet of snow could fall.

"Enough rain will fall in the major cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego and others to lead to incidents of urban flooding," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said. In the mountains and canyons, road will close "due to flash flooding, mudslides and other debris flows."

Atmospheric river is a plume of tropical moisture that can result in heavy rainfall or snowfall in a narrow swath where persistent winds can ferry moisture from tropical areas. This one was rolling through California from Hawaii, the National Weather Service said.

The system is also bringing high winds. Gusts reaching 60 mph are likely over parts of Southern California, AccuWeather said. Power was out to more than 100,000 homes and businesses across the state.

California, coming off of years of drought, has been awash in rain in recent months. On Wednesday, San Francisco was hit with a "hefty 2.49" inches of rain, the fifth wettest for any February day on record, the weather service said.

"Theres a lot of standing water and some flooded roadways," Caltran's Bay-area director Tony Tavares said. "Please drive carefully and never drive through flooded roadways."

Caltrans was reporting road closures in San Diego. Mandatory evacuations were in effect for areas blow Los Angeles recovering from wildfires.

Tim Suber said his hillside neighborhood in Lake Elsinore has been evacuated countless times since last summers wildfire .

Story continues

Im not going this time, Suber said after Riverside County sheriffs deputies warned him that he could end up trapped if roads flood. Ive got 35 chickens and a daughter who wont leave them behind. So were staying.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Atmospheric river' triggers flooding, threatens mudslides across CaliforniaWall Street expects a year-over-year decline in earnings on lower revenues when Delphi Technologies (DLPH) reports results for the quarter ended December 2018. While this widely-known consensus outlook is important in gauging the company's earnings picture, a powerful factor that could impact its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates.

The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report, which is expected to be released on February 21. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

While management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call will mostly determine the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations, it's worth having a handicapping insight into the odds of a positive EPS surprise.

Zacks Consensus Estimate

This automotive technology developer is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.89 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -28.2%.

Revenues are expected to be $1.18 billion, down 8.7% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions Trend

The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 2.64% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

Investors should keep in mind that an aggregate change may not always reflect the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts.

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Earnings Whisper

Estimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. This insight is at the core of our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction).

The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. 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.

Story continues

Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.

A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.

Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for Delphi Technologies?

For Delphi Technologies, the Most Accurate Estimate is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bearish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -7.12%.

On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #3.

So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Delphi Technologies will beat the consensus EPS estimate.

Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue?

Analysts often consider to what extent a company has been able to match consensus estimates in the past while calculating their estimates for its future earnings. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number.

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Delphi Technologies would post earnings of $0.73 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.72, delivering a surprise of -1.37%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates three times.

Bottom Line

An earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.

That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

Delphi Technologies doesn't appear a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings 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



Delphi Technologies PLC (DLPH) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.The Daily Beast

Screenshot/YouTubeA massive country music festival in Kentucky this past weekend started off on rocky footing: Police found meth, marijuana, and an open bottle of alcohol in the first vehicle they stopped at a traffic checkpoint. One of the people in the car had two active warrants out for their arrest.We were like, Well, this doesnt bode well for the weekend, Edmonson County Sheriff Shane Doyle told the Lexington Herald-Leader.Police said that by the end of the five-day bash, dubbed the RBy Harry Brumpton and Stephen Nellis

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc and General Motors Co are in talks to invest in Rivian Automotive LLC in a deal that would value the U.S. electric pickup truck manufacturer at between $1 billion and $2 billion, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

The deal would give Amazon and GM minority stakes in Rivian, the sources said. It would be a major boost for the Plymouth, Michigan-based startup, which aspires to be the first carmaker to the U.S. consumer market with an electric pickup.

If the negotiations conclude successfully, a deal could be announced as early as this month, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the matter is confidential. There is always a chance that deal talks fall through, the sources cautioned.

"We admire Rivian's contribution to a future of zero emissions and an all-electric future," GM said in an emailed statement, declining to specifically comment on any talks with Rivian.

Amazon and Rivian declined comment.

The Rivian deal would come as its much larger electric car manufacturing rival, Tesla Inc, struggles to stabilize production and deliver consistent profits as it rolls out its flagship Model 3 sedan.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk told investors last August that an electric pickup is "probably my personal favourite for the next product" from the company, though he has spoken only in general about a potential launch, saying that it would happen "right after" Tesla's Model Y, which the company has targeted to start production in 2020.

'SKATEBOARD' PLATFORM

Rivian intends to begin selling its R1T, the pickup it debuted in November, in the fall of 2020. The company was founded in 2009 by CEO R.J. Scaringe.

Scaringe has described the Rivian vehicle's platform as a "skateboard" that packages the drive units, battery pack, suspension system, brakes and cooling system all below wheel height to allow for more storage space and greater stability due to a lower centre of gravity.

Story continues

He has also said the company plans to partner with outside firms to develop advanced self-driving technology, rather than try to do so on its own.

Big automakers, including GM, have not jumped into the market for electric pickups thus far. GM CEO Mary Barra has said it has given a "tiny bit" of thought to developing all-electric pickups.

The No. 1 U.S. automaker is counting on profit from sales of conventional large pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles in North America to fund its electrification push. GM said last November it was doubling resources allocated to developing electric and self-driving vehicles, as part of a significant restructuring that included ending production at five North American plants.

GM last month announced a strategy to make its luxury Cadillac its lead electric vehicle brand, revealing it would be the first vehicle built on the Detroit automakers "BEV3" platform to challenge Tesla. GM has said one of the first fully electric Cadillac models using the new platform would hit the market around 2022.

Amazon has also invested in self-driving car startup Aurora Innovation Inc, in a $530 million funding round announced last week. The worlds largest online retailer has steadily increased its logistics footprint, building warehouses around the world and inking deals with Mercedes as well as cargo airlines to help with delivery.

Rivian's existing financial backers include Saudi auto distributor Abdul Latif Jameel Co (ALJ), Sumitomo Corp of Americas and Standard Chartered Bank. ALJ has agreed to provide almost $500 million in funding, Sumitomo invested an undisclosed amount, and Standard Chartered provided debt financing of $200 million.

(Reporting by Harry Brumpton in New York and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit and Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Editing by Bill Rigby)By Jonathan Allen and David Shepardson NEW YORK (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc abruptly scrapped plans to build a major outpost in New York that could have created 25,000 jobs, blaming opposition from local leaders upset by the nearly $3 billion in incentives promised by state and city politicians. The company said on Thursday it did not see consistently "positive, collaborative" relationships with state and local officials. Opponents of the project feared congestion and higher rents in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, and objected to handing billions in incentives to a company run by Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man. State Senator Michael Gianaris, who represents Queens and was a vocal critic of the deal, told a news conference on Thursday that the Amazon subsidies were unnecessary. "This was a shakedown, pure and simple," he said. Amazon's sudden pullout from New York City prompted finger pointing by Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo, the politicians who crafted the deal. Cuomo angrily blamed the loss on local politicians while de Blasio blamed Amazon. Cuomo said in a statement that a small group of politicians had "put their own narrow political interests" above those of New Yorkers. The year-long search for its so-called HQ2 culminated in Amazon picking Northern Virginia and New York after hundreds of municipalities, from Newark, N.J. to Indianapolis competed for the coveted tax-dollars and high-wage jobs the project promised. Amazon said it would not conduct a new headquarters search and would focus on growing at other existing and planned offices. The company already has more than 5,000 employees in New York City and plans to continue to hire there, Amazon said on Thursday. A Siena College Poll conducted earlier this month found 56 percent of registered voters in New York supported the Amazon deal, while 36 percent opposed it. CITY SHAKEDOWN? Some New Yorkers mounted protests after the deal was announced, angered by the $2.8 billion in incentives promised to Amazon and fearing further gentrification in a neighborhood once favored by artists looking for cheap studio space. U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a critic of the project and a self-described democratic socialist whose district spans parts of Queens and the Bronx, cheered the reversal by the world's third most valuable public company. "Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazons corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world," she wrote on Twitter. People briefed on the decision said Amazon had made the decision early on Thursday amid rising concerns about the small vocal minority. The people said Amazon will not shift any of the planned jobs to Tennessee where an operations hub is planned or Virginia, but plans to grow its existing network of locations. Amazon had not acquired land for the project, making it easy to scrap its plans, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters on Friday. LOST OPPORTUNITY? In a statement, de Blasio blamed Amazon for failing to address local criticism. "We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world," he said. "Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity." Some long-time residents in Long Island City, which sits across the East River from midtown Manhattan's skyscrapers, feared being forced out by rising rents and untenable pressure on already overburdened subway and sewage systems. High-rise towers have sprouted across the neighborhood in recent years. "This is a stunning development, with Amazon essentially giving in to vocal critics," said Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com. The about-turn could spook other companies thinking about expanding in New York, he added. Alphabet Inc's Google has avoided competitions between cities for offices, and its growing presence in lower Manhattan has met with little serious blowback. Google said in December it plans to invest more than $1 billion on a new campus in New York to double its current headcount of more than 7,000 people. "I think the (Amazon) PR event turned out to be a mistake," said Jason Benowitz, senior portfolio manager at the Roosevelt Investment Group, who owns Amazon shares. Shares of Amazon fell 1 percent. 'REALLY GOOD POKER PLAYERS' Hours before the announcement, Amazon officials in New York betrayed no knowledge of the deal's cancellation when they met with local community members on Thursday morning, said Kenny Greenberg, a neon artist and member of Long Island City's community board. "Either they are really good poker players or they were not aware," Greenberg said of the Amazon representatives. "There was no hint of this at all." The meeting with Amazon officials had been held to answer concerns from the community about labor conditions for Amazon's warehouse and delivery workers and the company's opposition to labor unions. U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat whose district includes the proposed site, lamented the loss of jobs and new revenues. "This is not the Valentine that NY needed," she wrote, adding that she had been ready to push for changes to the deal to address local concerns. (Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Jonathan Allen in New York; Additional reporting by Dan Trotta and Joseph Ax in New York, Nandita Bose in Washington, Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Meredith Mazzilli)Alex Jones, the Infowars host who claimed the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax, must sit for a sworn deposition for a lawsuit brought by parents of the shooting's victims, a Connecticut judge ruled Wednesday.

Jones, an conspiracy theorist, faces lawsuits for claiming on his online show that the mass killings of 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook elementary in 2012 was staged by paid actors who faked the children's deaths.

Families of the victims behind the lawsuit claim they've received an onslaught of harassment and threats in the wake of Jones' claims. One of the plaintiffs, Mark Barden, who lost his son in the shooting, issued a statement Wednesday.

"For years, Alex Jones and his co-conspirators have turned the unthinkable loss of our sweet little Daniel and of so many others into advertising dollars and fundraising appeals," Barden said, according to Connecticut's WFSB-TV.

"It is far beyond time that he be held accountable for the pain his false narratives have caused so many and todays ruling brings us one step closer to doing that.

Bridgeport Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis ruled that attorneys for the families and a first responder can depose Jones for a total of five hours for the lawsuit, in which families claim Jones knowingly made the false claims to draw advertisers and profit, the Hartford Courant reported.

Jones' attorney, Jay Wolman, has claimed Jones is protected under the First Amendment and compared him to famed Watergate journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, according to the newspaper.

The judge also ruled that, in addition to Jones, the families' attorneys can depose others key to Inforwars' business operations, according to Connecticut's The News-Times.

More: Sandy Hook families suing Alex Jones aren't the only ones to threaten him

Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alex Jones called Sandy Hook shooting a hoax. Now the victims' parents can depose him.Before Al Capone became the most famed American gangster in history, he moved into a two-unit brownstone with his wife and mother in Chicago's Park Manor neighborhood. And now that home could be yours.

The 2,820-square-foot space on South Prairie Avenue is on the market for $109,900.

Built in 1905, the six-bedroom building has hardwood floors and hints of a secret tunnel that could have proved handy for the bootlegger.

"There was a tunnel that went to the house from the garage," said Ryan Smith, the Re/Max Properties agent representing the building. It likely led from a door still in the basement, he told Crain's Chicago Business, but has been filled in if so.

Capone moved into the home with his family on Aug. 8, 1923, according to a listing by Re/Max, a few years after Capone arrived in Chicago from New York to aid crime boss Johnny Torrio.

Owned by his wife, Mae, and his mother, Theresa, the home later hosted the funeral of Frank Capone, Al Capone's brother, in 1924, the listing claims, before Theresa Capone died in the house nearly 30 years later.

"The kitchen on the first floor is probably from the '50s," Smith said. "That could have still been there when his mother lived there. That doesn't appear to have been updated at any time."

Crain's dug up old newspaper references to Capone and the house, citing a 1927 report in the Chicago Tribune claiming "Capone was virtually a prisoner in his mother's home at 7244 Prairie Avenue." A 1929 Tribune report reportedly noted the home's "soft lights and velvet rugs."

"On November 26,1947, the ownership was transferred to Mafalda Maritote," Al Capone's sister, the building's listing states. "After Theresa's death, she sold the house on January 15,1953, to a William B. Petty."

The building's most recent owner lost it in foreclosure, according to Crain's.

This Jan. 19, 1931 file photo shows Chicago mobster Al Capone at a football game.

Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner

More: Why criminals Bonnie and Clyde preferred Fords as a getaway car

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Al Capone's old Chicago home for sale, with hints of a secret tunnelTOULOUSE, France (Reuters) - Airbus's decision to shut production of the A380 looks set to reignite a translatlantic trade row over mutual claims of illegal aircraft subsidies, even as Airbus implements a two-year plan to stop making the world's largest airliner.

The planemaker announced the shutdown on Thursday due to weak sales, eliminating a model at the heart of a record trade dispute between the European Union and United States over government support for Airbus and its U.S. rival Boeing.

After 15 years and thousands of pages of arguments, the two sides are locked in arbitration proceedings at the Geneva-based World Trade Organization to determine the amount of harm each has caused through support, a possible precursor to sanctions.

The WTOs appeals body last year said the EU had failed to remove subsidized government development loans for the worlds largest airliner, the A380, and Europes newest long-haul jet, the A350, causing losses for Boeing and U.S. workers.

Now, the EU is preparing to argue to the WTO that A380 subsidies no longer exist because the aircraft is being taken off the market, said a European source familiar with the case.

It will argue that the A380 part of the case should be halted because it will not be built after 2021, citing an earlier decision to drop charges on the now defunct A340, two European sources said.

The United States argues that subsidies paid to the A380 in the form of government loans have irreparably caused lost sales to Boeing and that this should be remedied through sanctions.

Airbus and Boeing declined to comment.

Last year's appeals ruling was part of a two-way battle between the EU and the United States over aircraft subsidies that could spark tit-for-tat reprisals between the two trade superpowers.

The Trump administration last year said the United States would slap countermeasures on European goods unless the EU stopped "harming U.S. interests". WTO rules allow it to target any industry since all goods fall into one category.

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Boeing has predicted such tariffs could reach billions of dollars a year starting as early as 2019.

The EU has highlighted wins in a parallel case against U.S. subsidies for Boeing, and Airbus says this could in turn spark EU sanctions against the United States.

Airbus said on Thursday it would no longer need to repay state loans on the A380 because governments had agreed to share some risk in the roughly 15-billion-euro project.

It is estimated to have 1 billion euros in remaining unpaid government loans tied to the A380.

The United States has consistently called on Airbus to forego the European loans or pay them back at market rates.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Alison Williams)READ: Arroyo goes all out for Hugpong

Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Thursday rejected suggestions by the opposition that the May elections will be a referendum on President Rodrigo Duterte. Nope, I do not agree. The President is not endorsing a full slate, Sotto said, adding that the campaign issue is not whether voters support Duterte or not. Its about what you can do for the country, he said. Sottos own Nationalist Peoples Coalition has yet to endorse a full senatorial slate because its members have not been able to agree who to support. Sotto earlier said the NPC would support Senators Grace Poe and JV Ejercito and former Senator Lito Lapid but said consultations were still be held. Meanwhile, Senator Aquilino Pimentel III said justice was served after the Commission on Elections declared him eligible to run for senator in the 2019 national elections. READ: Pimentel barred from running for senator lawyer Were extremely pleased with the decision, which clears the air of any supposed legal uncertainty that may have been caused by efforts to derail my candidacy, Pimentel said. The Comelec First Division dismissed the two petitions for disqualification filed against him in a ruling dated Feb. 13, 2019. The Comelec said he had initially lost the 12th winning senatorial seat during the 2007 elections, but became senator after he filed an election protest that prospered. It was only then that Pimentel began to discharge his duties and function of a senator. It is clear that Pimentel has not fully served his term, thus the two-term limit does not yet apply to him, the Comelec said. The Philippine National Police on Thursday ordered the recall of all police officers from in-house training and other forms of schooling to maximize personnel deployment for the May polls. PNP chief, Director General Oscar Albayalde, said this is a standard protocol during the campaign period. We are more than 192,000 or almost 200,000 and also with the augmentation coming from the AFP we are confident that we will be able to secure the voting population and all the voting centers, Albayalde said. Senior Supt. Bernard Banac, PNP spokesperson, said there are about 2,000 policemen currently attending in-house training and schooling. By April, all policemen are expected to be fielded in various areas in their mother units for election duties. On Tuesday, the PNP identified 701 areas in the country as election hotspots as the 90-day campaign period for senatorial bets and party-list groups started. READ: Poll hotspots expand to 94 Banac said the number of election hotspots may increase once the campaign period for local candidates from congressmen and governor down to city and town councilorsstarts on March 29. Earlier, Albayalde said they will intensify intelligence gathering and provide maximum police visibility, especially in areas in the hotspot list. He also reiterated the PNPs strict compliance with all Commission on Elections resolutions banning the carrying of firearms and employment of bodyguards. Everyone is reminded of the Alunan Doctrine that allows only two security personnel under extreme cases, subject to background investigation and approval by Comelec, he added. Also on Thursday, the Comelec reminded government and civil service employees that they are barred from campaigning for or against particular candidates, even on social media, but are free to share personal political views. The Comelec warned that it will file appropriate charges against any government employees, police and military personnel found engaging in partisan politics. This includes forming organizations, associations, clubs, committees, or other groups of persons for the purpose of soliciting votes or undertaking any campaign for or against a candidate or party and making speeches. It also includes announcements, commentaries, holding interviews for or against the election of any candidate or party for public office; publishing, displaying or distributing campaign literature or materials designed to support or oppose the election of any candidate or party; and directly or indirectly soliciting votes, pledges, support for or against any candidate or party, Jimenez said. However, Jimenez said government employees are allowed social media functions such as liking, commenting, sharing, reposting, or following a candidate or partys account provided that they do not directly or indirectly campaign for their preferred candidates. The Comelec has sent written notices to some senatorial candidates after the poll body said that they continue to violate the Fair Elections Act by not removing their illegal posters. The Comelec earlier set Feb.14 as the deadline for candidates to remove their illegal campaign materials, which are either over-sized or placed in prohibited areas. READ: Campaign posters outlawedParis (AFP) - The scratching of the superjumbo jet Airbus A380 echoes the sad fate of the supersonic Concorde, another feat of aviation technology that turned out to be a commercial flop.

- Concorde, supersonic speeds -

The inaugural commercial flight on January 21, 1976 of Concorde, the world's first supersonic passenger plane, promised a revolution in aviation.

Distinctive for its long pointed nose which drooped downwards during take-off for better pilot visibility, the "great white bird" was designed, built and operated jointly by France and Britain.

It was the first computer-controlled commercial aircraft in history and also innovated with a weight-saving aluminium body and triangular delta wings.

The aircraft could fly at over twice the speed of sound, creating its famous "sonic boom" when it burst through the sound barrier.

With a cruising speed of nearly 2,200 kilometres (1,370 miles) an hour, it could get a small number of passengers from Paris to New York in three and a half hours. The same journey in a standard flight today takes around eight hours.

But there were also major, eventually crippling, drawbacks: it was thunderously noisy, reaching nearly 120 decibels at take off, and it guzzled fuel at a rate of 20 tonnes per hour.

Extremely expensive to develop at an estimated final overall cost of around 1.6 billion dollars, according to BAE Systems, only the wealthiest passengers were able to afford the exorbitant ticket prices for its 100-144 seats.

The aircraft -- only ever used by Air France and British Airways, who between them operated 14 planes -- never made a profit.

A crash on July 25, 2000 in a suburb of Paris that killed 113 people was a major blow, with the aircraft grounded for investigations. After the September 2001 air plane attacks in the US that caused a major crisis in the industry, worsening business prospects, the Concorde's fate was sealed.

Air France flew its final commercial Concorde flight in May 2003, and British Airways followed suit in October of the same year.

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- Airbus A380, superjumbo-sized -

Boasting double the capacity of a traditional passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380 was also hailed as a turning point for aviation when it arrived in the skies on October 25, 2007.

The world's largest passenger jet, developed by European aerospace giant Airbus, was seen as a step into the future as the industry prepared for soaring numbers of long-haul passengers.

The double-decker, four-engine plane can pack in up to 853 passengers, and has 50 percent more floor space than the next biggest aircraft, the Boeing 747.

Its capacity was seen as a way to combat airport congestion.

By the end of January 2019, 234 aircraft had been delivered around the world, according to Airbus data.

But the size of the A380 turned out to be its weakness.

Even though it is unbeatable in terms of price per seat, an A380 -- which sells for roughly $445 million -- has to fly at near-full capacity to be profitable.

Having envisaged at its outset that it could sell 1,200 planes over 20 years, Airbus has seen orders decline and struggled to find enough buyers to justify its production.

Airbus announced Thursday it would end production of the superjumbo and stop deliveries in 2021.Johannesburg (AFP) - Power outages across South Africa this week have blown up into the biggest political threat facing President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ruling ANC party three months away from elections, analysts say.

Utility giant Eskom unexpectedly imposed highly-unpopular power rationing on Sunday, with rotational cuts now scheduled every day -- plunging shops, offices, factories and home into darkness for hours.

So-called "load-shedding" returned with a vengeance, reaching levels of severity not seen for four years.

This week the government confirmed that troubled state-owned Eskom, which generates more than 90 percent of the country's energy, was "technically insolvent".

Eskom is buried under a mountain of 420 billion rand ($30 billion) in debt. Unless it receives another cash bailout, it is officially forecast to collapse by April.

With national elections in May, the blackouts have shaken the African National Congress party, which has held power since the end of apartheid in 1994.

"This is probably the biggest political nightmare for the ANC at the moment," analyst Daniel Silke told AFP.

"The real opposition for the ANC is load-shedding more than it is the opposition political parties.

"The only option for ANC is a Band-Aid. It's going to have to throw cash at Eskom."

- 'Highly damaging' -

For many critics of the ANC, the Eskom blackouts have come to symbolise the price that the public pays for alleged corruption and mismanagement.

Ramaphosa told parliament on Thursday that government would have to step in to save Eskom, Africa's largest power utility.

Details of the rescue plan will be unveiled in next week's budget statement.

"It has become clear that indeed Eskom does need to be assisted by the state so that it can stabilise its finances, because doing so also means that we are stabilising the economy of our country," Ramaphosa said.

Eskom requires "urgent attention," he said, but cautioned: "There just is no one silver bullet."

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Ramaphosa, who took power after scandal-tainted Jacob Zuma was ousted last year, has tried to draw a line after his predecessor's reign, but with limited success.

If the power cuts persist into the campaign season, plaguing everyday life and suffocating the economy, the president could face tricky polls despite the ANC remaining forecast to win the vote.

"(The) fiasco at Eskom is highly damaging for the ANC ahead of the election," said Ben Payton of a London-based consultancy, Verisk-Maplecroft.

The main opposition Democratic Alliance has jumped at the chance to make gains ahead of the polls.

"The future of Eskom is of fundamental importance to every one of us," it said. "Only one party can put an end to the corruption and mismanagement that has brought South Africa to the edge of the cliff."

Ramaphosa is widely seen as an electoral asset for the ANC after nine years of Zuma's rule, and his moderate, pro-business record has boosted investor confidence.

The party itself has been keen to pass the blame for the energy crisis.

The power blackouts were "an act of sabotage," claimed ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa.

- Reforms challenged -

Eskom's woes started in 2007 when it began building two new coal stations to replace ageing plants.

But the highly-touted Medupi and Kusile plants "were badly designed and badly constructed and are not performing to optimum levels," said Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, brought in by Ramaphosa to reform South Africa's state-owned companies.

The plants have suffered long commissioning delays and nearly six-fold cost overruns, and now suffer regular breakdowns, forcing engineers to ration power. The outages are posted in advance on the internet, to help people to prepare.

Restructuring Eskom will not be easy and will face opposition from within the ANC and from trade unions -- the party's traditional allies -- who fear privatisation and job losses.

But Ramaphosa assured the restive unions that the Eskom restructuring plan is "not a path to privatisation"

And unless it keeps the lights on, ANC government will face an angry electorate on May 8.

"I just had my hair cut, but I can't have it blow-dried because there is no power," said physiotherapist Judy Price as she walked out of Tangles hair salon in Johannesburg's suburb of Rosebank, her hair soaking wet.

"My tax gives me no service. You feel let down by your government. How do you re-elect a government that's not providing for the people?"Hunter DeRensis

Israel, United States

Omar is no stranger to controversy when it comes to one of her most outspoken issues: the Israeli-American relationship.

Whos Afraid of Ilhan Omar?

For months the freshman class of the House of Representatives has generated a disproportionate number of headlines, particularly the newly elected crop of women. From uniformly wearing white at the State of the Union address in solidarity with the suffrage movement, to their many group Instagram photos, these Democrats have eagerly donned the mantle of female empowerment and progress.

While its normally New Yorks Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stealing most of the medias attention, yesterday the commentariat was focused on thirty-seven-year-old Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar. Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, Omar arrived in the United States as a refugee at the age of fourteen. She was involved in state politics before being elected as one of the first two female Muslim members of Congress (alongside Michigans Rashida Tlaib), along with being the first Somali-American elected.

Omar is no stranger to controversy when it comes to one of her most outspoken issues: the Israeli-American relationship. On the campaign trail she was criticized for tweeting in 2012 that Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel. Omar is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.

Then Sunday evening, in a response to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwalds observation that Its stunning how much time US political leaders spend defending a foreign nation [Israel] even if it means attacking free speech rights of Americans, Omar tweeted in response It's all about the Benjamins baby, a reference to a 1997 Puff Daddy song. When the Opinion Editor of The Forward (a Jewish magazine) said she [w]ould love to know who @IlhanMN thinks is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel, Omar responded flatly AIPAC! She then temporarily retweeted a response to her comments that read in part She might as well call us hook-nosed.

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The criticism was overwhelming. Responding to a tweet that Omar should learn to talk about Jews in a non-anti-Semitic way, Chelsea Clinton tweeted Co-signed as an American. We should expect all elected officials, regardless of party, and all public figures to not traffic in anti-Semitism. The former first daughter of the Democratic Party received plaudits from Republican pundits the rest of the day. Congressman Max Rose of New York, a fellow freshman who is also Jewish, released a statement that read in part Congresswoman Omars statements are deeply hurtful to Jews, including myself. 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.

Republicans were even harsher. Senator Tom Cotton defended the American Israel Public Affairs Committee saying @AIPAC promotes better understanding of the Middle East, combats the ancient hatred of anti-semitism, & strengthens the US alliance with Israel. Im grateful for their work & I always look forward to seeing them. Thank you! Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley tweeted, To see this at the UN was a fight every day. This CANNOT be tolerated in our own Congress by anyone of either party. In a time of increased anti semitism, we all must be held to account. No excuses. Rep. Liz Cheney said Ilhan Omar should be removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio made connections to the wider views of the Democratic Party, with the former asking Do other Dems agree? Will media ask them? As more Dems support BDS, anti-Semitism becoming far too common, and the latter saying that The growing anti-Semitism from the radical left is alarming.

Ilhan Omar was not without her defenders. Independent journalist Michael Tracey spent the day supporting her comments, saying in one tweet It should not be controversial to observe that AIPAC and affiliated donors exert outsized influence on Congress through lobbying, donations, and other means. If you label this anti-semitism, that's your own paranoia speaking. Mondoweiss, the progressive Jewish news outlet, spent the day linking to old articles covering the Israel lobby and promoting John Mearsheimers and Stephen Walts 2007 book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. Josh Kaplan wrote a defense of Omars comments in Spectator USA, saying that the pro-Israel lobby is one of many groups in Washington D.C. who use money to buy influence.

Finally, in a joint statement the entire Democratic House leadership issued a full condemnation of Congresswoman Omars statements. 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, read the statement. It continued, 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.

Hours after Nancy Pelosi sent out the statement, Ilhan Omar issued her own apology:

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 ended this unequivocal apology by closing it with 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. Its gone on too long and we must be willing to address it.

Regarding the entire controversy and the overwhelming reaction, Vox editor Matthew Yglesias tweeted, Congressional leaders of both parties really did a good job today of debunking the notion that pro-Israel groups wield disproportionate influence on Capitol Hill.

Hunter DeRensis is a reporter at The National Interest.

Image: Reuters.

Read full articleBy Alister Doyle and Gwladys Fouche

OSLO (Reuters) - A court delivered a painful nip to European Union fishermen on Thursday by tightening Norway's grip on snow crab catches in the Arctic, a ruling that may also let Oslo claw more control of oil and gas from other nations.

Fishermen from the European Union must ask permission from Oslo to catch snow crab -- whose meat is a delicacy for gourmets from Canada to Japan -- in Arctic waters north of Norway, the Norwegian Supreme Court said in a unanimous ruling.

The court dismissed an appeal by a Latvian fishing firm and its Russian captain against fines imposed by a lower court for catching snow crab around the remote Svalbard Islands in 2017 with only an EU licence.

Latvia's Foreign Ministry said it would review the decision at a government meeting.

"Norway is tightening its grip," in the Arctic, said Oeystein Jensen, a researcher in international law at the independent Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Oslo.

"The court clarifies that if you are going to fish, or search for oil and gas, you need permission from the Norwegian authorities," he told Reuters.

At issue was whether the snow crab was a sedentary species living on the seabed or moves around like fish, and who gets to control the stocks.

The court agreed with non-EU member Norway that snow crabs are sedentary, like corals or oysters, and that as such under the U.N. Law of the Sea they are a resource belonging to the continental shelf of Norway extending hundreds of miles (kms) offshore.

Had Norway lost the case, the EU could have staked a claim over the snow crab and it could have been harder for Oslo to regulate access to potential oil and gas resources beneath the Arctic seabed.

"For the Norwegian coastguard this is a big relief - they can arrest any ships fishing illegally in the Svalbard area," chief public prosecutor Lars Fause told Reuters.

SEDENTARY

The Latvian firm, SIA North Star, argued that the crabs are not sedentary because they scurry around and so should be regulated under regional fisheries accords signed by parties including the European Union, Norway and Russia.

Story continues

It argued that it had a valid EU permit.

"We're very disappointed," defence lawyer Hallvard Oestgaard told Reuters. He said that his client would consider whether to try to appeal to international tribunals.

And SIA North Star argued that Norway is obliged under an international 1920 treaty to allow other nations access to the waters around Svalbard.

That treaty grants sovereignty to Norway but gives other signatories rights to engage in commercial activities on and around Svalbard. Russia, for instance, runs a coal mine on Svalbard.

But Oslo says rights to exploit resources around Svalbard extend only to a narrow band of just 12 nautical miles offshore. The court ruled that the Latvian catches were illegal under Norwegian law, irrespective of the Svalbard Treaty.

(With extra reporting by Gederts Gelzis in Riga, Editing by Gareth Jones, William Maclean)Theresa May. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire/PA Images

If prime minister Theresa Mays humiliating Brexit defeat laid bare the schism in her own party, then Jeremy Corbyn need not start gloating too quickly.

With less than seven weeks until Britain leaves the EU on 29 March, it is abundantly clear both the Conservatives and Labour are tearing themselves apart.

Divisions in both parties were laid bare on Thursday evening as Parliament voted on the Prime Ministers Brexit plans and a series of alternative proposals.

Remain and Brexiteer MPs in each of Britains two main parties defied their leaders by rebelling on key votes, including a crushing defeat for May on a motion backing a revised version of her deal with Brussels.

With just 43 days until the UK is scheduled to leave the EU, the bitter atmosphere on Valentines Day suggests Westminster is little closer to finding a way out of the Brexit deadlock.

READ MORE: Crushing defeat for May as she loses another Brexit vote

Tories at war over treachery

The Conservatives had shown more signs of unity in recent weeks, with many  including hardline Brexiteers  backing Mays deal on 29 January as long as she found an alternative to the Irish backstop.

Some pro- and anti-EU MPs had also been working together to draft an alternative Brexit plan dubbed the Malthouse compromise.

But the fragile peace was shattered as nearly a quarter of Tory MPs failed to back their own leader in todays vote on Mays strategy.

Business minister Richard Harrington lashed out at the treachery of his party colleagues in the hardline Brexit European Research Group (ERG) of Tory MPs, who largely abstained on the vote.

The language from rebel MPs was almost as hostile after the vote, with Brexiteer Sir Bernard Jenkin telling Sky News the defeat was an unfortunate fiasco that the governments clumsiness created.

READ MORE: Firms warn no-deal Brexit edging closer after Mays defeat

One Tory MP told ITV journalist Robert Peston it was ludicrous May had refused to tweak part of the statement opposing no-deal, when the ERG had made clear they feared it undermined the UKs negotiating hand.

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Less hard-line Tories also made their anger obvious with both May and the Brexiteers, suggesting the prime minister also faces a battle to get them behind any Brexit deal.

Jonathan Djanogly tweeted that the ERG were ready to pull the UK off the cliff and suggested the government lacked the determination to stop them, while Anna Soubry claimed there was a profound lack of leadership.

Surprise Labour rebellion

Jeremy Corbyn faced a revolt of his own. Photo: Aaron Chown/PA Wire/PA Images

But Labours splits over delaying Brexit and holding a second referendum were just as starkly visible today as 41 Labour MPs defied their leader by backing an extension to Article 50.

The size of the rebellion against leader Jeremy Corbyn, who had ordered his MPs to abstain on the Scottish National Party (SNP) amendment calling for a delay, took many in Westminster by surprise.

Many of Corbyns MPs now support an extension in order to hold a second referendum, with backbench MP Ben Bradshaw telling Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer that Labour was leaving it too late to support another vote.

READ MORE: Rebel Tory MPs accused of treachery by a minister

Another four Labour MPs also voted to back Theresa Mays plans, and Corbyn will now have to decide what to do about so many of his colleagues open defiance.

The ongoing splits and the government defeat were met with exasperation among business leaders, with several warning that politicians failure to resolve their divisions made a no-deal catastrophe more likely.



Help build the Midwests premier multi-use trail at SIUs Touch of Nature Environmental Center

by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill.  You can help create what will be one of the Midwests premier multi-use trail systems, expected to draw bikers, hikers and other recreationists from far and wide.

Work is already underway on the Touch of Nature Multiuse Trail System through the Shawnee Forest at Southern Illinois University Carbondales Touch of Nature Environmental Center, but two big trail-building days are planned this spring. Volunteers are needed.

Anyone can help, equipment provided

Trail-building sessions are set for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 23 and April 13. Everyone is welcome to participate in either or both sessions.

All the tools you need to do the work will be provided, along with gloves and eye and head protection. Volunteers are asked to wear long pants and closed-toe shoes, as well as bring a water bottle.

Thirty miles of trails

Plans call for construction of about 30 miles of trails, being created to be sustainable, durable and environmentally low-impact. Planning began more than four years ago, and the project has moved forward thanks to volunteer assistance, SIU Green Fund grants, public donations and more recently, the award of a $200,000 Recreational Trails Program grant, awarded by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and largely funded by the Federal Highway Administration.

Not open yet

Much of the initial work has involved planning, archaeological surveys and some actual trail work. The goal is to complete a large enough portion of the trails, perhaps 8-10 miles, so that a section can be opened for use sometime in fall 2019, according to JD Tanner, director of Touch of Nature. Tanner said his research indicates that the multiuse trails could, when fully completed and operational, draw 55,000 or more visitors each year.

Sign up online to help build trails

Those planning to help are asked to register in advance so organizers can properly plan and have sufficient equipment. You can sign up online.

Groups or organizations that would like to help with the project at another time are also welcome to contact Isaiah Tanner at isaiah.tanner@siu.edu to schedule a work session.

Financial contributions are also welcome. Contact JD Tanner, director of Touch of Nature, at jdtanner@siu.edu for information or donate online through the Southern Illinois University Foundation.

For more information about the new trail system or other Touch of Nature facilities, events, activities or services, visit ton.siu.edu, call 618/453-1121 or email tonec@siu.edu.Bicentennial Illinois Court Exhibit  A traveling self-guided exhibit that highlights 200 years of Illinois judicial system, partially shown here at Collee of DuPage, will be on display in the SIU School of Law formal lounge area, Feb. 20-March 20. (Photo provided)

Traveling exhibit highlights 200 years of states judicial system

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill.  An exhibit highlighting Illinois Supreme Court history and famous cases, including a 1928 case affirming the death sentence of Southern Illinois gangster and bootlegger Charlie Birger, will be at the SIU School of Law beginning next week.

The Bicentennial of Illinois Law Traveling Exhibit through the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission highlights Illinois attorneys, cases, and information on the judicial system.

The exhibit will be in the law schools formal lounge/lobby area for self-guided tours during regular hours the law school is open from Feb. 20 through March 20. Admission is free. The content covers many facets of Illinois judicial history, including:

An emphasis on the Illinois Supreme Court and its various locations over 200 years.

Brief biographies of four famous Illinois attorneys and summaries of six interesting cases that happened in the states legal system.

An explanation of the Illinois court structure and court system operations, including the process on how to become an attorney and judge.

Featured cases include Supreme Court upholding Birgers murder conviction

The six cases profiled include the February 1928 decision holding Birgers conspiracy murder conviction for the December 1926 slaying of West City Mayor Joe Adams. Birger was the last man to be publicly hanged in Illinois in April 1928 in Benton.

Other cases include:

Traveling exhibit provides important history

The exhibit is a wonderful opportunity for members of the public as well as the SIU community to visually learn about the rich history of our courts, told through illustrative cases, said Douglas Lind, director of the law schools library and a professor of law. These include the seemingly mundane, such as a case involving the constitutionality of parking meters, as well as those pivotal cases which helped define and shape the future of our state.

The Bicentennial of Illinois Law Exhibit opened in Chicago last year and is part of the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commissions celebration of 200 years of Illinois Courts. The exhibit already has been on display at the College of Du Page, University of Illinois College of Law and Knox College.

Other institutions on the schedule to host the display later this year are the Northwestern School of Law, Millikin University and Kankakee Community College.Eclipse documentary earns Broadcast Education Association award

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill.  In the Shadow, a one-hour documentary that looked at the run-up to the 2017 Great American Eclipse has earned top honors from the Broadcast Education Association.

Produced by faculty, staff and students in Southern Illinois University Carbondales College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, the film earned the Best of Competition award in the BEA Festival of Media Arts faculty documentary competition long form video or film category.

A central theme in the film was what happened during the 13 hours and 23 minutes between sunrise and sunset on Aug. 21, 2017. The eclipse duration was 2 hours and 55 minutes, with eclipse totality at 2 minutes and 24 seconds. The event marked the first total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous United States since 1918.

Meaningful recognition

H.D. Motyl, chair of the Department of Cinema and Photography and the Department of Radio, Television, and Digital Media, said one of the greatest aspects of the BEA Festival of Media Arts is the judges are peers from sister institutions around the country.

The judges are creative professors who are making work, too, so to be awarded by them for our work is much more meaningful, Motyl said. Any award in which the institution is mentioned, especially at something as prestigious as BEA, underscores the quality and relevance of the program.

Documentary showcases opportunities and incredible talent within the college

The documentary was executive produced by Deborah Tudor, dean of the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, and produced by Motyl and Mark Stoffel, a digital media specialist and instructor within the college. The idea for a documentary was first discussed by Tudor and Scott Ishman, dean of the College of Science and eclipse committee co-chair.

About 10 student-involved camera crews helped chronicle activity leading up to an event that filled Saluki Stadium and served as a focal point for national and international media. Filming started in late spring 2017 and included interviews with Mat Kaplan of Planetary Radio and David Baron, historian, author and self-professed umbraphile  or eclipse chaser. Topics ranged from a discussion on how ancient cultures viewed eclipses to eclipse-related merchandise, from soda cans and bakery goods to cookies and postal stamps.

When we started the project, we envisioned a documentary that would not only capture the wonder and awe experienced during the eclipse, but provide a chance for MCMA faculty, staff, and students to collaborate, Tudor said. We succeeded in both those aspects and the response to the film is very gratifying.

Film is a gift that keeps on giving

Stoffel, who poured through hundreds of hours of video while working to piece together the film, said hes thrilled with the response.

Looking back about two years ago, when this whole effort started, I had not the faintest idea where this production would be taking us, he said.

Documentary continues to receive interest

The film premiered in March 2018 at Shryock Auditorium on campus. Since then, the documentary has entered several festivals, including the River Town Film Festival in Clinton, New Jersey in September and the Rivers Edge International Film Festival in Paducah, Kentucky in November.

The film has been entered for consideration in upcoming documentary film festivals in Moscow and Atlanta, Georgia, as well as a history film festival in Croatia, Motyl said.

We are always looking for other festivals to enter and other venues to screen the film, he said.

Total solar eclipse Part II

The university and region will once again serve as an eclipse crossroads with a total solar eclipse with more than four minutes of totality on April 8, 2024.A New Peoples Army fighter tagged as one of the people who torched private construction equipment in Quezon province was killed in an encounter in Laguna while an alleged NPA extortionist was arrested by police and military personnel in Butuan City on Thursday. Maj. Gen. Rhoderick Parayno, commander of the Armys 2nd Infantry Division, said the still unidentified rebel was killed in an encounter with troops of the 1st Infantry Battalion in Sitio Pinamintian, San Buenaventura village in Luisiana, Laguna, on Thursday morning. Meanwhile, an official said the efforts of the New Peoples Army to recruit minors is a gross violation of the UNICEF Convention on the Rights of Children. It is a gross violation of the provisions of UNICEFs Convention on the Rights of Children, which specifically states that children below the age of 18 must be accorded their basic rights to include the right from exploitation, Armed Forces of the Philippines public affairs office chief Noel Detoyato said in a text message to the Philippine News Agency when sought for a comment. Parayno said the slain terrorist was among the 15 rebels who last week burned three backhoes and one bulldozer being used in the road widening construction at the Kaliwa Dam project by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System owned by Northern Builder Corp. in Magsaysay village in Infanta, Quezon. Brig. Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos, head of the 202nd Brigade, said the communists fled toward the boundary of Quezon and Laguna to escape the pursuing troops from the 80th Infantry Battalion and the dragnet put up by the 1st IB to intercept them. However, the rebels were eventually intercepted by troops in Kalangay village in Lucban, Quezon, sparking a 15-minute firefight that left one rebel dead while the rest scampered in different directions, dragging their wounded comrades.The NPA burning was condemned the officials of Infanta and General Nakar towns in Quezon. Mayor Filipina Grace America of Infanta was quoted as saying the terror act perpetrated by the NPA was not the proper way to address the issues surrounding the project. Mayor Eliseo Ruzon of General Nakar viewed the act by the NPA as a hindrance to the development in his town and in Infanta, noting that the incident would lead to their constituents losing their jobs needed to support their families. We will show the NPAs that their anti-people activities will not pass unpunished. They have lost the trust and support of the people, Parayno said. In Butuan City, a communist extortionist preying on farmers in Northern Mindanao was arrested by police and military operatives in Barangay Nongnong on Wednesday morning.The requested page is currently unavailable on this server.

Back to [RTHK News Homepage]Mount St. Marys University President Timothy E. Trainor, Ph.D. announced today that the Bolte Family Foundation will donate $3 million to help expand and renovate the Knott Academic Center, home to the Richard J. Bolte, Sr. School of Business.

My brothers and I, through the Bolte Family Foundation, wanted to recommit to the Bolte School in honor of our father, said Frank Bolte, C87. Our father inspired us in our business to be committed to our people and to higher education. Our companys culture emphasized community service and had a family feel, just like being at the Mount.

Richard J. Bolte, Sr., founder of BDP International, a global logistics and transportation company, was a lifelong supporter of the Mount, serving on the universitys board of trustees and receiving an honorary doctorate degree for his service to the university in 1992. All seven of Boltes sons attended the Mount: Richard Bolte Jr., C79, trustee emeritus; John Bolte, C82; Tim Bolte, C84, trustee; Frank Bolte, C87; Mike Connors, C91; Bill Connors, C89; and Rob Bolte, C92. Other Bolte family members who are alumni of the Mount are Sheila A. (Breschi) Bolte, C'85, Richard J. Bolte III, C'08, and Erin R. "Rosie" Bolte, C'17. The Bolte and Connors families in 2011 recognized their father, who passed away in 2006, with a generous gift to name the Richard J. Bolte, Sr. School of Business. The family sold BDP in late 2018.

Mount St. Marys deeply appreciates the Bolte familys devotion to their fathers legacy and investment in the Mount, President Trainor said. The Mount is experiencing student enrollment growth and academic program expansion, and this gift will assist us in creating additional classrooms, conference rooms and faculty offices as well as a Bloomberg Classroom Laboratory. The addition and renovation will also allow the Mount to develop more partnerships in areas such as logistics and forensic accounting to further our mission of creating ethical leaders who lead lives of significance.

The $7.5 million Knott Academic Center expansion and renovation project is also expected to be supported by a more than $3 million capital grant from the state of Maryland. The project includes construction of an approximately 12,140 square foot addition and renovation of the 49,074 square foot existing building. Work will commence this summer and is anticipated to be completed by Fall 2021. The upgrade will include enhancing the learning environment and building new classrooms, a Bloomberg Classroom Laboratory and faculty offices.

Marotta/Main Architects, based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, designed the addition and renovation plan.When the morning lights come on, the seduction begins. After spending the night side by side but in separate compartments, male and female zebrafish finally mingle and waste no time getting down to business.

In a frenzied dance, the torpedo-shaped males chase the fat-bellied females until they release a shower of tiny, translucent eggs into the water. Immediately fertilized by an invisible spray of sperm from the males, the eggs drift downward, falling through a grate in the small breeding tank. Within minutes, hundreds of embryos collect on the bottom, a precious bounty owed largely to Ricardo Cepeda, a former literature teacher in Colombia who can conjure the zebrafishs amorous antics on demand.

Theyre the same as us, he said of the striped vertebrates that share 70 percent of human genes. They want chocolate, flowers, music, and a penthouse suite.

The manager of the University of Miami Zebrafish Facility, Cepeda is so good at keeping nearly 4,000 zebrafish happy, healthy, and reproducing that he rarely says no to the stream of requests from researchers across the University who use the popular aquarium fish to model human genetics and disease. Usually, he promises the embryos will be ready shortly after 9 a.m., when the lights come on, and the fish that were separated in a breeding tank overnight are finally allowed to mix. But if you need them at noon, or 2 p.m., or midnight, no problem.

The fish whisperer can make it happen.

Hes amazing, said associate professor of biology Julia Dallman, the director of the facility who started the Department of Biologys zebrafish colony with 40 pioneers she brought from New York after joining UM in 2007.

The thing that speaks loudest about Ricardos relationship with the fish, and how much we depend on him, is when he goes away the fish stop laying eggs. They go on strike, Dallman said.

Aside from their similar genetic structure, zebrafish are valuable research models because they are nearly transparent during their first week of life and develop at warp speed. In their first hour, they grow from one cell to four; in two hours, they have 64 cells. As such, researchers who can literally watch their heart, brain, lungs, blood vessels, digestive system, eyes, and ears develop, can modify their genes to replicate a number of mutations linked to inherited disorders.

So its a serious setback when the normally prolific and promiscuous zebrafish go on strike. Research screeches to a halt, and valuable time is lost. That has happened elsewhere, but not at UM, because after a decade of paying close attention to how zebrafish behave, Cepeda can read them like one of the literature books he used to teach.

Their equivalent of chocolate is a tempting buffet of tiny brine shrimp and dry larva cereal that student helpers Evan Sarmiento and Hannah Hiraki squirt into the tanks by eye-dropper twice a day. Their music and flowers are provided by the meticulously controlled temperature, pH, and salinity of the water, which is filtered and monitored via a complex and redundant system of tanks and sensors.

And the penthouse suite? Thats the small breeding tanks Cepeda leaves on the counter overnight with the male and female zebrafish hes carefully selected the afternoon before to fulfill his research requests. Soon after his morning arrival, he replaces the water in each tankwashing away any waste left overnight and re-oxygenating the water before the mingling begins.

Its like a five-star hotel, he said. Dont you expect clean sheets and a refreshing shower every morning?



When Cepeda left the violence of his Colombian homeland 20 years ago, he certainly had no expectation of becoming a research associate at UM. He taught Spanish for a while, bussed tables, and cleaned pools, a job that bored him but taught him enough about water quality to land him part-time work taking care of some cranky research frogs for a cell biologist at UMs Miller School of Medicine.

Within a few months, Cepeda had the celibate frogs breeding again, and when Dallman, who uses zebrafish to study neurological disorders, joined UM, she turned to Cepeda for temporary help setting up the Department of Biologys zebrafish facility in the basement of the Cox Science Building.

Ten years later, the largest zebrafish facility in Florida is home to about 50 different lines of zebrafish that, reproducing like clockwork, are used to study everything from autism disorders and hearing loss to heart function and nerve regeneration.

Cepedas simple secret: I just watch and learn, he said.Story Highlights 73% of Nigerian Muslims approve of the current president, vs. 26% of Christians

55% of Muslims confident in the national government, vs. 38% of Christians

46% of Muslims confident in the honesty of elections, vs. 25% of Christians

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- President Muhammadu Buhari -- a Muslim from northern Nigeria -- earned widespread approval from the country's Muslims and Christians after his election in 2015. But as Election Day approaches this Saturday, the electorate is deeply divided along religious lines over Buhari's job performance and other key issues. Muslims in Nigeria are almost three times as likely to approve of Buhari (73%) as are Christians (26%).

About half of Nigeria's population identifies as Muslim; about half identify with a Christian faith. Since military rule ended in Nigeria in 1999, the country's presidency has typically alternated between a Christian Southerner and a Muslim Northerner.

Buhari's predecessor -- Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the country's South -- broke that pattern by occupying the office for more than one term. Buhari's election in 2015 was generally perceived as a Muslim's turn to take the post, as well as an opportunity to tackle corruption and defeat the Boko Haram militant group that had seized substantial territory under Jonathan.

Buhari was popular with both religious groups when he took office, but his approval has declined since then, amid economic recession, increasing food prices, continued perception of widespread corruption and, recently, a resurgent Boko Haram. The gap in approval for Buhari between the two religious groups has grown and now stands at 47 percentage points.

Religious Divide on Confidence in Key Institutions

In addition to their differences on approval of Buhari, Muslims and Christians are also divided over other key institutions. Before Buhari's election in 2015, Muslims' and Christians' confidence in the country's government usually differed by fewer than 10 points. After Buhari's election, Muslims' confidence jumped, with more than half (54%) expressing confidence in the national government, up from 26% in 2014.

Among Christians, there was a modest uptick to 37% saying they had confidence in the Nigerian government, compared with 31% the year before. Seventeen points currently separate Muslims' and Christians' views of their government.

The gap between Christians' and Muslims' confidence in the Nigerian military is even greater. After Buhari's election, confidence in the military jumped 30 points among Muslims to 90% and increased modestly among Christians to 69%. This jump is likely attributable to Buhari's past position as a general in the country's military and his promise to defeat Boko Haram.

High levels of confidence in the Nigerian military among the country's Muslim population have persisted through Buhari's term, with no less than 84% of the group saying they had confidence in the armed forces. Among Christians, the modest post-election increase in confidence in the military has fallen over time, with confidence now essentially equivalent to where it was before Buhari's election.

Buhari is credited with some success in his effort to tackle Boko Haram, and Nigerians' perceptions of the threat the group poses have faded over time. This should have served to improve confidence in the military among both religious groups since 2015. However, at the same time, there have been increased attacks on Nigerian Christian communities, likely contributing to the gap in confidence in the country's military.

Nigerians Split by Religion on Their Perceptions of Election Honesty

Nigerian Muslims and Christians are also divided over the honesty of the country's elections. Trust in the honesty of elections jumped among both groups in 2015, with 53% of Muslims and 38% of Christians expressing confidence. But while confidence continued to climb among Muslims -- before falling precipitously in 2018 -- it has dropped and plateaued among the Christian population.

Despite the sharp decline among Muslims, there is still a substantial gap between them and Christians in perceptions that Nigeria's elections are honest. Forty-six percent of Nigerian Muslims and 25% of the country's Christians currently have faith in the honesty of elections.

Bottom Line

Nigeria is no stranger to religious violence, with an extensive history of conflict that is at least partially attributable to or exacerbated by religious differences. However, these conflicts have been as much about economic and tribal issues as they have about religious issues. Violence between mostly Muslim pastoralists and mostly Christian farmers has been ongoing for nearly two decades. Over the past three years, at least 3,600 Nigerians are estimated to have been killed in related violence.

Predominantly Muslim pastoralists are being brought into greater conflict with the largely Christian farmers because of decreasing availability of land suitable for grazing their animals. Nigerian Christians perceive that Nigerian authorities have not adequately investigated or prevented attacks on farmers. These perceived failures may be at least partly responsible for stoking the divides between Nigeria's Christians and Muslims.

Should Buhari win a second term as Nigeria's president, the gaps between the perceptions of the two religious groups may only grow, unless the underlying causes are addressed. These gaps suggest a belief among Christians that Buhari has favored Nigeria's Muslims at their expense. This belief, coupled with existing tribal and economic grievances, could lead to increased tensions between the religious groups.

Additionally, Buhari's popularity among Nigerian Muslims and their generally more optimistic views of the country's government may ensure him a base of support from which to both perform well in the coming election and potentially govern the country should he win.

For complete methodology and specific survey dates, please review Gallup's Country Data Set details.

Learn more about how the Gallup World Poll works.Deputy Premier Mher Grigoryan received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to Armenia Jonathan Lacote and Head of the regional office of the French Development Agency for the South Caucasus Gaelle Assayag, Deputy Premiers office said in a statement.

Mentioning the fact that the day of their meeting was symbolic since it is the day that the National Assembly approved the government program, Deputy Premier Mher Grigoryan attached importance to the development and deepening of cooperation with France during implementation of the reforms set forth by the government as well. Grigoryan presented the main provisions of the government program and stressed the opportunities for enhancing the bilateral relations within the scope of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement.

Ambassador Lacote stated that France was willing to enhance relations with Armenia in the bilateral and multilateral formats and highlighted the fact that President Emmanuel Macron had recently informed about his intention to pay a state visit to Armenia.

The head of the regional office of the French Development Agency for the South Caucasus talked about the process of implementation of the Agencys programs under implementation in Armenia and expressed the Agencys willingness to develop new programs in line with the reforms set forth by the Armenian government.

The interlocutors touched upon the need for the formation of a capital market in Armenia and considered the perspectives for the growth of French businesses in Armenia. Armenias advantages of being a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as being included in the GSP+ system and being a member of the International Trade Organization.The House of Representatives has approved a bill establishing the Philippines as a leading maritime nation and respected flag State. House Bill 9042, also known as the Philippine Ship Registry System Act aims to establish the scope and procedure for Philippine Ship Registry, recognition and enforcement of maritime claims, and limitation of liability. The bill was approved on second reading before Congress adjourned session last Feb. 9. The bill also provides for essential incentives to promote a comprehensive and orderly Philippine Ship Registry System for the regulation of vessels carrying the flag State. Rep. Jesulito Manalo of ANGKLA party-list, principal author of the bill, said the bill aimed to help the country become more competitive and encourage more ship owners in other parts of the world to register their vessels under the Philippine flag. To achieve this, we first must recognize that presently, there is a lack of a particular law completely addressing the registry system in the Philippines, which has been a perennial source of confusion and disorder, he said. In a related development:  House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Thursday expressed confidence President Rodrigo Duterte would soon sign the bill providing more benefits to senior citizens. At a congressional hearing Thursday, Arroyo met with representatives of the countrys over 8 million seniors to assure them of House Bill 8837s enactment at the soonest possible time as the Senate, through Senate President Vicente Sotto III, had adopted the version of the Lower House, known as the National Commission of Senior Citizens Act. While the enrolled bill awaits the signature of the President, Arroyo said discussions on the bill s implementing rules would immediately begin. With this bill, there will be one agency, the NCSC, which will be responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies, plans and programs for our senior citizens, Arroyo, one of the principal authors of the bill, earlier said. Former First Lady and Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Romualdez-Marcos presided over the public hearing as chairperson of the House Committee on Senior Citizens. Manalo stressed it was necessary to formulate policies and rules that adhere to the global standards and maritime conventions, particularly on ship registry. He said there were only about 200 vessels registered under the Philippine flag despite the countrys being widely known to be a major supplier of global maritime professionals on board vessels in many parts of the world. Other countries have attracted many foreign-owned vessels to register under their flag states by reason of their simplified system of registration and the appealing incentives they offer, Manalo said. One of the objectives of the bill is to establish the Philippines as a leading maritime nation and respected flag State. It also seeks to ensure that Filipino-owned-and-manned maritime fleets or vessels are strengthened and assisted to meet the minimum global standards for reliability, safety, competitiveness, and effectiveness. The bill likewise intends to encourage Philippine vessel acquisition, development, modernization and expansion through systemized and sustainable programs. It also plans to align the tax structure for its domestic and overseas shipping fleet to make it competitive.It also seeks to provide a mechanism for the early adoption and implementation of international maritime regulations and conventions. In addition, the measure aims to provide protection to the countrys merchant marine fleets and help expand Philippine international trade. The bill provides for the establishment of the Philippine Ship Registry (Registry) through which the State confers nationality, exercises its jurisdiction, protects and enforces private rights, and undertakes the national and international responsibilities of a flag State, over all ships flying the Philippine flag. The Registry comprises the Register of Ships and the Record of Ship Mortgages and Encumbrances. It shall be maintained by the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) in accordance with the provisions of the Act, and the rules and regulations that may be issued pursuant to it. The proposal states that there shall be one Registry for all domestic and international flag vessels. Any ship registered under the Philippine registry shall be entitled to the following: a) conferment of the nationality and status of a Philippine flag; b) entitlement to the protection of the Philippine flag; c) entitlement to the right to invoke the diplomatic, consular and naval protection of Philippine authorities; d) imposition of the duty to fly the Philippine flag; e) obligation to abide by all the applicable laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations of the Philippines; f) entitlement to the privilege to engage, consistently with the limitations provided by law, in Philippine coastwise trade in accordance with corollary permits, certificates and franchises that may be issued to the vessel; and g) entitlement to the right to invoke the exercise of jurisdiction and control by Philippine government authorities over all persons found on board the vessel, or over any incident involving the penal or disciplinary responsibility of the master or any member of the crew whether the same arises from a crime or quasi delict committed on board the vessel or from any collision or other incident of navigation concerning the ship. As provided in the bill, a ship may be registered with only one ship register at any one time. All ships operating within the maritime territory and jurisdiction of the Philippines, except transient foreign flag ships subject to such regulations as the MARINA may prescribe, are mandated to be registered with the Philippine Registry. The bill includes provisions on licensure; conditions for registration; issuance of Certificate of Philippine Registration; types of registration; taxes and fees; record of ship mortgages and encumbrances; maritime liens and encumbrances; ship mortgages; enforcement of mortgage; foreign lines and mortgages; right to limit liability; limits of liability; limitation fund; enforcement/investigation; and casualty investigation, among others. Reps. Feliciano Belmonte Jr. of Quezon City, Milagros Aquino-Magsaysay and Francisco Datol Jr. of Senior Citizens party-list also attended the hearing as co-authors to the bill. Hundreds of senior citizens who attended the hearing lauded the House for its swift action on the measure. Benjamin Medina Sr., national president of the League of OSCA head of the Philippines, said the creation of the NCSC will guarantee the protection of the rights of senior citizens, which include the strict implementation of laws providing for economic benefits for them. HB 8837 proposes to create a cohesive government agency that will implement and enforce the laws and monitor compliance to said laws that are significant to senior citizens welfare. The bill abolishes the National Coordinating and Monitoring Board a senior citizens agency attached to the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The proposed NCSC is a collegial body whose members will be appointed by the President. The agency will be headed by a chariperson who will be assisted by six commissioners who will represent different regions.The National Assembly on Thursday approved, with a vote of 82 for and 37 against, the proposed five-year program of the Government of Armenia.

Before the respective voting, however, the Bright Armenia faction announced that it will vote against the program.

Majority of the Prosperous Armenia faction MPs voted against the program as well.

Armenia will continue purchasing SU-30, Armenian Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan told reporters on Wednesday.

He said as of now the fighter jet which had been purchased is not in Armenia.

According to the agreement, the fighter jet will appear in Armenia at set period of time, he said.

Armenia took note of the US State Department's statement on the deployment of the Armenian Humanitarian Mission in Syria, spokesperson for the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Its a long time Armenia and the USA make joint efforts to respond to the humanitarian disaster in Syria that is accompanied by a major crisis of refugees and deported people, the statement says.

The Armenian mission has exclusively humanitarian nature, is guided by the international humanitarian law and will coordinate its activities with the institutions and international partners offering humanitarian aid on site.

We share the concerns of the international community about the situation of the ethnic and religious minorities in the Middle East and highlight the continuity of humanitarian aid provided to Syria

Belarus expected the Armenian side to announce the date of the meeting with the State Secretary of Belarus Stanislav Zas, Belarus MFA said.

According to the MFA spokesperson, Belarus is committed to constructive cooperation with Yerevan and hopes that the sides could find mutual understanding on this issue.

An investigation into the criminal case against former MP, general Manvel Grigoryan and his wife Nazik Amiryan is over.

Grigoryan is charged with illegal possession of arms, tax evasion, embezzlement and misappropriation of the budget funds, Special Investigative Service said in a statement.

The investigators name all types of weapons found during the search in the house belonging to Grigoryan, as well as preserves found during the searches in his houses and enterprises in Karabakh and Armenia. An arrest warrant has been issued for Manvel Grigoryans son  Arman Grigoryan.Love is in the air for a majority of Filipinos this Valentines Day, the latest Social Weather Stations survey revealed on Thursday. According to SWS, most Filipinosconstituting 51 percent of those interviewedsaid they were very happy with their love life, with 36 percent saying they could be happier with their love life and 13 percent saying they do not have a love life. The survey, conducted from Dec. 16 to 19, used face-to-face interviews of 1,440 adults in Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao. It has a sampling error margin of 2.6 percent for national percentages, and 5 percent each for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao. SWS said the latest figure was slightly lower than the previous 57 percent adult Filipinos who were very happy with their love life last two years ago. This compares with 57 percent who said their love life was very happy, 29 percent who said it could be happier, and 14 percent who said they do (sic) not have a love life in 2017, the pollster said. When SWS first conducted the survey in 2002, the proportion of Filipinos who were very happy with their love life was at 58 percent. It then reached a record-high 59 percent in 2011. The polling firm also noted that half of Filipinosat 50 percentconsider the age gap important in having a relationship. Fifty percent of those polled believe age gap matters, while 41 percent said it does not, and the remaining 9 percent were undecided. This gives a neutral balance of opinion of net +9, it said. The survey also showed that more than half or 54 percent of men aged 55 and above believe age gap matters, while 49 percent of men aged 23 to 34 say it did not matter, compared to 44 percent who said it did. On the other hand, women of all ages believe the age gap in a relationship matters. Age gap matters most among women aged 18 to 24 at 65 percent, followed by women aged 55 and above at 54 percent. Also, women aged 35 to 44 and 45 to 55 at 48 percent consider age gap important, while more women between the ages of 25 to 34 at 49 percent say the age gap does not matter. SWS also found out that more women, compared to men, were willing to date someone older. Among women, willingness to have a relationship with someone 10 years older was highest among those aged 35-44 at +38, followed by those aged 45-54 at +32, those aged 25-34 at +28, those aged 18-24 at +28, and those aged 55 and above at +10, it said. Among men, willingness to be with someone 10 years older was highest among those aged 35-44 at +23, followed by those aged 55 and above at +15, those aged 25-34 at +6, those aged 45-54 at net zero, and those aged 18-24 at -2, it added.The pollster also noted that among women, net willingness to have a relationship with someone 10 years younger was negative in all age groups, ranging from -12 to -45, with the lowest scores coming from the youngest and oldest age groups. Men, however, view the matter differently. For men, net willingness to be with someone 10 years younger was highest among those aged 25-34, and those aged 35-44, both at +27, followed by those aged 45-54 at +20, those aged 55 years old and above at +16, and those aged 18-24 at a negative net -14. Overall, according to SWS, half of the men at 53 percent and women at 50 percent say they are very happy with their love life. SWS said: Among men, the proportion of those who are very happy with their love life was highest among those who are married at 64 percent, followed by those with a live-in partner at 44 percent, and those who are single at 31 percent. Among women, it was also highest among those who are married at 59 percent, followed by those with a live-in partner at 56 percent, and those who are single at 20 percent. Moreover, the wish for a happier love life is stronger among those with live-in partners. Among men, the proportion of those who say their love life could be happier was highest among those with a live-in partner at 55 percent, followed by those who are married at 35 percent, and those who are single at 27 percent, it added. Among women, it was also highest among those with a live-in partner at 43 percent, followed by those who are married at 40 percent, and those who are single at 20 percent. The SWS also revealed that more single women than single men have no love life. The proportion of those with no love life was higher among single women at 59 percent, compared to their male counterparts at 43 percent. One percent of the sample of married adults, and those with a live-in partner say they have no love life, it continued. Lastly, the SWS recorded that men 25 years old and above, and women 25 to 54 years old, have happier love lives. Among men, the proportion of those who are very happy with their love life was higher among those aged 25 and above, ranging from 53 percent to 58 percent, compared to those aged 18-24, at 39 percent, it said. Among women, it was higher among those aged 25-54, ranging from 47 percent to 59 percent, compared to those aged 18-24, at 43 percent, and those aged 55 and above, at 42 percent.YEREVAN.  The Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) faction at parliament has submitted several recommendations on the government program; and if they are disregarded, it will vote against.

Naira Zohrabyan, a member of the PAP faction at the National Assembly, on Thursday stated the abovementioned right before the parliamentary voting on the proposed five-year program of the government.

She expressed a fear that the Armenian society was gradually beginning to lose the faith in the future, which it believed in April and May as well as during the snap parliamentary election in December of the year past.

The objective of Prosperous Armenia is to contribute to the economic revolution, and for that, we have submitted specific recommendations, Zohrabyan said. The [Prosperous Armenia] factions voting [on the proposed government program] depends on the response to those recommendations. If our recommendations remain unanswered, the faction will vote against the government program.

As reported earlier, the Armenian legislature on Thursday adopted the government program, and with a vote of 82 for and 37 against.

Majority of the Prosperous Armenia faction MPs, however, voted against the program.They come here and say it looks like the government wants to put the whole burden on the former governments shoulders, and with this, they might be showing what their main mission is. This is what Armenias Premier Nikol Pashinyan stated in his concluding speech during the discussion on the government program at the National Assembly on 14 February, touching upon the speech by head of the parliamentary faction of Bright Armenia Party Edmon Marukyan.

They say people used to blame Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan and now theyre blaming Nikol Pashinyan. You do realize that neither one is to blame, right? This is the main idea. Neither Serzh Sargsyan nor Robert Kocharyan is to blame, and it looks like the current government is not to blame either. Serzh Sargsyan was to blame for creating unfavorable conditions for doing business and for helping his brother have 50% share of all businesses. Dont ever try to place me and them at the same level again. Place yourselves at their level, Pashinyan declared.

Pashinyan recalled that Marukyan and his partisans were saying the same things in 2018.

They werent fighting against individuals, but then they decided to become a part of government and start building the country. Now they have come here and are making judgments. Then they say there was no revolution. If there was no revolution, then what is your 18-member faction doing in parliament? Pashinyan said, after which the MPs of the My Step Alliance gave a round of applause.

Pashinyan also addressed MP of the Bright Armenia Partys faction Arman Babajanyan and stated the following: You talk about Armenias foreign policy and Armenias identity, but at the same time, you place Armenian and U.S. national flags and the flag of the European Union and advise us to balance Armenias foreign policy. Why havent you placed the Russian national flag, not to mention the flag of the Vatican?The Philippine Embassy in Warsaw on Thursday reiterated its recommendation to suspend the deployment of Filipinos for work in Polands road transport sector. This is in view of the issues concerning the working conditions of Filipinos who work as trailer truck drivers in Europe. Some 40 Filipino truck drivers in Germany and Poland were rescued last November from poor working conditions by the Philippine government. Prior to the case, 22 other Filipino truck drivers were found living in similar substandard conditions in Denmark and were assisted by the Philippine Embassy in Oslo. In a reminder issued through the Department of Foreign Affairs, Charge dAffaires Maria Alnee Gamble said Filipino jobseekers should only deal with recruitment agencies that practice ethical recruitment, as well as those with approved job orders from the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency.At the same time, the agency cautioned about recruitment agencies that charge excessive fees after the Embassy received information from the Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. that Poland is a no placement fee destination. According to the embassy, Poland usually provides foreigners coming from outside the European Union with temporary residence for up to three years depending on the length of their employment contract and work permit. Last year, PASEI adviser Lilac Center for Public Interest bared that the Embassy had assisted a number of overseas Filipino workers lured by a Taiwanese recruiter to work in Poland, only to find out that their work in the country were of short duration, of low pay, and the conditions miserable. The recruitment scheme has allegedly cost these workers P400,000 to 500,000.YEREVAN.  The effectiveness of the governments activities can be determined by its program which it has submitted for the next five years, and which is a constitutional document.

Taron Simonyan, a member of the Bright Armenia faction at the National Assembly, on Thursday stated the aforesaid at the parliamentary debates on the five-year program of the government.

In his words, even though there also are other means to assess the performance of the government, this is among the most important respective indicators.

The MP expressed confidence that the substance of this document is in its transparency, clarity, and presence of numbers and data. Simonyan noted, however, that the Armenian government had not taken these circumstances into consideration when developing its program for the next five years.

Also, the lawmaker called on members of the government not to be afraid of specificity and accountability which, in his view, will enable to increase work efficiency.

As per Taron Simonyan, the governments proposed program is not specific, overall.Bacolod CityThe Negros Press Club has asked the National Bureau of Investigation to trace the source of the alleged drug lists circulating on social media that included the names of at least 15 media practitioners here. NPC president Renato Duran and other club officers met with NBI-Bacolod agent-in-charge Renoir Baldivino at the latters office on Wednesday after a third list was e-mailed to a local newspaper on Monday, following the previous two that were posted on Facebook. Duran said Baldivino referred their concern to the Cybercrime Division of the NBI central office. He added that NPC officers will soon schedule a visit to the NBI in Manila. The NPC and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP)-Bacolod issued a unity statement denouncing the release of the lists from unknown sources. The names of the journalists were lumped with other local personalities in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City, including elected government officials. We, the members of the media community of Bacolod City and Negros Occidental denounce the malicious spreading through social media of anonymous lists of purported drug personalities, including at least 15 of our colleagues, the NPC and the NUJP-Bacolod statement said.Those included on the alleged lists are active media practitioners in Bacolod. The inconsistencies and seeming lack of logic in the composition of these lists indicate that these were drawn up by conflicting parties out to destroy each other while, at the same time, attempting to muddle their tracks by including random names, including our colleagues, the statement added. This is unacceptable to us, not only as journalists but as citizens of this country who share and deserve to enjoy the rights guaranteed by our Constitution and the laws of the land. No one, and we mean no one, should be subjected to trial by publicity and, worse, punished without being accorded due process, the groups statement added. The two media organizations also said they demand that authorities investigate and get the cowards and criminals responsible for creating and spreading these lists and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. What they have done is a crime, they said. We call on all members of the media community of Bacolod City and Negros Occidental to close ranks and defend our integrity even as we urge everyone to uphold the highest ethical and professional standards as we go about our work, the statement added. PNAZatulin: 'Declaration of Shushi' is clearly targeted against Armenia

Iranian Supreme Leader to be vaccinated against COVID-19 with Iranian-made vaccine

Armenia Ombudsman: I sent video of Azerbaijan President-Turkey's First Lady talk to EU administration

Armenia Ambassador to Poland lays wreath near plaque dedicated to Raphael Lemkin in Warsaw

Iran Ambassador on 'Zangezur corridor': We support exploitation of any corridor without change of borders

Honduras moves its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

Armenia Izmirlian Medical Center Director Armen Charchyan's attorney appeals court decision

Armenia 3rd President: Yes, he [Nikol Pashinyan] won the elections, but the victory sparks many questions

Putin, Erdogan discuss situation around Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenian general manager of Respect-SM construction firm to be detained for two months

Karabakh emergency situations service: Remains of another serviceman found in Varanda (Fizuli)

Oman hopes new Israeli government will take steps to create independent Palestinian state

Turkish and US military discuss plans to continue guarding Kabul airport by Turkish Armed Forces

Lithuania is against direct dialogue between EU and Russian President

Armenia acting PM meets with Tashir Group president Samvel Karapetyan

One dollar falls below AMD 508 in Armenia

Armenia Parliament Human Resources Management Department head sacked

Merkel says EU will discuss Turkey and possible steps in development of cooperation with Russia

Prosperous Armenia Party comments on news about acting PM's initiative in regard to extra-parliamentary forces

Armenian POW Mels Ambardaryan's brother stopping sitting strike in front of govt building for now

Armenia Chamber of Advocates launching process to provide legal aid to Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan

UN Secretary General calls for wealth tax

ARF-D member: Prosecutor General's Office needs to take steps to change pre-trial measure against doctor Charchyan

Dutch MPs urge not to send delegation to Baku, COVID-19 in Armenia, Jun 24 digest

Zatulin: Azerbaijan President is demonstrating low-browed nationalism against Armenians

Zatulin: Results of snap parliamentary elections in Armenia spark doubts

The Kremlin on Putin-Pashinyan phone talks

Armenia acting PM holds phone talks with Russia's Putin, reminds about return of Armenian POWs

Armenia health ministry to propose joint approach to issue of preserving fallen soldiers remains

Russian MFA: NATO's strategic concept will return situation to Cold War

Lavrov: Russia is helping Armenia, Azerbaijan build confidence along with other OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs

PACE committee: Problem of political prisoners in Azerbaijan neither recognised nor adequately addressed

Acting economy minister: This year 6 times more apricots already have been exported from Armenia than in 2019

EU imposes economic sanctions against Belarus

Acting PM signs decision on EU FMs forthcoming visit to Armenia

Reporters Without Borders: Spanish journalist threatened with death by Azerbaijani forces

Karabakh emergency situations service: Searches for remains of servicemen continue in Varanda

Armenia acting minister explains why officials need to stand up when Pashinyan enters the room

Armenia acting economy minister: 90% of businessmen said they would emigrate in case of shift of power

Egypt relaxes entry rules for vaccinated tourists

Churchill's painting sold at auction in US for $ 1.8 million

Afghan government predicted to fall after American withdrawal

Lapshin: European Court decision on my appeal against Azerbaijan went down in history

Queen Sofia of Spain awards Armenian student

Acting economy minister: There is trend of emigration from Armenia

Garo Paylan sounds alarm about damage caused to 18th-century Armenian church in Turkey

Armenia Syunik Province governor to reporters: You're taking too long, I'm not going to answer questions

Netherlands parliament urges government not to send delegation to Baku for Euro 2020 quarterfinals

Acting premier: Patrol Police shall bring new word to Armenia

Turkey archaeologists discover ancient fortress of Van from Urartu era

Armenia to manufacture, export drones

Five new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Armenia freedom fighter is arrested

'Armenia' bloc to hold protest in front of Prosecutor General's Office with demand to release Armen Charchyan

Armenias Pashinyan on recent snap parliamentary elections: We have set new standard

Armenia government extends ban on import of Turkey goods for another 6 months

Captured soldiers relatives hold protest outside Armenia government building

Acting premier: Average salary per person in Armenia increased by 20.2% compared to 2018

103 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting PM signs decision to send delegation to Moscow

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Prince Daniel of Sweden arrived in Assam on Wednesday with a two-day-long visit.

Prince Daniel, who is the Duke of Vastergotland, arrived at Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport in Guwahati on Wednesday along with 22 foreign delegates.

According to media reports, the purpose of the Assam tour by Prince Daniel was to visit an underdeveloped area at Hajo in Kamrup (Rural) district, 35 km from Guwahati.

The prince, as per reports, has offered financial assistance to a non-governmental organisation (NGO) at Hajo.

The Hajo-based NGO has been working to educate the people of the underdeveloped area at Hajo.

A media report quoted a member of the NGO saying that the royal visit of Prince Daniel of Sweden would bring more attention towards the rural area in the Kamrup (rural) district. The princes visit has encouraged them to work harder.

According to information, the prince also visited two schools at Hajo.

A chance meeting with none other than the Prince Daniel of Sweden, who is on his two-day personal visit to India. He visited two schools at Hajo today.

It may be mentioned that Hajo is an ancient pilgrimage centre for the Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims and this is a unique example of religious harmony.

The small town of Hajo, which is famous in Asia for its bell metal industry, is also the largest producer of silk clothes in Assam.

Forty-five-year old Prince Daniel of Sweden is the husband of Crown Princess Victoria.

Before his marriage to the heir apparent, Prince Daniel was a personal trainer and gym owner and ran a company called Balance Training with three gyms in central Stockholm.Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) on Wednesday came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging that the latter has destroyed every constitutionally-established institution.

The NPCC also accused the Prime Minister of dividing the country on the basis of religion and class adding that the love, respect and understanding for the minorities voice, has also been brutally crushed, according to reports.

NPCC president K Therie while welcoming BJP, NDPP and NCP members into the Congress at a function held at the Congress office in Kohima on Wednesday alleged that secularism and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution of India were all under threat today.

He further alleged that BJP was blindly driven by the ideology of establishing a Hindu nation, while totally disregarding other religions and sections of the country.

On the Naga political issue, Therie reiterated Congress stand to solve the vexed problem through peaceful and constitutional means.

Therie further said that the Lok Sabha candidate for Nagaland from the party would be announced after due consultations with like-minded parties and leaders.Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ruffled many feathers in Delhi when she suggested India should join Chinas ambitious geo-political Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Now a top European politician, who is also a well-known Sinologist, has suggested the same.

In an unique book on Chinas ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, Portugals former minister and Sinologist Bruno Macaes has argued that India holds the key to the success of Beijings grandiose geo-political Initiative.

This has less to do with geography than with history, Macaes writes in his insightful book  Belt and Road: A Chinese World Order published by Penguin.

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 remain ambiguous . In Chinas case, the question is whether it will eventually measure up to the task of replacing the existing US-led world order with something new. It is a question to which India will provide its own answer.

Macaes argues that  if China and India can align their foreign policies  then the Belt and Road s chances of success increase proportionately. But if India decides that life within the Western Order will be better than under an alternative arrangement, the Belt and Road will struggle to meet its original ambition.

Macaes says that Indias opposition to the Belt and Road is because the Chinese plan is seen by it as an economic challenge.

The same reasons that push China into playing a greater global role explain why India may be 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 chains  in all these cases, China has quickly moved in.

The question, of course, is 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.

Macaes argues that by coming up with two or three projects like developing the Iranian port of Chabahar, India would not be able to match 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, he argues.

For many, 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 where its cargo ships and military vessels can dock in  but this is precisely what worries India which seeks centrality in its vision of the Indo-Pacific.

Macaes poses a basic question on Indias future. As China and US compete over key technologies, India risks becoming the market .. a territory rather than an actor.

With its population soon to overtake China  and boosting an expanding middle class  India will be a coveted market for both Chinese and American companies. Can it leverage that prize into political and economic influence .

Arguing, like geo-politics guru Parag Khanna who upholds Indias position as the most important swing-state in global politics now, Macaes says this perhaps explains why Indian decision-makers prefer to delay and dither rather than provide clear guidance on their role in the Great Game.

Macaes blames Chinese foreign policy as particularly disastrous for inadequately addressing the India question. He says China included Calcutta as one of the main nodes in Belt and Road map of Xinhua but did not court India much.

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 opposite  India became the core critic of Chinas geopolitical plans, says Macaes , but he is quick to add: Many in Delhi think that because the root of the problem is Chinas misperceptions of the issue, it can be corrected and an aggressive policy towards Beijing should be tempered by the recognition that China and India ultimately belong together.

Macaes  final note of caution for India  opposing the Belt and Road can be expensive  even when it makes sense as a long-term economic strategy.

Embracing it can at least open a number of exciting negotiations.

Indian uncertainties , he says, is reflected in G20 meet in Buenos Aires in 2018 when Prime Minister Modi first got himself photographed with US president and the Japanese Prime Minister and then separately with the Chinese and Russian president  multi-alignment born out strategic ambiguity , he seems to argue.

This writer made a strong case for harmony between Chinas Belt and Road Initiative and Indias Look East policy during a global conference at Lanzhou last year.

Most Indian decision-makers now agree that Delhi is okay implementing the BCIM (Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar ) grouping which is coterminous with one of the six key routes of Belt and Road plan.

But Delhi opposes BRI apparently because one of its routes  the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)  passes through Pakistan administered Kashmir, which India continues to claim.

But with India now considering a dialogue with China on Afghanistan to protect its interests in that country in the backdrop of its angst over the proposed US military withdrawal, it is not unlikely Delhi may find China useful for mediating a final settlement in Kashmir . Much depends on whether China buys Bruno Macaes pitch that India is key to the success of Belt and Road.Government speeds up Marawi repair

posted February 14, 2019 at 07:50 pm by Julito G. Rada February 14, 2019 at 07:50 pm

The government and its foreign partners are speeding up the rehabilitation and reconstruction works on the war-torn city of Marawi in Mindanao, a Finance Department official said Thursday. Finance assistant secretary and spokesman Antonio Joselito Lambino II said funding from both local and foreign sources enabled the Duterte administration to fast-track the extensive planning and preparations required for the P67.99-billion Marawi rehabilitation, a year after government troops liberated it from Islamic State-inspired militants. The department said of the amount needed for Marawis rehabilitation, about P41.81 billion was already been raised by the government. Of this, P6.64 billion came from various forms of humanitarian assistance from multilateral and bilateral partners during the early stages of the recovery program for Marawi.Lambino said the P35.17 billion balance would be sourced from the Philippines development partners which offered concessional loans and grants during the pledging session for the Bangon Marawi Comprehensive Recovery and Rehabilitation Program on Nov. 28 in Davao City.

COMMENT DISCLAIMER: Reader comments posted on this Web site are not in any way endorsed by Manila Standard. Comments are views by manilastandard.net readers who exercise their right to free expression and they do not necessarily represent or reflect the position or viewpoint of manilastandard.net. While reserving this publications right to delete comments that are deemed offensive, indecent or inconsistent with Manila Standard editorial standards, Manila Standard may not be held liable for any false information posted by readers in this comments section.In response to the mountain lion controversy ("Mountain lion killing sets off controversy," Feb. 13), I must ask where is the controversy? In my opinion, a mountain lion killed a neighbors goat and two of the ranchers sheep before rancher finally responded.

Now, apparently South African biologist and big game expert Quinton Martin says there is no good reason to kill this cat. I have some pretty good reasons:

1. Protection of wife and kids from deadly predator.

2. Protection of sheep, goats, cattle, dogs, cats, etc. from being eaten.

This rancher tried to inform proper authorities about the situation but got no response. In case you didnt know, less than 10 percent of all state of California land is urbanized or developed, which leaves plenty of room for predators to hunt and live.

No rancher should be expected to herd his animals in some shelter every night for protection; thats ridiculous. He gave the lion two sheep; that was enough. I would have shot him first night.

Rick Oxford

NapaIt was politically diabolical and also highly effective, Cuomo said this week. And if your goal is to help Republican states and hurt Democratic states, this is the way to do it.

They are investors, they have accountants, they are making informed decisions, Cuomo said of the New Yorkers who headed south. This is going to be the tipping point and people will now be making a geographical change.

After Cuomo complained, the Wall Street Journal reported that Florida is, indeed, seeing a new wave of well-to-do transplants from New York, New Jersey and other high-taxing states, sparking a real estate boom.

So what about California and neighboring Nevada, which, like Florida and Texas, doesnt have a state income tax? The Wall Street Journal noted that both Nevada and Arizona are seeing their populations grow rapidly.

Former Gov. Jerry Brown sponsored an increase in income taxes on those in higher brackets, generating a windfall of new revenues and helping him balance the state budget. But later, he worried aloud that the federal limit on state and local tax deductions could entice the rich to flee his state.Caltrans will close one lane on Highway 29 in St. Helena near Beringer Winery from Monday, Feb. 25 through Friday, March 1, so crews can remove and replace three diseased or damaged elm trees.

The lane closure will be between Pratt Avenue and Deer Park Road.

The work is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with the exception of Wednesday, Feb. 27, when no work will take place. All work is weather permitting.

Motorists should expect delays and allow for extra travel time. The trees are part of the Tunnel of Elms. Two of the trees are diseased.

Crews will alternate lane closures in both northbound and southbound directions. Flaggers will help direct traffic.Artist Lamia Khorshid will present a talk on her work at Napa Valley Colleges quarterly public lecture series, PhotoEye@NVC, on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 6:30 p.m. The lecture is free and open to the public and will take place at Napa Valley College in Room 3706 in Napa.

Lamia Khorshid is an Egyptian-born artist, educated in the U.S, who lives in San Diego and spends summers in her adopted country of Italy. An active exhibiting artist working in photography and video, Khorshid is exhibited nationally and internationally, with solo shows in San Diego in 2017 and Florence, Italy in 2013.

She holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Miami and teaches at MiraCosta College and Southwestern College in San Diego. In her work, Khorshid is interested in how the building environment and place connect to home, country, religion and history.

PhotoEye@NVC is a quarterly photo lecture series organized by the Napa Valley College Photography Department featuring in-person presentations by noted photographers and other contemporary image makers in which they are invited to share their ideas and artistic practices with students and the general public. The lecture series is produced with support from the Janice E. & Bernard Charlup Photography Endowment of the Napa Valley College Foundation.With painful memories of the 2017 Napa wildfires still fresh, a group of St. Helenans is trying to help a few of the thousands of people left homeless by the Camp Fire that wiped out most of Paradise last year.

RV to Paradise organizers are launching a month-long fundraising campaign starting Thursday, Feb. 14, and ending Friday, March 15. They hope to raise $30,000 to donate at least one RV to victims who lost their homes in the Camp Fire.

After the fire destroyed more than 13,000 homes in November, relief poured in from around the country in the form of food, clothes and gift cards to meet fire victims immediate needs. RV to Paradise aims to provide more long-term help in the form of stable housing until victims get back on their feet.

Each RV would go to a family with children or an elderly person or couple who lost their home. Donations would also help cover hookup fees and some furnishings. Mayor Geoff Ellsworth has asked Paradise Mayor Jody Jones to help identify deserving recipients.

In addition to cash, organizers would welcome donated or discounted RVs, as well as cars and trucks, since the fire destroyed thousands of vehicles. RV to Paradise plans to work with Rohr Chabad Jewish Center in Chico to help distribute any vehicles.Smartphones from the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S10 range can now be reserved by American customers.

Those who use this service will receive bonuses such as $50 towards accessories, and delivery by 8 March  the expected date on which the range will become available.

Samsung will only unveil the Galaxy S10 on 20 February, but numerous leaks have provided information on Samsungs upcoming smartphones.

Three smartphones are expected to launch as part of the range: The base Galaxy S10e model, the Galaxy S10, and the top-of-the-range S10+.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 will reportedly feature an Infinity O display, with a fingerprint scanner embedded into this screen in the S10 and S10+ models.

The Galaxy S10 range will also be able to utilise reverse charging.

Now read: Official Samsung Galaxy S10 cases leakedThe misery of load-shedding has returned to South Africa, leaving citizens without electricity for hours on an almost daily basis.

According to Eskom, the recent bout of load-shedding is due to a shortage in capacity exacerbated by the loss of multiple generating units.

Additionally, the need for Eskom to replenish emergency water and diesel reserves has resulted in the need to implement load-shedding, as the loss of these reserves could have dire consequences for South Africa.

Hardware dangers

While the regular loss of power is a frustrating interruption for South Africans, it can also have a detrimental effect on electronic devices.

Power cuts cause electrical surges which could potentially damage devices you have connected to plugs at home or work.

A severe power surge can damage any electronic device connected to a power outlet, although these are thankfully not common.

However, the practice of load-shedding increases the risk of power surges, especially when the power is turned back on.

These surges could potentially fry everything from your TV or monitor to your smartphone if they are strong enough, and desktop computers are especially vulnerable to these surges.

Many local users have reported motherboards, power supplies, and other desktop components dying due to power surges during load-shedding.

Smartphones can also be vulnerable, although modern devices have advanced charging circuits which should protect them.

Network equipment such as routers and modems are also vulnerable to power surges, and are a common casualty when they take place.

Protecting your electronics

To be safe, the best thing to do once the power has gone off is to turn off all devices and plugs to which expensive hardware such as desktop PCs and TVs are connected.

This will prevent your electronics from being destroyed if there is a major power surge when the electricity is turned back on.

You should also acquaint yourself with your load-shedding schedule and ensure that important devices are not running or plugged in to an outlet when the power cuts out  especially your desktop PC.

When it comes to smartphones, it is a good idea to charge your smartphone from a power bank during load-shedding switches, eliminating potential exposure to a damaging surge.

Unexpected shutdowns thanks to power loss can also cause hardware failures or data corruption.

To protect your important hardware from unexpected shutdowns, you can purchase a UPS for your main house circuits.

This will allow you to protect the plugs your PCs, TVs, and other smart devices are connected to.

If this option is too expensive, you should at least buy surge-protected adapters to keep important hardware safe. Many multi-plugs and extension cords have built-in surge protection.

Eskom also recommends that users prepare for load-shedding by keeping their cellphone fully charged and backing up their data to the cloud.

Now read: Eskom workers go on strikeMany times you might have found the multiple casinos available in the online market but when you are going to...Thornburg admitted, according to the affidavit, he had been stealing the vases, each weighing around 6-7 pounds, from grave markers at various locations over time in order to get the scrap metal value. Repair and replacement value for each vase is approximately $650. The total value of the vases in Thornburg's possession was around $125,400.

Thornburg was arrested July 20 and charged with fourth-degree theft for taking and pawning items from a Muscatine woman. In the affidavit, the woman reported a theft to police July 19 after an acquaintance at Premier Jewelry and Loan contacted her about her Beats headphones that were pawned in April by Thornburg.

The headphones weren't discovered until then because they were still available to be purchased back. When the woman went to the store to confirm the headphones were hers, she noticed other items belonging to her pawned by Thornburg, including five sterling silver rings, a Tiffany ring and one .33 karat diamond earring.

A restitution hearing will be held March 29 for the first-degree theft charge and the fourth-degree theft charge.

Officers found Thornburg had also issued 31 checks from a bank account he closed in 2016 to convenient stores West Side Store, Circle K, Loos 66 and Wilton Express Mart starting July 2017, but largely between April and July 2018, according to an affidavit. Thornburg was charged Aug. 17 with second-degree theft and ordered to pay restitution of $2,162.63 at last week's sentencing.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 6MUSCATINE  Dates and times for public hearings regarding the City of Muscatine budget were approved Thursday night by Muscatine City Council.

Two resolutions were unanimously approved by the five council members present. Both hearings will be on the agenda for the Thursday, March 7 council meeting that will begin at 7 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall, 215 Sycamore St.

The first hearing scheduled is about the first amendment to the city's 2019 fiscal year budget.

According to city documents, the hearing will concern revisions to the estimated revenue and expenditure estimates and updated construction schedules for capital projects. The changes were determined during the recent 2019-2020 budget review process, which concluded last week.

The second hearing approved will be about the city's estimated budget for fiscal year 2019-2020. The proposed budget total tax levy on regular property is $15.67 per $1,000 valuation, and $3 per $1,000 valuation on agricultural land.

Councilmen Tom Spread and Santos Saucedo were not at the 5 p.m. meeting due to work schedules. The council meeting time was changed for this week due to the free 7 p.m. performances by the China National Peking Opera Company and Hubei Chime Bells National Chinese Orchestra at Central Middle School.As a long-time public trail user, Im particularly excited about the trail funding piece. Ive been doing this work for decades and I can tell you that it's not often the motorized and nonmotorized communities come together to support a common vision. SB24 has been a uniting issue whether you ride a dirt bike or lace up hiking boots.

Trails funding has been a growing concern for years as more trails and community groups have sought ways to strengthen community amenities and outdoor opportunities. The Montana Trails Coalition recently published a report on the Recreational Trails Program, the primary pot of federal money used by trail organizations to do this work. That report showed while the program is well-used, it has not been able to meet Montanas needs. Over one hundred community-supported trail projects had been left unfunded in the past five years.

But support for SB24 goes well beyond the trail user community. The bill has bipartisan support and is sponsored by Sen. Terry Gauthier, a Republican from Helena. At a Senate Fish and Game Committee hearing held last month there was simply no opposition to the bill. Instead, it was supported by a long line of Montana citizens and groups that included the Montana Association of Realtors, several major municipalities, and Montanas largest insurance company, Blue Cross and Blue Shield.In Montana, driving without a license is punishable by up to six months in jail, more fines, and an additional suspension of ones license. Searching for a new job, on the other hand, leaves people with even fewer resources for necessities, let alone court debt.

Unfortunately, this difficult situation results in some Montanans finding themselves behind bars despite posing no threat to the community. In addition to the great deal of harm this scenario inflicts on these individuals and their families, it is also a poor use of tax dollars.

Rather than investing scarce public resources into truly improving community safety, the funds are tied up incarcerating people who should not be in prison in the first place. This increases corrections spending over the long term. Studies have found that even brief jail stays increase the odds of another crime being committed down the road, particularly for low-risk defendants.

If lawmakers need added urgency, the practice of revoking drivers licenses was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge in Tennessee last year.Broadwater County Commissioner Laura Obert, whose county prosecutors are pursuing the conviction of a man charged with killing Deputy Mason Moore in 2017, said the proposal would detract from the public safety efforts to which Moore has committed in his county of approximately 5,600 people.

Mason Moore was also a firefighter, she said. Right now Im standing in front of you, asking for you not to cut Masons department  and not to cut his champion, our county attorney.

Both the Montana Association of Counties and League of Cities and Towns, as they did last week in initial discussions, contended that local governments were not at the table in the last 12 years when state lawmakers made peripheral changes that affected how the cost share and the OPD budget would play out.

Initial language in the bill that moved OPD to the state level had included readjusting the cost share every few years to retain the 75/25 split, but it was deliberately taken out.Rep. Barry Usher, a Republican from Billings, said Montana couldn't change the federal holiday, and voted against the bill. He suggested picking a different day to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day instead of replacing Columbus Day. Usher said it's also difficult to agree on what is the accurate version of history.

"Were any of us there? No. All we have is folklore and maybe some documents we found and we interpret them. History is only what the person was taught. And maybe it was taught to lots of people, but it could still be wrong," Usher said.

Morigeau said when he was in school he learned a distilled version of the history surrounding Columbus and that knowing what he does now, he doesn't want to keep a holiday in his name.

"We don't have to celebrate this person. This is an individual at a time where some say slavery was happening. Maybe it was," Morigeau said. "But what we know is that what he was doing was so atrocious, so horrible that he was shackled up and brought back to Spain. And this is a person we want to continue to celebrate and say that was OK?"

Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 12A Butte detective went to Polson on Nov. 9 to speak to Gingras with his probation officer present, prosecutors say. Gingras said that during the night in Butte, he awoke to find the girl on top of him trying to kiss him like a woman would kiss a man and was naked.

Gingras denied all of the acts alleged by the girl and said he got out of the house as soon as possible the next morning because he was uncomfortable with the situation. But he was ultimately arrested and charged.

Gingras was convicted of attempted deliberate homicide in 1991 after a stabbing in a Kalispell bar. He escaped from jail while awaiting sentencing but was arrested several weeks later at a trailer park in Washington state, according to newspaper accounts.

He was sentenced to 85 years in prison, in part because he was a persistent felony offender, according to the Montana Department of Corrections.

On appeal, he was resentenced in 2011 to 75 years but was given credit for time already served and was paroled from Montana State Prison the next year. He was returned to prison in 2013 after violating parole but was paroled again in 2014.

Gingras told Whelan Wednesday that his guilty plea was voluntary and that he understood the maximum sentence he faces.

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Page: 1 2 3 Cuba warns about the movement of US military forces to Caribbean countries LoP Guest

lop guest

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02-14-2019 07:49 PM











Post: #1 Cuba warns about the movement of US military forces to Caribbean countries

Advertisement Cuba warns about the movement of US military forces to Caribbean countries



Posted: Feb 14 2019 15:10 GMT | Last update: 14 Feb 2019 16:46 GMT



"In a statement, Havana asks the international community to mobilize before "a military adventure disguised as 'humanitarian intervention'".





https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/305...res-caribe Posted: Feb 14 2019 15:10 GMT | Last update: 14 Feb 2019 16:46 GMT"In a statement, Havana asks the international community to mobilize before "a military adventure disguised as 'humanitarian intervention'". LoP Guest

lop guest

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02-14-2019 07:50 PM











Post: #2 RE: Cuba warns about the movement of US military forces to Caribbean countries

DECLARATION OF THE REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT. URGE TO STOP THE IMPERIALIST MILITARY ADVENTURE AGAINST VENEZUELA



"The Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba denounces the escalation of pressure and actions of the Government of the United States to prepare a military adventure disguised as "humanitarian intervention" in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and calls on the international community to mobilize to prevent it from consume



Between 6 and 10 February 2019, flights of military transport aircraft have been made to the Rafael Miranda Airport of Puerto Rico, the San Isidro Air Base, in the Dominican Republic and to other strategically located Caribbean islands, probably without knowledge of the governments of those nations, which originated in American military installations from which units of Special Operations and Marine Corps operate, which are used for covert actions, even against leaders of other countries.



Political and press media, including North Americans, have revealed that extremist figures of that government, with a long history of actions and slander aimed at provoking or encouraging wars, such as National Security Adviser John Bolton, the Western Hemisphere Director of the Council of National Security, Mauricio Claver-Carone, with the participation of the Senator of Florida, Marco Rubio, designed, managed the financing and organized, directly and in detail, from Washington, the attempted coup in Venezuela through the illegal self-proclamation of a president.



They are themselves who, personally or through the State Department, are making brutal pressures against numerous governments to force their support for the arbitrary call to new Venezuelan presidential elections, while promoting the recognition of the usurper who barely has 97 thousand votes as a parliamentarian, in front of the more than 6 million Venezuelans who last May elected the Constitutional President Nicolas Maduro Moros.



After the resistance to the coup offered by the Bolivarian and Chavista people, demonstrated in the massive demonstrations of support to President Maduro and in the loyalty of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, the United States Government has intensified its international political and media campaign and intensifies unilateral coercive economic measures against Venezuela, among which can be cited the blockade in third-country banks of billions of dollars belonging to Venezuela and the theft of revenue from oil sales of that sister nation, which is causing serious Humanitarian damage and hard deprivation to his people.



Along with this cruel and unjustifiable dispossession, the US intends to fabricate a humanitarian pretext to initiate a military aggression against Venezuela and has proposed to introduce into the territory of that sovereign nation, through intimidation, pressure and force, a supposed humanitarian aid, which It is a thousand times less than the economic damage caused by the policy of encirclement, imposed from Washington.



The usurper and self-proclaimed "president" shamelessly declared his willingness to demand a US military intervention under the pretext of receiving such "humanitarian aid", and described the sovereign and dignified rejection of that maneuver as "a crime against humanity."



Senior US officials remember every day, with arrogance and impudence that, in relation to Venezuela, "all options are on the table, including the military."



In the process of making pretexts, the United States government has resorted to deception and slander by presenting a draft resolution in the United Nations Security Council that, cynically and hypocritically, expresses serious concern about "the humanitarian situation and of human rights ..., the recent attempts to block the provision of humanitarian aid, the existence of millions of migrants and refugees ..., the excessive use of force against peaceful demonstrators, the situation of breach of regional peace and security " Venezuela and urges "to adopt the necessary measures."



It is clear that the United States paves the way to forcibly establishing "a humanitarian corridor" under "international protection", invoking the "obligation to protect" civilians and applying "all necessary measures".



It is essential to remember that similar behaviors and similar pretexts were adopted by the United States in the prelude to the wars it launched against Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya, at the price of immense losses of human lives and enormous suffering...." Hamburgerwagon

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Post: #3 RE: Cuba warns about the movement of US military forces to Caribbean countries

F Cuba LoP Guest

lop guest

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02-14-2019 07:50 PM











Post: #4 RE: Cuba warns about the movement of US military forces to Caribbean countries





The sad and painful history of military interventions by the United States can not be forgotten, on more than one occasion in Mexico, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Honduras, and more recently in Grenada and Panama.



As the Army General Raul Castro Ruz warned on July 14, 2017: "the aggression and the coup against Venezuela harm all" Our America "and only benefit the interests of those who are determined to divide us to exercise their domination over our peoples , without bothering to generate conflicts of incalculable consequences in this region, such as those we are witnessing in different parts of the world. "



History will judge severely a new imperialist military intervention in the region and the complicity of those who irresponsibly accompany it.



The sovereignty and dignity of Latin America and the Caribbean and the peoples of the South are decided today in Venezuela. The survival of the norms of International Law and the Charter of the United Nations are also decided. It is defined if the legitimacy of a government emanates from the express and sovereign will of its people or from the recognition of foreign powers.



The Revolutionary Government calls for international mobilization in defense of peace in Venezuela and in the region, based on the principles of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace adopted with the signature of the Heads of State and Government of CELAC in 2014.



Expresses its welcome and support to the Montevideo Mechanism, an initiative of Mexico, Uruguay, the Commonwealth of the Caribbean (CARICOM) and Bolivia, which seeks to preserve peace in Venezuela based, as its recent Declaration says, on the principles of non-intervention in matters inmates, the legal equality of States and the peaceful settlement of disputes.



Welcomes the favorable reception of this initiative by President Maduro Moros and the international community and expresses concern at the categorical rejection by the United States Government of the dialogue initiatives promoted by several countries, including this one.



The Revolutionary Government reiterates its firm and unwavering solidarity with the Constitutional President Nicolas Maduro Moros, the Bolivarian and Chavez Revolution and the civic-military union of its people and calls on all peoples and governments of the world to defend peace and oppose united , above political or ideological differences, to stop a new imperialist military intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean that will damage the independence, sovereignty and interests of the peoples of the Rio Grande to Patagonia."







Havana, February 13, 2019





http://www.minrex.gob.cu/es/declaracion-...sta-contra "....The US government tries to eliminate the major obstacle represented by the Bolivarian Revolution and Chavista to the exercise of imperialist domination over "Our America" and the dispossession of the Venezuelan people from the world's first certified oil reserve and other large and strategic natural resources. .The sad and painful history of military interventions by the United States can not be forgotten, on more than one occasion in Mexico, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Honduras, and more recently in Grenada and Panama.As the Army General Raul Castro Ruz warned on July 14, 2017: "the aggression and the coup against Venezuela harm all" Our America "and only benefit the interests of those who are determined to divide us to exercise their domination over our peoples , without bothering to generate conflicts of incalculable consequences in this region, such as those we are witnessing in different parts of the world. "History will judge severely a new imperialist military intervention in the region and the complicity of those who irresponsibly accompany it.The sovereignty and dignity of Latin America and the Caribbean and the peoples of the South are decided today in Venezuela. The survival of the norms of International Law and the Charter of the United Nations are also decided. It is defined if the legitimacy of a government emanates from the express and sovereign will of its people or from the recognition of foreign powers.The Revolutionary Government calls for international mobilization in defense of peace in Venezuela and in the region, based on the principles of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace adopted with the signature of the Heads of State and Government of CELAC in 2014.Expresses its welcome and support to the Montevideo Mechanism, an initiative of Mexico, Uruguay, the Commonwealth of the Caribbean (CARICOM) and Bolivia, which seeks to preserve peace in Venezuela based, as its recent Declaration says, on the principles of non-intervention in matters inmates, the legal equality of States and the peaceful settlement of disputes.Welcomes the favorable reception of this initiative by President Maduro Moros and the international community and expresses concern at the categorical rejection by the United States Government of the dialogue initiatives promoted by several countries, including this one.The Revolutionary Government reiterates its firm and unwavering solidarity with the Constitutional President Nicolas Maduro Moros, the Bolivarian and Chavez Revolution and the civic-military union of its people and calls on all peoples and governments of the world to defend peace and oppose united , above political or ideological differences, to stop a new imperialist military intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean that will damage the independence, sovereignty and interests of the peoples of the Rio Grande to Patagonia."Havana, February 13, 2019 #1 Doomologist

lop guest

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02-14-2019 07:51 PM











Post: #5 RE: Cuba warns about the movement of US military forces to Caribbean countries



blow up a 59 chevy at a taco stand....

what are they gonna do...blow up a 59 chevy at a taco stand.... Ashesandsackcloth#2

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02-14-2019 07:52 PM



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Post: #6 RE: Cuba warns about the movement of US military forces to Caribbean countries

Monroe Doc baby! LoP Guest

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02-14-2019 07:55 PM











Post: #7 RE: Cuba warns about the movement of US military forces to Caribbean countries





http://www.minrex.gob.cu/en/statement-re...re-against ENGLISH udis

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02-14-2019 07:56 PM



Posts: 28,038









Post: #8 RE: Cuba warns about the movement of US military forces to Caribbean countries

Hamburgerwagon Wrote: (02-14-2019 07:50 PM) F Cuba

 This Claim Is Disputed Pending Fact Checkers.  udis

 The Ministry Of Thought Crime. Does Not Approve Of Your Thoughts!  (This post was last modified: 02-14-2019 08:03 PM by udis .) Hamburgerwagon

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02-14-2019 07:57 PM



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Post: #9 RE: Cuba warns about the movement of US military forces to Caribbean countries

#1 Doomologist Wrote: (02-14-2019 07:51 PM) what are they gonna do...

blow up a 59 chevy at a taco stand....



If you showed up there in a 2019 Dodge Challenger they would think it was a time machine from the future.



I bet they are all damn good mechanics down there. If you showed up there in a 2019 Dodge Challenger they would think it was a time machine from the future.I bet they are all damn good mechanics down there. LoP Guest

lop guest

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02-14-2019 07:57 PM











Post: #10 RE: Cuba warns about the movement of US military forces to Caribbean countries

"...Between February 6 and 10 of 2019, several military transport aircraft have been flying to the Rafael Miranda Airport in Puerto Rico; the San Isidro Air Base in the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean Islands that have a strategic location, most certainly without the knowledge of the governments of those nations. These flights took off from US military facilities from where Special Operation Troops and US Marine Corps units operate. These units have been used for covert operations, even against leaders of other countries...." #1 Doomologist

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02-14-2019 08:00 PM











Post: #11 RE: Cuba warns about the movement of US military forces to Caribbean countries

Hamburgerwagon Wrote: (02-14-2019 07:57 PM) #1 Doomologist Wrote: (02-14-2019 07:51 PM) what are they gonna do...

blow up a 59 chevy at a taco stand....



If you showed up there in a 2019 Dodge Challenger they would think it was a time machine from the future.



I bet they are all damn good mechanics down there.

good mechanics with black lung....



they have some really cool cars down there...

fuzzy dice cost more than the car though...

good mechanics with black lung....they have some really cool cars down there...fuzzy dice cost more than the car though... Prince Vegeta

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02-14-2019 08:06 PM



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Post: #12 RE: Cuba warns about the movement of US military forces to Caribbean countries

f*#k the Cuban communist regime. Theyre next to be overthrown by their people. I have no time for weaklings. LoP Guest

lop guest

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02-14-2019 08:07 PM











Post: #13 RE: Cuba warns about the movement of US military forces to Caribbean countries

avoiding the issue with idiotic comments is typical here

because you must be very nervous

MURIKA AT WAR AGAIN

That must hurt you...

because...you have tasted the flavor ..."karma is a bit*h" udis

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02-14-2019 08:10 PM



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Post: #14 RE: Cuba warns about the movement of US military forces to Caribbean countries

America Was BORN in Blood and War,

at what point does anyone think we

are going to change is just 243 years?  This Claim Is Disputed Pending Fact Checkers.  udis

 The Ministry Of Thought Crime. Does Not Approve Of Your Thoughts!  LoP Guest

lop guest

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02-14-2019 08:11 PM











Post: #15 RE: Cuba warns about the movement of US military forces to Caribbean countries



Do you want to prove the Bear and the Tigger together??





ONLY REMEMBER RUSSIA AND CHINA are supporting MaduroDo you want to prove the Bear and the Tigger together?? Advertisement



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"After you have finished your true stories sometime, why don't you make up a story and the people to go with it? Only then will you understand what happened and why. It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us.  A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, by Norman MacleanThis week I visited the Capitol for the first time to testify on House Bill 208 because paid family leave is incredibly important to me, my family and most of the people I know.

When my daughter was born, I took unpaid leave and my husband used years' worth of accumulated sick and personal leave. To spend time with our newborn, we put student loans on forbearance, lost three months of income and burned through our savings.

Most think paid leave is maternity leave, but it is more. As a physical therapist, I see families trying to figure out how help hurt or aging family members. Recently, I had a woman in tears describing how stressful full-time care-giving is for her husband, and the financial stress compounds the situation. Montana should place more value on the importance of family. Every family, at some point, will need paid leave.

Studies show that paid family leave is better for employers, families and the economy. I know it would have helped our family and I hope someday it will be available for my daughters and to all families in Montana.

Please call the House Business and Labor Committee at 444-4800 and support HB208.

Jessica Kehoe,

Missoula

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Click any reaction to login. Love 4 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0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 southeastern states devastated by hurricanes reached out for help, Montana sent volunteers to answer the call. During Californias recent fires, Montana sent firefighters 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 1 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. When thousands illegally cross the border, we have no way to assess their intent. We know some smuggle drugs, are human traffickers, gang members or potential terrorists. This should make the border crisis of imminent importance.That is an 80-hour monthly requirement that can be met with activities like work or, for those who can't work, volunteering, seeking a job, substance use disorder treatment or training.

The requirements are similar to what the state of Arkansas enacted for its Medicaid expansion program last June.

The assumptions the university's analysis made about a work requirement in Montana were based on Arkansas' experience, as well as the work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the food stamp replacement program known as SNAP.

After Arkansas implemented work requirements in June last year, about 18,000 had lost coverage by December. About 252,642 people were covered, meaning about 7 percent lost coverage in the first six months.

Buttrey has said his bill isn't modeled on Arkansas' version. It has a similar hours requirement, however. Buttrey also cautioned that his draft is subject to change before it's finalized. It has yet to be introduced.

"We certainly don't want to put (on) an hour requirement that is punitive," Buttrey said earlier this month. "I'm not trying to do something that's going to cause enrollment numbers to drastically change."Our position is that the state of Montana should have a leading role in that.

Speakers from the Montana Public Interest Group, the Audubon Society and the Northern Plains Council also opposed the bill.

The sole proponent was Ed Berry of Bigfork, who has long questioned the overwhelming scientific consensus that human greenhouse gas emissions are driving climate change. He devoted his time to discussing that view.

Read himself has challenged the science on climate change before, in a separate bill this session and in a 2011 one that would have declared climate change a benefit to the state, drawing national criticism.

This time, Read got chuckles when he began his closing remarks. Id like to apologize for offending the whole state, he said.

I did not imply in this bill that we would walk away from all the historic progresses that we have made in fighting pollution and stuff like that...I was fighting for the right of our state, and I did not impugn, or want to step on the toes of the officials of the state, so well let it go with that, and I will close on the bill."A Lame Deer man admitted Wednesday to stabbing his half-brother to death during an alcohol-fueled confrontation on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in 2017.

Darrell Lee Whiteman, 30, pleaded guilty to a single charge of voluntary manslaughter in U.S. District Court in Billings. There is no plea deal in the case.

During the change of plea hearing before Judge Susan Watters, Whiteman admitted to killing his half-brother, referred to in court documents only as John Doe, on March 4, 2017. The man was presumably 32-year-old Dana L. Shoulderblade, whose death the FBI previously said was being investigated as a criminal matter.

Shoulderblade was found dead that night in a residence in Muddy, an area just west of Lame Deer within the Big Horn County portion of the reservation.

On March 4, 2017, Whiteman was at his half-brothers house, according to court documents. The two were drinking, and at one point Whiteman accused his girlfriend of having sex with his half-brother.

The two men continued to argue in the kitchen, where Whiteman grabbed a kitchen knife, according to court records. While a person was standing between them, Whiteman reached around the person and stabbed Shoulderblade in the chest. Whiteman then left the house while Shoulderblade lay on the floor.Interstate 90 reopened late Thursday afternoon after the Montana Highway Patrol, Department of Transportation and the Mineral County Sheriff's Office cleared wreckage from a semi-truck crash.

MDT said earlier Thursday in a tweet that five semis had crashed five miles east of the Idaho border. Jim Kitchin, an MHP captain, told the Missoulian later that only one semi crashed; others had merely stopped, he said. The crash caused a few "minor injuries."

"We got lucky," Kitchin said.

The Montana Department of Transportation had closed the stretch between St. Regis and Lookout Pass Tuesday afternoon. After clearing the eastbound lanes, Kitchin said crews were returning to "avalanche detail," to clear the westbound lanes.

The Montana Department of Transportation closed the highways westbound lanes from St. Regis to the Idaho border shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday when an avalanche spilled onto the road around mile marker 33.5, near St. Regis.

Kitchen said earlier on Thursday there had been two known avalanches, one there and one at mile marker 1. He said there was a good possibility of other avalanches.

"Big shout out to Mineral County Sheriff's Department and DOT, they're working their butts off," Kitchin said.

Meanwhile in Flathead County, the Department of Transportation planned to conduct avalanche mitigation on U.S. 2 near Essex for about two hours beginning at 1:30 Thursday, and close the road from Essex to Snow Slip.

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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.Knaack, who started with MIP on Feb. 1, is already working to advance legislation in Montana that would increase transparency around "jailhouse confessions," revise post-conviction release laws and create an interim study commission to determine if the state should compensate the wrongfully convicted.

"When people lose years or decades of their lives, the state needs to do more than just say sorry," he said. "This not only helps ensure folks coming out have resources and the ability to kind of build their lives again, but also creates an incentive for prosecutors and the state itself to get it right in the first place."

Carpenter joins MIP after her time as a criminal defense attorney in Whitefish, trying both felonies and misdemeanors. She's already taken up one post-conviction relief case as co-counsel with the state's Office of Public Defender.

"I could not be more overjoyed to dig into this work of exonerating the innocent," she said in a release from MIP. "As Legal Director for the Montana Innocence Project, I am honored to use my reason, morality, and passion to fight to preserve humanity by freeing innocent people from prison."

Mansch will stay with the organization as senior counsel.

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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.Following an outbreak of more than 50 cases of measles near the Washington/Oregon border last week, doctors and nurses at Community Medical Center began seeing a big increase in people asking advice on how to prevent infections.

Weve been getting a handful of calls every day, and most patients I see have questions and concerns about it, explained Charlie Hastings, a pediatrician at Missoula Valley Pediatrics.

Measles is a highly contagious infectious virus, but there hasnt been a case in Montana since 1990. About 1 in 1,000 people who contract the disease develop serious complications like brain inflammation that can lead to death.

Infants under age 1, people with immune deficiency problems and pregnant women are particularly susceptible. Vaccinations are safe for children age 1 and over, and all children should get a second vaccination at age 4 that will protect them through their school years, according to Hastings.

Hastings said based on the reports hes seen, between 75 percent and 78 percent of the people in Clark County, Washington, where almost all of the recent measles cases occurred, were vaccinated against the virus.Username: Password: or Register

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Page: 1 2 Coca-Colas stock heads for worst day since 2008. LoP Guest

lop guest

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02-14-2019 06:56 PM











Post: #1 Coca-Colas stock heads for worst day since 2008.

Advertisement





Coca-Cola Co. may be losing some of its fizz, and thats hurting its stock on Thursday.



The beverage giant saw some softness in its North America business during the holiday quarter, missed the revenue consensus number and delivered a disappointing outlook for the year ahead. Management cited some encouraging trends in North America and China so far this year, but regions like Argentina and Turkey continue to show weakness, and Coke KO, -7.34% expects to step up marketing expenses in general for 2019.



Cokes stock is down about 7% in Thursday morning trading and is on pace for its largest single-day percentage drop since October 2008. Peer PepsiCo Inc.s shares are off 1.5%; PepsiCo is reporting results tomorrow before the bell.





https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coke-s...2019-02-14 It is amazing how these larger than life companies can stumble like this.Coca-Cola Co. may be losing some of its fizz, and thats hurting its stock on Thursday.The beverage giant saw some softness in its North America business during the holiday quarter, missed the revenue consensus number and delivered a disappointing outlook for the year ahead. Management cited some encouraging trends in North America and China so far this year, but regions like Argentina and Turkey continue to show weakness, and Coke KO, -7.34% expects to step up marketing expenses in general for 2019.Cokes stock is down about 7% in Thursday morning trading and is on pace for its largest single-day percentage drop since October 2008. Peer PepsiCo Inc.s shares are off 1.5%; PepsiCo is reporting results tomorrow before the bell. LoP Guest

lop guest

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02-14-2019 06:57 PM











Post: #2 RE: Coca-Colas stock heads for worst day since 2008.

It is impacting DOW at least today.



Dow 25,430.56 -112.71 -0.44% LoP Guest

lop guest

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02-14-2019 06:58 PM











Post: #3 RE: Coca-Colas stock heads for worst day since 2008.

Does anyone else think it just doesn't taste as good as it used to?



I drank coke all the time when I was a kid, but I can't stand it now. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 471715

02-14-2019 07:02 PM











Post: #4 RE: Coca-Colas stock heads for worst day since 2008.

LoP Guest Wrote: (02-14-2019 06:58 PM) Does anyone else think it just doesn't taste as good as it used to?



I drank coke all the time when I was a kid, but I can't stand it now.

I was cruising youtubes for conspiracy theories and I came up with the most bizarre conspiracy I`ve seen in a while. It is said that the owner made a pack with the Devil hence why Coca Cola was an instant success but it doesnt end here, one of the ingrediants is human blood mixed with a bunch of chemicals. The logo has three sixes in there somewhere. I`ll find the video and post it here iF I can remember the title. I was cruising youtubes for conspiracy theories and I came up with the most bizarre conspiracy I`ve seen in a while. It is said that the owner made a pack with the Devil hence why Coca Cola was an instant success but it doesnt end here, one of the ingrediants is human blood mixed with a bunch of chemicals. The logo has three sixes in there somewhere. I`ll find the video and post it here iF I can remember the title. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 397180

02-14-2019 07:07 PM











Post: #5 RE: Coca-Colas stock heads for worst day since 2008.

LoP Guest Wrote: (02-14-2019 07:02 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (02-14-2019 06:58 PM) Does anyone else think it just doesn't taste as good as it used to?



I drank coke all the time when I was a kid, but I can't stand it now.

I was cruising youtubes for conspiracy theories and I came up with the most bizarre conspiracy I`ve seen in a while. It is said that the owner made a pack with the Devil hence why Coca Cola was an instant success but it doesnt end here, one of the ingrediants is human blood mixed with a bunch of chemicals. The logo has three sixes in there somewhere. I`ll find the video and post it here iF I can remember the title.

Sounds like a creepy pasta.



Back in the old days one of the ingredients was cocaine, hence the name. Not kidding. I imagine it became popular quickly because it was addictive. Once cocaine became a controlled substance, it was removed from the formula.



But back in the 90's I drank it like water. My mom would get a 2-liter every day and I would sit down and watch cartoons and chug coke.



I think they change the formula every now and then, so it probably won't ever taste like I remember. Sounds like a creepy pasta.Back in the old days one of the ingredients was cocaine, hence the name. Not kidding. I imagine it became popular quickly because it was addictive. Once cocaine became a controlled substance, it was removed from the formula.But back in the 90's I drank it like water. My mom would get a 2-liter every day and I would sit down and watch cartoons and chug coke.I think they change the formula every now and then, so it probably won't ever taste like I remember. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 471715

02-14-2019 07:09 PM











Post: #6 RE: Coca-Colas stock heads for worst day since 2008.

LoP Guest Wrote: (02-14-2019 07:07 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (02-14-2019 07:02 PM) I was cruising youtubes for conspiracy theories and I came up with the most bizarre conspiracy I`ve seen in a while. It is said that the owner made a pack with the Devil hence why Coca Cola was an instant success but it doesnt end here, one of the ingrediants is human blood mixed with a bunch of chemicals. The logo has three sixes in there somewhere. I`ll find the video and post it here iF I can remember the title.

Sounds like a creepy pasta.



Back in the old days one of the ingredients was cocaine, hence the name. Not kidding. I imagine it became popular quickly because it was addictive. Once cocaine became a controlled substance, it was removed from the formula.



But back in the 90's I drank it like water. My mom would get a 2-liter every day and I would sit down and watch cartoons and chug coke.



I think they change the formula every now and then, so it probably won't ever taste like I remember.

We have all gone through that. Until this day I buy a coke every now and then and do shots instead of drinking a full glass. I know now how damaging it is. But damn, old habits are hard to kill. We have all gone through that. Until this day I buy a coke every now and then and do shots instead of drinking a full glass. I know now how damaging it is. But damn, old habits are hard to kill. stentor

Registered User

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02-14-2019 07:33 PM



Posts: 1,803









Post: #7 RE: Coca-Colas stock heads for worst day since 2008.

Time they start back up the old recipe, the fun one. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 488720

02-14-2019 09:03 PM











Post: #8 RE: Coca-Colas stock heads for worst day since 2008.

It tastes like crap because the are using corn syrup now instead of sugar. I buy mexican coke made with cane sugar and it is delicious.



I read somewhere that this is the reason that they came out with new coke in the late eighties or early nineties. It was a ruse that enabled them to switch to corn syrup without people noticing.



They changed to new coke but when they changed back to coke classic it wasn't really the original coke, the sugar had been replaced with corn syrup but since no one had had an original coke in a while, it was harder to tell the difference.



I remember everyone at the time classic coke came out saying that is still didn't taste the same and I agreed with them.



I don't know for sure if this is true but the timing seems about right and it makes sense. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 442897

02-14-2019 09:05 PM











Post: #9 RE: Coca-Colas stock heads for worst day since 2008.

Hecho en Mexico

Perfecto Perfecto LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 399043

02-14-2019 09:12 PM











Post: #10 RE: Coca-Colas stock heads for worst day since 2008.

It would be so easy for the owners to manipulate the share price



viola , " we need to get in the legal cannabis market " , shareholders see that as the only way to stay profitable LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 442897

02-14-2019 09:15 PM











Post: #11 RE: Coca-Colas stock heads for worst day since 2008.

LoP Guest Wrote: (02-14-2019 09:12 PM) It would be so easy for the owners to manipulate the share price



viola , " we need to get in the legal cannabis market " , shareholders see that as the only way to stay profitable

Infusion, it's current. Then again I would never open up a Coke machine for the loose change. Infusion, it's current. Then again I would never open up a Coke machine for the loose change. Coolchick

Rock 'n roll Elite

User ID: 53

02-14-2019 09:16 PM



Posts: 18,601









Post: #12 RE: Coca-Colas stock heads for worst day since 2008.

LoP Guest Wrote: (02-14-2019 09:12 PM) It would be so easy for the owners to manipulate the share price



viola , " we need to get in the legal cannabis market " , shareholders see that as the only way to stay profitable

this is from oct/18.. i dunno if there are any new developments now but..



New York (CNN Business)Coca-Cola last month teased the possibility it could get into the cannabis business. But the beverage maker now says it's not interested in pot.

CEO James Quincey said the company "doesn't have any plans at this stage" to enter the CBD market, during an earnings conference call with analysts Tuesday.

CBD is a non-psychoactive component of marijuana.

Quincey's comments came in response to a question from Cowen & Co. analyst Vivien Azer, who asked about rumors that Coca-Cola (KO) was looking at the CBD category.



Coke said in September that it was "closely watching" the growth of CBD as a possible ingredient for so-called wellness beverages. At the same time, rumors swirled that Coke was considering an investment in Canadian cannabis company Aurora (ACB).

It looks like Coke decided to pass. '



https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/30/investing...index.html this is from oct/18.. i dunno if there are any new developments now but..New York (CNN Business)Coca-Cola last month teased the possibility it could get into the cannabis business. But the beverage maker now says it's not interested in pot.CEO James Quincey said the company "doesn't have any plans at this stage" to enter the CBD market, during an earnings conference call with analysts Tuesday.CBD is a non-psychoactive component of marijuana.Quincey's comments came in response to a question from Cowen & Co. analyst Vivien Azer, who asked about rumors that Coca-Cola (KO) was looking at the CBD category.Coke said in September that it was "closely watching" the growth of CBD as a possible ingredient for so-called wellness beverages. At the same time, rumors swirled that Coke was considering an investment in Canadian cannabis company Aurora (ACB).It looks like Coke decided to pass. ' Just Plain Nuts. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 399043

02-14-2019 09:25 PM











Post: #13 RE: Coca-Colas stock heads for worst day since 2008.

Thanks Cool , I had not seen that



so 16 months ago someone at coke floats the idea , conservative major stock holders balked , based in Atlanta and they all probably have tobacco stocks and booze stocks and investments in other crap that would be hurt by legal herb



so set up a " crisis " and



lather

rinse

repeat

corporate usa LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 473781

02-14-2019 09:28 PM











Post: #14 RE: Coca-Colas stock heads for worst day since 2008.

LoP Guest Wrote: (02-14-2019 09:25 PM) Thanks Cool , I had not seen that



so 16 months ago someone at coke floats the idea , conservative major stock holders balked , based in Atlanta and they all probably have tobacco stocks and booze stocks and investments in other crap that would be hurt by legal herb



so set up a " crisis " and



lather

rinse

repeat

corporate usa

It takes one big company to bring it all down. It takes one big company to bring it all down. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 486854

02-14-2019 09:32 PM











Post: #15 RE: Coca-Colas stock heads for worst day since 2008.

Well the usual Christmas season special of $1 for 2 liters wasn't here! It was $1.25 so I skipped the annual truckload purchase of Coke. Advertisement



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Thane recommended that the district use the retrofitted buses for long-distance, high-speed or high-mileage routes, and limit the older buses to low-speed, short local routes.

It would cost $10,000 to retrofit each bus, adding up to a total of $480,000 that would ultimately fall to taxpayers.

MCPS executive director of business and operations Pat McHugh said the district is hoping to spread that cost out over time so that taxpayers don't have a big hit one year.

Montana is one of 42 states that does not require school buses to have seat belts, despite numerous attempts by lawmakers to pass legislation that would mandate a change.

Proposed legislation to require all new school buses to have seat belts has been shot down in each of the last four legislative sessions in Montana with opponents arguing that school buses are already safe.

Statistically, school buses are safer for kids than passenger vehicles. On average, six student passengers are killed in school bus accidents each year, compared to about 2,000 children who die in motor vehicle crashes each year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.Missoula County learned Wednesday it has a couple of options when it comes to the debate over whether to construct a new South Avenue Bridge or rehabilitate the Maclay Bridge, but at least one could prove costly to local taxpayers.

County commissioners can dispute findings from what state and federal officials call a nationally known, reputable consulting firm the county hired to do the environmental review of the project. The county then can present any information gaps in the review to the state and federal transportation agencies that are funding the proposed $12.8 million South Avenue Bridge.

Those agencies could then alter the course of work if they agree the gaps are substantial or show some significant change has occurred since the analysis was done and the document submitted to the Montana Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration.

Alternatively, the commission can throw out previous commissioners decisions to move forward with the South Avenue Bridge, and repay about $1 million in federal funds that were used for the environmental reviews and related costs.A university is the one place, of all places, where the free exchange of candidly-held ideas is and should be diligently protected, Weix said.

***

Powell earlier said she is accustomed to debating ideas, but the situation she encountered at the UC was different.

She said more students than usual crowded her table, and many of them asked the same boilerplate questions. She estimated at least four used vulgar and rude language and she was insulted as a North Dakota transplant.

Powell also said Weix approached her at the table and said, How did you like my students?

In her statement, Weix described her perspective of the interaction with Powell, the nature of the course, and the instructions she gave her students. Wiex has been at UM since 1992.

She said she is teaching a course called Fieldworking where students learn ethnographic research methods.

The emphasis of course is observation and conversation in different sites, typically those on a college campus, Weix said.



The African Union (AU), at a top level summit meeting in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa this week, formally launched 2019 as the Year of Refugees, Returnees and IDPs: Towards Durable Solutions to Forced Displacement in Africa.





The launch of the 2019 theme at the 32nd AU Summit comes at a time when forced displacement remains a major issue confronting the African continent. More than a third of the worlds forcibly displaced people are in Africa, including 6.3 million refugees and asylum-seekers and 14.5 million internally displaced people.





But the AU heads of state and government attending the gathering noted that there has also been progress in tackling forced displacement. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres praised Africas approach and noted that the AU and UN are working together across the continent to tackle the scourge.





Africa hosts nearly a third of the worlds refugees and internally displaced people. Despite the continents own social, economic and security challenges, Africas governments and people have kept borders, doors and hearts open to millions in need, Guterres, former head of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, for 10 years.





In his closing remarks, Egypts President Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi, the new chairperson of the African Union called for a focusing of efforts to solve the problem of refugees, IDPs and migrants in a comprehensive manner along with post construction and development plans and programmes.





The AUs 2019 focus on the forcibly displaced comes at a particularly appropriate time. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention on Refugees and the 10th anniversary of the 2009 AU Convention on IDPs in Africa (Kampala Convention). The AU and its partners, including UNHCR, plan several commemorative events across the continent during the year.





Over the weekend, the AU and the UN Refugee Agency co-organised a roundtable conference aimed at tackling the root causes of forced displacement in Africa and achieving durable solutions. UN High Commissioner Filippo Grandi addressed the meeting and also attended the AU Summit. He also held productive bilateral meetings in Addis Ababa with the leaders of several African countries that are faced with the problem of forced displacement.





The AU and UNHCR also organised a high-level dialogue on the theme of the year. Speakers included the African Union Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat; UNHCRs Filippo Grandi; UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock; and Director General of the International Organization for Migration Antonio Vitorino. Others were the Executive Director of UNAIDS Michel Sidibe; Secretary General of the International Federation of the Red Cross Elhadj As Sy; the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet Jeria, and UNDPs Administrator Achim Steiner.





For more information, please contact: Sulaiman Momodu momodu@unhcr.org (+251930470524) or Suleyman Ali alisul@unhcr.org (+251911079548).Michael-in-Norfolk disclaims any and all responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality, reliability, operability, or availability of information or material displayed on this site and does not claim credit for any images or articles featured on this site, unless otherwise noted. All visual content is copyrighted to it's respectful owners. Information on this site may contain errors or inaccuracies, and Michael-in-Norfolk does not make warranty as to the correctness or reliability of the site's content. If you own rights to any of the images or articles, and do not wish them to appear on this site, please contact Michael-in-Norfolk via e-mail and they will be promptly removed. Michael-in-Norfolk contains links to other Internet sites. These links are provided solely as a convenience and are not endorsements of any products or services in such sites, and no information or content in such site has been endorsed or approved by this blog.Dr. Jennifer Chung, lead author, was part of a team of researchers who examined three different outcomes of aortic surgery: early death, stroke and a composite of complications. In every case, women were more likely to wind up sicker. Credit: UHN

New research says women fare worse than men following aortic heart surgery.

Researchers examined three different outcomes: early death, stroke and a composite of complications. In every case, women were more likely to wind up sicker.

The study, published in February 2019's sex-themed issue of Circulation, found if you're a woman, you're twice as likely to experience a stroke or death following surgery. More specifically, women are 80 per cent more likely to die, 90 per cent more likely to experience a stroke, and 40 per cent more likely to experience a complication.

"We controlled for patients' age, weight, pre-operative health, co-morbidities, and when we took all of that into consideration, going into aortic arch surgery, you're slightly less than twice as likely to die if you're a woman," explains Dr. Jennifer Chung, cardiac surgeon and scientist at Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. She is the lead author on the paper.

Dr. Michael Chu, clinician scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute and cardiac surgeon at London Health Sciences Centre, says these findings are consistent with other recent findings in cardiovascular medicine that also suggest women experience worse outcomes. Dr. Chu served as the paper's senior investigator.

"Historically, this issue has not been well addressed," Dr. Chu says. "Sex-specific considerations are paramount in cardiovascular medicine, and we investigated this in the largest study to-date, looking at outcomes after thoracic aortic surgery.

"Similar to other areas in cardiovascular medicine, our study suggests women present later in the disease process perhaps with atypical symptoms, like nausea. This may explain the difference in outcome between women and men in emergency situations, when patients experience something like an aortic dissection, or a ruptured aorta.

"But even stillwe analyzed both situationswhen people came for elective versus emergency surgeryand women still did worse either way."

An aortic dissection is an emergency, and can initially present like a heart attack or a stroke. Symptoms include sudden chest pain, dizziness, nausea and challenges walking and speaking.

Dr. Chung stresses this study should prompt further research that will help clinicians figure out why women are suffering from poorer outcomes than men.

"We have discovered an unfortunate phenomenon that will hopefully lead us down a path of more personalized medicine," she says. "This helps us understand that surgery shouldn't be the same for men and women, and that we must educate ourselves about picking up symptoms in women sooner.

"Our take home is that we need to do more research."

This paper is an initiative by the Canadian Thoracic Aortic Collaborative (CTAC) and uses nationwide data from almost 1,700 patients who have undergone aortic arch surgery. Data comes from cities across Canada including Victoria, Laval, Torontoincluding the Peter Munk Cardiac CentreOttawa, Sudbury, Kingston and Winnipeg.

A total of 10 institutions were involved in compiling this data. The CTAC, led by Dr. Chu, is a group of Canadian cardiac surgeons with interests in aortic surgery and work to promote it through a focus on clinical excellence, collaboration and research.

"There shouldn't be an outcome gap between men and women," says Dr. Chung. "We shouldn't accept that women are more 'fragile.' We should work to minimize that gap as much as possible."

Explore further New study seeks to guide clinical treatment for older patients with aortic stenosis

More information: Jennifer Chung et al, Sex-Related Differences in Patients Undergoing Thoracic Aortic Surgery: Evidence from the Canadian Thoracic Aortic Collaborative, Circulation (2019). Journal information: Circulation Jennifer Chung et al, Sex-Related Differences in Patients Undergoing Thoracic Aortic Surgery: Evidence from the Canadian Thoracic Aortic Collaborative,(2019). DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.035805Human heart. Credit: copyright American Heart Association

Should we screen people for irregular heartbeat (known as atrial fibrillation, or AF for short) in an effort to prevent strokes? Experts debate the issue in The BMJ today.

The prevalence of irregular heartbeat is rising significantly and is associated with increased risk of heart failure, heart attack, strokes, and potentially dementia, explains Mark Lown at the University of Southampton.

Studies have shown that screen detected irregular heartbeat could be dangerous, therefore the possibility of using blood thinners for prevention of AF related strokes should be considered, he argues.

In a previous study, the use of blood thinners (anticoagulation therapy) was associated with "significantly reduced adjusted risk of stroke from 4% to 1%, and the risk of death from 7% to 4% in just 1.5 years", Lown writes.

The main risk linked with AF screening is treating false positive cases (when healthy people are wrongly identified as sick), but Lown believes that trained clinicians can accurately confirm positive irregular heartbeat diagnoses from single-lead ECGs (which record the electrical activity of the heart) and further reduce the risk of false positives.

In addition, "intermittent screening together with repeated screening every few years could reduce the risk of false negative cases" (when sick people are wrongly identified as healthy).

Lown also suggests that single lead ECG devices are "inexpensive, non-invasive, re-usable, and convenient" and can help to "greatly reduce workload".

And he notes that due to advances in algorithms and wearable technology, such as the Apple Watch, screening for irregular heartbeat could become a part of many people's daily routine "whether we like it or not."

But Patrick Moran at Trinity College Dublin raises concerns over the important gaps in evidence regarding the effect of screening on stroke outcomes.

While he acknowledges that there is evidence showing that screening increases the detection of irregular heartbeat, Moran argues that there are currently no studies which show that screening reduces the risk or severity of stroke, and so we don't know whether the harms inherent in any screening programme would outweigh any benefits.

In an era when the scale of overdiagnosis and overtreatment in modern medicine is becoming increasingly clear, it is unwise to assume that increased detection always translates into improved health outcomes, and that the balance of risks and benefits for those identified through screening will be the same as those who are diagnosed after they develop symptoms, including the risk of bleeding from the use of blood thinners, he adds.

Clinical trials aiming to address these important issues are already underway, and Moran stresses that "we must wait for their results rather than pushing ahead with implementing a costly public health intervention".

"From a policy perspective, there is also considerable ambiguity about how screening would be scaled up and implemented in practice," he says.

Furthermore, while Moran notes the rapid development in ECG diagnostics through apps and wearable devices, he says that these have "the potential to diminish the applicability of previous research carried out using older technology."

Like Lown, Moran believes that action is needed to combat the "looming epidemic" of irregular heartbeat.

But in the absence of reliable research confirming the health benefits of AF screening, he argues that the "growing international momentum" behind it should be "harnessed to ensure that important gaps in knowledge are filled."

Explore further Have an irregular heartbeat? You may have an increased risk of dementiaCredit: CC0 Public Domain

Depression is common in older age and with an ageing population how late-life depression is managed will become increasingly important. Researchers from the University of Bristol and University College London (UCL) suggest mental health in later life should be given greater priority by healthcare professionals.

Nearly 10 percent of adults aged over 75 have major depressive disorder, and over one third sub-threshold depressive symptoms, yet people over the age of 85 are five times less likely to be referred for psychological therapies than people in their 50s.

Researchers from the University of Bristol and UCL aimed to explore how healthcare professionals (HCPs) manage depression in older people and referrals to psychological therapies. The study, funded by the NIHR School for Public Health Research (SPHR), is published in the British Journal of General Practice (BJGP).

In 20 years' time there will be more than 20 million people over the age of 60 in the UK. However, late-life depression is often managed in primary care with antidepressants, despite older people saying they would prefer non-drug therapies such as talk therapies, mindfulness, community activities, Internet-based interventions, and bibliotherapy.

Yoav Ben-Shlomo, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology in the Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences, said: "Our research found primary care services may not give depression in older people the same priority as physical health, which is made worse by a lack of referral options suitable to older people's needs. Further investment in psychological and social resources is needed, especially if older adults are to be encouraged to use psychological services."

Dr. Rachael Frost, UCL Epidemiology and Health Care, and lead author, added: "Our work suggests that there are differences in the healthcare support available to older people for mental health issues. Healthcare professionals appeared to prioritise physical health issues over mental health in older people, particularly when they were frailer with lots of complex health problems."

The study reviewed 27 qualitative papers that focused on the way that depressive symptoms in the elderly are dealt with in primary care. The researchers found many HCPs felt that late-life depression was mainly caused by social isolation and functional decline, but appropriate treatments were limited. Clinicians perceived depression to have associated stigma for older adults, which required time to negotiate. Limited time in consultations and the complexity of needs in later life meant physical health was often prioritised over mental health, particularly in the frailest patients. Good management of late-life depression appeared to depend more on the skills and interest of individual GPs and nurses than on any structured approach.

The researchers emphasise the need for mental health in later life to be given greater priority, better training and support of healthcare professionals working in primary care, and greater investment in psychological therapies that are suitable for older adults.

Explore further Depression increases risk of death in older adults

More information: Rachael Frost et al. Management of depression and referral of older people to psychological therapies: a systematic review of qualitative studies, British Journal of General Practice (2019). Journal information: British Journal of General Practice Rachael Frost et al. Management of depression and referral of older people to psychological therapies: a systematic review of qualitative studies,(2019). DOI: 10.3399/bjgp19X701297Username: Password: or Register

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Secret US sabotage program could be to blame for Iranian satellite launch failu ALADIN

* weird wizard1*

User ID: 485250

02-14-2019 09:23 AM



Posts: 5,426









Post: #1 Secret US sabotage program could be to blame for Iranian satellite launch failu

Advertisement



A classified American sabotage program has all but grounded the Iranian satellite and missile programs, according to anonymous government officials who claim the US has been infiltrating Iranian tech with faulty parts.



Two Iranian rocket failures so far this year can be chalked up to US sabotage efforts, the New York Times reported, citing more than six current and former government officials who told the paper these botched satellite launches are part of an 11-year "pattern."



The report acknowledged that it was impossible to measure the success, impact, or even existence of such a program, but pointed to the Iranian space agency's high launch-failure rate  67 percent as opposed to a global average of five percent  as proof of American saboteurs' effectiveness.



The sabotage program was reportedly born during George W. Bush's presidency and has been slipping "faulty parts and materials" into the supply chain of the Iranian aerospace industry ever since, the officials told the Times. While it had begun to flag under Barack Obama, who pursued a policy of cooperation with Iran via the nuclear deal, Pompeo revived the program in 2017 when he became director of the CIA.



While the CIA declined to comment, government officials reportedly requested that the Times not publish the names of specific suppliers that were involved, as these were still being used as conduits for defective parts. Thanks to the oppressive climate of sanctions, Iran was already forced to source its parts from "black markets and shadowy middlemen"  "targets the CIA found comparatively easy to penetrate," the sources state.



At one point, an unexploded Iranian missile landed in Baghdad's Green Zone, allowing the Americans to dissect it and confirm the presence of one of their defective parts  though the sources didn't specify when this happened, or how it was discovered. Otherwise, the outsize failure rate of Iranian satellite launches is the only indicator they have that the sabotage program is working. Iran hasn't successfully launched a satellite since 2015, and the officials speculate that the absence of new Iranian satellites in orbit indicates multiple launch attempts have ended in "catastrophic failure."



https://www.rt.com/news/451421-us-sabota...-missiles/



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 ... Secret US sabotage program could be to blame for Iranian satellite launch failures  NY TimesA classified American sabotage program has all but grounded the Iranian satellite and missile programs, according to anonymous government officials who claim the US has been infiltrating Iranian tech with faulty parts.Two Iranian rocket failures so far this year can be chalked up to US sabotage efforts, the New York Times reported, citing more than six current and former government officials who told the paper these botched satellite launches are part of an 11-year "pattern."The report acknowledged that it was impossible to measure the success, impact, or even existence of such a program, but pointed to the Iranian space agency's high launch-failure rate  67 percent as opposed to a global average of five percent  as proof of American saboteurs' effectiveness.The sabotage program was reportedly born during George W. Bush's presidency and has been slipping "faulty parts and materials" into the supply chain of the Iranian aerospace industry ever since, the officials told the Times. While it had begun to flag under Barack Obama, who pursued a policy of cooperation with Iran via the nuclear deal, Pompeo revived the program in 2017 when he became director of the CIA.While the CIA declined to comment, government officials reportedly requested that the Times not publish the names of specific suppliers that were involved, as these were still being used as conduits for defective parts. Thanks to the oppressive climate of sanctions, Iran was already forced to source its parts from "black markets and shadowy middlemen"  "targets the CIA found comparatively easy to penetrate," the sources state.At one point, an unexploded Iranian missile landed in Baghdad's Green Zone, allowing the Americans to dissect it and confirm the presence of one of their defective parts  though the sources didn't specify when this happened, or how it was discovered. Otherwise, the outsize failure rate of Iranian satellite launches is the only indicator they have that the sabotage program is working. Iran hasn't successfully launched a satellite since 2015, and the officials speculate that the absence of new Iranian satellites in orbit indicates multiple launch attempts have ended in "catastrophic failure." LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 487186

02-14-2019 09:25 AM











Post: #2 RE: Secret US sabotage program could be to blame for Iranian satellite launch failu

44575 Wrote: (02-14-2019 09:23 AM) Secret US sabotage program could be to blame for Iranian satellite launch failures  NY Times



A classified American sabotage program has all but grounded the Iranian satellite and missile programs, according to anonymous government officials who claim the US has been infiltrating Iranian tech with faulty parts.



Two Iranian rocket failures so far this year can be chalked up to US sabotage efforts, the New York Times reported, citing more than six current and former government officials who told the paper these botched satellite launches are part of an 11-year "pattern."



The report acknowledged that it was impossible to measure the success, impact, or even existence of such a program, but pointed to the Iranian space agency's high launch-failure rate  67 percent as opposed to a global average of five percent  as proof of American saboteurs' effectiveness.



The sabotage program was reportedly born during George W. Bush's presidency and has been slipping "faulty parts and materials" into the supply chain of the Iranian aerospace industry ever since, the officials told the Times. While it had begun to flag under Barack Obama, who pursued a policy of cooperation with Iran via the nuclear deal, Pompeo revived the program in 2017 when he became director of the CIA.



While the CIA declined to comment, government officials reportedly requested that the Times not publish the names of specific suppliers that were involved, as these were still being used as conduits for defective parts. Thanks to the oppressive climate of sanctions, Iran was already forced to source its parts from "black markets and shadowy middlemen"  "targets the CIA found comparatively easy to penetrate," the sources state.



At one point, an unexploded Iranian missile landed in Baghdad's Green Zone, allowing the Americans to dissect it and confirm the presence of one of their defective parts  though the sources didn't specify when this happened, or how it was discovered. Otherwise, the outsize failure rate of Iranian satellite launches is the only indicator they have that the sabotage program is working. Iran hasn't successfully launched a satellite since 2015, and the officials speculate that the absence of new Iranian satellites in orbit indicates multiple launch attempts have ended in "catastrophic failure."



https://www.rt.com/news/451421-us-sabota...-missiles/

That's a lot of chaos do you get paid in Skittles or heath bars? Hint. That's a lot of chaos do you get paid in Skittles or heath bars? Hint. ALADIN

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Post: #3 RE: Secret US sabotage program could be to blame for Iranian satellite launch failu

44575 Wrote: (02-14-2019 09:38 AM) User ID: 487186 Wrote: (02-14-2019 09:25 AM) ....



That's a lot of chaos do you get paid in Skittles or heath bars? Hint.



WARNING !



>>New rules.



1 - We don't discuss posters but we discuss the topic.<<



It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a ma s k on their nose and mouth ... (This post was last modified: 02-14-2019 09:57 AM by ALADIN .) LoP Guest

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Post: #4 RE: Secret US sabotage program could be to blame for Iranian satellite launch failu

It would not be the first time, either--remember STUXNET? Sultan of Wings

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Post: #5 RE: Secret US sabotage program could be to blame for Iranian satellite launch failu

LoP Guest Wrote: (02-14-2019 12:44 PM) It would not be the first time, either--remember STUXNET?

"could be to blame"



where is the proof?



"could be to blame"where is the proof?

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(HealthDay)A startling increase in syphilis cases among Americans may be linked to addiction to methamphetamine and other drugs, federal health officials said Thursday.

Between 2013 and 2017, the rate of syphilis infection among heterosexual men and women who use methamphetamine more than doubled, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.

"While we don't know the precise role that substance use may play in syphilis increases, we do know that substance use, particularly methamphetamine and injection drug use, has been associated with sexual behaviors that increase risk of acquiring syphilis and other STDs," said lead researcher Dr. Sarah Kidd. She is a medical officer in the CDC's division of STD prevention.

It is the risky behaviors that tend to go along with drug use that make one vulnerable to STDs, Kidd noted. These include having multiple sex partners, practicing inconsistent condom use, and exchanging sex for drugs or money.

"We also know that substance use can hamper prevention efforts," Kidd added. People who use drugs may be less inclined to seek health services, and they may also be reluctant or unable to identify or locate sex partners, which can cause delays in diagnosis and treatment, she said.

For this report, CDC researchers collected data from heterosexual women and men and gay and bisexual men diagnosed with syphilis.

Kidd's team found that an increase in substance abuse among heterosexuals was linked to the rise in the disease.

Syphilis had been almost eradicated in the United States but began a dramatic increase in recent years, including among young women and newborns, the CDC said.

From 2013 to 2017, the syphilis rate among women increased nearly 156 percent, while it went up 66 percent among all men.

In 2017, nearly 17 percent of women with syphilis used methamphetamine, 10.5 percent used injection drugs, and 6 percent used heroin in the past year.

Kidd's group found a similar trend among heterosexual men, but not among gay men.

The increase in substance use among people diagnosed with syphilis mirrors dramatic nationwide increases in syphilis seen among women and heterosexual men in recent years, Kidd said.

"It is vitally important that we work to address the intersecting nature of these epidemics," she said.

Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said that for people who use drugs, it's a lack of trust in the health care system that plays a role in not seeking medical care.

"These issues likely contribute to the increasing incidence of syphilis and create barriers to reducing syphilis transmission and prevention in at-risk communities," said Glatter, who wasn't involved with the study.

Programs that treat substance abuse need to also work with medical providers treating STDs, to help curb the recent increases in the heterosexual transmission of syphilis, he said.

"Providing screening for syphilis among persons engaged in heterosexual practices who also receive treatment for substance use disorder is essential in light of the findings of this study," Glatter said.

The report will be published Feb. 15 in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

More information: Sarah Kidd, M.D., medical officer, division of STD prevention, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Robert Glatter, M.D., emergency physician, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; Feb. 15, 2019, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Sarah Kidd, M.D., medical officer, division of STD prevention, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Robert Glatter, M.D., emergency physician, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; Feb. 15, 2019, The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers more facts on syphilis. Journal information: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

Copyright  2019 HealthDay. All rights reserved.Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A woman whose boyfriend or husband regularly watches pornography is more likely to report symptoms of an eating disorder, new research suggests.

The study is one of the first to look at how a romantic partner's behavior might be linked to the likelihood of a woman experiencing or engaging in such things as extreme guilt about eating, preoccupation with body fat, binging or purging.

In addition to finding an association between a partner's porn habits and eating disorder symptoms, the research also found a higher incidence of those symptoms in women who said they feel pressure from their boyfriends or husbands to be thin.

The study, led by researchers at The Ohio State University, appears in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

"We often talk about the influences of media, family and friends on eating disorders, but little has been done to determine how a partner's influence might contribute to a woman's disordered eating," said Tracy Tylka, a professor of psychology at Ohio State's Columbus and Marion campuses. "It's a gap in the research and if certain partner variables are risk factors we should be giving them more attention."

The study is also the first research of its kind to address these partner influences in women who are older and more likely to be in long-term relationships.

"The women who were part of this study had an average age of almost 34, and were from a broader demographic than the stereotypical white adolescent girl with anorexia," Tylka said.

"Disordered eating affects many people who do not fit this descriptionas many as 20 to 25 percent of womenand this study helps us better understand the influences on these women."

The participants, 409 U.S. women in relationships with men, answered a questionnaire designed to identify symptoms of eating disorders and answered questions about perceived pressure from the media and others (partners, friends and family) in their lives to lose weight and have a thin body. They also reported how many hours of pornography their current partner viewed per week, ranging from none to more than eight hours, and estimated how often their previous partners had viewed pornography on a scale ranging from never to almost always.

The researchers then analyzed the relationships between those responses and found a clear association between eating disorder symptoms and both perceived partner pressure to be thin and pornography use.

"In many categories of eating disorder symptoms, perceived pressure from a romantic partner to be thin appeared to be more detrimental than pressure from friends or family, or even the media," Tylka said.

And both partner pornography viewing and pressure to be thin appeared to be associated with a woman's disordered eating behavior even if she didn't idealize thinness, according to the study.

That's important to note, Tylka said, because women may be responding solely to what they think their partner values, even if they don't value that "thin body ideal" for themselves.

Tylka said she was interested in the potential relationship between partner pornography use and eating disorders because it could prompt women to feel pressured to aspire to unrealistic body types, or to "feel sexless because their partners are spending time with porn instead of connecting with them."

"The relationship between partner pornography use and disordered eating was stronger for this group of women than for college women we've previously studied. That could be because these women have had more relationship experiences, and these experiences have shaped their relationships with food and their perceptions of their bodies," Tylka said.

The study did not examine potential differences between women who watch pornography with their partners and those whose partners view pornography alone.

Tylka said further study is warranted in the area of partner influences on disordered eating among older women. Understanding these factors could help improve eating disorder prevention and treatment, she said.

"Some professionals are already advocating for integrating partners in eating disorder prevention and treatment, and these findings support this argument."

Explore further Elite female athletes at greater risk of eating disorders

More information: Tracy L. Tylka et al, Perceptions of male partner pressure to be thin and pornography use: Associations with eating disorder symptomatology in a community sample of adult women, International Journal of Eating Disorders (2019). Journal information: International Journal of Eating Disorders Tracy L. Tylka et al, Perceptions of male partner pressure to be thin and pornography use: Associations with eating disorder symptomatology in a community sample of adult women,(2019). DOI: 10.1002/eat.22991CapaCare trainees during a training session. Credit: Magnus Endal, CapaCare

Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the worldfor every 100,000 live births, 1360 women will die. In Norway, that number is just 5 women per 100,000 live births; in the US, it's 14, according to the United Nations Population Fund.

Why are so many women dying in Sierra Leone? The answer is simple: childbirth can be complicated and there are simply not enough health care providers to address the needs of this small West African country of 7 million people.

Before the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak, just 10 specialist surgeons were available in public hospitals, with about 150 doctors in total.

But there is hope: a new study of more than 1200 women who had C-sections in nine Sierra Leone hospitals shows that community health officers with surgical training are a safe alternative to medical doctors when it comes to outcomes for Caesarean sections. The study was conducted between October 2016 and May 2017, and has just been published in BJS, the British Journal of Surgery.

"Some of these hospitals have just one or two doctors for the whole district," said the study's first author Alex van Duinen, a Dutch medical doctor and Ph.D. candidate at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). "Human resources are a major problem. Task sharingteaching community health officers to provide basic lifesaving surgeriescan improve that."

Building acceptance in the medical community

Van Duinen's research is being conducted as part of his work with a non-profit organization called CapaCare, co-founded in 2011 by Hakon Bolkan, a surgeon at St Olavs Hospital and a postdoc at NTNU.

CapaCare offers a two-year training programme for selected community health officers (CHO), with the goal of teaching them to do surgeries such as Caesarean sections, appendectomies and hernia repairs.

After the two years of training, graduates also spend a year as an intern at one of the main hospitals in Freetown, after which they are given the position as a surgical assistant community health officer (SACHO). To date, 31 participants have graduated from the programme, with another 33 in training.

But CapaCare's work is not as simple as just producing qualified graduatesSierra Leone's medical community, health care officials and the population as a whole have to have confidence that the CapaCare graduates can perform surgeries at least as well as medical doctors.

This evidence has to be clear, and provide scientifically documented proof that the training works. So that's where van Duinen's research comes in.

Emergency C-section at Kenema Hospital, with CapaCare graduate Ibrahim M. Sessay and scrub nurse Lahai Bockarie during surgery. Credit: Magnus Endal, CapaCare

Prospective study with a home visit

Other researchers have looked at the issue of task sharing for emergency obstetric care, mainly in East Africa, but most of these studies have been retrospective, which means that researchers essentially look for patterns in medical data that have already been collected.

Nevertheless, all of these studies show that task sharing can work well in places where there are just not enough doctors to go around.

On the other hand, a prospective study like that conducted by van Duinen and his colleagues is seen as much stronger support for the findings from the research.

Researchers in a prospective study decide which data to include before they collect it, which ensures data quality. The Sierra Leone C-section study also included a home visit 30 days after the birth, which allowed van Duinen and his colleagues to see how mother and child were doing in the period after discharge.

CapaCare

"We were able to check some of the outcome data," van Duinen said. "Home visits were one of the distinguishing factors of our study."

For example, one baby that had been recorded as a stillbirth in the hospital and one baby that had been recorded as a death were both found to be alive when the researchers did the home visits.

Three of the mothers and 28 of the babies who were alive when they left the hospital also died in the month after birth, which researchers wouldn't have discovered without this extra follow up, van Duinen said.

Not inferior to doctors

When all the numbers were tallied, the researchers found 16 postoperative maternal deaths, 15 treated by a doctor and 1 treated by a graduate of the CapaCare programme.

A happy ending from an emergency C-section performed CapaCare graduate Ibrahim M. Sessay at Kenema Hospital in Sierra Leone. Credit: Magnus Endal, CapaCare

These numbers indicate that doctors may have worse outcomes. "Although our data suggest that patients treated by doctors and graduates were mostly similar, doctors may have treated more of the complicated patients," van Duinen said.

The difference in the mortality numbers is also due to the fact that there were 50 doctors in the study compared to 12 graduated clinical officers. These 50 doctors performed 831 C-sections that were included in the study, or two-thirds, compared to 443 performed by the graduates. Of these surgeries, 85 per cent were done as emergency surgeries.

However, the mortality numbers and the number of emergency surgeries are "still very high," van Duinen said, but there are also reasons for that.

"There's a huge disincentive for women in the districts to come into the hospital to give birth," he said. "That's why the outcomes are so bad."

Very often, he said, women will wait until the absolute last minute to come in for care, because it may be too costly for them to both travel and get treated at the hospital. They may also be afraid of coming to the hospital because of concern of what they might find thereit was not that long ago, for example, that Ebola ravaged the country's health care system, during which more than 14000 people were infected and 4000 died.

When the researchers analysed the numbers, they found that caesarean sections done by the graduates were not associated with higher maternal mortality 30 days after the surgery than caesarean sections performed by doctors.

"The message is that there is a slight difference in the two groups, because the doctors may get the more complicated cases, but overall we see that there is non-inferiority," van Duinen said.

Kismet in the jungle

Just by chance, van Duinen has worked with CapaCare since the organization first started its training programme in 2011. That's because he was working at the time at Masanga Hospital, in Sierra Leone's Tonkolili province, as hospital director. Masanga Hospital has been the base for CapaCare's training in Sierra Leone.

The first week he was at Masanga, van Duinen met Bolkan with the first CapaCare student who was just beginning his training.

The idea of training non-doctor medical personnel to do emergency surgeriestask sharingwas already something he knew about. During his medical training in the Netherlands, he was sent to Malawi for an internship, where the practice is well established.

"I saw that task sharing could actually work, and then I met Hakon, and I said, 'Yes, of course, we have to do this! It works, I have seen it!'," he said.

Explore further Ebola's deadly toll on healthcare workers

More information: A. J. van Duinen et al, Caesarean section performed by medical doctors and associate clinicians in Sierra Leone, British Journal of Surgery (2019). Journal information: British Journal of Surgery A. J. van Duinen et al, Caesarean section performed by medical doctors and associate clinicians in Sierra Leone,(2019). DOI: 10.1002/bjs.11076Note to Vito C.: you will profit from reading the chapter in question. See if you can find the book in a library. You can access a copy of the chapter's article precursor online, but the fee is ridiculous. If you want, I will send you a photocopy, gratis, if you send me by e-mail your preferred mailing address.

And it testifies to the poor judgment of librarians that my copy of Coburn's book is a library discard. I was going to tell Coburn that story and praise him for his flawless prose that displays the erudition of a technical philosopher wedded to the deep humanity of a serious truth seeker. As academic philosophy succumbs to leftist infestation, and the humanities dissolve into politically correct nonsense, people of Coburn's depth and breadth of learning are unlikely to be replaced.

Permalinks ought to be permanent, or at least approximate unto the sublunary 'permanence' of that which, under the aspect of eternity, is impermanent.

This morning I happened to re-read the chapter "Metaphysical Theology and the Life of Faith" in Robert C. Coburn's, The Strangeness of the Ordinary (Rowman and Littlefield, 1990). I first read it in May of 1997. I was so impressed with it this second time around that I resolved to send Professor Coburn a note of appreciation. But I logged on only to find his obituary . I reproduce it below the fold to save it from the folly and poor judgment of librarians and webmasters. Too late by five months!

Submitted by Katherine Ellen Goldyn on September 18, 2018 - 9:19am

It is with great sadness we share that Professor Robert Coburn passed away on July 27, 2018. Bob was a beloved and vital member of the department and his memory will remain vibrant for many years to come. His deep voice and broad smile, friendship, and good judgment were cherished by his colleagues and added tremendously to the department.

The memorial will be held on October 13th at 1:00pm at The Center for Urban Horticulture, 3501 NE 41st Street, Seattle, WA 98105.

His colleagues, Clark Shores and David Keyt, prepared this obituary reflecting on his professional career, which is followed by reminiscences from former students and colleagues:

Notes on the Professional Life of Bob Coburn

Bob was well prepared for the professorship he assumed at the UW in 1971. He had a B.A. from Yale, a divinity degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School, a Ph.D. from Harvard, and fourteen years of teaching experience at the University of Chicago. He remained at the UW for the rest of his career, except for a brief visiting appointment at the University of Bergen in Norway in 1986.

As a philosopher, Bob will be particularly remembered for his jewel of a book, The Strangeness of the Ordinary: Issues and Problems in Contemporary Metaphysics. The title came from a remark once made about the later philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Wittgensteins later philosophy was one of Bobs primary interests. As its title suggests, The Strangeness of the Ordinary is an exploration of ideas that we use every day and assume we understandideas such as free will, the passage of time, and that there is an objective truth about realitybut which on close examination turn out to be deeply perplexing. The book is a tour de force of professional philosophy and one that a professional philosopher can turn to when they need a refresher on one of the topics it covers. At the same time, the book is accessible (with a bit of effort) to readers who are not specialists, partly because of its extraordinary clarity and partly because of the way each chapter starts from an ordinary, familiar concept and then methodically unfolds its inherent strangeness. In the preface to the book, Bob, a little mischievously, explains that metaphysics might well be characterized in the same way that the mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead once characterized mathematics, as being, like Shakespeares Ophelia, very charming, a little mad, but quite essential to the play. Whitehead was one of Bobs special interests as an undergraduate at Yale, and when Bob was a student at the University of Chicago he studied under Charles Hartshorne, a noted follower of Whitehead.

In addition to his book, Bobs professional activity included some fifty articles, reviews, and contributions to anthologies, as well as over fifty presentations at professional conferences and many universities. His publications and presentations were in a wide variety of fields, including metaphysics (e.g., personal identity), epistemology (knowledge, belief, memory), ethics (moral relativism, feeding the hungry), and the philosophy of religion (the concept of God, the philosophical theology of Paul Tillich, Wittgensteins views on religious belief).

The breadth and depth of Bobs philosophical knowledge made him a valued contributor to the Departments colloquia. In departmental meetings, his smiling collegiality would regularly cool the passions in the room.

As a teacher, Bob will be remembered for the lucidity of his lectures and seminars, and for the feedback he gave students on their written work. That feedback was frequently voluminous and insightfuland hence sometimes unintentionally painful even though generous.

David Haugen writes that some students may have found Bob a bit intimidating at first, but they soon discovered a kind and caring teacher beneath the formidable intelligence. He cared about his students and was dedicated to them.

Another former student, Carol Simon, writes that the words she associates most with Bob are rigor and delight, and that Bob loved exploring possibilities and interrogating ideas. His comments on my papers were almost all questions. Perhaps the most frequent was Where's the argument for this? Bob lit up when exploring ideas and always leaned in to listen intently when someone was speaking. 

Echoing the theme of rigor, Scott Lehmann, who took classes from Bob at the University of Chicago in the 1960s, remarks that Bob had a reputation for being an exacting teacher and a full-time philosopher, and that students who wrote dissertations under his direction could expect to be some time at it. Scott also says that Bobs comments on his papers, although critical, managed to be nonetheless encouraging.

Ann Baker, a former student who later became a faculty colleague at UW, writes that Bob treated the whole project of student work and his grading it as part of the effort to gain insight, so the student didnt feel judged or dismissed in spite of the fact that the work itself was being judged and often criticized. While Bob had exceedingly high standards for good work, he was able to convey the impression that he fully expected the students to rise to the occasion and learn how to get closer and closer to satisfying those high standards. And that is why he was a very popular teacher in spite of being so intellectually demanding.

Another former student, Deborah Smith, tells a story about how one day she received Bobs feedback on a chapter of her dissertation. To her surprise, there was one page that had no comments or corrections of any sort on it. This was so uncharacteristic of Bobs usual highly critical style that she confronted him about it, and asked him whether hed actually read that page. He laughed, she says, and said that, although hed tried hard, he couldnt think of a single comment or correction to make on that page. I was so proud that I put the page up on my refrigerator for several months. She goes on to say that now she is paying Bobs dedication forward with her own students, and that she has earned a reputation for writing three to five single-spaced pages of comments on a ten to fifteen-page paper. The students really seem to appreciate this effort and often come back and ask me to do my thing on a draft that theyre hoping to submit to a conference or use as a writing sample.

Finally, Bob will be remembered for his wonderful deep voice, his laugh, and his wry sense of humor. An illustration of his humor is a story about an occasion when Bob had a medical emergencyhe fainted and collapsed, and an aid car was summoned. By the time it arrived, he had regained consciousness. As the medical technicians were carrying him out on a stretcher to the ambulance, he inquired what they thought he might be suffering from. Not surprisingly, the technicians were cautious. Hard to tell, could be anything, one of them said. Bob eyed him quizzically and replied, Maybe tuberculosis?

Bob will be remembered for this quick, dark wit, as well as for his philosophical acuity and depth, his qualities as a teacher and colleague, and his personal warmth.

Farewell, Bob. We will miss you, and we will remember you with great fondness.

Reminiscences from former students and colleagues

From David Haugen (former student)

I have such fond memories of Bob. RC was a wonderful philosophy professor. I loved his classes and seminars; they were always deep and substantial. Some students may have found him a bit intimidating at first, but they soon discovered a kind and caring teacher beneath the formidable intelligence. He cared about his students and was dedicated to them. I remember meetings about my dissertation when, due to his bad back, he could neither sit or stand. But the meetings went on, with RC discussing my latest chapter flat on his back. (I don't have first-hand experience with this, but I've been told by reliable sources that one of his favorite comments on papers was: "I have no idea what you are trying to say here.") He was a deep and rigorous thinker, and never followed philosophical fads and fashions. He had integrity and decency. This came out in his actions and, strange as it might sound, his writing. He had a keen BS detector, and was never satisfied with the merely glib or clever. I think he was fascinated by the problems of philosophy, and conveyed that to his students and made us fascinated too. He thought of philosophy as the attempt to see to the bottom of things, to understand what's really going on; and my sense is that he devoted his life to doing just that. He had a wonderful sense of humor--I can still hear his laugh.

From Deborah C. Smith (former student)

Bob always provided detailed written feedback on all of my course papers and draft chapters of my dissertation. His typed comments were loaded with indications of where my argumentation needed to be shored up or where objections could be anticipated and needed to be addressed. I also fondly remember such handwritten comments as makes no sense as written and English?. One day, I received his feedback on a chapter and there was a single page with no comments or corrections of any sort on it. I confronted Bob and asked him whether hed actually read that page. He laughed and said that, although hed tried hard, he couldnt think of a single comment or correction to make on that page. I was so proud that I put the page up on my refrigerator for several months. Although it sometimes felt like getting kicked in the gut to read them, I benefited so much from Bobs detailed comments. Im now paying it forward with my students and have earned a reputation for writing three to five single-spaced pages of comments on a ten to fifteen page paper. The students really seem to appreciate this effort and often come back and ask me to do my thing on a draft that theyre hoping to submit to a conference or use as a writing sample.

I learned early on that, when Bob and I would get together to discuss his comments on draft chapters of my dissertation, I needed to record our interactions so that I wouldnt forget an important insight. (I find it difficult to take notes while Im actively engaged in a conversation.) I bought a voice activated tape recorder to use on these occasions. One day, we were discussing how I might respond to an objection that Larry BonJour had raised to one of my arguments. As I experienced the discussion in real time, Bob and I had a lively philosophical debate about the strength and weaknesses of various potential responses. I was excited to listen to the tape and start incorporating some of what wed discussed into my draft. However, when I went to listen to the hour and a half or so recording, about forty minutes of it seemed to be taken up with: click, [Bobs voice] um um, click  click, [Bobs voice] um um, click. For whatever reason, Ive kept all of those tapes.

When I was getting Bobs input on whether or not I should take a semester long visiting instructor gig Id been offered at the University of Idaho, he helpfully suggested that we make a list of the pros and cons. At his prompting, we put derails your dissertation for a while on both the con and the pro list. I was surprised that he thought there would be any benefit to taking some time off from my dissertation. In hindsight, I think the distance it gave me on my project did turn out to be a pro and I completed my dissertation within a year of returning to Seattle.

Bob was such a gentle and caring person. I remember being both touched and somewhat confused by the fact that his stated (and clearly non-philosophical) reason for rejecting David Lewis thesis of a plurality of worlds was that he hated the idea that he had an infinite number of counterparts who were suffering terribly. I tried to cheer him up by pointing out that he would also have an infinite number of counterparts who were living incredibly happy lives. That didnt seem to matter to him. He was solely focused on the pain of his unfortunate counterparts. He really seemed deeply troubled by it.

I dont think its an overstatement to say that I am who I am philosophically because of Bob Coburn. From him, I learned to begin by sketching the detailed logical space of a problem before committing myself to any position. I learned to be philosophically cautious and not make stronger claims than needed. I learned to be philosophically daring and not limit myself to traditional points of view. I learned that the key to good writing is re-writing. I learned not to be afraid to reject a stance that I had previously committed myself to when the evidence warrants it. Indeed, by the time the oral defense of my dissertation was scheduled, I had already come to suspect that the view that I was defending was not ultimately philosophically viable. In more than a few of the articles I have published since coming to Kent State, I defend the exact opposite of the thesis that I had put forward in my dissertation. I think that Bob would be proud. Although his work was in a different sub-field of metaphysics, I believe that anyone who knew Bob would see his influence clearly evidenced in my own published work. I am truly grateful for all that he taught me.

From Ann Baker (former student and colleague)

When Bob Coburn taught a class, he was always passionate about the topicwhether he was teaching metaphysics (his specialty) or Wittgenstein or political philosophy or whatever else he might teach. He invited the students to think with him, showing them how exciting the search for philosophical insight could be. And he was so good to talk to in office hours. You could take your graded paper or exam into his office and he would walk you through the work, explaining what was good about your answers and what was not so good. He treated the whole project of student work and his grading it as part of the effort to gain insight, so the student didnt feel judged or dismissed in spite of the fact that the work itself was being judged and often criticized. While Bob had exceedingly high standards for good work, he was able to convey the impression that he fully expected the students to rise to the occasion and learn how to get closer and closer to satisfying those high standards. And that is why he was a very popular teacher in spite of being so intellectually demanding. One of his most popular classes was a junior level class he called Personal Values and Human Good. He changed this course every time he taught it, but it always focused on important elements of a good life.

Bobs published work shows how deep and integrated his philosophical interests were. Multiple papers and his book all point to an expertise in metaphysics, but he also published many papers in philosophy of mind, epistemology, logic, philosophy of religion, ethics (about both normative and foundational issues), and political philosophy. His breadth and depth of philosophical knowledge made him an important contributor to the departmental faculty discussion group, no matter what was being discussed.

From Carol Simon (former student)

The words that I associate most with Bob are rigor and delight. He loved exploring possibilities and interrogating ideas. His comments on my papers were almost all questions. Perhaps the most frequent was "Where's the argument for this?" Bob lit up when exploring ideas and always leaned in to listen intently when someone was speaking. He was such a dedicated teacher that even severe back problems could not keep him from meeting his classes.

From Syd Lamb (friend since childhood)

Bob and I were in the same Boy Scout troop in Denver, way back in the forties. Then we were in the same high school, East High School, in Denver. Then we both went to Yale in the fall of 1947, graduated in 1951. We were roommates all four years. In our sophomore year we also had Doug Blue (a.k.a. Swami Atmatattvananda) as a roommate. Doug and Bob both became philosophy majors and good lifelong friends. They were both interested in Alfred North Whitehead, whom they studied about with Paul Weiss. They were also fans of Professor Robert Calhoun. After graduation they both went to U of Chicago Divinity School, where they studied with Charles Hartshorn (sp.?), a follower of Whitehead. And then Bob went to Harvard for a PhD in Philosophy.

Bob was a very serious student at Yale, studied hard, became a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He stimulated my thinking in many conversations. I too was very interested in philosophy, and still am, and so Bob and I had a lot to talk about. He was a good roommate and always intellectually stimulating.

From Marc Cohen (former colleague)

A striking thing about Bob was his unusual combination of optimism and pessimism. He had a persistent belief that the state of the world was bleak, and that some kind of crisis loomed at all times, whether it was an imminent nuclear war or an invasion of killer bees. These ominous forebodings tended to fill me with dread. Bob, sensing that his words were having this effect, invariably concluded with a broad grin and a shrug of the shoulders, as if to say, Well, theres nothing we can do about it, so we might as well enjoy ourselves as best we can. He was the sunniest pessimist Ive ever known. He could find something to laugh about in any situation.

Heres an example: on one occasion Bob suffered some kind of medical emergencyhe fainted or collapsed, and EMTs were summoned. By the time they arrived, he had regained consciousness, and as they ministered to him, he inquired what they thought he might be suffering from. Not surprisingly, the EMTs were cautious. Hard to tell, could be anything, one of them said. Bob eyed him quizzically and replied, Maybe tuberculosis?Opinion: There is a disturbing notion being promulgated in some corners of the far right, which is today ascendant in Idaho.

The idea is that freedom of speech means freedom from criticism.On Tuesday, following talks among House Leadership, HJR2 was sent back to the State Affairs Committee to address concerns. Its fate at this point is unknown (which is usually the status of bills sent back to committee). However, if it ever resurfaces, I pledge to do all I can to stop gerrymandering in Idaho and make sure the people of this state have a fair chance to make their voices heard.

For the record, I am against gerrymandering of any kind, regardless of who is in the majority. Last weeks actions by the House State Affairs Committee defies fairness, integrity and the value I place in the rights of the people of Idaho to speak their minds on issues. Unfortunately, the chairmen of that committee didnt seem to care. They introduced HJR2 last Wednesday and then set a full hearing  where you the people get to weigh in  less than 48 hours later. Notice of the hearing was not posted until Thursday evening for a Friday morning hearing. Whether you agree with the resolution or not, were talking about amending Idahos Constitution. Thats not enough time for my constituents to get to Boise to testify, as is their right, let alone folks in north, north-central or eastern Idaho.The states five top experts on Idaho constitutional law all agreed that the suit was bunk. The majority opinion, written by Justice Roger Burdick, found that the core argument of the lawsuit  that the voters unconstitutionally delegated state authority to Washington, creating dread zombie legislators  is without merit and unpersuasive.

Perhaps the most scathing assessment came from Justice Greg Moeller, the only eastern Idahoan on the court. Smiths arguments, Moeller wrote, are largely ideological and dogmatic in nature  not legal  and demonstrate that the intent behind the petition is to have this court redefine the proper role of federalism in Idaho. In sum, this court is not really being asked to address an urgent constitutional issue created by the passage of (Prop 2); rather, Regan is asking this court to take sides in an ideological debate concerning political philosophy.

This baseless suit was, as we have argued previously, seeking from the courts what the opponents of Medicaid expansion could not get from the voters. Having lost the election in a landslide, they sought to use the court system as their political instrument. What they wanted, plainly, was exactly the kind of aggressive judicial activism they claim to deplore.

The Idaho Supreme Court, thankfully, is more consistent in its principles.October 2, 1954February 11, 2019

Kaye Dawn Larson Silcock, 64, of Burley Idaho, passed away peacefully at her home surrounded by her family on February 11, 2019.

Kaye Dawn was the youngest child born on October 2, 1954, to Reed Brigham and Mary June Little Larson. She joined three older sisters and one older brother. She attended schools in Springdale and Burley. She was a Cheerleader and Stepperette and graduated from Burley High School. She then went on to study bookkeeping/office skills and graduated from Ricks College.

Kaye Dawn was married and sealed for eternity to Richard Donald Silcock on August 22, 1975 in the Idaho Falls Temple. They made their home in the Springdale area and were blessed to have five children Angela, Justin, Tyler, Brigetta and Sarah. She was a woman who knew and taught her family to look for the good in others, to love, serve and forgive.

She was a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served faithfully in many callings. Her favorite was serving a mission with Richard to Cape Town, South Africa. She quickly grew to love the people there and treasured their experiences and considered it a highlight of her life.WASHINGTON  Idaho U.S. Sen. Jim Risch reiterated on Wednesday there is no evidence of collusion between President Donald J. Trumps campaign and Russia.

Risch serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has been investigating the allegations for two years.

During an appearance on Fox News, Risch said the committee has looked at hundreds of thousands of documents and interviewed hundreds of people.

It is not there. It is flat not there, Risch told Fox News host Bill Hemmer.

To be clear, there is no collusion that your committee has found? Hemmer asked.

There has been no evidence of collusion, Risch responded. It is not there. I was a prosecutor. I know what evidence is. It is simply not there. People need to listen to the president when he says that. ... How long can this go on? It has got to come to an end.

When asked what he thinks is at the root of some lawmakers and media refusal to accept this outcome, Risch responded, Politics.

Ive run 34 times for office. I have been a governor, almost 30 years in our state Senate, Risch said. I have never seen the hate and vitriol against an individual that there is against this president. It is really unfortunate.

Love 4 Funny 1 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 1BURLEY  A Burley man who stole $15,000 worth of toys from the Mini-Cassia Christmas Council was given a suspended sentence with probation and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.

Kaden M. Black, 20, was sentenced Tuesday to a suspended five to seven years in prison by Cassia County District Judge Michael Tribe, according to court records.

Black was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $250 in public defender fees, $100 for the presentence report and court fees.

The Cassia County Prosecutors Office has 90 days to file a motion for restitution.

Black pleaded guilty to grand theft using an Alford plea, which applies when a defendant accepts a plea agreement but does not necessarily admit his guilt.

Charges of burglary and criminal conspiracy will be dismissed under the plea agreement.

Two minors were also charged with grand theft, burglary and conspiracy and a third minor was charged with possession of stolen items. Their cases are not open to the public due to their ages.

The four were charged in May after a Mini-Cassia Christmas Council member discovered the Overland Avenue building had been broken into.Carper said it has taken the EPA nearly a year just to kick the can even further down the road.

While EPA acts with the utmost urgency to repeal regulations, Carper said, the agency ambles with complacency when it comes to taking real steps to protect the water we drink and the air we breathe.

Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, whose state of West Virginia was one of the first where PFAS contamination was linked to human health problems, said she voted for Wheelers nomination in committee earlier this month only after he privately assured her the EPA would tackle the problem.

Capito was one of 20 senators who wrote to Wheeler demanding ceilings on two phased-out types of PFAS chemicals. They pressed Wheeler for other immediate actions to protect the public from other versions of the industrial compounds.

Thousands of distinct PFAS chemicals, which resist heat and repel grease, water and oil, have been in production since the 1940s. Theyve been labeled forever chemicals because they break down slowly, if at all. Testing of water systems around the nation has turned up varying levels of the compounds.Stier is also confident that Lincoln did not have a skull fracture, which he could not rule out at Hancocks trial. He wrote in his affidavit that he felt pressured by the prosecution to leave the door open to the possibility that (Lincoln) had a skull fracture. And a small fracture on one of Lincolns leg bones, which Stier originally testified was unique to abuse, may have been caused by something other than abuse, such as medical intervention after Lincoln became unresponsive at Hancocks home.

Overall, Stier said in his affidavit, a death from natural causes may explain the findings at autopsy, including a heart virus, which might provide an alternative, viable explanation of (Lincolns) demise.

Although Dr. Stier does not recant factual findings made in the autopsy report, the motion states, he now interprets those findings differently, leading him to a profoundly different conclusion about (Lincolns) cause of death.

Four doctors with expertise in radiology, pathology, neurology and pediatrics, the motion states, have also reviewed the evidence and found it does not support the conclusion that (Lincoln) died from abuse, or that any abuse was inflicted by Ms. Hancock. Among their conclusions, the motion states, was that Lincoln did not have a skull fracture.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.

"I've heard a lot from my neighbors," he said. "I'm surrounded by Amish."

Borgkvist said he believes there should be at least a 6-foot shoulder.A Madison man has been charged with threatening a law enforcement officer after prosecutors say he threatened to shoot a police chiefs fiancee via Facebook message.

Poynette Police Chief Eric Fisher reported Feb. 5 that he and his fiancee received threatening messages over Facebook Messenger Feb. 4. The messages were sent from a profile with the name James Blunt.

Fisher told the Portage Police Department that Tony White Freiberg, 29, has a history of sending similar threatening messages to Poynette police.

Prior to the Feb. 4 incident, Freiberg was cited by Poynette police for unlawful use of a telephone, the complaint states.

Portage police detectives contacted Freiberg on Feb. 6, and he allegedly admitted to sending the messages using the Facebook account.

I am going to shoot your fiance you filthy (expletive). Go bury yourself under a tombstone, Freiberg said, according to the criminal complaint.

According to the complaint, a second message read: You are going to die bro and all your fellow officers. We are coming for you.The agreement worked, but not well enough. In 1990, enrollment management II was adopted, with a target of reducing enrollment by another 5,600 students. The freshman class of 1994 of 22,650 was the smallest since 1972.

Next came enrollment management III. Whitewater fewer students. UW-Milwaukee more students. Each campus was to have the student enrollment it needed. No riding high at one campus and sinking at another. The Madison chancellor, System president and regents provided great leadership.

Today, the UW campuses across the state need once again to be managed as a system, with a new enrollment management policy that fits the times.

A new enrollment management plan would act like its predecessors, capping enrollment at some campuses, reducing enrollment at Madison, and moving students where there is capacity not being used.

And let us re-imagine Stevens Point: Grow enrollment by offering a four-year degree for $20,000 total tuition  it's currently $27,000. Any deficit would be made up through the EM formula. The regents have the power to do this without legislative approval.Blogging Blue's Ed Heinzelman finds it hard to believe that legislative Republicans couldn't agree to a Black History Month resolution because the Legislative Black Caucus included Colin Kaepernick on it. Republicans complained that Kaepernick was controversial over refusing to stand for the national anthem, but isn't that's what Martin Luther King Jr. was  controversial?

Caffeinated Politics blogger Gregory Humphrey says Gov. Evers needs to pull the plug on stationing Wisconsin National Guard troops on the southern border. He notes that former Gov. Scott Walker sent the troops to the border when Donald Trump falsely claimed there was an emergency there. There's not, Humphrey says, and the troops need to be brought home.

Writing on his blog Dom's Domain, Dominique Paul Noth insists that where Donald Trump can hurt us most isn't yet at the core of the 2020 presidential race. While we're concentrating on domestic issues, the place where the country could be in more serious trouble is foreign policy. He sees danger ahead."The participation in creating that (school) and continuing to be involved in the Augustine Academy calls into question Brian Hagedorns claims that he will set aside these extreme yet deeply held personal beliefs," said Joanna Beilman-Dulin, research director for the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, in a news conference at the state Capitol.

One Wisconsin Now was joined by representatives from Fair Wisconsin and the Human Rights Campaign.

Hagedorn campaign spokesman Stephan Thompson said the news conference was "just another example of attacks on (Hagedorn's) faith."

"Lisa Neubauer and her liberal allies will stop at nothing to take over the Supreme Court, even smearing Brian for founding a Christian school to better the lives of children," Thompson said in a statement.

Augustine Academy lists six guiding values on its website: The Christian Gospel, The Primacy of Parents in Training Their Children, The Classical Liberal Arts Tradition, The Joy-Filled Adventure of Learning, The Cultivation of Self-Discipline & Habits of Excellence and Commitment to Engage the World in Every Area for the Glory of God.

In its statement of faith, the school offers more details of its guiding principles.Schools were closed so much this winter that the Madison Metropolitan School District is making more adjustments to make up for lost instructional time.

March 18 and June 12 will be days added to the school calendar, officials said in an email to parents on Thursday.

Both days were previously scheduled staff-only days. June 12 will be the last day of school for students. The district had already cancelled a staff-only day on Feb. 8 to have a make-up day.

Starting Feb. 25, middle and high schools will begin the day two minutes earlier and end five minutes later, which is also aimed at making up for lost time. Elementary schools, meanwhile, will have 11 minutes added to the end of the day.

A snow day that happened on Tuesday caused MMSD to close for the sixth time during the 2018-19 school year.

Public school districts in Wisconsin have to meet the allotted minimum requirements for instruction time during a given school year, as laid out in state statutes. For kindergarten, that means 437 hours of direct instruction time. For grades one through six, students must have 1,050 hours of direct instruction time, while students in seventh through 12th grades must have at least 1,137 hours of direct instruction.EAST TIMOR An American missionary who was a hero in East Timor for founding childrens shelters that have operated for more than two decades has been expelled from his Catholic congregation after admitting to sexual abuse of minors.

KOREA-JAPAN The speaker of South Koreas parliament said he had no intention to apologize for his comments about Japans emperor, suggesting the issue could continue to stoke tensions between the neighbors.

AUSTRALIA The government said it would reopen a mothballed island detention camp in anticipation of a new wave of asylum seekers arriving by boat after Parliament passed legislation that would give sick asylum seekers easier access to mainland hospitals.

INDIA Two managers of a New Delhi budget hotel where a fire killed 17 people have been arrested on suspicion of culpable homicide, police said yesterday.

ISRAEL The Mideast conference in Poland offers Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an opportunity to flaunt in public what he has long boasted about happening behind the scenes  his countrys improved relations with some Gulf Arab nations.

IRAN A suicide bombing in the countrys southeast has killed at least 20 elite Revolutionary Guard personnel and wounded 20. The IRNA news agency reported the toll in the bombing yesterday in Sistan and Baluchistan province. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

NIGERIA In Nigeria fake news can be so outlandish, yet widely believed, that the president recently felt compelled to declare that he had not died and been replaced by a Sudanese body double.

NETHERLANDS Fisherman protested outside parliament in a last-ditch attempt to avert a European Union ban on the practice of using electric shocks to stun fish before scooping them up in nets.

SPAIN Its being billed as Spains trial of the century: A dozen politicians and activists are in in the Supreme Court facing charges including rebellion and sedition from their involvement in Catalonias push for independence in 2017. It is being televised live and is expected to last at least three months.

US The national debt has passed a new milestone, topping USD22 trillion for the first time. It stood at $19.95 trillion when President Donald Trump took office in January 2017.

BRAZILs president has been released from a hospital after 17 days of treatment related to a stabbing he suffered during the campaign.U.S. and Chinese negotiators are meeting this week for their final trade talks before President Donald Trump decides whether to escalate a dispute over technology with a March 2 tariff hike on USD200 billion of imports from China.

The two days of talks starting today allow too little time to resolve the war over Beijings technology ambitions that threatens to drag on weakening global economic growth, businesspeople and economists say. They believe Chinas goal is to make enough progress to persuade Trump to extend his deadline.

There are few signs of movement on their thorniest issue: Washingtons demand that Beijing scale back plans for government-led creation of global champions in robotics and other technology. Chinas trading partners say those violate its market-opening obligations and some in America worry they might erode U.S. industrial leadership.

This week, Beijing wants to see the threat of additional tariff imposition being removed for as long as possible, with minimal conditions attached, said Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics.

Trumps December agreement to postpone more tariff hikes while the two sides negotiate expires March 1. The following day, a 10 percent tariff imposed in July on $200 billion of Chinese imports would rise to 25 percent.

Companies on both sides have been battered by Washingtons tariffs and retaliatory duties imposed by Beijing. The stakes are rising as global economic growth cools.

Trump hiked tariffs on Chinese goods in July over complaints Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology. The dispute spread to include Chinese technology plans, cyberspying and the countries lopsided trade balance.

Chinese leaders have offered to narrow their multibillion-dollar trade surplus with the United States. But they have balked at making major changes in development plans they see as a path to prosperity and more global influence.

China will continue resisting U.S. demands in certain areas, such as changes to its industrial strategy and the role of the state in its economy, said Eswar Prasad, a Cornell University economist who was head of the China division at the International Monetary Fund.

Chinese officials reject complaints that foreign companies are required to hand over technology. But business groups and foreign governments point to rules they say compel companies to share technology with state-owned local partners or disclose trade secrets.

Chinese officials also are balking at U.S. pressure to accept a mechanism to monitor whether Beijing carries out its promises, said Kuijs. They feel that it is humiliating for China if another country does this, he said.

The U.S. delegation is led by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who has said his priority is Chinese industrial policy, not the trade gap. He is accompanied by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The Chinese side is led by Vice Premier Liu He, President Xi Jinpings top economic adviser. It will be his second meeting with Lighthizer following last months talks in Washington.

Business groups and economists say the decision by the top trade envoys to participate suggests the talks might be making enough progress to require higher-level political decisions.

Their deputies have met since Monday to make preparations. On the American side, that includes Jeffrey Gerrish, a deputy trade representative, and David Malpass, a Treasury undersecretary who is Trumps nominee for World Bank president.

Even if negotiators produce an agreement, it run might into opposition from within the Trump administration, said Prasad.

The hardliners seem loath to settle for a deal that represents anything less than total capitulation by China on all U.S. demands, he said.

Beijing has tried to deflect pressure by emphasizing Chinas growth as an export market. It has announced a series of changes over the past year to open finance and other fields, including allowing full foreign ownership in its auto industry for the first time.

Regulators have announced plans to improve protection of foreign patents and copyrights. But it is unclear whether that will satisfy Washington and other governments that complain the system is designed to extract technology from foreign companies and to use official industrial standards to shield Chinese enterprises from competition.

Theres been notably less progress around such issues, said Jeremie Waterman, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerces China Center and a former U.S. trade official.

Negotiators have said any final agreement will have to be made by Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. Trump said last week they plan to meet, but not before the March 1 deadline.

When the time is right, the hope would be that the personal chemistry that exists [between Trump and Xi] will pay dividends, said Erin Ennis, senior vice president at the U.S.-China Business Council.

The South China Morning Post reported Monday the meeting could take place in late March on the southern Chinese island of Hainan.

Other possible sites include Beijing or Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the two met in April 2017, the U.S. news website Axios reported, citing Trump administration officials.

And what if Trump goes ahead with a March 2 tariff hike to step up pressure on Beijing?

We certainly hope not, said Waterman. It would be a terrible cost for American consumers and a terrible hit to the global economy.Joe McDonald, Paul Wiseman, MDT/APThis website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. AcceptThe Thai political party that took the unprecedented and ultimately unsuccessful step of nominating a member of the royal family as its candidate for prime minister was fighting for its political life Wednesday, while the princess herself appeared to criticize the fallout.

The countrys Election Commission said yesterday that it recommended the Thai Raksa Chart Party be dissolved because its prime minister candidate was in conflict with the system of rule of democracy with king as head of state. The recommendation was forwarded to the Constitutional Court, which said it would consider today whether to accept the case.

The party on Feb. 8 named Princess Ubolratana Mahidol its candidate for prime minister for the March 24 general election. But King Maha Vajiralongkorn just hours later issued an edict effectively banning the action because it was inappropriate and unconstitutional.

What made Ubolratanas bid particularly notable was her allying herself with a party that is part of the political machine of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and is loathed by many royalists and others in the countrys traditional establishment.

The whirlwind events have reignited longstanding political tensions in Thailand, which is still run by a military junta that seized power in a 2014 coup and ousted the government of Thaksins sister. Since the coup, the junta had used strict laws against protests and political activity to keep the tension from bubbling to the surface.

Ubolratana, who is active on Instagram with more than 100,000 followers, late Tuesday posted a message reflecting on the events.

I am sorry that my honest intentions to help work for the country and all Thais have resulted in a problem that should not arise in this day and age. #howcomeitsthewayitis, said her message.

After the king overruled its candidate, Thai Raksa Chart avowed its fealty to the king and acceptance of his order, but its opponents urged its dissolution.

Before the Election Commission made its recommendation, the party leader Preechapol Pongpanit called for the body to hear its defense.

If they dont let us tell our side, itd be as if we were tied by our hands and feet, he said. The party said its legal team would submit a letter to the Constitutional Court on Wednesday.

The court, which is one of the most conservative institutions in Thailand and has consistently ruled in favor of the royalist point of view during Thailands political unrest of the past decade, later said it would consider Thursday whether to formally accept the recommendation in order to rule on it.

Ubolratanas candidacy could have pitted her against the preferred candidate of the pro-royalist military, junta leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who led the 2014 coup.

Prayuth was considered the frontrunner, largely because election laws enacted under his government skewed the odds against any party running without the support of the military and the conservative royalist establishment. Under the military-drafted constitution, the junta appoints all of the upper house, which along with the lower house gets to vote for prime minister.

The changes were the latest attempt at quashing the influence of Thaksin, whose allied parties have won every national election since 2001 and remain popular with the rural majority for their populist policies such as universal health care.

Three pro-Thaksin parties running in this years election were seen as posing the greatest challenge to Prayuth and pro-military parties, and recruiting the glamorous 67-year-old Ubolratana to their cause was initially seen as boosting their odds. They appear to have assumed that since she lost her formal royal titles in 1972 when she married a foreigner  an American whom she has since divorced  that the strictures against royal involvement in politics would not apply to her.

The action against Thai Raksa Chart could strengthen both the pro-Thaksin and anti-Thaksin sides, said Titipol Phakdeewanich, a political science professor at Ubon Ratchathani University. Thaksins base could be energized by the perception that their side is facing unfair persecution, he said, while royalists might be stirred to carry on the long- running fight against him.

However, dissolving Thai Raksa Chart would almost surely cost the Thaksin side much-needed seats in the election. It would also deepen concerns about the fairness of the March poll, the first since the coup.

Those concerns were heightened Tuesday when the countrys telecoms regulator suspended the operating license of a TV station linked to Thaksin, citing national security concerns. The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission said two news programs on the station spread information that caused public confusion and divisiveness.

Voice TVs chief executive officer, Makin Petplai, said go to court to challenge the suspension of its over-the-air broadcasts for 15 days. Voice TV, which also maintains an online presence, is owned by Thaksins son and has faced several previous suspensions.

Human Rights Watch said the suspension of broadcaster was unjustified censorship and raises doubts about how free the media is to report ahead the election. Kaweewit Kaewjinda, Grant Peck, APThe speaker of South Koreas parliament said he had no intention to apologize for his comments about Japans emperor, suggesting the issue could continue to stoke tensions between the neighbors.

National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang said there was no reason to show contrition for calling on Emperor Akihito to personally apologize to women forced to work in colonial-era Japanese military brothels, the Yonhap News Agency reported. Moon was responding to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who called the comments  extremely inappropriate as his government demanded an apology and retraction.

I dont know why this is becoming such a big issue, Moon told reporters during a visit to Washington on Tuesday, according to Yonhap. He said he was only seeking an apology for the former sex slaves  euphemistically called comfort women  and that he found Abes response incomprehensible.

I really cannot understand why theyre doing this, Moon said, adding that hes been saying the same thing for 10 years. Moons office couldnt immediately confirm the remarks when asked for comment.

Moons comments about the emperor came during a Bloomberg interview last week, in which he was asked how the two sides could resolve their long-running disagreements over Japans 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula. Moon said an apology from the emperor before his planned abdication in May would be most meaningful, since he was the son of the main culprit of war crimes.

Japans foreign ministry declined to respond to the Yonhap report and said there was no change to the countrys request for a retraction. Speaker Moons comments were extremely inappropriate and it is most regrettable that he has repeatedly made similar remarks, the ministry said.

The two countries, who are each others third-largest trading partners, have been sparring over a host of disagreements stemming from the colonial period. The friction between the two U.S. allies raises new questions about Washingtons efforts to build tighter bonds between its regional partners to counter North Korea and a rising China.

Most South Koreans believe Japan hasnt sufficiently apologized for its actions during the occupation, while many Japanese argue past statements of regret, which include official apologies to the comfort women, shouldve been sufficient.

For the comfort women issue, there is only one issue at hand, which is a heartfelt apology, Moon said, according to Yonhap. I dont know why theyre dragging it out for so long. BloombergThe award-winning head of a Philippine online news site that has aggressively covered President Rodrigo Dutertes administration was arrested yesterday by government agents in a libel case.

Maria Ressa, who was selected by Time magazine as one of its Persons of the Year last year, was arrested over a libel complaint from a businessman which Amnesty International condemned as brazenly politically motivated. Dutertes government said the arrest was a normal step in response to the complaint.

Duterte has openly lambasted journalists who write unfavorable stories about him, including his anti-drug campaign that has left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead.

Rappler Inc., the news site which Ressa heads, said National Bureau of Investigation agents served the warrant late yesterday afternoon, making it difficult for Ressa to apply for bail, and escorted her from the Rappler office to NBI headquarters.

We are not intimidated. No amount of legal cases, black propaganda, and lies can silence Filipino journalists who continue to hold the line, Ressa said in a statement. These legal acrobatics show how far the government will go to silence journalists, including the pettiness of forcing me to spend the night in jail.

Ressa and a former Rappler researcher, Reynaldo Santos Jr., were indicted recently, the Department of Justice said.

Rappler said the businessman filed the libel complaint five years after the article appeared in 2012, and the law under which Ressa was charged by the government, the Cybercrime Prevention Act, did not go into effect until months after the articles publication.

The article included allegations that the businessman was linked to illegal drugs and human trafficking, and that a car registered in his name had been used by the countrys chief justice.

Amnesty International Philippines said Ressas arrest was based on a trumped up libel charge.

This is brazenly politically motivated, and consistent with the authorities threats and repeated targeting of Ressa and her team, it said.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the arrest was merely part of any criminal procedure. Dutertes spokesman said the charge against Ressa was based on facts which she should simply answer and had nothing to do with press freedom.

Rappler is one of several news agencies deemed critical of Dutertes policies.

Duterte had already banned a Rappler reporter from his news briefings after the governments corporate watchdog found that the news site violated a constitutional prohibition on foreign ownership of media when it received money from an international investment firm. Rappler, founded in 2012, rejected the ruling.

Ressa has also posted bail on tax evasion charges which she denies and says were politically motivated.

The International Press Institute, a global network of media personnel, strongly condemned Ressas detention.

The arrest of Maria Ressa is an outrageous attempt by the Philippines government to silence a news organization that has been courageously investigating corruption and human rights violations in the country, IPI director of advocacy Ravi R. Prasad said in a statement.

The manner in which Ressa has been pursued by the government by slapping legal cases against her is not only shameful but also a gross and willful violation of press freedom.

In its selection of Ressa as a Person of the Year, Time magazine cited her and several other journalists as guardians in what it said was an effort to emphasize the importance of reporters work in an increasingly hostile world.

Ressa, who has worked with CNN, also was the winner of two prestigious journalism awards last year, a Press Freedom award from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, and the International Center for Journalists Knight International Journalism Award. Bullit Marquez, Manila, APThe president of the Legislative Assembly (AL), Ho Iat Seng, acknowledged yesterday to be actively considering his candidacy to be the next Chief Executive when the successor of Chui Sai On will be chosen later this year.

Changing the tone of previous speeches, in which he noted several times that he had no intentions to run for the position, Ho said yesterday that he is considering prudently a candidacy, on the sidelines of the ALs Spring Lunch.

Questioned further, Ho said that he is now actively considering his candidacy, although he did not want for the time being to publicly announce his candidacy, further noting that he has not advised the Central Government of such an intention.

Ho explained that he does not need to resign from his current duties before assuming the candidacy, in the instance that he decides to move forward: We dont need to quit first in order to apply to another position, the rules do not state that.

The president of the AL also said that, in order to draft a strategy for a new government, it is always necessary to take lessons from the work done by the previous government, noting that this rule applies not only for the position of the top leader of the MSAR, but to any other duties.

Ho said he was not aware of any support group being formed in society regarding his candidacy, saying, I havent done any lobby work or any other work [of campaign or promotion]. He pointed out that opinions always diverge in relation to whether a certain task is being properly handled or whether it needs improvement, and the same goes for people, noting that it is difficult to please everyone.

Questioned as to what he thinks should be a priority to improve, Ho said, essentially the social wellbeing, noting that the high number of debates undertaken and enquiries to the government made at the AL are proof of that the need to work towards the wellbeing of the population.

Asked to comment about whether he thought Ho would be a suitable candidate for CE, lawmaker Sulu Sou said, I dont believe that any Chief Executive [coming] from a small circle of election and that only represent this small circle would be a good Chief Executive for the whole society.

He added that independently of who assumes the position, it will always be a non-meaningful CE and its not meaningful also to discuss who could be a better or worse person in a limited circle of options that would be elected by an even smaller group of people.

If Ho runs and becomes the new CE, Sou believes, he will of course promote some changes [due to the change of roles] but either way his election would not change anything in the political environment of Macau.

Sou to meet migrant workers associations soon

SULU SOU said that he aims to have a meeting with representatives of the migrant workers Associations as soon as possible. The lawmaker noted that the meeting has the purpose to hear the wishes of the associations, namely on the establishment of the minimum wage system for domestic workers. Sou said that he presented last November a proposal for the establishment of a universal system of minimum wage with an exception for domestic workers. He added that the meeting had initially been scheduled to occur last month and was postponed after it become public that such associations would have a meeting scheduled with the government this week. Sou decided it was better to meet with the representatives of the migrant workerts after that meeting. According to Sou, the proposal of the New Macau Association plans to propose two minimum wage schemes, one of them only for domestic workers.

Vong Hin Fai says secret meeting was political decision by Kou Hoi In

Lawmaker Vong Hin Fai admitted that holding meetings that were not disclosed to all lawmakers happened before in the past. Asked to comment on the latest and controversial case, which involved lawmaker Sulu Sou, Vong said it was a political decision by the president of the Committee, Kou Hoi In.

I remember that when I was president [of the Committee of Rules and Mandates] there were sometimes cases where meetings were not publicized, Vong said, noting that this is a decision under the competence and discretionary power of the president of the committee.

In the case in discussion, Vong had no doubts that was a political decision of the president [Kou Hoi In]. The lawmaker said that in his opinion, not all meetings require information disclosed to all lawmakers and in cases where the tasks to be performed are preparatory such information disclosure should not be mandatory.

A similar opinion is also shared by the president of the AL, Ho Iat Seng that when questioned on the topic said, if the presidents [of any committee] believe that the meeting should be notified [to all lawmakers] then this should be done. But this depends on the decision of each committee, Ho remarked.

On the topic, lawmaker Sulu Sou, reaffirmed the opinion that such decisions lack legality.Irans supreme leader said yesterday that any negotiations with the U.S. will bring nothing but material and spiritual harm in remarks just ahead of an American-led meeting on the Mideast in Warsaw thats expected to largely focus on the Islamic Republic.

The comments from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were part of a seven-page statement read out word-for-word on Iranian state television and heavily promoted in the run-up to its release. They also come two days after Iran marked the 40th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington.

About the United States, the resolution of any issues is not imaginable and negotiations with it will bring nothing but material and spiritual harm, Khamenei said.

The supreme leader went on to describe any negotiations as an unforgiveable mistake. He also said negotiations would be like going on your knees before the enemy and kissing the claws of the wolf.

That tone is a long way from 2015, when Khamenei approved of talks between Iran and the United States that resulted in the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers. The deal saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

However, that deal came under the administration of former President Barack Obama.

President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise of tearing up the accord, withdrew the U.S. from the deal last May. In the time since, the United Nations says Iran has kept up its side of the bargain, though officials in Tehran have increasingly threatened to resume higher enrichment.

Amid the new tensions, Irans already-weakened economy has been further challenged. There have been sporadic protests in the country as well, incidents applauded by Trump amid Washingtons maximalist approach to Tehran.

However, some have suggested Iranian leaders meet with Trump in a summit, much like North Korean leader Kim Jong-

un. Amir Mousavi, a former Iranian diplomat, has claimed that Trump sent a message to President Hassan Rouhani last week requesting direct talks. Mousavi, speaking with Lebanese television station al-Mayadeen, said Trump is ready to visit Tehran and had sent several messages through intermediaries in Oman.

There has been no acknowledgment of such a request from Washington.

The Warsaw summit, which started yesterday, was initially pegged to focus entirely on Iran. However, the U.S. subsequently made it about the broader Middle East, to boost participation. Amir Vahdat, Tehran, APInstagram has removed an account that published comic strips depicting the struggles of gay Muslims in Indonesia following a frenzy of moral outrage online in the worlds biggest Muslim nation.

The Ministry of Communications said yesterday that the account under the username Alpatuni was pornographic, which violated the law on information and electronic transactions. It was closed after the communications minister wrote a warning letter to Instagram, the ministry said.

The comics depicted gay characters facing discrimination and abuse, which has become increasingly common in Indonesia since late 2015 when conservative politicians and religious leaders began a campaign of portraying lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as a threat to the nation.

An account of the same name on Facebook, which owns Instagram, was also no longer accessible.

Facebooks regional office in Singapore said its Instagram arm was preparing a response to the controversy.

The social media company is regularly in the crosshairs of regulators, rights groups and the public as it unsuccessfully tries to balance what CEO Mark Zuckerberg has called giving people a voice and demands for censorship of content posted on the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms.

Human Rights Watchs Indonesia researcher Andreas Harsono said Instagram should defend its own guidelines, which published in Indonesian say the service is a mirror of the diversity of the community, instead of kowtowing to the government.

That account describes mostly the problems of gay individuals in Indonesia. Its no secret that many LGBT individuals are arrested, their houses raided, some are sentenced to prison terms, he said. The Indonesian government does not help them in demanding the removal of that account.

The communications ministry said it appreciated that members of the community reported the gay Muslim account, which accelerated its removal.

Some Indonesian netizens in turn congratulated the ministry. On Twitter, Fahmi Alfansi Pane, a policy analyst at the Indonesian parliament, thanked officials for acting decisively to protect public morality but also told The Associated Press he had never seen the comics.

Local media, quoting the communications minister, reported the ministry would block Instagram in Indonesia if the Alpatuni account wasnt removed.

The government frequently threatens to block Western social media and internet companies for content deemed illegal but has never taken such measures, possibly fearful of a public backlash due to the huge popularity of the services with Indonesians.

In 2017, it briefly and partially blocked the Telegram messaging app because of its failure to remove groups linked to violent jihad. Stephen Wright, Jakarta, APHONG Kongs Security Bureau has proposed to allow extraditions to Macau, Taiwan and mainland China on a case-by-case basis, following a high-profile murder in Taiwan.

Hongkonger Chan Tong Kai allegedly strangled his pregnant 20-year-old girlfriend Poon Hui-wing during Valentines Day in Taiwan last year and returned home to the SAR. Poons body was found dumped on the outskirts of Taipei. Currently, Chan is facing trial in Hong Kong for theft and money laundering linked to his alleged possession of Poons bankcard.

However, since Hong Kong has no extradition agreement with Taiwan, there is still no possibility of him being deported back to Taipei, where he is wanted for murder.

According to media reports, the regions Security Bureau has proposed allowing extraditions on a case-basis and said prosecutions based on race, religion, nationality or political opinions would be refused.

The proposal will be debated tomorrow and according to the bureau, the case of Chan demonstrates a need for current extradition laws to be amended promptly to plug their loopholes and to protect public safety.

The bureau has expressed its hope that the extradition law will be amended before the Legislative Councils summer break in July.

Currently, when a foreign country makes an extradition request in Hong Kong, its Chief Executive will be the one to decide whether to issue an arrest warrant.

Once issued, the fugitive is allowed to oppose the order in a Hong Kong court.

The HKSAR currently provides criminal legal assistance to 32 countries  which excludes Macau, China and Taiwan.

Some Democratic Party lawmakers fear that the proposed law could affect how the 20 countries which currently have extradition agreements view Hong Kong, claiming that the move would only allow Beijing to tighten regulations on critics.

Were terribly worried. This could prove a Trojan horse, lawmaker Claudia Mo told AFP.

I know the Hong Kong government has implied that political cases will not be entertained, but we all know Beijing could always package ideological crimes in the form of economic offenses, she added. Another pro-democracy lawmaker, Eddie Chu, warned that such a proposal could open Pandoras box.

The Security Bureaus proposal has far-reaching consequences and must not be casually accepted, he posted on Facebook. Pro-democracy lawmakers believe that Hong Kong should pursue a separate extradition agreement with Taiwan that doesnt include the mainland.

However, Simon Young, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, pointed out that the proposed change could be a breakthrough, as cited in a report issued by South China Morning Post.

As long as a fugitive receives legal protection before being handed over, Young noted, the proposed law could strengthen cooperation with Taiwan and Macau in combating commercial and financial crime.

He said that other existing extradition arrangements could apply in cases that happened before the law is revised, noting that once laws are changed, Macau could request the extradition of fugitive Joseph Lau.

However, such a request does not mean Lau would be jailed if he was handed over to Macau. Under the existing Fugitive Offenders Ordinance, you cannot send someone to serve a sentence if he was convicted without being present at the trial. You would only send a person back to face trial, Young said.

According to the former deputy director of public prosecutions, John Reading, the major obstacle in reaching an agreement with the mainland is the death penalty, as other signatories have assured in their agreements that the death penalty would not be imposed on extradited individuals. I really cant believe that China would agree to give an undertaking not to impose the death penalty if somebody is to be extradited to China, Reading said.The Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Chief Executive (CE) Election, Song Man Lei, has pledged that the fifth CE election will be open, fair and honest.

Yesterday, members of the commission took an oath during an inauguration ceremony held at the government headquarters. Song made the remark on the sidelines of the ceremony.

According to Song, members of the commission will meet regularly every week to discuss electoral affairs and make decisions regarding election matters, after which they will report to the public regarding its work.

The meetings will be held regularly each Friday, and their schedule will be pre-announced to the public and the media.

We will report to the media and the public as soon as possible after each meeting, Song said, adding that the commissions goal is to hold the election effectively, openly and fairly.

Questioned by the media, Song remarked I want to reiterate that, in regards to any election-related illegal situations and crimes, we have the responsibility and obligation to report them to the relevant council.

Song also noted that she will not make assumptions regarding whether the Chairman of the Legislative Assembly Ho Iat Seng will run for the position of CE (more on p7).

According to the law, he must be nominated, and he must participate in the election campaign, said Song.

Regarding the exact date of the CE election, Song only said that the election will be held within 60 days following the election of the members to the CE election committee.

We dont have a date yet. It will be announced by the CE, pointed out Song.

The Electoral Affairs Commission is responsible for coordinating the process to choose the 400-member Chief Executive Election Committee, and thereafter to coordinate the actual election of a new Chief Executive. This must be determined by June 16.

The members of the commission are: the judge from the Court of Final Appeal, Song Man Lei; the Assistant Prosecutor-General of the Public Prosecutions Office, Chan Tsz King; the Judge of the Court of Second Instance, Tong Hio Fong; the Director of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau, Kou Peng Kuan; and, the Director of the Government Information Bureau, Chan Chi Ping.

The commission will define the place and the opening hours of the election, and will also provide clarification on issues relating to the election of members of the election committee, and the election of the CE.

The commission will be dissolved 150 days after publication of the result of the CE election.The University of Macau (UM) has appointed Ge Wei, an expert in reproductive biology, as its vice rector for Research, and the historian Billy So as its vice rector for Student Affairs, for a five-year term and a three-year term, respectively.

They will both assume office on February 18, the university announced in a statement yesterday.

Ge has over 20 years of experience in research, teaching, and university administration and management, as well as achievements in reproductive endocrinology, particularly comparative endocrinology.

He joined UM in 2013 as a chair professor and interim dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, and was later promoted to associate dean of the same faculty. Currently, he is the head of the Centre of Reproduction, Development and Aging, and interim dean of the Graduate School at UM.

Prior to joining UM, Ge was a professor in the School of Life Sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he founded the Cell and Molecular Biology Programr.

So specialises in Chinese legal and business history in global perspective, with experience in university administration and student affairs. Prior to joining UM, So held various senior positions at several universities in Hong Kong, including chair professor of humanities and head of the Division of Humanities at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

He was a visiting scholar at Toyo Bunko, Fudan University, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and Harvard University.

According to UM, it is confident that So will assist the university in the implementation of the 4-in-1 model of education.Even as President Donald Trump works to extricate the U.S. military from Afghanistan and Syria, administration hawks wont rule out the possibility of fomenting armed conflict in Venezuela. The Cold War-era conflicts that roiled Central America during the 1980s should serve as warning enough that any U.S. military meddling in Venezuela holds a high potential for long-term disaster.

The waves of immigrants surging from Central America today underscore the consequences of wars exacerbated by the CIA, American troops and their surrogates in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. Corruption, political instability, the spread of gangs and rampant drug trafficking in Central America are just a few of the ripple effects from U.S. interventionist policies.

Could someone in the Trump administration please try to learn from history instead of repeating it?On Valentine's morning, birds flocked outside my window.

English poets Geoffrey Chaucer, Michael Drayton and William Shakespeare wrote in their love poems that birds began mating on Valentine's Day. Even in that colder time, when winter seemed to last forever, birds arrived in mid-February, chirping songs of spring.

Now, with climate change, trees bloom several weeks earlier than 20 or 30 years ago. Trees in flower already line Atlanta's streets. Buds have broken out on our tulip tree that once bloomed the first week of March.

Covering the Georgia Legislature a few years ago, I never heard climate change mentioned. The legislators were busy killing a tax exemption for electric cars.

Nor is any climate change action being taken this session. Climate change denial prevails at the gold-plated Georgia Capitol. Savannah and Georgia's barrier islands will sink as seas rise, but not even a study committee has been formed.

Valentine's Day used to give relief from winter. Now, it marks the arrival of spring.Letters to the Editor: Despite 'racism,' US remains desirable; Homeless cleanup carefully executed; Time to transform California justice systemStumped? Ask us. The FYI column is designed to let readers email (to news@lufkindailynews.com ) or call in (to 632-6637) questions you want answered, whether about road construction, how-to tips, trivia or other information. You do not have to leave your name. You also can use that email address or phone number to give us a news tip  anonymously, if youd like.A pedestrian passes Valentine's day stuffed animals for sale ahead of the holiday in Philadelphia, Wednesday. The Federal Trade Commission announced this week that romance-related scams have surged recently and generated more losses than any other consumer fraud reported to the agency last year.disclaimer

I have received the books on this blog for review from the publisher or author or I have bought them. I have no financial interest in any book featured on this blog.This website is inclusive: It is Jew-friendly, Muslim-friendly, atheist-friendly, and gay-friendly. There should be no place for anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, or any other kind of phobia in the world. Let us strive to live in harmony with each other.As the first anniversary of last years tragic Parkland, Florida shooting arrives, memorial services and events are being held across Parkland and the Coral Springs area. The mood has again become increasingly somber, says Rabbi Mendy Gutnick of Chabad of Parkland. February 14 marks the day a shooter killed fourteen students and three staff members, at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in 2018.

Last week families held kaddish memorial services at the graves of the victims, this weeks communal events will remember the past and focus on the future. Our objective is to begin the process of healing, shares Rabbi Yankie Denburg, spiritual director of the Chabad Jewish Center in Coral Springs. With most of Coral Springs a part of the MSD school district, many of the teens who attend Chabads local CTeen chapter survived the massacre. Theyve been living with this trauma all year and, as the anniversary approached, a number of them have expressed the need to regain a sense of normalcy, says Denburg.

To this end, Coral Springs CTeen chapter, directed by Rabbi Shaya and Chayale Denburg, will be hosting a community Shabbat dinner this Friday night, which they are calling Shabbat of Healing. The teens have created the menus, designed the decor and planned a program that will include interactive games and talks by MSD students. They have invited Dr. Sandra Lilienthal, adjunct professor at Gratz College and an awarded Jewish educator, to talk about the Jewish approach to dealing with tragedy. The event has been met with a positive response from the local community and over 100 people have reserved seats, including many for whom this will be their first time at Chabad.

Tonight, the Jewish Federation of Broward County will partner with Chabad of Parkland for an Evening of Light. Joined by artist Gary Rosenthal, participants will design two pairs of Shabbat candlesticksa pair for themselves and a set to pass on to a neighbor or friend. Last year we saw how one moment could wreak so much darkness, we have to make sure our light is even more powerful, says Gutnick.

At Chabad of Parklands Friendship Bakery, teen volunteers meet monthly with children and young adults with special needs to bake. Last night, they baked challa which will be distributed with grape juice and candles for people who would like to celebrate Shabbat dinner at home in memory of the MSD victims.

Almost everyone in our community has a connection to someone affected by the shooting, says Rabbi Shuey Biston, director of outreach and development at Chabad of Parkland. He says that both Chabad of Parkland and Coral Springs have increased their teen programming over the last year. In the immediate aftermath, they hosted meetings and phone conferences, to provide support as the teens grieved together. They also set up a booth outside the school campus to meet with kids after school, offering them tefillin and mentoring.

The message of the programming became focused on teaching the Jewish value of life. The shooter clearly didnt value life and didnt accept that everyone has an important purpose and callingnot himself and definitely not others. Our mission is to show each teen that the world needs specifically him or her, Rabbi Shuey says

As Rabbi Yankie puts it, Over this year we have suffered and sought comfort in each other and as we mark this anniversary, we will work to uplift each other and heal together.

Chabad of Parkland is the regional headquarters for Chabad of North Broward and South Palm Beach County.scholarship, news and new ideas in legal historyFirefighters from the Lebanon Fire District battled an early Thursday morning fire in a house at 794 E. Oak St.

No injuries were reported in the blaze, which occurred in a one-story single-family structure that had been vacant since a fire in January 2018, the department reported in a press release. Neighbors told firefighters that the house recently has been occupied by transients.

Crews brought the fire under control in about 30 minutes. A search of the structure afterward found no victims inside, the department said.

Four engines, a medic unit and a command vehicle responded to the fire.

No damage estimate was immediately available.

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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 1971, he was a Vietnamese student who had just met the love of his life. She was a North Korean worker who knew she was forbidden to love him back.

It took 31 years before Pham Ngoc Canh, the Vietnamese student, and Ri Yong Hui, the North Korean woman, were finally married. They wed in 2002, after North Korea took the unusual step of permitting one of its citizens to marry a foreigner.

Now she is 70 years old and he is 69. They live in an apartment in the city of Hanoi, in Vietnam. Today, Vietnam is one of Asias fastest growing economies, but when the couple met the country was struggling. It was at war with the United States and divided in two. So the North Vietnamese government sent 200 students, including Canh, to North Korea to gain the skills the country would need to rebuild.

In North Korea, Canh saw Ri working in a laboratory. Canh said, I thought to myself, I must marry that girl.

Ris friends had told her about the Vietnamese student who was training at the factory. As soon as I saw him, I knew it was him, said Ri. He looked so gorgeous.

She added, Until then, when I had seen so-called handsome guys I hadnt felt anything, but when he opened the door, my heart just melted.

The courtship

But romantic relationships with foreigners are strictly forbidden in North Korea. They were also forbidden in Vietnam at the time.

However, Ri and Canh exchanged letters. In time, she agreed to let him visit her at home. He had to be careful. He knew another Vietnamese man had been beaten when he had been found with a North Korean woman.

So Cahn dressed in North Korean clothes, took a three-hour bus ride and walked two kilometers to reach Ris home. Canh said, I went to her house secretly, just like a guerrilla.

He repeated the trip every month until 1973, when he returned to Vietnam. He was the son of a high-ranking party official, and he was expected to have a bright future with the state. But he refused to join the Communist Party.

I just couldnt agree with a socialism that stops people from loving each other, Canh said.

In 1978, Canh asked to return to North Korea with a group of Vietnamese engineers. He arranged to meet Ri, and even wrote a letter asking the North Korean leadership for permission to marry her.

But Ri said the visit broke her heart. She did not believe her government would agree to his proposal, and she was afraid the two would never meet again.

So Canh did not send her the letter. Instead, he asked Ri to wait for him.

Later that year, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and fought a border war with China. North Korea and Vietnam were on opposite sides of the conflict. Ri and Canh stopped writing.

My mother was crying while caring for me, said Ri. I think she knew that I was lovesick.

Years passed. Finally, in 1992, Ri sent Canh a letter. She told him that she still loved him.

The marriage

But the two still could not meet, let alone marry. Then, in the late 1990s, North Korea faced a deadly famine. By now, the Vietnamese government was connected to the West, and it refused to send aid.

But Canh was so concerned for Ri and others that he raised donations of rice to send to North Korea. When North Korean officials learned of Canhs act of kindness, they agreed he could marry Ri  but only if Ri kept her North Korean citizenship.

In 2002, the couple finally married in the Vietnamese embassy in Pyongyang. In the end, love beat socialism, said Canh.

Canh and Ri are hoping the upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi will help end hostilities between their countries.

If youre a North Korean, you want to see this resolved. But politics is complicated, Ri said. When people first heard Kim Jong Un decided to meet Trump, they expected reunification to happen soon. But thats hard to realize in just one or two days. I hope things work out well.

I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

And I'm Bryan Lynn.

Hai Do adapted this story for Learning English based on a report from Reuters. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor. The video was produced by Reuters and Dorothy Gundy.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

wed - v. marry

romantic - adj. of, relating to, or involving love between two people

guerrilla - n. a member of a usually small group of soldiers who do not belong to a regular army and who fight in a war as an independent unitEuropean aircraft maker Airbus has announced it will stop making the worlds largest passenger airplane.

The French-based manufacturer said Thursday it plans to stop making the Airbus A380 in 2021. The A380 made its first test flight in 2005 and began carrying passengers two years later.

The A380 is the largest commercial airplane operating today. The plane has two full levels of seating and normally is equipped to carry at least 500 people.

The announcement came after the company experienced major drops in demand and sales of its A380 in recent years.

In the latest decision, Emirates  Airbus largest buyer of the A380  chose to cut the number of aircraft it had already ordered. Airbus officials said Emirates decision left the company with no order backlog to support continued production of the plane.

Airbus chief Tom Enders said the decision to end the A380 program was a painful one. Weve invested a lot of effort, a lot of resources, a lot of sweat...but we need to be realistic.

The decision could affect up to 3,500 jobs. It already cost Airbus about $523 million in losses in 2018, the company said.

Airbus said it would enter talks with labor unions in coming weeks over jobs that could be affected. Most of the positions at risk are in France and Germany, but workers in Spain and Britain also could be affected.

In a statement, the head of Emirates said the airline had been a strong supporter of the A380 from the beginning. It said the plane had become a favorite among many passengers and crew members. The decision to cancel the orders marked the reality of the current situation, the statement said.

Emirates said it had reached a new $21.4 billion deal with Airbus to replace some of the A380 orders with A350 wide-bodies and smaller A330 planes.

Airbus has promised airline companies it will keep supporting the more than 230 A380s currently in operation.

At first, many industry experts expected the A380 to outlast the Boeing 747, which is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. But many major airlines are increasingly turning to more mid-size planes to support regional flights.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English. His story was based on reports from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. George Grow 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

commercial  adj. related to buying and selling things

backlog  n. planned work in progress but not yet completed

sweat  n. liquid produced through the skin

regional  adj. relating to a particular areaThe URL has been copied to your clipboard

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In October, Sayoc sent suspicious boxes from his home in Florida to Democratic party members, including former President Obama. None of the mail bombs exploded. Sayoc was charged with five federal crimes.Thursday, February 14, 2019





On February 12, 2019, Reps. Garcia (D-IL), Espaillat (D-NY), and Velazquez (D-NY) as well as 83 more House Democrats sent a letter to Director L. Francis Cissna raising concerns about USCISs growing backlog of adjudications.

On February 22, 2019, the Colorado Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will hold a public briefing to examine the backlog in citizenship and naturalization applications in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Committee will examine the cause of the backlog, and its civil rights implications, and will look at ways to restore the agencys processing times to its selfimposed target of six months. There will be livestreaming of the event at: https://cu.law/live.



Confirmed panelists include:

Bryce Downer, Attorney, Downer Legal Group 

John Eastman, Law Professor, Chapman University 

Kristi Goldinger, District Director, US Citizenship and Immigration Service 

Diego Iniguez-Lopez, Policy and Communications Associate, National Partnership for New Americans 

Jennifer Kain-Rios, Immigration Attorney, KainRios Immigration 

Nicole Melaku, Executive Director Legal Services Coordinator, CO Immigrant Rights Coalition 

Robert Preuhs, Professor of Political Science, Metropolitan State University of Denver 

Jamie Torres, Director of the Denver Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs 

Travis Weiner, CO Chapter Lead, Veterans for American Ideals & Veterans for New Americans



DATE: February 22, 2019

LOCATION: University of Colorado Law School, Wolf Law Building, Wittemeyer Court Room 2450 Kittredge Loop Drive, Boulder, CO 80305 Live-streaming at: https://cu.law/live

AGENDA: Invited Panelists: 10:00 a.m.  3:00 p.m. MST Open Comment/Public Testimony: 3:15 p.m.  6:00 p.m.



PUBLIC COMMENT:



At the conclusion of the speakers panels, the Committee will hold an open public comment session, to begin at 3:00 p.m. MST. Members of the public in attendance will be invited to make short statements on the topic. Those wishing to speak must sign-up at the meeting room no later than 3:00 p.m. on the briefing day. The Committee will also accept written testimony submitted to ebohor@usccr.gov or by mail to the Rocky Mountain Regional Office, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1961 Stout Street, Suite 13-201, Denver, CO 80294. Written testimony must be submitted no later than Friday, March 22, 2019.





KJ

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2019/02/colorado-advisory-committee-to-the-u-s-commission-on-civil-rights-to-examine-backlog-in-citizenship-and-naturalization-appl.htmlSundance 2019: Chinonye Chukwu First Black Woman to Win U.S. Top Prize

The 2019 Sundance Film Festival was a banner year for women filmmakers with five women directors and one man winning in four main categories. Chinonye Chukwu became the first black woman to win the festivals biggest prize, the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Dramatic entry for Clemency starring Alfre Woodard. Woodard plays a psychologically spent prison warden who emotionally connects with death-row inmate Anthony Woods played by Aldis Hodges. The film also stars Daniel Brooks (Orange is the New Black), Wendell Pierce (Tom Clancys Jack Ryan), Richard Schiff (The Good Doctor) and LaMonica Garrett (Designated Survivor).

Clemency is the second feature film for writer/director Chukwu, who worked on the clemency campaign for Tyra Patterson. Patterson was wrongly accused of murder and eventually released after serving 23 years in prison. The prison reform advocate also created the Pens to Pictures program in Ohio, which teaches incarcerated women to make their stories into short films. Chukwu is also an Assistant Professor of Motion Pictures at Wright State University.

The Nigerian-born, Alaska-raised writer/directors first feature film Alaskaland, the story of an estranged Nigerian-American brother and sister who reunite in their Alaskan hometown.

ADVERTISEMENTShirley Chisholms Historic Legacy Broke the Glass Ceiling for African American Women in Politics

Today, African American women are leading the country as mayors, senators, congresswomen, state legislatures, and lawmakers. However it was Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm, who is known for breaking the glass ceiling for African American women in politics. This Black History Month, the Los Angeles Sentinel looks back on the life of Chisholm and her political leadership.

Politician and activist Chisholm was born on November 30, 1924 in Brooklyn, New York to parents Charles St. Hill who was a Guyana factory worker and Ruby Seale St. Hill, a Barbados seamstress. Chisholm, the oldest of four daughters, graduated from Brooklyn Girls High School in 1942 and later Brooklyn College in 1946 with cum laude.

ADVERTISEMENT

Shortly after graduation, Chisholm began her educational career as a nursery school teacher. Soon after, she made the decision to go back to school and obtained a masters degree in early childhood education from Columbia University in 1951. Chisholm eventually landed a job working for the New York City Division of Day Care. During this time, Chisholm became aware of the racial and gender disparities and decided to make a difference by becoming an active member in the following organizations: the League of Women Voters, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Urban League, and the Democratic Party Club in her hometown of Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Being a part of these organizations ignited her passion to run for the New York State Assembly and in 1964, she became to the second African American New York state legislature, a position that became the stepping stone for her political career. Four years later, Chisholm decided to run for Congress and won against her opponent James Farmer, making her the first African American woman to hold a seat in Congress.

During her time in office, she introduced over 50 pieces of legislation and served on the Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Rules and Education, and Labor House committees. As a congresswoman, Chisholm continued to advocate for racial and gender equality and played a prominent role in ending the Vietnam War by arguing that the money being spent on the war should instead go towards issues like education and affordable housing.

In 1971, Chisholm co-founded the National Womens Political Caucus, a grassroots organization focusing on increasing the number of women in politics. One year later, she decided to run in the democratic presidential nomination, making her the first woman and African American to seek a nomination for President of the United States.

Despite the racial discrimination she faced, Chisholm entered in 12 primaries and garnered 152 of the delegates votes. Although her presidential campaign fail through, Chisholm continued to serve in politics as a U.S. House of Representatives until 1982 when she announced her retirement.

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After wrapping up her political career, Chisholm became a professor at Mt. Holyoke College in Massachusetts where she taught politics and womens studies. In 1987, she retired from teaching and continued working for the National Political Congress of Black Women which she co-founded in 1984.

Throughout her political career, Chisholm was able to see the progression of diversity in Congress for both women and African Americans. It is because of the work of Chisholm that representatives like Congresswoman and chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Karen Bass, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Senator Kamala Harris, and many others are able to continue pushing for change in the communities that they serve.Rep. Maxine Waters to Receive NAACP Chairmans Award

The NAACP announced that Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-California) will be honored with the prestigious NAACP Chairmans Award which is bestowed in recognition of individuals who demonstrate exemplary public service and use their distinct platforms to create agents of change.

Leon W. Russell, Chairman of the NAACP National Board of Directors, will present Congresswoman Waters with the award at the 50th NAACP Image Awards on March 30, 2019 live at 9pm/8c on TV One.

I am honored to present the Chairmans Award to Congresswoman Waters, considered to be one of the most powerful women in American politics today and an inspiration to many, Russell said in a news release announcing the award.

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Her 43 years of public service, first in the California State Assembly and then in the U.S. House of Representatives, have benefited countless Americans, Russell said.

As both a queen and a warrior, Congresswoman Waters has stood the test of time in her refusal to stand idle in the face of the relentless assaults on the humanity of African Americans and people of color. We salute her and her amazing legacy, he said.

Past honorees of the NAACP Chairmans Award include William Lucy, Tyler Perry, Ruby Dee, The Neville Brothers, Bono, Danny Glover, Former Vice President Al Gore and Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai, then-Senator Barack Obama, Former Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, TV One Founder and Chairman Cathy Hughes, U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Michele Howard, Brittany Bree Newsome, Justice League NYC, University of Missouri Concerned Student 1950 Collective, University of Mississippi NAACP College Chapter, Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley, Rev. Dr. Jamal Harrison Bryant, Jussie Smollett, and Dr. Charles J. Ogletree, Jr.

Throughout her many years of public service, Waters has been on the cutting edge, tackling difficult and often controversial issues, the NAACP said in the release. She has combined her strong legislative and public policy acumen and high visibility in Democratic Party activities with an unusual ability to do grassroots organizing.

Following the Los Angeles civil unrest in 1992, Congresswoman Waters faced the nations media and public to interpret the hopelessness and despair in cities across America.

Over the years, she has brought many government officials and policy makers to her South-Central L.A. district to appeal for more resources.

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She has used her skill to shape public policy and deliver the goods: $10 billion in Section 108 loan guarantees to cities for economic and infrastructure development, housing and small business expansion; $50 million appropriation for Youth Fair Chance program which established an intensive job and life skills training program for unskilled, unemployed youth; expanded U.S. debt relief for Africa and other developing nations; creating a Center for Women Veterans, among others.

She is a co-founder of Black Womens Forum, a nonprofit organization of over 1,200 African American women in the Los Angeles area.

In the mid-80s, she also founded Project Build, working with young people in Los Angeles housing developments on job training and placement.

As she confronts the issues such as poverty, economic development, equal justice under the law and other issues of concern to people of color, women, children, and poor people, Rep. Waters enjoys a broad cross section of support from diverse communities across the nation.

Throughout her career, Congresswoman Waters has been an advocate for international peace, justice, and human rights.

Before her election to Congress, she was a leader in the movement to end Apartheid and establish democracy in South Africa.

She opposed the 2004 Haitian coup detat, which overthrew the democratically-elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Haiti and defends the rights of political prisoners in Haitis prisons.

Waters leads congressional efforts to cancel the debts that poor countries in Africa and Latin America owe to wealthy institutions like the World Bank and free poor countries from the burden of international debts.

Expanding access to health care services is another of Congresswoman Waters priorities.

She spearheaded the development of the Minority AIDS Initiative in 1998 to address the alarming spread of HIV/AIDS among African Americans, Hispanics and other minorities.

Under her continuing leadership, funding for the Minority AIDS Initiative has increased from the initial appropriation of $156 million in fiscal year 1999 to approximately $400 million per year today.

Waters is also the author of legislation to expand health services for patients with diabetes, cancer and Alzheimers disease.

She is lauded by African American entrepreneurs for her work to expand contracting and procurement opportunities and to strengthen businesses.

Long active in the womens movement, Rep. Waters has given encouragement and financial support to women seeking public office.

Many young people, including those in the hip-hop music community, praise her for her support and understanding of young people and their efforts at self-expression, according to the release.

One testament to her work is the Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center, a multimillion-dollar campus providing education and employment opportunities to residents of the Watts area, Russell said.Pan African Film Festival Hosts Starbucks Executive Panel

The Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) hosted a panel featuring Black Starbucks executives at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza on Saturday, Feb. 9. Lauren A. Jones, a contributing writer for the Los Angeles Sentinel, conducted a lively conversation between panelists: Starbucks district managers: Crystal Nelson, Devaughn Egans, Tatiana Stockton, and regional director, Tunji Browne.

Especially right now, [being] African American leaders within the organization during this time itself is acting with courage and is really challenging the status quo, stated Stockton. Some of the obstacles that we have to experience or barriers [what challenging the status quo] looks like we had to break to get here is a huge testament to what that looks like to us every single day.

The discussion covered a range of topics from Starbucks company mission and values, to its community partnerships and involvement, as well as career opportunities.

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Jones first posed a question surrounding the anniversary of the Philadelphia incident that resulted in two Black men being arrested after the manager accused them of trespassing claiming the men refused to buy anything or leave.

Following the occurrence, Starbucks publicized that the organization would hold mandatory company-wide bias training. Nelson shared that the training did not stop there; every six to eight weeks district managers add on new layers of unconscious bias training to their respective stores.

Anyone who crosses over the threshold is a guest and should be greeted with a smile, said Stockton, who manages stores in the Fresno region.

Browne, who has worked at Starbucks in several large markets including New York, South Florida, Seattle, and Los Angeles, emphasized how hiring people that are reflective of the communities they serve can help to steer clear of similar incidents recurring.

Each panelist enlightened attendees on how the stores are involved in the neighborhoods that they serve. Individual stores under the managers respective regions have ongoing partnerships with various community organizations like United Way, the AIDS Walk, and A Place Called Home. Nelson shared that her region has partnered with the Compton initiative for Starbucks Doing Good, where employees and volunteers go to Compton to paint homes and clean up parks.

The community partnerships are just one aspect of how Starbucks aims to uphold its mission statement, Our mission: to inspire and nurture the human spirit  one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.

The Starbucks brand means to me opening doors, remarked Egans. After serving in the U.S. military for over two decades, Egans successfully transitioned into a retail position within Starbucks. His takeaway message on the panel was to open doors for the next person to walk through. Each of the panelists described the impact being an authentic version of themselves and a Black executive has had on their trajectory in Starbucks.

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The panel concluded with a discussion on how fellow Black executive and pioneer Earvin Magic Johnson chartered new paths within the Starbucks brand. In 1998, Johnson fought to open the Starbucks on W. Centinela Ave. in Ladera Heights that quickly established itself as a staple institution in the Black community.

What he did for us is open our eyes to whats possible and open our eyes to that demographic, Browne said.

Starbucks is one of the premier sponsors for this years festival. This panel was a way for PAFF to present industry professionals. The panel was one of many in a series of panels and workshops led by academics and trendsetters discussing cultural trends as well as the hottest new topics and techniques in filmmaking and art.

PAFF is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation dedicated to the promotion of cultural understanding among peoples of African descent and to racial tolerance through the exhibition of film, art, and creative expression.

Since 1992, PAFF Los Angeles has showcased over 150 quality new films and over 100 fine artists and unique craft persons from the United States, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, South America, Europe, the South Pacific and Canada, all showcasing the diversity and complexity of people of African descent.

For more information, please visit https://www.paff.org/.NAACP President Derrick Johnson and Political Strategist Donna Brazile Issue State of Black America Address

Following the aftermath of President Donald Trumps State of the Union address, NAACP President Derrick Johnson and Political Strategist Donna Brazile took part in a special State of Black America forum in search of the answer to, Where do we go from here?

Held at the Howard University Interdisciplinary Building, Johnson utilized the event as an opportunity to give his rebuttal to what some deemed a contentious presidential address and issued a call to action.

Its unfortunate that [Trumps State of the Union speech] was a distraction from Stacey Abrahams State of the Union, that served as a reality for African Americans who werent accepting the fact that the current president has been one of the best galvanizing forces to turn out the Black vote, Johnson said

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Recalling the 2008 presidential elections and the nostalgia that it left behind, Johnson went on to reference the wakeup call that all Americans were handed  post President Barak Obama  during the Trump era.

If you remember in 2008, we celebrated what we thought was impossible, Johnson continued. Commentators then began to talk about a post-racial society, and here we are some 11 years later, recognizing that the occupant of the White House gives us a daily reminder of why we as a people must stick together and stay together.

What the president has done has opened up the eyes of so many people, Johnson continued. This nation has still not dealt with race and its appeal to the lowest common dominator of us as a community. We really need to take a step back and focus on whats important, particularly in this era.

Moderating the discussion, Donna Brazile gave reference to Trumps statement that we as a nation could choose greatness but in doing so, would also need to choose his ideals and values.

Following this statement, Brazile posed the question to Johnson, How would you, choose greatness for America in the 21stcentury?

Greatness in this county is when we ensure that we take care of our elderly people, Johnson said. That we prepare our young people so that they can have a brighter future. That we protect the rights of the disadvantaged, however we place the label. That is what makes a healthy society. That is what makes us great.

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We need to strengthen free public education, so that in the global economy, our children wont get left behind. We need to examine the issue of healthcare and how many individuals are using a substantial amount of their income on healthcare, and we need to be a nation that is of one nation and not allow for individuals to divide us.

Closing out the session, focused on the NAACP, Donna Brazile proudly posed the timely question: What role do women still play within the NAACP organization?

Women have a huge role, Johnson said. Women, just like the church, make up the backbone of the organization. Weve had six Black female presidents before consolidating titles and roles, so perhaps its time now [that] we have a first female president and CEO.

In support of the State of Black America discussion, Howard University President Wayne A.I. Frederick also gave remarks during the meeting.

This is a very interesting time in our nations history, HUs Johnson said. And the event tonight, continuing Black History Month Where Do We Go from Here, is a very appropriate topic.

I recently did an interview for CNN, he continued, and one of the things that I pointed out to them was that I dont believe there is a monolithic Black Vote. If these people came on my campus and polled all of the students on a variety of topics, they would get a variety of opinions That is an example of why discussions such as these are so important. We need a clear idea as to where we are and where we should be going.Legislators Introduce Bills to Regulate Police Use of Force

Assemblywoman Dr. Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) has again sponsored a bill to hold police officers accountable for deadly shootings.

Assembly Bill 392, The California Act to Save Lives, will restrict officers from using deadly force only when faced with bodily harm. Officers could also use deadly force to save a life.

Police killings continue to be a significant problem in California. According to the Department of Justice figures, California police killed 162 people in 2017, and half of them were unarmed. Cities such as Bakersfield, Stockton, Santa Ana, Long Beach, and San Bernardino ranked in the top 15 when it came to nationwide police killings.

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AB 392 will include effective police best practices to reduce civilian deaths without compromising officer or community safety, said Weber. We are aligning California law with the recommendations of policing experts and scholars, the Obama Administration Department of Justice and the California Attorney Generals office.

Weber filed a similar bill last year, but it failed to move forward. However, Weber hasnt given up on her quest to hold officers accountable.

Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), a co-sponsor of the bill, said the current law is outdated.

Police misconduct undermines justice and costs lives. Updating Californias use of force standard will help law enforcement transition to policies that prevent unnecessary deaths, increase accountability, and build much needed public trust, he said.

He added that the proposed law is pertinent as the city of Sacramento is currently negotiating a settlement with the family of Stephon Clark, who filed a $20 million wrongful death lawsuit. Clark was shot dead in his grandparents backyard within minutes of officers arriving on the scene.

Another person present during Webers press conference was Cephus Uncle Bobby Johnson. His nephew, Oscar Grant, was shot dead at a San Francisco-area train station in 2009. He was restrained and complying with police when Bay Area Rapid Transport Officer Johannes Mehserle claimed he mistook his gun for his taser and shot Grant in the back at point-blank range. Mehserle served less than two years in jail after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. (Grants story was memorialized in the film Fruitvale Station, which was directed by Ryan Coogler, who also helmed Black Panther.)

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If de-escalation tactics had been used, Oscar Grant would be alive today, said Johnson.

In addition, Sen. Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) has introduced legislation that would require police departments to follow use-of-force standards. The rules would require police departments to follow de-escalation tactics, alternatives to deadly force and provide first aid to suspects. Caballeros bill is backed by police associations.

We have to find balance within our communities that build trust and respect in order for law enforcement to effectively do their jobs, while at the same time ensuring the best possible outcomes during serious use of force events, said David Swing, president of the California Police Chiefs Association. This measure protects our communities through comprehensive policy focused on doing just that.L.A.s Valdry Family Partners with Southern U. to Open Philanthropy Center

Giving to Southern University comes easy to the Valdry family. In fact, Warren and his wife, Virginia, 1959 graduates, and his brother, Leon, a 1957 grad, have donated sizable gifts to their alma mater for more than 50 years.

Clearly wanting to do more to sustain the institution, the L.A. area residents partnered with Southern to open the Valdry Center for Philanthropy (VCP), which is the first academic unit at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to focus on philanthropic studies and nonprofit management. The newly constructed facility will open in April 2019.

Our family strongly believes in the concept of philanthropy and giving as a principle. We wanted to maintain and perpetuate that philosophy in the next generation in terms of giving back and supporting their institution, explained Warren.

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Thanks to Alfred Harrell III, chief executive officer of the Southern University System Foundation, we can market this process to help sustain and grow other nonprofits as well as communities of color.

With 20+ years of experience in nonprofit management, Harrell brings extensive knowledge to VCP and Southern, which itself is unique among HBCUs in that its system consists of five campuses. The university operates sites in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Shreveport, Louisiana, along with a law center and an agricultural center.

In preparing the business model for VCP, Harrell reached out first to the Valdrys for input because he said he learned that when we drilled down into our donor base and saw who had consistently been giving for years and years, the Valdry family rose to the top.

After meeting with the family, he next contacted the Kellogg Foundation to request their support to fund a feasibility study to help develop the plan and they agreed.

We also met with nonprofits in the Louisiana area, others in the not-for-profit world, and other donors and students. The result was we needed a center for minority communities, he said, and that decision materialized into VCP  the Valdry Center for Philanthropy.

VCP offers training in seven areas - degree programs, social entrepreneurship fellows, faith-based programming, customized nonprofit capacity building, seminar and certificate programs, educational initiatives and research. The Valdry Center will address issues that have historically been left undiscussed in minority communities around the world, noted Harrell.

Among the Centers goals over the next three years is to expand masters degrees in public policy and philanthropic studies by 120 percent through its partnership with the Southern University Nelson Mandela College of Government and Social Sciences and the Southern University School of Law.

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VCP also aims to award 2,400 continuing education credits to 1,200 adult learners, increase faculty and graduate student research projects in philanthropy and nonprofit management by 100 percent, and activate $4.5 million in private and public gifts for communities in need.

We also have a seminar, certificate and online program that were really excited about, Harrell said. Our programming model is not the traditional delivery model where you come and sit in a class, but we can send our consultants anywhere in the country. The programming and experts at the Valdry Center can help people build and expand capacity in their own communities.

Reflecting on the mission, Dr. Ray L. Belton, president of the Southern University System, said, The Valdry Center establishes the opportunity for us to introduce the importance of philanthropy to the university community and beyond.

It aligns with our pursuit of educational excellence and builds on strategic outreach and engagement as an intellectual platform to empower stakeholders and the communities we serve.

The contributions of the Valdry family will be further recognized on Feb. 16, at the Southern University Alumni Los Angeles Chapters Boule de Masquerade de Mardi Gras Ball Scholarship Fundraiser. The associations King and Queen Coronation will feature Dr. Warren Valdry, the outgoing king, passing the mantle to Leon Valdry, the king-elect. Also, scholarships will be awarded to Southern California students attending Southern University A&M College.Family of a Comatose Black Man Files Multi-Million Claim Against LAPD

The family of a Black man left in a coma after an alleged race-based attack by an off-duty officer has filed a $195 million claim against the Los Angeles Police Department.

Prominent civil rights attorney Carl Douglas filed the claim for damages with the City Attorneys Office on behalf Alton Preston, Jr. on February 5.

The husband and father of two has been in a coma since October 28, 2018 when Ricardo Dominguez severely beat him at the Hide-A-While Lounge in Rancho Cucamonga, Douglas told reporters during a February 6 press conference at his office in Ladera Heights.

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Witnesses have told this family that that same man took a sign from a nearby market, a sign about play the Lotto, a heavy metal sign, and took that sign and smashed Alton on top of the head while he laid defenseless on the ground, said Douglas, who was flanked by the 35-year-olds wife Rahshana Preston, his family, and staff.

They were surrounded by photos of the young father lying comatose in his hospice bed, severely bruised with stitches, feeding tubes and a neck brace. Douglas appealed for donations to a gofundme legal defense and medical expenses site (http://www.gofundme.com/legal-defense-and-medical-expense) established to help aid the wife and small children, who are suffering the devastating consequences of the primary breadwinner being in a coma for the last five months.

Rahshana Preston could barely speak as she approached the microphones. She wept. My kids havent been able to see their father. Its been hard trying to stay strong for him, because they cry for him every night. They pray for him every night, she told media.

My son is three-years-old and every night, before he goes to sleep, he says Jesus, heal my daddy and bring him home, she whispered.

Rahshana Preston said she has spent every day at the hospital since the incident, so her husband wouldnt be alone. Its just hard. I dont understand why this had to happen to him, she lamented.

The pain is real! The injuries are severe! And I gave this family my pledge that we will seek justice, not only for Alton Preston, Jr., not only for Rashaha Preston, but also for Kiari and Amari who deserve to have their father back. With this statement, the struggle begins, concluded Douglas.

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According to Douglas, witnesses informed him that Dominguez tried to strike Preston, Jr. a second time but a witness intervened. He detailed that a fight broke out inside the lounge after four White males started hurling racial slurs at some Black men, but said he did not know if Dominguez had hurled any slurs. The fight spilled outside, where Preston, Jr. was talking on the phone.

He tried to break up the fight, and was threatened with violence, then intentionally punched, hit, and struck over the head with a bottle and a sign. Other off-duty officers threatened to physically harm the 35-year-old who played the role of a Good Samaritan as well, Douglas went on.

If you knew him, it would be the role that you would expect him to play, because Alton is a caring man. He would help a homeless man on the street if he could, and he does, said Douglas.

According to Douglas, Dominguez has had a sordid history of off-duty interactions, including sustained allegations of domestic violence and an untoward violent incident involving alcohol.

It is frightening to understand that an off-duty Los Angeles Police officer was engaged in a fight at a bar, who has a history of suspensions from conduct off-duty at bars involving alcohol, he remarked. He is a liability for all Angelenos, because Im informed he is still employed by the Los Angeles Police Department even today, Douglas argued.

He also made it clear that the case may not likely be tried for that amount, but said the number was formulated because it reflects the seriousness of the case.

At least one other person involved in the fight was an LAPD officer, according to Douglas. He said told the Sentinel that they perhaps were not on duty at the time, but, police officers are on duty 24/7, reflected by the fact that Dominguez admitted he was carrying his department-issued handgun on him that day, and the fact that he removed his handgun and contemplated using it in his estimation because he was combatting crime.

That should strike terror in all Angelenos. These men were in a bar drinking and racial slurs were hurled at four Black patrons, which led to a fight and a vicious attack on Preston, Jr.

Douglas held the press conference in part to expose Dominguez and challenge the LAPD on why hes still employed and on the streets, risking other citizens.

Officer Norma Eisenman told the Sentinel in an email that the LAPD does not make any comments on pending lawsuits.

At a preliminary hearing on February 4 in the trial of Altons brother, Ryan, Dominguez allegedly testified that he was unaware of who caused Preston, Jr.s injuries.

Ryan Preston was in the bar but not involved in the fight, said Douglas. However, he is being tried for felony evasion and striking Dominguez. As Ryan Preston whisked his unconscious brother to a nearby hospital, he was followed by a Rancho Cucamonga Sheriffs Deputy as well as Upland Police.Digitize and Preserve Local African-American History

Angelenos are invited to bring their family photographs, diaries, letters, and other keepsakes to be digitized and preserved at the Community Scanning Day on Saturday, February 23, 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and to record personal stories of their neighborhood at the Oral History Day on Saturday, March 2, 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Jefferson Branch, 2211 W Jefferson Blvd. These programs are part of the librarys pop-up Mobile Memory Lab and are free and open to the public.

For African American History Month were encouraging everyone to check their closets, basements and attics for correspondence, photos, and other artifacts of local families, businesses, block parties and community organizations that tell the story of the African-American experience in Los Angeles, said Karla Valdez, Jefferson Branch senior librarian. By bringing these important materials to the Community Scanning Day, we can digitize and preserve them for future generations. We also want long-term residents to preserve and share their experiences about living in the community by recording them at the Oral History Day. Everyone who participates will take home their original materials and digital copies, including a copy of their oral history.

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At the events, library staff will help patrons convert their negatives, slides, photos, and other paper-format items into digital formats that can be viewed on modern devices including smartphones, tablets, and computers. Equipment is also available to capture three-dimensional artifacts, such as instruments, artwork and textiles. Digitized materials will be added, with permission, to the Los Angeles Public Librarys digital collections and made available to the public through the library website: tessa.lapl.org

The Mobile Memory Lab is the latest initiative in the Los Angeles Public Librarys ongoing commitment to collect, preserve and make more broadly available the unique stories and local histories of L.A.s diverse neighborhoods.

Space in these programs is limited; please RSVP by visiting the Jefferson Branch or calling (323) 734-8573.

The Mobile Memory Lab program is supported by the Library Foundation of Los Angeles.

A recipient of the nations highest honor for library servicethe National Medal from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Los Angeles Public Library serves the largest and most diverse urban population of any library in the nation. Its Central Library, 72 branch libraries, collection of more than 6 million books, state-of-the- art technology accessible at lapl.org, and more than 18,000 public programs a year provide everyone with free and easy access to information and the opportunity for life- long learning.Cosby Vows No Remorse, Even if He Sits in Prison 10 Years

PHILADELPHIA (AP)  Bill Cosby says he will never have remorse for the sexual encounter that sent him to prison because he considers his conviction the work of a low-life district attorney and a corrupt judge.

Cosbys stance could leave him to serve the high end of a three- to 10-year prison term since sex offenders often must show remorse to win parole.

Spokesman Andrew Wyatt says Cosby is prepared to stay in prison rather than apologize for a 2004 encounter he considers consensual.

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Cosby in a statement calls himself a political prisoner in keeping with Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. Spokesman Andrew Wyatt says the legally blind, 81-year-old actor dictated the statement for NBC-TV to his wife Camille during a phone call Tuesday night from a suburban Philadelphia prison.Congresswomans Sister Remembered as Joyful and Radiating

She was a kind, giving person to everyone she came in contact with and to the community as a whole, is the way former Congresswoman Diane Watson described her little sister, Patricia A. Watson Bradfield, known affectionately as Patsy. Watson- Bradfield passed away recently, from complications of bladder cancer. But her family and others who knew her, only remember the immense joy she brought to their lives.

She had a smile all of the time and never said a disturbing word about anyone, Watson recalled.

Patsy was just a very outgoing and joyful person.

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Watson Bradfield, a trailblazer in her own right, was born July 22, 1938 into a family of trailblazers. She was the youngest of four children. Her father, William Watson, was one of the first African American police officers in Los Angeles. Her grandfather, Spencer Watson, was a civil rights activist, involved in organizing the pullman porters along with Bayard Rustin. And, her grandmother Belle ONeal was the surgical nurse who worked on the first open heart surgery with Dr. Clarence Williams in Chicago.

Her early childhood was joyful and filled with love, said family members.

Early on the family moved from the East Side [of Los Angeles] to the West Side into a neighborhood where African American celebrities and professionals lived, including the Nicholas Brothers, Rochester Anderson and Dorothy Dandridge It was an atmosphere that was very successful and progressive.

Perhaps it was this that inspired Watson- Bradfield. Or perhaps it was her professional grandmother who lived in her home while she was growing up.

Nonetheless, she became one of the first African American educators in Alhambra. She was a product of the Los Angeles Unified School District, from 36thStreet Elementary to Los Angeles High School. She received an AA degree from Los Angeles City College (where she and her mother graduated together in 1958), subsequently attending Cal State L.A., where she ultimately earned a bachelors in audiology and a masters in administration ands upervision. She also received a teaching credential that qualified her to teach special needs students who were deaf and hard of hearing.

Watson Bradfield, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, was also a charter member of Lambda Kappa Mu, founded by Dr. Barbara Young.

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According to her family, Patsy was creative, responsive and always inventing. She had a passion for learning new things and was never afraid to start a new venture.

She was a radiating personality, Watson said.

She supported and attended a lot of community organizations and encouraged others to do the same. She treated everyone she met with great dignity, welcoming everyone to her home, which was always a gathering place for her family and friends.Celebration of Life Service Set for Bishop L. Daniel Williams

Bishop L. Daniel Williams, the retired pastor of The Baptist Church of the New Covenant in Norwalk, passed away following a lingering illness.

A celebration of life service will be held on Friday, March 1, at 11 a.m. at the Citizens of Zion Baptist Church, under the leadership of Pastor Bobby Newman Jr., and located at 12930 S. Lime Ave., in Compton.

Bishop Rudolph W. McKissick Sr., Williams father in the ministry, and Bishop Rudolph W. McKissick Jr., both of Bethel Baptist Institutional Church in Jacksonville, FL, will give eulogies.

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Serving in the ministry for 44 years, Williams was prominent in both the faith and civic communities. During a 2016 interview with the L.A. Sentinel, he said learned much from Dr. Thomas Kilgore, Pastor E.V. Hill, Sr., and the Rev. Dr. Cecil Chip Murray. Also, he worked closely with Bill and Hillary Clinton, strategized with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and collaborated with U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

He served nine years as president of the Baptist Ministers Conference of Southern California (BMC) where the organization often addressed social issues affecting disadvantaged people. Williams also shared his time and talents as president of the Progressive Baptist State Convention from 1995 to 1999, and in the same capacity heading the Ministers Conference of the Providence District Association. In addition, he was a Congress Teacher for the Progressive National Convention, Inc., and the Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church Association.

As one of the BMC past presidents, Im deeply saddened to hear of Bishop Williams transition, but Im heartened to know that he is with the Lord, said Pastor Xavier L. Thompson of Southern St. Paul Church. He was one, if not the most, innovative, creative and visionary leaders we have seen within the 21st century context. Certainly, he was a brilliant thinker, out-of-the-box leader and was able to crossover to every group and denomination and political leaders.

The Rev. Tyrone Gordon, pastor of Transforming Life Christian Fellowship in Dallas, TX, met Williams at Bishop College in Texas in 1974. Recalling their long acquaintance, Gordon said, He was a really good friend. He was also a great leader and always had a lot of encouraging words whenever we were going through challenging times.

To learn more about the services, email [email protected]Black History: Black Families in Television and Film

Familymany would probably say that there is nothing more important. However, the Black family has been an important aspect within the Black community and will continue to be as long as media is a powerful tool. Over the years, the Black family on the small and big screen, has strongly influenced how we see our own families and how we relate to one another. LEGENDS will take a look at a few Black families in television and film that have made a positive impact globally and how the Black community sees its most valuable assetfamily.

Good Times- Keeping Their Heads Above Water

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Good Times, created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans and developed by Norman Lear, was one of televisions first African American, two-parent, family sitcoms.

Good Times, gave us a look at a struggling Black family in Chicagos inner-city projects that was living against the odds in majority of the episodes. The Evans family: James, the proud, hard-working father; Florida, his calm and Christian wife; J.J., the artist; Thelma, the dancer and J.Js verbal sparring partner and Michael, the militant midget, gave one of the first realistic views of a Black family unit in the 70s. The sitcom didnt shy away from what it meant to be Black in America at the time by addressing racism, racial profiling and poverty. Despite the odds, the Evans family managed to stay together.

The Cosby Show- Redefining The Image

According to TV Guide, The Cosby show was quoted as TVs biggest hit in the 1980s. The show followed the Huxtables, an upper middle-class African-American family, who lived in Brooklyn, New York. Every African-American household knows this iconic family: Cliff, the doctor; Clair, the lawyer and their children; Sandra, Denise, Theo, Vanessa and Rudy.

The Huxtables changed how many people viewed Black families in the 80sespecially Black families! The show depicted a successful Black husband and wife, thriving in their chosen professions, graduates of a fictional HBCU and raising five kids with morals and values. The Cosby Show addressed many subjects in its eight-season run including drugs, sexism and teen pregnancy. One of the highlights of the show was tackling issues within the family like teen angst, sibling rivalry and marital disagreements. The sitcom was also unapologetic in celebrating Black culture, history and its relevance to society. The Cosby Show did more than evolve the Black family unit on television, it showed viewers that Black families were no different than any other family and it did with class, style and lots of comedy.

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Black-ish- Todays Black Family

Black-ish (stylized as blackish) is an American sitcom that centers on an upper-middle-class, African-American family. With similarities to The Cosby Show formula, Black-ish offers a more modern take on the Black family and draws on current issues for its narratives.

The Johnson family is made up of: Andre Dre Johnson Sr., an advertising executive; Dr. Rainbow Bow Johnson, Dres wife and an anesthesiologist; Zoey, Dre and Rainbows 18-year-old daughter, Andre Junior Johnson Jr., Dre and Rainbows 17-year-old son, Jack Johnson, Dre and Rainbows 11-year-old son and Diane, Dre and Rainbows 11-year-old daughter and Jacks fraternal twin. Unlike the Huxtables, the Johnsons deal with red button issues head-on with a good dose of comedy. Black-ish episodes have addressed issues such as Juneteenth, post-Trump grief, police brutality and the N-word.

Soul Food- Bringing The Family To The Table

Soul Food is a 1997 American comedy-drama film produced by Kenneth Babyface Edmonds, Tracey Edmonds, and Robert Teitel. Soul Food which was released by Fox 2000 Pictures, is centered on the trials of the Joseph family and their longstanding family tradition of Sunday dinner.

The filmed is portrayed through the eyes of 11-year-old Ahmad and his family: Big Mama, Joe and her three daughters, Teri, a successful lawyer; Maxine, a housewife; Robin, known as Bird, a hairdresser; their husbands and their troublesome cousin, Faith.

Soul Food brought a positive light to Black families on the big screen which had been lacking at the time. It also shed light on the importance of Sunday dinners has on the family unit in general. The film highlighted the importance of the family table and how it literally plays a part in keeping the family together. In the film, the Joseph family loved, fought and resolved their issues at the dinner table over homemade food.

The Madea Films- The Golden Matriarch

Mabel Madea Simmons is a character created and portrayed by writer, producer, director and actor, Tyler Perry. Madea is a tough, elderly Black woman that encompasses the no-nonsense, grandmother persona many families can relate to.

In no way is Madea a good role model as she has no problem breaking the law, but she loves her family. Throughout all of the films, Madea can be seen opening her house and heart to help her family, and sometimes strangers, through tough times.

Many would agree that the grandmother is often the heart of the family as she has the power to bring the family together. She has wisdom, insight and compassion that often saves the family. Madea manages to save her family through various trials, albeit through unconventional means, bringing everyone together.

The representation of the Black family has gone through many changes in television and film. Some other honorable mentions include films like Claudine (1974), Johnson Family Vacation (2004), Are We There Yet (2005),This Christmas (2007) and television shows like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990), Roc (1994), The Hughleys (1998), One on One (2001), All of Us, (2003) and Tyler Perrys House of Payne (2007) to mention a few.

The Black family has always been a powerful story of strength, courage and triumph over adversity. It has also been a story about compassion, forgiveness and wisdom. We salute the representation of the Black family in media and look forward to more stories that will empower and edify the Black community.

LEGENDS is the brainchild of Danny J. Bakewell, Sr., executive publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel. LEGENDS recognizes the Black diaspora of people, places and moments that have made an impact on history, culture and the global stage. LEGENDS was a weekly column written by former managing editor, Yussuf J. Simmonds. Email comments or questions to [email protected] Type LEGENDS in the subject line of your email.Bennett College Raises $8.2 Million to Keep Accreditation

In a dramatic announcement on Monday, Feb. 4, Bennett Colleges Phyllis Worthy Dawkins said she was confident that the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges would restore the historically Black colleges accreditation.

Weve raised enough to produce additional resources. Thats what we did  and more, Dawkins said in announcing that the all-womens school had raised $8.2 million, or $3.2 million more than the $5 million needed to save the accreditation.

Students, alumnae and supporters cheered the news knowing that the college had met its Feb. 1 deadline to raise the funds.

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Fundraising efforts ended at midnight on Friday, Feb. 1 and officials spent the weekend and Monday tallying up the donations.

Hopes ran high on Friday after High Point University announced that it was donating $1 million to Bennett, a total that at the time pulled the college to within a couple of hundred thousand dollars of the $5 million goal.

High Points president, Nido Qubein, noted that High Point and Bennett are located near one another and both have roots in the United Methodist Church.

He said the gift was inspired by the words of Martin Luther King Jr. who once said, Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.

Bennett College has an outstanding tradition of academic excellence for African American women, said Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the trade organization that represents 215 African American owned newspapers and media companies around the country with more than 21 million weekly subscribers.

The college is funded by the Presbyterian Church and my great-great-great grandfather, the Rev. John Chavis, was the first ordained African American Presbyterian minister in the United States and so I appeal to all Presbyterians, to all Episcopalians, to all Methodists, to all Baptists, and to those of all faiths, to help save Bennett College, Chavis said prior to the end of the fundraising effort.Laura Lean - WPA Pool/Getty Images(LONDON) -- When three teenagers missing from East London were found to have left to join ISIS in Syria in February 2015, security camera images from London's Gatwick Airport were a stark emblem of ISIS' potential to influence young people abroad.



That three girls living in London would overlook the high-profile atrocities committed by ISIS to travel to Syria at the height of a civil war to join a terrorist organization captured many's attention.



Four years later, The Times' veteran war correspondent Anthony Loyd tracked down one of those young women, Shamima Begum, now 19 and nine months pregnant with her third child, at a refugee camp in northern Syria.



In a Times article published Wednesday, Loyd reported Begum abandoned the last ISIS stronghold in eastern Syria as coalition forces step up a final effort to wipe out the group.



Loyd described the teenager as "calm" in a BBC interview, adding that he found her adamant on her reasons for joining ISIS in 2015 -- she had no regrets.



But now, she is appealing to the British government to get her safely home, especially to care for her baby when she gives birth. "In the end, I just could not endure anymore. I just couldnt take it. Now all I want to do is come home to Britain," she told Loyd.



Speaking on Sky News on Thursday, U.K. Security Minister Ben Wallace said, "Actions have consequences." He added that when the girls left to join ISIS, there was "no shortage" of media coverage about what the terrorist group was doing.



Wallace declined to say what would happen in Begum's case, but said, "We are obliged to ensure that our citizens have rights no matter who they are, and if they come back here they should expect to be investigated and interviewed for joining ISIS, and if possible we will try to prosecute them."



While there have been several prosecutions of foreign fighters in the U.K. in recent years, civilian members of ISIS such as Begum are treated differently under the law, and Begum could face charges around supporting the terrorist network -- but courts may find it hard to prosecute her.



Shiraz Maher, director of King's College London's International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, outlined issues courts could face in a series of tweets.



"There are real problems with admissibility of battlefield evidence in British (and other Western) courts. That could make it difficult to secure prosecutions. The restrictions on evidence in those cases are in place for good reason, so the government wont waive it," he wrote.



However, the British government has been working on legislation to convict foreign fighters and supporters returning home, including a new law that would help charge people who traveled to proscribed areas, such as ISIS strongholds in Syria and Iraq. It may be possible to prosecute returning "jihadi brides" on these offenses.



Begum told The Times when she arrived in ISIS territory in 2015, she applied to marry an English speaker between the age of 20 to 25 and was assigned to a Dutch jihadist.



She described life in Raqqa as "normal" and "the one I wanted." She also told Loyd about the first time she saw a decapitated head in a bin in the city, saying it "didnt faze me at all."



Begum was living with her husband in Raqqa, the de-facto capital of ISIS in Syria, but the group was pushed out by coalition forces led by the US-backed Kurdish majority Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). ISIS now has a final presence in areas around the Euphrates River close to the Iraq border and the town of Baghuz.



Begum told The Times she fled the area a fortnight ago, leaving her husband, whose fate she does not know.



She also said one of her school friends, Amira Abase, who traveled to Syria with her, remained with the terrorists making their last stand. Kadiza Sultana, the 16-year-old of the trio, is reported to have been killed in an airstrike two years ago.



In 2015, the three girls joined another teenager, Sharmeena Begum, also from Bethnal Green in East London, who had traveled to Syria earlier and helped organize their journey.



"I heard from other women only two weeks ago that the two were still alive in Baghuz. But with all the bombing, I am not sure whether they survived," she told Loyd.



Begum and her husband had two children who died of illness and malnutrition. She is now expected to deliver her third child soon and wants to raise the child in the U.K., under its health care system.



However, she is aware that she may return to a hostile nation should she be allowed to come back to the U.K.



"I know what everyone at home thinks of me as I have read all that was written about me online. But I just want to come home to have my child. Ill do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child," she said.



Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.At 94, The Legendary Cicely Tyson Remains an Optimist

At 94, the legendary actress and freedom fighter, Cicely Tyson, absolutely stuns on the cover of TIME.

Clad in an elegant Michael Couture dress and stylish Taffin earrings by James de Givenchy with hair and makeup by Armond Hambrick, Tyson graces Times cover this month in celebration of the magazines second annual Optimists Issue.

In the issue, Tyson talks openly about her more than six-decade acting career, from her film debut in Carib Gold in 1956, to her most recent role as Annalise Keatings mother in ABCs How to Get Away with Murder.

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When I made the decision to use my career as a platform, to try to make a dent in some of these injustices that I witnessed and experienced in life, I said if I just reach one person, one person, then I will be happy, Tyson told TIME.

Born in Harlem New York City on December 19, 1933, Tysons parents were immigrants from Saint Kitts and Nevis in the West Indies, according to her biography at BlackPast.org, the website that records African American history.

After graduating from Charles Evans High School in Manhattan in 1951, Tyson landed a position as a secretary for the American Red Cross. Unsatisfied with the work, she enrolled in the Barbara Watson Modeling School to pursue a career in modeling, according to her biography:

By the late 1950s, Tyson had become one of the top black models in the United States. Her face appeared on the cover of black-oriented magazines, such as Ebony and Jet.

While waiting in the offices of Ebony Magazine, she was encouraged to audition for a role in the film, The Spectrum, which discussed conflicts between dark- and light-skinned blacks.

Tyson won the role but The Spectrum was never completed due to financial problems. This experience however, persuaded Tyson that she should pursue a career in acting.

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Tyson began her career on the stage.

In 1961, she appeared in the original cast of French playwright Jean Genets The Blacks, which became the longest running non-musical of the decade with over 1,400 performances.

In 1963 at the insistence of Academy Award-winning actor George C. Scott, she became a part of the cast of East Side/West Side of which Scott was the star.

By the mid-1960s and early 1970s, Tyson was a frequent guest star on television appearing in I-Spy, Naked City, The Nurses, The Bill Cosby Show and a number of other programs. Her movie career progressed more slowly. Like many black performers of her generation, Tyson was leery of the blaxploitation films of the era and held out for a film that promoted positive images of African Americans.

That film came in 1972 when she was cast in the role of Rebecca Morgan in Sounder.

The film examined the life of a Black family in the Depression-era South with dignity and compassion. Tysons performance garnered positive reviews from critics and she was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

In 1974, she broke new ground for black actors when she received an Emmy Award for her portrayal of the character Jane Pittman, based on a novel written by Ernest J. Gaines.

Her performance made her one of the premier actresses of her generation.

Tyson appeared as Coretta Scott King in the 1978 movie King opposite actor Paul Winfield.

Other acclaimed movie roles included Roots, The Marva Collins Story, When No One Would Listen, and The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All.

There isnt a day  Im grateful to say  that when I walk out of my doors, I dont run into somebody who says, I cant tell you what youve done for me. You changed my life, Tyson shared with TIME. It just confirmed for me that I was on the right track and I stayed on the right track.

A Kennedy Center Honors recipient who also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President Barack Obama, Tyson said she has no plans to retire.

In keeping with the articles theme of optimism, she said, Look at the world today, you better be an optimist.

You really do have to have faith and belief and understanding in order to survive. And know that you will not be defeated if you really think positive, about yourself and the life youve chosen to live.Ask Dr. Jeanette Success On The Way: Whos The Greatest??

12.5 million Africans shipped during the Transatlantic Slave Trade, fewer than 388,000 arrived in the United States. In the late 15th century, the advancement of seafaring technologies created a new Atlantic that would change the world forever. As ships began connecting West Africa with Europe and the Americas, new fortunes were sought and native populations were decimated.

The native labor force dwindled; demand for plantation and mining labor grew. Transatlantic Slave Trade began; was underway from 1500-1866, shipping more than 12 million African slaves across the world. Of those slaves, only 10.7 million survived the dreaded Middle Passage. Over 400 years, the majority of slaves (4.9 million) found their way to Brazil where they suffered incredibly high mortality rates due to terrible working conditions. Brazil was also the last country to ban slavery in 1888. The United States became involved in the slave trade 200 years after it had been underway.

The majority of its 388,000 slaves arrived between 1700 and 1866, representing a much smaller percentage than most Americans realize. One in four cowboys was Black. Popular books and movies didnt tell. Its believed the real Lone Ranger was inspired by an African American man named Bass Reeves. Reeves..born a slave, escaped West during the Civil War. He lived in what was then known as Indian Territory, became a Deputy U.S. Marshal; a master of disguise, an expert marksman, had a Native American companion, and rode a silver horse. His story was not unique..In the 19th century, the Wild West drew enslaved Blacks with the hope of freedom and wages. After Civil War freedmen came West hoping for better life where the demand for skilled labor was high.

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These African Americans made up at least a quarter of the legendary cowboys who lived dangerous lives hateful weather, rattlesnakes, outlaws while they slept under the stars driving cattle herds to market. There was little formal segregation in frontier towns and a great deal of personal freedom, Black cowboys were often expected to do more of the work and the roughest jobs compared to their white counterparts.

First licensed African American Female pilot: Bessie Coleman. Born in Atlanta, Texas in 1892..grew up in a world of harsh poverty, discrimination and segregation..moved to Chicago at 23 seeking her fortune; found little opportunity. Wild tales of flying exploits from returning WWI soldiers inspired her to explore aviation, but she faced a double stigma being African American and a woman.She went to France to reach her dreams and began studying French.

In 1920, Coleman crossed the ocean with her savings and financial support of Robert Abbott, one of the first African American millionaires. Over seven months, she learned to fly. In June of 1921, the Federation Aeronautique Internationale awarded her an international pilots license. Celebrated upon her return to the United States, reporters turned out in droves to greet her.

[Jeanette Grattan Parker, Ph.D. Founder/Superintendent Todays Fresh Start Charter Schools. www.todaysfreshstart.org. Teach Our Children.www.pbs.orgAnti-Gang Violence Campaign Sparks in L.A., Creating Safer Neighborhoods for Black Communities

The city and county of Los Angeles is widely known as the gang capital of the nation with more than 450 active gangs, as reported by the Los Angeles Police Department. Although crime in Los Angeles has begun to decrease, gang membership and violence has increased affecting communities of color and often times killing innocent children, men, and women. Given these statistics local men and women who have lost loved ones at the hand of gang violence, are fighting back to gain control over their neighborhoods through organizations like Mothers in Charge, Justice For Murdered Children, Cease Fire, and the Mark. L. Tyree II Movement for Positive Change and Unity.

Meet Wilma Galathe, an African American woman who loss her son-in-law, Mark L. Tyree Sr. to gun violence and two months prior her 15-year-old grandson, Mark L. Tyree II. After suffering from her most recent tragic loss, Galathe has decided to devote her life to helping families and the Los Angeles community through the use of anti-gang billboards. Galathe joins the front lines with other local activist like Sandy Cook, Dr. Shari Randolph, Thomasina Lawrence, Najee Ali, and LaWanda Hawkins in speaking up against this civil and human rights issue.

On June 26, 2016, Galathes grandson, was killed by gang members in a drive-by shooting in the driveway of his friends home. Tyree was not affiliated with a gang nor did he have any association with any gangs. According to Galathe, three other people were killed that night and it is rumored that the gangs were at war.

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After the death of her grandson, Galathe was informed by one of the detectives who led the investigation that Tyree hadnt done anything wrong, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The detective also mentioned that someone else will die at the hand of a bullet tomorrow.

In the aftermath of Marks murder, I spoke to everyone I came across about what happened to him and it seemed like everybody God had placed in my path had loss someone to gang violence. One day I prayed and I said, Lord what can I do about this? I have to do something, all of these people are walking around in my midst carrying all this pain. What can I do?

Soon after, Galathe started the Mark. L. Tyree II Movement for Positive Change and Unity, which focuses on gang prevention and awareness. Through the local organization, Galathe was able to partner with Clear Channel Outdoor (CCO), to design billboards for her #iaintfromnowhere campaign. CCOs partnership came with the donation of 13 digital/ traditional signs.

We are honored to partner with Wilma, whose commitment to ending gang violence in her community and beyond have inspired me along with many others, said Clear Channel Outdoor Southern California Vice President of Public Affairs, Layne Lawson in a statement.

Clear Channel Outdoor is dedicated to responsibly serving the public by suing our resources and we hope this partnership will make our communities and our children safer.

Since designing the concept for the signs, billboards have appeared in around South Los Angeles in the 8th, 9th, and 10th districts.

I realized that the first step in helping ending this epidemic is to increase awareness and start a dialogue. Im so grateful to Clear Channel for helping me do that by lending the power of their outdoor advertising, she said.

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When people see the #iaintfromnowhere billboards, Galathe hopes that they will think about the safety of local children.

We have to do something about our children [not] being able to go outside, go to the store, [or] to the park [because they are afraid. We have to do something about being] under this threat. I think that something can be done about it. It can be discouraging when we see whats happening and how ingrained it has become in our culture and our society but anything can change. Its going to change. Everything changes with time, but its up to us [as to] whether its going to change for the better or the worse.

Although the # iaintfromnowhere billboards are posted in South Los Angeles, Galathes God-given vision, is to spread the messages on the signs nationally which will in turn help other cities that are affected by gang violence.

As [former] President Barack Obama stated in the letter that he wrote me, if theres even one thing that we can do to keep our children and the community safe, then we have an obligation to try. We all have to get together under one umbrella: the ministers, the community leaders, the politicians, the mothers, the fathers, and the celebrities. We have to all come together and try to address this problem.AARP Fraud Network Watch: February 2019 State Scam Alerts

Online Dating Scams

Along with the rise in dating website use, there comes a rise in online dating scams. Scammers create fake profiles, build relationships with individuals through the dating site, and then attempt to steal their money and disappear. You can spot a con artist quickly by recognizing a few red flags: They might propose chatting offline or profess their feelings for you before getting to know you. They may offer to visit if you can help cover travel costs using gift cards or money transfers, then cancel those plans to visit because of a phony reason such as their wallet was stolen. Be very careful what you share with people you dont know! You can report online dating scams to the site you are using, the Federal Trade Commission, the FBIs Internet Crime Complaint Center, and your states Attorney General.

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Work from Home Scams

It is becoming more common for people to look for ways to supplement their income, and job listings for work from home jobs are becoming more popular because they are so convenient. Scammers already know this and they use this knowledge to target their victims. There are some easy ways to spot this scam early. If the company offers high pay for very little work, or doesnt require any previous experience, it may be a scam. Be especially cautious of employers who require you to pay for training up front with the promise of paying you back once you start the job. Conduct research on every employer you are considering. Sometimes, newspapers or websites may unknowingly share advertisements for services that are actually listed by scammers. Report these directly to the website or newspaper, as well as the Better Business Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, and your states Attorney General.

Tech Support Scams

Computer viruses are scary, and scammers exploit this fear to gain access to your personal information. They do this by tricking you into thinking your computer or other device has been compromised, and that you need their help to fix the problem. The Federal Trade Commission notes that some scammers will pretend to be working for trusted or familiar software companies such as Microsoft. They may ask you to give them remote access to your computer, and then charge you for new software downloads, unnecessary repairs, products, or services. They may also install Malware on your computer. If you have been scammed, contact your credit card company to reverse the payment. Take the necessary steps to rid your computer of any damaging malware, too. You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, and report the scam to the FBIs Internet Crime Complaint Center. Visit www.aarp.org/TechScams FMI.

Home Improvement Scams

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At this time of year, dont be surprised to hear about home repair salespeople going door-to-door looking for work. Are they reputable and licensed? Maybe, but dont take any chances. To protect yourself, insist on seeing references for any contractor, obtain a written contract before any work begins, and read the fine print. You can also check with your states licensing agency to confirm that the contractor you are considering hiring has been licensed. Without taking these precautions, you may end up doing business with someone who either disappears with your money, or who does a lousy job using shoddy materials. Before you hire anyone, do your homework first.

Be a fraud fighter! If you can spot a scam, you can stop a scam.

Visit the AARP Fraud Watch Network at www.aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork or call AARP Fraud Watch Helpline at 1-877-908-3360 and speak to a volunteer specially trained in spotting scams.This editorial appears in the February 15, 2019 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

EDITORIAL

Mans Fate

[Print version of this editorial]

Feb. 10Tomorrow, five days of intensive negotiations between U.S. and Chinese representatives will begin in Beijing. Despite rumors in the U.S. media of problems, China is optimistic that agreement will be reached on the worlds largest-ever economic deala trade agreement with the United Statessometime soon after.

At the same time, not just North Korea and the United States, but also South Korea, China and Russia, are all intensely involved in trying to ensure the success of President Trumps peace summit with North Koreas Chairman Kim on Feb. 27-28 in Hanoi.

China, India, Iran, Pakistan and Russia are negotiating with each other and the United States to try to ensure peace in Afghanistan after the U.S. eventually withdraws its troops. And, an overlapping group of countries is negotiating to ensure peace after the U.S. withdraws troops from Syria, a withdrawal which is now ongoing, and reportedly will be completed by the end of April.

London refuses to accept any of this, and many in Western Europe refuse to admit the significance of these developments, but after major changes in Russia and China around the turn of the new century, and now with the Trump Presidency in the United States, the world constellation of forces and ideas has undergone dizzying changes to the point that the national- and world-recovery plans of Lyndon LaRouche, which were apparently checkmated in the last century, are now suddenly practicable.

We are moving towards the new Westphalian world system of which Lyndon LaRouche has so often writtena world of perfectly sovereign nation-states, nations which willingly unite to achieve what LaRouches ally Edward Teller memorably called the common aims of mankind.

Although the superficial observer might think that Lyndon LaRouche was defeated and crushed in the 20th centuryas the nations establishment media would have you believethe experts and the first-hand observers understand that the ideas of the actually undefeated Lyndon LaRouche have been, and continue to be, crucially catalytic in bringing about this great, still-onrushing change through which we are living today.

The potential is great; yet the danger is that this process is not irreversible. Or at any rate, it is certainly not yet irreversible. The forces of the British Empire, now arrayed against this New Paradigm for humanity, will not simply walk away. We have seen, in the past, how Britains Edward VII contrived to launch the worlds worst-ever war to that date, World War I, in order to prevent his nightmare of the new, peaceful Westphalian system of co-development in Europe and Southwest Asia, as symbolized by the Berlin-to-Baghdad railway. We saw what happened to John Kennedy when he was beginning to work to complete Franklin Roosevelts mission, while reaching out to the Soviets, and sending Americans into outer space.

As Helga Zepp-LaRouche has often noted recently, the key link in the whole chain is the United States. If the United States brings Russia, China, and India together for a New Bretton Woods System, the adversary British Empire will be defeated. If our pro-British establishment were to succeed in its dream of reversing the 2016 U.S. election, then the peace dynamic we have seen over the past two and one-half years will end, and a bigger war, perhaps the last war, will soon start.

This is where you, the citizen, enter the picture. This is where you prove whether you, now, in 2019, measure up to the responsibility our founding fathers placed upon you almost a quarter of a millennium ago. It cannot be up to one man alone, to defeat every snare the adversary will set for him. It cannot be up to one man, alone, to master the economic and related policies which Lyndon LaRouche spent a lifetime developing.

As Aesop challenged, Rhodes is here. Jump here!This article appears in the February 15, 2019 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

[Print version of this article]

Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr.

1922-2019,

A Talent Well Spent

Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., philosopher, scientist, poet, statesman, died on Tuesday, February 12, at the age of 96. It was Lincolns Birthday, an American President Lyndon LaRouche loved and celebrated in his writings.

Those who knew and loved Lyndon LaRouche know that humanity has suffered a great loss and, today, we dedicate ourselves anew to bring to reality the big ideas for which history will honor him. For those who did not know him or have only recently come to his ideas, there is no better guide to this unique personality than LaRouche himself.

Here is how he spoke about life here on Earth in a speech at a conference in 1988, in the midst of a political prosecution similar, in striking respects, to that which we encounter against an American president in the United States today:

There is no part of society, no constituency which does not have the same interests. There is no people of any nation that has any different interest than that of any other nation in this matter. Were speaking of the future of hundreds of billions of unborn souls, without whose success our lives mean nothing. That is the common interest which unites each and every one of us, such that there is no distinction among any of us on this issue, on this cause, on this interest.

If we fight so, if we fight with love of humanity, by thinking especially of those hundreds of billions of souls waiting to be born, and thinking also of those whose martyrdom and other sacrifice gave us what was our potential and our debt to them, respecting what we pass on to the future. And we think of our lives not as something lived from moment to moment, but as a very small piece of experience, with a beginning, and not too much later, an end. And think of our lives not as things which are lived for pleasure in and of themselves, but as an opportunity to fulfill a purpose, a purpose which is reflected in what we bequeath to those hundreds of billions of souls waiting to be born, in their condition. Such that, if we at any point were to cut short our mortal life by spending it in a way, which ensured the cause of those hundreds of billions of souls yet to be born, we could walk to death with joy, because we had completed our life, fulfilled it. We might have been denied the chance of fulfilling it a little bit more, but nonetheless, we had fulfilled it. The joy of life, the true joy of life which relates to what the New Testament calls agape in the original Greek, caritas in the Latin, and charity in the King James version, as referred to in I Corinthians 13, the quality of agape the quality of charity, the quality of sacred love, which unites us as individuals with the hundreds of billions of unborn souls, for whose love we can give our lives, and who we can walk smiling with joy, knowing that in a sense, they love us, too, even though theyre yet to be born.

It gives a sense of the true importance of our lives, the true joy of being a living human being. And we must work with one another in the sense of that attitude toward humanity, historical humanity, humanity which, as a great family, which owes to its past generations, and the present owes to its future generations. The love uniting that family is, in the matter of works, the practical expression of faith, from which faith the strength to fight and win this war derives.

If we can do so, I am certain we shall win. Im better than most at understanding the laws of nature and natural law generally, and understanding such recondite concepts as absolute time and things of that sort. And I can understand perhaps more readily than most, how faith expressed in this way, in a practical way, is assured of success. We are each little, we are each individual. But if we know were united, were united to this effect, then we know that what each of us as an individual does, in this united way, will be cause to prosper.

Thus, in this terrible moment of humanity, when civilization as weve known it for hundreds of years threatens to be removed from us, in the coming two to ten years or so, we have the risk of losing civilization. But we also have the possibility of a heroic solution to this crisis, of becoming generations, which, in our time, faced with the cup of Gethsemane, accepted it, and thus, perpetuated, in the imitation of Christ, the cause of the salvation of future souls.

One year later, after being sent to prison, on the occasion of Martin Luther Kings birthday, January 17, 1990, Lyndon LaRouche wrote:

Those of us who find ourselves in Gethsemanea Gethsemane where we are told that we must take a role of leadership with our eye on Christ on the Crossoften experience something which, unfortunately, most people do not. We tend to look at things from a different standpoint. Before trying to situate how I see the recent period, and the period immediately before us, I should try to communicate what my viewpoint is, a viewpoint which I know is shared in some degree of very close approximation by everyone who has gone to Gethsemane with the view of the Cross in his eyes, saying, He did it, I am now being told that I must, too, walk in His way.

What I suggest often, in trying to explain this to a person who has not experienced it, is to say: Imagine a time 50 years after youre dead. Imagine in that moment, 50 years ahead, that you can become conscious and look back at the entirety of your mortal life, from its beginning to its ending. And, rather than seeing that mortal life as a succession of experiences, you see it as a unity. Imagine facing the question respecting that mortal life, asking: Was that life necessary in the total scheme of the universe and the existence of mankind, was it necessary that I be born in order to lead that life, the sum total of that number of years between birth and death? Did I do something, or did my living represent something, which was positively beneficial to present generations, and implicitly to future generations after me? If so, then I should have walked through that life with joy, knowing that every moment was precious to all mankind, because what I was doing by living was something that was needed by all mankind, something beneficial to all mankind.

Later, speaking about Martin Luther Kings unique genius in January of 2004, LaRouche said:

Were all mortal. And to arouse in us the passions, while were alive, which will impel us to do good, we have to have a sense that our life, and the consuming of our lifethe spending of our talent, is going to mean something for coming generations. The best people look for thingslike Mosesthat are going to happen, when he will no longer be around to enjoy them. Its this sense of immortality. Its why parents, in the best degree, sacrifice for their children. Its why communities sacrifice for education, for their children, for opportunities for their children. You go through the pangs of suffering and shortage, but you have the sense that youre going someplace, that your life is going to mean something. That you can die with a smile on your face: Youve conquered death. Youve spent your talent wisely, why life will mean something better for generations to come.Posted Thursday, February 14, 2019 11:51 am

The Republican-led Senate is one floor vote away from doing something that hasnt been done in Michigan in more than 40 years: reject a governors executive order. House Republicans got the ball rolling last week. On a party-line vote, they adopted a measure that would send Gov. Gretchen Whitmer back to the drawing board in crafting a re-jiggering of the Department of Environmental Quality.

Whitmers first major restructuring of state government folds the Office of the Great Lakes into a new Department of Environment, Great Lakes and the Energy. The new department is being led by a longtime renewable energy professional, Liesl Clark.

The Republicans dont have a problem with shuffling state agencies. Heres what they dont like. The restructuring eliminates three government boards the Republican lawmakers created with Gov. Rick Snyder last summer to bird-dog a possible Democratic governor on environmental issues.

One commission is charged with overseeing the crafting of administrative rules, the not-quite-laws that departments write that you, I and the business community must follow on water, land and air use.

The second body is a new appellate commission for those with rejected permit requests.

The department director would still have the final say on approving a permit to pollute, but the commission would  after hearings and fact gathering  give the director more information.

The third body is a completely advisory science commission that the department or governor may use or ignore.

For the business community and Republican legislators, these commissions are designed to keep aggressive environmental regulators in check. It gives the little guy a voice in cases where overzealous regulators are overstepping its bounds.

For Whitmer, the commissions waste time. The process already has enough checks and balances to protect landowner rights and environmental law.

Nonetheless, the state Constitution gives the Legislature the power to reject an executive order because EOs can amend law. Such is the case here. Whitmer is eliminating three bodies that were legislatively created.

So, if the House and Senate want to dump the EO, they can and have. In 1977, the Democratic-controlled legislature did this to Republican Gov. Bill Milliken. Millikens former legal counsel, Peter Ellsworth, said Democrats routinely gave Milliken a hard time about his EOs.

Milliken would come out with an EO. Democrats would usually raise objections. Theyd negotiate. Milliken would rescind the EO and come back with one that represented the compromise.

Maybe thats what happens in 2019. Maybe Whitmer will agree to pull the EO after working something out with the Republican Legislature.

Thats not her strategy for now. She told the press moments after the House rejected her EO that if Republican senators dont want to support clean drinking water, its on them.

We need to be very clear, she said. The House Republicans today on a party-line vote voted down protections for drinking water. They voted down the creation of a public advocate for clean drinking water. They voted against a public advocate on environmental justice.

Republican senators such as Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, and Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, have said they find such comments insulting. They only want these oversight commissions back. She can have the rest of the EO.

The Legislature has 40 days to reject an EO or it goes into effect. It took the House two days to vote, due in part to leaders feeling miffed about not being given a heads-up that this was coming.

The Senate Oversight Committee is scheduled to hold its second hearing on the matter on Feb. 13.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey holds the cards. He has the votes to kill Whitmers EO, but he said hed rather it not come to that. Hed prefer that the first real confrontation between the Legislature and the governor not be a turf war.

At some point, there will be something the Republican legislators want that Whitmer wont want to give on. Could this be the start of a cooperative working relationship between the two branches of government?

Or will the same, Washingtonstyle, surrender-no-ground approach be the standard state legislators and Michigans governor follows?

(Kyle Melinn, of the Capitol news service MIRS, is at melinnky@gmail. com.)Hudson Music: Lance's "Bebop Spoken Here" is one of the heaviest and most influential jazz blogs in the UK.





Rupert Burley (Dynamic Agency): "BSH just goes from strength to strength".





'606' Club: "A toast to Lance Liddle of the terrific jazz blog 'Bebop Spoken Here'"



THE ISSUE

Gov. Tom Wolf has proposed a per capita fee, with a graduated scale based on population, for municipalities that rely solely on state police coverage, LNPs Lindsey Blest reported Feb. 8. Wolfs past proposals had called for municipalities to pay $25 per person, but the newly proposed sliding scale would see the fee range from $8 per person to $166 per person, with the higher fees charged to municipalities with larger populations. In Lancaster County, there are 19 municipalities that use state police exclusively.

There are more than 2,500 municipalities in Pennsylvania. Its an absurd number that comes with absurd redundancies and inefficiencies. Those redundancies can make many services more expensive for residents.

But those costs are often not shared in an equitable way.

If a geographical area is to have the privilege of being its own municipality, with its own home rule, then we believe that municipality must take full responsibility for the costs of policing within its borders.

That responsibility can be met in several ways. A local police force. A regional police cooperative involving multiple municipalities. Contracting for services from a neighboring police force.

Or, municipalities can rely on a state law that says Pennsylvania State Police must handle local law enforcement in the absence of a local police force. Thats how 19 municipalities in Lancaster County are currently protecting their residents  solely with state police. Statewide, according to WITF, about half of Pennsylvanias municipalities (about 1,300) rely only on state police for law enforcement.

The bill for those services essentially goes to all state taxpayers. Thats unfair, because it asks those who are paying for their own police coverage to also pay for their neighbors.

Wolfs new proposal seeks to balance and rectify that. In Lancaster County, it would cost those 19 municipalities a combined $3.7 million for state police services, which works out to about $43 per capita. We support the philosophy behind his proposal, though we think it works best as a jumping-off point for debate and, ultimately, approval of some fee by the state Legislature.

Certainly, we must acknowledge there are other complexifiers (as Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos might say) in this equation. Some municipalities  Quarryville and Christiana, for example  use the state police part-time, but would not be subject to the proposed fee.

Some point out that state police spend much of their time in places that already have local coverage. Philadelphia leads in the number of calls involving state police. So is it fair to ask smaller municipalities to cover the cost of state police, if theyre doing a huge amount of work in areas that already have their own police? Mike Straub, the press secretary for House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler, of Peach Bottom, recently told KYW Newsradio.

Also, state police, as required by Wolfs Pennsylvania School Safety Task Force, are now spending more time in schools in municipalities without their own local police forces. This necessary but unfunded mandate lends more urgency to the idea of making those municipalities pay some per capita fee.

These are just a few of the factors to be considered.

Perhaps Wolfs proposal was meant to stir the pot. It appears to have worked. Brecknock Township Supervisor Jerry Long told LNPs Blest that the scaled fee would be a tough pill to swallow. And Les Houck, a supervisor in Salisbury Township, said, I think hes all wrong in his thinking.

Wolfs math may be off, but his thinking isnt.

Pennsylvania simply needs a better way fund state police, which currently gets about two-thirds of its money from the Motor License Fund. (And that fund is supposed to cover road and bridge construction and maintenance, not state police services.) Blest reports Wolfs per capita proposal wouldnt fully cover the cost of state police, but its a start. And it would reduce the annual amount taken from the Motor License Fund.

Thats a needed step.

Theres another angle at play here, too. More municipalities should take responsibility for their own policing. Enacting a fee for those municipalities that are getting a free ride might encourage some local governments to create their own local forces or sign a contract for services from a neighboring force. That would take some of the strain off the stretched-thin state police.

One example: Under Wolfs new proposal, Brecknock Township would have to pay about $417,000 in scaled fees (up from $180,000 under the $25-per-capital proposal). Long told Blest that it might be cheaper for the township to instead contract for $200,000 in part-time local policing.

Reader Aaron Martin, commenting on LancasterOnline, had this analysis: Living in a township that relies on state police coverage, I personally would not be opposed to a $25 per capita tax for that coverage. ... But I think the sliding scale is excessive. In the business world, buying in bulk usually decreases your prices, not increases. This might just be a ploy to get municipalities to accept the $25 fee once and for all.

Proposal, ploy ... whatever you want to call it. This is a funding and fairness issue that should be resolved this year.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 kicked off 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 multimonth 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 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 & 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?

Mari Long is a University of Pittsburgh political science lecturer who researches and writes about what frames public support for various public policies.

Anytime 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 Majority Leader Jake Corman, a Republican from 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, Corman says.

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 marijuana is legal (33, including Pennsylvania, allow medical marijuana), nine more states, including New York and New Jersey, could legalize it as soon as this year.

Also, 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 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.

John Baer is a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News; his column is syndicated by MCT. Email: baerj@phillynews.com.Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death.

SubmitEast Hempfield Township police

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: Someone tried to break into three vehicles overnight Feb. 9 in the 100 block of Pentail Drive, police said. Damage is $700.

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: Angelique Terry, 26, of Lancaster, was charged after an incident Feb. 5 in the 1300 block of Shreiner Station Road, police said.

FALSE ID

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: Hayward Stewart, 42, of Lancaster, was charged with false identification to law enforcement after a traffic stop Jan. 25 on East Main Street near Camp Meeting Road, police said.

Ephrata Borough police

ROBBERY

EPHRATA: A 14-year-old boy was arrested Feb. 13 and charged with robbery and criminal conspiracy, police said. He has been remanded to the Juvenile Intervention Center. Police said he and Jeffrey E. Hoover, 18, stole $500 around 4 p.m. Feb. 8 from someone who tried to purchase marijuana from them. Hoover was arrested Feb. 9 and is in county prison in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Lititz police

DUI

LITITZ: John Ryan McCormick, 36, of Lititz, was charged after a traffic stop for unsafe driving Feb. 12 in the first block of North Oak Street, police said.

THEFT CHARGES

LITTIZ: Justin Eric Range, 34, of Marietta, was charged Feb. 11 with unlawful use of a computer; altered, forged or counterfeit documents; trademark counterfeiting; theft by deception; deceptive business practices, and not having a license to engage in business after police found a vehicle with counterfeit inspection and emission certificates Jan. 17 in the 200 block of Landis Valley Road, police said. Police determined the vehicle owner bought it from Range, who had been representing himself as a licensed salesperson, police said.

Manheim Township police

BURGLARY

LANCASTER TWP.: Someone broke a window and entered a residence in the 1400 block of Passey Lane between Feb. 7 and 12, police said. No items were reported taken.

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF

EAST PETERSBURG: Amanda M. Young, 28, was charged with criminal mischief for allegedly breaking three windows in a vehicle and one in a residence during a dispute in the 6300 block of Carpenter Street around 3:12 a.m. Jan. 1, police said.

DRUG CHARGES

MANHEIM TWP.: Avonte V. Lowery, 25, of Lancaster, was charged with DUI and possession of marijuana following a traffic stop Jan. 20 in the 1600 block of Lititz Pike, police said.

LANCASTER TWP: Nelson Martinez-Hernandez, 45, of Lititz, was charged with possession of marijuana and paraphernalia following a traffic stop Jan. 28 on Betz Road at City Mill Road, police said.

HARASSMENT

MANHEIM TWP.: Sasha N. Carter, 29, and Samantha Maris Colon, 23, both of Lancaster, were charged with harassment after punching and pushing each other during a fight Feb. 12 in the 100 block of Pulte Road, police said.

THEFT

LANCASTER TWP.: Someone stole a coat, keys and sweatpants, worth $330 in all, from an unlocked locker at Planet Fitness, 1319 Millersville Pike, between 11:19 a.m. and 12:07 p.m., police said.

MANHEIM TWP.: A man and woman stole an oboe worth $3,526 around 3:15 p.m. Feb. 8 from Menchey Music, 1555 Manheim Pike.

Manor Township police

SIMPLE ASSAULT

MANOR TWP.: Christopher M. Pizzola, 24, of the 100 block of Kent Road, was charged after police responded to a fight Feb. 3 in the 100 block of South Centerville Road, police said. Pizzola allegedly assaulted a person in the bar and fled on foot before being taken into custody, police said.State officials this morning revealed what they called a historic proposal to pump $24 million into programs to protect and expand agriculture.

On a farm just over the Lancaster County line in Lebanon County, Gov. Tom Wolf and state Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding outlined what they called the Pennsylvania Farm Bill. It includes money to help farmers put in place on-the-farm environmental practices, rollbacks of restrictive regulations and a promise to make Pennsylvania the nations top state for organic products.

The plan would embrace the growing of hemp, including its use as an approved animal feed. Preserved farm restrictions would be relaxed to allow properties to be subdivided.

To protect the future health of farming in the state, tax credits for farmers would be expanded and wider farm equipment would be able to be driven on public roads.

For dairy farmers, a new $5 million program would be established to help struggling farmers transition to organic produce and develop and market niche dairy products.

Another $2.5 million will go for grants to farmers to help them afford conservation practices being pushed by the state and federal government as part of the Chesapeake Bay restoration. And $500,000 will be used for loans to farmers for the measures.

Pennsylvania has a long, proud history of agriculture, and this comprehensive package of funding opportunities and resources will help expand this important industry, Wolf said in prepared remarks.

The Pennsylvania Farm Bill allocates $24 million in additional funding to chart a real path for a dynamic and prosperous farming economy in Pennsylvania. Its about providing more opportunities to our farmers by creating more jobs, more income, and more hope.

Added Redding, Pennsylvanias story cant be told without agriculture, and the Pennsylvania Farm Bill will help inspire all of the chapters yet to come.

By further supporting the agriculture industry and investing in business operations, infrastructure, education and the workforce, we are setting a course for a future filled with increased opportunities and prosperity.

Wolf said the proposal, contained in his latest budget, already has bipartisan support.

Reacting to the proposal, George T. Cook, new chairman of the Lancaster County Agriculture Council, said in a statement that the council "is delighted that Governor Wolf and Secretary Redding have seen fit to unveil a comprehensive proposal related to agriculture, an industry of utmost importance to Lancaster County.

"Ag Council certainly believes that legislative attention to the ag sector is essential given the financial stress that many farmers are presently experiencing. In particular, the proposal relates to various items of concern to Ag Council, including especially the ag business climate, dairy processing capabilities, regulatory burdens and the ag workforce.

"Ag Council looks forward to being able to provide its input on these topics and others so that the objectives of the Pennsylvania Farm Bill proposal can be realized, in turn helping farmers to continue to provide the quality food consumers are accustomed to."

To read details of the Pennsylvania Farm Bill, click here.

Here is a breakdown of key initiatives in the plan.

 Creation of a Pennsylvania Agricultural Business Development Center for $2 million to help farmers create business, transition or relative succession plans.

 Spending of $2.6 million to make Pennsylvania the leading organic state.

 Exemption of the realty transfer tax when preserved farmland is transferred to a beginning farmer.

 Creation of a Pennsylvania Dairy Investment Program for $5 million to help dairy farmers transition to organics and marketing grants to sell their products.

 Creation of a Center for Animal Agriculture Excellence for $1 million by expanding meat processing facilities, help with food safety compliance and converting hemp to animal feed.

 Using $500,000 to create new and expand markets for small or new meat producers.

 Funding for the Resource Enhancement and Protection Tax Credits will be expanded by $3 million to increase the lifetime cap and increase availability.

 The width of farm equipment allowed to be driven on roads will be expanded from 16 feet to 18 feet.

 Requirements that farm cooperatives be audited for the state Department of Agriculture will be removed.

 Creation of an Agriculture and Rural Youth Organization Grant Program for $500,000 to fund ag and rural youth programs.

 Creation of a Pennsylvania Rapid Response Disaster Readiness Account for $5 million to allow a quick response to agricultural disasters such as the spotted lanternfly outbreak and Avian Influenza.

 Spending $500,000 to encourage high-priority crops such as hemp, hops and hardwoods.

 Spending of $500,000 to pave the way for more agriculture in urban settings.Following two years of research, there is sufficient evidence to claim that C. Emlen Urban designed at least 39 different building types encompassing 25 architectural styles! In short, Urban spoke 25 languages, and possessed enough knowledge to understand the design components, nuances and requirements for nearly 40 categories of buildings ranging from a single-story residence to a 14-story skyscraper  and everything in-between.

As prolific as Urban was in producing more than 273 designs during his career, there are a fair number of one-off commissions in his portfolio. Those are defined as building types or design styles of which he designed only a single example. Some were quite glamorous, while others were rather mundane.

Some of his one-offs include a bakery, funeral home, community center, hospital, childrens home, free-standing farmers market, movie theater, a YMCA, drugstore, tobacco shop, insane asylum, opera house interior, tavern, Moose Lodge, home for the aged, a storybook-style cottage, a church crown steeple and storage garages. All are worthy of mention, and a few certainly deserve explanation.

In April 1898 and the months following, Urban and other representatives of Lancaster County were directed to tour and inspect insane asylums around the Pennsylvania to gain knowledge before commissioning the design and construction of a state-of-the-art facility for Lancaster. The end result was an attractive three-story red brick structure sitting on East King Street where Conestoga View now stands.

URBAN LEGEND LNP columnist Gregory J. Scott's series on local architect C. Emlen Urban concludes next month. You can read the rest of his Urban series with this story at LancasterOnline.com.

It was, according to LancasterHistory.orgs summer/fall 2000 historical journal, designed to support the latest concepts in the moral treatment of patients with a special focus on the psychological and emotional state of the individual.

Beyond design concepts, Urban introduced the latest building technologies, including refrigeration, production kitchens and mechanical systems. The structure remained in use for 70 years.

The five-story Lancaster YMCA was constructed at the corner of North Queen and West Orange streets in 1900. Urban was only 37 years old when he designed this monumental Beaux Arts building complete with an indoor pool. He only designed one YMCA in his career.

Interestingly, the building type that launched his career in 1888 also was a one-off design. The free-standing Queen Anne-style Southern Market was heralded in the Aug. 22, 1888, New Era newspaper as one of the grandest in size and appearance in the city.

The 873-seat Grand Theatre, at 135 N. Queen St., offered movies to audiences from 1913 through the 1960s. This one-off design by Urban was considered a showpiece for movie-goers.

Designing a hospital requires a great deal of knowledge, trust and communication with the stakeholders. The 1902 three-story Georgian Revival Lancaster General Hospital designed by 39-year-old Urban was his only free-standing medical hospital.

All architects fall on hard times sometime during their careers. Perhaps 1919, when he agreed to design a row of one-story garages in the 300 block of North Queen Street, was a slow year for Urban. These simple red-brick structures survive today and house the retail shops of Building Character 100 years after they were built.

Can anyone deny that C. Emlen Urban was clearly a one-of-a-kind architect himself?

This column is contributed by Gregory J. Scott, FAIA, a local architect with more than four decades of national experience in innovation and design. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows. Email GScott@rlps.com.Sure, farmers and truckers like equipment that performs great.

But they really like equipment that looks great too.

As trailer-manufacturer Travis Eby put it, Farmers and truckers have a lot of pride in their equipment.

And Eby thinks his companys newest product, the Generation grain trailer, checks both boxes.

Grain trailers are not just a tool, said Eby, president of M.H. Eby, a Blue Ball-based producer of trailers for livestock, horses and equipment, livestock semi-trailers and aluminum truck bodies.

The new grain trailer is triggering a $2 million investment in the companys Blue Ball and Ephrata locations, which are adding about 15 employees, and a $4 million investment in its Story City, Iowa, location, which is adding about 30 to 35 employees.

M.H. Eby had been a dealer for a leading national brand of grain trailers for about 30 years. Though Eby declined to identify the brand, LNP files show that it was Timpte.

That track record gave M.H. Eby a ton of experience with grain trailers, not to mention a ton of feedback from customers.

With that background, M.H. Eby spent the past year designing its own line of grain trailers. The line was unveiled this week at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville.

The response has been overwhelming, said Eby on Thursday by phone from Louisville.

M.H. Eby was motivated to enter the grain-trailer market by several factors. First, customers asked them to do it. And second, M.H. Eby saw a sizable opportunity.

Some 5,000 to 7,500 new grain trailers are sold in the U.S. annually, generating revenue of $300 million to $500 million, Eby said. On top of that, M.H. Eby saw ways to make its grain trailers stand out.

Our engineers started with a blank sheet of paper.... he said. We really worked hard on innovating, bringing new ideas and especially a new appearance.

The M.H. Eby grain trailer uses adhesive panels on the outside of the body, not rivets. This way, its easier to make the trailer in a variety of colors, not just the standard white, and add graphics. The model on display in Louisville, for example, is black.

Also, where other manufacturers sell optional features that have to be attached to their trailers exteriors, M.H. Eby integrates them into the exterior as standard equipment.

The main word we hear from everyone is how sleek it looks..., said Eby. Were going to see a lot of people customize the look of their trailer.

The M.H. Eby grain trailer also uses more aluminum that competing trailers, giving the M.H. Eby product a longer lifespan than the three-to-five years of rival trailers.

Eby said his company presents its new product as a trailer that looks better and last longer, although it costs a little more up front. Our challenge is to explain to customers why they want that. Theyll pay more for something if they understand why theres a return on that investment.

The first model of the Generation, with delivery in April, is a 40-foot grain trailer that can hold more than 1,000 bushels of farm crops such as corn, wheat or soybeans. The trailer costs about $45,000, about $2,500 more that competing grain trailers, said Eby.

M.H. Eby was founded in 1938 by Ebys grandfather, Menno Eby Sr. The company posted 2018 revenue of $110 million, up 10 percent from the prior year. It employs 450 people, including 200 in Lancaster County.You can power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today during our June Member drive.

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The ongoing cold weather has made it difficult for the Southern California Gas Company to keep enough gas flowing. It now seems a broken pipeline at its big storage field near Porter Ranch made the situation worse.

On Feb. 5, an above-ground pipeline at SoCal Gas' Aliso Canyon storage field was found to be corroded and needed repairs. That reduced any withdrawals of gas to serve homes and businesses or to send out to utilities.

So, for three cold days early this month, with night temperatures dropping to the 40s, utilities were forced to cut the amount of gas they could receive to run their power plants.

SoCal Gas had already been pleading with consumers to lower their thermostats to conserve gas. The utility asked for "Dial it Down" alerts 29 days this year.

Ever since the disastrous 2015 leak at Aliso, state regulators have limited how much gas is stored there. Withdrawals are supposed to occur only as a last resort to prevent a shortage.

But that "last resort" scenario has happened repeatedly this year. SoCal Gas has withdrawn 6.6 billion cubic feet of gas over 19 separate days.

That's about a quarter of the 28 billion cubic feet of gas company has pulled out of its four combined storage fields this year. Aliso Canyon is the biggest gas field and most convenient to the L.A. Basin. The other fields are at Playa del Rey, Honor Rancho near Valencia and Goleta in Santa Barbara County.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the effect of the broken pipe on withdrawals of gas. LAist regrets the error.You can power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today during our June Member drive.

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Another winter storm is dousing Southern California with heavy rain Thursday, putting the region at "high risk" for excessive rainfall, according to the National Weather Service. The storm also brings the risk of damaging winds and flash floods in vulnerable wildfire burn zones.

The heavy downpour is expected to keep up through the afternoon and rain rates could reach about a half-inch per hour, which means street flooding and debris flows are possible.

One positive aspect was that today's rains pushed Southern California over the area's average annual rainfall. We didn't hit this mark for the 2017-2018 rainy season.

This just in at 10am: Downtown Los Angeles just hit the 14.93 inch mark for normal annual rainfall for the 2018-19 water year. The last time they did was the 2016-17 water year. #cawx #larain #castorm  NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) February 14, 2019

The metric used by LAist/KPCC reviews data from weather stations in more than 20 locations across Southern California, ranging from Newport Beach to Santa Barbara, and including inland areas such as Mount Wilson and Redlands.

Forecasters issued a Flash Flood Watch in the Malibu area "for the first year burn areas, with a chance of significant debris flows," later expanding that to include all L.A. County mountains and areas outside burn zones.

Laguna Beach was preparing for potential flooding, according to NBC L.A.

The heavy rains led to water spilling over the Matilija Dam near Ojai, according to the National Weather Service.

At 11am, water was spilling over Matilija Dam with elevated flows downstream along the #Ventura River. Water levels will remain high near the river for the next few hours, please use caution. #CAwx pic.twitter.com/0HPyIBdIlk  NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) February 14, 2019

A High Wind Warning is in effect through Thursday in Ventura County. Mountains ranges there could see gusts up to 60 miles per hour. Meanwhile, L.A. County mountains, excluding the Santa Monica Mountains, are under a Wind Advisory, with gusts up to 55 miles per hour expected.

All that rain is being carried in by an atmospheric river, which forms out in the Pacifoc Ocean and gathers abundant moisture as it travel toward land, often driven by high winds. The storm system can hold more than 10 times the amount of water that flows in the Mississippi River.

Latest look from #GOESWest of the #AtmosphericRiver aiming towards L.A. County. Rainfall Rates have ranged between 0.25 to 0.50" per hour. Locally higher across the foothills. Flood advisory in effect for most of L.A. County thru 8 AM. this morning. #castorm #LArain pic.twitter.com/QENtgp5F12  NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) February 14, 2019

An atmospheric river is bringing heavy rain and mountain snow to #California. Check out the conveyor belt of clouds and moisture heading toward the West Coast in this loop from our newly operational #GOES17 (#GOESWest) satellite. Learn more: https://t.co/DhXRshmtyJ pic.twitter.com/fix8G2myrO  NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) February 13, 2019

Also on Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that El Nino conditions have officially arrived in the Pacific Ocean, meaning we could face more wet weather over the next few months.

"While sea surface temperatures are above average, current observations and climate models indicate that this El Nino will be weak, meaning we do not expect significant global impacts through the remainder of winter and into the spring," Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center said in a press release.

The ocean-based weather phenomenon forms due to above-average sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific Ocean, near the equator.

NOAA announced El Nino conditions have arrived in the Pacific Ocean, though it's expected to be a weak weather system. ( Courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND RESOURCES

For updates throughout the day, including lists of road closures, evacuation orders and flood warnings, check the following sites:



This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Megan Erwin, Aaron Mendelson, and Mike Roe contributed to this story.

UPDATES:

11:45 a.m. This article was updated with information about Southern California water totals hitting normal annual levels.

9:35 a.m. This article was updated with information from NOAA.

This article was originally published at 7 a.m.Contrast that with what happened when President Trump on Saturday appeared to joke about the genocide of Native Americans. Again referring to Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas, Trump tweeted: See you on the campaign TRAIL, Liz!

And the outraged demands from Republican leaders for an apology? Were still waiting.

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.

A revival of anti-Semitism on the left threatens that coalition. The bigotry, mostly found in the BDS movement, is isolated in the Democratic Party, but it complicates the important work of uniting against Trump.

Omars apology, if genuine, is welcome. But more important is for Omar  and for Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), another Muslim Democratic freshman who has been in similar controversy  to understand that their recent actions hurt not just Jews but also Muslims, Democrats and ultimately all who support tolerance.Today marks the tragic one-year anniversary of the Parkland shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

As we remember this day with despair, let it be a reminder that we must put an end to school shootings everywhere and ensure that our educational institutions are safe to the future leaders of this country.

In order to have a good education, you must have safe education. We cannot have our learning environments be places of fear and danger.

As a person who was a non-voting student representative on the Menomonee Falls School Board last year, my work as a school safety activist has followed me to college at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

I am a student senator on our student government. As a government, we worked with the campus police on an initiative last semester on improving our emergency alert system called Rave.

This system was implemented to its fullest capacity in fall of 2018 and is now an opt-out system.

This means that if a student wishes to opt-out from receiving alerts, he or she do so by logging into an online portal to adjust the settings.Support Local Journalism

Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution.Former Gov. Scott Walker said there's "no doubt" projects like southeast Wisconsin's Foxconn facility will revitalize manufacturing in the Midwest.

His comments, in an interview set to air in full on PBS Friday, came after several reports earlier this year threw the future of the $10 billion project he negotiated with $3 billion in state tax subsidies. The company ultimately said it would proceed with a smaller factory than originally envisioned after President Trump intervened. The company still says the project will generate 13,000 jobs.

When asked whether tax incentive deals, such as the one reached with Foxconn, would bring back Midwest manufacturing to its glory days, Walker answered in the affirmative.

"There's no doubt about it, as long as we have a workforce  that's I think that's the number one challenge," Walker said. "It's something, I tell the president all the time."

On Feb. 2 the company affirmed its plans to build a Generation 6 liquid-crystal-display manufacturing facility in southeast Wisconsin after company officials had "a personal conversation" with Trump. A so-called Generation 6 factory would manufacture smaller screens for mobile phones, tablets, notebooks and wearable devices.The board overseeing Wisconsin's pension fund will discuss whether it needs to make changes in the way it hires highly paid executives after state auditors found the agency gave preferential treatment to candidates who previously worked with the agency's then-executive director.

The Legislative Audit Bureau looked at five hires at the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, or SWIB, over three months in early 2018 and compared them to five hires in 2017. As a state agency, SWIB is bound by state civil service law requiring an open and objective process for hiring.

Three of the 2018 hires were for "newly created senior positions," according to the LAB, and while auditors "do not question whether the five employees SWIB hired in 2018 met the qualifications established in the publicly posted positions, it is difficult to conclude that SWIB equally considered all qualified applicants for the five 2018 recruitments we reviewed."The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse ROTC will host the fifth annual Northern Warfare Challenge on Saturday.

The event, which is open to all U.S. universities, draws ROTC teams from across the Midwest to compete in a 24-mile march through the La Crosse bluffs and forests. It begins at 7 a.m. at the Onalaska Armory, 910 Oak Forest Drive.

Along the route, cadets carry a 35-pound rucksack and are faced with three additional challenges, such as starting a fire or hauling a log and two full water jugs up and down a steep hill.

Teams are expected to finish between 3 and 5 p.m.

Kyle Farris can be reached at (608) 791-8234 or kfarris@lacrossetribune.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Kyle_A_Farris.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0MADISON  A federal judge last week sentenced an Onalaska man to six years in prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine.

Ryan Koenig, 23, was charged with conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and pled guilty to the charge in November 2018, according to a press release.

Koenig and his associates conspired to distribute 35 packages of methamphetamine in the La Crosse area, many of which contained several pounds of methamphetamine and were shipped from California to the La Crosse area over a 15-month period, according to the release.

The leader of the ring, Roberta Mama Bear Draheim, 51, of La Crosse, was sentenced Feb. 1 to 10 years and 10 months in prison for her role.

The Drug Enforcement Administration in Wisconsin and California worked with the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, La Crosse Police Department, Prairie du Chien Police Department and Dane County Sheriffs Office to bring the charges, according to the press release, and the case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Schlipper.Haley Hesselberg, who earned a CRPW scholarship as a Holmen High School senior in 2012, says the funds really took a burden off my shoulders. With a modest college fund in place upon graduation, Hesselberg relied on part-time jobs, financial aid and several scholarships to pay the rest of her tuition at University of Wisconsin-Stout.

After graduation in 2016, Hesselberg accepted a job teaching marketing at Holmen High School and joined CRPW, wanting to be a part of the organization that had given me a lot.

Being a part of the group is really fun, but we also get a real sense of accomplishment, said Hesselberg, who spearheaded the 2017 Hollar for Scholars event, which raised $2,000 to go toward 2019-20 scholarships. Being a former winner, it was really important to me to help raise the money for other students. You really see the progression of the work that you put in, and seeing and hearing the the stories of the local women we give scholarships to is really rewarding.

We really get the feeling were making a difference for those women, Kult noted.U.S. Rep. Ron Kind announced on Feb. 12 that representatives from his district offices will be available at open office hours in all 18 counties in Wisconsins Third Congressional District from Monday, Feb. 25 to March 1.

Open office hours are a great opportunity to meet with my talented staff of caseworkers and get the assistance you may need in cutting through government red tape, Kind said. I hope every Wisconsinite is able to stop by and hear about what my office can do for them.

Kinds office can assist Wisconsinites having issues dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration, Immigration and Naturalization Service, and a number of other Federal agencies. Representatives from his office are also available to meet by scheduled appointment in either of his La Crosse or Eau Claire offices. More information can also be found by calling toll-free, 1-888-442-8040 or by visiting kind.house.gov.

Rep. Ron Kinds staff will be available in the Vernon County area during the dates, times and locations listed below:

Monday, Feb. 25

Cashton, 9:30-10:30 a.m., Cashton Village Hall, 811 Main St.Karmyn Jarzemski and Morgan Woodhouse of the De Soto FFA Chapter attended the Wisconsin Association of FFA Half-Time Leadership Conference held at the Holiday Inn & Convention Center in Stevens Point, Jan. 11-12.

More than 350 FFA members, advisors and state FFA officers participated. The Half-Time Leadership Conference provides FFA chapter leaders from around the state the opportunity to set goals and prepare for the second half of their year of service in their local FFA chapters. FFA members attended workshops focused on leadership and personal development, membership and chapter development, and opportunities in FFA. They learned about preparing for FFA events and getting involved in community service.

The Half-Time conference is a 33-year tradition for the Wisconsin Association of FFA to bring top FFA leaders from across the state together to learn more about what they can do in their local FFA chapters. This years leadership conference was designed and conducted by the 2018-2019 Wisconsin State FFA Officers. The theme of the conference was Agents of Change.By Benjamin Jumbe.

Government has ordered for 60 million condoms to help bridge the existing gap of the rubber

This was revealed by the national condom coordinator in the health ministry, Vasta Kibirige as the country joined the rest of the world to commemorate the world Condom day.

Kibirige says the country needs at least 240 million condoms a year and a maximum of 600 million condoms if the campaign against HIV/AIDS is to register fruits.

She however expresses worry that only 2 out of 10 of the condom users know how to properly use them which puts their lives at risk of contracting STIs and STDs.

Meanwhile the country programme director, Uganda cares, Henry Magala calls for more awareness creation about condom use as well as increasing their access.

Uganda has 1.3m people living with HIV and about a million are already on life time treatment.Why do we have dollars to cut taxes? Over the last eight years, we have made significant reforms and have taken deliberate steps to improve our states fiscal condition. As a result, our bond ratings have been upgraded. Our rainy day fund is the largest it has ever been at $362 million. Weve cut taxes by more than $8 billion over the past eight years. The states balance sheet, calculated on the basis of generally accepted accounting principles, improved by $1.75 billion in the past eight years. And again, we have a rollover balance of $2.4 billion as we begin writing the next state budget.

On top of all of these fiscal management achievements, most of the Wisconsin economy is very, very strong. The only economy that is in trouble right now is the agricultural economy and related businesses, including our main streets. Unfortunately, this is exactly where our middle-class tax cut plan differs from Gov. Evers and the Democrats in the legislature.

The governor and Democrats have already told us that they dont like our tax cut plan because it differs from their plan. They want to change the Manufacturing and Agriculture Tax Credit to help pay for their version of the legislation. They want to take from one group to benefit another. I dont think any of us want a tax cut at the expense of our neighbors.He anticipated local roads would return to pretty decent conditions by the end of the day Wednesday, but said the light, fluffy snow will likely blow around.

Drifting is more of an issue than anything, Ohnstad said. Until the wind stops, well be in recovery mode.

Monroe County Sheriff Wes Revels said significant snow had already piled up during the overnight hours of Tuesday. He said by 3 a.m., Hwy. 16 between Tomah and Sparta was 30 miles per hour traffic.

The amount of snow certainly complicated what we needed to do, Revels said. We still get those everyday calls we need to assist with.

The Tomah Area School District, which cancelled classes and extracurriculars Tuesday, has already scheduled a makeup day. A teacher inservice that was scheduled for Feb. 18 has been converted to a normal classroom day. Schools opened with a two-hour delay Wednesday.

According to the National Weather Service, Tomah was the area snowfall champion with its 14 inches, although there were isolated reports of 17 inches in the area. In La Crosse County, New Amsterdam recorded 11 inches, and Holmen, Onalaska and La Crosse all recorded 10 inches. In Trempealeau County, Galesville received 12.2 inches and Trempealeau 11.5 inches.Two people were injured Sunday after slick road conditions contributed to a three-vehicle crash on Hwy. 131 south of Tomah.

According to the Monroe County Sheriffs Office, Florence Krause of Tomah, was driving northbound on Hwy. 131 when she lost control of her Pontiac Grand Prix northbound on the slippery, snow-covered road.

Krauses vehicle crossed the median and was struck by a southbound Chevy Silverado driven by Mark Migala of Tomah. Krauses vehicle then spun around and was struck again by a Ford F150, driven by Gerald D. Fushianes of Tomah.

Krause was trapped in her vehicle and had to be extricated by the use of the Jaws of Life.

Krause and Migala sustained non-life threatening injuries and were taken by the Tomah Area Ambulance Service to Tomah Memorial Hospital. The southbound lane over the Interstate 90 bridge was shut down for nearly an hour.

The Monroe County Sheriffs Office was assisted on scene by the Tomah Police Department, Wisconsin State Patrol, Tomah Fire Department, Tomah Area Ambulance Service, Oakdale Fire Department, and Oakdale First Responders.

The matter remains under investigation by the sheriffs office.

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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.- An OFW secretly sent out a video where she was asking for help

- In her messages, she recounted how she wasn't given any food for three days in a row and she's already losing strength

- Her agency said that they can't do anything because it was a holiday at the time she sent out the SOS

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Emlisa Buenaventura, an OFW in Riyadh, was not given any food by her employer for three days and she has remained in a locked room with no way to get out.

KAMI learned that she has communicated these things to her family in the Philippines.

Based on the screenshots posted by Kwentong OFW, she has already given the address of her agency in the Philippines.

In her messages sent to Ycel Manuel, she was telling her that she could no longer make it "there" as she was already very weak.

She explained that she has not eaten for three days and appealed that those guarding her kids will truly take care of them.

Ycel Manuel posted on FB the video of the OFW covering herself in sheets. Screenshots of their conversation were also posted.

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Based on the screenshots, Emlisa said that while there was a window in the room, she can't escape because the moment she does, she'll become TNT.

Manuel also said that Emlisa was already vomiting blood. May Emlisa's dire situation reach those who could help her.

Here's a screenshot of Ycel Manuel's post:

OFW, starved by employer for 3 days, seeks help as she's already losing strength (Photo: Screenshot FB via Kwentong OFW)

Source: Facebook

Here are the screenshots of her conversation with Emlisa.

OFW, starved by employer for 3 days, seeks help as she's already losing strength (Photo: Ycel Manuel Facebook)

Source: Facebook

OFW, starved by employer for 3 days, seeks help as she's already losing strength (Photo: Ycel Manuel Facebook)

Source: Facebook

OFW, starved by employer for 3 days, seeks help as she's already losing strength (Photo: Ycel Manuel Facebook)

Source: Facebook

OFW, starved by employer for 3 days, seeks help as she's already losing strength (Photo: Ycel Manuel Facebook)

Source: Facebook

Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news!

Here's another interesting video for you. What would you do if a 10-year-old would ask you to light his cigarette? Will you give in? Find out in the video.

Source: Kami.com.phWhen asked if the department needs to get a warrant, Madrigal said: it depends.

We could have existent circumstances to search that phone (without a warrant), those are few and far between, Madrigal said. The majority (of circumstances), yes, you have to get a warrant.

Concerns raised

The approval of the purchase was requested for first and second readings before the County Board, which is not common for Sheriffs Office agenda items, however, Madrigal said the department needed to purchase the device and send the receipt to DOJ before the end of the month in order to get the funding.

Demske still took issue with the item being voted on so quickly.

I have no doubt, and you made it clear right now, a device like this can be used for very important reasons and it could increase safety in our community, Demske said. The main concern is I think this is a very important item on our agenda that I take with a lot of gravity and that I want to do as much due diligence on as I can, so not having first and second reading for that reason is uncomfortable for me.

Demske also had questions about accountability with a device like this.SOMERS  The University of Wisconsin-Parkside announced Wednesday a program that will fully cover tuition for incoming students who meet financial and academic requirements.

The program, Parkside Promise Plus, will pay for students remaining tuition costs after federal and state grants have been applied, according to a press release. It is part of a rising trend of colleges waiving tuition costs for lower-income students.

Today, our region and our state need more university graduates to meet the growing demand for talent, UW-Parkside Chancellor Debbie Ford said in a press release. That demand will continue to grow. Parkside Promise Plus provides the opportunity for more students to attend UW-Parkside, plus the support and guidance to help them earn a degree and be part of the talent solution.

To qualify for Parkside Promise Plus, a student must be a Wisconsin resident, be a new freshman admitted to UW-Parkside by May 1 and have had a 2.5 or higher cumulative high school grade point average. The student must also have submitted the Free Application for Federal Student Aid by that date, have an estimated family contribution of $1,500 or less and be enrolled full-time for the fall following high school graduation.(The YMCA) has a public value that is over and beyond its economic value, Schwenker said. Basically, we will try to create a future for that site that has significant economic value, because thats good for the city, but maintain the public value that the Y represents.

Outdated

Collen and Donovan said the present Downtown YMCA, which sits on 1.65 acres, is both expensive to run and not appropriate for todays health needs. And the tower, which was once used as transient housing, has not been used in many years.

Altogether, the attached structures are 180,000 square feet in size; the four-floor Y itself is about 120,000 square feet, But we only use about 50,000 square feet, Collen said. And some of it, not very often.

The new Y would be built at street level, be two stories tall and about 45,000 to 60,000 square feet in size, he said. For comparison, the Sealed Air YMCA in Mount Pleasant, excluding the child care area, is 60,000 square feet.

Its not going to be a little, tiny, small facility, Collen remarked.

This is the opportunity to now provide a YMCA Downtown that takes into account what Downtown needs now, what the community needs now versus what it needed 60 years ago, Collen said.I often hear that we have about 60,000 job openings in Nebraska and about 25,000-plus individuals to fill those positions. As far as I am concerned, the No. 1 way to solve this problem is through education.

We have to create curricula that students can follow that will lead them to the jobs to fill the needs of the business community.

We have some politicians in the state who continue to fight funding for education. Looking back at the last two legislative sessions, the funding for education has not kept up with the funding for other programs.

I know there is a need to fill manufacturing jobs, and we continually hear that, but there is a critical need in all segments of business.

Just to give you one example, if every freshman who enrolls at the University of Nebraska at Omaha would get an information technology degree, there would still not be enough graduates to fill the needs in just Omaha. This is true with nearly all professions, such as health care, manufacturing, education, etc.Keep more food dollars in state

Most food travels hundreds or thousands of miles to reach our pantries or refrigerators.

While 1,300 Nebraska farms sell directly to consumers, with sales of $5.9 million, that's only 0.04 percent of the farm product sales in the state, according to a Center for Rural Affairs report. Currently, only about 10 percent of the $4.4 billion that Nebraskans spend on food annually is on products grown and processed in the state.

Why so little? It's a matter of simple economics; large, out-of-state producers and processors are set up to deliver product at lower prices, taking advantage of economies of scale and climates more conducive to fruit and vegetable production.

Perhaps Nebraska can't compete directly with vegetable production giants like California, Texas, Florida or Arizona, but with imagination, innovation and determination, we can shift more of our food dollars to friends and neighbors instead of sending them out of state.

- McCook Daily Gazette

Grand jury records public for reason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.A livable world for all of our children and grandchildren is what four Nebraska chapters of Citizens Climate Lobby advocate for each day.

While recognizing that local communities have unique concerns, we strongly support legislation that was recently introduced in both the House (H.R. 763) and the 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 legislation addresses a shared problem with a policy that has appeal for both parties. The proposed bill has four components:

* 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 10 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.Lawmakers created a procedure for recalling officials elected to city councils, county commissions, school boards, Natural Resource Districts and other local government bodies in 1994, but exempted themselves from the procedure, as well as statewide elected officials such as governors and attorney generals.

Recall organizers must obtain signatures from registered voters totaling 35 percent of the total vote cast in the last general election. The threshold is set at 45 percent for village board members.

Petitions must include the name of the official being recalled and a short statement explaining why, and can include a concise defense statement from the official being targeted for recall.

Since the law was enacted, senators have been unsuccessful in doing away with it or making changes to make the recall procedure more difficult.

The last effort was in 2007 by Sen. Mick Mines of Blair, whose proposal failed to make it out of the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. Friesen said his bill was similar to Mines'.

No one testified in support of Friesen's proposal Wednesday.

A longtime volunteer for petition drives, recall efforts and anti-retention campaigns said the tool helps citizens keep government officials in check.Lincolns children got a $637,397 gift on Abraham Lincolns birthday -- money raised during the first Lincoln Littles Giving Day for child care tuition assistance.

The Lincoln Community Foundation, in partnership with Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, has created a fund to help close the gap between state child care subsidies and working families that can't afford quality child care.

The Lincoln Community Foundation fund is an effort to fulfill one of Prosper Lincoln's goals: to increase accessible and affordable high-quality early childhood education.

The fund got $750,000 in seed money from the Buffett Early Childhood Fund and the Kellogg Foundation, and organizers chose Feb. 12 -- Lincolns birthday -- as the first of what will be an annual giving day to support the fund.

Hats off to this generous community, said Barbara Bartle, president of Lincoln Community Foundation. Abe would like this birthday gift. He said, When I do good, I feel good. Lincoln, you should feel good today. Thank you for your generous support of the little ones in our community.

The tuition assistance will be given to low-income families through qualified early childhood education providers."The tax system is clearly out of balance," he said. "Farmers are in deep financial trouble."

"I know that you have some very wealthy and very influential people that are lobbying you very quietly on this bill and threatening to leave" the state, Renee Fry, executive director of OpenSky Policy Institute, told the committee in supporting the legislation.

Slone said Nebraska is at "an economic crossroads" and needs to be in position to attract companies as it moves into a technology and services economy while maintaining its agricultural base.

"We are the entrepreneurs driving growth in Nebraska," Michael Cassling of Omaha, CEO of a Nebraska-based health care company, told the committee in opposing the bill.

"Companies will not come here," he warned.

Todd Simon, senior vice president of Omaha Steaks, said the bill would be "an incalculable impediment to expanding the Nebraska economy."

"Companies would leave, not come," Ron Quinn of energy company Tenaska told the committee.

The new tax would be "a detriment to Nebraska's economic growth," Sarah Curry, policy director of the Platte Institute, said.

The Nebraska Farmers Union supported the legislation.As it was written, bonding authority could be given to a hate group because those groups are considered cultural entities, Howard said.

"We want to be very clear about our expectations, and the only clarity that we can provide them with is what we put into law," she said.

Howard offered a compromise and Hunt withdrew an amendment she proposed to make the changes. The compromise was to leave out the list of specified protected classes and define "cultural institution" as one that "does not violate any state or federal law against discrimination."

Hunt agreed the change would keep the bill updated for any future additions to Nebraska's nondiscrimination laws.

Lincoln Sen. Adam Morfeld broadened the discussion, saying a workplace discrimination bill could be the next anti-discrimination bill to be debated. That bill was advanced from the Judiciary Committee to the full Legislature on Thursday.

"LGBT discrimination happens every single day in Nebraska. I have friends everywhere, from fast-food workers all the way up to accomplished attorneys, that have been fired and discriminated against for being gay in this state," he said. "Then we sit around and we wonder why we can't keep young Nebraskans here. We wonder why we can't recruit young Nebraskans here."In the opening scenes of Capernaum, 12-year-old Zain is hauled out of the juvenile prison in which he is housed and taken before a judge to plead his case. But the case in question isnt for the boy stabbing a son of a bitch, hes suing his parents because I was born.

So begins a two-hour exploration of the boys story  told in long flashbacks broken up by courtroom scenes and an examination of life in the slums of Beirut where Zain uses all of his street smarts in a never-ending struggle to survive.

Directed and co-written by Nadine Labaki, who also plays Zains lawyer, Capernaum is neo-realistic, not only filmed in the over-crowded hovels but starring a cast of non-professionals, led by an astounding performance by young Zain Al Rafeea, who creates a brave, gutsy kid who does his best to care for others regardless of the consequences for himself.

That starts with his 11-year-old sister Sahar (Cedra Izam), who he fears will be sold by his parents to the lowlife shop owner, for whom Zain works, who also happens to be the owner of the building in which the teeming family  there are at least four other kids  lives.MATTOON -- A Mattoon woman faces charges accusing her of engaging in sex acts with a 15-year-old boy last month.

Hilary M. Rawlings was arrested on Wednesday and later posted bond, according to Coles County jail records. She pleaded not guilty to the charges against her during a hearing later that day.

Rawlings, 34, for whom records list an address of 617 Richmond Ave., is charged with criminal sexual assault. The charges accuse her of engaging in oral sex and intercourse with the boy when he was younger than 18.

She faces six counts of the offense in all. Some allege different sex acts and also that the boy couldn't consent or that she was in a position of supervision or authority over him at the time.

A conviction for criminal sexual assault requires a prison sentence with a conviction and the possible sentencing range is four to 15 years.

Coles County State's Attorney Jesse Danley said authorities believe the sex acts took place in Rawlings' home.

Since the arrest, Rawlings' employment has drawn concern from community members. Rawlings is a school nurse at Eastern Illinois Area Special Education (EIASE) Life Academy in Mattoon, which serves students with disabilities from eight area counties.

Tony Reeley, EIASE executive director, said the victim alleged in the case was not an EIASE student and that the reported crimes did not take place on EIASE time.

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Reeley noted also that students are frequently monitored by multiple staff members at one time.

Rawlings was hired in December of 2017. Reeley said Rawlings has been suspended following the arrest.

He added that background checks are conducted on incoming employees against state, federal, and other criminal registries. Rawlings did not raise criminal red flags.

She was also hired in the Mattoon school district as a substitute nurse in early 2017, but did not actually work in the district and was "dropped" later that year, said David Skocy, assistant superintendent of human resources in Mattoon.

Charleston attorney Chris Wetzel is representing Rawlings but attempts to contact him weren't successful.

Danley said Rawlings turned herself in at the county jail then posted bond. Her bond amount, $10,000, was based in part on her lack of a criminal record, he said.

During the court appearance, Rawlings' next hearing was scheduled for May 13.

County jail records indicate that Rawlings' bond was set at level that would required $10,000 to be posted for release.

Photos: 2019 mug shots from the JG-TC

Contact Jarad Jarmon at (217) 238-6839. Follow him on Twitter: @JJarmonReporter

Love 0 Funny 6 Wow 8 Sad 21 Angry 29On Wednesday, the Justice Department announced that Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, had told Iranian spy agencies about the existence of a highly classified military intelligence collection programme and the identity of a US intelligence officer.

According to the grand jury indictment, Witt is also charged with helping Iran target at least eight of her intelligence colleagues. An arrest warrant was issued for Witt, who remains at large and is believed to live in Iran.

Also named in the indictment are four Iranians who worked for the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and face charges of conspiracy, computer intrusions, and identity theft in their targeting of Witts former colleagues in 2014 and 2015.

The men  Mojtaba Masoumpour, Behzad Mesri, Hossein Parvar and Mohamad Paryar would use fake social media accounts to install malware on the targets computers in order to gain covert access.

John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, said: This case underscores the dangers to our intelligence professionals and the lengths our adversaries will go to identify them, expose them, target them and, in a few rare cases, ultimately turn them against the nation they swore to protect. When our intelligence professionals are targeted or betrayed, the National Security Division will relentlessly pursue justice against the wrongdoers.

Witts position in the Air Force intelligence branch allowed her to access a programme that housed classified information, including details of ongoing counterintelligence operations, the true names of sources and the identifies of US agents involved in the recruitment of those sources.

She left active duty in 2008, but remained a contractor for the Defence Department until 2010 and retained access to the programme.

She defected to Iran in 2013 after attending two Hollywoodism conferences in Tehran, which are organised by the IRGCs Quds Force to recruit former intelligence officers; something the Defense Department warned her about.

The indictment said that Witt conducted online research and created target packages for Iran to identify, track and neutralise (i.e. kill) US counterintelligence agents.

Jay Tabb, the FBIs executive assistant director for national security, said: She decided to turn against the United States and shift her loyalty to Iran. Her primary motivation appears to be ideological.

The US Treasury also announced sanctions against two Iranian entities  New Horizon and Net Peygard Samavat Company  and six individuals for allegedly hacking the computers of US personnel.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement: Treasury is taking action against malicious Iranian cyber actors and covert operations that have targeted Americans at home and overseas, as part of our ongoing efforts to counter the Iranian regimes cyber attacks.The CRA carried out an audit and has concerns that the charity is being used to spread the Iranian regimes ideology in Canada. It has thus taken away the organisations status as a charity.

The ABWA in Iran, Ahl-ul-bayt World Assembly, is linked to the Iranian regime and the organisations secretary-general is described as the operational father of the Lebanese Hezbollah.

The ISAC has been a very active group that has invited and welcomed members of the countrys parliament to some of its many events.

Canada severed diplomatic relations with Iran back in 2012 and considers it as a major threat as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The CRA have said that the ABWA is a department in the Iranian regimes cultural wing and plays a big role in the export of the Islamic revolution. Hassan Nasrallah sits on its Supreme Council. The leader of the ABWA, Mohammad Hassan Akhtari, was the one to establish the military-like structure of Hezbollah.

The ISAC has denied the allegations made against it via its lawyers. They said: The organization denies any and all allegations made in any correspondence from the CRA in connection with the CRAs revocation process.

Mid-2016, the auditors indicated that ISAC was wholly or partly set-up to work with the operational goals of the ABWA in Canada, going as far as to describe it as an ABWA branch. The CRA claims that the ABWA interferes in the business of the charity and that ISAC directors went to conferences run by the ABWA. Furthermore, the ABWAs logo appeared on the CRA website.

Its charity status was revoked because its activities are not in line with Canadian law. Its links to the Iranian regime and terrorist organisation Hezbollah were deciding factors, as well as its strong political agenda.

The founder of the charity, Syed Hosseni-Nassab was also the president of the Islamic Centre of Hamburg. German authorities said that it was an organisation that has links to the Iranian government and is involved in the spread of the ideology of the Islamic revolution. Authorities also said that the Islamic Centre of Hamburg spread pro-regime propaganda across Germany.

It is known that the Iranian regime has centres, diplomats and organisations across the world. They work with the Iranian regime to provide intelligence about the host countries and / or to spread pro-regime messages and to dispel the genuine concerns about the Iran threat.The Warsaw conference is being co-hosted by the U.S. and Poland, and it is focusing on the threat to to regional and global security posed by the Iranian regime. Ministers from the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East have come to the realization that Irans meddling in the affairs of its neighbors is a major threat to peace in the region.

The dissidents were there to reiterate the need to support Iranian protests and regime change in Iran.

While in Warsaw, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview, We want the Iranian people to have the opportunity to live in a prosperous, peaceful society, and one that is controlled by their desires, their wishes. Also attending the conference are Vice President Mike Pence and White House adviser Jared Kushner. According to reports, Special Advisory to U.S. President Trump, Jared Kushner, held a behind-closed doors discussion over what is said to be Washingtons Middle East peace proposal.

At a large rally on Wednesday, the demonstrators highlighted the Iranian regimes malignant behavior. They stressed that the international community must support the millions of Iranians who want regime change in their country.

Rudy Giuliani, former New York Mayor and current lawyer to U.S. President Trump, said at an NCRI press conference on Wednesday, Iran is the number one state sponsor of terrorism in the world. We should not be doing business with a regime that supports terror. Giuliani also stressed that the Warsaw Summit should be focused on regime change in Iran.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the NCRI, addressed yesterdays rally, saying, From the EU states who have set up a financial mechanism for the Iranian regime, we ask: Why havent they found any mechanism over the years to save political prisoners suffering under torture by Khameneis henchmen? Why havent they set up any mechanism to prosecute the regimes leaders for the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988, or a mechanism to prevent the crackdown on and arrests of workers, students and Iranian youths for participating in legitimate protests?

The Iranian demonstrators in Warsaw were chanting, Down with Rouhani and Khamenei is the cry of every Iranian, as well as, Democracy, freedom with Maryam Rajavi. The protesters demanded that the Iranian regime be expelled from the United Nations and the seat transferred to the NCRI, the true, legitimate representative of the Iranian people.

The MEKs history of struggling for the rights of the Iranian people, along with the NCRIs platform, have established the coalition as the main Iranian opposition movement and the democratic alternative to the regime.

In his speech at the rally, Giuliani said, A major question about regime change is who will replace the regime. Weve seen that work and go wrong when there wasnt an alternative. Here we dont have to worry. We have an alternative. We will have groups of people who feel the same way as we do. Madame Rajavi has a ten-point plan that lays it out clearly. We want Iran to be one of the countries respected in human rights, not one of the worst countries. We want a non-nuclear Iran.Louboutins

here and here , the CJEU saga of the Louboutin red sole trade mark came to an end last June with the decision in C-163/16 here] . Following two Opinions of Advocate General (AG) Szpunar, the CJEU saga of the Louboutin red sole trade mark came to an end last June with the





judgment: the Louboutin trade mark is valid and Van Haren infringed it. The IPKat has now learned that the court which referred the case to the CJEU - the Court of The Hague - has now also delivered its: the Louboutin trade mark is valid and Van Haren infringed it.





Carina Gommers (Hoyng Rokh Monegier) reports on this new chapter of the Red Sole Diaries ... and reflects on whether this is actually the last one in this complex saga. Katfriend and Louboutin litigation expert(Hoyng Rokh Monegier) reports on this new chapter of the Red Sole Diaries ... and reflects on whether this is actually the last one in this complex saga.





Over to Carina:





"Valentines day is good day to think about red roses, but not only roses are red For IP enthusiasts, the colour red also evokes the red sole trade mark of Louboutin, as well as Louboutins battle in several jurisdictions where this red sole trade mark has come under attack.





here). One of the most famous battles in this respect, is the one fought out in the Netherlands, where Louboutin initiated infringement proceedings before the Court of The Hague against Van Haren that commercialized shoes having red soles. Last week, on 6 February 2019, the Court of The Hague rendered its final judgment (the Dutch version is available).





Back in 2015, a first intermediary judgment had been rendered between the parties, in which the court already established that, in so far as Louboutins red sole trade mark would be valid, Van Haren would be liable for trade mark infringement.





Trade Mark Directive 2008/95, since it concerned a shape conferring substantial value to the product. This would bar the red sole trade mark from any protection, since this ground for refusal cannot be overcome by proving acquired distinctiveness. Van Haren had indeed argued that the red sole trade mark should be excluded from trade mark protection in view of the (then applicable) absolute ground for refusal enshrined in article 3(1(e)(iii) of the, since it concerned a shape conferring substantial value to the product. This would bar the red sole trade mark from any protection, since this ground for refusal cannot be overcome by proving acquired distinctiveness.





The Court of The Hague sought guidance from the CJEU and referred a preliminary request to Luxembourg (Case C-163/16). The Court in particular asked:

Is the notion shape in the sense of article 3.1.e.(iii) of the Trade Mark Directive 2008/95 (in the German, English and French language versions of the Trade Mark Directive respectively Form, shape and forme) limited to the three-dimensional properties of the product such as the (in three dimensions to be expressed) contours, sizes and volume thereof, or does it also relate to other (not three-dimensional) characteristics of the product such as colour?

In other words, the court wanted to know whether or not the notion of a shape, which confers substantial value to the goods, is limited to the three-dimensional characteristics of the goods in question.





The referral received a lot of attention both from IP experts and the general press.





first Opinion by AG Szpunar on 22 June 2017 Also at the level of the CJEU the case was deemed of critical importance. Indeed, after aby AG Szpunar on 22 June 2017 second Opinion on 6 February 2018 , the case was referred to the Grand Chamber, which rarely happens in IP cases. AG Szpunar subsequently delivered hison 6 February 2018 and the CJEU rendered its judgment on 12 June 2018.





Kat heels from Irregular Choice

judgment In its rather concise , the CJEU formally relied on the registration of the trade mark as is apparent from the register, from which it inferred that when the trade mark owner does not seek to protect the shape as such, but only the application of a colour to a particular part of a product, such colour cannot be considered as a sign consisting of a shape (see 23-26 of the judgment). Louboutin had indeed explicitly mentioned in the registry that the contour of the shoe is not part of the trade mark. The CJEU deemed this to be of critical importance. Moreover, for the exclusion ground of article 3(1)(e) of the Trade Mark Directive 2008/95 to be applicable, the sign should consist exclusively of a shape.





The CJEUs ruling seemed to have provided a safe harbour for Louboutin as it excludes altogether the application of the absolute ground for refusal, so that the notion of 'substantial value' would not even needed to be addressed.





In the ensuing proceedings before the Court of The Hague, Louboutin indeed argued that it was apparent from the CJEU judgment that it should prevail in its claims against Van Haren. With respect to the validity of its red sole trade mark and, following the CJEUs ruling, Louboutin argued that the court could not hold otherwise than that the absolute ground for refusal is not applicable. In addition, considering the Court of The Hagues intermediate judgment of 2015, the infringement should also be upheld.





Trade Mark Directive 2015/2436 had meanwhile modified the exclusion ground. Article 4(1)(e)(iii) of the new Trade Mark Directive now reads " Van Haren did not agree with this stance and argued that the CJEU had not answered the question referred by the Court of The Hague. It considered that the CJEU did not rule what precisely is to be understood by shape, but instead ruled on the facts of the matter and qualified the red sole trade mark as not being a shape. However, only the Court of The Hague had exclusive jurisdiction over the facts of the matter and thus the qualification of the trade mark. In that respect, Van Haren also referred to both Opinions of the Advocate General, which did - in Van Harens view  provide an answer to the question referred by the Court of The Hague. In the Opinion of 6 February 2018, the AG in particular considered that the shape of the sole matches the spatial delimitation of the colour, which means, in other words, that the colour delimits the shape and such shape matches the spatial delimitation of the colour (see 19). This point, according to AG Szpunar, demonstrates that the shape does matter and that the protection is not sought for a colour per se without delimitation. Following that qualification, the exclusion ground could become applicable, i.e. when such shape in addition would confer substantial value to the product. Van Haren therefore requested the Court of The Hague to either adopt the considerations of the AG or to refer a new question to the CJEU. Finally, Van Haren argued that the CJEU judgment in any event was not capable of resolving the case between the parties, since the newhad meanwhile modified the exclusion ground. Article 4(1)(e)(iii) of the new Trade Mark Directive now reads " the shape, or another characteristic, which gives substantial value to the goods, which can include colours.

Trade Mark Regulation 2017/1001, a referral from Sweden is pending at the CJEU in the Textilis case (C-21/18 Whether or not this modification is immediately applicable to pending proceedings has also been the subject of debate. In fact, with respect to the corresponding article in the new, a referral from Sweden is pending at the CJEU in the ) [see Katpost here . The Swedish court has specifically requested whether the new wording, after the entry into force thereof, is immediately applicable in a courts assessment of invalidity, even if the action was initiated before that date and thus also concerns a trade mark registered before that date. Van Haren requested the Court of The Hague to suspend the proceedings until the CJEU has rendered its judgment in Textilis. . The Swedish court has specifically requested whether the new wording, after the entry into force thereof, is immediately applicable in a courts assessment of invalidity, even if the action was initiated before that date and thus also concerns a trade mark registered before that date. Van Haren requested the Court of The Hague to suspend the proceedings until the CJEU has rendered its judgment in





The Court of The Hague did not follow the line of argumentation put forward by Van Haren. In the Courts opinion, the CJEU had effectively answered the question and had, in doing so, considered differently than the AG. There was no reason why the Court of The Hague should follow the reasoning of the Advocate General rather than that of the CJEU. In addition, the CJEU had given sufficient guidance so that no new referral was needed.





With respect to the new Trade Mark Directive 2015/2436, the Court refers to the lack of implementation in the Benelux despite the fact that the term for doing so expired on 15 January 2019.





Therefore, the Court of The Hague deemed that it should still apply the old regime; only after the implementation of the directive, questions can arise as to what the consequences are for the pending proceedings. There was, by consequence, also no reason for a suspension in view of the Textilis case.





Pirelli case (T-447/16 Moreover, but this was not included in the reasoning of the Court of The Hague, the General Court already considered for its part that the new regime would not be immediately applicable, namely in a judgment of 24 October 2018 in the(T-447/16 , in particular 18-21).





Kat in heels

(possibly not Louboutin's)

The General Court made a distinction between new procedural rules and new substantive rules.





Whereas new procedural rules are in principle to be applied with immediate effect, new substantive rules are only of immediate effect in so far as that follows clearly from their terms, their objectives or their general scheme on the other hand. The modification of the exclusion ground, adding next to shape, another characteristic of the goods, is subsequently qualified by the General Court as a substantive rule.





However neither the terms, the objectives, nor the general scheme allows to conclude that this new substantive rule has immediate effect and would thus also immediately apply to pending proceedings.





If the General Court is to be followed, then the new exclusion ground could in any event not be applied to the pending proceedings and moreover also not to existing trade mark registrations. The final word however will lie with the CJEU either in the Textilis case or the appeal which is now also pending in the Pirelli case (C-6/19, to date only the reference to the case is available on the website of the CJEU, without any further information).



LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Prince Harry flew up to the Arctic on Valentine's Day to meet the Royal Marines and learn about special freezing-weather helicopter commando exercises.

Harry, who is Captain General of the Royal Marines, visited northern Norway where he reviewed the Commando Helicopter Force which operates in temperatures as low as minus 30 Celsius.

"This is the first time His Royal Highness has visited Joint Helicopter Command since becoming Captain General and it is great that he is doing the visit while were in Norway," said Warrant Officer 1st Class Adrian Shepherd, who has served with force for 27 years.

"It is good for the people out here to see their hard work recognised during a significant year for the exercise," he added.

Harry married Meghan Markle last year and they are expecting their first child this Spring.

The Royal Marines, known as green berets, are Britain's elite amphibious fighting force and are routinely deployed to some of the most dangerous conflicts in the world.

The Commando Helicopter Force provides aerial support to the marines and practises in the Arctic every year.

As part of the training, personnel must complete cold weather survival courses including ice-breaking  jumping into a frozen lake and getting themselves and their gear out of the icy water.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Stephen Addison)A participant with a red ribbon pin takes part in a HIV/AIDS awareness campaign in Kathmandu, Nepal November 30, 2016. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar/File Photo

By Aradhana Aravindan

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - An HIV-positive American who had been deported from Singapore after serving a jail term has leaked online the personal data of 14,200 Singaporeans and foreigners diagnosed in the city-state with the virus.

The disclosure by Singapore's health ministry late Monday, coming after last year's news of a major cyber attack on its national health database, could further dent the highly wired state's push to place itself as a data and health care hub.

U.S. citizen Mikhy Farrera Brochez lived in Singapore from 2008 and was convicted in 2017 on numerous drug-related and fraud offences, including lying to the Ministry of Manpower about his own HIV status.

Last week, Brochez disclosed online the personal information including the names, ID numbers, phone numbers and addresses of 5,400 Singaporeans diagnosed with HIV up to January 2013 and 8,800 foreigners diagnosed up to December 2011.

In response to the AIDS epidemics in the 1980s, many countries introduced restrictions on entry against HIV-infected travellers and foreign workers. Singapore remains among a small number of developed countries that maintain some restrictions on long-term visit passes and work visas.

The Health Ministry had become aware in May 2016 that Brochez was in possession of confidential information that appeared to be from the country's HIV Registry.

Last week, it learned that he could still be in possession of the data, the ministry said.

Brochez was HIV-positive and used his Singaporean doctor partner's blood sample to pass blood tests so he could work in Singapore, the ministry said in a statement. His partner previously had access to the HIV registry for his work, it said.

The ministry did not say how Brochez obtained the data or suggest a motive for leaking it online but said only that the partner was believed to have "mishandled" the information.

"I am sorry that one of our former staff who was authorised to have access to confidential information in our HIV registry appears to not have complied with our security guidelines, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said.

Story continues

"This may have led to an unauthorised person gaining possession of the data and disclosing it online," he said.

Brochez was deported after serving his jail term and was now overseas, according to the ministry statement, which did not say where.

Singapore-based advocacy group Action for AIDS said the case has the "potential of damaging the lives of persons living with HIV and their loved ones."

"This is a criminal act that should be condemned and answered in the most severe terms possible," it said.

Brochez is currently under police investigation, and the authorities are seeking assistance from their foreign counterparts, according to the ministry statement, which did not specify any country.

Reuters could not reach Brochez for comment.

The ministry said it had worked with the "relevant parties" to disable access to the information. It did not say where it was leaked online.

Last year, Singapore revealed that personal information of about 1.5 million people including the prime minister was stolen after hackers infiltrated the government health database. The HIV information leak was not related to the cyber breach.

(Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan and John Geddie; Editing by Jack Kim and Michael Perry)Asserting congressional authority over war-making powers, the House passed a resolution on Wednesday, 13 February, that would force the administration to withdraw US troops from involvement in Yemen, in a rebuke of President Donald Trump's alliance with the Saudi-led coalition behind the military intervention.

Lawmakers in both parties are increasingly uneasy over the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and skeptical of the US partnership with that coalition, especially in light of Saudi Arabia's role in the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the royal family.

Passage would mark the first time Congress has relied on the decades-old War Powers Resolution to halt military intervention. It also would set up a potential confrontation with the White House, which has threatened a veto. The House voted 248-177 to approve the measure, sending it to the Senate, where a similar resolution passed last year.

Also Read: UN envoy in Yemen amid preparation for peace talks

We have helped create, and worsen, the worlds largest humanitarian crisis, said Barbara Lee, Representative for Californias, during the debate. Our involvement in this war, quite frankly, is shameful.

The chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, Eliot Engel, Representative for New York , said the vote represents "Congress reclaiming its role in foreign policy."

Senate approval would set up a showdown with the administration  a veto would be Trump's first  over the president's shifting approach on foreign policy.

Lawmakers are quick to point out that Trump wants to withdraw troops from the wars in Syria and Afghanistan as part of his "America First" approach, but he has shown less interest in limiting the US role in Yemen.

White House Calls Resolution Flawed, Claims Troops not Directly Involved in Yemen

The White House says the House resolution is "flawed" because US troops are not directly involved in military action in Yemen, where the coalition is fighting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in a conflict largely seen as a proxy war involving the Mideast's dominant regional players.

Story continues

Since 2015, the administration says, the US has provided support to the coalition, including intelligence and, until recently, aerial refueling, but it has not had forces involved in "hostilities."

Congress has not invoked the War Power Resolution, which requires approval of military actions, since it was enacted in 1973. Lawmakers approved more sweeping authorisations for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that some argue are being used too broadly for other military actions.

Also Read: Senate votes to end US military support for Saudis in Yemen

Newly emboldened Democrats in the House, eager to confront Trump on foreign policy, and Republicans in both chambers have shown a willingness to put a legislative check on the president's agenda.

In the House, 18 Republicans, including members of the GOP's libertarian-leaning wing and Trump allies in the conservative Freedom Caucus, joined Democrats in passing the Yemen measure.

Ro Khanna, Representative from California's , who drafted the legislation, said there's an emerging bipartisan alliance that's skeptical of military intervention without congressional oversight.

"Its not just about Yemen. Its about the Congress taking a stand and every future president having to think twice about whether to authorise a military intervention without congressional approval." - Ro Khanna, Representative from California

The Senate version is from independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and backed by Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee.

Before Wednesday's vote, the House overwhelmingly agreed to add an amendment offered by Republicans who are seeking to expose emerging Democratic divisions over support for Israel.

The amendment reaffirms the US commitment "to combat anti-Semitism around the world" and says it's in the national security interest to oppose boycotts of Israel. That's a reference to the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement that has gained support of some lawmakers.

First-term Rep Ilhan Omar, D-Minn, one of the Muslim-American women elected to Congress, came under criticism this week for her comments against the Israel lobbying organisation AIPAC that raised anti-Semitic stereotypes. She later apologised.

Also Read: US Senate Votes to End Support for Saudi-Led Yemen War, Blasts MBS

The House added another GOP amendment that would allow continued intelligence sharing, which drew fire from the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU warned it gives the president broad authority to provide the Saudis and others with US intelligence information about Yemen, and the group said the package, overall, is now weaker than originally proposed.

Now the Yemen measure goes to the Senate, where a similar resolution on removing US involvement in the war was approved with Republican support late last year.

At the time, Congress was eager to send a message to both the president and the Saudis after the October murder of the US-based journalist Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

The US has sanctioned 17 Saudi individuals for their involvement in the killing, and US intelligence officials have concluded that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, must have at least known of the plot. Trump so far has decided not to impose harsher penalties on the prince. The kingdom insists he did not order the killing.

The outcome of the legislation is uncertain. Republicans control the Senate, 53-47, and a simple majority is needed to pass.

Trump has yet to veto any measures from Congress. If he did veto the Yemen resolution, it's unclear whether lawmakers would have enough support to override him.

(Published in an arrangement with Associated Press)

Also Read: US Senate advances Yemen resolution in rebuke to Trump

. Read more on World by The Quint.RSS & BJPs Nehru-Netaji Cosplay: Irony Dies a Thousand DeathsIndia Slams Pakistan After Pulwama Attack, Islamabad Rejects Link . Read more on World by The Quint.FILE PHOTO: Workers fix an election campaign billboard depicting Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and his Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, in Abuja FILE PHOTO: Workers fix an election campaign billboard depicting Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and his Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, in Abuja, Nigeria, January 30, 2019. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde/File Photo

By Paul Carsten and Alexis Akwagyiram

ABUJA (Reuters) - A militant group in Nigeria's oil-rich southern Niger Delta threatened on Thursday to cripple the economy if President Muhammadu Buhari is re-elected on Saturday.

The Niger Delta Avengers - who want their area to get a greater share of the oil revenue it produces - said they backed opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar and his promises to devolve more power to the regions.

The Niger Delta Avengers were behind a 2016 wave of violence, including attacks on pipelines and other facilities, that helped push Nigeria into recession.

The group, in a statement posted on its website, warned that if Buhari is re-elected there would be "a perpetual recession for Nigeria".

Buhari later made a televised address promising that the government would ensuring a free, fair and peaceful vote, without making any reference to the Avengers' statement. His spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Attacks in the Niger Delta in 2016 cut Nigeria's crude output from a peak of 2.2 million barrels per day (mbpd) to near 1 mbpd - the lowest level seen in Africa's biggest economy in at least 30 years.

That, combined with low oil prices, pushed the OPEC member state into its first recession in a quarter of a century - crude sales make up two-thirds of government revenue and 90 percent of its foreign exchange.

AGITATION

Atiku, a businessman and ex-vice president representing the main opposition People's Democratic Party, has proposed to devolve more power to regions in a policy dubbed "restructuring".

It would enable oil-rich states in the south to retain a greater share of the revenues generated from crude production.

"We are adopting Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as the sole candidate to be voted for by all the people of the Niger Delta as a result of his political ideology which is in tandem with our agitation for equitable and fair principles of federalism," the group said.

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The Avengers said that, if elected, Atiku should start a "restructuring of Nigeria" within six months to forestall further attacks in the Niger Delta.

"Atiku has said that restructuring will begin on the day he takes office, so he will keep his word," Paul Ibe, a spokesman for the main opposition candidate, said in a telephone interview.

Buhari's government held talks with the militants in 2016 and 2017 about their grievances over poverty and oil pollution in the Delta.

No substantial attacks have been carried out by any groups in the Delta region since January 2017.

The country is also facing separatist movements in the southeast and Islamist militants in the northeast.

(Reporting by Paul Carsten and Alexis Akwagiram; Additional reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by James Macharia and Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Toby Chopra and Andrew Heavens)On the occasion of legendary Bollywood actor Madhubalas 86th birth anniversary, search giant Google unveiled a tribute to her in the form of a Google Doodle on their home page.

A screenshot of Google on 14 February 2019, with a Doodle honouring Madhubala.

The Doodle was created by Bangalore-based artist Muhammed Sajid to celebrate Madhubala, often referred to as the The Marilyn Monroe of Bollywood. The Doodle is take on the iconic image of the actor from one of her most famous roles, Mughal-E-Azam. The film is known for Madhubalas heart-wrenching performance as Anarkali, her chemistry with Dilip Kumar, the seminal soundtrack and being one of the most expensive films in Indian history.

Also Read: Remembering Madhubala, Bollywoods Very Own Marilyn Monroe

Born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi in Delhi, 1993, Madhubala was raised in a slum in Mumbai close to the Bombay Talkies film studio. She made her acting debut at the age of 9, and played the lead in Neel Kamal (1947) at 14. She soon became one of the leading female actors of the Golden Era.

Madhubala appeared in classics like Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Mr. & Mrs. 55, Kala Paani, and Howrah Bridge during her brief lifetime, becoming one of the highly regarded personalities in the industry. She acted in over 70 films in two decades and was called The Biggest Star in the World in 1952 by Theatre Arts magazine.

While her breathtaking appearance earned comparisons to Venus, Madhubala was a gifted actor with an understated style well suited for comedies, dramas, and romantic roles alike. Google wrote on their blog.

In 2008, the government of India issued a commemorative postage stamp in Madhubalas honour, and she continues to be remembered as one of the greatest presences to grace the silver screen.

Also Read: Heres Why Madhubala Has a Huge Millennial Fan Following

. Read more on Celebrities by The Quint.RSS & BJPs Nehru-Netaji Cosplay: Irony Dies a Thousand DeathsLatest News: Uttarakhand HC Seeks Govt Reply on Hooch Tragedy . Read more on Celebrities by The Quint.By Hereward Holland and George Sargent

LOISABA CONSERVANCY, Kenya (Reuters) - Images of a rare African black leopard have been captured in Kenya, the first verifiable record of the animal for nearly 100 years, researchers have said.

Using motion-sensitive cameras set up near water holes, researchers from San Diego Zoo Global and the Loisaba Conservancy captured video of the largely nocturnal cat after receiving reports of sightings from local pastoralists in Laikipia County in northern Kenya.

While they were working in the area over the past year, the team was shown another image of a black leopard taken at the Ol Ari Nyiro Conservancy, also in Laikipia County, in 2007.

Black leopards - or panthers - carry a gene mutation for "melanism" that makes their coats appear black, but these images were of a high-enough quality to reveal the spots.

"Collectively, these are the first confirmed images in nearly 100 years of black leopard in Africa," said Nicholas Pilfold of the San Diego team, also lead researcher for a leopard conservation program in Laikipia County.

The researchers published their findings in the African Journal of Ecology in January.

The same month, British wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas captured additional high-quality images of the cat in Laikipia Wilderness Camp.

"I'm able to set up a kind of studio-like lighting and just leave my cameras set up for weeks or months," he told Reuters.

Burrard-Lucas heard from a friend that a black leopard had been spotted in the area and, after contacting the landowners, headed off to set out his cameras near the animal's tracks.

"It's very dusty, so you can pick up tracks especially early in the morning after the night," he said. "You can see everything that's passed."

Scientists had assumed that a black coat was an evolutionary response to leopards moving out of the dense forests where their spots camouflage them, San Diego Zoo said in its statement. The discovery of a black leopard in an open, arid habitat in Kenya raises questions about that theory, however.

(Reporting by Hereward Holland in Loisaba Conservancy; Additional reporting by George Sargent in London; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Alexandra Zavis and Frances Kerry)Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday, 14 February, that the Supreme Court's order on the power tussle between the AAP government and the lieutenant governor was against the people of Delhi.

He said that the BJP exercises more power in the national capital than the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, despite winning only three seats in the Assembly.

In its verdict on Thursday, a two-judge bench comprising Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan agreed that the Anti-Corruption Bureau and setting up of an inquiry commission fall under the L-Gs control, while the Delhi government has jurisdiction over electricity boards, land revenue matters and appointment of public prosecutors.

The top court, however, was split over who controls services, and has referred the matter to a larger bench.

On 1 November 2018, both judges had reserved their verdict on petitions challenging the notifications issued by the Centre and the Delhi government



A five-judge bench, on 4 July last year, had laid down broad parameters for governance of Delhi



SC to Pronounce Judgment on Control of Services in Delhi

The Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict on various petitions regarding the power tussle between the Delhi government and the Lieutenant Governor, representing the centre.

A bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan will deliver a verdict on which of the two power centres in the national capital holds jurisdiction over services like posting and transfer of bureaucrats, power of Anti-Corruption Bureau, among others.

During the hearings, the Centre had told the apex court that the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) has the power to regulate services in Delhi.

The centre also said that unless the President of India expressly directs, the L-G, who is the administrator of Delhi, cannot consult the Chief Minister or the Council of Ministers.

Also Read: Dont Elect a 12th Pass Prime Minister: Kejriwal at Oppn Rally

SC Bench Assembles, Judges Deliver Split Verdict

Story continues

A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan is pronouncing the judgment. As per reports, the verdict is so far split over whether the Delhi government or the L-G has the jurisdiction over the appointment and transfer of bureaucrats in Delhi.

Justice Sikri Reads His Opinion

Justice AK Sikri has held that L-G has the power of transferring and posting officers of and above the rank of joint secretary, while other officers are under the control of Delhi government, Bar and Bench reported. However, in the case of difference of opinion, the L-Gs view will prevail, he added.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau will be under control of the L-G, Sikri said.

Justice Bhushan Says 'Services' Completely Outside Delhi Govt's Purview

Contrary to Justice Sikri's view on transfers and postings of bureaucrats, Justice Bhushan has held that services are completely outside the purview of the Delhi government.

Who Controls What?

According to the SC judgment, the electricity department, revenue department, and posting and transfer of public prosecutors fall under the Delhi governments control. However, in a case of difference of opinion, the LG's view will prevail.

The SC bench also unanimously held that the Centre has the power to set up an inquiry commission under the Commission of Inquiry Act.

It also said that the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) will be under the Centres command, and the Delhi government has no police powers when it comes to the ACB.

However, the power to appoint public prosecutor is with the Delhi government, the SC bench ruled. Revision of minimum rates of agricultural land will also be under the purview of the Delhi government, but the L-G can refer to the President.

'L-G Can Form Opinion on Any Matter, Not Every Trifling Matter': SC

The Supreme Court held that the L-G can form an opinion on any matter. It, however, clarified later that any does not mean every trifling matter. The Apex court further said that the L-G should not intervene routinely but only in matters fundamental to Delhi.

It also said that the L-G should not hold on to files but honour the wisdom of the Cabinet.

'Lack of Clarity in SC Judgment Unfortunate': AAP

Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party said it was unfortunate that there was no clarity in the Supreme Court's split verdict on who controls services in the National Capital Territory.

People of Delhi will continue to suffer, AAP Spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj told reporters after the Supreme Court referred the issue of clarity on division of powers between the Delhi government and the Centre to a larger bench.

'AAP Should Accept Order Humbly': Delhi BJP Welcomes SC Verdict

The Delhi unit of the BJP on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court judgment and said it removes ambiguities in the powers of the Delhi government.

There should no scope for "confusion or conflict" and the AAP government should humbly accept the Supreme Court judgement, Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta said.

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'BJP More Powerful Than AAP Despite Just 3 Seats': Kejriwal Slams SC Order

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addressed a press conference on the Supreme Court verdict over control of services and power of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Delhi. Kejriwal said that the BJP is exercising more power in the national capital than the ruling AAP, despite winning just 3 seats in the Assembly elections.

"If a government cant even transfer its officers, how is it supposed to function? The party that has 67 seats doesnt have the rights but the party who won 3 seats has those rights." - Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi

He also said the SC order was against the people of Delhi and democracy.

'Power Doesn't Depend on Number of Seats': Sheila Dikshit Slams AAP

Former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, slammed CM Arvind Kejriwals remarks about the former government having more power, saying that the Constitution of India has defined the power that Delhi has, its not unlimited. She also said that power does not depend on how many seats you have, urging the CM to make changes if need be.

"Constitution has defined the power Delhi has, its not unlimited. The Centre, Lt Governor and the Home Ministry handle a lot of things. So fighting is no solution, make changes if needed. Power doesnt depend on the number of seats you have." - Sheila Dikshit, Delhi Congress President . Read more on India by The Quint.RSS & BJPs Nehru-Netaji Cosplay: Irony Dies a Thousand DeathsWe Stand With India: US, Russia, Israel Condemn Pulwama Attack . Read more on India by The Quint.



Catch all the live updates on the Pulwama attack here.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday, 15 February said that he has ordered all necessary steps to be taken in the backdrop of Pulwama attack and the morale of the jawans has not taken a hit.

Singh and J&K governor Satya Pal Malik paid tribute to the CRPF jawans martyred in J&Ks Pulwama. Singh is in the state to examine the situation and order necessary steps for the investigation into the attack.

At least 40 jawans were killed in a deadly attack by the JeM on a convoy of CRPF jawans in Pulwamas Awantipora area on Thursday, 14 February.

Condemning the attack, PM Modi said the forces behind the terror attack will be punished, warning Pakistan that it is "making a big mistake. Meanwhile, Congress President Rahul Gandhi extended support to the government and said that the "entire Opposition stands with the government and the jawans.

What Exactly Happened

A CRPF convoy of 78 vehicles, carrying 2,547 CRPF personnel was attacked at 2:03 pm at Awantipora in J&Ks Pulawama District.

A Mahindra Scorpio carrying more than 350 kg of explosives hit the convoy at Awantipora, 20 km away from Srinagar.

A CRPF official told The Quint that terrorists opened fire after the blast ripped through the convoy.

One of the two buses that were badly hit was carrying 39 personnel.

The injured are being treated at the Army base hospital in Srinagar.

In an official statement, CRPF confirmed that 37 jawans have been martyred.

Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to NDTV, the stretch of road where the attack occurred was believed to be "safe".

The jawans were returning from a holiday and were supposed to reach Srinagar before sunset. The convoy started from Jammu around 3 am in the morning.

India has withdrawn the Most Favoured Nation status given to Pakistan

MEA will initiate all possible diplomatic steps to ensure that Pakistan is isolated from the international community, Arun Jaitley said

At least 37 CRPF personnel were killed after a car carrying about 350 kg of explosives hit a CRPF convoy of 78 vehicles

While J&K Police has identified the terrorist as Adil Ahmad from Pulwama, Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the attack

Govt calls all-party meet over Pulwama attack, Congress offers full support

Story continues

The Narendra Modi government has called an all-party meeting, which will be held after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singhs return from the Kashmir Valley. The main opposition party, the Congress on Friday extended full support to the government saying we are not going to be divided.

Earlier, Singh flew to the Valley to assess the security situation following a terror attack in South Kashmirs Pulwama district, where a suicide bomber targeted a convoy of security forces on Thursday.

The decision to call an all-party meet was taken during a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) at Prime Minister Narendra Modis residence in New Delhi. Emerging from the CCS meet, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, The Home Minister, after his return from Kashmir, will soon call an all-party meeting.

The meeting is likely to be held on Saturday, when the government will brief the parties about the Pulwama terror attacks and security situation in Kashmir. A convoy of 78 vehicles carrying more than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force jawans from Jammu to Srinagar was targeted in a suicide bombing. An explosive-laden SUV rammed one of the buses in the convoy ripping it apart.

Time for Peace Talks Over: Captain Amarinder Singh

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday called for giving a befitting reply to Pakistan for the attack on CRPF soldiers in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama by terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad, saying the time for peace talks is over and they should be taught a lesson.

Moving a resolution for condemning the terror attack and adjournment of the House, he accused Pakistan of playing a double game, saying their prime minister (Imran Khan) is talking peace and the general (Qamar Javed Bajwa) is talking war.

Enough is enough... The time for talking peace is over and I think it is time to teach them a lesson, and I hope the Government of India will understand this point and will take it up, the chief minister said.

Congress Delegation to Visit J&K Tomorrow

A Congress party delegation led by Ghulam Nabi Azad will reach Jammu and kashmir tomorrow in the backdrop of Pulwama attack, India Today reported.

China Condemns All Forms of Terrorism: China Writes to Sushma Swaraj

Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi wrote to EAM Sushma Swaraj, condemned the Pulwama attack, expressed deep sympathy to families of victims and injured, and stressed that China resolutely opposes and strongly condemns all forms of terrorism.

India Equipped to Give Befitting Reply: Piyush Goyal

Union Minister Piyush Goyal expressed condolences to the families of martyred CRPF jawans and said that India is equipped to give a befitting reply.

Unfortunate event in which our soldiers gave supreme sacrifice. Id like to express my condolences to families of noble jawans. I pray God gives their families strength to bear irreparable loss and pray for early recovery and good health of injured jawans, he said.

Our armed forces and people of India are competent to give a befitting reply to such forces. Our jawans will ensure that any forces which are enemy to Indias interest get a strong rejoinder and people of India will continue to give confidence to them, he added.

Representatives of Different Diplomatic Missions Reach MEA

Representatives of different diplomatic missions arrive at the Ministry of External Affairs in the backdrop of Pulwama attack.

Representatives from Germany, Hungary, Italy, European Union, Canada, Britain, Russia, Israel, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Sweden, Slovakia, France, Spain and Bhutan have arrived.

Delay of Kashmir Issue Wreaking Havoc: Separatists

A day after 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a terror attack in Pulwama, separatists on Friday said they regret every killing on Kashmirs soil.

Separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik stated this in a statement without mentioning the suicide attack by Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed.

People and leadership of Kashmir regret every killing that happens on its soil, the statement said.

The delay in the resolution of the Kashmir dispute... is wreaking havoc in Kashmir especially, they said. If killing and counter killings have to stop and if we really want peace in the region, we have to put an end to hostilities... engage and listen to the concerns of all three stakeholders and address them in the spirit of humanity and justice. Resolve the Kashmir dispute for all times, they added.

Saudi Condemns Pulwama Attack

Saudi Arabia Friday said it stood with Indias fight against terrorism and extremism and denounced as cowardly the suicide attack carried out in Pulwama.

Strongly condemning the terror attack, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said Riyadh denounced the explosion that targeted a military convoy that killed a number of people and injured many others.

The official Saudi Press Agency, quoting a Foreign Ministry source, stressed the Kingdom rejects these cowardly terrorist acts and the Gulf Kingdom stood with the friendly Republic of India against terrorism and extremism. Riyadh also offered condolences to the families of the victims, the Indian government and the people and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

MP Government Announces Rs 1crore for Martyrs Family

The Madhya Pradesh government announced financial help of Rs one crore to the family of the CRPF jawan from the state killed in the Pulwama terror attack.

The martyr Ashwini Kumar Kachhi hailed from Khudawal village in Jabalpur district.

The state government also announced a government job and a house to the jawans kin.

NCPCR Asks CBSE for Relaxation for Children of Slain CRPF Jawans in Board Exams

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) wrote to the CBSE on Friday seeking exemption from the upcoming board examinations and to make alternative arrangements for the children of the CRPF personnel killed in the Pulwama terror attack.

The NCPCR suggested that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) may issue a circular to schools affiliated with it to exempt children of the slain soldiers from the ongoing and upcoming exams.

Punjab Minister Cancels Pak Visit in Protest



Punjab minister Balbir Singh Sidhu cancels his scheduled visit to Lahore to lodge a strong protest against the Pulwama terror attack.

The animal husbandry and labour minister was supposed to attend an International Buffalo Congress organised by the University of Animal & Veterinary Sciences, Lahore from 18 to 20 February.

Amit Shahs Godda Visit Cancelled



BJP president Amit Shahs programme on Saturday in Godda has been cancelled following the Pulwama terror strike that killed 40 CRPF jawans.

South Korea Foreign Ministry, in an official statement condemned the Pulwama attack and expressed condolences.

We strongly condemn the terrorist attack on the CRPF in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir on 14 February and extend deepest condolences and sympathy to those who lost their lives in the attack and their bereaved families, the statement read.

Mumbais Siddhivinayak Temple Announces Ex-Gratia

Mumbais Shri Siddhivinayak Temple trust has announced Rs 51 lakhs as a help for the families of CRPF personnel who lost their lives in the Pulwama attack.

All Party Meet in Parliament Libraray Tomorrow

All party meeting will be held on at 11 am in Parliament library over the Pulwama attack.

Rajnath Singh Meets Injured CRPF Jawans

Home Minister Rajnath Singh meets CRPF jawans injured in the Pulwama attack at a Army base camp in Srinagar.

MEA Officials Reach Out To Diplomatic Partners Over Pulwama Attack

Senior MEA officials are reaching out to all important partners via diplomatic missions in wake of the Pulwama attack to apprise them of involvement of Pakistan backed terror groups, ANI reported.

Isarel PM Benjamin Netanyahu Expresses Condolences

PM of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu in an official statement expressed condolences over the death of 40 CRPF jawans killed in the Pulwama attack.



To my dear friend, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, we stand with you, the security forces and the people of India following this heinous terrorist attack. We send our condolences to the families of the victims, he said.

NDTV Journalist, AMU Student Put Controversial Posts on Pulwama

NDTV journalist Nidhi Sethi has been suspended for two weeks following a controversial Facebook post on the Pulwama attack.

NDTV strongly condemns what a Deputy News Editor of our website posted on her personal Facebook page about the tragic and dastardly Pulwama terror attack. She has been suspended for 2 weeks, effective immediately, while the companys Disciplinary Committee weighs further action.

 NDTV (@ndtv) February 15, 2019

Basim Hilal, a BSc Mathematics student of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) was also suspended for a controversial tweet on the attack. The student hails from Kashmir.



Weve come to know of the highly objectionable tweet. Taking immediate cognizance he has been suspended by AMU administration. We wont let the University be discredited. We have zero tolerance. He hails from Kashmir and was a BSc Mathematics student, Omar Saleem Peerzada, AMU PRO told ANI.

India Should Go Ahead With Kartarpur Corridor: Sidhu

Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said that India should go ahead with the Kartarpur corridor despite the Pulwama attack.



What has this bloodshed got to do with Kartarpur? It connects-people, hearts. When a person becomes a pilgrim out of devotion, he becomes a different person. What I feel is we should deliberate over this, find the root cause of the problem and uproot it, he said.

Ex-Servicemen March in Delhi Against



A gathering of ex-servicemen and veterans voices its anger against the Pulwama attack while marching from Jantar Mantar to India Gate.

Shiv Sena Demands Joint Parliament Session

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has demanded a Joint Parliament sesion to discuss the Pulwama attack.

Sonia Gandhi Chairs Meet Over Pulwama Attack

Congress Core group meeting is underway at the residence of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, over the Pulwama attack.

Didnt Know of His Terror Activities: Father of Terrorist Who Carried out Pulwama Attack

As the J&K police identified the terrorist who carried out the Pulwama attack as Adil Ahmad from Pulwama, his father told India Today that his son was a class 12 student and he was unaware of his terrorist activities.

He also said that Adil left to write his class 12 exam one day and never returned home.

There Needs to Be A Response: Lt General (Retd) DS Hooda, Surgical Strikes In-Charge

Lt General (Retd) DS Hooda who oversaw the 2016 Surgical Strike Operation by India on Pakistan said that Pakistans hand in the Pulwama attacks has been revealed and there needs to be a response.



Its a big tragedy and very clearly Pakistans hand is completely revealed in this. There needs to be a response to this. But lets have a more consistent and long term policy, he said.

Rajnath Singh, Satya Pal Malik Hold Meetings With Officials

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik hold meeting with officials in Srinagar.



Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan Called Back to Delhi

Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria has been called to Delhi for consultations in the wake of Pulwama attack.



Bisaria will leave tonight for Delhi for the consultations tomorrow.

'Kashmiris or Muslims Didn't Kill Jawans, Terrorists Did': Omar Abdullah

Asserting that Kashmiri people living in other states could be soft targets in a surcharged atmosphere, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah Friday asked Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to direct all state governments to ensure their safety.

"My earnest appeal to @rajnathsingh ji to please issue directions to all state governments to take special care in areas/colleges/institutions where Kashmiris are residing/studying. They are soft targets in a surcharged atmosphere," Abdullah tweeted.

He also asked people to unite against terror and maintain peace.

"Kashmiris/Muslims in Jammu didn't attack our CRPF jawans yesterday (Thursday), terrorists did. This violence is a convenient tool by some to shift the blame. Let's unite against terror, let's not allow terror to divide us," Abdullah said.

Uttarakhand MLAs Offer One Month Salary to Families of Slain Jawans

The Uttarakhand Assembly paid homage to CRPF personnel killed in the Pulwama terror attack and unanimously passed a resolution offering one month salary by every member to help families of those who laid down their lives.

Jharkhand CM Announces Ex-Gratia for Family of Slain Jawan From State

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the family of martyred CRPF jawan Vijay Soreng from the state, who was among the 40 personnel killed in a terrorist attack in Pulwama.

The CM also promised a government job to a member of his family.

Rajnath Singh, J&K DGP Lend a Shoulder to Mortal Remains of a Jawan

Home Minister Rajnath Singh and J&K DGP Dilbagh Singh lend a shoulder to mortal remains of a CRPF soldier in Budgam.

Petition Moved in Delhi HC to Respectfully Address Martyrdom of Pulwama Soldiers

A petition has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking to issue a direction to the press and electronic media to use 'respectful words on the martyrdom of soldiers'.

Afghanistan Condemns Pulwama Attack

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani in an official statement condemned the Pulwama attack and said that terrorism needs to be rooted out.

President Ashraf Ghani strongly condemns terror attack targeting CRPF personnel in J&K.Afghanistan expresses sympathy and deep condolences to the Indian government and people, and the families of the soldiers who fell victim to the incident, the statement read.

Terrorism is a cancer in the region, and it requires collective efforts to root it out, it further read.

Anti-Pak Protests Erupt in Jharkhand

Protesters in Ranchi took to the streets against the killing of 40 CRPF jawans in Pulwama.

Tamil Nadu CM Announces Ex-Gratia for Two CRPF Jawans from State Killed in Pulwama

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has announced a solatium of Rs 20 lakh each to the families of the two CRPF personnel from the state who lost their lives in Pulwama attack.

Rajnath Singh Arrives in Srinagar

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. He will pay homage to the 40 CRPF jawans martyred in the attack and examine the situation in the state.

Our Soldiers' Sacrifice Will not be in Vain: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a gathering in Jhansi, said that the sacrifice of soldiers killed in Pulwama attack won't be in vain. He also said that the valour of the security forces has been witnessed by the country previously.

Our brave soldiers have sacrificed their lives and these sacrifices will not go in vain. The valour of our security forces has been witnessed by the country and there can be no one in our country who doubts their valour and bravery. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India

Foreign Secretary Summons Pak High Commissioner, Rejects Pak Statement

Pakistan High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood at the MEA after being summoned by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale.

Pakistan High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood was summoned by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale over the Pulwama terror attack.

Foreign Secretary summoned the Pakistani envoy to the Ministry of External Affairs at 14:00 hrs and issued a strong demarche in connection with the terrorist attack in Pulwama on Thursday, 14 February.

He conveyed that Pakistan must take immediate and verifiable action against the Jaish-e-Mohammed, and that it must immediately stop any groups or individuals associated with terrorism operating from its territories. Foreign Secretary also rejected the statement made by the Pakistan government after the attack.

Curfew Imposed in Parts of Jammu

Curfew has been imposed in parts of Jammu, in the aftermath of the Thursdays terror attack. The Bus Stand, Nawabad, Bakshi Nagar, Peer Mitha, Pacca Danga, Channi Himmat, Janipur, Domana and Bagh-E-Bahu areas are the places where the curfew has been imposed.

Death Toll Rises to 40, CRPF Confirms

The CRPF has confirmed that the death toll in the Pulwama terror attack has risen to 40. Out of the 40 martyrs, 36 have been identified by the CRPF while four bodies are yet to be identified.

China Being Vague in Supporting India's Bid to Declare Azhar a Global Terrorist

China on Friday condemned the Pulwama terror attack carried out by a Jaish suicide bomber but once again declined to back India's appeal to list the Pakistan-based terror group's chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN.

"China has noted the reports of suicide terrorist attack. We are deeply shocked by this attack. We express deep condolences and sympathy to the injured and bereaved families," spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Geng Shuang told a media briefing.

We firmly oppose and strongly condemn all forms of terrorism. We hope relevant regional countries will cooperate to cope with the threat of terrorism and jointly uphold regional peace and stability. Geng Shuang, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson

When asked about China's stand on the listing of Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council, he said:

As for the issue of listing, I could tell you that the 1267 Committee of Security Council has a clear stipulation on the listing and procedure of the terrorist organisations.

"JeM has been included in the Security Council terrorism sanctions list. China will continue to handle the relevant sanctions issue in a constructive and responsible manner," he said in an apparent reference to External Affairs Ministry's appeal to all members of the UN Security Council to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

'We Will Not Forget, We Will Not Forgive': CRPF

A day after the attack on its convoy, CRPF said in a statement, "We will not forget, we will not forgive  we salute our martyrs of Pulwama attack and stand with the families of our martyr brothers. This heinous attack will be avenged."

'Entire Opposition Stands With Govt, Jawans': Rahul Gandhi

At a press conference, Congress President Rahul Gandhi extended support to the government in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack.

This country will stand together, well stand with our jawans, we stand by the government to tackle this. This attack is an attack on Indias soul, on our most important security forces. Rahul Gandhi, Congress PresidentThere will be no other discussion from the Congress on this (politics) for the next couple of days, the party president said.

This is not the time and place to discuss politics. Rahul Gandhi

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also said that terrorism is something that should not be compromised.

'Forces Behind the Attack Will be Punished': PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while inaugurating the Vande Bharat Express in New Delhi, said that the forces behind the terror attack in Pulwama will definitely be punished.

The prime minister further paid tribute to those who lost their lives in the attack and thanked all the nations that have come out in Indias support. He also hit out at Pakistan for trying to destabilise India.

If our neighbour, which is totally isolated in the world, thinks it can destabilise India through its tactics and conspiracies, then it is making a big mistake. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India

Pakistan's 'Most Favoured Nation' Status Stands Withdrawn: Arun Jaitley

Union Minister Arun Jaitley, while briefing the media on the result of the Cabinet Committee Meeting, said that after analysing the attacks on the CRPF convoy, MEA will initiate all possible diplomatic steps to ensure complete isolation of Pakistan from the international community.

The most favoured nation status, which was granted to Pakistan, also stands withdrawn, he said.



. Read more on India by The Quint.RSS & BJPs Nehru-Netaji Cosplay: Irony Dies a Thousand DeathsPulwama Attack: 40 Jawans Martyred, MEA Cracks Down on Pak Envoy . Read more on India by The Quint.The Illinois Central Blues Club hosts Emily Burgess & the Emburys at the Alamo, Feb. 18, for Blue Monday.

We open up this week on St. Valentines Day and you can cross your heart that live music will be a good part of many plans for a happy sweethearts day.

I know I said live music will play a role in some valentines dream dates, but I think karaoke could work for you happy couples as well. I see it being a fun activity to lighten up, and maybe even brighten up, a night out on the town. You could double up on duets or pick your song to sing or do a tune your sweetie might never imagine, in a lifetime of love, coming out of your mouth. Sometimes the great fun in going to karaoke night is not participating, but enjoying the antics of others as they attempt the singing with the machine way of life. And if you do, you will discover the very connected and respected world of karaoke that lives in the bars and clubs of our fair city. Check the live music listings in IT each week for a karaoke night near you and pay attention to the hosts, since they greatly influence how the night goes.



For live music on Valentines Day evening proper, look for a real couple of musicians, as Jess and Brandon play old-school Looming as a duo at Buzz Bomb for a fun night theyre calling XOXOs & Exs: A Looming Valentine. Chris Camp and his merry band of Blues Ambassadors slide into Anchors Away for some valentine blues and I will be solo-serenading the folks in Pawnee at 1854 Wine Pub with all the love songs I can muster. In Peases at Bunn Gourmet you may purchase something sweet for your sweetheart while listening to some sweet, mostly original, tunes by Buckhart Road (Marty Morris and Tom Beverly), just as the latest open mic to hit town rules the roost at Crows Mill Pub.



The music just keeps coming on Friday and Saturday, then swells with flourish on Sunday afternoon/evening, before continuing into the weekdays with more and more music. For something other than our quite exceptional local acts playing all over the place there are a few out of town groups heading into the capital city this weekend. Whitey Morgan, playing his brand of modern outlaw country with an updated classic country twist rolls into Boondocks on Saturday night. Whitey, a road dog who has been to Springfield several times over the years, has a singing-songwriter fellow named Alex Williams presently out on tour with him.



Alex grew up near Indianapolis, tried Nashville, then ended up in Texas before catching the ears of Big Machine Label Groups top guy. Hes now out playing his stuff with good label support and a dang cool record to promote with a bright future in the music-making business ahead. On Sunday evening, an acclaimed Nashville-based songwriter by the name of Josh Morningstar drops into the Backroom Lounge in Riverton to lay some songs on you.

Jumping to Monday night (its a leap over all the good music going on), the Illinois Central Blues Club hosts Emily Burgess & the Emburys at the Alamos Blue Monday show. Emily might be known to some in town from her days in the 24th Street Wailers, a JUNO- nominated Canadian blues group. Shes now been on her own for several years working as The Emburys with brothers Rico and Marcus Browne on bass and drum, respectively. Shes really a breath of fresh air in the blues world with her snappy songwriting, blistering guitar solos and overall sense of musicality.



Wont you be mine?

Abraham Lincoln was notoriously silent on his career in Illinois state politics.



In an 1859 autobiographical statement sent to a Republican friend in Pennsylvania, the future president devoted exactly one sentence to his career as a state legislator, noting only that hed been elected to the House four times and did not run for re-election when his last term ended in 1842. There is not much of it, for the reason, I suppose, that there is not much of me, Lincoln wrote in letter accompanying the brief summing up of his life to date.



Thats hardly true, according to a pair of historians who delivered differing views of Lincoln as a legislator and state politician during Tuesday lectures at the Old State Capitol, sponsored by the Abraham Lincoln Association.

His accomplishments were many, said Ron Keller, a history and political science professor at Lincoln College whose book Lincoln In The Illinois Legislature is due for publication this spring. To understand Abraham Lincoln as a state legislator is critical to understanding him, period. The pragmatic politician was born in the Illinois legislature.Lincoln sometimes could persuade other legislators because, simply, he was likeable, Keller said, a man who quickly learned the virtues of backslaps, handshakes and conversations in taverns. In short, it didnt take Lincoln long to become a politician, Keller said.Not all of Lincolns legislative accomplishments were legendary  debates over whether the state should establish a bank, a proposal Lincoln supported, were not terribly sexy, Keller acknowledged. On the other hand, he pushed to expand voting rights to all white men, not just property owners, and led efforts to borrow $15 million to build canals and roads, with bonds not paid off until the 1880s, long after the Great Emancipator was dead. He served in the General Assembly when Chicago became a city, Keller said, and he proved key in moving the state capital from Vandalia to Springfield, with help from fellow central Illinois legislators dubbed the Long Nine due to their height  they averaged six feet tall.When it came to log rolling, the Long Nine rolled like a snowball, Keller said.Matthew Pinsker, a history professor at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania who is writing a book called Boss Lincoln: New Insights On A Party Leader, noted that many politicians are pragmatic. To call Abraham Lincoln a political pragmatic is to say he spoke in English, Pinsker said. That doesnt go far enough.A $2,500 loan the future president made in 1857 to Norman Judd, a state senator who was a delegate at the 1860 Republican convention, likely was transactional, Pinsker said, designed to help Lincolns political visions. Lincoln used his political experience and gift for building coalitions to help build the Republican Party into a national force, Pinsker said. The party created in 1854 needed Whigs and converted Democrats, Pinsker observed, but the tent could only be so big. You have to know when to exclude people, the historian told his audience that nearly filled the chamber of the Old State Capitol.Stephen A. Douglas, Lincolns political rival, was one example. Douglas, Pinsker said, once showed signs of rejecting the Democratic Party in favor of becoming a Republican. He (Lincoln) had to stop Douglas from becoming a Republican, Pinsker said. Lincoln made plain that he and Douglas werent cut from the same political cloth in an 1857 speech delivered in Springfield, two weeks after Douglas gave a speech praising the Dred Scott decision.Douglas had said that Republicans believed that blacks were equal to whites. In his retort two weeks later, Lincoln rejected slavery while attacking Douglas assertion that the GOP believed in racial equality. I protest against that counterfeit logic which concludes that, because I do not want a black woman for a slave, I must necessarily want her for a wife, Lincoln said. I need not have her for either. While agreeing with opposition to mixed marriages, Lincoln pointed out that more people of mixed race lived in the South than anywhere else in the nation, nearly all the children of black slaves and white masters.It was, Pinsker said, a preview of Lincolns House Divided Speech delivered a year later. He rehearsed it all, he laid it all out, Pinsker said. Lincoln, at this moment, draws the line: Our party cannot accept anyone who doesnt believe slavery is morally wrong. On the other hand, Lincoln in the same speech brought up sending black people to African colonies, saying where theres a will, theres a way. Pinsker chalked that up to politics.I think it is purely tactical  I dont think it was heartfelt, the historian said.Two dark money groups are stepping up to separately promote and attack the new governors agenda.



Think Big Illinois, a brand new 501(c)(4) organization which doesnt have to disclose its donors, will be supporting Gov. J.B. Pritzker, whose 2018 campaign slogans included Think big. The organization will be headed by Quentin Fulks, who served as Pritzkers deputy campaign manager.



The group appears to be the likely conduit for Pritzker and others to fund a public push for the progressive income tax if it makes it onto the 2020 ballot. Both legislative chambers first have to approve the proposal with three-fifths majorities, and then voters get a crack at it. Neither step is guaranteed.

Defeating that progressive income tax proposal at the ballot box is now the main goal of another dark money nonprofit group which has been around for years. The Coalition for Jobs, Growth and Prosperity launched a new website last week called Ideas for Illinois. The website is fairly innocuous so far, but the people who run it say their ultimate goal is to become the prime conduit for opposition to the governors progressive income tax if and/or when it reaches the ballot.The coalition was founded by Chicago businessman Ron Gidwitz and former Illinois Manufacturers Association honcho Greg Baise in 2004 and has since raised $30 million for various projects. Gidwitz is now an ambassador, so hes been replaced by his brother, Jim. Day-to-day operations will be handled by Jason Heffley, who ran Republican Erika Harolds attorney general race last year. Mike Zolnierowicz, who was Gov. Bruce Rauners first chief of staff and left during the first round of staff purges to work with Baise, will oversee the operation.Its expected that if Pritzker can get a fair tax on the ballot next year hell put his money where his mouth is to pass it. And as we saw last year, the man can spend money faster than anyone outside the Pentagon.Baise will try to tap into the resulting reaction of fear and loathing by upper-income types to try and counter Pritzkers spending. Its a pretty good bet that the money will be there. The top task of wealthy Illinoisans for the past decade, including Bruce Rauners election, was stopping a graduated income tax from being imposed here.Pritzker ran on a promise of taxing the wealthy, so he likely interprets his 16-point win over Rauner as a mandate to get that done.Baises group, however, ran some election-day polling which asked voters: Do you support a progressive income tax - that is, a tax system that imposes a lower tax rate on low-income earners, while those with higher incomes pay a higher tax rate? According to the We Ask America poll, 53 percent of Illinois voters supported the tax.A state constitutional amendment requires the support of three-fifths of those voting on the question, or a majority of those voting in the election, so 53 percent likely wouldnt be enough.The opponents attack will include the easy layup of exploiting Illinoisans distrust of their state government, particularly its inability to balance its budget over the years despite tax hikes. A hefty dose of messaging against the unpopular House Speaker Michael Madigan will undoubtedly be part of their play.Baise and his associates do not want to get involved in Republican Party-type issues, and just focus on beating back the progressive tax.If President Trump is on the ticket next year, not a whole lot of money will be funneled into Republican state legislative races here because it would be so fruitless. And there are no statewide races except for US Senate. But a progressive income tax ballot question could very well open up a whole lot of wealthy wallets, so, if nothing else, they have a decent business plan.click to enlarge Photo courtesy of Clay County Animal Rescue and Shelter Champ with his new owner. Photo courtesy of Clay County Animal Rescue and Shelter

Last weeks forums for aldermanic candidates sponsored by Inner City Older Neighborhoods were equally bemusing, informative and maddening. Ward 1 Ald. Chuck MIA Redpath was the only incumbent who didnt show up. He may not have needed to, given that he got 75 percent of the vote in 2015 against Rev. T. Ray McJunkins, whos running again. Then theres Ward 4 Ald. John Jordan Rules Fulgenzi, who did appear, but 24 hours later than scheduled  it was a two-night affair, with candidates for five positions appearing on one night and candidates for the other five appearing on the second night. Redpath says he didnt show because he was at the GOPs Lincoln Day dinner. Fulgenzi, also, was at the same shindig, listening to keynoter Oliver North, head of the National Rifle Association and architect of the Iran-Contra affair. Questions at the ICON affair mostly were softballs, with a ban on criticizing anyone, which gave politicos a chance to float ideas without being attacked, and theres merit to that. Some ideas were better than others. Streets embedded with solar panels might be swell, but theyre hard to imagine in a town that still uses coin-operated parking meters. The future of Capital Township proved the usual taffy pull, with some saying the city should step in, others saying let the county do it, still others saying leave it alone and Ward 3 Ald. Doris Realpolitik Turner, who is running unopposed, giving the best answer: Its all politics. If you plan on voting and if you care about your neighborhood, it was a shindig worth watching  some newcomers sounded pretty good, but judge for yourself. If you missed it, go to ICONs website at www.springfieldicon.org and catch the rerun.



TROUBLE IN PUPPYVILLE? Thanks to all who have offered condolences on the

Thanks to all who have offered condolences on the demise of Peanut . Champ The Wonder Pug has become my new landlord, courtesy of Clay County Animal Rescue and Shelter headquartered in Louisville (pronounced Lewis-ville), some 100 miles south of here  if theres a tougher job than saving dogs in rural Illinois, I cant imagine it. Closer to home, volunteers with Friends of Sangamon County Animal Control recently sent a letter to Gail ONeill, interim director of the county health department, saying that a new kennel attendant has been mistreating mutts. Volunteers say the attendant has handled dogs roughly and kennels are less than tidy. The attendant, who once dealt with livestock in a packing plant, remains on the job. We discussed the difference between the outcomes for those animals versus the outcomes for the animals in our care, Greg Largent, animal control director, wrote in a memo memorializing a counseling session. He indicated that while working in packing, he had to squelch his feelings towards those animals yet treat them humanely. He recognizes the shelter environment is far different, and he is adapting. While the attendant has much to learn, Largent wrote that he hasnt intentionally mistreated animals, but insufficient staffing hasnt helped.

What to do with the downtown tract once home to the now-demolished YWCA is again front-and-center as state Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, is pushing for $50 million in state money to build some sort of Southern Illinois University campus  exactly what it might be hasnt been nailed down, but theres talk of a law school (good) and a public policy center (which seems redundant, seeing as we already have one at Second and Capitol). A law school is better than no school, but why not put one in an existing building instead of spoiling perfectly nice greenery on which students might play Frisbee? Its not like we dont have plenty of vacant space from which to choose. The armory on Monroe Street needs some love, as does the Bressmer building on Adams Street. The selfish part of me says educate budding lawyers in shuttered Benedictine University down the street from my house. To put a campus on the Y block seems a peculiar sort of inner-city sprawl in a city that needs businesses and bodies in empty buildings, not more buildings. Save the Y block for a developer wholl put up private money to build something that will generate tax revenue, and if that takes forever, we can wait. In the meantime, plant better grass, and lets toss Frisbees.Dont expect another retail behemoth at White Oaks Mall now that Simon Property Group, the malls owner, has acquired 125,000 square feet of space vacated by Bergners in the course of bankruptcy. White Oaks made the cut five years ago when Simon shed what it considered its least-promising malls, and the acquisition last week of the Bergners property suggests the company remains bullish on Springfield. The company has been replacing retail space with apartments, condos and hotels in Florida, Georgia, Washington and other states, but Simon isnt saying whether it might follow suit in Springfield. CEO David Simon last fall told investors he also likes small retail stores. Our industry got just too carried away with having all these big department-store boxes, Simon said during the October conference call to discuss earnings.Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.



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 2015, 1.3 million people died from cancer in the EU, more than one quarter of the total number of deaths across the 28 nations.

Despite cancer treatment improving in recent years, the rate of people diagnosed is increasing, says Dr Robin Cristofari, a biologist at the University of Turku, Finland.

One reason is that people are living longer which means they are at a greater risk of developing and dying from cancer. Death rates due to cancer in the EU are 13 times higher for people aged over 65 compared to younger people. Cancer occurs when reproducing cells mutate. The older someone is, the higher the chance of cells duplicating into a malignant tumour.

Prevention is therefore key, according to Dr Cristofari, and this is something that elephants excel at. He says that being a big, long-living mammal with many more cells than a human should actually increase an elephants chances of developing cancer, but thats not the case.

Elephants have a good way to prevent cancer (cells) and thats to destroy them before they do any damage, he said.

The biologist is trying to figure out why an animal, he says, which should be a tumour machine, is actually very effective at fighting cancer.

'Elephants have a good way to prevent cancer (cells) and thats to destroy them before they do any damage.' Dr Robin Cristofari, University of Turku, Finland

Tumour neutraliser

To do this, Dr Cristofari sequenced the Asian elephant genome that revealed many copies of a special gene called TP53, which he says is like a Swiss army knife of cancer control. It acts as a tumour neutraliser and kicks into action whenever there are cancer cells present, adapting to either kill or repair them. Humans only have one copy of this gene.

Under a project called Genomics of Ageing in Elephants he is attempting to further disentangle the genes of elephants to understand their cancer fighting ability. He will do this by putting elephant blood into a genetic sequencing machine that will transform the biological information into a series of letters, which ends up as text around four billion characters long. Dr Cristofari will then analyse this to find genetic patterns that could reveal how TP53 interacts with cancer.

The idea is to understand how elephants evolved to become so effective in fighting cancer and to see if this knowledge could inspire innovative cancer prevention in humans, says Dr Cristofari.

Another way to reduce the risk of developing cancer is to improve ageing rates, which is to slow down the speed of cellular deterioration over time  meaning older people could keep producing healthy cells for longer.

According to Professor Virpi Lummaa, an evolutionary expert also at the University of Turku in Finland, we need better ways to live healthier for longer because our life spans are increasing and have been doing so for the last 100 years.

Prof. Lummaa is studying elephants to learn more about how their ageing rates could help humans grow old gracefully.

What we would like to do is to develop indexes from blood samples we take that can predict which individuals would age faster and why, she said.

Ageing

Prof. Lummaa says that despite their tusks, giant ears and mammoth body, elephants share a similar life span, reproductive history and family structure to humans, making them a perfect specimen to study. These large mammals sometimes have better medical records too  and that means more age-related data for researchers to analyse.

In Myanmar there are a huge amount of elephants employed in the logging industry, said Prof. Lummaa. These elephants go to a vet every two weeks throughout their lives to determine if they are healthy to work or not.

We can use these historical records kept throughout their lives to see how much they worked and how their medical history and labour influenced their ageing later in life.

Combining these detailed records with blood samples, Prof. Lummaa will reveal how activity and health earlier in life is affecting biological indicators of ageing, such as telomere length which is a structure in cells that shorten with age. She hopes this will allow her to predict why some elephants grow old faster than others.

This along with other cell changes reveal insights into biological ageing rate of both animals and humans, allowing researchers to look how the deterioration in cells is linked to factors like lifelong diseases, reproduction and stress.

If we know what factors are critical for healthy ageing and determining life span in an animal that lives for 70 years, those results will quite likely be broadly applicable to our own species, says Prof Lummaa.

Early insights have found that elephant calves will have a faster ageing rate if they were born to mothers who were stressed during pregnancy from work or harsh weather. Prof. Lummaa does not yet know exactly why this happens, but she believes this finding is just one example of many that can be revealed by the end of the project in two years.

She hopes to find some sort of interventions that could improve ageing in the elephants. If they notice some animals are at risk they could develop recommendations of which animals should be treated a specific way and that could eventually lead to links into how our lifestyle, immunity and nutrition affect how we age.

Understanding which lifestyle and health factors lead to faster ageing bodies in elephants, and why, will provide an opportunity to prevent similar processes in humans in the future.

Dr Cristofari will also study the same Asian elephants in Myanmar and combine his research with Prof. Lummaa, hoping it will help them both reveal further insights into TP53 and ageing rates.

Once we can genotype these elephants and (create) background links to their ageing differences, we can look at lifestyle factors and see how that interacts with genetics, said Prof. Lummaa.

The research in this article was funded by the EU. If you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.I am person who is uncompromisingly black and unapologetically gay. Deal with it.

I am person who is uncompromisingly black and unapologetically gay. Deal with it. Alvin McEwen

[image: sexual assault] Published by Reuters By Patricia Zengerle and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters)  Members of the U.S. Congress said on Wednesday t...

Dear Readers, Stonewall Gazette is being placed on an indefinite hiatus due to my health. I have stage four peritoneal cancer. Life's journey can be a roug...

Two rural Nevada counties have joined constitutional sheriff Richard Macks Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. The CSPOA urges loc...

The Grammy-nominated singer teams up with Bright Light, Bright Light, and it's fabulous.

This was inevitable: Reports Thursday morning reveal that Rudy Giuliani, the personal attorney for the former reality TV game show host and evicted White H...

USA Today reports: A Florida high rise that collapsed early Thursday was determined to be unstable a year ago, according to a researcher at Florida Inter...SPRINGFIELD  Setting up the legislation for an immediate floor vote and delivery to a receptive Gov. J.B. Pritzker, an Illinois House committee approved a measure Wednesday that would hike the state's minimum wage to $15 within six years. The plan is being met with strong opposition from business groups.

The Labor and Commerce Committee voted 19-10 along party lines to advance Rep. Will Guzzardi's plan. It would bump the $8.25-an-hour rate to $9.25 on Jan. 1. After moving to $10 on July 1, 2020, it would increase $1 each Jan. 1 until 2025.

"Anyone in this state who is working for that wage will tell you they're not being compensated fairly," Guzzardi, a Chicago Democrat, testified. "They're being kept in poverty by being paid a wage that is less than the value of the dignity of the work that they put in every day."

The Senate approved the legislation last week. Pritzker, a Democrat, made a $15 minimum a centerpiece of his successful campaign last fall. He has instructed Democrats who control the General Assembly to send him a bill he can sign into law before his Feb. 20 address to unveil his budget proposal.

House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, said the bill would be called for a vote today (Thursday) and he expected the legislation to pass.

Republicans said the fast-tracked advancement of the measure puts an end to a short-lived era of good feeling between the parties at the Capitol.

This is a change of attitude since last month, Republican House Leader Jim Durkin said. There was all these platitudes and statements that were made about how we were going to work together and solve these problems. That is not the case today. Republicans have been shut out in negotiating in the House, and we have had no voice with the administration.

Major business interests oppose the pace of the phase-in. They have pushed a tiered approach with lower hourly rates in regions outside Chicago that have lower costs of living. The Illinois Retail Merchants Association has suggested phasing in to a $15 base wage in Chicago, $13 in its suburbs and $11 in the rest of the state.

"Small businesses across the state of Illinois are concerned that our local economies are being perceived as comparable to the bustling Chicago, Illinois," said Karen Conn, whose family owns central Illinois hospitality businesses. "I live here, work here, play here, every single day, and I'm here to tell you that Springfield is nowhere comparable."

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Pritzker opposes regionalization. He said last week that it would be unfair for workers doing the same jobs in different cities would be paid different wages. The bill set for a vote today (Thursday) does not include those provisions.

Illinois Municipal League also released a letter this week urging legislators to push back on a one-size-fits-all statewide approach. The organization is pushing for a wage increase that takes into account the "significant economic differences" communities face.

"We ask you, as a legislator representing our cities, towns and villages, to recognize that while $15 per hour may be acceptable for some communities, it has a different and varying impact among regions throughout the state," the letter reads.

The IML also states the increase would have a negative impact of employers and employees because of the differing economic states of the state's region.

"An increase to $15 per hour, even over a long period of time, could have a negative impact on many employers and employees in our communities because the dynamics in major metropolitan areas simply do not exist everywhere and cannot be relied on to blunt this added cost," the group said.

According to a survey conducted last week by Central Illinois Regional Chamber Legislative Efforts, a collection of 14 local chambers of commerce, more than 91 percent of 424 surveyed reported concern about the impact the wage increase will have on their business.

The top four effects business owners predict the increase will have on their business are a need to raise prices to cover costs (68 percent), reduce hours for employees (63 percent), slow down hiring for new positions and laying off employees (48 percent). Another 14 percent (about 60 businesses) said they would have to consider closing due to the increase.

Some larger employers have already beaten Illinois to the punch at raising employee wages. Amazon set its starting rate for U.S. workers at $15 per hour last year. In a tweet congratulating the Illinois Senate for passing the bill last week, the e-commerce giant noted that after they announced their wage increase the number of new applicants for jobs with the company tripled.

Target raised its starting wage to $12 in 2018 and has indicated it plans to raise it to $15 by 2020. Walmart has raised its starting wage to $11.

The Belleville News-Democrat, State Journal-Register and Capitol News Illinois contributed to this report.

Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1CHICAGO  The wife of a Chicago police officer who was convicted of fatally shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald demanded on Thursday to know why her husband was transferred from an Illinois state prison where he was kept from harm to a federal prison in Connecticut where he was assaulted and where she fears he is still in danger.

"I don't need people to go into his cell and attack him," said an emotional Tiffany Van Dyke at a news conference. "The next time this could happen, they could kill him. I cannot bury my husband."

The Illinois Department of Corrections confirmed Thursday that Jason Van Dyke was moved to federal custody but would not say why. Asked about the attack on Van Dyke, the federal Bureau of Prisons said in an email that it could confirm "an assault resulting in minor injuries" occurred on Feb. 7. The bureau declined to provide additional information, citing privacy concerns.

Van Dyke, who is white, was convicted in October of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery for shooting McDonald 16 times in 2014. He was sentenced last month to six years and nine months in prison.

Van Dyke was attacked by another inmate after his transfer to the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, appellate attorney Jennifer Blagg said in an interview Thursday. Blagg said Van Dyke was not severely injured and has since been placed in a segregated unit away from most inmates as a precaution.

Blagg said she learned of the attack when she and another attorney were on the phone with Van Dyke talking a request the state's attorney general filed asking the Illinois Supreme Court to review Van Dyke's sentence.

"We were explaining to him what it meant ... when he said another inmate had jumped him and landed a few punches," Blagg said.

Blagg didn't appear at a news conference Thursday with Tiffany Van Dyke and trial attorneys Dan Herbert and Tammy Wendt, who expressed concern that Jason Van Dyke had been placed in the prison's general population with other inmates. They said former police officers would be particularly vulnerable to attack from other inmates  something Tiffany Van Dyke and others told a judge about during her husband's sentencing hearing. While imprisoned in Illinois, Van Dyke had been kept in a segregated unit.

"It was as if he was led like a lamb to slaughter," said Wendt of the attack that she said occurred within four hours of Van Dyke's arrival to the general population unit.

Van Dyke is the first Chicago police officer in a half century convicted of murder in an on-duty shooting. He was sentenced in January to six years and nine months in prison  a sentence that angered activists. This week, the state's attorney general and the special prosecutor who handled the case and asked the judge to impose a sentence of 18 to 20 years asked the Illinois Supreme Court to review the sentence.

Absent a new sentence, Van Dyke will likely serve only about three years, with credit for good behavior.

Tiffany Van Dyke said the assault was a realization of her worst fears and noted the widespread media attention his case has received in explaining why her husband might still be in danger even though he's imprisoned several states away.

"My husband's life, my family's life is national news," she said. "At the basic minimum, they were supposed to keep him safe."

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0DECATUR  Police accuse Decatur mother Twanka L. Davis of leaving her 2-year-old daughter to starve and freeze to death amid filthy, rodent-infested conditions in their home, according to a sworn affidavit.

The affidavit, filed Thursday, said Davis was arrested Wednesday afternoon and booked on preliminary charges of murder, involuntary manslaughter and endangering the life and health of a child. Preliminary charges are subject to review by the Macon County State Attorneys Office.

The child was taken from her mother in 2018 during an investigation of child abuse and placed in foster care, police said. She was returned to her mother in August.

DCFS is investigating allegations of abuse and neglect in this case. We have had prior contact based on previous allegations of abuse and neglect," said Jimmie Whitelow, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, speaking Thursday evening. He would not answer any further questions about the family's history with DCFS.

Decatur Ambulance Service personnel said they found the body of Ta'Naja Barnes wrapped in a soiled blanket that smelled of urine after police were sent to the home in the 1800 block of East North Street at 7:48 a.m. Monday to investigate an unresponsive child, according to the affidavit.

Medical staff indicated the core temperature of the child was so low it would not register on their device, police officer James Wrigley said in the affidavit. Officers on scene at the residence documented the overwhelming smell of urine, feces and rotten food/garbage. Officers documented the temperature on the thermostat inside the residence registered at 45 degrees.

Wrigley said the thermostat was actually set to 75 degrees, and the temperature in the home rose while police were there.

Ta'Naja Barnes was pronounced dead at the emergency room of HSHS St. Marys Hospital at 8:06 a.m. Monday. Wrigley said an autopsy was performed Tuesday, and the preliminary findings were physical neglect, malnourishment, dehydration and cold exposure. He said the childs weight was just 21 pounds.

While she was in foster care in July, Ta'Naja was seen by a doctor. She weighed 25.8 pounds at the time, Wrigley wrote.

Wrigley said Davis, 21, and her 25-year-old boyfriend have a 1-year-old son that is also the boyfriend's child. He slept in his parents bedroom where there was a heater that had been in Ta'Najas room; Wrigley said Davis told police she had removed the heater on Sunday and placed it in her bedroom to replace one that was broken.

Twanka admitted that she routinely turns the heat off in the residence at night and had turned it off on Saturday and Sunday evening, said Wrigley. Twanka admitted she would not stay in temperatures in the 30s and 20s for a long time period of time because she would freeze to death.

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Wrigley said the low temperature on Sunday, the day before Ta'Najas body was found, had a high of 32 and a low of 20 degrees.

Documenting further the conditions in the house, Wrigley said Ta'Naja was kept in a bedroom bare of furniture except for a toddler bed with no sheets or blankets. In the middle of the room, littered with rodent feces, was an empty two-liter bottle and a empty half-pint vodka bottle which Davis said she had used to give her daughter water.

Davis is quoted as telling police she had given Ta'Naja a meal of red beans, rice and chicken around 7 p.m. Sunday, the last time she had seen her. Twanka explained that she told Ta'Naja to eat her dinner and Ta'Naja had told Twanka no. Twanka advised she noticed Ta'Naja had not eaten her lunch.

The mother told police she had next checked on her daughter at 7:30 a.m. Monday, finding her lying on the floor uncovered. Twanka advised she shook Ta'Naja who was unresponsive, and then she called 911.

Wrigley described living conditions in the house as appalling, with the stench of garbage and urine throughout. The only bathroom had a toilet filled to the brim with a dark brown colored liquid and the plumbing to the kitchen sink was disconnected. Signs of rodent and insect infestation were everywhere.

The couple's son was removed from the house and placed in protective custody. Wrigley noted he weighed 28 pounds and is one year and two months younger than his half-sister.

Questioned about the neglect and death of her daughter, Davis said she gave her food but doesnt control if she eats it ... Twanka accepted no responsibility for the death of her child, said Wrigley.

Davis remained held in the Macon County Jail Thursday night in lieu of posting $1 million bail. She is due to appear in Macon County Circuit Court Feb. 21.

Court records show that Davis and her boyfriend are also litigants in an ongoing case involving the city of Decatur.

Amy Waks, assistant corporation counsel for the city, said the couple has violated city ordinance by failing to have trash collection service active for their North Street home.

She said the city has filed a petition for the court to enforce an administrative judgment that requires Davis and her boyfriend to obtain garbage service and to pay related fines and fees within a certain period.

Records show the city case was opened Oct. 31. The couple is due to appear in court for that case on Feb. 27.

2019 mug shots from the Herald & Review

Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid

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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.MONTICELLO  A 39-year-old former employee of the Monticello Community Unit School District has been indicted on federal child pornography charges, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of Illinois.

Sharon Paul, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney John Milhiser, said in a statement that William M. Bell was arrested on Feb. 8 and appeared for a detention hearing Thursday morning.

The St. Joseph man was ordered to remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service during the hearing, Paul said, and a trial will begin on March 5 with Springfield U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough presiding.

Paul's statement said Bell used a computer or other device to send images of minors engaged in sexually explicit activity in July and August. He was also in possession of child pornography images in November, the statement said.

If Bell is convicted of the two counts of transportation of child pornography against him, Paul said, the penalty for each count is five to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. A conviction for possessing child pornography can result in up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, she said.

Paul said Bell was indicted as a result of a joint investigation by the FBI, the Champaign County Sheriff's Office and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force of the Illinois Attorney General's Office.

Vic Zimmerman, superintendent of the Monticello school district, released a statement that said Bell, who worked for the district's technology department, was placed on administrative leave in November after district officials were contacted by law enforcement about the child pornography investigation.

Zimmerman said Bell resigned from his position with the district on Feb. 4.

"We have cooperated fully with the FBI and Champaign County Sheriff's Department who did investigate school computers and networks and found no issues related to Bell's employment with the district or conducting illegal activity on school computers or involving any district students," he said.

Zimmerman said the district could not comment further on the issue, citing an active investigation.

Contact Jaylyn Cook at (217) 421-7980. Follow him on Twitter: @jaylyn_HR

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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.DECATUR  A former Decatur Walgreens employee is accused of helping himself to cash out of the till and multiple gift cards together valued at more than $1,500.

A sworn Decatur Police affidavit said the 20-year-old man was picked up and arrested at 2:44 a.m. Tuesday and booked on a preliminary charge of retail theft. All preliminary charges are subject to review by the state attorneys office. The thefts were described as dating back to multiple occasions in July at the Walgreens store at 420 W. 1st Drive.

Writing in the affidavit, Decatur Police Officer Philip Ganley said a Walgreens asset protection manager had detected the thefts and handed police a USB drive of video surveillance showing the employee stealing money from the register and stealing gift cards.

Ganley said the man would remove money from the till and hide it in his pants and also stole three gift cards, loaded them with money, and concealed them in his pants as well.

The man remained in the custody of the Macon County Jail Wednesday night in lieu of posting $5,000 bond. If he makes bail, he is ordered to stay away from all Walgreens branches.

A manager answering the phone at the West 1st Drive store Wednesday afternoon said the business had no comment.

Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid

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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.Dear Abby: Valentine's Day is here and, to be honest, I don't know much about St. Valentine. So I wonder if he meant the day to only be about lovers.

Is there any reason I shouldn't send valentines to my friends? Why should anyone feel bad because they're not "with" someone? If you love and/or care about a person, can't you send them a box of chocolates, a card or some flowers? It seems to me this should be a time of year you can let a buddy know you appreciate him, or let your brother, cousin, sister, neighbor or co-worker know you care.

It doesn't have to be mushy. Happy Valentine's Day to you, Abby!

-- Tim In Syracuse

Dear Tim: Valentine's Day may have started as a celebration of romance and romantic love, but it has broadened to acknowledge other kinds of love and affection. There's absolutely no reason you cannot celebrate the way you described.

Happy Valentine's Day to YOU, Tim, and to all my readers, for whom I have great appreciation and affection.

Dear Abby: My brother is a 59-year-old widower. He has dated a few women over the years, and he's very afraid of being alone.

The woman he is with now has made it clear that she is with him because he can provide financial security for her. She's pushing him to move in together and get married, but only after he sells his house and buys a new one. She said she could never live there because his deceased wife lived there. However, she is unable to contribute anything financially, so this would all be out of his pocket. He looks past all of this.

I have told him I'm worried about her using him for his money, but he doesn't want to hear it. How can I get through to him?

-- Wise Sister in Pennsylvania

Dear Sister: You obviously can't. However, his lawyer might be able to deliver that message more effectively than you. This is why you should STRONGLY encourage him to have a talk with his lawyer before he sells his house or formalizes his arrangement with this lady, who has made her objectives crystal clear.

Dear Abby: My father passed away after a long illness four months ago. I lived in the same building as my parents, but a different apartment. (I still do.)

Obviously, I encounter other tenants in the public areas of the building. Since my father's death, most of them have asked me how my mother is doing. However, no one has ever asked me how I am doing. Frankly, it's very hurtful. Dad was getting hospice care at home, so I experienced his decline and finally the loss. Why does no one care to offer me any words of sympathy?

-- Still Grieving

Dear Still Grieving: When there is a death, many people are uncomfortable. They don't mean to be insensitive; they simply don't know what to say to the grieving relatives.

I assume that your mother and father are/were elderly. The death of a spouse after many decades of marriage can be so traumatic that the partner goes into a decline. Your neighbors may assume that because you are younger and stronger, that you are more resilient and therefore are doing fine. Please don't hold the fact that they haven't asked how you are doing against them.

* * *

Abby shares more than 100 of her favorite recipes in two booklets: "Abby's Favorite Recipes" and "More Favorite Recipes by Dear Abby." Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $16 to: Dear Abby, Cookbooklet Set, Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)

Dear Abby is written by Jeanne Phillips for Universal Press Syndicate. Write to Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1When I began bowhunting six decades ago, I could not have predicted the colossal advances in the technology we use to harvest game, particularly the changes in archery equipment. Yet bowhunters today face challenges that I did, then and now: the need to close the distance on an animal and make an ethical kill with an arrow.

This challenge and low odds of success allows archers to hunt during the elk rut, when bull elk are most vulnerable. But its still normally difficult, requiring archery skill, hunting expertise and a strong measure of perseverance, and often good luck. Many dedicated hunters and conservationists have worked extensively to establish and maintain this special season reserved only for those who hunt with stick and string.

The ensuing years have seen a number of attempts to diminish Montanas bowhunting traditions by allowing the use of crossbows during archery season. Each time, Montanas bowhunters have pointed out the threat crossbows would be to archery season opportunities.The second pillar is to form a unified voice for agriculture, creating a cohesiveness in the early days of homesteading to today where farmers are able to talk everything from new techniques and technology to policy and politics.

The final pillar is agricultural education. Nelson says that in the federations more recent history, the organization realized that the shrinking percentage of farmers in the national population meant more outreach was critical. The bureaus have begun to focus on farm tours and classroom education for the general population as well as educating farmers about how to better their craft.

Federation President Hans McPherson spoke at Wednesdays ceremony at the Capitol.

One hundred years is a big big accomplishment for anybody, he said.

McPherson noted that in the last 10-15 years, the federation has really come into its own when it comes to a statewide advocate for farming policy and laws, pointing to legislation this year it has advocated for and opposed.

Were a grassroots organization, nonpartisan that works to making farming and ranching rural communities better by striving for more unity on issues important to agriculture, he said.An avalanche spilled over part of Interstate 90 Wednesday afternoon near St. Regis, according to the Montana Department of Transportation.

Officials have closed the westbound lanes of traffic and will soon begin rerouting drivers to Highway 135, according to Montana Highway Patrol.

The slide comes in the middle of a week plagued by rollovers, semi-truck crashes and subsequent injuries along the I-90 corridor due to heavy snow and slick roadways.

When reached by phone, a woman at the MDT office said there was no time for updates.

"We're so swamped around here," she said.

Montana Highway Patrol Capt. Jim Kitchin said no vehicles were caught in the avalanche, and that MHP would soon be assisting MDT in rerouting traffic up MT Highway 135 to Highway 200. Even that option, he said, sounded a little treacherous.

"Pretty sure they're getting a lot of snow on 200 right now," he said. "There's a lot of crashes and we're getting a lot of calls."

Kitchin said the avalanche was relatively small, but due to conditions, officials decided to close the road down until further notice.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0The Mysterious Lives of Burrowers

Join us from 6-7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at Montana Wild, 2668 Broadwater Ave., for an after dinner event.

This program will take you on a journey below ground to discover the amazing world of burrowers. During the program, you will be introduced to animals that create a very specialized underground habitat. To register, call 406-444-9944.

End to elk shoulder seasons nearing

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks reminds hunters that elk shoulder seasons ends Feb. 15.

First approved by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission for the 2016 season, shoulder seasons are an opportunity for hunters in hunting districts where elk populations are over objective. For the 2018 season, the commission approved shoulder seasons in more than 50 hunting districts, in six of FWPs seven regions.

Shoulder seasons have specific fundamental objectives and as such, the commission and department are monitoring the success of shoulder seasons in each hunting district to ensure they are meeting those objectives.Helena Public Schools officials have not yet decided whether they will ask voters for an additional property tax levy this election cycle, but they aren't ruling out the possibility just yet.

During a meeting this week, the board of trustees passed a resolution calling for an election this spring. The resolution calls for the election of three trustees and maintains the option to put a new mill levy to a vote.

Superintendent Tyler Ream said it is common for school districts to call for this voted levy in their election resolutions even if they don't end up using it. This is typically because districts don't have a clear picture of next year's budget in February, when they need to call for an election. The superintendent said the district will have a better idea of the 2019-20 budget next month.

Board Chair Sarah Sullivan said the district would "hedge our bets" by putting this in the resolution.

"If we don't call for it and we've not secured resources then we would be in trouble," Ream said.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Several colleagues and friends spoke about Infanger from the commission chambers.

Sheriff Leo Dutton said Infanger brings a passion and purpose to mitigation work as well as a concern for the well-being of others as a firefighter.

Oftentimes people are given an opportunity to excel, but not everybody reaches out and takes it and makes something of it, Dutton said. A lot of us receive opportunities, but it takes a special person to recognize that opportunity and to make it something we can all benefit from.

Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest supervisor Bill Avey called Infanger a leader in preparing local communities for wildfire and an example of strong public service.

I just think about all the hours that youve been away from home responding or taking care of other people, and I just think its such a model for an outstanding way to live a life, he said.

Representatives with DNRC, BLM the Wolf Creek/Craig board of directors and FireSafe Montana also praised Infanger.

Hes a natural leader, he knows how to step up, he knows how to get boots on the ground and get the work done and get the work done properly, said Tony Harwood, FireSafes chairman.Summary The 2014 Winter Olympics. The 1945 Yalta Conference. Anton Chekhovs 1899 story The Lady With the Dog. These are but a few testaments to the enduring geopolitical and cultural significance of the Black Sea. But the regions history isnt all sports, seaside romances and peace negotiations  far from it. Over the centuries, the Black Sea has time and again been the focus of competition and conflict as its littoral states, namely Russia and Turkey, vie to protect critical security interests there. These powers and others have fought over, won and lost territory in and around the sea  some of them more than once. And as Russias interventions in the Crimean Peninsula and in Georgia attest, the struggle is alive and well in the 21st century. This Deep Dive will look at why the Black Sea and its surrounding shores have been the subject of so much strife and how the power distribution among its littoral states today propagates the cycle of conflicto.

Water Worth Fighting For Of the six states that border the Black Sea, Turkey and Russia are primarily responsible for the course of the regions development over time. The two have spent most of their history in a bitter rivalry, despite their recent alliance of convenience over short-term endeavors, such as the war in Syria . Over hundreds of years, the Russian and Ottoman empires fought numerous wars  each of which traced back in one way or another to the issue of territorial control of the Black Sea.

In terms of geography, the region offers plenty of features worth fighting over. The Bosporus and Dardanelles straits  which connect the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, and from there to the Aegean, the Mediterranean and the wider maritime world  have inspired several battles for their control. During World War I, for example, Ottoman and allied British, Australian and French forces fought over the Dardanelles at Gallipoli. On the opposite side of the Black Sea lies the Sea of Azov, situated between Russia and Ukraine. The Don and Kuban rivers flow into the sea, linking it to the Russian heartland as well as the Caucasus. Connecting the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea at the tip of the Crimean Peninsula is the Kerch Strait, the site of a newly constructed Russian bridge and a recent dustup between Russia and Ukraine . The Black Sea itself is no less strategic than the waterways that surround it. The Dniester, Dnieper and Danube rivers flow into the sea and have made for strategic transit routes dating back to Ottoman times.

( click to enlarge ) A History of Violence Conflict between Russia and the Ottomans dates back to the 16th century, but the competition began in earnest only toward the end of the next century. At the time, Russia faced threats on multiple fronts. To the west, there was Poland, which had gone to war several times with Russia in the 17th century and even occupied Moscow during a particularly tumultuous period in Russian history. To the south were the Tatars, who controlled the Black Sea and often conducted raids into Russian territory on behalf of the Ottoman Empire. Russia signed a truce with Poland in 1667 that gave it control of Ukrainian territory east of the Dnieper River. Russia also gained control of Kiev, strategically positioned on the river, for two years and wanted to make it permanent.

At the time, Poland was at war with the Ottomans. Having pushed them out of Vienna, Poland, along with its allies in the Holy League (which included the Holy Roman Empire and the Venetian Republic) tried to drive the Ottomans back out of Eastern Europe. Russia, which had cordial relations with the Ottomans in the recent past, initially stayed out of the war but ultimately decided to join the fight in exchange for Poland ceding control of Kiev beyond the initial two-year arrangement.

( click to enlarge ) T he effort had strategic benefits beyond putting a stop to the Tatar raids. The main objective of Peter the Greats rule was to catch Russia up with Western Europe so that it could compete as an economic and military power. Gaining greater access to the outside world was a critical part of this endeavor. And for that, Russia needed a reliable year-round port, unlike Arkhangelsk, its biggest port up until that point, which lay so far north that its waters stayed frozen much of the year. St. Petersburg, established in 1703 on the Gulf of Finland, eventually drew much of Russias maritime traffic, but it, too, froze in the frigid winter temperatures, as did the Neva River that flowed into it. To obtain a true warm-water port, Russia would have to look south.

Russia seized control of the Sea of Azov in its operation in the late 17th century, beginning the gradual erosion of Ottoman control of the Black Sea. But the area was traded back and forth between the Russians and Ottomans for over half a century. Russia lost control of the Sea of Azov in a short war with the Ottomans in 1710-11 and then regained partial access in another conflict from 1735 to 1739. It was granted the right to build a port there but was not allowed to sail its naval fleets on either the Sea of Azov or the Black Sea

It wasnt until the Russo-Turkic war of 1768-74 that Russia ousted the Ottomans from their post on the sea. The Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca, which ended the conflict, enabled Russian fleets to move freely in the Sea of Azov, through the Kerch Strait and into the Black Sea. It granted the Crimean Khanate independence from the Ottoman Empire, making it a smaller, weaker foe and, in effect, securing Russias Black Sea coast. The treaty also declared Russia the protector of Christians in the Ottoman Empire, a position it used repeatedly in the following centuries to justify wars with Turkey, and set an enduring precedent for Russian intervention in defense of Orthodox Christians in the Balkans and the Caucasus.

But for all Russias efforts over time to control the Black Sea, the strait that links the body to the seas beyond, the Bosporus, has always stayed beyond its grasp. The Bosporus has been and remains Turkeys ultimate point of leverage over Russia. Russian vessels can sail the Black Sea all they want, but without Ankaras consent, they cant leave it. This is no idle threat for Russia. During World War I, the Ottoman Empire crippled the Russian economy by cutting Russian commerce off from the Mediterranean through a blockade of the Bosporus. Turkey wielded that power as a critical part of NATOs containment line in the Cold War, keeping the Soviet Union hemmed in at the Black Sea.

Since the Soviet Unions collapse, the contest for the Black Sea region has continued. Ukraines independence in 1991 introduced the possibility that the country would align with the West, an intolerable risk for Russia  and one the 2014 Euromaidan uprising in Ukraine has only reinvigorated. Today, Russia supports separatist groups in eastern Ukraine and has reasserted its control of the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed nearly five years ago. It also built a bridge across the Kerch Strait with such a low clearance that it prevents Ukrainian vessels from passing; Russia detained several Ukrainian sailors in November after a confrontation between Russian and Ukrainian naval vessels in the strait. If Russia escalates its intervention in Ukraine , Turkey may face a difficult choice between allowing NATO forces into the Black Sea, counter to the terms of the Montreux Convention (which governs access to the Bosporus Strait), or defying its allies in the bloc by denying their passage through the Bosporus. ( click to enlarge ) Though Russias naval base at Tartus, Syria, gives it access to the Mediterranean, its of little concern to the Turks. Under its agreement with Syria, Russia can deploy up to 11 warships at the base. Moscow has also been investing in support infrastructure to house a larger flotilla there. But the base doesnt present much of a threat to Turkey because, in case of a war, Russia would still need to bring supplies to the base through the Turkish-controlled Bosporus.

The Competition for Other Shores Ukraine isnt the only Black Sea state that has weathered competition between Russia and Turkey. The two powers have also vied over the centuries for control of the South Caucasus region , including Georgia. Georgias strategic value is its role as a buffer along Russias southern border.

Just over a decade ago, Russia invaded the former Soviet republic, an otherwise minor player in the regions maritime activities. Georgia at the time was considering a bid for NATO membership. It was also dealing with a separatist uprising in the territory of Abkhazia, which broke away in a war in the early 1990s. Russia intervened on Abkhazias side, and by the end of its dayslong war with Georgia, it recognized the territory, as well as the breakaway region of South Ossetia, as an independent state. It has occupied the two territories ever since. Russias involvement in Abkhazia gives it access to a few additional ports on the Black Sea: Sukhumi  Abkhazias capital and main port  Ochamchire, Gagra and Novy Afon.

( click to enlarge ) The remaining littoral states of the Black Sea  Bulgaria and Romania  are also part of the competition between Russia and the West. Today, they are NATO members, but their ties to Russia and Turkey date back centuries. Bulgaria and Romania were members of the Warsaw Pact. Long before that, though, the Russian and Ottoman empires struggled for dominance over the states.

Most recently, Bulgaria has been caught in a competition over energy supplies between Russia and Ukraine. Bulgaria depends on natural gas pipelines that run from Russia through Ukraine, and when Moscow cut supplies to Ukraine in 2009, it didnt receive enough natural gas to meet domestic demand. The construction of the TurkStream pipeline, which runs through the Black Sea, will enable Russia to use natural gas supplies as leverage over Ukraine without jeopardizing the access of importers down the line, including Bulgaria and states in Eastern and Southern Europe. Bulgaria is even planning to invest about $1.6 billion in the construction of an additional link to Turkey, the pipelines terminus and, as such, an essential partner in the TurkStream endeavor. (As the only alternative route to European markets, the pipeline also gives Turkey some leverage over Russia, though Russia is Turkeys top supplier of natural gas and, therefore, still has the upper hand in this regard.)

( click to enlarge ) Earlier in its history, Bulgaria was embroiled in a more violent regional struggle, as Russia and the Ottomans fought cyclical wars, including the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish war. The peace deal the two powers reached in that conflict, the Treaty of San Stefano, granted Russia so much territory that Germany intervened to mediate a solution more palatable to Europe. An ascendant Russia, after all, would have posed enough of a threat to the weaker Austro-Hungarian Empire to upset the balance of power on the Continent. (Were Austria-Hungary to fall, Germany would have no ally to its east to help fight or insulate it against Russia.) The revised agreement, the Treaty of Berlin, vastly curtailed Russias land acquisition and turned Russia against Germany, leading to the Franco-Russian alliance and laying the groundwork for World War I. It also established Bulgaria as an independent state for the first time since the Ottomans conquered it in 1396.

( click to enlarge ) In the years that followed, conflict in the Balkans, including the discord that gave rise to World War I, frequently distracted Bulgaria from its Black Sea interests. And as a NATO member, Bulgaria plays a modest role in the region, hosting a small contingent of Italian jets and four U.S. military bases, one of which Washington plans to upgrade this year, investing about $5 million.

Romania, by contrast, is home to a substantial NATO force at its air base in Constanta, where the Danube connects with the Black Sea by way of a canal. The base, which regularly houses an armored brigade combat team, is the only installation in the Black Sea region that supports U.S. forces, according to Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, former commander of the U.S. Army Europe. For missile defense, Romania has installed the Aegis and Patriot systems and recently placed its second order in two years for more of the latter system. (The Danube itself is a possible vulnerability for Romania, though its also a potentially important transport link for commerce. NATOs bombing campaign against Serbia in 1999, for example, destroyed several bridges along the Danube, forcing the rivers closure and costing Romania hundreds of millions of dollars in lost trade.)

For centuries, the multiple axes of competition in the Black Sea have made it a site of repeated conflict over the same strategic passages. The contest has been most pronounced between Russia and Turkey, which have fought countless wars to secure access to the Black Sea and its surrounding waters. Threats from the West have driven Russia to intervene in Ukraine, which can draw Russia into conflict with Turkey. Whether the competition manifests in Russian military intervention or in energy disputes, the struggle continues to this day.Since the day after Christmas, the markets have been in a surge very similar to what we saw in January of 2018.

Here is January 2018:

And 2019:

Of course, in February 2018, the rally ended.

As we have discussed previously, price movements are very much confined by the "physics" of technicals. A couple of weeks ago, we drew out what we expected to be the movement over the market over the next couple of weeks.

We said then the most likely target for the rally was the 200-dma. It was essentially the level at which the "irresistible force would meet the immovable object."

The chart below is updated through Friday afternoon:

As noted, we lifted profits at the 200-dma and added hedges to the Equity and Equity Long/Short portfolios.

What will be critically important now is for the markets to retest and hold support at the Oct-

Nov lows which will coincide with the 50-dma. A failure of that level will likely see a retest of the 2018 lows.

A retest of those lows by the way is not an "outside chance." It is actually a fairly high possibility. A look back at the 2015-2016 correction makes the case for that fairly clearly.

But even if a retest of lows doesn't happen, you should be aware that sharp market rallies are not uncommon, but almost always have a subsequent retracement.

The point here is that the move off of the December lows is likely now complete, for now.

Thomas Thornton from Hedge Fund Telemetry had a great note out this past week on this point.

"The strong move off the lows in December is complete. As you have seen I've moved from a very high exposure level of 90% net long from mid December to now net short.

Various internals are overbought, sentiment is back in the elevated zone, and price targets have been achieved. There have been 45 new DeMark sell signals and only 2 buy signals so far in February. Recall in December there were 225 buy signals and 25 sell signals which had an average gain together of 11.5% since. In January there were 72 total signals with the majority 53 sells/19 buys with only a gain of 0.5% since. It's telling me a shift is coming and that's lower. How low? As of now, I'm not saying new lows but higher lows but that could change if some Trend Factor levels break and we see downside Countdowns start."

SentimenTrader also recently noted market performance when the VIX hits a three-month low with the S&P under the 200-day. Performance is very negative going forward.

Signs Of Caution

As we noted last Tuesday, there are a litany of things that are worth paying attention to. To wit:

It is too early to suggest the "bear market of 2018" is officially over.

But, the rally has simply been "Too Fast, Too Furious," completely discounting the deteriorating fundamental underpinnings:

Earnings estimates for 2019 have sharply collapsed as I previously stated they would and still have more to go. In fact, as of now, the consensus estimates are suggesting the first year-over-year decline since 2016.

Stock market targets for 2019 are way too high as well.

Despite the Federal Reserve turning more dovish verbally, it DID NOT say it actually WOULD pause its rate hikes or stop reducing its balance sheet.

Larry Kudlow said the U.S. and China are still VERY far apart on trade.

Trump has postponed his meeting with President Xi, which puts the market at risk of higher tariffs.

There is a decent probability the U.S. government winds up getting shut down again after next week over "border wall" funding.

The effect of the tax cut legislation has disappeared as year-over-year comparisons are reverting back to normalized growth rates.

Economic growth is slowing as previously stated.

Chinese economic has weakened further since our previous note.

European growth, already weak, will likely struggle as well.

Valuations remain expensive

Despite recent comments that "recession risk" is non-existent, there are various indications which suggest that risk is much higher than currently appreciated. The New York Federal Reserve recession indicator is now at the highest level since 2008.

Also, as noted by George Vrba recently, the unemployment rate may also be warning of a recession as well.



"For what is considered to be a lagging indicator of the economy, the unemployment rate provides surprisingly good signals for the beginning and end of recessions. This model, backtested to 1948, reliably provided recession signals.

The model, updated with the January 2019 rate of 4.0%, does not signal a recession. However, if the unemployment rate should rise to 4.1% in the coming months the model would then signal recession."

The point here is that ignoring the "risks" leaves you "exposed." If you think it's going to rain, you carry an umbrella.

This is why we recently raised cashed and added hedges to portfolios - just in case it rains. And, right now, it seems to be sprinkling a bit. As John Murphy via StockCharts.com noted on Friday:

"It looks like the 200-day averages that we've all been watching have managed to contain the 2019 rally. Chart 1 shows the S&P 500 pulling back from that red overhead resistance line. That's not too surprising considering the steepness of the recent rally which put stock indexes in a short-term overbought condition. The upper box in Chart 1 shows the more sensitive 9-day RSI line falling to the lowest level in a month after reaching overbought territory above 70. That also shows loss of upside momentum. The lower box shows daily MACD lines in danger of turning negative for the first time in a month. All of which suggests that the early 2019 stock rally has failed its first attempt to regain its 200-day moving average."

However, one of the biggest "warning flags" we are watching currently, and why we have taken a more cautious stance in portfolios, is because "bonds ain't buyin' it."

As shown in the chart below, the market has not only broken out of its rising wedge, but also yields have been dropping sharply as "risk on" is rotating to "risk off."

While the bulls clearly took charge of the market in late December, the question is whether or not they can maintain control.

The weight of macro evidence is going to weigh on the markets sooner than later, which is why we are opting to hedge risk and hold on to higher levels of cash currently.

The rally we discussed on December 25th has hit all of our targets, and then some.

Don't be greedy.

See you next week.

The Real 401(k) Plan Manager

A Conservative Strategy For Long-Term Investors

There are four steps to allocation changes based on 25% reduction increments. As noted in the chart above, a 100% allocation level is equal to 60% stocks. I never advocate being 100% out of the market, as it is far too difficult to reverse course when the market changes from a negative to a positive trend. Emotions keep us from taking the correct action.

Looking For Support

Over the last several of weeks, we have watch a sharp rally in stocks as Washington, the Fed, and global central banks have put their best foot forward to provide a "put" underneath stock prices following the rout last year.

That rally ran into our target resistance at the 200-dma last week and stocks are taking a breather. We continue to recommend taking some action in plans if you haven't done so already.

If you are overweight equities, reduce international, emerging market, mid-, and small-capitalization funds on any rally next week. Reduce overall portfolio weights to 75% of your selected allocation target.

If you are underweight equities, reduce international, emerging market, mid-, and small-capitalization funds on any rally next week but hold everything else for now.

If you are at target equity allocations, hold for now.

Continue to use rallies to reduce risk towards a target level with which you are comfortable.

Remember, this model is not ABSOLUTE - it is just a guide to follow.

Unfortunately, since 401(k) plans don't offer a lot of flexibility and have trading restrictions in many cases, we have to minimize our movement and try and make sure we are catching major turning points.

We want to make sure that we are indeed within a bigger correction cycle before reducing our risk exposure further.

Current 401(k) Allocation Model

The 401(k) plan allocation plan below follows the K.I.S.S. principle. By keeping the allocation extremely simplified, it allows for better control of the allocation and a closer tracking to the benchmark objective over time. (If you want to make it more complicated you can, however, statistics show that simply adding more funds does not increase performance to any great degree).IRONWOOD, Mich., Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Keweenaw Land Association, Limited (OTC US: KEWL) today announced an update relating to its previously announced, July 24, 2018 Option Agreement (the Option) with the State of Wisconsin regarding the potential purchase by the State of Wisconsin, Department of Natural Resources (Wisconsin DNR), of a 14,342-acre conservation easement.



Prior to a scheduled review of the proposal by the Wisconsin Natural Resource Board (the DNR Board) at their meeting in mid-December, the DNR Board removed the item from the agenda and directed the Wisconsin DNR to conduct a further appraisal with respect to the proposed easement. In late January, the Company was informed that Wisconsin DNR proposed to renegotiate the price under the Option, based on the results of the further appraisal, which focused on recent, comparable conservation-easement transactions that the State had entered into. The Keweenaws Board has approved a new price for the conservation easement under the Option of $4.8 million or approximately $337 per acre (instead of the earlier $5.7 million / approximately $397 per acre)  with no change in the $0.4 million of the proceeds to be set aside in an endowment to be used for repairs and maintenance on specific access roads on the property. The revised Option has been signed by the parties. The next step in the regulatory review process is for the proposal to be included on the agenda of the DNR Board. If the DNR Board approves the sale, the proposal would then be expected to go to Wisconsin Legislatures Joint Committee on Finance for review and if approved, be submitted to the Governor for his signature. Regulatory processes are inherently unpredictable. There can be no assurance that a closing of the conservation easement sale will actually occur.

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 release 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.JOHNSON CITY, Tenn., Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ballad Health today announced operational results from its first six months of the fiscal year, and quarterly results for the 2nd quarter. The announcement coincides with the announcement by Moodys Investor Services that Ballad Healths outlook has been revised from Neutral to POSITIVE.



Ballad Healths operational performance is exceptional because of the incredible work of our team members and affiliated physicians, said Alan Levine, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Ballad Health. I am proud of the focus on quality, and I believe our results demonstrate that better quality reduces cost, improves outcomes and generates positive financial performance for our communitys health system.

Serving the people of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia is both our privilege and our great responsibility. The board of Ballad Health stands firmly behind the efforts of our leadership to ensure qualitative, financial, and operational success for our regions healthcare system, said David Lester, a member of the board of directors and lead independent director. Our board and management team remain focused on implementing the vision of the merger. While this task is not always easy, as board members we want the best for our region, and we are pleased with the results so far.

Quality improvement results

Driven by clinical leadership and the contributions of physicians and team members across the system, Ballad Health has seen significant improvements in objective quality measures since the merger just one year ago. In the first six months of the year, 14 of the 17 Target Quality Measures and 8 of the 13 Priority Measures identified in the Certificate of Public Advantage (COPA) regulating Ballad Health improved from the baseline period  in some cases dramatically. These measures are nationally benchmarked for improvement in all U.S. acute care hospitals. While quality measures can vary from month to month, and Ballad Health cautions about the use of data at any particular time, positive trends are emerging. Examples include:

Pressure ulcer rates have declined by as much as 17%

Iatrogenic pneumothorax rate has declined by as much as 58%

Central venous catheter-related blood stream infection rate has declined as much as 40%

Perioperative hemorrhage or hematoma rate has declined by as much as 65%

Postoperative respiratory failure rate has declined as much as 44%

Clostridium difficile rate has declined by as much as 41%

Postoperative sepsis rate has declined by as much as 70%

Inpatient opioid administration rate has declined by as much as 36%

Median time from ED arrival to departure has improved by as much as 13%

Median time from ED arrival to transport for admitted patients improved by as much as 30%

Patients who reported their nurses always communicated well improved by as much as 8%

While we certainly dont draw conclusions about any one data point when it comes to measurement of quality, we are extremely pleased with the emerging trends, said Levine. While the results may vary month to month, over time we are seeing improvement. Behind these improvements in quality are patients who are safer and better off because of what our team is doing.

Ballad Healths Clinical Council, a system-wide physician-led effort to help the health system excel in improved quality, reduced cost and increased physician engagement, has taken active participation in driving Ballad Health to become a top-decile, zero harm health system. Chaired by Dr. Amit Vashist, in partnership with Ballad Health Chief Clinical Officer, Dr. Jerry Blackwell, the Clinical Council has already led Ballad Health to recognition for its efforts in value-based services. Ballad Health was selected by the High Value-Care Collaborative to participate with leading health systems to adopt strategies that will reduce unnecessary cost and deliver evidence-based care. The High Value-Care Collaborative is a joint project between the American Hospital Association, the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundations Choosing Wisely Campaign and the Costs of Care organization.

Our priorities are clear, said Blackwell. Ballad Health is committed to being a reliably high quality healthcare system, and our physician community stands in strong support of leaderships effort to transform our organization to becoming one of Americas leading health systems. This is a place doctors want to practice, and its a place patients will be able to count on consistently high quality.

Ballad Health has remained active in the recruitment of new physicians and mid-level providers throughout the region, signing contracts for 51 full-time equivalent new doctors and mid-levels. Early successes include the recruitment of cardiology in rural Wytheville, Virginia, and Norton, Virginia; nephrology in Abingdon, Virginia; and neurology, orthopedics, pain management, hospitalists, psychiatry, and other needed specialties throughout the region.

Financial strength

We know that in order to fulfill the vision of Ballad Health to be an effective health improvement organization for our region  we must be strong stewards of our resources, especially given the headwinds providers are facing, said Levine. We are pleased by the strong financial performance improvements over the past two quarters and will strive to continue to improve.

Quarterly highlights include:

Operating cash flow (Operating EBITDA) for the quarter improved to $54.7 million from $50.7 million in the same quarter prior year, an 8 percent increase.

Total cash flow (EBITDA) improved to $72.8 million versus $62.7 million in the same quarter prior year, a 16.1 percent increase.

Revenue for the quarter increased by 1.3 percent, while expenses increased by 0.6 percent - leading to an improvement in the operating margins for the health system.

The EBITDA margin improved from 12.1 percent in the prior year to 13.9 percent in the current year.

Operating income for the quarter improved to $6.8 million from $3.3 million in the same quarter prior year.

Six-month highlights include:

For the six months that ended on December 31, 2018, operating cash flow improved to $103.2 million from $94.6 million in the prior year, a 9.1 percent improvement.

Total cash flow (EBITDA) improved to $125.4 million versus $104.7 million in the same period prior year, a 19.7 percent increase.

Revenue for the six months increased by 1.2 percent, while expenses increased by 0.7 percent - leading to an improvement in the operating margins for the health system.

The EBITDA margin improved from 10.2 percent in the prior year to 12.1 percent in the current year.

Operating income for the six-month period improved to $6.6 million from $0.6 million in the same period prior year.

Ballad Healths improved financial performance in the second quarter and year-to-date follows dedicated expense management, improvements in productivity, reduced reliance on temporary (contract) labor and focused supply cost management.

Ballad Healths investment into the regions labor force continues to be powerful, with Ballad Health spending more than $500 million on salaries, wages and benefits in the six month year-to-date period. Ballad Health projects it will spend more than $1 billion on the regions labor force in the fiscal year.

These improvements are despite challenges both reflective of what all providers are facing and also some that are unique to Ballad Health and the region. These include:

Ballad Health continues to see a trend of declining volumes in certain services, with adjusted discharges for the six-month period declining 1.5 percent to 122,037. Inpatient surgeries declined 0.9 percent to 10,704. Outpatient surgeries, including ambulatory surgical cases, declined 0.4 percent to 26,066. ER visits declined 5.2 percent to 216,023 visits.

Ballad Health continues to experience declining inpatient and hospital utilization rates, a phenomenon being experienced throughout rural America. The decline in admissions in Ballad Healths service area is driven in part by a reduction in hospital admissions resulting from efforts by Ballad Health and area physicians to utilize lower cost alternatives to hospital stays as appropriate. This successful reduction, when combined with the regions low population growth, reduces the overall volumes in the hospital setting.

Ballad Health has also seen a lower volume of respiratory and influenza admissions relative to the prior year period.

While admissions are declining, the overall patient mix shifted to higher acuity patients (patients who are sicker), with overall patient acuity increasing by 30 basis points, driven by improved utilization of outpatient settings combined with relatively flat inpatient surgery volume.

Ballad Health is facing a rapidly changing landscape where our financial success is no longer judged solely by volume, but increasingly, how we care for fewer people more efficiently, effectively and with better outcomes, said Levine. Many of the quality metrics that weve seen improve have led to lower costs. Shorter length of stay, reduced rates of hospital acquired conditions, reduced readmissions and better integration with physicians has helped reduce the cost of care and has helped Ballad Health achieve success with the new value-based purchasing environment.

Levine pointed to a 10 percent reduction in the hospital readmission rate over the prior year, and a 25 percent reduction among legacy hospitals since 2015 as evidence that physician and administrative partnership is resulting in lower cost and lower risk to patients. He also highlighted a recent announcement by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which said that Ballad Health is one of only 21 Accountable Care Organizations in the nation that achieved savings for the federal government in each of the first five years of the program.

Reinvestment of capital throughout the region



While Ballad Health was focused on improved financial performance, it also has continued to invest nearly $60 million in capital for new equipment, diagnostic technology, information technology and building improvements. Just a few examples of capital spending in the year so far include:

2 new cardiac catheterization labs

5 new digital mammography systems

Replacement CT scanners, ultrasound and radiology upgrades

Hybrid cardiovascular surgical suite

3-dimensional cardiac ultrasound

Electrophysiology lab upgrades

New equipment and opening of new hospital

IV pumps

Replacement of hospital beds

Resealing and external upgrades to physical plant

New OR tables and equipment for bariatric surgery

Internal facility renovation to rural facility

About Ballad Health:

Ballad Health is an integrated healthcare delivery system serving 29 counties of Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, Northwestern North Carolina and Southeastern Kentucky. Ballad Health was created in 2018 to improve the health of people in these regions. Ballad Health operates a family of 21 hospitals in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, including three tertiary medical centers, a dedicated childrens hospital, several community hospitals, three critical access hospitals, a behavioral health hospital, an addiction treatment facility, long-term care facilities, home care and hospice services, retail pharmacies, outpatient services and a comprehensive medical management corporation. Learn more about Ballad Health at www.BalladHealth.org .

Contact Info:

Meaghan Smith

Communications Manager

239-297-7959

meaghan.smith@balladhealth.orgCORNING, N.Y., Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Corning Natural Gas Holding Corporation (OTC: CNIG) announced consolidated earnings of $749,794 or $0.23 per share for the quarter ended December 31, 2018. This compares to consolidated earnings of $420,637, or $0.12 per share for the quarter ended December 31, 2017. CEO Mike German stated, The company continues to see earnings growth due to improved utility revenues and margins. Operating results at both Corning Natural Gas and Pike County Light & Power showed significant improvement compared to the same quarter in 2017.



Net income for the three months ended December 31, 2018 is not necessarily indicative of expected results for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019. Quarterly earnings are affected by the highly seasonal nature of the business and weather conditions (temperature variations) impact revenue and margin. Despite unfavorable weather conditions for the quarter ending December 31, 2018 compared to the same quarter in 2017, revenue increased.

Corning Natural Gas Holding Corporation provides natural gas and electric service to customers in New York and Pennsylvania through its operating subsidiaries Corning Natural Gas, Pike County Light & Power, and Leatherstocking Gas Company, a 50% JV with Mirabito Regulated Industries.

From time-to-time, Corning Natural Gas Holding Corporation may produce forward-looking statements relating to such matters as anticipated financial performance, business prospects, technological developments, new products, and similar matters. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor for forward-looking statements. In order to comply with the terms of the safe harbor, Corning Natural Gas Holding Corporation notes that a variety of factors could cause actual results and experiences to differ materially from anticipated results or other expectations expressed in any forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.



New York, NY, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marvel Architects is honored to announce that Founding Principal Jonathan Marvel has been issued a Presidential Citation by the National American Institute of Architects (AIA) for his restorative work in the Cano Martin Pena District of San Juan, Puerto Rico with deep appreciation for his leadership and dedication to finding creative, compassionate, and sustainable solutions in the face of untold devastation in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Marvel started the non-profit Resilient Power Puerto Rico (RPPR) in 2017 to create energy resiliency through the introduction of solar energy across the island.

Carl Elefante, the 94th President of the AIA, issued this years citations to people and organizations that went above and beyond to contribute to the architecture profession and/or their community. Presidential Citations are a privilege of the AIA President and are expressions of the Presidents viewpoint, unlike design awards and other AIA recognitions that represent more formalized jury selection processes.

During my visit to Puerto Rico, I spent time with Jonathan, Jose Marchand, Jonathans mother, and their leadership team, and visited a community center in Cano Martin Pena where I saw firsthand the positive impact of their efforts after Hurricane Maria, says Elefante. I also got to see the importance of Jonathans strategic entrepreneurism, linking the San Juan and New York offices. In my view, the simple gesture of issuing a Presidential Citation in recognition of Jonathans leadership was the least I could do to acknowledge the importance of his work where it was needed the most.

Resilient Power Puerto Rico has had a very successful year, working with local electrical engineers and Tesla-trained installers to provide relief to underserved communities. Using solar panels, RPPR has built infrastructure for long-term power resiliency by creating redundancy in the power system to provide security and reliability against future natural disasters or failures of the electrical system. Across the island, 33 micro grids have been installed to help power densely populated areas of San Juan, with 22 planned for the near future. The solar micro grids incorporate lithium batteries, creating a long-lasting solution to Puerto Ricos power outage problem. Their newest installation in Vieques, one of the islands of Puerto Rico devastated most by Hurricanes Maria and Irma, is part of their community energy needs program, and is the first of eight sites being developed in partnership with Para La Naturaleza. In addition, as part of a Renewable Energy Microgrids Program, RPPR has created The Puerto Rico Energy Toolkit, currently in live beta testing. Co-authored by the Rocky Mountain Institute, the Toolkit is a comprehensive and interactive open database focused on supporting the growth of renewable energy in Puerto Rico and aims to strengthen collaborators capacities to implement renewable microgrids across the Islands most impacted communities, maximizing social impact investments.

As an architect, the most meaningful way to help the people of Puerto Rico, and thus the world, get to a better place is through benevolent altruism, said Marvel. The AIAs recognition of this is truly special.

In addition, Marvel Architects is working on prototypes for a community of resilient homes that can better weather future storms (see rendering below). With an approximate budget of $120,000, power and potable water are the main focus to assure that in the aftermath of a natural disaster, the systems meet and exceed the recommended period of time to receive aid from first responders. The design uses solar panels and batteries to keep the essential services of the home running when the grid goes down. A rainwater collection system stores and filters water, while a solar water heater keeps showers warm. With Puerto Ricos powerful year-round solar energy source and healthy rainwater collection, the prototype is capable of replenishing and sustaining itself for extended periods of time.

About Marvel Architects

Marvel Architects is a solutions-driven design practice that integrates context and nature into every project, meeting each design challenge by listening to its surroundings. The result is a thoughtful design that inspires users to remember what was there before and to marvel at what it has become. With offices in New York and San Juan, Marvel is an international firm dedicated to creativity and diversity. For 20+ years, Marvel has earned an award-winning reputation for designing at the intersection of public and private space. From the New Jersey Institute of Technology to St. Anns Warehouse, the team has pioneered an entrepreneurial approach to architecture and place-making that has been recognized by over 125 industry design awards including the AIAs highest honors. Current projects include a new regional theater of national importance in Arkansas, the first LGBTQ+-welcoming senior housing venture in New York City, and the redevelopment of the Brooklyn Navy Yard into a destination for technology and entrepreneurship. www.marvelarchitects.com

About Resilient Power Puerto Rico

Founded in the wake of the storm by Jonathan Marvel (principal of New York and San Juan-based Marvel Architects), and Puerto Rico-born New York attorney Cristina Roig, who share strong island connections, Resilient Power Puerto Ricos long term mission is to address the vulnerabilities of the island's existing, fossil-fueled electrical infrastructure by supporting initiatives that promote renewable, clean energy. RPPR is a nonprofit group acting under the fiscal sponsorship of of the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust, a 501 (c)(3) corporation. www.resilientpowerpr.org

AttachmentsEnglish French

Kia Stinger qualified for the award after being named AJACs Best Large Car in Canada for 2019



Kia Forte also qualified for the award after being named AJACs Best Small Car in Canada for 2019

TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today at the Canadian International Auto Show (CIAS) in Toronto, the Kia Stinger has been named AJAC's 2019 Canadian Car of the Year, after being named Best Large Car earlier this year. A grand touring sedan loaded with safety and convenience technologies, the Kia Stinger has found a special place in the heart and driveway of many Canadian drivers and is now even further recognized by many of Canadas top automotive experts.

Winning AJACs Car of the Year award for the Stinger is a great honour for everyone within the Kia family, said Michael Kopke, Director of Marketing, Kia Canada. As a young brand that has come a long way in 20 years here in Canada, were grateful to all of AJACs voting journalists for taking the time to review our vehicles and recognizing the quality that our brand has put so much focus on.

For Kia, now celebrating its 20th year in Canada, this years AJAC awards demonstrate how far the brand has come in terms of quality, design and consumer-focused technologies and features.

"It's a great achievement for a vehicle to win one of AJAC's coveted Canadian Car of the Year awards, but it's exceptional for the same automaker to make two award-winning vehicles in the same year, said Mark Richardson, President, Automobile Journalists Association of Canada. Congratulations to Kia for the well-deserved success of the Stinger and Forte."

For Canadians that have not yet considered a Kia, the awards are another reason to look at the brand with the Power to Surprise. Both vehicles will be on display at this years Canadian auto shows and are currently available in dealerships across the country.

More information on Canadas Car of the Year, Canadas Best Large Car and the entire Kia lineup can be found at Kia.ca.

About the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC)

The Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) is an association of professional journalists, writers, photographers, and corporate members whose focus is the automobile and the Canadian automotive industry. Collectively, our primary objectives are to promote, encourage, support, and facilitate professionalism in Canadian automotive journalism and to ensure factual and ethical reporting about the automobile and automotive issues to Canadian consumers. This is achieved through the work of our members and AJACs annual vehicle testing and evaluation events, the Canadian Car of the Year and Utility Vehicle of the Year Awards (CCOTY and CUVOTY), Innovation Awards, and EcoRun.

About Kia Canada Inc.

Kia Canada Inc. (KCI), established in 1999 and celebrating 20 years in Canada, is a subsidiary of Kia Motors Corporation (KMC) based in Seoul, South Korea. Kias full line of award-winning vehicles offers world-class quality and customer satisfaction through a network of 193 dealers nationwide. The company employs 170 people in its Mississauga, Ontario headquarters, various locations across Canada and at its regional office in Montreal, Quebec. Kias brand slogan "The Power to Surprise" represents the company's global commitment to surpassing customer expectations through continuous automotive innovation. From compact to crossover to industry leading EVs, every Kia delivers an extraordinary combination of precision engineering, outstanding performance, innovative features, and advanced safety systems. Having sold close to one million vehicles, popular Canadian models include Soul, Forte, Sportage, Sorento and Stinger. To learn more about the Kia advantage, visit kia.ca or Facebook , LinkedIn , Twitter and Instagram .

For more information about Kia Canada and our products, please visit our Media Centre at KiaMedia.ca or contact:

Mark James

Corporate Communications Manager

Kia Canada Inc.

T: 905-755-6251

E: mjames@kia.ca

Frederic Tremblay (Quebec Inquiries)

Directeur relations publiques et communications  Region de lest

Kia Canada Inc.

T: 514-955-0505 x 2209

E: ftremblay@kia.ca

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/59488e8c-4bc0-493b-b560-503535822949Kitchener, Waterloo, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- D2L , the global learning technology leader, today announced that its Chief Strategy Officer, Jeremy Auger , has been appointed to the Canadian federal governments Future Skills Council by Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, the Honourable Patricia A. Hajdu.

The Council will provide advice on skills development and training priorities for the future of work and areas for policy and program innovation. It will examine such issues as emerging and persistent skills gaps, identification of transferable skills and competencies sought across multiple sectors, new skills development approaches and technologies, and innovative measurement approaches, in order to offer timely and reliable evidence on in-demand skills and effective training models.

Its a real honour to serve on the Council on behalf of the team here at D2L, who are deeply engaged in strategizing and planning around the future of work and learning  not just in Canada, but around the world, said Auger. The globally disruptive, technology-driven changes that are upon us will have a tremendous impact on the way we  and our children  learn and work, and Im pleased to do my part to guide the discussion around that future.

In a world where disruptive technologies such as AI, machine learning, the internet of things, 3D printing, quantum computing and nanotechnology are changing the way we live, work and learn, it is a challenge for Canadian workers and employers to keep pace with this momentous change. The new Council will help the federal government better understand economic drivers now and into the future  and will help shape the labour force response to support inclusive growth to the benefit of all Canadians.

As technology, automation and demographic shifts continue to change the nature of work and the skills required of the workforce, our systems of education and training need to adapt, which is why we strongly support this kind of action and focus by the federal government, said Auger. Together, we can innovate to address the education and reskilling needs for the future of our country.

Auger drives company-level strategy within D2L and provides executive leadership of government relations and public affairs, mergers and acquisitions, corporate communications, labs, IP strategy, and philanthropy. He participates on several boards, including as Chair of the Economic Development Advisory Board for the City of Kitchener (Canada), board member for the IMS Global Learning Consortium, national board member for the IT Association of Canada (ITAC), and member of several other for-profit and nonprofit boards.

Jeremy has an Honours BMath in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo, and a Master of Science in Management from Wilfrid Laurier University.

ABOUT D2L

D2L believes learning is the foundation upon which all progress and achievement rests. Working closely with clients, D2L has transformed the way millions of people learn online and in the classroom. Learn more about D2L for schools , higher education and businesses at www.D2L.com .

PRESS CONTACT

Erin Mills, Vice President Marketing, D2L Ltd, pr@d2l.com



 2019 D2L Corporation.

The D2L family of companies includes D2L Corporation, D2L Ltd, D2L Australia Pty Ltd, D2L Europe Ltd, D2L Asia Pte Ltd and D2L Brasil Solucoes de Tecnologia para Educacao Ltda. All D2L marks are trademarks of D2L Corporation. Please visit D2L.com/trademarks for a list of D2L marks.



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William Campbell-Corbis via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has a new job as a lobbyist.



He joins former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in a Washington lobbying shop, weeks after the former cabinet secretary stepped down from his post amid ethics investigations and promises for aggressive oversight from Democrats.



Zinke and Lewandowski's will be working as senior advisers at Turnberry Solutions a lobbying shop set up at the Pennsylvania Avenue address of a row house leased by Lewandowski. Lewandowski had previously denied any ties to Turnberry.



The two senior advisers' new gig started this week according to the firm's partner and fellow Trump campaign alum Jason Osborne.



I am excited to join Turnberry Solutions and I look forward to helping companies navigate the Washington, D.C. bureaucracy," Zinke wrote in a press release.



Because of Trump's ethics pledge that bans former political appointees from lobbying their former agencies, Zinke will be focused on Congressional lobbying, according to the press release. Lewandowski, who has previously said he would not lobby, will focus on the firm's business development and strategic advice which would not require him to register as a lobbyist.



With an unprecedented rate of turnover at the top of the Trump administration, Zinke is the first former Trump cabinet member to turn to the lobbying world.



President Donald Trump announced Zinke's departure in a tweet in mid-December after the Interior head generated headlines about ethics investigations and criticism of his actions favoring industry.



Investigations into Zinke included a probe into his involvement in a real estate deal with a Halliburton executive in his hometown and his decision to reject a casino in Connecticut which was sought by two tribes.

House Democrats have not been shy about their intention to aggressively put Zinke's policies under the spotlight of oversight hearings beginning next month, including "giveaways" to the oil and gas industry under Zinke's Interior Department.



Lewandowski and Osborne have remained close since their time working on the campaign. After the two left the campaign, Osborne served as a registered lobbyist for Avenue Strategies, the firm Lewandowski co-founded with another Trump campaign veteran Barry Bennett, sparking accusations of influence peddling from critics.



Lewandowski quit the group in 2017 amid increased scrutiny of the firm and its clients and told the Washington Post that he wants to make clear going forward that he wont work for foreign clients or lobby.



Shortly after Lewandowski left Avenue Strategies, Osborne left the firm and formed Turnberry Solutions at Lewandowski's rowhouse with another Trump campaign alum Mark Rubino.



Osborne and Rubino also formed foreign lobbying firm Twin Rocks Global last year at Lewandowski's rowhouse.



Rubino left both Turnberry and Twin Rocks Global last September to join the Department of Health and Human Services. He left the agency last month saying his boss was a "never-Trumper."



Since Sept. 2017, Turnberry Solutions has raked in $1.3 million from lobbying for various clients including T-Mobile.



Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.USA: Former U.S. Counterintelligence Agent Charged with Espionage on Behalf of Iran; Four Iranians Charged with a Cyber Campaign Targeting Her Former Colleagues

Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, a former U.S. service member and counterintelligence agent, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia for conspiracy to deliver and delivering national defense information to representatives of the Iranian government. Witt, who defected to Iran in 2013, is alleged to have assisted Iranian intelligence services in targeting her former fellow agents in the U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC). Witt is also alleged to have disclosed the code name and classified mission of a U.S. Department of Defense Special Access Program. An arrest warrant has been issued for Witt, who remains at large.

The same indictment charges four Iranian nationals, Mojtaba Masoumpour, Behzad Mesri, Hossein Parvar and Mohamad Paryar (the Cyber Conspirators), with conspiracy, attempts to commit computer intrusion and aggravated identity theft, for conduct in 2014 and 2015 targeting former co-workers and colleagues of Witt in the U.S. Intelligence Community. The Cyber Conspirators, using fictional and imposter social media accounts and working on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), sought to deploy malware that would provide them covert access to the targets computers and networks. Arrest warrants have been issued for the Cyber Conspirators, who also remain at large.

The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu for the District of Columbia, Executive Assistant Director for National Security Jay Tabb of the FBI, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Special Agent Terry Phillips of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara of the FBIs Washington Field Office.

Monica Witt is charged with revealing to the Iranian regime a highly classified intelligence program and the identity of a U.S. Intelligence Officer, all in violation of the law, her solemn oath to protect and defend our country, and the bounds of human decency, said Assistant Attorney General Demers. Four Iranian cyber hackers are also charged with various computer crimes targeting members of the U.S. intelligence community who were Ms. Witts former colleagues. This case underscores the dangers to our intelligence professionals and the lengths our adversaries will go to identify them, expose them, target them, and, in a few rare cases, ultimately turn them against the nation they swore to protect. When our intelligence professionals are targeted or betrayed, the National Security Division will relentlessly pursue justice against the wrong-doers.

This case reflects our firm resolve to hold accountable any individual who betrays the public trust by compromising our national security, said U.S. Attorney Liu. Todays announcement also highlights our commitment to vigorously pursue those who threaten U.S. security through state-sponsored hacking campaigns.

The charges unsealed today are the result of years of investigative work by the FBI to uncover Monica Witts betrayal of the oath she swore to safeguard Americas intelligence and defense secrets said Executive Assistant Director for National Security Tabb. This case also highlights the FBIs commitment to disrupting those who engage in malicious cyber activity to undermine our countrys national security. The FBI is grateful to the Department of Treasury and the United States Air Force for their continued partnership and assistance in this case.

Treasury is taking action against malicious Iranian cyber actors and covert operations that have targeted Americans at home and overseas as part of our ongoing efforts to counter the Iranian regimes cyber-attacks, said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Treasury is sanctioning New Horizon Organization for its support to the IRGC-QF. New Horizon hosts international conferences that have provided Iranian intelligence officers a platform to recruit and collect damaging information from attendees, while propagating anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. We are also sanctioning an Iran-based company that has attempted to install malware to compromise the computers of U.S. personnel.

The alleged actions of Monica Witt in assisting a hostile nation are a betrayal of our nations security, our military, and the American people, said Special Agent Phillips. While violations like this are extremely rare, her actions as alleged are an affront to all who have served our great nation.

This investigation exemplifies the tireless work the agents and analysts of the FBI do each and every day to bring a complex case like this to fruition, said Assistant Director in Charge McNamara. Witt's betrayal of her country and the actions of the cyber criminals - at the behest of the IRGC - could have brought serious damage to the United States, and we will not stand by and allow that to happen. The efforts by the Iranian government to target and harm the U.S. will not be taken lightly, and the FBI will continue our work to hold those individuals or groups accountable for their actions.

According to the allegations contained in the indictment unsealed today:

Monica Witts Espionage

Monica Witt, a U.S. citizen, was an active duty U.S. Air Force Intelligence Specialist and Special Agent of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, who entered on duty in 1997 and left the U.S. government in 2008. Monica Witt separated from the Air Force in 2008 and ended work with DOD as a contractor in 2010. During her tenure with the U.S. government, Witt was granted high-level security clearances and was deployed overseas to conduct classified counterintelligence missions.

In Feb. 2012, Witt traveled to Iran to attend the Iranian New Horizon Organizations Hollywoodism conference, an IRGC-sponsored event aimed at, among other things, condemning American moral standards and promoting anti-U.S. propaganda. Through subsequent interactions and communications with a dual United States-Iranian citizen referred to in the indictment as Individual A, Witt successfully arranged to re-enter Iran in Aug. 2013. Thereafter, Iranian government officials provided Witt with a housing and computer equipment. She went on to disclose U.S. classified information to the Iranian government official. As part of her work on behalf of the Iranian government, she conducted research about USIC personnel that she had known and worked with, and used that information to draft target packages against these U.S. agents.

Iranian Hacking Efforts Targeting Witts Former Colleagues

Beginning in late 2014, the Cyber Conspirators began a malicious campaign targeting Witts former co-workers and colleagues. Specifically, Mesri registered and helped manage an Iranian company, the identity of which is known to the United States, which conducted computer intrusions against targets inside and outside the United States on behalf of the IRGC. Using computer and online infrastructure, in some cases procured by Mesri, the conspiracy tested its malware and gathered information from target computers or networks, and sent spearphishing messages to its targets. Specifically, between Jan. and May 2015, the Cyber Conspirators, using fictitious and imposter accounts, attempted to trick their targets into clicking links or opening files that would allow the conspirators to deploy malware on the targets computer. In one such instance, the Cyber Conspirators created a Facebook account that purported to belong to a USIC employee and former colleague of Witt, and which utilized legitimate information and photos from the USIC employees actual Facebook account. This particular fake account caused several of Witts former colleagues to accept friend requests.

* * *

The case is being investigated by the FBIs Washington Field Office with assistance from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Deborah Curtis, Jocelyn Ballantine and Luke Jones of the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia with assistance from Trial Attorney Evan N. Turgeon of the National Security Divisions Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.English French

MONTREAL, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Humane Society International/Canada is shining a global spotlight on the connection between South Koreas cruel puppy mill trade and the dog meat industry by helping to rescue 200 dogs and puppies from a horrendous dog meat farm. Approximately 160 dogs are bound for Canada where they will be temporarily sheltered in Cambridge, Ontario, with some destined for Montreal where they will be rehabilitated at HSI/Canadas emergency shelter.



This is HSIs 14th dog meat farm closure in South Korea. The facility doubled as a puppy mill, with the dogs being sold as pets or for slaughter depending on where the greatest profits could be found. As a result, many of the dogs are small breeds such as Chihuahuas, corgis, Yorkshire terriers, poodles, Pomeranians, shih tzus and French bulldogs.

Ewa Demianowicz, senior campaign manager for HSI/Canada, said: These dogs have been surviving in appalling conditions, in barren, filthy cages, with inadequate food and water and almost no veterinary care or human contact. Sadly, it is likely that many never left the cramped cages they have been confined in. It is heartbreaking to imagine how much they have suffered in their lives. Our team is eager to see these wonderful dogs leave this horrible place and arrive in Canada to get the love and care that they need.

HSI works with farmers who want to leave the dog meat trade by transitioning them to more humane industries, rescuing the dogs and closing the facilities. In turn, the owners sign contracts stating they will not return to the dog meat trade. The owner of the facility is eager to leave his business as his family disapproves and it is becoming less profitable.

Dog meat consumption is declining rapidly in South Korea, particularly among younger generations, with a survey by Gallup Korea in June 2018 showing that 70 percent of South Koreans say they will not eat dog meat in future. A series of recent moves by authorities to curb the dog meat trade reflects how Korean society is increasingly ill at ease with the industry. In November 2018, in Seongnam City, HSI/Canada participated in shutting down Taepyeong, the largest dog slaughterhouse in the country. As political and public momentum to end the dog meat trade grows within South Korea, HSI hopes its program will demonstrate a phase-out model that can one day be adopted nationwide with state support.

Facts:

More than 2.5 million dogs a year are reared on thousands of dog meat farms across South Korea.

Most people in South Korea dont regularly eat dog, but it remains popular during the Bok Nal days of summer in July and August, when it is eaten as a soup called bosintang.

Dogs are mainly killed by electrocution, taking up to five minutes to die. Hanging is also practiced.

The dog meat industry is in legal limbo in South Korea, neither legal nor illegal. Many provisions of the Animal Protection Act are routinely breached, such as the ban on killing animals in a brutal way including hanging by the neck, and on killing them in public areas or in front of other animals of the same species.

Download b-roll video and photos of the rescue by click ing here .

Media Contact: Christopher Pare, Director of Communications  Office: 514 395-2914 x 206 / cell: 438 402-0643 / email: cpare@hsi.orgEnglish French

Press Release

14 February 2019

Altran and frog design strengthen footprint in Europe

Altran, the global leader in engineering and R&D services, and frog, the global design and strategy firm, announce the integration of their teams for innovation and design in France, Spain and Sweden.

Studios in Paris, Madrid, and Malmo will complement existing frog studios in London, Milan, and Munich to extend influence in design and innovation consultancy, doubling the group's network in Europe.

The integration with Altran also enhances frog's impressive client portfolio in financial services, healthcare, automotive and telecommunications with expertise in aerospace, energy and industrials.

"In Europe, local market presence and expertise is a critical business advantage. The addition of the three Altran studios with 130 designers doubles frog's footprint in Europe. Combined with the strengths of the other frog studios in the Americas and Asia, this reinforces frog leadership in transformative design" says Andy Zimmerman, President of frog.

Pascal Brier, Group Executive Vice-President Strategy, Technology & Innovation of Altran says, "Over five decades, iconic brand frog has come to define excellence in design consulting. Today, Altran expands its footprint in Europe and further develop the group's capacity to deliver outstanding design to clients."

Altran acquired Aricent and frog in November 2017 under its strategic plan to elevate its service model and expand its footprint in key industries and geographies. frog's network also includes studios in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Austin and Shanghai. frog design was founded in 1969, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

About frog

frog is a global design and strategy firm. We transform businesses at scale by creating systems of brand, product and service that deliver a distinctly better experience. We strive to touch hearts and move markets. Our passion is to transform ideas into realities. We partner with clients to anticipate the future, evolve organizations and advance the human experience.

About Altran

Altran ranks as the undisputed global leader in Engineering and R&D services (ER&D), following its acquisition of Aricent. The company offers clients an unmatched value proposition to address their transformation and innovation needs. Altran works alongside its clients, from initial concept through industrialization, to invent the products and services of tomorrow. For over 30 years, the company has provided expertise in aerospace, automotive, defense, energy, finance, life sciences, railway and telecommunications. The Aricent acquisition extends this leadership to semiconductors, digital experience and design innovation. Combined, Altran and Aricent generated revenues of 2.9 billion in 2017, with some 46,000 employees in more than 30 countries.

Contact

Stephanie Bia

Group Senior Vice-President Communications & Investor Relations

Tel: + 33 (0)1 46 41 72 01

stephanie.bia@altran.comIron ore prices up ~25% YTD with 65% iron content product currently selling for US$106/tonne as of February 12, 2019; Black Iron plans to produce a 68% iron content product





License revocation and production cuts at the worlds largest iron ore producer contributed to upward price trends in the iron ore market





Pellets and pellet feed, as planned to be produced by Black Iron, are expected to receive the most sustainable positive price impact





These market developments further bolster Black Irons strong project economics

TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NetworkWire  Black Iron Inc. (Black Iron) (TSX: BKI; OTC: BKIRF; FRANKFURT: BIN) reaffirms the economic projections for its Shymanivske project, citing a weeks-long surge in iron ore prices after one of the worlds largest iron ore producers took 11 mines offline, significantly crimping supply.

On January 25, 2019, one of Vales mines in Brazil experienced a disastrous tailings dam failure, causing the producer to voluntarily shut ten of its iron ore mines (~40Mtpa production) to minimize the risk of additional upstream tailings dam failure. On February 4, 2019, as reported by several news outlets, regulatory authorities in Brazil ordered Vale to shut its second-largest iron ore mine, taking an additional 30Mtpa of production offline and causing Vale to claim force majeure on its ability to supply iron ore to some of its customers.

The shut-down of Vales mines resulted in a combined production loss of 70Mtpa, representing ~6% of global consumption. In response, iron ore prices spiked to the current US$87/T for benchmark 62% iron content fines and US$106/T for 65% iron content fines.

While analysts have mixed projections on how long the iron content benchmark price will stay at elevated levels, there is consensus that prices of iron content products - more specifically iron ore pellets  will increase for at least the next few years as the industry responds to lower supply. As a result, premium 68% iron pellet feed product, as planned to be produced by Black Iron, is expected to sell for a significantly higher price than benchmark iron ore for at least the next two to three years.

Shymanivske Project Economics

Producing high grade iron ore (i.e. >65% iron) and pellets requires substantial investment and time to permit and construct suitable production facilities.

Black Iron, however, plans to produce pellet feed containing 68% iron, which is in the top 4% iron content globally. The Companys Shymanivske project is expected to be built in two phases, taking advantage of its proximity to rail, power, ports and skilled labor to reduce upfront capital and time required to generate cashflows. A capital investment of US$436 million is required for the first phase of the Shymanivske project, expected to produce 4 million tonnes a year. An additional US$312 million is required to double the production capacity of Shymanivske project to 8 million tonnes a year and this could potentially be fully funded from the free cash generated by phase 1 production.

On November 21, 2017, Black Iron released its rescoped preliminary economic assessment (the PEA) based on a long-term price for benchmark 62% iron ore selling for US$62/T and its expected high grade 68% iron content pellet feed at a price of US$97/T delivered to China. Using these sale prices and the estimated US$31/T cost to mine, process, rail and load ocean going vessels with iron ore plus US$11.50/T for shipping to China, the PEA estimated that the Shymanivske project will have an unlevered after-tax net present value of US$1.66 billion using a 10% discount rate and an internal rate of return of 36%.

An available chart shows the after-tax projected project economic returns, assuming 60% debt financing for the mines construction across a range of iron ore (Fe) prices, including current much higher actual prices of US$87/T and ~US$6/1% Fe. The chart can be viewed here: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b8bfa39d-d3dd-4dfd-a907-98f4c24e3236

This chart shows the after-tax projected project economic returns, assuming 60% debt financing for the mines construction across a range of iron ore (Fe) prices, including current much higher actual prices of US$87/T and ~US$6/1% Fe.

About Black Iron

Black Iron is an iron ore exploration and development company advancing its 100%-owned Shymanivske project located in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine. The Shymanivske project contains a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimated to be 646 Mt Measured and Indicated mineral resources, consisting of 355 Mt Measured mineral resources grading 31.6% total iron and 18.8% magnetic iron, and Indicated mineral resources of 290 Mt grading 31.1% total iron and 17.9% magnetic iron, using a cut-off grade of 10% magnetic iron. Additionally, the Shymanivske project contains 188 Mt of Inferred mineral resources grading 30.1% total iron and 18.4% magnetic iron. Full mineral resource details can be found in the NI 43-101 compliant technical report entitled Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Re-scoped Shymanivske Iron Ore Deposit effective November 21, 2017, under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Shymanivske project is surrounded by five other operating mines, including ArcelorMittal's iron ore complex. Please visit the Company's website at www.BlackIron.com for more information.

The technical and scientific contents of this press release have been prepared under the supervision of and have been reviewed and approved by Matt Simpson, P.Eng., CEO of Black Iron, who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

Cautionary Statement

The PEA is preliminary in nature, and it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that the PEA will be realized.

For more information, please contact:

Black Iron Inc.

Matt Simpson

Chief Executive Officer

Tel: +1 (416) 309-2138

info@BlackIron.com

Corporate Communications:

NetworkWire (NW)

New York, New York

www.NetworkNewsWire.com

212.418.1217 Office

Editor@NetworkWire.com

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is based on what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, opinions and estimates of the date such statements are made based on information available to them at that time, including those factors discussed in the section entitled Risk Factors in the Companys annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2017 or as may be identified in the Companys public disclosure from time to time, as filed under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking information may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the Shymanivske project, the mineralization of the Shymanivske project, the results of the PEA, the realization of the PEA, the price of iron ore, the impact of Vale shutting down its mines, the Companys ability to construct the Shymanivske project and future plans for the Companys development. Generally, forward looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, geopolitical and social uncertainties; the actual results of current exploration activities; other risks of the mining industry and the risks described in the annual information form of the Company. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.Value-Based Health Care Partnership Will Target

Acute Conditions and Chronic Diseases in South Carolina

DUBLIN and CHARLESTON, S.C. - February 14, 2019 - Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) today announced a five-year value-based health care partnership intended to transform and improve care for patients in South Carolina. The collaboration will focus on developing solutions that improve the health outcomes and care experiences for patients while also reducing costs.

More than three million South Carolinians have at least one chronic disease such as cardiovascular disease, and the projected total cost of chronic disease between 2016-2030 in South Carolina is $687 billion1. The initial focus of the partnership will be on addressing chronic diseases and acute conditions prevalent in South Carolina.

"Together with MUSC, we are committed to fundamentally improving the way patient care is delivered," said Omar Ishrak, Medtronic chairman and chief executive officer. "Medtronic has a long history of collaboration with health care providers to invent and develop new markets to solve a variety of clinical problems. The partnership with MUSC is an extension of that collaboration, as we look to systematically work together to develop scalable programs aimed at improving patient outcomes while reducing the cost of care."

In one initial program, the two organizations plan to standardize a comprehensive vascular disease care pathway across the entire continuum of patient care, ultimately implementing a model for the identification, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care of patients with vascular disease who can benefit most from medical intervention. This evidence-based model is designed to help clinicians identify and treat patients earlier in their disease progression.

Medtronic and MUSC also plan to implement a standardized care pathway program for joint replacement patients that addresses the bundled payment methodology implemented by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The episodic care pathway intends to establish best practices and streamline processes to improve the quality of care for patients while reducing costs. Similarly, Medtronic and MUSC also plan to standardize care pathways designed to reduce adverse events and optimize care for patients who can benefit from enhanced respiratory monitoring, or who need a tracheostomy procedure for breathing assistance.

The partnership also creates a unique opportunity for MUSC to build upon existing curriculum to educate future health care professionals about value-based health care.

"This strategic partnership with Medtronic is based on our shared vision and drive to lead the transformation of health care delivery," said MUSC President David J. Cole, M.D., FACS. "It's about providing what's best for our patients. The mutual goal of our organizations is to deliver the best patient outcomes at the lowest cost possible. That's the true meaning of value-based health care. Through our collaborative partnership, we plan to combat chronic disease and address community health needs in South Carolina and beyond. We look forward to an innovative and productive relationship with Medtronic and will share tangible results of our efforts as our strategic partnership evolves."

Both MUSC and Medtronic have networks of like-minded partners focused on advancing value-based health care in the United States. This month, Medtronic is celebrating its one-year anniversary of a partnership with Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pennsylvania, designed to find ways to improve patient care across more than 70 major medical conditions, focusing on value. The partnership progress at Lehigh Valley Health Network is generating models to help implement and scale value-based programs at MUSC.

In August 2018, MUSC announced a strategic partnership with Siemens Healthineers designed to create a blueprint of a transformed health care system that provides safe, equitable, timely, effective, efficient and patient-centered care.

MUSC and Medtronic will explore opportunities to cross-share learnings with their respective partners and collaborate to improve patient outcomes while reducing costs.

About Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC)

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, The Medical University of South Carolina is the oldest medical school in the South. Today, MUSC continues the tradition of excellence in education, research, and patient care. MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and 750 residents in six colleges (Dental Medicine, Graduate Studies, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy), and has more than 14,000 employees, including approximately 1,500 faculty members. As the largest non-federal employer in Charleston, the university and its affiliates have collective annual budgets in excess of $2.6 billion, with an annual economic impact of more than $3.8 billion and annual research funding in excess of $275 million. MUSC operates an 800-bed medical center, which includes a nationally recognized children's hospital, the Ashley River Tower (cardiovascular, digestive disease, and surgical oncology), Hollings Cancer Center (a National Cancer Institute-designated center), Level I trauma center, Institute of Psychiatry, and the state's only transplant center. In 2018, for the fourth consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named MUSC Health the number one hospital in South Carolina. For more information on academic programs or clinical services, visit musc.edu. For more information on hospital patient services, visit muschealth.org.

About Medtronic

Medtronic plc (www.medtronic.com), headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is among the world's largest medical technology, services and solutions companies - alleviating pain, restoring health and extending life for millions of people around the world. Medtronic employs more than 86,000 people worldwide, serving physicians, hospitals and patients in more than 150 countries. The company is focused on collaborating with stakeholders around the world to take health care Further, Together.

Any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties such as those described in Medtronic's periodic reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from anticipated results.

-end-VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Core Gold Inc. ("Core Gold" or the "Company") (TSXV: CGLD, OTCQX: CGLDF) is pleased to announce that further to its news release on September 4th, 2018, the Companys local Ecuadorian subsidiary, Elipe S.A. (Elipe), has successfully removed all liens over its concessions.



The Companys 100%-owned projects held through Elipe are the following: Dynasty Goldfield, Linderos, Copper Duke and Zaruma. As the liens on these assets have now been successfully removed, Core Gold is in a position to divest of its non-core concessions and the Board of Directors of the Company would like to announce its strategic decision to divest the non-core concessions. The Company is open to reviewing opportunities to monetize the value of these assets.

Prior to September 2016, under the previous management team of the Company, due to unpaid royalties, taxes, wages and accounts payables, the Companys assets held in Elipe were put under liens from the Ecuadorian government and therefore the Company could not sell these assets until the liens were removed. As part of the new management teams progress since taking over, the Company has fulfilled its commitment to pay off government related payables such as royalties, taxes, payroll remittances, and other accounts payables in order to remove the liens and fully restore the Elipe subsidiary to good standing. On September 4th, 2018, Elipe was reactivated, which enabled the Company to regain control of its assets. Further payments were made to satisfy various government related payables since September 2018, and the Company has now received the official documents that confirm the liens on the concessions owned by Elipe have been removed.

Keith Piggott, CEO of Core Gold, commented, We are pleased to announce that all liens associated with the Companys concessions under our subsidiary Elipe have now been officially removed. Since we took over from the previous management team at Dynasty Metals & Mining Inc. in September 2016, we have made significant progress within the country of Ecuador in order to restore Elipe back to good standing. This milestone is critical in advancing the Company forward to recapitalize its balance sheet with non-dilutive asset sales. While these liens were in place, we were unable to sell our non-core concessions at Dynasty Goldfield, Linderos, Copper Duke and Zaruma. As a result of the liens removal, we have officially decided to divest our non-core concessions through asset sales in 2019 to enable the Company to strengthen its balance sheet with non-dilutive funding and focus on the continuous improvement of our core operations and exploration plans. We are confident that these non-core assets will attract both local and international interest due to the current strong interest in the Ecuadorian mining sector.

About Core Gold Inc.

The Company is a Canadian based mining company involved in the mining, exploration and development of mineral properties in Ecuador. The Company is currently focused on gold production at its wholly-owned Dynasty Goldfield project. Mineral is treated at the Companys wholly-owned Portovelo treatment plant. The Company also owns other significant gold exploration projects including the Linderos and Copper Duke area in southern Ecuador all of which are on the main Peruvian Andean gold-copper belt extending into Ecuador.

For further information please contact:

Keith Piggott, CEO

Suite 1201  1166 Alberni Street

Vancouver, B.C. V6E 3Z3

Phone: +1 (604) 345-4822

Email: info@coregoldinc.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Notice:

This news release contains statements which are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking information which are prospective in nature. Such information in this news release includes statements regarding the Companys plans in 2019 to divest of non-core assets held by its subsidiary Elipe. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause Core Golds actual results, revenues, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Important risks that could cause Core Golds actual results, revenues, performance or achievements to differ materially from Core Golds expectations include, among other things: the risk that, as a result of market conditions and other factors including the risks set forth below, the Company will not be able to complete the sale of all of its non-core assets during 2019 on terms acceptable to the Company; changes to the demand for mineral concessions in the Ecuadorian mining sector; risks relating to the actual results of additional exploration activities; fluctuating prices in metals and other commodities; possibility of accidents, equipment breakdowns, labor disputes or other unanticipated difficulties with or interruptions in operations; exploration cost overruns; the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; currency fluctuations; availability of capital and financing to maintain the Company's operations and plans; general economic, market or business conditions; regulatory changes; timeliness of government or regulatory approvals; and other risks detailed herein and as disclosed in the Companys filings as available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Other than in accordance with regulatory obligations, Core Gold is not under any obligation and Core Gold 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.PHILADELPHIA and BUCHAREST, Romania, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hill International (NYSE:HIL), the global leader in managing construction risk, announced it has been awarded a contract by S.C. Apa Canal S.A. Galati to provide project management and works supervision services for the development of water and wastewater infrastructure in Galati County, Romania, for projects under the European Union financing program 2014-2020. Hill is leading a consortia to provide the necessary support for the project.



Located in Galati County, the regional program is valued at 173.5 million (USD $195.7 million). Hill will verify the successful implementation of the funds provided by the European Union through its Large Infrastructure Operational Program (LIOP) under the Treaty of Accession. Contract services include project management, project publicity, sludge management strategy, industrial wastewater management, implementation of a GIS system, and supervision of works.

S.C. Apa Canal S.A. Galati specializes in the management of water resources in the region, including the capture, treatment, and distribution of water, as well as the collection, transport, and purification of wastewater. The companys development of water and sewage systems is critical to achieving EU-defined objectives for clean water for Romanias smaller and medium-sized communities.

With more than 20 years of experience in developing infrastructure in the Balkans, Hill is honored to have been selected by S.C. Apa Canal S.A. Galati to add to our environmental projects portfolio, explained Panayiotis Methenitis, Hills Vice President and Managing Director, Balkans. We look forward to teaming up with their specialists to support the successful investment of European Funds in Romanias infrastructure.

About Hill International

Hill International, with approximately 2,700 professionals in more than 50 offices worldwide, provides program management, project management, construction management, and other consulting services to clients in a variety of market sectors. Engineering News-Record magazine recently ranked Hill as the eighth-largest construction management firm in the United States. For more information on Hill, please visit our website at www.hillintl.com .

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements contained herein may be considered "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and it is our intent that any such statements be protected by the safe harbor created thereby. Except for historical information, the matters set forth herein including, but not limited to, any statements of belief or intent, any statements concerning our plans, strategies, and objectives for future operations; and any statements regarding our intent to file late periodic reports or relisting on a national securities exchange, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and assumptions and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Although we believe that the expectations, estimates, and assumptions reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results could differ materially from those projected or assumed in any of our forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from estimates or projections contained in our forward-looking statements are set forth in the Risk Factors section and elsewhere in the reports we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including that unfavorable global economic conditions may adversely impact our business, our backlog may not be fully realized as revenue, our expenses may be higher than anticipated, and the review of the Company's accounting, accounting policies and internal control over financial reporting, and the preparation of and the audit or review, as applicable, of filings may take longer than currently anticipated or additional restatement adjustments may be identified. We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to update any forward-looking statement.

Hill International, Inc.

Elizabeth J. Zipf, LEED AP BD+C

Senior Vice President

Hill International, Inc.

One Commerce Square

2005 Market Street, 17th Floor

Philadelphia, PA 19103

(215) 309-7707

elizabethzipf@hillintl.com

Hill International, Inc.

Todd Weintraub

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

(215) 309-7776

toddweintraub@hillintl.comPLANO, Texas, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sapience Analytics , the market leader in the rapidly growing People Analytics segment, today announced Sapience CEO Brad Killinger will be a featured speaker at the forthcoming IAOP Outsourcing World Summit (OWS) 19 , taking place Feb. 17-20, at the Marriott World Center in Orlando, Fla.



Attracting attendees from more than 40 countries worldwide, the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals Outsourcing World Summit is the largest gathering of professionals working in collaborative partnerships such as global business services, shared services and outsourcing.

A leading provider of technology to help organizations optimize outsourcing governance, Sapience Analytics is a key sponsor of the event, and an IAOP global partner. Attendees are invited to visit Sapience at Booth 63 and 64, where the company will be demonstrating its outsourcing governance solution, currently used by major global enterprises to transform their outsourcing engagements for improved business outcomes.

Killinger will join Matthew Figurski, senior vice president of First Data Corporation , for a breakout session focused on challenges faced in governing outsourcing engagements; and how an automated data-driven approach can solve these challenges and build an effective governance practice. Discussion will focus on how Figurski and his team used this data-driven approach to transform their governance practice to drive increased value from outsourcing engagements, as well as the pitfalls to avoid when setting up a governance practice.

The breakout session titled, Fireside Chat - How to Build an Automated Data-Driven Outsourcing Governance Practice that Delivers Results, will take place Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 3:45 p.m.

Killinger and Figurski also will participate in a keynote panel titled, Evolving Governance Landscape: Keeping Pace with Trends and Regulation. The panel, moderated by John Bree, senior vice president and partner at NeoGroup, will take place Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 4:45 pm.

With trends, challenges, confusion, subjectivity of new laws and associated fines, companies are now questioning if they have a business case to innovate. Are data privacy laws such as GDPR killing innovation? With innovation, do companies take greater risks, and subject themselves to greater fines and reputational impacts? Panelists will take questions from the audience and provide guidance on meeting the dual business imperatives of innovation and regulation.

About Sapience Analytics

From outsourcing governance, lean management and process automation to productivity improvement and employee engagement, Sapience provides the most advanced enterprise-level people analytics solution for customers seeking to move from manual self-reporting to actual data. With automated work pattern reporting and real-time analytics, Sapience delivers unprecedented visibility into how people work with actionable insights to better manage cost and performance across teams and organizations, and guide in-office and remote workforce deployment strategies. Fully-compliant with privacy standards and seamlessly integrated with ease and flexibility, Sapiences solutions are fundamentally changing the way companies grow and operate and shaping the future of business. Visit us at www.sapience.net.NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On Wednesday, February 13, the Denominacion de Origen Calificada (DOCa) Rioja launched its new global brand identity in the heart of New York City at high-tech, digital event space Lightbox. Leading members of the United States press and wine industry attended a launch conference and interactive tasting experience, where representatives from Riojas Regulatory Board officially introduced the wine regions new global message: Saber quien eres, or Knowing who you are.



Led by Riojas Regulatory Board, as well as Ana Fabiano, trade director and brand ambassador of DOCa Rioja, the press conference highlighted major news from Rioja, including the new zones and regulations introduced throughout the region in 2017. These new indications include Vinos de Zona (Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa, Rioja Oriental), Vinos de Municipio (villages, towns or municipalities), Vinedos Singulares, Espumosos de Calidad de Rioja (sparkling wines), new ageing requirements for Reserva and Gran Reserva wines, and the permitted production of single varietal white wines.

Ana Fabiano, trade director and brand ambassador of DOCa Rioja, commented, One of the many joys of Rioja is its diversity. These latest developments add an additional layer of interest for North American consumers, giving them more opportunities to explore and understand the DOCa.

Following the press conference, attendees were invited to enjoy a curated selection of Rioja wines paired with authentic tapas dishes. Utilizing the digital capabilities of high-tech event venue Lightbox, this interactive tasting experience incorporated immersive, 360-degree wall projections of Rioja vineyards, cellars and natural splendor  allowing attendees to embark on a virtual journey of the region. The afternoon also featured a live demonstration by Riojan artist Carlos Corres, who painted a series of illustrations using wine from grapes native to Rioja, including Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo, Maturana and Graciano.

Riojas new global message seeks to maintain the regions leadership in Spain and growth in foreign markets. The concept behind Saber quien eres directly translates to Knowing who you are, and is being introduced to 11 key markets: Spain, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland and the United States.

Inigo Tapiador Larranaga, Marketing Director of DOCa Rioja, explained, Saber quien eres is a concept that connects Rioja wine to consumers in an approachable manner. Its a concept that captures Riojas most intrinsic values including tradition, diversity and origin. With this new campaign, Rioja demonstrates that it rises above short-lived trends.

About the Rioja Consejo Regulador

Located in north central Spain, Rioja is considered one of the greatest wine regions in the world. Rioja wines are protected by the oldest Designation of Origin in Spain, officially recognized in 1925. The D.O.Ca. of Rioja administers highly sophisticated and stringent quality control in the winemaking process, from viniculture to bottling. More than 180 bodegas from Rioja are available for purchase in the U.S. For more information, please visit www.riojawine.com

Media Contact:

Geri Somers, R\West

geris@rwest.com

646-954-5558

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9a1b04ab-b59c-4ca2-9e15-67ab0849d77fNew corporate identity aligned with the Company's main strategy to be a global leader in the treatment of liver disease (NASH), chronic kidney disease and inflammatory bowel disease.

The company's ticker symbol will change to "AGN" on the Canadian Securities Exchange effective before market opens on Tuesday, February 19, 2018.

The Companys lead compound for liver disease (NASH) reduced fibrosis in a pre-clinical research study by 84.4%.

The company will continue to advance its medical device FAIMS program through its agreement with the University of Florida.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Breathtec Biomedical Inc. (CSE: BTH) (CNSX: BTH) (FRANKFURT: BTI) (OTCQB: BTHCF) (the Company or Breathtec) is pleased to announce that as a result of the strength of the data from its Nash Pharmaceuticals pre-clinical research program, it will be changing its name to Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc.

The change will take place before market opens on February 19, 2019 and the Company's ticker symbol will change from "BTH to "AGN" on the Canadian Securities Exchange. Changes to the symbol for the Frankfurt and OTCQB exchanges are in progress and the Company will provide an update on the new symbols shortly. The Companys new website will also be activated on February 19, 2019 and can be found at www.algernonpharmaceuticals.com .

The name Algernon was inspired in part, by the Hugo Award winning, 1959 science fiction short story Flowers for Algernon, which was a story about change and transition.

We are very pleased to be moving forward with our corporate rebranding, said Christopher J. Moreau, CEO of Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc. Based on the success of our pre-clinical drug development program, we believe that this change will help to communicate to the market, our excitement and confidence in our newly established drug research program.

About Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Algernon Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage pharmaceutical development company focused on advancing its lead compounds for of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), chronic kidney disease (CKD) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

CONTACT INFORMATION

Christopher J. Moreau

CEO

Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc.

604.398.4175 ext 701

info@breathtechbiomedical.com

investors@breathtecbiomedical.com

www.breathtecbiomedical.com

The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not in any way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

CAUTIONARY DISCLAIMER STATEMENT: No Securities Exchange has reviewed nor accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release. This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to product development, licensing, commercialization and regulatory compliance issues and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as will, may, should, anticipate, expects and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Companys expectations include the failure to satisfy the conditions of the relevant securities exchange(s) and other risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulations. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements as expressly required by applicable law.TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AscendantFX, a leading technology-based payments solutions provider for over 800 wineries, co-sponsored the Federation des Tonneliers de France (French coopers) Congress held in Napa Valley, California on February 1st, 2019. It was the first time the Congress was held outside of France in order to acknowledge and pay tribute to the American partnerships that are essential to their success in the export barrel market, and to show gratitude to local clients in the United States.



Over one hundred French coopers, American agents and sponsors in the wine ecosystem flocked to the Congress at the Silverado Resort and Spa. Fifty-three businesses from Frances leading wine regions gathered to mingle with local partners and clients at the private event, packed with conference sessions and informal discussions. The Congress culminated in a black tie gala event at the prestigious Robert Mondavi Winery.

Ed Casey, Vice President, Global Payments at AscendantFX states, We are honoured to have the opportunity to co-sponsor this years Congress. We have been helping wineries, beverage importers and suppliers in the wine and beverage industry for nearly 30 years with international payments execution, and our expertise in this space made us a natural partner to work with the Federation des Tonneliers to host this vibrant event.

AscendantFX works closely with American wineries and agents to simplify their international payments to French cooperages.

Kris Conemac, Accounting Director at Bouchard Cooperages states, Both we and our partners receive payments from AscendantFX quickly and easily. Im not sure how I would run my business today without the ability to use AscendantFXs services for foreign exchange transactions.

AscendantFX provides wineries with a fast and inexpensive solution to pay cooperage Euro invoices, streamlining and strengthening international supply chain relationships.

About AscendantFX Capital Inc.

AscendantFX marries the worlds of technology and international payment delivery to provide award-winning, technology-based payment solutions for financial institutions. The solutions are innovative, customer-focused, and backed by over 250 years of combined experience in the corporate foreign exchange, international payments and FX exposure risk management markets. AscendantFX currently services over 2,000 financial institutions in North America as a trusted international payment provider.

About the Federation des Tonneliers de France

The Federation des Tonneliers de France brings together 53 businesses located in the leading wine regions of France. In 2017, these businesses produced 615,385 units, accounting for sales of 429 million euros. 68% of this production was exported, mainly to the United States, Spain, Australia, and Italy. French cooperages continue to be a standard and world leader because of the quality of the raw material used and the expertise evidenced through a combination of ancestral craft skills and highly innovative techniques.

About Bouchard Cooperages

Bouchard Cooperages is a global barrel brokerage company representing a portfolio of highly skilled manufacturers of premium French, Eastern European, Hungarian and American oak barrels and French oak alternatives. This fine collection of Coopers includes Tonnelleries BILLON, DAMY, MAURY, MASTER COOPERS, EUROPEAN COOPERS HUNGARY and the oak alternatives supplied: CANADELL. Non oak related, Bouchard Cooperages also imports Italian eggs made of cocciopesto and concrete from DRUNK TURTLE, amphorae made from Impruneta terracotta from MONTECCHIO and sandstone or "gres" jars from VIN ET TERRE.

For further information, please contact:

Irene Lo

Magnolia Communications

irene@magnoliamc.com

604.306.1015

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e15bde5a-3c96-4c29-8184-f0fadf8e541dTraffic police launches drive to shape up public bus drivers

In a bid to curb unruly behaviours of drivers and conductors of public vehicles and to minimise road accidents, the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division has come up with a new rule called one minute with drivers and two minutes with passengers.Dublin, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Iraq Upstream Fiscal and Regulatory Report - Sector Challenged by Regulatory Uncertainty and Tough Fiscal Terms" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



Iraq Upstream Fiscal and Regulatory Report - Sector Challenged by Regulatory Uncertainty and Tough Fiscal Terms, presents the essential information relating to the terms which govern investment into Iraq's upstream oil and gas sector. The report sets out in detail the contractual framework under which firms must operate in the industry, clearly defining factors affecting profitability and quantifying the state's take from hydrocarbon production. Considering political, economic and industry specific variables, the report also analyses future trends for Iraq's upstream oil and gas investment climate.



In April 2018, Iraq held its fifth licensing round on the basis of a new model version of service contracts introduced in the previous weeks. However, with these new service contracts, the levels of state take are among the highest in the world and this explains why the bid round obtained mixed results with only 6 blocks assigned out of 11 on offer and no major international oil companies among the winners. In March 2018, Parliament passed legislation, still to be implemented by the government, whose goal is to reform completely the management of Iraq's petroleum sector, but the regulatory outlook remains uncertain. The most important element of the legislation would be to re-establish the Iraq National Oil Company, which would be put in charge of Iraq's petroleum contracts and would be the holding company controlling Iraq's regional oil companies.



Scope

Overview of current fiscal terms governing upstream oil and gas operations in Iraq

Assessment of the current fiscal regime's state take and attractiveness to investors

Charts illustrating the regime structure, and legal and institutional frameworks

Detail on legal framework and governing bodies administering the industry

Levels of upfront payments and taxation applicable to oil and gas production

Information on application of fiscal and regulatory terms to specific licenses

Outlook on future of fiscal and regulatory terms in Iraq.

Reasons to buy

Understand the complex regulations and contractual requirements applicable to Iraq's upstream oil and gas sector

Evaluate factors determining profit levels in the industry

Identify potential regulatory issues facing investors in the country's upstream sector

Utilize considered insight on future trends to inform decision-making.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Tables & Figures



2. Regime Overview



3. State Take Assessment



4. Key Fiscal Terms- Service Contract

4.1. Bonuses and Fees

4.1.1. Signature Bonus

4.1.2. Commerciality Bonus -Round 5 Contracts

4.1.3. Employment, Training, and Technology Transfer Fund

4.1.4. Infrastructure Fund -Round 5 Contracts

4.2. Royalty-Round 5 Contracts

4.3. Cost Recovery - Round 5 Contracts

4.3.1. Cost Recovery Limit

4.3.2. Recoverable Costs

4.4. Remuneration - Round 5 Contracts

4.5. Service Fees - Round 1-4 Contracts

4.5.1. Recoverable Costs

4.5.2. Remuneration Fees

4.6. Supplementary Fees - Rounds 1-4

4.7. Taxation

4.7.1. Corporate Income Tax

4.7.2. Customs Duties

4.7.3. Transfer Tax -Fifth Licensing Round

4.8. State Participation

4.9. Abandonment and Site Restoration



5. Key Fiscal Terms - Production Sharing Agreement

5.1. Bonuses

5.1.1. Signature and Capacity Building Bonus

5.1.2. Production Bonus

5.1.3. Additional Project Funding Support

5.2. Surface Rentals

5.3. Fees and Contributions

5.3.1. Personnel Fees

5.3.2. Training Fees

5.3.3. Environment Fund Contributions

5.3.4. Technological and Logistical Assistance Contributions

5.4. Royalty

5.5. Cost Recovery

5.5.1. Cost Recovery Limit

5.5.2. Recoverable Costs

5.6. Profit Sharing

5.7. Capacity Building Payments

5.8. Direct Taxation

5.8.1. Corporate Income Tax

5.8.2. Deductions and Depreciation

5.9. Customs Duties

5.10. State Participation



6. Regulation and Licensing

6.1. Legal Framework

6.1.1. Governing Laws

6.1.2. Contract Type

6.1.3. Title to Hydrocarbons

6.2. Institutional Framework

6.2.1. Licensing Authority

6.2.2. Regulatory Agency

6.2.3. National Oil Company

6.2.4. Joint Management of Petroleum Operations

6.3. Licensing Process

6.3.1. Federal Licensing Rounds

6.3.2. Bidding in Federal Rounds

6.4. License Terms

6.4.1. Duration

6.4.2. Work Obligations

6.4.3. Gas and Natural Gas Liquids Obligations

6.4.4. Relinquishment

6.5. Local Content



7. Outlook



8. Appendix



List of Tables



Iraq Regime Overview

Iraq, Signature Bonuses for First Four Licensing Rounds

Iraq, Winning Remuneration Percentage Bids, Fifth Licensing Round (2018)

Iraq -Service Contracts, Production Targets and Plateau Periods, First Four Licensing Rounds

Iraq - Service Contract, Remuneration Fee, First Four Licensing Rounds

Iraq, Service Contract, Remuneration Fee Adjustment Factors - Rounds 1-3

Iraq, Service Contract, Remuneration Fee Adjustment Factors - Round 4

Iraq, PSA, Signature and Capacity Building Bonuses (US$) - Selected PSAs, 2006-2011

Iraq, PSA, Capacity Building Bonuses, Additional Payments, 2007 and 2008

Iraq, PSA, Production Bonuses (US$), Standard Rates and Other Variations

Iraq, PSA, Production Bonuses (US$), Arbat and Baranan PSAs

Iraqi Kurdistan, Production Bonuses (US$), Acquired Government Interest Stakes, Harir, Safen and Garmian PSAs

Iraqi, Production Bonuses By Cumulative Production Levels (US$), Wasit Province PSA

Iraqi Kurdistan, Training Fees By Project Phase, Selected PSAs

Iraqi Kurdistan, Environment Fund Contributions By Project Phase (US$), Selected PSAs

Iraqi Kurdistan, Technological and Logistical Assistance Contributions (US$), Selected PSAs

Iraq, PSA, Cost Recovery Limits (%), Selected PSAs

Iraq, PSA, Contractor's Share of Profit Oil (%), 2007 Atrush PSA

Iraq - PSA, Contractor's Share of Profit Oil (%) for PSAs Issued from 2006 to 2011

Iraq - PSA, Contractor's Share of Profit Oil (%), 2011 Salah ad Din PSA

Iraq - PSA, Contractor's Share of Profit Oil (%), 2011 Wasit PSA

Iraq - PSA, Profit Oil Capacity Building Payments, Selected PSAs

Iraq - PSA, Capacity Building Payments, Selected PSAs

Iraq - PSA, Capacity Building Payments, Atrush and Sarsang PSAs, 2007

Iraq - PSA, Capacity Building Payments, Hawler PSA, 2007

Iraq - PSA, Capacity Building Payments, Kurdamir PSA

Iraq - PSA, Capacity Building Payments, Safen and Harir PSAs, 2010

Iraq - PSA, Capacity Building Payments, Qala Dze, Piramagrun and Taza PSAs, 2011

Iraq - PSA, Kurdistan Depreciation Rates (%)

List of Figures



Iraq Regime Flow Chart - Service Contract (Fifth Round)

Iraq Regime Flow Chart - Production Sharing Contract

Indicative NPV10/boe, IRR and State Take Comparison, Regional Comparison - 2018

Iraq, Legal Framework

Iraq, Institutional Framework

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/4swtzc/iraq_oil_and_gas?w=12





Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.LONDON, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NetworkWire -- Monobank , a cloud-based bank focused on consumer finance in the Nordics, showcased its new white label credit card app Mono Pay for Europe's finance and fintech industry in London.



More than 1,400 participants from over 300 of the largest financial institutions in Europe attend the Finovate conference. The companies that provide demos are hand-picked by Finovate, and only the most innovative solutions are presented, according to Finovate.

The fintech bank Monobank was on stage to showcase its new, innovative credit card and payment platform.

We are very proud to have been selected by Finovate. Mono Pay is a white label credit card solution that we are now launching for partners across Europe. This is a unique opportunity to showcase Mono Pay to an audience of potential partners, banks, fintech companies and investors from all over Europe, says Bent Gjendem, CEO of the Bank.

The Widere card is the first launch on this solution. Monobank has collaborated with Widere Flyveselskap, the largest regional airline in Norway, to launch a credit card specifically designed for Widere's customers.

Monobank is the only company from Norway to hold a demo this year, and the first Norwegian bank in Finovate's 12-year history.

In a demo, the companies are given seven minutes to show off their product. No PowerPoint presentation or video is allowed, only live demonstration of the product.

"Mono Pay has been referred to as a game changer, and we are very pleased to have showcased the smart solutions our bank has made," says Gjendem.

Special Discount for Main 3-Day Event and Add-on Summit Day

To save 20% on Finovates Europe Conference, use the following hyperlink: 20% OFF FinovateEurope (or enter promo code FKV2349NNP2 at checkout)

About Monobank

Monobank ASA, a digital bank focused on consumer finance in the Nordics, is a cloud-based bank with strong focus on customer experience and fintech solutions. Monobank is based in Bergen, Norway and started operation in November 2015. The bank has experienced strong growth and became profitable after only three quarters.

Visit https://monobank.no for more information.

Contact:English Latvian

Riga, 2019-02-14 10:10 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Since the opening of the natural gas market in 2017, traders have been competing in the segment of business customers, whereas the service for households has been provided at a regulated price by only one existing supplier. The entry of Elektrum means that a competitive environment is starting to develop in the natural gas market in Latvia that has been passive so far.

Latvenergo AS has already been a significant player in the natural gas market up to now, being among the largest consumers of natural gas in Latvia. The opening of the market has diversified the options for the supply of resources, allowing for purchasing natural gas not only from Latvijas Gaze AS, but also from other sources using the liquefied gas terminal in Klaipeda.

It is essential that the offers of Elektrum to households are tailored to the needs of customers and are developed in response to their opinion of what is expected from a natural gas trader. The representatives of the most numerous segment who use natural gas for cooking and whose consumption is low are primarily interested in convenience of the service and ease of payments. In turn, customers with high consumption, who choose natural gas for home and water heating, emphasise the possibility of a friendlier price in addition to the quality of the service.

Elektrum provides natural gas customers with a combined electricity and gas bill and a competitive price and offers extra options for the safe use of natural gas. All customers have the opportunity to choose not only the main product  gas, but also additional features aimed at the safety of the service: the annual maintenance of the customers gas boiler.

Furthermore, Elektrum natural gas customers have access to the most convenient payment and customer service options in the industry  a mobile app, a self-service portal and free customer care.

We are entering the natural gas market with the largest and longest customer service experience among energy traders not only in Latvia, but also in the Baltics. We are ready to offer it in the best way also to natural gas users, most of whom are already our customers in the electricity market. Therefore, our offer is a logical step towards the movement of Latvenergo Group as the leading provider of energy services to new expanded markets and services.

For customers, this means new options to choose from and ease of use that provide a stable service in a dynamic everyday life, says Uldis Mucinieks, Sales Director at Latvenergo AS, commenting the decision to start selling natural gas to households.

The transition from the previous trader to Elektrum is simple and easy, as all formalities are settled by Elektrum.

Additional information:

Janis Irbe

Group Treasurer

Phone: +371 67 728 239

E-mail: investor.relations@latvenergo.lv

www.latvenergo.lv

About Latvenergo

Latvenergo Group is one of the leading energy suppliers in the Baltics operating in electricity and thermal energy generation and trade, natural gas trade, electricity distribution services and lease of transmission system assets. Latvenergo AS has been acknowledged as the most valuable company in Latvia for several times. International credit rating agency Moodys has assigned Latvenergo AS an investment-grade credit rating of Baa2/stable.

Latvenergo Group is comprised of the parent company Latvenergo AS (generation and trade of electricity and thermal energy, trade of natural gas) and seven subsidiaries - Latvijas elektriskie tikli AS (lease of transmission system assets), Sadales tikls AS (electricity distribution), Elektrum Eesti OU (trade of electricity and natural gas in Estonia), Elektrum Lietuva UAB (trade of electricity and natural gas in Lithuania), Energijas publiskais tirgotajs AS (administration of mandatory electricity procurement process) and Liepajas energija SIA (generation and trade of thermal energy in Liepaja, electricity generation). All shares of Latvenergo AS are owned by the state and held by the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia.English French

NEWS RELEASE



IRVINE, CA, and HERSTAL, BELGIUM - 07:00 CET, February 14, 2019 - MDxHealth SA (Euronext: MDXH.BR) today announces that it has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with LifeLabs to make SelectMDx, the Company's non-invasive liquid biopsy prostate cancer test, available in Canada. LifeLabs is a leading Canadian company that performs over 100 million laboratory tests per year to help diagnose, treat, monitor and prevent diseases, supporting over 19 million patient visits annually.

Under the terms of the partnership agreement, LifeLabs will serve as an exclusive distributor for SelectMDx in Canada. Liquid biopsy samples will be tested in MDxHealth's state-of-the-art clinical diagnostic laboratory in Irvine, California, and LifeLabs will reimburse MDxHealth for all testing services performed.

SelectMDx, the only non-invasive liquid biopsy diagnostic test available to selectively identify patients at increased risk of aggressive prostate cancer on the basis of two RNA urine biomarkers, has been shown to have a significant impact on initial prostate biopsy decision-making. Today, the standard of care to identify patients with prostate cancer is based on invasive, and often painful, prostate biopsies. However, these procedures are often inaccurate and unnecessary, with 80% of men undergoing a biopsy having no cancer detected, of which about 25% are expected to harbor indolent cancer missed by the procedure. .

In Canada, about 60,000 prostate biopsies are performed annually, resulting in about 24,000 newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients per year, while leaving about 1.4 million at-risk Canadian men living with increased prostate-specific-antigen (PSA) levels. The Canadian Cancer Society estimates that, by 2030, the number of patients diagnosed each year with prostate cancer will increase to 42,000 from 24,000 today, mainly driven by an ageing population and lifestyle.

"We are very excited to partner with MDxHealth and to provide SelectMDx to our customers across Canada," stated Charles Brown, CEO of LifeLabs. "By making this innovative, non-invasive test available, we are improving the quality of prostate cancer diagnosis and delivering healthier outcomes for Canadians."

"With over 25,000 US patients tested with SelectMDx to date, the test is clearly gaining momentum to become the standard of care in diagnosing patients with increased risk for aggressive prostate cancer," said Dr. Jan Groen CEO of MDxHealth. "This partnership agreement with LifeLabs demonstrates our commitment to making SelectMDx widely available in North America and to offering a valuable and accurate alternative for patients at risk for prostate cancer."

About SelectMDx for Prostate Cancer

Of the nearly 2 million prostate biopsies performed each year, less than a third identify cancer. Most of these men could have avoided a painful and invasive prostate biopsy procedure, with its associated complications and costs. SelectMDx for Prostate Cancer is a proprietary urine-based, molecular diagnostic test that offers a non-invasive liquid biopsy method to assess a patient's risk for prostate cancer. SelectMDx helps identify men at increased risk of harboring aggressive, potentially lethal, prostate cancer who may benefit most from a prostate biopsy and earlier detection. The test delivers a negative predictive value (NPV) of 98% for clinically significant disease, helping to reduce the need for MRI procedures and invasive prostate biopsies by up to 50%, thereby reducing healthcare costs. The test has been included in the 2018 European Association of Urology (EAU) clinical guidelines.

About LifeLabs

LifeLabs is a Canadian-owned company with over 50 years of experience providing laboratory testing services to help healthcare providers diagnose, treat, monitor, and prevent disease in patients. In communities across British Columbia and Ontario, LifeLabs delivers cost-effective, convenient access to laboratory testing services essential for optimal outcomes in healthcare. LifeLabs employs approximately 5,400 professionally trained staff and delivers over 100 million laboratory tests, supporting over 19 million patient visits annually. In 2013, LifeLabs acquired BC Biomedical in British Columbia and CML HealthCare in Ontario making LifeLabs the largest community laboratory in Canada. LifeLabs is indirectly owned by OMERS Administration Corporation, whose interest is managed by OMERS Infrastructure Management Inc. In addition to being the first community lab to conduct non-invasive prenatal testing in Canada, LifeLabs is the first lab to provide online appointment booking for patients, non-fasting protocols and secure, online access to lab results for patients.

About MDxHealth

MDxHealth is a multinational healthcare company that provides actionable molecular diagnostic information to personalize the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The company's tests are based on proprietary genetic, epigenetic (methylation) and other molecular technologies and assist physicians with the diagnosis of urologic cancers, prognosis of recurrence risk, and prediction of response to a specific therapy. The Company's European headquarters are in Herstal, Belgium, with laboratory operations in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, and US headquarters and laboratory operations based in Irvine, California. For more information, visit mdxhealth.com and follow us on social media at: twitter.com/mdxhealth, facebook.com/mdxhealth and linkedin.com/company/mdxhealth.

For more information:

MDxHealth



Dr. Jan Groen, CEO



US: +1 949 812 6979



BE: +32 4 257 70 21



info@mdxhealth.com



Consilium Strategic Communications

David Daley, Chris Welsh, Jonathan Birt

UK: +44 20 3709 5701



mdxhealth@consilium-comms.com









This press release contains forward-looking statements and estimates with respect to the anticipated future performance of MDxHealth and the market in which it operates. Such statements and estimates are based on assumptions and assessments of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which were deemed reasonable but may not prove to be correct. Actual events are difficult to predict, may depend upon factors that are beyond the Company's control, and may turn out to be materially different. MDxHealth expressly disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements in this release to reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based unless required by law or regulation. This press release does not constitute an offer or invitation for the sale or purchase of securities or assets of MDxHealth in any jurisdiction. No securities of MDxHealth may be offered or sold within the United States without registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or in compliance with an exemption therefrom, and in accordance with any applicable U.S. securities laws.

NOTE: The MDxHealth logo, MDxHealth, ConfirmMDx, SelectMDx, AssureMDx, PredictMDx and UrNCollect are trademarks or registered trademarks of MDxHealth SA. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.LONDON and SYDNEY, Australia and JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Feb. 13, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FXCM Arabic, the department dedicated to servicing the Middle East and Gulf client base of FXCM Group, LLC ("FXCM Group" or FXCM), a leading international provider of online foreign exchange trading, CFD trading, cryptocurrencies and related services, invites past, present and interested trading fanatics to schedule one-on-one meetings with FXCM. The FXCM Arabic team will be in Dubai throughout the week of 18 February meeting with clients and hosting an afternoon of discussions, education and networking at the Dubai Trading Forum on 21st February. FXCM staff along with experienced speakers will cover both technical and fundamental trading analysis across FX, indices, gold and more.



Contact an FXCM Arabic team member to set up your meeting today Email arabic@fxcm.com and or Register for free and don't miss this opportunity to learn from industry experts and network with like-minded traders and professionals.

In addition, FXCM Pro staff will be in the region meeting with dedicated and prospective clients. Interested participants can book one-on-one meetings with a dedicated FXCM representative to explore FXCM Pros versatile product offerings and services. Email support@fxcmpro.com

Siju Daniel, CCO of FXCM Group stated, The Arabic team at FXCM will be in the region quarterly moving forward to participate face to face with our traders and partners. This is a new strategy for us in the region and we are looking forward to engaging with everyone throughout the year.

For more information and to open a live account, traders can contact an FXCM specialist 24 hours a day 5 days a week.

About FXCM:

FXCM is a leading provider of online foreign exchange (FX) trading, CFD trading, and related services. Founded in 1999, the company's mission is to provide global traders with access to the world's largest and most liquid market by offering innovative trading tools, hiring excellent trading educators, meeting strict financial standards and striving for the best online trading experience in the market. Clients have the advantage of mobile trading, one-click order execution and trading from real-time charts. In addition, FXCM offers educational courses on FX trading and provides trading tools, proprietary data and premium resources. FXCM Pro provides retail brokers, small hedge funds and emerging market banks access to wholesale execution and liquidity, while providing high and medium frequency funds access to prime brokerage services via FXCM Prime. FXCM is a Leucadia Company.

Trading Forex/CFD's on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors as you could sustain losses in excess of deposits. Leverage can work against you. The products are intended for retail, professional and eligible counterparty clients. For clients who maintain account(s) with Forex Capital Markets Limited ("FXCM LTD"), retail clients could sustain a total loss of deposited funds but are not subject to subsequent payment obligations beyond the deposited funds and professional clients could sustain losses in excess of deposits. Prior to trading any products offered by Forex Capital Markets Limited , inclusive of all EU branches, FXCM Australia Pty. Limited , FXCM South Africa (PTY) Ltd , any affiliates of aforementioned firms, or other firms within the FXCM group of companies [collectively the FXCM Group], carefully consider your financial situation and experience level. If you decide to trade products offered by FXCM Australia Pty. Limited (FXCM AU) (AFSL 309763), you must read and understand the Financial Services Guide , Product Disclosure Statement , and Terms of Business . The FXCM Group may provide general commentary which is not intended as investment advice and must not be construed as such. Seek advice from a separate financial advisor. The FXCM Group assumes no liability for errors, inaccuracies or omissions; does not warrant the accuracy, completeness of information, text, graphics, links or other items contained within these materials. Read and understand the Terms and Conditions on the FXCM Groups websites prior to taking further action. Read full disclaimer.However, the city isn't concerned that the River City Renaissance Project will be delayed as a result of the suit. "The city intends to proceed with the RCR projects on the same schedule," Burnett said.

On Feb. 4, the city broke ground on the multipurpose arena which is scheduled to be finished by the end of 2019.

As to what accounted for the two-month-plus delay between filing the lawsuit and being served, Burnett expressed that he was uncertain.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

"You would have to ask the party that filed the lawsuit and delayed serving the city," Burnett said. "I have no idea why it was delayed."

At time of publication, Phillip Chodur and both of his attorneys were contacted but did not respond.

G8 has demanded a trial by jury.

Past legal tangles

Chodur has pitched and worked on downtown proposals for more than five years. None involving a hotel have been completed.

Based on past reporting from the Globe Gazette, the lawsuit "resulted from an earlier hotel proposal with G8 which fell through."MASON CITY - A wanted Mason City man was arrested after leading police on a chase throughout Mason City early Thursday morning.

At about 2:14 a.m. Thursday morning, a Cerro Gordo County Sheriffs Deputy attempted to make a traffic stop for a 2001 Dodge Ram truck driven by a wanted fugitive near the intersection of 19th Street Southwest and South Grover Avenue in Mason City.

The driver was identified as Frederick Joseph Olson, 46, who was wanted on an absence from custody arrest warrant issued by Beje Clark Residential Center where Olson was court ordered to stay.

When the deputy attempted to pull him over, Olson fled in the truck and lead law enforcement on a pursuit for several minutes.

Olson drove on South and North Pierce Avenue to 12th Street Northwest to 12th Street Northeast. He also drove to Illinois Avenue and onto Highway 122.

During the pursuit, Olson attempted to strike the deputys patrol vehicle with his truck.

Mason City Police assisted with the pursuit and were able to use stop stick tire deflation devices three separate times during the pursuit.DES MOINES  Gov. Kim Reynolds proposal to make birth control pills available without a doctors prescription is expected to be introduced in the Iowa Legislature as early as today.

Her plan to make birth control more accessible, first proposed during her campaign last summer and fall, also would expand choices and family planning resources, particularly in rural Iowa, Reynolds said.

The order would give pharmacists the authority to distribute birth control, as much as a yearlong supply.

Behind-the-counter birth control would be handled in much the same way as standing orders for Naloxone, a medication to rapidly reverse the an opioid overdose.

A statewide standing order would be issued by the medical director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, a physician, Reynolds explained.

It would allow pharmacists to sell a variety of birth control products, such as pills and patches, to women 18 and older.

Before obtaining the birth control, a woman would need to complete a health assessment, which would include questions such as whether she had a history of breast cancer in her family, the governor said recently.OSAGE | Beginning with the Tuesday, Feb. 26 issue of the Mitchell County Press-News, readers may recognize a familiar name on a few of the stories.

Mary Pieper, 30 year newspaper reporter veteran, will be joining the Mitchell County Press-News staff as senior reporter.

Pieper, who has worked since October 2000 for Lee Enterprises, when she began working at the Mason City Globe Gazette, started her newspaper career at the Tama News-Herald/Toledo Chronicle. She then worked at Boone TODAY, followed by the Storm Lake Pilot-Tribune and then the NWest Iowa Review in Sheldon before coming to Mason City.

What I love the most about being a reporter is the variety of what you do from day to day, whether its interviewing a presidential hopeful making a campaign stop or covering a town festival, Pieper said. I have always loved to write and I feel incredibly lucky to be able to do it for a living.

I am excited to have Mary joining us at the Mitchell County Press-News, said Regional Editor Jim Cross. Mary brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in covering the news for towns, both big and small, across North Iowa."

I look forward to getting to know the people in Mitchell County, Pieper said, and keeping them informed about what is going on in their communities.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1DES MOINES  From increased ease of use in displays to additional sensors to alert farmers of an issue, the next big (or small) thing is always changing in agriculture technology, but one word continued to be thrown around at the Iowa Power Farming Show: autonomous.

Scott Meldrum, an associate with John Deere, said he expects continued advancement of autonomous technology, and said soon we could be seeing tractors running by themselves in the field.

I really think that artificial intelligence or autonomy is going to play a factor in farming, Meldrum said. It may not be in the next one or two years, but in the next five or 10 for sure.

Our skilled labor force is dwindling and our machines arent getting any smaller. If we have something that can be done autonomously in the field, we are probably going to start seeing it go that way.

Advantages of autonomous vehicles are easy to spot, from efficiency to limiting the amount of hired help a farmer might need.

However, one of the challenges is going to be convincing farmers that this is technology they can trust.The fallouts of Ncell

Business is politics and politics is business in NepalAsk Geotripper

Is there something about geology that you are curious about? Do you have questions about the scientific aspects of political controversies? I can try to provide a scientist's perspective. Your questions and possible answers could be a springboard to a blog discussion, or they can be private. Anonymity is always assumed. Contact Geotripper at hayesg (at) mjc.edu.

Note: Keep your volume in check, wind.

This is a video of the Norwegian Epic cruise ship coming into dock in San Juan, Puerto Rico following some engine trouble at sea, and crashing into two mooring platforms in the process, sinking both. No word if the engine trouble or Captain Rumbeard was to blame, but I feel like I could have easily done just as good a job if not better provided causing as much damage and destruction was the goal.

Keep going for the whole video.



Thanks to hairless, who agrees the captain should have tried drifting the boat into port.Frederick Douglass was speaking in Pendleton, Ind., on a sunny Saturday in 1843. On Americas vast prairie, a revolutionary was shouting against the evils of slavery.

It was the volcanic outbreak of human nature, a reporter wrote after hearing Douglass. It was the storm of insurrection.

During the talk, several dozen men armed with stones and clubs encircled the crowd of 130. These enraged men, like most Americans of 1843, supported slavery. It was  and this forever will remain astonishing  the law of the land.

Suddenly, vile mob attacked peaceful crowd. A swing from a club fractured Douglass right hand. A second swing busted open his forehead, knocked him to the ground and removed several teeth. A third swing, likely fatal, was on the way before anti-slavery crusader William White rescued Douglass.

A monument to this vicious attack was erected in Pendleton in 2013. Heres my favorite sentence from the monuments long inscription:

Douglass spoke the next day at nearby Friends (Quaker) meetinghouse without incident.

Think about it: Not even a brush with death could silence Douglass, who belongs on any list of great Americans. We tend to consider his courage during Black History Month. We should consider his courage every month.

It is Jason Kohls challenge and honor to teach the Douglass story to juniors and seniors at Palmer High School. Tuesday, Kohl sits at a downtown lunch table and talks about bringing a man born 201 years ago this month to life for teens born in the 21st century. Kohl is Colorado Springs, through and through. Hes a 1986 Doherty High alum who later graduated from UCCS and Colorado College.

In 1843, Douglass walked on perilous ground. Most white Americans fiercely supported or, at best, nonchalantly shrugged at the idea of one human owning another human. Evil was socially acceptable, and speaking against evil was life endangering.

These are folks who were willing to stand, willing to stand for something that is right, even though the majority believed that they were in the wrong, Kohl says of the anti-slavery crusaders.

After telling the Douglass story to Palmer students, Kohl follows with a question. He asks the question in 2019, but its the same question that inspired Alexander Hamilton and Abraham Lincoln and Susan B. Anthony and Martin Luther King Jr.

Are you willing today to stand for what is right? Kohl asks.

Are you willing to stand if youre the only one standing? Are you willing to stand when everybody else wants to knock you down for what you believe?

That is Frederick Douglass.

The story of Frederick Douglass has the rhythm and weight of an Old Testament tale. Born into slavery in Maryland in 1818, he died 65 miles away in his stately white home on a hill in Washington D.C., where he could sit on his front porch and gaze at the U.S. Capitol. He ranked among Americas best-selling writers in the 19th century. Impoverished slave transformed to wealthy celebrity.

But trouble always blended with triumph.

He had plentiful reason to hate his homeland. He was beaten as a child by slavemasters. He was beaten by slavery supporters in Indiana. He was a lonely, imperiled voice against slavery in the 1840s and 1850s. He sent his sons to battle in the Civil War. After the war, Douglass believed the truth would set his countrymen free, and the morally blind would be blessed with sight. Instead, he saw a violent cloud fall over the Deep South. Segregation became the American norm. Emancipation did not result in equality.

Still, he refused to indulge in cynicism. He soared, always, above reality, believing, fiercely and utterly, in Americas unmatched promises.

Read then the preamble of the Constitution, he said in an 1857 speech. Note how it starts. We the people of the United States  not we the white people, but we the people. 

In one of his final speeches, Douglass stood on an August day before a big Chicago crowd. A few words into his prepared speech, a crowd of whites in the audience loudly mocked him, and for a moment the strength of a 74-year-old American giant was shaken.

But only for a moment.

Douglass tossed his speech to the ground and removed his glasses. Standing in the middle of his still scattering speech, Douglass shouted down the shouters. In his youth, he had been described as majestic in his wrath. Age failed to conquer that majesty. His hour-long speech ended with uproarious applause.

He asked, Whether the American people have loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough to live up to their own Constitution?

A soul-shaking question in 1893.

A soul-shaking question that Kohl still asks today.Colorado lawmakers announced Thursday that they will try again to pass a red flag bill to take guns out of the hands of those deemed mentally unstable.

The announcement came on the anniversary of the killing of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

While the bill has yet to be formally introduced in the House, supporters indicated the 2019 red flag bill will be dramatically different from the version rejected in the Republican-controlled state Senate last May.

The 2018 measure was spurred by the ambush slaying of Douglas County Deputy Zachary Parrish III on Dec. 31, 2017. He was shot dead by a veteran who had been diagnosed with PTSD and who had been determined by officers on the scene as having mental health issues. The man died in a shootout with police.

As described by lawmakers, this years Extreme Risk Protection Order bill would allow law enforcement officers to remove guns and ammunition from a person deemed a risk to themselves or to others.

Under the measure, once law enforcement removes guns from someone, a judge would be required to hold a hearing within 14 days to determine if the respondent is mentally stable.

In contrast to last years measure, the respondent would be provided with legal counsel. But if the person is deemed a risk to themselves or others, law enforcement could hold the weapons for up to 364 days, double the number of days in the 2018 bill.

The bills sponsors are House Majority Leader Alec Garnett, D-Denver, who co-sponsored the 2018 measure, and newly elected Rep. Tom Sullivan, D-Centennial, whose son, Alex, died in the Aurora theater shooting in 2012.

This is why Im here, Sullivan said at Thursdays news conference, to make sure what happened to my family doesnt happen again.

A year ago, five states had red flag laws, but in the wake of the Florida shooting, eight more states have passed those laws. Colorado should be the next state to adopt that law, supporters said.

Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock, Parrishs boss, said the bill is about saving lives, including those in danger of suicide.

Spurlock said the bills changes from 2018 came at the request of the states judicial department, which asked for a longer period to accommodate the courts.

The longer period to retain weapons is at the request of mental health professionals, to give more time to help those who need mental health treatment. Supporters also noted that most states with red flag laws have those longer periods.

Noticeable in their absence this year in the bills rollout: Republicans.

Last year, GOP Assistant Minority Leader Cole Wist of Centennial took heat for his caucus and from Republicans statewide for backing the bill, and it made him a target of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, who called him a traitor during the 2018 election season.

Garnett pointed to a poll released Wednesday by Magellan Strategies that showed that 60 percent of Republicans support a red flag bill. That seems like the bipartisan support this bill needs, Garnett said.

Rocky Mountain Gun Owners was present at Thursdays news conference, issuing a statement that said the bill will strip gun owners of their legal property without due process.

Rocky Mountain Gun Owners did not address the bills language on the 14-day court hearing or that the bill provides the respondent with an attorney for those hearings, key provisions of due process.

Rocky Mountain Gun Owners Executive Director Dudley Brown also blasted Democrats for holding the news conference on the anniversary of the Parkland shooting. This bill will do nothing to prevent another Columbine, Aurora or Parkland, Brown said in the statement.

House Minority Leader Patrick Neville of Castle Rock shared Browns pessimism. ...I am extremely concerned about the lack of due process in this bill. This is an even more draconian version of legislation than what we saw last year. In this version of the bill, innocent until proven guilty no longer exists. The burden of proof is on you to prove your innocence.

Also missing from Thursdays news conference: Senate President Leroy Garcia of Pueblo, who has been a reliable voter in favor of repealing the most controversial bill from the 2013 session  to outlaw ammunition magazines of 15 rounds or greater.

In a statement released Thursday, Garcia didnt offer full-throated support for the red flag bill, which he didnt mention by name .

I recognize this conversation is difficult, but it is one we need to have and an issue we need to address, he said.

We must protect the most vulnerable while respecting law-abiding citizens. I look forward to continued conversations with Majority Leader Garnett and Coloradans to ensure that we find the best policy for Colorado.

In the Senate, the measure is sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Lois Court, D-Denver, and Sen. Brittany Pettersen, D-Lakewood.

Court said she believes Garcia will support the measure, although she said she has not spoken to him since the final version was released.One held with 18kg gold in Kanchanpur

A person has been arrested in possession of 18 kg gold from Dashrathbasti in Punarbas Municipality-2 of Kanchanpur on Thursday.A man who allegedly fired a gun outside a post office in east Colorado Springs was arrested Wednesday after a SWAT officers surrounded a nearby apartment where several people told police the shooter lived.

Police were called to the post office at 2641 E. Uintah St. around noon on a report of shots fired, said police spokesman Lt. Howard Black. Officers talked to "numerous witnesses" who said the shooter had fled to his apartment.

"There were other individuals telling us that the actual shooter was inside of that location  not everyone was being truthful with us," Black said.

A SWAT team ultimately determined that no one was inside the apartment in the 2600 block of East Uintah Street, although a rifle was found in the apartment, Black said.

The man who was arrested, Deandre Martin, was one of the witnesses police had spoken to and apparently gave officers a false name, Black said.

Martin is being held in the El Paso County jail. It's unclear what charges he might face.Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Generally cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 82F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 56F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph.Health insurance carriers would have been prohibited from limiting patients ability to select their own pharmacy under a bill that was killed Wednesday by a Colorado House committee.

House Bill 1154, proposed by Reps. Kyle Mullica, D-Northglenn, and Marc Catlin, R-Montrose, died in the House Committee on Health and Insurance. Both representatives also sit on the committee.

Along with allowing patients to select the pharmacy of their choice, the bill would have prohibited insurance carriers from imposing fees or any other conditions on patients for that choice.

It would have also prohibited carriers from denying pharmacies or pharmacists the right to participate in the companys network contracts, so long as they were properly licensed and agreed to the conditions that apply to a network.

The bill had bipartisan sponsorship in the Senate.DES MOINES, Iowa  Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet plans to travel to Iowa this month to meet with Democratic activists in the early presidential caucus state as he considers entering his party's 2020 White House field, his aides said Thursday.

The soft-spoken moderate plans to visit working-class Dubuque and nearby towns in northeast Iowa, the heart of territory won by Democrat Barack Obama in 2008 and by Republican Donald Trump in 2016.

"Michael is planning a trip to Iowa to engage with voters as he considers whether to enter the race for president," said Craig Hughes, a Bennet political adviser. The visit is scheduled for Feb. 22-23.

Bennet, a two-term senator, had downplayed interest in a presidential candidacy late last fall but has recently suggested his background could resonate in the fast-developing but wide-open Democratic presidential campaign.

"I think that I've got a different set of experiences than the other folks in the race," Bennet said Sunday on NBC's "Meet The Press." ''And I think having one more voice in that conversation that's focused on America's future I don't think would hurt."

Bennet has kept a low public profile, though he sits on the influential Finance and Intelligence committees.

However, he had a notably explosive moment last month on the Senate floor when he blasted Republican Sen. Ted Cruz for backing a bill to pay Coast Guard members during the partial government shutdown but not reopen the government.

Bennet said Cruz once led a 16-day government shutdown in a failed bid to derail funding for the Affordable Care Act at a time when Colorado was experiencing catastrophic flooding, delaying relief efforts.

"When the senator from Texas shut this government down in 2013, my state was flooded," Bennet shouted. "People were killed. People's houses were destroyed. Their small businesses were destroyed, forever."

Bennet accused Cruz of crying "crocodile tears" this time around.

Five of Bennet's Senate colleagues are among nine Democrats who have formally launched campaigns for president.

But Bennet is among an emerging group of 2020 prospects with more centrist profiles than many of his would-be rivals such as New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, California Sen. Kamala Harris and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who announced her candidacy Sunday, and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who plans to travel to Iowa on Friday, are portraying themselves as pragmatic Democrats who can win in competitive states.

And Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who also is weighing a 2020 candidacy, is visiting swing-voting and rural parts of early-voting states to talk to voters in regions that Democrats lost to Trump in 2016.

Another likely candidate is Bennet's fellow Coloradan, former Gov. John Hickenlooper, who was campaigning in New Hampshire Wednesday and Thursday.

Bennet is also expected to visit Winterset in rural Madison County in southwest Iowa known for its series of century-old covered bridges that inspired the book "The Bridges of Madison County."DENVER  A proposed bill that would have made performing almost all abortions a felony was defeated Wednesday by Democrats on a state House Committee.

Few, if any, minds were changed through hours of testimony, it seemed. Democratic members of the House Committee of Health and Insurance killed the bill on a 7-4 party-line vote.

House Bill 1103, proposed by Reps. Steve Humphrey, R-Eaton, and Lori Saine, R-Dacono, died in the House Health and Insurance Committee on a party line 7-4 vote.

Called the Protect Human Life At Conception Bill, it would have made performing an abortion a Class 1 felony. the only exception allowed would have been to prevent a mothers death, and only after reasonable efforts were made to save both lives.

It also would have excused the accidental death of a unborn child during medical treatment of the mother. No exceptions were made for instances of rape or incest.

Humphrey, who had proposed the legislation seven times previously, said the right to life isnt granted by the government, its inherent.

Why should science be the basis for determining personhood? he asked.

Dozens testified for and against the bill. The vast majority of those speaking against it were women seeking while far more men testified on behalf of the bill.

We have seen bills like this before, said Dwan Riley Duval, executive director of Soul 2 Soul, a Denver faith-based racial justice organization. Bills attempting to make abortion so expensive or complicated to receive that families, particularly low-income families of color, have great difficulty in obtaining medical care.

Others argued that a ban wouldnt stop abortions, it would only stop safe abortions. Desperate pregnant women have always found a way to terminate pregnancies, whether medically safe or not, some bill opponents said.

If the goal is to reduce the number of abortions provided in Colorado, then the Legislature should invest in comprehensive sex education, increase access to contraceptives and offer more health care to immigrant populations, said Claire Leonard.

Dr. Aaron Lazorwitz, an obstetrician-gynecologist, said the bill could have harmed doctor-patient relations, opening medical professionals to criminal charges.

Proponents, however, argued that life begins at conception and should be protected just as a childs life is protected.

Life is a gift from God, not a curse, said Cathy Shera.

Prior to the vote, Rep. Sonya Jaquez-Lewis, D-Boulder, said the bill represented an affront to her rights and she noted that Coloradans have voted down similar proposals multiple times.

Its an attack on me as a woman, she said. The voters of Colorado have spoken and this is not what they want.

The bill would have forced a religious opinion on everyone with no regard for the beliefs of others or the health and welfare of women, said the committees chairwoman, Rep. Susan Lontine, D-Denver. Women are more than reproductive vessels, more than servants of an authoritarian state.Two major Colorado Springs hospital expansion projects will open this month, but the local health care building binge is far from over.

St. Francis Medical Centers expanded emergency department opens Wednesday, the last major part of a $102 million, 168,000-square-foot addition that was started in May 2017. UCHealth Memorial Hospital Norths $129 million, 130,000-square-foot addition will open Feb. 25, with space for expanded services for women, cancer patients and emergency medicine.

More construction will follow, starting with this springs opening of Childrens Hospital Colorados $165 million, 294,000-square-foot facility on the Memorial North campus. Penrose-St. Francis Health Services plans to build out shell space for six more operating rooms and add two floors to the St. Francis addition for inpatient beds, building a third campus along Interstate 25 in northern Colorado Springs and renovating its Penrose Hospital campus on North Nevada Avenue.

The expansions have state officials concerned about an arms race with hospitals building redundant facilities to compete, rather than compliment each other, but Colorado Springs hospital officials say they are just trying to keep up with the areas growing population and demand for health services.

We built the emergency room (at St. Francis) for 2,800 to 3,000 patients a month, and we have significantly exceeded that. We are now over 4,000 (patients a month) all the time, said Calvin Eisenach, the hospitals vice president of operations, during a tour last week. We are bursting at the seams. There have been long waits for emergency room patients.

Memorial North and St. Francis report fast-growing patient counts, triggered by explosive population and housing growth to the north and east in the Colorado Springs area, especially as more Denver-area workers look for less-expensive housing in northern El Paso County. Memorial North opened in 2007 and St. Francis two years later.

This expansion will serve the community well, but we have to keep expanding to serve the community coming in, Eisenach said. We built bigger than we needed (now). But the community is growing and needs these (expanded) services. Besides the bigger emergency department, the addition includes a neonatal intensive care unit that opened in August and four more operating rooms that opened in October.

Few new employees have been hired to work specifically in the additions; both hospitals have added workers as needed to accommodate their growing patient volumes.

The expanded St. Francis emergency department will be nearly twice the size of the emergency department at Penrose Hospital. St. Francis emergency department often handles more patients, while Penrose is equipped and staffed to handle more severe cases. The St. Francis department will have beds for 48 patients, not counting four beds to evaluate arriving patients, and special units for children and behavioral health.

The new emergency department was designed by the medical staff that will use it, creating the most efficient patient flow, said Michele Hobbs, the hospitals emergency services director. That includes having satellite radiology and laboratory operations there so patients dont have to be taken elsewhere in the hospital and a larger ambulance parking area with a lounge for crews, she said.

The current St. Francis emergency department, which will close as its replacement opens, will be remodeled during the next month or so for vascular care, infusion and radiology, Eisenach said. The four new operating rooms are at capacity, though demand for those services tends to be higher in winter, and medical-surgical inpatient beds and the neo-natal intensive care unit also are full, he said.

The hospitals parent company acquired adjacent land in 2016 for expansion that could accommodate medical offices, parking or other needs, Eisenach said.

Penrose-St. Francis is acquiring a site for its third campus to follow housing being developed on the citys northern edge. The hospital sold a site in northwest Colorado Springs that was to have been used to replace Penrose Hospital. That plan was dropped, and Penrose instead will be renovated over seven to 10 years. The new campus will begin as a specialty hospital, perhaps focusing on high-end orthopedic and spine care. It likely will start with only a couple of floors and 24 beds, but will grow to rival St. Francis in size.

About half of Memorials addition is dedicated to womens services, with areas for soon-to-deliver mothers, labor and delivery as well as care of mothers and newborns. The new space doubles the capacity of womens services and, when more unfinished space is completed, will be larger than the space now dedicated to those services at the Memorial Hospital Central campus east of downtown.

Memorial North handles about three-fourths of the volume of Memorial Central, but the number of annual births at the North campus grew by 21 percent between 2013 and 2018, hospital data show. Womens services now occupies about a third of Memorial Norths building; that space will be used to expand inpatient beds for medical and surgical patients.

Our growth in birth numbers year over year is reflective of the population growth in the region, and we are excited here at UCHealth to be growing in size and innovation to make sure the best services are available to our patients, said Amber Rossman, interim clinical director of Memorials Maternal Child Division.

The hospital is running training exercises in the addition this month to help staff become familiar with where supplies and equipment are stored and how on-call staff can quickly find their way to the right rooms when paged. In one scenario, nurses walked through an uneventful birth while in a second scenario, a mother undergoing a C-section begins hemorrhaging, and teams from the emergency and intensive care units are summoned.

In October, Memorial North opened the first-phase expansion  a nine-room addition to its emergency department that will increase capacity by 50 percent.

That expansion wont be the last for Memorial North. The master plan for the 128-acre campus, which also houses Colorado Springs Orthopaedic Group, calls for another hospital tower, a second medical office building and a parking garage. UCHealth Memorial also operates Grandview Hospital on North Nevada Avenue and Pikes Peak Regional Hospital in Woodland Park.Jim Flynn is with the Colorado Springs firm of Flynn & Wright LLC. Contact him at moneylaw@jtflynn.com. "Best of Jim Flynn's Money & the Law" is now available at amazon.com  paperback or e-book.Nepali Communist Party set to file impeachment motion against CIAA commissioner Pathak

The ruling Nepal Communist Party is preparing to file an impeachment motion against Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority commissioner Raj Narayan Pathak for taking bribe to settle the dispute of Nepal Engineering College.Centura Health has paid $30 million for 57.8 acres southeast of InterQuest Parkway and Interstate 25 for its third Colorado Springs campus.

Etkin Johnson Real Estate Partners announced the sale of the land to Centura, parent company of Penrose-St. Francis Health Services, on Thursday in a news release. The Denver-based development firm bought the property in 2016 as part of a 77-acre parcel and started construction last year on the 288-unit FalconView apartments on a part of that site.

Penrose-St. Francis CEO Dr. Brian Erling said in December that the new campus will begin as a specialty hospital, perhaps focusing on high-end orthopedic and spinal care. It likely will start with two floors and 24 beds, but will grow to rival the size of the 195-bed St. Francis Medical Center, southeast of Woodmen Road and Powers Boulevard. No timetable has been set for construction to begin on the site, a Penrose-St. Francis spokeswoman said.

This is an exciting step in a long-term strategy that addresses the current market changes that we are experiencing as a health system and the projected growth of our region, Erling said Thursday in a statement.

We are looking at developing this property in close collaboration with our physician partners. Building a medical campus in the area with the highest projected population growth in our city will ensure that Penrose-St. Francis will continue to be our regions leading health care system.

Centura sold a site in northwest Colorado Springs that was to have been used to replace Penrose Hospital north of downtown and become the nonprofits third campus.

That plan was dropped, and Penrose instead will be renovated over seven to 10 years. Penrose-St. Francis just completed a major expansion of St. Francis Medical Center and plans another expansion that will add more operating rooms and patient beds.

Penrose-St. Francis joins a growing number of high-profile businesses expanding to the InterQuest area:

 Ent Credit Union announced plans to begin construction this summer on a 300,000-square-foot headquarters that will open in 2021 to accommodate growth as southern Colorados largest financial institution expands along the Front Range.

 In-N-Out Burger paid nearly $7.4 million Friday to buy two sites in the nearby Victory Ridge complex, where it will build its first Colorado restaurant along with patty production and distribution facilities to serve its locations around the state. Both are scheduled to open next year.

 Scheels All Sports announced in October it would build a 220,000-square-foot store northeast of I-25 and InterQuest Parkway in the 135-acre InterQuest Marketplace that is scheduled to open in 2021.

The InterQuest area also is home to the Great Wolf Lodge water park and resort, a theater complex, restaurants, stores and hotels as well as plants for medical manufacturers Royal Philips and Bal Seal Engineering, data centers for retail giant Walmart and international software giant SAP and offices for defense contractor Lockheed Martin and fast-growing technology firm Cherwell Software.

Contact Wayne Heilman 636-0234 Facebook www.facebook.com/ wayne.heilman Twitter twitter.com/wayneheilman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"That was the example of an unlikely alliance of people who you would think might not agree on anything," she said. "I was there to help them protect their property rights and their water.

"As you begin to work with people, you recognize that you may have different views on guns and abortion, but you can work together to help make the state strong."

The country, and her national party, need to recognize that "we have solutions in Nebraska," Kleeb said, "and we need to make sure rural communities are engaged."

Democrats need to "bridge the real urban-rural divide in the party," she said.

Democrats need to look at rural America "not just for its votes, but for solutions about big problems like climate change, health care and creation of new small businesses," Kleeb said.

Some of those issues are identified with progressive politics and on her party's national agenda today, she noted.

"If powerful Democrats from the coasts decide to meet only the needs of coastal America, then we've become fly-over voters, not just fly-over states," Kleeb said.While students get to explore a variety of subjects and experiences throughout high school, one of the most important parts of their four years of learning is deciding what career they want to pursue when they graduate.

Whether students plan on continuing their education at a university or trade school or plan on entering the workforce upon graduation, getting exposure to career opportunities is an important part of the learning process.

Over the past week, local students have had ample opportunity to explore career options locally through Careerockit Week which introduces and connects a multitude of local businesses with local employers.

Students in the greater Omaha area and Fremont have been participating in the third annual Careerockit Week which is an initiative aimed at connecting local businesses and the education communities to meet current and future needs.

Careerockit is a Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce initiative to create nearly 20,000 unique student experiences for more than 20 school districts, multiple universities and nearly 140 organizations in six counties in Nebraska and Iowa. The program is implemented by the Greater Fremont Development Council and the Greater Fremont Chamber of Commerce.There is concern here that Councilmember Ellis is expressing, and some of the material that he has shown is concerning to me, Councilmember Brad Yerger said during the meeting on Tuesday. Im fully prepared to make a motion to continue this or postpone this a little further in order to make sure we have all the information that we need.

Ellis also said that at the very least he would like to see a copy of the feasibility completed by Prochaska & Associates back in 2017 regarding the Joint Law Enforcement Center.

I am for the Joint Law Enforcement Center, but I am very cautious of spending money and I think that is what our taxpayers want us to be, he said. I want all the information possible to be given to me before we make decisions and that hasnt happened in the past. That feasibility study we paid $15,000 for, we authorized it, and we shouldve gotten it back.

Councilmember Linda McClain, who voted against continuing the reconsideration, said she felt that continuing to push the sale down the road served no real purpose.A 79-year-old Nebraska City man was killed after his SUV rear-ended a semi in southeast Lincoln on Thursday morning, a Lincoln police spokesman said.

Thomas F. Funke, the father of Nebraska Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Funke, died at the scene. The driver of the semi was not injured, Capt. Robert Farber said.

The crash at 91st Street and Nebraska 2 occurred in the westbound lanes shortly after 9:30 a.m.

Funke was driving west on Nebraska 2 and his vehicle struck the rear of the semi, which was stopped at a traffic signal.

Reach the writer at 402-473-2657 or rjohnson@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSRileyJohnson.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0The University of Nebraska State Museum at Morrill Hall has been undergoing a transformation and it will soon be unveiled to the public.

Cherish Nebraska is the theme throughout the new fourth-floor expansion of Morrill Hall. The 11,000-square-foot project, which opens to the public on Saturday, represents the latest effort to establish the NU State Museum as the Smithsonian of the Plains.

The $11.4 million privately funded redevelopment project has transformed the fourth level of the historic 1920s-era Morrill Hall into state-of-the-art exhibits.

This floor celebrates Nebraska  our natural history and connections to our diverse cultural heritage, said Susan Weller, director of the museum and professor of entomology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I think itll be transformational for many people. Someone on our team said to me, Im from Nebraska, and Ive never been more proud of Nebraska. And it just took my breath away that we helped open her eyes to something she had never realized about the state.For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL February 14, 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: Boeing Company BA, Microsoft Corporation MSFT, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, Walmart Inc. WMT and JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM.

Here are highlights from Wednesdays Analyst Blog:

5 Stocks That Prove Size Does Matter

After a sharp drop toward the end of 2018, the U.S. stock market recouped some of the losses and now the indexes have closed at their highest levels for 2019. But, whether the momentum will continue is nothing but guess work. After all, the S&P 500s impressive 8% gain so far this year was primarily due to some solid earnings reports from high profile names like Facebook. But, we all know that there are serious underlying issues for Facebook, thanks to privacy and fake news controversies.

However, some may say that beyond this stock-specific issue, the broader market is poised to gain after lawmakers reached a deal to prevent another government shutdown and optimism also grew over a trade deal between the United States and China.

But beneath the surface, things are still dicey. President Trump did express his discontentment over the tentative agreement that allows 55 miles of new border fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. Meanwhile, he said that he may hold off on raising tariffs provided the countries get close to a deal. So, there are a lot of ifs and buts. And how can we forget that the global economy is on the cusp of a slowdown this year.

Its, thus, hard to predict whether the rally that began this year will stay. But, there are some mega-cap stocks that offer some respite at the moment. Their size, established business model and market dominance ensure that they weather whatever the market throws their way. These stocks are financially stable enough to counter a choppy equity market as well as cash on any uptrend. Have a look 

Story continues

Boeing

The Boeing Company, with a market value of $230 billion and annual revenues worth of $100 billion, should be at the top of the list, especially, when the company claims it has an order of $500 billion, ensuring a secured position in the near future.

By the by, the firm is frequently at the top of the list of government contractors and the Trump administrations interest to rebuild the U.S. military by bumping up Pentagons budget should certainly bode well for the company.

Boeing currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). In the past 60 days, eight earnings estimates moved north, while none moved south for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings rose 9.2% in the same period. You can seethe complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The stocks expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 23.4%, higher than the Aerospace - Defense industrys gain of 10.2%. The company has outperformed the broader industry so far this year (+27.4% vs +18.8%).

Microsoft

Software giant Microsoft Corporations sheer dominance of enterprise market share is a positive. It is not only the largest U.S. company by market value, its Windows command an 87% share of PC operating system. At the same time, the companys initiatives to become a more cloud-centric company and its shift from software licensing to a subscription model for its ever-present Office software has been working in favor for quite some time.

Microsoft, by the way, has made a number of high-profile cloud computing deals. These deals should boost profit margin and revenues. Microsoft announced a massive seven-year deal with Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) to become its strategic cloud provider. Walgreens is planning to move most of its information technology infrastructure to Microsoft Azure. At the same time, supermarket chain Albertsons and an array of other regional grocers signed a three-year deal, making Azure their preferred platform.

The Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) companys expected growth rate for the current year is 13.7%, more than the Computer - Software industrys estimated rise of 9.9%. In fact, the company has been outperforming the broader industry in the past year (+17.7% vs +16.7%).

Amazon

With a market cap of more than $800 billion and a price of around $1,600 a share, Amazon.com, Inc. is among the three biggest companies in the United States. But, its dominance goes far beyond size. Almost half of online spending has gone through Amazon last year and thats a healthy 5% share of the entire countrys retail spending. And thats a staggering tally! To top it, leadership in the cloud computing segment and new product lines like Alexa have worked in favor of Amazon.

If this wasnt enough, the Zacks Rank #3 companys consensus estimate for current-year earnings has moved up 0.4% in the past 30 days.

The companys expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 31.4%, in contrast to the Internet - Commerce industrys projected decline of 7.9%. In fact, the company has been outdoing the broader industry in the past year (+12.9% vs -7.9%).

Walmart

Walmart Inc. tops the Fortune 500 with more than $500 billion in annual revenues and is also among the top 15 companies listed in the S&P 500. Needless to say, that it has a market value of more than $280 billion.

Having said that, it is at the top of the e-commerce business with a respectable 4% of total online retail spends. And at the same time, it generates $30 billion in annual operating cash flow, thereby dismissing talks about the e-commerce revolution disrupting the retail giant.

Walmart currently has a Zacks Rank #3. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current fiscal-year earnings also rose 0.8% in the past 90 days.

The companys expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 9.3%, in contrast to the Retail - Supermarkets industrys estimated decline of 1.2%. The company has outperformed the broader industry on a year-to-date basis (+4.1% vs +3.4%).

JPMorgan Chase

Among banks, JPMorgan Chase & Co. is in a league of ones own. The company, with a market cap of more than $340 billion, is ranked the top bank in terms of total assets and deposits, according to J.D. Powers 2018 rankings. It is also judged to be the best bank in terms of customer satisfaction. Additionally, it is investing heavily in the next generation of banking technology and boasted 48 million active digital customers last year.

JPMorgan currently has a Zacks Rank #3. In the past 30 days, four earnings estimates moved north, while three moved south for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings rose 0.7% in the same period.

The stocks expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 10.4%, more than the Banks - MajorRegional industrys gain of 7.6%. In fact, the company has been outdoing the broader industry in the past two-year period (+14.5% vs +1.2%).

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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.



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Zacks Investment ResearchEight people face corruption cases for revenue dodging

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority on Wednesday filed a corruption case at the Special Court against eight personstwo from the government service and six from the private sectorfor causing revenue loss of Rs759.63 million during the customs clearance of imported goods.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders on Wednesday told Fox News that President Trump is weighing different possibilities on how to treat the looming March 1 deadline to reach a trade deal with China, adding that the final agreement depends on Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting in person.

The United States would escalate tariffs on Chinese goods if the deadline is missed, and likely prompt the Asian nation to retaliate. But in recent days, Trump has signaled flexibility on that date as a U.S. delegation works this week with Beijing to come to an agreement, saying on Tuesday he might let it "slide" a little.

U.S. tariffs on $200 billion (155.20 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 a March 1 deadline, increasing pain and costs in sectors from consumer electronics to agriculture.

Sanders also said that reaching an agreement to end the trade war between the two economic superpowers would take an in-person meeting with Trump and Xi, adding that Trump's Mar-a-Lago retreat in Palm Beach, Florida, would make a good venue for such a talk.

Earlier on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters in Beijing that talks were going well. He arrived in the Chinese capital on Tuesday along with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert and Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)By Collin Eaton, Marianna Parraga and Gleb Gorodyankin HOUSTON/MEXICO CITY/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Venezuelan oil company PDVSA is looking to double exports to India as U.S. sanctions hobble deliveries to the United States and Europe. The United States and most Western countries have recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's head of state, but President Nicolas Maduro retains the backing of Russia and China as well as control of state institutions including the military. The country's oil exports since the sanctions took effect on Jan. 28 have fallen to 1.15 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and refined products, Refinitiv Eikon data showed, down from about 1.4 million bpd. In response, Venezuela is turning its focus to buyers paying in cash, especially in India, its second-largest customer after the United States. Before the sanctions, PDVSA shipped over 500,000 bpd to the United States, its largest cash market, followed by India at above 300,000 bpd and then China. Venezuela has sent its oil minister, Manuel Quevedo, to India to convince refiners, including Reliance Industries Ltd and Nayara Energy Ltd, to double their oil purchases. "We are selling more than 300,000" bpd to Indian buyers, Quevedo said on Monday in New Delhi. "We want to double that amount." Venezuela is open to barter arrangements with India using oil as payment, he said, but did elaborate. Two supertankers, Baghdad and Folegandros I, left from Venezuela's Jose terminal late on Monday carrying cargoes destined for Indian ports. Refinitiv Eikon ship tracking data showed several other tankers carrying Venezuelan crude or fuel towards Asia. FINANCIAL HURDLES Finding buyers in Asia may be difficult, however, analysts said, as Washington uses its political and financial clout to pressure countries to stay clear of dealing with PDVSA. It remains unclear how cash sales would be effected without using the U.S. or European bank systems after April 28, a deadline set by the U.S. Treasury. Barclays bank addressed the issue in a special report on Tuesday. "Considering all the difficulties that Venezuela faces in delivering oil to other markets and the legal, reputational and financial risks confronting traders or counterparties that do business with it under the current conditions," the bank wrote. "It seems unlikely that all production can, in short order, go to other markets." The U.S. sanctions are designed to undercut financial support for President Maduro, cutting his access to oil revenue that has helped his government remain in power. U.S. bank Goldman Sachs said in a note on Wednesday that because of the sanctions there was "limited ability for non-U.S. refiners to take on Venezuela's very heavy crude" beyond India and China. INDIAN DEALS AND ROSNEFT India's Reliance is among PDVSA's main cash customers, while Nayara receives Venezuelan oil via its stakeholder, Russia's Rosneft. Rosneft provided PDVSA with around $6.5 billion in loans from 2014 to 2017, to be repaid in oil and oil product supplies. PDVSA's debt to Rosneft stood at $2.3 billion at the end of last year, Rosneft said last week. It was supplying Rosneft with an average of 137,000 bpd of heavy crude and refined products before the latest sanctions, PDVSA trade data seen by Reuters showed. Under its pre-payment deal with Rosneft, PDVSA deliveries about half that crude to Nayara, which controls Vadinar, India's second largest refinery, and sends the rest to Europe, including to Rosneft refining assets in Germany. The last cargo containing fuel oil for Rosneft left Venezuela for Asia on Jan. 30-31, containing around 1 million barrels, according to a trading source close to PDVSA and the Russian firm. "PDVSA supplies to Rosneft or its subsidiaries in India under deals clinched before the sanctions are not falling under the sanctions," said Natalia Abtseshko, head of the international projects group at Moscow law firm Vegas Lex. Nayara received 69,200 bpd of Venezuelan crude last year, down from 87,700 bpd in 2017, Refinitiv Eikon data shows. When cargoes started to arrive irregularly last year, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin flew to Caracas to complain to Maduro, Reuters sources have said. PDVSA and Rosneft did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. A representative of the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), part of the Treasury Department, declined to comment on whether Rosneft would be able to continue to receive PDVSA oil under their oil-for-payment deal. About 9 million barrels were stuck in tankers waiting for payment or discharge instructions last week, Refinitiv Eikon data showed. Most are anchored off the U.S. Gulf Coast as Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed president Juan Guaido moves to set up escrow accounts to receive proceeds. (Reporting by Collin Eaton in HOUSTON, Marianna Parraga in MEXICO CITY and Gleb Gorodyankin in MOSCOW; additional reporting by Nidhi Verma in NEW DELHI; Olga Yagova, Oksana Kobzeva, Olesya Astakhova, Vladimir Soldatkin and Natalia Chumakova in MOSCOW; Tim Gardner and David Gaffen; in WASHINGTON; Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE; editing by Gary McWilliams and Jason Neely)U.S. trade envoys to meet China's Xi, no decision on deadline extension

By David Lawder and Michael Martina

WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - The Trump administration's top two negotiators in trade talks with China will meet on Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but there has been no decision to extend a March 1 U.S. deadline for a deal, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Thursday.

"The vibe in Beijing is good," Kudlow told Fox News Channel of the U.S.-China talks that are set to conclude on Friday in Beijing.

But Kudlow's upbeat assessment contrasted with reports from two people familiar with the talks, who said progress has been difficult on the thorniest issues involving U.S. demands that China make sweeping changes to curb forced technology transfers and to enforce intellectual property rights.

Sources briefed on the talks also told Reuters that China had pledged to make its industrial subsidy programs compliant with World Trade Organization rules and end those that distort markets, but had offered no details on how it intends to achieve that goal.

The offer has been met with skepticism from U.S. negotiators, in part because China has long refused to disclose its subsidies.

Negotiators from the two sides are pushing to de-escalate a tariff war that has dimmed global growth forecasts, roiled financial markets and disrupted manufacturing supply chains.

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 do not reach a deal by March 1, increasing pressure and costs in sectors from consumer electronics to agriculture.

Although U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this week that an extension of the deadline was possible if a "real deal" was close, Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, said the White House had made no such decision.

The talks, scheduled to run through Friday, follow three days of deputy-level meetings to work out technical details, including a mechanism for enforcing any trade agreement.

Story continues

China proposed in the talks this week to increase purchases of U.S. semiconductors to $200 billion over six years as part of a deal to ease American tariffs, a person briefed on the talks told Reuters. But the semiconductor proposal, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, was part of a "recycled" package of goods purchase offers that Beijing first presented in the spring of 2018, the source said.

CANCELED ORDERS

China has also offered to sharply increase purchases of U.S. soybeans and other farm and energy commodities to help cut the U.S. trade deficit, which exceeded $382 billion in 2018.

News that Chinese buyers had canceled some recent orders for U.S. soybeans caused Chicago grain futures prices to tumble on Thursday , while negative sentiment weighed on U.S. stocks, keeping major indexes in negative territory.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin opened high-level talks Thursday at the Diaoyutai state guest house with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the top economic adviser to Chinese President Xi.

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the negotiations had been progressing "very well."

A Bloomberg report cited sources as saying Trump was considering pushing back the deadline by 60 days to give negotiators more time after the Chinese side requested a 90-day extension.

But a source familiar with the talks told Reuters on Wednesday, before the high-level talks began, that the Chinese had not raised the idea of a 90-day extension.

Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of China's nationalist Global Times tabloid, also tweeted that speculation on an extension was "inaccurate," citing a source close to the talks.

Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters he had no information on the trade talks' progress.

Trump has said he did not expect to meet with Xi before March 1, but White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders has raised the possibility of a meeting between the leaders at the president's Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she noted Trump had said many times he wished to meet with Xi, and that China was willing to maintain "close contact" with the U.S. side, but said she had no information to share on any visit by the Chinese president.

TRADE GAP NARROWS

The Chinese government has offered few details about the state of negotiations this week.

Chinese January trade data released on Thursday showed imports from the United States fell 41.2 percent from a year earlier to $9.24 billion, the lowest amount in dollar terms since February 2016.

Exports to the United States also declined 2.4 percent to $36.54 billion, the lowest amount since last April.

China's trade surplus with the United States narrowed to $27.3 billion in January, from $29.87 billion in December.

China's soybean imports fell 13 percent in January from a year earlier, customs data showed, as a hefty duty on shipments from the United States, its second largest supplier, curbed purchases.

(Additional reporting by Yawen Chen, Ben Blanchard and Doina Chiacu; editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Jonathan Oatis and Tom Brown)Education Ministry needs Rs 5b to fund teacher redundancy programme

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has sought Rs 5 billion from the Finance Ministry to fund its golden handshake scheme for temporary teachers who have failed the test for permanent status and those who have chosen voluntary retirement.This story originally appeared on Entrepreneur en Espanol.

On Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018, a tweet that supposedly came from the employees of Mexican startup Yogome announced that its 150 workers were on the 17th floor of the iconic Torre Latinoamericana building in Mexico City being forced to sign their resignations.

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Soon after, Forbes Mexico published an article that claimed that the company closed its doors because one of its founders, Manolo Diaz, was accused of fraud.

The news shook the entire Latin American business ecosystem, because Yogome was, for all intents and purposes, one of the most successful Mexican startups in recent years. Its story was fantastic: Manolo Diaz and his partner Alberto Colin (who seems not to be involved in the fraud accusations) were two entrepreneurs from the central Mexican city of San Luis Potosi who opened a videogame company to educate children around the globe. Less than 10 years later, their content was available in six languages (English, Portuguese, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese and Korean) and reached 30 countries.

This educational technology (EdTech) startup became a kind of standard for many companies that wanted to be successful outside Latin America because between 2013 and 2017 Yogome had managed to raise more than $30 million in funds and seed capital in Mexico, as well as in Silicon Valley.

But according to a source that spoke to Forbes Mexico, Manolo Diaz had faked the numbers of his company to deceive investors and the market in general.

"Investors always have controls such as corporate governance in the companies in which they invest, but in this case there was no way for the capital partners to have realized that something bad was happening because the deception was very sophisticated," said Luis Antonio Marquez, director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at EGADE Business School.

According to anonymous sources quoted in the business website Expansion, Manolo Diaz manipulated the information he shared with his investors, partners and workers, changing through a bot the data that the App Store showed about the downloads and revenues of its games. An employee of Yogome revealed his suspicions to an investor during a company party and that triggered the investigation that ended with the closing of the company.

Story continues

Daniel Santamarina, managing partner of the investment fund Dux Capital of Startup Mexico, said that investors need to do due diligence to analyze factors such as product, market and more important -- especially in the early stages of a company -- the team that comprises the startup. "This includes audits on fiscal and legal matters, the search for any skeletons in the closet of the entrepreneur," Santamarina said in an interview with Entrepreneur en Espanol. "The type of fraud that happened in Yogome forces us to take more rigorous preventive measures before making an investment.

A global issue

Although the case of Yogome has been one of the most discussed among Latin American business sector in recent years, it is not (by far) the only one in which a company manipulates its figures and information. In fact, this type of situation occurs in the most advanced entrepreneurial environments.

This is what happened with Theranos, a company valued at $9 billion that promised to perform more than 50 types of medical diagnoses through a home test that required only a drop of blood from a finger. Founder Elizabeth Holmes allegedly lied about the true capabilities of her laboratory.

"Cases like these go beyond the entrepreneurial ecosystem of a country," said Juan Alberto Gonzalez, director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the Universidad Panamericana. "It shows a lack of control and corporate governance from the entrepreneur when they forget that the mission, management and value given to investors should come from a legal framework."

The fall of Theranos came from an anonymous tip. A lab employee contacted The Wall Street Journal investigative journalist John Carreyrou who found that the startup cheated on their proficiency tests and provided false information about their results with patients. After several months of investigations by U.S. authorities, Theranos closed its laboratories in 2016 and the courts determined in March of 2018 that Holmes had to return $750 million to investors and shareholders of the company.

Fake it 'till you make it

How does this happen? Holmes (and apparently also the founder of Yogome) fell prey of a phenomenon that is very common among entrepreneurs: the fake it 'till you make it mindset.

This aphorism suggests that by pretending, a person can make certain qualities manifest in their real life. This idea was brought to the modern age in 1920 by Alfred Adler, a disciple of Sigmund Freud, who used it in cognitive behavioral therapy. Adler developed a therapeutic technique that he called "acting as if." Today, this technique is often described as "roleplaying."

In other words, it's about acting as if you really know what you're doing, even if thats not the case. Alejandro Lomas Torres, CEO of the Startcups business incubator, said, "It is a strategy widely used by entrepreneurs -- and even by many CEOs around the globe -- to present themselves as the best investment option. It's something that Steve Jobs's friends called 'Distortion of Reality.' It's believing so much in your own fantasies that you can not distinguish where the truth is anymore."

Torres also points out that many startups feel an incredible pressure to appear to be a great success story in a very short time. The specialist from the Universidad Panamericana stressed that despite the advances, as a culture, in Latin America its hard to understand failure as a step to success and we like to narrate our triumphs than our moments of trial. Torres adds, "We want everything to succeed and that's why in many cases entrepreneurs sell more the positive aspects of their careers without understanding that their business model has not matured enough."

Half-finished houses

"Have you ever seen a house that still has rods on the roof? As if the owners left them there to continue building on top someday? So are some startups that raise capital and participate in thousands of contests, but never really grow their business." This curious metaphor was shared with me by Luis Pablo Perez Torrescano, director of The Venture Mexico for Chivas Regal, to explain why many entrepreneurs have a great reputation when their businesses are not that large.

For Gustavo Huerta, CEO of BlueBox Ventures, the fault doesn't solely lie with the individual entrepreneurs, but with the entire industry that does not know how to recognize appropriate growth milestones. "Let's make it clear: raising capital is not synonymous with success," he warned in an interview with Entrepreneur en Espanol. "However, it seems that this is the model with which we reward entrepreneurs in Latin America. Raising capital is part of the business process, but not an absolute indicator of performance. It's just a metric that shows that a startup is doing well and that it needs more money to accelerate its pace."

So, is raising capital bad? Of course not. This form of financing, as mentioned in an article by The Hustle, offers three important benefits for startups: cash (to facilitate business growth), validation (to attract talent, media attention and customers) and guidance (tips from experts, networking and resources).

The problem, as it was in the case of Yogome, is when the capital raised is not used to strengthen the company and to boost the long-term growth of the business. It is, Perez Torrescano told me, "as if the founder of the startup never graduated; as if he or she never really wanted to become an entrepreneur in the first place."

Damage assessment

Cases such as those of Yogome shake entrepreneurial ecosystems because they can leave "a stain." This is something that is particularly worrisome for Mexico, a country that, according to the most recent Global Entrepreneurship Index, fell three positions down due to weak cultural support, and a negative perception of business opportunities and entrepreneurial skills of the population.

"Whenever there is an act of corruption in an industry, it affects perception, and we already are not known as a country with high-reliability indexes," said Gustavo Huerta, CEO of BlueBox Ventures. "However, I believe that it will not discourage investors because we know the context of this specific case." To his point, nobody in the U.S. stopped investing in startups because of what Elizabeth Holmes did.

Specialists consulted for this article agreed that a single case does not speak of the entire Latin American ecosystem and, on the contrary, it offers us a great opportunity to learn and to continue maturing. "They should be treated as what they are: isolated cases," said Gerardo Obregon, founder and CEO of Prestadero.com, one of the biggest fintech companies in the region. "To reduce its effects, it is simply up to the entrepreneurs to verify that, despite the success or failure of our companies, we can keep our integrity intact. It seems to me that this is the case of 99 percent of the Mexican entrepreneurs I know."

Without a doubt, as the Latin American entrepreneurial environment continues to grow, these cases will continue to happen. That is why Alejandro Lomas points out that we must emphasize the importance of the entrepreneur as a person and detect cases where numbers are too good to be true as early as possible. "In the end, as in any industry, not everything will be perfect all the time."

Bismarck Lepe, CEO of Wizeline, a provider of business solutions with artificial intelligence based in San Francisco and Mexico City, published a powerful letter on his LinkedIn page regarding the case of Yogome. In that letter, he asked entrepreneurs not to forget that, "investors pay attention first to people and then to the business itself." He also stressed that the startup sector in the region is strong enough to overcome this bad moment.

I agree. Let's all remember that in the same month that the case of Yogome broke the news, the Colombian company Rappi was valued at $1 billion and Corner Shop was acquired in its entirety by Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica.

Let's learn from this case and move on.Eric Dubelier of Reed Smith, a lawyer for Concord Management and Consulting LLC, charged in a special counsel's case, exits federal court in Washington, D.C., on June 15, 2018. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / National Law Journal



A federal judge on Wednesday rebuffed a Russian companys claim that it is being selectively prosecuted based on its nationality, rejecting arguments that the U.S. Justice Departments civil settlement with the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom was evidence of the disparate treatment from prosecutors.



U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee serving on the trial court since 2017, drew a stark distinction between the criminal accusations the special counsels office levied against the Russian firm, Concord Management and Consulting, and the civil claims that Skadden had failed in 2012 to properly disclose its work for Ukraine under U.S. lobbying rules.



Concord, represented by a team from Reed Smith, argued the Justice Department had allowed Skadden to buy its way out of a prosecution in reaching a settlement that required the firm to pay $4.6 million, the amount it received from the Russia-aligned government of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.



Friedrich concluded there was little comparison between the two cases. Concord stands accused of participating in a scheme to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. Skadden, by contrast, was accused of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, a 1938 law that requires law firms and lobbyists to report certain advocacy for foreign governments.



The misconduct ascribed to Skadden in the declination letter is not similar in nature or scope to the conspiracy charged here," Friedrich wrote in her ruling. "Although Skadden is alleged to have made false and misleading statements to the FARA Unit between 2012 and 2014, the statements were allegedly made by a single former partner of the firm, and there is no allegation that the firm condoned, much less contributed to, the former partners false and misleading statements."



Friedrich added: Significantly, unlike here, there is no claim that the firm engaged in a wide-ranging conspiracy with others to interfere with U.S. political processes and defraud the Federal Election Commission, the Department of State, and the Department of Justice.



Former Skadden partner Gregory Craig, represented by Zuckerman Spaeder partner William Taylor III, has denied he was required to register his work under the foreign-agent law. Craig reportedly faces a criminal investigation but has not been charged.



Concords lead defense lawyer, Reed Smith partner Eric Dubelier, has repeatedly pointed to the Skadden settlement in recent weeks as evidence that the Russian company is facing unfair treatment from the U.S. government.



Dubelier, whose colorful rhetoric in previous court filings drew a rebuke from Friedrich, said the Justice Departments settlement with Skadden showed that the law firm had at a minimum made false statements to the federal government and conspired to defraud the government.



And the difference is that Skadden agreed to pay over $4.6 million to the United States so as not to be prosecuted (which is no penalty at all because it simply deprives the firm of its allegedly unlawfully earned revenue), and Concord stands accused of a crime having not been offered the purchase declination option, Dubelier wrote.



Prosecutors working under the special counsel, Robert Mueller III, said the two cases are not remotely similar.



The special counsels office also praised Skadden for its cooperation. The law firm, prosecutors wrote, cooperated extensively with the investigation into the matter, and that the law firm has undertaken affirmative steps to enhance its internal procedures and processes.









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Friedrich's order is posted below:







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Read more:





Mueller's Team Touts Skadden's 'Extensive' Cooperation in Foreign-Lobbying Case



Special Counsel Questions How Files in Russia Case Ended Up Online



Registering as a 'Foreign Agent'? Why Law Firms and Lobby Shops Might Demur.



Skadden Registers Ukraine Advocacy After Settling DOJ's Lobbying Case



Reed Smith Team Puts Early Squeeze on Mueller Prosecutors in Russia Case* Firm in which Qatar invested bails out Kushner tower in NY

* Jared Kushner an ally of Saudi prince who led Qatar boycott

* Bailout prompts Doha to rethink investment strategy - sources

* Aims to avoid investing in funds it does not control - sources (Adds graphic on sovereign wealth funds)

By Dmitry Zhdannikov, Herbert Lash and Saeed Azhar

LONDON/NEW YORK/DUBAI, Feb 11 (Reuters) - When news emerged that Qatar may have unwittingly helped bail out a New York skyscraper owned by the family of Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, eyebrows were raised in Doha.

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 Reuters.

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 QIA's strategy.

"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.

Canada's Brookfield Asset Management Inc bailed out 666 Fifth Avenue via its real estate unit Brookfield Property Partners, in which the QIA acquired a 9 percent stake five years ago. Both parent and unit declined to comment.

The QIA's strategic shift was made late last year, according to the sources. It offers a rare insight into the thinking of one of the world's most secretive sovereign wealth funds.

Story continues

The revamp could have significant implications for the global investment scene because the QIA is one of the world's largest state investors, with more than $320 billion 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 York's Plaza Hotel and the Savoy Hotel and Harrods store in London.

QATARI BOYCOTT

Kushner was chief executive of Kushner Companies when it acquired 666 Fifth Avenue in 2007 for $1.8 billion, a record at the time for a Manhattan office building. It has been a drag on his family's 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 percent stake in Brookfield Property Partners, which is known as BPY and is listed in Toronto and New York, for $1.8 billion in 2014.

BPY has about $87 billion in assets, part of more than $330 billion managed by its parent Brookfield. The stake purchase by QIA was in line with its strategy to boost investments in prime U.S. 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.

The rescue rankled with Doha, according to the two sources familiar with the QIA's strategy, because Kushner - married to U.S. President Trump's daughter Ivanka - had long been one of the key supporters in Washington of the Saudi crown prince, who is the king's favourite son and heir to the throne.

Prince Mohammed was a prime mover in leading regional states to severing links with its neighbour 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 QIA's strategy.

He added that one of the reasons for Doha's 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 QIA's 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 world's 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 percent of its assets were managed by external managers in 2017, down from 60 percent the year before.

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 QIA's 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-names 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 York's Plaza and London's Grosvenor House hotels.

($1 = 0.7724 pounds)

(Additional reporting by Eric Knecht; Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Pravin Char)(Adds quotes from closing news conference)

By Lesley Wroughton and Alicja Ptak

WARSAW, Feb 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence accused European powers on Thursday of undermining Washington's crack down on Iran by trying to break U.S. sanctions against Tehran, in remarks that were likely to further strain transatlantic relations.

Pence spoke at a Middle East peace conference in Warsaw attended by 60 countries, notably including both Gulf Arab states and Israel, in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a "historical turning point" for an alliance against Tehran. Iran, Russia and the Palestinians were absent.

European powers, who oppose the Trump administration's decision to pull out of a nuclear deal with Iran, were openly sceptical of a conference excluding Tehran. France and Germany declined to send their top diplomats, while British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt left before Thursday's main events.

"Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative," Pence said. "In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions."

Trump pulled the United States last year out of the 2015 Iran deal, under which Tehran agreed to curbs on its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions.

European countries say they share Washington's concerns about Iran's regional behaviour but believe withdrawing from the nuclear deal was a mistake, and have promised to try to salvage the deal as long as Iran continues to abide by it. In practice, European companies have accepted new U.S. sanctions on Iran and abandoned plans to invest there.

Pence called on the Europeans to follow Washington and exit the agreement: "The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us."

He said a new European scheme to trade with Iran, known as the Special Purpose Vehicle, was "an effort to break American sanctions against Iran's murderous revolutionary regime".

Story continues

"It is an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU and create still more distance between Europe and the United States," he said.

The mechanism was conceived as a way to help match Iranian oil and gas exports against purchases of EU goods. However, those ambitions have been scaled back, with diplomats saying that, realistically, it will be used only for trade, for example of humanitarian products or food, allowed by Washington.

European diplomats at the conference rejected Pence's accusations: "We strongly disagree," a diplomat from a major European power said. "We want to push Iran to good results and dont want to push Iran outside of its nuclear commitment."

The summit venue in Poland could itself be seen as a rebuke to Washington's traditional Western European allies, who are at odds with a nationalist government in Warsaw over moves the EU says curb judicial independence and free speech.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due to travel to Brussels on Friday for talks with Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign policy chief. Pompeo told a news conference there were differences during the summit meeting over how to get Iran to change its ways, but there was unanimity, including from Europeans, that Tehran posed a global threat.

"We make no bones about it, we need more sanctions, more pressure on Iran," Pompeo said in closing remarks. "There was not a defender of Iran in the room. No country. No country spoke out and denied any of the basic facts that we have all laid out about Iran, the threat it poses, the nature of regime."

The summit was notable because of the presence of Israel alongside wealthy Arab states Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Washington aims to narrow differences between its Israeli and Arab allies to isolate Iran.

"DESPERATE CIRCUS"

But just as notable were the absences, not only of Iran itself -- which called the meeting a "desperate circus" -- but of the Palestinians, who refused to attend over what they regard as U.S. bias against them under Trump. They have been boycotting the administration since Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy in 2017 to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat took aim at the Arab states for attending, citing an Arab meeting last year that reaffirmed demands that Israel first withdraw from Palestinian land before it can normalise ties with Arab countries.

"Reward the occupation, the decision to abolish the Arab Peace Initiative and the decisions of the Dhahran Summit. For what? Mediation between America and Israel on the one hand and Iran on the other," Erekat tweeted.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the only path to peace was by negotiating with the Palestinian leadership represented by Abbas.

Niels Annen, Germany's minister of state, was sceptical that the conference would deliver results on Iran.

"I am hoping for constructive signals but nobody here has the expectation that this conference will solve problems," he told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting. "That would be unrealistic because we need a political agreement with all participants at the end of the day."

Earlier, Pompeo called for an era of cooperation during opening remarks that were broadcast publicly. The rest of the meeting, including a presentation by White House advisor and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner on plans for Israeli-Palestinian peace, was held behind closed is doors.

Kushner told the audience that the United States would not unveil the plan until after an Israeli election on April 9.

Kushner and Trumps Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt are trying to broker a peace plan to cover all core issues of the decades-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, U.S. official say. Release of the plan has been delayed by Palestinian anger at Trump's change of U.S. policy on Jerusalem. (Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah, Joanna Plucinska, Alan Charlish, Marcin Goclowski and Marcel Kolling Editing by Justyna Pawlak, Mark Heinrich and Peter Graff)FILE PHOTO - The logo of U.S. pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer Inc. is seen at a branch in Zurich, Switzerland October 2, 2018. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Japanese subsidiary of Pfizer Inc is recalling a drug for high blood pressure which was found to contain a carcinogenic substance in its active ingredient valsartan, the drugmaker said on Friday.

More than 763,000 tablets of the drug Amvalo, manufactured from April to July in Mylan Laboratories Limited in India, are the subject of recall, Pfizer Japan Inc said in a statement, adding there were no reports of any damage to health.

"We will fully pay careful attention to our manufacturing and quality control to prevent a recurrence," Pfizer Japan President Akihisa Harada said.

Mylan NV said in November it would recall certain batches of blood pressure medicine valsartan in the United States after they were found to contain a probable cancer-causing impurity.

Chinese pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturer Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceuticals also said in July it would recall valsartan from consumers in the United States after finding traces of a probable carcinogen.

Last year, the Japanese Health Ministry asked pharmaceutical firms to check whether any of their drugs using valsartan contained any carcinogenic impurities.

(Reporting by Takashi Umekawa; Editing by Alexander Smith)Crossing Mahakali remains a challenge for Dadeldhura folk

Six people lost their lives while crossing the Mahakali river in separate incidents in Baitadi last fiscal year. Five persons died in similar incidents in Dadeldhura the same year.By Terje Solsvik and Gwladys Fouche

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's government approved on Thursday the building of a copper mine near Europe's northernmost point despite years of opposition from indigenous Sami herders and fishermen.

Norway's decision on the copper mine has been viewed as a litmus test for the Arctic, where climate change and technology are enabling mineral and energy extraction, shipping and tourism, but threatening traditional ways of life.

"The mining project will strengthen the industrial base in the north," Industry Minister Torbjoern Roe Isaksen of the centre-right coalition government said in a statement.

"It will contribute positively to the local community, with new jobs and skills."

The Nussir ASA project is expected to bring jobs and investment to the Kvalsund municipality, but the digging could damage summer reindeer pastures and a plan to dump tailings in the fjord would destroy spawning grounds for the coastal cod.

"I am shocked by the government's decision. I had hoped that the Norwegian government would have heard our arguments ... They do not take us seriously," reindeer herder Nils Mathis Sara told Reuters. "We will definitely protest against this decision."

A group of reindeer herders will discuss whether to take legal action in an attempt to stop the mine, he said.

Nussir says the area contains an estimated 72 million tonnes of copper ore - Norway's largest reserve - and plans to invest more than 1 billion crowns (90 million pounds) in the mine while making only minimal intrusion in the local way of life.

Local officials gave a green light in 2012, but the project has since been stuck awaiting an operating license, with big industry players paying close attention to the process, the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry has said.

Kvalsund, a village of painted wooden houses on the Repparfjord with 1,027 inhabitants, said the mine would boost a municipality which spends 40 percent of its income caring for the elderly as young people move away.

Story continues

Herders around the Arctic in other Nordic nations, Russia, Canada and Alaska, echo the Norwegian Sami concerns, citing threats from climate change, mining, oil spills and poaching as well as thoughtless behaviour from townspeople and tourists.

Global majors, including Eni, Equinor, Gazprom, Glencore, Lukoil and Rio Tinto, are all grappling with how to square their prospecting plans with the interests of people whose views count more than in the past.

Average temperatures in the Arctic regions of the world, where some four million people live, have risen more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6F) since pre-industrial times, twice as fast as the world average, according to research for the intergovernmental Arctic Council.

For Photo essay, see - https://reut.rs/2tLnOwq

For a graphic on Map of industrial projects in Arctic Europe, see - https://tmsnrt.rs/2tQSjlC

(Editing by Richard Pullin and Tom Hogue)RA`ANANA, Israel (AP) _ Nice Ltd. (NICE) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $62.3 million.

On a per-share basis, the Ra`Anana, Israel-based company said it had profit of 98 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $1.47 per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.42 per share.

The software company posted revenue of $410.8 million in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $419.9 million, which also beat Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $416.9 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $159.3 million, or $2.52 per share. Revenue was reported as $1.46 billion.

For the current quarter ending in April, Nice expects its per-share earnings to range from $1.05 to $1.15.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $370 million to $380 million for the fiscal first quarter.

Nice expects full-year earnings in the range of $5.08 to $5.28 per share, with revenue ranging from $1.56 billion to $1.58 billion.

Nice shares have climbed 3 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock has risen 26 percent in the last 12 months.

_____

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on NICE at https://www.zacks.com/ap/NICENestle is set put its first round of Starbucks-branded coffee products on store shelves and online abroad, following its exclusive $7.15 billion deal with the U.S. coffee giant last year.

The new items, which have yet to be revealed, are set to be available at grocery stores and online in 14 markets, including Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, Mexico and the Netherlands this month, with more markets, including the U.S. expected to follow later this year.

Last August, Nestle first announced its $7.15 billion alliance with Starbucks for the right to market its products. The companies said the deal is an attempt to leverage each others strengths and help both with scaling.

The deal is a huge win for Starbucks as Nestle has the capacity to expand the American company's name into many more markets around the world. Additionally, its a big win for Nestle as the transaction is significant step in growing its coffee business, which is the companys largest high-growth category.

The two companies said they have developed more than two dozen new products, including copycat Starbucks-branded Nespresso capsules that are compatible with the Nespresso and Nescafe Dolce Gusto systems.

Patrice Bula, president of Nespresso, said Starbucks along with its Nescafe and Nespresso brands has now created the best coffee portfolio in the world.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP

Other products include a variety of signature Starbucks blends and single-origin coffees, as well as a selection of classic beverages such as Caramel Macchiato and Cappuccino.

Related ArticlesThe Zacks Alternative Energy industry can be fundamentally segregated into two sets of companies. While one group is involved in the generation and distribution of alternative energy and electricity from sources like wind, natural gas, biofuel, hydro and geothermal, the other set is engaged in development, design and installation of renewable projects involving these alternative energy sources. The industry also includes a handful of stocks that offer fuel cell energy solutions, which have gained popularity as an affordable clean energy of late.

Per a report by Bloomberg, in 2018, global clean energy investment totaled $332.1 billion, with investment exceeding $300 billion for the fifth year in a row and America being the second-biggest investing nation.



Here are the three major themes in the industry:

Thanks to multi-year federal tax incentives, U.S. alternative energy stocks are growing rapidly. Moreover, rapid expansion of the nations offshore wind capacities, as majority of the electricity demand comes from coastal areas, is also commendable. Per American Wind Energy Associations latest report, the nations wind power capacity either under construction or in advanced development in 2018 registered 22% year-over-year increase. The fact that the nation is the largest and fastest growing wind market worldwide should significantly boost the prospects of the alternative energy industry.



The outlook for the alternative energy industry is also favorable as utilities and corporations are increasingly shifting to renewables. This shift can be attributed to lower cost of generating electricity from alternative energy sources and storing the same, thanks to rapid technological advancements in recent times. Per Lazards annual Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) analysis reports, wind costs have dropped an extraordinary 69% since 2009 while coal costs have increased 9%. Moreover, a new report highlighted in Forbes reveals that 42% of global coal capacity is currently unprofitable and the United States could save $78 billion by closing coal-fired power plants in line with the Paris Climate Accords climate goals. This indicates the profitability that alternative energy sources can offer to a nation. With the National Renewable Energy Laboratory projecting onshore wind costs to decline 30% by 2050, stocks in this industry should remain prudent choices for investors.



Trump dealt a blow to the U.S. alternative energy industry by imposing an import tariff of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum in March 2018. Steel and aluminum are widely used as raw materials to construct critical wind turbines, storage and hydroelectric components. GTM Research, MAKE Consulting and Wood Mackenzie collectively calculated that such imposition can push up levelized cost of energy for U.S. renewable power plants by 3  5%, thereby leading to slightly lowered forecasts for project deployments or slightly lowered project returns.

Zacks Industry Rank Reflects Bright Outlook

Story continues

The Zacks Alternative Energy industry is housed within the broader Zacks Oils-Energy sector. It carries a Zacks Industry Rank #98, which places it in the top 39% of more than 250 Zacks industries.

The groups Zacks Industry Rank, which is basically the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates bright near-term prospects. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperforms the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

Before we present a few alternative energy stocks that you may want to consider for your portfolio, lets take a look at the industrys recent stock-market performance and valuation picture.

Industry Underperforms S&P 500 and Sector

The Alternative Energy Industry has underperformed the Zacks S&P 500 composite as well as its own sector over the past year. The stocks in this industry have collectively lost 1.9% while the Oils-Energy Sector and the Zacks S&P 500 composite have gained 2.6% and 5.1%, respectively in the same timeframe.

One-Year Price Performance

Industrys Current Valuation

On the basis of trailing 12-month EV/EBITDA ratio, which is commonly used for valuing alternative energy stocks, the industry is currently trading at 2.91 compared with the S&P 500s 9.88 and the sectors 5.21.

Over the last five years, the industry has traded as high as 3.57X, as low as 2.75X, and at the median of 3.31X, as the charts show below.

EV-EBITDA Ratio (TTM)

Bottom Line

Currently electricity is the fastest-growing form of end-use energy, with renewables likely to become a major source for electricity generation in the coming years. Rapidly increasing corporate investments from the nation in renewables should allow stocks in this space to continue generating positive shareholder returns in the near future and help the United States to remain a forerunner in the alternative energy space.

However, Chinas emergence as leading investor in clean energy projects, with the nation lately making substantial investments in wind power, poses serious threat to U.S based operators.

Nevertheless, given its favorable industry rank, investors may take advantage of the cheap valuation and bet on a few alternative energy stocks that exhibit a strong earnings outlook. Also, there are a few players in this space that shareholders might want to hold on to.

Here we present three alternative energy stocks with a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) or #3 (Hold) that investors may want to invest in or hold on to for the time being. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Evergy Inc. (EVRG): For this Kansas City, MO-based company, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings indicates year-over-year improvement of 15.6%. It came up with a positive surprise of 4.76% in the last reported quarter. It carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Ameresco Inc. (AMRC): For this Framingham, MA-based company, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings indicates year-over-year improvement of 7%. It came up with an average positive surprise of 164.96% in the trailing four quarters. It carries a Zacks Rank #3.

Bloom Energy Corp. (BE): For this San Jose, CA-based company, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings indicates year-over-year improvement of 262.82%. It came up with average positive surprise of 28.29% in the trailing four quarters. It carries a Zacks Rank #3.

Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars?

Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers.

Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge. With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research.

It's not the one you think.

See This Ticker Free >>



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Evergy Inc. (EVRG) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Bloom Energy Corporation (BE) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Ameresco, Inc. (AMRC) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment ResearchConflict victims of Guranse struggle to overcome trauma

Pokhar Raj Kunwar of Guranse in Chhatreshwori Rural Municipality-1, Salyan, lost his father during the Maoist insurgency. A few days ago, Kunwar was tilling his farmland where he found six bullet shells. Finding these bullet shells in his farmland took him back to the Maoist insurgency era.When Caroline Mwatha went missing, Amnesty International raised the alarm given her work lobbying against extra-judicial killings by police (AFP Photo/SIMON MAINA)

Nairobi (AFP) - A Kenyan rights activist who died in circumstances her family deemed suspicious, fell victim to a botched abortion, said an independent autopsy Thursday which corroborated a police version of events.

Caroline Mwatha went missing last Wednesday, prompting Amnesty International to raise the alarm given her sensitive work lobbying against extra-judicial killings by police.

Police said Tuesday her body had been found at a Nairobi mortuary, and that investigations revealed "the intended abortion of a five-month old pregnancy".

Abortion is illegal in Kenya unless the life of the woman is in danger.

On Wednesday, Mwatha's family had questioned the police explanation.

"We have never seen Caro with a pregnancy, she was not pregnant, how can she have been aborting?" her father Stanslus Mbai told journalists at the mortuary.

"It is puzzle to us. Very strange because I have looked at the body. She has a deep cut on the thigh and stomach, is that abortion?"

Mbai said he had received a missed call from his daughter's number during the time she was reportedly already dead. "A lot is not adding up, this is a cover up," he said, while demanding an independent post mortem.

On Thursday, the pathologist who carried out the autopsy, told journalists Mwatha had been about five- to six months pregnant.

"Cause of death is bleeding due to ruptured uterus due to surgical interference which was not successful in removing the foetus," said Peter Muriuki Ndegwa.

He had been hired at the family's request by the Independent Medico Legal Unit, a non-government organisation that offers free legal aid to victims and lobbies against extrajudicial police killings.

The family, Ndegwa added, "is satisfied with the autopsy" result.

According to Marie Stopes International, which provides contraception and safe abortion services worldwide, seven women die of botched abortions in Kenya every day.WASHINGTON (AP)  Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort intentionally lied to investigators and a federal grand jury in the special counsel's Russia probe, a judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson's decision was another loss for Manafort, a once-wealthy political consultant who rose to lead Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and now faces years in prison in two criminal cases brought in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

The four-page ruling hurts Manafort's chance of receiving a reduced sentence, though Jackson said she would decide the exact impact during his sentencing next month. It also resolves a dispute that had provided new insight into how Mueller views Manafort's actions as part of the broader probe of Russian election interference and any possible coordination with Trump associates.

Prosecutors have made clear that they remain deeply interested in Manafort's interactions with a man the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence. But it's unclear exactly what has drawn their attention and whether it relates to election interference because much of the dispute has played out in secret court hearings and blacked out court filings.

In her ruling Wednesday, Jackson provided few new details as she found there was sufficient evidence to say Manafort broke the terms of his plea agreement by lying about three of five matters that prosecutors had singled out. The ruling was largely a rejection of Manafort's attorneys' argument that he hadn't intentionally misled investigators but rather forgot some details until his memory was refreshed.

The judge found that Manafort did mislead the FBI, prosecutors and a federal grand jury about his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik, the co-defendant who the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence. Prosecutors had accused Manafort of lying about several discussions the two men had including about a possible peace plan to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict in Crimea.

Story continues

During a sealed hearing last week, Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said one of the discussions an Aug. 2, 2016, meeting at the Grand Havana Room club and cigar bar in New York went to the "larger view of what we think is going on" and what "we think the motive here is."

"This goes, I think, very much to the heart of what the Special Counsel's Office is investigating," Weissmann said, according to a redacted transcript of the hearing. He added: "That meeting and what happened at that meeting is of significance to the special counsel."

The meeting occurred while Manafort was still in a high-ranking role in the Trump campaign. Rick Gates, Manafort's longtime deputy and also a Trump campaign aide, attended. And prosecutors say the three men left separately so as not to draw attention to their meeting.

Weissmann said investigators were also interested in several other meetings between Kilimnik and Manafort including when Kilimnik traveled to Washington for Trump's inauguration in January 2017. And Manafort's attorneys accidentally revealed weeks ago that prosecutors believe Manafort shared polling data with Kilimnik during the 2016 presidential campaign.

On Wednesday, Jackson found that in addition to his interactions with Kilimnik, there was sufficient evidence that Manafort had lied about a payment to a law firm representing him and about an undisclosed Justice Department investigation.

But she found there wasn't enough evidence to back up two other allegations. The judge said prosecutors failed to show Manafort intentionally lied about Kilimnik's role in witness tampering or about Manafort's contacts with the Trump administration in 2017 and 2018.

Kilimnik, who lives in Russia, was charged alongside Manafort with conspiracy and obstruction of justice. He has yet to appear in a U.S. court to face the charges.

Manafort's sentencing is set for March 13. He faces up to five years in prison on two felony charges stemming from illegal lobbying he performed on behalf of Ukrainian political interests.

Separately, he faces the possibility of a decade in prison in a federal case in Virginia where he was convicted last year of tax and bank fraud crimes. Sentencing in that case was delayed pending Jackson's ruling in the plea-deal dispute.

___

Read the order: http://apne.ws/NFRmWXy

___

This story has been corrected to show the name of the club is the Grand Havana Room, not the Grand Havana Club.Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has been threatened with a lawsuit by an Israeli civil rights NGO Shurat HaDin (Israel Law Center) if it continues to allow Hamas to fundraise via its platform, The Jerusalem Post reports.

Shurat HaDin now wants Coinbase to stop offering services to the Palestinian fundamentalist organization Hamas. The United States, where Coinbase is headquartered, views Hamas as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The warning came in a letter sent to the cryptocurrency exchange by the NGO:

It has recently come to our attention that the notorious Palestinian terrorist group Hamas currently maintains an account with Coinbase, Inc. (Coinbase), through which it is accepting donations. Therefore, I am writing to notify Coinbase that knowingly providing material support or resources to Hamas is a violation of U.S. federal criminal law, and to demand that Coinbase immediately terminate any and all accounts and services provided to Hamas.

Has Hamas Flouted Coinbases Terms of Service?

Going by Coinbases terms of service (ToS), Hamas may indeed have breached the user agreement. As an organization which has engaged in acts of terror, this is a violation of Coinbases ToS. The ToS warns users against utilizing the service in the promotion of violent crimes.

Read the full story on CCN.com.(Bloomberg) -- Fiverr International Ltd., an Israeli startup offering an online marketplace for freelance services, hired Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to manage an initial public offering in New York, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Tel Aviv-based company could be valued at roughly $800 million, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private. Fiverr may sell the shares in the second half of the year, one of the people said. No final decisions have been made, and both the timing and the valuation may be amended, the people said.

Representatives for Fiverr, Citigroup and JPMorgan declined to comment.

Fiverrs IPO would break a drought of new U.S. listings by Israels technology companies. The industry raised a record amount from American investors in 2014, when Jerusalem-based automotive-technology company Mobileye NV garnered nearly $1 billion from its share sale. The number of U.S. IPOs by Israeli firms has subsided since then as most startups chose to raise large amounts from private investors.

Founded in 2010, Fiverr has raised $111 million from investors such as Bessemer Venture Partners and Qumra Capital, according to Start-Up Nation Central, a nonprofit that tracks the industry. The firm, which allows professionals to offer creative and digital services such as graphic design and film editing online, has offices in U.S. cities including New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

--With assistance from Olivia Zaleski and Ruth David.

To contact the reporters on this story: Yaacov Benmeleh in Tel Aviv at ybenmeleh@bloomberg.net;Nabila Ahmed in New York at nahmed54@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stefania Bianchi at sbianchi10@bloomberg.net, Chitra Somayaji, Alastair Marsh

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.Iron Mountain Incorporated IRM reported fourth-quarter 2018 normalized funds from operations (FFO) of 56 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 52 cents. The reported figure also compares favorably with the year-ago tally of 53 cents.

Results reflect decent organic growth in storage and services revenues. The company has also issued its outlook for 2019.

Adjusted FFO jumped 25.9% year over year to $194 million.

For full-year 2018, normalized FFO per share came in at $2.30, up 7.9% year over year. It also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.10. Revenues for 2018 improved 10.2% year over year, on a constant-dollar basis, to $4.23 billion, and were in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Quarter Details

Revenues of $1.06 billion missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.07 billion. However, the reported figure improved 9.9% year over year on a constant-dollar basis, reflecting contributions from recent data-center buyouts.

Storage revenues came in at $659 million in the quarter and denoted 9.9% increase on a constant-dollar basis. The company recorded 1.9% organic growth, year over year. In developed markets, storage organic revenue growth came in at 0.9%. In Other International markets, storage organic revenue growth came in at 4.1% year over year.

Service revenues amounted to $402 million in the quarter, indicating an increase of 9.8% on a constant-currency basis. Additionally, it witnessed organic growth of 6.1%, year over year. Service organic revenue growth in developed markets and Other International markets came in at 5.1% and 6.1%, respectively.

Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 100 basis points (bps) to 33.9%. This year-over-year upside was driven by the robust performance in North America Records and Information management (RIM) and Global Data Center, which advanced 60 bps and 2,050 bps, respectively.

Guidance

Iron Mountain has provided its guidance for 2019. On a constant-dollar basis, the company expects revenues of $4,200-$4,400 million and adjusted FFO to lie between $870 million and $930 million.

Story continues

Dividend Update

On Feb 5, Iron Mountain announced a first-quarter 2019 common stock cash dividend of 61.10 cents per share. The dividend will be paid on Apr 2 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Mar 15, 2019.

Our Take

In 2018, Iron Mountain made diligent efforts to strengthen its fast-growing businesses on the back of acquisitions. In fact, it expanded its data-center footprint in international markets. Further, key buyouts in South Korea, China and the Philippines have added scale to the companys RIM business.

Nevertheless, the costs of such efforts weigh on its financials, especially as the company already has a highly leveraged balance sheet. Furthermore, rate hike adds to its woes.

Iron Mountain Incorporated Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise





Iron Mountain Incorporated Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Iron Mountain Incorporated Quote

Iron Mountain currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Performance of Other REITs

Ventas, Inc. VTR reported fourth-quarter 2018 normalized FFO of 96 cents, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 95 cents. However, the figure came in lower than the year-ago tally of $1.03.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. ARE recorded fourth-quarter 2018 adjusted FFO of $1.68 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a whisker.

Boston Properties Inc.s BXP fourth-quarter 2018 FFO per share of $1.59 also missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.68. The figure, however, came in 7% higher than the prior-year tally.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represent funds from operations (FFO)  a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.

Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars?



Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge.



With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research.



It's not the one you think.



See This Ticker Free >>



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Iron Mountain Incorporated (IRM) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Boston Properties, Inc. (BXP) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (ARE) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Ventas, Inc. (VTR) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment ResearchPrime minister Theresa May with her Irish counterpart, Leo Varadkar, in Dublin in 2017. Pic: PA

Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar said on Wednesday that his British counterpart Theresa May would visit Dublin late on Friday for Brexit talks.

The announcement of the Friday dinner meeting comes as European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker reminded May that the Brexit withdrawal agreement was not open for renegotiation.

She knows that the Commission is not prepared to reopen the issue, Juncker said.

Speaking at a press conference with Juncker, Varadkar said he was confident that a solution to the current impasse could be found, but that Ireland was nonetheless prepared for a no-deal Brexit.

But we should bear in mind that the threat of no deal is not a threat that the European Union is making. It is not a threat that Ireland is making, Varadkar said, noting that the UKs upcoming exit from the EU was self-imposed.

This 29 March deadline is a deadline set in Britain by Britain and it is open to the UK to request an extension to Article 50, provided theres a purpose to that, or to revoke Article 50 if thats their wish.

READ MORE: Brexiteers with no plan deserve a special place in hell, says Tusk

The Irish prime minister again insisted that there were no alternative arrangements to the already agreed Northern Ireland backstop.

Varadkar said that last weeks vote in the House of Commons for unspecified alternative arrangements only succeeded because alternative arrangements can mean whatever you want them to mean.

May concluded a two-day visit to Northern Ireland on Wednesday, where most political leaders confirmed their support for the previously agreed withdrawal agreement.

The only Northern Irish party represented in the House of Commons, the Democratic Unionist Party, reiterated its opposition to the backstop, which is designed to prevent a post-Brexit hard border on the island of Ireland.An account that focused on the abuse and harassment homosexual Muslims face in Indonesia has been taken down, according to a new report. But exactly why is still unknown.

The account, called Alpatuni, reportedly featured comic strips that showed the ways gay Muslims have been discriminated against in Indonesia. Soon after the account opened, the Indonesia Ministry of Communications described it as pornographic and called on Instagram to remove it, according to the Associated Press. Instagram subsequently removed the account, the report says. A page with the same name and similar content on Facebook has also reportedly been removed.

In a statement to Fortune, however, an Instagram spokesperson said that the company did not remove the account. The spokesperson added that there are a number of other reasons why an account may no longer be accessible, including, for example, if the account holder deleted the account, deactivated the account, or changed the account username.

Instagram ultimately decides on whether to remove accounts based on its Community Guidelines, a collection of rules that govern use on the service. The account in question did not violate those guidelines.

Tensions have been high in Indonesia over the last several years since more conservative lawmakers have taken an increasingly hostile stance against the LGBT community. In the last few years, the number of attacks and hate speech against the LGBT community in Indonesia has increased significantly. Conservative lawmakers have targeted the LGBT community and suggested that it could be harmful to the worlds largest Muslim nation.

According to the Associated Press, the Ministry of Communications is saying that Instagram and Facebook removed the account after the departments minister wrote a letter to the company. That letter, according to the report, threatened Instagram with a ban across the country if the account remained.

Update at 9:42 a.m. ET to include Instagrams statement and more details on the accounts removal.Thomas Heaton is a food and travel reporter for The Kathmandu Post. Before working in Nepal, he spent five years in New Zealand, most recently as a food writer for Cuisine magazine. Heaton is content trawling through markets, sampling sundry skewers of offal and getting into uncomfortable situations while travelling.Seoul, blockchain

The government of Seoul is using ICON, the largest blockchain project in South Korea by valuation, to process information, issue documents, and conduct a wide range of administrative tasks.

On February 8, the Seoul Metropolitan Government moved forward with its plans to develop a blockchain ecosystem with the people of Seoul by creating the Seoul Blockchain Governance Team.

The Seoul Blockchain Governance Team is composed of 40 college students, 30 normal residents, 20 blockchain developers, and 10 industry experts. The team will develop, test, and deploy distributed ledger-based systems in the upcoming months for the government.

Ultimately, the Seoul Metropolitan Government expects to integrate blockchain applications created from the city-wide initiative into the core operating IT system of the government that is used to carry out key administrative activities.

Read the full story on CCN.com.(Bloomberg) -- Online platforms will be required to compensate publishers and creators for the content that appears on their websites, under new European Union copyright rules that could shrink access to online media in Europe.

The new rules mean music producers and publishers could come gunning for more money from Alphabet Inc.s Google and Facebook Inc. to compensate for the display of their songs, video and news articles.

If artists and music producers refuse to grant platforms licenses, tech firms will be required to remove or block uploads. And if platforms dont negotiate licenses with publishers, or if publishers dont waive their rights, web firms wont be able to display longer fragments of news articles under headlines.

The rules "will enable creators to be remunerated fairly by large online platforms that today are siphoning the value of the creative sector while failing to compensate creators, said Veronique Desbrosses, Director General of GESAC, a European umbrella association of authors and composers.

The legislation, proposed by the European Commission in 2016 and agreed to with the European Parliament and member states Wednesday, is designed to help artists, musicians, publishers and other creators get fair payment for use of their content online. But the copyright rules provoked years of lobbying on all sides, with free-speech activists saying they could result in censorship online.

In response to the copyright agreement, Google spokesman Damien Roemer said in a statement: "Well be studying the final text of the EU copyright directive and it will take some time to determine next steps." He added that "the details will matter, so we welcome the chance to continue conversations across Europe."

The search giant said recently it may pull its Google News service from Europe in response to the law, particularly if publishers arent allowed to waive their rights. It said it would take the decision reluctantly and only after analyzing the final text. Google has already deactivated the product in Spain.

Story continues

Facebook didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. The Computer and Communications Industry Association, which represents Facebook and Google, said in a statement the rules are a "lost opportunity to achieve a balanced and future-proof EU copyright reform," adding it could "harm online innovation, scaleups, and restrict online freedoms in Europe."

As part of the new rules, the EU is requiring tech firms to negotiate licenses for songs or video clips before publishing user uploads of content that incorporates them. In situations where no licenses are concluded, they are required to make "best efforts" to obtain authorization, according to the EU. Platforms also have to do everything in their power to remove or block material that rights holders have flagged in advance and quickly remove any unauthorized content once notified.

"This law will fundamentally change the internet as we know it," said Julia Reda, a member of the European Parliament from Germanys Pirate Party and staunch opponent of the copyright package on concerns of censorship. Platforms "will have no choice but to deploy upload filters, which are by their nature both expensive and error-prone."

The bloc also agreed to grant publishers new legal rights to help them seek compensation from all types of online services that display longer fragments of their articles. "Very short" snippets and individual words, such as in hyperlinks, are not covered by the law, the EU said. And publishers, which often get significant internet traffic to their sites from search and social, are allowed to waive their rights and let platforms display the content for free.

The rules create new liabilities for tech firms, chipping away at previous protections that absolved them of legal responsibility for what users posted on their sites. Those carve-outs were designed to help web firms grow in the early days of the internet but now officials want them to shoulder more responsibility for the material their users create, such as terror content, hate speech, and fake news.

The agreement on copyright still needs to be rubber-stamped by the European Parliament and the blocs member states, which is typically a formality.

(Updates with Google comment.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Natalia Drozdiak in Brussels at ndrozdiak1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giles Turner at gturner35@bloomberg.net, Nate Lanxon, Molly Schuetz

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.BERLIN, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The German economy will probably expand moderately this year and likely achieve around 1 percent growth, the head of the ZEW economic institute said.

German companies are grappling with a cooling global economy and trade disputes triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump's 'America First' policies. The risk that Britain leaves the European Union without a deal in March is another uncertainty.

The German economy stalled in the final quarter of last year, narrowly escaping recession as the fallout from global trade disputes and Brexit threaten to derail a decade-long expansion in Europe's economic powerhouse.

Germany's economy grew at its weakest rate in five years in 2018. Growth is forecast to shrink further to 1 percent this year, and the country faces a budget shortfall of around 25 billion euros by 2023.

"The most likely scenario is that there is moderate growth," ZEW President Achim Wambach told Reuters. "The forecasts of around 1 percent growth for 2019 are realistic."

"Order books are still well filled. But expectations are deteriorating," he said, pointing to concerns about Britain's forthcoming exit from the European Union and trade disputes.

"A hard Brexit doesn't help anyone," he added. "I think the negotiating parties see it that way too and will come to a solution."

Wambach also welcomed movement in global trade disputes, with U.S. and Chinese officials due to meet for talks on Thursday and Friday in a push to de-escalate a tariff war ahead of a March 1 deadline for a deal.

"There are positive signals: Europe is negotiating with the United States, the United States is negotiating with China," he said. (Reporting by Reinhard Becker and Paul Carrel Editing by Michelle Martin)Heavy rain began soaking parts of California last night, flooding roads and drowning cars. At times, the rain was coming down at a rate of at least one-half inch per hour, being blown sideways by powerful winds. It's all because of an atmospheric river of moisture off the Pacific called the Pineapple Express.

Central California Chaos

Flooding in Santa Rosa, California on February 13, 2019.

Flooding in Santa Rosa, California on February 13, 2019.

The San Francisco area has been hit the hardest so far with 1.70 inches as of 11:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time today (February 13). Other areas have received two to three inches, and right now Venado (just north of Santa Rosa) tops the list with 5.08 inches. Rain is typical in this region during the winter, but it's not always this much all at once.

Flooding has been reported in several areas, including Santa Cruz (cover photo), Walnut Creek (just east of Oakland), Novato (just north of San Francisco), Ocean Beach, and portions of Wine Country in Sonoma County, just to name a few. Police tape was stretched across barricades to block people from driving through areas of high water, and "road closed" signs were posted in other spots. But some drivers didn't obey the warnings and got stuck.

Don't miss it. Register today .

Don't miss it. Register today.

Nobody, including truckers, should try to drive through flooded areas. Water two-feet deep will make most cars float, and moving water can send you down the river fast. You may not be as fortunate as the driver who survived the flooding in the cover photo. Also, it's easy to underestimate how deep the water may be, and the road could be washed out under it, leaving you in a sinkhole.

Excessive runoff has been causing creeks, streams and rivers to rise, and storm drains can't handle the rushing rains. All kinds of communities are becoming waterlogged - residential, commercial, and rural. To make matters worse, the saturated ground is weakening root systems. Large trees have been toppling with ease as strong winds accompany the downpours. In some cases, the trees have fallen onto homes and power lines, adding to the hazardous conditions. Hurricane-force wind gusts of 75 mph were recorded near Pine Grove in Amador County.

Story continues

Wind damage in Carmel, California on February 13, 2019.

Wind damage in Carmel, California on February 13, 2019.

Several more inches of rain could fall before the last of the storm clears out late Thursday. Winds will stay strong, too. The National Weather Service has issued alerts for high winds, in addition to Flood Warnings for the following waterways and alerts for urban flooding:

 Napa River near Napa

 Navarro River at Navarro affecting Mendocino County

 Eel River at Fernbridge affecting Humboldt County

Learn more today

Learn more today

Southern California Soaking

Heavy rain will move into the San Diego metro area from this afternoon through Thursday. Flooding is possible in the city where two to four inches could fall, as well as the nearby hills and mountains where totals could exceed four inches. People should prepare for possible wind damage, too, especially in the mountains of Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego Counties.

Downpours could also drench parts of the Los Angeles metro area tonight and Thursday, especially to the southeast of the city where Flash Flood Watches have been posted. Fierce winds are forecast to be strongest in Black Mountain, the Dick Smith Wilderness Area, Lockwood Valley, Mount Pinos, San Marcos Pass, and the San Rafael Wilderness area.

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See more from Benzinga

 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.By Alexander Tanas

CHISINAU, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said it has removed a number of pages and accounts engaged in "inauthentic behaviour" targeting people in Moldova, where elections will be held later this month.

The owners of pages and accounts typically posted about local news and political issues such as requirements for Russian- or English-language education and potential reunification with Romania, Facebook said in a blog post.

"Although the people behind this activity attempted to conceal their identities, our manual review found that some of this activity was linked to employees of the Moldovan government," Facebook said on Wednesday.

Moldova's government said on Thursday it welcomed any initiative to combat the phenomenon of "fake news", adding that more than 200,000 Moldovans were state employees.

"The Government of the Republic of Moldova does not check the activity of the private social network accounts of their employees," it said.

"Moreover, they have different political views and opinions, and the state is obliged to maintain the boundary between fighting the phenomenon of Fake News and guaranteeing the freedom of expression for citizens."

Facebook said it removed 168 accounts, 28 pages and eight Instagram accounts involved in activities that used a combination of fake accounts and some authentic accounts to mislead others about who they were and what they were doing.

About 54,000 accounts followed at least one of these Facebook pages, the company said.

Facebook has been recently cracking down on such accounts in countries including Russia, Iran and Indonesia after coming under fire in the last two years for its self-confessed sluggishness in developing tools to combat extremism and propaganda.

Sandwiched between EU member Romania and Ukraine, the tiny ex-Soviet republic has been dogged by scandal and its pro-Western government has failed to lift low living standards.

That has driven many Moldovan voters towards the Socialists, who favour closer ties with Russia.

The European Parliament called Moldova a "state captured by oligarchic interests" in November, and there are concerns whether the parliamentary election on February 24 will be fair.

The election is likely to produce a hung parliament, which could set the scene for months of wrangling or possibly further elections. (Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru and Alexander Tanas in Chisinau; Editing by Matthias Williams and Andrew Cawthorne)(Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc., under pressure to reduce harmful, misleading and fake content, said it is exploring removing anti-vaccine information from software systems that recommend other things to read on its social network.

Information discouraging people from getting vaccines for their children, which has gone viral on Facebook, especially in its Groups product, may have contributed to an increase in outbreaks of measles. The crisis drew attention on Thursday from Representative Adam Schiff, who sent a letter to Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and Google boss Sundar Pichai, asking them to address the problem.

In response, Facebook said it is exploring additional measures to best combat the problem," according to a statement from the company. That might include reducing or removing this type of content from recommendations, including Groups You Should Join, and demoting it in search results, while also ensuring that higher quality and more authoritative information is available."

Google, which did not immediately respond to a comment about Schiffs letter, has already been taking similar measures. Last month, Googles YouTube unfurled a change in the way it recommends videos -- an automated system that has been criticized for promoting misinformation. YouTube said it would starting cutting videos with "borderline content" that "misinform users in harmful ways" from its recommendation system. The company only offered three examples. One was videos that promote "a phony miracle cure for a serious illness."

Schiff, a Democrat from California, cited several reasons tech companies should be taking action. The World Health Organization listed reluctance or refusal to get vaccines as a top threat to global health this year. Also, he highlighted a resurgence of measles in Clark County, Washington.

There is strong evidence to suggest that at least part of the source of this trend is the degree to which medically inaccurate information about vaccines surface on the websites where many Americans get their information, Schiff wrote. The algorithms which power these services are not designed to distinguish quality information from misinformation or misleading information, and the consequences of that are particularly troubling for public health issues.

Story continues

The first result under a search for "vaccines" on YouTube is a video showing a middle ground debate between supporters of vaccines and those who think theyre dangerous. The fourth result is first episode of a popular anti-vaccine documentary series called The Truth About Vaccines. It has almost 1.2 million views.

--With assistance from Mark Bergen, Gerrit De Vynck and Ben Brody.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Frier in San Francisco at sfrier1@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.Ideological differences in ruling party surface over peoples war

Top former Communist Party of Nepal-UML leaders, including Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, on Wednesday skipped a programme the former Maoists observe on February 13 (Falgun 1) every year to commemorate their peoples war, in what carried a political message that ideological struggle between the two communist parties still persist and differences are yet to be fully resolved.diego_cervo/iStock(NEW YORK) -- Multiple lists of Catholic priests that were said to be credibly accused of sexual abuse were released in New Jersey and Virginia on Wednesday.



There were more than 180 named clergy in New Jersey and 50 named in Virginia, making these the two latest states to share findings from their internal abuse investigations.



Many of the listed priests in New Jersey are dead and none of the individuals are in active ministry.



Each of the state's five dioceses released their own lists, with varying levels of detail about the allegations. The dioceses of Trenton, Paterson and Metuchen only listed the priests names, their date of birth, date of ordination and their current status. The Archdiocese of Newark and the diocese of Camden also listed where the priests served. None of them listed the date of the alleged abuse, when the alleged abuse was reported and how long after those reports were made that action was taken by the church.



Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the Archbishop of Newark, released a statement saying that the lists are "the result of an extensive review of Archdiocesan records dating back to 1940" and all of the names had been previously reported to law enforcement.



"It is our sincerest hope that this disclosure will help bring healing to those whose lives have been so deeply violated," Tobin wrote in the statement.



Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, released a statement saying that "embarrassment, frustration, anger and hurt" are among the feelings he shares with those affected.



Virginia's Catholic community is divided into the dioceses of Richmond and Arlington, with 42 offending priests in Richmond and 16 in Arlington. Eight priests overlap on both lists. None of the clergy in the report from either diocese are listed as active.



"To those who experienced abuse from clergy, I am truly, deeply sorry, writes Richmond Bishop Barry Knestout in his own letter published on the Catholic Diocese of Richmond website. "I regret that you have to bear the burden of the damage you suffered at the hands of those you trusted."



At least one of the Virginia accusations of sexual abuse of a minor dates back to the 1950s.



Burbidge, who said that he is "open" to meeting with victims, wrote "I continue to be inspired by your strength and resolve."



The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) released statements about both states' disclosures, saying that they are grateful but want more to be done.



"The man who abused me was listed on disclosures from both the Diocese of Richmond and the Diocese of Arlington, so I am experiencing some healing and validation," Becky Ianni, a SNAP leader and survivor of abuse herself, said in the organization's statement.



"At the same time, I know there are other victims who are feeling angry, upset and disbelieved when they see their perpetrator left off, and I am saddened that instead of feeling validated, they are feeling re-victimized," Ianni said in the statement.



The SNAP statement about the New Jersey disclosures praised the work being done by the state's Attorney General Gubir Grewal, whose office initiated a task force to investigate alleged abuse.



"We know from the hundreds of calls that we have received over our tip line that there are many others who were abused as children and as adults, both by diocesan clergy and clergy members in various religious orders," Grewal said in a statement released Wednesday.



"The investigative work of the task force continues so that we may assure that all survivors of clergy abuse are heard and all abusers and institutions are held accountable for their acts," he said.



There are now at least 16 jurisdictions across the country that have launched investigations into clerical sex abuse following the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing the alleged cover-up of decades of abuse by hundreds of Catholic priests.



In addition to investigations in New Jersey and Virginia, there are ongoing investigations in Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and the District of Columbia, as well as with the Archdiocese of Anchorage in Alaska. Spokespeople for several other state attorneys general offices told ABC News that their offices were reviewing options and considering taking similar actions.



Other religious factions have not been immune to recent revelations of sexual misconduct, as an investigation into abuse within the Southern Baptist Church identified 380 church officials and volunteers facing abuse allegations.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2019) - Exro Technologies Inc. (CSE: XRO) (OTCQB: EXROF) is pleased to announce that it has developed its "Electric Gearbox" technology, which is derived from Exro's Dynamic Power Management (DPM) System. The Electric Gearbox brings material value to many applications, and was recently reviewed and validated by an independent qualified company ELEN-MECH Consulting Inc.

ELEN-MECH was founded by Constantin Pitis (the reviewer), who was previously employed by Powertech and BC Hydro and has performed reviews for the Canadian Standard Association (CSA). His 50 years of experience is unprecedented and in 2010 he received "Legend in Energy" Award at the World Energy Engineering Congress in Washington. Constantin Pitis reviewed Exro's technology and witnessed the system testing during a 2 day site inspection. The evaluation simulated Canadian Standards Association (CSA) testing and it was found that tests have been performed in full compliance to testing standards. Although not an official CSA approval, the report demonstrates that the technology is sustainable and has gone through the rigours of hard testing.

Torsten Broeer, PhD & Vice President of Engineering stated, "I am very excited to have reached this major milestone! This validation gives Exro the credibility to attract many new partners. It proves that our Electric Gearbox can improve our partners' products and it will have significant value in many markets." Discussions have been initiated with potential clients in small electric motor markets like e-bikes and scooters.

Concurrently, Exro will be collaborating with Potencia Industrial to integrate its technology into Potencia's electric motors. The partnership will be focused on converting traditional internal combustion engines in Mexico City's taxis to electric motors, as part of the mayor's initiative to green the city's taxi fleet.

Story continues

Below are a few key statements from the evaluation report:

"Exro Technologies Inc. (Exro) developed a novel Electric Gearbox Concept (EGC) that enables electric motors to operate more efficiently in an extended range of their loading and speed, while mechanical components of the power train transmission (gearboxes) can be eliminated."

"this novel concept eliminates the traditional use of mechanical gearboxes that are inserted between the motors and the applications (processes). In addition to the motor's capability to attain higher efficiency performances, the EGC may enable higher efficiency values of the power train (mechanical) system by eliminating mechanical power losses dissipated in mechanical gearboxes."

Exro Technologies has continued to update its patent portfolio as new innovations have been developed. Jonathan Ritchey, Exro's Founder and Director states, "Our engineering team continues to innovate and is now focussed on product development based on our DPM technology. Further, we are building a strong portfolio of patents and other intellectual property to bring value to our shareholders. These patents will enhance the protection of our products as we move towards commercialization."

About Exro:

Exro offers the potential to accelerate the transition to clean energy by intelligently managing the efficiency and reliability of various power systems, including fuel-powered electric motors and generators, variable renewable energy sources, and energy storage in various applications such as EV and grid connected storage, which make up about half the worldwide market for electric power.

Exro's patented DPM (Dynamic Power Management) technology works for various energy systems, dynamically adapting input and output with the goal of achieving specific, measurable performance gains in applications ranging from electric cars, UAVs, pumps, ship drives, grid storage, industrial motors, vacuums and all other applications that require smart energy conversion. Please visit our website at www.exro.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mark Godsy, Director & CEO

INVESTOR CONTACT INFORMATION

info@exro.com

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this News Release constitute forward-looking statements. When used in this document, the words "believe", "may", "would", "could", "will" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company or its management are intended to identify forward-looking statements. More particularly and without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements and information concerning the Company's intention to commercialize its product in the near term, Such statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause the Company's actual performance or achievements to vary from those described herein. Should one or more of these factors or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. The Company does not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE

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To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42852WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are in Beijing this week as Chinese and American negotiators try to hammer out a trade deal to ease a trade war and avert an increase in U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods scheduled for March 2. The governments of the world's two largest economies have been locked in a tit-for-tat tariff battle for months as Washington presses Beijing to address long-standing concerns over Chinese practices and policies around industrial subsidies, market access and intellectual property rights protections. Here is a look at the key issues in the talks and their implications: WHAT ARE WASHINGTON AND BEIJING FIGHTING ABOUT? After years of steadily rising U.S. trade deficits with China and U.S. complaints that Beijing has systematically obtained American intellectual property and trade secrets through coercion and outright theft, the Trump administration last year demanded fundamental changes to China's economic model to allow U.S. companies to compete on a more level playing field. These include an end to policies that Washington claims effectively force U.S. companies to transfer their technologies to Chinese partners and full protection for American intellectual property rights. WHAT'S AT STAKE? At the most basic level, a dominant position in future high-technology industries, according to the U.S. Trade Representative's office. China is determined to upgrade its industrial base in 10 strategic sectors by 2025, including aerospace, robotics, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and new-energy vehicles. U.S. officials say they do not have a problem with China moving up the technology ladder, but they do not want it to happen with stolen or unfairly obtained American know-how. They argue that China's massive support for state-owned enterprises is leading to overproduction, making it hard for U.S. companies to compete on a market-driven basis. HOW DOES BEIJING VIEW THESE COMPLAINTS? Chinese officials generally view the U.S. actions as a broad effort to thwart the Asian country's inevitable rise to a dominant position in the global economy. They deny that China requires or coerces technology transfers, saying that any such actions are commercial transactions between American and Chinese firms. At the same time, China is looking to make a deal with President Donald Trump to ease U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods and to directly reduce the trade imbalance between the world's two largest economies through increased purchases of U.S. goods, including soybeans and energy. Beijing has also taken some steps to open up to more imports, including lowering tariffs on imported cars and allowing foreign companies in some sectors to own a majority of their operations in China. WHAT ACTIONS HAS THE UNITED STATES TAKEN? Trump has imposed punitive tariffs on $250 billion worth of imported goods from China so far - a 25 percent duty on $50 billion worth of machinery, semiconductors and other technology-related products, and 10 percent tariffs on a broader, $200 billion range of goods that includes many chemicals, building materials, furniture and some consumer electronics. Thus far, Trump has spared many consumer goods, including cellphones, computers, clothing and footwear from tariffs. But if no deal is reached by March 2, the United States is scheduled to raise tariffs on the $200 billion in goods from China to 25 percent from 10 percent. Trump said on Wednesday that a delay was possible. HAS CHINA RETALIATED? Yes. China has imposed tariffs of 25 percent on $50 billion worth of U.S. goods, including soybeans, beef, pork, seafood, whiskey, ethanol and motor vehicles. Beijing also has imposed tariffs of 5 percent to 10 percent on another $60 billion worth of U.S. goods, including liquefied natural gas, chemicals, frozen vegetables and food ingredients. So far, Beijing has spared imports of U.S. commercial aircraft largely made by Boeing Co. Since Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed in December to pursue the current round of talks, China has also suspended tariffs on U.S.-made autos and has resumed some purchases of U.S. soybeans. WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE TALKS SO FAR? China has pledged to make its industrial subsidy programs compliant with World Trade Organization rules and nondistortive to markets, but has offered no details on how it will achieve this, sources told Reuters. It's unclear if that will be enough to satisfy U.S. negotiators, but that indicates China may be willing to address those American concerns. The two sides seemed far apart on industrial subsidies and forced technology transfer when they met in late January, though they indicated some progress had been made around intellectual property rights issues. A key U.S. demand is creating a mechanism for regular reviews of China's progress on following through on any reform pledges that it makes, a plan that would maintain a perpetual threat of U.S. tariffs. China has also offered to make purchases of over $1 trillion worth of goods over the next six years, including of agricultural and energy products as well as industrial goods. WILL U.S. OFFICIALS ACCEPT A DEAL BASED MAINLY ON PURCHASES? Trump has been optimistic about a deal, saying on Wednesday that the talks were going "very well". But he indicated in his State of the Union address on Feb. 5 that big spending by China on American goods would not be enough for a deal. Any new trade deal with China "must include real, structural change to end unfair trade practices, reduce our chronic trade deficit and protect American jobs," he said in the address. The president's advisers say he will not soften his demands that China make structural reforms on intellectual property and related issues. The United States rebuffed some initial offers by China last spring to increase purchases of U.S. goods, choosing instead to proceed with tariffs. WHAT ARE POSSIBLE OUTCOMES OF THIS WEEK'S TALKS? The two sides could report some progress toward a deal and may extend the March 2 deadline to keep negotiating, as often happened during talks last year to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. A stalemate on core structural issues would be viewed as a negative sign, and investors would brace for higher tariffs. Trade negotiations often go down to the wire, so a final outcome is not likely before the end of February, and any agreement will need the approval of Trump and Xi. The two presidents have no meeting planned before the March deadline. (Reporting by David Lawder; Additional reporting by Chris Prentice; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)(Bloomberg) -- The European Union established rules to prevent foreign investments from threatening national security in a sign of growing political unease over Chinese acquisitions.

The European Parliament approved legislation to screen foreign direct investments, wrapping up 17 months of deliberations over an initiative that for years had been deemed too controversial to take as a result of opposition in the blocs national capitals.

The EU assemblys vote on Thursday in Strasbourg, France, removes the last political hurdle for the new law. The blocs national governments have already signaled support, making their final endorsement due on March 5 a formality.

Concerns are mounting across the western world about national-security risks tied to foreign investment, particularly by China.

In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump blocked a Chinese-backed investor from buying Lattice Semiconductor Corp. as a result of national-security worries and Germany moved to shield cutting-edge technologies after a bid by Chinas Midea Group Co. for robot maker Kuka AG prompted an outcry. Last year, the German government stopped a Chinese bid for the first time by vetoing the potential purchase of machine-tool manufacturer Leifeld Metal Spinning AG.

The new EU legislation sets up a bloc-wide cooperation mechanism for foreign direct investments through a combination of data collection, information exchange and peer pressure.

The goal is to limit foreign threats to:

critical infrastructure including in the energy, transport, communications, data, space and financial industries critical technologies such as semiconductors, robotics and artificial intelligence

The law creates an alert mechanism for future foreign investments in Europe and a centralized database of ones that occur after the system enters into force without taking the ultimate power of approving deals away from individual member nations.

EU governments will be allowed to request information and offer comments on a foreign investment in a particular member country. In addition, the European Commission, the blocs executive arm in Brussels, will have the right to ask for information and issue an opinion.

Story continues

The nation in which the investment is planned would have to give due consideration to any comments and opinion as well as take utmost account of any commission view regarding a foreign investment deemed to affect a European project or program.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Stearns in Brussels at jstearns2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, ;Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Jones Hayden, Richard Bravo

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.EU to Ban Use of Electricity in Fishing

(Bloomberg) -- The European Union will impose a blanket ban on the use of electricity in fishing under a plan opposed by the Netherlands and championed by France and environmental groups.

Representatives of EU governments and the European Parliament agreed to prohibit all electric pulse fishing for commercial purposes as of July 2021, ending exemptions that have allowed 5 percent of Dutch trawlers to use the technique in the North Sea.

The practice, in which electrodes are used along the seabed to scoop fish into nets, may continue to be permitted for scientific research.

The deal reached on Wednesday in Strasbourg, France, highlights the political appeal of environmental initiatives in the run-up to EU Parliament elections in late May. The negotiators added the prohibition to a draft European law on technical measures for fleets.

Environmental groups say electric pulse fishing causes unacceptably high damage to marine habitats and life, depletes the oceans and undercuts small-scale operators. Most of the worlds fishing nations have banned the technique, according to an environmental organization called Bloom.

The accord in Strasbourg will go to the full EU Parliament and to the blocs national governments for final approval. Those steps are usually formalities once negotiators for both sides have struck a deal.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Stearns in Strasbourg, France at jstearns2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Nikos Chrysoloras

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.PETACH-TIKVA, Israel (AP) _ CyberArk Software Ltd. (CYBR) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $24.2 million.

On a per-share basis, the Petach-Tikva, Israel-based company said it had profit of 64 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 89 cents per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 59 cents per share.

The maker of software that detects attacks on privileged accounts posted revenue of $109.1 million in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Eight analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $95.8 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $47.1 million, or $1.27 per share. Revenue was reported as $343.2 million.

For the current quarter ending in April, CyberArk expects its per-share earnings to range from 39 cents to 42 cents.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $91 million to $93 million for the fiscal first quarter.

CyberArk expects full-year earnings in the range of $1.94 to $2 per share, with revenue ranging from $411 million to $415 million.

CyberArk shares have increased 17 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock has risen 93 percent in the last 12 months.

_____

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on CYBR at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CYBRNorth America absorbed two-thirds of the global cost of climate disasters over the last three years, Morgan Stanley says.

At $415 billion, the price of the disasters is equal to 0.66 percent of North America's GDP.

Morgan Stanley warns that near-term disruptions and long-term structural changes present risks to many sectors of the economy.

Climate-related disasters have cost the world $650 billion over the last three years, and North America is shouldering most of the burden, according to a new report from Morgan Stanley.

While governments and corporations are taking steps to mitigate the impacts of climate change, Morgan Stanley says private enterprises need to strongly consider preparing for a world gripped by more frequent and intense weather events, rising sea levels, changes to agriculture and the spread of infectious disease. Those outcomes will have a lopsided effect across industries, raising risks for some and creating opportunities for others.

"We expect the physical risks of climate change to become an increasingly important part of the investment debate for 2019," Morgan Stanley equity strategists Mark Savino, Jessica Alsford and Victoria Irving said in a research note Wednesday.

At $650 billion, the three-year price of climate disasters totals just over a quarter of a percent of global gross domestic product, the analysts say. The investment bank warns that the situation may only get worse, noting that damages associated with global warming could total $54 trillion by 2040, according to a UN panel composed of the world's top climate scientists.

The United States is bearing the brunt of climate change's toll on the economy. Morgan Stanley says climate-related disasters like hurricanes and wildfires have cost North America $415 billion, or two-thirds of the global total. That equals 0.66 percent of North American GDP.

Last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said 14 weather and climate disasters cost the nation $91 billion in 2018, Earth's fourth hottest year on record.

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The assessment lands at a time when the U.S. is at a crossroads over climate change. Liberals on Capitol Hill are pushing a Green New Deal to overhaul the U.S. economy in just 10 years, while a select committee led by establishment House Democrats is pursuing a more modest approach to tackling global warming.

President Donald Trump continues to cast doubt on the consensus among climate scientists and U.S. government agencies that greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are warming the planet. His administration, backed by congressional Republicans, is seeking to boost fossil fuel production and push through a broad rollback of Obama-era policies aimed at lowering U.S. emissions.

After the U.S., Asia is most exposed to the cost of climate disasters, absorbing $180 billion in economic damages, equal to 0.24 percent of regional GDP, Morgan Stanley says.

Parts of the two regions  including the U.S. Gulf and East Coasts, China and the Philippines  are also at greatest risk of sea level rise and adverse weather events. Changes to agricultural conditions will also have big impact on parts of North America and Asia, in addition to Europe and Central America. The spread of infectious disease is of greatest concern to Africa, Latin America and other developing regions, the bank says.

In the near term, Morgan Stanley sees climate change posing risk of negative disruptions to a dozen sectors, from agriculture to oil and gas production. Just four sectors  capital goods, home improvement retail, lodging and construction machinery  could reap benefits from those near-term disruptions.

Over the longer term, structural changes are seen negatively impacting nine sectors, including many of the industries that also face near-term hurdles. Real estate, leisure and consumer retail are also on the list. Other sectors, like auto manufacturing, biotechnology, health care and pharmaceuticals, insurance, mining and utilities, could find opportunity in structural change.

Drilling down, the four main vectors that Morgan Stanley identifies  sea-level rise, weather events, changes in agriculture and infectious disease  will impact sectors in different ways.

For example, rising sea levels are expected to hurt property values for coastal real estate and disrupt apparel supply chains in Asia. However, it could also boost spending on machinery to rebuild seaside infrastructure and spark higher sales of capital goods like commercial pumps and other water management products.





More From CNBC

(Bloomberg) -- Dubai-based ride-hailing service Careem Networks FZ is looking for new ways to get ahead of main rival Uber Technologies Inc. in the Middle East.

Careem launched an accident insurance program for passengers as well as drivers in Turkey and is planning to soon expand the service to other countries in the region, said Ibrahim Manna, managing director for emerging markets. The company has signed a deal with global insurance broker Price Forbes for policies that would pay up to $20,000 to cover expenses related to deaths or serious injuries caused by an accident during Careem rides.

Uber only offers insurance for its drivers in Istanbul, leaving its customers uncovered.

Careem plans to launch its in-ride insurance program everywhere it operates as soon as possible, Manna said. The company currently operates in over 100 cities in 14 countries, according to its website.

Its Turkey operations are focused on Istanbul, where it works with more than 1,000 drivers. The privately held company, which also operates in Adana and Bursa provinces, abandoned its up-market car service in Turkey in 2018, just a year after launching the product, to focus on Istanbuls $1.5 billion taxi market.

Uber is in talks to acquire Careem to help the ride-hailing giant expand in the Middle East, in a deal that could value the Dubai-based firm at $2 billion to $2.5 billion, people with knowledge of the plans said in September. But Manna said that the company is focused on its region and there are no plans to merge with anyone.

(Adds more details about Turkey service in fifth paragraph.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Cagan Koc in Istanbul at ckoc2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Onur Ant at oant@bloomberg.net, ;Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Paul Abelsky

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.When the New England Confectionery Co. abruptly closed its doors last year, howls over the demise of its eponymous Necco wafer echoed across the candy aisle. Perhaps worse, its iconic Valentines Day treatthe Sweetheart and its cutesy phrases (LOVE YOU, MISS YOU, WAIT4ME)looked like it was going to vanish as well.

For small business owner Sarah Hannington, the possibility threatened her company, too. The owner of Florida-based mycustomcandy.com, which manufactures printed candy hearts, Hannington relied on Necco to supply as many as 40,000 pounds of the tiny treat each Valentines Day season.

As the news was breaking out, we kept getting messages like OMG do you guys have any candy hearts left? Hannington said. We get requests from all over the world. You couldnt find it anywhere.

But the panic was misplaced. Plenty of other companies have been making these heart-shaped sugar bombs for decades. And the end of Necco made for a big opening in the market.

Were certainly going to take advantage of the opportunity, said Sarah Kittel, a spokeswoman for Ferrara Candy Co., which has been making its own version of the candy for almost 60 years. Ferrara is the parent of Brachs Conversation Hearts and SweeTarts Hearts Candy Kits. So far this season, the company said its produced 10 percent more compared with last year, and sales have risen by 11 percent.

Even Hannington decided to make her own heartsand shes also cashing in, with a 36 percent increase in sales over last year.

Necco was a New England institution going back to the Civil War. Based in Boston and later Revere, Massachusetts, the company went on to make brands known to children and dentists alike, from Clark Bars to Mary Janes. Last year, the remains of the company were bought by a private equity firm, Round Hill Investments LLC, which ultimately sold the century-old Sweethearts brand to the Spangler Candy Co.

In peoples hearts, Necco was the original, said Beth Kimmerle, author of the book Candy: A Sweet History. Youre going to reach for the brand that has been around for generations. It was the familiar version.

Story continues

Other iterations, traditionalists complain, differ in color, texture and flavor. Brachs Conversation Hearts and SweeTarts look similar to the famous Necco hearts but taste different, some say. When it comes to Valentines Day spending, though, no one seems to be boycotting. In fact, rather than being seen as interlopers, the remaining companies are benefiting from all the social media whining.

Obviously all of this very positive conversationforgive the pun around conversation heartsit certainly sparked interest in this product segment, said Kittel. For us, this interest or intrigue is translating into sales.

Ferrara currently occupies 65 percent of the conversation hearts market, with Brachs and SweeTarts bringing up the rear. Almost all 2,800 of Krogers supermarkets nationwide carry Brachs and SweeTarts, according to company spokeswoman Kristal Howard.

For Hannington and her businessone of the few that can custom-print candy heartsthe demise of Necco created a challenge. The 36-year-old did have some warning it was coming, though. In recent years, getting orders filled by the company had become difficult.

It was slow, Hannington said. You would cross your fingers, and if you got the order, you got the order.

When Necco shut down, she reached out to other candy companies, but to no avail. So she was forced to organize her own manufacturing process. After working with a tooling firm to create heart-shaped metal plates and a food scientist to pick flavor, color and formula, she found a new manufacturer to produce the candy.

In December, she ramped up her operation, knowing some of Neccos customers might come her way. And she was rightrequests for candy hearts have been tumbling in ever since.

Spangler didnt return Bloombergs request for comment, though the company said in a statement last month that Sweethearts are expected to return to store shelves in 2020.

There is this novelty and classic-ness to candy hearts, Hannington said. I cant imagine that it would ever go away.By Susan Taylor

TORONTO, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Ontario, home to much of Canada's auto industry, announced C$40.2 million ($30.18 million) in technology-focused funds for the auto industry on Thursday, aimed largely at developing next-generation manufacturing workers, as part of a new 10-year plan.

The strategy, aimed at growing a sector grappling with technology and trade disruptions, comes as General Motors Co plans to shutter its Oshawa assembly plant by year-end, part of a broad restructuring to cut costs and boost investment in electric and self-driving vehicles.

While Ontario represents 13 percent of North American vehicle production, only 6 percent of automakers' new investment has come to the province since 2009, the government said.

Ontario auto production has declined by 25 percent since 2009, the government added, reflecting a shift to lower-cost regions, such as Mexico.

The province's three-year grant program commits C$19 million towards internships and training, C$3.2 million towards online learning and C$2 million to an autonomous talent development program. A new C$3 million fund will support winter testing of mobility products.

A C$10 million grant program for parts suppliers, which requires matching industry investment, is aimed at technology adoption that boosts productivity and exports. It replaces a previous program, for which funding was not immediately clear.

The plan also aims to make Ontario more competitive, with a target of reducing regulatory burdens for the auto industry by 25 percent by 2020, through such measures as streamlining.

($1 = 1.3321 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Susan Taylor; Editing by Bernadette Baum)(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. said its axing plans to build a new corporate campus in New York City, bowing to fierce opposition from some residents and politicians and denying the city what the mayor and governor had called its biggest ever economic win.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio lobbied hard to bring the deal to the city, with the governor even jokingly offering to change his name. They touted the promise of as many 40,000 jobs in the city over the next two decades with an average salary of $150,000.

https://t.co/nyvm5vtH9k

 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 14, 2019

But local opposition was fervent from the beginning. Lawmakers resented being excluded from negotiations for the deal, and decried the $3 billion in government subsidies offered to a company run by Jeff Bezos, the worlds richest man, while the city itself is facing budget cuts. Community groups feared rising rents in the neighborhood would push out long-time residents, and that the influx of workers would strain an already overburdened subway system.

Amazons decision to withdraw from New York is no doubt a blow to our local economy, said Julie Samuels, executive director at Tech: NYC. New York City is today one of the most dynamic tech hubs in the world, but there is no guarantee we will maintain this status in the future, which makes this news so disappointing.

In a series of City Council meetings in recent weeks, Amazon executives were grilled about their view on unions, specifics about jobs in the neighborhood and the fact that their chosen site is located in an opportunity zone, enabling it to qualify for federal and state tax breaks there. Amazon said it wouldnt claim the break. One executive hinted at the exasperation within the company, saying Amazon wanted to be in a community that wanted it.

And there are plenty of others that do. But instead of reopening what was a year-long search for a second headquarters, Amazon said it will proceed with plans for other major offices at a site in Northern Virginia and Nashville. "We will continue to hire and grow across our 17 corporate offices and tech hubs in the U.S. and Canada," it added, in a statement.

Story continues

Besides the public backlash in New York City, tension was building at Amazon headquarters in Seattle. High-level executives with several Amazon teams were notified within the past few weeks that they would have to relocate to New York, which caused unrest, according to two people familiar with the matter. Several executives who were told theyd have to leave began job hunting to avoid relocating their families, said the people, who requested anonymity since they were not authorized to share the details.

After reports emerged last week that Amazon was considering withdrawing from New York, some pundits speculated that it was a negotiating tactic designed to see how far the opposition was willing to go. But it wasnt a ploy, according to a person familiar with the matter. The company planned to hire 700 people this year in New York City and has plenty of time to adjust and absorb that growth at other sites, the person said.

While Amazons withdrawal was a major blow for de Blasio and Cuomo, whose enthusiasm for the project was one of their only points of agreement, the progressive politicians who so vocally opposed it declared it a win.

One of the those was was New York State Senator Michael Gianaris, a Democrat who represents Long Island City. He had recently been appointed to the states Public Authorities Control Board, which would have had to unanimously approve the Amazon project.

Todays behavior by Amazon shows why they would have been a bad partner for New York in any event, Gianaris said in a statement. Rather than seriously engage with the community they proposed to profoundly change, Amazon continued its effort to shakedown governments to get its way.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose surprise election last year helped push her party to the left, also claimed victory.

Today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazons corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world, she tweeted.

With several polls showing that a majority of New Yorkers favored Amazons arrival, de Blasio had previously suggested that those officials could face their own backlash come the next elections. Indeed, many of the people who reacted to Ocasio-Cortezs tweet expressed anger.

Today New York lost billions of dollars of revenue that could have been used over the next decade to help rebuild this decaying city ... All due to ignorance and small mindedness, wrote one.

De Blasio, however, blamed Amazon. We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity, he said in a statement.

Amazon captured North Americas attention in 2017, when it announced plans to build a second headquarters, prompting gushing overtures from politicians and publicity stunts from hopefuls eager to stand out. A group from Tucson offered to send a 21-foot-tall cactus to Seattle. A Georgia town offered to name a new city "Amazon." Beyond hype, cities dangled generous tax incentives. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie publicly offered $7 billion in tax breaks and other benefits to bring Amazon to Newark. Most cities and states kept their offers private.

In the end Amazon decided to split the so-called HQ2 between Long Island City and Arlington, Virginia, and open a smaller office in Nashville.

Earlier this week de Blasio called the potential for Amazons tech jobs mission critical for the city, which wants to build up its tech industry as it can no longer rely on Wall Street as an economic generator.

This is a stunning development, with Amazon essentially giving in to vocal critics, said Mark Hamrick, an analyst at Bankrate.com. "For those who didnt want Amazon to bring the promised 25,000 new jobs and added economic vitality to the area: Be careful what you wish for."

Prospective employees, small businesses and state and local governments looking forward to tax revenues, as well as the broader community, will miss out from improved growth prospects, Hamrick said. The decision could also prompt other businesses to think twice before setting up shop or expanding in the region.

(Updates with comments from Mayor and Senator.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Spencer Soper in Seattle at ssoper@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Molly Schuetz, Robin Ajello

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.By Jonathan Allen and David Shepardson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc abruptly scrapped plans to build a major outpost in New York that could have created 25,000 jobs, blaming opposition from local leaders upset by the nearly $3 billion in incentives promised by state and city politicians.

The company said on Thursday it did not see consistently "positive, collaborative" relationships with state and local officials. Opponents of the project feared congestion and higher rents in the Long Island City neighbourhood of Queens, and objected to handing billions in incentives to a company run by Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man.

State Senator Michael Gianaris, who represents Queens and was a vocal critic of the deal, told a news conference on Thursday that the Amazon subsidies were unnecessary.

"This was a shakedown, pure and simple," he said.

Amazon's sudden pullout from New York City prompted finger pointing by Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo, the politicians who crafted the deal. Cuomo angrily blamed the loss on local politicians while de Blasio blamed Amazon.

Cuomo said in a statement that a small group of politicians had "put their own narrow political interests" above those of New Yorkers.

The year-long search for its so-called HQ2 culminated in Amazon picking Northern Virginia and New York after hundreds of municipalities, from Newark, N.J. to Indianapolis competed for the coveted tax-dollars and high-wage jobs the project promised.

Amazon said it would not conduct a new headquarters search and would focus on growing at other existing and planned offices. The company already has more than 5,000 employees in New York City and plans to continue to hire there, Amazon said on Thursday.

A Siena College Poll conducted earlier this month found 56 percent of registered voters in New York supported the Amazon deal, while 36 percent opposed it.

CITY SHAKEDOWN?

Some New Yorkers mounted protests after the deal was announced, angered by the $2.8 billion in incentives promised to Amazon and fearing further gentrification in a neighbourhood once favoured by artists looking for cheap studio space.

Story continues

U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a critic of the project and a self-described democratic socialist whose district spans parts of Queens and the Bronx, cheered the reversal by the world's third most valuable public company.

"Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbours defeated Amazons corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world," she wrote on Twitter.

People briefed on the decision said Amazon had made the decision early on Thursday amid rising concerns about the small vocal minority. The people said Amazon will not shift any of the planned jobs to Tennessee where an operations hub is planned or Virginia, but plans to grow its existing network of locations.

Amazon had not acquired land for the project, making it easy to scrap its plans, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters on Friday.

LOST OPPORTUNITY?

In a statement, de Blasio blamed Amazon for failing to address local criticism.

"We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbour and do business in the greatest city in the world," he said. "Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity."

Some long-time residents in Long Island City, which sits across the East River from midtown Manhattan's skyscrapers, feared being forced out by rising rents and untenable pressure on already overburdened subway and sewage systems. High-rise towers have sprouted across the neighbourhood in recent years.

"This is a stunning development, with Amazon essentially giving in to vocal critics," said Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com. The about-turn could spook other companies thinking about expanding in New York, he added.

Alphabet Inc's Google has avoided competitions between cities for offices, and its growing presence in lower Manhattan has met with little serious blowback.

Google said in December it plans to invest more than $1 billion on a new campus in New York to double its current headcount of more than 7,000 people.

"I think the (Amazon) PR event turned out to be a mistake," said Jason Benowitz, senior portfolio manager at the Roosevelt Investment Group, who owns Amazon shares.

Shares of Amazon fell 1 percent.

'REALLY GOOD POKER PLAYERS'

Hours before the announcement, Amazon officials in New York betrayed no knowledge of the deal's cancellation when they met with local community members on Thursday morning, said Kenny Greenberg, a neon artist and member of Long Island City's community board.

"Either they are really good poker players or they were not aware," Greenberg said of the Amazon representatives. "There was no hint of this at all."

The meeting with Amazon officials had been held to answer concerns from the community about labour conditions for Amazon's warehouse and delivery workers and the company's opposition to labour unions.

U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat whose district includes the proposed site, lamented the loss of jobs and new revenues.

"This is not the Valentine that NY needed," she wrote, adding that she had been ready to push for changes to the deal to address local concerns.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Jonathan Allen in New York; Additional reporting by Dan Trotta and Joseph Ax in New York, Nandita Bose in Washington, Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Meredith Mazzilli)FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics centre in Boves, France, August 8, 2018. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo

By Jonathan Allen and David Shepardson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc abruptly scrapped plans to build a major outpost in New York that could have created 25,000 jobs, blaming opposition from local leaders upset by the nearly $3 billion in incentives promised by state and city politicians.

The company said on Thursday it did not see consistently "positive, collaborative" relationships with state and local officials. Opponents of the project feared congestion and higher rents in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, and objected to handing billions in incentives to a company run by Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man.

State Senator Michael Gianaris, who represents Queens and was a vocal critic of the deal, told a news conference on Thursday that the Amazon subsidies were unnecessary.

"This was a shakedown, pure and simple," he said.

Amazon's sudden pullout from New York City prompted finger pointing by Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo, the politicians who crafted the deal. Cuomo angrily blamed the loss on local politicians while de Blasio blamed Amazon.

Cuomo said in a statement that a small group of politicians had "put their own narrow political interests" above those of New Yorkers.

The year-long search for its so-called HQ2 culminated in Amazon picking Northern Virginia and New York after hundreds of municipalities, from Newark, N.J. to Indianapolis competed for the coveted tax-dollars and high-wage jobs the project promised.

Amazon said it would not conduct a new headquarters search and would focus on growing at other existing and planned offices. The company already has more than 5,000 employees in New York City and plans to continue to hire there, Amazon said on Thursday.

A Siena College Poll conducted earlier this month found 56 percent of registered voters in New York supported the Amazon deal, while 36 percent opposed it.

CITY SHAKEDOWN?

Some New Yorkers mounted protests after the deal was announced, angered by the $2.8 billion in incentives promised to Amazon and fearing further gentrification in a neighborhood once favored by artists looking for cheap studio space.

Story continues

U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a critic of the project and a self-described democratic socialist whose district spans parts of Queens and the Bronx, cheered the reversal by the world's third most valuable public company.

"Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazons corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world," she wrote on Twitter.

People briefed on the decision said Amazon had made the decision early on Thursday amid rising concerns about the small vocal minority. The people said Amazon will not shift any of the planned jobs to Tennessee where an operations hub is planned or Virginia, but plans to grow its existing network of locations.

Amazon had not acquired land for the project, making it easy to scrap its plans, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters on Friday.

LOST OPPORTUNITY?

In a statement, de Blasio blamed Amazon for failing to address local criticism.

"We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world," he said. "Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity."

Some long-time residents in Long Island City, which sits across the East River from midtown Manhattan's skyscrapers, feared being forced out by rising rents and untenable pressure on already overburdened subway and sewage systems. High-rise towers have sprouted across the neighborhood in recent years.

"This is a stunning development, with Amazon essentially giving in to vocal critics," said Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com. The about-turn could spook other companies thinking about expanding in New York, he added.

Alphabet Inc's Google has avoided competitions between cities for offices, and its growing presence in lower Manhattan has met with little serious blowback.

Google said in December it plans to invest more than $1 billion on a new campus in New York to double its current headcount of more than 7,000 people.

"I think the (Amazon) PR event turned out to be a mistake," said Jason Benowitz, senior portfolio manager at the Roosevelt Investment Group, who owns Amazon shares.

Shares of Amazon fell 1 percent.

'REALLY GOOD POKER PLAYERS'

Hours before the announcement, Amazon officials in New York betrayed no knowledge of the deal's cancellation when they met with local community members on Thursday morning, said Kenny Greenberg, a neon artist and member of Long Island City's community board.

"Either they are really good poker players or they were not aware," Greenberg said of the Amazon representatives. "There was no hint of this at all."

The meeting with Amazon officials had been held to answer concerns from the community about labor conditions for Amazon's warehouse and delivery workers and the company's opposition to labor unions.

U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat whose district includes the proposed site, lamented the loss of jobs and new revenues.

"This is not the Valentine that NY needed," she wrote, adding that she had been ready to push for changes to the deal to address local concerns.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Jonathan Allen in New York; Additional reporting by Dan Trotta and Joseph Ax in New York, Nandita Bose in Washington, Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Meredith Mazzilli)(Bloomberg) -- Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, was named the top Internet stock pick at Citi, with the search company moving up from a former third-place ranking.

Amazon.com Inc., which was previously ranked number one, dropped to fourth.

Both stocks have been among the markets strongest performers in recent years, although the gains in Amazon have far eclipsed the rally in Alphabet shares.

In addition to considering fundamentals, key catalysts and valuations, we are also taking into account expected momentum this year in terms of revenue growth and margin trajectory, the New York-based firm wrote to clients. Alphabet rose to Citis favorite on continued strong topline growth, along with more buybacks and an attractive valuation that more than offset continued margin pressures.

Citis relatively lower view on Amazon came as growth in certain areas, including advertising and gross merchandise volume for North American retail, had slowed, while the pace of margin expansion could moderate in 2019.

It added that "other factors could emerge, including Bezos distractions. Amazon chief Jeff Bezos recently announced that he and his wife MacKenzie were divorcing, which could raise questions about whether the settlement will impact his control of the company. In addition, Bezos alleged that the publisher of the National Enquirer tried to blackmail him with embarrassing photos of himself and a woman who wasnt his wife.

Netflix Inc. retained its second-choice status at Citi, while Facebook Inc. moved to third place from fourth. Expedia Inc. was in fifth place, its ranking unchanged.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Vlastelica in New York at rvlastelica1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Steven Fromm, Jeremy R. Cooke

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.(Bloomberg) -- OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research group co-founded by billionaire Elon Musk, has demonstrated a piece of software that can produce authentic-looking fake news articles after being given just a few pieces of information.

In an example published Thursday by OpenAI, the system was given some sample text: "A train carriage containing controlled nuclear materials was stolen in Cincinnati today. Its whereabout are unknown." From this, the software was able to generate a convincing seven-paragraph news story, including quotes from government officials, with the only caveat being that it was entirely untrue.

"The texts that they are able to generate from prompts are fairly stunning," said Sam Bowman, a computer scientist at New York University who specializes in natural language processing and who was not involved in the OpenAI project, but was briefed on it. "Its able to do things that are qualitatively much more sophisticated than anything weve seen before."

OpenAI is aware of the concerns around fake news, said Jack Clark, the organizations policy director. "One of the not so good purposes would be disinformation because it can produce things that sound coherent but which are not accurate," he said.

As a precaution, OpenAI decided not to publish or release the most sophisticated versions of its software. It has, however, created a tool that lets policymakers, journalists, writers and artists experiment with the algorithm to see what kind of text it can generate and what other sorts of tasks it can perform.

Read the fake news article written by the artificial intelligence here

The potential for software to be able to be able to near-instantly create fake news articles comes during global concerns over technologys role in the spread of disinformation. European regulators have threatened action if tech firms dont do more to prevent their products helping sway voters, and Facebook has been working since the 2016 U.S. election to try and contain disinformation on its platform.

Story continues

Clark and Bowman both said that, for now, the systems abilities are not consistent enough to pose an immediate threat. "This is not a shovel-ready technology today, and thats a good thing," Clark said.

Unveiled in a paper and a blog post Thursday, OpenAIs creation is trained for a task known as language modeling, which involves predicting the next word of a piece of text based on knowledge of all previous words, similar to how auto-complete works when typing an email on a mobile phone. It can also be used for translation, and open-ended question answering.

One potential use is helping creative writers generate ideas or dialog, Jeff Wu, a researcher at OpenAI who worked on the project, said. Others include checking for grammatical errors in texts, or hunting for bugs in software code. The system could be fine-tuned to summarize text for corporate or government decision makers further in the future, he said.

In the past year, researchers have made a number of sudden leaps in language processing. In November, Alphabet Inc.s Google unveiled a similarly multi-talented algorithm called BERT that can understand and answer questions. Earlier, the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, a research lab in Seattle, achieved landmark results in natural language processing with an algorithm called Elmo. Bowman said BERT and Elmo were "the most impactful development" in the field in the past five years. By contrast, he said OpenAIs new algorithm was "significant" but not as revolutionary as BERT.

Although co-founded by Musk, he stepped down from OpenAIs board last year. Hed helped kickstart the non-profit research organization in 2016 along with Sam Altman and Jessica Livingston, the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs behind startup incubator Y Combinator. Other early backers of OpenAI include Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy Kahn in London at jkahn21@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giles Turner at gturner35@bloomberg.net, Nate Lanxon

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.(Bloomberg) -- As the satellite industry booms, a Japan-based venture is working to prevent space-debris collisions that could paralyze transport, defense and telecommunications systems.

Astroscale Holdings Inc. is preparing to rendezvous with, capture and dock a test satellite early next year to show how its technology can help clear orbiting junk, Miki Ito, 36, general manager of Astroscales Japan unit, said in an interview.

Astroscale is competing in a niche that has drawn urgent attention and funding from companies and governments including those in the U.S., Japan, Singapore and the U.K. The venture has raised about $103 million, including money from Japans state-backed INCJ Ltd., as it vies with rivals to invent an affordable way to prevent a chain-reaction of collisions known as the Kessler effect.

Astroscale said its mission will be the worlds first in-orbit debris capture and removal demonstration using its rendezvous and magnetic capture mechanisms. In the test run, chaser and target modules will rocket into orbit, then separate. The chaser will then attempt to capture the target once in a steady state and again when it is tumbling. Once safely docked, the chaser and target will power back toward Earth, burning up on re-entry into the atmosphere.

Given the difficulty of fixing satellites in orbit, there is usually no choice but to bring malfunctioning craft down, said Ito, who worked on microsatellite projects at the Next Generation Space System Technology Research Association before becoming president of Astroscale Japan, then general manager this month.

Astroscale is also planning to raise its workforce to 100 from 60 as it expands to the U.S. and other global markets.

With an estimated 750,000 bits of old satellites and rockets circling the Earth at about 18,000 miles per hour (8 kilometers per second), a collision could instantly shatter a multimillion dollar satellite, as portrayed in the Academy Award-winning 2013 movie Gravity. Worse, a chain reaction of destruction could render entire bands of low-earth orbit un-navigable for satellites.

Story continues

Close Calls

There have already been some close calls. In 2009, the U.S.-launched Iridium33 satellite collided with Russias Kosmos-2251, sending thousands of new bits of debris hurtling through space. The crash didnt immediately trigger other collisions, but the junk is still up there and may yet do so.

Still, the number of satellites being flung into space is soaring. Commercial launches under 500 kilograms are forecast to jump 10-fold to more than 5,600 in the 10 years to 2027, compared with the previous decade, consulting firm Euroconsult estimates in its report on prospects for the small satellite market.

Astroscale is calling its satellite wrecking truck ELSA-d, for End of Life Service by Astroscale-demonstration. The craft consists of a 160 kilogram (350 pound) Chaser module and a 20 kilogram target, stacked for simultaneous launch. The chaser uses a magnetic capture mechanism, while the target has a docking plate for a series of tests to include search, inspection, rendezvous along with tumbling and non-tumbling capture. ELSA-d is to be operated from the National In-orbit Servicing Control Centre Facility in Harwell, U.K., a key part of Astroscales ground infrastructure.

Rival Technologies

That technology faces a wide array of rivals and is being tested for deployment as governments grapple with setting standards for the new industry. Astroscale may be gaining some advantage by working with stakeholders on rules for the business, said Masashi Sato, senior consultant of Nomura Research Institute.

Marketing, rulemaking, and developing supply chain are the keys to generating profit for debris-removal ventures, said Sato. Astroscale is making suggestions for rules and works with governments, space agencies, and the space industry for commercializing debris removal. They act on a global scale.

Historically, the U.S. Department of Defense has been the most authoritative tracker of objects that could threaten satellites and NASA missions. The U.S. military now monitors tens of thousands of orbital objects via radar and maintains a public database that satellite operators and others can consult.

While governments have said they are concerned about the threat, the focus has been on funding private efforts to design a workable solution. Efforts include a joint effort by Japans space agency and a more than 100-year-old maker of fishing nets to develop a wire mesh that could fling debris out of harms way. Other efforts include spacecraft that sweep, lasso and harpoon debris.

Innovation will accelerate when private companies are leading the way instead of governments, said Ito.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hiromi Horie in Tokyo at hhorie@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Yuji Okada at yokada6@bloomberg.net, Dave McCombs, Jeff Sutherland

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.Investors are increasingly hyped up when it comes to earnings season. At least thats the hope and prayer for the folks over at CNBC that need all the excitement that they can get to lure viewers. And while some corporate chieftains, including JP Morgans (NYSE:JPM) Jamie Dimon and Berkshire Hathaways (NYSE:BRK.A, NYSE:BRK.B) Warren Buffett are campaigning to end quarterly reporting, earnings season is really just a normal update on how business is going for companies.

And earnings season comes, of course, every quarter  quarter after quarter  year after year. And for the last quarter of 2018, out of the 505 stocks that make up the S&P 500 Index, 358 have released their report cards for the quarter.

And the news is pretty good. Sales overall were up on average by 6.88% and earnings were up on average by 14.20%.

InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips

Its no wonder that the S&P 500 is up by 10% year-to-date and were only in February. And thats after last quarters selloff on fears that the earnings were as good as they were going to get and that growth was only going to be just good, and not spectacular.

But there are plenty of companies that arent on the list of over-hyped stocks that jump and fall on every little morsel of opinions from talking heads on CNBC, particularly during quarterly reporting times. They tend to be dependable businesses and are focused on longer-term shareholders and not day traders. And they pay nice dividends.

Each of the following dividend stocks Im going to explore below has already filed its quarterlies with continued good results without fanfare.

Assets Pay

Ill start with one of my favorite industries  fund management. Fund management is all about assets under management (AUM). The more AUM, the more fee income that a company will earn. The goal is to keep AUM stable to increasing and fee income will follow. You dont have to be spectacular in managing the assets (although it helps), but you do have to be good at keeping and raising more AUM.

Story continues

One of the best in this market is AllianceBernstein (NYSE:AB). It has ample AUM, which is up to $550 billion after AB gained $800 million in the last quarter. That is boosting fee income nicely and feeding an ample dividend.

AllianceBernstein (AB) Assets Under Management

Dividend Stocks AllianceBernstein (AB) Assets Under Management

Source: Bloomberg

The dividend distribution is currently 64 cents for a yield of 8.29%. And that distribution is rising over the past five years by an average annual gain of 12.62%.

Shares have generated a return of 101.02% over the past five years  amply outperforming the S&P 500 Index. It makes for one of the better dividend stocks to buy under $33.

Powered Up

Utilities make for one of the most reliable stock sectors for both longer-term growth and regular to rising income. They serve that function particularly well during times of market strife due to the reliability of demand for their core products and services.

If you think that they underperform the general stock market, youd be wrong. Over the past 20 years, U.S. utility stocks, as tracked by the S&P Utilities Total Return Index, have outperformed the general stock market as tracked by the S&P 500 Index.

The market for utilities isnt about sacrificing return for just dividend income, rather, it can be a potent rival for the returns you expect from more growth-oriented stocks.

Whats more, utilities can be a great defensive counterweight in your portfolio.

For example, during the market rout from October to year-end 2018, the S&P 500 was down, heavily, by 14.28%. But during that same time, utilities managed to outperform with a positive return of 1.66%

This is all thanks to the combination of reliable core business assets and higher dividend payments that utilities represent.

Of course, not all utilities are the same and neither are all dividend stocks. They can include a host of essential services including electricity, natural gas and water. And they are comprised of both regulated and unregulated businesses.

Regulated business means that the companies have contracts set with specific rates for gas, electricity and water that are set by local public utility commissions (PUCs).

This means that the companies with regulated markets must lobby local PUC officials for acceptable rates that take into consideration the cost of providing the services as well as the capital costs of the operations for the services.

In addition, PUCs, along with other regulatory bodies, must approve any expansion of regulated services, including new plants and transmission or other conveyance lines. And they also need to gain approvals for payments for upkeep and repairs. All of this takes a wide array of skillsets by management to make the most for shareholders while keeping customers and their PUCs content. This includes negotiating and lobbying as well as budgeting and market supply-and-demand forecasting.

Yet, at the same time, regulated business means that companies can conduct longer-term budgeting for capital expenditures as well as having better forecasting for revenues and profitability.

This means that utilities can provide smoother performance for shareholders, especially in challenging times. That adds stability for investors over the long term.

Then there is the unregulated part of the utility market. This can include wholesale provision of essential services for industries as well as for other local utility companies that will contract for gas, power or water.

This is where some companies can provide larger-scale services across local markets and even across the country. The companies in this space can provide the opportunity for investors to cash in on their success in markets with less regulatory oversight on rates.

One of the best utilities in the market is NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE). The company is primarily comprised of two operating units that take advantage of both the regulated and unregulated power utility market.

Based in Florida, NextEra has its primarily regulated power company in Florida Power & Light. The operation provides power through a variety of generating sources, including natural gas, coal and oil, as well as nuclear power plants. Its customers number in the millions and are primarily residential customers, with some commercial customers.

In addition to its own power generation, it also contracts with external power generators that transmit power via the power grid to supplement its own power generation.

The other side of the company is Next Era Energy Resources. This division of NextEra provides unregulated wholesale power around the U.S. with some additional assets in Canada and Spain. Much of its power generation comes from traditional power plants, but increasingly wind and solar generation provide a large portion of its power. It has quickly become one of the largest renewable power generation companies.

In addition, NEE also has some petroleum and natural gas pipeline assets that take advantage of the companys reach across the U.S. Revenues from the regulated FPL side of the company represent the larger sum of revenues, which continue to expand at a reliable three-year average of 1.58%. This makes for a steady cash flow for the company.

The company continues to focus more on the NEER division, which provides the namesake for the overall company. The idea is that the next era in power generation will be ever more focused on renewable energy sources. This is supported in that the revenues for the NEER unit have expanded to become 28.55% of overall revenue of the company.

The industry is benefiting from state and local legislation around the nation requiring that a portion of power be generated by renewable sources. In addition, NextEras renewable power expansion is also benefitting from Federal tax credits for renewable energy facilities. These come based on capacity and not just the amount of power generated. This means that the company can operate wind and solar facilities around the nation and not just in areas that are particularly sunny or windy.

NextEra Energy (NEE) Total Return

Dividend Stocks NextEra Energy (NEE) Total Return

Source: Bloomberg

The company is a stronger performer for investors. The return on its capital is running at 9.90%, while the return on investors equity is a whopping 21.30%. And this is resulting in the market recognizing its performance now and for the future. The shares have delivered a total return over the past five years of 127.76%.

Yielding 2.42%, it makes for a good buy under $185.

Pumping Profits

Petroleum has been one of the better markets for companies last quarter with sales gains for companies reporting of 12.14% (so far within the S&P 500) and earnings growth of 102.19%.

One of the more reliable segments of the petroleum market is in the midstream segment of the toll-takers of the pipeline market. And one of my favorites dividend stocks in this space is Plains GP Holdings (NYSE:PAGP), which has a great network of pipes and related assets throughout North America including the vital Permian Basin in the U.S.

Revenue continues to flow with gains over the trailing year of 29.90%. And the shares are valued at a huge bargain as they are trading currently at a 90% discount to the trailing sales of the company.

As a passthrough, the distributions are shielded from current income tax liabilities making the dividends all the more valuable on a tax-equivalent basis. With the current distribution of 30 cents per year, it yields 5.03%.

Plains GP Holdings (PAGP) Total Return

Dividend Stocks Plains GP Holdings (PAGP) Total Return

Source: Bloomberg

And the overall shares have been dependable for income and for an overall total return over the trailing twelve months of 12.29%. It makes for a good dividend paying toll-taker under $26.65.

All My Best,

Neil George

Neil George is the editor of Profitable Investing and does not have any holdings in the securities mentioned above.

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The post 3 Dividend Stocks to Power Through Earnings Season appeared first on InvestorPlace.DENVER (AP)  Two years after jumping into a fight with the Trump administration over public lands, the U.S. outdoor industry is turning up the political pressure  though its impact is difficult to measure.

Thousands of manufacturers and retailers gathered in Denver starting Wednesday for the annual Outdoor Retailer and Snow Show, and some of the biggest names vowed to keep pushing to preserve public lands.

"We will always  this is really core to who we are," said Corley Kenna, a spokeswoman for Patagonia, the brashest political fighter among the industry's major players.

The Outdoor Industry Association and some big retailers, including Patagonia, Columbia Sportswear, REI and The North Face, have campaigned together and on their own to protect public lands.

Some of their forays are unobtrusive get-out-the-vote campaigns, lobbying for national parks funding and email blasts to customers about public lands news.

But Patagonia took the unusual step of endorsing U.S. Senate candidates in November's election. The company publicly accused President Donald Trump of stealing public lands and sued his administration.

The campaigns made headlines and energized the industry, but it's hard to measure the effect on voters and policymakers.

Now, show organizers have made climate change and sustainable manufacturing a priority and announced the formation of the Outdoor Business Climate Partnership to lobby for state and federal climate policies.

Issue campaigns can be effective if they are done well and if voters are receptive to the message, said Josh Kalla, an assistant professor of political science at Yale University.

"You do tend to see issue advertising does change public opinion to a much greater extent than candidate advertising," he said.

But neither the Outdoor Industry Association nor the big companies have done the kind of polls and surveys that would show that.

The Senate candidates that Patagonia endorsed in tight races  Democrats Jon Tester in Montana and Jacky Rosen in Nevada  both won.

Story continues

"I would like to think that we played a part in that because we were motivating our own community to get out and vote," Kenna said.

Public lands were an issue in the Nevada election last year, said Dave Damore, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. But he stopped short of saying that helped Rosen.

Montana State University political scientist Dave Parker said polling in his state showed public lands were not a significant factor in Tester's victory.

At minimum, the big retailers have pushed public lands into the spotlight, said Kayje Booker of the Montana Wilderness Association.

"These national brands have a reach that nonprofit advocates could only dream of, and they have been using that megaphone in a really effective way to remind people of this issue," she said.

Organizers of the winter outdoor show, which is drawing about 950 exhibitors and 25,000 attendees over three days, are preparing to fight another potential government shutdown to protect national parks, which were left understaffed and underprotected during the 35-day shutdown that just ended.

Columbia weighed in on the previous shutdown with a full-page ad in the Washington Post that mimicked Trump's campaign slogan: "Make America's parks open again."

The outdoor industry, which calculates its annual sales at $184.5 billion, was once reluctant to get involved in high-profile advocacy.

"We would like nothing more than to be thinking about a great hike instead of thinking about politicians," said Peter Bragdon, executive vice president of Columbia Sportswear.

Some companies and industry groups say they have always openly advocated for public lands and recreation, but Trump's election brought new players and energy to the fight.

"I would say the thing that's changed is when President Trump was elected, some of the threats to our public lands became more high profile," said Amy Roberts, executive director of the Outdoor Industry Association.

The industry began to stir in February 2017, when Utah lawmakers asked Trump to repeal the newly designated Bears Ears National Monument. Thirty outdoor companies objected, and the Outdoor Retailer Show announced it would move from its longtime home in Salt Lake City to Denver.

Things heated up in December 2017 when Trump reduced the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. Patagonia sued and declared on its website, "The President Stole Your Land."

Interior Department spokeswoman Faith Vander Voort defended the administration's record, saying it had expanded access to public lands and revived their use for ranching, mining, logging, drilling and other commercial purposes as well as recreation.

Although Trump removed land from national monuments in Utah, it still belongs to the federal government, Vander Voort said in an email Wednesday.

"Organizations like Patagonia knew this, but they chose instead to play fast and loose with the facts," she said.

Executives at REI, the giant outdoor-gear cooperative with 17 million members, said it's important to avoid casting public lands as a partisan fight. That would be a disservice to everyone who has ever fought for public lands, said Alex Thompson, an REI vice president.

"We're trying to balance being really engaged and really clear ... while also not falling into the trap of fueling unhelpful divides," he said.

___

Follow Dan Elliott at http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP .Positivity, usually a word that exudes from my spirit as though it were limitless. I have been through trauma before, through times that are more d...

6 years agoNew Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 94F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear. Low 76F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.Washington: National Security Adviser John Bolton, America's tough-talking, has warned countries, including India, against buying Venezuelan oil, saying nations and firms that support the embattled President Nicolas Maduro's "theft" will "not be forgotten". On Tuesday Bolton's warning through a tweet came a day after Venezuelan Oil Minister and President of the Latin American state-run oil company PDVSA Manuel Quevedo told reporters in Greater Noida that his sanctions-hit country wants to sell more crude oil to India.

The US has slapped sweeping sanctions on PDVSA with a view to curb Venezuela's crude exports and put pressure on socialist President Maduro to step down. Quevedo, reporters on the sidelines of the Petrotech conference in Greater Noida told that "We have a good relationship with India and we want to continue this relationship. The relationships with India will continue, the trade will continue and we will simply expand all the trade and relationship,".

also read Asian stocks climbed with US President Donald Trump and China trade deal deadline extension announcement

Venezuela is the third largest supplier of oil to India which is the world's third-biggest oil consumer. Reacting to Quevedo's India visit, Bolton said that "Nations and firms that support Maduro's theft of Venezuelan resources will not be forgotten".

He tweeted and shared a news story about Quevedo's visit to India to sell more crude oil "The United States will continue to use all of its powers to preserve the Venezuelan people's assets and we encourage all nations to work together to do the same,". Venezuela produces around 1.57 million barrels of oil per day, half of what it produced two decades back. With the US stopping imports from Venezuela, PDVSA is seeking to retain buyers in other big consuming countries such as China and India.

Quevedo, who now holds the rotating presidency of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said on Monday that it was important to listen to all the consuming countries that represent oil demand to maintain the balance of demand and supply in the markets.

also read President Donald Trump ordered the US administration for artificial intelligence in reference to ChinaOn Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed as historic a Warsaw meeting where he is joining Arab states, saying they stood united against Iran and voicing hope that cooperation extends to other areas. The opening dinner on Wednesday night of the two-day, US-organised conference marked "a historical turning point," Netanyahu told reporters.

He said "In a room of some 60 foreign ministers representative of dozens of governments, an Israeli prime minister and the foreign ministers of the leading Arab countries stood together and spoke with unusual force, clarity and unity against the common threat of the Iranian regime,". He further added that "I think this marks a change and important understanding of what threatens our future, what we need to do to secure it, and the possibility that cooperation will extend beyond security in every realm of life."

also read US and China trade talks in Beijing hoping to resolve a festering dispute

However at the opening dinner at Warsaw's Royal Castle, officials said that Netanyahu spoke around the same table as senior officials of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain -- none of which have relations with Israel but all of which share Netanyahu's hawkish stance on Iran. Israel only has diplomatic relations with two Arab states, neighbouring Egypt and Jordan. Netanyahu also met one-on-one in Warsaw with Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah of Oman, where he travelled late last year. Oman has sought friendly relations with all regional players including Iran.

also read Venezuela's crude oil export issue, US warns countries especially India against buying Venezuelan oil

US Vice President Mike Pence and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are both attending the conference co-hosted with Poland, which is eager for strong ties with Washington in the face of the threat of Russia. But most European powers are sending low-level representation, wary of the hawkish line on Iran by President Donald Trump who withdrew from an international accord on curbing Tehran's nuclear programme.Srinagar: Chronological list of all major terror attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir in the last two decades:

* 26 August 2017 - Three Jaish terrorists storm District Police Lines Pulwama, killing eight security force personnel, before the assailants were shot dead.

* 29 November 2016 - Three terrorists storm Army artillery camp at Nagrota in Jammu, killing seven soldiers, before the assailants were eliminated.

* 18 September 2016 - Four Pakistani terrorists storm an Army camp at Uri in Baramulla district, killing 18 soldiers, most of them were in sleep. The assailants were also killed. The incident led to reprisal surgical strikes inside the Pakistan occupied Kashmir by Indian Army.

* 25 June 2016 - Terrorists open indiscriminate firing on a CRPF bus, killing eight jawans at Pampore on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

* 3 June 2016 - Terrorists target a CRPF bus at Pampore, killing two personnel before taking refuge in a government building. Two-day encounter ends with killing of three soldiers including two officers and the two assailants. One civilian was also killed.

* 5 December 2014 - Six heavily-armed terrorists storm an Army camp at Mohra in Uri. Ten soldiers were killed in the gun battle with the intruders, who were all shot dead.

* 24 June 2013 - Terrorists ambush a bus carrying unarmed Army personnel at Hyderpora in Srinagar. Eight soldiers were killed in the attack.

Image for representation only. File photo

* 19 July 2008 - Ten soldiers were killed when terrorists triggered an IED planted by the roadside at Narbal on Srinagar-Baramulla highway on the outskirts of the city.

* 2 November 2005 - A suicide bomber blew up his car at Nowgam, near the private residence of then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, killing three cops and six civilians.

* 20 July 2005 - A suicide car bomber blew his vehicle by ramming it into a vehicle of security forces. Three security force personnel and two civilians were killed.

* 24 June 2005 - Nine army soldiers were killed in a car bomb triggered by terrorists on the outskirts of Srinagar.

* 4 August 2004 - Nine CRPF jawans were killed in a terrorist attack on their camp at Rajbagh in Srinagar. One terrorist was also killed in retaliatory action.

* 8 April 2004 - 11 persons were killed in a grenade attack by terrorists on a PDP rally at Uri in Baramulla district. The PDP was demanding opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road.

* 22 July 2003 - Eight soldiers, including a Brigadier, were killed in a terrorists attack on their camp at Akhnoor. Several other senior Army officers sustained injuries in the attack.

* 28 June 2003 - 12 soldiers, including an officer, were killed in a suicide attack by terrorists on Sunjwan Army camp. Two terrorists were neutralised.

* 14 May 2002 - In one of the biggest strikes on an Army installation, 36 persons were killed by three terrorists who stormed the Kaluchak Army Cantonment in Jammu. The assailants were also killed.

* 17 November 2001 - Terrorists storm a security forces base in Ramban (then part of Doda district), killing 10 security forces. Four terrorists were also killed.

* 1 October 2001 - Terrorists trigger a car bomb outside the old Legislative Assembly Complex in Srinagar. 38 persons were killed while three assailants were also eliminated.

* 10 August 2000 - Terrorists hurl a grenade at Residency Road in Srinagar. As the security officials assembled at the spot, they triggered a car bomb, killing 11 persons and a photojournalist.

* 19 April 2000 - The "human bomb" was used for the first time in Kashmir insurgency. Two soldiers were killed in the suicide car bomb at the Army headquarters at Badamibagh area in Srinagar.

* 3 November 1999 - Terrorists storm the Badamibagh Army headquarters, killing 10 soldiers including Defence Public Relations Officer Major Purshottam.Srinagar: In the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 44. troopers and leaving the security establishment stunned. Keralite VV Vasanthakumar of Wayanad was among the martyred soldiers.

Read: Timeline | Major terror attacks on security forces in J&K since 1999

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the horror and released a video clip of the suicide bomber, a 'commander' identified as Adil Ahmad Dar, which it claimed was shot before the young man carried out the strike in Lethpora, about 30 km from here.

While precise details of the attack were still unclear, police sources said the suicide bomber-driven SUV came along the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bus when a 78-vehicle convoy carrying 2,547 security personnel was going from the transit camp in Jammu to Srinagar and rammed it into the bus around 3:15pm, triggering a deafening explosion.

So devastating was the attack - one report spoke of 200 kg of explosives, including probably RDX, packed into the SUV - that the CRPF bus was left a mangled heap, many of its occupants losing their limbs.

CRPF officials said the bus which was the main target of the militants was destroyed fully while another CRPF vehicle was partly damaged. "It is difficult to believe how anyone in that bus could have survived," said a police officer.

Jammu and Kashmir Police chief Dilbag Singh said it could have been a suicide attack. This was confirmed by other officials later.

In a statement to a local news agency GNS, a caller claiming to be a spokesman of JeM said it was a 'fidayeen' (suicide) attack.

All the injured were shifted to the Army's 92 Base Hospital in the Badamibagh cantonment of Srinagar city. Some of them were in critical condition.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in condemning the horror.

"The attack ... is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs," he tweeted.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was to visit Bihar on Friday, is set to reach Srinagar instead. Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba cut short his visit to Bhutan to rush to Srinagar for a high-level security meeting on Friday.

The site on on the Srinagar-Jammu highway where CRPF troopers were killed by militants. IANS

"Today's dastardly attack ... is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation," Rajnath Singh said.

All traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway came to an abrupt halt. Senior police and CRPF officers rushed to the spot for a post-explosion analysis.

Debris after the explosion in Lethpora in south Kashmir's Pulwama district. REUTERS/Younis Khaliq

An officer said the CRPF and police would carry out a detailed investigation to understand the circumstances in which the attack took place.

This is the worst single attack in Jammu and Kashmir since a nascent Pakistan-backed separatist campaign began in 1989. It is also the worst attack carried out by militants after the one on the Uri Army camp on September 18, 2016 left 19 soldiers dead - forcing New Delhi to launch 'surgical strikes' on terrorist camps in Pakistan.

Officials said the reason why so many CRPF personnel were on the move at one go was because the Srinagar-Jammu highway had been shut the past two days due to bad weather. The convoy left Jammu before dawn.

Read more National NewsAligarh, Uttar Pradesh: Fourteen Aligarh Muslim University students, including their union chief, were booked under sedition charges after protests on the campus following reports of a planned visit by AIMIM lawmaker Asaduddin Owaisi.

The students were booked under sedition charges after a complaint was filed by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) activist Mukesh Lodhi, alleging that he was assaulted amid chants of pro-Pakistan slogans by some students, the police said

Late Tuesday night, cases under sections 124-A (sedition), section 307 (attempt to murder) and eight other sections of the IPC were registered against 14 students, including the president of students' union Salman Imtiaz and vice president Huzaifa Aamir on the complaint of BJYM activist Mukesh Lodhi.

He alleged that when he was driving across the AMU Circle, these students surrounded him and launched a 'murderous assault' and raised pro-Pakistan slogans.

ABVP activists staged a protest near the Faiz Gate of the university after some media reports claimed that Owaisi was invited to address a function organised by the AMU Students' Union.

They demanded that he be not allowed to enter the campus. Owaisi, however, did not turn up.

An AMU spokesman said a TV channel team, which had come to cover the anticipated event, had an altercation with some students while they were filming inside the campus.

The spokesman said the channel had not sought permission from authorities for live coverage and when the university staff pointed this out, there was a heated exchange in which some students were also involved.

The mediapersons claimed they were roughed up by some students while they were filming on the campus and their camera was smashed.

Complaints were lodged at the Civil Lines Police Station by both the AMU authorities and the TV channel crew.

A complaint was also filed by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha members which alleged that they were beaten up near the Faiz Gate and a motorcycle, belonging to one of them, was set on fire.

It was not immediately clear if this incident was also related to Owaisi's visit.

Senior Superintendent of Police Akash Kulhari told PTI that a number of complaints were given by different groups at the Civil Lines police station and the police were in the process of filing the reports.

AMU has issued an advisory to students, asking them "not to move out of campus as a precautionary measure".

Read more: Latest India newsLast time when he came to Kerala, in September 2017, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adithyanath had only seen differences. He compared the healthcare system in the two states and had felt sorry for Kerala. He somehow missed the fact that a month ago sheer administrative negligence had caused the death of 325 children in a government hospital in Gorakhpur, from where Adithyanath was elected five times.

This time the UP chief minister found only similarities. Moves are afoot to sully the birthplaces of both Lord Ram and Lord Ayyappa. In both these places, in Ayodhya and Sabarimala, Hindus are being insulted, Yogi Adithyanath said, addressing BJP workers in Pathanamthitta on Thursday.

The similarities did not end there. The Ayodhya dispute is the oldest in the country. We have been asking the Supreme Court to reach a legal settlement. But they have not been responsive. The Sabarimala verdict, too, is against the wishes of the faithful, he said and added: Both these issues are connected to the self esteem of the Hindus.

Yogi's loyalty, Pinarayi's betrayal

Kerala BJP leaders garland UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Photo: Aravind Venugopal

The UP chief minister said that only Narendra Modi would protect the interests of the faithful. He spoke of how he, with the help of Modi, opened the Akshayavat at Prayagraj, near the site of the Kumbh Mela, for pilgrims. (Akshayavat is a banyan tree believed to hold great spiritual powers.) Right from the time of Mughals, the Akshayavat was closed to the pilgrims. None of the governments that came after, be it the Congress or Mayawati or Mulayam, made any arrangments to open it, Adithyanath said.

There was a bit of irony here. Yogi Adithyanath was taking credit for opening the Akshayavat for pilgrims and yet lashing out at Pinarayi Vijayan for doing something similar, letting women pilgrims into Sabarimala for the first time.

The UP chief minister also released a book on Lord Ram to apparently cement the Ayodhya-Sabarimala connection. I consider it fortunate to release a book on Lord Ram in the hallowed grounds of Lord Ayyappa, he told BJP booth committee heads.

Ayodhya's Nair connection

Fact is, Kerala's connection with the Ayodhya movement runs deeper. The UP chief minister remembers it with deep gratitude. Given the highly polarised situation in the state after the Sabarimala verdict, Yogi's revelation can work both ways; it can give goosebumps to some but induce utter disgust in others.

It was K K Nair, a Malayali, who helped the sants when Ram idols appeared inside the Masjid, Adithyanath said. Nair was both deputy commissioner and district magistrate of Ayodhya when the idols were first placed inside the Babri Mosque in 1949. He was not just the district magistrate but a great Ram bhakt too, Adithyanath said. He feted Kerala in the name of Nair.

Incidentally, K K Nair is the villain in Anand Patwardhan's 'Ram Ke Naam', the highly decorated 1991 film that had won the National Film Award for the best investigative documentary. The film was once gain in the news when a few days ago the YouTube imposed restrictions on its viewing.

Fact vs Fiction

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad version was that on the night of December 22, 1949, Lord Ram had appeared as a four-year-old child inside the mosque. It had circulated videos of the first person account of a man who had witnessed the celestial event.

Anand Patwardhan traced one of the men who had actually sneaked the Ram idols into the mosque. The man was Mahant Ramsevak Das Shastri, the head of the All India Ramanand sect. When he is asked whether he had an organiser, Shastri says: K K Nair. K K Nair who was the district magistrate here?, the interviewer asks for emphasis. Shastri confirms. Nair had also bailed him out of jail.

Patwardhan also speaks to the then imam of the Babri Masjid and his son. The son says that his father was at home after the evening prayers when the muezzin, who lived in the mosque, came running to them to inform that some Hindus were placing idols inside the mosque. When the imam went to the mosque, Nair was there. He told my father to conduct this Friday's prayers elsewhere and promised that in a few Fridays he could resume prayers in the mosque, the son said. My father is still waiting for that Friday, the son added.

Read more: Latest Kerala newsKannur: T P Chandrasekharan murder convict Kodi Suni was arrested on Wednesday for the abduction of a Wayanad youth while on parole last year. Suni aka Sunil Kumar, serving life sentence for the murder of the RMP leader in 2012, was arrested by the Koothuparamba police.

Suni is accused of kidnapping Rafshan, a resident of Kaitheri in Wayanad, and detaining him at a resort. Suni and his gang were trying to recover gold alleged to have smuggled into the country from West Asia by Rafshan's brother.

The police have arrested three of Suni's accomplices. The others are at large. The case has 20 accused.

Congress MLA Shafi Parambil took a snipe at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for going soft on the murder convict. He asked the chief minister, tongue in cheek, to release Suni again on humanitarian grounds.

Chandrasekharan was brutally hacked to death on May 4, 2012. A special court in February, 2014, sentenced 11 people, including three CPI(M) workers, to life imprisonment in connection with the case.

The Chandrasekharan murder case was one of the issues that prominently figured in the previous Lok Sabha polls in Kerala.

Read more: Latest Kerala newsThiruvananthapuram: A new media room is getting ready for journalists on the ground floor of the south block at the Secretariat. This is seen as a move by the government to stop journalists from gathering in front of the south block seeking bytes from ministers and leaders. A recent Home Ministry circular had suggested this idea to restrict media.

Sergeant rooms are being evacuated for this purpose. Once the room is ready, more restrictions on media can be expected. A ground-floor room means journalists may even be restricted access to the Chief Ministers office on fourth floor of the north block.

The secretariat already has a PR chamber for pressers. The chief ministers office has a conference room. Air-conditioned rooms of various sizes are also available in the building. A media room is in addition to all these.

Mediapersons approach the chief minister exiting his office when there are major political developments. From now on, they will have to wait for the chief minister to come to the media room if he wishes to.

The home ministry circular had said the public relations department will notify media in advance whether chief minister or any ministers would be communicating to them at public places. It also said arrangements will be made to collect responses of VIPs housed in different blocks at the secretariat. Security concern created when journalists swarm ministers for bytes is the reason cited by the authorities for the new measures.

Read more: Latest Kerala newsFormer agriculture minister and CPI leader Mullakkara Ratnakaran has taken up with aplomb a task that the CPM wanted to but could not. He has become the first Left leader, after the legendary Marxist ideologue N E Balram, to demystify the great epics.

Last Ramayana month, the CPM had big plans to strip the Ramayana of its religious opulence, and free it from the self-serving interpretations of the Hindutva forces. The party had banked on radical speakers like Sunil P Ilayidom and M M Somasekharan to do the job for them. The cynics, however, saw a bunch of atheists hankering after the Gods. The ridicule was so heavy that the Marxists quickly distanced themselves from the initiative.

When the commotion subsided, Mullakkara walked up to the pulpit. Barely three months after the Ramayana month, unmindful of how the world might perceive him, the CPI leader launched a series of lectures on Mahabharata. The Soorya Festival was his first stage.

Mullakkara's debut series was based on seven prominent characters in Mahabharata: Sathyavathi, Bheeshma, Karna, Panchali, Yudhishtir, Krishna, and Hidumbi. He would take up one character a day, each session lasting for about one-and-a-half hours. No one made fun of him. People just kept asking for more.

Screengrab of Gandhari and Krishna from the popular TV Mahabharata TV series.

Mullakkara does not approach Vyasa's characters with awe or contempt. He speaks of them as though he was narrating the stories of crows and tortoises and tigers and pot-bellied misers in a Panchatantra tale. All of them are likeable, even Duryodhana. You think he is bad. But first understand the conditions in which he grew up, and then decide, Mullakkara said. His 'Duryodhana' will be unveiled on February 22.

All of them can be infuriating too, even Krishna. When Gandhari removed her black eye-cover for the first time, it was not to see the severed bodies of her sons scattered on the battlefield but to curse Krishna, the man who could have stopped the war but still didn't, Mullakkara said during his discourse on Gandhari on February 13.

Mullakkara does not approach Vyasa's characters with awe or contempt.

And from each of these stories he pulls out lessons for practical living. It was her control of her senses, in her case the sight, that gave Gandhari a moral compass that can be matched only by Vidurar in the Mahabharata story, Mullakkara said.

He also makes certain radical observations to chastise the present. Speaking of Draupadi, he said she was a celestial beauty but black. Most of the men and women in Mahabharata are black. It must have been later that beauty was defined in terms of black and white. Today advertisements ask us to apply a particular cream so that we too can turn white. Such perceptions of beauty have been forced on us, he said.

Mullakkara's version of 'Duryodhana' will be unveiled on February 22. Photo: Screengrab from video

He also throws up human, but highly plausible, explanations for some of the superhuman feats in the epic. Take for instance the Panchali Swayamvara. The contestants had to first pick a bow that was so heavy that kings and princes holding it either fell down and got crushed under, or staggered like a drunkard. Holding such a bow above their heads they had to shoot the arrow right through the eye of a bird that was revolving fast on a disk placed on top. And this had to be done looking at the reflection of the revolving bird on the water below.

Why would you think only Arjun could win the contest? There were stronger men at the swayamvara, and sharpshooters as good as him. Vyasa even says that many had missed by a whisker. It was because while all the others were seduced by Panchali, Arjun alone was seduced by the eye of the revolving bird. This was also the reason why Panchali yearned for Arjuna. While others were busy ogling her, she found Arjuna alone looking away, his eyes transfixed on the target, Mullakkara said. She chose wisely, he said.

A scene of 'Panchali Swayamvara'. Screengrab from video

Such was the response to his debut discourse series that Soorya Krishnamoorthy had to make a promise to his patrons that Mullakkara would be invited next year to the Soorya Festival. The CPI, too, could not remain immune to the buzz surrounding Mullakkara's Mahabharata discourse. His second discourse series has been organised by the party itself.

The new series will be based on three other equally important characters: Gandhari, Duryodhana and Arjuna. I had spoken of Sathyavathi before but I thought the maternal soul of the Mahabharata was in Gandhari, Mullakakra said. His manner of speaking is so earnest that he can make even the far-fetched connection convincing.

Mullakkara likens Gandhari to Gandhi.

Jawaharlal Nehru's idea of non-alignment comes from Gandhari, he said. When her son Duryodhana comes to seek her blessings before he rides out for the Kurukshetra war, she does not say that he will win. She just says 'Yato Dharma Tato Jaya'. When Nehru said he will not align with the American or Russian blocs, he was just saying that he was with the truth, Mullakkara said. For this adherence to dharma, he likens Gandhari to Gandhi. All of a sudden, a new light is shone on the similarities in the name.

The former minister said he was inspired by Sukumar Azhikode to begin his Mahabharata discourse. I was lucky to have long discussions with Azhikode sir during his last days. I had told him that his speeches after the destruction of Babri Masjid had helped give the state an ideological clarity. He then told me that the best way to beat back fundamentalist forces was to spread all that is positive in our epics, he said.Thiruvananthapuram: Actor Mohanlal has sent a legal notice to the Kerala Khadi & Village Industries Board seeking Rs 50 crore as damages. This is in response to a legal notice the Khadi Board had sent earlier to Mohanlal and a private textile firm that had issued an advertisement showing the actor working on a charkha.

According to Khadi Board Vice Chairperson Sobhana George, Mohanlals notice says that unless the board issues a public apology or expresses regret and publishes an advertisement in the media in this regard, it should pay him Rs 50 crore. Sobhana disclosed the developments at a news meet.

The issue was sparked off after Mohanlal acted in an advertisement of the private clothes firm. The Khadi Board initiated legal measures pointing out that the product of the private firm had no connection with khadi and that Mohanlals involvement would cause loss to the board and profit the private company.

The private firm subsequently withdrew the advertisement. Mohanlals legal notice arrived at the Khadi Boards office months later. In his notice, the actor accuses the board of denigrating his public image.

Sobhana said that the board was planning to tackle the issue legally. The Khadi Board does not have the financial resources to pay an amount such as Rs 50 crore. Even though the private firm had been sent a formal legal notice by the board, the notice to Mohanlal was in the form of a request, she said.

The board had only urged him to disassociate from the advertisement. We received Mohanlals notice last month and the matter is being discussed, she added.

Sobhana George's contention had been that 'charkha' was Khadi's exclusive image. In August last year, George had said that the advertisement of Mohanlal seated before a 'charkha' would give the public the wrong impression that powerloom products too are handmade like khadi ones.

According to her, khadi products are 100 per cent handspun. Right from dyeing to drying to spinning, the entire process is done using only hands. It is a painstakingly slow process, but done meticulously and with utmost skill. Therefore, it takes a group of women a day to make a handspun saree, she had said. But 40 such sarees can be churned out in a day by powerlooms.Kochi: The Kerala High Court Wednesday stayed the construction of an unauthorised building at Munnar in Idukki district, over which a local MLA had publicly slandered a woman sub-collector for issuing a stop memo notice.

The division bench gave the interim stay on a plea filed by former Munnar panchayat president and CPI leader M Y Ousepp.

The bench said it was clear that there was no permission for construction of the building.

The High Court also noted that the panchayat had ignored the stop memo issued by the revenue department.

The construction has already stirred up a controversy after local MLA S Rajendran publicly slandered Devikulam sub-collector Renu Raj on Sunday for issuing the stop memo against the construction.

The government counsel also submitted that the construction continued even after a stop memo was issued by the sub-collector.

The petitioner's counsel pointed out that the construction was going on at the stretch of land given for parking site.

Renu Raj, who also moved the HC against the construction, said in her affidavit that the land was within 50 yards from Muthirapuzha River and any construction within this limit would be in violation of the earlier court orders.

The sub-collector also told the HC that despite the stop memo, the construction continued and when the village officer and other officials tried to stop it, they were abused by the panchayat members and the contractor.

In spite of these actions, the court order was ignored, she said, adding that MLA S Rajendran arrived at the spot and declared that No-Objection Certificate from the Revenue Department was not necessary and her action was without proper understanding of legalities.

Renu Raj, appointed as Devikulam sub-collector in November last year, had issued the stop memo to the panchayat on February 6 against the illegal construction.

The sub-collector in her letter to the advocate general, seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against the panchayat secretary, had said that the special village officer and other officials who went to inspect the unauthorised construction were insulted by the contractor and the panchayat members.

Rajendran had Sunday courted controversy after he publicly slandered the young woman IAS officer, saying she 'lacked brains,' after she tried to stop the unauthorised construction of a shopping complex at Munnar hill station.

"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," he had said.

However, Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan reiterated his support to the sub-collector and said, that the action taken by her was as per the law.

The Kerala High court had in a 2010 verdict said for any new construction in Munnar, a No-Objection certificate has to be obtained.

The four-storey building, built at an estimated cost of Rs 1 crore, did not have any permission from the authorities, Raj had told PTI.

The officer has informed chief secretary Tom Jose, Revenue Principal Secretary and the district collector and as per their direction had prepared a written report.

Read more: Latest Kerala newsKottayam: The preliminary hearing into the abduction and death of Kevin P Joseph, a Dalit Christian youth who was allegedly murdered by his fiancee Neenu's kin, began at the additional sessions court -IV here on Wednesday.

Listing the case as an instance of 'honour killing', the charge-sheet presented by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to the court slapped murder charges against all 14 accused in the case including Neenus father Chacko John and brother Sanu Chacko.

Arguing that the intention of the accused was to kill the victim and not to cause him injuries, the prosecution submitted there were substantial evidences to prove it as an organised murder.

Kevin, 23, a resident of SH Mount in Kottayam, was allegedly abducted by an armed gang led by Neenus brother and father on May 27, 2018, two days after the couple got their marriage registered under the Special Marriage Act. His body was recovered from the Chaliakara river near Pathanapuram in Kollam district the next day.

The prosecution also demanded that the accused be charged under IPC sections 302 (murder), 364 (kidnapping for murder), 364 A (kidnapping for ransom, etc), 449 (House-trespass in order to commit offence punishable with death).

The case was posted to February 22 for hearing the defence arguments.

The prosecution produced 176 statements of witnesses, six CCTV footage, telephone call records, postmortem report, and other scientific evidence, to substantiate that the accused prima facie committed the crime.

Kevin was allegedly abducted by an armed gang led by Neenus kin on May 27, 2018, two days after the couple got their marriage registered under the Special Marriage Act.

'Gang waited till Kevin died'

The prosecution, ruling out the possibility of accidental drowning, argued that based on circumstantial evidence it could be proved that it was a case of homicidal drowning. It is hard to believe that Kevin, who knew swimming, drowned in waist-deep water in a stream. There is also concrete proof that the kidnappers, who chased Kevin to the rivulet after he escaped from their clutches, waited in the area till he died. Moreover, the autopsy report also indicated to the possibility of homicide drowning, the prosecution submitted.

The investigating team had recovered an SMS sent by Neenus brother Sanu to his neighbour Lijo from his mobile phone saying that 'lets kill him (Kevin). Im ready to do that'. Later he messaged the same person informing about Kevins death. Sanu had also threatened the victims friend Aneesh that Kevin would be killed if he refused to part ways with Neenu. So, the presumptive thought is that the abductors are the murderers, the prosecution argued.Thodupuzha: Devikulam MLA S Rajendran, who landed in soup after he publicly insulted an IAS officer last week, was censured by his party, the CPM. The Idukki district leadership of the ruling party has also asked the legislator to desist from making anymore public comments on the matter.

Even party state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan condemned Rajendran's insults and stood by Devikulam sub-collector Renu Raj, saying that the officer did nothing wrong in stopping unauthorised construction near Munnar.

Renu Raj and her team of revenue officials were trying to halt the construction of an industrial centre by Muthirapuzha River when Rajendran and a few other local leaders objected to the official action. The MLA was heard claiming that the sub-collector had no authority to issue a stop memo to a project carried out by the panchayat.

Devikulam MLA Rajendran showered disparaging remarks on sub-collector Renu Raj.

He even showered disparaging remarks on the woman officer. She has no brains.... People who studied only to be a collector can't have more. Building rules are implemented by the panchayat. She has no right to interfere. She should be sued. This is a democratic country. What can you do if she refuses to listen to people's representatives, Rajendran said.



He later expressed regret at his outbursts after his own party colleagues refused to stand by him. The party state secretary said that the government intends to bring in special legislation for Munnar.

The Kerala High Court Wednesday stayed the construction of the unauthorised building at Munnar.

Read more: Latest Kerala newsPondicherry: An academic discussion focusing the recent issues of Reservation and Citizenship bill was jointly organized by ASA, SIO, and MSF members of Pondicherry University.

Prominent academicians and activists were part of the program. Dr C Lakshmanan from Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) has delivered a lecture on the issues with newly implemented 13 point roster system and the how it has paved the way for exclusions of faculties from marginal communities.

Photo: Thulasi Kumar Rao

Dr Samarjit Kachari from the department of Electronic Media and Mass Communication, Pondicherry University spoke about the socio-political issues and the impacts of the citizenship bill in the northeast region of India. Political analyst Jalauddin and Dr Ansar Aboobacker spoke about the issues with 10% economic reservation and Democracy in Indian campuses respectively.

Photo: Thulasi Kumar Rao

The upcoming of 13 point roster system as well as 10% reservation has created a large debate amongst the students and faculties in the universities a over nation. Different gatherings and protests against 13 point roster system in central universities is already in progress. Some of the students see these new systems as against the Constitution. 'These systems are systematically taking away the sure possibilities of representation of the underprivileged community of this country', says Rufus Sunny a student of the university.

Photo: Thulasi Kumar Rao

Srutheesh Kannadi, scholar and student activist added that the discussion was organized as a dissent towards the recent interventions of central government and SC which paved the way for systematic exclusion of students and scholars from socially and historically backward communities. Students and faculties from various disciplines have turned out in support of the program held at Silver Jubilee campus of Pondicherry University.

Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar is likely to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Madha constituency in Maharashtra.

A Rajya Sabha member from the NCP guardedly said that Pawar's candidature for the Lok Sabha 'is not yet finalized' but a senior state leader categorically confirmed the decision to IANS.

Pawar, 78, has been a three-time Chief Minister of Maharashtra besides being the Defence and Agriculture Minister in the Centre.

Now a Rajya Sabha Member, the development comes after Pawar repeatedly asserted in the past couple of years that he wanted to quit 'electoral politics' and give space to gen-next in the party. But he hinted at a return to the election battlefield last week.

Pawar was first chosen as MLA in 1967 from Baramati and was also Lok Sabha MP from there for several terms. Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule is currently the Lok Sabha MP from Baramati.

Meanwhile the NCP and the Congress on Wednesday finalised the seat-sharing agreement for their alliance in Maharashtra after Sharad Pawar and Rahul Gandhi met here.

Gandhi met Pawar in the afternoon at the latter's residence. NCP leaders Praful Patel and Supriya Sule as well as Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and K C Venugopal were also present during the hour-long meeting.

Pawar did not divulge details of how many seats each party will contest.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the two parties were in alliance and the Congress contested on 26 seats, winning 2, while the NCP contested on 21 seats, winning 4. However, the parties parted ways in the state assembly polls held months after the general election.

NCP leader Ajit Pawar also had met MNS chief Raj Thackeray Wednesday. Ajit Pawar had pitched for an alliance with the MNS to ensure there is no division of votes as opposition parties take on the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena combine.

Read more: Latest on LS pollsMarayoor: The forest authorities are on the horns of a dilemma as a rogue wild elephant is giving sleepless nights to them as well as farmers near Udumalpetta in the Tiruppur district of Tamil Nadu. Efforts to chase the crop-raiding tusker Chinnathambi back to forests did not bear fruits, as the wild tusker scared away kumkis, roped in by the Forest Officials.

Kumkis are trained elephants employed to trap, tame or calm down wild elephants.

Chinnathampi who has been camping at Krishnapuram, near Udumalpetta, for the past 10 days, scared away kumkis named Mariappan and his partner Kaleem, for kilometres across the farmlands and the two kumkis ran for their lives.

The Tamil Nadu Forest Department is looking forward to the court order that will decide on the fate of the wild tusker. It had informed the Madras High Court that Chinnathampi will be captured and sent to an elephant camp.

Earlier, a wildlife activist had moved the High Court requesting the latter to prevent the attempts of the Forest Department from converting Chinnathampi into a kumki elephant. In his petition, the activist has submitted that the wild pachyderm would be subjected to physical torture in the process of taming down its behaviour.

The judge has posted the matter for Tuesday. The Forest Department has thus put on hold its efforts to drive the tusker back to the forest and is looking forward to the court verdict.

Read more Idukki News

Congress leader V M Sudheeran first plunged into election fray in 1977 when he was the president of Kerala Youth Congress. The 1977 general elections were held immediately after the Emergency, and the Youth Congress workers felt exhilarated over the fact that their leader was contesting the polls. Many national leaders, including the then Youth Congress national president Ambika Soni, came to Alappuzha to campaign for Sudheeran.

"The youth spearheaded the electioneering work for the party," reminisces then Youth Congress district president D Sugathan. Treading a new path, the party came out with posters with photos of the candidate and calendars requesting votes for Sudheeran. The calendars were sold at Re 1 each and the proceeds were used to fund the election campaign. Many calendars were sold than expected.

The Congress' election symbol during the 1977 polls was 'cow with a suckling calf.' "The Youth Congress members took the initiative to draw the party symbol as part of the election campaign. The symbol took different sizes and shapes as whoever had little drawing skills started to draw the graffiti at many places," reminds Sugathan.

When Sudheeran asked about the logic behind drawing the party election symbol on roof tiles of various houses, the party workers replied, Let Indira Gandhi see the party symbol when she comes on a helicopter.

The All-India Congress Committee (AICC) then used to foot the campaign bills of each party candidate. The 1,000 rupee note came into circulation during that period, and after the general elections, the district party election committee had six such notes in hand. A Delhi airticket, priced Rs 1,500, was bought from this balance amount so that Sudheeran, the new Alappuzha Lok Sabha representative, could attend the Lok Sabha session.

.

Read more Alappuzha News

The US carried out an air strike against al-Qaeda terrorist group in southern Libya on Wednesday night, Tripolis UN-backed Government of National Accord said, Trend reports referring to Al Arabiya.

The strike near the town of Ubari, some 900 kilometers south of the capital, was coordinated with the GNA, said President Fayez al-Sarrajs spokesman.

It targeted a number of members of terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, Mohamad al-Sallak said in a statement, giving no further details.

Libya has been wracked by violence and torn between rival administrations since the NATO-backed overthrow and killing of former leader Moamer Gaddafi in 2011.

The GNA was formed following a UN-backed deal in December 2015, but it has struggled to impose its power across the country.

The US military regularly carries out air strikes in Libya against al-Qaeda and ISIS extremist groups.

Last year in August it said it had killed an ISIS member described by a source as a former local leader of the extremists.

In June, the US said it had killed four members of an ISIS affiliate near the northern town of Bani Walid, while in March the Pentagon confirmed a senior al-Qaeda operative and another extremist died in a US air strike.U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was looking forward to trade talks with China on Thursday, as discussions in Beijing moved to a higher level in a push to de-escalate a tariff war ahead of a March 1 deadline for a deal, Trend reports referring to Reuters.

The talks, scheduled to run through Friday, follow three days of deputy-level meetings to work out technical details, including a mechanism for enforcing any trade agreement.

Looking forward to discussions today, Mnuchin told reporters without elaborating as he left his hotel.

He and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer opened the meetings shortly afterward at the Diaoyutai state guest house with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the top economic adviser to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

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 dont reach a deal by the deadline, increasing pressure and costs in sectors from consumer electronics to agriculture.

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the negotiations had been progressing very well.

Trumps advisors have described March 1 as a hard deadline, and the president has said a delay was possible though he preferred not to do so.

A Bloomberg report cited sources saying Trump was considering pushing back the deadline by 60 days to give negotiators more time.

Countering that, Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of Chinas nationalist Global Times tabloid, tweeted that speculation on an extension was inaccurate, citing a source close to talks.

Trump has said he did not expect to meet with Xi prior to March 1, but White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders has raised the possibility of a meeting between the leaders at the presidents personal retreat at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Stephen Censky said on Wednesday that the two presidents were expected to meet sometime in March, but no dates were set.US forces conducted airstrikes against al-Qaeda targets in the Libyan town of Ubari, a spokesman for Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) said in a statement Wednesday night, Trend reported citing Sputnik.

"A site where a number of members of al-Qaeda were stationed on the outskirts of the city of Ubari was bombed on Wednesday evening," the spokesperson for the president of Libya's GNA said.

The operation was part of "ongoing cooperation" between the US and Libya's GNA, spokesman Mohamed El Sallak said on Twitter, noting that it occurred in the context of a recent meeting between Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Taha Siala and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the gathering of the global anti-Daesh coalition.

Ubari is located in the the Sahara Desert.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Since the beginning of 2019 up till now, five tons of heroin were confiscated in Turkey, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said.

The drugs were confiscated as a result of operations in several Turkish provinces, Soylu added, Trend reports referring to the Turkish media.

The minister also stressed that Turkey, as before, will strengthen the fight against drug traffickers.

On February 5, 2019, 615 kilograms of cocaine were confiscated in Turkeys Mersin province.

On January 31, 850 kilograms of heroin were confiscated in Istanbul.

In January-February 2018, 3,722 kilograms of heroin were confiscated, the Turkish Interior Ministry said earlier.

During the reporting period, 16,802 kilograms of psychotropic substances and 202 kilograms of Bonzai drugs were confiscated in Turkey.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the country is facing a great risk and must tighten the fight against drug addiction and drug trafficking.

"The death toll from drug overdose is growing every year," the minister said.

The minimum age of Turkish citizens who started using drugs is 13 years old, the average age  36 years old, the maximum age - 65 years old.

Thus, 2.9 percent of the country's population account for drug addicts aged 15-24, 2.8 percent - those aged 25-44, 2.3 percent - drug addicts aged 45-64.

There are 22 centers in the country where the drug addicts are undergoing treatment.

More than 300,000 people have been detained in Istanbul for using and selling drugs over the past four years.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Turkey wont abandon the purchase of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) in exchange for the acquisition of the US Patriot SAMs, head of the Turkish parliamentary commission on international affairs Volkan Bozkir said, Trend reports with reference to the Turkish media.

He said that Ankara is committed to agreements with Russia regarding the purchase of the S-400 SAMs.

If the US offers Turkey reasonable prices, Ankara may also purchase the US Patriot SAMs, said Bozkir.

On Jan. 17, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the delivery of the Patriot SAMs to the Turkish Armed Forces is linked with a number of issues.

Cavusoglu pointed out that one of such issues is the date of delivery of the US SAMs, with the other being the possibility of their purchase through a loan.

He pointed out that Turkey also intends to organize production of the American Patriot SAMs, as agreed with Russia, which also intends to supply the Turkish Air Force with its S-400 SAMs.

Previously, the US administration made a decision to sell the Patriot surface-to-air missile systems to Turkey for a total of $3.5 billion.

The US is actively taking steps to prevent the purchase of Russian S-400 SAMs by Turkey. Washington has warned Ankara, in particular, that in case of acquisition of these systems from Moscow, the US may refuse to sell its fifth-generation F-35 multi-role combat aircraft to Turkey.

The initial reports of negotiations between Russia and Turkey regarding the S-400 came in November 2016. The signing of a contract was confirmed by the Russian side on Sept. 12, 2017.

The Turkish Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar stated that the deployment of S-400 is set to begin in October 2019.

As stated by Sergei Chemezov, head of the Russian State Corporation Rostec in December 2017, S-400 costs around $2.5 billion for Ankara.

Turkey is the first NATO member to acquire SAMs of such type from Russia.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Turkey has condemned the terrorist attack in Iran that led to numerous casualties, Trend reports via Turkish media Feb. 14.

Report in the Turkish media noted that Turkey condoles with the families of those killed during the terrorist attack in Iran.

A number of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) forces were killed in a terrorist attack in southeastern Iran on Feb. 13 night.

The IRGC personnel were traveling between the cities of Zahedan and Khash, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, when their bus was targeted in a suicide car bomb attack.

The IRGC's Qods Headquarters said in a statement that an explosives-laden car rammed into the bus, which was taking the personnel back to their homes.

The attack killed 27 IRGC members and injured 13 others, initial reports suggested.

The so-called Jaish ul-Adl terrorist group reportedly claimed responsibility for the bombing.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluPosted Wednesday, February 13, 2019 12:00 pm

Celebration of Life visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, at Coffman Funeral Home in Harrison.

Donald Ray Don Arnold, of Harrison, passed away at home on Monday, Feb. 11 (2019) at the age of 82.

The son of Rex Ray and Doris Dean (Widener) Arnold was born Dec. 11, 1936, at Omaha. He was a lifelong resident of Boone County and a member of Bear Creek Baptist Church. He was a graduate of Omaha High School and served eight years in the US Army Reserve.

He was an active volunteer with NARMC and the Hospital Auxiliary, spending nearly 10 years donating his time to the community. He proudly served as a Gideon, holding many positions in the organization throughout his years of service. He also served as a former mayor of Omaha, a position he was proud to hold, and was instrumental in getting the first rural water system established in Omaha.

Don loved being outdoors. He enjoyed deer hunting, bass fishing and camping. He also enjoyed reading and puzzles. He was a proud father, grandfather and great-grandfather and he loved spending time with his family. He was a fun person and loved to have a good time.

He was preceded in death by his parents; an infant sister; his uncle, Hugh Widener; and the mother of his children, Sandra Arnold.

Don is survived by his son, Ken Arnold, of Omaha; his daughter, Julie Dawn Arroyo and husband Chris, of Springfield, Missouri; his brother, Bill Arnold and wife Maxine, of Omaha; three grandchildren, Travis Arnold and wife Kara, of Harrison, and Ethan and Garrett Arroyo, both of Springfield, Missouri; a great-granddaughter, Merritt Arnold; his former wife and best friend, Rose Arnold, of Harrison; three step-children, Brenda Fisher and husband, Lee, of Omaha, Patty Amyx and husband Butch, of Boise, Idaho, and Verna Pulliam and husband Tim, of Harrison; seven step-grandchildren; 11 step-great-grandchildren; and a host of other relatives and friends who loved him and who will miss him.

Celebration of Life visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, at Coffman Funeral Home in Harrison.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Gideons International, P.O. Box 997, Harrison, AR, 72602.

Online condolences may be left at www.coffmanfh.com .Trade turnover between Russia and China in January 2019 has increased by 10.8% on an annualized basis to $9.2 billion, China's General Administration of Customs said in a report issued on Thursday, Trend reports referring to TASS.

China's exports to Russia grew by 11.5% in the first month of 2019 and exceeded $4.3 billion. Russia's exports to China also increased by 10.2% to $4.89 billion.

In 2018 trade turnover between Russia and China increased by 27.1% on an annualized basis to $107 billion.Pakistans multinational naval drill involving 46 nations has wrapped up in the Indian Ocean and, once again, India was not invited, Trend reports referring to South China Morning Post.

The Pakistan Navy has hosted the Aman  which means peace  exercises every two years since 2007 to promote regional cooperation and stability. India has never been invited, in a sign of the long history of strained ties between the neighbours.

China, Japan and the United States were among the countries taking part in Aman-19, from February 8 to 12, which included maritime conferences, seminars and cross-ship visits, as well as 23 sea operations with main-gun firing, formation movement and replenishment-at-sea.

Shao Shuguang, commander of the Peoples Liberation Army Navys 998 Fleet, was quoted on a Chinese military social media account as saying the exercise had strengthened mutual understanding and trust between the participating navies.

China sent one of its biggest warships, the Kunlun Shan amphibious landing vessel, to the exercise, signalling its close relationship with Pakistan and the key role both nations hold in the Indian Ocean, according to analysts.

The Pakistan-China relationship is very strong, and this is one more illustration of the strength of the Pakistan-China relationship, said Madhav Das Nalapat, honorary director of the department of geopolitics and international relations at Manipal University in India.

China is also now becoming an important maritime power, especially in the Indo-Pacific. By aligning with China, Pakistan hopes to get the synergy of that.

India by itself cannot have any primacy in the Indian Ocean. But along with the United States, the two countries together can have primacy in the Indian Ocean. India is positioning itself to be allied with the US, but has not yet reached there.

Tridivesh Singh Maini, assistant professor with the Jindal School of International Affairs in India, said the exercises should be a cause for alarm for India. They will keep an eye on whats going on, but they dont need to be too concerned, he said.

The military exercise also centred on maritime security to protect strategic economic projects such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, as well as sea lanes from the Persian Gulf.

The US$62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is designed to connect Chinas far west region of Xinjiang with Gwadar Port in Pakistan via a network of motorways, railways, oil pipelines and trading hubs.

The project is expected to be finished by 2030, and will provide China with an important trading route to the Middle East and Africa.

India has very strenuously objected to the name CPEC being given to the part that goes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, but so far nothing has been done, Nalapat said.

Kashmir has long been a hotbed for competing territorial claims between India and Pakistan. The two countries have fought three wars against each other since their independence from Britain in 1947, and two of those conflicts have centred on the Kashmir territorial dispute.At least 13 people were killed and more than 30 others injured when a passenger bus overturned on a highway in North Macedonia, health minister said, Trend reported citign AFP.

Speaking to AFP, Minister Venko Filipce added that "the number of dead may increase because there are people in surgery and in critical condition" following the accident which happened around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the capital Skopje. Around 50 people were on the bus.

"Thirteen people were killed," Filipce told reporters. "There are more than 30 injured."

Ilir Asani, head of the emergency centre at Skopje's main hospital, told local media that at least "five people were severely injured, including a pregnant woman".

A public prosecutor said it had launched a probe into the accident that occurred "when a bus of the company 'Durmo Tours'... crossed the barrier on the opposite side of the highway, then veered off the road and overturned near the village of Laskarci".

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said "there are no words that can console for the severe traffic accident that was fatal for many of our fellow citizens."

"We compassionate with loved ones for their losses. We mobilise all the strengths and capacities to help everyone whose lives are in life-threatening condition or with injuries to provide them as soon as with the necessary help and return to their loved ones," Zaev wrote on his Facebook page.1.43 passengers, including both takeoffs and landings, passed through Israel Ben Gurion Airport in January 2019, 11% more than in January 2018. January is usually off-season for vacations and tourism, Trend reports referring to Globes.

El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. was the leading carrier with 356,000 passengers, 4% fewer than in January 2018. Next on the list were low-cost airlines easyJet with 100,000 passengers, 37% more than in the corresponding month last year, and Wizz Air, which carried 81,000 passengers, 9% more than in January 2018. Turkish Airlines, which operates 10 daily flights from Tel Aviv, with connection flights to destinations around the world, took fourth place with 72,400 passengers, 4% more than in the corresponding month last year, followed by Russian airline Aeroflot, which offers passengers from Israel connection flights from Moscow to other destinations. Aeroflot carried 51,000 passengers in January 2019.

The two other Israeli airlines carried fewer than half the number of passengers carried by Turkish Airlines. Israir Airlines and Tourism Ltd. flew 21,000 passengers, down 9%, compared with January 2018, while Arkia Airlines Ltd. flew 19,500 passengers, double the number it flew in January 2018. For Israir and Arkia, which mainly market vacation packages, the winter months are a weaker time. The three Israeli airlines had a 27% combined market share.

Turkey led the list of destinations to which passengers flew from Israel, albeit mostly as a place for taking connection flights. 135,000 passengers from Ben Gurion Airport landed in Turkey in January 2019, 18% more than in January 2018. Turkey was followed by the US, Germany, France, Italy, and the UK, in all of which the number of passengers landing from Israel increased in January 2019 in comparison with the corresponding month last year.

155,000 passengers took off from Ben Gurion Airport's Terminal 1, which is designated for the rising number of low-cost airlines operating in Israel. This terminal is also expected to absorb inland flights after Sde Dov Airport is closed in July. The terminal has been enlarged in order to increase its annual capacity to 2.2 million passengers.The Israeli spacecraft Beresheet will soon take off from Earth, bound for the Moons rocky surface. Prof. Oded Aharonson of the Weizmann Institute of Sciences Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences will head the team that will track the capsules landing sequence on the Moon, and analyze rocks there, Trend reports referring to The Jerusalem Post.

The Moons magnetic field will be measured  both before, during and after the spacecraft lands  by close analysis of rocks. The main scientific goal will be measuring the magnetic field of the Moon. This will help us understand its source, Aharonson said.

The Moon has an iron core like Earth, but it has been cooled down and is quite cold. This is unlike Earths, whose core is hard but contains components of radioactive isotope decay in the mantle (the warm mid-layer) and in the crust.

Earths magnetic field is also due to the heat left over from the planets formation. Originally, the core of the Moon was very hot and this energy led some rocks on the surface to be magnetized. However, the core of the Moon has generated a much weaker magnetic force, leaving some rocks or areas with fluctuating rates of magnetism.

If we can measure the magnetism of these rocks, we can begin to understand how and when this magnetism arose, Aharonson explained.

Some of Beresheets equipment will be used to measure the magnetic field of ancient volcanic rocks to examine whether their intensity is equal to that of the proposed measurements. It may shed light on when such a field was active and when it ceased to be active.

Additional measurements will also be taken to analyze the magnetic field of the Moons craters as well. This could directly tie the magnetism either to the Moons bombardment by asteroids, to possible magnetic material or to residue leftover from asteroids.

The instrument will first measure the spacecrafts magnetic field and, as it orbits around the Moon, will attempt to discern those of the surface area. Lasting about 15 minutes, the landing sequence will note the changing frequencies of magnetism as the spacecraft approaches the surface.

SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries are collaborating with NASA and the Weizmann Institute of Science to improve the tracking and communication with the module. The exact landing site was chosen by Aharonsons international team and will ensure that the spacecraft lands smoothly.

There will also be a complex arrangement of mirrors on board that will shine a laser beam pointing out its location by using NASAs Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. This will help the team pinpoint the exact position of Beresheet.

The launch of the spacecraft, carried by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, will make Israel only the fourth country  after the US, the former USSR and China  to carry out a successful lunar landing mission.British Prime Minister Theresa May could face a defeat in parliament on Thursday over her plan to renegotiate the Brexit deal, undermining her pledge to the European Union that, with changes, she can get the agreement approved, Trend reports referring to Reuters.

Thursdays symbolic vote was seen by Mays team as little more than a rubber stamp of her plan to secure changes to the divorce deal with the EU, giving her more time to satisfy lawmakers concerns over one part of it - the Irish backstop.

But hardline Brexit supporters in her governing Conservative Party are angry over what they say is her acceptance of ruling out a no-deal departure - something May and her team deny, saying by law if there is no deal, Britain will leave the EU on March 29 without an agreement.

The latest twist in the two-year negotiation to leave the EU underlines the deep divisions in parliament over how, or even whether, Britain should leave the bloc in the countrys biggest political and trade shift in more than 40 years.

A rebellion, even in a symbolic vote, would be a blow to May, who has insisted to EU leaders that if they offer her more concessions to the deal agreed in November, she can command a majority in parliament and get the agreement passed.

Trade minister Liam Fox urged lawmakers to back the prime minister, warning: Our European partners will be watching.

One Conservative lawmaker said a group of Brexit supporters in the party, the European Research Group, was discussing which strategy to pursue on Thursday - to vote against or to abstain.

May is trying to secure changes to the so-called backstop arrangement to prevent a return of border controls between Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland to ease concerns that Britain will be kept too closely in the EUs orbit indefinitely or that the British province will be split away.Militants have shelled settlements in the Syrian western-central province of Hama and western province of Latakia over the past 24 hours, the Russian Centre for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria said on Wednesday, Trend reported citing Sputnik.

"Despite the ceasefire regime being established throughout the country, illegal armed formations in the Idlib de-escalation zone continue mortar and artillery attacks against the towns of Tell al-Maqtaa, Hama province, and Djub al-Magra, Latakia province", the center under the Russian Defense Ministry said in a daily bulletin.

Russia also continues to provide humanitarian aid to Syria and has delivered 500 food sets to the residents of Quneitra and Aleppo provinces over the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, 52,140 people have been granted pardon as of Tuesday as the Syrian authorities continue to implement the presidential decree on amnesty for those, who evaded military service.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

Establishing a special financial mechanism for air transport between Iran and the EU is important, Hadi Bahadori, member of the Iranian parliament's development committee, told IRNA, Trend reports.

According to Bahadori, creating a special financial mechanism for air transport will eliminate some of the problems of Iran's air transport industry.

Commenting on some of the problems that the Iranian air transport industry faces in terms of supplies of spare parts, the Iranian MP said that this financial mechanism would solve many of the said problems.

Bahadori added that countries such as the UK, Germany and France are participating in the launch of the financial mechanism.

"France is one of the waymarks in the production of spare parts for aircrafts, and can play an active role in helping Iran reach its goals," he said.

The PM stressed the importance of using all the solutions during a period of economic war.

After the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) January 2016, Iran signed a contract with Airbus, Boeing and ATR companies for the purchase of 200 aircrafts. So far, 8 ATRs and 3 Airbus aircraft have been provided for Iran's airline companies.Tehran, Iran, Feb.14

Trend:

On the sidelines of Iranian president's visit to Russia, Iranian minister of energy will meet with Russian energy minister and discuss the latest state of cooperation between the two countries in the field of electricity, energy and economic issues, Trend reports citing ILNA.

Reza Ardakaniyan, appointed as chairman of the Iranian-Russian Economic Commission, is scheduled to meet with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak on the sidelines of the President Hassan Rouhani's visit to Russia and discuss the latest state of cooperation between the two countries in the field of electricity, energy and economic matters.

Connecting two countries' electricity networks through the northern neighbors of Iran will be among the most important issues on the agenda of the meetings.

Today, President Hassan Rouhani, arrived in Russia at the official invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin with a view to participating in the tripartite meeting of Iranian, Russian and Turkish presidents.

The Iranian oil minister will accompany the president on this trip.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:

Iran's priority is to keep the existing production and employment, the Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Reza Rahmani said, Trend reports via Shata news agency.

He said that Iran is taking every step needed for this.

Rahmani added that supplying facilities with raw materials, liquidity, working capital, as well as foreign currency are among the government's priorities.

"All manufacturers' issues should be resolved and their work should be simplified," he said.

Iran's provinces have great potential and it is necessary to use this potential, he noted.Raghu_Ramaswamy/iStock(APEX, N.C.) -- Greg Alyn Carlson, one of the country's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, was likely shot and killed in a standoff with authorities on Wednesday, according to the FBI.



The shootout happened early Wednesday morning at a hotel in Apex, North Carolina, about 15 miles west of Raleigh, as police investigated reports about a "suspicious vehicle," the FBI said in a statement.



An officer with the Apex Police Department notified the FBI because the vehicle had South Carolina plates linked to 47-year-old Carlson, an alleged sexual predator who was wanted in connection with multiple armed assaults in California.



The suspect, believed to be Carlson, was shot and killed during an altercation with the FBI, but the bureau couldn't positively identify him as of Wednesday evening.



"The subject is believed to be FBI Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitive Greg Allen Carlson wanted in connection with multiple armed sexual assaults in Los Angeles, California," FBI officials said in a statement. "Positive identification will come from the medical examiner's office. While this internal review process is occurring, no further comments can be made."



Carlson was placed on the FBI's list of Top Ten Fugitives in September 2018. The FBI had offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to his capture.



Carlson, of California, was charged with burglary, assault with intent to commit rape and assault with a deadly weapon in September 2017. He posted bond and was released three weeks later and has allegedly been on the run ever since, the FBI said.



At some point, the FBI believes he obtained a stolen handgun, a rental car and "a lot of cash," Special Agent Scott Garriola, a member of the FBIs Los Angeles Fugitive Task Force, said in a statement last year.



"This individual is a serious threat to the community," Garriola said. "Investigators have also linked him through DNA to sexual assaults dating back to 2003."



"Hes got some familiarity with Florida, but he could be anywhere," Garriola added. "He has a lot of cash, and hes indicated that he will not turn himself in. We need the publics assistance to help apprehend him."



The FBI said the suspect will be identified after a review from the medical examiner's office.



Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has condemned savage terrorist attack on the bus of the personnel of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) on Khash-Zahedan road southeast Iran, Trend reports via IRNA.

The savage attack on the bus carrying the devoted personnel of the IRGC on Khash-Zahedan road shows the depth of desperation and bewilderment of the criminal mercenaries and agents of the enemies of Iranian nation, reads the presidents message.

Undoubtedly, the instructors and all agents of the mischievous and impudent move will soon be punished in light of efforts and endeavors of the powerful security and disciplinary forces of the country, he said.

The message went on to say that the terrorist and cowardly act, which martyred or injured a large number of the brave and courageous IRGC forces, who protected the security and authority of the Islamic country of Iran, rends hearts of all Iranian people.

Rouhani voiced sympathy with the bereaved families of the martyrs and expressed condolences to the Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, the Iranian nation, the military forces, especially the IRGC forces, on the incident and wished divine ascendance for the martyrs and patience for the families of the martyrs and speedy recovery for the injured.



A number of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) forces were killed in a terrorist attack in southeastern Iran on Feb. 13 night.

The IRGC personnel were traveling between the cities of Zahedan and Khash, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, when their bus was targeted in a suicide car bomb attack.

The IRGC's Qods Headquarters said in a statement that an explosives-laden car rammed into the bus, which was taking the personnel back to their homes.

The attack killed 27 IRGC members and injured 13 others, initial reports suggested.

The so-called Jaish ul-Adl terrorist group reportedly claimed responsibility for the bombing.Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 14

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

Turkmenistan is scheduled to host a conference on Countering terrorism financing and organized crime April 17-18, 2019, which will be organized with the participation of the OSCE, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry.

The issue of the preparation of this event was discussed during the regular meeting of the OSCE Security Committee, where Ashgabat made a statement on the topic Priorities of Turkmenistan in the field of security.

In September 2018, representatives from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan participated in an OSCE-supported regional seminar Combating financing of terrorism: best practices within the OSCE region in Ashgabat.

Experts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan presented their countries experiences in combating the financing of terrorism and foreign terrorist fighters, highlighting the importance of the relevant legislative framework and of conducting national risk assessments related to the financing of terrorism.

The participants also shared best practices in inter-agency interaction in the detection of cases of the financing of terrorism and foreign terrorist fighters and stressed the role of international cooperation in the detection of transboundary financial flows.

During the practical exercises, participants worked in groups to review cases related to the investigation of terrorist financing cases by financial and criminal intelligence units.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

By Rashid Shirinov  Trend:

Russias Red Wings Airlines plans to fly from St. Petersburg to Kazakhstan's Astana, Trend reports via Kazakh media.

The Civil Aviation Committee of Kazakhstan has informed that the development of international air routes continues.

"Through diplomatic channels we received from the Russian aviation authorities the appointment of Red Wings Airlines to perform the St. Petersburg-Astana flights with a frequency of 7 flights a week," the Committee said.

It should be noted that currently, Kazakhstan's Air Astana operates direct flights from Astana to St. Petersburg with a frequency of 6 times a week.

Earlier, the flights from Russia were operated by Rossiya Airlines.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @ShirinovRashidBaku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

Trend:

Bakcell, the First Mobile Operator and the Fastest Mobile Internet Provider in Azerbaijan, together with ENGINET, being the first FTTH provider in the country held seminars on the occasion of the Safe Internet Day and Data Privacy Day.

Thus, enlightenment seminars dedicated to the methods of Safe internet usage were organized for the students and teachers of the Khazar Universitys Dunya School and Hedef Lyceum. The seminars were held within the frames of the Safe Internet project, implemented with support of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan. During the sessions, the children were provided with information about the important role of internet in the process of education, as well as potentially harmful content and safe internet usage guidelines. Moreover, the children received detailed information about the Safe Internet Packages designed jointly by Bakcell and ENGINET.

It should be noted that Bakcell ensures safe internet browsing for children by means of its Safe Internet package, which was launched several years ago and now has become available in the companys 4G network. Thanks to these internet packages and the Internet Filtering Service of ENGINET, Bakcell customers have the possibility to protect their children from any harmful and unwanted content.

Visit https://www.bakcell.com/en/internet-safe-internet for more detailed information about the Safe Internet service of Bakcell.

Bakcell, the First Mobile Operator and Leading Mobile Internet Provider of Azerbaijan, offers a wide range of products and Services to users of modern mobile communications Services. The company provides its customers with the best-in-class 4G mobile internet.

The 4G services of Bakcell are already available in Baku and Absheron peninsula, as well as central parts of more than 40 regions of Azerbaijan.

With more than 7000 base stations, Bakcell network covers 99 percent of the population and 93 percent of the land area of the country (except for the occupied territories). In 2017, Bakcell network has been recognized as the Best in Test in Azerbaijan by P3 Communications, being one of the most trusted independent authorities in mobile benchmarking. Bakcell has been recognized as the Fastest Mobile Network in Azerbaijan. This award, presented by world-famous Ookla company, recognizes Bakcells commitment to delivering fastest speeds to customers all across Azerbaijan.

For more information about Bakcell products and services, please visit www.bakcell.com or call 555.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:

The Central Bank of Iran has made a decision to encourage exporters, Trend reports with reference to the banks website.

The banks policy committee on the return of foreign currency obtained from exports made a number of decisions for the return of foreign currency to Irans economic turnover.

Group of exporters Export value below 1 million euros Export value is 1-3 million euros Export value is 3-10 million euros Export value over 10 million euros Exporters that fulfilled their commitments by over 60% Can sell foreign currency to currency exchange offices Can import products with money obtained from exports Can sell foreign currency worth no more than 1.5 million euros to currency exchange offices Should sell 40% of foreign currency to Forex Management Integrated System (locally known as NIMA) Can import products with remaining money obtained from exports Can sell foreign currency worth no more than 2 million euros to currency exchange offices Should sell 40% of foreign currency to NIMA Can import products with remaining money obtained from exports Can sell foreign currency worth no more than 4 million euros to currency exchange offices Should sell 70% of foreign currency to NIMA Can import products with remaining money obtained from exports Exporters that fulfilled their commitments by 30-60% (have agreement with Central Bank of Iran) Can sell foreign currency to currency exchange offices Can import products with money obtained from exports Can sell foreign currency worth no more than 1.5 million euros to currency exchange offices Should sell 45% of foreign currency to NIMA Can import products with remaining money obtained from exports Can sell foreign currency worth no more than 2 million euros to currency exchange offices Should sell 55% of foreign currency to NIMA Can import products with remaining money obtained from exports Can sell foreign currency worth no more than 2 million euros to currency exchange offices Should sell 80% of foreign currency to NIMA Can import products with remaining money obtained from exports Exporters that fulfilled their commitments by less than 30% Can sell foreign currency to currency exchange offices Can import products with money obtained from exports Can sell foreign currency worth no more than 1 million euros to currency exchange offices Should sell 50% of foreign currency to NIMA Can import products with remaining money obtained from exports Can sell foreign currency worth no more than 2 million euros to currency exchange offices Should sell 70% of foreign currency to NIMA Can import products with remaining money obtained from exports Can sell foreign currency worth no more than 2 million euros to currency exchange offices Should sell 90% of foreign currency to NIMA Can import products with remaining money obtained from exports Exporters that didnt return foreign currency to economic turnover Central Bank of Iran must report about these exporters to judiciary in short time

This decision is valid until March 21, 2019.

The priority of the Central Bank of Iran will include exporters who return 60 percent of the earned foreign currency to the economic turnover in accordance with the previous decisions in case if they need foreign currency.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.14

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Azerbaijan is an important supplier of crude oil and natural gas in the Caspian Sea region, particularly to European markets, Trend reports citing the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

EIA says in its report that Azerbaijans exports of natural gas are poised to become a more significant part of the countrys economy.

Azerbaijan is planning to expand its natural gas exports to Europe. European Union (EU) leaders consider connecting Azerbaijans Shah Deniz natural gas field to Southern Europe to be a step toward the strategic goal of diversifying Europes natural gas supply. Southern and Eastern Europe, in particular, have limited supply options for natural gas because of geographic constraints and infrastructure limitations, reads the report.

The proposed Azerbaijani volumes could help mitigate potential natural gas supply disruptions by providing another option to satisfy regional natural gas demand, according to EIA.

Azerbaijan is currently implementing the Southern Gas Corridor project, which is one of the priority projects for the EU. It envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.

The launching ceremony of the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor was held in Baku on May 29, 2018, while opening ceremony of TANAP was held on June 12, 2018 in the Turkish city of Eskisehir.

The gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field has already gone through the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor - from the Sangachal terminal to the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline.

Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) have been connected on the Turkish-Greek border.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_ZeynBaku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

By Sara Israfilbayova - Trend:

The Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea will allow the energy cooperation of the Caspian states to reach a new, higher level, Deputy Energy Minister of Russia Anatoly Yanovsky said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

He said that Russia is ready to cooperate with all four countries of the region, including Azerbaijan.

We already have positive experience of working together with Azerbaijani partners, he noted. Since the end of the 1990s, the Russian company Lukoil has been participating in a consortium to develop Azerbaijans Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea. The companys share in the project is 10 percent.

The deputy minister added that the value of investments for the entire period of participation in the consortium reached more than $2 billion.

We have always focused on the development of cooperation, on the implementation of new projects, including in the development of hydrocarbon resources of the Caspian Sea, he said. The signing of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, of course, opens up new perspectives that are yet to be worked out.

On Aug. 12, 2018, the presidents of five Caspian countries signed the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea at the 5th summit of the heads of Caspian countries in Aktau. The Convention is a historic document for the region, the work on which has been carried out for two decades since 1996.

Baku will host the first meeting of the working group for implementation of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea Feb. 19-20 with the participation of representatives of the Caspian littoral states.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @IsrafilbekovaSBaku, Azerbaijan, February 14

Trend:

Bahodirjon Sidikov was appointed as new chairman of JSC Uzbekneftgaz, Trend reports with reference to Uzbek Ministry of Justice.

Prior to his appointment, Bahodirjon Sidikov held the position of Head of the Information and Analytical Department for Geology, Fuel and Energy Complex, Chemical, Petrochemical and Metallurgical Industry of Uzbek Cabinet of Ministers.

Former head of Uzbekneftegaz, Bahrom Ashrafkhanov, was appointed as Deputy Minister of Finance for Social Affairs at the beginning of February.

At the same time, Uzbekneftegaz will face a transformation soon.

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev instructed the newly created Ministry of Energy to develop documents on optimizing inefficient management structures, reorganizing oil and gas enterprises based on the profile of their activities, attracting private, including foreign, direct investment in their development under conditions of public-private partnership.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

By Rashid Shirinov  Trend:

Kazakhstan will start exporting gasoline to neighboring countries at the end of the first quarter of this year, Trend reports via Kazakh media.

"This year we will have a gasoline surplus of 500,000-650,000 tons. This surplus has already been felt from the first month of 2019, so we have slightly reduced the processing volumes at our refineries in January-February," Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said in parliament.

The senators were proposed to consider the draft law on ratification of the Protocol amending the agreement between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Government of the Russian Federation on trade and economic cooperation in the field of oil and petroleum products supply to the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 9, 2010.

"We hope that after the ratification of this agreement we will consider the law on regulation and turnover of certain types of petroleum products. At the end of the first quarter, we will start exporting gasoline and catch up with the refining volumes that we have planned for the year," Bozumbayev said.

He believes that the industry will be controlled by the state and that the exports will bring additional revenues to the state and additional income to oil refineries.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @ShirinovRashidBaku, Azerbaijan, Feb.14

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

The approval by the Judiciary Committee of the US House of Representatives of the NOPEC bill did not have a significant impact on world oil markets, Francis Perrin, Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South (Rabat) and Senior Research Fellow at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (Paris).



He named the following reasons for that:

1) Several members of the US Congress tried in the past to have such a bill adopted but, so far, all these attempts have been unsuccessful.

2) Traders on the oil markets do not think that there is a high probability of success for the bill just adopted by the House Judiciary Committee.

3) President Donald Trump is clearly not a great fan of OPEC. That being said the Trump Administration's priority is not to break OPEC.

4) The de facto leader of OPEC is Saudi Arabia. This country has very close links with the US since the 1930s and, especially, since 1945 and this special relationship is much valued by the Trump Administration as shown by its behavior since the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. For Washington the relationship with Saudi Arabia is based on several key strategic issues: oil, of course, a common strong opposition to Iran, the interests of Israel, arms sales and good contracts for US industry. It would not be logical for the US Administration to expose Saudi Arabia to antitrust lawsuits in such a context.

5) The US oil industry is not at all in favor of this bill.

6) Current oil prices (about $62 per barrel for North Sea Brent) are not very high as compared with levels above $100/b between 2011 and June 2014.

7) Thanks to unconventional crudes US oil production is much higher than in the past. The US is presently the leading crude oil and liquids producer before Russia and Saudi Arabia and the country's dependence on oil imports has been greatly reduced over the past ten years. According to the US Department of Energy the US should become a net energy exporter and a net oil exporter in 2020.

Perrin pointed out that traders will of course follow the development of discussions within the US Congress about this bill but it is not today a serious concern for them.

US House of Representatives committee approved a bill on Feb.7 that would open up the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to antitrust lawsuits.

The House Judiciary Committee passed the bipartisan bill, known as the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, or NOPEC, on a voice vote.

The legislation would change U.S. antitrust law to revoke the sovereign immunity that has long protected OPEC members from U.S. lawsuits. It allows the U.S. attorney general to sue the oil producers group or any of its members on grounds of collusion.

Versions of the bill have appeared without success in Congress for the past 20 years. The committee also approved a version of the bill last year by voice vote, but it never reached the full House for a vote.

---Tehran, Iran, Feb.14

Trend:

Iran's geopolitical location is creating good opportunities to boost its air transit, by means of cargo exports or passenger transfer.

The director general of economic evaluation office at the Ministry of Road and Urban Development Mohsen Sadeghi discussed Iran's achievements in transit and transportation sector in an interview with Trend.

"Iran's transit in 2005 was 5 million tons of cargo and the share of roads in the country's transit was 80 percent," Sadeghi said. "There have been ups and downs, and the major transit accomplishment was during 2014-2015, that increased the transit volume to 13.5 million tons, but it declined in 2018 due to sanctions and issues with oil and infrastructure."

He went on to add that whenever the neighboring countries face conflict and crisis, Iran is secure and oil companies try to use Iran for oil transit.

"Until the past two years, major part of Iraq's oil was transported through Iran's western borders and exported via the Imam Khomeini Port," he said. "In fact, in the past decade Iran had good transit development but to sustain this growth and use the geopolitical potential, there should be more efforts by government and the unions."

Speaking about the air transit, Sadeghi said that it was expected that the Imam Khomeini Airport would have a considerable role in the air transit and transfer flights, for example flights from South East and East Asia to Europe.

"Unfortunately, the potential wasn't used, since Dubai Airport and Istanbul Ataturk Airport have created these conditions," he explained.

"During the Qatar blockade, Qatar Airways used Iran's transit routes. This is an example that should be used for cooperation in airspace," Sadeghi said.

"Compared to the last decade, the number of flights that operate through Iran air space has increased from 8,000 to 450,000 flights a year,", he added.Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 14

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

In accordance with the Program of Social and Economic Development of Turkmenistan for 2018-2024, there are plans to increase the total amount of electricity produced in the country in the next seven years to 33 billion kilowatt-hours, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmenistan State News Agency.

Capacity building of the industry will further increase the exports of Turkmen electricity, primarily to Afghanistan.

The Imamnazar-Andkhoy, Serhetabat-Herat and Rabatkashan-Kalainau transmission lines already operate in this direction. The governments of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan signed memorandums of intent on the construction of transmission lines on the Kerki-Khamyap-Garkin route and the agreement on the project of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) power line.

In particular, the last document defines the volumes of electricity that will be supplied to Afghanistan via a new power transmission line - 300 megawatts to Herat and Kandahar each (a total of 600 megawatts). In the future, there are plans to increase them to 1,000 megawatts.

Last year, an agreement was signed with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) concerning the financing of the construction of domestic power lines in the Ahal-Balkan and Balkan-Dashoguz direction.

"In this regard, it should be emphasized that the active connection of Turkmenistan to the single Central Asian energy system plays an important role in creating additional opportunities for significant increase in the volumes of Turkmen electricity supplies within the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TUTAP) international project," the report said.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

By Rashid Shirinov  Trend:

Kazakhstan will soon export instant noodles to Belarus, Ukraine and Mongolia, Trend reports via the Kazakh media.

Local company Amanat Trading House LLP has been producing instant noodles since 2005 in the city of Rudniy. The company already supplies flour and pasta to Russia, Georgia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and other countries. Instant noodles will be exported for the first time.

To eliminate commercial and political risks when entering the foreign market, the company obtained export credit insurance.

KazakhExport supported the producer through an export credit insurance, and Amanat Trading House has already shipped the first batch of instant noodles to Russia.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @ShirinovRashidBaku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

By Huseyn Veliyev  Trend:

Three big private companies appealed to the Food Safety Agency of Azerbaijan for international accreditation of their laboratories, Elkhan Mikayilov, adviser to the chairman of the agency, told Trend.

According to him, their material and technical base will be thoroughly checked for compliance with international standards and for reliability of the conducted analyses.

"This issue is currently under consideration, and today we are negotiating with three big companies whose names cannot be disclosed yet. However, I can say that these companies have primary laboratory facilities. We have already received their applications for international accreditation," Mikayilov said.

Obtaining international accreditation, he said, will allow the companies to independently analyze food samples, without intervention from the agency.

"We will only receive the results of the conducted analyses. The presence of private laboratories will also eliminate the dissatisfaction of entrepreneurs with the costs of analyses," he said.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @h_veliyevBaku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

Trend:

Many Azerbaijani companies are ready to work in various fields in Kiev, Azer Khudiyev, Azerbaijani ambassador to Ukraine, said at a meeting with Vitali Klitschko, head of Kiev City State Administration, Trend reports referring to the embassy.

Eliminating difficulties faced by some Azerbaijani companies in Kiev and providing them with appropriate support were discussed during the meeting.

The importance of holding a separate meeting with the Mayor of Kiev Vitali Klitschko for the participation of Azerbaijani companies in important infrastructure projects in the Ukrainian capital was also stressed.

Klitschko noted that Ukraine is ready to adopt the most advanced experience in road repairs and building modern infrastructure, adding that Azerbaijani companies are already working in Kiev in road construction. This cooperation, according to him, should be brought to a more efficient and mutually beneficial level.

The mayor stressed the importance of strengthening joint cooperation to increase financial investments in the Kiev projects.

Another topic discussed during the meeting was the work to be carried out in connection with the construction of a monument for the Azerbaijani poet Imadaddin Nasimi in the Ukrainian capital.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

In Azerbaijan, it is necessary to simplify the reporting system for small entrepreneurs in order to increase the level of voluntary compliance with tax regulations, Azerbaijani Minister of Taxes Mikayil Jabbarov said at an expanded meeting of the board, Trend reports Feb. 14.

The minister noted that in general, the tax authorities should form an individual approach for each category of entrepreneurship, being small, medium and large.

In particular, Jabbarov noted that when working with large companies, it is necessary to adhere to the risk assessment policy and a broad analytical analysis, to give preference to the use of electronic auditing.

When working with medium taxpayers, the minister continued, the tax authorities should work to eliminate the elements of the shadow economy.

As for small business, it is important to ensure transparent tax accounting, legalization of the turnover of business entities, expansion of the service sector, as well as to carry out work on education.

According to the new definition of the category of enterprises, a company with a staff of 11-50 people and an annual income of 200,000 - 3 million manats is considered a small business.

The category of medium-sized enterprises includes companies with a staff of 51-250 people and an annual income of up to 30 million manats, while the category of large enterprises includes companies with a staff of over 251 people and an annual income of over 30 million manats.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Hasanli_AzadDetails added (first version posted on 13:29)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

Trend:

The e-agriculture system will allow providing the Azerbaijani farmers with necessary information, as well as rendering consulting services to them, Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ilhama Gadimova said.

Gadimova made the remarks at the presentation of the e-agriculture information system in Baku, Trend reports on Feb. 14.

"The farmers' work will be simplified thanks to this system," she said. "There will be no need to submit documents somewhere. It is enough for the farmers to indicate the data electronically."

Gadimova also stressed that the main principle of the Ministry of Agriculture for this year is to be closer to the farmers.

The e-agriculture system is a unified system of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Agriculture, the main principles of which are to be closer to farmers, transparent and effective management and the introduction of innovations.

This system includes all business processes that cover the entire process from the initial stage to the final stage.

The e-agriculture system enables to customize control mechanisms to ensure the development of agriculture, as well as monitor processes in real time.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @IsrafilbekovaSBaku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

Trend:

As many as 15,627 farmers in 23 Azerbaijani districts (cities) will receive subsidies worth 23,038,900 manats for 230,400 tons of raw cotton in Azerbaijan, Trend reports with reference to Azerbaijans Agriculture Ministry.

Such a decision was made at a meeting of the Republican Commission in Azerbaijans Agriculture Ministry.

The commission also decided to provide subsidies worth 247,400 manats to 531 farmers in 12 Azerbaijani districts (cities) for 2,700 tons of dried tobacco and 22,500 tons of raw tobacco, subsidies worth 1,106,600 manats to 1,936 farmers in 25 Azerbaijani districts (cities) for 276,600 tons of sugar beet.

The chairman of the commission, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ilham Guliyev reminded that subsidy worth 0.1 manats is provided for every kilogram of raw cotton (conditional weight), subsidy worth 0.05 manats is provided for every kilogram of dried tobacco and ten kilograms of raw tobacco, and subsidy worth 4 manats is provided for every ton of sugar beet.

Documents on the provision of subsidies to producers of cotton, tobacco and sugar beet have been submitted to the Ministry of Finance, Kapital Bank OJSC and state agricultural development centers of the Ministry of Agriculture.

(1.7 AZN = 1 USD on Feb. 14)Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

By Huseyn Valiyev  Trend:

Azerbaijans Food Safety Agency offers private businesses to conduct examination of food products, Goshgar Tahmazli, chairman of the Food Safety Agency, said at a public discussion of the draft Law on Food Safety, Trend reports.

Tahmazli said that this process shouldnt be solely the prerogative of the state and the agency, in particular.

We appealed to business entities and invited them to create private food laboratories, he noted. These laboratories must be internationally accredited. We, as an agency, will recognize their laboratory findings.

I would like to remind one negative fact that occurred in the process of exporting hazelnuts to Europe: 36 trucks with these products were returned because they contained aflatoxins above the norm, which is harmful to health, he said. This case was recorded before the agency appeared. After the agency started operating, no cases emerged, except for the case of damage to the export cargo due to the entrepreneurs failure to comply with the transportation rules.

The essence of early quality control is to protect the exporter from the possible material damage without the appropriate laboratory conclusion, he noted.

In the end, this can seriously damage the image of a country and the country can be included in the list of risky countries, he added. I think that the Agency shouldnt be a monopolist, we should have a competitor. Private laboratories testing the quality of products should be created. We invite entrepreneurs to join this process and are ready to provide all the support they need in this matter. In the end, the Agency can completely leave this business and focus on institutional issues.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @h_veliyevBaku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

The institute of tax ombudsman will be created in Azerbaijan, Taxes Minister Mikayil Jabbarov said at an expanded meeting of the board of the Taxes Ministry, Trend reports Feb. 14 with reference to the ministry.

The minister noted that the decision to establish the tax ombudsman institution was made after studying the advanced experience of developed countries and conducting research aimed at creating new and more effective mechanisms that would protect the rights of entrepreneurs.

In this context, Jabbarov emphasized the importance of a more reliable protection of taxpayers rights and the improvement of the tax appeal system.

The minister noted that ensuring transparency of the tax system, expanding the use of digital technologies in the tax administration, improving the quality of tax control and auditing, as well as increasing the level of professionalism of tax authorities should become priority for tax authorities in 2019.

Jabbarov also stressed the need to create a new mechanism for evaluating the activities and knowledge of tax employees, especially those operating in the field of auditing.

During the meeting, Deputy Minister of Taxes Ilkin Valiyev and heads of departments also delivered speech. It was noted that the forecast for tax revenues in 2018 at 7.4 billion manats was fully executed.

The revenues from the non-oil sector increased compared to the previous year, and thanks to the successful implementation of state programs for the development of Azerbaijani districts, forecasts on revenues in the countrys district were executed by 114 percent.

(1.7 manats = 1 USD on Feb. 14)

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Hasanli_AzadBaku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

Trend:

The Azerbaijani company Azhazelnut has signed a contract for the export of 21 tons of hazelnuts to Russia, while the company A+Co signed a contract for the export of 20 tons of wine to Russia, Trend reports Feb. 14 with reference to Azerbaijans Economy Ministry.

In turn, the Azerbaijani company Jalilabad Sherab-2 signed an agreement to export 100,000 bottles of wine to Russia.

A number of export agreements on the supply of Azerbaijani goods was signed during negotiations held between Azerbaijani companies and foreign partners participating in the international food exhibition PRODEXPO 2019 in Moscow.

Thus, the Azerbaijani company Gilan Agro and FMCG Group will supply canned products to Russia, the company Cuve will supply hazelnuts, Aznar - pomegranate juice, D fruits - canned fruits and dried fruits, Tac - soft drinks, Buta Agro - fresh fruits and vegetables.

In order to promote the Made in Azerbaijan brand, as well as Azerbaijani products in foreign markets, local food products are showcased at the PRODEXPO 2019 exhibition in Moscow.

During the exhibition, more than 30 Azerbaijani companies dealing in food, wine and other alcoholic beverages, present their products at a single stand of Azerbaijan.

The exhibition will last until Feb. 15.Tehran, Iran, Feb.14

Trend:

Iran's Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami announced that the country is going to buy a number of aircrafts.

Eslami made the announcement, referring to the special channel opened for Iran to purchase airplanes, Trend reports via Mehr news agency.

Eslami refused to answer whether the desired aircrafts are new or second-hand, saying that "there are no new or second-hand aircraft; they are very good planes."

On February 2, Iran Air CEO Farzaneh Sharafbafi, pointing out that the company had been working on a special channel for aircraft purchase before the INSTEX (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges).

"I hope, that along with that, the financial channel for aviation will also be launched," he said at the time.

INSTEX (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges) is a mechanism, created to facilitate non-dollar trade with Iran, allowing European companies to trade with the Islamic Republic without being hit by the sanctions.

On Jan. 31, three European countries  France, Germany and the UK (shortened as E3)  officially announced the creation of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), a special purpose vehicle, to allow them bypass US sanctions on trade with Iran. INSTEX facilitates non-dollar trade with Iran, allowing European companies to trade with the Islamic Republic without being hit by the sanctions.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

By Rashid Shirinov  Trend:

Kazakhstans Kyzylorda region will start exporting rice to Iran this year, Trend reports via the press service of the regions administration.

"Last year, along with traditional varieties, production of Iranian varieties was launched in the region for further export to Iran. Currently, negotiations are underway to send the first batch of 500 tons of Iranian rice varieties," the administration said.

It was also noted that despite the lack of water, Kyzylorda rice farmers reaped a good harvest of 473,000 tons in 2018.

Last year, rice sown area in the Kyzylorda region was reduced by 3,000 hectares, and oilseeds, in particular safflower sown area was increased from 1,659 hectares in 2013 to 8,404 hectares in 2018. This made it possible to organize the production of safflower oil and for the first time to enter the Chinese market with this product in 2018.

Since last year, the region has also begun work on the introduction of high-yielding crops such as soybeans, and forage crops such as Sudan grass and sweet sorghum.

This year, it is planned to reduce rice sown area by 2,171 hectares and increase forage sown area by 4,068 hectares and acreage of potatoes, vegetables and melons by 1,293 hectares.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @ShirinovRashidBaku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

By Ilhama Isabalayeva  Trend:

A citizen of the United Arab Emirates, who was going to hunt without a relevant permit, was detained near the village of Pirsaat in the Hajigabul District of Azerbaijan, Trend reports referring to the press service of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources.

A criminal act and record were issued against the poacher, and he was fined 2,000 manats.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

Trend:

Azercell Telecom LLC, the company which constantly supports professional and individual growth of the youth and contributes to the development of education in Azerbaijan under the Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy, supported a new project within the confines of the program of the Ministry of Educations SABAH Career Academy. Thus, Azercells representatives held training sessions in SABAH Career Winter School, which was organized in Guba, on February 12-14 and shared their knowledge and experiences with students. Professional trainers of Azercell Academy -Vahida Orujova, Sevinj Teymurova and Jeyhun Suleymanov conducted the master-class sessions on Presentation Skills and Create your brand.

At the end of the two-day training, the participants received certificates. It is worth noting that, Azercells representatives took an active part in SABAH Career Winter School Project organized in 2017 and 2018. This year, training sessions were again targeted to the improvement of fundamental skills for career building.

Notably, SABAH Groups of the Ministry of Education and Azercell Telecom LLC signed a memorandum in 2017. According to this memorandum, every year within the framework of The Student Bursary Program and Internship Program, Azercell introduces special offers to SABAH students. In fact, 9 out of 25 winners in 2019 were SABAH students. Along with receiving a monthly bursary in the amount of 200 AZN from Azercell until the end of the higher education, these students have an opportunity to increase their knowledge in telecommunication sphere, get invitations to corporate events of the company, attend various training sessions, information sessions and courses within the company. Moreover, 25 SABAH students have been honored to pass an internship under Student Internship Program during these two years. One of them has already joined the Azercell Family.

Remarkably, SABAH Groups of the Ministry of Education is the innovative and leading project in the higher education system, which was set up in order to improve the quality and create a new atmosphere in it, prepare well-prepared, skilled, qualified students and provide personnel training according to modern requirement

For more information, please contact [email protected]

The leader of the mobile communication industry, the largest taxpayer and the biggest investor of the non-oil sector of Azerbaijan Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996. With 48 per cent share of Azerbaijans mobile telecom market Azercells network covers 80 per cent of the territory (excluding 20% per cent of the occupied territories) and 99,8 per cent of population of the country.

Currently, 4,5 million subscribers choose Azercell services. Azercell has pioneered an important number of innovations in Azerbaijan, including GSM technology, advance payment system, mobile internet services, Metro coverage, 24/7 call centre service, 7 day/week Front Office service, M2M services, one-stop-shopping approach Azercell Express offices, mobile customer services, Online Customer Care and Social Media Customer Care services, mobile e-signature service ASAN Imza etc. Azercell deployed first 4G  LTE services in Azerbaijan in 2012.

According to the results of mobile network quality and wireless coverage mapping surveys by international systems, Azercells network demonstrated the best results among the mobile operators of Azerbaijan. Azercell is the only company in Azerbaijan and CIS region which has been awarded Gold Certificate of International Investors in People Standard.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

Trend:

The UK is ready to cooperate with Azerbaijan in various areas of the cultural sphere, Michael Ellis, UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Arts, Heritage and Tourism, said.

Ellis made the remarks at a meeting with Azerbaijani Culture Minister Abulfas Garayev in the UK, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Feb. 14.

The views on the cultural relations between the two countries were exchanged at the meeting. A decision was made to sign a Memorandum of Understanding in the field of culture and prepare an Action Plan based on it.

Azerbaijani minister stressed that the Azerbaijani side thoroughly considers UKs experience for the development of culture and creativity and cooperates with the British Council.

Garayev invited his colleague to Azerbaijan to participate in the 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee and in the 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, to be held in Baku on May 2-3 and June 30-July 10, 2019 respectively.

While appreciating Azerbaijans role in UNESCO, Ellis wished success in organizing the 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

Garayev is on a visit to the UK (Coventry) to hold a presentation on Azerbaijans chairmanship at the 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee and organizing the 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, to be held in Baku on May 2-3 and June 30-July 10, 2019, respectively.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

Trend:

First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva and Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva have met with Ganja residents in Khan Baghi culture and recreation park, one of the must-see places of Ganja.

First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva was informed that the park was completely changed.

Trees, and decorative bushes brought from different countries are planted in the park. The park features fountains. A state-of-the-art lighting system was installed, local Venice was renovated, a 350-seat Green Theatre was constructed in the park.

First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva then met with representatives of the general public of the city of Ganja.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

Trend:

First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva and Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva have visited the secondary school No. 18 named after Nizami Aydin in the city of Ganja.

Principal Matanat Rzayeva informed the first vice-president that the school underwent renovation in 1988, and that it needs a major overhaul.

The school offers classes in the Azerbaijani and Russian languages.

The 640-seat school currently enrolls 795 students who are served by 56 teachers.

First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva viewed the classrooms and gave relevant instructions on the immediate reconstruction of the school.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

Trend:

First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva and Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva have arrived in the city of Ganja for a visit.

Mehriban Aliyeva and Leyla Aliyeva laid flowers at a statue of national leader Heydar Aliyev in the center of the city of Ganja.

Head of Ganja City Executive Authority Niyazi Bayramov informed the first vice-president about the landscaping and reconstruction work carried out in the city in recent years.

Mehriban Aliyeva met with representatives of the Regional Development Public Union.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

Trend:

The city of Guba in Azerbaijan is not the only place in the world where Azerbaijanis and Jews have been coexisting peacefully. Prior to the ethnic cleansing carried out by Armenian nationalist forces, they lived in religious and ethnic harmony in Armenia in the village of Yeghegis (known in Azerbaijani as Alayaz) of Armenias former Yeghegnadzor district (now a part of Vayots Dzor Province). This village is located about 18 km from the city of Yeghegnadzor and 135 km from Yerevan, on the slopes of the ridge of Daralayaz, at an altitude of 1,640 m above sea level.

Important archaeological discoveries in these parts of Armenia were made by scientists back in 1996. Tombstones which, besides having inscriptions in Azerbaijani, also contained inscriptions in Hebrew and Aramaic, were among the finds. The graves date back to the middle of the 13th century  with some dating even to the year 1337  and are not only a convincing evidence of the existence of the Jewish community in Armenia from ancient times to the modern period, but also of its coexistence with the prevailing Azerbaijani population of the province.

It is clear that the contributing factor to the exodus of the oldest Jewish community from Armenia was the exodus of their neighbors, the Azerbaijanis of Yeghegis, the indigenous population of the historical Daralayaz province. The exodus of the Jews, on the backdrop of the flourishing Jewish communities in Georgia and Azerbaijan, is a dark spot in the history of the Armenian people, as is the genocide of Azerbaijanis.

Due to a policy of methodical ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis, Turks, Kurds, Assyrians, Yezidis, Molokans, Greeks and Jews, Armenia has turned into a monoethnic state, where more than 99 percent of the population is made up of Armenians from various parts of the Middle East. But the miraculously preserved old Azerbaijani-Jewish cemetery is a tangible evidence of the actual history of these lands. On the outskirts of the village, a shaky bridge leads to the other side of the river, separating the Jewish cemetery from ... the Azerbaijani one, which, in a way, relates Yeghegis to Guba, where, to this very day, Jews and Azerbaijanis live as one family.

Elkhan Alasgarov, Ph.D., Head of Expert Council of Baku Network

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Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev sent a congratulatory letter to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I extend my cordial congratulations to you and the people of your country on the occasion of the national day of the Republic of Serbia, President Aliyev said.

I believe that the strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and Serbia and our cooperation based on mutual trust and support both in bilateral format and within international organizations will continue contributing to the benefit of our two peoples, he added.

On this remarkable day, I wish you the best of health, success in your endeavors, and the friendly people of Serbia peace and prosperity, the president said.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

Trend:

Giuliano Bifolchi, a citizen of Italy, addressed a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting for the removal of his name from the List of foreign citizens illegally visited the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Trend reports referring to the ministry.

In his letter Bifolchi reaffirmed that he fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders, inter alia, the laws and regulations of the Republic of Azerbaijan and emphasized that his violation of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity through Armenia was not intentional.

Furthermore, Bifolchi highlighted that his visit to the Azerbaijani territories in no way served to the promotion of the illegal authorities established in these territories of Azerbaijan which is nothing other than the result of long-lasting conflict. Expressing his apology to the Government and People of Azerbaijan for an unauthorized visit, Bifolchi requested to remove his name from the List of foreign citizens illegally visited the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan and to give an authorization for his visit to Azerbaijan.

Appeal by Bifolchi was appropriately considered and the decision was made to remove his name from the mentioned list.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 13

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have 27 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Feb. 14, 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.A member of the Assembly of Experts (AE) has categorically denied that the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei demanded to pick his successor within three years.

The AE is the deliberative body empowered to appoint and dismiss the Supreme Leader. However, all directly elected members of the AE must be first approved by the supreme leader before gaining their seats.

The assembly, chaired by the 91-year-old cleric, Ahmad Jannati, consists of 88 members who are elected from lists of vetted candidates by direct public vote for eight-year terms. The last AE election was held in 2016.

Hardline 82-year old member of the assembly Ayatollah Mohsen Mojtahed Shabestari has insisted that the question of Khamenei's successor has never been debated at the assembly.

Earlier, unconfirmed reports had mentioned the mid-ranking clergies, Ebrahim Raeisi, and Ahmad Khatami as candidates to replace the 79-year-old Ali Khamenei as the Supreme Leader.

Khamenei has been at the helm of the Islamic Republic since June 4, 1989.

Speaking to the government's official news agency (IRNA), Mojtahed Shabestari categorically dismissed Raeisi and Khatami as candidates for replacing Khamenei, insisting that the question of the Supreme Leader's successor has never been debated at the AE.

Ebrahim Raeisi is currently the custodian of a religious financial empire in Iran's second largest city, Mashhad, in the northeast of the country. The 58-year-old Raeisi ran against President Hassan Rouhani, in 2013 presidential election, but lost, despite being supported by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and other conservative allies of the Supreme Leader.

Ahmad Khatami, 58, another cleric, is an influential member of the AE, and Tehran's Friday Prayer Imam, directly appointed by Khamenei.

Since Khamenei has undergone prostate and gall bladder surgeries in recent years, speculation about his successor has gained momentum.

Earlier, a Telegram Channel, presented as the Tehran Times page, had cited the city of Isfahan's conservative Friday Prayer Imam, and AE member, 74-year-old Yousef Tabatabeinejad as saying, "The Supreme Leader has asked the AE to nominate his successor within three years.

Tabatabeinejad was quoted as saying the AE has nominated nine of its member to form a "Leadership Council", according to the Tehran Times Telegram Channel, on February 10.

However, hours later, the office of Isfahan's Friday Prayer Imam dismissed the news as unfounded, not true, and cooked up by "foreign elements".

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, the spokesman of the Assembly of Experts (AE) and Tehran's interim Friday Prayer leader, had also said on January 26 that the media had misconstrued his comments from two years earlier about a confidential committee being formed to pick the future leader.

In his latest interview with ISNA, Khatami said, "Thank God that our Supreme Leader is in the most buoyant condition, regularly going for walks and working out. Naturally, though, one should think about the ruling system's future, as well."

As a member of the AE's, Khatami also said that no one is being considered to replace Khamenei.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told an international conference in Warsaw that the United States wants a "new era of cooperation" to confront the challenges faced by countries in the Middle East.

"We want to bring together countries with an interest in stability to share their different views and break out of traditional thinking," Pompeo told the opening session of the 60-country gathering sponsored by the United States and Poland.

"None of the region's challenges will solve themselves," Pompeo said. "We must work together for security."

Citing a list of regional challenges ranging from Iran, Syria, and Yemen to the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, Pompeo said, "No one country will dominate the discussion today nor will any one issue dominate our talks."

Earlier in the day, Pompeo said the world "can't achieve peace and security in the Middle East without confronting Iran."

Tehran has described the conference as a "circus."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is addressing the Warsaw meeting, told reporters that the event's opening dinner late on February 13 marked "a historical turning point."

"In a room of some 60 foreign ministers representative of dozens of governments, an Israeli prime minister, and the foreign ministers of the leading Arab countries stood together and spoke with unusual force, clarity, and unity against the common threat of the Iranian regime," he said.

However, many European countries sent only low-level officials, and European Union foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini is staying away.

Washington and its EU allies are at odds over U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from a 2015 nuclear agreement that saw Iran curtail its nuclear ambitions in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. EU states have criticized the move and sought to keep aspects of the deal in place.

Russia and China are also not participating in the Warsaw conference and neither are the Palestinians.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to hold a simultaneous summit in the resort of Sochi with Iranian President Hassan Rohani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the future of war-ravaged Syria.

A U.S. administration official said late last month that the conference was "not an anti-Iran meeting or a coalition-building exercise," but that Pompeo will discuss what the official called "Iran's destructive policies in the region."

Speaking to U.S. public broadcaster PBS from the Polish capital, Pompeo said on February 13 that "the threat from Middle East instability is real," and that Iran had "enormous influence" on the region.

"There are shared interests there between the Saudis, between the Emiratis, between the Bahrainis, the Jordanians, the Israelis. All understand that their nations are at risk from Iran," he said.

Addressing a press conference in Tehran earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that he believed the Warsaw conference was "dead on arrival."

Moscow views with concern "U.S. attempts to impose unilateral geopolitical interests through initiatives presented as opinions of the entire international community," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in comments carried by the Interfax news agency.

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, the only senior official from a key European power to attend the Warsaw conference, said that he wanted to focus on ending the conflict in Yemen.

A Saudi-led coalition is fighting against Yemen's Iran-backed Shi'ite Huthi rebels in an attempt to restore the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansur Hadi.

With reporting by AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa, and InterfaxOne day after Iran's Supreme Leader announced the "Second phase of Islamic Revolution", President Hassan Rouhani has pledged his full support.

In a letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Rouhani has said, I will instruct the government to prioritize the realization of your intentions.

In a well-publicized statement issued on February 13 on the 40th anniversary of Irans 1979 revolution, Khamenei said his regime is prepared to correct its mistakes but will not revise its leading principles. The statement was meant to be a guideline for the next ten years.

Among other things, Khamenei mentioned his foreign policy repeating his attacks on the United States and Israel.

According to Mehr news agency, Rouhani in his letter expresses his agreement with Khamenei, saying the statement Clearly delineates the precise boundary between flexibility and self-correction, and passivity or retreat.

Khameneis statement to the effect that the Islamic Republic is not willing to change its fundamental course and Rouhanis backing stand in contrast with a rising tide of both domestic and foreign demands for major change.

Iran has been rocked by mass protests and strikes for more than a year and demands from even within the regime for reforms.



The U.S. Justice Department issued several indictments relating to an espionage case alleging that a former U.S. Air Force Special Agent Monica Witt gave Iranian intelligence officers classified information.

It is not clear what exposure Witt had to the Persian language prior to her military service but the indictment notes that she enrolled in a Persian course at the U.S. Defense Language Institute in Monterey. She attended the language course from February 1998 until April 1999 and was deployed on "classified missions collecting signals intelligence" court documents show.

The Defense Language Institute provides the United States government and military with highly professional language training.

According to her CV posted on indeed.com, Monica Witt served in the U.S. Air Force as a Farsi Language specialist at various levels from August 1997 to March 2008. She then moved to the private sector but remained in the intelligence business relating to Iran and worked for Booze Allen Hamilton. She continued working until 2010 when she began traveling to Iran.

The CV was available online of February 13 when the news about her indictment was announced and later it was taken down.

Contact was lost with her in 2012 when she converted to Islam at a ceremony broadcast on Iranian TV according to the indictment.

Her CV states that she lived in Qatar, Jordan, Turkey, Tajikistan and Iran. She also attended conferences organized by the "New Horizon" organization that is allegedly affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

These events almost exclusively focused on criticism of the United States and was used during Ahmadinejad's presidency to promote antisemitic opinions with David Duke as one of the guests. The negative international perception about the conferences was a concern to the President Hassan Rouhani's administration, which canceled the event during the nuclear negotiations in 2013.

The moderator of one of the recent panels was Marzieh Hashemi the Press TV broadcaster who was detained in the U.S. earlier this year. According to the New York Times, Individual A in the indictment is Marzieh Hashemi.

Court documents show that Witt was questioned by the FBI in May 2012 about her Iran travel but she told the agents that she would refuse to give any classified information if she was asked by the Iranian authorities.

The indictment also documents alleged communication between Witt and her handler and her satisfaction at passing on classified information.

Monica Witt is said to have traveled to Afghanistan where she met with Iranian officials at the embassy in Kabul. The picture painted by the indictment shows that the Iranian authorities were suspicious of Witt's intentions, at the same time she felt frustrated and possibly suspected that the U.S. authorities were after her.

In an interview with the International Quran Agency dated February 9 2013, Witt is quoted as saying "becoming Muslim and wearing Hijab used to be inconceivable for me, but the more I read the Quran, the stronger would be my resolve to embrace Islam.The development and creation of new weapons and military equipment in Ukraine is carried out in accordance with NATO standards, Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Oleksandr Turchynov has said.

"In the development of new weapons, military technology, we immediately lay down the standards of NATO," he said at a round table on state military orders in Kyiv on Thursday.

Turchynov said that since 2014 Ukraine's military-industrial complex has been one of the priorities of the NSDC and financing of the defense sector has increased 19.5 times since then.

He said in conditions of military confrontation, the resource that Ukraine owns is not enough to ensure full-fledged defense and security of the country.

"One of the priorities of our state is the unconditional increase in gross domestic product, the strengthening of the national economy, without which the defense complex cannot develop," he said.

Turchynov said it is impossible to significantly improve the quality of Ukrainian weapons, military equipment without a systemic investment, a systemic innovation resource for the industrial complex.

"Here, of course, we need to talk about real problems that need to be solved. This is a question of the corporatization of our state defense enterprises, the modernization of their fixed assets. The myriad of tasks also includes new technologies for managing work organization. These are numerous tasks that need to be addressed ... today," he said, adding that more than 50% of the state defense order is fulfilled by private enterprises.

Turchynov said he is convinced that significant changes in the structure of the military-industrial complex will be possible only with the support of the Verkhovna Rada.

The NSDC head emphasized that, in fact, in Ukraine there is no "real competition both in the formation and implementation of the state defense order," adding that corruption risks increase significantly as a result, along with the danger of receiving low-quality or outdated products at unnecessarily high prices.The Kyiv District Administrative Court has overturned measures to secure a claim regarding the suspension of Ulana Suprun from the post of the Health Minister "on her own initiative," an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported from the scene.

This decision was announced by judge Serhiy Karakashian, who had previously banned her from serving as the minister of health.

Acting Minister of Health Suprun noted that the court overturned the decision after a government order on Wednesday.

"Thank you for your support! Thank you for the support of the Ukrainian government. After yesterday's government decree, the court also reversed its decision. The fight for qualitative changes continues. Tomorrow there will be a trial on the merits in the same court," Suprun said.

As reported, the judge for the second time retired to the deliberation room, taking into account the decision rendered by the Cabinet on Wednesday evening, ensuring the continuity of the work of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

The Cabinet also decided to file a complaint with the High Council of Justice (Supreme Court of Justice) regarding judge Karakashian.

Consideration of Mosiychuk's claim by the District Administrative Court of Kyiv will be held on February 15.In connection with Russia's actions threatening the security of the entire Azov-Black Sea region, NATO will significantly increase its naval presence in the Black Sea this year, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said following a meeting at NATO Headquarters with defense ministers of the NATO countries.

"This year NATO's naval presence in the Black Sea will be significantly intensified. Every month, activities of ships will be carried out of both permanent NATO naval groups and key allies," wrote Poltorak on his Facebook page in Brussels on Thursday, while paying a working visit.

He said that during the meeting the issue of illegal actions of Russia in the Azov-Black Sea region was discussed.

"NATO strictly demands that Russia release our captured sailors and ships seized by the Russian Federation [near the Kerch Strait]. Freedom of navigation on the basis of international law has been violated by Russia and poses a threat to the security of the entire Azov-Black Sea region," Ukraine's defense minister said.Britain to continue supporting Ukraine, encourage all allies to do this - Secretary of Defense Williamson

Britain will offer assistance to Ukraine, maintain a dialogue with it, and also encourage all its allies to help Ukraine with specific actions, Secretary of State for Defense of Great Britain Gavin Williamson has said.

Williamson said this on Thursday, February 14, during a working meeting with Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak at NATO headquarters in Brussels, the website of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported.

According to the Ukrainian minister, during the dialogue, the parties exchanged views on joint security. "In addition, we discussed the main issues relating to the defense reform of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which is happening with the support of NATO ... Ukraine needs to move forward, and we are taking important steps to become a full member of the Alliance," Poltorak said.Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin reiterates the impossibility of the participation of Russian observers in the presidential elections in Ukraine.

"Somebody cannot calm down in relation to the Russian observers at the presidential elections in Ukraine. Martians have more chances to observe the Ukrainian elections. Though, if they manage to go through all the procedures and join the OSCE ... But they will definitely better observe its fundamental principles," wrote Klimkin on Twitter on Thursday.

As reported, earlier Klimkin stated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine would not register official observers from the Russian Federation at the Ukrainian presidential elections and sent a corresponding message to the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). Later, he stressed that Ukraine is ready to accept any number of international election observers from any countries, but not from the Russian Federation, and suggested "putting an end to all discussions."Prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) have decided to complete the pretrial investigation into a criminal proceeding regarding the failure to implement the program to launch the national satellite communication system, the key element of which should have been the Lybid first Ukrainian satellite.

SAPO Head Nazar Kholodnytsky wrote on his Facebook page said that now detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) were instructed to notify the former director of state-owned enterprise Ukrkosmos and his external adviser, as well as their defending lawyers, about the evidence collected during the pretrial investigation.

After studying the evidence by defending lawyers, SAPO will send an indictment to court.

Investigation into possible involvement of representatives of the foreign side of the program into committing these crimes was conducted separately, Kholodnytsky said. He said that SAPO count on cooperation with Canadian law enforcers in the investigation.

The SAPO head also recalled that the ex-director of Ukrkosmos is suspected of abuse of office in favor of an offshore company, the owner of which was his external advisor. The latter along with organizing the crime is also suspected of embezzlement of government-secured $8.245 million and money laundering.

The former head of Ukrkosmos was third suspect in the criminal proceeding investigated by the NABU. He is charged with abuse of office (Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The external adviser was also about a new suspicion of organizing abuse of office by an official (Part 3 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 346, Part 5 of Article 191, Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code Ukraine). They were notified on January 30, 2019.

According to the NABU, the investigators found out that in 2011-2017 the suspects organized a scheme, as a result of which they withdrew abroad and legalized $8.245 million intended for the construction of a rocket carrier at the facilities of Pivdenmash and issued within the Export Development Canada (the Canadian export agency) loan under the guarantees of the Ukrainian government in the amount of $292.4 million.The Rebrew Brewery (Reformation Brewery) was launched in the town of Brovary, Kyiv region, in February; first shipments of beer have been delivered to pubs in Kyiv, one of the company's shareholders Dmytro Sholomko has said.

"If we assume that when this beer went on sale is the date of the brewery's launch, then it happened on February 12 when we got the first tap in the bar. We got our license in February. But the project itself is 2.5 years old," Sholomko told Interfax-Ukraine in an interview.

According to him, the brewery is housed in the premises of a former warehouse; its capacity at the moment is about 50,000 liters of beer per month. Its equipment was supplied by Italy's Meccanica Spadoni, it costs about $200,000. The total investment in the launch of the brewery is still being estimated.

"So far, the beer will be sold via pubs. We plan to go retail later, but this requires the installation of equipment for tap beer," Sholomko explained.

The company plans that Rebrew beer will appear in pubs in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, and other cities in February.

Rebrew's first beer styles include American-style India pale ale (IPA) with an aroma of tropical fruit, grapefruit and lime; Vermont-style IPA; wheat ale with added coriander and orange peel; and stout with added coffee.

According to a press release from Rebrew, a tasting of first types of its beer will take place at Kyiv's 3B Republic bar on February 24.

Sholomko is Country Director at Google for Ukraine. Among his partners in the brewery project is Yevhen Deputat.Ukraine reduces natural gas consumption every year, President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine has said.

"Do you know how much [natural] gas Ukraine consumed in 2017? 14 billion cubic meters... Do you know how much gas Ukraine used in 2018? 10.5 billion cubic meters. And this is our decisive step toward improving energy efficiency and ensuring the energy independence of our nation," Poroshenko said at celebrations on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the JSC Turboatom in Kharkiv on Thursday.

The president also said that the gradual ousting of Ukrainian enterprises from the Russian market started not in 2014 but in 2009. Poroshenko recalled that it was then that agreements were concluded, according to which Ukraine paid an inflated price for gas consumed and undertook to buy 52 billion cubic meters of gas from the Russian Federation annually, regardless of its consumption volumes.The Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine continues working on the creation of a supervisory board of the Export-Credit Agency (ECA) required for the launch of the agency, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv has said.

"We have carried out some work and consultations on this issue. I think we will hold another meeting if necessary. We will resolve this issue," he said at a government meeting in Kyiv on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman reiterated the importance of launching the ECA as soon as possible. At the same time, he added that the delay was due to the fact that the government is launching such a project for the first time.

In addition, Groysman said that the agency will work not so much with its own resources as with tools for attracting resources.

"It is necessary to fill it not with a financial resource, but with tools for access to broad resources, since this is not a question of millions, it is a question of billions, perhaps dozens of billions, to support Ukrainian exports," he said.

As reported, in February 2018, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the creation of ECA in the form of private joint-stock company and instructed the Economic Development and Trade Ministry to conduct a private placement of its shares.Armenia: Statement by the Spokesperson on the early parliamentary elections

Armenias Parliamentary Elections PRESS STATEMENT

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Armenias early parliamentary elections were competitive and well run, but polarized and marred by aggressive rhetoric, international observers say

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Ucom Digital lab students keep on getting high-quality technical educationUtah may strengthen stand-your-ground law

SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  A panel of Utah lawmakers has approved a measure to strengthen the states stand-your-ground self-defense law.

Republican Rep. Cory Maloys proposal approved Tuesday would make it clear that people dont need to try to run away before using force, including deadly force. It now moves to the House floor.

If someone is prosecuted for using force, courts couldnt hear evidence about whether the person tried to flee first. He says that will keep people from being re-victimized after theyve had to defend themselves.

At least 22 states have stand-your-ground laws. Theyve have been scrutinized after high-profile shooting deaths like that of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012.

Democrats voting against Utahs bill say they worry about taking decisions away from juries, especially when racial bias is a possible factor.

Idaho may exempt some geothermal wells

BOISE, Idaho (AP)  Legislation that would allow a well driller who hits geothermal water to use that water for uses other than its heat value in some cases has cleared the House.An effort to fix water scarcity in a Nevada basin that stands as a case study for groundwater issues in the arid West is going to court, kickstarting a lengthy legal process that will test the flexibility of state water law.

Farmers and ranchers in Diamond Valley, which sits on an overstressed aquifer outside the town of Eureka, are appealing a decision by state regulators to create a groundwater market whereby rights to water could be bought, sold and traded. Although expected, this recent action adds to a number of water management issues to account for excess rights in the valley.

The goal of the states effort, known as a Groundwater Management Plan, is to reduce pumping in a valley where past regulators had issued more rights to water than there was actual water to go around. A declining water table in Diamond Valley has forced water users to dig deeper wells and dozens of agricultural operators to reconsider the long-term viability of their businesses.

But in at least three complaints filed in a Eureka County District Court on Friday, water lawyers for the farmers and ranchers argued that the plan would harm their clients priority rights to water. They also said the state failed to conduct a proper hearing and violated due process.That view has alarmed Democrats, especially since the obstruction inquiry has been central to Mueller's investigation.

"Mr. Barr's views about the power of the president are especially troubling in light of his refusal to commit to making the special counsel's findings and the report publicly available," said California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary panel. Feinstein said the attorney general should be "objective" and "clearly committed to protecting the interest of the people, the country and the Constitution."

Barr will be tasked with restoring some stability after almost two years of open tension between Trump and Justice officials. Trump lashed out at Sessions repeatedly before he finally pushed him out in November, and he has also publicly criticized Mueller and his staff, calling the probe a "witch hunt" and suggesting they are out to get him for political reasons. The criticism extended to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller as special counsel. Rosenstein is expected to leave the department shortly after Barr takes office.ELKO  Elko City Council is retaining a law firm with hopes of intervening to protect Elkos water supply in the Pershing County Water Conservation Districts petition against the Nevada Division of Resources over water rights.

The council voted unanimously at its Feb. 12 meeting to hire Taggart & Taggart Ltd. of Carson City at a cost not to exceed $15,000 to represent Elko and file for city intervenor status in upcoming litigation in Pershing County District Court.

Mayor Reece Keener asked the council and public to keep the discussion focused on whether to hire the law firm rather than get out in the weeds with talk of perennial water yields and related issues. There was no public comment.

He said 18,000 acre-feet of water rights on the Humboldt River belong to the city, so whats most important is to get on record as an interested party.

When the city hires the law firm, Elko could essentially become part of the lawsuit, said Councilwoman Mandy Simon, and City Attorney David Stanton said that is correct.

The city will now have the chance to present its arguments, he said.ELKO  Storm-related accidents kept the Nevada Highway Patrol busy Wednesday, as troopers responded to six injury crashes, nine with vehicle damage, and 74 motorist assists/slide-offs.

The figures are for the entire northeast region  including Winnemucca, Battle Mountain, Elko, Wells, Wendover, Jackpot, Ely, Eureka and Austin  according to trooper Jim Stewart.

In summary, we worked very closely with NDOT to keep the highways open, Stewart said. However, given the extreme whiteout conditions, drifting snow, stuck vehicles and crashes (especially over Lamoille Summit), State Route 227 had to be closed for several hours Wednesday evening.

The closure snarled traffic on the east side of Elko as many motorists turned around and looked for motel rooms for the night.

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Once all the vehicles blocking parts of the highway were removed, and NDOT plowed the road, the highway was reopened shortly after 9 p.m.

We also had some issues on I-80 near Emigrant summit where commercial motor vehicles were parking in the chain-up area waiting for the chain requirements to lift, Stewart said. Chain-up areas are for putting on and removing chains, not to park vehicles and wait the storm out.Religious Freedom is an inherent human right that is fundamental to the U.S. constitution. In our third video in our series on human rights, Ambassador Michael Kozak explains U.S. efforts to promote respect for religious freedom worldwide.U.S. to provide Ukraine with second tranche of military aid  Poltorak

The minister spoke of the outcome of his meeting with Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterPoroshenko boasts Ukraine's success in import substitution of Russian goods

The president says Ukraine was able to preserve its defense industry.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterEU amendments on Nord Stream 2 may lead to Russia's more aggressive behavior  Ukraine's MFA

Additional sanctions may be imposed to increase pressure on Russia.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterKherson watermelon may become exclusive brand

A constituent conference of the Association of Kherson Watermelon Producers took place in Kherson on February 12.

Reporting by UNIAN

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Share your opinionUkraine's Black Sea ports have in recent years become more attractive to shippers moving goods from Asia to the EU due to their location.

Seaports in Ukraine are working to grab an even larger share of containerized cargo moving to the European Union from Asia by further developing domestic container terminals and increasing the quality of services provided to shippers.

According to data from the Administration of the Ukrainian Seaports (AMPU), Ukrainian ports saw cargo traffic surge 19 percent year over year to 846,485 TEU in 2018, with imports rising 22 percent and exports up 13 percent. Odesa continued to be the most utilized port in the country, handling 70.7 percent of all containerized cargo, followed by Yuzhny seaport at 14.7 percent, JOC reported.

Katerina Balyutova, executive director of Marine Container Service, one of Ukraine's largest freight forwarders, said that was the fastest growth rate since 2014, reflecting an ongoing recovery from the crisis.

The growth also outstripped that of ports in Russia, which saw volume increase 9.8 percent to 5.08 million TEU. Container throughput at Novorossiysk, Russia's major seaport on the Black Sea and the primary competitor to Ukrainian ports in the region, increased 2.5 percent to 754,890 TEU last year, while traffic at St. Petersburg, the country's largest container gateway by volume, increased 11 percent to 2.13 million TEU.

Read alsoInfrastructure minister vows US$3 bln investment in Ukrainian sea ports over 5 years

Another factor contributing to the volume growth is a package of customs reforms instituted in 2016-2017 that have reportedly resulted in cargo clearance times falling to between one and two hours, compared with three to four hours at Russian ports, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Transport and Communication. These reforms included a simplification of customs procedures, a reduction in the overall number of inspections, implementation of a program to hold inspectors accountable for inspections deemed unfounded, and the removal of a previous requirement that all documents provided to Ukrainian customs in English be translated into Ukrainian or Russian.

Igor Tkachuk, director of the Odesa branch of AMPU, said last year intra-country port competition increased significantly, evidenced by the relocation of Maersk Line's ME3 service, which connects the Middle East and Indian subcontinent with ports in the western Mediterranean and Black Sea, from the port of Odesa to Yuzhny. According to AMPU figures, Maersk accounts for roughly 30 percent of all container traffic to and from Ukraine.

Alexander Shchekin, director of the Ukrainian Container Line Association, said cargo growth is expected to continue this year, barring certain negative external factors, such as effects from the financial crisis in Ukraine and a lack of investment in aging or inadequate infrastructure.

Ports in Ukraine are also expected to benefit from a recent crackdown on corruption, primarily bribes given to customs officers to speed clearance, by the Ukrainian government and the continued implementation of the abovementioned reforms to customs procedures.

Ukraine's Black Sea ports have in recent years become more attractive to shippers moving goods from Asia to the EU due to their location.

The distance between Shanghai and Odesa, for example, is 8,395 miles by sea, more than 300 miles shorter than St. Petersburg (11,432 miles), and Odesa is close to the borders of several Central European states, making it particularly attractive for shippers moving goods to places such as Romania, Bulgaria, and Serbia. Delivery times from Shanghai and other major Chinese seaports to Odesa average 22-25 days, compared with 35-40 days to St. Petersburg.

And although transport costs tend to be higher for shipments travelling through Odesa than St. Petersburg, it may still be a viable option for shippers of high-priced or perishable cargoes that require shorter delivery times. Ocean freight rates from Shanghai to Odesa range from $1,400 to $1600 per TEU and $1,800 to $2,000 per FEU, compared with $1,200-1,400 per TEU and $1,600-1,800 per FEU from Shanghai to St. Petersburg, according to data from Russian third-party logistics provider Credo Trans. Those higher freight rates are offset in large part by lower port fees, which currently start at $300 (including surcharges) at the port of Odesa, compared with about $450 in St. Petersburg, according to Credo Trans.

Furthermore, dues are expected to decline in Odesa thanks to an ongoing modernization and expansion at the port, as well as the arrival of Hutchison Ports at nearby Chernomorsk, roughly 18 miles to the south. The Hong Kong-based terminal operator in late 2017 signed a preliminary agreement with the Ukrainian government for a 49-year concession at Chernomorsk, which handled just 127,000 TEU last year, despite having an estimated annual capacity of 1.15 million TEU.

Terminal infrastructure aside, Hutchison Ports will have its work cut out for it in developing inland connections to and from Chernomorsk. Access roads are in a state of disrepair, and despite a promise from the Ukrainian and regional governments to improve conditions, such improvements have yet to begin in earnest.

As a result, the port will likely have to rely heavily on rail service to attract discretionary cargo. Chernomorsk currently has a container rail connection to the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda via Viking Train, whereas Odesa and Yuzhny also offer rail services service to and from the ports of Riga, Latvia, and Muuga, Estonia, via Zubr.In 2018, 769 rhinos were killed by poachers in South Africa, the government said. Photo by AFP/Wikus De Wet

The number of rhinos killed by poachers in South Africa for their horn fell sharply last year, though more than 750 were still slaughtered.

The government announced the number on Wednesday and called for further efforts to end the "scourge."

In 2018, 769 rhinos were killed by poachers, down from 1,028 killed in 2017. It was the first time in five years that the number dipped below 1,000 as conservationists battle against insatiable demand for rhino horn in Asia.

"Although we are encouraged by the national poaching figures for 2018, it is critical that we continue to implement collaborative initiatives to address the scourge of rhino poaching," environment minister Nomvula Mokonyane said in a statement.

A total of 421 rhinos were poached in the famous Kruger National Park in 2018 - 16.5 percent less than the 504 poached in 2017.

The ministry said the "significant progress" was due to dedicated staff on the ground and improved domestic and international cooperation.

Last year, 365 alleged rhino poachers and 36 alleged rhino horn traffickers were arrested in South Africa, most of them in or near Kruger, a global hotspot for game watchers and safari holidaymakers.

The number of rhinos killed climbed steeply in the past decade from just 13 in 2007, reaching a peak of 1,215 in 2014, according to the Traffic wildlife trade monitoring group.

South Africa is home to 80 percent of the world's remaining rhinos.

Most of the demand emanates from China and Vietnam, where the horn is coveted as a traditional medicine, an aphrodisiac or as a status symbol.

According to Traffic, criminal networks of Chinese origin work in South Africa processing rhino horn into beads, bracelets, bangles and powder to evade detection and supply wealthy, middle-class urban consumers in Asia, mainly in China and Vietnam.

Rhino horn is composed mainly of keratin, the same substance as in human nails.

It is often sold in powdered form as a supposed cure for cancer and other diseases.Former Vietnamese student Pham Ngoc Canh who studied in North Korea and his North Korean wife Ri Young Hui in front of their house. Photo by Reuters/Kham

Canh and Ri were in love at first sight, but they have waited 30 years until approved to get married.

A young couple with matching expressions stare nervously into the camera with deep brown eyes. He, a Vietnamese student, has just met the love of his life. She, a North Korean, is forbidden to love him back.

It was 31 years after Pham Ngoc Canh, 69, took that first photo of Ri Yong Hui, before the two were finally allowed to get married in 2002 when North Korea took the rare step of allowing one of its citizens to marry a foreigner.

"From the moment I saw him, I was so sad because I felt it would be a love that could never be realized," said Ri, 70, speaking from the small Soviet-era apartment she and Canh share in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi.

Canh and Ri are hoping the upcoming summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi will help end hostilities with Pyongyang.

Ri said. "When people first heard Kim Jong Un decided to meet Trump, they expected reunification to happen soon. But thats hard to realize in just one or two days. I hope things work out well."

Today one of Asias fastest growing economies and integrated into the international community, Vietnam has been touted as a model for isolated and impoverished North Korea to follow.

Back in 1967, as Vietnam and the United States were locked in war, Canh was one of 200 Vietnamese students sent to North Korea to gain the skills the state needed to rebuild itself once the war was over.

Several years later, during a chemical engineering apprenticeship at a fertilizer factory on North Koreas east coast, Canh spotted Ri working in a laboratory.

"I thought to myself, I must marry that girl," said Canh, who eventually plucked up the courage to approach Ri and ask her for her address.

"As soon as I saw him, I knew it was him," said Ri. "He looked so gorgeous".

"Until then, when I had seen so-called handsome guys I hadnt felt anything, but when he opened the door, my heart just melted".

But there were challenges. Until this day in North Korea, and in Vietnam at the time, relationships with foreigners are strictly forbidden.

The couple hold their first photo together taken in Spring 1971. Photo by Reuters/Kham

Guerrilla action

After the couple exchanged several letters, Ri agreed to let Canh visit her at home.

He had to be careful. A Vietnamese comrade had been beaten when he had been found with a local girl.

Dressed in North Korean clothes, Canh embarked on the three-hour bus journey and two km walk to Ris home - a trip he repeated monthly until he returned to Vietnam in 1973.

"I went to her house secretly, just like a guerrilla," said Canh.

Five years later, in 1978, the Vietnamese chemical engineering institute Canh was attached to organized a trip to North Korea.

He asked to join, and managed to meet Ri. But every time they saw each other, Ri said, she became more heartbroken at the thought that they might never meet again.

He had brought with him a letter he had written to the North Korean leadership, begging for permission for them to marry.

"When she saw the letter, she asked: Comrade, do you intend to persuade my government?", said Canh, who never sent the letter and instead asked Ri to wait for him.

The wedding

In 1992, Canh again managed to get himself on a trip to North Korea as a translator with a Vietnamese sporting delegation, but couldnt meet Ri. When he returned to Hanoi, Canh found Ri had sent him a letter.

She still loved him.

In the late 1990s, North Korea was gripped by a devastating famine and a desperate delegation from Pyongyang visited Hanoi to ask for rice.

Canh was so concerned for Ri and her people that he raised seven tonnes of rice in donations from friends to send to North Korea.

It was an act of generosity which finally paved the way for he and Ri to reunite: The North Koreans learned of Canhs act and agreed he could marry Ri and live in either country - provided Ri maintained her North Korean citizenship.

In 2002, the two finally married in the Vietnamese embassy in Pyongyang, and settled into their new life together in Hanoi, where they still live today.Four teen boys are held at a police station for a series of robberies targeting foreign tourists in Hoi An. Photo by VnExpress/Quang Huy

Hoi An police have arrested four teenagers for a series of robberies targeting foreign tourists during the Tet holiday.

The police said Thursday that Tran Van Quang, 18, Dinh Phuong Son, 17, Le Dinh Thong and Tran Huu Phuoc, both aged 16, were involved in at least four bag snatching incidents during the Lunar New Year Tet festival last week, when the town is usually very peaceful.

Police said Thursday that Son and Quang, on a motorbike, snatched a handbag from a Dutch woman while she was riding a bicycle on February 6. Four days later, the duo carried out a similar robbery, this time snatching a handbag from a Chinese woman. The bag had VND3 million ($128) in cash and a cell phone.

On Monday, Thong and Son, snatched a handbag from a Frenchwoman in Cam Chau Ward. The bag contained $30 and VND500,000 in cash.

The same day, Thong, Quang and Phuoc rode a motorbike and grabbed a backpack from a Serbian man walking on Hai Ba Trung Street. The backpack had two cell phones and VND1 million in cash.

After receiving reports of the robberies from the foreigners, police officers captured the four thieves Tuesday as they prowled the streets for more unsuspecting prey.

Hoi An, which bans motorbikes and cars from the city center during certain hours, is one of the top holiday destinations in Vietnam, regularly winning plaudits from global travel magazines.Vietnam promises to share development experience with North Korea

Vietnam's Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (R) shakes hands with Ri Su Yong, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, in Pyongyang on February 13, 2019. Photo by Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Pham Binh Minh, who is also deputy prime minister, said during his three-day visit to the North Korean capital Pyongyang from February 12 that Vietnams consistent stance is to support dialogue to maintain peace, security and stability on the peninsula and actively contribute to this process.

He met with Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, Ri Su Yong, Vietnam's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Minister Ri thanked Vietnam for its stance and efforts to boost dialogue for peace in the Korean peninsula.

His country wants to strengthen bilateral relations in accordance with the new situation, especially by 2020 when the two mark 70 years of establishment of diplomatic relations, he said.

Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and the Vietnamese delegates (L) meet with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and other officials in Pyongyang on February 13, 2019. Photo by Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs

He had visited Hanoi in November and held talks with Minh.

Minhs visit to North Korea comes ahead of this months planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi.

Trump had announced the talks and its venue last week.

Vietnam welcomed it, and expressed its readiness to host the meeting on February 27 and 28. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has ordered "thorough" preparation for the event earlier this week.

Vietnam's economic reforms are thought to be a suitable model for North Korea given the countries' shared historical and political background.

Minh NgaAt the Duc But festival in Vinh Phuc Province, villagers push, pull and compete for mat pieces believed to help beget boys.

A group of men wear costumes for the Duc But festival in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, one and a half hour northwest of Hanoi.

The Duc But festival is an annual event held in Phu Lien Village, Tam Duong District, Vinh Phuc Province. It is celebrated on the eighth day of the first lunar month, which is Tuesday. It honors Princess Ngoc Kinhs recruiting of soldiers, formation of armies, forging of weapons and similar activities around 2,000 years ago. Legend has it that the Vietnamese female general hid herself from the world by living as a nun in the Phu Lien Pagoda.

Ironically, the festival that celebrates a princesss heroism is also associated with the belief that one of its rituals will help people beget male progeny.

From left to right: Ngo Trung Hai, 18, Nguyen Duc Hoan, 18, and Tran Trong Huong, 16, are chosen to become the festival's "But," meaning "The Enlightened."

The chosen "But" must be from families that have both sons and daughters and are loved and respected by the community.

As part of the festival's rituals, the "But" are cleansed at the village's communal well.

... and covered in mud from a paddy field near a local pagoda or temple.

The "But" are then escorted from the paddy field to a shrine.

Inside the shrine, the "But" are covered with torn up mats while people beat drums and cheer around them.

People would later fight for these mats, because it is believed that whoever possesses them will get sons.

The mats are thrown out to the shrine's front yard where people scramble to get them.

Last year, the culture ministry has asked that the mats be torn into small pieces so that all people attending the ritual could get a piece, preventing the fights that break out over whole mats, which is "unbecoming for a traditional Vietnamese festival."

People fight each other to protect their hard-earned mat threads and pieces.

A man gets squashed as people jostle for pieces of the mats used in the ritual.

Chaos ensues.

Two women laugh, holding pieces of mat in their hands.

"Every year we come to this festival, not to fight for mats but to pick up the pieces on the ground. We bring it home to gift our children, grandchildren and neighbors. We come here mostly for the New Year atmosphere," said one.

Vietnam currently suffers a worrying gender imbalance, with as many as 4.3 million men likely to remain lifelong bachelors in the next 30 years, according to the Health Ministry.

The long-standing cultural preference for boys in Vietnam is mainly to blame for this skewed ration, experts have said.In Saigon, on the Day of The God of Wealth, offerings to Him are not complete without this fish.

On Tan Ky - Tan Quy Street in Saigon, many stalls have been selling grilled fish for more than a decade. But they are busiest on the Day of the God of Wealth, which this year falls on February 14 (10th day of the lunar year). From the previous evening workers at the stalls were busy making fire and preparing and grilling the fish for the morning.

The God of Wealth, worshipped by many families, is believed to control money and finance. People, especially families doing business, pray to Him for wealth and luck for the whole year.

In the south, when people pray to Him, they usually make offerings of gold, fruit, grilled meat and, unfailingly, grilled snakehead fish.

The grilled fish stalls had to employ more staff to work throughout the night. Each person was in charge of a particular task like keeping the charcoal fire going, skewering the fish on sticks and washing vegetables.

"On normal days we have only five people to help, but when the Day of the God of Wealth comes we need 10 times more people working from the previous night to morning to be able to supply the fish in time," Nguyen Thi Cuc, a stall owner, said.

Dozens of boxes containing fish were delivered to Cuc's stall from An Giang province in the Mekong Delta through the night. She said: "This year I bought nearly 3,000 fish, equal to three tons. We only sell 200 fish on a normal day."

Sugar cane delivered from the southern province of Tay Ninh is sharpened and stuck through the fish's body. According to some cooks, grilling the fish with sugar cane makes the fishs flesh sweeter.

The snakehead fish does not need to be seasoned and can be grilled whole. The cook also does not have to get rid of the fishs scales and offal. It takes about half an hour to grill a fish.

"The cooks have to be careful and keep turning the fish so that it is cooked evenly and is not burned. On normal days we take out the fish gallbladder, but on the Day of the God of Wealth the fish should be intact when offered and so it must not be taken out," Hoa, a fish griller on the street, said.

Once the grilling is done, the cooks use a knife to scrape off the coal dust and soot on the fish. However, they need to be careful since a fish offered to the God of Wealth must be intact.

Along the two-kilometer-long Tan Ky - Tan Quy Street, people hurry to prepare the grilled fish. The fish can be kept for a day.

"Only on this day in the year can we sell a lot of fish," Thi, another stall owner, said. "So the whole family stays awake at night to grill."

In a corner of the kitchen, a group of women constantly poured fish sauce into a bag. Each store has a secret recipe for mixing the fish sauce.

All kinds of fresh vegetables eaten with the grilled fish like cinnamon, perilla and basil are also prepared in the night and packed in hundreds of plastic bags. Each stall buys from a few hundred kilograms to more than a ton of vegetables.

At night many customers came to buy the grilled fish. A grilled snakehead fish served with vegetables and peanuts costs VND130,000-170,000 ($5.58-7.29).

In Vietnam, especially in the southern provinces, the God of Wealth is worshipped in many families.

Originally from China, the God of Wealth Day tradition arrived in Vietnam in the early 20th century, according to experts.

Though many people are not clear about the origin of this day, they buy gold, snakehead fish and roasted pork to worship the God of Wealth and seek his blessings for prosperity in the new year.Cong Tris 2019 fall-winter collection he unveiled at the New York Fashion Week Monday has come in for much praise.

After the show, the collection and backstage images were featured on Zimbio, The Daily Beast, The Impression and other popular media outlets.

Cong Tri's designs appear on The Daily beast.

The Da Nang-born designers show has received considerable attention from the international media partly because of the participation of Victoria's Secret models.

"It sounded like a dream lineup for the Victoria's Secret fashion show. But when Jasmine Sanders, Shanina Shaik, Josephine Skriver, Lais Ribeiro, and Jasmine Tookes showed up to the shows at Gallery II at Spring Studios in New York City it was for an entirely different designer," the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.

It also featured Cong Tris collection, describing Shanina Shaik's outfit as: "The cover girl also wore this stunning one-shoulder gown with a slit up the front and silver heels."

Zimbio posted a photo of Cong Tri preparing his design for supermodel Caroline Trentini backstage.

The Daily Beast's initial impression of the Vietnamese designers collection was a high school prom, but later described the designs were "Game of Thrones-esque regal gowns".

The Daily Mail gushed: "Each of his [Tris] collection is state-of-the-art and a fascinating story to be told."

Dutch model Daphne Groeneveld congratulated Cong Tri's first show on New York Fashion Week with a picture of one of his dresses.

Many top names in the fashion world took to Instagram to compliment his designs, including stylist Kate Young, supermodel Caroline Trentini, Victoria's Secret angel Josephine Skriver, Martha Hunt, Jasmine Sander, Park Hee Jung, Alexina Raham, Amanda Murphy, and Leomio Anderson.

Tri showed off his signature work  cocktail dresses and red carpet costumes -- that impressed the audience with their 3D style and classy materials.

The past year has been great for Tri as he designed costumes for A-list celebrities like Katy Perry, Rihanna and Gwen Stefani.

He has been using both materials sourced abroad and traditional Vietnamese materials like silk.

The entire cast of models in his show was styled by Hung Van Ngo, winner of the "Makeup Artist of the Year" award at the 2017 InStyle Awards.The government has approved a scheme by GSO to document the informal economy to more accurately reflect GDP. Photo by VnExpres/Anh Tu

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has sought the International Monetary Funds assistance for collating and evaluating data on Vietnams informal economic sector.

He made the request Tuesday morning at a reception he hosted for the chief representative of the IMF in Vietnam, Jonathan Dunn, in Hanoi. He thanked the IMF and called on it to continue making recommendations to Vietnam on monetary policy amid the "complex" international developments.

Dunn said the IMF could help Vietnam measure national output better since its official statistics related to GDP do not correctly reflect the real gross domestic output.

The structure of Vietnams economy has changed much over the years, but some figures are only updated once every decade, with the last update done in 2012, he pointed out.

Once they are updated, there would be a significant change to the countrys nominal GDP, he said.

The government has approved a scheme by the Vietnam General Statistics Office (GSO) to document the informal economy to more accurately reflect GDP.

The GSO is scheduled to begin it in 2019 and collect data in 2020, and publish preliminary and final results every quarter.

The GSO describes the informal economy as underground activities aimed at evading tax, illegal activities, informal activities, production for self-consumption, and other undocumented activities.

According to a Fulbright study last year the informal economy accounted for 25-30 percent of the countrys GDP, equivalent to US$55-60 billion.In Hanoi, people queue outside gold shops on God of Wealth Day

In Hanoi, people have been queuing up since early morning Thursday to buy gold on the God of Wealth Day.

By 5 a.m. Thursday large crowds had gathered in front of gold shops on Tran Nhan Tong Street in the belief this would bring good fortune to their business and family through the year.

Some have been here since midnight. The God of Wealth Day is celebrated on the 10th of the lunar year.

Buying gold on this day used to be a tradition only among businesspeople, especially ethnic Chinese, but in the last few years it has been embraced by the wider population in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Nguyen Thi Uyen from the northern province of Tuyen Quang was one of the earliest to arrive despite being pregnant.

Hanoian Nguyen Van Hung was the first customer allowed to enter this shop as a reward for being there since midnight. Hung bought three gold rings of 3.75 grams each.

When the gold shops opened at 6 a.m. each customer was given a number and only five were allowed to enter at a time to maintain order.

On Cau Giay Street, a large number of customers queued up though office time was approaching.

In Vietnam, especially in the southern provinces, the God of Wealth is worshipped in many families.

As more and more people buy into this practice, scenes of people in Hanoi and HCMC queuing up for a kilometer to buy gold is becoming increasingly familiar.

Originally from China, the God of Wealth Day tradition arrived in Vietnam in the early 20th century, according to experts.

Though many people are not clear about the origin of this day, they buy gold, snakehead fish and roasted pork to worship the God of Wealth and seek his blessings for prosperity in the new year.The HCMC Management Authority for Urban Railways targets to have 80 percent of the Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien metro line finished in 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

Ho Chi Minh City wants its first metro lines trial run to take place by October next year despite funding and personnel challenges.

Tran Vinh Tuyen, Deputy Chairman of the city, speaking at an event Monday, said the HCMC Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR) should overcome all difficulties to meet this deadline.

The city is willing to make advance payment to the Japanese contractor before getting funds from the government, the government's website baochinhphu.vn quoted him as saying.

In January MAUR had called on the city to make an advance payment of VND2.25 trillion ($97 million).

The city has obliged on four occasions since 2017, paying a total of VND3.27 trillion (over $141 million), but only receiving VND591 billion ($25.4 million) from the government so far.

Bui Xuan Cuong, director of MAUR, said 80 percent of the work would be completed this year.

The line, from Ben Thanh to Suoi Tien, faced many difficulties last year.

The projects demand to sanction an increase in cost from VND17.4 trillion ($747.6 million) to VND47.3 trillion ($2 billion) was not approved until January.

Last November Japanese ambassador to Vietnam, Umeda Kunio, said the Japanese contractors unpaid bills had gone up to $100 million.

As of November last year, 50 personnel have quit the management board. Deputy director of the projects management board Hoang Nhu Cuong has left the country to travel to the U.S. in early December without approval of the city Peoples Committee.

Work started in August 2012. Only 62 percent was completed by the end of last year against a target of 65 percent.

The route runs 20 kilometers (12.43 miles) through the five HCMC districts of 1, 2, 9, Binh Thanh, and Thu Duc and Di An District in the neighboring province of Binh Duong.

It will run underground for 2.6 km from Ben Thanh Market past the Opera House and Ba Son Shipyard, cross the Saigon River on an elevated track in District 2 on the way to Suoi Tien Park and the terminus at Long Binh in District 9.The Trump Regime has been working to rig the campaign finance rules in preparation for his reelection efforts; more on that below. It has also ordered the gutting of the task forces protecting elections from foreign meddling . At an earlier time in history, a leader like Trump would have been dragged out of his palace and lynched... or guillotined. We don't do that any more. Betsy Woodruff wrote yesterday that "Two teams of federal officials assembled to fight foreign election interference are being dramatically downsized, according to three current and former Department of Homeland Security officials. And now, those sources say they fear the department wont prepare adequately for election threats in 2020." Who would have guessed?

The clear assessment from the intelligence community is that 2020 is going to be the perfect storm, said a DHS official familiar with the teams. We know Russia is going to be engaged. Other state actors have seen the success of Russia and realize the value of disinformation operations. So its very curious why the task forces were demoted in the bureaucracy and the leadership has not committed resources to prepare for the 2020 election.



The task forces, part of the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), were assembled in response to Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. One focuses in part on securing election infrastructure and the other focuses on foreign influence efforts, including social media disinformation campaigns.



...The election task force has worked to shield election infrastructure from foreign efforts to change vote counts. And the foreign influence task force is working to publicly reveal efforts by foreign actors to shape American political discourse on social mediain the hopes of significantly expanding Americans understanding of the threat. It was also designed to improve DHSs coordination with foreign allies who face the same threat, and to help DHS better alert the private sector about threats.

To help guarantee even a chance at reelection, the colossally unpopular-- even hated-- Trump moved quickly to rig his fund-raising operation by having Mnuchin institute a Treasury Department rule that allows political 501 (c)(4) dark money "charities"-- which can take massive amounts of illegal money from Russia, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Brazil and other Trump allies from around the world-- and pass them on to Trump's campaign without anyone knowing.





On December 12, the Senate voted 50-49 to abrogate the rule, Susan Collins (R-ME) voting with every Democrat and Thom Tillis (R-NC) absent. Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy immediately declared that the legislation would not get a vote in the House... so it died -- at least for the session.





Things have changed after the midterms. The Democrats control the House and this rule change would easily pass. But the Senate is Trumpier now and it's less likely the Democrats could get it through-- if McConnell even allowed it to come up for a vote again, which is unlikely. Meanwhile campaign finance watchdogs are furious because Mnuchin and Trump are encouraging foreign interference in U.S. elections.

Titled the Spotlight Act, legislation from Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Jon Tester (D-MT)-- accompanied by an identical bill from Rep. David Price (D-NC in the House-- would overturn the rule change and restore donor disclosure to the IRS.



At a time when our elections are plagued by unlimited corporate spending, anonymous donors, and illegal foreign meddling, the Trump administrations decision to obscure millions in dark campaign money weakens our already failing campaign finance system and diminishes the power of voters, Price said in a statement.



Dark money groups reported nearly $148 million in outside spending to the FEC during the 2018 cycle, not including money spent toward so-called issue ads aired before election season and other undisclosed political efforts, and contributed more than $176 million to super PACs.



Foreign nationals are prohibited from making federal contributions and politically-active groups cannot use foreign funds to influence elections. Though the IRS doesnt directly enforce the foreign money ban, the FEC or Department of Justice (DOJ) could request an unredacted version of a politically-active nonprofits tax returns in order to assess whether it had received foreign money, said Brendan Fischer, director of federal reform at the Campaign Legal Center.



McClatchy reported in July 2018 that Special Counsel Robert Mueller likely got access to the National Rifle Associations (NRA) hidden donors as part of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.



A few weeks later, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the IRS rule change, just hours after the arrest of alleged Russian agent Maria Butina-- accused of infiltrating the NRA.



The NRA spent a record $54.4 million in 2016, much of which went to help elect President Donald Trump, all while keeping its donors hidden as a dark money nonprofit. In a letter to Wyden, the NRA said it received roughly $2,500 from Russian sources in 2016.



Mnuchin justified the IRS rule change by noting it will prevent confidential donor information from leaking-- as it did in 2013 when the IRS posted unredacted tax forms revealing donors to the Republican Governors Association Public Policy Committee. He also noted that nonprofits must continue to keep donor information in their own records.



Even if the bill reached the Senate floor and passed both chambers, President Donald Trump would be waiting on the other side with a veto ready-- and a two-thirds override appears impossible. The December 2018 resolution passed with just 50 votes, with every Republican except Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) voting nay.

There's a new cop on the beat at the House Financial Services Committee, a committee the banisters and their lobbyists have always thought-- and for good reason-- was there to do their bidding. Even when it was controlled by Democrats, chairman Barney Frank accepted millions in bribes and never let the regulating get "out of hand." Now the banksters and lobbyists will have to face down serious reformers with a serious agenda: Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Elizabeth Warren protegee Katie Porter (D-CA). The committee is still dominated by crooks and bribe takers, from ranking member Patrick McHenry (R-NC) to a pacel of bribe-hungry Blue Dogs and New Dems like Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ), Jim Himes (New Dem-CT) and Gregory Meeks (New Dem-NY).





Let's take a minute and see how much the Finance Sector schmeired each member of the current committee in the last cycle. This is sickening, especially if you have this in mind when you read it. And remember, this is for just one cycle. Some of these members have taken millions in bribes from the banksters over time.

The names of the freshman members on the committee have their names in red on the list below. They haven't had enough time yet to get the really big bucks flowing in yet-- at least most of them haven't. But most of them will.

 Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)- $1,985,233

 Patrick McHenry (R-NC)- $1,692,156

 Andy Barr (R-KY)- $1,491,455

 Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)- $1,427,138

 Steve Stivers (R-OH)- $1,357,140

 Sean Duffy (R-WI)- $1,314,213

 French Hill (R-AR)- $1,160,462

 Bill Huizenga (R-MI)- $1,039,719

 Ann Wagner (R-MO)- $1,012,350

 Lee Zeldin (R-NY)- $960,750

 Carolyn Mahoney (D-NY)- $779,561

 Jim Himes (New Dem-CT)- $766,617

 Katie Porter (D-CA)- $691,718

 Tom Emmer (R-MN)- $652,679

 Ed Perlmutter (New Dem-CO)- $636,580

 Trey Hollingsworth (R-IN)- $622,300

 Ted Budd (R-NC)- $606,530

 David Kustoff (R-TN)- $585,288

 Bill Foster (New Dem-IL)- $581,335

 Dean Phillips (New Dem-MN)- $580,192

 Gregory Meeks (New Dem-NY)- $564,100

 Roger Williams (R-TX)- $519,355

 David Scott (Blue Dog-GA)- $512,750

 Denny Heck (New Dem-WA)- $512,140

 Cindy Axne (New Dem-IA)- $480,437

 Sean Casten (New Dem-IL)- $471,722

 Joyce Beaty (D-OH)- $454,085

 Brad Sherman (D-CA)- $452,225

 Scott Tipton (R-CO)- $447,376

 Alex Mooney (R-WV)- $446,970

 Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)- $437,900

 Maxine Waters (D-CA)- $431,256

 Jennifer Wexton (New Dem-VA)- $424,685

 Juan Vargas (New Dem-CA)- $415,313

 Frank Lucas (R-OK)- $391,850

 Bryan Steil (R-WI)- $369,602

 Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)- $354,794

 Nydia Velazquez (D-NY)- $351,849

 Peter King (R-NY)-$335,925

 Vicente Gonzalez (Blue Dog-TX)- $301,502

 Barry Loudermilk (R-GA)- $300,099

 Warren Davidson (R-OH)- $288,750

 Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH)- $284,389

 Denver Riggleman (R-VA)- $280,943

 Lance Gooden (R-TX)- $255,000

 Stephen Lynch (D-MA)- $229,618

 Lacy Clay (D-MO)- $212,220

 Bill Posey (R-FL)- $197,350

 Al Lawson (New Dem-FL)- $136,352

 John Rose (R-TN)- $127,999

 Al Green (D-TX)- $119,688



[less than 6 figures in a cycle means the member has sworn off bribery and this is just normal contributions from tellers and realtors and individuals in related fields]



 Sylvia Garcia (D-TX)- $94,836

 Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY)- $90,189

 Madeleine Dean (New Dem-PA)- $88,151

 Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)- $82,690

 Alma Adams (D-NC)- $79,290

 Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)- $73,363

 Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)- $60,526

 Jesus "Chuy" Garcia (D-IL)- $50,958









The tweet above was used in a Reuters story last week by Pete Schroeder and Michelle Price, Banks Weight Whether To Embrace Or Avoid Progressive Firebrand Ocasio-Cortez . I was laughing when I read it because the reaction from the banksters and their lobbyists isn't that different from the reaction of the Democratic establishment. "Barely a month into the new Congress," they wrote, "financial lobbyists in Washington are already strategizing how to handle the star power of rookie Democrat lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Democratic Socialist and Wall Street critic joined the 60-member House Financial Services Committee in mid-January and more than a dozen lobbyists interviewed by Reuters say the 29-year-old activist and former bartender is too high-profile to ignore." They have the same problem Pelosi and Hoyer have.

Richard Hunt, chief executive of the Consumer Bankers Association, said he had not encountered a lawmaker like Ocasio-Cortez in more than 20 years in Washington. She has the ability to influence unlike a lot of other freshmen.



...An economics major and self-confessed science nerd, Ocasio-Cortez campaigned on issues that put her at odds with the financial industry, including separating commercial and investment banking, breaking up large banks, and forgiving student debt.



Central to her campaign has been the rejection of corporate campaign dollars, closing off a traditional avenue for industry access and influence on Capitol Hill.



Now lobbyists fear that her enlarged platform will help the first-term junior lawmaker push her ideas into the mainstream and are trying to figure out how best to respond.



Lobbyists representing big banks, such as JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup, Bank of America Corp, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley, which have embraced progressive causes such as diversity, inclusion, gun control or above-minimum wages, want to push these credentials. They also want to highlight how they employ thousands of people in Ocasio-Cortezs district in Queens and the Bronx, they said.



Smaller and mid-size firms, meanwhile, want to distance themselves from Wall Street titans and emphasize their critical role as community lenders.



Several financial lobbyists, noting she lacks a financial services background, said they were keen to meet with Ocasio-Cortez to explain their business models and issues.



Paul Merski, executive vice president at the Independent Community Bankers of America, said the group had contacted the lawmakers office and was hoping to schedule a meeting. He added his focus would be to draw the distinction between larger financial firms and ICBAs members, which as small community lenders have built-up tremendous goodwill across the aisle.



Spokespeople for JPMorgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.



Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of a Capitol Hill event on Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez said the appointment of progressives like her to the panel sends a very powerful message to the financial industry.



She said she wanted to pursue aggressive oversight and expose financial corporations role in broader areas of concern, such as the detention of children in privately-funded facilities on the Mexico border.



We can leap back in and say, what does a responsible financial sector looks like?



Other lobbyists worry, however, engaging her could backfire, especially if Ocasio-Cortez uses social media to publicize the meeting. For example, she went on Twitter to name and shame corporate lobbyists at a Congressional freshman orientation event in December.









The fear is, its like going in to talk to the FBI, anything you do or say can be used against you, said one lobbyist for a major bank.



Lobbyists note how Ocasio-Cortez has already ignited a public debate on climate change and inequality by calling for a Green New Deal and proposing a 70 percent tax on income exceeding $10 million, an idea Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman has endorsed.



Waleed Shahid, a former campaign aide and a spokesman for Justice Democrats, the progressive group that recruited Ocasio-Cortez, said her ability to raise public awareness about complex issues had caught the establishments attention.



She can really explain what is happening with Wall Street in a way the public can understand it, and thats why Wall Street is terrified.



Speaking to Reuters, Ocasio-Cortez did not rule out listening to industry concerns to arrive at responsible regulation, but said they have more than enough sympathetic ears on the committee.



We also saw in 2008 just a lot of advocacy for policies that were at its core totally irresponsible. But they were dressed up as conservative fair-minded measures, she added.



Saikat Chakrabarti, chief of staff for Ocasio-Cortez, whose Twitter handle is @AOC, had his own message for the industry: @AOC is here to hold Wall Street accountable, not be your buddy, he Tweeted on Wednesday in response to this story.



The financial industry faced a similar challenge in 2012 when newly elected progressive firebrand Elizabeth Warren joined the Senate Banking Committee and her grilling of bank executives and regulators won her a national following.



But while Warren was well-known as a consumer advocate before joining Congress, she did not have the same social media platform as Ocasio-Cortez. Isaac Boltansky, director of policy research at Washington-based boutique investment bank Compass Point Research & Trading, said that whichever bank slips up next will get taken to the woodshed in a way that we havent seen before.



Often caught flatfooted by Warren, the industry hopes to rebuild bipartisan support it enjoyed in Congress before the 2007-2009 financial crisis. And with many incumbent centrist Democrats smarting after Ocasio-Cortez called them out for doing big businesss bidding, some see an opportunity to divide and conquer.



Several lobbyists told Reuters they believed they could isolate Ocasio-Cortez and other progressives on the financial services committee by building coalitions with moderate Democrats, such as fellow New York Representative Gregory Meeks, and centrist Republicans.



They said they would also lean on Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, a Democrat and a liberal who has pledged to work across the aisle, to rein in the progressive wing.

I'm sure they would-- and will. And they can always get their man Steny to crack the whip when push comes to shove. He's not on the committee but the Finance Sector has been very nice to him-- to the tune of $6,865,814 in bribes since 1990-- and that ain't chump change. Nor is the kind of money that people contribute to a politician because they like his sense of humor or how sharply he dresses. They expect Hoyer to deliver-- and he always does. This has long been the single most corrupt committee in Congress-- and the lobbyists, the banksters and the members who have been fattened on their bribes-- the Gregory Meekses, the Josh Gottheimers and the Patrick McHenrys are not going to give up all their power just because of some damned progressive busy-bodies butting in on their business.







Tom Barrack, knee-deep in Trump's criminal shit



Today, the House voted overwhelmingly, 248-177 , to approve a resolution authored by Ro Khanna that direct the removal of US armed forces from hostilities in Yemen that have not been authorized by Congress. All the Democrats voted YES, along with 18 Republicans. Justin Amash (R-MI) voted "present" and 177 other Republicans voted to continue aiding the Saudi genocide in Yemen. Central Valley Blue Dog Jim Costa, who has been heavily pressured by Blue America to stop voting with the Republicans on this-- as he had done twice before-- finally did vote against the war.





It was definitely time for a victory lap for Khanna. He issued a statement acknowledging the success of grassroots activism in the successful outcome on the floor, calling victory "historic. This is the culmination of several years of legislative efforts to end our involvement in the Saudi war in Yemen. Im encouraged by the direction people are pushing our party to take on foreign policy, promoting restraint and human rights and with the sense they want Congress to play a much larger role."





Ted Lieu, who got this out-of-Yemen ball rolling before Khanna-- or Trump-- was elected said e-mailed his constituents to say that he has been "gravely concerned about the catastrophe unfolding in Yemen since 2015, and have worked to stop U.S. military involvement in this bloody civil war. The Saudi-led coalition was dropping bombs on civilians and we were helping fuel those planes. Millions of people were becoming aid-dependent in what was turning into, and now is, the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The U.S., despite Democrats calls for answers and actions for change, continued to support the coalitions efforts. Every step of the way, the Republican-controlled House obstructed debates on Yemen because it was uncomfortable to shame our partners and make tough choices about ending our support in order to protect civilians. After nearly four years of conflict, Congress finally took action on the House floor. I commend Congressman Ro Khanna for authoring this legislation. Im proud that weve passed this bill, which I coauthored, to send a clear message to the Administration that we must end all U.S. military support in Yemen." The ball is now in Trump's court-- or Miss McConnell's. The Senate passed the bill 56-41 in December but-- thanks to Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy-- it was never voted on in the House. Noe that it passed the House, it has to pass the Senate again. It's unlikely McConnell will allow a vote and if he did it would be unlikely it would pass again. In any case, Trump already said he would veto it if it ever got to his desk.





I'm going too take a little jump now-- but just a little one, despite how it's going to sound at first. You probably remember-- back before most of America was accustomed to hear Trump lie all day and all night every single day-- that he was spouting some bullshit about self-funding his own presidential campaign and that in any case he wouldn't accept any money from SuperPACs. That's always been a very conscious lie and one of his few friends, uber-crooked real estate mogul Tom Barrack, set up the Rebuilding America Now SuperPAC in June 2016. Leading up to the election, Rebuilding America Now reported raising $22,610,717 and spending $22,763,915 (leaving them-- in magic math-- with $841,772 "left over").





This is a list of their 15 biggest contributors, many of whom have since been handsomely rewarded with public money doled out by Trump.

 Linda McMahon- $6,000,000

 Geoffrey Palmer- $5,000,000

 Bernard Marcus- $5,000,000

 Ronald Cameron- $2,000,000

 Stephen Feinberg- $1,475,000

 Peter Zieve- $1,000,000

 Walter Buckley- $500,000

 Beverly Elliott- $450,000

 Hamilton Company- $300,000

 Geo Corrections- $275,000

 Boyd Smith- $275,000

 Murray Energy- $200,000

 Llwyd Ecclestone- $200,000

 Frank Caladra- $150,000

 Anthony Scaramucci- $100,000

Those were the reported contributions. It is also widely suspected that Trump's campaign was soliciting highly illegal foreign contributions -- presumably from the Kremlin and the Saudis and Emiratis-- through the PAC, contributions that have no been accounted for. One of the big donors, Geoffrey Palmer-- another Trump-like real estate crook-- is suspected of laundering foreign money into the Trump campaign at the request of Paul Manafort. At least a million, and probably more, was put into the Barrack SuperPAC and made to disappear. It has now reappeared and Mueller is on the case in a big way. Money from the SuperPCA went into Trump's pockets and as kickbacks for his top aides, all completely illegal.





Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. "Whatever happened in Saudi Arabia," he told CNN, "the atrocities in America are equal, or worse. He referred to the murderous and primitive crown prince-- and Kushner-in-law amigo as "a young man and regime that is trying to push themselves into 2030," and that lecturing them about a moral code (i.e., torture and murder) "is a mistake." I'm fairly certain that Trump's White House sojourn will eventually result in Barrack going to prison for a long time. Tuesday-- so a day before Khanna's Yemen resolution was voted on-- Barrack was in Dubai , speaking at the Milken Institute MENA Summit. He said that America is in no moral position to criticise Saudi Arabia (over the crown prince's brutal and premeditated murder ofjournalist Jamal Khashoggi. "Whatever happened in Saudi Arabia," he told CNN, "the atrocities in America are equal, or worse. He referred to the murderous and primitive crown prince-- and Kushner-in-law amigo as "a young man and regime that is trying to push themselves into 2030," and that lecturing them about a moral code (i.e., torture and murder) "is a mistake."

Barrack went on to launch a lengthy defence of Saudi Arabia, accusing Western countries of failing to understand the kingdom.



The problem that has happened with the Khashoggi incident, he said, is the same problem with the West misunderstanding the east that has existed since Sykes-Picot.



So, the West is confused, it doesnt understand the rule of law in the kingdom, it doesnt understand what succession in the kingdom is, it doesnt understand how there can be a dilemma with a population that has 60 per cent of people under the age of 20.



He later added that the West had always been confused about the Middle East.



The corrupt hand of the West has been the primary instigator in the kingdom, and in the resource curse across the region forever.



Barrack then praised the strong leadership across the Arabian Gulf in the face of this perceived Western ineffectiveness, especially in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.



The leadership in the UAE is brilliant, he said, adding: The English manipulated the region for decades.



The private equity investor also defended Saudi Arabias transformation, saying that in a transition, bold action is required for bold places.



Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Riyadh represented some of the most organised leadership regimes in the world, he added.But I dont want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.

"Oh, you cant help that," said the Cat: "were all mad here. Im mad. Youre mad."

"How do you know Im mad?" said Alice.

"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldnt have come here.

 Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland





With freedom comes responsibility.

 Eleanor Roosevelt



CORVALLIS POLICE

Interfering with making a report  8:25 p.m. Tuesday, 200 block Wake Robin Avenue. A woman reported Tami Lynn Chavez, 50, of Corvallis, took her phone and broke it during an argument to keep the woman from calling police. An officer cited Chavez with charges of harassment and interfering with making a report.

LINN COUNTY SHERIFF

Missing tools  11:33 a.m. Tuesday, 38000 block Palmyre Lane, Lebanon. A caller reported the theft of some $2,000 worth of tools from a new home under construction.

Stolen chainsaw  12:12 p.m. Tuesday, 1900 block Oak Street, Brownsville. A caller reported a Husqvarna chainsaw valued at $1,000 as stolen.

False report  12:41 a.m. Wednesday. Tyler Emerling, 24, was cited for issuing a false police report after driving his vehicle into a ditch. He reported the vehicle stolen.

LINN COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

From Wednesday afternoonBefore I watched the life fade from that beautiful face of an angel, which had become as familiar as my own face, I asked God for yet another miracle even though I was overdrawn at the miracle bank. God told me to look around and when I did, I saw that I was surrounded by miracles.

All of her friends and family there to help her with her transition, no one ready to say goodbye, but because of Gods grace, Jill went quietly, quickly and peacefully in a room filled with love all around her. I love her. I would never be ready to let her go. But in that room with all that love, after the chaplain blessed her, as was her familys beliefs, with her parents reaching out to her from Heaven, she left this world. She will always live on in the hearts of us all.

At that moment, God soothed our pain and filled us with reflection and love.

We want to thank all the staff at Corvallis ICU for their professionalism, kindness, patience and for guiding us through this most difficult time. You were all exceptional. We were all very impressed. A special thank you to Nurse Brandy, who stayed with us tirelessly.

I also want to thank all of Jills family and friends who were there at the hospital and those who were keeping us in their prayers.The students also spoke with Fred Hayden, who served in Vietnam as a member of the United States Marine Corps. Hayden told the students how he signed up with the Marines as a 17-year-old and spent 1968 and 1969 in Vietnam, earning a Purple Heart. He told the students he carried an M60 machine gun, which was almost as heavy as I was.

Despite the hardships, there is much that he remembers fondly about his time in the Marines.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

I liked it, it was a good learning experience, Hayden said.

But he also told the students he wishes he had stayed in school and he urged them to do just that.

Haley Hargis was one of the students who signed up to deliver the cards. She has family members who are veterans, and she enjoyed speaking with residents at the home.

I wanted to hang out with them and bring joy to their faces, brighten their days, Hargis said. I learned a lot about history and personal stories have been fun.

Classmate Sam Brandt said the day was memorable because of the response from the seniors they met.

How excited they are to us. Theyre thankful for the cards and they want to tell us what they did, Brandt said.Senate Bill 1051, which took effect in August 2017, amended an Oregon state statute to mandate that cities with populations greater than 2,500 allow at least one accessory dwelling in areas zoned for detached single-family homes. To comply with state law, the city has to amend its development code.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

In July 2018, the council approved the proposed code change that would remove ADU restrictions, with a vote of 4-2. Konopa, citing concerns over street parking and the environment in single-family neighborhoods, issued a veto. The majority did not have enough votes to overturn her decision.

The current Albany Development Code allows for ADUs that do not exceed 750 square feet in certain mixed-use zones. The city code does not allow detached ADUs in all areas of the city that also permit single-family homes as required by state law since August 2017.

SB 1051 allows for cities to apply reasonable regulations relating to siting and design of ADUs. But those requirements are not necessary for the city to come into compliance with the new state law. City staff provided two proposals, one that included local regulations and one that did not.

Councilor Bill Coburn called for the council to vote on the ordinances and move on.NOWSHERA: A court on Wednesday awarded death penalty to a person for killing his wife for honour.





Additional Sessions Judge, Nowshera, Zahid Mehmood awarded death penalty to Raza Ali Khan of Kheshgi Payan and freed his brother, Amroz Ali Khan, giving him benefit of lack of evidence against him.





According to the FIR, Raza with support of his brother had killed his wife after exchange of hot words with her on suspicion that she had illicit relation with another person.





However, the killer had stated that his wife had committed suicide. But his younger daughter narrated the actual story to her maternal uncle.





Nowshera Kalan police had registered a case on the complaint of Minhajuddin, brother of the deceased, and started investigation.





The judge also slapped Rs500,000 fine and six-month jail to the convict.





The killer was shifted to Central Jail Haripur from the Nowshera judicial lockup.





Meanwhile, the Nowshera police have failed to control increasing robberies in the district.





JUI-F local leader Qari Riazullah was robbed of cash by unknown armed men at gunpoint in the bright daylight.





In another incident, armed robbers injured a man, Mir Aman Shah, when he showed resistance to them on Nowshera- Nizampur Road.





The injured man was rushed to Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, in critical condition.





The villagers complained that Nowshera-Nizampur Road had become a safe haven for robbers, but the police were not taking action against the highwaymen.

 | 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Andhra Pradesh: Centre may sanction Rs.17 crore for modernisation of Vizag fishing harbour

by Santosh Patnaik

February 14,2019 | Source: The Hindu

The proposed modernisation of Visakhapatnam fishing harbour which ran into rough weather following the face-off between the NDA-led Centre and the TDP government in the State appears to be inching forward as the project is likely get the mandatory clearance from the Union government, with the release of Rs. 17 crore under the Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES).



Political differences: The Rs. 40-crore project has been hanging fire for past two years owing to procedural wrangles followed by the political differences between the Centre and the State governments.



Union Minister of State for Trade and Commerce C.R. Chaudhary in response to a question by YSRCP MP V. Vijaysai Reddy last year had stated that the plea seeking the grant was not considered due to certain deficiencies. The organisation committing to implement the scheme should give a matching grant, in compliance with the guidelines framed by Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA). Meanwhile, a senior official of Fisheries Department told The Hindu that the Centre had agreed to release its share for the modernisation project by the month-end and in all probability, the work will commence from March.



Administrative clearance



The State government has already given administrative clearance for the sanction of Rs. 23 crore as its share, he said. The fishing harbour in the city is the largest in the State, with 700 mechanised boats and 300 beach landing crafts operating from there. Fishing harbour plays a key role in making Visakhapatnam the largest seafood export centre in Andhra Pradesh, with an annual turnover of Rs. 7,500 crore. Several consignments from the State mostly carrying frozen shrimp are shipped from Visakhapatnam port.



Set up in 1976, the fishing harbour spreads over 26 hectare with the Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) as the custodian for its maintenance. The facility was mooted to be modernised with funds under Sagarmala Project, initially. However, it was later decided to undertake the project as a joint venture of the Centre and the State government.



Ban on seafood exports



The European Union has imposed several curbs on the exports of seafood from Andhra Pradesh in the last several years owing to confirmation of antibiotic residues in the aquaculture products. The improvement in hygienic conditions at the fishing harbour will go a long way in increasing exports to the EU, Dolphin Boat Owners Welfare Association president Ch. Satyanarayana Murthy said.Myanmar: Our land is collapsing around us: Ayeyarwady at risk from rampant sand mining

by HEIN KO SOE and CLARE HAMMOND

February 14,2019 | Source: Frontier Myanmar

On January 16, about 250 residents of Thet Thit Kyun village tract in Bago Region sailed in wooden boats on the Ayeyarwady River, to Shwedaung. They shouted slogans and brandished placards that read, stop sand mining in the Ayeyarwady River, stop corruption in giving licences for mining and protect the rights of local fishermen and victims of riverbank erosion.



There were no sand dredging boats to be seen on the Ayeyarwady that day as the aggrieved fishers and farmers motored towards their destination. It was the Shwedaung Township office of the Directorate of Water Resources and Improvement of River Systems (DWIR), where they demanded an immediate halt to operations that they believed had triggered the collapse of their villages and plantations. We dont want any more mining here, one of the protesters, U Thein Lwin, told Frontier, as those around him threatened to destroy the dredging boats. Our land is collapsing around us, and no-one from the government is doing anything to stop it.



Since 2010, a construction boom in Myanmar has fuelled sharp growth in the extraction of sand from the Ayeyarwady that is then used in cement and asphalt. Environmental groups say this dredging is destabilising the river and placing stress on the Ayeyarwady Delta, the countrys main rice producing region. Experts warn that the rate of sand mining in the Ayeyarwady has already reached an unsustainable level, but is projected to increase as development continues.



This little-reported environmental crisis is occurring against a backdrop of exponential growth in sand mining in rivers throughout Asia. The practice is so damaging that it has been banned in many developed countries. In Myanmar, unless it is sustainably managed, it could starve the delta of precious sediment, and endanger both the rivers ecosystems and the 34 million people who live in its basin.



My land was where those boats are



Ko Htein Lin scrambles down a narrow path carved into a sheer 30-foot (9.1-metre) wall of sand. On his back, he carries a sack stuffed with corn he has grown, which he empties into a boat moored on the bank. Above him, his field extends dramatically to the edge of the cliff; last year, half of his land tumbled into the river.



Htein Lin lives in Anouk Kone, a village in Bago Regions Padaung Township, on the opposite bank of the Ayeyarwady to Shwedaung. He points to the river, where about 12 boats are extracting aggregate. My land was once where those boats are now, he says. A group of farmers who accompanied Frontier to see Htein Lins land said they had been lobbying the government to ban sand mining for years, but their efforts had been futile.



When Bago Region Chief Minister U Win Thein visited their village last year to inaugurate a solar project, they said, he told them he could not stop the mining. The regional government needed tax income, he said, and the construction sector in Yangon needed sand and gravel.



The secretary of the Pyay River Gravel and Sand Production Association, U War Win, told Frontier that sand miners were doing nothing wrong. We never take more sand than we should, so there is no risk to the river or residents, and we all pay tax, he said. War Win said he saw no connection between Pyays collapsing riverbanks and sand extraction. The government approved our operations, so in our minds, erosion and changes to the waterways are not related to our business.



About 10 kilometres downstream from Anouk Kone is Thet Thit Kyun village tract, whose residents protested in January. There, U Hla Win, 60, explained how he grew up in a village that no longer exists. After the communitys land fell into the river in 1998, the junta banned sand mining in the area, but the practice resumed in 2010, he said. Since then, about 200 houses have fallen into the river. Hla Win lives with relatives in the increasingly crowded ward of Si Thar, where two or three houses are now built on each plot.



Like many of Si Thars residents, Hla Win was once a fisherman, but he said the extraction of sand had made it hard to fish. The aggregate particles released into the river by dredging boats create small sandbanks that catch on fishing nets, and alter the water turbidity. Hla Win said there were fewer fish now than five years ago, and they were smaller in size. The number of fishermen in Si Thar has fallen over the same period from 86 to 26, he said.



In 2015, the Bago Region government spent US$600,000 (about K918 million at current exchange rates) building a sandbar in the middle of the river on which former fishermen grow watermelons, tomatoes and beans. U Ohn Kyaw, the former ward administrator, told Frontier that sand mining close to the sandbar was already causing its collapse. If the sandbar disappears, our entire ward will fall into the river, he said.



He showed Frontier a copy of a protest letter he had sent to the General Administration Department, which is responsible for licensing sand mining. Lawmakers are beginning to pay attention to the issue. Pyithu Hluttaw MP Daw Khin Hnin Thit (National League for Democracy, Padaung) told Frontier that aggregate mining in her constituency posed a threat to rule of law and stability. She said she is advocating for better management of the industry, and protection for those who suffer the consequences.



Im not an expert, but it seems that unsuitable regulations and a lack of checks and balances have led to conflict, riverbank erosion and a shortage of fish, she said. The Bago Region Hluttaw Committee for Natural Resources, Forestry and Environmental Conservation plans to investigate the licensing process and the effects of sand mining, including on conflict, its chair, Dwa Hla Hla Win (Shwe Kyin-2, NLD), told Frontier. Were not afraid of any miners, or people who are conducting illegal activities in the river, the lawmaker said.



A huge supermarket



The Ayeyarwady is one of the longest free-flowing rivers in Southeast Asia, and the most important river in Myanmar: its basin is home to two-thirds of the countrys population. It is also one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world.



The river begins in China at a height of 5,000 metres. From there it flows quickly along steep tributaries, a process that releases high levels of sediment. Rapid deforestation and mining activity upstream create extra sediment, which accumulates as the river flattens out in southern Kachin State. This reduces its depth and causes it to widen, resulting in erosion, flooding and challenges to navigation. Downstream of Myitkyina, and particularly between Mandalay and Yangon, rapid development has created a soaring demand for sediment, for use in concrete and asphalt.



Sediment ranges in quality from tiny particles that settle to form clay, to silt, sand, pebbles and large stones. As a rule, coarser sediment is scarcer and plays a greater role in the stability of the river; it is also the most valued by the construction industry. There is no comprehensive data on how much sediment is being extracted from the Ayeyarwady, but the World Wildlife Fund estimates it is about 20 million tonnes a year, or about 10 percent of the total sediment flowing through the river.



This creates a strange situation in which there is too much sediment in the rivers middle reaches, which aggravates floods and makes navigation difficult, but not enough downstream, which creates riverbank erosion, particularly in Magway, Bago and Ayeyarwady regions. Mr Marc Goichot, of the WWF Greater Mekong Programme, said that while some river erosion occurs naturally, its fair enough to assume a lot of the riverbank erosion downstream is linked to the extraction of large volumes of gravel and sand.



The reduction in sediment also starves the delta of the nutrients it needs to sustain the countrys food supply. Sediment is an essential part of the food chain: it feeds fish and fertilises crops. Rising sea levels and a reduction in mangrove cover are already placing stress on the delta. The reduced flow of sediment is weakening it further, making it more vulnerable to tropical storms and rising sea levels, according to WWF.



When a WWF team surveyed the deltas coastline, Goichot said, it expected to find it relatively healthy because of the size of the natural sediment load, which is unusually large. We were surprised to see signs of stress already, he said. If the delta was hit today by a tropical storm of the same intensity as Cyclone Nargis, which left about 138,000 people dead and missing when it battered the delta in 2008, the damage would be even greater, he said.



The solution is not as simple as banning sand mining. Myanmar, like other developing countries, faces a dilemma: sand mining is placing rivers under threat, but is also providing a resource needed for economic development. About 80 percent of concrete and asphalt is sand, and because it is bulky and difficult to transport, it is usually extracted from the most convenient local source. In Myanmar, that source is the Ayeyarwady, along which are many fast-growing cities, including several state and regional capitals. The Ayeyarwady is also the largest extraction site for sediment used in Yangons construction sector.



This business is lucrative: in 2017 the construction sector was worth about US$4 billion, accounting for 5.7 percent of GDP, World Bank data showed. Helpfully for sand miners, the river naturally sorts sediment into grains of different sizes, creating what Goichot described as a huge supermarket, in which extractors know exactly where to look.



National policies needed



With investment and economic growth likely to increase demand for aggregate in the years ahead, experts say national policies are needed to ensure the sustainable extraction of sand. For now, state and regional governments have the authority to distribute licences as they see fit. Applications for mining licences are submitted to the township-level GAD. The DWIR then conducts a hydrographic survey of the site and provides recommendations to the GAD, which makes a final decision on whether to issue a licence.



This system allows for different licensing practices between states and regions. In Pyay, miners told Frontier that in addition to production fees and tax, township and ward administrators asked them for donations of up to K3 million towards school or road projects. The production fee is K15,000 per sud (about 100 cubic feet) of gravel and K800 per sud of sand, while gravel is taxed at K2,500 per sud, and sand at K500.



In Magway, gravel is of a higher quality than elsewhere in Myanmar, making it a desirable area for miners. This fuels what one resident in Magway called a kind of corruption whereby the GAD sells extraction licences to the highest bidder. A spokesperson for Magway GAD said this was not the case, however, and that all companies paid a fixed amount for their licences.



Before 2015, there was no limit to the number of sud that could be extracted from each plot, said Ms Bethia Kadoe, author of a 2018 report on sand mining in Yangon. Since 2015, two main factors have been considered in licence applications, she said. The first is whether the area needs to be dredged as part of river management. The second is the size of the boat: each company can operate no more than two boats, each with a maximum capacity of 30 sud.



The state and region-level DWIR is responsible for monitoring compliance as part of its river training and navigation responsibilities. U Toe Aung Lin, DWIR director for Mandalay Region, told Frontier that teams comprising officials from the DWIR, GAD and Myanmar Police Force patrol the river three or four times a month during the dry season, but that patrols cease in the monsoon.



Anyone found mining sand without a licence is charged under the 2006 Conservation of Water Resources and Rivers Law, he said. In 2017, there were six or seven cases of illegal extraction in Mandalay Region, mostly in tributaries of the Ayeyarwady upstream of Mandalay, near Madaya and Singu.



Most illegal sand dredging occurs in the rivers tributaries, because everyone can see the main channel easily, he told Frontier at his office. But there is a very long tract of almost 340 miles [547km] under our administration, so I dont know exactly how much illegal sand mining is happening.



When Frontier travelled by boat from Mandalay to Magway region, there were two boats extracting aggregate beneath the Nyaung U-Pakkoku bridge, close to its piles. We called Toe Aung Lin, who said this was illegal and that the local DWIR would intervene. Several hours later, the boats were still sucking up gravel from the riverbed.



Those who Frontier interviewed for this story agreed that the main problem is not unlicensed operations, but the extraction of sand by licensed operators beyond the limits of their licences. This is challenging to monitor, however, and enforcement tends to be driven by community complaints.



It is also unclear whether sand miners are following environmental guidelines. Anyone extracting over 1,000 cubic metres of rock, gravel or sand a year is required to submit an initial environmental examination to the Environmental Conservation Department in order to obtain an Environmental Clearance Certificate; operations extracting above 50,000 cubic metres need to conduct an environmental impact assessment. A single boat with a capacity of 30 sud would extract up to 275 cubic metres each time it heads out on to the river.



One civil society group, Magway EITI Watch Group, has asked the ECD for information on whether sand miners are following EIA guidelines, but the groups coordinator, Ko Olar, said the department has been uncooperative. More broadly, he said that the lack of transparency around sand mining created opportunities for corruption.



Frontiers own attempts to obtain data on the number of licences and the annual volume of sand extracted from the Ayeyarwady reflect Olars concerns. In early December, we spoke to DWIR director U Tun Naing, who said his department would collect the data we needed. One month later, after numerous telephone calls, he reneged on this offer, saying he couldnt provide information because the GAD was responsible for licensing.



GAD director and spokesperson U Aung Theik Win listened to our request for data but refused to answer further calls. Calling the GAD office number was no more useful; we were transferred between departments, with each claiming it was not their responsibility. During a visit to Mandalay, we tried to obtain data on sand mining licences from the regional GAD office, but after three hours of being shepherded between buildings, we were told to send an email, which received no response.



Finally, we tried U Tin Myint, the former head of the GAD and, since January 3, deputy minister of the Office of the Union Government. He provided a fax number and said he would ask his office to collect data from each state and region. By press time, his department was still working on our request.



Lack of access to data is not only problematic for journalists. Those responsible for managing the Ayeyarwady need figures in order to do their jobs. Toe Aung Lin, DWIR director for Mandalay Region, said he had no contact with his counterparts in other states and regions, which made his job very difficult. Adding to the challenge, different ministries have authority over different aspects of river management, and do not always share information.



In 2014, the National Water Resources Committee launched the Ayeyarwady Integrated River Basin Management Project with support from the World Bank, the aim of which is to strengthen development of the Ayeyarwady River basin and national water resources. A report published by the NWRC in 2017 identified significant gaps in available data. It also found that the present rate of sand and gravel extraction is near or beyond the bounds of sustainability and that the resilience of the Ayeyarwady Delta may be decreasing, with increasing erosion being recorded near the mouths of the distributaries.



The report called for a sediment monitoring system that collects representative and accurate information. This will be particularly important if large-scale hydropower dams are built on the river. Dams prevent sediment from moving freely, and if sediment is also mined downstream, it can have a compounding effect. The WWF says a common vision for the future is urgently needed. In a 2018 report that highlights the imminent dangers facing the Ayeyarwady, it warns that with looming decisions around hydropower development, industrial expansion, fisheries and in general, economic growth in the country, decision-makers cannot afford to operate in isolation.No. 2 House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., was more definitive. "House Democrats will challenge this irresponsible declaration," he said in a statement.

The Senate approved the border security deal by a lopsided 83-16 tally. The House planned to vote on passage in the evening.

Trump's signature will end this stage of a raucous legislative saga that commenced before Christmas and was ending, almost fittingly, on Valentine's Day. The low point was the historically long 35-day partial federal shutdown, which Trump sparked and was in full force when Democrats took control of the House, compelling him to share power for the first time.

Trump yielded on the shutdown Jan. 25 after public opinion turned against him and congressional Republicans. He'd won not a nickel of the $5.7 billion he'd demanded for his wall but had caused missed paychecks for legions of federal workers and contractors and lost government services for countless others. It was a political fiasco for Trump and an early triumph for Pelosi.

The fight left both parties dead set against another shutdown. That sentiment weakened Trump's hand and fueled the bipartisan deal, a pact that contrasts with the parties' still-raging differences over health care, taxes and investigations of the president.Charges have been filed against a Florida man who managed to rip off $3,800 worth of merchandise from the Desloge Walmart Supercenter on Oct. 17, 2017.

Doquan McCloud, 24, of Tampa, Florida, has been charged with Felony D stealing.

On Oct. 17, 2017, Desloge police responded to a report of theft believed to have been committed by two young males at the Walmart Supercenter located at 407 N. State St.

According to the probable cause statement, McCloud and an accomplice, who has not yet been identified, went into the store and loaded a cart with multiple items.

The report states that McCloud went to the register as if he was checking out. McCloud had the cashier scan everything and bag it. At that point, McCloud pulled out a credit card and pretended to insert it into the machine.

According to the report, at that time, the other suspect distracted the cashier by asking a question. While the cashier was turned around, McCloud reached over and hit the cash tender button on the register which completed the transaction.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}One bill I have proposed, Senate Bill 17, was debated and passed Thursday morning on the Senate floor. This legislation would allow retired teachers to continue receiving their retirement allowance from the Public School Retirement System of Missouri (PSRS) if they are employed by a public community college. Retired teachers are allowed to work certain jobs in a school district that does not require a teaching certificate, while still receiving their retirement allowance; however, the current law unintentionally excludes retired teachers employed by a public community college from this provision. This led to a decline in the number of retired teachers filling adjunct professor positions. I am pleased that this bill will be one of the first to be passed on the Senate floor. It will now move to the House.

Monday night marked the Senates annual charity bowling tournament at Capital Bowl in Jefferson City. The proceeds from this event went to Welcome Home, an organization in Columbia that serves veterans, helps them restore their lives and reenter society after their service to our country. We raised more than $12,000 for this organization and Im glad I was able to participate in the tournament. It is a great opportunity for the senators and senate staff to mingle in a casual setting.

Capitol Visits

I always appreciate hearing your opinions and concerns regarding your state government. Please feel free to contact me in Jefferson City at 573-751-4008. You may write me at Gary Romine, Missouri Senate, State Capitol, Jefferson City, MO 65101; or email me at gary.romine@senate.mo.gov. For more information, please visit my official Senate webpage at www.senate.mo.gov/romine.

Gary Romine is a Republican member of the Missouri State Senate, representing District 3.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0A thousand fully-loaded semi trucks coming in and out of a small town  thats a big deal. Now visualize Missouris statewide corn haul: with 4.1 million acres of corn grown, the equivalent of over 1,500 farms of the size described above each produce 1,000 trips of these fully-loaded semi trucks per year; about 1.5 million trips annually, almost all on rural roads.

And this only counts corn  Missouri is a huge producer of soybeans, rice, wheat, cotton and many other crops, each of which are consistently increasing yields year after year. Now add the Missouri livestock industry, which is about the same size as our row crop industry, and our large amount of forest products. Needless to say, agriculture is big and growing in Missouri, and our rural roads need to be built to support it.

In early February, Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst shared the importance of rural roads with the Missouri Highway Commission. He encouraged the Commission to prioritize funding for rural freight corridors, or farm-to-market roads, that carry the bulk of farm products. Prioritizing spending can help rural roads and bridges keep up with technology and modern production.

Gov. Parson, a lifelong farmer himself, seems to firmly grasp the need for rural infrastructure improvements. He recently proposed a plan to accelerate investment in bridge repairs and boost local input in identifying needs. This is a great start toward catching Missouri up to the needs of 21st century agriculture, and we will continue to support even more investment in our roads and bridges.

Eric Bohl, of Columbia, Missouri, is director of public affairs for Missouri Farm Bureau, the states largest farm organization.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0Victoria's former centre for car manufacturing, Geelong, is set to become an Australian base for global wind energy giant Vestas, after the Danish company inked a deal for a new turbine assembling facility in the south-western port city.Vestas, which is the world's leading wind turbine manufacturer, said on Thursday that it had entered a partnership with Geelong-based Marand Precision Engineering, to establish a turbine assembly and testing centre at a former Ford Motor factory.The new facility will form part of a Vestas Renewable Energy Hub, the company said: 'a multi-disciplinary industry development initiative designed to support the Victorian Renewable Energy Target and Victoria's New Energy Technologies strategy.'Initially, the plant will be used to assemble drivetrains and hubs  and test other components  destined for the Dundonnell and Berrybank Wind Farm projects, two projects supported in their development via the state government's reverse auction scheme.Premier Daniel Andrews said the development of the hub would also help Dundonnell and Berrybank deliver on their local content commitments, as part of the state government's Victorian Industry Participation Policy.Locally, the deal is expected to deliver investment of around $3.5 million and directly employ more than 20 people. It will also train 'hundreds' of local staff in wind turbine maintenance and bring wind turbine component assembly to Australia for the first time in more than 10 years.Indeed, the closest Australia has come to wind turbine manufacturing of late has been through Victoria-based company Keppel Prince, which makes wind turbine towers. And that company barely hung in there through the lean, anti-renewable years of the former Abbott federal government.But Vestas hasn't been the only company to see potential for manufacturing and assembly of wind turbine components on Australian soil.In 2016, the founder, chairman and managing director of India's Suzlon Energy, Tulsi Tanti, told RenewEconomythat making large-scale wind turbines in Australia would make sense on a number of levels.'Why can't (wind turbines) be made in Australia? It's a win-win situation. It will create jobs and bring the cost of project down.'For Vestas  which last year notched up more than 1GW of turbine orders around Australia, including the recent contract to supply the 184MW Warradarge Wind Farm in Western Australia  the idea of setting up operations in Australia has obviously become a no-brainer.This has certainly not always been the case. Just over a decade ago, Vestas was forced to close two manufacturing plants it had opened in Australia in 2005, after the then Coalition government rejected an independent recommendation to extend the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target.'We had to close both of them  because of the lack of certainty,' then CEO of Vestas Wind Systems Ditlev Engel told RenewEconomy in an interview in 2013And in 2013, with Tony Abbott at the helm, Engel had stressed there was still little chance of any new local manufacturing for blades and nacelles being created in Australia, even if the country had great prospects for a flourishing wind industry and for local jobs.In comments on Thursday, however, Vestas said it was now committed to building new skills in the local work force in Geelong, and helping to build on Geelong's background as a heavy manufacturing hub, to establish a renewable energy hub.'In Marand, we are partnering with an experienced manufacturing service provider with outstanding capabilities and skilled personnel,' said Vestas Asia Pacific President, Clive Turton.'Their experience in automotive, aerospace, defence and rail industries meets all of our requirements around quality and technical expertise.'Wind farm developer and owner of the Dundonnell project, Tilt Renewables, has also welcomed the news.'As the largest customer of the new Renewable Energy Hub, Tilt Renewables is very pleased to be contributing to the creation of new jobs and training opportunities for people in the City of Geelong and south-west Victoria,' said Tilt chief executive Deion Campbell.And state energy minister, Lily D'Ambrosio, visited the site of the new Hub along with Premier Daniel Andrews on Thursday.'This partnership shows how our transition to renewable energy is good for the environment and good for the economy  creating demand for local manufacturing skills and significant investment in the local supply chain,' she said.For Vestas, the Hub will also be used as a support centre to service the growing Vestas turbine fleet in Western Victoria, and as a logistics centre and specialist facility for large turbine spare parts.The wind turbine maker is also establishing partnerships with Federation University's Ballarat Renewable Training Centre to deliver training and employment opportunities for wind turbine technicians, and with Deakin University's Carbon Nexus to research ways to make wind turbine blades longer, stronger and more productive.Sophie VorrathSophie is editor of One Step Off The Gridand deputy editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.A bump in the road placed by the Tour Colombia organisers caused two crashes at the finish line of the first day of the race.The incident occurred just metres after the line, following a 14-kilometre (8.6-mile) team time-trial through the city of Medellin. Chris Froomeis one of the competitors but did not fall victim to the obstacle.In a video shared on social media, cyclists can be seen speeding over the finish line in their teams when they hit a bump placed to cover cables.The first cyclist managed to get over the bump without any problems but his team-mate behind lost control of his bike and crashed to the ground.Another member of the team coming up behind then crashed into his fallen companion and was sent flying face-first onto the road.The video was uploaded to social media with the caption: 'Well done Tour Colombia, but the authorities need to think about the cyclists, how can they put a bump there?'A cyclist also careered into the metal railings stopping spectators from walking onto the road.A second clip was posted online with the caption: 'Tour Colombia should leave us with a city free of bumps to avoid accidents.'No injuries have been reported in the accidents and no teams have lodged complaints.Colombian rider Alvaro Hodeg currently tops the leader board while Team Sky's Chris Froome is in 11th place.Atletico Madridhave joined Chelsea in a battle to sign Evertonand Brazilstriker Richarlison in the summer window.According to AS, Atletico have sounded out Richarlison's representatives over a move amid interest from Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and PSG but could be deterred by the potential cost of a deal.The Spanish club, however, could be swayed to spend big according to reports because Richarlison is only 21 and they feel he can contribute immediately.Richarlison moved to Goodison Park in a 50million switch from Watford last July. He has scored 10 goals so far this season, breaking in to the Brazil squad in the process.But Everton have endured another underwhelming season so far. They are ninth in the Premier League table with pressure increasing on manager Marco Silva.The 21-year-old has been a rare bright spot for the blue half of Merseyside, earning his first call-up for Brazil and going on to make six appearances to date, scoring three times.Chelsea have been linked with a move for the forward themselves as they plot new additions to bolster their attacking options.Manager Maurizio Sarri has been clear on his desire to have new forwards at his disposal and the Stamford Bridge club signed Gonzalo Higuain on loan from Napoli in January.Richarlison is set to be back in action next for Everton on February 26, when the Toffees are away to Cardiff in the Premier League.Question: Regarding my posts about the terrible perversion of Torah and halacha that Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky has engineered with his prod...

Important!! email - yadmoshe@gmail.comThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) every year celebrate February 13 as the World Radio Day. World Radio Day 2019 is celebrated to highlight the importance of the radio in its search for a more peaceful and tolerant world.

The World Radio Day 2019 is celebrated with the theme Dialogue, Tolerance and Peace. The theme is selected to provide a platform for dialogue and democratic debate over issues like migration or violence against women which can help to raise awareness among listeners and inspire understanding for new perspectives in paving the way for positive action.

Genesis of the World Radio Day

Spains Radio Academy in the year 2010 proposed the idea of World Radio Day. In the following year, UNESCO declared February 13 as the World Radio day and the first World Radio Day was celebrated in 2012.

February 13 was chosen because the United Nations Radio, the United Nations international broadcasting service was established on February 13, 1946. The World Radio Day commemorates the anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations Radio.The Legislative Assembly of Rajasthan passed the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Rajasthan Municipality (Amendment) Bill, 2019 to end the minimum education criterion for panchayat and civic polls candidates.

What was the education criterion proposed?

As per the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Amendment Bill 2015, Candidates were:

Required to have passed Class X for contesting municipal elections, Class VIII for contesting panchayat polls for the post of a sarpanch, and Class X for contesting Zila Parishad or Panchayat Samiti elections.

Construction of toilets in their homes as mandatory for contesting polls to the panchayati raj institutions in the state.

Even the Supreme Court had upheld the constitutional validity of a similar law in Haryana which mandated education qualification for candidacy in local polls. The Supreme Court had said that it is only education which gives a human being the power to discriminate between right and wrong, good and bad.

Why the government scrapped the criterion?

In the run-up to the assembly elections in 2018, the Congress Party had included in its manifesto that it would abolish the minimum education criterion for panchayat and civic polls candidates if it comes to power.

Defending the bill the government stated in assembly that Sarpanches awarded by President, Vice President were declared ineligible due to the provisions in the previous Act. The Act was against the basic tenants of the Constitution and society cannot be divided on the basis of education.

The government even stated that several cases had come up where people contested the election on the basis of fake certificates. The minimum education qualification created two sections in the society and the illiterate people had started feeling inferior.Its extremely rare for a president to declare a national emergency in a bid to fund domestic construction projects, particularly one that Congress has explicitly refused to fund, said Andrew Boyle, an attorney in the national security program at the Brennan Center for Justice. The ones that former presidents declared are of a different sort.

With Congress unwilling to give Trump anything close to the $5.7 billion he wants to build a portion of the border wall, he had suggested for some time that he would find money elsewhere, whether with an emergency declaration or by other means.

He might find some support from several laws passed in the 1980s. One says that in a declared national emergency requiring the use of the armed forces, the defense secretary can shuffle military construction dollars that have been approved by Congress to construction projects that were not specifically authorized.

Another allows approved Army civil works money to be shuffled to a new purpose.

The presidents Trump referred to did not undertake such projects.

Altogether, Clinton declared 17 national emergencies, Bush, 13, and Obama, 12, according to a list compiled by the Brennan Center .Gatsi/iStock(CHICAGO) -- A former Chicago police officer convicted of second-degree murder in the killing of an African-American teenager he shot 16 times received a dose of prison justice just days after Illinois prosecutors moved to seek a harsher sentence for him, his wife said Thursday.



Jason Van Dyke was allegedly beaten by inmates at a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, where he was secretly moved to last week, his wife and his attorneys said during a news conference in Chicago.



Van Dyke, 40, was beaten in his cell by several inmates four hours after he was placed in a general population unit at the prison on Feb. 7, said Tammy Wendt, one of Van Dyke's attorneys.



Wendt said a worker at the Connecticut prison called her on Wednesday to inform her that Van Dyke's "safety is at risk."



She said that during a conference call with his appellate attorneys, Van Dyke said he had been attacked by inmates in his cell and that he suffered facial and head injuries.



Van Dyke's wife, Tiffany, said she fears for her husband's life every waking minute. She said he has not been allowed to call her and she has not been permitted to visit him.



She said she hasn't spoken to him since he was sentenced in January.



"They are punishing him for being who he is. Everybody said it from Day 1: This is a race issue. This is a gigantic race issue," Tiffany Van Dyke said. "They put my husband in a setting to be harmed because of the fact he was a white man who harmed a black gentleman in the line of duty."



Van Dyke had been held at a state prison in Illinois since he was sentenced on Jan. 19. His attorneys and family members were not made aware until two days ago that he was transferred into federal custody on Feb. 5 and sent to the low-security Connecticut penitentiary.



"My husband is a police officer. He is a stand-up man," Tiffany Van Dyke said. "He has always been a stand-up human being. This has already finished. He's had his trial. He was convicted. Everybody got what they wanted. They had my husband put away. All he wanted to do was melt to the background, do his time and come home to his family. Unfortunately, he is not being afforded that right."



Wendt said she was informed of Van Dyke's transfer to federal custody by an Illinois corrections official, who declined to explain the reason for the transfer.



While the prison is described as a minimum-security facility, Wendt said Van Dyke is housed in a unit with "gangbangers and violent criminals" on the last leg of their sentences.



"To put a police officer who has spent his entire career locking up bad guys in with these bad guys, it doesn't take a genius to know that's obviously going to get him in trouble," Wendt said. "It's unconscionable that this happened to him."



Daniel Herbert, another one of Van Dyke's attorneys, said he is in the process of demanding answers from state officials.



"He's allowed to be safe in prison," Herbert said. "The mentality out there seems to be that people won't rest until he is either given a life sentence or killed in prison and that's extremely unfortunate and it's certainly not what our system is about."



Wendt said that since the attack, Van Dyke has been placed in a segregated unit at the Connecticut prison, but is under lockdown 23 hours a day. She said he does have a cellmate.



"This is like Alcatraz with the old-time bars," Wendt said of where Van Dyke is now being held. "But there are prisoners all over the unit."



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 the 2014 incident in which the former officer fired 16 shots at 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in a span of 15 seconds.



Video released of the Oct. 20, 2014, shooting showed McDonald was armed with a knife but the teen didn't appear to be moving toward the police officers who responded when Van Dyke opened fire.



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.



He was sentenced in January to less than seven years in prison.



Earlier this week, the Illinois state attorney general and a special prosecutor filed a petition with the state Supreme Court challenging a trial judge's sentencing of Van Dyke.



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, state Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Special Prosecutor Joseph McMahan argued that 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.



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.



The move by prosecutors prompted Van Dyke's attorneys to file an appeal of his conviction.



Tiffany Van Dyke said she wishes prosecutors would just let her husband do the time he was sentenced to.



"At the end of the day, I want my husband home," she said Thursday, bursting into tears. "I want him to be safe. I don't need people to go into his cell and attack him. The next time this could happen they could kill him. I cannot bury my husband."



Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Please log in to keep reading.

{{featured_button_text}} Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.Carlisle Borough Police are warning residents of a scam in which callers claim the victim owes money because they missed jury duty.

Police said they were told of at least two cases of residents receiving the calls on Tuesday. The victims received a phone call in which the caller told the victim they owed bail money for missing jury duty.

The caller then instructed the victims to get a prepaid card and remained on the line with the victim until they had given final instructions to mail the card using an unusual series of numbers for both addresses on the envelope.

Police said no government entities or legitimate businesses will contact them via phone and require them to make payments in this manner.

Anyone with any questions as to the legitimacy of such a contact should reach out to the Carlisle Police Department at 717-243-5252.

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.Fetterman has voiced support for legalization, but said his listening tour has nothing to do with his personal position.

My opinions arent interesting, Fetterman said. What you have to say is interesting.

The most common point made by supporters of legalization was that marijuana is less harmful  and potentially a safer alternative  to other drugs.

I have treated alcoholics, heroin addicts, crack addicts, methamphetamine, all of those drugs. Marijuana is the least harmful, said Russ Matthews of Mechanicsburg, a professional addiction counselor. I believe we are making criminals out of innocent people, and it does not need to happen.

Many residents also said that they used marijuana for pain relief, treatment of psychiatric problems, or other illnesses, including one woman who used the drug to treat multiple sclerosis. Many said their experiences with marijuana were much better than with legal prescription drugs, particularly opioid painkillers.

Many of these people also said that Pennsylvanias medical marijuana system was still too restrictive, and it was cheaper and easier to get the drug on the street, rather than having to pay hundreds of dollars to be verified by a doctor and registered with state-approved medical dispensaries.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}Community volunteers want to establish a temporary overnight shelter in Cumberland County where people can get out of the cold with no questions asked.

All we want to do is help people, said Pat LaMarche, an advocate for the homeless and a leader in the effort to create the shelter.

What we really need is a location, she said, adding the ideal place could be a gym or large public room such as a fellowship hall in a church or firehouse. The location must have at least one public restroom.

Those interested in providing a location can email LaMarche at patlamarche@hotmail.com. They could also leave a message at the front desk of the Cumberland County Housing and Redevelopment Authority, 114 N. Hanover St., Carlisle. The message should be addressed to Stacie Martins, an authority employee and one of the volunteers in the effort.

This would be a zero barrier shelter where people would be welcome regardless of their background or past experience with other local shelters.

In every shelter in the county people have to provide at least one form of identification for staff to conduct a background check prior to them being allowed into the shelter, LaMarche said. Those with a history of violent crime or sexual offenses are turned away.After Mary Moore was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2016, she kept smoking, defying her doctors' advice and her sons' pleas.

"I liked smoking," recalled the Northeast Philadelphia resident, who is now 61. "I tried quitting before. I just didn't think I could quit."

Fortunately, she joined a clinical trial that proved her wrong. The study, run by the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern University, gave 207 smokers with various cancers either 24 weeks of the smoking cessation drug Chantix, or 12 weeks of the drug, which was then standard. Both groups also received counseling sessions.

"It definitely was a struggle, but the medication was helpful," said Moore, who was in the 24-week treatment group and has not smoked for more than two years.

Unfortunately, Moore's success was unusual. Contrary to the researchers' hypothesis, extended treatment with Chantix, or varenicline, did not improve overall quit rates at six months or a year  providing yet more evidence of the deadly grip of nicotine addiction.Share this: Twitter

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The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined 47 members of the European Parliament and other press freedom organizations to call on Turkey to end its crackdown on the press and the mass imprisonment of journalists.

The statement includes recommendations to the Turkish authorities including that it releases all journalists imprisoned for their work and protects the right to freedom of expression and the right to receive or disseminate news. The statement calls on European Union institutions to reinforce the recommendations in discussions with Turkish ministers.

Turkey is the worst jailer of journalists, with at least 68 in jail in direct relation to their work at the time of CPJs latest prison census.

The full statement can be read here.Share this: Twitter

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The Committee to Protect Journalists joined more than 15 rights organizations and the #KeepItOn Coalition to call for Nigerian authorities to ensure that internet and social media services remain connected during upcoming elections, and safeguard internet speeds of websites and messaging applications. In early February, Nigerias federal government denied rumors of plans to shut down the internet during upcoming elections, according to the privately owned Guardian Nigeria and Quartz news outlets. Nigeria has two sets of elections scheduled in the coming weeks: federal elections on February 16 and state elections on March 2.

The letter, addressed to Umar Garba Danbatta, executive vice chairman and chief executive officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission, emphasized how internet disruptions inhibit journalists ability to safely conduct reporting and run contrary to international law. It also highlighted additional social and economic costs of internet outages.

The media is critical to this particular election and critical to people understanding both the [elections] processes and procedures, Festus Okoye, national commissioner of Nigerias Independent National Electoral Commission, told CPJ on February 13. Okoye also emphasized the importance of internet connectivity because the smart card readers used for voter identification are based on the internet. Three networksGlo, MTN, and Airtelare powering them [the smart card readers], so if you jam the network there wont be any electionthats just the bottom line. he said.

Read the full letter here.

UPDATE: The elections were pushed back a week, until February 23 and March 9.Share this: Twitter

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Miami, February 14, 2019The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Haitian authorities to investigate the shooting of a reporter during an anti-government demonstration and to ensure the safety of journalists covering ongoing protests.

Haitian journalist Robenson Sanon was shot and wounded yesterday in the capital, Port-au-Prince, while covering protests calling for the resignation of President Jovenel Moise, as reported by local media. Sanon, a correspondent for Reuters in Haiti, told CPJ that he was shot in his right arm during clashes between protesters and police and taken to a hospital where he received medical attention. He was released later yesterday and is home recuperating. Sanon told CPJ he believes he was shot in crossfire by armed demonstrators, not by police.

Haitian authorities should not use the ongoing demonstrations as an excuse to delay an investigation into the circumstances around Robenson Sanons shooting, said CPJ Central and South America Coordinator Natalie Southwick in New York. Journalists in Haiti must be able to cover breaking events like protests without facing gunfire or other dangers.

The press has been the target of several attacks during the recent protests, the secretary general of the Association of Haitian Journalists, Jacques Desrosier, told CPJ.

Over the last week, demonstrators have hit journalists, damaged press vehicles, and tried to take journalists equipment, according to a joint statement by three local press freedom groups. The statement said that the offices of the National Television of Haiti have been attacked, agents from the Haitian national police have threatened journalists, equipment has been burned, and there have been instances of broadcast outlets frequencies being jammed.

At least seven people have been killed in the protests, which began on the second anniversary of the start of President Moises mandate, February 7, according to media reports.

Today, CPJ tried to reach the Haitian national police at the phone number posted on their website. An agent provided a different number to call instead. When that number was dialed, an automatic message said that the call could not be received.Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Soon the Nebraskan farmer was transferred to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. It was there the waiting game began. Hotovys life depended on the donation of a pair of lungs with the right blood type and size. He was moved toward the top of the list because his health had failed so quickly that he was huffing and puffing after walking just 10 feet. Some people at the hospital had been waiting six months for a match, but Hotovy got lucky. After waiting 10 days, a match came in and the eight-hour operation took place on Sept. 23.

Anytime you think youre not going to see the next morning's light, (it's got to) be scary to some people, Hotovy said.It just happened to work that I fit the bill as to what donor they had ... Once in a while, you have to be lucky and blessed.

After months of physical therapy, Hotovy was released from the hospital on Jan. 28. Hotovy said hes grateful for the second chance at life and for more time to spend with his wife, two daughters and the rest of his friends and family. Hotovy doesnt know who his new lungs once belonged to, and he said he prefers not to. However, he is very appreciative and encourages people to become donors to save lives like his own.It wasnt exactly the news Karen Connell expected to hear while sitting in Miami International Airport on Feb 4.

She and her husband, Will, had just returned from a cruise celebrating five years of marriage when a co-worker from Columbus Public Library called and informed her that Laura Whitehead was resigning as the organization's director.

With Whitehead stepping away officially as of Friday, Feb. 8, it was announced on Monday by the city that Connell will be serving as the new interim director of Columbus Public Library.

Interestingly enough, this isnt uncharted territory for the current reference librarian. This is the third time she will have served in the interim director capacity. Leading up to the 2014 hiring of Drew Brookhart she filled the shoes. And following his departure to Colorado prior to Whiteheads arrival in December 2017, she manned the helm as director for a few months.

The former director, Connell said, left on good terms with the library  it was a family decision so that she could spend more time with her husband who works in Nebraska City.

Obviously they are married and want to spend time together, Connell said of Whitehead, who couldn't be reached for comment.Opinion

The need of the hour is economic progress

It goes without saying that we cant have a life without crisis. Therefore, that is not the point. The point is that all crises  manmade or natural ...Here is Monday's meeting. Commissioner Ken Russell hosted two Sunshine meetings regarding the NCDs on Monday and Tuesday of this week, while they weren't broadcast on tv or internet, they were shown live on the commissioner's Facebook page.





The Village Council met Monday night and discussed the meetings. On Tuesday, they sent out a letter to the city's Planning Department who agreed to review and respond to the issues. The Village Council sent out a broad reaching email to gather more comments and questions from the residents and was successful in getting a good response.



CLICK "READ MORE" TO SEE THE REST OF THE STORY









Here is a list of questions/concerns the Village Council has compiled from numerous residents/stakeholders in the Grove.





1. Clear language of the intent and purpose for the NCD document. The purpose is NOT to create historic district in this document. Design guidelines  where and when do they apply and who reviews them. Also the intent is the mission statement for this legislation and therefore must be clear. It must be identified as the underlying force when an interpretation of the code falls into a gray area.

2. Identify homes/areas where the overbuilding has already occurred and relief may be needed for those property owners that have not sold/developed yet. Review if this relief needs to have a time limit.

3. FLR definition and total % allowed while identifying specifically what it includes and excludes needs to be further studied. Please show actual data indicating how many recent market rate homes have been built and what actual FLR has been attained. Must gather market data that shows actual FLR size of homes trends recently.





4. Allow for a variance or waiver process when it concerns additions or alterations to existing single family homes, irregular shaped lots and corner lots. The intent is to allow some leniency to encourage renovations of existing homes but also try to avoid exploitation of this process.





5. Introduce a hybrid waiver/warrant process that allows an appeal to City Commission first and avoid any battles in court. Review both warrant and waiver processes and create one that allows flexibility to property owners and yet protects residents and the intent of the NCD. Make sure certified mail process is adhered to and not just for immediate neighbors. To have a radius area from the subject property that includes the immediate neighborhood.





6. Defining the maximum height of single family homes and duplex. Clarify base 0 elevation from which this measurement starts as well as including all roof members such as parapets and peak ridges. Clarify this in flood zones and how this applies to S. Florida Building code FEMA elevations to avoid conflict.





7. Density issues as it relates to lot splitting or separating property unifications to build more than one dwelling per property. A detailed block by block review was proposed to establish buildable property minimum sizes to avoid any future grey areas or unwanted density increases.





8. Review conditions being proposed for the increase in density for the sole purpose to create more

affordable and workforce house in the main transit streets. Identify rent rates that are to be considered for 1, 2 and 3 bedroom units to comply with the bonuses.





9. Review parking requirements and when a reduction in this requirement is allowed.





10. Review and clarify the ADU proposed regulations and the details of how it differs between NCD-3 and NCD2. Make sure the intent to allow these units are clear and understood by all. Covenants can be issued with the land to outline restrictions and rent control as they apply to homestead or investment properties.





11. Clarify what is green space, currently permeable surfaces of patios, pool surrounds etc. are counted. Clarify the status of septic drain fields and required clear area Trees cannot be planted here.





12. Identify what happens to existing non-conforming lots. What hardship can be claimed to make them buildable sites.





13. What buffer is being required where T-5 is adjacent to T-3 zones. Current code requires additional setback after 2nd floor  anything else being proposed?





14. How does this document address enforcement of the code. What can be added or done to make sure enforcement actually takes place.





We suggest a written response to the items above that you believe can be explained or clarified fairly simply. The Village Council will assist in distributing a document that can assist in clarifying the facts and allowing residents to better understand the scope of the new proposed legislation.





For the others that are more involved or need discussion we need to identify specific public meetings that address each one. We suggest meetings should be set up to only discuss one or two specific items as covering too many issues, while allowing public input, will not be very productive.





Please let me know your ideas of how you want to tackle this and the Village Council will try to assist as much as possible.





Regards,

Marcelo Fernandes, Chair

Cocoanut Grove Village Council





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Mr. Jones isnt just middlebrow  its the middle of the middlebrow: core-brow; nucleus-brow. Agnieszka Hollands lengthy but invariably engaging new film concerns the real-life story of Welsh reporter Gareth Jones journey to Moscow and Ukraine in 1933 and his discovery there of the Holodomor  otherwise known as the Ukrainian Genocide or Famine.

It looks, feels and sounds like any other historical page-turner, a film in which straight-faced actors say things like you have betrayed your country! This is no bad thing. Presented in the inescapable grey-brown colour grading of such period confections, its a worthwhile, at times exciting, and ultimately informative effort if perhaps not a great one. James Norton stars as Gareth Jones, a freelance reporter who managed to snatch an interview with Hitler on board his plane just weeks before the burning of the Reichstag.

The film picks up soon after that night with Jones offering a presentation to then Prime Minister David Lloyd George, for whom he was working for as a foreign advisor, about the threat of the new German Chancellor. Holland  perhaps playing fast and loose with some facts  effectively introduces the man as a mild-mannered and endearing rebel, too young in years to be taken seriously by the old guard while steadfastly providing a polite thorn in their side. It was this personality, Holland suggests, that drove Jones to Moscow where unconvinced by the stories of Stalins economic miracle, he vainly hoped to get an interview with the tyrant.

Hollands film is particularly taken with that old image of the heroic journalist in a deceitful world. Indeed, that fondness proves infectious in the first act as she teases out the tragedies to come while offering much to admire in Jones globe-hopping newspaperman swagger. It is amazing to think of an era when state radio reports from Moscow were taken as fact but such were the times and Holland makes great use of this world of uncertainty and subterfuge, effectively sending her earnest hero down the rabbit hole. Its upon Jones arrival in Moscow that we meet New York Times reporter Peter Duranty (a reliably greasy Peter Sarsgaard) and a love interest named Ada (Vanessa Kirby).

Its here, however, that the films forward momentum begins to sag with Hollands diversions into Durantys world of opium and orgies, as well as Jones and Adas romance, proving superfluous at best. The directors additional decision to cut back and forth to a young George Orwell (who is said to have been inspired by the Welshmans writing) banging out Animal Farm on a typewriter not only takes further wind out of the narrative, in the context it comes off as vaguely trite. The less said of the heroic, amiable characterizations she offers of Lloyd George and William Randolph Hearst the more we can move on with our lives.

Hollands film does eventually get to the horrors for which Jones name became associated and they are shown in a sufficiently disorientating and dystopian light. At 20 or so of a 140-minute film, however, they are something of an afterthought. Holland is more concerned with the character of Jones and the fake news angle of Durantys reporting in Moscow. The film does get at something here with regards to the acceptance and willful blindsiding of tragedy in service of a greater ideal. Or as Sarsgaards Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist so eloquently puts it: You cant make an omelette without breaking eggs.

Rory OConnor | @RoryseanocJessi Flores, who ran Drew Estates art program known as Subculture Studios, is leaving the company to pursue other ventures. Flores departs after two decades with Drew Estate.

It was back in 1999 when Drew Estate co-founder Jonathan Drew discovered Flores unique style of street art in the streets of Nicaragua. Drew invited Flores to join the company where he would develop Subculture Studios into the most unique art program in the cigar industry.

My years at Drew Estate have been incredible, and I am so proud to have played a role with our employees, our customers and our loyal fans to make Drew Estate the best company in the cigar business, said Flores in a press release. The most special part of the experience has been working with the many artists of Subculture Studios, and seeing them grow as artists, as people, and as friends. I know that I leave Subculture in great hands, and that it will continue to create innovative and beautiful art for Drew Estate. I want to thank everyone at Drew Estate and all fans of Subculture Studios for an unbelievable twenty-year ride together. I especially want to thank Jonathan Drew for taking a chance on a young street artist. Now is the right time for me to pursue new opportunities.

Beyond building Subculture Studios into a game changing artistic workshop, Jessis creative spirit and extraordinary artistic talent have been a centerpiece in the culture of Drew Estate itself, commented Jonathan Drew, Founder and President of Drew Estate. After so many years of singular focus, we understand Jessis need to expand his scope of creativity and explore new ventures.

Drew Estate CEO Glenn C. Wolfson added, It is a testament to Jessis many years of focus and hard work that he is able to move forward at this time in his career knowing that his legacy at Subculture Studios will be well protected by the marvelous cadre of artists that he personally recruited and trained over the years. We are pleased to announce that Richard Dog Diaz will be taking over responsibility for the creative design work of Subculture, and Marvin Montoya will be taking over responsibility for artwork production and logistics. Both Dog and Marvin have been key artists and leaders at Subculture for many years, and we have total confidence that their experience and skill sets will keep Subculture producing show stopping art for years to come.

The entire team at Drew Estate is thankful for Jessis valuable contributions to the growth of the company since its early years, said Wolfson. He will always be a part of the fabric of Drew Estate, and we wish him the very best as he embarks upon his journey into new business ventures.

Photo Credit: Drew EstateWhat do these countries have in common? Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan and North Korea. They are in the top ten nations where it is most dangerous to live if you are a Christian.

These are countries where Christians are persecuted and martyred for their faith. Of course the list goes on and includes places like, Egypt, India and Nigeria.

And did you know more Christians are now persecuted for their faith than any at other time in human history?

This kind of information our media and politicians wont normally tell us. Its not politically correct to admit to such global persecution of those who claim to be Christian.

What can we do

Well we can do something about it. We can pray. Also we can get involved by supporting groups who represent persecuted people. And we can put pressure on our governments to give priority to persecuted Christian refugees, and to take a stand for human rights.

An example of the persecution of Christians and a difference we can make is seen in the case in Pakistan of Asia Bibi. She was accused of blasphemy by some neighbours, which she denied. She was sentenced to death. She was recently acquitted by Pakistans High Court after nine years in prison.

People who backed her have been assassinated. As a result, the British Foreign Secretary has just ordered an independent review of the global persecution of Christians.

She is now free to start a new life.

By prayer, support of those who stand behind persecuted Christians and placing pressure on our governments with respect to this area of human rights we can make a difference.

Rev Dr Ross Clifford AM is the Principal of Morling College (NSW Baptist) and author of numerous books many of which focus on Christian Apologetics. He is a Vice President of the Baptist World Alliance, President of the Asian Baptist Association, an acclaimed international preacher and speaker, a columnist in many Christian publications, winner of many national and international awards and for many years the Sunday evening Sydney Radio 2CH host. Ross is married to Bev, father and grand father.For many Americans, February is tax time  or at least the time they are reminded of their need to pay taxes, now that the forms are all in. That means millions of people are starting to sift through piles of paper hoping they wont owe more than they can afford.

Meanwhile, for a certain segment of the population, this concern is greatly lessened by the strategic use of tax havens.

Freeports  special locations where the worlds richest can hoard their valuables tax free  are increasingly common. These include a high-security warehouse in Switzerlands capital city of Geneva that brims with the treasure of the global elite: gold, jewelry, diamonds, the finest French wines, priceless historical artifacts, and irreplaceable renaissance paintings (many stolen).

But freeports are just one manifestation of a larger shadow financial system built for the few on the backs of the many. Other tax havens are jurisdictions where tax rates are low and financial systems opaque. These include such well-known havens as Switzerland and the Cayman Islands, but also others closer to home, in Delaware, Nevada and Wyoming.

Corporations and the 1 percent exploit these havens, using legal loopholes and accounting sleight-of-hand to avoid paying their fair share.Madison School District officials said Wednesday they are pleased with the trajectory of minority and low-income students graduating in four years, despite a drop in the graduation rate for black students last year.

In 2018, 65.6 percent of black students in the district graduated in four years, down 7 percentage points from when the rate spiked in spring 2017, according to data released this week by the state Department of Public Instruction.

The four-year graduation rate for all Madison students was 81.5 percent last spring, or 8 percentage points below the statewide average. That was down from 83.0 percent in 2016-17 but up from 73.7 percent in 2011.

Overall, the districts graduation trends are pointing in a positive direction, but Superintendent Jen Cheatham said plenty of work remains to be done on closing gaps between white and minority students and those from different income backgrounds.

We are totally unsatisfied by (the achievement gaps), Cheatham said Wednesday in an interview. Were going to keep striving ahead. Were going to keep getting those numbers up year over year and prepare students not just to graduate but for what comes after high school.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.

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..13 February '19..The Free Palestine Movement was behind the 2011 flotilla to Israel and styles itself as a progressive peace movement that is pro-Palestinian.They said in a November newsletter that they will offer new members of Congress a trip to "Palestine" as a rebuttal to the AIPAC-sponsored trip most take, and it is possible that Rashida Tlaib, who announced in December that she wants to partner with pro-Palestinian groups on a similar trip, may be working with FPM on this initiative.FPM just sent out an email urging members to visit and support a "Call for a Palestine Liberation Movement" webpage, that describes what they want to see as a solution to the Israel/Palestinian conflict.Their solution, as the map here show - no Israel. It would be replaced with the "One Democratic State of Palestine."The description of that state makes it pretty clear that most Jews would be forced to leave.As a young actor fresh out of Ryerson's theatre school in 1975, Philip Akin surveyed the landscape and figured his chances didn't look very good.

"The shows that were being produced in Canada were basically Canadian shows. So, lots of shows about farmers and fisherman, and not black people," explained Akin, who was born in Jamaica and grew up in Oshawa.

So instead, the young actor pursued a career in film and television, and landed a gig on the CTV crime drama Night Heat.

He had a recurring spot on the show, but every week he played a different character  "a pimp, a drug addict, all that kind of stuff," he said.

"I got killed each time," he added with a laugh in his east end Toronto office. "As a starting out black performer, that's what you had to do."

But while Akin and his characters were busy getting killed off on Canadian TV, a pair of Toronto theatre companies in their infancy would soon give him a chance at something more substantial.

Racheal McCaig

In 1973, Vera Cudjoe founded Toronto's first black theatre company, aptly and simply called Black Theatre Canada. A year later, her collaborator Jeff Henry opened the doors of Theatre Fountainhead.

Both companies brought stories about black immigration, life in Canada, and African folklore to Canadian stages for the first time. They employed black performers, writers and directors to bring them to life.

"There was a determination not to be stopped," said Amah Harris, who directed Black Theatre Canada's first show titled Freedom Ways in 1973.

"You weren't coming together for something frivolous. You were talking about your own existence."

Shows 'hooked into your culture, your life'

For Akin, 68, that existence was a complicated one that didn't easily fit the typical storylines of Canadian theatre, which often centred on white, rural issues.

After hearing about the new companies and their mission to diversify Canadian storytelling, he jumped at the chance to sign on. He would go on to appear in two productions by Black Theatre Canada.

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"It gave you an opportunity to actually work on shows that hooked into your culture, your life," he said. "To bring those kinds of shows to the stage was huge."

Within a few years, the companies also began touring schools around Toronto and in some cases, across Canada.

In 1985, Theatre Fountainhead brought a production about the folk character Anansi  a cunning, adventurous "spider man" of West African origin  to 79 schools in the Toronto area.

Tina Mackenzie/CBC

Harris said the goal was to inspire the next generation of black creators, and to expose children of all backgrounds to the stories, music and costumes that black Canadians know well.

"[We] wanted to deal with the positive imaging of black peoples, to tell our stories," said Harris, 71, before acknowledging the difficulties of that mission.

"The more issue-oriented your organization is, the less likely you're going to be funded."

Funding shortages led to closures

Black Theatre Canada and Theatre Fountainhead both produced their final shows in 1986, as organizers cited a lack of financial support from funding bodies. The Canada Council for the Arts never provided an operating budget, and instead strung along the companies through one-off grants, Cudjoe said at the time.

The company was also pressured to change its name from Black Theatre Canada, Harris said.

Despite some critical successes, including a Dora Award for its staging of Caribbean Midsummer Night's Dream, Black Theatre Canada officially folded in 1988, leaving Toronto with no remaining black theatre companies.

"Those organizations got pushed off the funding stream because we didn't fit in," Akin said bluntly.

In 1999, Akin co-founded Obisdian Theatre, which is to this day one of just two black theatre companies in Canada, alongside Montreal's Black Theatre Workshop.

"We really hoped that there would have been more people, more companies, but there aren't," Akin lamented.

Sue Goodspeed/CBC

Representation in the mainstream

Despite a decline in the number of black-specific companies, people in the theatre industry say there are growing opportunities for people of colour in other shows.

This winter, Toronto's Young People's Theatre produced a version of Mary Poppins with a black lead and several other black cast members.

Director Thom Allison, who vividly remembers the lack of black performers when he began his career in the early 1990s, said he's now pushing to incorporate black voices even in stories that are traditionally white or European, and said others are doing the same.

In Mary Poppins, he cast a Trinidadian woman as the family's mother Winifred Banks, putting a mixed-race family at the centre of the story.

"What I love is that I can now expand stories and make them more accessible for everyone to imagine, to dream their way into, to be a part of," Allison said.

Young People's Theatre

Akin says efforts like that can be useful, but only if a character's blackness is being incorporated in an honest, nuanced way. Merely casting black actors in white roles accomplishes little more beyond "browning the stage," he argued.

Instead, Akin believes that better representation of Toronto's wide-ranging black community is the only surefire way to inspire young people interested in theatre. Obsidian Theatre is currently in the early stages of developing its first Somali-based show, towards that end.

"As long as people are going, 'that's for white people and not for me,' you can't make the change," he said.MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday it was ready to facilitate the start of dialogue between Venezuela's government and opposition but warned the United States against intervening in Caracas' internal affairs. Russia has sided with President Nicolas Maduro in his stand-off with opposition leader Juan Guaido. Maduro retains control of state institutions including the military, but most Western countries, including the United States, have recognized Guaido as Venezuela's president. "We have been maintaining very important contacts with the government of this country and stand ready to provide a kind service in order to facilitate the process of finding ways out of the situation," Tass news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. He also said Russia had made some proposals to Venezuela on settling its crisis but gave no details. Moscow has invested billions of dollars into Venezuela's economy and oil production. On Tuesday opposition supporters returned to the streets nationwide to keep the heat on Maduro and demand that he allow humanitarian aid into Venezuela, where food and medicine shortages are rife. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a telephone call on Tuesday evening that Washington should avoid any interference, including military, in Venezuela's internal affairs. Lavrov also said Russia was ready for consultations on the situation in Venezuela in line with the United Nations charter. At the United Nations, the United States is pushing the Security Council to formally call for free, fair and credible presidential elections in Venezuela with international observers, diplomats said on Saturday, a move that prompted Russia to propose a rival draft resolution. Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia described the U.S. draft resolution on Tuesday as "completely unbalanced." When asked if he would put the Russian draft resolution to a vote, he said: "We're just discussing it." It was also unclear if or when the U.S. draft Security Council resolution could be put to a vote. A council resolution needs nine votes and no vetoes by the United States, Britain, France, Russia or China to pass. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; editing by Gareth Jones and Lisa Shumaker)The Kings County Democratic County Committee voted overwhelmingly to endorse Jumaane Williams for public advocate Tuesday night, in a leftward shift for an organization that has been seen as tightly controlled by centrist party bosses. Yet even as reform advocates cheered the straw poll vote, they cautioned that changes to committee rules and increased transparency are moving ahead slowly, if steadily.

"[The party bosses] realize that we have agitated and we have mobilized. And they understand that their very existence is now being threatened, said Ernest Skinner, a longtime progressive county committee member in Brooklyns Caribbean community who currently serves as a community liaison for New York City Councilmember Jumaane Williams. So, theyre doing it in self interest, which is wonderful. Im alright with that.

Everything that theyve asked to put on the table is incrementally being considered, negotiated, acted upon, modified, replied Jeffrey Feldman, executive director of the Kings County Democratic Party. I mean Donald Trump wants a $5 billion dollar wall. Is anybody giving him a $5 billion wall? The answer is no. Is he going to get a $1 billion wall? Very likely.

Considering all things, theyre doing better than Trump, Feldman quipped.

In one sense, the committees vote to back Williams was no surprise. Williams is popular in his home district, which includes Flatbush, Midwood, and Canarsie, and he had previously received the endorsement of county boss Frank Seddio. Still, Williams is a rebellious representative who proudly bucks convention and touts his clashes with authorities.

So, it made sense that shortly before the vote, Williams winkingly punctuated his stump speech with bemused pride at having landed Seddios endorsement: Im so proud to have the endorsement of so many clubs, lefty crazies like me, and for one of the first times, Frank Seddio as well.

According to committee officers, the poll counted ballots cast by over 500 committee members in attendance as well as an additional 600 proxy votes from absent members who ceded their votes to other leaders. Jonathan Harkavy, committee deputy director in charge of tallying the votes, said the vast majority of proxies, more than 350, were held by Seddio. However, according to Lewis Fidler, the former city councilmember who was tallying Seddio's proxies in the front row, the county boss had distributed them to district leaders where the absent members reside instead of casting them himself as a single bloc, as he has in the past. Williams ultimately won 609 ballots for 64 percent of the vote.

Williams's pointed acknowledgement of Seddios support reflected an undercurrent of awkward conviviality at the meeting, as reformers and party bosses sought to navigate a budding partnership. The committees reform-minded Democrats, who gained new recruits last year during election-season organizing efforts, have been clamoring for greater transparency and inclusiveness in their partys inner workings, including changing how proxy votes are cast, convening the countys long-dormant standing committees, and requiring that assembly district committees actually meet. The party bosses have been wary of the newcomers, but acknowledge the reformers increasing influence and have been making incremental concessions. Several of those reform initiatives are currently under review and are inching their way through committees.

Its hard work, reformers say, but the party bosses are bending little by little. Brandon West, leader of the reform group New Kings Democrats, says he has received several private offers from Seddio to play a greater role in the leadership. West welcomes the overtures, but says that those quiet one-on-one deals are part of what his group is seeking to change.

It definitely shows there is a very different vision or opinion about these things, West said, recounting recent wrangling over a request to allot time for new reforms to be suggested at future meetings. It took a ton of work to get here. Its insane.

Briefing his team near a slushy street corner before the meeting, West said his relationship with the committee leaders was marked with broken promises. Seddio, he said, had called him on Sunday night to promise him an hour of time for open discussion of a slew of issues important to reformers at the meeting. That hour never materialized. In fact, the official printed agenda only reserved time at the very end of the night for Open discussion by the Members (if time permits).

Seddio did not respond to requests for comment.



Frank Seddio, chairman of the Kings County Democratic Party, (far left) huddles with party officials at the beginning of the committee meeting on Tuesday night. (Frank G. Runyeon / Gothamist)

It was not until 2 hours and 45 minutes into the evening, with less than 10 minutes left in the event, that County Committee Chair Joe Bova allowed a few questions from reformers. Skinner asked if the committee would consider ejecting party heretic State Senator Simcha Felder from the party for his past alliance with Republicans, which drew wild applause. Bova agreed the issue would be addressed by the next meeting.

When West and Melissa Gradel, a member from the 44th Assembly District, pressed Bova on whether the rules could be revised to allow for a full hour to introduce and discuss proposals, Bova dodged directly addressing the question. At that point, Seddio took the microphone.

I began the meeting by telling you we were trying to do this. So please dont be so antagonistic, Seddio said, chastising Gradel. He went on to say members could email their questions to the committee. If you do that in advance, we can address it in a better and more congenial manner.

Everything that you present to us between now and the next 180 days will be addressed by the executive committee and we will put it online to make sure you saw it and have that dialogue back-and-forth, Seddio said. The crowd cheered.

Several members noted that the tenor of this meeting was remarkably civil, something that couldnt be said for the last gathering in September.

If you look at the tone of this meeting as opposed to the other meeting, it turned 360 degrees almost, Skinner said.



Frank Seddio speaks with public advocate candidate Dawn Smalls before the straw poll at Tuesday nights committee meeting. (Frank G. Runyeon / Gothamist)

At that September meeting, reformers upended the proceedings with disruptive chants and jeers protesting the complex rules and opaque decision-making process that have long governed the boroughs most powerful political body. After hours of acrimony, the reformers ultimately succeeded in introducing several proposals aimed at bolstering transparency, even as bosses succeeded in electing their slate of candidates to the executive committees using the contentious proxy ballots.

Tuesday nights straw poll was low stakes, reformers said, having no bearing on control of the committee itself or any meaningful influence on the nonpartisan citywide public advocates race.

This was a little bit of a charade in some way. I support Jumaane and think hes great. But this was a particularly strange process to begin with, said West. Williams already had overwhelming support in the community, West noted, and there were several reform measures that could have been discussed instead.

West also noted some apparent fissures between members of the county committee power structure itself. One brief exchange seemed to indicate as much.

As the straw poll ballots were being counted, Seddio told Bova to go ahead and allow open discussion to beginas West said Seddio had promised. Bova shrugged, and instead put the committee in recess, as people began to mill about the room.

During the recess, Seddio lumbered toward Blake Morris, Sen. Simcha Felders one-time primary challenger. You collecting money for those cookies? he asked. Morris said he was, in fact, selling cookies to pay off an outstanding campaign debt of $8,000mostly for mailers. He was wearing a bowler hat with a ribbon advertising his cause. Seddio dropped a $10 bill in his basket. You owe me four cookies! Seddio said with a laugh and walked off.

Theres a lot of smiles and backslapping, Morris said, looking around the room, noting that this was the friendliest committee meeting hes ever seen.

But theres a lot more happening, Morris said. Undercurrents.

Given the frigid weather and general melancholy of a Saskatchewan winter, many people are preparing to flee for greener pastures this coming long weekend.

The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA), the national crown corporation responsible for security and screening at airports, made some changes to their regulations back in October due to the legalization of cannabis.

Here are a few changes to keep in mind if you are flying somewhere for the break.

Pot on a plane

Anyone flying will be permitted to bring the maximum legal possession limit of 30 grams of recreational cannabis with them on a flight, so long as it is within Canada. Christine Langlois, senior advisor of communications and spokesperson for CATSA, said locating illegal drugs is not the main focus as it is not part of their mandate.

"When we happen to see something that might look illegal to us then we call the police and the police decide, but that's their job to say what is legal or not," said Langlois.

That means that you don't need to show the receipts from the dispensary where you purchase your cannabis.

As for bringing it with you on a plane, Langlois said that so long as it is within the legal limit they aren't too concerned with how it is transported. It can be checked or brought along as part of your carry-on luggage.

"It is an allowed item. So allowed items don't have specific ways to package them," said Langlois. So unlike liquids, gels, non-solid food and personal items, your cannabis does not need to packed in a re-sealable clear plastic bag.

Rob Kruk/ICI Saskatchewan

These rules are all specifically for domestic flight.

"The thing to remember is that you can not cross international borders with it. Whether you go out of Canada or come in," said Langlois. That means that even if a traveller is heading to an American state or another nation where cannabis is legal you are not allowed to fly across international borders with marijuana.

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While not specifically related to the consumption of cannabis, vapes are allowed in carry-on bags but not in checked luggage due to their batteries, according to Langlois

Salt, sand or seasoning

Things like toothpaste, peanut butter or Nutella all fall under the gel category in CATSA regulations. That means that it can be part of your carry-on luggage so long as it 100 millilitres or less and fits in a 1 litre clear resealable plastic bag.

She said another recent change to the CATSA regulations is the quantity of inorganic powders people are allowed to bring with them. Salt for both the kitchen or bath, hand warmers and sand all fall under this category. Each passenger is allowed to have 350 ml of these substances in carry-on bags.

Amounts over 350 ml are allowed so long as they are in your checked luggage.

For any other questions, Langlois recommended people use the CATSA app or the website, which offers a searchable database called "What Can I Bring?"

The tool allows travellers to punch in an item to see if it is allowed on flights and, if so, how much.

"Really it comes down to if you're well prepared it's easier on everybody," said Langlois.Canada Post is asking Prince Edward Islanders who still get home delivery to make sure there is a clear, safe path to the door following Wednesday's snowfall.

Local area manager Brian Hurley said mail carriers are out in challenging conditions all winter long on P.E.I., and injuries from falls are not uncommon.

"We certainly at Canada Post would ask that homeowners continue to keep access to their homes clear of ice and snow. It's not only for Canada Post employees, but everyone that's visiting those homes," said Hurley.

"I know it takes a little bit of time but certainly can help to avoid a serious injury."

Mail delivery was cancelled in the storm Wednesday, which Hurley said usually happens two or three times a year with the P.E.I. weather.

There could be delays Thursday as workers catch up with the backlog.

More P.E.I. newsJAKARTA (Reuters) - An Instagram account displaying comic strips depicting the struggles faced by gay Muslim men was removed on Wednesday after authorities labeled it "pornographic" and threatened to block the platform. Indonesia's communications ministry said that Instagram had taken down the account, under the name @Alpantuni, at its request because it was in breach of regulations on content. But Instagram said it was not involved. "There are a number of other reasons why an account may no longer be accessible, including, for example, if the account holder deleted the account, deactivated the account, or changed the account username," an Instagram spokesman told Reuters. Reuters was not able to reach the account holder. The removal of the site comes amid government and public hostility towards the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the worlds largest Muslim-majority country. Communications Minister Rudiantara had earlier warned that Instagram could be blocked in Indonesia if the account was not removed. "Materials promoting LGBT are against health rules, religious rules and cultural norms. It is not in accordance with Indonesia," the minister told CNN Indonesia. The comic strips reviewed by Reuters before they were taken down portrayed a young gay man from a religious Indonesian family struggling with his identity. They included an image of two men in bed and the main protagonist later being bullied over his sexuality. The account had more than 6,000 followers. (Reporting by Fanny Potkin; Editing by Ed Davies and Nick Macfie)By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is set to rewrite its two decades-old copyright rules to ensure a level playing field between its creative industries and tech giants such as Google and Facebook, after striking a deal on the issue on Wednesday. While the revamp is likely to result in more compensation for publishers, broadcasters and artists from online platforms, it could burden small startups with additional costs as they will be required to install upload filters to stop copyright violations. Negotiators from the EU countries, the European Parliament and the European Commission clinched a deal on Wednesday after negotiations that lasted all day. "Agreement reached on #copyright! Europeans will finally have modern copyright rules fit for digital age with real benefits for everyone: guaranteed rights for users, fair remuneration for creators, clarity of rules for platforms," EU digital chief Andrus Ansip said in a tweet. The EU executive kicked off the debate two years ago, saying the rules needed to be overhauled to protect the bloc's cultural heritage and make sure that publishers, broadcasters and artists are remunerated fairly. The issue pitted Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Mozilla, other tech companies and even Wikipedia against publishers, among them Germany's Axel Springer, and other creators of content, triggering intense lobbying on both sides. Lobbying group CCIA, whose members include Google and Facebook, criticized Article 11 which would force Google and Microsoft to pay publishers for displaying news snippets, and Article 13, which requires online platforms such as YouTube and Instagram to install filters to prevent users from uploading copyrighted materials. "We fear the law could harm online innovation, scaleups, and restrict online freedoms in Europe," its vice-president Christian Borggreen said. Spain and Germany in recent years tried to force Google to pay publishers for taking snippets of their news articles but that backfired after Google News pulled out from Spain and Axel Springer's traffic plunged after it sought to block the search engine. Lawmaker Julia Reda from the Pirate Party also voiced concerns, saying that algorithms in upload filters cannot tell the difference between copyright infringements and legal parodies. "Requiring platforms to use upload filters would not just lead to more frequent blocking of legal uploads, it would also make life difficult for smaller platforms that cannot afford filtering software," she said. Online platforms in existence for less than three years and with less than 10 million euros in revenues and fewer than 5 million monthly users are exempted from installing upload filters, a concession to German lobbying. Non-profit bodies, online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia, and open source software platforms such as GitHub will be able to use potentially valuable data for research and educational purposes without being subjected to the copyright rules. European consumer organization BEUC expressed disappointment. "It will become much harder for users to share their own, non-commercial music, video or photo creations online. This reform is not based on the reality of how people use the internet," its deputy director general Ursula Pachl said. The agreement needs approval from the European Parliament and EU countries before it can become law. That is expected to be a formality. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Susan Fenton and Tom Brown)Liberal members of the Commons justice committee have agreed to study the SNC-Lavalin affair that has Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government under a cloud  clearing the way for a parliamentary probe into whether his office exerted influence over plans for a criminal prosecution of the Quebec-based engineering firm.

While Liberal MPs backed an investigation, they disagreed with opposition MPs on the committee over how wide-reaching such an inquiry should be, and who should be asked to appear.

Conservative and NDP members banded together to demand that Trudeau's most senior adviser, Gerald Butts, and Jody Wilson-Raybould  the former justice minister at the heart of this affair  be added to the committee's proposed witness list. The Liberal members voted in a bloc against a motion from NDP MP Nathan Cullen to do just that.

That doesn't mean those two people will be spared parliamentary scrutiny  but it now falls to the Liberal majority on the committee to decide whether they will ever be called to give their side of the SNC-Lavalin story.

Wilson-Raybould announced she was quitting the Liberal cabinet Tuesday morning, just days after a Globe and Mail report claimed she was pressured by the PMO to help the Quebec-based multinational engineering firm SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecution on bribery and fraud charges in relation to contracts in Libya.

Liberal MPs on the justice committee today also rebuffed a request to draw up a proposed witness list for the committee in public, saying they prefer to follow normal parliamentary procedure and meet 'in camera' (behind closed doors) to select witnesses next week.

'At best, committees of the House of Commons are political theatre that can occasionally achieve good studies.' - Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault

So far, Liberal committee members have only agreed to call three witnesses: Justice Minister David Lametti, Deputy Minister of Justice Nathalie Drouin and Michael Wernick, the clerk of the Privy Council of Canada.

Story continues

An official with House Leader Bardish Chagger's office already has secured agreement from these people to appear, prompting opposition MPs to allege interference by members of government in the work of the supposedly independent Liberal members on the committee.

The committee also will seek a legal opinion on the sub judice rule, which governs what public statements can be made by government officials about ongoing legal proceedings before the courts.

Wilson-Raybould has so far refused to speak publicly about what transpired on the SNC-Lavalin file, saying only that solicitor-client privilege stemming from her time as justice minister forbids her from commenting.

Experts have said Trudeau could waive that privilege. The prime minister is seeking legal advice of his own on that matter.

Speaking in Sudbury, Ont. Wednesday, Trudeau repeated his statement that the government had done nothing wrong.

"Jody Wilson-Raybould and I had a conversation in September in which I emphasized to her that the decisions she makes as attorney general, particularly in this matter, are her decisions and I was not directing or pressuring her," he said.

"If she felt that she had received pressure it was her obligation, her responsibility, to come talk to me and she did not do that in the fall. She continued to choose to serve in this government as Veterans Affairs minister when I made a cabinet shuffle."

'Agents of the PMO'

The Liberal MPs on the justice committee insisted today they were acting independently of the Prime Minister's Office in agreeing to a study but limiting its scope. Opposition members weren't buying it.

"It's a cover-up and it's becoming clearer by the day," Conservative MP Michael Cooper said, calling his Liberal colleagues on the committee "nothing more than agents of the PMO."

Liberal members, meanwhile, said partisan grandstanding by the opposition MPs was a stunt designed to embarrass the prime minister.

Liberal MP Iqra Khalid went after a Conservative social media campaign aimed at getting members of the public to pressure Liberal MPs on the committee to study the matter, calling it "bullying." Khalid said the opposition was making "a lot of hay out of ... nothing substantiated."

Cullen and Conservative MP Lisa Raitt said the severity of the allegations detailed in the initial Globe and Mail report, and Wilson-Raybould's subsequent resignation from cabinet, demand a thorough view by Parliament.

"If you want to alleviate the suspicions of Canadians ... allow Ms. Wilson-Raybould to come forward, allow the principal secretary to come forward, allow Mathieu Bouchard, who met 50 times with SNC-Lavalin, to come forward," Cullen said. Bouchard is Trudeau's Quebec adviser.

"It baffles me that my Liberal colleagues have seen what has transpired over the last six days and they say, 'Nothing untoward here.' Clearly, Ms. Wilson-Raybould should be called to appear before this committee."

Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault  who, in addition to serving as a member of the justice committee, works as the prime minister's special adviser on LGBTQ2 issues  said today Liberals on the committee are prepared to study "discussions between the office of the attorney general and government colleagues" on the SNC-Lavalin affair, but insisted much of the investigative work should be left to the ethics commissioner.

"I think today's testimony from the Conservative opposition demonstrates that, at best, committees of the House of Commons are political theatre that can occasionally achieve good studies," Boissonnault said.

Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press

"We don't have the tools, we don't have the budget, we don't have the mechanisms to go through with the fishing expedition and the kind of witch hunt that the Conservatives would like to see."

Federal ethics commissioner Mario Dion has launched his own investigation into the matter  specifically into whether there's been a violation of the Conflict of Interest Act.

Boissonnault pitched the Liberal-endorsed committee study as a way to "reassure Canadians" that internal government discussions on how best to deal with the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin were above-board.

He also said the committee should study deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs), a plea deal-like legal tool that SNC-Lavalin has sought in place of a criminal trial. The federal Liberal government legislated the creation of DPAs in its last budget bill.

Wilson-Raybould retains counsel

Trudeau has denied the substance of the Globe and Mail report, maintaining that Wilson-Raybould was never directed to instruct Kathleen Roussel, the director of public prosecutions, to negotiate such an agreement with the company.

SNC-Lavalin, an important entity in corporate Canada, is facing charges of bribery and fraud related to the company's efforts to secure government contracts in Libya.

Trudeau initially cited Wilson-Raybould's continued presence in cabinet as Veterans Affairs minister as a sign nothing untoward had happened. Her voluntary departure has since challenged that narrative.

Wilson-Raybould has taken the highly unusual step of retaining Thomas Cromwell, a recently retired Supreme Court justice, as her legal counsel as the scandal enters a new phase.VIENNA (Reuters) - Europe should agree a joint position on whether or not Chinese firm Huawei is allowed to equip 5G networks for next-generation mobile networks to ensure fair competition, Austria's technology ministry said on Wednesday. The European Commission is considering a de facto ban on Huawei's 5G network equipment due to security concerns. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence have been lobbying European politicians this week to ditch the Chinese firm's network products. The Austrian ministry said in a statement that it "considers it useful to address the issue at a European level and to define a common approach". "However, it must also be ensured that competition in Europe and Austria is not restricted," it added. Huawei, the global networks market leader with annual sales exceeding $100 billion, is the subject of U.S. security concerns over its ties with the Chinese government and suspicion Beijing could use its technology for spying. It denies the allegations and said on Wednesday it was ready to work with governments and tackle extra security measures to address the issues. A1 Telekom Austria, controlled by Mexico's America Movil and the Austrian state, said that it does use Huawei parts and Nokia is its main network supplier, although its Chief Executive Thomas Arnoldner said a decision regarding 5G equipment has not been made yet. Local rival T-Mobile Austria, Deutsche Telekom's Austrian unit, has said it is working with Huawei, Nokia and Cisco and is re-evaluating its procurement strategy. Deutsche Telekom has proposed a series of technical and compliance measures to safeguard security, including setting up an independent laboratory to scrutinize all equipment used in critical infrastructure before it is deployed. Hutchison Whampoa's Drei Austria has said that Huawei played a minor role as a network supplier at Drei. "Without Chinese hardware, without American software, we can't perform in the world of the global players. One could discuss certification and security measures, but raising walls is certainly the wrong way," it said. (Reporting by Kirsti Knolle; Editing by Alexander Smith)Businessman using calculator next to laptop

Sun Life Financial (TSX:SLF)(NYSE:SLF) often flies under the radar of investors who are searching for a financial stock to add to their portfolios.

Lets take a look at the current situation to see if the insurance and wealth management company deserves to be on your buy list today.

Earnings

Sun Life operates insurance and asset management businesses primarily located in Canada, the United States, and Asia. SLF Canada generated a 6% increase in underlying net income in Q4 2018 compared to 2017. SLF U.S. saw underlying net income increase 27%. SLF Asia reported a 26% gain, and the SLF Asset Management group delivered similar results to the previous year.

Overall, total underlying net income came in at $718 million in the quarter, representing a 12% year-over-year gain. For all of 2018, Sun Life reported underlying net income of $2.95 billion compared to $2.55 billion in 2017.

Growth

Sun Life made strategic changes to its operations in the wake of the Great Recession. The company sold off its U.S. annuities division and has focused new investment on more stable asset management opportunities, including property management. Investors should see that trend continue after the recent merger of the companys real estate and property management group with GreenOak Real Estate, which positions the company to expand in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Long-term growth in the insurance business should come from Asia. Sun Life has strong subsidiaries or partnerships in several key markets, including India, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. As the middle class expands throughout the region, Sun Life should see demand increase for its insurance and wealth management products.

Dividends

Sun Life raised the dividend twice in 2018 from $0.455 per share to $0.475 and then to $0.50 per share, representing an increase of nearly 10% for the year. The Q4 payout ratio was 42%, so there is ample room for ongoing increases in 2019 and beyond.

At the time of writing, the stock provides a yield of 4.3%.

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Risks

The stock is down from $51 per share a year ago to the current price near $46.50. A pullback in stock markets is part of the reason for the dip. The company is better insulated against corrections after its strategic shift, but as a wealth manager, any drop in the broader equity indexes will put pressure on that side of the business.

Overseas, Asia provides strong growth potential; however, a financial crisis in the region would have an impact on Sun Lifes performance.

Overall, the risk of another global meltdown similar to the the one we saw 10 years ago should be quite low, and the pullback in Sun Lifes stock price might be overdone.

Should you buy?

Sun Life has made good progress on its turnaround efforts and the strong dividend growth suggests management is optimistic about the revenue and earnings outlook.

If you are searching for a way to get exposure to Asian growth through a solid Canadian company, Sun Life deserves to be on your radar today.

More reading

Fool contributor Andrew Walker has no position in any stock 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An engineer checks and control robot arms in a manufacturing unit. Photo: Getty

Major companies across Europe are planning to increase investment in robotic technology in the near-future, according to a note by UBS.

A survey of 600 corporate firms in the eurozone by the financial services giant found nearly six in 10 were looking to step up their spending on automation, robotics and digitalisation (ARD).

Researchers at UBS London branch spoke to CEOs and other senior decision-makers in France, Italy, Spain and Germany, mainly from the consumer, materials and industrial sectors.

Italian firms appeared most likely to be currently embracing the potential of such new technologies to increase output or cut costs, a finding described as surprising by the reports authors.

READ MORE: UBS overhauling pay policy for 10,000 staff

Germany recorded the lowest level of interest of the four countries surveyed, with 50% of companies reporting investment plans compared to 68% in Italy.

Larger companies were more likely to be planning to hike their spending. The majority of firms (59%) said they expected ARD to increase their profits, but only one in three (33%) expected it to lead to lower prices.

The UBS note said the average eurozone firm spent a third of their investment budget on high-tech spending, but only 9% of it specifically on ARD.

The note adds: While tangible investment is important, there are increasing signs that intangible investment  in intellectual property, business processes and skills  is particularly important for productivity and, hence, long-term growth potential.

READ MORE: Expert says US automation could increase unemployed migration from Africa[SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATES]

Facing increasing opposition from activists and some lawmakers, Amazon has decided to pull out of the deal to build a corporate campus in New York City. The move comes after a lengthy location-search that culminated with the retail giant announcing its intention in November to bring one half of its HQ2 complex to Long Island City, Queens.

The company announced the stunning reversal in a press release on Thursday. "After much thought and deliberation, weve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens," the statement read.

It continued: "For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term. While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City."

can we get a special edition of the New York Times The Hunt column about all the amazon execs who bought condos in LIC already  rachel syme (@rachsyme) February 14, 2019

While several members of the City Council had opposed the deal, the body had no actual authority over the plan. State Senator Michael Gianaris, an Amazon critic who was chosen last month to lead a public authorities board with veto power over the deal, had said he was open to renegotiating the terms of Amazon's move, provided they didn't receive any tax breaks.

Like a petulant child, Amazon insists on getting its way or takes its ball and leaves," Gainaris said in a statement to the Times. The only thing that happened here is that a community that was going to be profoundly affected by their presence started asking questions."

Referencing Amazon's promise to continue growing its existing locations in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island, Gianaris added, Amazon admits they will grow their presence in New York without their promised subsidies. So what was all this really about?"

Listen to Christopher Robbins and Jim O'Grady discuss Amazon's decision to abandon NYC, and Shumita Basu describe reaction from Long Island City residents on WNYC's All Things Considered:

Chelsea Connor, a spokesperson for the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, echoed the sentiment: "Rather than addressing the legitimate concerns that have been raised by many New Yorkers, Amazon says you do it our way or not at all, we will not even consider the concerns of New Yorkersthat's not what a responsible business would do."

The company had hinted at a possible plan to leave New York last week, with unnamed sources telling the Washington Post it may not be "worth it" to take up to $3 billion in grants and tax incentives from New York City and State to create 25,000 to 40,000 jobs here.

Also, if you're not following any of the work that local, grassroots groups did to bring attention to Amazon's complicity with ICE, its anti-union politics, and how little this would serve long-standing communities in Queens, then start with @QueensBarrios.  Max RN (@MaxRivlinNadler) February 14, 2019

Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasiowho orchestrated the initial deal togethercould not immediately be reached for comment. The company added that they do not intend to re-open the HQ2 search at this time.

Advocates are planning a victory party at Diversity Plaza in Jackson Heights on Thursday night.

This is a breaking story; check back for updates imminently.



[UPDATE 2:57 p.m.] Sources in the State Senate told WNYC/Gothamist that they were as confused as everyone else when the announcement was made, because a week ago Amazon reps said the threats featured in the Washington Post story were not real.

At a press conference in his office, Senator Gianaris was asked why he thought the deal fell apart.

"What it looks like to me is that Amazon couldn't get its way," the senator said. "Amazon believes it's more important than the governments in this country."

Asked about what kinds of jobs and infrastructure would be lost from Amazon's departure, Gianaris said that he couldn't say for certain.

"We didn't have answers to a lot of these questions. When we dared to say, 'can we have some answers,' They left."

[UPDATE 2:45 p.m.] Governor Andrew Cuomo has finally issued a statement, in which he blames a "small group of politicians" for scaring Amazon away from New York City.

"Amazon chose to come to New York because we are the capital of the world and the best place to do business," the governor said. "We competed in and won the most hotly contested national economic development competition in the United States, resulting in at least 25,000-40,000 good paying jobs for our state and nearly $30 billion dollars in new revenue to fund transit improvements, new housing, schools and countless other quality of life improvements. Bringing Amazon to New York diversified our economy away from real estate and Wall Street, further cementing our status as an emerging center for tech and was an extraordinary economic win not just for Queens and New York City, but for the entire region, from Long Island to Albany's nanotech center.

"However, a small group politicians put their own narrow political interests above their communitywhich poll after poll showed overwhelmingly supported bringing Amazon to Long Island Citythe state's economic future and the best interests of the people of this state," the statement continued. "The New York State Senate has done tremendous damage. They should be held accountable for this lost economic opportunity."

"The fundamentals of New York's business climate and community that attracted amazon to be hereour talent pool, world-class education system, commitment to diversity and progressivismremain and we won't be deterred as we continue to attract world class business to communities across New York State."

[UPDATE] 1:20 p.m. Mayor Bill de Blasio, who privately negotiated the initial deal along with Governor Cuomo, has now weighed in on Amazon's decision to back out.

"You have to be tough to make it in New York City," he said. "We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity. We have the best talent in the world and every day we are growing a stronger and fairer economy for everyone. If Amazon can't recognize what that's worth, its competitors will."

Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazons corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world. https://t.co/nyvm5vtH9k  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 14, 2019

[UPDATE 1:10 p.m.] Advocates who've spent recent months working to kill the deal are celebrating the news. In a joint statement delivered on behalf of more than a dozen organizationsincluding ALIGN, New York Communities for Change, Make the Road, and the Democratic Socialists of Americaa spokesperson said that New Yorkers had "just delivered a Valentines day message to Amazon: It's not us, it's you."

"This victory is a clear demonstration of the power of workers and communities across Queens and New York who came together and are fighting for a city that works for us and not for billionaires like Bezos," the groups added. "We will continue fighting for real investment for good jobs, affordable housing, NYCHA, and transit in our communities and we will continue to stand in solidarity and support of other cities and communities facing Amazon and Bezos's bullying tactics."

Coucilmember Van Bramer also painted the news as a win for Western Queens activism, with reverberating consequences for the future of economic deals in New York City. "Defeating an anti-union corporation that mistreats workers and assists ICE in terrorizing immigrant communities is a victory," he said. "Defeating an unprecedented act of corporate welfare is a triumph that should change the way we do economic development deals in our city and state forever."

[UPDATE 12:52 p.m] City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who has led two contentious hearings on the Amazon project has released his own statement: I look forward to working with companies that understand that if youre willing to engage with New Yorkers and work through challenging issues New York City is the worlds best place to do business. I hope this is the start of a conversation about vulture capitalism and where our tax dollars are best spent. I know Id choose mass transit over helipads any day.

While the news was a victory for the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union, it's a blow to the building trades unions, which stood to gain jobs from the deal.

Gary LaBarbera, president, Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, said he was "stunned."

"This sends the wrong message to businesses all over the world looking to call New York home. Who will want to come now?"

[UPDATE 12:41 p.m.] In a statement, State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who recommended Senator Michael Gianaris to the Public Authorities Control Board, said that Amazon's decision is "proof of why it is so important to have an inclusive and transparent process from the beginning."

"It is unfortunate that rather than engage in productive discussions about a major development, Amazon has decided to leave New York," she added. "This process was clearly flawed and did not include the affected community nor their legislative representatives until after the deal was signed. This was not the same process that was followed in other areas including Virginia and that is clearly why this deal failed.



Additional reporting by Lydia McMullen-Laird.- 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."Opinion / Columnist

ED and 2023 Agenda

Factional fights in both MDC and Zanu PF working against each other

Arrests were well calculated

Midlands Politics

AU Meetings and Dialogue

Tinashe Eric Muzamhindo writes in his personal capacity as the Head of Global Institute of Policy Analysis and Research - GIPAR. He is also a leading consultancy in Project Management and he is studying Doctor of Philosophy in Development studies. He holds a B.A and M.A from Solusi University and another M.A from University of Lusaka, Zambia. He holds a certificate in Project Management and he can be contacted at tanteminvestments@gmail.com

It is critical and paramount of importance to do case studies, researches and analysis in any situation, mainly because they curb problems, and act as an indicator and eye opener for future events. Basically Zimbabwe lacks well documented research for future studies. It would be unfair to the future generation for lack of information and archives for empirical and scientific studies on specific areas of governance. The mass stay away was bigger than what people thought, as we speak we could be in another political debacle and debunk. There was likely to be another implosion similar to that of November 17, 2017. One could tell, the opposition in this country particularly the MDC Alliance could not have the capacity or sponsor such a big project. Indeed it was a big project which had both an inside and external hand, but according to my critical analysis I don't think opposition could handle such a huge project. It was bigger than them. Basically what it means is that it was inside job, well designed and carefully managed. To add on to the frustrations that people had before the stay away, what fuelled the mass stay away was the announcement of fuel hike by Mnangagwa which was more than 150% increment of the fuel price. Whoever advised Mnangagwa to do so was wrong and that was political suicidal because the announcement was supposed to be done by ZERA, the fuel regulatory board, then in turn an appeal would then be made to the current Minister of Energy, and later on the appeal to President Mnangagwa. So whoever came up with the decision to announce fuel hike was totally wrong and offside. If ZERA had announced it would then create room for ED and the public to negotiate for a better price, so people were frustrated because ED would be the last men to speak on whatever decision be it political or economic, his position would be final and there will be no room for appeal or negotiation. With Mugabe it was totally different, because he would create room for negotiations and allow people to take out their frustration, and he chips in and come up with a resolution. Something must be done on his advisory part so that it improves. We don't want a situation, were the President is allover to make every decision, some of the issues can be left out to other people like ministers or even deputy ministers or permanent secretaries, imagine the announcement of fuel prices can be done even by a principal director of a ministry or Minister in charge of the energy sector.What led to people's frustrations is the announcement of the political agenda ahead of 2023. Whoever advised ED and Zanu PF to do so was wrong and ill-timed. Mnangagwa has all the time till 2022 to make such crucial decisions, so there was likely to be an internal implosion within Zanu PF who were against the idea of ED running for another term. This emanated from the economic and political pressures that this country was facing. Imagine with the current hikes of basic commodities, then suddenly someone announces the 2023 agenda, to povo this would be regarded as failure on its part and also deal with any threat which might want to target his position. So this was a direct message from ED's supporters to which ever faction is within Zanu PF to stay put because ED is there to stay. We were just coming from another election and people expected something better from the current Government. Frustration on the part of citizens, opposition and factions from Zanu PF joined forces to dethrone ED during the mass stay away. The other Zanu PF within Zanu PF had nothing to lose they would rather join forces with the opposition, and in politics anything is possible. Generally what we saw on the mass stay away was a combine attack from within the system and opposition forces.In both Zanu PF and MDC Alliance, factions exist and they are working against each other. In Zanu PF there are two main factions, one believed to be working in ED's corner and the other working in Chiwenga's corner and both exist. In any political organization it is normal to have factions and whoever denies that is living in his own world. In MDC Alliance there is one led by the current President, Nelson Chamisa and the other one led by Mwonzora who is believed to be a dark horse using Mudzuri. So basically what this means is that, one MDC faction was or is working with another Zanu PF faction and the other MDC faction is working with the other Zanu PF faction. Politics is interesting and in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies. Even Khupe could be working with either both factions in Zanu PF and one in the Chamisa led party. It looks like one Zanu PF faction in the MDC connived with another Zanu PF faction during the mass stay away with possibly a future arrangement. That's politics. The stay away was bigger than the opposition matrix and it had a bigger hand within the system.The arrests behind opposition leaders were well calculated and meant to destabilize the opposition which had a chance to form an alternative Government. What this means is that, by arresting Chibaya who is the national organizing secretary of the main MDC Alliance, the target will be to cripple Chamisa financially and politically. If you remember very well Chibaya is the one who organized the movement for 2018 elections and he is a good mobiliser and coordinator and by arresting him, there are two reasons behind that, to cripple Chamisa and also to target Chamisa ahead of October elective congress and at the same time the 2023 elections. National organizing secretary is a key position, it matters most because it deals with structures and organization of the party, and so by arresting him, you will be draining the party financially through bail applications and at the same time weakening Chamisa and the opposition. Another key issue, is mostly the Chamisa faction or his key allies were targeted leaving out Mwonzora's allies. The idea is to cripple Chamisa ahead of the congress and to eliminate the idea of Chamisa's presidency ahead of elective congress. Look at the people who were targeted, Chibaya, Mafume, Biti, Komichi and Hwende and these are key to Chamisa's presidency. So basically Zanu PF is already preparing for elections for 2023. What this means is that ED is already in 2023 mood and he is trying to deal with any opponent within and outside. Remember he narrowly won, controversially so he wouldn't want the same situation to happen and he is under pressure from the international community over disputed polls and electoral reforms.What Zanu PF is targeting is to destabilize the opposition is some key areas which they feel opposition has strongholds and try to cause by elections. For example by arresting Chibaya and Chikwinya, these are perceived to be Mnangagwa strongholds probably in Midlands and Masvingo and by doing so, ED is trying to send a clear message that I'm still in charge of those areas. If you remember very well, Chibaya and team are facing serious charges which may result in losing their Parliamentary seats so by doing so, by elections will be called and the number of opposition will be reduced in parliament, 2. Perceived vocal people in parliament will be eliminated from parliament, the few remaining ones will not voice in parliament. So the target is to cause by elections and destabilize the party, and at the same time ED will regain control of his home town provinces, Masvingo and Midlands. He could be sending also a strong signal to his ester while cdes in Zanu PF that I'm still strong both within and outside Zanu PF. So the arrests basically are to send a clear political message to everyone that I'm in charge.AU meeting was key for both Chamisa and ED. They were positioning themselves politically ahead of the crucial meeting. Chamisa's demands are clear to have an outside mediation and this would be a blow to ED's presidency. Mnangagwa knew very well that Chamisa will not attend the dialogue meeting at State House, but he wanted to send a clear message within and outside the country that he wanted to resolve the political impasse. Mnangagwa was under immense pressure from the international community over the gross human rights violations and brutal issues. What that basically means is that politically he was correct, because by doing so, Zimbabwe would not be put on the AU agenda meeting which was in Ethiopia. There were some countries which were eager to have Zimbabwe returned on the agenda, and it was going to be suicidal for ED's presidency. AU meeting was crucial for ED because it was strategic, both political and economic. Basically it means that the meeting was supposed to endorse his presidency. ED clearly knows that dialogue must be between himself and Chamisa, but the State House meeting was meant to appease international leaders who were piling pressure on ED and his Government to come up with a dialogue structure.Opinion / Columnist

Zimbabwe has recently been on an onslaught from the West, who have been using local opposition parties and Non-Governmental Organisations in attempts to destabilise the country. The actions of the opposition, particularly MDC and some notable NGOs have clearly pointed out to Western sponsored and influenced regime change agenda.As President Mnangagwa mentioned in his interview with France24, regime change attempts are not new as this has been happening in the country for the past 18 years. Western countries involvement has not been peculiar to Zimbabwe but to most African countries, as they thrive to exercise dominance over developing countries.Against these machinations, Zimbabwe has received commendable support from regional bodies and Heads of States that value and identify with sovereignty and self-determination. The recent support that the country received was through SADC Chairperson and Namibian President, Dr Hage Geingob. In a communique, the SADC Chair called upon the international community to unconditionally lift all sanctions imposed on the country. SADC also communicated on its support towards the country's socio-economic developments.In its founding principles, SADC notes that it is guided by concepts of solidarity, peace and security and peaceful settlement of disputes. Nations have always been interdependent and are bound to remain so in their quest for social, political and economic development. Through this, it has become more apparent that SADC members are aware of hidden motives from the West to invade developing countries, through neo-colonialism.The support from the region has shown that no amount of neo-colonial effort will drive a wedge between Africa states and their determination to maintain sovereignty.At the sidelines of the AU Summit, EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Never Mimica asserted that he had met with President Mnangagwa and "took stock of what has been achieved." Mimica also said EU was ready to step up its support towards the country.Prior, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta had sent through a solidarity message, where he also spelled out that his country was against the imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe. He also said Kenya would give its support to bring back Zimbabwe to the global platform.In its capacity to uphold states sovereignty, SADC also wrote a communique, reproaching the US and its allies to stop interfering in Venezuela's sovereignty and self-determination. In the case of Venezuela, the US has blatantly supported an opposition leader who is disregarding the outcome of legally contested election results. This is further proof that the West and its allies would unashamedly use their political might to protect their interests, regardless of states sovereignty and constitutional right.SADC's position makes it clear that the region will not relent to Western machinations, as only solidarity and regional integration will protect shared national goals.It is important to understand that the West and its allies will do anything in their will-power to make sure that dominance over Africa is maintained. The super powers, through financial, military and technological muscle, will work to fan divisions within the continent so that its dominance will easily sail through.African countries should come to terms with the bare truth that the continent is bestowed with vast natural resources and man power that Western allies are in desperate need of. Imperialists have been determined to make sure that they get their hands on these resources for their sole benefit, to further enrich and empower themselves.Zimbabwe has been a constant target because of its rich mineral resources. Neighbouring countries including South Africa, Kenya, Namibia have consistently shown support towards the country as they understand the power they have over nature bestowed resources.It would also be beneficial for Zimbabweans to question the intentions of Americans and their sincerity towards intervening in the country's political affairs. Recently, some UK representative was talking of re-colonisation of Zimbabwe and it is such utterances that should be unpacked to understand the kind of people we are dealing with.In their might, regional bodies are aware of the intentions of the West to intervene in African countries' internal affairs so as to divide nations. However, the harmony and integration of regional bodies will form blocks to protect countries from Western destructive interventions.It is also imperative to note that a society of united, enlightened and disciplined people with a high degree of group harmony is always a source of strength. Positions taken by SADC, AU and other states in supporting Zimbabwe are testimony that Africa is emerging stronger against imperialism. SADC and AU will remain unpopular to the West and those who further Western agenda, hence the politics of African brotherhood should remain vigilant to this vice.News / National

by Mandla Ndlovu

Bulawayo Ward 24 CouncillorArnold Batirai will be appearing in court on the 18th of February facing a charge of contravening section 146 (3)(c )of the Electoral Act by allegedly forging MDC Alliance's chief of staff, Mr Sesel Zvidzai's signature which saw him participating in the 30 July harmonised elections under the party's ticket.In papers seen by this publication, the magistrate courts have summoned one Gideon Mangena and one Virginia Nyathi to come and testify on the case against Batirai.In September last year residents from the ward signed a petition addressed to the party's president, Mr Nelson Chamisa, provincial chairperson, Mr Gift Banda, the Mayor, Councillor Solomon Mguni, Town Clerk Mr Christopher Dube and the MDC Alliance national chairperson, Ms Thabitha Khumalo, among others accusing Batirai of misleading residents through the forged letter thereby violating the Electoral Act."Arnold Batirai forged a signature of the MDC Alliance chief of staff Mr. Sesel Zvidzai and distributed letters which were misleading to the electorate before and on the voting day which purported that Mr. Gideon Mangena had been expelled by the party as a representative in the local government elections." Read the petition.Find the court papers below:News / National

by Staff reporter

The case, in which a Masvingo miner is accusing the recently-appointed Prosecutor-General (PG) Kumbirai Hodzi of criminal abuse of office, has been referred to Chief Justice, Luke Malaba for investigation.In a letter to Edgar Mashindi of Tambanashe Investments, Judicial Services Commission (JSC) acting secretary, Walter Chikwanha, said Justice Malaba was now seized with the matter."We acknowledge receipt of your letter that we received at our offices on January 25 2019. Please, be advised that the letter has been placed before the Chief Justice, who is now seized with the issue. We will advise you in due course as and when we receive his comments," Chikwanha wrote.Hodzi is being accused of corruptly declining to prosecute former Mines secretary Francis Gudyanga, who was implicated in a criminal abuse of office matter.Gudyanga had been taken to court for fraudulently facilitating the issuance of a mining registration certificate to an undeserving mining company, Two Flags (Pvt) Ltd, ahead of Tambanashe Investments.But Hodzi allegedly caused Gudyanga's case to collapse at the magistrates' courts after his office reportedly acted in "a sloppy manner", forcing the matter to die prematurely.This forced Mashindi to take the matter to the JSC as well as open a criminal docket against the prosecutor-general at Harare Central Police Station, under case number IR012036.According to papers filed both with the police and JSC, it is alleged that when the case was ready for trial at the magistrate courts, the State represented by Ropafadzo Botsh, asked for a postponement, saying the docket had been sent to the PG's Office for perusal.But the court ruled that the PG's Office had failed to provide a trial date within a reasonable period although the suspects, Gudyanga and his co-accused, Masvingo provincial mines director, Sibongubuhle Mpindiwa and Mines ministry legal adviser, Jacqueline Munyonga, had only been placed on remand for two weeks.Mashindi accused Hodzi of corruptly failing to prosecute the matter, resulting in him seeking the police and JSC's assistance.Attempts to get a comment from Hodzi were fruitless as his mobile phone went unanswered.Allegations against Gudyanga were that sometime in 2003, Reedbuck Investments, which had mining rights at Lenox Mine, entered into an agreement of sale with Tambanashe Investments.The State then alleged that in 2006, instead of registering Tambanashe, Gudyanga and Mpindiwa facilitated the registration of Lomona Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd and authorised it to run the mine.The State alleges that in 2015, Two Flags Trading, a company Gudyanga was said to have interests in, filed a lawsuit against former Mines minister Walter Chidakwa over mining rights.But Gudyanga and Munyonga did not respond to the lawsuit, leading to a default judgment being granted in favour of Two Flags Trading, prejudicing Tambanashe Investments.Bowalley Road Rules



The blogosphere tends to be a very noisy, and all-too-often a very abusive, place. I intend Bowalley Road to be a much quieter, and certainly a more respectful, place.

So, if you wish your comments to survive the moderation process, you will have to follow the Bowalley Road Rules.

These are based on two very simple principles:

Courtesy and Respect.

Comments which are defamatory, vituperative, snide or hurtful will be removed, and the commentators responsible permanently banned.

Anonymous comments will not be published. Real names are preferred. If this is not possible, however, commentators are asked to use a consistent pseudonym.

Comments which are thoughtful, witty, creative and stimulating will be most welcome, becoming a permanent part of the Bowalley Road discourse.

However, I do add this warning. If the blog seems in danger of being over-run by the usual far-Right suspects, I reserve the right to simply disable the Comments function, and will keep it that way until the perpetrators find somewhere more appropriate to vent their collective spleen.

The LA Times Guild has been negotiating a new contract with the newspaper, but has hit a wall thanks to an unprecedented demand from the paper's owners: they want writers to sign away the rights to nonfiction books, novels, movies and other works they create separate from their reporting for the paper. The newspaper is also demanding the right to use reporters "byline, biography and likeness" to market these works.



The Times has falsely claimed that this is standard at other papers. LA Times factcheckers and factcheckers from other papers have researched and debunked this claim.





The Guild's 400 newsroom staffers are calling on the paper to drop the demand.





This is an excellent example of how bargaining power  not copyright  is the biggest factor in determining the fortunes of creative workers. In an unequal market dominated by a few giant players, the suppliers  creators  have little negotiating power without the ability to unionize or take other forms of collective action. Without these balancing measures, giving creators more copyright is just a roundabout way of giving their corporate exploiters more copyright  because every new right you give to creators is simply taken from them by a monopolistic employer as a condition of doing business. It's like giving your bullied kid extra lunch money: it's not going to buy them lunch, because the bullies will simply take that money, too.





The LA Times runs an annual, excellent Festival of Books (I'm a guest again this year) where the kinds of books that LA Times staffers  and other newspaper writers  have written for decades are rightfully celebrated. If this clause remains intact, we can expect that future editions of the Festival will feature panels where, instead of authors, we'll get to hear corporate executives describe how hard they had to work to get the authors to sign away their rights to the books that are being featured.



The company's proposal would, as a condition of employment at The Times, give management enormous discretion over whether it could control any journalism-related book deals or similar creative work that employees don't typically perform as part of their day-to-day work for The Times. It would also give The Times the rights to negotiate regarding the use of their employees' byline, biography and likeness. No other unionized news organization has contract language as all-encompassing as the company's proposal. "Los Angeles Times journalists have a proud history of writing books, and now the company wants the power to claim ownership over those books if they are somehow related to journalism we've done for The Times," said Matt Pearce, a national reporter and a vice chair of the L.A. Times Guild. "None of our peers have a clause like this in their contracts. It would be a huge step backward."



Press Release: Los Angeles Times Guild pushes back against management's proposed intellectual property policy [Los Angeles Times Guild]The only national emergency in America is Trump.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday afternoon that Donald Trump plans to sign a federal government spending package that reflects compromises over his US-Mexico border wall, adding that Trump will also declare a national state of emergency. Team Trump intends to use the phony emergency declaration to obtain more money for The Wall.

The military is already rummaging around in the sofa looking for spare change.

BREAKING: Congressional aides say DOD has $21B in unobligated military construction funds @POTUS can dip into if he declares a national emergency. That is astronomically higher than the number DOD was giving a few weeks back  $2-3B. Background: https://t.co/aJvRFV6OKn  Lara Seligman (@laraseligman) February 14, 2019

Shortly after McConnell broke the news, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed the same in a statement on Twitter.

Statement on Government Funding Bill: pic.twitter.com/DrNv9D4rEi  Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) February 14, 2019

"It's not an emergency at the border, it's a humanitarian challenge," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a response minutes later to reporters.

Pelosi accused Trump of trying to do an "end run around" congressional oversight.

"You want to talk about a national emergency? How about gun violence? Why don't you declare that a national emergency, Mr. President?," asked Pelosi, referencing the fact that today is the one-year anniversary since the Parkland shooting in Florida.

"Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day," Pelosi said to reporters at the end of her remarks. "All you need is love and chocolate."

Nancy Pelosi says she may file a legal challenge if Trump declares a national emergency. Via Politico pic.twitter.com/KKsmIlSN5u  Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 14, 2019

From coverage at NBC News:

"I just had an opportunity to speak with President Trump and he's prepared to sign the bill," McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor. "He will also be signing a national emergency declaration at the same time." After the Senate votes, the House is also expected to pass the spending package. This came after Trump said earlier in the day that he was still reviewing the bill. In the morning, Republican senators had said that they "pray" Trump signs it into law, averting another government shutdown on Friday. The Senate is expected to act first on the 1,159-page bill, which was released just after midnight. The House will likely vote later in the evening, ahead of the Friday night deadline to prevent another partial government shutdown. Trump has said he is not "happy" with the measure, though he has been expected to sign it. "Reviewing the funding bill with my team at the @WhiteHouse!" he tweeted Thursday afternoon, ahead of the Senate vote. The bill would provide $1.375 billion for 55 miles of pedestrian and levee fencing in the Rio Grande Valley, significantly less than Trump's $5.7 billion request. It also prohibits the use of a concrete wall or other Trump prototypes and specifies that only "existing technologies" for fencing and barriers can be used.

Fox News started urging Trump to declare a national emergency over the border wall weeks ago https://t.co/Z2h99w2gHJ  Leanne Naramore (@LeanneNaramore) February 14, 2019

WOW. After hours of limbo in Senate, McConnell suddenly appears on the floor  interrupting Grassley, who snaps about it  and says Trump will sign the spending/border bill and declare a national emergency.  Erica Werner (@ericawerner) February 14, 2019

If I'm a major oil, coal or gun company I'd be shitting my pants given the precedent Trump & McConnell are setting with the National Emergency declaration. Could destroy their industries come a Democratic White House in 2021  Adam Blickstein (@AdamBlickstein) February 14, 2019

This national emergency is on the one year anniversary of the Parkland shooting, and it is not about that. This national emergency is on the two year anniversary of Trump asking Comey to ignore a Trump campaign official's lies about Russia, and it's not about that either.  Jay Welch (@welchjay) February 14, 2019

A national emergency declaration could face a battle in court. Some lawmakers also fear that it could set a precedent for future presidents to use this tactic to fund their agendas.  Armando Tonatiuh Torres-Garcia (@GarciaReports) February 14, 2019

let's check in with Secretary Coulter https://t.co/Zge91px0j5  J.D. Durkin (@jiveDurkey) February 14, 2019

The declaration of a "national emergency" will not get Trump a wall, and could trigger a vote that could force him to issue his first veto. But it may allow him to use the courts as a scapegoat for his inability to secure funding for his wall. https://t.co/JwWWHeXXL3  Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) February 14, 2019

Trump Will Declare A National Emergency To Build A Wall And Avoid A Government Shutdown This Weekend https://t.co/ErCvBBIxA0 w/ @pdmcleod & @aflores  Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) February 14, 2019

"The precedent that the president is setting here is something that should be greeted with great unease and dismay by the Republicans and we'll respond accordingly," says @SpeakerPelosi.  Steve Herman (@W7VOA) February 14, 2019

"And secure our great country." The last 5 words of Sarah Sanders' statement just now on the national emergency for the wall. You can always smell Stephen Miller's Nazi paw-prints, can't you.  Xeni Jardin (@xeni) February 14, 2019

As Trump prepares to sign a national emergency to fund a border wall, a look at the legality of his move. Could it be challenged in courts? Very likely: https://t.co/vyKOOgQrRT  Kurtis Lee (@kurtisalee) February 14, 2019

There's quite a long ways between "Mexico will pay for the wall" to "I will declare a national emergency to fund the wall because the United States Congress won't give me the money I want.  Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) February 14, 2019

a national emergency getting declared via the notes app feels like a new level for something normally used for celeb apologies https://t.co/RaLIeGDNpv  David Mack (@davidmackau) February 14, 2019

Lori Stroud is an ex-NSA spy who also contracted with the NSA through Booz Allen, who says that after she left the NSA, she was recruited to work on Project Raven, a secret, offensive surveillance and digital attack squad working for the autocratic United Arab Emirates regime alongside other ex-US intelligence operatives, working with the knowledge and approval of the NSA.



Stroud says that while she originally believed she was only targeting non-US persons for surveillance and electronic attacks  primarily journalists and dissidents, including children who had spoken out against the UAE's rulers  she eventually realized that Project Raven was also targeting US people, including journalists and activists.





Stroud was responsible for hiring Edward Snowden, and after he blew the whistle on wrongdoing in the NSA, she says she and her colleagues were in such bad odor with the NSA that she left. She was recruited by Cyberpoint, a Maryland-based cybersecurity company founded by Karl Gumtow, and relocated to a converted mansion in Abu Dhabi codenamed "the Villa."

Reuters has obtained documents from Cyberpoint that say that while Project Raven was publicly tasked with defensive targeting of terrorists, that a secret "Black Briefing" described a second "offensive, operational division," called Project Dread, that " will never be acknowledged to the general public."

Stroud worked at the Villa for years, and some of the dissidents she helped target have since been arrested and tortured by the UAE. But what really made the situation untenable was eventual attempts by the UAE to force Cyberpoint to sell out to a UAE-based company, and the subsequent power-struggle that saw the US Project Dread staffers isolated from their UAE counterparts, who had their own target lists, including  as Stroud eventually discovered  Americans.





This was a bright line for Stroud, as a former US intelligence operative: she did not feel that she could work to help foreign governments spy on Americans.





Stroud's story was corroborated for Reuters by eight other Project Raven alumni who declined to be named for the story. Reuters say the FBI is investigating whether any of the ex-NSA employees  who earned several multiples of their government salaries while contracting for the UAE  revealed US state secrets in the course of their duties.

Stroud's story provides some vital, missing puzzle-pieces for recent high-profile news stories, like the 2016 Citizen Lab investigation of cyberattacks on UK journalist and human rights activist Rori Donaghy, who is now revealed to have been of the targets of Project Raven.

Cyberpoint founder Karl Gumtow denied that his company participated in offensive operations, sticking to the cover story spelled out in the leaked Project DREAD briefing documents.





When she questioned the apparent targeting of Americans, she received a rebuke from an Emirati colleague for accessing the targeting list, the emails show. The target requests she viewed were to be processed by "certain people. You are not one of them," the Emirati officer wrote. Days later, Stroud said she came upon three more American names on the hidden targeting queue. Those names were in a category she hadn't seen before: the "white category"  for Americans. This time, she said, the occupations were listed: journalist. "I was sick to my stomach," she said. "It kind of hit me at that macro level realizing there was a whole category for U.S. persons on this program." Once more, she said she turned to manager Baier. He attempted to downplay the concern and asked her to drop the issue, she said. But he also indicated that any targeting of Americans was supposed to be done by Raven's Emirate staff, said Stroud and two other people familiar with the discussion.



Exclusive: Ex-NSA cyberspies reveal how they helped hack foes of UAE [Christopher Bing and Joel Schectman/Reuters]The NSO Group is an Israeli firm that has long marketed itself as a "cyber warfare" company, selling mobile surveillance technology to governments that include notoriously corrupt human rights abusers. One of these is Mexico, where NSO spyware played a key role in targeting teachers and journalists, and missing students.

On Thursday, NSO Group announced it has been "re-acquired" by its founders.

Security researchers found evidence NSO sold spyware to governments that are established human rights abusers.

The company has been accused of creating tools that help bad regimes invade privacy, conduct abusive surveillance, and target political enemies for detention, torture, and assassination.

From the Associated Press:

The NSO group announced that U.S.-based private equity firm Francisco Partners sold the company to its management, with support with the European private equity firm Novalpina Capital. The company did not reveal terms of the deal, but Israeli media said the transaction valued NSO at $1 billion. NSO was sold in 2014 to Francisco Partners for $130 million. NSO says it sells its technology to Israel-approved governments to help them stop militants and criminals. It says it has dozens of customers and posted revenue over $250 million last year. "I am proud of what the company and our employees have achieved since we were founded in 2010. Together we have built an amazing technology company that is making the world a safer place," said company co-founder Shalev Hulio.

PREVIOUSLY ON BOING BOING

 Spies tried to infiltrate Citizen Lab and trick them into talking about their research on Israeli spytech company NSO Group

 Evidence of NSO Group surveillance products found in 45 countries, including notorious human-rights abusers

 Investigators into mass murder of Mexican student teachers were attacked with NSO's government spyware

 Israeli company's spyware used to target corruption-fighting journalists and lawyers in Mexico

Observations from Twitter, below.

US private equity firm Francisco Partners just sold NSO Group, an Israeli tech firm who's spyware has been used to surveil journalists & human rights defenders all over the world. Francisco bought it for $130 million & turned it around for ~$1 billion https://t.co/7n7lHWdFBR  Avi Asher-Schapiro (@AASchapiro) February 14, 2019

While Francisco owned NSO, it's technology was detected on the phones of journalists in Mexico, human rights activists working on Saudi Arabia, & most recently, close associates of Jamal Khashoggi. Looks like none of that stopped Francisco from exiting with a nice payday.  Avi Asher-Schapiro (@AASchapiro) February 14, 2019

To understand the harm that technology has done, check out the work the Canadian group @citizenlab has put out: https://t.co/ByNOU4MGGF And the Mexican org @R3Dmx https://t.co/5fKnhRi3Fy  Avi Asher-Schapiro (@AASchapiro) February 14, 2019

PHOTO: Israeli NSO Group, Herzliya, Israel, 2016James Jackson, the white supremacist who murdered Timothy Caughman with a sword as a means of inciting a "race war," will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole. Jackson received his sentence on Wednesday, after pleading guilty last month.



Caughman standing in line to vote in the November presidential election, according to his Twitter (via Twitter).

"From the outset of this case, the People have rejected any resolution of this case that does not acknowledge the reality that James Jackson is a white supremacist and terrorist," Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said in a statement. Jackson's sentence, according to Vance, "is a sentence reserved for crimes which by their definition seek to divide, terrorize, and undermine our way of life and central values."

In March 2017, Jackson took a Bolt Bus from Baltimore to New York City, intending to attack black men in "the media capital of the world." A member of a Maryland hate group, Jackson also penned a racist manifesto, from which Vance reportedly read on Wednesday. In it, the 30-year-old army vet described a "political terrorist attack" as "a formal declaration of global total war" on black people.

After he arrived in New York, Jackson reportedly spent three days stalking various strangers before setting his sights on Caughman, a 66-year-old who was collecting cans in Hells Kitchen when Jackson spotted him. "There happened to be no one else around," then-Manhattan Chief of Detectives William Aubry said at the time. Jackson attacked, repeatedly stabbing Caughman with a short sword he later tossed in a Washington Square Park trashcan.

Jackson subsequently turned himself in, telling detectives he killed Caughman as "practice" for a larger massacre he planned to carry out in Times Square. According to a criminal complaint, Jackson explained his rage over interracial relationships, later telling the NY Daily News he imagined his violent message would make white women think twice about dating black men.



Relatives of Timothy Caughman attended the sentencing. (Seth Weing/AP/Shutterstock)

Initially, prosecutors charged Jackson with murder in the second degree as a hate crime; under pressure from Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, they upgraded the charge to reflect Jackson's status as a domestic terrorist.

On January 23rd, Jackson pleaded guilty to murder in the first degree in furtherance of an act of terrorism; murder in the second degree as a crime of terrorism; murder in the second degree as a hate crime; and possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. He became the first person in New York ever to be convicted on his terrorism-related murder charges. He was given the maximum sentence permitted under New York State law.Back in the 1980s, the giant German sf publisher Heyne tried out an experimental partnership with a soup company Maggi (they're still around), and it was bonkers.



Under the terms of the deal, science fiction novels would be periodically interrupted by scenes in which the characters would drop everything and start eating Maggi soups, smacking their lips and exclaiming over just how delicious they were.





But to keep readers from confusing the soup ads with the novels, these scenes would be set in different type and set off with other weird textual flourishes.

To German sf fans of a certain vintage, these Maggi ads are legendary: I first heard tell of them from Tim Powers, who told me how he'd been leafing through a German edition of one of his books and discovered this weird stuff and asked a German fan about it and been told, "Oh, those are the soup ads, of course!"

Of course.





Heyne publishes some of my German editions, including the forthcoming German edition of Unauthorized Bread, and the editors I've spoken to there all seem weirdly proud but embarrassed by the soup ads (I'm sure there's a long German compound word to describe this emotion). I think they should do an anthology of these weird, food-oriented fanfic short stories.

Here are the soup ads from William Gibson's Count Zero, the sequel to his seminal novel Neuromancer. For reasons no doubt lost to history, this book was called "Biochips" in German, and boy, did it have a hell of a cover!







Manafort now faces the rest of his life in prison. Will he finally be motivated to tell the whole truth about Trump?

A federal judge ruled today that Paul Manafort lied to special counsel Robert Mueller's office, which effectively voids Manafort's plea agreement and ensures that he will receive a more harsh prison sentence.

One possibility now is that Manafort may be motivated to cooperate more earnestly with federal investigators, in a last-ditch attempt to avoid losing his liberty for life.

Here is the PDF of the judge's ruling today.

Zoe Tillman at Buzzfeed News:

US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote that prosecutors "established by a preponderance of the evidence" that Manafort made false statements about his communications with longtime associate Konstantin Kilimnik, a separate, as-yet-nonpublic Justice Department investigation, and a payment related to a debt that Manafort had taken on. Jackson also found that Mueller's office did not prove that Manafort intentionally made false statements about his contacts with the Trump administration and about Kilimnik's role in the obstruction of justice conspiracy that Manafort pleaded guilty to. Mueller's office has said they don't plan on bringing criminal charges against Manafort related to the alleged false statements. Whether Manafort lied and violated his plea deal bears on his sentencing  a violation of the agreement after pleading guilty would hurt any argument Manafort makes for leniency, and absolves Mueller's office of having to support a lower sentence, which they'd agreed to do as part of the deal. Jackson's decision could also affect the sentence Manafort receives in the other case that Mueller's office filed against him in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. US District Judge T.S. Ellis III put sentencing there on hold until the plea deal breach issue is resolved in Manafort's DC case.

Follow Zoe on Twitter.Lime Sued for Scooter Accident, Leaving Woman in Vegetative State

While motorized scooters have provided a quick and easy way to get around, they have also resulted in new ways for people to get injured. One person who was injured while using a Lime scooter is Ashanti Jordan of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Ashanti wasn't wearing a helmet when she collided with a car and was thrown about 100 feet. According to her family members, the accident has left her in a persistent vegetative state. Now, Ashanti's mother is suing Lime for her daughter's injuries.

This Isn't the First Accident Involving a Lime Rider

Ashanti isn't the first victim of an accident involving a Lime scooter. Last week an Irish exchange student was killed in a Lime vs. car accident in Austin, Texas. The Washington Post reports that the exchange student appears to be the third person killed in an accident that involved a Lime scooter in recent months.

According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, since e-scooters arrived in Fort Lauderdale, there have been a number of high-profile accidents. In fact, ABC affiliate WPLG reported that according to the Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, of the 40 incidents involving scooters, "31 of them required someone to be transported to the hospital, and 4 of those were level-1 traumas."

Lime's Alleged Fault in the Accident

Tracy Jordan, Ashanti's mother, has announced her plans to sue Lime on her daughter's behalf for negligence. According to her lawyer, Lime's app has specific language instructing people to avoid using the scooter on local sidewalks, which effectively pushes them to operate them on city streets.

Her lawyer says, however, that with these instructions, Lime is violating its operating agreement with Fort Lauderdale. Under the agreement, the company is required to inform Lime riders how to legally and safely operate the scooters. But, in Fort Lauderdale, operating a motorized scooter on the street is against the law. Instead, the city allows e-scooters to be ridden on sidewalks.

According to Tracy's lawyer, his client is seeking compensatory damages for mental anguish, hospital expenses, potential disabilities, loss of income, and long-term medical care for Ashanti.

Related Resources:A new mural of famous freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, has gone up far from her district on the Lower East Side. And based on the reactions of my colleagues, everyone agrees it definitely kinda sorta mostly looks like her, so good job!



No hoops??? (Scott Lynch/Gothamist)

It took about four hours for artist Lexi Bella, who has previously put up portraits in honor of everyone from Martin Luther King Jr. to Frida Kahlo, to complete the mural in January. The approximately 10-by-8-foot painting is currently up inside the First Street Green parkwhich has around 20 murals up at any given timeon Houston close to Second Avenue.

"I was so moved by her being sworn in in January, Bella told the Post. "It was such an incredible David & Goliath story when she beat Crowley in the primary battle, and I think she actually embodies the kind of politician that the people who built this country intended...Shes the embodiment of inspiring change."

Passersby had a range of reactions to the mural. Fabian from New Jersey told Gothamist that, "She hasn't really done anything yet" to warrant her own mural. One woman speeding by shouted, "AOC!" with a raised fist. Another person named Bridget said she absolutely deserved the mural because "she's a wonderful local hero!" Even Ted from the Lower East Side had to agree: "Yeah, that's AOC. She's probably the stupidest person in Congress, so I dont know whether she deserves a mural but people should know who she is."

Matthew Marblo, who described himself as a "huge supporter of her," told the Post, "She just got elected. She hasnt exactly done much yet and she is already on a mural. She is more a symbolic figure right now." Terry Rogers, a 74-year-old retired nurse who lives nearby, called the mural "crap:" "I like her, but I dont know if I like the picture. Its a cliche. Shes more interesting and subtle than that," Rogers said.

Several other people offered a mix of responses to Gothamist, but perhaps the most remarkable thing is that almost everyone seemed to instantly recognize the freshman politician. And that no one mentioned she's wearing pearl earrings instead of her trademark hoops.

Ocasio-Cortez will deliver her Inaugural Address this Saturday in The Bronx. It was also announced today that she will be the first guest on Desus & Mero's Showtime series premiere on Thursday February 21st.Nate Levenson is managing director at District Management Group, a consulting firm that helps schools and districts raise achievement, manage scarce resources, and deal with challenges like improving special education. Nate has also been a superintendent (in Arlington, Massachusetts) and school board member. This week, hell be writing about the new era of special education reform and whos making it possible. Nate can be reached at nlevenson@dmgroupk12.com .

Education reform of the last two decades often seems to pit leaders at the federal, state, or district level against the judgment of teachers. Whether its teacher evaluation or a seemingly endless array of new programs, many reforms have been pushed on teachers, and they have pushed back. The new era of special education reform, which I have dubbed Phase Three, seems different.

In Mondays post , I mentioned that teachers and special education leaders are embracing the new reform efforts that place great importance on core instruction, more instructional time, and teachers with strong content expertise. Today, Ill share why there is grassroots support for this new wave of special education reform.

Teachers and special education leaders know better than anyone else that the current approach to meeting the needs of students with disabilities is just too stressful, as well as not successful enough. All 50 states are reporting a shortage of special educators. They are leaving the profession at ever-increasing rates, and on the way out they tell their friends not to enter the field. Fewer young people are entering special education, while more exit. Teachers, therapists, and school psychologists are voting with their feet.

The new approach to special education has the potential to change this trend because it is as good for teachers as it is for students. It helps in three ways:



Its not just up to special educators

Teachers play to their strengths

There is more time with kids and less time on meetings and paperwork

Central to the new approach to special education is the importance of general education and the pivotal role of general education teachers. This contrasts greatly to the often unstated but widely held belief that special educators can pull kids from class, do their magic (whatever that may be), and return them to class all caught up. Extra help matters, but only when its in addition to, not instead of high quality, effective core instruction from general education teachers. Shared responsibility feels a lot better than passing the baton.

Also foundational to Phase Three special education reform is the notion that kids who struggle, especially those with disabilities, need and deserve teachers who are highly skilled and trained in the subject or task. The implication for teachers of this simple statement is vast. Many dont realize, but we ask too much of special educators, and they are too nice to say enough is enough (until they leave the profession).

Based on my firms review of schedules of over 40,000 special educators in over 100 districts, these hard-working teachers are asked to do more than any other role in a school. This includes identifying students with disabilities, writing IEPs, partnering with parents, consulting with general education teachers, teaching math, reading, writing, science, social studies, and managing behaviors. Oh, they also direct paraprofessionals.

Even at the secondary level, where the content is complex, most are asked to teach across multiple subjects, sometimes four content areas in a single day, as well as case manage and help with behavior challenges. No one can reasonably be expected to be an expert in all these fields. Few professionals have training, interest, and aptitude in such diverse endeavors. Ask a high school math teacher to also teach English or a U.S. history teacher to write a behavior plan, and they say, thats completely unreasonable, but special educators say, OK.

We shouldnt ask anyone to do this. Im saddened by how many hands go up when I ask a room full of special educators, Tomorrow, when you go to work, how many of you will spend a sizable portion of your day doing something that does not play to your skill, training, or aptitude?

The new era of special education reform allows staff to play to their strengths, be it teaching reading, managing behaviors, writing IEPs, and so on. As we let special educators play to their strengths, we also ask general education reading teachers, math teachers, and English teachers to help out with intervention and remediation as well. Team work and shared responsibility!

Lastly, this new reform effort values student outcomes as much, or more, than compliance. Yes, compliance matters, but nationwide special educators spend more time on meetings and paperwork than being with kids. This is out of proportion and out of alignment with our collective goals.

Through process mapping and explicitly placing greater emphasis on teaching time than compliance activities, schools can provide more instruction to students and more meaning to staff. Few special educators enter the profession because of a burning love for meetings, paperwork, testing, and report writing. In one meeting I hosted with school psychologists, they brainstormed over 20 practical steps that would free up their time to work more with students, and they relished the opportunities this would allow them.

Its not surprising that when the state of Vermont recently passed sweeping special education reform based on these best practices, special educators and the Vermont Council of Special Education Administrators supported the effort. They could see that this would improve the lives of both teachers and students.

As more schools and districts adopt these new special education best practices, they will be helping teachers as much as students, and both deserve better than the status quo.

On Friday, learn why taxpayers also benefit from the new approach to special education.

Nate LevensonYesterday, I did a webinar for the California Lawyers Association on the status of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). This post recaps the discussion.

A Quick Overview of the CCPA

The CCPA imposes 6 new obligations on covered businesses: they have to make specified disclosures to consumers, provide consumers with a data erasure capacity, provide consumers with data portability, allow consumers to opt-out of data sales (or opt-in in the case of minors), and not discriminate against consumers on the basis of personal information. The law also creates a private cause of action for certain data breaches.

The CCPA applies to any information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household. Its my position that this includes any data about consumers, so this definition effectively eliminates the notion of anonymized or unattributed data.

The CCPA regulates every business with $25M+ in annual revenues, or 50%+ of their revenues from selling consumer data, or that annually buys, receives for the business commercial purposes, sells, or shares for commercial purposes, alone or in combination, the personal information of 50,000 or more consumers, households, or devices. The CCPA purports to apply unless every aspect of commercial conduct takes place wholly outside of California.

For more detail, see my (slightly out-of-date) 7 page summary of the law. Also, I call your attention to a free event being held on March 21 at SCU comparing the CCPA and GDPR.

Some of the CCPAs Biggest Problems

The law is riddled with errors big and small. It would take many lifetimes to catalog them all. This letter sent by 41 California privacy experts flags some of the biggest issues the legislature needs to tackle:

The CCPA affects many businesses who never had a chance to explain the laws problems to the legislature;

The CCPA imposes excessive costs on small businesses;

The CCPA requires businesses to waste money complying with multiple privacy laws;

The CCPA degrades consumer privacy in several ways;

The CCPAs definitions are riddled with problems; and

The CCPA reaches beyond Californias borders.

Another big problem not mentioned in the letter: the CCPA was dumped on Californias extensive tableau of existing privacy laws with minimal efforts at harmonization. Almost certainly, some of the pre-existing laws need to be deprecated; and other laws will not make sense unless/until they are conformed. Im not sure who will do that harmonization work.

Developments in the AGs Office

The AGs office is hiring privacy lawyers for San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego!

In preparation for their rule-making process, the AGs office has held 6 listening sessions, with one more remaining, in the following places: January 8, San Francisco / January 14, San Diego / January 24, Inland Empire / January 25, Los Angeles / February 5, Sacramento / February 13, Fresno / March 5, Palo Alto.

Each listening session starts with the AGs office presenting this slide deck. Then, audience members get a chance to speak up. Many speakers just read what theyve already submitted to the AGs office in writing. There is no reason to believe that the AGs office will give more weight to oral comments over written submissions, so there is no reason to attend the hearings or get hung up on recaps of the hearings. Still, Ill be at the Palo Alto session if anyone wants to have a privacy party.

Written comments to the AGs office are due March 8. This is absolutely the best time to get your comments into the AGs officebefore they have put pen to paper.

Two big questions:

1) Will the AGs office make any rules addressing provisions beyond those expressly delegated to them in the law? The CCPA enumerates the following specific areas for AG rulemaking:

(1) Categories of Personal Information

(2) Definition of Unique Identifiers

(3) Exceptions to CCPA

(4) Submitting and Complying with Requests

(5) Uniform OptOut Logo/Button

(6) Notices and Information to Consumer, including Financial Incentive Offerings

(7) Verification of Consumers Request

Very few public comments have addressed any of these topics, because most of these issues are far less problematic than the CCPAs big structural problems. So what will the AGs office do? Will they restrict their rule-making to the explicit sandbox designated by the legislature, or will they respond to the comments and spread their wings? I fear there will be some diffusion of responsibility: the legislature will think the AGs office can make rules about whatever they want (thats literally what the law says), and the AGs office will feel constrained to defer to the legislature and will only do what the law expressly directs them to do.

2) When will the rulemaking be done, and when will the law go into effect? The AGs office put together this handy chart of their process:

As you can see, the AGs office plans to issue the first draft of their rules in Fall 2019. The draft rules will almost certainly generate a massive number of comments, plus there will be scheduled hearings to discuss them. If the first draft of the rules is issued Sept. 21, 2019 (the first day of Fall), there is absolutely no way the AG can finalize the rules before January 1, 2020. The law takes effect 6 months after the AGs final rules, with a hard stop of July 1, 2020. I think its guaranteed that the laws effective date will be July 1, 2020 and that businesses will have less than 6 monthspossibly way lessto adopt their practices to the AGs rules. It would be appropriate for the legislature to slip the July 1, 2020 hard stop further, but I doubt that will happen because the legislators will demand too high a price from business for this concession.

Developments in the California Legislature

There will be many bills to amend the CCPA. I dont yet how many. Here is an incomplete roundup.

The Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee has scheduled an informational hearing for February 20, 9-12:

I expect to testify at the hearing.

Looking at the broader context, there are few business allies in Sacramento. Support for improving CCPA will not come from the governors office: Gov. Newsom used his State of the State address to endorse CCPA and propose a data dividend (presumably, just another tax) from Internet companies. It doesnt appear oversight will come from the Republicans either (not that they have a lot of clout in the legislature any more); several Republicans already introduced a privacy bill (AB288, the Own Your Own Data Act) to extend, not curtail, CCPA.

I dont see the California legislature having much appetite to fix the CCPA, either. There will be a torrent of post-CCPA privacy regulatory bills soon introduced into the California legislature. As those new bills flood the legislature, it will dilute the time and focus the legislature has to fix the many problems with the CCPA. CCPA is already old news to the legislature, while its a lot more exciting to manufacture brand new laws. So the odds of getting serious reform to the CCPA will be undermined by the fervor to pass more privacy laws.

Finally, its unlikely the tech community will speak in one voice. Apple is bashing its rivals on privacy (including calls for regulating Facebook), and Microsoft has endorsed Washingtons CCPA variant. So legislators will have no problem finding division in the tech community that will give them cover for not taking action.

Other Developments

Several states have introduced bills to adopt variants of the CCPA, including Washington states. Bloomberg reports on the efforts in 8 states. This proliferation is bad news. Either the other states laws will fix the CCPAs mistakes (or possibly add their own) and thus increase divergence among state laws, or the bills will copy Californias mistakes and further lock in terrible policy. Either way, no one wins.

There have been numerous federal privacy bills introduced. Some propose to preempt state laws; others do not. Ive said it many times that the sine qua non of a new federal privacy law is state law preemption. Otherwise, it just adds more law and more complexity without fixing any of the problems in states divergent or misguided laws (cf. how the DTSA didnt clean up trade secret litigation, it just proliferated plaintiffs claims). From my perspective, a federal preemptive law is the only remaining hope we have to avoid overregulation of privacy that will destroy the Internet and put a serious dent in our economy. Yet that slim hope relies on a dysfunctional Congress, which isnt reason for optimism.

There have been murmurs about Constitutional challenges to the CCPA. There are several angles that could be meritorious. However, I have yet to hear of anyone take any demonstrable steps forward in bringing these challenges.

Related Posts

* 41 California Privacy Experts Urge Major Changes to the California Consumer Privacy Act

* California Amends the Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA); Fixes About 0.01% of its Problems

* Recent Developments Regarding the California Consumer Privacy Act

* The California Consumer Privacy Act Should Be Condemned, Not Celebrated

* A First (But Very Incomplete) Crack at Inventorying the California Consumer Privacy Acts Problems

* Ten Reasons Why Californias New Data Protection Law is Unworkable, Burdensome, and Possibly Unconstitutional (Guest Blog Post)

* A Privacy Bomb Is About to Be Dropped on the California Economy and the Global Internet

* An Introduction to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)Like many taxonomists, I like to group things together and sort them: specimens into species, species into genera, references into bibliographies, images into galleries. The Biodiversity Heritage Library has been a powerful enabler for me as a grouper-sorter.

Fifteen or so years ago, a literature search still required at least one long and expensive trip from my home town in regional Tasmania to an academic library in Hobart (Tasmanias capital city), or in Melbourne or Canberra on the Australian mainland. Reams of paper were used to make photocopies of key references that I could take home with me. Weeks were spent waiting for additional photocopies to arrive through inter-library loans. When I finally had all the relevant older references, I could do my revisionary taxonomic work.

Then BHL appeared.

For the past 10 years, almost all the older literature I need to see has been accessed through BHL  quickly, cheaply and paperlessly.

In 2002, I compiled the first Australian millipedes checklist in the old way for the Australian governments Fauna of Australia publication series. The successor to that checklist is the Millipedes of Australia website (2006  2019), an online catalogue I maintain. In 2009 I began adding links to open-access references in the websites bibliography. That bibliography currently covers the period 1833-2018, and a remarkable 66 of the 72 references from the first 90 years of Australian millipede taxonomy are in BHL. What a savings in time and money for website users!

In preparation for my upcoming retirement this year, I will be depositing the Millipedes of Australia in a public data repository and publishing a data paper to describe the archived website. The Tasmanian locality records have also been given to the Atlas of Living Australia, allowing continued access to this data.

BHL has also made it easy for me to gather up published taxonomic illustrations in digital form, and then to manipulate the images into scaled, side-by-side comparisons of different species. Although I mainly do this for my own use, I produced a gallery document (in PDF format) of diagnostic images in 2017 to accompany an annotated catalogue of southern South American millipedes in the family Dalodesmidae (https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4338.3.6). This document has since been provided to South American and other millipede workers. Its a big time-saver. Millipede species are mainly distinguished through differences in the male genitalia, and having illustrated genitalia of almost all the 52 dalodesmids in one place makes for instant enlightenment: Ah ha! So thats why that species was put in that genus!

Many of the illustrations are from publications digitally archived in BHL.

Ive also been compiling taxonomic treatments (descriptions) in this way using BHLs OCR output, edited where necessary. No more flipping through numerous old journals and photocopies, and scanning or typing blocks of text! I can quickly build a document containing multiple descriptions of the same species, or of genus-diagnostic characters across multiple species, all in one place for handy reference, and with BHL page URLs if I need to revisit the sources.

OK, maybe enabled isnt the best word to describe what BHL has done for me as a taxonomist. Spoiled would be more accurate!What is love? This question perhaps was most famously posed by the mononymous 1990s philosopher-poet, Haddaway. Among the ponderers of this question, Enlightenment philosophers such as Hume, Rousseau, Smith, and Kant are not as easily remembered, lacking as they did Haddaways infectious hook. That Adam Smith might be considered a philosopher of love is surprising given that he was a lifelong bachelor who seems not to have had a romantic bone in his body. And Kant derided romantic love as pathological. But love was in the air even in the Enlightenment, as Ryan Patrick Hanley argues in his recent book Loves Enlightenment.

The philosophers covered in Hanleys book considered the nature and grounds of love and in many ways inaugurated the roots of the modern shift away from traditional forms of transcendental love toward sentimentalized other-directedness. Hanley identifies the Enlightenment as the stage in which the appeal to transcendence was dethroned from its traditional primacy.

The major Enlightenment figures who theorized about love were not seeking to debunk religion. They were seeking something more modestnamely, to place ethics (and specifically, love) on a universally accessible, non-transcendent footing. Hume grounded love in a sense of humanity, or a preference for others well-being; Rousseau developed the concepts of compassion and pity; Smith saw sympathy as surpassing the notion of universal charity; and Kant grounded the love of others in a rational extension of self-love. Hanley persuasively argues that these thinkers made brilliant and innovative efforts to check egocentrism and to promote the other-directedness that modern liberal society requires.

But were their efforts successful? In the end Hanley wonders whether the creative and erudite accounts of love that were developed by Hume, Rousseau, Smith, and Kant are really sufficient for a full and satisfying account of love, or whether their cutting off of the transcendent comes at too great a cost. In the words of another 1990s muse, sometimes enlightened love just aint enough.North Dakotas spring light goose conservation order opens Feb. 23 and continues through May 12.

Residents must have a valid combination license for 2018-19, which is valid through March 31, or 2019-20, which is required April 1; or a small game, and general game and habitat license. Resident youth younger than 16 years old only need the general game and habitat license. The 2019-20 license is available for purchase beginning March 15.

Nonresidents need a 2019 spring light goose conservation order license. The cost is $50 and is valid statewide. Nonresidents who hunt in the spring remain eligible to buy a fall season license. The spring license does not count against the 14-day fall waterfowl hunting season regulation.

In addition, nonresident youth younger than age 16 can purchase a license at the resident fee if their state has youth reciprocity licensing with North Dakota.

A federal duck stamp is not required for either residents or nonresidents.

Resident and nonresident licenses are available online at the North Dakota Game and Fish Department website, gf.nd.gov, at license vendors around the state, or by calling 800-406-6409.The University of Mary has taken a big leap toward its Vision 2030 strategic plan goal. In October 2015 the university announced its effort to raise $272 million by 2030. It laid out an ambitious plan to develop new facilities and programs.

There were three phases to the plan, with a goal of raising $96 million during the first phase. In less than four years the school topped the goal by nearly $5 million. Thats quite an achievement and university officials were justifiably proud Tuesday to announce the fundraising results.

Jerome Richter, the university's vice president for public affairs, said the school has received more than 7,500 donations, ranging from $5 to more than $10 million. U-Mary wasnt just raising money, as it completed a number of projects including a 276-bed residence for women, a fieldhouse and wellness center, the Lumen Vitae University Center, and began construction of a School of Engineering.

At the same time the university was growing enrollment. Last year the school had to create a waitlist for incoming students and will do the same this year. Fall 2018 enrollment was 2,180 students; in 2017 it was 2,018; in 2016 it was 1,983; and in 2015 it was 1,931 students.A pipeline spill from an enhanced oil recovery system in Bowman County has contaminated Kid Creek, a North Dakota Department of Health official said Thursday.

Denbury Onshore reported about 75 barrels, or 3,150 gallons, of source water spilled on Feb. 7 about 10 miles south of Marmarth. Source water is groundwater used for enhanced oil recovery that contains a higher level of dissolved solids and minerals than fresh water, but is lower in chlorides than produced water, the health department said.

Kid Creek flows into the Little Missouri River. The spill occurred near a well site about a quarter mile from a stock dam and 1 miles away from the river, said Bill Suess, spill investigation program manager for the health department.

The spill was reported on Feb. 8 and a health department inspector was there the same day, Suess said. But because of freezing conditions, it took longer to confirm the contamination had reached the creek, he said.

The department will continue to monitor the investigation and cleanup.

The health department has investigated previous spills involving the same company, including a spill two years ago that involved 2,000 barrels, or 84,000 gallons, of source water that flowed into Skull Creek in Bowman County.

Reach Amy Dalrymple at 701-250-8267 or Amy.Dalrymple@bismarcktribune.com.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0Former Grand Forks County States Attorney and federal judgeship nominee Peter Welte testified Wednesday in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Welte, who was nominated for the post last month by President Donald Trump, was introduced to the committee by Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.

Welte thanked Trump for the nomination, as well as Hoeven, former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp and North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, among others.

To serve this country in this role would be a humbling privilege, and I would be proud to do so if confirmed, Welte told the committee at the beginning of his hearing.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, headed by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., questioned Welte, along with four other nominees for federal judgeships throughout the country.

Welte is an excellent choice to serve as North Dakotas U.S. District Court Judge, Hoeven said, pointing to Weltes 13 years as Grand Forks County States Attorney and his additional years of private practice with Vogel Law Firm in Grand Forks.

Hoeven said Welte will be a conservative judge who ensures he is enforcing the law rather than legislating from the bench.North Dakota utility regulators have proposed eliminating rules that prevent energy facilities from being built on "prime and unique farmland" after debating whether a proposed solar farm in Cass County would fall under the regulations.

The Public Service Commission will hold a hearing on March 13 at its office in the state Capitol on the proposed rule changes. Late last year, the three-member, all-Republican commission appeared to be split on whether the existing rules should apply to a proposed $320 million solar project 15 miles west of Fargo.

The 200-megawatt Harmony Solar Project would be the state's first major utility-scale solar facility.

Prime farmland is currently defined as an "exclusion area," putting it in the same category as national parks and areas critical to endangered species. Commissioner Randy Christmann previously said that the entire 1,600-acre solar project is on prime farmland, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture defines as having "the best combination of physical and chemical characteristics for producing food, feed, forage, fiber, and oilseed crops."

Commissioner Julie Fedorchak previously suggested there may be enough wiggle room within the existing rules. But the commission ultimately issued a hearing notice on the proposed rule changes Feb. 6.NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Danske Bank A/S (Danske or the Company) (OTC MKTS: DNKEY). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980.



The investigation concerns whether Danske and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here to join a class action]

On September 5, 2017, Reuters reported that Danske had hired the former head of Denmarks intelligence agency to help it in its effort to counter money-laundering claims. Then, on September 21, 2017, the Company issued a press release revealing that it had expand[ed] its ongoing investigation into the situation at its Estonian branch. Two months later, on December 21, 2017, Reuters reported that Danske had been fined 12.5 million Danish crowns ($2 million) by Denmarks Financial Supervisory Authority (the DFSA) for violating anti-money laundering rules in relation to the monitoring of transactions to and from correspondent banks, and that Danske was examining whether its Lithuanian and Latvian branches had been involved in money laundering, expanding an investigation beyond its Estonian operations.

On May 3, 2018, Reuters reported the DFSA issued a report stating it had identified serious weaknesses in Danskes governance and that the Company was exposed to significantly higher compliance and reputational risks than previously assessed.

On July 18, 2018, Danske stated that it wished to pay back approximately $230 million earned in connection with its alleged role in an international money laundering scheme involving illicit funds from Russia, Azerbaijan, and Moldova, calculated based on profit from Danskes Estonian office. On this news, Danskes American depositary receipt price fell $1.43, or 9.42%, to close at $13.81 on July 18, 2018.

On September 14, 2018, The Wall Street Journal disclosed that a whistleblower had approached the SEC at least two years earlier, and, as a result, U.S. law enforcement agencies had begun investigating the scandal.

On October 23, 2018, the full extent of the Companys misconduct was releveled when The Wall Street Journal published an article disclosing that in 2013 the whistleblower had alerted Danskes senior executives and that Danske sought to silence the whistleblower for years.

Upon the full revelation of the Companys misconduct and the extent to which it relied upon the illegal profits, the price of the Companys American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) had plummeted approximately 54%, from a high of $20.90 on February 16, 2018, to a low of $9.50 on October 23, 2018.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com.

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

rswilloughby@pomlaw.com

888-476-6529 ext. 9980The fund would be administered by the Bank of North Dakota.

While the legislation passed the House 73-20 on Monday, Rep. Aaron McWilliams, R-Hillsboro, said he was not in favor of the bill, noting that public institutions often come in and take over these types of private-public funds.

McWilliams said if legislators want to create a fund for entrepreneurship or innovation in the private sector then it should be restricted as such.

Rep. George Keiser, R-Bismarck, said the House bill is designed to take intellectual property that has been developed to the point where a patent has been obtained, a business plan has been written and the business is ready to be launched. HB 1333 would give the funds to commercialize that business.

However, Keiser noted in some cases public entities may have part ownership of these patents, so the program is designed to work with both types of entities.

Next steps

Holmberg said legislators are looking to pass one research fund bill, rather than the two separate ones.

The House will now likely have a hearing on the Senates version of the fund, while the Senate will take up the House version, Holmberg said.A bill to increase speed limits on North Dakota multilane highways failed Wednesday in the state House.

Representatives voted 46-46 to shoot down the proposal from Rep. Jake Blum, R-Grand Forks.

Under the state constitution, passage of a bill requires a majority of the members elected to the house, meaning the proposal was just two votes short of passing.

The constitution would also allow an absent legislator to request the House to reconsider the bill.

Blums bill would have raised speed limits on multilane highways from 70 mph to 75 mph and on interstates from 75 mph to 80 mph.

The bill is similar to two the Legislature considered in 2017 from Rep. Ben Koppelman, R-West Fargo, and former Sen. Lonnie Laffen, R-Grand Forks. Both called for increased speed limits.

Koppelman was a co-sponsor on Blums bill. He testified against a fiscal note from the state Department of Transportation, which estimated North Dakota will have to spend $287,000 in the next biennium for new signs and $4.56 million to re-engineer roads for higher speeds.The bill does include some exceptions, such as for death, disappearance, deportations or abandoned property.

Jones said the "optics" for public perception goes along with the issue.

"The perception of the public that's being put out there is that we've got assets being seized and forfeited before there's a criminal conviction, and that is unAmerican and it's wrong, but it's, in my opinion, a perception," Jones said.

"But we can do things to fix that to show that in the war against drugs and drug abuse in North Dakota, we can make it so that everybody is assured that there is protections for private property and it's not going to be seized and forfeited without due process and without being justified."

Committee lawmakers pondered what Senate action or an initiated measure may mean for the reform. Rep. Kim Koppelman, R-West Fargo, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said the committee considered public perception and the reality of law enforcement from testimony.

"When you ask people, 'Should the government or the police, law enforcement officials, be able to take your property and keep it or sell and keep the money if you've not been convicted of a crime?', most people will say, 'Of course not,'" Koppelman said. "That's the first blush look at this issue."When Nicholas Bradbury was in medical school 15 years ago, treatment options were limited for stroke patients.

When Bradbury went with a neurologist to visit stroke patients, they'd take note of the functions patients lost  such as vision or speech  and then put them on baby aspirin and that was it.

"That was all the treatment you had," said Bradbury, now an interventional radiologist at CHI St. Alexius Health in Bismarck.

Over the past 10 years, treatment for stroke patients has changed drastically. Strokes occur when a clot gets stuck in a person's brain and blocks blood flow, which can cause brain damage, a long-term disability or death.

Since Bradbury's time in medical school, doctors have realized time is of the essence in the event of stroke, because certain treatments can only be offered with a certain time frame, he said.

The first treatment option is an injectable medicine that breaks down blood clots, which can only be used in the first four hours of a stroke. And then, up to six hours after a stroke, doctors can perform a clot-removal procedure called a thrombectomy.

Both treatments carry the risk of a brain bleed, if not offered within the allotted time frames, according to Bradbury.A judge has ruled against the state of North Dakota in a lawsuit brought by an oil company over a gas royalty dispute.

In a case being closely watched by the industry, Northwest Judicial District Judge Robin Schmidt ruled in favor of Newfield Exploration, which sued the state and the Board of University and School Lands last year.

Newfield and the North Dakota Department of Trust Lands have been in a dispute over the interpretation of the states oil and gas leases. The department has alleged that Newfield and other companies have been underpaying the state for royalties on natural gas.

In response to a "concerns notice" from the department, Newfield filed a lawsuit in McKenzie County seeking a judge to declare the company has properly paid gas royalties and does not owe the state additional payments. The case focused on how the royalty is calculated when gas is sold to an unaffiliated third party, such as a gas processing plant.The district purchased software and an agreement with a company constantly updates terms and websites to block so that it protects students. Of course, the default settings are general, generic and more restrictive.

Upham explained that, after the board meeting in which the concern was brought up, district officials immediately started looking at ways to modify and customize the list so that sites that shouldn't be blocked are allowed.

Upham described the process as collaborative, taking input from students and staff about how to loosen restrictions and still keep students safe. For example, there is an anonymous form where students can ask for sites to be reviewed.

For the district's part, Upham told The Gazette that staff review all of the requests to ensure the site meets the safety and educational requirements the district sets out. If a site is OK (or conversely if it is flagged for inappropriate content) it's reviewed first by a human. While this may slow the process, it's also necessary so that educators can make an informed decision.

Upham said the district is between one-third and halfway through the process. Both the district and the software company will continue to make modification so that the sites that are allowed or not are never static.MSU Extension agents are bringing a program called Mental Health First Aid to rural counties that helps youth and adults alike identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses.

In such a huge, sparsely populated state as Montana, your university has been looking for new ways to get mental health support to some its remotest corners. The center, along with faculty in the Department of Health and Human Development, have developed an online program called THRIVE that speaks the language of rural Montana to help remove the stigma of mental health support. Again, combined with assistance from our MSU Extension agents, THRIVE appears to have great promise, not only for Montana but for all of rural America.

In MSUs College of Nursing we are training psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners (PMHNPs) who can provide specialized care to individuals, families and communities, including pharmacological treatment for depression, anxiety, bipolar disease, schizophrenia and associated conditions, such as opioid and other addictions.

MSUs College of Nursing graduates roughly 10 PMHNPs annually, significantly increasing the capacity of the health care system to address the mental health needs of Montanans. Additionally, PMHNPs are more likely to choose a career in rural Montana than doctoral-level psychiatrists, filling an important need.She explained Wednesday as a state employee she wouldnt be able to represent parties who challenged state government. The prohibition threatened to sideline Sheehy on matters like freedom of information challenges brought by the press. Sheehy has represented The Gazette and other Montana media suing the state government for access to public documents.

The commissioners ruling stemmed from a complaint filed by Tim Adams, the 2018 Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate. Adams cited examples of Regents publicly expressing support for the six-mill levy, or using government resources to work on the six-mill campaign.

In Sheehys case, Adams cited a November 2017 board meeting during which the Regents heard from Hilltop Public Solutions, campaign consultancy strategizing on getting the six-mill passed. At the meeting, Sheehy asked is there anything as Regents that we can do to support this effort? She also asked how much work was left to be done and referred to the task as something we needed to do.

The jurisdiction of the COPP in this case is erroneously based on a conclusion that Sheehy is a public employee, and that COPP has subject matter jurisdiction over public employees, Todd concluded.

Neither Sheehy, nor any member of the Board of Regents, is paid for their work as a Regent, so common sense and the absence of any authority to contrary dictates that a Regent is not a state employee. Therefore, the COPP is without jurisdiction to proceed against Sheehy.

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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.Malvern, Pennsylvania, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rajant Corporation, the exclusive manufacturer of Kinetic Mesh networks, has provided a detailed technology briefing on the success of recent high-profile public safety projects for the United Kingdom monarchy. Rajants role in the royal weddings was shared with technical teams from the Police community in December 2018.

Rajant worked alongside Thames Valley Police to boost the already significant public safety and security arrangements at the weddings of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle and Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank in Windsor earlier this year. Together, the entities were responsible for providing additional video surveillance coverage, which included deploying the Rajant wireless infrastructure, for secure and stable CCTV.

The briefings at the conference described how the additional surveillance was required to cover the hundreds of thousands of visitors and guests in Windsor during both weddings to catch a glimpse of the royal couples. The whole area was securely monitored with footage made available at multiple surveillance points and delivered in real-time in high-definition. This comprehensive security was deployed with maximum efficiency thanks to Rajants Kinetic Mesh network in key points where network fibre infrastructure, for the essential additional cameras, was unavailable.

A member of the Thames Valley Police team stated, Our brief was to provide supplementary CCTV coverage for the Royal Weddings. It became quite apparent during the design process that using conventional point to point/multipoint would not suffice in the urban environment of Windsor. A true mesh network would better provide the resilience and coverage we required. Rajant was identified as a supplier of mesh networking equipment, available in both the police and licence-exempt frequencies, with ease of deployment making Rajants mesh network a superior solution.

For both high-profile events, Windsor saw a significant increase of well-wishers coming into the town to watch the carriage rides. Delivering additional CCTV systems, which could then be monitored by police and security services, was a top priority. Given the route for the post-wedding processions by the royal couples was through the winding streets of Windsor and up through Windsor Castles Long Walk, Thames Valley Police decided to enhance the existing extensive CCTV coverage with dynamically deployed supplementary cameras., said Chris Mason, Director of Sales for EMEA at Rajant. The Operational team put a project in place to rapidly deploy a solution which, when combined with the existing capabilities, could comprehensively monitor each days route to ensure public safety.

The Kinetic Mesh technology seamlessly integrated with existing communications infrastructure at key locations. This enabled large amounts of mission-critical video data to be delivered with high throughput and low latency across the network, giving the police the visibility they needed. According to Thames Police, The imagery provided over the Rajant network was several seconds ahead of the television broadcasters covering the event and met the expectations of our users.

Rajant worked alongside the Thames Valley Police to deliver the project in just three days. Deploying eleven cameras with thirteen of Rajants BreadCrumb nodes, delivery of fast, stable and high-definition CCTV was achieved. The network utilised multiple high-bandwidth frequencies, ensuring that the massive amount of wireless output from broadcasters, other security organisations, and the general public did not prevent transmission of the key imagery.

Mason added: Rajants focus is to ensure public safety requirements are provided quickly and securely for authorities, and these two projects were no different. Rajant is developing its portfolio of Kinetic Mesh technologies to address the requirements for enhanced public safety and security by enabling organisations such as Thames Valley Police, to deploy networks extremely quickly in response to planned or unplanned events. Showcasing these deployments for the first time at the Police Conference was a great privilege. We highlighted the key capabilities of our technology as well as illustrating how events of this scale can have rapidly deployed, secure, reliable communications. We are pleased to have played a part in making both wedding days enjoyable, but most importantly safe for all involved.

####





About Rajant Corporation

Rajant Corporation is the exclusive provider of private wireless networks powered by the patented Kinetic Mesh network, BreadCrumb wireless nodes, and InstaMesh networking software. With Rajant, customers can rapidly deploy a highly adaptable and scalable network that leverages the power of real-time data to deliver on-demand, mission-critical business intelligence. A low-latency, high-throughput and secure solution for a variety of data, voice, video, and autonomous applications, Rajants Kinetic Mesh networks provide industrial customers with full mobility, allowing them to take their private network applications and data anywhere. With successful deployments in more than 50 countries for customers in military, mining, ports, rail, oil & gas, transportation, petrochemical plants, municipalities, and agriculture, Rajant is headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania with additional facilities and offices in Arizona, Kentucky, and Alabama. For more information, visit www.rajant.com or follow Rajant on LinkedIn and Twitter.

AttachmentBusiness owners and industry representatives speaking in favor of the bill at a recent committee hearing laid out their objections to the smoking ban.

If somebody is smoking in front of a business I own and I dont go shoo them away from my front door, I get ticketed. I get charged with a crime, said John Iverson, of the Montana Tavern Association.

Don Jones, owner of Dickeys Barbecue Pit in Billings, made the same objection. One of his restaurants sits on Montana Avenue, which receives a lot of foot traffic.

Anybody walking down the sidewalk in front of my restaurant [...] Im actually responsible for them smoking their cigarette, as theyre walking by, he said.

Jones is a former legislator and current member of the Yellowstone County Commission, which would take over rule-making authority under the bill.

Jones, Iverson and other bill proponents said the rule-making authority that allowed the smoking ban was wrongly in the hands of an un-elected board, and needed to be given to elected officials in order to boost accountability.

Representatives from the health boards in Yellowstone, Gallatin and Lewis and Clark counties spoke in opposition to the bill.Felton has remained in custody since he was arrested in December 2017 on outstanding warrants, after sheriffs deputies chased him down on the shoulder of Interstate 94. Deputies used a Taser to bring him down after he ran from a trailer park in Lockwood.

At the time of his arrest, Feltons backpack contained a green bandanna, a pry bar and bolt cutters. A black concrete saw was found in his vehicle.

Feltons defense attorney, Lance Lundvall, objected to a sentencing enhancement for the burglary tools, which prosecutors argued should be considered dangerous weapons. Watters denied the request, saying federal law doesn't differentiate the use or threat to use objects as weapons and citing case law in which the enhancement had been applied previously for possession of a screwdriver.

Addressing the court prior to his sentencing, Felton said he took full responsibility for his actions, which he said occurred during a time of daily meth use.

My actions were purely based on my addiction, Felton said, adding that he only committed crimes that wouldn't endanger others.

Not only do I need treatment, but I want treatment, he added. I have a daughter and I want to be a father now.Montana legislator Duane Ankney will meet a member of the Trump administration next month in an attempt to save Colstrip.

The Republican state senator from Colstrip will be in Washington, D.C., on March 5, according to a press release issued Wednesday.

I want to thank Senator Steve Daines for helping make this possible, Ankney said in the press release. Colstrip is on the radar of President Trump and his administration. I know how important clean coal, jobs, and Montana are to President Trump. I have every reason to be confident that our meeting will be successful.

Public records for NorthWestern show that 22 percent of the power generated by the company comes from Colstrip or the Dave Gates gas-fired power plant. The largest share of NorthWestern's power from owned generation comes from hydroelectric dams. A small portion is generated by wind farms. Another 18 percent of the electricty NorthWestern uses comes from a mix of third party sources, most significantly Colstrip stakeholder Talen Energy, which sells electricity on the open market.Ironworkers on Wednesday were installing the frame for the new Opportunity Bank building that's under construction at North 27th Street and 10th Avenue North on Wednesday.

The project started in May when demolition crews razed the old Rimview Inn that for decades occupied that corner downtown.

The bank purchased the hotel in early 2018 with plans to build its third Billings branch on the property. It will also build a quick-service restaurant there. Both will have drive-up windows.

Opportunity, a Helena-based bank, has been in Billings since 2013, when the corporation bought Sterling Bank. The deal left Opportunity with a branch building on 24th Street West and another on Main Street in the Heights.

The new bank downtown will be its third location in Billings.

Love 3 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2ST. ANTHONY, N.D.  Kelly Schaff had high expectations for SAV America 8018. But he had no idea the bull would end up being the record highest-selling beef bull of all time, nearly doubling the price of the previous high-selling bull.

Schaff Angus Valley on Saturday, Feb. 9, sold SAV America 8018 to Herbster Angus Farms of Falls City, Nebraska, for $1.51 million.

Auctioneer Joe Goggins of Billings introduced America, the first bull into the ring during Schaff Angus Valleys annual production sale, saying he might be as good of bull as weve ever had walk into this ring. Goggins started bidding off in earnest at $10,000. But the asking price quickly climbed into the hundreds of thousands. As the price topped $1.3 million, Goggins had to pause for a moment, pointing out he was dealing with figures Im not really used to.

This was the third year in a row that Schaff Angus Valley has broken its own record for highest-selling bull. Last year, Schaff Angus Valleys SAV Elation 7899 set the record at $800,000. In 2017, SAV President 6847  SAV America 8018s sire  had been the top-selling bull, at $750,000.Margaret Sanger and the Cult of RacismElasah Drogin has written a very unorthodox biography of an even more unorthodox woman: Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood. In spite of copious number of footnotes (88) in the first 23 pages, the author employs a decidedly unscholarly tone. Drogin does not write as an historian who dispassionately examines biographical details and ideological influences for an equally dispassionate audience. Instead, she hauls Sanger before the tribunal of humanity and decency in order to condemn her as an enemy of the human race.The only time within living memory that such a tribunal has actually been in session was immediately following the Second World War at the Nuremberg trials. Civilized peoples still recoil with shock and outrage from the gruesome genocidal atrocities of Nazi Germany. Yet public opinion seems to have forgotten the intellectual roots of that hideous nightmare. Drogin reminds us that the war crimes of Hitler's regime were not spontaneous acts of madness, but the logical conclusion of the pseudo-scientific eugenics movement, developed in the early decades of this century and introduced in the United States by Margaret Sanger.The fact that Drogin is Jewish would seem sufficient to account for her antipathy to Banger's eugenic program, yet she has other grounds as well. As a convert to Roman Catholicism, she opposes the eugenic practices of contraception, sterilization, artificial insemination, and abortion, against which her Church has taken a lonely and stoic stand. As a liberal democrat, she detests the imposition of such practices upon helpless minorities-blacks and Hispanics-by a wealthy, white, ruling elite.The reader immediately discovers, however, that these three strands of thought are tightly interwoven throughout the brief biography. Drogin sees eugenics as the fruit of a large, racist, anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish "bigot tree" that must be felled with one stroke. For this reason, her book will doubtless be unsettling for certain readers. Antisemitic Catholics and proabortion liberals will find themselves assailed with the same blade.Sanger grew up in New York, one of 11 children of a poor Irish immigrant. With the help of two older sisters, she attended a private school in order to become a nurse. In 1912, after only three months of training, she married a wealthy architect, moved to the better part of town and settled down to raising a family of three children. After 10 years of the daily routine of a suburban housewife, she became bored and restless, and urged her husband to move to Greenwich Village where the intellectuals of the day gathered to discuss the latest ideas.Sanger began to frequent the lectures of socialists like Eugene Debs and the early radical feminists like Emma Goldman and Ellen Key. Under the influence of the latter, Sanger began to reject the traditional role of women and the bourgeois concept of the family. Instead, she adopted the view that a woman's individual fulfillment required a degree of sexual satisfaction to which permanent marriage and motherhood were often obstacles. Sexual associations, with the option of motherhood, should be completely voluntary, unencumbered by either law or social custom. Birth control, she reasoned, could go a long way in the liberation of women.The socialists taught Sanger that the poverty she had suffered as a child was caused by the exploitation of the worker by greedy capitalists. Sanger, however, departed from the classical Marxist line when she concluded that wages were low whenever labor was plentiful. The working class, in other words, had bred too many children for its own good. In Sanger's mind, birth control was also a tool in the class struggle for bettering the conditions of the poor.In 1914 Sanger traveled to England where she met Dr. Havelock Ellis, a proponent of eugenics. Three years earlier Ellis had published a book advocating sterilization as a precondition for government relief to the poor. Ellis also proposed that the "random breeding" of traditional marriage be replaced by eugenic farms in which carefully selected and scientifically matched couples would breed genetically superior children. Although variations on this theme date back to Plato's Republic, Ellis's immediate model was the American Oneida Community, established by John Humphrey Noyes in 1848. Noyes explained his views in his book Bible Communism, published in the same year:Thus Sanger learned a third use for contraception: the purification of the human race through the application of eugenic science. Needless to say, Ellis and Sanger got along famously. In fact, they had an affair.By 1920, Sanger had abandoned all attempts to help the poor. It was not unjust social conditions which caused poverty, she concluded, but the genetic inferiority and indiscriminate breeding habit of the poor which perpetuated their misery. As a result, the superior and rightfully affluent Anglo-Saxons were well on their way to being outnumbered and overwhelmed by Slavs, Latins, Jews and blacks. Such a frightening scenario crushed whatever faith Sanger still had in popular government. Something had to be done.Sanger's social philosophy had crystallized by 1922. In that year she published a 283 page manifesto calledSanger argues that the I.Q. tests given to American servicemen during World War I gave "scientific" proof that blacks and Southern Europeans were near morons. Such individuals should submit to voluntary, or if necessary, involuntary sterilization. The American Birth Control League and the jounral Birth Control Review became the vehicles for Sanger's eugenic cause. In the April, 1932 issue of the Review, she laid out herwhich included mandatory I.Q. requirements for immigrants, sterilization and segregation for thegovernment work-camps for morons, illiterates, paupers, unemployables, criminals, prostitutes, and drug addicts.Sanger often included Roman Catholics in her catalogue of undesirables, but curiously spoke of them as if they constituted a distinct race rather than a multiracial, supranational Church. Far from conceding the absurdity of her assertions, Sanger defended them in an article for her Review. The Roman Catholic Church, she observed, handpicks its priests and nuns from among the most intelligent (i.e., genetically superior) Catholics, and then imposes a vow of celibacy on them. At the same time, the Church forbids the inferior remnant to use contraceptives, and in fact encourages them to breed like rabbits: The result, she concludes, is predictable. (It is not clear whether Sanger would have the Church recruit morons for the religious life, or require priests and nuns to breed like rabbits.) During the 1920's, the eugenics movement gained increasing support, particularly in the upper strata of American society. Its success is illustrated by the 1927 Supreme Court decision Buck v. Bell, which upheld a Virginia sterilization law. Under the law, a young mother of an allegedly feeble-minded child had been sterilized when it was discovered that both she and her mother had scored under the mental age of ten on the Stanford-Binet I.Q. Test.wrote Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes,In spite of such encouragements, the American eugenics movement was not nearly as successful as its sister movement in Germany, which enjoyed the patronage of the Nazi Party and dictated the official agenda for social improvements. This turn of events gave the American eugenicists a chance to see their dreams become realities. For example, Harry Laughlin, contributor to the Birth Control Review, wrote a Model Eugenical Sterilization Law. Hitler adopted the law and, as a result, Laughlin received an honorary M.D. degree from the University of Heidelberg in 1936.In the years immediately preceding World War II, public opinion in the United States turned against eugenics when Americans saw the Nazis put Sanger's theories into practice. Sterilization, abortion, euthanasia, and ultimately the wholesale slaughter of the Jews, shocked American sensibilities-at least for the time being. Sanger's forces quickly changed their tactics, their rhetoric and their stationery. The American Birth Control League became Planned Parenthood, coercive proposals became voluntary ones, and racial categories were replaced with demographic euphemisms. The move to legalize abortion was dropped and the spectre of widespread illegal abortion was used to promote contraceptives as the lesser of to evils.The events of the last decade have proved Sanger's fabian strategy successful. Although she died at the brink of insanity in 1966, her movement has at last conquered American public opinion. Hardly one citizen in a hundred, or perhaps a thousand, would seriously question the desirability of contraceptives; and the majority of Americans now accepts abortion at least in the cases of rape and incest.Furthermore, the racist element of Sanger's eugenics program remains intact, even if it is a closely guarded secret. Drogin documents the following statistics: a) Nonwhite women have more than twice as many abortions per capita as white women; b) Although only 22% of Maryland is nonwhite, 40% of abortions performed there in 1976 were on blacks; c) Nationally, while 13% of the population is nonwhite, 33% of all 1976 abortions were performed on nonwhites; d) On January 16,1978, the Los Angeles Times carried 10 column-inches of classified ads offering abortions. On the same day, the Los Angeles Opinion, the Spanish-language daily with a fraction of the circulation of The Times, carried 38 column-inches, nearly four times as many.One entire chapter of Drogin's book is dedicated to Monsignor John Ryan who, until his death in 1945, was a constant thorn in Margaret Sanger's side. Describing himself as anhe publicly condemned her as illiberal, and even debated her at a Congressional hearing in 1932. Ryan argued that theenshrined in both his Church's social teaching and in the political philosophy of the American Founding, guaranteed to all men the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The latter included, as Ryan understood it, the right to marriage and procreation,In an article in Commonweal, Ryan stated:The final chapter of Drogin's book attacks Sanger's fundamental assumption that intelligence can be measured. Drogin labels the Stanford-Binet I.Q. Test aand "an absurdity on a par with astrology or palmistry." Curiously, however, she gives almost no evidence to support her view, even though many criticisms of intelligence testing have recently been published. There is, for example, an interesting treatment of the Stanford-Binet Test in The Mismeasure of Man by Harvard professor Stephen Jay Gould. Not only was Binet doubtful that intelligence could be measured at all, he was certain that it could not be measured by a single number, like age or height. His testing procedure was intended solely to detect educational impediments among schoolchildren. Yet, his benevolent purposes seem to have been turned to mischief by American genetic determinists of the Sanger school.Even if there were some objective standard for intelligence, there does not appear to be any conclusive evidence that intelligent parents invariably or even frequently produce equally intelligent offspring.Furthermore, even if they did, an abundance of geniuses could conceivably solve the problems of the world only if the world's problems were essentially technological rather than moral. And that is a proposition about which one can entertain reasonable doubt.CJ file photo

Figuring out the logistics for a special election to fill the vacancy left by the passing of Rep. Walter Jones Jr., R-3rd District, won't be easy, said Gerry Cohen, former special counsel to the General Assembly.North Carolina has its second congressional vacancy after Jones died Feb. 10. The 9th Congressional District is also without a representative while investigations into alleged absentee ballot fraud continue. The State Board of Elections has scheduled an evidentiary hearing next week to consider those allegations.Gov. Roy Cooper is tasked under the U.S. Constitution to issue a writ of election for the 3rd Congressional District to fill the vacancy left by Jones. The writ of election will set the dates for candidate filings, primaries, the special election itself, and provide enough time for absentee voting.The question now is what the timeline for a special election will actually look like and what challenges election officials might face. Cohen has some ideas on what North Carolinians can expect for a special election.Cohen said if the governor opened candidate filing next week, then realistically the earliest a primary could be held is early May. After allowing time for a canvass, recounts, and preparing absentee ballots for the next election, a second primary could be scheduled for July.Municipal elections for the counties in the 3rd Congressional District will be in November, with several municipalities holding nonpartisan primaries in October.Cohen said.Federal law requires 45 days for absentee voting in the case of U.S. House vacancies. The timeline for a special election will have to take that into account, as well as carving out time for a second primary if no candidate receives 30 percent of the vote. The governor could speed up the timeline if there isn't a second primary, but he would have to specify that in his writ of election.Cohen said.The special election itself could be scheduled for November alongside the municipal elections. That's what former Gov. Pat McCrory did after former Democratic Rep. Mel Watt resigned from the 12th Congressional District in mid-January 2014 to take a job running a federal housing agency.Cohen said the special election for the 3rd District will be the state's first standalone U.S. House vacancy primary, assuming two or more people file in a party.Cohen said.The state's new voter ID law will complicate a special election for the 3rd District. Carolina Journal asked the N.C. State Board of Elections how the voter ID law would affect the 3rd Congressional District special election. At press time, the legal team for the state board was considering the question.During the November 2018 general election, voters approved a constitutional amendment to require photo ID in all future elections. The General Assembly passed Senate Bill 824 to set the standards for voter ID, but the elections board hasn't approved regulations defining the allowable forms of ID.Cohen said.With a special election possible in the contested lawmakers pre-emptively exempted that race from the voter ID law. No such exemption was carved out for a sudden vacancy this year, meaning the voter ID law would probably apply to the special election for the 3rd District. Cohen said there isn't enough time for the election boards to comply with voter ID in time for a May primary, but lawmakers could pass a legislative fix.Cohen said.Cohen said 1818 is the most recent time North Carolina has had two different U.S. House vacancies in the same year.Nebraska native and Southern graduate Jake Diekman signed with the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.

Diekman, of Wymore, just turned 32 and appeared in 71 games combined between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks last season, going 1-2 with two saves, 17 holds and a 4.73 ERA.

A 30th-round draft pick by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2007, Diekman is entering his eighth season in the MLB. His career strikeout rate (11.05) ranks second in the majors among active left-handed relievers who have thrown at least 300 innings.

Jeffrey Flanagan, who covers the Royals for MLB.com, reported that the deal has a mutual option for 2020 and that Diekman will receive a $2.25 million salary base.

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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.NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of DXC Technology Company (DXC Technology or the Company) (NYSE: DXC). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980.



The investigation concerns whether DXC Technology and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here to join a class action]

On October 24, 2018, it was reported that Karan Puri, who headed the Companys Americas sales force was fired due to a sharp double digit decline in the regions revenue. The article also suggested that an internal Company source had indicated that DXC Technology had been struggling to efficiently serve the demand from its customers.

On this news, the Companys stock price fell 16%, to a low of $69.51 per share on October 24, 2018.

Then on November 6, 2018, the Company reported its second quarter 2019 financial results, and that the Company would reduce its FY19 revenue outlook by $800 million.

On this news, the Companys stock price fell 13%, to close at $63.21 per share on November 7, 2018.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com.

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

rswilloughby@pomlaw.com

888-476-6529 ext. 9980For those of us who have slid, shoveled, and skated through the wildest up-and-down February weather in years, heres a warm thought: corn planters are rolling in southern Texas.

Need another reason to plant a smile on your face? In eight weeks, corn planters will be running all over todays wintry Midwest.

After that brief pleasantness, however, the outlook gets pretty cold pretty fast. Early February reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) strongly suggest that averagenot good, not great; just average2019 crop yields will deliver less than average prices.

Worse, last years trade wars with China, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union (EU) continue. And thats despite the finally-finished 2018 Farm Bill that, once again, places American exports at the center of your farm and ranchs profit plan for years to come.

How center?

According to May 2018 data compiled by USDAs Foreign Agricultural Service, exports account for 76 percent of all American-raised cotton, 59 percent of all sorghum, 35 percent of all rice, 50 percent of all soybeans, 46 percent of all wheat, 21 percent of all pork and corn, 16 percent of all poultry, 15 percent of all dairy, and 10 percent of all beef.PHOENIXThe HonorHealth vice president of research and a retired executive at W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. have assumed new leadership roles with a statewide committee charged with advancing the biosciences in Arizona.

Mark Slater has been named chair and Eve Ross the vice chair of Arizonas Bioscience Roadmap Steering Committee, comprised of about 100 leaders from the public and private sectors in science, health care, business, academia, economic development, government and policy.

Slater, the vice president for research at HonorHealth and chief executive for the HonorHealth Research Institute, joined the committee in 2007 and has served as vice chair since 2016. Ross, a retired medical-technology executive and attorney at W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc., became a committee member in 2003.

Arizonas Bioscience Roadmap Steering Committee, which receives staffing support from the Flinn Foundation, is engaged throughout the year pursuing the goals of Arizonas Bioscience Roadmap, and gathers quarterly to discuss major research, business, and policy developments that impact the biosciences in Arizona and explore opportunities to advance the sector.The MILO system is installed into a shooting range and is controlled by an instructor. The instructor can decide to show one of hundreds of video scenarios with filmed actors that include domestic violence, hostage and inebriated subject scenarios.

Filmed scenarios don't always end with a bullet being fired. The MILO system allows the instructor to end the scenario with a cooperative subject if a training officer uses a satisfactory de-escalation tactic, Wilson said.

In a real-life shooting situation, there are lots of your senses and stimuli being triggered. This tries to get as many of those stimuli as it can with the audio and video, Wilson said. An instructor can also be engaging the student in different ways by giving commands, or in some of the scenarios there are branches you can go where you have to respond with deadly force or non-lethal force might be appropriate.

Wilson said that he has had Arizona Game and Fish Department law officers visit his facility for a training scenario, and put some of the officers through scenarios surrounding fishing and boating.

Timberlines system uses a screen that has self-healing rubber developed in World War II that allows the usage of real firearms, and is paired with an infrared sensor that enables the system to record where bullets struck the screen.Members of the Flagstaff Police department visited Coconino High School Wednesday in response to threatening comments made on social media.

The comments were not directed at any specific individual. Police visited the school as a precautionary measure to ensure student and faculty safety during the investigation.

FPD reported that enforcement action was taken against a juvenile and school activities were disrupted temporarily, but the investigation concluded that no students or faculty were in danger at any time.

Love 3 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0The university enterprise totaled $180 million in fiscal impact, with nearly $26 million resulting from NAU. Local governments received the largest portion of NAUs fiscal contributions, followed by the state.

According to the report, Arizonas public universities have been and will continue to be integral to diversifying the Arizona economy so it is less dependent on the traditional 5 Cs  copper, cattle, cotton, citrus and climate  that were essential to a workforce dependent on agriculture, ranching and mining.

As the three institutions continue to shape the future of the state and its inhabitants economically, they will also do so in areas not mentioned in this study.

I am pleased that this report validates what our public university system has known for years  the results of our efforts affect the quality of life, health, education and economic outcomes of the State of Arizona, Cheng said.

Kaitlin Olson can be reached at the office at kolson@azdailysun.com or by phone at (928) 556-2253.

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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.The 49-year-old multi-instrumentalist from Fredricksburg, Virginia, has been playing guitar since his early teens, but the career he chose to pursue in college was theater, not music. At Virginia Wesleyan College, Williams learned many things about how to keep the audience's eyes on him.

"The main thing was definitely in the improvisational department and getting comfortable in front of the audience," he says. "The other thing I learned was I didn't like having to recite lines."

So even though he graduated with a theater degree, he didn't pursue it, moving to Colorado to pursue a career in music instead. From that point his one-man jam-band act went through humble evolutionary phases.

"The gigs I was doing in the early to late 1990s were in a lot of restaurants," he says. "Sometimes I had to literally bus tables to clear enough room for the equipment, and I moved the gear around to fit where I played. After hours and hours of working on new music and coming for the awareness that I couldn't afford humans to play with, I started using loops and introducing new instruments. Once the bass came in people really started to pay attention.State governments appear to have declared open season on porn this month, as Kansas on Wednesday became the fourth state in February alone to introduce legislation that would directly tax porn fans for accessing adult sites online. According to a report by the Wichita Eagle newspaper, a Republican lawmaker in Kansas has introduced a bill that would require electronics makers to include blocking software in all devices that would filter out porn sites, with users able to pay a one-time $20 fee to disable the blockages.

Its to protect children, State Representative Randy Garber told The Hutchinson News. What it would do is any X-rated pornography stuff would be filtered. It would be on all purchases going forward. Why wouldnt anybody like this?

One reason that some might not like the bill is that government censorship of legal content would likely violate First Amendment guarantees of free expression, as well as privacy rights, and ultimately be struck down by courts as unconstitutional.

As well intentioned as the bill might be, I would not trade my right to privacy for a mandatory restriction of allegedly pornographic communications that can be dealt with on an individual basis by parents, Democratic Rep. Jim Carmichael said, according to the Hutchinson News report.

Garbers bill comes after Hawaii and Arizona also proposed bills requiring the blocking of online pornography on internet-connected devices in those states, with a $20 surcharge, or tax, required to unblock the porn sites. In the Hawaii and Kansas bills, revenue from the surcharge would be earmarked for special funds to combat sex trafficking.

But in the proposed Arizona legislation, as AVN.com reported, the $20 unblocking fees would go toward building a wall on the Arizona border with Mexico.

A New York legislator also proposed a similar law this month, though in the New York version, rather than a one-time $20 surcharge to view online porn, each individual porn download would cost the user a $2 fee, supposedly for a state fund that would benefit victims of domestic violence, hate crimes, human trafficking and child prostitution.

Other legislators oppose Garbers porn surcharge bill, however.

Part of being an adult is not legislating morality, said Rep. Tim Hodge, quoted by the Hutchinson News. If Randy Garber wants to crawl into everybodys bedroom, that is more creepy than the activity he is trying to prevent. I thought we still lived in America. We all took a oath to uphold the constitution.

Even a top Republican in Kansas appeared skeptical of Garbers proposal.

At first blush, its probably too intrusive, said Jim Denning, the states Senate majority leader.

Photo By America's Power / Wikimedia CommonsOn Jan. 22, tragically, New York states new abortion expansion bill, the Reproductive Health Act, was passed by Democratic majorities in the Assembly and Senate and signed into law by Governor Cuomo. This extreme legislation allows abortions for any reason up to the point of birth, permits abortions to be performed by non-doctors, and makes it legal to deny medical care to babies who survive a late-term abortion.

Some senators and assembly members from both parties spoke out against this legislation. Sen. Daphne Jordan argued, "A baby inside its mother is not an inanimate object, its a life. It has a heartbeat. It can hiccup. It can kick. It can hear its mothers voice and music. It can feel pain.

Unfortunately, some state legislatures are preparing to follow New Yorks terrible example. By contrast, other states have passed restrictions on abortion. Dismemberment laws, for example, ban an abortionist from dismembering a live baby in the womb limb-by-limb, a commonly used procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy. All six methods of abortion kill the developing child, violently, but well never see a TV documentary that forces us to confront this truth.Multiple fire departments responded to an electrical fire that injured three people at an Aurelius milk processing plant Thursday morning.

Around 10:20 a.m. crews were dispatched to Cayuga Milk Ingredients for what Chief Operative Officer Keven Bucklin described as an electrical problem that injured two contractors and one plant employee.

The three people were transported to a Syracuse hospital with what appeared to be minor injuries from flash burns, Aurelius Fire Chief Kevin Foster said. He said a worker was pulling cables from an electrical panel when the fire started.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Smoke could be seen coming from one of the buildings located at the 15 Eagle Drive facility in Aurelius. At around 11:15 a.m., crews on the scene said the fire was put out.

Aurelius milk plant Three people were transported with injuries after an electrical fire at Cayuga Milk Ingredients in Aurelius Thursday morning.

Fire departments on the scene included Auburn, Fleming and Aurelius. New York State Electric and Gas were also called to the scene to help with live electrical wires in one of the structures.

More information was not immediately available.

Love 3 Funny 3 Wow 3 Sad 31 Angry 0PASADENA, Texas, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PinnacleART has been selected as the 2019 Business of the Year by the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce . The award is given to a local organization that has demonstrated their commitment to the Pasadena community through active involvement in community organizations, financial stewardship, and participation in local events.



PinnacleART designs, implements, and maintains comprehensive asset reliability and integrity programs for process facility owners in the oil and gas, chemical, mining, pharmaceutical, wastewater, and electric power industries, with the purpose of ensuring these facilities operate reliably, safely, and efficiently. PinnacleART helps its clients mitigate risk of downtime and loss of containment; optimize costs associated with inspection, maintenance, and total asset spend; and ensure compliance with regulatory standards.

Our founders had one simple phrase on their minds when they started the company: change the world, said Stephen Powers, Chief Executive Officer of PinnacleART. We believe the first step to changing the world is investing in our local community. As we continue to expand globally, Pasadena will continue to serve as a great location for our corporate campus to thrive. We proudly call Pasadena our home.

PinnacleART celebrated 12 years as a business in May of 2018 and has consistently been recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in the greater Houston area. Although PinnacleART started in a Pearland warehouse, the incredible demand for asset integrity services led the company to its current location on its 18-acre campus in Pasadena, Texas. The company, which has grown to over 900 team members in 12 years, currently houses approximately 500 employees in the Pasadena office and plans to further expand its campus to keep up with rapid growth.

Involvement in the Pasadena community is something that PinnacleART truly exemplifies. PinnacleART supports Pasadena through its Community Outreach program, a committee that coordinates volunteer opportunities for company employees. Employees, who are offered volunteer paid-time-off hours, have participated in a variety of volunteer opportunities such as serving as mentors at local schools, organizing blood donation drives, and supporting a local senior living center.

In 2017, PinnacleART formed a partnership with Sarahs House, a Pasadena organization that provides shelter, meals and other necessities for homeless women and their children as they transition from homelessness to independence. PinnacleART supports Sarahs House in a variety of ways, including: donating supplies and IT equipment; performing facility repairs and yard maintenance; and assisting with fundraising. Stephen Powers is now Chairman of Sarahs House Board and is leading the mission to expand the shelters capacity and eradicate homelessness in the Pasadena area.

The award was announced at the Annual State of the City Membership Luncheon at the Pasadena Convention Center. As this years award recipient, PinnacleART will have the honor to help select the 2020 Business of the Year recipient.

About PinnacleART

PinnacleARTs vision is to make the world reliable. We do this by designing, implementing, and maintaining comprehensive asset reliability and integrity programs for process facilities in the oil and gas, chemical, mining, pharmaceutical, wastewater, and electric power industries including national oil companies, super majors, majors, and independents. Our team of talented experts, engineers, and inspectors help clients mitigate risk of downtime and loss of containment, ensure safety of personnel, optimize costs associated with inspection, maintenance and total asset spend, and ensure compliance with regulatory standards. To learn more about PinnacleART, visit www.pinnacleart.com , email info@pinnacleart.com or call 281-598-1330.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/34dade1a-2b8c-4f63-b12f-bbc784afc09bIn a unanimous vote, the Springport Town Board passed a resolution opposing the legalization of recreational cannabis.

Comprised of five members, the board voted to oppose legalizing recreational marijuana at its meeting Monday. The resolution cited "increased safety issues" in states that have legalized recreational marijuana use, and said that by joining these states, a "misguided message" would be sent to town residents, particularly the town's youth.

The resolution echos a statement recently made by Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck in opposition to legalizing recreational marijuana in New York state  a plan proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and backed by many Democrats in the state Legislature.

Cuomo's plan would also impose a 20-percent state tax and 2-percent local tax on any sale of the substance. Anyone under the age of 21 would be prohibited from making such purchases.

Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck 'strongly' opposes marijuana legalization Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck and other sheriffs across New York are speaking out agai

David Schenck, the Springport town supervisor and an uncle of the sheriff, said Wednesday that the resolution has seen "nothing but positive response." He added that the board didn't think supporting recreational marijuana was the right message to give, and that the current opioid crisis is bad enough.

The governor's plan includes a provision that would allow individual counties to prohibit marijuana sales. Cities with more than 100,000 residents could also opt out.

Staff writer Dan Orzechowski can be reached at (315) 282-2239 or dan.orzechowski@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @OrzechowskiDan.

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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.Do you like to build or grow things? Do you have ideas for making life better, easier or more fun? Do you sometimes think you could make money from your ideas? What holds you back from doing these things? Is it business knowledge, connections or startup money?

Are you an entrepreneur? Most people have something they do or would like to do, and think they could make money doing it. We use the term entrepreneur to describe the people who take those ideas and make a business (or businesses) out of them. They come from all sorts of backgrounds, and the skills it takes to be a good entrepreneur can be learned. There are different reasons people become entrepreneurs. Some just want to make a job for themselves, some want to make lots of money, some find it to be a good way to make a difference in the world, and some want to follow their passion and make a living out of it.

Before you start a business, you need to think about where you are in life. Starting a business is a lot of work. Do you have the time needed to make this business a success? Are you ready for the income uncertainty that can come with starting something new?The State University of New York at Oswego is investigating social media threats made earlier this week against members of the College Republicans and the Young Americans for Freedom.

Screen shots of the tweets provided by the New York Federation of College Republicans show at least three users discussed shooting the members of the GOP-aligned groups. One user, responding to a photo posted by the Young Americans for Freedom chapter at SUNY Oswego, wrote: "fellas, if y'all locked in locked in a room with these three ugly mf's and only got 27 bullets which one y'all shootin' first?"

The tweet has been removed. According to Twitter, it is no longer available because it violated the platform's rules.

The New York Federation of College Republicans said the three students in the photo received more threats in private messages sent to their accounts.

It's unknown if the individuals who posted threatening tweets are students at SUNY Oswego.

Tyler Toomey, president of the SUNY Oswego College Republicans and a member of the Young Americans for Freedom, was one of the three men in the photo. He criticized the threats made against him and his members.Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

State Sen. Michael Gianaris, the No. 2 Democrat in the state Senate, was among those who opposed the project. He wanted Amazon to renegotiate the incentives package with the state and city.

With Amazon's decision to cancel the New York share of its expansion, Gianaris, whose district would've hosted the headquarters, hopes there will be a national debate about the use of corporate subsidies.

"They did not need our $3 billion," he said. "They just chose to shake us down for it."

In its statement, Amazon acknowledged the opposition to the project by claiming the state and local officials "will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City."

"We are disappointed to have reached this conclusion  we love New York, its incomparable dynamism, people and culture  and particularly the community of Long Island City, where we have gotten to know so many optimistic, forward-leaning community leaders, small business owners, and residents," the company wrote.

Amazon praised Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, both of whom advocated for the project.An unrepentant British teenager who joined the Islamic State group in Syria said in an interview Thursday that she wanted to come home, highlighting the challenge for Western governments on how to deal with returning jihadist supporters. Shamima Begum, who ran away from London with two school friends in 2015, spoke to The Times newspaper from a refugee camp in eastern Syria after fleeing the collapse of the IS group's "caliphate". Now 19, she expressed no regrets about joining the jihadists but said that two of her children were dead and she was now about to give birth again. "I just could not endure any more," she told the newspaper. She added: "I was also frightened that the child I am about to give birth to would die like my other children if I stayed on. "So I fled the caliphate. Now all I want to do is come home to Britain." Begum made headlines around the world when, aged just 15, she left to join the jihadists with her two friends from Bethnal Green in east London. Another girl, Sharmeena Begum, from the same school had run away the year before. Of the four girls, Kadiza Sultana who travelled to Syria with Begum, has since been reported killed. Begum said the other two, Sharmeena Begum -- no relation -- and Amira Abase, stayed in Baghouz where IS fighters are making a final stand against US-backed forces. "They were strong. I respect their decision," Begum said of her friends. She added: "I'm not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago. And I don't regret coming here." - 'Challenge for all of us' - The British authorities estimate around 900 Britons travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the conflict, of whom around 300-400 have since returned -- and 40 have been prosecuted. As of last month, around 200 were believed to still be alive and in the region. Speaking to Sky News, Security Minister Ben Wallace said it was "worrying" that Begum had not expressed regret about going to Syria. He also noted the difficulties faced by many governments of how to deal with those returning from abroad. "It is a challenge for all of us," he told BBC radio. "Some of them were groomed... when they were young but are now adults and some of them are hardened fighters. "We have successfully prosecuted a number of them in the last few years when they have come back and the others should expect the same if they return." The United States had said it is ready to help countries repatriate IS jihadists detained in Syria but it is up to their home governments to come up with solutions. Under new anti-terrorism legislation, British nationals spending time in Syria face arrest and up to 10 years in prison on their return. The law toughens previous legislation that required authorities to prove returning nationals had engaged in terrorist activities while abroad. A lawyer who represented the families of Begum and her two friends four years ago, Tasnime Akunjee, told The Times he was "thankful she's alive". He noted that when they ran away, "there was an understanding that as long as they had committed no further offence they will not be prosecuted and be seen as victims". Abase's father Hussen said the girls had been young when they ran away, at an age when they could be "easily tricked". "Twisted minds can be straightened by teamwork of the government, with the parent," he told Sky News. - 'My first severed head' - Begum married a Dutch fighter soon after arriving in Syria. "Mostly it was normal life in Raqqa, every now and then bombing and stuff," she told The Times. "But when I saw my first severed head in a bin it didn't faze me at all. It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam. "I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance." Begum fled with her husband, but he surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters allied to the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. "The caliphate is over," she said, adding that "there was so much oppression and corruption that I don't think they deserved victory". She acknowledged her notoriety but said: "I'll do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child." British teenagers (L-R) Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana and Shamima Begum caught on camera leaving Gatwick Airport in February 2015 The jihadists have staged a last stand in Baghouz in eastern Syria, near the Iraqi border Begum made headlines around the world when she left to join the jihadists, aged just 15 Map locating Baghouz where IS fighters and their relatives were hunkered down as Kurdish-led forces closed inSchool was out, but on an afternoon in rural Benin, 11-year-old Ambroise rushed to a tree-shaded parking lot, his day's learning not yet done. Parked beneath the cola trees was a lorry trailer loaded with computers -- the kind of technology that few students in the West African country had ever seen, much less touched. Designed by BloLab, a non-profit group based in Benin's largest city Cotonou, the 13-metre (43-foot) trailer is powered by 12 solar panels and equipped with enough laptops to give rural students a chance to familiarise themselves with computers, which most families cannot afford. "When the teacher told us that we'd start having computer class again, I quickly finished my work because I was so happy," said Ambroise, from eastern Benin's Avrankou district. In his class of 48, only four pupils had even touched a computer before. Ambroise had used one at a photocopy shop, while the other three had a sibling who owned one. - A drop in the ocean - In Benin, the digital divide is not just a concept but a reality, said BloLab founder Medard Agbayazon. "In the towns, many people have technology, there are cybercafes. But in villages it is rare to find a computer or a smartphone," he told AFP. Benin's internet penetration rate is just 42.2 percent, the Regulatory Authority for Electronic and Postal Communication said in a report last year. Among these, almost everyone (96 percent) used a mobile phone for accessing the web. These are the conditions which spawned the idea for a mobile classroom furnished with desks as well as fans to ward off the tropical heat. BloLab pays to rent a cab to two the trailer, which was donated by Swiss-based charity African Puzzle. The classroom, which has visited two communities since last August, stays in one place for a month at a time, providing five two-hour computer skills classes per week, free of charge. It is a drop in the ocean for Avrankou, which has a population of 128,000 scattered around 59 villages served by 88 primary schools. "The idea isn't to make computer scientists, but just to make children want to use digital technology. It's a tool that can solve real problems in everyday life," Agbayazon said. - Repurposed jerrycans - As one group of pupils practises using a word processor on the trailer's laptops, another works in a corner of the town hall, learning to build computers in jerrycans with recycled components from obsolete machines or donated by businesses and charities in Cotonou. The students are already familiar with terms like "motherboard", "hard drive", and "power supply" from a previous lesson. One of two trainers, Raoul Letchede, shows the kids the components they will use to assemble a makeshift computer in a 25-litre (6.6-gallon) yellow plastic container. These home-fashioned machines must be hooked up to a computer screen to work. "This lesson familiarises them with the inside of a computer, demystifies how it works, and shows them that they can make their own even without much money," Letchede said. One rule of the mobile classroom is that all the software used must be free to the public. "We have to promote this practice because we don't have the money here to buy the licences," said Agbayazon. "We don't want to encourage children to hack." - Learning continues - The approach impressed local official Apollinaire Oussou Lio on a recent visit to the class. "This is an opportunity to no longer be a slave to software from the big multinationals," Lio said, adding he would himself like to be more computer savvy. "I'd also like to be trained," he said, citing a wish to learn to use geo-location to better preserve the surrounding forests. Teacher Guillaume Gnonlonfoun is happy for his students. The school where he works has no computer, and he himself first used one at university. Many of Gnonlonfoun's colleagues have never used a PC, and the BloLab class is open to them as well. "These days, nothing can be done without digital technology," he told AFP. "So that we don't end up being the illiterates of this millennium, it is essential that we have equipment." But until real computers arrive in the community, pupils and teachers will have no option but to build their own. Few students in Ivory Coast have ever seen, let alone touched, a computer The mobile classroom, which has visited two communities since last August, stays in one place for a month at a time, providing five two-hour computer skills classes per week, free of charge "The idea isn't to make computer scientists, but just to make children want to use digital technology. It's a tool that can solve real problems in everyday life," said BloLab founder Medard Agbayazon Trainer Raoul Letchede shows the kids the components they will use to assemble a makeshift computer in a 25-litre plastic container Avrankou has a population of 128,000 scattered around 59 villages served by 88 primary schoolsAfter generals seized power in Thailand in a 2014 coup they turned to Beijing to kickstart growth and buff up their vision of an innovative, developed country steered by wise leaders and buoyed by China-backed infrastructure. Thailand's economy sagged in the first years after the power grab but the junta is staking its hopes for an economic turnaround on the Asian giant. Yet concerns are mounting of an over-reliance on Beijing and the opacity of deals cemented by the generals. Few can predict what will happen in a country known for coups and backroom political plots -- uncertainty that was in focus last week after the king scuttled a bid by his sister for prime minister. Junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha is looking to hold onto power and drive through the largest investment programme in Thai history -- with China's help. Tourism remains the kingdom's banker -- accounting for a fifth of the economy -- and Chinese visitors are integral, making up a quarter of Thailand's projected 41 million visitors this year. Lavish Lunar New Year celebrations at the start of the month, including Chinese acrobats, arts, crafts and dragon dances, were expected to rake in over $300 million. Wang Ziying was among those who took part, emerging from a mass of incense-wielding devotees at a Bangkok shrine -- one of more than 11 million Chinese expected to visit Thailand this year. "Travelling here is quite cheap," said Wang, 27, with red bunting and lanterns festooning the streets around her. Last year, tourist Xu Xiao, 28, prayed at the same shrine for a successful marriage. Her husband was with her this time. "Thailand is a country full of warm-hearted people," she said. - Bet the house - Chinese investment in Bangkok condos is surging, while international schools are being filled by parents tiring of Shanghai and Beijing prices. But junta critics say the rush for Chinese investment, carried out with virtually no public scrutiny, has left Thai markets vulnerable to price manipulation and economic shocks. Thai rubber was hit hard by the trade war between the United States and China, while concerns abound over inducements likely to be offered to investors in special economic zones. "Thailand has shown signs of overdependence on the China market," said Michael Montesano, coordinator of the Thailand Studies Programme at Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. Approved investment deals from China in the first nine months of 2018 stood at 20 billion baht ($640 million), nearly double the amount recorded over the entire previous year, according to Thailand's Board of Investment. But the junta's flagship project, the Eastern Economic Corridor, aims to dwarf that. A mix of tech, airport and port upgrades, high-speed rail and manufacturing, the EEC is a $45 billion plan across three eastern seaboard provinces, and Thailand is courting investors from several countries. "But without the kind of Chinese investment they are hoping to get, the Eastern Economic Corridor doesn't get off the ground," said Benjamin Zawacki, the author of "Thailand: Shifting Ground between the US and a Rising China". Late last year, Thailand hosted more than 500 Chinese executives and investors, selling the EEC as a link to Southeast Asia to satisfy Beijing's Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. But junta opponents are on the lookout for any deals hustled through in the run-up to next month's election before a new civilian administration takes power. The generals have also spent large sums on Chinese military gear, unencumbered by oversight. Junta number two Prawit Wongsuwan has served as the frontman, buying tanks, guns and three submarines -- costing nearly $400 million each -- that have yet to be delivered. - Thailand 4.0 - Once Southeast Asia's most dynamic economy, Thailand has been beset by protests and political instability since an earlier coup in 2006, a period dubbed the "lost decade". In that time, Thailand's education system calcified. Shortly after their last power grab, the generals imposed fresh layers of rote learning across schools, focusing on loyalty to the monarchy, discipline and national pride. Yet junta leader Prayut has simultaneously touted a future of "Thailand 4.0" -- a tech hub fed by highly-skilled, educated Thai workers. To buttress the vision, a $320 million investment last year by e-commerce giant Alibaba was hailed by Prayut and Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma as a sign of the bounty to come. But critics say a woeful education system cannot feed into a pipeline of skilled workers without massive reform. The race for Chinese cash has unsettled many Thais concerned by the warping of their markets by China's massive economy. A "pro-China stance" has been criticised by a wary Thai public, independent analyst Sasiwan Chingchit said, especially those affected by the government's "poor performance". "A lot of people... are so sick of this government," she said. The race for Chinese cash has unsettled many Thais concerned by the warping of their markets by China's massive economy More than 11 million Chinese are expected to visit Thailand this year A $320 million investment last year by e-commerce giant Alibaba was hailed by Prayut and founder Jack Ma (left) as a sign of "Thailand 4.0" Chinese visitors will make up a quarter of Thailand's projected 41 million visitors this yearIslamic State group jihadists using tunnels and suicide bombers were mounting a desperate defence Thursday of their last square kilometre in eastern Syria. Kurdish-led forces closed in on the small town of Baghouz where IS fighters and their relatives were hunkered down and met famished and dishevelled people turning themselves in. "The fighting is fierce," said Adnan Afrin, a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-Arab outfit that has spearheaded the campaign against IS with backing from a US-led coalition. "There is significant resistance," he told AFP in Al-Omar oil field, the main staging base for the SDF's offensive against the very last shred of the original IS "caliphate". The few hundred fighters of various nationalities holding out in their last bastion by the Iraqi border have launched bruising counter-attacks in recent days, Afrin said. The jihadists are clinging to about one square kilometre in the town's built-up area, as well as to an adjacent camp, where a number of civilians are believed to be gathered. Afrin said it was impossible to provide accurate figures but he estimated the total number of fighters, men and women, at around 1,000. - Tunnels - "There are many tunnels in Baghouz now. This is why the operation is dragging on. There are many suicide bombers attacking our positions, with explosives-laden cars and motorbikes," he said. Afrin said two such suicide attacks were carried out by women on Tuesday but he would not provide any figures on casualties among SDF ranks. People continued to trickle out of the last IS redoubt every day, trudging up a dirt road to a collection point where SDF fighters and volunteers provide first aid and carry out a first screening. The major influx of the past few days slowed to a trickle on Thursday but it was unclear how many civilians remained trapped inside the jihadists' last redoubt. David Eubank from the Free Burma Rangers volunteer medical group said he saw around 60 to 70 civilians exiting the last IS pocket on Thursday, one of the lowest numbers since December. Many of those who snuck out had to sleep outside in the cold to reach the SDF, where a lucky few get tents while the rest were spread out on cheap blankets. "The kids were crying all night from the cold," said Fatima, an Iraqi woman from Baghdad who fled Baghouz with her four children, all under 15. "This is the second night we sleep outside. There was so much bombing in Baghouz that it was safer for us to sleep in the open," she told AFP. The SDF has restricted media access to the front line since an Italian journalist was wounded earlier this week. The US-led coalition is carrying out air strikes on the area while its forces are also present on the ground, sifting through the displaced for wanted jihadists. Afrin said SDF forces tuning their walkie-talkies on the jihadists' frequencies "can hear them speak in Arabic but also in Turkish, French and English." Once the adult men have been separated from their families, foreign and SDF officers thumb through pictures on smart phones to ask new arrivals about wanted IS leaders. - Baghdadi - IS's elusive Iraqi-born supremo, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is not believed to be among the last jihadist leaders holed up in Baghouz. Several known jihadist figures have emerged from the dregs of the "caliphate" in recent days however, including German Martin Lemke and Frenchman Quentin Le Brun. A rift appears to have grown between foreign members of IS who have nowhere to hide and local fighters who are attempting to blend back into the population as the organisation goes underground again. The "caliphate" Baghdadi proclaimed in mid-2014 once spanned territory the size of the United Kingdom and administered millions of people. It printed its own schoolbooks, produced oil, collected taxes and minted its own currency, in a brief but unprecedented experiment in jihadist statehood. Successive offensives in Iraq and Syria have shattered the proto-state, which lost its key cities one after the other and had since late 2017 been confined to its traditional strongholds in the Euphrates River valley. An official declaration of victory against IS is expected in the coming days, a move of mostly symbolic value that will go down as the death certificate of the "caliphate". While surviving IS fighters on both sides of the border will no longer hold fixed positions, the jihadist organisation will remain a threat. The United States is due to pull its troops out of Syria within weeks, creating a vacuum that risks allowing IS to rebuild and project new ambitions. The Kurds are also afraid they will have to squander the autonomy they acquired and be left exposed to a military offensive by their archfoe Turkey. Civilians flee the Islamic State group's crumbling last holdout of Baghouz in eastern Syria Women and children are among those fleeing the Islamic State group's embattled holdout of Baghouz in eastern Syria The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces are spearheading the campaign against the jihadists with backing from a US-led coalition The zones controlled by Islamic State (IS) group from January 2015 to January 2019 in Syria and Iraq. US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces hold a position during fighting against Islamic State group jihadists in eastern Syria on February 13, 2019RENO, Nev., Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via OTC PR WIRE -- Eagle Oil Holding Inc. (USOTC: EGOH) is pleased to announce that it has merged with Green Stream Finance Inc.



Green Streams mission is to provide its clients with financing that allow them to further distribute their energy-efficient products and services. Due to its rapid growth, it has become an industry leader in financing companies that operate in an environmentally friendly manner.

It provides capital to those businesses that operate in a conscientious manner with respect to environmentally-friendly initiatives. This is, all too frequently, ignored. Their services include, but are not limited to, financing of commercial industrial buildings, agriculture projects, public and private schools, and religious Institutions.

Green Stream Finance Inc. has operations in California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. It has plans to implement its mission by using its trademark designs and groundbreaking technology which are made entirely through the use of customized red, greenhouse glass, and seamless, solar panels. The red greenhouse glass removes the green light and increases the ratio from red to blue light which increases the plants growth by 94%.

Pursuant to the Acquisition and Merger Agreement, a new class of preferred shares will be issued by Eagle Oil Holding Company Inc. (USOTC: EGOH) as consideration for the acquisition of 96% of Green Stream Finance Inc.s issued and outstanding shares. In addition, Ken Williams will immediately resign as CEO of Eagle, but will remain as on officer and director of Green Stream for a three-month period to assist in the transition.

Ken Williams, former CEO of Eagle Oil Holding Company Inc., states this merger is as exciting a project as I have seen in quite a while, especially for the shareholders of both companies. Green Streams technology is second to none, which means that they are well placed to become a dominant force in the clean energy movement.

Madeline Cammarata, CEO of both Eagle Oil Holding Company Inc. and Green Stream Finance, excitedly states, The numerous acquisitions of Eagle over the past few years have been extensive. I intend to bring the company current in its filings so that by the beginning of the next reporting period, our shareholders will see, and feel, the full benefit of our rapid growth with the acquisition of Green Stream.

Updates will be forthcoming

For more information, email the Company:

Info@greenstreamfinance.com

Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and is subject to the safe harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. That includes the possibility that the business outlined in this press release cannot be concluded for some reason. That could be as a result of technical, installation, permitting or other problems that were not anticipated. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Eagle Oil Holding Company Inc. to be materially different from the statements made herein. Except for any obligation under the U.S. federal securities laws, Eagle Oil Holding Company, Inc. undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.ABC/Randy HolmesTravis Scott is to thank for Houston's new amusement park.

Wednesday, Scott arrived in his birthplace for the second leg of his Astroworld: Wish You Were Here tour. During a brief pause in his set, the "Sicko Mode" rapper was joined on stage by Houston's Mayor, Sylvester Turner, to share a special announcement with the crowd.

"Because of him, we want to bring another amusement theme park back to the city," Turner said in fan captured footage as he presented Scott with a key to the city of Houston.

According to the Mayor's Office, the desire to bring a theme park back to Houston is solely Scott's brainchild. Scott is in support of the mayor tapping investors to help create and design an amusement park that operates as a private business venture, KHOU 11 News reports.

"This would not be a city project but would encourage the use of private money and developers," Turner's spokeswoman explained. "Mayor Turner is definitely in support of that."

Scott previously received the key to Missouri City, his hometown, last February.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Israel's prime minister's office has quitely toned down talk by Benjamin Netanyahu of a shared interest with Arab states in "war" with Iran, replacing the word with "combating" in its English-language transcript. Netanyahu made the comments on Wednesday on the sidelines of an international conference in Warsaw organised by Washington to discuss Iran and the region, and attended by the foreign ministers of a raft of Gulf Arab states. Netanyahu and his US ally have sought to play up the rare public appearance of senior Arab officials at a common forum with an Israeli prime minister. Both have highlighted the shared hostility towards Iran of Israel -- which regards Iran as its biggest foe -- and Saudi Arabia -- which sees it as the main challenger to its influence in the Middle East. In video footage of his comments that remained on his official Twitter account on Thursday, Netanyahu clearly speaks of a shared interest in war with Iran, using the Hebrew word milhama. "What is important about this meeting ?- and this meeting is not in secret, because there are many of those ?- is that this is an open meeting with representatives of leading Arab countries, that are sitting down together with Israel in order to advance the common interest of war with Iran," he said. The prime minister's office also used the word "war" in its first English-language translation of his comments. But two hours later, it published a "reissue" of its transcript, altering the English translation of the final phrase to "combating Iran." It gave no explanation for the change when asked by AFP. Netanyahu has repeatedly pledged to use all means at his disposal, including military, to prevent Iran acquiring advance bases on Israel's doorstep. In recent months, he has broken with the conventional ambiguity of Israeli leaders about military operations to speak openly of Israel's air war against Iranian targets in neighbouring Syria. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) shakes hands with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the sidelines of an international conference co-hosted by Washington in Warsaw and dominated by their shared hostility to IranUS Vice President Mike Pence demanded Thursday that Europeans drop a nuclear deal with Iran and join in seeking to cripple the regime, a cause that united Israel with longtime Arab rivals at a conference in Warsaw. Major European powers sent low-level representation to the US-initiated meeting, suspicious of US President Donald Trump's hawkish impulses and convinced the 2015 deal under which Iran drastically scaled back its nuclear programme is working. But Pence took direct aim at allies Britain, France and Germany, denouncing their new initiative to let European companies operate in Iran in defiance of unilateral US sanctions. "It's an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU and creates still more distance between Europe and the United States," he said. "The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us," he said. The Warsaw conference is timed just as Iran's clerical regime celebrates 40 years since the Islamic revolution ousted the pro-US shah. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, visiting the Russian resort of Sochi for a simultaneous summit called by Russian leader Vladimir Putin that also included Turkey, retorted: "We see what's happening in Warsaw, it's an empty result, nothing." Pence stopped just short of calling for regime change in Iran, which has been comparatively stable in recent years amid unrest throughout the Middle East. Pence threatened further US sanctions as "the people of Iran take to the streets" and its "economy continues to plummet". He accused Iran of plotting a "new Holocaust" with its opposition to Israel and regional ambitions in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen. "Freedom-loving nations must stand together and hold the Iranian regime accountable for the evil and violence it has inflicted on its people, on the region and the wider world," Pence said. - EU rejects pressure - Pence tacitly acknowledged that Iran is in compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal but said the issue was the accord itself, brokered under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who did not go to bloc member Poland for the talks, said the Europeans shared many US concerns but disagreed on the accord. "For us, the implementation of the nuclear deal with Iran is a matter of European security -- to avoid that Iran can develop a nuclear weapon -- and we see it is working," she told reporters in Brussels shortly before Pence's speech. "For us it is a matter of priority to keep implementing it in full," she said. Poland -- which is eager to please the United States amid fears of a resurgent Russia -- said it also backed the nuclear deal but that it was important to seek common ground among allies. "If we stand together and act in a united manner, we can come closer to resolving security problems in the Middle East," Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said at the close of the conference. Pence only briefly mentioned concerns with Iran's Arab adversaries, saying the Trump administration would keep looking at Saudi Arabia's killing of US-based dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi. But Pence hailed the Arab front against Iran. Top officials of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain -- none of whom recognise Israel -- sat down with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Warsaw starting with a dinner Wednesday at the Royal Castle. Netanyahu called the talks a "historical turning point" and voiced hope they could lead to a greater normalisation of relations. "An Israeli prime minister and the foreign ministers of the leading Arab countries stood together and spoke with unusual force, clarity and unity against the common threat of the Iranian regime," Netanyahu told reporters as he arrived for Thursday's main session at a football stadium. Israel only has diplomatic relations with two Arab countries, neighbouring Egypt and Jordan. - US promotes peace plan - Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser, made a rare public appearance to brief countries on plans for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians which he will present after Israel's elections on April 9. A senior European official who listened to the closed-door presentation was underwhelmed. "Nothing new at all. It is obvious that everybody is now waiting for the outcome of Israeli elections," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Pence later told reporters the United States was making a "good faith effort" to reach the kind of deal "that has eluded the region and the world for generations". "While there will be compromise, the United States will never compromise on the safety and security of the state of Israel," he said. But the Palestinian Authority says it can no longer trust the United States as a broker after Trump in 2017 recognised Jerusalem -- holy to the three major monotheistic religions -- as Israel's capital. Nabil Shaath, an adviser to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, wrote in Israel's Haaretz newspaper that the Warsaw meeting had "tried to normalise the Israeli occupation and the systematic denial of the Palestinian right to self-determination". US Vice President Mike Pence denounced Iran in a speech at a conference in Warsaw Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the Warsaw conference an "attempt by the United States to pursue an obsession with Iran that is not well-founded" Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (front) hailed his talks with top officials of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain as a "historical turning point" Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser, made a rare public appearance to brief countries on plans for an elusive peace deal between Israel and the PalestiniansThe Netherlands will set up a hub for humanitarian aid for Venezuela in the Caribbean island of Curacao, off the coast of the troubled South American country, the government said. Dutch authorities would work with the United States and Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on the measure, Foreign Minister Stef Blok tweeted late Wednesday. The Venezuelan opposition and western nations have been demanding that President Nicolas Maduro allows in US aid shipments to the oil-rich country, whose economy is in meltdown. "The Venezuelan people need humanitarian aid," Blok said on Twitter. "Therefore, the Netherlands and Curacao have decided to facilitate a humanitarian aid hub in Curacao, in close cooperation with Venezuelan interim-president Guaido and the United States." The Netherlands is one of around 50 countries that have recognised Guaido as interim president. Blok did not say when the hub would start operating, saying in a letter to parliament that "the exact modalities will be further elaborated". White House National Security Advisor John Bolton said the Dutch decision to open the hub would "benefit the people of Venezuela", and also welcomed a one-million-euro ($1.1-million) aid donation to the Red Cross announced by the Netherlands earlier in the week. At a huge opposition rally on Tuesday, Guaido vowed that humanitarian aid would enter the country on February 23. US aid sitting on the Colombian side of the border with Venezuela has become the latest flashpoint in a US-led push to topple Maduro, whose socialist government is bolstered by the military and backed by Russia and China. Maduro accuses the United States of using the blocked aid shipments as pretext for an invasion. A tug of war between the Venezuelan government and opposition has erupted over whether humanitarian aid will be allowed into the economically crippled country Soldiers loyal to President Nicolas Maduro blocked the Tienditas bridge on the Colombian border in early February to stop US aid from getting into Venezuela

A child has died at a playground near a primary school in Darwin.

Northern Territory Police Senior Sergeant Matt Allen said the circumstances surrounding the death were being investigated but said it was not suspicious.

The child died at a playground near Wanguri Primary School on Wednesday night as a result of misadventure.

The NT Department of Education said it was offering support to the school.

It is believed the boy died near Wanguri Primary School. Source: Google Maps/file

Our thoughts and condolences are with the family during this difficult time, it said in a statement.

The school principal has been in contact with the family today to offer support where possible.

Counsellors have been working at the school from this morning and will remain here for as long as students and staff require.

A letter has been sent to families this afternoon to extend support should they also require it either via the school counsellors or through EASA.

Police said investigations were continuing and a report would be prepared for the coroner.

Do you have a story tip? Email: y7newsroom@yahoo7.com.au.

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoo7s daily newsletter. Sign up here.

A cafe has copped criticism over a Valentines Day sign that has been described as disgusting and disheartening.

Eifel on Eden in Auckland put a sign out on Wednesday.

On Valentines Day open the car door for her, it reads.

After Valentines Day open the car boot for her.

Theres been outrage over this sign outside of Eiffel en Eden cafe in Auckland. Source: Womens Refuge New Zealand and Ana Samways

One woman commented claiming her friend was kidnapped and shoved into a boot but managed to escape.

Another suggested the sign promotes violence, kidnapping, abduction and murder.

Womens Refuge New Zealand shared a picture of the sign on Facebook.

The refuge wrote New Zealand has the highest rate of domestic and family violence in the developed world, with one in three women experiencing domestic violence at some point in their lifetime.

Its not hard to see why we are very disheartened and disgusted to see this sign displayed in Auckland at Eiffel en Eden on Dominion Road, the refuge wrote.

Domestic violence is not a laughing matter and a huge part of work is changing peoples attitudes towards this serious national problem.

Im gobsmacked that anyone could think thats appropriate let alone funny, one woman wrote about the sign.

The cafes owner has defended the sign.

He told Newshub the boot line means you should always open the boot when youre shopping.

The owner added a very rude woman rubbed out the boot part of the sign.

However, its not the first time the Eiffel en Eden has landed in hot water over controversial signage, according to Dr Steph Borelle of Auckland University of Technology.

In March 2018, the cafe had a sign which read, arguing with a woman is like reading the software license agreement  in the end you just have to ignore everything and click, I agree.

A sign outside the cafe from last year. Source: Twitter/ Dr Steph Borelle

The latest sign has been met with furore on Facebook.

One woman called to boycott the cafe.

Im gobsmacked that anyone could that thats appropriate let alone funny, she wrote.

Others called it misogynistic.

Another woman hoped management had enough brains to scrub this message out.

Story continues

Terrible, not funny, she wrote.

However, some Twitter users werent offended by the sign.

Jimmy Carr regularly recites way more vulgar jokes than this, one woman tweeted.

Being offended doesnt give you a right to enact your vigilante justice and thought policing. Get over yourselves.

Yahoo7 has contacted Eiffel en Eden for comment.

Do you have a story tip? Email: y7newsroom@yahoo7.com.au.

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoo7s daily newsletter. Sign up here.Saudi Arabia expressed "regret" on Thursday over EU proposals to add it and six other countries to a money-laundering blacklist of governments that do too little to thwart the financing of terrorism and organised crime. The move comes amid heightened tensions between Riyadh and European capitals over the murder last year of the columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The European Commission said Wednesday it wanted to add seven countries including Saudi Arabia and Panama to another 16 already on the register -- such as Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Ethiopia and North Korea. Inclusion on the list does not trigger sanctions, but it does oblige European banks to apply tighter controls on transactions with customers and institutions in those countries. The proposal must now be approved by the European Parliament and the 28 member states, with France and Britain against the new list. "Saudi Arabia notes with regret the European Commission proposed revised list of 'high risk' countries," reported the official Saudi Press Agency. Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan was quoted in the report saying Riyadh's "commitment to fighting money-laundering and terrorism financing is a strategic priority". "We will continue to develop and enhance our regulatory framework to achieve this goal," he said. European Commissioner for Justice Vera Jourova said Wednesday the EU had "put in place the highest standards in the world" to counter illicit financial transactions. "But we must ensure that dirty money from other countries does not end up in our financial system," she told a press conference at the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg. - Calls for transparency - Jourova added that money-laundering was the "driving force" behind organised crime and terrorism and urged countries on the list to "quickly remedy their shortcomings". A diplomat said objections to the new list from capitals like London and Paris were not linked to a desire to appease Riyadh, following strained relations in the aftermath of the Khashoggi murder. There is not "an opposition to the addition of a particular country" among European countries, but concerns over the "methodology" used by the Commission, the diplomat said under condition of anonymity. Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, was killed on October 2 by Saudi agents during a visit to his country's consulate in Istanbul to obtain paperwork ahead of his wedding. The murder has plunged Saudi Arabia into one of its worst diplomatic crises. The kingdom, after initially denying any knowledge of the journalist's disappearance, has acknowledged that a team killed him inside the embassy but described it as a rogue operation that did not involve the crown prince. MEP Eva Joly, a former investigating judge, welcomed the new money-laundering blacklist but suggested the Commission "publish the country assessments in order to increase the transparency of the process and avoid accusations of political bargaining". European countries such as Cyprus or the United Kingdom should also be on the list, she said. Tensions between Riyadh and European capitals have been heightened by the murder last year of the columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in IstanbulUkraine on Thursday said it had expelled an Orthodox bishop and stripped him of his citizenship little over a week after he met with US lawmakers. Ukraine's authorities said the Ukrainian-born Gedeon, 58, who also holds US and Russian passports, had arrived in Kiev from Frankfurt and was put on a return flight to Germany. He has been banned from entering Ukraine for three years because of "anti-Ukrainian activities," said Ukrainian Security Services (SBU) spokeswoman Olena Gitlyanska, without elaborating. Ukraine's migration service said Gedeon, who is father superior at a renowned monastery in Kiev, gave false information about his other nationalities when he applied for his Ukrainian passport, which was annulled last June. Gedeon, who was born in Odessa, a Ukrainian port city on the Black Sea, was a clergyman in the Russian Orthodox Church prior to 1999 both in Russia and in the United States. In a video comment posted on Facebook, Gedeon alleged that his deportation was sparked by comments he made during a February 5 meeting with US lawmakers charging that his Church faced discrimination in Ukraine. UKraine's authorities said the Ukrainian-born Orthodox bishop Gedeon has been stripped of his citizenship and banned from entering Ukraine for three years because of "anti-Ukrainian activities"NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against, Liberty Health Science Inc. (Liberty or the Company) (OTCMKTS: LHSIF) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, and indexed under 19-cv-00161, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities, other than Defendants and their affiliates, who purchased or otherwise, acquired Liberty common stock between June 28, 2018, and December 3, 2018, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.



If you are a shareholder who purchased Liberty Class A common stock between June 28, 2018, and December 3, 2018, you have until March 8, 2019, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here to join this class action]

Liberty was incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) on November 9, 2011, as SecureCom Mobile Inc. The Companys principal business activity is the production and distribution of medical cannabis through its wholly-owned subsidiary DFMMJ LLC (d/b/a Liberty Health Sciences Florida Ltd.)

Aphria Inc. (Aphria), which also produces and distributes cannabis, has had longstanding ties with Liberty, starting from the very beginning of both companies. When Aphria was founded in 2014, Victor Neufeld (Neufeld) joined the firm as CEO and co-founder. One of Aphrias other early institutional backers included The Delavaco Group, Front St. Capital, York Plains, and Broadband Capital of NYC.

Neufeld became the Chairman of Liberty while Cole Cacciavillani, Aphrias chief agronomist and co-founder, also became one of the executives at Liberty. Liberty was heavily influenced by Aphria and individuals involved in the management of Aphria. Neufeld and the Serruya are large shareholders in both companies.

The complaint alleges throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Liberty, in conjunction with Aphria, was involved in a scheme whereby numerous fraudulent acquisitions and transactions were made to provide undue benefits to both companies insiders; and (ii) as a result, Libertys public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

In September 2018, Aphria announced that it had sold off its stake in Liberty. On December 3, 2018, Quintessential Capital Management and Hindenburg Research issued a report entitled Aphria: A Shell Game with a Cannabis Business on the Side, claiming that Aphria was part of a scheme involving the acquisition of shell companies at artificially inflated prices. Specifically, the report alleged: Aphria is part of a scheme orchestrated by a network of insiders to divert funds away from shareholders into their own pockets. The article detailed a thorough and on-the-ground investigation into Aphrias latest investments that revealed the poor quality and worth of the assets of those investments. For example, the article was accompanied by pictures showing that Aphrias latest investment in Jamaica was an abandoned building on dilapidated property.

On this news, Libertys stock fell $0.36, or nearly 34%, over the next two trading days to close at $0.70 on December 4, 2018.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com.

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

rswilloughby@pomlaw.com

888-476-6529 ext. 9980At least 37 Indian paramilitary soldiers were killed on Thursday in Indian-administered Kashmir in one the deadliest attacks on government forces there, police said. The suicide bombing outside Srinagar claimed by an Islamist group is likely to ratchet up tensions between nuclear-armed arch rivals India and Pakistan, with New Delhi long accusing Islamabad of supporting militants. "The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain," Indian Prime Minister Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, calling the attack "despicable". The attack saw explosives packed inside a van rip through buses in a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying some 2,500 members of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Two blue buses carrying around 35 people each bore the brunt of the massive blast, heard miles away, around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the city of Srinagar on the main highway to Jammu. The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported that at least 39 people were dead, while other press reports said the number could exceed 40. Some of the bodies were so badly blown up that officials feel it may take some time to identity them, PTI reported. The convoy was bringing the troopers back from leave to rejoin active service. It was unclear whether the van containing the explosives was driven into the convoy or whether it was detonated when the buses were adjacent. "It was a powerful explosion. The explosive was car-borne," CRPF spokesman Sanjay Kumar told AFP. Photos showed the blackened, mangled remains of at least one vehicle littered across the highway. Reports said that there were 350 kilos (770 pounds) of explosives used. Local media reports said the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed Islamist group claimed responsibility. A spokesman for the group told a local news agency that the "suicide attack" was carried out by Aadil Ahmad, alias Waqas Commando, a known militant from the area. After the attack, hundreds of government forces cordoned around 15 villages in the district the bomber came from and started searching house-to-house, a police officer and witnesses said. The last major car bombing, which killed 40 people including three suicide attackers, was also carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed, in 2001. The target was the local parliament building in Srinagar. - 'Not in vain' - The US condemned the attack in "the strongest terms" on Thursday, and called on "all countries...to deny safe haven and support for terrorists." State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said Washington was "resolutely committed to working with the Indian government to combat terrorism in all its forms". The attack surpasses one in 2016 that was the biggest in 14 years, claiming the lives of 19 soldiers in a brazen pre-dawn raid by militants on the Uri army camp. India blamed militants in Pakistan for that attack, and responded with strikes across the heavily-militarised Line of Control, the de-facto border dividing the nuclear-armed nations. The "surgical strikes" several kilometres (miles) inside Pakistan-controlled Kashmir remain a source of national pride for Modi's government and were the subject of a rip-roaring recent Bollywood film. India's foreign ministry, in a statement late Thursday, blamed Pakistan. "This heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries," the foreign office said. "India is firmly and resolutely committed to take all necessary measures to safeguard national security. We demand that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory," it added. Islamabad, however, rejected the suggestion that it was involved and said it had "always condemned acts of violence." "We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations," the Pakistan foreign ministry said. Before Thursday's violence, the biggest attack on Indian forces was in May 2002, when militants attacked an Indian army camp in Kaluchak in Jammu city, killing 34 people, including family members of soldiers. Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since independence. Rebels have been fighting for an independent Kashmir, or a merger with Pakistan, for 30 years. Last year was the deadliest in a decade, with rights monitors saying almost 600 people died, most of them civilians. Thousands more have been maimed in recent years by pellet-firing shotguns used by Indian forces. Pakistan says it only provides diplomatic support to Kashmiris' right to self-determination. The suicide bombing attack on Indian soldiers is likely to ratchet up tensions between arch rivals India and Pakistan India's foreign ministry blamed Pakistan for the "heinous and despicable act" The attack saw explosives packed inside a van rip through buses in a convoy of 78 vehicles on the main highway to JammuImage: Getty

A Sydney woman has been accused of stealing more than $2.4 million from a cruise ship company while working for them over three years.

The 62-year-old made numerous unauthorised electronic transfers from the company account while an employee between January 2014 and September 2017, police said.

She was arrested on Wednesday and charged with eight counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and four counts of knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime with intention to conceal.

The woman has been granted condition bail to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on February 27.

Make your money work with Yahoo Finances daily newsletter. Sign up here and stay on top of the latest money, news and tech news.

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Now read: 3,205 Telstra jobs gone and countingYEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan today received Bahaa El Din Bahgat Dessouki, the newly-appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the Republic of Armenia, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime MIniste rof Armenia.

Welcoming the Ambassador, the Premier said Armenia is keen to foster continued development of political, economic and cultural cooperation with Egypt. Hailing the current level of bilateral political relations, Nikol Pashinyan stressed the need to upgrade the economic cooperation to that benchmark. The Head of Government highlighted the role of the Armenian-Egyptian intergovernmental commission and the importance of business forums, which will help boost the bilateral trade turnover.

Bahaa El Din Bahgat Dessouki felicitated Prime Minister Pashinyan on the approval of his governments program in the National Assembly and expressed confidence that the new government would meet the proposed targets and succeed in implementing an economic revolution.

Noting that he was honored to assume the commitment of strengthening the friendly ties between the two countries, the Ambassador assured of his readiness to exert maximum effort to that end.. He highly valued the role played by the Armenian community in the development of his country and emphasized that his activities would contribute to the strengthening of multilateral ties with Armenia. The Ambassador assured that his active efforts will add momentum to the Armenian-Egyptian economic cooperation and will help implement new joint programs by getting Egyptian businesses involved in Armenias economy.

The interlocutors attached importance to reciprocated top-level visits and discussed issues related to the development of cooperation between Armenia and Egypt. The parties discussed ways of activating bilateral and multilateral trade and economic exchanges and contacts in different formats.

Nikol Pashinyan and Bahaa El Din Bahgat Dessouki highlighted the signing of a free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and Egypt.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan sent a condolence letter to President of Iran Hassan Rouhani over the terrorist attack on a bus in Sistan and Baluchestan Province. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia, the condolence letter runs as follows,

I am deeply shocked by the terrorist attack on a bus in Sistan and Baluchestan Province in Iran, which claimed lives of dozens of people.

I extend my deep condolences to you and the entire friendly people of Iran on this tragic incident.

Please, convey my words of sympathy to the families and relatives of the victims, wishing spiritual strength and steadfastness, and speedy recovery to the injured.

Edited and translated by Tigran SirekanyanYEREVAN, 14 FEBUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 14 February, USD exchange rate down by 0.86 drams to 487.99 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 3.22 drams to 550.06 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.13 drams to 7.31 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 3.54 drams to 626.29 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 7.71 drams to 20596.84 drams. Silver price down by 2.24 drams to 246.24 drams. Platinum price up by 9.64 drams to 12363.12 drams.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. From now on Ucom TV subscribers may watch all 24 parts of "The Ancient Kings" historical drama available at "VoD" section free of charge. This historical drama was first aired in 2016 on Armenia Premium TV channel exclusively broadcast on Ucom network. The fictional events taking place in the pre-Christian era were also aired on Armenia TV channel in 2018, Ucom told Armenpress.

Being faithful to the idea of supporting the creation and promotion of quality Armenian TV production, Ucom has also reduced the price for watching the TV content, in this particular case, 11 TV projects, created special for the audience of Armenia Premium. At present the rate for watching 1 episode of the Armenian TV content of recent years available at "VoD" section is set at 100 AMD, instead of the previous 200 AMD, 250 AMD or 300 AMD, Hayk Yesayan, Co-founder and Director General at Ucom, said.

Ucom subscribers may watch each episode of the following TV projects  The Million in a Trap, Children of the Orchestra, Countdown, SOS: Save Our Souls, Stand Up (1st and 2nd seasons), Toxic Love, Towards the Dream, I See, The Desired Groom, Mench Challenge and The Bought Happiness at a rate of 100 AMD.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Ambassador to Belarus Armen Ghevondyan met with Prime Minister Sergei Rumas, the Armenian foreign ministry told Armenpress.

A number of issues relating to the Armenian-Belarusian cooperation agenda were discussed during the meeting.

The officials attached importance to making joints efforts in the bilateral commercial relations which will contribute to the further development and expansion of mutual partnership. They highlighted the unique role of the Armenian-Belarusian inter-governmental commission, the next session of which will take place in Armenia.

The sides also exchanged views on the Armenia-Belarus cooperation within the framework of multi-format and integration structures which aims at enriching the agenda and set of tools of the bilateral relations.

Edited and translated by Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. Belarus has again expressed hope that Armenia will set the date for a meeting with State Secretary of the Belarusian Security Council, that countrys candidate for the CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas soon, Anatoly Glaz, Press Secretary of the Belarusian foreign ministry said, BelTA reported.

Anatoly Glaz said Stanislav Zas already held meetings with the heads of five member states (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan) who supported his candidacy for the CTSO Secretary General.

Recently Armenias foreign ministry commented on the statement of Stanislav Zas, stating that important consultations are being held between the member states, and a solution that will be on a legal base, based on the consensus of all 6 member states and acceptable for all sides, must be found.

On November 2 Armenias Yuri Khachaturov was dismissed from the position of the CSTO Secretary General after Armenia applied to the CSTO member states to launch the process of recalling him as criminal case was filed against Khachaturov over the 2008 March 1 unrest in Yerevan. CSTO Deputy Secretary General Valery Semerikov temporarily assumed the duties of the CSTO Secretary General.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has repeatedly stated that there are more important issues in the CSTO to discuss, than that of the Secretary General. I hope we all understand that the issue of the CSTO Secretary General is not at least the major issue or is not so important. Here much more global and important issues are being discussed. The talk is about our commitments towards the CSTO and vice versa. The position of the Secretary General is secondary in this context, Pashinyan said.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. The ruling My Step faction of the Armenian Parliament will submit proposals to the government which will be discussed by the Cabinet within the frames of the Action Plan, rather than its program. The faction unconditionally supports the governments draft program, faction head Lilit Makunts told reporters, reports Armenpress.

The governments program has been discussed in-detail at various professional domains of the My Step faction. And during this period different sides have been revealed, including what is absent in the program. The My Step faction has seen what it needs to do on this path and how to fill that gap. And we have quite a lot of works to do on this path. The proposals concern what additional action we can do, Makunts said.

She informed that they may submit the written proposals to the government by the end of the day.

Lilit Makunts noted that the governments draft program is quite broad and flexible. It contains common vision and approaches. If we think that there is a need for more actions while forming the road map, we will present a proposal, Makunts said.

The Armenian Parliament continues debating the governments Action Plan.

The debate launched on February 12 during which Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan introduced the Action Plan which was followed by a Q&A 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NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against, Allergan plc. (Allergan or the Company) (NYSE: AGN) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, and indexed under 18-cv-12219, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities, other than Defendants and their affiliates, who purchased or otherwise, acquired Allergan securities between February 24, 2017, and December 19, 2018, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.



If you are a shareholder who purchased Allergan securities between February 24, 2017, and December 19, 2018, both dates inclusive, you have until February 19, 2019, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here to join this class action]

Allergan is a pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures, and commercializes branded pharmaceutical, device, biologic, surgical, and regenerative medicine products worldwide.

Through its Medical Devices business, the Company produces silicone breast implants. Breast implants are medical devices that are used to augment breast size or to reconstruct the breast following mastectomy or to correct a congenital abnormality.

Breast implants consist of a silicone outer shell and a filler (most commonly silicone gel or saline). Breast implants come in a variety of forms, include smooth and textured. In June 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an Update on the Safety of Silicone Gel-Filled Breast Implants, which reported a link between breast implants and Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (ALCL). Following the FDAs Update, information was added to the products labeling, but the added warnings are deeply embedded in a dense list of complications.

The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) textured breast implants manufactured by Allergan were linked to ALCL; (ii) the foregoing link to cancer, when revealed, would foreseeably force Allergan to recall those textured breast implants from the market; and (iii) as a result, the Companys public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On December 18, 2018, Frances National Agency for the Safety of Medicines & Health Products ordered the recall of textured breast implants manufactured by Allergan from the European market, stating that the implants have been linked to a rare form of cancerspecifically, anaplastic large call lymphoma. On December 19, 2018, Allergan stated that it would remove its textured breast implants from the European market.

Following these announcements, Allergans stock price fell $10.20, or nearly 7%, to close at $136.56 on December 19, 2018.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

rswilloughby@pomlaw.com

888-476-6529 ext. 9980YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. Minister of transport, communication and information technologies Hakob Arshakyan received Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopirkin, the ministry told Armenpress.

The minister touched upon the cooperation between the two countries and expressed readiness to further deepen and develop it in the future.

At the meeting the officials discussed the possible cooperation directions in the fields of high technologies, telecommunications, as well as the opportunities to implement joint scientific-technical programs in the engineering technologies sector.

The Russian Ambassador congratulated the minister on assuming office and stated that Armenia at all times had a leading position in the field of high technologies.

The officials also touched upon the cooperation in the transportation sectors, specifically highlighting the role of railway transport.

Minister Arshakyan welcomed the ongoing talks on finding an alternative land route to Upper Lars, stating that the launch of that route is very important for Armenia.

Edited and translated by Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. Authorities have brought new criminal charges against jailed general, former lawmaker Manvel Grigoryan.

New charges include extortion and tax evasion.

He was initially charged only with illegal possession of firearms and grand theft.

The Special Investigative Service says Grigoryan, together with his wife and son, have illegally acquired massive amounts of firearms and explosives and kept it in various locations, including his private home, as well as a territory owned by the defense ministry of Artsakh.

Authorities have found multiple weapons, handguns, rifles, machine guns, around 20,000 rounds of ammunition, explosives, RPG etc.

The abovementioned firearms were discovered and confiscated earlier in June of 2018 when the general was detained.

In addition, authorities suspect Grigoryan to have committed grand theft of more than 100,000,000 drams worth of property when he served as president of the Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers. His wife and son assisted him in committing the crime, authorities said.

Embezzled property includes various supplies for the military provided by the Armenian and Artsakh defense ministries that were meant for soldiers, including during the 2016 April War days.

Authorities said Grigoryan even used the military food supplies to feed wild animals that he kept in his private zoo.

More than 4300 cans of bottled meat, made for the military, worth around 4,5 million drams in total, were found in his compound. Numerous other food supplies for the army were embezzled by Grigoryan. Grigoryan also embezzled trucks that were designed for the military  a total of eight UAZ vehicles.

The Special Investigative Service said Grigoryan has been involved in tax evasion from his early years of being in office (Deputy Minister of Defense, Member of Parliament, Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers President). He is suspected of tax evasion of more than 1,2 billion drams through a company owned by him and his family.

Grigoryan is also suspected in evading taxes and falsifying financial documents of the Yerkrapah Union.

He also misused more than 1,2 billion drams provided by the education ministry and the defense ministry to the union.

He is also suspected in extortion and racketeering committed in the early 2000s in his hometown of Etchmiatsin. During those days, when he was Deputy Defense Minister, he allegedly extorted a local businessman of a business worth nearly 40,000,000 drams by threatening the latter and his family.

Arman Grigoryan, one of the sons of the general, has been declared wanted.

The preliminary investigation is concluded pending forwarding to court, authorities said.

Grigoryan, a former Member of Parliament, was stripped of immunity by parliament in June 2018 and placed under arrest in suspicion of illegal possession of firearms and grand theft.

At the time of his arrest Grigoryan also served as president of the Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers, but was later ousted by the board of the organization amid highly scandalous accusations.

Law enforcement agencies found a private zoo, a car collection, huge amounts of weapons and ammunition, as well as allegedly embezzled military supplies and donations in his compound. Grigoryan, however, denies any wrongdoing.

He was released from custody on a 25,000,000 dram bail on December 21, 2018. His release sparked outrage in his hometown of Etchmiatsin.

Later in January he was placed under arrest again following a court decision.

His wife is also charged.

Edited and translated by Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Agriculture of Armenia has announced the introduction of an agricultural insurance system  the first ever in Armenia.

The ministry released a statement, inviting experts to join the project.

You may become a participant of this revolutionary agricultural program, the ministry said, addressing insurance market experts, agricultural industry experts, damage assessment experts and other relevant professionals.

The ministry said interested candidates are encouraged to apply for certification classes. After an examination, successful participants will be awarded licenses of damage assessment and will be able to cooperate with insurance companies.

Edited and translated by Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. President of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) Artur Javadyan has departed for Bruges to participate in the Challenges of New Consumption Forms and Digital Entrepreneurship international two-day conference, the CBA told Armenpress.

The conference is organized by the National Bank of Belgium.

Digitizations impact on economy and measurement issues, the monetary policy challenges in the new digital environment, as well as the taxation and settlement of digital economy will be discussed during the conference.

The CBA President is scheduled to meet with the heads of a number of financial institutions on the sidelines of the event.

Edited and translated by Aneta HarutyunyanYEREVAN, JANUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. Artsakhs status and security remain priority issues for Armenia, Foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan told reporters today in the Yerablur Military Pantheon, adding that his talks with Azerbaijani foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov have been and will be over this, reports Armenpress.

Commenting on the issue of Artsakhs return to the negotiation table, the Armenian FM said this is a consistent work. It is also a practical applicable issue. If such a thing doesnt happen now, it doesnt mean that we forgot it. This is a very concrete practical issue for us, he said.

As for the statement on preparing to peace, the FM said he is surprised by the mood of defeat among the society.

What is said in our, the other sides and the Co-Chairs statements is a continuous, consistent policy. We have always talked about the fact that an environment leading to peace is necessary, because its impossible to negotiate for peace on the one hand, and hostility or to further increase the escalation tension on the other hand. We have never deviated from the issues we have said. There has never been any deviation in our position when we have highlighted the principles relating to the exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict, the peace talks within the frames of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, the Armenian FM said.

Armenian foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and foreign minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov met on January 16 in Paris under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Igor Popov (Russia), Stefan Visconti (France) and Andrew Shoffer (US). Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk was also present at the meeting. During the meeting the interlocutors referred to a broad scope of issues referring to the peace process, including issues of preparing the peoples to peace, as well as security and regional stability.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan12:56 | Chiclayo (Lambayeque region), Feb. 14.









According to researchers, the burial chamber houses an important person and his companions.





Huaca Rajada-Sipan Museum archaeologist Anaximandro Nunez Mejia affirmed the Inca tomb's dimensions and characteristics are unprecedented in Lambayeque and the country.









"This is the first burial chamber of this nature and scale reported in Lambayeque and Peru. It covers more than 60 square meters," he said.





Inca burial chamber





The enclosed space features large, simply plastered, and high-quality mud walls.









"The enclosure was built with flat rectangular sun-dried bricks with the outsides plastered with clay," Nunez pointed out.





"Its construction started with the excavation of a grave, that was deep and large enough to house the remains of an important person and his companions on their journey to the beyond as well as a vast number of offerings to be placed in niches and around the individuals," he added.









So far, research has identified five adults and four 6-year-old children who were reportedly sacrificed.









(END) SDC/MAO/RMB

Archaeologists at Huaca Rajada-Sipan Museum discovered a monumental Inca burial chamber dating from more than 500 years ago in Cerro Blanco mountain at Mata Indio archaeological site in Lambayeque region.Published: 2/14/2019This way the other person will realize of which you gave importance him and then she listened to his point of view on that subject by which he is angry. 7.She enumerates the listened thing: When a person is angry begins by the part in which according to her she is right. Then you must enumerate the facts to him objectively to be able to reconstruct all the story and of that way to change the center to him of the anger. 8.No he has because to give the reason him, but he does not say either to him that he is mistaken. For other opinions and approaches, find out what Wendy's has to say. When somebody is very angry is very difficult to make change it of opinion.



But you can calm it with phrases like: " in place yours " would have done the same; or " I understand like you sents" , etc. 9.It secures a solution: If you do not know like helping that person, pregntele. If you know how to help she enumerates it the steps that must follow to solve the problem. If it sees that it is not in an suitable position to solve the problem it tries to look for aid. Dgale wants that it to help. Of that way the other person would notice that to you really you matter to him and who is arranged to help it. Dayton kingery has firm opinions on the matter. 10.It eliminates the following phrases: " If you calmed a little " " If you left hablar" me; " You are being irrazonable" " Exactly which is its problem? " These phrases which obtains are to exacerbate the problem and to intensify the wrath of the person who speaks to us.



To all this it is added, the suggestion, that if it observes that the person is uncontrollable the best thing than can do is to go away. The appropriate commentaries can be that it will find to which solves the problem to him and thus to be able to take off itself of the situation of which is not contributor. One remembers in addition, that if it deals with an angry person while he remains calm will be able to handle the situation. Really, it must be known how to manage the emotions, maintain the calm, be balance and to confront the situation with much serenity and optimism to leave ahead. basic *Referencia.: enplenitud.com Original author and source of the article.LOS ANGELES, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Schall Law Firm , a national shareholder rights litigation firm, announces that it is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Molson Coors Brewing Company (Molson Coors or the Company) (NYSE: TAP ) for violations of 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.



The investigation focuses on whether the Company issued false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose information pertinent to investors. Molson Coors disclosed on February 12, 2019, that it would restate its financial statements for FY2016 and FY2017 based on errors discovered in its financial reporting by the audit committee. Based on this news, Molson Coors traded down more than 7% in intraday trading the same day.

If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate .

We also encourage you to contact Brian Schall, or Sherin Mahdavian, of the Schall Law Firm, 1880 Century Park East, Suite 404, Los Angeles, CA 90067, at 424-303-1964, to discuss your rights free of charge. You can also reach us through the firm's website at www.schallfirm.com , or by email at brian@schallfirm.com .

The class in this case has not yet been certified, and until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member.

The Schall Law Firm represents investors around the world and specializes in securities class action lawsuits and shareholder rights litigation.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and rules of ethics.

CONTACT:

The Schall Law Firm

Brian Schall, Esq.

Sherin Mahdavian, Esq.

310-301-3335

Cell: 424-303-1964

info@schallfirm.com

www.schallfirm.com

SOURCE:

The Schall Law FirmLOS ANGELES, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Schall Law Firm , a national shareholder rights litigation firm, announces that it is investigating claims on behalf of investors of CPI Aerostructures, Inc. (CPI Aerostructures or the Company) (NYSE: CVU ) for violations of 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.



The investigation focuses on whether the Company issued false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose information pertinent to investors. CPI Aerostructures announced on February 8, 2019, that its financial statements for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, reported in its Form 10-Q could not be relied upon. The Company blamed an error . . . in the Companys billing process. This error resulted in inaccurate and inflated revenue and income figures for each period. Based on this news, shares of CPI Aerostructures fell by 8.5% on the same day.

If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate .

We also encourage you to contact Brian Schall, or Sherin Mahdavian, of the Schall Law Firm, 1880 Century Park East, Suite 404, Los Angeles, CA 90067, at 424-303-1964, to discuss your rights free of charge. You can also reach us through the firm's website at www.schallfirm.com , or by email at brian@schallfirm.com .

The class in this case has not yet been certified, and until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member.

The Schall Law Firm represents investors around the world and specializes in securities class action lawsuits and shareholder rights litigation.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and rules of ethics.

CONTACT:

The Schall Law Firm

Brian Schall, Esq.

Sherin Mahdavian, Esq.

310-301-3335

Cell: 424-303-1964

info@schallfirm.com

www.schallfirm.com

SOURCE:

The Schall Law FirmSAN MATEO, Calif., Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crop One Holdings (Crop One or the Company), the worlds largest vertical farm operator through its FreshBox Farms brand, today announced the opening of a new regional office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The new office is part of Crop Ones plans to strengthen the Companys global presence and lay the foundations for a long-term expansion strategy.



The opening of Crop Ones Dubai office follows the Companys June 2018 announcement of a $40 million Joint Venture with Emirates Flight Catering to build the worlds largest vertical farming facility in Dubai. The 130,000 square foot-controlled environment facility will produce three US tons (6,000 pounds or 2,700 kg) of high-quality, herbicide- and pesticide-free leafy greens, harvested daily, using 99 percent less water than outdoor fields. Construction begins in the second quarter 2019 and first products will be delivered to Emirates customers, including 105 airlines and 25 airport lounges, in December 2019.

Coinciding with the Dubai office opening, Ming Zhu, Regional Development Manager for Crop One, has relocated from the Companys headquarters in San Mateo, California to Dubai. His presence will boost Crop Ones ability to conduct business in and expand within the MENA and APAC regions. Originally from China, Zhu has a global mindset, the ability to adapt quickly, and the intelligence to lead a diverse team. Zhu spearheads Crop Ones business analytics and market research efforts for the U.S. and the APAC regions as well as supports the Companys multimillion-dollar fundraises at the corporate and project level. Prior to Crop One, Zhu was a member of the Commercial and Labor & Employment Litigation team at Seyfarth Shaw LLP's Boston office, providing legal analysis and supporting attorneys across the country on high-profile litigation cases. He earned his undergraduate degree in Economics and Music from Wesleyan University where he graduated with high honors, and he holds a Master's in Management, focused on Entrepreneurship and Business Administration, from Babson College's F.W. OLIN Graduate School of Business.

Opening an office in Dubai is the next logical step to expanding our international presence and further solidifying our relationship with Emirates, said Sonia Lo, Chief Executive Officer of Crop One Holdings. Ming brings a wealth of global strategy and business development experience to Crop One, and it is great to have him in Dubai full time to manage our day-to-day operations on a real-time basis.

The UAE imports an estimated 85% of its food needs. Less than five percent of the regions land is considered arable, costing the UAE upwards of $3 billion per year. Hyper-productive indoor vertical farms built close to the point of consumption, such as the one being constructed by the Emirates Crop One Joint Venture, are a major step forward for the region to secure its own supply of leafy greens, while significantly reducing the UAEs environmental footprint. The UAE is actively encouraging agricultural innovation as a means to improve the regions self-sufficiency. In July, the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment agreed to establish 12 vertical farms in the city of Dubai, allocating 7,600 square metres of land to the growing industry.

Enhancing Dubais food safety and security efforts have never been more important than now, said Ming Zhu, Regional Development Manager for Crop One. I am very honored to represent Crop One in the region and serve at the forefront of the UAEs efforts to gain agricultural self-sufficiency through the expansion of vertical farming.

Crop One is the only vertical farmer with a proven model at-scale. The Companys brand, FreshBox Farms, has been in commercial production longer than any other vertical farmer in North America. Using advanced, soilless hydroponic growing technology and proprietary plant science, Crop One grows clean, nutritional, tasty and pesticide-free leafy greens in sustainable, modular enclosures. FreshBox Farms leafy greens offer unmatched health benefits and freshness year-round, and, as a result of the Companys superior capital efficiency, Crop One is able to produce the highest quality greens at 25% to 50% of the cost and at 20% to 60% higher yields than any other major vertical farm operator.

Zhu will be speaking at the AFTI Middle East Conference on February 18th in Dubai in a session entitled, The investment wave into vertical farming and aquaculture - the new frontiers of agriculture. For more information, please visit the conferences website .

About Crop One Holdings

San Mateo, California-based Crop One Holdings is a vertical farming holding company for two subsidiaries  FreshBox Farms, Millis, Mass., and a joint venture with Emirates Flight Catering, Dubai South, United Arab Emirates. Crop One has been in commercial production longer than any other vertical farmer in North America. It produces the highest crop yield per square foot, at 25% to 50% the capital cost of any vertical farm, due to its unique combination of proprietary technology platform and best-in-class plant science. For more information on Crop One or vertical farming, please visit the Company website at croponeholdings.com or follow FreshBox Farms on Facebook , LinkedIn and Instagram for the latest company news.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d7f6fcd0-b97d-4af7-95b7-8544d853ef21

Contacts:

Kimberly Esterkin

Email: kesterkin@finprofiles.com

Phone: 310-622-8235Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination in the United States

TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a release issued February 13 by PIMCO Account Management please note the Cash Distribution per Unit rates in the table have changed. The corrected release follows:

PIMCO Canada Corp. (PIMCO Canada) today announced the February 2019 cash distributions for the ETF series (ETF Series) of the PIMCO Canada mutual funds that distribute monthly (Funds). Unitholders of record of the ETF Series, at the close of business on February 21, 2019, will receive per-unit cash distribution payable on February 28, 2019. This press release replaces the press release issued on February 13, 2019.

Details of the per-unit cash distribution amount are as follows:

Fund Name Ticker Cash Distribution per Unit PIMCO Monthly Income Fund (Canada) PMIF $ 0.04840 PIMCO Investment Grade Credit Fund (Canada) IGCF $ 0.04729 PIMCO Monthly Income Fund (Canada) US$ PMIF.U US$ 0.03055

The Manager, PIMCO Canada administers and manages the PIMCO Canada ETFs, and retains Pacific Investment Management Company, LLC, (PIMCO), to provide sub-advisory services to the Funds.

About PIMCO

PIMCO is one of the worlds premier fixed income investment managers. With our launch in 1971 in Newport Beach, California, PIMCO introduced investors to a total return approach to fixed income investing. In the 45+ years since, we have continued to bring innovation and expertise to our partnership with clients seeking the best investment solutions. Today we have offices across the globe and 2,150+ professionals united by a single purpose: creating opportunities for investors in every environment. PIMCO is owned by Allianz S.E., a leading global diversified financial services provider.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those identified by the expressions expect, intend, will and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Funds. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect the Funds, PIMCO Canadas and/or PIMCOs current expectations regarding future results or events. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations, including, but not limited to, market factors. Although the Funds, PIMCO Canada and/or PIMCO believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. The Funds, PIMCO Canada and/or PIMCO undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement or information whether as a result of new information, future events or other factors which affect this information, except as required by law.

Commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with an investment in the ETF Series Units. Please read the prospectus and ETF Facts carefully before investing. The ETF Series Units are not guaranteed, their value may change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.

For a summary of the risks of an investment in the fund, please see the specific risks of mutual funds section of the prospectus. Units of ETF Series trade like stocks, fluctuate in market value and may trade at a discount to their net asset value, which may increase risk of loss. Distributions are not guaranteed and are subject to change and/or elimination.

The products and services provided by PIMCO Canada may only be available in certain provinces or territories of Canada and only through dealers authorized for that purpose. PIMCO Canada has retained PIMCO LLC as sub-adviser. PIMCO Canada will remain responsible for any loss that arises out of the failure of its sub-adviser.

Contact:

Agnes Crane

PIMCO  Media Relations Phone: +212 597.1054

Email: agnes.crane@pimco.comVANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (NYSE: FSM) (TSX: FVI) is pleased to report that the Federal Attorney's Office for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA) has completed its investigation into the overflow of the contingency pond at the dry stack tailings facility at the San Jose Mine on October 8, 2018, which was caused by heavy seasonal rains (refer to Fortuna news release dated October 11, 2018 ). PROFEPAs final report confirms that the overflow did not contaminate soil, and therefore no remediation is required.



The Company awaits a final report from the Mexican National Water Commission (CONAGUA). The Company reiterates its commitment to safeguarding the wellbeing of the environment, local communities and our work force.

About Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.

Fortuna is a growth oriented, precious metals producer focused on mining opportunities in Latin America. Our primary assets are the Caylloma silver Mine in southern Peru, the San Jose silver-gold Mine in Mexico and the Lindero gold Project, currently under construction, in Argentina. The company is selectively pursuing acquisition opportunities throughout the Americas and in select other areas. For more information, please visit our website at www.fortunasilver.com .

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Jorge A. Ganoza

President, CEO and Director

Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.

Trading symbols: NYSE: FSM | TSX: FVI

Investor Relations:

Carlos Baca

T (Peru): +51.1.616.6060, ext. 0

Forward looking Statements

This news release contains forward looking statements which constitute forward looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and forward looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, Forward looking Statements). All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are Forward looking Statements and are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the Forward looking Statements. The Forward looking Statements in this news release may include, without limitation, statements about the Companys plans for its mines and mineral properties; the Companys business strategy, plans and outlook; the merit of the Companys mines and mineral properties; mineral resource and reserve estimates; timelines; the future financial or operating performance of the Company; expenditures; approvals and other matters. Often, but not always, these Forward looking Statements can be identified by the use of words such as estimated, potential, open, future, assumed, projected, used, detailed, has been, gain, planned, reflecting, will, containing, remaining, to be, or statements that events, could or should occur or be achieved and similar expressions, including negative variations.

Forward looking Statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the Forward looking Statements. Such uncertainties and factors include, among others, changes in general economic conditions and financial markets; changes in prices for silver and other metals; technological and operational hazards in Fortunas mining and mine development activities; risks inherent in mineral exploration; uncertainties inherent in the estimation of mineral reserves, mineral resources, and metal recoveries; governmental and other approvals; political unrest or instability in countries where Fortuna is active; labor relations issues; as well as those factors discussed under Risk Factors in the Company's Annual Information Form. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in Forward looking Statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended.

Forward looking Statements contained herein are based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of management, including but not limited to expectations regarding mine production costs; expected trends in mineral prices and currency exchange rates; the accuracy of the Companys current mineral resource and reserve estimates; that the Companys activities will be in accordance with the Companys public statements and stated goals; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; that all required approvals will be obtained; that there will be no significant disruptions affecting operations and such other assumptions as set out herein. Forward looking Statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any Forward looking Statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by law. 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, investors should not place undue reliance on Forward looking Statements.ST. JOHN'S, Newfoundland and Labrador, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Directors of Fortis Inc. ("Fortis" or the "Corporation") (TSX/NYSE:FTS) has declared the following dividends:



$0.3063 per share on the First Preference Shares, Series "F" of the Corporation, payable on June 1, 2019 to the Shareholders of Record at the close of business on May 17, 2019;



$0.2745625 per share on the First Preference Shares, Series "G" of the Corporation, payable on June 1, 2019 to the Shareholders of Record at the close of business on May 17, 2019;



$0.15625 per share on the First Preference Shares, Series "H" of the Corporation, payable on June 1, 2019 to the Shareholders of Record at the close of business on May 17, 2019;



$0.19389315 per share on the First Preference Shares, Series "I" of the Corporation, payable on June 1, 2019 to the Shareholders of Record at the close of business on May 17, 2019;



$0.2969 per share on the First Preference Shares, Series "J" of the Corporation, payable on June 1, 2019 to the Shareholders of Record at the close of business on May 17, 2019;



$0.2453125 per share on the First Preference Shares, Series "K" of the Corporation, payable on June 1, 2019 to the Shareholders of Record at the close of business on May 17, 2019, provided, for greater certainty, that if no such Series "K" shares are outstanding on such date as a result of the exercise by Shareholders of their right to convert Series "K" shares into Cumulative Redeemable Floating Rate First Preference Shares, Series "L" of the Corporation effective March 1, 2019 (the "Conversion Right"), no such dividend shall be payable;



$0.23170137 per share on the First Preference Shares, Series "L" of the Corporation, payable on June 1, 2019 to the Shareholders of Record at the close of business on May 17, 2019, provided, for greater certainty, that if no such Series "L" shares are issued on March 1, 2019 pursuant to the Conversion Right, no such dividend shall be payable;



$0.25625 per share on the First Preference Shares, Series "M" of the Corporation, payable on June 1, 2019 to the Shareholders of Record at the close of business on May 17, 2019; and



$0.45 per share on the Common Shares of the Corporation, payable on June 1, 2019 to the Shareholders of Record at the close of business on May 17, 2019.

The Corporation has designated the common share dividend and preference share dividends as eligible dividends for federal and provincial dividend tax credit purposes.

About Fortis

Fortis is a leader in the North American regulated electric and gas utility industry with 2017 revenue of C$8.3 billion and total assets of approximately C$50 billion as at September 30, 2018. The Corporation's 8,500 employees serve utility customers in five Canadian provinces, nine U.S. states and three Caribbean countries.

Fortis shares are listed on the TSX and NYSE and trade under the symbol FTS. Additional information can be accessed at www.fortisinc.com, www.sedar.com , or www.sec.gov .

For more information please contact : Investor Enquiries

Ms. Stephanie Amaimo

Vice President, Investor Relations

Fortis Inc.

248.946.3572

investorrelations@fortisinc.com Media Enquiries

Ms. Karen McCarthy

Vice President, Communications and Corporate Affairs

Fortis Inc.

709.737.5323

media@fortisinc.com



A .pdf version of this press release is available at : http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/9b6877a5-76aa-4ad0-a6b8-93940fac4851WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nike Corporation and the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington are collaborating to provide support to the Ys federal workers who are members, and their families who were impacted by the government shutdown and furloughs. The Y, which serves more than 22,000 members and children in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan region, will reduce their registration fees for federal employees who are patrons of local Y facilities. Nike presented the Y with a gift of $3,500 to further support the #KeepOnMoving initiative.



Nike agreed to partner and provide support to cover registration fees to help keep federal workers and their children moving during the government furlough. "Nikes support will help us address the emotional health of those most adversely impacted by the furloughs, and encourage federal employees to 'Keep On Moving,' said Angie-Reese Hawkins, President and CEO of YMCA of Metropolitan Washington. The Y and Nike made this decision to not only support members and families economically, but to help with their emotional and physical health.

Nike and the Y are committed to making a positive impact in communities where we live and work. The Y supports youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility. These core pillars are the embodiment of this Nike partnership.

About YMCA of Metropolitan Washington

The YMCA of Metropolitan Washington is a non-profit charity organization that has been serving the communities and families of Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia in the areas of youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, for nearly 165 years. Through opportunities in wellness, aquatics, youth sports, summer camps, childcare and more, the Y engages more than 250,000 individuals and families. Visit www.ymcadc.org for more information.

Contact:

Dana Rucker

Association Director of Communications

dana.rucker@ymcadc.org

(202) 868-3004English French

At the end of December 2018, Credit Agricole Assurances posted revenues of 33.5 billion, up by 10.1% compared to 2017, and keeps on diversifying its business-mix: further development of its property and individuals protection activities while maintaining a sustained growth in unit-linked inflow in savings and retirement.

In savings and retirement business, revenues reached 25.6 billion, up by 10.9% compared to 2017. Unit-linked increased by 12.6% compared with 2017 to reach 30.1% in gross inflows.

At the end of 2017, net inflows reached 7.3 billion, of which 5.0 billion in unit-linked products, which represented an increase of 15.7% compared to 2017, and a 2.2 billion net inflows in euro-denominated contracts.

At the end of December 2018, assets under management amounted to 285.2 billion, up by 2.4% compared to the end of 2017, mainly driven by the increase of 2.9% of the euro-denominated contracts. The proportion of unit-linked products represents 21.0% of the total outstandings, a decrease of 0.4 point year-on-year primarily related to the market environment at Q4 2018 which created a negative market effect of more than 3 billion.

The average rate of return on assets was 2.71%, reflecting the good quality of Credit Agricole Assurances' investment portfolio.

Finally, the policy holder participation reserve reached 9.8 billion at the end of December 2018 (compared with 1 billion in 2012 and 8.9 billion in 2017) representing 4.7% of euro contracts in assets under management.

In property & casualty insurance business, Credit Agricole Assurances reports a sustained growth in its business in France and abroad. Revenues grew by 8.2% compared to the end of 2017, to 4.2 billion, recording a net contribution for the year of nearly 700,000 contracts.

In France, the growth in the equipment rates of retail customers in the Regional Banks (36.2% at the end of 2018, or +6.0 points in five years, of which +1.6 point in 2018) and LCL's networks (23.7% at the end of 2018, or +5.0 points in five years, of which +1.3 point in 2018) illustrates the very good business momentum and the still significant growth potential.

The combined ratio remained well under control at 95.5% in spite of significant climate events during the year.

In death & disability/creditor/group insurance business, revenues amounted to 3.7 billion, up by 7.1% compared to 2017 with a positive contribution of the three business lines. Revenues in Group contracts grew by 35% compared to 2017.

The launch of the app Credit Agricole Ma Sante, an e-health platform which offers ready-to-use health services to employees to assist them in their treatment process, marks a new step in the development of Credit Agricole Assurances in the group insurance activity.

At the end of December 2018, Credit Agricole Assurances' net income group share reached

1,469 million euros after restatement of the monetary compensation paid to Credit Agricole S.A., up by 8.6% compared to the end of 2017.

At the end of 2018, Credit Agricole Assurances reported a Solvency 2 prudential ratio at 188%.

The Standard & Poor's rating of the main operational entities of Credit Agricole Assurances has been raised by one notch to A / stable outlook (last rating decision on October 19th 2018).

*******

International

Credit Agricole Assurances reaffirms its strategy of developing partnerships with external banking groups, which enable to strengthen its presence abroad:

In July 2018, Credit Agricole Assurances announced a partnership with the Italian bank Credito Valtellinese in the life-insurance sector. The partnership is effective since 20 th December 2018, and was marked by the launch of a first multi-support life-insurance policy from 28 th January 2019.



In October 2018, Credit Agricole Assurance and Seguradores Unidas announced an agreement, effective since 21st December 2018, for the purchase of a stake of 25% within GNB Seguros, which increases Credit Agricole Assurances' share within GNB Seguros from 50% to 75%. The remaining share of 25% is still kept by Portuguese banking group Novo Banco.

In local GAAP

Savings, retirement and death & disability

Ratio of (claims + operating expenses + commissions) to premium income, net of reinsurance, Pacifica scope

The contribution to the net income group share of Credit Agricole S.A. is 1,288 million euros. The difference with Credit Agricole Assurances' net income group share is mainly due to an analytical adjustment affecting the cost of the Switch guarantee in the Insurance business line (annual net impact of approximately 200 million).

Credit Agricole Assurances paid a monetary compensation to Credit Agricole S.A of 174 million before taxes (138 million after taxes) due to an early repayment of a subordinated perpetual duration note of 320 million and two redeemable subordinated notes of 680 million. This early repayment followed a new debt issue on the market of subordinated perpetual notes for 1.0 billion in January 2018. Non-restated, the net income group share reached 1,331 million.

About Credit Agricole Assurances

Credit Agricole Assurances, France's largest insurance group, unites together Credit Agricole's insurance subsidiaries. The Group offers a range of savings, retirement, health, personal protection and property insurance products and services. They are distributed by the Credit Agricole's banks in France and in nine other countries around the world by financial advisers and multi-line insurance agents. The Credit Agricole Assurances companies serve individuals, professionals, farmers and businesses. Credit Agricole Assurances has 4,600 employees. Its premium income at the end of 2018 amounted to 33.5 billion (IFRS).

www.ca-assurances.com

Investor Relations contacts

Marie-Isabelle Marcellesi + 33 (0)1 57 72 12 84

Anne-Lise Jullin + 33 (0)1 43 23 83 67

relations.investisseurs@ca-assurances.fr

Press contacts

Francoise Bololanik + 33 (0)1 57 72 46 83 / 06 25 13 73 98

Geraldine Duprey + 33 (0)1 57 72 58 80 / 07 71 44 35 26

service.presse@ca-assurances.fr





ABC/Image Group LATwenty One Pilots and Kings of Leon will headline this year's edition of Lollapalooza Berlin, held September 7 and 8.

Other artists heading to Germany include Hozier, Billie Eilish and Courtney Barnett. For the full lineup and ticket info, visit LollapaloozaDE.com.

The U.S. edition of Lollapalooza, held annually in Chicago's Grant Park, takes place August 1-4. The lineup has yet to be announced.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Dallas, TX, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Armor  , a leading cloud security solutions provider, announced today that SaRA Health, a cutting-edge healthcare technology startup company, has chosen Armors managed security-as-a-service (SECaaS) platform, Armor Anywhere, to protect its patients data stored in the AWS cloud.

SaRA Healths Simplifying Recovery Assistant (SaRA) application provides physical and occupational therapy patients with digitized home exercise plans, personalized notifications and reminders from their healthcare provider. The application also gives the patients therapist and assisting clinicians a way to monitor the patients progress remotely and adjust recovery plans from their laptop or mobile device. The application launched in January of this year, and 14 physical and occupational therapists and their patients are already utilizing the digital tool.

More than half of physical therapy patients do not follow through on their treatment programs. Our companys overall goal is to reduce patient recovery times and provide personalized patient care in a safe and secure manner, said SaRA Health CEO Steven Coen.

Many emerging companies establish themselves without thinking about security, and it becomes a significant issue that can stall growth, continued Coen. We knew that we wanted to build a secure business from the outset, so our patients data is protected regardless of what size we are.

SaRA Healths leadership made the decision to host their IT infrastructure in the AWS cloud because of AWS innovative approach to prioritizing HIPAA compliance for the tools they release. Our biggest concern was ultimately being responsible for protecting our application and patients Personally Identifiable Information (PII) against any cyber threats and what we didnt know, Coen said. For a startup, our existence depends on it.

SaRA Health inevitably selected the Armor Anywhere solution. The Armor Anywhere platform strengthens and unifies security for public, on-premise, private, and hybrid cloud environments. With Armor Anywhere, organizations can meet a significant number of HIPAA/HITECH requirements, from log management to malware protection to file integrity monitoring.

When we looked at the market, we saw there were a lot of different tools out there, but what we really liked about Armor was the transparency and simplicity of deploying their security agents in our cloud, Coen said, noting that Armor increased their speed to market by 15-20%. The development team could then focus on getting the application ready to launch instead of having to develop security solutions to protect PII.

Armor gives us a lot of visibility into our infrastructure and our technology via their dashboard, the Armor Management Portal (AMP). It provides us with all the tactical information to fix an issue before it becomes a problem, and it gives us a ranking for each situation in a digestible manner, continued Coen. It is very powerful.

SaRA Health is a very progressive company, not only in regard to the healthcare technology they are developing but in their overall approach to securing their patients data, their applications and their overall IT environment, said Mark Woodward, Armor CEO. SaRA Health has gone beyond just meeting the mandated HIPAA/HITECH compliance regulations, they are employing comprehensive security solutions to ensure that their patient data, healthcare applications and IT environment are protected at every stage of their business, which shows great foresight and security maturity. Armor is honored to be SaRA Healths cybersecurity partner.

Read more about how Armor and SaRA Health are working together here.

About Armor

Armor is a cloud security company that takes the complexity out of protecting your data, whether it resides in a private, public, or hybrid cloudor in an on-premise IT environment. We provide managed security solutions that give you a clear picture of threats facing your organization. This allows us to provide you with the people and security resources to stop attacks before they happen and react quickly and effectively when they do, keeping your data safe and compliant. Wherever you are on your cloud journey, Armor can help. We make cybersecurity simple. To learn more, www.armor.com follow @armor on Twitter.

About SaRA Health

SaRA, your Simplifying Recovery Assistant, is the most effective platform for reducing recovery times by empowering patients and providers through a scalable approach to personalized care. Founded by a team of patients and researchers currently based in Kansas City, the SaRA platform is HIPAA compliant and removes the biggest barriers to home recovery exercise compliance resulting in proven shortened recovery times. Our employer clients benefit through reduced cost for workers compensation by providing better care for their employees. Contact info@sara.health or visit www.sarahealth.io to learn more.

AttachmentBOSTON, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pixability, the leading provider of software and insights to optimize video advertising on YouTube as well as Facebook, Instagram, and major Connected TV platforms like Amazon, today announced several new additions to its advisory board. The advisory board includes some of the most respected leaders in the industry, representing agency holding companies, independent agencies and brands  mirroring the customer segments that leverage Pixabilitys software and insights today. The additions to the board come after a year of record revenue growth, new customer expansion, several industry awards and product innovation recognition.



We are very fortunate and excited to add new leaders from the worlds largest advertising agencies, top brands, and rapidly growing independent agencies to help us continue to enhance the most innovative video ad platform in the industry, said David George, Pixability CEO. Our advisory board will help ensure were laser-focused on the opportunities that drive the most value for our customers around the globe.

Video is emerging as the primary marketing vehicle for brands to connect with potential customers, and YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Connected TV platforms offer the largest opportunities across all screens. The ability to plan, optimize, and report across these platforms is proving invaluable to brands that invest in video and want to maximize their results.

Pixability is focused on the video platforms that matter most to brand marketers--YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and, increasingly, Amazon and other CTV platforms, commented Charisse Ford, CMO, Pandora Jewelry Americas and new Advisory Board member. Pixabilitys unique value proposition enables brands to drive better efficiencies across all of these platforms, something that is of critical importance to all marketers today.

Pixability has become known for driving great performance for big brands on YouTube and now that theyve extended their technology and expertise across the other mega video platforms, the growth potential is huge, said ad industry veteran and new Advisory Board member, Jeremy Cornfeldt, CEO, U.S. of iProspect. I look forward to working with the rest of the Advisory Board to support Pixability as they scale their business and assert their position as one of the most innovative and exciting video ad technology companies in the industry.

New Pixability Advisory Board Members include:



Jeremy Cornfeldt, CEO, U.S. of iProspect

As CEO of iProspect, US, Jeremy leads the agencys strategy, product offerings and client services teams. For more than two decades, Jeremy has worked in the advertising and marketing industry and has held key roles within the Dentsu Aegis Network, including overseeing the Global Media Partnerships team and working hand-in-hand with Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Google. Jeremy launched AMNET, the Dentsu Aegis Network media trading desk in the US market, which established customized automated trade offerings for Fortune 500 clients.

Charisse Ford, CMO, Pandora Jewelry Americas

Charisse Ford is the Chief Marketing Officer for PANDORA Americas. In this role, Charisse utilizes her extensive knowledge in branding, category management, and digital strategy to lead all aspects of consumer, retail, ecommerce and digital brand marketing, including oversight of local execution across the Region. Prior to joining PANDORA Americas, Charisse served as a Senior Vice President for Estee Lauder Companies, leading the Estee Lauder brand, the flagship of the ELC portfolio. During Charisses tenure, the Estee Lauder brand added 20 percent in top line sales and doubled their profit contribution. Charisse also worked for Avon Products, Inc., where she led the global strategic positioning and new product pipeline for the ANEW Skincare brand.

Jon Morris, CEO and Founder, Rise Interactive

Jon Morris is the founder and CEO of Rise Interactive. Under Morris leadership, Rise has received recognition for excellence in client service, innovative marketing campaigns, and commitment to culture, including acknowledgment from Inc. 500|5000 Fastest Growing Companies (nine-time winner), Ad Age (Best Places to Work in Advertising), Fortune Magazine, and more. Morris has been personally recognized as a leader in technology and innovation on the Techweek100 list and the Crains Chicago Tech 50 list.

About Pixability

Pixability is a video advertising software company that uses data science to optimize large, complex campaigns across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Connected TV. The companys industry-leading optimization and insights solutions are independently verified by the YouTube Measurement Program, the Facebook Marketing Partner Program, Oracles Data Clouds Moat Measurement, and other third parties. Pixabilitys suite of solutions are used by the top media agencies and brands including Dentsu-Aegis, Havas, Interpublic Group, Omnicom, Publicis, and WPP, as well as Swatch, Ford, KIND, LOreal, and Puma. For more information about Pixabilitys video advertising platform, please visit www.pixability.com .

Contact Information:

Alexandra Levy

Silicon Alley Media for Pixability

alex@siliconalley-media.com

(650) 996-5758Erie, Pa., Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The F.W. Hirt-Erie Insurance Risk Management Program at Mercyhurst University today announced appointments to its newly formed Risk Management Advisory Board.



The undergraduate major in Risk Management and online masters degree in Cyber Risk Management represent two new in-demand academic programs at Mercyhurst University, each with a robust curriculum designed to develop the talent required by the insurance and risk management industries.



The advisory board will assist faculty and students as a sounding board for programming and long-term planning, ensure relevance in serving the insurance and risk management industry, and engage with students to encourage their interest in insurance as a profession, said Gary Sullivan, who heads the risk management initiative at Mercyhurst.



He named the following inaugural advisory board members:

Robert Bowers, Chief Claims Officer, Westfield Insurance, Westfield, Ohio

Fred Fiedler, Operating Company President, USI, Erie, (a Mercyhurst University alumnus)

Christina Multari, Vice President Underwriting & Marketing, Synergy Comp, Sharon

Doug Smith, Executive Vice President, Sales and Products, Erie Insurance, Erie

Marco Cercone, Partner, Rupp Baase Pfalzgraf & Cunningham LLC, Attorneys, Buffalo, New York

Marshall Wunderlich, Area President, Western Pennsylvania, Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services, Inc.

Its exciting to support a unique cyber program in risk management, said Rob Bowers, Chief Claims Officer at Westfield Insurance. The demand for these skills is growing exponentially and Westfield is committed to supporting the next generation of insurance professionals meeting this challenge.

Sullivan said that connecting seasoned executives with faculty and students will provide guidance, opportunities to share needs and experiences, and help promote insurance as a career.

The advisory board will hold its first meeting on Thursday, Feb. 21. For more information, please visit https://www.mercyhurst.edu/academics/risk-management.

***

About Mercyhurst University

Mercyhurst University, founded in 1926 by the Sisters of Mercy, is a fully accredited, four-year, Catholic comprehensive institution for men and women in Erie, Pennsylvania. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate majors, 10 graduate programs, and a variety of post-baccalaureate and advanced certificates. In addition, Mercyhurst provides certificate and associate degree offerings at branch campuses in North East, Corry and the Booker T. Washington Center. It also maintains an academic center in Dungarvan, Ireland. Learn more at www.mercyhurst.eduDublin, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Prader-Willi Syndrome - Market Insights, Epidemiology and Market Forecast-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global market of Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) was estimated to be USD 2110.17 million in 2018



Prader-Willi Syndrome - Market Insights, Epidemiology and Market Forecast-2028' report delivers an in-depth understanding of the disease, historical & forecasted epidemiology as well as the market trends of Prader-Willi Syndrome in the United States, EU5 (Germany, Spain, Italy, France and United Kingdom), and Japan.



The Report provides the current treatment practices, emerging drugs, market share of the individual therapies, current and forecasted market size of Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) from 2017 to 2028 segmented by seven major markets. The Report also covers current treatment practice/algorithm, market drivers, market barriers and unmet medical needs to curate best of the opportunities and assess underlying potential of the market.



Prader-Willi Syndrome Epidemiology



According to this research, the prevalent population of Prader-Willi Syndrome was estimated to be 47,560 [7MM] in 2018. United States accounts for the highest Prader-Willi cases, followed by EU5 (Germany, France, Italy, Spain & UK) and Japan. Among the EU5 countries Germany had the highest prevalent patient population of Prader-Willi Syndrome, followed by Italy.



Prader-Willi Syndrome Drug Chapters



At present, pharmacological management of Prader-Willi Syndrome focuses largely on the use of human growth hormone (HGH) supplementation which is approved in the US. Growth hormone supplementation constitutes the primary component of the entire therapeutic market composition due to the nearly ubiquitous deficiency of growth hormone (GH) in PWS patients. Some of the majorly approved GH therapies include Pfizer's Genotropin (somatropin) along with other major brands such as Norditropin (Novo Nordisk) and a few others in the US. Central nervous system and cardiovascular agents are used with increasing frequency in older PWS patients. Another approved drug is Omnitrope (somatropin [rDNA origin] injection) from Sandoz. Detailed chapters for all of these drug therapies have been covered in the report.



Prader-Willi Syndrome Market Outlook



Amongst the therapeutic class, Hormone Therapies hold the highest patient share [%] amongst the other therapeutic options available for the treatment of PWS. The increasing awareness of the disease assisted by organizational support along with the promising pipeline therapies is expected to fuel the market size during the forecasted period of 2019-2028.



Prader-Willi Syndrome Drugs Uptake



This section focusses on the rate of uptake of the potential drugs recently launched in the market or will get launched in the market during the study period from 2017-2028. The analysis covers market uptake by drugs; patient uptake by therapies and sales of each drug.



This helps in understanding the drugs with the most rapid uptake, reasons behind the maximal use of new drugs and allows the comparison of the drugs on the basis of market share and size which again will be useful in investigating factors important in market uptake and in making financial and regulatory decisions.



Upcoming therapies, such as DCCR (Soleno Therapeutics), LV-101 (Levo Therapeutics) and Lariglutide (Novo Nordisk), have the potential to create a positive shift in the PWS market size during the study period (2017-2028). Expected launch of potential therapies will lead to an increase in the market size of Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) in the coming years. DCCR (Soleno Therapeutics) is the going to be the first FDA approved therapy that is expected to be launched in all of the 7 Major Markets, during the forecast period [2018-2028].



Key Topics Covered:



1 Key Insights



2 Prader-Willi Syndrome Market Overview at a Glance

2.1 Market Share (%) Distribution of Prader-Willi Syndrome in 2017

2.2 Market Share (%) Distribution of Prader-Willi Syndrome in 2028



3 Prader-Willi syndrome: Disease Background and Overview

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Cause

3.3 Symptoms

3.4 Complications

3.5 Stages of Prader-Willi Syndrome

3.6 Molecular Genetic Pathogenesis

3.7 Diagnosis



4 Epidemiology and Patient Population

4.1 Key Findings

4.2 Population and Forecast Parameters

4.3 Total Prevalence of Prader-Willi Syndrome in 7MM



5 Country Wise-Epidemiology of Prader-Willi Syndrome



6 United States

6.1 Assumptions and Rationale

6.2 Prevalent Population of Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) in the United States

6.3 Diagnosed cases of PWS in the US

6.4 PWS cases by Mutation Types in the US

6.5 PWS associated Clinical Manifestations



7 EU-5

7.1 Assumptions and Rationale



8 Germany

8.1 Prevalent Population of Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) in Germany

8.2 Diagnosed cases of PWS in Germany

8.3 PWS cases by Mutation Types in Germany

8.4 PWS associated Clinical Manifestations



9 France



10 Italy



11 Spain



12 United Kingdom



13 Japan



14 Treatment

14.1.1 Consensus Guidelines for Recombinant Human Growth Hormone Therapy in Prader-Willi Syndrome



15 Unmet Needs



16 Marketed Drugs

16.1 GENOTROPIN: Pfizer

16.2 Other Hormonal Therapies

16.2.1 OMNITROPE: Sandoz Inc

16.3 Norditropin: Novo Nordisk



17 Emerging Drugs Analysis



18 Emerging Therapies

18.1 Diazoxide Choline Controlled-Release: Soleno Therapeutics

18.2 LV-101: Levo Therapeutics

18.3 Liraglutide: Novo Nordisk

18.3 Livoletide: Millendo Therapeutics



19 Prader-Willi Syndrome: 7 Major Market Analysis

19.1 Key Findings

19.2 Total Market Size of Prader-Willi Syndrome in 7MM

19.3 7 MM Size of Prader-Willi Syndrome by Therapies



20 Market Outlook by Country

20.1 The United States: Market Outlook

20.2 United States Market Size

20.3 EU-5 Countries: Market Outlook

20.4 Germany Market Size

20.5 France Market Size

20.6 Italy Market Size

20.7 Spain Market Size

20.8 The United Kingdom Market Size

20.9 Japan: Market Outlook



21 Market Drivers



22 Market Barriers



23 Appendix



Companies Mentioned



Pfizer

Sandoz Inc

Novo Nordisk

Soleno Therapeutics

Levo Therapeutics

Millendo Therapeutics

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2gxzxm/global?w=12

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.RICHMOND HILL, Ontario, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BisRing Inc.  The Ultimate Real Estate Network has opened its doors to clients across Ontario Canada. BisRing is a revolutionary network of real estate resources in a single online platform.



BisRing takes the real estate network a step further by developing a powerful single online platform where users can effortlessly find and get into contact with the resources they need to fulfil any of their real estate related tasks. BisRing is ideal for real estate related businesses to market themselves in a platform dedicated for real estate where they could brand their business using 1 GB media storage and network with other businesses. A few of the highlighted features of this online platform include: Recommended Businesses, My Virtual Team, Followers and Trusted reviews.

The customers will be pleased to learn that this all-in-one single platform focuses on the three major sectors in Real Estate: Services, Sale and Rent which in their turn have various sub categories that fall under each one and market to a large variety of businesses. From renting and buying to selling and leasing users can find any combination of resources or even become a resource. Whether you are offering or buying services in the real estate market, BisRings network will allow you to accomplish your tasks more efficiently.

BisRing has definitely set itself apart from its competitors by creating an online platform that acts as a single and reliable stop for any real estate needs and services.

As a property owner and long time investor in the real estate market I encountered difficulties finding reputable trades, professionals and materials for my real estate projects in multiple cities, advises Akilan Theva, the Founder and CEO of BisRing. My own frustration prompted me to the need to create a single online platform dedicated for real estate where anyone could get into contact with the resources they needed to easily accomplish their real estate related tasks. As an Engineer by nature, I find ways to solve problems and by introducing BisRing I am solving the everyday frustration of many business owners and real estate owners. After many months of hard work and dedication I am proud to say that BisRing Inc. was born and is now available across Ontario, Canada and we will be moving into other provinces very soon.

BisRing announced a time-sensitive promotion, by offering clients to become ProBisRingers at absolutely no cost for a period of 5 months. This is a generous offering by BisRing that will allow new Business users to familiarize themselves with this new ground-breaking real estate platform while being able to market their business, generate leads and a lot more. There are no hidden fees or contract, and if a business user chooses to unsubscribe from the services, they could do it any time as they wish.

Its also great to see the company has setup a YouTube channel with short videos that demonstrate how BisRing can help with any of your real estate needs.

For more details on BisRing and how to register to become a ProBisRinger for free, please visit

https://www.bisring.com/register

Follow BisRing on Twitter: @BisRingInc

Become a fan of BisRing on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BisRingCo/

Follow BisRing on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bisring/

Connect with BisRing on Instagram: #bisring

Contact an Account Specialist at info@bisring.com or 647-783-2571

About BisRing Inc.

BisRing is a revolutionary network of real estate resources in a single online platform. This all in one single platform focuses on the three major sectors: Services, Sale and Rent. We offer unique features for a wide range of businesses such as the option to create virtual teams (My Virtual Team), recommend other businesses, and instantly generate leads to your own businesses, all with an affordable monthly subscription. It is free to become a BisRinger and enjoy the benefit of using our unique My Virtual Team feature. While ProBisRingers can market their businesses and experience all the perks that a BisRinger has and more! Becoming a ProBisRinger is now available for FREE for five months. In essence, this platform acts as a gateway to the global real estate market.

PR Contact

Zara Jhangiryan

email: zjhangiryan@bisring.com

Phone: +1 647-783-2571

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e6e75c41-b651-4c31-8c0c-9ff933e691a4English French

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Government of Canada, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) have signed an agreement to upgrade key infrastructure to increase capacity on a critical segment of trade infrastructure in the Greater Vancouver area.



The project is part of a long-term strategy to increase capacity and grade-separate the Burrard Inlet rail corridor that services the south shore port area in Vancouver. It consists of double-tracking a four-kilometre section of rail that links expanding import and export terminals on the south shore of the Burrard Inlet to the national rail network.

By building a second track, CN will create more rail capacity, allow for a better flow of rail traffic in and out of the port, and improve efficiencies in the supply chain.

We are pleased to participate in this historic infrastructure project. The Port of Vancouver is the busiest global trade export gateway of Canada and we must make the most of the existing limited assets, said JJ Ruest, President and Chief Executive Officer at CN. Increasing run-through rail capacity with strategic investments will benefit all aspects of the supply chain. With todays announcement, Canada is signalling to our international trade partners that we take trade and its importance to the Canadian economy very seriously.

This project is part of a large group of projects identified through the Greater Vancouver Gateway 2030 plan to meet Canadian demand for import goods from Asia and grow Canadian exports, said Robin Silvester, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. By contributing to new road and rail infrastructure beyond the port, we can help ease the impacts of growing trade on local communities while fulfilling our federal mandate to facilitate Canadas trade objectives.

CN is currently in discussions with partners and stakeholders as to the next steps and the timeline to expedite the construction and completion of the project.

CN is a true backbone of the economy with more than C$250 billion worth of goods transported annually for a wide range of business sectors, ranging from resource products to manufactured products to consumer goods, across a rail network of approximately 20,000 route-miles spanning Canada and mid-America. CN  Canadian National Railway Company, along with its operating railway subsidiaries  serves the cities and ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C., Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the metropolitan areas of Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary, Chicago, Memphis, Detroit,

Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America. For more information about CN, visit the Companys website at www.cn.ca .Herndon, VA, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Deltek, the leading global provider of software and solutions for project-based businesses, has entered into a strategic alliance with Grant Thornton LLP, a leading professional services firm. The alliance will help both public and private companies of all sizes, including government contractors, to comply with accounting rules, regulations and standards using both technology and expertise.



Grant Thornton, itself a government contractor, will complement and extend Delteks Global Consulting capabilities  allowing the two companies to jointly deploy purpose-built, project-centric systems, including Deltek Enterprise Resource Planning, Project & Portfolio Management, and Talent Management solutions.



More specifically, Grant Thornton will provide Delteks customers with specialized know-how in systems integration, change management, finance optimization, digital transformation, compliance and business consulting. A broad range of Deltek clients that service the government stand to benefit from Grant Thorntons specialization in government contract compliance  including professional-services companies, manufacturers, high-tech services companies and engineering firms.



Government contractors can now tap into an integrated team that utilizes Delteks solutions and applies Grant Thorntons acumen in transformation, change management and compliance, said Greg Wallig, Grant Thorntons Metro DC-Arlington Office Managing Principal. Its important to have the best solutions and system integrators teamed together to provide clients with the highest-value transformation services.



Our alliance partners are a critical part of our ecosystem as a global business and we welcome Grant Thornton to that distinguished list, added Matt Strazza, Senior Vice President of Global Sales at Deltek. Grant Thornton understands the unique challenges that government contractors and project-based businesses face when looking to transform their business. As businesses change and grow, they need to adjust their systems and transform to maximize effectiveness. Together, Deltek and Grant Thornton will offer organizations world-class solutions and best practices to solve those issues and maximize the value of their Deltek investments.



To learn more about Delteks Global Consulting services, visit www.deltek.com/globalconsulting. To learn more about Grant Thorntons Business Consulting offerings, visit www.grantthornton.com/businessconsulting.



About Grant Thornton LLP

Founded in Chicago in 1924, Grant Thornton LLP (Grant Thornton) is the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd, one of the worlds leading organizations of independent audit, tax and advisory firms. Grant Thornton, which has revenues in excess of $1.8 billion and operates 58 offices, works with a broad range of dynamic publicly and privately held companies, government agencies, financial institutions, and civic and religious organizations.



Grant Thornton refers to Grant Thornton LLP, the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd (GTIL). GTIL and the member firms are not a worldwide partnership. Services are delivered by the member firms. GTIL and its member firms are not agents of, and do not obligate, one another and are not liable for one anothers acts or omissions. Please see grantthornton.com for further details.



About Deltek

Better software means better projects. Deltek is the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for project-based businesses. More than 23,000 organizations and millions of users in over 80 countries around the world rely on Deltek for superior levels of project intelligence, management and collaboration. Our industry-focused expertise powers project success by helping firms achieve performance that maximizes productivity and revenue. www.deltek.com

###

AttachmentVANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canada Rare Earth Corp. (Canada Rare Earth or the Company) (TSX.V: LL) is pleased to announce the three-month extension of the repayment date for $500,000 of the loan provided by Talaxis Limited to April 30, 2019.



The extension preserves working capital for the Company (currently over $1,000,000) and continues the right for Talaxis Limited to convert the $500,000 principal at 7.5 cents per unit (a unit is comprised of one share and one-half warrant).

In January 2018, Canada Rare Earth entered into a $1.5 million funding arrangement with its strategic and financing partner, Talaxis Limited. In August 2018, $300,000 was converted into shares and warrants leaving $500,000 convertible or repayable by January 31, 2019 and $700,000 convertible or repayable by January 31, 2020. All other terms of the funding arrangement continue as set out in our news release of January 30, 2018.

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:

Tracy A. Moore



Chief Executive Officer

tmoore@canadarareearth.com Peter Shearing



Chief Operating Officer

pshearing@canadarareearth.com Telephone: (604) 638-8886

Website: www.canadarareearth.com



VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sunniva Inc. (Sunniva, the Company, we, our or us) (CSE:SNN) (OTCQB:SNNVF), a North American provider of cannabis products and services, is pleased to announce that they have secured an additional USD $4.0 million in purchase orders from select retail dispensaries in southern California for Sunniva branded cannabis products. This increases the total sales orders received to date to USD $11.5 million of products to be sold in the first four months of 2019. Sunniva anticipates continued growth in sales volumes in the second quarter, increasing monthly throughout the year, secured by similar types of retail purchase contracts.

In 2019, Sunniva estimates revenue of USD $55-$60 million from sales of Sunniva branded products in California manufactured in their licensed extraction facility and from purchasing compliant third-party flower from strategic relationships that is packaged, branded, distributed and sold. Sunniva estimates combined gross margin of 40% - 50% from these product lines during the ramp up stage of operations in California. These revenues do not include Full Scale Distributors, LLC, and the large-scale high technology greenhouse in California or Natural Health Services Ltd.s clinics in Canada.

Sunniva commenced sales of flower products in January 2019 and will be unveiling three new Sunniva brands this quarter that will include numerous product categories including flower, pre-rolls, ultra-pure distillates, vape cartridges and premium concentrates. Sunniva will continue to purchase the necessary biomass inputs (flower and trim) for its brands from strategic relationships in California, leveraging their operational extraction facility and in-house distribution.

Sunniva branded product lines within its house of brands will include:

Ultra-pure distillate products : 1.0 ml, 0.5 ml and 0.33 ml filled vape cartridges, live resin vape cartridges and disposable pens

: 1.0 ml, 0.5 ml and 0.33 ml filled vape cartridges, live resin vape cartridges and disposable pens Premium concentrates : live resin extracts, shatters and waxes

: live resin extracts, shatters and waxes Premium Flower: various size packaging and pre-rolls

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

About Sunniva Inc.

Sunniva, through its subsidiaries, is a vertically integrated cannabis company operating in the worlds two largest cannabis markets  California and Canada. Our ability to leverage our large-scale, purpose-built cGMP designed greenhouses, offering better quality assurance with cannabis products free from pesticides, uniquely positions Sunniva as a leading supplier of safe, high quality products at scale. Through our strategically positioned cultivation and extraction facilities in California, we are launching Sunniva branded products in various product categories including flower, pre-rolls, vape cartridges and premium concentrates. Our compliant distribution in California will ensure the placement of Sunniva branded products at licenced dispensaries throughout the state. We continue to pursue other upstream vertical opportunities. Sunnivas management and board of directors have a proven track record for creating significant shareholder value both in the healthcare and biotech industries.

This news release includes statements containing certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law ("forward-looking statements"), including, but not limited to, statements relating to the Companys anticipated acceleration of growth in product sales in California, Sunnivas revenue and net profit margin projections, continued purchase of necessary biomass inputs from strategic relationships in California, the launch of Sunnivas house of brands, the completion of the Companys cannabis purchase contracts and the preparation for large-scale production at the Companys greenhouse in Cathedral City, California. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release. Estimated 2019 revenue and gross margin is based on current wholesale market price estimates for vape cartridges, disposable pens, concentrates and flower. Management believes that disclosing its current estimates and expectations regarding 2019 revenue and gross margin will better allow investors to understand the current expected growth and development of Sunnivas business and that such information is particularly useful in the current year given that Sunniva has not previously reported significant revenues. Investors are cautioned that these estimates and expectations may not be appropriate, and should not be used, for other purposes. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Company is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.

Company Contacts:

Sunniva Inc.

Dr. Anthony Holler

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Phone: (866) 786-6482Dublin, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Delivery Robots Market by Load Carrying Capacity, Component, Number of Wheels, End-User Industry, and Geography - Global Forecast 2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The delivery robots market is expected to grow from USD 11.9 billion in 2018 to USD 34.0 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 19.15% during the forecast period.



There are numerous giant online retailers in the global market, along with the emerging ones. Even some giant offline retailers are going online because people all over the world have started preferring online shopping owing to the huge discount and smooth delivery at their doorstep. The introduction of autonomous delivery robots in e-commerce will not only give customers greater convenience at a lower cost but also significantly alter the competitive landscape. Hence, the reduction in costs of last-mile deliveries is one of the key factors driving the market growth. However, stringent regulations pertaining to operations of delivery robots act as a key restraining factor for the market growth.



The delivery robots market for software to grow at a higher CAGR during forecast period



Owing to technological advancements, robot OEMs have started integrating data analytics platforms, such as big data analysis and predictive analysis, into the robotic system. With the help of the software, a delivery robot can perform various tasks, such as route mapping and navigation, dynamic path planning, and obstacle identification. The fast growth of the market for software can also be attributed to the increased demand for delivery robots with auto navigation and autonomous decision-making capabilities.



The market for 6-wheeled delivery robots to grow at a high CAGR from 2018 to 2024



6-wheeled delivery robots can run on different types of terrain in a balanced way. In APAC, countries such as India and China will opt for 6-wheeled delivery robots, which would be widely used for the delivery of food items and beverages. Most of the 6-wheeled delivery robot manufacturers offer a delivery robot with all-wheel drive capability. This feature allows the robot to handle the toughest and steepest hill with an ability to drive 20 miles in a single charge, and these robots are costlier than 4-wheeled delivery robots, which is the key factor fueling the growth of the market for 6-wheeled delivery robots.



North America to dominate the delivery robots market in 2018



North America is expected to hold the largest share of the delivery robots market in 2018. The dominance of North America can be attributed to the increasing demand for delivery robots in the retail industry and growing labor charges for last-mile deliveries. Apart from the retail industry, the delivery robots have also been adopted for delivering food items and beverages to the university and corporate campuses specifically in the US, which also is one of the key driving factors for the delivery robots market in North America. Further, restrictions on using drones for delivery applications create a growth opportunity for the delivery robots market in the region.



Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights

4.1 Attractive Growth Opportunities in Delivery Robots Market

4.2 Delivery Robots Market, By Load Carrying Capacity

4.3 Delivery Robots Market Share, By Component

4.4 Delivery Robots Market Share in APAC, By End-User Industry vs By Country

4.5 Delivery Robots Market, By End-User Industry

4.6 Delivery Robots Market, By Country



5 Market Overview

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Market Dynamics

5.2.1 Drivers

5.2.1.1 Reduction in Delivery Costs in Last-Mile Deliveries

5.2.1.2 Increase in Venture Funding

5.2.2 Restraints

5.2.2.1 Stringent Regulations Pertaining to Operations of Delivery Robots

5.2.3 Opportunities

5.2.3.1 Worldwide Growth of E-Commerce Market

5.2.3.2 Restrictions on Use of Drones for Delivery Services

5.2.4 Challenges

5.2.4.1 Limited Range of Operation

5.2.4.2 Operations in Populated Areas Creating Safety Issues

5.3 Investment Analysis

5.4 Value Chain Analysis

5.5 Use Cases: Delivery Robots Market

5.5.1 Nuro Autonomous Delivery Robots Providing Cost-Effective Grocery Delivery Services for Kroger

5.5.2 Kiwibots Providing Low-Cost Food Delivery Services in University Campuses

5.5.3 Autonomous Delivery Robots Providing Efficient Last-Mile Delivery of Postal Parcels



6 Delivery Robots Market, By Load Carrying Capacity

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Up to 10 Kg

6.2.1 Adoption for Delivery of Food Parcels and Beverages Drives Market Growth for Delivery Robots With Load Carrying Capacity of Up to 10 Kg

6.3 10.01-50.00 Kg

6.3.1 Adoption for Delivery of Groceries Drives Market Growth for Delivery Robots With Load Carrying Capacity of 10.01-50.00 Kg

6.4 More Than 50.00 Kg

6.4.1 Adoption for Delivery of Heavy Parcels Drives Market Growth for Delivery Robots With Load Carrying Capacity of More Than 50.00 Kg



7 Delivery Robots Market, By Component

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Hardware

7.2.1 Ultrasonic/Lidar Sensors

7.2.1.1 Ability of Lidar Sensors to Provide High-Resolution, Three-Dimensional Information About Surrounding Environments Drives Their Use in Delivery Robots

7.2.2 Chassis and Motors

7.2.2.1 Ability of Chassis to Provide Stability to Robots Increases Their Demand

7.2.3 Control Systems

7.2.3.1 Growth of Delivery Robots Market for Control Systems Attributed to Worldwide Evolution of Completely Autonomous and Ai-Integrated Robots

7.2.4 Radars

7.2.4.1 Demand for Radars to Be Mounted on Delivery Robots Driven By Need to Avoid Collision

7.2.5 GPS

7.2.5.1 Use of GPS Tracking System for Monitoring Route and Progress of Delivery Robots

7.2.6 Cameras

7.2.6.1 Utilization of Different Types of Cameras Enable Delivery Robots to Detect and Identify Objects in Their Path

7.2.7 Others

7.3 Software

7.3.1 Fleet Management Software

7.3.1.1 Fleet Management Software Enabling Robots to Operate Collectively

7.3.2 Computer Vision

7.3.2.1 Implementation of Computer Vision Software for Dynamic Path Planning and Obstacle Identification Applications



8 Delivery Robots Market, By Number of Wheels

8.1 Introduction

8.2 3 Wheels

8.2.1 3-Wheeled Delivery Robots Likely to Simplify Industrial Logistic Operations

8.3 4 Wheels

8.3.1 4 Wheels Make Rotating In-Place Easy for Delivery Robots

8.4 6 Wheels

8.4.1 6 Wheels Provide High Stability to Delivery Robots



9 Delivery Robots Market, By Speed Limit

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Up to 3 kph

9.2.1 Demand for Delivery Robots With Speed Limit of Up to 3 kph Driven By Their Applications in Healthcare Industry

9.3 3 kph to 6 kph

9.3.1 Robots With Speed Limit of 3 kph to 6 kph Suitable for Delivery of Packages, Mails, Important Documents, and Food Items

9.4 Higher Than 6 kph

9.4.1 Ability to Deliver Goods in Short Time to Fuel Market for Robots With Speed Limit of Higher Than 6 kph



10 Delivery Robots Market, By End-User Industry

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Food & Beverages

10.2.1 Food & Beverages Industry Held Largest Share, in Terms of Volume, of Delivery Robots Market in 2017

10.3 Retail

10.3.1 Increasing Adoption of Delivery Robots for E-Commerce Deliveries to Drive Market for Retail Industry

10.3.2 Rising Adoption of Robots for Cargo Deliveries to Propel Market Growth During Forecast Period

10.3.3 Increasing Adoption of Robots for Grocery Deliveries Owing to Reduced Cost of Delivery Than That of Using Traditional Methods

10.4 Healthcare

10.4.1 Delivery Robots Help Hospitals to Optimize Labor Productivity

10.5 Postal

10.5.1 Adoption of Delivery Robots for Package Deliveries to Drive Market for Postal Industry

10.6 Others



11 Geographic Analysis

11.1 Introduction

11.2 North America

11.2.1 US

11.2.1.1 US to Account for Largest Share of Global Delivery Robots Market in 2018

11.2.1.2 Regulations in the US

11.2.2 Canada

11.2.2.1 Canadian Market Growth Driven By Increasing Grants and Funds By Government for Encouraging Developments Related to Robotics

11.2.3 Mexico

11.2.3.1 Among All North American Countries, Market in Mexico to Grow at Highest CAGR During Forecast Period

11.3 Europe

11.3.1 UK

11.3.1.1 Market Growth in UK Propelled By Significant Adoption in Food & Beverages Industry

11.3.2 Germany

11.3.2.1 Adoption of Delivery Robots for Delivering Food Items and Goods to Grow Significantly Owing to Increasing Working Population in Germany

11.3.3 Switzerland

11.3.3.1 Among All European Countries, Market in Switzerland to Grow at Highest CAGR During Forecast Period

11.3.4 Rest of Europe

11.4 APAC

11.4.1 China

11.4.1.1 Adoption of Delivery Robots for E-Commerce Deliveries Drives Market Growth in China

11.4.2 Japan

11.4.2.1 Adoption of Delivery Robots to Fulfil Requirements of Aging Population Surge Market Growth in Japan

11.4.3 South Korea

11.4.3.1 Food & Beverages Industry to Drive Market in South Korea During Forecast Period

11.4.4 Rest of APAC

11.5 RoW

11.5.1 Middle East & Africa

11.5.1.1 Market in Middle East & Africa to Grow at Higher CAGR Owing to Increasing Adoption of Delivery Robots for Hospitality and Food Delivery Services

11.5.2 South America

11.5.2.1 Adoption of Delivery Robots for E-Commerce Deliveries Drives Market Growth in South America



12 Important Safety Components of Delivery Robots

12.1 Safety Sensor

12.2 Inertia Measurement Unit

12.3 Safety Camera



13 Competitive Landscape

13.1 Introduction

13.2 Ranking Analysis of Delivery Robots Market Players, 2017

13.3 Competitive Situations and Trends

13.3.1 Product Launches

13.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations

13.3.3 Acquisitions

13.3.4 Expansions

13.3.5 Contracts and Agreements



14 Company Profiles

14.1 Key Players

14.1.1 Starship Technologies

14.1.2 Jd.Com (Jingdong)

14.1.3 Panasonic System Solutions Asia Pacific

14.1.4 Savioke

14.1.5 Nuro

14.1.6 Amazon Robotics

14.1.7 Robby Technologies

14.1.8 Boston Dynamics

14.1.9 Robomart

14.1.10 Eliport

14.2 Other Players

14.2.1 Dispatch

14.2.2 Piaggio Fast Forward

14.2.3 Marble

14.2.4 Teleretail

14.2.5 Box Bot

14.2.6 Kiwi Campus



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/twn675/34_billion?w=12

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Eighteen-year-old Ethan Lindenbergers decision to act against his anti-vaccine mother's wishes recently thrust his family into a fiery national debate over the anti-vax movement. But one California family has been fighting against the movement for years and it has successfully lobbied to have the state laws changed.



We wanted to help because we knew it would have an impact on the community if more people would get vaccinated, Carl Krawitt, the father of the family that lobbied for the new legislation, told "Nightline."



Followers of this small but loud anti-vax movement believe vaccines can have serious health risks and they refute the scientific consensus that vaccines are safe and good for public health. In Lindenbergers case, his mother feared he would have a bad reaction to them but ultimately respected his decision to be vaccinated.



I had grown up hearing that, you know, I wasn't vaccinated because it's better for me and [she] told me that vaccines are bad," Lindenberger told "Good Morning America." "Once I began to look at the evidence and look into what the scientific community at large supported, you know, that's when I started to see that my situation was a little more unique than I had come to believe.



My decision was not only the best decision for myself but it was a decision to protect myself and other people from a preventable disease, he said.



Popularized by the likes of Jenny McCarthy, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Robert De Niro, the movement has become more mainstream than ever and public health experts say its having an impact.



False information, myth and misconception always exist in medicine...and we all fear what we dont know and we dont understand," said ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton. "But the reality is in medicine and science we have to make clinical decisions and policy decisions that affect public health based on fact and data and not fear and emotion."



What weve seen recently, not just in the United States but in Europe and other parts of the world, is a resurgence in infectious diseases that were heretofore eradicated, she added.



Currently, 18 states allow parents to forgo vaccinating their kids based on personal belief, but now, more lawmakers are considering bills that would prohibit non-medical exemptions from vaccines.



Just last month, Washington State declared a state of emergency after a measles outbreak in Clark County, where 7.9 percent of children had gotten exemptions from vaccines for entry to kindergarten in the 2017-2018 school year, according to the Washington Post.



Proponents of the mandatory vaccinations point to California, where state lawmakers removed personal belief vaccine exemptions after a measles outbreak at Disneyland sickened 147 people in 2015.



The Krawitt family was one of the driving forces behind the new legislation in California.



When their son, Rhett, was diagnosed with leukemia at age 2, his immune system was unable to handle vaccines, including one that prevents measles.



The chemotherapy and all of the toxins that they put in his body to get him well, basically wiped out his immune system, said Rhetts father Carl Krawitt. This is known in the medical community as a medical exception.



Its a very legitimate medical exemption, he added. If the immune system is not strong enough for a vaccine then you cant get them, they can be harmful.



During the 2015 outbreak in their home state, the Krawitts were shocked to learn that roughly 7 percent of the kids at their local elementary school were not vaccinated because parents had cited the personal belief exemption.



It meant that sending their son to school would put his life at risk.



That frankly is the risk we faced each and every day that our son might get sick and he might die, Krawitt said.



People who have personal belief exemptions  they believe they are bad and so they choose not to vaccinate their children, he continued. People value that individual choice so much that they forget about the impact on the lives of others.



Shortly after the 2015 measles outbreak ended, the Krawitts went to Sacramento on a mission to lobby for the passage of a bill that would remove the personal belief exemption with the hope that others wouldnt experience the same fear that they experienced.



Their mission was a success. The new law passed in California, with bipartisan support, eliminating exemptions due to personal beliefs.



It was a good feeling that I had and I was excited and happy, Rhett Krawitt said.



This week, Rhett, now 11 and fully vaccinated, celebrates five years of being cancer-free and he has a personal message for other parents.



I think that you should get your kids vaccinated not only for your kids' sake," he said, "but everybodys sake.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.DENVER, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Assure Holdings Corp. (the Company or Assure) (TSXV: IOM; OTCPK: ARHH), a provider of intraoperative neuromonitoring services, has signed a new $2 million term loan, plus a $1 million operating line of credit, for a total of $3 million with Colorado Business Bank.



Under the terms of the agreement, the term loan bears interest at 6.0% and matures in 2022. In addition, the operating line of credit bears interest at a rate of LIBOR plus 3.5% and matures in 2020. The use of proceeds from both facilities will be utilized for working capital and general corporate purposes, along with funding the Companys expansion plans.

Finalizing the new loan facility is a significant milestone for Assure and further strengthens our financial position going forward, said John A. Farlinger, Assures executive chairman and interim CEO. The funding provides us with additional capital to support the companys growing corporate operations and continued expansion into new geographical markets.

About Assure Holdings

Assure Holdings Corp. is a Colorado-based company that works with neurosurgeons and orthopedic spine surgeons to provide a turnkey suite of services that support intraoperative neuromonitoring activities during invasive surgeries. Assure employs its own staff of technologists and uses its own state-of-the-art monitoring equipment, handles 100% of intraoperative neuromonitoring scheduling and setup, and bills for all technical services provided. While Assure focuses primarily on supporting spinal and vascular surgeries, plans are in place to support other classes of medicine that rely on the standard of care that intraoperative neuromonitoring provides. For more information, visit the companys website at www.assureneuromonitoring.com .

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain statements that may constitute forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. All statements, other than those of historical fact, which address activities, events, outcomes, results, developments, performance or achievements that Assure anticipates or expects may or will occur in the future (in whole or in part) should be considered forward-looking information. Such information may involve, but is not limited to, comments with respect to strategies, expectations, planned operations and future actions of the Company. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or statements formed in the future tense or indicating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" (or other variations of the forgoing) be taken, occur, be achieved, or come to pass. Forward-looking information is based on currently available competitive, financial and economic data and operating plans, strategies or beliefs as of the date of this news release, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Assure to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors may be based on information currently available to Assure, including information obtained from third-party industry analysts and other third-party sources, and are based on management's current expectations or beliefs regarding future growth, results of operations, future capital (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof) and expenditures. Any and all forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

The securities of the Corporation have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirement. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Contacts

John Farlinger, Executive Chairman

Assure Holdings Corp.

(604) 763-7565

John.Farlinger@assureiom.comVANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lupaka Gold Corp. ("Lupaka Gold" or the Company") (TSX-V: LPK, FRA: LQP) announces that the Company has updated the terms of the non-brokered private placement of units (Units) originally announced on January 28, 2019 and has taken additional steps to significantly improve the Companys liquidity.



Non-brokered Private Placement

The Company will be raising up to $1,000,000 by way of a non-brokered private placement (the Offering, or Private Placement). Each Unit will be priced at $0.06 and will consist of one common share of the Company and one transferable common share purchase warrant (each, a Warrant), with each Warrant entitling the holder to acquire one common share of the Company at a price of $0.10 for a period of 30 months from the date of the closing of the Offering. Proceeds from the Offering are intended to be used for general working capital purposes and to continue working with the government to resolve the illegal blockade of Invicta.

Liquidity Improvement Program

In conjunction with the Private Placement, the Company has implemented a program to significantly improve its liquidity. Under the liquidity improvement program (LIP) approximately $850,000 in bridge loans and short-term accounts payable in Canada will be converted into Units with the same terms as the Private Placement. Furthermore, an additional $450,000 of current accounts payable will be restructured into long-term notes, conditionally payable based on achieving future production thresholds at Invicta.

We are extremely grateful and encouraged by the overwhelming support received from our business partners and lenders in Canada, including the bridge loan holders. Their willingness to convert debt to equity in Lupaka is a true testament to quality of the Invicta project, commented Will Ansley, President and CEO of Lupaka Gold Corp. The undertaking of the LIP in conjunction with the private placement will improve the liquidity of the Company by as much as $2.3 million. The funds raised will be instrumental in the pursuit to resolve the illegal road blockade at Invicta.

The closing of the Offering, and the issuance of the Common Shares in this shares-for-debt transaction is expected to occur on or before March 13, 2019 and is subject to receipt of approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV). The common shares and Warrants issued in the Placement and shares-for-debt transaction will be subject to a four-month hold period.

The Company also announces that due to the ongoing blockade of the Invicta Mine, the Company has extended the expiry term on 7.2 million purchase warrants originally set to expire on February 19, 2019, by six additional months. The purchase warrants are exercisable at $0.10 per common share and will now expire on August 19, 2019.

Finally, the Company announces that it has completed the shares for debt transaction with Dan Kivari that was announced on January 28, 2018. Pursuant to the transaction, the Company has issued Mr. Kivari 850,000 shares to settle US$100,000 of debt, at a deemed price per share of $0.155. The shares issued are subject to a four month hold period which will expire on June 8, 2019.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of this news release.

About Lupaka Gold

Lupaka is an active Canadian-based company focused on creating shareholder value through discoveries and strategic development of the Invicta development project, located in Peru, approximately 120 kilometres north of Lima.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Will Ansley, President & C.E.O.

wansley@lupakagold.com

Tel: (416) 862-5257

or visit the Companys profile at www.sedar.com or its website at www.lupakagold.com

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking statements which constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including all statements, trend analysis and other information relative to anticipated future events or results. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are considered forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements relating to the resolution of the blockade at Invicta; the acceptance of the debt for shares conversion by the Companys creditors; the use of proceeds of the Offering, the receipt of regulatory approval of the Offering, the size and completion of the Offering.

Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, estimates and opinions of management at the date the statements are made and which the Company believes are reasonable. Such information involves risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on future results, performance or achievements of the Company. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information are the following: that regulatory approval of the Offering is not received; that financing will not be available when and if needed on reasonable terms; adverse changes in general economic conditions, changes in the financial markets and in the demand and market price for commodities. This forward-looking information may be affected by risks and uncertainties in the regular course of business and due to market conditions. Additional risks are described in the Companys annual information form, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to not be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information due to the inherent uncertainty thereof. Lupaka Gold does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.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!)Des Moines, IA, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- After dealing with head lice in their own lives and finding that traditional lice products are no longer effective, sisters Bess Hayes and Kellie Hancock left careers in the healthcare industry to open their first Lice Clinics of America business in Dubuque in 2018. Now they are bringing the fight against super licelice that are immune to the pesticides in traditional lice productsto Des Moines, much to the relief of parents in the area.

The demand for this service is huge as families continue to try and fail to treat head lice with products that dont work, Bess said. Weve had people travel for hours from the Des Moines area and beyond, and now they wont have to.

Like the Dubuque clinic, Lice Clinics of America  Des Moines provides screening, diagnosis, and treatment for people infested with head lice. The clinic is staffed by certified operators of AirAlle, an FDA-cleared medical device that kills head lice and lice eggs (nits) using just heated air in a single treatment that takes about an hour.

A 2016 study published in the Journal of Medical Entomology found that 98 percent of head lice in the United States have developed a genetic resistant to the pesticidescalled pyrethroidsused in the most popular lice treatment products. So-called super lice are no match for AirAlle because it doesnt rely on pesticides or chemicals. Instead, it kills lice and eggs by dehydrating them with carefully controlled heated air.

Parents and children love our service because its fast, comfortable and guaranteedno tedious comb-outs and nit picking are involved, Bess said. When they discover they can be lice-free in an hour, they are thrilled.

AirAlle was found to kill live lice and more than 99 percent of eggs in clinical trials, and the device has successfully treated some half-million cases of head lice in hundreds of clinics around the world, with a success rate better than 99 percent.

The Des Moines clinic is located at 338 Grand Ave. West and is open seven days a week by appointment. AirAlle treatments take about an hour and come with a 30-day guarantee when all household members are treated or screened for head lice.

With more than 350 clinics in 36 countries, Lice Clinics of America (www.LiceClinicsOfAmerica.com) is the largest network of professional head lice treatment centers in the world. Lice Clinics of America and AirAlle are brands owned by Larada Sciences, Inc., which is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.Editors Note: Anastasia Volkova is CEO of FluroSat, an Australian agricultural data startup. Today the company announced it was awarded a grant alongside local industry partners Agworld, PCT Agcloud, CSIRO, and AgLink Australia to support and build an interoperable agronomic analytics engine. This engine aims to resolve many of the inherent challenges surrounding agricultural data. We asked Volkova to tell us more.

Unlike the common perception of agriculture being data-poor, agronomists and growers are in fact drowning in data. With new satellite imagery coming every three days, on-farm sensors sending updates 24/7 and application maps piling up on their machinery hard drives after every tractor run, there is more agricultural data added daily to a modern farms archive than a human operator can be expected to analyze.

Yet, all this data is a source of valuable insights and can be a factual basis for on-farm management decisions, such as the efficient and economical application of fertilizer, timing of spraying operations, and allocation of workers time.

All of these decisions need to be made daily in a timely and efficient manner for them to have a meaningful impact on farm operations, but this is at odds with the large volume of un-analyzed data coming in each day.

Farmers and their advisors want to adopt new technologies that would make their enterprises more profitable, efficient and sustainable. However, the ag technologies promising to do just that, often expect the farmer and their advisors to deal with various problems relating to that agricultural data load.

As a result, we see farmers either focusing on adopting just a few key products or delaying their decision to adopt digital tools altogether until the problems they encounter are resolved.

The Common Problems Challenging Growers and Advisors

AgLink Australia, representing one of Australias largest agronomy networks, has identified the following key problems related to the adoption of agricultural data technologies:

1. Disjointed nature of datasets locked into various platforms preventing effective contextualization of agricultural data

2. Time-consuming low-level data viewing, analysis, and interpretation preventing the use of data for agronomic insights and recommendations

3. The disconnect between the proven crop science and modern enterprise-scale farming

Ag professionals will easily recognize these challenges that result in: numerous browser tabs with different data platforms; juggling machinery layers, satellite imagery and yield maps all in different formats to compare patterns and derive correlations; uncertainty in how to apply the most recent findings in crop nutrition and protection to their own farming operation.

Luckily, it does not have to be this way.

Interoperability, Contextualization and Adaptiveness

FluroSat and industry partners Agworld, PCT Agcloud, CSIRO, and AgLink Australia, have recently been awarded a CRC-P project grant to support and build an interoperable agronomic analytics engine that aims to be the first of its kind working collaboratively to resolve the above-mentioned problems.

Built as an extension of the FluroSats FluroSense platform, the engine will combine locally- and remotely-sourced agricultural data to detect crop stress and generate nutrient and chemical application recommendations tailored to each farms unique cropping history, operations, soil and climatic conditions.

What Does Flow of Farm Data Look Like Now?

The Fluorescence engine will accommodate the various datasets that exist now but currently, reside in silos. Observations and farm records in farm management software like Agworld enable cross-collaboration by both agronomist and farmer. PCT Agcloud is well experienced in transforming machine and field data sets into robust data layers that are currently viewable in farm management software such as Agworld. Modeling information by CSIRO is also a well-utilized tool by agronomists to help understand the likely impact weather, moisture, cropping history and nutritional inputs have on projected yield.

This currently creates the need for multiple browser tabs if agronomists and farmers want to create actions based on available data sets. For example, a remotely captured image suggests that one area of a field may be low in Nitrogen, the agronomist will need to open multiple software platforms, and use an ad hoc analytical approach to decide what the best recommendation is to make. It is impossible for an agronomist to systematically analyze all data sets and generate a recommendation in context with all this data.

This project will bring data layers that currently reside with the project partners, AgLink, Agworld, and PCT Agcloud so FluroSense can engineer a well informed (by data) and modeled (insights from CSIRO) recommendation based on weather forecast, historical information and real-time observations. A truly contextualized actionable insight.

Backed by Science

Agronomists require actionable insights based on data and science to make timely, profitable and more precise decisions. The FluroSense engine coupled with CSIRO knowledge (through existing decision tools or models) will contextualize data layers and carry out advanced analytics and modeling to create these actionable insights. Observations made by agronomists (in Agworld) and additional processed data (from PCT Agcloud) will be introduced into the analytics engine to continue building intelligence creating scalable, automated, accurate and contextualized insights for farmers and their agronomist.

Furthermore, the use of machine learning techniques and data sets such as soil characteristics, identification of crop stress, and other factors that influence crop performance and ultimately an agronomic response, will enable FluroSense to automatically adapt to every farms unique management history and climatic conditions. This can make the system truly scalable across the crop types, geographies, and crop management scenarios.

Finally, bringing all of the elements from every project partner together ensures that every piece of data needed for a well-informed decision not only unlocks significant time savings but becomes the benchmark for next level, agronomic analytics.

The CRC-P project helps the consortium to establish a three-year-long partnership, to deliver this comprehensive agronomic analytics starting from the proof of concept in the 2019 growing season to global market availability in 2021.

The Mission to Elevate the User Experience and Gains

At FluroSat, we believe that seamless and rewarding user experience is a must in the modern age of digital technology. Together with the CRC-P partners, we are committed to delivering this next-level user experience to the agricultural industry by cutting across the gigabytes of data, a plethora of browser tabs, and task-specific interfaces of a range of existing management tools.

We believe that as an outcome of this partnership, covering the hard yards of technology development to reach interoperability, and readiness for the enterprise-scale, we will be able to not only supercharge the adoption of precision agriculture tools but to elevate the gains of the agribusinesses adopting them in the process.

About FluroSat

FluroSat is an award-winning agri-tech start-up company which uses the power of scientific modelling, AI and satellite-based remote sensing to deliver early, accurate and actionable information on crop health and nutrition to farmers and their advisors.

About Agworld

Agworld, a major global tech company and the independent platform for the grower and their service providers to collaborate on through connectivity and standardised data.

About PCT Agcloud

PCT Agcloud, is an Australian independently owned and operated company, providing one of the most robust precision ag data analysis platforms for Precision Ag consultants and API integrators in Australia and across the globe.

About AgLink Australia

AgLink Australia has the largest group of qualified professionals providing agronomy and animal production advice, supported by the supply of reputable products operating in all Australian states and territories.

About CSIRO

At CSIRO, we solve the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. Our diverse food and farming research ranges from studying the make-up of our crops and animals to the methods and food processing technologies we develop to produce healthier, safer and more sustainable food.Ukrainian political prisoner Volodymyr Balukh was forcefully transferred to Simferopol remand center from Kerch prison supposedly due to the court session, as the Crimean human rights group reported on Facebook.

According to the so-called Supreme Court of Crimea, on January 30, 2019 the court received a cassation review of Prosecutors Office of Crimea on the verdict of Razdolnenskiy District Court in Balukhs case on disruption of activity Razdolnenskiy prison cell.

The human rights activists informed that Sergiy Bulhakov, First Deputy of the Prosecutor, former officer of the Ukrainian Prosecutors Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, filed the cassation review. Criminal proceeding under the article of Ukraines Criminal Code on state treason.

Volodymyr Balukh and his defenders are not familiar with the content of this causational review, so it remains unknown what exactly the prosecutor asks. The Ukrainian refuses to take part in any session of the occupation courts stating that they are illegal, so he was against transferring to Simferopol, the human rights activists noted.

Earlier, the deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Ahtem Chyigoz, reported that Ukrainian political prisoner Volodymyr Balukh was beaten up and threatened to get killed in the Simferopol remand center.

According to the Deputy Chairman, Balukh was taken out from his cell, severely beaten up and is threatened to get killed.

On September 10, the Supreme Court of occupied Crimea controlled by the Kremlin did not grant the appeal of Volodymyr Balukhs lawyer Olga Dinze on his conditional release. It was noted that the activist participated in the session through a video conference from the remand prison.

Balukh was arrested on December 8, 2016, nine days after he nailed a plaque renaming his home No. 18 Heroes of Nebesna Sotnya St in memory of the over 100 Maidan activists who were killed during Euromaidan.

He had rejected demands from the head of the local council to remove it. During an irregular search of his home, 90 bullets and several TNT explosive devices were allegedly found in his attic.

Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KhPG) stated that he had no record of violence and the constant searches and series of administrative prosecutions he had faced since Russias invasion of Crimea for his openly pro-Ukrainian position made it inconceivable that he could have held anything illegal in his home.

The implausibility of the charges was just one of several compelling reasons why the renowned Memorial Human Rights Centre declared him a political prisoner well before the trial.

Related video:The Cabinet's decision let Ulyana Suprun act within the competence of Ukraines Health Minister, sign necessary documents in particular

Wednesday, February 13, Ukraines Government ordered that Ulyana Suprun is allowed to act within the competence of Ukraines Health Minister, despite specific powers as a member of the Cabinet of Ministers, Health Ministry reports on Facebook.

This order reflects a consolidated decision of the Government which unblocks most crucial issues of the work of the Health Ministry. This is the Cabinets reaction to the decision of Kyiv District Administrative Court to block the work of the Ministry, the message says.

This order allows distribution of vaccines and drugs in the regions, sending 44 Ukrainians for treatment abroad, continuing the process of constructing childrens hospital Okhmatdyt, purchasing equipment and making other immediate decisions.

The representatives of the Ministry assured that the relevant documents would be signed any time soon.

Earlier, it was reported that drugs for patients with cancer, hepatitis, HIV and AIDS positive people cannot be distributed due to the suspension of Suprun.

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.

Related video:Police detains leader of "Fedora" criminal gang Facebbok Vyacheslav Abroskin

National Police Strategic Investigations Department in Rivne detained the leader and mediator of a criminal group Fedora, as Vyacheslav Abroskin, First Deputy Chairman of National Police, reported on Facebook.

Today, the leader and mediator of a criminal group were detained while racketeering $100,000, Abroskin reported on February 13.

As he put it, since 2011 the members of Fedora were demanding money threatening to inflict physical harm; they were inflicting bodily injuries, firing property, threatening private enterprisers for self-enrichment.

Abroskin added that an Italian citizen became one of the victims of this group. In 2008, he invested in a restaurant business in Ukraine. His car and cafe were set on fire, he sustained grievous bodily harms twice.The offer was made at the meeting of the defence ministers of the Alliance in Brussels

Vadym Prystayko, Ukraines Permanent Representative to NATO 112 Agency

Kyiv offered NATO to create a separate aid package for Ukraines Naval Forces, as Eurointegration reported.

We have a so-called aid package, which has different mechanisms, trust funds in particular. One of the ideas is to help our Naval fleet to form a single package to see what needs they have and what opportunities exist so that each state could find its niche, Vadym Prystayko, Ukraines Permanent Representative to NATO, said.

Ukraine passed a request to Alliance on support in the Black Sea before the meeting of the ministers on February 13-14.

Alliance has received our official request. It was agreed with our Armed Forces, all the members have it. The have our requests, our demands at the time of the arrival of the ministers. We are working to implement these measures, Prystayko said.

According to him, Ukraine requests for financial, political, visible support (i.e. presence in the Black Sea) and organization of joint drills.

We ask for help in the development of the infrastructure of our Naval bases, shipping set, anti-shipping means. Intelligence, radars, information sharing  everything the military should ask for in other states, the diplomat explained.Open source

The Prosecutors Office informed that the case of Ukraines MP Nadiya Savchenko and the leader of Officer Corps Centre Volodymyr Ruban, accused of terrorism, will be considered by the jury, as the prosecutor said during a preparatory meeting in Chernihiv District Court, Ukrainian News reported.

During the session, one of the members of the court panel, the judge Svitlana Mezhennykova withdrew from the case as secret data will be involved and she does not have access to it.

The prosecutors were against her withdrawal.

We consider the decision on self-disqualification premature, as, according to the information we have, both of the accused will appeal for consideration of the case by the jury, and they will put aside three judges anyway, the prosecutor said.

At the same time, the lawyers of Savchenko and Ruban supported self-disqualification. Lawyer Valentyn Rybin said stated that secret materials were not used in the case.

He also stressed that he had access to top-secret information.

Yuriy Lutsenko, Prosecutor General, claimed that he had proof that Savchenko planned an armed coup d'etat, which would have led to mass civilian casualties. In particular, according to the information of Prosecutor General's Office, she planned to shell Kyiv with a grenade launcher. Furthermore, together with earlier detained Volodymyr Ruban she is suspected of an organization of assassination of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

As we reported earlier, Savchenko took a polygraph testing. The Security Service of Ukraine claimed that the psychological forensic examination with the use of the polygraph of MP Nadiya Savchenko confirmed her intentions of committing the coup d'etat, particularly the commitment of the terrorist act in the governmental quarter and the Ukrainian Parliament.

December 13, Kyiv Court postponed the consideration of Savchenkos case due to her bad state of health. Savchenko stated that she had partial loss of hearing and vision.Kyiv Administrative District Court allowed Ulyana Suprun to act within the competence of Ukraines Health Minister, as the courts decision as of February 14 says, Hromadske reported.

The court ruled to refuse the motion of the representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers and Ulyana Suprun on cancellation of the measures which secure suit. To cancel the measures which secure the administrative suit taken by the District Administrative Court on February 5, 2019 under its own initiative, the judge said on February 14.

He noted that according to the court, there are no reasons to secure the administrative court in these conditions. Therefore, the decision was cancelled under the initiative of the court.

After the court session, Suprun said that tomorrow hearing on the merits will be held.

Today morning, I started signing the documents, drugs are being delivered to the regions, I am signing the documents, so that patients could be treated abroad. We know, that tomorrow, at 2:50 pm the hearing on the merits will be held, Suprun said on air of 112 Ukraine.

Earlier, it was reported that drugs for patients with cancer, hepatitis, HIV and AIDS positive people cannot be distributed due to the suspension of Suprun.

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.

Related video:The European Parliament urged EU member countries to conduct research on the use of medical cannabis - and to create unified regulations for all member countries. The Parliament's press service reported that.

It is noted that several European countries allowed the use of certain kinds of cannabis or cannabinoids for medical purpose; some countries still consider opportunities for submitting changes to the legal framework.

However, the rules of use of cannabis strongly differ in various countries. No EU member country allows smoking or growing cannabis at home for medical purposes.

Due to these circumstances, the European Parliament calls for extra research on this topic. The respective resolution was approved on February 13. In it, the Parliament asks to provide a legal definition for medical cannabis so that one can tell the difference from other kinds of its use. Besides, the MEPs admitted that these researches should be funded, and the medical insurance should be covering the drugs based on this particular kind of cannabis.

Recently, Ukraine's Health Ministry endorsed the legalization of medical cannabis in this country.

Unlike the regular cannabis, the medical cannabis contains cannabinoids. It has no psychoactive effects, working as a painkiller and a sedative. Medical cannabis can be administered through a variety of methods, including capsules, lozenges, tinctures, dermal patches, oral or dermal sprays, cannabis edibles, and vaporizing or smoking dried buds. Synthetic cannabinoids are available for prescription use in some countries, such as dronabinol and nabilone.Spokesperson of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov called the new draft sanctions in the response to the Kremlins aggression against Ukraine racketeering as Interfax reported.

We see the manifestations of the disease Russophobia, it is slanted Russophobia, absolutely emotional, which is not based on the expert data. Otherwise, there will be no issue about destabilizing role of Russia in Syria in such draft law, instead, the key role of Moscow in the saving of the region from the terrorism will be recognized, Peskov stated.

According to him, the measures directed at the disruption of different energy projects of Russia, subversion of the activity of the Russian banks with the public involvement is nothing else but the attempt of the unfair competition.

We do not agree on it, we find it unacceptable, and think that such actions can potentially run counter universally recognized rules of the international trade and have very harmful consequences, Peskov said.

As we reported the U.S. bipartisan group of senators presented a Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act (DASKA) of 2019 to the Senate aimed at enhancement of economic, political and diplomatic pressure upon Russia.

Earlier it was reported that the U.S. sanctions against the Russian Federation will remain in place until Moscow completely abides by the Minsk agreements and gives Crimea back to Ukraine.

Besides, Belgium is ready to sign sanctions against the Russian citizens, involved in the attack on Ukrainian military vessels in Kerch Strait and in capturing the crew.MONCTON, New Brunswick, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Major Drilling Group International Inc. (TSX: MDI) (the Company) today reported that it will release its third quarter results, ended January 31, 2019, on Thursday, February 28, 2019 after the markets have closed.



Webcast/Conference Call Details

Denis Larocque, President & Chief Executive Officer, and David Balser, Chief Financial Officer, invite you to participate in a webcast/conference call on Friday, March 1, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern to discuss the Companys third quarter results for fiscal 2019.

To access the webcast, which includes a slide presentation, please go to the investors/webcasts section of the Major Drilling website at www.majordrilling.com and click on the link. Please note that this is listen-only mode.

To participate in the conference call please dial 416-340-2216 and ask for Major Drillings third quarter results conference call. To ensure your participation, please call in approximately five minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call.

For those unable to participate, a taped rebroadcast will be available approximately one hour after completion of the call until midnight, Friday, March 15, 2019. To access the rebroadcast, dial 905-694-9451 and enter the passcode 9775143#. The webcast will also be archived for one year and can be accessed on the Major Drilling website ( www.majordrilling.com ).

Major Drilling will be an exhibitor at PDAC, the worlds premier mineral exploration & mining convention, being held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre from Sunday, March 3, 2019 to Wednesday, March 6, 2019. If you are in the area, please come visit us at booth #330.

For further information, please contact Chantal Melanson by telephone (506) 857-8636 or by e-mail Chantal.Melanson@majordrilling.com

About Major Drilling Group International Inc.

Major Drilling Group International Inc. is one of the worlds largest drilling services companies primarily serving the mining industry. Established in 1980, Major Drilling has over 1,000 years of combined experience within its management team alone. The Company maintains field operations and offices in Canada, the United States, Mexico, South America, Asia, Africa and Europe. Major Drilling provides a complete suite of drilling services including surface and underground coring, directional, reverse circulation, sonic, geotechnical, environmental, water-well, coal-bed methane, shallow gas, underground percussive/longhole drilling, surface drill and blast, and a variety of mine services.Roman Nasirov kept 300,000 U.S. dollars on his accounts in Great Britain

Shevchenkivsky district court arrested USD 297,730 stored on the British accounts of Roman Nasirov, the former chairman of Ukraine's State Fiscal Service. The court satisfied the respective appeal filed by the prosecutor from the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

Nasirov has been holding the sum on his accounts in the UK for three years; however, the money was never listed in his declarations that he filed while serving as the government official - except for the declaration that he filed when running for the presidency this year. Nasirov filed this one immediately after they informed him that USD 300,000 were detected on his British accounts.

Apart from that, the court additionally considered and refused to grant the motion of the defense team about canceling Nasirov's commitments.

The next session of the court is to take place on March 3.

Earlier, Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) asked Shevchenkivsky district court in Kyiv to arrest 300,000 U.S. dollars that belong to Roman Nasirov, notorious ex-head of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine.Martians have more chances to become observers on the presidential election in Ukraine than the Russian citizens. Pavlo Klimkin, the foreign minister of Ukraine reported that on Twitter.

'Some people just can't calm down about the Russian observers on presidential elections in Ukraine. Martians have more chances to observe the Ukrainian election - of course, if they manage to complete all procedures and join the OSCE. But they will certainly better at living up to its basic principles', Klimkin said.

Earlier, Oleg Slobodyan, the Spokesperson of Ukraines Border Guard Service, said that border guards would check the international observers before letting them enter Ukraine. Only accredited observers would be allowed to enter the country.

The Verkhovna Rada registered the bill No.9524 which calls for ruling out the participation of the observers from the aggressor state in the presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine.

ODIHR 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 list of presidential candidates has appeared. The candidates would be able to withdraw their candidacy until March 7, 2019.Open source

The District Court ruled that Paul Manafort deliberately lied to the Special Counsel's Office headed by Robert Mueller, violating the agreement on pleading guilty as CNN reported.

Manafort made multiple false statements to the FBI, the OSC and the grand jury concerning matters that were material to the investigation, including his contacts with his Russian associate during the campaign and later, the message said.

As it was reported, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been found guilty on eight counts of financial crimes. After a 16-day trial, Manafort was found guilty of five tax fraud charges, one charge of hiding foreign bank accounts, and two counts of bank fraud. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining 10 counts, and the judge declared a mistrial on those charges.

Manafort faces a maximum of 80 years in prison. He faces a second criminal trial next month in Washington on seven other charges brought by the special counsel, including obstruction of justice, failure to register as a foreign agent and conspiracy to launder money.

Related: Actions of NABU head concerning disclosure of information about Manafort illegal, - court

Paul Manafort is charged with laundering money and evading taxes over ten years of cooperation with former Ukrainian leaders. Previously, an investigation team released over 300 documents, which reveal the details of Manafort's cooperation with the currently disbanded Party of Regions - the-then pro-presidential and ruling political force in Ukraine.Clement Vandenborre was suspended due to the numerous incidents tied with confidentiality

Clement Vandenborre, the Head of Belgiums Counterintelligence Open source

Head of Belgiums Counterintelligence Clement Vandenborre is temporarily suspended from the post on the suspicion in the espionage in the favor of Russia as Nieuwsblad reported.

It is noted that the suspension took place after numerous incidents tied with confidentiality.

At the moment, only one fact of the accusations is known. Vandenborre supposedly destroyed confidential documents with the help of the shredder.

It is not reported why Belgium suspected the head of foreign counterintelligence in the espionage in the favor of Russia.

According to the provided information, Clement Vandenborre is not detained but he is under supervision of the special services. He has been working in the department for 50 years and he denies all allegations.

As we reported a group of people suspected in the espionage in the interests of Russia was detained in Lithuania; ex-chairman of the Socialist Peoples Front and ex-vice mayor of Vilnius Algidras Paletskis, who is under arrest since October, is among them.

Besides, Slovakia expelled one of the Russian diplomats. The military intelligence defined that the Russian conducted espionage against Bratislava and NATO member states.Ukraines gas production starts looking up: after the Cabinet of Ministers has adopted an appropriate decision in mid-December, Slovakia's NAFTA company came very close to becoming an operator in a production sharing agreement (PSA) on Yuzivska gas field, Ukraines largest oil and gas field. With the help of its main shareholder (EPH), it might enter the project and become the first foreign investor in Ukraine who has concluded PSAs in the field of gas production after the revolution. Until recently, the leading positions in gas production in Ukraine belonged only to state-owned companies and companies of Ukrainian oligarchs. Director of the NAFTA Representative Office Lyubomir Kopchik unveiled the peculiarities of doing business in Ukraine, how NAFTA offered to buy dormant licenses, and about ties with Ukraines political elite

Press-service of the Cabinet of Ministers

What should NAFTA do to begin work on the search and production of gas at Ukraines Yuzivska gas field?

In 2016, Yuzgaz B.V. has won the tender, which was to determine the PSA side at Yuzivska gas field (in 2015, the British-Dutch Shell left the agreement due to the hostilities in eastern Ukraine, - Ed.). Central European Energy Group  is at the stage of completing the transaction for the purchase of the Yuzgaz company. We expect this to happen in January 2019. For the acquisition of Yuzgaz, a subsidiary of EP Yuzivska B.V. was registered in Holland. Legal procedures are now being completed, an agreement with the current owners of Yuzgaz (entrepreneurs Yaroslav Kinakh and Timothy M. Elliott) has been reached. The technical operator of this project will be NAFTA a.s., which is part of the EPH group. At the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, an updated version of the PSA was also approved.

Will you be the sole owner of Yuzgaz after the purchase transaction is completed?

We will be the sole owners of 100% of the company. Initially, the owners (Yaroslav Kinakh and Timothy M. Elliot) negotiated on the sale of only 50% of the share. Then we turned to a discussion of the model of 66% of NAFTA - 34% of the current owners.

Our opponents, who did not find time to meet with us at the professional level to discuss the project, have found time to come to the press conference.

And kicked up a fuss?

I can't call it a fuss...

But they were negative towards the press conference, right?

They are negative about this project and the tender itself. (As a result, Yuzgaz B.V. became the main contender for being an investor. Politicians and experts noted that the company has no experience in gas production, - Ed.) We thoroughly studied the tender, and our specialists confirmed compliance with international standards and norms. We communicated with Nadra Yuzivska and saw that specialized organizations, individual companies and even more than a dozen foreign embassies in Ukraine were more than sufficiently informed about its conduct. Direct negotiations were held with many leaders of the market. As a result, Burisma Holding (one of the largest gas producers controlled by Mykola Zlochevsky, - Ed.) and Balkash Petroleum B.V. (Vitol subsidiary) participated in the tender. The bidders did not attempt to dispute the Yuzgaz victory.

Ive heard that joining the NAFTA project was made possible by the fact that your partner is Poroshenkos associate Igor Kononenko...

This is a rumor.

Do you personally know Kononenko?

I know him, but he does not know me.

Coming of NAFTA outside Slovakia became possible thanks to the EPH holding, which became a shareholder of the company in 2013. A new strategy was approved and the decision was made to concentrate on working in individual European countries. Currently, NAFTA is most active in Ukraine, Germany, and the UK. EPH itself is among the ten largest energy companies in Europe. The total installed capacity of generating facilities, including two NPPs located in Slovakia, exceeds 24.3 GW, and the annual production of electrical energy reaches 100.2 TWh. The group is the managing partner of the Slovak gas transmission system, which also includes Eustream (the company is a party to a consortium of investors claiming to manage the Ukrainian GTS, and provides gas reversal to Ukraine, - Ed.).

How did you decide to become Yuzivska gas field developer?

We have been engaged in Ukraine since 2013. Until December 2016, we had meetings with the majority of private players in the country and, of course, met with almost all the government operators. Quite often, these were simply non-professional people who carry some papers, talking about stocks, explored back in the Soviet Union, and try to sell them for fabulous money.

Have you negotiated with semi-state "Ukrnafta" company?

No. This is the most difficult company in the sector of state-owned mining companies in Ukraine... Due to the confrontation of shareholders in Ukrnafta, we did not consider it as a possible partner, therefore we did not enter into negotiations with them. Perhaps, Ukrnafta is the only company in the public sector that we did not try to work with.

What did 3D seismic analysis on Uzhhorod field show?

We are going to drill three exploration wells. I believe it will be possible in the spring already. Pipes are delivered. Now we are waiting for the issuance of permits and receiving an assessment of the impact on the environment. We wanted to start drilling work in the second half of 2018, but not everything depended on us.

What is the basis of your confidence in the availability of reserves in the Yuzivska gas field? Because I have heard skeptical relations of specialists regarding it.

We view this project as greenfield. And in this case, really, you do not need to shout that they "gave half of the stocks to foreigners." Shell has drilled 2 prospecting wells near Yuzivska gas field before leaving, and none of them showed commercial reserves. By the way, this was also one of the factors that made them decide to leave the project in Ukraine.

There are about 60 old mothballed wells there. We still do not even know their state of affairs thoroughly and are just planning to start studying. These wells, apparently, were drilled in Soviet times. Unscrupulous people are trying to blame us for saying that all we are going to do is re-launch the old foundation and start pumping gas. But this has nothing to do with reality. As part of the license, there are already some promising areas, which belong to a state-owned company and which are being extracted. And we will certainly work and explore individual opportunities. We will see if it is possible to carry out a deep overhaul, intensification. We will try to get everything we can from the old fund as soon as possible. But! In parallel, a comprehensive geological study of the area will be carried out: site selection, 3D seismic surveys, interpretation, and development of medium and long-term work plans.

We believe in success, because, as I said, the former shareholders of NAFTA (E.ON Ruhrgas, Gaz de France) have seriously improved the technological level of the company. In the past 15 years, our company has about 50% drilling efficiency. That is, every second well has a flow rate. In the industry, the standard figure is 15-30%. We have been producing gas since 1913 and have 105 years of experience. In addition, Slovakia, where our company works, is clearly not Kuwait. But we have been efficiently producing gas for 105 years: people at NAFTA know how to produce gas, to the last drop.

Gas reserves in Yuzivska gas field are located at a depth of 3-5 km?

Approximately yes. But NAFTA in Slovakia has experience with drilling in truly different depths. The deepest well that we have drilled is 6,5 km, so we are ready to work at great depths.

Do your colleagues, foreign gas companies, consider your consent to invest in Ukraine rash? What are their main concerns?

Instability. You probably remember what happened with the rental payments: they were suddenly increased, then lowered... The success of NAFTA at Yuzivska gas field is still a great beacon. Investors interest in Ukraine has markedly declined, but it is not that difficult to switch from a state of waiting to the activity mode. So everything is in your hands...

Read the original text at 112.ua.Today, on February 14, the enemy did not open fire

Donbas conflict zone Open source

Militants performed 10 attacks on February 13, one Ukrainian soldier sustained injuries, as the Joint Forces Operation HQ reported on Facebook.

Occupants violated ceasefire seven times within zone of action of Vostok tactical force - twice from 120mm mortars, one time  using anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade near Vodyane; from 120mm near Lebedynske; two times  from anti-tank missile systems, grenade launchers of various systems and heavy machine guns near Pavlopil; from rocket-propelled grenades and small arms  near Avdiivka.

Illegal armed formations performed three attacks within zone of action of Sever tactical force  from grenade launchers of various systems near Krymske; from heavy machine guns near Novoluhanske; from BMP-1 and anti-tank grenade launcher near Travneve.

The units of the defending reacted to the enemys attack using weapons on call, the message says.

Today, on February 14, no attacks performed in Donbas combat zone.

As it was reported, the UN created a Ukraine Humanitarian Pooled Fund to provide aid for Donbas residents suffering from the conflict.

Related video:Open source

On February, 13, Russian militants attacked the Armed Forces of Ukraine six times, they also used the Minsk-banned weaponry one time and 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 mortar near Vodiane settlement, used anti-tank grenade launchers, grenade launchers of various system, and heavy machine guns near Pavlopil village, with heavy machine guns, manual and automatic grenade launchers and small arms near Avdiivka village.

In the North group area, the enemy attacked our positions with grenade launchers of various system and small arms near Krymske village and with heavy machine guns near Novoluhanske village, the report said.

As a result of todays attack, one serviceman of the Joint Forces operation was wounded.

Earlier, Russian militants attacked the Armed Forces of Ukraine 9 times; as a result, one Ukrainian serviceman was wounded in Donbas conflict zone.The activist is taken into custody because he can escape to Ukraine

The so-called District Court of Kyiv of annexed Crimea extended imprisonment of the Crimean Tatar blogger Nariman Memedeminov till March, 16. Crimean Solidarity, the human rights watchers' organization reports this on Facebook.

The Court returned from the council chamber and declared the verdict: to extend the preventive measure till March 16, 2019, the report said.

It was an open hearing. According to the prosecutor, Nariman Memedeminov is charged with severe crime, he was spreading the information about an international pan-Islamist political organization Hizb ut-Tahrir and he could escape to Ukraine.

At the same time, Memedeminov outlines that he could not escape to Ukraine, as both of his passports are in the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.

As we reported earlier, Crimean Tatar blogger Nariman Memedeminov has been moved from the ordinary cell to that with an increased security level. He still remains at the remand center in Simferopol in the occupied Crimea.

Crimean Tatar blogger Nariman Memedeminov has been moved from the ordinary cell to that with an increased security level. He still remains at the remand center in Simferopol in the occupied Crimea.Ukraine has launched an election campaign. Usually, an integral part of the election campaign is the debates

Ukraine has launched an election campaign. Usually, an integral part of the election campaign is the debates. In Ukraine, the culture of pre-election debates is not yet developed. And yet, the presidential candidates would hold the debates in Ukraine. Maybe not everyone will take part (as it happened before), however many, most likely, will take advantage of their right to debate with an opponent.

Meet 44 candidates running for president in Ukraine

On the eve of all this, let us do a closer examination of the very notion of "debates" and the world practice. Where did the debate come from and do they somehow influence the elections?

What are the debates?

This is a structured and specially organized public exchange of thoughts between the two parties on a relevant topic. At the same time, this kind of discussion is aimed at ensuring that the debate participants convince a third party, not each other.

Simply put, the pre-election debates of presidential candidates tend to look like this:

Two presidential candidates and a moderator gather in a studio.

The moderator asks various questions.

The candidates respond by proving that their position is correct.

The viewer looks at this action and draws conclusions. Or does not (it depends on the viewer).

Where do election debates come from?

It is believed that the first election debates were held in the United States in 1858, the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas fought for one of the senator chairs. During the struggle, Lincoln summoned Douglas to take part in an open discussion on slavery. Seven American cities have witnessed the discussion.

The format of such debates did not imply strict rules and was more of a philosophical nature (that is, it was not only about statistics but also about values).

The most famous examples of election debates

The United States continued the practice of election debates; it institutionalized and later spread to the other countries.

The debates have become an influential part of the US electoral process. And here are the most vivid historical examples:

Kennedy vs. Nixon, 1960

Open source

It is believed that these debates are the first television election debates in world history.

At these 1960 debates, candidates for the US presidency John Kennedy (Democratic Party) and Richard Nixon (Republican Party) came together. During the debates, Nixon was not very self-assured. He looked nervous and was sweating profusely. Kennedy looked much better.

It is believed that thanks to the successful debates of Kennedy went ahead (though slightly) of his opponent in the vote.

Reagan vs. Mondale, 1984

NTB scanpix

In 1984, Republican Ronald Reagan ran for a second term. His rival from the Democratic Party was former Vice President Walter Mondale.

Reagan made a speech (compared to the debates of the ballot times for the first term) not so confidently, and after the first round of debates, he stopped being considered the favorite of the electoral race.

At the press conference after the broadcast, there was a question about his age (Reagan was already 73). "I refuse to consider the issue of age central for this campaign. Therefore, I pledge to never, for political purposes, focus on the youth and inexperience of my opponent," he answered. Such a move was appreciated by many, and Reagans confusion did not affect the outcome of the elections. And he won.

Bush Sr. vs. Clinton vs. Perot, 1992

Open source

Attendees: current President George Bush Sr., Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, and businessman Ross Perot. Clinton looked better than Bush. And eventually won. It is believed that it is due to the debate.

Gore vs. George W. Bush, 2000

Open source

Prior to the start of the election debate between Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush, Gore was considered the favorite.

However, the situation has changed for the elections, including thanks to the debate. During the debate, Gore behaved arrogantly, and his rival used it in his favor, eventually winning both the debates and the elections.

Sarkozy vs Royal, 2007

Open source

These debates are called the most significant in the entire history of the presidential debate in France. This was a verbal battle between Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal in 2007.

The debate lasted for more than two hours, their audience exceeded 20 million people. In the end, Sarkozy won both the debates and the elections.

The most famous debates in the history of independent Ukraine

Of course, we are talking about the 2004 debates between Viktor Yanukovych and Viktor Yushchenko. The November debates (although they were more similar to individual speeches) were watched by 9.5 million people.

Open source

Once again, the rivals met at the televised debates in December, on the eve of the rerun of the second round. And this meeting looked already like a real debate.

Read the original text at 112.ua.Vladyslav Manger, the Chairman of Kherson Regional Council Kherson Visti

Lutsenko started talking



July 31 last year in Kherson, she was doused with sulfuric acid. On November 4, after many days of pain and a number of operations, she died in one of Kyiv hospitals. Law enforcers are investigating the murder of a public activist, Kateryna Handzyuk, as "a completed premeditated murder committed by a group of people for mercenary motives with special cruelty and to order." And only months later, after numerous actions of public discontent, the prosecutor general showed at least some significant progress in this matter.



In August, was arrested the alleged organizer of the attack, Serhiy Torbin, as well as his accomplices, Volodymyr Vasyanovych, Vyacheslav Vyshnevsky, Viktor Gorbunov and Mykyta Grabchuk, who, according to investigators, doused the activist with acid. They are participants of hostilities in the east of Ukraine as part of volunteer formations.



Vasyanovych, Vyshnevsky and Gorbunov were subsequently released under house arrest.



In November, was arrested Igor Pavlovsky, assistant to the Mykola Palamarchuk, MP from the Petro Poroshenkos bloc. He is suspected of transferring money to Torbin. Palamarchuk himself said that he fired Pavlovsky.



In December, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Yuriy Lutsenko, called the criminal Olexiy Levin the key person involved in the case and added that the investigation had established the customers and organizers of the crime. According to the head of the Prosecutors Office, a businessman who was imprisoned for involvement in the attacks and murders of taxi drivers in Kherson, left the country on the day when the police made the first arrests in the Handzyuk case. According to the people's deputy Mustafa Nayem, Levin is in the Dominican Republic. He was announced wanted in Ukraine.



The motive for the murder of Kateryna Handzyuk Lutsenko called her activity against the corruption schemes of local authorities. According to the media data, which was later officially confirmed by the Prosecutor General, we are talking about the shadow business of wood trade. Sold wood was mentioned as burnt in arson. The activist herself stated that Vladyslav Manger, the head of the Kherson regional council, was implicated in the illegal wood trade, who, according to her, knocked out the leader of the veterans' association Olexander Tsegelnik, from this illegal business.



However, a week after the death of Kateryna Handzyuk a "corruption trail" was noticed in the case. An audio recording, in which the mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovy, accuses her of corruption, appeared on the web.



Regarding this Handzyuk from Kherson. For you to understand, this is a bitch who is the leader of corruption in the city council. She is a right hand of the mayor. Its her idea that all the MPs should head utility companies  eighteen deputies head utility companies. Shes a leader of "kickbacks" in the city. Everything goes through her," he noted in the audio.

"In order to organize this (Handzyuks murder, - ed.) Manger appealed to Levin and Pavlovsky, who were previously familiar to him, and suggested that they find the perpetrators and organize the murder of Kateryna Handzyuk. Levin and Pavlovsky agreed, feeling their own selfish interest and personal dislike for the deceased " said Lutsenko.



Torbin was also attracted to the crime with Mangers consent. "Torbin attracted previously familiar to him Gorbunov, Vasyanovych, Vyshnevsky, Grabchuk. Handzyuk's movement routes were tracked, acid was purchased, a secret group was created in the network," said Lutsenko.

Elections coming soon



Mangers suspicion has already passed on to the political plane and has become a pretext for a public exchange of courtesies between the teams of the current president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Thus, in the Batkivshchynaparty on the eve of Lutsenkos briefing, they decided to exclude Manger from the party and advised him to resign. Nevertheless, the next day they declared political repression.



"Announcement of suspicion in the murder of activist Kateryna Handzyuk to the chairman of the Kherson Regional Council Vladyslav Manger is a political order against party leader Yulia Tymoshenko," the Batkivshchyna party said in a statement.



The party stressed that Mykola Palamarchuk, MP from Petro Poroshenkos bloc, appeared in this case, therefore the General Prosecutors Office is doing everything to remove the charges from the members of the current presidents team.



Mangers suspicion has been declared solely for political purposes as a method of dishonest struggle for power. The security forces are clearly and coordinated working against Yulia Tymoshenko as the main competitor of Petro Poroshenko in the elections. They organize dirty provocations and carry out a political order, the statement said.



In turn, the team of the head of state hinted that Tymoshenko was simply not very picky when selecting a team, and recalled the story of the ex-member of the Batkivshchyna faction Viktor Lozynsky, who received 15 years in prison for the murder, and also the fugitive ex-deputies Volodymyr Oliynyk and Andriy Portnov, who before the joining Party of Regions were members of the Tymoshenkos team.

Mangers suspicion wasnt a surprise to Tymoshenkos headquarters. According to sources of 112.ua in the Batkivshchyna party, the members knew about the head of the Kherson Regional Council about three weeks ago. Interlocutors deny his involvement in the murder of Kateryna Handzyuk



Manger and Petro Poroshenkos bloc representatives have a common business, sometimes conflicts regarding shares arise... They decided to open a case before elections and strike on Yulia. After the election, the story will come to the end, sources believe.



According to media reports, Manger and Deputy Chairman of the Kherson Regional State Administration Yevgen Ryshchuk allegedly provided cover for businesses associated with deforestation in the Tsyurupinsky district of the Kherson region.



The interlocutors do not exclude that the case against Manger will not be the last one regarding Tymoshenkos associates (allegedly at the sight of law enforcement officers got the head of the party cell in the Kyiv region Kostyantyn Bondarev and 5 more party members) and will not pass unnoticed for her rating, however they add that they can adequately answer Poroshenko's headquarters. It is possible that the case of Handzyuk will become a serious problem for both favorites of the election race.January FroYo Sales Climb More Than 21 Percent Month-to-Month

SAN DIEGO, CA, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE  Generation Next (OTCQB: VEND) announced today that its flagship subsidiary and premium, robotic soft serve franchise, Reis & Irvys, has sold a milestone 200,000 cups of frozen yogurt. The announcement comes less than two months since the company announced it had sold its 100,000th cup.

Perhaps more importantly to the companys stakeholders and franchisees, yogurt sales both in dollar terms and cups sold witnessed a more than 21 percent increase month-on-month between December and January, as a result of increased installs and despite record breaking cold across a large portion of the U.S. in the wake of the Polar Vortex of 2019.

Our strong sales growth during what many have described as the cold spell of a generation should certainly alleviate any remaining concerns in terms of seasonal impact on sales performance, said Nick Yates, CEO of Generation Next.

By the Numbers

Reis & Irvys sold 45,491 cups of yogurt in January, representing $215,545 in consumer yogurt sales, compared to 37,494 cups sold worth $176,837 in consumer yogurt sales during December, a month-on-month increase of more than 21 percent, the company reports. The average sale price was $4.74 per cup in January.

With the exception of shopping malls, same store sales by category all increased month-to-month in January:

Colleges and universities witnessing sales growth of +46%

High schools, +46%

Corporate campuses, +41%

Family fun centers, +37%

Company officials attributed a slight decline (-7%) in shopping mall sales to the December holiday rush and subsequent leveling-off of foot traffic in January, while noting that the category remains a top performer.

Same store weekday sales increased by 25 percent, proving our product has a strong daily demand, Yates said. Meanwhile, weekend sales generated 34 percent of January revenue, the company reports.

Looking forward to a growth year

Generation Next CEO, Nick Yates said he was looking forward to a year of positive growth in 2019.

Being forced to slow the pace of installations late last year and during this first quarter of calendar 2019 is, of course, frustrating for everyone. But it is exciting to see what happens when Reis & Irvys robotic kiosks work as they should. Weve begun to see that impact in Januarys sales figures and the results speak for themselves. It shows us that we made the right decision, although not the easy one, in sacrificing some short-term installation targets in order to get our technology and quality control in line with our vision for the franchise. I feel like this year will prove that it was the right move for everyone, Yates said.

Manufacturing and delivery of Reis & Irvys robotic kiosks was paused temporarily late last year to allow time for design improvements, retrofitting and repair of existing machines in the field and in the warehouse. Generation Next announced earlier this month that it had entered into a manufacturing and engineering agreement with Stoelting Foodservice. Stoelting has played a key role in improving the engineering and technology used to build the first robots. The Company expects Stoelting to complement production from its current contract manufacturer during 2019. During the rest of fiscal year 2019, the Company estimates it will install an additional 100 to 150 robots bringing the total robots installed for the year between 290 and 340 with annual revenue recognized of $11.0 to $12.9 million. From July to December 2019, Generation Next expects to install 600 to 800 additional robots and recognize between $22.8 and $30.4 million.

For more information please email info@gennextbrands.com.

About Generation NEXT Franchise Brands, Inc.



Generation NEXT Franchise Brands, Inc., based in San Diego, California, is a publicly traded company on the OTC Markets trading under the symbol OTCBB:VEND. Generation NEXT Franchise Brands, Inc. is parent company to Reis and Irvy's, Inc. 19 Degrees Corporate Service and Generation NEXT Vending Robots.

About Reis & Irvys, Inc.



Reis & Irvys, Inc., is a subsidiary franchise concept of Generation NEXT Franchise Brands, Inc. (VEND). Launched in early 2016, the revolutionary Reis & Irvys Vending Robot serves frozen yogurt, ice cream, sorbets and gelatos, a choice of up to six custom toppings and to customers within 60 seconds or less at the point of sale. The unique franchise opportunity has since established itself as a high-demand product and currently showcases a franchise network both domestically as well as internationally.

This information is not an earnings statement and is not intended as an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, a franchise. It is for information purposes only. No Reis & Irvy's franchises will be sold to any resident of any state until the offering has been exempted from the requirements of, or duly registered in and declared effective by, such state and the required FDD (if any) has been delivered to the prospective franchisee before the sale in compliance with applicable law. Currently, the following states in the United States regulate the offer and sale of franchises: California, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. If you reside in one of these states, or even if you reside elsewhere, you may have certain rights under applicable franchise laws or regulations.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements concerning our future financial performance, including statements regarding: our ability to generate revenue and recognize deferred revenue; our ability to timely launch delivery and installation of our frozen yogurt robots; and our ability to grow our franchising and licensing divisions and launch our corporate-owned and direct sales platforms. The Company bases these forward-looking statements on its current expectations, estimates and projections about future events and the industry in which it operates using information currently available to it. Actual results could differ materially from those discussed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are identified by words such as "believe," "anticipate," "propose," "expect," "intend," "plan," "will," "may," "estimates," variations of such words and other similar expressions. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are set forth in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2018, our Quarterly Reports, and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. Be advised that developments subsequent to this press release are likely to cause these statements to become outdated and the Company is under no obligation (and expressly disclaims any such obligation) to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.Dublin, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Elastomeric Foam Market by Type (Natural Rubber/Latex, Synthetic Rubber (Nitrile-Butadiene Rubber, Ethylene-Propylene Diamine Monomer, Chloroprene)), End-Use Industry (HVAC, Automotive, Electrical & Electronics), and Region - Global Forecast to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



Superior properties of elastomeric foam as an insulation material and significant growth of the end-use industries of elastomeric foam, including HVAC are the factors driving the elastomeric foam market



The global elastomeric foam market is estimated at USD 1.28 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 1.75 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 6.5% between 2018 and 2023.



The market is witnessing growth due to the excellent properties of elastomeric foam that make it suitable for use as an insulation material. The factors such as the increasing use of elastomeric foam in various applications in the industries such as automotive, healthcare, electrical & electronics, and others that include consumer goods and industrial goods and many favorable initiatives encouraging energy efficiency undertaken by the governments in many countries offer lucrative opportunities for the growth of the elastomeric foam market.



However, a lack of awareness about the benefits of insulation in commercial and institutional buildings and thus, a comparatively lesser usage of insulation as compared with what it actually should be is the major factor restraining the growth of the market.



HVAC is projected to be the fastest-growing end-use industry of elastomeric foam during the forecast period. The increased demand from the HVAC industry is attributed to the growing use of elastomeric foam as an insulation material in HVAC systems.



The APAC region is projected to be the fastest-growing market for elastomeric foam during the forecast period. The growth of the elastomeric foam market in this region is growing due to the rapid growth of the building & construction industry, thereby, requiring the installation of new HVAC systems, which in turn, drives the demand of elastomeric foam in APAC.



Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights

4.1 Elastomeric Foam Market Attractiveness

4.2 Elastomeric Foam Market, By Region

4.3 Elastomeric Foam Market, Bytype

4.4 Synthetic Elastomeric Foam Market in APAC , By Type and Country

4.5 Elastomeric Foam Market, Regional Share



5 Market Overview

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Market Dynamics

5.2.1 Drivers

5.2.1.1 Superior Properties of Elastomeric Foams

5.2.1.2 Growth in the End-Use Industries of Elastomeric Foams

5.2.2 Restraints

5.2.2.1 Lack of Awareness About the Benefits of Insulation

5.2.3 Opportunities

5.2.3.1 Growing Opportunities in the Healthcare Sector

5.2.3.2 Stringent Government Regulations Encouraging Energy Efficiency

5.2.4 Challenges

5.2.4.1 Difficulty in the Disposal of Elastomeric Foams

5.3 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.3.1 Threat of New Entrants

5.3.2 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

5.3.3 Threat of Substitutes

5.3.4 Bargaining Power of Buyers

5.3.5 Intensity of Competitive Rivalry

5.4 Macroeconomic Overview and Trends

5.4.1 Introduction

5.4.2 Construction Contribution to GDP

5.4.3 Trends of the Automotive Industry



6 Elastomeric Foam Market, By Type

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Natural Rubber/ Latex

6.3 Synthetic Rubber

6.3.1 Nitrile Butadiene Rubber (NBR)

6.3.2 Ethylene Propylene Dine Monomer (EPDM)

6.3.3 Chloroprene (CR)

6.3.4 Others



7 Elastomeric Foam Market: By End-Use Industry

7.1 Introduction

7.2 HVAC

7.3 Automotive

7.4 Electrical & Electronics

7.5 Others



8 Elastomeric Foammarket, By Region

8.1 Introduction

8.2 APAC

8.2.1 China

8.2.2 Japan

8.2.3 India

8.2.4 South Korea

8.2.5 Rest of APAC

8.3 North America

8.3.1 US

8.3.2 Canada

8.3.3 Mexico

8.4 Europe

8.4.1 Germany

8.4.2 UK

8.4.3 France

8.4.4 Italy

8.4.5 Russia

8.4.6 Rest of Europe

8.5 South America

8.5.1 Brazil

8.5.2 Argentina

8.5.3 Rest of South America

8.6 Middle East & Africa

8.6.1 Saudi Arabia

8.6.2 Iran

8.6.3 South Africa

8.6.4 Rest of Middle East & Africa



9 Competitive Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Market Ranking Analysis

9.3 Competitive Situation & Trends

9.3.1 Expansions

9.3.2 Acquisitions

9.3.3 New Product Launches

9.3.4 Joint Ventures and Agreements



10 Company Profiles

10.1 Armacell International S.A.

10.2 Hira Industries

10.3 Zotefoams PLC.

10.4 L'isolante K-Flex S.P.A.

10.5 Kaimann GmbH

10.6 Huamei Energy-Saving Technology Group Co.,Ltd

10.7 Jinan Retek Industries Inc

10.8 Aeroflex USA, Inc.

10.9 NMC SA

10.10 Anavid

10.11 Additional Company Profiles

10.11.1 Roka Yalitim

10.11.2 Rubberlite, Inc.

10.11.3 Rogers Foam Corporation

10.11.4 Rogers Corporation

10.11.5 ODE Insulation

10.11.6 Kingwell World Industries, Inc

10.11.7 Recaa Insulation Systems Sdn. Bhd.

10.11.8 ERA Polymers

10.11.9 Merryweather Foam, Inc.

10.11.10 Grando

10.11.11 Sekisui Plastics Co. Ltd.

10.11.12 China Ining Industrial Group Co., Ltd



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5h9dc2/1_75_bn?w=12

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.Alte decizii luate in sedinta de Guvern

In sedinta de astazi, Guvernul a prelungit perioada pana la care firmele din domeniul HoReCa, unul din cele mai afectate de la debutul pandemiei, sunt scutite de plata impozitului specific. Facilitatea este valabila pana la sfarsitul acestui an. De la 1 ianuarie anul viitor, alocatia copiilor pana la 2 ani, sau 3 ani [citeste mai departe]Posted Thursday, February 14, 2019 4:52 am

Editor,

Last September I testified before the hearing examiner during the Deschutes Neighborhood Group appeal that challenged Verizons application for the Vail Road cell tower facility. I focused my testimony on Verizons 20 page Summary Report submitted by their hired expert Paul Kerlinger.

Not one study in the report was relevant to the placement of the Vail Road tower. Quoting Kerlingers words, I highlighted his arrogance in citing his own studies exclusively; in attempting to control the narrative by repeatedly ridiculing 50 years of taxpayer funded research establishing code that restricts cell towers from wetland habitat. I shone a light on his bias and faulty conclusions to the point of objection by both attorneys who questioned my authority to speak. Their objection was overruled by the hearing examiner.

I am a Thurston County taxpayer; one of thousands who have funded 50 years of research that supports protecting Designated Wildlife Refuge Areas from telecom towers. Granted, the Vail Road site is not a designated refuge yet.

However, county employee Tony Kantas knowingly disregarded a $4 million taxpayer funded Wildlife Refuge Habitat Project under construction at the Vail Road site that will soon be designated a wildlife refuge by the cities of Lacey, Yelm and Olympia. Kantas was aware of this project and gave no prior indication to the hearing examiner. The significance of the Wildlife Refuge Project should have forestalled Verizons initial application three years ago as illegitimate. Kantas was admonished by the hearing examiner on that regard.

The fact of truth is standing: Verizons application, approved on Dec. 21, 2018 by Commissioners John Hutchings, Bud Blake and Gary Edwards, rewrites the code. It establishes a new precedence that overrides 50 years of Washington state taxpayer funded research. This is the only reason Verizon persisted with this particular location; to establish precedence in Thurston County Code. The new code now allows any telecom to place a cell tower in any wildlife refuge habitat across Washington state, and potentially throughout the nation, designated or not.

Have we lost respect for the health and safety of our local wildlife, residents and tax dollars?

Diane Dondero

RainierNet Income of $7.5 billion or $3.40 per share

FFO of $4.4 billion or $4.36 per share

BROOKFIELD, NEWS, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (NYSE: BAM, TSX: BAM.A, Euronext: BAMA), a leading global alternative asset manager, today announced financial results for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Bruce Flatt, CEO of Brookfield, stated, "We had a record year, generating $7.5 billion of net income. Fundraising has been strong and included the recent closing of our largest flagship real estate fund to date at $15 billion, as well as a $7 billion first close for our flagship private equity fund. We invested or committed $35 billion into new transactions during the year, and ended the year with $34 billion of capital for deployment globally."

Operating Results

Unaudited

For the periods ended December 31

(US$ millions, except per share amounts) Three Months Ended Years Ended 2018 2017 2018 2017 Net income1 $ 3,028 $ 2,083 $ 7,488 $ 4,551 Per Brookfield share2 1.87 1.02 3.40 1.34 Funds from operations2,3 $ 1,356 $ 1,301 $ 4,401 $ 3,810 Per Brookfield share2,3 1.35 1.28 4.35 3.74

1. Consolidated basis  includes amounts attributable to non-controlling interests.

2. Excludes amounts attributable to non-controlling interests.

3. See Basis of Presentation on page 8 and a reconciliation of net income to FFO on page 5.

Net income and funds from operations (FFO) for 2018 were our largest to date. Net income reached $7.5 billion and FFO exceeded $4.4 billion for the year, a 65% and 16% increase from the prior year, respectively. FFO would have been $4.5 billion or $0.11 per share higher if not for the impact of the year end volatility on our financial assets, much of which has reversed in the first quarter following the market recovery.

Fee related earnings (after costs) contributed more than $1.1 billion to FFO in 2018, a 26% increase from the prior period, reflecting growth in our private fund fee bearing capital and increased fees from our listed partnerships. FFO from invested capital increased as a result of acquisitions made across our businesses and a full year of contributions from investments made in the prior year. Organic growth was strong across the portfolio, particularly in our private equity business as a result of improved pricing within our industrial operations.

Disposition gains contributed FFO of $1.5 billion for the year. We monetized several investments across our portfolio including an Australian energy company in our private equity business and a North American logistics business in our real estate operations. These sales marked significant milestones for the funds in which the assets were held, as we have now returned 100% of the capital originally invested in the funds, delivered the preferred return to our investors and have now started to recognize carried interest in both funds.

Dividend Declaration

The Board declared a quarterly dividend of US$0.16 per share (representing US$0.64 per annum), payable on March 29, 2019 to shareholders of record as at the close of business on February 28, 2019. This represents a 7% increase over the prior year. The Board also declared the regular monthly and quarterly dividends on its preferred shares.

Operating Highlights

Fee bearing capital reached $138 billion, a 10% increase over December 2017, led by fundraising for our latest vintage of flagship funds.

We had our most successful fundraising year, closing $26 billion of capital across our various product offerings, including a $7 billion first close of our fifth flagship private equity fund, and $9 billion of capital for our third flagship real estate fund ("BSREP III"). We raised $10 billion of capital across a variety of other strategies, including over $1 billion in our long-life real estate funds, $1 billion in the first close of our long-life infrastructure fund and $6 billion in co-investments. We also launched fundraising for our latest flagship infrastructure fund.

BSREP III held its final close in January and reached a total fund size of $15 billion, inclusive of $3.75 billion from BAM and BPY, making it our largest real estate fund to date.

Contributing to the success of our fundraising efforts was significant progress made within our private wealth channel. We raised $2 billion during 2018 from multiple channels, including private banks and registered investment advisors.

Fee bearing capital growth has led to a record $3 billion run-rate of annualized fees and target carry, up 20% from December 2017.

Annualized fee revenues increased to $1.5 billion, or $927 million after costs, attributable to fees from new funds raised. Target carried interest increased 43% to $1.4 billion, or $1.0 billion after costs, as a result of the fundraising activity throughout the year.

In 2018, we realized $254 million of carried interest before costs, including $100 million from our first flagship real estate fund and $90 million from our fourth private equity fund. Both of these funds have now returned investors' initial capital plus a preferred return, enabling us to recognize realized carried interest, and if our plans are achieved, we expect to generate significant carry in 2019 with other dispositions.

In 2018, we surpassed $2 billion of free cash generated and available for distribution to shareholders and expect this to continue to increase.

Our asset management franchise generated over $1.3 billion of cash as recent fundraising and listed partnership fees drove growth in fee related earnings. Our invested capital generated $1.7 billion in distributions as a result of strong growth in FFO per unit. We expect free cash flow to continue increasing along with the growth in fee related earnings and distributions from invested capital and will be further supplemented by carried interest.

We invested or committed $35 billion of capital in 2018 and have $34 billion of available liquidity to deploy.

Despite our cautious attitude toward investing, we continued to find a number of attractive investments during 2018. Our real estate business completed the $15 billion acquisition of a retail mall portfolio as well as the acquisition of an $11 billion premier portfolio of largely office and residential properties, cementing our position as the dominant owner of mixed-use property in the U.S. Our infrastructure business closed several notable deals, including the acquisition of a leading residential energy infrastructure provider, as well as a group of natural gas midstream transportation assets. Our renewable power business acquired a Spanish portfolio of solar and wind assets, allowing us to further expand our European operations. Finally, our private equity business closed the acquisition of an infrastructure services business servicing the power industry, and most recently announced an agreement to purchase a leading global battery manufacturing business. With $11 billion of core liquidity and $23 billion of uncalled fund commitments, we continue to source investment opportunities to deploy this capital at attractive returns.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

Unaudited

(US$ millions) December 31 December 31 2018 2017 Assets Cash and cash equivalents $ 8,390 $ 5,139 Other financial assets 6,227 4,800 Accounts receivable and other 16,931 11,973 Inventory 6,989 6,311 Assets classified as held for sale 2,185 1,605 Equity accounted investments 33,647 31,994 Investment properties 84,309 56,870 Property, plant and equipment 67,294 53,005 Intangible assets 18,762 14,242 Goodwill 8,815 5,317 Deferred income tax assets 2,732 1,464 Total Assets $ 256,281 $ 192,720 Liabilities and Equity Corporate borrowings $ 6,409 $ 5,659 Accounts payable and other 24,801 19,389 Non-recourse borrowings of managed entities 111,809 72,730 Deferred income tax liabilities 12,236 11,409 Subsidiary equity obligations 3,876 3,661 Equity Preferred equity 4,168 4,192 Non-controlling interests in net assets 67,335 51,628 Common equity 25,647 24,052 Total Equity 97,150 79,872 Total Liabilities and Equity $ 256,281 $ 192,720







CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

Unaudited

For the periods ended December 31

(US$ millions, except per share amounts) Three Months Ended Years Ended 2018 2017 2018 2017 Revenues $ 16,006 $ 13,065 $ 56,771 $ 40,786 Direct costs (12,680 ) (10,635 ) (45,519 ) (32,388 ) Other income and gains 585 944 1,166 1,180 Equity accounted income 408 123 1,088 1,213 Expenses Interest (1,477 ) (968 ) (4,854 ) (3,608 ) Corporate costs (28 ) (26 ) (104 ) (95 ) Fair value changes 257 280 1,794 421 Depreciation and amortization (927 ) (590 ) (3,102 ) (2,345 ) Income tax 884 (110 ) 248 (613 ) Net income $ 3,028 $ 2,083 $ 7,488 $ 4,551 Net income attributable to: Brookfield shareholders $ 1,884 $ 1,046 $ 3,584 $ 1,462 Non-controlling interests 1,144 1,037 3,904 3,089 $ 3,028 $ 2,083 $ 7,488 $ 4,551 Net income per share Diluted $ 1.87 $ 1.02 $ 3.40 $ 1.34 Basic 1.91 1.05 3.47 1.37





SUMMARIZED FINANCIAL RESULTS

RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME TO FUNDS FROM OPERATIONS

Unaudited

For the periods ended December 31

(US$ millions) Three Months Ended Years Ended 2018 2017 2018 2017 Net income $ 3,028 $ 2,083 $ 7,488 $ 4,551 Realized disposition gains in fair value changes or prior periods 543 465 1,445 1,116 Non-controlling interests (1,844 ) (2,091 ) (6,015 ) (4,964 ) Financial statement components not included in FFO Equity accounted fair value changes and other non-FFO items 222 508 1,284 856 Fair value changes (257 ) (280 ) (1,794 ) (421 ) Depreciation and amortization 927 590 3,102 2,345 Deferred income taxes (1,263 ) 26 (1,109 ) 327 Funds from operations1,2 $ 1,356 $ 1,301 $ 4,401 $ 3,810

SEGMENT FUNDS FROM OPERATIONS

Unaudited

For the periods ended December 31

(US$ millions, except per share amounts) Three Months Ended Years Ended 2018 2017 2018 2017 Asset management $ 393 $ 362 $ 1,317 $ 970 Real estate 677 636 1,786 2,004 Renewable power 114 93 328 270 Infrastructure 95 91 602 345 Private equity 212 32 795 333 Residential 52 96 49 34 Corporate (187 ) (9 ) (476 ) (146 ) Funds from operations1,2 $ 1,356 $ 1,301 $ 4,401 $ 3,810 Per share3 $ 1.35 $ 1.28 $ 4.35 $ 3.74

Non-IFRS measure  see Basis of Presentation on page 8. Excludes amounts attributable to non-controlling interests. Per share amounts are inclusive of dilutive effect of mandatorily redeemable preferred shares held in a consolidated subsidiary.

EARNINGS PER SHARE

Unaudited

For the periods ended December 31

(US$ millions, except per share amounts) Three Months Ended Years Ended 2018 2017 2018 2017 Net income $ 3,028 $ 2,083 $ 7,488 $ 4,551 Non-controlling interests (1,144 ) (1,037 ) (3,904 ) (3,089 ) Net income attributable to shareholders 1,884 1,046 3,584 1,462 Preferred share dividends (37 ) (39 ) (151 ) (145 ) Dilutive effect of conversion of subsidiary preferred shares (18 )  (105 )  Net income available to common shareholders $ 1,829 $ 1,007 $ 3,328 $ 1,317 Weighted average shares 957.6 959.2 957.6 958.8 Dilutive effect of the conversion of options and escrowed shares

using treasury stock method1 18.2 24.2 19.8 21.2 Shares and share equivalents 975.8 983.4 977.4 980.0 Diluted earnings per share2 $ 1.87 $ 1.02 $ 3.40 $ 1.34

Includes management share option plan and escrowed stock plan. Per share amounts are inclusive of dilutive effect of mandatorily redeemable preferred shares held in a consolidated subsidiary.

CASH AVAILABLE FOR DISTRIBUTION

Unaudited

For the periods ended December 31 (US$ millions) Three Months Ended Years Ended 2018 2017 2018 2017 Fee related earnings3 $ 227 $ 316 $ 1,129 $ 896 Distributions from investments 440 352 1,698 1,351 Other invested capital earnings Corporate interest expense (82 ) (70 ) (323 ) (261 ) Corporate costs and taxes (57 ) (12 ) (163 ) (39 ) Other wholly owned investments 54 148 41 23 (85 ) 66 (445 ) (277 ) Preferred share dividends (37 ) (39 ) (151 ) (145 ) Cash available for distribution before realized carried interest 545 695 2,231 1,825 Realized carried interest, net3 166 46 188 74 Cash available for distribution and reinvestment $ 711 $ 741 $ 2,419 $ 1,899

3. Non-IFRS measure  see Basis of Presentation on page 8.

Additional Information

The Letter to Shareholders and the companys Supplemental Information for the three months ended December 31, 2018 contain further information on the companys strategy, operations and financial results. Shareholders are encouraged to read these documents, which are available on the companys website.

The statements contained herein are based primarily on information that has been extracted from our financial statements for the quarter ended December 31, 2018, which have been prepared using IFRS, as issued by the IASB. The amounts have not been audited by Brookfields external auditor.

Brookfield's Board of Directors have reviewed and approved this document, including the summarized unaudited consolidated financial statements prior to its release.

Information on our dividends can be found on our website under Stock & Distributions/Distribution History.

Quarterly Earnings Call Details

Investors, analysts and other interested parties can access Brookfield Asset Managements 2018 Year End Results as well as the Shareholders Letter and Supplemental Information on Brookfields website under the Reports & Filings section at www.brookfield.com .

To participate in the Conference Call, please dial 1-866-688-9425 toll free in North America, or for overseas calls please dial 1-409-216-0815 (Conference ID: 7174879) at approximately 10:50 a.m. The Conference Call will also be Webcast live at www.brookfield.com under Brookfield Asset Management/Events and Presentations. For those unable to participate in the Conference Call, the telephone replay will be archived and available until midnight March 14, 2019. To access this rebroadcast, please call 1-855-859-2056 or 1-404-537-3406 (Conference ID: 7174879).

Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is a leading global alternative asset manager with over $350 billion in assets under management. The company has a 120-year history of owning and operating assets with a focus on real estate, renewable power, infrastructure and private equity. Brookfield offers a range of public and private investment products and services, and is co-listed on the New York, Toronto and Euronext stock exchanges under the symbol BAM, BAM.A and BAMA, respectively. For more information, please visit our website at www.brookfield.com .

Please note that Brookfields previous audited annual and unaudited quarterly reports have been filed on EDGAR and SEDAR and can also be found in the investor section of its website at www.brookfield.com . Hard copies of the annual and quarterly reports can be obtained free of charge upon request.

For more information, please visit our website at www.brookfield.com or contact:

Communications & Media:

Claire Holland

Vice President, Branding & Communications

Tel: (416) 369-8236

Email: claire.holland@brookfield.com Investor Relations

Linda Northwood

Director, Investor Relations

Tel: (416) 359-8647

Email: linda.northwood@brookfield.com



Basis of Presentation

This news release and accompanying financial statements are based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), unless otherwise noted.

We make reference to Funds from Operations (FFO). We define FFO as net income attributable to shareholders prior to fair value changes, depreciation and amortization, and deferred income taxes, and include realized disposition gains that are not recorded in net income as determined under IFRS. FFO also includes the companys share of equity accounted investments FFO on a fully diluted basis. FFO consists of the following components:

FFO from Operating Activities represents the companys share of revenues less direct costs and interest expenses; excludes realized carried interest and disposition gains, fair value changes, depreciation and amortization and deferred income taxes; and includes our proportionate share of FFO from operating activities recorded by equity accounted investments on a fully diluted basis. We present this measure as we believe it assists in describing our results and variances within FFO.



Realized Carried Interest represents our contractual share of investment gains generated within a private fund after considering our clients minimum return requirements. Realized carried interest is determined on third-party capital that is no longer subject to future investment performance.



Realized Disposition Gains are included in FFO because we consider the purchase and sale of assets to be a normal part of the companys business. Realized disposition gains include gains and losses recorded in net income and equity in the current period, and are adjusted to include fair value changes and revaluation surplus balances recorded in prior periods which were not included in prior period FFO.

We use FFO to assess our operating results and the value of Brookfields business and believe that many shareholders and analysts also find this measure of value to them.

We note that FFO, its components, and its per share equivalent are non-IFRS measures which do not have any standard meaning prescribed by IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers and entities.

We make reference to Invested Capital. Invested Capital is defined as the amount of common equity in our segments and underlying businesses within the segments.

We make reference to Generated or Unrealized Carried Interest, which represents our share of fund profits if all of our funds were wound up and liquidated at period end values. We use this measure to gain additional insight into how investment performance is impacting our ability to earn carried interest in the future.

We make reference to cash flows before common share dividends that is Available for distribution or reinvestment. It is the sum of our Asset Management segment FFO and distributions received from our ownership of investments, net of Corporate activities FFO and preferred share dividends. This provides insight into earnings received by the corporation that are available for distribution to common shareholders or to be reinvested into the business.

We provide additional information on key terms and non-IFRS measures in our filings available at www.brookfield.com .

Notice to Readers

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian provincial securities laws and forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and in any applicable Canadian securities regulations. Forward-looking statements include statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, include statements regarding the operations, business, financial condition, expected financial results, performance, prospects, opportunities, priorities, targets, goals, ongoing objectives, strategies and outlook of Brookfield and its subsidiaries, as well as the outlook for North American and international economies for the current fiscal year and subsequent periods, and include words such as expects, anticipates, plans, believes, estimates, seeks, intends, targets, projects, forecasts or negative versions thereof and other similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as may, will, should, would and could.

Where this press release refers to target carried interest it is based on an assumption that existing funds meet their target gross returns. Target gross returns are typically ~20% for opportunistic funds; 10% to 15% for value add, credit and core funds. Fee terms vary by investment strategy and may change over time.

Although we believe that our anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements and information are based upon reasonable assumptions and expectations, the reader should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond our control, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Brookfield to differ materially from anticipated future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and information.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated or implied by forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: investment returns that are lower than target; the impact or unanticipated impact of general economic, political and market factors in the countries in which we do business; the behavior of financial markets, including fluctuations in interest and foreign exchange rates; global equity and capital markets and the availability of equity and debt financing and refinancing within these markets; strategic actions including dispositions; the ability to complete and effectively integrate acquisitions into existing operations and the ability to attain expected benefits; changes in accounting policies and methods used to report financial condition (including uncertainties associated with critical accounting assumptions and estimates); the ability to appropriately manage human capital; the effect of applying future accounting changes; business competition; operational and reputational risks; technological change; changes in government regulation and legislation within the countries in which we operate; governmental investigations; litigation; changes in tax laws; ability to collect amounts owed; catastrophic events, such as earthquakes and hurricanes; the possible impact of international conflicts and other developments including terrorist acts and cyber terrorism; and other risks and factors detailed from time to time in our documents filed with the securities regulators in Canada and the United States.

Due to various risks, uncertainties and changes (including changes in economic, operational, political or other circumstances) beyond Brookfields control, the actual performance of the funds could differ materially from the target returns set forth herein. In addition, industry experts may disagree with the assumptions used in presenting the target returns. No assurance, representation or warranty is made by any person that the target returns will be achieved, and undue reliance should not be put on them.

We caution that the foregoing list of important factors that may affect future results is not exhaustive. When relying on our forward-looking statements, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Except as required by law, Brookfield undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether written or oral, that may be as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

This news release does not constitute an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any Brookfield securities, products, or services.Iranian demonstrators shout slogans during a rally marking the 34th anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. Embassy outside the former U.S. embassy in downtown Tehran, capital of Iran, on Nov. 4, 2013. (Xinhua File photo)

BAGHDAD, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Poland hosted a two-day international conference sponsored by the United States over peace and security in the Middle East region, to discuss the political situation and the role of Iran in regional development.

However, Iraqi analysts believe the meeting is nothing but an attempt to rally international support to isolate Iran diplomatically and economically.

Ibrahim al-Ameri, a political analyst, told Xinhua "although the United States invited dozens of world states to the conference, but many states, including of its allies, have declined to attend or send low-level representation."

"Originally, the United States was planning that such rally would close the ranks of countries who oppose Iran's negative role in the region, but the limited participation pushed Washington to change the conference agenda saying it will not only focus on Iran but would tackle wider range of issues in the Middle East region," Ameri said.

Despite retitling the agenda to focus on peace and security in the Middle East, many, including European diplomats, still believe that U.S. officials will derail the goal of the conference to adopt the U.S. anti-Iran rhetoric.

"Many countries are not interested in building up anti-Iran coalition that would make them appear like lining up behind Trump's hardline approach to Iran issue," Ameri said.

The absence of some effective regional and international players in the Middle East, such as Russia, the European Union (EU), Palestine, Turkey, Qatar, Lebanon, reflects the growing anger over unilateral U.S. policymaking with regard to Iran and Syria, Ameri concluded.

The EU remains strongly opposed to the withdrawal of the United States from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal and resisted second batch of U.S. sanctions and continued trade with Iran.

"The trade of EU countries with Iraq continued despite the second batch of U.S. sanctions late last year, because the ongoing trade made Iran committed to the nuclear deal, and EU believes that they should not push Iran to abandon the nuclear deal," Ameri added.

Late last year, the United States has restored sanctions on Iran's oil industry as well as its banking and transport industry.

Washington withdrew from Iran's landmark 2015 nuclear deal in May and imposed second batch of sanctions against Tehran in November, targeting Iran's shipping, financial and energy sectors.

For his part, Nadhum Abdullah, an Iraqi expert in Iranian affairs, told Xinhua that the United States is seeking to form an anti-Iran coalition from some of the Gulf countries in addition to Jordan and Egypt to protect its interests in the Middle East and allied regional states from what said to be Iranian threat.

The proposed U.S.-sponsored coalition against Iran came as fears raised in the region by the increase of Iran's influence in the region after the rise of Iranian-backed Shiite Islam in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and parts of the Gulf countries.

"If formed, such anti-Iran coalition would have bad impact on Iraq because of the strong Iranian influence in the country. Iran is expected to use its allied Shiite-led government, parliament, parties and militias in Iraq to breach the sanctions, in order to embarrass Washington by pressing to withdraw its forces," Abdullah said.

"Iran will face great economic and political hurdles by the continuing sanctions and that would affect its allies in Iraq and Lebanon and other areas," he added.

For his part, Abdul Aziz al-Jubouri, professor at Media College in Iraqiya University, told Xinhua that he believes the conference would fail, because many countries refused to be driven by U.S. anti-Iran rhetoric.

"Many of the world countries realize that the conference is only designed to adopt hostile steps toward Iran, just like Trump would like to do, and not to discuss peace and stability of the Middle East region," al-Jubouri said.

"The world has experiences from the past and present time; that every place the U.S. forces intervene would turn into a hotbed of tension, strife and devastation, as we have seen in Iraq and other places," al-Jubouri added.

Al-Jubouri predicted that the result of the conference "would either reflect the division about anti-Iran measures, or at best would show weak tendency to form a coalition against Iran."Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 06:19:43|Editor: Xiaoxia

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Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) shakes hands with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (L) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during their meeting in Sochi, Russia, on Feb. 14, 2019. Russia, Turkey and Iran on Thursday agreed on several key directions of future interaction in the settlement of the Syrian crisis after a trilateral summit of their presidents in the Russian city of Sochi. (Xinhua/Sputnik)

MOSCOW, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Russia, Turkey and Iran on Thursday agreed on several key directions of future interaction in the settlement of the Syrian crisis after a trilateral summit of their presidents in the Russian city of Sochi.

"It is very important that our three countries intend to strengthen cooperation within the framework of the Astana process, which proved its necessity," Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference, following "constructive and businesslike" talks with his Turkish and Iranian counterparts.

"We will continue to enhance our efforts in fighting terrorism, promoting intra-Syrian dialogue and improving the humanitarian situation in Syria," he said.

In particular, the presidents agreed to continue the efforts to eradicate militants in Syria's rebel-held Idlib province and to take additional steps in finally eliminating the tension and reaching stabilization in this region.

Meanwhile, the three countries will help Syria establish a committee to carry out constitutional reforms in the country, Putin said.

"We have agreed to contribute by joint efforts to the most rapid start of work of the constitutional committee, which is to work on the fundamental aspects of the future state system of Syria," he said.

It is necessary to approve the list of participants of the committee, most of which have already been agreed on with the Syrian government and the opposition, and elaborate regulations for the main parameters of its functioning, Putin added.

Russia, Turkey and Iran are guarantors of a ceasefire deal in Syria and have been mediating a peace process for the Syrian crisis since 2016.

Putin said the three guarantor countries have helped to create favorable conditions for Syria's transition to peaceful development.

"We are convinced that a durable stability in Syria can only be reached by political and diplomatic methods in accordance with the resolution 2254 of the UN Security Council and with strict observation of principles of unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country," he said.

He underlined the importance of humanitarian aid to Syria, saying that the three countries have contributed to the return of 1.5 million refugees.

On the other hand, he urged the international community to pool efforts so as to radically improve the situation in Syria, to eliminate acute social problems and to revive the economy.

"We call on all interested states and international organizations, primarily the UN, to intensify aid to Syrians in return to peaceful life and overcoming the consequences of the military conflict," Putin said.

The three presidents also discussed the further development of the situation in Syria after the U.S. announcement of plans to withdraw its troops from Syria's northeastern regions.

"We came to a general conclusion the implementation of these measures could become a positive step. It would help stabilize the situation in that part of Syria, where finally the control by the legitimate government should be restored," Putin said.

Echoing Putin's remarks, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said it would be "good news" for local population if the U.S. completely withdraws its troops from Syria and other countries in the region.

Therefore, he urged Washington to revise its Middle East policy, which is currently exerting negative influence on countries in the region.

"In the past 20 years, America has constantly played a destructive role in our region: in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Syria, and today in Yemen...What we want or hope is that the U.S. will reconsider its policy towards the region," Rouhani said.

He also noted that several things need to be taken into account for the sake of achieving peace and stability in Syria, including no foreign intervention, the assistance of the international community and the fight against terrorism.

Speaking at the press conference, Turkish President Recep Erdogan reaffirmed the importance of resolving the situation in Idlib.

"We do not want new tragedies, new humanitarian crises in Syria, or in other regions, or in Idlib...We will continue to do everything possible to implement the Idlib memorandum," he said.

Erdogan stressed that Turkey will coordinate actions with Russia and Iran in the process of the U.S. troops pullout while taking into account of Syria's territorial integrity and eliminating the threats of terrorism, especially on the border areas.

According to Putin, the trilateral summit is expected to promote further productive work leading to the final restoration of peace and stability in Syria, and the three countries have agreed that the next round of such consultations will take place in Astana in the end of March or the beginning of April.

Regular meetings at the expert level will also be continued with the participation of the guarantor countries' delegations, Syrian parties, government and opposition, as well as UN representatives.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 05:44:38|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed William Barr, President Donald Trump's nominee, to become the next attorney general.

The vote was 54-45, which fell largely along party lines with most Republicans backing and most Democrats opposing. Republicans have a 53-47 majority over Democrats in the Senate.

Rand Paul was the only Republican senator who voted against Barr in the voting, while three Democratic senators broke with their party and supported him.

Barr is expected to be sworn in Thursday afternoon in the Oval Office at the White House. He will head the Department of Justice, overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into the alleged Russia meddling in the 2016 elections and the possible collusion with Trump's campaign.

Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, characterized Barr as an "outstanding" pick to lead the agency, and his Republican colleague Chuck Grassley added that Barr will be "a straight shooter and an individual who is willing to engage in productive discussion with Congress."

In comparison, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said before the vote on Barr on Thursday that the circumstances around Mueller's probe make the threshold for supporting an attorney general nominee higher than normal.

"The next attorney general must be a public servant in the truest sense, with the integrity, the force of will, and the independence to navigate the Justice Department - and maybe our democracy - through treacherous waters. Mr. Barr's attitude: leave it to me. That is not good enough," Schumer said.

During his confirmation hearing earlier this year, Barr, 68, assured senators of his independence and said that he would not be bullied by anyone into doing something he believes is wrong if he becomes the attorney general.

Barr also said he would not allow any interference with the Mueller probe, adding that he would release the special counsel's final report as much as he could under the law.

The special counsel has so far indicted or gotten guilty pleas from 34 people, including six former Trump associates and over two dozen Russian nationals, as well as three Russian entities. Trump has repeatedly dismissed any collusion between his campaign and Moscow, while slamming the Mueller probe as a "hoax" or "witch hunt."

Barr is a longtime lawyer and Department of Justice veteran who has served as attorney general from 1991 to 1993 in the George H.W. Bush administration.

Jeff Sessions recused himself early in his tenure from the Russia probe and resigned at Trump's request one day after the Nov. 6 midterm elections. Matthew Whitaker has served as acting attorney general during the vacancy.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 05:39:37|Editor: yan

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BERLIN, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- An investigative committee on the allegedly wrongful award of contracts to external consultants in the German Ministry of Defense initiated its investigation on Thursday.

According to the German federal audit office (Bundesrechnungshof), the Defense Ministry under the supervision of German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has spent at least 200 million euros (225.7 million U.S. dollars) on external consultants during 2015 and 2016.

Some of the contracts allegedly have been awarded illegally while the German defense ministry is also being accused of suffering from nepotism.

Consultancy contracts on such "a large scale" and in some cases even without contracts would not be awarded without a political order from above, said Matthias Hoehn, security policy spokesman of the Left party in the German parliament. Defense Minister Von der Leyen would have to "take the responsibility for this consultant scandal".

At the beginning of February, the German government announced, following a request of left-wing politician Hoehn, that at least 1.2 billion euros had been spent on external consultants between 2006 and 2018.

However, these figures were not complete as many records of awarded contracts would not be needed to be kept for more than five years.(1 euro = 1.13 U.S. dollars)Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 05:29:33|Editor: yan

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump is prepared to sign a bipartisan bill on spending and border security to avert another government shutdown, but also declare a national emergency to obtain funds for his long-promised border wall, the White House said Thursday.

"President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action - including a national emergency - to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

"The President is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country," she said.

Minutes earlier, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell broke the news of Trump's plan. He made the announcement on the Senate floor and said the Senate will soon vote on the bill that's needed to avoid a partial federal shutdown Friday.

"I indicated I'm going to support the national emergency declaration," said McConnell.

The bipartisan bill will keep the federal government running through the fiscal year but does not provide the 5.7 billion U.S. dollars Trump wanted for the border wall with Mexico. The House of Representatives is also expected to vote on the legislation later Thursday.

A national emergency declaration, which would allow the president to bypass Congress and use the military to build the wall, is widely expected to spark lawsuits challenging the president's authority.

Local media, quoting congressional sources, said Tuesday that the bill would include 1.375 billion dollars for physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump had demanded 5.7 billion dollars in funding for the border wall, his signature campaign promise.A shop owner arranges gifts on the occasion of the Valentine's Day in Syria's capital Damascus on Feb. 13, 2019. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

DAMASCUS, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Teddybears, roses and heart-shaped pillows are losing their glamor as the traditional Valentine's Day gifts this year in Damascus, capital of Syria, as the eight-year war and resulting economic hardships have stripped the majority of the people of the surprise of the happy day.

In the marketplaces of the Syrian capital, many merchants started on the wrong foot in an obvious recession, in addition to hard weather conditions.

Take the time-honored Hamidiyeh Souk, vendors there are sitting idly in their shops, hoping to sell the Valentine's gifts to the young people.

They said most of the people just come in the shops to ask about the prices and then leave "without sliding their hands in their pockets."

Muhammad, 41, a shop owner at the souk, was sitting near his shop and flipping between photos on his smartphone.

"The sales this year are so weak ... People used to come and buy gifts," he said.

Syrians buy gifts at the Christian neighborhood of al-Qasaa in Damascus, Syria, on Feb. 13, 2019, one day ahead of the Valentine's Day. (EPA photo)

Notably, despite the security improvement in the capital, many still feel uncomfortable about the situation, saying they are being haunted by something called post-war depression.

However, the most solid reason behind is the tough economic situation, which deteriorated recently as the Western powers, mainly the United States, tightened their sanctions on war-torn Syria.

On Jan. 24, the U.S. government announced additional sanctions on Syria as well as every entity that deals economically with the war-torn country.

Basic necessities such as electricity, cooking gas and the fuel for heating have become scarce.

Additionally, the value of the Syrian pound against the U.S. dollar has dropped 10 percent over the past few days.

Muhammad, the merchant, told Xinhua that a large number of young men over 18 are doing their mandatory military service in Syria, another reason for this year's less warm Valentine's Day.

However, Fadi, a 20-year-old man, told Xinhua that people should always focus on the upside of things.

"True that the economic situation is hard nowadays in Damascus, but people should be thankful for the return of peace to the capital," he said.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 04:34:21|Editor: yan

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ALGIERS, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Algerian army on Wednesday arrested three terrorist suspects in the western province of Oran and retrieved many weapons in the eastern province of Skikda, the defense ministry said Thursday.

The three are suspected of providing support to terrorist groups, as they were arrested by counterterrorism troops acting on intelligence, according to a ministry statement.

The suspects should be referred to the justice department for trial.

Algerian army troops also retrieved an automatic pistol, a shotgun, a quantity of ammunition, and a pair of binoculars in Skikda, the statement said.

The North African country has deployed tens of thousands of troops on the southern and eastern borders, in a bid to thwart the infiltration of terrorists and arms amid instability gripping neighboring Mali and Libya.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 02:03:49|Editor: mmm

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Anti-Brexit protesters with their eyes covered with blindfolds attend a demonstration demanding a second referendum, or "People's Vote," in London, Britain, on Feb. 14, 2019. The British House of Commons on Thursday voted against a motion tabled by Prime Minister Theresa May reiterating its support for government Brexit approach. (Xinhua/Tim Ireland)

LONDON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The British House of Commons on Thursday voted against a motion tabled by Prime Minister Theresa May reiterating its support for government Brexit approach.

MPs voted in the largely symbolic votes by 303-258 against the motion which also reiterates that MPs note the ongoing Irish backstop discussions between Britain and European Union (EU).

Conservative rebels abstained on the grounds that the motion implied a no-deal Brexit would be ruled out.

Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn called on the prime minister to admit her Brexit strategy has failed.

"Vote shows there is no majority for the prime minister's course of action," he said.

Analysts have said that the defeat would make it more difficult for the prime minister in talks with the European Union.

Before the votes on the motion, MPs vetoed a Scottish National Party amendment by 315-93 which requires the government to extend Article 50 by at least three months from the current exit date of March 29.

They voted against a Labor amendment calling for the government to hold another meaningful vote by Feb. 27 or declare a deal is no longer on the table and outline its next steps.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 01:43:43|Editor: yan

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VILNIUS, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Lithuanian parliament decided on Thursday to hold a referendum to cut size of the country's parliament from 141 to 121.

A total of 58 MPs voted for, 42 against the referendum, 2 abstained and the rest of the parliament members didn't participate in the voting.

The idea to hold a referendum to cut size of the Seimas, the Lithuanian Parliament, was initiated by the country's ruling Farmers and Greens Union (LVZS). The party says the number of MPs should reflect the country's shrinking population which currently is less than 3 million.

Smaller parliament would also help save around 2 million euros of administrative expenses annually, says LVZS.

"It costs around 100,000 euros a year to have one member of the Parliament," Ramunas Karbauskis, the leader of LVZS, told MPs.

Members of the opposition responded that the decision to cut size of the Seimas would put the country's parliamentary system at risk, making it more vulnerable to corruption.

"Smaller parliament would mean less discussion, less diversity and more opportunities for various groups to bribe the Parliament easily at once," Ausrine Armonaite, the MP from the group of non-attached MPs, told the Parliament.

The referendum to cut size of the parliament is to be held on May 12, alongside the first round of the country's presidential elections.

Recently, the parliament also decided to hold a referendum on dual citizenship alongside the country's presidential elections.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 01:23:37|Editor: yan

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VALLETTA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- A number of African migrants who were rescued from the sea off Malta last month have been relocated to France.

The migrants, some of whom arrived in Malta on the NGO-operated rescue vessels Sea-Watch 3 and Albrecht Penck in January together with a number of others who had been rescued by the Armed Forces of Malta last December, were flown to France on Thursday morning to begin a new life there.

Last Thursday, two groups of migrants already left for France and Luxembourg.

The relocation processes are the result of an ad hoc agreement struck between the European Commission, Malta and other EU states following the incident involving the Sea-Watch 3 and Albrecht Penck early in January, which saw European Union member states refuse the disembarkation of 49 migrants stranded at sea for three weeks until a relocation agreement was reached.

During their time in Malta, the migrants were assisted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Maltese authorities and officials from the French Embassy.Los Angeles, CA, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Geopulse Management is pleased to announce that it has reached a significant milestone in its capital raise, and wanted to elaborate on happenings in the cryptocurrency industry and highlight how its processes and strategy are differentiated.



For investors that havent heard the recent news  the top story in crypto for the past two weeks is the missing $150+ million from Canadian Crypto Exchange Quadriga CX. The founder/CEO reportedly perished in India under suspicious circumstances and in the process  over $150 million in customer cryptocurrency has gone missing because he was the only person with access to those accounts.

Geopulse management wanted to speak to its investors about this event because there is a lot of hesitancy in the adoption of cryptocurrency in part because of these stories.

Geopulse (Cannco, and Canncoin) are committed to using cryptocurrency and blockchain to bring clarity to the cryptocurrency arena. Our chosen target industry (Cannabis) is currently in its own process of coming out of the shadows and Cannco intends to be a favorable force in that regard. The Ecosystem we are designing will not be susceptible to the failure or potential fraud taking place at Quadriga, as the securities regulators and our own internal guidelines wont let that happen. Bringing us to another topic: the Security Token and  Security Token Exchanges operated within the laws enforced by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Part of the guidelines that will be enforced by US regulators is the use of a Share/Token Registrar for securities  meaning that if an investor loses his hard-wallet, or password for an investment  that individual would have recourse to a transfer agent allowing those securities to be re-issued to the investor. This is an investor protection afforded to participants in the securities market in the US. Potentially eliminating a QuadrigaCX type event from happening in the future.

Geopulse agrees that oversight, redundancy and protections need to be in place to facilitate the growth and adoption in cryptocurrency  especially when planning on deploying these technologies into the cannabis industry.

FINRA recently approved for trading TZeros Security Token and its Security Token Exchange has begun operations. We applaud their pioneering the space as they are fellow clients with us of the Start Engine.com Crowdfunding platform.

While the company is still operating a crowdfunding effort on StartEngine  management is proud to announce that the crowdfunding has crossed the 500 investor milestone on the platform. One of the major challenges of raising capital as a young company is finding and building a large shareholder base. A benefit of crowdfunding is the identification of investors that are passionate about a Company and willing to take a long term view about investment and allow the Company time to achieve its goals. Geopulse/Cannco is very excited that 500 individuals have chosen to show their support. The financing we are completing is fundamentally structured - non-toxic and minimally dilutive. We are especially excited at the support we are generating during a tumultuous time in the crypto markets.

The Company is excited that the cryptocurrency markets seem to have stabilized and are showing signs of life in the exchanges as well as the ICO markets. Further, management is encouraged that pension funds have begun investing in Blockchain Technology funds - which is an indicator that these technologies are here to stay.

Geopulse (Cannco Brands and Development) is currently working with industry participants to develop a robust advisory board and continue to design and build the technologies it intends to deploy in the coming months. The Company will share the backgrounds of some of the industry participants that are interested in becoming Beta partners and Advisors in the coming weeks.

About Geopulse Exploration Inc., DBA Cannco Brands and Development

Geopulse (OTC PINK: GPLS) develops a blockchain-powered logistics, financial services and promotion platform for the unbanked, early stage and explosive growth U.S. and Canadian cannabis sector. Management is comprised of tech and finance veterans with strong product management experience. Among its assets (or pending acquisitions) are THCFinder.com, 300,000 user geo-finder app for cannabis dispensaries and MMJ medical offices throughout the US; CannCoin, a native token underlying a distributed ledger logistics and financial services ecosystem for cannabis; revenue generating StonerDays.com, an online D2C lifestyle community with 700,000 followers. Cannco Brands intends to provide the commercial services such as transparent supply chain management, business banking and merchant processing, trade finance, direct-to-consumer engagement solutions.

Safe Harbor Notice

Certain statements contained herein are "forward-looking statements" (as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Geopulse Exploration, Inc. cautions that statements made in this news release constitute forward-looking statements and makes no guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and opinions of management at the time statements are made. These statements may address issues that involve significant risks, uncertainties, estimates and assumptions made by management. Actual results could differ materially from current projections or implied results. Geopulse Exploration, Inc. undertakes no obligation to revise these statements following the date of this news release.File Photo: Visitors take photos of a dancing lion during celebrations on the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year in San Francisco, the United States, on Feb. 5, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Yilin)

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. and China are the two biggest economies in the world, and they should engage with each other to solve their problems via dialogue and negotiations, Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council in San Francisco said Wednesday.

"There was a real history of cooperation between the two countries, especially going back to World War II where we fought jointly to preserve two societies," Wunderman told Xinhua at the end of the council's ninth annual Chinese New Year reception held Wednesday night to celebrate the Year of the Pig in China's lunar calendar.

"We have such a strong community from China here in San Francisco, the oldest Chinatown in America. It's such a pervasive relationship that we should not treat China as an adversary," he said.

Wunderman stressed that the relationship between the United States and China "should be one of cooperation."

He admitted that in the hi-tech field, competition exists between China and the United States, and it is natural that new problems or even disputes would emerge.

"The best way to deal with that is through conversation, discussion, engagement, expression," Wunderman added. "There's much more in common than there is that separates us. The best way to solve problems is by taking each problem head-on."

"We should stop engaging in creating tariffs, blocking trade, pointing fingers and all of that. It doesn't do any good, and it's not helping," he noted.

Del Christensen, chief of Global Business Development of the Bay Area Council, said despite the current difficult period in the U.S.-China relations, the Bay Area Council has decided to grow its China program and stay in China.

The council opened its Beijing office in 2018, in addition to offices in three other Chinese cities of Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou.

"Where there's a problem, there is also an opportunity. The United States and China are two markets that are so big and so intertwined that ... (they) are going to do business for a long, long time," Christensen said.

He said there is a large Chinese population in San Francisco and a lot of Chinese students are studying in the United States, while many American students are also being educated in China.

"The more we get to know each other, the better off we're gonna be," Christensen added.

Founded in 1945, the Bay Area Council is a business association in San Francisco that is dedicated to economic development in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has been pushing for close economic and trade ties between China and the United States, with greater focus on California and San Francisco in particular.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 00:38:28|Editor: yan

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MOSCOW, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Russia, Turkey and Iran will help Syria establish a committee to carry out constitutional reforms in the country, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday after a meeting with his Turkish and Iranian counterparts in Sochi.

"We have agreed to contribute by joint efforts to the most rapid start of work of the constitutional committee, which is to work on the fundamental aspects of the future state system of Syria," Putin said at a joint press conference following the trilateral talks dedicated to the settlement of the Syria issue.

It is necessary to approve the list of participants of the committee, most of whom have already been agreed on with the Syrian government and the opposition, and elaborate regulations for the main parameters of its functioning, Putin added.

Russia, Turkey and Iran are guarantors of a ceasefire deal in Syria and have been mediating a peace process for the Syrian crisis since 2016.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 00:38:28|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Indian army troopers stand guard near the site of a suicide attack on convoy of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) near Lethpora village in Pulwama district, about 27 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, Feb. 14, 2019. At least 30 CRPF paramilitary troopers have been killed in a suicide car bombing in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said on Thursday. Around 30 others are reported to be wounded in the attack. (Xinhua/Javed Dar)

SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The death toll of a suicide attack targeting paramilitary troopers belonging to Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir on Thursday has risen to 40, officials said.

Many others are reported to be wounded in the attack.

The car bomb attack was carried out at 3:15 p.m. local time on a national highway near Lethpora village in Pulwama district, about 27 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"We are being told a total of 40 CRPF men were killed in today's car bomb attack that occurred at Lethpora," a local government official said. "Many other personnel who were wounded have been hospitalised."

According to police officials, a vehicle laden with around 350 kg of explosives hit a CRPF convoy by ramming into a bus and blowing itself up.

Images from the spot showed blood spilled on road, body parts strewn, glass shreds from wind shields scattered along with baggage on road.

Officials said the Srinagar bound convoy was coming from Jammu and had over 65 vehicles in it.

Security analysts said the attack is the deadliest in the history of Kashmir militancy since 1989.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying a fidayeen (suicide bomber) carried out a car bomb blast to target the convoy.

"A JeM spokesperson Muhammad Hassan in a statement said many forces vehicles were destroyed in the attack," local newsgathering agency GNS said. "The spokesperson identified the fidayeen as Aadil Ahmad alias Waqas Commando of Gundi Bagh, Pulwama."

Eyewitnesses said smoke was billowing from the mangled vehicle and people ran for cover following the blast.

Immediately after the attack contingents of police, paramilitary and fire tenders reached to the spot to carry out rescue work.

"The wounded are undergoing treatment at an army hospital in Srinagar," Inspector General of CRPF Zulfiqar Hassan told the media. "We are carrying out post-blast analysis at the spot."

Officials said the death toll was likely to rise.

"There is apprehension that the death toll may go up because of the critical condition of many among the wounded," a police official said.

Officials said Indian home minister Rajnath Singh has cancelled his visit to Bihar and is scheduled to visit the region on Friday.

Reports said a team of India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) would arrive at the blast site on Friday to help investigate the blast.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has condemned the attack on paramilitary.

"Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly," Modi tweeted.

Militant groups opposing New Delhi's rule are engaged in a guerrilla war with Indian troops in the region since 1989. Gunfight between the two sides takes place intermittently.

Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 00:28:26|Editor: yan

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ROME, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Mafia organizations have made billions of euros in the Italian agriculture industry, with a double-digit rate increase on an annual basis, a report stated on Thursday.

The overall turnover of Italian organized crime syndicates in the sector grew by some 12.4 percent in 2018 compared to the previous year, totaling an estimated 25.4 billion euros (28.7 billion U.S. dollars), the national farmers' association Coldiretti said in its publication.

"Such growth appears not to be affected by the stagnation of the Italian economy, nor by tensions over global trade of goods and capital," the authors said.

Mobs represent "a criminal network that perfectly intersects the food chain, from production to transport, distribution and sale."

Now in its sixth edition, the "Agromafia Report" annually addresses the risks of mafia infiltration in agriculture, estimating its growth and its effects on the national economy.

The report is published by Coldiretti in cooperation with Eurispes Research Institute and the Agro-Food Crime Observatory.

Beside its direct impact on the economy, the authors warn that the Italian mafia poses two other kinds of risk: it harms the image of "Made in Italy" food abroad, and threatens consumers' health by manipulating certain products and by monopolizing entire sections of the chain.

According to the results of over 54,000 anti-fraud checks performed by the Italian inspectorate for fraud repression in the agro-food industry last year, the number of crimes rose by 59 percent compared to 2017.

Non-compliances were identified at 20.3 percent of all operators inspected, 12.4 percent of products checked, and 8.7 percent of samples analysed, according to the inspectorate.

The highest number of frauds was registered in wine, meat, tomato and sugar production. Some 17.6 tons of goods were seized in 2018 with a value exceeding 34 million euros (38.4 million U.S. dollars).

Finally, some 561 anti-counterfeit operations were carried out to beyond Italian borders and on the web.

Addressing the problem at a presentation, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said the Italian agriculture sector needed a structural reform to overcome illegal infiltration.

"Agriculture is for Italy what crude oil is for Saudi Arabia," Salvini stressed, adding that tougher controls would be needed along the supply chain to further boost the traceability of Italian food products.

"At the core of the problem, there is the defence of 'Made in Italy' within the EU, because counterfeiting is a crucial incentive for organized crime," the interior minister added.

A further result of the presence in agriculture of Italy's three main mafia groups -- the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, the Naples-based Camorra and the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta -- was an increase in illegal recruitment of workers.

Migrants were often the first victims of such exploitation, being largely employed in agriculture, especially in the southern regions of Italy.

According to combined data by Italy's finance police and military police Carabinieri -- both contributing to the work of the Agro-Food Crime Observatory -- at least 557 people were reported to judicial authorities on charges of labor exploitation in agriculture between Jan. 2017 and mid-2018.

In this regard, the previous government passed a tough law against multiple forms of labor exploitation in agriculture in 2016, which the current justice minister praised as relevant progress.

"The law against labor exploitation in agriculture has been a virtuous provision," Alfonso Bonafede explained.

"The ministry will now set up an entity -- together with experts and the National Observatory -- in order to start monitoring the effects of such law by March, and fill possible flaws still existing in the legislation."

A final warning came from Italy's National Anti-Mafia Prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho, who pointed out that the European Union's (EU) agricultural funds were a further reason why mafia groups were so strongly interested in the sector.

"This is why land grabs at very low prices are another widespread activity of mafia groups," the top magistrate stressed.

Agriculture is a relevant industry for Italy, the third largest economy in the eurozone. In 2017, the gross value added of the sector was 31.5 billion euros, accounting for 2.1 percent of the national value added, according to the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT).Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 00:28:26|Editor: yan

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JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Over 6,000 South African mine workers could be jobless soon as Sibanye-Stillwater restructures, the company said on Thursday.

Sibanye-Stillwater, the largest individual producer of gold in South Africa and one of the 10 largest gold producers globally, said they will begin consultation with stakeholders regarding the possible restructuring of its gold operations because of financial losses.

"Contemplating potential restructuring of this nature is never taken lightly and we are aware of the possible impact on many of our colleagues. Our best attempts to address the ongoing losses at these operations have however been unsuccessful and sustaining these losses may threaten the viability of our other operations," said Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman.

The mining company said the process could impact on about 5,870 employees and 800 contractors.

Froneman said, "We hope to engage constructively with our stakeholders to find ways to minimize and avoid job losses during this process, while ensuring that additional jobs are not placed at risk in future."

This news comes a day after the Congress of South African Trade Unions took to the streets in eight provinces, calling on the government to protect jobs.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 00:28:26|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli speaks during his address to nation at Singhadurbar in Kathmandu, Nepal, Feb. 14, 2019. Oli addressed the nation marking the completion of one year in office as the Prime Minister of the country. He shared about the major achievements on development of various sectors and about the future plans and strategies in his address. (Xinhua)

KATHMANDU, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli on Thursday said his government has made sincere efforts in the past one year to achieve prosperity, development and good governance in the country.

In his televised state address, Prime Minister Oli presented a long list of achievements that the government made in the past one year since it came to power in the mid-February last year.

Oli said that the government worked hard to implement the new federal system as outlined in the country's constitution.

"We have completed one year in office and it has been the year of foundation towards achieving prosperity," the prime minister said.

Brushing aside the allegations that his government was headed towards authoritarianism, the prime minister maintained that it was working to ensure social justice, equality, freedom and inclusiveness.

While talking about the government's foreign policy, the prime minister said that it has pursued the principle of 'amity with all and enmity with none'.

"We have been maintaining good ties with our immediate neighboring countries. Our foreign policy conduct is totally independent," he asserted, adding that frequent high level visits from various countries to Nepal have helped foster bilateral ties.

Oli said that his government has formulated necessary laws to attract foreign direct investment in the country.

Prime Minister Oli said that his government has adopted the policy of zero tolerance towards corruption maintaining that the government was committed to good governance and transparency.

Oli said that the government has given priority to accelerating physical infrastructure building including construction of mega projects such as Gautam Buddha International Airport in Lumbini, Regional Airport in Pokhara and among others.

The Oli-led government currently holds two-thirds majority in the parliament. Oli came to power on February 15 last year following the resignation of Sher Bahadur Deuba from the post in the wake of completion of the electoral processes of provinces, House of Representatives and National Assembly.

This was the second time that Oli became the prime minister of the Himalayan nation. In October 2015, he was elected as the 38th prime minister, a month after the promulgation of a new constitution in September.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 00:28:25|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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JAKARTA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Ministers of Indonesia and the Eurasia Economic Commission (EEC) agreed on Thursday to sign a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC), aimed at expanding economic cooperation between the two economies in the future.

The MoC which would be included in a Joint Ministerial Statement was expected to be signed in the second quarter this year, Indonesia Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said on the sidelines of his meeting with EEC Integration and Macro Economy Minister Tatyana Valovaya.

"We agree to expand trade and investment cooperation which would be accommodated through the MoC," Lukita said.

Through the MoC, Indonesia expects to double its trade with EEC countries within less than five years from 2.79 billion U.S. dollars.

He pointed out that EEC countries that consisted of Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia have great market potentialities for Indonesia.

Indonesia exports CPO, coffee, rubber, foods and furniture to EEC countries while it imports aluminum, alloy and fertilizer from them.

"Indonesia and Eurasia can complement each other. They have advanced technology to offer and we have several raw materials to supply their basic needs," he added.

For her part, Tatyana said expanding cooperation with Indonesia has been highly expected by Eurasia.

"We are very serious to have this cooperation with Jakarta," she said.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 00:28:25|Editor: yan

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HELSINKI, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Finnish film director Aki Kaurismaki on Thursday announced he wants to give up his honorary title as "Academician for Art" as a protest against the current Finnish forestry and mining policies.

In a letter to President Sauli Niinisto, the film director said that despite warnings by experts, the Finnish government has raised the annual cutdown of forests to "an unsustainable level that will reduce the forest carbon sink to a sixth of the present."

Kaurismaki claimed that the only basis for the Finnish decision is the price of pulp that is high due to the demand in Asia.

Last year, Finnish roundwood consumption reached 72 million cubic metres, according to Natural Resources Institute Finland. The institute confirmed it was the record amount so far.

The government has aimed at an increase up to 80 million. Public focus will be on the forest consumption again next week when the Finnish climate panel is to publish figures that political decision makers could use.

The current level of 72 million is not sufficient, if all current expansion plans of the industry are to be completed.

Kaurismaki also demanded that Finnish mining legislation has to be changed. He says that "any international mining giant" can reserve an area on Finnish soil and "extract ore and minerals without paying tax to Finland".

He said the current Finnish government pursues only the interests of "the faceless capital."

Now 61-year-old Kaurismaki has earlier protested against what he has considered societal evils. In 2002 he boycotted the Oscar gala as a protest against the U.S. attack on Iraq.

Local media has described Kaurismaki as the Finnish film director with the largest international acclaim. His awards include the Silver Bear director trophy in Berlin in 2017 and Medalla de Oro from Spain last year.

In 2002 his "Man without a past" came in second in Cannes and got the Grand prix award.

Academician is a Finnish honorary title that involves no financial benefits. Eleven persons can be Academicians of Art at the same time. They are presidential appointees.

Riitta Kaivosoja, the director for art and cultural policy at the Ministry of Education, told newspaper Helsingin Sanomat that there are no rules for giving up the title of an academician.

"The ministry will now ascertain whether an academician's own announcement is sufficient for removal from the list," she said.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 00:08:20|Editor: yan

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NEW DELHI, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- India Thursday vowed to "give strong reply to terrorists" in the aftermath of the suicide attack in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir earlier in the day.

The attack led to the death of more than 30 paramilitary security personnel belonging to the paramilitary "Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)" and injured over 40 others.

India's Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), the ace body that looks after the country's security related issues comprising of prime minister, home minister and other officials, will meet Friday to take stock of the situation, officials said.

"I assure the people of the country that a strong reply will be given..,"Home Minister (Internal Security) Rajnath Singh said.

The suicide attack was carried out on a national highway near the Lethpora village in Pulwama district, about 27 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying a fidayeen (suicide bomber) carried out a car bomb blast to target the convoy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has condemned the attack on security personnel.

Militant groups opposing New Delhi's rule are engaged in a guerilla war with Indian troops in the region since 1989. Gunfight between the two sides takes place intermittently. Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their Independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 23:58:16|Editor: yan

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YAOUNDE, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Cameroon's Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji said Thursday security in all the ten regions of the country will be intensified before general elections this year.

"The security and peace imperatives will be one of the major challenges we have to deal with in 2019, especially as several elections could be organized this year which I must say are crucial for our young democracy.

"All necessary measures must be taken to ensure that the various elections are held in total calm and serenity and in all administrative units." Nji said in the capital Yaounde at the start of a bi-annual 2019 Conference of Regional Governors.

"The ultimate goal is certainly to give our Cameroon its true image of a stable, democratic and united country," he added.

The conference intends to take stock of the security situation throughout the country and make better projections for the future, he said.

Legislative, municipal and regional elections are expected to take place in September in the country amidst growing threats from armed separatists in the two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest and attacks from Boko Haram terror group in the Far North region.Dublin, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "MEA Cybersecurity Market by Solution, Service, Security Type, Deployment Mode, Organization Size, Vertical, and Country - Forecast to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report expects the MEA cybersecurity market size to grow from USD 15.66 billion in 2018 to USD 31.82 billion by 2023, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 15.2% during the forecast period.



Major growth factors for the market would be an increasing need to meet with government and regulatory requirements, and a growing sophistication level of cyber-attacks. However, the high cost of innovation for security technologies and budget constraints for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), and easy availability of free and pirated cybersecurity solutions may restrain the growth of the MEA cybersecurity market.

Identity and Access Management (IAM) segment to hold the largest market size during the forecast period

The IAM segment is estimated to hold the largest market size in 2018, as the IAM solution plays a critical role in managing enterprises' electronic or digital identities. The solution helps businesses enhance their security through centralized visibility and control of users' access. The IAM solution has witnessed significant growth in the recent years, as users can quickly and cost-effectively integrate the IAM solution with IAM policies across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.

Network security segment to hold the largest market size during the forecast period

The network security segment is expected to hold the largest market size during the forecast period, owing to the rising number of network security breaches wherein hackers try to gain the access to sensitive data. As vulnerabilities have become more complex and sophisticated, the demand for network security products would increase for countering threats.

Middle East to hold a higher market share, whereas Africa is expected to grow at a higher CAGR during the forecast period

The African cybersecurity market is expected to witness substantial growth, as SMEs and large enterprises in the region are rapidly adopting cybersecurity solutions to ensure the security of their endpoints and mobile devices. The Middle East is estimated to hold a larger market size and dominate the MEA cybersecurity market in 2018. The increasing information security challenges, due to network complexities, strict compliance regulations, and employees' productivity, are pushing organizations in the Middle East to adopt cybersecurity solutions.



Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights



5 Market Overview



5.1 Introduction

5.2 Market Dynamics

5.2.1 Drivers

5.2.1.1 High-Intensity Cyber-Attacks Expected to Induce Growth in the MEA Cybersecurity Market

5.2.1.2 Increasing Government Compliances and Regulatory Requirements

5.2.1.3 Rising Enterprise Mobility Trend Across Organizations

5.2.1.4 Proliferation of Smart City and Digitization Projects in the Middle Eastern Region

5.2.2 Restraints

5.2.2.1 High Cost of Innovation for Security Technologies and Budget Constraints for SMEs

5.2.2.2 Easy Availability of Free and Pirated Cybersecurity Solutions

5.2.3 Opportunities

5.2.3.1 Increasing Demand for Cloud-Based Data Protection Solutions

5.2.3.2 Increase in Iot-Focused Cyber Threats

5.2.4 Challenges

5.2.4.1 Lack of Awareness Regarding Advanced and Sophisticated Cyber Threats

5.2.4.2 Shortage of Security Skills Among Security Professionals and Lack of Preplanning Among Enterprises

5.3 Regulatory Landscape

5.4 Best Practices in Cybersecurity

5.5 Use Cases

5.5.1 Anomaly Detection Solutions Adopted By an Electric Power and Gas Company

5.5.2 Dependence of A Leading IT and Telecom Company on DDOS Protection and Mitigation Solutions

5.5.3 Large-Scale Adoption of Email Encryption in A Financial Organization

5.5.4 Need for the Best-In-Class Data Protection Solutions for A Healthcare Organization

5.5.5 Adoption of Disaster Recovery Solutions By A Retail Company

5.6 Innovation Spotlight

5.6.1 Corero Network Security

5.6.2 Deep Instinct

5.6.3 XM Cyber

5.6.4 Cyberbit

5.6.5 L7 Defense

5.6.6 Seceon

5.6.7 Sekur Me



6 MEA Cybersecurity Market, By Component



6.1 Introduction

6.2 Solutions

6.3 Services



7 Market By Solution



7.1 Introduction

7.2 Identity and Access Management

7.3 Risk and Compliance Management

7.4 Encryption

7.5 Data Loss Prevention

7.6 Unified Threat Management

7.7 Firewall

7.8 Antivirus/Antimalware

7.9 Intrusion Detection System/Intrusion Prevention System

7.10 Security and Vulnerability Management

7.11 Disaster Recovery

7.12 Distributed Denial of Service Mitigation

7.13 Web Filtering

7.14 Others



8 MEA Cybersecurity Market, By Service



8.1 Introduction

8.2 Professional Services

8.2.1 Design and Implementation

8.2.2 Risk and Threat Assessment

8.2.3 Consulting

8.2.4 Training and Education

8.2.5 Support and Maintenance

8.3 Managed Services



9 Market By Security Type



9.1 Introduction

9.2 Network Security

9.3 Endpoint Security

9.4 Application Security

9.5 Cloud Security

9.6 Others



10 MEA Cybersecurity Market, By Deployment Mode



10.1 Introduction

10.2 On-Premises

10.3 Cloud

10.4 Hybrid



11 Market By Organization Size



11.1 Introduction

11.2 Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

11.3 Large Enterprises



12 MEA Cybersecurity Market, By Vertical



12.1 Introduction

12.2 Government and Defense

12.3 Energy and Utilities

12.4 Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance

12.5 IT and Telecom

12.6 Healthcare

12.7 Retail

12.8 Manufacturing

12.9 Others



13 MEA Cybersecurity Market, By Region



13.1 Introduction

13.2 Middle East

13.2.1 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

13.2.2 Egypt

13.2.3 Israel

13.2.4 United Arab Emirates

13.2.5 Rest of Middle East

13.3 Africa

13.3.1 Algeria

13.3.2 Morocco

13.3.3 Nigeria

13.3.4 South Africa

13.3.5 Rest of Africa



14 Competitive Landscape



14.1 Overview

14.2 Competitive Scenario

14.2.1 Partnerships, Agreements, and Collaborations

14.2.2 New Product Launches

14.2.3 Mergers and Acquisitions

14.2.4 Business Expansions



15 Company Profiles



15.1 Introduction

15.2 IBM

15.3 Symantec

15.4 Fireeye

15.5 Check Point

15.6 Cisco

15.7 Trend Micro

15.8 Sophos

15.9 Rapid7

15.10 Mcafee

15.11 Micro Focus

15.12 Microsoft

15.13 DXC Technology

15.14 Imperva

15.15 Splunk

15.16 F5 Networks

15.17 Proofpoint

15.18 Trustwave

15.19 Kaspersky Lab

15.20 Oracle

15.21 Fortinet

15.22 Palo Alto Networks

15.23 Cyberark

15.24 Forcepoint

15.25 Darkmatter

15.26 CA Technologies



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5gkz8l/31_82_bn_mea?w=12

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 23:48:13|Editor: yan

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ATHENS, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- A total of 56 people across Greece have died from flu-related complications during the current flu season, Greece's Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KEELPNO) said on Thursday.

A week ago, the death toll stood at 39. In their latest press statement, Greek experts reiterated the significance of vaccination for people belonging to population segments at higher risk of complications.

Eight out of ten of those who lost their lives so far were not vaccinated although they had prior health problems, the statement said.

KEELPNO epidemiologists expect the flu season in Greece to end in April.

During the previous 2017-2018 flu season, KEELPNO recorded 42 fatalities, down from 108 in the 2016-2017 winter season.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 23:38:10|Editor: yan

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TIRANA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Albanian lawmakers adopted on Thursday the draft law "On the ratification of the Protocol on the Accession of the Republic of North Macedonia to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)" during its parliament session.

Speaker of the Albanian Parliament Gramoz Ruci said the Republic of North Macedonia has gone through a difficult experience up to now.

The name-change "was made possible by the political courage and the emancipation of the Albanians of the Republic of North Macedonia. The Albanian parties gave the green light for the European Union to open accession negotiations and (and also for) NATO membership," Ruci said.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said there would be no Republic of North Macedonia without the Albanians.

"Today's vote coincides with a golden time in the inter-ethnic relations between the two state-building peoples of North Macedonia," said Rama.

The prime minister underlined that Albania's role in North Macedonia's historical processes has been one of support, and that the present-day situation in North Macedonia is better than ever before with regard to inter-ethnic political relations.

Visiting North Macedonian Speaker of Parliament Talat Xhaferi thanked Albania for the "solemn act".

Albania has been a member of NATO since 2009.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 23:22:59|Editor: yan

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WINDHOEK, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's flagship Kalimbeza Green Scheme Irrigation Project's research department has identified four top Chinese rice varieties that have performed well and are able to produce between 5.5 to 6.4 tons per hectare (ha), according to an official.

The Kalimbeza project located in the northeastern part of the country last year ran trials of 15 Chinese rice varieties to test adaptability, of which the top four varieties were deemed suitable, Kalimbeza project manager Patrick Kompeli told Xinhua Thursday.

Since the varieties are hybrid, the seeds have to be sourced from China every year for planting, he added.

"The target for this year cropping season was to plant 150 ha but due to other technical issues they were only able to plant 90 ha," Kompeli said.

In terms of cultivation and training, through South-South Cooperation, some rice experts from China were deployed at Kalimbeza to exchange knowledge and for Namibians to acquire experience. The last deployed group left in December 2017.

Kompeli said impact of a predicted drought on the project will be limited since it draws water for irrigation from the permanent river source.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 23:17:56|Editor: yan

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LHASA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Mount Qomolangma National Nature Reserve in China's Tibet Autonomous Region has banned ordinary tourists from entering its core zone to better conserve the environment of the world's highest mountain.

But for travelers who have a climbing permit, the mountaineering activities will not be affected, according to the reserve which was set up in 1988.

Covering an area of around 33,800 square km including a 10,312-square km core zone, the reserve is home to one of the world's most vulnerable ecosystems.

Recently, a report went viral online claiming the Qomolangma base camp was "permanently closed due to heavy pollution." But local authorities denied the claim.

Kelsang, deputy director with the reserve's administration, said ordinary tourists are banned from areas above Rongpo Monastery, around 5,000 meters above sea level. A new tent camp will be set up nearly two km away from the original one.

Between each April and October, villagers from Dingri County usually set up black tents at the foot of Mount Qomolangma, providing tourists accomodation as a means of earning money.

Though ordinary visitors can't go beyond the monastery, it won't affect them from appreciating the mountain.

"The new tent camp for ordinary tourists can still allow them to clearly see the 8,800-meter-plus mountain," Kelsang said.

Travelers who have a climbing permit can go to the base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Kelsang said the mountaineering activities have been approved by the regional forestry department.

Decades after the epic climb to the world's peak, Tibetans at the foot of Mount Qomolangma have conquered poverty by receiving professional and amateur mountaineers and tourists, who have also posed an environmental challenge to the mountain.

To conserve the environment surrounding Mount Qomolangma, China carried out three major clean-ups at an altitude of 5,200 meters and above last spring, collecting more than eight tonnes of household waste, human feces and mountaineering trash.

This year, the clean-up will continue, and the remains of mountaineering victims above 8,000 meters will be centrally dealt with for the first time.

Meanwhile, the number of people who stay at the base camp will be kept under 300.

Currently, there are 85 wildlife protectors in the reserve, and 1,000 herders have part-time jobs patrolling and cleaning up garbage.

"These measures aim to strike a balance between various demands such as environmental protection, local poverty relief, mountaineering and education," said Wang Shen, county chief of Dingri at the mountain foot.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 23:12:56|Editor: yan

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ALGIERS, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Thursday appointed former Foreign Minister Ramtan Lamamra as personal diplomatic adviser, said a report by APS news agency quoting a statement of the president office.

Lamamra, 66, served as foreign minister between 2013 and 2017, and secretary general for the Algerian Foreign Ministry between 2005 and 2007.

Bouteflika on Sunday announced that he will run for the forthcoming presidential election due on April 18 in a message addressed to the nation.U.S. Vice President Mike Pence (L, Rear) and his wife Karen Pence arrive at an airport in Warsaw, Poland, on Feb. 13, 2019. (Xinhua/Jaap Arriens)

WARSAW, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday accused key European countries of undermining U.S. sanctions against Iran, saying tougher sanctions against the Islamic Republic were possible.

Pence made the remarks in a speech during the Warsaw Middle East conference.

"The greatest threat to peace and security in Middle East is the Islamic Republic of Iran," Pence told an audience which included Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

Pence said the U.S. is working to build a coalition of nations which share the aim of stamping out extremism in the Middle East. He praised Arab countries and others which had reduced Iranian imports.

Last year, the U.S. withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions. Other countries of the deal, including major European powers such as Germany, France and the UK, have since tried to keep the deal alive.

In January this year, the three EU countries launched a new mechanism for non-dollar trade with Iran to avert American sanctions.

"Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative," complained Pence, "In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions."

"It is an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU and create still more distance between Europe and the United States," he said.

Pence added that U.S. sanctions against Iran would get "tougher still, unless and until Iran changes its dangerous and destabilizing behavior".

Earlier in the day, in the run-up to a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had declared that peace and stability in the Middle East cannot be achieved "without confronting Iran".

The U.S. administration is co-hosting the Warsaw conference, which Pompeo had said was aimed at dealing with Iran's "destabilizing influence" in the Middle East. The U.S. invited Israel and Arab states, but not Iran.

European Union Foreign Policy chief Federica Mogherini is not attending the conference. Neither are foreign ministers of France and Germany, which sent delegates instead.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 23:02:51|Editor: yan

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JERUSALEM, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army said on Thursday it had arrested an unarmed Lebanese civilian after he crossed the border fence from Lebanon to Israel.

The military issued a statement saying "troops apprehended a suspect who crossed from Lebanon into Israel," after monitoring him through cameras and other observation means throughout the incident.

"No weapon was found in the suspect's possession and he was transferred to security forces for further questioning," the statement added.

Israel and Lebanon are enemy countries with a highly secured border fence separating between them.

Tensions across the border were high over the past months in the wake of Israel's Northern Sheild operation to locate and destroy cross-border tunnels allegedly built by the Iran-backed Lebanese militia of Hezbollah.

It was the third time in two weeks that a Lebanese national illegally cross the border. Earlier in February, an unarmed man crossed from Lebanon into Israel and was arrested and questioned by Israel's security forces. He was returned to Lebanon two days later.

In a separate incident, two men were arrested after crossing from the village of Ghajar in southern Lebanon attempting to smuggle 11 kg of Hashish, Israel said. They were arrested and handed over to Lebanon's police.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 23:02:50|Editor: yan

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by Marwa Yahya

ISMAILIA, Egypt, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian audience, mainly students, have enjoyed the Chinese Spring Festival celebrations held by the Confucius Institute of Suez Canal University northeast of the capital Cairo.

The audience gave warm cheers when the Chinese dancers, who are mainly professors at the university, performed shows, including Chinese Kungfu and traditional music.

Nora Mahmoud, a student, was very happy to receive a certificate of honor for the cleanest class.

"During the Spring Festival, we used to clean our classrooms and remove the dust to kick the devil souls and bad luck out of the place," said Mahmoud.

Commenting on the celebrations, she said either the students learning Chinese or the other students felt very happy.

Mahmoud said that it is a very good opportunity to get integrated in the Chinese culture and have good memories with her friends.

"The Chinese staff has succeeded in making us an indispensable part of their celebrations," she added.

On the stage of the theatre, which was full of spectators with its corridors fully decorated with beautiful red lantern and balloons, stood a Chinese professor who was giving gift envelops with money.

"I introduced myself, then wished my professor health and happy life, and wished my friends success in their future careers," said Mona Samy, a 19-year-old student after receiving her gift.

Samy said receiving the money gifts reminded her of her grandfather who has been doing the same in the Egyptian feasts when she was young.

"The more I got involved in the Chinese activities, the more I feel our two cultures have much in common,'' Samy added.

Outside the theater, other activities of paper cutting, drawing on lantern, and sharing Chinese food were presented.

Nourhan Salah, a student majoring in art, surprised her friends with a very beautiful heart after sophisticated drawing and cutting.

"It was not difficult for me because I love drawing, and the Chinese drawings and paintings are always a challenge for me," she added, while her friends are taking photos for her piece of art.

She said that she felt part of the Chinese life during the festivals thanks to her Chinese friends.

Atef Aboul-Nour, president of the Suez Canal University, said the university topped Egypt in cooperation with the Chinese side, with its large number of students studying the Chinese language and traveling to China for scholarships.

He hailed the Confucius Institute plays an important role in promoting the exchange of cultural cooperation.

The two Chinese and Egyptian cultures are similar, he highlighted, reiterating how the Chinese side always provides help to them.

The culture has been a tool for connecting the people from both countries, who share old civilizations, he added.

"The Chinese culture is the other face of the Arab culture, because both belong to the east," added Aboul-Nour.

The professor added that two protocols of cooperation will be signed next week with two top Chinese universities over the exchange of teachers and equipment.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 22:57:49|Editor: yan

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by Peerzada Arshad Hamid

SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- At least 30 paramilitary troopers belonging to Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been killed in a suicide car bombing in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said on Thursday.

Around 30 others are reported to be wounded in the attack.

The car bombing was carried out at 3:15 p.m. local time on a national highway near Lethpora village in Pulwama district, about 27 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"A vehicle heavily laden with explosives today targeted a CRPF convoy by ramming into it and blowing itself here at Lethpora," a police official posted in Pulwama told Xinhua. "The blast hit the convoy and damaged a CRPF bus completely, besides damaging other vehicles, killing 30 CRPF men and wounding around 30 others."

Images from the spot showed blood spilled on road, body parts strewn, glass shreds from wind shields scattered along with baggage on road.

Officials said the convoy coming from Jammu had over 65 vehicles in it.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying a fidayeen (suicide bomber) carried out a car bomb blast to target the convoy.

"A JeM spokesperson Muhammad Hassan in a statement said many forces vehicles were destroyed in the attack," a local newsgathering agency said. "The spokesperson identified the fidayeen as Aadil Ahmad alias Waqas Commando of Gundi Bagh, Pulwama."

Eyewitnesses said smoke was billowing from the mangled vehicle and people ran for cover following the blast.

Immediately after the attack contingents of police, paramilitary and fire tenders reached to the site to carry out rescue work.

"The wounded have been removed to army hospital," Inspector General of CRPF Zulfiqar Hassan told the media. "We are carrying out post-blast analysis at the spot."

Officials said the death toll was likely to rise.

"There is apprehension that the death toll may go up because of the critical condition of many among the wounded," a police official said.

Officials said Home Minister Rajnath Singh has cancelled his visit to Bihar and is scheduled to visit the region on Friday.

This is the deadliest attack after 2016, when four heavily armed militants stormed an army brigade headquarters in Uri of Baramulla district, west of Srinagar, killing 19 troopers.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has condemned the attack on paramilitary.

"Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly," Modi tweeted.

Militant groups opposing New Delhi's rule are engaged in a guerrilla war with Indian troops in the region since 1989. Gunfight between the two sides takes place intermittently.

Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 22:57:49|Editor: yan

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BELFAST, Britain, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Cooperation between Northern Ireland and China will be one of the most important trends for the years to come, said a parliament official on Wednesday at a Chinese lunar new year celebration.

Northern Ireland's parliament buildings marked the Chinese lunar new year, or Spring Festival, Wednesday with a show put on by young performers from the Shanghai Theater Academy and the local Confucius Institute at Ulster University.

Parliament members gathered at the hall to enjoy traditional Chinese folk music, a fan dance, as well as scenes from the famous Beijing opera "The Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers."

Northern Ireland Assembly Speaker Robin Newton said in his speech that he was honored to see Northern Ireland's relationship with China grow during his term. "We have had a number of very important visits, which illustrates the strength of that relationship."

"I have no doubt whatsoever that the cooperation between us will be one of the most important trends for the years to come and that improving relationships with China can help grow our local potential," he said.

The speaker noted that China and Northern Ireland are distant geographically but there is much for the two sides to share and learn from each other for mutual benefits, which is "crucial given the economic and global changes taking place at the current time."

Celebrating the Chinese lunar new year at the Assembly was an indication of mutual understanding, he said.

On the night, an even bigger show was staged at the modern Belfast Waterfront Hall for over 400 viewers, including the Belfast mayor and other city council officials.

Organized by the Confucius Institute at Ulster University, the gala included Mandarin lessons for the viewers.

Ian Montgomery, the pro-vice-chancellor of Ulster University, taught the audience how to say "Happy New Year" in Chinese. Additionally, Laurence Heyes from SOAS University of London, and Anna Moilanen from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, both winners of the Chinese Bridge competition, shared their experiences and tips for learning Chinese with many young learners of Mandarin from Northern Ireland's schools.

According to the local education department, over 20,000 students from more than 160 schools in Northern Ireland took Mandarin classes in 2018 and the number of Mandarin learners is expected to increase.

Zhang Meifang, China's consul general in Belfast, said the increasing popularity of the Chinese lunar new year celebrations across the United Kingdom is just one of many examples that showcase the rapid development of China-UK ties during recent years.

She added that next to more political and educational exchanges, last year Northern Ireland has seen a huge increase in Chinese tourists. "All these can help build bridges for mutual understanding and offer great opportunities for different cultures to learn from each other and thrive together," she said.Silver Spring, MD, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Capital Digestive Care welcomes Ramsey Daher, MD to its growing practice. Dr. Daher is now seeing patients at the companys K Street, NW office in Washington, DC and its Friendship Boulevard location in Chevy Chase, MD. Prior to joining Capital Digestive Care, he practiced medicine at Associates in Gastroenterology in Northern Virginia.



Dr. Daher is an accomplished physician who is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology. A Washington-area native, he acquired his medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He completed an Internal Medicine internship and residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and advanced to MedStar Georgetown University Hospitals fellowship program in Gastroenterology.





On a personal level, Dr. Daher says he enjoys the one-on-one interaction that comes along with being a physician. I find immense joy and pride in being able to identify symptoms and customize treatment plans that help patients feel better than when they first came in for a visit, says Dr. Daher. Although he diagnoses and treats a wide variety of illnesses, he has a special interest in the areas of colon cancer screening, GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) and liver disease.





About Capital Digestive Care:

Founded in 2009, Capital Digestive Care is a Washington, DC metropolitan-based health care provider with a focus on gastroenterology and hepatology. With 15 office locations, its physicians treat a wide range of conditions - from heartburn to constipation to fatty liver disease - and offer critical services for the prevention of colon cancer. Capital Digestive Cares integrated health care model connects its doctors to both a specialized pathology laboratory and the largest clinical research program of its kind in the region, as well as 13 hospital affiliations and 8 ambulatory surgical centers. Capital Digestive Cares physicians work together across disciplines to develop the most effective treatment plan for each patient. For more information on Capital Digestive Care, please visit http://www.capitaldigestivecare.com/.

AttachmentAdvocate Children's Hospital(OAK LAWN, Ill.) -- These little hospital patients are celebrating Valentines Day in the sweetest way.



Children and infants being treated for heart conditions at Advocate Childrens Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois participated a Valentines Day photo shoot.



Hospital staff say they put on the photo shoot to make Valentines Day memorable for the kids and raise awareness around congenital heart defects -- a condition that affects almost one percent of all births in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's also the most common disease in newborn babies.



February also happens to be American Heart Month.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.File Photo: Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (R) presents U.S. President Donald Trump with the Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud Medal at the Royal Court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia May 20, 2017. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill that would direct U.S. government to end military support for Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen conflict.

The House passed the resolution in a 248-to-177 vote, sending the resolution to the U.S. Senate, which is expected to vote within 30 days.

The resolution, supported by 230 Democrats and 18 Republicans, would direct U.S. President Donald Trump to remove U.S. military forces from hostilities in or "affecting" Yemen within 30 days unless they are fighting al-Qaida or associated forces.

Senate passage of the Yemen resolution could confront Trump with the possibility of issuing the first veto of his presidency, U.S. media said.

The United States has been reportedly helping the Saudi-led coalition's fight against Houthi militants in Yemen with logistics, intelligence sharing and armament.

U.S. military also provided inflight refueling to coalition jets for long, but the Trump administration suspended that support in November.

Democratic lawmakers have been questioning the U.S. involvement in Yemen conflict. The Congress also urged the White House to conduct a thorough investigation into the death of Jamal Khashoggi, which the Trump administration has been reluctant to do.

The Trump administration declined to follow a congressional mandate deadline of Feb. 8 to report on whether Saudi leadership is responsible for Khashoggi's death.

The conflict in Yemen started in 2014 when the Houthi rebels took over the capital Sana'a and forced the government to exile to Saudi Arabia. Since 2015, a Saudi-led coalition, backing the government in exile, has been fighting the Houthis.

The fighting has spawned the world's worst humanitarian crisis and brought the impoverished Arab country to the brink of famine.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 22:04:54|Editor: xuxin

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JAKARTA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Investigators had difficulties in identifying two suicide bombers of a Philippine church on Jan. 27 that killed 22 people and they focused on the DNA test, Indonesian officials said on Thursday.

Head of the Indonesian anti-terror agency Commissioner General Suhardi Alius said that by far the Philippine's investigators have not been able to substantiate the accusation that two Indonesians were perpetrators of the twin blasts, which also injured 100 people.

"It has been checked, but the accusation is too early. It can not be proven," Alius said.

On claims raised by Philippine Interior Minister Eduardo Ano that an Indonesian couple were the perpetrators of the two bombings, he said officers from the anti-terror agency had traveled to the Philippine and coordinated with the Philippine authorities.

Indonesian police spokesman Senior Commissioner Syahar Diantono said the bodies of the bombers had been broken into pieces, which hampered the identification process.

"The remaining parts of the bodies are fingers and only one foot, which will take a long process (of identification)," he said.

He said the Indonesian team had cooperated with the Philippine investigators in tracing all information secured from witnesses.

Indonesian Chief Security Minister Wiranto suggested all sides wait for the final result of the probe.

"Philippine authorities are carrying out investigation to identify the perpetrators. There are still many possibilities, so please do not be hasty in determining that the bombers are Indonesian nationals," he said.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 21:59:54|Editor: WX

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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attends a joint press conference in Warsaw, Poland, Feb. 14, 2019. The European nations showed little interest in the Middle East peace and security plans that the United States has touted at the international conference which ended here on Thursday. The conference, which started on Wednesday, was co-organized by Poland and the U.S. The main topics included the political situation and the role of Iran in regional development, the situation in Yemen and Syria, the security and stability in the Middle East. (Xinhua/Jaap Arriens)

WARSAW, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said during a conference on the Middle East here on Thursday that the differences between the European Union (EU) and the U.S. over Iran nuclear deal may be about methods, and called for joint trans-Atlantic actions.

"The differences between us may be about methods," Czaputowicz said, addressing U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who co-hosted the opening ceremony of the conference together with Czaputowicz.

"The European Union believes that maintaining the peaceful character of the Iranian nuclear program, calls for keeping the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA, in place. The United States abandoned this agreement and imposed sanctions," Czaputowicz explained.

"But in our opinion, in the opinion of Poland, it is only through joint actions in the framework of trans-Atlantic community or, more broadly, the global community of democratic states that we can effectively limit negative trends in the Middle East," the foreign minister said.

Czaputowicz suggested initiating a permanent multilateral platform for dialogue on the Middle East, provisionally called "the Warsaw process."

Earlier in the day, in the run-up to a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pompeo had declared that peace and stability in the Middle East cannot be achieved "without confronting Iran."

The U.S. administration is co-hosting the conference, which takes place in Warsaw on Feb. 13-14. Pompeo had said that the conference was aimed at dealing with Iran's "destabilizing influence" in the Middle East. However, the U.S. invited Israel and the Arab states to the conference, but not Iran.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 21:49:51|Editor: xuxin

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ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Akinwumi Adesina on Thursday revealed that road connectivity among neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya has helped to elevate trade by 400 percent between the two countries.

Adesina, who noted AfDB's financial support to Ethiopia's transport, energy as well as industrial parks development, said the road connecting Ethiopia to Kenya's port city Mombasa was funded by the Bank and has been vital in uplifting trade ties.

"That road alone has allowed trade between Ethiopia and Kenya to rise by 400 percent and that has also provided Ethiopia with an access to port," Adesina said while speaking to Ethiopia's state-run news agency.

The Ethiopia-Kenya road project linking the two East African countries, which has been operational since 2016, is considered as a major instrument for economic integration among the two countries as well as the African continent.

The corridor mainly consists of a 504-kilometre road linking the Kenyan towns of Merille and Turbi, through Marsabit, and an additional 391-kilometre stretch running through Ethiopia linking Hagere-Mariam, Yabelo and Mega.

The African Development Bank is a major partner of the Ethiopian government, financing the East African country's projects in hydro-power generation and power transmission lines.

The Bank also funds road infrastructure linking landlocked Ethiopia's flagship Chinese-built Hawassa Industrial Park with Djibouti port as well as various new agro-industrial parks across the country.

"I have never seen any other African country investing more in infrastructure than this country," Adesina said, as he described Ethiopia's robust infrastructure development over the past years.

"This is the country that has experienced economic growth rate over 10 percent for over a decade," he added.

Despite recent reports against Ethiopia's debt utilization, AfDB's president stressed that "Ethiopia is using debt very well and the quality of debt is very well."

"We do not have any problem with that. What we have got to do is help Ethiopia to diversify its economy and add value to the things it is exporting," Adesina added.

According to Adesina, unlike Ethiopia's previous experience in which majority of development projects were undertaken by the government, recent decision to open up the economy would give a new imputes to the country's economic growth.

"With the bold move of opening up the economy for private sector, the economy will even grow faster with liberalization," he added.

Adesina also vowed to further strengthen financial support to development projects in Ethiopia, saying that "AfDB will invest in transforming Ethiopia's rural economy into zones of economic prosperity."Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 21:29:42|Editor: xuxin

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PHNOM PENH, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Thailand vowed on Thursday to further enhance cooperation along the border for the interests of the two countries and peoples, according to a joint statement.

The statement was released after the 14th General Border Committee meeting here, which was co-chaired by Cambodian Defense Minister Gen. Tea Banh and his Thai Counterpart Gen. Prawit Wongsuwon.

"Both sides agreed to further enhance cooperation in maintaining peace and stability along the border of the two countries," it said.

The statement added that the two countries' armies would cooperate closer to crack down on all forms of cross-border crimes, especially human trafficking and drugs.

After the annual meeting, Prawit paid a courtesy call on Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and briefed him about the situation along the border.

For his part, Hun Sen said cooperation between the two countries was crucial to maintaining peace, stability and security along the border, which are the main factors to boost trade, investment and tourism.

Cambodia shares more than 800-km border with Thailand to the north and west.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 21:24:40|Editor: xuxin

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PHNOM PENH, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Thursday that the country will not die if the European Union suspends the Everything But Arms (EBA) trade preferences for the kingdom.

"No matter whether it is suspended or not, the suspension of the EBA trade preferences, that will be known in 18 months, will not lead us to die," he said during the closing ceremony of the Interior Ministry's annual conference.

"We must not exchange our sovereignty for any aid," the Cambodian prime minister said.

Meanwhile, Hun Sen unveiled a series of "sharp and deep" reforms to strengthen economic independence and support businesses in case the EU withdrew the EBA from the country.

He said the measures included cancellation of certificates of origin (CO), pullout of Cambodia Import Export Inspection and Fraud Repression (CamControl) unit from all border checkpoints, removal of the Kampuchea Shipping Agency and Brokers (Kamsab) officers from all ports, reduction of fees on inspection of cargo containers by scanning machines, and cut of the fees for getting customs papers stamped.

He added that the government will also provide fiscal incentives for small- and medium-sized enterprises.

"With our ongoing sharp and deep reforms, we believe that investment environment in Cambodia will be better and more attractive to local and foreign investors and business people," Hun Sen said.

He added he will meet with business leaders in March during a government-private sector forum to discuss these issues.

According to Hun Sen, Cambodia's economic growth was 7.5 percent in 2018, the highest rate in the last decade.

His remarks came after the EU began on Tuesday the 18-month process that could lead to the temporary suspension of Cambodia's duty-free trading access to the EU market under the EBA scheme due to concerns over human rights and labor rights.

EU is a major trading partner for Cambodia, especially for textiles and footwear sector. As a Least Developed Country, Cambodia has enjoyed exports of all products, except arms and ammunition, to the EU market with zero percent tariff since 2001.

According to an EU data, the Southeast Asian nation exported products to the bloc worth about 4.9 billion euros in 2018.

The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) said on Monday that a suspension of EBA would increase tariffs by 12 percent in the garment sector and by 8 to 17 percent for footwear.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 21:19:39|Editor: xuxin

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MOSCOW, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Russia is ready to join mediation efforts to help end the Venezuelan crisis, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

"We have paid great attention to the mediation formula proposed by Mexico, Uruguay and Caribbean countries. It calls for a comprehensive all-inclusive dialogue without ultimatums and preconditions," Zakharova said at a news briefing.

"We believe that this initiative, as it was announced, deserves broad international support," she said.

Russia supports the broadest contacts on the Venezuelan issue and has consistently explained its position, Zakharova said.

She said that any attempt by the United States to make Russia change its position is hardly feasible as it is "not built on some short-term opportunistic considerations."

Russia respects international law and state sovereignty in line with the principles of the United Nations Charter and it therefore is ready for a dialogue with everyone, including the United States, on this basis, Zakharova said.

"We're not tired of saying: the task of the international community is to contribute to finding an understanding between different political forces in Venezuela," Zakharova said.

Venezuela has been experiencing political tensions since Jan. 23 when National Assembly President Juan Guaido declared himself interim president and was recognized by the United States and some other countries.

The Venezuelan government led by President Nicolas Maduro has expressed readiness to sit down with the opposition with no preconditions and seek a solution to the political crisis.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 21:09:36|Editor: xuxin

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BERLIN, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The German Commerzbank achieved net profit of 865 million euros (974.52 million U.S. dollars) in 2018, nearly sevenfold the 128 million euros in 2017, preliminary figures published by the bank on Thursday show.

Chairman of the bank's managing directors board Martin Zielke attributed the significant increase to the successful implementation of the "Commerzbank 4.0" strategy, which aims to reshape the bank into an institution with higher profitability and enhanced competitiveness.

"Our Strategy is right and is working. We are growing in terms of customers, lending volume and underlying revenues. We are making progress and this shows in our ability to pay a dividend," added Zielke.

Commerzbank's board of managing directors had proposed a dividend of 20 cents per share for financial year 2018. This would be the first dividend since 2015 and the second overall, since the German government rescued the Bank during the global financial crisis in 2009.

Meanwhile, adjusted revenues by the Germany's second largest bank, increased by 5 percent from 8.2 billion euros to 8.6 billion euros. The company was also able to achieve its target of 1 million new customers since 2016 and would thus be "on course" to reach its target of 2 million new customers by the end of 2020.

Administrative costs of Commerzbank rose slightly from 6.83 billion euros in 2017 to 6.88 billion euros in 2018. According to the company, this was mainly due to investments in "digitization and technology" as well as rising expenses for regulations and compulsory levies. The company would be "on the right track" to reach its cost target of 6.5 billion euros by 2020, chief financial officer Stephan Engels reaffirmed.

A possible merger of Commerzbank with Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank, is currently subject of a heated debate in Germany. Olaf Scholz, Germany's finance minister, is regarded as a proponent of such a merger in order to create a "strong German bank".

Commerzbank's is expecting its cost target to be below 6.8 billion euros for the year 2019. Earnings are targeted to grow by 3 percent annually, while Commerzbank is planning to "maintain the dividend for financial year 2019 at a level comparable to that intended for 2018".Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 21:09:35|Editor: xuxin

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TEHRAN, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran's senior officials on Thursday blamed foreign intelligence agencies for the recent deadly terrorist attack on the Iranian security guards.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced Wednesday terrorist attack on Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

"It is certain that the perpetrators of this crime were linked to spy agencies of certain regional and trans-regional countries and Iran's relevant organizations must focus on that and seriously pursue it," Khamenei was quoted as saying by Press TV.

He offered condolences to the bereaved families of the IRGC forces who lost their lives in the terrorist attack.

Khamenei called on the IRGC and relevant government institutions to swiftly and seriously follow up on the incident and deal with the perpetrators.

A suicide terrorist attack targeted the personnel of the IRGC in Iran's southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province on Wednesday.

According to the latest statement by the IRGC, at least 27 guards were killed and 13 others were injured in the attack.

Besides, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday censured the deadly attack blaming the United States and Israel as the "root causes of terror" in the region.

Such criminal acts will "have no impact on the strong determination of the great Iranian nation, and they will firmly continue the path they have chosen," Rouhani told reporters before departing Tehran for the Russian resort city of Sochi for a trilateral meeting on Syria.

Rouhani urged Iran's neighboring countries to "fulfill their legal obligations" within the framework of the principle of good neighborliness and prevent the terrorist groups from using their soil to launch attacks against their neighbors.

"Should such a trend continue and they (the neighboring countries) fail to contain the terrorists, Iran will act within the framework of international law to restore its rights," he said.

According to the Iranian media, Jaish al-Adl Sunni rebel group, which is based in Pakistan, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

An IRGC statement released on Wednesday also blamed intelligent agency of Israel for being behind the attack.

According to Press TV, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also "raised suspicion about the attack's possible links to an ongoing anti-Iran meeting" in Warsaw of Poland.

Iranian Foreign Ministry said Thursday that the perpetrators of the recent deadly terrorist attack on the Iranian security guards should await the revenge.

Iranian military and security forces will certainly take revenge for the terrorist attack soon, the spokesman for Iranian Foreign Ministry, Bahram Qasemi, said.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 21:04:33|Editor: xuxin

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CAPE TOWN, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- South Africa has to be ready at all times to fight for a multi-polar world, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu said on Thursday.

Speaking in Parliament, the minister stressed the necessity to "ensure that the global forces fighting for a multi-polar world become dominant and are not weakened by those that pursue the narrow uni-polar politics."

South Africa has a huge responsibility to stamp the authority of respect for multilateralism and human rights, Sisulu said during a debate on the State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this month.

"We may be geographically and economically a medium sized country, but our combined morality gives the world hope," Sisulu said.

She pointed to a clear trend that has emerged with the shift in the global "balance of forces" defined by the global power struggle between forces of multi-polarity and those of uni-polarity.

"These global dynamics offer us an opportunity to strengthen multilateral systems of governance, capacitating the regional, continental and global multilateral bodies and ensuring that these international fora have the necessary wherewithal to function optimally and become, in reality, the true catalysts for a transformed, better Africa and world," Sisulu said.

Sisulu warned against the retreat into neo-isolationism, the reasserting of crude, bare-knuckled power politics, and the rise of right-wing populist movements and parties.

This phenomenon is acutely expressed in different parts of the world, she said.

"We are also seeing the rise of right-leaning governments influenced by a rejection of immigrants and poor global economic performance," said the minister.

As South Africa has assumed its seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), "the manner in which we conduct our work in the UNSC and other multilateral fora is critical for South Africa to fulfill the injunctions of the (South African) Freedom Charter and to live up to our reputation," said Sisulu.

This is very important if South Africa, Africa and other developing countries are to reverse the dangerous trends towards unilateralism and protectionism that are being spearheaded by some countries, she said.

"This we are doing, because we are firmly committed to a strong multilateral system," the minister said.

South Africa believes and would always promote and protect a rules-based international order, she added.

South Africa, she said, will use its seat at the UNSC as well as its chairmanship of the African Union (AU) next year, BRICS and other multilateral forums to continue working for strong and timeous interventions to decisively deal with the problems of the world.Toronto, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Government of Ontarios review of the 2007 Endangered Species Act could put the provinces most vulnerable animals and plants at even greater risk by removing barriers to the harmful activities that are driving wildlife decline, say the David Suzuki Foundation, Ecojustice, Earthroots, Environmental Defence, Greenpeace Canada, Ontario Nature and World Wildlife Fund Canada.

Most of Ontarios 243 species at risk are listed because of habitat loss and disturbance, caused in large part by a lack of limits on industrial activity and development. Due to a regulation passed in 2013, many industries are exempt from current ESA restrictions, including forestry, which for the most part has not had to comply with ESA prohibitions.

On the 10-year anniversary of the ESA, the provincial government posted a discussion paper on the Environmental Registry of Ontario and launched a 45-day consultation period. Although the paper offers the goal of enabling positive outcomes for species at risk, it focuses on increasing efficiencies for business.

The government says it wants to reduce barriers to economic development. But an overemphasis on creating greater efficiencies for industry could subject the provinces at-risk species  and our natural heritage  to even greater threats. Further weakening of the act could push many of these species over the brink.

Ontarians have until March 4, 2019, to provide input into the governments ESA review.

Representatives from the David Suzuki Foundation, Ecojustice, Earthroots, Environmental Defence, Greenpeace Canada, Ontario Nature and World Wildlife Fund Canada released the following statements:



Rachel Plotkin, Ontario Science Campaigns Manager, David Suzuki Foundation

The Endangered Species Act exempts most industrial activities from prohibitions, including against habitat destruction. Striving for greater balance is going backwards. We need to set our sights on greater limits for industrial activity to reverse habitat loss and degradation, which is the primary cause of wildlife decline here and around the world. We need Ontarians to speak up for species protection, just like they did for the Greenbelt. We need to show the government for the people that our people include wildlife!



Gord Miller, Chair, Earthroots and Former Environmental Commissioner of Ontario

"The only problem with the Endangered Species Act is the complete failure of the Ontario government to step up to its responsibilities and administer it properly. Proponents complain that it takes too long to get a permit to contravene the law's prohibition to harm species or damage their habitat but the ministry has never denied an ESA permit to any applicant in any situation."

Sue Tan, Lawyer, Ecojustice

In the decade since the Ontario ESA has been in existence, industry interests have been prioritized far above species protections. For example, the forestry industry has been given broad exemptions for the very activities that most often harm at-risk species. The primary intent of the ESA is to protect species, and this is likely incompatible with the governments vision of streamlining the act to create efficiencies for business. Environmental organizations are concerned that the governments review will further erode the acts protection for species at risk. The announcement of this review came only a month after the government axed its environment watchdog, and is one of a series of anti-environment moves.

Tim Gray, Executive Director, Environmental Defence

People in Ontario expect our government to protect endangered species. It is also clear that people and industry have both thrived when the needs of endangered species are addressed. Going backward will be bad for species, people and our economy.

Reykia Fick, Forest Campaigner, Greenpeace Canada

With wildlife populations crashing and species pushed to the brink around the world, it is incredibly reckless for the government to propose weakening endangered species protections here in Ontario. This would put our vulnerable plants and animals at even greater risk. Ontarians cannot allow this to happen.

Caroline Schultz, Executive Director, Ontario Nature

The options put forward by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks would undermine the very cornerstones of the law: science-based listing of species at risk (including Indigenous traditional knowledge) and mandatory protection of listed species and their habitats. This is yet another in a long line of examples of the governments short-sighted fixation on environmental deregulation that is threatening our biological riches to line the pockets of the corporate elite. The proposed options would make it easier to bulldoze and pave over the habitats of endangered species. Environmental deregulation gone amuck threatens our values, our prosperity and the fate of species at risk.



James Snider, VP science, research and innovation, WWF-Canada

Since the Endangered Species Act was introduced, pressures to habitats have continued to mount and the species at risk list has continued to grow. Our current legislation is not doing enough to protect species. The exemptions introduced in 2013 made it too easy to harm habitat. We need to improve protections for species at risk, not water them down further.

About

The David Suzuki Foundation (davidsuzuki.org) is a leading Canadian environmental non-profit organization, collaborating with all people in Canada, including government and business, to conserve the environment and find solutions that will create a sustainable Canada through evidence-based research, public engagement and policy work. The Foundation operates in English and French, with offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

Earthroots is a grassroots conservation organization dedicated to the protection of Ontario's wilderness, wildlife and watersheds. Combining grassroots campaign strategies with effective research and educational programs, we empower thousands of Canadians each year to advocate for better environmental protection and achieve conservation victories.

Ecojustice, Canadas largest environmental law charity, goes to court and uses the power of the law to defend nature, combat climate change, and fight for a healthy environment for all.

Environmental Defence is Canadas most effective environmental action organization. We challenge, and inspire change in government, business and people to ensure a greener, healthier and prosperous life for all.

Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice. It needs solutions. It needs change. It needs action. Around the globe, we are standing up for our communities, and we are holding governments and corporations accountable. Whether on the streets or at the ballot box, we hold the real power when we work together.

Ontario Nature protects wild species and wild spaces through conservation, education and public engagement. It connects thousands of individuals and communities with nature through 150 conservation groups, and 30,000 members and supporters across the province. For more information, visit ontarionature.org.

World Wildlife Fund Canada creates solutions to the environmental challenges that matter most for Canadians. We work in places that are unique and ecologically important, so that nature, wildlife and people thrive together. Because we are all wildlife. For more information, visit wwf.ca.

For media inquiries

Stefanie Carmichael, David Suzuki Foundation: scarmichael@davidsuzuki.org, 437 997 2568

Hannah Barron, Earthroots: hannah@earthroots.org, 647-567-8337

Catharine Tunnacliffe, Ecojustice: ctunnacliffe@ecojustice.ca, 416-368-7553

Rachel Kitchin, Environmental Defence: rkitchin@environmentaldefence.ca, 416-323-9521 ext. 246

Marie Moucarry, Greenpeace Canada: marie.moucarry@greenpeace.org, 438-993-6127

John Hassell, Ontario Nature: johnh@ontarionature.org, 416 786 2171

Rebecca Spring, WWF-Canada: rspring@wwfcanada.org, 647-338-6274Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 20:57:54|Editor: xuxin

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Palestinian youth have a music lesson at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Gaza City on Feb. 13, 2019. As the only music school in Gaza, the conservatory currently has 180 students. (Xinhua/Stringer)Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 20:54:32|Editor: xuxin

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PARIS, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- More than 8,000 individuals have been detained in association with the "Yellow Vest" protests, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said on Thursday.

The movement started on Nov. 17, 2018 to protest high living costs and unfair economic policies in France.

French police have arrested 8,400 people since the movement began three months ago, with 7,500 remaining in police custody, Castaner was quoted as saying by state-run France Info radio.

He also said 1,300 police officers, gendarmes and firefighters had been wounded.

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said the violent "Yellow Vest" protests must come to an end.

"The events in recent days related to the movement take a new turn following violence against the home of the Speaker of the National Assembly, parliamentary offices, the Republic's institutions, but also violence against some of our fellow citizens because of their beliefs," Macron said, according to government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux.

For the 13th consecutive weekend in a row, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets across French cities last Saturday.

As in recent weeks, disturbances have flared up in the capital after groups of demonstrators broke away from the designated route and threw bottles and other projectiles at police, who responded with tear gas.

Video footage showed a vehicle of the anti-terrorism Sentinelle force in flames. Some motorbikes, cars and bins were set on fire, and shop windows were smashed in popular tourist areas in the French capital.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 20:54:32|Editor: xuxin

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HARARE, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Zimbabwean Parliament has started hunting for people to serve in the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) following the mass resignation of previous commissioners before the expiry of their term in office.

The chairman of ZACC Job Whabira and all the other commissioners resigned with effect from Jan. 31.

Parliament on Thursday called for public nominations for people to serve on the commission.

Among other responsibilities, the commission's mandate is to investigate and expose cases of corruption in the public and private sectors.

"Members of the ZACC must be chosen for their integrity and their knowledge of and experience in administration or the prosecution or investigation of crime or for their general suitability for appointment," a notice from the parliament said.

According to the law, the president appoints a chairperson of the commission in consultation with Parliament's Committee on Standing Rules and Orders.

He also appoints eight other members from a list of no fewer than 12 nominees submitted by the same committee following public interviews.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 20:24:27|Editor: xuxin

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by Dana Halawi

BEIRUT, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- While the Lebanese parliament has been busy in discussing the new cabinet policy, most analysts do not seem very optimistic about the possibility of implementing the items included in the current statement.

"Since Lebanon's independence in 1943, most ministerial statements were slightly implemented. Also, the current statement was copied from the previous ones and only few changes have been made," said political analyst Rafik Nasrallah.

Nasrallah ruled out the possibility of implementing the items that were included in the policy due to disagreements between different political parties.

For instance, opposition lawmakers held heated exchanges with Hezbollah members of the parliament on the second day of the parliamentary session. Wednesday's war of words began when Kataeb Party began to probe the question of whether the cabinet was "the government of Hezbollah," which promoted a strong intervention by Hezbollah member of the parliament Nawwaf Musawi.

Other heated exchanges took place as well among other members of the parliament in the first two cabinet sessions held on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the cabinet policy.

The parliament is expected to convene again to discuss the policy statement on Friday and Saturday.

The policy statement includes a detailed overview of the government's objectives and the sectors that it will focus on, including finance and economy, especially reforms recommended at CEDRE conference, the refugee issue, the electricity sector, and the participation of women in public and political life.

To gain a vote of confidence, the cabinet must secure the support of 65 members of parliament, or half of parliament's 128 members plus one.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced over the weekend that he believes the government will get at least 100 votes because all political parties are represented in the new cabinet.

"Political parties have agreed to give a vote of confidence to the new cabinet because they don't want to waste CEDRE funds," Nasrallah said.

Lebanon secured the loans and grants from international donors at CEDRE, an international conference in support of Lebanon development and reforms, to revamp its ailing infrastructure and bolster its economy.

But Lebanon had to form a government and show serious readiness to implement necessary economic reforms to comply for the 11 U.S. billion dollars pledged at CEDRE.

"Lebanese officials received various messages from the international community that they will risk losing CEDRE funds if they do not form a government. This is why they want to approve the ministerial statement and secure a vote of confidence for the new cabinet," Nasrallah explained.

Nasrallah said Lebanon needs an exceptional ministerial statement that is up to the level of challenges facing the country.

"They could have focused on a few points including electricity, trash crisis and public finances while drafting a quick strategy to save the country instead of copying previous statements," he said.

Political analyst Samir Atallah reiterated Nasrallah's comments by saying that Lebanon has seen the drafting of several ministerial statements with only small implementation of the items included in previous policies.

Moreover, Atallah said that the ministerial statement is not really genuine because it includes certain items that are opposed by some political parties but they should be mentioned in the policy in a bid to avoid disputes among different parties.

Atallah cited the relation with Syria as an example by saying that the statement was not clear about this issue because Future Movement headed by Hariri is against opening up to Syria.

"Even if some parties opposed the dialogue with Syria, we will see very soon that some officials will open up to Syria in a bit to solve the Syrian refugees issue and guarantee their return to their homeland," Atallah explained.

Atallah noted that Hezbollah, on the other hand, is opposed to the international tribute investigating the assassination of Former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

"This item still has to show in the statement to avoid disputes and disagreements between political parties," he said.

Meanwhile, Nassib Ghobril, economist and head of the economic research department at Byblos Bank, said he feels satisfied with the detailed reforms of the cabinet policy with regard to public finances and the economy.

"However, people will not restore their confidence in the government unless they see these items implemented in a serious way," Ghobril said.

Ghobril added that the new government risks losing the confidence of the international community if it fails to implement the necessary reforms.

"We need serious reforms and not just cosmetic ones in a bid to stop incurring more opportunity costs," he said.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 20:19:25|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar addresses the European Financial Forum in Dublin, Ireland, Feb. 13, 2019. To roll back on globalization and reintroduce barriers to trade are not the approach of the Irish government in dealing with global challenges, said Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. Varadkar made these remarks while addressing the fourth annual European Financial Forum which ended here on Wednesday evening. (Xinhua)

DUBLIN, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- To roll back on globalization and reintroduce barriers to trade are not the approach of the Irish government in dealing with global challenges, said Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.

Varadkar made these remarks while addressing the fourth annual European Financial Forum which ended here on Wednesday evening.

He said that in the coming decades the structure of the global economy will undergo profound transformation.

While new innovations offer significant opportunities for governments to transform the lives of citizens and for businesses to reshape their product and services, there are also risks, he said, adding that such risks include the danger of getting left behind and how to regulate in an increasingly complicated and interdependent world.

"At the moment, some people think the solution is to retreat. To roll back on globalization. To reintroduce barriers to trade. That is not the approach of the Irish government," he said.

He said that "Ireland is open to investment, to capital, to trade, to talent and to creativity. Our philosophy is to be a leader when it comes to emerging economic, social and technological developments."

"At a time when attitudes to globalization, free trade and multilateralism are hardening in much of the world, Ireland is holding firm to liberal political and economic values and policies," he emphasized.

He said that Ireland is a member of the United Nations who believes in multilateralism as the best way of dealing with global challenges and a country that believes in free trade and free enterprise.

He said that Ireland has one of the most open and internationally traded economies in the world with an attractive business environment underpinned by a low and simple 12.5 percent corporate tax rate supported by all the three major political parties in the country.

He said that the Irish government plans to double Ireland's global footprint by the year 2025.

Varadkar's speech was warmly received by the participants who attended the one-day event held at Dublin Castle.

European Financial Forum is an annual event organized by The Financial Times in partnership with IDA (Industrial Development Authority), a state agency in Ireland mainly tasked to attract foreign direct investment. The forum has drawn the participation of nearly 600 top executives and professionals of the financial sectors from across the world.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 20:14:24|Editor: xuxin

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BAGHDAD, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Eight paramilitary Hashd Shaabi members were killed, including a group leader, and seven wounded Thursday in bomb attack in Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, a provincial security source said.

"A Hashd Shaabi convoy was struck by two roadside bombs around noon, while heading to conduct a search campaign in al-Jazira area near the city of Samarra, some 120 km north the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing eight Hashd Shaabi members and wounding seven others," Captain Hussam al-Jubouri from Samara's Operations Command told Xinhua.

The killed and wounded militiamen are affiliated to Saraya al-Salam paramilitary force, or Peace Companies, which is part of the government-backed Hashd Shaabi brigades, al-Jubouri said.

The group leader Hussein Attia was one of the killed by the double bomb attack, al-Jubouri added.

Saraya al-Salam is a militia linked to the Iraqi Shiite community and is a revival of the previously known as "Mahdi Army" militia affiliated with the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Sadr sent the Saraya al-Salam militiamen to protect the holy Shiite shrine in Samarra when the Islamic State (IS) militants seized large swathes in northern and western Iraq in 2014.

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| 2019-02-14 20:14:24|Editor: xuxin

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Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari (C) attends Nepal Entrepreneurship Summit 2019 in Kathmandu, Nepal, Feb. 14, 2019. The Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), in association with various government agencies and the private sector, organized the summit with an aim of boosting entrepreneurship across the country. (Xinhua/Sunil Sharma)

KATHMANDU, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Nepal Entrepreneurship summit 2019 kicked off Thursday in Kathmandu bringing together government officials, youth entrepreneurs, industry leaders and venture capitalists from Nepal, China, India, Singapore among others.

The summit covers the start-up show cases cum exhibition, networking sessions, workshops, talks by start-ups and venture capitalists and special talks by entrepreneurs from Nepal, China, India and Singapore, according to the organizers.

Confederation of Nepalese Industry, a grouping of medium and large scale Nepali industries in collaboration of Nepal's Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply and other private enterprises organized the one-day event.

Nepal's President Bidya Devi Bhandari inaugurated the summit that aims to create networking platform for start-ups and small and large scale enterprises, promote new talents, technology and innovation along with entrepreneurship and nurture conductive business environment for their operation.

President Bhandari said that Nepal should promote entrepreneurship to create employment opportunities within the country so that large number of Nepali people should not go abroad for employment.

As many as 358,815 Nepalis left for foreign employment in the last fiscal year 2017-18 that concluded in mid-July last year and as many as 113,390 people have already left for employment abroad during the first six months of the current fiscal year 2018-19, according to Department of Foreign Employment, a government body that issues permits to go abroad for migrant Nepali workers.

President Bhandari stressed on investing in youths having new ideas, creating investment friendly environment, promoting vocational education and training to promote entrepreneurship in the country.

Pointing out burgeoning trade deficit of Nepal which has resulted in depletion in foreign exchange reserve, she stressed that on promoting exports by using domestic resources and talents of Nepali youths. Share of exports in Nepal's total foreign trade stands less than six percent as of first six months of the current fiscal year, according to Nepal Rastra Bank, central bank of the Himalayan country.

Nepali Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supply Matrika PrasadYadav said that Nepali government was committed to create investment friendly environment to promote domestic production and boost exports. "We are amending a number laws and policies to promote investment," he said, during the inauguration session of the summit.

With Nepal adopting federal system through the implementation of new constitution introduced in 2015, the theme of the summit is "Federal Nepal: Opportunities for Investment and Growth."

Industry Ministers from all seven provincial governments participated in the event to discuss on the opportunities available for the entrepreneurs in each province.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 20:09:21|Editor: ZX

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BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shoppers have been spending more for their loved ones ahead of Valentine's Day, igniting the festive domestic market.

Gift-givers, in the hope of wooing their love interests, are increasingly turning to online shopping, as data from major digital retailers showed a roaring demand for flowers in the days before Feb. 14.

Sending flowers is a time-honored tradition to celebrate the romantic day. In just three days, 500,000 roses and tulips from plantations in southwest China's Yunnan Province have been snapped up on Alibaba's group-buying service Juhuasuan.

Meanwhile, orders for flowers grew by 69 percent on Alibaba's Taobao marketplace, with orders for roses up 220 percent.

Flower sales soared 339 percent on another e-commerce giant JD.com over the same period. Preserved fresh flowers, bouquets in boxes and mixed-color roses were the top three best selling products.

Shoppers are also linking their Taobao accounts with those of their sweethearts as a new way to spread their love. Over 12 million couples have linked their accounts together over the past year, according to Taobao.

Alibaba officially rolled out the new function "relative account" on Feb. 1, 2018, which allows its users to pay for each other.

For Xie Minchao from the eastern city of Suzhou, it is heart-warming and special to fulfill his girlfriend's wishes online. Xie linked his account with his girlfriend's just ahead of Valentine's Day.

"We work in different cities and talk about new and funny things with each other every day," he said. With their accounts now connected, they can share real-time information on the Taobao app.

Every time Xie found a cool product on Taobao, he would forward the link to his girlfriend, asking for her advice. It has been a great conversation starter for the couple. Sometimes he would purchase the items of the links she sent to him.

"It's ceremonial that we help fulfil each other's wishes," he said.

Couples exchanging presents this year prefer premium brands. Leading online retailer Suning.com reported a 76.5 percent rise in sales of imported cosmetics, with MAC, Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior on the best-selling list.

The percentage of males who bought imported lipsticks went up from 38 percent to 58 percent in the past few days, according to Suning.com.

Many shoppers picked up presents like Givenchy Le Rouge lipsticks, chocolates and music boxes with a "gifts" function on the Taobao app, sending out their sweet surprises online.

People are also expressing love by emptying their partner's shopping cart.

JD.com saw a huge increase in orders for products like Dyson hair dryers, four-leafed clover bracelets, skin care products, and smartphones.

Valentine's Day gifts of special interest -- a handcrafted book with personal photos or useful household supplies -- are also more attractive to Chinese consumers.

In their everyday conversation via the Taobao app, Xie knows what his girlfriend wants. He plans to surprise her with a four-leafed clover necklace.

Besides Feb. 14, lovers across China celebrate the traditional Chinese Valentine's Day, or the Qixi Festival, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

The coming Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month, is also an important day for Chinese couples. In ancient times, young men and women usually went out into the streets and met each other on the day when the curfew was lifted.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 19:44:13|Editor: ZX

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SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. and China are the two biggest economies in the world, and they should engage with each other to solve their problems via dialogue and negotiations, Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council in San Francisco said Wednesday.

"There was a real history of cooperation between the two countries, especially going back to World War II where we fought jointly to preserve two societies," Wunderman told Xinhua at the end of the council's ninth annual Chinese New Year reception held Wednesday night to celebrate the Year of the Pig in China's lunar calendar.

"We have such a strong community from China here in San Francisco, the oldest Chinatown in America. It's such a pervasive relationship that we should not treat China as an adversary," he said.

Wunderman stressed that the relationship between the United States and China "should be one of cooperation."

He admitted that in the hi-tech field, competition exists between China and the United States, and it is natural that new problems or even disputes would emerge.

"The best way to deal with that is through conversation, discussion, engagement, expression," Wunderman added. "There's much more in common than there is that separates us. The best way to solve problems is by taking each problem head-on."

"We should stop engaging in creating tariffs, blocking trade, pointing fingers and all of that. It doesn't do any good, and it's not helping," he noted.

Del Christensen, chief of Global Business Development of the Bay Area Council, said despite the current difficult period in the U.S.-China relations, the Bay Area Council has decided to grow its China program and stay in China.

The council opened its Beijing office in 2018, in addition to offices in three other Chinese cities of Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou.

"Where there's a problem, there is also an opportunity. The United States and China are two markets that are so big and so intertwined that ... (they) are going to do business for a long, long time," Christensen said.

He said there is a large Chinese population in San Francisco and a lot of Chinese students are studying in the United States, while many American students are also being educated in China.

"The more we get to know each other, the better off we're gonna be," Christensen added.

Founded in 1945, the Bay Area Council is a business association in San Francisco that is dedicated to economic development in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has been pushing for close economic and trade ties between China and the United States, with greater focus on California and San Francisco in particular.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 19:44:12|Editor: xuxin

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that Paul Manafort, U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, breached his plea agreement by intentionally lying to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the FBI and the grand jury.

Manafort "intentionally made multiple false statements" concerning matters related to Mueller's probe into the alleged Russia meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections, said Judge Amy Berman Jackson in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

At a closed-door hearing, the judge said there was a "preponderance" of evidence that Manafort lied on three different topics, including his communications with his former business partner Konstantin Kilimnik, the codefendant who the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence, according to local media reports.

Kilimnik, who lives in Russia, was charged alongside Manafort with conspiracy and obstruction of justice. He has yet to appear in a U.S. court to face the charges.

The ruling voids the federal government's obligations under Manafort's plea deal to offer him leniency in exchange for his cooperation in the Mueller probe. It also means that Manafort will not be credited for his cooperation with prosecutors.

The charges against Manafort largely stem from his time working for a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine years before the 2016 U.S. elections. They do not directly address any alleged collusion between Trump associates or officials and the Russian government, which the Mueller team has been investigating since May 2017.

Trump has repeatedly attacked the Mueller probe as a "rigged witch hunt."

Manafort, aged 69, was a veteran Republican lobbyist. He joined Trump's campaign team in March 2016 and spent three months as Trump's campaign chairman until mid-August of that year. He was convicted in a Virginia federal court trial on charges of tax and bank fraud last year and pleaded guilty in Washington D.C. on others.

Manafort was scheduled to be sentenced in Washington D.C. on March 13. Local media said he was also awaiting a sentencing date in Virginia.

Mueller's team has so far indicted or gotten guilty pleas from 34 people, including six former Trump associates and more than two dozen Russian nationals, as well as three Russian entities.

Trump's eldest son Donald Trump Jr., his son-in-law Jared Kushner, longtime spokeswoman Hope Hicks and former campaign adviser Roger Stone are among those investigated and who have had their interview transcript documented during Mueller's probe.Denver, CO, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Ubiquitech Software Corp, through its subsidiary HempLife Today, is announcing to shareholders that sales from its popular new Wholesale/Ambassador program more than tripled over the period from November 15th 2018, through January 31st 2019, with sales of over $50,000 in January alone. Through this initial test period the Company surpassed its initial target of 500 registered Ambassadors. Surpassing expectations and projections as well.



The Company achieved this growth through offering the Wholesale/Ambassador program to its customer base as well as a growing online advertising campaign and through social media. The Company believes that this initial launch of the Wholesale/Ambassador program will continue to grow as more Company resources and personnel are added.

As a HempLife Today Ambassador, those who successfully register can pay a one-time fee of $195 and get instant access to wholesale pricing on all CannazALL CBD products derived from hemp. Ambassadors also receive sales brochures, salescards, the ability to offer discounts, the ability to offer products on their existing Website or have person to person sales, retail sales, and more. In addition, the Company will soon be offering the ability for Ambassadors to get their very own custom Website through HempLife Today and also have online processing and shipping of orders, creating a turn-key distributorship if desired.

CEO James Ballas stated, We are very excited about our initial launch of our Ambassador program and it portends great things to come. Our initial goal was to obtain 500 registered Ambassadors within the first 120 days and we have now achieved that in about half the time. With our first 500 Ambassadors our plan is to have a fully functioning and operating system of training, education, and distribution, and really get this right. We will then begin to accelerate adding more Ambassadors through 2019, and we certainly believe we will crush our original projections of 10,000 Ambassadors within five years.

Based on its initial launch, the Company believes that each successful Ambassador will produce an average of approximately $15,000 per year in revenues to the Company, and will keep shareholders aware of his projections if modified. The Company wants shareholders to know that these are early projections at this time, and the Company will have more data as the program grows.

COO Luke Dreyer said, Although its still too early to tell, we do believe that a very well trained and well educated Ambassador, that has a Company support system and utilizes all the tools we are creating, can easily create $15,000 per year in revenues to the Company, and we are certainly going to work to provide the tools that are needed for them to do this, and more.

Because of the success of this initial launch of the Wholesale/Ambassador program, the Company is currently hiring and training new personnel, and redirecting existing personnel, in order to build out the Ambassador support systems planned. Once fully operating the Ambassador support system will reach out to Ambassadors on a daily basis, offer training videos, regular online meetings, technical support, and other aspects to help Ambassadors succeed.

CEO James Ballas adds, To all shareholders, please understand that this is just the beginning of this exciting program, but we are very happy with our results of course. It is our plan to create the finest distribution system possible through our wholesale ambassador program and to have the growth we have been projecting in news. The wholesale ambassador program will be an integral part of this growth as we move through 2019, 2020, and beyond.

The Company will continue to keep shareholders updated on all Company news and its pending name and symbol change.

About Ubiquitech Software Corp

Ubiquitech Software Corp, through its subsidiaries, is a dynamic multi-media, multi-faceted corporation utilizing state-of-the-art global internet marketing, DirectResponse (DRTV) Television, Radio, Internet Content, and traditional marketing to drive traffic to the new and emerging multi-billion dollar industries like its subsidiary HempLifeToday

About HempLife TodaySource: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 19:29:01|Editor: xuxin

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AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Citywide celebrations of the Chinese Lunar New Year continued in New Zealand's biggest city of Auckland on Thursday night, with a special lantern show attracting tens of thousands of citizens.

As night fell, the Auckland Domain came to colourful life as over 800 handmade lanterns shone around trees and pathways. Each one was transported from China and had a story to tell.

As New Zealand's largest cultural festival, the 20th annual Auckland Lantern Festival kicked off on Thursday night to usher in the Chinese Lunar Year of the pig.

Governor General Dame Patsy Reddy inaugurated the festival after cheering "Happy New Year" in Chinese.

"Lantern Festival has its roots in China some two thousand years ago, but its purpose of bringing people together to enjoy a special moment of wonder and celebration transcends barriers of language, culture and time," said the governor.

"It's also a wonderful opportunity for friends, families and communities get together and celebrate just as we are today," she said.

"Auckland is of course New Zealand's most diverse city and we all benefit when we take time to appreciate and experience each other's cultures," she added.

"The Auckland Lantern Festival has made great contributions to promoting the mutual understanding and friendship and cooperation between our two peoples and also are strengthening the multicultural's changes between our two countries," Chinese Consul General in Auckland Xu Erwen told Xinhua.

Auckland Lantern Festival not only has become the largest market culture event in New Zealand, but also in south Pacific region, Xu added.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff told Xinhua that a quarter of a million people are expected to attend the four-day show on Feb. 14-17.

Auckland Lantern Festival has become the largest Chinese festival in New Zealand, showcasing the diverse cultural fusion in a city with 25 percent of its population of Asian origin. More than 400,000 Chinese came to Auckland last year, he added.

"This is a wonderful evening on which to launch a Lantern Festival, it also happens to be Valentine's Day. It's not only Valentine's Day in New Zealand, but also in China, so it's very appropriate that tonight we celebrate Valentine's Day as well," said the mayor.

On the Harbour Bridge, Auckland's landmark, Vector Lights will present a Year of the Pig inspired animation show at night during the festival.

New features of this year included "Traveller's Avenue" to recognize the China-New Zealand Year of Tourism, and an impressive, 7-metre plus 3.5-metre lantern of a China Southern Airline plane at the Guangzhou skyline to honour Auckland's 30th anniversary with Guangzhou as its sister city.

The festival also featured an extensive program of local and international Chinese activities, more than 100 food stalls, art and craft displays and demonstrations, karaoke and roaming performers.

"This year China sent four delegations to present the wonderful unique Chinese arts in Lantern Festival," Xu said.

The Auckland Lantern Festival is delivered by Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED), on behalf of Auckland Council. Stuart Turner, head of major events at ATEED, said the festival is a much-awaited cultural highlight in Auckland's events program.

"Auckland Lantern Festival's 20-year reign really does speak volumes. Its enormous popularity has dictated the festival duration, venue changes, and range of performances and attractions over the years, with the festival growing to become one of the most loved events on Auckland's calendar," said Turner.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 18:43:48|Editor: ZX

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Designers work on textile patterns in Keqiao District of Shaoxing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, July 25, 2018. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang)

HANGZHOU, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Over the past six years, Fu Shuangli, chairman of textile manufacturer Yingfeng, has made a big gamble: spending on more advanced equipment and training a group of innovative young designers.

The make-or-break move greatly increased the production efficiency of the company and churned out products that have been welcomed by overseas customers. Last year, the revenue of the company surpassed 1.2 billion yuan (176 million U.S. dollars).

"Nearly six years after Yingfeng moved to the current plant, we have more than doubled our production value," said Fu.

Yingfeng is just one of the success stories in Keqiao district in the city of Shaoxing in eastern China's Zhejiang Province. Through determined efforts on industrial upgrading, manufacturers in Keqiao have over the past years overcome tough situations in global trade and restored the district's traditional status of being a leading textile manufacturing powerhouse in China.

For two consecutive years since 2017, the regional economic output of Keqiao registered a 7 percent growth, a stellar performance compared with that of a few years ago.

As a sign of confidence in Keqiao's growth, in January this year, 16 financial institutions in Zhejiang signed a credit deal worth 150 billion yuan (about 22 billion U.S. dollars) with local textile manufacturers.

In Keqiao's "China Textile City," the world's largest textile distribution center, business is booming again. Today, the center receives more than 5,000 overseas buyers and some 100,000 customer visits every day. It boasts a sales network covering 197 countries and regions.

Back in 2008, it was a completely different story. Due to the aftermath of the global financial crisis, demands from overseas markets shrank rapidly. It dealt a huge blow to Keqiao, which relied heavily on foreign trade.

"Many leading textile manufacturers went bankrupt, and 2008 was a lesson for all of us in Keqiao," said Li Chuanhai, head of the local dyeing and printing association. "We realized we needed to pursue high-quality growth from then on."

The local government immediately spearheaded a campaign to shut down high-pollutant dyeing and printing companies, and moved the rest, including Yingfeng, to a newly-built industrial zone. The government also encouraged manufacturers to boost production efficiency and make high-quality products with more added-value.

The transformation process proved too painful for some companies. "Many entrepreneurs came to my office for help, often with tears in their eyes," recalled Shen Zhijiang, Keqiao's party chief. "But for a better tomorrow, we must have the resolve for reform."

To boost their competitiveness, many textile manufacturers in Keqiao sought to move up the value chain. They spent big on designing and producing ready-made clothing and sent their sales teams on world tours.

"In 2018, design companies of Keqiao held a press conference in Milano to establish direct ties with Italian clothing brands. It attracted many Italian companies to invest in Keqiao," said Huang Yanting, a Chinese-Italian designer.

In addition to upgrading its traditional textile industry, Keqiao has also embraced emerging and high-tech industries to diversify its economic structure, such as new energy, new material, chip making and artificial intelligence.

"We have made great efforts to cut red tape to improve the business environment and attract investment," said Zhao Rulang, head of the district government.

A construction project that in the past took up to a year for government approval can now start operation in months, according to Zhao.

"With the better business environment, large investments have been pouring in in recent years, and the district has become a top destination for investments in the province," Zhao said.

(Video reporter: Wang Yiwen; video editors: Yin Le and Wang Han)Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 18:33:46|Editor: xuxin

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JERUSALEM, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met on the sidelines of the Warsaw conference on the Middle East on Thursday.

The conference, including foreign ministers from Middle Eastern countries, is "a historical turning point," said the Israeli leader at the start of the meeting, according to a statement issued by his office.

"Israeli prime minister and the foreign ministers of leading Arab countries stood together and spoke with unusual force, clarity and unity against the common threat of the Iranian regime," the statement said.

He hailed the conference as an "important understanding" that Iran is a mutual threat for the future of the Middle East and at the same time opens possibilities of new cooperation.

Pompeo also slammed Iran. "Confronting Iran" is an essential requirement for achieving peace in the Middle East, he said.

Dozens of countries, including some 11 Middle East countries, have attended the two-day conference, which will conclude on Thursday.

The U.S. administration is co-hosting 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 United States to build an anti-Iran coalition of hardliners. Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal negotiated with Iran, and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran.

Netanyahu considers Iran as Israel's greatest enemy. He is a long-time vocal opponent of the nuclear deal.

Israel has carried out hundreds of deadly airstrikes in Syria, charging the attacks target Iranian sites in order to prevent Iranian forces from achieving a permanent military foothold in the country.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 18:13:40|Editor: Chengcheng

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BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will travel to Thailand for strategic consultation from Feb. 15 to 16, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Thursday.

Wang will make the trip at the invitation of Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, Hua said at a daily press briefing.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 16:58:23|Editor: Chengcheng

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TAIYUAN, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- North China's coal-rich Shanxi Province discovered more than 2.44 billion tonnes of coal reserves last year, exceeding the output for the same period, local authorities said Thursday.

Shanxi allocated 357 million yuan (around 53 million U.S. dollars) in 2018 on the exploration of mineral products, according to the provincial land and resources department.

By the end of 2014, the province had found over 294 billion tonnes of coal reserves. But its coal output did not see a boost. It produced 893 million tonnes of coal in 2018, compared to 832 million tonnes in 2016.

Shanxi has been reducing its outdated coal production capacity in recent years due to structural adjustment in energy.

The coal hub has phased out more than 88 million tonnes of outdated coal production over the past three years, and the figure is expected to surpass 100 million tonnes by 2020.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 16:53:23|Editor: Chengcheng

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LHASA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in China's Tibet Autonomous Region have denied the "permanent closure" of Mount Qomolangma National Nature Reserve.

The announcement came after a report went viral online claiming the base camp of the world's highest mountain was "permanently closed due to heavy pollution."

Mount Qomolangma National Nature Reserve was set up in 1988. Covering an area of more than 33,800 square km, it is home to one of the world's most vulnerable ecosystems.

Kelsang, deputy director with the reserve's administration, said ordinary tourists are allowed to visit areas around Rongpo Monastery, almost 5,000 meters above sea level.

As for travelers who have a climbing permit, they can go to the base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. The mountaineering activities have been approved by the regional forestry department.

To conserve the environment surrounding Mount Qomolangma, China carried out three major clean-ups at an altitude of 5,200 meters and above last spring, collecting eight tonnes of household waste, human feces and mountaineering trash.

This year, the clean-up will continue, and the remains of mountaineering victims above 8,000 meters will be centrally dealt with for the first time.

Meanwhile, the number of people who stay at the base camp will be kept under 300.

Currently, there are 85 wildlife protectors in the reserve, and 1,000 herders have part-time jobs patrolling and cleaning up garbage.

"These measures aim to strike a balance between various demands such as environmental protection, local poverty relief, mountaineering and education," said Wang Shen, county chief of Dingri at the mountain foot.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 16:38:17|Editor: Chengcheng

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HEFEI, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Wearing a bright colored oil-cloth apron, 50-year-old Zheng Guoming is carefully brushing tung oil on an umbrella cover. Around him are orange oil-cloth umbrellas drying, filling the area with the scent of tung oil.

"Tung oil is the key to the durability of oil-cloth umbrellas," Zheng said, adding that it is necessary to brush carefully and evenly to assure the umbrellas' glossiness.

Zheng is the manager of Guoming Oil-Cloth Umbrella Factory in Gufeng Village, Jing County, eastern China's Anhui Province. He is a sixth generation inheritor of the ancient umbrella-making craftsmanship that boasts a history of around 1,000 years.

With the canopy being made from cotton fabric covered by tung oil, oil-cloth umbrellas are more solid and durable than the oil-paper umbrellas, another kind of Chinese ancient umbrella.

The history of the oil-cloth umbrella in Jing County can be traced back to the Song Dynasty (960-1276), and it flourished in Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

In the beginning, it was mainly used by the imperial family and was also used in rituals. For example, red oil-cloth umbrellas served as wedding items to ward off evil spirits. Later on, it gradually became popular among common people, according to Zheng.

"The umbrella has always been a part of my life," Zheng recalled. "It was so popular when I was a child that I needed to help my parents make the umbrella in my spare time." When Zheng was 19, he took over the umbrella factory.

The young factory manager was taken by surprise when people stopped using traditional umbrellas as modern and more portable foreign umbrellas swept over China in the 1980s.

"The oil-cloth umbrella was out of the market all of a sudden, and our annual demand slumped from 40,000 to just 10,000. Many umbrella factories went out of business rapidly," Zheng said. Until the early 1990s, Guoming Oil-Umbrella Factory was the only one in Jing County striving to survive.

Reform! With no other choice, Zheng did the only thing he could think of. He embarked on reforming the production management system to upgrade the quality of the products while lowering the price.

In order to improve durability, Zheng used bamboo that is 10 years old or older to make umbrella ribs and improved the tung oil recipe. "We have to lower the price to seize the market. The foreign umbrellas were sold at dozens of yuan each while our products were just five (74 U. S. cents) to six yuan then," Zheng said.

He also discovered a niche market brought by the emergence of self-employment after China's reform and opening up. The large oil-cloth umbrellas shielding pedlars from the sun or rain sold like hot cakes and were in short supply.

Thus, the oil-cloth umbrella earned back a spot in the market despite the prevailing modern umbrella. However, it's still far from its former glory. Accidentally, a discussion with a client led to a turnaround for Zheng's business. The client was willing to purchase oil-cloth umbrellas decorated with a traditional weaving technique called "chuan hua" (flower weaving) at a high price.

Chuan hua refers to crossing colorful cotton threads around the umbrella stretcher to weave exquisite flower patterns. This technique is so sophisticated and time-consuming that has been abandoned for a long time.

"It dawned on me that high-quality goods always have a market share," Zheng said. He began to restore the "chuan hua" technique and focus on making high-end oil-cloth umbrellas for interior decoration and as props in films and photo shoots.

Zheng made every effort to upgrade and innovate products, such as engraving patterns on umbrella handles and painting on the canopy.

He also customized oil-cloth umbrellas to meet individual requirements, making them popular not only in China but also overseas.

"Japanese and Korean clients prefer umbrellas with traditional Chinese cultural elements, such as Chinese ancient poetry, painting and calligraphy, while Dutch clients favor those made of eco-friendly fabric with bamboo handles. They just love it!" Zheng said.

Having finished an order of more than 2,000 environmentally-friendly oil-cloth umbrellas for a Dutch client, Zheng is now busy with another order from a Canadian who plans to pay a personal visit soon to learn more about the traditional Chinese oil-cloth umbrella culture.

Now, the annual export volume of his factory has reached 20,000, and the annual output has soared from 20,000 to 30,000 in the early 1990s to about 100,000 currently, among which high-end umbrellas account for 30 percent.

Photography has injected more vitality into this old craft. The wonderful combination of ancient factory buildings, professional craftsmen and ancient oil-cloth umbrellas makes the factory among the 100 "Best Photo Spots" in Xuancheng City, attracting more than 10,000 visitors every year.

Zheng plans to establish an umbrella photography base here.

Despite the promising situation, the passing years are constantly reminding Zheng of the inheritance dilemma. "It's difficult to attract young people into this career due to the long-term and high-intensity training. Apprentices need to learn for two to three years to master the whole processes," he said.

The production of tung oil can be another obstacle for them, in that it takes more than two hours to just make one bucket and it smells bad, he added.

Zheng hopes that he could open a study center for primary and middle school students in the future, so that children can have an access to this old craft and may have the interest to take it over.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 16:38:16|Editor: xuxin

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ISTANBUL, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police on Thursday detained at least 52 Syrians in the northwestern province of Bursa over their suspected links to the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

Counter-terrorism units launched simultaneous operations in five locations across the city to catch the suspects, according to the private Demiroren news agency.

Police also seized organizational documents and digital materials during the raids, the agency said.

More than 300 people were killed in deadly attacks in Turkey over the years blamed on the IS.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 16:28:13|Editor: xuxin

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NEW DELHI, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit South Korea on Feb. 21-22 on the invitation of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the external affairs ministry announced here Thursday.

The visit is part of the new momentum in high-level exchanges between India and South Korea which was witnessed during Moon's visit to India for bilateral summit in July 2018, said an official statement.

According to it, Modi's forthcoming visit will provide an important occasion for the two leaders to review the recent developments in bilateral relations and exchange views on regional and international issues of common interest.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 15:53:04|Editor: xuxin

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BAGHDAD, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Five Islamic State (IS) militants were killed Thursday in operation by Iraqi security forces in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, a security source said.

A joint force from the Iraqi army and police commandos carried out a preemptive operation at a mountainous area in southwest of Nineveh's provincial capital Mosul, which itself is located some 400 km north of Baghdad, and destroyed eight tunnels, Saad Maan, spokesman of interior ministry, said in a statement.

The attack killed four IS militants at one tunnel, while the fifth blew up himself after the troops surrounded him, Maan said.

The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces fully defeated the extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017.

However, small groups and individuals of extremist militants melted or regrouped in urban and rugged areas, and are carrying out attacks against the security forces and civilians despite operations from time to time to hunt them down.NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Flashpoint, the global leader in Business Risk Intelligence (BRI), today announced a new partnership with emt Distribution, a value-added distributor and vendor representative with a presence in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, UAE and South Africa. This agreement significantly expands Flashpoints already aggressive growth in the Asia Pacific region.



With emt building out its portfolio of solutions that fall within Cyber Threat Management, we are adding a level of sophistication many channel partners have not had access to in the past, said Scott Hagenus, CMO of emt Distribution. This is excellent for businesses and governments who are taking their cyber strategies to new maturity levels and need partners to help them get there. And its much needed in todays threat landscape.

Flashpoint empowers organizations worldwide with meaningful intelligence and information that combats threats and adversaries. Finished intelligence provided by Flashpoint helps organizations combat cyber threats such as newly evolving malware, zero-day exploits and hacktivism, as well as understand risks to corporate and physical security, damage through fraud and even insider threats.

This access to illicit online communities is critical for teams to safely access actionable intelligence with the goal of reducing overall business risk. Key use cases that we see greatly benefiting the region are bolstering cybersecurity, combating insider threats, confronting fraud, and addressing supply chain risk, to name a few, Hagenus said.

Channel partners in OCEANIA and Southeast Asia can now offer this valuable intel to their customers, leveraging emt Distributions resources to assist with everything from discovery meetings to demonstrations, pre sales engineering and implementation assistance.



emt Distribution has long been at the leading edge of providing cyber security solutions to Australias private and public sector, said Brian Costello, SVP Global Sales & Solutions Architecture, Flashpoint. Flashpoint is excited and optimistic about this new partnership and helping emt further grow its portfolio to address the growing threat of illicit threat actor communities online.

Flashpoints Global Channel Program (GCP) has grown significantly, with value-added resellers (VARs) and value-added distributors (VADs) across North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia Pacific -- all supported by dedicated channel sales managers. In 2018, Flashpoints GCP earned a 5-star rating in CRNs 2018 Partner Program Guide, and was honored when its head of global partnerships, Ayesha Prakash, was named to CRNs prestigious 2018 Women of the Channel .

Visit the emt Distribution website to learn more about Flashpoint offerings .

About emt Distribution

emt Distribution is an Adelaide-based value-added distributor and vendor representative with a presence in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, UAE and South Africa. It also works closely with like-minded distributors in the UK, Netherlands and Germany. emt offers cyber security solutions that address the top four mitigation strategies to prevent cyber security incidents, the broader strategies in the Australian Governments Information Security Manual (ISM) and solutions to address Cyber Threat Management.

emt Distribution assists channel partners, MSPs and MSSPs to deliver cyber security solutions their customers need. emt offers pre and post-sales support, channel development, engaged sales processes and marketing assistance for both vendors and channel partners. See: www.emtdist.com

About Flashpoint

Flashpoint delivers Business Risk Intelligence (BRI) to empower organizations worldwide with meaningful intelligence and information that combats threats and adversaries. The companys sophisticated technology, advanced data collections, and human-powered analysis uniquely enables large enterprises and the public sector to bolster cybersecurity, confront fraud, detect insider threats and build insider threat programs, enhance corporate and physical security, improve executive protection, and address vendor risk and supply chain integrity. For more information, visit https://www.flashpoint-intel.com/ or follow us on Twitter at @FlashpointIntel.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 15:43:02|Editor: xuxin

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SEOUL, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in's approval rating inched down this week on mixed news about the economy, a weekly poll showed on Thursday.

According to the Realmeter survey, support for Moon was 49.6 percent this week, down 0.8 percentage points from the previous week.

The negative assessment on Moon's management of state affairs also shed 0.7 percentage points to 44.7 percent.

It came as mixed news were reported about the economy, including a higher jobless rate and a lower housing price that were offset by positive news such as the government's effort to boost the regional economy.

Support for Moon's ruling Democratic Party gained 2 percentage points to 40.9 percent this week.

The approval score for the main opposition Liberty Korea Party retreated 3.2 percentage points to 25.7 percent as some of the party members disparaged the May 18 democratic movement in 1980 against the military dictatorship.

The minor progressive Justice Party won 6.5 percent of support, followed by the minor conservative Bareun Future Party and the center-left Party for Democracy and Peace that took supports of 5.6 percent and 2.5 percent each.

The results were based on a poll of 1,507 voters conducted from Monday to Wednesday. It had plus and minus 2.5 percentage points in margin of error with a 95 percent confidence level.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 15:38:01|Editor: Chengcheng

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BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's big data sector will maintain speedy growth in 2019, a recent report has said.

Core industries in the sector are expected to be worth more than 720 billion yuan (about 106.3 billion U.S. dollars) this year, according to a report on the sector's outlook released by the think tank CCID.

The report said China's big data sector will register growth between 25 percent and 30 percent, facilitating the transformation and upgrading of regional economic structure.

Following regions in eastern China where the sector booms, southwest China's Sichuan and Guizhou provinces and Chongqing Municipality will become front-runners, the report said.

As part of the development of the digital economy, China is accelerating the integration of big data and the real economy, said Wei Kai, a researcher with the China Academy of Information and Communication Technology.

To maximize the use of big data, the country should make efforts to establish all-in-one big data platforms and effective mechanisms for data management, Wei added.

China's big data sector aims to increase its annual sales to 1 trillion yuan by 2020 from an estimated 280 billion yuan in 2015, said a plan released in 2017 by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The sector also targets a compound annual growth rate of around 30 percent for its sales in 2016-2020, according to the plan.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 14:57:48|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Dereliction of duty was blamed for a laboratory explosion at Beijing Jiaotong University that killed three students in December, local authorities said Wednesday.

The explosion happened on Dec. 26 when students were conducting experiments in a laboratory of the university. The three students were killed at the scene, according to the Beijing Emergency Management Bureau.

An investigation showed the hydrogen generated in the experiments was ignited by a spark caused by metal friction in the mixer and exploded. That caused the magnesium dust nearby to explode and the surrounding combustibles to burn.

The investigation said the risky experiments were conducted against relevant regulations. Dangerous chemicals were illegally purchased and stored in the lab and the university failed to oversee the safety of the laboratories.

Li Desheng, director of the research project, and Zhang Qiong, manager of the laboratory, will be investigated for criminal negligence, according to public security authorities.

The Ministry of Education and Beijing Jiaotong University also punished 12 officials from the university.

All universities in Beijing have been ordered by local authorities to strengthen safety inspections, improve the safety management of laboratories and enhance personnel training to prevent future accidents.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 14:47:44|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's exports and imports both rose at a faster-than-expected rate in January, another sign that the Chinese economy remained resilient despite growing external uncertainties.

Total goods trade rose 8.7 percent year on year in January to 2.73 trillion yuan (395.98 billion U.S. dollars), the General Administration of Customs said in an online statement Thursday.

Exports rose 13.9 percent year on year to 1.5 trillion yuan last month, while imports grew 2.9 percent to 1.23 trillion yuan, customs data showed.

The increase in exports was significantly higher than analyst forecasts, partly driven by front-loading by exporters before the Spring Festival, which fell at the beginning of February as compared with the end of February last year, China Merchants Securities said in a research note.

"It could also be the case that the negative impacts brought by previous front-loading activities had peaked in December," it said.

While imports climbed mildly, the data also beat expectations, it noted.

Exports and imports of products under the general trade category rose 13 percent year on year to 1.66 trillion yuan, accounting for 60.9 percent of the total foreign trade, 2.3 percentage points higher than the same period last year, customs data showed.

China's trade with the European Union, ASEAN countries and Japan increased 17.6 percent, 7.8 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively, while trade with countries along the Belt and Road registered faster-than-average growth, with the combined trade volume standing at 770.8 billion yuan, up 11.5 percent year on year.

Exports to the United States went up 1.9 percent, while imports tumbled 38.6 percent, the data showed.

Private enterprises played a bigger role, accounting for 42.3 percent of the total foreign trade, up 3 percentage points year on year.

Despite mounting external uncertainties, Chinese officials believed the country is capable of maintaining stable trade growth in 2019.

The gradual recovery of global economy, China's opening-up efforts and pro-trade policies, accelerating industrial upgrading and improving corporate vitality will lend strong steam to the country's trade growth this year, Chu Shijia, head of the comprehensive department of the Ministry of Commerce, told a conference Tuesday.

China has vowed to cut taxes to a larger scale this year, which is expected to boost domestic demand and stabilize growth.

However, downward pressure on imports will still remain unless the pro-growth policies take effect, Huatai Securities said in a research note.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 14:22:37|Editor: Yamei

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Ballet dancers from the National Ballet of China perform "Raise the Red Lantern" during dress rehearsal at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., the United States, Feb. 13, 2019. The performance, as the cornerstone event of the Kennedy Center's 2019 Lunar New Year festivities, mesmerized some 2,000 spectators and drew a standing ovation on Wednesday. It will run till Saturday. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Fourteen years after its premiere at the venue, the National Ballet of China brought "Raise the Red Lantern" back to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts here Wednesday evening, mesmerizing some 2,000 spectators and drawing a standing ovation.

Performed with a full orchestra, the award-winning ballet is the cornerstone event of the Kennedy Center's 2019 Lunar New Year festivities. Adapted from Zhang Yimou's movie, the ballet tells the haunting tale of a young girl forced to become a concubine in the 1920s.

"It's beautiful. The dancers are so skilled and precise and the choreography is so disciplined and structured. Beautiful bodies and movements," Jane Cicala, a spectator who works in the airline industry, told Xinhua during the intermission.

The performance seamlessly incorporated elements of Peking Opera, which aroused enthusiastic applause from time to time.

Cicala said she was very glad to attend the Chinese opera. "I can appreciate the music, the vocal and the instruments. I think it's a wonderful contribution to our culture here."

Alicia Adams, vice president of International Programming and Dance at the Kennedy Center, said she still remembers American audience's reaction to "Raise the Red Lantern" back in 2005.

"I think it would be great to reintroduce this piece because it was such a great hit then and I think that audiences will love it now," Adams told reporters Wednesday afternoon.

The National Ballet of China, founded in 1959, performs Western ballets and also creates works of its own with distinct national characteristics, fusing classical and modern cultures from all over the world.

The performance, one of the company's original creations, will run till Saturday.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 14:17:33|Editor: Liangyu

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HONG KONG, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The latest issuance of bills denominated in yuan by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will boost Hong Kong's role as offshore yuan business center, analysts said.

China's central bank said in a statement on Wednesday that it has auctioned 20 billion yuan (about 3 billion U.S. dollars) in three-month and one-year bills in Hong Kong and the notes were six times oversubscribed, indicating high market demand for such issuance in Hong Kong.

The central bank issued 10 billion yuan in three-month bills at a coupon rate of 2.45 percent and 10 billion yuan in one-year bills at a coupon rate of 2.8 percent in Hong Kong.

The move was aimed at expanding the range of yuan-denominated financial products of high credit rating in Hong Kong and improving the yuan yield curve in the region, said the PBOC statement.

The PBOC sold its first yuan-denominated bills in Hong Kong to raise 20 billion yuan in November last year.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority's spokesperson welcomed the issuance, saying it can boost the development of offshore yuan business in Hong Kong, as well as strengthen Hong Kong's position as the global hub for yuan trade settlement.

The issuance of bills can enrich the offshore market with more high rating yuan products and improve yield curve, as well as provide more choices for local banks to manage yuan liquidity, the spokesperson said.

Cheng Shi, chief economist at ICBC International, said the coupon rates for the two notes were lower in the issuance than the previous one, but the market is still active, indicating that investors are positive towards such yuan products.

George Yang, chief economist at Prime China Securities, said the notes were six times oversubscribed this time, much higher than the 3.8 times last time, indicating climbing demand for such bills, believing this can boost yuan-denominated assets.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 13:37:24|Editor: Li Xia

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged a former senior attorney at Apple Inc. with insider trading.

Gene Daniel Levoff, an attorney who previously served as Apple's global head of corporate law and corporate secretary, was accused of using confidential information to unlawfully trade Apple securities ahead of the company's quarterly earnings announcements.

The SEC claimed that Levoff engaged in insider trading at least three times in 2015 and 2016, making approximately 382,000 U.S. dollars in combined profits and losses avoided.

"Levoff's alleged exploitation of his access to Apple's financial information was particularly egregious given his responsibility for implementing the company's insider trading compliance policy," Antonia Chion, associate director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, said in a statement.

Levoff had responsibility for ensuring employees complied with Apple's insider trading policies since at least 2010, and implemented an update of the procedures in 2015, according to the SEC's complaint.

Apple terminated Levoff's employment in September last year after placing him on leave two months earlier, the complaint showed.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey on Wednesday also announced criminal charges against Levoff with one count of securities fraud, which carries a potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of 5 million dollars.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 13:37:24|Editor: Li Xia

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UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the settlement of a dispute between Greece and Macedonia over the constitutional name of the latter.

Guterres on Tuesday received official notification of the entry into force of the Prespa Agreement, which, among other things, expresses the agreement by the parties to the name "Republic of North Macedonia," said Guterres's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, in a statement on Wednesday.

"He (Guterres) welcomes this development, which settles the long-standing dispute between Athens and Skopje and demonstrates that even seemingly intractable issues can be resolved through dialogue and political will," said the statement.

The UN chief congratulated the two countries and Prime Ministers Alexis Tsipras of Greece and Zoran Zaev of Macedonia on their determination in creating a forward-looking vision for relations between their two countries and reconciliation in the Balkan region and beyond, it said.

Guterres was deeply grateful to his personal envoy, Matthew Nimetz, for his unwavering commitment and dedication in facilitating the negotiations, said the statement.

The UN chief called on member states, regional organizations and all international partners to support the historical steps that the parties have taken, it said.

Greece and Macedonia have been in dispute since 1991, when the former Yugoslav republic gained independence. Greece has objected to its neighbor's constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia, fearing that the name indicates territorial ambitions over the northern Greek province of Macedonia. Greece's objection has impeded Skopje's bids to join NATO and the European Union.

Under the UN-brokered Prespa Agreement in June 2018, Macedonia's constitutional name would become "the Republic of North Macedonia." The parliaments of the two countries have since ratified the agreement.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 12:37:14|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's central bank skipped open market operations on Thursday for the fourth day after the week-long Spring Festival holiday.

After cash returning to the banking system offset maturing reverse repos, the liquidity level in the banking system remained at a relatively high level, the People's Bank of China said on its website.

A reverse repo is a process by which the central bank purchases securities from commercial banks through bidding, with an agreement to sell them back in the future.

On Thursday, 200 billion yuan (29.5 billion U.S. dollars) of the previous reverse repos matured, meaning liquidity dropped by the same amount in the market.

The Spring Festival, China's Lunar New Year, is an important traditional festival for Chinese, and cash demand during the week-long holiday is usually strong. This year, the festival fell on Feb. 5.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 12:12:08|Editor: Liangyu

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by Raimundo Urrechaga

HAVANA, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Books about China, including its culture and literature, have caught the eyes of thousands of readers at the 28th Havana International Book Fair, contributing to deepening China-Cuba exchanges.

The China Intercontinental Press, the island's Confucius Institute and the Chinese embassy in Cuba have attended the event held at the old fortress of San Carlos de la Cabana in Havana starting from Feb. 7, bringing more than 250 books, most of them translated into Spanish.

"We have brought books on China's culture, history, politics, economy, etc. The most popular ones among Cubans are those about culture, food, traditional medicine, handcrafts and festivals," Qin Huimin, representative of the China Intercontinental Press told Xinhua.

Qin said the publishing house that she is working in offers services for foreign readers who want to know more about the Asian nation, as they attach great importance to the publication of books in other languages.

"So far, we have launched books in more than 200 countries and regions and we also attach great importance to the Latin American market. It's our desire to present more books to local readers and meet their needs to have greater cultural exchanges and interactions," she said.

Qin added that books in Spanish are a "valued" market for Chinese publishers and they hope to increase their publication to promote Chinese culture and understanding of the Asian nation among foreign readers.

Zhang Junyu, cultural attache of the Chinese embassy in Cuba, highlighted the increasing ties between both nations since last year when China was the nation guest of honor at the book fair.

"To continue last years' experience, we brought back a number of exhibitors and books to maintain positive cultural exchanges which Cubans really appreciated," she said.

Books titled "Cellphone" (2003) and "I Am Not Madame Bovary" (2012) by prestigious Chinese writer Liu Zhenyun and "In the dark" (2002) by renowned novelist Mai Jia, who both visited the island state last year, have caught the attention of the Cuban public.

According to the diplomat, the event paves the way for increasing cultural links between both countries and allows readers to know about China's history, fruitful experiences and Chinese people's daily lives.

"Our embassy has prepared 26 titles and some 300 books in Spanish (...) We hope to take this opportunity to further promote cultural exchanges between both countries and help Cubans better understand Chinese culture, literature," Zhang said.

In this endeavor, the Confucius Institute of Havana plays a fundamental role, as it has launched various activities at its stand at the book fair.

"Everyday we have one activity in the morning and another one in the afternoon, like Chinese calligraphy, paper cutting, basic language expressions as well as traditional games like go and chess," Zhang Wei, co-director of the Confucius Institute of Havana, told Xinhua.

The professor said these activities are linked to books in Chinese language, the HSK Chinese proficiency examination, traditional Chinese culture, economics and contemporary politics.

This year's book fair will conclude on Feb. 11 in Havana and then travel through the rest of the country, ending on May 13 in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba.

According to the organizers, around 380 foreign guests from more than 40 countries as well as 127 exhibitors and publishing houses have participated in the event.

The literary event, considered the most important cultural event in the Caribbean nation, provides a platform for dialogue between Cuban authors and those from other countries, as well as offers its visitors a valuable opportunity to directly communicate with writers, publishers and distributors.TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Torex Gold Resources Inc. (the Company or Torex) (TSX:TXG) announces the results from the first 32 holes of its infill drill program targeting the ELD zone, in preparation for a maiden underground resource estimate. The ELD zone is the downdip extension of mineralization below the El Limon Open Pit, at the Morelos Property in Southwest Mexico. Highlights from this program include 25.0 g/t Au over 8.5m in borehole LDUG-026, 24.9g/t Au over 7.5m in borehole LDUG-013, 16.8g/t Au over 15.2m in borehole LDUG-021, and 12.5g/t Au over 45.9m in borehole LDUG-002. The deposit remains open down dip and along strike.



Fred Stanford, President and CEO of Torex stated: These initial results illustrate the potential of the Morelos Property to continue to offer incremental ore sources to complement the production from the open pits, and potentially from Media Luna after the pits are mined out. ELD is above the sill, whereas Sub-Sill is below the sill. Both are accessed from the same underground infrastructure. ELD is where testing of the Muckahi Mining System will take place, starting this quarter. Testing in 2019 will include both tunnel excavation and long hole open stope production mining. Access to start the testing is in place. The first piece of Muckahi equipment is in transit to site. Training will start this month, with the first Muckahi blast anticipated before the end of the quarter. Step-out drilling at ELD, to test for down dip mineralization, will continue during the Muckahi testing. Media Luna infill drilling will also continue throughout the year, as we upgrade this resource in preparation for further technical studies. Exciting times at Torex, as we plan to produce more than 400,000 ounces of Au/year, seek to grow the resources at Morelos, upgrade the confidence class of underground resources, and develop innovative ways to reduce the cost and environmental impact of mining, with methods that could be applicable across the industry.

Highlights of drilling results at the ELD: Drill-Hole Intersection Core

Length Au Ag Cu Lithology From (m) To (m) (m) g/t g/t % LDUG-002 12.00 57.91 45.9 12.5 10.5 0.2 Skarn Including 24.17 42.19 18.0 18.3 17.2 0.3 Skarn LDUG-004 41.18 58.72 17.5 7.5 8.7 0.2 Skarn LDUG-005 79.13 96.01 16.9 10.1 1.2 0.0 Skarn LDUG-010 97.48 120.17 22.7 10.1 1.7 0.0 Skarn Including 105.55 112.95 7.4 18.9 1.9 0.0 Skarn LDUG-011 37.38 45.70 8.3 18.8 4.6 0.1 Skarn LDUG-013 85.76 93.29 7.5 24.9 8.4 0.2 Skarn Including 88.00 92.70 4.7 34.9 10.2 0.2 Skarn LDUG-017 70.31 80.00 9.6 15.7 6.6 0.1 Skarn LDUG-018 102.32 107.00 4.6 23.0 27.4 1.0 Skarn LDUG-019 77.50 88.67 11.1 12.8 2.5 0.0 Skarn LDUG-021 94.24 109.48 15.2 16.8 35.2 0.3 Skarn Including 104.68 109.48 4.8 27.5 59.8 0.3 Skarn LDUG-025 76.07 88.53 12.4 9.3 5.2 0.1 Skarn LDUG-026 56.23 64.69 8.4 25.0 9.2 0.2 Skarn LDUG-029 32.00 44.27 12.2 8.2 10.2 0.3 Skarn LDUG-031 58.11 72.88 14.7 11.1 33.7 0.9 Skarn LDUG-032 62.17 67.20 5.0 25.6 3.0 0.1 Skarn And 72.30 87.00 14.7 10.8 3.5 0.1 Skarn

Notes to drilling results table:

Intersections are not reported as true thickness Interval lengths for holes dipping between -45 to -90 have been selected to represent a minimum mining height of 3.5 metres Interval lengths for holes dipping between 0 and -45 have been selected to represent a minimum horizontal length of 3.5 metres Torex is not aware of any drilling, sampling, recovery, or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the data.

Please refer to Table 1 for a complete list and expanded description of the borehole intersections reported in this press release. Refer to Sections 1-3 for general borehole locations and cross sections.

This infill exploration drill program consists of a total of 32 holes (4,818 metres) and is designed to increase the confidence in the grade and continuity of mineralization in the central part of the currently known zone. With these new intersections, Torex expects to create a mineral resource below the deepest part of the El Limon Pit, which will be tested in an underground mine planning exercise for conversion to mineral reserves. Drilling commenced in July 2018 and has confirmed the prevalence of high-grade mineralization intersected in earlier, widely spaced holes proving the potential of this zone.

Geology

The ELD zone occurs in the northwest portion of El Limon deposit, which is part of the large gold bearing skarn system of El Limon-Guajes, located in the central part of the Guerrero Gold Belt in Southwest Mexico. The El Limon-Guajes deposit is hosted in the Mesozoic carbonate-rich Morelos Platform, which has been intruded by Paleocene granodiorite stocks, sills, and dikes. Skarn-hosted gold mineralization is developed along the contacts of the intrusive rocks and the enclosing carbonate-rich sedimentary rocks of the Cuautla and Morelos formations. El Limon Deep represents the down-dip extension of the skarn that hosts the gold mineralization at El Limon open pit, where the skarn is developed immediately above a large granodiorite sill intruded along the contact of the Cuautla and the Mezcala formations. El Limon Deep is located directly below the deepest part of the El Limon final pit and is above the El Limon Sill. It lies approximately 300m north and at a higher elevation than Sub-Sill but has the same general orientation in strike and plunge.

The southeast portion of El Limon Deep is characterized by a single and very continuous skarn package that strikes approximately 35 to the northeast and dips between 30 and 35 to the northwest. To the northwest, along its downdip extension, El Limon Deep is characterized by multiple more steeply dipping (45 to 60), skarn zones. They are developed along the contact between the Cuautla and the Mezcala formations, and along the contacts between marbles of the Morelos formation and multiple granodiorite sills and resemble the Sub-Sill skarn morphology.

The currently known, best-developed skarn zone at El Limon Deep is in the central part of the drilled area where the single flat lying skarn package turns into steeply dipping, multiple skarn zones. The change in the geometry of the skarn package is interpreted to be related to northeast striking and southeast dipping pre, syn-, and post mineral faults, locally represented by post-mineral dykes (sections 1-3). The initial infill exploration program has been concentrated in this area and has confirmed the continuity of the mineralization intersected in earlier, widely spaced holes, and it proves the continuity of the high-grade gold mineralization for at least 150 metres along strike and 150 metres down dip; apparent widths vary from 3.5 metres to 46 metres.

Mineralization remains open along strike especially to the southwest and downdip to the northwest. Additional mineral potential is envisaged in the multiple skarn zones identified at depth. A program of 11,000 metres of Infill and step-out drilling will be carried out starting in February 2019.

The style of mineralization at El Limon Deep is similar to the mineralization in the other mineralized zones within the El Limon Guajes deposit. It is characterized by an abundance of gold, which is strongly associated with bismuth and variable amounts of silver and copper. Gold occurs in variably sulfidized, pyrrhotite-rich skarn, while silver and copper mineralization is primarily determined by the degree of sulfidation of the host skarn. Mineralization is associated with retrograde alteration characterized by amphibole, calcite and quartz, with lessor amounts of chlorite  epidote. This alteration affects the pyroxene-garnet exoskarn and granodiorite-related endoskarn. Locally, mineralization occurs in narrow lenses of massive sulfide.

QA/QC and Qualified Person

Torex maintains an industry-standard analytical QA/QC and data verification program to monitor laboratory performance and ensure high quality assays. Results from this program confirm reliability of the assay results. All sampling and analytical work for the infill exploration program is performed by SGS de Mexico S.A. de C.V. (SGS) in Durango, and in SGS in Nuevo Balsas, Mexico. Gold analyses comprise fire assays with atomic absorption or gravimetric finish. External check assays for QA/QC purposes are performed at ALS Chemex de Mexico S.A. de C.V.

The analytical QA/QC program is currently overseen by Carlo Nasi, Chief Mine Geologist for Minera Media Luna, S.A. de C.V.

The scientific and technical data contained in this news release pertaining to the ELD exploration program have been reviewed and approved by Lars Weiershauser, PhD, PGeo. Dr. Weiershauser is a member of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario (APGO#1504), has experience relevant to the style of mineralization under consideration and is an employee of Torex. Dr. Weiershauser has verified the data disclosed, including sampling, analytical, and test data underlying the drill results, and he consents to the inclusion in this release of said data in the form and context in which they appear.

Additional information on the ELD deposit, sampling and analyses, analytical labs, and methods used for data verification is available in the Companys most recent annual information form and the technical report entitled Morelos Property, NI 43-101 Technical Report, ELG Mine Complex, Life of Mine Plan and Media Luna Preliminary Economic Assessment, Guerrero State, Mexico with an effective date of March 31, 2018 (filing date September 4, 2018) filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and the Companys website at www.torexgold.com .

About Torex

Torex is an intermediate gold producer based in Canada, engaged in the exploration, development and operation of its 100% owned Morelos Gold Property, an area of 29,000 hectares in the highly prospective Guerrero Gold Belt located 180 kilometers southwest of Mexico City. The Companys principal assets are the El Limon Guajes mining complex (the ELG Mine Complex), comprised of the El Limon, Guajes and El Limon Sur open pits, the El Limon Guajes underground mine including zones referred to as Sub-Sill and El Limon Deep, and the processing plant and related infrastructure, which is in the commercial production stage as of April 1, 2016, and the Media Luna deposit, which is an early stage development project, and for which the Company issued an updated preliminary economic assessment in September 2018 (the Technical Report). The property remains 75% unexplored.

For further information, please contact:

TOREX GOLD RESOURCES INC. Fred Stanford Gabriela Sanchez President and CEO Vice President Investor Relations Tel. (647) 260-1502 Tel. (647) 260-1503 Email: fred.stanford@torexgold.com Email: gabriela.sanchez@torexgold.com

CAUTIONARY NOTES



FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Notwithstanding the Companys efforts, there can be no guarantee that the Company will not face unforeseen delays or disruptions. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, information with respect the potential of the Morelos Property to continue to offer incremental ore sources to complement the production from the open pits, and potentially from Media Luna after the pits are mined out, plans to begin testing of the Muckahi Mining System (Muckahi) in the second quarter of 2019 and the planned scope of the testing program, the planned continuation of the ELD step out drilling during the testing of Muckahi, plans to continue the infill drilling at Media Luna, upgrade the confidence level of the mineral resources and complete additional technical studies, plans to produce more than 400,000 ounces of Au/year, seek to grow the resources at the Morelos Property, upgrade the confidence class of underground resources, and develop innovative ways to reduce the cost and environmental impact of mining, with methods that could be applicable across the industry, expectation that the ELD infill exploration drill program will increase the confidence level in the grade and continuity of the mineralization in the central part of the currently known zone and the expectation the results will enable the Company to estimate a mineral resource for ELD below the deepest part of the El Limon Pit, plans to prepare a mine plan based on such mineral resources and the expectation the results will enable the Company to estimate a mineral reserve for ELD, plans for an 11,000 metres of Infill and step-out drilling program to be carried out starting in February 2019, and the expectation that mineralized zones within the within the El Limon Guajes deposit is characterized by an abundance of gold. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of terminology such as plans, expects, estimates, intends, anticipates, believes, potential, designed, envisaged or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might, will be taken, occur, to continue or be achieved. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Companys actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including, without limitation, risks related to the risk factors associated with drilling programs, risk that mineralization or mineral resources, as the case may be, may not be upgraded to mineral resources or a higher category of mineral resources or reserves, as the case may be, and those risk factors identified in the Companys annual information form and managements discussion and analysis. Forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, and other factors that management believes are relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date such statements are made. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated. 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. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

MEDIA LUNA PEA AND MUCKAHI

The Media Lunas preliminary economic assessment (the PEA)(see Technical Report) is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. The Media Luna PEA includes information on the Muckahi. The PEA economics for the Media Luna Project in the Technical Report are based on conventional mining methods. In addition, Muckahi, a Torex proprietary mining method, is introduced and described in the Technical Report. The Technical Report uses the Media Luna Project as a platform for comparison to demonstrate the potential benefits that could be possible if the Muckahi method is proven and ultimately applied to the Media Luna Project, or any other deposit that does not employ caving methods. It is important to note that Muckahi is experimental in nature and has not been tested in an operating mine. Many aspects of the systems are conceptual, and proof of concept has not been demonstrated.

A PDF accompanying this announcement is available at:

http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/66035446-f8d2-4e66-8f8e-51a109252269

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/20e6209a-638c-40f6-9cf1-31ec0c4e6f17

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/71df93fc-841c-4e2c-84be-e83a76ed9cd6

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/01181e90-220b-44b5-bea2-9fbbeccedcb4Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 11:42:01|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's goods trade rose 8.7 percent year on year in January to 2.73 trillion yuan (395.98 billion U.S. dollars), customs data showed Thursday.

Exports rose 13.9 percent year on year to 1.5 trillion yuan last month, while imports grew 2.9 percent to 1.23 trillion yuan, the General Administration of Customs said.

Exports and imports of products under the general trade category rose 13 percent year on year to 1.66 trillion yuan, accounting for 60.9 percent of the total foreign trade, 2.3 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

China's trade with the European Union, the ASEAN countries, and Japan increased 17.6 percent, 7.8 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively, while trade with countries along the Belt and Road registered faster-than-average growth, with the combined trade volume standing at 770.8 billion yuan, up 11.5 percent year on year.

Exports to the United States added 1.9 percent, while imports tumbled 38.6 percent, the data showed.

Private enterprises played a bigger role, accounting for 42.3 percent of the total foreign trade, up 3 percentage points year on year.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 11:16:55|Editor: Li Xia

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that Paul Manafort, U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, breached his plea agreement by intentionally lying to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the FBI and the grand jury.

Manafort "intentionally made multiple false statements" concerning matters related to Mueller's probe into the alleged Russia meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections, said Judge Amy Berman Jackson in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

At a closed-door hearing, the judge said there was a "preponderance" of evidence that Manafort lied on three different topics, including his communications with his former business partner Konstantin Kilimnik, according to local media reports.

The ruling voids the federal government's obligations under Manafort's plea deal to offer him leniency in exchange for his cooperation in the Mueller probe. It also means that Manafort will not be credited for his cooperation with prosecutors.

The charges against Manafort largely stem from his time working for a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine years before the 2016 U.S. elections. They do not directly address any alleged collusion between Trump associates or officials and the Russian government, which the Mueller team has been investigating since May 2017.

Trump has repeatedly attacked the Mueller probe as a "rigged witch hunt."

Manafort, aged 69, was a veteran Republican lobbyist. He joined Trump's campaign team in March 2016 and spent three months as Trump's campaign chairman until mid-August of that year. He was convicted in a Virginia federal court trial on charges of tax and bank fraud last year and pleaded guilty in Washington D.C. on others.

Manafort was scheduled to be sentenced in Washington D.C. on March 13. Local media said he was also awaiting a sentencing date in Virginia.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 11:11:53|Editor: Li Xia

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MEXICO CITY, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday expressed the hope for the recent conviction of Mexico's drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to dissuade people from a life of crime.

"This should serve as a lesson" to would-be criminals "that money, material things, cheap luxury and fame do not bring true happiness," Lopez Obrador said.

His remarks came one day after Guzman was convicted in a U.S. federal court of all the 10 charges against him, including manufacture and international distribution of drugs, and use of firearms.

Guzman, 61, is expected to serve a mandatory life sentence yet to be determined at a June hearing. His defense team has said it plans to appeal.

In Mexico, the former Sinaloa cartel boss was deemed untouchable as he repeatedly eluded capture and successfully broke out of jail many times, including from the maximum security prison, usually with the help of corrupt officials.

Guzman was extradited to the United States in January 2017, and was found guilty on Feb. 12 after a three-month trial at a court in New York City.

While Mexico is a primary trafficking route for drugs into the United States, its domestic drug consumption was low but is now on the rise, Lopez Obrador noted.

The president said the Mexican government will launch a nationwide anti-drug campaign to prevent the youth from "falling into temptation."

"We can tackle the problem of insecurity and violence if we prevent the continued growth of domestic consumption," he added.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 11:06:51|Editor: Li Xia

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YANGON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- An ethnic armed group of Myanmar, the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), has robbed a military vehicle in eastern Shan state, Myanmar News Agency reported Thursday.

Members of the RCSS, also known as Shan State Army (SSA), stopped a military vehicle carrying two commanding officers between Mongyin and Kengtung, and took away things on the car on Tuesday, the military's True News team was quoted as saying.

The RCSS is an ethnic armed organization which signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Accord (NCA) with the government on Oct. 15, 2015.

The military said in a statement that the armed group's robbery is an opposite challenge to the eternal peace, warning that the military will take action if the armed group does not return their properties.

The Myanmar military announced suspension of all its military actions against armed groups in operation areas in five military command regions for four months starting from Dec. 21, 2018 to April 30, 2019 to pave way for political talks with the non-ceasefire signatory armed groups.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 11:01:49|Editor: xuxin

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Li Bingxuan, general manager of the Laos-China Railway Co., Ltd. delivers a speech during the China-Laos Railway Construction Working Conference in Vientiane, capital of Laos, Feb. 13, 2019. Over 90 percent of the tendered bridge and tunnel projects of the China-Laos railway will be completed by the end of 2019, the construction company has said. The China-Laos railway has a length 414 km with bridges of 62 km and tunnels of 198 km, linking Mohan-Boten border gate in northern Laos and capital Vientiane. The operating speed on the route is designed at 160 km per hour. (Xinhua/Zhang Jianhua)

VIENTIANE, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Over 90 percent of the tendered bridge and tunnel projects of the China-Laos railway will be completed by the end of 2019, the construction company has said.

Li Bingxuan, general manager of the Laos-China Railway Co., Ltd. (LCRC), said on Wednesday during the China-Laos Railway Construction Working Conference that the construction of the key project under the Belt and Road Initiative is entering the critical and decisive phase in 2019.

The LCRC, the joint venture between China and Laos undertaking the railway's construction and future operation, will continue the work with high quality and efficiency, Li said.

Specifically, the railway's roadbed and bridge projects will be 95 percent complete, while the tunnel projects will be 90 percent complete at the end of 2019, said Li, adding that the building of the base for track laying and railway stations will be started soon.

According to Li, in 2018, the construction of the key and difficult projects and the bottleneck projects of the railway went steadily and smoothly. By the end of 2018, the accumulated investment of the railway had reached 11.8 billion yuan (around 1.7 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 31.5 percent of the total.

The China-Laos railway was promoted by leaders of the two countries as an interconnectivity project under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. The construction of the railway began in December 2016, and the railway is expected to open to traffic in December, 2021.

The China-Laos railway has a length 414 km with bridges of 62 km and tunnels of 198 km, linking Mohan-Boten border gate in northern Laos and capital Vientiane. The operating speed on the route is designed at 160 km per hour.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 10:46:47|Editor: Li Xia

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that Paul Manafort, U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, breached his plea agreement by intentionally lying to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the FBI and the grand jury.

Manafort "intentionally made multiple false statements" concerning matters related to Mueller's probe into the alleged Russia meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections, said Judge Amy Berman Jackson in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

At a closed-door hearing, the judge said there was a "preponderance" of evidence that Manafort lied on three different topics, including his communications with his former business partner Konstantin Kilimnik, according to local media reports.

The ruling voids the federal government's obligations under Manafort's plea deal to offer him leniency in exchange for his cooperation in the Mueller probe. It also means that Manafort will not be credited for his cooperation with prosecutors.

Manafort, aged 69, was a veteran Republican lobbyist. He joined Trump's campaign team in March 2016 and spent three months as Trump's campaign chairman until mid-August of that year. He was convicted in a Virginia federal court trial on charges of tax and bank fraud last year and pleaded guilty in Washington D.C. on others.

Manafort was scheduled to be sentenced in Washington D.C. on March 13. Local media said he was also awaiting a sentencing date in Virginia.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 10:41:46|Editor: Li Xia

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HARARE, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe on Wednesday ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, becoming the world's 168th country to adopt the treaty that prohibits all nuclear weapon explosions including tests.

Endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 10, 1996, the treaty nearly gained universal adherence, with 184 states having signed and 168 having ratified. However, it has not yet entered into force.

After ratifying the treaty, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the country's ratification was a sign of the changing times. "Zimbabwe has now today deposited its instruments for ratification after a period of 20 years."

Mnangagwa said the decision was made due to a new dispensation in the country. "The environment is different and we think it is proper that Zimbabwe sides with those 167 other nations who have ratified against nuclear proliferation."

Zimbabwe's ratification was an important milestone, said Lassina Zerbo, executive secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.

"Zimbabwe is an important country in Africa. Like what the president said, it is a new time, new era. Things are moving, and Zimbabwe is showing to the international community that things are changing," he said.

Zimbabwe was also the 46th African state to ratify the treaty. Countries on the continent that are yet to ratify the treaty include the Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, the Gambia and Sao Tome and Principe, while Mauritius, Somalia and South Sudan are yet to sign the treaty.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 10:36:45|Editor: Li Xia

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CANBERRA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- More than half of six-year-old South Australian students have failed the state's first-ever early reading check.

Results released by the state government on Thursday revealed that only 5,951 students, or 43 percent of participants, met or exceeded that mark.

Almost 14,000 students from 432 state-funded schools took the screening test in 2018, which presented children with 40 words to read aloud.

Half of the words were fake words to test the students' ability to "decode" the words rather than reciting words they had already memorized.

The expected achievement of students at that point of their education was set at successfully reading 28 of the 40 words.

Students who speak English as their second language performed better than the overall cohort, with 48 percent meeting the standard, while four percent of respondents did not get any words right.

Fewer than 20 percent of the students from disadvantaged areas achieved the standard, compared to 55 percent from advantaged areas.

"We know that a number of students are capable of remembering or guessing a number of simple words in texts read by Year 1 students, even if they are struggling with their phonics," SA Education Minister John Gardner told News Corp Australia on Thursday.

"This can cause them great difficulty in their reading once texts get more complicated.

"Identifying these students early, before they really begin struggling with reading, is a particularly important aspect as to why the government has implemented the check."

The test was based on a similar check in Britain where the expected standard is 32 out of 40 words.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 09:06:22|Editor: Li Xia

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ISLAMABAD, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan will launch a major crackdown against those using social media to promote extremist narrative, a cabinet minister has said.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said in Islamabad on Wednesday that a mechanism has been prepared in consultations with the security agencies to take action against the misuse of the social media.

Officials say several elements in Pakistan have opened fake accounts on social media, including Twitter and Facebook, to propagate extremism and to promote hate among different schools of thought. Such people also use social media to campaign against the state and security agencies.

The information minister regretted that certain elements through fake accounts are resorting to hate speeches and issuing edicts. He said these elements will be brought to book.

"A mechanism has been devised to control hate speech on social media. The Federal Investigation Agency, which is also responsible for monitoring of cyber-crimes, and other relevant agencies have unanimously prepared a plan to curb misuse of the social media," the minister told a training workshop for parliamentarians.

"We are also establishing a media regulatory authority which will ensure enforcement of related regulations regarding the media," Chaudhry said.

He said Pakistan has almost overcome the menace of terrorism and no one will be allowed to promote extremism and terrorism on the social media.

"Pakistan has given immense sacrifices in the war on terror and in the next phase we will further consolidate the gains made against terrorism not allowing those resorting to hate speeches," he said.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 08:01:09|Editor: mym

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A model presents a creation of LEAF XIA Fall/Winter 2019 collection during the New York Fashion Week in New York, the United States, on Feb. 13, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

NEW YORK, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese fashion designer Leaf Xia surprised and amused her audience at the ongoing New York Fashion Week (NYFW) on Wednesday with her namesake brand's latest womenswear collection with feline cuteness, making a successful debut at the top global fashion event.

In collaboration with Hello Kitty, the iconic Japanese brand featuring the cartoon image of a cute cat, the 10-minute show displayed more than 20 vividly colorful outfits in oversized shapes and covered with a kaleidoscope of cartoon images and collages.

Holding Hello Kitty dolls in their hands, models turned the finale of Xia's show into a teenage girls' party with energetic strides, vibrant poses and sweet smiles, captivating the hearts of viewers, most of whom are also Hello Kitty fans.

Xia told Xinhua after the show that by using romantic colors and cute styles, she wanted to demonstrate that sweetness could also be powerful for women.

"It's a sense of overcoming hardness with softness," said Xia, referring to the ancient Chinese wisdom. "When I was designing this collection, these colors actually gave me a lot of courage."

Born in east China's Jiangsu Province in 1992 and raised in metropolises like Beijing and Shanghai, Xia graduated from the New York-based Parsons School of Design in 2015 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts before went back to Shanghai to launch her brand. She has been invited to hold runway shows for three times at the London Fashion Week, another global fashion extravaganza.

Xia is among nearly a dozen young Chinese designers who have sprung up in the global fashion arena in recent years. In her opinion, this is "something meant to be happening" as the country has enjoyed rapid economic and social development in the past decades.

"In the past, a lot of brilliant Chinese students majored in maths, but as the country develops, more talent in art will emerge," said Xia.

She said that a lot of excellent students in globally renowned design schools today are from China. "We Chinese are born with the desire to excel, and we have a great taste in art owing to the long history and rich culture of our country," she added.

Usually staged in February and September, the NYFW is ranked among the fashion world's top four along with the Paris, London and Milan fashion weeks.Boston, Feb. 13, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Duck Creek Technologies has expanded its Partner Ecosystem program through a new relationship with MVP Advisory Group, a leading provider of insurance and technology consulting services to the property & casualty insurance industry. MVP has led large-scale insurance organizations through core transformation initiatives, digital technology innovation, and the development of advanced analytics environments. From strategic planning to product optimization, MVP provides proven outcomes in delivering improved technology and operations to the specialty, commercial, and personal property and casualty marketplace.

The P&C insurance industry is rapidly undergoing a sea change in terms of digital transformation and the business processes that must be reimagined to accommodate these initiatives, said Donn Vucovich, MVP Managing Partner. MVP brings extensive insurance industry business operations and technology experience to solve difficult problems, from core systems replacement to greenfield digital integrations to organizational change management. Our team is excited to work with Duck Creeks customers to help guide them through the complex challenges and emerging opportunities true digital transformation presents.

Duck Creeks Partner Ecosystem program comprises delivery, solution, and consulting partners who play crucial roles in providing complementary software, services, and solutions to insurers of all sizes. MVP Advisory Groups extensive domain and technical expertise will benefit P&C carriers looking to tackle large-scale digital initiatives such as systems integration, optimizing data and analytics strategies and implementations, and alignment of IT roadmaps and change management processes.

To serve the technological and operational needs of our customers, it is critical that we partner with firms that boast strong track records in delivering a broad array of insurance consulting and implementation services, said Eddie Jones, Vice President of Strategies and Alliances at Duck Creek Technologies. MVP brings a wealth of experience to the table in many critical aspects of digital transformation, data management, advanced analytics, systems integration, and IT strategy, and we are happy to welcome them into Duck Creeks Partner Ecosystem.

About MVP Advisory Group:

MVP Advisory Group is a unique consulting firm focused exclusively on the insurance industry. Since its formation in 2013, MVP has developed a team of experienced insurance professionals who have successfully managed and led change in all areas of insurance including underwriting, policy administration, claims, client experience, finance, compliance, data analytics, human resources, and information technology. In addition to depth of talent, its operating principles allow MVP to create valuable partnerships which complement and leverage existing client capabilities. Core to its successful client partnerships is a commitment to focus on key areas of change where MVP provides deep expertise, including transformational roadmaps, program management, quality assurance, data management, and analytic and digital transformation and engagement. Visit MVP at www.mvpadvisorygroup.com.

About Duck Creek Technologies:

Duck Creek Technologies paves a genuine path to the future for P&C insurance companies. Decades of insurance experience underpin advanced technologies specifically designed to accommodate change - allowing carriers to navigate uncertainty and capture market opportunities faster than their competitors. Duck Creek solutions are available standalone or as a full suite. All are available via Duck Creek OnDemand, the providers SaaS solution for the P&C insurance industry. For more information, visit www.duckcreek.com.



Media Contact:

Paul Rechichi

Racepoint Global

617-624-3295

prechichi@racepointglobal.com

AttachmentSource: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 07:51:07|Editor: Li Xia

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MINSK, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- It was still not possible to come closer to resolving the conflict in Ukraine's Donbas, said Martin Sajdik, special envoy of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on Ukraine.

Four years has passed since the signing of a set of measures to implement the Minsk agreements on Ukraine, the diplomat said on Wednesday, following the negotiations in Minsk. He expressed regret that the agreements had not been fully implemented.

Sajdik added that he had talked about this at a meeting of the UN Security Council, which was convened on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the signing of a set of measures.

He informed that the international community showed great concern about the events in the east of Ukraine. The meeting participants paid special attention to the humanitarian aspect of the conflict and the need to ensure the safety of civilians, and noted the role of the OSCE in resolving the conflict in the east of Ukraine.

The next meeting of the contact group is scheduled for Feb. 27.

The TCG is a group of representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE to facilitate a diplomatic solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 07:46:21|Editor: Li Xia

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Snowplows clear ice on a street in Toronto, Canada, on Feb. 13, 2019. A winter storm of a mix of snow, freezing rain and strong winds hit the Greater Toronto Area from Tuesday to Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zou Zheng)Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 07:21:04|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BRASILIA, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro was released from the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo on Wednesday after convalescing from surgery and returned to the capital, Brasilia.

Bolsonaro spent 17 days in recovery, mainly in intensive or semi-intensive care units, but worked from his bedside for most of that time, with his vice president, Hamilton Mourao, filling in for him for two of those days.

On the presidential campaign trail last year, Bolsonaro was stabbed in the abdomen by a lone attacker. He required a colostomy and underwent surgery in late January to reverse the procedure.

The surgical procedure reportedly went well, but his recovery had some complications. Last week, he had fever and was diagnosed with pneumonia, but his health improved and doctors said he was able to leave the hospital and return to Brasilia.

Bolsonaro commented on social networks about leaving the hospital, noting that the man named Adelio Bispo who had attacked him had been a member of the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL).

At the time of the attack, the PSOL admitted Bispo had been a member, but said he quit the political organization years ago and was never very active.

So far, investigations have not uncovered a connection between the attacker and any Brazilian political party.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 07:21:04|Editor: Xiang Bo

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ABUJA, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a stampede during an election campaign rally on Tuesday in Nigeria's southern state of Rivers has risen to 15, a hospital spokesman revealed Wednesday.

Kem Daniel-Elebiga, a spokesman of the Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, said in a statement that casualty data from the hospital's emergency department indicated a total of 15 bodies were brought in dead, including three men and 12 women.

He said 12 injured people rushed to the hospital received timely treatment, and three of them had been discharged.

The deadly stampede occurred Tuesday at a stadium in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers state, as supporters of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) tried to leave the venue following President Muhammadu Buhari's campaign rally there.

Police in Rivers state earlier confirmed four deaths in the stampede.

Nigeria will hold general elections on Saturday to elect the country's president and national assembly members, and elect state governors and state legislators on March 2.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 08:09:33|Editor: Liangyu

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People of Tibetan ethnic group perform during the Shangjiu Festival at the foot of Jiajin Mountain in the Tibetan Township of Qiaoqi in Ya'an City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Feb. 13, 2019. The Shangjiu Festival, a traditional festival of the Tibetan people, is celebrated on the ninth day of the first lunar month to pray for a good harvest. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 07:43:56|Editor: Liangyu

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A folk artist performs shadow puppetry at Cuijiahe Village of Weiyuan County in Dingxi City, northwest China's Gansu Province, Feb. 12, 2019. People enjoy multiple cultural activities here to celebrate the New Year in Chinese lunar calendar. (Xinhua/Wang Gang)Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 07:11:02|Editor: Yang Yi

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WARSAW, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Polish President Andrzej Duda said an increase in the presence of U.S. armed forces on Polish territory was to be expected, following a bilateral meeting with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence here Wednesday.

"I hope that our joint efforts aimed at increasing the presence of U.S. armed forces in Poland are going to bring effects soon," Duda said in a joint statement following the meeting with Pence.

"In the nearest future, commitments are going to come. This is what we should expect," Duda said.

"Our countries are discussing the parameters for increased United States military presence in Poland. I'll be carrying back your strong convictions regarding that to President Trump and to our leaders in the Defense Department when I return to the United States," Pence said in the statement.

During their meeting, Pence and Duda also discussed energy and economic cooperation.

Earlier in the day, Pence and Duda visited American and Polish troops stationed at a military base in Warsaw, and oversaw the signing of a deal for Poland to buy 20 HIMARS rocket launchers from U.S. producer Lockheed Martin.

Pence's visit to Warsaw includes the two-day conference on the Middle East co-organized by the U.S. and Poland, which kicked off Wednesday afternoon with an official welcome of the participants.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 06:50:57|Editor: yan

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CHICAGO, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures closed mixed on Wednesday after a relatively low-volume session, with soybeans and corn little changed as markets await news from trade talks in Beijing.

The most active soybean contract for March delivery was down 1 cent, or 0.11 percent, to settle at 9.165 dollars. March corn was up 0.5 cent, or 0.13 percent, to close at 3.7875 dollars per bushel. March wheat went up 2.25 cents, or 0.34 percent to settle at 5.20 dollars per bushel.

A new round of high-level trade talks between the United States and China will be held in Beijing on Thursday and Friday. Optimism on more progress led to a sharp rise in CBOT soybeans during the previous session. However, mild profit taking dragged down the prices on Wednesday.

"The trade talk optimism really had the market started to firm up a little bit, but it kind of pulled back somewhat because we are still waiting for some kind of a confirmation," said Virginia McGathey, McGathey Commodities.

CBOT wheat posted more gains for the fourth consecutive session, buoyed by upbeat export sales data.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 06:30:52|Editor: yan

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VALLETTA, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Hackers transferred 13 million euros out of Bank of Valletta (BOV), Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Wednesday.

Addressing the parliament, Muscat said hackers from as yet unknown country had used false international transactions in attempt to steal the money from the bank.

The Maltese government is the largest shareholder in the bank.

The prime minister said the bank had realised it had been attacked while reconciling international transactions on Wednesday. He said the bank had shut down its operations within 30 minutes, after receiving confirmation of the attack from the Maltese security services.

The money, he said, had been transferred by means of the false transactions to bank accounts outside of the country, and BOV immediately informed its correspondent banks to block the transactions.

Muscat said he was making a statement to parliament to put people's minds at rest that their money was safe in the bank.

The prime minister said the bank would be initiating its systems once it was sure there was no danger of a second attack.

"It is no joke having a bank that controls half the economy shut down for a whole business day but at this stage caution trumped every other consideration," Muscat said.

The attack forced the bank to suspend all its operations, including branches, point of sales systems as well as the companies internal email system.

The bank said it was working closely with local and international police authorities to resolve the crisis.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 06:30:52|Editor: yan

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Wednesday announced sanctions against two Iran-based entities and their associated individuals.

The designated New Horizon Organization supported the efforts of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - Qods Force (IRGC-QF) to recruit and collect intelligence, while Net Peygard Samavat Company attempted to install malware to compromise the computers of U.S. personnel, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

All property and interests in property of those sanctioned targets that were subject to U.S. jurisdiction would be blocked, and U.S. persons were generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

In a parallel move, the U.S. Department of Justice on the same day charged Monica Witt, a former U.S. service member, with revealing to Iran a highly classified intelligence program, according to a statement released by the department.

The same indictment charges four Iranian nationals, among whom three are linked to Net Peygard Samavat Company, with computer crimes targeting members of the U.S. intelligence community.

Washington has intensified its sanctions against Iran after President Donald Trump's decision to exit the Iran nuclear deal last May, a move that has been criticized widely by the international community.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that Iran would stand firm in the face of U.S. sanction pressures.

Washington is targeting Iran with an "economic, propaganda and psychological war," Rouhani was quoted as saying by Press TV. However, the Iranians will defend their dignity and independence, and will not "surrender to the enemy," he said.BENSALEM, Pa., Feb. 13, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Law Offices of Howard G. Smith announces an investigation on behalf of McCormick & Company investors (McCormick or the Company) (NYSE: MKC) concerning the Company and its officers possible violations of federal securities laws.



On January 24, 2019, the Company reported that trade inventory reductions resulted in significant out-of-stock situations on high-margin quality items, which negatively impacted its financial results. On this news, the Companys share price fell $14.65 per share, or over 10%, to close at $124.35 per share on January 24, 2019, on unusually heavy trading volume.

If you purchased McCormick 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 Howard G. Smith, Esquire, of Law Offices of Howard G. Smith, 3070 Bristol Pike, Suite 112, Bensalem, Pennsylvania 19020 by telephone at (215) 638-4847, toll-free at (888) 638-4847, or by email to howardsmith@howardsmithlaw.com , or visit our website at www.howardsmithlaw.com .

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 06:25:52|Editor: yan

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KIEV, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Air traffic over Ukraine grew 18.5 percent in 2018 over an increase of transit flights, Ukraerorukh, the country's air traffic regulator, was quoted Wednesday by local media as saying in its annual report.

Transit flights through Ukraine increased 23 percent last year over 2017, while international flights from and to Ukraine and domestic flights inside the country rose 16.2 percent and 11.8 percent respectively, according to the regulator's report.

Ukraerorukh provided air navigation services for 300,853 flights in 2018, including 194,199 flights of foreign airlines, it said.

Ukraine's air navigation industry, which had been severely hit by the armed conflicts in its eastern part, resumed growth in 2017 after three consecutive years of decline.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 04:50:33|Editor: yan

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UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations' new top envoy for Iraq expressed concern on Wednesday over the political stalemate revolving around the formation of the Cabinet.

The collaborative spirit between the leading parliamentary blocs four months ago allowed the consensual nomination of Adel Abdul-Mahdi as prime minister-designate, including a notably smooth transition of power, said Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.

However, to date, the government of Iraq remains incomplete. Four ministerial positions are still vacant, with three of them -- interior, defense and justice -- being subject to fierce disagreements among political blocs, she told the Security Council in a briefing.

Within this context, multiple parliamentary sessions have been adjourned, interrupted or boycotted over the past months. And as a result, the implementation of the government program has made little headway and parliamentary committees have yet to start their substantive work, noted Hennis-Plasschaert, the UN secretary-general's special representative and head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq.

To make things worse, the Iraqi Parliament is in a one-month recess and will only reconvene in early March, she said.

Ultimately, the people of Iraq are bearing the brunt of the political stalemate, at a time when it is critical to address their needs and demands for better services and to address reconstruction, justice, corruption, unemployment as well as economic and social development, she warned.

Long government formation processes are not new, nor unique to Iraq. However, in the Iraq context there is a real urgency to complete the process without delay to enable the government to consolidate the security gains achieved, to focus on rebuilding the country after years of conflict and to ensure a high-quality provision of services for their citizens, said Hennis-Plasschaert.

She called on the political actors to overcome political infighting and to demonstrate that political compromise can prevail in the greater interests of the Iraqi people. "So yes, it is high time for Iraqi leaders to shift focus from factional politics, and to invest efforts in addressing the immediate needs of the Iraqi citizens as further delays could give space to significant repercussions on the stability of the country."

Security remains a concern in Iraq, said the envoy.

Although terrorist activities have decreased, during the past month attacks have been carried out against both civilians and the Iraqi Security Forces, she said.

Despite its military defeat, the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group continues to pose a security threat to Iraq and the region, she warned.

Another concern relates to armed groups and criminal formations operating out of state control and also expanding their economic and social control in Iraqi daily life, she said. "Regardless of their affiliation, the government needs to take quick measures to reform its security sector and act resolutely against these groups and their activities."

She said the atmosphere of despair during the period of IS occupation has given some way to hope and optimism for the future. "However, one cannot shy away from the fact that the road to well-deserved long-term stability in Iraq will be far from easy."

Therefore, realism and great determination will be necessary in facing the challenges ahead, she said, calling for ownership and engagement of all Iraqi components, political will, and a sense of a shared history and a common future.

At the same time, continued support from the international community will be of paramount importance, she said.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 04:45:30|Editor: yan

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ALGIERS, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Japan's automaker giant Nissan Motor on Wednesday signed here a joint venture agreement with an Algerian private partner to install a car assembly plant with an investment worth 160 million U.S. dollars, local media reported.

The plant is due to be established in Oran province, 400 km west of Algiers. It is planned to produce some 63,500 vehicles per year by the first half of 2020, according to the joint venture agreement.

The plant would create some 1,800 jobs, in addition to some 3,000 indirect job opportunities.

The Algerian partner will hold a majority stake of 51 percent in this project as stipulated by the country's investment law.

Algeria decided in 2015 to suspend car imports, while encouraging local operators to sign contracts with international automaker brands to install assembly plants in a bid to curb import bill and diversify the hydrocarbon dependent economy.

Since 2015, several assembly plants have been installed in Algeria, including those of Renault, Hyundai, Volkswagen, and Kia.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 03:50:12|Editor: yan

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KIEV, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian government on Wednesday unveiled its 2018 top achievements, saying that sustainable economic development was the main result of its work.

In 2018, the Ukrainian economy grew by an estimated 3.2 percent, the state debt declined to 60.9 percent of the gross domestic product, while foreign currency reserves rose to the highest level in five years, according to a statement on the government website.

Besides, the government has improved the country's business environment, abolishing more than 700 obsolete regulations, the statement said.

The government support for the agriculture, including the subsidies for modernization of machinery and equipment, has helped the country's farmers to reap a record grain harvest of about 70 million tons.

Among its other major achievements in 2018, the government listed the fastest pace of road construction and repairs in 14 years, the reduction of dependence on imported energy sources and the reinforcement of the security sector.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 03:45:09|Editor: Li Xia

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ROME, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese market has been driving Italy's footwear exports in 2018 with a 20-percent growth, according to a study released at the 87th edition of MICAM, an international footwear exhibition that concluded in Milan on Wednesday.

Opened on Sunday by Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio, who also serves as Minister of Economic Development and Labor, MICAM showcased 1,304 exhibitors in the luxury, contemporary, active, cosmopolitan, and children's segments, organizers said.

Of the exhibitors, 716 were Italian and 588 came from countries including Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Japan, Morocco, Spain, and Turkey, attending the trade fair that spread over 60,000 square meters, according to Annarita Pilotti, president of MICAM and of Italian footwear manufacturers association, Assocalzaturifici.

Five leading Chinese social media influencers in fashion industry were invited to take part in MICAM, where they led a panel discussion themed "Social Media and E-Commerce: a Chinese Marriage", on the growing importance of new communication technologies in China.

Their presence at MICAM points to China's importance as a market for the Italian footwear sector, which depends on strong exports and which according to Confindustria industrialists association, is made up of 4,505 companies employing almost 76,000 people.

"Exports de facto drive our industry," MICAM CEO Tommaso Cancellara told reporters at a digital press conference. "We had excellent 2018 news from China (and) we invited key Chinese opinion leaders and influencers to MICAM in order to promote (our products) towards a market that is becoming increasingly significant, in a country that accepts and appreciates beautiful and well-made Italian products more and more."

Overall 2018 sales in the Far East were positive, growing at 3.1 percent in 2018 compared to the previous year, thanks largely to 20 percent growth in China, according to a study released at MICAM by the Confindustria Moda Research Center, a think tank that monitors the economic development of the Italian fashion industry and the many segments it is composed of.

The Asian giant was followed by South Korea at 6.7 percent, while Russia sales slumped 14.3 percent, North America added 7.6 percent, and trends varied in the European Union, the Moda Research Center study showed.

Total foreign sales of Italian shoes amounted to 176.5 million pairs in January-October 2018 for a value of just under 8.1 billion euros (9.15 billion U.S. dollars), with a forecast for the year as a whole of just under 9.6 billion euros, Moda Research Center analysts wrote.

MICAM takes place in Milan twice a year, in February and September, in the Fiera Milano Rho trade fair district. It showcases the autumn/winter and spring/summer collections for the following year, respectively.

The trends presented at MICAM 87 for the Fall/Winter 2019-20 season were inspired by three different themes: vintage combined with eco-sustainability; mystical and spiritual with a touch of romance; and a free-style inspiration that is experimental, but refined, organizers said.

MICAM was one of six Italian fashion trade fairs that participated in the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai in November 2018, showcasing the products of over 66,000 firms that, together, generate a turnover of over 94 billion euros and employ more than 580,000 workers, according to data from Confindustria.

Italy's textile, fashion and accessories industry exports products worth over 2.2 billion euros (2.49 billion U.S. dollars) to China every year, MICAM organizers said. (1 euro = 1.13 U.S. dollars)Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-14 03:15:03|Editor: yan

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Roughly six in 10 U.S. voters oppose another federal government shutdown over the border wall funding dispute between the White House and Congressional Democrats, according to a new poll released on Wednesday.

Only 33 percent of respondents support another shutdown over President Donald Trump's demand for a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border, the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll found.

However, U.S. voters are evenly split on whether the country should build the wall along the southern border, which is Trump's signature campaign promise.

Forty-seven percent support the border wall proposal and 47 percent oppose it, the poll showed. Earlier poll results found more voters opposed to the border wall.

The poll was conducted before bipartisan lawmakers reached an agreement in principle on spending and border security on Monday. It's expected the House will vote for the deal on Thursday.

The deal would fund the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies through the end of September. Local media said it does not provide any money for a concrete border wall and far less for fencing than Trump had requested.

The poll also found an uptick in Trump's approval rating, which is at 45 percent, compared with 41 percent a week ago.

The confrontation over border wall funds between the White House and Congressional Democrats had 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.

The temporary funding bill runs out Friday. Both the House and Senate will have to approve the legislation and Trump must sign it to avoid another government shutdown.

The poll was conducted between Feb. 7 and 10, surveying 1,845 registered voters with the margin of sampling error of 2 percentage points.Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 22:53:46|Editor: Yang Yi

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TEHRAN, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Iran's supreme leader on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of negotiations with the United States over the existing issues.

"As for America, no solution for the (existing mutual) problems is in prospect," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement published by his official website.

"Talks with America will bear no fruit, but material and spiritual loss for the Islamic republic," Khamenei was quoted as saying.

"Today, the Iranian nation considers the criminal America, as well as some European states, as deceptive and untrustworthy," he said.

Khamenei had earlier said that the Islamic republic would not hold new negotiations with the "cheating" United States referring to the U.S. withdrawal from the Iranian international nuclear deal, known also as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

U.S. President Donald Trump decided to quit the 2015 nuclear pact in May 2018, reimposed tough sanctions lifted under the accord against Iran and vowed to inflict punishments like secondary sanctions on nations that have business links with Iran.

Washington's withdrawal from the landmark nuclear deal was criticized across the world.File photo shows the fifth anniversary of the Confucius Institute at the University of Namibia in Windhoek, capital of Namibia, July 20, 2018. (Xinhua/Wu Changwei)

WINDHOEK, Feb. 13 (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 22:07:41|Editor: xuxin

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DAR ES SALAAM, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Three suspects in connection with the brutal killings of children in Njombe region appeared in a Tanzanian court on Tuesday charged with the murder of the children.

Appearing before the Njombe Resident Magistrate's Court were Joel Joseph Nziku, Nasson Alfred Kaduma and Alphonce Edward Danda.

Security was tight when the three suspects were brought before the court.

Six vehicles carrying armed police officers escorted the vehicle carrying the suspects all the way from Makambako, 60 kilometers from Njombe town, where they had been held since they were arrested in connection with the killings of the innocent children.

Authorities have confirmed that at least 10 children have been killed in Njombe in a period of one month and that the killers were also chopping off the children's reproductive and respiratory organs, linking the killings to superstitious beliefs.

Home Affairs Minister Kangi Lugola told Parliament last week that at least 29 people, including businessmen and some traditional healers, had been arrested in connection with the killings.

The United Nations office in Tanzania has condemned the attack and murder of the children, saying children have a fundamental right to be safe and be protected from violence so that they can enjoy their childhood and reach their full potential.

On Monday, Tanzania's Chief of Defense Forces (CDF), General Venance Mabeyo, said the army has reinforced efforts aimed at ending the brutal killings of children in the country's southern highlands.

General Mabeyo held closed-door talks with members of the Njombe region defense and security committee on how to contain the killings.

"We need to end the killings of children as a matter of urgency," the army chief told a news conference after the meeting.

The talks were also attended by members of a special force that has been deployed in the region to investigate and arrest the mastermind of the killings associated with superstitious beliefs.

Mabeyo said the killings have tarnished the image of Njombe to the rest of Tanzania and beyond. Mabeyo called for calm among Njombe residents as authorities investigated the root cause of the killings and brought the culprits to book.LEON COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - Governor Ron DeSantis is proposing larger bonuses for Florida's teachers through the state's Best and Brightest Program, but the big question is will this help with the state's shortage of teachers?

We spoke to a Leon County educator about the proposed changes.

Public schools currently have more than 2,000 open jobs in classrooms across the state according to the Florida Education Association.

DeSantis wants to increase the bonus teachers earn through the Best and Brightest Incentive Program for hitting performance benchmarks.

Public school teachers are currently capped at a $6,000 bonus. DeSantis hopes to bump that to $9,000.

Scott Mazur, President of the Leon Classroom Teachers Association, is an opponent of this change. He says only one quarter of educators across Florida actually get these bonuses.

"We need more than just a quarter of the teachers to stick around," said Mazur. "When you take the same amount of money and you put it into salary and divided by all the instructional staff that's out there, that's about a $2,300 salary increase."

DeSantis's proposed state budget for the 2019-2020 fiscal year included $422 million for the Best and Brightest Teacher Incentive Program.

Changes to this program will need legislative approval during the session that starts March 5.

The Florida Education Association, a statewide teachers union, says the best way to attract and keep qualified teachers is by increasing salaries across the board, not just offering bonuses.BENSALEM, Pa., Feb. 13, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Law Offices of Howard G. Smith 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.



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 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 Howard G. Smith, Esquire, of Law Offices of Howard G. Smith, 3070 Bristol Pike, Suite 112, Bensalem, Pennsylvania 19020 by telephone at (215) 638-4847, toll-free at (888) 638-4847, or by email to howardsmith@howardsmithlaw.com , or visit our website at www.howardsmithlaw.com .

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A man wanted for a "vicious assault" on a sleeping victim in Idaho has been arrested in Tallahassee.

Thursday, the US Marshals Florida/Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force (FCRFTF) announced the arrest of Kentraviaen A. Tuff, who was wanted by the Boise Police Department in Boise, Idaho for aggravated battery.

On Monday, detectives from the Boise Police Department requested the US Marshals Greater Idaho Fugitive Task Force adopt the case after Tuff fled the Boise area following his role in a vicious assault on a sleeping victim.

U.S. Marshals in Idaho determined that Tuff had possibly fled to the Tallahassee area due to family connections in the area.

On Thursday, members of the US Marshals Florida/Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force located TUFF at Capital Walk Apartments in the 800 block of Capital Walk Drive near the Capital Circle NW and I-10 corridor.

In a coordinated effort with several members of the Leon County Sheriffs Office K9 and SPIDER units, Tuff was arrested without incident.

During the investigation, task force discovered a stolen Beretta 9mm handgun as well as over 130 grams of cannabis, cannabis oil, MDMA pills as well as digital scales and packaging material.

Tuff now faces additional charges in Leon County of grand theft of a firearm, felon in possession of a firearm, possession with intent to sell marijuana, possession of narcotic equipment and possession of controlled substance.

He was booked into the Leon County Jail for his new charges as well as a first appearance on his out of state charges in Idaho.The FBI is hoping portraits of women drawn by the man who says he killed them will help them to identify the victims and notify their families.

The agency released 16 images on Tuesday, drawn from memory by Samuel Little, who told authorities they are just some of the more than 90 people he killed over three decades.

"We are hoping that someone -- family member, former neighbor, friend -- might recognize the victim and provide that crucial clue in helping authorities make an identification," said FBI spokesperson Shayne Buchwald. "We want to give these women their names back and their family some long awaited answers. It's the least we can do."

The strategy has worked before, Buchwald said. Women who appeared in two previously released portraits were identified, he said.

From three murders to 90

Little, 78, confessed to about 90 killings last year while serving three consecutive life sentences for murder, the FBI announced last year.

The killings occurred across the country, from Los Angeles to Miami, Houston to Cleveland, all between 1970 and 2005.

Little targeted marginalized and vulnerable women who were often involved in prostitution or addicted to drugs, Christina Palazzolo, a crime analyst for the FBI's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program wrote in a November FBI article . Palazzolo and Angela Williamson, a Justice Department senior policy advisor and ViCAP liaison, who both spoke to Little, said that he remembered great detail from the killings.

He remembered where he was, what car he was driving and could even draw pictures of the women he killed, the FBI said. He was less reliable on the dates of those incidents, however, the FBI said.

The stunning confessions could make Little the most prolific serial killer in US history if convicted, Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland told CNN in December.

How the story was revealed Little, also known as Samuel McDowell, was already in prison last spring when his name came up in the FBI's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, known as ViCAP, in connection with a series of unsolved murders across the country. One killing in Odessa, Texas looked especially relevant. So, Texas Ranger James Holland along with two FBI crime analysts traveled to California where Little was being held for beating and strangling three women and dumping their bodies in an alley, dumpster and a garage, according to the FBI. Holland was trained in cold cases and visited Little, gaining his trust over time, Bland said. "Over the course of that interview in May," Palazzolo said in the FBI article, "he went through city and state and gave Ranger Holland the number of people he killed in each place. Jackson, Mississippi -- one; Cincinnati, Ohio -- one; Phoenix, Arizona -- three; Las Vegas, Nevada -- one." Little eventually confessed to killing about 90 people, according to the Texas Rangers and the FBI. Investigators have confirmed 34 of the confessed killings, authorities said in November. Many more are pending confirmation and a number remain uncorroborated. Now in poor health, Little remains in custody in Odessa, the FBI said. The Texas Department of Public Safety has declined comment. No formal charges on any of the additional killings have yet been brought. CNN has reached out to E.J. Leach, the attorney representing Little in the Texas case, and has not yet received a response. The FBI urged anyone with information about the victims to call or email analysts at the bureau's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program at 800-634-4097.

Copyright 2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

Serial killer confesses to 90 murders across the U.S., including one locally

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL)  Samuel Little, a convicted killer serving time in a Texas jail, is now claiming to have murdered 90 people across the United States including a woman in Perry, Florida.

The Perry Police department are now investigating the 1993 murder.

As of right now we do not know the persons name or anything about the murder.

The FBI has already connected Little to 34 of the 90 confessed murders.

The rest remain unsolved or do not have enough evidence behind them including the one in Perry.

The Taylor County Sheriffs office and the Perry Police Department meet Thursday to discuss their next steps.

"We are always looking for information and trying to find out what happened to any missing person or any individual, so it just takes time and you just have to work and work and stay diligent and work after it, " said Wayne Padgett.

According to a Texas District attorney, Little is already one of the most profiling serial killer in US history but if found responsible for all 90 he would be the most prolific.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Salvation Army is launching a new program all aimed at helping families right here in our community breaking free from inter-generational poverty.

The new Pathway of Hope Initiative purpose is to help families with children in the community with finances and education all in order to end poverty.

The Salvation Army plans to help transforms the lives of 100,000 families across the United States by 2030 through this innovative initiative.

"A portion of the Salvation Army's mission statement states that we will meet human needs in his name without discrimination. So really this is us taking a look at the greater issues within our society that keep a family within the cycle of poverty and meeting those needs so that we can break the cycle that's within their family," said Director of Salvation Army, Amber Moe.

The Salvation Army is searching for volunteers that work in social services or other avenues that could help the families out. Just visit the administrative office on Allen street to get involved.THOMASVILLE, Ga. (WTXL) - Valentine's Day is upon us and florists in the Rose City are preparing for their biggest day of the year.

Thomasville Flower Shop has extra help come in each Valentine's Day to arrange flowers, and help deliver the gifts. With hundreds of orders to fill, Jim McRae has to order plenty of extra blooms.

Despite being in the "Rose City," this flower shop doesn't use locally-grown roses. Instead, the flowers are shipped from Ecuador or another South American location, because of the high quality.

Of course, imported flowers, plus the busy time, equals a high price for all.

"It's the simple supply and demand. The growers know the demand is high so their price is going to go up on Valentine's Day. Literally they will go right back down the next day after to a normal price," said Jim McRae, President of Thomasville Flower Shop.

The days leading up to Valentine's Day are spent preparing the hundreds of arrangements here at Thomasville Flower Shop. Of course, on Thursday, that's when these arrangements will be delivered to their recipients"I think it's something that may lead to accountability measures by a grand jury but it could also lead to, and I think it will, lead to recommendations about what some of the various school districts could do better."

Earlier in the day DeSantis also tackled the issue of school security during a different news conference in Titusville by signing Executive Order 19-45.

Although protecting our students is a perpetual process, there are steps we can take immediately to improve safety in our schools said Governor DeSantis. While we cannot bring back the innocents lost, we can honor their memory by learning from the mistakes that were made and resolving to swiftly correct all of those within our control.

Speaking at the Deputy Barbara A. Pill Law Enforcement Facility DeSantis called on the Florida Department of Education to investigate the state's PROMISE program. The program is for students who commit non-violent misdemeanors. The goal of the program is to keep students out of the criminal justice system.

The investigation was issued in part because Nikolas Cruz, the accused Parkland school shooter, was referred to the program in 2013, but didn't fully participate.

He also announced that he's allowing Sheriff's Office in the state access $150 million in funding for the Guardian Program, which allows trained staff members who aren't teachers to carry a gun on school campuses.

You can read the Executive Order 19-45 here.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Florida State has signed a 10-year contract with StarMetro, the city of Tallahassee's public bus system, to operate an all electric university bus fleet.

The plan is to replace 15 diesel-powered buses with revolutionary battery electric models that are more environmentally friendly and cheaper to operate.

"The university has a strong commitment to environmental sustainability, and this is a way for transportation and parking services to assist with that. Our goal is reduce traffic on campus and improve conditions for pedestrians, bicyclists, and everybody that enjoys campus," said Matthew Inman, Director of Transportation. "We certainly aren't going to be the first university to go electric, but our goal is to be the first to go completely."

FSU already operates three electric buses, so the addition of 15 next generation models will boost the total fleet of electric buses to 18.

They are scheduled to be operating by fall 2019.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee woman is facing felony charges after being accused of stealing thousands of dollars worth of electronics from the AT&T store in Governor's Square Mall.

Jordan Breahna Blackwell, 23, was booked into jail after being accused of being involved in numerous fraudulent transactions at the AT&T store in Governor's Square Mall.

According to arrest documents, between Nov. 8, 2018, and Dec. 14, 2018, investigators say Blackwell performed fraudulent transactions at the AT&T store.

Investigators with the Tallahassee Police Department were told by a manager that Blackwell had manually entered a customer's information into AT&T's network without having the applicant's identification.

According to the manager, employees are required to use a person's actual identification to reduce fraud. Upon checking into the transactions, the manager discovered Blackwell was making up fake identities to open the accounts.

In once instance, Blackwell created an account in her own name with a fake security number and fraudulently obtained 6 iPhones worth $1,300.

Court documents also state an audit revealed Blackwell entered fraudulent social security numbers into AT&T's system with no customer present in the business. Blackwell's fraudulent transactions outnumbered other employees' by five times, the manager told investigators.

In total, Blackwell is accused fraudulently purchasing 39 devices, which included smartphones, Apple watches, tablets and iPads.

During an interview, documents say Blackwell denied committing any criminal act or committing theft. Later, investigators discovered a time stamp on the video and determined that Blackwell was signing for the fraudulent phone purchases in the video.

Based on the evidence, investigators found probable cause to charge Blackwell with one count of an organized scheme to defraud a company of property valued at more than $20,000 but less than $50,000.

Blackwell was arrested Thursday and released from jail Friday on a $10,000 bond.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (The News Service of Florida) - Implementing a voter-approved ban on electronic smoking devices in workplaces is moving forward in the Florida House of Representatives.

This comes without a proposal by anti-smoking advocates to re-define vaping devices as tobacco products.

A measure passed by the House Health Quality Subcommittee Wednesday mirrors a longstanding ban on smoking tobacco in indoor workplaces and would add vaping to a state law that bars people from smoking tobacco within one thousand feet of schools.

State Representative Mike Beltran is sponsoring the bill.

"You wouldn't be able to smoke or vape in an indoor workplace. So, in restaurants, offices, public buildings, places of that nature, you wouldn't be able to vape there, just as you're not allowed to smoke," said Representative Beltran.

However, anti-smoking advocates argue the bill doesn't go far enough.

The American Lung Association feels vaping devices should be considered tobacco products by the state which would help Florida's Tobacco Free educational efforts to slow the increased usage by kids of e-cigarettes.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Police have released the 911 calls from the deadly mass shooting at Hot Yoga Tallahassee on Nov. 2.

Authorities released the 911 calls to WTXL Wednesday afternoon.

Maura Binkley, a 21-year-old FSU student, and Dr. Nancy Van Vessem, a 61-year-old faculty member with the College of Medicine, passed away from their injuries sustained in the shooting.

Five other people were injured in the act of violence. The gunman killed himself inside the studio that day.

To listen to the calls, click on the audio player above. WARNING: Listener discretion is advised due to the nature of the calls.

The release of the calls follows a Tallahassee Police Department press conference Tuesday afternoon where investigators walked through a timeline of the gunman's history.

You can read more on their final investigative findings here.PARKLAND, Fla. (AP)  Hundreds of thousands of students and adults across Florida and beyond bowed their heads in a moment of silence Thursday to mark the first anniversary of the shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that left 17 people dead.

Its a permanent sore spot, said Fort Lauderdale High School junior Jake Lynch. Forever, me going forward, Ill feel this day, and this time and those names. It reminds me of where I want the world to be. ... From suffering, better things come out.

The massacre on Feb. 14, 2018, inflamed the national debate over guns, turned young people into political activists and gave rise to some of the biggest youth demonstrations since the Vietnam era.

The moment of silence at more than 1,000 Florida schools was held at 10:17 a.m., though the shooting actually began around 2:20 p.m. School officials picked a different time because Stoneman Douglas students were being dismissed early to avoid being on campus at the hour of the attack. The time 10:17 was selected to denote the 17 slain.

Many Stoneman Douglas students arrived wearing the burgundy #MSDStrong T-shirts that have become an emblem of the tragedy. Outside, clear plastic figurines of angels were erected for each of the 14 students and three staff members killed.

Reporters were not allowed inside the school, but students were working on service projects, and grief counselors and therapy dogs were made available. Students could also receive massages and pedicures. An interfaith service was scheduled for later in the day at a nearby park.

Freshmen Jayden Jaus and Matthew Sabia, both 14, helped mark the day by packing lunches for children in Haiti, putting rice, vitamins and soy into bags. Jaus said the moment of silence was a bit emotional and a little intense as the principal read the victims names over the public address system.

Still, many Stoneman Douglas students skipped school. For some it was too emotional; others did not want to be in the spotlight.

Sophomore Julia Brighton would not go inside, instead placing flowers at the outdoor memorial. She said she suffered with nightmares for months. Staying outside felt like it would be a better experience for me instead of being at school and putting myself through that, she said.

Alexis Grogan, a junior, said she was spending the day picking up beach trash, dedicating her work to those who died.BENSALEM, Pa., Feb. 13, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Law Offices of Howard G. Smith 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.



On January 30, 2019 the Financial Times 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 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 Howard G. Smith, Esquire, of Law Offices of Howard G. Smith, 3070 Bristol Pike, Suite 112, Bensalem, Pennsylvania 19020 by telephone at (215) 638-4847, toll-free at (888) 638-4847, or by email to howardsmith@howardsmithlaw.com , or visit our website at www.howardsmithlaw.com .

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)  Florida lawmakers are seeking to get rid of a commission that meets every 20 years to suggest changes to the state constitution.

The House Civil Justice Subcommittee voted 13-1 on Wednesday to ask voters to repeal the Constitution Revision Commission, which met last year and placed seven items on the 2018 ballot.

Voters approved all seven. They included bans on dog racing, oil drilling in state waters and vaping in workplaces. It also included a measure that extends new rights to crime victims.

Rep. Brad Drake sponsored the bill and said the commission has become a political body proposing major policy changes rather than a body that revises outdated language in the constitution.

Sixty percent of Florida voters would have to approve the proposal in order to repeal the commission.North Wales Police appoint new deputy chief constable

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Feb 14th, 2019

The newly appointed deputy chief constable for North Wales Police says he will strive to make the region the safest place in the UK.

DCC Richard Debicki said he will also help deliver outstanding services to local communities.

He will be working alongside the Forces new Chief Constable Carl Foulkes, who took up his post last November.

DCC Debicki, who has worked within the force for almost five years, said he feels very proud to be living and working amongst our communities.





I feel extremely privileged to have been appointed as the new Deputy Chief Constable for North Wales Police, said DCC Debicki.

I will be working to support the new Chief Constable in ensuring that North Wales Police delivers outstanding services to our communities and is the safest place in the UK, and supporting the Police and Commissioner in delivering his Police and Crime Plan.

We have placed a significant emphasis on protecting vulnerable people  victims of Domestic Abuse, Child Sexual Exploitation, Modern Day Slavery, Sexual Abuse and organised crime  these will continue to be my key priorities in the new role, and we will continue to focus our efforts in protecting the most vulnerable people in society.

North Wales Police is a force with an excellent track record, not least because of the strong relationships we have with local people. I place a premium upon excellent quality of service, and believe that this is exactly what the public deserve.

In doing so, we will be working to deliver alternative services and ways for the public to contact and engage with us  our work in respect of digital policing will be essential here  and I believe that people being able to access our services at a time and in a way that best suits their needs is an important element of providing a quality service. Its also what people rightly expect.

I also firmly believe in strong personal contact between our police officers and staff and our communities, and we will place much emphasis on neighbourhood policing in order to ensure that the public have confidence in us as a service  essentially people want to be reassured that they will get help when they need it, and that they are able to talk to people in their communities who understand their problems.

Problem solving is an important priority for me going forward, so that we best keep the public safe, by working with our trusted partners in the region.

He added: I am proud to lead in an organisation with such committed public servants, and it is the hard working people in this organisation who deliver the services to the public 24/7.

They deserve mine and our communities support, given the huge challenges faced in a modern day police service. Supporting the wellbeing of our staff who place themselves in harms way daily in order to protect the public, is important to me.

I am also committed to delivering a workforce that is representative of our rich and diverse communities in north Wales.North Wales Police announce plans to train a further 100 officers to use Taser

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Feb 14th, 2019

The number of officers in North Wales Police trained to use Taser is set to increase by an extra 100 across the region.

The move means that 400 of the forces 1,450 officers will regularly carry or have ready access to the Home Office approved device.

Arfon Jones, the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner is funding 136,000 which will be spent on training and equipment  including an additional 200 of the new X2 Taser devices.

Each officer selected to undergo training will go through a rigorous assessment process, in line with national guidelines, to ensure that they are suitable to carry the device.





Chief Constable Carl Foulkes said that the use of Taser means officers will be better equipped to protect the public and themselves.

He continued: It is often the case that just having a Taser officer present can diffuse a threatening situation without them actually having to use it or get involved in a physical confrontation.

The use of Taser means my officers will be better equipped to protect the public and themselves whilst also removing pressure from our firearms officers and ensuring we can respond more quickly and effectively with the appropriate resources.

We have been in close consultation with the Police and Crime Commissioner and the North Wales Police Federation and have received unilateral support from both for the decision to better protect the public and our front line staff.

We will now begin the selection process for 100 uniformed officers to be trained to carry Taser. Following their training they will be deployed to various departments across the region, helping to keep their colleagues and the public safe.

Arfon Jones, Police and Crime Commissioner said: Police officers need the tools to keep themselves and the public safe. We are pleased that we will soon be able to offer the public, as well as the officers, more protection from violent individuals who seek to cause them harm by increasing our Taser capability through the roll-out of these additional 100 officers.

I will continue to monitor Taser use by North Wales Police, with particular emphasis on the results of this increased availability, to ensure that any and every use of Taser is justifiable, proportionate, lawful and necessary.

Mark Jones, General Secretary, North Wales Police Federation said the organisation welcome the move to increase Taser training.

The decision by the Chief Constable and Police & Crime Commissioner to further increase the number of Taser trained officers in North Wales is very much welcomed by the Police Federation, said Mark.

We tirelessly campaign to make sure our members are given all the protection they need to do their jobs. The police force expects officers to get involved in dangerous situations every single day to protect the public therefore it is only right and proper that officers are given the tools for the job.

The Police Federation believes that every police officer who wishes to be equipped with a Taser should be afforded that opportunity.

Whilst I completely understand the financial constraints for the force, this significant investment will go a long way to achieving our position where officers are better equipped and better protected.

What is a Taser?

A device used by specially trained police officers in appropriate circumstances which passes short pulses of electricity into the body rendering muscles to contract.

During or shortly after the use of the Taser, symptoms can include:

 Unsteadiness and a spinning sensation, feeling dazed for several minutes.

 Muscle twitches

 Loss of memory of the event

 Temporary tingling & possible localised pain or discomfort.

 Weakness in the limbs

 Small sunburn type marks where Taser made contact some swelling

Details released by North Wales Police say that these are normal effects caused by the use of Taser and should return to normal. If any of these effects are still present days later, the person needs to see a doctor.

When Taser is used, a report providing details of the incident is recorded along with a review by an officer of at least Inspector rank. Anyone subjected to Taser by the police will be seen by a doctor.

Further information regarding the use of Taser is available here.Eligibility criteria for free school meals to change from April in Wales

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Feb 14th, 2019

The Welsh Government have tabled an Order which will change the eligibility criteria for children to claim free school meals.

From 1st April 2019, children whose households are claiming Universal Credit will only be eligible to receive a free school meal if their household net earned income (income after tax, deductions and other benefits like housing benefit) is 7,400 a year or less.

Education Minister, Kirsty Williams (Lib Dem, Brecon & Radnor), said: A typical family earning around 7,400 per annum would, depending on their exact circumstances, have a total household income of between 18,000 and 24,000 once benefits are taken into account.

It will also ensure that free school meal costs remain affordable for local authorities and the Welsh Government. Extending eligibility for free school meals to all children in Universal Credit families goes beyond the aim of providing free school meals to children in the lowest-income households.





The Orders explanatory memorandum (pdf) says that if no changes were made, then nearly half of all children would become eligible for free school meals, compared to 16% in January 2018.

This would be unaffordable. Nonetheless, its estimated an additional 3,000 pupils will become eligible for free school meals under the new criteria.

Transitional arrangements will also put in place.

All pupils who currently receive free school meals  or will be eligible for free schools meals after the Order comes into force  wont lose their entitlement until they finish their primary or secondary education (whichever one theyre in as of December 2023, when Universal Credit is fully rolled out).

The Order will use the negative procedure, meaning itll automatically come into force on April 1st 2019 unless the Senedd votes to annul it.

Keep up to date with what is going on in the Senedd via SeneddHome.comCouncillors agree something must be done after poor quality two hour debate  no litter tickets in Wrexham since Kingdom enforcement cancelled

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Feb 13th, 2019

Councillors today agreed doing nothing about the lack of enforcement of littering and dog fouling in Wrexham was not an option, however what exactly should be done remained unclear.

The debate came as Wrexham Council look for a way forward to deal with littering and dog fouling in the area after controversial enforcement company Kingdom were given the boot.

Lead Member for Environment at Wrexham Council Cllr David Bithell told the Homes and Environment Scrutiny Committee he was looking for a steer to be given on what direction should be taken in these post-Kingdom days. Cllr Bithell pointed to previous pointers issued by councillors; for a firm hand at tackling litter, as well as outsourcing enforcement in a profitable manner, both carried out but then u-turned on by some once they saw the execution.

Todays Committee were presented with four seemingly quite straightforward options, to do nothing, to hire another company, to work with other councils or to do the litter enforcement as Wrexham Council in house.





A near two hour meeting bounced around various ideas, although much of the time was on the process of the debate and going around in several circles over what the committee was agreeing on and how or what to vote on.

The debate kicked off with what turned out to be an irrelevant discussion between Cllr Alan Edwards and Cllr Bithell over a specific type of parking enforcement (obstruction), with the committee pointed to North Wales Police if they had issues around that since it was a police matter.

Cllr Alun Jenkins brought the topic back to litter and dog fouling enforcement, noting that in his view the area was no worse for cleanliness despite Kingdom Enforcement ceasing operations locally, a damning verdict on the Council procured company.

Cllr Morris enquired if Wrexham Council could look to hire a contractor to enforce for specific items rather than the generic term of litter, with Kingdom seemingly going for the easy pickings of cigarette ends whereas more major litter was ignored. Cllr Morris said that takeaway rubbish or dog mess had more impact on communities than cigarette ends. The Council Officer and Cllr Bithell replied that litter was a legislative term and therefore what defined litter could not be picked locally, but a further legal check will be sought.

Cllr Morris also asked for a break down of the much bandied about figure of 1.2m attributed to the cost of cleaning up litter in the county borough. Cllr Bithell gave a list of items making up that price tag including staff time and equipment, but also noted the true figure was in excess of that sum as clean ups on the A483 and other areas were on top. Cllr Bithell said Welsh Government should pay Wrexham Council for the bypass clean ups as it is a trunk road, however no cash has been forthcoming.

With one eye on that large sum, Cllr Alan Edwards asked if dashcam footage could be used by Wrexham Council to prosecute those who drop litter on the bypass, and if so could the council ask people to submit videos. The Council Officer said it was possible the authority could enquire about the registered keeper of a vehicle and look to issue a fixed penalty notice, however if no registered keeper was given then nothing can be done. The meeting was told that if Wrexham was in England that situation would be different, but Welsh law is currently different on the relevant section.

Cllr Harper said she was relaxed about decision making, as she wished to get the right enforcement and litter solution for Wrexham rather than rushing to a choice. Cllr Harper was clear she wanted to have any for-profit third party company ruled out to prevent a financial target driven Kingdom-esque company being brought in again.

Cllr Harper explained her view that she did not like the outsourcing option, but if an option involving any third party company was to be looked at she would want the motive of profit explicitly removed from any deal, however in the final mangle of recommendations that request was lost.

The meeting was being conducted on a page by page basis, on a report that was only five pages long. This method meant that each option presented ended up with a debate, and at first, an attempt to rule them out one by one.

Cllrs Edwards and Rogers tried to make progress by pointing out which options were clearly already off the table, however others disagreed and wanted a wider debate.

A vote was sort of held to remove Option 1, the choice to stay as-is with no enforcement, however the raising of hands took place along with a point of order raised by Cllr Davies who pointed out votes should not take place before all members have spoken.

Bit of a meeting mess as there was sort of a vote to rule out Option 1  but that was paused when Clr Davies intervened. Now treated as though was ruled out, but now being revisited to hold another vote. Some Cllrs think they voted, others do not Ah Scrutiny   Wrexham.com (@wrexham) February 13, 2019

Clr Rogers: Suggest you take a show of hands Clr Pemberton (Chair) We had a show of hands and it was all passed. Eh?! Either way, the meeting moves on  Wrexham.com (@wrexham) February 13, 2019

Cllr Davies was also unhappy with the amount of information in the report before councillors, indicating 1.5 pages of A4 was not detailed enough, It is too soon to discount options when we have not got full option appraisals. Why are we not following the standard option appraisals on making informed recommendations? adding there was no financial details before members for three of the options.

After a further roundabout debate Cllr Bithell pointed out the options were there before councillors and he could, if he wished, had taken the report direct to Executive Board however thought it was right to give members the opportunity to input on what direction they felt the council should pursue.

Data on performance was also requested by two councillors, with Cllr Morris discovering zero tickets had been issued in Wrexham for dog fouling or littering since Kingdom were scrapped. Later Cllr Phillips asked about historic in-house performance before Kingdom were appointed, compared to Kingdom stats, with Cllr Bithell initially appearing unwilling to share the information in the meeting stating that all councillors have had the data historically. Cllr Bithell then gave a rough figure of 21 tickets in a year for dog fouling when things were run by the council, and well over a hundred for a similar timeframe for Kingdom.

Cllr Blackwell spoke succinctly, saying he preferred the fourth option of an in-house service however wanted more details on how such a service would be provided.

Debate moves to Option 4  Provide an in-house Enforcement Service. Chair ask if any seconder to Clr Blackwells idea. Clr Jenkin sticks hands up, almost taken, but he points out he just wants to ask a question. Bit of a bumbling meeting this at times.  Wrexham.com (@wrexham) February 13, 2019

Council meeting facilitator delicately attempts to herd cats, noting lots of calls for votes but also points out not many seconders to make things formal. Might get some progress and meeting wrap up if committee works out what it wants to do. pic.twitter.com/tmOJdTaYs5  Wrexham.com (@wrexham) February 13, 2019

The meeting was dragging forward in an unstructured manner with it unclear how recommendations would be formed with several councillors putting forward ideas, but Cllr Morris appearing to be the only one formally creating firm motions.

In what has been commonplace scenes over the years a traditional Scrutiny Committee ending took place where hands were raised, claims of we have already voted on that, councillors expecting their amendments to be voted on but then lost, all ending up in a decisive vote accompanied by unhappy chuntering from some.

Faced with four options at the start two hours earlier, the committee in effect agreed not to do nothing (Option 1), however found it a struggle to decide what they did want to recommend doing so kept the lot on the table in some form or other.

The committee voted to prefer the creation of an in-house Wrexham Council run enforcement option. Two other options were also left open, with exploration of legal terms of litter being looked at with the implication that if it was possible to tightly define litter a better contract could be created for a third party company.

The other option of working with the likes of Flintshire or Denbighshire councils to share costs appeared to be knocked on the head by the Council Officer and Lead Member, however the committee agreed to leave the door open for any such opportunities should they arise.

Not unanimous vote  Clr Harper clearly unhappy not-for-profit rule was left out, and Clr Blackwell sees it as kicking the can down the road. Clr Edwards abstained. Observing Cllr Davies brands it as a decision made without any evidence ! 2 hour meeting somehow.  Wrexham.com (@wrexham) February 13, 2019

A gentleman from the Wrexham Business Group also made a non-public emailed submission to the committee, however the Chairman noted it was done just 48 hours before the meeting despite it being well trailed, and was too voluminous to digest. No detail of the membership of the Group was made, or who they represent. Cllr Bithell also referred to the submission as being from an unknown Business Forum. Aside from Wrexham.com and the BBC there were no others in the public gallery.

Interesting start to Enforcement agenda point saying submission from Wrexham Business Group, think that is the CIC. If so, we have asked a few questions on that group with not much joy, specifically about council grants / accounts and assets.  Wrexham.com (@wrexham) February 13, 2019

The recommendations will now likely go forward to the Executive Board, and future committee meetings could see feedback on information requested, however that could well be after any new in-house service is started up.Models present creations of LEAF XIA Fall/Winter 2019 collection during the New York Fashion Week in New York, the United States, on Feb. 13, 2019. [Xinhua/Wang Ying]

Chinese fashion designer Leaf Xia surprised and amused her audience at the ongoing New York Fashion Week (NYFW) on Wednesday with her namesake brand's latest womenswear collection with feline cuteness, making a successful debut at the top global fashion event.

In collaboration with Hello Kitty, the iconic Japanese brand featuring the cartoon image of a cute cat, the 10-minute show displayed more than 20 vividly colorful outfits in oversized shapes and covered with a kaleidoscope of cartoon images and collages.

Holding Hello Kitty dolls in their hands, models turned the finale of Xia's show into a teenage girls' party with energetic strides, vibrant poses and sweet smiles, captivating the hearts of viewers, most of whom are also Hello Kitty fans.

Xia told Xinhua after the show that by using romantic colors and cute styles, she wanted to demonstrate that sweetness could also be powerful for women.

"It's a sense of overcoming hardness with softness," said Xia, referring to the ancient Chinese wisdom. "When I was designing this collection, these colors actually gave me a lot of courage."

Born in east China's Jiangsu Province in 1992 and raised in metropolises like Beijing and Shanghai, Xia graduated from the New York-based Parsons School of Design in 2015 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts before went back to Shanghai to launch her brand. She has been invited to hold runway shows for three times at the London Fashion Week, another global fashion extravaganza.

Xia is among nearly a dozen young Chinese designers who have sprung up in the global fashion arena in recent years. In her opinion, this is "something meant to be happening" as the country has enjoyed rapid economic and social development in the past decades.

"In the past, a lot of brilliant Chinese students majored in maths, but as the country develops, more talent in art will emerge," said Xia.

She said that a lot of excellent students in globally renowned design schools today are from China. "We Chinese are born with the desire to excel, and we have a great taste in art owing to the long history and rich culture of our country," she added.

Usually staged in February and September, the NYFW is ranked among the fashion world's top four along with the Paris, London and Milan fashion weeks.

(Source: Xinhua)Representatives from CWDF and PepsiCo (Greater China Region) attend a ceremony in Ruyuan to announce the establishment of the local embroidery cooperative. [CWDF]

China Women's Development Foundation (CWDF) and PepsiCo recently established a special local embroidery cooperative in Ruyuan county, south China's Guangdong Province, in an effort to help alleviate poverty and preserve traditional culture.

Representatives from CWDF and PepsiCo (Greater China Region) held a ceremony in Ruyuan to announce the start of the Bring Happiness Home  Mom's Handworks program and unveil an associated 10-meter embroidery.

CWDF representative Zhao Guangfeng said the national Mom's Handworks project was originally launched by the foundation and Beijing Mayililiang Handicraft Cultural Development Center in 2016. It aims to support ethnic minority craftswomen to work near their homes through establishing cooperatives in local areas.

According to Zhao, the new cooperative in Ruyuan will be a place for craftswomen from the Yao ethnic group to work and discuss traditional craft making. This is a sustainable charitable approach which offers job opportunities in poverty-stricken areas and preserves Yao-style embroidery  a national-level intangible cultural heritage.

Ye Li from PepsiCo said that the company launched their Bring Happiness Home program in 2012 to encourage people to strengthen bonds with their families. This year, PepsiCo will showcase the diversified traditional culture of China  described as a big family for all"  and attract more young people's attention, creating long-lasting social value.

Organizers invited about 100 craft experts who worked on the large-scale embroidery work, which features customs from different places in China. It commemorates Spring Festival and showcases Jing, Miao, Li and Yao-style embroidery.

The crafts experts came from Mom's Handworks cooperatives in Hebei, Shandong, Qinghai, Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangdong provinces.

Representatives display the large-scale embroidery. [CWDF] Representatives pose for a photo in front of the Yao embroidery cooperative. [CWDF]

(Source: China Women's Development Foundation / Translated by Women of China)We're sorry, you encountered a page that doesn't exist.BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Feb. 13, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- We are advised by Harbert Management Corporation that journalists and other readers should disregard the news release, Harbert United States Real Estate Fund VI Closes on Class B Multifamily Community in Fremont, California issued today, February 13, 2019, over GlobeNewswire.Andrei Stanescu/iStock(NEW YORK) -- Amazon announced Thursday morning it was canceling its plans to build a massive new headquarters in Long Island City, a waterfront section of New York City's borough of Queens.



One group that's not sad to see the online retailer go? New York City's independent bookstores, some of which took to social media to celebrate Amazon's retreat in no uncertain terms:



"After much thought and deliberation, weve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens," an Amazon spokesperson said this morning. The move followed pushback from advocacy groups, and some elected city officials and representatives over tax incentives, workers' rights and more.



Dennis Johnson -- publisher of Melville House Books, which has a brick-and-mortar store in Brooklyn, told ABC News that today's decision was "really the first time that there's been that kind of opposition mounted, that also involved some elected officials, that worked."



Johnson, a longtime Amazon critic, said he was less worried about the new campus' potential impact on other booksellers in the city as he was its impact on New York City's workers and the community at large.



"Theyre not a good employer, theyre union busting, they have a terrible history of the way they treat their employees," Johnson said, adding that "we were worried about the impact that this would have had about the community it was moving into...That was not a rich neighborhood and it was going to force a lot of people out."



"It's very revealing of Amazon that they didnt want to interact with the community at all. They just took their ball and went home in a pout."



Greenlight Bookstore, which has two locations in Brooklyn, agreed.



"It might seem as though bookstores in particular have the most to celebrate about Amazon's retreat from Queens, but the victory is larger than that: it belongs to advocates for workers, immigrants, residents, and small businesses throughout our city," Greenlight Bookstore co-owner Jessica Stockton Bagnulo said in a statement to ABC News.



"I think it's important to realize that it is possible to say 'no' to even the largest economic players," Stockton Bagnulo continued. "I hope this is a clear message to the leadership of our city and our state about what matters to New Yorkers: sustainable jobs, affordable housing, and our city's unique culture that can never be replaced or replicated online."



Amazon's announcement produced disparate reactions among top New York politicians who heralded Amazon's initial decision to build its campus in Queens.



"We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement Thursday afternoon. "Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity."



New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's reaction was starkly different.

"A small group politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community -- which poll after poll showed overwhelmingly supported bringing Amazon to Long Island City -- the state's economic future and the best interests of the people of this state," Cuomo said in a statement. "The New York State Senate has done tremendous damage. They should be held accountable for this lost economic opportunity."

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Wanted Man Arrested Near Parkway in Graves County

By West Kentucky Star Staff

GRAVES COUNTY - A man wanted by Graves County authorities has been found.

The Graves County Sheriff's Office says 29-year-old Jacob Krohn was arrested Thursday morning, west of Wingo near the Purchase Parkway.



Deputies received information on Wednesday that Krohn was staying at an apartment building on Lebanon Street in Wingo. Deputies say Krohn is banned from the state of Kentucky after a plea agreement he made with the Graves County Circuit Court in a 2017 theft-related case.

According to deputies, Krohn had also threatened to harm others if they reported him to law enforcement.

Deputies responded to the apartment building in Wingo on Wednesday, but Krohn was able to escape out a back window of the home and fled on foot.



Kentucky State Police responded to help and troopers on Sawmill Road spotted Krohn running in a field. They pursued him on foot and he was taken into custody about 10:00 am Thursday.



Graves County Deputies say methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia were found in the home in which Krohn was staying. They charged him with possession of a controlled substance 1st degree, 1st offense (methamphetamine), possession of drug paraphernalia, terroristic threatening 1st degree, criminal trespassing 1st degree, violation of conditions of release, and criminal mischief.



State Police charged Krohn with fleeing and evading police 1st degree on foot, wanton endangerment 1st degree, wanton wndangerment 1st degree of a police officer, contempt of court, and public intoxication. Krohn was lodged in the Graves County Jail.



MSU, WKCTC to Announce New Transfer Agreement

By MSU Public Relations

PADUCAH - A transfer agreement between Murray State University and West Kentucky Community and Technical College (WKCTC) will take place Feb. 25 at 9 a.m. at the Murray State Paducah regional campus, located at 4430 Sunset Avenue. The partnership will provide students transferring with an associate degree in Medical Information Technology (MIT) from WKCTC a seamless transfer of credits toward a bachelor's degree into Murray State's public and community health program.

"Healthcare is the largest industry in the United States and the second largest employer," said Dr. Miranda Terry, Murray State Interim Chair of the Department of Applied Health Sciences and Assistant Professor and Director of Public and Community Health. "The new transfer agreement provides a seamless pathway between WKCTC and Murray State for those interested in the health field to expand their knowledge while exposing them to the different facets of the healthcare industry. This is a wonderful opportunity for students as well as the region to keep future health professionals in the area."

WKCTC Dean of Allied Health and Personal Services Carrie Hopper agreed.

"We are excited to work with Murray State University on creating this seamless transition for our graduates. Graduates of many of our allied health programs will have the opportunity to work in their chosen field, while pursuing a bachelor's of science degree in public and community health at Murray State to seek higher level job positions," said Hopper. "This educational opportunity will provide students the opportunity to receive a top education from two premier institutions."

In conjunction with the transfer agreement taking place at the University's Paducah campus, a health professions fair for students, alumni, and the greater community will take place from 8:30-10:30 a.m. that showcases programs available through the University's School of Nursing and Health Professions as well as nursing and allied health programs available through WKCTC. This event is for all regional high school students interested in any health-related field or wanting to explore new, emerging health professions, current students and alumni from WKCTC allied health programs, and community members interested in learning more about the various opportunities to start their educational journey to continuing their education at the associate, bachelor, and master degree levels.

Also that day, Murray State transfer center staff will be on hand from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. at the WKCTC Anderson Building (4810 Alben Barkley Drive) for students who are looking to enroll at the University.Police Seek Info on Reports of 'Dangerous' Laser

By West Kentucky Star Staff

PADUCAH - Authorities are investigating recent reports of someone shining a laser at several targets in the Paducah area.The Paducah Police Department says officers have received nearly a dozen reports of someone shining a green laser light at several area homes, businesses and aircraft.Pilots have reported the green laser light coming from the area of High Street and Hinkleville Road.People dont realize how dangerous this is, said Det. Jason Hicks. It can cause an aircrafts computer equipment to malfunction while landing, which could lead to a crash.Police say the person responsible could be charged with laser/vision interference light directed at aircraft if they are identified.Anyone with information is asked to call the Paducah Police Department at 270-444-8550.If you're interested in submitting a Letter to the Editor, click here.

SubmitFort Polk, LA (71446)

Today

Considerable cloudiness. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 89F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 75F. Winds light and variable.

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.Abortion Support Network Expands Service to Malta and Gibraltar

Abortion Support Network (ASN), a small UK-based charity providing financial assistance, practical information and accommodation to those living in countries with restrictive abortion laws, announced today that it has launched its service to people resident in Malta and Gibraltar.

As of today, anyone in those countries will be able to ring the ASN helpline, visit the ASN website or send an email and receive confidential, non-judgmental information about the least expensive way to arrange abortion and travel, clinics that ASN works with in several EU countries, and, where necessary, receive financial help towards the cost of travelling from your home country and paying privately to access a safe, legal abortion.

"In the spirit of Valentines Day, ASN brings the gift of confidential, non-judgmental information and funding for abortion costs to new countries.

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue

Ireland has safe legal abortion

So were expanding to help Malta and Gibraltar too!"

Currently Malta is the only country in Europe where abortion is completely against the law, whereas the law in Gibraltar allows abortion to save a womans life.

ASN has also announced that, in addition to practical and financial support for those travelling, "we will also provide funding for people in Malta and Gibraltar who want to have a telephone consultation or counselling session provided by leading UK abortion provider, British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS)."

ASNs Founder Mara Clarke said:

This Valentines Day, ASN is thrilled to spread the abortion-fund love to those living in Malta and Gibraltar.

We have been providing our services to Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man for almost 10 years and have an excellent network of donors, volunteers and supporters who believe that I cant afford an abortion should never be the only reason someone becomes a parent. Now the people in Northern Ireland can access free care in England and people in the Republic of Ireland can access free care in Ireland up to 12 weeks, ASN is ready to expand to help those in other countries where abortion is illegal or severely restricted.

ASN and our supporters know that making abortion against the law never stops abortion. It makes abortion inconvenient for those with financial and other supports, and catastrophic for those who are marginalized, at risk, or poor. It means that when faced with an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy, women with money have options and women without money have babies  or do desperate or dangerous things to try and self-abort.

We are also thrilled that BPAS will allow ASN to fund people in Malta and Gibraltar to avail of their telephone consultation service. Given the complete lack of information about abortion available in these countries, this definitely fills a need.

While ASN very much hopes that both Malta and Gibraltar enact law change that enables women and pregnant people to have safe, legal abortions closer to home, ASN is more than happy to provide practical information, financial assistance, and, where possible, accommodation in volunteer homes to anyone who needs help in the meantime.

Lara Dimitrijevic, Director, Womens Rights Foundation said:

We applaud and welcome ASN for their decision to extend their services and support to women in Malta.

These services will alleviate to a great extent the discriminatory and cruel situation women in Malta are forced to live in. By abrogating itself from its duties and responsibilities, the state forces women to find their own way to acquire health and support they need.

This initiative is another way of women supporting women as women have always done and will continue to do. Needless to say, Womens Rights Foundation will do everything in its power to help and assist women in Malta in accessing the service and support provided by ASN.

A spokesperson for Pro Choice Gibraltar said:

Choice Gibraltar are extremely grateful that ASN have stepped in to support those women who may be affected with an unwanted pregnancy and have nowhere to turn. We hope that Gibraltar will change its approach to its human rights obligation in the very near future. In the meantime thank you ASN!

A spokesperson for No More Shame Gibraltar said:

"No More Shame is delighted with the support from ASN for the women of Gibraltar and their sterling work. Especially welcome is access to the BPAS helpline, which will offer free and confidential advice at a difficult time for many women."

Clare Murphy, Director of External Affairs at BPAS, said:

We are pleased to be working with the wonderful ASN to ensure that women in Malta and Gibraltar have access to the information they need in order to make the decision that is right for them. We share the hope that the time will come when all women living in these countries can receive abortion advice and care at home, where it belongs.

THE DETAILS

Services offered:

Information on the least expensive method of abortion and travel, to England, The Netherlands, or Spain

ASN funded, confidential telephone medical consultation or pregnancy options counselling session provided by BPAS in the UK (English language only).

Financial help towards the cost of travel and abortion services (after a financial assessment)

Overnight accommodation in volunteer homes where possible, and information about and funding towards paid accommodation near clinics when necessary

Information on the reputable online providers of safe but illegal early medical abortion pills

Contact information for service users:

MALTA

Phone: +356 266 8 0990 (Will charge as a local Maltese number)

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Web: www.asn.org.uk/malta

GIBRALTAR

Phone: +07397 902468 (This is a UK mobile phone. We will ring back or return messages so clients do not incur costs.)

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Web: www.asn.org.uk/gibraltar

About Abortion Support Network

Abortion Support Network (ASN) is a charity that provides financial assistance, confidential, non-judgmental information and accommodation in volunteer homes to people forced to travel from Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man (and now Malta and Gibraltar!) and pay privately for abortions in England. The cost ranges between 400 and 2000 or more depending on circumstance and stage of pregnancy. While many organisations campaign for much needed law reform, ASN is the only group providing those travelling for abortions with the thing they need most immediately: money.

Website: https://www.asn.org.uk/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AbortionSupport

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AbortionSupportNetwork

About BPAS

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) is a British reproductive healthcare charity that offers pregnancy counselling, abortion care, miscarriage management, contraception and STI testing to nearly 80,000 women each year via our clinics in England, Wales, and Scotland.

BPAS has provided abortion care to women from Northern Ireland for 50 years, and today also provide a specialist pathway for women undergoing abortion care for foetal anomaly. We currently run the Central Booking Service, funded by the Government and Equalities Office, which finds consultation and treatment appointments in England for women travelling from Northern Ireland for abortion care. www.bpas.org

About Womens Rights Foundation

Womens Rights Foundation (WRF) is a voluntary organisation committed to informing, educating and empowering women concerning their legal rights as well advocating for womens rights on all matters.

WRF aims to ensure that womens rights are protected through policy and law reform, raise awareness and offer training to end violence against women, as well as provides free legal advice and initial legal representation to women who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual exploitation, human trafficking and discriminated due to their gender.

WRF offers free legal services and representation to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and sexual harassment, human trafficking and gender discrimination.

WRF also advocates and is committed to raising awareness on sexual and reproductive health to women and girls, ensuring that they have access to all forms of contraception. https://www.wrf.org.mt/

About Choice Gibraltar

Choice is an organization advocating for the right to choose in Gibraltar. We support healthcare, human rights and the decriminalization of abortion.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/choicegibraltar/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Choicegibralta1

About No More Shame Gibraltar

No More Shame is a grassroots, inter-sectional activist organisation seeking to bring safe, legal abortion to the women of Gibraltar. Find out more on our social media channels:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NMSGib

Twitter: @ NMSgib

Snapchat: @ no_more_shame_gibraltar

Instagram: gibnomoreshameGibraltar Students to Visit London Instead of Brussels

The Government has decided that this year Gibraltar students will visit the UK and Commonwealth institutions in London instead of the EU institutions in Brussels. This was revealed this morning to the combined upper forms of Bayside and Westside Comprehensive Schools by the Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia.

Dr Garcia was invited to a presentation to their peers by the group of students who attended the educational visit to Brussels last year. They held meetings at the EU institutions, the College of Europe and NATO headquarters.

He said afterwards that the Government provided a number of educational opportunities for young people abroad. This included a year at the College of Europe, three months internships in Washington and a week-long visit to Brussels. The first such visit to the EU took place in 2014.

The Deputy Chief Minister explained that against the background of a fluid Brexit which envisaged that UK MEPs would end their mandate on exit day, it made sense to wait for the dust to settle and to organise an educational visit elsewhere this year. It was important that the present cohort of students were given the same opportunity as their predecessors and the UK and Commonwealth institutions based in London were the logical alternative.

He also took the opportunity to tell the students that the decision taken by the UK to leave the European Union would have a profound effect on all our lives. He went over the work that had been done between the 2016 referendum and the conclusion of the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement in November 2018. This included meetings with the Member States of the European Union, including Spain, with the European Parliament and the European Commission. There had also been meetings with the Devolved Administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with the Crown Dependencies and with the other UK Overseas Territories. The working relationship with the UK Government and with the main Opposition parties in the UK Parliament was extremely good, he told the students.

However, the EU had taken the side of Ireland and the side of Spain when it comes to Northern Ireland and to Gibraltar. This was to be expected given that Spain was staying and the UK was leaving. He said that the infamous Clause 24 of the negotiating guidelines, the exchange of letters in November and the recent pejorative reference to Gibraltar as a colony were all indications of this. He issued a stark warning that we could expect more of the same in the future.

The Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia said:

The Government is very grateful to the students for being excellent ambassadors for Gibraltar, to their schools and teachers as well as to Mr Albert Danino and Mr Ivan Navas who are the direct organisers of the visits. It is a pity that we need to refocus the trip for this year but it makes sense to do so in the context of our EU departure. I am certain that the educational value of a visit to the UK Parliament and to Commonwealth institutions based in London will be equally appreciated by those who are selected to attend. The Government will continue to provide worthwhile experiences of this nature for our young people."Not only with women and children in our shelters, but with outreach services and with services for men who call in and need the support to turn their lives around following episodes of being victims of domestic violence or sexual assault," Rossiter said.On Monday, York-Poquoson Sheriffs Office deputies were called to the Travelodge in the 100-block of Bypass Road after a customer at the motel refused to leave his room after his reservation ran out, the court documents said."He would come up behind me and rub my back. His hands would move down my arms and across my chest, under my shirt and down into my pants," she said. "And you just stand there. You don't move. You just  you do what you have to do to cope with it."Wyoming Business Tips for Feb. 18-24

A weekly look at issues facing Wyoming business owners and entrepreneurs from the Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network, a collection of business assistance programs at the University of Wyoming.

By Greg Jordan, associate state director, Wyoming SBDC Network

Operating a small business in Wyoming can seem like a lonely proposition. Sometimes, you feel like there is nowhere to turn, and you are the only one facing the problems of ownership. This struggle is even greater for businesses that are looking to expand their market by selling to the worlds largest customer: the U.S. government. Not knowing where to start or who to talk to can prevent access to this great market opportunity.

Networking with other small-business owners can be a great resource for idea creation, problem-solving and receiving referrals. When youre looking to do business with the government, networking is even more important. Federal, state and local government agencies are always looking for a large variety of products and services from Wyoming small businesses. Speaking with procurement representatives is a great way to find out if your business can fill any of those needs.

If youre looking to find these unique networking opportunities, the upcoming GRO-Biz Conference & Idea Expo is your best opportunity of the year. Labeled as Wyomings premier small business event, the GRO-Biz Conference & Idea Expo takes place Feb. 20-21 in Casper. This event features nationally recognized speakers on a variety of important topics and provides valuable networking opportunities for all Wyoming entrepreneurs, as well as those specifically interested in contracting with the government.

To reserve a spot or to learn more about this event, visit www.wyomingsbdc.org/grobiz.

The Wyoming SBDC Network offers business expertise to help Wyoming residents think about, launch, grow, reinvent or exit their business. The Wyoming SBDC Network is hosted by UW with state funds from the Wyoming Business Council and funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

To ask a question, call 1-800-348-5194, email wsbdc@uwyo.edu, or write 1000 E. University Ave., Dept. 3922, Laramie, WY, 82071-3922.UW College of Engineering Set to Occupy New Facility

CEAS Dean Michael Pishko (center) discusses lab features with UW Trustee Kermit Brown and UW Board of Trustees President Dave True (right) in the new Engineering Education and Research Building. (UW Photo)

With construction substantially complete, personnel from the University of Wyoming College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) began to move into the brand-new facility Wednesday.

Full access to UWs newest venue, the Engineering Education and Research Building (EERB), was handed over this week for college faculty and administration. The principal investigators for the various lab spaces can begin moving equipment immediately and will continue to outfit the space over the coming months.

Were very proud of this facility and its capabilities, and I believe this will position the CEAS strongly among all engineering schools in the nation, CEAS Dean Michael Pishko says.

This new facility is located on the north end of the UW campus near 11th and Lewis streets, across Lewis from the existing Engineering Building. After breaking ground in October 2016, the approximately 100,000-square-foot EERB was the most ambitious construction project in the universitys history at a cost of $105 million. Despite being a large-scale project with many variables, the facility was delivered on budget and on time, according to the original plans.

A group of state lawmakers and UW Board of Trustees members took an opportunity to tour the facility Saturday.

Its a gorgeous building, and I think it will help attract the talent we really want to Laramie and the university, says state Sen. Michael Von Flatern. Its turned out to be a great investment.

The state-of-the-art facility will foster innovation and collaboration among students and faculty, and will advance the mission of UWs Engineering Initiative. The Engineering Initiative and the EERB were prompted by the work of the Wyoming Governors Energy, Engineering, STEM Integration Task Force. Former Gov. Matt Mead created the task force in 2012 to address the Legislatures charge to lead the university toward a Tier-1 academic and research institution in areas of excellence appropriate for Wyoming.

The goals of the Engineering Initiative are to elevate the CEAS to national prominence in undergraduate and graduate education and in select areas of research, and to significantly enhance economic development in Wyoming. To this end, the initiative focuses on the strategic goals of excellence in undergraduate education; world-class research and graduate education; productive economic development through partnerships; and K-14 STEM education (science, technology, engineering and math).

The Engineering Education and Research Building is an important component of strategically advancing engineering at the University of Wyoming, UW President Laurie Nichols said at the groundbreaking. Aspiring to the highest levels of engineering excellence means attracting very good faculty and bright, motivated students, and conducting leading research that grows the economy and addresses needs within the state. I am so appreciative of the governor, the state Legislature and donors who invest in the university so we, in turn, can help create a bright future for Wyoming.

The four-story EERB includes reconfigurable research laboratories; active-learning classrooms; an active-learning wet laboratory; a drilling and completions simulation laboratory; an advanced manufacturing laboratory; student project spaces; a student innovation center; a student entrepreneurship center; informal collaboration spaces; and meeting rooms.

The facility is flexible, with space that can be reprogrammed without major renovation. It is built for collaboration, with space designed to foster student interaction and to support collaborative research teams. It also has space that supports creative thinking and student entrepreneurship.

The facility will bring the sciences at all levels closer together. Its proximity to the Michael B. Enzi STEM Facility, the Department of Geology and Geophysics, and the Energy Innovation Center integrates engineering faculty, students and laboratories into undergraduate science education, the geosciences and the School of Energy Resources.

This is a tremendous investment by the state in our students, UW Board of Trustees President Dave True says. We are so fortunate to have the support of the state and have these kinds of facilities. Research is critical but, ultimately, were here for the education of students, and this facility will really accentuate that.

The buildings impact stretches so far beyond Laramie and the university, True says. Its a state facility and will do wonders for Wyoming.Organic, Sustainable Crop Production Topics at Cheyenne Conference

A lineup of 28 speakers will present a mix of science-based, how-to information, producer talks and panel discussions at the sixth annual High Plains Organic Farming Conference Wednesday, Feb. 27, and Thursday, Feb. 28, at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne.

The conference will appeal to anyone interested in sustainable agriculture, says Jay Norton, University of Wyoming Extension soils specialist.

Registration for the organic certification workshop Wednesday is $35 and $40 for day two, or $60 for both days. To register and download the conference agenda, go to www.highplainsorganic.org/.

Wednesday activities start at 12:30 p.m. with the organic certification workshop by farmer/certifier Nate Powell-Palm, from Montana, and Michael Stein, of the Organic Farming Research Foundation. A marketing workshop and panel discussion follow.

Doug Miyamoto, director of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, opens sessions Thursday with a welcome at 7:50 a.m., followed by producer talks related to organic production, marketing and management.

Talks and information should be of interest to anyone interested in sustainable agriculture or livestock production, Norton says.

Sessions range from nitrogen management for successful grain production to prospects for hemp production, low-stress livestock handling strategies and a workshop on basic marketing principles and strategies.

Attendees will break out and choose among a dozen talks related to dryland systems, specialty crops and livestock/forage systems. The conference concludes with an update on organic farming components in the new farm bill, a discussion of regional research needs and planning for the 2020 conference.

For more information, call Norton at (307) 766-5082 or email jnorton4@uwyo.edu.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 14, 2019

UTs Sykes Hall of Fame Speaker Series Welcomes Hubertus Muhlhauser Feb. 21

On Thursday, Feb. 21, The University of Tampa will welcome Hubertus M. Muhlhauser, CEO of CNH Industrial N.V., as part of the Sykes Hall of Fame Business Speaker Series. The presentation, Technology and Transformation in an Ever-changing Business World, begins at 5:30 p.m. in Falk Theatre, 428 W. Kennedy Blvd., and is free and open to the public.



Muhlhauser brings extensive leadership experience at multinational industrial companies and a deep knowledge of various industrial sectors. Prior to joining the Fortune 500 CNH Industrial in 2018, he was president and CEO of Welbilt Inc., a global manufacturer of food service equipment, headquartered in the Tampa Bay area. Before joining Welbilt in 2015, he dedicated two years to his family business, the tunneling specialist Muhlhauser Holding Ltd. (founded 1907), which he successfully repositioned and where he is still owner and non-executive chairman.

From 2005 to 2012, Muhlhauser was an officer and senior vice president at AGCO Corp., a global agricultural equipment manufacturer where he held a variety of senior leadership positions, including responsibility for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, AGCOs largest business segment. He started his career at Arthur D. Little in Zurich, Switzerland.



Muhlhauser is a board member of the National Association of Manufacturers, Washington, D.C., the German American Chamber of Commerce and the UT Board of Trustees.



Registration is required at www.ut.edu/business/sykeshalloffame. For more information, contact Whitney Ortiz, coordinator of Sykes College of Business operations, at wortiz@ut.edu or (813) 257-3782.GLO.ACT supports EU Day against Trafficking in Human Beings

Lisbon, Portugal, 14 February 2019 - On 18 October 2018, Mrs. Joana Wrabetz, Policy Advisor for the Global Action against Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT) participated in a conference on "Prevention, Identification and Fight Against Trafficking in Human Beings",held at the Portuguese Parliament to mark the European Union's Day against trafficking in human beings.

Portugal is a country of origin, transit and destination with victims originating from all over the world. According to the latest report of the Portuguese Observatory on Trafficking in Human Beings (OTSH), a total of 175 potential victims were flagged in Portugal during 2017, out of which 4 were confirmed, 74 are still under investigation (69 in Portugal and 5 in other countries) and the remainder were either not confirm as cases of Trafficking in Persons (TIP), flagged by other entities and NGOs or not considered by NGOs and other entities. Amid the flagged potential victims were 45 children averaging 13 years of age. The main type of exploitation continues to be for labour exploitation in the agricultural sector, followed by sexual exploitation, forced begging, forced pregnancy with the intent of illegal adoption and illegal adoption or sale of minors.

Under the framework of the Portuguese strategy to fight TIP and to commemorate EU Day against trafficking in human beings, a public event is organized on an annual basis and broadcasted at the national level to raise awareness and bring together different actors involved in the fight against this crime.

This year, the conference on ' Prevention, Identification and Fight Against Trafficking in Human Beings', organized by the Law School of the Nova University of Lisbon in collaboration with the Portuguese Parliament, brought together some of the main actors in the fight against trafficking in human beings in Portugal. The conferences was opened by the Director of the Law Faculty of the Nova University of Lisbon and the State Secretary for Gender Equality and Citizenship, which operates within the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, and is the responsible entity for the development, coordination and implementation of the National Action Plan against Trafficking in Human Beings.

The first session addressed the international and national dimensions of the TIP phenomenon, and was opened by Mrs Joana Wrabetz with a presentation on UNODC, with a special focus on the GLO.ACT and some of the most recent tools of UNODC's Education for Justice (E4J) programme. Following which, National Rapporteur, Mr. Manuel Albano, spoke about the IV National Plan of Action against TIP, and by the Director of the Observatory, Ms. Rita Penedo, that shared the latest statistics.

The second session addressed diverse issues such as TIP and maritime law, TIP and citizenship and the role of media, with presentations from Mr. Vasco Becker-Weinberg, specialist on maritime law, Ms. Teresa Anjinho, Deputy of the national Assembly and now working for the Ombudsman and Ms. Raquel Moleiro, an award winner investigative journalist on TIP.

The third and last session focused on the fight against this crime, with presentations from Ms. Ana Rita Gil, from the law faculty of the Nova University of Lisbon focusing on the role of the European Union, Mr. Goncalo Rodrigues, from the Anti-Trafficking Unit of the Border and Migration Police (SEF) on collection and analysis of criminal evidence based on real cases and, finally, a presentation by the Prosecutor Jorge Leitao on the legal statute and protection of TIP victims.

The conference attracted a large and diverse audience, from parliamentarians, to civil society, state practitioners as well as academia. The involvement of parliamentarians representing all major political parties as moderators at the different panels, represents the commitment and engagement of all political colours in the fight against a crime that touch us all.

The Global Action to Prevent and Address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT) is a four-year (2015-2019), 11 million joint initiative by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The project is being implemented in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). GLO.ACT aims to provide assistance to governmental authorities and civil society organizations across 13 strategically selected countries: Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Mali, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, South Africa, Ukraine. GLO.ACT works with the 13 countries to plan and implement strategic national counter-trafficking and counter smuggling efforts through a prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships approach. It supports the development of more effective responses to trafficking and smuggling, including providing assistance to victims of trafficking and vulnerable migrants through the strengthening of identification, referral, and direct support mechanisms .

For more information, please contact:

GLO.ACT Policy Joana Wrabetz joana.wrabetz@un.org

UNODC Vienna: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/glo-act/

Email: glo.act@un.org

Twitter: @glo_actRegister for a FREE account to keep reading!

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Already registered? Click the log in link belowNew Delhi, Feb 14 (UNI) The Spanish government will confer a prestigious award the 'Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit' to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during her visit to that country on February 18 and 19.

MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar told reporters that the award will be given to the Minister as recognition by the Spanish government for India's "swift response" through Operation Maitri

in rescuing 71 Spanish nationals from Nepal in April 2015 during the disastrous earthquake.

He said in the last leg of her visit to three countries Bulgaria, Morocco and Spain, Ms Swaraj will travel to Spain on February 18-19 at the invitation of her counterpart Josep Borrell Fontelles, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs.

During her visit, Ms Swaraj will hold a bilateral meeting with her counterpart to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual concern.

The Minister will also interact with the Indian Community in Spain.

Mr Kumar said, Ms Swaraj's visit to these countries will strengthen Indias relations with them and

also "expand avenues" of cooperation and provide an opportunity discuss regional and global issues of importance.

She will be on an official visit to the Republic of Bulgaria on February 16-17. The visit is a follow-up visit to the State visit of the President of India to Bulgaria in September last year.

"Ms Swaraj's will be the first ever visit of an Indian External Affairs Minister to Bulgaria. During the visit, the Minister will meet with the Deputy Prime Minister & Foreign Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria and both sides will discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest," he said.

Ms Swaraj will pay floral tributes at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the South Park in Sofia.

The statue was unveiled last year by President Ram Nath Kovind along with President of Bulgaria to mark the celebrations of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

She will also interact with the Indian community and Friends of India in Sofia during the visit, he said.

MEA spokesman further said - in the second leg of her tour, Ms Swaraj will visit Kingdom of Morocco on February 17-18.

"The visit is in pursuit of Indias objective of enhanced engagement with the Kingdom and will provide an opportunity to hold in-depth discussions on bilateral, regional and global issues".

During the visit, the External Affairs Minister will interact with her counterpart Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation, Morocco.

She will also call on His Majesty King Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, H.E. Mr. Saad Dine El Otmani, Head of Government and Habib El Maliki, President of Chamber of Representatives, Parliament.

Three MoUs are likely to be in inked in the areas of Counter Terrorism, Housing & Human Settlements and Youth Matters during the visit, he said.

UNI DEVN RSA 1705Iraq: UNSC told road to stability long and far from easy

(Rptg, correcting file name)

United Nations, Feb 14 (UNI) Despite some positive developments following years of brutal conflict, Iraq is gripped by political stalemate and a continued humanitarian crisis that is hampering the stabilisation of the country, the head of the UN Assistance Mission in the country, (UNAMI), Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, has told the Security Council.

Special Representative Hennis-Plasschaert on Wednesday started her first briefing to the UN body since taking up her post, by explaining that although a new Prime Minister-designate has been nominated, the Iraqi Government remains incomplete due to fierce disagreements among political parties, with four top positions still vacant, including the key portfolios of the Interior, Defense, and Justice ministries.Contributed by Sharon Butler / Farley Aguilars paintings, on view at Lyles & King, are based on vintage photographs of 1920s and 30s seaside beauty pageants and images of female Nazi collaborators having their heads shaved after World War II. The contrast is jarring at first but fits into an insightfully integrated sense of powerlessness in the face of cruel political upheaval and human objectification across a broad spectrum of circumstances.

On close examination, the images suggest that Aguilar, who is self-taught, sketches them in pencil on the canvas and then scribbles crudely around the pencil lines with oil sticks and paint. The drawing provides rough structure for each scene, but it is the color, garish and calibrated to shrill, that carries the screamingly urgent emotional content. Aguilar channels the same faux-comic despair of Nicole Eisenman, Peter Saul, and George Condo but with less focus on expanding traditional painterly chops. Collectively, the nine large-scale canvases constitute an unsettling spectacle of how callously, even monstrously, human beings behave.

From the press release: Farley Aguilar (b. 1980, Nicaragua) lives and works in Miami, FL. Recent exhibitions include Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of the Black & Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art, The Mennello Museum, Orlando, US and We are the people. Who are you?, Edel Assanti, London, UK. His work is in the collections of the Perez Art Museum Miami, Brown University, and the Orlando Museum of Art. Aguilar is represented by Lyles & King.

Farley Aguilar: Cleansing, Lyles & King, LES, New York, NY. Through February 24, 2019.

Related posts:

Nicole Eisenman and the triumph of painting

Sharp and sardonic: Peter Saul at the Hall Art Foundation

George Condos schtickA delegation of Turkmenistan took part in the Turkmen-German business forum in Berlin. The forum discussed a number of issues relating to increasing bilateral trade and economic relations through their diversification.

The German partners were provided with comprehensive information on the major areas of development of the Turkmen economy. They also viewed an exhibition of products manufactured in Turkmenistan, which was set up as part of the forum.

The program of the forum included meetings of members of the Turkmen delegation with representatives of the German companies such as Claas and Umax Trade GmbH. As a result of the business forum, German Umax Trade GmbH signed Memorandums of Cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Nature Protection of Turkmenistan, as well as the S.A. Niyazov Turkmen Agricultural University.

The Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan also signed a number of agreements with German companies.

 TURKMENISTAN.RU, 2021Walker steps down from Directors post

Longtime Imlay City advocate to lead Michigan Downtown Association

IMLAY CITY  Shes been a familiar face around town for more than a half-dozen years. An advocate for the city, champion of all things local, and literally a Friend of Youth.

That wont change, says Dana Walker, who on Monday tendered her resignation from her post as Director of Imlay Citys Downtown Development Authority. Shes held the position since October of 2014; her last day on the job is February 28.

Walker is stepping down to take on

the job as Director

of the Michigan Downtown Association.

Its a good fit for Walker, whos served as Imlays DDA director for the past four-and-a-half years. The MDA is a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to the revitalization of downtowns across the Great Lakes State, and Walkers been a member of that Board of Directors for the past two years.

Dana Walker Dana Walker

Im excited for this new opportunity, Walker says. Downtowns are my passion, so when the previous director retired last year, I decided to go through the application process and lo and behold, they offered me the job.

Though shes thrilled to take on the challenge, Walker says she has mixed emotions about leaving Imlay City. Prior to her stint as DDA Director, she served as the Chamber of Commerce Executive Director from 2010 to 2014, when she moved to the DDA position.

Its strange, Walker says. Im really excited about the new opportunity and I know that I can continue to make positive strides for our downtowns, but it is a little strange knowing that I wont be entering the city limits every day.

Its been a wonderful ride and Ive made incredible relationships that I know will continue, she says. The community is a very supportive community.

She says shes grateful for the boards of directors shes worked with, both as Chamber and DDA Director.

I have been blessed with wonderful boards my entire time here, she says. They are community champions, which has made my job a lot easier.

Walker says she credits the DDA board with going out on a limb to support and create the Art in the Rough event, which she says has grown over the past four years.

I also love that the DDA supports the arts in downtown, with the public artwork initiative, she says.

Walker also appreciates the boards commitment to partnering with the city for infrastructure and other improvement projects.

I think that will continue, as they are dedicated to teaming up with the city to use all resources which offers a lot more leverage.

Walker hopes to continue to enjoy that support in her new role, which will continue to bring her into the area. Imlay City, Almont and Lapeer are all members of the MDA.

I will still be visiting Lapeer County doing business, she says. A big portion of what the MDA does is advocacy. We want to make sure that communities across the state, and our state legislators, understand the importance of downtowns, DDAs, and tax increment financing authorities.

While shell miss Imlay City, Walker says shes inspired by the opportunity to visit towns throughout the state.

I am excited to meet different people from across the state, and to help promote what downtowns across the state are doing that make a positive difference, she says.

Imlay City Mayor Joi Kempf says Walker has been a tremendous asset to Imlay City.

Were very sad to see Dana go, she has been absolutely wonderful for Imlay City, Kempf says.

The MDA will definitely benefit from Danas enthusiasm and knowledge of downtowns, and were excited that Imlay City will still get to work with her occasionally. Imlay City and the DDA wish Dana the absolute very best, and we thank her for everything shes done for us.

Along with her positions with the Chamber and DDA, Walker earned recognition as Imlay City Friend of Youth and Rotarian of the Year, and served as president of the Rotary Club. She is also a board member of the Lapeer County Community Foundation.

The search for a new DDA Director is underway. A job posting is available online at www.icdda.com; and is on the classified page of this issue of Tri-City Times.

Attempts to reach DDA Board Chairman Walt Bargen were unsuccessful by press time.The hiring of Bahrainis is one of the priorities of the kingdom's parliament, Speaker of the Council of Representatives Fawzia bint Abdullah Al Zainal has said, stressing that the aspirations of the Bahraini people are given the full attention of the lawmakers.

The directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and the projects and initiatives of all state institutions aim at ensuring decent living and work for the Bahraini citizens, she was quoted as saying by Bahrain News Agency.

The Council of Representatives and the government stressed such objectives while discussing the Government Action Plan, the Speaker said as she received a delegation from the Bahrain Bankers Trade Union.

The meeting discussed ways of enhancing cooperation between the council and the union by holding joint forums to address ways of enhancing the role of banking institutions and their employees and exchanging views and legal proposals supporting trade union work.

The meeting stressed the keenness of the parliament to examine all projects and laws related to banks with the competent institutions and authorities, the report said.

The Speaker praised the national and professional role of trade unions in Bahrain and said that the development of their action was the product of democracy and the reform process, led by HM the King.

The Speaker pointed out the parliamentary support for the role of trade unions and the extension of bridges of communication with state institutions in order to address all labour issues aimed at improving the working environment and raising the pace of productivity for the sake of the country, citizens and the national economy.

She expressed great pride in the banking sector's expertise and competencies in Bahrain, which contributed to the kingdom's pioneering position in the region and made it a prominent hub for investment in banking. - TradeArabia News ServiceGFH Financial Group (GFH) said it has signed a $100 million real estate divestment deal with a special purpose vehicle owned by Terra Real Estate Investments as part of its previously announced $1 billion in exits from its existing real estate portfolio.



As per the deal, Terra will acquire 72 per cent stake in GFHs landmark Harbour Row Residence in Bahrain for $40 million and $60 million of the groups real estate development project in Morocco, said the Bahrain-based company in a statement.



This comes as part of a planned exit from GFHs legacy real estate portfolio to be undertaken over the next five years, with proceeds of the deals expected to support profit distribution and the growth strategy of the group.



This transaction, which had an instrumental support from leading Abu Dhabi investment group ADFG, is expected to positively impact the groups first quarter 2019 results.



Lauding ADFG for its instrumental support, CEO Hisham Alrayes said: "We are pleased to announce this transaction in line with GFHs focus and strategy to achieve strategic exits that can continue to enhance and support our ability to deliver strong returns to shareholders in our real estate investments."



"We are committed to achieving a series of further exits from our real estate portfolio to allow the Group to minimize and reduce our overall real estate exposure," he noted.



"Such planned exits are aimed to realign all assets classes to have a balanced contributions to GFHs operations and income generation," he added.



Mustafa Kheriba, the chief operating officer of ADFG, said: "ADFG is pleased to make this acquisition of high quality real estate assets from GFH in the regional markets of the GCC and North Africa."



"We are building sound and diverse real estate portfolio, both in the region and internationally, and will continue to seek out other opportunities to acquire quality assets of this nature," he added.-TradeArabia News ServiceMBABANE  Thabiso Dlamini, the man who stole a vehicle belonging to Minister of Labour and Social Security Makhosi Vilakati, has alleged that his MP has promised to assist him with paying his fine.



Thabiso made this allegation when mitigating on the sentence after he was found guilty of the theft of the motor vehicle by the Mbabane Magistrates Court.

The man of Sitjeni under Lobamba Constituency claimed that his MP, Marwick Khumalo, had promised to assist him with paying the fine so that he could prepare for his grandmothers funeral.



Interestingly, Khumalo is the MP under Lobamba Lomdzala Constituency while Sitjeni falls under Lobamba Constituency.

My MP, Marwick Khumalo, has promised to assist me with the fine so that I can prepare for my grandmother, gogo Nkhosis funeral. I received information that my grandmother, who was taking care of my twins, had passed on while I was in prison. May the court finalise this matter so that I can inform my MP about the fine, he said.



Grandmother



Thabiso claimed that he was deeply touched by the death of his grandmother whom he said was everything to him.

He implored the court to consider that he cooperated well with the police during the course of their investigations.



The perpetrator insisted that he did not intend to steal the ministers car. In his evidence under oath, Thabiso told the court that he unlawfully took the ministers car because he wanted to fetch his items in Simunye. He informed the court that he intended to return the car to the car wash after fetching his items.

May the court consider that I sustained serious injuries after I was beaten up by police officers. My hands are still numb since I was assaulted by the police, he said.



In response to Thabisos plea, Senior Magistrate Nonhlanhla Dlamini informed the offender that his fate would be determined by the penalty clause regarding the theft of a motor vehicle.



Sentence



Magistrate Dlamini informed the young man that in reaching the appropriate sentence, the court had to consider the Crowns evidence, which pointed out that he had an intention to permanently deprive Vilakati of his Mercedes Benz.



The judicial officer told Thabiso that the court had considered the evidence of Mlungisi Mathonsi, who narrated how the vehicle was stolen from the car wash.

In his evidence, Mathonsi informed the court that Thabiso took the car keys under the pretence that he would them to the gym. Mathonsi narrated how Thabiso was seen driving the ministers car out of the garage through a CCTV camera footage.Sir,



Right under our noses the war on girls continues and gets worse by the day. The sexual exploitation of high school pupils by predatory teachers percolates not only in the pupils lives but it has also turned witnesses into victims as well, leaving parents clueless about a danger that is not only very real, but steadily looming.

Each story of a predatory teacher that our media reports only confirms the pervasive sexual abuse of children by those entrusted to educate them, and each one of these stories has been largely ignored.



If we truly desire to have a society of empowered females, then we need to start early by instilling certain knowledge in our young girls. Parents send their children to school to be educated, not to become the objects of their teachers sexual scheming. One would expect that the older someone gets, the more they realise how awful it is to manipulate someone young enough to be their own daughter, and it is completely wrong and inappropriate to get into a relationship with someone of school-going age.



There is an obvious inequality in any teacher-pupil relationship. The teacher is an adult in a position of trust and power. The pupil, on the other hand, is merely a child in search of an education. Thats why, in any contact between the two, the pupils will can be easily overcome.

These teachers ruin these girls, sexually, emotionally and in every other way possible. These children are naive and innocent, while the male teachers are perverse. As they grow older, these girls will learn to distrust men in authority. These girls face the possibility of dropping out of school and never amounting to anything.



This is why we have to enact legislation making it a felony for high school teachers to have sex with pupils enrolled in their schools even if they have attained the age of consent. We need to teach our girls to say no to any forms of sexual harassment. It doesnt matter whether it has been carried out by a relative, religious leader, an older friend of the opposite sex, or a stranger.



Our little girls need to know that they can look up to their elders as role models. But until our leaders recognise this as an atrocity, a gross misconduct that deserves correction by law, we will always read of such stories. At the rate that we are going, we are currently raising a nation of sexually exploited girls, while teaching our boys that it is okay to take advantage of the people you have power over.



NomsaV

Sir,



Africans believe you cannot have two bulls placed in one place because you might as well lose one of the bulls. If you attempt to translate such a statement you will discover it means you cannot have two people in the same position.

More especially if that position was created to be occupied by one person. These two people will eventually be involved in fights and disagreements that may lead to the shedding of blood.



Venezuela is no exception as the State is on the verge of collapse as two leaders are banking on the support of the populace and the global leadership community.



The country recently appointed President Nicolas Maduro, who was taking his second six-year term as he won the elections; nothing came with sweetness with his swearing in as the head of State. As this propelled an opposition leader by the name Juan Guaido to proclaim himself as the interim president and assuming the powers of the Executive, President Maduro became very agitated by this move.



President Maduros first swearing in as a president was in 2013 when he took over from President Hugo Chavez. So many opposition leaders fled the country because they could not stand for elections, while some were arrested. The opposition party, National Assembly, believed that even after the swearing in of Maduro the country still needed a president they could recognise.



Resources



Remember Venezuela is one of the countries with rich natural resources, since they are also known for the oil which nature has provided. Oil is also known as one of the natural resources that can enable countries like Venezuela to be among the wealthiest in South America.



That seems not to be the case with Venezuela since the country is now suffering from power cuts, a shortage of medicine and food to name a few of the problems encountered in the country. The economy is crumbling and on the verge of sinking and politically, as previously stated, it shows signs of an already half sinked ship.



President Maduro thinks his opposition leader is being propelled by a hidden agenda from the USA to try and oust him, but this problem started way before Maduro was elected President. It is clear that even in the tenure of President Hugo they suffered the same fate. Then the question in most peoples mind is, why let a failed government system back into power, is the population well suited to survive such a system?



I think thats where Juan Guaidoput put his foot down and made himself an interim president until elections were carried out fairly. Guardo is not in this battle alone but the whole country seems to be behind him.

They believe the president, during his tenure, failed the nation. They think the economy sank and the president is at fault. The president has an army of about 16 000 soldiers behind him.

The war between the president and his opposition has had economic power houses like the USA issuing directives to the nation and President Maduro. President Donald Trump in one of his tweets is qouted as saying; The citizens of Venezuela have suffered for too long at the hands of the illegitimate Maduro regime. Today, I have officially recognised the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as the interim President of Venezuela.



Siphiwo LushabaSPEAKING my views publicly has made me engage in numerous discussions on some of the matters I touch upon. I found myself having to respond to a friend this week on why I still believe in a Parliament that has failed the people so many times

I told him that I am optimistic and never want to judge without evidence. It is for that reason that I believe in our new Parliament and hope they will do better. Their predecessors may have failed but these people promised us great things during their campaigns and we are waiting to see them perform what they promised.



We heard the Kings speech during the opening of Parliament and some have already dissected it and made certain conclusions. I, therefore, would not want to dissect it, but I believe the King gives guidance to those who have to do the work. The King does not go to Parliament to submit and take decisions. There are people whom he commissioned us to elect who are going to make the decisions on what is to be done and how it is to be done. Therefore, I did not expect His Majesty to mention salaries because he is never in the meetings that discuss them. That lies with the Legislature and Executive. These are the arms of government we want to see if they value civil servants efforts or not.



We are going to judge Cabinet based on what it does. Cabinet ministers have to decide whether they care for the people of this country or not. They are soon going to have the task of delivering the first budget in their term of office and they should know that the first cut is the deepest. It is now or never. We have heard the chorus that government has no money; people should fasten their stomach belts, and those are not appealing anymore. The budget is going to give us an indication of where we are going; it will tell us whether government caress for the people or not. A people-centred budget is what we have always been crying for. People are not going to enjoy driving on state-of-the-art roads when they are hungry. It is, therefore, of paramount importance that the needs of the people be taken care of first. EmaSwati will not enjoy seeing nice hotels which they cannot afford to use when they are sick. That is where we will see the intention of Cabinet and we expect them to lead by example.



The same goes with members of the House of Assembly. They have a final say in how the budget will end as they are going to decide how the finances of the country are going to be used. They must not then chicken out and say they are still new. That excuse will be too lame and will never be tolerated. We believe they did their research on what is expected of them even before they started campaigning. To then say they are new will be a travesty to the people of this country. Their predecessors have been labelled as failures because they were always opposing the budget that was not catering for the needs of the country to come back after a week and pass the same budget. We are expecting better from them.



I hope that, as people who campaigned in communities, (I do not want to say they live there because some do not) they know the needs of those communities and they will address them when debating the budget. We are not expecting a budget that will give more resources to security forces when there is no threat to the security of the country and give just a piece of that to health and education. We are tired of lip service and actions showing a direct opposite. Human resource development should come first as we have seen how it helped Zimbabweans go into the diaspora when things went downhill in their country. So we need to have an education system that will provide for same. This will be reflected in the budget Parliament will pass.



I believe they will also look into the international commitments that government has signed and the Maputo Declaration comes to mind. The budget should speak to such because we have enough arable land to produce our own food instead of importing. The budget should at least show that we are working towards attaining what we committed to do. This will reflect well on the image of the country because we will be keeping our promises. All of this will be shown by what Members of Parliament would have agreed to when passing the budget. The ball is in their court and we are waiting in anticipation.







MBABANE  One of the most loved gospel music sensations is headed to the country! South Africa-born gospel music sensation and preacher Dr Tumi, real name Tumisang Makweya, is set to perform in the country on June 21.



The Wafika hit maker, who is one of the most loved worshippers in the gospel music fraternity, revealed this in his social media pages when disclosing his The Connect Tour schedule which is set to start on March 2 in the Gauteng Province in South Africa.



Interview



Confirming the dates for his tour was the South African press including JustNje, where they revealed the dates and venues for his tour.

The Connect Tour will also be heading to African countries such as Botswana on March 30, Zambia on April 20, Zimbabwe on April 27 and Eswatini on June 21.



Dr Tumi also confirmed the Eswatini edition of the tour in a brief interview with this publication, stating that he was excited to come back to the country.

I am happy to bring The Connect Tour to Eswatini, however, we are yet to confirm the venue with the team, said the Someone Like Me hit maker.

Dr Tumi, who is a producer, songwriter, instrumentalist and vocalist, is endowed with grace to minister healing from a dual perspective. Dr Tumis first solo album titled Heart of a King garnered him Best RnB Gospel Award at the SABC Crown Gospel Music Awards in 2012, where he was nominated in four categories.



Privilege



It is the same album that was a hefty breakthrough in his career and his name became viral.

It will not be the first time for the gospel music sensation to perform in the country as the last time he did was at Word of Hope revivals in 2016. Not only was he performing but he was one of the preachers.



MBABANE  Mobile phone users should brace themselves for an increase in international call charges.



This will be as a result of the Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications corporation having increased interconnect charges for the two mobile phone operators  Eswatini Mobile and Eswatini MTN. Interconnection is the linking of telecommunications networks so that customers of one network can communicate with customers of another network.



The Times Business Desk understands that EPTC will now charge the local mobile phone operators an amount of E2.21 from the current charge of E1.27 to call another mobile phone number in South Africa.



This is an increase of 74 per cent.

When calling a fixed line number, the mobile phone operators will be charged E1.30 from the current E0.44, which is an increase of 195 per cent.

When calling Lesotho, on both fixed line and mobile phone, the increase is from E1.85 to E4.33, which marks an increase of 134 per cent.

When calling Botswana, EPTC will now charge the operators E3.04 from E2.53, which is a hike of 20 per cent.



For a United States call, the charge has been increased to E2.40 from E1.19, which is a hike of about 102 per cent.

For a Monaco Kosovo mobile phone call, the charge has been increased from E1.44 to E4.96, which marks a hike of 244 per cent.

For other European countries, including the United Kingdom, the charge has not been increased as it will remain at E1.54.



Agreements



For a Mauritania call, the charge has been hiked from E2.37 to E5.97, which is an increase of 93 per cent.

Additional international calls include Cuba calls which have been hiked by a massive 441 per cent from E1.44 to E7.85.

EPTC Corporate Communications Manager Nqobile Magagula when asked about the increase said such agreements were between the Corporation and its customers, suppliers and or partners and therefore of a confidential nature.



We are not in a position to comment about them. We are bound by a supplier/customer relationship which we have to abide by, Magagula said.

On the other hand, the Eswatini Communications Commission (ESCCOM), which is the countrys telecommunications regulator, said the increase was as a result of inter-connect settlement rates paid to transit centres.



Lindiwe Dlamini, the Director Strategy & Economic Regulation, said these rates were settled in foreign currency and were reflective of the fluctuations in the exchange rate, which in turn had an influence in the settlement price.

Another factor is that ICASA, the communications Regulator in South Africa, opened up the traffic to other operators - a decision that resulted in a change in the charging matrix.



The Price List method is now used. It is a 7 days notice list of rates from each operator, and is circulated to international operators with the prices for the different destinations, Dlamini said.



She then confirmed the worst; that the mobile operators would transfer such an increase to the consumers.

Interconnect rates form part of the costs carried by Mobile Operators. An increase in the interconnect rates will require Mobile Operators to adjust their call tariff to factor in the increase, Dlamini stated.



Implementation



She said the Mobile Operators, in line with their licence terms and conditions, would still be obligated to apply to the Commission for approval before they could implement any new rates arising as a result of the increase in interconnection rates.MBABANE  Eswatini tourism experienced a 5.1 per cent overall decline in foreign visitor arrivals in 2018.



Eswatini Tourism Authority (ETA) Research and Statistics Officer Sebenzile Ginindza disclosed that foreign visitor arrivals to the Kingdom of Eswatini during 2018 recorded a total of 1.277 million, reflecting a decline of 5.1 per cent when compared to 2017.



She explained that the lacklustre performance in visitor figures was mainly attributed to dampened demand for leisure travel as consumers reprioritised household expenditures for varying reasons, which include lowered disposable household income, cyclical nature of leisure travel preferences and economic uncertainties within source markets.



Significant



Eswatinis key markets; South Africa (-2.2 per cent), Mozambique (-9.3 per cent), Germany (-6.0 per cent), Netherlands (-25.1 per cent), France (-25.4 per cent), United Kingdom (-15.7 per cent) and United States of America (-14.5 per cent) all registered significant declines during the period in review.

Globally, 2018 was depicted by economic uncertainties, political tensions and lowered household disposable incomes, which when combined had adverse effects on travel and tourism. She said Eswatini was no exception as well.



The ETA officer pointed out that neighbouring South Africa and Mozambique had historically remained Eswatinis main source markets with both accounting for an annual average 77 per cent of total arrivals.

It was mentioned that in 2018, South Africa was confronted with varied strains which comprised of a 0.7 per cent contraction in the countrys real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the second quarter; downgrading of credit rating to junk status by Ratings Agencies Fitch and S&P Global; amendments to the tax bracket; increases in electricity tariffs and persistent increases in fuel prices in the later months of the year.



The combination of these obstacles culminated into a direct exertion of pressure on non-essential expenditures. Consequently, re-adjustments in spending habits was noted which resulted in slowed-down outbound leisure travel.

On the other hand, Ginindza said the last three years had seen the roll-out of infrastructural developments in Maputo which improved the profile of Mozambique in terms of accessibility.







Morehead, KY (40351)

Today

A few clouds. Low 67F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low 67F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.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.Posted Thursday, February 14, 2019 5:00 am

Here we are again, hearing the same ultimatums from two blue governors, declaring that without light rail, there will be no Interstate 5 bridge replacement. This time around, its Oregon Governor Brown joining Washington Governor Inslee, telling residents of Southwest Washington they know whats best for us. They didnt get the memo that an overwhelming majority of residents are opposed to light rail in Clark County. Lets set that aside for a moment.

Clark County has two big problems: too few cross-river bridges and not enough good-paying jobs on this side of the Columbia River.

Traffic is getting worse on both interstate bridges. Thousands of new residents are moving here from other parts of the country. New residential neighborhoods are springing up in every corner of the county. If the same development focus was applied to attracting advanced manufacturing jobs, wed be sending fewer workers across the river to Oregon. And, a more diversified industrial tax base would provide much-needed property tax relief for Clark County residents.

Its no secret traffic congestion is hampering our ability to attract new businesses. The silver bullet for solving both our congestion problems and attracting new living wage jobs is the construction of new corridors between Oregon and Washington. This wont be easy since a growing number of community leaders have already decided that replacing the I-5 bridge is their top transportation priority. This is a short-sighted approach. Our growing region demands an overarching corridor strategy that will deliver real transportation solutions to relieve congestion.

Reliable data must be provided to policymakers on how many new corridors are needed now and in the future as well as how those corridors should perform. State senators from Southwest Washington are setting a plan in motion to replace the I-5 bridge. This is unfortunate because Oregons I-5 corridor is failing. Absent of additional corridor understanding, any I-5 investment is of limited value without a longterm vision for improvements south of the Columbia River. In short, any new bridge built in the same corridor that dumps freight haulers and commuters into the existing Portland traffic morass would do nothing to fix congestion. A shiny new I-5 bridge will only result in a nicer parking lot heading south on I-5.

Money is another problem. New bridges dont fall from heaven like manna; they require taxpayer dollars to build and maintain. Both Oregon and Washington have passed historic new gas taxes over the past few years, hindering their ability to bond future transportation projects. This means that tolling is about the only option available to fund new bridges. Its reasonable to expect that most commuters and freight haulers could support tolling if these funds were used to build new corridors that actually provided congestion relief. Make no mistake: the current push to replace the I-5 bridge will result in new tolling costs without any measurable relief. How will drivers feel about that?

Thankfully, a few local legislators including state representatives Ed Orcutt, Vicki Kraft, Brandon Vick and Larry Hoff are insisting that any new bridge projects they support provide meaningful congestion relief. Lets hope these folks follow through on this commitment by insisting on new corridors ahead of a shiny new parking lot described as a bridge.

Citizens are demanding real solutions to our congestion problems. This will require the Oregon and Washington delegation to put their differences aside and focus on real solutions that citizens support. Legislators must identify new corridors, develop a 10-year, 25-year and 50-year plan, and ultimately address the bridge on I-5.

Getting back to light rail.

Mass transit (both light and heavy) rail systems perform best on dedicated corridors that are constructed underground. The Metro in D.C. is a perfect example of efficient transit. Portlands aging light rail technology that puts cars, freight haulers, buses, railcars, bicyclists and pedestrians on the same path is a recipe for congestion problems and longer commute times. It also puts the safety of all those users at risk.

Driverless cars are already sharing the roadway with other vehicles. More of them will follow, creating safer and more efficient travel on our roads and highways. This new technology will shape future highway design and should be integrated into the planning of new corridors.

Driving is also an important privilege in any free society. As citizens, we must guard against those in government who wish to limit our ability to move about our towns and cities in our preferred mode of travel. As citizens, we have an obligation to play a central role in mega-transportation project discussions. Remember, we will be the ones footing the bill for what gets built. Whoever ultimately represents Washington residents at the table with Oregon must first listen to constituents ahead of any pre-determined solution made behind closed doors. On this point, there must be no compromise.

{{tncms-inline content="<p class="p1"><em>Liz Pike is a retired Washington State Representative who served three terms, from 2012 to 2018. Today she operates Shangri-La Farm, a small-scale organic farm in Fern Prairie outside of Camas with her husband Neil and also teaches oil painting classes. She can be reached at 360-281-8720 or pikeadvertising@comcast.net.&nbsp;<span>Her column, "View from the right side" can be found once a month in The Reflector.&nbsp;</span></em></p>" id="32314c1f-0a37-415c-ba97-0aa945c33a67" style-type="bio" title="About the author" type="relcontent"}}Posted Thursday, February 14, 2019 4:58 am

No light rail. Absolutely not. Governor Inslee said Washington needs to join Oregon to support light rail so we can get the I-5 bridge done. Clark County voted the light rail down three times because its too costly and will not solve the traffic problem.

Put a six to eight lane bridge right along the present bridge on the east side so it could use the same corridor. The present bridge is adequate for 40 plus years by proven studies. Washington could build the bridge without Oregon and the light rail probably just as cheap. Oregon wants the light rail in Clark County so they make us help pay for their terrible transportation debt.

Lets stick to our principles and build the bridge and no light rail so they cant blame Washington for the traffic problem and let Oregon take care of one of the worst areas, the Rose Quarter.Stephanie Keith/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The National Enquirer, which is under fire after the worlds richest man, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, accused the publication of blackmail, has another problem...and this one comes with dollar signs.



The NJ State Treasury, which has hundreds of millions of dollars in a fund heavily invested in the Enquirers parent company, American Media Inc., quietly raised questions about the tabloids practices in a recent phone call, an official told ABC News.



The office reached out to Chatham Asset Management, a hedge fund that manages nearly $600 million for New Jersey public pension holders, to remind the firm of its duty to protect investors from undue risks, according to Adam Liebtag, acting chairman of the state's investment council.



Liebtag said Chatham was responsive, but the state is exploring all available options because of the Enquirers alleged conduct.



"When the AMI-Bezos story came out we were deeply concerned with the allegations," Liebtag said. "The allegations, if theyre true, are unacceptable and violate the conditions we have for the pension funds."



Pecker has denied the allegations leveled by Bezos.



New Jerseys pension funds do not directly invest in any company but place money in funds like Chatham. Chatham, in turn, holds a stake in AMI, which owns the Enquirer and is headed by President Donald Trumps longtime confidante David Pecker.



Liebtag said Chatham performed well for pensioners but the state must adhere to higher standards.



"Performance has been good to date but thats no excuse," Liebtag said.



The state treasurys division of investment has invested twice in Chatham, once in 2014 and one in 2017.



"While DOI plays no role in the management of a funds portfolio companies, it expects the funds to invest in good businesses with strong management teams that follow all applicable laws," the NJ State Treasury said in a statement.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Elizabethtown, KY (42701)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low around 70F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low around 70F. Winds S at 10 to 15 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Oh, hey you - its Valentines week, and whether youre spending it with your significant other or your best pals were fairly sure you deserve to throw in a few treats.

We are here for you in this regard, as always, with a whole bunch of delectable recipes - including peanut butter fudge, red velvet brownies, and a particularly special spiced chocolate orange fondue. Hooray!

If you remember one thing this week, its that you accept the puddings you think you deserve - and you definitely deserve these. So get baking.

(NB: the vast majority of these recipes are vegetarian.)

Peanut butter fudge

Images courtesy of Co-op

Featuring what is quite possibly our favourite collection of words, this tray-bake recipe is one that you can take out of the oven and carve up for all your faves. Were pretty sure theyll love you even more for it.

Chocolate caramel tart

Images courtesy of Co-op

This is a classic - and also, look how aesthetically shiny it is. This is one for your Instagram feed as well as for your mouth. #Yum.

Red velvet brownies

Images courtesy of Co-op

Well never get sick of the taste of red velvet, in all honesty. Whoever invented it deserves a medal. This recipe is another one thats great for sharing, but well forgive you if you dont want to - self-love is important too, after all.

Crackle cookies

Images courtesy of Co-op

Bite into these Oreo-coloured cookies and theyll start oozing a brownie- esque centre - which is really all we need to say about this, we think.

White chocolate and raspberry blondies

Images courtesy of Co-op

A lighter version of the humble brownie, with an added bit of fruit. Raspberries with white chocolate still count as a portion, right? Right.

Chocolate and strawberry fingers

Images courtesy of Co-op

Co-op suggests that you nibble on these romantic little treats whilst snuggled on the sofa. We agree wholeheartedly with this, and think theyd go very well alongside Notting Hill and a big glass of white wine. Evening sorted.

Spiced red wine brownies

Images courtesy of Co-op

Kind of Christmassy, but weve heard nothing about festive spices out of season being bad luck so well definitely take the risk.

Avocado, chocolate and chilli pots

Images courtesy of Co-op

This one is made with almost entirely Fairtrade products , so you can be safe in the knowledge that your little chocolate pots are made from ethically sourced ingredients whilst youre slurping them up.

Chocolate peanut butter tart

Images courtesy of Co-op

We love the peanut-coloured criss-cross aesthetic on the top of these tarts. Pretty sure they taste great too. Youll probably want to check yourself to make sure were right, though.

Rhubarb syllabub

Images courtesy of Co-op

No, we dont know what a syllabub is either. But it doesnt particularly matter - whatever it is, its quick, its easy, and its very, very British.

Mini chocolate coconut macaroons

Images courtesy of Co-op

Macaroons have a reputation for being fiddly to make, but its definitely not true in this case - in fact you can have them ready in half an hour, which is probably the length of time itll take whomever youre baking them for to get the bus to your house. No excuses, then.

White chocolate clusters

Images courtesy of Co-op

Absolute retro winner here. Have a nostalgic trip down memory lane, to the days of school bake sale rice crispy cakes and gooey, melted chocolate in a pan on your mums hob. So quick and easy that a child could do it, which they quite frequently have.

Spiced chocolate orange fondue

Images courtesy of Co-op

Now, we know that some people arent a fan of chocolate and orange together - but quite frankly (my dear) we dont understand it and we dont give a damn. Its the best culinary combination ever and you need it.

White chocolate mousse

Images courtesy of Co-op

The white chocolate mousse makes us think of a 90s dinner party (no, were not sure why either) - but everything was a bit more simple then, so lets roll with it and get the chocolate melting. Its a little pot of love, honestly.

Mini fruit and jam tarts

Images courtesy of Co-op

Still retro. Kind of reminds us of Jammie Dodgers. Great all around, and (much like Jammie Dodgers themselves) you can stick any leftovers in a lunchbox and take them to school/work/lectures/anywhere else you happen to go for days afterwards . Share the love <3

Want something savoury to go alongside your sugar-overload? Check out these love-heart shaped smoked salmon muffins (best breakfast ever) and the Co-op Be Mine Pizza (quite possibly the best dinner, too.)

Images courtesy of Co-op

Students get 10% off at Co-op with a TOTUM or NUS extra card.From the age of two, I knew how to work the family VHS - picking out a video tape, rewinding it, and sitting back to enjoy my film of choice.

It was a phase I never grew out of. Despite the obvious upgrade from VHS to more modern modes of film consumption, film has remained at the forefront of my life; my biggest passion and inspiration.

Across the years many films have left their mark on my impressionable mind, no doubt shaping the person I am today. That still happens now, and it always will; film has a wonderful way of changing perceptions. Powerful things, films.

Picking a top ten was no easy feat. But I did it. And here they are:

1. La La Land (2016)

People love what other people are passionate about.

This is about as magical as a film can get for me. Yes, the fantasy genre definitely ticks many magical boxes, but for La La Land its the ability to transport you to this other world, a fictional one thats grounded in reality, that makes it so special. Amidst all the spectacular singing and dancing is a familiar story of (seemingly) unattainable dreams, love, and sacrifice. La La Land inspires me to work harder for what I want every time I watch it, and that is where its magic lies.

2. Back to the Future (1985)

Are you telling me that you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?

I first watched Back to the Future when I was about 12 years old. It was the first film I ever truly deemed to be my favourite. Ill admit, the reason for that first viewing was because my favourite band was named after the main character  McFly. But as soon as the credits rolled, the film and the band were two completely separate loves of mine. I watch this film every Christmas, every time it's on TV and anytime in between, and never get bored of its creative story, witty dialogue, and charming characters. Back to the Future is always a comforting dose of nostalgia.

3. Ferris Buellers Day Off (1986)

Ferris Bueller, you're my hero.

Ferris Buellers Day Off is a genius film to me  I would go as far as saying it is my favourite script of all time. Its no secret that John Hughes knew what it meant to be a teenager and had an innate ability to translate that onto screen and, in my eyes, Ferris is the best example of this. Hes naturally funny, charismatic and is able to push boundaries without ever being offensive. In the same way La La Land inspires me to work hard, Ferris Bueller encourages me to live life to the full and enjoy each moment as they come.

4. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

What's the law on what ya can and can't say on a billboard?

If ever youre looking for a film thats completely unapologetic for what it is, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is that film. It tackles shockingly harsh subject matter and a complex array of troubling themes  such as corruption in the justice system, racism, murder, and broken families  and finds the perfect balance of comedy and heart to do so. This film displays some of the best performances of 2017 with the likes of Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson in a powerful, no-nonsense collaboration with director Martin McDonagh.

5. Call Me By Your Name (2017)

Nature has cunning ways of finding our weakest spot.

Call Me By Your Name is one of the most important and deeply moving films Ive ever seen. Although its been out less than a year, I know the films message of acceptance and loving freely will resonate with me for the rest of my life. The themes transcend all barriers and the performances from Chalamet and Hammer do the same. This is the type of film that says what you need to hear when you need to hear it and for that reason, never really leaves you.

6. Catch Me if You Can (2002)

Ah, people only know what you tell them, Carl.

A large-scale game of cat-and-mouse based on true life events, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks and directed by Steven Spielberg? Yes please. Catch Me If You Can is a whole lot of fun but also deceptively deep. When you look beyond Hanks and DiCaprios' effortless on-screen chemistry, you find two troubled characters both trapped in a cycle they cant afford to break and a far from perfect life. This film takes you on a fun yet emotional joy ride that never gets old.

7. The Nice Guys (2016)

I think I'm invincible. It's the only thing that makes sense. I dont think I can die.

The Nice Guys is of the most quotable and outrageously funny comedies Ive seen in a long, long time. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe are the perfect, dysfunctional pair, each providing a different but complimentary style of humour. Watching two pretty clueless detectives stumble their way through a case to the backdrop of iconic 70s hits makes this a contagiously fun buddy-cop comedy and the laughs never dry up.

8. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

I've got the bullets!

wrote in a commemorative piece that James Dean Any of James Deans three feature films could have easily made my top ten, but it was Rebel Without a Cause that captivated me the most. A typical coming-of-age story and yet a timeless classic, this film unarguably shaped the film industry and with it shaped (and continues to shape) young people across the world. I oncecould relate to the masses whilst also keeping his cards close to his chest  this film is the definition of that. Jim Stark will always be an icon of the young generation.

9. Seven (1995)

Whats in the box?

Ive always admired David Finchers acute eye for detail and ability to tell a story. The film that kick-started my love of Fincher? Yep, you guessed it. Seven (or Se7en). The dark grittiness of the film has the ability to fulfil anyones morbid fascination with all things crime and killing. If the horrific crimes arent enough to do so, the films ending will more than suffice. A deeply chilling end scene that has gone down in film history as one of the most shocking and notorious.

10. Billy Elliot (2000)

I don't want a childhood. I want to be a ballet dancer.

Billy Elliot is so full of heart that it had to make my top ten. British cinema at its finest. Jamie Bell is incredibly charming as the young aspiring ballet dancer, and the adversities Billy faces while pursuing his dreams are unfortunately all too familiar to many people. The family dynamic may not be perfect  his dad and brother far from supportive of his dreams  but it is emblematic of 1980s Britain, as is the rest of the film. The 80s is a period Ive always loved to see depicted on film (refer back to #2 and #3 on this list) and this film is the perfect addition.'I am informing all brave Muslims of the world that the author of The Satanic Verses, a text written, edited, and published against Islam, the Prophet of Islam, and the Qur'an, along with all the editors and publishers aware of its contents, are condemned to death. I call on all valiant Muslims wherever they may be in the world to kill them without delay, so that no one will dare insult the sacred beliefs of Muslims henceforth. And whoever is killed in this cause will be a martyr, Allah Willing. Meanwhile if someone has access to the author of the book but is incapable of carrying out the execution, he should inform the people so that [Rushdie] is punished for his actions. These words of the Ayatollah Khomeini, then-Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, spoken over the radio thirty years ago today announcing the fatwa he had placed against Salman Rushdie, signalled that the contest between freedom of expression and closed-minded faith, thought to have been long ago resolved in Europe in favour of the former, was not yet over. It still isnt. People died over the Rushdie Affair. Thirty years on the main lessons are that the forces of reaction are very much alive, and, whats more, often abetted by liberal leaning intellectuals and other influential figures who ought to know better.

Image credit: ActuaLitte on Flickr

Take, for example, John le Carres reaction to the affair. In response to a fundamentalist theocratic foreign leader offering millions for the murder of a writer (whose book I very much doubt Khomeini had even read) the doyen of spy fiction opined that great religions cannot be insulted with impunity. Had the Archbishop of Canterbury called for the assassination of Monty Python for their hilarious heresy in The Life of Brian all the intellectuals who quivered over defending Salman Rushdie for his relatively minor offences against Islam would have righteously and rightly come to John Cleese et al.s defence. Ah, but, we all know the Church of England isnt like that. Well, quite. Its difficult, and somewhat amusing given the Church of Englands flaccidity these days, to picture a kindly old Anglican Archbishop fulminating at heresy. But that isnt the point- the point is that if it was, it would deserve to be opposed vigorously, and that since there are religious movements which do act like this they ought to be fought. Incidentally, many non-Muslim religious leaders, from Anglicans to Catholics, were critical of Rushdie, rushing like le Carre to profess the respect we all must give to religion. The sweet interfaith spirit at work again! Ah, but we cant tell Muslims how to think- their culture is no business of ours. Again, not the point, not to mention that such an attitude is supposed to be liberal and righteous but is in fact downright condescending and even racist. Why do Muslims need to be protected from offence? Muslims are a diverse group, like all others, ranging from fundamentalists to liberals, yet we must pander to the former and therefore forsake the latter in their fight to effect change? This is the bigotry of low expectations.Was Dr Zaki Badawi, a courageous Muslim thinker who sheltered Rushdie in his home, a tool of neo-colonial orientalism? What of countless other moderate and ex-Muslims from Maajid Nawaz and Irshad Manji to Ayaan Hirsi Ali? They are often vilified by liberal intellectuals for their outspokenness, yet they are at the forefront, along with so many others, of the fight against Islamism and extremism around the world. In the years since 1989, there have been countless more attacks on freedom of speech by religious extremists. Think of the Charlie Hebdo massacre of 2015 (the second and deadliest of two attacks on the magazine by Islamists) and the Danish cartoons affair of 2006. This hardly exhausts the list, yet it illustrates the two lessons we should have learned in 1989. First, the faithful of a fundamentalist persuasion can be whipped up to commit violence and murder not seen in Europe since the heyday of Christian tyranny. Second, these fundamentalists will be defended by those who should be condemning them. Victim blaming reflexes were abundant- the cartoonists brought it on themselves, they should not have been so offensive. Sir Iqbal Sacranie, an influential Muslim voice, was, for instance, terribly worked up in 2006 over the Danish cartoons affair- not because of the violence meted out to innocents by fanatics, oh no, but because people didnt understand that the Prophet Muhammad was so dear and sacred in the Islamic faith. Of course, then, how stupid of anyone to write or draw anything remotely critical of him! They brought it on themselvesand so it goes on. This unholy alliance is revolting, and it combines victim blaming with racism: "how could we expect anything other than violence from Muslims who feel offended?" Therefore we should not be critical of Islam in any way. I need not spell out the racism underlying these supposedly liberal folks views. Sadly, such views are not hard to find in our media whenever an awful event of this sort happens and they usually come from the same suspects- typically in the Guardian. With liberals shirking from addressing these issues, the loudest voices we hear criticising Islam are the odious tones of Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson) and his ilk, and this further means that liberals cannot speak openly about ideas without being associated with such people, who hate individuals based on skin colour, ethnic group and culture alone rather than engaging with ideas held by a varied group of individuals. Liberals dont judge individuals by group membership: Yaxley-Lennon and his followers do. But liberals should be willing to engage in controversy and criticism of ideas and engage with difficult issues arising from religious culture. There are many liberal Muslim voices, many who supported Rushdie and other victims of Islamism- incidentally, the first victims of Islamism are always Muslims- yet our inability to talk openly about these issues gives credence to right wing racists, gives more power to extremists to be the loudest voices in Islam, and makes a mockery of everything liberals should stand for- solidarity with the oppressed and the valiant fighters of oppression and support for freedom of speech and thought. Since this year also marks the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the dear, departed Ayatollah, it may also be worth supporting brave Iranian dissidents like Maryam Namazie and many others in their opposition to one of the worlds most hateful regimes and to extremist religion instead of condemning them as Islamophobic. In any case it is high time we learn the lessons of 1989: firstly, that those like Rushdie and Hirsi Ali whose lives are still under serious threat ought to be given far more support; and, secondly, that it is time that liberty is once more given pride of place in our political and intellectual culture and supported around the world wherever tyranny rears its ugly head.Lily Hersch, a Crest Academy sixth-grader, celebrates her win at the Salida School District spelling bee Tuesday. She will advance to the state competition in Denver March 16, to try for a chance to go to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. in May.Bailey, CO (80421)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. High 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Low around 50F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.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Carlsberg UK revives Carlsberg Danish Pilsner

Carlsberg UK has taken steps to revitalise its flagship beer, Carlsberg Danish Pilsner in the UK. It has unveiled a 'bettered' Carlsberg Danish Pilsner with improvements to the drinking experience and minimising its environmental impact.

New Carlsberg Danish Pilsner will be available in trade from 1 March, supported by a multi-million pound investment and new visual identity which aims to increase brand quality perceptions. The trade launch will be supported by the brands most ambitious, integrated consumer marketing campaign to date, incorporating TV, digital and out-of-home, which will be revealed in April and run throughout 2019. Carlsberg Danish Pilsner has remained at 3.8% ABV.

In the trade, the brewer will focus efforts on elevating the consumer drinking experience around Carlsberg Danish Pilsner through a series of betterments, including:

New stemmed glass with tapered top to enhance aroma and improved nucleation for better head retention

New fount, inspired by Danish ceramics, that delivers 360-degree branding and guidance on the perfect serve for bar staff

Bar staff education, perfect pour training and consumer sampling

ZerO cap on bottles that removes oxygen, preserving the freshness and life of the beer

Carlsberg UK has rolled out sustainable packaging innovations for its Danish Pilsner:

Snap Pack  which reduces plastic usage through innovative glue technology  is a big step forward towards Carlsberg UKs goal of reducing the plastic for its Pilsner cans by 50 per cent from brewery to store

New environmentally-friendly Greener Green ink incorporated in bottle labels and outer packaging will improve packaging recyclability.

Liam Newton, vice president marketing, Carlsberg UK says: In launching our new, perfectly balanced Carlsberg Danish Pilsner, were toasting the brewing passion of our founder J.C. Jacobsen and his legacy of pursuing better, which started over 170 years ago.

Some of the most popular and recognisable beers, like Carlsberg Danish Pilsner, will continue to represent the biggest segment in UK beer in five years time and therefore remains crucial to the health of the beer category overall. Were firm believers in people drinking better beer, and people want better beer, so why wouldnt we respond to this consumer need?

In recent years we have reinvigorated our premium Carlsberg Exprt and were now committed to enhancing every aspect of the Carlsberg Danish Pilsner drinking experience, ultimately encouraging the trade and beer drinkers to re-appraise our brand.

Bhavya Mandanna, master brewer at Carlsberg UK adds: Our new Pilsner has a fuller body and a perfect balance of bitterness and sweetness made possible through modifications to our brewing process and the addition of bittering hops in the brewhouse. Aroma hops with citrus and floral top notes give a greater depth of flavour whilst maintaining the light and refreshing qualities of Carlsberg. The result is a smooth, perfectly balanced, Danish Pilsner.

13 February 2019 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, editorPress Promotion

The Label Makers innovate for Portobello Road

The Label Makers have continued to pioneer the market place with another innovative front label and double-sided back label for the Portobello Road Gin company.

The intricate Portobello Road aesthetic has allowed The Label Makers to showcase the limitless possibilities of their digital printing and finishing. Portobello Road enlisted The Label Makers with their Gin No. 171 70cl edition, and continued their prospering relationship with the 50cl Navy Strength variety, including nautical details in line with the navy theme  with both double-sided labels going on to win industry awards.

The clever design of the Navy Strength edition allows the image of a red lion on the reverse of the back label, to be seen within the front label design.

Kevin Lyons, The Label Makers sales director explains: We were able to remove the punched chads from the portholes featured on the front label. This allowed the design on the reverse of the back label to be spied through the front label. This product was worthy of an element which truly added value and created something extra special for the consumer.

The Label Makers have been producing labels for more than half a century, yet they continue to use cutting edge processes in their production.

The bottles front label emulates an old parchment effect reminiscent of labels from the past. This was achieved by printing with the Xeikon tonner based press, with a 1200dpi resolution  allowing for subtler shades. The design was completed with hot foil during the finishing press to enhance the visual effect. The removal of the portholes within the label surface is a new, innovative process, as the backing paper is not cut to allow high speed labelling lines to run without fear of snapping.

The double-sided back label uses the best of both ink jet and tonner based printing methods  with the two layers being laminated together with their ABG finishing line. As the Lid Seal required six different full colour versions, the Xeikon tonner press was used again for efficient digital printing.

Tom Coates, brand director at Portobello Road says: We are very impressed with the creativity and detailed reimagining of our intricate, hand-drawn design. The Label Makers vision included cut out sections, embossing, six different top straps, sequential numbering and two-sided printing. It is a far cry from a straightforward brief, and they executed it beautifully. We are absolutely delighted that the Navy Strength label has won an award at the recent Digital Print awards and we hope to continue this success by working on more projects with The Label Makers in the near future.

The Label Makers will be exhibiting at the forthcoming Label and Print Show, which is part of the Packaging Innovations exhibition. It is being held at the NEC on the 27 and 28 February. They will be at stand F19.

14 February 2019 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, editorPresident Joe Biden had a three-hour talk with Russian Premier Vladimir Putin in Geneva on June 16, said he laid down some red lines Russia had darned well not cross and that it was his hope this guy he once called a killer does not want another Cold War. Unlimited website access 24/7

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Roach Anxiety Part 4: Call me Number 31 After my Bully Bobby experience at Schneider Elementary School, my parents sent me to YMCA camp in the mountains above Greenville for two weeks during the summer. It was my...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.



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Members of the Texas A&M chapter of Liberty in North Korea raise funds to help rescue North Korean refugees. Their $3,000 goal is enough to help one refugee reach freedom.The George Bush Library and Museum will have a Marine One Helicopter on display starting in 2021.Swarm helps pinpoint new magnetic north for smartphones







Paris (ESA) Feb 11, 2019





Since it was first measured in 1831, we have known that the magnetic north is constantly on the move. However, its tendency to slowly roam has stepped up a pace recently - so much so that the World Magnetic Model has had to be updated urgently with the pole's new location, vital for navigation on smartphones, for example. ESA's magnetic field Swarm mission has been key for this update. The World Magnetic Model, the basis for many navigation systems used by ships, Google maps and smartphones, relie ... read moreCongress asks US to release Telugu Students

Hyderabad, Feb 14 (INN): The Congress party on Thursday demanded immediate release of students hailing from Telugu States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana who have been detained by the USA Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the charges of taking admissions into University of Farmington.



In an open letter to US Consul General in Hyderabad Katherine B. Hadda, All India Congress Committee (AICC) Spokesperson Dr. Dasoju Sravan said that hundreds of students belonging to Telugu States had fallen victim to a trap laid by the US Home Land Security itself. "These students were deliberately lured by University of Farmington, a fake university, to taking admission by making them believe that they can start earning by working as soon as they join the college and that they need not attend classes and engage in off campus practical work," he said.



The Congress leader said that the students, if they have committed any mistake, it is purely out of their ignorance of law and more importantly due to the unawareness of the antecedents of the University of Farmington. They apparently seem to have believed that university of Farmington being established by USA government's agency would not be a fraudulent university, he said.



"In any case ignorance of law is no bliss, however, the young students are in pursuit of their higher education and better career and it is pertinent to note that they are neither habitual criminals not perennial violators of law. They have no intention to cause any harm to USA and indulge in violating federal law. In fact by working part-time, the students have contributed to the growth of USA's economy. Hence, It is unjustified to punish for an unproven alleged crime and it is against the principles of natural justice to not even grant them bail by posting a bond," he said.



"It has been nearly two weeks, the unfortunate incident of student detention took place, neither the students are being produced in the USA courts nor they are being allowed to post a bond and get released. They are being punished much before the crime is proved in the courts of law. These students belong to middle class families whose parents are teachers, farmers & small business owners. They have put their lifetime earnings for sending their Children for quality of education and better career," Sravan said in his letter.



Dr. Sravan alleged that the students were being subjected to severe harassment and being deprived of even quality food. As a result, most of the students seem to have lost their body weight and suffering with serious illness. "Due to the ill treatment and intimidation, most of the students seem to be emotionally depressed with intense mental agony and if this situation further worsens, they may be subjected to unwanted psychological disorders. Some of them have their weddings scheduled; some of them have pregnant wives and small children at home. Due to lack of communication and clarity with the detained students, their parents and families back in India are in severe distress and anxious about the consequences and overall future of their wards," he said.



Therefore, Sravan demanded that the US Consul General engage in a dialogue with the federal government of USA and rescue the students by taking immediate steps. Further, he said immediate measures must be taken to stop the intimidation and ill treatment in detention centers. He said the detained students must be permitted to post bond and help them to get out of detention centers immediately. He said a special team should be deployed to visit USA and ensure that they liaison and coordinate with USA federal govt to smoothen the procedure. He demanded that a communication cell be set uop to provide latest updates and help the parents to get relieved of their anxiety and mental agony. He also demanded that the students should be assisted to have transition back to normal life through necessary financial and legal help.



"In order to avoid these kinds of unfortunate circumstances, as a precautionary measure I request you to help publishing the list of Universities, which are flagged as fake and fraudulent by federal government of United States of America," he demanded.



Dr. Sravan also marked a copy of the letter to Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and former IT Minister K Taraka Rama Rao seeking their intervention to get this matter resolved.



Dr. Sravan made a special appeal to Telangana Chief Minister to seek intervention of Ms Ivanka Trump in this matter whose meetings were hoisted before in Telangana.









News Posted: 14 February, 2019







jetcityimage/iStock(NEW YORK) -- Amazon has canceled its plans to build a headquarters in New York City, according to a company spokesperson.



"After much thought and deliberation, weve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens," Amazon spokesperson Jodi Seth told ABC News.



The company wrote in a statement on its blog that the commitment to build a new headquarters requires "positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials," but added that a number of politicians "have made it clear that they oppose our presence."



Amazon thanked New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for "enthusiastically and graciously" inviting the company to build in New York City.



Among the politicians who were outspoken against the plans were newly elected U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York state Senator Michael Gianaris of Queens and City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer.



"We are disappointed to have reached this conclusion -- we love New York, its incomparable dynamism, people, and culture -- and particularly the community of Long Island City, where we have gotten to know so many optimistic, forward-leaning community leaders, small business owners, and residents," the statement reads.



Last week, The Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, reported that Amazon was re-considering its decision to split its headquarters between New York and Virginia after mounting local opposition in New York City.



The retailer was set to bring 25,000 jobs to its New York campus, located in the Queens neighborhood of Long Island City.



Currently, there are more than 5,000 Amazon employees in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island, and Amazon plans on growing those teams, according to the statement.



Amazon does not plan to reopen its search for a new headquarters at this time, but will proceed with plans to build in northern Virginia and Nashville, it said.



As of last week, Amazon had not leased or purchased office space for the project, and final approval from New York state was not expected until 2020, according to The Post.



Almost as soon as Amazon made the announcement that it would build two separate second headquarters in November, politicians on the New York City Council and New York State Legislature, as well as residents and unions, voiced opposition to plans to offer a $3 billion incentive to the company.



"Rather than addressing the legitimate concerns that have been raised by many New Yorkers Amazon says you do it our way or not at all, we will not even consider the concerns of New Yorkers -- thats not what a responsible business would do," said Chelsea Connor, director of communications for the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, in a statement on Thursday.



Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.RTHK: Journalist and Duterte foe Maria Ressa arrested

Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, whose news site has repeatedly clashed with President Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested at her Manila office on Wednesday in what press freedom advocates branded an act of "persecution".

Her detention on a charge of "cyber libel" is a dramatic escalation in government pressure bearing down on Ressa and her website Rappler, which was already facing tax evasion charges that could shut it down.

It comes after Duterte has cracked down on high-profile critics in the press and legislature who dared oppose his signature anti-drug campaign that has killed thousands.

"She's been arrested and she's been read her rights," said Rappler co-founder Beth Frondoso.

Later, Rappler announced in a tweet that Ressa would have to spend the night at the National Bureau of Investigation, the unit which detained her, as lawyers tried to find a court to post bail.

Ressa, who was named a Time Magazine "Person of the Year" in 2018 for her journalism, left the Rappler offices with plain-clothes officers and surrounded by cameras.

"The case is ridiculous and the fact that they issue an arrest warrant is a travesty of justice," Ressa told journalists after her arrest.

"This is what journalists in the Philippines now have to go through," she added.

Rappler has drawn the administration's ire since publishing reports critical of Duterte's so-called war on drugs that critics say has targeted the poor and could amount to crimes against humanity.

However, the new case against Ressa and former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos, Jr. stems from a 2012 report written about a businessman's alleged ties to a then-judge on the nation's top court.

While investigators initially dismissed the businessman's 2017 complaint about the article, the case was subsequently forwarded to prosecutors for their consideration.

Philippine journalists immediately attacked the surprise serving of the warrant at Rappler headquarters.

"The arrest of ... Ressa on the clearly manipulated charge of cyberlibel is a shameless act of persecution by a bully government," said the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.

"The government ... now proves it will go to ridiculous lengths to forcibly silence critical media," it added.

Amnesty International also swiftly condemned the arrest as "brazenly politically motivated".

"In a country where justice takes years to obtain, we see the charges against her being railroaded," the group said in a statement.

The Philippines tumbled six places last year in Reporters Without Borders rankings of press freedom to 133rd out of 180, with the body noting the government has pressured and silenced critics.

Duterte has lashed out at other critical media outfits, including the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper and broadcaster ABS-CBN.

Ressa insists the site is not anti-Duterte, saying it is just doing its job to hold the government to account.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the cases against Ressa had nothing to do with her work as a journalist.

"This has nothing to do with freedom of expression or the press," he told broadcaster ABS-CBN. "Regardless of who commits any crime, he or she will be charged in accordance with the law."

In the tax case, the government accuses Rappler Holdings, Ressa and the site's accountant of failing to pay taxes on 2015 bond sales that it alleges netted gains of 162.5 million pesos (US$3 million). (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.Thank you for Reading!

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If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 712-243-2624 or email circ@ant-news.com.BICKNELL  Officials with the North Knox School Corp. on Wednesday made a commitment to invest more in the mental health of their students.

School board members voted to move forward with hiring a second social worker solely for the North Knox Primary School.

Currently, Rachelle Trabant splits her time as a certified social worker between the Primary School and the Intermediate School near Bruceville. She's implemented a handful of programs to address the students' mental health needs over the last two years, and that demand for services make the need for a second social worker obvious.

The negative behaviors have decreased, she said. The positive behaviors have increased. We can see it.

You can even feel it throughout the buildings.

Trabant told school board members during their monthly meeting that in the last three months of 2018, she saw more than 100 students for various mental health needs. Of those, about half were referrals from either parents or teachers and the other half were kids seeking help on their own.

They're experiencing behavior issues, depression and anxiety, Trabant said, much of it caused by the pressures brought on at home and school.

To help, Trabant has overseen the addition of sensory rooms at both schools, places for children to go to relax, unwind or even play.

They can go there, take a 10-minute break, and it helps them to focus and to concentrate, Trabant said. Sometimes teachers put them on set schedules throughout the day. Some spend 10 minutes in the sensory room to begin their day, and it sets a positive tone.

It just helps them to become more prepared for the school day.

She has also, with the help of dedicated teachers, implemented a Warrior Bucks system where students earn rewards for showing kindness and helping others, as well as a life-skills curriculum for the classroom.

Two full-time social workers, Trabant said, will allow all of these efforts to expand and grow.

I'm in the classrooms, building relationships, she said. I want them to see my face. And if we have another counselor (at the Primary School), it will be even more impactful to those kids to feel they, too, have somebody they can go to.

Because their problems don't only happen on the days I'm available, she said. You can't say to a child, 'Well, she won't be here until tomorrow.' It's hard for them, as children, to wait. They need to have their feelings validated right then. And they deserve that.

Superintendent Darrel Bobe called it a big day for North Knox.

Hiring the corporation's first full-time social worker two years ago was a stepping stone, he said, toward a change in attitude of the importance of addressing students' mental health needs in the classroom.

We looked at a need and said, 'We're going to try a social worker,' he said. And then Rachelle came in and has made such an impact.

It got to a point where, when I really looked at it, I knew we needed to do more for these kids. Some of them were really building a relationship with her, and it was a disservice to them when she wasn't there. That's what turned it for me. I knew I had to make (funding a second social worker) a priority.

School board members also on Wednesday learned that, in partnership with the local Child and Family Services office, the North Knox Junior Senior High School received a two-year, $300,000 grant that also will directly address the mental health of the corporation's older students.

While the junior-senior high school does have guidance counselors, Pat Hutchison and Dawn Elkins, it currently lacks a full-time, certified social worker.

The money, explained Mollie Hutchison with CFS, will allow for the hiring of that social worker before the start of the next school year.

The money will also go toward the addition of a college and career preparedness center where students can sign up for college testing, apply to a university or even search for scholarship opportunities.

The funds, too, will be spent on a kind of sensory room for the junior-senior high school as well, Hutchison explained, an area with special lighting to reduce the effects of trauma, appropriate furniture all with a special sensory design.

School officials will also be able to create monthly wellness campaigns targeted to students as well as curriculum specifically for incoming freshmen and seniors who need help transitioning to college life.The Knox County Council on Tuesday voted to support a push from officials with the Grouseland Foundation of a state bill that would increase the local innkeepers tax to generate revenue for upkeep and maintenance to the mansion.

Council president Bob Lechner said upon hearing of the proposed legislation, he felt a desire to express public support for it.

The mansion, home to then Indiana Territory Gov. William Henry Harrison and his family, is a piece of history for Knox County, Lechner said, and the request indicates an important and even critical need for funding.

So I feel we need to let our legislature know that the (county) council is in favor of this, Lechner said.

Lisa Ice-Jones, executive director for the Grouseland Foundation, has previously said the organization could use potential revenue from a 1-point increase to the innkeepers tax  which is currently set at 5 percent  to fund everyday maintenance and ongoing restoration efforts.

It would generate for Grouseland upwards of $60,000 per year, or about 30 percent of its annual budget, Ice-Jones said.

Lechner thought it important that the whole community get behind the foundation, but some, including councilman David Culp, have expressed concerns.

Culp, for one, said while he doesn't necessarily oppose the tax increase, he wants more information before feeling comfortable enough to endorse it.

He also pointed out that the council hasn't yet been officially asked to take a stance by local representatives.

I just think we're getting the cart before the horse on this, he said.

Culp said he would likely vote no on a measure of public support  and he eventually did  but only because he wanted more information first.

Officials with the Vincennes Tourism Bureau have said they are opposed to the rate increase as has its governing body, the Knox County Tourism Commission.

They've written letters to Sen. Mark Mesmer, R-Jasper, who authored a similar bill that failed last year, expressing their opposition to the legislation, their primary argument being it could create a domino effect of other local tourism spots wanting the same.

The tourism bureau is funded solely with innkeepers tax dollars, which are collected by local hotels, and is currently the only recipient of those dollars.

The money is used to market all of the sites in the county collectively and for mini-grants for local events and programs aimed at increasing overnight visits to Knox County.

Local hotel owners would inevitably pass the increased fee onto their visitors, so the VTB is concerned that room rates here would increase too much, thereby discouraging tourists from staying at all.

Lechner acknowledged those concerns but pointed to other cities like Nashville, Tennessee, and Indianapolis, which, he said, have innkeepers taxes of 18 and 11 percent respectively.

Visitors there don't stay in a neighboring county, he pointed out.

Mark Lange, who was at the meeting on behalf of his company of radio stations, the Original Company, set down his notepad during the conversation Tuesday and took to the podium to speak to the VTB's  and his own  concerns.

He and his wife, Sandra, own a small bed and breakfast in downtown Vincennes, and they, too, are worried about what a 6 percent rate could do to business.

And what about the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy, the Indiana Military Museum and others, he asked?

Grouseland is not the biggest draw we see from people who come to stay at our place, Lange said. It's actually the Indiana Military Museum.

Sure, it's popular, he said of Grouseland, but the legislation is singling out just one of seven legitimate sites in our community.

And they all have expenses, Lange said.

Lechner said he understood that argument as well  and he's heard it circulating throughout the community as of late.

He just doesn't necessarily agree with it.

It's true that other sites could ask for a similar increase, but he would expect the council to support them, too.

I would hope we would support all of them in any funding endeavors they have, Lechner said. And I would hope that all seven of these sites would support one another, too.

Some have grant opportunities, other's don't. Some get federal or state funds, and other's don't, he said. But I think improvement to one will benefit all.

The majority of council members agreed in that the measure was passed 5-1.

Council member Tim Crowley wasn't in attendance at the meeting.The city's Utilities Service Board on Wednesday gave preliminary approval for the purchase of a new video system that could, over time, significantly reduce the need for exploratory digging.

Kirk Bouchie, general manager of Vincennes Water Utilities, told board members he'd begun researching the kind of video system best suited for the utility. The utility has a nearly 15-year-old system, but it's so antiquated they haven't used in more than two years.

A video system is primarily used to inspect underground storm water drains and sewer pipes, specifically to diagnose problems and alert the utility to needed replacements.

Currently, the utility has to hire someone to do it for them.

USB president Mike Sievers said purchasing a new system would give the utility more capabilities in terms of addressing underground problems and provide us the opportunity to do more of the work ourselves.

Levee superintendent Hunter Pinnell said having such a video system on hand limits  if not eliminates altogether  the need for exploratory digging to find problems in the water lines.

Bouchie said a new system would be far more sophisticated and user-friendly  and also expensive.

Bouchie expects to pay upwards of $320,000 for a new system, but the money is available, he said.

It's one of several projects tapped to be paid for with revenue generated by a 50-percent rate increase approved by city council members in 2016.

The companies that provide this video equipment  and a proper vehicle to house it  are few, Bouchie explained, but they've looked to a dealer familiar to the utility in Indianapolis, Jack Doheney Companies.

In the past, the utility has purchased vacuum trucks from Jack Doheney.

Bouchie has directed the USB's legal counsel, Ed Cummings with HartBell LLC, 513 Main St., to look into whether state law requires the utility to seek bids on a video system.

Even if it did, Bouchie expects the board would only receive the one from Jack Doheney.

And if they get around a bidding process, Bouchie said the utility can work with a cooperative buying group to save upwards of 4 percent, or as much as $11,000.

Several larger cities  specifically Indianapolis, Bloomington and Lafayette  often use this process to make major equipment purchases.

But we know this is the equipment we want, and we want to get this process started, Bouchie said.

Board members gave Bouchie their blessing to move forward in whatever way he deems in the utility's best interest, although they would need to give final approval to a purchase.SOUTH BEND  At the 2019 South Bend Regional Chamber Salute to Business on Tuesday, Gov. Eric Holcomb laid out a few of his priorities for the General Assemblys ongoing legislative session, coinciding his remarks with the release of his new seven-person teacher compensation commission.

The commission, previously mentioned in Holcombs State of the State address, will study ways to permanently solve the issue of teacher pay that lags behind neighboring states.

For Holcomb, the issue is part of the overall agenda of developing a workforce knowledgeable in skills of the future, position the state to attract new business and become a more attractive place for people to relocate to.

We have to do more to increase teacher pay throughout the state of Indiana for public schools, Holcomb said. The linchpin to a great workforce is a great education from great teachers.

Holcombs budget recommendations call for 2 percent raises for teachers annually this year and next year, and plans to use state funds to pay off $140 million in pension liabilities that would free up school system money to go toward raises.

So far, the legislature has been debating a bill put forward by Rep. Dale DeVon, R-Granger, which would implement targets for school districts to cap operational spending at 15 percent of the revenue received by the state.

That bill faces opposition from critics who say it asks for districts to pay for the raises from already-tight operating budgets, instead of the state providing additional money for districts.

But Holcomb said the purpose of his new education commission is to find a solution for the future  a solution that will end the repeating cycle of teacher pay debates in the state legislature and find a long-term funding model for raises that could be implemented in the 2021 budget cycle.

The seven-member commission won't include any current teachers or school leaders.

Holcomb's office announced his appointments Tuesday for the panel, which will be led by former Mayflower Group chairman and president Michael Smith. The remaining members are three other business executives, an Ivy Tech Community College vice president, a philanthropic foundation leader and a nonprofit group executive.

A separate six-person advisory council on the issue named by Holcomb does include one active teacher, the Indiana State Teachers Association's executive director and two school district administrators.

Holcomb said that at this point he isnt ruling out a potential tax increase to solve the issue in the long term.

Im going to be in the exact same position on this one as I was on infrastructure, Holcomb said. I dont want to rule anything out or take anything off the table, especially before the first meeting has occurred.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Police chief dies in motor vehicle crash

VEVAY (AP)  A southeastern Indiana police chief has died in a single-vehicle crash.

The Switzerland County Sheriff's Office says 49-year-old Rising Sun Police Chief David Hewitt died at a hospital following the crash about 7:20 a.m. Wednesday on Indiana 56 outside Vevay. It says the crash remains under investigation but icy road conditions are believed to have been a factor.

Rising Sun Mayor Brent Bascom says the 27-year-old Hewitt worked in law enforcement for 27 years. He had been with the Dearborn County Sheriff's Department and the Lawrenceburg Police Department before joining the Rising Sun department. He ordered flags in the city to be lowered to half-staff for 27 days.

Burglary suspect offered homeowners $200 not to call police

ELKHART (AP)  Northern Indiana police say a home burglary suspect allegedly offered two homeowners who found him inside their house $200 not to call police.

Thirty-one-year-old Casey Madden of Elkhart was charged last month in a September home burglary. He remains jailed at Elkhart County's jail on burglary and other charges.

Court documents say the homeowners returned home Sept. 30 to find a strange minivan in their driveway and a man and a woman inside their home.

The male homeowner told officers the man offered him $200 in cash not to call police. The man rejected the offer and told the pair to leave.

Police said a later search of the minivan uncovered two video game systems taken from the home.

A message seeking comment was left Wednesday with Madden's attorney.

Public urged to keep providing tips in 2 girls' killings

DELPHI (AP)  Indiana authorities urged the public Wednesday to keep passing on tips in the slayings of two teenage girls killed during a hiking trip , saying on the 2-year anniversary of the crime that the next tip could help solve the case.

Liberty German, 14, and Abigail William, 13, vanished on Feb. 13, 2017, after a relative dropped them off for a hike near an abandoned railroad bridge near their hometown of Delphi, about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis, during a day off school.

They failed to show up at a pre-arranged pickup location, and their bodies were found the next day in a rugged, wooded area following a search.

Police have disclosed few details in their investigation and have not said how the teens were killed.

Carroll County prosecutor Nicholas McLeland during a Wednesday briefing on the crime that the teens' unsolved killings is not a cold case but remains under active investigation and he's confident it will eventually be solved.

McLeland said that more than 38,000 tips have been received to date, but urged the public to keep sending tips to authorities to investigate if they believe that information is legitimate and could help investigators.

"That could be the missing piece that we're waiting on, that ties everything together," he said. "Any little tip could be the piece that we need."

Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter spoke directly to the unknown assailant during the briefing, which was also attended by Carroll County's sheriff, an FBI agent and other law enforcement officials.

"If you're watching, we're coming for you," Carter said.

Within days of the killings, investigators released two grainy photos of the suspect walking on the abandoned railroad bridge the girls had visited, and an audio recording of a man believed to be the suspect saying "down the hill."

That evidence that came from German's cellphone. Police have hailed her as a hero for recording potentially crucial evidence.

In July 2017, an FBI artist's composite sketch of the suspect was released. It depicts a white man with a prominent nose and a goatee and wearing a cap and what appears to be a hooded sweater. Police said the suspect has reddish-brown hair, stands between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-10 and weighs 180-220 pounds.

A reward of more than $230,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest or arrests and convictions in the teens' killings.TIF-related proposal redirected to another committee

JEFFERSONVILLE  An amended version of the bill that could dismantle Jeffersonville's Promise is not heading to the House floor this week as expected.

Rep. Ed Clere, R-New Albany, who authored House Bill 1596, said last week he anticipated the bill would be heard early this week by the House for its second, and possibly third, reading.

However, Monday evening, Clere confirmed via text that the bill has instead been redirected to the Ways and Means Committee. The legislator has requested a hearing be held on it as was done with the first committee.

H.B. 1596 passed through the Government and Regulatory Reform Committee on an 8-3 vote Wednesday at the Indiana Statehouse.

That decision came after two hours of contentious testimony from local leaders who spoke for and against the bill, which tightens existing language around the use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) dollars.

At the heart of the locally controversial legislation is the fate of Jeffersonvilles Promise, the citys new program that offers free tuition to Ivy Tech for qualified Jeffersonville High School students starting with the class of 2019.

The City of Jeffersonville, through its redevelopment commission, has pledged to commit a total of $750,000 in TIF dollars over the next five years to fund the program.

Clere  along with the bill's co-authors' Karen Engleman, R-Corydon, and Rep. Jeffrey Thompson, R-Lizton  are trying to prevent the use of TIF for such projects.

I wasnt expecting H.B. 1596 to be recommitted to Ways and Means, but another bill concerning redevelopment commissions, House Bill 1166, was recommitted, so it wasnt surprising, Clere said.

When asked what the specific reasons were for the change of direction of his bill, Clere said, You will need to ask the Speakers office.

An e-mail requesting this information was sent to a representative of House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, Monday evening, but a response was not immediately returned.

Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore said the redirection of the bill was encouraging.

"Its what I was hoping for when I was leaving Indy late Wednesday evening, he said.

Clere is no stranger to the House committee that will now be reviewing the bill.

As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, I look forward to the discussion, he said.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.Support was strong throughout the city, it showed, but it was lowest  47 percent of those polled  in Sorensens commission district, where the tower would be built. Democrats and younger people, educated people and those with lower incomes were more likely to support it, according to the survey results, which were shared with the South Florida Sun Sentinel.Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, seemed to be hearing DeSantiss signals and sending one of his own when he said he may ask the new court for advice on how to carry out the two Fair Districts initiatives that voters approved in 2010. The court cant give advice to anyone other than the governor, except in a contested case. As a lawyer, Galvano knows that, so hes talking about some unspecified declaratory action to tell the Legislature how do we best meet the requirements of Fair Districts. As a legislator, he should not need any further help understanding those two voter-initiated anti-gerrymandering reforms. In a series of cases ending in 2015, the court told the Legislature exactly what not to do. Galvano was a figure in the plans that the court rightly found unconstitutional.Thats probably why most movies focus on the romantic stage of relationships, not the inevitable other two stages that almost all long-term relationships go through. As the director of the SMART Couples Project at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, my staff and I often meet couples in our SMART Couples classes who are trying to navigate their way through these latter two stages of their relationships.The bill came after Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried last week named Holly Bell as the states first director of cannabis, a position that is expected to focus on building a hemp industry. The bill also comes as agriculture officials say hemp production could help farmers and timber owners in Northwest Florida who sustained heavy damage in Hurricane Michael.Missing from that list is anything to address gun violence, except for his administration's ban on bump stocks, a device that attaches to firearms to make it trigger faster. The only direct reference to gun violence comes at the end of his statement: "Melania and I join all Americans in praying for the continued healing of those in the Parkland community and all communities where lives have been lost to gun violence."



Except hours later, in the image Trump tweeted out about his statement, he changed the reference from "gun violence" to "school violence," a bizarre and telling tweak.He also had to handle internal agency problems. He launched a campaign against sexual harassment, dubbed "Not on My Watch," through which he vowed to eradicate what he called a "culture" of misconduct he said has persisted at FEMA for years. In August, he revealed misconduct allegations against the agency's former personnel chief, who Long said was preying on female employees and in some cases transferring them to different offices to be near male staffers.In her ruling Wednesday, Jackson provided few new details as she found there was sufficient evidence to say Manafort broke the terms of his plea agreement by lying about three of five matters that prosecutors had singled out. The ruling was largely a rejection of Manafort's attorneys' argument that he hadn't intentionally misled investigators but rather forgot some details until his memory was refreshed.The weight has gotten less, he said. But its still there. We need the trial [of the shooter] to happen. We need the [freshman] building to be gone. We need policies put in place that are going to keep us safe. Theres still a long way to go. But at least were better than we were right after the shooting.Tremblay, of Montreal, was warned by her boyfriend not to make a joke or she would be taken off the plane. The flight attendant became alarmed, reported what was said to the flights captain and passengers disembarked, the report said.Welcome to followthemedia.com The article or material you have chosen... ftm Radio Page ...is available for restricted access. You may access this specific article or material for 4 If you are an ftm Member, please go to the home page HERE and log in ftm Members can access all site material at no additional charge. You can JOIN ftm here The ftm newsletter available at no charge to all with registration To register click here.He wrote on Instagram, "I want you guys to know I love you and appreciate every single one of y'all, a couple months ago I lost my two brothers by violence and now the system want to find justice.. unfortunately a lot of rumors and lies are being said but no worries god is with me and my brother @ynw.bortlen and we want y'all to remember it's a ynw Family I love you @ynwsakchaser1 and 2ynwjuvy #freeus.""My goals as a cantor are to try to help the congregants get as much spirituality as possible while connecting the past, the present and the future through the music and through the prayers. These are my most important goals. In the meantime, whatever I can add to this place so people can have more fun, I will do."The study also found that does he love me was the top search for three more states than does she love me which may suggest that people who date men are feeling insecure about whether their feelings are being returned.Im flying my parents down because my mom has always been a huge Martha Stewart fan. In my initial cooking competitions in 4-H Club when I was 9, I remember my mom used to subscribe to the Martha Stewart magazine and there was a thing in there about how you can make an herb brush and that used to be my secret weapon  this herb brush Id use when the judges walked by. Im going to pay tribute to that at the dinner. I hope she likes the story.The newest installment in a line of craft beers inspired by the hopped-up radio personalities heard The KVJ Show (6-10 a.m. weekdays on WRMF, 97.9-FM) is ready to taste. Created, like its predecessors, at Due South Brewing in Boynton Beach, the beer dedicated to Jason J-Bird Pennington will make its debut at a launch party 6-8 pm. Friday at the brewery. The muscular 9-percent ABV imperial red ale is called Full Gorilla, taking its name from a nickname an old baseball coach used to describe Penningtons relentless style of play. The beer will be available on draft and in crowlers and growlers, with a limited number of kegs heading to local bars and restaurants. K and V and J (Kevin Rolston, Virginia Sinicki and Pennington) will be on hand to introduce the beer and sell KVJ beer merchandise to raise money for Little Smiles. The KVJ beer series began in August with producer Dennys ale, Peace Train; Sinickis beer, Vicious V, and Rolstons beer, Dicky Rants, will be next. Visit Facebook.com/DueSouthBrewing.Its gonna hit, its gonna hit, witnesses can be heard saying in the video, as the the ship collides with the first mooring point, sinks it, and then collides with the second point. The walkway to the second mooring point crumbles and then also sinks while guests look on from their balconies.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.Editors note: The Jewish Light asked area high school students to submit an essay of 350 words or less explaining what it means to be Jewish to them. The essays were judged on creativity, originality, development of the essays theme, as well as basic writing skills. What follows are the essays of the first-and-second-place winners in the 11-12th grade and the 9-10th grade categories. The first- and second-place winners in each category received cash prizes thanks to the Shepard Endowment Fund, created by the late Irving and Sue Shepard.

FIRST PLACE ESSAY: 11th-12th Grade

By Amarah Friedman

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From the time I was little, I have loved to read. Unsurprisingly, my parents fed that passion, and I found myself digging into the deepest mysteries and most fantastical tales. Eventually, I began reading The Little Midrashwith my mother. I dont remember exactly how I received them. It seemed like they had materialized on my shelf and perhaps they had. To a little girl, the teachings of the Torah seemed whimsical and colorful and exciting.

One of my favorite passages was that of creation: when God said, Let there be light! And dark! And birds and trees! Im paraphrasing here, but my point is that, put simply, God created the universe. As Ive matured, I have revisited this idea and come to a deeper, more personal realization. God not only created the physical light that allows us to see, but another, intangible light: the light within ourselves. It can be starry and bold or timid and warm, but no matter its form, I understand this light in myself and others as inspiration. I believe that my light grows as I self-actualize, bringing me closer to who I know I am.

Judaism empowers me to amplify my light. Judaism guides me to inspire others. My life feels like a courageous journey of constant self-discovery: sometimes effortless, sometimes not. I endeavor to spread light and share beauty, and in those all-too-human moments that I cant, I feel disconnected from the very nature that God gave me. To be a light in times of darkness: that is a true challenge.

When people share themselves, their knowledge, their enthusiasm, I see their light shining through, and everything getting just a little bit brighter. In the face of hardship, we support one another and share brightness. I have learned to love and respect who I am as a light-bringer, supporter and Jew. Through family and community, we come together to love and cherish who we are and who we can be.

Let there be light. Let us be light.

Amarah Friedman is a junior at MICDS and a member of Nusach Hari Bnai Zion. She is the daughter of Julie Friedman and William Kafig.

SECOND PLACE: 11th-12th Grade

By Allie Chervitz

For every significant event that has shaped me into the person I am today, I have Judaism to thank. My knowledge came from Sunday school. My character came from Camp Sabra. My values came from my family. My leadership skills came my youth group, BBYO. My sociability came from the St. Louis Jewish community. My confidence came from my confirmation class, which inspired me to volunteer to read Torah. My independence came from my journey to Israel last summer. My identity came from Judaism.

The opportunities this religion has provided for me are momentous. I have learned to give tzedakah, for the feeling you get from giving is better than anything you could imagine in return. Tikun Olam influences me to teach all of the life lessons I have learned.

Being a part of Student to Student allows me to demonstrate my passion and knowledge for this religion to teenagers who have never even seen someone Jewish. Every Sunday morning I am eager to to teach children at Sunday School. Im looking forward to being a counselor at Camp Sabra this summer to spread my love for Judaism to all the campers. I hope my enthusiasm for Judaism will influence the next generation to be just as involved. I will continue to explore our faith, and with others, hopefully one day repair the world.

Judaism teaches me to value my time, family and friendships. The connections I make through the Jewish community are so unique. From the children I work with after school at the J to the senior citizens I have met volunteering, Judaism helps us feel a sense of belonging, and unite as Jews.

I am so appreciative of what Judaism has done for my life, and how it has changed my perspective of the world. I take great pride in being Jewish, and think Judaism truly defines who I am. I am astonished I can feel this connected to something at age 17. I cant even begin to fathom the wonderful ways it will impact my future.

Allie Chervitz is a junior at Parkway Central High School and a member of Congregation Shaare Emeth. She is the daughter of Marianne and Steve Chervitz.

First place: 9th-10th grade

By Joey Sparks

For me, being Jewish is much more than solely a set of beliefs. In fact, I often feel the innate sensation of connection when in the presence of Jewish family anywhere in the world. In a land overseas, I once met some Jews at an airport and immediately our families started conversing as if we had already known each other. Because they are Jewish, they share similar beliefs, have a similar history and similar tradition to my own. Although I had never met them before, I felt they were trustworthy. What distinguishes being Jewish is that I can feel at home in any part of the world, granted I am with other Jews; in Israel, I felt a connection to random locals on the street.

Even more than the religious aspect, it is the morality of being Jewish that is significant. I have avoided many wicked events because the discussions on lashon hara from my Hebrew school teacher have remained in my head. When people are bad-mouthing each other, it is tempting to join in. Regardless, I have been able to avoid these temptations and have even prevented lashon hara from occurring. Any time Im going to make a comment about anyone, I ask myself: Is this lashon hara?

The uniqueness of being Jewish is that Jews all have something in common. If two Jews share a cultural background, whether religious or not, they are connected. If Jews do not come from the same Jewish sect, it is belief from the Torah that unites us.

I am glad to be part of such an interconnected community, which I can fall back on should I ever need assistance. At the same time, I contribute to the Jewish community. Since I was a child, I have volunteered at synagogues and elsewhere so that I can help to improve the world. After all, engaging in tikkun olam is another part of being Jewish.

Shabbat unites us. I wrote this essay in the few hours between my last final exam and Shabbat; it would not be right to submit it any later.

Joey Sparks is a sophomore at Clayton High School and a member of Kol Rinah. He is the son of Paula Rubin Sparks & Peter Sparks.

Second place: 9th-10th grade

By Noah Kleinlehrer

Since I was 9 years old, I have attended a Jewish summer camp in Maine called Camp Micah. I went not knowing anyone. However, this camp was not just another Jewish summer camp. No, this is something special, even extraordinary.

At Camp Micah, we are told to follow the Micah Philosophy. Told? Told to just follow something that no one ever really does? False, as a community, I feel as if we have taken those words of that, It has been told to you O mortal what is good and what the Eternal requires of you, only this to Do Justly, Love Mercy, and to Walk humbly with your God.

Everyone at this camp, myself included, has embraced this philosophy not just into our bubble that is our camp, but in our communities back home.

This camp now has not only foreign campers, but also others from all around the United States. However, what does this philosophy look like in those communities.

To Do Justly is when I return to my community, and continue to do the right thing. Because its the right thing. Helping others, picking up litter, or even participating community service.

[To] Love Mercy, is when I come home, and pray on Yom Kippur for forgiveness from God, or ask my friends at school for forgiveness. Or, even when I chant Torah at services.

And finally, [To] Walk Humbly with your God. I feel that when I come home, I always carry these words in my soul. However, it can be difficult. To be modest with God, to understand the power of creation or destructionThis reminds me of the Jewish saying, that one should keep two pieces of paper in our pockets: One that says that you are just ashes and dust from the Earth, and the other that says that the world was created, for your presence.

That is how I not only connect my life to Judaism, but live my life as a servant and a beautiful creation of God.

Noah Kleinlehrer is a freshman at MICDS and a member of Temple Emanuel. He is the son of Rabbi Elizabeth Hersh and Robert Kleinlehrer.The Jewish Federation of St. Louis is seeking applications for the academic scholarships and interest-free loans it administers to St. Louis-area students. These scholarships are open to residents of the greater St. Louis metropolitan area, with a preference given to Jewish applicants. The scholarships are open through April 12. Apply online at http://bit.ly/JFed-scholarships.

 The Lentin Scholarship Fund

Established by Scott Lentin, this fund provides scholarships of up to $10,000 to high school juniors and seniors demonstrating financial need who have completed secondary school and are enrolling in full-time undergraduate degree programs or vocational programs at accredited nonprofit colleges or universities. Preference is given to applicants of any faith connected to the Jewish community and first-generation college students.

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 The Benjamin D. and Miriam Pessin Education Assistance Fund: Established in memory of Benjamin D. Pessin by members of his immediate family, this fund provides $2,500 scholarships to qualified students demonstrating scholastic achievement and financial need pursuing a business degree.

 The Ruth Greenberg Memorial Fund for Rabbinical Training: Established by the late Ruth Greenberg, this fund provides $2,500 scholarships for rabbinical training for St. Louis residents demonstrating financial need and intent to pursue a career in the rabbinate.

 The Sam A. Kessler Memorial Scholarship: Established by friends of the late Sam A. Kessler, the scholarship provides $1,000 for a local law school student demonstrating financial need and a willingness to contribute their time and talent to the Jewish community. Applicants must have resided in the St. Louis metropolitan area for no less than 10 years.

 The Richard L. Levis, Jr. Memorial Scholarship Fund: Established in memory of Richard L. Levis, Jr. by his widow, Barbara Rosen, this fund provides up to $1,000 in scholarship money to Missouri area college or university students demonstrating scholastic achievement and financial need.

 The Blanche And Irving Miller Scholarship Fund: Established through a bequest from the estate of Blanche and Irving Miller, this fund provides $1,000 scholarships to deserving and qualified students enrolled in accredited colleges or universities who are pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees in professional fields.

 The L. Allen Zorensky Fine Arts Loan Fund: This fund awards interest-free loans to students pursuing an education in fine arts or other arts at a post-secondary level at a recognized accredited academic institution. Recipients must sign a promissory note in which the recipient agrees to repay the loan, in full, within five years of graduation.

For more information about the scholarships, contact Karen Sher at 314-442-3824 or [email protected].As a broke graduate student with four children, Jessica Adams was barely squeaking by financially after her divorce. She was able to provide fEric Friedman of St. Louis REALTORS; Erich Morris, who grew up in the home; Michael Burns, president of Northside Community Housing Inc.; Alderman Sam Moore; Morris' sister Mary Easterwood; and U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay participated in the rededication of the historical monument plaque for the Shelley House at 4600 Labadie St. on January 18.A more recent publication of this set of statistics is available. Latest publication: Index of turnover in industry 2021, April

Published: 14 February 2019

Turnover in manufacturing increased by 8.1 per cent in September to November

According to Statistics Finland, turnover in manufacturing in the September to November period was 8.1 per cent higher than in the corresponding period of the year before. Domestic sales grew by 4.3 per cent and export turnover by 10.9 per cent from one year ago.

Three months' year-on-year change in turnover in manufacturing (C) sub-industries (TOL 2008)

Turnover went up from the corresponding period of the previous year in all manufacturing (C) sub-industries .The growth was strongest in the chemical industry, by 17.2 per cent, in the electrical and electronics industry, by 8.9 per cent, and in the metal industry, by 7.4 per cent. Turnover growth was weakest in the textile, clothing and leather industry, 0.6 per cent from one year ago.

Three months' year-on-year change in turnover in main industrial categories (TOL 2008)

The turnover of all other main categories of manufacturing industries also increased year-on-year. Turnover growth was strongest in the industry of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, 11.3 per cent. Turnover in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities increased by 4.2 per cent, and in mining and quarrying by 1.1 per cent compared with the previous year.

The index of turnover in industry describes enterprises whose main industry is manufacturing. The calculation of the indices is based on the Tax Administrations self-assessed tax data which are supplemented with data obtained with Statistics Finlands sales inquiry. The monthly turnovers of manufacturing enterprises can vary considerably, especially in the metal industries. The variation is mainly due to invoicing practices. The final invoice for major machinery deliveries and projects may be recorded in the sales of one month, even if the delivery had required the work of several months or years.

Source: Index of turnover in industry 2018, November, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Maija Sappinen 029 551 3348, Kirsi-Maaria Manninen 029 551 2681, myynti.teollisuus@stat.fi

Director in charge: Mari Yla-Jarkko

Publication in pdf-format (360.6 kB)

Updated 14.2.2019

Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Index of turnover in industry [e-publication].

ISSN=1798-596X. November 2018. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 24.6.2021].

Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tlv/2018/11/tlv_2018_11_2019-02-14_tie_001_en.htmlby Gajalakshmi Paramasivam











Along with members of the Public I also waited to meet the new Governor of Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Until yesterday, my interactions with Dr Raghavan were limited to email messages from me and a couple of acknowledgements from Dr Raghavan. The last was to inform me that he was happy to engage with a member of the Diaspora about northern issues.





As usual in Sri Lankan public service and more particularly Northern Sri Lankan Public Service, the arrangements were top-down telling. When asked about the reason as to why I sought to meet the Governor  I ended up writing my complaint  that the officers did not distinguish between potential Service Providers and potential Beneficiaries.





We were all grouped as one. While waiting for the arrival of the Governor I kept reminding myself that the treatment in Northern Courts was worse. When I was served food(sundal/gram) and drinks while waiting  I declined. The lady serving was courteous and addressed me as madam. I reciprocated the respect. This helped me calm down. One of the junior members of staff - a slim tall guy  made up for the lack of courtesy demonstrated by the more senior officer. I wished him well. I believe that my positive Energy in Public Administration is thus shared with such officers who become the media of our energy rather than using us as the media for their energy.





I did not know what to expect of the Governor. I reminded myself of the waits at Jaffna Kachcheri, Valigamam West Pradeshiya Sabai  where I was initially sent from pillar to post even to provide service and thus share my energy. The reminder helped me not to expect better from the new Governor of my hometown  Jaffna. As he stepped out of the vehicle, Dr Raghavan apologized for the delay  not once but twice. I knew then that he had positive energy in including the public as part of himself. I felt more at ease. While waiting I discussed issues with those waiting and cleared their doubts in some areas.





With one group that was there for employment related problem at the Local Government level, I urged them to trust the new Governor. I said not to tell him in detail  but to submit the essence and then to listen to what he had to say. I said that he was a believer in spiritual powers and therefore  it would be easy for the potential beneficiary to connect to the divinity in Dr Raghavan. The young guy seemed to settle down. I identified with the divinity  because when I wanted to give up and leave and opened my handbag to take out the phone to call the taxi  the picture of my god in my handbag was the first sight I had. I felt that I was being asked by the divinity in me - to wait. When I was speaking to the above guy, I had already been facilitated to be next on line to meet the governor. Hence I felt that it was divine influence.





When I did meet the Governor he was quick to comprehend that I was a potential service provider and asked me as to what my areas of expertise were. I said Accounting and Public Administration. When Dr Raghavan outlined the need in health related area  I felt that it was my own true investment speaking through his mind. That was the confirmation of one-mindedness in Public Administration that Jaffna needs badly  especially at a time when the political power in North is very weak. Most importantly  the Governor thanked me



by Zulkifli Nazim





It is true, Politicians have an extremely poor reputation - but if you assume that every politician is like this, then, sad to say, it is devoid of good sense or judgment. If they were, then whole infrastructure would collapse before you could even say Jack Robinson.













They are a terrible, unpleasant lot, no doubt. They change their minds and reverse it? They are a weak tribe and do not have the ability or the wherewithal to lead. Many politicians are clearly in it for themselves.





But looking at our political systems and our politicians, it is very clear that doing or saying unintelligent things is no barrier to political success. Unfortunately, there are several psychological mechanisms that lead to apparent idiots being elected into powerful positions.





In the field of psychology, there is something called the DunningKruger effect. It is a cognitive bias a in which people of low ability have illusory superiority and mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is. The cognitive bias of illusory superiority comes from the inability of low-ability people to recognize their lack of ability.





So the DunningKruger effect reveals that less-intelligent people are usually Incredibly Confident; more intelligent people, by contrast, arent at all. Self-appraisal is a useful metacognitive skill, but one that requires intelligence; if you dont have much of it, you dont consider yourself flawed or ignorant, because technically you dont have the ability to do so.





Apt definition of our politicians in a nutshell.













Effectively running a country of tens of millions citizens, all of who have different requirements and demands, is an incredibly complicated job. There are just so many variables that need to be considered. Unfortunately, its impossible to condense all this into a convenient soundbite for use with the modern media.





And thus, we have the less intelligent personalities being more confident, more persuasive, and so on. This is also demonstrated by Parkinsons Law of Triviality, where people will spend far more time and effort focussing on something trivial that they do understand than something complicated that they dont. The former offers far more scope for contribution and influence. And people do love trivial things, and consequently, less-intelligent people condensing down the big issues into brief but inaccurate snippets.





It is an unfortunate situation, but it just seems to be the way peoples minds work. And our media, print as well as the audio-visual, use this low mentality thinking as a weapon to support and guide or misguide in accordance with their self-interests, expediencies and egocentricities.













Now coming to the question of politicians and their inordinate love for power and wealth - It is believed that the intervention of corrupt politicians are to blame in their support of organised crime in the appointments of the judiciary and law enforcement officers, for the misappropriation of Billions of Rupees of the countrys wealth , through various means which had left this poor countrys financial affairs in disarray.





The power of these crime groups stems primarily from their ability to operate with ease across the country because of the support and protection afforded by the corrupt politicians. They have the expertise to complete a detailed risk assessment at the country level and then choose the least vulnerable approach to conduct their illicit activities, whether in narcotics, human trafficking or the massive money laundering exercises that follow such crimes.





The problem for national law enforcement is that, by definition, it cannot follow this type of crime easily. Modern crime schemes are designed to have very short lives to avoid detection, lasting sometimes just months before the associated companies and bank accounts are wound up and replaced by new ones. The advantages available for criminals of operating locally and on a global scale are unlimited.





Such criminal schemes are designed by creative and intelligent, if misguided, people. Some of them could have been the next Steve Jobs, but found crime more appealing. They often work for what we call the criminal services industry - the lawyers, physicians, business intelligence firms and other legitimate businesses that earn lucrative income from servicing the needs of criminal clients and aided and abetted with no less persons than those wielding political power and positions.













There are myriads of problems related to money in politics: financial scandals, the abuse of public funds, drug kingpins supplying illicit money to weddings and parties of politicians, and private corporations funnelling vast sums to party figures in order to garner favours - the list can continue indefinitely  the involvement of Makandura Madush with the top politicians in Sri Lanka is just one case in point.













It will be interesting to note that Mark Hanna of Ohio was one of the first modern political bosses, responsible for putting William McKinley in the White House in 1896 in large part because he raised an unprecedented amount of money--more than $3 billion in today's economy. And Hanna's most lasting contribution to politics is probably this light-hearted quip:





"There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money, and I can't remember the second."





Jesse Unruh, Speaker of the California State Assembly in the 1960s, put it more succinctly. Money, he said, "is the mother's milk of politics."













It is common for money in politics to operate behind closed doors and involve shadowy practices. The exact amounts and origins of donations to political parties or candidates are often unknown. This creates a system that is open to abuse by big business or organized crime, which contributes money in return for influence. Donations seen as an investment by corporate interests have been reported from virtually all regions - where drugs money has infiltrated political life and elections.





In all regions of the world there is a deeply worrying trend of money in politics drowning out the voices of ordinary citizens.





As surely as water flows downhill, money in politics flows to where the power is. Individuals and interest groups will give campaign contributions to politicians in the best position to deliver what they're looking for.





Money and politics are closely intertwined; the way that parties and candidates access their funding greatly affects how the political system functions. The contribution of money to political parties and candidates is an important way in which large corporations and wealthy capitalists exercise disproportionate influence over politics in Sri Lanka, yet it also poses serious challenges and threats to the political process, because it is not only the wealthy capitalists and large corporations it is also the deadly and pernicious influence of drug money, which dominates the political arena, today.





When corruption fails, there is always violence.





The dangers faced by those enmeshed in deadly narcotic networks describes the choices available to police officers, government officials, and common citizens: they can either accept bribes for taking part in illegal activities or for looking the other way or even a bullet if they fail to do so.





The vast wealth and chronic violence generated by the drug trade is an egregious example of how criminal behavior undermines efforts to establish the rule of law and effective government institutions,





It can be seen distinctly and incontrovertibly that Money is the root of all politics. It sounds so obvious, its hardly worth writing down.





From a sermon given by Frederick Lewis Donaldson in Westminster Abbey, London, on March 20, 1925.

The Seven Social Sins are:

Wealth without work;

Pleasure without conscience;

Knowledge without character;

Commerce without morality;

Science without humanity;

Worship without sacrifice and

Politics without principle.



Madrid, Feb 14, 2019 (SPS)  the Spanish Workers Commissions (CCOO) regretted that the European Parliament ignores the verdict of the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding the illegal exploitation of Saharawi natural resources.

In this way, CCOO joins the movement of solidarity with the Saharawi people to ask for rectification of the effects of this shameful agreement that once again means a new attempt to broaden agreements that include products and other goods from Western Sahara.

The Workers Commissions organization highlights that the illegal agreement "represents a new looting of the region's natural resources and the continuity of the destruction of jobs for the Saharawi population, subjected to an occupation that has lasted more than four decades."

"International law does not recognize any Moroccan sovereignty or jurisdiction over the territory of Western Sahara, nor does it consider Morocco as the administering power of this territory. Therefore, the agreements signed with Morocco are not extendable to Western Sahara. This is confirmed, among other international norms and resolutions, by the Charter of the United Nations (chapter 73), the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on Western Sahara in 1975 or the opinion of the UN of 2002 ", adds CCOO.

Referring to the responsibility of Spain as the administering power of Western Sahara, CCOO points out that the vote of the European Parliament also coincides with the visit that the King and Queen of Spain made to Morocco on 13 and 14 February, accompanied by five ministers, among others. Foreign, Interior, Agriculture and Trade that will sign political agreements with their Moroccan counterparts.SPS

125/090/TRABir Lehlu (SADR Liberated Territories), February 13, 2019 (SPS) -. The Saharawi Government and the POLISARIO Front have reminded the King of Spain and the Spanish Government that Spain continues to be the administering Power of the Territory of Western Sahara under international law unless the Spanish State succeeds in completing the decolonization of the territory allowing the Saharawi people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination.

In a statement released today by the Ministry of Information of the SADR on the eve of the visit of the King of Spain to Morocco, the Saharawi Government reminds the Spanish monarch of the tragedy of more than 45 years that the Saharawi people live due to the lack of compliance with its international obligations to organize a referendum of self-determination.

In that sense, the Sahrawi Government has condemned the shameful policy of successive Spanish governments in their support and encouragement of an illegal Moroccan military occupation.

It also condemns "the Spanish position, shared with the French position, at the level of the European Union, which were behind the ratification by the European Parliament, a day before the King of Spain's visit to Morocco, a European-Moroccan agreement that reaches the territorial waters and soil of Western Sahara in flagrant violation of international law, in particular, the decisions of the European Court of Justice "

The POLISARIO hopes that the visit of Felipe VI to the Kingdom of Morocco can contribute to end the conflict in Western Sahara, in accordance with the Charter and the resolutions of the UN and the AU and can contribute to the achievement of a lasting peace in the region.

It asks the King of Spain to put an end to the serious violations of human rights in the OOTT, to the continuous illegal exploitation of the Saharawi natural resources, to the military and media siege imposed by the occupying power to occupied Western Sahara.

The Frente POLISARIO also hopes that the visit of the Spanish monarch to Morocco can contribute to "promote the process of a just solution to the conflict in Western Sahara and, in particular, it can be a timely support for the efforts of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nations, President Horst Koehler, including the success of the direct round of negotiations between the parties to the conflict. "SPS

125/090/TRAStrasbourg, Feb 13, 2019 (SPS) -Dozens of protesters from the Saharawi community in France and Belgium gathered in front of the European Parliament building in the French city of Strasbourg.

The rally coincides with the European Parliament vote on the fisheries agreement between the EU and Morocco, which includes occupied Western Sahara in flagrant violation of international law and the decisions of the CJUE of 2016 and 2018.

The demonstrators with banners and slogans rejecting the maneuvers of the European Commission to continue illegally exploiting the Sahrawi natural resources in complicity with the Moroccan occupation regime, demanding that the European Parliament play its natural role and correct the errors of the Commission and the Council of Europe instead of supporting the Moroccan occupation in its plundering of the Saharawi wealth.

The participants recall Europe and the world "that the Saharawi people will not cede their permanent sovereignty over their territory and natural resources. No one has the right to negotiate on behalf of the Saharawi people, except with their sole and legitimate representative, the Frente POLISARIO.SPS

125/090/TRAIndia resumes flights to Iraq after 30 year gap



Najaf, Iraq, Feb 14 (AFP) Feb 14, 2019



Air India on Thursday resumed flights to Iraq after a 30 year gap, when a plane carrying Shiite pilgrims landed in the city of Najaf.

"This is the first time in the last 30 years" that a plane has come from India to Iraq, said Pradeep Singh Rajpurohit, India's ambassador to Iraq, at the international airport that serves the Shiite holy city.

"We are very fortunate that the holy city of Najaf has been chosen as the first destination", he added, noting that attempts to restore direct air links had been ongoing for some time.

Flights were prevented by years of conflict in Iraq and sanctions against Saddam Hussein's regime after his invasion of Kuwait, as well as by the extended chaos that came in the wake of the former dictator's 2003 downfall.

The plane started its journey in Lucknow, the capital of India's Uttar Pradesh state, and upon landing the crew and pilgrims were welcomed by Iraqi officials.

Shiite pilgrims from around the world come to Najaf, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of Baghdad, to visit the tomb of Imam Ali, Prophet Mohammed's son-in-law and founder of Shiite Islam.CORRECTED: No unilateral US pullout from Afghanistan: Pentagon chief



Brussels, Feb 14 (AFP) Feb 14, 2019



Washington will not unilaterally withdraw from Afghanistan, the Pentagon chief said Thursday, as NATO said the Kabul government must be brought into US peace talks with the Taliban to end the country's 17-year war.

Acting defence secretary Patrick Shanahan said any decision to reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan would be taken in coordination with NATO, which runs a training and support mission in the war-torn country.

The United States is leading a push for peace talks with the Taliban, seeking a breakthrough in the grinding conflict, with the Islamists announcing Wednesday a fresh round of meetings in Islamabad.

But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned against any more delay in involving the Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani in the process, saying that without it lasting peace would not be possible.

US President Donald Trump wants to end US involvement in Afghanistan, where 14,000 American troops are still deployed -- raising Afghan fears that Washington could exit before securing a durable peace deal.

But, after talks with fellow NATO defence ministers in Brussels, Shanahan said Washington would not act alone.

"There will be no unilateral troop reduction. That was one of the messages in the meeting today. It will be coordinated. We work together," he said after the meeting, which came after a tour of Kabul and Baghdad for Shanahan.

"I feel as though we're creating the diplomatic leverage Ambassador Khalilzad needs. We really need to talk about the possibility for peace. This may be our moment."



- German welcome -



Zalmay Khalilzad is the US special envoy leading talks with the Taliban and he has expressed hope of finding a deal before Afghan presidential elections scheduled for July.

Washington held talks with Taliban officials in Qatar last month as part of efforts to convince the militants -- ousted from power in Afghanistan by a US-led invasion in 2001 -- to negotiate with Ghani's government.

Shanahan's commitment was welcome news to Germany, which has been a frequent target for US criticism since Trump came to power, particularly over its defence spending.

German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said it was important that "there will be no unilateral decisions by the Americans, but that every step, every strategic step in Afghanistan will be discussed within the circle of NATO defence ministers".

Ghani himself has vented frustration at talks going on without him about the future of Afghanistan and warned against rushing into a deal.

"It is very important that the Afghan government as soon as possible becomes fully integrated in the peace process," Stoltenberg said.

"Without that there will be no lasting peace and no strong institutions to make sure any peace agreement is fully enforced."

The militants last week held separate talks in Moscow with a senior delegation of Afghan politicians -- including some of Ghani's leading rivals.No unilateral US pullout from Afghanistan: Pentagon chief



Brussels, Feb 14 (AFP) Feb 14, 2019



Washington will not unilaterally withdraw from Afghanistan, the Pentagon chief said Thursday, as NATO said the Kabul government must be brought into US peace talks with the Taliban to end the country's 17-year war.

Acting defence secretary Patrick Shanahan said any decision to reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan would be taken in coordination with NATO, which runs a training and support mission in the war-torn country.

The United States is leading a push for peace talks with the Taliban, seeking a breakthrough in the grinding conflict, with the Islamists announcing Wednesday a fresh round of meetings in Islamabad.

But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned against any more delay in involving the Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani in the process, saying that without it lasting peace would not be possible.

US President Donald Trump wants to end US involvement in Afghanistan, where 14,000 American troops are still deployed -- raising Afghan fears that Washington could exit before securing a durable peace deal.

But, after talks with fellow NATO defence ministers in Brussels, Shanahan said Washington would not act alone.

"There will be no unilateral troop reduction. That was one of the messages in the meeting today. It will be coordinated. We work together," he said after the meeting, which came after a tour of Kabul and Baghdad for Shanahan.

"I feel as though we're creating the diplomatic leverage Ambassador Khalizad needs. We really need to talk about the possibility for peace. This may be our moment."



- German welcome -



Zalmay Khalilzad is the US special envoy leading talks with the Taliban and he has expressed hope of finding a deal before Afghan presidential elections scheduled for July.

Washington held talks with Taliban officials in Qatar last month as part of efforts to convince the militants -- ousted from power in Afghanistan by a US-led invasion in 2001 -- to negotiate with Ghani's government.

Shanahan's commitment was welcome news to Germany, which has been a frequent target for US criticism since Trump came to power, particularly over its defence spending.

German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said it was important that "there will be no unilateral decisions by the Americans, but that every step, every strategic step in Afghanistan will be discussed within the circle of NATO defence ministers."

Ghani himself has vented frustration at talks going on without him about the future of Afghanistan and warned against rushing into a deal.

"It is very important that the Afghan government as soon as possible becomes fully integrated in the peace process," Stoltenberg said.

"Without that there will be no lasting peace and no strong institutions to make sure any peace agreement is fully enforced."

The militants last week held separate talks in Moscow with a senior delegation of Afghan politicians -- including some of Ghani's leading rivals.No unilateral US pullout from Afghanistan: Shanahan



Brussels, Feb 14 (AFP) Feb 14, 2019



Washington will not unilaterally withdraw from Afghanistan, the Pentagon chief said Thursday, as NATO said the Kabul government must be urgently brought into US peace talks with the Taliban aimed at ending the country's 17-year war.

Acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan said any decision to reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan would be taken in coordination with NATO, which runs a training and support mission in the war-torn country.

The United States is leading a push for peace talks with the Taliban, seeking a breakthrough in the grinding conflict, with the Islamists announcing Wednesday a fresh round of meetings in Islamabad.

But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned against any more delay in involving the Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani in the process, saying that without it lasting peace would not be possible.

President Donald Trump wants to end US involvement in Afghanistan, where 14,000 American troops are still deployed -- raising Afghan fears that Washington could exit before securing a durable peace deal.

But, after talks with fellow NATO defence ministers in Brussels, Shanahan said Washington would not act alone.

"There will be no unilateral troop reduction. That was one of the messages in the meeting today. It will be coordinated. We work together," he said after the meeting, which came after a tour of Kabul and Baghdad for Shanahan.

"I feel as though we're creating the diplomatic leverage Ambassador Khalizad needs. We really need to talk about the possibility for peace. This may be our moment."

Zalmay Khalilzad is the US special envoy leading talks with the Taliban and he has expressed hope of finding a deal before Afghan presidential elections scheduled for July.

Washington held major talks with Taliban officials in Qatar last month as part of efforts to convince the militants -- ousted from power in Afghanistan by a US-led invasion in 2001 -- to negotiate with Ghani's government.

Ghani himself has vented frustration at talks going on without him about the future of Afghanistan and warned against rushing into a deal.

"It is very important that the Afghan government as soon as possible becomes fully integrated in the peace process," Stoltenberg said.

"Without that there will be no lasting peace and no strong institutions to make sure any peace agreement is fully enforced."

The militants last week held separate talks in Moscow with a senior delegation of Afghan politicians -- including some of Ghani's leading rivals.Palestinians say Warsaw meet 'normalises' Israeli occupation



Jerusalem, Feb 14 (AFP) Feb 14, 2019



A Warsaw conference jointly organised by US President Donald Trump's administration lacks credibility as it aims to "normalise" the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, a Palestinian official said in remarks published Thursday.

"By fully siding with the Israeli government, (the Americans) have tried to normalise the Israeli occupation and the systematic denial of the Palestinian right to self-determination," Nabil Shaath, an adviser to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, wrote in a column published by Israel's Haaretz newspaper.

The two-day conference, which convened for its main session in the Polish capital on Thursday, is officially devoted to security in the Middle East, with a strong emphasis on Iran.

But Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is expected to offer hints of the US administration's proposals for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Shaath said the Palestinians had refused to go to the conference.

"The Warsaw conference is part of this context," he wrote.

"A peace process cannot be turned into an attempt to obtain amnesty for war crimes or to make one of the parties surrender its basic rights under the UN charter."

The Palestinians have refused to talk to the Trump administration since the US leader recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December 2017.

The Trump administration has since dealt a series of harsh blows to the Palestinian Authority, including cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Palestinians.Campaigning opens in Okinawa US base relocation vote



Tokyo, Feb 14 (AFP) Feb 14, 2019



Campaigning began Thursday ahead of a referendum in Japan's Okinawa on the controversial relocation of a US military base to a remote part of the island.

The non-binding vote will be held on February 24, with Governor Denny Tamaki campaigning against the relocation of the Futenma airbase.

The base is currently located in a densely-populated part of the southern island, and has caused frictions with local residents over everything from noise to accidents.

In a bid to resolve the long-running tensions, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has backed a plan to move the base to a coastal area, reclaiming land for part of the proposed new site.

But residents opposed to the move want the base moved out of Okinawa altogether, arguing that the region bears a disproportionate burden when it comes to hosting US military troops in the country.

Okinawa accounts for less than one percent of Japan's total land area, but hosts more than half of the approximately 47,000 American military personnel stationed in Japan.

Noise, accidents, and crimes committed by military personnel and civilian base employees have long angered Okinawans, many of whom want other parts of the country to house bases instead.

But the archipelago's location near Taiwan has long been viewed as having huge strategic importance for US forward positioning in Asia.

And Abe's government has shown little sign of willingness to consider relocating Futenma to another part of the country or otherwise changing the spread of US military forces in Japan.



- 'Precious ballot' -



Tamaki, elected in September after campaigning against the relocation plans, has urged residents to vote.

"It is a very significant opportunity for people in Okinawa prefecture to directly show their will. Please go to polling stations and cast a precious ballot," he told reporters earlier Thursday.

The governor is required to "respect" the vote's outcome if approved by at least a quarter of eligible voters -- around 290,000 votes.

But the referendum is not binding on the central government, and spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Thursday that there were no plans to halt the relocation plan.

Suga declined to comment directly on the referendum and repeated the government's position that it was trying to "ease the burden on the Okinawan people in a clearly recognisable way."

The referendum was initially planned as a yes-no vote on the move, but a "neither" option has been added to the ballot after opposition from several cities with close ties to the central government.

Those cities had threatened to opt out of the vote altogether, but the addition of the "neither" option means the referendum will be held across Okinawa.

The closing of Futenma and opening of a replacement facility at Nago, 50 kilometres (30 miles) away, was first agreed in 1996 as the US sought to calm local anger after US servicemen gang raped a schoolgirl.

But it has been bogged down ever since with local politicians blocking the move in a bid to reduce the American footprint.

Another referendum was held in 1996, with nearly nine in 10 people agreeing that US bases should be "reduced" in the area.Planes, tanks, subs: the Thai generals' shopping list



Bangkok, Feb 14 (AFP) Feb 14, 2019



Defence spending in Thailand has surged over the last decade, during which the military has seized power twice.

The junta-picked National Legislative Assembly has proposed $7 billion for defence in the 2019 fiscal year -- a $1-billion increase since the 2014 coup.

Big purchases -- many from China -- have drawn criticism in a country riddled with inequality, corruption and still beset by an insurgency in the deep south.

Here are some of Thailand's military acquisitions and their eye-popping price tags:



- Deep water -



In 2017, Thailand approved the purchase of the first of three Yuan-class submarines from China at $393 million each.

The junta defended the move, called it a bargain for the Thai navy, and said it was needed to safeguard resources in the Andaman Sea.

A submarine training centre sits outside Bangkok with a simulator but no actual subs.

Talks are also underway for China to construct a military hardware repair facility in Thailand.

The submarine plan stirred comparisons with the aircraft carrier Thailand bought from Spain in the 1990s -- now a white elephant that sits at port and has no planes.



- New tanks -



Thailand's military gave itself a new year's gift of more than a dozen VT-4 Chinese battle tanks worth 2.2 billion baht ($70 million).

In 2017, the junta approved the $58-million purchase of 10 VT-4s, which itself followed deals to procure 28 of the model.

The defence minister said the VT-4s would replace Thailand's ageing US-made M41 tanks that had been in use since World War II.

The Thai army has rarely used tanks in recent years, except for deployments during street protests.



- Flying high -



China is not Thailand's only military supplier.

Bangkok announced in 2017 its air force would get eight South Korean-manufactured jets in a $2.6-billion splurge, adding to four others snapped up in 2015.

Those four T-50TH Golden Eagles are worth around $110 million and were delivered last year, manufacturer Korea Aerospace Industries said on its website.

KAI also said the eight advanced trainer jets would arrive by 2020.



- US deals -



The US government has sold approximately $437 million of major military hardware to Thailand through Foreign Military Sales (FMS) since 2014, a figure that does not account for direct commercial sales.

"Thailand is one of our oldest partners in Asia, and our broad cooperation continues on issues that benefit both our countries, the region, and beyond," the embassy said in a statement to AFP.

Thailand is a longtime US ally but ties were briefly strained after the 2014 coup.

President Donald Trump warmed things up when he invited coup leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha to the White House in October 2017.

But US arms sales -- including Black Hawk helicopters reportedly purchased in 2017 -- have not made as many headlines as the big China buys.



- An army park -



Not all military-backed projects have focused on arms.

Less than a year after the royalist junta took over, it built a park glorifying seven ancient Thai kings near the seaside town of Hua Hin.

Each bronze figure is 14 metres (46 feet) high.

But Rajabhakti Park, which opened in 2015, became mired in corruption allegations over-inflated costs linked to the project -- from the trees to the public toilets.

The statues themselves were said to cost around $1 million each.

The graft claims were rejected and the government said funds to build the project were donated by the public and private sectors.US targets Al-Qaeda in Libya air strike



Tripoli, Feb 14 (AFP) Feb 14, 2019



The US carried out an air strike against Islamist group Al-Qaeda in southern Libya on Wednesday night, Tripoli's UN-backed Government of National Accord said.

The strike near the town of Ubari, some 900 kilometres (550 miles) south of the capital, was coordinated with the GNA, said President Fayez al-Sarraj's spokesman.

It targeted "a number of members of terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda", Mohamad al-Sallak said in a statement, giving no further details.

Libya has been wracked by violence and torn between rival administrations since the NATO-backed overthrow and killing of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

The GNA was formed following a UN-backed deal in December 2015, but it has struggled to impose its power across the country.

The US military regularly carries out air strikes in Libya against Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

Last year in August it said it had killed an IS member described by a source as a former local leader of the jihadists.

In June the US said it had killed four members of an IS affiliate near the northern town of Bani Walid, while in March the Pentagon confirmed a senior Al-Qaeda operative and another jihadist died in a US air strike.Google investing billions in US operations



San Francisco, Feb 13 (AFP) Feb 13, 2019



Google said Wednesday it will invest $13 billion in US data centers and offices this year as the internet giant continues to expand across the country.

The spending will build on more than $9 billion in US investments in the past year and should create the potential for tens of thousands of new jobs, according to chief executive Sundar Pichai.

"This growth will allow us to invest in the communities where we operate, while we improve the products and services that help billions of people and businesses globally," Pichai said in an online post.

"Our new data center investments, in particular, will enhance our ability to provide the fastest and most reliable services for all our users and customers."

Investments this year will focus outside of Silicon Valley where Google has its home, and give the company outposts in 24 states.

This will be the second year in a row that Google will "be growing faster outside the (San Francisco) Bay Area than in it," Pichai said.

Google last year hired more than 10,000 people in the US, according to the company.

The internet giant is also making significant investments in renewable energy to power US operations, Pichai said.

The move follow major investments or expansions from other US tech giants including Apple and Amazon, both moving beyond their existing headquarters.

Google's parent company Alphabet last year said it was investing more than $1 billion to set up a new campus in New York City.

gc-rlMedford, NJ (08055)

Today

A few passing clouds. Low 54F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low 54F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.Jeffrey Jackson is the managing editor of the Owatonna Peoples Press. He can be reached at 507-444-2371 or via email at jjackson@owatonna.com. Follow him on Twitter.com at OPPJeffrey.Carbonaceous chondrites provide clues about the delivery of water to Earth

An international study led by researchers from the Institute of Space Sciences, from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya has discovered that carbonaceous chondrites, a class of meteorites, incorporated hydrated minerals along with organic material from the protoplanetary disk before the formation of planets. Scientists from the study published in the journal Space Science Reviews note that these meteorites played "an important role in the primordial Earth's water enrichment" because they facilitated the transportation of volatile elements that were accumulated on the external regions of the so-called protoplanetary disk from which planets were formed more than 4.500 years ago. Earth was formed in an environment close to the Sun, very much reduced due to the relative lack of oxygen.

Carbonaceous chondrites come from asteroidal bodies that due to their size, generally inferior to hundred kilometres, never melted, and neither suffered internal chemical differentiation as planets did. Thus, the study gives clues about the initial accretion phases of the first bodies that formed the planets. The meteorites analysed in this work belong to the NASA's Antartic collection, whose CSIC's Institute of Space Sciences is the only repository Spanish centre, and the meteorites that fell in Murchison (Australia) in 1969 and in Renazzo (Italy) in 1824. Representative samples of the two more-hydrated types of carbonaceous chondrites (CM and CR groups) have been studied.

"Chondrites constitute a fossil legacy of the creation of the planetesimals, which provide information about the accretion of the first building blocks of planets, and also about everything that happened inside them shortly after their formation. In this study, we want to go a step further to identify processes of water incorporation befallen in the same protoplanetary disk", explains CSIC researcher Josep M. Trigo-Rodriguez, who works at the Institute of Space Sciences and has led the study.

CSIC researcher adds: "There is a great debate about the origin of water in Earth and our study proves that carbonaceous chondrites were able to transport water in a very efficient way in their matrices. That water seems to come from two types of objects formed at different distances from the Sun: hydrated asteroids and comets. Obviously, in order to know the origin of water in Earth, we must study not only the comets but also the carbonaceous chondrites that come from an asteroid population called transitional. These bodies were far more numerous 4.000 millions of years ago, but suffered a gravitational destabilisation during Jupiter and Saturn's migration to its current location. Those that did not end being swallowed by Jupiter and Saturn were rejected towards the terrestrial planets and to other regions of the Solar System, transporting water and organic material inside them", explains the CSIC researcher.

The study also points at the direct implications for the origin of water in Earth. "Our calculations indicate that, coinciding with the so-called 'Heavy Bombardment' produced by the gravitational destabilisation of the main asteroid belt, billions of tons of carbonaceous chondrites reached Earth about 3.800 years ago. And they did it transporting in their fine matrices water and other volatile elements in form of hydrated minerals", says Trigo.

In this study have participated Safoura Tanbakouei and Victoria Cabedo from the Institute of Space Sciences; Albert Rimola from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona; and Martin Lee from the University of Glasgow (Scotland).

Aims for future missions

Currently, there are two ongoing missions for sample return from primitive asteroids: NASA's OSIRIS-Rex and JAXA's (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Hayabusa 2. The results from the carbonaceous chondrites' analysis at a micro- and nanoscale that are published in this new study reveal the importance of the sample-return missions, that can bring to Earth rocks less altered by collisions than the meteorites that land on the terrestrial surface.

###

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.Enterprise, AL (36331)

Today

Partly cloudy with a slight chance of thunderstorms. High 87F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.What we feared for and continued to warn the relevant authorities about for quite some time now has happened. We are talking about the story of a Chinese man being found dead on the seawall, which was published on the front page of the Sunday Samoan.

This is a real tragedy especially when it is unfolding during the Teuila Festival Week which is supposed to showcase the best of Samoa. The death of the Chinese man on the seawall has instead put a dampener on those efforts.

We say this because the seawall on Beach Road is one of the most important features of the Apia Township. It is a wonderful space for everyone; whether you are looking for pictures of the sunset or sunrise in Samoa, keen on jogging or a leisurely walk, wanting to catch up with some friends and families or simply to sit down a catch your breath. It is one of those spaces visitors to this country must try.

Two years ago in an editorial Petty crime a crying shame, we sounded the alarm bells about the dangers that had started to surface on the seawall. In light of the Chinese mans death, we feel its important to revisit what we said then, warning the relevant authorities that something needed to be done to protect members of the public who visit the seawall.

At the time we said there was a sad trend emerging, involving criminals lurking around the area, preying on unsuspecting victims including visitors to this country. And they appear to strike at all hours of the day, even Sunday believe it or not. Take the experience of a student studying at the Oceania University of Medicine who was attacked there on a Sunday. Robert Duprey, 48, was attacked during his routine run on the seawall.

There was a man who was just walking (on the sea wall). I was running and I said, good morning, Mr. Duprey recalled. The man asked Mr. Duprey about where he was from.

I said the U.S. and I kept running. About 30 seconds after he comes up from behind me, punches me in the face and throws me down and tries to take my wallet and phone.

He hit me really hard from behind. Im on top of the seawall and I fall down to the bottom. When Im falling, I knew I was being attacked. 

Mr. Duprey believes the man was high judging by the look in his eyes.

I get up but he tries to come at me three times and I fight him off, he said. Then he comes at me with a coconut and then I get ready to fight but he starts running away because another man was coming to help me. I had blood all over my nose and face but he didnt get my things.

Luckily for Mr. Duprey, he was no slouch and was able to defend himself.

Now last week, a similar incident happened. This time, the culprit attacked another American man and his girlfriend at around 8:30 at night. The American man and his girlfriend were taking a leisurely stroll on the seawall when a man came out from nowhere and attacked them.

We were just walking along the sea wall enjoying ourselves when all of a sudden a burglar grabbed my girlfriends hand, the couple recalled. He was trying to get her purse and he did. Once he grabbed the purse, he pushed my girlfriend down and ran off with it.

The American chased after the man and with the help of a local, they were able to stop the robber as he tried to escape into the ocean. The police were called and the bag was luckily retrieved, along with all the womans personal belongings.

On both occasions, the victims were badly shaken. The American involved in the attack last week said the incident had left a bad taste in his mouth about Samoa.

Its so sad that incidents like this are happening too frequently now, he said. Too many people have been reportedly hurt and/or attempted robbery at this location at night time. Not only have there been robberies but people have been beaten on the sea wall. Also, there seems to be a much higher danger if one is a palagi.

The worry is that these criminals dont just target visitors. Weve heard many stories of innocent local residents who have also become victims  some of them young boys and girls who were simply enjoying the atmosphere. Which is what we should all be alarmed about.

That was two years ago. What was done about it?

Well on Sunday, we woke up to the sort of news no one wants to see. That an innocent Chinese man had been found dead. Its too early to tell what happened but from the accounts weve heard so far, it appears that it was case of an attempted robbery gone horribly wrong.

So what is going on in Samoa today?

Lets just say people talk so much about progress on these shores; the high rises in Apia, the flash lights and what have you. And yet when you scratch a bit deeper what you will find would alarm you. Deep beneath all the facade there is a sense of sadness, bitterness. The signs are there, that there is something terribly amiss, in the make up of this country.

Were talking about the rise in petty crimes, the poor standard of living among some people, the deteriorating state of our morals, values and our culture. These problems cannot be ignored, they are staring us in the face every day. And they are hurting innocent people  to the point now that someone has been killed.

This is very, very sad Samoa.Posted Monday, February 11, 2019 9:13:14 AM

There was an amusing thread on Soap Central's message boards recently under the topic "Would you date Y&R's Arturo?" The somewhat new character is a sweet, sexy, confident Latino with charisma to the moon and back. But then again, some fans think he views women like Baskin-Robbins ice cream, wanting to enjoy all 31 flavors. First, he dated Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott); then, he moved on to her stepdaughter, Abby (Melissa Ordway). And now, there are questions circling about whether or not his recent marriage proposal to the bombshell blonde was motivated by love or if it was merely made to ruffle the feathers of his brother's wife, Mia (Noemi Gonzalez).

So, is Arturo really a ladies' man? And will he be the next in a long line of men to break Abby's heart? Soap Central caught up with the character's portrayer, Jason Canela, to find out. And while he was dishing on his spicy Genoa City love triangle, he also opened up about a hilarious moment with Peter Bergman (Jack Abbott), salsa dancing with his costars, the future of the Rosales family, and so much more.

Soap Central: You recently celebrated your one-year anniversary at Y&R. Has your first year on an American, English-speaking soap opera been anything like you imagined it to be?

Jason Canela: It's been a wild ride. When I joined the cast, I didn't really have an idea of what to expect. I had spent some time working on some Spanish soaps in Miami, and I prayed to God that it wasn't going to be what I experienced there in regards to production. Granted, it's been ten years, and a lot may have changed, but back then, it was pure chaos. It was like seeing a bunch of first graders at recess. It was just crazy. So, when I moved to L.A. about four years ago and I started knocking on doors and getting opportunities, just from the get-go, even from the auditioning process, it was already a different ball game. And then The Young and the Restless gave me the opportunity to come on board and be part of the family. I came in, and I won't forget, it was January 3rd, and I had every ligament torn on my foot from an accident that happened the day before -- it was terrible! But they made it the best experience ever. I couldn't imagine feeling anything good in that moment, besides walking in there, but they really did their best to make me feel as comfortable as possible with what I was experiencing. And they truly have made it an unforgettable experience for me. This is a dream come true.

Soap Central: Speaking of dreams, you're currently involved in an on-screen love triangle with two sexy women. How much luckier could you get?

Canela: That's just the icing on top of the cake!

Soap Central: How do you feel about Arturo being with one woman but sort of secretly yearning for another?

Canela: Well, to be honest, it's definitely not something I want to say I relate to in real life, because that wouldn't be a good thing. But I think we all have, at one point in our lives, been in a similar situation, maybe in our earlier years, where you perhaps are with someone, and somebody from your past comes into your life and kind of shakes everything up. But I think it all comes down to whether or not the relationship is strong enough to be able to bring you back to your senses, and even if the house is shook up a bit, to just kind of bring you back down and help you realize what it is that you want, what your priorities are. As far as Arturo and Abby, this is a show that has been going on for 45 years, which means the people running it, clearly they know what they're doing. So, I, as an actor, need to trust that whatever decisions they make for the character, ultimately, it's what is best for the show. I'm not gonna lie -- there are things that I have gotten in the script that I've read, and originally, I'm like, "Damn, I don't want to go there. I wish the character wouldn't go there." But for the story and what they see down the line, that's the decision they're making, and at the end of the day, it's my job to go in there and bring life to the words that they are putting on paper for me and to always try to find reasons as to why the character is doing that. Personally, I do wish that Arturo and Abby are able to fight through whatever obstacles they go through as a couple and really stay true to each other, because I think it's a message that is needed in today's world... They're going to go through their ups and downs, but to show them sticking it out and working it out with each other to make it through to the other side, that would be cool. But again, that ain't my job!

Soap Central: There are a lot of fans out there who are on your side and hope they make it. But there's a big question about his motives. What do you think was the biggest factor that pushed Arturo to propose to Abby: was it love or was it Mia?

Canela: [Laughs] Actually, I do think it came from a place of love, of clarity... I don't think his intentions were to steal the light or to put the attention on him and Abby, even though it's extremely plausible, considering the circumstances. But I think it's more him realizing what Rey [Jordi Vilasuso] and Mia have, and it's the one thing he thought he could never find after what he saw growing up with his parents. So, it was more like, "Oh, my God, I could have this, too! I feel it!" He had already had the ring on him a couple of days and had been waiting for the right moment. I actually have a cousin, for example, who always wants to do the right thing, but he just, for whatever reason, seems to do it in the wrong way, and it just never works out for him. And that's kind of like the case of what's happening here. It definitely came from a place of honesty and real devotion to Abby and wanting to grow with her and expand this relationship that they have and make it a long-term, life commitment. But maybe it wasn't the best timing!

Soap Central: Abby is the wonderful woman that he has fallen for, but he still seems very pulled by Mia, who is a bit of a troublemaker. Is there something exciting about that to him, the fact that she's somewhat of a wild child?

Canela: I think when Arturo was with Mia back in the day, he was going through the separation of his parents, the constant betrayal that he, Rey, and Lola [Sahsa Calle] saw growing up. It wasn't the best environment for him, with their dad walking out on them. And there was a scene where he talked about it, he said something like maybe Mia was poison, or I don't remember the exact word he used, but she was the only thing that he knew. Mia was Arturo's escape, if that makes sense. So even though he has moved on from it and learned to love other people and not be a part of her life anymore, especially the way it all happened, him and her hooking up after she got with Rey, and then him making the extreme decision of moving out of the city and relocate, I think when she showed up out of nowhere, it was like, "Well, what do we do now?" And especially, add to the fact it's not just that Mia showed up and Arturo saw her; Mia showed up and does absolutely everything in her power to stay in his eyesight! She is very about getting in Arturo's business, whether he wants it or not.

Soap Central: Noemi Gonzalez is brand new to the show, so the fans don't know much about her. What is she like?

Canela: Noemi is great. I remember they were searching for someone to play the character for a really long time. Mia is a storm -- she's like a force to be reckoned with -- and it was a difficult character for the casting director and everyone to [fill]; they were looking for an actress for a long time. And on her first day, I believe she had about 15 to 20 scenes on the call sheet. That was what was going to be asked for that character, from the beginning to however long the character is on the show. And so, Noemi came on board, and she came ready to play. She killed it. And it has been so much fun to work with her. She's feisty, and she brings that drama.

Soap Central: And how has your experience been working with Melissa Ordway?

Canela: Melissa is unbelievable. She's so great. I remember when I first started working on the show, I was working with Melody, and I had a scene where Melissa and I bumped into each other at the coffeehouse. In rehearsal, we bumped into each other, and Melissa said, "Oh, you're not related to me? Then we're definitely going to end up together!" [Laughs] We had never met, and it was just so funny because, from the way she saw it, from what she was telling me about Abby's past, I guess any guy that isn't a Newman, at some point [they'll get together]. She's had some really crazy relationships on the show. So, it was very comical. We had good energy from the get-go, from the beginning. And then, when we read in the script that we were going to end up together, it was a lot of fun. We've been having a lot of fun from the beginning. Melissa has been doing this for a while, and I'm blessed enough to go and work with her, because she comes prepared, she comes ready to do her thing, and she makes it a great time.

Soap Central: Whether it's fully true or not, Arturo has sort of established himself as a ladies' man. Would you say he is, or do you think that is an unfair assessment of him?

Canela: I honestly believe it's an unfair assessment! When Arturo came onto the show, yes, he had a thing with Nikki, but if you remember, [he didn't view] Nikki in any way, shape, or form as a sugar mama, but a lot of people perceived it that way. Arturo came on the show, he was working with her on a project, and they ended up feeling something. She was living through some crazy time with Victor [Eric Braeden], and Arturo, I've always said, he is the type of person that lives in the moment and just goes off of what he is feeling in that very moment. As cliche as it may sound, at the end of the day, the only thing we have is the now. And there are a lot of people that live that way. So, when he was with Nikki, he wasn't going around and hooking up with any other girls or trying to start any other relationship. He was actually exploring the chance at having a relationship with her until finally it came crashing down, and it didn't work. And some time after that, he meets Abby. He didn't know the relationship between Nikki and Abby -- he finds it out later -- but still, like I said, it wasn't the type of thing he was going to allow to stop him from pursuing Abby and seeing if something could come from that, from them hanging out and getting to know each other. But I don't think in any way he's a "ladies' man." I haven't even seen Arturo try and pretend that he's a ladies' man or insinuate in any way that he's a ladies' man or try and hit on any girls, you know? But, hey! If another Newman ends up popping around, and she wants to explore going on a date with Arturo... I'll talk to the writers and see! [Laughs]

Soap Central: How did it feel for you to be paired up with Melody, who's one of the leading ladies on Y&R, the moment you joined the show?

Canela: Working with Melody was great. Granted, I was nervous, and I didn't know what to expect, and she really did her best to make me feel at ease and make me feel comfortable with everything. When you get there, they don't really hold your hand and walk you [through everything] and tell you how it goes. No, you get there, and yeah, they're all very nice and there is very good energy on set, but when you get there, they expect you to come and deliver. You're walking up to home plate and you're getting in the batter's box, and they are pitching 99 miles per hour, and it doesn't stop. That is the best way that I can explain this, coming onto the show, because it really is like feeling the same thing a batter would feel when he steps into the batter's box to face a pitcher in the big leagues. Just because it's your first time batting with them, they're not going to come at you with a 75 mile per hour curveball. No, they're going to throw a 99 mile per hour fastball right down the middle and expect you to make contact. And with Melody, she really made me feel at ease in that situation and gave me the confidence and gave me the comfortability to be able to at least give it my best shot to make contact. I don't know how well my contact was, but...

Soap Central: Well, it must have been good because you started out as being a short-term character, and now you're one of the main guys on the show!

Canela: Yeah, it started off as a guest-star role, and yeah, shortly after that, they asked me how I felt about writing in a family around the character, which I obviously was super stoked about. And it's been really, really cool to be a part of such a special, special show -- a show that is literally twice as old as I am! It's such a blessing to be able to walk in there and work with such incredible people, everyone from the cast, to the producers, to the grip guys, to the crew, to everybody who is setting up lights, cameras. I don't know if a lot of people know this, but a lot of our crew members, their fathers were crew members before they were born, and I think it's such a beautiful thing. That explains to me why the energy is so incredible in that studio, because it truly is family. We're talking 45 years of legit families that have been the driving force behind The Young and the Restless. And I don't mean the actors, which are obviously a huge part. The actors go in there, and we do our thing and people watch us and believe in us and are kind enough to have lent us their eyes for the past 45 years, and I greatly appreciate the fans for that. But it's the crew members, the guys that get there [early]. If my call time is 7AM, there were guys who got there at 4AM, and they're the ones who are walking around in that freezing studio, setting up everything, setting up cameras, setting up lights, setting up the scenes for the day. And those people, they didn't just wake up one day and say, "Hey, I want to do this. Let me see if I can work for this show." No -- they saw their parents doing it when they were growing up, and now they've taken the place of their parents, and they are in those same studios that they grew up in, and they're doing the same thing, and they're bringing life to this amazing show. And I think that really is the secret as to why America feels like they are a part of The Young and the Restless and they know Genoa City, because it's truly family driven. It's pure family.

Soap Central: And on-screen, as well. Y&R is all about these fictional families, and I think the introduction of the Rosales clan is special, because you are representing Latinos in Genoa City. How does that feel for you personally, to be a part of that?

Canela: In today's world, with everything going on with diversity and people feeling like they're left out, it's a blessing. It's a blessing period, just to be an actor and be given the opportunity to walk into a studio and work on your craft and get paid for it, considering the thousands and thousands and thousands of extremely talented individuals that there are in this city, in this industry. It's a blessing. But to be a part of a Latino family, and being Latino, it's even more of a blessing. To be able to portray my culture and give people a little insight into where I come from and how we act and just be the face of that on this show, it's a huge blessing. A huge, huge blessing.

Soap Central: I feel like you and Jordi Vilasuso have very similar backgrounds, both being handsome soap opera stars, both being Cuban and both being from Miami. Has that helped you two bond as on-screen brothers?

Canela: I think right off the bat! When I first saw Jordi, I believe he was talking with Matt [Y&R's publicist] upstairs, and I had gone upstairs to sign something, I don't remember what. I didn't know he was going to be playing Rey, but I saw from this guy's vibe that we were two wings from the same bird. Does that make sense? They say that about Puerto Rico and Cuba. And I remember thinking, "Man, we could play brothers." And a few days later, I walk onto the set to meet Rey, and it was Jordi. And we were like, "Bro, no way!" I remember our first scene together: it was the first time Rey and Arturo see each other and we get into each other's faces, and right off the bat, we were going at each other. Jordi and I spoke for maybe two minutes before that scene and tried to do the most connecting that we could -- and two Cubans from Miami can connect a lot of dots in two minutes! We talked so fast! "Oh, you're from there? I'm from here. I went to this school, you went to that school, your parents are from here in Cuba, my parents are from there in Cuba..." I mean, we literally knew each other's life stories in the two minutes of blocking before we did the scene. And it was just so incredible to be able to connect like. I'm lucky enough to call him a brother on-screen, and for us to have that chemistry, me, him, and Sasha [Calle, Lola], who is also from Miami, it's a really special group. I can't say thank you enough to the producers and to the network for blessing us with the opportunity of bringing life to these characters and for really believing in us and taking a chance. It's been a lot of fun.

Soap Central: You're teaching viewers a little bit about your culture just via storyline, but have you taught any of your costars about your Cuban culture, like with recipes or anything like that?

Canela: I've been trying to get a group of us together to go out salsa dancing and do things that have to do with our culture, because I'd love to share that with them. Peter [Bergman], who plays Jack Abbott, he was born in Guantanamo Bay, so he was actually the first Cuban on Y&R, and no one even knew it! It's funny, because I had a scene with him early on, when I first started, and we were knocking on the door at the ranch, and he goes, "Man, I never thought I'd see the day when two Cubans are knocking on the Newmans' door." And we both started dying laughing. That was when I found out he was born in Guantanamo Bay. He left when he was eight months old, but still, the way he says it, he says he grabbed the best part of Cuba -- he got the genes. And now it's a little joke between us. But, yeah, I'd love to share a bit more of my culture with the cast. We've talked about it a few times, with everything that is going on in Cuba and what is happening in Venezuela now, with the new appointed president. I send my prayers and all of my positive energy to the people who are literally fighting for their freedom. And I pray that this is the beginning of a free Venezuela, and I hope it is the beginning of one day being able to see Cuba free again.

Soap Central: I'm really glad you mentioned that, and I hope the same. Do you know if you have Spanish-speaking fans who tune in to Y&R even though it's an English soap opera?

Canela: Oh, yeah! I do, and they write to me all the time. They love it. I started in Spanish [soap operas], and the people who have been with me and watched my beginnings and have been supporting me, I am so grateful to them. A lot of them speak English as well as Spanish, because they're a part of that percentile that I'm a part of, which is, yeah, I'm American, I was born in America. But I grew up in a Spanish household. So, the same way that I feel 100% American, I feel 100% Latino. I always spoke English with my friends in school, but the moment I got home, I spoke Spanish with my family. So, I think a big percentage of my fan base is that same percentile that I put myself in. They'll tune in to watch something Spanish, but if I let them know I'm doing something in English, they're not going to hesitate to switch the channel and watch it. We're 200%: we're Latinos and Americans, and we're all about supporting [both].

Soap Central: Is there anything else that you'd like to add before I have to let you go?

Canela: Actually, now that we're talking about family and all of the families on the show -- I know that there are core families and people who have been on Y&R for 20-plus years, and the Rosales family is a new family, and we're Latino, and we're representing this new side that hasn't been represented before. A lot of people seem to be having a tough time watching it, and I ask myself, in 45 years with this show, all of these families, all of these characters that are here today, although a great part of them have been there for a very long time, they weren't always there for a long time. They, too, came onto the show as newcomers, and I don't doubt that people had a hard time accepting them because of whoever they replaced or because of whoever they were when they came onto the show. There are so many reasons why a person leaves a show or a person comes onto a show, but what I can assure you is there are no characters who are replacing other characters on this show, at least with our family and the integration of the Rosales family. So, to those who are having a tough time seeing that air time for us, I suggest that they put on their seat belts and buckle down, because the Rosales family seems to be here to stay, and I hope that they can learn to love us or love to hate us, because it's going to be a fun ride.System error

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Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fbff820a640)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff8243220)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fbff820a640)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff8243220)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fbff8216ba0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff8243220)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff8243220)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff7cb5d10)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbfde979a68)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbfde979a68)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0Its time to abort Democrats out of public office and stop the legalized murder of children

Now that the Left Cult has come bursting out of the closet in full support of murdering babies that have already been born, the time has come for conservatives to adopt their own policy of politicide against all Democratic politicians who embrace mass infanticide against innocent, newborn life.

Put another way, its time for conservatives everywhere to start actively aborting Democratic politicians out of office, such as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who, as we earlier reported, lit up the One World Trade Center in the color pink to celebrate his signing of a new law that allows abortionists in the Empire State to terminate human life even after its already left the mothers womb.

While they still have the opportunity to do so, conservatives  and really all people who recognize the inherent value of human life  need to get out to the ballot box and abort any and all politicians who embrace the mass murder of newborn children.

Patriotic Americans have a duty, after all, to defend the helpless and the innocent from oppression and violence  and who could be more helpless and innocent than a newborn baby being murdered by an abortionist?

As Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, explained in a recent piece, all human beings  including newborn babies  have a God-given right to self-defense. And were they able to wield a firearm at that age, newborn babies would be fully justified in shooting back against their attacker, the abortionist.

Post-birth abortion is a form of extreme medical violence that ends a human life, and with the Democrats now legalizing infanticide  the murder of a baby after it has been born alive  we need to talk honestly about the definitions of life, murder and self-defense, Adams writes.

As I point out in my podcast below, if babies were born with guns, they could SHOOT post-birth abortionists in self-defense. And those shootings would be justified and legal, since abortionists in the act are committing homicide against a living human being. Murder is illegal, and self-defense is a human right. Newborn babies are not excluded from this basic human right.

For more related news, be sure to check out Abortions.news and Evil.news.

Why is the life of an irresponsible mother who failed to prevent an unwanted pregnancy more valuable than the innocent human life in her womb who had no say in the matter?

When it comes to the way that the Left Cult describes a womans right to choose, in this context, its shockingly hypocritical the verbiage Leftists often use to justify the alleged superiority of womens lives versus the lives of the unborn children they want to terminate.

One might describe it as feminist supremacy  the idea that the lives of irresponsible females who fail to responsibly avoid getting pregnant are somehow superior to and more valuable than the innocent human lives growing in their wombs.

This onslaught of feminist superiority appears to be reaching far beyond the borders of just New York State, as similar pro-infanticide legislation is being pushed in Virginia, New Mexico, Vermont, Rhode Island, and elsewhere  creating what Bradley Mattess from LifeSiteNews.com describes as the age of infanticide.

This is morally repugnant, Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse (R-Omaha) is quoted as saying about recent statements made by Virginia Governor Ralph Northam in support of infanticide.

In just a few years, pro-abortion zealots went from safe, legal, and rare to keep the newborns comfortable while the doctor debates infanticide. I dont care what party youre from  if you cant say that its wrong to leave babies to die after birth, get the h*** out of public office.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com

LifeSiteNews.com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.

Sify.com Movies Reviews Hollywood The Wife

The Wife review: Nuanced performances elevate this narrative

The film is a clever, subtle and moving portrait of a woman whose strength is hidden to those who simply see her as the wife.

Source: SIFY By: Troy Ribeiro/IANS Critic's Rating: 3.5/5 Tuesday 04 June 2019

Movie Title The Wife review: Nuanced performances elevate this narrative Director Bjorn Runge

Star Cast Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, Christian Slater, Max Irons, Harry Lloyd, Annie Starke, Alix Wilton Regan, Elizabeth McGovern

Swedish director Bjorn Runge's The Wife, written by Jane Anderson from Meg Wolitzer's novel of the same name, is a taut, simple and sleek character study of an ageing woman who, married for 30 odd years, re-examines her life after being complicit in many of the decisions she has taken along with her husband, in order to maintain a stable marriage.

Narrated in a non-linear manner, the film opens in 1992 with the Castlemans: Joseph (Jonathan Pryce) a successful writer and his wife Joan (Glenn Close), in their Connecticut home, trying to fall asleep, when a phone call from Sweden announces that Joseph is to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Dev review: Way too predictable to ever surprise you!

The news alters the sombre mood in the bedroom, we witness a spectrum of emotions that range from excitement to hesitancy to detached aloofness as the duo toss and turn in bed. This sets the narrative rolling to establish the delicate, thorny and riled closeness of the happily, long-married couple.

The script is compelling and intriguing. It subtly brings out the underdog story to the forefront with issues of how women were treated in the literary world, the behind-the-scenes dalliances, mechanical co-dependency, gentle resentments and hunger for independent thinking.

There are moments that lead to cliches and unnecessary melodrama, which could be frustrating but those moments are well-handled and few. But, what gives heft to the writing is the attentive detail given to the unassumingly detached characterisation and the nuanced-powerhouse performance by its ace cast.

It is a treat to watch Pryce deliver a terrific narcissist character while masking his own pain. Over the decades, he has several adulterous affairs and tells everyone that his wife Joan "does not write". Pryce is engaging and infuriating as a man relishing the fame and notoriety of his success but equally co-dependent on his wife to meet his basic needs.

Glenn Close as Joan Castleman gives us a content, loving and often submissive character who, despite the circumstances, remains firm and close to the man she fell in love with during her youth. It is a delight to watch her skilfully measured, silent rage erupt on screen with simple facial expressions, which the camera captures while she reacts to her world around her.

The duo is aptly supported by Max Irons as their son David, an aspiring writer who idolises his father and seeks his critique and approval for his first short story; Christian Slater as the journalist Nathaniel Bone who is accompanying the Castlemans to Stockholm with the intention of convincing Joseph to give him the rights of his biography; and Annie Starke, Close's real-life daughter, who beautifully portrays the younger version of Close's Joan.

The Wife is a clever, subtle and moving portrait of a woman whose strength is hidden to those who simply see her as the wife. Its premise is so akin to director Tim Burton's January 2015 released Big Eyes which featured Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz in key roles.A section of media reported that Adah Sharma has been signed to play item song in Nani's current film. It was said that she has agreed to do the item number as the money offered was good. The reports also added that she will join the shoot offor item song.

Adah who is better known for films such as Kshanam and Heart Attack made it clear that she was not approached for.

"Guys! not true! I usually let false news die down but been getting so many messages so thought I would clear it out. I'm not doing a special song in a film as of now. whenever I am though I will share it on my official social media," she posted on social media clarifying that she is not doing item song in Jersey.

Adah has also appeared in films like Subramanyam for Sale and S/o Satyamurthy but has not made much headway. She is currently acting in Rajasekhar starrer Kalki.

Text: Telugucinema.com

Images: Instagram/TwitterHe appeared at the ED office around 10.40 a.m and was interrogated until around 8.30 pm, after which he left for Delhi.

Jaipur: Businessman Robert Vadra deposed before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here for the second consecutive day on Wednesday in connection with a money laundering case involving Bikaner land deal cases.

A total of four ED officials grilled Congress President Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law, said an agency official.

However, his mother Maureen, who was interrogated on Tuesday, was not questioned on Wednesday. She was interrogated for nearly two hours and had to face around 10 questions.

They were questioned for over eight hours on Tuesday under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

According to an ED source, on Tuesday, 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 source disclosed that Vadra was also asked about the business and transactions of his company. He was also questioned about how much lands he bought, and whether he took loans to buy the land in Bikaner.

The ED officials also asked Vadra if he knew about the involvement of Kumar in the case and when Nagar informed him about the forgery of documents to buy those lands.

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 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.Corporation Bank of India has been asked to pay Rs 2 crore while State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India have been imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore each, according to an official statement on Wednesday.

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed penalties on four public sector banks for non-compliance of its various directions.

These banks breached RBI directions on monitoring of end-use of funds, exchange of information with other banks, classification and reporting of frauds, and on restructuring of accounts.

The penalties have been imposed under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(c) read with Section 46(4)(i) of the Banking Regulation Act 1949, taking into account failure of the banks to adhere to directions issued by the RBI.

"This action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the banks with their customers," said the central bank.

The CAG noted that against the three-year period fixed by procurement rules for completing deals, four Indian Air Force contracts, out of 11 scrutinized, took more than three years and seven cases fructified in more than five years.

New Delhi: Going by inordinate delays in realization of defence contracts, the deal to buy 36 French Rafale fighter jets broke speed records, a report on Wednesday by the Comptroller and Auditor General indicates.

The fastest was the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with France for the purchase of 36 Rafale jets which took 24 months. The deal for 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) was hanging for 180 months.

The contract for 22 Apache attack helicopters was signed after 105 months and it took 113 months to buy 15 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters. Even staid equipment like purchase of doppler weather radar took 96 months.

The negotiations on price after clearing all the layers of the acquisition process also took months. The MMRCA price negotiations went on for 48 months. It took more than 26 months to finalize the price of Chinooks.

The CAG noted that the acquisition process could not effectively support the Indian Air Force in its operational preparedness and modernization.An investigation into the role played by LIC in the IL&FS mess becomes imminent as it is the largest shareholder in the conglomerate. The role of CRAs has come under the scanner as they failed to adequately vet IL&FS financials that led them to over-rate IL&FS entities just before signs of stress started appearing.

New Delhi: A parliamentary committee on Wednesday recommended an inquiry into the role played by Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and credit rating agencies (CRAs) in landing Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) into a debt trap.

Calling for urgent measures to revive IL&FS while noting that it is the "only major institution funding the infrastructure projects in the country" the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance said the governance failures and indecision on the part of the IL&FS Board should also be thoroughly probed.

In its recommendations, the panel suggested the implementation of mandatory rotation of CRAs to "bring more accountability among the credit rating agencies as they will be wary of committing negligence".

"In order to have more vibrant functioning of domestic capital and money markets and enhancing credibility in the credit rating industry, we feel the mandatory rotation of CRAs may be implemented," the report stated.

The recommendation comes as the panel in the report highlighted that the credibility of credit rating action has "come into sharp question" in the crisis involving IL&FS.

As 'rating' of an instrument or entity is being increasingly relied upon by capital markets, bankers and investors and, since it constitutes a key input for financial decision-making of far-reaching magnitude, the committee stressed the need for the rating process to be "absolutely professional".Gandhi made the remarks in his speech at the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting here.

New Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday lauded former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the "precise" prediction concerning the "damage" caused by demonetisation, saying it was better than any other economist.

"Manmohan Singhji, who in his economic wisdom saw 2 per cent damage by demonetisation... I don't know what mathematics he did, what calculations he did, but it turned out that it was the most precise, better than pretty much any other economist, so we thank him for that," Gandhi said.

Gandhi also made a special mention of party leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, who, he said, "fought great odds to give some terrific speeches".

He said that Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and party's deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma "gave some very good speeches".

He also lauded other party members for their role in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The last session of the 16th Lok Sabha concluded on Wednesday.

The meeting was attended by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, besides Manmohan Singh, Azad, Kharge and Sharma.New Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday dismissed as "eyewash" the CAG report on the Rafale deal and contended that two major claims made by the government of cheaper deal and faster delivery of aircraft stood demolished because of the dissent report of three members of the Indian Negotiating Team (INT).

Addressing the media after the CAG report was placed in Parliament, he referred to the views of the experts in INT on the Rafale deal and said "the two pillars of the Modi government's defence for the aircraft deal, of cheaper deal and faster delivery, stand demolished".

"Experts who were part of the negotiating team have said Dassault Aviation (Rafale maker) has an order backlog of 83 aircraft and with a capacity of manufacturing only 11 aircraft per year it will take eight years to clear the backlog.

"Thus, India will get its first Rafale much later than what was scheduled in the UPA deal. Not only that, they have also pointed out the final price offered by the French is 55.6 per cent higher than the benchmark price fixed by the negotiating team," Gandhi said.

Dismissing the CAG report, Gandhi said even the national auditor had admitted that the cost of India-specific enhancements for 126 aircraft with transfer of technology was cheaper than what was under the new deal without transfer of technology.

"Under the UPA deal, the India-specific enhancements along with transfer of technology was 11.11 million euro per aircraft whereas under the Modi deal the cost for the same, that too without transfer of technology, is 36.11 million euro per aircraft. This is where all the corruption has happened," alleged Gandhi.

Reiterating his allegation of Modi's personal culpability in the deal, Gandhi said: "The Rafale issue has cut deep into the minds of the people, so much so that whenever someone says 'chowkidar,' the next words that follow are 'chor hai'.

"From corruption to procedural violation to divulging defence secret to his cronies, Modi has done all in the deal and one by one all the defences by his government and his Ministers are getting demolished.

"The fact that the first Rafale will come to India only after Dassault clears its backlog of 83 aircraft demolishes the Modi government's claims of sacrificing the UPA deal for the purpose of emergency purchase," Gandhi said.A dry dock to handle the countrys biggest vessels is affordable and can form the basis of a new marine servicing industry, KiwiRail chair Greg Miller says.

Establishing a new facility will reduce the increasing cost and risk shippers face getting regular surveys completed at ports in Australia or Singapore, he said.

The new ferries the firm plans to introduce from 2023  230 metres long and 30 metres wide  actually sets the stage for the project, he said. KiwiRail is keen to be a catalyst and initial discussions with other shippers have been positive.

The key, he said, is to integrate the new dock with other existing facilities. The resulting hub could then provide a full range of marine services.

Its nowhere near as big and scary as we think - if we get it right, Miller told BusinessDesk.

Ive got a really good idea of the costs and they dont scare us. He wouldnt provide an estimate.

Dry docks operate at Lyttelton and at Devonport in Auckland. But both are old and neither are large enough to cater for the increasing size of the countrys ferries, coastal carriers and some ocean-going fishing vessels.

Port Marlborough has spent several years campaigning to establish a floating dry dock at Shakespeare Bay and previously estimated the cost at up to $80 million.

Last year, the New Zealand Shipping Federation urged action on the project, saying it was open to any location that is affordable, can provide 24-hour, seven-day operation, has access to other wharves and is deep enough for use by international vessels.

It told the governments working party on a supply chain strategy for the upper North Island that the only feasible sites are Whangarei and Shakespeare Bay.

Miller wouldnt be drawn on the location of the facility, development of which may still be five to 10 years out.

Yesterday, he told Parliaments Transport and Infrastructure Committee that the limited dry dock capacity is causing a loss of productivity.

Increasing coastal shipping around Australia is making it harder for New Zealand vessels to access facilities there. Getting to and from Singapore adds to time and cost and also adds considerable risk to scheduling.

Miller said New Zealand fishing companies are also designing vessels to fit the local facilities, reducing their ocean-going capacity and their efficiency.

The Devonport dock can handle vessels up to 170 metres in length. Miller said there are probably 14 local vessels that could use a larger facility now and he could see that figure getting to 20 pretty easily.

Beyond that there is additional scope to gain business from international shipping lines that currently cant get vessels serviced here.

We could build an industry, he said. We are going to really pursue a location and an opportunity for that.

(BusinessDesk)

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Super Retail Group, which bought New Zealand outdoor clothing and equipment company Macpac 12 months ago, reported a 6 percent increase in first-half sales and an almost 9 percent improvement in normalised net profit.

But the results were overshadowed by the announcement that the company will have to fork out almost A$43 million because of two staff-underpayment scandals uncovered during the past few months.

The first incident, last year, affected staff involved in setting up and refurbishing stores. The second - revealed Tuesday - involved underpaying overtime and meal allowances for retail managers.

The company will be making provision for total costs of A$42.6 million pre-tax (A$30 million post-tax) for costs associated with compensating retail store managers for underpayments over a six-year period, the company said today.

Long-standing SRG chief executive Peter Birtles has fallen on his sword and will leave next week - five weeks earlier than planned. He will be replaced by Anthony Heraghty, who was previously head of the companys outdoor chains, including Macpac.

SRG recognised the A$30 million post-tax cost of the underpayments by adjusting its retained earnings by A$24 million. The remaining A$6 million compensatory interest bill was treated as a one-time cost.

That saw group net profit for the six months to Dec. 29 fall 0.7 percent to A$71.7 million. Excluding the underpayments and other one-time costs, normalised net profit rose to A$81.6 million.

Macpac more than pulled its weight in the period, adding A$9.5 million to group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, the company said.

Macpac effectively joined SRG at the end of March 2018. The retail group also owns Supercheap Auto, Rebel Sport in Australia, and boating, camping and fishing chain BCF. The company said Macpac had contributed A$51.4 million in sales since April 1, and nine more Macpac stores had opened, taking the total to 59 in Australia and New Zealand.

Another nine stores, which make up Super Retail Groups outdoor store chain Rays, will be rebranded Macpac during the next three months.

Macpac online sales grew 24 percent over the period, and now make up 10 percent of the total, the company said.

Macpac was founded in 1973 by 19-year-old Christchurch-based hiking enthusiast Bruce McIntyre, who started making backpacks in his parents garage.

Later, Jan Cameron and Bernie Wicht, founders of rivals Kathmandu, bought major stakes. In early 2016, 90 percent of Macpac was bought by Australian private equity firm Champ Ventures for approximately A$70. Champ put the business up for sale the following year.

Super Retail Group paid NZ$144 million for Macpac, and the purchase gave SRG the number one spot in terms of share of the outdoor clothing and camping equipment market, ahead of Kathmandu.

(BusinessDesk)

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The New Zealand Institute of Quantity Surveyors has decided more training is the best penalty to impose on immediate past president Jeremy Shearer after a Building Disputes Tribunal adjudicator described his conduct as punitive, vexatious, disingenuous and egregious.

Russell Lund, who was the lead contractor on the project to refurbish the Balclutha Centennial Swimming Pool, laid the complaint against Shearer last year after the project ended up costing more than six times the original $1 million estimate.

The adjudicator, John Green, made it clear in his judgment that the main culprit in creating what he called a complete" was Shearer.

The Clutha District Council, owner of the pool built in 1970, and Lund agreed to make Greens judgment public in March last year, a year after Green delivered it. Lund lodged his complaint to NZIQS shortly after that.

In his judgment, Green said that the project was "essentially a complete mess from the outset. Taken overall, it would be a kindness to say the administration of the contract was bizarre.

I am left with the impression that the engineer was at least careless with the truth, Green said. Shearer was the engineer responsible for overseeing the contract.

The reason for the blowout in costs was a result of Shearer failing to treat Lund fairly and Shearer crossed the line of being unreasonable in the context of assessing Lunds payment claims, Green said in deciding the dispute largely in Lunds favour.

In a letter to Lund dated Feb. 13 this year, nearly a year after the complaint was lodged, Brian Nightingale, chair of NZIQSs professional conduct committee, outlined his committees findings.

Nightingale said that Shearers actions fell below the standards of conduct required by the NZIQS in that he failed in his role as engineer to provide the "utmost care and had accordingly breached the institutes code of conduct.

The committee has concluded that the breach is not sufficiently serious to constitute negligence or incompetence and that there was no evidence of bad faith or unconscionable behaviour on the part of Mr Shearer such as to require the complaint to be referred to the Disciplinary Board, Nightingales letter says.

The committee have recommended .. that the NZIQS Council impose requirements for the professional development or training of Mr Shearer, the letter says.

Shearers LinkedIn page shows hes a development and project consultant at Flanders Marlow and operates in Otago and Southland and has been in that position since April 2013.

He lists SPIIRE, Forest Products Holdings and Arrow International as previous employers.

In his judgment, Green said Shearer is clearly a "very experienced and capable engineer."

But he said problems with the project were as fundamental as uncertainty about when the contract was formed.

The council sought tenders for the pool renovation in November 2010 and, after several extensions, tenders closed on Jan. 31, 2011.

By then, the costs had already blown out to nearly $3.67 million, including a $70,000 contingency.

At that time, the council had envisaged that it could re-open the pool before Christmas 2011  it didnt actually open until June the following year.

The council and Shearer treated April 12, 2011, as the start of the contract and the official completion date was supposed to be Nov. 12.

But Green found both parties to the contract didnt actually sign it until October 2011, even though work had begun in May 2011 when Lund was first granted access to the site.

In the construction sector, it is not uncommon for there to be an offer, followed by a series of counter-offers where each party successively seeks to impose different terms.

In some cases, the battle is won by the man who fires the last shot, the other party being taken to have agreed the others terms by conduct in proceeding to perform the contract without objection.

This process is often referred to as the battle of the forms," Green notes.

Shearer was confused about various matters and admitted as much in a June 2011 email that said: I am very confused. Green says I am left with the impression that the engineer was at least careless with the truth.

In the end, Green declared the completion date was at large or non-existent other than that Lund needed to have completed the work within a reasonable time, taking into account council interference in practical completion.

The process was further complicated by the council and Shearer making various changes to the work, even after the contract had been signed, but also refusing to allow any extensions of time to take account of the delays they had caused. At one point, the council had even brought in separate contractors.

The Building Disputes Tribunal last year ordered Clutha District Council to pay Lund's firm almost $1.9 million in final settlement of the contract.

(BusinessDesk)

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The New Zealand dollar rose on stronger than expected trade data from China and positive news on its trade dispute with the United States.

The kiwi was trading at 68.30 US cents at 5pm from 68.09 at 8am. The trade-weighted index rose to 74.16 points from 73.97.

Tim Kelleher, head of institutional foreign exchange sales at ASB Bank, said the trade figures from China, New Zealand's biggest trading partner, were way stronger than expected.

They showed dollar-denominated imports fell 1.5 percent in January from a year earlier, much better than economists predictions of a 10 percent decline. Exports rose 9.1 percent compared to the 3.2 percent contraction economists were expecting.

Chinas much-watched trade surplus with the US - because of the trade tensions between the two countries - eased slightly to US$27.3 billion in January, from US$29.87 billion in December.

That data was followed by an announcement from US President Donald Trump that talks with China are making good progress and that hes considering extending the deadline for imposing more tariffs on Chinese imports out from early March.

Kelleher says that, earlier in the day, the New Zealand dollar had weakened after Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr sounded more downbeat about the domestic economy when he appeared before Parliaments Finance and Expenditure Committee than he had yesterday when presenting the latest monetary policy statement.

Orr said the Reserve Bank is projecting that the household savings rate will improve but one of the risks is that households will spend more than expected.

Generally, households in New Zealand have been very good at spending all their income plus, Orr told the committee. We are assuming households will be more circumspect.

The New Zealand dollar fell as low as 67.93 US cents during the day - a long way off its overnight high of 68.52 cents - before recovering on the Chinese trade numbers.

Kelleher says a number of players in the market were caught short kiwi dollars which had prevented the currency falling further.

The New Zealand dollar is trading at 95.89 Australian cents from 95.87, at 75.86 yen from 75.54, at 53.07 British pence from 52.94, at 60.54 euro cents from 60.38 and at 4.6191 Chinese yuan from 4.6034.

The two-year swap rate is at 1.9030 percent from 1.8750; the 10-year swap rate is at 2.4850 percent from 2.4530.

(BusinessDesk)

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Press Release

February 14, 2019 Senate ratifies measure creating social welfare attaches for distressed OFWs The Senate has ratified a measure establishing social welfare attaches in countries with high concentration of overseas Filipino workers, especially in the Middle East. Senator Joel Villanueva, chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development, thanked his colleagues for the adoption of House Bill 8907 as an amendment to Senate Bill 1819, or "An Act Establishing the Office for Social Welfare Attache," before Congress adjourned for midterm elections last week. The adoption of the House version of the measure by the Senate would do away with the convening of the bicameral conference committee, hence the subsequent ratification of the bill. Villanueva said the measure, which institutionalizes social welfare attaches as a permanent component of Philippine foreign posts in countries or jurisdictions, could address incidence of suicides and cases of abuse against OFWs. The bill amends Section 1, paragraph b of RA 8042 so that the State shall provide adequate and timely social, economic and legal services to Filipino migrant workers, especially for workers who are vulnerable to physical, emotional, and psychological stress or abuse. He also stressed the importance of mental health of the migrant workers who are experiencing depression while they are away from their families. "We believe that having permanent social welfare attaches in our embassies can help prevent incidents of suicide and cases of abuse against our modern-day heroes," he said. There are about 10 million Filipinos spread out in more than 170 countries, Villanueva said. About 2.3 million of them are migrant workers. However, Villanueva noted that there are only eight social welfare attaches deployed in several parts of the world as of May 2018. These social welfare attaches have served, from 2013 until the first semester of 2017, a total of 61,131 distressed OFWs who were victims of physical, sexual and psychological abuse, maltreatment, trafficking and marital conflicts, as well as abandoned or neglected children and other vulnerable sectors. Aside from providing social, economic and legal services to OFWs, the Social Welfare Attache bill would also ensure the deployment of social welfare attache officers by the Department of Social Welfare and Development to manage cases of OFWs in distress and ensure coordination among agencies and various groups to address the psychosocial needs of distressed OFWs. The social welfare attache shall also establish and maintain a data bank and documentation of OFWs and their families so that appropriate social welfare services can be more effectively provided; provide information about the DSWD and its attached agencies and services; and perform other related function in the delivery of social services as may be directed by the head of the diplomatic post in the area of assignment. The DSWD Secretary shall include in her agency's programs the implementation of the Act, the funding of which shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA), the proposal stated. The DSWD shall also provide the criteria for determining the selection of Diplomatic Posts to which Social Welfare Attaches will be deployed and the minimum qualifications and attributes of the Social Welfare Attaches.Press Release

February 14, 2019 Koko: 'justice served' in COMELEC dismissal of DQ cases Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III today welcomed the Commission on Election's decision declaring him eligible to run for senator in the 2019 national elections, saying that "justice was served" when the poll body's First Division dismissed the two petitions for disqualification filed against the lawmaker. In its 12-page ruling dated February 13, 2019, the COMELEC dismissed two petitions filed against Pimentel "for lack of merit." The decision further clarified that "Pimentel initially lost the 12th winning senatorial seat during the 2007 elections. He then filed an election protest and was thereafter proclaimed as the 12th duly-elected Senator for the 2007 elections. It was only then that Pimentel began to discharge his duties and function of a Senator. It is clear that Pimentel has not fully served his term, thus the two-term limit does not apyet apply to him." "We're extremely pleased with the decision, which clears the air of any supposed legal uncertainty that may have been caused by efforts to derail my candidacy," said the senator from Mindanao. Article VI, Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution prohibits senators from serving for more than two consecutive terms. It also sets the length of each term to six years. In the 2007 national elections, Pimentel was edged out of the 12th and last Senate seat. The Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) eventually ruled in Pimentel's favor in 2011, allowing him to serve one year and ten months in the Senate. The incumbent Senator and President of PDP-Laban has consistently argued that his assumption of the unfinished term was not equivalent to and should not be treated as a full term as intended by the Constitution. "Simply put, I cannot be considered to have served two terms because an interrupted term that is not due to the action or fault of the elected official should not to be counted as one term. The COMELEC likewise viewed it that way, and ruled correctly according to a proper interpretation of the Constitution," Pimentel stressed. "With this issue behind us, we can now tackle the issues that really matter, those which affect the lives of over 100 million Filipinos."Press Release

February 14, 2019 Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros on the arrest of Rappler Chief Maria Ressa Yesterday was a sad, dark day for Philippine press freedom. By sending award-winning Rappler CEO and TIME Person of the Year Maria Ressa to jail, President Rodrigo Duterte once more twists the law in an attempt to silence voices of truth and dissent. It is the latest display of Duterte's authoritarian tendencies, and much like other would-be dictators, his distaste for the free and principled press. This event also highlights Duterte's predilection for selective justice, given how Ressa's arrest stands in stark contrast to the administration's unwillingness to implement the arrest warrant against Imelda Marcos, the wife of Duterte's "idol," and its "inability" to bring to justice Duterte's friend and accused druglord Peter Lim. There is no question that Ressa's arrest is meant to intimidate members of the media - especially those engaged in reportage critical of the administration - into submission. However, if the president believes that he will succeed in putting a stop to truthful and hard-hitting coverage of his policies and actions, then he is gravely mistaken. I, along with many others, stand with Maria Ressa and Rappler in their fight against the administration's latest assault on the freedom of the press and its other efforts to erode our democratic institutions. We must speak out and decry this outrageous act of oppression and authoritarianism. We must hold the line and help protect the cause of the free press and its role of speaking truth to power, making our leaders accountable and safeguarding our democracy.Press Release

February 14, 2019 De Lima thanks Senate, House allies for support on her freedom Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has thanked her colleagues in Congress for supporting and reiterating calls by the United Nations Human Rights Council - Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNHRC-WGAD) to release her from unjust detention. In a brief message she sent through her staff, De Lima relayed her heartfelt thanks for the separate resolutions filed by the Senate minority bloc and six members of the House of Representatives before Congress took its recess for the midterm elections. "Having all of you as friends and allies, and fellow fighters for truth, justice and democracy, makes my own personal struggles a lot bearable and my resolve to carry on a lot stronger," she said in her handwritten note dated Feb. 11. Last Feb. 8, the members of the Senate minority bloc have filed Senate Resolution No. 1019 urging the Philippine government to heed the findings and recommendations of the UNHRC-WGAD about the situation of their colleagues, Sen. De Lima. The Senate minority bloc is composed of Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, Senators Francis N. Pangilinan, Antonio F. Trillanes, Paolo Benigno Aquino IV and Risa Hontiveros. A similar resolution, logged as House Bill 2506, has also been filed at the House calling on appropriate government agencies to comply with the recommendations contained in the Opinion transmitted by the UN panel to the Philippine government. It was signed by Rep. Kaka Bag-ao (Lone District, Dinagat Islands), Rep. Edcel Lagman (1st District, Albay), Rep. Kit Belmonte (6th District, Quezon City), Rep. Edgar Erice (2nd District, Caloocan City), Rep. Gabriel Bordado Jr. (3rd District, Camarines Sur), and Rep. Tom Villarin (Akbayan Party-List). The UN working panel considered that De Lima has been targeted and subjected to attacks on account of her personal conviction and statements regarding extrajudicial killings, and discriminatory language due to her gender, and concludes that violations of her rights to a fair trial are of such gravity as to render her deprivation of liberty arbitrary. The Panel's 13-page Opinion was adopted during its 82nd session last Aug. 24 and was only made public last Nov. 30. It recommended to the Philippine government to take necessary steps to remedy De Lima's situation and conform it with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It has also asked the Philippine government to immediately release De Lima from unjust detention and accord her an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, including her reinstatement in the positions from which she was ousted. The UN working panel also asked the government to ensure a full and independent investigation of the circumstances surrounding De Lima's arbitrary deprivation of liberty and take appropriate measures against those responsible for violating her right. It has also referred De Lima's case to three UN special rapporteurs to investigate the violations committed against her after finding sufficient grounds that violate her rights as a duly-elected senator and a human rights defender.Press Release

February 14, 2019 ANGARA BILL SEEKS TO GRANT 5-PERCENT DISCOUNT PRIVILEGE TO POOR STUDENTS PANGASINAN--In a bid to further reduce out-of-pocket expenses related to education, reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara is now pushing for a 5-percent discount on restaurants, medicines, textbooks and school supplies of impoverished students in all levels under a proposal aimed at encouraging more Filipino families to send their children to schools. Even with implementation of the Free College Education Law and expansion of the government's scholarship system, Angara said poor families still have to shell out significant amounts for their children's education. "Ginagawa po natin ang lahat para masigurong wala nang dahilan para hindi makapagtapos ng pag-aaral ang ating mga anak sa pamamagitan ng mga batas na ating nagawa at kasalukuyang isinusulong," said Angara, who is seeking a second term as senator in the May midterm elections under the platform Alagang Angara. Angara is one of the authors of both the Free College Education Law and the bill institutionalizing the grant of 20 percent fare discounts to students even during weekends and holidays and which covers all means of transportation all-year round. The student fare discount bill is now awaiting the signature of President Duterte after it was approved by the Senate and the House of Representatives. The senator issued the statement while campaigning in Pangasinan, which is home to close to 60 higher education institutions, including Pangasinan State University whose main campus is located in Lingayen City and which has nine satellite campuses across the province. Angara's Senate Bill 134 or the proposed Underprivileged Students' Discount Act seeks to grant covered poor elementary, high school and college students, including those enrolled in technical-vocational institutions, a 5-percent discount on food establishments, medicines, textbooks and school supplies, and on entrance fees to museums and cultural events. During a hearing conducted by the Senate education committee in January 2017, the Commission on Higher Education said that tuition only comprised 30 to 40 percent of a family's out-of-pocket education expenses. According to Angara, the 5-percent student discount, along with 20-percent student fare discount, will help unburden underprivileged students and their families from getting an education. "Our proposed student discount aims to ease the financial burden of underprivileged students and their families to help them cope with the high cost of education and daily school expenses," he added. SB 134 also provides tax incentives to establishments that would grant discounts, while those that would refuse would be penalized.ANGARA URGES GOVERNMENT TO FOCUS ON IMPROVING AGRICULTURE

URDANETA CITY--Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara on Thursday urged the government to direct more energy and resources towards improving the agriculture sector to help the country achieve inclusive growth and food security.

"If we invest more on revitalizing the agriculture sector, we provide not only food stability for the country's growing population, but also jobs and livelihoods for millions of Filipinos dependent on agriculture," Angara said.

Angara issued the statement while in Pangasinan, where he attended a campaign rally organized by Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) which is endorsing his candidacy. HNP is an influential regional political party chaired by presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.

Pangasinan has a land area of 536,819 hectares, 44 percent of which is devoted to agricultural production. The major crops in the province are rice, mangoes, corn and sugar cane.

Aside from infrastructure development, Angara said the nation needs nothing short of an "agricultural revolution" which the Duterte administration can spearhead alongside its "Build, Build, Build" initiative.

An agricultural revolution, he said, is necessary to help revive the agriculture sector and improve the lives of impoverished farmers and fisher folk, who belong to 60 percent of the country's poorest.

"Where there's build, build, build, there should also be 'grow, grow, grow'; 'plant, plant, plant' or even 'fish, fish, fish,'" Angara said.

Citing government records, Angara said that agriculture remains of crucial importance to in the economy of the Philippines, even though its relative contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) has been declining over the years.

From 1998 to 2009, the sector accounted for 13 to 14 percent of the total GDP. This steadily declined to 10 percent in 2017.

By investing heavily in agriculture, Angara said the government would be able to make the country's economic growth more inclusive or felt by a larger population.

"With an improved and revitalized agriculture sector, we can lift millions from poverty and hunger," Angara said.Publications in the Issue Media Group family of online magazines.

Issue Media Groups 12 publications in Michigan  including Southwest Michigan's Second Wave  have become members of the Michigan Press Association, more than doubling the number of online-only news organizations accepted into the 150-year-old organization.



We are happy to welcome Issue Media and all of their publications as news media members of the Michigan Press Association. They are a good example of the diversity of our membership, said James Tarrant, MPA executive director.



The MPA board approved Issue Media Group publications membership last month.



Issue Media Group launched in 2005 with its flagship Detroit publication, Model D, with a focus on filling the gaps in community journalism and local storytelling being left as traditional news outlets reduced their reporting staffs.



We are happy to earn this recognition from our peers at the Michigan Press Association, said Paul Schutt, co-owner of Issue Media Group. Our journalists report on the very fabric of our communities. This is wonderful validation of the work we have done, and continue to do every day, throughout Michigan.



Schutt, a tech business developer, and co-owner Brian Boyle, digital content strategist, developed the company into a media organization with 12 publications in Michigan and six others nationwide. Each operates its own news website and produces a weekly email magazine.



Issue Media Group launched Southwest Michigan's Second Wave in 2010 after being invited into the community by key partners. Last year, Second Wave launched the On the Ground program focusing on neighborhoods in Kalamazoo and Battle Creek. Issue Media Group continues to grow, adding four new markets in the last two years.



We see a growing need in communities large and small throughout the country to ensure important community stories continue to be told. We believe storytelling is foundational to a community's identity and to increasing resident voice and community attachment to place, Boyle said.



Issue Media Group publications focus on solutions journalism with an eye specifically toward community growth, development, and innovation. Issue Media Group employs more than 120 journalists nationwide and accumulated nearly 3.8 million page views in 2018.



Issue Media Group publications also include Ann Arbor Concentrate, Bay City Route, suburban Detroit Metromode, Detroit's Model D, Flintside, Grand Rapids Rapid Growth, Lansing Capital Gains, Midland Catalyst, Mt. Pleasant Epicenter, Port Huron The Keel, and Second Wave Media statewide, as well as Southwest Michigan's Second Wave.



With more than 330 members statewide, the addition of Issue Media Groups 12 Michigan-based magazines brings the total number of online-only news members to 21, according to MPA.



Like all Issue Media Group publications, Southwest Michigan's Second Wave is funded through a combination of underwriting contracts and grants. It is wholly editorially independent.



Other online-only news organizations with membership in the MPA include Bridge Magazine, Michigan Advance, Michigan Capitol Confidential, Chalkbeat, Flint Beat, Great Lakes Beacon, The Livingston Post, Michigan Information and Research Services Inc. (MIRS), and Oakland County 115, according to MPA.Recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor shows that, nationwide, employment in manufacturing is trending upwards. The news is especially well-received in Macomb County, where the number of new jobs created in the sector ranked the highest in the country.According to findings from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, workforce data by industry indicates that over the last year and half there were 9,118 new manufacturing jobs created in Macomb County. Overall, the countys manufacturing workforce is driven by 1,600 companies that employ more than 72,000 people.Sterling Heights mayor Michael Taylor says the statistics confirm not only a robust manufacturing economy, but the strategic importance of the sector to the city.Manufacturing creates the jobs that fuel economic activity across our city," Taylor says.Taylor says the benefit to the city is why Sterling Heights continues to focus economic development initiatives on manufacturing."The return on investment is tremendous," he says.Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel says it's inspiring to see the transformation, given that the future of manufacturing in the United States was in question in previous years."Here in Macomb, we held firm in the belief that our manufacturers would remain a key driver of economic prosperity, he says.I am pleased to see that our neighbors in Wayne and Oakland counties also made this list. This proves to the world that greater Detroit reigns in manufacturing.The Macomb County Department of Planning and Economic Development provides assistance to businesses with goals for growth and specializes in the manufacturing sector. Over the past five years, department staff provided direct service to more than 146 existing and incoming companies, which have then invested more than $1.4 billion in new facilities and equipment in the area.The future of manufacturing in Macomb County is strong, says Vicky Rad, interim director of Macomb County Planning and Economic Development.At the moment, there are more than 1,100 job postings in this sector in Macomb County. We encourage job seekers to turn to our Michigan Works! office for help in updating their resume, training opportunities and more.According to Detroit speaker Laura Khalil, women need to think beyond S.I.N.G . when it comes to self-defense. That's because much aggression and violence toward women take the form of words.This type of training is particularly relevant to women in Metro Detroit, says Khalil, because the automotive industry and its suppliers employ so many of us."As we all know, this is a primarily male-dominated industry which can feel intimidating for women and can pose unique challenges for women who want to climb the corporate ladder," she says.That's why Khalil is leading a workshop on how to speak up when the pressure is on."Being able to advocate for ourselves is absolutely critical to women as they grow their careers," she says.. "Practicing verbal self-defense can help women feel more comfortable negotiating and stating their worth and getting the type of projects and increased responsibilities that will ultimately help those who want to ascend to the C-Suite, more likely to do so."Metromode spoke with Khalil to find out more on what verbal self-defense is all about and why women need to include it in their arsenal.

What is verbal self-defense?

Verbal self-defense teaches students how to easily handle uncomfortable situations that normally cause us to tense up and freeze. By using specific verbal self-defense techniques, we can regain our power in those uncomfortable situations without being overly aggressive, nasty or bitchy.

When we freeze up, we feel powerless. And its only minutes or hours later that we think of a comeback or how we should have responded, and we beat ourselves up for not being quick enough to respond.

The good news is that there are specific techniques anyone can use to respond to these situations.

Give us an example?

What woman hasnt experienced catcalling or unwanted advances? Verbal self-defense provides techniques to be able to break the freeze response and verbally respond in those situations, stop the behavior and take back your power.

As an example, I was in a Lyft last week on my way to the airport. The driver commented on my looks no less than twelve times within one block. The first comment I received graciously, but as he continued to comment on my appearance, I became more and more uncomfortable.

At one point he said, You must get bothered all the time. Beautiful girls always get bothered. You are so beautiful.

I chose to respond and said clearly and plainly, And thats why you wont bother me. Because you must know how annoying it is to bothered.

Using his own language and redirecting it back at him in a simple, clear manner completely stopped the behavior. It made him aware of what he was doing and that I believed he could be a better man by not bothering me.

I had placed a clear boundary, took back my power, and he was completely respectful the rest of the 40-minute drive.

Do women need this more than men? If so, why?

While we can all learn to be better communicators, there are a number of issues specific to women that I address.

In the workplace, women experience the brunt of mansplaining, interrupting, credit talking, being talked over and sidelining. This is extremely demoralizing for employees to feel like their voice isnt being heard or valued. And women who experience this repeatedly, tend to feel hopeless in these situations.

For companies, this affects worker satisfaction, productivity and turnover rates. If everyone could learn how to empower themselves in situations where they feel they are being railroaded, we would see company cultures transform in many positive ways.

How did you get into this line of work?

I experienced many of the problems that confident, bold and take-charge women feel in the workplace. While working in the startup world in San Francisco, I had managers tell me to smile more and soften my language because it intimidated my male colleagues.

I spent years frustrated by this until I started my own consultancy in 2013. In being my own boss, I learned that these traits became my biggest assets in winning new business. Learning to be bold, speak with confidence and own a room were keys to building rapport with clients.

But I also had to learn to become a master negotiator. How to respond to clients whose business I wanted but who had challenging personalities or thought that consultants could be spoken down to.

Verbal self-defense isnt about fighting fire with fire, which is what I had been accustomed to doing in the workplace. Rather, its about getting curious instead of emotional, and redirecting the energy coming at you, back where it came from. Its a powerful, yet gentle, technique that can help anyone improve their communication style. Better yet, it can leave both sides feeling good about the interaction.

Tell us more about the workshop?

The workshop will go through specific techniques that women can use and implement immediately. Whether they are experiencing unwanted comments from men or trying to learn how to deal with a challenging boss or coworkers, it is equally effective.

The most important thing for women to do is practice! The workshop includes plenty of practice time to get used to speaking up in a safe environment, so you can build the muscle memory to respond in the real world.

What would you love for women to take away from this experience?

You do not have to be a victim of your circumstances. The #MeToo movement shared with the world what women have long known: sexual harassment and bullying are alive and well. We all have a lot of work to do to learn and improve conditions for women, but women do not need to wait for men to catch up.

We can begin today to empower ourselves in all of our interactions. And the best part is, its easier than you think.

Workshop details:

Verbal Self-Defense for Women

February 27th, 2019

SheHive 2505 Hilton, Ferndale, MI 48220

Tickets start at $65

According to Khalil, there are several excellent resources for women in the Metro Detroit area looking to develop their career skills. Some include Inforum, SheHive, and Women in Digital, among others. You can find out more about Khalil hereThis feature is courtesy of Driven , the story of how the Detroit region is leading the world in next-generation mobility.

The talent pipeline for the future of mobility rests at colleges and universities.

So it should come as no surprise that about two dozen colleges and related organizations from Michigan, Ohio, Ontario, Canada, and more were among the exhibitors and panel participants at in the Universities & Associations community at AutoMobili-D during the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS).

Many of the colleges returned to the NAIAS to recruit students, market their academic and skills training courses, and to showcase research opportunities. They also shared some of their achievements or works-in-progress in the mobility sector.

Parked outside the entrance to AutoMobili-D was a driverless shuttle already in operation on the North Campus of the University of Michigan (U-M).

Tested at the universitys Mcity, a controlled setting for testing connected and automated vehicles and technologies, the shuttle bus was manufactured by a French firm, NAVYA, who opened up a manufacturing facility in Saline, Mich. The bus can carry up to 15 passengers and runs a mile-long loop in Ann Arbor as part of a research project. Its also used to demonstrate autonomous vehicle technology at Mcity.

Like other universities, U-M is collaborating with industry, local governments, including the City of Detroit, the City of Ann Arbor, and Washtenaw Community College.

The future is not just for engineers with four-year degrees, says James R. Sayer, director of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. Theres a need for two-year or associate degrees. We need people who know how to fix these vehicles of the future.





Cross-state rival Michigan State University (MSU), also heavily involved in developing technologies for next-generation vehicles and smart cities, showcased a toy-size lego-built vehicle to demonstrate roadway sensors.



The sensors can detect damage in roadways, which will ultimately be used to keep autonomous vehicles in the appropriate lane.

In East Lansing, MSU has created a connected 8.1-square mile campus with 60 miles of road that includes embedded pavement sensors and connected traffic signals. The campus is used for testing emerging technologies and validating CAV systems.



Returning for a third year, Washtenaw Community College (WCC) exhibited an unusual-looking mechanical contraption, the Polaris Slingshot. Each modification on the creature-like vehicle highlights a different skill or technology either taught on campus or being worked into offerings.

Its all part of the colleges efforts to create a talent pipeline for vehicles of the future through its Advanced Transportation Center. The center offers degree and certificate programs and training to provide in-demand skills to work in the mobility sector.

What better place to demonstrate what we offer than at the North American International Auto Show, said Dr. Rose B. Bellance, WCC president.

The Michigan Technological University (MTU) displayed a Chevrolet Bolt, framed by fake snow, and a jet ski.

It turns out autonomous jet skis also are in our future. Students at MTU are collecting data from Coast Guard-driven jet skis in choppy water to assess how humans maneuver them in adverse conditions.

Were the only with a boat at the auto show, laughs Katie Buehner, assistant director of Industry Relations at the Houghton college. Its a good way to talk about what were doing at MIT.





Visit Driven and learn how the Detroit region is leading the world in next-generation mobility.Bunker sales in Panama fell by 1.8% to 4.55m metric tonnes (mt) compared to the record 4.63m mt the year before which registered growth of 15.61%.

Sales on the Pacific side decreased by 5.59% to 3.38m mt while they increased by 11.22% to 1.16m mt on the Atlantic side, where bunkering had been on the rise for the past two years.

Looking at the 2018 statistics in more detail, we can see that bunker sales were overall in a steady decline from March to November, when Panama hit a 29-month low, commented Raul De Saint Malo, director of Eagle Navigation & Trading, a Panama leading bunker company

I would explain this falling tendency from March as partly seasonal, however it is clear that after the quality claims debacle beginning in June, customers accelerated this trend by avoiding bunkering in Panama when possible, he added.

The bad bunkers started in the US Gulf in March in the form of 4-cumyl-phenol contamination, which does not show up in standard ISO8217 tests, and then spread to Panama, Caribbean and ports in Malaysia, Singapore, and China affecting hundreds of vessels.

Read more: Bad bunkers cases continue, spread to China

It is interesting to see that in December 2018, there was a sharp rise in sales again to 388,630 mt, bringing us back to March levels, he said.

Even though the availability in Cristobal were rather tight in December, it appears that the clients had regained confidence in the principal suppliers in the market, particularly the Oil Majors, says De Saint Malo.

The rise in Cristobal of 11% can almost certainly be attributed in large part to one container operator in particular, who markedly increased the bunker liftings there in place of US Gulf ports in the second half of the year, he explained.

The bad bunkers problem affected the whole market and clients are scrutinising their suppliers much more than before, which is a good thing, said one bunker operator.

Whether Panama will be prepared for eventually supply LNG to ships as bunkers, is a question that remains unanswered.

Currently there is an LNG storage terminal in the East Atlantic coast of Panama that could be very well utilised to supply LNG to ships ex-pipe and there is a LNG-supply project in the pipeline also on the Atlantic coast with Chinese investors while the Panama Canal Authority is considering putting to tender an area, next to the Pacific Cocoli new locks, for LNG storage tanks.

It is important to point out that at the moment there are no vessels transiting the Panama Canal that demand natural gas supply for consumption, apart the tankers transporting LNG. But, due to the IMO imposed environmental regulations, this demand could exist in the near future, commented De Saint Malo.

Knowing that these tankers consume the Boil Off Gas of their own cargo, they do not have great demand for bunker supply. As of today, the purpose for the existing LNG storage and others being considered is mainly Power Generation, he explained.The proposal has been listed as a priority initiative on the 2019 list of key national projects determined by the governments independent infrastructure advisory board, released Thursday.

CLIA Australasia & Asia md Joel Katz said the release of the 2019 Infrastructure Priority List provided important recognition for the economic contribution cruising makes to the national economy and the serious capacity constraints faced in Australias largest cruise port.

Katz said without urgent attention, Sydneys lack of berthing options would hamper growth in Australias almost A$5billion-a-year cruise sector.

Sydney at capacity

Sydneys cruise facility at Circular Quay is at capacity during Australias peak summer cruise season, which limits the number of ships that can visit, he said.

This has knock-on effects for other destinations around the country, so it is important that this issue has been recognised at the national level as a key infrastructure priority.

Katz said the cruise industry supports the New South Wales governments commitment to developing a strategic business case for an additional cruise terminal.

The industry will work constructively with the NSW government to support the development of additional cruise facilities and looks forward to achieving a viable solution in the near future, he said.28-night adventure

The 28-night voyage embarks at Anadyr, Russia, for Troms, Norway, on Aug. 18. The 200-passenger expedition ship will visit some of the worlds most remote islands, archipelagos and coastlines, allowing adventurous travelers to explore terrain few others ever have, in luxurious comfort.

'The Northeast Passage is precisely the type of bold expedition for which Crystal Endeavor is designed, with her PC6 designation and ability to maneuver through medium first-year ice, as well as offshore dynamic positioning, Zodiacs and virtually all other gear necessary for such intrepid exploration,' Crystal president and CEO Tom Wolber said.

Following in Nordenskjold's wake

The ship will visit places that are only sparsely occupied since legendary polar explorer Nils A.E. Nordenskjold first successfully made the passage in 1878-79. Before that time and since, polar bears, Arctic foxes, walruses, whales and hundreds of species of seabirds are the primary local residents in the region, which is a Russian-controlled trade route in the summer months.

Highlighted destinations include UNESCO World Heritage Site Wrangel Island, one of the last known places on earth roamed by the woolly mammoth, with significant fossilized finds throughout the destination. Franz Josef Land was once a Russian military watchpoint thanks to its positioning in the Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean, and is now home to polar bears and numerous other wildlife.

The New Siberian Islands more archaeological discoveries, with saber-tooth tiger bones and mammoth remains having been excavated, as well as what are believed to be tools used by Paleolithic humans and the most northerly evidence of humans on earth.

Severnaya Zemlya, the last charted archipelago on earth, was added to global maps only in the early 20th century, and Cape Chelyuskin on the Taimyr Peninsula is the northernmost point on any continental mainland.

The voyage will also visit Murmansk, the largest city in the Arctic, and Russian Federation ports Provideniya, Cape Dezhnev and Uelen Village; Kolyuchin Island, Ayon Island, Medvezhiy Islands, Novaya Zemlya, Kanin Cape, Arkhangelsk, Solovetsky and Zayatsky islands, as well as Honningsvag, the North Cape, Norway. En route, Crystal Endeavor will sail the East Siberian Sea, the White Sea, the Barents Sea and the Laptev Sea.

Stops depend on weather and sea conditions

Stops and shoreside access and activities will be largely dependent on weather and sea conditions. There will also be numerous opportunities for Zodiac landings and navigation of ice floes and other rugged pursuits. On board, expedition guides, scientists and destination experts will further illuminate the journey.

The adventure starts with a one-night pre-cruise hotel stay in Anchorage and a flight transfer to Anadyr on embarkation day. The Northeast Passage voyage will first open for booking by Crystal Society members on Feb. 20 and to the public on March 13.

Crystal Society fares start at $44,362 with $10,000 'Book Now' savings per suite when booked by April 30, 2019.Sebastian Montero, executive director of Cono Sur, met with Undersecretary Monica Zalaquett at her offices in Santiago.

Backing for Cono Sur efforts

'It is very important that the main national authority in tourism support our management, and we can contribute the experience we have achieved over time in the cruise industry to boost the growth of national tourism,' Montero said.

One of the key issues addressed was Chile's participation in the Seatrade convention, April 8-11, where the country will be represented in the exhibition with a stand involving the undersecretary of tourism and Cono Sur, as well as other organizations linked to the cruise industry.

Cabotage change

'As every year, our goal is to have an outstanding participation at this event, and we are already working with the undersecretary of tourism and our associate members to organize the stand, schedule meetings with cruise line executives and spread the word about the bill recently approved to open cabotage to foreign-flag cruise ships,' Montero said.

He added: 'We are very satisfied with the support we have had from the undersecretariat and the work we have developed together.'

Zalaquett's advocacy was instrumental to lawmakers approving the cabotage change, which had been championed for years by cruise industry proponents like Cono Sur and the Agunsa Group, manager of the Valparaiso Passenger Terminal.

Montero said he and the undersecretary agreed they will continue to work together to disseminate this news, 'because we are very interested in promoting and showing this great progress we have made as a country.'

South Pacific route

In addition, the meeting analyzed the advantages of the South Pacific cruise routeitineraries involving Panama, Ecuador, Peru and Chile, set to begin operating with the opening of the new Panama City Cruise Terminal at Amador. This facility is expected to benefit all the ports on the South Pacific coast of the Americas and generate greater opportunities and economic impact for the respective countries.

(A Seatrade Cruise Global session, 'Rise of the Pacific: North, Central and South America,' on April 10, will include this topic.)

Record cruise season

According to Cono Sur estimates, the current cruise season is expected to exceed Chile's 2008/09 record numbers.The roadshows will move across the Tasman to Christchurch (February 19), Wellington (February 20) and Auckland (February 21).

They will also be held simultaneously in Brisbane and Adelaide on February 20 and move on to Melbourne (February 27) and Hobart (February 28).

Sembcorp makeover

SuperStar Virgo, which was popular with local cruisers when she was relocated to Sydney from Singapore in 2003 following an outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), will undergo a $US30m transformation into Explorer Dream at the Sembcorp Marine Admiralty Yard in Singapore next month.

Joining Genting Dream and World Dream, the 1,870-passenger Explorer Dream will be the first in the Dream Cruises fleet to sail outside of Asian waters when she homeports in Australia and New Zealand.

She leaves Shanghai on October 6 on her repositioning voyage to Sydney via Hong Kong and Singapore.

Round cruises from Sydney and Auckland

After arriving on October 27 she will operate a series of seven-night round cruises before heading for Auckland on December 8. Here she will also operate seven-night round cruises around New Zealand before heading back to Sydney on February 2, 2020.

On March 1 Explorer Dream is due to set sail on the repositioning voyage to Asia.Recent radar observations from ESAs Mars Express spacecraft were interpreted as evidence for melting beneath the south polar ice cap of Mars. Now, a duo of researchers from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona argues there needs to be an underground source of heat for liquid water to exist underneath the ice cap. The scientists suggest recent magmatic activity  the formation of a magma chamber within the past few hundred thousand years  must have occurred underneath the Martian surface for there to be enough heat to produce liquid water underneath the thick ice cap. On the flip side, they argue that if there was not recent magmatic activity underneath the surface, then there is not likely liquid water underneath the ice cap.

Mars has two giant ice sheets at its poles, both a couple of miles thick. On Earth, it is common for liquid water to be present underneath thick ice sheets, with the planets heat causing the ice to melt where it meets the crust.

In 2018, Dr. Roberto Orosei of Italys Istituto di Radioastronomia, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica and colleagues detected a similar phenomenon on Mars.

They claimed radar observations detected evidence of liquid water at the base of Mars south polar ice cap. However, they did not address how the liquid water could have gotten there.

Mars is much cooler than Earth so it was unclear what type of environment would be needed to melt the ice at the base of the ice cap.

We thought there was a lot of room to figure out if [the liquid water] is real, what sort of environment would you need to melt the ice in the first place, what sort of temperatures would you need, what sort of geological process would you need? Because under normal conditions, it should be too cold, said Dr. Michael Sori, an associate staff scientist in the University of Arizonas Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.

Dr. Sori and his colleague, Dr. Ali Bramson, first assumed the detection of liquid water underneath the ice cap was correct and then worked to figure out what parameters were needed for the water to exist.

They performed physical modeling of Mars to understand how much heat is coming out of the interior of the planet and if there could be enough salt at the base of the ice cap to melt the ice. Salt lowers the melting point of ice significantly so it was thought that salt could have led to melting at the base of the ice cap.

The model showed salt alone would not raise the temperature high enough to melt the ice. Instead, the researchers propose there needs to be additional heat coming from Mars interior.

One plausible heat source would be volcanic activity in the planets subsurface.

The team argues that magma from the deep interior of Mars rose towards the planets surface about 300,000 years ago. It did not break the surface, like a volcanic eruption, but pooled in a magma chamber below the surface. As the magma chamber cooled, it released heat that melted the ice at the base of the ice sheet. The magma chamber is still providing heat to the ice sheet to generate liquid water today.

The idea of volcanic activity on Mars is not new  there is a lot of evidence of volcanism on the planets surface. But most of the volcanic features on Mars are from millions of years ago, leading scientists to believe volcanic activity below and above the planets surface stopped long ago.

Dr. Sori and Dr. Bramson, however, propose that there could have been more recent underground volcanic activity. And, if there was volcanic activity happening hundreds of thousands of years ago, theres a possibility it could be happening today.

This would imply that there is still active magma chamber formation going on in the interior of Mars today and it is not just a cold, sort of dead place, internally, Dr. Bramson said.

The study was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

_____

Michael M. Sori & Ali M. Bramson. Water on Mars, With a Grain of Salt: Local Heat Anomalies Are Required for Basal Melting of Ice at the South Pole Today. Geophysical Research Letters, published online February 12,2019; doi: 10.1029/2018GL080985A series of images from NASAs New Horizons spacecraft contains important scientific information about the true shape of the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule (2014 MU69). These images are the final views New Horizons captured of Ultima Thule as it raced away at over 31,000 mph (50,000 kmh) on January 1, 2019.

The first close-up images of Ultima Thule  with its two distinct and, apparently, spherical segments (lobes)  had observers calling it a snowman.

However, more analysis of approach images and these new images have changed that view, in part by revealing an outline of the portion of the object that was not illuminated by the Sun, but could be traced out as it blocked the view to background stars.

Now New Horizons team members can confirm that the two lobes of Ultima Thule are not spherical.

The larger lobe, Ultima, more closely resembles a giant pancake and the smaller lobe, Thule, is shaped like a dented walnut.

This really is an incredible image sequence, taken by a spacecraft exploring a small world 4 billion miles away from Earth. Nothing quite like this has ever been captured in imagery, said New Horizons principal investigator Dr. Alan Stern, a researcher at the Southwest Research Institute.

We had an impression of Ultima Thule based on the limited number of images returned in the days around the flyby, but seeing more data has significantly changed our view.

It would be closer to reality to say Ultima Thules shape is flatter, like a pancake. But more importantly, the new images are creating scientific puzzles about how such an object could even be formed. Weve never seen something like this orbiting the Sun.

While the very nature of a fast flyby in some ways limits how well we can determine the true shape of Ultima Thule, the new results clearly show that Ultima and Thule are much flatter than originally believed, and much flatter than expected, said New Horizons project scientist Dr. Hal Weaver, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

This will undoubtedly motivate new theories of planetesimal formation in the early Solar System.A team of scientists from Hungary, Germany and Vietnam has discovered a new, critically endangered species of softshell turtle in north-central Vietnam and Hainan Island, China.

Chinese softshell turtles were considered for decades to represent the morphologically highly variable and geographically widespread species  Pelodiscus sinensis, distributed from the Far East through the Korean Peninsula, eastern and central China to Vietnam.

However, around the turn of the century, following a series of taxonomic debates, scientists revalidated or discovered a total of three species distinct from the original: Pelodiscus axenaria, P. maackii and P. parviformis.

Now, Professor Uwe Fritz of the Senckenberg Natural History Collections and colleagues have described a fifth species in the genus: the spotted softshell turtle (Pelodiscus variegatus).

The new species differs both genetically and morphologically from the other four.

It has well-pronounced dark blotches on the underside of its shell.

This morphological feature, among others, led to the discovery that these animals belong to a hitherto undescribed species, said Professor Fritz, senior author of a paper published in the journal ZooKeys.

Unfortunately, the identification of multiple species within what used to be a single one has its potentially ill-fated consequences.

While Pelodiscus sinensis was once considered widespread and not threatened, each newly-discovered species reduces the individual population numbers.

When we look at each species, the distribution range as well as the number of individuals is much smaller than when all were combined, Professor Fritz explained.

Because of its restricted range and the levels of exploitation it is subjected to, the conservation status of the new species is proposed to be Critically Endangered, according to the criteria of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

_____

B. Farkas et al. 2019. A new species of Pelodiscus from northeastern Indochina (Testudines, Trionychidae). ZooKeys 824: 71-86; doi: 10.3897/zookeys.824.31376Selbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/14/2019 -- Global automotive industry growth will also positively impact the stationary air compressor market development till 2024. Increasing vehicle production in the Asia Pacific region will boost stationary air compressor's demand as they an integral part of every car air conditioner. The product is also used to power air brakes of heavy duty automobiles as well as commercial vehicles. Asia Pacific accounted for more than 50% of the worldwide production of automotive in 2016. Automotive production rates have been rising in several countries of Asia Pacific such as India, China, Vietnam, etc. These factors will result in increased product demand in the Asia Pacific region for use in automotive manufacturing and will augment the stationary air compressor market development during the study period.



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Stationary Air Compressor market will surpass USD 30 billion by 2024; according to a new research report. Increasing demand for household refrigerators and air conditioners will be a major growth enabler for the stationary air compressor market as the product is an integral part of these household appliances. Home appliances demand has been increasing at a fast rate, mostly in emerging economies of Asia Pacific and Latin America. Rising income levels of consumers in these regions has been the main reason behind a spurt in home appliances demand. In 2016, Asia Pacific accounted for more than 40% of the global consumer appliances sales in terms of volume with India, Indonesia and Vietnam registering stronger demand than other countries. This high demand has been further propelled by trends such as continued urbanization, developments in electricity infrastructure as well as rise in property ownerships in the Asia Pacific countries. Such developments in home appliances sector will fuel demand for stationary air compressors to be used in air conditioners and refrigerators during the study period.



Rotary stationary air compressor market segment will witness a favorable growth rate in the study period and will account for approximately two-third of the overall industry by 2024. The increasing usage of rotary types in the manufacturing industry owing to their advantages over other product types will be a major factor behind its market development.



Oil-filled stationary air compressors market will be augmented by their increasing usage in a wide range of end-user industries such as power plants, mining, oil & gas, etc. The segment?s revenue in 2024 will exceed USD 14 billion as their advantages over oil-free stationary air compressors such as low maintenance costs and high efficiency & capacity will result in a substantial growth rate in the study period.



Food & beverage is a key application segment in the stationary air compressor market which is likely to grow by a CAGR of around 3% in the forecast period. Mostly the oil-free types are employed in this industry as they lower the chances of food contamination.



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North America will be an important region in stationary air compressor market owing to the rise in oil & gas exploration in the region. A mature manufacturing sector in the U.S. will also be a major growth enabler for the regional industry. The North America stationary air compressor market revenue exceeded USD 2.5 billion in 2017 and will grow by a stable rate during the study period.



Some of the major stationary air compressor market participants include Atlas Copco, Ingersoll-Rand, Kaeser, Rolair Systems, Gardner Denver, Bauer Compressor, Sullivan-Palatek, etc. The industry is also characterized by the presence of several medium-scale manufacturers spread across the globe.



Stationary air compressor market research report includes in-depth coverage of the industry with estimates & forecast in terms of revenue in USD million from 2013 to 2024, for the following segments:



Stationary Air Compressor Market by Technology

- Rotary

- Reciprocating

- Centrifugal



Stationary Air Compressor Market by Lubrication

- Oil free

- Oil filled



Stationary Air Compressor Market by Application

- Home appliances

- Food & beverage

- Oil & gas

- Energy

- Semiconductor & electronics

- Manufacturing

- Healthcare

- Others



Table of Content:



Chapter 1. Stationary Air Compressor Market Methodology and Scope



Chapter 2. Stationary Air Compressor Market Executive Summary



Chapter 3. Stationary Air Compressor Industry Insights



Chapter 4. Stationary Air Compressor Market, By Technology



Chapter 5. Stationary Air Compressor Market, By Lubrication



Chapter 6. Stationary Air Compressor Market, By Application



Chapter 7. Stationary Air Compressor Market, By Region



Chapter 8. Stationary Air Compressor Market Company Profiles



For more information on this report at: https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/stationary-air-compressor-market/?utm_source=releasewire.com-SP



Related Report:



United States Stationary Air Compressors Market Report 2017



In this report, the United States Stationary Air Compressors market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.



https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/united-states-stationary-air-compressors-market-report-2017?utm_source=RR-SP



Read more at: https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/car-navigation-systems-market-development-and-trends-forecasts-report-2018-2023-2019-01-19



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Blog: https://www.marketstudyreport.com/blog/New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/13/2019 -- This Silica Aerogel Blanket study contains vital data on market shifts owing to social, economic, cultural and technological changes worldwide. Explaining market opportunities remains the key focus of the study. Industry experts analysing the business environment also take a closer look at the organizational alignment as well as the capital structure.



When accessing the major driving forces shaping the progress of the Silica Aerogel Blanket industry the researchers also focus on the growth of the customer base in various emerging regions. Advantages offered by the products such as improved shelf life as well as durability and how they are impacting the development of the industry are also assessed during the research. While examining the major restricting factors researchers make an attempt to analyse the strict environmental regulations affecting the market.



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The Silica Aerogel Blanket study sheds light on industry profiles across several countries and regions. The extensive document is a rich source of information on market size, share and growth rate. The industry profiles discussed in the Silica Aerogel Blanket report further identifies market segmentation, profit, and competitive landscape and offers forecast information on industry performance and trends for the period, 2018 to 2026. The detailed report offers comprehensive analyses about a particular market situation within a geographic region.



The major manufacturers covered in this report:

- Aspen Aerogels

- Cabot Corporation

- Aerogel Technologies

- Nano High-Tech

- Guangdong Alison Hi-Tech

- Active Aerogels

- Enersens

- Jios Aerogel Corporation

- Insulgel High-Tech

- Guizhou Aerospace

- Green Earth Aerogel Technologies (GEAT)



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.)



The size of the Silica Aerogel Blanket 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 Silica Aerogel Blanket report.



On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into

- Below 5mm Thickness

- 5mm to 10 mm Thickness

- Above 10mm Thickness



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

- Building Insulation

- Oil & Gas Consumables

- Transportation

- Aerospace & Defence Materials

- Other



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An extensive study of the product application and services conducted by subject matter experts assessing the Silica Aerogel Blanket market will help product owners to make a wise decision. From analysing which products companies should produce, expand to how brands should position their product the study covers all that business owners require meeting the buyers' requirement.



In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Silica Aerogel Blanket are as follows:

History Year: 2013-2017

Base Year: 2017

Estimated Year: 2018

Forecast Year 2018 to 2026



The research provides answers to the following key questions:

- What will be the growth rate of the Silica Aerogel Blanket market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026? What will be the market size for the estimated period?

- What are the prominent factors driving the Silica Aerogel Blanket market across different regions?

- Who are the major vendors dominating the Silica Aerogel Blanket 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 Silica Aerogel Blanket market?

- What are potential opportunities for the industry for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026?



Key Points from TOC:

Global Silica Aerogel Blanket Market Research Report 2018

1 Silica Aerogel Blanket Market Overview

1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Silica Aerogel Blanket

1.2 Silica Aerogel Blanket Segment by Type (Product Category)

1.2.1 Global Silica Aerogel Blanket Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2026)

1.2.2 Global Silica Aerogel Blanket Production Market Share by Type (Product Category)



7 Global Silica Aerogel Blanket Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis

7.1 Aspen Aerogels

7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors

7.1.2 Silica Aerogel Blanket Product Category, Application and Specification

7.1.2.1 Product A

7.1.2.2 Product B

7.1.3 Aspen Aerogels Silica Aerogel Blanket Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)

7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview



7.2 Cabot Corporation

7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors

7.2.2 Silica Aerogel Blanket Product Category, Application and Specification

7.2.2.1 Product A

7.2.2.2 Product B

7.2.3 Cabot Corporation Silica Aerogel Blanket Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)

7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview

Continue



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News: www.marketexpertz.com/market-newsAlbany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/13/2019 -- The global multi-mode chipset market was valued at around US$ 4,509.7Mn in 2017 and is anticipated to register a stable CAGR of over 11% during the forecast period 2018 to 2026, according to a new report published by Transparency Market Research (TMR) titled "Multi-Mode Chipset Market"  Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 20182026." increasing deployment of LTE networks, rapid technological advancement in the field of cellular connectivity, and growing popularity of devices that support 5G NR with integrated gigabit LTE has increased the penetration and growth of the multi-mode chipset market globally. The market in North America is expanding at a significant CAGR of 11.9% on the backdrop of numerous technological innovations in cellular connectivity and increasing popularity of smartphones.



Browse The Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/multi-mode-chipset-market.html



The growing necessity for wireless communication networks offering high capacity and speed has increased the deployment of LTE networks. Various telecommunication operators across the world are deploying advanced LTE networks in order to deliver seamless mobility, low latency, high efficiency, over-the-air encryption, and improved bandwidth support. Telecom operators from North America are continuously taking efforts to introduce advanced technologies such as LTE and 5G to improve the speed of connectivity in order to meet the increasing consumer demand for high speed data networks. In February 2017, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced the expansion of "Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G" modem family to include 5G New Radio (NR) multi-mode chipset solutions to address a wide range of use cases and deployment scenarios. Key trends prevalent in the multi-mode chipset market are multi-mode chipsets for smart devices, 5G technology devices, miniaturized multi-mode chipsets, and multi-mode chipsets with IoT connectivity.



The application segment is divided into smartphones, tablets, wearable devices and others. Smartphones segment is anticipated to dominate the market owing to growing popularity of smartphones around the globe. Various technological advancements such as high speed data networks and emergence of 5G are shaping the future communications on mobiles. These factors are expected to boost the growth of the multi-mode chipset market. Smartphone segment is anticipated to expand at the highest CAGR of 11.6% during the forecast period 2018 to 2026. Wearable devices segment is projected to expand at a significant CAGR over the forecast period owing to the growing adoption of wearable devices for various activities such as health fitness tracking, sports, and vehicle tracking.



Download PDF Sample for this Research Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=46704



Growing Adoption of Multi-Mode Chipset due to Technological Advancements in Cellular Connectivity and increasing Penetration of 5G Devices in China, India, South Africa, Brazil, and Taiwan to Create More Opportunities in the Market



Geographically, the global multi-mode chipset market is divided into five major geographical regions, including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, and Middle East &Africa. In 2017, North America was the topmost revenue generating region followed by Asia Pacific. Telecom operators from North America are continuously taking efforts to introduce advanced technologies such as LTE and 5G to improve the speed of connectivity in order to meet the continuously increasing consumer demand for high speed data networks.Tiny satellites reveal water dynamics in thousands of northern lakes

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Using an army of small satellites, researchers have shown that water levels in small lakes across northern Canada and Alaska are far more variable during the summer than previously thought. The findings, published in Geophysical Research Letters, could have implications for how scientists calculate the natural greenhouse gas emissions from these northern lakes.

The study used images taken by a network of more than 150 CubeSats -- small satellites about the size of shoeboxes -- which made nearly daily observations of more than 85,000 small North American lakes during the summer of 2017. The images enabled the researchers to see how the lakes changed over time. They found small but significant shoreline changes in individual lakes that added up to hundreds of square kilometers of lake area change across the study region.

"There's been a lot of research on climate-driven changes in lake area, but it's mainly focused on long-term changes," said Sarah Cooley, a Ph.D. student at Brown University and the study's lead author. "This is the first time that anyone has looked at fine-scale, short-term changes, and we found that there's much more variability within a season than expected."

The study area captures a substantial swath of Arctic tundra and boreal forest, a biome that circles the Earth's northern hemisphere in a band from about 50 to 70 degrees north latitude. The region is home to critical forest and tundra ecosystems as well as the planet's highest density of lakes, so understanding its hydrology is scientifically important. One reason for that is that boreal lakes are a significant source of natural greenhouse gas emissions. Their sediments contain tons of organic carbon, which washes in from the surrounding landscape. Some of that carbon then decomposes and it emitted into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide and methane greenhouse gases.

This new finding of substantial summer shoreline fluctuation has implications for how scientists calculate these emissions, the researchers say. That's because shoreline areas where water ebbs and flows from season to season are known hotspots for greenhouse gas production and emission. But estimates of lake emissions generally assume shorelines to be stable within each season. The finding of surprising within-season shoreline fluctuation, the researchers say, suggests that current emissions models from boreal lakes may be underestimated.

"A shoreline that's fluctuating is going to emit more carbon than a stable shoreline," Cooley said. "These short-term fluctuations, which no one had ever mapped before, suggest these lakes are potentially emitting more gas than people thought."

Another finding that surprised the research team was the large overall importance of shoreline fluctuations on the ancient Canadian Shield, a rocky, wet landscape in central Canada where millions of small lakes cover 20 percent of the landscape.

"Previous studies assumed lakes in this area to be relatively stable," said Laurence C. Smith, a co-author of the study and project leader for NASA's Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment, which helped fund the study. "To our surprise, the high-resolution, high-frequency imaging afforded by CubeSats revealed that small shoreline fluctuations in this lake-rich area sum to impressively large numbers."

In all, the study explored four sub-areas of the North American Arctic and sub-Arctic and found the little-studied Canadian Shield to be most dynamic of all, with about 1.4 percent of its landscape seasonally inundated by small fluctuations in lake levels.

Big data, small satellites

Another takeaway from the study, Cooley says, is that it shows the power of CubeSats to acquire data that larger satellites can't gather.

"What I'm most excited about from a science perspective is the ability to make use of this new CubeSat imagery," Cooley said. "We couldn't have made these observations without the CubeSats, and here we show that it's possible to extract valuable scientific information from those images."

Large space agency satellites festooned with sensitive scientific instruments can gather all sorts of information, but simply don't make enough overhead passes to catch changes that occur over short periods of time. And the satellites that do pass over on a daily basis lack the camera resolution to make fine-scale observations of lake area.

The CubeSats, recently launched by a company called Planet, offered a potential solution. The company operates more than 150 satellites, which orbit the Earth in an arrangement that enables them to image Earth's entire landmass each day as the planet rotates beneath them. And while the tiny satellites lack sophisticated scientific equipment, they do have high-powered cameras capable of capturing images with 3-meter resolution.

But the CubeSat data present some unique challenges, Cooley says. For example, the location data from CubeSats tend not to be as precise as those from space agency satellites. And the CubeSat images lack filters that make them easier to analyze. NASA or European Space Agency (ESA) satellite data are filtered to eliminate images taken on cloudy days or other low-quality images.

So Cooley had to design her own system to compensate for those issues. For the study, she trained a machine learning algorithm to spot anomalous data patterns and throw them away. For example, instances in which a lake suddenly disappears in a day only to return to view a few days later are most likely due to cloud cover or glitchy observations, not an actual lake disappearance. The algorithm could flag such instances and remove them from the data.

Using that algorithm, Cooley and her colleagues were able to sift through more 25 terabytes of CubeSat data. Cooley says she expects more interesting earth science findings to come from CubeSats in the coming years.

"I see this as a beginning of a new period in remote sensing, in that suddenly all sorts of earth observations that may not have been possible before will become possible with these small, simple satellites," Cooley said.

###

The research was funded by the NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) (#NNX17AC60A) and a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship to Sarah Cooley. Other coauthors on the paper were Jonathan Ryan, Lincoln Pitcher and Tamlin Pavelsky.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/14/2019 -- Mobile advertising is a form of advertising using mobile devices. It is a subgroup of mobile marketing. Mobile advertising provides information/content developed/designed by advertisers intended for customers/mobile device users. The different types of advertising includes display advertising, In-app, In-game, rich media, search, sms/mms/P2P messaging and others. Mobile advertising provides a solution to advertisers to reach targeted users through various devices to deliver information about innovative tools and technology. Mobile advertising solutions enables advertisers to target users, such as advertising campaign solutions, in order to a reach defined set of goals which includes raising brand awareness, establishing brand and increase rate of conversions and so on.



Key factors driving the growth of the mobile advertising market include rising concerns about security, and privacy, deletion, and misuse/manipulation of data are some of the major fears that persist among online users.



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In Global Mobile Advertising Market by Devices, smartphone segment holds the largest share due to high penetration rate of smartphone devices across the world. The smartphone segment is also expected to be fastest growing segment in the forecast period due to increasing adoption rate of smartphones in the emerging economies such as India and Brazil.



In 2014, the search advertising type was the largest segment in the global mobile advertising market. The search advertising type is majorly preferred by the sectors such as BFSI, telecommunication and IT, and FMCG. Search advertising offers an opportunity to place online advertisements on the webpage that shows results from search queries; however this type is majorly adopted by advertisers. In-App advertising is anticipated to be the fastest growing segment in the forecast period due to increasing number of mobile applications for various industries such as banking, logistics and retail.



Advertisement Campaign solutions holds the largest share as political parties are using these solutions for attracting the attention of population in their region during different stages of elections which include local body to national level elections. The reporting & analytics solution is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the forecast period due to rising adoption of data analytics solutions in understanding the mindset of customers.



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In the mobile advertising market by region, North America is the major contributor for the revenue generated in the global mobile advertising market. The APAC region is anticipated to be the fastest-growing segment during the forecast period due to high growth in mobile innovation and high usage of Internet through by consumers in the region. The North America mobile advertising market revenue is mainly contributed by the government and BFSI sectors.Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/13/2019 -- Global Medical Imaging Phantoms Market - Snapshot



Medical imaging phantoms are devices used as substitute of human tissue. These ensure that medical imaging systems provide reliable and quantitative information. Calibration carried out using phantoms is traceable and as per national and international standards.



View Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/medical-imaging-phantoms-market.html



Advantages offered by medical imaging phantoms are improved medical imaging technique, speedy clinical trials of drugs, and consistent, accurate, and optimal results. These also play a crucial role in innovation and development of advanced diagnostic imaging techniques. These advantages are expected to propel the global medical imaging phantoms market during the forecast period.



The global medical imaging phantoms market was valued at US$ 131.2 Mn in 2017 and is projected to reach US$ 180.0 Mn by 2026 at a CAGR of 3.6% from 2018 to 2026. Improved medical imaging due to usage of medical phantoms, reduced exposure to radiation, increase in efficiency of medical devices, and rise in adoption of advanced imaging methods are likely to drive the global market during the forecast period. Cost concerns, human resource & time constraints, and highly complicated maintenance are anticipated to restrain the global market in the near future. However, emerging economies such as India, China, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, and South Africa offer immense opportunities in the medical imaging phantoms market. This is attributed to large number of underserved patients, rise in proportion of urban population, and favorable insurance policies.



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The global medical imaging phantoms market has been segmented based on device type, end-user, and region. In terms of device type, the global market has been classified into X-ray/fluoroscopy phantoms, ultrasound phantoms, CT phantoms, MRI phantoms, nuclear imaging phantoms, and others. Usage of diagnostic radiology is expanding to diagnosis of cancer, brain injury, other diseases, and medical implants. Medical imaging devices scan phantoms which serve as alternatives for living subjects or cadaver. Scanning the phantoms reduces the chances of a patient getting exposed to excessive radiation, as it induces cellular structure and DNA damage. It also helps reduce misdiagnosis of diseases, thereby increasing the overall diagnostic efficiency of medical imaging devices. Medical imaging phantoms have applications in increasing accuracy of medical imaging devices which indirectly helps medicine practitioners and experts to evaluate, interpret, analyze, and produce quality data needed for medical advice and treatment. These factors are likely to propel the market during the forecast period. In terms of end-user, the global medical imaging phantoms market has been classified into hospitals, academic & research institutes, diagnostic & reference laboratories, and medical device companies. The medical device companies segment is expected to dominate the global market during the forecast period.



Geographically, the global medical imaging phantoms market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominated the global market in 2017. It is expected to continue this trend during the forecast due to high adoption of superior technologies across all end-user segments. Moreover, investments in cutting edge research, rising emphasis on remedies for diagnosis concerns, and concentration of some of the world's major pharmaceutical and biotechnology organizations and academic institutes in the region are expected to propel the medical imaging phantoms market in this region. Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa are expected to gain market share during the forecast period. Asia Pacific is expected to gain market share owing to rise in prevalence of chronic disorders and surge in awareness about medical imaging phantoms among the people. Rise in disposable income of people also contributes to the growth of the market in Asia Pacific.



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Major players operating in the global medical imaging phantoms market are PTW Freiburg GmbH, Gold Standard Phantoms, Kyoto Kagaku Co. Ltd., Pure Imaging Phantoms, Dielectric Corporation, Modus Medical Devices, Inc., Carville Limited, Computerized Imaging Reference Systems, Inc. (CIRS, A Castleray), Biodex Medical Systems, Inc., and Leeds Test Objects Ltd.



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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.



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Website: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.comPune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/13/2019 -- MarketResearchNest.com adds "Global Kitchen Hood Market 2019 by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2024"new report to its research database. The report spread across in a 139 pages with table and figures in it.



Kitchen Hood is a kitchen appliance to purify the kitchen environment containing a mechanical fan that hangs above the stove or cooktop in the kitchen. It removes airborne grease, combustion products, fumes, smoke, odors, heat, and steam from the air by evacuation of the air and filtration.



Scope of the Report:



First, the concentration degree of Kitchen Hood industry is not high. There are more than one hundreds manufacturers in the world, and high-end products mainly from Germany, America, Italy, and China.



Italy has a long history and unshakable status in this industry, like Elica and Faber (though it is a part of FRANKE now), both have perfect design.



As to Germany, the Bosch Group has become a global leader, who has two main brands (Bosch and Siemens), and several special brands, such as Thermador.



The import and export percent of this industry is high. Chinese products mainly export to Oceania, European, Middle East and Africa, and take a big market share of underdevelopment regions market, like Vietnam, Brazil and Pakistan. Hong Kong is the biggest export market of China, more than 80% of kitchen hoods are from China mainland. On the developed market, like America, Canada, Germany and France, Italy is the empire. Mexico also has a large amount of exports due to its geographic advantage.



We tend to believe this industry now is very mature, and the Consumption increasing degree will show a smooth curve. On product prices, the slow upward trend in recent years will maintain in the future, as competition intensifies, prices gap between different brands will go narrowing. Similarly, there will be small increase in gross margin.



The worldwide market for Kitchen Hood is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly 3.4% over the next five years, will reach 9590 million US$ in 2024, from 7840 million US$ in 2019, according to a new GIR (Global Info Research) study.



Browse full table of contents and data tables at



https://www.marketresearchnest.com/Global-Kitchen-Hood-Market-2019-by-Manufacturers-Regions-Type-and-Application-Forecast-to-2024.html



Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers



FABER



Haier



ROBAM



FOTILE



BSH Group



Whirlpool



Electrolux



VATTI



Nortek



DEandE



Miele



ELICA



Midea



Macro



CATA



Sub-Zero



Viking



Kenmmore



Vent-A-Hood



Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers



North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)



Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)



Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)



South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia etc.)



Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)



Market Segment by Type, covers



Under Cabinet Mount



Wall Mount



Ceiling (Island) Mount



Downdraft Ventilation



Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into



Commercial Use



Home Use



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https://www.marketresearchnest.com/report/requestsample/534915



There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Kitchen Hood market.



Chapter 1, to describe Kitchen Hood Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;



Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Kitchen Hood, with sales, revenue, and price of Kitchen Hood, in 2016 and 2017;



Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;



Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Kitchen Hood, for each region, from 2013 to 2019;



Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;



Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2019;



Chapter 12, Kitchen Hood market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2019 to 2024;

Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Kitchen Hood sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source



Reasons for Buying this Report:



This report provides pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamics



It provides a forward looking perspective on different factors driving or restraining market growth



It provides a technological growth map over time to understand the industry growth rate



It provides a seven-year forecast assessed on the basis of how the market is predicted to grow



It helps in understanding the key product segments and their future



It provides pin point analysis of changing competition dynamics and keeps you ahead of competitors



It helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segments



It provides distinctive graphics and exemplified SWOT analysis of major market segments.



The research provides answers to the following key questions:



What will be the market size and the growth rate in 2024?



What are the key factors driving the Global Kitchen Hood Market?



Who are the key market players and what are their strategies in the Global Kitchen Hood Market?



What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the Global Kitchen Hood Market?



What trends, challenges and barriers are influencing its growth?



What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the Global Kitchen Hood Market?



What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the Global Kitchen Hood Market?



Top of Form



Bottom of Form



About MarketResearchNest.com



MarketResearchNest.com is the most comprehensive collection of market research products and services on the Web. We offer reports from almost all top publishers and update our collection on daily basis to provide you with instant online access to the world's most complete and recent database of expert insights on Global industries, organizations, products, and trends.



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Mr. Jeet Jain



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Connect with us: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter | FacebookAlbany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/14/2019 -- For more than hundred years, graphic paper has been a useful carrier of information across the world. It is used extensively for information storage for long period of time. Different grades of paper such as printing paper, writing papers, newsprint, etc. comes under this category. From newspaper to high glass magazine paper, the graphic paper has played an important in information sharing. Manufacturing process of graphic paper is highly energy intensive and requires significant resources. Raw material for graphic paper is fibre pulp which is obtained from a variety of species of plantations, depending on the paper grade and manufacturer's requirement.



Request a PDF Brochure With Future Analysis@ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=60021



Graphic paper market has witnessed significant technological advancements and new product launches since its beginning. Graphic paper accounts for noticeable market share in the global paper industry. Infrastructural improvements and process optimization has played a crucial role in increasing profitability margins of graphic paper manufacturers.



Graphic Paper Market: Market Dynamics



The demand for graphic paper has become stagnant since the evolution of technology for information sharing in electronic formats. Fast adoption of consumers for electrical and electronic devices resulted in decline in demand for graphic paper globally. Propagation of information through electronic media has been the major restraint for the global graphic paper market. From newspaper to book, everything is being shared through electronic media which is a cheaper solution and requires minimal efforts to store information for long period of time.



Electronic information sharing through internet which is easily accessible on mobile phones and other devices will continue to weaken the demand for graphic papers in developed as well as in developing countries. However, there are moderate sign of growth in some of the developing countries where the penetration of electronic media is still in growth phase. Manufacturers share concern over cost-competitiveness and availability of resources for production of graphic papers.



Browse Research Report@ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/graphic-paper-market.html



On the basis of region, the Graphic Paper market is segmented as North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, APEJ (Asia-Pacific Excluding Japan), Middle East & Africa, and Japan. Graphic paper market is witnessing steep decline in its market share in global paper industry due to changing consumer inclination towards reading and sharing information through electronic media.



The North America and European market is expected to witness decline in the coming years. Declining use of graphic paper is concerning leading manufacturers who are now planning to shift their production from graphic papers to other products. The graphic paper market has witnessed capacity shutdowns in the last 4-5 years which in turn hampering revenue growth and profitability margins of manufacturers. It is becoming difficult for the small-scale and medium-scale manufacturers to stay competitive in the market.Bangkok, Thailand -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/13/2019 -- A Thai based flower delivery service GoGoFlorist is looking to promote their flower delivery service in Thailand through partner blogs and social media influencers. They are offering to deliver a free flower bouquet to the loved ones of Thailand based influencers and Thailand related blog and website owners. These publishers can choose a flower arrangement of up to 4000 baht in value. There are many types of flowers available for delivery including roses, carnations, lilies, gerbera and carnations. These flowers will be hand delivered by their agents. GoGoFlorist have agents in all cities and towns in Thailand who can deliver the flowers professionally by hand (not by courier). In exchange they simply ask for an honest online review of their service.



Since It is nearly Valentines Day publishers may be planning on sending a personal gift to someone so now may be a good opportunity to get some free flowers and also have a topic of interest for their viewers to read about.



About Valentines Day in Thailand



Valentines Day is possibly the most romantic day in the Thai calendar (perhaps similar in importance as Loy Krathong when lovers often get together. It is commonplace for Thai people to take some time out to spend some romantic time with their lover. However when couples are separated by distance they may choose to send them a special gift, and flowers are an obvious choice.



About GoGoFlorist

GoGoFlorist has been in operation since 2002, having one of the largest networks of local florists in Thailand. They offer flower delivery to all mainland destinations and the islands of Phuket, Ko Samui and Ko Samet. They offer a special value added service whereby they take a photo of the recipient when the surprise gift is delivered to them. This photo is then sent back to the person who sent them the flowers, together with a returned message if they so wish.



Contact



If you are a Thai blogger or influencer who would like to send free flowers to someone in Thailand at Valentines Day please contact GoGoFlorist.



John Shoane

Marketing, Media Relations

On Nut 36 Alley, Khwaeng Suan Luang, Khet Suan Luang, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10240, Thailand

networking@gogoflorist.com

www.gogoflorist.comPune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/13/2019 -- Surgical Gloves Market 2019 by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2024-adds by MarketResearchNest



Surgical Gloves are personal protection equipment (PPE) designed to protect clinicians in operating room (OR) environments. The primary purpose of surgical gloves is to act as a protective barrier for surgeons and nurses to prevent possible transmission of diseases or pathogens during procedures while working with surgical instruments.



Scope of the Surgical Gloves Market Report:-

- The global surgical gloves consumption market volume was 2563.51 M Pairs in 2017 and is expected to reach 4037 M Pairs in 2023. Global total surgical gloves market value was about $1028.24 million in 2017, which is expected to reach $1554.63 million by 2023. North America has a share of about 34.67% of the global surgical gloves market, which is expected to reach nearly $519.38 million by 2023, based on the CAGR of about 7.13% between 2017-2023. Overall, the Surgical Gloves products performance is positive with the global economic recovery.

- The technical barriers of Surgical Gloves are relatively low, resulting in low level concentration degree. The manufacturing bases scatter around the world, mainly concentrating in China and Malaysia, etc. Leading companies in Surgical Gloves market include: Ansell, Cardinal, Semperit, Medline, Hutchinson, Kossan, Top Glove, Haojie Plastic and Rubber Products, Molnlycke, Globus, Yuyuan Latex Gloves, Motex, Kanam Latex Industries, Asma Rubber Products, Kurian Abraham etc.

- The worldwide market for Surgical Gloves is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly 7.0% over the next five years, will reach 1550 million US$ in 2024, from 1110 million US$ in 2019, according to a new GIR (Global Info Research) study.

- This report focuses on the Surgical Gloves in global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.



Inquire for buying a sample copy of Surgical Gloves Market Report 2019 @

https://www.marketresearchnest.com/report/enquirybuy/534607



Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers:

- Ansell Healthcare

- Top Glove

- Medline Industries

- Cardinal Health

- Molnlycke Health Care

- Kossan

- Motex Group

- Anhui Haojie Plastic and Rubber Products Co., Ltd.

- Semperit

- Hutchinson

- Shangdong Yuyuan Latex Gloves

- Globus

- Kanam Latex Industries Pvt. Ltd.

- Asma Rubber Products Pvt. Ltd.

- Kurian Abraham Private Limited (KAPL)



Market Segment by Type, covers:

- Natural Latex Surgical Gloves

- Synthetic Surgical Gloves



Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into:

- Hospitals

- Non-hospital Settings



Browse the full summary and TOC of Surgical Gloves Market @

https://www.marketresearchnest.com/Global-Surgical-Gloves-Market-2019-by-Manufacturers-Regions-Type-and-Application-Forecast-to-2024.html



Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:

- North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)

- Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)

- Asia-Pacific (Global, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)

- South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia etc.)

- Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)



The content of the study subjects, includes a total of 15 chapters:

- Chapter 1, to describe Surgical Gloves product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market driving force and market risks.

- Chapter 2, to profile the top manufacturers of Surgical Gloves, with price, sales, revenue and global market share of Surgical Gloves in 2017 and 2018.

- Chapter 3, the Surgical Gloves competitive situation, sales, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers are analyzed emphatically by landscape contrast.

- Chapter 4, the Surgical Gloves breakdown data are shown at the regional level, to show the sales, revenue and growth by regions, from 2014 to 2019.

- Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to break the sales data at the country level, with sales, revenue and market share for key countries in the world, from 2014 to 2019.

- Chapter 10 and 11, to segment the sales by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2014 to 2019.

- Chapter 12, Surgical Gloves market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2019 to 2024.

- Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Surgical Gloves sales channel, distributors, customers, research findings and conclusion, appendix and data source.



Request a sample copy of Surgical Gloves Market @

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Table of Contents:

- Market Overview

- Manufacturers Profiles

- Global Surgical Gloves Sales, Revenue, Market Share and Competition by Manufacturer (2017-2018)

- Global Surgical Gloves Market Analysis by Regions

- North America Surgical Gloves by Country

- Europe Surgical Gloves by Country

- Asia-Pacific Surgical Gloves by Country

- South America Surgical Gloves by Country

- Middle East and Africa Surgical Gloves by Countries

- Global Surgical Gloves Market Segment by Type

- Global Surgical Gloves Market Segment by Application

- Surgical Gloves Market Forecast (2019-2024)

- Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and Dealers

- Research Findings and Conclusion

- Appendix

. Table of Contents Continued



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About MarketResearchNest.com

MarketResearchNest.com is the most comprehensive collection of market research products and services on the Web. We offer reports from almost all top publishers and update our collection on daily basis to provide you with instant online access to the Global and Southeast Asia's most complete and recent database of expert insights on industries, organizations, products, and trends.



Contact us: - Mr. Jeet Jain, Sales Manager, sales@marketresearchnest.com ;

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Connect with us: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter | FacebookNew York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/13/2019 -- The market for Self Powered Relays has been yielding considerable promise in the recent past and a foreseeable future is fruitful too. Having said that, not segments of the market are showing equally lucrative demand potential and as a result, this business intelligence report has been compiled. Developed by an experienced research analyst, the demand in the global Self Powered Relays market has been projected to increment at a formidable compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during the forecast period of 2018-2025. For this duration, the report includes estimations and evaluations of various aspects of the market in terms of US Million dollars.



Get Report Sample and Customization: https://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1892066&type=S



This report presents the worldwide Self Powered Relays market size (value, production and consumption), splits the breakdown (data status 2013-2018 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.



The Self Powered Relays market was valued at Million US$ in 2017 and is projected to reach Million US$ by 2025, at a CAGR of during the forecast period. In this study, 2017 has been considered as the base year and 2018 to 2025 as the forecast period to estimate the market size for Self Powered Relays.



The following manufacturers are covered in this report:

Siemens

EKOSinerji

Fanox

Texas Instruments

Schneider Electric

ABB

C&S Electric

Basler Electric

Kries-Energietechnik

Woodward

ERL

Ashida



Self Powered Relays Breakdown Data by Type

Inverse Time Over Current Relays

Definite Time Over Current Relays

Instantaneous Current Relays



Self Powered Relays Breakdown Data by Application

Commercial

Industrial

Residential

Other



Interested in report: Please follow the below the links to meet your requirements; https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-self-powered-relays-market-insights-forecast-to-2025.htm



Self Powered Relays Production by Region

United States

Europe

China

Japan

South Korea

Other Regions



The study objectives of this report are:



To analyze and study the global Self Powered Relays capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);

Focuses on the key Self Powered Relays 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 Self Powered Relays :

History Year: 2013 - 2017

Base Year: 2017

Estimated Year: 2018

Forecast Year: 2018 - 2025



This report includes the estimation of market size for value (million USD) and volume (K Units). Both top-down and bottom-up approaches have been used to estimate and validate the market size of Self Powered Relays market, to estimate the size of various other dependent submarkets in the overall market. Key players in the market have been identified through secondary research, and their market shares have been determined through primary and secondary research. All percentage shares, splits, and breakdowns have been determined using secondary sources and verified primary sources.



For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2017 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.



Key Stakeholders



Self Powered Relays Manufacturers

Self Powered Relays Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers

Self Powered Relays Subcomponent Manufacturers

Industry Association

Downstream Vendors



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Email: sales@qyresearchreports.comNorthbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/14/2019 -- The report "Gelcoat Market by Resin Type (Polyester, Vinyl Ester, Epoxy), End Use Industry (Marine, Transportation, Construction, Wind Energy), Region (North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa and Latin America)-Global Forecast to 2024" The gelcoat market is expected to grow from USD 1.2 billion in 2019 to USD 1.7 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 8.0% during the forecast period. The gelcoat market is witnessing a significant growth because of the growing demand from various industries such as marine, transportation, and wind energy. Gelcoat provides various properties such as high gloss, UV resistance, hydrolysis or osmosis, and resistance to corrosion, water, abrasion, and chemicals to the composite molds or parts.



Browse 92 market data Tables and 43 Figures spread through 130 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Gelcoat Market"



Download PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=164224381



The marine end use segment accounted for the largest share of the gelcoat market in 2019.



Marine is an important end-use industry of glass fiber reinforced plastics as entire decks and complete ship hulls for powerboats or sailing/motor yachts are entirely made up of high-quality glass fiber reinforced plastics. The use of FRP in this industry results in the usage of gelcoat that provides excellent aesthetic appearance, good corrosion resistance, and smooth and vivid surface. Companies have also realized the immense potential of gelcoat that is used in the marine industry. For instance, in November 2018, Ashland Inc. launched a new gelcoat named Maxgaurd EZM for usage in marine applications. The gelcoat offers easy application in molds and good weathering performance. It possesses high resistance to UV rays and good blister resistance.



Polyester is the largest resin used for gelcoat manufacturing in 2019.



Polyester resin is widely used for gelcoat. In terms of value and volume, the polyester resin-based gelcoat market accounted for a major share of the overall market in 2019. Polyester resins are less expensive and possess properties such as good corrosion resistance, fast curing, durability, tolerance to temperature, and low thermal expansion. Polyester resin used in gelcoats offers durability for molds and parts.



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APAC is expected to be the largest market for gelcoat during the forecast period.



APAC is the largest gelcoat market, in terms of both value and volume. China, India, and Japan are the fast-growing economies that contribute to the growth of the market in the region. The booming wind energy industry and the transportation industry are bolstering the market for gelcoat in the region.



The major players in the gelcoat market include Ineos Enterprise (UK), Bufa Composite Systems GmbH (Germany), HK Research Corporation (US), Allnex (Germany), Scott Bader Company (UK), Poliya Composites Resins and Polymers (Turkey), Interplastic Corporation (US), Alpha Owens Corning (AOC) Aliancys (US), Polynt-Reichhold Group (US), and Turkuaz Polyester (Turkey).



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sales@marketsandmarkets.comSellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/14/2019 -- Global Gas Water Heater Market share is fueled by increasing consumer awareness toward energy conservation along with regulatory reforms toward improved product efficiencies. The government of Canada in 2017, enacted the Energy Efficiency Regulation 2016 to amend the current targets. The aim of amendment is toward improving energy efficiency standards and to homogenize the domestic standards as adopted by the U.S.



Gas Water Heater Market size is predicted to surpass USD 9 billion by 2024. Rising demand for the upgradation of aged heating systems and pipelines coupled with stringent government norms pertaining to energy efficient products will stimulate the gas water heater market.



Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/706



Growing investments in research and development to reduce cost of power along with ongoing government initiatives toward development of sustainable energy technologies will foster the gas water heater market in China. Residential establishments to integrate the renewable energy technologies coupled with rapid commercialization will further stimulate the product penetration. The CSEPCR Strategy of China aims at addressing the environmental and economic challenges and energy security in the nation.



The gas water heater market from residential was valued over 25 million units in 2016. Rising demand for refitting of infrastructure and advancing real estate sector will fuel the business landscape. Rising infrastructure spending along with increasing residential establishments across the developing economies will further compliment the industry outlook. Increasing measures to decrease product standby losses and rapid technological advancement will favor the industry outlook.



Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/706



Rising demand for low emission heating systems coupled with growing investments toward advanced and customized products will favor the gas water heater market share in the U.S. Ongoing upgradation and refurbishment of existing heating networks along with smart temperature control devices integration will embellish the product demand. Initial cost and net pay back period are some of the strong economic factors which will further drive the industry landscape. The GE in 2017 in collaboration with DOE introduced Geo Spring Hybrid Water Heater. The product is estimated to consume 62% less energy compared to the standard 50-gallon water heater.



Gas water heater market in Germany is projected to expand over 1% by 2024.Growing awareness towards ecological balance along with favorable government initiatives will foster the product penetration. Growing adoption of advanced and innovative heating technologies along with frequent amendments in EU directives to regulate and include advancing cooling and heating technologies will embellish the industry landscape. Improved product life and growing concerns to reduce carbon footprint will further propel the product outlook.



Browse Complete Report Summary @ https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/gas-water-heater-market



Key players in the gas water heater market includes V-guard, Rinnai, American Water Heaters, A.O. Smith, Kenmore, U.S. Craft Master, Whirlpool, Reliance Water heaters, Lochinvar, Bradford White, State Water Heaters, Rheem, Ferroli and Noritz.



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 York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/13/2019 -- The latest market intelligence study on the Fluoropolymer Films Product market performs an extensive analysis of the competitive landscape and growing investment pocket of the Fluoropolymer Films Product market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026. The tailor-made study probes into the current and future trends of that are likely to shape the development of the Fluoropolymer Films Product industry to give the business owners a competitive edge and help them stay ahead of their rivals. The best of both research techniques including qualitative and quantitative are applied to gauge the market size, share, and growth rate.



The Fluoropolymer Films Product study sheds light on industry profiles across several countries and regions. The extensive document is a rich source of information on market size, share and growth rate. The industry profiles discussed in the Fluoropolymer Films Product report further identifies market segmentation, profit, and competitive landscape and offers forecast information on industry performance and trends for the period, 2018 to 2026. The detailed report offers comprehensive analyses about a particular market situation within a geographic region.



Request for free sample report on Fluoropolymer Films Product @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/30167



The major Fluoropolymer Films Product manufacturers covered in this report are

Chemours Company (US), Saint-Gobain (France), Nitto Denko (Japan), 3M (US), Daikin (Japan), Honeywell International (US), DUNMORE (US), Guarniflon (Italy), ACG Chemicals (Japan), Textile Coated International (US)



On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into

- PTFE Films

- PVDF Films

- FEP Films

- 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

- Electrical & Electronics

- Industrial

- Automotive & Aerospace

- Others



How geography and sales fit together

The study works as a boon for all business owners trying to identify the exact size of the target audience in a specific geographic location. Fluoropolymer Films Product enable entrepreneurs to determine the regional market for their business expansion. The study answers the questions below:

- Where do the requirements come from?

- Where do non-potential customers reside?

- What is the buying behaviour of the customers dwelling in a particular area?

- What is the spending power of the customers in a specific region?



Major Regions play vital role in Fluoropolymer Films Product market are:

- North America

- Europe

- China

- Japan

- Middle East & Africa

- India

- South America

- Others



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



In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Fluoropolymer Films Product are as follows:

History Year: 2013-2017

Base Year: 2017

Estimated Year: 2018

Forecast Year 2018 to 2026



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The study objectives of this report are:

- To analyze and study the global Fluoropolymer Films Product capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2026);

- Focuses on the key Fluoropolymer Films Product manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future.

- Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.

- To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.

- To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.

- To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.

- To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.

- To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the 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.



Continue...



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News: www.marketexpertz.com/market-newsKathmandu, February 14

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli inaugurated a programme which will mobilise funds of the general public for hydropower development.

According to the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, various government entities will encourage people to invest in hydro projects under the ambitious Peoples Hydropower programme.

The government has unveiled a plan to build 19 projects in six provinces. The government, by mobilising resources from general people, will invest in projects like Tamakoshi-5 (96 MW), Upper Arun (725 MW), Trishuli 3B (37 MW) and Bheri Babai (48 MW).

Speaking at the launch programme, Energy Minister Barsha Man Pun said, This programme can make Nepal self sustainable in hydropower so that we will not have to seek help of foreign investors.

The total cost of the project according to the government is around Rs 700 billion, of which 70 per cent will be loan and 30 per cent will be self-funded.

According to the Ministry, the loan amount will be collected from Employee Provident Fund, Citizen Investment Trust, Hydropower Investment and Development Company, Nepal Telecom, Rastriya Beema Sansthan, Nepal Police and Armed Police Welfare Fund.Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/14/2019 -- Fleet Management System Market Growth 2019-2024



A fleet management system is formed by the integration of hardware, software, and communication technologies. It provides a platform to fleet operators to efficiently control, track, and monitor commercial vehicles. They improve the overall operational efficiency by reducing the non-value-added activities of the operators. Fuel cards are used for fuel management while driver safety systems monitor driver behavior. Other solutions are employed for location or tracking of vehicles, driver navigation assistance, and ensuring that the operators meet the regulatory standards set by their respective national governments.



Mobile devices will have tighter integration into vehicles. Beyond the connecting hands-free phone and music; the mobile devices will be able to wirelessly sync key vehicle data including mileage, health checks, and performance. Wirelessly with the mobile device, this, in turn, can use that information for applications.

Mobile devices, already ubiquitous in 2014, will be the sole way drivers handle their fleet tasks. Mileage reporting, trip logs, and finding vendors which will all happen through mobile devices and will make use of the capabilities (such as location awareness) of those devices to automate tasks. All key fleet documents will be digital and available in a mobile device.



Big Data will drive decisions for all aspects of fleet management, including vehicle selection, maintenance management, and driver safety planning. With the continued use of fleet analytics and accessibility to greater amounts of data, fleets will become more efficient, operate with fewer resources, and show an increase in productivity.



Commercial vehicle fleets play an essential role in the European and American economy. QYR is of the opinion that the European fleet management market has entered a growth period that will last for several years to come and the American market for fleet management will continue to show healthy growth in the next 5 years. Individual markets may however suffer temporary setbacks, depending on the local economic developments.



A group of international aftermarket solution providers have emerged as leaders on the European fleet management market. Masternaut is ranked as the largest player overall in terms of installed base with close to 200,000 units deployed, mainly in France and the UK. TomTom Business Solutions was the fastest growing vendor also in 2010 and has now surpassed 143,000 subscribers. Transics is number one in the heavy trucks segment with an estimated 65,000 active units installed. Other significant players include European companies such as Vehco, Navman Wireless and Trafficmaster and international players like Trimble and Qualcomm from the US and the South African telematics providers Digicore and MiX Telematics.



The market leaders on the fleet management market in the Americas include a range of different actors. Qualcomm Enterprise Services is ranked as the largest player, with an estimated total installed base of approximately 350,000 units in North and Latin America. The company's solutions are targeted at heavy trucks, where the main competitors in North America are XATA and PeopleNet, with approximately 110,000 units installed each.



Inquire for buying sample copy of Fleet Management System Market @ https://www.marketresearchnest.com/report/enquirybuy/533831



According to this study, over the next five years the Fleet Management System market will register a xx% CAGR in terms of revenue, the global market size will reach US$ xx million by 2024, from US$ xx million in 2019. In particular, this report presents the global market share (sales and revenue) of key companies in Fleet Management System business, shared in Chapter 3.



This report presents a comprehensive overview, market shares, and growth opportunities of Fleet Management System market by product type, application, key manufacturers and key regions and countries.



The report also presents the market competition landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the major vendor/manufacturers in the market. The key manufacturers covered in this report: Breakdown data in Chapter 3:

- Omnitracs

- Trimble

- Fleetmatics

- Alphabet

- Telenav

- Arvento

- Teletrac

- EMKAY

- Gurtam

- ARI

- FleetCor

- Navman Wireless

- TomTom

- I.D. Systems

- AssetWorks

- BSM Wireless

- E6GPS

- Mike Albert

- Microlise

- Etrans

- Wiesless Matrix

- Scania Fleet

- Transcore

- Transics

- Blue Tree

- Fleetboard

- Inosat

- Tracker SA

- Zonar

- Dynafleet



Segmentation by product type: breakdown data from 2014 to 2019, in Section 2.3; and forecast to 2024 in section 11.7:

- Type I

- Type II



Browse the full summary and TOC of Fleet Management System Market @ https://www.marketresearchnest.com/Global-Fleet-Management-System-Market-Growth-2019-2024.html



Segmentation by application: breakdown data from 2014 to 2019, in Section 2.4; and forecast to 2024 in section 11.8:

- Logistics and Transportation

- Public Transportation



This report also splits the market by region: Breakdown data in Chapter 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8:

- Americas: United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil

- APAC: China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, India, Australia

- Europe: Germany, France, UK, Italy, Russia, Spain

- Middle East and Africa: Egypt, South Africa, Israel, Turkey, GCC Countries



In addition, this report discusses the key drivers influencing market growth, opportunities, the challenges and the risks faced by key manufacturers and the market as a whole. It also analyzes key emerging trends and their impact on present and future development.



Research objectives:

- To study and analyze the global Fleet Management System consumption (value and volume) by key regions/countries, product type and application, history data from 2014 to 2018, and forecast to 2024.

- To understand the structure of Fleet Management System market by identifying its various subsegments.

- Focuses on the key global Fleet Management System manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape, SWOT analysis and development plans in next few years.

- To analyze the Fleet Management System with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market.

- To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).

- To project the consumption of Fleet Management System submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries).

- To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.

- To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.



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Table of Contents

2019-2024 Global Fleet Management System Consumption Market Report

- Scope of the Report

- Executive Summary

- Global Fleet Management System by Players

- Fleet Management System by Regions

- Americas

- APAC

- Europe

- Middle East & Africa

- Market Drivers, Challenges and Trends

- Marketing, Distributors and Customer

- Global Fleet Management System Market Forecast

- Key Players Analysis

- Research Findings and Conclusion

. Table of Contents Continued



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MarketResearchNest.com is the most comprehensive collection of market research products and services on the Web. We offer reports from almost all top publishers and update our collection on daily basis to provide you with instant online access to the Global and Southeast Asia's most complete and recent database of expert insights on industries, organizations, products, and trends.



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Connect with us: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter | FacebookPennsauken, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/14/2019 -- Cosello Construction is encouraging homeowners to take advantage of their window replacement services by booking their spring window replacements early. As the leading thermal window contractors near Camden County, NJ, and Philadelphia, PA, Cosello Construction's window replacement appointments typically fill up fast, so interested homeowners should not wait to schedule their appointments.



The team at Cosello Construction is well versed in installing a wide variety of windows. Whether homeowners want to upgrade their old wooden windows to vinyl or change all of their current windows to thermal windows, the team at Cosello Construction can handle any window replacement job. Currently, the company installs vinyl, energy efficient, and thermal windows. Once customers have selected the type of glass for their windows, they can choose from popular window styles such as double hung, casement, sliding, bay, and even basement windows.



While the company installs a wide variety of windows, their thermal windows, which feature Heat Mirror Film Technology, are one of the most sought after by their customers. These high-performing windows help homeowners save money by creating multiple airtight chambers that dramatically improve the thermal insulation and indoor comfort of a home.



Unlike standard insulating glass with Low-E coatings that only deliver a thermal insulating performance of R-3, Heat Mirror insulating glass can achieve an R-values up to 10, making it one the best-insulated glass on the market.



Those who would like to learn more about the company's thermal windows can do so by visiting their website. To schedule an appointment with the thermal window installers in Philadelphia County, PA or New Jersey, please call 856-249-9372.



About Cosello Construction

As a 2nd generation carpenter, Cosello Construction owner, Andrew M. Cosello and his team have been providing quality home remodeling and renovation services to residents across New Jersey and Pennsylvania for over 20 years. The company delivers outstanding customer satisfaction with each of their home improvement and remodeling services. Customers can book the construction company by visiting https://www.coselloconstruction.com.Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/14/2019 -- Usually, composites consist of two components: a matrix and a reinforcement. Both these components have their own physical and chemical properties. The unique nature of composites i.e. lighter weight and higher mechanical strength makes them useful in several applications. Some of the most commonly used composites are glass fiber, carbon fiber, kevlar, and graphite composites. Composite adhesives provide bonding to themselves as well as to other substrates. They exhibit significant mechanical strength and good performance upon exposure to extreme conditions.



Composites are used in various industry verticals such as automotive, aerospace, manufacturing, construction, and consumer goods. The matrix of a composite can be organic or inorganic, while the reinforcement is made of fiber, in a majority of the cases.



Read Report Overview @

https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/composite-adhesives-market.html



Composite Adhesives Market: Dynamics and Trends



In the aerospace industry, materials required for the manufacture of aircraft components need to be very light in weight and possess high mechanical strength. Composites meet these requirements. The use of composites in the aerospace industry dates back to several years. Moreover, the growing number of innovations in composite materials to reduce their weight is expected to propel the demand for composites in this industry, thereby accelerating the demand for composite adhesives.



As composites and their adhesives are eco-friendly, their demand is projected to rise in low-carbon-emitting vehicles. The rise in accountability of people toward environment conservation is propelling the demand for low-carbon-emitting vehicles and this factor is expected to drive the demand for composite adhesives in the next few years.



Demand for composite adhesives is increasing also due to the growing usage of composites in wind energy production. As composites are of less weight, they are employed in rotor blades of windmills. Rotor blades play a significant role in electricity generation. The blade deformation should be minimal, as blades need to last longer. Also, blades need to sustain high wind pressure. Composites is the only choice to meet all these requirements. Increased use of composite adhesives in different industry verticals such as construction and consumer goods is expected to boost the market in the next few years.



New entrants in the market for composite adhesives are anticipated to have ample growth opportunities in the near future, as governments of developed as well as developing economies are increasing their expenditure on environment conservation. The eco-friendly nature of composite adhesives is expected to offer growth opportunities for new players entering the market in the next few years.



Composite Adhesives Market: Segmentation



In terms of type, the composite adhesives market has been divided into structural adhesives and synthetic adhesives. The structural adhesives segment is expected to dominate the market in the near future. Structural adhesives offer high resistance to mechanical shocks and several chemicals. These adhesives can also withstand high levels of stress and are known to reduce the weight of the component. Since structural adhesives are inexpensive, they are preferred over other adhesives. Demand for structural adhesives is expected to rise in the next few years.



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Based on resin type, the composite adhesives market has been segmented into epoxy, polyurethane (PU), polyamide, and others. The epoxy resin segment is expected to lead the market during the forecast period. Epoxies can be used to bond different composite materials. They offer excellent bonding to a majority of composite materials such as kevlar and graphite composites. Epoxy resins are less toxic and they have higher impact and compression strength compared to other resins.



Based on end-user industry, the composite adhesives market has been segregated into automotive, aerospace, construction, energy & power, and others. The automotive segment is expected to dominate the market in the next few years. The surge in demand for composite adhesives is primarily due to the increasing demand for composite materials in the construction of automobile components due to their high strength and low weight that improve fuel efficiency. Also, the rise in demand for light-weight vehicles is augmenting the demand for composite adhesives.



Composite Adhesives Market: Regional Outlook



Increasing demand for green energy in the U.S. and Canada is significantly contributing to growth of the composite adhesives market in North America. The growing number of innovations in aircrafts and automobiles is driving the market in the region.



The market in Latin America is anticipated to expand at a good growth rate during the forecast period. The increase in measures toward green energy generation in Mexico is expected to contribute significantly to growth of the composite adhesives market in Latin America during the forecast period.



China is expected to hold a significant share of the Asia Pacific composite adhesive market in the next few years. The increasing use of composite adhesives in wind energy generation in China is anticipated to boost the market in Asia Pacific in the near future. High availability of raw materials and availability of low-waged labor in developing economies of APAC are factors projected to raise the number of manufacturers, thereby driving the composite adhesives market in the region.



Composite Adhesives Market: Key Players



Some of the major stakeholders in the global composite adhesives market are 3M, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, Integra Adhesives, SIKA AG, Arkema Group, The Dow Chemical Company, Huntsman Corporation, LORD Corporation, and Illinois Tool Works, IncNew Jersey, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/13/2019 -- HTF MI recently Announced Global Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management study with 100+ market data Tables and Figures spread through Pages and easy to understand detailed TOC on "Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management. Global Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management research allows you to get different methods for maximizing your profit. The research study provides estimates for Global Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management Forecast till 2025*. Some of the Leading key Company's Covered for this Research are Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Siemens, Schneider, Trane, Azbil, UTC, Beckhoff, Technovator, SUPCON, ST Electronics, KMC, GREAT, Cylon, Deos, Airedale, Fidelix & ASI.



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Global Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management 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 Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management 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 Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management market space?



Following are list of players that are currently profiled in the report "Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Siemens, Schneider, Trane, Azbil, UTC, Beckhoff, Technovator, SUPCON, ST Electronics, KMC, GREAT, Cylon, Deos, Airedale, Fidelix & ASI"



** 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 Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management 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.



Enquire for customization in Report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/923667-global-building-management-systems-risk-management-network-security-vehicle-identification-management-market-2



3) What are the Market Applications & Types:



The study is segmented by following Product Type: , Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security & Vehicle Identification Management



Major applications/end-users industry are: Commercial Buildings, Residential Buildings, Factory Building, Public Service Building & Other



**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 Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management market dynamics in the world mainly, the worldwide Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management 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.



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 Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Siemens, Schneider, Trane, Azbil, UTC, Beckhoff, Technovator, SUPCON, ST Electronics, KMC, GREAT, Cylon, Deos, Airedale, Fidelix & ASI 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 Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management 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 Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management 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 Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management Report 2018 @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/923667-global-building-management-systems-risk-management-network-security-vehicle-identification-management-market-2



In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Global Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management are as follows:

History Year: 2013-2018

Base Year: 2018

Estimated Year: 2019

Forecast Year 2019 to 2025



Key Stakeholders in Global Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management Market:

Global Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management Manufacturers

Global Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers

Global Building Management Systems, Risk Management, Network Security, Vehicle Identification Management 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=923667



Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.Tempe, AZ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/14/2019 -- AutohausAZ, the largest car parts warehouse for customers to purchase Jaguar auto parts as well as other European and domestic car parts online, is preparing to move its headquarters back to Phoenix. Currently located in Tempe, AZ, AutohausAZ has continued to grow since it first opened 40 years ago. Now, the company has become one of the largest auto parts warehouses on the internet, stocked with the highest quality OE and OEM parts for cars.



To improve and increase the customer experience, the AutohausAZ team felt that it was necessary to make the move back to Phoenix. This move from Tempe to Phoenix will also be the fourth in the company's history, and its team is looking forward to the opportunity to be once again headquartered in Arizona's capital.



The AutohausAZ team takes great pride in the company it has built. Each day they strive to strengthen their reputation for quality, accuracy, integrity, and excellence. Serving customers both in the United States and around the world, AutohausAZ continues to be a leading online warehouse to buy Jaguar parts or merely to browse a massive inventory of discounted OE and OEM parts.



To learn more about the vast selection of car parts the company has for sale online, visit the AutohausAZ website today at https://www.autohausaz.com/.



About AutohausAZ

AutohausAZ has been supplying the highest-quality auto replacement parts since the company's founding in 1979. As one of the largest auto parts warehouses online, AutohausAZ serves customers across the globe with an extensive range of auto parts and excellent customer service. With everyday prices well below retail and wholesale rates, customers always save when shopping at AutohausAZ.



To learn more, please visit https://www.autohausaz.com/.Shanghai doctor donates hemopoietic stem cells to expat

By:Wang Jiaye | From:english.eastday.com | 2019-02-14 10:46

Shanghai doctor, Xiong Qian, became the city's first donor of hemopoietic stem cells to a foreigner in 2019 and the 423rd in total as her 414-ml of hematopoietic stem cell suspension has been flown to the United States.

It has been the 19th donation of hematopoietic stem cells to foreign patients (the 5th to Americans) since the city asked for donations, according to a report from Wenhui Daily.

Xiong, Department of Endocrinology director of Shanghai Gonghui Hospital, became a donor of the China Marrow Donar Program in December 2017.

She was notified on Oct. 19, 2018, that the Leukocyte antigen collected from her was initially paired with an American woman aged 50 plus and more tests were needed. The warm-hearted doctor said yes without hesitation.

After less than two months, there came the good news that Xiong's bone marrow was completely matched with that of the expat. She soon signed the donation consent.

Currently, the treatment of leukemia mainly relies on bone marrow transplantation with an effective cure rate of 75% - 80%.The chances of finding a match between different nationalities and races are very low.

Xiong completed the collection of hemopoietic stem cells at the beginning of January. She had to adjust her body condition in preparation for the donation. However, delivery to the expat had to be delayed because of fever and infection, expiring the period of validity.

So, Xiong had to receive a second blood draw and physical examination. But she totally understood because the transportation can only be implemented when the patient is fully prepared.

Thankfully, Xiong's hematopoietic stem cell suspension, airlifted in the company of professional personnel, has now safely arrived in the United States.The main producer of fake news is the dude who resides at the White House. There is no national emergency at the border between Mexico and the U.S. He keeps trying to whip up fear where there is nothing to fear.

Our defenses are good and the people who defend our country need to be supported with no more government shut downs created by the same fake news guy who gets to live at the White House.

John H. Borja

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San Diego

We need the wall, and it has to be built, and we want to build it fast. So says Donald Trump.

Really?

Lets review the scoreboard. For two years, from 2016 to 2018, Donald Trump and the Republican Party had control of all the branches of government: the Senate, the House and the Supreme Court. Neither Trump nor the GOP proposed building a multi-billion dollar wall.

Why not ?

Now, after the Democratic Party won a majority of seats in the House of Representatives, Trump shut the government down and made building a wall the major political issue of the day. Hmmmmm!

Might this just be political theater to rile up his base while stoking fear and division for the 2020 presidential campaign?

You decide.

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Frank Ferrone

El Cajon

Build a wall and crime will fall? Lets stop kidding ourselves. There will be no comprehensive immigration reform as long as Trump is president.

He does not want to fix immigration or DACA. If that were to happen, he would lose his single most important issue for energizing his base. He would then own the results and would have to defend how his plan had not solved all of the problems that were caused by previous administrations. He has never accepted responsibility for anything; he is not changing anytime soon. Trump can only survive in chaos.

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Jim Southerland

Point Loma

Dont let shutdowns become a bargaining chip

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President Trumps wall; $1.375 billion for 55 miles. Consider this another way. That price is $4,735 per foot and for a small percentage of the currently unfenced portion of border.

We now know that shutting down the government is the real national emergency.

And if Trump actually does sign this compromise bill he will no doubt use the same tactic again and again.

Ron Carrico

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Mission Hills

As if the thought that Mexico would pay for Trumps wall wasnt nonsensical enough, Sen. Ted Cruz (R. Texas) has reached a new level of absurdity by claiming El Chapo should pay for the wall.

Heres a better idea; Senator Cruz can go to the offices of the Sinaloa Cartel and personally attempt to collect the money from them.

Joseph S. Carmellino

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Ocean Beach

The National Emergencies Act does not specify any particular circumstances that must be satisfied before a president can invoke its extraordinary powers. The law does not require the President to define or explain the basis for a National Emergency. The United States Supreme Court will uphold his discretionary authority as they approved the Administrations authority to limit immigration. In addition, the Court will be unwilling to put itself in the middle of a dispute between the Executive and Legislative branches. Especially since the law provides Congress a remedy. A joint resolution of Congress could overturn the resolution. Assuming it even passes Senate, it would be vetoed by the President. Therefore, giving the Supreme Court an ignoble way out.

T. R. Huntley

Vista

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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.Re New transit center should be trolley-based (Feb. 8): SANDAG is looking for ideas for a transit hub?

Heres one: We already have a hub at the Santa Fe Depot downtown. Most bus and trolley lines go there and the 992 bus connects directly to the airport. Why not make this convenient, as a proof-of-concept for a bigger vision, and see if it will draw passengers?

I would love to drive from my home in Poway to the nearby Park and Ride, take the express bus to the depot, and connect to the 992 to the airport.

If only the obstacles were removed.

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First, I cant figure out how to do it. The Metropolitan Transit System website hides key information like the fare, how to easily pay and how to handle my luggage. Second, Im forbidden to park overnight at the Park and Ride. Third, the 992 is a well-kept secret.

Maybe try the inexpensive solution first?

Mary Ann Horton

Poway

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.To a depressing degree, the debate over gun control and gun rights has long since boiled down to exchanges of insults and declarations that those with different views are bad people who are bad for America. Heres a thought: With Thursday marking the anniversary of a teen gunmans horrific killing of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, can we just try to find common ground on some very basic legislation?

Two such common-sense measures passed the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. One would broaden present federal rules on when those seeking to buy firearms are subject to background checks, ending exemptions for purchases at gun shows and through the Internet or other private transactions. The second would end an inexplicable loophole that lets gun dealers complete the sale of a firearm to anyone if the national background check system hasnt responded to an inquiry within three days. This provision allowed a 24-year-old white supremacist to purchase a gun he shouldnt have been able to buy legally before he killed nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.

Some Republicans, including New York Rep. Peter King, have voiced support for these changes. But others have bitterly denounced them as threats to the Second Amendment, especially the proposal that background checks be required even when individuals sell guns to family members or friends.

After all the gun carnage of recent decades, it shouldnt be controversial to believe that every single time someone seeks to obtain a firearm, he or she should be appraised for potential for violence.

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Such a mandate would make America safer  and wouldnt impede constitutional gun rights.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & OpinionIts hard to pick a specific moment that signaled modern American conservatism had jumped the shark, undone by the tensions between what Donald Trump believes and what lifelong Republicans have long considered core principles  only starting with a mistrust of Moscow, deep respect for the Pentagons leaders and an aversion to heavy government spending.

But its not difficult to determine when modern American liberalism lost its mind. That would be last week, on Feb. 7, when the Green New Deal plan was unveiled by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, and was embraced to varying degrees by Democratic presidential candidates including Sens. Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Bernie Sanders. The 14-page resolution was widely hailed in progressive circles as the blueprint America has been waiting for.

Now theres no question that there is a powerful populist movement that is hugely impatient with the U.S. status quo  on climate change, health care, taxes, income inequality and more. Thats why Sanders, a Vermont independent, nearly won the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination against Hillary Clinton, the embodiment of the partys establishment. Thats why Ocasio-Cortez became a popular national figure faster than any other politician in modern history. But as I read the Green New Deal and the FAQ accompanying its release, I was stunned repeatedly by its facile glibness, grandiose thinking and odd assumptions about what Americans want from life. When I read that the plan would require America within 10 years to meet 100 percent of our power demand through clean, renewable and zero-emission energy sources, I laughed to myself and thought, how can they do that and keep jets flying? Then a few pages later, I realized that the Green New Deal declares war on .... air travel.

To call it half-baked is an insult to ideas that are half-baked. It is fully baked. It feels like the product of a caffeine/THC bender by a 22-year-old poli sci grad student whos never read anything but The Nation.

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The Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle  an independent voice, not a Breitbart sniper  captured this over-the-top quality, noting that not only would the Green New Deal require that every building in the nation be upgraded for state-of-the-art energy efficiency, it called for 

... junking every automobile with an internal-combustion engine; making affordable public transportation available to every single American (presumably including those who live hours from the nearest town?); replacing the electric grid with something smarter; ... and  I swear Im not making this up  providing economic security to people who are unwilling to work. ...

The Green New Deal is a nice vision of where the United States might try to go someday. But as an actual blueprint for the immediate future, its lunatic. And no matter how technically or morally sound your goals may be, as an opening political message, Were nuts! is neither efficient, nor state-of-the-art.

Ocasio-Cortez soon disavowed the FAQ, which featured many of the most-mocked elements of the Green New Deal. She and an adviser also  wrongly  claimed that a doctored version of the fact sheet was being distributed by Republicans to make her look bad when it was an internet parody that was going around. Even Vox  the news site that alternates between providing thoughtful policy analyses and near-reflexive defenses of liberal conventional wisdom  wasnt having it. While it accepted the dubious claim that the fact sheet was a draft that wasnt supposed to be released, Vox lectured Ocasio for putting ...

 Green New Deal supporters including 2020 candidates in an uncomfortable position.

Translated, that means at least some on the left realize that 2020 is a lose-able election  even to an incumbent with so much baggage that its visible from outer space. They realize the risk of turning the Democratic Party into a vehicle for the policy views of the small fraction of Americans who want to give up on free-market capitalism in favor of utopian fantasies about a world where the government provides free health care, free college and free spending money to everyone, including those unwilling to work.

Yes, of course, American leaders need to do a much better job of making sure the benefits of a booming economy are spread much more widely. Yes, of course, its frustrating that a nation as wealthy as the United States doesnt have a more affordable, accessible health-care system.

But the belief that the federal government can pave a road to nirvana  and the belief that the federal government should directly shape the lives of many, perhaps most, Americans  arent just sentiments rejected by the right. They also dont sit well with the vast swath of voters with political views in the center and center-left. History suggests this caution is baked into most Americans political DNA.

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The results of the presidential election of 1972  when America was arguably as culturally divided as it is now  couldnt be more relevant. That year, the Democratic nominee should have given Republican incumbent Richard Nixon a hard time  and maybe won. In 1968, the former California senator had only beaten Vice President Hubert Humphrey in the popular vote by a half-million votes out of more than 73 million cast. A shift of less than 46,000 votes in New Jersey, Delaware, Missouri and Alaska would have denied Nixon an Electoral College majority, giving the final say on who was president to the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. While Nixons popularity was relatively strong his first two years in the White House, in 1971, his Gallup approval rating fell below 50 percent as the Vietnam War dragged on.

Yet the next year, Nixon won a record 49-state landslide  his re-election handed to him on a platter by Democrats who nominated South Dakota Sen. George McGovern, a hard-left ideologue who could be and was easily caricatured as the candidate of acid, amnesty [for draft dodgers] and abortion.

In his 2007 book  The Liberals Moment: The McGovern Insurgency and the Identity Crisis of the Democratic Party  presidential scholar Bruce Miroff lauded the anti-war idealism driving the McGovern campaign and praised the tactical victories that allowed insurgent Democrats to thwart establishment Democrats in the nomination race.

But Miroff offered as one of his main takeaways that it is 

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... Democrats, especially liberal Democrats, who need to understand their own partys history. ... There is no denying that full-throated liberalism, as voiced by McGovern, was rejected by the electorate, and liberal Democrats must come to grips with the persisting unpopularity of some of their goals.

But 47 years after the McGovern wipeout and a dozen years after Miroffs warning, many liberal Democrats appear ready to reject the lessons of history  to Republicans immense pleasure.

The day the Green New Deal was released, Axios reporter Jonathan Swan said, Its like Christmas and Hanukkah and every other holiday has arrived for Trumps 2020 campaign team. Every Republican in the country should get on their hands and knees and thank Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, ex-White House official Andy Surabian told Axios reporter Alayna Treene. Conservative columnist Kimberley Strassel wrote in The Wall Street Journal that Ocasio-Cortez was the GOPs secret weapon in the 2020 race.

Literally nothing in Trumps term of office  not record-low unemployment numbers, not the once-soaring stock market and not the enactment of tax cuts in 2017  has triggered as much Republican enthusiasm about his re-election prospects as the Green New Deal.

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Ocasio-Cortez already seems to be the politician that Democrats like most. If history repeats itself, shes going to be beloved by Trump Republicans as well.

Reed, a libertarian lite who already plans to waste his 2020 vote on Bill Weld for a third time, is deputy editor of the editorial and opinion section. Twitter: @chrisreed99. Email: chris.reed@sduniontribune.com. Column archive: sdut.us/chrisreed.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & OpinionNew regulation to streamline e-commerce activities in mainland

From:ChinaDaily | 2019-02-14 07:52

New regulation to streamline e-commerce activities in mainland

Zhang Yunfang, 23, a Chinese graduate now studying at the University of Tokyo, has been working as a shopper but not with her own money. Specifically, she has been a daigou (an overseas shopper who buys foreign products for customers on the Chinese mainland) in her spare time for about two years.

"I mainly shop for Japanese cosmetics, skin care products and paper diapers at major department stores and supermarkets for my clients. There has been a sharp rise in Chinese consumers buying overseas products in recent years," she said.

Business is good but nonetheless Zhang decided to call it a day as she fears a new law will hit her profit margins.

The country's first e-commerce law, which took effect on Jan 1, states that e-commerce traders, or those who sell products or provide online services, must obtain business licenses that are valid for both China and the locations where they made the purchases. They also have to register as market entities and pay taxes.

Consumers can contact a daigou service through online shopping platforms. Generally, this sort of trade helps consumers to save on import duties since it happens on a one-to-one basis through personal acquaintances.

Cross-border e-commerce platforms have welcomed the new law, which will promote the development of the industry in the long run, regulate the e-commerce industry, as well as lead the healthy development of the industry.

Ymatou, a Shanghai-based company, said as cross-border e-commerce involves a series of complex links, such as international logistics, warehousing, customs clearance and tax, the e-commerce law will help standardize the market, the company said.

After the promulgation of the e-commerce law, Ymatou organized a team of buyers and sellers on the platform to operate within its confines. These buyers support the new policy that, they said, promotes the healthy development of the industry.

NetEase Kaola, a cross-border portal owned by internet company NetEase Inc, said the new law showed that the country will continue to promote and regulate the development of cross-border e-commerce industry.

It said unqualified daigou will be eliminated by the industry and domestic consumers will shop at large e-commerce platforms, which can guarantee their services. In addition, the company will strictly abide by the relevant stipulations of the e-commerce law and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

Industry experts said the law better regulates online merchants and e-commerce platforms, ensures customers' rights and protects them from fake products, but will raise the cost of daigou services.

"The new law is expected to bring order to the e-commerce business sector that has developed rapidly and chaotically in the past few years, discipline market growth and create a sound shopping environment for Chinese consumers," said Dong Yizhi, a researcher at the China E-Commerce Research Center.

Dong said that on the one hand, this law will help protect consumers from buying fake or substandard products. However, on the other hand, it will likely increase the cost of buying imported products.

"Daigou services will not disappear, but these shopping representatives or proxy shoppers need to make a transformation. They could transform into small and microenterprises that are engaged in cross-border e-commerce, or just purchase overseas products for others occasionally, which involve a small amount of money," Dong added.

"The new law is necessary to control the lawless competition in e-commerce," said Liu Junhai, a business law professor at Renmin University of China, agreeing that it explicitly defines illegal conduct in the e-commerce sector, and protects consumer rights.

Song Huichun, a clerk from a technology company in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province, is supportive of the law. "Too many fake and unqualified products are being sold by daigou through social media and instant messaging apps. It is time to regulate the market," she said.

"As prices of products bought via cross-border e-commerce platforms are likely to go up under the new e-commerce law, I would buy on my own when I travel abroad, and ask my friends or relatives who take a trip overseas to buy products for me," Song added.

Song said there is also a possibility that she will buy local products in the domestic market if foreign goods become too expensive.

China's cross-border e-commerce sector has been growing rapidly over the past few years as the nation's middle and high-income shoppers seek increasingly diversified and personalized products and services.

According to iiMedia Research, a market consultancy, cross-border online shopping in China grew by 20.6 percent year-on-year to 7.6 trillion yuan ($1.1 trillion) in sales in 2017.

China started mulling an e-commerce law in 2013. After years of development, the much-anticipated law was adopted by the country's top lawmaking body in August.

Protecting consumer rights is one priority. The new law also bans vendors from unscrupulous practices such as deleting shopper reviews, canceling orders at will and conducting click farming. Rule-breakers can face fines of up to 2 million yuan.

He Wei in Shanghai contributed to the story.Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a pair of bills into law Wednesday to immediately provide $131.3 million in funding to expand access to clean drinking water, improve emergency preparedness and support wildfire-ravaged communities.

The bills were introduced in the Legislature in early December and approved unanimously this week.

A legislative analysis says the legislation will appropriate $50 million for a statewide emergency preparedness campaign and local grants. Another $31.3 million will backfill property tax losses from wildfire damage in Butte, Lake, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Shasta and Siskiyou counties.

Approximately $20 million will go toward emergency drinking-water projects and to increase compliance with water quality standards. The bills give the state $15 million for legal services and audits and $10 million to begin upgrading the 911 system.

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These budget bills reflect immediate needs for the state  relief for areas affected by wildfires, help for communities with urgent drinking-water needs, and assistance for asylum seekers, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) said. Unanimous, bipartisan votes of the Assembly and Senate, and now the governors signature, show the true urgency of these measures.

The laws amend the 2018-19 state budget to offer more disaster and emergency aid following the states deadliest wildfire season on record and as thousands of Californians continue to lack access to safe drinking water.

The proposals are the first signed into law by Newsom since he was sworn in to office in January. Newsom, who has repeatedly pledged to improve access to drinking water in the Central Valley and other communities, traveled to an elementary school in the Fresno County town of Parlier to sign the bills in a ceremony Wednesday afternoon.

With Newsoms signature on the bills, he and the Legislature are also freeing up $5 million for nonprofits providing shelter to asylum-seeking migrant families at the California border with Mexico. At the urging of San Diego lawmakers, Newsom visited the region in November and again last month.

Although the recent influx of migrants seeking asylum is from countries in Central America where gangs are terrorizing communities, with climate change, civil war, oppression and economic hardship, tomorrows refugees can come from anywhere, Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) said. California must be ready to provide services and support if the federal government does not uphold its responsibility.

More stories from Taryn Luna 

taryn.luna@latimes.com

Follow @tarynluna on Twitter.A San Diego County sheriffs captain who most recently oversaw the Rancho San Diego substation has been placed on administrative leave as part of a federal criminal investigation, sheriffs officials said Wednesday.

Capt. Marco Garmo, a 26-year veteran of the Sheriffs Department, will continue to receive pay during the leave, according to a department spokeswoman.

The San Diego County Sheriffs Department has been assisting and cooperating with federal authorities on a criminal investigation, the spokeswoman said in an email responding to questions about Garmo. As this is an ongoing federal matter, there will be no further comment at this time.

Sheriffs officials did not say for what Garmo was being investigated.

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Garmo, 51, was reprimanded by Sheriff Bill Gore in 2017 for violating state limits on gun sales, and received a warning from prosecutors not to engage in any more unlawful firearm transactions.

The warning from prosecutors came after state investigators referred the criminal case to then-District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, whose office declined to file charges.

Officials did not say if the current federal investigation of Garmo had to do with unlawful gun sales.

News of the criminal investigation of Garmo came the same day the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said several searches were being conducted throughout the county due to a firearms trafficking investigation. NBC7 reported that among the locations raided Wednesday was the sprawling backcountry estate of San Diego jeweler Leo Hamel in Jamul  an area covered by the Rancho San Diego sheriffs substation  and Hamels business in Old Town.

Garmo did not immediately return a voicemail seeking comment Wednesday evening.

According to the written reprimand from Gore to Garmo, dated Feb. 1, 2017, Garmo sold 11 handguns in 2014, eight handguns in 2015 and 25 handguns in 2016.

Selling more than five handguns per year violates state law, Gore pointed out in the reprimand, which was signed by Undersheriff Mark Elvin.

Garmo told the Union-Tribune last year he didnt know the volume of sales required a federal firearms license, which he never obtained.

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Im a gun guy, Garmo said in the interview last year, estimating he bought and sold about 30 firearms over his career. Im not making excuses. Its a mistake thats probably commonly made. My intentions were not to violate the law. The minute it was brought to my attention, it stopped happening.

The website for the Rancho San Diego substation was altered Wednesday. Earlier in the day, it featured a photo of Garmo, but by the evening, Garmos photo had been taken down, and Charles Cinnamo was listed as the substations captain.

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Twitter: @Alex_Riggins

(619) 293-1710

alex.riggins@sduniontribune.comSan Diego police detectives arrested a 35-year-old man Wednesday on suspicion of committing two armed robberies and attempting a third robbery while dressed like a construction worker late last year, police said.

Detectives arrested the suspect around 11:30 a.m. at a residence on Vista Horizon Street south of Imperial Avenue in the Mountain View neighborhood, robbery Lt. Martha Sainz said.

He was booked into San Diego Central Jail around 4 p.m. on suspicion of robbery, jail records showed. He was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Detectives say a gunman held up a Serra Mesa GameStop video game store on Dec. 19, then attempted to rob employees at a second GameStop in City Heights on Dec. 23.

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The second video game store heist, at GameStops location on University Avenue near 44th Street, was foiled when an employee recognized the man from the first robbery and asked a coworker to call security, police said at the time.

The man fled without taking anything, but robbed employees at a Kearny Mesa Subway restaurant two hours later, according to police.

Twitter: @Alex_Riggins

(619) 293-1710

alex.riggins@sduniontribune.comAuthorities have identified the Escondido police officer who shot a 36-year-old ex-con in the foot after the man fired shots at police during a pursuit.

Sheriffs officials said Officer Adam St. John returned fire and struck Jose Martin Torres of Oceanside in the foot following the chase that began shortly after 1:30 a.m. last Thursday.

Dispatchers received a call from a person reporting that a man in a vehicle was firing shots at a house on Rincon Villa Drive. Officers responded to the area, spotted the vehicle and attempted to stop it, but Torres drove off.

After a brief chase, Torres ran over spike strips when he exited Interstate 15 at Deer Springs Road. After he got out of his vehicle on Mesa Rock Road, he ran and fired shots at officers, sheriffs officials said.

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St. John has been employed as a patrol officer for the Escondido Police Department for 2 years.

Torres was being held without bail at the Vista Detention Center on suspicion of two counts attempted first-degree murder, according to jail records.

According to the District Attorneys Office, Torres was out on bail at the time of the shooting in a domestic violence case and has a gang-related prior strike conviction from 2008.

Twitter: @karenkucher

(619) 293-1350

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karen.kucher@sduniontribune.comEmployees of a San Francisco first responders station are reeling after being forced by the city to give up their feline mascot Edna following an anonymous complaint, citing health and safety issues.

The employees of the station said goodbye to their furry friend in a series of Instagram posts.

Leaving Sta49, one post read. 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.

The San Francisco Fire Department pointed out in a statement that the station in question was an ambulance deployment facility that housed medical supplies, including life-saving equipment and medications used by paramedics on duty.

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One former employee of the station who worked there with Edna the cat didnt think managements reasoning passed muster.

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, Irene Ybarra, the paramedic running logistics at Station 49 until 2017, told SFGATE. The items are usually boxed up, and its 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.

After the complaint was filed, the employees were given a scant few days to get rid of Edna or risk animal control taking over the case.

On the Instagram page, the complaint was described as malicious.

Edna was taken in by the station after becoming a frequent visitor during her days as a stray.

Edna is currently being fostered by another employee of the station, but that likely will not become her forever home as that person already has several pets.

Ybarra, who moved to Washington state after retiring in 2017, told SFGATE that she hopes to be the one to adopt the cat.The White House is preparing a sweeping executive order that could bar Chinese companies from selling equipment for use in future U.S. telecommunications networks, claiming Beijing could exploit the technology to carry out cyber intrusions and espionage.

The main target of the draft order, expected to be released in days, is Huawei, the worlds largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer. The order would not affect U.S. consumer electronics companies whose products incorporate components from China.

Huaweis attempts to penetrate the U.S. market have alarmed intelligence agencies for years.

The order is certain to further inflame tensions with Beijing as the Trump administration seeks to conclude a trade deal with China. U.S. officials insist the proposed executive order is unrelated to the trade negotiations.

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But in hopes of limiting the fallout, the White House canceled plans to hold a ceremony where Trump would sign the directive in public. Huawei has repeatedly denied any role in Chinas sophisticated digital espionage.

Despite U.S. denials of a tie-in to the trade talks, the Chinese may view the targeting of Huawei, based in Shenzhen, China, as a pressure tactic to gain concessions. It could stiffen Beijings resolve to resist what it sees as American efforts to contain Chinas growing economic and political clout.

The United States and several allies have moved on multiple fronts against Huawei over the last year. The campaign has included criminal prosecutions and high-level pressure on other governments to ban Huawei systems and equipment, which are widely used in Europe and Africa.

The direct impact of the proposed executive order is largely symbolic, since major U.S. telecommunications carriers have largely shunned Huawei routers, switches and other hardware under pressure from intelligence agencies.

Smaller carriers that bought and installed Huawei equipment, in part because of its low cost, would not be required to remove it, according to industry officials.

But excluding China from fifth generation, or 5G, networks is of critical importance, U.S. officials argue. Those networks will carry far more data, extending wireless communications into self-driving cars and other areas of everyday life, making compromise of data potentially even more damaging.

In a new effort to allay U.S. concerns, Huaweis founder, Ren Zhengfei, said the company would rebuff any Chinese government requests to disclose confidential information about its foreign customers and their communication networks.

We would definitely say no to such a request, he told reporters last month in Shenzhen.

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The planned executive order does not mention China or Huawei, according to current and former officials who have read it.

It orders an investigation, likely to be carried out by U.S. intelligence agencies and the Department of Homeland Security, into the risk from telecommunications equipment from countries considered U.S. adversaries. A number of Chinese and Russian firms are likely to be examined.

But once the investigation is complete, a process likely to take several months, it is virtually certain to recommend barring Huawei from the U.S. on national security grounds, according to officials and industry lobbyists who have seen the directive.

Under Chinese law, the government can compel Chinese companies to hand over data and the Communist Party has exercised greater authoritarian control over spheres of business and society in recent years.

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The CIA and the National Security Agency, which focuses on digital espionage, have studied Huaweis operations for over a decade. But current and former U.S. officials say the spy agencies have no smoking gun showing conclusively that Huawei executives have helped Chinese security services penetrate Americas wireless networks.

Some attempts to penetrate overseas telecommunications networks that employ Huawei equipment have been traced to China, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence. But Huaweis involvement is unclear.

The officials cite other reasons why Huawei should be excluded from the U.S. telecom backbone, including alleged links between company executives and the Chinese Communist Party, allegations that Huawei has sought to evade international sanctions on Iran and North Korea, and recent allegations that a Chinese intelligence operative was on the companys payroll in Poland.

Should there be a cost associated with the fact that theyve done all these sorts of things? asked a senior U.S. official, who spoke about the company in return for anonymity. The answer is that now there is starting to be a cost. Their past is starting to catch up with them.

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In December, Canada arrested Huaweis chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, daughter of company founder Ren, at the request of the U.S. Justice Department on charges that she helped Huawei evade sanctions on Iran.

U.S. authorities have started extradition proceedings against Meng, who is also deputy chairwoman of the board at Huawei. She has denied any wrongdoing; a hearing is set for March 6.

The FBI and Justice Department are also reportedly investigating whether Huawei stole trade secrets from U.S. companies.

Last summer, the U.S. barred the use of equipment from Huawei and other Chinese companies in Pentagon and other government telecommunications networks, and prohibited the sale of Huawei cellular phones on military bases.

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This week, on a trip to Europe, Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo urged officials in Hungary and Poland, NATO members that bought heavily from Huawei, to cut off purchases, warning that the Pentagon would have to scale back military cooperation unless they complied.

Weve made clear that if they make a certain set of decisions, that it will be more difficult for the  Department of Defense to work alongside of them  that is, well never put our equipment in a place which would present risk to our technology from having Chinese technology co-located alongside of it, Pompeo told reporters Tuesday.

Trump is also considering taking a potentially more damaging action against Huawei  blocking U.S. companies from selling or exporting critical components to it, just as the administration did last April with ZTE, Chinas second-largest telecom company after Huawei.

The move against ZTE, for sales that violated sanctions on North Korea and Iran, paralyzed the company since it relied heavily on San Diego-based Qualcomm for semiconductor chips.

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After Chinese President Xi Jinping appealed directly to Trump, the Commerce Department lifted the ban on ZTE in July after the company agreed to pay a $1-billion fine and overhaul its leadership.

But a similar move against Huawei would be far more explosive, industry analysts say. It would disrupt the companys supply chain, which is heavily dependent on U.S. components.

It also would threaten the smooth operation of Chinas domestic wireless networks, which are heavily dependent on Huawei, analysts said.

Chinese telecom sales to the United States are tiny. Huawei has effectively been blacklisted by Washington for several years and made little market headway beyond limited sales in rural markets.

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A House intelligence report in 2012 warned that deploying Huawei equipment could make U.S. infrastructure vulnerable to spying and cyberattacks from Beijing. The executive order would signal that Washington views the risks as far more serious.

It could inhibit Huaweis upcoming 5G competitiveness, said Derek Scissors, a China expert at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank in Washington.

U.S. industry lobbyists say Trump may back down against Huawei, just as he did with ZTE, to get a trade deal with China before new tariffs are due to kick in on March 2. But some telecom executives are publicly supporting stiffer action against Huawei.

At a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday on the proposed merger of Sprint and T- Mobile, the chief executive of T-Mobile, John Legere, reassured lawmakers that Chinese telecom equipment would not be used in the merged companys networks.

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There is no Huawei or ZTE equipment in the network of T-Mobile, he said. There will not be any. ... In fact, weve had a litigious relationship with them, and we are, frankly, very supportive of the United States governments increased action.

The Trump administration is looking at tougher export controls to thwart Chinas access to tech supply chains, and some administration officials and lawmakers are pushing more broadly to decouple the U.S. economy from Chinas.

Huawei is less dependent on U.S. suppliers than ZTE, but people familiar with Huaweis business say it bought about $12 billion in chips and other products from Qualcomm and other American companies last year.

A ZTE-like ban would clearly hurt and could slow Chinas push to roll out 5G at home and abroad.

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But analysts say it also could propel Beijing to seek supplies from other countries and develop its own supply chain. Some industry analysts question the strategy if it hurts U.S. suppliers and pushes China to speed up its own manufacturing capabilities.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin are scheduled to meet with senior trade officials in Beijing on Thursday, but analysts are not optimistic of a breakthrough.

The Chinese side has shown little indication it will give up state-led economic practices that discriminate against U.S. firms.

Without a deal, the Trump administration has said it would raise tariffs from 10% to 25% on $200 billion of Chinese imported goods. On Tuesday, Trump indicated he could put off raising tariffs beyond the March 1 deadline if progress has been made.

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david.cloud@latimes.com

Twitter: @davidcloudLATA suicide bombing killed 27 of Irans elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard members and injured 13 others shortly after sunset Wednesday in the countrys southeast, according to state media.

The Sunni Muslim extremist group Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for the attack on a bus carrying guard members who had just finished patrolling in Sistan and Baluchistan province near the border with Pakistan.

Authorities believe the attacker drove up next to the bus before detonating a car bomb, according to the semiofficial Fars news agency.

Jaish al-Adl came to prominence in recent years claiming to fight oppression against the Sunni minority in the southeastern province.

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An overwhelming majority of Irans population is Shiite Muslim, but about 9% of the nation is Sunni. Many in the minority sect live in the impoverished outlying areas of Iran and say they face discrimination, poverty and a lack of opportunity.

The group has become pretty famous in Iran, Ariane Tabatabai, an associate political scientist at Rand Corp., said of Jaish al-Adl. What makes Wednesdays attack unique is that its happening in the middle of the anniversary of the revolution, which is a time when Iran wants to showcase its military power.

The attack came two days after thousands of Iranians commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, which ousted a secular pro-Western monarchy and replaced it with the Islamic Republic.

It also came on the first day of a U.S.-led Mideast conference in Warsaw. Outside the conference, hundreds of demonstrators called for a change of government in Iran. The protest was organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The council is linked to the Mujahedin Khalq, an Iranian exile group that has long sought to topple the government in Tehran and enjoys support among some members of the Trump administration.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sought to link the attack with the conference in a tweet: Is it no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day that #WarsawCircus begins? Especially when cohorts of same terrorists cheer it from Warsaw streets & support it with twitter bots?

Bahram Qasemi, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, condemned the suicide bombing and said officials and Irans military would take revenge on the murderous terrorists.

The wreckage of a bus is shown after a suicide bombing in Sistan and Baluchistan province in southeastern Iran in an image from the semiofficial Fars news agency. The bus was carrying members of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard. (Fars news agency)

Jaish al-Adl, whose name means Army of Justice, is an offshoot of the still-active militant Jundallah separatist group from Sistan and Baluchistan, Tabatabai said.

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Jaish al-Adl is just one of several extremist groups in the province, Tabatabai said, with members of Irans armed forces patrolling there facing numerous terrorist attacks in recent years. The area is one of the most underdeveloped parts of Iran, she said.

There are few jobs and not many opportunities, so it creates an environment where terrorist groups can recruit people easily, Tabatabai said.

Jaish al-Adl has targeted members of Irans armed forces for kidnappings or deadly attacks. The group has also demanded the government release its jailed members.

In 2013, authorities hanged 16 people in retaliation for the killing of 14 border guards who were ambushed near the border with Pakistan.

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Its unclear whether the prisoners were part of Jaish al-Adl. Fars said they were linked to groups hostile to Irans political system.

In 2014, Jaish al-Adl kidnapped five members of the Revolutionary Guard in the same border region, according to state media. Four of the guards were released in Pakistan two months later, but the fifth had been executed, state media said. The group kidnapped 12 Iranian border guards in October, according to state media. Five were later freed, Fars reported.

The Revolutionary Guard was formed by Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini shortly after the 1979 revolution and is distinct from the regular military. In its early days, the guard was made up of destitute young men from urban areas who were used to clamp down on critics of the revolution.

The Revolutionary Guard, numbering about 125,000 members, now plays a major political and economic role in Iran and is a potent symbol of the Shiite majority.

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Special correspondent Mostaghim reported from Tehran and Times staff writer Etehad from Los Angeles.Undocumented workers at Zion Market in Kearny Mesa were taken into custody Wednesday while special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations executed a federal search warrant at the business.

ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack said many of the 26 individuals detained during the operation were released before evening, although she could not confirm whether all of the workers were released from custody.

The intent was they would be detained and released today pending the outcome of their immigration case, Mack said.

Zion Market front manager Yongho Jun said a small group formed outside the large Korean supermarket in opposition to the ICE enforcement action.

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There were about five to six people and they held a sign saying human rights, said Jun. He said someone from the group also left information for how people could find out about their legal rights and report immigration enforcement activity to a 24-hour hotline.

Many of our employees need this information from this flyer now, said Jun.

The group was from the San Diego Rapid Response Network, a coalition of human rights and service organizations, attorneys, and community leaders that help immigrants understand their legal rights.

The San Diego Rapid Response Network was called at 9:30 a.m. about the raid at Zion Market, according to a statement by Kate Clark of the group. As SDRRN does with all calls, dispatchers went on-site to verify the activity and hand out information to workers. SDRRN is providing emergency preparedness sessions to impacted families tomorrow.

Jun said he believed the employees detained were mostly Asian and Hispanic.

All I know is that they arrested 26 from here earlier today and now we are really, really busy. They arrested our workers, Jun said.

David Shaw, the HSI special agent in charge for San Diego, said the target of the investigation was the employer and not the employees.

Honestly, if we didnt encounter any employees, it wouldnt make a difference for our case, said Shaw. Our case is based on the employer.

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Shaw said the execution of the federal search warrant was the culmination of a year-long investigation, but the employer had not yet been arrested or charged.

One of the things were trying to do, obviously, is protect U.S. jobs, but its also a national security issue, said Shaw.

The investigation began with an audit of the companys I-9 forms  workplace documents that verify whether someone is eligible to work in the U.S., he said. The special agent emphasized his unit focuses on criminal investigations.

So, if someone is smuggled into the country, and all of the sudden you pay me $10,000 to get into the country and now you dont have the $10,000, well, now, guess what? Im going to make you work, so it becomes a trafficking case too, Shaw said.

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ICE spokeswoman Mack said the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arm of the agency also assisted with the operation.

In 2018, HSI opened 6,848 worksite investigations compared to 1,691 in 2017, according to a news release about the operation.

The Zion Market is located at Clairemont Mesa Boulevard near Convoy Street.The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump administration Thursday over its recent policy that returns asylum seekers to Mexico while they wait for their cases in U.S. immigration court.

The ACLU has sued over  and successfully blocked  a number of immigration policies put forth by the Trump administration. Many anticipated that the organization would similarly fight the Trump administrations Migrant Protection Protocols  known more informally as Remain in Mexico  in federal court.

The MPP program began as a pilot at the San Ysidro Port of Entry with single adults from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala being returned to Tijuana to wait for court dates in the States. A total of 73 people, including 13 children, have been returned since the program was implemented in late January.

The Trump administration is forcibly returning asylum seekers to danger in Mexico, said Judy Rabinovitz, deputy director of the ACLUs Immigrants Rights Project. Once again, the administration is breaking the law in order to deter asylum seekers from seeking safety in the United States.

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The lawsuit was filed in federal court in the Northern District of California on behalf of 11 returnees from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. All of the returned plaintiffs, who are listed with pseudonyms in the complaint, say that they fear for their lives in Tijuana.

Several of the plaintiffs say they were victims of violence in Tijuana. One was robbed at gunpoint and told by the robbers if they ever saw him again they would kill him. Two more said that they, along with other migrants, were threatened by local residents with sticks or rocks.

Two of the plaintiffs say they have had issues with Mexican police. One said he had to pay a bribe to police to avoid being arrested.

Another plaintiff said that on his way through Mexico he was kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel and worries that they will find him if he stays in the country.

Asylum seekers in Mexico face a heightened risk of kidnapping, disappearance, trafficking, sexual assault, and murder, among other harms, the complaint says. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons, as well as people of indigenous heritage, are particularly at risk.

The complaint also says that being returned to Mexico may prevent the asylum seekers from finding attorneys and getting ready for their hearings.

Instead of being able to focus on preparing their cases, asylum seekers forced to return to Mexico will have to focus on trying to survive, the complaint says. These pressures may deter even those with the strongest asylum claims to give up, rather than endure the wait under such conditions.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said: The Migrant Protection Protocols are a vital response to the crisis at our southern border. The Department of Homeland Security is exercising its statutory authority to help alleviate this humanitarian and security crisis and secure our nation. We appreciate the Department of Justices support and partnership throughout this process.

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Meanwhile, just over two weeks after U.S. officials began sending asylum seekers back to Tijuana while their claims are processed on the north side of the border, the first families were returned to Mexico on Wednesday.

As rain moved in over the border region on Wednesday, a couple, four mothers and a total of 10 children were sent back to the El Chaparral plaza, where foot traffic that enters at PedWest by the outlet mall spills out into Tijuana, according to Mexican immigration officials.

Another three children were returned with families on Thursday to the plaza. At least three of the children returned so far are 5 years old or younger, according to Mexicos National Migration Institute.

Asylum seekers stand in El Chaparral plaza each morning to listen for their names to be called from the wait list to ask the U.S. for protection. There were about 2,600 people on the wait list on Wednesday.

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As word of the new policy, initially announced in later December and implemented in late January, spread among those in line over the past two months, parents have worried about what would happen if they ended up back in Tijuana for months while their cases were pending in the U.S.

Many of Tijuanas migrant shelters are in areas that have seen some of the citys increasing violence. Several parents talked about hearing gun shots at night outside of their shelters and didnt want their children to have to spend more time there.

Tonatiuh Guillen, the head of Mexicos immigration agency, said last month that Mexico would not accept returnees under 18 and would not allow the program to expand beyond Tijuana.

Trump administration officials have said they would extend the program to other ports of entry along the southwest border and that the program could grow to include people from other countries.

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Immigration Videos On Now New developments in family separation case 9:53 On Now A San Diego woman volunteered as a medic in Texas helping migrant families 2:35 On Now Immigration policy protests in Carlsbad nearly cancelled after permit issue 1:38 On Now When children are separated from their parents at the border, here is where they go next On Now Prospects of a deal for 'Dreamers' may hinge on separating Trump from hard-liners on his staff On Now What is DACA? On Now Border wall prototype contractors selected On Now Video: Ukrainian boxer wins asylum in U.S. On Now 30 apprehended after Border Patrol agents discover tunnel On Now Video: Kurdish diaspora prepare to vote on independence

Follow me on Facebook for live updates about immigration news

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kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate on TwitterThere may be more in the sewage-tainted water that regularly spills over the border from Tijuana than many San Diegans realize.

The cross-border pollution also contains potentially dangerous industrial and agricultural chemicals, according to a draft report compiled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection that was circulated to officials throughout the region on Wednesday.

The agency has been conducting water-quality testing since early 2018 in the canyons that empty into the Tijuana River Valley, where agents regularly chase down illegal crossers.

Along with high levels of bacteria from human waste, the testing found carcinogenic chemicals  such as the banned pesticide DDT and dangerous industrial compounds, such as hexavalent chromium.

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This is some horrible stuff, said Christopher Harris, who has worked as a border agent in San Diego for more than two decades and is the spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council Local 1613. This is affecting not just the border agents, but everyone who recreates down there.

A number of the agents have suffered chemical burns and rashes after coming in contact with the polluted water, Harris said. Youve created one giant chemical waste dump in the Tijuana River Valley.

The extent of the pollution has yet to be fully documented. Levels for any one contaminant were not dramatically high, according to water quality officials. But the list contained more than two dozen potentially dangerous substances, from uranium to the internationally banned pesticide Aldrin.

Just one chemical by itself maybe its OK, but all together that hasnt been evaluated, said Helen Yu, a water resource control engineer with the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Mostly for human health its pathogens in human waste that are most concerning, she added.

The testing included 42 water samples over six months in several locations, including Yogurt Canyon, Goat Canyon, Smugglers Gulch, Canyon del Sol and Stewarts Drain.

The agency now plans to perform an additional six months of water testing and start taking soil samples.

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Spurred, in part, by the findings, the U.S. section of the International Boundary and Water Commission, or IBWC, started its own testing regime in December.

IBWC is sampling water and soil quality in the river valley to assess whether theres been a toxic build up over time.

While pathogens in human waste can be dangerous, the material degrades relatively quickly. By comparison, many of the cancer-linked chemicals found in the testing can persist in the environment for years and could require a cleanup effort.

IBWC plans to monitor conditions through November on both sides of the border in coordination with officials in Mexico. They hope to identify pollution hot spots, which could lead back to specific businesses and other potential sources.

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Well try to figure out what could be contributing, if its coming in with the untreated sewage or if its being dumped, said Gilbert Anaya, division chief for the environmental management division of IBWC.

Canyons in the Tijuana River watershed drain into San Diego through a series of culverts beneath the border fence.

IBWC has a collection system that divert flows in the river valleys major canyons, such as Goat Canyon and Smugglers Gulch. Much of the polluted flows are sent to the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment plant.

However, the capture basins are routinely overwhelmed, especially in wet weather.

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The state of California has sued the Trump administration for a violation of the Clean Water Act over the spills in the canyons. The move is aimed at forcing the federal government to expand the canyon diversion system and fund wastewater upgrades in Tijuana.

Lawyers for the defense have argued that the government isnt legally responsible for the renegade flows that escape their collection systems, pointing out that the situation would be significantly worse without its efforts in recent decades.

Imperial Beach, Chula Vista and the Port of San Diego filed a separate lawsuit in March, which also takes aim at the pollution that regularly flows through the Tijuana River.

The states complaint was filed in federal court in September on behalf of the regional water board in San Diego. State officials have suggested their legal argument is strongest when applied to just the canyon collectors.

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Tijuanas aging and limited sewer system has in recent years struggled to serve the regions growing population. Progress has been made thanks to Mexican and U.S. infrastructure investments, but experts and government officials agree that much more needs to be done to keep water pollution from spilling over the border.

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Twitter: @jemersmith

Phone: (619) 293-2234

Email: joshua.smith@sduniontribune.comCrystal meth is reportedly a popular holiday gift in North Korea, according to the New York Times on Tuesday.

North Korea officially denies producing amphetamine, but there is ample evidence that it is a major source of the addictive drug being sold all across Asia and beyond. Radio Free Asia last Thursday also said "ice" was a popular present for the Lunar New Year.

"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," The Times recalled.

"Since the 1970s, many North Korean diplomats have been arrested abroad for drug smuggling."

But when international scrutiny tightened since the 2000s, state-level involvement diminished, and more smaller producers sprang up.

In the North, methamphetamine is still used as a remedy for colds and other ailments since medical care is lacking.

Prof. Andrei Lankov at Kookmin University in Seoul told the daily, "Meth, until recently, has been largely seen inside North Korea as a kind of very powerful energy drug -- something like Red Bull, amplified."

Madeleine Albright, the Czech-born diplomat who became U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations then the first woman to serve as this countrys Secretary of State, has been chosen to deliver the keynote address at UC San Diegos campus-wide commencement in June.

Albright, 81, is expected to address roughly 25,000 people during the event, which will be held on June 19.

She was chosen because we were really looking for someone whod be a good inspiration for graduates as they look forward to their lives past the university, said Elizabeth Simmons, the schools executive vice chancellor.

She came to mind because of the nature of her career, the length of her career, and her role in breaking down barriers and championing human rights.

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Simmons said that Albright also was a fitting choice because she didnt start the major part of her career until after she raised her family. We have so many transfer students and veterans and otherwise mature people who took a slightly different track and they would find her inspiring.

Albright is the latest in a series of world-renowned figures who have, or were scheduled, to serve as keynote speakers in recent years at the University of California San Diego. They include the 14th Dalai Lama and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.

Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis was scheduled to speak last year. But he canceled less than two weeks before the event to support a job action by unionized workers in the University of California system.

Albright has been involved in politics, government and education throughout her life, dating back to the 1970s when she helped raise money for Maine Senator Edmund Muskie, who made an unsuccessful run for president.

She taught international affairs at Georgetown University from 1982 until 1993, when President Bill Clinton appointed her Ambassador to the U.N. Four years later, she was approved as Secretary of State and spent much of her tenure focused on human rights issues.

Albright was a strong advocate of using NATO forces to bomb Yugoslavia to stop the ethnic cleansing of Albanians.

In 2001, she founded the Albright Stonebridge Group, a Washington, D.C. global consulting group that still occupies some of her time. She also is an author. Last year, she published, Facism: A Warning, which traces the rise and current impact of facism.Californias new state schools leader is sponsoring a bill by Assemblyman Todd Gloria that would require secondary teachers to be trained in how to support LGBTQ students.

It is a fact that with these resources student improvements will be seen in attendance, overall academic performance and the social and emotional well-being of our students, said State Superintendent Tony Thurmond during a Wednesday press conference at San Diego High School.

The bill, AB 493, would require district and charter schools to train certified staff who teach grades 7-12 on the resources and supports for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning students. Those resources could include counseling, safe spaces and anti-bullying policies.

Thurmond introduced a similar bill last year when he was a state assemblyman. That bill passed in both houses of the legislature but was vetoed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown.

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About 10 percent of Californias public middle and high school students identify as LGBTQ, according to a 2017 Williams Institute report. LGBTQ students had lower grades and more school absences than non-LGBTQ students, according to the report.

Supporters of Glorias bill cite a 2017 survey by GLSEN, a national LGBTQ student advocacy group, in which 82 percent of LGBTQ students surveyed said they had been verbally harassed at school, and more than a third said they missed at least a day of school in the prior month because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable.

The issue is personal for Gloria, who is gay and said he was subject to harassment and bullying while in school.

We should create a situation where our LGBT students are thriving in our public schools, not staying home, Gloria said Wednesday.

Students from San Diego High Schools Gay-Straight Alliance said after the press conference that they want their teachers to be trained on when and how to intervene when such bullying happens. The clubs Co-President Marianne Byrd, a junior, said she has seen only one teacher intervene when another student said homophobic comments.

Weve seen a lot of legislation passed in the past, but we havent seen a lot changed, added club Co-President Rose Scalo, also a junior. Wed like to see visible change in the classroom.

Its not guaranteed that districts or charter schools would get state funding to provide this teacher training if Glorias bill becomes law.

Im concerned if this bill gets approved without funding, then it might not go anywhere at the local level, Thurmond said. To me, its critical we pass the bill and funding to support districts because, lets just face it, districts dont have it.

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In addition to Glorias bill, Thurmond said in an interview that he plans to sponsor a community schools bill that would provide more school-based health, mental health and social service programs.

He said he also wants to support higher education students who are homeless or who lack food security.

Wednesday was Thurmonds first public visit to San Diego after being sworn in as state superintendent last month.

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Kristen Taketa

Email: kristen.taketa@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @Kristen_TaketaAn employee at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility has been arrested on suspicion of smuggling cellphones into the prison in exchange for more than $13,000 in bribes, according to a complaint unsealed Wednesday in San Diego federal court.

Michael Yracheta was arrested Tuesday on a charge of accepting a bribe. The Imperial Beach resident worked as a supervisor overseeing canteen and laundry operations when he was paid in the alleged scheme, according to an affidavit by the FBI.

Investigators suspect he smuggled phones into the state prison in Otay Mesa on 10 to 15 occasions from May 2016 to November 2017, according to the affidavit.

Authorities say Yracheta worked with an intermediary identified only as Individual B. Inmates who wanted contraband cellphones would often have their wives, girlfriends or other associates wire money to that person, who would then buy the cellphones and deliver them to Yracheta, along with cash bribes, the court document states.

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Yracheta is then alleged to have smuggled the phones inside and given them to an inmate known as Individual A, who distributed the orders among the prisoners, according to the affidavit.

Investigators have tracked about 30 wire transfers allegedly used to pay for the phones, totaling nearly $18,000 during that year-and-a-half period. The amounts varied, from $50 to $1,500.

The FBI gathered evidence of meetings between Yracheta and the intermediary through text messages, as well as intercepted prison calls, according to the court documents.

Yracheta was granted release on $7,500 bond during an initial appearance on Wednesday. He resigned from his job last year, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Cellphones are a prized item behind bars, allowing inmates to not only stay in touch with family but also continue their criminal operations from prison. They can have secret conversations without being monitored or recorded on prison phone lines.

There have been past cellphone smuggling scandals at the prison, including allegations against a prison psychologist and a corrections officer.

In 2016, prison officials investigated a video apparently taken with a cellphone inside the facility of a mannequin challenge where the inmates posed as though frozen in time. The video was posted to YouTube.

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kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavisThe last of six defendants who admitted roles in a $4 million mortgage fraud scheme was sentenced Wednesday to more than seven years in prison, according to the state Attorney Generals Office.

The scheme preyed on people trying to save their homes from foreclosure, and included filing fraudulent documents, such as false bankruptcies and false court filings, the office said in a news release.

It involved homes in San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Each of the defendants, including one from Fallbrook, received prison sentences ranging between four to nearly eight years. The case was filed in San Diego Superior Court after a grand jury handed up a 135-count indictment in 2016.

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According to state prosecutors, the defendants convinced homeowners they could provide legal help to save their homes. The homeowners laid out $3,500 to start the process, then paid $1,000 a month and also paid fees for filing legal documents.

Officials said the defendants then filed fraudulent documents, including false bankruptcies and false court filings. The scam, officials said in the release, defrauded lenders and other owners of their rightful possession of the residential properties.

On Wednesday in San Diego, defendant Prakashumar Kash Bhakta was sentenced to seven years, eight months in custody. The 51-year-old Fontana man pleaded guilty in November to 113 charges, including conspiracy, grand theft and filing false or forged documents, the Attorney Generals Office said.

The other defendants  Jacob Orona and Aide Orona of Highland, John Contreras of San Jose, Marcus Robinson of Fallbrook, and David Boyd of Inglewood  had previously pleaded guilty to roles in the scheme. Their state prison terms ranged from four years to seven years and four months, the Attorney Generals office said.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

(760) 529-4945

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUTA storm that forecasters say is the strongest this winter descended on Southern California this week after already packing a powerful punch up north.

The moisture-rich storm known as an atmospheric river dampened much of Los Angeles County by Wednesday morning but had yet to unleash the chaos that hit Northern California. Forecasters predicted the Southland would see the brunt of the storm late Wednesday through Thursday afternoon.

Its going to give us the biggest storm weve seen so far this season, said Jimmy Taeger, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego.

Before moving south, the storm downed trees and triggered flooding so severe that it submerged cars and closed Great Highway along San Franciscos western edge.

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Heavy rain also prompted warnings in the Sierra Nevada of roofalanches, in which snow that has accumulated on homes suddenly slides down. With several feet of snow that has built up, the collapses can seriously injure or even kill someone, the weather service warned.

As atmospheric rivers pound California, here comes the seasons biggest storm 

This image from a Caltrans traffic camera shows snow at the junction of Interstate 5 and Highway 89 near Mt. Shasta on Wednesday. (Caltrans)

Weather experts said the atmospheric river  swollen with subtropical moisture  will combine with a front that will help wring moisture out of the system, causing heavy rain across much of the Southland and unleashing gusty winds. Those are expected to reach speeds of 25 to 40 mph, with gusts as high as 60 mph.

The wind will likely weaken Thursday, but the rain will linger through the weekend, said Lisa Phillips, a weather service meteorologist in Oxnard.

Well still have some moisture  but were not looking at quite the amount were getting with this current system, she said.

Wind advisories are also in effect in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties until Thursday at 3 p.m., according to the weather service. In the Ventura County mountains, winds will reach speeds of 25 to 40 mph, with gusts of up to 60 mph. Santa Barbara County cities are getting winds of 20 to 30 mph, with gusts up to 50 mph.

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Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow bands of water vapor pushed by gusty winds over the Pacific Ocean that, when strong enough, can account for a disproportionate amount of the annual precipitation  between 30% and 40%  on the West Coast. In 2016, a series of intense atmospheric rivers helped ease Californias epic drought by producing record rain and snow in Northern California.

The Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, which recently introduced a new system for categorizing atmospheric river storms on a scale from 1 to 5, ranked this one as a Category 4, or extreme, based on its duration and intensity. Category 4 storms are considered hazardous but can be beneficial to the states water supply, according to the center.

All this talk of an #AtmosphericRiver. Here's what it looks like from outer space  Notice the moisture plume take aim at California. #cawx #castorm pic.twitter.com/71J3uCQzJ2  NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) February 13, 2019

The amount of precipitation from this storm will vary depending on the region, forecasters said. San Diego, Orange and Riverside counties are likely to be pounded with up to 3 inches of rain along the coast and up to 10 inches at higher elevations. This could create a dangerous situation for residents in recent burn areas.

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Forecasters predict the Holy fire burn scar will see 2.5 to 6 inches of rain and the area affected by the Cranston fire last year will likely experience 3 to 8 inches of precipitation through Thursday. That has the potential to trigger debris flows and flooding, according to the weather service.

On Wednesday afternoon, authorities issued mandatory evacuation notices for some residents in the Holy fire burn area in Riverside County. A care and reception center is open at Temescal Canyon High School in Lake Elsinore.

People in these zones must go now, said Rob Roseen, a Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire spokesman. These evacuation orders are not issued lightly.

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In San Diego County, a flood warning was in effect for the Santa Margarita River at Ysidora and for the San Diego River in Mission Valley at Fashion Valley Mall.

Forecasters dont expect L.A. County to be hit as hard during this storm, but they are warning of potential flooding and rockslides on canyon roads similar to those seen in recent storms. Heavier rain is expected about 6 a.m., just in time for the morning commute.

Its going to bring a lot of driving delays and dangerous driving conditions, said Kristen Stewart, a meteorologist with the weather service.

Between three-quarters of an inch to an inch is expected to fall along Los Angeles Countys coast and valleys, while the foothills and mountains could see up to 3 inches, forecasters said. The county and the San Gabriel Mountains will be under a flood watch on Thursday because of expected moderate to heavy rain. Gusty winds are expected in the foothills and mountains.

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The areas within and next to the Woolsey fire burn area face an increased risk of flooding and mud and debris flow, even with only small amounts of rain. Authorities said they would be patrolling the burn area through Friday morning.

All residents who live in or near the Woolsey fire burn areas are urged to remain vigilant, the L.A. County Sheriffs Department said in a statement.

The subtropical moisture in this weeks storm will bring warmer air to Southern California  meaning snowfall will be confined to higher elevations, likely above 7,000 feet, which is a change from other recent storms. Two low-pressure systems from the Arctic that slammed the Sierra Nevada last weekend brought snow to elevations as low as 1,000 feet. The high freezing levels combined with the recent heavy snowfall have heightened concerns about runoff and flooding in the Central Valley and the Sierra foothills.

This latest system has already brought its fair share of fresh powder to the Sierra, triggering tire-chain requirements and causing whiteout conditions along Highway 89.

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By Wednesday morning, 10 inches of snow had fallen near Susanville in Lassen County, and 6 inches had fallen on June Mountain in a 24-hour period. So much snow has fallen at Mammoth Mountain  which has recorded 128 inches in February alone  that the ski resort announced it will stay open through July 4.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahnfryLAPD officers shot and killed an armed man at a Metro subway platform in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday morning, authorities said.

The incident began shortly before 7 a.m. at the Metro station on 7th Street near Figueroa Street, said Officer Drake Madison, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department. The department said on social media that the man was killed and that no officers were injured.

A man with a knife was approached by fare inspectors at the station entrance by the Blue Line platform and lunged at a Metro security guard, a law enforcement official said.

LAPD arrived and shot the man with a Taser before firing lethal bullets, the law enforcement official said.

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Madison could not confirm the man was shot with a Taser, but said officers used a less-than-lethal option that was unsuccessful in de-escalating the situation. Officers recovered a knife.

Metro said in a tweet that the station entrance at 7th Street was closed, but the station remained open. Riders are being asked to access the station at the entrance at Flower and Hope streets.

The Expo and Blue line trains are sharing one platform, causing only minimal delays, Metro spokesman Dave Sotero said.

There has been an Officer-Involved Shooting in Downtown LA, at the 7th Street/Metro Center train station (cross street Figueroa). No officers were injured. The suspect has been pronounced deceased at scene. We will provide more details as they become available.  LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) February 14, 2019

alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com

Twitter: @r_valejandraWorkers at Zion Market in the San Diego community of Kearny Mesa who are living in the U.S. illegally were taken into custody Wednesday while special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement executed a federal search warrant at the business.

ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack said many of the 26 individuals detained during the operation were released by that evening, although she could not confirm whether all of the workers were released from custody.

The intent was they would be detained and released today pending the outcome of their immigration case, Mack said.

Zion Market front manager Yongho Jun said a small group formed outside the large Korean supermarket in opposition to the ICE enforcement action.

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There were about five to six people and they held a sign saying human rights,  Jun said. He said someone from the group also left information on how people could find out about their legal rights and report immigration enforcement activity to a 24-hour hotline.

Many of our employees need this information from this flier now, Jun said.

The group was from the San Diego Rapid Response Network, a coalition of human rights and service organizations, attorneys and community leaders who help immigrants understand their legal rights.

The San Diego Rapid Response Network was called at 9:30 a.m. about the raid at Zion Market, group member Kate Clark said in a statement. As SDRRN does with all calls, dispatchers went on-site to verify the activity and hand out information to workers. SDRRN is providing emergency preparedness sessions to impacted families tomorrow.

Jun said he believed the employees detained by agents from ICE Homeland Security Investigations were mostly Asian and Latino.

All I know is that they arrested 26 from here earlier today, Jun said, and now we are really, really busy. They arrested our workers.

David Shaw, the HSI special agent in charge for San Diego, said the target of the investigation was the employer and not the employees.

Honestly, if we didnt encounter any employees, it wouldnt make a difference for our case, Shaw said. Our case is based on the employer.

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Shaw said the execution of the federal search warrant was the culmination of a yearlong investigation, but the employer had not yet been arrested or charged.

One of the things were trying to do, obviously, is protect U.S. jobs, Shaw said, but its also a national security issue.

The investigation began with an audit of the companys I-9 forms  workplace documents that verify whether someone is eligible to work in the U.S., he said. The special agent emphasized that his unit focuses on criminal investigations.

So, if someone is smuggled into the country, Shaw said, and all of the sudden you pay me $10,000 to get into the country and now you dont have the $10,000, well, now, guess what? Im going to make you work, so it becomes a trafficking case too.

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Mack said the Enforcement and Removal Operations arm of ICE also assisted with the operation.

In 2018, HSI opened 6,848 work site investigations, compared with 1,691 in 2017, according to a news release about the operation.

Fry writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

wendy.fry@sandiegouniontribune.comA man who was placed on the FBIs 10 Most Wanted list when he skipped bail following his arrest in connection with a series of sexual assaults in the Los Angeles area was shot and killed by federal agents in North Carolina, authorities said Wednesday.

Greg Alyn Carlson, 47, was killed around 6 a.m. Wednesday after an altercation at the Woodspring Suites, an extended stay hotel in Apex, N.C., a statement released by the FBIs Charlotte field office said.

Carlson was armed at the time of the shooting, the FBI said.

Investigators had been searching for Carlson since September 2017, when he skipped bail and fled Los Angeles following his arrest on suspicion of assault with intent to commit rape, assault with a deadly weapon and burglary.

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Police believed Carlson had either fled to the southeastern U.S., where he had relatives in Florida and South Carolina, or possibly Mexico. He was spotted by police in Alabama last November, but officers were unable to capture him after a high-speed pursuit was called off due to the threat it presented to other drivers and bystanders.

Carlson, who was placed on the 10 Most Wanted List in September of last year, had been linked to at least four sexual assaults in Los Angeles, said Capt. Billy Hayes, who leads the LAPDs Robbery-Homicide Division. In each case, Hayes said, Carlson broke into a home and then threatened a woman at gunpoint before assaulting her.

He was arrested in connection with two assaults in West L.A. in 2017. DNA evidence collected after the arrest connected Carlson to a pair of break-ins and sexual assaults that took place in the Hollywood area in 2003 as well, Hayes said. Detectives also believed Carlson was responsible for a similar attack on two women in Hollywood in 2017, but the LAPD was unable to link him by forensic evidence and the victims could not identify Carlson.

Police do not believe he was involved in assaults outside the Los Angeles area.Police investigating a domestic violence incident found two people dead inside a Covina home on Wednesday.

At about 4:30 p.m., patrol personnel responded to a home in the 200 block of East Center, according to Covina Police Department Lt. Dan Regan.

Detectives are handling the investigation, Regan said.

No additional details were provided.

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brittny.mejia@latimes.com

Twitter: @Brittny_MejiaHyundai is Korea's second largest conglomerate after Samsung and hires around 10,000 workers each year, accounting for 26 percent of all new recruits in the nation's top four chaebols.

A Hyundai staffer said, "The existing hiring method had negative side effects like pressuring young jobseekers to pad their resumes with various achievements that aren't directly relevant to the job they're applying for, so we decided to let each of our frontline business departments hire the workers they need when they need them."

The automakers are the first among the chaebol or family-owned business groups to adopt a more modern hiring system.

Hyundai and affiliate Kia said Wednesday that they will scrap their traditional process of hiring new recruits regularly twice a year and shift to a system of interviewing them all year long.

During the days of Korea's rapid economic growth, major conglomerates copied the annual hiring methods of their Japanese rivals that emphasized rigid seniority according to the civil-service-style intake.

SK first adopted its own aptitude test in 1978, and other companies followed suit. Some 300,000 young jobseekers crowd the annual tests.

Hyundai's move is expected to have huge ripple effects on other conglomerates. Kim Sung-soo at Seoul National University said, "The seniority-based hiring system is great for engendering a sense of corporate loyalty, but it's not the best method to use when you're looking for workers who meet rapidly changing needs."

Jobseekers hope that the more flexible new system will enable them to find positions they are interested in rather than having to line up for the exams to end up in any division the company sees fit to put them in.

Others fear that this is a cover for hiring fewer young workers, but Hyundai promised it will keep recruitment levels the same at around 10,000.

The new hiring method is likely to give experienced applicants an edge over fresh university graduates. Kang Hye-jin at Mckinsey & Company said, "When great talent is spotted, businesses are going as far as buying up entire companies to get them on their own staff. To make it easier to hire experienced or talented workers, companies are better off hiring staff as and when the need arises."The trial of a Navy SEAL charged with war crimes in Iraq, which was scheduled to begin next week, has been delayed until late spring, a Navy spokesman said Wednesday.

Edward R. Gallagher, 39, a chief special warfare operator, faces charges of premeditated murder, aggravated assault and shooting at civilians during an Iraq deployment in 2017.

His defense team Wednesday asked for a continuation until May 28, said Brian ORourke, a spokesman for Navy Region Southwest.

Gallagher was in court Tuesday for a motions hearing.

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Some members of his platoon have told Navy investigators they saw the SEAL stab a wounded ISIS fighter in the neck while the fighter was receiving medical treatment. The fighter died and Gallagher is accused of posing for photos with the body and holding a reenlistment ceremony near the body.

Gallagher has denied the allegations.

Gallaghers commander, Lt. Jacob Portier, also faces charges related to the incident with the ISIS fighters body.

A hearing in his court martial, scheduled for Friday, also was delayed at the request of his defense team. A new date has not been scheduled, ORourke said.

Portier faces charges that he was made aware of complaints against Gallagher but did not report them. He also has been charged with conduct unbecoming an officer for allegedly conducting Gallaghers reenlistment ceremony near the Iraqi fighters body.

Portier has denied the allegations.

Gallaghers case has attracted national news coverage and the attention of conservative talk show hosts. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, asked President Donald Trump to remove the case from the Navy and dismiss the charges.For 38 years, San Diego has celebrated the greats of reggae music, and this years Tribute to Reggae Legends Festival  formerly known as Bob Marley Day  brings two nights of dancehall and reggae to the WorldBeat Cultural Center. Over the years, artists such as Gregory Isaacs, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer and musicians from all over the world have performed locally as part of the celebration. On Saturday, wind and grind during dancehall and sound system night to performances by Lady Ann, Tippa Lee, Downbeat the Ruler and others. On Sunday, get fully into reggae legends night with performances by Cherine Anderson, Bitty McLean, Sly and Robbie, and more.

Tribute to the Reggae Legends Festival: Saturday and Sunday. WorldBeat Cultural Center, 2100 Park Blvd., San Diego. $20-$50. (619) 230-1190. worldbeatcenter.org or bobfestsandiego.comThree award-winning classical musicians hailing from three prestigious organizations will perform together Tuesday for the first time since completing a tour of China in 2017. The members of the Myriad Trio  Che-Yen Brian Chen, Demarre McGill and Julie Smith Phillips  met when they were members of the San Diego Symphony more than 10 years ago.

Since then, Phillips has continued with the symphony as principal harpist, Chen has recently become a professor of viola at the UCLAs Herb Alpert School of Music and McGill is principal flutist of the Seattle Symphony. Their busy schedules have made their concerts together rare.

But the Myriad Trio will appear Tuesday in the ECHO Chamber Music Series at Cuyamaca Colleges Samuel M. Ciccati Theatre in El Cajon. Anyone who heard the group at Art of Elans 10th anniversary concert in 2017 will know to expect an aural treat.

We dont get to play together very often, said Phillips, adding that the trios El Cajon concert will be followed by several performances in Texas. This is a reunion of sorts. Its fun to put together music with Demarre and Brian  its always a joy.

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Sam Ersan, who serves on the San Diego Symphonys Board and underwrites the ECHO Chamber Music Series, was also instrumental in bringing together McGill, Chen and Phillips  at the time, all principal musicians on their instruments at the symphony.

I had just joined the symphony when Sam encouraged us to play together, Phillips explained. The three of us decided to pursue it with him. Thats basically how the Myriad Trio formed.

Current symphony audiences frequently see Phillips behind her harp at Copley Symphony Hall. Chen, a dedicated educator who recently moved from San Diego to Los Angeles, has performed in many local concerts, including those with the Mainly Mozart Orchestra and the Formosa Quartet, which he helped establish.

McGill is Artistic Director Emeritus and co-founder of Art of Elan. The local performance nonprofit was created to present unique chamber-music events in a variety of venues. In San Diego, McGill has performed with the Mainly Mozart Orchestra and La Jolla Music Societys SummerFest.

The Myriad Trio is continuing a musical tradition that started more than a century ago. The first known works for flute, viola and harp were composed by Debussy around 1915.

Its a sonorous combination of sounds and colors, noted Phillip. A lot of composers followed Debussys lead. We take standard repertoire and build on that to find music that is right for the trio.

Two works on Tuesdays program will be by French Baroque composer and violinist Jean-Marie Leclair. One was arranged by another ensemble with the same instrumentation, the Debussy Trio, but reimagined by the Myriad Trio.

The other Leclair piece is arranged by Jeremy Cavaterra, who worked on the other pieces in the program as well, including Dvoraks Sonatina in G Major Op. 100.

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Jeremys writing utilizes my instrument better than most composers Ive worked with, in a more fulfilling way, the harpist said. Hell use single full notes. Its hard for composers and arrangers to understand how best to use the harp. Many times, they will just use rolled chords or glissandos.

The Dvorak Sonatina was written for violin and piano. Having three instruments, its not simply a matter of the harp playing the piano part. Its more a conversation among the three of us. We take turns with it, and it becomes a slightly larger experience. The expertise of a brilliant arranger like Jeremy comes into play.

Another piece that will be performed Tuesday is Florida Suite by Frederick Delius, an English composer who spent time in the Sunshine State in the 1880s. He was later inspired to compose the suite while living in Germany.

Phillips likened Florida Suite to an expansive sunrise over the ocean and then a sunset on the other side of the state.

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It is peaceful, joyful and exciting, she said. Like a beautiful dawn would be  simple, but powerful and breathtaking.

Echo Chamber Music Series presents Myriad Trio: Old World to New

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19

Where: Samuel M. Ciccati Theatre, Cuyamaca College, 900 Rancho San Diego Parkway, El Cajon

Tickets: $5-$15

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Phone: (619) 660-4288

Online: echochambermusic.org

Wood is a freelance writer.Long before she was an award-winning science-fiction and fantasy author, before the development deal with HBO and the high-profile gig writing Black Panther comic books for Marvel, Nnedi Okorafor was a young girl with an imagination that was so big, she could see a new universe in a block of dirty Midwestern ice.

As a kid, I had this bucket that I left outside in the back yard. It rained and dirt and all this stuff got in it, and then winter came, and everything in the bucket froze. I turned it over and this big hunk of ice and detritus came out, and I remember being utterly fascinated, said Okorafor, who will be in town on Feb. 19 as one of the featured speakers at the Writers Symposium by the Sea at Point Loma Nazarene University.

I saw universes. I remember this. I remember the bubbles were stars. It looked like an epic universe. My imagination has always been strong and active, and I havent lost it.

She can imagine new worlds and see weird beauty in places most people dont bother to look. She can also write enthralling stories featuring smart, courageous heroines; fantastical beasts and spirits; and adventures that blend futuristic technology with African myths and traditions.

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Together, the writing and the imagining have propelled the 44-year-old Okorafor into a literary universe that just keeps on expanding.

Since the release of her debut novel, Zahrah the Windseeker, in 2005, Okorafor has written critically acclaimed adult novels (Lagoon, The Book of Phoenix); young-adult fiction (the Akata series); and childrens books (Chicken in the Kitchen).

The first book of her Binti series won prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards. Her World Fantasy Award-winning novel, Who Fears Death, is becoming an HBO series, with Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin as executive producer. She has written comics for Marvel, Dark Horse, DC and the San Diego-based IDW.

And during most of this whirlwind of activity, Okorafor was also a professor at the University of Buffalo, a job she gave up just two years ago to write full time.

I handle stress pretty well, Okorafor said in an interview from her home in suburban Chicago. I write so many different types of work. One day, Ill be working on a novel, another day it will be a script for Marvel and then Ill be writing La Guardia (her series for Dark Horse). I have had to learn how to keep them all separate, and that is definitely a good skill to have. I think writers are better when they can write different types of stories.

Okorafors ability to juggle stories and move between worlds developed early and out of necessity.

In 1969, her parents immigrated to the United States from Nigeria to attend medical and graduate school. Okorafor and her siblings were born and raised in the U.S., but the family returned to Nigeria frequently to see family and get an infusion of African culture.

Like her heroine Binti, a member of the mythical Himba people who journeys to another galaxy to attend the prestigious Oomza University  Okorafor grew up shuttling between two very different lives. It made for a challenging childhood. It also made her the writer she is today,

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I grew up in the U.S., mostly in the south side of Chicago. And in the 80s, it was very racist. We were one of the first black families to move into that neighborhood, and our neighbors didnt like it. My sisters and I dealt with a lot of blatant racism. Then we would go to Nigeria, and we would be greeted as Americans. You are a relative, but you are still an outsider.

My sisters and I all made friends and we were all popular, but we had to deal with these different layers of culture. Years later when I started writing, this idea of living on borders and navigating my way through seeking and understanding was natural. Its not something I think about. It just very naturally comes up because that is the world I live in.

In true mythological fashion, Okorafors life was also shaped by a force that was beyond her control. At 19, Okorafor woke up from back surgery paralyzed from the waist down. She started writing to take her mind off what was happening with her body, and while she recovered a few months later, the writing habit stuck. And because it was forged during such a difficult time, the writers bond with writing became unbreakable.

When I was an undergrad and in graduate school, almost all of my professors told me that writing science-fiction and fantasy is not real literature. But I couldnt listen. I had the calling to write stories. I knew this is what I needed to be doing. It felt right from the beginning. When something feels right, there cant be anything wrong with it.

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I always tell people, Dont be afraid that someone is not interested in your story. Someone is always interested in a good story. Tell it the way you want to tell it, and dont be intimidated by what is out there. These are things that I tell myself over and over again. No fear and do the work.

When he interviews Okorafor during her Writers Symposium appearance, Dean Nelson  director of Point Loma Nazarenes journalism department and the symposiums director  plans to get Okorafor talking about her writing process and how she pulls all of her life experiences into her stories.

He also knows that one of the best ways to become a better writer is to read good writing. And there is no question that Okorafor and her many universes will provide.

We always try to pick somebody who has a body of work where we can say to not only our students, but to the broader community, Aspire to this. This is good writing. So raise the bar of your own writing to something like this. It should be instructional and inspirational.

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Writers Symposium by the Sea

With: Jody Hassett-Sanchez (Feb. 18); Nnedi Okorafor (Feb. 19); E.J. Dionne (Feb. 20) and Christian Wiman (Feb. 21)

When: Feb. 18-21

Where: Point Loma Nazarene University, 3900 Lomaland Drive, San Diego

Tickets: $15 general admission; $5 for students

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Phone: (619) 849-2297

Online: pointloma.edu/events/24th-annual-writers-symposium-sea

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Twitter: @karla_peterson

karla.peterson@sduniontribune.comHoppy to Love You?

We are a divided nation, even when it comes to love. On Valentines Day  thats today, in case you forgot  local brewers will cater to moon-eyed lovers and heartbroken cynics.

For bitter souls:

Pacific Islander, 8665 Argent St. Santee, will host an Unvalentines Day Singles Awareness gathering, 2 to 8 p.m. Besides craft beer, look for $1 tacos, $2 tostadas and free chocolate doughnuts.

Duck Foots fourth annual Anti-Romance Party, 6 to 9 p.m., is at the tasting room, 8920 Kenamar Dr., Suite 210, San Diego. A red ale with peanut butter, cocoa nibs and sea salt is on the menu, along with an X-rated name that position contest and adult coloring books.

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Mother Earths Anti-Valentine Party, 6 to 10 p.m., features speed dating rounds and a battle-of-the-sexes trivia contest. Its at the brewerys tap house, 206 Main St., Vista.

For hopeless, not hop-less, romantics:

Valentines Day beer dinner at Viewpoint, four courses and an amuse-bouche paired with house beers is $75 inside the brewery, 2201 San Dieguito Drive, Del Mar. For reservations, email Kb@viewpointbrewing.com. The feast begins at 6 p.m.

Valentines Day chocolate and beer pairing is at the Second Chance Beer lounge, 4045 30th St., Suite A, San Diego. Four creations from Eclipse Chocolate matched with four house beers, $20. 5 to 9 p.m.

Beer Our Valentine party at Ebullition, 2449 Cades Way, Vista, will feature beer  of course  plus food from Grumpy BBQ and live music from the Mercedes Moore Band. 5 to 9 p.m.

North Park Beer, 3038 University Ave. in San Diego, is hosting a three-course (salad, steak and chocolate cake), three-beer Valentines Day dinner, 7 to 9 p.m. Tickets, $50, can be bought at https://bit.ly/2GAOWGG.

Pliny the Philanthropic

Every February, IPA fans line up outside local bars, eager to pay big bucks for a small pour of Russian Rivers rare Pliny the Younger.

Every February, Tom Nickel offers a philanthropic alternative  pay $25 for a 10-ounce sample, knowing that the entire fee will be donated to charity. This year, the cause is Julians Inner North Star PTSD Retreat Center, which assists veterans and first responders.

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Tickets are on sale at OBriens Pub, 4646 Convoy St. Plunk down your money, then return to OBriens on Feb. 23, between 5 and 8 p.m., for a triple IPA thats doubly special.

Girl Scouts Honor?

Other breweries have been jumping on the cookie wagon, but lets be clear: Girl Scouts San Diegos official partners for its fifth annual Cookies on Tap fundraiser are Mike Hess, AleSmith and Stone.

From Feb. 22 through the 24th, a wide range of pairings (and prices) will be found at:

AleSmith: 9990 AleSmith Court, Miramar.

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Mike Hess: 3812 Grim Ave. in North Park; 7955 Silverton Ave., Suite 1201, in Miramar; and 4893 Voltaire St. in Ocean Beach.

Stone: Escondido World Bistro, 1999 Citracado Parkway, Escondido; Liberty Station World Bistro, 2816 Historic Decatur Road, Point Loma; Oceanside Tap Room, 310 N. Tremont St., Oceanside; Kettner Tap Room, 1201 Kettner Blvd., Suite 101, downtown San Diego; and the J St Tap Room, 795 J St., East Village.

Kings of Beer

This may not sound like high praise, but hear me out. 8 West Orange Honey Wheat (4.8 percent alcohol by volume) is a nice beer.

Named for the Pacific-bound portion of Interstate 8, this session ale is propelled by Goldilocks levels of orange peel and orange blossom honey. Also in the just-right range: the prickly carbonation, ensuring that this light-bodied beer keeps moving across the palate.

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8 West is all the more impressive when you realize that the crew at Mike Hess Brewing achieves niceness without relying on two potent weapons in the brewers arsenal. Theres no dizzying booziness or head-snapping bitterness  on that scale, 8 West falls midway between Budweiser and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

This is the sort of beer you can quaff at noon and still focus on your afternoon assignments. Thats nice and, in many situations, nice is great.

Best of the Week, Local

On Sunday, the House of Blues will help you fulfill your patriotic duty to party on Presidents Day weekend. Local Brews, Local Grooves features a dozen San Diego area bands and beers from a dozen of the regions celebrated breweries.

Tickets, $10 to $60, can be bought at ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000. Downtown San Diegos House, 1055 Fifth Ave., will throw open its doors at 3 p.m. for VIP ticketholders, and 4 p.m. for everyone else.Coronado wants to take local control of Orange Avenue and Third and Fourth streets from Caltrans. But before it does, the city wants to make sure the benefits are worth the costs of maintenance.

In the end of 2018, the city received a study from Caltrans that outlined the relinquishment process. Relinquishment is the bureaucratic term for taking local control.

That report detailed the current road conditions, determined estimated costs of maintenance and offered Coronado a lump sum payment of $16 million to bring the state-controlled roads to a state of good repair.

On Feb 5, the City Council asked staff to initiate two studies that analyze the pros and cons of the deal. The first is to get an economist to run a cost-benefit analysis, including determining the maintenance costs, and the other is to hire an engineering firm to peer review Caltrans study.

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In any negotiation, I think its really nice when the other team makes the first offer, said Councilman Bill Sandke. Weve got a lot of opportunities here to look at what theyve provided and I think this is the right direction for the city.

Imperial Beach, Coronados neighbor to the south, completed a similar process in September 2018. After four years of study and negotiation, the city assumed local control of Palm Avenue from Caltrans.

When Caltrans first calculated the cost of bringing the road to a state of good repair, the state agency offered Imperial Beach less than $1 million, said assistant city attorney Steve Dush.

Imperial Beach had a third party conduct its own analysis, which concluded the cost would actually be $7 million. Ultimately, the two sides negotiated a figure of $5.3 million.

Gaining local control allowed Imperial Beach to streamline development along Palm Avenue, something the city had been wanting to do for years. It also gave the city the power to make speedy repairs or changes to its busiest thoroughfare.

For example, it took the city one month to paint a crosswalk on 13th Street and Palm Avenue, something the mayor had spent four years asking Caltrans to do.

In Coronados case, the city would like to implement traffic calming and safety measures on some of its busiest roads, particularly Third and Fourth streets.

City Manager Blair King noted that it is important to view not only what Coronado will be able to do with local control, but what Caltrans wont be able to do once it loses control.

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For example, Coronado has grassy medians that run through Orange Avenue. Those medians are not currently protected from being reduced or removed.

Coronado does not own Orange Avenue, King said. Coronado is very proud of its medians. Nothing would prevent a Caltrans director, for example, to increase the turn pockets that would eliminate part of the medians.

Although having local control would give Coronado more freedom to change certain aspects of Orange Avenue and Third and Fourth streets, the city would not have unchecked authority, Blair added.

For example, speed limits are regulated by state law, therefore changing them would be very unlikely.

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Caltrans study divided their roads into three sections: one is Silver Strand Boulevard from Imperial Beach to Tulagi Road. The other is State Route 75 from the Coronado Bridges toll booth to Tulagi Road, and the third is Third and Fourth streets from Orange Avenue to Alameda Boulevard.

The city can chose to assume local control over all or some of these sections.

Caltrans study also pointed out that several sections of those roads are in a poor condition, which concerned some council members because if the city assumes local control, Coronado will be on the hook for maintaining those roads.

The cost-benefit analysis and peer review should be completed by August. Once that is completed, it will be brought back to the council. Should the council decide to move forward, it can negotiate the finer details of the relinquishment process  including the lump sum payment  toward the end of the year. If the process continues, the council should have final say on whether or not to accept relinquishment by summer 2020.

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Contact Gustavo Solis via Email or TwitterESCONDIDO

Mayor to deliver State of City address

The Chamber of Commerce and the City Council invite the community to Mayor Paul McNamaras State of the City address on Feb. 27 at the Conference Center of the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. Free to attend, but register for the program, which starts at 8 a.m. Breakfast costs $20 and starts at 7:30 a.m. Reserve breakfast by 5 p.m. Feb. 22. Register to https://bit.ly/2GFl2kD. Sponsor tables are $500 for 10 people and include breakfast. Contact Chris Cochran at chris@escondidochamber.org.

Local company helps renovate aquarium

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Integrated Aqua Systems Inc., an aquatic systems and equipment supply company, recently played a major part in the $4 million renovation of the Roundhouse Aquarium in Manhattan Beach. IAS designed and built innovative life support systems as well as a custom chilling system for 14 oceanic tanks, two freshwater tanks and a wrap-around touch tank. IAS was challenged to create life-support systems in limited space, and solved the problem with its BioSump design specifically tailored for extreme space constraints. The BioSump combines disinfection, temperature control, and mechanical and biological filtration in one small, energy-efficient footprint. The aquarium re-opened late last year and provides free admission to roughly 300,000 visitors yearly. Visit www.integrated-aqua.com.

FALLBROOK

Women in Networking event coming up

The Women in Networking (WIN) group of the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce will gather at 5 p.m. Feb. 21 at the Silvergate Retirement Residence, 420 Elbrook Drive. Cost is $10 prepaid (includes light appetizers). Bring your own beverage. RSVP to Jackie Toppin with payment at (760) 728-5845.

NORTH COUNTY

SDCCU offers free blood pressure checks

With February being American Heart Month, San Diego County Credit Union supports Live Well San Diegos Love Your Heart initiative by hosting free blood pressure screenings at several locations on Valentines Day. Free screenings are being held at SDCCU locations in Encinitas, San Marcos, Scripps Ranch or Vista from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. today. Last years Love Your Heart event helped more than 36,000 people get to know their blood pressure numbers. Visit LoveYourHeartSD.org; visit www.sdccu.com.

OCEANSIDE

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Dental office holds mini car show fundraiser

Tri-City Childrens Dentistry, a pediatric dental practice, is opening an office at 2420 Vista Way, Suite 10. A ribbon-cutting will be at 2 p.m. Feb. 22, followed by a celebration from 3-7 p.m. with food from Chronic Tacos, raffle prizes and a mini car show. Various vehicles will be on display, with proceeds from each appointment booked benefiting the late actor Paul Walkers charitable organization, Reach Out WorldWide, which supports global disaster relief. The dental practice will donate a portion of all appointments and procedures that are booked at the grand opening. Members of ROWW, including Walkers brothers Caleb and Cody, will appear at the office to promote their March 22 FuelFest cars-and-concert event in Anaheim. Call (760) 724-1102 or visit www.tricitychildrensdentistry.com.

Please send items to laura.groch@sduniontribune.com at least 10 days before events.

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laura.groch@sduniontribune.comSantee is about to be 250 trees richer, thanks to a grant from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the California Urban Forest Council and Anaheim-based West Coast Arborists, Inc.

The city expects to add to its inventory of more than 8,200 trees this fall by being a part of Cool Parks, a tree planting grant funded by Cal Fire. The grant is specific to areas where there are disadvantaged or low-income communities.

The trees are expected to be planted by personnel from the La Mesa hub of West Coast Arborists, Santee city staff and a team of volunteers this fall. West Coast Arborists serves all of San Diego County as well as more than 275 municipalities and public agencies in California and Arizona. The company specializes in tree management including pruning, planting and removal.

Tentative plans show trees heading for Town Center Community Park off Cuyamaca Street and surrounding areas near the Sportsplex and Cameron YMCA, as well as Walker Preserve Trail off Magnolia Avenue.

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Michael Palat of West Coast Arborists said trees could include several types of ashes, oaks, elms and Canary Island Pines.

The grant also specifies that a special tree planting celebration and a tree team workshop has to take place, in which West Coast Arborists will educate people about the urban forest and how to become a tree advocate.

Santee City Councilwoman Laura Koval, in her role as Santee Lakes Director of Park & Recreation, literally helped get the seed planted.

In January, Koval met with West Coast Arborists to evaluate the urban forest at Santee Lakes, which has more than 2,000 trees on site.

Through conversation, I found out West Coast Arborists had been awarded another grant for more trees, Koval said. Instantly, I thought of the Mast Park improvement project. Maybe they could use some trees?

It turned out that Mast Park, which is in the midst of a $10 million renovation, is already covered for trees, but other parts of the city were in need.

West Coast Arborists will provide three years of care and maintenance for the trees.

Santee is hot, Koval said. I cant tell you what a difference it makes at Santee Lakes with the 2,000 we have. It keeps the area cooler, the birds love it and it helps with the watershed.

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The trees will have another benefit, helping with Santees climate action plan, Sustainable Santee.

Palat shared information from the Center for Urban Forest Research that says 100 trees remove 14 tons of carbon dioxide a year as well as pollutants like ozone and particulates from the atmosphere. They also annually catch 75,000 gallons of rainwater.

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karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.comOffering U.S. Passport services, moving to paperless agendas for the City Council and building six new gazebos to offer as rentals in two city parks are some of the ways cash-strapped Lemon Grove is hoping to create needed income.

Finance Manager Molly Brennan told the City Council last May that Lemon Groves budget showed a projected loss of $440,164 last fiscal year, including $322,000 from the general fund. A continued budget shortfall is eyed at $1.5 million over the next four to five years.

Despite the troubling financial outlook, the City Council last summer nixed a proposed plan for a voter-approved, half-cent sales tax increase that was projected to bring in about $1.2 million to Lemon Grove.

After hearing a midyear budget update from Brennan last week, the City Council unanimously agreed to consider some new money generators. Mayor Racquel Vasquez was absent.

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Brennan told the City Council that the city actually ended with a surplus of nearly $179,000 after the 2017-18 fiscal year. But Brennan cautioned the council that being on the plus side does not indicate that the citys long-term structural deficit is gone.

Half the surplus will be put into a fund to help pay down the citys $5.7 million unfunded pension liability payments to California Public Employees Retirement System. Another $55,000 of that is going to repair a large sinkhole at Roy Street and Washington Street.

If there is no recession, the city expects to see revenue growth of up to only 2 percent, with costs going up from 3.5 percent to 4 percent, she said. Brennan pointed to an example of the citys contract with the San Diego County Sheriffs Department going up $325,000 in fiscal 2019-20 because of a promised 5.5 percent increase.

About 72 percent of Lemon Groves general fund budget is dedicated to public safety. Lemon Groves costs this year for law enforcement are nearly $6 million and rising.

The newly OKd money generators are just one step the city is taking. A report shared with the council said that city staff is looking at more ways to make money.

City Clerk Shelley Chapel will be handling coming passport applications for the U.S. Department of State, for which the city will charge $35 to process. The city expects to start passport duties in April and projects it will bring in about $16,000 annually.

The city will handle paperwork only and will not take passport photos. Chapel said that passport services would be open from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday  by appointment only.

City Councilman Matt Mendoza asked if a person had to be specially trained in order to facilitate this type of passport work. Chapel said she was certified.

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She also mentioned that she had been part of passport services at a previous job in Burbank and that the city on average processed 72 passport applications a day.

The city says it will invest $3,000 in new electronic devices for the City Council to read agendas instead of spending staff time and money on paper and printing the agendas out. The city expects to purchase the devices next month or by April at the latest. The devices are not for personal use, city staff told the council members.

Gazebos are planned for Berry Street Park and Lemon Grove Park, at a total cost of $6,000. Assistant City Manager Mike James said they should be up and ready for rental by July 1.

He estimated the gazebos will pay for themselves and start generating new revenue within one year.

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karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.comA drunk driver who killed a conscript on leave has been sentenced to six years in jail. The sentence may seem lenient but is heavier than the benchmark one- to four-year jail term courts here normally pass in such cases.

A Busan district court on Wednesday sentenced the driver for plowing into student Yoon Chang-ho and a friend on Sept. 25 last year as they were waiting at a signal crossing on Haeundae Beach in the southern city in the early morning.

The driver, identified as Park (27), had drunk two bottles of vodka and four shots of tequila in a nearby bar. Yoon fell into a coma and died in hospital 46 days after the accident, while his friend sustained serious injuries.

The driver had apparently been distracted by his girlfriend, who was riding shotgun when he crashed into the victims. Footage from the dash cam of the car showed he was incapable of driving normally.

Judge Kim Dong-wook said, "We respect the punitive standards of the Supreme Court and must exercise caution in meting out sentences that diverge from them, but a tough sentence is necessary in view of the gravity of the offense and its tragic consequences."

"The victim's family is calling for tough punishment, and there is widespread social consensus that drunk drivers must be dealt with firmly," he added.

Yoon's family and friends protested that the sentence is too light and prosecutors vowed to appeal.

Yoon had been a conscript in a scheme known as KATUSA whereby Korean soldiers are loaned as personnel to U.S. military bases here.

The drone industry is growing, and local schools are getting on board by providing training on what the Federal Aviation Administration calls UAS  Unmanned Aircraft Systems.

The demand for drone pilots is skyrocketing, with predictions of a $250 billion industry worldwide this year, according to a news release from Grossmont College.

For the second straight year, Grossmont will offer free training in drone piloting to qualified students because of a $6 million federal Americas Promise grant through the U.S. Department of Labor.

Grossmonts free noncredit program starts in March and ends in June and drones are provided during the training.

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It will be open to U.S. citizens who are at least 18 years of age. According to the release, the schools program is geared to veterans, Native Americans, military spouses, ex-offenders, women, high school students and the unemployed and underemployed.

Grossmont notes that drone training can cost as much as $3,000 in the private sector.

The comprehensive instruction through Grossmonts Career Technical Education division is designed to train novices to become FAA-certified commercial drone pilots with skills to pursue jobs or to become self-employed.

We place great importance on recognizing hot new careers and ensuring that our students have the tools they need to forge ahead, Grossmont College President Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh said in the release.

Drones are becoming more prevalent, from package deliveries to aerial photography to defense applications  with more potential career opportunities coming in the new industry.

Javier Ayala, dean of career and technical education and workforce development at Grossmont, said that contract work for one-time jobs such as industrial inspections can pay from $30,000-$60,000 for a six- to nine-month period, depending on experience and the nature of the mission.

Starting wages for in-house drone operators range from $25-$35 an hour to $60-$100 an hour for fully trained pilots with three or more years of experience. Grossmonts program prepares graduates for both contract and salaried jobs.

According to a 2013 report by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, by 2025, more than 100,000 jobs will be created in the field. In California, the number of drone-related jobs is expected to climb to 18,000, about a 400 percent increase since 2012.

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Grossmonts drone technology program is comprised of two separate tracks. Interested applicants should register by Feb. 18 for the Surveying and Mapping track and register by Feb. 26 for the Cinematography track.

For more information, visit tinyurl.com/APmapping2 or tinyurl.com/APcinema2

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karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.comSan Diego technology firms Viasat and Cubic have teamed up with startup incubator EvoNexus to search for early stage companies that they could potentially mentor, fund or become early customers.

The two publicly traded companies hope to serve as a magnet for startups working in technology that interests them. They launched the effort in conjunction with EvoNexus current round of applications to admit up to 10 new startups in its incubator locations in San Diego and Irvine. The deadline for applications is Feb. 22.

For startups, landing that initial customer can be a key step toward success, allowing the firms to refine their products to real market demands.

It is a little bit of a normal round in that companies can just apply to EvoNexus, said Kristi Jaska, Viasats vice president of engineering. But by partnering with Cubic, we hope to attract other companies, too, who are interested in working with us. So its practical hands-on mentorship from companies that have expertise and also have a potential need to use their product.

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Working with Viasat and Cubic will help startups with the business requirements of innovation, said Melanie Hagerty, Cubics vice president of corporate engineering and innovation.

We are both customer-centric, she said. When we do rapid prototyping from concept to product, we are constantly looking for customer feedback. I think learning that business skill will be paramount to their success. So its learning that it is OK to fail fast and fail often ... as long as you are not failing at the same things over and over.

Founded in 2010, EvoNexus is the regions top home-grown startup incubator. Its companies have raised more than $1.6 billion  either through venture capital investors or being acquired.

Until recently, EvoNexus did not require admitted startups to contribute equity to the program. That means it relies heavily on corporate sponsors. This week, it inked a partnership with EMD Performance Materials, the high-tech materials arm of drug conglomerate Merck.

As part of the partnership, EvoNexus plans to recruit a new group of startups working on novel technologies of strategic interest to EMD, such as next generation semiconductor materials, advanced displays and functional additives for surface coatings, said Rory Moore, chief executive of EvoNexus.

The Cubic/Viasat partnership has a similar theme. Both companies sponsor EvoNexus. They hope to discover startups working on technologies that they can use.

For Cubic, those technologies are cybersecurity, algorithms/simulation, power management, instrumentation, secure communications, cloud computing and data visualization. The company makes advanced training systems for defense customers, including the Top Gun pilot training program. It also provides fare management technology to some of the worlds largest mass transit agencies.

For Viasat  a satellite internet provider -- cybersecurity also is a priority, along with communications/signal processing, computer networking, software defined networks, cloud computing, analytics, machine learning, global e-commerce and Internet mobile platforms.

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Our core business is internet service, and we are going worldwide, said Jaska. Image all the activities that are adjacent to and around a worldwide global Internet network and service  that in a nutshell is what we are looking for.

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mike.freeman@sduniontribune.com;

Twitter:@TechDiego

760-529-4973Apple has come up with an ironic work-around to a German sales ban on older model iPhones that infringe on a Qualcomm envelope tracking patent.

Use Qualcomm chips.

The Cupertino-based company said Thursday that it has resumed selling iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models in Germany after a Munich court banned the devices in December for infringing on Qualcomms patent.

It is doing so by stocking shelves with iPhone 7s and iPhone 8s that contain Qualcomms cellular modem and envelope tracking silicon.

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Before this, iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models sold in Germany used only Intel cellular modems, along with companion envelope trackers from Qorvo, which were found to infringe.

Qualcomm is attempting to use injunctions against our products to try to get Apple to succumb to their extortionist demands, said Apple in a statement. To ensure all iPhone models can again be available to customers in Germany, we have no choice but to stop using Intel chips and ship our phones with Qualcomm chips in Germany.

The company accused Qualcomm of working to eliminate competition by any means they can.

Qualcomm declined to comment. But the company has previously said the dispute is not about competition but about Apple using Qualcomms cellular technology inventions without paying for them.

This latest twist comes as the two companies continue to fight a wide-ranging legal war over patent fees.

Apple contends Qualcomms practice of selling chips and licensing mobile patents as separate products is unlawful and allows the company to overcharge for inventions it has nothing to do with.

Apple sued Qualcomm more than two years ago, and contract manufacturers that assemble iPhones stopped paying patent royalties to Qualcomm starting in the first quarter of 2017.

In a court hearing last year, Qualcomm estimated that it was owed $7 billion in withheld patent license payments.

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Qualcomm says its cellular technology, which powers broadband internet access to mobile devices, is central to what makes iPhones valuable. Apple revealed recently that before the dispute, it paid about $7.50 per iPhone to access Qualcomms patent portfolio.

Despite the legal hostilities, Qualcomm continues to sell cellular chips used in about half of older model iPhones sold globally.

In general, older iPhones in the U.S. that run on Verizons and Sprints networks contain Qualcomm chips. iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models on certain mobile networks in China also use Qualcomm.

iPhone models on AT&Ts and T-Mobiles networks in the U.S.  as well as most iPhones sold throughout Europe -- use cellular modems from Intel and the envelope tracking chip from Qorvo.

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Qualcomm has filed patent infringement lawsuits against Apple in courts worldwide and has won sales bans in China and Germany.

In China, Apple said it designed around Qualcomm software patents by tweaking its iOS operating system.

In Germany, the Munich court found infringement occurred on Qorvos hardware  which is more difficult to work around.

In December, Apple pulled older model iPhones from 15 company-owned stores in Germany following the ruling. It later was required to stop sales at third-party retailers as well.

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Key court proceedings and decisions in the dispute are expected later this year  including a pending verdict by a San Jose federal judge in the U.S. Federal Trade Commissions antitrust action against Qualcomm. Also, a jury trial in the lawsuit between the two companies is slated to begin April 15 in San Diego federal court.

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mike.freeman@sduniontribune.com;

Twitter:@TechDiego

760-529-4973When Amazon.com launched its nationwide search for a location for a second headquarters last year, cities eagerly lined up, promising primo real estate and plush tax incentives.

But when the e-commerce giant chose the Long Island City neighborhood of New Yorks Queens borough as one of its new hubs, the reception was not nearly as welcoming.

Though some locals and politicians hailed the plan and the 25,000 new jobs it would bring, others questioned giving $3 billion in incentives to a company run by the worlds richest man, Jeff Bezos, and asserted Amazon had not done enough to alleviate its impact on the city.

On Thursday, Amazon made clear that it had heard the outcry, and was in no mood to fight it, abruptly announcing it would abandon the Long Island City plan. Amazon said it is not searching for a replacement city.

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The decision underscored how, in certain locations at least, there is a heightening skepticism to the decades-old practice of governments showering big companies with perks to gain the added tax revenues and employment the firms provide.

This is a stunning development, with Amazon essentially giving in to vocal critics who bemoaned the tech giants decision to set up a new substantial outpost in Long Island City, Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com, said in an email.

The Seattle-based company had conducted a much-ballyhooed search for its second headquarters, dubbed HQ2, and in November it announced a decision to split that second headquarters  and its 50,000 jobs  between Queens and Arlington, Va., near Washington, D.C.

New Yorks selection was cheered by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo  who had vowed he would change his first name to Amazon were it to help the state win the headquarters.

But other state legislators and community activists objected to the deal without more modifications, saying Amazon had not made sufficient efforts to offset the prospect of higher housing prices and worsening public-transportation woes, among other problems, in exchange for tax breaks and other incentives.

Cuomo and De Blasio had pledged to keep fighting for the project despite the opposition  the deal was probably the greatest economic transaction in 50 years in this state, Cuomo had said  but to no avail.

Critics of Amazon in New York objected not only to the notion of subsidies for the company, which had revenue of $233 billion last year, but also to the economic and social disruption they feared. Opponents went door to door warning people in Queens of rent hikes, displacement and other problems.

The critics prevailed in New York, Amazon said. For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long term, the company said in a statement. It expressed appreciation for Cuomo and De Blasios efforts and said it was disappointed to scrap its New York plans.

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez  a Democrat whose district neighbors the one containing Amazons proposed Long Island City site  cheered Thursdays news. Today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazons corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world, she said on Twitter.

The head of the New York City Council, Corey Johnson, said he looks forward to working with companies that are willing to engage with New Yorkers.

New York City is the worlds best place to do business, Johnson said in a statement. I hope this is the start of a conversation about vulture capitalism and where our tax dollars are best spent.

The New York situation stood in contrast to the warm reception Amazon received in Virginia, where Gov. Ralph Northam signed a law last week authorizing up to $750 million in state subsidies for the Amazon facilities there.

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Some observers also saw Amazons struggle in New York as a national litmus test for how populist forces were increasingly objecting to the local effects of corporations and politicians willing to provide them with tax breaks and other subsidies.

Others said the opposition was somewhat unique to New York and would come at a price.

Now, all of the prospective employees who would have otherwise been hired, all of the small businesses that would have benefited from Amazons Queens presence, and indeed state and local governments looking forward to tax revenues, as well as the broader community, will miss out from improved growth prospects, Hamrick said.

Public polling soon after the deal was announced suggested it was more popular in Queens than it was in the wealthier parts of the city, and had greater support among black and Latino respondents than white respondents.

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The heavy union element in Queens may have played a role in Amazons decision, just as it did when Walmart gave up attempts to build a store in New York City following similar union and community opposition a few years ago, said Rebecca Kolins Givan, an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations.

On top of the headquarters impact on housing and transportation, many New Yorkers felt most of the high-paying jobs would be taken by Amazon workers transferring to Queens and not available to the people already living there, she said. This felt like a 10-ton gorilla coming in from the outside and throwing its weight around.

Some developers, property owners and local businesses had begun planning for an influx of well-paid workers.

Mirza Mosihur Rahman, the CEO of a small residential developer called Alib Inc., is in the middle of buying land to build a 35- to 40-unit condominium complex in the nearby neighborhood of Astoria. Before Amazon announced its Long Island City headquarters, the land was priced at about $800 per square foot, he said; after the announcement, it jumped to about $1,200 per square foot.

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Now he must either renegotiate the price or reconsider the deal entirely, he said: Its not a big project, but now we have to give it a second thought.

Thursdays news might also let some air out of apartment prices. In the five weeks after Amazon said it would open a Long Island City headquarters, 18.8% of the apartments in that neighborhood that were listed for sale on the website StreetEasy saw a price increase, and sellers of more than 75 homes on the site began to advertise their buildings proximity to the proposed Amazon location, StreetEasy said. In the five weeks before the November announcement, there were no price increases, it said.

We expect asking prices and buyer interest to fairly quickly revert back to their pre-announcement levels, said StreetEasy economic data analyst Nancy Wu.

J. Alom, a food truck proprietor who lives in Long Island City and was operating a halal food cart there Thursday, was disappointed when The Times informed him of Amazons decision. Oh, God, I thought it was going to be more business for me, he said in Bengali.

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More than 200 cities or regions had applied to land Amazons second headquarters. The company narrowed the list a year ago to 20 locations, including Los Angeles. Amazon watchers speculated that the winner would be in the Eastern United States but did not expect the headquarters to be divided between two locations.

When Amazon selected New York and Arlington, some in the Los Angeles area expressed relief.

Thank God, Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of Los Angeles Beacon Economics, a go-to consultancy for California officials, said at the time.

Economic development is best done by helping existing businesses grow, and by building more housing and infrastructure, he said. Not by spending millions of dollars in subsidies and countless man-hours chasing a monster like Amazon. Why do it? So politicians can have bragging rights.

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Amazon said Thursday that it doesnt intend to search for another HQ2 location at this time, but that it will expand in U.S. and Canadian locations where it already has offices and hubs. That will include adding to its more than 5,000 employees in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island, it said.WARSAW, Poland (AP)  The Trump administration lashed out at some of America's closest traditional allies Thursday, accusing Britain, France and Germany of trying to bust U.S. sanctions against Iran and calling on European nations to join the United States in withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear deal.

In an unusually blunt speech to a Middle East conference in Poland, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence slammed the three countries and the European Union as a whole for remaining parties to the landmark 2015 agreement after President Donald Trump withdrew from it last year and re-imposed tough sanctions on Iran.

The harsh criticism threatened to further chill U.S.-European ties that are already badly strained on many issues, including trade and defense spending. And it underscored the stark two-year trans-Atlantic divide over Iran that manifested itself again ahead of the Warsaw conference co-hosted by the U.S. and Poland.

France and Germany declined to send their top diplomats to the ministerial-level meeting. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also stayed away due to concerns it would become an anti-Iran vehicle. Britain, France and Germany, along with the rest of the EU, continue to support the nuclear deal as the best way to prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons.

At the close of the conference, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Polish counterpart Jacek Czaputowicz both noted differences of opinion over policies toward Iran. But, they said all participants agreed on the threat posed by the country, which is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution this week.

"There was not a defender of Iran in the room," Pompeo said, adding that the U.S. and Europe were still capable of working together on the issue.

Czaputowicz said the U.S. and Europe "share the same diagnosis of the situation," which is "the negative role played by Iran." But he also noted that the U.S. and Europe differ on how to approach the matter.

In his earlier speech, Pence showed just how sharp that difference is.

He was harshly critical of Britain, France and Germany for unveiling a new financial mechanism last month that U.S. officials believe is intended to keep the nuclear deal alive by evading American sanctions. Pence praised other nations for complying with U.S. sanctions by reducing Iranian oil imports, but he said the Europeans fell short.

"Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative," Pence said. "In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions."

He said the mechanism, a barter-type payment system that is designed to allow businesses to skirt direct financial transactions with Iran, is "an effort to break American sanctions against Iran's murderous regime."

"It's an ill-advised step that that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU, and create still more distance between Europe and the United States," the vice president said.

Pence then called for Europe to abandon the nuclear agreement altogether, making explicit a demand that Trump administration officials had previously only hinted at.

"The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us as we bring the economic and diplomatic pressure necessary to give the Iranian people, the region and the world the peace security and freedom they deserve," he said.

Niels Annen, a German deputy foreign minister who participated in the conference, told reporters after Pence spoke that Europe has a common position on the need to preserve the nuclear deal, and he dismissed U.S. concerns about the new financial mechanism. He said Germany believes both pressure and nuclear deal need to be maintained.

"We believe we need both," he said. "We need pressure on Iran ... but we also need cooperation on the basis of this international agreement and we will continue to pursue this together."

Germany, Britain and France have vigorously defended the new payment system as necessary to preserve the Iran accord, under which Tehran was granted billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

They are also highly unlikely to withdraw from the agreement, a signature foreign policy achievement of the Obama administration. Their governments have repeatedly expressed support for it since Trump declared the U.S. would pull out.

The U.N.'s atomic watchdog and Trump's own intelligence chiefs have said Iran remains in compliance with the agreement despite the U.S. withdrawal.

Pence, however, said Iran's adherence to the deal's terms is irrelevant. He said the accord was fatally flawed to begin with as it does not prevent Iran from obtaining the technology or material to eventually develop a nuclear weapon over time.

"Compliance is not the issue; the deal is the issue," he said, calling Iran the "single greatest threat" to security in the Middle East.

Iran was not invited to the Warsaw conference and called the event a "circus" aimed at "demonizing" the country.

Because of European reluctance to attend a conference focused only on Iran, Pompeo and other U.S. officials had sought to broaden the scope to include other Middle East topics. The schedule included sessions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Syria, Yemen, cybercrime and terrorism.

"No one country will dominate the discussion today, nor will any one issue dominate our talks," Pompeo said at the opening of the conference,

But Pence's comments, as well as earlier remarks by Pompeo, made clear the meeting was largely focused on isolating Iran.

Before the event opened, Pompeo met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said, "You can't achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran. It's just not possible."

Netanyahu's office released a video from a closed session of the conference in which Bahrain Foreign Minister Khalid Al Khalifa tells an audience that he grew up believing the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is "the most important issue" in the region.

But later, he said, "we saw a more toxic one, in fact the most toxic in our modern history, which came from the Islamic Republic, from Iran."

Pence opened his keynote address by lauding the Trump administration's commitment to fighting "radical Islamic terrorism," a term he used in some form at least seven times.

He hailed gains made against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, where the extremists are being ousted from their last remaining areas of control. Despite Trump's abrupt decision to withdraw American troops from Syria, Pence said the U.S. would remain in the region to ensure the militant organization does not return.

"We will continue to hunt down the remnants of ISIS wherever and whenever they rear their ugly head," he said.

No matter what the conference yields on Syria, the future of the country was more likely to be determined at a Thursday meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the presidents of Iran and Turkey

The three leaders were in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi to discuss a Syria peace settlement as expectations mount for an imminent and final defeat of IS ahead of the U.S. pullout.Think a minute James Macie was a child born outside of marriage.

Tragically this marked him for the rest of his life as a second-class citizen in Englands 18th century society.

Even though his true father was Duke of Northumberland, James was never allowed to hold his fathers title.

James mother tried to have his rightful honor in society restored, but the British government refused. Consequently, James was denied the rights of most ordinary citizens. He could not enter Parliament, hold a public office, or get a job in civil service. He could not even join the Army or the Navy.

Shortly after James graduated from Pembroke College, he ambitiously started a career in science.

The results of his many advanced experiments were published, and James became a highly respected scientist. Yet, while other scientists were recognized by the British government with knighthoods, James was denied that honor simply because of his birth.

James never married, knowing that his country would also reject his children because of him.

However, he still gave to others a great inheritance. When James died in 1829, he was a very rich man. But instead of leaving his wealth to his own nation, he left all of his money to the United States. He disinherited England as it had disinherited him.

In his will, James instructed that his money be used to start an institution that would continue to discover and spread knowledge for humankind.

His only condition was that it would carry on his family name which was taken away from him at birth. The name he adopted later in life: Smithson.

And today the Smithsonian Institution is the worlds largest museum and research complex. It has 19 museums, 9 research centers, and more than 140 affiliate museums around the world sharing with millions of people its cultural, historical, and scientific knowledge.

James used his rejection to give him direction to where he could invest his time, talents and treasures to make the world a better place.

Just because you have felt rejected, it does not mean your life has no important purpose. On the contrary, if you sincerely ask your Maker to take charge of your heart and choices, Jesus, who will never reject you, will show you His great plan and purpose for your life one day at a time.

Just think a minuteTOULOUSE, France (AP)  To passengers, the A380 feels immediately different  spacious, smooth and oddly elegant for a jet so gargantuan. Yet to Airbus, it's become a burden so super-sized that the European manufacturer is ending its production for good.

The A380 is simply too big to sell. With funereal faces, Airbus CEO Tom Enders and other executives made a stunning yet long-anticipated admission Thursday that it was the wrong product at the wrong time, created to feed a demand for 800-seat jets that never materialized.

Less than 14 years after its maiden flight, barely a decade after it started carrying passengers, the A380 is being mothballed.

Just 17 more of the planes will be completed, wrapping up in 2021. Emirates, its last and most loyal customer, said Thursday it's switching to smaller planes instead.

Distraught fans  even within Airbus' own ranks  decried the decision. Unions in Britain, Spain and France fear for the 3,500 jobs Airbus says it might threaten.

One of the jetliner's first test pilots took a more philosophical view. While he's "feeling a bit sad" about the news, Claude Lelaie says the giant plane will be remembered for pushing the barriers of aviation, like the supersonic Concorde.

"Both made history and allowed progress, technological progress," he told The Associated Press from the southern French city of Toulouse, the cradle of Airbus' worldwide operations. "That's business  you have to ensure the success of the company."

This isn't how things were supposed to pan out for the world's biggest passenger jet.

Development talks for the plane began in 2000, meant to be Airbus' 21st-century answer to rival Boeing's 1960s-era 747, and one of the most ambitious endeavors in aviation. Its Rolls Royce engines were quieter than ever, far out on the extra-long wings. Carbon-fiber technology was used for the body to make it lighter and easier to maneuver. Its double-decker construction allowed room for bars, duty-free shops and even showers.

Lelaie was a co-pilot aboard the maiden flight of the superjumbo in 2005, 101 years after the Wright brothers' first flight.

Despite its huge size and weight, he called the A380 a "very nice aircraft to fly"  even on special low-speed flights when they deliberately stalled the plane to test its reactions.

Then French President Jacques Chirac hailed the plane as "a symbol of what Europeans can do together." Airbus' then chief salesman, John Leahy, called it "game-changing" for the industry.

Yet to detractors, the A380 smacked of hubris, a vanity project by managers who saw bigger as better despite an uncertain market for a plane so huge that airports had to modify their runways and gates.

It faced repeated production setbacks and cost overruns. Order cancellations led to a restructuring at Airbus that saw thousands of job cuts.

One emblematic problem: a standoff between German and French engineers over which software to use to design the cockpit. The company lost a quarter of its market value in a single day in 2006 when the resulting delays became public.

Enders says the A380 wasn't a flight of folly but a carefully studied gamble.

"We didn't stumble into it," he said. "Little did we know how the world would look in 2010, in 2019."

Airlines in fact seemed more interested in mid-size planes for regional routes, notably in Asia, where travel within the region has boomed in recent years. Even on longer routes, airlines seemed to prefer smaller planes that were easier to fill.

Salesman Leahy spent much of the 2000s trying to persuade customers not to cancel orders. The last major order was in 2013, from trusted Emirates.

Enders said he was "knee-deep" in the A380, and personally suffered from its failures, but the only way to get out of this "trap" was to say good-bye.

"The 380 may have just been too large of a step for the market to handle," said Rob Watts, CEO of aviation consulting company Aerotask.

The end came Thursday, as Airbus and Emirates announced that the airline had decided to transfer existing orders for A380s to smaller A350s and A320s.

The chairman and CEO of Emirates, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al Maktoum, said: "While we are disappointed to have to give up our order, and sad that the program could not be sustained, we accept that this is the reality of the situation."

The A380 has been the backbone of the Emirates fleet, based out of Dubai, the world's busiest airport for international travel.

The pall of grief at Airbus headquarters was tinged with a hint of relief, after years of straining to keep the A380 alive.

Airbus quietly prepared for the decision a year ago, building in the 463 million euros ($522 million) in losses the A380 cost the company last year into its 2018 financial results, announced Thursday. The company posted a jump in profit and upbeat forecast for the coming year despite a slew of challenges, including Britain's pending exit from the European Union without a new trade deal.

Even though the A380 wiped billions off Airbus profits in its development phase, Chief Financial Officer Harald Wilhelm says the company is expecting to break even on the overall program before it's scrapped.

Airbus, which has some 130,000 employees worldwide, is focusing on its many other planes, made in facilities from Mobile, Alabama, to Tianjin, China.

Among those who foresaw the A380's demise was analyst Richard Aboulafia of Washington-based Teal Group.

"But thanks to the strength of the market right now, and the strength of Airbus's other products, the damage will not have a huge impact on the industry," he told the AP. "For Boeing, it has been a very long time since they needed to worry about the A380 as a competitive factor."

The A380 is still among the youngest aircraft in the skies, and Airbus will maintain the more than 230 planes currently in service for years to come. Guillaume Faury, who takes over from Enders as CEO in April, promised: "It will continue to fly."Teen Challenge Samoa director, Eric Poe, has strongly condemned a Government proposal to legalise 18-year-olds to sell alcohol.

In an interview with the Samoa Observer, Mr. Poe warned that if the proposal becomes a bill and is enacted into law, it will create and add to the social problems that the country is currently facing.

He said Teen Challenge values the life of a young person and thats the difference as entrepreneurs and lawmakers will always look at the numbers.

Oh its just 10, but if you look at 10 serious criminals in Samoa, we just have enough with the two escapees already, and the whole nation is just worried and scared, he said.

The proposal will contradict Government policy, according to Mr. Poe, as the law sets the legal alcohol consumption age and nightclub entry at 21 years. Yet the proposed legislation will allow 18-year-olds to enter nightclubs to sell alcohol, but not drink, he added.

I dont understand how they think of this. As social providers, our work here at Teen Challenge is dealing with young offenders and so for us to see a proposal like this coming in is a big concern.

To us as social providers, the value of one young person, money cannot buy that and if Government allows these young 18-year-olds to enter these clubs, then thats the failure of the Government, he said.

Mr. Poe said it would be nice for the Government to raise the age of alcohol consumption to 22 or 23, instead of considering proposals that would have dire consequences on Samoas young population.

The Teen Challenge programme started in May 2017, and two years after establishment, they have recorded a little over 340 people of which 110 are 19 years and below.

And 54 of the 110 youth entered the programme due to alcohol, according to Mr. Poe.

Most of those 54 people are already drinking right from the age of 13. If you talk to those 21 years old and upwards, they started from when they were teenagers, because in our programme, we also have a question on when did you start drinking?

My point is you cant really control youth, but to see the Government open up their regulations and laws regarding money and unemployment issues, and neglect to look at the social issues, which are more important and are the realities.

Mr. Poe said there are other alternatives of providing employment for young people, and some prefer to farm the land and help their families.

But you can have youths who work but face social work in their lives, which also involves many other issues like assault, sexual assault, even up to suicide. We dont just look at things like unemployment, but we also have to consider these other issues.

To me, teenagers are very vulnerable. To serve alcohol you dont serve it in the streets, you serve it in the nightclubs and bars, so following them in those environment, it throws them into a very high risk environment. But the very concern is the girls, not only the boys.

We all know if young girls come in the nightclub to serve with drunken men around, what will be next, they will be assaulted, sexually assaulted.

Mr. Poe said there are more developments that could be done to help these people and these are things the Government should invest more money into, to help the youths who are not working and not in school to tap into other avenues to supply for their families.

In the streets, we still have child vendors at night, and Ive been attending consultations after consultations to formulate laws and policies to deal with this very small community and family, but still the Government cant solve this.

So if they cant solve this, if they cant enforce laws, then what makes you think they can protect the lives of these kids from the influence of those who drink, because these 18-year-olds will also work with them? These kids are more exposed to dangers and other dangerous things, when compared to kids who sell ulas and stuff at night just for the sake of money and employment.Former Immigration Officer, David Nomereta Uaine, who is accused of the sale of Samoan passports, is innocent.

That was the argument put forward by his lawyer, Unasa Iuni Sapolu, during her final submission yesterday, at the end of a lengthy trial.

Uaine faces 32 charges in relation to six separate incidents of forgery, using a forged document, forged and false Samoan travel document, records information on passport system, certifies false application for travel document, corruption and bribery.

The passports were issued in the names of Dave Afele Allen; Mark Filo Hamden; Franco Fitu Rudolph and Miriama Kaba Hugo.

During her final submission, Unasa argued that the alleged offences were not committed by her client.

Police officer did a thorough search of the defendants house and nothing was found, Unasa told the Court.

Thus the case is built on circumstantial evidence and (prosecution) used what happened in 2017 to consider and determine what happened in 2016.

It is not for us to prove his innocence he is innocent and also the only evidence that are drawn from inference but he wasnt the only one there (in the Immigration office).

Supreme Court Judge, Justice Tafaoimalo Leilani Tuala  Warren, presided.

The Prosecutor is Lucymarie Sio Ofoia, of the Attorney Generals Office who presented her written submission and briefly discussed their argument.

She said the evidence shows the defendant not only lodged the applications in question, he was the only one connected to the applications.

Evidence shows that and it is consistent and we submit there were no other immigration officers involved, said Mrs. Ofoia.

During the period of the offence(s) the applications were lodged by the defendant. Those persons were the same persons on the applications and those applications were processed.

Going back to the evidence, Mrs. Ofoia said there was money received from the Philippines on the day the application was lodged. She did not say which application it was.

It is all in pen who was involved. Those further discussions we submit (in written submission) and evidence to support the charges against the defendant.

But Unasa disagreed.

She pointed out the incidents where the charges arise occurred during the time international fraudsters were in Samoa. She was referring to the people whom the passports were issued.

She said they initiated the application with false birth certificates with the different fonts.

But Justice Tafaoimalo put it to the lawyer that in the case they initiated the application, there was still the part where the applications had to be processed.

In response, Unasa said there are at least 15 people in the Immigration office.

Yes it is an open space of so many workers at the office. It could easily happen with one person standing around doing this who had no idea of what is going onwe strongly doubt the alleged offences were committed by the defendant.

Unasa added her submission in full is contained in a 20-page document.

The matter is adjourned until 5th April 2019 for decision.Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi has instructed the Police to contact the U.S. government over a terrorist that lives in America.

He was referring to Saute Sapolu, who posted the video on Facebook this week swearing at the Prime Minister, and making threats on his life as well as criticize how he ran the Government.

During his weekly program with the media, Tuilaepa said an official complaint has been made with the Police instructed to inform the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on the matter.

This one of the terrorist that resides in America and these are the type of people that President (Donald) Trump is trying to get rid of from his country.

The police were told to translate the clip and lodged a complaint with the CIA, to determine whether these are some of those people who should have been returned to their home country, the Prime Minister said.

The CIA is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, tasked with gathering, processing, and analysing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence.

The Prime Minister said that if and when Saute does return to Samoa he will be dealt with accordingly.

This week Saute made a verbal threat against Prime Minister in a video that immediately went viral. It was condemned by many Samoans, who defended the Prime Minister and went on to call verbally abuse him.

Sautes video follows the arrest of King Faipopo, who has been charged with making false statements against the Prime Minister.North Korean state media Wednesday hinted that Pyongyang will freeze rather than scrap its nuclear weapons program.

The North's Rodong Sinmun daily on Wednesday featured a written contribution from an ethnic Korean in Japan saying that nuclear weapons "are [North Korea's] powerful war deterrent that counters the power of the U.S."

It quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowing not to "produce, test, use or distribute nuclear weapons," suggesting that the North will agree to no more than a freeze.

The reports come amid mounting skepticism over any progress in U.S.-led efforts to get the North to dismantle its nuclear weapons ahead of a second bilateral summit.

Adm. Philip Davidson, the commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said Tuesday, "We think it is unlikely that North Korea will give up all of its nuclear weapons or production capabilities."

Davidson told a Senate hearing that he believes the North will seek "to negotiate partial denuclearization in exchange for U.S. and international concessions." He added his assessment is "consistent with the intelligence community position."

Meanwhile, Gen. Robert Abrams, the commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, told the same hearing that despite "a marked reduction in tensions" on the Korean Peninsula, "little to no verifiable change has occurred in North Korea's military capabilities."It was only two weeks ago when the Government announced plans to introduce legislation to make it legal for an 18-year-old to sell alcohol.

And just the other day we were alerted to another Government-sponsored legislation  which Parliament passed into law last month  that now gives a child 15-years or older the authority to sell cigarettes.

Samoa Observer ran a story on the amendments to the Tobacco Control Act in yesterdays edition, detailing how the legislative changes now mean children aged 15 years or more have the blessings of the Government to sell tobacco products.

Under Section 23A of the amended Tobacco Control Act 2019, the sale of tobacco products by persons under 15 prohibited: (1) A person below the age of 15 must not sell any tobacco product (2) A person who breaches subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable upon conviction to pay a fine not exceeding 1,000 penalty points.

While the above provisions of the amended Tobacco Control Act 2019 do not explicitly state that children above 15-years of age can sell tobacco products, it does bluntly warn that children below the age of 15 who are caught selling tobacco products will be fined. That is to say, if the authorities come across youth aged 15 years or more selling cigarettes on the streets of Apia, they will be let go and not penalised  as the law says they are old enough to do that.

It is mind boggling why the Government-sponsored law is vague and not specific, especially in relation to children, after it inserted the clause that basically banned those below the age of 15 from selling cigarettes. So does that mean children over the age of 15 can sell cigarettes for retail outlets? And if they are to sell tobacco products, should they do it behind a counter in a store in a rural community or can they sell it in the streets of Apia?

It is considered standard practice in parliamentary democracies for explanatory notes to accompany new legislation. The explanatory notes will enable Members of Parliament (other than those sponsoring the bill) and the general public to understand the rationale behind the proposed law.

Explanatory notes for the amended Tobacco Control Act 2019, would have explained the rationale behind the Governments decision, to only focus on banning the sale of tobacco products by children below the age of 15 and whether those above 15 can now engage in the tobacco trade.

While we wait for the Government to give the public more information on what the amendments exactly entail, we cannot ignore the risk that are involved with having a law, that is vague and could give young Samoans the license to participate in the tobacco trade.

Evidence from around the world suggests that the widespread availability of tobacco through retail outlets will have a detrimental effect on a countrys health outcomes.

Imagine teenagers  age 15 and above  selling cigarettes on the streets and thereby increasing its availability and accessibility. Having a large number of cigarette sellers in a specific neighbourhood is likely to lead to increased smoking prevalence within that particular community, and ultimately high risks of lung cancer amongst the smoking population and non-smokers getting exposed to cancer through secondhand smoking.

Early this month Samoa joined the global community to mark World Cancer Day, with Ministry of Health Chief Executive Officer Leausa Dr. Take Naseri and Associate Health Minister Tuitama Dr. Leao Talalelei Tuitama leading from the front, and joining close to 200 people to register for the World Cancer Day 2019 Fun Run.

The Minister of Health Tuitama Dr. Leao Tuitama attended a church service  which was held at the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa at Vaiala  to mark the day.

The Health Minister said the World Cancer Day was an opportune time for the various stakeholders to highlight the effects of cancer and to ensure work is done to tackle it in Samoa.

It is a day to highlight the effects of cancer and to ensure works that are done in curing those affected, and for everyone to come together in fighting against this universal epidemic which knows no boundaries.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide with Samoa being the second highest killer after the cardiovascular diseases. Mortality is high because of the limited primary health care and cancer treatments and the lack of effective screening programmes delay diagnosis at the stage where some cancers are easily treated, he said.

Tuitama said Samoas health expenditure on non-communicable diseases accounted for over 40 per cent of the total health expenditure, and this is mostly spent on clinical care.

Lung cancer, like most common cancer, is a non-communicable disease. Surely, Tuitama would have had the foresight to see the long-term implications of the amended Tobacco Control Act 2019, and how it could potentially open the door to cigarette sellers aged 15 and above.

Speaking at the recent World Cancer Day commemoration, the Health Minister said: The main objectives of Cancer Day worldwide are to save as many as possible of preventable deaths each year, by raising awareness and education about cancer and pressing governments and individuals across the world to take positive action against the disease.

Let us hope common sense prevails and the Government takes a second look at the new law and what it could mean for young Samoans. Now this is what we call positive action!

Have a wonderful Friday Samoa and God bless.The Samoa Tourism Authority (STA) welcomes feedback and its staff are ready to respond to queries from tourists.

Responding to recent concerns by tourists on the lack of brochures on local tourist attractions, Leituala Joseph Chan Ting, of the authoritys marketing department said they are currently short of brochures and pamphlets, but their staff are ready to respond to queries from tourists.

Our job is to offer advise not only here, but also at the airport centre, he said. Information on hotels, tours, rates and cultural shows: we provide all that to the visitors, unless they come asking but were short on brochures and pamphlets. Otherwise our staff are well equipped to answer questions regarding activities, locations and such, he said.

Local tour operators and hotel owners were also encouraged to drop off their information leaflets, which Leituala said can be distributed to tourists and visitors.

We have so many brochures and timetables for ferry trips, taxi fare booklets from LTA and systems in place to help our visitors. We also encourage our tour operators and hotel operators to bring in their information so people can easily find them, so whatever queries our visitors may have, it doesnt stop our work on the daily basis, we just wished they brought it up with us directly.

While the STA tries its best to offer updated information such as maps, their services are also determined by how much funding is available.

We cant overly try to produce and provide updated information without money to put it into action, so we try and manage our funds properly for other activities, he said.

Leituala said their recently commissioned cultural booklet guide  which their team produced  has information on all cultural shows offered by hotels around the island.

You know that helps better the experience of our visitors as well as promote products and services done by our local industry, he added.

Were always marketing Samoa as Beautiful Samoa. Its our brand and so the Government together with STA is constantly working towards making Samoa better to fit our brand which is a working progress. But everything depends on the budget, he said.A man charged with the attempted murder of a young woman, who was shot in the face, had murderous intent to kill the victim and poses a threat if he is released on bail.

This was the gist of an application from prosecutor, Magele Leone Sua-Mailo, during the hearing of a bail application for Peter Tulaga Eliesa of Vailoa yesterday.

Supreme Court Judge, Justice Tafaoimalo Leilani Tuala  Warren, presided over the matter.

Lawyer Leota Tima Leavai represented Eliesa.

The defendant had sought bail while awaiting his trial. The victim in this case, Frysna Rimoni, was medevac to New Zealand early last month after suffering severe injuries from the incident.

During the submission, Magele made reference to two medical reports from New Zealand on the victim, where it referred to a laceration to the victims left wrist and defense wound from gunshot.

The medical report made it clear that the injuries of the victim were not self-inflicted and it was inflicted by the defendant, she told the Court.

Not only did the defendant stabbed her, he also shot her. The medical evidence is consistent with the affidavit of the nurses (that were on duty in Emergency)  and consistently shows the defendant did this  and also shows there was murderous intent."

There was real determination from the defendant to kill the victim in this case.

Magele told the Court from an affidavit that there is a mark on the victims forehead between her eyebrows, another laceration across her face, and one on the other side of her cheek.

The affidavit of the doctor is consistent that the laceration was caused by a sharp object as opposed to a gunshot.

The prosecutor made reference to an affidavit by Margret Rimoni, claiming Eliesa called her and said, shes (victim) already dead.

Magele reiterated that it was clear from this statement  that the defendant was determined to kill the victim  given the fact that he had not stopped at stabbing her, he resorted to shooting her in the face.

The defendant had not anticipated that the victim would survive the brutal attack and injuries she sustained, she added.

The lawyer pointed out if Eliesa is granted bail he would stop at no means to ensure that what he inflicted on January 15 he will continue to do so.

Therefore the life of Frysna is still at risk and her safety cannot be guaranteed if he is released. The defendant is aware that the victim survived the ordeal, and is hospitalized at the Middlemore Hospital and has taken an alias.

Furthermore, Magele explained that the victim is in hospital and is unable to move.

She will be there for a significant amount of time and therefore cannot escape from any attack, if the defendant does fly to New Zealand and pay a visit to her, she told the Court."

Ms Ponifasios affidavit also referred to the defendant, frequently visiting New Zealand to see his wife and children, who reside in New Zealand."

Ms. Ponifasio also referred to the extent of the victims injuries, as well as the extent taken to ensure the safety of the victim in New Zealand  and went as far as referring the matter to authorities in New Zealand and had given Ms. Rimoni alias in. The risk remains if the defendant is released on bail.

Magele emphasised there are other people involved that are at risk, if Eliesa is granted bail.

The defendant is aware of the victims family in New Zealand, she said.

This is the same family whom the defendant alleged there was a relationship, between the victim and this member of the family. Given the outrage the defendant had out of jealousy and out of suspicion whether there is a relationship, the risk is not only towards the victim, but this member of the victims family who he is aware of her place of residents.

Concerned about the defendants emotional state, Magele referred to Ms. Ponifasios affidavit of messages between the defendant and the victim. She told the Court the defendant had sent a message to the victim earlier on the day of the incident saying to her, I want to die.

Another message he sent said, I want to go now, Im so hurt babe

Magele pointed out it was clear from the messages the defendant is emotionally unstable.

This is consistent with the victims affidavit, where she referred to the defendant having sent her several suicidal messages. Therefore, the risk is not only towards the witnesses in this matter, there is also a risk to the defendant for his own safety.

Another issue that was raised in the submission was the tampering of evidence.

She told the Court the alleged murder weapon remains at large, together with other missing crucial items, such as the victims phone and the defendants phone.

Magele dismissed the claims from the defense counsel that Eliesa placed the gun on the Landcruiser and had fallen off the car when driving away from home.

The gun could not have fallen off if it was lying flat on the back of the truck, she said.

Even if you are a fast or furious driver the gun could not have fallen off."

Therefore, the explanation as to how the gun had become lost, removed from his possession is not possible, and only reasonable explanation  either the defendant still has possession to the gun or is aware of its where about."

The fact that the defendant has access to guns, it poses a risk to the safety of the victim as well as the other witnesses. He is a risk to society, witnesses and himself. This risk warrants defendant to remain in custody where he is safe.

Magele argued it was clear from the affidavit of the victim that her handbag was inside a vehicle.

However, when Police arrived at the scene on the day, it was not in the vehicle and it was only handed to police by the sister of the defendant, Melania on the following day.

When police arrived at the scene around 8:30 whilst the police were there  there were family of the defendant around the scene and the brother of the defendant and sister Melania had already cleaned up the house.

It was the defense counsels submission that Eliesa instructed his family to clean up pillows and sheets  that were covered with blood  for reasons that his mother stays in the same house, and she was due to return home the next day.

However, Magele said the police had only arrived at the scene within an hour, perhaps two hours at the most after the incident.

She argued the mother of the defendant was not scheduled to arrive in Upolu until the next day, and the fact remains the family could have waited, until the police conducted their investigation.

But however the house was cleaned up when police arrived in the scene, and as a result had interfered with police investigation, and had in fact damaged crucial evidence to the investigation to lead to the charges being laid. As such prosecution does not accept the submission by defense lawyer that the house was cleaned up because of the mother.

Magele then focused on the affidavit of Melania, whom she accused of changing her story and evidence significant.

She said contrary to what Melania said, that she had no idea of what happened on that day, and had only gone to the house when she heard the gunshot.

Whether there has been direct tampering or direct interference from defendant, the close relationship between her and defendant, there is a risk they will make contact  they are siblings.

This is the same witness that had the possession of handbag was supposedly locked in the car, same witness that handed over the handbag to police on Tuesday. Out of all other witnesses and siblings present, this is the main witness who is crucial to the prosecution case, and given that Tulaele is not far from Vaitele they will make contact.

Lastly, Magele echoed the fear from witnesses, mainly the sisters of the victim who are scared of the defendant.

Ms. Leavai, in her submission, assured that the defendant is innocent.

She made the defendant enter a not guilty plea because he wants to be present during his trial.

There is no risk of him traveling because his travel documents are with the authority, and he is willing and wants to go through trial to prove his innocence, she said.

The alleged offending occurred and the only people present is the defendant and the victim and nobody aside from those two to witness the offending. We know for a fact Frysna is in New Zealand and if he is to interfere, there are two ways to do that.

It is for him to be physically in New Zealand which is impossible with his travel documents being with police and for him to contact her, which he will not ever contact her or the witnesses.

Ms. Leavai also spoke about Melanias evidence, where the prosecution accused her of changing her story.

The defense counsel said Melania in her affidavit Peter told her to take the girl to the hospital she had shot herself.

Dismissing claims of tampering with evidence, Ms. Leavai said it was clear from affidavit of the defendants brother that they cleared up the pillows and bloodied sheets because it was their mothers house.

She was due to return back from Savaii on the following day so that there is nothing for her mother to see, so that when the mother comes back to her house, it is in good condition, she submitted.

She argued that the family had put the bloodied sheets and pillows in a plastic bag, and then a policeman had instructed them to burn it.

It was not an initiative from the family, they followed the instructions from the police. He (defendant) was also asked about the gun  he told the police when he left it in Vailoa  it was in the tray of the truck, and mustve fallen off as the road to his farm is not good. There is no way he would try to hide the gun. He had given instruction to the police where the alleged murder weapon was and obviously was not found.

Ms. Leavai also submitted that the missing phone is of the victim and the defendant. She said the defendant had lost track of his phone, after he called the Police Commissioner and called his sister to accompany him to the police station.

And during the cause he had obviously lost track of his phone and he does not have the victims phone, she said.

The defense counsel also dismissed claims that Eliesa called the Police Commissioner and said to him, ua oki lou koalua, ga ou kago faga le ulu. (I killed my wife, I shot her in the head)

According to Ms. Leavai the defendant does not speak broken Samoan and did not say those words.

The defendant maintains he called the Police Commissioner to ask for assistance, and had asked him what to do, whether to go to Tafaigata or Police Station.

Ms. Leavai emphasized the defendant is a successful business man who owns a 120 acres of taro plantation, and would not want to do anything to jeopardise that.

The matter has been adjourned to February 19 for decision.Dear Editor,

I write regarding a letter to the editor about Talalei Pauga.

The letter writer is correct when you say a lot educated people of Samoa and around the world support this guy.

I would say though that there is a different perspective between people who live with the PM in Samoa, and those who are on the outside looking in.

Im sorry but Im not questioning the validity of opinions of Samoans abroad, but there is a difference when you live life in Samoa compared to when you live in Sydney or Dunedin or wherever.

Samoans who have moved back to Samoa now can see what the PM means when he says things. Hes a politician, and a Samoan one at that, so as he often repeats (this is him giving hints directly), that you have to understand life and humor and tough times here in order to understand what people say when they say things in response to things that happen.

Youre listening and learning from one of the smartest and most astute politicians the Pacific has ever seen, its too bad the Samoan cleverness is above most peoples comprehension.

When he said what he said about those matai of that village, did he mean to shame them? Yes, he did, but you know what else? It made those matai think about their actions in context of their role and the responsibilities accorded them.

Are they above the law to take matters into their own hands when there is the law that can be called upon to help settle a dispute?

Absolutely there is, but no they chose to take matters into their own hands despite knowing that what they were doing was wrong?

Should not derision be heaped upon the willfully and ignorant and their blatant actions?

The derision is well targeted like sniper from the top of the government building. If you were in Samoa to understand the wider implications of what those matai did in the message they deliver to the rest of the country, then youd understand the well-intentioned message that was delivered by the PM.

Like one of my Samoan Aucklander friends who now lives here, he admitted that living here in Samoa makes a difference now in understanding the messaging by the PM, you have to read between the lines to understand the real messages. When you dont live here, you dont understand because likely youll only see and read the English translation of his messages.

Ioane SauniatuHelp Our Community

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Take The SurveyThe Rajasthan government on Wednesday passed the Reservation Amendment Bill 2019 in the Assembly, which promises 5 per cent reservation to five communities, including Gujjars, in educational institutions and government jobs.

Besides Gujjars, the other four communities to benefit from the decision are Banjara, Gadia Lohar, Rebari and Gadariya.



The reservation bill came at a time when the Gujjars have been blocking rail and road traffic in many parts of the state demanding 5 per cent reservation in education and government jobs. Their agitation turned six-day-old on Wednesday.



Speaking after the passage of the bill, Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot said the next step is to approach the Central government for an amendment in the Constitution which would make its implementation possible.

During the debate on the bill, Leader of Opposition Gulabchand Kataria said that Rajasthan is already giving 50 per cent reservation in the state, which is the ceiling on quota set by the Supreme Court. "When we were in power, we had also tried to get a similar bill passed. But, the court did not allow."



Responding to his query, Pilot said: "Two states in India -- Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra -- have crossed the ceiling of 50 per cent quota. Recently, the Central government also gave 10 per cent quota to the economically backward classes (EBCs), which yet again breaches the ceiling set by the apex court."



He said now the Rajasthan government would send it to the Centre for a constitutional amendment, the same way as they did for 10 per cent quota for the EBCs.



"Let the 200 MLAs elected by the people of the state stand united and give a message to the Centre that we want this constitutional amendment, and let the Central government under PM (Narendra) Modi get it passed," he added.



Many other MLAs in the Assembly also favoured asking the Centre for making a suitable amendment to implement the additional five per cent reservation.



However, former Education Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Vasudev Devnani said that the last session of Parliament before general elections is also concluding on Wednesday, and the code of conduct shall be implemented in March.



"If the Congress wants Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pass this bill, they should elect him as PM of the nation again," Devnani added



Meanwhile, Gujjar Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti chief Col Kirori Singh Bainsla said they would discuss the bill with legal professionals and then decide on calling off the agitation.In the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 37 troopers and leaving the security established stunned.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the horror and released a video clip of the suicide bomber, a 'commander' identified as Adil Ahmad Dar, which it claimed was shot before the young man carried out the strike in Lethpora, about 30 km from here.



While precise details of the attack were still unclear, police sources said the suicide bomber-driven SUV came along the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bus when a 78-vehicle convoy carrying 2,547 security personnel was going from the transit camp in Jammu to Srinagar and rammed it into the bus around 3.15 p.m., triggering a deafening explosion.



So devastating was the attack -- one report spoke of 200 kg of explosives, including probably RDX, packed into the SUV -- that the CRPF bus was left a mangled heap, many of its occupants losing their limbs.



CRPF officials said the bus which was the main target of the militants was destroyed fully while another CRPF vehicle was partly damaged. "It is difficult to believe how anyone in that bus could have survived," said a police officer.



Jammu and Kashmir Police chief Dilbag Singh said it could have been a suicide attack. This was confirmed by other officials later.



In a statement to a local news agency GNS, a caller claiming to be a spokesman of JeM said it was a 'fidayeen' (suicide) attack.



All the injured were shifted to the Army's 92 Base Hospital in the Badamibagh cantonment of Srinagar city. Some of them were in critical condition.





Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in condemning the horror.



"The attack ... is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs," he tweeted.



Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was to visit Bihar on Friday, is set to reach Srinagar instead. Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba cut short his visit to Bhutan to rush to Srinagar for a high-level security meeting on Friday.



"Today's dastardly attack ... is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation," Rajnath Singh said.



All traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway came to an abrupt halt. Senior police and CRPF officers rushed to the spot for a post-explosion analysis.



An officer said the CRPF and police would carry out a detailed investigation to understand the circumstances in which the attack took place.



This is the worst single attack in Jammu and Kashmir since a nascent Pakistan-backed separatist campaign began in 1989. It is also the worst attack carried out by militants after the one on the Uri Army camp on September 18, 2016 left 19 soldiers dead -- forcing New Delhi to launch 'surgical strikes' on terrorist camps in Pakistan.



Officials said the reason why so many CRPF personnel were on the move at one go was because the Srinagar-Jammu highway had been shut the past two days due to bad weather. The convoy left Jammu before dawn.

Indira, Rajiv, Rahul (file photo) Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday launches his 2019 election campaign from the same tribal Lal Dungri village in Gujarat's Dharampur where his grandmother Indira Gandhi in 1980, his father Rajiv Gandhi in 1984 and his mother Sonia Gandhi in 2004 started and romped home to power. The party believes Lal Dungri (translated as Red Onion) brings good omen for it to rule the country. Many remote villages in this South Gujarat region recognise only the Congress' hand symbol and remember only former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.



Not losing out on the fact that the Congress attaches historic importance to this region, the Bharatiya Janata Party moved in Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis from neighbouring Maharashtra to Dharampur on Wednesday, a day ahead of Rahul Gandhi's Jan Akrosh Rally, to galvanise over 4,000 party workers at a 'cluster meeting' of the party's rank and file in presence of state chief Jitu Vaghani.



The meeting, held at Rajchandra Ashram hall in Dharampur, was to address party workers of three Lok Sabha constituencies in South Gujarat dominated by Adivasis.



Fadnavis told party workers that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government had got a clean chit on the Rafale fighter jet deal from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) while the Congress leaders' hands were sullied in AugustaWestland chopper deal.



Rahul Gandhi, meanwhile, was expected to make a strong statement against land acquisition for the bullet train in this region where angry farmers who are losing their fertile fields are locked in a battle with the government, the matter now awaiting a judgment in the Gujarat High Court.



Sources say there is also a move to hold a meeting of the party's highest decision making body, the Congress Working Committee (CWC), in South Gujarat to demonstrate the importance the party gives to the state.



The decision to choose Gujarat over the Congress ruled states is a pointer in this direction.



This is besides Rahul Gandhi choosing to walk in the footsteps of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in Lal Dungri.



Though Fadnavis' Dharampur visit was announced by the party only on Tuesday, BJP Gujarat General Secretary Bharatsinh Parmar insisted their meeting had been fixed earlier than the Congress rally.



The Congress party had announced to hold its 'Jan Akrosh' rally from here on February 6.



The Congress has pulled out all stops for the Lal Dungri rally and the state unit has galvanised its 75 legislators to ensure a big show.



Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chavda and Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani have been camping in the district headquarters of Valsad to oversee the preparations.



Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the Congress alone spoke for the whole of India within the opposition ranks and predicted that the 2019 Lok Sabha election outcome will stun Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Addressing Congress MPs after his mother and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi had spoken, Rahul Gandhi said his party was now defeating the BJP in the ideological fight and in the daily news cycle and said his MPs had fought "animosity and unfairness" over the last five years.



Accusing the Modi government of launching "systematic attacks" on institutions and causing divisions in the society, Gandhi said that after five years of Modi regime, the Congress' name was firmly entrenched in the minds of the people.



Gandhi, whose speech saw repeated thumping of desks by MPs, said that the results of the Lok Sabha battle will be a stunner.





"You will get a shock as to what is going to happen in 2019. This would not have been possible if you had not defended our position in Parliament," he said.



Attacking Modi over corruption, he said: "There is not a single leg for the Prime Minister to stand on. You can see it on his face, you can see the expression. The bluster has gone."



Gandhi said the Congress stood out among other opposition parties as it spoke for the country and it was the first to defend the idea of India.



"With respect to all my opposition friends, there is only one party that speaks for the entire country. Every other party speaks for a part of Indian society, and we say this with a lot of pride that we are the uniting party in this country."



Gandhi said BJP leaders were afraid to speak their mind.



"There is only one voice in the Lok Sabha in the BJP and that's Narendra Modi. Before they speak they think 'What is he (Modi) going to say, what is he going to think' and this is what is systematically being done."



Gandhi said the common man had realised that "Modi is not what he claimed to be, that the RSS is not what they claim to be".



He said modern India arises out of the Constitution.



"We see what is going on today and you can look anywhere. You can look at the Supreme Court, where four judges came out. It's being done to the Election Commission, it's being done to the defence forces, it's being done to Parliament. This is what you are fighting... And we are actually now winning," he said to cheers.



Gandhi also led a protest against the government in the parliament House complex. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi were among those who took part in the protest.On Valentine's Day, Google doodled the star-crossed iconic character from "Mughal-E-Azam", Anarkali, made indelible in movie lovers' mind by the effervescent Madhubala who would have been 86 on Thursday.

"The Marilyn Monroe of Bollywood" as the Google blogpost said was raised in the slums of Bombay. She started supporting her family as a child star at the age of nine, before becoming a leading lady known for her elegance on screen.



Born in Delhi on this day in 1933, Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi was raised in a town located near the Bombay Talkies film studio, said Google alongside her iconic "Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya" dance "mudra" doodle created by Bangalore artist Muhammed Sajid.



Madhubala appeared in her first film as Baby Mumtaz. In 1947 she landed the lead role in "Neel Kamal", then just 14, taking her moniker that made her famous.



As her family's main breadwinner, she worked tirelessly to support her parents and four sisters. In 1949, she appeared in nine films, including blockbuster "Mahal" opposite Ashok Kumar, when she dazzled with a spell-binding breakout performance.



Her breathtaking appearance earned comparisons to Venus, although Madhubala flourished mostly in an understated style well suited for comedies, dramas, and romantic roles alike.



She fell in love with Dilip Kumar, her co-star in the 1951 romance "Tarana", which changed the course perhaps forever for the young girl, whose father-cum-manager interfered and made it a star-crossed pattern for the woman, who was yet to blossom.



The epic historical drama "Mughal-E-Azam" directed by K. Asif remains one of the most popular and expensive movies in Bollywood history; the Dilip Kumar-Madhubala chemistry was "undeniable and unforgettable".





With a tragically brief career Madhubala was billed "The Biggest Star in the World" in 1952 by Theatre Arts magazine, died on February 23, 1969 at the age of 36 after prolonged illness.



In 2008, she appeared on a commemorative postage stamp in India, where she is remembered by many as one of the greatest to ever grace the silver screen.



She had acted in over 70 films over the course of a tragically brief career. Her film "Chalak" opposite Raj Kapoor remained incomplete as she did not have the strength to continue.

Actress Oh Yeon-seo broke up with actor Kim Bum after 10 months of dating.

Their management agencies said in separate press releases that the two split up at the end of last year, but declined to elaborate further, saying only that it is a private matter.

Oh and Kim admitted to their romantic relationship in March last year, saying they just started dating after getting to know each other while hanging out with mutual friends.

Residents in Mahwait send food convoy to fronts

[14/February/2019]





MAHWAIT, Feb. 14 (Saba)  Mahwait province residents sent on Thursday food convoy to back the army to confront the Saudi-led aggression coalition and its mercenaries.

The move came during a tribal meeting wad organized to ensure the continuation of a support and sending fighters to fronts until victory.

During the meeting, the participants stressed on importance of uniting the internal front to defend Yemen and its sovereignty.

They denounced the crimes and violations committed by the aggression against the Yemeni people.

sabaAgain, police save Hodeidah, arrest largest criminal US-Western-backed cell of muslim brotherhood [14/February/2019] SANAA, Feb. 14 (Saba) - The security services on Wednesday arrested the largest criminal cell tracking the Islah Party" Yemen's Muslim Brotherhood" in the province of Hodeidah, a security official told Saba.



"That cell was on the verge of carrying out a criminal plot of sabotage," he said, adding that the cell plans was linked to the scenarios of international aggression targeting Hodeidah.



He pointed out that the so-called Islah Party had planned, in secret agreement with the countries of aggression, led by the United States of America and other international parties, to order their elements and their secrt cells in Hodeidah to create chaos, to help to spread criminal acts of murdering and other terrorist crimes in the province.



The source pointed out that the procrastination and postponement of the United Nations to implement the Convention of Sweden, was in order to allow "islah party" to the implementation of this criminal scheme, and facilitate occupying the port and city of Hodeidah by foreign occupation forces and the shedding of Yemeni blood in the province.



"The islah party was waiting for American directives to begin implementation, but the security men managed through a successful intelligence and security operation to drop the plot and thwart the plot," he said.



The source confirmed that the security media will reveal more details about the issue, through various media.



AA

SabaEspanola, NM (87532)

Today

Thunderstorms. High 88F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low near 60F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.According to Lucas Culin, the video image captured by Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino shows one of Marshall Naranjos last moments of life. Culin said Naranjo left the casino with Gabriel Magic Vigil, and was never seen alive again.The U.S. Forces Korea will stay here until a peace treaty is concluded with North Korea, their commander Gen. Robert Abrams said on Tuesday.

They will stay "until there is a peace treaty, because we still remain in a state of armistice, a cessation of hostilities, until such time that there is a peace treaty between all of the parties," Abrams told the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services.

The remarks seem to contradict the official position of Seoul and Washington that the presence of the USFK is a completely separate matter from any peace treaty that might replace the armistice that halted the 1950-53 Korean War.

But U.S. President Donald Trump has frequently mooted the possibility of U.S. troop withdrawal from South Korea, mainly because of the cost.

Only two days after the two allies last week agreed to an 8.2 percent increase of Seoul's share of the USFK's upkeep costs this year, Trump complained, "It's got to go up."

"President Moon Jae-in has said several times that a peace treaty is one thing and the presence of the USFK is another. U.S. troops will continue to stay here," a Cheong Wa Dae official said. "There's no change in that position."

Hayward, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/14/2019 --Menjivar & Company CPAs, Inc., a tax preparation service in Hayward, CA, announced today it has partnered with BizIQ, a digital marketing company in Phoenix, Arizona that specializes in providing its services to small business owners across North America.



This new collaboration with BizIQ will provide Menjivar & Company CPAs, Inc. with a variety of new ways to connect with new audiences in its area. BizIQ employs intensive search engine optimization (SEO) strategies in its web marketing efforts that can help people find tax and payroll services in Hayward, CA. BizIQ has also developed a brand-new website for the company, as well as an in-depth content marketing campaign that features two blog posts each month and better overall communication with potential clients throughout the area.



The new website BizIQ created for Menjivar & Company CPAs, Inc. offers relevant, timely and informative content that homes in on issues related to tax preparation and financial planning. All content on the website is written by copywriting professionals. The site also provides multiple channels through which people can quickly contact the company to learn more about its financial services in Hayward, CA.



"We're thrilled to be working with BizIQ and to expand our digital marketing efforts," said Robert Menjivar, owner of Menjivar & Company CPAs, Inc. "There are so many people who require assistance in preparing and filing their taxes, both individuals and businesses alike, and we are pleased to open up brand new ways for those people to get in touch with us and obtain the help they need."



About Menjivar & Company CPAs, Inc.

Menjivar & Company CPAs, Inc. has provided its tax and financial services to the Hayward area and beyond for more than 40 years. It remains a family-owned and operated company in the same location at which it was founded. For more information about its services, visit https://menjivarcpas.com/.



To learn more about BizIQ and its expertise regarding local search engine optimization, or to view its extensive list of service options, please visit http://www.biziq.com/.Sun Valley, ID -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/14/2019 --The Sun Valley Summer Symphony is pleased to announce that Branford Marsalis will perform at its 2019 Gala Concert in the Sun Valley Pavilion. Marsalis is acclaimed for both his classical work with orchestras, as well as his Grammy Award winning work as a soloist and with the Branford Marsalis Quartet. On Sunday, Aug. 11, 2019, he will join Maestro Alasdair Neale and the Sun Valley Summer Symphony for several classical works featuring saxophone, after which the Branford Marsalis Quartet will take the stage for a set featuring famous hits as well as music from their upcoming album (to be released March 1).



Said Marsalis: "I'm very excited to come to Sun Valley for the first time and play with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony."



Referred to by Miles Davis as "the greatest saxophonist since Coltrane," Branford Marsalis rose to instant fame when he played alongside Sting and Phil Collins at Live Aid in Wembley Stadium in 1985. He recorded and toured with Sting for several years and served as Musical Director of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" from 1992 - 1995. He has been nominated 16 times for a Grammy Award and has won three times; once each for best jazz instrumental performance, best pop instrumental performance, and best jazz instrumental album. He was nominated for a Tony Award and won the Drama Desk Award for "Outstanding Music in a Play" for his original score to the Broadway revival of August Wilson's "Fences." More recently, he scored acclaimed director Kenny Leon's revival of "Children of a Lesser God." His movie credits include the original music for Spike Lee's "Mo' Better Blues" and acting turns in Lee's "School Daze" as well as the comedy "Throw Momma from the Train."



Marsalis has always loved classical music; one of his first albums was the French impressionist disc titled "Romances for Saxophone" in 1986. In 2008 he toured with Philarmonia Brasileira, playing music by Villa-Lobos and Milhaud. Making his first appearance with the New York Philharmonic in 2010, at a concert in Central Park, Marsalis was invited to join them as soloist in their 2010 - 2011 season where he unequivocally demonstrated his versatility and prowess, bringing "a gracious poise and supple toneand an insouciant swagger" (New York Times) to the repertoire. He recently recorded Gabriel Prokofiev's "The Saxophone Concerto," which Prokofiev wrote for him. Recent orchestra collaborations have included the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, and the National Symphony.



On the jazz front, after several years playing with his older brother in the Wynton Marsalis Quintet, Branford formed The Branford Marsalis Quartet in 1986 and has sustained this group as his primary means of expression. The quartet is known for the telepathic communication among its uncommonly consistent personnel, and its deep book of original music replete with expressive melodies and provocative forms. They have long been recognized as the standard to which other ensembles of its kind must be measured.



Alasdair Neale remarks: "In my 25th season as Music Director, I am greatly looking forward to the opportunity to make music with Branford Marsalis, an artist whom I have long admired and respected."



The Sun Valley Pavilion is an open-air venue, nestled amid a pristine mountain environment and high desert climate, in the four-season outdoor paradise known as much for its art and cultural offerings as its recreational opportunities. The Gala Concert is part of the Symphony's 2019 Summer Concert Series. Funds raised from the event support the Sun Valley Summer Symphony and its community initiatives, including world-class admission-free concerts that attract over 50,000 people annually and music education experiences to over 500 music students every year.



Reserved ticket prices range from $85 on the lawn and in the Pavilion to $1,750 for the Artist Package. New this year, the Artist Package is limited to 30 tickets and, in addition to a pre-concert cocktail reception, VIP parking, and premium seating at the concert, includes a private dinner with Mr. Marsalis in an intimate setting, post-concert. Sponsor Packages, at $1,250, include a pre-concert reception, VIP parking, and a seated dinner post-concert at a private home with the opportunity to meet Mr. Marsalis. Tickets at the $275 and $550 levels include the pre-concert cocktail reception and premium seating in the Pavilion. General admission lawn tickets are available for $85, and the concert will be broadcast live on the Pavilion lawn's 25-foot, LED screen.



Tickets go on sale to Symphony donors at the $1,000+ level on March 6, and to the general public on April 10, 2019, at 9:00 a.m. (MST). Tickets may be purchased online at svsummersymphony.org or by calling 208-622-5607. Artist and Sponsor packages are only available by phone. General admission lawn tickets will be available online only. The concert will begin at 6:30 p.m. Gates open at 5:00 p.m. for Pavilion and lawn seating.While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will attend along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his counterparts from numerous Arab nations, France and Germany are not sending cabinet-ranked officials, and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is staying away.

Yet the agenda for the discussions contains no hint of any concrete action that might result beyond creating "follow-on working groups," and many of the roughly 60 countries participating will be represented at levels lower than foreign minister.

The shift was designed in part to boost participation after some invitees balked at an Iran-centric event when many, particularly in Europe, are trying to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after last year's U.S. withdrawal and re-imposition of sanctions in its self-described "maximum pressure campaign."

Initially it was billed by President Donald Trump's administration as an Iran-focused meeting, but the organizers significantly broadened its scope to include the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the fight against the Islamic State group, Syria and Yemen.

The United States and Poland are kicking off an international conference on the Middle East on Wednesday amid uncertainty over its aims and questions about what it will deliver.

Russia and China are not participating, and the Palestinians, who have called for the meeting to be boycotted, also will be absent. Iran, which is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution this week, has denounced the meeting as a "circus."

Pompeo predicted that the conference will "deliver really good outcomes" and played down the impact of lower-level participation. He told reporters in Slovakia on Tuesday that this "is going to be a serious concrete discussion about a broad range of topics that range from counterterrorism to the malign influence that Iran has played in the Middle East towards its instability."

According to the agenda, Pence will address the conference on a range of Mideast regional issues, Pompeo will talk about U.S. plans in Syria following Trump's decision to withdraw American troops and Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner will speak about his as-yet unveiled Middle East peace plan.

"We think we will make real progress," Pompeo said. "We think there'll be dozens of nations there seriously working towards a better, more stable Middle East, and I'm hoping by the time we leave on Thursday we'll have achieved that." He did not, however, offer any details about specific outcomes.

Pompeo's co-host for the conference, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, also steered clear of describing potential results. And, he made note of differences between the United States and Europe over the Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, that also exist among Washington and Warsaw.

"Poland is a part of the E.U., and hence we are of the opinion and we accept the policy of JCPOA," Czaputowicz told a joint news conference with Pompeo on the eve of the conference. "We consider this to be a valuable element on the international arena."

In a joint opinion piece published Wednesday by CNN, Pompeo and Czaputowicz said they did not expect all participants to agree on policies or outcomes but called for an airing of unscripted and candid ideas. "We expect each nation to express opinions that reflect its own interests," they wrote. "Disagreements in one area should not prohibit unity in others."

In fact, three of America's main European allies, Britain, France and Germany, have unveiled a new financial mechanism that the Trump administration believes may be designed to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is attending the Warsaw conference, but his main interest is in a side meeting on the conflict in Yemen, according to diplomats familiar with the planning.

Since Pompeo first announced the conference as a vehicle to combat increasing Iranian assertiveness during a Mideast tour in January, he has steadily sought to widen the program's focus with limited success. Despite his efforts, Iran is still expected to be a major, if not the primary, topic of discussion, notably its nuclear ambitions, ballistic missile program, threats to Israel and support for Shiite rebels in Yemen and Bashar Assad's government in Syria.

On his way to Warsaw, Netanyahu made clear he believed the conference is centered on Iran. "The focus is Iran," he told reporters. "Iran threatens us on the 40th anniversary of the revolution. They threatened to destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa, and I said that they would not succeed, but if they try then I repeat that this will be the last anniversary of the revolution that they celebrate, this regime."

The Trump administration has repeatedly denied allegations that it is seeking regime change in Iran. And yet, mixed messages continue to come from Washington.

Earlier this week, Trump's national security adviser John Bolton released a short video on the anniversary of the Iranian revolution in which he called Iran "the central banker of international terrorism" and accused it of pursuing nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them and of "tyrannizing its own people and terrorizing the world." The video ended with a not-so-veiled threat to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: "I don't think you'll have many more anniversaries to enjoy," Bolton said.

Such rhetoric has prompted criticism from Europe and elsewhere but also from Obama administration veterans who have vocally opposed Trump's attempts to wreck the nuclear deal, which was one of their signature foreign policy achievements. One group of former Obama officials, National Security Action, said the Warsaw conference was little more than an "anti-Iran pep rally" that underscored Trump's isolation.

"We expect to see again this week an American approach to Iran that will showcase our alienation," it said in a statement. "More than merely embarrassing, the administration's stated 'maximum pressure' approach is incoherent, as America lacks allies willing to support such a strategy. Not a single EU country has endorsed pulling out of the Iran deal, unsurprising given that the Trump administration's own intelligence chiefs testified earlier this month that Iran remains in compliance."Hong Kong: Joshua Law visits Judiciary

Secretary for the Civil Service Joshua Law today visited the Judiciary to learn more about the work of civil servants in the Judiciary Administration.

Mr Law visited the West Kowloon Law Courts Building and met the Judiciary Administrator Emma Lau and directorate staff to get an update on their work.

He was briefed on the support services provided to judges and court users by Judicial Clerks, Court Interpreters, Bailiffs, Bailiff's Assistants and other staff.

While touring the courtroom facilities, he observed the work of court clerks and Court Interpreters.

Mr Law then visited the Accounts Office to learn how it processes payments and refunds of courts and tribunals.

He also toured facilities at the Small Claims Tribunal, including its new information centre.

Wrapping up his visit, Mr Law met staff representatives of various civil service grades in the Judiciary Administration. He encouraged them to continue providing professional court support services to the public.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.With new techniques like hydroponics and aquaponics  as well as carefully curated hoop houses  these futuristic farmers are closing the gap for fresh, home-grown, diverse produce and redefining farm-to-fork for a new generation.

Ben Kant

Here in Michigan, [We are] forced into a controlled agriculture environment, says Revolution Farms co-founder/master grower Ben Kant. Kent refers to the both fertile and challenging growing conditions of the West Michigan climate, which produces beautiful cropsand unpredictable weather.And here in the upper midwest, we take advantage of a bounty of local cropswhen theyre in season. Of course, summer produce like blueberries, cherries, and asparagus, and fall staples like pumpkins and apples supply our thirst for local produce. But Michiganders  like those in many other states that experience the four seasons  are often left sourcing produce from states like California and Arizona in the cold weather months and beyond, increasing the time and distance our food spends traveling from farm to plate, and also decreasing our choices.To combat this downside in big agriculture, West Michigan farmers are bringing their crops indoors, taking advantage of new technologies to harvest a variety of produce year-round. With new techniques like hydroponics and aquaponics  as well as carefully curated hoop houses  these futuristic farmers are closing the gap for fresh, home-grown, diverse produce, and redefining farm-to-fork for a new generation.In Caledonia, produce and fish live in harmony. At Revolution Farms , Kant and his staff utilize aquaponics, or Creating a living, healthy, harmonious ecosystem that produces amazing quality food, he says. In a 50,000 square foot green house, Revolution staff grow tilapia naturallywithout hormones or antibioticsand allow them to do what fish do: swim, eat, and excrete. Ultimately the fish are creating nutrients, says Kant, who then utilizes a mechanical filtration system to break down the fertilizer into a nutrient-rich solution for the farms four different types of greens.Using this method, Kant and his team are harvesting both fish and greens daily, delivering their products to Spartan Stores and local VanEerden food distributors on a daily basis. We provide this amazing value of being able to harvest fresh and send out this product to our customer within 24 hours  from the farm to the plate, says Kant. Its really a miracle.While Kant has scaled aquaponics to a large operation off a country road, produce is also growing in the heart of Grand Rapids Westside, in a humble shipping container labeled Green Collar Farms.After selling his stake in his steel business, Brian Harris semi-retired and became entranced with hydroponics. After getting a great deal on a vacant lot across from Rockford Construction, Harris began experimenting with vertical growing that requires zero soil.Utilizing a nutrient-rich solution and taking advantage of the dense, cubed (versus linear, on a traditional farm) squares in the shipping container, Harris grows greens like arugula, salanova, and wasabina, and harvests every seven to eight weeks. Starting off small with uncommon varieties, Harris enjoys introducing locals to the diversity of Green Collar's produce.Most of all, For me the most fascinating aspect [of hydroponics]  is to disrupt the food distribution system, says Harris. He notes that the U.S.s current agriculture system relies on shipped produce from only a handful of popular locations, forcing the market to rely on just a few, hardy plants that can survive the journey. [Most people] cant name more than two types of lettuce, says Harris. What bothers me most about our distribution system is its built for food, not for people, he adds.By sourcing to local restaurants like Reserve and The Sovengard who ascribe to seasonal menu items, Green Wagon Farm and CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) in Ada is also disrupting the nationwide food distribution system. I don't see many cons about agriculture in West Michigan, says Farm Manager Heather Anderson, who co-founded Green Wagon in 2010 with her husband Chad Anderson. We actually enjoy the slightly slower winter months, but still appreciate that we have work that we like to do during that time," she adds.Carefully cultivating their crops in specially-designed structures, the Andersons and their staff are able to shelter their crops year-round from harsh winds, ice, and rain, as well as trap and regulate heat, much like in a green house.We grow different crops in different areas according to how cold tolerant they are," says Anderson. "Our most cold-tolerant vegetables like collards and asian greens are grown in what we call caterpillar tunnels. These are unheated 15-foot wide hoops covered with plastic. We have the same type of structure, but larger called hoop houses. These are also unheated, except for the sunshine, and house our more tender salad mixes and lettuces," she adds.Our produce in the winter is made up of roots and greens, says Anderson. The roots are common and many farms have them throughout the winter. It's the greens that are less common to find. You may see kale and spinach here and there, but the lettuce mixes, asian greens, and herbs are what we do differently.Its this dedication to doing things a little bit differently that inspires these West Michigan growers to produce crops for their communities all year long. Instead of romaine from California, Grand Rapidians can sample arugula or spinach from their own backyard (or parking lot), reinvesting in their community and ultimately consuming a healthier, more sustainable meal. For Harris and others, this is the future of American agriculture.Hoping to some day scale his hydroponic operation to a 10,000 sq. ft. warehouse in the downtown area, Harris has decided to slow down his business for the next year to focus on research and the next step. Crops will only grow as fast as crops will grow, he says.For all of these growers, the effort to cultivate this local produce, even in the harsh, West Michigan winter, is worth it. "It's a lot more work growing vegetables in the winter, but allows us to employ people and feed people year-round," says Anderson.Photos courtesy of Revolution Farms.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.

A sign at 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."

Sarah Rigg is a freelance writer and editor in Ypsilanti Township and the project manager of On the Ground Ypsilanti. She has served as innovation and jobs/development news writer for Concentrate since early 2017 and is an occasional contributor to Driven. You may reach her at [email protected].



Photos of Hamtramck School Based Health Center patients courtesy of Children's Hospital of Michigan Foundation. All other photos by Nick Hagen.Rantoul, IL (61866)

Today

Thunderstorms. High 78F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Variable clouds with scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly late. Low near 70F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.If you are not redirected automatically, please follow this linkThe British government on Wednesday downplayed a report that its chief Brexit negotiator said lawmakers will have to choose between backing Prime Minister Theresa May's unpopular divorce deal and a delay to the U.K.'s exit from the European Union.

An ITV News correspondent, Angus Walker, said he overheard negotiator Olly Robbins in a Brussels bar saying the government would ask Parliament in late March to back her agreement, rejected by lawmakers last month, or seek an extension to the Brexit deadline.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay insisted the government was not planning a delay, saying "the prime minister has been very clear that we are committed to leaving on March 29."

Lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected May's Brexit deal with the EU last month, and she is now trying to secure changes before bringing it back for another vote. The EU insists it will not renegotiate the legally binding withdrawal agreement.China on Thursday urged relevant parties to stop stirring up trouble in regards to the South China Sea issue and respect the efforts of China and ASEAN countries to maintain peace and stability in this region.

Spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hua Chunying made the remarks at a regular press conference, in response to claims by a U.S. official that China is "militarizing" the South China Sea.

Chinese "militarization" of the South China Sea has prompted the U.S. to begin discussing the possibility of relocating US forces and opening bases in the region, said Admiral Philip Davidson, chief of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, on Tuesday.

Hua dismissed Davidson's remarks as excuses made by the U.S. side to increase its military deployment in the region.

China hopes relevant parties will respect the positive efforts of China and ASEAN countries to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea region, instead of making trouble and waves, said Hua.

China calls on the relevant parties to jointly play a constructive role in peace and stability in the South China Sea region, Hua added.New York City, NY (11385)

Today

Mostly clear this evening then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 62F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear this evening then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 62F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.Welcome Guest! You Are Here:The first episode of Planetary Radio was released in 2002. Our podcast and radio show has grown immensely since then. Host Mat Kaplan has interviewed hundreds of the greatest minds in the solar system, sharing their passion for space exploration and science. To introduce you to this vast catalog, our staff has assembled this Top 10 list of favorite episodes:

12 April 2005

Twenty-two years after she became the first American woman in space, Sally Ride devoted herself to bringing the wonder of science to young people, and especially girls. In this episode from 2005, which was recorded seven years before Rides passing, she discusses Sally Ride Science and shares her thoughts on the Space Shuttles return to flight.Remember we blogged on the story of 120 People Stranded in KLIA and 300 People Got Scammed by Online Travel Agency? According to Berita Harian online, the CEO of the scam Online Travel Agency is remanded for four days in connection of scamming customers on fake travel packages worth RM 2 million.

The 34 year old CEO was arrested 11.55 this morning by the police at his office in Taman Kajang Sentral after a victim reported the case. The victim banked in RM 27,133 onto the bank account of the online travel agent for travel packages to Turkey and Paris on 7th February.

According to news report, the suspect is believed to confess to cheat 400 customers with the amount of losses worth RM 2 million.

The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property.

Since the police has remanded the CEO of the online travel agency, this is probably our last story on this and we hope everyone understand the risks of purchasing travel packages from online travel agency.

Tom, Dick and Harry can create a Facebook Page and buy thousands of followers and sell travel packages now.

When the tour packages are too cheap, too good to be true, you should put more effort in checking the legitimacy of the travel agency. Google the travel agency and read the reviews if there are any.

If the travel agency 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

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By Ling Shengli

The 2019 Missile Defense Review (MDR) newly released by the US claims to not only protect the US homeland, US allies and partners, but also forge a global missile defense system and strengthen overall missile defense capacities. This once again testifies to Americas obsession with the so-called absolute security.

The latest MDR is imbued with unique characteristics of the Trump administration. Guided by the America First doctrine, the US government becomes more obsessed with the practice of maintaining Americas dominance by enhancing its strength and attaching greater importance to major country competition.

The US has long been obsessed with absolute security. This is closely related to its geographical conditions, historical experience, ideology and other factors. In terms of geographical location, the US is flanked and protected by the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and its neighbors in the north and south are comparatively weak, so its homeland is basically stable and secured.

In terms of historical experience, the US has always paid high attention to resisting its enemy outside its homeland. This was a significant reason why the US joined the two world wars and has constantly carried out international interventions after the Cold War. In terms of ideology, Americans consider themselves Gods chosen people and are disseminating its so-called free, democratic system worldwide in an attempt to build an international order featuring freedom and democracy.

To achieve absolute security, the US is working hard to create an environment of "no enemy". That is, no other countries are capable to pose a threat to its national security, and all others keep in line with its ideology in two main aspects: convergence of values and similarity of political systems.

It is the pursuit for absolute security that makes the US attaches great importance to missile defense. Missile threat is a major challenge for its most critical homeland security and the US has always spared no effort to build a missile defense system to enhance its and allies missile defense capacities.

In the latest MDR, the US government clearly sets the goal to protect the security of the US homeland, US forces abroad, and its allies and partners. Considering Americas abundant military bases, allies and partners scattered around the world, the US needs to protect a multitude of diverse targets worldwide, which is a tough task. It had to spend lots of resources building more powerful missile defense capacities.

Besides the security goal, its definition of security threat also testifies to Americas strong obsession with absolute security. The latest MDR shows that the US seems to be too nervous for threats: It needs not only to counter missile threats from the so-called rogue states, but also to worry that terrorists would use weapons of mass destruction.

What is more noteworthy, the newly released MDR places greater emphasis on security threats from great powers. The document considers countries like Russia as potential rivals of the US, and notes that their increased missile and anti-satellite capacities pose threat to the security of the US and its allies and partners. Unlike the Obama administration, the Trump administration tends to take concrete action to counter such threats. This indicates that the Trump administration pays particular attention to great power competition. The latest MDR lists a variety of complicated security threats, implying that the US apprehends danger in every sound. In fact, this will create more enemies for America.

To achieve absolute security, the US is also seeking to resort to an absolute mean to counter missile threats, which is to forge comprehensive missile defense capacities.

The document clarifies that the US needs to develop multilevel, comprehensive missile defense capacities. To this end, the US, on one hand, continues to enhance its missile defense capacities through measures such as strengthening all sorts of anti-missile technology development capacities and establishing a Space Force as the sixth branch of the US armed forces by 2020, and on the other hand, deepens cooperation with its allies and partners to cut its ballistic missile defense costs in an attempt to build a more effective global missile defense system.

The pursuit of absolute security makes the US worry about its security at all times, which is significantly demonstrated in the latest MDR.

For the US, its enemies are, to a certain extent, conceived and erected by itself. As the US spares no efforts in strengthening the security of its homeland as well as allies and partners, it will weaken the security of other countries to some extent, thus triggering arms races that consequently increase the security threats to the US.

Unfortunately, the US doesnt realize that achieving absolute security requires not only cooperation with its allies and partners but also strategic balance. From the philosophic perspective, the so-called absolute security doesnt exist.

(The article was published on the PLA Daily on Feb. 14, 2019.)One of the main reasons we travel to Japan every year is you can always find new experiences and new surprises. When we went to Kansai Airport LCCT Terminal 2 recently, we realized that Peach Airlines self check in kiosks are actually made from cardboard! Watch the video below.

The main reason we visited Kansai LCCT Terminal 2 as they were named as the Best Airport for Low Cost Carrier in 2018 by Skytrax. Since our flight is at late at night, we went to airport early and check out this LCCT Terminal 2. You have to take a free shuttle bus from the Kansai Airport AeroPlaza building to LCCT Terminal 2 building. It is a stand alone terminal on the other side of the airport.

The interior of LCCT Terminal 2 is similar to the old LCCT Terminal in Sepang. The design is like a warehouse, simple and clean. Once we entered the Departure Hall, we were impressed by Peach Airlines self check in kiosks.

A closer look at it, the kiosks are made from cardboard! How cool is that?

We went back to Malaysia and did some research online and found out that Peach Airlines work with Yaneura Design for these kiosks. This kiosks are taller to make them stand out in the terminal and also easier for the airlines to update branding and advertising imagery. It is also reduced overall manufacturing and transportation costs.

The kiosks come with 17 inches touch screen display, bigger than the usual 15 inch screen and this allows the airlines to display advertising or promotional content with self check in instructions. This is similar to the multi screen function on Samsung smartphone.

On top of that, these cardboard check in kiosks are 20% of the cost. These check in kiosks are lighter, bigger, better, environmental friendlier and cheaper.

We wonder why other airlines cant adopt to use these better kiosks to save cost?

Share Pin Kansai LCCT International Departure Hall

Another thing we noticed is the Kansai LCCT Terminal 2. Even though Kansai International Airport is a top world class airport, they built the LCCT terminal simple and cheap. The reason is simple, LCCT Terminal is built for Low Cost Airlines so they dont need an expensive fancy airport. In case you are wondering, the Kansai LCCT Terminals Passenger Service Facilities Charge (PSFC) and Passenger Security Service Charge (PSSC) is almost 50% cheaper than the main terminal. The LCCTs PSFC and PSSC is priced at 1540 Yen (International) while the Kansai main terminal priced at 3040 Yen.

Share Pin Kansai LCCT Domestic Departure Hall

Back in Malaysia, we have to pay KLIA2s Passenger Service Charge (PSC) fees similar to KLIA. KLIA 2 is a LCCT Terminal while KLIA is premium terminal and yet we have to pay the same PSC fees. This feels like paying service charges in Mamak stalls. Do you agree?

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There were a pair of Saxony Lutheran baseball players whos numbers were off the charts this season. Both of them received one of the states highest awards.Crusader seniors Eli Brown and 

Even though the St. Vincent girls soccer program moved up to Class 3 this last spring, the individual success has continued. Mary Schwartz earned a spot on the Missouri Soccer Coaches Association 

Perryville High School girls soccer team had one of its best seasons in program history, so it only makes sense that the team should receive state recognition. Three players were named to the 

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 

Adams grateful to play soccer at Illinois College Saxony Lutheran senior Paul Adams has been playing soccer for quite a while, for much of his entire life. He developed a passion for the sport and will continue to grow and hopefully prosper at the 

Click Here For Our Local Sports PagePlaza del Rio foundation co-chair, Barbara Eylands, a resident of freedom plaza, presents a spring 2019 scholarship to Adelyne Gomez, of Peoria Post Acute & Rehabilitations dining services. a four-time scholarship recipient, Gomez applies the funds awarded towards a double major in elementary education and special education from northern Arizona university. (Photo by Marla Levine)Keith Johnson plays the xylophone he created after visiting the village of Balaphone, Burkina Faso in West Africa. Johnsons instruments are on display through March 7 at the West Valley art Museum gallery at Peoria city hall. (Photo by Carolyn Dryer)

A Chinese military radiologist is analyzing the image with his foreign counterpart.

By Zhang Peng and Liu Wei

BEIRUT, Feb. 14 (ChinaMil) -- At the invitation of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Medical Office, a team assigned to the medical detachment of 17th Chinese peacekeeping force to Lebanon provided special medical services to the peacekeepers of the UNIFIL Headquarters as well as the UNIFILs Sector West. This is the first time that the medical detachment, composed of military doctors specialized in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), dermatology and radiology, has provided medical services outside the Area of Responsibility (AOR).

Equipped with necessary medical devices, the Chinese medical team conducted medical treatment at clinics provided by the UNIFIL Headquarters hospital, with a view to meeting long-term medical needs of the peacekeepers of the UNIFIL Headquarters and Sector West. About 100 peacekeepers of Sector West were diagnosed and treated on February 13. The peacekeepers and local people who received the treatment praised medical service and professional competence of Chinese peacekeeping doctors.

The UNIFIL is composed of Eastern and Western Sectors, with one Level 1+ hospital at each sector. The hospital in Sector East is mainly set up by the Chinese peacekeeping medical detachment and is mainly responsible for providing medical services to UN peacekeepers in the area, as well as necessary humanitarian aid to the local people.

Since its deployment in May 2018, the Chinese peacekeeping medical detachment has actively utilized its specialty skill to treat people with common skin diseases such as allergies and infectious diseases caused by Lebanese climate such as humid, rainy winters and hot, sunny summers. The Rehabilitative Physiotherapy Department, which was set up for the first time in the mission area of the UNIFIL, has also carried out TCM treatments including acupuncture, small needle-knife, moxibustion, cupping, massage, etc., effectively treating training injuries of foreign military personnel, including acute muscle injury, chronic muscle strain, various neck, shoulder, lower back and leg pain. As a result, the Chinese medical team has been widely recognized by the troop-contributing countries in the UNIFIL. Brigadier General Antonio Romero, current commander of the UNIFILs Sector East, commented that all troop-contributing countries would feel well supported with medical services guaranteed by Chinese military medical team in the mission areas.The Head of Communications for Zylofon Media, Sammy Atuobi Baah, popularly known as Sammy Flex, has disclosed that the outfit, which has Zylofon FM and Zylofon TV as subsidiaries, will resume operations very soon.



All subsidiaries under Zylofon Media have since January 30,2019 suspended operations in compliance with a directive by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).



The directive concerns the troubles that Zylofons sister company, Menzgold, is experiencing, which has led to its CEO, Nana Appiah Mensah also known as NAM1, being declared wanted in Ghana. He is currently facing trial in Dubai for another case.



Sammy Flex told Showbiz on Tuesday, February 12 that Zylofon Media had not shut down for good like people were speculating.



We were told to suspend operations for a while and resume later and as we speak now, the road is clear to start operations soon. Very soon we will start work and continue the good work that Ghanaians know us for, he stated.



He also stated that the suspension of operations was in the best interest of Zylofon Media.



The heat surrounding Menzgold and the attacks on one or two staff demanded that Zylofon Media suspend its operations and allow things to cool down. It was the right decision, especially for the safety of the entire staff, he said.



Sammy Flex was disappointed that there were people out there who were wishing for the companys downfall, saying Nana Appiah Mensah had done something great.



Its a shame some people are rejoicing about what is happening instead of wishing for the best for us. Zylofon Media has done marvelously well within its two years of operation; from signing on artistes and giving them mouth-watering contracts to the Zylofon Fund which provided funds to movie producers to work with.



I think NAM1 should be applauded for his good works instead of what is being said about him. I dont think Ghanaians have considered the number of people working at Zylofon Media who will be unemployed should we close down for good, he said.



Sammy Flex used the opportunity to thank players in the showbiz industry who had supported them.



I want to use this opportunity to thank a few individuals who kept calling and giving us hope that all is well. We are bouncing back big time, Sammy said.

Source: Graphic Showbiz









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 family of Emmanuel Baffoe Anokye aka Anokye Supremo aka Daddy Luma Junior has released the funeral poster of their beloved son who died in India whiles undergoing a tumour removal surgery.



According to the funeral poster circulating on social media, the funeral service for Anokye Supremo are as follows:



Laying In State: Saturday 2nd March 2019

Venue: Atomic Energy Park

Time: 8:30 AM

Burial Service: Saturday 2nd March 2019, Atomic Energy Park

Final Funeral Rites: Saturday 2nd March 2019, Atomic Energy Park

Thanks Giving Service: Sunday 3rd March 2019 (In Him s Life Church-Lapaz Behind Abrantie Spots)

Time: 7: 00 AM-10:30 AM



Anokye Supremos body arrived in Ghana on Monday after the family was able to raise 21,000 dollars to pay off some hospital bills and the fees to bring him to Ghana.



He was survived by a daughter.









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There is no gainsaying the fact that former President John Dramani Mahama is desperate for power, but for him to have gathered the rest of the world with the view to showcasing the ills that visited the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election is something that beats the imagination.



The Former President, on Wednesday, 13th February, 2019, gathered members of the diplomatic community in Ghana and showed them footages of the violence which rocked the by-election in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency.



Mr. Mahama, in the video, painted a hellishly beastly picture of Ghanas security situation to the enthusiastic gathering.



He pontificated that Ghana under His Excellency President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is in a deplorable state and that if care is not taken, Ghanas envious democratic credentials would be eroded as a result of what he described as a state of insecurity in the country.



It would be prudent, at this juncture, not to mince words in condemning the former president for painting such a gloomy scenario of the country in terms of security.



As a former president, one would expect that he would not go to this extreme in his bid to win sympathies for himself as the next elections loom large.



For the eight years of NDC rule, Ghanaians became victims of a systemic course of violence, especially in our by-elections. The Chereponi, Atiwa and Talensi by-elections were classic cases of electoral violence whose magnitudes are yet to be bested in our electoral history.



The former president, if he were honest, would not have picked the skirmishes in the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election alone but would have added those which occurred during the Chereponi, Atiwa and Talensi by-elections.



His base and unpatriotic motives could well be detected in this well-rehearsed, aggrandized and embellished agenda to sell Ghana to the international community as a failed state.



Many a Ghanaian had hoped that if even he had concerns, he could have assembled some civil society organizations in the country to express his misgivings about what transpired in Ayawaso West Wuogon.



The good people of Ghana must condemn this unstatesmanlike behavior of the former president. It would appear that winning the next elections is far more important to him if it would even send Ghanas enviable reputation downhill.

Source: newsroomgh.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoMember of Parliament for Sefwi Juaboso in the Western Region, Hon. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh has hailed the leadership of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) over the party's decision to boycott the Emile Short Commission of Inquiry.



The Minority caucus in Parliament says they will not cooperate with the Commission of Inquiry probing the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence.



The Minority in Parliament wishes to serve notice that we would not relent in pursuing the series of democratic actions we had earlier announced until such a time that we are convinced that there is a genuine effort to hold the cowardly masked perpetrators accountable for their crimes . . . Sadly, since that meeting with the Ghana Police Service, not only has there been no further communication with us, more worryingly, there has not been a single arrest of the perpetrators despite the existence of abundant information including numerous pictures and videos which are exceedingly useful to investigators in every jurisdiction, a statement signed by the Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu read.



Commenting on the issue on 'Kokrokoo' on Peace FM, Hon. Mintah Akandoh stressed that the Commission is just a smokescreen to protect the perpetrators of the violence.



To him, the NDC will not glorify the Commission because they will not do an objective work.



We dont have any confidence in this Commission . . . So, that deliberate orchestrated attempt to cover up and allowing some people to abscond from the country, we will not be part of it. We will not glorify it. We will not dignify it by being part of it," 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Audio Attachment: Listen to David Asante-Apeatu

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante-Apeatu, has asked political parties in the country to denounce their vigilante groups to 'embolden' the Ghana Police Service.



Calls for the disbandment of various vigilante groups in the country increased after violence emerged during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election.



So far, the two major political parties: the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) are known to have vigilante groups.



The IGP, who was speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, urged the parties to immediately denounce their own vigilante groups to create the necessary awareness that will embolden the police. The truth is that if we prescribe a security solution to a politically motivated problem, you may only be reducing the pain but not curing the disease.



"The police are poised to arrest and profile any group of people claiming to be vigilante groups irrespective of their political affiliation death in the name of politics will no longer be tolerated in our security setting. We are declaring zero tolerance against political violence and vigilantism, he added.



Calls To Resign



Several people across the political divide after the violence at Ayawaso West Wuogon By-election asked the IGP to resign.



According to them, he cannot stay in office after admitting that he was not aware Police vehicles and guns were being used during the by-election.



Others also feel he should resign for investigations to be carried out properly.



However, the IGP feels there's no need for him to resign.



I dont think my resignation or my being the IGP can influence any investigations in this country . . . Investigations cannot be influenced by me as the IGP, he stated.

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Parliament has caution Ghanaians to guard against irresponsible public utterances on radio which has the tendency to derailed the countrys democratic gains.



According to the legislators, the public should rather use radio platforms to encourage healthy dialogue and create tolerance to build a monument of peace in the various spheres.



Nenyi George Andah, Deputy Minister of Communication in a statement to commemorate the 12th World Radio Day indicated that Ghana joins the entire UN system and nations around the world to observe the occasion.



The theme for this years World Radio Day celebration is: Dialogue, tolerance and peace.



According to Mr Andah, in celebrating world radio day, it is fundamental to see radio as a platform to promote effective dialogue and to improve civic participation in developmental and socio-economic discourse.



He said the influence of radio communication on the development of any nation far outweighs the comparative advantage of other media platforms.



He stated that the significant impact of radio is centred in the communication and information sphere in the country at large since its inception.



Mr Andah also noted that the main goal and focus of the country should be creating wholesome radio content that would better place the political, economic and cultural issues while heightening public participation on matters of national interest.



He said fortunately the countrys democratic tolerance offer freedom of speech, freedom of expression and other associated rights.



He said these rights place enormous responsibility on the people to safeguard and protect them, adding that this can only be possible with the help of radio and the media at large.



Mr Andah however stated that there have been countries that have been set ablaze through activities of radio network and journalists.



In as much as we are all responsible for our public utterances, in the name of freedom of speech, we have a lot to lose if this wonderful mode of communication is not controlled to avert what has now become an albatross on our neck as a nation.



He said today, it is no news to hear someone say that the first place to bear insults and defamatory is on radio.



He said this has caused many to lose trust in the operations of radio and that the growing age would tend to listen to a playlist on the mobile devices than to listen to the radio.



I ask myself this question, what then does the future look like for radio? he asked.



Mr Andah further stated that the new age of technology has made digital communication available at peoples convenience.



He said there is no doubt that with the inclusion of other communication platforms radio certainly is the platform that reaches more people than any other platform.



Mr Alhassan Suhuyini, Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale North in his contribution called for the expansion of the media freedom in the country and work to check the excesses of media practitioners in the system.



He expressed concern about new development in the media landscape where corporate bodies setup media houses and because of the familiar considerations they have with these media house it becomes difficult for those media houses to check them when they are doing something which is wrong in the society.



He said the use of statutory control and licensing of the media is sometimes employed to stifled opposing views in the media.



Mr Alexander Abban, MP for Gomoa West in his contribution called for regular training for media practitioners and radio programme hosts to enable them discharge their duties well.



He expressed worry about radio phone-in programmes which are being used as platforms to insult and denigrate innocent people in the country.



Mr Ras Mubarak, MP for Kumbungu in his contribution expressed concern about the new threat to the use of radio by data manipulation, misinformation, fake news and partisan views articulated on radio discussions.



He stressed the need for the country to come out with the rules on how to regulate social media.



According to him a lot of the content on social media finds their way into the traditional media.



He explained that many of the views espouse on these social media platforms of the radio station are unregulated and many of the radio stations do not take responsibility for those comments.



Mr Mubarak therefore urged parliament to come out with a new law to sanitize the social media platforms of the radio stations.

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Technology has a great impact on love affairs and is extended onto Valentine day celebrations.



Because of the digital world, it is now unusual to present gifts and express love in a tangible way as was done in the past.



The standard flowers, valentine cards, chocolates were appreciative, but the social media is guaranteeing that everyone tries to get more creative and stimulating gifts to show how much they care.



If wondering how and what has changed, averagely people will prefer to share pictures with their love mates on social media, to showcase their love publicly than to have a private romantic moment with them.



They fall in love with remarks and interactions that will occur on the media platforms concerning the pictures.



In recent Valentine celebrations, people are seen more actively on social networks such twitter, what -Sap, facebook, instagram, among others flaunting gifts to draw unnecessary attention.



Emmanuel Todd, a married man in his mid- twenties in an interview with Ghana News Agency (GNA), said the social media had made valentine become a financial investment, since they needed to buy exclusive gifts for their partners to show how they cared.



He added, that it caused pressure on relationships and increased infidelity thus the person will go in for rich lovers for luxurious gifts to flaunt on them.



Social Media now determines how love is celebrated as abuses have become the norm of the day rather than showing great love



In an interview with Ghana News Agency (GNA), Mrs. Selassie Atari, 53-year-old Ghanaian, said  Valentine is not celebrated like we are doing today, in the past it was meant for love for all and not just for man and woman intimacy.



She said social media had ruined everything, no privacy, leaked love videos everywhere, but if I had my own power to make decisions, I will put a stop to the celebration.



Valentine's Day is an international festival that celebrates feelings of love and serves as a reminder that true love is still in existence.



The young ones even get into intimacy acts and feel right to discuss among friends. Looking at things now; it is stress-free to look striking or beautiful to get attracted to the opposite sex as it was in the past, we wear exposing dresses, applying make-up and other things that they learn on social media, so they take advantage of the love celebration and engage in voluptuous activities Ms Sandra Ayi, a single mother told the GNA.



February 14 St. Valentine Day, is a day of romance, declared by Pope Gelasius when Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity, but was outlawed as it was deemed unchristian- in the 5th century in the year 496 from a roman festival.



Valentine's Day is named after Saint Valentine, a Catholic priest who lived in Rome in the 3rd Century. There are many stories about St Valentine and over time these stories grew into the legend we know today.



Finding true love and sharing of gifts is unique, giving out Valentines Day cards, flowers, chocolate and spending enough time with family and friends should be more jolly.

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Over 700 aggrieved Customers of GN Bank and Gold Coast Securities Company in Upper West Region have given the defunct Bank two weeks ultimatum to pay them appreciable amounts of their deposits.



According the customers, their deposits ranging from GHC100,000.00 to GHC200,000.00, have been locked up with the Gold Coast Securities, a full-service investment entity under Groupe Nduom.



Spokesperson for the aggrieved customers, Mr Isaac Niebabora, told the Ghana News Agency that GN bank ought to reactivate its E-bank and Mobile Money systems to allow customers transfer their monies to various mobile money networks for withdrawal.



He also suggested if the bank could not make liquid cash available to customers for withdrawal, or the officials should give customers bank drafts for payment into other bank accounts for easy accessibility for their monies.



Mr Niebabora said he was unable to further his education last year after gaining a competitive university admission because his money was locked up with Gold Coast Securities.



He urged Gold Coast Securities Company to as matter of urgency pay all customers, whose monies had matured for withdrawal as well as all matured fixed deposits.



He also called on the Central Bank to intervene, suggesting that, the GN Savings and Loans Company should be merged with the GCB Bank or any other viable bank for smooth financial transactions, if the bank [GN] cannot solve their liquidity problems in three weeks.



The customers warned that failure by Groupe Ndoum and its Board of Directors to comply with their demands would compel them to employ other avenues mandated and approved by law to have early access to their hard earned monies.



Mr Niebabora expressed grave concern about how customers had to grapple with extreme discomfort, lowered productivity, loss of love ones, collapse of their businesses, children being sacked from schools ,with some developing severe medical conditions due to consistent sleepless nights.



The Bank of Ghana downgraded GN Bank to a savings and loans company in January 2019 due to liquidity challenges.



This was after the Central Bank finished what it described as the banking resolution requiring each commercial bank operating in the country to have a minimum capital of 400 million.



The Central Bank Governor, Dr Ernest Addison, had said an advisor had been appointed for GN Bank to ensure its smooth transition to a micro-finance company.



GN Bank (GN) was unable to comply with the Minimum Capital Directive by 31st December 2018. Consequently, GN Bank has applied for, and the Bank of Ghana has approved the grant of a savings and loans company license.



The Bank of Ghana has also approved a transition plan submitted by GN for winding down aspects of its business, which are not compatible with a savings and loans company license, Dr Addison said.



He had pledged that the BoG would closely monitor the implementation of the approved transitional plan, which is expected to be completed by the end of June 2019.



According to the governor, the Advisor would hold office until otherwise advised by the Bank of Ghana and will furnish the Bank [BoG] with a status report on GN in three months.

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By Luo Maohua, Liu Wei



File photo: Medical personnel from the medical detachment of the Chinese peacekeeping force to Lebanon were conducting a helicopter medical evacuation for a peacekeeper from Finland who suffered from cervical dislocation on November 27, 2018.



BEIRUT, LEBANON, Feb. 14 (ChinaMil) -- The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) carried out an emergency medical rescue drill codenamed Sector East Angels 2019-1 on Wednesday along the Blue Line that separates Lebanon and Israel. Peacekeepers from seven countries, including China, Spain, Indonesia and Nepal, participated in the drill. The medical detachment of the 17th Chinese peacekeeping force to Lebanon was responsible for reception, rescue, and medical evacuation during the drill.

On receiving the wounded, the Chinese medical staff classified the injuries according to their seriousness, and provided hemostasis, dressing and fixed treatment to the lightly wounded, while providing supervision, oxygen and venous access to the seriously injured. If the seriousness of the injured person exceeded the scope of the medical treatment available at this level, the Chinese medical staff would call for emergency airlift medical evacuation in accordance with the UNIFIL standard operating procedures, and transfer the injured to higher-level hospitals.

An officer from UNIFILs Sector East said, The Chinese military doctors have clear procedures for emergencies in the drill. Their treatment methods are professional and experienced, labor division is reasonable and orderly. It's worth learning.

The Sector East Angels drill is conducted on a quarterly basis, and is directly supervised by the Joint Command Center of UNIFIL's Sector East. The drill mainly relies on the medical teams from troop-contributing countries to provide emergency medical treatment and medical evacuation. The drills objective is to test the emergency rescue and coordinated support capabilities of the medical units of UNIFIL.

The Chinese medical detachment consists of 30 officers and soldiers, is responsible for medical treatment, emergency medical rescue and medical evacuation for more than 4,000 people in UNIFILs Sector East. At the same time, they often provide humanitarian medical assistance to local people.The Chief of Staff, Hon. Akosua Frema Osei-Opare has donated some food items, toiletries and a cash amount of 2000 Ghana Cedis to the Cape Coast School for the Deaf and Blind. The items included forty bags of rice, five gallons of oil and six buckets of detergents.



Similar donation was also done at Egyam Childrens Home in the Western Region.



Presenting the items to the school, on behalf of Hon. Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, the Political Affairs Director at the office of the Chief of Staff, Mr. Frank Asiedu Bekoe noted that the gesture is aimed at giving the children in such schools hope, in order that they can grow to be of benefit to the society.



Also present at the event was the Central Regional Minister, Hon. Kwamena Duncan.



Mr. Bekoe added that the chief of staff, Hon. Akosua Frema Osei-Opare with her background in development recognizes the need to support the vulnerable in society.



He said the gesture which has already started in some parts of the country is going to be replicated countrywide and as such called on other philanthropist to do same.



On his part the headmaster of the school, Mr. Setumete Ametewee expressed his gratitude to the chief of staff and said the donation has come at a time the school needs them most.



He added that the items received would go a long way to help the school while urging parents whose children have any form of hearing and sight impairment to enroll them in the school for the needed assistance.

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 Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development for the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr Gerd Muller, has lauded the Akufo-Addo governments impressive progress on the economic front which has made the West African country one of the fastest growing economies in the world and a preferred partner of his country.



Ghana also has an enviable reputation in the league of democratic nations, according to Dr Muller, and coupled with a stable macro- and micro-economic outlook, Germany is happy to partner Ghana as she moves towards the next stage of her development.



Speaking at the 3rd German-African Summit (GABS) in Accra on Tuesday, 12th February, 2019, Dr Muller stated,



Ghanas new government has made impressive progress on the economic front. You have one of the highest growth rates in Africa, 8.5%. Five of the worlds 10 fastest growing economies are in Africa, and Ghana is one of them, on the top.



He continued, Ghana is a stable democracy and a pillar of stability in the region. Your country is a Reform Partner Country and Compact with Africa Partner country for Germany. As part of these partnerships, we support your policies, Mr President for stronger economic performance, and for infrastructure development, especially in the areas of energy, health and training.



Dr Muller also praised Ghana for the important progress in the fight against corruption, emphasising that it was a key factor in any investment decision.



The most important basis for investors is legal certainty and reliable contracts. Ghana has made important progress on fighting corruption over the last years; that is very important for investors. The countries of West Africa and Ghana in particular have the potential and the will to achieve progress and reforms; we are all convinced of it. Germanys policy makers and business community stand by you, and the visit of our President and todays programme are proof of it.



Dr Muller pledged special support for more investment in vocational training over the next few years in Ghana, with the aim of creating training spaces for at least 25,000 young persons in the next three years, saying that is the German way to do business. Investment should not only be about money and business but also investment in the future of your youth.



The German-African Business Summit (GABS) is Germanys signature business event in Africa at which top business and government leaders from Germany and sub-Saharan Africa meet every two years in the continent to discuss and promote economic relations.



It is being attended by over 350 German and African companies and 16 German Ambassadors from African countries like Equatorial Guinea, Benin, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Tanzania and Togo will come to Accra to discuss the future potential for German-African business relations. Germanys Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Thomas Bareiss is also attending the Summit.



The Vice President of the Republic, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, gave the opening address.







Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoThe Inspector General of Police, (IGP), David Asante-Apeatu has asked families of the kidnapped girls in Takoradi to exercise patience with the Ghana Police Service.



They shouldnt give us some timelines but rather they should cooperate with us, the police need time to do these investigations, he said at a press conference on Thursday.



The case of the three girls who were kidnapped in Takoradi, Western Region has still not been resolved.



Other reports of kidnapping have also emerged in the Volta Region.



Even though Samuel Udoetuk-Wills, a Nigerian, has been arrested in connection with the cases of kidnapping and is assisting the police with their investigation, none of the girls have been found.



Meanwhile, the parents of the kidnapped girls are continuously mounting pressure on the police to fast-track efforts to bring back the girls.



Reacting to this, David Asante-Apeatu says it is not as if in Ghana we are unable to unravel kidnapping cases. I returned from South Africa recently and it is the case everywhere. We dont know? Sometimes I keep wondering whether we are comparing ourselves with a certain country but if we try to do that, we may be a bit comfortable with our situation. Im not saying we are complacent but we do our best under the circumstances to manage crime in this country.

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 Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr David Asante-Apeatu, has urged Ghanaians to unite against vigilantism, saying all voices must speak against the phenomenon.



Vigilantism is not just a security problem; it has political connotations, with social consequences, and we all need to be honest in assessing the creation, usage and dangers of vigilante groups in our national discourse, he stated.



In an interview on a wide range of security issues in Accra yesterday, Mr Asante-Apeatu also urged political parties with such groups to take immediate steps to disband them.



He said in a number of cases that had been reported to the police or where the police took action to deal with and investigate such cases, witnesses failed to show up to support evidence for prosecution.



That, he explained, was because the vigilante groups saw themselves more as an intra-party thing.



Mr Asante-Apeatu cited the case at Tafo in the Ashanti Region in October last year when, during a meeting between the Minister of Monitoring and Evaluation, Dr Anthony Akoto-Osei, and some party executives, a group disrupted the meeting and vandalised the venue.



Reports said the group wanted to physically assault Dr Akoto-Osei over election promises before the 2016 general election that had not been fulfilled.



Following that incident, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) came out to condemn the action and similar actions by vigilante groups.



In its condemnation, the NCCE described the activities of vigilante groups as a serious threat to Ghanas peace and security.



Private security



Expatiating on his call for vigilante groups to be disbanded, the IGP said the law recognised the state security agencies and private security organisations to provide protection for individuals, institutions and facilities.



He said anyone or group, including political parties, could seek assistance from the relevant agencies.



He, however, said if any group wanted to form a private security organisation, such a group must apply to the Ministry of the Interior for the requisite permit to operate within the ambit of the laws of Ghana.



Whole-of-nation approach



The IGP said Ghana had got to the stage where we need to apply the whole-of-nation approach to manage the nations security challenges.



Each citizen must be responsible and accountable. Let us help expose criminal elements in society by sharing relevant information with the police, he said.



That, he said, also desired that Ghanaians slow down on the ease with which we bastardise the police as if the police are expected to be an organisation of angels.



On the ongoing police transformation agenda, where ICT was the main driver, Mr Asante-Apeatu said the agenda is envisioned to achieve world-class policing within the agreed time frame of 10 years.



Kidnappings



On recent kidnappings and murders, he said it was worrying to the police anytime a single life was lost.



We are mandated to protect lives and properties and we are not resting on our laurels. Mysterious deaths are a challenge to all police organisations worldwide.



Sometimes it takes time to study and understand the modus operandi to demystify the crime, investigate it and get the culprits punished.



We are confident we shall overcome as we establish the Modus Operandi Analysis Cell, he 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The Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Madam Josephine Nkrumah has described acts of vigilantism as criminal and has asked politicians to stay away from medling in it and to allow the police to deal ruthlessly with the perpetrators.



She has therefore called on Ghanaians to delink activities of vigilante groups from politics, a solution she said, would help to treat such acts as crimes properly so-called which would be firmly fixated in the domain of the police.



Madam Nkrumah says, in view of the damage the activities of vigilante groups could cause to people and property, she was unhappy with the form of punishment meted out to individuals who engage in acts of violence in the country.



She described it as a slap on the wrist and lamented that, the sentencing regime is not severe for a country that wants to stem the tide of activities of vigilante groups.



How can we increase the sentencing regime to make it deterrent enough for perpetrators to understand that, if you get yourself in this [vigilantism] there are strong sanctions? she said, advocating harsher punishments.



The nation has recorded a string of violent activities carried out by vigilante groups since the victory of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) was announced in 2016.



But no one has been jailed for the many violent attacks despite assurances from the government and the police to make perpetrators account for their acts.



The recent incident happened during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election on January 31, where some supporters of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) were attacked by men from the National Security.



The NDC has hinted it would match the NPP boot-for-boot at the 2020 general elections, a development security experts have described as worrying.



Madam Nkrumah believes the politicization of the Ghana Police Service plays a major drawback, undermining efforts aimed at arresting the situation.



We must look at ways of insulting the police from political intrusion and infiltration, which more or less immobilizes them, she said.

Source: The New Independent









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 will, on Friday, February 15, perform a groundbreaking ceremony at the Kotoka International Airport for the commencement of expansion works on the North Apron and the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority office.



Mr Kofi Adda, the Minister of Aviation, who announced this on Wednesday at a press engagement, said the projects and others in the offing were part of governments plan to make Ghana an aviation hub within West Africa, and a destination of choice for travelers.



The Government, towards that end, had already embarked on several key strategic programmes to change the fortunes of the aviation industry, he said.



Mr Adda said, as part of the expansion and upgrading of infrastructure projects to contain the traffic, plans were advanced to introduce a light train that would convey passengers from the terminals.



There are other upcoming projects that would see some key roads at KIA being dualized and the building of an overpass to ease traffic.



The Minister affirmed that the new national career would start operations in April, this year, and would be plying routes within the West Africa sub-region and other international routes including London.



He reiterated the selection of Ethiopian Airlines as the strategic partner for the proposed new home-based carrier and that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed to that effect.



Already, Mr Adda said Ghana had signed Bilateral Air Service Agreement with over 65 countries, which would facilitate the smooth operation of the national airline.



He said the confidence of the nations aviation industry was growing adding that the Government would give it the maximum support to expand and generate revenue to boost economic growth as well as create employment for the youth.

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Mr Daniel Yaw Domelevo, the Auditor-General, has hailed the media's role in the fight against corruption in the country.



He said greater transparency and accountability was essential in combating corruption; stating that "this is where the media comes in handy to ensure that we can promote good governance, transparency and accountability in order to control or minimise corruption".



Speaking at a Town Hall Meeting on Media and Corruption in Ghana, Mr Domelevo said combating corruption also involved the media investigating the issue and reporting on it, such that there could be follow ups and subsequent prosecution.



He said the effectiveness of the media depended on several factors such as; access to information, the freedom of expression and also the class of professionals who had the necessary skills to do their work.



"Public officers are to serve the public and to be accountable to the public. But it is difficult and almost impossible to reach-out to the public effectively without the media, because they cover the public far better than they can do," he said.



"At the minimum, the media must expose corrupt officials, prompt investigations, if they cannot do those investigations, reinforce the works of the legitimate entities identified for anti-corruption fight and put pressure on government to change laws and legislations that create the necessary platform for corruption."



He noted that some of the nation's laws created room for corruption.



Mr Domelevo said: "Corruption is a dangerous game. And everyone who fights corruption should know that corruption will fight you back one day. Therefore, there should be incentives for people who will risk their lives or risk their jobs in fighting corruption."



Touching on the Right to Information (RTI) Bill, he noted that it had taken too long to see the light of the day; declaring that "we need information for the media to be able to do their work and do it better."



He urged media professionals to specialise in their field.



The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), organised the Town Hall Meeting on the theme "Assessing the Performance of the Media in Fighting Corruption in Ghana: Two years into Akufo-Addo Administration".



Mr Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director, MFWA, said even as the media space improved, the number of media houses increased, and the number of journalists continue to grow, it appeared that the fight against corruption was getting less and less and that there was the need to do something about.



He said the few journalists who were into corruption investigations were sometimes not given the needed support from some media houses.



He said there was corruption within the media; stating that "and so when we are talking about the role of the media in fighting corruption, we need to look at the role of the media in fighting corruption within the media itself".



"It is a fact that today, the instruments that are used to fight against media houses or journalists who are working hard on issues of corruption; the instruments are the media themselves, sometimes bigtime journalists.



"...There is corruption within the media. The media themselves also constituted an obstacle to the fight against corruption."



Mrs Linda Ofori-Kwafo, Executive Director, Ghana Integrity Initiative, appealed to newspaper Publishers in the country who do not report on issues of corruption to sit up.



Mr Manasseh Azure Awuni, Senior Broadcast Journalist, Joy News, gave an overview of some investigative works he had done on awards of contracts at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.



He also urged his colleague journalists not to give up in the fight against corruption.

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Aker Energy ASA has confirmed a significant offshore resource base in Ghana and has reiterated its commitment to scale up new development in the Deepwater Tano Cape three points block (DWT/CT).



A Government of Ghana delegation led by Finance Minister, Honourable Ken Ofori-Atta, Wednesday announced to investors in Oslo, Norway, that overall crude oil production from Ghana was expected to more than double over the next four years.



Addressing the meeting of 20 key international companies, Hon. Ofori-Atta, stated that Ghana has re-asserted herself strongly as a key destination for petro-chemical industry players.



Last month, Aker Energy ASA announced the biggest oil find in Africa, of 450-550 million barrels, with potential recoverable reserves of nearly one billion barrels.



Overall, crude oil production is expected to increase from 196,089 barrels per day in 2019 to 420,020 barrels per day in 2023, said Honourable Ofori-Atta. First oil from the Aker fields is expected between the last quarter of 2020 and first quarter of 2021.



Going forward, the vision of government is to create an optimistic, self-confident and building a prosperous nation, through the creative exploitation of our human and natural resources, and operating within a democratic, open and fair society in which mutual trust and economic opportunities exist for all, said the Minister for Finance.



On his part, a Deputy Minister of Energy, Honourable Mohammed Amin Adams, indicated that Ghanas production of crude oil is expected to reach half a million barrels by 2025.



Government delegation, which included the Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, held extensive discussions with Aker and other related entities. The discussions also highlighted plans to develop the Tema Drydock Shipyard. This is in line with President Akufo-Addos vision to ensure Ghana develops a shipbuilding, and Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO), capacity.



Government of Ghana is the sole shareholder of PSC Tema Shipyard Company, which operates Tema Shipyard.



Kjell Inge Rokke, the majority owner of Aker -- a shipping and offshore drilling conglomerate -- announced his commitment to contribute significantly to the Presidents vision to make Ghana a major ship-building and repair works hub in the world.



Between 2012 and 2016, Hess  an Oil & Gas company -- sought, unsuccessfully, to appraise the Pecan field (now with Aker as operator) and agreed terms with the government of Ghana on a feasible plan of development for the discovery. Hesss initial assessment indicated resources of 230 million barrels of oil equivalent.



In 2017, following discussions with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Aker announced its acquisition of Hesss interest in the DWT/CT License.

Aker and its partner, working closely in conjunction with the Petroleum Commission and GNPC, immediately undertook preparations for an expansive drilling programme, with Pecan 4A being the first of three planned wells.



Based on existing subsurface data from seismic and wells drilled, including an analysis of the Pecan-4A well result, the existing discoveries are estimated to contain gross contingent resources (2C) of 450  550 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe). Aker Energy estimates that with the next two well targets, the total volume potential is 600  1,000 mmboe.



In order to fully develop the DWT/CT, the partners will be required to make significant capital investment in Ghana with estimates of total project spend in excess of $10bn.



The Ghanaian delegation in Oslo, also included the Deputy Minister of Finance, Hon. Charles Adu Boahen, CEO of Petroleum Commission, Egbert Faibille, CEO of Ghana Gas, Ben Asante.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured VideoThe informal sector constitutes 70 per cent of the business arena but just two per cent of them pay their taxes.



Mr Richard Hakeem Quainoo, a Chief Revenue Officer of the Ghana Revenue Authority, who announced this on Wednesday, also stated that only 1.5 million of the expected six million tax payers honoured their responsibilities, with 200,000 being from the informal sector.



Mr Quainoo was addressing a Sensitisation Programme in Accra, for informal business groups on National Tax Policies and ways of Ensuring Compliance. SEND Ghana, a Non-Governmental Organisation, organised the programme.



He, therefore, appealed for the cooperation of Ghanaians in getting tax defaulters to settle their outstanding liabilities, increasing voluntary compliance of payments and in the filing of tax returns.



Those in the informal sector, he advised, should also register for their Tax Identification Number because without that, they could not transact business with the Registrar Generals Department, Passport Office, the courts, among other institutions.



Mr Quainoo, however, advised law abiding citizens to take advantage of the tax incentives offered by the government under the General Tax Relief Policy.



They include the Reliefs on Education, Marriage, Old Age and Age- Dependant Relative.



The Disability Act, 2006 (ACT 715) also enjoins the Government to give annual tax rebates on the taxable incomes of Persons with disability and exempt taxes on manufacturers of technical aides or appliances for them.



The Chief Revenue Officer said the Government had given temporary concessions to individuals who would venture into agriculture to encourage the youth into it and to provide job opportunities.



Individuals engaged in family tree crops get a 10 year-tax holiday, just as cattle rearers, while those in cash crops get five years.



Mrs Rachel Gyabaah, Programmes Officer of SEND Ghana, said the engagement was to increase awareness among Ghanaians on tax issues and enhance their appreciation of the importance of taxes to national development.



Some of the participants interviewed by the Ghana News Agency expressed willingness to pay their taxes, but urged the authorities to use the monies for national development projects.



We pay tax every day to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly but we dont see any development, and we are not sure if the money is channelled to the appropriate quarters or it goes into peoples pockets.



Some of the participants suggested to the Government to focus more on indirect taxes rather than the direct ones to get more people into the tax net.

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US Charges Former Air Force Intel Officer With Spying for Iran

02/14/19

By Masood Farivar, VOA

WASHINGTON - A former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence officer who defected to Iran nearly six years ago has been charged with revealing classified military information to the Iranian government and helping Iran target her former co-workers, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.



Source: FBI



Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, allegedly disclosed the existence of a highly classified military intelligence collection program and the identity of a U.S. intelligence officer to Iranian spy agencies.

A grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday also charged Witt with helping Iranian intelligence services target at least eight U.S. agents who had interacted or worked with her.

An arrest warrant was issued for Witt, who remains at large and is believed to live in Iran.

Four Iranians working on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also were named in the indictment and face charges of conspiracy, computer intrusions and identity theft in connection with targeting Witt's former co-workers in 2014 and 2015.

Sought to use malware

Using fake social media accounts, the men sought to deploy malware that would provide them covert access to the targets' computers. They were identified as Mojtaba Masoumpour, Behzad Mesri, Hossein Parvar and Mohamad Paryar.

"This case underscores the dangers to our intelligence professionals and the lengths our adversaries will go to identify them, expose them, target them and, in a few rare cases, ultimately turn them against the nation they swore to protect," said John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security. "When our intelligence professionals are targeted or betrayed, the National Security Division will relentlessly pursue justice against the wrongdoers."



Source: FBI

Witt, who was born and raised in Texas, served as a counterintelligence officer for the Air Force from 1997 to 2008. Trained in Persian in the U.S. Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., from 1998 to 1999, she was assigned as a special agent to the Air Force Office of Special Investigation and later was deployed to several overseas locations, including the Middle East, to conduct operations collecting signals intelligence on U.S. adversaries.

According to the indictment, Witt's position within the Air Force intelligence branch gave her access to a "Special Access Program" that "housed classified information, including details of ongoing counterintelligence operations, the true names of sources and the identifies of U.S. agents involved in the recruitment of those sources."

Witt left active duty in 2008 but continued to work as a contractor for the Defense Department for more than two years, serving as a desk officer for the same classified program.

Prosecutors said Witt was recruited by Iran as part of an Iranian government program that targets former intelligence officers and others who have held security clearances.

Defected in 2013

Witt defected to Iran in August 2013 after attending two "Hollywoodism" conferences in Tehran in 2012 and 2013.

The conferences were organized by New Horizon, an organization that bills itself as an international institute of independent thinkers and artists. U.S. law enforcement officials say New Horizon is a front for the IRGC's Quds Force and that Iranian intelligence agents use the conferences "to recruit and collect damaging information while propagating anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial."

After returning from her first trip to Iran during which she converted to Islam and took on the name Fatema Zahra, Witt drew a warning from FBI agents that she was a target for recruitment by Iranian intelligence services.

"In response, Witt stated that if she ever returned to Iran, she would refuse to provide any information pertaining to her work" with the Air Force Office of Special Investigation, according to the indictment.

She returned to Iran the following February and met with members of the IRGC to express a desire to defect to Iran, according to the indictment.

Iranian agents were initially suspicious of her intentions and dragged their feet in granting her request to defect, leading her to express frustration to an Iranian-American woman who served as a "spotter and recruiter" for Iranian intelligence: "I just hope I have better luck with Russia at this point," Witt reportedly said.

It took her nearly six months of traveling through Afghanistan and Tajikistan before she defected to Iran, where she was provided with housing and computer equipment and immediately set out to work for Iranian intelligence.

Apparently driven by ideology

According to the indictment, Witt conducted online research and created "target packages" that allowed the Iranian government to identify, track and neutralize U.S. counterintelligence agents.

"She decided to turn against the United States and shift her loyalty to Iran," said Jay Tabb, the FBI's executive assistant director for national security. "Her primary motivation appears to be ideological."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury announced sanctions against New Horizon for its support for the IRGC's Quds Force and another Iran-based entity, Net Peygard Samavat Company, as well as six individuals for allegedly hacking the computers of U.S. personnel.

"Treasury is taking action against malicious Iranian cyber actors and covert operations that have targeted Americans at home and overseas, as part of our ongoing efforts to counter the Iranian regime's cyberattacks," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.Could you imagine losing the love of your life, your home, stability, and close friends all within a few days?

This is the story of Brad Walsh, musician, producer, and visual artist, who, following the dissolution of his 11-year marriage to fashion designer Christian Siriano, entered a dark summer of despair. The monumental loss of all he held dear led to a suicide attempt, and time spent in a Connecticut psych ward to recover. It would be understandable for Walsh to completely go into hiding upon being released from the hospital for a while, and it can be argued that he did.

Related | 50 LGBTQ Musicians You Should Prioritize

Walsh turned to music and, like an endless purge of raw, unfiltered emotion, he put all he had into his lyrics and production. The result, an ambitious 23-song project called ARTBREAK, doesn't hold back, as Walsh bravely explores topics including infidelity, jealousy, and, in the middle of it all, spots of true joy and recovery. "I just felt like I had been turned upside down and emptied," Walsh tells PAPER. "This album... just poured out."

Thankfully, he didn't go it totally alone: the album is full of guest spots from actor friends from Gabourey Sidibe and Lena Dunham to Janet Mock and many others, incorporating spoken word companion pieces to his tense but snappy electronic and pop compositions.

Listening to the album is akin to having a front row seat to a tragic pop opera, except everything Walsh sings about is real. It's a lot to unpack, but ARTBREAK feels like an important therapeutic exercise for him. In fact, there are intros incorporating quotes from Carl Jung and Oscar Wilde, so Walsh is definitely processing here.

Beefing up his production skills from his last release, 2017's all-vocal album, ANTIGLOT, the rhythms on ARTBREAK pull inspiration from dark and frosty new wave in the vein of Depeche Mode. "68 Steps" explores what it means to be alone, by finding solace in nature. Strengthened by gorgeous melodies, "Topper" pledges devotion to a "hunter, the finder of lost things," but because we know how Walsh's fairytale ended, there's an inescapable tinge of melancholy in his vocals. "The End" is perhaps one of the most striking entries, closing the album with a diaristic list of indictments against his former partner, calling out specific details of "whores in Texas," overdoses, and love tainted by fame and status.

PAPER caught up with Walsh, who is on the mend, and having finally let this all out of him, is free to enjoy his next chapter.

There are many impressive guest spots on here, from Janet Mock to Gabourey Sidibe. How did you decide which actors and artists would appear on which songs?

When I was in the psych ward last summer I had a lot of time with nothing but books and a bed, so I read a lot of Stephen Hawking and Oscar Wilde and wrote poetry in the margins. As you could probably guess, it was a lot of existential and fantastical thought put to paper, with a strong awareness of death  death not so much as the end, but as a change in consciousness. Training my brain to think in universal terms and to see beyond the mundanity of my immediate surroundings, with these writers as my professors, helped me immensely  and they inspired me to write.

A lot of those scribblings in the margins became song lyrics, most notably the song "Psych Notes," and a lot sort of stood on their own as spoken pieces. I am not a spoken word performer with any real talent, I don't think, so I knew when I started entertaining the idea of including spoken interludes that I wanted to invite friends of mine who are actors to really bring the emotions to life in performance. I chose pieces that I thought each performer would be best for, and I'm totally humbled that these people believed in me and wanted to be part of this moment. Most of the spoken parts are things I wrote, but a few  like Lena Dunham's Oscar Wilde quote and Cheyenne Jackson's Carl Jung monologue  were pieces that spoke to me so much when I read them that I knew I wanted them to be included.

The only guest spot that is included on this album that was not recorded specifically for this album is the Carrie Fisher intro to "Psych Notes." Her quote about "getting to the end of [her] personality" just stuck with me. She was one of the most beautiful minds, full of hope and coping through a lifetime of despair, always caring for other people when she herself needed care. I loved her so much and needed her to be present on my darkest and most personal expression.

"You can't schedule genuine feelings. Investing a lot of hope and expectation into a scheduled day of love is bound to be a let down."

Usually Valentine's Day is a holiday that commerically commemorates the joy and rapture of love. This release challenges that with something much more dimensional. What are your own feelings about Valentine's Day, especially as it relates to this album?

Valentine's Day is phony. And I don't mean that in a cynical "the world is shit" kind of way. I mean, even when I was married for a decade, Valentine's Day was a scheduled day to remind each other that we were in love. You can't schedule genuine feelings. It's silly to try. Investing a lot of hope and expectation into a scheduled day of love is bound to be a let down. So I wanted to reclaim this year's Valentine's Day for myself by releasing this album and having a Broken Hearts party. I have so much love in my heart and in my life, and I show and am shown it in many ways and at many times. I think any healthy relationship  whether it be romantic or a friendship  deserves spontaneity of expression, and I love to give gifts and send nice messages often, but only when I am inspired to.

In the midst of your personal heartbreak, it feels as though you left no stone unturned, addressing self-doubt, recovery, infidelity, jealousy, despair, and ecstasy. What felt most important for you to capture on this album?

I think the most nagging emotion that drew me to write this album, which ended up consisting of so many songs (10 didn't make the cut), was the despair I felt when in all one day I lost my marriage, my home, and my career. And soon after, I also lost two of my four very best friends. I just felt like I had been turned upside down and emptied. This album bubbled up like vomit, uncontrollably; it just poured out. Many of these songs were recorded in one take, which I think is apparent. They're not perfect, there's doubt in the expression at times, because I was deeply imperfect and doubting everything while I was making it. I think that desperation comes through on this album quite clearly, but so does hope. In songs like "68 Steps" and "Through the Floor," for example, I began to heal and build myself a new domain, slowly, piece by piece, and accept new beautiful people into my vulnerable stasis. I have since found new love and a great sense of self-worth and accomplishment, and one of the two lost best friends and I made amends and are closer than ever. She's as close as a sibling to me. I didn't really understand it at the time, but writing and recording this music was a thorough purge that exorcised a lot of negative feelings that were poisoning me. Art literally healed me.

Listen to ARTBREAK by Brad Walsh, below.

Artbreak

Photos courtesy of Brad Walsh



Review: Jordan Peele's Docu-Series 'Lorena' Goes Beyond The Headlines Of The Lorena Bobbitt Case

By Kristy Puchko | Streaming | February 16, 2019 |

When the Bobbitts made headlines in 1993, I was nine years old. My parents shielded me from the scandalous details of he said/she said. Still, it was impossible not to pick up snippets from news reports and comedy specials on which this case was a recurring story and regular punchline. I knew Lorena Bobbitt had dismembered her husband John Wayne Bobbitts penis with a kitchen knife and thrown it out her car window. Some said she was crazy, and others said he had it coming. 25 years later, Im a grown woman who turned to the four-part mini-series Lorena to finally learn the details of this notorious case. And among a jaw-dropping string of shocking reveals, the most alarming is how little has changed. As someone who closely follows gender politics and our cultural conversation about rape culture, I was rattled to my core to see how Lorenas story speaks to today, from Me Too to Trumps locker room talk to the Brett Kavanaugh hearings.

Executive produced by Get Outs Jordan Peele and directed by Joshua Rofe, Lorena begins with the night that grabbed the attention of newscasters, tabloids, talk show hosts, and comics across the country. In Virginia, a 24-year-old woman fled her home after amputating the penis of her sleeping husband. Despite the violence of this crime, its still fascinating and funny to us. And Lorenas first episode leans into this with interviews with police, medical professionals, and reporters who decades later still squirm and titter nervously when saying penis or discussing the grisly details of this severing. One cop recalls how his boss refused to touch the organ, because, he was religious. An unfazed urologist chuckles while detailing how the cops insisted on wearing rubber gloves to touch it, recounting, It was ceremoniously carried from a (nearby) 7/11 on ice, in a hot dog baggie of all things!

Even John makes jokes, some in 90s talk show appearances where he charms the audience by recalling how his drinking buddy didnt understand the severity of the situation, and he went to brush his teeth before driving him to the hospital. In his interview with Lorenas makers, John makes a joke that compares his ex-wife to cannibalistic serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and another referencing missing person ads on milk cartons. These punchlines are dated, but he smiles expectingly, assuming they still play. Its an early sign that Johns narrative has not aged well.

While the mini-series will refer back to comedians and talk show gags to capture how the case was being tried in the court of public opinion, Rofe shrewdly burns through the jocularity and shifts focus to the culture war that was brewing in gender politics. There was Anita Hills testimony against Clarence Thomas, the rape trial against William Kennedy Smith, and more news stories of alleged abuses against women where the accused were innocent until proven guilty while the accusers were seen as liars until proved otherwise. Into all this, Lorena Bobbitt stumbled with a 7-inch kitchen knife and a severed penis.

The battle lines were drawn, largely along gender lines. John said she wanted revenge because he leaving her. Lorena said she attacked him after years of abuse and rape at his hands, including the night of this emasculating maiming. Men across America decried her as a crazy bitch and a hot-blooded Latina who attacked a good guy. Her advocatesincluding womens rights groupsargued Lorena was a folk hero who fought back against a merciless abuser who profited from a patriarchy happy to overlook his offenses. Its a story thats infuriatingly evergreen. Thankfully, Rofe wont play into the both sides deserve equal time trap. Journalists and activists note how the coverage of this case was alarmingly slanted. By castrating her husband, Lorena Bobbitt had grabbed the worlds attention. But all the media wanted to talk about was that dick. Her harrowing story of abuse garnered nowhere near as many headlines. Now, Lorena aims to reset the scales and make you rethink what you think you know about the Bobbitts. And it explores what their story has to say about the domestic violence epidemic that still plagues our nation.

Episode one moves from that night to Johns trial, in which he faced a charge for marital rape, a crime whose specifications are alarmingly narrow and on which the evidence hinged on a pair of panties that were ripped but not ripped convincingly, according to the male juror interviewed. Episode two moves onto the trial against Lorena, which includes a thorough exploration of the abuse she endured from John. Lorena exposes the double standards in the trials rules and coverage, noting that Johns was off-limits to TV crews because his alleged crime was of a sexual nature. But Lorenasdespite being about sexual mutilationwas deemed perfectly acceptable for TV audiences. In fact, it was moved from December to January to assure networks better ratings! The upside to this crass fascination with her trial is that Rofe has archival footage of witness after witness who confirms Lorenas accounts of abuse. Not only are her female friends and colleagues presented, but also Johns male buddies, then and now. Here the battle against domestic abuse seems less gendered and less hopeless. One of Johns friends explains he testified in support of Lorena because his mother had also been a victim of domestic abuse. Another tears up remembering what he witnessed. To see these macho men display such vulnerability and compassion is soothing after so much John Wayne Bobbitt bravado. Still, you may need to take rage breaks between episodes. I did.

Episode 3 delves into the psychological trauma that Lorena suffered as a result of Johns battery and repeated rapes. Experts, friends, and witnesses weigh in during her trial. Outside of the courtroom, her mental health was threatened by a ravenous news media who stalked her, including Geraldo Rivera who sent her autographed photos, chased her home, and pointed cameras into her windows in an attempt to bully her into an interview. Note: reporters did this knowing full well that Lorena may be a victim of violence and was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder! Meanwhile, John became a tabloid star and tawdry sideshow, repeatedly appearing on talk shows and Howard Sterns radio show. There the shock jock declared he believed John was innocent of Lorenas rape accusations, because shes not that great looking.

Angry? Episode 4 wont ease your outrage. There, Lorena dives into what happened to both of the Bobbitts after her trial. And Johns story only gets grosser, involving his short-lived career as a porn star, his petty attempts at regaining the spotlight, and the victims of abuse who came after Lorena. Theres a sneering schadenfreude in seeing how this bad man made his very existence a sick joke through a pornographic biopic and a horrific follow-up that included real footage of an experimental penis enlargement surgery. Then how his hubris led him down a path of financial ruin, public shaming, and prison. Still, its sickening to try to stomach his smile and the lies that court documents, photographs, and witness testimony repeatedly refute. But the reason to soldier through the nauseating turns of Johns story is to understand the full magnitude of Lorenas.

Lorena is much more than a story of a domestic dispute turned tabloid sensation. It is an inspirational story of a remarkable survivor. Lorena was an immigrant who faced down her abusive husband, a broken justice system, and a news media that gleefully spun out sexist and racist headlines that painted her as a hysterical and hot-tempered psycho-bitch. But Lorena came out the other side and not only thrived but also dedicated herself speaking out to help other victims of abuse. Thats the final focus of Lorena, because the battle of the sexes rages on when we discuss toxic masculinity, sexual misconduct, and domestic violence, which has become a notorious precursor crime for mass shooters.

This 4-episode miniseries doesnt allow you the gleeful schadenfreude of FYRE or Fyre Fraud. And it wont be nearly as shocking beat for beat as Abducted in Plain Sight. Nonetheless, Lorena is essential infuriating viewing. It thoughtfully unfurls the long-ignored narrative that sat at the core of this national sensation. And through this, the doc aims to reassert the domestic violence conversation that keeps getting shoved aside by flashier headlines and conservative politicians. It aims to make you mad, and it needs to, because for too long weve been complacent to look the other way from the bruises, cries, and abuses. And for too long, weve treated Lorena Bobbitt as a punchline.

Lorena launches on Amazon Prime Video on February 15.

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Kristy Puchko is the managing editor of Pajiba. You can follow her on Twitter.

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Tonight

A few clouds. Low 61F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.SUNY Oswego recently was named a top producer of Fulbright U.S. Students awards. One of the recipients, Michael Kaefer (seated in front) poses with his students and other teachers from Alice-Salomon-Schule in Linz am Rhein, Neuwied District, Germany, on a field trip to see the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.Members of the Young Americans for Freedom, a campus group that supports the border security policy of President Donald Trump, posted the above picture on social media on Tuesday. After receiving several violent threats, the group contacted college officials and a police investigation was initiated.FILE- In this Nov. 16, 2018, file photo graffiti has been painted on a sidewalk by someone opposed to the location of an Amazon headquarters in the Long Island City neighborhood in the Queens borough of New York. Amazon said Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, that it will not be building a new headquarters in New York, a stunning reversal after a yearlong search. The online retailer has faced opposition from some New York politicians, who were unhappy with the tax incentives Amazon was promised. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)On the culinary front, the partnership with Chef Boulud brings another Michelin star into the cruise lines mix joining Michelin-starred Chef and Associate Vice President of Food and Beverage Operations Cornelius Gallagher. Chef Boulud will act as the lines Global Culinary Brand Ambassador. Hes know for his New York restaurants DANIEL and Cafe Boulud. A version of Cafe Boulud at the Brazilian Court Hotel & Beach Club in Palm Beach is consistently one of Floridas most honored restaurants.The plan includes ads with links to a new website site MBspringbreak.com to educate visitors on what not to do during spring break. Among the activities that are illegal in Miami Beach: drinking in public, smoking pot, driving a scooter in and out of traffic or sidewalks and riding on top of cars. The latter has become a common sight on social media during spring break.Politically correct historians perpetuating the simplistic narrative that the Civil War was fought for moral reasons (i.e. ending slavery and white supremacy), and the North was the champion of that morality and good; while the South was champion of immorality and evil  is not only historically wrong, but by feeding into that myth avoids the entire nations deep connections (North and South) to the crime of slavery. What it does is by treating the Confederates exclusively as Nazis  is exonerate the North of its crucial complicity in slavery up until the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln was absolutely right when he said at the 1865 Hampton Roads Peace Conference: The people of the North were as responsible for slavery as the people of the South.And this is a vital need in many of Floridas underfunded and understaffed public schools that often use counselors as paper pushers and assists on hall monitoring and lunch traffic. The American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of at least one school counselor for every 250 students. Descovich said Brevards ratio is about 1 to every 700  a number that is surely shared by other districts across the state.This is just more nonsense from anti-gun zealots who are looking to score political points by proposing legislation that would make criminals out of law-abiding citizens exercising their constitutional right to self-defense while doing nothing to deter criminals from committing crimes, Jennifer Baker, an NRA spokeswoman, said in a prepared statement obtained by CNN.Now that Sirisena is calling for the death penalty to be used more often in Sri Lanka, the government is running into a shortage of qualified people to carry out executions. According to the BBC, Sri Lanka has a history of recruits dropping out of hangman work. In 2014, one hired executioner resigned from the job because he was "shocked and afraid" by the sight of the gallows. Since then, the country has not been able to find a permanent executioner.Richmonds skills can be now used elsewhere at the school these days, thanks to the Golden Triangle Kiwanis Club, which recently completed a project to build a new modern $20,000 playground on its campus. The playground will be dedicated following a breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday at the school at 26200 W. Huff Road, Eustis."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.During his teen years, the couple that had intended to adopt him relinquished their custody, and by the time he graduated from high school, he was in the custody of Bucks County Children and Youth Services, the lawsuit said. The couple, whom Parker said never formalized their adoption of him or two other children, did not obtain an ID card for him confirming his legal status, the lawsuit said.Marchena relinquished the chairmanship two weeks ago during a meeting of the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state university system, saying that though he and other trustees knew nothing about the universitys misspending, he wanted to show the seriousness with which he approached the matter. At that same meeting, the Board of Governors voted to extend an outside investigation into the University of Central Floridas construction spending at the schools expense, even though trustees had voted a week earlier not to do so.Central Florida is my home, Darden-Creston said in a statement. Ive seen this region celebrate great victories. Ive seen it mourn tragic losses, and in their aftermath, Ive seen it stand together in compassion, strength, and unity. Its my honor to serve this remarkable community and help us all stay connected to each other, sharing our stories and experiences.After the firing, McCabe issued a statement. This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally," he said. "It is part of this Administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the Special Counsel's work."A small town, a high-school English class, scandal, secrets and sexual misconduct set the stage for the latest piece of theater at Rollins College. But John Proctor Is the Villain, opening Feb. 15, is not just any play. Rollins is one of only three schools in the nation chosen to debut the drama, inspired by the headlines of today  in this case, the #metoo movement.The question is do we take that option away from them? said Antone, D-Orlando. I doubt theyll do that but maybe therell be a safer technology that comes out that deals with nuclear fission and power plants.Ive talked with many of my colleagues on both sides of our aisle here in the Senate chamber and I have not found a single person who says that contractors dont deserve back pay, Smith said.  So why not provide back pay to contractors in the funding bill before us today? Because it appears the White House apparently has said not to do it. But Ive talked to the White House just in the last week. I didnt hear any fundamental reason why our plan couldnt go forward and why challenges couldnt be resolved.Associate Professor of Epidemiology Jeffrey Bethel says although it is difficult to speak definitively, college campuses can be at risk for the spread of measles if they are lacking a strictly-enforced prematriculation vaccination requirement.Hong Kong: Lantern carnivals to be held

The Leisure & Cultural Services Department will hold three lantern carnivals from February 17 to 19 to celebrate the Lunar New Year Lantern Festival.

The carnivals will be held in North District Park on February 17, in Tin Shui Wai Park and Ginza Square on February 18, and at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza on February 19.

Folk craft masters from Guangdong, Macau and Hong Kong will give demonstrations on Xiguan copperware making, ceramic repair, guqin making and dough figurine crafting at the carnivals.

The Hubei Arts Troupe, supported by the Hong Kong, Macao & Taiwan Affairs Office of the Ministry of Culture & Tourism, will showcase spectacular ethnic songs, dance and martial arts performances.

Chinese juggling, kunqu and Taoist music performances will also be featured at the North District Park carnival.

Additionally, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office will hold an exhibition on traditional paper crafting from February 14 to 19 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza.

Click here for details.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.What's Included

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If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 716-372-3121 or email nfinnerty@oleantimesherald.com.Congratulations, Sen. Mike Gianaris, who was salivating at the prospect of killing the deal by abusing his authority on the Public Authorities Control Board, which is not supposed to vote on the merits of a project. Congratulations, Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who nominated Gianaris to that board. Congratulations, Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who threw every imaginable objection against the wall hoping something would stick.Unfortunately, this has not always been the case. He certainly should have done more to address her question about the 1981 El Mozote massacre in El Salvador, which the Salvadoran government itself apologized for in 2011. One response he could have made was that the U.S. did not condone this and that in addition to preventing a Marxist takeover in El Salvador, Washington sought to reform the Salvadoran military so that it would not undertake actions like this. Further, Washington promoted a conflict resolution that did take place in El Salvador later on.We represent the lifelong residents of Northwestern Queens, especially low-income residents and people of color. We have listened to them, and they want a robust, comprehensive deal that both protects their neighborhoods while bringing jobs to them. According to a Siena College poll, black and Hispanic New Yorkers support Amazons arrival in Queens by an overwhelming margin, as do a majority of New Yorkers of all backgrounds.If there was one bit of possible good news on guns in the past year, its the level of civic engagement from scarred teenagers, including Parkland survivors like David Hogg, Emma Gonzalez and Cameron Kasky. They took to the streets and social media platforms. Thanks in part to their fearless advocacy and Novembers election result, there is at least one part of the federal government openly discussing how to address the gun madness.Sirisena is taking a tougher stand after recent large narcotics seizures have made the country a smuggling hub. In the capital of Colombo, a January apartment raid by police netted 198 pounds of heroin. Five suspects were busted in that dirty deal, two of which were Americans. And on Tuesday, 242 pounds of illicit drugs were seized from two Colombo locations, reported The AP.The Cessna plane was traveling from the Maasai Mara Wildlife reserve to the northwest town of Lodwar when it went down in a field in Londiana, some 125 miles away from where it took off, ABC News reported.There are 284 vehicles ... that were issued to personnel to use during APEC that havent been returned as yet, Superintendent Dennis Corcoran, Director of Police Transport, told Radio New Zealand. All state assets, especially vehicles purchased by government agencies and authorized for certain proposes, have been claimed by certain individuals through unlawful means. Any one obtained or in possession of state asset through illegal means will be arrested and charged.I was quite amazed when I saw it, and sent a picture to Ian as soon as I could, Midgeley told Earther, noting that the mysterious appendage was so huge that he and Engelbrecht could barely believe it. So, I went out looking for more burrows. I found another two spiders the next day and we then knew that this was undescribed and not just an odd mutation.I know what everyone at home thinks of me, as I have read all that was written about me online, she said. But I just want to come home to have my child. I'll do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child.I ask that you take immediate action to prevent your technical infrastructure, including your app stores, from being used by the Saudi government to enable the abhorrent surveillance and control of women, reads Wydens letter. Your employees and your customers expect better, as do millions and millions of Americans who support Americas promotion of basic rights and dignity around the world."We actually believe the consensus of the worldwide scientific community that climate change is an existential threat to this planet, one that threatens not only our children and our grandchildren, but all of us right now," Schumer said. "We actually believe that we need to do something about climate change. Do Republicans believe that?"Manaforts lies breached his plea agreement with the special counsels office and Mueller is thereby likely to recommend the longtime GOP operative not be given any credit for his cooperation in the investigation into possible collusion between Russians and the Trump campaign during the 2016 election."Acts of sexual harassment, of sexual abuse and sexual misconduct are about power," the Bronx Democrat said. "They are systems that perpetuate the injustice, neglect or silencing of victims and enable those who abuse others to carry on without consequences. Those systems are part of a power structure that must come to an end."The family is stunned. The police should not have put themselves in this position. This young man hadnt committed any crime. They should have put themselves in place of safety so when he was awakened, he would have had time to orient himself, the lawyer said.Hania Aguilar, 13, was found submerged in water under a plastic table that was weighed down by a tire 10 miles from where she lived. The eighth-grader had been forced into an SUV outside her home in Lumberton on Nov. 5 as she was waiting for her family to drop her off at school.Our Fulton County School Police Department is investigating, and does not yet know what, if anything, is leading to students feeling ill, Fulton County Schools spokeswoman Susan Romanick told the Atlantic Journal Constitution.Today, as we hold in our hearts each of those lost a year ago in Parkland, he said, let us declare together, as Americans, that we will not rest until our schools are secure and our communities are safe.Jones has notoriously denied the mass murder took place, saying the families were paid actors, and that the whole thing was fabricated as a ploy to take away law-abiding citizens guns. His broadcast diatribes began days after the Dec.14, 2012 massacre by Adam Lanza, 20, who burst into Sandy Hook Elementary School and gunned down 26 people  20 of them 6- and 7-year-old children.At least 10 families have filed defamation lawsuits against Jones in Connecticut and Texas, where InfoWars is based, for harassment for his continued assertion the massacre was a left-wing hoax.Any law that tries to enforce strict and outmoded definitions of gender is bound to hurt every American of every gender, Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said. We thank Reps. Levin and Chu for introducing this bill and know each of their colleagues can and should support this commonsense approach."As a parent, it concerns me and is heart wrenching that 1,300 students just had to go in lockout, which means they had to barricade in place as (deputies) stormed the campus, he said during a press conference, according to the Tampa Bay Times.The National Weather Service had been warning pilots of downright dangerous flying conditions with extreme turbulence amid a serious winter storm pummeling the West. The winter blast is likely to continue battering the area through the week.On Jan. 18, dozens of students gathering in front of the Lincoln Memorial to meet their buses home from the March for Life in Washington, D.C., coincided with a group of four or five Black Hebrew Israelites who were heckling and hurling epithets at passers-by. It was also the site of the end of the Indigenous Peoples March, which was winding down at the same time."I want you guys to know I love you and appreciate every single one of y'all, a couple months ago I lost my two brothers by violence and now the system want to find justice.. unfortunately a lot of rumors and lies are being said but no worries god is with me and my brother @ynw.bortlen and we want y'all to remember it's a ynw Family I love you @ynwsakchaser1 and 2ynwjuvy #freeus."The former officer was held in isolation when he was in an Illinois prison, and his attorneys said they were not aware of any security threats or other incidents that would have prompted such a dramatic transfer. Illinois prison officials had declined to say where he was being held, citing concerns for his safety should his location be revealed.Pitts on June 15, 2018, did knowingly and willfully make a threat to kidnap and inflict bodily harm upon Donald J. Trump, specifically that he would get the President by cutting off the Presidents head and hands, the Justice Department said in a statement. Pitts on June 15, 2018 also knowingly and willfully made threats to kidnap and inflict bodily harm upon members of the Presidents family, specifically that a better way to get, to get him is to kill his kids. Kill his daughter, son-in-law. Kill em all. He (the President) come out cause you start killing his kids, chop their heads offyou send his kids back, the statement said, quoting the indictment.Authorities say the pursuit began on Tuesday night in Jefferson City, Missouri at about 7:30 p.m., and ended several hours later in Greenville, Illinois. Smith and the child were able to escape in Illinois after deputies used stop sticks to deflate Austin's tires.Instead, Mackenrodt, fleeing the bank, slipped on a patch of ice in the parking lot of a restaurant. The cash and his gun went flying out of his jacket pocket as he fell, police said.In September he was arrested in Los Angeles and charged with assault with intent to commit rape, assault with a deadly weapon and burglary. He posted bond and was released, and then fled to South Carolina. He was spotted in Alabama in November and led police on a high-speed chase, but was able to get away."I pushed them out of the way and I got hit," she told the station. "I think I was in shock because once I got hit I said, 'I can't believe you almost shot that kid.'"Cops charged Ransom with murder, robbery, assault, aggravated manslaughter and menacing on Wednesday. Hes been arrested more than two dozen times stretching back to 2009 and earned the nickname Detective after he was arrested on at least two occasions for pretending to be a cop.A sergeant came in and asked for a bag of ice to save the guys arm, said Lucille Borgese, who tends bar and is the owner of Hot Shotz on Amboy Road. She gave him a garbage bag full of ice, and the sergeant bolted out.Theyre strong, but theyre crushed, said ONeill after his visit with the slain officers heartbroken family and their dog, Roscoe. We just wanted to spend some time with them, offer our condolences and support them ... Well be with them forever.The lawsuit filed on behalf of Poppel and a class of similarly situated individuals who have been harmed by sexual abuse, perpetrated over the span of forty years by Dr. Reginald Archibald and most recently by the transmission and receipt of a highly offensive, and extreme and outrageous correspondence directed at them for no purpose other than to benefit the entity that for four decades employed their perpetrator.Retired FDNY Lt. Matthew Casey was the first emergency worker to arrive at the apartment and see Sheles lifeless body on the bathroom floor in her W. 68th apartment. A firefighter on his team had determined there was nothing they could do, and Firefighter William Rix said he believed shed been dead for at least several hours.The gallerist closely associated with the 1980s art scene used $800,000 in business checks to pay for the remodeling of her Manhattan apartment. She spent $120,000 in business checks on rent for a second apartment while the renovations were underway.The B41 got an F by TransitCenter last year as a part of the organizations Bus Turnaround Coalition, which issues annual report cards for each of the citys bus routes. The group found buses on the route traveled at an average speed of 5.9 miles per hour.So what I dont get is: We made an agreement with them. They chose New York City. We were keeping the agreement. Guess what? Some community activists wanted to see something else, they wanted changes or they had differences, thats part of life. And instead of an actual dialogue to try and resolve those issues, we get a call this morning saying were taking our ball and were going home. Ive never seen anything like it. So we are putting them in our past and we are moving forward. the mayor said.Smollett said he did his best to give a physical description of his attackers to authorities, but said at least one of their faces was mostly covered, and that he was only able to catch a glimpse of the other one when they were running away.Details on the project are still scarce, but the movie, written by series creator Vince Gilligan, will reportedly appear first on Netflix, then on AMC.Rome, GA (30161)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. Low near 65F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low near 65F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.Cedartown, GA (30125)

Today

Some clouds. Low 64F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. Low 64F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to approve what he described as the psychiatric evalu...





Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to approve what he described as the psychiatric evaluation of the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.





According to Wike, Amaechi should be checked for suggesting that he (Wike) negotiated with Buhari, to allow him to win a second term in exchange for the Presidents victory.





Addressing non-indigenes of Rivers State at a campaign rally in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, Governor Wike said that Amaechis poor psychiatric condition, was responsible for what he described as his inability to grasp basic political issues.





He said, If I am their problem, why should I be negotiating with the President?





It is utter rubbish. It is totally untrue. The President should help us bring a psychiatrist to review the situation of the Minister of Transportation.





I plead with Mr President to do us this favour because our son is gone. We want to bring him back.





Wike also expressed disappointment, that Buhari watched Amaechi threaten violence on the people of the state without taking action.





I was so disappointed that Mr President was seated and the Director General of his campaign was threatening violence, singing war songs. Today they signed a peace accord. What will be the meaning of the Peace Accord when Mr President sat down and listened to his Director General threaten deaths and violence?



President Muhammadu Buhari has appreciated former President of the United States, Bill Clinton, for his continuous support for Nigeria a...

President Muhammadu Buhari has appreciated former President of the United States, Bill Clinton, for his continuous support for Nigeria and the growth of her democracy.









Mr Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, said President Buhari gave the commendation in a telephone conversation with Clinton on Wednesday night.









President Buhari described Clinton as a friend of the country while commending his constant support for the peace, stability and progress of Nigeria under a democratic dispensation.









He also assured him of his commitment to free, fair and credible elections in the weeks ahead.









President Clinton, who regretted his inability to visit the country to witness the signing of the final peace accord before the general elections, wished Nigeria well as her citizens go to the polls, the statement revealed.









It was gathered that Clinton had planned to witness the signing of the Wednesdays second Peace Accord where presidential candidates on February 16 general elections renewed their pledge for the peaceful conduct of the exercise.









The candidates also agreed to accept the outcome of the elections.









The event, which was witnessed by prominent personalities including three former African Presidents from Liberia, Tanzania and Botswana, was organised by the National Peace Committee under the chairmanship of the former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar.











For Seif Salmawy, the 2019 Cairo International Book Fair (CIBF) was great." "The organisation was excellent and so were the sales for the most part, he said.

Salmawy said that publishers this year offered a wide selection of titles for young adults, a lot of fiction, as usual, and a new  even if timid  presence of non-fiction titles.

Al-Karma, Salmawy's publishing house, was founded in 2013 and has been taking part in CIBF since. This year, Salmawy said, has been quite a good experience in terms of displaying books in a way that was functional. It was done in a way that attracted the right audience for everyone.

One thing I noticed was that publishers are becoming more attentive to the nature of Egypts demography where young adults are really a majority to be reckoned with, Salmawy said.

Attention to young adult reading preferences has been a growing trend in Egypt for the past few years. Some publishers and writers have refered to a "post-January Revolution" approach gaining ground.

Salmawy, however, is of the opinion that even prior to 2011 there was an effort by the publishing industry in Egypt to provide books that would appeal to young adults as well as elders.

An example for Salmawy are the books of Ahmed Khaled Tawfik, who passed away last year.

This year, prior to CIBF, Al-Karma issued Tawfiks most recent collection of short stories, Graveyard Celebrations (Afrah El-Maqbarah). In a sequel of nine short stories, Tawfik begs existential questions typical to his work on the meaning of right and wrong, and life and death, - camouflaged as usual as page turning horror and thriller stories.

.

Tawfiks last title figured third on Al-Karmas list of best sellers for this years CIBF.

Featuring fourth on the same list is Bitter like coffee, Sweet like chocolate (Mor mithl Al-Qahwa, Helwa mith Al-Chcocolat), by young author, Mirna ElHelbawy.

Her debut novel is a soul-searching/romance/travel book.

It is the kind of a novel that would appeal to people from the age of 16 to the age of 50, so it is not a typically young adult title, or rather not strictly, Salmawy said.

For the same age range, this year AlKarma issued Omar Tahers first novel, Kohl and Cardmom (Kohl we Habahan). Tahers earlier 20 books, including Egypts Artisans (Saniyait Masr) and Songs Radio (Izaat El-Aghani) have sold well, also issued by Al-Karma.

Typical of Omar Taher, his take on things is always very different, Salmawy says. Kohl we Habahan was very well received. It topped the list of our best sellers for the book fair this year, he said.

Coming as a close second on the list of Al-Karmas best sellers this year is Ibrahim Eissas second volume of his literary take on the early wars in Islam.

Wars of the Merciful Figures (Horoub El-Rohamae) is a sequel to The Journey of Blood: The First Assassins (Horoub El-Dam - Al-Qatallah Al-Awaeil) that came out two years ago.

The final part of the trilogy is expected to come out in two years, according to Salmawy.

This is one of Eissas most laborious and interesting projects: to write three literary sequels of a very controversial historic base, Salmawy said.

He added that Eissas novels are in fact a very realistic and vivid literary take on the history of these years as documented in several acknowledged Sunni references.

They are about the early Muslim power squabbles and wars.

One can read the history books, of course, but then again reading a novel is perhaps more engaging for some, especially that it is not just a very well researched novel, but also very gripping, Salmawy said.

On Al-Karmas best sellers in the non-fiction genre are titles like The Margins of Al-Makrizi: Stories from Egypt (Hawmesh El-Makrizi  Hekayat min Masr), a reprint of a book that journalist/writer Salah Eissa published three decades ago. The book is a collection of historical stories covering Egypts Mamlouk years to the eve of the 1919 Revolution.

We did not think of this book as a contribution to commemorate the centennial of the 1919 Revolution; we just thought of this is a valuable book about interesting events that are still worth reading today. Those were originally articles that Salah Eissa had published in Al-Gomhouriyah daily, Salmawy said.

The book is featuring at number five of Al-Karmas list of best sellers.

Another bestseller for Al-Karma this year is Born (Al-Mouloudah). Nadia Kamels literary biography of her late mother that was published last year received the Sawiras Cultural Award for the best novel.

According to Salmawy, there is always a keen interest for engaging biographies. People like to learn and read about people."

Within the personal vista are popular books of letters. For the book fair this year, Al-Karma issued the second volume of letters by late prominent film director Mohamed Khan to his friend, cinematographer Saeid ElShimy.

Khans name is associated with some of the best films in Egyptian cinema from the 1970s to the early 2000s. His last film, Before the Summer Crowds (Qabl Zahmet Al Seif), came out in 2015.

In 2018, Al-Karma published the first volume of letters.

The two volumes offer an incredible insight not just into the life of Khan, but into the film industry as a whole a few decades back. They reflect the lives of people in general, and youth in particular, in these years between 1959 and 1973, which were loaded with so many emotions, creativity and ideas, Salmawy said.

Filmmaking appears to be a particular passion of Salmawys. One of the books he was keen to buy in this years book fair is How to Watch a Movie by prominent cinema critic Mahmoud Abdel Shakour.

In the book, the author takes his readers through the details of 100 scenes from some of Egypts most watched movies. reflecting on the sentiments and ideas each director tries to project into the viewer through the use of lighting, colour and close-ups.

I thought that this was a must-read because Mahmoud Abdel Shakour is one of the best cinema critics of our times and he has the ability to analyze and explain the most complicated scenes and films, Salmawy said.

Other books on the shopping list of Salmawy included the Arabic Booker shortlisted novel of Europe-based Iraqi novelist Inaam Kachachai, The Outcast (Al-Nabizah), Sudanese novelist Hamour Zeyadhs Drowning (Al-Gharak) and Khaled El-Khamisis novel "Al-Shamandar".

For Salmawy, these are three novelists who have never failed to impress him with their previous works.

Then there is also Be Brave This Time (Kon Shogaan hazeih El-Mara), the latest volume of poetry by Ibrahim Dawoud, that Salmawy bought from the fair this year.

Ibrahim Dawoud is a very unique poet. It is not just the style of his poetry but also the way he reflects on himself vis-a-vis everything around him that is both emotional and intriguing.

For Seif Salmawy, the 2019 Cairo International Book Fair (CIBF) was great The organisation was excellent and so were the sales for the most part, he said.

Salmawy said that publishers this year offered a wide selection of titles for young adults, a lot of fiction, as usual, and a new  even if timid  presence of non-fiction titles.

Al-Karma, Salmawy's publishing house, was founded in 2013 and has been taking part in CIBF since. This year, Salmawy said, has been quite a good experience in terms of displaying books in a way that was functional. It was done in a way that attracted the right audience for everyone.

One thing I noticed was that publishers are becoming more attentive to the nature of Egypts demography where young adults are really a majority to be reckoned with, Salmawy said.

Attention to young adult reading preferences has been a growing trend in Egypt for the past few years. Some publishers and writers have refered to a "post-January Revolution" approach gaining ground.

Salmawy, however, is of the opinion that even prior to 2011 there was an effort by the publishing industry in Egypt to provide books that would appeal to young adults as well as elders.

An example for Salmawy are the books of Ahmed Khaled Tawfik, who passed away last year.

This year, prior to CIBF, Al-Karma issued Tawfiks most recent collection of short stories, Graveyard Celebrations (Afrah El-Maqbarah). In a sequel of nine short stories, Tawfik begs existential questions typical to his work on the meaning of right and wrong, and life and death, - camouflaged as usual as page turning horror and thriller stories.

.

Tawfiks last title figured third on Al-Karmas list of best sellers for this years CIBF.

Featuring fourth on the same list is Bitter like coffee, Sweet like chocolate (Mor mithl Al-Qahwa, Helwa mith Al-Chcocolat), by young author, Mirna ElHelbawy.

Her debut novel is a soul-searching/romance/travel book.

It is the kind of a novel that would appeal to people from the age of 16 to the age of 50, so it is not a typically young adult title, or rather not strictly, Salmawy said.

For the same age range, this year AlKarma issued Omar Tahers first novel, Kohl and Cardmom (Kohl we Habahan). Tahers earlier 20 books, including Egypts Artisans (Saniyait Masr) and Songs Radio (Izaat El-Aghani) have sold well, also issued by Al-Karma.

Typical of Omar Taher, his take on things is always very different, Salmawy says. Kohl we Habahan was very well received. It topped the list of our best sellers for the book fair this year, he said.

Coming as a close second on the list of Al-Karmas best sellers this year is Ibrahim Eissas second volume of his literary take on the early wars in Islam.

Wars of the Merciful Figures (Horoub El-Rohamae) is a sequel to The Journey of Blood: The First Assassins (Horoub El-Dam - Al-Qatallah Al-Awaeil) that came out two years ago.

The final part of the trilogy is expected to come out in two years, according to Salmawy.

This is one of Eissas most laborious and interesting projects: to write three literary sequels of a very controversial historic base, Salmawy said.

He added that Eissas novels are in fact a very realistic and vivid literary take on the history of these years as documented in several acknowledged Sunni references.

They are about the early Muslim power squabbles and wars.

One can read the history books, of course, but then again reading a novel is perhaps more engaging for some, especially that it is not just a very well researched novel, but also very gripping, Salmawy said.

On Al-Karmas best sellers in the non-fiction genre are titles like The Margins of Al-Makrizi: Stories from Egypt (Hawmesh El-Makrizi  Hekayat min Masr), a reprint of a book that journalist/writer Salah Eissa published three decades ago. The book is a collection of historical stories covering Egypts Mamlouk years to the eve of the 1919 Revolution.

We did not think of this book as a contribution to commemorate the centennial of the 1919 Revolution; we just thought of this is a valuable book about interesting events that are still worth reading today. Those were originally articles that Salah Eissa had published in Al-Gomhouriyah daily, Salmawy said.

The book is featuring at number five of Al-Karmas list of best sellers.

Another bestseller for Al-Karma this year is Born (Al-Mouloudah). Nadia Kamels literary biography of her late mother that was published last year received the Sawiras Cultural Award for the best novel.

According to Salmawy, there is always a keen interest for engaging biographies. People like to learn and read about people."

Within the personal vista are popular books of letters. For the book fair this year, Al-Karma issued the second volume of letters by late prominent film director Mohamed Khan to his friend, cinematographer Saeid ElShimy.

Khans name is associated with some of the best films in Egyptian cinema from the 1970s to the early 2000s. His last film, Before the Summer Crowds (Qabl Zahmet Al Seif), came out in 2015..

In 2018, Al-Karma published the first volume of letters.

The two volumes offer an incredible insight not just into the life of Khan, but into the film industry as a whole a few decades back. They reflect the lives of people in general, and youth in particular, in these years between 1959 and 1973, which were loaded with so many emotions, creativity and ideas, Salmawy said.

Filmmaking appears to be a particular passion of Salmawys. One of the books he was keen to buy in this years book fair is How to Watch a Movie by prominent cinema critic Mahmoud Abdel Shakour.

In the book, the author takes his readers through the details of 100 scenes from some of Egypts most watched movies. reflecting on the sentiments and ideas each director tries to project into the viewer through the use of lighting, colour and close-ups.

I thought that this was a must-read because Mahmoud Abdel Shakour is one of the best cinema critics of our times and he has the ability to analyze and explain the most complicated scenes and films, Salmawy said.

Other books on the shopping list of Salmawy included the Arabic Booker shortlisted novel of Europe-based Iraqi novelist Inaam Kachachai, The Outcast (Al-Nabizah), Sudanese novelist Hamour Zeyadhs Drowning (Al-Gharak) and Khaled El-Khamisis novel "Al-Shamandar".

For Salmawy, these are three novelists who have never failed to impress him with their previous works.

Then there is also Be Brave This Time (Kon Shogaan hazeih El-Mara), the latest volume of poetry by Ibrahim Dawoud, that Salmawy bought from the fair this year.

Ibrahim Dawoud is a very unique poet. It is not just the style of his poetry but also the way he reflects on himself vis-a-vis everything around him that is both emotional and intriguing.



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Foremost lawyer and human rights activist, Mike Ozekhome, has reacted to the bench warrant issued by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT...





Foremost lawyer and human rights activist, Mike Ozekhome, has reacted to the bench warrant issued by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, against the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Walter Onnoghen.





We had reported that the CCT on Wednesday also mandated the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu and the Director General, Department of State Services, DSS, Yusuf Magaji to effect his arrest.





This development was sequel to an application by the prosecuting counsel, Aliyu Umar, praying the tribunal that a bench warrant be issued against Onnoghen whom he said has been consistently absent from court.





Umar, however, argued that his application for a bench warrant was appropriate given that Onnoghens none-appearance today was the main reason upon which the last adjournment was approved.





In a statement made available to newsmen on Wednesday and entitled THE CCTS BENCH WARRANT FOR THE CJN ONNOGHENS ARREST: CARRYING THE JOKE TOO FAR , the senior advocate of Nigeria(SAN), condemned the bench warrant, describing it as a trivialization of the judicial process.





The statement read: Its quite saddening and abhorrent to hear that the CCT has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of CJN Walter Nkanu Onnoghen.





For Gods sake, this is bordering on the vendetta, the ridiculous and trivialization of the judicial process. I condemn this unwholesome step which puts the CCT in the public domain as being on a vengeful and extra-legal mission against the CJN.





It must be pointed out that this latest step by the CCT which has argued it is solely under the president and not under the judiciary, appears to be teleguided by the dictatorial Executive, especially the presidency. These are my reasons for this strong view:





1. The NJC has since taken over the investigation of the CJN as provided for in sections 153,158,291,292(2) and section 21, parts A and B to the 3rd schedule to the Nigerian Constitution.





2. The EFCC has since written a petition against the same NJC, using the same evidence as that before the CCT





3. The CCT has itself adjourned the CJNs matter for argument on whether it even has jurisdiction at all to hear the case against the CJN





4.There are at least 4 Court orders directing the CCT to halt further proceedings.





5. The CJN has not yet been physically arraigned before the CCT on the charges filed such as to give the CCT and jurisdiction over the CJN.





6. Under the Provisions of the ACJA, a person such as Justice Walter, can even be tried in absentia. He therefore does not therefore have to be humiliated by being bundled to the court for arraignment like a common criminal. So, it is not a question of one being above the law.





7. By virtue of section 8 of the ACJA, every suspect is to be accorded humane treatment, with dignity and no suspect is to be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment.





8. By virtue of section 3(d) of the CCB/CCT Act, the CJN ought not have been charged at all before the CCT, given his admission of mistaken non full compliance with the declaration of his assets. The section provides that he shall not be charged before the CCT once he admits non compliance. The matter ends there, as he shall be made to comply by being given fresh forms to fill and make full disclosure.





9. The earlier order made by the CCT that the CJN shall step aside has since been appealed against to the Court of Appeal and the appeal ought to be allowed to run its full course.





It is very clear to me that the CJN is being mob-lynched by the government and a section of the compromised or uninformed members of the public; is being harassed, intimidated and deliberately, painted with the paintbrush of shame, all with a view to present a fait accompli as to why.The Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd), has directed the closure of all Nigerian land borders with effect from Fr...

The Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd), has directed the closure of all Nigerian land borders with effect from Friday, Feb. 15 to Sunday, Feb. 17 due to the Saturdays Presidential and National Assembly elections.

This was disclosed in a press statement issued by the Comptroller-General, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mr Muhammad Babandede, in Abuja.





Mr Muhammad said that there would be restriction of movements across the Nigerian borders during the election on the days announced.



The Independent National Electoral Commission in Benue State on Wednesday said that hoodlums who dressed in military uniform attacked t...

The Independent National Electoral Commission in Benue State on Wednesday said that hoodlums who dressed in military uniform attacked the commissions vehicle.









The State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda, disclosed this when addressing journalists on the preparation for Saturdays election late Wednesday.









According to him, the vehicle carrying non-sensitive materials to the Logo area of the state was attacked by people in military uniform.









Yilwatda, who was answering questions about the possibility of hoodlums who camouflage as policemen said, This is true. Recently, our vehicle which was conveying non-sensitive materials was attacked along the Logo area by people in military uniform.









The REC said that efforts were ongoing to stop this because the Commission had said that security men participating in the election would be accredited.









He stated further that 22,000 ad hoc staff made up of able people and People Living With Disabilities have been recruited for the conduct of the 2019 general elections in the state.







Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (I...





Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise the partys candidates in Zamfara for the forthcoming elections.





In a letter dated February 13, Oshiomhole said that the judgment of the court of appeal in Sokoto allows the party to field candidates for elections in the state.





The letter, with reference number APC/NIDQ/INEC/19/019/08, asked the commission to obey the court order as soon as possible.





In another letter, Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation, had asked INEC to postpone the elections in the state due to litigation.

I refer to our previous correspondence to you dated 25th January, 2019 in respect of our Partys Candidates for Governorship, Deputy Governorship. Senate, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly in respect of the 2019 General Elections for Zamfara State, the statement read.





We wish to inform you that the Court of Appeal, Sokoto Division on the 13th February, 2019 dismissed the Appeal of the Appellants challenging the judgment of the Trial Court delivered on 25th January, 2019





We therefore urge the Commission to give effect to the said judgment of the High Court of Justice, Zamfara State delivered on the 25th of January, 2019.





We look forward to you treating the matter with the urgency it requires.



The Islamic State (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for an attack on the convoy of the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, on Tuesd...





The Islamic State (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for an attack on the convoy of the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, on Tuesday evening.





Shettima, who is contesting for a senatorial seat in this years election, was heading for a rally when the incident happened.





ISIS, in a statement on its Amaq news agency, claimed that 42 people were killed in Tuesdays attack on the Governors motorcade.





Shettimas Special Adviser on Communications and Strategy, Malam Isa Gusau, had confirmed the attack in a statement issued to reporters in Maiduguri on Thursday, but said only three persons were killed.

According to him, the attack happened on Maiduguri-Gamboru Road.





Gusau said: Gov. Kashim Shettima mourns with the deepest thought and heartfelt condolences, the demise of some fellow citizens, brothers, associates and loyal supporters.





This follows the unfortunate ambush of some vehicles in his convoy by suspected insurgents on Tuesday evening along the road to Gamboru, headquarters of Ngala Local Government Area.



The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has dismissed as untrue, allegations by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC...





The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has dismissed as untrue, allegations by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, that the electoral umpire was working in cahoots with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to short-change it in the general elections.





Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, said yesterday night, that the commission is not a political party, explaining that the fate of APC in Zamfara and Rivers states were as a result of judicial pronouncements.





He was reacting to allegation by the National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole that two Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, of INEC are campaigning side by side with the PDP in the South-south, saying the Commission is grossly unfair to his party.





According to him, It is not true that the Independent National Electoral Commission is working hand in gloves with any political party to do the wrong things. The issue of Zamfara and Rivers are well known.

In the case of Zamfara, the Commission had written to the APC leadership to notify it that, due to its inability to conduct its primaries in Zamfara State within the stipulated time as required by law, the party cannot field candidates for the governorship election. Thereafter, two cases were instituted in court resulting in two rulings which were delivered the same day. The Commission then adopted one of the rulings.





In the case of Rivers, it was the Supreme Court that took a final decision on the fate of APC. Therefore, both cases were purely judicial and INEC, being a law abiding institution, will always obey court orders/judgment.





The Commission is not a political party and does not have a candidate for the forthcoming general elections. Our duty is to provide a level-playing field for all registered political parties and ensure that elections are conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner, Oyekanmi told Vanguard.





On his part, INECs Director of Publicity and Voter Education, Oluwole Osaze-Uzi challenged the APC to furnish the Commission with evidences of bias against the RECs. He said the commission was preparing for Saturdays elections and would not allow itself to be distracted.



Femi Adesina, President Muhammadu Buharis special adviser on media, Wednesday, lambasted ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Peopl...





Femi Adesina, President Muhammadu Buharis special adviser on media, Wednesday, lambasted ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).





He said the former leader, a farmer, failed in the agriculture sector, despite being in power for over a decade as military and civilian president.





This was contained in an article he wrote titled Things that pertain to our peace.

The spokesman added that Obasanjo and his party looted the treasury and never cared about Nigerians.





Adesina said: As we hold elections this Saturday to elect our President for the next four years, may we know the things that pertain to our peace as a country. May we opt for the straight and narrow path weve been treading for about four years, because at the end of it is peace.





May we resist the allure to jump into the wide road that seems quite easy to travel, for at the end of it is destruction and damnation. Not all that glitters is gold. A goodly apple might be rotten at the cheek.





Advising Nigerians to shun the PDP on election days, Adesina described them as a coalition of people with questionable reputation, who have entered into a confederacy, poised to again stick their snouts into the nectar of office, and perhaps suck out the very lifeblood of the country. In the past, while they held sway, they drew down the Federation Account.





Plundered the foreign reserves. Looted the excess crude account into nothingness. Ran the country into a hole. Till they were given the left leg of fellowship by Nigerians in 2015. Now they have regrouped, poised to wreak havoc again? Not if Nigerians know the things that pertain to their peace.





There is a farmer who ruled this country for about 12 years in all, if you decide to add his time as a military head of state and two terms as a civilian leader. He paid lip service to agriculture, following it with billions upon billions of naira. It all went down the drain.





At the end of his tenure, in which he had to quit involuntarily, Nigeria was nowhere near food self-sufficiency. We still spent millions of dollars annually to import food.





But within three years, President Buhari changed the picture. Rice importation reduced by about 90%, we can now feed ourselves, and also sell food to neighboring countries. That same man claims he hasnt seen what President Buhari has done. True. No man is as blind as the person who deliberately refuses to see.





There was a time the sluice gate of corruption was open in this country. Public coffers were like gravy train, from which you took what you wanted at will. Till a new Sheriff came into town. President Buhari came this way, and stealing promptly became corruption. Would we then exchange transparency for fantastic and grand corruption? Not if we know what pertains to our peace.





See infrastructural development round the country. Roads, bridges, rail, power, all showing a government at work for the people. The second Niger Bridge that they built with their mouths in 16 years is now making steady, sustainable progress. Every state in the country has at least a major federal road under construction.



Bola Ahmed Tinubu is an ugly and repugnant little creature who lives in and presides over the affairs of Lagos state. He comes...





Bola Ahmed Tinubu is an ugly and repugnant little creature who lives in and presides over the affairs of Lagos state.

He comes from a long line of slave-dealers even though he is of questionable parentage. He hails from a small town in Osun state called Iragbiji and many claim that his real name is not Bola Ahmed Tinubu but rather Hameed Sangodele or Yekini Amoda Ogunlere or Bobo Chicago





Whatever his real name is or whatever anyone chooses to call him, at every available opportunity this creature insists on insulting President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan accusing them of deceit, theft, incompetence, graft, corruption and all manner of atrocities.





He claims to be holier and better than them yet the truth is that he is not fit to be used as toilet paper to clean their either of their rectums.

He suffers from low self-esteem, he has no conscience and he will do anything or sell anybody for money and power.

He is a traitor to the Yoruba, a traitor to the south, a traitor to the progressives and a traitor to the oppressed. He is the Judas of Nigeria, the first born of hell and the supreme leader of the accursed.





He is a conflicted, compromised, corrupt, filthy, parasitic and sociopathic leech and a professional loafer that has sold his soul to satan and that has traded his nation, his people, his heritage, his conscience and his honor to Beelzebub in return for a few choice morsels at Buharis table.





The truth is that he is not fit to be Obasanjos or Jonathans houseboy let alone join issues with either of them or insult them in the way that he has been doing.





I advise him to respect himself, to seal his lips and to prepare for his retirement to Iragbiji after his candidate and master is thoroughly defeated and humiliated in saturdays election.





I urge him to appreciate the fact that all the blood that has been shed over the last three years by the Buhari government, their security forces and their secret and covert associates and allies, including the Fulani Herdsmen, Boko Haram, ISIS West Africa and the Malian Fulanis, remains firmly on his hands and that both he and his impish little dwarf and pliant midget called Yemi Osinbajo, will be called to account and be brought to justice for the shedding of that blood.





There are principally five people that many consider to be incurable lepers and treacherous collaborators and that they hold responsible for the suffering, humiliation and deprivation of the people of the south and the Middle Belt over the last three years and six months and when the time comes we shall bring them to justice.





The first is the fraud called Bola Ahmed Tinubu who literally worships Buhari and literally prays and makes supplications to him every night .





The second is the foul-mouthed, pot-bellied creek Haramite from Rivers state called Rotimi Amaechi who has sold his own people down the river, who said that saturdays presidential election would be a battle and not an election and who has threatened violence against the people of Rivers state for the sake of Buhari.





The third is the pamper-wearing and over-bloated pregnant frog from Imo state called Rochas Okorocha who once said that Buhari was the best thing that has ever happened to the Igbo since sliced bread.





The fourth is the cruel, violently aggressive, abusive, mentally-unstabe delinquent and unconciable sociopath from Kogi state called Yahaya Bello who once said Christians are angry with Buhari only because they can no longer steal to pay tithe.





And the fifth is the utterly shameless and spineless quisling and cowardly modern-day Uncle Tom from Plateau state called Solomon Lalong who once said that Buhari taught him how to run his state as governor.





These five unhinged and malevolent personalities, with Bola Tinubu acting as their leader and the proverbial chief slave to the vicious and ugly hegemonist tendency and feudal cabal that Buhari represents, have done much harm to the cause of the Middle Belt and the south. They have also joined hands and forces with the enemies of God and sought to undermine the Church and destroy the Christian faith.





They are nothing but minions and acolytes of the salafists and wahhabists of the core Muslim north and they are perfect examples of those that have variously and rightly been described as useful idiots and accursed slaves.





We shall not forget their contributions to the suffering and bondage of our people and neither shall we forget their wickedness, insensitivity and cruelty.





Permit me to share just one example of that cruelty here. One of the most notorious and egregious acts of wickedness that Tinubu has ever indulged in is the fact that he encouraged his puppet governors in Lagos state to prosecute Prophet T.B. Joshuas SCOAN Church after the Church went through the trauma, hardship and tragedy of being bombed by a group of callous and heartless terrorists a few years earlier resulting in the death of almost 200 innocent souls, most of whom were foreigners.





Tinubu knew the facts and knew what really happened but because he hates the Church so much he sought to cover up the truth and instead joined hands with others and blame the bombing of the building on the victims, the Church itself and the man of God, alleging that the structure was not well-built and that it had a faulty foundation.





This is not only a lie from the pit of hell but also wickedness in its most graphic and unadulterated form and it has undoubtedly resulted in a deep spiritual wound on Bola Tinubu and his entire political family. I have no doubt that as a consequence of this alone Gods judgement will stalk them all the days of their lives.





Yet it does not stop there and Tinubu is not the only one that is under the judgement of the Living God. His master Buhari is as well and perhaps even more so.





In Exodus 14:4 the Holy Bible says, I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.





We are witnessing the full manifestation of this scripture unfold before our eyes today as our very own Pharaoh and his army of Egyptians are being humiliated, brought down to their knees and stripped naked before the entire world.





The Lord has hardened Pharaoh Buharis heart unto destruction and he and his entire brood of blood-sucking and flesh-eating demons in human skin are about to experience their Red sea moment.





They will meet a bitter and tragic end and the Lords name will be glorified. The clock is ticking and the bell tolls for them.





Just a few days ago Obasanjo said if we expose those in Buharis government they will not only go to jail but they will also go to hell. I have no doubt that this is true.





The hottest place in hell has been reserved for Buhari and his political associates who I can best describe as a congregation of incorrigible crooks and scammers and a lawless congress of sadistic and irredeemable miscreants and baboons. By Gods grace, when the time comes, they will enter into the burning flames of hell head-first.





Given the fact that their candidate faces imminent defeat and a massive disgrace in the presidential election in a few days time, they would do well to leave Obasanjo and Jonathan alone and concentrate their efforts on asking God for forgiveness for their many atrocities and redeeming themselves before the Nigerian people.





Permit me to conclude this contribution with a word to Buhari himself.





You complain that the USA is supporting in-coming President Atiku Abubakar yet in 2015 when you were their candidate you did not complain.





Those that lack foresight together with the ignorant, cowardly, misgiuded and evil in our midst, with the help of Barack Obama, put you in power in 2015 and those that have foresight together with the courageous, wise, insightful and righteous in our midst, with the help of Donald Trump, will get you out in a few days time!





Things have really changed three years and six months down the line. Three years ago could you ever have imagined that you, your party National Chairman Adams Oshiomole and your Vice President Yemi Osinbajo could be booed and stoned at your own party rally in Abeokuta?





Three years and six months ago would you ever have believed that your chief slave and chief priest, Bola Ahmed Tinubu would, out of anger and frustration, throw your party flag on the floor in full glare of the television cameras and the public at the same rally?





I doubt it! Yet these things happened before your very eyes and it was all provoked and orchestrated by one of your favourite associates and political sons, Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun state.





As far as I am concerned this is the doing of the Lord and it is marvellous in our sight!





The Holy Bible says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. If you do not know and appreciate that already you soon will.





I suggest that you open your eyes Buhari, smell the coffee, throw in the towel and prepare to retire to Daura with your merciless and ruthless cabal!



The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday said it would appeal a Federal High Court judgment on the freezing of Benu...

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday said it would appeal a Federal High Court judgment on the freezing of Benue State account by the anti-graft agency.









A statement from acting EFCC spokesman, Tony Orilade yesterday said having reviewed the judgment of Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon of the Federal High Court sitting in Makurdi, Benue State, which awarded N50million damages against the Commission and N25million each against UBA and Fidelity Bank in favour of the state government, the Commission will appeal the ruling.









Orilade said it was important that the verdict of the court is out to test the verdict the first instance in a superior court on the grounds that if a verdict such as this is allowed to stand, it may undermine the patriotic efforts of the Commission in tackling corruption.









The EFCC investigated the financial dealings of the state governor in August last year and directed for a temporary freeze of the governments account with UBA and Fidelity Bank.









Orilade said, We wish to state with a high sense of responsibility that we have, as a Commission, taken such actions as a necessity, since it is within our mandate, derived from the law.







A letter purportedly written by Godswill Akpabio, former governor of Akwa Ibom, to request additional security support in order to sup...





A letter purportedly written by Godswill Akpabio, former governor of Akwa Ibom, to request additional security support in order to suppress voting in the state has been trending on social media.





The letter, dated November 15, 2018 and addressed to the chief of staff to the president, Abba Kyari, also requested the full support of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in order to capture Akwa Ibom for the All Progressives Congress (APC)  which Akpabio defected to in 2018 having been the senate minority leader for three years when he was in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).





Akpabio also said he had secured a large expanse of land for cattle settlement and was going to build a mosque in Uyo with the first three months of APC governorship if they won.





The letter was curiously signed off twice  yours sincerely in print and yours faithfully in handwriting.





This would suggest that his signature and handwritten greeting were copied from another letter and super-imposed.





HERE IS THE FULL TEXT OF THE LETTER.

Gratitude for your marvellous support to Akwa Ibom APC





On behalf of my family, the governorship candidate and the entire members of the APC in Akwa Ibom State, I formally convey my profound gratitude to you for the excellent and unbridled support you have given to the party to ensure that our dear party wins Akwa Ibom in the fast-approaching.





Recall that during my visit last year, I had promised the President that:





A cattle settlement will be established in Akwa Ibom State once we win the governorship election. In consonant with that promise, I have ahead of the election acquired and secured 79 hectares of land in Ikono and Ini Local Government Areas in my senatorial district for the first phase of the project. We intend to start with a veterinary hospital to avoid suspicion from the citizens of the state.

A befitting mosque to be built in Uyo within the first three months of the new government, to complement the one in Eket. This project has been fully paid for by NDDC through a contractor who is a loyal party member.

However, to dot the Is and cross the Ts with absolute certainty, we will please require additional support as follows:





Additional contigent of security operatives to suppress voters and discourage voters turnout in PDP strongholds.

Full cooperation by INEC

i.INEC should give us result sheets and other materials ahead of time, preferably two days before the election





ii. Allow us access to uncollected PVCs especially in areas where the PDP still has strong presence





iii. Create additional 382 polling stations for ease of using uncollected PVCs





iv. In challenging cases, cancellation of elections/results in areas where the PDP would want to muster strength in order to enhance the position of the party.





I reiterate that we are committed and determined to capture the state at all cost: no blood will be spared. MayI reiterate that we are committed and determined to capture the state at all cost: no blood will be spared.





Permit me to reaffirm the assurances of our highest esteem.





Yours sincerely,





His Excellency





Senator (Dr) Godswill Akpabio, CON.





However, the letter has been described as fake and forged.





Anietie Ekong, special assistant (media) to Godswill Akpabio, has issued the following rebuttal, which he shared with TheCable.













Re: Gratitude for your marvelous support to Akwa Ibom APC





The attention of the former Senate Minority Leader and Senator representing Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District, Senator Godswill Akpabio, CON has been drawn to a forged letter purportedly written by him to the Chief of Staff to the President titled: Gratitude for your marvelous support to Akwa Ibom APC and making the rounds in the social media.





We wish to state categorically that the letter never emanated from the Distinguished Senator Godswill Akpabio. It is a poorly crafted piece of forgery and the figment of the imagination of the authors.





A cursory look at the letter reveals the fakeness of the contents. For instance, the complimentary closing line reads, Yours sincerely and Yours faithfully in one letter!





With an imminent defeat in the coming polls, we have always known that desperate politicians will be up to some tricks to gain some political mileage, but we never imagined they could go to the extent of committing forgery just to malign an opponent.





Fortunately, the perpetrators are not ghosts. We have alerted security agencies to be on the look out for those who have either published or shared the sham document for an invitation to shed more light on its source.





Once again, we wish to assure the teeming supporters of Senator Godswill Akpabio and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State and beyond to remain focused, steadfast and unshaken in their commitment to resoundingly vote for President Muhammadu Buhari and all candidates of the party in the coming elections.





According to the immortal words of the great Spanish writer, Miguel de Cervantes, truth will rise above falsehood as oil above water.



In Egypt, where the cultural sphere is as rich and varied as any in the world, the amount of work done by artists, cultural managers and their supporters is enormous, but such enormous effort, time, dedication and finances are not always as obvious as one might hope. The amount of work done by art managers hugely exceeds the recognition they receive.



Artists and arts managers often ask themselves questions about insufficient visibility and impact, blaming the audience, local culture or any number of factors extraneous to their own work.



But the truth is that whatever the nature of a given creative project, as long as it carries good values and offers something interesting  whether new to the audience or already known  there are always ways to bolster up its impact through marketing and public relations.



Of course this is not as simple as it sounds. The equations governing the arts and how PR and marketing work within them is immensely complicated. Few cultural managers are aware of the whole puzzle of which they are a small part, a fact painfully clear once their relative failures are taken into account. But however complicated the situation, solutions are always possible.





It is not magic, Basma Hamed states, referring to the factors she tackles through her PR and marketing work for creative endeavours.



Her modest disposition conceals a firm self-confidence which, coupled by eloquence and a broad smile, is charming. At first Hamed seems like one of the few hundred young people on the cultural scene with an articulate sense of her surroundings and a passion for art. But once you examine the activities and projects she carries on her shoulders, it is immediately obvious she is one of a handful. And once you consider her efficiency organisational skills, understanding of the arts field and people in it, among other rare qualities required of a person who mediates art, marketing and PR, Basma Hameds achievement begins to look astonishing.



In fact it is thanks to her along with a few others that projects handled by the Orient Productions company  including the Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF), the Panorama of the European Film managed by Zawya art house cinema and the Jameel House of Traditional Arts which operates in Cairos Fustat area and is part of Art Jameel, a reputable organisation working across several countries  have come into existence. Hamed is also involved in many smaller and quieter projects, and she supports artists in many ways, often without her name ever appearing anywhere.



Hameds involvement in the arts is rooted in a few fundamental elements: her natural passion for the field, her education in mass communication (she holds a bachelors from the Masr University for Science and Technology, majoring in Broadcasting Radio and TV) and her self-development in the PR and marketing strategies that she implements on the ground.





We meet at an open-air cafe to enjoy the warm sun balancing out the cool February breeze. A truly amiable human being, Hameds story is worth studying...



I was exposed to arts and culture since I was a child. My parents are not artists, yet they always supported my interests. My dad was always busy working but he would take me and my siblings to the theatre to see childrens plays and to the Cairo International Children's Film Festival; he would drop us off before the show started and come back once it was finished. As I grew up I started attending theatre and opera by myself or with friends.



She then recalls her first artistic participations in the children choir operating under the Cairo Opera House, a path that she continues to pursue, taking professional singing lessons and working to master her soprano. I love opera and practicing singing is to me like a meditation session. I attend the lessons given by the operas Talents Development Centre, where I explore mainly the Italian arias.



Stressing the performing arts as she does, Hamed has another creative passion: jewellery making. I started making jewellery as a little girl. At first they were necklaces made of round pasta that I coloured, she laughs at the memory before adding that, taking notice of these attempts, her mother decided to support her with better materials.



I am lucky that my parents always encouraged my artistic endeavours. In fact, I gave a few exhibitions of jewellery craft. In parallel I continued with singing and occasional stage appearances. All this brought me closer to the field and helped me understand its dynamics.





On graduating Hamed worked as an assistant producer, production coordinator, assistant director as well as the PR officer at the Pyramedia for Media Production at Dubai TV, then as an executive producer at the Beeaty T.V. channel, which allowed her to look at the arts field from the viewpoint of the media.



I believe this is when I developed an understanding of how media works, and today my PR job is based in large part on this knowledge. One day I saw an announcement stating that the Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF) was looking for young people interested in working at the press office. By January 2013 I was on board preparing for the D-CAFs second edition. I was very lucky to have two mentors in D-CAF, two highly professional consultants who were in charge of the festivals PR in its first round. They directed me throughout the festivals second edition while at the same giving me a lot of responsibilities.



In 2015, Hamed was promoted to Marketing & PR Manager of D-CAF, while her work continued to draw attention from the media and by extension the public and supporters to the growing festival.



D-CAF has been a great challenge, at least at the beginning it was. We are talking about contemporary art, which even if it is a fascinating field, remains unknown to Egypts general public. The PR work involves for example educating the press about the importance of this art so we gain their trust and attention.



Hamed started working like the most meticulous engineer, building the PR structure  including planning, timeline, reports, comparing income and outcome etc  in the belief that this professional approach would pay back in the long run.



You cannot expect immediate results. Public relations is about building a network, consistency, understanding the language of your messages recipients, learning from experience and benefiting from growth.





While expanding her network and skills, Hamed also became responsible for other projects handled by Orient Productions, such as marketing and PR for the Arab Arts Focus showcase at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2017).



PR differs from one country to another and the patterns of some cultures or countries can never be copied in another. Copying a set of rules that prove successful in one part of the world to another will not bring the expected results in the target location. Its a matter of different dynamics, even if many elements of the work itself are similar.



We need to speak the language of the people we are addressing or we are simply leaking energy and minimising impact. In the Arab Arts Focus, and for local impact, I worked in cooperation with the local PR agency. The press release work was not the same, the approach was different, simply because the culture of the whole job was different. Adapting is necessary.



Soon other institutions were asking Hamed for her services. This is how she became involved with the Panorama of the European Film (2014) and the Jameel House of Traditional Arts (2016-date). D-CAF, Zawya and Jameel House work in completely different parts of the cultural scene and target different audiences yet as Hamed says, it is all about using the correct tools, while she remains professional in making sure each of her clients benefits from her services.



Moving in between different art sectors is also an opportunity for me to learn more about them and expand my network. I also wanted to understand how different people, artists and managers operate.





No need to add that at the end of the day, the art scene benefits from Hameds cumulative experience. She only hopes that PR and marketing players will utilise their knowledge in the creative scene and that artists and artistic bodies will make clear distinctions between different communication sectors. This, as she explains, will help arts management bring better impact and visibility to the arts.



Inside the arts field, there is a lot of confusion when it comes to terms such as marketing and public relations. Contrary to the belief of many arts managers, they are not interchangeable. Each job has distinctive characteristics while one complements the other. Public relations is about public, its publicity and the network created that generates the organic interest of the public and media which then gives credibility and makes an impact on the audience. Marketing reaches the audience and creates buzz differently. It can raise awareness through different tools such as investing in printed material for instance but it cannot function as a replacement for PR though in some companies the PR also does marketing tasks. The bottom line is that both complement one another and must function along parallel lines, Hamed explains, adding that a clear distinction between the two is more apparent on the international arts management scene and proves successful in bringing the expected results.

Putting everything into one melting pot wakens the projects visibility and impact. There are so many valuable artistic projects in Egypt yet many of them suffer from poor visibility. If you look closer at their operational aspect, you will find the same confusion, time and again  among other elements of course.



Hamed also points to media which still needs to do the arts justice. Yet, it is also in the hands of arts managers to work professionally, create media strategies, expand networks, educate media and public, so that, in return, interest is generated and partners are drawn into cooperation. In this as in other respects Hameds efforts are truly commendable, though it is all a result of her personal interests and as such continues to evolve.





Recently I took a different turn. I work part time for D-CAF now, part time for the Jameel House, and I take several freelance jobs that I can handle. Sometimes she relies on the support of other people who operate under her supervision, at other times she cooperates within a network.



Hamed says she would love to be more present in the performing and stage arts. Her eyes twinkle as she thinks about jewellery making, a passion that has suffered from lack of time for a few years, though during that time Hamed did make a few objects just for herself.



I need time for myself. I want to travel. The PR and marketing jobs, the workshops that I took here and there, took me to the different parts of the world  perks of the job. I also made a lot of friends. Now Id love to have more time for my personal travels, she smiles.



Over the past decade and a half, Basma Hamed has given the arts and cultural scene much. As she continues her work in PR and marketing of the arts, her practice has already launched, shed light on or repositioned many creative projects. She also has many artist friends who benefited from the skills and the knowledge that she generously offers them. The accumulated understanding of the field and culture, the expertise developed, the passion for arts and willingness to learn will continue taking Hamed on great journeys.



Those who are yet to cross paths with her, will definitely be drawn to her character, dedication and passion, personal and professional generosity. In this context, Basma Hamed is a unique cultural player in a country where many challenges face artistic endeavour, which she approaches with an ever growing arsenal of solutions.









* A version of this article appears in print in the 14 February 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Art partisan

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

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Immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has revealed alleged plans by the All progressives Congress, APC, to postpone ...





Immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has revealed alleged plans by the All progressives Congress, APC, to postpone the Saturdays presidential and national assembly elections.





Fayose disclosed this in a post on his official Twitter page on Wednesday night.





The former governor added that the leadership of the APC was presently in a meeting in respect to that.





According to him, APC plans to use incidences of INEC offices burnt in Imo, Anambra and Plateau States as excuse to move the election.





Fayose tweeted: leadership of APC now in a crucial meeting.





They are considering postponement of Saturdays elections till 2nd week of March, using burning of INEC offices in Anambra, Abia and Plateau States as well as insecurity in some states as reasons.









Recall that the headquarters of the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, in Awka, the Anambra State capital on Tuesday caught fire



Abba Kyari, chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, has taken a swipe at the US and Europe over their role in Nigerias upcoming...





Abba Kyari, chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, has taken a swipe at the US and Europe over their role in Nigerias upcoming elections.





In an article published by THISDAY, Kyari said while the world powers claim they want free and fair elections, their representatives in Nigeria have a different agenda.





Kyari accused the western nations of opposing Buhari because of his reform agenda which will free the country from import dependency and policies that hurt the Nigerian economy.





He also took a shot at Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president and Buharis main challenger in Saturdays election  linking the PDP candidate to the failures Nigeria has experienced as a developing nation.

This failure goes beyond individuals or particular political parties, although it is true that our decline accelerated under the PDP after the end of military rule in 1999, a betrayal that Atiku Abubakar and many of his allies hope forlornly to revive and celebrate, he wrote.





THE FULL TEXT

President Muhammadu Buhari has campaigned in this election exactly as he has governed since 2015, true to the values in which he has believed all his adult life: our security, a diversified economy and an administration free from the scourge of corruption and the sleazy mediocrity it fuels.





Buhari has not changed, and with good reason. Without these attributes, Nigeria will not know peace, prosperity or the rule of law: the only real foundations on which free and fair elections and genuine democracy can thrive. He is stubborn and resolute in defence of these values. This irritates quite a number in the elite, and especially those who, four years ago, thought that they could play the President and use his popularity to continue to steal and cheat the people.





These players have failed. They are angry but they have not yet given up. They have some unlikely allies. Our traditional friends in the US and Europe say they want nothing from Nigeria except free and fair elections. But if you look at what their representatives here actually do rather than what they say, the unmistakeable signs of a quite different agenda are plain to see.





Its easy to forget where we were, a country falling apart, unable even to protect school girls and where corruption defined every aspect of so much of our public life and private business. Today our media ignore the revelations in a Milan court of how oil companies and fixers stuffed cash in suitcases and the nine-figure bank accounts of former PDP justice ministers and spy chiefs and Presidents. This failure goes beyond individuals or particular political parties, although it is true that our decline accelerated under the PDP after the end of military rule in 1999, a betrayal that Atiku Abubakar and many of his allies hope forlornly to revive and celebrate.





Our young people see only the devastation that has been visited upon them, too young to remember the vibrant rural economy that once gave us the wealth for the schools and hospitals we are only now beginning to revive.





They cannot imagine the rubber plantations where for decades Dunlop and Michelin made tyres for Nigeria and the world. The factories are long since closed. Our palm oil was once a world leader but it is only now, under this government, that we are reviving an industry on life support. We have timber, we have hardworking people  and yet we came to be importing even simple school desks and bedframes. We have so much of what we need for fertilisers, yet government after government preferred to let the plants we had already built go to waste for easy commissions on second-rate imports. Textiles used to employ thousands, and will do again, when we allow our talent fairly to compete on the international stage.





A major crude producer with four refineries that once delivered petroleum products for home consumption and export, Nigeria was reduced to importing petroleum products as if we were Burkina Faso or Bangladesh, not a leading member of OPEC. Our golden goose was starved. The military and the PDP took all the money, they didnt pay oil partners what we owed and only now, after this governments efforts, speaking plainly and finding real solutions, can we begin to grow exports that have stagnated for 30 years.













When our private banks collapsed (again) in 2009, the outstanding liabilities were N5.7 trillion. It is hard to imagine a sum of money, so vast, owed by so few, to so many. The list of decay is long. And yet this was the inherited culture of government  to those that have, give more  that we have challenged, a culture where every declared reform was in fact a disguise to privatise profit and leave the rest of us with all the risk.





Nigeria has almost as many problems as we have people. But it also has all the resources to meet our needs, if they are properly managed and honestly marshalled. Think where we would be today, but for all the time wasted, the prosperity we would enjoy and the better partner we might have been to our friends in the region and further afield! Buhari is not a populist but he is popular because he is delivering on our most basic needs first.





Do our foreign friends simply not understand what is at stake, or do they actually want us to fail? We know we are not equal partners, and do not pretend to be so. In our own time in government, the US, the UK and the EU let us know subtly, and often not so subtly, what we should be doing on everything from currency reform to fuel deregulation and the import of toothpicks.





They have their own subsidies to protect key strategic interests, their farmers and steel plants, but condemn our own efforts to protect the poorest and most vulnerable from an unregulated market for food, transport and housing, or to create and protect space for new opportunities and innovation to flourish. This is not so much a question of policy, but integrity: we, at least, mean what we say. So many past governments in Nigeria did not.





Our transition has been difficult because Nigeria needs radical change, which we have been delivering, despite ingenious and often disingenuous resistance from vested interests and the business-as-usual brigade. Which begs the question: is there a difference between what suits Nigerias real national interest and what suits the interests of the Great Powers? The years of failure were characterised by hypocrisy and betrayal by our leaders, who were in turn easy targets for manipulation  much easier for foreign powers to manage than a government genuinely looking to repair and revive today so that we can build tomorrow. And tomorrow never dies.













I always knew that business-as-usual had a powerful self-interest in resisting CHANGE. I had hoped their tentacles did not stretch so far or so easily beyond our borders, that a good case, well made, would receive a fair hearing. In three and a half years in government, I have learned that decent argument and hard facts face stiff competition from vested interests that seem so easily to sway people who should know better. A convenient lie is not better than an uncomfortable truth.





Nowhere is this clearer than the contrived debate on the conduct of elections. Buharis commitment to the democratic process is a matter of record, time and again. All of the work to rebuild our public institutions, restore our values and recalibrate our future prospects can succeed only in a democracy in which the integrity of elections is sacrosanct.





Instead of judging Nigeria by our actions, it seems altogether too easy for foreign partners to be swayed by the expensive words of lobbyists. Riva Levinson has been hired by Bukola Saraki. She was trained by Paul Manafort and Roger Stone (both caught up in the probe into interference by foreign powers in the US elections in 2016) and guide earlier in her career to dictators like Siad Barre, unprincipled warlords like Jonas Savimbi, or frauds like Iraqi exile Ahmed Chalabi, the man who neo-conned the Bush White House.





We are meant to believe that Ms Levinson, like the others who are paid by one of the contestants, wants only to promote a free and fair race. And that it is only a coincidence that this language for hire is identical to what we hear from accredited diplomats!





By omission or commission, it appears it may actually suit our friends, deep down, below the pious words, to see Nigeria a basket case, begging bowl in hand, than the partner we could, should and will prove to be. And we have been here before. At the end of 1984, British diplomats predicted a coup against the then Buhari government, with whom London was quarrelling over everything from apartheid to economic policy (as we knew then, and as it turned out, Buhari was right). Glowing profiles of Ibrahim Babangida were prepared and telegrams of congratulation were drafted. Mrs Thatcher put the project on ice, at least for a few months, but it was not long before foreign powers concluded that their best interests would be served by people who told them everything they wanted to hear on democratisation and reform, but, as they could and should have known, meant precisely none of it. Nigeria lived through the consequences of this systemic deception. We lost so much in the 30 years after 1985, but nothing as precious as the loss of confidence in our values and what we as a nation could be.





In the 19th century, Lord Palmerston, Britains Prime Minister and one of the countrys most celebrated diplomats, observed that nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests. We have been delivering on a programme to restore the rule of law, to build democracy and strengthen security, to deal with corruption and to create opportunity in a new meritocracy. It is a platform that helps tackle violent extremism, illegal migration, trafficking and financial crime. These are the very issues that are central to the interests of our foreign friends, and we are producing results.



A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has released 30 points that he said sta...





A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has released 30 points that he said stand President Muhammadu Buhari out as someone with equal regard as a Niger Delta son.





In a statement issued on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, Eze noted that unveiling those interventions by the APC administration was to correct the impression in some quarters that President Buhari had done nothing to improve the region.





Eze also maintained that a leader like the Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi will not sit and watch what happened to the APC members in 2014/2015 when they were allegedly killed like goats to be replicated again in 2019.





Eze listed the approval by the President to begin refund of N1.3 trillion to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), 44 modular refinery licenses, Maritime University, Transport University in Ubima (Rivers State), Historic Bonny Road, as major ones.

He wrote:





1. Siting and construction of the Federal University of Transportation in Ubima, Ikwerre council area of the state: The University to be built by China Civil and Construction Company (CCECC) is part of the federal governments efforts to develop qualified manpower that will manage the many railways facilities across the country and other transportation facilities. Apart from the University of Transportation in Rivers State, a similar university had earlier been approved to be sited at Daura, Kastina state.





2. Completion and commissioning of the International Wing of the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa in Rivers State.





3. Construction of an industrial park, which benefits from start to completion and inauguration, would be enormous to Rivers state and her people, to be sited on 10,000 acres of land on which the complex, an envisaged city on its own, would stand.





4. The Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval of contracts of N47Bn for road projects in the country, including redesigning and reconstruction of the Aba/Port-Harcourt section of the Enugu/Port-Harcourt Expressway





5. Dredging of Port Harcourt Seaport and provision of navigational aids for Escravos, at the sum of N13Bn.





6. Commencement of the implementation of the Ogoni clean-up exercise and the execution of the multi-billion naira Bodo/Ogoni-Bonny Road project, which when completed would open up the economic potentials of the Niger Delta region beyond the shores of Nigeria, all in Rivers state.





7. President Muhammadu Buharis administration has started the release of over one trillion naira owed the Niger Delta Development Corporation (NDDC) by previous federal administrations, including the administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to assist the body complete most of its projects in Rivers state and other states in the Niger Delta region.





8. Rivers State benefited from the unprecedented allocation of over N125Bn out of the N8.612 trillion appropriation bill presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, November 7, 2017 to the National Assembly to fund capital projects in 2018 in the Niger Delta region.





9. Rivers State benefited from the N53.89Bn earmarked for the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and N71.2 billion for NDDC for capital projects, also to benefit from the budgetary allocation for the Niger Delta Amnesty programme retained at N65Bn, with the budgetary allocation of N17.32 billion earmarked for the completion of the East-West Road.





10. Rivers State benefited from the Maritime University located at Okerenkoko in Delta State, with N5 billion budgeted in the 2018 budget for its formal take off. This is a University aimed to assist in the development and emancipation of the Niger Delta region.





11. To demonstrate the seriousness over the full implementation of the Ogoni clean-up exercise and the execution of the multi-billion naira Bodo/Ogoni-Bonny road project, budgetary provisions were all made in the 2018 budget, which when completed, would open up the economic potential of the Niger Delta region beyond the shores of Nigeria, all in Rivers state.





12. The APC-led federal government, apart from the above-named projects, embarked upon the following projects: the Calabar-Lagos Rail Line that cuts across Rivers state, the renovation/reconstruction of both Enugu-Port Harcourt Road and the West-East Road, the renovation of the Afam Power plant in Rivers State, resumption and reconstruction of the Enugu-Port Harcourt rail line, etc. All these projects were abandoned by PDP governments. It also includes appointment of sons and daughters of the region into key and crucial ministries and agencies.





13. PMBs administration also ensured that indigenes of the region are placed on full academic scholarships so that they can have access to quality education with monthly stipends.













14. Under PMBs administration, approvals for the establishment of modular refineries across the nine states of the Niger-Delta and a total of 38 licenses have been issued, covering high-scale refineries of 50,000 to 250,000 barrels per day.





15. About 10 of the modular refineries have secured their permit to construct and two of these 10 refineries are already under construction, and were completed by the end of 2018 under the Buhari-led administration.





16. The Buhari-led administration has ensured the resumption of construction works on abandoned projects awarded to different contractors across the Niger-Delta since 2006, including the all-important East-West Road.





17. The President Muhammadu Buhari administration set up the presidential initiative to boost agriculture and industry in the nine states of the Niger-Delta and Enugu, an initiative to revamp moribund industries in the region and to also inject new life into the agricultural sector.





18. The Buhari-led administration has completed six cassava processing plants in Bayelsa, Rivers, Abia, Ondo, Cross River and Imo states.





19. Under the President Buhari administration, more than 700 youths and women have acquired skills in different areas of business, trade and craft.





20. Also, 130 youths in the Niger Delta were trained on poultry, aquaculture, crop production and were given N1 million naira each by the Buhari-led administration.





21. In the Niger-Delta region 214 women who specialize in poultry and snail production were given between N350,000 to N500,000 each by the Buhari-led administration.





22. Another 198 women and youths in the Niger-Delta region were trained on ICT & business hub, poultry & fish production under PMBs administration.





23. Still, 60 youths from the Niger-Delta region were trained on assemblage and repair of phones under President Buharis administration.





24. Under PMBs administration, no fewer than 275 youths in the Niger-Delta region have benefited from the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and its joint venture agro skills acquisition through the Green Rivers Project Scheme.





25. The Vice president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo paid a visit to the Niger Delta region where he met with their elders and engaged them in discussions that restored peace to the region.





26 Under President Buharis Administration, the abandoned AKK pipeline that will enable delivery of gas from the south into the north and open up gas delivery to homes was repaired and restored.





27. PMBs Administration was able to work with the Niger-Delta leaders hence, the PANDEF group was set up which makes it easy to have a body that could engage the federal government.





28. The Buhari-led administration came up with the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialization Programme aimed at addressing the exit of gas flaring in the Niger Delta region.





29. President Buharis Administration has put up a framework for community-based participation in the protection of oil and gas pipelines, and oil and gas assets in the Niger Delta region.



The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it would not be requesting deployment from the army for election operat...

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it would not be requesting deployment from the army for election operations.









A National Commissioner with INEC, Festus Okoye said this on Wednesday in Abuja at the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room preliminary briefing on the state of preparedness for the 2019 General Elections.









He said in relation to the role of the military in the election, the Electoral Act was amended in 2015 to give INEC specific functions in relation to deployment of the police and the military in elections.









For this election, we are utilizing the services of the Nigerian Air Force in lifting sensitive materials to various states and to also lift within the states to difficult terrains. Secondly, for riverine areas, INEC will hire gunboats that will escort both sensitive materials and elections personnel to the riverine areas. That will be the extent to which we will use the military for the purposes of this election, he said









Okoye, who is also the Chairman of INECs Committee on Information and Voter Education, however added that, The military is engaged in internal security operations in almost 32 states of the federation and they are going to remain and do their internal security operations which have nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with the conduct of elections. So INEC will continue with the conduct of the elections while the military will continue with their internal security operations in the states where they are presently engaged in internal security operations.









We are good to go. We had some challenges but we were able to recover. As I speak, we are moving all the Smart Card Readers required for the conduct of the election to Anambra State and we are not going to postpone the election in any part of Nigeria.









He also revealed that there would be two collation officers for each of the 8,809 Registration Area (RAs) and also two collation officers for each of the 744 LGAs.









So, the collation officer for the presidential election will be different, collate and proceed from the RAs through the LGAs to the state before it is brought to the National Collation Centre in the FCT while the collation officer for the Senatorial and House of Representatives elections will move and stop at a certain point where declaration would be made, he said.









He also said that elections would be conducted at all the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps.









In his goodwill message, the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel, Mohamed Ibn Chambas expressed hopes that the security agencies will play their roles in a manner that will not compromise the electoral process.









Others that also expressed similar hopes for a free, fair and credible elections include the Head of European Union Delegation to Nigeria, Ketil Karlsen; the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, William Stuart Symington and the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing.









On his part, the convener of Situation Room, Clement Nwankwo said their observation of the 2019 general elections will take into cognisance the election environment and use INECs preparedness for the election as a basis for assessing its conduct of the polls.







Egypts central bank made a surprise cut to its overnight interest rates on Thursday, citing a strong drop in inflation and an improvement in other macroeconomic indicators.

The bank lowered its deposit rate to 15.75 percent from 16.75 and its lending rate to 16.75 percent from 17.75, it said in a statement, its first rate cuts since March 2018.

Ten out of 14 economists polled by Reuters said the banks Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was unlikely to change its overnight rates, while only four expected it to cut them.

The MPC said data continued to confirm the moderation of underlying inflationary pressures, leading it to lower rates by 100 basis points.

This remains consistent with tight real monetary conditions and with achieving the inflation target of 9 percent (plus or minus 3 percentage points) in 2020 Q4 and price stability over the medium term.

Consumer inflation fell to 12.0 percent in December and 12.7 percent in January from 15.7 percent in November, while core inflation edged up to 8.6 percent year in January from 8.3 percent in December.

The MPC said GDP growth had risen slightly to an annual 5.5 percent in last quarter of 2018 and unemployment, at 8.9 percent, had fallen to its lowest since 2010.

I think its a very good move, Hany Farahat, senior economist at Egyptian investment bank CI Capital, said of the rate cut. More importantly, it predicts further cuts in policy rates throughout 2019, which is going to be very good for the investment environment.

He said net foreign assets picked up in January and foreign inflows into the treasuries market had increased, accompanied by a 1.5 percentage point fall in yields over the last month.

The MPC last cut interest rates by 100 basis points in March and another 100 bps in February 2018.

All of the economic indicators were welcoming a reversion to normality, said Wael Ziada, head of investment company Zilla Capital. The high interest rates were not sustainable.

Macro relief is imminent. Inflation as you continue to restructure will be an accompanying pain, but short lived with spikes related to time of significant events.

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British Prime Minister Theresa May could be defeated in parliament on Thursday over her plan to renegotiate the Brexit deal, undermining her pledge to the European Union that, with changes, she can get the agreement approved.

Thursday's symbolic vote was seen by May's team as little more than a rubber stamp on her plan to secure changes to the divorce deal with the EU, giving her more time to satisfy lawmakers' concerns over one part of it - the Irish "backstop".

But hardline Brexit supporters in her Conservative Party are angry over what they say is her readiness to rule out a no-deal departure. May's Brexit minister Stephen Barclay again denied this in parliament, noting that, by law, Britain will leave the EU on March 29, with or without an agreement.

The latest twist in the two-year negotiation to leave the EU underlines the deep divisions in parliament over how, or even whether, Britain should leave the bloc - its biggest political and trade policy shift in more than 40 years.

A rebellion, even in a symbolic vote, would hurt May, who has insisted to EU leaders that if they offer her more concessions to the deal agreed in November, she can secure a majority in parliament.

"Colleagues should be in no doubt that the EU will be watching our votes tonight carefully for any sign that our resolve is weakening. We should not give them that excuse not to engage," Barclay told parliament as he opened the debate. Lawmakers are expected to vote from 1700 GMT.

"CLEAR MANDATE NEEDED"

A government source put it more bluntly: "Without support from MPs, it will be harder for the government to get the changes to the backstop we know they want."

An EU diplomat dealing with Brexit agreed, saying the bloc "needs her to have a clear mandate for talks".

But Steve Baker, a member of the pro-Brexit European Research Group of Conservative lawmakers, said no lawmaker in the governing party should be associated with anything that seemed to take a "no-deal Brexit" off the table.

One Conservative lawmaker said the ERG was discussing which strategy to pursue on Thursday after speaking to the government's chief whip, May's enforcer in parliament, and listening to Barclay. Two sources said the group would reach a decision later on Thursday.

The group's leader, Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg, told ITV he thought it was unlikely that the Brexit supporters would vote against the government. Others said they might abstain, which could also condemn the government to defeat.

The backstop arrangement is designed to prevent a return of border controls between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland if, after a period of negotiation, the two sides cannot agree a trade deal that makes checks unnecessary.

Many Brexit backers in parliament fear that it will keep Britain in the EU's orbit indefinitely, or result in Northern Ireland being split away.

On Wednesday, European Council President Donald Tusk said the bloc was waiting for Britain to present solid proposals to break the impasse after meetings in Brussels and telephone calls between May and EU leaders.

AMENDMENTS

Some Conservative and many opposition lawmakers accuse May of "running down the clock", edging Britain closer to the exit date to try to force parliament into a choice between backing her deal or leaving without an agreement.

Many businesses say that outcome would be catastrophic for the world's fifth largest economy: causing delays at ports, fracturing international supply chains and hindering investment.

More than 40 former British ambassadors called on the government to extend Britain's stay in the EU or allow for a second referendum, the Times newspaper reported. May has repeatedly said she will not back a second vote.

To try to prevent a no-deal exit, several lawmakers put down alternative proposals.

Parliament's speaker selected three to be voted on.

One calls for parliament to be given a vote on a revised Brexit deal or a debate on the next steps by Feb. 27; another seeks to delay Brexit for at least three months; and a third demands that the government publish an impact assessment of a no-deal departure.

Based on previous similar votes, the main opposition Labour Party is lkely to back the last proposal, increasing the likelihood that it will pass.

The real crunch date for the government looks set to come on Feb. 27, when May has promised the next round of votes. Lawmakers seeking to force the government to delay Brexit say that will be moment they make their move.

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For some, Valentines Day is a time to celebrate romance. For others, its a call to lift up and support others in the community.

As the editor of the local zine Maam Magazine, Tara Duckworth, wants to celebrate women in the area with a special cause.

As part of the zines monthly event at Unplugged, 2605 Frederick Ave., the publication will host a performance of the Eve Ensler play The Vagina Monologues at 7 p.m. today.

Following tradition, the play is typically performed on Valentines Day to honor the organization V-DAY, a global nonprofit movement started by Ensler to end violence against women and girls. The organization allows venues to perform the play free of royalties on the holiday.

The play still speaks to the universal struggles and triumphs of women. V-DAY both highlights the voices of women and is dedicated to ending violence against women, Duckworth says.

Chronicling a series of divergent female voices, The Vagina Monologues focuses on different aspects of the female experience, from rape to romance to birth.

Duckworth says while she has a history with the play, its meaning has transformed over the years.

I feel such a different connection to the work more than a decade later. I appreciate the monologues in a fresh light. I Was There in the Room, a monologue describing the agony and wonder of birth, I experience very differently after having given birth myself, she says.

The play mixes stories together with a variety of tones, from harrowing tales of assault to humorous ones.

I hope people have a lot fun watching the more humorous bits of the play. Hearing someone rattle off, in a variety of accents, 20-plus nicknames for a vagina is truly hilarious, Duckworth says. I hope people are moved to explore the inequalities that they, consciously or not, reinforce in their own lives.

Because the play offers such a variety of stories and perspectives, Duckworth says she hopes everyone in attendance feels seen.

I think thats what I love about The Vagina Monologues, it has something to offer everyone. Each year a new monologue highlighting a current issue is incorporated, so the play itself continues to evolve, she says.

Admission is $5 and will benefit the St. Joseph YWCA and the V-DAY 2019 Spotlight Campaign, Women in Prisons, Detention Centers, and Formerly Incarcerated Women.

I am incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to share this work and raise money for organizations that seek to end violence against women, Duckworth says.

The play fits the role Maam serves in the community every month. Between its monthly open mics and its zine, it highlights female talent in St. Joseph, along with their triumphs and struggles.

These monthly events encourage community and support among the incredibly talented women in the St. Joseph area. The Vagina Monologues is a perfect fit for the MAAM Presents Women series, as it highlights the voices of women through creative expression, Duckworth says.

Thank you for trusting us for your local news coverage. You have reached the maximum number of free articles per month. Subscribe today for unlimited access to News-Press NOW. It's a fast and easy way to support local journalism.WARNING: Graphic Content

Following the incident, the Saudi man has been charged with animal cruelty after being arrested in Jazan, Saudi Arabia.

The video went viral on social media, instigating the public to demand strict action against the accused.

According to the video footage, the animal is seen tied to the back of the mans SUV by its neck and dragged through the street while the helpless animal struggles to keep up.US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was looking forward to trade talks with China on Thursday, as discussions in Beijing moved to a higher level in a push to de-escalate a tariff war ahead of a March 1 deadline for a deal.

The talks, scheduled to run through Friday, follow three days of deputy-level meetings to work out technical details, including a mechanism for enforcing any trade agreement.

Looking forward to discussions today, Mnuchin told reporters without elaborating as he left his hotel.

He and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer opened the meetings shortly afterward at the Diaoyutai state guest house with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the top economic adviser to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

US tariffs on $200 billion worth of imports from China are scheduled to rise to 25 percent from 10 percent if the two sides dont reach a deal by the deadline, increasing pressure and costs in sectors from consumer electronics to agriculture.

US President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the negotiations had been progressing very well.

Trumps advisors have described March 1 as a hard deadline, and the president has said a delay was possible though he preferred not to do so.

A Bloomberg report cited sources saying Trump was considering pushing back the deadline by 60 days to give negotiators more time.

Countering that, Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of Chinas nationalist Global Times tabloid, tweeted that speculation on an extension was inaccurate, citing a source close to talks.

Trump has said he did not expect to meet with Xi prior to March 1, but White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders has raised the possibility of a meeting between the leaders at the presidents personal retreat at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

US Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Stephen Censky said on Wednesday that the two presidents were expected to meet sometime in March, but no dates were set.

TESTED BY THE TRADE WAR

The Chinese government has offered few details about the state of negotiations this week.

Chinese trade data released on Thursday showed imports from the United States fell 41.2 percent from a year earlier to $9.24 billion, the lowest amount in dollar terms since February 2016.

Exports to the United States also declined 2.4 percent to $36.54 billion, the lowest amount since April 2018.

Chinas trade surplus with the United States narrowed to $27.3 billion in January, from $29.87 billion in December.

Chinas soybean imports fell 13 percent in January from a year earlier, customs data showed, as a hefty duty on shipments from the United States, its second largest supplier, curbed purchases.

The United States has used tariffs as leverage to demand Beijing make major structural policy changes, including ending the forced transfer of American technology, fully enforcing intellectual property rights, and curbing industrial subsidies.

But China has denied accusations of trade abuses. While Chinese officials have repeatedly pledged to improve market access for foreign investors, few experts expect Beijing to agree to anything that would force fundamental changes to what Washington complains is its state-led approach to trade.

The Global Times struck a confident pose in an editorial late on Wednesday, saying that though Washington had started the trade fight, it was now more willing to reach an agreement.

China will never harm its fundamental interests. The policy has been tested by the trade war and we have seen the change in Washingtons attitude, the paper said.

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Hong Kong: Rhino horns seized at airport

Customs officers today seized 40kg of suspected rhino horns worth about $8 million at Hong Kong International Airport, a record for rhino horns seized from arriving air passengers.

Two men, aged 28 and 33, were arrested.

Officers intercepted them when they arrived at the airport from Johannesburg, South Africa and found the suspected rhino horns in their two check-in carton boxes. They were planning to transit to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, by air.

Penalties under the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals & Plants Ordinance increased drastically from May 1 of last year to provide a stronger deterrent against the smuggling and illegal trading of endangered species.

Any person importing, exporting or possessing specimens of endangered species not in accordance with the ordinance will be liable to a maximum fine of $10 million and a 10-year prison sentence.

On February 8, two people were sentenced to 16 months in jail by the District Court for smuggling 24kg and 17kg of agarwood.

It was the heaviest sentence handed down so far for illegal import of endangered species under the present ordinance.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Sun and clouds mixed. High near 80F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Low around 55F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Go to form(Newser)  It took him a few tries, but Roma actor Jorge Antonio Guerrero Martinez will be able to attend the Academy Awards. The Alfonso Cuaron film has been nominated for 10 Oscars, but Martinez, who lives in Mexico, said last month that he had thrice been denied a visa to the US. Now, with the help of Netflix, which distributed the film, he has finally obtained one, the Los Angeles Times reports. The streaming company worked with the US Embassy in Mexico to secure the non-immigrant visa. "Im really happy. Hopefully, and I say this with my whole heart, Yalitza wins the Oscar," says Martinez, who plays militant Fermin. Yalitza Aparicio, who plays his character's love interest, is nominated for best actress. The award show will be held Feb. 24. (Roma made out pretty well at the Golden Globes and very well at the Critics' Choice Awards.)(Newser)  Two men are being questioned in connection to the attack on Empire actor Jussie Smollett in Chicago, and police said Thursday they belive they are the same two men shown in an image from surveillance footage police released to the public shortly after the incident. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said detectives "meticulously" went over video footage and transportation records to track the men down, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. "These individuals are not yet suspects but were in (the) area of concern and are being questioned," Guglielmi says, per CNN. (The news came the same day Smollett told Good Morning America he's "pissed" at people who doubt the attack really happened.)(Newser)  One year later, Southwest Florida schools honored the victims of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., with a moment of silence at 10:17am Thursday. Schools in at least three counties did so, per Fox 4; Local 10 estimates hundreds of thousands of students and adults across the state participated. Though the shooting actually started later in the day last Valentine's Day, 10:17am was chosen to honor the 17 students and staff members killed, because Stoneman Douglas had an early dismissal so students wouldn't need to be on campus at the exact hour the attack took place. Some skipped school entirely, as officials expected; the AP reports less than 10% of the student population attended. Broward County Public Schools designated Feb. 14 a day of service and love, and while students were working on service projects, grief counselors, therapy dogs, massages, and pedicures were available to them. More coverage surrounding the one-year anniversary:



Student Aalyayah Eastmond recalls hiding under a classmate's body in order to survive, reports Today.com. She is now working for gun control.

Many Stoneman Douglas students became gun control activists in the wake of the shootings, and survivors David Hogg and Ryan Deitsch spoke to CNN to reflect on the progress made so far. "Through our activism, through our speaking out and working with both politicians, on the federal and local level, we've seen over 67 state laws be passed since the tragedy at our high school," Deitsch said.

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The White House released a presidential message: "On this somber anniversary, we honor their memory and recommit to ensuring the safety of all Americans, especially our Nations children," it reads, going on to recount what steps have been taken in the year since the shooting. "Melania and I join all Americans in praying for the continued healing of those in the Parkland community and all communities where lives have been lost to gun violence." Read it in full here. Trump's statement was criticized by some; the Washington Post headline notes that it "basically doesn't mention guns."

Former President Barack Obama praised the student activists, the Hill reports. "In the year since their friends were killed, the students of Parkland refused to settle for the way things are and marched, organized, and pushed for the way things should be - helping pass meaningful new gun violence laws in states across the country," he tweeted. "I'm proud of all of them."

In the year since Parkland, 1,200 more children have been killed by guns. The New York Times has more here.

The anniversary comes a day after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called for a grand jury investigation into school safety measures across the state, the Miami Herald reports.

(A Parkland dad responded to Louis CK's joke about the shooting .)(Newser)  The bad news for Prince Philip after his car crash last month: He agreed to give up his driver's license. The good news for him: He won't be facing legal action from the government. Per the BBC, the Crown Prosecution Service has decided it wouldn't be in the public interest to prosecute the 97-year-old royal, with the agency's lead attorney noting they'd considered "all of the circumstances in this case, including the level of culpability, the age of the driver, and the surrender of the driving license." The prince wasn't injured in the accident, but two women in the other car were, per ABC Australia.

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The Guardian reports that the CPS decree doesn't mention Philip specifically, instead referring to "a driver involved in a collision on the A149 at Sandringham." But a statement out of Buckingham Palace seems to acknowledge it's the prince who's cited. "The Duke of Edinburgh respects the decision taken by the Crown Prosecution Service," a palace spokesperson says, adding that if Philip were to still get behind the wheel on private land, it "would be in accordance with all relevant regulations." (More on the prince's apology to the people in the other car.)(Newser)  President Trump once called then-candidate Gavin Newsom a "clown" who supported open borders, notes USA Today. Now that Newsom is governor of California, their relationship hasn't improved much. Newsom has accused the president of "fake news" over a Trump tweet about the state's scaled-down high-speed rail project, reports NBC News. In his Wednesday tweet, Trump said the state "has been forced to cancel the massive bullet train project after having spent and wasted many billions of dollars." He added that California owes the feds $3.5 billion over the "'green' disaster" and "we want that money back now." Newsom then responded with a tweet of his own. For starters, the state hasn't canceled the project, he wrote.

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A 119-mile section between Merced and Bakersfield in the Central Valley will be completed, and the state will continue environmental studies on future sections. "This is CA's money, allocated by Congress for this project," wrote Newsom. "We're not giving it back." As a final jab, he suggested Trump was "desperately searching" for money to build a border wall. As Business Insider explains, the truth here is "somewhere in the middle." Earlier this week, in his state-of-the-state address, Newsom dramatically scaled down the project, saying it had become too expensive to complete as originally envisioned. "There simply isn't a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to LA," he said in the speech. "I wish there were." (Newsom also pulled state National Guard troops from the border.)(Newser)  Indiana authorities urged the public Wednesday to keep passing on tips in the slayings of two teenage girls killed during a hike, saying on the 2-year anniversary of the crime that the next tip could help solve the case. Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, vanished on Feb. 13, 2017, after a relative dropped them off for a hike near an abandoned railroad bridge near their hometown of Delphi, about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis, during a day off school. They failed to show up at a pre-arranged pickup location, and their bodies were found the next day in a rugged, wooded area following a search. Police have disclosed few details in their investigation and have not said how the teens were killed.

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Carroll County prosecutor Nicholas McLeland said Wednesday that the case remains under active investigation and he's confident it will eventually be solved. He said more than 38,000 tips have been received to date, but urged the public to keep sending tips to authorities if they believe the information could help investigators. "That could be the missing piece that we're waiting on, that ties everything together," he said. "Any little tip could be the piece that we need." Within days of the killings, investigators released two grainy photos of the suspect walking on the abandoned railroad bridge the girls had visited, and an audio recording of a man believed to be the suspect saying "down the hill." A reward of more than $230,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest or arrests and convictions in the teens' killings. (Police have called Liberty German a hero for having the presence of mind to record the suspect.)Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia says Moscow didn't participate in the Middle East security meeting in Warsaw co-hosted by Poland and the United States ``because we don't see a value added in the conference.''

He told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that ``to build coalitions against somebody, against countries, and in this case particularly against Iran, will not help to solve numerous issues which confront the Middle East.''

Nebenzia said: ``This is the wrong way to do it.''

At Thursday's close of the conference, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Polish counterpart Jacek Czaputowicz both noted differences of opinion over policies toward Iran. But, they said all participants agreed on the threat posed by the country.

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(Newser)  A New York man has been kicked out of another Disney park after another goofy stunt. Dion Ciniwho was banned from Disney properties last year after riding down Splash Mountain with a "Trump 2020" sign at Disney World in Floridaunfurled another pro-Trump banner on the side of the Mark Train paddleboat at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., Wednesday afternoon, Fox 11 reports. In video posted on Cini's Facebook page, he and a companion drape a large "Re-elect Trump 2020" on the side of the boat, meeting reactions from park patrons ranging from happy to grumpy. He was then escorted away by security guards and a manager who met him at the dock.

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Anaheim police say they were present, but nobody was taken into custody. Instead, Cini agreed to leave peacefully after receiving a trespassing admonition from security. "I saw someone putting something out on the side of the boat, park visitor Jennifer Elliott tells the OC Register. "This is the happiest place on earth, that kind of political agenda doesnt belong in the park. We hear about politics every day, I come to Disney to escape it." Disneyland says Cini was ejected not because of politics, but because the park bans the "display of signs and banners," which Cini had previously been warned about. (Read more Disneyland stories.)(Newser)  Four years after she left London as a 15-year-old schoolgirl to join ISIS, the group is on the verge of losing the last of its territoryand Shamima Begum has decided she wants to go home. The Times of London found the 19-year-old in a refugee camp in eastern Syria, where she said she was due to give birth "any day now" and would "do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child." Begum said her two other children had dieda girl almost 2 years old who died a month ago, and an 8-month-old baby who died three months ago. She said her husband, a Dutch convert to Islam whom she married 10 days after arriving in Syria in 2015, surrendered to Syrian fighters after they left the ISIS stronghold of Baghuz and she has not seen him since.

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Begum confirmed that Kadiza Sultana, one of the classmates she fled London with, was killed in a 2016 airstrike,the BBC reports. She said she had heard two weeks ago that a third classmate, Amira Abase, was still in Baghuz. Begum said she had left Baghuz because she was "weak" and did not want another child to die. But despite her desire to return to Britain, she said she did not regret coming to Syria, and described her life in Raqqa, the former capital of the ISIS "caliphate," as "normal." "When I saw my first severed head in a bin it didn't faze me at all," she told the Times. "It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam." It's not clear whether Begum will be detained if she returns to the UK. (A photographer seized by ISIS in 2012 might still be alive.)(Newser)  Lyndon LaRouche Jr., the political extremist who ran for president in every election from 1976 to 2004, including a campaign waged from federal prison, has died. He was 96, the AP reports. LaRouche's political action committee confirmed Wednesday on its website that LaRouche died a day earlier. The cult-like figure, who espoused a wide range of conspiracy theories and advocated for an overhaul of the world's economic and financial systems, ran first as a US Labor Party candidate and later, after an apparent shift to the right, as a Democratic or independent candidate. In 1986, LaRouche described himself as being in the tradition of the American Whig party, a forerunner of the Republican Party in the first half of the 19th century. In 1990, he ran unsuccessfully to represent Virginia in Congress.

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His views evolved throughout his life, but a central tenet of his apocalyptic platform warned of an inevitable global downward slide into crisis. LaRouche grew up in Lynn, Massachusetts, and in the late 1940s and early 1950s was a member of the Socialist Workers Party, taking the name "Lyn Marcus." He ran his 1992 campaign from a prison cell after a 1988 conviction for mail fraud and conspiracy to defraud the IRS by defaulting on more than $30 million in loans from campaign supporters. His conspiracy theories included a claim that the International Monetary Fund was "engaged in mass murder" by spreading AIDS through its economic policies. Based outside Washington in Leesburg, Va., LaRouche's organization continued to operate during the years he was in prison. His PAC described him as a "philosopher, scientist, poet, [and] statesman."

(Read more presidential candidates stories.)(Newser)  The new Democratic-led House sent President Trump a message Wednesday, and it's a doozy: Stop supporting Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen. Lawmakers easily passed the measure, 248-177, in a display of frustration over the war's humanitarian crisis and Washington's ongoing ties to Riyadh after journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death, the AP reports. "This is their opportunity to send a message to the Saudis that their behavior on Khashoggi and their flagrant disregard of human rights is not consistent with the American way of doing business and not in line with American values," Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat, tells the New York Timeswhich notes that the nearly four-year-old war has triggered a crushing famine and left thousands of Yemeni civilians dead.

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Passed with 18 Republican votes, the measure now heads to the Senate and could lead to the first veto of Trump's presidency. For their part, Republicans say Washington is hardly in the war anyway, only providing logistical, targeting, and intelligence aid in the proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, per USA Today. An interesting aside: The House passed the measure using the 1973 War Powers Act, a power created after the Vietnam War to keep the president from starting or increasing military engagement. Meanwhile, senators from both parties are proposing what amounts to a rebuke of Trump's Russia policiesa bill that would force his administration to gauge whether Russia sponsors state terror, and mandate a two-thirds Senate vote if Trump wants to pull out of NATO, CNN reports. (See what the Pope has to say about Yemen.)(Newser)  A tip from a dying witness led authorities to charge a suspect in a cold-case slaying that has mystified investigators for 46 years, a Tennessee prosecutor says. A Monroe County grand jury indicted Max Benson Calhoun this month for first-degree murder in the 1973 fatal shooting of John Constant Jr., a 43-year-old trucker. Calhoun was arrested last week. Prosecutor Stephen Crump said Tuesday the tip came from a witness who was suffering a terminal illness "and wanted to tell what they knew before they passed." He wouldn't identify the witness or give any details about the tip other than to say the story doesn't contradict any of what authorities have suspected for decades, the AP reports.

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Investigators found Constant's body slumped in the cab of his truck in Vonore, Tennessee. He'd been shot at least 17 times. A witness said he saw Constant in the truck with Marvin Ray Pittman, who turned up dead not long after, and another man who he didn't recognize. Richard Fisher, who was the prosecutor when the slaying occurred, told the Knoxville News Sentinel that he always believed several people had a hand in the killing. Fisher suspects Constant had been running untaxed cigarettes and stolen merchandise for a network of criminals across the Southeast known as the "Dixie Mafia." "He wasn't a sterling character by any means, but he didn't deserve to die," Fisher said. Calhoun is being held in jail without bond. His lawyer, Jim Logan, said he's eager to see some proof in the case. He said his client will plead not guilty.

(Read more cold cases stories.)(Newser)  The Diocese of Covington's investigation into the viral Washington, DC, confrontation between Covington Catholic students and a Native American elder is complete, and the official word from Bishop Rev. Roger Foys is that the students from the Kentucky high school did not initiate the incident and their behavior was what "one might even [call] laudatory," he says, per Cincinnati.com. CNN notes that the diocese had condemned the students' behavior in the immediate aftermath of the incident. Greater Cincinnati Investigation Inc. spoke to more than 40 students as well as some of the chaperones from the trip to DC as part of its probe, though Nick Sandmann, the student who became central to the controversy, was not interviewed. Neither was Nathan Phillips, the Native American elder who confronted the teen on video.

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Specifically, the investigation found no evidence that the students made any racist remarks or chanted "Build the Wall," as was widely reported in the immediate aftermath of the incident. It also found that many of the students felt "confused," initially believing Phillips was joining their group to add to their cheers, and that some of them did indeed perform "tomahawk chops" to the beat of his drumming and/or joined in with his chanting. "The immediate worldwide reaction to the initial video led almost everyone to believe that our students had initiated the incident and the perception of those few minutes of video became reality," Foys said. "In truth, taking everything into account, our students were placed in a situation that was at once bizarre and even threatening." Also making headlines this week: reports that Sandmann's legal team is considering a defamation lawsuit against media outlets. (Phillips says he forgives Sandmann.)Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently said that a Syrian constituent assembly is almost complete, with the support of the UN, that will launch a comprehensive peace process in Syria.

The assembly will include representatives of the regime, the opposition, civil society, local organisations and 45 Syrian politicians and human rights activists.

The assembly is expected to be divided into three groups: one third representing the regime; one third the opposition and one third will be 15 figures from civil society and local organisations.

The constituent assembly faces several obstacles, most notably that the opposition insists that a political solution must be achieved based on the 2012 Geneva Declaration, international resolutions and declarations, especially UN Security Council Resolution 2254 of 2015 which includes an agenda for political negotiations and steps that guarantee measures of mutual confidence building.

These would begin with the release of prisoners and the disappeared, information about the fate of the missing, as well as the safe and voluntary return of the displaced to their homes  something the regime and Iran openly reject, as does Russia discreetly.

The regime insists that the constituent assembly must have a two-thirds majority for the regime to ensure that the outcome serves its goals. Russia is not stern in rejecting this request which contradicts what former UN envoy to Syria Stefan de Mistura suggested of an equal three-way split.

He proposed three categories: the opposition; regime and independent figures and organisations which de Mistura would pick as the UN representative. The idea compounded the problem which became more complicated by the day.

Thus, it is unlikely that a constituent assembly will be approved anytime soon. The regime vetoed all constitutional experts in the one third of independents that the UN picked. So far, there is no agreement on names, and guarantor countries (Russia, Turkey and Iran) have not yet agreed with the UN on the list.

The opposition, represented by the High Negotiations Commission (HNC), has already rejected Russias list because it was not balanced or comprehensive.

It prefers that the issue of the constituent assembly remain unresolved in the hope that agreement is reached after the three-way summit between Russia, Turkey and Iran in the Russian city of Sochi, 14 February, today.

The regime has not only vetoed constitution experts, but everything to do with the constituent assembly and political process, said HNC Spokesman Yehia Al-Aridi, because it does not want the political process to proceed. This is supported by Iran which now feels it has lost everything and is being smothered. It can only be saved by more chaos and tension.

The opposition believes that new UN Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen is serious about the UNs one third quota in the constituent assembly.

He understands the position of the opposition more than de Mistura did and has the support of the UN. Russia also supports this position because it wants to make political gains, but is not tough with the regime, wants to remain tactical and maintain its military accomplishments.

This means peace will never be achieved without a US presence to put pressure on Moscow, the regime and Tehran.

The three-way summit is important but unlikely to have direct results regarding the constituent assembly. The Astana talks, to discuss implementation details of the constituent assembly, have been postponed until April.

Instead, the primary topic at the Sochi summit will be the vacuum created in northern Syria after the US withdraws. Some believe Astana may not take place at all, and the decision on the constituent assembly will remain in the hands of the leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey.

The political process between the opposition and regime, according to the UN and its resolution that could lead to political transition in Syria, is based on four components: an interim governing body; the constitutional process; the electoral process and security and fighting terrorism.

The constitutional process is part of this entire process, not a separate item, which means all tracks must move in parallel  especially the release of prisoners.

The quarrel is not limited to the names of those in the last one third of the constituent assembly, but is in fact disagreement on the mechanism of the assemblys operation, decision-making, references and the force of its decisions.

Contrary to UN resolutions and principles, which the opposition insists on, Russia wants to form a constituent assembly based on the output of the Sochi conference, to promote that framework which includes Russia, Iran and Turkey, and not the UN one, in order to distribute power and roles amongst themselves and on the ground.

The Syrian regime succeeded in overwhelming countries involved in Syria in a maelstrom of marginal facts and problems, causing them to forget the heart of the issue.

It enmeshed them in details that have nothing to do with the original issue of holding the regime accountable for the war crimes and genocide it committed over the past eight years.

The regime struck deals at the expense of destroying Syria with the assistance of allies who want a large piece of the cake in Syrias future, whether military, strategic, political or economic.

Accepting the regime as a party to negotiations and not labelling it as a war criminal that has committed massacres and crimes against humanity is unacceptable from a political, international law and humanitarian perspective, Nizar Al-Sahli, a researcher and writer, told Al-Ahram Weekly.

For the regime to participate in drawing up Syrias future after destroying its present is an important and early diplomatic indicator that the Syrian people will be denied their right to freedom, justice, dignity and citizenship. It denotes that the regime was able to abort attempts to overthrow the oppressors of the Syrian people.

This can be seen on the ground. Everyone is ignoring the heart of the issue and is intentionally trying to hide it. This explains statements by the Russians, Iranians and Turks that they are in agreement, while the regime declares it is victorious and Russia announces it is in control and the regime and its functions will not change.

A fundamental drive of the Syrian Revolution was to change the constitution, which currently allows the regime to remain in power indefinitely. Suggested amendments by the regime and its allies will not achieve even a small part of what the revolutionaries want.

Pro-regime media have reported on dates for future meetings and when the constituent assembly could be ready, but this does not mean that the foundation for Syrias future is in place, according to all international organisations.

It is only an attempt to gain some popularity and impose a de facto reality on the opposition and some regional countries, while postponing a political clash between the US and Russia.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 14 February, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Syrian constitution: A non-solution

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Renters Get What Is Likely

Their Last ReprieveSecretary for Financial Services & the Treasury James Lau speaks at the fourth European Financial Forum in Dublin.

Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury James Lau attended the fourth European Financial Forum in Dublin to promote Hong Kong's strengths as an international financial centre.

Mr Lau attended the forums opening session and gave a closing keynote speech.

He spoke about how Hong Kong has evolved from being a centre for investment flows and financial services to facilitate the Mainland's reform and opening up to a broader role that encompasses leadership in innovation and technology, sustainable trade and finance, and regional connectivity and development in the context of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Mr Lau also held an onstage conversation with Irish Minister for Finance & Public Expenditure & Reform Paschal Donohoe to discuss how both places can further financial development.

During a fintech roundtable, he met representatives from key fintech companies in Dublin.

He was pleased these companies are seeking to leverage Hong Kong as a platform to expand their businesses to Hong Kong, the Mainland and Asia.

He later met Central Bank of Ireland Governor Philip Lane and exchanged views on the impacts of Brexit, trade friction between the Mainland and the US as well as fintech advances in the context of global economic development and financial stability.

Additionally, Mr Lau spoke with Standard Chartered Banks aviation financing experts about boosting aviation market development in Ireland and other places.

He also met the Chinese Ambassador to Ireland Yue Xiaoyong.

Mr Lau will visit the Irish Stock Exchange before concluding his visit.Secretary for the Civil Service Joshua Law (third right) meets civil servants working in the Judiciary Administration.

Secretary for the Civil Service Joshua Law today visited the Judiciary to learn more about the work of civil servants in the Judiciary Administration.

Mr Law visited the West Kowloon Law Courts Building and met the Judiciary Administrator Emma Lau and directorate staff to get an update on their work.

He was briefed on the support services provided to judges and court users by Judicial Clerks, Court Interpreters, Bailiffs, Bailiff's Assistants and other staff.

While touring the courtroom facilities, he observed the work of court clerks and Court Interpreters.

Mr Law then visited the Accounts Office to learn how it processes payments and refunds of courts and tribunals.

He also toured facilities at the Small Claims Tribunal, including its new information centre.

Wrapping up his visit, Mr Law met staff representatives of various civil service grades in the Judiciary Administration. He encouraged them to continue providing professional court support services to the public.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.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.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.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.Related Pompeo urges new era of cooperation in Middle East meeting

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence accused European powers on Thursday of undermining Washington's crack down on Iran by trying to break U.S. sanctions against Tehran, in remarks that were likely to further strain transatlantic relations.

Pence spoke at a Middle East peace conference in Warsaw attended by 60 countries, notably including both Gulf Arab states and Israel, in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a "historical turning point" for an alliance against Tehran. Iran, Russia and the Palestinians were absent.

European powers, who oppose the Trump administration's decision to pull out of a nuclear deal with Iran, were openly sceptical of a conference excluding Tehran. France and Germany declined to send their top diplomats, while British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt left before Thursday's main events.

"Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative," Pence said. "In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions."

Trump pulled the United States last year out of the 2015 Iran deal, under which Tehran agreed to curbs on its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions.

European countries say they share Washington's concerns about Iran's regional behaviour but believe withdrawing from the nuclear deal was a mistake, and have promised to try to salvage the deal as long as Iran continues to abide by it. In practice, European companies have accepted new U.S. sanctions on Iran and abandoned plans to invest there.

Pence called on the Europeans to follow Washington and exit the agreement: "The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us."

He said a new European scheme to trade with Iran, known as the Special Purpose Vehicle, was "an effort to break American sanctions against Iran's murderous revolutionary regime".

"It is an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU and create still more distance between Europe and the United States," he said.

The mechanism was conceived as a way to help match Iranian oil and gas exports against purchases of EU goods. However, those ambitions have been scaled back, with diplomats saying that, realistically, it will be used only for trade, for example of humanitarian products or food, allowed by Washington.

European diplomats at the conference rejected Pence's accusations: "We strongly disagree," a diplomat from a major European power said. "We want to push Iran to good results and dont want to push Iran outside of its nuclear commitment."

The summit venue in Poland could itself be seen as a rebuke to Washington's traditional Western European allies, who are at odds with a nationalist government in Warsaw over moves the EU says curb judicial independence and free speech.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due to travel to Brussels on Friday for talks with Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign policy chief. Pompeo told a news conference there were differences during the summit meeting over how to get Iran to change its ways, but there was unanimity, including from Europeans, that Tehran posed a global threat.

"We make no bones about it, we need more sanctions, more pressure on Iran," Pompeo said in closing remarks. "There was not a defender of Iran in the room. No country. No country spoke out and denied any of the basic facts that we have all laid out about Iran, the threat it poses, the nature of regime."

The summit was notable because of the presence of Israel alongside wealthy Arab states Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Washington aims to narrow differences between its Israeli and Arab allies to isolate Iran.

"DESPERATE CIRCUS"

But just as notable were the absences, not only of Iran itself -- which called the meeting a "desperate circus" -- but of the Palestinians, who refused to attend over what they regard as U.S. bias against them under Trump. They have been boycotting the administration since Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy in 2017 to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat took aim at the Arab states for attending, citing an Arab meeting last year that reaffirmed demands that Israel first withdraw from Palestinian land before it can normalise ties with Arab countries.

"Reward the occupation, the decision to abolish the Arab Peace Initiative and the decisions of the Dhahran Summit. For what? Mediation between America and Israel on the one hand and Iran on the other," Erekat tweeted.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the only path to peace was by negotiating with the Palestinian leadership represented by Abbas.

Niels Annen, Germany's minister of state, was sceptical that the conference would deliver results on Iran.

"I am hoping for constructive signals but nobody here has the expectation that this conference will solve problems," he told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting. "That would be unrealistic because we need a political agreement with all participants at the end of the day."

Earlier, Pompeo called for an era of cooperation during opening remarks that were broadcast publicly. The rest of the meeting, including a presentation by White House advisor and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner on plans for Israeli-Palestinian peace, was held behind closed is doors.

Kushner told the audience that the United States would not unveil the plan until after an Israeli election on April 9.

Kushner and Trumps Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt are trying to broker a peace plan to cover all core issues of the decades-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, U.S. official say. Release of the plan has been delayed by Palestinian anger at Trump's change of U.S. policy on Jerusalem.

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Reporter

Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Thunderstorms with locally heavy downpours. High near 80F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms, especially late. Low 71F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.Pikeville Police Chief Chris Edmonds presented the yearly review of the Pikeville Police Department as part of the monthly meeting of the Pikeville City Commission on Monday. According to Edmonds, more than 50 percent of indictments in the Pike County court system in 2018 stemmed from PPD investigations or arrests.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Thursday for a new era of cooperation on the Middle East and said no country could afford to stay on the sidelines in tackling regional challenges such as Iran, Syria, Yemen and Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Pompeo spoke amid tensions with the European Union over Washingtons decision to pull out of world powers 2015 nuclear deal with Iran deal and its sudden announcement to withdraw American troops from Syria.

The United States seeks a new era of cooperation between all of our countries on how to confront these issues, Pompeo told foreign ministers and other officials from more than 60 countries in Warsaw.

Pompeo refrained from directly criticizing Iran and instead included it in a list of Middle East challenges, while acknowledging differences among countries on all of the issues.

None of the regions challenges will solve themselves. We must work together for security, he said. No country can afford to remain on the sidelines.

European allies of Washington have voiced concern that the conference would turn into an Iran-bashing session and increase tensions with the Islamic Republic, which has lambasted the gathering as a desperate circus.

Earlier, in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pompeo said peace and stability in the Middle East could not be achieved without confronting Iran.

Iran says its ballistic missile program is defensive and a deterrent only, and that it has has deployed forces to Syria and Iraq only after the invitation of governments of those countries.

The Warsaw meeting was a rare show of Middle East cooperation, bringing together Israel and Gulf Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia.

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A statue of St Antoninus in the piazza in front of his basilica in Sorrento. One of the miracles attributed to him is the rescue of a child that had been swallowed by a whale or sea-monster, but was recovered safe and sound from the creatures belly through the prayers of the Saint. The sea-monster is here seen under his foot, copied from representations of such creatures on ancient Roman sarcophagi.

Looking from the staircase back up into the basilica.

The crypt seen from the aperture in front of the main altar.

Side altars

More ex votos. Three views of the cloister.

An inlaid marble coat-of-arms above the holy water stoup.

The 17th centry facade added to the church by the Theatines.

February 14th is of course known throughout the world as St Valentines day, and in the post-Conciliar calendar, is celebrated liturgically as the feast of Ss Cyril and Methodius, the evangelizers of the Slavs, since the former died on this day in the year 869. However, the southern Italian city of Sorrento, on the bay of Naples, keeps the day as the feast of its patron Saint, the abbot Antoninus.He was born near Ancona in the later part of the eighth century, and early in life became a monk in one of the many dependent houses of Monte Cassino. The Italian peninsula was wracked by endless wars and chaos in that era, which drove Antoninus to leave his monastery and migrate to Castellamare, a town at the beginning of the peninsula of Sorrento, where he became fast friends with the local bishop, St Catellus. An oratory which the two of them founded on nearby Monte Faito in honor of St Michael the Archangel ( who has a special fondness for southern Italy ) after receiving a vision of him there is still visited by pilgrims to this day. For a time, Antoninus lived at this oratory, but later, at the insistent invitation of the citizens of Sorrento, left his solitary life and entered a monastery in the city, later to become its abbot.The story is told that shortly before his death in the year 830, Antoninus said that he wished to be buried neither inside nor outside the city wall, and was therefore buried within the wall itself. Not long after, the city was beseiged by the Duke of Benevento, and his attempts to knock down the section of wall near the Saints tomb with battering rams completely failed. The Saint then appeared to him in a dream and not only rebuked him, but administered to him a severe beating; on waking, the duke was not only covered in bruises, but learned that his daughter had been possessed by a devil at the very moment when he had begun his attack on the city. This led him to abandon the seige and pray to the Saint for the healing of daughter, which was granted. Twice in the 14th century, Sorrento was beseiged by the Saracens; the successful defense of the city on both occasions was attributed to the St Antoninus intercession, and he is therefore honored as the citys principal heavenly Patron.An oratory dedicated to him was constructed close to the place of his burial in the 9th century, and transformed into a much larger basilica in the 11th; this latter was entrusted to the Theatine Order in 1608, who extensively rebuilt it in the decoratively rich Neapolitan Baroque style. Staircases to either side of the main sanctuary lead down to the crypt where the Saints relics are kept.thanking St Antoninus for his intervention in saving ships from being wrecked, attached to the wall of the crypt. Sorrento is fairly small, but has a good port which is quite busy, home to a lot of fishing boats; the bay of Naples can be especially turbulent in the winter months.Stories from the life of the Saints are also painted in the main nave of the basilica; here, another ship is saved by his miraculous intervention.Marblework in the typical Neapolitan Baroque style on the balustrade leading up to the main sanctuary.This portal dates from the churchs original construction in 11th century, and makes us of several pieces of stone from ancient Roman structures.By AFP

TEHRAN: President Hassan Rouhani vowed revenge Thursday against the "mercenary group" behind a suicide bombing which killed 27 people in southeastern Iran and accused the US and Israel of supporting "terrorism".

"We will certainly make this mercenary group pay for the blood of our martyrs," the official IRNA news agency quoted the Iranian president as saying in response to Wednesday's attack.

"The main root of terrorism in the region is America and Zionists, and some oil-producing countries in the region also financially support the terrorists," he added.

ALSO READ | If Iran can't export oil from Gulf, no other country can, Iran's president Hassan Rouhani threatens

Rouhani was speaking at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport before leaving for the Russian resort of Sochi for a summit with his Russian and Turkish counterparts Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the future of war-battered Syria.

In comments reported by state television, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the attack's perpetrators were certainly linked to "the spying agencies of some regional and trans-regional countries."

Wednesday's attack, which targeted a busload of Revolutionary Guards in the volatile southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, was one of the deadliest on Iranian security forces in years.

It came just days after Iran held more than a week of celebrations for the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, which overthrew the US-backed shah.

The troops killed belonged to the Guards' 14th Imam Hussein Division, the Tasnim news agency reported, listing their names and their ages, which ranged from 21 to 52.

The bomber struck as the troops were returning from a patrol mission on the border with Pakistan, where Baluchi separatist and jihadist groups have rear bases, the Guards said in a statement.

Sistan-Baluchistan is home to a large ethnic Baluchi community, who straddle the border and who, unlike most Iranians, who are Shiite Muslims, are mainly Sunni.

A special farewell ceremony is planned for Friday evening and the funerals will follow on Saturday, Tasnim said.

Warning to neighbours

Rouhani called on Iran's neighbours to assume their "legal responsibilities" and not allow "terrorists" to use their soil to prepare attacks.

"If this continues and they cannot stop the terrorists, it is clear -- based on international law -- that we have certain rights and will act upon them in due time," he said, without elaborating.

The attack came on the same day as the United States gathered some 60 countries in Poland for a conference on the Middle East and Iran which it hoped would increase pressure on Tehran.

Iran quickly linked the attack to the Warsaw conference, where supporters of the formerly armed opposition People's Mujahedeen plan a second day of protests on Thursday.

Dubbing the meeting the "WarsawCircus", Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said it was "no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day" that the talks began in the Polish capital.

"Especially when cohorts of same terrorists cheer it from Warsaw streets & support it with twitter bots? US seems to always make the same wrong choices, but expect different results," Zarif wrote on Twitter.

Wednesday's bombing was claimed by the jihadist Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), which is blacklisted as a terrorist group by Iran, the SITE Intelligence Group reported.

The group was formed in 2012 as a successor to Sunni extremist group Jundallah (Soldiers of God), which waged a deadly insurgency for a decade before being severely weakened by the capture and execution of its leader Abdolmalek Rigi by Tehran in 2010.

Sistan-Baluchistan has been hit by previous deadly attacks in recent months.

On January 29, three members of an Iranian bomb squad sent to the scene of an explosion in provincial capital Zahedan were wounded when a second device blew up as they were trying to defuse it.

And in early December, two people were killed and around 40 wounded in an attack in the strategic port city of Chabahar, on the province's Arabian Sea coast, which Zarif blamed on "foreign-backed terrorists".

In October, Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for abducting 12 Iranian security personnel near the border, five of whom were later released and flown home after Pakistani intervention.By PTI

LONDON: A British girl of Bangladeshi descent, who fled to join the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria as a 15-year-old schoolgirl in 2015 and married an Islamist extremist, has appealed to the UK government to allow her to return to Britain.

Shamima Begum, now 19, was traced in a refugee camp in Syria by a war reporter, who found her pregnant with her third child and keen to leave the war zone for the safety of her unborn child.

"I'm not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago. I don't regret coming here," Begum told The Times' in her interview. "I really want to get back to Britain because I know it (unborn child) will be taken care of health-wise, at least. I'll do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child," she said.

The jihadi bride, who had been married to an ISIS recruit soon after her arrival in ISIS-stronghold Raqqa four years ago, described not being affected by "beheaded heads" and dead bodies on arrival.

Begum was a student of Bethnal Green Academy in east London alongside Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana when the three teenagers hit the headlines in February 2015 as on-the-run jihadi brides women who choose to marry Islamist extremists to bear them children to carry on the fight.

The girls flew from Gatwick Airport near London to Turkey after telling their parents they were going out for the day and later crossed the border into Syria.

After arriving in Raqqa, Begum recalls staying at a house with other newly-arrived jihadi brides-to-be.

"I applied to marry an English-speaking fighter between 20 and 25 years old," she said. Ten days later she married a 27-year-old Dutchman who had converted to Islam.

She has been with him since then, and the couple escaped from Baghuz the group's last territory in eastern Syria two weeks ago.

Her husband surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters as they left, and she is now one of 39,000 people in a refugee camp in northern Syria.

In her 'Times' interview from the camp, she talks about losing two babies one to malnutrition and the other to illness an experience she says was a big shock.

With her third pregnancy at its final stages, she said it was her concern for her unborn child that contributed to her decision to leave Baghuz.

"I was weak. I could not endure the suffering and hardship that staying on the battlefield involved. But I was also frightened that the child I am about to give birth to would die like my other children if I stayed on," she said.

Begum said the "oppression" in ISIS territory had come as a "shock" and said she felt the so-called "Caliphate" the group was fighting for was at an end.

"I don't have high hopes. They are just getting smaller and smaller. And there is so much oppression and corruption going on that I don't really think they deserve victory," she said.

She also confirmed reports that her former school friend, Khadiza Sultana, had died in a bombing on a house.

UK Home Office minister Ben Wallace said as a British citizen she has the right to return but anyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police.

"As a British citizen she has the right to home here. Anyone who goes to fight for ISIS, a dreadful, horrendous group, should expect to be interviewed and potentially prosecuted. The message from the government is actions have consequences," he said.By PTI

ISLAMABAD: The Taliban said Wednesday its negotiators would next week meet the top US and Pakistani officials including Prime Minister Imran Khan during a key round of talks in Islamabad as part of the ongoing Afghan peace talks.

Neither Washington nor Islamabad immediately confirmed the announcement by the Taliban.

On the "formal invitation of the government of Pakistan, another meeting is scheduled to take place between the negotiation teams of the Islamic Emirate and the US on 18th of February, 2019 in Islamabad," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement.

The Taliban's delegation would also meet Prime Minister Khan, the statement said.

Mujahid said the regular round of talks was already scheduled to be held on February 25 in Qatar.

He said that in the meeting with Khan, Taliban would have "comprehensive discussions about Pak-Afghan relations and issues pertaining to Afghan refugees and Afghan businessmen".

Though there was no official confirmation, diplomatic sources in Pakistan said that the Taliban delegation would visit Pakistan and hold talks with both American and Pakistani officials.

The Taliban and the US are in a discussion to end more than a 17-year long bloody war in Afghanistan.

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.

Special US Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad recently said after six days of talks with the Taliban representatives in Doha last month that the US has made "significant progress" in its peace talks with the Taliban.

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 in more than 17 years.

US 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.Armed conflict remains one of the greatest threats to Africa. In addition to taking millions of lives, it obstructs development and has set back remedies to political, economic and social problems for decades.

The crises in Somalia, Libya, Sudan, Central Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) all testify to this.

During the African Summit meeting in Addis Ababa on 29 January, the African Union (AU) endorsed the African Union Master Roadmap of Practical Steps to Silence the Guns in Africa by year 202.

This roadmap, developed by the AU Peace and Security Council, outlines a series of mechanisms to end the conflict on the continent by the target date.

It is an ambitious aim, in view of the complex factors that work to perpetuate disputes and armed conflict on the continent. In addition to the many domestic historical, political, economic, social and demographic factors, a range of external factors have worked to fuel the tensions and violence in African societies, including outside military and non-military interventions and foreign-driven processes of socio-political polarisation as occurred during the Cold War.

The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) earlier contributed to laying the foundations for conflict-management and peacemaking in Africa through its efforts to promote peaceful settlements to disputes, many of which had to do with borders inherited from the colonial era.

In 1993, it established the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution (MCPMR) in order to resolve disputes using African mechanisms and without foreign interventions that tended to aggravate and complicate the crises, as was the case in Somalia in the 1990s.

The OAU applied diverse instruments in its conflict-resolution and peace-keeping efforts, including helping the disputants to bring their cases before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Examples include the Nigeria-Cameroon border dispute, the maritime delimitation dispute between Guinea Bissau and Senegal, and the Libyan-Chadian territorial dispute, all of which were brought before the ICJ in the mid-1990s.

In the case of the dispute between Libya and Chad, the OAU helped restore calm between the two countries and worked with the UN in carrying out and monitoring the implementation of UN resolutions.

Regional organisations such as the OAU and now the AU are crucial to contemporary conflict-resolution efforts. In fact, Chapter VIII of the UN Charter encourages them to engage in such efforts.

One would expect, therefore, that regional organisations would take the initiative in resolving local disputes and all the more so given that the disputants themselves are often uncomfortable with international interventions that encroach on their sovereignty and their domestic affairs.

The establishment of the AU brought with it two main developments in African conflict-management. First, it established the AUs right to intervene in the internal affairs of member states.

Article 4 of the Constitutive Act of the AU establishes the right of the Union to intervene in a Member State pursuant to a decision of the Assembly in respect of grave circumstances, namely war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. It further affirms the right of Member States to request intervention from the Union in order to restore peace and security.

Second, it created a new body charged with conflict-management in Africa in general. The AU Peace and Security Council, established at the first African Union Summit meeting in Durban, South Africa, in 2002, has become the continents chief instrument for ending warfare and consolidating peace, security and stability.

The protocol establishing the council went into effect on 26 December 2003, and the council itself began its work on 25 March 2004.

The AU Peace And Security Council

The AU has been working hard to reform the Peace and Security Council (PSC) to render it more efficient in the performance of its missions.

At the same time, it should be borne in mind that since the PSCs work overlaps with that of the UN Security Council, whose work the PSC helps to carry out in Africa, the UN could be expected to lend its material and moral support to the council through funding, the exchange of expertise, contributions to the training of African peacekeeping forces, and bolstering the partnership between the AU and the UN.

Africas independence and welfare are contingent on eliminating the sources of conflict on the continent in keeping with the strategic aims of Agenda 2063 and the more immediate goal of Silencing the Guns in Africa by the year 2020.

However, according to the projections of the AU Commission, by 2020 AU Peace Support Operations will cost $2 billion, a quarter of which is to be borne by AU members.

This burden needs to be distributed more equitably, something that the current quota system does not do, as it places the greatest burden on the four countries that contribute 60 per cent of the AU budget  Egypt, South Africa, Algeria and Nigeria.

In addition to restructuring the budgetary system, new funding sources should be tapped, such as the regional economic bodies and the major companies operating in Africa.

But above all what is needed is an innovative strategy for the sustainable funding of Peace Support Operations to replace the current ad hoc approaches and reduce the dependence on external sources that carry with them the risk of restricting the AUs freedom to make important decisions.

Two important current AU peace-building bodies are the African Union Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development (AU PCRD) Centre and the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM).

The location of the AU PCRD Centre in Egypt was decided at the end of the Executive Council meetings held during the African Union Summit in Nouakchott in 2018 and agreed by the attending African foreign ministers.

Egypt is now coordinating with the AU Commission on the completion of executive measures preparatory to launching the AU PCRDs activities from its base in Cairo in collaboration with other agencies and initiatives involved in reconstruction and human development.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry in collaboration with the Cairo International Centre for Conflict Settlement and Building and Preserving Peace and the Egyptian Partnership for Development Agency organised a workshop in October last year entitled Activating AU Reconstruction and Development Policies in the Sahel Region.

The participants discussed the most important challenges and opportunities facing peace-building and reconstruction efforts in that region as a means to bolster state-building and government performance and to ensure consistency between AU reconstruction policies and the needs and priorities of post-conflict countries.

Another focal area of the AUs conflict-management work is the Horn of Africa and Somalia in particular, where the PSC created the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) on 21 February 2007 with support from the UN Security Council in accordance with Resolution 1744.

The missions remit was to support the interim Somali government, assist it in the implementation of its national security strategy, train Somali security forces, and help create a safe environment for the delivery of humanitarian relief.

Originally given only a six-month mandate, AMISOMs term has been extended several times, most recently until the end of May 2019 in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2431.

At the same time, its personnel have begun to be gradually reduced in accordance with a transition plan that aims to transfer full responsibility for national security to the Somali security force by 2021.

AMISOM troops are drawn from forces from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Burundi and Djibouti.

Despite the limited capacities of the Mission, it has achieved considerable success. Above all, it has restored security and supported the transition process, thereby enabling the creation of a Somali parliament, the promulgation of a new constitution, and the election of Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud as the first post-transition president of the country in 2012.

AMISOM continues to support the Somali government headed by Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo. It has helped to expel the Shabab Movement from the capital Mogadishu and from other towns and cities in the country, enabling the government to reassert its authority.

However, hundreds of AU soldiers have lost their lives in the course of their duties with AMISOM, while the Shabab continues to control large areas of central and southern Somalia and still stages intermittent terrorist strikes against the capital.

The movement has also extended its operations outside of Somalia in order to carry out retaliatory strikes against countries that have contributed forces to AMISOM.

To make matters more difficult, donor agencies have begun to cut back on their funding. In January 2016, the EU reduced its allocations to pay AMISOM troops and staff by 20 per cent and asked the AU to search for alternative funding sources.

In response, Ethiopia and Kenya threatened to withdraw from the Mission, as did Uganda, which contributes the greatest share of the forces. At the same time, AU requests to the UN to help to bring the force up to 26,000 troops met with no response.

The international community has thus confined itself to financial support and the provision of armaments. Strapped for funds and arms, the mission has been unable to defeat the Shabab on its own.

Prospects For Success

Many believe that the AUs Silencing the Guns initiative is an unrealisable dream in view of the many interrelated problems on the African continent.

These include the inability of the UN to offer solutions for the preservation of peace and security in Africa due to the complexities of the situations in Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Central Africa and the limitations to what the AU and its subsidiary bodies can do due to the high costs of Peace Support Operations and sending AU troops into conflict zones given the AUs ongoing financial straits.

Moreover, most African countries face heavy international pressures that they lack the political will to stand up to, especially in cases where sanctions, the suspension of aid, or military interventions are threatened.

The refusal of the disputants in Africa in many cases to acknowledge the AU organisations and abide by their decisions also stems from the weak financial and administrative structures of these organisations themselves.

At the level of the international community, despite the UNs many instruments for preserving peace and security in Africa there remain areas where conflict and armed disputes continue to threaten the security and stability of African nations.

In large measure, this is due to drawbacks in the UN peace-building model, since the latter is based on a liberal ideology that may be at odds with the political and economic conditions in many African countries.

For example, in its keenness to steer countries emerging from conflict toward democratic transitions, the UN may furnish assistance for electoral processes while paying little attention to the many other prerequisites for democratic transformation.

The UN model also promotes the free-market economy, requiring the deregulation of trade and the minimisation of state intervention on the African continent. While this may be a global trend, it is not appropriate to the poor economic and social circumstances in many African countries.

Because the Security Council dominates the UN, the major powers that make up the five permanent members of this body also control UN peacekeeping operations.

The Darfur crisis in Sudan illustrates the problems of these on the African continent.

Finally, UN peacekeeping operations lack clear and consistent funding policies. They can take a long time, often more than decade, and because of this donor nations may lose their enthusiasm for them and withdraw their funds.

* The writer is an expert in national security affairs.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 14 February, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Silencing the guns in Africa

Short link:

By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for feeling proud of the 16th Lok Sabha because it has the highest number of women representatives, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi pointed out that the current LS had the second lowest ever representation of Muslims.

Taking to Twitter, Owaisi said, @PMOIndia yes sir & BJP has NO Muslim MP ,this 16th Lok Sabha has only 23 Muslim MPs 2nd lowest Number in History Of Lok Sabha... will we see more Number of Muslims in 17th Lok Sabha ? (sic)

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister had said, We will be proud of this 16th Lok Sabha, as it saw the highest number of women members elected to the House. 44 first time women MPs were time elected to the Lok Sabha.

By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: AS the blame game over non-commencement of the ambitious coastal highway project intensified, the State Government on Wednesday rejected the road alignment plan of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and asked it to come up with a fresh layout.

The NHAI proposal to develop the existing Satapada-Puri route as a coastal highway is not approved. We suggested them (NHAI) to come up with another proposal by making realignment towards the coastline after which the State Government approval will be considered, Works Secretary Nalini Kanta Pradhan told mediapersons.

The decision was taken at the meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary, senior officials of Works department and NHAI at the Secretariat here.

We also suggested that Konark-Astaranga coastal highway should be aligned closer to the coast as far as possible to give people the view and feel of the coastline, Nalini said.

He said the Chief Secretary, who reviewed the project with NHAI executives in April last year, had advised the Central agency to align the proposed highway nearer to the coastline. Then only it would be approved in accordance with Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) rules.

The Works Secretary said the Government has accepted the proposal for construction of two bridges over the eco-sensitive Chilika lake. Two new signature bridges will come up on Chilika lake without hampering the habitat of dolphins and other animals, he added.The existing road plan of the NHAI near Astaranga, Paradip and Dhamra ports was acceptable to the State Government with minor changes.

For Astaranga port, we suggested that the coastal highway should cover more areas of the port. But we have agreed with their plan for Paradip port and Dhamra port routes. It was also suggested that near Digha, the highway has to be built in a greenfield manner with connectivity to Subarnarekha river mouth, Udaypur and Talasara, Nalini said.

Necessary approval will be given after completion of the re-alignment of the coastal highway, he added.

Reacting to the move, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan accused Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of conspiring to derail the project. The State Government has been repeating the same story since 2015-16, he said.

The Works Secretary, who is more inclined towards politics nowadays, is doing everything possible purposely to delay the project, Pradhan said.

In a strong rebuttal to the Union Ministers charges, BJD general secretary Sanjay Das Burma said the NDA Government has no interest for coastal highway. Pradhan is more interested to play politics over the project by using NHAI as a political instrument.

He said the Centre is trying to cheat the people by developing the existing road and giving it the name of coastal highway.By Express News Service

NABARANGPUR: The leaders of the BJP on Wednesday raised questions over implementation of Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) alleging that a beneficiary died due to lack of treatment despite having a BSKY card. The deceased, Trilochan Mali of Saruguda village under Nandahandi block was a senior BJD worker. In a release, the BJP leaders said Mali had attended Chief Minister Naveen Patnaiks meeting at Umerkote on February 5 and while returning, he faced an accident and suffered critical injuries.

He was admitted to the Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital (MCH) at Koraput where doctors told his family that his treatment would cost a huge amount.

The family members showed his BSKY card and when it was swiped, the card had just `30,000 instead of `7 lakh that was assured by BJD during launching of the scheme. The MCH authorities said the amount would not be sufficient for treatment.

The party leaders alleged that although his family members approached Nabarangpur MLA for help, the latter remained silent. With no other way out, Mali was taken back to his village where he died on Monday.By Express News Service

VISAKHAPATNAM: With barely a few hours left for the election code to come into force, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will be participating in a host of foundation-laying and inauguration ceremonies in the city on Thursday. He will formally inaugurate works of two big-ticket projects, including Bhogapuram international airport, and commission Asian Paints plant here. Notification for MLC elections is expected to be issued on Thursday.

The Chief Minister will visit Bhogapuram in the morning to lay foundation stone for the greenfield airport. From there, he will proceed to Kapuluppada IT SEZ where he will lay foundation stone for Data Centre Park, being set up by Adani Group.

Later, Chandrababu Naidu will formally inaugurate the Asian Paints plant in Rambilli mandal from airport before leaving for Vijayawada.

The Adani group signed an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh government in the first week of January this year to develop the Rs 70,000 crore project. As part of the project, submarine communication cables will be laid to connect India with South-East Asia nations. The facility will position the State as a data centre hub for the country and Southeast Asia. It will help ensure speedy telecommunication network, said an official. It will also be integrated with a cable landing station that will take advantage of the States long coastline to help provide the needed global connectivity and redundancy that the country needs to manage its exponential growth of data, he said.

The Adani Group, which is making a foray into digital space, will support development of the digital and energy infrastructure in the State over a period of 20 years. The project, completely backed by renewable energy, is expected to create 1,00,000 direct and indirect jobs. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed in 18 months.

Asian Paints plant was set up at Pudi in Rambilli mandal with an approximate investment of Rs 1,785 crore over 20 years.The Asian Paints management had entered into a memorandum of understanding with Andhra Pradesh in 2015 to set up the manufacturing facility for paints and intermediates.The Andhra Pradesh government offered incentives for the plant including reimbursement of 100 per cent Gross VAT/State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) for 12 years starting from the date of commercial production.

Bhogapuram Greenfield Airport will be located at Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram district. It will serve the needs of Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts apart from Visakhapatnam.The airport being developed under PPP mode will come up on 5,311 acres in and around Bhogapuram, including 1,673 acres of government land.

The State government plans to complete the phase one of the airport development by December 2020. Andhra Pradesh Airports Development Corporation Limited (APADCL) had earlier increased the estimated investment required for the development of Bhogapuram Airport from Rs 23 billion to Rs 42.1 billion.

Naidu to open IT Millennium Tower at Madhurawada

Visakhapatnam: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday will inaugurate a seven-storeyed iconic Millennium Tower which was constructed at a cost of Rs 145 crore at Madhurawada Hill No 3. Conduit will begin operations in the tower. In the first phase, it will provide jobs to 1,600 and within one year 4,500 would be employed. The tower will have 2 lakh square feet and it was built by AP Information Technology and Communications department on a 4-acre site. Minister for IT and Panchayat Raj Nara Lokesh will also attend the inaugural programme.Ramananda Sengupta By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: India on Friday hit out at Pakistan over the Pulwama terror attack and reiterated the demand that Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, Masood Azhar, be proscribed by the UN, a move that has been consistently blocked by China.

In a late night response, however, Islamabad expressed concern over the attack and rejected any attempt to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations.

This heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries, said a MEA

statement.  This terror group is led by the international terrorist Masood Azhar, who has been given full freedom by Government of Pakistan to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity.

TIMELINE: Major terror attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir since 1999

Expressing its resolve to safeguard national security and fight terror, it said: "We demand that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries. We strongly reiterate our

appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM Chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan."

ALSO READ: Sacrifices of our security personnel won't go in vain, says PM Modi on Pulwama terror attack

In response, a late night release by Pakistans foreign ministry said the attack in Pulwama in the Indian Occupied Kashmir is a matter of grave concern. We have always condemned acts of violence anywhere in the world. We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations.By PTI

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir police had shared an intelligence input, uploaded on a private twitter account a couple of days back, with all security agencies in which Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed had threatened to carry out the suicide attack on security forces, officials said Thursday.

At least 39 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district that also left many critically wounded, officials said.

The input shared by the state police had attached the twitter handle that carried a 33-second video of troops in Somalia being attacked by militants in a similar fashion as was replicated Thursday on a bus carrying CRPF personnel at Pulwama in South Kashmir.

TIMELINE: Major terror attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir since 1999

The twitter handle "313_get" is not open for public viewing.

It carried a threat "InshaAllah its will same in Kashmir endian are flying in parts. InshaAllah (sic)".

The twitter handle is being operated using the virtual private network, making it difficult for the security agencies to establish the location of its operator, they said.

The same was shared during the meeting held two days back and all security formations were alerted about a possible terror attack similar to that carried in the twitter handle.

Jammu and Kashmir police had also prepared a dummy video to explain how militants may possibly carry out such an attack, the officials said.Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: Aligarh Police claimed on Thursday that they had so far not found any evidence to support the sedition charges levelled against 14 Aligarh Muslim University students after protests broke out on the campus on Tuesday.

The AMU authorities had suspended eight students late on Wednesday night in connection with the protest during which a few vehicles were vandalised and a motorcycle allegedly belonging to a faction of students protesting the proposed visit of AIMIM MP Asasudding Owaisi on campus.

The police had booked the students for sedition after BJYM activist Mukesh Lodhi filed a complaint, alleging that he was assaulted amid chants of ant-India and pro-Pakistan slogans on Tuesday.

Senior Superintendent of Police Akash Kulhari said all the evidence secured so far on the reported incident at AMU Circle had not revealed anything to suggest sedition.

Police were collecting further evidence, including videos, and if they failed to get anything to substantiate the sedition charges, then it would be dropped, the SSP said.

The district police chief confirmed that all pieces of evidence, including video clippings of the clash at the university circle between AMU students and those belonging to the ABVP, were so far drawn a blank on this controversial issue.By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday accused the Modi government of "failing" to check terrorism emanating from Pakistan and remaining a "mute spectator" to attacks on security personnel, after at least 39 CRPF men were killed in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

Terming the attack in Pulwama as an "act of cowardice", Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala questioned the government policy on terrorism and Pakistan, and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should not compromise on national security.

"In the past 55 months, Pakistan committed more than 5,000 ceasefire violations at the Line of Control and the International Border -- a whopping 1000 per cent increase compared to the last 55 months of the UPA," he said.

"Where is the '56 inch chest'? Where is the 'laal aankh' (red eyes)?" Surjewala asked.

In the past 55 months, Pak committed more than 5000 ceasefire violations at the LoC & International border- a whopping 1000% increase compared to the last 55 months of UPA.



Where is the 56 inch chest? Where is the Laal Aankh? 5/#KashmirTerrorAttack #Awantipora  Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) 14 February 2019

He claimed this is the 18th major terror attack under the Modi government.

Every day India's jawans are killed on the borders facing terrorists coming from Pakistan or in skirmishes and attacks that happened unprovoked from the Pakistan Army, yet the government remains a mere spectator, the Congress leader told reporters.

TIMELINE: Major terror attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir since 1999

"448 jawans have been martyred in Jammu and Kashmir alone, while 280 civilians have died in Pakistan-sponsored terror attacks. Yet, unfortunately, prime minister has more faith in the dreaded ISI which is the benefactor, protector and harbinger of terrorism and invites them to investigate the Pathankot air base attack," he alleged.

Later, Surjewala tweeted that the Pulwama terror attack was a bigger attack than Uri and the nation was "angry and anguished".

"We reiterate our deepest condolences to the family of martyrs and pray for the injured," he said.

This horrific attack in Jammu and Kashmir is a testimony to the Modi government's utter failure on national security, Surjewala alleged.

This horrific attack in J&K is a testimony to Modi Govt's utter failure on National Security



Zero political action & Zero policy to tackle terror has led to an alarming security situation



BJP ruled J&K for 4 years.BJP rules J&K via Gov rule. BJP plunged J&K into deep turmoil 2/  Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) 14 February 2019

"Zero political action and Zero policy to tackle terror has led to an alarming security situation. BJP ruled J&K for 4 years. BJP rules J&K via Governor's rule. BJP plunged J&K into deep turmoil," he said in a series of tweets.

"Is it not true that 18 Major terror attacks have taken place on our security installations including CRPF camps, Army camps, Air Force station & military stations --Gurdaspur, Udhampur, Pampore, Uri, Nagrota, Pathankot, Amarnath Yatra attack, Sunjwan Army Camp?" he said.

Is it not true that 18 Major Terror Attacks have taken place on our Security Installations including -CRPF Camps,Army Camps,Air Force Station & Military Stations-Gurdaspur, Udhampur, Pampore,Uri, Nagrota,Pathankot,Amarnath Yatra attack,Sunjwan Army Camp? 3/#KashmirTerrorAttack  Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) 14 February 2019

Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place about 20 km from Srinagar.

Surjewala said China thwarted multiple attempts to get Jaish-e-Mohammad's chief Maulana Masood Azhar named as a designated international terrorist by the UN.

China thwarted multiple attempts to get Jaish-e-Mohammads chief Maulana Masood Azhar named as a designated international terrorist by UN.



Reminder- BJP Govt had escorted and released JeMs Masood Azhar at Kandahar, Afghanistan. 6/#KashmirTerrorAttack  Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) 14 February 2019

The BJP government had escorted and released JeM's Masood Azhar at Kandahar, he alleged.

The Congress spokesperson also alleged that it was the most "weak" government in the history of India which has "utterly failed in defending India's borders and in checking terrorism coming from Pakistan".

ALSO READ: Sacrifices of our security personnel won't go in vain, says PM Modi on Pulwama terror attack

He also slammed Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju's remarks there has been no major terror attack in the country in the last four-and-half-years due to the action of intelligence agencies.

"The tragic part is that the home minister of the country is most ill-informed and that is the reason why terrorist outfits and terrorists including the ISI and the Pakistan Army continue to act unabated. Is it not true there have been 17 major terror attacks across Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab? Does the minister not have this much of general knowledge? Does the minister not know that his colleague replied in Parliament and said that the number of skirmishes and ceasefire violation have doubled in 2018 compared to 2017," Surjewala said.By PTI

MUMBAI: Acute shortage of pilots along with NOTAMs at some airports forced IndiGo to cancel around 130 flights for Friday, a source said.

The cancelled flights account for almost 10 per cent of the airlines operations, the source said.

An Indigo spokesperson, however, said the airline has not cancelled any additional flights other than the schedule cancellations.

The Gurugram-based budget carrier operates over 1,300 flights per day with a fleet of 210 planes.

"IndiGo has cancelled around 130 flights for Friday as it continues to face shortage of pilots," the source said.

The airline has not pulled out anu additional flights other than the schedule cancellations but refused to issue a statement.

A query sent to IndiGo spokesperson and also to its chief operating officer Wolfgang Prock-Shauer remained unanswered.

The budget carrier has been cancelling flights since last Saturday after rain and hailstorm hit the Delhi-NCR region last week.

On Thursday it did not operate as many as 70 flights, citing reasons like planned cancellations and partial closure of the Bengaluru airport due to the Air Show.

"As stated earlier, the anticipated cancellations are 30 flights per day. The operations will be completely normalised by the start of the summer schedule from March 31.

"Additionally, a NOTAM in Bangalore started effective today (February 14), which caused additional 40 flight cancellations, rescheduling for which had been completed a month back and passengers were informed and reaccomodated accordingly," the airline said in its earlier statement.

It had cancelled 49 flights on Wednesday as well.

"The cancellations on February 13 were caused by several factors like anticipated weather conditions on February 14 and NOTAMS at various airports. This resulted in extended duty times which then made it necessary to re-roster our crew and optimise our operations," it said in a statement on Wednesday.

Further, the airline said it has decided to curtail its schedule for the remaining period of this month by "approximately 30 flights a day".

"This is in order to stabilise its operation and adjust crew rosters due to the reasons mentioned above. Passengers are in the process of being informed and re-accommodated," the carrier had said.Anand ST Das By

Express News Service

PATNA: A CRPF sub-inspector was killed in a landmine blast triggered by the Maoists during a combing operation in Bihars Gaya district and two hardcore Maoists making plans for disruptive acts during the Lok Sabha polls were arrested in Bhojpur district, police said on Thursday.

Raushan Kumar, a sub-inspector of CRPFs 205 CoBRA battalion was badly injured when a landmine laid by the Maoists in the Langurahi jungles in Gaya district went off. He was flown by a chopper to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), where he succumbed to his injuries.

One of Kumars legs was torn apart in the blast. The young sub-inspector, who had joined CRPF in 2016, hailed from Lakhiserai district in Bihar. DK Bora, a CRPF constable hailing from Assam, was injured in the blast. He is under treatment and his condition is stable, said officials.

The landmine blast occurred when a team of about 200 men in uniform from the 205 CoBRA battalion, the 159 and 153 battalions of CRPF and the district police was carrying out a combing operation on Wednesday evening. They were trying to arrest wanted Maoist leader Sandeep alias Vijay Yadav, who carries a cash reward of Rs 25 on his head and has been on the most-wanted list of police for 15 years, said police sources.

Sandeep and about 30 armed Maoists had been camping in the jungles between Dumaria in Gaya district and Pachrukhia in Aurangabad district for the past three days, they added.

The blast was followed by several rounds of firing from the Maoists, and it was retaliated by the police team. Several IEDs were recovered from the area. The combing operation is still on, said Aurangabad SP Satyaprakash, who has been monitoring the operations from Madanpur police station.

Meanwhile, Bhojpur police arrested two hardcore Maoists Shiv Bihari Rai and Ajit Kumar following a raid at Rani village under Sikarhatta police station on Thursday. Maoist leader Shyam Bihari Rai managed to flee during the raid.

The arrested duo, who had been working for the banned leftwing outfit Maoist Coordination Committee (MCC), were planning to carry out disruptive acts during the Lok Sabha polls, said Bhojpur SP Aditya Kumar.Egypts relationship with Africa dates back millennia. In the modern age, however, starting with the irrigation projects under Mohamed Ali in the early 19th century, Cairo increasingly focused on the Nile and its sources.This beginning laid the foundation for the linkage between Egypt and Sudan.

Egypts strategic interest in the continent as a whole developed after World War II with the founding of the Arab League. A Centre for Sudanese Studies was established in 1947 which, by the beginning of the 1950s, had evolved into the Institute for African Studies.

Following the Revolution of 23 July 1952 Egypts leadership designated Africa as the second strategic sphere after the Arab region. The Islamic world was the third.

Under Gamal Abdel-Nasser the revolutionary regime in Egypt backed liberation movements across Africa. Cairo pressed for the independence of Sudan in the 1953 Sudan Agreement.

A year later it declared its support for the Algerian revolution. In 1955 Egypt announced its support for African liberation movements at the Bandung conference, a move which marked the beginning of the Non-Aligned Movement.

A wave of African declarations of independence, supported by Egypt, soon followed. Ghana, under Kwame Nkrumah, declared independence from Britain in 1957.

Guinea Conakry, under Ahmed Sekou Toure, won independence from France in 1958. Both leaders developed close friendships with president Nasser.

In 1960 alone, 17 British and French colonies won their independence, inspiring the UN to declare 1960 the Year of Africa. The number of independent African states jumped from eight (Egypt, Liberia, Ethiopia, Libya, Sudan, Tunisia and Morocco, as well as the apartheid regime in South Africa) to 25.

In 1961 Sierra Leone and Tanganyika (the mainland of Tanzania) declared independence from Britain. In 1962 Burundi and Rwanda gained their independence from Belgium, Algeria from France and Uganda from Britain.

In 1963 Kenya and Zanzibar (which would unite with Tanganyika to form Tanzania in 1964) followed suit.

The process has continued. The most recent development occurred in July 2011 when South Sudan seceded from Sudan, bringing the number of African members of the UN to 54.

In the course of Africas journey to independence, which Egypt has championed since 1952, Cairo hosted the leaders of national liberation movements and lent them military and logistic support. In fact, the first generations of African military officers were trained in Egypt.

Egyptian diplomacy also placed itself at the service of liberation movements. Cairo, with its relations in the Arab world, the eastern bloc led by the Soviet Union and the Peoples Republic of China, offered liberation movements a much needed political umbrella.

Egyptian student unions in Europe, above all in the two main colonial capitals, London and Paris, offered platforms for African colleagues to explain their national causes abroad.

The relations that began in Europe would evolve, during the 1960s and 1970s, into visits by Egyptian technocrats to newly independent African states whose ministers had known their Egyptian guests during their student days in French and British universities.

As African independence moved towards completion in the mid-1970s Egypts role began to recede. One major reason was Cairos preoccupation with its wars with Israel which would last until 1973, detracting from its ability to meet the needs of the continent.

African needs had also changed and expanded. African states wanted support for infrastructure and development rather than military, intelligence and political aid.

During the heyday of Egyptian-African relations in the 1950s and 1960s Egypts relations with other African countries did not fluctuate as wildly as they did with Arab nations.

Nasser maintained friendly relations with emperor Haile Selassie, despite Ethiopias Western alliances. The same applied to relations with Senegals Leopold Senghor and Kenyas Jomo Kenyatta.

Although many African leaders wanted Egypt to host the headquarters of the Organisation of African Union (which would become the African Union), Nasser insisted it be based in Ethiopia. He did not want Egypt to be seen as seeking to control the continent.

Nor did Cairo take advantage of its excellent relations with many post-independence African leaders to build military pacts or alliances against others. It never intervened on behalf of any of the camps that emerged among African nations (Francophone versus Anglophone or socialist versus pro-western camps).

That Egypt did not develop joint projects with African states was largely due to the forces of polarisation engendered during the Cold War, famines and epidemics, civil war, and in some cases the strange personality cult type rule which brought a number of countries to the brink of collapse.

This is not to say that Egypt has not benefited from its African connections. On more than one occasion the African bloc in the UN voted against Israeli aggression against the Arabs.

The Arabs also opposed the apartheid regime in South Africa. A vivid manifestation of this African-Arab solidarity could be found in that majority vote for UN General Assembly Resolution 1976 equating Zionism with racism.

The fact is, though, that Egypt did not benefit from its African relations as it should. Medhat Askar, former African projects director at the Arab Contractors Company, recalls a conversation he had with a Nigerian official in the early 1990s at the time of tenders for infrastructural projects for the new capital Abuja. The Nigerian official  a minister  told him that he was surprised Egypt was so late.

We had expected Egypt to take its share of projects in the 1970s after it helped us in the Biafran War but it never came, said the minister.

Egypt supported the Nigerian government in its campaign to suppress the secessionist bid of the oil-rich Biafra region between 1967 and 1970 which threatened the most populous and largest oil producing African nation.

Egypt backed Nigeria materially with weapons, and diplomatically in the UN and among Eastern Bloc nations which viewed pro-Western Lagos with a suspicious eye.

Cairo was also an outspoken critic of the apartheid regime in South Africa and helped arm and train members of Nelson Mandelas African National Congress Party. It supported Rhodesia (Zimbabwe today) in its war of liberation against the apartheid regime of the fanatical Ian Smith.

Throughout the modern history of Egyptian-African relations Cairo has taken pains to avert any suspicion that it was seeking to dominate or exploit African states. It can appreciate better than others how jealously Africans guard their independence after the heavy price they had to pay to win their freedom from colonial rule.

Today Egypt is staging a bold return to the continent, speaking the language of joint projects such as the $3.6 billion Rufiji River dam project in Tanzania.

This is only a portion of the tens of billions of dollars that Egypt has pledged to invest in Africa. Egyptian construction and contracting firms, such as the Arab Contractors and Orascom which have been involved in various infrastructure and electricity generating projects in many African countries since the late 1980s, are preparing to engage in more.

In this regard, it is useful to recall another dimension of the modern Egyptian-African relationship: Egypts contributions to the development of African human resources through the thousands of educational and training opportunities it made available to future African professionals in Egyptian universities and ministries.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 14 February, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: A contextual history

Short link:

Ramananda Sengupta By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The major suicide attack on a CRPF convoy by Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammed, often described as a lapdog of the ISI, sparked outrage and condemnation from across the world. Strangely enough, there was no statement from Pakistan or China at the time of going to press.

The US Mission in India strongly condemns todays terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir. We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. The United States stands alongside India in confronting terror and defeating it, tweeted US ambassador to India Kenneth Juster.

The U.S. Mission in India strongly condemns todays terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir. We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. The United States stands alongside India in confronting terror and defeating it. #KashmirTerrorAttack  Ken Juster (@USAmbIndia) 14 February 2019

Variously condemning it as heinous, horrific, brutal, vile, barbaric and cowardly, every mission and government expressed condolences for the victims and support for the fight against terror. Our thoughts go out to the families of the fallen soldiers. France has always been and always will be by Indias side in the fight against terrorism in all its forms, declared Alexandre Ziegler, the French ambassador in Delhi.

ALSO READ | Timeline: Major terror attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir since 1999

.I call on each state to effectively combat terrorist networks and their funding channels and to prevent the cross-border movement of terrorist groups, such as Jaish-e-Mohamed, who has claimed responsibility for this attack, added the French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Israel. stands by our Indian friends during this difficult hour. We send our deepest condolences to the CPRF and their families, the people of India and the Indian government following the terrible Kashmir Terror Attack, said Ambassador Dr Ron Malka.

Germany strongly condemns today's heinous terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families, said the German Embassy.

We denounce terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and reiterate the need to combat these inhuman acts with decisive and collective response without any double standards. May we express sincere condolences to the grieving families of the deceased and wish a speedy recovery to those injured, said a statement issued by the Russian Embassy in Delhi.

Closer home, Sri Lankas Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe tweeted the brutal terrorist attack in Kashmir's Pulwama district (was) the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. I express my condolences to @narendramodi and the families of police officers who lost their lives.

I strongly condemn the brutal terrorist attack in Kashmir's Pulwama district  the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. I express my condolences to @narendramodi and the families of police officers who lost their lives.  Ranil Wickremesinghe (@RW_UNP) 14 February 2019

"It was with deep shock and horror that I learnt of the bomb blast in Pulwama, Kashmir, that caused tragic loss of life and distress to many dozens of CRPF personnel, wrote Abdulla Shahid, the Maldives foreign minister in a message to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.

At this time of sorrow and devastation, I wish to extend on behalf of the Government and the people of the Maldives and in my own name, profound condolences and sympathies to the people of India, and especially to the bereaved families of the brave Indian Army. The Maldives is fully committed to the fight against terrorism and will continue to work closely with India, and the international community in eliminating this global menace," he added.

MEA hits out at Pak

New Delhi: The ministry of external affairs on Friday hit out at Pakistan and reiterated the demand that Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, Masood Azhar, be proscribed by the UN. The move to declare Azhar a terrorist by the UN has been consistently blocked by China. This heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries, said a MEA statement.By PTI

NEW DELHI: Home Minister Rajnath Singh Thursday spoke to Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik and took stock of the situation in the state after the deadly attack on a CRPF convoy by terrorists, officials said.

He also cancelled all his political engagements in Bihar Friday and is likely to visit Jammu and Kashmir. He called up the governor, who apprised him about the prevailing situation in the state.

ALSO READ | 18 CRPF jawans killed in Jaish attack; worst terror strike since Uri

Singh also spoke to Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and Director General of CRPF R R Bhatnagar and gave them necessary instructions, a home ministry official said. The ministry is also closely monitoring the situation.

In a tweet, Singh said, "Today's dastardly attack on CRPF in Pulwama (J&K) is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured."

At least 30 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama district when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in.

This is one of the worst terror strikes in the state since the Uri attack in 2016.Rajesh Asnani By

Express News Service

JAIPUR: The Ashok Gehlot-led Rajasthan government on Wednesday disarmed the BJP politically in the lead up to the Lok Sabha polls by passing a bill in the Assembly enhancing quota for Gujjars and four other communites from 1% to 5%, besides ratifying the Centrally passed 10% reservations for economically weaker sections (EWS) .

The Rajasthan Backward Classes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutes in the State and of Appointments and Posts in Services under the State) Amendment Bill, 2019, however, exceeded the maximum of 50% limit to quota by 4%, thus risking legal invalidation. The Rajasthan High Court has shot down similar proposals twice in the past.

Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla who has been on the warpath the last week said he would study the implications of the Bill before deciding to end the movement. Gujjar Sangharsh Samiti (GASS) spokesperson Shailendra Singh said, Passing of bill does not mean that we have already got 5% reservation. We would await a notification.

Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot said all 200 MLAs agreed to include the law in the ninth schedule.

Deputy leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore, however, said the draft was done up in a hurry, though they support the Bill.By PTI

NEW DELHI: Amid a raging political row over the Rafale deal, France on Thursday said there was "absolutely no pressure" on it for selecting an offset partner and asserted that there was "nothing stronger" in its system than an inter-governmental agreement to protect the contract.

The French government's strong assertion comes a day after the much-awaited CAG report on the controversy-hit contract showed that the Rafale deal signed by the Modi government to procure 36 fighter jets from France's Dassault got 2.86 per cent cheaper price than what was negotiated during the previous UPA regime in 2007.

At an interaction with a select group of journalists here, French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler asserted that there was "nothing stronger" in his country's system than an inter-governmental agreement that protects the deal.

ALSO READ: Even former French president says 'chowkidar chor hai', says Rahul Gandhi

"In our system, when a government signs a deal under its name, we are responsible as a government for supply, price and delivery," he said underlining the strong commitment of the French government to the deal.

His remarks assume significance as they come amid questions being raised over the absence of a sovereign guarantee in the deal.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in its report on the Rafale deal, has highlighted the drawbacks of settling for a 'Letter of Comfort' rather than a sovereign guarantee by the French government.

Highlighting its concerns, the CAG has observed that in case of a breach of agreement, India would now have to first settle the matter through arbitration directly with the French vendors.

ALSO READ: PM Modi conducted parallel negotiations with Dassault on Rafale, says Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat

Asked if there was any pressure from the Indian side to select an offset partner in the deal, the French envoy said: "There was absolutely no pressure on the French government."

The Congress led by its president Rahul Gandhi has been accusing the Modi government of helping Anil Ambani make a profit of Rs 30,000 crore by helping him get an offset contract under the deal.

The government as well as Ambani have denied all allegations.

A French media report last year had quoted former French President Francois Hollande as purportedly saying that the Indian government proposed Reliance Defence as the partner for Dassault Aviation in the Rs 58,000 crore Rafale deal and France did not have a choice.

ALSO READ: CAG has allowed itself to become a joke: Chidambaram on Rafale deal

Hollande, however, later was quoted as saying that France "did not choose Reliance in any way".

When asked whether India had put pressure on Reliance and Dassault to work together, Hollande had said he was unaware and "only Dassault can comment on this".

On France's participation in the Aero India in Bengaluru, the French envoy said his country will bring the strongest foreign delegation with 49 major firms and small and medium-sized enterprises will cover the entire civil and defence aerospace sectors.

France offers co-development and transfer of technology aimed at bolstering India's strategic autonomy and the 'Make in India' programme, he said.By PTI

NEW DELHI: Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, who reached Bhutan on Thursday on an official trip, is rushing back to Delhi after cutting short his visit in view of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

Gauba had reached Thimpu this morning for a Home Secretary-level dialogue with his Bhutanese counterpart.

ALSO READ | 'CRPF convoy explosion in Pulwama was heard 10 km away'

He spoke to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh after the terror attack.

"In view of the terror attack in Pulwama, the home secretary is rushing back to Delhi," a home ministry official said.

At least 30 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama district when a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into their bus.By PTI

VALSAD: Taking the Rafale row to Narendra Modi's home state, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday claimed the prime minister conducted "parallel negotiations" with Dassault Aviation on the French fighter jet deal.

Addressing a public rally in Valsad district of Gujarat, Gandhi also claimed that the Modi government refused to waive farmers' loans but wrote off Rs 3.5 lakh crore debt of "15 top industrialists".

ALSO READ: Congress will counter hatred spread by RSS-BJP with love: Rahul Gandhi

Attacking the prime minister over the Rafale jet deal, Gandhi said, "The slogan 'chowkidar chor hai' (the sentry is the thief) is also famous in France and even former French president also says 'chowkidar chor hai'."

"The Defence Ministry and the Air Force said Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducted parallel negotiations with Dassault Aviation on Rafale deal," Gandhi claimed.

ALSO READ: CAG has allowed itself to become a joke: Chidambaram on Rafale deal

Criticising the government's incentives announced in the interim budget, he promised that if the Congress comes to power at the Centre, it will give more than just Rs 17 per day in the income guarantee scheme directly in the accounts of the poor.

The Congress chief has been relentlessly targeting the government over the Rafale jet deal.

He had on Tuesday accused Modi of acting as a middleman of industrialist Anil Ambani in the fighter jet agreement with France.

ALSO READ: Of 1.42 lakh questions asked in 16th Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi posed none

However, the government and Ambani have been strongly rejecting allegations of any wrongdoing in the fighter jet deal.By PTI

AMARAVATI: Some of the non-BJP parties have decided to approach the Supreme Court against the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said here Thursday.

In his daily teleconference with Telugu Desam Party leaders, Naidu said a decision in this regard was taken during the meeting of 15 non-BJP parties at Sharad Pawar's residence in New Delhi last night.

A TDP release on the teleconference, however, did not give any further details on the issue.

The TDP has been demanding that use of EVMs be abolished in the upcoming elections and that the Election Commission of India revert to the old ballot paper system.

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, who was here a couple of days ago, maintained that "most parties" reposed faith in EVMs and regretted that some were making the EVMs part of their "motivated slugfest".

Naidu also told his party rank and file that the opposition parties decided to forge a pre-election alliance and work with a common minimum programme.

"There is a lot of antagonism towards Narendra Modi's rule across the country. Democracy will be in danger in the hands of incompetent people. Our talks with national parties have been successful," the release quoted the TDP chief as saying.

He, however, did not specify if the TDP would have a pre-poll alliance with the Congress in Andhra Pradesh.

The Congress had already announced it would fight the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly elections, due in May, on its own.By PTI

NEW DELHI: A team of Defence Ministry officials had found in 2015 that Rafale-maker Dassault Aviation was not the lowest bidder for the UPA government's medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) tender and that its bid should have been rejected at the technical evaluation stage itself, the CAG observed in its audit report on Wednesday.

In its much-awaited report on the controversy-hit purchase of Rafale fighter jets from the French company, the government auditor said the MoD panel had also noted that the price bid of France's Dassault Aviation "was non-compliant as it was incomplete and not in the prescribed format" and a contract cannot be concluded with them.

The panel further found that the proposal from another bidder EADS was also not compliant with the RFP (Request for Proposal), as per the CAG report.

ALSO READ: Rafale deal: Negotiating team Chairman rejects claims of dissent note in contract report

The MoD panel had submitted its report in March 2015, weeks before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India would procure 36 jets under a new deal as against 126 negotiated earlier under different terms and conditions during the Congress-led UPA regime.

Giving a timeline, the CAG observed the RFP was issued to six vendors in August 2007 for procurement of 126 MMRCA, but aircraft of none of the six vendors that participated in the tender meet the ASQR (Air Staff Qualitative Requirement) parameters in the technical evaluation.

The CAG, however, said the ASQR parameters were narrowly defined and in some cases, they were also not clearly defined and these shortcomings remained despite seven years having been spent on framing them.

"In the Technical Evaluation conducted in May 2008, five of the six aircraft could not meet all the ASQR parameters. Four aircraft had one to two deviations, Rafale aircraft could not meet 9 ASQR parameters prescribed in the RFP. Further, it did not submit the data for Manufacturers List of Spares and Engineering Support Package," the CAG report said.

ALSO READ: CAG finds flaws in acquisition of Apache, Chinook helicopters by Modi government

Due to this non-compliance, the technical evaluation committee (TEC) rejected Rafale.

Later, clarifications were sought from the vendor, but the TEC upheld its decision to reject Dassault's bid for Rafale aircraft again in March 2009.

Subsequently, it was decided by the Ministry to reject the technical bid of Dassault and get a waiver of the Defence Minister on some non-compliance to the ASQRs in the bids of four vendors (EADS, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Gripen).

As this proposal was being submitted for approval of the Minister, the Ministry received in April 2009 a suo moto representation from Dassault for reconsideration of its proposal, stating that it was willing to modify the aircraft to meet all the ASQR parameters and was willing to comply all RFP requirements.

The proposal was sent to the Indian Air Force for further technical evaluation, after which TEC recommended that the new proposal met the RFP requirements.

ALSO READ: CAG report on Rafale deal raises concerns on Letter of Comfort over sovereign guarantee

The CAG said the technical offer once submitted should not be materially changed subsequently, though minor variations which do not affect the basic character of the offer may be accepted.

Besides, no extra time should be given to any vendor to upgrade his products to make it compliant with requirements and the original commercial quote submitted earlier must also remain firm and fixed.

"Hence, Audit noted that the opportunity provided to M/s Dassault Aviation to significantly modify its technical and price bid was in violation of DPP (Defence Procurement Procedure)," the CAG report said.

The Ministry, however, said it was not a violation of DPP and that it was approved by the highest decision-making body, the Defence Acquisition Council.

The CAG report further said that after technical evaluation, two aircraft namely Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon were qualified for further price evaluation and the price bids were opened in November 2011.

After determination of L1 (lowest bidder) vendor during 2012, the CAG report said, there were several complaints alleging irregularity in the price evaluation process, including complaints from MPs.

In May 2012, the price evaluation process, with the approval of the defence minister, was referred to Independent External Monitors (IEMs) who were appointed by the Ministry to oversee the compliance to Integrity Pact.

In their June 2012 report, the IEMs did not find any irregularity in the procurement process and stated that the process was reasonable and appropriate.

However, the minister in June 2012 directed that in order to derive complete assurance of the integrity of procurement the matter be again examined by a team of Ministry officials, the CAG observed.

This team concluded that the Dassault proposal at the TEC stage was non-compliant to the RFP with respect to the ASQR, warranty clause and option clause and the proposal should have been rejected.

It also said the acceptance of additional commercial proposal after bid submission date for capabilities, which were already prescribed in the RFP, was unprecedented and against the canons of financial propriety.

The panel also said the L1 calculation based on an incomplete commercial proposal and on assumptions was incorrect and as such determination of L1 was faulty and not as per laid down procedure.

The committee, therefore, recommended the RFP for the MMRCA procurement may be withdrawn.

As a result, the procurement which started in 2000 had made no progress even after 15 years and, in fact, failed on the twin issues of manpower costs and non-guarantee for aircraft to be manufactured by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, CAG said.By Online Desk

There is talk that Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) will join the anti-BJP front. This after former Union Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar met MNS chief Raj Thackeray in Mumbai on Wednesday.

The latest development comes amid differences of opinion between the Congress and the NCP over including Raj Thackeray in the Opposition alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha and state assembly elections, reported NDTV.

The meeting between Pawar and the MNS chief, who have in the past engaged in verbal sparring, took place in Dadar. It lasted for about one-and-a-half hours.

Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh. As per sources, MNS expects to be given at least two seats for the Parliament election. If this demand is met, Thackeray is said to be keen on joining the Opposition front.

Sources in the NCP said the issue of taking along the MNS, perceived as being anti-North Indian, was being considered at the level of the central leadership of the Congress.

Ajit Pawar and two other senior leaders of the party- Praful Patel and Jayant Patil- said that Parliamentary board of the NCP also pressed for its chief Sharad Pawar to throw the hat in the election ring again from Madha Lok Sabha seat.

Party leader Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, who currently represents the seat, said he himself urged Pawar to contest from the seat.

The leaders, however, said it is the NCP who would take a final call in this regard.

The MNS chief has been vocal against the policies of BJP governments in Centre and state.

Last year, he asked the state farmers to throw onions at ministers of the Devendra Fadnavis government, if these ministers didn't listen to them.

Then, he took a jibe at the NDA government at the Centre after the Congress formed governments in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, saying that the country needed "Ram Rajya" and not a Ram temple.

He even remarked that Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, often mocked as "pappu", has now become "param pujya" (highly revered).

Thackeray, also, criticised the Maharashtra government last year over the sensational killing of tigress Avni. He was unhappy with the plastic ban in the state too.

Thackeray had accused that the state authorities killed the tigress to save industrialist Anil Ambani's proposed project in Yavatmal district. However, the charge was denied by Ambani's company as well as a district official.

MNS' inclusion in Maharashtra Opposition alliance is not welcomed by the Congress, which is pushing for an inclusive agenda nationally.

Ajit, however, said the issue would be discussed with the Congress as well before the nitty-gritty of the alliance is worked out.

"I had met (MNS chief) Raj Thackeray yesterday. I apprised party leaders about it today. We will now discuss the issue with Congress. The general mood within our party is positive towards taking forward discussion with the MNS," Pawar told reporters.

Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil said the final list of the candidates is likely to be announced in the next five to six days.

The Congress and the NCP are talking to alliance partners and would finalise things in two-three days, he added.

Patel exuded confidence that the grand alliance will be able to secure 35 seats in Maharashtra.

Thackeray is known for his anti-migrant rhetoric and for following the "Marathi Manoos" agenda. Last December, while addressing a rally of north Indians in Mumbai, he had said that the migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar should question the leaders in their home states for the inability to push development.

Ajit Pawar, though, is said to be pitching for Thackeray's inclusion in the Opposition front to consolidate the anti-BJP vote.

He had noted that the MNS had secured almost one-and-half lakh votes in the past elections in some of the constituencies in Maharashtra.

There have been reports that Sharad Pawar is also pushing for an understanding with Thackeray's party.

The NCP chief has shared the stage with Thackeray on several occasions recently.

Last October, they had a long conversation during a flight to Mumbai, thereby setting off alliance speculations.

On January, Thackeray invited top political leaders, including Sonia and Rahul Gandhi for his son Amit's wedding.

Sharad and Ajit Pawar too attended the event. Although BJP veteran LK Advani, along with Union cabinet ministers were invited, PM Modi was left out.

It was also reported that Ahmed Patel, who attended the wedding, had a one-on-one meeting with Thackeray at that time.

(With Inputs from PTI and Agencies)I emphasise that Egypt will work hard to continue along the road we started together towards the structural and financial reform of the African Union [AU] and build on previous achievements in developing the tools and abilites of the Union in order to meet the hopes and aspirations of African peoples, said President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi during the opening of the 32nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU.

President Al-Sisi started his one-year term as chair of the AU during the Ordinary Session which kicked off in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday under the banner The Year of Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons: Towards Durable Solutions to Forced Displacement in Africa.

He officially received the chairmanship from outgoing AU chairperson, Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

Al-Sisi highlighted principles which will help the continent develop African solutions for African problems.

Ali Hefni, former assistant to Egypts foreign minister, said African states are well aware of the problems they face and are capable of resolving them either through cooperation between governments or within the framework of the AU.

Amani Al-Taweel, a senior researcher at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies (ACPSS), says the vast majority of the issues facing Africa can only be addressed from within the continent.

Foreign interference has not contributed to resolving conflicts in countries like Mali or the Central African Republic. Moreover, the increasing trend to establish military bases in African countries may have dangerous repercussions for the continent, she said.

President Al-Sisis speech before the AU session highlighted ongoing problems requiring prompt action.

In his speech, Al-Sisi highlighted the main issues facing the African continent and the importance of cooperation in resolving conflicts and moving on to reconstruction and development and called on African states to launch an African Union Centre for Reconstruction and Development as soon as possible.

The president characterised terrorism as a malign tumour threatening nation states and hijacking the dreams of their peoples and stressed the importance of identifying its supporters and financiers and dealing with them within a clear framework.

In line with the summits theme of refugees and displaced persons, Al-Sisi said there are eight million African refugees and 18 million displaced citizens.

He pointed to the importance of empowering African women and allowing young people to play a more active role in building the future of their countries.

Al-Sisi also used his speech to launch the Aswan Forum for Peace and Sustainable Development, a continental platform in Aswan for political leaders, intellectuals and opinion-makers.

In its presidency of the AU, says Hefni, Egypt is expected to focus on two main issues, peace and security, which involve facing terrorism and resolving ongoing conflicts.

But to attain the goal of making Africa a conflict-free continent by 2020 will involve facilitating development as well as enhancing the economy and boosting inter-African trade.

On an economic level Egypt is looking forward to consolidating a free trade area in Africa after economic blocs like COMESA, SADC and EAC, and the Tripartite Free Trade Area in Sharm El-Sheikh proved to be a success, says Al-Taweel.

Improving infrastructure and building a network of highways like the suggested Cape Town-Cairo road will give a genuine boost to the continents economy, she added.

Other important meetings took place on the sidelines of the AU summit.

A tripartite summit between President Al-Sisi, his Sudanese counterpart Omar Al-Bashir and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed focused on promoting relations and cooperation among the three states as well as resolving outstanding differences over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

The meeting continues the talks between the three leaders initiated at the AU summit in January 2018, said Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi.

The three leaders stressed the urgency of developing a consensus on the dam based on the declaration of principles signed in Khartoum which stipulates the dam should not cause harm to any of the involved parties.

President Al-Sisi also met the President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The two leaders said they were committed to promoting greater bilateral consultation and coordination via joint committees.

Nile water was one of the issues discussed between the two men. Tshisekedi said that his country is willing to support Egypt on issues relevant to the Nile water.

During his meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Al-Sisi said that he looked forward to further strengthening the strategic partnership between the UN and the AU, particularly in areas related to peace, security and development.

Guterres congratulated Al-Sisi on Egypts chairing of the AU and noted that the UN relies on Cairo to consolidate cooperation and integration with the pan-African organisation.

He affirmed Egypts key role in Africa and the UNs keenness to bolster cooperation and development and preserve regional peace and security.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri took part in pre-summit ministerial meetings which included sessions with his counterparts from South Africa, Burundi, Tanzania and Gabon.

He also took part in the seventh AU High Level Committee meeting on Libya and participated in the two-day meeting of the AU Executive Council.

Egypt, Angola, South Africa, Algeria and Nigeria head the contributors to the AUs budget. Egypts share is 12 per cent.

This is the fourth time Egypt has chaired the Union. It was chaired once by president Gamal Abdel-Nasser and twice by president Anwar Al-Sadat.

The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

On 9 September 1999 the Heads of State and Government of the OAU issued the Sirte Declaration calling for the establishment of the AU and accelerating the process of unity among countries of the continent.

The AU was officially launched at the Durban Summit in 2002 and the first assembly of heads of states of the AU was convened.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 14 February, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Homegrown solutions for Africa

Short link:

By PTI

HYDERABAD: The TRS is hopeful of the BJD, YSRCP, and even the BSP and SP buying the idea of its President K Chandrasekhar Rao on forging a non-Congress, non-BJP federal front of regional parties, a key party leader indicated Thursday.

On Congress, TMC and other opposition parties Wednesday speaking of a common agenda and pre-poll ties to take on the BJP, Telangana Rashtra Samiti leader B Vinod Kumar said with general elections nearing, outfits crafting their own strategy is natural.

"For us it's not an issue. For us, it's not important. We have our own strategy", the deputy floor leader of TRS in Lok Sabha told PTI, noting that his party has been promoting the idea of a federal front in recent months.

"We (regional parties) should have our own strategy", he said voicing opposition to regional outfits aligning with the "so-called" national parties -- the Congress and BJP.

During UPA-1 rule, the Congress had 147 seats but it "dictated terms to regional parties on whose strength it formed the government", Kumar claimed.

"TRS' view is that regional political parties should unite, coordinate among themselves and talk to national parties", the Karimnagar Lok Sabha member said.

"So, definitely the view of TRS would continue and before general elections, we will sell this idea to all regional parties who are independent like us, and also parties who are with NDA and also with UPA," Kumar said.

He said the TRS was hopeful of Biju Janata Dal (BJD), YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), even Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) buying Rao's federal front idea.

"We have strength in our idea, many political pundits may or may not have understood it. But that's the reality. We can talk (about the impact of a federal front) in the month of June (after Lok Sabha election results are known)", he said.

Asked if the TRS would extend support to the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP in Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh, due by May, Kumar said, "there is no need for him (Reddy) to have support of us because we have no role there in Andhra Pradesh politics".

"We have not even a single voter (in Andhra Pradesh). We never had our party unit there (in Andhra Pradesh). We supporting that party (YSRCP) does not arise", he said.

On Rao's statement that his party would give a "return gift" to N Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP which contested last year's Telangana elections in alliance with the Congress to take on the TRS, Kumar said, "That we will give in our own way. In the coming days, you will see".By UNI

SRINAGAR: Militants shot at and critically wounded a person in Tral in south Kashmir district of Pulwama, a police spokesman said on Thursday.

He said one Lateef Ahmad was fired upon by the militants from a close range at Amlar area of Tral in Pulwama last night.

The injured was immediately rushed to nearby hospital, he said, adding that senior security and police officials immediately rushed to the area.

The militants had managed to escape under the cover of darkness, he said, adding that a case under relevant sections of law was registered and investigations initiated.By PTI

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat University authorities have asked the around 280 foreign students enrolled under its Study Abroad Programme (SAP) not to approach the media or police without permission.

The co-ordinator of SAP, Neerja Gupta, told PTI Thursday that the directive, in the form of a circular issued in October last year, is not a "ban" on interaction with media or on approaching the police.

The circular, issued by Gupta, says a "strict warning is given to all foreign students...that engagement with any outer agency like media or police without prior permission of Gujarat University shall invite immediate expulsion for violating the code of conduct."

The directive was meant for foreign students residing in three hostels under the SAP.

Gupta said the circular should not be looked upon as a ban. "This is a general directive issued every academic year. We are not stopping students from approaching the media or police. We are just telling them to make the authorities aware first," she said.

Students enrolled under the SAP belong to Asian and African countries including Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and South Africa.

Gupta rubbished a media report that these students were allocated hostels as per their food habits. It is wrong to say that some Afghan students were shifted to a hostel in a predominantly Muslim area on account of their food habits.

The only criterion for hostel allocation was the course, not food habits, she said.

"For girls, we have one hostel which accommodates all the girls, be it of under-graduate course, PG or of Ph.D. For boys, we have two hostels. For Post Graduate and Ph.D students, there is a hostel near the university campus. For the UG students, we have rented a building in Lal Darwaja area," said Gupta.

"Food habits is not at all a criterion. Since Lal Darwaja is the main bus terminus, UG students can get better bus connectivity to reach their colleges spread across the city from there," she added.Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: Until now, the BJPs Assam leader Himanta Biswa Sarma enjoyed the image of a pan-Northeast leader. But the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 has thrown up a new hero.



Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, son of former Lok Sabha speaker the late PA Sangma, is the new leader rising. It was he who had brought 11 political parties from the Northeast together to put up a united fight against the controversial bill which the Centre failed to table in the Rajya Sabha.



Such a huge coalition in the form of North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) was a few years ago built by Sarma when the BJP was making inroads into the Northeast. The difference is that Sarma had the support and resources of a national political party like the BJP. Sangma could do it despite being a marginal regional player.

ALSO READ | Euphoria in Northeast as Centre fails to table Citizenship Bill in Rajya Sabha



As protests against the bill in the Northeast got intensified, Sangma had taken the lead in bringing the regional political parties together in opposing it. He stood his ground despite his National Peoples Party (NPP) being an ally of the BJP in NEDA. The NPP and the BJP are also constituents in the ruling dispensations of Manipur, Nagaland and Meghalaya.



Just a few days ago, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah batted strongly for the bills passage in Parliament, Sangma had threatened to pull out of NEDA. He did not want the existence of indigenous communities of the Northeast to be threatened by the bill. And now, he is being viewed by people as a hero of the Northeast.



He had a big role in saving democracy. He put up a brave fight for the indigenous people of the Northeast because he had realized that if the bill was passed, it would have been a threat to the political rights of the indigenous people of the Northeast among others, said All Assam Students Union (AASU) general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi.



He added: People expected (Assam Chief Minister) Sarbananda Sonowal to play such a role. However, he let them down by endorsing the bill. Sangma had kept fighting selflessly till the end. He should keep leading the fight of indigenous people of the Northeast.



NPP Meghalaya unit chief W R Kharluki said Sangma, along with various other organisations, had played his part.



Asked if the CM is filling up the shoes of PA Sangma, Kharluki said, He is more or less moving to the direction of his father. The NPP leader added, We should realize that nobody is going to help us. Only we ourselves can help us. Politically, we need a stronger Northeast so that we can have our say in the affairs of India as a whole.

Well-known Assamese scholar Hiren Gohain said Sangma had played a critical role in mobilising opposition forces against the bill in the Rajya Sabha as well as forcing the BJP to recalibrate its agenda there.



But for the groundswell of resentment and resistance among people of the region, he might not have gathered the strength and guts to fight such a powerful ruling force to a standstill, Gohain said, adding, His threat to withdraw from the ruling coalition in Meghalaya unsettled the BJP which uses its leverage in government to further its own peculiar political and cultural goals. He has, therefore, been justly applauded for his role.

Well-known Assamese scholar Hiren Gohain said Sangma had played a critical role in mobilising opposition forces against the bill in the Rajya Sabha as well as forcing the BJP to recalibrate its agenda there.



But for the groundswell of resentment and resistance among people of the region, he might not have gathered the strength and guts to fight such a powerful ruling force to a standstill, Gohain said, adding, His threat to withdraw from the ruling coalition in Meghalaya unsettled the BJP which uses its leverage in government to further its own peculiar political and cultural goals. He has, therefore, been justly applauded for his role.Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: The situation on Aligarh Muslim University campus remained tense with students lodging protests at different locations right from the proctor office to Vice-Chancellors lodge on Thursday. They boycotted the classes and indulged in slogan shouting and took out protest marches on campus not only against the district police administration but also against the university administration.

During the protests on Thursday, the students locked the proctor office opposing the university administrations decision to suspend eight students and banning their entry till the probe was completed.

They were demanding to revoke a suspension of the four supported by AMUSU.

The protestors were also opposing sedition charges slapped on 14 students including AMUSU president Salman Imtiaz, vice-president Salman Imtiaz and secretary Hufaiza Aamir and former president of AMUSU Mashkoor Ahmad on Wednesday after Tuesday clashes between two factions of students over opposition to proposed visit of AIMIM MP Asasuddin Owaisi to the campus.

The FIR against the AMUSU members was lodged on the basis of a complaint given by the student leaders belonging Bharatiya Janata Yuvjan Morcha (BJYM)

In fact, AMU administration took action against eight students including four led by Ajay Singh, LLM final year student and grandson of BJP MLA from Barauli, Dalveer Singh. Besides Ajay Singh other three included Manish Kumar, Amana Verma and Pawan Jadaun. While the four of other faction included Imran Khan, Abdul Mabood, Farhan Zubairi and Adil Khan.

However, the district administration restored internet services after 23 hours.

DM Aligarh, Chandra Bhushan Singh and SSP Aligarh, Akash Kulhari were present at the Bab-e-Sayyad gate of the university where the AMUSU members had been protesting against sedition charges on 14 students, while another group of students had been protesting at V-C lodge seeking the university administration to revoke the suspension of four members supported by AMUSU.

However, as per AMU spokesman M Shafey Kidwai, eight students were suspended based on complaints lodged by Manish Kumar and Imran Khan against each other at the proctors office. Kidwai said the complaints related to assault and violence.

Meanwhile, the AMU Teachers Association (AMUTA) has also slammed booking 14 students under sedition charges. They urged the President of India Ram Nath Kovind to take suo motu cognisance of the matter and direct the authorities to deal with the case with impartiality.

Passing a resolution to this effect on late Wednesday evening, AMUTA condemned the charges of sedition and others levelled against the AMU students.

The members demanded the President of India to issue directives to the nation that serious charges like sedition should be revoked only after a thorough inquiry.

It seems to be a conspiracy to vitiate the academic atmosphere of the campus, said AMUTA secretary, Prof Najmul Islam.

In fact, the trouble started on Tuesday when a group of Hindu students, led by Ajay Singh and some BJP office bearers were allegedly assaulted by AMUSU students when they were protesting at Faiz gate seeking cancellation of the proposed visit of Owaisi.

Five vehicles belonging to protestors were vandalised and one was set on fire by the students belonging to another community.

As per police sources, the violence broke out after Manish Kumar, a BTech (final Year) student was assaulted by one Mohammad Imran of Suleman hostel of AMU after Kumar came out in support of protestors.

The police sources said that even two-three round firing was also done by the students during trouble on campus.Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: The ongoing unrest on AMU campus involuntarily shifts focus to Ajay Singh, the final year student of LLM, who has been at the centre of a number of controversies which have plagued the prestigious institution in the recent past.

With BJP government at the helm in the state, the most attention-seeking credential which Ajay Singh enjoys is his political legacy as he is the grandson of Dalveer Singh, the BJP MLA from Barauli in Aligarh.

This fact probably gives the AMU student an emboldened demeanour as he has been a student leader representing the Hindu section of students, around 6,000, on the campus. He has a following among other students as well, says a research scholar on campus.

Talking to this correspondent, Ajay Singh refers to the current unrest as unfortunate and demands the dissolution of the universitys Student Union. The students union should be dissolved and the trouble mongers and intimidators of Hindu students should be arrested and sent to jail, he says.

In fact, Ajay Singh, with alleged allegiance to Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of BJP, had contested for the post of president of AMU in 2017-18 and had received respectable chunk of votes. Though he lost that election but he could make a mark in the student politics on AMU campus, says a university student seeking anonymity.

On the present crisis on campus, Ajay says it has its genesis in the fact that the AMUSU office bearers were allegedly planning to launch a Muslim Front for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections by roping in leaders of smaller outfits like All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Musalmeen (AIMIM) chief and MP Asasuddin Owaisi.

As we got the wind of it, we opposed it as it would have led the communal politicisation of the campus, he maintains and adds that it is already on unabashedly in AMU.

Ajay has a long association with AMU right from the days of adolescence as he has done his secondary schooling till 12th standard from a school associated with AMU in Aligarh. Then he got admission in AMU and completed his graduation in law. Now he is pursuing LLM from the university and is a final year student.

While the AMUSU has come out criticising the present state and Central dispensations openly over a number of issues, the situation precipitated after BJP lawmaker Satish Gautam wrote a letter to AMU V-C last year seeking removal of Jinnahs portrait on the wall of the students union hall.

However, Ajay Singh has been drawing critical acclaim for his involvement in a number of incidents of late. While he led last years campaign demanding a temple of Goddess Saraswati on campus for the Hindu students who did not have any place to worship, hogged the limelight when he was issued notice from the university administration for taking out a Tiranga Yatra on campus on January 24 this year, just two days ahead of Republic Day.

He had created a flutter in August last year when he took out a march to express grief on the demise of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the campus.

If we have to organise an event on campus, we are issued show cause notices, while they (Muslims) can do anything as per their wish. No permission is necessary for them riled Singh.By Express News Service

Good time, well spent. Thats how Sriimurali describes his meeting with Telugu prince Mahesh Babu. Sriimurali was at Ramoji City, Hyderabad to shoot a few scenes for his upcoming film, Bharaate, when he met the Telugu actor. Sriimurali also met our own Kichcha Sudeep, Suniel Shetty, Dhruva Sarja, Sai Kumar and Tara who are currently shooting in Hyderabad for their respective films.

with Sudeep

I heard Mahesh generally doesnt meet strangers, so I was humbled at the way he received me. He was very kind, says Sriimurali, who spoke about films and also exchanged notes about each others kids. I had seen Maheshs film in theatres much before I started working in this industry. So it was a good to know him up and close, he says.

Mahesh, who is currently shooting for Maharshi, also spoke about Kannada films, and mentioned to Sriimurali that Sandalwood was coming out with some good movies. I was able to interact with him thanks to Sai Kumar. It was good to be on the sets of anothers films shoot, he says.

Sriimurali and Sudeep visited each other on their sets. At the shooting of Pailwaan and his film, the actor also met Suniel Shetty, a meeting he terms interesting. I realised when you have a good movies, people will start respecting work. I am thankful for the kind of love we receive, he says.

Having shot for Bharaate for more than 100 days, Sriimurali plans to complete the shoot much before April. The film directed by Chethan Kumar is targeting a May or June release. After Bharaate, Srrimurali will start with Mahesh Kumars Madagaja, produced by Umapathy.By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: Continuing the spree of sops before the elections, Council of Ministers has fixed modalities for the implementation of Annadata Sukhibhava, a scheme for farmers to improve crop productivity.

Unlike Telangana government, which is implementing a similar scheme taking the area of land as a unit (Rs 10,000 per acre in two spells), the AP government has fixed family as a unit and will give Rs 10,000 per year.

However, for 54 lakh families out of the 70 lakh-odd families being covered under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PMKSN), the State government will extend financial support of Rs 4,000 as the Centre has already announced to deposit Rs 6,000 in three spells into the accounts of farmers.

Even as the ministers and TDP leaders claimed that the scheme announced by AP is better than that of the Centre and Telangana, Opposition leaders and farmer associations flayed the State government for linking the scheme with PMKSN. When the Centre announced to extend the financial aid to the farmers directly without involvement of States, how can AP claim it will provide Rs 10,000 to each farmer family after distributing only Rs 4,000 to 54 lakh farmers families? they questioned.

As the notification for the MLC elections is likely to be released shortly, which will be followed by the notification for general elections, the ruling party, in a hurry to roll out more schemes aimed at luring voters, came up with modalities of Annadata Sukhibava during the Cabinet meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at the Interim Government Complex in Velagapudi on Wednesday.

Under the Annadata Sukhibhava, each farmer family will receive Rs 10,000 in two instalments (Kharif and Rabi) in a year. The State government has also decided to extend the facility to tenant farmers, unlike Telangana government, which extends the scheme only to landowners.

Agriculture Minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy said nearly 54 lakh farmers in the State are eligible for the PMKSN scheme. However, there are an additional 15 lakh farmers who are ineligible for the scheme and the State will give Rs 10,000 to such families in two instalments, he said.

Stating that the Centre has already asked the State about the details of the farmers, who would be eligible for the PMKSN scheme for disbursal of Rs 2,000 per acre as the first instalment of the scheme by month-end, Somireddy said the remaining Rs 3,000 will be added to the financial aid given by the Centre to make it Rs 5,000.

While the Centre spends Rs 1,080 crore for the 54 lakh farmers eligible for the PMKSN, the State government will bear an additional Rs 1,620 crore for the Rs 3,000 per acre it extends to PMKSN beneficiaries and another Rs 750 crore for the 15 lakh-odd farmers, ineligible for the PMKSN. Thus, the government will spend Rs 2,370 crore for the first instalment, he added. For the tenant farmers having cultivation certification, loan eligibility certificates among others, the State will extend the dole in Kharif season (in June).By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Self-proclaimed Bajrang Dal activists performed "marriage" of a young couple at Kandlakoya Oxygen Park in Medchal on Thursday, on the occasion of Valentine's day.

The activists, chanting 'Jai Shree Ram', entered the park and saw the couple talking to each other. Later, they asked them to tie the knot if they were true 'lovers'.

The activists went on to film the entire episode while the boy tied around the girl's neck a pasupu thadu, a thread smeared with turmeric which is used in marriages as a mangalsutra.

The video has become viral on social media and is being widely circulated on WhatsApp.

The group can be heard saying in the video, "Idi oka manchi roju" (it is an auspicious day) while filming the video. They later congratulated the couple even as the boy was visibly shaken and exhibited disgust over the sudden breach of privacy and the entire episode that followed.

The police have started an investigation into the incident and the couple, as well as the activists, have been taken to Medchal police station for interrogation.

"We are understanding the modalities. The parents have been asked to give us further details," said PV Padmaja, Deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Balanagar police.

She clarified that the activists were not affiliated to Bajrang dal and said that the interrogation is yet to be completed before further details can be disclosed.

"We do not have members in Medchal. The activists have used our name to gain attention", claimed Subash Chander, State Convenor, Bajrangdal. He added, "it is not in our ideology that we perform marriages in an arbitrary manner."

However, several malls, jewellery shops, pubs and restaurants were asked to remove all sorts of decorations relating to Valentine's day by the Bajrang Dal.

Groups of Bajrang Dal activists went to popular places protesting against the observance of Valentine's Day.

Several Bajrangdal members were arrested after they staged protests across the city. Effigies of Saint Valentine was burnt in Abids and LB Nagar by the Bajrang Dal activists.

Across the city, several parks were either closed or had police personnel deployed as a preventive measure to curb untoward incidents.

By PTI

NEW DELHI: Police are raiding at possible hideouts of the absconding owner of Arpit Palace Hotel in Karol Bagh where a massive fire broke out Tuesday which claimed lives of 17 people, officials said.

Police are looking for the accused, Shardendu Goel, who also owns a hotel in Gurugram and other areas across Delhi, a senior police officer said Wednesday.

His residence at Bank street in Karol Bagh was found to be locked on Tuesday when a police team went to track his whereabouts.

They are questioning his relatives and associates including his brother who stays in Gurugam, the officer said.

Two accused, Rajender, the General Manager and Vikas, the manager of the hotel who were arrested in connection with the incident are taken into police custody for two days.

ALSO READ: Karol Bagh hotel fire: Delhi court sends two men to two-day police custody

The case was transferred to the Crime Branch on Tuesday.

The FIR highlights serious violations by the hotel.

It states that extensive inflammable materials were used in the hotel and sufficient arrangements were not made to ensure the safety of the guests.

During the inspection, it was found that there was no panic alarm at the place of occurrence.

There was only one emergency exit, and since it was closed due to uncertain reason no one could come out during the incident, it said.

A lot of combustible or plastic material used on the walls and for making partition walls which triggered the fire.

ALSO READ: Will Hyderabad hotels survive a Delhi-like fire accident?

Also, there were no proper signage display for emergency exit, the FIR stated.

A temporary makeshift made up of inflammable material was erected at the rooftop for the kitchen which was unauthorized similarly the kitchen in the basement was also operating illegally, it stated.

Meanwhile, the Embassy of Myanmar is in contact with Delhi Police.

The embassy has given its No Objection Certificate to carry out the autopsy of two Myanmar nationals who were killed in the incident.

The post-mortems will be conducted on Thursday and taken to their home country the same day, police said.Egypt's parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal has said that a report prepared by a sub-committee on the countrys newly proposed constitutional amendments will be referred to parliament's legislative and constitutional affairs committee to be discussed in detail in hearing sessions over the next two months.

The proposed amendments to some articles of the 2014 constitution were provisionally approved on Thursday by 485 MPs. Each MP was required to hold the microphone to say yes or no to the proposed amendments upon hearing his/her name.

The motion to amend the constitution was submitted by 150 MPs, more than a fifth of the total deputies (596).

Abdel-Aal indicated the amendments will not include amending articles 212 and 213 of the constitution as previously suggested, which are related to regulating the performance of the National Press Organisation and the National Media Organisation.

Abdel-Hadi El-Qasabi, the leader of the Support Egypt majority bloc which submitted the amendments, said that "after consultation with parliament's media committee, we decided that articles 212 and 213 will not be part of the proposed amendments."

Osama Heikal, the head of parliament's media, culture and antiquities committee, voiced objections in yesterday's session to eliminating the two articles related to the National Press Organisation and the National Media Organisation.

Heikal argued that the two should be given time to prove their efficiency and that their laws were issued after long discussion in parliament.

At the end of the debate and the vote on Thursday, Abdel-Aal said he was keen to give the floor to MPs from all political backgrounds to give their views on the amendments.

"As many as 221 MPs took the floor, 126 of whom are affiliated with the majority and 95 with the opposition, independents and minority," said Abdel-Aal.

According to Abdel-Aal, the constitutional and legislative affairs committee, which will be in charge of discussing the amendments over two months in hearing sessions, will be keen to hold a national dialogue on them.

"At first, all political forces and state institutions will be allowed to send their comments and proposed changes in written form to the committee within one month from now, with the stipulation that these be confined to the proposed constitutional amendments," Abdel-Aal said.

"At the end of this month, there will be a two-week national dialogue on the amendments, and all political forces and representatives of civil society organisations, judges, media people, constitutional law professors, and representatives of workers and professional syndicates will be invited to participate in this dialogue and express their views, the speaker said.

Abdel-Aal added that at the end of the two-week dialogue, the committee's members will meet to deliberate the outcome of the dialogue for one week, and then have another week to draw up the final drafts of the amendments in a report that will be sent to the House's internal bureau to be discussed and then put to a vote in a plenary session.

"If voted yes at the end of the two month, the final draft of the amendments will be presented to the president to put it up for a vote in a public referendum. It is up to the Egyptian people to give the final word on these amendments in the end," Abdel-Aal added, urging MPs to explain the amendments to people in their districts.

Abdel-Aal said that the amendments include articles 102, 140, 160, 189, 190, 193, 200, 204, 234, 243, and 244. These seek, he indicated, to achieve six objectives.

The first, he said, is to widen the scope of participation in parliamentary and political life in terms of supporting the role of women in political life in terms of reserving a certain number of seats to them in parliament; preserving the representation in parliament of workers and farmers, Copts, youth, Egyptians abroad, and the physically challenged.

The second objective, added Abdel-Aal, is to strike a balance between the parliamentary and presidential systems.

"This will come through appointing one or two vice presidents; and amending the presidential term to be increased from four to six years," said Abdel-Aal.

Third, he said, the amendments aim at regulating the system of naming the heads of judicial authorities, the prosecutor-general, and chairman of the Supreme Constitutional Court, and creating a supreme council for judicial affairs.

Fourth, Abdel-Aal said, the amendments aim to give the Armed Forces legal powers in safeguarding establishments and public utilities, and naming the minister of defence upon the approval of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF).

Fifth, he said, the amendments aim to reform the election system in line with rulings issued by the Supreme Constitutional Court in this respect.

Sixth, the amendments aim to create an upper house of parliament under the name of "the Senate" to activate political life.

Abdel-Aal said that "at the end of the detailed debate and national dialogue on the proposed constitutional amendments, the final word will be left to the people to give their say in a public referendum."

Some MPs voiced objection to the amendments in Thursday's session.

Akmal Qortam, head of the Conservatives Party, described the amendments "as an assault on the constitution and the rights of the Egyptian people."

He decided to withdraw from the meeting hall when some majority MPs interrupted him.

Short link:

Ritwika Mitra By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: IAS officers from across the country will soon be given a week-long training in social policy and welfare for improved policymaking and implementation of schemes so that they can reach out more effectively to the marginalised sections of society. Dr Ambedkar International Centre will sign a MoU with Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration to carry out this week-long training in Mussoorie. The programme begins when the next batch of IAS officers are trained.

The course will be designed as such that it encapsulates modules on social welfare and policies comprehensively and how these can be effectively implemented in the Indian context. Currently, there is a gap between policymaking and implementation of schemes which are of social importance.

With this training, we plan to fill this gap and make them more receptive on how to reach out to the different sections of the society, said a senior official of Dr Ambedkar International Centre. The idea is that bureaucrats can implement policies on health, education, development, for people in the margins like women, elderly, SC/ST/OBC communities, denotified tribes, the differently-abled effectively. The modules will cover welfare policies in India and around the world, the history of India, and India as a welfare state, among other topics.

The Ministry of External Affairs has approached the Ambedkar centre to conduct such courses for officers from African countries. This is because the implementation of social welfare policies remains a challenge in these countries too. The course will give them fresh perspectives.

Premier training institution for civil services

The Academy conducts a common Foundation Course for entrants to the All India Services; Indian Foreign Service; Group A services of the Union and the Royal Bhutan Service followed by professional training.By Express News Service

New Delhi: In a jolt to the Delhi government, the Supreme Court on Thursday said that the Centre controls the anti-corruption bureau.

The two-judge bench gave a split verdict on petitions seeking clarity on the powers of the Delhi government and the Lieutenant Governor.

Justice A K Sikri while reading the operative portion of the judgement said, The two judges are divided over certain aspects.

On the issue of transfers of Joint Secretaries of Delhi and above, the Lieutenant Governor has the power, Justice AK Sikri held.

Justice Ashok Bhushan dissented from Justice Sikri on the issue of 'services' and said that all the officers fall under the domain of the central government.

The Supreme Court has now referred the issue to a larger bench to decide whether the Delhi government or L-G should have jurisdiction over services in Delhi.

The two-judge bench unanimously agreed that control of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) will come under the Lieutenant-Governor, upholding the Centre's notification.

Further, it was held that the Centre would be the appropriate authority under the Commissions of Inquiry Act.

Issues pertaining to the Electricity Reforms Act, revision of minimum rates of agricultural land, and the power to appoint a special public prosecutor would all lie within the Delhi governments domain, the court held.

The Supreme Court was hearing individual appeals after a Constitution Bench of the court on July 4, 2018 had held that the Lieutenant Governor is bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers of the Delhi government.By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: A court on Wednesday reserved its order on the bail plea of Christian Michel, arrested in connection with an alleged scam in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal, for February 16.Special judge Arvind Kumar, directed all parties to file short written arguments in the case by February 15.

During the hearing, the CBI and the ED opposed Michels bail plea, saying the court has already taken cognisance of the chargesheet in the case and the accused cannot seek bail at this juncture.

Advocate D P Singh, appearing for the agency, said no question of default bail arises under Section 167 and the investigation in this case was at a very crucial stage. The counsel appearing for Michel sought bail on the ground that the chargesheet against him was not filed within the stipulated 60-day period under section 167 (2) of the CrPC.

The submission made by the CBI is that they are at a crucial point of investigation but bail is the rule and so provision of 167 has to be extended to me. Many of the accused have not yet been arrested. Even the main accused has not been arrested. No application for extradition has been filed against the main accused. Therefore the investigation cannot be completed, said Michels counsel.

Michels counsel also raised the issue of letters rogatory. They said the letter rogatory issued by India to Italy and Switzerland with regard to the case asking for documents have been rejected outrightly by both the courts. Agency inputsBy Express News Service

CHENNAI: A 25-year-old woman was killed on the spot while her husband and two children had a narrow escape after the motorbike they were travelling in collided head-on with a lorry at Chintadripet on Wednesday night.

Saraswathi, wife of Saravanan resided at Meeran Sahib Street in Chintadripet along with their children aged six years and three years.

On Wednesday, the elder child fell sick and the couple were taking both the children to the hospital.

"At around 10.45pm, a few meters away from home the motorbike collided head-on with a lorry. The rear tyre of the vehicle ran over Saraswathi killing her on the spot, while the other three escaped with minor injuries," said a police officer.

The passerby who witnessed the accident immediately rushed the family to the hospital and nabbed the lorry driver Lagan Singh.

During the investigation, it was found that Lagan Singh a native of Haryana was transporting automobile spare parts from Delhi and had come to deliver the goods in the city.

The public had thrashed the lorry driver who sustained injuries and is undergoing treatment at the government hospital.

The Anna Square traffic investigation have registered a case and further investigations are on. Saravanan, worked as a daily labourer and his wife was a homemaker, the children were studying in a government school in the same locality.By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The GST Council is likely to meet on February 20 to consider the recommendation of a group of ministers on GST on property under construction. The GST Council is going to meet on February 20. On top of the agenda would be the recommendation of the GoM on GST for under-construction buildings. Apart from that there would be some other consideration for revenue cut, a senior official told this publication.

The meeting will take place via videoconference.

The GST Council had last month announced the formation of a Group of Ministers, under the chairmanship of Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, to analyse tax rates and issues and challenges being faced by the real estate sector. While they favour 5 per cent GST for buildings under construction, there is no consensus on whether there should be a provision for input tax credit for developers. According to sources, the GoM is likely to meet one more time before the GST Council meet so that they can build a consensus before giving a final recommendation.

According to the sources, there is also a request from the cement manufacturers lobby on reducing tax from 28 per cent to 18 per cent. Cement is among the few commodities taxed in the highest slab.

In the last meeting, finance minister Arun Jaitley had ruled out any possibility of further rate cuts, saying this would impact revenue collection. He added that the cut would happen once the revenue flow was comfortable. As per governments own admission, a rate cut in cement to 18 per cent will lead to a loss of Rs 13,000 crore annually in revenue collection.

The meeting will be crucial as this is going to be the last meeting before the code of conduct comes into force ahead of the general elections.

GoM divided on input tax credit

Group of Ministers formed last month under the chairmanship of Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel to analyse tax rates and the issues and challenges being faced by the real estate sector favours 5 per cent GST for buildings under construction, but there is no consensus on whether there should be a provision for input tax credit for developers.By Bloomberg

Airbus SE decided to stop making the A380 double-decker after a dozen years in service, burying a prestige project that won the hearts of passengers and politicians but never the broad support of airlines that instead preferred smaller, more fuel-efficient aircraft.

Production of the jumbo jet will end by 2021, after the A380s biggest customer, Emirates, and a handful of remaining buyers receive their last orders. The Gulf carrier will pare down its current A380 order to 14 from 53. Emirates said separately it would purchase 70 smaller A330neo and A350 widebodies listed at $21.4 billion before customary discounts.

Todays announcement is painful for us and the A380 communities worldwide Airbus Chief Executive Office Tom Enders said in a statement. Airbus said as many as 3,500 jobs are affected by the decision.

While the A380 has struggled for years to match its popular appeal with a robust order book, the radical move to cancel the plane outright marks a watershed moment for civil aviation. The A380 was always more than an aircraft, albeit a very large one. Rather, it was the manifestation of Europes collaborative drive and the continents industrial ambitions. For Airbus, the airliner sought to create a commanding counterweight to Boeing Co., promising unparalleled space and luxury for increasingly congested airports and the skies above.

But from early on, the worlds largest commercial passenger plane with capacity for more than 800 passengers had a hard time, both technically and commercially. Getting the A380 airborne for its maiden flight was severely delayed by wiring glitches that resulted from faulty communications between design teams. When the plane finally embarked on its first commercial flight in late 2007, the financial crisis that would cripple global travel was already on the horizon. Some customers had second thoughts about whether the giant aircraft was the right choice for meager times, and cancellations started piling up.

Airbus had watched enviously as Boeing monopolized the market for very large aircraft with its 747 jumbo, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this month and sold more than 1,500 units. While Airbus was a major force in the single-aisle space with its A320 family, the prestigious long-distance and ultra-large aircraft segment remained the domain of its U.S. rival. With passenger numbers rising every year and major new hubs opening in markets like Dubai, the A380 seemed the obvious choice to address the need for a large people carrier, while picking market share off Boeing.

An A380 jet approaches Hamburg, Germany, on Nov. 2005.

Dubai did in fact turn into the A380s major sponsor, with Emirates ordering a total of more than 160 units, far in excess of any other airline. But ironically it was also Emirates that contributed to the A380s decline and fall. With Airbus increasingly reliant on a single customer for its flagship product, Emirates could make or break the program by ordering or canceling more A380s. When the airline decided to rethink latest order for 20 units, Airbus saw no choice but to draw down production, given the lack of other buyers.

As a result of this decision we have no substantial A380 backlog and hence no basis to sustain production, despite all our sales efforts with other airlines in recent years, Enders said

Winding Down

Airbus's A380 order book stands at 40 after Emirates cut back.

From its inception, the A380 was a grand European project. The wings, like those of all Airbus aircraft, came from the U.K., components were ferried across the continent from production sites in Germany and France. The giant fuselage tubes were taken by barge and flat-bed truck to the main facility in Toulouse, and the planes were then painted and kitted out in Hamburg. Teams from across the region joined colleagues at other sites during crunch times, the quirky-looking Beluga freight planes would crisscross countries with parts, and the A380 was a popular backdrop at air shows for politicians celebrating Europes achievements.

But over the past two decades, a new breed of aircraft gained popularity, making life harder for the A380 and the Boeing 747, which has also struggled with the latest passenger version of its iconic hump-backed plane. While the A380 represented an Airbus bet on congestion driving demand for ever-larger aircraft in mega-hub airports, Boeing in the early 2000s decided the future would lie in smaller long-range planes that could economically overfly the hubs and directly connect smaller markets.

Its 777 model and the smaller 787 Dreamliner, as well as Airbuss A350 models, twin-engine planes that pioneered the use of lightweight carbon fiber and efficient engines, helped airlines drastically cut fuel expenses and allowed them to use the planes with quicker turnaround times on smaller point-to-point routes. The giant jumbo aircraft, by contrast, suddenly became too expensive, too heavy and too cumbersome to operate.

Resale Values

Markets where Airbus had hoped to sell its prestige plane hardly caught on or didnt materialize at all. There isnt a single U.S. carrier that uses the A380, Chinese airlines have only bought the model in low numbers, and Japan -- traditionally a big buyer of the Boeing 747 -- has only recently taken delivery of its first A380. Qantas Airways Ltd. formally canceled an outstanding order just last week, and carriers including Air France have pared back their commitments.

An Airbus A380 and a Boeing 747 aircrafts, both operated by Qantas Airways.

Part of the A380s problem is that there is no established second-hand market, typically the domain where prospective buyers can pick up jets at a discount. Singapore Airlines Ltd., the first commercial operator of the A380, learned this just recently, when it returned some aircraft back to its leasing partner, only to see them broken up in France for their parts.

The A380s might be majestic, but they are going the same way as the magnificent ocean liners of the 1930s  the scrap yard, Bill Blain, a strategist at Mint Partners in London, wrote in a research note. Too costly to fly anything but near full, and unusable on any less dense sectors, theyve struggled to find a niche.

Airbus itself acknowledged that timing may not have been on its side with the A380. While busy airports like London Heathrow have become major magnets for the model, congestion has not been felt acutely enough around the world to shock more airlines into buying the biggest plane. And many operators dont even use the model at full capacity. Most airlines choose to transport no more than about 500 people, instead decking out the cabin with fancy features from in-flight bars to showers and multi-room suites that come with flourishes like butlers and sofas.

Such fripperies were a hit with passengers, who often went out of their way to book a flight on the A380, which promised a more spacious, quieter, more luxurious flight experience than older long-distance models. At a time when flying had lost its jet-age mystique and budget carriers sought to cram as many people onto a plane as possible, the A380 offered a throwback to an era of stylish travel, with plush cabin layouts and free-flowing champagne.

But in the end, it wasnt passenger support, but the lack thereof from airlines that hastened the A380s demise. Like Concord, the supersonic jetliner that inspired a generation of plane-spotting fans, the A380 was brought back down to earth by the hard truths of commercial board-room economics that gained the upper hand over popular aviation enthusiasm.Ethics in the News is a monthly summary of ethics and lobbying-related articles published in 2019, compiled by NCSL's Center for Ethics in Government.

Note: The links to these articles are provided for information purposes only. NCSL does not endorse any views these news stories provide. Links more than two weeks old may no longer be active. If you are interested in reading an article whose link is inactive, please contact the newspaper in which the story was published.

December

Illinois - Lobbyists will have to disclose additional information to the public under a measure Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law Wednesday. View story.

New Hampshire - New Hampshire lawmakers may be facing more stringent ethics guidelines going forward after a recent ruling by the Legislative Ethics Committee. View story.

Guam - The Guam Ethics Commission is still in the process of obtaining funding, and if everything goes as planned, the commission might start receiving complaints by August 2020. Despite a nearly two-decade-old law re-establishing the commission, this is the first time the group has been constituted. View story.

South Africa - Leaders in the public and private sector, as well as in many other institutions, have influence by virtue of their greater authority and power. They have access to resources by virtue of their office. This elevated position means leaders are role models for others in society. In this capacity, they teach others what is acceptable and desirable through their actions. View story.

November

Federal - Rep. Katie Hill, D-Calif., announced her resignation Sunday after a string of reports shining a negative light on her personal life, including a reported affair with her legislative director that sparked a House Ethics Committee investigation. View story.

October

North Dakota - North Dakota lawmakers and employees of the Legislative Council are remembering former Director John Olsrud for his nonpartisan, ethical approach in decades of serving the Legislature. View story.

September

National - The Coalition for Integrity released its Enforcement of Ethics Rules by State Agencies: Unpacking the S.W.A.M.P. Index report last Thursday. View story.

North Dakota - North Dakotas new Ethics Commission is working out how far its authority extends and determining the rules that will guide its actions and decision-making. View story.

August

North Dakota - North Dakota's new Ethics Commission will meet for the first time next month in Bismarck. The five-person panel will meet beginning at 1 p.m. Sept. 12 at the Russell Reid Auditorium of the North Dakota Heritage Center, with the meeting continuing at 10 a.m. Sept. 13. View story.

July

Iowa - Iowa is earning kudos for its restrictions to prevent former state lawmakers from becoming lobbyists for two years after leaving office. Overall, Iowa has the best revolving door policy  with a two-year cooling off period that applies to both legislative and executive officials and staff, and broadly prohibits both lobbying activity as well as lobbying contacts during the cooling off period  according to an analysis of state ethics laws by Public Integrity. View story.

June

Kentucky - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently put its stamp of approval on Kentuckys legislative ethics law, sending a clear signal for strong public ethics laws across the nation. View story.

A federal appeals court has upheld a Kentucky law that bans lobbyists from giving gifts to state legislators or donating to their campaigns. View story.

North Dakota - North Dakota residents vying for a seat on a voter-approved ethics commission are being asked about their political past and examples of leadership, problem solving and unpopular decisions they've made. Nearly 70 people applied to serve on the five-member panel to oversee the conduct of legislators, statewide officials, candidates and lobbyists. View story.

May

New Mexico - Top New Mexico legislators have appointed the first members to the states ethics commission, choosing longtime Santa Fe lawyer Stuart Bluestone and Las Cruces good government advocate Frances Williams for seats on the newly created committee. Voters last year overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment creating an ethics commission after years of campaigning by reformers and successive scandals that landed prominent political figures behind bars or under indictment. View story.

North Dakota - A Ninth Circuit panel overturned a lower court decision Wednesday in a ruling with implications for how state confidentiality provisions apply to unelected officials versus elected ones. The three-judge panel ruled unanimously that a Montana state law requiring ethics complaints be kept confidential while the matter is decided by an independent body violates the First Amendment regardless of whether the complaint involves elected or unelected officials. View story.

Top North Dakota officials charged with forming a new panel to oversee ethical standards in state government say they're looking for applicants without an political agenda, as the implementation of last year's ballot measure enters what observers see as a crucial phase. View story.

April

Georgia - A bill filed by Republicans in the Georgia House this week proposes a "Journalism Ethics Board" to oversee news coverage in the state. It also suggests fines and sanctions to punish outlets that don't comply with parts of the proposed law. View story.

March

New Mexico - New Mexico will no longer be one of just six states without an independent ethics commission, after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law Thursday a bill setting the powers and procedures of a voter-approved commission. View story.

The New Mexico House of Representatives has approved a revamped proposal that would create a new ethics commission after intense negotiations with the Senate. House lawmakers voted 66-0 late Friday to move a compromise bill that gives a judge subpoena powers and allows claims to be public after 30 days if probable cause is determined. View story.

Texas - The "Texas Ethics Commission" is not an oxymoron, just an idiosyncrasy. It's composed of an even number of people  unheard of in government since there's no one to break a tie. Even more remarkably, it's constitutionally mandated to include an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, seemingly the icing on the cake for chronic stalemates. View story.

February

Arkansas: State lawmakers convicted of a federal crime in conjunction with their official duties would forfeit their state retirement benefits and the Arkansas Ethics Commission would have authority to increase its fines for ethics violations under a package of six ethics bills that legislative leaders signaled support for. View story.

Illinois: The Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC) held its monthly meeting and took the final steps to recommend the appointment of Judge Carol Pope to the position of Legislative Inspector General (LIG), effective March 1. Following the selection of Pope in December, Acting Legislative Inspector General Porter, Pope and the LEC agreed on an extension of current LIG Porters term by two months to allow time for her to complete open cases. This also allows for an important transition period. View story.

Kentucky: The Kentucky Senate's top leader pointed to high-profile public corruption cases in pushing for ethics legislation to shed more light on efforts to lobby the executive branch. Senate President Robert Stivers mentioned federal bribery and kickback cases involving an ex-lobbyist and a former high-ranking state official in advocating for stricter oversight of lobbyists when reaching out to executive branch agencies that craft regulations and award contracts. View story.

New York - Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has proposed reforms for the state contracting process and other ethics measures in Albany after two years of corruption convictions, including former top legislative leaders and a top aide to the governor. View story.

North Dakota - Lobbyists who opposed adding anti-corruption language to the North Dakota constitution are urging lawmakers to quickly define the new rules to clear up any confusion about proper Capitol conduct, while the ballot measures supporters seek a slower approach. View story.

January

Indiana: Members of the Senate Ethics Committee unanimously passed an amendment to its ethics guidelines that adds new protections for interns and fellows hired by the states legislative branch. The amendment says sexual relations between an intern and a senator, including relationships between consenting adults, constitutes unethical behavior and would be subject to an investigation by the ethics committee. View story.

Missouri: The Missouri Capitol will be missing something in the coming months. The aroma of barbecue, pancakes and other vittles wafting through the Rotunda is likely to be absent for denizens of the domed building as part of a change to the state Constitution approved by voters in November. View story.

New Mexico - Lawmakers and open government proponents raised questions Friday about transparency and possible conflicts with other investigative agencies as New Mexico legislators try to flesh out details of the long-discussed creation of a state ethics commission. View story.

North Dakota: Freshly formed North Dakota legislative committees began dissecting new ethics rules voters recently carved into the state constitution Jan. 30. Lawmakers wrestled with legal definitions, discussed a new ethics commissions rule-making powers and weighed the confidentiality of ethics complaints. The chairmen of the House and Senate committees predicted itll take several more meetings to iron out legislation implementing the new constitutional language. View story.Related Egypt parliament to take provisional vote on proposed constitutional amendments Thursday

Egypt's parliament has overwhelmingly approved constitutional amendments that would extend the length of presidential terms and allow President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to run for two more terms after his second term expires in 2022.

The amendments could potentially allow President El-Sisi to remain in power until 2034.

Some 485 members of the 596-seat assembly approved the changes, parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal said after a general voting session on Thursday. This makes up more than the two-thirds majority required to pass any changes to the country's national charter.

The approval is a major step towards moving forward with the constitutional changes, which are now expected to be referred to parliaments legislative and constitutional committee to prepare a report in no more than 60 days.

The amendments will then be put to a final vote by the chamber and later to a national referendum, which is expected to be held within a few months.

The amendments include extending the presidential term from four to six years in Article 140 of the constitution, and a transitional clause that applies only to El-Sisi and allows him to run for two more six-year terms after his current term ends in 2022. The charter allows any other president to run for two terms only.

The proposed changes give the president new authorities over appointing members of the judiciary and boost the army's role in "safeguarding the constitution and the ideals of democracy, and maintaining a civil state."

They also include setting up a second house of parliament, the Senate.

Those who back the amendments say the changes are important for the stability of a country hit by years of political turmoil since the 2011 revolution, and to allow the president more time to carry out economic development plans.Egypt's parliament has overwhelmingly approved constitutional amendments which would allow President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to stay in power until 2034, 12 years after his current second term expires.

Some 485 members of the 596-seat assembly approved the changes in a Thursday session, more than the two-thirds quota required to pass any changes to the country's national charter.

The assembly already gave its preliminary consent to the amendments last week.

Following the parliament's endorsement, the changes will then need be put to a national referendum within a few months.

El-Sisi's supporter say the changes are important for the stability of a country hit by years of political turmoil since the 2011 revolution, and to allow the president more time to carry out economic development plans.

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Sea Grant & ASLO bring helping hands to Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Scientists from 52 countries will be providing hands-on help in Puerto Rico to restore marine and coastal resources damaged during hurricane Maria in 2017 in connection with the annual meeting of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography February 23 to March 2, 2019.

"The Puerto Rico and Minnesota Sea Grant programs are working together with Puerto Rico-based members of the ASLO meeting committee to offer educational activities and volunteer opportunities that focus on environmental and ecosystem restoration," said Puerto Rico Sea Grant Director and ASLO committee member Ruperto Chaparro Serrano. "Our intention is to use ASLO's annual scientific meeting as a means to give strong material and intellectual assistance in coastal recovery to Puerto Rico."

Scientists and meeting participants will help local organizations in their post-hurricane efforts by recovering coral reef fragments and reattaching them, collecting water samples and aquatic insects to assess water quality, cleaning up coral reefs and mangrove keys, painting houses and planting bananas, beans and cassava at a local farm.

"I live in Puerto Rico and had the opportunity to work in the initial response after hurricane Maria and witnessed the devastation and needs that our people have," said Aurea E. Rodriguez-Santiago, a member of the ASLO planning committee. "I am very proud of the set of community outreach activities and deeply appreciate the response that these activities have had from ASLO members to help our communities and our students."

ASLO's Puerto Rico outreach activities are listed below.

The meeting will address areas of key importance to Puerto Rico including societal and environmental recovery and development, renewable energy, environmental sustainability, clean water, and rebuilding and maintaining coastal and reef ecosystems.

"The 33 nationwide Sea Grant programs bring reliable science to stakeholders whether they are businesses, industries, policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, communities, governments, students, educators, or individuals," said Minnesota Sea Grant Director and ASLO meeting co-chair John A. Downing. "If the science needed does not exist yet, our granting programs seek scientists who can do the research and our extension educators bring that science back to stakeholders."

The public is encouraged to come to the "What can aquatic scientists do for you?" event Wednesday evening where they are invited to discuss how to close the communication gap between scientists and nonscientists. Translators will be available to help facilitate discussion among the audience and the panelists.

"We hope that the scientists at the meeting will build research collaborations among scientists in Puerto Rico, the mainland United States and globally," said Chaparro. "While the meeting in San Juan will benefit Puerto Rico in the short term, organizers hope conference outcomes will positively impact the island in the long term."

Puerto Rico Sea Grant is hosting an informational booth (#E-31) in Hall B of the Puerto Rico Convention Center from February 26 to 28.

An education fair on Wednesday will have booths of educational activities, demonstrations and resources for local middle and high students and teachers. These educators and students will work with scientists at the meeting to identify new ways of delivering science curricula. There will be a high-school student poster session on February 27. ASLO student members residing in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands can register for free.

"What we learn from the scientists presenting at ASLO 2019 and from the island communities will help us help Puerto Rico. The lessons we take home will also inform how we prepare, adapt and respond in our own freshwater or saltwater coastal communities that are in peril," said Downing.

###

COMMUNITY OUTREACH ACTIVITIES:

Volunteering with P.E.C.E.S. Participants will be painting houses and other tasks as a part of a recovery project organized by P.E.C.E.S. (El Programa de Educacion Comunal de Entrega y Servicio), an NGO that fosters social, economic, and educational development of individuals and communities in social disadvantage. Monitoring Dive at a Coral Reef Ecosystem at Escambron Beach and Condado Lagoon. Monitoring Dive at a Coral Reef Ecosystem at Escambron Beach and Condado Lagoon. One diver will work with Manuel Nieves, a graduate student at the Department of Marine Science (DMS) - University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez (UPRM). Coral Reef Fragments Recovery Dive and Restoration Project. Participants will take part in dives to recover coral reef fragments at the Escambron and Condado lagoon. This activity is part of an ongoing restoration project under the direction of Samuel Suleiman, president of Sociedad Ambiente Marino, Inc. (SAM)/Marine Environment Society. Water Quality Monitoring in Different Zones. Participants will be involved in water quality monitoring activities under the direction of Samuel Suleiman, Sociedad Ambiente Marino, Inc. (SAM)/Marine Environment Society. Monitoring sites include locations close to the Puerto Rico Convention Center. Coral Reefs and Mangrove Keys Cleanup at La Parguera. Organized by graduate students from the Department of Marine Science (DMS) - University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez (UPRM). The purpose of this activity is to acquire data for a long-term Marine Debris project at various sites within the La Parguera mangrove ecosystem. La Parguera is a village in the municipality of Lajas. Guakia Colectivo Agroecologico. Participants will be involved in planting and farming vegetables and fruits seedlings in an eco-agricultural farm in the municipality of Dorado. Their mission is to produce food, technology and learning experiences accessible to the Puerto Rican community throughout collective work and agroecological farming. https:/ / www. facebook. com/ guakiapr/ Educational Workshop About the Role and Importance of Aquatic Macroinvertebrates in Freshwater Quality (Quebrada Sonadora River at El Yunque National Forest) Participants will hear a presentation about macroinvertebrates and why they are good bioindicators of water quality. Following the discussion, they will get into the water to collect macroinvertebrates with nets and will identify the microhabitats that they inhabit. Educational Workshop About the Role and Importance of Aquatic Macroinvertebrates in Freshwater Quality (Quebrada Sonadora River at El Yunque National Forest). Participants will hear a presentation about macroinvertebrates and why they are good bioindicators of water quality. Following the discussion, they will get into the water to collect macroinvertebrates with nets and will identify the microhabitats that they inhabit. The previous and this activity are Sponsored by Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research, University of Puerto Rico, Natural Science Faculty, Department of Environmental Science (LTER - UPR). http://luq. lter. network/ Restoration, Management and Conservation Project of the Las Cucharillas Marsh. The activity will consist of an environmental and social justice talk, an interpretative tour of the Las Cucharillas reserve and a mangrove transplant activity. This activity is hosted by El Corredor del Yaguazo, Inc. with the support of http://www. caraspr. org/ en/ education/ .

CONTACT:

Ruperto Chaparro Serrano, MS, Director Puerto Rico Sea Grant. 787-832-3585, 787-832-4040 x5260, ruperto.chaparro@upr.edu.

John A. Downing, PhD, Director Minnesota Sea Grant, downing@d.umn.edu

Aurea E. Rodriguez-Santiago, PhD, Founder and Director, Taller Ecologico de Puerto Rico, 787-637-5952, auryo@gmail.com

Cynthia Maldonado Arroyo, Communications Coordinator, Puerto Rico Sea Grant. 787-834-4726, comunicacionespsg@uprm.edu.

Marie Thoms, Communications and Public Relations, Minnesota Sea Grant. 218-726-8710, m: 907-460-1841, methoms@d.umn.edu.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.On Tuesday, lawmakers in New Mexico have been urged to ban the trapping of wild animals on public property. This want for a ban was due to the killing of a Mexican gray wolf. According to the Defenders of the Wildlife, more than 40 wolves have been trapped since 2002. The groups prograGood Citizenship

Posted Monday, May 20, 2019 2:20 pm

(NAPSI)The Department of Defense reports that 1.3 million Americans serve in the military.

If you or someone you care about is ever among them and sent overseas, you may be glad to learn about an organization thats been assisting members of the U.S. armed forces, veterans and their families since the early 1900s: the American Red Cross. It provides emergency communication services, resiliency programs and morale activities.

We are committed to delivering critical services with a caring touch wherever and whenever theyre needed24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a yearfor military members and their families at home and around the world, said Koby Langley, senior vice president for Service to the Armed Forces at the Red Cross.

Now, the organization is expanding support for U.S. military personnel in Eastern Europe with a new office in Romania.

In addition to aiding military members and their families, the American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to disaster victims; supplies about 40 percent of the nations blood; teaches lifesaving skills; and provides humanitarian aid. A not-for-profit organization, it depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public.

Learn More

The free Hero Care App helps members of the military and veteran communities access emergency and other Red Cross services anywhere in the world.

Go to your app store or text GETHEROCARE to 90999 to download the app. For further facts, visit www.redcross.org.Launched on December 3,1990. Nagaland Post is the first and highest circulated newspaper of Nagaland state. Nagaland Post is also the first newspaper in Nagaland to be published in multi-colour.Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi flew to Germany early Thursday for a major global security forum in the city of Munich, a spokesman for the Egyptian presidency said.

El-Sisi will be one of 35 heads of states and government to take part in the Munich Security Conference 2019, focused on international security policy.

Experts from across the globe will tackle the future of arms control and cooperation in defence policy, the connection between trade and international security, as well as the effects of climate change and technological innovation on international security.

During the forum, whose main themes include the self-assertion of the European Union and transatlantic cooperation, El-Sisi is expected to present Egypt's vision for "reaching political solutions to the various crises in the Middle East region" as well as his country's "efforts in combating terrorism and extremist ideology," spokesman Bassam Rady said.

El-Sisi, Rady added, will also discuss Egypt's vision for bolstering ties between African countries after Egypt took the rotating presidency of the African Union earlier this week.

While in Germany, the Egyptian leader is scheduled to hold a series of bilateral talks with counterparts on issues of mutual interest as well as regional and global developments. He will also sit with a number of leading business executives and CEOs of German and global companies as part of efforts to draw badly needed investment to revive Egypt's economy hurt by years of political instability.

The Munich conference, which dates back over five decades, is expected to bring together an "unprecedented number" of international decision-makers, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US Vice President Mike Pence as part of the "largest US delegation of all time," according to the conference's website. Fifty foreign ministers and 30 defence ministers from around the world will also take part.

Also present will be EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde and Acting President of the World Bank Kristalina Georgieva.

Short link:

Qiu Xiegeng (right) and his son at the Great Wall Station (Photo/ZAKER)

A 92-year-old man achieved his dream of travelling the entire world after he reached the South Pole on Feb. 10, mobile internet reading platform ZAKER reported.

On that day, Qiu Xiegeng from Suzhou in eastern China's Jiangsu province arrived at China's Great Wall Station located very near the South Pole deep within the Antarctic continent accompanied by his son Qiu Xiaoxiang.

Qiu Xiegeng does exercise. (Photo/ZAKER)

Qiu and his son began their journey on Feb. 5 after three-month preparation. He walked 4 to 5 kilometers per day or rode 20 kilometers per day. He was the oldest member of the team of 70 people.

Over the past few decades, Qiu went abroad for the first time in 1999 and visited 53 countries and regions in the world, except for the South Pole.Welcome to Morningstar.co.uk!

You have been redirected here from Hemscott.com as we are merging our websites to provide you with a one-stop shop for all your investment research needs.To search for a security, type the name or ticker in the search box at the top of the page and select from the dropdown results.Registered Hemscott users can log in to Morningstar using the same login details. Similarly, if you are a Hemscott Premium user, you now have a Morningstar Premium account which you can access using the same login details.Today's Headlines Would you like to receive our daily news? Sign up today!

Breaking news Sign up for breaking news alerts from morning-times.com!!!

Week in Sports Get a weekly local sports round-up from www.morning-times.com every Saturday morning!!!LHASA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- About 511,700 visits were made by tourists to southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region during the 10-day holiday of the Tibetan New Year, up 11.6 percent year on year, local authorities said Thursday.

This year's Tibetan New Year, or Losar, fell on Feb. 5 and coincided with the Spring Festival. During the holiday, the region's tourism industry brought in around 353 million yuan (52.2 million U.S. dollars), a year-on-year growth of 17.7 percent, according to the regional tourism development department.

"This is my first trip to Tibet. The scenery is breathtaking, and the locals are very friendly," said Luo Xiaohui, a visitor from south China's Guangdong Province.

She added that she could not have found a better time to visit Tibet than the Tibetan New Year, which is normally celebrated by religious rituals, horse races, family gatherings and feasts.

In a bid to attract more tourists during the winter, the region has rolled out a spate of preferential policies including waiving admission charges for some scenic spots from Nov. 1 last year to March 15.

Official data showed more than 30 million tourists visited Tibet last year, a year-on-year increase of 31.5 percent, the highest figure since 2013.News

Chemung

Chemung: Town agrees to settle Vulcraft assessment dispute

CHEMUNG  The Chemung Town Board Wednesday voted unanimously to approve a settlement that will end a nearly two-year dispute over the assessment of three properties owned by the Vulcraft of New York plant.

Under the terms of the settlement, the assessment for the three properties will stay at its current levels for 2017 and 2018.

However, for this year, the assessment of those parcels will be lowered from its current total of $17,717,720 to $13 million.

The company, in filing its assessment appeal in 2017, has originally sought a 54 percent reduction its total assessment  from the $17,717,720 figure to $8,055,000.

Broken down, the assessment changes contained within the settlement would be as follows:

 For the manufacturing facility, which is located on 73.63 acres, the assessment would decrease from $17.365 million to $12,665,200.

 For the vacant parcel that the company owns, that assessment would decrease from $15,100 to $14,800.

 For the 25 acres that the company owns, that assessment would decrease from $337,620 to $320,000.

Since the settlement is not retroactive, the town will not have to provide Vulcraft with a refund on its property taxes for 2017 and 2018, noted Chemung Town Supervisor George Richter.

If the town was to continue to battle this in the courts, it would have to bring in a separate firm to determine the assessment of the Vulcraft properties, said town board member Joe Donovan.

The original assessment was set by a firm in Rochester and we paid that firm about $80,000, said Richter. But we did get (the cost of that) split between the school district and the county. They helped paid for some of that.

Vulcraft had sought a lowering of its assessment despite the fact that it is still in the midst of a 20 year Payment-In-Lieu-Of-Taxes agreement with the Town of Chemung, Chemung County and the Waverly Central School District.

That agreement, which expires next year, calls for the company to pay only 25 percent of the total taxes on its properties for the remaining eight years of the contract.

The next meeting of the Chemung Town Board will be held at 7 p.m. March 13 at the town hall on the Rotary Road Extension. The public is invited to attend.PHILADELPHIA  The numbers keep piling up when it comes to the coronavirus toll in the city.SUPPORT THIS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM

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JOIN NOWShali Zhang, dean of libraries at the University of Montana, sits in the study lounge on the near the front doors of the Mike and Maureen Mansfield Library on Feb. 7, 2018. Zhang wished to be photographed away from the books because she wanted to focus on the main reasons students come to the libraryto study and use the technology.An article regarding applications of AI technology in clinical diagnoses of diseases children suffering from reported that the AI system implemented has surpassed doctors in diagnostic accuracy.

The article, published in the medical journal Nature Medicine on Feb. 12, was co-authored by Guangzhou Women and Childrens Medical Center and YITU Healthcare, a startup that pioneers in AI healthcare innovation.

The research team used natural language processing (NLP) to achieve high accuracy rates on par with doctors when reading electronic health records and generating patient diagnoses.

For comparison purposes, the research team collected cases of 12,000 children patients and found that the AI system performed better than less experienced doctors and almost as well as experienced ones in the diagnostic accuracy rate.

The article also said that the system could assist doctors to diagnose some acute and potentially life-threatening diseases. The AI system has achieved high accuracy in assessing many dangerous conditions including bacterial meningitis (93%), varicella (93%), and influenza (94%).

101.6 million data points have been gathered for the research involving over 1.36 million outpatient visits from January 2016 to July 2017 in Guangzhou Women and Childrens Medical Center to train and validate the model. The primary diagnoses included 55 diagnosis codes encompassing common diseases in pediatrics all of which represent a wide range of pathologies.

Since the system was put into clinical use at Guangzhou Women and Childrens Medical Center on Jan. 1, 2019, it has helped doctors diagnose 30,276 patients with an accuracy rate of 87.4 percent.[February 14, 2019] LTI to Acquire Germany Based NIELSEN+PARTNER Larsen & Toubro Infotech (News - Alert) Ltd. (NSE: LTI, BSE: 540005), a global technology consulting and digital solutions company, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire NIELSEN+PARTNER (N+P), an independent Temenos WealthSuite specialist, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. N+P is a leading partner of Temenos in Europe and APAC. The company is well-recognized for its market-leading capabilities in Temenos WealthSuite, including Triple' A Plus, Data Source (News - Alert) and Channels. With presence in major Banking and Wealth Management hubs like Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Singapore, N+P also provides IT Consulting, digital and software engineering services to major enterprises. This acquisition is synergistic to Syncordis acquisition that LTI announced in 2017. Syncordis is the leading Temenos T24 Core Banking Platform specialist with widespread presence in Europe, whereas N+P has built comprehensive expertise in the front office of Temenos WealthSuite. Together with Syncordis, N+P strengthens LTI's capabilities as a global expert of Temenos suite of products and enriches company's offerings to Banking clients. Upon integration, N+P's Temenos business will be consolidated under the brand of Syncordis, while software engineering business will operate and expand as part of LTI Germany. Sanjay Jalona, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, LTI, said: "Temenos is the world leader in banking software. Since the Syncordis acquisition, this has been a fast-growing practice for us, enabling resilient relationships and rich, cross-selling opportunities. The acquisition of N+P will help us further establish LTI as a formidable player in the fast-growing market for Temenos and help our clients navigate their digital transformation journey. I welcome the employees and clients of N+P to LTI family." Manuel Brunckhorst, CEO, N+P said: "Joining forces with strategic and complementary partners like LTI and Syncordis is the next logical step to accelerate our growth, enhance our capabilities and extend our services, both for Temenos, as well as software engineering services. We are very excited about the future and continuing our journey with our existing and new clients, employees and partners." Guillaume Desjonqueres, CEO, Syncordis said: "Syncordis has been growing at a faster pace since its acquisition by LTI. With LTI acquiring N+P, we are entering into a new phase, expanding both our Temenos offerings and our footprint outside of Europe. In line with our strategic vision, Syncordis and N+P together with LTI will provide complete and innovative services to Temenos clients in the Banking and Wealth Management space, globally." This is the fourth acquisition by LTI since the compny got listed in 2016. In January 2019, the company acquired Ruletronics, a boutique Pega Consulting company. About LTI: Larsen & Toubro Infotech (NSE: LTI, BSE: 540005) is a global technology consulting and digital solutions Company helping more than 300 clients succeed in a converging world. With operations in 30 countries, we go the extra mile for our clients and accelerate their digital transformation with LTI's Mosaic platform enabling their mobile, social, analytics, IoT and cloud journeys. Founded in 1997 as a subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited, our unique heritage gives us unrivaled real-world expertise to solve the most complex challenges of enterprises across all industries. Each day, our team of more than 27,000 LTItes enable our clients to improve the effectiveness of their business and technology operations, and deliver value to their customers, employees and shareholders. Find more at www.Lntinfotech.com or follow us at @LTI_Global About Syncordis: Syncordis S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Infotech (LTI), is a pure-play core banking transformation specialist with more than 150 Temenos consultants. Established in 2004, Syncordis S.A. has offices in Luxembourg, France, UK and India, and provides business and IT consultancy focused exclusively on Temenos solutions. Syncordis' implementation, helpdesk, monitoring and application support services help clients reduce risks, increase efficiency and enhance quality of their banking systems. Syncordis brings rich international execution experience in over 15 countries across Europe, Asia, Americas, Middle East & Africa including Germany, Switzerland, UK, France, Belgium & Luxembourg. Find more at www.syncordisconsulting.com About N+P: N+P is an IT consulting company specializing in implementation, customization and operation of Temenos WealthSuite, and software engineering in Germany. With offices in Hamburg (HQ), Zurich, Singapore, Luxembourg, Brussels, Sydney and Bangkok, N+P takes pride in providing exemplary service to customers and partnering in their transformations. The company brings together years of experience, reliability, commitment and a sense of responsibility to its engagements. More information at www.nundp.com Connect with LTI: Read our News and Blogs

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Meet us at Temenos Community Forum, 2019 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005344/en/

[ Back To www.mobilitytechzone.com\LTE's Homepage ][February 13, 2019] D2L ANNOUNCES 2019 D2L EXCELLENCE AWARDS WINNERS Kitchener, Waterloo, Feb. 13, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- D2L , the global learning technology leader, today announced the winners of the 2019 D2L Excellence Awards, which recognize educators, trainers, and leaders in employee engagement that have used the Brightspace platform to deliver learning experiences that are innovative, collaborative, or have made an extraordinary impact on learning outcomes. As D2Ls market momentum grows globally, the D2L Excellence Awards have become increasingly competitive and, more importantly, point to some exciting education innovation globally, said John Baker, CEO of D2L. Were proud to recognize this years five winners for delivering truly excellent learning experiences. EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS California State University Long Beach (CSULB)  USA: In years past, CSULB has held a one-day orientation event for all incoming freshmen and transfer students. By using Brightspace to host this orientation program, the university has helped introduce more than 18,000 students over the past two years to a wealth of necessary information ranging from campus safety, campus resources, and campus priorities to advising and registration. In addition, the new program allows students to become familiar with Brightspace before even setting foot on campus. Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Limited  Canada: Gay Lea Foods is a successful and growing co-operative in the Canadian dairy industry. Working with the Learning and Creative Services team at D2L, Gay Lea Foods has developed eight courses covering a wide variety of topics, including sessions on each aspect of board governance and membership, as well as courses that provide the companys directors and delegates with insight into the structure of other co-operatives around the world. Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board  Canada: The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board recognized the need for educational approaches to adapt in order to engage with its digital-savvy learners. From eLearning to professional learning to blended learning, the Board has grown its eLearning program from 27 teachers and 852 students in 2015-2016 to 77 teachers and over 2,500 students in 2018-2019; thats almost a 300 percent growth in just three years.



St. Petesburg College  USA: Together with D2L, the college created Faculty Tools  a Brightspace customization designed to help faculty easily identify and quickly communicate with struggling students. Faculty Tools helps streamline the processes faculty do every day to find struggling students in order to help get the students back on track. Faculty Tools is available to St. Petersburg course instructors on the course home page, and includes four tabs: Grade Check, Last Login, Student Persona, and Grade Preview. The colleges internal data shows that the tool is having a significant impact on student success and retention efforts. Victoria University  Australia: In 2018, Victoria University introduced the Block Model for its first-year students. This is an Australian first, has been highly successful and acclaimed, and is fully supported by Brightspace. Brightspace allows for automation of site creation with copied content from dedicated unit master spaces; supports checklists, rubrics, attendance data, and grades; enables automatic grades transfer to the student management system; and provides analytics dashboards using Datahub to inform unit review. The Universitys data suggests the implementation has increased student pass rates, increased student grades, and supported student retention.



When I founded D2L nearly 20 years ago, there was no way to know what our learning platform would eventually become. But we had dreams  we wanted to help the world get smarter, said John Baker, CEO of D2L. Today, almost two decades later, we like to say that our goal is nothing less than changing the way the world learns  and it is encouraging to have partners like our five award winners helping us accomplish that mission. ABOUT BRIGHTSPACE Brightspace is a cloud-based learning platform that makes online and blended learning easy, flexible, and smart. Brightspace is a quantum leap beyond traditional Learning Management System (LMS)  it is easy to drag-and-drop content to create engaging courses, supports all mobile devices , has industry-leading up-time, and is built with accessibility in mind for all learners. Plus, Brightspace enables the future of learning with a gaming engine, adaptive learning , video management , intelligent agents, templated interactives for course design, full support for outcomes or competency-based learning , and actionable learning analytics . D2Ls Brightspace was recently named the #1 LMS in Higher Ed by Ovum Research and #1 in Adaptive Learning by eLearning Magazine. In addition, Aragon Research included D2L in its highly coveted Hot Vendors In Learning list . ABOUT D2L

D2L believes learning is the foundation upon which all progress and achievement rests. Working closely with clients, D2L has transformed the way millions of people learn online and in the classroom. Learn more about D2L for schools , higher education and businesses at www.D2L.com . PRESS CONTACT

Erin Mills, Vice President Marketing, D2L Ltd, pr@d2l.com



 2019 D2L Corporation.

The D2L family of companies includes D2L Corporation, D2L Ltd, D2L Australia Pty Ltd, D2L Europe Ltd, D2L Asia Pte Ltd and D2L Brasil Solucoes de Tecnologia para Educacao Ltda. All D2L marks are trademarks of D2L Corporation. Please visit D2L.com/trademarks for a list of D2L marks.

[ Back To www.mobilitytechzone.com\LTE's Homepage ]The only two giant pandas in Australia, Funi and Wang Wang, are likely to return to China this year after a fifth failed attempt at artificial insemination, reported the Daily Mail.

The two pandas were moved to Adelaide Zoo on December 13, 2009 and became main attractions at the zoo.

However, the two never mated successfully and artificial insemination started in 2013.

It's been reported that the last two attempts at artificial insemination on Funi were conducted in September of last year. The low level of progesterone in Funi was once thought to be evidence of pregnancy but it turned out to be a false reading.

Despite this, CEO of the Adelaide Zoo Jaimee Foote said that the facilities specially built for the pandas and 9 years of experience in raising them will give them a chance of successfully breeding pandas in the future.

When and how the pandas will be returned are up to the federal government of Australia, which has been funding the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, Jaimee Foote added.

British Prime Minister Theresa May attends the Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons in London, Britain, Feb. 13, 2019. (Xinhua/UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor)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.Sophomore Julia Brighton would not go inside, instead placing flowers at the outdoor memorial. She said she suffered with nightmares for months. Staying outside "felt like it would be a better experience for me instead of being at school and putting myself through that," she said.To receive help filing your 2018 federal, state and local tax returns or your Pennsylvania property tax and rent rebate applications, taxpayers must bring copies of their 2017 tax returns plus all income information, real estate tax receipts, any deduction information, and health care enrollment information pertaining to 2018. Taxpayers must also bring photo ID, Social Security cards, and if you want refunds direct deposited then bring your bank check to ensure we have the correct account numbers.Panto has said the resolution would bring the controllers salary to what it used to be about 15 years ago. Panto took office in 2008, so he was not certain why the controllers salary was reduced.LOS ANGELES, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- NASA announced the end of its Opportunity rover's mission on Wednesday, 15 years after its arrival on Mars.

The announcement followed NASA's last attempt to communicate with the rover on Tuesday night, which got no response.

The rover has not been heard from for eight months since a planet-wide dust storm on the red planet in June last year. Mission team members have tried to rouse the rover ever since, but failed to set up communication again.The ScholarChip technology was implemented this school year, and is expected to go into the districts middle school soon, as well as on district buses. Its part of an agreement between the district and ScholarChip thats expected to cost $160,000 in the first year and $28,000 in the second. The district also hired more armed guards so at least one could be stationed at each of its schools.Morganelli said Thursday that he was willing to delay the hearing, given that Spankys will remain shuttered. He said he is willing to consider proposals by the club to address authorities concerns.It said it does not plan to look for another headquarters location at this time and will continue with its move to build new offices in Arlington, Va., and Nashville, Tenn. The Arlington site is expected to be the same size as the New York one, with 25,000 employees. The Nashville office is expected to have 5,000.With a number of upcoming elections across Africa, we want to share an update on our work to reduce the spread of misinformation, protect election integrity and support civic engagement across the continent. Weve dedicated unprecedented resources to these efforts globally  and our work across Africa is focused in eight key areas.

Fighting False News

We want to stop the spread of false news on our platforms. Thats why weve teamed up with local third-party fact-checkers across South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon and Senegal  including Africa Check (Africas first independent fact-checking organization), AFP (Agence France-Presse  an international news agency), Pesa Check (a local Kenyan fact-checking organization) and Dubawa (a local Nigerian fact-checking organization). These independent groups help us assess the accuracy of news shared on Facebook, and when they determine content is false, we reduce its distribution in News Feed so fewer people see it. We also show related articles from fact-checkers for more context and notify users if a story they have shared is rated as false. Additionally, in Nigeria, WhatsApp has worked with Africa Check and CrossCheck Nigeria to let users send questions about potential rumors they have received through the platform. These fact-checking expansions are part of a broader strategy to fight fake news that includes extensive work to remove fake accounts; cut off incentives to the financially-motivated actors that spread misinformation; promote news literacy; and give more context so people can decide for themselves what to read, trust, and share.

Boosting Digital Literacy and Helping People Spot False News

We want to make sure people can spot false news and know how to flag it. Thats why weve rolled out educational tips on national and regional radio and in print media across Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Kenya and Zimbabwe. In Nigeria, WhatsApp has launched its Share Facts, Not Rumours campaign to help increase awareness about hoaxes. Additionally, at the end of last year Facebook began a new Online Safety Programme for students in Nigerian secondary schools. The 12-week workshop is designed to help teenagers understand the fundamentals of online safety and digital literacy, covering topics such as managing an online presence; social media and sharing; public Wi-Fi safety; building healthy relationships online; understanding password security and privacy settings; and identifying misinformation online.

Promoting Civic Engagement

Helping to build informed and civically engaged communities is central to our work around elections. In Nigeria, weve rolled out new options in English & Hausa so people can report posts that contain incorrect election information, encourage violence or otherwise violate our Community Standards (https://www.Facebook.com/communitystandards/). On Election Day, well show a voting day reminder in English and Hausa at the top of Facebooks News Feed.

Making Political Ads More Transparent

Earlier this month (http://bit.ly/2GpjRGn), we began temporarily expanding enforcement and not accepting foreign election ads on Facebook in Nigeria to help prevent foreign interference. Already today you can see any ad that a Page is running on Facebook (http://bit.ly/2N5tIBH), regardless if its shown to you.

Journalist Trainings

We continue to educate media groups and journalists across the country on best practices for sharing content on our platforms and online safety. We also provide trainings on our Community Standards (https://www.Facebook.com/communitystandards/), which govern what is and is not allowed on our platform.

Proactive Removal of Impersonation Accounts

Weve always had policies against impersonation. Thanks to recent advancements in our detection technology, weve become much more effective at identifying these accounts.

Partnerships with NGOs and Civil Society

In order to better understand local issues and how we can tackle them more effectively, we work with a number of NGO and civil society partners across many African countries. These local partners have been instrumental in giving us feedback that weve incorporated into our policies and programs, including the aforementioned trainings with teens and journalists.

Connecting with Political Parties About Security

Weve trained parties, campaigns and candidates on security best practices, including how to turn on two-factor authentication and how to avoid common threats online. For the Nigerian elections, weve trained vice presidential candidates, senatorial candidates and top advisors from over 35 major political parties  and the information included in these trainings is all available for anyone to access at politics.FB.com.

We want Facebook and WhatsApp to be places where people feel safe, can access accurate information and make their voices heard. We are making significant investments, both in products and in people, and continue to improve in each of these areas.

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LinkedInUNITED NATIONS, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Wednesday underscored the importance of political settlement to the Iraq issue while addressing a United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in Iraq.

"We should continue to adhere to the general direction of political settlement to the Iraq issue," Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the UN, said at the meeting.

"Achieving inclusive reconciliation and harmonious coexistence among the Iraqi parties is in line with the fundamental interests and the development needs of all Iraqi people," Ma added.

Noting that Iraq is "at a critical stage" in promoting peace, stability and reconstruction, the Chinese envoy called on the international community to earnestly respect Iraqi sovereignty, independence, unity and territory Integrity, "support the good offices of the UN" and provide constructive assistance for an inclusive political settlement.

"We should continue to support Iraq in its fight against terrorism," said Ma, noting that "the threats posed by terrorist remnants remain."

"All parties concerned should strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation, unify standards, crack down on all terrorist organizations listed by the Security Council, consolidate the achievements of counter-terrorism efforts, and resolutely curb the return and spread of terrorist forces and terrorist activities," Ma added.

"The international community should support Iraq in bringing terrorists to justice in accordance with relevant domestic laws," the ambassador added.

Referring to the current political situation in the country, Ma said that China welcomes the progress in government formation in Iraq and commends the efforts by leaders of Iraq to resolve differences through consultations and dialogue, continuously promoting economic development, improving people's living standards and accelerating the reconstruction process.

"China will, as always, support any efforts that help the political settlement process in Iraq and fight against terrorism, actively participate in the reconstruction of Iraq, of Iraqi economy, and will continue to provide assistance within our means," the Chinese ambassador noted.Marijuana Stocks Ready for Another Massive Rally?

Our research team has been actively discussing the potential that the entire Marijuana stock sector could be setting up for another upside price rally. Since the bottom set up in the US stock market near December 24, 2018, many of the cannabis-related stocks and ETFs have seen incredible upside recoveries (of 25% or more). We believe the current setup in MJ, the Alternative Harvest ETF, is indicative of a new bullish momentum breakout.

The upside potential for this move is likely 12~25% or more over a short span of time. Watching MJ move from $34 to $39 over the next few weeks could result in a 14%+ move where a breakout of $39 to the upside could see MJ retesting recent highs near $45 (a +32% upside move).

One aspect of this market sector to consider is the recent talk of nationalizing legal US cannabis in the US as well as the expected gains in state sales from legalizing the industry. Weve all read about how some of the largest drink and tobacco producers in the world are investing heavily into this blossoming sector in preparation to secure market share when the dust settles. The entire Marijuana market sector could be a boom cycle, similar to Cryptos in 2016~2017, over the next 12~24+ months in the USA. Canada recently legalized its use which could help open the door for other territories to make it legal.

MJ has room to run to the upside and our initial projected targets for this upside move are just below $38. If our longer-term analysis is correct and the US major stock market indexes continue to rally, we believe MJ could attempt to retest recent highs near $45 over the next 30~60+ days.

These types of opportunities dont happen very often. Fledgling industries with strong interest drive investors to make speculative plays while driving prices higher and higher in most cases. Play this one smart and look to take profits above +8% on no less than half of your initial trade, then let the rest of your position ride out the run. If we are correct in our targets, $41~44 should be the next upside target before resistance is found.

Another interesting way to look for interest in any sector is to look at the Google Trends for the search term popularity for a particular asset class or similar related phrases and Bitcoin is the perfect example.

Marijuana Stocks Searches

As you can see in the graph below Google trends is shows a steady increase of interest for Marijuana Stocks stocks.

We should warn you that this is also a capitulation and contrarian indicator once it breaks the 80-100 level. When search demand spikes and everyone is interested in these stocks that is when they top. So, we do expect a run-up in price, but after that price could go up in smoke as this is somewhat of a bong bubble in the asset class.

If you want to join a group of professional traders, researchers, and friends, then visit www.TheTechnicalTraders.com to learn how we can help you find and execute better trades. Some of our recent winners are GDXJ 10.5%, ROKU 8.1%, two other open positions with 15.4%, and 4% as we wait for new a couple high momentum trades to mature.

We believe 2019 and 2020 will be incredible years for skilled traders and we are executing at the highest level we can to assist our members profit from our trades with us. In fact, we are about to launch our newest trading solution for ourselves and members that is unparalleled anywhere else.

Chris Vermeulen

www.TheTechnicalTraders.com

Chris Vermeulen has been involved in the markets since 1997 and is the founder of Technical Traders Ltd. He is an internationally recognized technical analyst, trader, and is the author of the book: 7 Steps to Win With Logic



Through years of research, trading and helping individual traders around the world. He learned that many traders have great trading ideas, but they lack one thing, they struggle to execute trades in a systematic way for consistent results. Chris helps educate traders with a three-hour video course that can change your trading results for the better.



His mission is to help his clients boost their trading performance while reducing market exposure and portfolio volatility.



He is a regular speaker on HoweStreet.com, and the FinancialSurvivorNetwork radio shows. Chris was also featured on the cover of AmalgaTrader Magazine, and contributes articles to several leading financial hubs like MarketOracle.co.uk

Disclaimer: Nothing in this report should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned. Technical Traders Ltd., its owners and the author of this report are not registered broker-dealers or financial advisors. Before investing in any securities, you should consult with your financial advisor and a registered broker-dealer. Never make an investment based solely on what you read in an online or printed report, including this report, especially if the investment involves a small, thinly-traded company that isnt well known. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report has been paid by Cardiff Energy Corp. In addition, the author owns shares of Cardiff Energy Corp. and would also benefit from volume and price appreciation of its stock. The information provided here within should not be construed as a financial analysis but rather as an advertisement. The authors views and opinions regarding the companies featured in reports are his own views and are based on information that he has researched independently and has received, which the author assumes to be reliable. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content of this report, nor its fitness for any particular purpose. Lastly, the author does not guarantee that any of the companies mentioned in the reports will perform as expected, and any comparisons made to other companies may not be valid or come into effect.

Chris Vermeulen Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.



Earth Overshoot Day Illustrates We are the Lemmings

What were you doing on August 1, 2018? Likely it was just like any other day, with your thoughts on work, your spouse, your kids, money, what to make for dinner, etc. What you should have been thinking about though, was the Earth.

August 1 was Earth Overshoot Day. What does that mean? Well, Earth Overshoot Day is the day of the year when humanity has used more resources from nature than can renew in that entire year. The date is moving closer to January, meaning every year we use up more natural resources, faster.

Thats a problem, because without a way to replace all the resources we consume - harvested food, fertilizers, energy, metals, etc. - we are gradually depleting natures bounty, at a rate that is unsustainable, long-term. If we keep going, and economies keep growing, were eventually going to run out. The problem is made worse by the global population increasing, along with the continuing wants of people in the developed world (the West) and in less-developed countries (who are demanding houses, cars, fridges, cell phones, etc.), putting more pressure on our finite resources.

This article will take a look at how unsustainable our voracious consumption has become, and how we might live more sustainably in order to #MoveTheDate, in Twitterspeak, back not forward.

Earth Overshoot Day

The day of the year humanitys consumption becomes unsustainable, started being marked in 2006. The project of compiling this data is performed by the Global Footprint Network (GFN), an international research organization.

Since then, the date has been marching forward every year. In other words, every year our consumption becomes less sustainable. To put this in terms everyone can understand, Earth Overshoot Day 2018 meant that Earths population used a years worth of resources in seven months. August 2 was the point when we consumed all the meat, fish, grains, energy, etc. (whatever can be made naturally) that nature can regenerate over a year, through over-farming, over-fishing, over-extracting, over-heating or cooling, and over-polluting.

Put another way, in 2018 it would take 1.7 Earths to feed, clothe and sustain the planets 7.6 billion people for a year. After August 1, the rest of the year was overshoot.

When the first overshoot calculation was announced in 2006, that date was Oct. 9, now its the beginning of August.

GFN calculates the biocapacity and ecological footprint of every country to determine which is living beyond their means. This is measured in hectares. The US has a biocapacity of 3.6 ha per person but average consumption is 8.4 ha, leaving a per-capita deficit of 4.8 ha. Extrapolating that number to the population of 317 million, the United States used all its natural resources by March 15 according to the formula, explained by NBC News. Continuing the US rate of consumption worldwide would require the resources of five Earths. See the graphic below for country comparisons.

Earth Overshoot Day is often used to highlight the costs of such zealous overconsumption, including depletion of fresh water supplies, loss of animal/ fish habitat and species extinction, deforestation/ soil erosion, more CO2 in the atmosphere, and climate change - all topics we have covered extensively.

These costs are important, but we are more interested in how overpopulation and overconsumption are affecting the worlds natural resources - food crops, timber, pulp, oil, mined metals, etc. From GFNs predictions, it doesnt look good. The organization forecasts that by 2030, just 11 years away, Earth Overshoot Day will be in June - meaning it will take two entire Earths to sustain our species' consumption.

Malthus revisited

Since 1950, the worlds population has gone from 2.5 billion people to 7.6 billion. No less than 75 million people a year are added to this number.

According to the United Nations, the worlds population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by the year 2050, from its current 7.6 billion (and growing). A 2017 study in the journal Biosciencesuggested that to feed that number of people, global food production will need to increase from 25% to 70%.

Of course, the dilemma of a growing world population versus a finite amount of food able to be grown on Earth, is not a new problem. Thomas Robert Malthus, the English cleric and scholar, was writing about it as early as 1798. Malthus famously predicted that gains in living standards would be undermined, as population growth outstripped food production, thereby driving living standards down to subsistence levels.

The Malthusian dilemma has not come to pass mainly because of technologies that increased food production.

The Green Revolution helped kickstart the greatest explosion in human population in history - it took only 40 years (starting in 1950) for the population to double from 2.5 billion to five billion people.

We goosed agra-machines growth and saved a billion people who birthed billions more.

Norman Borlang, father of the Green Revolution, is on record as saying if we did everything right the Earth has a human carrying capacity of 10 billion people.

Thats great, but if the UNs predictions are correct, were going to reach 10 billion souls very soon after 2050. What happens then? Will we all have enough food, or will Thomas Malthus be proved right?

Not enough to go round

The Earth might be big enough for 10 billion as Borlang believed. But the time is quickly coming when our sheer numbers will demand more than the Earth can possibly supply. A little bit of research reveals some disturbing statistics.

According to the UNs International Resource Panel (IRP) report, the extraction of material resources - biomass, fossil fuels and non-metallic minerals - has tripled between 1970 and 2017 - reaching 88.6 billion tons. (Imagine what it would be if we included metallic minerals - copper, iron, tin, manganese, etc.)

Interestingly, while global material use has increased in large part due to the growth of China (theres still India, Africa and another billion or so people to count), there has been little improvement in global material efficiency since 1990. The global economy now needs more material per unit of GDP than it did at the turn of the century, the IRP says, because production has moved from material-efficient economies such as Japan, South Korea and Europe to far less materially-efficient countries such as China, India and some in south-east Asia.

Another report, from the UNs Environmental Program, said materials extraction is expected to hit 140 billion tons by 2050 unless consumption is drastically reduced. The report warned the prospect of much higher resource consumption levels is far beyond what is likely sustainable.

Unsurprisingly, there are large gaps between rich and poor countries as far as consumption habits. People in wealthier nations use an average 16 tons of minerals, fossil fuels and biomass (fuels and other products from plants) per year. In contrast the average citizen of India only consumes four tons a year.

Worldwatch.org reports that:

Households spent $20 trillion on goods and services in 2000, four times the amount spent in 1960 (in 1995 dollars).

A rising US population means that Americans will consume 5 million tons more meat in 2050, even if the average American were to eat 20% less meat.

In Europe 89% of the population are considered heavy consumers, versus just 16% in China and India, suggesting hundreds of millions of people in these countries are going to demand more goods and services.

In most developing countries the consumer class in under half of the population.

The 12% of the worlds population living in North America and Western Europe account for 60% of global household consumption. One-third of the people living in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa account for only 3.2%.

At less than 5% of the worlds population, the US uses about a quarter of the worlds fossil fuels.

The countries with the most natural resources are, in order: China, Saudi Arabia, Canada, India, Russia, Brazil, the US, Venezuela, the DRC and Australia.

Another 2.1 billion people will be added to the world between now and 2050. Most will not be Americans but they are going to want a lot of things that we in the Western developed world take for granted  electricity, plumbing, appliances, AC etc. What if all these new consumers were to start consuming, over the next 10 years, just like an American? Whats going to happen to the worlds mineral resources if a billion more Americans are added to the consuming class? Heres what each of them would need to consume, per year, to live the American lifestyle

The question is, and weve asked it before, will everyone be able to buy enough resources to live like an American? The answer is a resounding no!

Another way to look at this, is based on population growth statistics, by 2050 the world economy will be four times larger than today. To have the same per-capita consumption of Canada would require a world economy 15 times its current size!

Worldwatch reports the planet currently has 1.9 hectares of productive land per person to supply resources and absorb wastes, but the average person uses 2.3 ha. An American has an ecological footprint of 9.7 ha versus the average resident of Mozambique who uses just 0.47 ha.

Can we produce enough food, metals and energy to handle 15 times more economic activity in the next 30 years? No. We neither have the resources in the ground, nor the amount of land, water and fuel required. And we havent even talked about what this would do to the planet - thats next.

If you dont believe me, take copper and an example.

Total mined copper was just under 20 million tonnes in 2017.

Global refined copper demand has risen steadily from 2005, when it was around 18 million tonnes, to the current global consumption of about 24 million tonnes. Immediately we can see that demand is currently outstripping supply by about 4 million tonnes, annually.

Even if we mined every last discovered, and undiscovered, pound of land-based copper, the expected 8.2 billion people in the developing world would only get three quarters of the way towards copper use parity per capita with the US, if we assume 10 billion by 2050.

Of course the rest of us, the other 1.8 billion people expected to be on this planet by 2050, arent going to be easing up, were still going to be using copper at prestigious rates while our developing-world cousins play catch up. Copper-use parity isnt going to happen, it cant.

Wrecking the Earth

The negative effects of all this rampant consumption have been well documented elsewhere, so I wont get into too much detail.

EcoWatch warns that the tripling of resource extraction since 1970 will accelerate the acidification of the worlds oceans, cause eutrophication (oxygen depletion) of soils and waterways, and lead to greater amounts of waste and pollution.

The environmental site also notes that Growing primary material consumption will affect climate change mainly because of the large amounts of energy involved in extraction, use, transport and disposal.

Read our five-part series on climate change (scroll to the bottom)

Conclusion

We are seeing the results of ecological overshoot in species extinction, freshwater depletion, soil and air degradation and the obscene piling up of garbage on land and in the oceans. Poisoning our environment with herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers, while unsustainably reaping the worlds finite resources enables us to support a growing population and a developing nation consumerism to get what developed nations have. But we consume our yearly renewable resources in 7 months and were quickly draining the world of finite resources  copper, zinc, aluminium and gold, to name a few, are already in structural supply deficits

Our reality is we live on a finite resource world while our appetite for its resources is infinite. Unstoppable growth is going to meet hard reality. The unsustainable consumption of both finite and renewable resources is a major problem that will, if left unchecked, lead to shortages, widen the divide between rich and poor, and at its extremes, could result in a widespread breakdown of social order.

What to do about it?

Its a question well worth considering because we are the lemmings rushing headlong over a cliff to certain destruction. We dont claim to have all the answers, but part of the problem lies in how we address sustainability. We talk of sustainable resource extraction on a very micro level, without thinking about the macro, the global picture. We have caused extinction of countless species through destruction of their environment. Yet we have learned nothing about saving ourselves from the same fate.

By Richard (Rick) Mills

www.aheadoftheherd.com

rick@aheadoftheherd.com

If you're interested in learning more about the junior resource and bio-med sectors please come and visit us at www.aheadoftheherd.com

Site membership is free. No credit card or personal information is asked for.

Richard is host of Aheadoftheherd.com and invests in the junior resource sector.



His articles have been published on over 400 websites, including: Wall Street Journal, Market Oracle, USAToday, National Post, Stockhouse, Lewrockwell, Pinnacledigest, Uranium Miner, Beforeitsnews, SeekingAlpha, MontrealGazette, Casey Research, 24hgold, Vancouver Sun, CBSnews, SilverBearCafe, Infomine, Huffington Post, Mineweb, 321Gold, Kitco, Gold-Eagle, The Gold/Energy Reports, Calgary Herald, Resource Investor, Mining.com, Forbes, FNArena, Uraniumseek, Financial Sense, Goldseek, Dallasnews, Vantagewire, Resourceclips and the Association of Mining Analysts.

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Legal Notice / Disclaimer: This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. Richard Mills has based this document on information obtained from sources he believes to be reliable but which has not been independently verified; Richard Mills makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of Richard Mills only and are subject to change without notice. Richard Mills assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, I, Richard Mills, assume no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information provided within this Report.

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Mankato, MN (56001)

Today

Sun and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 88F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph..

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Some clouds. Low 62F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph.The measles outbreak could last until June , the leader of the countrys leading professional association of specialists in infectious diseases and microbiology said Wednesday. At a forum, Dr. Mario Panaligan, president of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, said records show that the number of measles cases goes up during summer when people tend to stay outdoors, increasing their chances of exposure. Panaligan said it was important to push vaccination to shorten the length of the measles outbreak. Health Secretary Francisco Duque said all government agencies have mobilized their resources for a massive information dissemination and immunization campaign to encourage Filipinos to get vaccinated. The Department of Health is working side by side with other government agencies in quickly responding to mitigate the measles outbreak, said Duque, who said vaccination remains the best defense against measles. He said several government agencies have already laid out specific tasks to ensure communities are protected against the highly contagious disease. All government efforts, he said are focused on completing the mass immunization campaign in the fastest possible time. READ: Join fight vs. measles, LGUs told Duque has repeatedly called the public to receive the measles vaccine, saying it has long been proven to be safe and effective. Hs noted that immunization activities will be done in schools and communities until March. With the quick vaccination, he said he expected a decline in measles cases. Although the government will give priority to the vaccination of children, he said adults may also go to their nearest health center to get vaccinated. The following are the tasks of the different government agencies:  DOHmeasles fast lines to be established in all DOH hospitals  Department of the Interior and Local Governmentdevelop checklists, targets, and consent forms for local government units in coordination with the DOH  Department of Social Welfare and Developmenttap day care workers to help facilitate vaccination of pupils and ensure children of 4Ps beneficiaries are vaccinated  Department of Educationgather data on number of school children affected with measles, coordinate with health centers for checkups and followups of students who will be vaccinated by private doctors Department of Transportationassist in distributing vaccines and other logistics needs  Armed Forces of the Philippinesdeploy medical personnel in geographically isolated areas and conflict areas, ensure safety of health workers, and monitor cases of measles in military treatment centers  Philippine Information Agencyconduct information and awareness campaigns to be localized for different areas. The mass immunization campaign comes after the DOH declared a measles outbreak in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Western Visayas, and Central Visayas. Earlier, the DOH had been conducting supplementary immunization activities and outbreak response immunization to combat the rising trend in measles cases. DOH records showed there were 4,302 confirmed cases of measles. It also listed at least 70 deaths due to the disease as of Feb. 10, 2019. As government agencies scrambled to deal with the measles outbreak, Senator Risa Hontiveros continued her word war with Public Attorneys Office chief Persida Rueda Acosta. READ: Measles outbreak: Politics rears ugly head Responding to Acostas claim that vaccination rates were falling for years, even before the Dengvaxia scare, Hontiveros said the PAO chief failed to mention that these coverage rates fell to an all-time low in 2018. Hontiveros blames Acosta for the recent measles outbreak, saying her statements at the height of the Dengvaxia controversy lowered the peoples confidence in the governments immunization program. Senator Juan Edgardo Angara on Wednesday urged the DOH to ensure a stable supply of measles vaccines. The DOH must ensure consistent and adequate supply of measles vaccines in anticipation of increased demand as many people rush to protect themselves and their children from the virus, Angara said. Angara, who is seeking reelection in May, was in Bataan on Wednesday for a political rally organized by Hugpong ng Pagbabago. READ: Measles outbreak: 70 deadNew Delhi : The Supreme Court has sacked it's two assistant registrars who were found involving in tampering with a Court order, in favourable to Reliance Communication chairperson Anil Ambani in a contempt case.

On Wednesday, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi issued the order to summarily dismiss the two court officials, who were responsible for taking down the judge's orders and getting them uploaded on the Wednesday.

The order that was uploaded on the Supreme Court website on January 7 said the personal appearance of the alleged contemnor's is dispensed with. It can noted that Ambani's presence was not required on the next date of hearing.

The discrepancy led senior advocate Dushyant Dave and other Ericsson representatives move Justice Nariman's court again, pointing this out. Justice Nariman, expressing shock, got the correct order uploaded on the website on January 10. Personal appearance of the alleged contemnor(s) is not dispensed with, the revised order said.

 !Del-Tin Fiber in El Dorado is now owned by Roseburg Forest Products of Oregon.PARIS, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said violent "Yellow Vest" protests must come to an end, reaffirming the government's firm stance to manage troublemakers and preserve the country's calm.

"The events in recent days related to the movement ("of Yellow Vest") take a new turn following violence against the home of the Speaker of the National Assembly, parliamentary offices, the Republic's institutions, but also violence against some of our fellow citizens because of their beliefs," Macron said, according to government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux.

"Violent demonstrations every Saturday in the streets of Paris and in other French cities must stop. The time of republican clarification has come," he said.

For the 13th consecutive weekend in a row, tens of thousands of "Yellow Vest" protesters took to the streets across French cities last Saturday to denounce the government's fiscal policy and some demand Macron to leave the Elysee Palace.

As in recent weeks, disturbances have flared up in the capital after groups of demonstrators broke away from the designated route and threw bottles and other projectiles at police, who responded with tear gas.

Video footages showed a vehicle of anti-terrorism Sentinelle forces in flames. Some motorbikes, cars and bins were set on fire, and shops windows smashed in Paris popular tourist areas.

Griveaux also suggested that a rise in anti-Semitic incidents could be linked in part on far-right and hard-left supporters who infiltrated the weekly rallies.

"It is clear, the outburst of violence in the sidelines of some protests with anti-Semitic remarks from supporters of the far-left or far-right, unfortunately disrupted some calm and peaceful demonstrations," said Griveaux.

In this context, Macron denounced an "unacceptable increase" in anti-Semitic acts that coincided with "Yellow Vest" action last weekend, during which a memorial to a young Jewish man who was tortured to death in 2006, was desecrated and anti-Semitic graffiti were scrawled on walls in the French capital.

"We'll be absolutely uncompromising towards those who commit these acts. There can be no ambiguity," Macron said.Videos

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Scattered thunderstorms. High 88F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.

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Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 74F. Winds light and variable.

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Partly cloudy with afternoon showers or thunderstorms. High 89F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.Stock Market News

Brent Oil - Oil rises for third day as U.S./China trade, OPEC cheer investors 14-02-2019 03:03



Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.ukLCES farm-to-table garden project is collaboration that benefits district

Lincoln County Elementary School pre-kindergarten teacher Elizabeth Arthur took on an ambitious project this past school year with the creation of a farm-to-table garden. According...

MG Sprouts offers hands-on learning

Raniayah Jones (second from left) and Archer Keneson were among those present for the MG Sprouts program held at the Lincoln County Agricultural Center on...

Free breakfast, lunch served at LCHS

The Lincoln County School District continues to provide free breakfast and lunch to all children 18 and under at the LCHS cafeteria. Children can choose...

LCMS recognizes student achievements at awards night

Lincoln County Middle School held its Academic Awards Night on Tuesday, May 25. Students receiving the second highest grade point average in their respective classes...Federal payments to flooded shires

Prime Minister, Scott Morrison has announced an immediate payment of $1 million to each of the shires affected by recent flooding.

The payment will be used on priorities the councils deem most urgent, from rate relief to repairing infrastructure to disposal of dead cattle.

Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) has praised the quick response by the Prime Minister to the emerging crisis caused by last weeks unprecedented deluge in north Queensland.

The LGAQ welcomed Mr Morrisons announcement that those local shires in north west Queensland hit by devastating stock losses will each have immediate access to $1 million to help pay for relief measures.

LGAQ chief executive Greg Hallam said the payments would help councils respond rapidly to the crisis which has affected a vast swathe of north west Queensland.

I thank the Prime Minister for this swift response to what is an unprecedented emergency for these shires, he said.Having experienced a summer wrought with blue-green algae and red tide, residents across Southwest Florida are keeping their fingers crossed that another historic season of horrific harmful algal blooms is not looming.

The Calusa Waterkeeper, John Cassani, gave a PowerPoint presentation at the Cape Coral Library Monday afternoon, hosted by the League of Women Voters of Lee County Environmental Committee, to address what causes these events and how experts and residents alike can hope to present change in an area combating climate change and population growth.

One of, if not the biggest contributor to the deterioration of Florida waterbodies, are nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus that enter waterways via runoff.

Well, I think funding to enable the existing level of regulation so that its effective is a big part of it  and the governor has done that, in terms of laying it out for the Legislature to fund it. So, the blueprints there, its just up to the Legislature now to make it happen, Cassani said.

This growing nutrient problem is not exclusive to Southwest Florida, as many communities around the world with extensive bodies of water are feeling the effects of harmful algal blooms.

Lake Erie, for example, is facing a similar issue to that of Lake Okeechobee.

The more urban the land use, the more runoff of nutrients, said Cassani.

In Florida, the six largest harmful algal booms since 1990 have happened in the last seven years.

Last years events saw seven counties in Florida call for a state of emergency.

Cassani said we are currently in our 16th month of red tide and counting.

Other than nutrient laden waters, contributing factors to these blooms include climate change, record rain falls and population growth, he said.

Extreme rainfall causes extreme problems  driving runoff into water bodies, Cassani said.

Combine that with the loss of treatment wetlands, that act as a filter of sorts, we see what is called cyanobacteria, thrive.

Rising water levels during what would be typically called the dry season, can create releases of water from Lake Okeechobee to the Caloosahatchee, bringing the green slime into the hundreds of miles of canals in Cape Coral.

I think the most bang for the buck and the most immediate approach would be to revise the lake regulation schedule, I think that would be the best approach, said Cassani. Thats going to control when the waters released, under what circumstances, in relationship to the lake level. The purpose there is to bring more balance back to the schedule  so its not all about flood control and water supply to the south.

It seems like every time we have an extreme event, one way or the other  following a drought, or with a hurricane-related event, then we see a harmful algal bloom.

At one point this summer, 90 percent of Lake O was covered in cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae.

Water flowing from the north into Lake O is a big contributor to the algae blooms as well, said Cassani.

Cyanobacteria is a type of algae naturally present in freshwater environments. It is a microorganism that functions similarly to plants in that is feeds through photosynthesis and obtains energy from the sun.

A contributing factor to algal bloom can be increases in nutrients that amplify the extent, duration and intensity of these blooms.

Other factors can include warm temperatures, reduced water flow and lack of animals that eat algae.

The summer and fall seasons can procure this kind of algae in Florida waters. High temperatures and lots of sunlight, combined with runoff from almost daily rains can bring nutrients into waterways and provide the perfect conditions for blooms.

According to the Florida Department of Health, some blue-green algae produce chemicals called cyanotoxins. In high concentrations, these toxins can affect the liver, nervous system and skin.

The thing with public heath risk, is that it needs to be coordinated at the state level, Cassani said. You cant have 67 different county regulations for public health risk, it has to occur at the state level, as other states are doing. Ohio, Oregon, Maryland  they all have good numeric criteria for responding. But I think it needs to be done at the state level.

Of the threshold that has been set for clean water, Cassani said that he saw levels of toxicity 9,000 times over the risk-level.

Very little testing has been done about the dangers of air intake for residents living close to infested bodies of water.

The highest risks of contamination occur from ingesting harmful water, mostly during recreational activities.

This past summer was also a devastating one for Floridas sea life.

Cassani called it, The worst year for mortality in sea life in Floridas history.

He said a big reason for this, other than marine life ingesting toxins, was hypoxia.

Hypoxia is a lack of oxygen supply, and wide dead zones off of Florida shorelines resulted in mass mortality of eels, crabs, burrowing fish and other bottom-dwelling species.

Cassani noted that he believes Gov. Ron DeSantis is on the right track to bringing forward the legislation and funds needed to help the remediation process of our water.

I think the governors blueprint is a pretty good one, he said. Youre going to have to fund it to get the kind of compliance and enforcement thats necessary. And you have to accelerate restoration  (currently) were adding impaired water bodies quicker than were restoring them and that cant continue that way, its not sustainable.

DeSantis recently called for an additional $2.5 billion for Everglades restoration and water resources.

The Calusa Waterkeeper is one of 11 waterkeepers in Florida.

They look after Lake O, the Caloosahatchee and Greater Charlotte Harbor  nearly 1,000 miles of water in Southwest Florida.

For more information, including becoming a part of their Ranger program, visit www.calusawaterkeeper.org.

-Connect with this reporter on Twitter: @haddad_cjA 14-year-old girl has been arrested in connection with the discharge of pepper spray at a school dance at a Lehigh Acres elementary school.

Jayda White Green was charged Tuesday with possession of a weapon on school property, according to a release issued by the Lee County Sheriffs Office late Tuesday afternoon.

Lee County Sheriffs Office deputies had responded to G. Weaver Hipps Elementary School at 6:25 p.m. Friday in reference to a medical assistance call.

Witnesses told arriving deputies that someone sprayed pepper spray in the cafeteria where a Parent Teacher organized Friendship Dance was taking place.

Deputies evacuated the building and had everyone wait outside until Lehigh Acres Fire and Rescue arrived.

Thirteen people, most of them children, reported minor eye irritation or trouble breathing and were transported to the hospital.

The Youth Services Criminal Investigations Division was assigned to investigate.

Based on training and experience, detectives determined multiple individuals were reacting to the chemical agent aerosol discharge from pepper spray, the release states.

Officials said law enforcement policy in such cases is zero tolerance.

I have no tolerance for anyone who jeopardizes the safety of students, staff and family members at a school dance, Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in a prepared statement. Make no mistake, they will be held accountable to the fullest extent as safety and security in Lee County schools remains my number one priority.A student at Lehigh Senior High School faces multiple drug-related charges after drugs were found in her backpack by a school resource officer investigating a tip.

Ayanna Felix, 18, was charged with possession of a fentanyl, cocaine, marijuana and drug equipment, a release from the Lee County Sheriffs Office issued late Tuesday afternoon states.

According to the Lee County Jail website, the drug charges include intent to sell.

The arrest came after Lee County Sheriffs Office School Resource Officers received a narcotics complaint at Lehigh Senior High School on Tuesday. Felix was brought to the principals office and drugs were located inside her backpack, officials said.

School Resource Officers identified the drugs as Fentanyl, Cocaine and Marijuana. In total, eighteen (18) bags of Fentanyl (2.7 grams), twenty-one (21) bags of Cocaine (2.5 grams) and eight (8) bags of Marijuana (6.1 grams) were recovered, the release states.

Felix was transported to the Lee County Jail without incident. Total bond, on all charges, was set at $71,500.

Officials said they take the presence of drugs on campus seriously.

Illegal drugs in a school are no less dangerous than guns in a school, Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in a prepared statement. We are thankful for the Crime Stoppers Tip that came in so these drugs are now out of the schools and off our streets.If you already subscribe to our eEdition edition, sign up for FREE access to our online edition. Thanks for reading the El Campo Leader News.HONG KONG, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Those who are bringing in, making, selling, distributing, or promoting alternative smoking products including E-cigarettes in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) may face a maximum penalty of a fine of 50,000 HK dollars (6,370 U.S. dollars) and six months' imprisonment.

A bill to amend the Smoking Ordinance targeting alternative cigarettes was submitted to the Legislative Council of HKSAR on Wednesday.

The bill is proposed by the Food and Health Bureau of the HKSAR government and will have its first reading on Feb. 20, or next Wednesday.

Safeguarding the health of the public is the primary concern of the government though the bill may raise different opinions under expected paramount discussion, said Sophia Chan, secretary for the Food and Health Bureau, on her official blog.

The government hopes to nip the problem in the bud, Amy Yuen, deputy secretary for the Food and Health Bureau, told press on Wednesday.

As these products are still relatively new in Hong Kong, they're not as entrenched as conventional smoking products. It is the responsibility of the government to prevent these products from taking root in Hong Kong, said Yuen.South Africa: Government to engage Sibanye on possible job cuts

The Department of Mineral Resources will engage Sibanye-Stillwater on its announcement of possible retrenchments at two of its gold operations.

The department will engage with stakeholders in line with Section 52 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), which requires that the company explore all possible options to ensure as many jobs as possible are saved during the restructuring, it said on Thursday.

The mining company on Thursday announced possible retrenchments at its Beatrix and Driefontein (shafts 2, 6, 7, 8) operations located in the Free State and Gauteng provinces respectively.

In its announcement, the company said there is a possible restructuring of its gold operations and associated services, pursuant to ongoing financial losses experienced at both operations last year.

In its statement, the company said the consultation process followed on numerous initiatives to contain losses at these operations, which have proven to be unsuccessful. The job cuts could impact a total of 6 670 people, made up of 5 870 employees and 800 contractors.

The Minister [Mantashe] remains committed to continuous engagement with stakeholders in the industry, in line with commitments by stakeholders in the Mining Leadership Compact, said the department.

Meanwhile, Sibanye Chief Executive Officer Neal Froneman said the potential restructuring process is never taken lightly.

Contemplating potential restructuring of this nature is never taken lightly and we are aware of the possible impact on many of our colleagues. Our best attempts to address the ongoing losses at these operations, have, however, been unsuccessful and sustaining these losses may threaten the viability of our other operations, said Froneman.

Last November, workers at three of the companys gold mining operations downed tools after it was reported that the mine signed a deal with unions including Solidarity.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.In February 2015, a grainy still photo from CCTV footage that became familiar to almost everyone in Britain showed a slightly built London schoolgirl stepping through the narrow gate of an airport security scanner.

It might as well have been the portal to another world.

With downcast eyes, heavy horn-rimmed glasses and the slightly gawky posture of the 15-year-old she was, Shamima Begum, together with two teenage girlfriends, was about to board a flight from Londons Gatwick Airport to Istanbul, Turkey, a journey that would take them into the heart of the caliphate of Islamic State.

Now Begum has surfaced at a squalid refugee camp in northern Syria  seemingly unrepentant, heavily pregnant with her fighter husbands child, and voicing a desire to return to Britain.

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All I want to do is come home, Begum told Anthony Loyd, a famed war correspondent for the Times of London, who heard a snippet of the heavily veiled young womans distinctive accent and asked if she were one of the Bethnal Green girls, so named for the East London district from which they vanished.

In her homeland, the electrifying reappearance of a young woman once mourned as the child victim of a cult-like group has triggered an enormous outcry, much of it in the form of furious condemnation.

Minus some expletives, the prevailing view on social media could largely be summed up as: Leave her to rot. Authorities warned that Begum could face prosecution if she managed to make her way back. But many insisted she should not be allowed to return to Britain at all.

Im not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago. Shamima Begum

Now 19, Begum told Loyd she had already lost two infant children to malnutrition and disease and said she had fled the groups last stronghold, the Syrian town of Baghuz, out of fear for her unborn child.

But she struck a defiant note as well, telling the paper: I dont regret coming here.

She did, however, voice disillusionment with what she called oppression and corruption within the caliphate. I dont really think they deserve victory, she said.

Four years ago, it might have seemed that little in Britain could rival the outcry over the three schoolgirls disappearance into the maw of a group whose name had become a byword for brutality and enslavement.

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The girls flight triggered nationwide hand-wringing over online radicalization, playing to parents fears over the dark secrets that a seemingly happy and well-adjusted child could conceal. And the episode came at what might have been the height of Islamic States ability to win recruits from the West.

Beginning in 2014, Islamic State overran huge swaths of Iraq and Syria, imposing a reign of terror that included public beheadings, the sexual enslavement of thousands of Yazidi girls and women, and countless other atrocities.

In Britain, Begum and her friends  Amira Abase, then also 15, and Kadiza Sultana, then 16, were largely viewed as brainwashed girls who had come under the sway of online grooming by English-speaking clandestine recruiters who cleverly played to youngsters longing for attention, affection and the sense of being part of some grand adventure.

The girls families made desperate pleas for their return, but received little word beyond a few communications and some scattered secondhand reports.

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Renu Begum, the eldest sister of Shamima Begum, holds a picture of the girl during an interview in London in February 2015. (Laura Lean / AFP/Getty Images)

Months after the girls fled, word emerged that all three had become fighters brides. And in 2016, Sultana was reported to have been killed in a Russian airstrike in Raqqah, the de facto Islamic State capital that fell to allied forces the following year.

Begums reemergence into the public eye comes at a delicate moment for Britain. Passions are raging over the countrys scheduled departure from the European Union, and the larger Brexit debate has played strongly on themes of sovereignty and a sense of a threatening outside world.

In the years since the girls ran away to join the caliphate, Islamic State claimed responsibility for a string of deadly strikes across continental Europe and in Britain. Those included a May 2017 concert arena bombing in the northern city of Manchester that killed at least 22, and an attack on Londons Borough Market and nearby London Bridge the following month that killed eight.

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Begums case has left British authorities scrambling, seemingly ruling out any move to pluck her from the refugee camp.

Im not putting at risk British peoples lives to go and look for terrorists, or former terrorists in a failed state, Security Minister Ben Wallace told the BBC.

The case is complicated by the fact that Begum was a minor when she fled, but now is an adult. The fate of her unborn child, too, was troubling, even to many who said she deserved harsh punishment.

Im not putting at risk British peoples lives to go and look for terrorists, or former terrorists in a failed state. British Security Minister Ben Wallace

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With Islamic States territory having shrunk to a sliver surrounding Baghuz, the case is reigniting what has already been a longstanding debate about how to deal with British nationals who traveled to the region to join extremist groups.

The Home Office, the British department in charge of immigration and security, said about 900 Britons are thought to have gone to Syria or Iraq to join Islamic State or other militant organizations. About 20% of those are believed to have been killed, it said, and an additional 40% have returned.

If she were allowed back into Britain, Begum would not be the first Islamic State bride to return. In 2016, a British woman named Tareena Shakil, from the northern city of Birmingham, was sentenced to six years in prison for joining Islamic State and encouraging terrorism. Shakil had returned from Syria, where she had traveled with her toddler son; she said going there had been a mistake.

Hussen Abase, the father of Begums friend Amira  who Begum said was widowed but alive in Baghuz when she herself fled  told Britains Sky News that the schoolgirls had made a mistake in running away and urged that they be forgiven.

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But Begum herself seemed to draw a sharp distinction between the person she was then and who she is now. Im not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago, she told the newspaper.

As the caliphates territorial footprint has shrunk in recent years, a growing number of accounts of its rule have emerged. Begums story provided details both mundane and horrifying.

She was married, she said, within 10 days after her arrival, having applied to marry an English-speaking fighter in his early-to-mid-20s.

The husband she was assigned was a 27-year-old from the Netherlands, with whom she had two children, a son and a daughter. With food, medicine and access to healthcare all in short supply, both children died, she said  the girl at 21 months and the boy at 8 months.

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Some of Begums observations carried a chilling detachment, including her description of seeing the decapitated head of an executed man  described as an enemy combatant  in a garbage receptacle.

When I saw my first severed head in a bin, it didnt faze me at all, she told the Times of London. It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam.

Yet she described life in Raqqah as primarily normal, adding: Every now and then there were bombs and stuff.

Loyd, the journalist who found her, painted a mixed picture. On the one hand, he told the BBC, she had no regrets, she was calm and composed. But he also portrayed the 19-year-old as in a state of shock  she had just come out of a battlefield, nine months pregnant, many of her friends dead through airstrikes and all the rest of it.

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Pointing to the fact that she was only 15 when groomed and lured to the caliphate, he said she remained, in his view, an indoctrinated jihadi bride.

Many commentators tried to parse the degree of culpability on the part of noncombatants like Begum. Shiraz Maher, the director of the London-based International Center for the Study of Radicalization, wrote that even those who did not wage war on the caliphates behalf were hardly blameless, because they helped normalize a savage regime

These are highly radicalized individuals who lent intangible support to [Islamic State] through simply being there, he wrote on Twitter. Their presence alone, he said, represented a type of moral and propaganda victory for the group.

David Aaronovitch, a columnist and broadcaster, wrote that upon hearing of Begums seeming lack of remorse, my very first reaction was punitive.

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But, writing on Twitter, he went on to say: My second one was of deep sadness. She was 15 when she was seduced into IS. At 19 she has seen two children die. Shes British and we must try to rehabilitate her.

However unlikely it seems, Begum appeared to hope for just that.

Ill do anything required, she told the Times, just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child.

Special correspondent Boyle reported from London and staff writer King from Washington.The award-winning head of a Philippine online news site that has aggressively covered President Rodrigo Dutertes administration was freed on bail Thursday after her arrest in a libel case.

National Bureau of Investigation agents served the warrant against Maria Ressa late Wednesday afternoon and escorted her from the Rappler Inc. office to NBI headquarters, where she stayed overnight in an office. The move against Ressa, who was one of Time magazines Persons of the Year for 2018, was denounced by her site, Rappler, and media watchdogs as a threat to press freedom. Dutertes government said the arrest was a normal step in response to a criminal complaint.

What were seeing is death by a thousand cuts of our democracy, Ressa told reporters after posting bail in the Manila regional trial court that issued a warrant for her arrest.

She accused the government of abusing its power and using the law as a weapon to muzzle dissent. Im appealing to you not to be silent. ... You have to express outrage.

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Duterte has openly lambasted journalists who write unfavorable stories about him, including about his anti-drug campaign that has left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead.

Rapplers 2012 article included allegations that businessman Wilfredo Keng was linked to illegal drugs, human trafficking and a murder case, citing an unspecified intelligence report. The story also said a car registered in his name had been used by the countrys chief justice, who was later ousted in an impeachment trial.

Keng denied the allegations in a statement and welcomed the justice departments indictment of Ressa and a former Rappler researcher, Reynaldo Santos Jr., adding that he was determined to see the legal battle through. He said he had no criminal record.

Rappler, Ressa and Santos continue to hold themselves high above any accountability to provide credible and justifiable reason for why they continue to harass an ordinary private citizen and businessman despite having absolutely no basis for their claims, Keng said in a statement.

With one click of a button, they destroyed my reputation and endangered my life, he said.

Santos has not commented on the allegations.

Amnesty International Philippines said Ressas arrest was based on a trumped-up libel charge.

This is brazenly politically motivated, the group said, and consistent with the authorities threats and repeated targeting of Ressa and her team.

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Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the arrest was merely part of any criminal procedure. Dutertes spokesman said the charge against Ressa was based on facts which she should simply answer and had nothing to do with press freedom.

Rappler is one of several local and international news agencies deemed critical of Dutertes policies.

Duterte had already banned a Rappler reporter from his news briefings after a government watchdog found the news site violated a constitutional prohibition on foreign ownership of media when it received money from an international investment firm. Rappler, founded in 2012, rejected the ruling.

In its selection of Ressa as a person of the year, Time magazine cited her, along with several other journalists, as a guardian in a world increasingly hostile and dangerous to journalists.

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Ressa, who has worked with CNN, also received last year a Press Freedom Award from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, and the International Center for Journalists Knight International Journalism Award.At least 33 paramilitary police officers were killed by a massive car bomb blast in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Thursday in the worst attack on security personnel since the start of the insurgency in the disputed region three decades ago.

The attacker struck around 3:15 p.m., police officials said, as a security convoy of 70 vehicles traveled down a heavily guarded road toward the city of Srinagar.

An explosive-laden vehicle driven by a militant rammed into a bus carrying dozens of paramilitary personnel, said Sanjay Sharma, a spokesman for Indias Central Reserve Police Force.

The killings will inflame tensions between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, which both claim the Himalayan territory of Kashmir. India accuses Pakistan of sheltering and supporting militants that cross into Indian-controlled territory to carry out attacks against Indian rule.

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Kashmir is part of Indias only Muslim-majority state. Militant groups are fighting either for the territorys independence or its merger with Pakistan.

Jaish-e-Mohammed, a militant group that seeks to merge Indian-held Kashmir with Pakistan, claimed responsibility for Thursdays attack. The group is based in Pakistan and headed by a radical cleric named Maulana Masood Azhar. Last year, the United States pushed the United Nations Security Council to designate Azhar as a terrorist, but the move was vetoed by China.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is seeking reelection later this spring, called the attack despicable in a post on Twitter. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack, he wrote. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain.

Modi has taken a tough line on matters of national security. In 2016, a team of militants stormed an army base near the town of Uri in Indian-held Kashmir, killing 19 soldiers. In the days after the Uri attack, Modi ordered what the government termed surgical strikes on militant hideouts just inside Pakistan-controlled territory.

Satya Pal Malik, governor of Jammu and Kashmir state, said Thursdays attack seems to be guided from across the border, a reference to Pakistan, according to a statement reported by news agency ANI.

Indian news outlets showed images of the wreckage left by the attack, including a vehicle that was blasted open and reduced to ribbons of charred metal.

Kenneth Juster, the U.S. ambassador to India, posted a statement on Twitter condemning the attack and sending condolences to the families of the victims. The United States stands alongside India in confronting terror and defeating it, he wrote.

Violence is on the rise in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Last year was the deadliest in a decade in the region, with deaths among security forces, militants and civilians all increasing.

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Kabir Taneja, an expert on national security at the Observer Research Foundation in Delhi, said that this type of large-scale bomb attack is rare in Kashmir, where militants often mount attacks using firearms, not improvised explosive devices.

National security is sacrosanct for Indias ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, he added. They will not forget this.

Naseem reported from in Srinagar, India.German Chancellor Angela Merkel had taken off for an international meeting in Buenos Aires in November when the electronics systems on her Luftwaffe jet abruptly failed, forcing the pilot of the 20-year-old government craft to make an emergency landing in Cologne and Merkel to switch to a commercial flight.

A month later, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and a 55-member delegation were stranded in Ethiopia for three hours when the same Airbus A340 was grounded due to technical problems.

There may be no better illustration of Germanys awkward struggle to rebuild and refurbish its armed forces  after nearly three decades of deliberate post-Cold War shrinking  than the embarrassingly long list of breakdowns that have plagued its No. 1 air force jet, the Theodor Heuss.

The armed forces have been neglected for far too long, former Defense Minister Volker Ruehe, who retired in 1998, said in an interview. We need to do more for our defense and take on more of the burden in Europe.

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A country that developed a pacifist streak as a reaction to its militaristic past and especially the devastation its forces caused under Hitler in World War II, Germany has frequently drawn the wrath of President Trump for its defense spending. All NATO members pledged to raise their national defense spending, at a 2014 summit in Wales in the wake of Russias annexation of Crimea, to 2% of their gross domestic product.

Germany, the 29-nation alliances second largest member, will fall far short of that target with defense spending climbing from 1.24% in 2018 to 1.5% in 2025. By comparison, the United States spends 3.3% of its GDP on defense.

Merkel has said the country will reach the 2% target but has not provided a date for meeting the goal.

There could be further Germany bashing this weekend at the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering where Vice President Mike Pence and a large delegation from the United States including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will meet top security officials from across Europe.

Ruehe, who was defense minister for more than six years, recently criticized his successors for destroying the armed forces, known as the Bundeswehr, by slashing spending, abolishing the draft in 2011 and cutting troop strength from 340,000 in 1998 to the current level of 180,000. Weve had a lack of leadership and not enough appreciation for the soldiers, he said.

Many North Atlantic Treaty Organization members will be at or above the 2% threshold by the agreed target date 2024. But Germany, a country deeply scarred by the horrors of its 20th century belligerency and later divided by the Cold War, has been a prominent straggler despite West Germany having benefited more during the decades of East-West confrontation from NATOs collective defense system than any other. It has been criticized by other allies for its reluctance to give up its peace dividend, the steep reduction in defense spending that followed the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Even though the government has posted growing budget surpluses over the last six years, Germans appear to have little appetite for rebuilding its military  despite a ratcheting up in pressure from the U.S. and European allies. Germans want to see more funding for schools and infrastructure projects than for defense, analysts say.

I can totally understand the frustration in the United States but also in France and Poland as well, said Claudia Major, a senior associate and defense analyst at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin.

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They ask, How can a rich country like Germany spend so little on its own defense? she added. The main issue is that Germany doesnt feel any military threat, and that limits their interest to invest in the armed forces readiness. Most politicians are uncomfortable talking about defense. You dont win elections with it. Its an issue to stay away from in Germany.

Still, she noted, Germany is raising spending appreciably  from $44 billion in 2018 to $48.5 billion in 2019 and a projected $67 billion in 2025. In 2014, its defense budget was $38 billion. An opinion poll by YouGov last year found 60% of Germans opposed to increased defense spending.

Along with the reliability woes of air force jetliners, only about a third of Germanys 128 Eurofighter jets are combat ready and just a quarter of its 130 army helicopters are operational, mainly because of shortages of spare parts. Only one of six submarines and fewer than half of 244 Leopard tanks are working, according to a recent report to Parliament.

Two German Bundeswehr main battle tanks, type Leopard 2A6 and a Puma infantry fighting vehicle during a December 2018 exercise in Munster, Germany. (Philipp Schulze / Associated Press)

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We need to have a minimum level of deterrence but thats not at the level it should be, said Hans-Peter Bartels, the parliamentary ombudsman for the armed forces whose damning report on the state of the Bundeswehrs readiness lamented the diminishing level of troops since the end of the draft. We need to do more. From my point of view, its taking too long.

While Merkel, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen and most other conservatives would like to boost spending along the lines they signed up for in 2014, their junior coalition partners, the center-left Social Democrats, are opposed. Also known by its initials as the SPD, the party has long been leery of increased defense expenditures.

The government is trying to live up to the investment pledge we made at the Wales summit, said Peter Beyer, a member of Parliament for the conservatives and the German governments transatlantic coordinator in the Foreign Ministry. We want to be a reliable partner in NATO. We understand we need to do more. But its difficult with the coalition partner.

Beyer, due to attend the Munich Security Conference, also noted that Germanys defense budget has increased considerably in the last four years and would continue expanding strongly in the next six years. He also confirmed media reports this week that the Defense Ministry would be acquiring a new Airbus A350 jet later this year and two more next year, for transporting top government ministers and officials.

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That was a wake-up call, Beyer said of the string of breakdowns that caused problems for Merkel and others. As the strongest economy in Europe, Germany clearly needs workable modern aircraft and a reliable fleet to bring the chancellor and ministers to meetings around the world. Its a wise and smart decision.

Kirschbaum is a special correspondent.American and Chinese officials met in Beijing on Thursday for high-level trade talks in an effort to reach a deal to end a bruising trade war, after President Trump told reporters that talks were going along very well.

U.S. tariffs on $200 million in Chinese goods are due to rise from 10% to 25% if there is no deal by March 1, although that deadline may shift to allow Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet next month if the Beijing talks go well.

With differences remaining, a meeting between the two leaders is seen as the best chance to reach a deal to end the conflict that has roiled markets and threatens global growth at a delicate time, with Chinas economy slowing.

The conflict centers on U.S. anger at Chinese industrial and trade policies, including accusations that China does not protect American intellectual property, forces foreign companies in China to surrender their technology and subsidizes technological firms in strategic sectors, disadvantaging foreign firms.

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Trump has indicated he might be willing to let the March 1 deadline slide for a short while although hes not inclined to do so. Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman Geo Feng refused to confirm a Bloomberg report Thursday that the deadline for talks on a deal would be extended by 60 days.

I think youll get a better answer after the conclusion of the high-level China-U.S. trade talks, Feng told journalists. But Hu Xijin, editor of the state-owned Global Times, tweeted that the report of a 60-day extension was inaccurate.

Trump and Xi agreed to a 90-day truce in December  when the tariff hikes were originally due to come in  to enable talks aimed at resolving the dispute.

Trade representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin led the U.S. delegation Thursday, while Chinese vice premier Liu He, Xis top economic advisor, led the Chinese side. Xi is expected to meet Lighthizer and Mnuchin on the final day of talks Friday.

Thursdays talks at the Diaoyutai state guest house followed three days of lower-level talks focused on questions such as how to ensure the future enforcement of any agreement. American officials complain that China has failed to implement many of the reforms it promised when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Stephen Censky said Wednesday that Trump and Xi were expected to meet sometime in March.

Some of the parameters of Chinas offer have emerged in recent weeks: buying more American products such as soybeans, automobiles and liquid natural gas; fast-tracking a law increasing legal protection for companies against intellectual property theft; and improving access for foreign firms in China.

But the struggle to meet the March 1 deadline underscores the difficulty American negotiators face in shifting China on its core industrial policy.

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U.S. negotiators are seeking fundamental changes on how China operates, including its support for domestic firms at the expense of foreign firms in China. But China sees subsidies of champion companies as core to its goal of emerging as a world leader in strategic advanced technology, in fields including rockets, artificial intelligence, driverless cars and semiconductors.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin returns to a hotel with members of his negotiation team Feb. 14 after trade talks in Beijing. (Greg Baker / AFP/ Getty Images)

Moreover, Beijing sees the American tariffs and pressure on Chinese tech giant Huawei as a geopolitical strategy to contain Chinas rise and rejects U.S. accusations of intellectual property theft.

China is keen to reach a trade deal, with its economy slowing, a major debt burden and companies shedding workers. Xi recently warned senior officials of the need to take action to confront major risks.

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Some in Washington see Chinas current vulnerabilities as offering the best chance in years to extract an agreement to implement reforms and further open up its economy. But Trump, with an election next year, also faces political risks should a prolonged trade war continue to hurt American farmers, spook markets and stall stuttering global growth.

A series of arrests of alleged Chinese spies in the United States and U.S. pressure on Huawei have fueled tensions during the seven-month trade war. U.S. officials have warned allies against using Huawei technology in 5G networks, arguing this would endanger national security and jeopardize cooperation with Washington.

Having raised expectations, it may be difficult for Trump to present any trade agreement as the best deal ever unless China offers meaningful concessions.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) warned Thursday against the temptation to cut a bad deal, arguing that at the least any deal should stop forced technology transfers, intellectual-property theft and non-tariff barriers, as well as improving cybersecurity.

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Bringing balance to Americas relationship with the Peoples Republic of China is the geopolitical challenge of this century, he wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post. U.S. trade negotiators must stay focused on the fundamental issues of economic theft and competition. Haggling over soybeans, footwear or other low-value goods is not enough when China is engaged in a national effort to displace the United States and dominate 5G technologies, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, advanced pharmaceuticals and high-value manufacturing.

Chinas state-owned Global Times described the trade talks as having been extremely complicated and often tense, in an article at the outset of Thursdays meetings.

China has tried to meet the U.S. halfway. On the other hand, China sticks to its bottom line of economic sovereignty and national security. China will never harm its fundamental interests, the newspaper said in an editorial, adding that the trade war had tested Washington and forced it to change its attitude.

Hu, the Global Times editor, tweeted Thursday that the talks are probably the most decisive ones since the China-U.S. trade war and will profoundly influence the future of China-U.S. relations.

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Xue Rongjiu, deputy director of the China Society for WTO Studies, told the Peoples Daily that the global community should allow China to continue supporting its industries and give it more time to open up to foreign competition.

robyn.dixon@latimes.com

Twitter: @RobynDixon_LATAlready known for his offbeat animal characters, Arthur Lubin in 1961 produced televisions Mr. Ed.

In Rubins May 15, 1995, Los Angeles Times obituary, staff writer Burt A. Folkart explained:

In the 1950s, Lubin directed six of the seven "Francis the Talking Mule" movies, precursors to the half-hour sitcom "Mr. Ed," which he also produced.

The TV comedy  in which Francis was converted to a horse rather than a mule while also undergoing a name change  starred Wilbur Post, an architect who flees the big city to discover nature and finds that the palomino who occupies his new barn can talk but refuses to speak to anyone but him.

The horse explained that Wilbur was the only human being he had ever met who was worth talking to.

With [Alan] Young as Post and western star Rocky Lane providing the horse's voice, the show began in syndication in 1961 and then ran for five seasons on CBS (1961-65). It was one of the few series to start in syndication and then be picked up by a network. 

This portrait accompanied a Dec. 9, 1962, Los Angeles Times profile on Lubin.

An earlier version of this post appeared on June 7, 2013.

See more from the Los Angeles Times archives hereSeveral Southern California snow resorts, wallowing in a surfeit of snow this season, closed Thursday because of a monster atmospheric river walloping the region.

Big Bear Mountain Resort, with its Snow Summit and Bear Mountain destinations, said its operations were on hold Thursday due to wind and adverse weather conditions and said it planned to reopen Friday. Snow was predicted at the resort Thursday evening and possibly continuing into the busy three-day weekend.

Mammoth Mountain in the Eastern Sierras said this week it would remain open until July 4, thanks to about 26 feet of snow. Mammoth received about 6 inches of wet snow in this warmer-than-usual storm. Temperatures were expected to be in the teens and bring more powder Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Very strong winds are in the forecast and lift operations will be impacted, Mammoth Mountains website said.

Northstar, June Mountain and Squaw Valley also were closed Thursday, or their lift operations were on hold. Squaw Valley cited lightning in its on-hold decision.

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In the Southland, Mt. Baldy and Mountain High resorts cited high winds for their closures Thursday. Snow Valley threw in road conditions along with weather to its reasons for closure Thursday, and said it would reopen at 9 a.m. Friday. Snow Valley had snow with highs in the 30s, dropping to the low 30s Thursday afternoon.

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravelWith Wednesdays opening of Manzo, Eataly Las Vegas gives fans a fresh dining option at the Italian food emporium inside Park MGM. The casual restaurant with a more muted atmosphere stands in contrast to the bustle of Eatalys marketplace just steps away.

Manzo, the Italian word for beef, made its debut at the companys New York location in 2017. The meat-centric eatery was designed to have the feel of an Italian butcher shop.

A wood-fired grill is the centerpiece of Manzo. (Eataly Las Vegas)

The grill, over a wood-burning fire set in a stone hearth, is the centerpiece. Various cuts of meat hang on hooks above. The grill has three metal tiers, allowing dishes to be prepared simultaneously over charred apple wood and white oak.

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Manzos signature dish, Ribeye Appesa, is a 42-ounce cut thats suspended over the grill and slow roasted. The entree, sized for sharing, costs $145.

The more subdued Manzo stands in contrast to the bright and busy Eataly market nearby. (Eataly Las Vegas)

Executive chef Arnold Corpuz, a native of Hawaii who once headed Carnevino Italian Steakhouse at the Palazzo, sources his beef from Australia and the U.S., with the giant ribeye coming from Kansas. Lamb is raised in Colorado; duck in Indiana.

The wine list features more than 400 Italian varieties, sorted by region.

Manzo is open 5-11 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Reservations: (702) 730-7646.

Eataly opened at Park MGM in late December with seven specialty food counters, two restaurants, three bars, a chefs demonstration table and a kitchen of the market concept that lets customers eat in or take home.

Its also the first in the chain to offer overnight service at Gran Caffe Milano, which serves coffees and cocktails alongside breakfast, lunch and dinner bites. The rest of Eataly is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Info: Eataly Las Vegas

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travel@latimes.com

@latimestravelChampagne corks popped around the world on Valentines Day, as more than 1,000 couples renewed their vows on ships sailing to the Caribbean, Mexico and Australia.

The celebration, organized Thursday by Carnival Cruise Line, took place in the fleets atrium lobbies, followed by balloon drops and toasts.

In addition, Carnival super fans Catherine and Jim Skoglund of Queen Creek, Ariz., who have sailed with the line 14 times, will renew their vows aloft on the Carnival AirShip as it flies over Phoenix on Friday. The blimp-like #ChooseFun airship just competed a West Coast tour, including visits to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The Skoglunds met 25 years ago in an Arizona restaurant where they worked. Since then, they have spent almost 100 days at sea, including their honeymoon on Carnival Elation, and have two cruises booked this year.

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During the ocean-going vow renewals, couples played Valentines Day-themed trivia games, watched romantic movies and the ships Love & Marriage Show. There are also Kiss Cams aboard, with couples shown kissing on the poolside LED screens.

Info: Carnival Cruise Line, (800) 227-6482 or contact a travel agent

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravelHello, my name is John Cherwa and welcome back to our horse racing newsletter as we do our usual catch-up job.

Well start things off with the latest stewards rulings.

--Jockey John Jude was fined $50 and issued a violation notice for galloping along the rail at San Luis Rey Downs on Jan. 22. He was warned for the same thing the previous day. Jude did not dispute the violation.

--Exercise rider Raul Armenta was suspended until a hearing can be held for testing positive for marijuana while on probation for a previous drug offense. In October, Armenta was suspended 15 days after testing positive for methamphetamine. As a result of that, he was subject to drug testing, and he failed a test on Jan. 31. The stewards unanimously voted that Armenta should be barred from exercising horses until a hearing could be held. He is barred from all areas of the track.

--Jockey Ruben Fuentes has dropped the appeal of two separate suspensions and new rulings were issued indicating the days he would not be able to ride except in designated races. The first ruling was from Oct. 6 and his suspension was served Feb. 7, 8, 9, 10.

(Heres how we first reported it: Jockey Ruben Fuentes was suspended four days for his ride on Queen of the Track in the third race at Santa Anita on Oct. 5. The stewards believed he did not allow enough room on the first turn when he crossed over in front of other horses. Queen of the Track finished second. His suspension was set for Oct. 13, 14, 18 and 19. Because it was his second offense in 60 days he got four days instead of three. Steward Tom Ward dissented, believing the offense did not deserve a suspension.)

The second suspension, first issued on Oct. 26, will be served Feb. 22, 23, 24, March 1, 2.

(Heres how we first reported it: Jockey Ruben Fuentes was suspended five days after his mount, Ultimate Bango, drifted out and caused interference in the sixth race at Santa Anita on Oct. 25. Ultimate Bango was moved from first to fourth. It was Fuentes third riding suspension in the last 30 days.)

--Apprentice jockey Pedro Zavaleta was fined $50 for jogging a horse in front of the starting gate in the -mle chute on Jan. 30 at Santa Anita. It was a unanimous decision by the stewards.

--Exercise rider Olha Krushevska was fined $50 for galloping on the rail at San Luis Rey Downs on Jan. 21. Outrider Leslie Baker was the one who notified the stewards of the violation. Krushevska had been issued a warning in June. It was a unanimous decision.

--Jockey Aaron Gryder was fined $100 for using a riding crop more than three times without giving Ministersdontlie a chance to respond in the seventh race on Feb. 2. Ministersdontlie won the race. Gryder waived a hearing and pled guilty. It was his first offense in at least 60 days.

Inside the Jocks Room

We found this little non-ruling from the stewards and we hate to keep piling on jockey Fuentes, but apparently he has a bit of a feud going on with jockey Heriberto Figueroa. Well let the stewards explain it, although there arent a lot of details. Its slightly edited for redundancy.

The stewards asked to meet with jockey Ruben Fuentes and apprentice Heriberto Figueroa [Feb. 1].  The impetus for this meeting was actions that took place in the first race Jan. 31. There was a four (4) horse field on a sloppy track in this one (1) mile event. Fuentes was aboard first place finisher #1 Platinum Equity. While entering the backstretch (3/4 mile marker) #1 Platinum Equity drifts out wide taking fourth place finisher #6 Spa Shackakacka (Figueroa) out to the middle of the track. The actions of Fuentes bordered on careless and he was not issued a penalty in what was a unanimous decision.

Apparently, unbeknownst to the stewards, these two riders havent been getting along well lately although they were respectful to each other at this informal meeting. The stewards told Fuentes to ride his own horse, and told both jockeys to stay professional and safe while competing against each other. They were also told that anything less than that would be addressed with austerity.

Coliseum off Derby trail

Bob Bafferts underachieving 3-year-old, Coliseum, has been taken off the Kentucky Derby trail according to Brad Free of the Daily Racing Form. You can read Brads story here.

Im going to reboot him, kick him out for 30 days, Baffert told Free. We know hes good, but he doesnt want to train, hes sour.

Coliseum is coming off a lackluster third in San Vicente at Santa Anita.

Who goofed, Ive got to know?

As usual, me. I got the name of Sundays big race slightly wrong, adding an extra consonant (an n) to the San Vicente Stakes. The consonant has been suspended three newsletters but can be used in designated newsletters.

Santa Anita preview

Thursdays eight race card, starting at 12:30 p.m., lacks some of the sizzle of the past couple of weekday cards. But, with 100% chance of rain it makes you wonder if Santa Anita is going to ever catch a weather break. It also makes you wonder if the card will get cancelled. As of Wednesday night all systems were go but always a remember a Thursday card is always more vulnerable than, say, a weekend day. And this is a five-day racing week.

The good news is Friday through Monday look to be OK. There is one turf race scheduled on Thursday, the first, down the hill, but you know how that can go. The average field size is 8.

The feature (or at least the race with the largest purse) is the eighth, a maiden special for 3-year-olds going 5  furlongs for a $55,000 purse. The favorite, at 8-5, is Stretford End for trainer Simon Callaghan and jockey Joel Rosario. He has finished second in all three of his starts.

Bowl of Spaghetti checks in at 4-1 as the second choice for Peter Miller and Flavien Prat. The gelding is making his first start after recording workouts at San Luis Rey Downs.

Here are he field sizes, in order: 8, 6, 6, 9, 8, 8, 8, 11.

Bob Ikes SA pick of the day

EIGHTH RACE: No. 1 High Five (15-1)

Florida invader didn't show much in his only start last July but joins the Vladimir Cerin barn, which has a history of doing extremely well with this kind. He gets Lasix, worked a bullet over the training track and would figure to be in for a maiden claiming tag if the connections didn't think he had some ability. Drawn the rail going 5 1/2 furongs, let's hope he has speed over what figures to be a wet-sealed surface as he tries to beat favorite Stretord End and three Peter Miller first-time starters.

Sundays result: Played two one-way exactas but Stringent couldn't get to the winner Baby Bear's Soup in the second race, so the one way was the wrong way.

Bob Ike is a Partner/VP of Horsebills.com (here's a video) and the proprietor of BobIkePicks.com (full-card picks, 3 Best Plays and betting strategy).

Golden Gate weekend preview

Were back with our weekly look at the best racing at Golden Gate Fields. As with the last couple meetings, were delighted to have race caller and all-around good guy Matt Dinerman as our host for previews and other musings. So, take it away, Matt.

Well start off this week by sending out a congratulatory shout out to trainer Jonathan Wong, the leading trainer at Golden Gate for three straight meets. He won four races on Saturday and four on Sunday. With a barn this hot, handicappers should take a second look at all of Wongs horses this week.

There are a lot of people who get credit for the success we had this past weekend, Wong said Tuesday morning. My help, my owners  they are fantastic. They deserve all of the credit. I just manage things and try to find the right spots for our horses. And I am obviously super proud of my horses and how they ran. They give it their all out there.

Weve got five live racing days this week. Happy Derby week! The El Camino Real Derby is Saturday. A mile-and-an-eighth contest on the Tapeta for 3-year-olds, the El Camino Real Derby offers 10 Kentucky Derby points to the winner, as well as an all-expensed, free berth to the Preakness  as long as the winning horse is Triple Crown nominated.

A large field of 13 will go nine furlongs in this years Derby. The most intriguing shipper is Baffert-trained Kingly. A royally bred son of Tapit, this colt is a full sibling to four-time Grade 2 winner Mohaymen and a half brother to 2013 Breeders Cup Juvenile winner New Years Day. He makes his second start off a break, having most recently finished second in an allowance last month to highly regarded Extra Hope. Other noteworthy Southern California shippers include stakes winner and 2018 Breeders Cup participant King of Speed, stakes placed More Ice, the European bred Eagle Song and the Doug ONeill trained pair of Weekly Call and The Creep.

The local who figures to get the most support is Anothertwistafate, a son of Scat Daddy that has been well regarded for a long time. He has won two straight, both in gate-to wire fashion, and has finished the race like a horse that has a ton of ability and class. He was purchased as a 2-year-old for $360,000, so theres no doubt hes well liked by plenty. Theres a decent amount of speed in this race and he faces legit stakes horses for the first time. This is the acid test. Stakes placed Mayor Cobb is another local that might get some support.

Also, on the agenda this week: Presidents Day Holiday racing is Monday, completing the five-day racing week. Also, the fifth race on Friday goes as the last leg of the Stronach 5 wager. Its a terrific allowance race for fillies and mares going one mile. Ten horses are slated to run. Look for #9 Rennys Lady (8-1 on the ML) at a price. She makes her second start off a layoff after a better than looked third-place finish in her first start in the U.S. last time out.

Final thought

Always looking to jump the circulation of this newsletter. Cant beat the price. If you like it, tell someone. If you dont like it, then youre probably not reading this. Either way, send to a friend and just have them click here and sign up. Remember, its free, and all we need is your email, nothing more.

If you have any thoughts, you can reach me at johnacherwa@gmail.com. You can also feed my ego by following me on Twitter @jcherwa

And now the star of the show, Thursdays entries.BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- China has witnessed major improvement in the medical condition of impoverished counties, with more than 400 hospitals in these areas being upgraded to higher levels, said a senior official with the National Health Commission (NHC) Wednesday.

Over 30 hospitals in these counties can now provide medical services comparable to that of top hospitals in the country, said Jiao Yahui, deputy director of the Medical Administration Bureau under the NHC, at a press conference.

"Patients in all of the most poverty-stricken counties can now get access to medical services on telemedicine platforms at their local hospitals," Jiao said.

The official attributed the progress to help from the country's best hospitals over the past years.

Since 2016, 963 top hospitals have paired with 1,180 hospitals in 834 impoverished counties to offer targeted assistance, enabling them to provide better medical service to local residents, the NHC figures show.

As of 2018, more than 60,000 medical workers from top hospitals have been dispatched to hospitals in impoverished regions to assist them in hospital management and medical treatment.

"Poverty alleviation work in the medical sector is now at a crucial stage," said Jiao, adding that the NHC would further improve the medical condition in these areas and let telemedicine play a greater role.This animal is my stepson. Hovering somewhere between lovable and lethal, he was born in La Canada and, if the laws of extinction hold, will end his days in North Hollywood in March.

Hes a dragon in Mozarts The Magic Flute, a freely adapted version by the Pacific Opera Project. My wife, Maggie, hatched him this week and Ive been concerned that he might have been born too early: Im told that most of his kind grow prodigiously and have been known to devour their parents. However, this one appears to be comfortingly stable.

Maggie, with only a consuming interest in making costumes for our three children at Halloween as experience decided a decade ago to take a certificate at Los Angeles Community College and has since costumed 27 operas, most of them with POP and all of them unconventional in some way.

She began with The Fairies, the first opera that Richard Wagner wrote, so rarely staged that it had to wait more than 150 years before being performed in the United States. The Los Angeles Times said the costumes made the fairy chorus look lighter than air, a memorable tribute given that some of them were distinctly overweight.

It isnt a fire-trap in the garment district but its a sweat shop all the same,  Reg Green writes of his wife Maggies work on costumes for the Pacific Opera Project. (Courtesy of Reg Green)

By contrast, every opera company has tried its hand at Don Giovanni, but few would think of replacing the tyrannical nobleman with a 1930s gangster boss, though the character traits are quite similar.

And how many companies would dare to outfit the cast of Mozarts Abduction from the Seraglio as Star Trek characters  and still fill the beautiful 1,200 seat Ford Amphitheatre?

POP was started by Josh Shaw, an artistic director, set designer, librettist and occasional performer, to take the starch out of an art form that has become increasingly stylized and out of touch with ordinary folk  and out of touch with their wallets too.

The fantasies proliferate in any production of The Magic Flute, which explains why Maggie has forsaken the sewing machine that whirs deep into the night for a can of spray paint for the shell on the dragons back. Its true that, unlike a real dragons shell, which is meant to last a thousand years, this one might disintegrate in a rainstorm, but I dont forget for a moment that Dorothys red shoes were made of wood pulp, gelatin and plastic, and one pair of them sold for $2 million.

Keep spraying, Maggie.

Reg Green lives in La Canada. His latest book is 90 And Not Dead Yet.La Canada Unified School Board members recognized Tuesday La Canada High School senior Gabriel Drill for his recent accomplishments at the national level.

Drill was recently named a second alternate for the United States Senate Youth Program, a weeklong event in Washington, D.C., that lets civic-minded students see the nations government at work.

The senior, who also chairs the citys Youth Council and is actively involved in YMCAs Youth in Government program, traveled to Sacramento in January to meet State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and California State Board of Education President Michael Kirst.

Also in January, Drill was named among some 4,500 candidates nationwide as part of the 2019 U.S. Presidential Scholars Program, an honor given to graduating seniors for superior academic and artistic achievements, leadership, character and community involvement. Finalists will be named in May.

As a district were extremely proud of his achievements and have enthusiastic confidence  he will continue to do things that benefit our local community as well as our nation, said LCUSD Supt. Wendy Sinnette, also thanking mom Irina Mazor and dad Eugene Drill for supporting their sons endeavors.

sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardineLos Angeles Times columnist Chris Erskine is known for giving readers candid glimpses into his life as a husband, father and suburbanite through his Middle Ages columns and in distillations of that work, like the recently published Daditude.

Since the book came out in April, the La Canada Flintridge resident has been on a whistle-stop tour of book signings, public talks and book club appearances, even sharing the joys and absurdities of modern fatherhood during La Canadas own One City, One Book community-wide read-in last October.

But as Daditude rounds out its first year of literary life, Erskine is finding his social calendar more packed than ever as organizations invite him to stretch the mantle of columnist/author across several new and varied roles.

The 62-year-old father of four served as emcee for the Jan. 30 annual meeting of the La Canada Flintridge Sister Cities Assn., which convened local dignitaries with their Spanish counterparts from sister city Villaneueva de la Canada.

And Erskine will soon try his hand at guest conducting the Burbank Philharmonic as members perform The Star Spangled Banner to start off a special free concert Feb. 23 in La Canadas Lanterman Auditorium.

Well find out what a conductor can bring to the national anthem  can we get some fireworks going? he joked by phone. Ill have a home-field disadvantage.

But thats not all. On Memorial Day, Erskine will lead a local tradition as grand marshal of the 46th annual Fiesta Days Parade, a highlight of the La Canada Flintridge Chamber of Commerces Fiesta Days Memorial Weekend festivities.

News of the columnists selection was announced during the chambers installation gala and awards ceremony on Jan. 17, at which time officials announced the parades theme Family First.

Chamber president and chief executive Pat Anderson said members scour local rosters in search of potential marshals who are well-known in the community and who fit that years parade theme.

He certainly is a family man, as evidenced in his years of column writing for the L.A. Times, and recently this was underscored by his book, Anderson said of Erskines selection. It all seemed like it was coming together and the right thing to do.

The local author said he was surprised and thrilled to hear hed been chosen grand marshal of a parade he, himself, regularly attends.

In a tumultuous year  the author lost 32-year-old son Christopher in a vehicle accident last March and then wife Cathy, aka Posh, to cancer nine months later  Erskine says he draws comfort in the small-town treasures of friendship and tradition.

Theres something about the sameness of it that is reassuring. In a world that changes every minute, I think the traditions are really great, he said.

Typically, grand marshals have the option of selecting the vehicle theyd like to ride down Foothill Boulevard for the Memorial Day parade, with most favoring vintage, convertible options. But Erskine pondered a different, more family-centered approach.

I have a red minivan Ill be standing on top of, he quipped.

sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardineLa Canada High School Spartan Boosters Club President Jeremy Milbrodt and treasurer Randy Scoville on Tuesday presented La Canada Unified School District officials with a $41,000 check in support of the creation of a wellness center for high school students.

After more than a year of design and planning, the Spartan Support Center is anticipated to open in the campus Information Resource Center (IRC) this August.

I want to thank the board and all the people who really thought through the wellness center idea, came up with a great vision  and to the Booster families who donated $41,000 to get going on getting this great thing moving, Milbrodt said. Its something the Boosters are proud to be involved with.

LCUSD Supt. Wendy Sinnette said the new space, along with a college and career center being planned nearby, will become an epicenter of student activity that supports resiliency and thriving behaviors.

With the college and career center, the Spartan Support Center and with the general IRC well have a student hub that I think rivals any high-performing school district, she said.

Sinnette said members of the La Canada Flintridge Educational Foundation have also promised to raise funds for the wellness center during a paddle pledge event at their March 16 spring gala.

sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardineHeroes Hall  the veterans museum at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa  will celebrate its second anniversary and unveil its newest exhibit during a free public event Saturday.

From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., visitors can take in music and refreshments as well as tours of the facility.

They also will get a first look at Victory From Within: The American Prisoner of War Experience, a traveling exhibit created by the National Park Service.

The exhibit explores four primary themes: capture, prison life, those who wait and freedom, according to the fairgrounds.

Four former prisoners of war who live in Orange County  George Emerson, 93, and Lloyd Roberts, 90, both of Huntington Beach, Edison Miller, 87, of Irvine and Dan Oldewage, 93, of Orange  will attend Saturday to share their stories.

Every prisoner had a harrowing experience to share, Emerson, who was imprisoned in Germany during World War II, said in a statement. And that is how we spent much of our time, telling capture stories.

Roberts, who was captive for 27 months in North Korea during the Korean War, said: Not a day goes by that something doesnt remind me of prison camp. Its usually food. I swore I would never waste a morsel of food after that experience.

Heroes Hall first opened on Feb. 15, 2017, the 75th anniversary of the activation of the Santa Ana Army Air Base.

The building that houses the museum was originally a barracks for the base, a World War II-era training camp that covered a large portion of what is now Costa Mesa, including the fairgrounds, until it was decommissioned in 1946.

The structure was saved from planned demolition in 2013 following a lobbying effort by veterans and preservationists. It was moved to its current home near Centennial Farm in 2016.

For more information about the museum or Saturdays event, visit ocfair.com/heroes-hall. The Fair & Event Center is at 88 Fair Drive.Newport Beach is closer to getting its first new senior care home in 20 years after the City Council on Tuesday approved a zoning change that allows a facility to be built near John Wayne Airport.

Harbor Pointe Senior Living now has the zoning it needs for a 1.5-acre, 120-bed campus near Bristol Street and Jamboree Road, where a Japanese restaurant now sits. The parcels zoning will change from general commercial office to private institution.

Supporters of the project say Newport needs skilled residential care for an aging population, especially for locals who would have to be uprooted when they need help with self-care.

But Harbor Pointe has drawn consistent opposition from neighbors who worry how it might affect traffic, area property values, future land uses and the safety of neighbors and facility residents.

Residents of the adjoining Baycrest Court neighborhood continued their resistance Tuesday.

Patti Lampman, who is on the board of the Baycrest Court homeowners association, said the issue is about property rights.

She said she chose to buy a home in the community based on the zoning and doesnt think the Harbor Pointe landowner should have greater property rights than her or her neighbors.

The City Council is here to protect and enforce the property rights of the Bayview planned community and development standards, she said. I ask the City Council to please, please, please protect our rights.

The council ultimately voted 5-1, with member Brad Avery opposed, to approve the rezoning. Councilman Marshall Duffy Duffield was absent.

Carol McDermott, representing developer Centerpointe Senior Living, which owns the land, said neighbors of prospective senior care facilities generally fear negative effects on property values. But she said the quality of the Harbor Pointe architecture, the quiet population and narrowly tailored conditions of approval would make it a harmonious fit.

She noted that the facility would have stacked stone pillars, a rustic exterior design touch listed in the design standards of the nearby Santa Ana Heights neighborhood and yellow lantana flowers in its landscaping, also like some neighbors.

The three-story building would reach about 40 feet tall and cover about 85,000 square feet. Its 101 units  some would be double occupancy  include 81 for assisted living and 20 in a more secured unit for residents with dementia. The facility also would have a theater, a small store, a fitness room and spa, a salon, a library, computer labs, a grill and dining rooms, laundry rooms and other communal areas, along with 53 subterranean parking spaces. It would staff up to 30 employees at a time.

A version of the project that Centerpointe Senior Living pitched in 2017 was five stories with 144 beds in 128 units.

Weve done everything we can to provide the kind of compatibility that we think will result not only in a good use, but what we will find is that a year after its open, everybodys going to say, Well, that wasnt so bad after all, was it?  McDermott said.

Kirk Snyder, president of the Bayview Court HOA, said the facility is not the fabric of the neighborhood we bought into, like the Kitayama restaurant has been.

The immediate area has several traditional low- and mid-rise office buildings, but the general commercial office zoning is broad enough to allow restaurants like the single-story, 8,800-square-foot Kitayama, which is to be demolished to make way for the senior home.

Its about our quality of life. Its a wonderful place, Snyder said of his neighborhood. Weve recently invested over a million dollars to completely regenerate where we live. Were so proud of it.

He said another restaurant would be a better fit for the area.

Avery said Wednesday that he liked the senior proposal and was prepared to support it but was convinced by Snyders argument that the facility would change the neighborhoods character by replacing a restaurant with an institutional use.

Doug Pancake, an Irvine-based architect whose firm is designing the Harbor Pointe campus, specializes in healthcare and senior living facilities and completed his masters thesis on housing for Alzheimers patients. He said he has worked on more than 200 memory care facilities and said they are designed to keep patients secure.

Its just a lack of understanding as to how these facilities actually work, Pancake said.

He added that the 53 planned parking spaces exceed the facilitys needs. City regulations require 40 spaces for a building its size.

Councilwoman Joy Brenner said she had a positive experience with Crown Cove in Corona del Mar, a few blocks from her home, when she needed to move her mother into assisted living 15 years ago. The facility blended well with the neighborhood, Brenner said.

McDermott said Newport Beach hasnt had a new comprehensive senior care home since the 61-bed Crown Cove opened in 1999.

Mayor Pro Tem Will ONeill said the council rarely has a chance to decrease traffic and intensity when making land-use changes. City staff projected the new facility would reduce traffic by more than half, compared with the restaurant.

We know seeing all the data that, as our community gets older, we need senior facilities, he said.

Its unclear when Kitayama would close and construction on Harbor Pointe would begin.Five passengers suffered minor injuries Wednesday when a Delta Air Lines flight headed from John Wayne Airport to Seattle encountered severe turbulence in a storm and was forced to make an emergency landing in Reno.

Three of the passengers were taken to a hospital, where their conditions were not immediately known, said Reno-Tahoe International Airport spokesman Brian Kulpin.

The two other injured passengers did not require additional medical attention, authorities said.

A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said that Flight 5763, operated by Compass Airlines under the Delta banner, was diverted to Reno and landed at about 1 p.m. after the crew reported the turbulence at about 34,000 feet.

There were 59 passengers and four crew members aboard.

One passenger tweeted the plane did two nose dives in crazy turbulence but that the crew handled it perfectly.

Crazy turbulence and injuries, but the @delta crew handled it perfectly, even the emergency landing. pic.twitter.com/NoJWLp5GUv  joe justice (@JoeJustice0) February 13, 2019

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning through 11 p.m. Thursday for most of the Sierra Nevada, including Lake Tahoe, where 2 to 5 feet of snow is possible in the highest elevations.

The weather service reported earlier Wednesday that overnight winds gusted over Sierra ridgetops near Reno in excess of 130 mph.In a fight over two charter schools proposing to open alternative campuses in two local districts, the Orange County Board of Education decided Wednesday to give all parties more time to hash out disagreements and meet a resolution the board could vote on next month.

The county board was expected to determine whether the International School for Science and Culture and Sycamore Creek Community Charter School could move forward with their pitches to create new facilities in the Newport-Mesa Unified and Ocean View school districts, respectively.

However, department staff recommended postponing the decisions until the boards March 13 meeting.

The charters petitions were unanimously denied by the district boards last year because of myriad issues, including curriculum and administration.

County trustees Ken Williams, Mari Barke and Lisa Sparks voted to extend the timeline on Sycamore Creeks petition to give the parties more time to negotiate an agreement that could be adopted by the county board. Trustee Rebecca Beckie Gomez dissented. Trustee John Bedell was absent.

In ISSACs case, Williams and Gomez voted in favor of an extension and Barke and Sparks abstained. The latter two originally pushed to approve ISSACs petition, with Barke citing low-performing district data that she said shows there may be room for a charter school to serve students. But they abstained after learning that if the charter were approved Wednesday, it wouldnt have to meet various recommendations by county staff.

If resolutions cant be met by next months meeting, county staff will recommend that the trustees deny the charters proposals, according to Aracely Chastain, the boards coordinator of charter schools.

However, the board could vote against that recommendation.

Sycamore Creek Community Charter School officials ask the Orange County Board of Education on Wednesday to approve their request to open the school in the Ocean View School District. (Photo by Priscella Vega)

Wednesdays standing-room-only meeting highlighted the common arguments of the districts and charters.

Sycamores proposal says the free public charter school would apply arts-integrated curriculum inspired by Waldorf methodologies, in which students creativity is a central focus. The school anticipates opening in September in the Ocean View district and serving transitional kindergarten through eighth grade, with overall enrollment capped at 240 students.

ISSACs petition describes it as a free public charter school with a focus on STREAM (science, technology, reading and writing, engineering, arts and math) and foreign-language education. The petition seeks a five-year term with hopes of opening in August in the Newport-Mesa district with about 390 students in transitional kindergarten through fifth grade. Students would study Spanish and Mandarin Chinese in addition to English and would rotate among different classrooms.

Critics of charter schools often argue that they drain resources from struggling districts. Newport-Mesa and Ocean View advocated Wednesday for retaining local control.

Charter advocates contend they promote choices for parents interested in providing their children with an alternative curriculum.

Sycamores request to give enrollment priority to 10 to 15 children of parents who founded the campus dominated much of the discussion Wednesday. Some of those students are from outside the district.

Attorney Sukhi Ahluwalia, representing Ocean View, said she had never seen a charter petition give preference to students other than those within the district.

Sycamore attorney Janelle Ruley said the school only wants to give priority to those 10 to 15 students.

In ISSACs case, Patricia Gould, the lead petitioner, told the board it would concede to all recommendations by county staff.

You have no problems at all? Williams asked Gould, referring to staffs recommendation to give priority to students within the Newport-Mesa district.

No, [it] wont be an issue, Gould said. You give district students priority.

However, Russell Lee-Sung, Newport-Mesas deputy superintendent and chief academic officer, asked trustees to delay their vote to allow time for district staff to review the charters proposal with recommendations from the county.It was a celebration of family. A super-dedicated group of volunteers gathered in support of the Adoption Guild of Southern California in the ballroom of the Balboa Bay Resort, Newport Beach. They came to celebrate the 58th annual patroness event, which raises funds and rallies support for Holy Family Services Adoption and Foster Care in Orange County.

Two hundred ladies and gentlemen came together to send a message that children are created in the image of God, and that their care is the responsibility of any and every adult  especially those children in need of a family.

The tone of the Adoption Guild Patroness event focused on the positive aspects of counseling pregnant women in a variety of situations on their choices concerning the best possible outcome for mother and unborn child. Holy Family Services Adoption and Foster Care Agency in Orange County is dedicated to providing extensive one-on-one counseling to all seeking assistance.

Clearly, the agencys goal is to avoid the option of abortion, as many patients come forward unsure of what choice is best for them. Through extensive counseling, options are fully laid out and, in the course, therapy is provided to those who need support during a period of emotional stress. Many women often change their minds multiple times until they decide.

Cathy ONeil, Sherry Hunter, Julie Reynolds and Ryann Carissimo gather in support of the Adoption Guild. (Photo courtesy of Ann Chatillon)

In keeping with the spirit of the HFS mission, Susan Chakmakian, HFS board chairwoman, introduced a family who recently adopted a now 3-month-old infant. The adoptive mother and father shared their personal journey with Holy Family Services while holding their new son in their arms.

Adoption Guild President Chris Garber joined mistress of ceremonies Patrice Werschmidt in welcoming guests for the luncheon, silent auction and fashion presentation. The elegant affair was co-chaired by Christine Johnson and Michelle Swift working with a committee that included Julie Reynolds, Pam Selber, Tina Retrosi, Pam Fossler, Angela Grasso, Marcy Sargenti, Nancy Collins, Sheila Forsum and Ryann Carissimo.

Donors were seated at round tables covered in winter white linen centered with tower displays of fanciful petit fours and assorted delicacies topped with a bouquet of winter blooms and hearts representing the symbolic logo of the Adoption Guild. Major benefactors included Jackie Glass, Bob and Britt Meyer, Pam Selber, Stephen and Pam Fossler, Jeannie Hidey, Christine Johnson, and Ed and Angela Grasso. Generous corporate benefactors included William Harold & Sons Jewelers, OC Breakers, Landsea Homes, Grayse fashions, among others.

Marie Gray and daughter Kelly Gray of Grayse presented a twist on the traditional fashion show element of the charity luncheon. Rather than the obligatory models walking the runway, they joined fashion arbiter Susan Stein addressing the crowd on the evolution of fashion. Joining professional models on the runway were volunteers representing the patroness membership program. William Squire, stylist and former model, presented a program on makeup, posture and runway etiquette.

Major event contributors included Charles Durnial, Karen Knoche, Judy Guerra, Sunny Park, Patricia Houston and Ruth Fitzgerald. A significant portion of the financial success of the event came from generous silent auction donors and vendor boutiques set up as pop-up stores in the foyer of the Balboa Bay Resort. Grayse joined Joyfit, G2G Designs and BellaFit in donating a portion of sale proceeds to the Adoption Guild.

Spotted in the crowd and shopping at vendor boutiques was classy local real estate agent Carol Lee and Heidi Miller, owner of Tight Assets in Laguna Beach, and Jeannie Lawrence, owner of the Rancho Las Lomas event center. Janie Merkle, Sue Podnay, Harriett Selna, Joyce White, Suzanne Wyrick, Mia Zucht and Shan Vincent also made appearances. Another local real estate star (and always best dressed) Adrienne Brandes attended as well.

For information on the Adoption Guild in support of Holy Family Services Adoption and Foster Care, visit adoptionguild.org or email adoptionguildoc@gmail.com.

B.W. COOK is editor of the Bay Window, the official publication of the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.Theres a rule about ampersands that doesnt exist, even though countless people follow it anyway.

Nowhere is this rule written down. Nowhere will you see it manifest in professionally published writing. No one has ever spoken this rule aloud or taught a student to follow it.

So its fascinating to me that people do this: Her department oversees marketing and research & development.

Another: A Caribbean vacation offers beaches, historical sites and outdoor adventures (hiking & bus tours).

One more: Their sandwich selections include roast beef, turkey and ham & cheese.

Writers do this a lot, especially writers of marketing copy. Do you see the issue Im talking about? Each of these passages contains an ampersand.

But writers who use ampersands this way arent using the symbol as a substitute for and. On the contrary, and appears regularly throughout their prose. Instead, theyre using an ampersand in place of certain instances of and.

Evidently, these writers are operating on the vague idea that some noun relationships are connected with the word and, while other, closer noun relationships take an ampersand.

If the pairing is a thing  a popular combo in the language like mergers & acquisitions  surely, thats what an ampersand is for.

This is fascinating on a number of levels.

First, the sheer popularity of this assumption is mind-boggling. As an editor tasked with changing each of those ampersands to the word and, I can tell you that this is a very common practice.

Second, theres no basis for this assumption. Unlike so many other fake rules in language, this one isnt spelled out in some poorly researched textbook. Its not documented anywhere Ive ever seen.

Third: No one preaches this rule. Other mythological rules have evangelists. Parents and teachers tell kids not to split infinitives or end sentences with prepositions, both of which are fake rules. But never in the history of English class has a teacher said, Here are the pairings where you use an ampersand then wrote on the chalkboard a list of combos like peanut butter & jelly.

Fourth: The writers arent picking up this practice from their reading. Youll never see in an article in a major publication, Hawaii is a wonderful destination for rest & relaxation.

And finally, in my estimation, its harder to type an ampersand than it is to type and. Yes, its shorter: two keystrokes instead of three. But you need to reach for the shift key on the left and, simultaneously, the 7 key two rows above where your fingers are stationed.

So the writers who use ampersands to show special relationships are pulling a rule out of thin air, with no documented basis for it, never having been taught to do so by a teacher or parent, without an excuse that its easier, and without having seen the practice modeled in professional writing  and theyre all in lock step with each other.

Its remarkable.

But for anyone who might prefer a real rule, heres a simple guideline for using ampersands: Dont. At least, not when you want your writing to appear professional. My reference library contains not a single source indicating that you should ever, under any circumstances, opt for an ampersand in place of and in running text.

The Associated Press Stylebook says you can leave ampersands in proper names, like the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Captain & Tennille, and in common shorthand terms like R&B. Conversely, the Chicago Manual of Style says youre welcome to replace ampersands in proper names with and if you prefer.

That means that you can refer to Peaches & Herb as Peaches and Herb, should the occasion to do so ever arise.

JUNE CASAGRANDE is the author of The Joy of Syntax: A Simple Guide to All the Grammar You Know You Should Know. She can be reached at JuneTCN@aol.com.BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's tourism industry brought in 5.97 trillion yuan (882 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, up 10.5 percent year on year, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said Wednesday.

According to a preliminary estimation, the domestic tourism industry made an overall contribution of 9.94 trillion yuan to the country's GDP in 2018, accounting for 11 percent of the total GDP, said the ministry.

The tourism sector created 79.9 million direct and indirect jobs in 2018, accounting for nearly 10.3 percent of the total employed population, the ministry noted.They have neither a name, organization or fundraising campaign.

Yet a group of about 30 Burbank residents and Burbank Unified school board members committed to try to place a new proposed parcel tax before voters in 2020, only three months after the districts last proposed parcel tax, known as Measure QS, was narrowly defeated.

The agreement was reached during a discussion about Measure QS at a special school board meeting, facilitated by district Supt. Matt Hill, on Tuesday.

Its clear we need to start now, and its very clear we need it by 2020, Hill said of a parcel tax.

Hill added that board members could assist in gathering information about the need for a parcel tax and educating residents about it, but they could only vote on matters of ballot language and timing.

The meeting was the districts first debriefing since Measure QS failed in November to receive the necessary two-thirds vote to pass.

The 10-cents-per-square-foot annual fee received 25,413 yes votes, or 64.33%, and 14,093 no votes, or 35.67%. The proposed measure fell short by 938 votes.

The loss cost the district a little more than $9 million annually and has led the board to consider layoffs and other cuts in the wake of a $3.5-million structural deficit.

We need a parcel tax to pass, board member Steve Frintner said. Were going to run another one. There is no doubt about that, and we need buy-in.

Armond Aghakhanian, board vice president, added, We need to start tomorrow.

Before developing a new parcel tax, however, there was still a matter of dissecting Measure QS and why it didnt pass.

Residents pointed out several perceived flaws, including no sunset clause, the tax being based on square footage rather than a flat fee, a lack of adequate communication, low voter knowledge, a late start in campaigning and opposition from some residents.

Board member Charlene Tabet countered by saying the board utilized polling that didnt indicate issues with the lack of a sunset clause or using square footage. She added that she didnt think the measure failed because of a lack of effort.

It cant just be that we didnt send enough postcards out, Tabet said. It cant be that we didnt knock on enough doors; it cant be because we did all those things.

However, some residents offered positive assessments about Measure QS.

Were talking a lot about our loss, but we did get 64% of Burbank voters to [support the tax], said Peggy Flynn, the districts arts and career technical education coordinator.

Resident Colleen Elkins said shed push for recruiting neighborhood captains, who would reach out to their neighbors and advocate for the next parcel tax.

Some board members pointed to little support from city officials, the chamber of commerce and local businesses.

When the studios, who send [out] Mickey Mouse, and you name it, to sing and dance on all our campuses out of one mouth but then, in board rooms, vote against endorsement measures for QS, thats a problem, board member Steve Ferguson said.

Larry Applebaum, former board president and chief No on QS spokesman, said a new proposed parcel tax should address pensions. He noted that the district is projected to pay an additional $13.16 million in pension costs between the 2013-14 school year and the close of 2020-21.

Until the pensions are funded, everything else is B.S. because the pensions are why youre having a problem, he said.

He added, $13 million will go a long way to providing things for this district.

Applebaums response drew the wrath of some board members.

Its the height of hypocrisy to sit here and pretend you have the one solution that works that none of the rest of us could possibly think of and to sit here after campaigning against funding for our schools and tell us how much you want help fund our schools, Frintner said. We need people who want to help our schools, school district and students.

Tabet called for unity and action.

If that means we start now because we didnt start earlier enough, lets do it, she said. If it means we didnt collect enough money and didnt hire a professional, then lets get it done. If we had people that went against us, you need to stop that.

She added, Were either all in or were not going to make it.

andrew.campa@latimes.com

Twitter @campadresportsIf anyone thought that Gov. Gavin Newsoms administration would merely be an extension of fellow Democrat Jerry Browns, that notion has been completely obliterated.

Browns  and before him Arnold Schwarzeneggers  humongous Los Angeles to San Francisco bullet train was always a pipedream. And in his first State of the State address Tuesday, Newsom woke up all the train zealots from their fantasyland.

Lets level about the high-speed rail, Newsom told a joint session of the Legislature. I have nothing but respect for Gov. Browns and Gov. Schwarzeneggers vision .

But lets be real. The project as planned would cost too much and take too long. Theres been too little oversight and not enough transparency. Right now there simply isnt a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, Newsom said of the original route promised voters, let alone from San Francisco to L.A. I wish there were.

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However, Newsom continued, we do have the capacity to complete a high-speed rail link between Merced and Bakersfield. Now, I know that some critics will say this is a train to nowhere. But thats wrong and offensive.

The people of the Central Valley endure the worst air pollution in America as well as some of the longest commutes in the state. And they have suffered too many years of neglect from policymakers here in Sacramento. They deserve better. ... Merced, Fresno, Bakersfield and communities in between are more dynamic than people realize.

Gov. Gavin Newsom pledges to scale back high-speed rail and twin-tunnels projects in State of the State speech 

Aside from the economic pragmatics of sidetracking an unaffordable $77-billion project, its good politics for a liberal Democrat to reach out to a core Republican region where more than half the counties voted for President Trump in 2016.

Newsom never seriously considered junking the whole project. Much has already been spent. If the state just walked away, it would owe the federal government $3.5 billion in seed money. Might as well complete the route from Merced to Bakersfield and try to get something out of it, the new governor concluded.

More from George Skelton 

Otherwise, he explained to the lawmakers, We will have wasted billions of dollars with nothing but broken promises, unfulfilled commitments and lawsuits to show for it.

President Trump tweeted Wednesday that Newsoms action means that California owes the feds $3.5 billion and we want that money back now. But the presidents facts were wrong. As usual.

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Bullet train dreamers have always argued that California is the fifth largest economy in the world, so theres no reason it cant afford to build a high-speed rail system. Smaller countries have. Thats rubbish.

California is a state. It doesnt print money. It must balance its budget books annually. Those other bullet train builders are nations and they usually partner with private enterprise. No private investor is interested in Californias project.

While campaigning for governor last year, Newsom said hed scale back Browns two big legacy infrastructure projects: the bullet train and monstrous twin water tunnels in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. And thats what he did Tuesday.

Newsom rejected the $17-billion twin tunnels idea, but said  as promised  that he supports a compromise single tunnel.

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Theres a lesson here: Newsom might be worth listening to. At least on the train and tunnels, he wasnt just some politician blowing smoke.

Coverage of California politics 

In October, the candidate told me he was optimistic thered be enough money to build the line from Merced to San Jose through the Pacheco Pass. People could live in the affordable San Joaquin Valley and commute to high-paying tech jobs in the Silicon Valley.

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But there was no specific mention of a valley to valley line in Tuesdays speech. That was left open to speculation.

Look, we will continue our regional projects north and south, he said. Well connect the revitalized Central Valley to other parts of the state and continue to push for more federal funding and private dollars. But lets just get something done once and for all.

Legislators interpreted that differently.

Republican Assemblyman Jim Patterson, a former Fresno mayor and longtime bullet train critic, said: Weve known for quite some time theres only enough money for a rump railroad between Bakersfield and Merced. The governor confirmed it.

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He sounded bitter.

This experiment has essentially collapsed, he said. Weve lost thousands of acres that should be returned to agriculture folks. Weve got blight land nobody wants anymore, weve got squatters, got trash, junk. Its a mess. California owes Fresno what it takes to make us whole.

But Sen. Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton), who originally authored the high-speed rail legislation that was eventually approved by voters, saw a glass half full.

In no way do I believe the governor was saying, Thats it, were done, Galgiani said, adding that she personally confirmed this with Newsom. Hes saying instead of focusing on six different segments at once, lets get this one done.

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When the $15 billion Merced-to-Bakersfield route is completed, she added, the governor or his successor can take it another step.

Anyway, Galgiani said, shes excited about the train coming to Merced. Because from there, riders will be able to connect with a commuter train to San Jose over the Altamont Pass into the East Bay.

That commuter train currently only goes to Stockton. But as part of a gas tax backroom deal two years ago, Brown provided $400 million to extend the rail line 61 miles to Merced.

Bill Whalen, a research fellow at Stanfords Hoover Institution and a former speech writer for Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, said, Im going to give Newsom credit. He did something Jerry Brown was not capable of. And that is admitting the obvious about high-speed rail.

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Newsoms message: Theres a new conductor in town.

george.skelton@latimes.com

Follow @LATimesSkelton on TwitterA free speech organization is suing California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra over his offices failure to release internal police records.

The San Rafael-based First Amendment Coalition sued Becerras office in San Francisco Superior Court on Thursday after the attorney general did not turn over records related to investigations of shootings or confirmed cases of sexual assault by officers. A law passed last year opened such records to the public following decades of secrecy surrounding internal law enforcement investigations.

But numerous police unions around the state have sued in local courts, arguing that the new law should not unseal records of incidents that occurred prior to its taking effect on Jan. 1. Becerra cited those ongoing cases in declining to turn over the records, saying that the public interest in protecting officer privacy outweighs transparency until the courts decide the issue.

The laws author, Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), has said that the Legislature intended to make public all qualifying records in a departments possession, no matter when an incident occurred.

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Dave Snyder, the First Amendment Coalitions executive director, said Becerras refusal to turn over the information reflects poorly on his office.

As the highest law enforcement officer in the state, the attorney general has an obligation to not only comply with the California Public Records Act, but to send the right message about transparency to police departments across the state, Snyder said in a statement. Unfortunately, the attorney general has done neither. By denying public access to these crucial files, he has given a green light to other departments to disregard the new law.

The Times is one of multiple media organizations around the state that have filed legal briefs urging courts to rule against the unions lawsuits. A Contra Costa County Superior Court judge ruled last week that departments must release older records. But this week, a judge in Ventura County granted a preliminary injunction blocking the release of such records in a separate case.

In a statement, Becerra said it was prudent to wait until courts had provided more clarity over the status of the records given that the state has historically provided strong privacy protections to police personnel information.

When it comes to disclosing a persons private information, you dont get a second chance to get it right, Becerra said.

California police unions are preparing to battle new transparency law in the courtroom 

liam.dillon@latimes.com

@dillonliamFormer acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said in an interview that aired Thursday that he authorized an investigation into President Trumps ties to Russia a day after meeting with him in May 2017 out of fear that he could soon be fired.

I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground in an indelible fashion that were I removed quickly or reassigned or fired that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace, McCabe told CBS.

His comments were the first time McCabe has publicly addressed why he opened an investigation into Trump following the firing of former FBI director James Comey, whose post McCabe took over.

CBS aired a portion of an interview scheduled to air in full Sunday on 60 Minutes.

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I was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency, and won the election for the presidency, and who might have done so with the aid of the government of Russia, our most formidable adversary on the world stage, and that was something that troubled me greatly, McCabe said, recalling his first meeting with Trump.

In the clip that aired, McCabe did not address specific evidence that led him to believe Trump should be investigated personally.

It has been previously reported that the FBI began to explore at that point whether Trump was trying to obstruct justice, in part by firing Comey, and whether he personally was of concern from a counterintelligence perspective.

McCabe opened the case so quickly that some at the Justice Department were concerned that he might have acted too hastily because of Comeys removal, people familiar with the matter have said.

In a statement to CBS, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said McCabe had opened a completely baseless investigation into the president.

In the interview, McCabe also apparently addresses allegations he made in memos documenting discussions with Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein.

It has been reported previously that McCabe alleged in the memos that Rosenstein suggested wearing a wire to surreptitiously record the president and that Cabinet members considered invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

During an appearance on CBS This Morning, Scott Pelley, the correspondent who interviewed McCabe, described the discussions of the 25th Amendment as counting noses  or speculating on where various Cabinet members might stand on the question.

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Pelley said McCabe disputes the assertion, advanced by defenders of Rosenstein, that the deputy attorney general was not serious about wearing a wire. Pelley said McCabe took the idea to FBI lawyers for a discussion afterward.

That, too, has been previously reported, though McCabe has never before publicly described his allegations.

McCabe sat for the interview as part of an effort to promote a new book, which is scheduled to be published next week.

As the interview clip aired, the Atlantic published an excerpt of McCabes book, in which he describes his interactions with the president after Comeys firing.

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In one encounter that he seems to view as particularly troubling, McCabe wrote that Trump pressed in an Oval Office meeting to visit the FBI, even though he had just fired its well-liked leader.

In McCabes view, Trump was trying to enlist McCabe in a plan to send a sinister message to employees.

In this moment, I felt the way Id felt in 1998, in a case involving the Russian Mafia, when I sent a man Ill call Big Felix in to meet with a Mafia boss named Dimitri Gufield, McCabe wrote. The same kind of thing was happening here, in the Oval Office. Dimitri had wanted Felix to endorse his protection scheme. This is a dangerous business, and its a bad neighborhood, and you know, if you want, I can protect you from that. If you want my protection. I can protect you. Do you want my protection? The president and his men were trying to work me the way a criminal brigade would operate.

A frequent punching bag for Trump, McCabe was fired from the bureau in March just 26 hours before he could retire, after the inspector general presented Justice Department leadership with allegations that McCabe had authorized a disclosure to the media and then lied repeatedly to investigators about it.

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McCabe alleged his termination was politically motivated and meant to discredit the bureau and the ongoing Russia probe.A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Paul Manafort, President Trumps former campaign chairman, lied to special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs prosecutors despite agreeing to cooperate in the sprawling Russia investigation.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson effectively voids Manaforts plea agreement and means the 69-year-old former Republican operative and lobbyist will likely be sentenced to prison for the rest of his life.

The Office of Special Counsel is no longer bound by its obligations under the plea agreement, including its promise to support a reduction of the offense level, Jackson wrote in her order.

Manafort already has been convicted of eight charges of bank fraud and tax evasion following a trial last year in Alexandria, Va., and he has pleaded guilty to two additional charges of conspiracy.

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All the charges involve Manaforts work for the Russian-backed president in Ukraine  before he joined Trumps campaign  and subsequent allegations of attempted witness tampering.

The legal battle over whether Manafort lied to prosecutors  his defense team denied it  revealed new clues about Muellers closely guarded investigation into meetings and other contacts between Trumps campaign aides and Russians during the 2016 presidential race.

A courtroom sketch of Paul Manafort standing before U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson. (Dana Verkouteren / Associated Press)

A partially redacted document filed by Manaforts lawyers disclosed that he shared polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian-born associate who worked with Manafort in Ukraine. Prosecutors say Kilimnik has ties to Russian intelligence, an allegation he has denied.

In addition, the relationship between Manafort and Kilimnik was extensively discussed in a closed court hearing on Feb. 4.

This goes, I think, very much to the heart of what the special counsels office is investigating, Andrew Weissman, a top Mueller deputy, told the judge. A heavily redacted transcript was released after the hearing.

Weissman did not elaborate, but he cited a meeting between Manafort and Kilimnik at a cigar club in New York City on Aug. 2, 2016.

That meeting and what happened at that meeting is of significance to the special counsel, he said.

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The meeting took place less than two weeks after Trump had accepted his partys presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention and about two weeks before Manafort resigned from the Trump campaign over questions about his work in Ukraine.

Richard Gates, Manaforts deputy at the time, also attended the meeting. Gates initially was named in the same indictment as Manafort, but he later pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and lying to investigators, and he has been cooperating with prosecutors.

Manaforts conversations with Kilimnik were one of five topics that prosecutors said Manafort lied about.

The judge agreed with prosecutors on three of the five that Manafort intentionally made false statements, including on conversations involving Kilimnik.The White House said Thursday that President Trump will sign a must-pass government spending bill even though it lacks border wall funding and then declare a national emergency to pull money for wall construction from other parts of the federal budget.

The declaration, which would involve a vast expansion of executive power, is certain to face court challenges and could provoke a showdown with Congress. Even some Republican loyalists had cautioned Trump against overstepping his authority, wary of letting the White House circumvent lawmakers spending authority.

President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action  including a national emergency  to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. The president is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border and secure our great country.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Democrats would oppose any emergency executive action.

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Declaring a national emergency would be a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract from the fact that President Trump broke his core promise to have Mexico pay for his wall, Schumer said in a joint statement with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco).

The presidents decision, first announced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), cleared the way for the Senate to vote on the spending bill, which had to be passed by midnight Friday to avert another government shutdown. Many senators were reluctant to vote until Trump clearly stated his intention to sign the bill.

Shortly after Trumps announcement, the Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill, 83 to 16. The House followed later, approving it 300 to 128.

The vast majority of Democrats voted yes. But several of the partys 2020 presidential contenders voted against it, including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey. They joined several conservatives in opposition, creating a stark contrast between the presidential contenders and other Democrats.

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who has not declared his candidacy, supported the measure.

The bipartisan deal will fund a large chunk of the federal government and provide $1.375 billion for border barriers, but nothing for a wall, which was one of Trumps main campaign promises in 2016. Back then he promised Mexico would pay for it.

National emergency declarations are usually limited to sanctioning foreign threats or dealing with a domestic crisis, like combating swine flu. Experts have called it unprecedented for a president to issue such a declaration to get funding for a project Congress has explicitly refused to fund.

Legal advocacy group Public Citizen promised to sue on behalf of landowners and others in Texas likely to be affected by such an illegal maneuver.

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Either chamber of Congress can also force a vote on rescinding the presidents order, a move that could put Republicans in a tough position.

Pelosi called the emergency declaration an end run around Congress. Some Democrats have floated the idea of a legal challenge, arguing that the president is usurping Congress power to appropriate money. Pelosi wouldnt commit to that Thursday.

We will review our options, and Im not prepared to give any preference to any single one, she said. Republicans should have some dismay about the door they are opening.

The White House said it was prepared for a legal fight. Were very prepared, but there shouldnt be legal challenges, Press Secretary Sanders said. The presidents doing his job. Congress should do theirs.

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While the idea of a declaration had been circulating for weeks, most Republican lawmakers said they did not receive advance warning and didnt know where Trump would find the funding. He didnt tell me that, said Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), who spoke with Trump shortly before McConnell made the announcement.

Some Republicans have discouraged Trump from declaring a national emergency, worried that a future Democratic president might use the same strategy to get funding for a liberal priority, such as climate change.

We have a crisis at our southern border, but no crisis justifies violating the Constitution, said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). A future president may use this exact same tactic to impose the Green New Deal. I will wait to see what statutory or constitutional power the president relies on to justify such a declaration before making any definitive statement. But I am skeptical it will be something I can support.

Other Senate Republicans praised the idea after the White House announcement.

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Ive said all along that I thought what we did [in the bill] was step one, and he had statutory powers to make the declaration, said Shelby. The president was positive about the spending bill, he said. He knows this is a year at a time, a step at a time.

Republicans hope that public backing for border security will buoy support for the emergency declaration.

Democrats refusal to negotiate has rendered Congress inept at doing its job to protect Americans, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote on Twitter. At this point POTUS is absolutely right to use constitutional executive action authority to build the wall and secure our border. This is a national emergency. I fully support him.

Patrick Shanahan, the acting Defense secretary, said recently that a national emergency is not unique and unprecedented.

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The language is pretty simple, Shanahan said. It basically says, to enhance the capability of the military, military construction funds can be utilized.

A person with knowledge of the White Houses thinking said it has not yet been decided how much money Trump will attempt to pull for the wall using executive authority.

The person said officials have identified as much as $10 billion that they believe they can legally tap from sources including the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and the Army Corps of Engineers. This is money that has been appropriated by Congress but not used, possibly because a project has been canceled or not completed.

The person said that attorneys from multiple agencies have signed off on a declaration and that Pat Cipollone, White House counsel, briefed senators Wednesday on Capitol Hill.

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A House Armed Services Committee aide who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity recently told The Times that, by the committees analysis, the most likely place the administration would go is military construction funding that is not yet obligated, and potentially a small pot of money for countering drug smuggling. Because much of the military construction funding is for five years, theres a big central pool of money, and he could grab for that.

The president can also de-obligate, or essentially cancel, any military construction projects that have not yet begun, the aide said.

Going back as far as 2013, theres about $13 billion left in military construction money, the aide said, with $10 billion for the 2019 fiscal year. All told, were the president to cancel all potential military construction projects  a move the aide emphasized was not realistic  he could get $23 billion toward his wall.

Trump got no wall funding from Congress. The more-than-1,000-page spending bill passed Thursday provides $1.375 billion for barriers at the southern border, but not a wall. Thats less than the $1.6 billion senators approved last year, or the $5.7 billion the president demanded in December.

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The bill also states that the Department of Homeland Security cannot build new barriers in certain parks or nature reserves and must consult with affected cities about the design before construction can begin.

The bill, which was negotiated in a bipartisan House and Senate conference, funds 200 border control agents hired since October, but funds no other new agents this year. The bill also allows for hiring new immigration judges and sets new standards for how immigrants should be cared for while they are detained, such as providing some medical care and setting limits on the temperature in facilities.

It includes a 1.9% pay increase for federal employees retroactive to Jan. 1. Trump canceled the pay increase late last year, saying the country couldnt afford it.

Not included is an extension of the Violence Against Women Act, which provides funding and resources to emergency shelters for abused women and men and will expire at midnight Friday. Nor is there supplemental disaster aid for states such as California and Florida that are recovering from major hurricane, flood and fire damage last year.

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Democrats gave up their push to place a cap on the number of immigration arrests that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, could make in the interior of the country by limiting the number of beds available for them in detention facilities.

Times staff writers Molly OToole and Noah Bierman contributed to this report.

The latest from Washington 

More stories from Sarah D. Wire The Supreme Court meets behind closed doors Friday to weigh a question that could shape the political power of California for the decade ahead.

At issue is the Trump administrations plan to ask all households for the first time since 1950 whether occupants are U.S. citizens.

State officials and Latino activists have been sounding the alarm, arguing that this single change to next years census could have a broad impact.

If the Trump White House wanted to deal a political blow to California, the most effective way to do it would be to promote an intentional undercount of the state in the 2020 census, said Arturo Vargas, chief executive of the National Assn. of Elected and Appointed Latino Officials in Los Angeles. And I think thats precisely whats behind the adding of this question.

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The once-a-decade count will be used to divide up political power among the states and within states, and political scientists predicted in court testimony that California would lose billions in federal funds and at least one and possibly as many as three seats in the House  and the same number of electoral votes  if the citizenship question is used next year.

California would be hit especially hard, they said, because 28% of the states households have a family member who is not a citizen.

Over the advice of census experts, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced last year he would add the citizenship question in order, he said, to provide complete and accurate data for the census.

For each person, the head of household will be asked, Is this person a citizen of the United States? The answer comes in one of five boxes to be checked: (1) Yes, born in the United States; (2) Yes, born in Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands or Northern Marianas; (3) Yes, born abroad to U.S. citizen parent or parents; (4) Yes, U.S. citizen by naturalization  Print year of naturalization; or (5) No. Not a U.S. citizen.

When pressed to justify the decision, Ross said he chose to add the extra question because the Justice Department said it needed the citizenship data to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

Officials in California, New York and 17 other Democratic-leaning states say neither justification makes sense. They argue that adding the citizenship question is likely to yield incomplete and inaccurate data because millions of immigrant families will refuse to respond, leading to a severe undercount in areas like Southern California and South Texas. And they said Justice Department lawyers have enforced the Voting Rights Act for more than 50 years without needing block-by-block data on eligible voters. Instead, they have relied on data from the American Community Survey, which annually asks detailed questions, including on race, ethnicity and citizenship, of a small statistical sample of the public.

On Friday, lawyers for California and the Justice Department will present their final arguments in San Francisco in the states suit, California vs. Ross, that seeks to block the change. At the same time, the Supreme Court justices will meet privately to weigh the administrations request to decide the issue on a fast track in the case from New York.

Solicitor Gen. Noel Francisco said the high court must act now because the Census Bureau needs to begin printing forms by summer.

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If the justices agree to hear the case, Department of Commerce vs. New York, they will bypass the appellate courts and schedule a special argument in late April or May. They will review a scalding 277-page opinion handed down last month by U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in New York who stopped just short of accusing Ross of lying to hide his partisan motives. He detailed how the Commerce secretary had overruled the governments statisticians and demographers who had spent a decade preparing for the census and had warned it was a mistake to add such a charged and untested question.

When questioned on Capitol Hill, Ross told lawmakers he had acted solely in response to a request from the Justice Department. But emails released during the litigation showed Ross himself had prompted the Justice Department to make the request. The judge also noted that early in 2017, Ross spoke with then-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach about the issue. They discussed the potential effect on congressional apportionment of adding one simple question to the census, he wrote. Furman ruled the addition of the new question violated the Administrative Procedures Act because it was arbitrary and capricious.

The Constitution calls for an actual enumeration of the population every 10 years and says representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state. This has been understood to mean that all residents are counted equally in the census, regardless of their citizenship status.

No one knows how the census will fare next year with the new citizenship question. Experts offered widely different predictions during the trials.

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The New York judge cited testimony from a Census Bureau official who said adding the citizenship question would prompt 5.8% more households to refuse to respond to the census questions compared to 2010. In the California case, UCLA professor Matt Barreto cited a survey he conducted which suggested that more than 12% of the households in California would refuse to respond.

Justice Department lawyers called Barretos prediction of a steep decline in responses inaccurate and misleading, but told the judge that the true extent of any decline [in responses] is unknown. If fewer households respond to the census, they said, the non-response follow-up workload may be increased, so that in the end, the Census Bureau may capture those who are missing from the count.

Vargas, however, predicts serious trouble for the census because of the Trump administrations get-tough approach to immigration.

This is coming from a White House that has created the most hostile environment for immigrant families. They have created this climate of fear and suspicion. It is the same White House that wants to ask every single person, Are you a citizen? he said. When you add an untested and politically motivated question at the last moment, it is sabotaging a fundamental aspect of our democracy. And it is guaranteeing an undercount of the states population.

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The latest from Washington 

More stories from David G. Savage To the editor: President Trump falsely told a raucous rally in El Paso on Monday night that he is already building a wall. But he also falsely insinuated that he cares if a wall is built.

President Clinton started the modern wall building with a section in San Diego. President George W. Bush dramatically increased the miles of barriers on the border, and President Obama completed the 654 miles of border barriers that exist today.

Trump is the only recent president who didnt extend the miles of border barriers. He even admitted that he had a $1.6-billion allocation for border wall construction last year and didnt spend it, blaming it on the contractors but not explaining why he didnt hire contractors who were capable of actually building barriers.

At this point, its not clear what Trump wants besides noisy crowds and closed government offices.

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Scott Peer, Glendale

..

To the editor: The fact that top Democrats in the Senate supported a bill in 2006 funding the construction of more than 600 miles of border wall, much of which was built under Obama, yet now approve of a mere 55 miles for Trump, tells us all we need to know.

Democrats in Congress are putting the safety and security of the American citizens subordinate to their overwhelming desire to block anything this duly elected president wants.

Rick Kern, Incline Village, Nev.

..

To the editor: Even this garbage compromise to prevent another partial government shutdown is an insult  to our southern neighbors.

It is like a slap in the face or the slamming of a door, implying that all Mexicans or Central Americans who want to enter the U.S. are criminals or potential criminals. If our Border Patrol is not effective enough to weed out likely terrorists, why does it exist?

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In a world crying out for cooperation (as in the European Union), building a wall along our southern border at huge taxpayer expense would be a disgrace.

Peggy Aylsworth, Santa Monica

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookTo the editor: It was foolish to build Californias high-speed rail system from its center outward toward the final terminals in the northern and southern parts of the state. (Shocking cut to Californias troubled high-speed rail project solves some problems and creates others, Feb. 12)

Think if the builders of the transcontinental railroad had driven the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit in Utah to begin that railroad. That too would have been dumb.

If California had started, at the same time, the Los Angeles northward tracks and the San Francisco southward section, then residents at both highly populated ends would have been able to use the partially completed service in order to sing its praises and create public support.

Perhaps more intelligent people will prevail when the project starts back up so all of us can get a bang (or a ride) for our buck.

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Steve Saeta, Santa Rosa Valley, Calif.

..

To the editor: I did not vote for Gov. Gavin Newsom, and in general I disagree with him on almost everything he advocates.

However, his decision to cut back on the bullet train project provides at least a glimmer of hope that there may be at least some reasonableness coming from Sacramento after the long and costly obsession of former Gov. Jerry Brown with this project.

Neal Rein, Westlake Village

..

To the editor: I am saddened that Newsom is scaling back the high-speed rail project.

Yes, it is expensive, and yes, costs could have been managed better. On the other hand, its benefits would have paid tremendous dividends for residents who cannot afford Los Angeles expensive housing by allowing them to live in Lancaster or Bakersfield and work in the L.A. basin.

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A completed system would provide a great cost-efficient alternative to air travel, especially to communities outside the San Francisco Bay Area.

I wish that Newsom had looked at cutting some of the bureaucracy that increases the costs of public works and stopped wasting money on programs for undocumented residents.

Jim Kennedy, Smyrna, Tenn.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookTo the editor: It is gratifying that Judd Olanoffs experience on a Birthright Israel tour was enriching and memorable, but his assumption that its educational approach has not evolved since his 2008 trip is incorrect.

Birthright Israel regularly adjusts its educational framework. Also, it strives to build a traveling community of young Jews whose members exercise mutual recognition, tolerance and trust, without undermining their diversity. This open culture promotes meaningful dialogue.

Birthright Israel includes a mandatory geopolitical module about addressing the complex political realities in Israel and the entire region. This module has been integral to the experience of close to 200,000 participants to date.

Birthright Israel constantly reflects on its work and remains committed to seeking venues to sustain educational excellence. It is regrettable Olanoff omitted these facts to advance a narrow-sighted political agenda.

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Zohar Raviv, Jerusalem

The writer is Birthright Israels executive vice president of educational strategy.

..

To the editor: I agree completely with Olanoffs view that that by not exposing participants to a more balanced view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Birthright fails to educate and prepare the moderate, pro-Israel center.

However, participants should go into the program with their eyes open. They are accepting a free trip from an organization funded in part by Sheldon Adelson. Accepting this free gift comes with strings attached.

If Birthright participants want to hear more nuanced points of view, they should extend their trip at their own expense and expose themselves to Israeli Arabs, Palestinians and left-leaning Israelis. Or, maybe someone should fund a competing program to Birthright. George Soros, are you listening?

Maya Levinson, Los Angeles

..

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To the editor: I dont know what Olanoff is complaining about. He voluntarily signed up for a Birthright trip, knowing that the organizations purpose is to connect participants with Jewish values, identity, narratives and contemporary Israel. By his own admission, Birthright accomplished that mission for him.

It is not Birthrights mission to disseminate Palestinian narratives, values or propaganda. Plenty of other outlets promoting this are available to Olanoff if he is curious about that. He can also arrange his own trip to Palestinian areas, if he can gain admittance.

If Olanoff wishes to learn how to defend Israel against unjustified criticism, there are organizations that can help do that. Joining one would help him reach that goal; complaining about Birthright will not.

Daniel H. Trigoboff, Williamsville, N.Y.

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..

To the editor: Olanoff writes that Birthright must reconsider its approach, or it risks failing the next generation of American Jews.

That generation fails itself if it relies exclusively on such organizations for information. Secrecy is obsolete. Google happens.

Jim Johnson, Whittier

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Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookChina's C919 jetliner to speed up test flights in 2019

Three C919 jets that just concluded test flights in Shandong Province are gathered at the assembly shop in Pudong, Shanghai during the Spring Festival. [File photo: CCTV]

SHANGHAI, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's C919 large passenger aircraft project will see an overall accelerative test flight phase with the test fleet reaching six in 2019, according to its developer on Wednesday.

In 2019, three new airplanes will conduct their first test flights and then join the test fleet. The batch production ramp-up is also underway, said the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC).

The C919, China's first self-developed trunk jetliner, conducted a successful maiden flight on May 5, 2017, at Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

By the end of 2018, three C919 airplanes have completed their test flights.

To date, another three are now in the final assembly, part assembly or large parts manufacturing phases respectively and are expected to join the fleet by the end of the year.

The flight test is a key verification phase for an aircraft model to validate its design and performance, especially the safety aspects.

The C919 airplanes will fly to various airports to undergo rigorous testing in complex weather conditions and a series of high-risk test flights, according to COMAC.

To date, COMAC has received 815 orders for the C919 from 28 customers worldwide.Nigeria, Moldova, Nepal, China  as dean of the Santa Fe, N.M., campus of St. Johns College I announce the home countries and names of all freshmen at our annual convocation ceremony. This year, more than 20% of them are citizens of other countries here on student visas. Ten years ago, almost none were. This growth caught our college by surprise, driven by a surge in interested students, not by targeted recruiting.

Their arrival is not just the most dramatic change in our students campus experience in the last 50 years  its a shift, or clarification, in the very meaning and purpose of liberal education.

I remember the moment I realized the implications of the change. In fall 2012, a Singaporean student at our Great Books college, Christine Kng, asked if she could write her capstone senior essay on Tocquevilles Democracy in America and Sun Yat-sens Three Principles of the People, in order to explore how Tocquevilles views of liberty and equality might be differently  more fully, perhaps  realized in the Chinese context.

For the first time since the 2008 recession, the number of visas issued to international students has decreased.

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The founders of the program of study at our college could hardly have foreseen a student like Kng. Back in the 1930s, they abandoned specialization into majors to design an all-required, four-year course of study focused exclusively on Western texts that reflected the shared heritage and tradition of their American students. Our undergraduates are asked to read, discuss and interpret these texts directly, without the filter of secondary literature or professorial authorities.

Kngs senior essay was a first of its kind for us: She combined a reading of a modern Chinese author  beyond the required texts of our program  with a reading of a seminal text of Western political philosophy. Her essay signified to me that the Western ideals of liberal education are no longer essentially Western. Every nation on Earth has been decisively touched by the movement toward greater social equality that Tocqueville identified as underlying democracy.

More broadly, Kngs social, political and economic world, like my own, has been shaped by Hobbes and Rousseau, Hegel and Marx, even as her physics and technology have been shaped by Newton and Einstein. Of course, other cultures and traditions have their own distinct rich, nuanced perspectives on the roots of our shared modern world, but in 2019, there is no meaningful sense in which Western thinkers, texts and ideas are any more rightfully mine than hers.

One might go further and say the ideals of liberal education were never Western to begin with. The essence of philosophy has always been its claim that permanent scientific and ethical truths are accessible to all human beings. The international students who find St. Johns demonstrate this; they defy the stereotype of such students flooding our business schools and computer science departments because they prioritize economic success above all. Instead, at our college, theyre taking up a careful study of Platos Republic, Newtons Principia and Kants Critique of Pure Reason.

In doing so theyre developing habits of mind of enduring relevance, and theyre stepping back from the deluge and transience of information in the digital age. They are realizing and renewing the deep power and promise of higher education, and they are reinvigorating our college with an overdue ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity. Every day, they force our American students and faculty to revise an inherited map of the world into a more accurate and nuanced reflection of reality.

Its not only St. Johns that has benefited. From 2010 to 2018, the enrollment of international students at U.S. colleges has increased to 1.1 million from 700,000. But current policy trends may reverse these gains.

Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute 

For the first time since the 2008 recession, the number of visas issued to international students has decreased. In June, student visas were eliminated for certain types of Chinese students, and President Trump reportedly considered eliminating all of them. The administrations approach to the H-1B visa process for skilled workers renders postgraduate career opportunities in America more doubtful. Prospective international students fear the prejudice and abuse that they may encounter amid high-profile anti-immigration enforcement and intensifying American xenophobia.

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In May, I watched our international students pack their bags to go home for the summer. Two years ago, they would have said, See you next year; now some say, Thank you and goodbye, doubtful they will be able to secure another visa or unwilling to gamble with their future by returning. I leave it to others to audit the economic costs and risks of this brain drain. I lament the risk to the ideals of liberal education, ideals that lie at the heart of the Western and American democratic and humanist experiment.

We can hope that Americas inward turn is a passing moment and that politicians will listen to the chorus of voices in higher education that has been impressively unequivocal in its defense of our international students. It is in the nature of truth to defy the arbitrary exclusion of the other. The foundation of knowledge and education, especially liberal education, is that nothing human is foreign to me.

J. Walter Sterling is the dean of St. Johns College in Santa Fe, N.M.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand FacebookSuckers!

As predicted, President Trump plans to declare a national emergency in order to override parts of the deal congressional negotiators struck when they hammered out a government funding bill for the remainder of fiscal 2019.

In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action  including [declaring] a national emergency  to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border.

Exactly what steps the president will take have yet to be revealed, but it seems certain that he will shift dollars from previously approved projects into his big, beautiful wall, or as Democrats prefer to call it, physical barriers at the border. Which is where the sucker part comes in.

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Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute 

Since funding for nine federal departments and dozens of agencies ran out in mid-December, the central point in dispute between congressional Democrats and Trump (and his allies in Congress) has been how much to spend on border security. In particular, Trump demanded large increases in funding to build his wall project, detain immigrants awaiting potential deportation, interdict drug smugglers at ports of entry and increase surveillance at the border, among other related programs.

Negotiations began in earnest last month after Trump agreed to end the longest-on-record government shutdown he had triggered. Democrats succeeded in holding the line on one key point, as Republicans agreed to include a little less for physical barriers than a bipartisan Senate group had proposed in December (close to $1.4 billion instead of $1.6 billion). But they agreed to an 11% increase in detention beds, while also putting more money into surveillance, the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement  all wins for Trump.

And now, by declaring a national security emergency where none exists  remember, arrests at the border are far lower than they were a decade ago  Trump will seize the federal purse and, presumably, write himself a giant check for the border wall.

Think about this for a moment. Presidents are forced to compromise with Congress all the time, even when their party controls both of its chambers. When they dont get their way, sometimes they resort to executive orders to forge ahead without lawmakers approval  and in so doing blur the separation of powers. Witness how the Obama administration found money for Obamacares out-of-pocket subsidies after Congress failed to provide it.

Republicans were so upset about this, they sued and persuaded a federal judge to stop federal money from flowing to the subsidies without a congressional appropriation. Here, Trump is trying to give himself a veneer of constitutionality by using his almost unlimited power to declare a national emergency. But theres no getting around the fact that he is doing so to circumvent Congress exclusive power to spend federal dollars.

With some luck, federal judges will again see through the pretext and stop Trumps effort to usurp lawmakers authority. If they dont, Trump will have found a way to play Congress for suckers from now until he leaves the Oval Office.Two Montana women questioned by a U.S. border agent who overheard them speaking Spanish in a convenience store sued U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Thursday, saying the agent illegally detained them without reason.

The agent held Ana Suda and Martha Hernandez for 40 minutes in a parking lot in the city of Havre in May 2018 without reasonable suspicion or probable cause, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Great Falls.

His only reason for doing so, they say, was because they were talking in Spanish while waiting in line to buy milk and eggs.

Suda took a video of the parking lot encounter with CBP Agent Paul ONeal in which she asked him why he wanted their identifications.

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Maam, the reason I asked you for your ID is because I came in here and I saw that you guys are speaking Spanish, which is very unheard of up here, ONeal said in the video.

CBP spokesman Jason Givens said Thursday the agency would not comment on pending litigation.

The womens ACLU lawyers said ONeal should have let them go as soon as they identified themselves as U.S. citizens, but he instead detained them in violation of the 4th Amendment, which bars unreasonable searches and seizures.

The lawsuit also claimed the agent targeted them based on their race in violation of the 5th Amendments due process protections.

ONeal and later his supervisor made it clear through their words and actions that the women werent free to leave the parking lot, ACLU attorney Alex Rate wrote in the lawsuit.

Speaking Spanish does not establish reasonable suspicion justifying a stop and detention, much less probable cause for an arrest, Rate wrote.

Suda and Hernandez are asking for an unspecified amount of money in compensation, punitive damages and a judges order barring border officials from stopping or detaining anyone based on race, accent or language.

Suda was born in Texas and moved to Montana with her husband in 2014. Hernandez was born in California and has been living in Montana since 2010. Both are certified nursing assistants who work at an assisted-living center.

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Havre is a city of nearly 10,000 people about 30 miles from the U.S.-Canada border and near two Native American reservations. The citys population is mostly white and about 4% Latino, according to the U.S. census.

In 2017, Border Patrol agents in the Havre sector made 39 arrests. Eleven of those arrested were Mexican.The United States on Wednesday opened a highly promoted international conference on peace in the Middle East, but some central players, the Palestinians, were a no-show.

Representatives of about 60 countries, including several Arab states, planned to attend, but a number of European nations sent low-level delegations to protest U.S. policy. The conference in Warsaw was to focus not only on dim prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace but also on Iran, which the Trump administration regards as the primary force for destabilization in the Middle East.

President Trump and his advisors are seen in many parts of the world as being excessively pro-Israel and isolationist, undermining Washingtons credibility as a broker of Middle East peace.

Declaring that Palestine wont play Trumps game, in Warsaw or anywhere, Palestinian Authority official Nabil Shaath said negotiations were impossible given the administrations refusal to embrace the principle of Palestinian nationhood and its decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, where Israel and the Palestinians have conflicting claims.

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The Trump Team aims to use this conference as an event to push for their vision for Israel and Palestine, one that, based on the steps they have taken, is certainly not about peacemaking, Shaath wrote in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Wednesday.

Palestinian leaders have refused to meet with American negotiators since the embassy move in May.

In Warsaw, the U.S. side was well-represented, reflecting the administrations stake in the event. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo led a delegation that also included Trumps top advisors on Middle East peace: his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Jason Greenblatt.

Also attending was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who stunned attendees by announcing in a tweet that he was sitting down with leaders of Arab states to discuss their common interest in combating Iran. Few Arab leaders can acknowledge sitting down with an Israeli official to discuss anything, much less war on a regional power. Netanyahus tweet used the phrase war with Iran  bellicose language even by his standards  and his office later changed it to combating.

Netanyahu is hoping conferences like this one will help to burnish his diplomatic credentials ahead of a tough April 9 election battle.

The presence of Kushner and Greenblatt, who are charged with drafting what Trump once said would become the deal of the century, ending the the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, raised speculation that the team might be prepared to release some details. They were scheduled to brief delegates behind closed doors Thursday. The draft has been kept under wraps, its release repeatedly delayed, though some broad outlines are known.

Kushner failed to win support from Saudi Arabia last year when he began shopping the plan around the Persian Gulf region. The Trump strategy relies on major Arab states, especially in the gulf, relaxing their historical hostility toward Israel and putting pressure on the Palestinians to compromise.

But as Kushner learned, even the friendly Saudis will go only so far; a failure to award the Palestinians with any piece of Jerusalem, as the first draft reportedly did, drew a veto from Saudi King Salman. Since then, Kushner and Greenblatt have been adjusting the plan.

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Yousef Munayyer, a political analyst in Washington who heads the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, said Palestinian skepticism about the Warsaw conference, which is co-hosted by Poland, ran deep.

The conference, he said, is going to be a show, to send a message to the Palestinians that you have to get with the program or youre going to miss out.

In addition to the Palestinians, Russia and China were not attending the Warsaw conference. Nor, unsurprisingly, was Iran.

Initially, the Trump administration portrayed the conference as a gathering expressly to coordinate against the Islamic Republic in Tehran. Trumps advisors sought to present a show of global solidarity even as most countries have disagreed with U.S. policies toward Iran.

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Several European leaders said they would not attend a solely anti-Iran meeting. Washington changed the name to the Ministerial to Promote a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East, adding to the agenda conflicts from Yemen to Syria.

Still, for the administration, Iran is key. Since pulling out of the multinational Iran nuclear deal last year, the Trump administration has sought to build a coalition to challenge Tehran. Opposing Shiite-dominated Iran is also a goal that unites Israel with the Sunni-led gulf nations.

Greenblatt, who has spent much of the last few days in a Twitter feud with various Palestinian officials, linked the two geopolitical issues.

Iran is the primary threat to the future of regional peace/security, he tweeted. Thats what Palestinian leaders dont grasp; as a consequence of being detached from new realities, we see Palestinians increasingly left behind/more isolated than ever.

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Brian Hook, the State Departments special envoy on Iran, insisted that there was common ground among U.S. allies for holding Iran accountable and containing its regional activities, such as financing of militant groups in Syria and Yemen and exporting of missiles and other weaponry.

We agreed to disagree with the Europeans on the nuclear deal, Hook said, but agree on other malign behavior by Iran.

In fact, three of the most important European powers  Germany, France and the United Kingdom  recently established a mechanism that will help Iran do business with European companies and skirt U.S. sanctions designed to block it.

When you are investing in Irans economy, you can never be sure whether you are facilitating commerce or terrorism, Hook, speaking from Warsaw, told NPR.

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Special correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on TwitterIn a choreographed show of rare unity, officials from the United States, Arab states and Israel joined together at a Middle East peace conference Thursday to pledge tough action against Iran, calling that nation a threat to all.

The focus on Iran, however, overshadowed discussion of the still-secret Israeli-Palestinian peace plan that President Trump has long promised  and that may be just how his senior representatives at the forum wanted it, given nettlesome issues that remain.

You cant achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran; its just not possible, Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo said, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his side.

U.S. officials and Netanyahu took pains to highlight the willingness of Arab countries including Saudi Arabia to work alongside Israel at the two-day conference in Warsaw. Most of the Arab nations do not officially recognize Israel.

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The U.S.-sponsored conference, Netanyahu said, was a historical turning point.

An Israeli prime minister and the foreign ministers of the leading Arab countries stood together and spoke with unusual force, clarity and unity against the common threat of the Iranian regime, he said.

Leaders of the Arab nations were less effusive. Yet they had agreed to attend a meeting that the Palestinian leadership boycotted, a break that many in the past probably would not have taken.

The Trump administration is hoping it can use the shared enmity toward Iran to unite major Arab states and Israel and sideline the Palestinians.

U.S. officials, accusing the Palestinians of being unwilling to compromise, have punished them in recent months by cutting aid and closing their de facto embassy in Washington. The administration also ignored Palestinians outrage over Trumps 2017 decision moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the disputed city of Jerusalem, which both Palestinians and Israelis claim.

The strategy, officials say, is to push the Palestinians to feel excluded and enable Arab states to pressure Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to accept a U.S. peace plan, one that Trump once vowed would be the ultimate deal, ending the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The PA [Palestinian Authority] may not like it, but Arab states will pursue their interests even when the Palestinian leadership opposes, Dennis Ross, a former U.S. envoy to the Middle East, tweeted from Warsaw. Case in point: the Warsaw Conference. Arab states had more of an interest in arguing for unity of effort against Iran than boycotting a conference the PA opposed.

Jason Greenblatt, Trumps envoy for the Middle East, also used Twitter to gush over the events in Warsaw. This historic conference is a testament to the truth that a new era has begun, he wrote.

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The United States will never fail to stand with our ally Israel, Greenblatt added. And the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael are coming together in common cause as never before.

Netanyahu, running in a tough race for reelection April 9, barely mentioned the Palestinians, instead using footage of his participation in the conference to flood Israeli airwaves and social media.

Such enthusiasm was not universally endorsed.

In a remarkable rebuttal, Saudi Prince Turki al Faisal, a former intelligence chief, told an interviewer for an Israeli television broadcast that Netanyahu is deceiving his people by attempting to diminish the Palestinian issue.

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From the Israeli point of view, Mr. Netanyahu would like us to have a relationship [first], and then we can fix the Palestinian issue, Faisal told Channel 13. From the Saudi point of view, its the other way around.

It was thought to be the first time a Saudi royal had appeared in an interview on Israeli television.

For their part, Palestinian Authority officials maintain the United States will not succeed in driving a wedge between the Palestinian people and major Arab states.

More dissent to the U.S.-promoted front against Iran came from Europe. Many leaders there still favor the 2015 multinational Iran nuclear deal that Trump abandoned and oppose the belligerent U.S. stance toward the Islamic Republic. Some European countries sent low-level delegations to Warsaw to reflect that discordance.

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Vice President Mike Pence, leading the high-level U.S. delegation in Warsaw, probably deepened those tensions on Thursday when he accused allies Britain, France and Germany of undermining the administrations efforts to isolate Iran and of attempting to break American sanctions against Irans murderous revolutionary regime.

The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us, he said.

The Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, which Greenblatt is drafting with Trumps son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner, and the U.S. ambassador to Israel, former Trump lawyer David Friedman, has been kept largely under wraps, its unveiling repeatedly delayed as the authors were forced to rewrite sections condemned by Arab leaders.

Kushner on Thursday briefed delegates at the conference, behind closed doors, on the broad outlines of the plan. He did not disclose details. Kushner and the other authors said they preferred to present the plan to higher-level officials, and will travel soon to the Persian Gulf region for consultations, according to a person familiar with their thinking, who spoke on condition on anonymity.

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The document is not expected to be released until after Israels April election. Pence would say only later this year. Israeli news media quoted Kushner as saying in a closed meeting that Israelis and Palestinians will have to compromise.

Netanyahu, accompanying Pence on a visit to the Warsaw Ghetto memorial to Polish Jews who were victims of Nazi rule, said: I look forward to seeing the plan once it is presented. I know that the Trump administration seeks to ensure the security of Israel for generations.

Saeb Erekat, a veteran Palestinian Authority official and former peace negotiator, wrote in a column published by several Arab newspapers Thursday that the Trump administration and Israel suffer a lack of vision. Waiting for a Trump deal,  he said, will foreclose any chance of a political solution in the foreseeable future.

Special correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on TwitterOften described as an extremist crank and fringe figure, Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. cut a shadowy and alarming path through American politics for a half-century. He built a political organization often likened to a cult and ran for president eight times, once while in prison for mail fraud. In recent decades, he operated from a heavily guarded compound near Leesburg, Va.

LaRouche, who built a worldwide following based on conspiracy theories, predictions of economic doom, anti-Semitism, homophobia and racism, died Tuesday. He was 96.

His political organization, LaRouche PAC, confirmed the death but did not say where or how he died.

LaRouche drew headlines for his more outrageous claims: that Englands Queen Elizabeth II was a drug trafficker and that the International Monetary Fund created and spread the AIDS virus. He also said the CIA, KGB and British intelligence officials were plotting to assassinate him, according to a 1985 Washington Post profile that included interviews with followers.

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LaRouchians, as the group was known, never numbered more than a few thousand, according to some estimates, but were a vocal, sometimes disturbing presence on the American political landscape. They heckled, harassed and occasionally threatened opponents.

His followers made extraordinary inroads into American politics, surpassing the achievements of any other extremist movement in recent American history, wrote Dennis King, a New York-based LaRouche expert in his 1989 book Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism.

To say that Lyndon was slightly paranoid would be like saying the Titanic had a bit of a leak. Jim Bakker

During the 1984 presidential election, LaRouche received more than 76,000 votes, his highest count. Calling himself a conservative Democrat that year, he aligned his followers with the strong military and defense posture of the Reagan White House.

His campaigns proved financially lucrative. By raising $5,000 in 20 states, he qualified for federal matching funds that brought his organization millions of dollars over the years.

His operation suffered a massive blow in 1988 after he was convicted of income-tax evasion, mail fraud and a scheme that took money without permission from the credit-card accounts of elderly donors. He served five years of a 15-year sentence and ran his 1992 campaign from a federal prison in Rochester, Minn.

In appearance, the bow-tie-sporting LaRouche was more avuncular than reactionary firebrand. He was raised in a Quaker family that was also drawn to fervent anti-communism. As a young adult, LaRouche seemed to reject his upbringing and became a socialist ideologue, but his rambling and paranoid style increasingly sidelined him within that marginal faction.

In the late 1960s, he attracted well-educated Vietnam-era liberals who found enlightenment in his stream-of-consciousness blend of philosophy, economics and science and his purported belief that the working class was endangered by a conspiracy between the Soviet Union and the United States.

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Within a few years, his vision shifted far rightward and became ultraconservative and apocalyptic, and he presented himself as the moral savior of mankind.

LaRouche denounced those he deemed a danger to his cause  a rotating list of villains that included prosecutors, politicians, bankers and Zionists. LaRouche followers could be confrontational with those they viewed as dangers to society.

The LaRouche movement eventually became a multimillion-dollar industry, according to King. LaRouches properties included publications such as Executive Intelligence Review and political front groups such as the Fusion Energy Foundation, the Schiller Institute and the National Caucus of Labor Committees.

A Lyndon LaRouche supporter dressed as the Grim Reaper at a demonstration outside the Ronald Reagan Building in Los Angeles in 2002. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Jr. was born in Rochester, N.H., on Sept. 8, 1922, and grew up in Lynn, Mass. His father, an executive at a shoe-manufacturing firm, also edited an anti-communist newspaper.

Bullied at school, young Lyndon was forbidden to fight back because of the familys pacifist Quaker beliefs. He attended Northeastern University in Boston but left, according to his memoir, The Power of Reason, when teachers refused to indulge in his questioning of accepted truths in geometry class.

He was a conscientious objector at the outbreak of World War II and served as an Army medic in Burma, according to the 1985 Post profile.

LaRouche associates have said their leader was drawn to revolutionary politics after the war, inspired by Indias independence from British rule. He joined the Socialist Workers Party, a Trotskyist group. Later, in New York City, he led socialist study groups. He supported himself, at times, by working as a management consultant.

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In 1977, LaRouche married Helga Zepp, a German-born LaRouche organizer. Suddenly, followers were expected to learn German, read German poetry and study German philosophy. The think tank he founded, the Schiller Institute, was led by his wife. They moved from New York to Loudoun County, Va., by the mid-1980s. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.

One of LaRouches cellmates in Minnesota was disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker. In his autobiography, Bakker wrote that LaRouche was good-humored much of the time and impervious to the taunts of other inmates. He also was convinced their cell was bugged.

To say that Lyndon was slightly paranoid, Bakker wrote, would be like saying the Titanic had a bit of a leak.Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva says the jails he now supervises are a dangerous mess: Inmates increasingly are assaulting one another, staff members are suffering more attacks and use of force has gone way up. He also says that his immediate predecessor, Jim McDonnell, covered up data on the jail violence in order to hide the problem from the public.

But many of the numbers Villanueva is using to make his case are known to be unreliable.

After The Times revealed that the Sheriffs Department was releasing inconsistent numbers for inmate-on-inmate assaults, the countys inspector general in 2017 launched a review that found the department lacked a standardized tracking method, the same deficiency criticized by the Citizens Commission on Jail Violence years earlier. Outdated software systems sometimes undercounted assaults and at other times made duplicate entries.

Although some of the real numbers of incidents during the past several years are unknown, several watchdogs who spend time inside the jails say they do not believe the lockups are more turbulent overall, and that the most violent uses of force by deputies  resulting in bone-breaking injuries  have dropped significantly.

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Alex Villanueva, the countys new top cop, has been quietly fighting for a political win for decades 

But Villanueva is using the faulty data anyway, as well as ignoring factors that could account for a rise in reports of use of force, such as stronger reporting procedures.

At a news conference a few weeks ago, he presented charts showing inmate-on-staff assaults shot up 204% from 2013 to 2018 and inmate-on-inmate assaults rose 31% over the same period. Department data in both those categories for 2017 and earlier are inaccurate, said Daniel Baker, the chief deputy for the countys Office of Inspector General. After his offices review, the department streamlined some of its systems.

Villanueva also claimed that an executive working under McDonnell had told staff members to stop counting assaults that involve the flinging of bodily fluids, also known as gassings. And he said officials with the prior administration told deputies they werent allowed to defend themselves, a problem he says led to instability in the jails.

Those allegations prompted Richard Drooyan  the court-appointed monitor who oversees two federal consent decrees in the jails instituted after a corruption scandal centering on inmate abuse  to request Villanueva provide documents and other evidence. He reminded the sheriff that any changes to the settlement agreements, which inform many use-of-force policies, must be reviewed and ultimately approved by the court.

Villanueva did not respond directly to questions from The Times.

However, in a statement, the sheriff said that he hasnt changed or rescinded any department policies. Instead, he said, he was reevaluating them in order to address the threat of growing violence within the jail system.

We will continue to work with federal monitors to ensure all mandates and provisions are implemented in a manner to ensure full compliance. The department will continue to provide critical information to the public, which underscores my commitment to transparency, he said.

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Villanueva, who scored an upset over McDonnell in last years election, spent much of his career as a street cop who struggled to be promoted and periodically clashed with his superiors over disagreements about how the department should be run.

Now that hes sheriff, he has made it a priority to challenge some of the reforms implemented after the jail abuse scandal that led to the convictions of former Sheriff Lee Baca and 21 other department officials. Hes talked of reintroducing metal flashlights in the jails so that deputies can defend themselves. Hes warned that riots or killings could happen if the jail atmosphere doesnt calm down, saying the reforms have resulted in unfair treatment of deputies and made the jail system more violent.

The conditions are destabilizing, he said of the county jail system during the address last month. Its a dangerous place. People dont want to be here. Inmates are scared to be here. Our volunteers are afraid to work there. I have nurses who have to endure a gantlet of sexual battery just to get their jobs done.

Some critics of the department say theyre concerned that Villanueva does not want to continue with the reforms and has embraced a narrative of increasing jail violence in order to justify his position.

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What really worries me is hes sending a message to [the deputies union] and Sheriffs Department employees that you can go back to the bad old days and you can behave the way the deputies were behaving in the jails before, which was to rule the place with brutality and excessive force on a widespread basis, said Peter Eliasberg, chief counsel for the ACLU of Southern California, which has been a vocal critic of jail violence.

The organization helped expose abuse in the countys lockups and regularly sends staff members to monitor conditions there. Eliasberg said he has zero confidence in the statistics Villanueva presented, but said theres no question that severe injuries inflicted on inmates by deputies have dropped significantly.

Others caution that violence is still a major concern in the jails.

Lex Steppling  director of campaigns and policy at Dignity and Power Now, a group that advocates for inmates and their families  said it would be foolish to believe that the reforms, while well-intended, have fully transformed the custody setting.

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Someone saying that the jails are out of control is like saying the sky is blue. The L.A. County jails have never not been out of control, Steppling said. Still, he said he found it troubling that Villanueva has talked of arming deputies with flashlights as a solution  given their history of being used to brutalize people in jail.

According to Drooyan, Villanueva and his chief of staff, Larry Del Mese, asserted in a recent meeting that they believed the McDonnell administration had engaged in a conspiracy to conceal the true numbers showing a rise in jail violence.

But in his letter to the sheriff last week, the court-appointed monitor said he did not believe he had been misled, noting that his team had worked collaboratively with the department and were never denied information. Drooyan also asked to see documents that Villanueva says show deputies had been ordered not to defend themselves and to stop counting gassings.

As of Wednesday he had not received a response.

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In an interview, Drooyan said there was nothing in the reforms he helps oversee that says deputies cannot defend themselves against attacks by inmates.

To the extent that what [Villanueva] is saying is that the jails have become a much more dangerous place as a result of the reforms, and therefore we cannot continue to adhere to the reforms, that is a cause of great concern to me, Drooyan said.

McDonnell also rejected Villanuevas claim that there was a conspiracy to mislead the monitors or anyone about jail statistics.

I dont know where he would come up with anything like that, McDonnell said. Everyone was working collaboratively together toward reform.

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Deputy groups, however, agree with some of Villanuevas concerns.

Det. Ron Hernandez, president of the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, which endorsed Villanuevas candidacy and contributed $1.32 million to support him, said he believes that lower staff numbers and increased scrutiny of deputies have contributed to instability in the jails.

In the past, if you saw two inmates take a fighting stance, you were more inclined to jump in and break it up. But now if you have to touch somebody, thats viewed as force, so now you almost have to be reactive as opposed to being proactive, he said.

During his address, Villanueva displayed a chart showing that in 2013, there were nearly the same number of assaults on staff as uses of force by deputies. The graph showed both those categories increasing and diverging so that by 2017, it appears there were more than twice as many assaults on staff as uses-of-force  a problem Villanueva attributed to deputies being told not to defend themselves.

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But that could be misleading because its based on unreliable data, watchdogs said.

In addition, said former Assistant Sheriff Kelly Harrington, who oversaw the jail system under McDonnell, use-of-force numbers have actually increased under the reforms because the reporting mechanisms were strengthened.

In the past, Harrington said, deputies may have not reported minor uses of force, such as tugging on the arm of an inmate who was wandering astray. Now there is a mandate to document those actions. The installation of cameras inside the jails also created more accountability in writing use-of-force reports, he said.

Harrington said a changing jail clientele that includes more violent offenders and more mentally ill inmates led to more cases of deputies using minor or medium force.

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I can assure you that the Office of Inspector General and the federal monitors would have noticed if we were trying to cook the books in order to favor ourselves in some way, Harrington said.

maya.lau@latimes.com

Twitter: @mayalauAuthorities voted Wednesday to disband a tiny water district in Compton that for years had been distributing discolored, putrid drinking water to its customers.

L.A. Countys Local Agency Formation Commission, which oversees public water districts, unanimously decided that Sativa Los Angeles County Water District should cease to exist due to mounting allegations of poor maintenance, financial malfeasance and lack of transparency. The countys Department of Public Works, which had been appointed to manage Sativa on an interim basis after the state took it over last year, will assume full control of the district.

The decision paves the way for the county to shift ownership and operations of the locally controlled public water district, possibly to a private, investor-owned utility company.

Daniel Lafferty, an engineer at the countys Department of Public Works, said at Wednesdays meeting that allowing a private owner to absorb the 1,600 homes Sativa serves might be the best way to repair the districts aging pipes and infrastructure without passing on millions of dollars in costs to its predominantly low-income customers, who currently pay a flat rate of about $65 a month.

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The one benefit of having a private entity is a larger customer base, Lafferty said. The cost incurred can be spread across the rest of the customer base.

It was long believed that Sativas ailing pipelines were responsible for delivering manganese into the water supply and tinging the water brown. But after county officials performed a rapid assessment of the water district, they now believe the source actually might be the wells that supply groundwater to customers.

All the testing weve done indicates the water is safe, Lafferty testified to the commission. Its disgusting, but safe.

The inferior water quality has raised questions of environmental injustice and whether complaints go ignored in poorer communities and communities of color, such as the one served by Sativa. Sativa serves customers in largely black and Latino neighborhoods, many of them elderly and living paycheck to paycheck.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said during his first State of the State address Tuesday that the number of communities without clean drinking water is a moral disgrace and a medical emergency and added that solving this crisis demands sustained funding.

Sativa serves homes in Compton and Willowbrook. (Los Angeles Times)

For years, Sativa customers reported brown, and at times smelly, water flowing from their faucets. The districts five-member elected board responded by flushing the system or ordering customers to run all their taps until the water flowed clean.

Eddie Mae Lamon, 88, said she has been experiencing brown water since she moved to Willowbrook in the 1950s, but it has gotten increasingly worse over the last decade.

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Fed-up customers took their frustrations to social media, which caught elected officials attention. Various government agencies banded together to craft a solution.

Last year, then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 1577, which allowed the state to remove elected board members and appoint L.A. County to take over Sativa. The governors action marked the first time that the State Water Resources Control Board had taken over a water district.

Two days after the county stepped in, the water districts phones were disconnected because the district had fallen behind on paying its phone bill and barely had enough money to cover other expenses. The county approved a $1.4-million line of credit to get the district on stable financial footing.

Additionally, the county found a lack of financial controls and failure to maintain financial records. As they comb through the bank statements, officials said, they are forwarding suspicious charges to be investigated by the district attorneys office.

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Anything that does not pass the smell taste or at all looks inappropriate is being referred to the D.A., said Paul Novak, the Local Agency Formation Commissions executive officer.

Wednesdays meeting lacked the large crowds and jubilation that was expressed last July when the commission was weighing the water districts future. This time, three people spoke during the period for public comment.

Lamon, a Sativa customer, said she worries that customers would lose control and protections over their water if the district is sold to a private company. Tony Hicks, 66, expressed concerns about possible rate hikes. Both Lamon and Hicks sat on Sativas board in the 1990s. Mark Ravis, a lawyer who represented some Sativa customers in a civil lawsuit, echoed Hicks sentiments.

We want a moratorium on rates, Ravis said.

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After the vote, the commissioners discussed possible options, such as legislation to keep rates affordable.More than a decade ago, an audit uncovered that the executive director of a Santa Ana charter school had funneled millions in state funds to several businesses he owned.

After being extradited from Spain, Emilio Vazquez arrived in Orange County recently to face decade-old felony charges that include misappropriation of public funds, forgery and grand theft, the Orange County district attorneys office said Wednesday.

Vazquez served as the executive director of Albor Charter School from 2002 to 2006. Allegations of questionable spending, fiscal mismanagement and conflicts of interest led the Santa Ana Unified School District to revoke Albors charter in 2005.

Although a legal battle allowed the school to stay open for the next school year, Vazquez closed Albor in March 2006 without notice to students or staff.

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Because Albor failed to perform financial accounting that listed liabilities and assets, and because of concern about potential fraud and misappropriation of funds, the county Department of Education called in a team to perform an audit.

A 118-page report found that Vazquez had funneled millions in state funds to businesses controlled by Vazquez, his wife and their associates. It is unclear how the money was spent.

The audit findings were turned over to the district attorneys office and charges were brought in March 2009. That same month, authorities issued an arrest warrant for Vazquez.

Later that year, authorities found Vazquez in Spain and the Department of Justice submitted a request for his extradition. The extradition was approved in April 2010, but while Vazquez was released on bail, he fled to China and was not surrendered to the U.S., according to the district attorneys office.

This year, Vazquez was deported from China back to Spain and surrendered to U.S. marshals. He arrived in Orange County on Feb. 8. He is in custody on $3.12-million bail and must prove the money came from a legal source before posting bail.

brittny.mejia@latimes.com

Twitter: @Brittny_MejiaDozens of suspected gang members and associates were charged with federal racketeering, gun and drug violations Wednesday, marking the end of long-running investigations targeting street gangs in South L.A. and the San Fernando Valley, authorities said.

Twenty-five members of the Vineland Boys and 11 members of Florencia 13 were arrested in raids carried out around Los Angeles. Most of the remaining defendants were already incarcerated, though a few remain fugitives, authorities said.

In total, 81 people were indicted, U.S. Atty. Nick Hanna said at a downtown news conference.

The racketeering indictments allege the gang members were involved in overt acts of violence and drug trafficking. Alleged drug dealers who were allowed to operate in Vineland Boys territory were also among those caught in Wednesdays sweeps.

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This indictment reaches from the street  to shot callers, said Paul Delacourt, the assistant director in charge of the FBIs Los Angeles field office.

 More than 80 gang members and associates were indicted in a joint LAPD-FBI operation, authorities announced Wednesday.

In the Florencia 13 case, federal investigators said the gang, which operates under the control of the Mexican Mafia, was actively attempting to smuggle narcotics into several California state prisons. The lead defendant in that case, Leonel Laredo, is accused of directing the gangs actions from a federal prison cell in Texas.

The indictment also accused the gang of turning several residences in South L.A. into havens for gambling, prostitution and weapons sales, known as casitas.

LAPD Deputy Chief Kris Pitcher said the Vineland Boys, an offshoot of the notorious 18th Street gang, had been terrorizing the eastern portion of the San Fernando Valley for more than a decade. The gang was severely damaged by law enforcement raids after some of its members were linked to the shooting deaths of two Burbank police officers in 2003, but it regained its footing in recent years, officials said.

Unfortunately, a new generation of gangsters has come of age and tried to revive the organizations control of trafficking through violence, Hanna said. This takedown will provide significant relief to the law-abiding residents of the east San Fernando Valley.

Pitcher said nearly 4,000 grams of methamphetamine and 54 firearms were seized from the Vineland Boys during the arrests Wednesday morning.China said on Wednesday that it hoped relevant media would report news abiding by principles of being objective and fair.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying holds a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday, February 13, 2019. [Photo: fmprc.gov.cn]

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks when asked for comments on The Wall Street Journal reporting that Chinese diplomats had contact with Venezuelan opposition representatives in Washington.

"Recently, some media have been cooking up fake news. I don't know what the purpose is," said Hua at a press briefing. "We hope relevant media will report news abiding by principles of being objective and fair."

As for the current Venezuela issue, China advocates seeking a political settlement through dialogue and consultation, Hua said.It was billed as the most ambitious public works project since the transcontinental railroad opened up the West.

The high-speed rail network would transform California  cleaner air, less congested freeways and airports, and more limited suburban sprawl with a whole new style of housing around rail stops.

Fresno could become a bedroom community of the Silicon Valley, the California High-Speed Rail Authority said a month before voters approved Proposition 1A in November 2008.

Yet bite after bite, huge cost overruns, mismanagement, political concessions and delays ate away at the sleek and soaring vision of a bullet train linking San Francisco to San Diego. A project meant to drive home Californias role as the high-tech vanguard of the nation was looking more and more like a pepped-up Amtrak route through the Central Valley.

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During his first State of the State address Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he was scaling back the $77-billion project. Though his wording was open to interpretation, it appeared to sound the death knell, not necessarily for the project itself, but for the original dream.

The Democratic governor said he supports finishing the controversial high-speed rail line between Bakersfield and Merced but needs to reassess the crucial legs connecting major urban centers in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.

Social media erupted with quips about Bakersfield joining such storied bullet train destinations as Madrid, Tokyo, Milan, Beijing and Paris.

Even Morocco, with an economy just 4% the size of Californias, managed to build high-speed rail linking Casablanca, Rabat and Tangier.

But Newsom did not actually call for any of the route to be cut. More than anything, his comments signaled that he had deep reservations about the viability of the project and would not be the same booster Gov. Jerry Brown was.

President Trump tweeted Wednesday night about the shift, declaring the project a green disaster and demanding that California return $3.5 billion in federal funds. We want that money back now.

Newsom tweeted back moments later, calling Trumps claim fake news and refusing to return the money.

California has been forced to cancel the massive bullet train project after having spent and wasted many billions of dollars. They owe the Federal Government three and a half billion dollars. We want that money back now. Whole project is a green disaster!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2019

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Fake news. Were building high-speed rail, connecting the Central Valley and beyond.



This is CAs money, allocated by Congress for this project. Were not giving it back.



The train is leaving the station  better get on board!



(Also, desperately searching for some wall $$??) https://t.co/9hxEfEX8Vm  Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 14, 2019

Finishing the Central Valley portion of the line first has long been the plan. The question left unanswered after Newsoms speech is how aggressively Sacramento will pursue connecting the line to the Bay Area and to Los Angeles, said Rebecca Saltzman, the vice president of the Bay Area Rapid Transit board of directors.

She said she was heartened that Newsom has committed to finishing environmental review documents for the line across the state  a key step toward construction and a process that can take years, even for projects that are smaller and less controversial than high-speed rail.

But to succeed, Saltzman said, the project needs someone who will make high-speed rail a priority, such as Brown, whose dedication is the reason its gotten so far, she said.

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We need to see a champion emerge, Saltzman said. We need to keep the momentum going.

The momentum has been halting. Ten years after voters approved it, the project is $44 billion over budget and 13 years behind schedule.

A state audit in November blamed flawed decision-making, organizational faults and poor contract management by the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

Now many experts dont believe it would make the trip from L.A. to San Francisco in the two hours and 40 minutes mandated in the bond measure.

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The original plans to build elevated viaducts between Los Angeles and Burbank and through the Silicon Valley  on which the trains could travel 220 mph  were met with strident community opposition. Now planners call for the trains to share commuter tracks, moving at much slower speeds and being subjected to delays.

The rail authority also waded into a morass trying to acquire the land it needed in the Central Valley. The agency originally estimated it would cost $332 million to buy up properties to build the route. But cutting through orchards, vineyards and dairies with vast and sophisticated irrigation and trellis systems proved profoundly more complicated than was expected. The land acquisition is now budgeted at $1.5 billion and tied up in endless litigation.

Somebody at high-speed rail drew a line for a route on Google Earth and had no idea of what was on the ground or how they are affecting it, Michael Dias, a Hanford lawyer who defends farmers and is a grape and nut grower, told The Times last year.

And then theres Californias dynamic geology to contend with. In 2016, engineers said they had to dig a 13.5-mile tunnel through the Diablo Range because their earlier plans cut too close to the San Luis Reservoir. But boring through the unstable mix of hard sandstone, weak shale and boulders has put the estimated cost of that single stretch between $5.6 billion and $14.4 billion.

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Even before these problems came to light, Californians had buyers remorse over the growing price tag. In 2013, a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll found that just 43% of residents wanted the project to go forward.

It did  mostly through sheer force of will of Jerry Brown.

The high-speed rail links us from the past to the future; from the south to Fresno and the north, Brown said in 2015 at a groundbreaking ceremony at a vacant lot in Fresno. This is truly a California project, bringing us together today.

Some say the most significant effects of Newsoms announcement Tuesday may not be in scaling back the bullet train, but in marking a shift in what elected leadership thinks is possible in an increasingly complicated state.

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It comes across as such a narrowing of ambition and horizon, said Miriam Pawel, who wrote The Browns of California, a biography of the Brown political dynasty.

One of the things that was a signature of Brown, in all his incarnations, was the ability to look very far ahead and see that something that seems like it would be really difficult and expensive and take forever  that in the end, well look back on it and wonder how we lived without it, Pawel said.

But certainly it was vastly cheaper and easier to build monumental projects in the past.

When Browns father, Gov. Pat Brown, championed the State Water Project in the 1950s, the environmental movement did not exist and environmental laws had not been passed, making construction far quicker, cheaper and easier.

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Its a reflection that its so much more complicated to build in California now, Pawel said. Its a very significant difference, clearly.

Now the rail authority faces the need to secure $50 billion in additional funding to complete the project, while Newsoms priorities lay elsewhere.

Paul Dyson, the president of the nonprofit Rail Passenger Assn. of California and Nevada, said Newsoms comments were very vague and wishy-washy, and could hamper future efforts to secure funding and complete the project.

Even if he didnt cancel the project, he used such a negative tone that if he is to go to the federal government, or to private enterprise, to look for new funds, theyre not going to be very enthused, Dyson said. If he sends such a negative message, why would they get on board?

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Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called Newsoms comments Tuesday very short-sighted.

LaHood said it is difficult to say how Californias decision will affect the rest of the country, because no other region was actively pursuing high-speed rail. Theyve been way, way ahead of the curve, he said of the state.

James Moore, a USC engineering professor who researches transportation projects and is a longtime critic of Californias high-speed rail project, defended Newsom, saying he was just being realistic.

He said the project was set up to fail because the bond measure that California voters approved included a stipulation that the train would pay for its own operation, meaning it could not receive operational subsidies. That is exceedingly rare across the world, Moore said. Just two high-speed rail lines operate at a profit: Paris to Lyon, and Osaka to Tokyo.

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If the rail option is more expensive than aircraft, and slower than aircraft, who are we going to attract? Moore said.

He said Newsom needed to go further and halt the project altogether because continuing to build a white elephant in the farmlands is a vast waste of money.

Hes refusing to rip off the Band-Aid, Moore said. Slowly peeling off the Band-Aid is not the solution.State Sen. Holly J. Mitchell announced Thursday that she is entering the race for the 2nd District seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, further raising the prospect that the county could soon be governed by an all-female board.

Mitchell joins a field that already includes several candidates, including Herb Wesson, president of the Los Angeles City Council, and Jan Perry, a former council member who once ran for mayor.

They are vying to replace term-limited Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who is leaving next year after more than a decade on the board. The onetime council member has signaled that he will seek a return to City Hall, organizing an early fundraiser for the seat Wesson would vacate.

Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) was elected to the state Assembly in 2010 and moved to the Senate in 2013. In announcing her campaign, the termed-out lawmaker touted her efforts to reform the states criminal justice system and increase access to healthcare, as well as her work on budgets to boost funding to help low-income families.

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I have never backed down from doing what is right and necessary, Mitchell said in an email to supporters Thursday morning. I believe in the best Los Angeles County has to offer and I am willing to fight for it. This is why I am running for county supervisor.

The 2nd District stretches from Culver City to Carson and encompasses about half of the countys black population. Political veterans Mitchell, Wesson and Perry, along with lesser-known candidates Sharis Rhodes and Earl Ofari Hutchinson, are all black.

The election is set for March 2020, with a potential runoff in November 2020.Years before farm-to-table became an adjective, before local ingredients were championed like discoveries, and before a simple roast chicken was as necessary as a good wine list to a neighborhood restaurant of a certain caliber, especially in California, there was Zuni Cafe. Helmed by the late, great chef Judy Rodgers for decades until her death in 2013, the unassuming San Francisco restaurant helped define California cooking as much as Chez Panisse or Spago. On Friday, Zuni celebrates its 40th birthday.

To mark the event, Zuni is embarking on something called Operation Granita.

If you spend a lot of time either at Zuni or reading about it, youll know that the restaurant has a few dishes that are more classic than others. The roast chicken, famously salted for three days and then served with a bread salad, is the most emblematic. Another is a deceptively simple dessert made from frozen espresso that is topped with an almost equal amount of whipped cream. (These recipes and more can be found in the pages of Rodgers 2002 cookbook, The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, considered to be as much of a classic as the restaurant itself.)

The essential cookbooks to send to school with your kid 

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Owner and executive chef Gilbert Pilgram says that initially hed thought about celebrating Zunis 40th birthday with global parties across three continents, but that felt like a vanity project. So instead, he contacted a dozen or so of his friends with restaurants, sent them shipments of the San Francisco-roasted Graffeo coffee that Zuni has always used and the granita recipe.

Which is why youll find Zunis espresso granita on the menus at Chez Panisse, where both Rodgers and Pilgram cooked before Zuni; Lucques in Los Angeles, helmed by chef Suzanne Goin; Babette in Stockholm; and a number of restaurants in San Francisco, including State Bird Provisions and chef Gabriela Camaras Cala; Camaras Mexico City restaurant Contramar; and Quo Vadis in London.

Sqirls Jessica Koslow to open Onda in Santa Monica with Gabriela Camara 

The exchange between Zuni and Quo Vadis, chef Jeremy Lees Soho restaurant, extends beyond the dessert menu. The London-based illustrator John Broadley, who has done the distinctive black-and-white Quo Vadis menus for years, did a commemorative illustration for the granita project, as well as a number of new menus for Zuni. The artwork has populated Instagram as the granitas have populated menus around the world.

I didnt want anyone to feel like, Oh my God, I have to do this because Zunis turning 40; I wanted people to do it because they wanted to, says Pilgram. Once you get the coffee, you just make the granita once every two weeks. Seriously, you just freeze it, then for service, you just smack it with a little spatula.

So if you cant find your way to that triangular 1913 building on Market Street, or to any of the restaurants with a certain granita on their menus, maybe turn to page 474 of the Zuni cookbook, brew two cups of espresso  plus an extra shot, for a birthday toast  and make your own.

1658 Market St., San Francisco; (415) 552-2522; zunicafe.com.

amy.scattergood@latimes.com

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Instagram: @AScattergoodFor the first time on television, Empire star Jussie Smollett detailed in his own words the racist and homophobic attack he said he endured in his Chicago neighborhood last month. And he did so because, he said, people need to hear the truth.

Everybody has their own idea. Some are healing and some are hurtful, but I just want young people, young members of the LGBTQ community, young, black children, to know how strong that they are, the 36-year-old told Good Morning Americas Robin Roberts in an interview that aired Thursday.

The actor, who has previously addressed fans through a prepared statement and at a West Hollywood concert earlier this month, detailed the attack to Roberts. Buzz began building around the interview when preview clips were released on Wednesday.

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The musician, an openly gay LGBTQ advocate who plays an openly gay musician on the Fox musical drama, addressed both the support and the doubt swirling around him since the Jan. 29 incident, which Chicago police have characterized as a possible hate crime.

Smolletts account has captured national attention, and the incident has been condemned by his family and justice advocates, but it has also been mired in doubt, which has left him heartbroken and pissed off, he said Thursday.

I have to acknowledge the lies, and the hate. And it feels like if I had said it was a Muslim, or a Mexican, or someone black [who attacked me], I feel like the doubters would have supported me much more. A lot more, he told Roberts. And that says a lot about the place that we are in our country right now.

Its not necessarily that you dont believe that this is the truth, you dont even want to see the truth, he added.

Smollett said he was getting food from Subway, out walking in subzero temperatures, and had been on the the phone with his manager when his attackers began shouting racial and homophobic slurs from across the street.

He said they also yelled This is MAGA country at him. He said he was punched and fought back. As they were tussling on the ice, his phone fell out of his pocket, but his friend was still on the line.

It felt like minutes, he said, but it probably was like 30 seconds, honestly.

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Though he was reluctant to report the incident to police, he eventually did. He also confirmed reports about not wanting to hand over his cellphone to help with the investigation.

They wanted me to give my phone to the tech for three to four hours. Im sorry, but  Im not gonna do that, he said. Because I have private pictures and videos and numbers: my partners number, my familys number, my castmates number, my friends numbers, my private emails, my private songs, my private voice memos.

By then, inaccurate, false statements had already been put out there, the actor said.

Smollett, who has cooperated with investigators, did hand over redacted phone records, but they were rejected as evidence because they didnt meet the burden for a criminal investigation, Chicago police told The Times.

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Smolletts initial incident report included details about a chemical being poured on him and a rope being placed around his neck. But it did not include details about the suspects shouting something related to President Trumps Make America Great Again slogan.

However, as the investigation continued, Smollett reported that detail and touched on it again during the GMA interview, clarifying that the suspects were not wearing MAGA hats.

For me, the main thing was the idea that I somehow switched up my story, you know? And that somehow maybe I added a little extra trinket, you know, of the MAGA thing, Smollett said. I didnt need to add anything like that. They called me a [F-word], they called me a [N-word]. Theres no which way you cut it. I dont need some MAGA hat as the cherry on top of some racist sundae.

Smollett sustained clavicle and rib injuries and visited a hospital after the attack. Even then, however, some questioned whether he had made up the story.

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He said those detractors and others who spurned the story were ridiculous and offensive. He also said an image Chicago police released showing persons of interest did indeed show his attackers.

I dont have any doubt in my mind that thats them, Smollett said. Never did.

More of Smolletts interview will air on ABC News Nightline on Thursday night.

Once the interview aired, advocacy group GLAAD commended Smollett for speaking out.

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Jussie Smollett was victimized first in a hate-motivated and violent attack in Chicago and has since been doubly victimized as the subject of speculation by the media industry and broader culture, GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement Thursday to The Times.

Jussie is rising above hate, racism, homophobia, and doubt surrounding the attack and instead using his voice and talent to fight back against the rising rates of violence against Black and LGBTQ people, as well as those who live at the intersection of those identities, Ellis added.

Shortly after that, Chicago Police Chief Communications Officer Anthony Guglielmi tweeted an update on the ongoing investigation, noting that they remain in communication with Smollett.

Investigators have identified the persons of interest in the area of the alleged attack, Guglielmi said, but clarified that the individuals are only being questioned and not considered suspects at this time.

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Important for media reporting: The people of interest are alleged to be in the area where a crime was reported. They are not considered suspects at this time as they are currently being questioned by detectives. We remain in communication with the alleged victim. pic.twitter.com/JuH1kYRTYV  Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 14, 2019

Follow me: @NardineSaadRoma actor Jorge Antonio Guerrero Martinez has finally obtained a U.S. visa and will be able to attend the Oscars.

The Mexican actor, who plays brooding militant Fermin in Alfonso Cuarons Oscar-nominated film, said last month that he had been denied visas to the U.S. on three occasions, which prevented him from attending screenings and other industry events stateside.

But streaming giant Netflix, which distributed Roma, has helped secure a non-immigrant visa for the actor by working with the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, The Times has confirmed.

Guerrero also has a ticket to attend the 91st Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Feb. 24, where he will join director Cuaron and costar Yalitza Aparicio, who plays Fermins love interest in the film. Aparicio is also nominated for a lead actress Oscar at the ceremony.

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Im really happy. Hopefully, and I say this with my whole heart, Yalitza wins the Oscar, Martinez told Mexicos Quien. Imagine that! Im thinking more about that.

Roma is nominated for 10 Academy Awards and made history by earning Netflix its first best-picture Oscar nomination, making the streaming giant an undeniable force in the changing cinema landscape.

Follow me: @NardineSaadAs an evocative glance back at Hollywood in the mid-1940s, The Maestro succeeds on several levels, not the least of which is a superb turn by one of actings best utility players, Xander Berkeley (TVs 24, The Walking Dead). He plays Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, a true-life, largely unsung studio film composer  and Jewish-Italian emigre  who also taught such future luminaries as John Williams, Henry Mancini and Jerry Goldsmith.

Unfortunately, the movie, directed by Adam Cushman (he also co-edited), is told instead through the eyes of another of Castelnuovo-Tedscos real students, a songwriter named Jerry Herst (Leo Marks), whose son, C.V. Herst, scripted.

Its not that the elder Hersts own story isnt interesting: He composed a hit tune in the 1930s (So Rare), practiced law for seven years, then, in 1945, left Northern California for the show biz capital to study with the maestro. But compared with Castelnuovo-Tedscos grand, complex, philosophical European, Herst, at least as presented, is simply less compelling and colorful.

In addition, the narrative, despite its more intriguing strands, gets sidetracked by the mundane goings-on at the boarding house where Herst rents a bed  and a piano  from the unpleasant Mrs. Stella (Joelle Sechaud).

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Still, amid the glorious music, the fine period re-creation and burnished photography, the emotionally sound portrayal of artistic endeavor and that award-worthy turn by Berkeley, The Maestro often scores.

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The Maestro

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes

Playing: Starts Friday, Arena Cinelounge, Hollywood; VOD, Feb. 19

------------

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

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calendar@latimes.com

@LATimesMoviesTo Dust

Everyone grieves differently, but movies about grieving usually all seem alike. Except for Shawn Snyders To Dust, that is, which brings a pained Hasidic widower and sardonic biology professor together for what amounts to a tasteless comedy routine wrapped in a philosophical inquiry, dressed in a strangely well-emulsified mixture made from the individually healing powers of science and devotion.

After the traditionally fast, regimented and away-from-view Jewish burial ritual for his wife, Shmuel (Geza Rohrig) finds himself in spiritual distress about the realities attending her deceased body. Looking for answers, the obsessed cantor defies religious custom by persuading a community college science teacher, Albert (Matthew Broderick), to school him in decomposition, beginning with the theft, killing and burying of a pig.

Like a needlephobe who realizes the cure is in watching the puncture, Shmuels dilemma is a uniquely fact-driven one for someone steeped in closed-eyes belief. But for rumpled, cynical Albert its also an opportunity to revive a career-eroded curiosity about science, so long as his partner in unorthodoxys brusque naivete doesnt drive him nuts first.

As dances go between science and faith, Snyder, who wrote the witty script with Jason Begue, is on to something, especially with the way Brodericks gift for sincere, deadpan exasperation bounces off Rohrigs committed portrayal of a sympathetically cracked holy man. The movie could use a little more energy  this is Paul Mazursky territory, after all, not Andrei Tarkovsky  but in its sick-but-sweet attempt to reclaim grief from the trappings of tradition, To Dust is its own well-measured godsend.

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 Robert Abele

To Dust

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 32 minutes

Playing: Starts Friday, Laemmle Royal, West L.A.; Laemmle Town Center, Encino

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The Breaker Upperers

Madeline Sami, left, and Jackie van Beek in the movie The Breaker Upperers. (Netflix)

Executive produced by Taika Waititi, The Breaker Upperers features a distinctly New Zealand style of comedy: dry, awkward and utterly hilarious. But directors, writers and stars Jackie van Beek and Madeline Sami still give this film a wild energy thats absolutely their own, with jokes that take the audience from giggles to cackles to all-out shrieks.

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Auckland-based BFFs Jen (Van Beek) and Mel (Sami) run a business that helps people get out of relationships, faking death, pregnancy and religious conversion when a simple, Its not you, its me wont do the trick. Despite its rom-com-sounding title, The Breaker Upperers isnt really about traditional romantic relationships. Instead, its driven by the well-realized friendship and chemistry of Jen and Mel, two characters given specificity by the script and performances by Van Beek and Sami.

 Kimber Myers

The Breaker Upperers

Not rated

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Running time: 1 hour, 22 minutes

Playing: Available on Netflix, Friday

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Patrick

Beattie Edmonson and Patrick in the movie Patrick. (Nick Wall / Screen Media)

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Just as there are cat people and dog people, there are people who like dog movies and those who do not. Patrick tries hard, but it wont be able to win over any converts, despite its exceptionally cute canine star.

Patrick is lucky hes cute because the pug is a terror. When Sarah (Beattie Edmondson) is bequeathed the spoiled creature, she cant handle his bad behavior. But her beloved grandmother had her reasons for pairing the two, and Patrick may be just what Sara needs.

Director Mandie Fletcher and her fellow screenwriters Vanessa Davies and Paul de Vos set up Patrick like a romantic comedy, with Patrick slowly winning Sarah over. Though the family-friendly comedy has all the good intentions of a motivational puppy poster, it unfortunately also has the same level of intelligence and plot.

 Kimber Myers

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Patrick

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes

Playing: Starts Friday, Laemmle Glendale

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See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

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calendar@latimes.com

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@LATimesMoviesImagine The Godfather made by dazzling Latin American directors who combine bravura filmmaking with political awareness and a probing social conscience.

Better than imagining it, see it for yourself in the visually stunning, dramatically gripping Birds of Passage, a film of great scope and passion that was the talk of the Cannes Film Festival when it debuted there last year.

A rare example of provocative cinema on an epic scale, combining genre elements with classic tragedy and cultural fidelity, Birds is the latest film from the Colombian team of Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra.

Co-directing here, Gallego and Guerra last collaborated (she produced, he directed) on the extraordinary Embrace of the Serpent, the first film from their country to get a foreign-language Oscar nomination.

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Well aware of the sensationalistic drug-trade movies that have come before, invariably done from an American point of view, the filmmakers set out to do things differently, to look at the situation from a Colombian perspective, using compelling technique to keep the dramatic interest at a fever pitch.

Birds also has the advantage of not being told from a generic nationalist viewpoint but from the perspective of the Wayuu people, a powerful indigenous group from the Guajira region in northwest Colombia with a very particular culture.

Though there is a bit of Spanish and a few words of English, almost all of the films dialogue is in the Wayuu language (which actress Natalia Reyes learned so perfectly that her native costars thought she was one of them).

More than that, Birds is broken up into chapters and framed folklorically, with the story sung by a blind shepherd (think Homer and The Iliad) who introduces us to a tale of love and desolation, wealth and pain, a saga of how a great family destroyed itself. A happily ever after story this film definitely is not.

RELATED: How Colombias Birds of Passage directors flip the script on the typical narco movie 

Written by Maria Camila Arias and Jacques Toulemonde and inspired by events that took place between the 1960s and the 1980s, Birds does not stint on betrayals, double-crosses and even massacres (thankfully shown off screen).

But it is equally interested in delineating the complex specifics of Wayuu culture and exploring how and why drugs and drug money came into it and the chaos that resulted.

The Wayuu, who cooperated with the filming, live in a particular world where dreams and reality intersect. (If that sounds a little like the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, it turns out that his maternal family were Wayuu, and Wayuu women helped raise him.)

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Suspicious of all outsiders, who are called alijunas or the ones who damage, the Wayuu are represented by Ursula, played with righteous hauteur by Carmina Martinez, a veteran actress who was born in the Guajiro region and has tribal connections.

A woman of great authority and influence among the Wayuu and someone who believes passionately in the power of family, Ursula is introduced indoctrinating her daughter Zaida (Reyes) in what matters in this life.

Almost immediately, Zaida, covered in a bright red robe that makes her resemble an enormous predatory bird, participates in la yonna, a stunning courtship dance that showcases how strong the film is in both vivid cinematography (by David Gallego who also shot Embrace of the Serpent) and a site-specific score (Leonardo Heiblum) rich with unsettling echoes of indigenous music.

Dancing with Zaida is Rapayet (Jose Acosta), an ambitious young Wayuu who was raised among alijunas and needs the help of his respected uncle Peregrino (Jose Vicente Cote) to navigate the tribes elaborate courtship rituals.

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Though hes a deadly serious young man (Acosta, normally a comedian, affects a remarkable transformation), Rapayet faces a formidable antagonist in Ursula, who insists on a hefty dowry for her daughters hand.

Used to doing small business deals with his alijuna partner, happy-go-lucky party animal Moises (Jhon Narvaez), Rapayet catches a break when he hears that some young Americans in the area as part of the Peace Corps are in the market for marijuana.

It just so happens that Rapayets uncle Anibal (Juan Bautista Martinez) is a grower deep in the mountains, and though he is suspicious of alijunas as customers, a deal is struck soon enough.

As the domestic American market opens up and huge sums of money change hands  so much that the bills are weighed rather than counted  it all seems easy enough. Rapayet and Zaida marry and prosper. But, as Ursula prophetically says, whats hard is not making a family, its keeping it together.

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Birds of Passage tells a story of a traditional culture fighting for its life against incursions from the outside world, of how insidiously clan ways and spiritual values can be compromised, and it certainly has familiar elements. But the electric filmmaking, sense of tragedy and cultural specificity are far from usual.

This was an opportunity to use elements of genre to subvert them co-director Guerra summed up at the films Cannes premiere. These films are usually glorifications of murders, they never reflect on the damage done to society. Or do so in such a memorable, unforgettable way.

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Birds of Passage

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Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes

Playing: Laemmles Royal, West Los Angeles

kenneth.turan@latimes.com

@KennethTuranThe Academy Awards are just 10 days away. Though the 90-year-old awards show is often called Hollywoods biggest night, for some, the show is so outdated its bordering on irrelevance.

In an effort to shake things up this year, the academy has tried to make the 91st show break from tradition. This week, the organization announced that four categories  cinematography, film editing, live-action short film, and hair and makeup  would be handed out during commercial breaks, with the acceptance speeches edited into the show. But after industry insiders blasted the decision and top cinematographers met with leadership, the organization reversed that plan.

Related: Film academy shelves controversial Oscars changes, all awards to be presented on telecast

Thats just one of many controversies surrounding the ceremony this year, including the popular film category that came and went in under 30 days and the decision to move forward without a host after Kevin Hart backed out.

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So where should it go from here?

Ahead of the Feb. 24 awards show, The Times wants to know what you would do to improve the broadcast. Should they stick to tradition and a 4-hour running time, but take some tips from The Bachelor, as Judd Apatow suggested? Should it be shortened and, if so, how?

Fill out your ideas for how to improve the Academy Awards below, by Feb. 19 at 11:59 p.m.

Related: Film industry blasts academy decision to omit four categories from the Oscars telecast

Related: An Oscar is still an Oscar  even if the big moment isnt televisedLita Albuquerque knelt down to get closer to the ground. The land has long doubled as her muse and her canvas: She drew constellations into Egypts Giza Plateau, she mimicked the night sky on a lake bed in the Mojave Desert, she aligned spheres to stars in space while in Antarctica on the summer solstice  99 orbs in her signature ultramarine, a vibrant hue hearkening to the Tunisian skies of her childhood.

Kneeling atop a gravel plateau in Malibu, she reached for one of those spheres  or, rather, what was left of it. Now a semicircle shell with burned edges, it had been turned into a relic of the Woolsey fire, which tore through the seaside community in early November and destroyed the home, studio and archive of this renowned California artist.

I mean, were talking about hundreds of hours of work here, she sighed, holding the smoke-stained remains in her hands. I have to let go of this, I really have to let go of this.

By this, the 73-year-old artist meant more than just that piece of fiberglass. Those four letters encompassed the entirety of her home, a nine-structure property where she and her husband have lived since 1990 and raised their four kids. She called one building her sanctuary, a two-story space stacked with books on astronomy, philosophy and culture. Three steel shipping containers held thousands of her drawings, sculptures and paintings, as well as the supplies she used to make them.

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All of it was gone. Five decades of artwork, tools and texts  crucial components of Albuquerques archive and artistic legacy. Within a few hours, reduced to ash-covered rubble.

Albuquerque led The Times around the property, which she visits three or four times a week. Despite such immeasurable loss, she demonstrated an incredible resilience and a steadfast respect for the ultimate ephemerality of nature  a foundational belief of her creative worldview. As her curly hair blew wildly in the wind, her grief often gave way to thoughts about the potential of a blank canvas.

Still, the fire left Albuquerque with new questions, like, who are you when youre without all the things that make you feel like you? What is your past, and what is your purpose?

Lita Albuquerque holds remnants of a teapot at her home in Malibu, nine structures that burned in the Woolsey fire in November. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A frantic phone call

Albuquerque wasnt in Malibu when the Woolsey fire broke out Nov. 8. She and her husband, Carey Peck, had spent their 30th anniversary in downtown Los Angeles, attending a performance at Walt Disney Concert Hall and then spending the night at the Standard hotel. She awoke at 5:45 a.m. to a call from her son, Christopher Peck, panicking in New York about the headlines of a fire near the 101 Freeway.

His sister, Jasmine Albuquerque, a dancer and choreographer who was eight months pregnant, was living at their mothers home. Reached by phone, however, Jasmine told her mother that she saw no reason to worry. After all, no emergency alert had gone out via landline or cellphone. Still, an hour later Jasmine reassured her mother: She would evacuate anyway, joining 200,000 other residents of the area.

We had her, and she had the dog, so we had everything, Albuquerque said.

Equipped with only her overnight luggage (I did pack three pairs of shoes, which was kind of amazing) and her laptop (I never go anywhere without my computer, thank God), Albuquerque stayed with her daughter, Marisa Peck, in Venice for the torturous period that came next, wondering whether her home and studio had survived disaster in the days that followed.

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It really broke my heart, Albuquerque recalled. For three weeks, I woke up every single morning and cried for hours. Even now, I still do.

MALIBU FIRE: For an 18-year-old artist, lessons from loss 

When she and her daughter finally managed to sneak up then-closed Highway 23, the artist saw how little remained of her hilltop home: charred metal chairs, demolished laundry machines, unrecognizable piles of debris.

The main structure  where her family hosted film screenings, dance performances and poetry readings  had lost its roof and windows and was filled with shattered ceramics and burned tree branches. All of her personal belongings, as well as those of her husband and her children (including daughter Isabelle Albuquerque), were gone. Curiously, a propane tank had not burst.

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The roof of her studio  a covered workspace between her three shipping containers  no longer existed. Neither did a new set of sculptures or the 18 commissioned paintings she had been working on just days before. They were 85% done, she said. I didnt take any pictures of them. I didnt even think to take pictures of them.

Lita Albuquerque created a piece based on her daughters body for Desert X in 2017. (Lance Gerber)

Thousands of her drawings, stored in a steel chest of drawers, melted into solid black blocks. Her physical archive, with pieces dating back to her childhood, was ruined. Even the massive, memorable ultramarine figure from her Desert X installation, molded on the body of her daughter Jasmine, was gone.

It was one of a kind, we cant redo it, she lamented. People had wanted to buy it, and I was holding onto it.

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Just as rare: more than 40 pigments, some purchased from stores that closed years ago. The ultramarine that I used, I had hundreds of pounds, and its all gone, she said. I cant quite find a match. Im still looking.

The artists 2006 installation featured 99 orbs on a frozen expanse in Antarctica. (Jean de Pomereu)

Her tragedy has sent reverberations throughout the art community. What a loss, said Clayton Campbell, an artist and former artistic director of 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica.

Fortunately, Lita is also an object maker who sells quite a bit of work, and she does have a lot of work that does exist in public. Some things can be reconstructed, but its an effort and thered need to be real money and support to do this. I hope an institution steps up. Shes a significant artist, and over the course of time, is going to be seen even more so.

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Surprisingly, the propertys emptiness has filled Albuquerque with a kind of relief  the space to fully grieve the loss of her home and studio, and also a freedom from having so many things.

I dont have to be afraid of anything because, what else is there? Im ready for the apocalypse! she said with a smile. Its a very interesting place a lot of [Malibu] people are in right now. We all have so much fear of this stuff happening, and when it does, it just is what it is.

Lita Albuquerque stands behind remnants of her Stellar Axis installation and in front of the steel shipping containers that stored the works of her five-decade career. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

From the ashes, inspiration

Albuquerque was about to cancel a career-spanning Nov. 29 lecture at the Laguna Art Museum when a friend suggested she use the event to get back to creating, via a performance.

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When she said that, all of a sudden, I got so excited, Albuquerque said, her eyes widening and her speech quickening. I got the power of art.

Ten minutes before the event was to begin, Albuquerque still didnt exactly know what shed perform. Dressed in a black utility jumpsuit and her hands and face painted blue, she took the stage and ended up reflecting aloud for 90 minutes.

I was so raw, she recalled. I talked about being Lita, the artist and persona, and Lita, the person. Because even though Im known and Ive got my work out there, I was so shy to show the part of me that did burn.

And by that she meant the parts she hadnt believed were important. A book she started back in 1985. Written reflections on parchment paper. Fifty boxes of notebooks, sketches, photographs and other relics that outlined her creative process since the 1970s.

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She and Ami Sioux, a photographer and longtime friend, had spent weeks sorting through every single paper at the request of the Smithsonian Institutions Archives of American Art. At first, the request was laughable, Albuquerque said. For a long time, I said, You dont want these notes, or this letter I wrote when I was 19 in Paris and being arrogant!

In fact, thats exactly what the Smithsonian desired.

Her handwritten notebooks of brainstorming, instruction sheets from her early performances, photographs from her first marriage with [noted photographer] Steve Kahn  it was all very personal and very inspired, said Matthew Simms, the West Coast collector of the Smithsonians Archives of American Art.

So much of those things that document the process is almost the underpinning of the work that got produced. Its integral to the work itself.

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MALIBU FIRES: A location scout loses years of photography documenting vintage New York 

The archive discussions, paused when the fire hit, have recently resumed, and Albuquerque and Simms may collaborate on an oral history.

Albuquerque wished she hadnt minimized the importance of these items over the years, not only to the museum and art dealers but also to herself. She used to think her papers were worthless when, in fact, they were priceless.

Its all about the importance of seeing your own value, she said. We all have this thing of, we dont honor who we are. We have to because, once its gone 

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Now, Im like, all of it has to come out. I will never not recognize who I am again.

Thousands of Lita Albuquerques drawings were destroyed by the Woolsey fire. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Look at this beauty

During the course of a two-hour interview and walk through the Malibu burn site, Albuquerque occasionally paused, gazed upon the rolling hills and admired the light on the ocean. Despite her loss and the ever-present threat of wildlife in the region, the artist plans to rebuild.

Look how fast the green has already grown back, she exclaimed joyfully, standing atop a stone mosaic platform built by her husband that overlooks the hills and horizon. It took me a long time to find this place, somewhere with this kind of openness in nature. You can see the stars at night. And my work is so much about this, nature.

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And work she has done: settling into a temporary home in Century City, teaching classes at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, replacing essential documents like her drivers license and passport. She completed a commissioned set of drawings and has been filling up notebook after notebook with her writing. The day before The Times interview, she put together a pigment piece that looked like the birth of stars, but it blew away overnight. Truly ephemeral, she said with a laugh.

As Albuquerque spoke, Sioux resumed her careful sift through the debris, racking through the rubble and meticulously sorting found materials by type. Collections of glasses and metals covered the area around the main structure. The scene looked less like a family home and more like an archaeological dig.

With the rain and the winds recently, we had to move very quickly, Sioux said. What has been done to the surfaces by the fire has been very frightening and fascinating.

Some of these items will be included in the Metabolic Studios Special Projects in Archiving, instigated when a notable marker of cultural history will be or has been lost. But other found materials could be part of a future Albuquerque creation. While lamenting the loss of her work inside the steel containers, the artist couldnt help but note its new finish.

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This texture, wow, its really beautiful, she said of gray walls wearing streaks of burnt orange and cedar brown. Im thinking of cutting them and making something with them.

Walking amid the rubble, Albuquerque approached one particular pile of objects. She picked up remnants of scholastic medals that her mother won as a teenager. They were stored on top of her ashes.

Finding these things, even though I cant use them, its very helpful, she said with a shrug. I dont know why we as humans have such a need for that, but theyre nice to have.

She held one up in the sunlight, just above where the sky meets the ocean. Who knows what theyll become.

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Lita Albuquerque stands atop a patio that was spared by the Woolsey fire. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

ashley.lee@latimes.com

Twitter: @cashleeleeBEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- As China has lodged stern representations with Turkey over its foreign ministry's statement on anti-terrorism efforts of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, it is necessary to further expose the absurdness of those egregious remarks, distortions and baseless accusations by reviewing the basic facts on ground.

In its statement, Turkey's foreign ministry voiced its so-called concern about what is going on in Xinjiang, claiming famous Uygur musician Abdurehim Heyit died a year after he was taken into custody. "In fact, he is alive and very healthy," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying responded on Monday, saying the statement was based on an absurd lie and such a move was "extremely wrong and irresponsible."

It is rather ridiculous and egregious to make such false remarks and point fingers at the domestic affairs of other countries. Obviously, Turkey's statement utterly disregards some basic facts about Xinjiang.

Xinjiang has made notable progress in its fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism. These three evil forces at home and abroad have plotted, organized and conducted thousands of violent terrorist attacks in Xinjiang since the 1990s, causing massive casualties among innocent people of various ethnic groups.

Drawing on international anti-terrorism experience and considering local circumstances, Xinjiang has exerted great efforts to counter terrorism and extremism through such measures as vocational education training centers. These moves have significantly improved people's sense of security and happiness in the autonomous region.

Public security-related cases have decreased substantially in Xinjiang. Last year, the per capita disposable income of its rural and urban residents increased by 8.4 percent and 6.5 percent respectively. Xinjiang hosted 150 million tourists last year, up 40 percent from 2017, which is only more proof of its enhanced security and stability.

The facts about Xinjiang's anti-terrorism work and religious freedom have also been seen first-hand and recognized by diplomats from 12 countries and media representatives from six countries including Turkey during their visits to Xinjiang in the past two months.

In contrast to how the Turkish foreign ministry had described Xinjiang's vocational education centers, those diplomats and journalists saw smiling faces of people in different localities in the region.

Turkish ATV reporter Tugcenur Yilmaz said that trainees are learning laws and skills, which play an important role in de-extremism. Kabaziyev Manarbek, Counselor of the Kazakhstan Embassy in China, said students master vocational skills through training and make a living with these skills later in life, which shows that the Chinese government truly cares about these trainees.

Terrorism is the common enemy of humanity. Turkey faces terrorism threats, too. And it has been cracking down on Islamic State terrorists. It is the shared responsibility of the international community to counter terrorism and provide people with a safe and stable environment to live a better life. In this regard, pointing fingers at others based on unfounded information or adopting double standards is unwise and unreasonable. Such moves will only harm a country and its relationship with others.

For Turkey, the right choice is to make unbiased and impartial judgements, correctly view and understand China's policy and efforts, and take concrete actions to promote mutual trust and cooperation between the two countries.When Yalitza Aparicio earned a lead actress Oscar nomination for her turn as Cleo, the nanny who tirelessly cares for a middle-class Mexico City family in Roma, much was made of her becoming the first indigenous woman to earn such recognition.

Somewhat lost in this historic first was the work itself. Alfonso Cuaron, who wrote and directed Roma, basing the film on his memories of growing up with his own nanny, Liboria Rodriguez, says that Aparicio crafted the character from beginning to end.

And on top of that, she was faced with a new universe, Cuaron says of the newcomer, who had no acting experience prior to Roma. By the second day of the shoot, she had an amazing understanding of what she needed to do and how to access her emotions.

FULL COVERAGE: Get the latest on awards season from The Envelope 

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Cuaron never showed the actors his script, preferring to tell them about the days work each morning in order to avoid studied performances. Aparicio says that process helped, enabling her to concentrate freshly on each new day, each new challenge.

Not being a trained actor, had Alfonso given me the script, I would not have known how to study it and build a character, says Aparicio, who arrives at this interview from the Oscar nominees luncheon, where she sat next to Bradley Cooper. (I told him I did not expect that ending, she says, referring to her experience watching A Star Is Born.)

Instead she relied partly on Cuarons direction, also drawing on a conversation she had with Rodriguez before the movie and her own memories of her mothers experiences as a domestic worker in her hometown of Tlaxiaco, Mexico. The result is a work of astonishing empathy.

Speaking in Spanish, Aparicio, 25, shared her memories of three key Roma scenes. Obviously, if you havent seen the film, you might want to put this aside for later reading.

Yalitza Aparicio (center) and Veronica Garcia (right) walking amid student protesters in Roma. (Carlos Somonte / Netflix)

READ MORE: Romas Alfonso Cuaron shows us the Mexico City streets that shaped his Oscar-nominated film 

Senora Teresa (Veronica Garcia) and Cleo, pregnant and nearly due to give birth, pass student demonstrators and riot policemen on the way to a furniture store to buy a crib. A paramilitary group attacks the demonstrators, one of whom runs into the store to take refuge. He is followed inside and murdered. As Cleo witnesses this, a gun is pointed at her. It is revealed that Fermin (Jorge Antonio Guerrero), the man who impregnated her and a member of the paramilitary force, is holding it.

The scene is based on the 1971 Corpus Christi massacre, in which nearly 120 student protesters were killed.

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What Cuaron told Aparicio before the cameras rolled: You are going to this furniture store to buy a crib, and you feel a little bit embarrassed.

What Aparicio remembers: Once we got to the set and I saw the people holding signs, I could tell they were students by the way they were dressed, and I started to wonder what they were there for. I expected a demonstration, but I didnt expect it to devolve like it did and become violent.

We rehearsed this scene inside the furniture store just to know where wed be standing. But we didnt know the student was going to be shot. I imagine Jorge Antonio must have rehearsed separately, because I didnt even know he was on set that day.

Once the cameras started rolling and the action was happening in the back of the room, I looked in that direction to see what was happening. Then in the far back, I heard Alfonso say, Turn around, and I suddenly saw Jorge Antonio there, and I was very surprised, because he already had his gun up. And I could not do anything but stare at that gun, because I was afraid of what was going to happen.

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I should add that I was wearing a prosthetic containing some kind of strange liquid. So I knew there was going to be some kind of effect happening, but I didnt know what it was going to be. Was the liquid water? Or was it blood? All I heard was Alfonso asking somebody, Did you guys check to see it was the right color? So I was very scared that he had the gun. To me, there was the possibility that Fermin might shoot Cleo.

Once that first take was over and I realized he wasnt going to shoot me, Alfonso came over and said, OK. I need to redo that scene and have you look around and react to some of the other things that are happening and not just stare at the gun. I had been so single-focused, which he understood. And of course, I also learned that the effect was going to involve Cleos water breaking.

Some of the shock was of Cleo again seeing Fermin. The last time they had been together, he had denigrated and hurt her so. I remember when it was over, I went and sat down someplace just to recover. And one of the crew members walked past me, and I overheard him say, I cant believe thats what he said to our Cleo. And he repeated it: Can you guys believe this is what he just said to her? The crew was just as shocked as I was.

Yalitza Aparicio in Romas birth scene. (Carlos Somonte / Netflix)

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Leaving the furniture store, Cleo is rushed to the hospital, where she gives birth to a stillborn baby.

What Cuaron told Aparicio before the cameras rolled: This is the moment that the baby is going to be born.

What Aparicio remembers: Because the sets were so realistic and the people who were there were actual doctors and nurses, it was pretty easy, as it so often was, to forget about me and just become Cleo. And when this scene was over, I just sort of came to myself and looked almost quizzically at Alfonso. The whole thing almost felt like it had been a horrible dream.

When that first take ended, I was just sobbing and sobbing, and I told Alfonso that I thought there was going to be a live baby. I expected to go into another room and, like a lot of other films, there would be an ellipsis and I would be holding the baby. He asked me later if I thought he should have told me. No. I understood why he did it. But that didnt make it easier.

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During that scene, when they asked me if I wanted to hold the baby, I didnt think about it. I just reacted: Yes. Part of that yes was because, even then, some part of me was still hoping there was going to be this moment where they were going to say, Oh, my God, the babys now breathing! The babys coming back! There was still some small part of me that was holding onto that hope that it wasnt true, that the baby wasnt dead. So me holding that baby was because I wanted to make sure that what they were telling me was actually true.

Yalitza Aparicio strides out into the ocean in Roma. (Alfonso Cuaron / Netflix)

READ MORE: Romas Aparicio is so much more than her Oscar fairy tale 

Cleo watches the children at the beach as they swim. When a riptide begins to sweep them away, she strides out into the ocean to rescue them.

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What Cuaron told Aparicio before the cameras rolled: He explained how far shed have to go into the ocean, noting that there were lifeguards. She would grab the kids and then return to the shore. And he told her that the two children Cleo was saving were like her own, something Aparicio had heard from Rodriguez when she spoke with her before Roma began.

What Aparicio remembers: Alfonso kept telling me it wasnt that deep. But of course he was saying that because he is much taller than me. The kids were deep  for my taste, a little too deep. But there were scuba divers in the water, and Alfonso had also gotten lifeguards who were following the camera. And the children were telling me, We know how to swim! Well save you!

Once I was in the water, I forgot all these safety precautions were there. My focus was on the kids. And there was that one moment where their little heads go underwater, and my heart was racing. At that moment, I felt panic. At that point, something like a maternal instinct kicked in, and all I could think of was the fact that I need to go to where the kids were and save them, despite the fact that I was really scared being in the water and not knowing how to swim.

We couldnt really hear Alfonsos direction because of loudness of the waves. After we finished, he came over to congratulate us, telling us we had done it well.

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I remember the first time I saw it in the movie, I was mostly affected by the sound. Because it really was the sound that magnified the emotion. When I saw it a second time, I was really sort of shocked at myself and thought, How did I do that? What was I thinking that I could go into that water and pull this off?

Even now when I watch that scene and I hear that sound of the waves as she goes into the water  as I go into the water  and you hear the roaring of the waves, my heart just beats faster and faster and faster.

glenn.whipp@latimes.com

Twitter: @glennwhippDirectors, editors and producers (probably even actors) may hate it, but not every gem of a scene ends up in the final cut of a film. They get cut for a variety of reasons: most commonly simply to shave down the running time, but also in some cases the scenes dont play as expected, or repeat a point made elsewhere in the film. Fortunately, those great moments that were heartbreaking to splice out of the final cut can have a way of resurfacing on DVD  and in The Envelope! Here are six such instances from awards season films, which give a window in to what might have been.

Bohemian Rhapsody

John Ottman, editor

Whats Missing? Several scenes related to Freddie Mercurys childhood growing up in Zanzibar got the snip, including one where he scandalizes his family at a party, and another where he reads a book with the word bismillah in it.

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Why Cut It? It was about time constraints, and wed been expecting [his youth in] Zanzibar to be the seed for how in the end when he hugs his father the emotional moment would be even more devastating for the audience, says Ottman. We found in test screenings that it worked [without those scenes], and then the father does mention earlier how he sent Freddie off to boarding school. So we let it be said, and not seen.

Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. (Alex Bailey / Twentieth Century Fox)

FULL COVERAGE: Get the latest on awards season from The Envelope 

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Marielle Heller, director

Whats Missing? After Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy) and Jack Hock (Richard E. Grant) get a little spare cash, he agrees to come with her to a cat cafe, where shes in feline heaven  and he is not.

Why Cut It? The original running time of the film was three hours, so we had a ton of scenes to cut, says Heller. One of the last ones was this cat cafe scene  when Lee had extra money, shed go to cat cafes and let herself get rubbed all over by cats. Watching Richard be so disgusted by the cats was just so funny to me. I had a real fondness for that scene.

Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant in a scene from Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Mary Cybulski / Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Cold War

Pawel Pawlikowski, director

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Whats Missing? Not too much ends up on the cutting room floor, Pawlikowski says in an email. I often delete scenes before I even shoot them. What did get left out was the fight between Zula (Joanna Kulig) and Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) after she reveals shes slept with Michel (Cedric Kahn); the scene goes from verbal to physical violence.

Why Cut It? The scene was powerful. But even while shooting the first few takes, I realized that we were on the wrong track, he writes. It was all too literal, too obvious, too much like a normal realist drama  at odds with the rest of the film, which works best by suggesting, rather than showing, he says.

Joanna Kulig and Tomasz Kot in a scene from Cold War. (Amazon Studios)

Green Book

Peter Farrelly, director

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Whats Missing? While at a fancy dinner party, Tony (Viggo Mortensen) has a chat with one of the guests (Lindsay Brice) about art, then later at dinner shows everyone its best to eat chicken with your hands.

Why Cut It? Heres the problem, says Farrelly. It came after the Kentucky Fried Chicken scene, and theyre not that far apart from each other. Two long scenes about chicken  and the first one was way funnier. The second scene is what I call grandma funny  it might tickle your grandmother, but not many others. I love the actress in the scene, so I gave her a credit. But it had to go for the betterment of the movie.

Viggo Mortensen as Tony Vallelonga and Mahershala Ali as Dr. Donald Shirley in Green Book, directed by Peter Farrelly. (Patti Perret/Universal Pictures)

Roma

Gabriela Rodriguez, producer

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Whats Missing? As Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) walks Pepe (Marco Graf) home from school, they have a short conversation about his plans for the future. Hes telling Cleo, You know, why I dont call you Mom anymore? and she says, Why? and he says, Because when I grow up Im going to marry you,  says Rodriguez. It was so endearing in so many ways, and it was an intimate moment between them.

Why Cut It? There already was that intimate moment between Cleo and Pepe, in the rooftop scene we kept, and while this one is lovely and everyone loved it, it didnt need to be there in the end. The rooftop scene had the same impact.

Vice

 Vice director Adam McKay and editor Hank Corwin reveal there was an entire musical number cut from the film.

Vice director reveals the elaborate musical scene that didnt make the final cut 

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Adam McKay, director/writer

Whats Missing? Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carell) walks Dick Cheney (Christian Bale) around the Capitol cafeteria, pointing out everyone in the room: whos climbing up, whos going down  and its all a musical number.

Why Cut It? Its this spectacular song and dance, which we shot over two days, says McKay. It ends with a big flourish  and we kept screening and showing it, and it wasnt landing. People didnt hate it, but we lost energy. It felt redundant, that other scenes were doing the same thing more effectively, so it was a really hard call. My youngest daughter was very pissed at me, but everyone I asked about it had a split response. It was jaw-dropping, but we couldnt keep it.In the darkly comic play Linda Vista at the Mark Taper Forum, three lead actors get naked. Not semi-naked, but totally naked. And not to take a bath or get dressed, but in service of some searingly awkward  and, thus, deeply human  sex scenes.

The nudity has struck some theatergoers as so extreme and the sex so prolonged that the actors can hear members of the audience gasp when it begins.

Occasionally someone will say, Oh no, oh no, oh no! Cora Vander Broek says of the moment the stage lights rise on her character, Jules, straddling Wheeler (played by Ian Barford) in bed.

Sometimes you can see people covering their eyes or mouths, adds Chantal Thuy of her characters sex scene (also with Barford).

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You would think that would make me feel more self-conscious, Vander Broek says of the visceral reactions. But it actually makes me feel safe, because it tells me that I am held in the arms of a beautiful play.

Vander Broek and Thuy sit in a rehearsal room at the Music Center Annex in downtown L.A., joined on Skype by director Dexter Bullard and intimacy consultant Kristina Fluty. The group is engaging in a round-table discussion about nudity in the theater  its effect, its importance and its perils.

Ian Barford is the man in midlife crisis, Chantal Thuy is his much younger neighbor in Linda Vista at the Mark Taper Forum. Both cast members, along with costar Cora Vander Broek, let the clothes (and sheet) fall to floor much to the shock of some audience members. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

In the day and age were living in, weve come to a place where frank conversations are necessary. Cora Vander Broek

Variations of the word safe come up quite a bit, because the actors are making themselves vulnerable  physically and emotionally. Its why Bullard recruited the help of Fluty, a modern dancer with a masters degree in dance movement therapy and counseling.

Fluty has worked as an intimacy consultant on six plays in less than a yeara testament to the rising profile of the field in the wake of #MeToo.

In the day and age were living in, weve come to a place where frank conversations are necessary, says Vander Broek.

Fluty makes sure the actors feel secure and listened to. She provides them with mental health tips and tricks, including meditations, in case they find themselves feeling less than OK. She sets parameters for dealing with nudity and sexuality, and she makes sure those parameters are adhered to.

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Shes also a stickler for anatomically correct language, and she forbids the use of slang for any body part.

You wouldnt say, Hey, is it OK if I grab your boobs here?  Fluty says, adding that she teaches actors to say breast and use what she likes to call bony landmarks when choreographing a sex scene, meaning: parts of the pelvis that are specific, so I can say, Put your hand right here on her sacrum, or, Put your hand under the gluteal fold. 

Linda Vista actresses Chantal Thuy, left, and Cora Vander Broek at a video round-table discussion with, onscreen, director Dexter Bullard and intimacy coordinator Kristina Fluty. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Thuy and Vander Broek were particularly thankful for the open dialogue Fluty fostered.

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Early on in our conversations, we talked about what our boundaries were, Thuy recalls. And I would say, This is OK for me, and this is the no-go zone, and that was always protected.

Vander Broek, whose character masturbates onstage, said it was important that the act did not come across as a performative moment for her male partner but rather as a deeply personal moment for her own character. Having Flutys input was crucial to her development of  and comfort with  that scene.

None of this care or attention would matter, Bullard says, if the script werent good. Bad writing could easily make the nudity and sex seem gratuitous rather than essential to the fabric of the story. Crucial to the artists participation in the play was the fact that Linda Vista was penned by Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts.

The play dissects the character flaws of a committed misanthrope named Wheeler who, in the midst of a messy divorce and an ugly midlife crisis, drags down just about everybody around him, including the two women he professes to care for most, Jules and Thuys Minnie.

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In classic Letts fashion, the dialogue ricochets between pathos and caustic wit, with an ear toward laying his characters inner souls painfully bare in the process. In this play, Letts also lays them physically bare, which, to director Bullards mind, is especially effective in the context of a story about profound human frailty.

Just because were following people into the bedroom doesnt mean the actors arent doing what theyve done the whole show, Bullard says. Theres a lot of emotional vulnerability and nakedness in Linda Vista, which in some ways is as complicated as the physical nakedness and intimacy.

After the plays first sex scene, in which Jules and Wheeler have an immensely awkward misunderstanding, the actors repair to the living room for a scene that shows them verbally dancing around their mutual romantic fears.

In that subsequent scene, Bullard says, The audience really begins to relax into a brand-new way of experiencing the play that I actually think casts one of the deeper spells  in terms of what a scene feels like  that Ive been around.

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This is because, say all involved, sex and nudity onstage create a distinct bond with the audience, one that places the onlookers in league with the actors.

They have become intimate with the actors too, in a way, Bullard says. Whereas, if there was no nudity, they would be able to keep a distance.

Cora Vander Broek and Ian Barford in Linda Vista at the Mark Taper Forum. An intimacy consultant worked with the cast on scenes when the clothes come off. (Craig Schwartz)

It may seem strange that sex and nudity strike theatergoers as novel, even shocking, when our culture is rife with both in television and on film. But there is something about nudity in theater  its immediacy, maybe, or the fact that its happening live in front of hundreds of strangers  that can feel particularly compelling.

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Thuy cant necessarily see the audiences faces all the time, but she can feel their energy, and she knows that they are coming along for the ride. She says she has felt more vulnerable and self-conscious on film, with a camera right up in her face and all sorts of distracted people standing around set.

Theater humanizes. Ive never felt objectified in theater, she says. But in TV, there is heavy objectification of a womans body.

The history of nudity in theater is long, of course, and Bullard cited groups such as New Yorks experimental Living Theatre company, members of which were arrested for indecent exposure in the 1960s after disrobing in the play Paradise Now.

Representatives for Center Theatre Group, which is staging the Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of Linda Vista, could not recall another CTG production with as much sex and nudity as Letts play. Complaints, however, have been minimal, the company said.

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The company added advisory language to ads for the show  adult content, nudity, frank depictions of sex, recommended for ages 16-plus  after realizing from social media chatter that some patrons were missing the warning on CTGs website.

The Linda Vista creative team and actors arent worried, though. They say the story they are telling is elevated by the art made tangible via their bare bodies, and that audience reaction is sympathetic and reciprocal.

Says Fluty, Theres something very beautiful when bodies attune with each other, once people get over the initial, Oh my gosh, theyre naked! response.

          

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Linda Vista

Where: Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A.

When: 8 p.m. through Friday, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday; ends Sunday

Tickets: $30-$99 (subject to change)

Information: (213) 628-2772 or centertheatregroup.org

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jessica.gelt@latimes.com

@jessicageltStrewn across artist Gretchen Andrews coffee table in her downtown Los Angeles loft, little sample squares of gray and brown frieze-style carpeting serve as makeshift coasters for coffee mugs as well as conversation pieces.

Frieze may be the name of the major art fair inaugurating a Los Angeles edition this weekend, but its also a style of carpeting. Available in a variety of drab neutrals, its signature twisted fibers are designed to obscure footprints and vacuum track marks, Andrew says, running her fingertips across the pile of one sample.

Since October, Andrew has spent many hours populating websites like Quora, Pinterest, Yelp and Tumblr with her writings about frieze carpeting and images of her paintings displayed on the walls of a virtual gallery with a digitally generated frieze-covered floor. More important, Andrew has carefully optimized each post and image using basic search-engine-optimization strategies.

Her goal: Trick Google into displaying Andrews virtual gallery as the top image search result for Frieze Los Angeles.

The hack worked. Andrew may not be represented by a gallery, and her oil and charcoal portraits and figurative works on cardboard will not be displayed at Frieze Los Angeles, running Thursday through Sunday at Paramount Studios. But by using SEO techniques and a bit of clever word play about carpeting, she has convinced Google that images of her artwork are the most important visual content related to the much-hyped international art fair.

Google Frieze Los Angeles and click on Images, and youll likely find that more than half of the top 12 results displayed are of Andrews virtual gallery  and Andrew has successfully inserted herself and her artwork into the art fairs online presence. (Frieze did not respond to a request for comment.)

A screen shot of Google image results showing two of Andrew's images  a virtual gallery with frieze carpeting and representations of her artworks on the walls. Gretchen Andrew

Gretchen Andrew used basic SEO strategies to surface her digital faux gallery in Google image search results. Gretchen Andrew

It is a tactic  one that Andrew refers to as digital performance, internet imperialism or search engine art  that she has employed before. In previous iterations, Andrew used SEO practices to push images of her artwork into the top search results for Made for Women, Powerful Person and Perfect Female Body, among other phrases.

Using search engine optimization as an artistic medium comes naturally to Andrew. A former athlete from New Hampshire who attended Boston College on a track scholarship, Andrew studied information systems and worked in tech before leaving Silicon Valley to learn how to paint, first through YouTube videos and later as an apprentice of London-based figurative painter Billy Childish.

Despite two years as a Google employee, the artist says she doesnt have any inside secrets when it comes to manipulating search results.

I dont know entirely how Google works, she says. She says Frieze Los Angeles probably could push her out of the top spots if the art fair properly optimized its website, though it would take months for her images to disappear from results.

Clicking on one of Andrews images directs you to her Frieze Los Angeles website. The text on the page is meandering and nonsensical, designed to be read as much by search engines as by humans.

Excerpts of that same text appear in Andrews Frieze Los Angeles Carpet Guide, a newspaper the artist plans to distribute outside the fair this weekend. Like the paintings at the center of her work, the newspaper is a tangible, physical element of a largely ephemeral digital piece.

Theres a big parallel between the way that the internet operates and the way the art world operates, says Andrew, who left her work in tech to pursue art. Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

Andrews Frieze Los Angeles project is part of a larger body of art she expects to execute this year called Its My Future and I Want You There. She says she plans to insert her images into search results for the Whitney Biennial and the Turner Prize.

Andrew says the series very nonironically explores her aspirations and dreams. The swirling, pastel figures she depicts in her paintings are of people, places and things she desires in her future. Similarly, the artist says that while she is critiquing powerful art world establishments, she is also poking a bear with which shed one day like to be friends.

I like these sort of insider-outsider dynamics, she says. Im not so outside of the actual art world or so indifferent to it that I dont respect these institutions. Essentially I am looking at the rules, the unwritten rules, and then finding creative ways to work around them, inserting myself in a fake-it-till-you-make-it way into the different echelons of the art world.

THE FRIEZE INTERVIEW: Art fair organizers lay out their plans 

The dynamics of power and money in the art world and on the internet is a recurring theme in Andrews work. Theres a big parallel between the way that the internet operates and the way the art world operates, she says. The internet has so much potential for creativity and connection but mostly is used as a place to buy things, spend money and create value for companies. That mirrors the art fair model. Art is this creative, liberating, inspiring aspect of our culture that also operates within this shopping mall dynamic of art fairs.

At first, Andrew says she doesnt think of herself as a disrupter, but then she backtracks.

I guess I am disruptive by nature, but Id like to think I am also conscientious by nature, she says. Im thoughtfully disruptive, curious about rules (legal, technical) and where they leave room for creative play.

Punking Google is a reminder, she says, that technology often fails on nuance. And if she can find ways to exploit that weakness, she says, its important to consider what those with real power and money can do.

Support our coverage of local artists and the local arts scene by becoming a digital subscriber.In the Hollywood Hills, a glass box with a storied past has sold for $3.26 million.

The Laurel Canyon home was constructed in conjunction with the Case Study House program, a post-World War II initiative that commissioned aesthetic and affordable housing prototypes from 1945 to 1964. Noted architects such as Richard Neutra and Craig Ellwood mocked up 36 designs, and roughly two dozen were built.

Known as Case Study House No. 21, the home takes minimalism to its logical conclusion, resembling a handful of chic shipping containers made up of steel-paneled walls and open-air pavilions.

1 / 8 Pierre Koenig designed the steel-framed No. 21. (Grant Mudford) 2 / 8 Case Study House No. 21 (Matthew Momberger) 3 / 8 Pierre Koenig designed the steel-framed No. 21. (Grant Mudford) 4 / 8 Pierre Koenig designed the steel-framed No. 21. (Grant Mudford) 5 / 8 Pierre Koenig designed the steel-framed No. 21. (Grant Mudford) 6 / 8 Pierre Koenig designed the steel-framed No. 21. (Grant Mudford) 7 / 8 Pierre Koenig designed the steel-framed No. 21. (Grant Mudford) 8 / 8 Pierre Koenig designed the steel-framed No. 21. (Grant Mudford)

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Five shallow ponds flank the residence, which offers two bedrooms and two bathrooms in 1,280 square feet. An L-shaped wall separates a living room and dining area. Elsewhere, walls of glass take in views of the brick-and-gravel terraces that fill out the grounds.

Not only did Koenig build the home in 1957, he also oversaw its restoration 40 years later. His work received the City of Los Angeles Preservation Award of Excellence in 2000, and the home is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In addition to a house, the residence has also been used as a gallery space. The mother of P.J. Park, co-founder of South Korean art gallery Seomi International, bought the property at auction in 2007 for $3.186 million, and Park fashioned the place into Seomis American branch soon after.

Exhibitions such as Living in Art and Naturalism: In Modernization and Destruction have been displayed there over the years.

Park has twice tried to sell the home, asking $4.5 million in 2016 and $3.6 million last year.

Aaron Kirman of Compass and Edward G. Reilly of Keller Williams Los Feliz held the listing. Rayni Williams of Hilton & Hyland represented the buyer.

jack.flemming@latimes.com | Twitter: @jflem94President Trump is considering pushing back the deadline for imposition of higher tariffs on Chinese imports by 60 days, as the worlds two biggest economies try to negotiate a solution to their trade dispute, according to people familiar with the matter.

The president said Tuesday that he was open to letting the March 1 deadline slide for more than doubling tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods if the two countries are close to a deal that addresses deep structural changes to Chinas economic policies. He added, though, that he was not inclined to do so. The people said that Trump is weighing whether to add 60 days to the current deadline to give negotiations more time to continue.

I think its going along very well, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office this week. Theyre showing us tremendous respect.

Senior officials at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative did not respond to requests for comment.

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U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are in Beijing for the latest round of high-level talks with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Thursday and Friday. Trump has indicated he will need to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping to agree on a final deal. While no date has been set, a White House aide this week said the U.S. president still wants to meet his Chinese counterpart soon in a bid to end the trade war.

Negotiations this week are focused on how to enforce the trade deal and putting on paper a framework agreement to present to the two presidents.The Federal Trade Commission and Facebook are negotiating a multibillion-dollar fine that would settle the agencys investigation into the social media giants privacy practices, according to two people familiar with the probe.

The fine would be the largest the agency has imposed on a technology company, but the two sides have not yet agreed on an exact amount. Facebook has expressed initial concern with the FTCs demands, one of the people said. If talks break down, the FTC could take the matter to court in what would probably be a bruising legal fight.

The two people familiar with the probe spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the private talks. Facebook confirmed it is in discussions with the agency but declined to comment further. The FTC declined to comment.

Previously, the largest fine the FTC has imposed on a tech giant for breaking an agreement with the federal government to safeguard consumers data was a $22.5-million penalty that Google paid to settle an investigation into its privacy practices in 2012.

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The FTCs probe of Facebook began in March in response to reports about the social giants entanglement with Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy that improperly accessed data on 87 million of the social sites users. The agencys inquiry focuses on whether Facebooks conduct  along with a series of additional privacy mishaps made public in recent months  amounts to a violation of a 2011 agreement Facebook brokered with the FTC to improve its privacy practices. Facebook has maintained it did not breach that accord.

The FTC agreement stipulated that Facebook had to be more transparent and notify users in a clearer way before it shares personal data with third parties. The order also barred Facebook from deceiving users about its privacy practices, and it instituted regular checkups on the way it uses data. Under FTC rules, the agency can seek steep fines determined in part by the number of times a company violates such an order.

Facebook ultimately could broker a deal with the government by agreeing to pay a fine and make some changes to its business practices. That settlement would then have to be approved by a judge.

The FTCs punishment could include a new, tougher order that could force the tech giant to submit to tougher, regular checkups to ensure its complying with the settlement, according to two other people familiar with the probe but not authorized to discuss it on the record.

Alternatively, Facebook could choose to fight the federal agency over its findings and proposed punishments. If that battle lands in federal court, the move could prove bruising to both sides, analysts say, by putting Facebooks top executives on the witness stand while subjecting the agencys authority over tech giants to high-profile judicial review.

Adding to the pressure, a collection of consumer advocates urged the FTC last month to penalize Facebook aggressively with substantial fines, perhaps exceeding $2 billion, along with an order that limits how and when Facebook collects data about its users.

The companys business practices have imposed enormous costs on the privacy and security of Americans, children and communities of color, and the health of democratic institutions in the United States and around the world, wrote groups led by the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center. EPIC filed the original complaint leading to the FTCs 2011 settlement.

Lawmakers also have pressed the FTC to speed up its work and penalize Facebook nearly a year after it first announced its investigation.

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When Americans privacy is breached, they deserve a speedy and effective response, wrote Democratic Sens. Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut in a letter in January.

Romm writes for the Washington Post.U.S. soybean exports wont return to their pre-trade war levels until the 2026-27 season as competitors in South America gain global market share.

Thats according to long-term projections released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on its website. Demand for American soy has taken a hit after China slapped tariffs on a host of U.S. farm goods as part of the nations trade war.

While China has recently resumed buying U.S. soybeans, that hasnt moved prices much. Purchases have been too small to make up for the lost sales. Meanwhile, bumper crops mean silos and grain bins across the Midwest are full of inventory. Soybean futures traded in Chicago are down about 12% in the last year.

Americas farmers  part of the base that helped drive Donald Trumps election victory  have been collateral victims of many of the administrations policies. After the trade war sparked declines in crop prices, the president rolled out aid payments to help soften that blow.

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The bailouts did help out some, Lynn Rohrscheib, chairwoman of the Illinois Soybean Assn., said in an interview with Bloomberg Television this week. But most farmers, they just didnt want that. We want to be able to grow our crop and receive a fair price.

Rohrscheib said that she knows of some producers who arent farming this year because of the tariffs, and that her family took a $600,000 hit to our annual income as a result of the trade war.

Meanwhile, a labor shortage  which some in the industry say is at least partly a result of Trumps tough stand on immigration  has meant that agricultural employers are having to pay higher wages at a time when theyre contending with sluggish markets. On Thursday, U.S. poultry producer Pilgrims Pride Corp. said it was increasing wages $50 million, year-over-year, to attract employees.Rep. Maxine Waters had toiled 28 years in Congress for the moment last month when she presided over the powerful House Financial Services Committee for the first time as its chairwoman  and she wanted to make sure everything was perfect.

So the Los Angeles Democrat cleared her throat, prepared her notes and adjusted a thin microphone before declaring, the committee will come to order.

But after quickly promising a new agenda under her leadership, Waters made a subtle move to defuse a potential obstacle to her success  a crop of high-profile, freshmen panel members intent on shaking up the Washington establishment that Waters has navigated to reach her important committee chair.

Waters took a few minutes at the Jan. 30 meeting to specifically single out the new Democratic committee members, introducing each one by highlighting their backgrounds. She expressed her desire to work with members on both sides of the aisle on commonsense solutions to benefit hardworking Americans and protect vulnerable families.

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The issues before this committee are critically important for the economic well-being of millions of Americans and our whole economy, Waters said.

The 80-year-old lawmaker has become known as Auntie Maxine, a leader of the liberal resistance to President Trump and one of his most frequent public targets of derision. At the same time, she wants to burnish her reputation as a lawmaker by passing bills to reduce homelessness, increase affordable housing and improve consumer protection.

But seeking that legislative compromise was made trickier by the very election that vaulted her into her powerful post. Now she must balance the concerns of liberal freshmen such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), Katie Porter (D-Irvine), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).

They arrived in Washington after successful campaigns last year bashing Wall Street and disavowing contributions from corporate political action committees that have flowed freely for years to Waters and many members from both parties on the Financial Services panel.

The new social media-savvy lawmakers could pull Waters further left as she tries to strike bipartisan deals to advance legislation in a divided Congress, including important re-authorizations of national flood insurance, terrorism risk insurance and the federal bank that provides export assistance to U.S. companies.

Those who have worked with Waters said her liberal bonafides and political skills made her well-positioned for the challenge of dealing with the committees upstart freshmen.

Maxine has been fighting very hard for everything theyve been fighting for and understanding how best to do it and what the opposition is, said former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who chaired the committee from 2007-2011. I believe theyre going to figure out pretty soon that shes an ally and they should be working with her.

At the committees first meeting, Ocasio-Cortez praised Waters for her leadership and her graciousness. Then she came to Waters defense as committee Republicans pushed to codify that they would get 48-hour notice from Waters when she exercises her unilateral authority as chairwoman to issue subpoenas or launch investigations.

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We should hold you and give you the same exact discretion that the previous chair was given as well, said Ocasio-Cortez, the media darling of the House Democratic freshman class, from her seat three rows down from Waters high perch.

Waters knows what its like to be a newcomer on one of the largest committees in Congress: 60 members, seated by seniority in four rows in the hearing room.

Its going to be very frustrating sitting down there, Waters said during an interview in her Capitol Hill office before that first meeting.

There will be moments of misunderstanding. There will be times they really think that they have a point of view thats not been appreciated, she said. There will be all of that. My job is to manage that.

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Waters office, filled with awards, books and photos of her with President Obama, Nelson Mandela and other famous figures, is a stark contrast to the spartan accommodations of freshmen such as Porter.

Serving on the Financial Services Committee was the first choice for Porter, a UC Irvine law professor who has focused on consumer issues, because she said its work is at the heart of our capitalist economy.

I have every confidence in Chairwoman Waters, Porter said as she sat in her office, where the only decoration so far was a blue-and-white tapestry.

She is an experienced leader. She knows these issues. She has strong staff and she has made very clear that she wants enthusiastic, hard-working, engaged committee members, said Porter. And thats exactly what I intend to be and thats what I expect from my colleagues.

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The priorities of Porter and the other high-profile freshmen align with the agenda Waters has laid out. And they all have bashed Wall Street frequently.

In her first speech as chairwoman at a liberal think tank last month, Waters promised the committee will be keeping an eye on the big banks and their activities, including by holding many hearings.

As the top Democrat on the committee since 2013, Waters has been a persistent critic of big banks. And she intends to push bills on housing and other issues even though she admits they probably wont get approved by the Republican-controlled Senate or signed by Trump.

I think its important for this committee to come up with legislation that defines who we are and what we care about and what we think is important to the people of this country and how we feel about governments role in assisting families and children, Waters said. The president can say whatever he wants to say. Were not going to be deterred from our mission of fashioning legislation in the best interests of the people. Well fight for it.

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Waters plans to introduce legislation that would undo some of the industry-friendly changes made by Trump administration appointees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, including restoring enforcement powers to the agencys fair lending office and establishing a new office dedicated to policing student lending. Waters has similar legislation to reverse changes made by Ben Carson, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, that she says have undermined fair housing protections.

And Waters wants to tackle the problem of homelessness. The committee held a hearing Wednesday on that topic, and she is readying legislation that would provide $13.3 billion over five years in new funding to federal programs and initiatives that seek to prevent homelessness.

Shes likely to get strong support from committee freshmen on those types of bills. But Waters also has been an unlikely champion of the business community on some key issues, including playing a pivotal role in reauthorizing the federal Export-Import Bank, which helps U.S. companies sell their products abroad.

Thats where she could run into problems with liberal freshmen.

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In addition, some of them are at odds with Waters and many committee veterans about how to handle campaign contributions from the financial industry. In past years, a committee seat has been one of the most sought-after in Congress because of the campaign contributions that flow to its members from industry executives and corporate PACs.

During the 2018 election cycle, Financial Services Committee members raised an average of $2.3 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan research group that tracks campaign contributions and lobbying. That was the fourth-most for any House committee.

These millions of dollars are a relatively small investment to make compared to the potential returns theyve enjoyed, Sheila Krumholz, the centers executive director said of financial industry executives. If anyone gets investing, they do. And theyve done very well with it.

Corporations are prohibited from contributing to congressional candidates. But they can pool money from employees into PACs and distribute it in contributions to candidates. Last year, some Democrats running for Congress rebelled against that long-time practice.

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Ocasio-Cortez, Porter, Pressley and Tlaib were among the newly elected freshmen who refused to accept PAC contributions. That trend made the Financial Services Committee less desirable among freshmen than in the past, said Ed Mills, a Washington policy analyst for financial services firm Raymond James.

Wall Street money is politically toxic in Democratic primaries, he said.

Rep. Porter said that there were only a handful of freshman who made a seat on the committee their top priority this year.

I think it reflects the fact that when you have representatives who are not taking corporate PAC money, then people pick committees based on what theyre really passionate and knowledgeable about, she said. If you dont take corporate PAC money, that diminishes the rationale for being on Financial Services.

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Porter believes that each member must make the choice of whether to accept the contributions. She noted she has worked before with Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-New York), a 13-term veteran who will chair one of the panels subcommittees this year, and has no idea if she takes corporate PAC money or not.

Ive seen that shes committed to doing right by consumers, Porter said.

Maloney accepts corporate PAC money and agrees it should be personal decision.

Thats their philosophy. The younger ones dont take it. Maloney said. They have a lot of energy and a lot of passion and a lot of desire to help the people theyre representing, and I think theyll bring in some new ideas.

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Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Porter Ranch), who has served on the committee with Waters for 22 years, said the decision should be up to each candidate. The topic hadnt caused any tensions between Democrats, he said.

And Sherman is confident that Waters, who he called a wily congressional operator, can navigate that and any challenges as chairwoman.

Shes served a lifetime on the committee, he said. She understands the issues. She understands the players. She understands how to get things done.Amazon.com Inc. isnt the only tech-related company having a hard time in New York this year. Elon Musks Boring Co. at one point talked with New York City-area officials about connecting John F. Kennedy International Airport with Manhattan directly via tunnel, a route long considered a kind of holy grail for weary transit riders traveling into and out of the city. But regional engineers raised concerns over the Boring Co. tunnels feasibility.

Possible problems identified by the engineers included ventilation issues, the potential impact on existing New York tunnels and the logistics of emergency response, according to a person who reviewed the engineers report and asked not to be identified because the matter was private. The report was completed in recent weeks, the person said.

New York officials informally reached out to us last year to see if our capabilities would be useful to them, a Boring Co. spokesman said. We get approached by tons of cities who are similarly interested in learning more. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey declined to comment.

Some of the issues flagged by the engineers would affect any new tunnel under the East River, which separates the boroughs of Manhattan and Queens, where the airport is located. But there were also other issues particular to Boring Co., which proposed a pair of tunnels of less than 14 feet in diameter, about half the width of most one-lane tunnels, the person said.

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A Boring Co. spokesman emphasized that the companys discussions were preliminary and did not rise to the level of a detailed proposal from the company.

The Boring Co. outline called for running autonomous electric vehicles in rapid succession through the tunnels, one for inbound and one for outbound, a concept that is similar to what the company proposed for a project in Chicago and what it outlines on its website. The narrow width keeps tunneling costs and time down, but it led to questions about how emergency response teams would get in and out if necessary, the person said.

On its website, Boring Co. compares its system to subway rail tunnels, saying that like subways, it will have regular emergency exits  but unlike subways, will not have a high-voltage third rail. Exit paths in the tunnel will be safer and wider than existing comparable infrastructure, despite the reduced tunnel diameter, the site says. It also says that fire risk is low not just because of the lack of a third rail, but also because of the tunnels non-flammable concrete lining.

The engineers evaluating the JFK project also raised concerns about how additional underground construction would affect the structural integrity of the tunnels that are already there, the person said. A Boring Co. spokesman said the companys tunnels are constructed to have no impact on existing infrastructure.

Boring Co. has been in talks with several municipalities about its tunnel-based transit systems, which it calls Loop for short distances. In December, the company held a party to celebrate the opening of a test tunnel near its headquarters in Hawthorne, inviting local transportation officials from around the country for tours. And in February, the mayor of San Jose said the city was discussing with Boring Co. the possibility of a tunnel between San Jose International Airport and the transit system.

At its Hawthorne testing location, the company has kept the welcome mat out for other officials, regularly hosting potential customers.

In Los Angeles, Boring Co. dropped its plans last year to dig beneath Sepulveda Boulevard on the Westside, months after a lawsuit alleged that the city violated state law when it sought to exempt the tunnel from environmental review. The company said that instead, it would focus on an underground link between Dodger Stadium and a Metro station about 3 miles away.

The idea of a nonstop ride between JFK Airport and Manhattan has been studied from time to time since the 1960s. It resurfaced repeatedly in recent decades but has never gained political traction, in part because of the expense. Current New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo revived the idea in a speech two years ago.

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Today, riders can get to JFK via public transit but have to transfer from the subway to the AirTrain people-mover. That connection to JFK opened in 2003, and links the airport to nearby subway and train stations in Queens. The city also plans to conduct an environmental study for a proposed 1-mile tunnel connecting LaGuardia Airport to local public transportation.BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Investment, an important engine of the Chinese economy, is expected to grow faster this year, allowing China to better cope with economic uncertainties in 2019, according to industry reports.

A report from the Economic and Strategic Planning Department of the Bank of China (Hong Kong) forecast a rise of 7.3 percent in China's aggregated investment in 2019, up 1.4 percentage points from 2018.

Investment's contribution to the growth of China's gross domestic product will rise by 0.5 percentage points to 2.64 percentage points. In other words, about 40 percent of the year's economic growth will be generated by investment.

Infrastructure facilities will continue to take a large portion, but the emphasis will be put on improving weak links and consolidating the less-developed areas.

Last October, the State Council issued a guideline on beefing up the investment in nine kinds of infrastructure facilities including railways, highways and waterways, airports, water conservancy, energy and environmental protection as well as infrastructure conducive to agriculture and rural development.

Railway and highway construction will be mainly used to facilitate the implementation of significant development strategies, including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development, the Belt and Road Initiative, the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Xiongan New Area.

Rural infrastructure construction will be used to enhance agricultural productivity and boost village development, while urban infrastructure construction will focus on government-subsidized housing, public transit and drainage and waterlogging prevention systems.

Citing statistics from the National Development and Reform Commission, the report said in the past month, the economic planner approved infrastructure construction projects with an aggregated investment of 500 billion yuan (about 74 billion U.S. dollars), which mainly involves inter-city railway, rail transit and airports.

The Ministry of Transport, China Railways Corporation and Civil Aviation Administration of China have all released their infrastructural construction targets for 2019, including fixed-assets investment of 1.8 trillion yuan in highways and waterways, 800 billion yuan in railway investment and another 85 billion yuan in airport construction.

Specifically, rural roads of 200,000 km long and waterways of 400 km long will be built, while new rail lines of some 6,800 km long will be laid, up 45 percent from last year.

The report projected that China's infrastructural investment would grow by 8 percent this year compared with 3.8 percent last year.

Although China has established brand-new and sprawling highway networks, with high-speed railway mileage taking up more than 60 percent of the world's total, the country's per capita infrastructure facilities remain low, noted the report.

Fitch Ratings also predicted faster growth in the year's investment, saying that expanding infrastructural investment was a key part of the efforts to boost steady economic growth.

Analysts with the Bank of China (Hong Kong) called for particular attention to be paid to investment in new types of infrastructure facilities such as artificial intelligence, industrial internet and the Internet of Things.

These new types of infrastructure facilities will lay a solid foundation for the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry and inspire manufacturers to make innovations and pursue faster growth.

Take the Internet of Things for instance, it will turn automobiles and household appliances into information collecting terminals with artifical intelligence-enhanced functions.

In the first three quarters of 2018, smart TVs accounted for 49.5 percent of the country's total TV sales, according to All View Cloud, a data analysis company. Unlike traditional TVs, smart TVs can be controlled by voice and allow man-machine interaction.

As for real estate investment, the report projected steady growth in 2019, as the areas of homes for sale fell drastically last year and the real estate control policies in some cities have begun to ease.Art dealer Mary Boone, the darling of New Yorks downtown scene in the 1980s, made a splash last year when she pleaded guilty to a years-long tax evasion scheme. Then, instead of a prison term, she asked a judge to sentence her to running her galleries.

It didnt work.

Boone, who owns and operates galleries on Fifth Avenue and in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, was sentenced on Thursday to 2 years in prison by a U.S. judge who called her failure to pay millions of dollars in income tax a terrible crime. Boone, in a dark blue jacket and skirt, buried her face in her hands.

She also was ordered to perform 180 hours of community service, instructing local high school teachers in the visual arts and working with underserved youth.

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This is a serious offense. All people must pay their taxes, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said. I know this is a substantial disappointment to you, Ms. Boone. I know it hurts you. But I made a special effort to provide not only a custodial but also a community-service sentence.

Before sentencing, Boone had asked for permission to address the court. I stand before you saddened and heartbroken, shed told the judge. Please know that Im very remorseful for the bad deeds I have done.

In her plea for leniency, Boone said shed been ostracized by art colleagues and had her membership in the Century Club revoked, and that even her bank had told her it wouldnt have her as a client anymore.

She asked Hellerstein to allow her to remain free to do good works and run her galleries, saying, I beg your honor to let me go back to work so at least I can make up for what Ive done.

Hellerstein did grant a request by her lawyer, Robert Fink, that she be permitted to surrender to prison authorities by May 15 to give her more time to get her affairs in order.

Mary has to attend to her galleries and close them, Fink told the court. Later he said, They might close. I dont see how they can function without her.

Prosecutors said Boones galleries should have paid more than $1.2 million on $3.7 million in profit for 2011 but instead claimed a tax liability of $335. Boone also used business funds to pay for more than $1.6 million in personal expenses, including $800,000 to renovate one apartment and $120,000 for rent on a second residence, then claimed the payments as a business expense, they said.

Boone, 67, who opened her first gallery 40 years ago, made a name for herself representing hot artists of the 1980s who signaled the return of figurative painting. She graced the cover of a 1982 New York magazine story titled The New Queen of the Art Scene.Airbus SE decided to stop making the A380 double-decker after a dozen years in service, burying a prestige project that won the hearts of passengers and politicians but never the broad support of airlines that instead preferred smaller, more fuel-efficient aircraft.

Production of the jumbo jet will end by 2021, after the A380s biggest customer, Emirates, and a handful of remaining buyers receive their last orders.

The Gulf carrier will pare down its current A380 order to 14 from 53, Airbus said in a statement Thursday. Emirates said separately it would purchase 70 smaller A330neo and A350 widebodies listed at $21.4 billion before customary discounts.

Todays announcement is painful for us and the A380 communities worldwide, Airbus Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders said in a statement. Airbus said as many as 3,500 jobs are affected by the decision.

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While the A380 has struggled for years to match its popular appeal with a robust order book, the radical move to cancel the plane outright marks a watershed moment for civil aviation.

The A380 was always more than an aircraft, albeit a very large one. Rather, it was the manifestation of Europes collaborative drive and the continents industrial ambitions. For Airbus, the airliner sought to create a commanding counterweight to Boeing Co., promising unparalleled space and luxury for increasingly congested airports and the skies above.

But from early on, the worlds largest commercial passenger plane had a hard time, both technically and commercially.

Getting the A380 airborne for its maiden flight was severely delayed by wiring glitches that resulted from faulty communications between design teams. When the plane finally embarked on its first commercial flight in late 2007, the financial crisis that would cripple global travel was already on the horizon. Some customers had second thoughts about whether the giant aircraft was the right choice for meager times, and cancellations started piling up.

Airbus had watched enviously as Boeing monopolized the market for very large aircraft with its 747 jumbo, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this month and sold more than 1,500 units.

While Airbus was a major force in the single-aisle space with its A320 family, the prestigious long-distance and ultra-large aircraft segment remained the domain of its U.S. rival. With passenger numbers rising every year and major new hubs opening in markets like Dubai, the A380 seemed the obvious choice to address the need for a large people carrier, while picking market share off Boeing.

Dubai did in fact turn into the A380s major sponsor, with Emirates ordering a total of more than 160 units, far in excess of any other airline. But ironically it was also Emirates that contributed to the A380s decline and fall. With Airbus increasingly reliant on a single customer for its flagship product, Emirates could make or break the program by ordering or canceling more A380s. When the airline decided to rethink the latest order for 20 units, Airbus saw no choice but to draw down production, given the lack of other buyers.

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As a result of this decision we have no substantial A380 backlog and hence no basis to sustain production, despite all our sales efforts with other airlines in recent years, Enders said.

From its inception, the A380 was a grand European project.

The wings, like those of all Airbus aircraft, came from the U.K., and components were ferried across the continent from production sites in Germany and France. The giant fuselage tubes were taken by barge and flatbed truck to the main facility in Toulouse, and the planes were then painted and kitted out in Hamburg. Teams from across the region joined colleagues at other sites during crunch times, the quirky-looking Beluga freight planes would crisscross countries with parts, and the A380 was a popular backdrop at air shows for politicians celebrating Europes achievements.

But over the past two decades, a new breed of aircraft gained popularity, making life harder for the A380 and the Boeing 747, which has also struggled with the latest passenger version of its iconic hump-backed plane. While the A380 represented an Airbus bet on congestion driving demand for ever-larger aircraft in mega-hub airports, Boeing in the early 2000s decided the future would lie in smaller long-range planes that could economically overfly the hubs and directly connect smaller markets.

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Its 777 model and the smaller 787 Dreamliner, as well as Airbus A350 models  twin-engine planes that pioneered the use of lightweight carbon fiber and efficient engines  helped airlines drastically cut fuel expenses and allowed them to use the planes with quicker turnaround times on smaller point-to-point routes. The jumbo aircraft, by contrast, suddenly became too expensive, too heavy and too cumbersome to operate.

Markets where Airbus had hoped to sell its prestige plane hardly caught on or didnt materialize at all. There isnt a single U.S. carrier that uses the A380, Chinese airlines have only bought the model in low numbers, and Japan  traditionally a big buyer of the Boeing 747  has only recently taken delivery of its first A380. Qantas Airways Ltd. formally canceled an outstanding order just last week, and carriers including Air France have pared back their commitments.

Part of the A380s problem is that there is no established second-hand market, typically the domain where prospective buyers can pick up jets at a discount. Singapore Airlines Ltd., the first commercial operator of the A380, learned this just recently, when it returned some aircraft to its leasing partner, only to see them scrapped in France for their parts.

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Airbus itself acknowledged that timing may not have been on its side with the A380.

While busy airports such as London Heathrow have become major magnets for the model, congestion has not been felt acutely enough around the world to shock more airlines into buying the biggest plane. And many operators dont even use the model at full capacity. The A380 is capable of carrying more than 800 passengers, but most airlines choose to transport no more than about 500 people, instead decking out the cabin with fancy features including in-flight bars, showers and multi-room suites that come with flourishes such as butlers and sofas.

Such fripperies were a hit with passengers, who often went out of their way to book a flight on the A380, which promised a more spacious, quiet and luxurious flight experience than older long-distance models. At a time when flying had lost its jet-age mystique and budget carriers sought to cram as many people onto a plane as possible, the A380 offered a throwback to an era of stylish travel, with plush cabin layouts and free-flowing champagne.

But in the end, it wasnt support from passengers, but the lack thereof from airlines that hastened the A380s demise. Like Concord, the supersonic jetliner that inspired a generation of plane-spotting fans, the A380 was brought back down to earth by the hard truths of commercial boardroom economics that gained the upper hand over popular aviation enthusiasm.

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Katz and Kammel write for Bloomberg.Well, that should show them.

Stung by intensifying opposition to a $3-billion incentive handout from New York city and state, Amazon on Thursday abruptly canceled its plans to build a new half-headquarters complex in the New York City borough of Queens.

The outcome is shaping up as a disaster  but arguably for Amazon more than New York. It reinforces the giant companys reputation as a grasping bully that cares little for the communities where it operates.

People in New York knew what had happened in Manhattan.... They saw this project coming in and putting that on steroids. Greg LeRoy, Good Jobs First

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Amazons withdrawal from New York may well inspire more opposition to its quest for incentives and other accommodations in northern Virginia, which was to share the big headquarters development with New York, and other communities where Amazon dangled the prospect of major business expansion.

This is going to be a rapidly metastasizing process where people are going to be emboldened to push back, Richard Florida of the University of Toronto, an urban development expert and critic of Amazons plans, told me.

It will also intensify scrutiny on the impact that major corporate expansions have on their communities. In Amazons case, its original headquarters city of Seattle has been struggling with the displacement of residents and businesses by soaring housing costs and commercial rents and Amazons resistance to contributing some of its billions of dollars in resources to alleviate the problems.

In New York, where displacement and gentrification had already become a political flashpoint, Amazons entry was almost certain to make things worse.

People in New York knew what had happened in Manhattan, what has almost finished happening in Brooklyn, and was already happening in Queens, said Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, which tracks excessive corporate incentives. They saw this project coming in and putting that on steroids.

Lets briefly recap the process that brought us to this point. Amazon announced in September 2017 its plans to create a second headquarters satrapy somewhere in North America to share responsibilities with Seattle. The prospect of a $5-billion complex staffed with 50,000 employees earning $100,000 or more predictably set up an orgy of civic preening and, more to the point, immense offers of tax breaks and other incentives worth billions of dollars.

The company played 238 cities, states and regions off against one another until last November, when it announced that the brass ring had been won jointly by northern Virginia and New York.

On the face of things, this whole process was a sham from the start. Amazons original request for proposals specified a metro area of at least 1 million population; an international airport no more than 45 minutes away; mass transit service on-site and major highways not more than two miles distant; a highly educated labor pool; good cellphone and fiber coverage; and a political and social culture that supports a diverse population and an overall high quality of life.

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Amazon is a billion-dollar company. The idea that it will receive hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks at a time when our subway is crumbling and our communities need MORE investment, not less, is extremely concerning to residents here.  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 13, 2018

But Amazon also made clear its interest in seeing bidding communities come up with the long green: Please provide a summary of total incentives offered for the Project by the state/province and local community, its bid document said. Please provide a brief description of the incentive item, the timing of incentive payment/realization, and a calculation of the incentive amount.

Whether out of hubris or ignorance, the company seemed to be blindsided by the community opposition to its selection of the Queens community of Long Island City for one half of its new headquarters, at a price of nearly $3 billion in state and local incentives.

Jeff Bezos should fire his whole site selection staff, said Florida, referring to Amazons chairman and chief executive. If they had done their due diligence, they would have known there would be a backlash  with this level of incentives in a big city like New York, with a very strong activist community, and a progressive-leaning city council and state legislators  they werent going to stand for this level of corporate welfare, and they didnt.

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The political skepticism the project would inspire wasnt hard to divine  the New York site is adjacent to the district in which progressive firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unseated a long-term machine Democrat in a party primary for Congress. Ocasio-Cortezs election to the House came only a week before Amazons site announcement.

Who in their right mind would put this project at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs front door? Florida asked.

But Amazon had grown accustomed to bending local politicians to its will. That was certainly the case in Seattle, where the company last year bullied the City Council into repealing a head tax that would have raised $45 million over five years from big corporations, chiefly Amazon.

That history seemed to blind Amazon to the need to help its host communities deal with the indisputable costs associated with large-scale development, especially in places already suffering from overdevelopment.

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A company has to figure out that if it wants to be in a community, it has to do it quietly and deftly and gently, and pay its fair share of taxes and be a good corporate citizen, Florida said. Why would you try to extract stuff like this from your new hometown?

Amazon might have been able to tamp down the opposition. One can guess that Amazon might have gained entry by engaging with local groups and trying to address local impacts, LeRoy told me. But that would require Amazons DNA changing. Everyone in New York knew what they did to Seattle with the head tax. They have no illusions about how much ice runs through Amazons veins.

Amazon plainly became a prisoner of its own demand for municipal handouts. After its incentives materialized in New York, the company tried to downplay the role of tax incentives in its decision.

Incentives did not drive this process for us, company spokesman Jay Carney said. Our No. 1 criterion for us was the availability of existing talent and the possibility of recruiting and luring new talent to come.

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Yet its withdrawal from New York effectively lays that claim to rest. Nothing has changed in the last three months about the availability of existing talent in Long Island City or the potential for recruiting new employees to a neighborhood just over the river from Manhattan. The only change was in the apparent willingness of residents and their political representatives to roll over for a $3-billion incentive deal for a company that manifestly does not need the money.

What may be most perplexing about this case is that in strictly financial terms, even the $3 billion in handouts offered by New York is a trivial sum for Amazon. Most of the money would be doled out over 10 years or more in the form of refundable tax credits (that is, Amazon would collect the credits even if they exceeded its tax liability to the state). How significant could that be for a company that earned $93.7 billion in gross profit on nearly $233 billion in revenue last year alone?

Moreover, its well established that tax incentives rank low on the list of factors in a companys siting decision, overshadowed by many of the other factors cited by Amazon, such as the availability of a skilled workforce and transportation and communication infrastructure. Companies ask for the handouts, and take what theyre offered.

Yet having established local incentives as a decision factor, Amazon could not easily ignore the opposition in New York  what self-respecting community would pony up billions if the company showed that it was willing to give them up in this case?

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LeRoy and Florida think the Amazon experience might be a turning point for American communities reliance on corporate incentives to attract jobs, even despite evidence that the incentives almost never pay for themselves.

Big companies havent stopped dangling the prospect of economy-changing impacts from their relocations in order to extract huge benefits. Some of these big deals have been blowing apart at the seams, notably a record-breaking $4.5-billion subsidy offered by Wisconsin to the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn for a factory that is unlikely ever to be built  a deal promoted assiduously by President Trump and former Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

But Amazons deal had the highest profile of all  Head and shoulders the biggest headquarters deal on the table, LeRoy said. Amazons attitude was, You should be grateful were coming  were going to expect a big payout and you can figure out the fallout later.

LeRoy points to Bezos recent exposure of an alleged extortion attempt by the National Enquirer, which threatened to publish embarrassing photographs of Bezos if he didnt cease investigating the Enquirers previous publication of his personal text messages. In his blog post about the Enquirers behavior, Bezos, the richest man in the world, wrote: If in my position I cant stand up to this kind of extortion, how many people can?

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By the same token, LeRoy said, New York said to Jeff Bezos, if a city like us cant stand up to this extortionate site location game youre playing, who will?

Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.

Return to Michael Hiltziks blog.Police in suburban Philadelphia are on the hunt for a book thief with rarefied literary tastes.

A burglar stole at least 20 books from a store in West Chester, Pa., including a rare edition of Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Tuesday.

No money was stolen from the bookstores cash register, said Fred Dannaway, the assistant manager of Baldwins Book Barn, a well-known and long-running retailer located in a 19th century barn.

It was apparent they knew what they wanted, Dannaway said. The thief apparently shattered a window to gain access to the store.

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The stolen books were worth as much as $10,000, CBS reports.

Dannaway urged the thief to return the stolen merchandise, which also included a rare edition of John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men.

Bring them back, bring them back, he said. Theyre significant things. If we dont sell them, wed just like to have them around. Thats what book people like to do.

Store manager Carol Rauch told WPVI-TV that the theft was discovered by employees over the weekend.

Saw glass on the floor, came in. The books are all gone from the two cabinets, Rauch said. One was a very expensive book on fish, another one was a German Bible with a sterling silver working clasp.

Rare books werent the only thing the thief made off with. The Daily Local News of Chester County, Pa., reports that an oil painting of the barn that houses the bookstore was also stolen.

Baldwins Book Barn is a legendary bookseller in Pennsylvania. Founded in 1934, the store is housed in a five-story dairy barn that dates back to 1822. The store contains more than 300,000 books.

Atlas Obscura describes the retailer as the TARDIS of bookstores, a reference to the time-traveling phone booth featured in the television series Doctor Who.

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Hidden within its meandering coves and staircases lie seemingly endless archival treasures lining every space within the Book Barn, the website says. Step inside and you are transported to another time and place; where history seems to whisper to you through the creaking windows and stairs of the barn.

The owners of the store plan to beef up their security system in the wake of the burglary. Dannaway told the Inquirer that they had turned off the stores motion-activated security system because it was regularly being set off by the cats who call the store home.Jules Vernes space dreams began with a gun. A big one. In his 1865 sci-fi novel From the Earth to the Moon, Verne spins a yarn about the Baltimore Gun Club, a weapons society that built a massive cannon  the Columbiad space gun  which would launch three people, including a French poet, in a lunar-ward projectile. When America first landed its men on the moon a little over a century later, the idea was essentially the same, scratch the poet. Three men, an oversized bullet, a little math and a lot of rocket fuel was the recipe to make history forever. In Taschens titanic tome, The NASA Archives: 60 Years in Space, Vernes tale serves as a gateway to a galaxy of lavish images, essays and actual mission transcripts that trace our trips to the moon and beyond.

Ed White photographed by Gemini 4 Commander Jim McDivitt, before Whites historic spacewalk on June 3, 1965. (NASA)

From NASAs early days slinging monkeys through the stratosphere to the Mars rovers recent red planet selfie, the book catalogs with beautiful detail the rapid pace of scientific and engineering advances during the 20th-century space race. Its hard to imagine that a period shorter than a single human lifespan bridges the gulf between the first powered airplane, hand-built out of wood and fabric by a pair of Dayton, Ohio, bicycle shop owners, and the first Moon-bound spaceships, jointly constructed by some 400,000 people working across an entire nation, writes essayist Roger D. Launius.

Whereas Russias space race found its roots in mysticism  Russias godfather of rocketry, the cosmist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, lived in a log cabin and dreamed of eternal life among the stars  American astronauts were often shown as military men, death-defying test pilots, cowboys of the sky extending manifest destiny to the moon.

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Magnificent sight out here. Neil Armstrong

The first half of NASA Archives reflects that vision of postwar America, flyboys with buzz cuts and aviator sunglasses, eggheads in headsets flipping switches at mission control. Much like the Damien Chazelle film First Man, we witness the unsung heroics of number crunchers and the daredevils who pushed their mind and bodies to the limit. A choice snippet from Chuck Yeagers October 1947 transcript, just moments before he was about to break the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 jet, says it all: Hell, yes, lets get it over with. Another moment recounts Neil Armstrongs and Buzz Aldrins thoughts as they took their July 20, 1969 lunar stroll. Armstrong: Magnificent sight out here. Aldrin: Magnificent desolation. Maybe the poet reached the moon after all.

Apollo 11 Command Module Pilot Michael Collins inspects NASAs Lunar Receiving Laboratory at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, where rock samples collected by Apollo were analyzed. (NASA)

An impossible dream

Theres a romanticism in the full-bleed images of Aldrins space-walk self portrait backdropped by the azure arc of Earths oceans, or the crew of Apollo 1 testing their space suits in a Texas swimming pool. Theres Margaret Hamilton, whose team at MITs Instrumentation Laboratory created the software for Apollos onboard computers, standing next to paper printouts of her code stacked as tall as she is. Because software was a mystery, a black box, upper management gave us total freedom and trust, she says, there was no choice but to be pioneers.

Looking back on the purity of that pioneering spirit  never mind the ongoing pressures of the Cold War or, if youre into tinfoil hats, the hidden-in-plain-sight cover that space tech afforded nuclear arms proliferation  theres a nostalgia for that unified time, whether you lived it or not.

There was no choice but to be pioneers. Margaret Hamilton

With ingenuity, and a blank government check, anything was possible. Says astronaut Alan Bean: We were so focused on one thing: making this impossible dream come true.

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A technician prepares to unlatch a small door built into the guide vanes of the Transonic Wind Tunnel at Langley Research Center in 2010. (NASA)

Inner space

The book is evocative beyond its extraordinary images. For some, its a journey into their own memory; the recollections of our own impossible dreams. As I turned the enormous pages, a Kodachrome slideshow of fuzzy images flipped in my mind.

Theres the smell of a hot-glue gun as my mother affixes an American flag onto the arm of a silver spacesuit. Its a Calico Corners pattern. I slip into it, I close my eyes as she puts my helmet on. I curl my toes into the carpet; Im a vertical baked potato, ready for liftoff. Its my earliest memory.

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NASAs Anechoic Chambers are among the quietest places anywhere on earth. Walls absorb almost all stray echoes, whether sound or radio. This 1972 model of a shuttle, being tested for radio characteristics, has thruster pods on the wingtips. (NASA/USGS)

I blink.

Now Im sitting cross-legged on the floor as our teachers struggle for the words to tell us the Challenger has just exploded. A teacher was on board, they say, her name was Christa McAuliffe. Her photo was later put on our library wall.

I blink again.

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Im a teenager. The local news announces a mysterious line of lights hovering on the Phoenix horizon. I walk outside and there they are, a floating V above the silhouette of our mountains. For a minute, I entertain the prospect of abduction, my last great chance for space, taking me away from our desert landscape speckled with saguaros and Circle Ks. The military said it was simply weather balloons, which was a standard coverup, according to X-Files. I close the book, and Im back in the present. NASA just tweeted that the Mars rover Opportunity is dead: We loved that rover.

Curiosity made this self-portrait on Aug. 5, 2015, by maneuvering the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on the end of a seven-foot-long robotic arm. Multiple overlapping frames were acquired, then digitally stitched together by image analysts at JPL. (NASA)

A last snapshot

Today our shared experiences happen on small screens and social media, but NASA Archives shows how space stoked our collective memory. Now theres no mystery to space. We have gone to Mars, it looks like Arizona.

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And somewhere along the way, space has become kind of embarrassing.

Our greatest discoveries have become meme-able jokes. The 2016 visit to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko revealed that the bulbous rock resembled a butt, an intergalactic occurrence that not even George Clinton could have predicted. When the mysterious object Oumuamua made a cameo in our galaxy, it looked like a tightly rolled space spliff. And then we get our first up-close images of Pluto: it has an enormous heart-shaped form on it; a planet-sized emoji punctuating the end of our solar system.

The awe-inspiring moments evoked from spaces heyday have become social media punchlines.

But in the pages of NASA Archives theres a return to wonder, and perhaps even a call to once again ponder the great beyond. As Tsiolkovsky once wrote: Earth is the cradle of the mind, but humanity cannot remain in its cradle forever.

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Apollo 9 CM pilot Dave Scott emerges from the hatch, testing some of the spacesuit systems that will be used for lunar operations. The photo was taken from the hatch of the docked LM by Rusty Schweickart in March 1969. (NASA)

::

The NASA Archives: 60 Years in Space

Piers Bizony, Andrew Chaikin and Roger Launius

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Taschen, 468 pp., $150

Tewksbury is the acting books editor of The Times.Sri Lanka is readying itself for the hosting of COP 18 of CITES in Colombo 2019. Known as World Wildlife Conference, the 18th Meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP18) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, attracts 183 parties (182 States + European Union) with the participation of up to 4500 to 5000 delegates & stakeholders.

In continuing demonstration of its consistent national commitment to the protection of the Environment and wild fauna and flora, as well as advancing progress in the Sustainable Development Goals to 2030, Sri Lanka is proud to host this major global conference in the Colombo, from 23 May  3 June 2019.

The Ministry of Tourism Development, Wildlife and Christian Religious Affairs, along with Presidential Secretariat, Ministry of Foreign Affairs & the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka in Geneva, has been making Conference related arrangements as well as substantive preparations for the CITES COP 18, fully assisted by the CITES Secretariat in Geneva.

Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka

Geneva

14th February 2019Within 24 hours of each other, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and District 1 City Council member Barbara Bry issued information about their respective recommendations surrounding motorized, dockless scooters.

The evening of Feb. 6, Mayor Faulconer posted on Twitter: Next week (Wednesday, Feb. 13) I will unveil regulations for dockless bikes and scooters. My office has been working with stakeholders on a set of common-sense rules focused on speed, parking and staging, rider education, data sharing, liability and fees that will be presented at the City Councils Feb. 20 Active Transportation & Infrastructure Committee meeting.

My proposal will set clear rules of the road for dockless scooters that will improve public safety and allow them to integrate more safely and responsibly into our transportation landscape.

On Feb. 7, Bry issued a memo to the chair of the Active Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, the Mayor, City Chief Operating Officer Kris Michell, and her Council colleagues stating: In February 2018, dockless bikes and scooters began appearing on the streets of San Diego. A year later, they can be found all over the City. The City has no information on exactly how many there are, where they are, where they go, and how many people, either users or pedestrians, have suffered injuries.

Other cities have been more proactive in dealing with this new technology, which has great potential to address first mile and last mile transit needs. These companies have raised hundreds of millions of dollars. They are making money using our Citys infrastructure and have only paid for a simple business license. This needs to change in order to ensure that residents and tourists are safe.

Brys proposal references the Mayors recommendations to explain how they differ, and notes that both proposals address scooter use in high-pedestrian areas including boardwalks in Mission Beach, Pacific Beach and La Jolla; the Embarcadero downtown; the promenade behind the San Diego Convention Center, Martin Luther King, Jr. Promenade; Balboa Park; NTC Park (Liberty Station); and Mission Bay Park.

While the Mayors proposal reportedly incorporates geo-fencing to limit the speed of scooters to 8 miles per hour, Brys call for an all-out ban.

There has been no evidence that slowing scooters down to 8 miles per hour eliminates or negates any safety hazards, Bry wrote. Therefore, I recommend that the committee advocate for prohibiting the use of motorized scooters in the (aforementioned) high-pedestrian areas.

Brys other recommendations include the City mandate percentage distribution of vehicles in certain zones to promote equitable access in all communities, develop an effective computerized system to ticket illegally parked dockless bikes and scooters to encourage enforcement, and recommends the Active Transportation & Infrastructure Committee investigate an appropriate per scooter fee to be paid by the respective companies.

Another area the Mayor and Brys regulations reportedly differ is on data sharing. According to Brys memo, the Mayors recommendation calls for scooter companies to report usage data monthly, whereas Brys calls for a third-party aggregator to collect reports as often as possible. And while the Mayors recommendations do not include operational and maintenance requirements, Brys include a multi-point list of requirements, including when scooters should be removed when parked in the right-of-way, listing contact information, customer service point-of-contact, and maintenance.

Lastly, Brys memo calls for an effort to amend AB-2989 (which states riders over age 18 do not have to wear a helmet) to require helmet wearing.

AB-2989 clearly granted local municipalities the authority to determine where scooters could operate, however, it was unclear on whether cities could require helmets on all riders, she wrote. Our Citys State Legislative Priorities should include an effort to amend AB-2989 to grant California municipalities the authority to regulate helmets at the local level.

It is not known whether Brys recommendations will be heard during the same meeting at which the Mayors proposals will be presented. This story will be updated as details become available.Help keep rents affordable at Front Street Apartments

The tenants of the Front Street Apartments complex (FSA) are encouraging you to support us in our efforts to keep the safety of our homes.

The owners of the FSA complex have elected to move from their former agreement to provide affordable housing for 50 years, cancel that agreement after 15 years, and they are now renting vacancies at market rates. This means that the rents are becoming $2,000 for a one-bedroom and $2,500 for a two-bedroom apartment).

The owners have chosen the date for the entire complex to be converted to the new market rates to be AUGUST 2019.

This change means that about 300 folks who now live at FSA and who are currently paying affordable rents will be required to pay the elevated rents, a difference of about $1,100 to $1,600.

The tenants are composed of families with school-age children, seniors, disabled and more, many of whom are now working two to three jobs to attempt to support their households and are now threatened with the prospect of being evicted to the streets of Lahaina.

Please, I beg of you, help us to remain in the safety of our homes.

CHI PILIALOHA GUYER, Senior Tenant, Front Street Apartments



Teachers enjoyed whale watch

Mahalo to Riley Coon, the Trilogy crew and Luis Fuentes, the chef and owner of Island Catering, for treating the teachers and staff of King Kamehameha III Elementary School to an amazing whale watch and great food!

Its not often that we get time to just hang out and have fun together. You made this happen through your generosity and support.

(And the whales were pretty amazing, too!)

TEACHERS & STAFF OF KING KAMEHAMEHA III SCHOOL



Five steps to help small town grocery stores

Grocery stores are a staple on rural main streets across the country. They provide fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, staple food items and even cleaning supplies, toiletries and over-the-counter medicine.

Weve heard from a few communities who are seeking solutions on keeping their grocery stores vibrant. So, here are some steps to start the conversation.

1. Get folks together in a community meeting. Make sure everyone has a say and feels included. If people have invested time, money and energy into a project, they will want it to succeed.

2. Listen. What does your community need? What kinds of products do people want to buy? If necessary, are people willing to volunteer time or invest money to make it happen?

3. Stack enterprises. Could your grocery store have a coffee shop, cafe, bank, post office or pharmacy attached? More businesses using the same space and utilities equal lower costs.

4. Provide the best customer service. Have a prominent suggestion box and a bulletin board where people can see the questions and answers. If a product is requested, see if you can carry it. Make the store a source of community pride.

5. Consider all ownership options. A grocery store doesnt have to be an independent retailer. It can be community-owned, a co-operative, or school-based. The Center for Rural Affairs has written a report on ownership models for grocery stores, which can be found at cfra.org/renewrural/grocery.

RHEA LANDHOLM, Center for Rural Affairs



Another billionaire presidential candidate who doesnt get it

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced he may run for president as an independent centrist candidate in 2020.

I have some concerns about billionaires, however well-intentioned, running the country.

For one thing, people generally pay a lot of attention to those who have more than them, but they are less aware of those who have less. A billionaire with just a private jet will compare himself to an even richer billionaire with their own private island. They dont have any idea what life is really like for a single parent raising two kids while working and attending night classes.

Social psychologists find that people usually believe they are responsible for their successes but blame their failures on external factors like bad luck or a sluggish economy. They also extend the same benefit of the doubt to people within their own group.

When looking at people in other groups, they are less generous. Then they tend to blame people for their own failures.

As a result, the rich generally believe that they worked hard for everything they have  but many think the poor are probably poor because theyre lazy. In reality, all peoples fates are due to both their own talents and efforts and their circumstances.

Think about Donald Trump. He was born to a wealthy and well-connected real estate mogul in New York. His father gave him millions, sent him to elite schools, trained him in the business and introduced him to the powerful people whose help he needed to succeed.

Would Donald Trump have gone anywhere in business if he were born to your parents? Very unlikely. But could you have done even better than Trump in business if you were born to his parents? Its definitely possible.

Trump, no doubt, believes his success is solely due to his own work and genius, but its undeniable that the circumstances he was born into played a role.

The same is true of those with less extraordinary privilege.

We need a government that understands the lives and struggles of ordinary Americans and can craft policies to help them.

Billionaires generally wont, regardless of their intentions, because its human nature to be generally clueless about those with less privilege than you.

JILL RICHARDSON, OtherWords, San Diego, CaliforniaLAHAINA  Maui County Mayor Mike Victorino congratulated Maui Arts League on its signature event, the Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational, which is coming up Feb. 16-24 in West Maui.

The County of Maui awarded the nonprofit organization a generous grant to support its mission: to showcase, cultivate and build appreciation for visual fine arts while creating unique opportunities for people of all ages, cultures and backgrounds to embrace the experience of enjoying fine art.

Mayor Victorino said, Now in its 14th year, the Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational brings Maui families free demonstrations, exhibits and art education experiences. I applaud the Maui Arts League for organizing this annual celebration of creativity and beauty  a family-friendly experience that can change lives.

The February event helps build appreciation for visual fine arts and creates unique opportunities for all residents to embrace and experience art up close. Im especially excited for the opportunities provided to our talented keiki to see successful artists in action. The County of Maui is proud to support this event that helps build a stronger community.

The Maui County grant supports the production of a 24-page event guide that will be delivered countywide to residents in The Maui News just before the event.

We invite students from all Maui County schools to attend our workshops and all Maui residents to attend our public art events during Presidents Week, said event Coordinator Katherine Kamaemae Smith.

Look for the event booklet, designed by Maui graphic artist Wilson Angel and printed by Island Printing, tucked inside The Maui News during the second week of February. We are so grateful to the County of Maui for helping us invite the entire county to this fun, educational outdoor art event.

The Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational runs nine days, from Saturday, Feb. 16, until Sunday, Feb. 24. The public will have three opportunities to closely observe 24 nationally acclaimed plein air (outdoor) artists finish oil paintings, pastels and watercolor Maui scenes in under four hours. Six public art sales offer everyone opportunities to meet artists and buy works they saw being painted.

The Pioneer Inn will host a public art history lecture by art historian Jean Stern, associate director of UC Irvine Museum and Institute for California Art. The finale weekend, Feb. 22-24, boasts a quick draw two-hour paint out and reception at the Royal Lahaina Resort and the Art to Heart ticketed awards banquet. A public exhibit and art sale of 175-plus fresh originals continue all weekend in the 4,000-square-foot Royal Lahaina Resort Ballroom with educational forums and art demonstrations by visiting artists.

Maui Arts League will also present two ticketed workshops for professional and amateur artists  one taught by Josh Clare and the other by Susie Baker. For further information on all Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational public events and how to purchase gala tickets, visit www.CelebrateArtonMaui.org.KAHULUI  On Jan. 31, students from Lahainaluna High Schools Lunas Robotics 3882 team, in partnership with Lahainalunas Career and Technical Education (CTE) program, attended the Patsy T. Mink Girls Summit at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center.

Funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Patsy T. Mink Center for Business & Leadership at YWCA Oahu develops leaders and promotes the economic advancement of entrepreneurs and women through innovative workshops and specialized programs.

Mink, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii, advocated for numerous issues, programs and projects, including empowerment of women.

Sponsored by Maui Economic Development Boards (MEDB) STEMworks and the Mink Center, the one-day summit was an educational and inspirational gathering for high school girls of all backgrounds to network with successful female leaders in the community.

The program was based on building interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) career paths. Through multiple workshops, including Financial Literacy, Engineering Design Challenge, Mentoring, and Advocacy, the young women explored different career fields, defined their personal ambitions and learned what it will take to achieve them.

The event kicked off with a keynote address from Deanna Garcia, corporate operations manager and Maui site lead for Akimeka LLC, an IT company on Maui, said Tracy Poouahi, Career & Technical Education Coordinator at Lahainaluna.

Garcia started her career as an MEDB intern at Akimeka, which was eye-opening for the students. I am glad that the girls were able to hear from a successful business leader, who stated that her career began with an MEDB internship at her company. Lahainaluna is expanding our current internship program, so the more that the students hear that internships can lead to success, the better.

Poouahi continued, Students were able to sit with mentors to learn about job interviewing, networking with peers, professional development and how to seek mentorship with professional women.

Vanessa Moreno from American Savings Bank, Lahaina Branch, and Brenda Shaffer taught the girls banking methods to help them successfully plan for their financial future. Moreno and Shaffer showed the girls how to set smart financial goals, analyze their spending, create a budget, learn strategies to follow their plan and how to monitor their plan.

Brenda and I are grateful to MEDB STEMworks for the opportunity to share our knowledge about finance at the 2019 Girls Summit, said Moreno.

Our goal for the workshop was to give these girls a foundation in budgeting, banking and credit, empowering them to make smarter financial decisions. We encourage families to have these types of discussions early to set the children up for success in adulthood.

Lahainaluna 11th grade student Siranny Lopez said, The finance workshop taught me to recognize and consider topics such as what we need versus what we want, how to do balance sheets, do online banking, secure good credit and more. This will all surely be beneficial to me in the future when Im planning my own finances.

Lopez described her overall experience at the Summit.

This was my first time at an event like this. I was nervous, but everyones kindness helped me relax and realize it was going to be a beneficial and fun day. We were introduced to our workshop topics  topics I barely knew about, such as how to prevent glue from melting during the Engineering Challenge. We were introduced to our women mentors and were able to have the chance to interact with them and learn how they got to their current positions.

Summarizing what she learned at the event, Lopez said, What I took away from all these women was that, even if I fail a thousand times, I just have to try again.

Their advice motivated me to try even harder at school. We were introduced to the advocacy topic and had the chance to express ourselves in any topic, whether it was about gun violence, equality and empowerment for women, drugs or other amazing issues that were mentioned. We were handed a microphone, one at a time, to talk about our topic. I came away from this day feeling that women can do anything. This amazing experience taught me that women are strong!

Anjanette Aveno, another Lahainaluna junior, attended the Girls Summit for the second time.

It was still as amazing as ever, she said. I was able to connect with other girls interested in the STEM field while learning how to do real-world procedures.

The STEM workshop was a Torch Design Challenge. Using the Engineering Design Process, the girls mission was to design a device that served as a protector for the Ares Vehicles.

Using aluminum foil and copper screening, they were challenged to design their device to withstand the heat of a blowtorch.

This workshop challenged the students to be clever and creative while using their critical thinking and communication skills. They worked in pairs to create their device and then were able to test it. The goal was to engineer a design that lasted the longest in the heat.

We also had finance lessons, job interview tips, mentoring sessions and advocacy training, said Aveno.

I feel that, through the Girls Summit, many of the girls voices were heard. They were concerned about everyday issues. All the lessons and discussions at the event will be super helpful in whatever career paths we choose.

Veronica Lara, Lahainaluna junior, added, I had an amazing day filled with advice and support from successful women who want to see all of us young girls be as successful as they are, one day.

From a wide array of activities, such as the STEM challenge, finance lessons, mentoring sessions and advocacy training, I was taught the importance of teamwork, support, speaking up and creating my own powerful statement. It felt great knowing there are women out there who care for our success and wish for us to rise up as leaders for the next generation.

Poouahi concluded, Lahainaluna is thankful to MEDB STEMworks and the Patsy T. Mink Center for providing this opportunity. Our students left the summit empowered to lead. This event was truly inspiring, and we hope to take more students in the future.

The Career and Technical Education program at Lahainaluna consists of six pathways: Arts & Communication, Business, Health Services, Industrial Engineering & Technology, Natural Resources, and Public & Human Services. All programs are currently seeking internship opportunities for the students.

To assist with providing internships, contact CTE Coordinator Tracy Poouahi by e-mail at tracy_poouahi@notes.k12.hi.us."The WFP (World Food Programme) still has not had access to the Red Sea Mills, which is frankly a tragedy," he told reporters at a regular briefing. "It's basically a quarter of all of WFP's weekly in-country wheat stock."

"It can feed 3.7 million (people)," he said. "The fact is that we have not been able to access it. The fact is that it is at risk of contamination ... whether it is vermin, rot or anything else. The use-by date is 2020, but, obviously, that's within a framework where the silos can be monitored, surveilled, which is not the case here. So it is a high risk."

On February 7, representatives of Yemen's internationally recognized government and Ansar Allah, the formal name of Houthi rebel fighters, reached a tentative agreement on the mutual withdrawal of forces from the city and port of Hodeidah and the opening of humanitarian channels.

The negotiators then took the "preliminary compromise" back to their respective leaders. Dujarric said the United Nations are waiting for responses.

"As far as I am aware both sides left the ship, went back to their leadership and we are still waiting to hear from them," he said.

Lt. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard of Denmark, who chaired the negotiations aboard a ship berthed in Hodeidah port, said he expected to reconvene the negotiators within this week.

The United Nations and its humanitarian partners are attempting to reach 12 million people in Yemen with emergency food assistance, the spokesman said.UK Alum Greg Capillo explains tips for intervening in tense situations to a group of students at the third installment of the Fighting Injustice 101 Training Series presented in the UK Dinkle-Mas Suite for LGBTQ* Resources in Lexington, Ky., on Feb. 12, 2019. Photo by Olivia Antigua.By Nam Hyun-woo





Starbucks Korea Head of Category Beverages Park Hyun-suk / Courtesy of Starbucks KoreaCoupang Senior Director James Lee, right, poses with HP Korea Country Managing Director Kim Dae-hwan after signing a business partnership at the Coupang headquarters in southern Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Coupang



By Baek Byung-yeul



Coupang has formed a business partnership with HP Korea as part of its ongoing campaign to strengthen its core competence and improve its organizational structure by working more closely with leading global enterprises.

Korea's largest e-commerce site said Thursday that its Senior Director James Lee signed a memorandum of understanding with HP Korea Country Managing Director Kim Dae-hwan a day earlier.

Under the agreement, Coupang can provide HP products to customers in a more stable manner by purchasing directly from HP. HP Korea, by cooperating with the country's biggest online sales channel, can offer a more differentiated customer experience such as fast and careful delivery to customers.

Coupang and HP Korea plan to provide various customer benefits by cooperating in online marketing, product advertising and affiliate websites, they said.

Currently, Coupang provides Rocket Delivery service on all HP product categories such as premium laptops, desktops, OMEN gaming laptops, monitors and laser printers, inks and toners.

The two companies agreed to expand the number of items available for Rocket Delivery.

"I'm delighted to announce Coupang's cooperation with HP and I will work toward expanding scope of business cooperation by establishing a long-term partnership,"Lee said.

"We will always strive to secure product selection and services that customers want to provide better shopping experience."

In response, Kim said HP customers' purchasing patterns have changed from purchasing hardware to services.

"Cooperation with Coupang has been providing fast and safe delivery and promoting customer convenience. We will continue to work harder to deliver a superior experience to customers who choose the HP brand," he said.

By Andrew Hammond





With a March 2 deadline approaching, the United States and China begin a new round of negotiations this week to agree on a breakthrough trade deal. Yet, this is not the only big foreign win Donald Trump is seeking this month as he also prepares for his second summit with Kim Jong-un.







The mood music and expectations surrounding both appears high, but each process remains fragile.







This week's negotiations in Beijing, which will be led by senior officials on both sides including U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, comes amid growing signs a deal is possible to avert a potential trade war.







Trump asserts a "very big deal" is on the horizon and there is a possibility he may himself travel to Beijing to try to seal an agreement with President Xi Jinping before or after seeing Kim in Vietnam.







Yet even if a China deal emerges, key questions remain about whether this will be any more than a temporary truce, or the potential beginnings of a bigger Washington-Beijing grand bargain which Trump says he wants, including in relation to Pyongyang. This uncertainty underlines that bilateral ties, overall, remain mixed with tensions not just in the economic realm but also in broader security and political relations.







Outside of North Korea, where Trump and Xi cooperated to positive effect during much of 2018 to bring Pyongyang to the negotiating table, a string of security issues still cloud the bilateral agenda. This includes South China Sea tensions.







Yet, it is economic disputes that are currently at the fore of the bilateral relationship. And here it is by no means certain that a U.S.-China deal will be done by March after Trump agreed late last year to hold off for 90 days from the planned increase from 10 percent to 25 percent in U.S. tariffs on some $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.







If the talks break down, the mood music could look very different. And Trump is already reported to be soon signing an executive order that will ban Chinese telecommunications equipment from U.S. wireless networks which will needle Beijing.







Trump has previously asserted that "China  has been very tough on our country  We probably lost last year 500 billion U.S. dollars in trade to China. Think of it: 500 billion."And it is this narrative that Trump may yet return to this year if he judges it in his political interests.







On the face of it, therefore, it appears too soon to dismiss the prospects that bilateral tensions will definitely subside in 2019 even if there is a trade deal. Ultimately, as Trump moves into the second half of his term of office, he needs to show his U.S. political base a wide range of concessions from China to seek to fulfill his "America first" agenda.







What he ideally favors  building on the recent diplomacy with Xi over North Korea  is a wider grand bargain with Beijing extending beyond the economic arena, where one of his key demands is to see the Chinese currency floated, to other security issues too. A big bargain of this kind could also have a broader positive effect on international relations, helping underpin a renewed basis for bilateral relations under the Trump presidency into the 2020s.







While this potential grand bargain is an agenda item for later in Trump's presidency, North Korea is a clear and present issue with the summit in Vietnam. Ever since Singapore last year, it remains an open question whether sustained moves toward "denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula will ultimately prove anything more than a mirage.







Yet, despite all the challenges, Trump is nonetheless likely to continue his Korea gambit with a potential 2020 re-election campaign on the horizon. This, along with his desire to cement a place in history, means the potential prize is likely to remain appealing in de-escalating tensions in the world's last Cold War frontier on a sustained basis.







At the heart of the apparent logjam, right now, between Washington and Pyongyang is not just the vagueness of the commitments in Singapore. There also may still be a fundamental difference between Pyongyang and Washington over what next steps are needed to build confidence.







It was always very likely that Kim would be wary about making big concrete commitments, at least initially, and want to win economic and political concessions from Trump before any reduction in nuclear capabilities, let alone committing to "full denuclearization." And in this context, Kim is reportedly looking for Trump to give his support for formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War.







On the face of it, this seems a simple, albeit very symbolic, step. Yet, some U.S. officials and conservatives in South Korea are concerned such a declaration would weaken the Washington-Seoul alliance and remove the rationale for the 28,000 U.S. forces stationed in the South.







Taken together, this underlines why February is such a big month for Trump. He could yet enter March on the crest of a foreign policy wave, or unexpectedly suffer plunging fortunes if talks with Pyongyang and/or Beijing crash.









Andrew Hammond (

) is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics





By Donald Kirk





Everybody knows Kim Jong-un has a lot to learn from the capitalist success of nearby Communist countries. No example is better than that of China, whose leaders have urged him to walk the capitalist road to success. His late father, Kim Jong-il, was photographed during trips to China traipsing around one project or another as living evidence that communism and capitalism could survive together, to everyone's benefit, at no risk to his grip on power.



Now Kim Jong-un has another chance to witness capitalism in action in a communist country. When he gets to Hanoi to see his good friend Donald Trump for their summit at the end of the month, his motorcade will take him past hotels and shops bearing capitalist names, glitzy reminders of the riches that await him if he just behaves and stops clinging to his nukes and missiles.



Kim's Vietnamese hosts can also assure him that a few capitalist enterprises won't deprive him of his communist credentials, much less the trappings of dictatorship. Look, they can tell him, we arrest troublemakers all the time, shut them up, give them a show trial and send them away for years for the crimes of criticizing us or doubting the munificence of communist rule. What better evidence that capitalism and communism definitely go together?



Kim might be open to such advice considering he's saying he now wants to press ahead with economic development while going easy on the military stuff. That's a great idea considering his economy is still a shambles, most of his people are ill-fed and hungry and the country suffers under sanctions imposed after all those nuclear and long-range missile tests.



It's not likely, though, that Kim is going to take the hint even if he's welcomed in Hanoi not only for a friendly chit-chat with Trump but also as a state guest of the powers-that-be. For one thing, Kim, if he's able to take a serious look around, will be shocked to discover just how capitalist Vietnam has become. Sure, the state sticks its hand into everything, but factories and shops, roadside snack stands and elite night spots are capitalist enterprises, living proof of the great transformation the country made from rigid communist principles to laissez-faire socialism and capitalism.



For another, as much as journalists and activists like to criticize Vietnam for its record on human rights, draconian though some of the penalties may be, the system isn't nearly as atrocious as that in North Korea. For a decade or two after the communist victory in 1975 we did hear terrible tales of the brutality, the hardships, inflicted on former officers and officials of the defeated Saigon regime.



Never, however, was there a gulag system in Vietnam so horrific as that in North Korea. The media, constrained though it is, is almost a free press compared with the North's propaganda mill. A majority of Vietnamese are Buddhist. Christians can still worship at the altar of God and Christ, not some ruler, not even Ho Chi Minh, the venerated founder who died in 1969 in the middle of the war. The notion of imprisoning or executing Christians for worshiping as they wish, as happens in North Korea, is seen as absurd.



Possibly the greatest shock for Kim Jong-un, if he has a moment to explore Vietnam's mixed system, is that Koreans are playing a role in making it happen. Upwards of 100,000 South Koreans live, work and study in Vietnam  about as many as in the Philippines. The figure for Vietnam is all the more striking considering that South Korean forces during the Vietnam War were reputed to have conducted massacres that researchers are still uncovering.



It's unlikely that Kim, while in Vietnam, will meet any South Koreans. He is even less likely to learn from their experiences as free-enterprising capitalists in a communist country than to hear what Vietnamese leaders have to say about their system. He may not want to know that Vietnam has gone through a transformation that remains unimaginable in North Korea as long as the Kim dynasty prevails.



Still, it's possible that Kim, as a guest in a country once divided between a China-backed communist "north" and a U.S.-backed capitalist "south," may wonder how communist Vietnam emerged as a relatively capitalist success while holding off Chinese influence and inroads. That's all the more remarkable considering that real freedom, the freedom to vote leaders in and out of power, to criticize the regime, to disagree and protest, does not exist in Vietnam. That's a paradox that Kim may hope to explore and emulate when he gets back home.





Donald Kirk (kirkdon4343@gmail.com), journalist and author, covered much of the Vietnam War and has been back to Vietnam a number of times since.

Main opposition continues to trigger public resentment



The Liberty Korea Party (LKP) said Thursday it would expel Rep. Lee Jong-myeong from the party for causing a public uproar for defaming the May 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju.



The LKP's ethics committee came to the decision after determining that a recent public hearing organized by Lee and Rep. Kim Jin-tae at the National Assembly about the uprising violated the spirit of the movement. Jee Man-won, a far-right political commentator, claimed the movement was instigated by North Korean troops to overthrow the South Korean government.



The party suspended disciplinary measures against Reps. Kim Jin-tae and Kim Soon-rye, who also defamed the protesters and their families. It will finalize disciplinary measures against these lawmakers after the party convention, which will take place Feb. 27. They used words like "riot" and "monsters" to describe the protesters. A recent poll showed that more than 50 percent of respondents believed the lawmakers should be expelled from the party for the derogatory remarks.



The party's response to the incident has fueled negative public opinion about it. The party's interim leadership apologized, but that has not subsided the people's anger, particularly in Gwangju. Civic groups based in the city, a traditional stronghold of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), and families of the victims of violent government suppression are planning to visit the National Assembly, Saturday, and organize a protest against the three controversial lawmakers.



Various state research institutes have been unable to uncover any North Korean involvement in the uprising. Previous court rulings have recognized that the uprising was a protest by Gwangju citizens against disorderly government rule following Chun Doo-hwan's coup d'etat. But social division over the uprising continues, almost 40 years after it took place.



Survivors and people who lost loved ones in the brutal military crackdown still carry painful memories. Conservatives' incessant distortions of the facts of the uprising have hurt the people of Gwangju for a long time.



The ruling party, the Bareunmirae Party and other minor parties are pushing for a bill to revise a special law aimed at punishing those who distort the history of the uprising.



It is disappointing that some lawmakers of the main opposition are still using this dark page of Korean history for political purposes. This goes against the spirit of national unity that society desperately needs right now. The incident shows that the LKP has not changed that much even after the shameful scandal that removed former President Park Geun-hye from office. The people will have no choice but to turn their backs on the party if it continues on this self-destructive path.





In his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump called for Democrats and Republicans to "embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise and the common good." But that appeal came with a catch: Democrats who now control the House must not conduct "ridiculous partisan investigations" of his administration. "If there is going to be peace and legislation," Trump said, "there cannot be war and investigation."



The president's demand is not only unreasonable, given the lingering questions about possible Russian influence over his campaign and his administration, it's also hypocritical.



Trump didn't object when Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) and other Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee essentially operated the panel as a public-relations arm of the White House. But now that the committee is headed by Democrat Adam Schiff, who has reopened and expanded the committee's Russia investigation, Trump is crying foul.



He tweeted: "So now Congressman Adam Schiff announces, after having found zero Russian Collusion, that he is going to be looking at every aspect of my life, both financial and personal, even though there is no reason to be doing so. Never happened before! Unlimited Presidential Harassment."



Actually, the committee isn't planning to examine "every aspect" of Trump's life. But Schiff has made it clear that it will explore a variety of questions, including some related to the president's finances (a subject Trump once declared to be a "red line" that investigators must not cross).



That ambitious agenda is justified and overdue, but it's also potentially explosive politically. For that reason, it's important that the committee under Democratic control not be perceived as being simply the mirror image of Nunes' partisan operation, dedicated to discrediting the president instead of defending him. Nor should its investigation be framed as a dry run for impeachment.



Schiff has said the committee's investigation would focus principally on "five interconnected lines of inquiry": what the Russian government has done to influence U.S. elections and how the U.S. government has responded; the extent of any links or coordination between Russia and figures in Trump's orbit; whether any foreign actor has sought or holds any kind of leverage over Trump or his associates; whether Trump or his associates are or were vulnerable to foreign manipulation, or ever sought to shape U.S. policy to advance foreign interests; and whether anyone has tried to obstruct investigations into these matters.



This suggests a dramatically more aggressive inquiry than the Republican-led House investigation, which reported last year that it had found "no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded, coordinated, or conspired with the Russian government." (In a dissenting report, Democrats claimed that the majority failed to call key witnesses and request pertinent documents, omissions the new majority presumably will seek to rectify.)



Perhaps the two most significant themes are the emphasis on Trump's business affairs and the focus on Trump's presidency, not just his campaign.



Schiff persuasively argues that these lines of inquiry fall squarely within the committee's counterintelligence mandate and that pursuing them is justified by evidence in the public record. That includes information about Trump's financial interest in Russia. For example, discussions over a possible Trump Tower in Moscow apparently went on well past the time when former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen told the committee that they had ended. (Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about that issue.)



The public's interest in these issues is clear. A president shouldn't be influenced in his policy decisions by his financial pursuits; it's legitimate for Congress to ask if that is the case with Trump.



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 he's 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.



The questions that Schiff has teed up for the committee are serious. Republicans as well as Democrats should be interested in the answers.





The above commentary appeared in the Los Angeles Times. It was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.



By Mariel Garza





Jerry Brown must be stomping around his Colusa County ranch at the moment. His successor, Gov. Gavin Newsom, just threw two of Brown's 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: "Let's 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.)



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.





The above piece appeared in the Los Angeles Times. It was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.





By Lee Kyung-min







KB Kookmin Bank CEO Hur Yin will be taking an eight-day trip to South East Asian countries to check on moves for the bank's overseas expansion, KB said Friday.







Hur will leave for Indonesia Feb. 14, and will then visit India and Vietnam before returning home Feb. 21.







"The primary focus of the visit is to make sure our business plans in the key areas are proceeding without any problems," a KB official said.







His trip comes about six months after KB acquired a 22 percent stake in Bank Bukopin in Indonesia and became its second-largest shareholder.







KB signed an agreement in June 2018 to purchase new shares issued by the Indonesian bank, which was approved by the country's financial authorities.







"A number of visiting senior officials are seeking various ways to boost cooperation with local officials. We will set up a mid- to long-term strategy for effective management there," the official added.







The expansion in Indonesia will help the bank establish a stronger presence in other Southeast Asian countries nations, including Cambodia and Myanmar.







"It is our mission to maintain stable profit generation which will require strengthened capability through systemic and well-organized management," the official said.







"We will continue our efforts to identify new, sustainable growth engines overseas by finding business models that can maximize synergy with our partners in the respective countries our businesses are based in."

Temporary Korean language instructors hold up signs calling for better job security outside Seoul National University Cultural Center, as the inauguration ceremony for the new university head Oh Se-jung took place inside, Feb. 8. Courtesy of SNU labor union



By Lee Suh-yoon



Korean language programs for exchange students and foreign residents have boomed in recent years with the global popularity of Korean culture. The number of foreign students coming to the country for language programs surpassed 40,000 last year.



But the instructors who teach these certified Korean language classes to foreign students at prestigious universities here still lack basic job security, fearing sudden dismissal or a cut to assigned class hours whenever they renew their temporary contracts.



Kim, a Korean language teacher in her 40s at the Seoul National University Language Education Institute (SNULEI), has worked there for nine years on a series of temporary contracts.



Kim and dozens of other instructors who have taught Korean language programs at SNULEI for many years  to around 3200 foreign students annually  must renew their contracts with the school every six months.



Despite the poor working conditions and job insecurity, Kim said in a phone interview, "We have similar responsibilities to other contract instructors teaching Korean students, participating in course development and holding meetings with other instructors teaching the same class in rotation. We are also not allowed to hold part-time teaching posts elsewhere."



The situation is similar at other schools.



Most of the instructors at the Korean language center run by Korea University are hired on temporary contracts that must be renewed every three months. Kyung Hee University's case is worse, with 80 percent of the instructors not even offered formal employment contracts, simply relying on verbal agreements with the professors there.



But few dare to speak up in case the school assigns them fewer class hours  a decisive factor in their monthly pay, which is usually below the minimum wage level.



Even in the case of SNULEI, which pays a higher hourly wage than other universities at around 40,000 won ($35), Kim and 38 other irregular Korean instructors earn just about 1.7 million won a month as each of them is assigned just 12 to 15 hours of teaching per week.



"At least my husband is employed. The unmarried instructors at the institute have a much harder time paying their bills," Kim said. "Many instructors hold a Ph.D. in Korean language education and we spend hours outside the classroom to prepare classes, attend LEI meetings and grade students' work  these hours don't count because the school maintains the notion that we are part-time instructors rather than full-time teachers at the center."



Such a practice has been possible due to a legal loophole in their status  they are not "instructors" as defined by the Higher Education Act because they do not teach regular courses at the universities, according to the education ministry's interpretation in 2011.



Thus they are treated as "workers" at the universities, but the schools withhold permanent employee contracts even though the instructors are de facto full-time workers, because they can save costs by not offering stable wages and permanent employee benefits such as health insurance and paid sick leave.



Kim says the instructors have been edged recently toward even greater financial insecurity, as schools increasingly limit their weekly teaching hours to sidestep new regulations that force education institutions to switch temporary instructors who teach more than nine hours a week to permanent staff  coming into force in August.



"My institution cut down the weekly teaching hours from around 16 hours to 12 hours, saying there were fewer students," Kim said. "But it suddenly hired new instructors  which is a strange thing to do if student enrollment actually fell. I think they were just trying to lower total teaching hours per person."



As the controversy drew media coverage, former students of the Korean language centers are speaking out against the unfair hiring practices.



"My Korean teacher Choi Young and her fellow colleagues at the Korean language center run by Korea University were all temporary employees  even back in 1991," Vladimir Tikhonov, a prominent left-leaning Korean studies academic and a professor at the University of Oslo, said in a recent Facebook post in support of the Korean instructors at universities.



"My students also learn Korean at these various language institutes run by Korean universities on exchange programs. What will they think when they know their teachers are being exploited on six-month contracts and monthly wages of 1 million won to 1.6 million won?"

* The Australian government has suffered an historic defeat, losing a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives for the first time since 1941. The Opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) joined forces with the Greens and independent Members of Parliament (MPs) to pass the medical evacuations bill by 75 votes to the governing Liberal-National Party coalition (LNP)'s 74.

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on February 12 against US intervention in the internal affairs of Venezuela, including the use of force. Lavrov made the remarks in a phone conversation with Pompeo at the initiative of the US side, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

* Uruguayan Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa on February 12 reiterated his country's commitment to a "negotiated solution" to the existing crisis in Venezuela as well as its refusal to recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as the "interim president."

* US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Polish Foreign Affairs Minister Jacek Czaputowicz discussed the presence of US troops in Poland during their meeting in Warsaw on February 12.

* A UN official on February 12 expressed disappointment over the lack of progress in the situation in eastern Ukraine, particularly the failure to implement the Minsk agreements.

* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed on February 12 night to Poland to attend the Warsaw Conference on the Middle East. Some 80 countries, including about 11 Middle East countries, have confirmed their participation in the conference which will be held on Feb. 13-14. Lebanon and Iran have condemned the meeting as an "anti-Iran circus."

* The US 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.

* The European Parliament adopted on February 12 by an overwhelming majority the new fisheries deal between Morocco and the European Union (EU), Morocco's official MAP news agency reported.

* To enable "rapid market access to LNG in Germany", economics minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) presented a draft paper for a change in energy industry law at a conference on the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) import market with US representatives on February 12.

* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 12 warned Iran that Israel has missiles that could reach the Islamic republic.

* The US public debt has reached a record high of more than US$22 trillion, according to data released by the US Treasury Department.

* 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.

* Wildfires have destroyed 41,200 hectares of forest land in southern and central Chile, the country's National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) said on February 11.Rep. Hong Young-pyo, fourth from left, the floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and youth representatives from four political parties  the DPK, the Bareunmirae Party, the Party for Democracy and Peace (PDP) and the Justice Party  rally at the National Assembly, Thursday. / Yonhap



By Park Ji-won





Rep. Lee Jong-myeongBy Lee Min-hyung





Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo kicked off Thursday his six-day visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to enhance defense industrial ties by joining a global defense exhibition there.







On his UAE visit, Jeong will participate in the biennial International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) where he plans to meet with a group of defense chiefs from not just the country, but Oman, Egypt and Greece, according to Korea's Ministry of National Defense.







More than 1,500 defense companies from 70 countries will take part in the global event, seeking defense industrial ties. In Korea, thirty defense players, including Hanwha, LIG Nex1 and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), will exhibit their products during the five-day fair which will begin on Sunday in the UAE's capital city of Abu Dhabi.







"UAE Defense Minister Mohammad Ahmed Al Bowardi sent an official invitation for Jeong to join the defense fair where he will spare no efforts in promoting Korean defense firms," a defense ministry official said.







Upon taking office in September last year, Jeong has pledged to support local defense companies to strengthen their global competitiveness at a crucial time when the Korean defense industry faces growing uncertainties due to local defense giants' falling profits.







In December, he held a meeting with 13 heads of Korean defense companies to listen to their difficulties and help them raise a global profile to tackle their declining profitability.







IDEX is the largest and most influential defense exhibition in the Middle East where demands for defense products remain high.







"The Middle East is one of the most attractive markets for Korean defense firms along with South America and Southeast Asia," a defense industry official said. "In particular, one striking upside of the Middle East market is that rich countries there have enough purchasing power for defense products."







During the trip to the Middle East, Jeong also plans to visit the Korean military unit there, the Akh Unit, and encourage soldiers dispatched to the troop, according to the defense ministry.







U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha / Yonhap



By Kim Bo-eun



Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa met with her U.S. counterpart Mike Pompeo in Warsaw, Thursday, to discuss measures regarding North Korea's denuclearization ahead of a second summit between Pyongyang and Washington later this month.



The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Ministerial to Promote a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East held there.



The two spoke about discussions U.S. Special Representative Stephen Biegun had in Pyongyang last week on the agenda of the summit. Negotiations narrowing down Pyongyang's denuclearization steps and Washington's corresponding measures are set to follow next week.



The ministers also discussed South Korea's share of defense costs in the Special Measures Agreement that covers the cost of stationing U.S. troops here.



After the two countries signed an agreement Sunday for Seoul to pay 1.03 trillion won this year, U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that South Korea needed to pay more, and stated it agreed to pay an additional $500 million.





A firefighter pours water into the burnt-out store in the middle of the Euljiro 4-ga area in Jung-gu, Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk





The fire occurred in the hardware store-concentrated neighborhood on Thursday afternoon. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk





A bystander watches the massive clean-up. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



Fire out at a hardware store in Seoul's central Euljiro neighborhood Thursday caused traffic congestion in one of the oldest towns in the capital city. No casualties were reported.



The fire started about 12:35 p.m. in the store on the first floor of a two-story building in Euljiro 4-ga.



No one was injured, but the blaze spread to several nearby shops and thick smoke caused further congestion in the cramped streets.





A fireman takes a drink break at the fire scene. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk





A policeman watches over congested traffic near the fire scene. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulSuspicions of repeated use of date rape drugs at the Burning Sun nightclub in southern Seoul are becoming more serious. / Yonhap



Nearly 20,000 people petition to punish Burning Sun operators



By Kim Jae-heun



Suspicions of repeated use of date rape drugs at the Burning Sun nightclub in southern Seoul are becoming more serious, after recent testimony alleged club staff drugged young women to help their VIP customers rape them.



A man who claims to be a VIP member of the club said staff at the Burning Sun regularly texted their rich customers to visit as they had women "ready" for them, according to local broadcaster MBC, Wednesday.



He said that on one occasion a staff member sent him a picture of a naked, unconscious woman, adding that she was ready for him.



"They talk like they are talking about food or something. Staff there say they also have sex with women after drugging them so they fall unconscious," he said.



It is suspected that the date rape drug, gamma-hydroxyButrate (GHB), is being frequently administered at the club. The drug acts as a psychoactive neurotransmitter that induces intoxication, mild euphoria and grogginess, as well as consequential memory loss.



"A few days later, the staffer sent me another text message with a video clip showing an intoxicated woman being raped. He told me the women did not know they were being filmed because they were drugged," the customer said.



He added that he received these kinds of text message and photos once every two weeks for five months until December. They were sent usually at 10 p.m. when the nightclub opened.



The man also revealed that staff at the club select young women to drug for rich Chinese customers who spend 30 million won ($26,661) a visit.



"They told me they drugged young girls for Chinese VIPs and received big tips in return," he said.



Following increased reports of such illegal activity, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency questioned Burning Sun CEO Lee Moon-ho, Wednesday, about the allegations.



Officer also searched the club Thursday, to seize evidence of the alleged drug use, as well as Yeoksam Police Precinct near the club for alleged corrupt ties with it.



Earlier a customer raised suspicion that police officers there were "protecting" the club operators and overlooking their illegalities. He claimed he was trying to stop the sexual harassment of a female customer but club staff members attacked him. Police officers, whom he called for help, also attacked him instead of apprehending the staffers.



Nearly 20,000 people have signed a petition on Cheong Wa Dae's website calling for a thorough investigation and the punishment of those found responsible.



The club was known as "Seungri's Club," as the member of K-pop group Big Bang was reportedly the owner. But after this allegation emerged, staff said the star was not an owner but did participate in management of the club.



By Park Si-soo







Lee Woong-yeul, former chairman of Kolon Group, will stand trial for allegedly stashing "hundreds of thousands of shares" in accounts registered under others' names in violation of multiple financial laws, according to reports.







said Thursday the Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office recently indicted Lee, 63, on violation of the Financial Market Act and the Real-name Financial Transaction Act.







The allegedly concealed shares are believed to be an unreported gift from his late father, Lee Dong-chan, which should have been subject to inheritance tax, according to Newsis.







A key charge raised against him is an alleged false declaration of shares in his possession. Prosecutors didn't charge him with tax evasion, citing the Supreme Court's past ruling that the act of having shares in borrowed accounts itself is not unlawful.







The prosecution began an investigation into the tycoon after receiving tips from the National Tax Agency that audited the company in 2016.







Meanwhile, Lee stepped down as the group's chief in January after leading it for 23 years.

By Kang Seung-woo







The presidential office, the government and the ruling party agreed Thursday to test-run an autonomous police system in five jurisdictions and regions within this year, before putting it into full operation nationwide by 2021.







Under the plan, 43,000 police officers will be placed under the direct jurisdiction of police agencies with regard to duties related to traffic law enforcement and the investigation of sex crimes, and school and domestic violence.







The current National Police Agency will be in charge of matters related to security, intelligence gathering and foreign affairs, counterterrorism and serious crimes such as murder.







The local police agencies will be placed under the direct control of local governments, which means mayors and governors will have the authority to appoint autonomous police chiefs.







"The municipal police system will be test-operated in Seoul, Sejong and Jeju Island and two more areas that are being discussed," said Rep. Cho Jeong-sik, the chief policymaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, in a briefing at the National Assembly in Seoul after the three-way meeting.







Cho Kuk, the presidential secretary for civil affairs, and Interior and Safety Minister Kim Boo-kyum also attended the discussion.







The system was one of President Moon Jae-in's campaign pledges in the 2017 election.





Emergency vehicles come out from a Hanwha chemical factory in Oisam-dong in Daejeon's Yuseong-gu District, where an explosion killed three factory workers and injured one in Thursday morning. News1



Three are dead after a chemical factory run by a major conglomerate exploded and caught fire, firefighters said Thursday.



The explosion occurred at 8:42 a.m. at a Hanwha factory in Daejeon, a city located about 143 km south of Seoul.



Three employees have been confirmed dead, the authorities said, with no further details known yet about the victims.





Over 40 fire vehicles were mobilized to put out the blaze at a Hanwha chemical factory in Oisam-dong in Daejeon's Yuseong-gu District, Thursday. YonhapOpposition supporters carrying a cardboard cut-out of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido take part in a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government and to commemorate the Day of the Youth in Maracaibo, Venezuela February 12, 2019. Reuters-Yonhap



The South Korean government issued another statement Thursday urging democratic measures to resolve the protracted political crisis in Venezuela.



"The government expresses concern that serious political chaos continues surrounding the results of the presidential elections in Venezuela in May last year," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.



It called on the Latin American country to hold "democratic, transparent and trustworthy" presidential polls at an early date in accordance with constitutional procedures.



Through the process, South Korea hopes Venezuela will clear up the chaos and conflict and restore stability, it added.





This combination of pictures created on February 13, 2019 shows the new president of Venezuela's National Assembly Juan Guaido (L) gesturing during his inauguration ceremony in Caracas on January 5, 2019, and Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (R) gesturing during a meeting with students at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, on November 21, 2013. AFP-YonhapUnder the theme Refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons: Towards durable solutions to forced displacement in Africa, the top agenda of the 2019 AU Summit focused on discussing an array of refugee-related issues, as well as the AUs ongoing reforms, peace and security in the region. The conference called on member states to make greater efforts to achieve progress in intra-bloc free trade, the building of peace and security, and institutional and financial reforms within the AU. Taking place in the context of an increasingly gloomy migration picture, the summit set the goal of working out solutions aiming to block from the source all the causes of the migration wave, which is severely affecting the social and economic life of Africa.

Despite having to face social, economic and security challenges, Africa is currently home to nearly a third of the worlds refugees and internally displaced persons. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Sub-Saharan Africa hosts more than 26% of the worlds refugee population. This figure has increased in recent years due to ongoing crises and conflicts in the Central African Republic, Nigeria, South Sudan, Burundi and Yemen. Conflicts across Africa have forced 20.8 million people to live in exile. The burden from migrants has caused a significant impact on the inherently fragile economy of many countries, which are in a very fragile state. Although Africas economic growth continues to improve, with an estimated GDP growth rate of 3.5% in 2018, it still remains hard for the dark continent to afford to cope with the challenges. Of the total 43 countries in the world with an average poverty rate higher than 18%, about three-quarters are in the southern Sahara, with an average poverty rate at 41%. As forecast by the World Bank (WB) forecast, even in the most favourable circumstances, the average poverty rate of the countries in this region will remain at the two-digit level.

Ending conflicts, creating jobs and sustainable development are the issues that Africa should strive to achieve in order to eradicate the wave of migration. However, as for the dark continent, it is a big challenge to find cures for the chronic diseases of conflict and poverty. Taking over the rotating presidency of the AU in 2019, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi affirmed that he will try his best to achieve the objectives set at the conference, including the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), the reforms of the UN Security Council, the relocation of migrants and the creation of more jobs for the young labour force across the continent. The Egyptian President outlined the goal of economic integration in Africa which considered a solution to many of the problems faced currently. The top priority in Africas economic integration plan is AfCFTA, which is expected to be officially activated in the AU Summit this July. The deployment of AfCFTA not only supports cross-border cargo flows across the continent but also promotes the exchange of intellectual capacities among African countries, while upholding social values. The new AU President also affirmed his focus on challenges such as combating climate change and terrorism. The conference called for dealing with the root cause of extremism, while warning of the spread of terrorism in the Sahel region.

In an effort towards an Africa without gunfire from 2020, the AU has been actively coordinating with the United Nations to resolve and prevent conflict. The promotion of AU reforms and solidarity between African countries will be the focus that Egypt pursues as the rotating Chairperson of the AU. This is also considered an important factor to achieve the set goals, aiming to make the dark continent a bright spot in the fight against poverty and conflict for a prosperous Africa.U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the Missile Defense Review announcement at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 17. AFP-Yonhap



By Kim Yoo-chul



U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed to have averted a major conflict with North Korea through a blend of engagement, economic sanctions and threats of military action. But some U.S. politicians and experts appear skeptical about the North's "genuine intentions" as a second summit between Trump and North Korean leader KimJong-un looms.



The outcome of the second summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may be determined more by the ability of each side to respond to each other's weaknesses than by the ability to project strength, they said.



Scott Snyder, a director of the program on U.S.-Korea Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), said both Trump and Kim may view their second summit as a mutual affirmation of strength, in which Trump gives the North Korean leader further international legitimacy.



"North Korea has made superficial gestures but resisted U.S. demands and waited for the value of the U.S. offer to go up. North Korea has put all its chips on Trump, but unless the leaders' personal relationship is accompanied by government-to-government talks, it will be impossible to overcome mutually hostile relations between the two countries," Snyder said.









Shin Bum-chol, an expert from the Asan Institute, said, "There are still huge gaps between the United States and North Korean positions." He mentioned a recent assessment on North Korea by chiefs of U.S. intelligence agencies, who claimed the North was unlikely to entirely dismantle its nuclear arsenal.



"Economic sanctions placed on the North constrain Kim's plans for economic improvement and also block investment inflows from foreign capital. As reconciliation with the U.S. is the only card for Kim to remove the biggest hurdle preventing his regime's economic prosperity, the question is how the United States will use this leverage, effectively and wisely, which I think is quite challenging," Shin said.



In a recent meeting with a group of South Korean lawmakers led by National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang in Washington, D.C., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Kim intends pursuing "demilitarization" of South Korea rather than denuclearization.



"Pelosi told the participants that the first Trump-Kim summit in Singapore last year was just a present for Kim and added now is the time to see evidence, not a lot of words," Na Kyung-won, floor leader of the country's main opposition Liberty Korea Party, told reporters. "Speaker Pelosi also told us that the first Trump-Kim summit produced no results.



Na, who was one of the members of the parliamentary delegation, added, "At the very last moment of the meeting, Pelosi said she was hopeful but not optimistic about the outcome of the upcoming Trump-Kim meeting to be held later this month in Hanoi, Vietnam."





North Korean official Kim Yong-chol prepares to leave Beijing International Airport, Jan. 17. AP-YonhapU.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addresses a press conference in Budapest on Feb. 11. He cautioned U.S. allies against using equipment from Huawei on their soil. AFP



By Jung Min-ho



Korea is increasingly feeling pressure to take the side of either the United States or China over Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei, which Washington sees as a security threat to its people and allies.



Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned countries using equipment from Huawei during his visit to Hungary, saying their partnership with Huawei could damage their future relations with the U.S. government.



"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 Monday. "We want to make sure we identify the opportunities and the risks of using that equipment. And then they will get to make their decisions."



Although the message was not aimed at particular countries or companies, Korea has a good reason to be worried after the country's No.3 mobile carrier LG Uplus started setting up Huawei equipment here for the next generation of wireless networks, also known as 5G.



If everything goes as planned, LG Uplus customers will be able to use 5G services from next month.



The Korean government is apparently aware of the great risks posed by the issue and tries to tread carefully.



A day after Pompeo's remarks, a Cheong Wa Dae official refused journalists' requests to comment on the issue.



Huawei, founded in 1987 by Ren Zhengfei, a former engineer at the People's Liberation Army, denies that the company has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party or has any intention of designing equipment to facilitate eavesdropping, as widely suspected.



But many experts say no Chinese company is fully independent of its government, which can legally require companies to help with gathering intelligence.





The U.N. Security Council has granted sanctions exemptions to two French nongovernmental organizations for the provision of humanitarian assistance to North Korean children and people with disabilities.







A U.N. committee handling sanctions on North Korea granted the waiver for Premiere Urgence Internationale (PUI) and Handicap International late last month, according to the committee's website.







The list of goods approved for Handicap International, including crutches and wheelchairs, are worth 233,362 euros (US$263,300) in total, according to a document on the website.







Handicap International received a similar waiver last month for its project to reduce the occurrence of disabilities in children.







The list of items approved for PUI was not disclosed. The website said the goods will be used to improve children's nutritional status.







The approvals raised the total number of humanitarian exemptions related to North Korea currently in effect to 12. The exemptions are valid for six months.







Humanitarian activities are not banned under international sanctions, but related materials are subject to sanctions waivers from the U.N.







Aid organizations have said that multilayered sanctions imposed on North Korea for its nuclear provocations are affecting their operations through a disruption of banking channels, a breakdown in supply chains and delays in the transportation of goods. (Yonhap)



Yeonnam Sesame Oil is made with a recipe researched by Lee Hee-jun, the world's one and only sesame oil sommelier. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



Lee Hee-jun quantifies sesame oil, pursues globalization



By Kwon Mee-yoo



Lee Hee-jun, contents director of Yeonnam Bangatgan in Mapo-gu, Seoul, is the only sesame oil sommelier in the world.



He visits master sesame oil makers around Korea and quantifies each recipe to preserve and promote it. He also opened Yeonnam Bangatgan, a cafe and food culture space, last year to share the Korean sauce with a wider audience including the younger generation and foreigners.



Sesame oil, also called "chamgireum" in Korean, is a popular vegetable oil consumed across the globe, but Korean sesame oil has unique characteristics.



"There are only three countries that eat aromatic sesame oil  Korea, Japan and China. Its distinct amber color and smell come from roasting sesame. Other countries in the Middle East, America and Europe consume unroasted, cold-pressed sesame oil," Lee explained during an interview with The Korea Times, Tuesday.



Korea is one of the countries that use the most sesame oil, but the largest exporters of sesame oil are Japan, China and Vietnam.



"From the viewpoint of globalization of Korean food, I see the potential for Korean ingredients and sauces abroad. True globalization of Korean food cannot be completed without exporting condiments such as ganjang (soy sauce), ssamjang (soybean paste), gochujang (pepper paste), deulgireum (perilla oil) and chamgireum," Lee said.



Before becoming a sesame oil specialist, Lee was known as a traditional market docent, who researches and educates about markets.



"There are some 1,437 traditional markets in Korea and I've visited 1,011 of them over 10 times to meet the merchants and create archives of the markets. I visit each market multiple times because archiving a market is not a one-off event, but requires understanding of the commercial sphere as well as the lives of the merchants," Lee said.



As he gathered data on Korea's traditional markets, he took an interest in mills that grind rice and other grains for customers, as the pivotal store of a market.



"My data signaled that the mill is the store that lived throughout the life cycle of a market from the beginning till end. According to my research, the mill is the first store of 65 percent of traditional markets and the last store to survive in 75 percent of markets that became extinct," Lee said.



While sesame oil is one of the most used and popular cooking ingredients in Korean cuisine, Lee said sesame oil lost trust in local mills as there were had been incidents of the mills mixing other oils with the sesame oil in the extraction process, and lying about the origin of the sesame seeds.



"To restore trust, we need an expert with professional knowledge in sesame oil, so I started to research it," Lee said.





Lee Hee-jun, contents director of Yeonnam Bangatgan and sesame oil sommelier, poses for a photo in front of Yeonnam Bangatgan in Mapo-gu, Seoul, Tuesday. / Korea Times photos by Choi Won-suk



History of 'chamgireum'



While many consider sesame oil as a very Korean condiment, in fact Korea's self-sufficiency rate of sesame is only 6 percent.



"The rate was similar during the 1392-1910 Joseon Kingdom since sesame is more suitable for cultivation in a hot, dry climate. However, Joseon kings enjoyed sesame oil and the plant was grown to pay tribute to the king," Lee explained.



Lee looked up historical documents to find sesame oil recipes, but only could find writings about kings' fondness for the specialty oil, especially the 21st king Yeongjo (1694-1776).



"In the Annals of King Yeongjo, once he had sesame oil, all the sesame seeds in eight provinces were gone. Back then, there were no oil pressing machines and sesame seeds were hand-milled in a grindstone. They were able to extract very little oil with human pressure on a millstone," Lee said.



Lee is trying to restore the royal recipe for sesame oil, but he has found no documents remaining.



"Sesame oil is a common food material in Korea and no one thought of recording a recipe for such an ordinary item," he said.



So he is putting the puzzle together through oil pressers of Japan, China and the Netherlands, where Korea's oil pressing technique was passed down. "There pressing style is similar to that of Joseon sesame oil makers. Some of their documents are from Joseon."



Though technology developed, the core principle of sesame oil making is the same. "Sesame oil is extracted by pressure. In Joseon, grindstones were used to extract oil from sesame seeds and oil press machines were introduced in the 20th century."



"We might think that foreigners will dislike the strong nutty aroma of Korean sesame oil, but they respect Korea's food culture and are ready to accept sesame oil if proper guidance is given," Lee said.





Sesame Latte is a specialty drink of Yeonnam Bangatgan. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



He came up with a few pairing ideas to make sesame oil more widely used in Western cuisine.



"Sesame oil is not just a flavor enhancer for Korean bibimbap (rice mixed with vegetables). You can mix sesame oil with fig vinegar and pour the dressing over your salad or dip plain ciabatta or baguette in it. I think we can guide foreigners to sesame oil this way first and they will eventually use it in their food culture and lifestyle."



To export Korean sesame oil, Lee needed to quantify and document the oil making process.

"I visited and currently correspond with some 300 master sesame oil makers in Korea. They are on average 73 years old and most do not want to pass down the skill," Lee said. "I want to make a database of their world-class techniques before they pass away and the skill dies with them."



The secret of each sesame oil maker resulting in a different taste and aroma is the temperature of the roasting caldron.



"It's similar to roasting coffee beans. The 0.1 Celsius degree makes a difference. Most master oil makers rely on their senses, acquired though decades of sesame roasting and oil making. I try to quantify the process by recording and averaging," he said.



Sesame oil can be spicy, salty or even bitter. The taste can be decided by the roasting process as well as the seed's place of origin.



"We have visited all sesame-producing districts in Korea and each area has unique characteristics. Andong in North Gyeongsang Province is one of the largest producers of the crop and maintains stable quality and flavor. Sesame grown in inland areas such as Andong, Jecheon and Chungju taste softer and fresher, while sesame grown by the sea wind are more wild and rough. Sesame seeds from Hallim on Jeju Island produce saltier oil," Lee explained.





Interior of Yeonnam Bangatgan / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



Mill for new generation



Lee opened Yeonnam Bangatgan in March 2018 as an attempt to disseminate sesame oil with the public.



He picked a residential house in Yeonnam-dong and renovated it into a cafe. "When I surveyed each neighborhood of Seoul, there was no mill in Yeonnam-dong. The last mill was turned into a wine bar in 2017," Lee said. "This house was built in 1978 when sesame oil became popular in Korea along with the introduction of oil pressing machines. Before that, sesame oil was a luxury item in Korea."



Lee introduced a sesame oil brand for the cafe, inspired by King Yeongjo's recipe. To familiarize customers with the sauce, he also invented sesame latte and sesame ice cream.

"I hope Yeonnam Bangatgan will become a window to experience genuine Korean sesame oil full of characteristics," he said.



At Yeonnam Bangatgan, Lee offered sesame oil pairing events to expand the possibilities. "We have hosted events with salted pollack roe and beef and guests tasted each dish with and without sesame oil, relishing the difference," he said. "We also had sesame oil from various countries such as Korea, China, Ethiopia and Togo to understand regional differences."



Lee thinks providing specific information on sesame oil is the key to promoting it overseas.

"There are about 1,300 olive oil sommeliers in the world, contributing to the production, distribution and consumption of the oil. However, for sesame oil, I am the only one. I plan to introduce sesame oil to cooks and food researchers of the world."



Eventually, Lee hopes to export the Korean mill business to the world along with sesame oil.



"We can only export sesame oil, but bringing the Korean-style mill to the world will make expansion easier. Think about a Korean mill in New York's Chelsea Market like how international coffee roasteries and breweries made their way into Korea," Lee said.

By Kang Seung-woo







Imperial Palace Seoul offers new strawberry desserts



Delmar, the Imperial Palace Seoul's European-style cafe, presents a strawberry-themed promotion.



The Strawberry in Love dessert, comprised of four menu options, is an upgrade from its customer-favorite afternoon tea set. Its signature menu is "Strawberry after Dinner with Tea" that features a three-layer tray loaded with strawberry desserts and a tea tray set decorated in European style, accompanied by coffee or a Ronnefeldt tea.



For those who prefer champagne, the facility also offers two other options that replace the tea tray set with two types of champagne.



The promotion will be available from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., every day until April 30.







Vista Walkerhill launches pet-featured package



The Vista Walkerhill Seoul has come up with a package featuring an exclusive room for pets and their owners all year round.



Its Oh My Pet promotion allows owners and their pets to stay in a pet concept room along with a breakfast buffet for two. As its name suggests, it offers toys for pets and dog poo bags.



The room is full of various amenities for pets such as bed and pillow as well as towels, beverages and snacks.



The pet package is open to dogs weighing less than 15 kilograms and dog food is not offered.



Some of the package earnings will be donated to shelters for abandoned dogs.





Alcove Hotel Seoul hails new GM





The Alcove Hotel Seoul has named Luis Riestra as its general manager.



The property that opened on Oct. 15 is the first domestic hotel brand to use the booking system and loyalty program of French hospitality group AccorHotels.



Riestra, who joined AccorHotels Group in 2016, has worked in the hospitality industry in various capacities such as sales, marketing and market strategy in many countries, including Canada, Vietnam and Maldives.



He also worked at the Grand Hyatt Incheon, helping the property join the world's top three hotels in 2010.



Riestra said it was significant for him to lead the Alcove Hotel Seoul, given that it is Accor's first boutique hotel in Korea.



Young NongHyup Bank workers pose in front of its headquarters in Seoul, Thursday, with the banner promoting its recruitment plan to hire 360 new employees in the first half of 2019. The bank will accept applications and resumes via its homepage until Feb. 20. Courtesy of NongHyup BankCards for every inmate posted to each cell are seen on the wall at the Howard County Jail on June 28, 2018. Many cards have three inmates, in addition to those housed within an open dorm area. Tim Bath | Kokomo TribuneDeputy PM Minh made the remarks during his talks with DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and Ri Su Yong, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers Party and head of its International Department, as part of his official visit to the DRPK at the invitation of Ri Yong Ho from February 12-14.

Vietnam stands ready to share its experience in national construction, socio-economic development and international integration with the DPRK at its requests, he said.

The deputy PM also asserted Vietnams consistent stance of supporting dialogues in order to maintain peace, security and stability on the Korean Peninsula, as well as its willingness to actively contribute to the process.

For his part, Ri Yong Ho stressed his hope for stronger relationship between the DPRK and Vietnam as the two nations celebrate the 70th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2020.

He agreed to exchange measures to enhance the bilateral relationship suitable with the new situation.

The DPRK minister used this occasion to thank Vietnam for its stance and efforts in promoting the dialogue progress for peace, security, cooperation and development on the Korean Peninsula.

The two sides briefed each other about the socio-economic development of each country. They agreed to continue coordinating at international and regional forums such as the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, the ASEAN Regional Forum, as well as international conferences and forums among political parties.

The two sides agreed to enhance the exchange of viewpoints over issues of mutual concern such as the maintenance of peace and stability in the region.

Deputy PM and FM Pham Binh Minh (left) and DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho during their talks on February 13, 2019. (Photo: VNA)



At the talks with Ri Su Yong, Deputy PM Minh conveyed the New Year greetings from General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee and President Nguyen Phu Trong to the DPRKs leader Kim Jong-un.

He affirmed that based on the consistent foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development, diversification and multilateralization of international relations, being friend and reliable partners and responsible member of the international community, the Party, Government and people of Vietnam want to maintain and promote the traditional friendship with the DPRKs counterparts.

Minh congratulated the DPRK people on achievements that they have gained during the cause of national construction and development.

He took the occasion to invite Ri Su Yong to visit Vietnam to enhance the exchange and partnership between the two parties.

For his part, Ri Su Yong emphasised the Workers Party and Governments standpoint of treasuring the traditional friendship between the two countries as well as determination to promote the bilateral ties, which was founded and nurtured by President Kim Il-sung and President Ho Chi Minh, considering it as a valuable asset that need to be preserved and upheld.

He expressed his belief that Minhs ongoing visit will make important contributions to reinforcing and promoting the traditional friendship and partnership between the two parties.

Ri Su Yong spoke highly of important achievements that the Vietnamese people have obtained during the cause of national construction and development and in enhancing the countrys international status. He expressed his hope to visit Vietnam in the near future.

The same day, Deputy PM and FM Minh visited the Vietnamese Embassy in the DPRK.South Africa: Government to phase in digitised textbooks from next year

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says the department is ready to phase in digitised textbooks from next year.

The Minister on Wednesday participated in a debate on the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in the National Assembly in Cape Town.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a week earlier during SONA that over the next six years, government will provide every school child in South Africa with digital workbooks and textbooks on a tablet device.

The President said 90% of textbooks in high enrolment subjects across all grades and all workbooks have already been digitised.

We are excited about the Presidential Commission on the 4th Industrial Revolution that the President will establish, as we believe we are on the cusp of a digital revolution.

A comprehensive ICT plan has already been developed to provide a framework for an affordable and sustainable implementation of ICTs in education, which include digital content resource development (digitisation); ICT professional development for management; teaching and learning; as well as ICT infrastructure and schools connectivity, Motshekga said.

She said the department is encouraged by governments commitment to work with them on these plans.

As the President indicated during his SONA, in 2019 we will prepare the system for phasing in the rollout of the programme beginning with Quintile 1-3 schools located in rural communities and farms, especially multi-grade and multiphase schools, and special schools will be prioritised for the deployment of ICT infrastructure and resources.

Early Childhood Development

Motshekga said rolling out a quality Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme, as envisaged in the National Development Plan, is a priority for the country, with the intention of improving the quality of education and the long-term prospects of future generations and society as a whole.

She said in pursuance of the directive, the department has established a firm foundation for a comprehensive ECD programme as an integral part of the education system.

We wish to confirm that work has already begun to ensure a seamless and smooth phased migration of ECD and the declaration of a compulsory Grade R programme, with effect from the 2019/20 financial year.

There are 8.2 million children aged 0-6 years in South Africa, 2.4 million of whom are currently attending ECD centres and 700 000 are benefiting from publicly subsidised care. The expansion of ECD provisioning demands that we reach out to the 5.8 million children who may not be attending any ECD centre, the Minister said.

NHI Ideal clinics to be launched soon

Meanwhile, Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said the National Health Insurance (NHI) signals a transition in the health sector, where people will no longer have to worry about the depth of their pockets in order to access quality healthcare.

In his State of the Nation Address, the President said the NHI Bill would soon be ready to be introduced to Parliament and once passed into law, NHI will enable South Africans to receive free services at the point of care in public and private quality-accredited health facilities.

For the first time in the history of South Africa, NHI is going to make sure that receiving healthcare has nothing to do with the depth of your pocket, Motsoaledi said.

He said the NHI Ideal Clinics that have been under construction will soon be launched.

I am here to report to this Parliament that eight of the clinics built under NHI have been completed We are going to open them in March or April. Four are being built in Vhembe [in Limpopo] and in Gert Sibande [in Mpumalanga].

South Africa ready to assist in Zimbabwe

Also participating in the debate, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said Zimbabwe has been going through a challenging socio-economic situation, which has inadvertently had an impact on South Africa.

She said South Africa has engaged the government of Zimbabwe and has a clearer idea of the problem.

As such, South Africa stands ready to assist the country in addressing these challenges. We would like to express our strong support for the lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe in order to allow for economic development in the country.

Sisulu said, meanwhile, that one of the most remarkable things to have happened in recent times is in the area of economic diplomacy.

The African continent continues with its upward economic growth trajectory, with a projected growth rate of 4% in 2019, and 4.1% in 2020 respectively.

The establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in March 2018 will create the worlds largest single market of over 1.2 billion consumers, stimulate intra-Africa trade and investment, and grow GDP to US$3.4 trillion.

South Africa acceded to the Treaty at the recent AU Summit and looks forward to the industrial and infrastructural investments that will follow, the Minister said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.CRESTWOOD, Kentucky -- The Mansfield man who abducted a woman from The Ohio State University-Mansfield campus on Monday shot and killed his victim before authorities shot him to death, according to Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rick Perry.

A KSP spokesman told Richland Source on Wednesday afternoon that none of the bullets fired by authorities struck Skylar Williams, 20, late Monday afternoon. The autopsy showed a bullet from Pounds' hand gun in her body.

The spokesman said a KSP trooper killed Ty'Rell Pounds, 24, who had allegedly abducted Williams at gunpoint several hours earlier.

Pounds and Williams had reportedly been involved in a custody battle, and a paternity case had been filed within the Richland County court system.

At approximately 3:24 p.m. on Monday, 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 and 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 attempted to apprehend the subject, leading to the gunshots.MOUNT VERNON  The president and general counsel of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio, C. Todd Jones, will address Mount Vernon Nazarene University graduates during both traditional and Graduate Professional Studies commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 4, at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., respectively.

While serving on Ohios State Board of Education, Jones was part of the leadership team that created Ohios graduation standards, honors diploma system, new district report cards and the states first rules on the use of restraint-and-seclusion.

He was a member of the George W. Bush administration from 2001-05, serving in the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to that, he was the deputy assistant secretary for Civil Rights Enforcement and led the Presidents Commission on Excellence in Special Education.

The Rev. Bret Layton will be the featured speaker at the baccalaureate service on Friday, May 3, at 7 p.m. He pastored for 26 years before taking on the role of Vice-President of Advancement and Church Relations at World Gospel Mission in Marion, Indiana. In 2018, he was elected District Superintendent of the West Virginia South District Church of the Nazarene.

All three ceremonies will take place in R.R. Hodges Chapel/Auditorium.

For more information, visit www.mvnu.edu/commencement.Update Required

To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.Vietnam and Bangladesh established diplomatic relations 45 years ago. Since then, the two nations have maintained their traditional friendship and solid cooperation, and have observed important development steps in terms of both politics and economy.

Vietnam has always attached importance to and wished to further develop its friendly and cooperative relations with Bangladesh. The two countries have stood side by side and supported each other in their respective processes of national construction, sovereignty safeguarding, and economic development.Now that we sat down and I actually did it, theres more out there that I didnt know of and Im glad that I know about it, she said.

She enjoyed learning about why drumming is important in African culture.

It was all new information, and I like the fact that, since were learning something new, it brings variety, diversity, so were not all (unaware) of these things, she said.

Allontra Jones, a junior in the Leading Ladies group, felt like she was truly part of the music.

I felt like I had a connection to it ... and I dont feel that usually. I felt connected to my heritage, she said.

She said African drumming has parallels to the dance class she takes with a similar theme.

There was something about it, and you felt it throughout your body with the beats of the drum, she said, still moving in rhythm with what she learned during Cincottas session.

Robert Thiele, a sophomore at Bradford, said he had learned African drumming in elementary school and was among the few tasked with playing a bass drum called the djun djun during Tuesdays rehearsal.

Thiele said the drumming seemed to come naturally to him.

Because I believe that these are the songs that some of my ancestors used to do, so I felt like I had that rhythm stuck inside me, he said. Like it was passed down to me from them.

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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.Walkington, who ran against state Rep. Samantha Kerkman, R-Salem Lakes, in last falls election for the 61st District Assembly seat, said if elected she would move into Barcas district.

Walkington said she is committed to creating meaningful change for Wisconsin families and is a dedicated defender of access to safe and affordable health care.

The 64th Assembly District covers most of Kenoshas north and west side. It also covers portions of Somers and Mount Pleasant, as well as Elmwood Park.

The state commission will certify the nomination papers by March 11.

If a primary is needed, it will be held on April 2, in conjunction with the spring general election.

Kenosha County Clerk Mary Kubicki said the office had planned on having the ballots out to the various municipalities by March 11, so any primary for Barcas seat could delay delivery.

Its going to be a tight turnaround for us, Kubicki said.

Barca defeated Thomas Harland (Constitution Party) in November, earning 78.3 percent of the vote.

The special election winner will serve the remainder of the term.

Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 2 Angry 1A Lake Zurich, Ill. man is being held in Kenosha County Jail on $5,000 bond after being charged Wednesday with his fifth offense of operating while intoxicated.

Thomas D. Wilton, 46, was arrested Feb. 12 in Wilmot after a Kenosha County Sheriffs Department deputy pulled him over on Highway W near 114th Street.

According to the criminal complaint, the deputy was driving north on Highway W at 5:23 p.m. when he saw a pickup truck headed south toward him.

The pickup crossed over the centerline, forcing the deputy to stop and pull to the right to avoid being struck.

After the truck passed, the deputy turned around and pulled the truck over.

Wilton was alone in the truck. According to the complaint, he told the deputy he had hit a patch of ice, causing him to cross the centerline, and told the deputy he knew he was driving too fast for conditions.

Wanted on warrant

At the time he was pulled over, Wilton was wanted on a warrant for operating after revocation; his license was revoked in 2012 and never reinstated.For a fourth straight year, Carthage College is among the colleges and universities that produced the most Fulbright U.S. students.

Top-producing institutions are highlighted annually in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Carthage produced the most students among bachelors institutions in Wisconsin to make the new list, with six of its recent graduates winning Fulbright awards for 2018-19.

I am thrilled that so many of our students are earning Fulbright awards, said Carthage President John Swallow.

Their hard work at Carthage, in academically rigorous classes taught by wonderful faculty who engage them closely, is so worthy of national recognition, and I am so pleased that the students and the faculty who support them are being honored in this way.

Fulbright, the U.S. governments flagship program of international educational exchange, operates in more than 140 countries.

This years cohort of Fulbright fellows won English teaching assistantships to help local teachers with language instruction and serve as cultural ambassadors.

They also won an academic award to conduct independent research overseas.Lieut. Colonel Nguyen Kim Tinh, from the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations, was assigned to replace Major Do Thi Hang Nga, who has returned home after finishing her one-year working term as a commanding officer in South Sudan.

Speaking at the ceremony, Director of the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations Colonel Hoang Kim Phung said the agency has been active in preparing to dispatch its staff to UN peacekeeping missions.

Lieut. Col. Tinh expressed his honour to be directly involved in UN peacekeeping activities.

Tinh pledged to do well in his duty for the term, contributing to implementing Vietnams plan on joining in UN peacekeeping operations during the 2015-2020 period.

In his speech, Deputy Minister of National Defence Sen. Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh praised Major Do Thi Hang Nga for her contributions during her term in South Sudan, asking her to continue adding to consultancy efforts in the field of UN peacekeeping, especially in the preparation of female officers for the work in the time ahead.

He also asked Lt. Col. Tinh to learn from the experience of his comrades in order to perform well in his upcoming duty.

Vinh said Vietnam is making necessary preparations for the second level-2 field hospital and the engineer corp, readying them for UN peacekeeping missions.

In October 2018, Vietnams first level-2 field hospital, the first-ever independent unit of Vietnam to join the UN peacekeeping mission, deployed two groups of 63 personnel to South Sudan. The first group with 32 members set off on October 1 and the second group with 31 doctors left for the African country on October 15.

In June 2018, the UN recognised the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations as one of four international training centres in the region and agreed to carry out training under the three-party partnership (comprised of Vietnam, the UN, and a partner country).

The selection of Vietnam as a training venue for UN peacekeeping forces in Southeast Asia reflects the UNs appreciation of the nations commitment and the results it has recorded in UN peacekeeping participation.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The life of a college freshman is overwhelming, terrifying, and exciting all at once. Many bright-eyed students arrive on campus prepared for the next four years to be absolutely life-changing. They have so much to look forward to: getting to know new people, learning the layout of campus, finally having all of the freedom they desire, and, who could forget: mandatory sexual assault training.

While the college experience has been somewhat synonymous with drinking, partying, and having a good time, it has only recently been associated with sexual assault, and for good reason. 23.1 percent of undergraduate women and 5.4 percent of undergraduate men experience some form of sexual assault or rape in their time on campus.

Recently, many colleges have tried to curtail this epidemic by instituting one form or another of sexual assault training for students. These programs, aimed at teaching students about consent and how to protect themselves or others from unsafe situations, can come in many forms. At the University, this means taking an online course within the first few weeks of your freshman year. Other schools, like Southern University in Baton Rouge, Alabama, opt for an in-person training course.

The enactment of such programs, whatever they may look like, is certainly a step in the right direction. Where in the past many colleges swept sexual assault cases under the rug, many now take a more head-on approach. They want to provide their students with vital information, and start a dialogue about how everyone within the community can work to solve the problem. They don't, however, give students all of the information they need to accurately look at this issue.

The programs don't tell students that the National Institute of Justice lists being a sorority member as a factor that increases sexual assault risk, or that men in fraternities are more likely to engage in sexually aggressive behavior, or that one third of rapes that are reported on college campuses happen in fraternity houses.

There are a variety of factors that result in Greek life being a hub for sexual assault on campus. One could argue that sexual assaults are more likely to happen in situations involving alcohol, and that fraternity houses are simply better places to hold parties involving alcohol, as opposed to other on-campus housing options.

A study from the University of Arkansas argues the the culture surrounding Greek life is what contributes the most to its problem with sexual assault. They state that fraternity parties, which are run by men, put women in a subordinate position. This power difference could result in more sexual assaults.

Letter to the Editor: KU father urges assault victims to know their options Letter to the Editor from University of Kansas alumnus David Steen about resources available to those who are victims of sexual assault.

Others claim that it has more to do with the fact that Greek life, being closed off to people of lower socioeconomic status by requiring members to pay hefty dues, puts together groups of mostly wealthy people. A study from Florida State University found that this wealth can help to build the assumption within individuals that they stand outside of the law. This assumption could lead to a young fraternity member believing they could assault someone and get away with it.

All of these factors play a role in creating one end result, that is, that Greek life creates an easy place for sexual assault to run rampant. Greek organizations at KU have taken some steps to curb this epidemic. Some fraternity organizations have partnered with the Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center (SAPEC), which has resulted in many fraternity members undergoing extra sexual assault training. Greek organizations have also partnered with the Student Senate to create a fund for sexual assault survivors.

This work is appreciated, and encouraged. Its heartening to see people who are rising above their personal interests and trying to make campus a safer place for all students. However, its not enough.

Students should feel empowered with enough information to truly make safe and smart decisions while on campus. They should be able to hold institutions that create environments that foster sexual assault accountable.

The conversation about sexual assault on campus needs to continue, but it cant be a completely honest conversation when we leave out the role that Greek life plays in the problem. Every student should have this information readily available to them, whether theyre considering joining a fraternity or sorority, never plan on joining one, or are currently in one.

Brianna Wessling is a sophomore from Omaha, Nebraska, studying English and journalism.The House Judiciary Committee met last Tuesday, Feb. 5, to discuss a bill that would remove legal penalties to drivers who refuse to take a DUI test.Subscribe to our podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you get podcasts.The remark was made by Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Tran Thanh Man, who is also President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee, at a working session with the Vietnam Young Entrepreneurs Association.

At the working session, VFF President Tran Thanh Man affirmed that the Party, State, VFF and other branches are always interested in the activities of the country's young business teams. He also praised the efforts of the Vietnam Young Entrepreneurs Association in gathering more than 10,000 members across the country, contributing to the completion of the socio-economic targets of the country.

He stated that the association should quickly bring the Resolution of the 6th sixth national congress of the Vietnam Young Entrepreneurs Association in the term of 2018-2021 into practice, and promote the role of young businessmen for the development of the country.

The Association was urged create a breakthrough, continue to create innovation to catch up with the progress of science and technology in production, and meet the requirements of industrialisation and modernisation in the current period.Pakistan Red Crescent Punjab Restoring Manager Jobs 2019

Latest Pakistan Red Crescent PRC Management Posts Lahore 2021 Pakistan Red Crescent Punjab , Government of The Punjab is looking for Restoring Family Links Manager in Lahore. Interested candidate can apply. candidate must have experience in relevant field. Attractive salary will be given.

How to Apply on Pakistan Red Crescent PRC 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.LTV Taxi Drivers Jobs 2019 in Qatar

Latest New Gulf Pak Recruitment Agency Driving Posts Qatar 2021 A well known and reputed oversea company requires the services of experienced, strong and responsible persons for the posts of LTV Taxi Drivers in Qatar.

How to Apply on New Gulf Pak Recruitment Agency 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: 051-4854060-1

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.Thank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account.It is not just the smartphone market in China where Chinese OEMs are dominating and eating into Apples market share. The latest numbers from Canalys indicate that Chinese OEMs captured a record 32 percent of the European smartphone market in Q4 2018. A similar story played out in Thailand where Apple saw its shipment decline by over 50 percent.

In Europe, while Samsung continued to remain the market leader with a 28.7 percent market share, it saw its shipment decline by 0.2 million units. Apple also managed to remain the second largest smartphone vendor and shipped 14.7 million iPhones, a decline of 6 percent from last year.

On the other hand, Huawei and Xiaomi saw their market share increase exponentially. Huawei shipped 13.3 million smartphones in Q4 2018 and registered a growth of 54 percent for the entire year. Xiaomi also posted solid growth and saw its shipments increase to 3.4 million units in Q4 2018 from 2.1 million in the same quarter in 2018.

Huawei will likely displace Apple as the second largest smartphone vendor in Europe in Q1 or Q2 of 2019. The launch of the companys flagship P30 series in late-March should help in this regard. Xiaomi is also expected to continue its impressive growth as it continues expanding into more markets in Europe. It is expected to launch its flagship smartphone, the Mi 9, for the European market at MWC 2019.

As for Apple, until and unless it reduces iPhone prices in key European markets, it is likely to continue losing market share to Chinese OEMs.

A similar story has played out in Thailand, one of the largest Southeast Asian smartphone market. While Oppo and Huawei posted an impressive growth of 69.8 percent and 73.4 percent YoY, respectively, Apple shipments declined by 52.2 percent. Oppo managed to overtake Samsung as the smartphone market leader in Thailand thanks to the impressive performance of its F7 and F9 series. Huawei also did extremely well and shipped 645k smartphones in Q4 2018 which allowed it to surpass Vivo in terms of market share.

Our Take

While Apple primarily blamed the slowdown in iPhone sales in China for missing its Q4 2018 revenue expectations, its clear that iPhone sales are slowing down all over the world. The company is facing stiff competition from Chinese OEMs and until it gets around to reducing iPhone prices, I doubt it would be able to compete with them.

[Via CanalysWASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that Paul Manafort, U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, breached his plea agreement by intentionally lying to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the FBI and the grand jury.

Manafort "intentionally made multiple false statements" concerning matters related to Mueller's probe into the alleged Russia meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections, said Judge Amy Berman Jackson in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

At a d-door hearing, the judge said there was a "preponderance" of evidence that Manafort lied on three different topics, including his communications with his former business partner Konstantin Kilimnik, according to local media reports.

The ruling voids the federal government's obligations under Manafort's plea deal to offer him leniency in exchange for his cooperation in the Mueller probe. It also means that Manafort will not be credited for his cooperation with prosecutors.

Manafort, aged 69, was a veteran Republican lobbyist. He joined Trump's campaign team in March 2016 and spent three months as Trump's campaign chairman until mid-August of that year. He was convicted in a Virginia federal court trial on charges of tax and bank fraud last year and pleaded guilty in Washington D.C. on others.

Manafort was scheduled to be sentenced in Washington D.C. on March 13. Local media said he was also awaiting a sentencing date in Virginia.

[ Editor: WPY ]New Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs Valentina Salotti Feb. 12. Salotti has a PhD in Banking & Finance from the University of Bologna in Bologna, Italy. She came to Iowa State during her time abroad during the PhD program. She supposed to be at Iowa State for six months but ending up staying for her entire PhD program.President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday addressed the nation. The address which was specifically about the soon to hold general election saw Buhari canvassing for votes.

However, while reacting to the Buharis broadcast, Femi Fani-Kayode, a former minister of Aviation said he felt nothing but pity for the President.

He said via Twitter, minutes after thr broadcast that Buhari slurred through it, adding that the president doesnt need a second term but hospital.

I watched as Buhari slurred through his broadcast just now and I felt nothing but pity for him.

I asked myself look at what the troubler of Nigeria has been reduced to?He is a shadow of his former self and a pitiful sight. This man does not need a 2nd term: he needs a hospital.President Muhammadu Buhari speaking recently has urged Nigerians to live within their means and damn the consequences.

This is contained in a video which Mr President shared via his Twitter handle on Thursday. Buhari who is seeking reelection back into office on February 16th told his audience that he understands that everyone wants to live comfortably.

However, he stressed that anyone who wants to live comfortably must work hard to achieve that.

It is understandable that we all want to live comfortable lives. It is also important to realize that the most comfortable thing we can all do is to work hard and live within our means.

See tweet and videoThe governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said that if he wins the March 2, election, only Lagosians can decide his reelection fate.

The governorship hopeful said this, to dispel rumours and speculations that he signed a deal with the political bigwigs of Lagos, that hell only run for one term.

Sanwo-Olu said this during a Channels TV programme on Tuesday.

I dont know where the idea of pact or agreement came from. But I can tell you for a fact that there is nothing of such. I didnt sign a deal with anyone, he said.

There is only one term of four years on the INEC form, so it will be up to the people of Lagos state to determine whether I deserve another term based on my performance.

On the campaign crowds, Sanwo-Olu said the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) must snap out of the illusion that pulling large crowds is a sign of public acceptance and votes eventually.

I think we need to understand that crowd during political rallies is not always the same as voting on election days, he said.

I can confirm to you that crowd is not the same as actual voting. A lot happens on the election days. Mobilisation of voters, for example, is a critical element of election.

So, Ill advise that the PDP should not jubilate over what they perceive as a large turnout at the Kano rally.Former BB Naija house mate, Cynthia Nwadiora, officially known and adressed as Cee-C has joined millions across the world celebrating Valentine as she took to her Instagram page to share a beautiful picture of herself all clad in a red attire which symbolises Valentine.

The beautiful model, lawyer and businesswoman while sharing the picture asked for who would like to be her date. We trust she is just pulling her fans leg as she already has a long list of dates to pick from.

She said:Former governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose has alleged that the stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress,APC plans to postpone the February 16th presidential election.

According to Fayose, who spoke via Twitter, very late on Wednesday night, the the APC leadership plan to use the inferno at the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in Anambra, Plateau and Abia state as their excuse.

Fayose also alleged that security challenges in some Nigerian States, will also be used as an excuse to postpone the much anticipated election to second week of March.

He wrote via Twitter thus;

Leadership of APC now in crucial meeting. They are considering postponement of Saturdays elections till 2nd week of March, using burning of INEC offices in Anambra, Abia & Plateau States as well as insecurity in some States as reasons.A snow petrel and its chick are seen near the Zhongshan Station, a Chinese research base in Antarctica, Jan. 14, 2019. Chinese researchers have begun using infrared cameras to monitor Antarctica's snow petrel, a key indicator species of the local marine ecosystem. This is the first time Chinese researchers in Antarctica have used infrared cameras in bird monitoring. (Xinhua/Liu Shiping)

ANTARCTICA, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers have begun using infrared cameras to monitor Antarctica's snow petrel, a key indicator species of the local marine ecosystem.

"It's an advanced method to use infrared cameras in monitoring wild animals, and the camera's use has enabled automatic monitoring on the bird's life in the area of Zhongshan Station," said Zhang Zhengwang, a professor from Beijing Normal University and a member on China's 35th research mission in Antarctica.

"This is the first time Chinese researchers in Antarctica have used infrared cameras in bird monitoring, " he added.

With the help of a total of 11 infrared cameras, Zhang has conducted the first systematic investigation and monitoring of the snow petrels living around the Chinese research base for more than two months.

Zhang said he continuously monitors the reproductive behavior of 109 of the some 470 snow petrel families he observed and put on record, and found that they brooded mostly during the night.

In addition, the Chinese researcher listed natural predators, extreme weathers and human activities as the major factors affecting the reproduction and population of Antarctica's birds, and urged further efforts to protect the local ecosystem.

The snow petrel is one of only three birds that breed exclusively in Antarctica. It builds nests in the crevices of the rocks of cliffs, lays eggs between late November and early December, and has a breeding time of 90 to 100 days.

6

1

[ Editor: WPY ]Nigerian music star, Innocent Idibia aka 2Baba has made some demands to the police as regarding the soon to be conducted elections.

Speaking on behalf of Nigerian youths under the auspices of the #VoteNotFight campaign made the following demands from the Police:

Fairness to all and sundry

Police should be fair to all political parties without any form of bias in the discharge of their responsibilities before, during and after the election day.

Arrest and prosecute anyone who errs regardless of who and what they are

Police should promptly arrest and prosecute all electoral offenders including political actors and elected officials without immunity.

Secure all polling units

Police should provide adequate security during the voting process and do not allow ballot boxes and other election materials to be hijacked by politicians or hired political thugs.

Police personnel must be taught to be civil

Police should train officers to be civil and allow every voter to exercise its constitutional rights without any form of intimidation or restriction during the election.

Work closely with INEC

Police should work closely with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure a rapid response to distress calls by voters, election officials and election observers.Venezuela Envoy Elliott Abrams Lose His Cool During Tense Exchange With Rep. Ilhan Omar



Watch



"Mr. Abrams, in 1991 you pleaded guilty to two counts of withholding information from Congress regarding your involvement in the Iran-Contra affair, for which you were later pardoned by president George H.W. Bush," began Omar. "I fail to understand why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful."



"If I could respond to that..." interjected Abrams.



"It was not a question," shot back Omar.



After a brief exchange in which Abrams protested "It was not right!" Omar cut Abrams off, saying "Thank you for your participation."

February 13, 2019

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Peace and joyPro-Israel Lobby Caught on Tape Boasting That Its Money Influences Washington

By Ryan Grim

February 13, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - A debate about the power in Washington of the pro-Israel lobby is underway, after Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., responded sharply to reports that Republican leader Kevin McCarthy was targeting both Omar and fellow Muslim Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from Michigan.

Omar quoted rap lyrics   Its all about the Benjamins baby   to suggest McCarthys move was driven by the lobbys prolific spending. Asked specifically who she was referring to, Omar responded,  AIPAC !

The debate over the influence of pro-Israel groups could be informed by an investigation by Al Jazeera, in which an undercover reporter infiltrated the Israel Project, a Washington-based group, and secretly recorded conversations about political strategy and influence over a six-month period in 2016. That investigation, however, was never aired by the network  suppressed by pressure from the pro-Israel lobby .

In November, Electronic Intifada obtained and published the four-part series, but it did so during the week of the midterm elections, and the documentary did not get a lot of attention then.

In it, leaders of the pro-Israel lobby speak openly about how they use money to influence the political process, in ways so blunt that if the comments were made by critics, theyd be charged with anti-Semitism.

David Ochs, founder of HaLev, which helps send young people to American Israel Public Affairs Committees annual conference, described for the reporter how AIPAC and its donors organize fundraisers outside the official umbrella of the organization, so that the money doesnt show up on disclosures as coming specifically from AIPAC. He describes one group that organizes fundraisers in both Washington and New York. This is the biggest ad hoc political group, definitely the wealthiest, in D.C., Ochs says, adding that it has no official name, but is clearly tied to AIPAC. Its the AIPAC group. It makes a difference; it really, really does. Its the best bang for your buck, and the networking is phenomenal. (Ochs and AIPAC did not immediately return The Intercepts requests for comment.)

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Without spending money, Ochs argues, the pro-Israel lobby isnt able to enact its agenda. Congressmen and senators dont do anything unless you pressure them. They kick the can down the road, unless you pressure them, and the only way to do that is with money, he explains.

He describes a fundraiser for Anthony Brown, a Democrat running for Congress in Maryland, as typical. So we want the Jewish community to go face to face in this small environment, 50, 30, 40 people, and say, This is whats important to us. We want to make sure that if we give you money, that youre going to enforce the Iran deal. That way, when they need something from him or her, like the Iran deal, they can quickly mobilize and say look, well give you 30 grand. They actually impact, Ochs tells the reporter.

Such a claim is not so different from what Omar was describing, and for which she was roundly condemned. In the wake of Omars tweets, the Washington Post, for instance, reported , 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. (On Monday, Omar apologized for her tweets, but insisted that AIPAC and other lobbyist groups are harmful to U.S. politics.)

In the censored documentary, Ochs went on to describe a fundraiser hosted by Jeff Talpins , a hedge fund giant, as similar as well. In New York, with Jeff Talpins, we dont ask a goddamn thing about the fucking Palestinians. You know why? Cause its a tiny issue. Its a small, insignificant issue. The big issue is Iran. We want everything focused on Iran, Ochs says. What happens is Jeff meets with the congressman in the back room, tells them exactly what his goals are  and by the way, Jeff Talpins is worth $250 million  basically they hand him an envelope with 20 credit cards, and say, You can swipe each of these credit cards for a thousand dollars each.

Ochs explains that the club in New York required a minimum pledge of $10,000 to join and participate in such events. Its a minimum commitment. Some people give a lot more than that.

AIPAC, on its own website , recruits members to join its Congressional Club, and commit to give at least $5,000 per election cycle.

Eric Gallagher, a top official at AIPAC from 2010 to 2015, tells the Al Jazeera reporter that AIPAC gets results. Getting $38 billion in security aid to Israel matters, which is what AIPAC just did, he notes at one secretly recorded lunch. Everything AIPAC does is focused on influencing Congress.

The film, called The Lobby, was produced by Al Jazeeras investigative unit, and features hidden-camera footage obtained by the reporter, who posed as a Jewish, pro-Israel activist from Britain who wanted to volunteer with the Israel Project.

Outfitted with a luxury apartment in Dupont Circle, the reporter hosted multiple gatherings and otherwise socialized broadly within the pro-Israel community, winning the confidence of senior officials, who divulged insider details, many of which have been leaked and created international news. A companion version of the film, which looked at the Israel lobbys influence in the United Kingdom, did make it to air and was the subject of intense controversy. It exposed a plot by an Israeli embassy official in the United Kingdom to take down pro-Palestinian members of Parliament, leading to his resignation. That film, however, included a snippet of footage from the United States. Officials here quickly realized that they, too, had been infiltrated. In the U.K., the Israel lobby lodged an official complaint claiming the series was anti-Semitic, but the U.K.s communications agency rejected the claim, finding that the allegations in the programme were not made on the grounds that any of the particular individuals concerned were Jewish and noted that no claims were made relating to their faith. Pro-Israel officials in the United States, rather than file an official complaint, exerted political pressure. A bipartisan group of 19 lawmakers wrote to the Justice Department requesting an investigation into the full range of activities undertaken by Al Jazeera in the United States, and suggesting that the organization be made to register as a foreign agent. Ultimately, Qatar bent to the pressure and killed the documentary.The Deep Hurt: Lessons From American Coups

By Michael Welton

February 13, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - As the world watches aghast at another US and allies attempt to engineer a coup in Venezuela, I would like to offer a few insights from Stephen Kinzer provocative chapter, The deep hurt, (pp. 227-250) in his book, The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of the American Empire (2017). This remarkable text carries some hope and lessons for all of us. It tells the story of the great conflict around the turn of 20thcentury about the role that the US might play in either dominating the world or building a cosmopolitan democracy where all people feel secure that they reside in one country, the earth. Indeed, Kinzer states: Anti-imperialists decisively influenced American history by helping to ensure that the first burst of American annexation would be the last (p. 228).

Even swash-buckling Teddy Roosevelt was influenced, losing his zest for the idea of conquest. When he charged into the White House he held two views simultaneously, intervene to help other people, without oppressing them. Kinzer thinks that this dichotomy torments our national psyche (p. 229). In the early parts of the book Kinzer sets out the anti-imperialist (Mark Twain) and pro-imperialist visions (Henry Cabot Lodge). These speeches are worth gathering round for reflection.

During the following hundred years much of what the anti-imperialists predicted has come to pass. The United States has become an actively interventionist power. It has projected military or covert power into dozens of countries on every continent except Antarctica(ibid.). George Frisbie Hoar was right, Kinzer points out, when he warned that intervening in other lands would turn the United States into a vulgar, commonplace empire founded upon physical force (ibid.).

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Anti-imperialists also predicted that an aggressive foreign policy would have pernicious effects at home (ibid.). Military budgets have soared to heights unimaginable in the days of fervent expansionism in the 1898 war with the Philippines. The armaments industries wield extraordinary clout. The wealth-soaked elites dominate politics. The invasion and overthrowing of distant regimes resides in the hands of a few decision-makers. And militaristic values and rituals saturate American life and expunge peaceful ones.

To be sure, American intervention brought some material blessings (good schools and orderly systems of justice, etc) and rising American power was perceived as good for everyone simply because it means strengthening the worlds most beneficent nation (p. 230). The expansionists of 1898 believed that America was inherently benevolent, and subject nations would rally around the May pole in celebratory dance. The opposite happened.Carl Schurz was right when he warned that dominating foreigners would ultimately force Americans to shoot them down because they stand up for their independence (p. 231).

Kinzer states that: In the face of profound new challenges, Americans are once again debating the role of the United States in the world. Should it intervene violently in other countries? This remains what Senator William V. Allen called it in 1899: The greatest question that has ever been presented to the American people (p. 231). American culture carries a current of anti-imperialism and commitment to an international legal order. They played a big role in the establishment of the UN and nurturing global governance. They remain the worlds only superpower with enormous capacity to move towards building the cosmopolitan world order. What is evident now in this dark moment of history is that the world as it is, is not the way it has to be.

It is difficult, I think, for the United States with its inordinate military might and present delusionary self-understanding to wrench itself free from wanting to intervene for political and economic reasons. Many in the post-WW I world had placed their bet for a better world on the Presbyterian professor Woodrow Wilson. Famously, Wilson triggered immense hopefulness to the disenfranchised in the colonies of European powers. He preached that they should choose the sovereignty under which the shall live (p. 232). In office, American troops were dispatched to intervene in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Russia.Like his predecessorsand successorsWilson insisted that he was doing it for the good of the target countries. Americans would leave them alone, he promised, as soon as they learned to elect good men (ibid.). Today scholars speak of the shattered peace of the post-WW I world. Was the desire to begin building, slowly, carefully, a cosmopolitan world order, as Jan Smuts thought, an impossible dream?

Kinzer observes that this most compassionate of presidents not only invaded countries that defied the United States, but studiously ignored appeals from colonized people outside Europe, notably in Egypt, India, Korea, and Indochina. His hypocrisy set the stage for generations of war and upheaval (ibid.). Margaret MacMillans lively and densely detailed book, Paris 1919 (2001), provides the stories for these outcast colonized countries. Today, the US has intervened one more time. The difference now may well be that there is little pretence that the US is engaging in the bully politics of might is right. They dont care two hoots about what the world thinks. They do not give a damn about the self-determination of all countries and peoples. This invasion is stripped of any moral or legal justification. The US has decided to declare the Speaker of the House, Juan Guaido, president. This is unheard of! And Canada has forsaken the best of its liberal and social democratic traditions of adherence to rule of law to hitch its caboose to the USs rampaging imperialist train.

There are several lessons that Kinzer draws from American history of intervention that our worth careful reflection.

1) American imperialists (and many Americans) truly believe that they are superior and that the world would become a better place if nations submitted to their leadership. The United States would be better off, Kinzer says, if it became a learning nation and not a teaching one.

2) Early promoters of American intervention were zealous patriots. They proclaimed love of country and loyalty to the flag. Yet they could not imagine that people from non-white countries might feel just as patriotic. Love of country was a mark of civilization. Lesser peoples, therefore, couldnt grasp it.

3) Americans have been said to be ignorant about the world. They are, says Kinzer, but so are other peoples. The difference is that American leaders, puffed with a sense of mission, acted on ignorance. American leaders see little reason to bother learning about the nations whose affairs they intrude.

4) Violent intervention in other countries always produces unintended consequences. Cuba was turned into a protectorate in 1901. A fine idea? It led ultimately to a bitter anti-American regime. Intervention in the Philippines sparked waves of nationalism across East Asia that contributed to the Communist revolution in China in 1949. Later American interventions also had terrible results planners never anticipated. From Iran and Guatemala to Iraq and Afghanistan, intervention has devastated societies and produced violent anti-American passion.

5) Generations of American foreign policy makers have made decisions on three assumptions: the US is the indispensable nation that must lead the world; this leadership requires toughness; and toughness is best demonstrated by the threat or use of force. Thus: America is inherently righteous; its influence on rest of world always benign.

6) Most American interventions are not soberly conceived, with realistic goals and clear exit strategies. But violent invasions always leave so-called collateral damage: families killed, destroyed towns, ruined lives, damaged land.

7) The argument that the United States intervenes to defend freedom rarely matches facts on the ground. Many (most?) interventions prop up predatory regimes. The goal is simply to increase American power rather than to liberate the suffering.

8) Foreign intervention has weakened the moral authority that was once the foundation of Americas political identity. Today many people around the world see it as a bully, recklessly invading foreign lands. The current invasion of Venezuela is such an example. The name United States is associated with bombing, invasion, occupation, night raids, covert action, torture, kidnapping, and secret prisons. Who wants to be saved by America? John Bolton recently threatened Maduro with prison in Guantanamo if he doesnt get the hell out of Venezuela.

9) Nations lose their virtue when they repeatedly attack other nations. That loss, as Washington predicted, has cost the United States its felicity. Kinzer says that the US can regain it only by understanding its own national interests more clearly. He thinks it is late for the United States to change its course in the worldbut not too late.Unity and Exceptionalism: Trumps State of Union Flurries

By Dr. Binoy Kampmark

February 13, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Trump is hated by everyone, comes one unnamed former official in an account to Vanity Fair, one supposedly sourced after the Presidents State of the Union Address. Another claimed that all was wretched in the White House: Its total misery. People feel trapped. Off record stuff, unnamed and, as ever, doing nothing to concern a leader whose interests have always lain elsewhere. Whatever the chronic dysfunction affecting the West Wing, what mattered for Donald Trump was simply getting his State of the Union address going. And long it was too  82 minutes, making it the third longest in history.

The address saw Trump return to what he is most comfortable with: campaign mode. Governance is less important than combat. When there are troubles, and when there is crisis, he searches for the rally, the reassurances of his formidable and, it would seem, unshakeable base still ignored on either side of the coast. The speech was seen by Susan Glasser of The New Yorker as sort of gauzy with hints of World War II triumphalism.

The language was, in the main, thin puffery, that of the exceptional nation which had saved freedom, transformed science and done more than its bit to redefine the middle class standard of living for the entire world to see. In a sense, this is true: the paradox of US living is that it supposedly reconciles middle class living with horrendous swathes of indigence and an active food stamp culture, a true glory to the distortions of Social Darwinism.

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US presidential addresses tend to sound like bits of elevated shouting, the imperial figure, clutching the purple, looking down at his global subjects to lecture them about an extensive curriculum vitae thick with achievement. This is our future, our fate, and our choice to make. I am asking you to choose greatness. This is the great mythology of choice, one that takes root in the experimental soils of New World optimism. It hides, or at least ignores the obvious point that greatness has often nothing to do with choice, being, as it were, a convergence of accidents, unintended steps and old fashioned stumbling. US society was not conceived as a committees work in progress.

But for Trump, there was an exhortation framed around the language of decision and volition, peering into the future brightly. Together we can break decades of political stalemate. We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions, and unlock the extraordinary promise of Americas future. The decision is ours to make.

Trumps language of deliverance is not for the future, but from it. It speaks to nostalgic tear-duct swellings, hot flushes of the past when full US employment was not an elaborate sham and US power could be seen, and in many cases felt, as an unconditional phenomenon. The future, to be understood, can only be done via the mechanism of the past. The State of the Union was no different in that sense. In June we marked 75 years since the start of what Gen. Dwight Eisenhower called the great crusade, the Allied liberation of Europe in World War II.

Then there was that issue of moon travel, another act worthy of chest beating. In 2019, we also celebrate 50 years since brave young pilots flew a quarter of a million miles through space to plant the American flag on the face of the moon. Half a century later we are joined by one of the Apollo 11 astronauts who planted the flag: Buzz Aldrin. This year, American astronauts will go back into space on American rockets.

The speech proved glazing in its praise of the Make America Great project. Manufacturing was up; regulations had been cut; corporations had been pacified and encouraged; taxes had been sliced; and the United States had become the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world.

Then came the rather funny business of unity. Not that Trumps period in office has been entirely absent of it: the passage of the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform measure that received a modest cheer across the aisles, will go down, in time, as a significant bipartisan measure. But Trump had his sights set elsewhere. As we have seen, when we are united, we can make astonishing strides for our country. Now, Republicans and Democrats must join forces again to confront an urgent national crisis. Congress, he spoke in hectoring reminder, had 10 days left to pass a bill that will fund our Government, protect our homeland and secure our southern border.

The Democrats remained defensive and unmoved, preferring a softer approach to dealing with illegal immigration. Nor are they are likely to ease up on the investigations, which they have become inexorably linked to. It said much about the neurotic state of affairs that is Washington politics: Trump can speak to unity where it doesnt exist, a common ground that is simply not being reached. Nor can it. Unity is precisely what the president is not, the toxic, necessary revelation of a society rented through with divisions that have turned into votes.

For the US to again fall into the fictional language of forced consensus, one manufactured in the hot houses of technocracy and the board room, would be for Trump to disappear, for his America to vanish into the illusion of agreement. That is hardly going to happen  at least for now. The economic figures have given him leg room; his supporters have not left. Nor do the Democrats have an answer. The conspiracy of happiness has yet to return.

Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne.

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==See Also==

Richard Wolff responds to Trump's State of the Union address

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Peace and joySatire

Weve seen the wests approach to Venezuela before  in Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan, need I go on?



Instead of pleading with those who will not support him, the self-proclaimed interim president of Venezuela might want to take a closer look at who his foreign friends are



By Robert Fisk

February 13, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - The closest I ever came to Venezuela , many years ago, was a transit connection at Caracas airport. I noticed a lot of soldiers in red berets and a clutch of goons, and it reminded me, vaguely, of the Middle East.

Now, sitting in the rain squalls of the wintry Levant, I flick through my newspaper clippings of our recent local autocrats  Saddam, Assad, al-Sisi, Erdogan, Mohammed bin Salman (you can fill in the rest for yourself)  and I think of Nicolas Maduro .

The comparisons are by no means precise. Indeed, its not the nature of the strongmen Im thinking about. Its our reaction to all these chaps. And there are two obvious parallels: the way in which we sanction and isolate the hated dictator  or love him, as the case may be  and the manner in which we not only name the opposition as the rightful heir to the nation, but demand that democracy be delivered to the people whose torture and struggle for freedom we have suddenly discovered.

And before I forget it, theres one other common thread in this story. If you suggest that those who want presidential change in Venezuela may be a little too hasty, and our support for  let us say  Juan Guaido might be a bit premature if we dont want to start a civil war, this means you are pro-Maduro

Just as those who opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq were pro-Saddam, or those who thought the west might pause before it supported the increasingly violent opposition in Syria were labelled pro-Assad.

And those who defended Yasser Arafat  over a long period a super-terrorist, a super-diplomat and then a super-terrorist again  against those who would oust him as leader of the Palestinians, were abused as pro-Arafat, pro-Palestinian, pro-terrorist and, inevitably, anti-Semitic. I recall how George W Bush warned us after 9/11, that you are either with us or against us. The same threat was made to us about Assad.

Erdogan has used it in Turkey ( less than three years ago ) and it was a common line in the forgotten 1930s used by none other than Mussolini. And now I quote Trumps US secretary of state Michael Pompeo on Maduro : Now it is time for every other nation to pick a side  either you stand with the forces of freedom, or youre in league with Maduro and his mayhem.

You get the point. Now is the time for all good people to stand alongside the United States, the EU, the nations of Latin America  or do you support the Russkies, Chinese, Iranian headbangers, the perfidious Corbyn and (of all people) the Greeks? Talking of the Greeks, European pressure on Alexis Tsipras to conform to the EUs support for Guaido  proving that the EU can indeed bully its smaller members  is a good argument for Brexiteers (though far too complex for them to understand).

But first, lets take a look at our favourite tyrant, in the words of all who oppose him. Hes a powerful dictator, surrounded by generals, suppressing his people, using torture, mass arrests, secret police murders, rigged elections, political prisoners  so no wonder we gave our support to those who wish to overthrow this brutal man and stage democratic elections.

Not a bad precis of our current policy towards the Maduro regime. But I am referring, of course, word-for-word, to the wests policy towards the Assad regime in Syria. And our support for opposition democracy there wasnt terribly successful.

Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter

We were not solely responsible for the Syrian civil war  but we were not guiltless since we sent an awful lot of weapons to those trying to overthrow Assad. And last month the notepad of US national security advisor John Bolton appeared to boast a plan to send 5,000 US troops to Colombia 

And now lets tick the box on another Maduro-lookalike  at least from the wests simplistic point of view: the military-backed elected field marshal-president al-Sisi of Egypt, whom we love, admire and protect. Powerful dictator? Yup. Surrounded and supported by generals? You bet, not least because he locked up a rival general before the last election. Suppression? Absolutely  all in the interest of crushing terrorism, of course.

Mass arrests? Happily yes, for all the inmates of Egypts savage prison system are terrorists, at least according to the field marshal-president himself. Secret police murders? Well, even forgetting the young Italian student suspected by his government to have been allegedly tortured and bumped off by one of Sisis top Egyptian cops, theres a roll call of disappeared activists.

Rigged elections? No doubt about it, although al-Sisi still maintains that his last triumph at the polls  a cracking 97 per cent  was a free and fair election.

President Trump sent his sincere congratulations . Political prisoners? Well, the total is 60,000 and rising . Oh yes, and Maduros last victory  a rigged election if ever there was one, of course  was a mere 67.84 per cent.

As the late sage of the Sunday Express, John Gordon, might have said: it makes you sit up a bit. So, too, I suppose, when we glance a bit further eastwards to Afghanistan, whose Taliban rulers were routed in 2001 by the US, whose post-9/11 troops and statesmen ushered in a new life of democracy, then corruption, warlordism and civil war.

The democracy bit quickly came unstuck when loya jurgas, grand councils, turned into tribal playpens and the Americans announced that it would be an exaggeration to think that we could achieve Jeffersonian democracy in Afghanistan. Too true.

Now the Americans are negotiating with the terrorist Taliban in Qatar so they can get the hell out of the Graveyard of Empires after 17 years of military setbacks, scandals and defeats  not to mention running a few torture camps which even Maduro would cough to look at.

Now all this may not encourage you to walk down memory lane. And I havent even listed the sins of Saddam, let alone our continuing and cosy relationship  amazing as it still seems  with that Gulf state whose lads strangled, chopped up and secretly buried a US-resident journalist in Turkey.

Now just imagine if Maduro, tired of a journalist critic slandering him in Miami, decided to lure him to the Venezuelan embassy in Washington and top the poor guy, slice him up and bury him secretly in Foggy Bottom. Well now, I have a feeling that sanctions might have been applied to Maduro a long time ago. But not to Saudi Arabia, of course, where we are very definitely not advocating democracy.

Now is the time for democracy and prosperity in Venezuela, quoth John Bolton this week. Oh, yes indeed. Maduro runs an oil-soaked nation yet its people starve. He is an unworthy, foolish and vain man, even if hes not Saddamite in his crimes. He was rightly described by a colleague as a dreary tyrant. He even looks like the kind of guy who tied ladies to railway lines in silent movies.

So good luck to Guaido. Palpably a nice guy, speaks eloquently, wise to stick to aid for the poor and fresh elections rather than dwell on just how exactly Maduro and his military chums are going to be booted out.

In other words, good luck  but watch out. Instead of pleading with those who will not support him  the Greeks, for example  he might take a closer look at who his foreign friends are. And do a quick track record on their more recent crusades for freedom, democracy and the right to life. And by the way, I havent even mentioned Libya.

This article was originally published by " The Independent "-Television | TV Channels Broadcasters split over rising production cost of GEC content The rise in over the top (OTT) platforms has also led broadcasters and production houses to drive up the investment into its TV shows. The same companies are now even producing for both TV and digital.

continue reading...

iWorld | OTT Shemaroo Entertainment starts OTT journey banking on its popular titles Content powerhouse Shemaroo Entertainment has taken the OTT dive. The new platform ShemarooMe will have seven distinct categories on offer - Bollywood Classic, Bollywood Plus, Gujarati, Kids, Bhakti, Ibaadat and Punjabi. Rather than focusing on the rat race, Shemaroo perceives the new journey as a "marathon". The company does not want to overspend or lay a hand on every genre.

continue reading...

Cable TV | LCO Comment: The way forward for DPOs, broadcasters in the new TRAI tariff regime During the early 2000s, cable television began to spread rapidly across India and the cable distribution business rapidly shifted from the early muddled phase towards a more corporate structure which put emphasis on the rationalisation of business practices, billing system transparency and technical know-how.

continue reading...Charles Darwins theory of evolution by natural selection has acted as a wedge in Americas public opinion for most of the time since Darwin published his famous book, On the Origin of Species, in 1859. Darwin was not the first to think of evolution, but his theory of natural selection  which says genetic mutations make some individuals more fit to survive in their environment, thus increasing the chance they will pass those genes to the next generation and so forth  was unique. Every year, some commemorate Darwins birthday with Darwin Day on Feb. 12. Although national surveys show U.S. adults slowly inching their way toward the generic stance that humans have evolved over time, this isnt a direct endorsement of Darwins theory, and there is a notable gap between Black Americans and the rest of the general public.

A 2014 Pew Research Center survey showed that while 63 percent of Hispanics and 67 percent of whites agreed with the notion that humans have evolved over time, only 55 percent of Black Americans agreed with that stance.

Joseph Graves, associate dean for research and professor of biological sciences at North Carolina A&T State University, said religion is at the core of why people reject evolution, since the evidence scientists have accumulated over the years makes a compelling case for evolution by natural selection. But Graves, an Episcopalian, said accepting evolution doesnt boil down to a rejection of religion.

For one to reject evolutionary science, one has to be willing and capable of rejecting all of the evidence, said Graves, who in 1988 became the first African-American to earn a doctorate degree in evolutionary biology.

A SCIENTIFIC THEORY

Its important to note a scientific theory is different from the everyday use of theory. A scientific theory must be testable and make verifiable predictions. In the case of evolution by natural selection, the predictions look backward by using DNA sequences and physical features to figure out when a common ancestor of two species should have existed, and then going to the fossil record to find it.

GODS ROLE

Carefully-crafted surveys support the notion that religion shapes Americans opinions on evolution. In a Pew survey published Feb. 6, highly religious groups  white evangelical Protestants and Black Protestants  demonstrated they are more open to evolution when they can clarify Gods role in the process. When asked to choose between humans having always existed in their present form and humans evolving, only 32 percent of Black Protestants said humans have evolved. But respondents from the same survey were much more likely to say humans have evolved if they could add the caveat that God or another higher power guided the process (so-called intelligent design), with 66 percent taking that stance. Only 6 percent said humans evolved naturally.

For reference, among all U.S. adults, when given the option to include a higher power, 48 percent said God guided the process, and 33 percent said evolution has happened naturally.

SCIENCE LEADERS

One of the most common rebuttals to someone who rejects evolution is that most scientists  98 percent is a common number on polls  accept evolution. But considering only 28 percent of Black Americans have a great deal of confidence in scientific leaders, according to a 2018 study by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, it may be that scientific consensus doesnt matter.

Thats the same thing as asking them, Do you trust white people? Graves said.  If I show up as a scientist, I guarantee the trust factor would change. For the vast majority of these communities, theyve never seen a person of African descent in a leading role in science.

A COMPLEX HISTORY

African-Americans have a complicated relationship with evolution that could also partly inform feelings about evolution today. For example, during the famous 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial  where a Tennessee high school teacher was accused of violating state law by teaching human evolution in a state-funded school  fundamentalist African-Americans supported the anti-evolutionist William Bryan, while secular Black elites supported the teaching of evolution. Even Rev. William Moses, the campaign director for the National Baptist Convention, said Christianity is strengthened by science rather than weakened.

There are also prominent examples of scientific racism, where Darwins theory, along with science in general, are weaponized to justify the belief that some races are superior to others. But not all agree this plays a significant role in shaping African-Americans opinions.

Im inclined to think that its not really a factor, said Glenn Branch, deputy director of the National Center for Science Education. When you look at the really glaring cases in which African-Americans have suffered at the hands of science, evolution and biology arent really front and center there.

Instead, Branch said the more relevant perpetrator is medical racism, which includes a history of doctors and scientists using African-Americans for experiments, often without their knowledge or permission.

IN THE CLASSROOM

Science teachers may see these factors as obstacles to the full education of their students, especially in a typical high school biology class where teachers introduce teenagers to evolution. The temptation might be to try to convince students  who come with their own biases and likely dont already understand evolution  but Branch said its best to lay out the evidence of Darwins theory and let students make the decision for themselves.

Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.

evolutionPeople of Tibetan ethnic group perform during the Shangjiu Festival at the foot of Jiajin Mountain in the Tibetan Township of Qiaoqi in Ya'an City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Feb. 13, 2019. The Shangjiu Festival, a traditional festival of the Tibetan people, is celebrated on the ninth day of the first lunar month to pray for a good harvest. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)

13

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[ Editor: WPY ]Courtland Blade has spent most of his career as an artist portraying scenes in the non-place style, where generic places such as parking lots and bus stops dont obviously belong to a certain space or people. Blade, who was born in Terre Haute, moved around a lot as a kid and felt comfortable enough wherever he went. But when his family lived in Boston and his Black church youth group took a trip to a museum, he noticed people looked at them like we didnt belong.

Blades new show, Black Spaces and Places, explores this dynamic through the idea of Black spaces, where people of color can feel more comfortable and not outnumbered. Thats opposed to what some call white spaces, where people of color often feel out of place. The show has 22 pieces and took about a year to assemble, with the larger pieces taking as long as three months to finish. Some of the art comes from Blades past work, but he created most of it specifically for this show.

The Harrison Center, founded in 2001, is a nonprofit arts organization with various studios and galleries. Each month it has a different exhibit with different themes from artists who apply for the spots, and Blade was keen on getting February for Black History Month.

Its like an entry point for everyone to be able to communicate and relate, Blade said of his work. So when you see my paintings, even though the convocation here is predominately Black people in a space, most people could look at and still relate to whats going on there.  It kind of humanizes everyone, even if youre not of that culture.

Blade, 33, received his Master of Fine Arts in 2011 from the school of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in affiliation with Tufts University. His work has been shown around the world  including China and Bulgaria  and he has permanent collections at the University of Indianapolis, Indiana State University and Eskenazi Health.

Blades Black Spaces and Places art ranges from a Black-owned laundromat to Kennedy-King Park and is for sale. Some of the work includes his own family, a shift from the non-place style Blade usually works in. Joanna Taft, executive director of the Harrison Center, said she hopes Blades show inspires the community to think about being better neighbors.

It should make our hearts want to make sure our places are more inviting and make sure there are places where people want to find joy, Taft said.

Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.

BLACK SPACES AND PLACES

Where: Harrison Center, 1505 N. Delaware St.

When: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday through Feb. 21

Cost: Free

Artist Courtland Blades show, Black Spaces and Places, explores the idea of Black spaces to celebrate the culture and history of Black people in Indianapolis. (Photo provided)Since its founding on Feb. 16, 1929, the Alpha Mu Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) sorority has had a storied history. As a local chapter of the nations first Black female Greek organization, Alpha Mu Omega members have gone on to impact business, education, medicine, religion and more. With the arrival of the 90th anniversary, the chapters more than 470 members are painting the town pink and green with a week of events including a luncheon and concert featuring five-time Grammy-award winning gospel artist and fellow sorority sister Yolanda Adams, Bishop Leonard Scott, artist Charles Bibbs and keynote speaker Danette Anthony Reed, international first vice president.

The festivities are, in part, meant to celebrate Alpha Mu Omegas impact on the community. As a national and local organization, the sorority stresses a commitment of service to others.

Service to all mankind is kind of our mantra. Its a part of our purpose to be of service to all mankind, Dr. Nichole Wilson, Alpha Mu Omega chapter president, said.

Locally, Alpha Mu Omega shows its dedication to the Indianapolis community through a plethora of service projects and programs  especially those meant to empower girls such as the Rose Petals, Rose Buds and Debutante Cotillion. The programs target young girls from middle school through high school to empower them through education, self-esteem and character building as well community involvement.

The sorority does not stop providing educational opportunities once girls graduate high school. The bond may deepen as the young women can officially join the sisterhood where their fellow sorority sisters impart knowledge and wisdom by providing health counseling, financial advice and career mentoring to aid in the transition from college student to professional.

We have developed mentoring relationships with those young ladies because many of them are seeking to be in careers and civic areas we are already in, and you just kind of pull them along, Wilson said.

Alpha Mu Omegas programs arent strictly for young women. The sorority often partners with other community organizations for greater impact. For instance, the chapter works with Child Advocates, a nonprofit that represents children in abuse and neglect cases, by helping with toy drives, backpack drives and art contests.

Recently, the two organizations collaborated on an authors showcase featuring about 20 local writers. Cynthia Booth, CEO of Child Advocates, took a group of girls to the event. Booth said the girls were amazed and inspired after seeing so many authors from their hometown. Some of the authors even signed books for the girls.

When you are working in the community trying to build relationships and you have an organization like the AKAs respond in the way that they did, its very easy to want to continue that relationship, Booth said.

That strong commitment to service is what defines the AKAs  from the newest recruits to the members like Lula Husling, who turned 104 on Feb. 10 and has been a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter for 75 years.

The difference between Black Greek organizations and white organizations is that we continue after college, said Nadine Bonds, former Central Region director and former president of Alpha Mu Omega.  Thats the reason we have graduate chapters. We continue on after college. Our commitment to service is forever.

Contact staff writer Ben Lashar at 317-762-7848. Follow him on Twitter @BenjaminLashar.New Delhi, Feb 14 (IBNS) India on Thursday said it strongly condemned "the cowardly terrorist attack on our brave security forces in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir earlier today" by Pakistan based terrorists claiming the lives of over 40 CRPF personnel.

"This heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries. This terror group is led by the international terrorist Masood Azhar, who has been given full freedom by Government of Pakistan to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity," said India's Ministry of External Affairs in a statement.

"The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to take all necessary measures to safeguard national security. We are equally resolved to fight against the menace of terrorism. We demand that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries," it said.

India also appealed to the international community to take note of the developments.

"We strongly reiterate our appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM Chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan," the MEA said.

"We express our sincere condolences to the family members of our fearless security personnel who have made the supreme sacrifice," it added

India condemns in the strongest possible terms the cowardly terrorist attack on our brave security forces in #Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir earlier today perpetrated by Pakistan based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammedhttps://t.co/qDRGM7CmYc pic.twitter.com/yObauXBnHS  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) February 14, 2019



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More than 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were martyred and 14 others injured in a fidayeen (suicide) attack by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant outfit at Awantipora in south Kashmir district of Pulwama on Srinagar-Jammu national highway on Thursday afternoon.

{image_1}

Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Militants rammed an IED-laden vehicle into a vehicle carrying CRPF at Goripora, Awantipora causing heavy casualty to the security personnel.



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.Deputy Government Spokesman Lt Gen Weerachon Sukhontapatipak revealed the cabinet has approved the drafted Memorandum of Understanding between Thailand and Myanmar on cooperation in anti-human trafficking operations.

The deal, which will be signed by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, focuses in the suppression of international crime syndicates related to human trafficking, and to improve the effectiveness of anti-trafficking operations by both countries, including stricter border patrols, improved victims protecting measures, legal enforcement, international criminal transfer, repatriation, and victims reintegration to the society.

Thailand has previously established similar agreements with other countries, including Laos, China and the United Arab Emirates./.Since 1963, The Independent has helped create a great community!

Since our founding in September of 1963, The Independent has been dedicated to giving Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin, and Sunol readers the news they need to be in-the-know about what's going on in the Tri-Valley region.Remove the snow and ice from your vehicle or risk a $136 ticket, says WSPRabbi Eckstein would surely be glad to hear how his many friends have remembered him in the past week. The latest remembrance, from Rabbi Daniel Lapin, recalls the kindness, generosity, and courage shown by this man whose passing left the world a lot lonelier:

It is neither pleasant nor easy to say goodbye to an old friend. My world became a lot lonelier last Wednesday afternoon when Yechiel Eckstein departed this world for his heavenly reward. Reflecting on the loss is most of what I have been doing since then.

I am not going try to summarize Yechiels remarkable life; that was competently accomplished by Zev Chafets in his outstanding 2015 biography, The Bridge Builder: The Life and Continuing Legacy of Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. Instead, I will merely think aloud about the good turn Rabbi Eckstein did me for which I will be ever grateful.

Do you know how cyclists achieve speed records? They ride behind a high-speed truck fitted with a huge wind deflector. Using the full power of its thundering engine, the truck speeds just ahead of the bicycle. Shielded from the wind and fury, the rider pedals away in a tranquil wind shadow.

Yechiel was my wind shield. We Jews, like other people, often succumb to the seduction of driving with our eyes glued to the rear-view mirror. We diligently dodge the dangers of yesterday while blithely ignoring the threats of tomorrow. Its true that Christian theology spilled much Jewish blood over many centuries. But today Jewish blood is being spilled by murderous Muslims encouraged by a radical secularism that is hostile to people of faith and the State of Israel. Today, Christians are the victims, not the oppressors. Yechiel saw all this over 30 years ago.

Unaware that Yechiel had preceded me by eight years, I formed an alliance of Jews and Christians in 1991. Contradicting centuries of conventional wisdom that insisted Christians were our implacable foes, my work was not without controversy. However, as painful as the assaults I endured from my fellow Jews were, they were as sprinklings of confetti compared to what was inflicted upon Yechiel.

No prominent roshei yeshiva vilified me, no kollel minyan ever boycotted me, and no halachic authorities called for my excommunication. These and many more indignities were regularly heaped upon Yechiel, causing him almost unbearable distress, distress he nearly always kept concealed.

He absorbed much of the fire and fury aimed by those who were determined to see Christians as the enemy. By the time I came along and insisted that the problem we Jews faced was not Christians but, in fact, a secularism that was seducing our youth and emboldening radical Islam, I was able to operate in a relative wind shadow. Yechiel was my wind shield.

During the occasions we spent together, I came to admire three of Yechiels uncommon qualities. First, he was an ohev Yisrael; he genuinely loved Jews  all Jews. He even loved those who cast slurs and insults at him after accepting his gifts. When chatting with me about these sad but not infrequent occurrences, the most he allowed himself was a rueful smile at the all-too-human failings of these religious leaders.

He not only never hated these men who had hurt him; he actually loved them. Or to be more accurate, he behaved as if he did. And isnt that what counts? He conducted himself with love and concern toward all he came into contact with. Jew and Christian, employee, associate, donor, or beneficiary  all felt that Yechiel was genuinely interested in them and really cared about them.

The second characteristic I appreciated about him was his generosity. The kind of generosity that was part of Yechiels makeup doesnt fit well with small-mindedness. He never saw other organizations as enemies, and, in my presence, he lavished largesse on a certain group that was actively trying to undermine his relationship with a well-known Christian leader.

No, he was never small-minded. Yechiel encountered several circumstances in which he could have revealed the names of those institutions that were eagerly enjoying his support while publicly denigrating him. Newspapers were eager to encourage a war of the rabbis and urged him to publicize the hypocrites. I considered putting an ad in the paper with the list, said Yechiel, But I decided not to. It would have been petty. And Yechiel was never petty.

Third, Yechiel was a courageous man. The default condition for human beings is cowardice, not courage. Thats why Moses, Joshua and Solomon were adjured to be courageous. It doesnt come naturally. Friendship towards evangelical Christians was not a popular posture in the Jewish community prior to 9/11. Despite possessing the intellect as well as the cultural adroitness to speak out of both sides of his mouth, he never did. Eckstein never ducked the issues. He was exactly who he was with no apologies and was always willing to engage in discussion or debate.

He was devoted to truth and suffered real pain at the skullduggery practiced by many he considered friends. I dont think he ever understood how people were able to turn their backs on years of friendship for the sake of political expediency. He was a courageous man so he never could understand cowards.

History has long proved Yechiel Eckstein correct. That Jews and the State of Israel have mortal enemies is without doubt. That for the most part, Christians are philo-Semitic and stand with Israel is equally certain. It is indisputable that the warmth felt towards Jews and Israel by millions of gentle Christians  for the first time in two millennia  owes much to Yechiel Eckstein.

May our belated appreciation serve him well in the World of Truth he now occupies.About half the crowd at Wednesday's rally at U.S. Rep. Neal's office in Pittsfield were students from Mount Greylock Regional School.

Activists Press Neal to Support Green New Deal



Mount Greylock students, from left, Maddy Art, Catherine McPartland and Karen Magnusdottir McComish spoke with a member of Rep. Richard Neal's staff. PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Two dozen protesters Wednesday demonstrated outside the Pittsfield office of U.S. Rep. Richard Neal to encourage him to sign on as a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal

Three of the activists  all students at Mount Greylock Regional School in Williamstown  went inside to make their case to a member of Neal's staff.

"A 2013 report predicts that by 2100, the climate here will be like that in South Carolina," junior Maddy Art said. "And also, my grandpa works in [Williams College's] Hopkins Forest. He's a forest biologist, and he's been researching the biodiversity for decades. He uses data that goes back to 1935. He's already seen a rise in invasive species, particularly deer ticks. There were never deer ticks before 2000, and now they're prevalent.

"We want the beauty and experience of living in Western Mass to be the same for generations to come."

And they and millions of others believe that the Green New Deal is a place to start making that happen.

The initiative, a resolution in the House of Representatives, is a statement of principles rather than actionable legislation. It calls for the United States to cut its carbon emissions to the lowest level possible and work to reduce greenhouse gases from the atmosphere among other environmental ends. It also addresses progressive causes like a living wage and racial injustice.

Wednesday's demonstration, organized by the Boston chapter of the non-profit Sunrise Movement, focused on the Springfield Democrat because he is the last member of Massachusetts' congressional delegation who has not committed to supporting the Green New Deal. The state's U.S. Sen. Edward Markey is a co-author of the resolution with New York's U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The three students said they tried to get an answer from Neal staffer Matthew Russett, but the district aide demurred.

"We tried to ask, but he's not really privy to the D.C.-policy end of things," senior Catherine McPartland said. "He more reports feelings within the district. He didn't exactly know what Rep. Neal's hesitation was. He did say Neal has in the past been willing to support some aspects of it, but he didn't specify which aspects of it."

"He also made a point that Representative Neal has been supportive of environmental legislation in the past," senior Karen Magnusdottir McComish added. "He told us that, from the perspective of constituent support, he would send information down to D.C. about our visit and our concerns about how climate change is affecting the district specifically. And then when he hears back from the D.C. office, he's going to let us know."

The trio went into the office with Williamstown activist Anne O'Connor, who organized a meeting at First Congregational Church in Williamstown recently for residents interested in supporting the objectives of Sunrise. O'Connor said the three high school girls were strong advocates with the congressman's staff.

"We definitely stressed the importance of national and even international legislation because climate catastrophes do not respect borders at all, and it will affect everybody," McPartland said. "So it's necessary that a national, aggressive policy is in place."

Art, who noted that she is not quite old enough to vote yet, added that today's high schoolers don't have the time to wait until they are in positions of power to push for the large-scale changes needed to address climate change.

"Another thing we talked about in the meeting was the individual efforts that we ourselves have taken along these lines," McComish said. "Maddy became a vegetarian for environmental reasons. I talked a little bit about our environmental club at school and how our administration was incredibly receptive and supportive of making our school as sustainable as possible in the new school building.

"We have been taking little actions, but the only way to make impactful change is something like the Green New Deal, and Representative Neal has the power to do that."

In addition to expressing their concern for climate change on a broad scale, the three also talked about more local impacts  like climate change that threatens the ski industry and industrial pollution linked to cancer incidence linked to PFOA exposure in nearby Hoosick Falls, N.Y.

They also picked up on the Green New Deal's appeal from an economic standpoint.

"We talked about it from different perspectives," McPartland said. "We talked about industry here  Sprague Electric and GE [leaving] and their effect on this region  and how the Green New Deal is especially effective because it has language and a plan for job transitioning."

McComish acknowledged that the Green New Deal, sponsored principally by freshman Ocasio-Cortez, is ambitious but said that is part of the appeal.

"Some of the criticism about the Green New Deal has been about its ambition and its timeframe," she said. "But that's something that excites us because it's an issue that is so urgent. Something needs to happen now. The only way that we will reverse some of the damage is with radical change."

The trio said Neal's staff promised to get back to them about his decision on whether to support the sweeping resolution.

Sunrise Boston plans a similar demonstration at Neal's Springfield office on Feb. 26 if he remains on the fence about the resolution.

"We're not hoping to go to the Springfield office," McPartland said. "We're not hoping to annoy him. We really do want him to sign on to this. We're supportive of it, and we think the whole district would be.

"We're willing to annoy him but not dead set on it."DPRK's leader Kim Jong-un (Photo: AP)

According to the Republic of Korea (RoK)s news agency KBS, leader Kim Jong-un will fly to Vietnam on his personal Ilyushin-62M (II-62M) jet, named Chammae-1, to attend the summit.

The Il-62M Chammae-1 aircraft, in which Kim Jong-un often moves, has completed a test flight from Pyongyang to Hanoi.

Kim Jong-un met with President Donald Trump last summer, flying from Pyongyang to Singapore. At that time, the leader used a Boeing 747-400, which Boeing hired from China, but Chammae-1 brought the rest of the DPRKs delegation to Singapore.

Chammae-1 can fly up to ten thousand kilometers without stopping. The DPRK airline Air Koryo also used the aircraft.

Last week, the US President wrote on Twitter that his representatives had just left the DPRK after a very productive meeting and an agreed upon time and date for the second summit with Kim Jong-un.

According to him, the meeting will take place in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27th and 28th.

I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim and advancing the cause of peace, Trump wrote.

Earlier on February 6th, when asked to comment on the US Presidents remark in his latest State of the Union address on the upcoming summit, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang said Vietnam welcomes the meeting and strongly supports dialogues to maintain peace, security and stability on the Korean Peninsula./.Superintendent Jason McCandless said DESE cited the district for not providing enough school days.

Pittsfield Schools to End 'Welcoming Day' For Grades 6 & 9

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  The long-standing tradition of "welcome days" is coming to an end in the schools after the state cited the district for not providing enough class time for students.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education performed a coordinated program review last year and found that the practice of bringing incoming sixth-graders and ninth-graders in a day earlier to get acclimated to their new schools meant that the other students were falling short of the required 180 days of learning.

"This is indeed a violation of our student's civil rights," Superintendent Jason McCandless said of the citation.

The superintendent said the district fought the citation and that many other districts in the state do a similar program but ultimately it has to cut that opening day from the calendar. McCandless said the welcoming day served as a great way to help students learn their way around a new school.

"We see that as a fairly substantive change to the way we open schools," McCandless said.

Additionally, McCandless said the report cited the high schools for not providing seniors with enough days. Seniors need to be in school 170 days and are traditionally let out earlier than other grades.

But in a recent year there were six snow days, which the seniors don't need to make up, and thus fell short on the number of days. He again said a number of districts in the state have the same policy yet the DESE report called on Pittsfield to fix the shortfall.

"There was no recommendation or order back saying this is what you have to do about this. It was, 'it is a problem, fix it,'" McCandless said.

School Committee member William Cameron said he's always disagreed with the seniors being let out early. In New York State, testing takes the seniors all the way to the end of the year, he said, and Massachusetts could fix the issue by simply requiring all students to be in school for the same amount of time.

But he is disappointed that the city will lose the welcoming days. He urged McCandless to attempt to reach a memorandum of agreement with the unions to have some staff members work one extra day to continue the tradition.

"This idea of having the incoming underclass students have the building to themselves initially is a great way to have them overcome apprehension," Cameron said.

In other business, McCandless reported that a new attendance policy will be presented to the committee in a few weeks. The district has been revamping the policy in an effort to combat chronic absenteeism in a better way.

McCandless said the previous policy was too dependent on "sticks" and didn't provide "carrots." He said the new policy includes a bit of both.

The superintendent also reported that he is currently in the process of developing an African-American studies course. McCandless said the district had such a course in existence in the past but it hasn't been taught recently. He said he is developing the curriculum alongside others who have taught the course and will be looking to identify an instructor and money for class material.

Curriculum Director Judy Rush also presented on a new educator program the district is rolling out to help new teachers adjust. The program includes orientation, assigning mentors, providing the required 50 hours of mentoring, and time to observe other teachers.

Health Director Gina Armstrong also invited the School Committee to a meeting next Tuesday at 7 p.m. at City Hall regarding the environmental test results for Hill 78 and Building 71. The tests assess the level of dangerous pollution left behind by General Electric. Armstrong said the results have not shown concern.

After cheering the early reports of a significant increase in state education aid, McCandless said the increase isn't exactly as it seems. The superintendent said there will be a number of requirements, tied to certain populations, attached to the money. The city is projected to see $3.7 million more in Chapter 70 funding.

"Their vision for this was that this money comes with strings attach," McCandless said.MONTREAL  Humane Society International/Canada is shining a global spotlight on the connection between South Koreas cruel puppy mill trade and the dog meat industry by helping to rescue 200 dogs and puppies from a horrendous dog meat farm. Approximately 160 dogs are bound for Canada where they will be temporarily sheltered in Cambridge, Ontario, with some destined for Montreal where they will be rehabilitated at HSI/Canadas emergency shelter.

This is HSIs 14th dog meat farm closure in South Korea. The facility doubled as a puppy mill, with the dogs being sold as pets or for slaughter depending on where the greatest profits could be found. As a result, many of the dogs are small breeds such as Chihuahuas, corgis, Yorkshire terriers, poodles, Pomeranians, shih tzus and French bulldogs.

Ewa Demianowicz, senior campaign manager for HSI/Canada, said: These dogs have been surviving in appalling conditions, in barren, filthy cages, with inadequate food and water and almost no veterinary care or human contact. Sadly, it is likely that many never left the cramped cages they have been confined in. It is heartbreaking to imagine how much they have suffered in their lives. Our team is eager to see these wonderful dogs leave this horrible place and arrive in Canada to get the love and care that they need.

HSI works with farmers who want to leave the dog meat trade by transitioning them to more humane industries, rescuing the dogs and closing the facilities. In turn, the owners sign contracts stating they will not return to the dog meat trade. The owner of the facility is eager to leave his business as his family disapproves and it is becoming less profitable.

Dog meat consumption is declining rapidly in South Korea, particularly among younger generations, with a survey by Gallup Korea in June 2018 showing that 70 percent of South Koreans say they will not eat dog meat in future. A series of recent moves by authorities to curb the dog meat trade reflects how Korean society is increasingly ill at ease with the industry. In November 2018, in Seongnam City, HSI/Canada participated in shutting down Taepyeong, the largest dog slaughterhouse in the country. As political and public momentum to end the dog meat trade grows within South Korea, HSI hopes its program will demonstrate a phase-out model that can one day be adopted nationwide with state support.

Facts: More than 2.5 million dogs a year are reared on thousands of dog meat farms across South Korea.

Most people in South Korea dont regularly eat dog, but it remains popular during the Bok days of summer in July and August, when it is eaten as a soup called bosintang.

Dogs are mainly killed by electrocution, taking up to five minutes to die. Hanging is also practiced.

The dog meat industry is in legal limbo in South Korea, neither legal nor illegal. Many provisions of the Animal Protection Act are routinely breached, such as the ban on killing animals in a brutal way including hanging by the neck, and on killing them in public areas or in front of other animals of the same species.

Download b-roll video and photos of the rescue by clicking here.

Media Contact: Christopher Pare, Director of Communications  Office: 514 395-2914 x 206 / cell: 438 402-0643 / email: cpare@hsi.orgCANBERRA  The Australian Senate has today passed the Governments Industrial Chemicals Bills 2017, including measures to prohibit reliance on new animal test data for chemicals introduced into Australia for use as ingredients in cosmetics. Passage of the bill was made possible thanks to an agreement reached with Humane Society International (HSI) this week, which saw the Government commit to 11 substantial reinforcing measures to ensure that all cosmetic ingredients are captured by the ban, together with funding to support the development and uptake of modern non-animal test methods. HSI, together with its #BeCrueltyFree Australia campaign partner Humane Research Australia, have welcomed the essential commitments which will ensure the implementation of a robust ban on cruel cosmetics in Australia.

Hannah Stuart, HSI Campaign Manager for #BeCrueltyFree Australia, said: We are pleased to welcome this milestone in moving to end reliance on cruel and outdated cosmetic animal testing in Australia. This weeks commitments by the Government to further restrict the use of new animal test data for cosmetic uses, and to reduce reliance on animal testing more broadly as well, come as a product of nearly three years of intensive negotiations with Humane Society International. Paired with the Governments additional commitments to HSI, this ban reflects both the global trend to end cosmetics cruelty, and the will of the Australian public which opposes using animals in the development of cosmetics. We thank the Government for showing leadership on this important issue, and HSI will continue to work with them to implement the commitments and enforce a robust ban. This is a huge win for animals, consumers and science.

Stuart added: Negotiations between HSI and the Government to secure the essential commitments and passage of the bill today were made possible through overwhelming public and cross-party support of #BeCrueltyFree Australias campaign for a robust national ban on cruel cosmetics, and in particular through the support of key Coalition MPs Jason Wood and Steve Irons, as well as the crucial backing of Senate amendment and motion co-sponsors Labor, the Greens, Centre Alliance Senator Stirling Griff, Senator Derryn Hinch, and Senator Tim Storer.

The Governments additional commitments to HSI and #BeCrueltyFree Australia include the following:

Further crucial provisions in the Ministerial Rules that accompany the bill which will prohibit new animal test data for all cosmetic uses of chemical ingredients introduced to Australia, ensuring that consumers wont be exposed to buying newly animal tested cosmetics even after the ban comes into force.

Further measures to increase compliance with the ban once implemented, as well as measures which extend beyond the cosmetics ban, and will contribute even more significantly to a reduction in animal testing.

Allocating funding to support the development and uptake of new approach methods to replace animals in regulatory testing, and clearly articulating within the Industrial Chemicals Categorisation Guidelines that animal testing must only be used as a last resort, thereby aligning with international precedent.

The letter from the Minister and a full list of Government commitments made to HSI and #BeCrueltyFree Australia can be viewed here.

Facts:

HSIs global #BeCrueltyFree campaign is the largest global effort in history to end cosmetics animal testing and trade. HSI and its partners have played a leading role in many of the nearly 40 national bans enacted to date, and in driving similar measures in active political discussion in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, the United States and the ASEAN region of south-east Asia. #BeCrueltyFree Australia is a partnership between Humane Society International and Humane Research Australia which has campaigned for over six years specifically on the issue of cosmetics cruelty in Australia.

campaign is the largest global effort in history to end cosmetics animal testing and trade. HSI and its partners have played a leading role in many of the nearly 40 national bans enacted to date, and in driving similar measures in active political discussion in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, the United States and the ASEAN region of south-east Asia. is a partnership between Humane Society International and Humane Research Australia which has campaigned for over six years specifically on the issue of cosmetics cruelty in Australia. Humane Society International estimates that around 500,000 animals  mainly rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats and mice  suffer and die in cruel and outdated tests of cosmetic ingredients or products each year around the world. Rabbits, guinea pigs, mice and rats are the most common animals used to test cosmetics, subjected to having cosmetic chemicals dripped in their eyes, spread on their shaved skin, or force fed to them orally in massive, even lethal doses.

A May 2013 poll by Nexus Research on behalf of Humane Research Australia found an overwhelming majority of Australians (85 percent) oppose using animals in the development of cosmetics with a large majority (81 percent) supporting a national ban on the sale of cosmetics tested on animals  thats four out of five Australians who support a national ban. Similarly, a July 2014 opinion poll by Roy Morgan Research showed that Not Tested on Animals was one of the top three features looked for by Australian female consumers when buying cosmetics.

More than 1000 beauty brands are certified cruelty-free globally, including popular Australian brands such as LUSH, Natures Organics, MooGoo, Australis, and many others such as those listed on the Choose Cruelty Free List.

These cruelty-free companies have sworn off animal testing, yet still produce new, safe and fabulous beauty products. They do so by using long-established ingredients combined with state-of-the-art non-animal tests that can produce faster, cheaper and more relevant test results.

ENDS

Media contact: Hannah Stuart, HSI/Australia, P 0407 193 526 | E hstuart@hsi.org

Tweet: @BeCrueltyFreeOz @HSIAustralia @hsiglobal #BeCrueltyFreeEgypts President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi



The Egyptian leader addressed the summit, saying he would focus on security on the African continent and rebuilding efforts of countries recovering from conflict.

"Our work must continue to improve peace and security in Africa in a holistic and sustainable manner," Mr. el- Sisi said. "Mediation and preventive diplomacy will remain one of the priorities of the African Union."

The post rotates annually between the five regions of the continent.

The AU General Assembly consists of 55 heads of state, and meets once a year at its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Assembly is considered the AUs supreme council as it establishes its priorities, adopts its annual program and monitors the implementation of its policies and decisions. /.WARSAW: US Vice President Mike Pence accused leading European countries on Thursday of trying to break US sanctions against Tehran, in remarks at a Middle East peace summit that were likely to further strain transatlantic relations.

Pence spoke at the conference in Warsaw attended by 60 countries, including Israel and six Gulf Arab states, but not the Palestinians or Iran.

European powers, who oppose the Trump administration`s decision to pull out of a nuclear deal with Iran, were openly sceptical of a conference excluding Tehran. France and Germany declined to send their top diplomats, while British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt left before Thursday`s main events.

"Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative," Pence said. "In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions."

Trump pulled the United States last year out of the 2015 Iran deal, under which Tehran agreed to curbs on its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions.

European countries say the move was a mistake and have promised to try to salvage the deal as long as Iran continues to abide by it. In practice, European companies have accepted new U.S. sanctions on Iran and abandoned plans to invest there.

Pence said a European scheme to trade with Iran, known as the Special Purpose Vehicle, was "an effort to break American sanctions against Iran`s murderous revolutionary regime".

"It is an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU and create still more distance between Europe and the United States," he said.

The European trade vehicle was conceived as a way to help match Iranian oil and gas exports against purchases of EU goods. However, those ambitions have been scaled back, with diplomats saying that, realistically, it will be used only for trade, for example of humanitarian products or food, allowed by Washington.

The summit venue in Poland could itself be seen as a rebuke to Washington`s traditional Western European allies, who are at odds with a nationalist government in Warsaw over moves the EU says curb judicial independence and free speech.

The summit was notable because of the presence of Israel alongside wealthy Arab states. Washington aims to narrow differences between its Israeli and Arab allies to isolate Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met with Omani Foreign Minister Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullahon on the sidelines on Wednesday, called the conference a "historical turning point" in combating the threat from Iran.

"DESPERATE CIRCUS"

But just as notable were the absences, not only of Iran itself -- which called the meeting a "desperate circus" -- but of the Palestinians, who refused to attend over what they regard as U.S. bias against them under Trump. They have been boycotting the administration since Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy in 2017 to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat took aim at the Arab states for attending, citing an Arab meeting last year that reaffirmed demands that Israel first withdraw from Palestinian land before it can normalise ties with Arab countries.

"Reward the occupation, the decision to abolish the Arab Peace Initiative and the decisions of the Dhahran Summit. For what? Mediation between America and Israel on the one hand and Iran on the other," Erekat tweeted.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the only path to peace was by negotiating with the Palestinian leadership represented by Abbas.

European allies were concerned that the conference would turn into an Iran-bashing session, which would only increase tensions with the Tehran.

"We strongly disagree.... We want to push Iran to good results and dont want to push Iran outside of its nuclear commitment," a diplomat from a major European power said after Pence`s speech.

Niels Annen, Germany`s minister of state, expressed scepticism over the likely outcome.

"I am hoping for constructive signals but nobody here has the expectation that this conference will solve problems," he told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting. "That would be unrealistic because we need a political agreement with all participants at the end of the day."

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for an era of cooperation at opening remarks that were broadcast publicly. The rest of the meeting, including a presentation by White House advisor and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner on plans for Israeli-Palestinian peace, was held behind closed is doors.

Kushner and Trumps Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt are trying to broker a peace plan to cover all core issues of the decades-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, US official say. Release of the plan has been delayed by Palestinian anger at Trump`s change of U.S. policy on Jerusalem.A dastardly terror attack resulted in at least 44 Central Reserve Police Force personnel being martyred on Thursday afternoon. The attack, which was claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, was universally condemned the world over even as India united to grieve the fallen heroes.

South Asian neighbours Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka were quick to express solidarity with India at this time of grief and strongly condemned the suicide attack. "At this sad moment, we stand by the people and govt of India. We offer was condolences to the members of the families who lost their dear ones. Our thoughts and prayers are speedy recovery of those who got injured," said Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina.

Nepal PM KP Sharma spoke to PM Narendra Modi to express condolences, concern and condemnation. Lotay Tshering, PM of Bhutan, also expressed his grief. "Deeply saddened by the news of the horrific terrorist attack in Kashmir. Bhutan strongly condemns terrorist attack of any nature. Our prayers are with the grieved family and we are following the situation closely," he tweeted.

Deeply saddened by the news of the horrific terrorist attack in Kashmir. Bhutan strongly condemns terrorist attack of any nature. Our prayers are with the grieved family and we are following the situation closely.  PM Bhutan (@PMBhutan) February 14, 2019

Sri Lanka President Mathripala Sirisena and PM Ranil Wickremesinghe too expressed their utter horror at the attacks.

Extremely saddened about dastardly terror attack killing 40 CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) Jawans in Balawanapur, South Kashmir (J&K State). The world must condemn such brutal terrorist attacks and take effective action to prevent such incidents in future.@narendramodi  Maithripala Sirisena (@MaithripalaS) February 14, 2019

I condemn the terror attack in Jammu & Kashmir that attacked a convoy, killing 44 soldiers. I extend my heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased. The world should continue to combat terrorism.  Mahinda Rajapaksa (@PresRajapaksa) February 14, 2019

Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, President of Maldives, assured India of cooperating in the fight against the menace of terrorism.

I strongly condemn the deadly terrorist attack in Kashmir today killing at least 40 people. We send our thoughts and prayers to those affected. The Maldives will continue to work with India and the international community to combat terrorism in our region and the world at large.  Ibrahim Mohamed Solih (@ibusolih) February 14, 2019

A number of foreign dignitaries - including ambassadors to India - expressed their condolences on behalf of their respective countries. These included the US, Russian, German, Turkish and Czech embassy, the French, Isreali and Thai ambassadors, and the Australian and Canadian High Commissioners.

At the time of filing this report, there had been no word from Pakistan although a Reuters report said the country had denied any involvement in the attack. India's Ministry of External Affairs however rebuked Islamabad for its support to terrorist organisations like JeM and urged the world community to deem its leader Masood Azhar as a designated terrorist.PATHANAMTHITTA: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday lashed out at CPI(M)-led LDF government in Kerala over the Sabarimala temple issue, stressing it was the duty of state government to safeguard the faith and beliefs of the people. Yogi said that Kerala government must introspect on the stand taken by it on this issue, PTI reported.

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister accused the Kerala government of acting against the believers and trying to "destroy" their faith.

"The Karyakarthas of BJP have been jailed after being booked in false cases," Aditiyanath said. He remarked that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has been using the verdict passed on September 28 by the Supreme Court verdict referring to entry of women in Sabarimala to act against the believers.

Yogi Adityanath also said the BJP workers were facing a "lot of challenges" in the state for trying to safeguard the interests of believers.

"The whole nation is with you on the Sabarimala issue. The nation has seen what the Kerala government has done to the devotees," Aditiyanath said, addressing party workers at Pathanamthitta district, which had witnessed huge protests over Sabarimala issue.

"We need to give a befitting reply to them in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. We need to have more MPs from Kerala to Lok Sabha to ensure Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes back to power," Adityanath said.

"The Kerala government should stand with the people instead of taking an adamant stand on the matter. The state government has been using the Supreme Court verdict to act against the believers," Yogi Adityanath was quoted as saying by PTI.

The apex court had in its verdict on September 28, 2018, allowed women of all age groups to enter the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple. The SC's order was historic becuase where earlier women in the menstruating age of 10-50 years were not allowed from entering the temple.

(with PTI inputs)Members of the Parliament were to debate the long-discussed legislative project based on a statement drafted by the Parliaments Administration Committee.

THE FINNISH PARLIAMENT surprised many by announcing only hours before its plenary session yesterday afternoon that the bill for new civilian and military intelligence laws has been taken off the agenda of the session.

The Administration Committee, however, decided to withdraw the bill from the agenda following the emergence of concerns that it had neglected to take into account observations made about the bill for civilian intelligence laws by the Parliaments Constitutional Law Committee.

Paula Risikko (NCP), the Speaker of the Parliament, said parliamentary officials will now comb through the bill for any possible issues.

Professors Juha Lavapuro and Martin Scheinin expressed their concerns about the bill on Twitter on Friday. The Administration Committee, they estimated, has failed to take sufficiently into account observations about questions such as how to target network traffic intelligence operations and define search conditions.

The Administration Committees proposal for a law on civilian network traffic intelligence is so weak that it gets an F, tweeted Lavapuro and Scheinin.

The decision to withdraw a bill from the agenda at such a short notice is exceptional.

The Finnish Parliament in October voted overwhelmingly in favour of declaring urgent a series of constitutional amendments necessitated by the new intelligence laws, thus enabling the government to enact the laws by the end of its term in office.

Risikko on Wednesday also expressed her exasperation with the manner in which the experts drew attention to possible problems in the bill.

Of course I hope that if there are doubts about whats going on in this building, we wouldnt have to read about them on social media. You can write directly to me. And you can also drop in for a visit, well even offer you a cup of coffee. That kind of a practice would make much more sense, she stated to journalists in the Finnish Parliament.

There has to be a way to talk about these things in a timely manner, added Risikko.

Her criticism was rejected almost immediately by Scheinin, a professor of international law and human rights at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.

Weve tried the method she proposed. I wrote to the speaker and her assistant about a particular issue in the plenary session together with my colleague on 18 September 2017. Were still waiting for a reply, tweeted Scheinin.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Source: Uusi SuomiSrinagar: At least 44 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers of the 76 Battalion were martyred and several others injured when terrorists blasted their convoy using IED in Lethpora area of Pulwama's Awantipora on Thursday afternoon. According to news agency PTI, officials said that Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the IED blast targeting the bus carrying CRPF personnel.

The IED was planted in a car on the road and as soon as the vehicle carrying 20 soldiers came near it at around 3:20 pm, the terrorists triggered the blast. The terrorists then opened fire on the vehicle, which was going towards Srinagar from Jammu. The blast was so powerful that several soldiers were thrown several metres away from the bus which was completely shattered and wrecked.

More security forces have been rushed to the area and the spot where the convoy was hit has been cordoned off by the soldiers.

Just a day earlier two terrorists were killed by security forces in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam. A brief exchange of fire had taken place between security forces and terrorists in Gopalpora area of Budgam district on Wednesday morning in which the two were killed.

Incriminating material, including arms and ammunition, were recovered from the site of encounter. The identities and affiliations of the terrorists who were killed are yet to be identified.

"Based on a credible input about the presence of terrorists in the Gopalpora area of Chadoora in Budgam district, a cordon and search operation was launched in the intervening night (of Tuesday and Wednesday)," a police spokesman said.

He said when the search operation was underway, the terrorists fired on the security forces. The search party retaliated and it led to a gunfight in which the two terrorists were killed.New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday slammed Pakistan for its support to Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and its chief Masood Azhar. This after JeM claimed responsibility for a dastardly attack on a Central Reserve Police Force convoy which resulted in at least 44 personnel getting martyred in J&K's Awantipora.

The MEA minced no words in holding Pakistan accountable and said in a statement that the government in Islamabad actively supports terror organisations like JeM. "Government of India condemns in strongest possible terms the cowardly terrorist attack on our brave security forces in Pulwama, J&K today. This heinous act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the UN other countries," read the statement. "This terror group is led by international terrorist Masood Azhar, who has been given full freedom by Government of Pakistan to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity."

Urging the world community to recognise the need to designate Masood Azhar as a designated terrorist, the MEA also said that all terror organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan need to be banned.

JeM was launched in Karachi in 2001 by Masood Azhar and has since been actively supported - in terms of weapons, money and training - by Pakistan's ISI and its military establishment. In fact, JeM is one of several terror fronts that Pakistan uses to wage proxy wars against India. It is JeM that was behind the 2001 attacks on the Indian Parliament, the attack on Pathankot air base in 2016 and the Uri attacks.

While India has repeatedly tried to get UN Security Council to recognise Masood Azhar as a designated terrorist, it is a move that has been blocked each time by China at Pakistan's behest.NAGPUR: Condemning the cowardly terror attack on CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in which 44 CRPF personnel lost their lives, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday said the Narendra Modi government at the Centre must respond to the attack.

Talking to reporters in Nagpur, Bhagwat said, "It is a cowardly act, we strongly condemn it. We expect action in response to this incident." "We have tolerated a lot and are still doing so, as seen from today's incident. They will get a reply (to the attack)," he added.

NCP Chief Sharad Pawar also echoed similar feelings and extended condolences to the families of martyred CRPF personnel. "The cowardly attack on a convoy of CRPF and killing of Jawans in Awantipora, Pulwama district in Jammu and Kashmir is a condemnable act. My condolences to the families of the martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for India," Pawar tweeted.

The CRPF personnel were killed when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist suicide bomber rammed a vehicle loaded with explosives into the bus of soldiers.

Shiv Sena slammed the government saying that the measures taken by the Union government to stop terror attacks in the country were not yielding desired results despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assurance to the country.

"This is too painful and disturbing. We pay our respects. But such attacks should not happen. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said such attacks won't happen again," Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said.

"The language of teaching a lesson to Pakistan was also used (by the BJP-led Union government)....But the efforts are falling short. Intelligence failure is obvious," Kayande added.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis condemned the "cowardly attack" and tweeted, "Deeply pained. Entire Nation stands with the #CRPF family. We salute the supreme sacrifice for the Nation and pray for speedy recovery of the injured ones!"

(with PTI inputs)People in Delhi woke up to light rain on Thursday as the capital and its surrounding areas such as Noida, Gurugram and Faridabad witnessed gusty winds and thunderstorm owing to an intense western disturbance over Northern India.

The capital is expected to witness intense spells of rain and thundershowers with isolated hailstorm activity for the next two days.

"Light scattered rains are expected to continue over the national capital region till February 15. By February 16, the weather systems will move towards east India giving rain in Uttar Pradesh," said Skymer, a private weather forecasting agency.

"As a consequence of the rainfall activity, maximums in Delhi and its adjoining areas will drop by 2 Degree Celsius to 4 Degree Celsius, while the maximums will again start increasing February 16 onwards," it added.

According to Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), apart from rain, a thick blanket of smog has also engulfed Delhi on Thursday as the air quality has plummeted to the very poor category with air quality index 323 in the morning.

At Lodhi road, the AQI (Air Quality Index) was 315 with PM (Particulate Matter) 2.5 at 8 am. In the Ayanagar area, the air quality also dipped to the very poor with 309. Also in capital`s famous locality Mathura road which also has Purana Qila, the AQI fell to 328 with PM 2.5.

In addition, due to fog, as many as 10 trains were rescheduled after getting delayed by at least by 2 hours. Delhi, which is home to approx 19 million people, is reeling under the menace of air pollution from the past couple of years. The region faced a major air quality crisis in 2018 as pollution levels shot through the roof and even forced the shutdown of schools.

Moreover, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had described the capital as a "gas chamber" and local administration was compelled to declare a public health emergency.New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a strong condemnation of the dastardly attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Awantipora in J&K's Pulwama district on Thursday and assured that the sacrifices made by the martyrs won't go in vain.

At least 39 security personnel were killed and many more injured when an explosive-laden car rammed into a bus carrying the CRPF contingent. Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the attack. While the terror group - based in and supported by Pakistan - has been responsible for cowardly attacks in the past as well, Prime Minister Modi pointed towards a strong counter. "Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain," he tweeted. "The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly."

Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 14, 2019

PM Modi also said that he has spoken to Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other top officials regarding the situation in Pulwama. Rajnath Singh has cancelled a scheduled visit to Bihar and will reach Srinagar on Friday. He has been in touch with Governor Satya Pal Malik and CRPF DG RR Bhatnagar.

CRPF officials, meanwhile, have launched an investigation while National Security Advisor Ajit Doval too is keeping a close watch on the incident.Prayagraj: With the Lok Sabha election 2019 just a few months away, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will possibly come to Prayagraj on February 19 and take part in ongoing Kumbh Mela on the occasion of Poornima for Sangam Snan, said reports on Thursday.

News agency ANI quoted Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya as saying that ''the programme (PM's visit) is almost finalised.

This would be the PMs seventh visit to Uttar Pradesh in February in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections as he may also visit Rahul Gandhis constituency of Amethi.

Prime Minister may visit Kumbh on February 19 on Poornima for Sangam Snan, its almost finalised, news agency ANI quoted Maurya as saying.

UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya: Prime Minister may visit Kumbh on 19 February on 'Poornima' for 'Sangam Snan', it's almost finalised. pic.twitter.com/LfsYtUakNM  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) 13 February 2019

On the same day, on the occasion of Guru Ravidas Jayanti, the Prime Minister is scheduled to visit his constituency of Varanasi as well.

While Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath hasnt confirmed the same, he thanked PM Modi for giving international recognition to Kumbh Mela.

Every devotee of this country expresses his gratitude to the Prime Minister because of whose guidance Kumbh could receive international recognition. He was the one who started Kumbh with Ganga pooja of akhadas and maybe he can have another programme here, the UP CM name told ANI.

UP CM: Every devotee of this country expresses its gratitude to Prime Minister because of whose guidance Kumbh could receive international recognition. He was the one who started Kumbh with 'ganga pooja' of 'akhadas' & maybe he can have another programme here pic.twitter.com/6nhcwCzdRy  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) 13 February 2019

The 2019 Kumbh Mela began on January 15 and would conclude on March 4 and has seen significant political presence this year. BJP chief Amit Shah visited the Kumbh Mela on Wednesday.

Earlier, the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet held its meeting at the mela. Cabinet Ministers also took a dip at the Sangam and visited the Akshaya vat. SP leader and former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav too paid a visit to the holy gathering last month.

Meanwhile, apart from February 19 visit to Kumbh and Varanasi, the PM will be Gorakhpur on February 24 to launch the PM Kisan Nidhi scheme. On February 27, he would be Kanpur for the 2nd UP Investors Summit.

On February 15, he will be Jhansi where he will lay the foundation stone of the ambitious Defence Corridor project. Some reports suggest that the PM would visit Amethi on February 28.At least 44 CRPF personnel were martyred in a cowardly attack on a security convoy by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Awantipora, prompting former state chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah to issue statements strongly condemning the incident.

Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the attack which was triggered by an IED in Goripora area of Pulwama's Awantipora. While at least 44 CRPF bravehearts have lost their lives, many more are reportedly injured. PDP chief Mehbooba took to Twitter to express her horror. "Disturbing news coming in from #awantipura . Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several have been injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack," she wrote on the micro-blogging site. "How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?"

Disturbing news coming in from #awantipura . Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several have been injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?  Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 14, 2019

Mufti has often been accused of being soft on terror and has even called terrorists in J&K as 'sons of the soil.' She also believes that talks are the best way forward to bring peace to the valley.

Mufti's political adversary in Omar Abdullah too condemned Thursday's attacks and offered his condolences. "Terrible news coming from the valley. A number of CRPF soldiers are reported to have been killed & injured in an IED blast. I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved," he tweeted.

Terrible news coming from the valley. A number of CRPF soldiers are reported to have been killed & injured in an IED blast. I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved. #Kashmir  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 14, 2019

The latest attack is being regarded as an act of desperation from terror groups in J&K, especially as the security establishment here has maintained a tight grip over the situation so far. As many as 223 terrorists were shot dead in J&K in 2018 - the highest in eight years.PATNA: Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav Thursday demanded that the call detail record (CDR) of mobile phone of Brajesh Thakur, the kingpin of Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal, be made public so that the other accused could be nabbed.

The RJD leader claimed that the state police had lodged FIR against accused into the incident after two months of it coming to light and that too under relatively weaker sections of the law in order to protect them.

The relevant sections of POCSO Act were added against the accused only after Supreme Courts directive, he told reporters.

Tejashwi, a former Deputy Chief Minister of the state, was speaking to the mediapersons in the assembly premises after Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary rejected adjournment motion of RJD legislators seeking debate on Muzaffarpur shelter home case relating to sexual abuse of more than 30 girls over a period of time.

Our adjournment motion was rejected. When I was speaking in the House, my mike was switched off. Nitish jee, such autocratic style of functioning will not last long as ultimately you will have to reply to the people, he said making a scathing attack at the state government.

"People want to know as to who is the minister, who used to visit the shelter home with a pot-bellied man sporting a moustache"? he said.

When the horror story in the Muzaffarpur shelter home had come to the surface last year, media reports quoting some sexually harassed inmates had talked about the visit of a minister with a pot-bellied man who used to sexully exploit the girls regularly.

Yadav pointed out that the former Bihar minister Manju Verma was arrested on the basis of cdr of the main accused's phone and if the cdr of his phone is made public other accused could be identified and punished.

"What happened to the victims who were brought to Madhubani shelter home from Muzaffarpur?...Where the victims vanished- nobody knows whether they were killed or alive," he asked.

After the scandal broke out, the minor girls of the Muzaffarpur shelter home were moved to a government-run house in Madhubani.

He alleged that in order to protect the accused of the shelter home case, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi exerted pressure on the Centre to get some senior officers of the CBI investigating the case transferred, a move that came in for criticism by the apex court.

Earlier, when the assembly met at 12 noon after a brief recess due to adjournment during question hour, speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary rejected RJDs adjournment motion seeking a debate on Muzaffarpur shelter home scandal, saying that the motion was not as per the rules of business.

The motion was moved by RJDs Lalit Kumar Yadav, Rajendra Kumar Sah, Sameer Kumar Mahaseth and Ramvilas Paswan.

As Lalit Yadav began reading out his motion, the speaker said that he has rejected it. At this point, Tejashwi stood up from his seat and urged the chair to allow the motion as it was on a very serious issue on which the supreme court recently chided the state government.

"The CM claims that all is well when it comes to law and order situation in the state, but I want to ask some three-four questions from the chief minister as the supreme court has also expressed its concern on this," he said.

The speaker, while interrupting Tejashwi, said that you will get to speak during a debate on the third supplementary demands scheduled to be held during the post-lunch session.

But, the leader of opposition continued with his speech after which his party members trooped into the well of the house forcing the speaker to adjourn again.NEW DELHI: A Supreme Court bench comprising justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan on Thursday differed on who would have the power to post and transfer bureaucrats, the Anti-Corruption Bureau and appointment of inquiry commissions etc in Delhi. The two top judges of the top court - Justice AK Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan - gave a split verdict on the jurisdiction of Centre or Delhi government over appointment and transfer of bureaucrats in Delhi.

One of the two top judges dealing with the issue said that the Delhi government has all powers, except on matters related to land and policing.

Justice AK Sikri held that transfers or posting of Joint Secretary and officers of above rank are in the domain of the LG while other officers fall under Delhi Government.

However, in case of difference of opinion, the view of Delhi LG will prevail. The Anti Corruption Bureau will come under the LG, Justice Sikri said in his order.

Justice Sikri further held that Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) can appoint public prosecutors. The Commission of Inquiry will come under the LG while the Electricity Board will come under the control of Delhi government, Justice Sikri ruled.

Justice Ashok Bhushan, however, dissented from Justice Sikri on the issue of 'Services' and said all the officers fall under the domain of the Central government.

The two judges, however, unanimously held that the Centre has the power to set up an Inquiry Commission.

The Supreme Court then referred the issue to a larger bench to decide whether the Delhi government or Lieutenant Governor should have jurisdiction over Services in Delhi.

Supreme Court refers the issue to a larger bench to decide whether the Delhi government or Lieutenant Governor should have jurisdiction over Services in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/SwgYzT6c5N  ANI (@ANI) 14 February 2019

With the top court apparently favouring Centre over the Delhi government in the most of the contentious issues, today's ruling is being viewed as a big setback for the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government.

Lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay on Delhi govt vs LG matter: Supreme Court took decision on 6 issues. SC ruled in favour of centre in 4 of them. Anti-Corruption Bureau, posting & transfer of Grade 1 & Grade 2 officers, Commission of Inquiry, falls under Centre's jurisdiction. pic.twitter.com/DZOHAJGwA7  ANI (@ANI) 14 February 2019

The top court passed its verdict while responding on a batch of petitions challenging various notifications including control of services and power of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in what had triggered a war of words between the Delhi government and the Centre.

The bench had on November 1 last year reserved its verdict on the petitions challenging the notifications issued by the Centre and the Delhi government.

During the previous hearings, the Centre had told the apex court that the Lieutenant Governor (LG) has the power to regulate services in Delhi.

The powers are delegated to the administrator of Delhi and the services can be administered through him, it had said.

The Centre also said that unless the President of India expressly directs, the LG, who is the administrator of Delhi, cannot consult the Chief Minister or the Council of Ministers.

On October 4, last year, the Delhi government had told the apex court that it wanted its petitions relating to the governance of the national capital be heard soon as it did not want "stalemate to continue in administration".

The Delhi government had told the top court that it wanted to know where it stands with regard to the administration in view of the Constitution bench verdict of the apex court on July 4.

The five-judge bench had on July 4, last year laid down broad parameters for governance of the national capital, which has witnessed a power struggle between the Centre and the Delhi government since the Aam Aadmi Party came to power in 2014.

In the landmark verdict, it had unanimously held that Delhi cannot be accorded the status of a state but clipped the powers of the Lieutenant Governor (LG), saying he has no "independent decision-making power" and has to act on the aid and advice of the elected government.

On September 19, last year, the Centre had told the apex court that administration of Delhi cannot be left to the Delhi government alone and emphasised that it has an "extraordinary" position by virtue of being the country's capital.

The Centre had told the court that a five-judge constitution bench of the apex court had categorically held that Delhi cannot be accorded the status of a state.

The Centre had contended that one of the basic issues was that whether the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) has the legislative and executive powers so far as 'services' were concerned.

It said that the national capital houses several institutions of vital importance like Parliament and the Supreme Court and foreign diplomats also resides here.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had been at loggerheads with incumbent LG Anil Baijal and his predecessor Najeeb Jung. Kejriwal had accused both of them of preventing the functioning of his government at the behest of the BJP-led central government.Facing disapproval from women lawmakers for comparing himself to a rape survivor, Karnataka Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar on Wednesday expunged his own remarks made in the House and said that he considered women like his mothers and sisters. He also sought pardon from them.

After the women MLAs, including Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's wife Anitha Kumaraswamy, met him in his chamber and conveyed their disapproval, Kumar told the House that he had no intention to cause any pain to women members.

"I'm directing my office to expunge all the comments made circumstantially from the records. I am clarifying that I had no intention to cause any pain to any woman from the Chair...If anyone has felt so, kindly pardon me...All of you are like mothers and sisters. I have always respected you and continue to do so," the Speaker said.

Kumar had made the controversial remarks during an intervention on discussions on Tuesday over a SIT probe into an audio clip involving 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's remarks had evoked guffaw from the members.

Pointing to repeated reference to a charge against him in the audio that he had been "booked" for Rs 50 crore for a favourable ruling in the case the ruling coalition MLAs resigned and the anti-defection law provisions are invoked against them, he had compared himself to a rape survivor having to undergo unabated questioning.

The Chief Minister has announced the Special Investigation Team to probe the audio episode, on the "advice" of the Speaker to "establish the truth", as his name has also been dragged with the charge that he had been "booked" for Rs 50 crore.

Besides Anitha Kumaraswamy, the other women MLAs who met the speaker are Anjali Nimbalkar, Roopa Kala Shashidhar, Kaneez Fatima, Lakshmi Hebbalkar, Sowmya Reddy and Vinisha Niro. They met Kumar after his comments and their silence on the issue drew criticism.

"Yesterday, during the proceeding circumstantially I had spoken about the situation of a rape victim and even more insult the victim has to undergo during inquiry and reason why laws made are getting destroyed," he said.

He said, "As I made this statement a few of them (MLAs) laughed and few in the media have termed it as causing disgrace to women. For the last two days, they (media) had not got any masala, they too have to lead life right, so they are doing this."

The Speaker said women MLAs came to him and said they had been conducting themselves respectfully in the House. They said they were being questioned for remaining silent while others were laughing.

"I understand their sentiments," he said, adding that one can escape from the gallows but not from the media and "let's empty the masala for them."

Earlier, speaking to the media, women MLAs cutting across party lines expressed their displeasure about the Speaker's comment Tuesday and said it could have been avoided.

BJP MLA Shashikala Jolle said: "His (Speaker) situation may be so because of the humiliation he is made to undergo because of repeated reference to charges, but the way it was put across was not right."

Another BJP MLA Roopali Naik said the comments were not right and "it looked as though it (victims' situation) was being taken lightly. Such comments should not have been made. We wanted to express displeasure immediately, but."

Nominated member Vinisha Niro sought to defend the Speaker saying he was drawing a parallel to the 'pain' he had been undergoing.

"He has complete respect for women, but he shouldn't have made those comments," she said.

Congress legislator Lakshmi Hebbalkar said, the Speaker did not intend to insult a woman, "but this (comments) should not have happened." Hebbalkar's lawmaker colleague Sowmya Reddy said, "I agree thatthe words shouldn't have been used. Rapes don't happen only on the woman, it happens also on men... Knowing him, I can say, he did not mean hurting anybody."(Bloomberg) Activist hedge fund managers are too passive when it comes to gender equality. Of the 143 board members who were nominated by activist hedge funds in 2018, just 19, or 13 percent, were women, according to a new study from Activist Insight. That compares with about a third of all board members who were nominated last year. The 13 percent does appear to be a bit of an improvement. In early 2016, Bloomberg reported that just 5 percent of all activist nominees had been women during the previous five years.

To read this article:NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi-led NDA government has cleared a proposal to produce at least 7.47 lakh Kalashnikov assault rifles by the Ordnance Factory Board and a Russian Joint venture firm for the Indian Army.

The plant for the same will be set up near Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, said reports.

News agency ANI confirmed that the Centre had on Wednesday evening cleared a proposal for the joint production of 7.47 lakh Kalashnikov series assault rifles by the Ordnance Factory Board and Russian Joint venture firm.

Centre today cleared 7.47 lakh assault Kalashnikov rifles to be built by Ordnance Factory Board and Russian Joint venture firm. Plant to be set up near Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. pic.twitter.com/RpGUZZQ1Fs  ANI (@ANI) 13 February 2019

This comes days after the government signed a deal for procuring 72,400 assault rifles for the Indian Armys infantry from the US-based M/s Sig Sauer.

An intergovernmental agreement for a joint venture between Russias Kalashnikov Concern and Ordnance Factory Board is expected to be inked later this week, said media reports quoting sources.

The joint venture is in response to Ministry of Defence (MoD)s Request for Information (RFI) for procurement of 650 000 assault rifles of 7.6239 mm calibre under Make in India program.

Media reports quoted sources as saying that as part of the deal around 50,000 assault rifles will be handed over to India once the joint venture is inked.



Russia has been pushing for signing this deal since last year in October when Indo-Russia summit had taken place in New Delhi.

Last year in December, both countries had agreed to the establishment of a Russian-Indian intergovernmental commission on military and military-technical cooperation to complete the restructuring of the intergovernmental commission to make it possible to establish closer cooperation in the defence sector.

During the India-Russian intergovernmental commission meeting on military-technical cooperation in December last year it was decided that the Kalashnikovs will be made in India under Make in India initiative of the government.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had met her Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu regarding the same.

The government is keen to close the deal with Russia as it wants to provide modern weaponry to the infantry division of the Army in guarding long stretches of borders close to Pakistan and China.

It may be recalled that the Defence Ministry had recently signed a contract 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.

The US firm will have to now deliver the rifles within a year, as per news agency PTI.

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.New Delhi: Using a regular runway for flight operations requires skill and precision. Handling a plane - whether landing or taking off - on a taxi track runway only raises the stakes and the bar.

Shattering the proverbial glass ceiling recently were two brave women pilots of the Indian Air Force who successfully undertook Parallel Taxi Track operations in their Dornier 228 aircraft. Sqn Ldr Kamaljeet Kaur and her co-pilot Sqn Ldr Rakhi Bhandari carried out successful parallel taxi track landing and take-off operations at Sirsa.

Parallel Taxi Track operations are carried out to enable unhindered operations even when the runway is not available due to enemy action or any other reasons. PTT operations are a challenging task as the crew is required to land and take off from the taxi track, which is considerably smaller in width than the runway, with proximity to obstructions as compared to the main runway. There is no scope for any errors during the two most critical phases of flight - landing and take-off.

The successful PTT operation undertaken only highlights the main theme of Aero India 2019 which begins from February 20 in Bengaluru. February 23 if marked as the day to highlight the achievements of women in the aviation sector.POKHRAN: The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Thursday carried out a Full Dress Rehearsal (FDR) of its Vayushakti 2019 fire power demonstration exercise in Rajasthan's Pokhran firing range close to the Indo-Pakistan border.

The IAF's event to showcase its all-weather day-dusk-night operational capability will be on full display on Saturday. The FDR was conducted on in the presence of Air Marshal Anil Khosla, Vice Chief of the Air Staff.

During the FDR, which lasted for two hours, the IAF engaged numerous simulated enemy targets with various types of air-to-ground weaponry including guided and unguided bombs, rockets and guns.

Air-to-air as well as surface-to-air missiles were also used to intercept aerial targets.

Defence Spokesperson Col Sombit Ghosh told PTI that numerous aircraft, including fighters, helicopters and force enablers will participate in the exercise.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will also attend the Vayushakti 2019 which showcase capabilities of various fighter aircraft such as Mirage-2000, Su-30 MKI, MiG 27, Juguar, Tejas, Hawk, MiG-21 Bison, Mi-17 V5, Mi-35 and ALH MKIV besides other platforms.

"The 7th edition of the Fire Power Demonstration (FPD) of the Indian Air Force will showcase all weather day-dusk-night operations on 16 Feb at Pokhran range, Rajasthan," the IAF had tweeted on Wednesday

(with PTI inputs)NEW DELHI: In an all-out attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has urged the voters not to elect a Class 12 pass person for the country's top job in the upcoming Lok Sabha election 2019.

Kejriwal said this while addressing a mega Opposition rally at the historic Jantar Mantar rally.

During his speech, Kejriwal said people made a Class 12-pass the prime minister of the country but they should not repeat the mistake in 2019.

The Aam Aadmi Party supremo also charged PM Modi with being involved in corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal.

"Last time you made a Class 12-pass the prime minister of the country. Do not commit the mistake this time and find someone who is educated because a Class 12 pass (person) has not the understanding where he is putting his signs," the AAP chief said, referring to questions raised on Modi's educational qualification.

Delhi CM Kejriwal at opposition rally y'day: The post of PM is very important, last time you made a 12th pass person PM, don't do it again. Find someone educated, an educated person as PM would be better. A 12th pass person lacks the understanding of where he puts his signature. pic.twitter.com/yqapE4yUzf  ANI (@ANI) 14 February 2019

Addressing the "Tanashahi Hatao, Loktantra Bachao" rally in presence of opposition leaders including Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar and Chandrababu Naidu, Kejriwal asserted their protest-rally will uproot the Narendra Modi government.

"This dharna will uproot the Modi government just as it removed the then government (of Congress-led UPA) in the country after the historic anti-corruption movement gathering at Jantar Mantar on April 4, 2011," he said.

Alleging that the Modi government purchased Rafale fighter jets at an increased price, Kejriwal accused the PM of directly responsible for price escalation.

"Narendra Modi himself negotiated with the company of Rafale," he said, waving a purported paper from a Defence Ministry file.

He said if the truth behind Rafale deal were to be uncovered, the Prime Minister will have to resign.

''It has now been proved that PM Modi is involved in corruption in the Rafale deal," he charged.

Kejriwal also lauded Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Baneree for the way she tackled the recent issue of CBI officials bid to question Kolkata Police Commissioner in an under-investigation case, saying it was an attack by Modi on the elected government in West Bengal.

"The West Bengal government is an elected government. It's not a paternal right (bapauti) of PM Modi. If the commissioner was arrested, the message would have been conveyed across the country that one needed to fear the Modi government, not a state government," he said.

The Delhi CM hit out at the Prime Minister, accusing him of "tearing apart" Dr Ambedkar's Constitution that provides federal structure in the country.

The Modi government snatched away Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB), which had registered cases against high-profile people in the country, from Delhi government, with the help of paramilitary force, charged Kejriwal.

"I want to tell the PM that Delhi is the capital of the country and he is not prime minister of Pakistan. Only Pakistan prime minister dreams of attacking Delhi and Congress,'' he said.

However, terming the opposition rally as a flop show, the Delhi BJP chief said that he will purify the venue with 'Ganga Jal' (Ganga water).



"Those who were villains in Kejriwal's list are his heroes today. He sat on a dharna at Jantar Mantar with the people who were called corrupt by him," Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said.

Stating that the BJP would observe February 13, marking the fourth anniversary of the AAP government in Delhi, as "Black Day", Tiwari alleged that the national capital was "ruined" under Kejriwal's rule.NEW DELHI: Despite the bitter Doklam standoff with India, China is still quietly building up its military presence in Tibet and, according to the latest intelligence report, it has upgraded its military camp under its western command in the region.

According to reports, China's People Liberation Army (PLA) is upgrading one of the civil airports in Gongga in Tibet.

Goggan is situated very close to the Indian border.

China also has planned to build three new airports in Burang, Lhunze and Tingri of southern Tibet under '3+1 project'.

As per the Chinese media reports, China will spend almost $2.6 billion and due to be completed by 2021.

The dispute between India and China (China) over Doklam may have subsided, but the neighbouring countries are constantly engaged in strengthening defence preparedness in the border areas.

''We are aware of the latest development in Tibet''. said a source working in the security establishment.

Where China's PLA has built several new military camps in the border areas, according to the latest information, intelligence inputs that there is a secret guided missile unit in China's Yuxi about 900 kilometers away from Arunachal Pradesh.

According to intelligence reports, China has deployed '622 Missile Brigade' in Yuxi, which is equipped with guided missiles.

China is deploying long-range kill missiles at this new base. If seen, China has already strengthened its Western Theater Command against India and now after the information of the new Missile Brigade is revealed in the South Theater Command, Indian agencies are constantly monitoring this new development.

''Yuxi is close to India and after coming to know about the Chinese missile Brigade, we are trying to understand what the China game plan behind this,'' said a source working in the security establishment.

Intelligence agencies are trying to gather information about the People Liberation Army Rocket Force i.e. (PLA Rocket Force) 622 Missile Brigade.

China has missiles to different ranges, which can destroy any target from 250 kilometers to thousands of kilometers.

As per earlier report, China's People Liberation Army (PLA) has deployed fast patrolling boats at Pangong Tso lake of Ladakh to surveillance border activities. As per the latest Intelligence input, a special water squadron also called as Zhong Dui is garrisoned at Pangong Tso. PLA's Special squadron is part of its 'Mountain Top National Gate Fleet' which is able to carry high tech navigational and communication equipment.

The high-speed boats of PLA have the capacity to house 5-7 soldiers at one time.

"With the help of special water squadron PLA will be able to move very fast and if any tense situation arises in the future it will help them to respond it immediately. We are analyzing of the operational impacts on patrolling or transgressions in Pangong Tso Lake area," said an Intelligence officer.

However, after the Doklam incident, the Indo China border is peaceful and regular Border Personnel Meeting between both armies has been increased. Soldiers from both sides also performed yoga together at over 16,000 feet in Eastern Ladakh to mark the growing trust.

A major scuffled happened in 2017 when Chinese soldiers entered into Indian territory along the bank of Pangong Lake in Ladakh resulting in stone pelting that caused minor injuries to people on both sides.After the Citizenship (amendment) Bill, which is set to lapse on June 3, was not tabled in the Rajya Sabha celebrations broke out across northeast which had been vehemently protesting against it.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 provides for according Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India instead of 11 years, which is the norm currently, even if they do not possess any document.

The Budget session was the last Parliament session of the present government as the Lok Sabha polls are due this summer.

In Assam, supporters of various organisations agitating against the bill, which was passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8, were seen coming out to the streets, bursting crackers, sharing sweets and dancing.

Organisations like the All Assam Students Union (AASU), Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS), Assam Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP) claimed that not passing of the bill in the Rajya Sabha is a "victory of democracy, of the people of Assam and the northeast region against communal forces".

AGP leader and former Assam chief minister Prafulla Mahanta, party chief Atul Bora, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya, KMSS chief Akhil Gogoi and top political leaders of the Congress are in Delhi to campaign against the bill.

Congress leader Pradyut Bordoloi said the people were "saved today from the conspiracy of the BJP to destroy the people in the N-E region". "This democratic momentum of the people has to continue against the communal forces," he added.

Assam PCC president Ripun Bora said the party fought against the controversial bill under the guidance of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and AICC president Rahul Gandhi.

The controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was listed to be tabled in Rajya Sabha on February 13 amid protests in the northeast against the bill.

Tribal outfits and other organisations in the BJP-ruled Tripura expressed happiness on Wednesday over the Centre's failure to get the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha. Students' organisations, political parties and individuals opposing the bill said the collective movement of all against the legislation had won.

The North East Students Organisation (NESO) said the bill was not passed in Parliament since the people of the region and other parts of the country were united against it and supported their fight. "We got results in our favour due to a unified and joint effort of the people from north-east and other parts of the country. We are grateful to everyone who have supported us," NESO joint secretary Upendra Debbarma told reporters.

The NESO, an umbrella organisation of different student unions in the region opposed to the bill, had observed a bandh in the north-eastern states on January 8. "We are delighted. Due to the collective movement of various organisations and political parties, the BJP government had no alternative but to let the bill lapse," Tribal Students' Federation (TSF) general secretary Sunil Debbarma said.

Sunil Debbarma thanked Congress president Rahul Gandhi, JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar, Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray and other leaders for their opposition to the bill. State CPI(M) secretary Goutam Das said what happened in the Rajya Sabha was a reflection of the protests held in the region against the bill. He congratulated all the MPs for their role in Parliament.

The scion of the erstwhile royal family of Tripura, Pradyot Kishore Manikya, said the nation had won over politics. "Jati jeeta hai, party hara hai (the nation has won and the party has lost). But we have to be cautious. If they are elected again, the central government might try to bring it back through backdoor," he said in a Facebook post.

The Indigenous Peoples' Front of Tripura (IPFT), an ally of the ruling BJP, claimed that the bill was not placed in the Rajya Sabha as Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had acceded to the party's request not to pass it.

In Mizoram, civil society groups and student organisations in Mizoram ended their protest. According to NGO Coordination Committee, an umbrella organisation of civil society groups and student bodies in the state, the scheduled rallies against the bill were called off on Wednesday after news of the legislation's lapse reached them.Hours after the Congress dismissed the CAG report on the multi-billion-dollar Rafale deal as a "cover-up", the BJP took a dig at the party asserting what an impossible job it was to explain the pact to them.

Taking to Twitter, the BJP posted a video highlighting the arduous task involved in repeatedly explaining the Rafale pact to Congress president and other party leaders. "This is how it is like explaining Rafale deal to Rahul Gandhi and his cronies," tweeted the BJP.

The video clip posted is from a 1949 movie, Ma & Pa Kettle, where Pa explains that 25 divided by 5 equals 14 and Ma multiplies 5x14 and gets 25. Their son tries to demonstrate otherwise.

This is how it is like explaining Rafale deal to Rahul Gandhi and his cronies. pic.twitter.com/7ani7fBtuq  BJP (@BJP4India) February 14, 2019

In the video, the son tries explaining to the couple a simple mathematical problem on a blackboard with chalk. The son explains that 25 divided by 5 is 5 (25/5=5) but the couple vehemently involves complex and wrong methods and prove that 25 divided by 5 is 14 (25/5=14). Every time the son tries to explain in simplest of the way that 25/5 is infact 5 the couple take recourse to dumbest of ways to and prove 25/5=14.

The couple confidently keep on solving the mathematical problem in every wrong method possible. In the end they walk out with an air as if the man is wrong. After trying to make them understand the son at last throws away the chalk in exasperation and he too walks away.

On Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi and the BJP traded charges over the Rafale issue as the Congress chief claimed that a purported dissent note by some officials on the aircraft deal demolished Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claim of better pricing and faster delivery, while the ruling party cited the CAG report to assert that it had exposed his lies.

The BJP demanded that Gandhi withdraw his allegations against the Modi government and tender an apology in the light of the CAG report and an earlier Supreme Court order.

At a press conference, the Congress president dismissed the CAG report on the multi-billion-dollar pact as a "cover up" that was not worth the papers it was written on.

The CAG, in its report, had said the PM Modi government had secured a 2.86-per cent cheaper price for the Rafale fighter jets than what was negotiated by the previous UPA regime.

Stepping up his attack on the government within hours of the much-awaited Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the deal being tabled in Parliament, the Congress chief accused the Modi government of "lying".

Gandhi said even though he did not agree with the CAG's submission that the deal was 2.86-per cent cheaper than the UPA-era offer, but it "calls the bluff" of PM Modi, then finance minister Arun Jaitley and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who "had lied to Parliament by stating that the price of the 'new deal' was 9-20 per cent lower".

Gandhi observed that Modi and his cabinet colleagues' argument on why the new deal was required was based on two pillars -- price and the fact that the air force needed the planes quickly -- and said the "dissent note" by some of the Rafale deal negotiating team members had "demolished" their contention.

According to Gandhi, the note said French firm Dassault Aviation would take at least 10 years to complete its present backlog of the Rafale aircraft. He also quoted the note as saying that the final price offered by the French government, which was escalation-based, was 55.6 per cent above the benchmark price.

"There is only one reason the new deal has been carried out and that is to give (industrialist) Anil Ambani Rs 30,000 crore," he said.

Severely critical of the CAG, he asked why the "dissent note" by the negotiating team officials was not part of the report. "As far as I am concerned, a CAG report that does not mention this document, that does not mention the dissent the negotiating team itself made on price, on timing, I do not think it is worth the paper (it is written on)," he said.

"The CAG report is a cover-up. It ignores the cost of the missing bank guarantee & glosses over the suspect costs for 'India Specific Enhancements'. But even the CAG couldn't hide that it may take upto 10 yrs. For the 36 RAFALE jets to be delivered!," Gandhi also tweeted later.- At least 30 CRPF personnel lost their lives and several others got injured in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district.

- Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed sent a text message to Kashmiri News Agency GNS claiming the responsibility for the cowardly terror attack.

- The 55-seater bus carrying 39 CRPF personnel was blown up by an improvised explosive device or IED explosion on Srinagar-Jammu highway in

Awantipora area of the district.

- Local police said that the blast reportedly took place around 3:40 PM.

-As per reports, nearly 2,500 jawans were part of the CRPF convoy which was moving from Jammu to Srinagar.

- The driver of the explosive-laden car was identified as Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama. He had joined the Jaish-Mohammed in 2018.

- News agency ANI reported that gunshots were reported from the area after the blast took place. Army has cordoned off the area and a massive search operation is underway.

- The magnitude of the explosion was so strong that it reduced the bus to a mangled heap of iron. Body parts were strewn around the area.

- There were 70 vehicles in the convoy and the terrorists targeted one of the vehicles.

- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has strongly condenmed the incident and said that the sacrifices of the jawans will not go in vain.

- Home Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Jammu and Kashmir on Friday in view of the terror attack in Pulwamas Awantipora area.

- This attack is believed to be the worst attack on security personnel after the infamous Uri attack which took place in September 2016.New Delhi: In a major attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir, at least 30 personnel were martyred after an explosive-laden car was rammed into a security bus on Thursday. The responsibility of the attack was claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammed.

While initial reports suggest that this could be the biggest attack on security forces since the infamous Uri attack, that a suicide mission was carried out using a vehicle to ram points to similar attacks carried out by terror outfits in other parts of the world.

While Jammu and Kashmir has seen car explosives being used, such attacks have become increasingly frequent in European countries in recent years. Security experts believe that ramming a car - with or without explosives - into buildings or a crowd of people has a shock value attached to it and therefore, cause the distress intended by terrorists with nefarious plans. In addition, a lot more explosives can be packed into a vehicle than under clothings which means the scale of explosion and destruction can be increased manifold. Many also say that a car with explosives and with a full fuel tank causes even greater damage and destruction.

That vehicles are easy to procure and can be moved freely without raising suspicion also make them an ideal choice of terrorists around the world. Attacks using cars or other heavier vehicles were previously confined most to the Israel-Palestine region but recent years have seen vehicles being used - in varying degrees of destruction - in many parts like Nice (2016), New York - Times Square (2017) and Barcelona attack (2017).

There have also been reports about how terrorists are now increasingly looking at using self-drive vehicles to carry out attacks in western countries. As such, security forces around the world - including India - recognise the need to better monitor traffic and driving patterns to detect and eliminate threats from terrorists using vehicles for attacks.New Delhi: Valentine's Day brought no love for Arvind Kejriwal who was slammed by the Bhartiya Janata Party for questioning the Supreme Court ruling on control of services in Delhi.

A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a split verdict on the issue of transfer and posting of Delhi government officers. The top court, while referring the matter to a larger bench, also said that the lieutenant governor (L-G) has the power to set up an inquiry commission.

And Kejriwal was not too pleased.

At a press conference later in the day, the AAP chief asked that if a state government can't even transfer its officers, how is it supposed to function?

The BJP was quick to pounce on what Kejriwal said in the press conference and said that it was equal to questioning the wisdom of the country's top court. "We can't believe a democratically elected CM can use this type of language for Supreme Court. He has always been an anarchist, tampering with rules while putting constitution at stake is his method," said party spokesperson Sambit Patra.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju echoed Patra's view. "Arvind Kejriwal and Congress do not trust any constitutional body. They criticize the Election Commission, CAG, Supreme Court and other institutions. Anarchy is in their scheme of things," he said.

(Also read: Kejriwal says Congress has nearly ruled out alliance with AAP)

While Rijiju may have drawn similarities between Kejriwal and Congress, former Delhi CM Sheila Dixit too felt it would be better for AAP not to be brazen in the matter. "The Constitution has defined the power Delhi has, it's not unlimited. Centre, Lt Governor and Home Ministry handle a lot of things. So fighting is no solution, make changes if needed. Power doesn't depend on the number of seats you have," said Dixit who was recently made chief of Congress' Delhi unit, replacing Ajay Maken.

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal took oath as the Delhi Chief Minister on this day in 2015, after sweeping 67 of the 70 Assembly seats here. Since, he has been at loggerheads with the LG and the Centre, accusing both of creating obstacles in the working of the Delhi government. He has, in return, been accused of trying to hide his failures under the garb of his accusations.NEW DELHI: India has said that it is active and regular contact with countries like Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia when it comes to Afghan Peace Process. Replying to a question on Afghanistan at the weekly ministry of external affairs briefing Raveesh Kumar said, "We are not only closely following the development which is related to peace and reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan. I must add, we are active and in regular contact with all other stakeholders including Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia."

India also expects Afghanistan to be discussed at the "level of the foreign minister" in the next Russia-India-China (RIC) meet by the end of this month adding, New Delhi "will continue to take all necessary steps to bring peace and stability in the region."

Last week United States special envoy on Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad met Indian Ambassador to US Harsh Shringla and briefed about US efforts in the region. In the month of January, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Samarkand, Uzbekistan for the 1st India Central Asia Dialogue in which situation in the south Asian country.

On 18th February, at the formal invitation of the government of Pakistan, Taliban will be meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and according to the spokesperson of the group, will "hold comprehensive discussions about Pak-Afghan relations and issues pertaining to Afghan refugees and Afghan businessmen."Srinagar: A Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber on Thursday afternoon rammed an explosive-laden car into a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Lethpora area of Pulwama district's Awantipora killing at least 39 soldiers and injuring several others. A man claiming to be JeM spokesperson called a local news agency GNS and said that it was a "fidayeen"(suicide) attack. It is the biggest IED attack in the state where armed insurgency supported by Pakistan started in the late 1980s.

The convoy of 78 buses was carrying CRPF soldiers and the blast was so powerful that the bus carrying at least 39 securitymen was completely mangled and bodies of several troopers were blown to pieces. Some reports also claim that another group of terrorists then opened fire on the convoy.

The area where the attack took place was a gory site with body parts strewn all around and soldiers trying to rescue their injured comrades. According to CRPF Director General Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar the 78-bus convoy was carrying 2,547 soldiers from the transit camp in Jammu to Srinagar when the suicide bomber, identified as Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama, triggered the blast by ramming his car into a bus at around 3:20 pm. According to Jammu and Kashmir Police, Adil Ahmad had joined Jaish-e-Mohammed in 2018.

Security officials say the huge convoy left Jammu early Thursday morning at 3:30 because the Jammu-Srinagar highway had been closed for the last two days due to bad weather and heavy snowfall.

Officials say the casualties are likely to go up as some of the injured CRPF personnel are critical. All the injured personnel have been admitted to Army Base Hospital in Srinagar which is almost 30 kilometres from the blast site. More security forces have been rushed to the area and the spot where the convoy was hit has been cordoned off by the soldiers.

Just a day earlier two terrorists were killed by security forces in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam. A brief exchange of fire had taken place between security forces and terrorists in Gopalpora area of Budgam district on Wednesday morning in which the two were killed.

Incriminating material, including arms and ammunition, were recovered from the site of encounter. The identities and affiliations of the terrorists who were killed are yet to be identified.

"Based on a credible input about the presence of terrorists in the Gopalpora area of Chadoora in Budgam district, a cordon and search operation was launched in the intervening night (of Tuesday and Wednesday)," a police spokesman said.

He said when the search operation was underway, the terrorists fired on the security forces. The search party retaliated and it led to a gunfight in which the two terrorists were killed.Singapore: Featuring in and as Captain Marvel helped Brie Larson realise a dream she didn't think was possible. The actor says the film gave her a "larger" platform to contribute to feminism, a cause dear to her heart.

Larson stars as US Airforce pilot Carol Danvers, who becomes one of the universe's most powerful heroes Captain Marvel.

The 29-year-old actor, who is a vocal women's rights activist, said it struck her while working on the Marvel film that she would be able to reach out to more people with the message of gender parity, a privilege not enjoyed by an indie movie that she usually collaborates on.

"It was really powerful and exciting. And it's also allowed me opportunities 'coz the film is so big, I knew I would be able to share certain concepts on a much larger scale than I'd been able to previously in independent films and even carry that over in the press tours.

"I have never had a press tour like this where we were able to work on reaching parity along the way. I feel so lucky that I made my first blockbuster movie and I just get to talk about feminism all day. I never would have thought that was like a possibility for me. That's like my dream," Larson told PTI during a group interview.

With Captain Marvel, which is an origin story set in the 1990s, the actor has become the first woman to lead a standalone Marvel superhero film.

The Oscar winner says she toiled for nine months before she started shooting and the inherent connect with the story made her get up every day, even when she felt like giving up.

"I think you have to have something that kind of transcends the movie, that keeps you going, that gives you fuel every day. Because it takes too long to make it and I trained for nine months. Then the shoot was 75 days. It's almost a year to go at something really hard every single day.

"It's very easy to burn out. So you have to have something that's kind of in the pit of your stomach that is this undeniable thing that you can remind yourself of. That makes it feels important, that makes it feel more that just making a movie,? she adds.

Larson, who shot to fame with her role in "Room", says it was important to her that all female characters in the film got their chance to shine.

"For me, getting female complexity on screen, making sure that we had a film that talked about all the different kinds of female experience and we get to that not just with Carol, but also with Gemma's and Lashana's and Annette's character,? she adds.

The film also stars Samuel L Jackson, Gemma Chan, Jude Law, Annette Bening, Ben Mendelsohn, Clark Gregg, Djimon Hounsou and Lee Pace.

"Captain Marvel" hits the screens on March 8 in India.Singapore: It's a double bonanza that "Captain Marvel" is not just the first Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie to star a female superhero, but also have a woman director calling the shots. Anna Boden, one half of the film's director duo, says it would be great to see a day when women pitching in will stop being newsworthy.

"Captain Marvel", the 21st film of MCU, has Boden and her long-time collaborator Ryan Fleck as directors.

While spreading love for the upcoming actioner "Captain Marvel" at a press conference here on Valentine's Day on Thursday, Boden was asked about her experience of being the first female director to get attached to MCU.

She said: "This is a movie I really wanted to be a part of, so having that experience has been really amazing -- to work on this canvas and character that so many people care so much about.

"But it is 2019, and I think everybody here looks forward to the day when it's no longer newsworthy that a woman is directing this kind of a movie."

Her comment is only very relevant given how women backslid as feature film directors and face radical under-representation in the film world.

A recent report quoted by Variety said women accounted for eight per cent of directors working on the top 250 films in 2018, which was down by three percent from 11 in 2017.

In 2017, Patty Jenkins had made a statement by helming "Wonder Woman", also premised on a female superhero.

Expectations are naturally high from Marvel's "Captain Marvel", releasing in India on March 8, celebrated as International Women's Day.

Besides boasting of action-packed sequences featuring Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson as a former US Air Force pilot-turned-intergalactic warrior Captain Marvel, the film will also touch upon emotions.

Larson, who underwent intense physical training for the role, said: "The film is so big, and there are so many aspects of it that are larger than life, given that, we are dealing with is a superhero with powers of fighting aliens in space.

"But the thing that grounds it in reality are the smaller moments, the reality, the character moments, the moments in between the big fight sequences... those were the things we spent time on to make sure they had as much care as a giant explosion."

Adding to that, Fleck said: "Like other Marvel movies, this one is going to have a lot of action. We have action in space, in alien planets, in the mountains and deserts, city trains... So, we do have the action, but what people may not be expecting is what Brie said, the emotional journey that they can go on."

The team was joined by actors Samuel L. Jackson and Gemma Chan at the conference.PATNA: In a major boost to connectivity and transport in Bihar capital Patna, the Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the Patna Metro Rail Project comprising two corridors.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved Patna Metro Rail Project having two Metro Rail Corridors, namely (i) Danapur to Mithapur (ii) Patna Railway Station of New ISBT at an estimated cost of Rs.13365.77 crore, a government release said.

The estimated cost of the project is Rs.13,365.77 crore and it is likely to be completed in five years.

The first 26.94 km stretch would connect Danapur to Mithapur while the second stretch would cover 14.45 kilometres, linking Patna Junction to New Inter-State Bus Terminus, Union Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters.

DanapurCantt to Mithapur corridor will pass through the heart of the city, and connect densely populated areas Raza Bazar, Secretariat, High Court, Law University Railway Station.

Patna Junction to ISBT corridor will connect Gandhi Maidan, PMCH, Patna University, Rajendra Nagar, Mahatma Gandhi Setu, Transport Nagar and ISBT.

The Metro will provide Eco-friendly and sustainable Public Transport to residents, commuters, industrial workers, visitors and travellers.

Highlights of Patna Metro Project:-

-The length of Danapur to Mithapur corridor is 16.94 km, which is mostly underground (11.20 km) and partly elevated (5.48 km) and comprises of 11 Stations (3-Elevated and 8-Underground).

-The length of Patna Station to New ISBT corridor is 14.45 km, which is mostly elevated (9.9 km) and partly underground (4.55 km) and comprising of 12 stations (9-Elevated and 3-Underground).

-The existing population of 26.23 lakh of Patna agglomeration area is expected to be benefitted by Patna Metro Rail Project directly and indirectly.

-The approved corridors will be having Multimodal Integration with Railway Stations &ISBT Station and will have feeder network of Bus, Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) and Non Motorised Transport (NMT).

-The Project will have non-fare box revenue from rental and advertisement as well as Value Capture Financing (VCF) through mechanism of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and Transfer of Development Rights (TDK).

-The residential areas along this Metro Rail corridors shall be immensely benefited by this project, as the people of these areas will be able to travel on trains from their own neighbourhoods to reach different areas of the city conveniently.Ebony's mother, Beatrice Oppong, is year older today, Thursday, February 14, 2019.

Madam Oppong seems to have really enjoyed herself as she marked the special occasion in style.

In a video YEN.com.gh has sighted, Ebony's mother was seen dancing to one of her late daughter's songs.

The song, Be Your Driver, happens to be a posthumous song of Ebony which has been released by her father, Nana Poku Kwarteng.

READ ALSO: We're not enemies - Shatta Wale tells Michy, other babymamas in Vals Day message (photos)

Wearing a red and white flower top over a black pair of trousers, Ebony's mother was seen bending down and coming up as she showed some really good dancing skills.

In another video, Ebony's mother was spotted with her first daughter, Happy Poku Kwarteng aka Foriwaa smiling for the camera.

READ ALSO: Becca thanks husband for giving her a beautiful 'mini Becca' in lovely Val's Day message

READ ALSO: Samira Bawumia drops hot photos as she meets Lord Paul Boateng, others in the UK

Ghana News Today: EOCO secures order to freeze assets of Menzgold and related companies| #Yencomgh:

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Source: YenKojo Antwi, popularly known as Mr Music Man celebrated for his music excellence, has revealed that his songs helped get a lady out of a coma.

Apart from its exceptionally strong romantic appeal, music by Kojo Antwi is also therapeutic.

The man, who says he was sent by God to do music, revealed in an interview on the Super Morning Show on Joy FM that a lady confessed to him that his music helped her while she was in a coma.

Kojo Antwi Source: GettyImages

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Mahama meets members of the diplomatic corps over Ayawaso West Wuogon violence (Photos)

I met a lady who said she was in a coma and what her parents did was to have headphones on her and they kept playing my music to her while she was in the hospital because her parents knew she was so much into my music, Kojo Antwi said.

Kojo Antwi added that the lady, although couldnt hear while in coma was made to listen to music as part of the treatment.

According to him, that was not the only occasion on which his music saved a life.

Mr Music Man said last year, an actor in Kumasi nearly committed suicide but Sikadam did magic, prevented that from happening.

READ ALSO: 3 things Asamoah Gyan will lose after DNA tests prove he is the real father of the three kids

Ghana News Today: EOCO secures order to freeze assets of Menzgold and related companies

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Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14.

Though Valentines Day is not a public holiday, many Ghanaians seized the opportunity to celebrate their lovers.

In marking the Valentines Day, some Ghanaian celebrities took to their social media handles to celebrate their lovers.

READ ALSO: Video of man carrying baby at his back as he steps out with wife goes viral

YEN.com.gh has gathered 5 top celebrities who couldnt be left out in this year's Valentine's Day.

1. Mr and Mrs Amponsah

Nana Ama McBrown and her husband Maxwell have been one of the most celebrated couples in Ghana.

As the world marks Vals Day, Nana Ama has shared a beautiful photo proving how they have been in love with each other since getting married three years ago.

READ ALSO: John Dumelos wife, Nadia Buari, others model at her child naming ceremony (Video)

2. Mr and Mrs Amoateng

Stacy and Okyeame Quofi have been married for the past 10 years. On this special day, Stacy couldnt hide what she feels for her husband.

The former Music Music host shared a romantic photo to mark the Valentines Day.

3. Captain Planet and wife

Captain Planet, real name Sylvanus Dodji Jeoffrey, tied the knot with the telco giant Uche Ofodile.

They have been happily married for the past 5 years and Captain Planet did the needful by sharing a sweet photo of his wife.

4. Mr. and Mrs Hamilton

Diana Hamilton and her husband were not left out as she shared a collage photo having a good time with her husband.

With the photo, one can tell that the gospel musician and her husband have come from far.

READ ALSO: Zylofon TV and FM return to full operations

5. Medikal and Fella Makafui

As expected, Medikal has proven how much he loves Fella Makafui by sharing a romantic photo on his Instagram handle.

The two are the most talked about celebrity couple currently after they made their romantic relationship public four months ago.

Yenkasa: Fond Memories of Ebony Reigns a Year After Her Death | #Yencomgh:

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Source: Yen GhanaWork will soon begin on the construction and installation of an ultra-modern waste water treatment plant to solve the perennial faecal waste disposal problem in Kumasi and surrounding communities.

The 1000m3 plant is a joint project between Ghana and Hungary and will be executed by Sewerage Systems Ghana, a subsidiary of the Jospong Group and Pureco Limited of Hungary.

The 13 million euros facility which is based on a robust Hungarian technology to be provided by Pureco Limited, a Hungarian water resource technology engineering firm will also have the capacity to turn waste water into compost for agricultural use.

CEO of JOSPONG group, Dr. Siaw Agyapong. Source: Facebook/ JOSPONG Group

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Nigerians attack Ghana Immigration officers in Kasoa for checking their residential status

In a colorful event to break the grounds for the construction of the plant at Adegya near Kumasi, the Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong expressed his appreciation to the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II for his dedication to the plant development in general by releasing 130 acres of land for the construction of the facility.

He said the plant which will be managed by Sewerage Systems Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of the Jospong group and when completed will serve as a research center for the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to undertake research activities for innovations in waste water treatment.

Dr. Agyepong hinted that feasibility studies have been conducted to construct similar plants in Takoradi, Tamale and Tema respectively.

Kumasi to get ultra-modern waste water treatment plant. Source: JOSPONG Group.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Ghanaian couples you should aspire to be like

The Ambassador of Hungary to Ghana, H.E Adreas Szabo in his remarks expressed his delight for the partnership, describing it as the first of its kind for a Hungarian company to sign a contract with a Ghanaian company to undertake such a huge project.

He said the project will be funded by Hungarys Exim bank and the Jospong Group.

The Deputy State Secretary for export development of Hungarys ministry of foreign affairs, H.E Isvan Joo also commended the project and cited it as the first waste water treatment plant to be constructed in sub-saharan African.

No one can demand sex from me: Dela Yawo Seade - Star Gist | #Yencomgh

READ ALSO: Asamoah Gyan's paternity test out; results show he's the father of Gifty's three kids

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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Zylofon TV and FM which are owned by embattled Menzgold CEO, Nana Appiah Mensah (NAM1), have resumed full operations.

The two media firms went off air after the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) ordered the seizure of NAM1s properties.

Due to that, the management of Zylofon TV and FM issued a press statement on January 29, 2019 suspending operations.

READ ALSO: Cyril of YOLO fame flaunts new BMW car in latest photo

However, after two weeks, Zylofon TV is live again while the radio wing will be starting operations soon.

The management of Zylofon TV and FM took to Instagram to announce their return.

With the return of the two firms, it is unknown whether EOCO has given them the leeway to start operating.

READ ALSO: 7 top female journalists who have been gracing the screens with their beauty

Meanwhile, Menzgold boss, Nana Appiah Mensah (NAM1), will appear in court for the third time in Dubai on Thursday, February 14, where he is facing a misdemeanor charge over a US$23 million deal which went bad.

The CEO of the embattled gold trading firm is reportedly being held on remand at the Al Barsha police cell as he goes through trial over the charge.

According to reports, the criminal charge of misdemeanor in Dubai is equivalent to a second degree felony in Ghana and if found guilty he could spend up to two years in prison.

READ ALSO: TV Africa brings on Aba Guy Guy to replace Afia Schwar to host Political Police show (Video)

Yenkasa: Fond Memories of Ebony Reigns a Year After Her Death | #Yencomgh:

Click here to get the latest exciting English Premier League news. Get match highlights, reports, photos & videos all in one place .

Source: Yen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.Arizona News

Phoenix, Arizona - Governor Doug Ducey announced funding for 67 new school buses, totaling $7.5 million, at 35 school districts and charter schools across Arizona. The latest round of funding constitutes the third and fourth wave of awards granted as part of a $38 million plan to provide low-income schools with new buses.

These new buses will have a big impact across the state, especially in rural communities, said Governor Ducey. These funds will directly benefit low-income schools while helping ensure the safe transportation of our students to and from school. Arizona will continue to prioritize new investments in our K-12 public schools.

In June of 2018, Governor Ducey released a $38 million plan to purchase an estimated 280 school buses utilizing settlement funds from the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust. The plan provides funding for 60% free and reduced lunch school districts and charter schools as well as for the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind to replace buses with over 100,000 miles and older than 15 years. During a two-month application period in the fall of 2018, school administrators received four training opportunities, on-demand online training resources and a direct point of contact for technical assistance during the application process.

In the first wave of funding, $15.9 million was awarded to 55 districts and charter schools for the purchase of 142 diesel and alternative fuel school buses. The second wave of funding awarded 22 school districts 76 diesel and alternative fuel schools buses, totaling $8.4 million. With the third and fourth wave of funding, Arizona has approved 112 applications from school districts and charter schools, resulting in $31.8 million awarded for 285 buses.

BACKGROUND ON THE SETTLEMENT: In January of 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against Volkswagen for violating the Clean Air Act by modifying its vehicles to cheat emissions tests. The suit resulted in a settlement agreement that requires Volkswagen to spend $10 billion to buy back vehicles or compensate vehicle owners and $4.7 billion to offset pollution from the modified cars. Arizona will receive $57 million over the next two years. The plan also includes funding other mission critical projects such as supporting wildland fire crews and equipment for the Arizona Department of Transportation.News

Phoenix, Arizona - Governor Doug Ducey has proclaimed February as Career and Technical Education Month to recognize the importance of preparing students for college or a career after graduation.

Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs give students the hands-on skills needed to enter and succeed in the workforce. Governor Duceys fiscal year 2020 budget invests $10 million to expand CTE offerings across Arizona. Through a grant program, high schools with CTE programs will receive up to $1,000 for each student who graduates with a certification in specific industries.

The budget also invests $20 million to expand Pima Community Colleges Aviation Technology Program and $5.8 million to expand Maricopa Community Colleges healthcare offerings.

In his 2019 State of the State, Governor Ducey said:

Our education leaders are creating the "shop" classes of the 21st century. Its called Career and Technical Education  CTE. Today, students in these programs are training to becoming nurses, pilots, pharmacists, bankers, firefighters and software developers, all before graduation These are programs we plan to build, expand and align with the jobs of tomorrow. And my budget will do just that.

Governor Ducey will tour and view CTE programs offered at Westwood High School in Mesa, and, later in the week, will be in Tucson to view CTE programs offered at Pima Community College and Desert View High School."I love cash flow, as it helps with lending and makes your investment journey less risky because youre not betting solely on growth"

Sometimes one has to be pushed to breaking point in order to make a life-altering decision. For Scott ONeill, the growing stresses of his nine-to-five job pushed him to that point.

I was working as an engineer, which was incredibly stressful as it called for long days that often extended through the weekends. I was disillusioned with this way of life, so I researched the best way to set myself up with a nest egg, he says.

Property investment came out on top as the ideal option, and in 2010 Scott started his foray into the industry. At this point, Sydney and Melbourne were not booming in any way, shape or form; in fact, it was immediately post-GFC, and there was a lot of trepidation about investing in these cities.

It was similar to the current Sydney/Melbourne market dynamic that we have now. There was a lot of doom and gloom in the air, and I remember reading myriad forums and articles predicting a 40% drop in Sydneys property values  the exact same message going around now.

Investing seemed a risky prospect, but Scott decided to take the plunge with a strategy that combined potential for both long-term gains and short-term profit.

Rather than sit out of the market, I targeted a high-yielding, positively geared property with a house and a granny flat in Sutherland. My theory here was that I was making about $150 per week on rent after all costs, which meant that I wasnt relying solely on capital growth, he explains.

Scott ONeills success is built on careful planning and risk management. Ive always bought properties with the image of GFC number two hitting tomorrow. This negative mindset makes me plan and think long and hard about the consequences of my every move.

AT A GLANCE

Years investing: 8

Current number of properties: 28

Portfolio value: $17,540,000

This was the only reason I had the guts to put my life savings into a property, which could have potentially fallen in value. Luckily for me, the experts were wrong, and that same property increased in value by a whole $570,000!

Encouraged by the strong performance of the Sutherland home, Scott has stuck to the same strategy ever since.

From the outset, my goal has always been to buy high cash flow [properties] with the chance to create equity or enjoy capital growth. I have been able to follow this strategy with every single purchase, besides my last PPOR [principal place of residence], he says.

I love cash flow as it helps with lending and makes your investment journey less risky because youre not betting solely on growth.

Living in spreadsheets

Scott made his first few investments with his wife before transitioning to buying under a company structure. He works with skilled mortgage brokers, and aside from seeking high cash flow and capital growth properties, he looks for opportunities to buy below market value and to transact with distressed sellers.

I wish to always buy below the value of comparable sales in the area to get a head start on growth, he explains.

This mindset, along with a stroke of luck, landed Scott his biggest deal thus far  the purchase of his PPOR, located in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.

It was a horrible divorce distressed sale for the vendors, but it was a high-value deal of approximately $5m for me. By some miracle, I was the only one bidding at the auction. As a plus, the renovated house next door sold three months later for $9.6m!

The Eastern Suburbs market has been recording strong growth in the midst of the Sydney downturn because locals report low debt and are largely unaffected by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authoritys regulatory changes. With this property, Scott has enjoyed seven-figure profits already.

He has also been able to incorporate his background as a former engineer and apply his skill as a self-confessed numbers nerd to his investment decisions.

Ive always bought properties with the image of GFC number two hitting tomorrow. This negative mindset makes me plan and think long and hard about the consequences of my every move. My thought process is to consider which properties will be least hurt in an economic crash.

Scott has not limited himself to residential homes either. He also invests in commercial properties, particularly those in the food and medical sectors, which are less likely to be affected by economic issues. And as he does with residential dwellings, he looks to purchase below the average purchase price per square metre.

Capitalising on market momentum

Given his strategy, Scott knows that timing is key to the buying process, so he typically keeps an eye on market trends.

I look at affordable areas in markets that have started moving upwards after a number of flat years, such as Brisbane, as well as anything that can create equity in a flat market. Every property I purchase must be structured correctly and positively geared.

As a result, Scott has been able to develop a self-sustaining portfolio made up of a diverse set of properties that allow him to ride the momentum of different markets.

Ive made sure that my properties are in areas that will have exceptional capital growth  Sydney, Southeast Queensland, Perth, Adelaide and some major regional centres. Thus, I can keep all my properties even if Im not earning income, he says.

With almost a decade of property investment experience under his belt, one important thing Scott has learned is to not stretch himself too thin, and instead to outsource tasks to the professionals as needed.

Trying to save money by doing maintenance and property management yourself is not viable if youre managing nine properties, with three being interstate! It was by far the most stressful point of my life, he says.

While Scott is no longer handling the day-to-day responsibilities of property management, he always keeps tenants needs in mind with each investment. He also makes an e ort to keep rents low for tenants through the purchase of high-yielding properties (above 6%) in order to eliminate the rentmortgage gap.

Ive always championed the notion of honest investing  it mustnt be at anothers expense, and it must leave the market in a similar state to the way I found it. A principle that governs each purchase is asking myself, Would I personally live in the prospective property, work in the city or the propertys location, and be happy to pay the going rate in rent? he says.

If the answer is no, then I either pass on the property or renovate the property until it is fit for tenants to live in.We disliked the feeling of not being in control of the roof over our heads. So we buckled down, ate mince for three months and saved a deposit

For the first seven years of their married life, Cherylee and Colin Stokes were content to be tenants of a one-bedroom granny flat, paying just $110 in rent per week.

However, their landlords decision to suddenly sell the property pushed them to begin working towards becoming property owners themselves, in order to secure their living situation.

We disliked the feeling of not being in control of the roof over our heads. So we buckled down, ate mince for three months and saved a deposit for a two-bedroom unit in Dee Why, Cherylee says.

Two years later, they made their first profit on property by selling the unit, which helped fund their Beacon Hill principal place of residence (PPOR). In another six months, the couple officially earned enough equity to begin their run as property investors with a two-bedroom unit in Hornsby  an investment they own to this day, and which has housed one tenant for 10 years.

We target a growth area  not an area that is going to zoom ahead in value short-term, but an area that has good employment opportunities, high rental demand and excellent infrastructure, with more to come and options to add value, she says.

As parents to two daughters, the Stokes are very careful to keep their finances in check whenever they add to their portfolio.

We get our ducks in a row when it comes to finance. We keep our overall LVR at 50% or less, including our PPOR, and have a big buffer on hand. All our loans are principal and interest, says Cherylee.

AT A GLANCE

Years investing: 20

Current number of properties: 7

Portfolio value: $2,225,000

Building value

The main way the couple learned to add value to established properties was through renovation, an avenue that has become their key moneymaker.

Our strategy is to buy trashed rental properties cheap and do a quick renovation. We then put them back on to the market as rentals and use the gained equity to buy the next trashed property and do it all again, Cherylee explains.

We find properties with options to add value. The renovation must have the scope for us to do the majority of the work ourselves.

The couple executed this strategy when they purchased one of their Cessnock properties. By converting a freestanding structure on the property into a granny flat, they got two rentals from a single home.

The maximum we have spent doing a renovation is $15,000. We do all the labour ourselves and source bargains along the way. We only call on electricians, plumbers and carpet layers  everything else is our own blood, sweat and tears!

The Stokes also got the entire family involved as they developed their portfolio further. For a period of four years, Cherylee and Colin would use weekends off from their commercial cleaning business in Sydney to work on their renovation projects, taking their kids with them on weekend trips to the Hunter Valley region.

We liked the Hunter Valley because of the new Hunter Expressway to Newcastle. We figured that, with the drop in travel time to Newcastle and the increased interest in that area, more people would want a cheaper rental while still being happy to travel the 30 minutes to Newcastle, says Cherylee.

Portfolio in detail:



Buying blind

The couple made one of their best property deals in this region, a three-bedroom house in Aberdare that they snapped up for a measly $140,000,despite having never seen it before putting down the deposit.

I had been watching the area as we had just finished a successful renovation. The real estate agent was honest enough to tell me that the tenant in place was a nightmare but always paid the rent. That tenant had knocked the place around, and the owner just wanted out as he was scared of her. The police had already been involved a few times, Cherylee says.

In spite of the warning, the couple had the agents contract signed and the deposit made immediately to keep the house from going on to the market. At the pre-settlement inspection, they finally laid eyes on their new investment for the first time  a cluttered, dirty mess with a kitchen that had even sustained some fi re damage.

However, the Stokes were able to see the potential in the disaster. When the existing tenant refused to shape up, Cherylee and Colin terminated her rental contract and embarked on a $15,000 renovation. They soon had a new tenant in place, paying an increased rent.

In 2014 the couple made their first interstate foray into Queensland, purchasing a unit in Miami on the Gold Coast, which they again bought without inspecting it first. They paid just $87,650 for the unit, and like the house in Aberdare it paid off handsomely with an immediate weekly rent of $280.

Not seeing a property before purchasing makes the buy all about the numbers, Cherylee says.

I love properties under 50 square metres! Contracts fall over all the time and vendors get desperate. The rent well and truly covers the outgoings.

Maintaining value

Profits aside, the couples unfavourable experience with the bad tenant in Aberdare taught them the value of having a good property manager in charge.

I would never ever self-manage one of my properties. Yes, its all fi ne and dandy when there are no issues and the rent is rolling in, but when an issue does arise  and they do  you need a property manager you can count on and one who knows the rules and regulations for that state inside out, Cherylee says.

It is a privilege to manage a property, so I expect my property managers to treat my tenants as if they are talking to or dealing directly with me. If they fail my tenant, they fail me, so they get the boot, not the tenant!

In cooperation with their property manager, Cherylee and Colin also endeavour to keep the cash flowing in their investments by keeping their tenants happy and willing to stay for the long term.

We are fair with the rent and address any issues immediately, be it a repair or a request to make changes. We allow the tenant to make changes so that ideally the property will suit their needs for many years to come.Property valuation firm LandMark White is under fire over a major data breach, in which home loan details of 100,000 customers were hacked, according to a report by The Sydney Morning Herald.

The breach, which was confirmed on Friday, could include property valuations and personal contact information (first and last names, residential addresses, and contact numbers) of homeowners, residents, and property agents.

LandMark White is one of the valuation firms used by banks and other lenders across the nation to evaluate mortgage applications.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia and ANZ Bank announced on Tuesday that they had suspended LandMark. National Australia Bank did the same and was still gauging the impact on its customers, while Westpac did not comment on the issue.

"As part of the data incident, customer information relating to property valuations was found hidden on the internet. The customer information that was disclosed relates directly to the valuations completed by LandMark White and includes customer name; contact details such as phone or email address; and details about the valued property, Commonwealth Bank said in a statement.

A source told The Sydney Morning Herald that the bank was contacting more than 20,000 customers in the wake of the breach. The bank also assured consumers that no bank account information was disclosed in the breach.

ANZ was also assessing how its customers were affected. ''We will contact them directly to outline potential impacts and how we will support them. At this stage we understand a very small percentage of our customers who had valuations undertaken between November 2015 and December 2018 are potentially impacted,'' ANZ Chief Data Officer Emma Gray said.

ANZ had suspended the use of LandMark White and believed that no other valuers were involved in the breach.

"ANZ takes its privacy obligations very seriously and we are extremely disappointed this incident has occurred," Gray said.

LandMark White has launched a website to cater to its customers and said there was no evidence of misuse of any information although the incident is still under close review.''

"We are working closely with experts in IT and cybersecurity, as well as our corporate partners, to achieve the best possible outcome for our clients. LandMark White acted immediately, employing independent experts in data breaches and cybersecurity to assist with the investigation into the incident," LandMark White Chief Executive Chris Coonan said.

The firm also claimed that they informed the authorities as soon as they knew about the issue. ''Although LandMark White's investigation is ongoing, we have taken immediate steps to prevent any further disclosure of data. Currently, there is no evidence of misuse of any information. We will share new information as soon as possible, Coonan said.The local market is looking to right the ship as it navigates the recovery stage and affordable new land offers buying opportunities

Perth is definitely on the mend, but the road is going to be a bumpy one. It seems to be in recovery at the moment, but its not a straightforward recovery. Its not going to be a fast one, says Nerida Conisbee, chief economist at REA Group.

Premium suburbs are doing very well because a lot of them are seeing good price growth, and Perth is a safer market to invest in because the property [options] are more diverse.

This slow recovery is reflected in Perths property prices, which are still at their lowest since June 2009, as per CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher. In regional WA, values also continued to drop, falling by 6.5% in the 12 months to October 2018, according to CoreLogics Hedonic Home Value Index, and many investors are looking at losses. Buying in Perth may come down to good timing and patience over the next year or so as the state rides the correction period out.

From a purchasing perspective, weve always had success in Perth and WA, but its been hard in the correction phase for a couple of years now, and I think its got a little bit to go, says Damien Lee, head of acquisitions at Caifu Property.

Affordable land on the market

The price declines are a gold mine of opportunity for house and land buyers, as Perth is now offering some of the cheapest blocks of land in the country.

The new land market in Perth has seen significant price reductions in recent years. Given current market conditions, there are some very affordable house and land packages available to buyers, says Allison Hailes, CEO of the Urban Development Institute of Australia in WA.

However, with the promising signs that are emerging in the broader WA economy, we dont expect these market conditions to last much longer. While the current downturn has lasted longer than many of us expected, we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

This optimistic outlook suggests that, with values that are lower than in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Perth could draw those who have been priced out of its peers. While the WA economy is still stumbling along, there are hints of growth.

SUBURB TO WATCH

GIRRAWHEEN: Low prices dont save Perth suburb

Girrawheens rental market generates high yields of 55.5% at highly affordable prices, but the suburbs values continue to decline.

The suburbs name means place of flowers or the place where flowers grow. Girrawheen lives up to its name with the many parks in the area, along with sporting facilities, ovals and courts. The Newpark and Summerfield Shopping Centres serve residents in the suburb. The shopping districts of Kingsway City, Warwick Grove and The Square Mirrabooka are only minutes away.

House values are hovering around $300,000 after a drop of 9.4% over the year to October 2018, while the median unit price is just over $250,000 following a decrease of 7.6%.

Price: The suburbs rental market offers strong yields at highly affordable prices

Amenities: Girrawheen is a haven for shoppers, with two shopping centres in the suburb and others nearbyThe Apple Isle is making economic strides, strengthening confidence in the markets long-term prospects

Hobart is looking to sustain another year as a strong performer in the national property market, and appears to be succeeding quite well.

Tourism, education, agriculture and advanced manufacturing continue to go from strength to strength. The most recent ABS data shows Tasmania leading Australia in wage growth and being second to Victoria in retail trade, says Simon Pressley, MD and head of research at Propertyology.

Right across the state, a range of new and upgraded tourism projects are indicative of Tasmanias transformation. There are also airport expansions in Hobart and Launceston and unprecedented investment in universities, hospitals and new hotels.

Hobarts continued rising star has captured more and more attention from mainland residents who are drawn by the promise of its lifestyle, affordability and job market. Record-high interstate migration levels have led to a higher demand for homes. Available stock on the market is flying off the shelves, helped by the low price tags.

The popularity of Airbnb has added immense pressure to rental stock, such that Hobarts vacancy rate has been at an all-time Australian capital city record low for about 18 months, Pressley says.

With a performance like this, its no wonder confidence in Tasmanias prospects remains high.

A hub for education

Aside from tourism, Tassie is putting a very strong focus on the academic sector. According to CoreLogics Cordell Construction Monthly report for November 2018, the University of Tasmanias (UTASs) $50m student accommodation project In Hobart has received the go signal. This will involve construction of 189 apartments in a 14-storey complex.

These efforts havent been limited to Hobart, as Launceston is boasting its biggest planned project in cooperation with UTAS.

UTAS hopes to create Australias first university town, like those commonly found in the US and the UK, explains Henry Fields, property research and acquisitions coordinator at Research Property Real Estate.

The federal, state and local governments have a vested interest in seeing this project through, given Northern Tasmania is one of the poorest, lowest-education-level regions in the nation.

With the development set to happen in the Invermay area, properties are selling like hotcakes here, with some getting snapped up within hours.

SUBURB TO WATCH

NEW NORFOLK: Historic suburb shows remarkable growth trend

A suburb that boasts incredible yields, New Norfolk not only generates average rental returns of 7% and 6% on house and units, respectively, but its property market has also recorded a high rate of growth in the 12 months to November 2018.

The house market reported nearly 20% growth in this period, continuing a trend of exceptional growth over the past fi ve years. Units are also extremely popular, with sellers able to unload such dwellings at no discount.

Located on the River Derwent, New Norfolk is the third-oldest settlement in the Apple Isle. The suburb is famous for cultivating hops, and it supplies many of the countrys breweries. It also has a traditional village square.

Yield: New Norfolk boasts very high yields, which hit 67% in the year to November 2018

Agriculture: The suburb is known for supplying the hops used in many of Australias beersIRONWOOD  Gogebic Community College officials are in contract negotiations with Stacy Young, of Goshen, Ind., with hopes she'll become the next president of the college.

Dr. Young is a forward thinking and entrepreneurial leader. She is approachable and collaborative and has demonstrated success in enrollment growth and fundraising as well as serving as a Peer Reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission, said John Lupino, GCC board chairman. She is an enthusiastic leader and we look forward to her arrival on campus."

Young holds a doctorate in leadership and is a dean at the Sc...WYOMING  Three local students have been named to the presidents honor roll at the University of Wyoming for the fall semester.

The presidents honor roll consists of regularly enrolled undergraduates who earned a 4.0 grade point average for the semester. To be eligible, students must have been enrolled for a minimum of 12 credit hours.

Included in the honor roll were Rachel Wieseman of Osceola and Brody Garner and Marco Machado of York.YORK  The results from the special election have declared official by the countys canvassing board and York Mayor Orval Stahr has been recalled from office.

York County Clerk Kelly Turner said Thursday morning that the canvassing process was completed shortly after 9 a.m., Thursday, and all the numbers matched with what had been declared Tuesday night.

This was the first all-mail election to be held in York County and the clerks office/canvassing board worked closely with the Nebraska Secretary of States office through the process.

Turner said the official and final results of the mayoral recall election remain 1,358 voting in favor of the recall and 915 voting against the recall.

Because the results are now declared official, Stahr is no longer mayor of York.

Next week, York City Council President Barry Redfern will be sworn in as mayor, according to York City Attorney Charles Campbell as he explained the legal process.

Turner said the voter turn-out in this special election was 41 percent.UPDATE - Election results declared official, mayor is recalled

YORK  The canvassing board has convened and the certification of the mayoral recall special election results is underway.

York County Clerk Kelly Turner said Wednesday morning that she could not predict when the process will be completed.

She said they are working through the process with the Nebraska Secretary of States office, as this was the first all-mail election in York County.

The unofficial results of the special election showed that 1,358 registered voters in York voted in favor of the recall of Mayor Orval Stahr. There were 915 votes against the recall of the mayor.

If the results are declared to be official, Stahr will no longer be the mayor of York.

As explained earlier by York City Attorney Charles Campbell, the next step would be York City Council President Barry Redfern taking the oath as mayor.WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump will sign Congress' border security compromise, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday. The announcement removed the last ounce of suspense over the fate of a bill that would provide just a sliver of the money Trump wants to build a wall with Mexico but also would avoid a new government shutdown.

But McConnell also said Trump would quickly declare a national emergency. The president has said that move would give him power to divert money from other budget projects into wall building.

McConnell also said he would support Trump's emergency declaration. That was a turnabout for the Kentucky Republican, who like Democrats and many Republicans has until now opposed such a declaration.

The emergency declaration will inject the likelihood of fresh conflict between Congress and Trump over his efforts to build barriers along the boundary with Mexico. Opponents have said there is no crisis at the border and Trump is merely sidestepping Congress.Poland's foreign minister says the European Union shares the view of the United States that Iran currently plays a negative role in the Middle East but have differences on what should be done about it.

Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said Thursday at the end of an international Middle East conference Poland co-hosted with the United States that Iran wasn't the focus of the event.

But he said it became clear during debates the "EU and the United States share their diagnosis of the situation, see Middle East problems in a similar way, including - let's say it openly - the negative role of Iran." but came up during debates.

Czaputowicz says where EU members and the U.S. differ are the appropriate "mode of action" to contain any threat Iran poses, especially 2015 Iran nuclear deal the Trump administration withdrew from.

He said he hoped the conference would lead to a Middle East peace process.Israel releases video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has released a video from a closed session at the Warsaw security summit in which Bahrain's foreign minister says Iran is a bigger threat to Mideast security than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In the video, Bahrain's foreign minister, Khalid Al Khalifa, tells an audience that he grew up believing that the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is "the most important issue" in the region. But later, he said, "we saw a more toxic one, in fact the most toxic in our modern history, which came from the Islamic Republic, from Iran."

Netanyahu often boasts of warming behind-the-scenes ties with Arab leaders. But very rarely are they seen in public.

It was unclear whether Bahrain Thursday agreed to leak the video, which bore the insignia of Netanyahu's office.The IDF and the US European Command (USEUCOM) held a joint exercise, codenamed Juniper Falcon, that concluded Thursday. The two militaries examined a scenario in which an attack by Israel on Iranian interests in Syria or Lebanon elicits an Iranian retaliatory missile strike with the US coming to Israels aid.

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The above scenario has become more likely following a change in Israels policy of keeping mum regarding its strikes in Syria. This week, Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that Israel was behind the mysterious airstrike on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.

Juniper Falcon (Photo: US Military)

Juniper Falcon (Photo: US Military)

As in previous exercises, a massive missile barrage targeting Israel was the basic premise of the drill. But with the entrenchment of the Iranian military in Syria and western Iraq, IDF intelligence estimates that protecting Israeli airspace has become especially challenging.

US Military (Photo: US Military)

Three IDF command structures, together with US air defense units, practiced a scenario in which tens of thousands of missiles and rockets are launched at Israel from Lebanon, Syria, Iran and even Iraq by pro-Iranian militias.

Juniper Cobra 2018 (Photo: EPA)

During the drill, the forces bolstered their intelligence, operational and logistical cooperation with the goal being that some light US forces should come to Israels aid within a maximum of two days at and that more substantial forces join the effort, along with Patriot missile batteries, within a few days.

USSIwo Jima in Haifa port during Juniper Cobra (Photo: Erez Simon/GeoDrones)

The substantial resources of US Navy aircraft carriers, with regards to locating, identifying and neutralizing threats were also adopted into the exercise.

The IDF issued a press release stating that the exercise included reception of American heavy-lift aircraft, deployment of infrastructure and the employment of shared C4I systems. More than 300 US servicemen and women participated in the exercise alongside 400 IDF soldiers from many units, including the Air Defense Array, the Planning and Operations Directorate, the C4I and Cyber Defense Directorate, logistic units, medical forces from the Technology and Logistics Directorate and other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.Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman was questioned by the police Thursday on suspicion he used his position and authority to sabotage the extradition to Australia of a Jewish teacher suspected of pedophilia.

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Litzman is suspected of lying about the condition of Malka Leifer, a former principal of the Adass Israel School, an ultra-orthodox Jewish girls' school in Melbourne, who was charged with 74 sexual offenses she allegedly committed against three sisters between 2001 to 2008.

The deputy health minister allegedly sought to have a psychiatric evaluation done determining Leifer was unfit to stand trial, in a manner that deviated from his authority and contrary to regulations.

Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

The police's National Fraud Investigations Unit in Lahav 433 launched a covert investigation against Litzman several months ago, during which they also collected testimony from doctors. These testimonies helped establish the suspicions against the deputy health minister.

Litzman's media advisor said the deputy minister was questioned in a case concerning a request for help from the public. "Litzman provided his full version and answered all of the questions, as required. Deputy Minister Litzman is confident in his innocence and will continue assisting with any request for help that reaches his office, in accordance with the law and existing regulations," he said.

Malka Leifer (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

The deputy health minister is suspected of breach of trust and obstruction of justice.

Leifer is facing trial for 47 indecent act offenses, 13 offenses of indecent assault of a minor, 11 rape charges and three additional charges. She fled Australia to Israel in 2008 under suspicious circumstances after accusations against her had surfaced, and has been living in the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Emmanuel in the West Bank since.

She was arrested in Israel in 2014 and currently awaits the completion of the extradition proceedings.

In 2016, a Jerusalem court determined Leifer was unfit to face extradition and trial. In March 2018, a psychiatric evaluation of Leifer found she was fit to face trial, and she has been in detention since.

Dassi Erlich, one of the complainants against Leifer, was angry to learn of the suspicions against Litzman. "Waiting this many years for justice has been tremendously difficult and painful. However we waited patiently with the understanding that these criminal proceedings take time. To learn that this may in fact be due to corruption at the highest levels of the Israeli government is truly devastating," she said.

"We hope this will be a significant step as the pieces come together to paint a clearer picture and bring us the justice we've been fighting for," Erlich said.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday during the Middle East Conference being held in Warsaw Poland. The PM referred to President Donald Trumps proposal saying that Israel is anticipating the deal of the century.

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I know that the Trump administration seeks to ensure Israels security for generations to come, Netanyahu added. That said, based on my experience, Israel will always defend itself, by itself. It is reassuring to know that there is such a strong bond between our countries.

Netanyahu and Pence (Photo: Reuters)

We really appreciate this conference in which 60 representatives and foreign ministers, including from Arab countries, stand together and speak with rare candor against the mutual threats by the Iranian regime, Netanyahu told Pence. He then thanked the vice president for his support.

Pence responded to the prime minister: We thank you for your leadership and commitment to this historic place. It is inspirational for me to be with you here and it reminds me of the strength of our nations relationship.

Earlier, Pence and Netanyahu placed wreaths at the memorial for the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during which Jewish fighters fought the Nazis in the spring of 1943. They were accompanied by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

Netanyahu, Pence visit Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial

At the conference, which opened Thursday morning, Netanyahu found himself siting next to the foreign minister of Yemen Hisham Sharaf. The PM thanked US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for organizing the event, which he called a historic turning point.

The Trump administrations envoy to the Mideast Jason Greenblatt tweeted that during the conference, the microphone of Netanyahu failed to work prompting the Yemeni foreign minister to lend him his microphone, eliciting a lighthearted remark from Netanyahu regarding the new cooperation between Israel and Yemen.

Warsaw conference (Photo: AP)

Bahrains Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmad al-Khalifa said that he believes that there will be diplomatic relations between his country and Israel in the future. Asked when the breakthrough will take place and when Netanyahu will be invited for a visit, al-Khalifa responded: It will happen when it will happen.

Earlier, Pence called on European countries to pull out of the 2015 Iran deal. He focused his criticism at the EU, Britain, France and Germany saying that the mechanism implemented to continue doing business with Iran strengthens the Islamic regime and distances Europe from the USA. He called it an attempt to break the American sanctions against Iran.

Meanwhile in Russia, President Vladimir Putin is meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the coastal city of Sochi to discuss post-civil war Syria.The Trump administration lashed out at some of Americas closest traditional allies on Thursday, accusing Britain, France and Germany of trying to break US sanctions against Iran and calling on European nations to join the United States in withdrawing from the landmark 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.

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In an unusually blunt speech to a Middle East conference in Poland, Vice President Mike Pence slammed the three countries and the European Union as a whole for remaining parties to the agreement after the Trump administration withdrew from it last year and re-imposed tough sanctions on Iran.

The harsh criticism threatened to further chill US-European ties, already badly strained, including over the Iran focus of the Warsaw conference, co-hosted by the US and Poland. France and Germany had declined to send their top diplomats to the foreign minister-level meeting and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also stayed away.





US Vice President Mike Pence in Warsaw (Photo: Reuters)

Pence was especially critical of Britain, France and Germany for unveiling last month a new financial mechanism that US officials believe is intended to keep the nuclear deal alive by evading American sanctions. Pence praised other nations for complying with the sanctions by reducing Iranian oil imports but said the Europeans fell short.

Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative, Pence said. In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions.

The Warsaw conference for peace and security in the Middle East (Photo: AP)

He said the mechanism, known as the special purpose vehicle, is an effort to break American sanctions against Irans murderous regime.

Its an ill-advised step that that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU, and create still more distance between Europe and the United States, he added.

Pence then called for Europe to abandon the nuclear agreement.

Netanyahu meets with Pence in Warsaw (Photo: Reuters)

The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us as we bring the economic and diplomatic pressure necessary to give the Iranian people, the region and the world the peace security and freedom they deserve, he said.

Earlier, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Iran the top security threat to the Middle East, and said confronting the country is key to reaching peace in the entire region.

Pompeo, who met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the opening session of the conference, said pushing back against Iran was central to dealing with all the regions other problems.

You cant achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran. Its just not possible, Pompeo said.

Netanyahu with Pompeo in Warsaw (Photo: AFP)

The US and Poland say the conference is aimed at promoting peace and security in the Mideast and discussing issues such as Syria, Yemen, the fight against the Islamic State, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, cybercrime and terrorism.

The conference was attended by representatives from numerous Arab countries, but notable absences include Russia, China, and the Palestinians, who have called for the meeting to be boycotted.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin was meeting the presidents of Iran and Turkey on Thursday in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi to discuss a Syria peace settlement, as expectations mount for an imminent and final defeat of the Islamic State group ahead of the US pullout.

In Warsaw, Netanyahu lauded the participation of high-profile Arab dignitaries at the conference, saying it marked a historical turning point that signaled a shift in regional priorities.

Netanyahu sitting next to the Yemeni foreign minister at the conference in Warsaw (Photo: GPO)

In a room of some 60 foreign ministers and representatives of dozens of governments, an Israeli prime minister and the foreign ministers of the leading Arab countries stood together and spoke with unusual force, clarity, and unity against the common threat of the Iranian regime, Netanyahu said. I think this marks a change, an important understanding of what threatens our future.

While Pompeo said in his opening remarks that No one country will dominate the discussion today nor will any one issue dominate our talks, his earlier comments and Pences keynote speech made clear that the conference was largely focused on isolating Iran.

Iran has denounced the gathering as an American anti-Iran circus aimed at demonizing it.Following a petition to the Supreme Court by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that he intends to appoint a foreign minister on Sunday.A suicide car bomber rammed a bus carrying Indian police officers in Kashmir on Thursday, killing 30 of them in a major attack on security forces in the disputed region that could raise tensions with Pakistan.

The Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack on a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force on Jammu and Kashmir's main highway, a local news agency said.

Kashmir is a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan, which both claim the entire territory as theirs while ruling part of it.US Vice President Mike Pence and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have paid their respects alongside the Polish premier to the Jewish insurgents who rose up against Nazi German forces in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising of 1943.

Pence, Netanyahu and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland, all three leaders joined by their wives, took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial that included the recitation of a psalm in Hebrew.

Pence and Netanyahu then held talks in the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

Pence and Netanyahu are in Warsaw for a conference on the Middle East co-hosted by the US and Poland.The Islamic Republic could develop a nuclear bomb in two years' time if it resumes its nuclear arms race, according to Military Intelligence Directorate's assessment.

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The United States' withdrawal from the Iran nuclear accord in 2018 and the resumption of sanctions have crippled Teheran's economy, which might lead it to bolster its efforts to achieve nuclear weapon.

Iran's elite paramilitary Revolutionary Guard force (: AFP)

Furthermore, instead of attempting to entrench itself along the Israel-Syria border, Iran is now investing efforts in basing itself in the eastern and northern part of the war-battered country, far from the Syria-Israel border, the IDF said.

After sustaining multiple Israeli airstrike that caused extensive damage to its facilities and military forces in Syria, the Islamic republic decided to change its policy. Instead of establishing relatively large airfields and military compounds near the Syria-Israel border, Qassem Suleimani, commander of the elite Quds Force and thIranian Revolutionary Guards' strongman, is expected to deploy his forces in eastern Syria and Iraq.

Iran strives to get a foothold in Iraq, deploying rocket launchers on its soil to target Israel. In addition, Shiite militias are expected to base themselves in western Iraq while awaiting the order to cross the border to Syria and join forces targeting Israel.

In addition, Iran has gradually withdrawn its troops from the Damascus international airport, which just until recently, served the Iranians as a weapon distribution center under the guise of civilian airport, which was targeted by Israel several times. According to the IDF assessment, Teheran will attempt to deploy its forces in the T-4 airfield in the Tadmor region in northern Syria.

As far as Gaza is concerned, the IDF said Hamas might initiate another round of fighting, dragging Israel into a situation the terror organization will be in the position to demand the government for additional economic and humanitarian reliefs.

Gaza border riots (Photo: EPA)

According to assessments, the terror organization's offensive will be limited, but powerful enough to shake the Israeli leadership. The army ruled out any kidnap attempts of IDF soldiers, however, stated Hamas might use a terror tunnel that only reaches the security fence without crossing into Israel in an attempt to bring Hamas militants close to the Israel-Gaza border.

The army added that the unrest in the enclave might spill over into the West Bank, where up until now a relative calm has prevailed due to the economic incentives Jerusalem has given the Palestinian Authority, which rules there.

Moreover, the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad has been rearing its head, carrying out shooting attacks against IDF forces across the border against Hamas' orders.

The political echelon's policyaccording to which the army operatesis to prioritize Israel's northern front over the southern front due to Iran's ongoing activity in Syria, while aiding the Hezbollah terror organization achieve high-precision rockets.

Nevertheless, IDF chief Aviv Kochavi has instructed to bolster preparedness on the Gaza frontier to handle possible escalation there in the upcoming months.US Vice President Mike Pence is calling for America's European allies to join it in withdrawing from the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal and stop efforts he said are designed to evade U.S. sanctions.

Speaking at a Middle East conference in Poland, Pence accused Iran of being the world's greatest state sponsor of terrorism. He lamented that Britain, France and Germany created a special financial mechanism that Washington believes is aimed at "breaking" tough U.S. sanctions on Iran. Those sanctions were eased by the Obama administration under the terms of the nuclear deal but were re-imposed after President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement last year.

US and European divisions over Iran led France and Germany to opt against sending their top diplomats to the Warsaw conference.A pregnant British teenager who ran away from Britain to join Islamic State extremists in Syria four years ago has said she wants to come back to London, but her path home is not clear.

Shamima Begum told The Times newspaper in a story published Thursday that she is nine months pregnant and worried about the health of her unborn child.

"In the end, I just could not endure anymore," she said, describing the death from illness and malnutrition of her first two children. "Now all I want to do is come home to Britain."

The 19-year-old Londoner was found by the newspaper in a refugee camp in northern Syria. She was one of three schoolgirls from the Bethnal Green neighborhood who went to Syria to join IS in 2015 at a time when the group's online recruitment program lured a number of teenage girls to its self-proclaimed caliphate.A joint statement by all of Gazas militant groups on Wednesday warned that clashes at the Gaza border, which take place every Friday, could this week lead to an escalation in violence.

The organizations will not allow Israel to keep harming protesters during the March of Return peaceful rallies, they said in a statement, referring to the weekly demonstrations that take place near the Gaza Strips border fence, which often turn into violent riots.

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The funeral of 14-year-old Hassan Shalabi, grandson of senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyehs sister. (: )

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The Zionist enemy is responsible for any kind of harm to the rights of the Palestinian people, the statement said. All signs point to a nearing clash, we wont accept the fact that our people are starving and thirsty.

Referring to an informal November agreement between the two sides, in which Qatar would transfer millions of dollars to the Gaza Strip in return for for relative calm, the statement said that international negotiators have to pressure Israel harder, so that the arrangements the were reached are upheld.

Recent riots on the Gaza Strip border (Photo: AFP)

The statement was released several days after Hamas stepped up hostilities toward Israel, with the resuming of nightly clashes on the border fence. Dozens of Palestinians have clashed with IDF forces along the Strips fence in the Jabaliya region in recent days, throwing firecrackers at IDF soldiers, who used crowd dispersal methods in an attempt to control the riots.

Last Friday two teens were killed by IDF forces  an 18-year-old youth, and 14-year-old Hassan Shalabi, the grandson of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyehs sister.

Recent riots by the border fence (Photo: AFP)

Shalabis funeral made headlines when body was placed in a school classroom during the funeral march, and students were asked to kiss it.

The IDF has also arrested a man who tried to swim past the maritime blockade on Gazax.

The last wave of nightly riots came to a halt when Israel allowed a third installment of Qatari funds in the Gaza Strip on January 26, as part of the informal agreement.

Hamas had initially refused to accept the third tranche but the funds finally went in after Qatar pledged the it would be used to relieve impoverished families in the Gaza Strip, and for different humanitarian projects in accordance with the United Nations and Hamas.

However, the change of terms and Hamas initial refusal to accept Israels conditions regarding the Qatari money meant clashes between Israel and Hamas would soon resume, as indeed happened in recents weeks.

Hamas is planning to resume nighttime clashes on a regular weekly basis. Furthermore, the organization also resumed confrontations at the Strips northern naval border, including with Gazan vessels that sail to the border every Tuesday.

According to assessments by Israeli Military Intelligence, Gaza is second place on the IDF agenda as long as Iranian forces are still involved in Syria and Lebanon. However, the assessment acknowledge the fragile situation in the Strip and said a flare-up with Hamas is expected to take place in recent months or during the summer.WARSAW, Poland -- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that the world "can't achieve peace and security in the Middle East without confronting Iran."

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Pompeo spoke before the opening session of a Middle East security conference in Warsaw. Appearing next to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pompeo said "pushing back" against Iran is central to dealing with all the region's other problems.

Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the Warsaw conference on the Middle East (Photo: GPO)

Several high-profile Arab dignitaries are also attending and Netanyahu lauded their participation as signaling a shift in regional priorities.

"In a room of some 60 foreign ministers, an Israeli prime minister and the foreign ministers of leading Arab countries stood together, and spoke with unusual force, clarity and unity against a common threat of the Iranian regime," Netanyahu said before his meeting with Pompeo. "I think this marks a change, an important understanding of what threatens our future."

For Netanyahu, a longtime opponent of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the gathering marks a culmination of his call to unite the world against Israel's arch-enemy of Iran. He's long boasted that Israel has clandestinely developed good relations with several Arab states, despite a lack of official ties. On Wednesday, he met with Oman's foreign minister, Yusuf bin Alawi, and at Thursday's opening session he was seated next to the foreign minister of Yemen, as representatives of Kuwait, Qatar and others looked on.

Benjamin Netanyahu sits beside Yemen Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf at the Warsaw conference (Photo: GPO)

The US and Poland are sponsoring the conference, which they say is aimed at promoting peace and security in the Mideast, but appears to be mainly focused on isolating Iran.

Although it is absent from the stage, Iran is nevertheless taking the spotlight at the conference. The Islamic Republic, which is this week celebrating the 40th anniversary of its revolution, denounced the meeting as a "circus" aimed at "demonizing" it.

On his way to Warsaw on Tuesday, Netanyahu made clear the conference is centered on Iran.

"It is a conference that unites the United States, Israel, many countries in the world, many countries in the region, Arab countries, against Iran's aggressive policy, its aggression, its desire to conquer the Middle East and destroy Israel," he told reporters.

Netanyahu sent out a belligerent rallying cry to his Arab partners, saying he planned to focus on the "common interest" of confronting Iran. He made the comments during an off-the-cuff interview with reporters on a Warsaw street, shortly after meeting Oman's foreign minister.

Benjamin Netanyahu and the Omani foreign minister (Photo: GPO)

Although Netanyahu used the Hebrew word "milchama," or "war," in his comments, his office later changed its official translation and said he was referring to a "common interest of combatting Iran."

In an apparent test of US influence and suspicions in Europe and elsewhere over the Trump administration's intentions in Iran, many countries aren't sending their top diplomats and will be represented at levels lower than their invited foreign ministers.

Benjamin Netanyahu sits beside Yemen's foreign minister at the Warsaw conference (Photo: AFP)

Netanyahu, Pompeo and Pence attended along with foreign ministers from numerous Arab nations. But France and Germany are not sending Cabinet-ranked officials, and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has stayed away.

Russia and China aren't participating, and the Palestinians, who have called for the meeting to be boycotted, are also absent.

US special envoy to the Mideast Jason Greenblatt, whose portfolio extends only to the Israeli-Palestinian peace effort, said Iran is the top priority and derided the Palestinians for their boycott and insistence that their case is the region's most important issue.

In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Greenblatt said the Palestinian position "impedes nations from countering the common enemy of Iran."

"Iran is the primary threat to the future of regional peace/security," he said. "That's what Palestinian leaders don't grasp; as a consequence of being detached from new realities, we see Palestinians increasingly left behind/more isolated than ever."Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blamed the United States and Israel on Thursday for a suicide bombing in southeastern Iran that killed 27 members of the country's elite Revolutionary Guards, Iranian state TV reported.

The force said on Wednesday a suicide bomber driving a vehicle laden with explosives had attacked a bus transporting members of the Guards in the province of Sistan-Baluchestan.The US has resumed a secret operation to destroy Iran's missile program, the New York Times reported Thursday.

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The paper cites officials in the current and previous administrations who say the program is part of "an expanding campaign by the United States to undercut Tehrans military and isolate its economy."

Satellite imagery appears to show an Iranian missile launch on Feb. 6, 2019 (Photo: AP)

The report states that while US officials say it is not possible to quantify the effectiveness of the sabotage program, Iran has suffered two failed rocket launches since the start of the year. Furthermore, the paper says, Iran has a markedly high failure rate of 67 percent for orbital launches, compared to a rate of just 5 percent worldwide.

According to the White House, the Iranian space program is a smoke screen for efforts to build intercontinental ballistic missiles that are capable of delivering nuclear warheads.

The paper says it contacted several government officials past and present, who have participated in this sabotage program. They painted a picture of "a far-reaching effort" to destroy Iran's missile capabilities that began under President George W. Bush, was halted during Barack Obama's term in office and resumed under Donald Trump.

An Iranian ballistic missile launch (Photo: AFP, IRIB TV)

Meanwhile, Iran is striking a defiant note. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Monday that Tehran was determined to expand its military power and ballistic missile programme despite mounting pressure from hostile countries to curb Irans defensive work, state TV reported.

We have not asked and will not ask for permission to develop different types of ... missiles and will continue our path and our military power, Rouhani said in a speech at Tehrans Azadi (Freedom) square, where tens of thousands gathered to mark the 40th anniversary of Irans Islamic revolution.

Rouhani also vowed Iran would defeat US sanctions reimposed after Trump withdrew from Tehrans nuclear accord with world powers last year.

The Iranian people have and will have some economic difficulties (due to the sanctions) but we will overcome the problems by helping each other, Rouhani said.

Iranian missiles take center stage in a 2017 military parade in Tehran (Photo: EPA)

The US is currently co-hosting an international conference on peace in the Middle East, dispatching US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence to Warsaw where some 60 nations are in attendance.

Although it is absent from the stage, Iran is nevertheless taking the spotlight at the conference. The Islamic Republic, which is this week celebrating the 40th anniversary of its revolution, denounced the meeting as a "circus" aimed at "demonizing" it.

In an apparent test of US influence and suspicions in Europe and elsewhere over the Trump administration's intentions in Iran, many countries aren't sending their top diplomats and will be represented at levels lower than their invited foreign ministers.

Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (2nd L) attend the Warsaw conference on the Middle East (Photo: Itamar Eichner)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pompeo and Pence attended along with foreign ministers from numerous Arab nations. But France and Germany are not sending Cabinet-ranked officials, and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has stayed away.

Russia and China aren't participating, and the Palestinians, who have called for the meeting to be boycotted, are also absent.Israel has refused to allow the UN Security Council to visit the territory that the Palestinians claim for a future independent state, UN diplomats said Wednesday.

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Last week, the council authorized Its current president, Equitorial Guinea's UN Ambassador Anatolio Ndong Mba, to consult the Israel and Palestinian ambassadors about a trip.

UN Security Council (Photo: AP)

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour immediately responded, saying a council visit would be viewed "in the most positive way."

But Kuwaiti Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi said Ndong Mba reported to a closed council meeting Wednesday that "Israel categorically refused the council visit," though Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said the government would welcome visits to Israel by individual ambassadors.

A council visit requires support from all 15 council members and approval by the countries concerned. Several other members confirmed Danon's rejection.

Al-Otaibi, the Arab representative on the council, said he expressed regret that the visit won't take place, noting there have been many requests for the UN's most powerful body to visit the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as their capital all unsuccessful.

UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said there is no record of the Security Council ever visiting Palestinian areas.

"We want to continue our consultation," Al-Otaibi said. "Hopefully we reach a consensus, because we said this issue has been on the council agenda for decades."

"We want an official tripthis is what we asked for, not to go illegally or not to be invited as tourists," Al-Otaibi said.

Equatorial Guinea's deputy ambassador, Job Obiang Esono Mbengono, told reporters: "We're still working on it."

The Security Council asked the council president to meet the Israeli and Palestinian ambassadors to discuss a visit after the United States blocked an Arab-backed Security Council statement put forward by Indonesia and Kuwait expressing regret at Israel's suspension of an international observer mission in the West Bank city of Hebron.

TIPH in West Bank (Photo: AP)

The Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) was established in 1994 following Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein's massacre of 29 worshippers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank city, which triggered riots across Palestinian areas. The mosque is located at the site that is also revered by Jews as the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

Israel's Danon accused the Hebron mission of acting as "a violent, biased" force, which its members strongly denied.Traits ascribed to Jews that are seen as negative in the West, such as a disproportionate control over world events and finances, are welcomed and valued in Japan, claims a Japanese history professor from Jerusalem.

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Professor Ben Ami Shiloni, professor emeritus of Japanese history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has published a book about Jewish-Japanese ties and believes that the two peoples have developed a consciousness and feel uniqueness compared to other nations.

Japanese pro-Israel Makuya (Mishkan) movement (Photo: ELi Mandelbaum)

For centuries Japan was closed to the outside world and only in the 19th century did the country open up to commerce with the West. Accordingly, Japan had no Jewish community, or anti-Semitism, but with the opening of the country to outsiders, European Jewish businessmen formed ties with the country.

According to Shiloni, it was  ironically  only after Jewish investment helped Japan beat Russia in their 1904-5 war that European anti-Semitic literature began to enter the country.

The interesting thing is that the Japanese reached entirely different conclusions from European anti-Semitic theories. While the Germans believed that the solution to the anti-Semitic claim that "the Jews rule the world" is expulsion and annihilation, the Japanese concluded that they must learn from the Jews, connect with them and implement the good things they do. In other words, their anti-Semitism became philo-Semitism  affection and respect.

Albert Einstein in Japan, 1922

Shiloni points to the 1923 visit by Albert Einstein in to Japan. The scientist was welcomed with great fanfare and given a lot of respect. He met with many senior figures and delivered a series of highly publicized lectures.

In order to understand the Japanese approach to the Jews, a few years ago we were visited by a senior Japanese delegation, Shiloni says. After the meal, the leader of the group stood up, thanked the hosts and said that he and the other members of the delegation knew very little ablaut Jews and Israel before the trip. In preparation, they searched for a book on the subject and after reading it they felt that they now understand Israels success and the special position Jews hold.

He then drew the book from his pocket and gave it to us a s a gift  it was The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This shows that classic anti-Semitic literature is seen by the Japanese as a model for success and imitation. In essence, they draw counterintuitive conclusions regarding the Jews and how to relate to them, he said.

Rescuing Jews during WWII

An interesting chapter in Jewish-Japanese relations is the safe haven afforded by the Nazi allied Japanese government to Jewish refugees fleeing Europe. Many Jews settled in Shanghai (then under Japanese control) and survived the war.

Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese vice Consul in Kaunas Lithuania risked his life and career to issue thousands of visas to desperate Jews, allowing them to flee the Nazis. Sugihara was later awarded the Righteous Among the Nations Award by Yad Vashem.

Following World War Two, many Japanese were ashamed of their countrys pact with Hitler, according to Shiloni. Many saw the new State of Israel as a gateway for them to the Western-American influenced world.

Currently there is a small Jewish community in Tokyo and two Chabad houses. Most of the Jews there are on business, along with a number of Israeli travelers and Jews married to a Japanese spouse.

There are also groups of Japanese that express a special interest in Israel and the Jewish people from an intellectual perspective and they often visit Israel. In the 1950s, Kibbutzim attracted Japanese volunteers, although that trend has waned in recent years says Shiloni.Every time theres a news item about a domestic violence murder or suicide, the first thought of many in the Ethiopian community is "Oh no, again?" The next step is to try to determine in which city the incident took place. If it happened in a city with a significant Ethiopian population the concern grows. After the photos are published in the media, the doubt vanishes and one is overcome with pain and grief.

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Who is culpable? The father? The mother? Perhaps the extended family? Is the whole community guilty, or even perhaps the state? Are the culture and the traditions to blame? Perhaps the difficulties in assimilating are responsible? Maybe mental issues or difficulty earning a living played a part?

Outside a Yavneh murder suicide

Perhaps it was loneliness and being pushed to the sidelines or the gossip in the community? Was it the tendency to suppress emotions and lack of open dialogue or maybe the fear of what will the neighbors think?

Only one thing is clear, it is not a decree of fate. We were not born with a knife in the hand and there is no reason we should die from one. We must conduct a systemic examination within the community and begin a conversation. We must cease pushing our negative emotions under the rug, talk openly and stop worrying about what others will think.

Raising awareness regarding murder and suicide is a necessary step towards ending the phenomenon.

We must embark on a direct process of soul-searching, even if it is uncharacteristic of our culture. We must talk about crises within the family unit, share them with our friends and those around us and raise the matter at community gatherings, in the local media as well as the national media and social networks; in Hebrew, in Amharic and Tigrinya. Parents and elders must be a part too.

The desire to eradicate violence and suicide from our midst does not testify to it being more common among us then among other groups. But among our community it is more prominent. The desire to combat the phenomenon in an open and direct manner proves that we are sick and tired of this unnecessary death and violence.

In any case, taking personal responsibility is not a sign that we should ignore the systemic and budgetary responsibility of the relevant government ministries when it comes to matters of violence and suicide among Israeli citizens.

These ministries have a duty and a responsibility to continue to act decisively, in cooperation with the community, with an emphasis on cultural concepts, while making programs accessible and adaptable in terms of language and culture. All purely in order to realize the supreme goal of saving lives.Winnsboro, LA (71295)

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Enter the LAST NAME and the 7 DIGIT phone number on your print subscription account to connect your print subscription to your yakimaherald.com account.OUTLOOK, Wash. -- Two Lower Valley dairies under state investigation for their handling of cow manure could face a federal lawsuit.

Three environmental groups  CARE, Friends of Toppenish Creek and the Center for Food Safety  recently sent letters to the dairies informing them of their intent to sue.

The environmental groups allege the dairies  SMD LLC and DBD Washington LLC , both in Outlook  are polluting groundwater.

They accuse the dairies of overapplying cow manure to fields as fertilizer and using leaky manure storage ponds.

These facilities are emblematic of the much larger dairy pollution problem in the Lower Valley, said environmental attorney Charlie Tebbutt. These are yet more examples of the fact that all of the dairies are contributing to the pollution problem.

DBD Washington declined to comment on the matter. An attorney for SMD declined comment as well, saying he has yet to see the intent to sue.

The dairies have 90 days to fix problems identified by the environmental groups to avoid a lawsuit, Tebbutt said.

Both dairies are being investigated for how they apply manure to land. Neither company has been cited for environmental violations since coming under new ownership, said state Department of Agriculture spokesman Hector Castro.

Snipes Mountain Dairy became SMD when it was sold in March 2018, and DeRuyter Brothers Dairy became DBD Washington when it was sold in June 2017.

Dairies are required to follow a nutrient management plan, which sets limits on how much cow manure can be spread on fields and establishes standards for storing manure. The Department of Agriculture enforces those standards.

The environmental groups say their allegations that the dairies have a history of overapplying cow manure to land are supported by Department of Agriculture reports.

Castor said he couldnt immediately provide a history of any possible violations under the former owners. The Yakima Herald-Republic has requested that information.

Jay Gordon, policy director for the state Dairy Federation said his office just became aware of the potential lawsuits.

Certainly well want to take a look at these, he said.

Gordon takes issue with Tebbutt accusing the entire dairy industry of polluting the Yakima Valley.

We obviously disagree with those sentiments, he said. We think dairies that follow their nutrient management plans are doing a good job.

This isnt the first lawsuit the group has brought against dairies. In 2013, the group sued Cow Palace of Granger, George DeRuyter and Son Dairy and D&A Dairy of Outlook, and Bosma-Liberty Dairy of Zillah. A federal judge found that mismanagement of manure by the dairies did cause pollution. Under a federal consent decree, the dairies were required to change their practices and install liners in manure storage ponds.

Earlier this month, the former owners of SMD agreed to pay $20,000 into CAREs safe drinking water program to settle a similar lawsuit.On January 31, over 200 House Democrats jointly introduced the Social Security 2100 Act, legislation that would expand Social Security both by raising the 12.4 percent payroll tax and by phasing out the current $132,000 cap on taxable earnings. Social Security Works, an activist group that was key to making Social Security expansion the de facto position of the Democratic party, crows that the Social Security 2100 Act would allow no retiree to fall into poverty. Not only is that claim untrue, but this budget-busting expansion of the federal governments already-insolvent retirement program may leave low-income retirees disappointed.

The Social Security 2100 Act is the brainchild of Representative John Larson (D., Conn.), who took the progressive impulse to expand Social Security and turned it into detailed legislation. Larson deserves credit for his efforts. With most members of Congress from both parties willing to go their entire careers without proposing anything to fix Social Securitys $10 trillionplus funding shortfall, any congressman who does  to say nothing of one who attracts 80 percent of his own party to co-sponsor the bill  should be applauded.

At the same time, legislative details dont always live up to the talking points.

Lets look at how the poorest workers would fare in retirement under the Social Security 2100 Act. After all, these are the Americans least able to save on their own for retirement and most at risk of falling into poverty in old age. In theory, the Social Security 2100 Act would provide these low-income workers with Social Security benefit increases of up to 44 percent, a startling figure.

In reality, many would see little difference in their benefits. For one thing, about 20 percent of the lowest-income quintile of U.S. workers fail even to qualify for Social Security benefits, owing to short working careers and Social Securitys ten-year vesting period. These Americans end up relying on Supplemental Security Income, a means-tested welfare program that provides sub-poverty-level benefits while effectively prohibiting beneficiaries from working or accumulating savings. Countries including New Zealand and Canada have universal retirement benefits to protect against poverty in old age, and I have advocated previously for such a benefit in the U.S. The Social Security 2100 Act does nothing to help this fifth of the poorest Americans. It only hikes their payroll taxes during the years in which they do work.

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But even many low-income workers who qualify for retirement benefits wont see much of an increase under the Social Security 2100 Act. Heres why. First, the Acts advertised 44 percent benefit increase applies only to low-income workers who work for at least 30 years. Low-wage, long-career workers are unusual, making up only about a tenth of the retiree population. For low earners with shorter careers  the ones most likely to land in poverty in old age owing to a failure to build savings  the Act offers a benefit increase of just 4 percent.

And even these modest benefit hikes may prove to be illusory. Almost 40 percent of very low earners currently receive a supplemental benefit based on a spouses earnings. For these dually entitled retirees, who are almost by definition low-income, the Social Security 2100 Act may increase the benefit check in their mailbox by very little or nothing. For instance, imagine a couple where the husbands earnings brought him $2,000 per month in Social Security benefits while the wifes earnings brought her only $750. Social Securitys spousal benefit would top her monthly check up to $1,000, half her husbands check. Now imagine that the Social Security 2100 Act boosted her base benefit by 10 percent, to $825 per month. But that $75 per month increase would be deducted from her spousal benefit, leaving her with the same $1,000 total as before. For many of these very low earners, the extra benefits wont be enough to compensate for the nearly one-fifth increase in payroll taxes theyll be hit with as the Social Security 2100 Act gradually boosts the current 12.4 percent rate to 14.8 percent.

Now lets look at workers the Social Security Administration classifies as high wage  earning about $88,000 annually over a 44-year career  or maximum wage, earning the $132,000 maximum taxable wage throughout their careers. The Social Security 2100 Act promises these higher-paid workers a seemingly stingy 2 percent benefit increase. But because high-wage workers do not receive auxiliary spousal benefits, they are guaranteed to receive their promised benefit hike.

Moreover, higher-income Americans will receive that higher benefit for longer. Its now well-known that the rich live longer than the poor. A Congressional Budget Office analysis found a roughly six-year difference in life expectancy between the richest and the poorest quintiles of 65-year-old Americans, giving the rich a retirement about one-third longer than that of the poor. The Social Security 2100 Act compounds these longevity differences by increasing Social Security Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs), a benefit hike that flows disproportionately to the very old, who are disproportionately higher-income.

On top of this disparity, the Social Security 2100 Act reduces or eliminates income taxes on Social Security benefits for retirees whose household incomes range from about $50,000 to $100,000, a well-off group whose incomes have risen rapidly over the past two decades.

Of all the benefit-increase provisions in the Social Security 2100 Act, only one is aimed squarely at boosting benefits for the poorest retirees, and it accounts for just 15 percent of the plans additional costs. Benefit-increase provisions slanted toward retirees further up the income ladder use the other 85 percent of additional funding.

Yes, Social Security faces a significant funding gap. And yes, higher taxes are one way to fill it. If Republicans ever want a deal on Social Security reform, theyre probably going to have to live with some tax increases. And theyre going to have to get some new reform ideas of their own if they wish to counter a unified Democratic party pushing the Social Security 2100 Act.

But the Social Security 2100 Act imposes tax increases well beyond whats needed simply to pay promised benefits in full, which itself is well beyond what is truly needed if we gradually scale down the growth of benefits for middle- and upper-income retirees. Its not at all clear why the nation should levy higher taxes on rich and poor alike merely to reshuffle most of those dollars to middle- and higher-income retirees. Even from a progressive standpoint, isnt there a better use for higher taxes than this?

More from National ReviewChicago (AFP) - The United States' largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, is facing a sexual abuse crisis after a bombshell report revealed hundreds of predators and more than 700 victims since 1998.

The report by two Texas newspapers found some 380 church leaders and volunteers have faced public accusations of abuse, mostly of children as young as three years old.

Some of the accused continued to work at Southern Baptist churches, the newspapers said.

In response to the report, church officials acknowledged the number of victims could actually be higher and urged survivors to come forward.

"One of the things I'm encouraged by are the number of pastors that are actively engaged right now," in the report's aftermath, convention leader Russell Moore told AFP on Tuesday.

The revelations threatened to engulf the denomination -- with some 47,000 churches and 15 million members mostly in the southern US -- in the same type of scandal that has roiled the Catholic Church.

A more comprehensive response was likely to come from the Southern Baptist organization next week when president JD Greear "is scheduled to give an update on a sexual abuse study he commissioned last summer," said spokesman Roger Oldham.

- Lax oversight -

Unlike the Vatican, the Southern Baptist Convention is a loose network of churches allowed to run autonomously, ordain their own ministers -- who are not required to be celibate -- and hire staff and volunteers based on each church's own standards.

The decentralized system, which lacks a shared database of personnel records, has been rife for exploitation by sexual abusers, according to the investigative report first published over the weekend by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News.

Lax oversight allowed some abusers with criminal convictions -- even registered sex offenders -- to continue working at Southern Baptist churches, according to the report, which found 220 offenders who were convicted or took plea deals.

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"In the denomination, each congregation governs its own affairs. There are no bishops. There are no supervisors," Moore said.

"But churches can decide with whom they fellowship," he said. "No one can use church autonomy as an excuse."

In at least 35 cases, abusers were able to leave one church and find work in another over the last two decades. In some cases, congregations knew about the past abuse.

For example, Illinois pastor Leslie Mason was convicted in 2003 on two counts of sexual assault. After being released from prison, he went on to lead a different church nearby.

- 'Changes are coming' -

Florida pastor Darrell Gilyard, released from prison in 2011 after a criminal sex abuse conviction involving two girls, returned to preach services which children could not attend, because a court order required him to stay away from minors.

Moore said some Southern Baptists held erroneous views of forgiveness that "assumes these predators should be simply given a second chance."

In other instances, he said, churches believed horrific crimes could not occur within their ministries.

Moore also acknowledged that the Southern Baptist Convention rejected a proposal in 2007 that it should establish a registry to track abuse claims and prevent predators from getting rehired by other churches.

The newspapers found hundreds of abuse cases in the years since. And past church leaders have been accused of concealing or mishandling complaints.

"As a denomination, now is a time to mourn and repent. Changes are coming. They must," said Greear, the convention's current president, on Twitter.

The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP), an organization mostly focused on the Catholic Church's abuse scandal, urged Southern Baptist survivors to report crimes to law enforcement.

"It is critical that law enforcement officials at every level of government look into these cases," the organization said in a statement.

Failure by Catholic Church officials to take action on sexual abuse allegations involving minors has been an urgent crisis hitting Roman Catholicism globally in recent years.

Pope Francis last week admitted that priests and bishops also had sexually abused nuns.New York (AFP) - A US Commerce Department report has concluded that American auto imports threaten national security, setting the stage for possible tariffs by the White House, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday.

The investigation, ordered by President Donald Trump in May, is "positive" with respect to the central question of whether the imports "impair" US national security, said a European auto industry source.

The report, which is expected to be delivered to the White House by a Sunday deadline, has been seen as a major risk for foreign automakers.

Trump has threatened to slap 25 percent duties on European autos, especially targeting Germany, which he says has harmed the American car industry.

Trump will then have 90 days to decide whether to move ahead with tariffs.

The White House has used the national security argument -- saying that undermining the American manufacturing base impairs military readiness, among other claims -- to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, drawing instant retaliation from the EU, Canada, Mexico and China.

Trading partners have sometimes reacted with outrage at the suggestion their exports posed a threat to American national security.

Automakers, including from the United States, have criticized tariffs as a tool that could hit auto sales and damage the employment picture throughout the industry.

"If tariffs go up, it's not good for the consumer it's not good for our dealer network it is not good for the economy in total," said Bernhard Kuhnt, CEO of BMW North America, told CNBC on Wednesday.

"I'm not a politician but we'll deal with the consequences," he added.By Lesley Wroughton and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has sent food and medicine to Colombia's border with Venezuela, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, although it is still unclear how the aid will get past the objections of President Nicolas Maduro, who has blocked shipments in the past. Two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said the aid will be staged at the main Colombian-Venezuelan border crossing at Cucuta. One official said more supplies would be staged in Brazil and in the Caribbean. "I anticipate having perhaps a dozen locations all around Venezuela where such aid will be staged," the official said. The U.S. officials said trucks carrying the aid, including high-protein foods, would arrive in Cucuta this week at the request of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who last month declared himself to be the South American nation's interim president. Opposition lawmaker Miguel Pizarro told reporters in Caracas on Tuesday that Guaido's team would talk about how the aid would move once it was in place. Shipments were also coming from Venezuelan companies abroad, Colombia, Canada and Germany. A senior U.S. administration official said it was up to Guaido to decide when and how to move the supplies into the country. "We will seek to help him to do so by whatever means possible," the official said. Prepositioning aid in warehouses or in truck convoys at border posts for weeks, or sometimes months, is common while officials negotiate safe passage. Franklin Graham, chief executive of relief group Samaritan's Purse and the son of renowned Christian evangelist Billy Graham, said until humanitarian groups had access inside Venezuela, most aid likely would remain outside. Samaritan's Purse has operated for the past three years in Cucuta, giving food, medicine and backpacks to Venezuelans heading to Colombia on foot. The group also has managed to get a small amount of aid inside the country, which Graham called "a drop in the bucket" compared to what is needed. "The government of Venezuela needs to open the borders, that's it: Open the borders and let food convoys come into your country, open up your airports and let food flights fly in," said Graham, who said he spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump about the situation in December. "We are preparing to fly in as soon as we get the green light," he said. FLOW OF MIGRANTS The Cucuta crossing was mainly quiet on Tuesday, but police officials told Reuters that more migrants have been asking where humanitarian aid will be delivered. In the nearby border town of La Parada, hundreds of people, some in wheelchairs, lined up in the hot sun to buy medicine. Maria Gomez, a 53-year-old seamstress, arrived from San Cristobal in northern Venezuela to buy her elderly mother the Losartan pills she needs for hypertension. "It's cheap here, I always come," she said as a pharmacist handed over the pills. "We cannot buy drugs in Venezuela, you die before you get them." Pressure is growing on Maduro to step down after more than a dozen European Union nations on Monday joined the United States, Canada and a group of Latin American countries in recognizing Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate leader. However Russia, China and Turkey continue to back Maduro, accusing Western nations of meddling. The 35-year-old Guaido, the head of Venezuela's National Assembly, has galvanized the opposition with a hopeful message. He has repeatedly called on Venezuela's military, which has remained loyal to Maduro, to support a transition to democracy. The United States could attempt to seek the approval of the United Nations Security Council to deliver aid without Maduro's cooperation, but Russia would likely block such a move. So far, Maduro has rejected foreign aid. "We are not beggars. You want to humiliate Venezuela, and I will not let our people be humiliated," he said on Monday. Maduro's government, overseeing an economic collapse that has prompted 3 million Venezuelans to flee the country, lashed out at the EU nations for recognizing Guaido, accusing them of submitting to a U.S. "strategy to overthrow the legitimate government." With Maduro in control of Venezuela's military and all the territory, getting aid in will be hard, said Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, who cautioned against politicizing the assistance. "The more it looks like an overt attack on the authority of Maduro, that makes the aid more of a target," said Konyndyk, who has led U.S. government responses to international disasters. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Additional reporting by Michelle Nicols at the United Nations, Helen Murphy in Bogota, Mayela Armas in Caracas and Anggy Polanco and Nelson Bocanegra in Cucuta; Editing by Paul Simao)ADB Country Director for PNG Mr. David Hill and other provincial government officials led the ribbon cutting at the event, along with representatives from the Australian government. The event was witnessed by members of ADBs Board of Directors during their visit to the country, which included Executive Directors Mr. Kshatrapati Shivaji, Mr. In-chang Song, Mr. Kris Panday, and Alternate Executive Directors Mr. Scott Dawson, Mr. Mario Di Maio, and Mr. Jin Lu.

The project, supported by ADB, the governments of Australia and PNG, and the OPEC Fund for International Development, is delivering high quality health services to PNG's rural population across eight provinces. The main beneficiaries of improved rural health services will be women and children.

The Jaffa Community Health Post is the 22nd health post to be built by the project. We are delighted to partner with the Government of PNG to support the improved delivery of essential health services to the Kainantu community, said Mr. Hill. The project is helping PNGs Department of Health strengthen the health system and address inequities in health service access.

After the ceremony, officials met with members of the local Kainantu community at Jaffa, a village of approximately 10,000 people located in the Eastern Highlands who previously had to travel for two hours to reach the nearest hospital. Officials also met with members of Susu Mamas, a local nonprofit organization, who are training village health volunteers in the Eastern Highlands to conduct demand generation for maternal and child health services.

In addition to revitalizing the rural health infrastructure network, the project has also supported the training of more than 300 health workers, supported the development of national standards on rural health services and maternal and reproductive health, and developed a digital health information system, which collects real-time health service data for disease surveillance. In addition to the Eastern Highlands, the project is also supporting rural health services in Milne Bay, East Sepik, Enga, Western Highlands, West New Britain, Morobe provinces and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville./.South Africa: Public Service to check social media usage when recruiting

Prospective candidates looking for employment in the public service will now be vetted on their use of social media and the internet.

The additional reference checking is intended to ensure that governments recruitment processes are enhanced beyond the traditional means of screening.

Until now, the traditional reference checking was limited to include criminal records, citizenship verification, financial record checks, qualification checks as well as previous employment checks.

A circular outlining social media referencing, which has been sent to all government departments by the Department of Public Service and Administration, is not prescriptive but advisory in nature, Minister Ayanda Dlodlo said on Wednesday.

Dlodlo said the public service has an obligation to ensure that all those recruited into the system fit with the legislative and policy prescripts of government, which is now moving towards professionalising the system and building a new organisational culture in line with the National Development Plan prescripts.

In order for us to recruit individuals that meet the above prescripts, we need to employ all tools and methodologies of screening, including the use of internet and social media in particular, the Minister explained.

Dlodlo, however, cautioned that this circular does not seek to restrict the constitutional rights to privacy of any individual or group of people seeking employment in the public service.

Moreover, it does not seek to suppress or muzzle any ideological or political views of people whatsoever  neither is it designed to disadvantage South Africans on the basis of party political affiliation.

Dlodlo emphasized that departments who exercise the option of broadening their verification through the internet should obtain the consent of the candidate concerned.

We are fully aware of the constitutional obligations on privacy of every individual and the fact that government is still seized with the task of developing a policy on internet use. That is why it is important to obtain the consent of the candidate when such web searches are being conducted, she said.

Research around the world indicates that the use of internet and social media has helped organisations both in identifying exceptional talent and in other instances, avoiding negligent hiring.

For example, a Career Builder Survey of 2018 indicates that 33% of employers found content that made them more likely to hire the employee and 23% found information that led to the direct hiring of applicants.

Dlodlo said this proves that such online content can be an employees best advocate.

The Minister was at pains to assure prospective candidates that they would not be prejudiced for their refusal to consent to a web search on their profile.

This recruitment practice is not a mechanism to prejudice people. It is an international trend in recruitment and as a country aspiring to digitise its systems and use social media as an empowering tool, it is time that we embraced such practices, Dlodlo said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.By Nelson Renteria SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - El Salvador's President-elect Nayib Bukele spoke by phone on Wednesday with U.S. National Security advisor John Bolton, who said he requested cooperation to counteract what he called the "predatory" expansion of China. Bukele, the first candidate not from the poor Central American country's two civil war-era parties to win a presidential election in a generation, said that his government would be a strong U.S. partner to the United States. "The United States will find in El Salvador, not only an ally, but also a friend," Bukele wrote on Twitter. Relations with Washington suffered under the outgoing government of the left-wing Faribundi Marti National Liberation front (FMLN), the party of El Salvador's former guerrilla movement, which established relations with China at the expense of Taiwan in August. Bolton criticized the benefits that El Salvador received after establishing diplomatic relations with China. "We discussed ways to strengthen the U.S.-El Salvador friendship and to collaborate to restore democracy in Venezuela and counter Chinese predatory practices in the hemisphere," Bolton said. China describes its relationship with El Salvador as friendly cooperation. Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China had no interest in engaging in geopolitical competition in Latin America and that its cooperation with countries there, including El Salvador, was mutually beneficial. "U.S. criticism of China-Latin America cooperation is totally baseless and irrational," she told a daily news briefing. Beijing offered El Salvador about $150 million to develop social projects and 3,000 tons of rice for people affected by a drought. A Bukele aide said last week that the president-elect was evaluating the value of its relations with China. (Reporting by Nelson Renteria; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Susan Thomas)Authorities in Texas are investigating the death of a family of five who was believed to have been shot to death in their home Monday morning as a sixth member slept.

On Monday morning, Carlos Delaney, 74, his wife Lynda Delaney, 72, their granddaughter Ashley Delaney, 27, her husband Randy Horn, 54, and their infant daughter 15-month-old Ranley were found dead at their Polk County home, according to the Polk County Sheriffs Office.

All five victims appeared to have been shot to death, the sheriffs office said at a press conference Monday evening.

This is a horrible, horrific scene. A horrible crime, Chief Deputy Byron Lyons said. What I would ask is that the community will pray. This is something that were not used to.

Carlos and Lynda Delaney

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Carlos, Lynda and Randy were found inside the home. Outside were Ashley and the daughter she shared with Randy.

While authorities wait for the autopsy reports, Lyons said they are working on figuring out a timeline of the incident.

Authorities are also investigating a troubling Facebook post shared by Randy early Monday morning at 1:10 a.m.

And this is why I cant be out in the bars at night.blood on the floor! wrote Randy, who captioned a photo of blood on a concrete floor.

Chief Deputy Lyons said, We are in the process of trying to determine if that actual picture that he took is part of our crime scene here or did it take place at a location that he was at last night.

Its unclear what occurred leading up to the incident but authorities did find firearms at the scene.

Lyons said Ashleys mother was home during the incident asleep in a bedroom. When she awoke to the commotion, she called Ashleys brother, who called the police. Ashleys mother is not a suspect.

No arrests have been made and authorities say they do not believe the community is in danger. Its unclear what occurred leading up to the incident but authorities did find firearms at the scene.

Lyons said authorities are waiting to hear back from the medical examiner to announce whether Randy is the suspect or a victim.

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, Lyons said at the press conference. I dont want to be premature about by calling it one thing and then have to retract it.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.

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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.Bucharest (AFP) - A stand-off between Romania's government and judiciary escalated as the former chief anti-graft prosecutor said she had been summoned by investigators over allegations of corruption, abuse of office and giving false testimony.

It comes as Bucharest seeks to dissuade other EU countries from appointing the ex-official, Laura Codruta Kovesi, to lead a new European prosecutor's office.

"It is obvious that these proceedings are aimed at blocking my candidacy and not at getting to the truth," Kovesi told the Europa FM radio station on Wednesday.

"I will go to Brussels, I will explain that I am innocent and that the opening of proceedings against me is a ruse," she said.

Earlier on Wednesday Romanian media published a letter from Justice Minister Tudorel Toader to his EU colleagues which painted a damning picture of Kovesi's actions while in office.

He accused Kovesi of having signed "secret and anti-democratic pacts" with Romania's intelligence agencies in order to cooperate with them on investigations linked to national security or corruption.

"The protocols, since ruled unconstitutional, bring to mind the intermingling of politics, intelligence and law enforcement so notorious in our nation during Communist rule," Toader wrote.

The centre-right opposition denounced what it called an "attempt to intimidate" Kovesi after she said she had been asked to appear before a new body set up by the government to probe alleged abuses by prosecutors.

There has been no comment from the government on the new investigation.

- 'Parallel state' -

Kovesi, 45, led Romania's National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) from 2013 to 2018 before being controversially removed at the leftwing government's behest.

Since then she has emerged as a front-runner to lead the new European Public Prosecutor's Office, which is meant to be in place by the end of 2020.

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During her time as head of the DNA, hundreds of elected officials were convicted of corruption offences, earning her the enmity of many in Romania's political class and criticism that she had overstepped her mandate.

The government says Kovesi, along with the parts of the justice system and the intelligence services, acted as a shadowy "parallel state".

However, many Romanians retain a positive view of her, seeing her as a symbol of the fight to rid the country of its endemic corruption.

The DNA's work has been regularly praised by EU institutions, while the government has come under steady criticism from Brussels over proposed judicial reforms which could weaken the independence of the justice system.

The rows have overshadowed Romania's first-ever term as head of the rotating EU presidency, with Bucharest making clear its opposition to Kovesi taking the job in Brussels.

Governments from member states and the European Parliament are expected to approve a candidate for the new post at the beginning of March.WARSAW, Poland (AP)  U.S. Vice President Mike Pence paid homage Thursday to the suffering of the Jewish and Polish people under German occupation during World War II with visits to memorials honoring their suffering and heroism.

The heavily symbolic visits to a city destroyed by Adolf Hitler's forces were gestures of friendship to two of America's closest allies, Israel and Poland. They came a day before Pence will make his first visit to Auschwitz, the memorial site where Nazi German forces killed 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, in what was then occupied Poland.

Pence first joined prime ministers Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland in honoring the wartime Jewish insurgents who rose up against Nazi German forces in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising of 1943.

Joined by their wives, the three took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial. A cantor recited a prayer in Hebrew as the three couples faced the dark memorial, with representatives of Poland's small surviving Jewish community in attendance.

Pence and Netanyahu then held talks in the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, located on the same square in the heart of the former ghetto, which tells the story of 1,000 years of Jewish life in Polish lands.

Netanyahu wrote in a museum guest book: "May the spirit and heroism of the Warsaw Ghetto Jewish resistance fighters who staged the first organized uprising against Nazi occupation in all of occupied Europe be an eternal reminder of the dangers of powerlessness in the face of tyranny."

In remarks in front of journalists ahead of the meeting, Pence, a conservative Christian, told Netanyahu that it was "very humbling for me to be here with you in this very special place on this sacred ground. To hear a prayer sung, and to remember the heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto."

The revolt ended in death for most of the fighters, yet left behind an enduring symbol of resistance.

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Netanyahu said their resistance saved the honor of the Jewish people.

Pence was later accompanied by Morawiecki to visit a memorial to the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, an important site for Poles where President Donald Trump gave a speech in 2017.

In that revolt, Polish insurgents took up arms against the powerful German forces, holding out for 63 days before the Germans crushed it. In retaliation, the Germans murdered some 200,000 Poles and razed Warsaw to the ground.

Pence and Netanyahu were in Warsaw for a conference on the Middle East co-hosted by the U.S. and Poland that was devoted heavily to isolating Iran.

In a speech to the conference earlier Thursday, Pence drew a line from the war that began 80 years ago to the Middle East of today, saying "the Iranian regime openly advocates another Holocaust."

The Polish and Israeli nations have built their modern identities on the lessons of World War II, and the respective uprisings remain to this day sources of pride and honor.

Mischaracterization of responsibility for crimes also causes huge offense

Veteran NBC journalist Andrea Mitchell learned that lesson after she said during a live Wednesday evening report from Warsaw that Jews in the ghetto rose up against the "Polish and Nazi regime."

The Polish Embassy in Washington called the conflating of occupied Poland with the occupying German Nazis "a serious distortion of history" and said MSNBC should clarify the historical facts.

Late Thursday, Mitchell issued an apology on Twitter.

"I misspoke on the show yesterday when I discussed the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. To be clear, the Polish government was not involved in these horrific acts. I apologize for the unfortunate inaccuracy," she wrote.

___

This story has been corrected to say that the comments left in the guest book were by Netanyahu, not Pence.The 360 is a feature designed to show you diverse perspectives on the days top stories.

Speed read

What: On Feb. 14, 2018, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., opened fire with an AR-15 rifle, killing 17 people, including classmates and teachers. The massacre stirred a national outcry and students at the high school helped galvanize a nationwide movement that demanded stricter gun laws. Gun rights advocates, including the National Rifle Association, have pushed back against new legislation.

When: In a In a Wednesday speech to law enforcement officials, President Trump noted that Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of the horrific Parkland shooting. The president boasted that in response to the tragedy, his administration enacted the Fix NICS Act, which requires federal agencies to enter criminal convictions into the national background check database, and the Stop School Violence Act, which allows schools to use existing safety funding for equipment like metal detectors.

Trump also touted the nearly 100 recommendations made by his school safety commission, but critics have blasted the president and the committee for refusing to issue new gun control measures. The Parkland students who organized the March for Our Lives protest movement continue to demand that new federal gun laws be passed to make the country safer.

Why: In all, In all, 123 new gun laws have been passed across the country in the year following the Parkland massacre, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Although most put additional restrictions on who can own firearms and on outlawing bump stock conversion kits that enable weapons to have machine-gun firing capability, some of the measures expanded the areas where individuals can lawfully bring firearms.

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While Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School plans to commemorate the anniversary of the shooting with a nonacademic day, survivor-turned-activist David Hogg plans to continue the fight for new federal gun laws. This issue is beyond Parkland, Hogg told NPR . This issue is about America and the war that we have on our streets, because its time for us not to fight each other but to truly fight gun violence.

Whats next: A bipartisan bill citing the Parkland shooting was introduced in Congress this week that seeks to make background checks mandatory for all firearm purchases in the United States. It is the first such legislation to be debated in the House since 2013, when an identical bill was introduced following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that killed 20 students and six adults.

Perspectives

The Parkland kids are getting incremental results where others failed.

In some ways, the Parkland shootings have had more of a direct impact than past mass shootings. After the mass murder of school children in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, there was modest legislation at the national level on guns but considerable political realignment.  Parkland, on the other hand, did result in 69 different gun control laws passing state legislatures, including 18 in Republican-controlled states.  Glenn Garvin, Miami Herald

The N.R.A. remains a political powerhouse, an increasingly conservative Republican Party still controls the White House and the Senate, and guns remain a centerpiece of the culture war. But with a topic this polarizing, small steps deserve to be applauded  and encouraged. When lawmakers held a hearing on the background-check bill last week, it was the first hearing in eight years to broach the subject of gun violence. With a little luck and some political spine, more such actions will follow. The victims and survivors of Parkland, and of the 339 other mass shootings in 2018 alone, deserve more than pious sentiment and political cowardice.  New York Times editorial board

Parkland students have quickly become some of the countrys most effective opponents of gun violence.  The teens are organized, well-researched and poised. Theyve weathered social media abuse with maturity because theyve been dealing with it their entire lives. While the Parkland teens tremendous efforts influenced changes at the state level and got pro-gun-control candidates elected to Congress, theyve been met mostly with dysfunction at the federal level.  Colby Itkowitz, Washington Post

The gun debate is as divisive as ever.

This is a debate where the two sides barely regard one another as decent human beings. The gun-control people see their opponents as people who dont care about human life, and the gun-rights people see their opponents as people who dont care about human freedom.  Tom Palmer, a gun-rights-supporting political scientist and vice president of the free-market think tank Atlas Network, quoted in the Miami Herald

There are two gun cultures in America now, not just one. The first is a celebration of weapons and of the freedom weapons promise, a culture of resistance to government, of revolutionary individualism, a culture as old as the country itself, and the other, much newer, a perpetual caravan of mourning for senseless death. These cultures coexist but do not coincide. The political divisions in Washington, as vicious and irreconcilable as they may be, are not accidents of process. They are only signs of the far more profound divisions that lie beneath.  Stephen Marche, The Guardian

Parkland kids are changing the conversation in using the gun debate as a wedge issue.

When Parkland was attacked last Valentines Day, supporting gun safety was considered politically toxic. Suddenly, for the first time in a generation, it is starting to grow politically toxic to oppose it.  Dave Cullen, The Guardian

If the sole bar is passing Congressional gun control laws, then it looks like the March for Our Lives has not done much to disrupt the status quo of Americas broken gun debate. But the attempt to measure the Parkland students impact in terms of bills passed or not passed may miss the broader point. March for Our Lives has a more ambitious outlook than just policy. They are mirroring what the NRA and the Republican Party have done so well for decades: using the gun debate as a wedge issue, and aiming to take and hold power for a generation.  Lois Beckett, The Guardian

Guns will always be a part of American culture.

Only in America is the gun a totem, a sacred political object beyond the realm of argument. The gun laws of every other country provide a balance between public safety and the rights of people to own weapons.  In all these other countries, some people think the rules are too strict, others think that the rules are too lenient, but the general idea that guns should be regulated is not disputed. Every other machine is regulated, so why not guns?  Stephen Marche, The Guardian

But the influence of the NRA is waning.

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.  Last year, for the first time in nearly two decades, polling indicated that more Americans held a negative view than a positive view of the NRA. There has also been an upswing in support for stricter gun laws.  New York Times editorial board

The Parkland shooting galvanized a future voting bloc.

A year ago, students called for change.  A year later, we are watching. We are organizing. And we will be voting.  Ella Kuhnhenn, high school junior, Tennessean

After the hundreds of shootings following Parkland, it is apparent that the laws we have now are simply not enough.  But it doesnt have to be like this. If we all take action through government or assembly, changes are possible. Its much more effective than thoughts and prayers.  Shorthorn editorial

Parkland students speak out, one year later.

We have to realize that gun violence affects every part of America. You know, only focusing on Parkland is not going to solve gun violence. Focusing on every zip code is what has to solve gun violence, right?  But the reason we do this and the reason we continue to go out and speak is so that there are no other people, so that nobody else has to live through the pain that April has had to live through in the first place.  David Hogg, NPR

The people I know now are going to be the people who are senators and house members one day. Its cool to know that so many young people are determined. Our generation is not the slackers we were once thought to be. Were motivated and were hungry for change. Jaclyn Corin, People

I wanted people to think of Parkland not as a city of people who cowered in the face of great tragedy, but as a city that took the worst-case scenario and stood up even taller to say that we are stronger than that.  Cameron Kasky, Marie Claire

VideosNiamey (AFP) - Rescuers, fishermen, navy experts and police combed the Niger River Thursday looking for 42 people, including children, missing after an overloaded boat capsized while bringing them to a market, authorities said.

The vessel foundered as it was battered by powerful winds in Sambera district in southwest Niger, near the border with Benin, early Wednesday morning, going down just 200 metres (656 feet) from its destination.

"Sixty-two people were saved and 43 others are missing, judging from the number of shoes that have been recovered," Sambera Mayor Oumarou Hassane told AFP.

The corpse of a woman was later recovered.

The victims had been aboard a canoe travelling from Gorou-Beri in Benin to Ouna in Niger, according to Hassane.

The vessel was transporting a large consignment of cereals and about a hundred traders from Benin and Niger, as well as children, Hassane said.

In Benin, Moussa Mouhamadou, prefect of the northern district of Alibori, gave a similar toll.

"Sixty-four people were saved," he told Radio Benin.

"We discovered about 40 pairs of shoes at the site (of the accident), and linked them to the people who are missing."

"The survivors went home last night and are well. They are being given medical and psychological support," said Mouhamadou.

Most of the passengers were from Benin, said the country's Interior Minister Sacca Lafia.

"In accordance with the law, the navigators of the vessel have been arrested for not following the safety instructions... We hope that this never happens again," he said.

- Never again -

The Niger River, a busy transport artery in West Africa, broke its banks about two weeks ago, causing major damage to crops. While the flooding has subsided, the river's level remains high.

An official of Niger's gendarmerie told public radio the canoe sank "about 200 metres (yards)" from the jetty it was headed for.

According to Mouhamadou, navy and police members and fishermen on the scene started the search for survivers survivors directly after the sinking, and divers from the fire brigade in the commercial capital, Cotonou, were making their way to the scene Thursday.

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Boat capsizes are common on the Niger River, which carries hundreds of canoes every day. Many are operated by companies that ignore security standards.

Steering is "often given to teenagers to do," a Nigerian security source told AFP.

In October 2017, 17 people were confirmed drowned after a boat carrying about 60 passengers sank on a trip from northwestern Nigeria to Niger.

A month earlier, 56 people perished when an overcrowded boat carrying 150 people, mainly Niger traders, sank in the state of Kebbi, Nigeria.

Many of the passengers of these boats are merchants of livestock and grain traded between Niger, Benin, and Nigeria.

There are only three bridges spanning the river along the 550-kilometre (342-mile) stretch of its flow through Niger, a poor, landlocked country that depends heavily on imports from the port of Cotonou.U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson. Photo by Diego M. Radzinschi/THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL



Federal prosecutors are no longer required to argue in support of a reduced prison sentence for Paul Manafort, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, finding the special counsel had adequately demonstrated that the former Trump campaign chairman lied to authorities after pledging to cooperate.



The judge, Amy Berman Jackson, concluded that prosecutors are not obligated to advocate for a reduced sentence for Manafort, who pleaded guilty in September to various charges rooted in his lobbying work for Ukraine. The plea agreement followed Manaforts conviction in Alexandria, Virginia, on multiple financial fraud charges.



Sentencing is set for March 13 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A Manafort spokesman declined to comment Wednesday.



Jackson found the special counsels office had proven by a preponderance of the evidence that Manafort lied about certain interactions and communications with a Russian associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, and also gave false statements related to another Justice Department investigation.



Jackson, however, also found that Muellers team failed to establish Manafort lied about his communications with the Trump administration.



Prosecutors had alleged that, after signing the plea deal last year, Manafort denied but later admitted that Kilimnik had conspired with him to alter the testimony of two witnesses in order to exculpate them of a violation of the federal law requiring disclosure of lobbying work for foreign governments. The allegation of witness tampering prompted Jackson in June to order Manafort to be jailed as he awaited trial.



Jackson's ruling does not resolve what benefit, if any, Manafort will receive at the time he is sentenced. Manafort pleaded guilty in Washington court only after a lengthy related trial in Virginia, where he was found guilty on most counts. Manafort's sentencing in Virginia had been set for Feb. 8 but the judge in the case recently postponed the hearing to an unspecified date.









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Jackson's order is posted below:























Read more:





Skadden's DOJ Deal Is Off-Limits for Russian Company Claiming Mueller Abuses



Roger Stone's Legal Team Didn't Exactly Get Off to a Great Start in DC



Mueller's Team Questions How Files in Russia Case Ended Up Online



'Knock It Off': Judge Upbraids Reed Smith Partner Litigating Mueller CaseOuagadougou (AFP) - More than a million people in Burkina Faso, a country plagued by jihadist violence, are in need of humanitarian aid, the UN and the government said Thursday as they launched a plan to raise $100 million for an emergency plan.

"Burkina Faso is facing an unprecedented humanitarian emergency caused by persistent insecurity in the Centre-Nord, Est and Nord regions," the government and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a joint statement, adding there were "1.2 million people in critical need of assistance."

More than 300 people have been killed in Burkina Faso in four years of jihadist attacks, according to an AFP count.

The capital Ouagadougou has been hit three times, most recently in March 2018.

"We must act now and work together to prevent this crisis from spiralling out of control," said OCHA coordinator Metsi Makhetha.

"The humanitarian community is collaborating closely with the government and will deepen cooperation with development, financial, private organisations and other actors in efforts to address the insecurity, and seek lasting solutions for communities to prosper," she added.

The government and OCHA announced an "emergency plan" to raise $100 million to provide food, water, housing, healthcare and protection to some 900,000 people hardest-hit by the ongoing crisis.

"Our common goal is to ensure dignity and protection for the affected population, and we are determined and committed to achieve this goal," said Helene Marie Laurence Ilboudo, Burkina Faso's minister of humanitarian action.

According to OCHA figures, about 676,000 people in the country risk food insecurity this year, and 130,000 children are threatened by severe malnutrition.

Some 83,000 people have been forced to flee their homes due to the continuing violence. More than 1,000 schools have been closed, depriving 150,000 children of an education.

About 120,000 people do not have access to medical care in areas most affected by the violence.Like most other annual holidays, Valentines Day in the U.S. tends to follow a predictable script. Lovers might buy each other flowers and a card, or gorge on a fancy dinner.

From Paris to Dhaka, that script is followed in cities around the world. But there are still some places where people celebrate Valentines Day in weird and wonderful ways.

Wales

Wales celebrates its version of Valentines Day on Jan. 25. Known as Saint Dwynwens day, it commemorates the legend of the nations patron saint of love.

According to the BBC, its a fairly grizzly tale, featuring an arranged marriage gone wrong, a convent and a frozen lover. To celebrate Dwynwen, Welsh lovers traditionally exchange love spoons  ornate wooden utensils featuring symbols to express different sentiments.

The Philippines

172 unwed couples attend the free civil union in Iloilo City on Valentine's Day at the historic Plaza Libertad. Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, who started the free mass wedding in Iloilo City since 2012, officiated the legal union of the couples.

In recent years, some Filipino couples have celebrated Valentines Day at state-supported mass wedding ceremonies.

This year, hundreds of couples will marry on Valentines Day under the supervision of Mayor Dino Reyes Chua of Noveleta, a town south of the Philippine capital Manila.

The regions local government says it will pay for the cost of the wedding reception, bouquets of flowers and even wedding cakes for the couples  who are all set to return the favor by accepting Mayor Chua and other officials as their new godparents.

And at a nearby town, where another mayor is set to officiate the marriage of some 500 couples at a high school building on Thursday, the best-dressed pair will win a prize of 10,000 Philippine Pesos ($192) to go towards their honeymoon.

The local government says the ceremonies are a way to help cash-strapped young couples make their unions official in the eyes of God and the law.

El Salvador

In El Salvador, as in much of Latin America, Feb. 14 is the Day of Love and Friendship. The centerpiece is a game called Secret Friend. Salvadoran friends, families, classmates and coworkers write everyones name on a piece of paper and then each secretly pick one. Each person then gets a gift for another. When the time comes to hand the gifts out, everyone stands in a circle and takes it in turn to say one good quality about their secret friend. Everyone else then has to guess who the gift is for. Its similar to the christmas game Secret Santa, except with a touch more affection.

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Peru

Valentines Day coincides with Perus summer carnival season. Peruvians are often in a partying mood and sometimes they even have a national holiday. As in the U.S., Peruvian couples exchange flowers, but the most popular choice isnt roses, but orchids. The flowers are abundant in the Andean nation and come in some 3,000 varieties.

South Africa

In South Africa, couples have traditionally celebrated Valentines by wearing their heart on their sleeve. Young people pin a piece of paper with the name of their partner or crush to their clothes, in a bid to get noticed (and hopefully reciprocated). The custom is supposedly a nod to the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, in which modern Valentines Day may have its roots.

Bulgaria

A Bulgarian Orthodox priest leads an open air mass as part of the celebrating of the wine feast called St.Trifon day in the village of Brestovica, 80 miles east of the capital Sofia Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015.

In Bulgaria, Valentines Day traditionally shared its spot in the calendar with the day of the patron saint of winemakers, St. Trifon Zarezan.

Early February is the time of year when grapevines first need their old branches trimmed to prepare them for the summer ahead.

Traditionally, men prune the grapevines, pouring wine onto the ground to improve the soils fertility. Each vineyard then selects the wine king deemed to have had the best harvest, who goes on to host a feast at his house with food and wine.

Its not hard to see how the two holidays have come to be celebrated in unison by some Bulgarian lovers.Geneive Abdo

Iran, Europe

While Trump certainly deserves criticism for his foreign policy decisions, he may just have gotten Iran right.

Iran Should Be Worried About the Warsaw Summit

The Iranian regime should be worried about the U.S.-led conference on the Middle East in Warsaw that is being held Feb. 13 and 14. While it seemed a few days ago that European states would shame the United States at the eventno matter the liabilitiesnow realpolitik and Tehrans own missteps are shifting the political winds.

The fact that Poland is hosting the conference illustrates a rift among European states at a delicate time when the European Union (EU) is trying to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which the United States withdrew from in 2018. For example, some European leaders expressed opposition to the Warsaw conference long before it began, saying its sole purpose was to demonize Iran. Federica Mogherini, in charge of EU foreign policy, claimed she had other commitments and is not attending.

Yet, British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt stated he would attend on the condition that the agenda includes a discussion of the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, which some European leaders blame on Saudi Arabia, Americas ally, for its involvement in the war there. Once the United States agreed to a Yemen discussion, Hunt accepted the conference invitation.

No matter how deep or shallow the rift is among European states, an important point is being overlooked: some European leaders are downplaying the significance of the conference and ridiculing President Donald Trump for his idea to hold it. But the meeting is significant, at a minimum because it is a rare gathering among the United States, Israel and Arab statesall of which want to curb Irans military and political intrusions in the Arab world. A number of Arab states warming ties with Israel are in part due to their common objectives on Iran. The last time all of these actors gathered to discuss peace in the Middle East was during the Madrid talks in the early 1990s.

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If anything, the Warsaw conference is highlighting the growing weakness among European states in navigating the hostile relationship between the United States and Iran and, as a result, their ineffective policies in the region. Polish foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz said it best in Warsaw on February 13, when speaking to reporters: The European Union alone does not, in my opinion, carry sufficient political weight to try to really influence the situation in the Middle East.

The Warsaw meeting also is a reminder of some European states inability to bail out Iran from the damage of U.S. sanctions, despite much European blustering and promises to prove to Trump that the sanctions he re-imposed in November are not working. Britain, France and Germany claimed big oil firms would ignore U.S. sanctions and retain either existing contracts or sign new ones with Iran. Instead, major firms canceled their contracts and others on the fence ran the other way. Then, in January, European states worked to put into place a banking loophole to help European firms get around U.S. sanctions and do business with Iran only to find that the European private sector is not all that interested. The mechanism, the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), operates as a bartering system whereby European firms, in theory, buy Iranian oil in exchange for giving Iran goods to be used for humanitarian purposes.

Now, Iranian officials say they do not want the goods on offer and they complain that the Europeans are not doing enough to help them get around U.S. sanctions. For example, Irans Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei went as far as to say that the Europeans should not be trusted. Speaking to Air Force officers on February 8, Khamenei blasted the United States and also advised Iranian officials not to trust the Europeans either, adding that they are like Americans.

What is becoming clear is that EU member states are also divided on the degree of security threats from Iran. While some states are trying to help Iran skirt U.S. sanctions and allowing the Iranians a deeper foothold in the Middle East and jeopardizing European security at home, others are clamping down. The European Union in January froze the assets of an Iranian intelligence unit and two of its staff. The Netherlands accused Iran of two killings on its soil and joined France and Denmark in accusing Iran of alleged violent attacks in parts of Europe.

Irans foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, the regimes Western-styled mouthpiece who aims to keep the Europeans on board the nuclear deal, claimed last week that the Warsaw conference was doomed before it started. He has also called it a circus. But other, more realistic Iranian officials, have admitted their concern about the outcome of the Warsaw gathering.

While Trump certainly deserves criticism for his foreign policy decisions, he may just have gotten Iran right. His decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal is crippling Irans economy and has brought needed attention to Irans ballistic missile program and its use of armed proxies to destabilize the region.

Even if there is no road map or lofty strategy that comes out of Warsaw to challenge Irans interventions in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and its increasing influence through Hezbollahs mighty political weight in Lebanon, it is the beginning of a broader front against Iran than has existed in the past. Israel and some Arab states are committed to continuing to try to curb Iranian military interventions in the Middle East and Warsaw is providing a platform toward this objective.

Geneive Abdo is a resident scholar at the Arabia Foundation and the author of The New Sectarianism: The Arab Uprisings and the Rebirth of the Shia-Sunni Divide.

Image: Reuters.

Read full articleA Thai princess has apologised after her short-lived candidacy for prime minister earned a royal rebuke from her brother -- the king -- and sent jitters across the politically febrile country just weeks before elections.

Thailand has been mired in political drama since Friday, when Princess Ubolratana's name was submitted as a prime ministerial candidate by the Thai Raksa Chart Party.

The party is allied with the powerful Shinawatra clan, which has won all elections since 2001 but whose patron, the billionaire ex-premier Thaksin, lives in self-exile to avoid jail.

Ubolratana's unprecedented bid to enter frontline politics unravelled within hours after King Maha Vajiralongkorn decried the entry of a royal into the political fray as "highly inappropriate".

Thailand's monarchy is seen as above politics, although royals have intervened in public during times of political crisis.

The princess was disqualified as a prime ministerial candidate by the Election Commission on Monday, which cited the royal command. It is now discussing whether to refer Thai Raksa Chart to the consitutional court for dissolution.

In an Instagram post late Tuesday the 67-year-old princess apologised for her role in the drama.

"I'm sorry that my genuine intention to help work for the country and fellow Thai people has created a problem that shouldn't happen in this era," she wrote.

It was tagged with a hashtag: "#howcomeitsthewayitis".

Ubolratana is the first-born of former king Bhumibol Adulyadej, but she gave up her royal titles when she married an American in 1972.

After her divorce, she moved back to Thailand where she is regarded by the Thai public as a part of the royal family.

While she said she was exercising her rights as a commoner to stand for premier, the palace statement said she is "still a member of the House of Chakri", referring to the name of the dynasty.

The monarchy in Thailand is considered sacred and revered by its people, and is under the protection of draconian lese majeste laws. The king's word is considered final.

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The scuttling of her candidacy and potential moves to dissolve the Thai Raksa Chart party is a blow to Thaksin Shinawatra's political machine.

The party was set to add to the vote bank of the bigger Shinawatra electoral vehicle, Pheu Thai, in an election where secondary parties are targeting seats via the party list system.

Thaksin and his sister Yingluck -- who was overthrown in the 2014 coup -- live abroad to avoid convictions they say are politically motivated.

Junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha, who toppled Yingluck's government, is running for prime minister in the March 24 poll.

Party executives from Thai Raksa Chart have expressed contrition after the upheaval, but said they would challenge any attempt to disband the party.

A media organisation affiliated with the Shinawatras was also in the crosshairs this week.

Voice TV, owned by Thaksin's son Ponthongtae, was ordered Tuesday by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) to go off-air for 15 days after two of its programs caused "confusion and provocation".Illinois congressman deploys to southwest border mission as Guardsman originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., has been deployed to the southwest border with his Wisconsin Air National Guard unit, his congressional office has confirmed.

The five-term Illinois congressman has served as a pilot with the Wisconsin Air National Guard for years and will be deployed to Arizona for two weeks. He has served three previous tours along the southwest border and has also deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Earlier this week, Congressman Kinzinger was deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border with his Air National Guard unit, and is serving on active duty in his capacity as lieutenant colonel," said Maura Gillespie, a spokeswoman for Kinzinger's office. "As with his previous border missions while elected, the congressman will stay within the United States."

PHOTO: Rep. Adam Kinzinger, Ill-R. in a picture posted on his campaign's official Facebook page. (Adam Kinzinger/Facebook )

In an interview with the Chicago Sun Times, the Republican congressman said he would be deploying to the Tucson area for two weeks.

Kinzinger pilots the RC-26 Metroliner, a reconnaissance aircraft equipped with cameras and sensors, that has been used on counternarcotics missions stateside and for intelligence gathering overseas.

"As always, our Washington D.C. and Illinois offices will continue serve the people of the 16th District, and keep the Congressman updated while he serves his mission along our southern border, Gillespie said.

(MORE: Enter headline of content here)

The Wisconsin National Guard confirmed that Kinzinger has been deployed on active duty status to the National Guard border mission, but not the separate active duty mission along the border.

"Hes involved with the National Guards mission to support the Arizona National Guards mission that is supporting Customs and Border Protection," said Capt. Joe Trovato, a Guard spokesman.

About 2,200 National Guard troops have been serving on the southern border since last April. It is a separate mission of active duty troops that was launched in mid-October in response to the arrival on the border of multiple caravans of migrants from Central America.

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(MORE: National Guard troops begin deploying to border security missione)

Kinzinger told the Sun Times he has deployed to the Southwest border three times before during the Obama administration flying immigration and drug-smuggling aerial surveillance missions.

I think we need a wall or barriers," Kinzinger told the newspaper. "I dont care what its called. I dont care really what it looks like as long as its the purpose of it."

He described once flying a mission over the Rio Grande River in Texas watching two groups of people trying to cross the border illegally.

One group would cross -- the Border Patrol would react," he said. " They would go back into the water and the other group would cross and theyd sit here and do this until one can make it in without the Border Patrol reacting.

A border wall or barrier shrinks that area of the border you have to monitor because if its walled, yeah, people can get over a wall, they can get under a wall," he said. "I get that. But they cant do it at the rate of if there was no wall.

In March 2016, Kinzinger was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal "for various mission accomplishments including 420 million dollars of drug-related seizures, more than 700 arrests of high-value drug traffickers, and two deployments in support of overseas contingency operations where he executed over 275 combat flight hours and 100 combat sorties," according to a write up by the Wisconsin National Guard public affairs office.

In that article then-Major Kinzinger noted balance he maintains in keeping his Air National Guard responsibilities with his he was first elected to Congress.

"It's a neat kind of dichotomy to play," He said, Maj. Adam Kinzinger, RC-26 pilot and U.S. congressman. "The second I put my uniform on, I'm a major and I'm saluting lieutenant colonels and calling them sir. The next day, I'm talking to generals in my office and they're asking me for my support on various programs."BERLIN (Reuters) - Britain's departure from the European Union without a deal would doom the prospects for a Franco-German next-generation fighter jet with a rival project in Britain, the head of Airbus Defence and Space (AIR.PA) told the Handelsblatt German newspaper.

Dirk Hoke told the newspaper he considered it "absolutely imperative" that the EU reach an agreement with Britain on security, defense and space given the closely interwoven ties between Europe and Britain.

"I consider it extremely dangerous to develop a system like FCAS (the Franco-German fighter program) without the British," he said, noting that potential order quantities would rise if Britain participated, making future aircraft more competitive.

France and Germany this month awarded a 65 million euro ($74 million), two-year contract financed equally by both countries to Dassault Aviation (AVMD.PA) and Airbus to start designing a next-generation combat air system for use from 2040.

Hoke said there were discussions about Spain joining the Franco-German program, but the Brexit negotiations would be decisive in determining any cooperation with Britain.

"In Britain's case, we have to wait to see if there will be a hard Brexit," he told the newspaper. "That would be fatal for the cooperation."

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Paul Tait)Paris (AFP) - An ex-boxer who became a hero to some of France's "yellow vest" protesters after beating up police officers during a demonstration was convicted on Wednesday and given a one-year prison term.

Christophe Dettinger, a former national light-heavyweight champion, was caught on camera on January 5 throwing a flurry of punches at an officer during clashes on a footbridge over the river Seine in Paris.

Dettinger, 37, has been in custody since turning himself in after the attack. He appeared before a packed courtroom Wednesday looking tired, with a thin moustache and his hair cut short.

Ignoring prosecution calls for a significantly heavier sentence, the judge gave Dettinger open-prison terms which would allow him to work during the day.

Footage of the incident, which has been played repeatedly on TV and social media, was shown again in court with Dettinger, who is nearly two metres tall (6 foot 3 inches), seen punching one policeman then kicking another on the ground.

The married father-of-three, who had no previous convictions, apologised for his actions.

"I wanted to stop an injustice but I ended up creating another," Dettinger told the court.

He expressed remorse for his "mistake" which he said was sparked by anger at the "violence" used against demonstrators.

The yellow vest movement -- named after the high-visibility safety vests worn by activists -- started over fuel tax hikes and quickly grew into a broader rebellion against the economic policies and leadership style of President Emmanuel Macron.

The number of people taking part in weekly protests has fallen significantly since the start of the year, but the heat has not gone out of the movement, with demonstrations regularly ending in rioting.

"I see police hitting the yellow vests protesters with truncheons -- I don't understand. I see a woman on the ground, someone kicks her and raises a truncheon and that's when I threw myself at the policeman and hit him," Dettinger explained calmly on Wednesday.

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Despite his apology, the prosecutor called for a three-year sentence, with one year suspended.

Another judge is set to determine the exact terms of the prison sentence next week.

Dettinger also received an 18-month suspended sentence, is banned from visiting Paris for six months and must pay his two victims sums of 2,000 and 3,000 euros ($2,250 and $3,400).

- An angry 'ordinary citizen' -

Last month's incident caused widespread outrage, with the government describing it as a prime example of the violence that has characterised the yellow vest protests since they began in November.

One of the officers was treated in hospital for his injuries and both have sued Dettinger.

However his case has elicited much sympathy among the yellow vests and their supporters, with an online fundraising drive bringing in more than 117,000 euros ($134,000) to cover his legal costs before being shut down.

But the police have also won support, with a fund for injured officers garnering more than a million euros in donations.

Since the start of the protests, 1,796 people have been convicted, mainly for destruction of public property and attacking the police, with hundreds more awaiting trial.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe told French media on Wednesday there was "no question" of any government amnesty for convicted yellow vest activists.

Six people were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of using a forklift truck to smash open the door to the compound housing the office of government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux -- an incident which occurred the same day as Dettinger's attack on the police.

And on Friday Eric Drouet, a leading yellow-vest figure, will be tried on charges of illegally organising a demonstration in Paris.

If convicted the 33-year-old truck driver faces up to six months behind bars.

In a video posted on YouTube a day after his outburst, Dettinger described himself as an "ordinary citizen" acting out of anger with what he called the repressive tactics of the police.

Talking in a calm voice in court on Wednesday he said: "I was looking for my wife, I witnessed the truncheon blows on the 'yellow vests'. Bam, bam, bam. I couldn't understand it. I saw a woman on the ground... it was then that I threw myself at a policeman and hit him".

Around 10,000 people took part in a rally in Paris last month to condemn violence by the yellow vest movement.eclDave Majumdar

Security,

We break down the worst of the worst.

The F-35 Is One of the 5 Worst Fighter Jets Ever Made

The F-35 is a case of massive over ambition to develop one base airframe that can be adapted to replace half-dozen specialized jets. The result is an expensive jack-of-all-trades, but a master of none.

The United States has built many great fighters over the years. The P-51 Mustang, the F4U Corsair, F-86 Sabre, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon and the F-22 are among the best warplanes this country has ever produced. This article is not about those machines.

(This first appeared in late 2015.)

There have been plenty of times when American ingenuity has fallen flat on its face. This article is about the dregs of U.S. warplane designsthe worst of the worst. But from each of these failures, we can learn something and make sure it never happens again. Its only a failure of you dont learn something from it.

Bell P-59 Airacomet:

Bells P-59 Aircomet was Americas first attempt at building a jet fighter. However, compared to its British and German contemporariesthe Gloster Meteor and the Messerschmitt Me 262the P-59 was an abysmal failure .

In fact, during tests against Lockheed P-38 Lightnings, Republic P-47 Thunderbolts and a captured Mitsubishi Zero, it was discovered that the P-59 offered no advantage over the conventional piston-engine fighters of the time. Moreover, in many cases the piston-engine fighters outclassed the new jet.

The P-59 had a top speed of only 413 miles per hourroughly equivalent to the P-38. Ultimately, the P-59 proved to be of little use except as a test vehicle, but it did set the stage for later, more successful projects.

Vought F7U Cutlass:

The U.S. Navy didnt have an easy time introducing jets onto the carrier flight deck. One early effort was the Vought F7U Cutlassknown derisively to its pilots as the Gutless Cutlass. The Cutlass was not only severely underpowered with its pair of Westinghouse J46-WE-8B turbojets; it was also plagued with immature systemsespecially its problematic hydraulics.

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Indeed, retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Edward Lewis "Whitey" Feightnera former Blue Angel told the Smithsonians Air & Space Magazine that he offered his resignation on the spot when he was told the team would fly the Cutlass. The Cutlass could be made into a pretty good flying machine with a few modifications, wrote F7U-3 pilot John Moore in The Wrong Stuff, Air & Space reported. Like a conventional tail, tripling the thrust, cutting the nosewheel strut in half, completely redoing the flight control system, and getting someone else to fly it.

Grumman F-11 Tiger:

Grumman is famous for building some of the Navys best warplanes, but the F-11 Tiger wasnt one of those. In fact, the F-11 is one of the few aircraft in history thats managed to shoot itself downliterally. During a test flight, a Grumman test pilot who was testing the jets 20mm cannon managed to run into the very shells he had just fired.

The problem with the F-11 was less the airframe itself than the engines. The aircrafts Wright J65-W-14 engines were extremely unreliable and burned gas at a high rate. As a result, the Navy was not happy with the Tiger. Naval aircraftbecause of the unforgiving at sea environmentmust have good range and highly reliable engines.

The Tiger was quickly retired after serving for only about thirteen years.

Convair F-102 Delta Dagger:

The Convair F-102 Delta Dagger was originally designed to be a high altitude, high speed interceptor that would destroy the hordes of Soviet bombers that the were expected to attack the continental United States in case the Cold War turned hot.

Designers built the delta wing jet around a powerful Pratt & Whitney J57-P-25 afterburning turbojet, an advanced fire-control system and an internal weapons bay. All initial indications showed that the jet should be a spectacular performeruntil it flew. The prototype couldnt even break Mach 1.0.

The Delta Dagger had run into what was then a newly discovered phenomenon called transonic wave drag. The aircraft had to be completely designed using the Whitcomb area rule, which basically states an aircraft must have an even longitudinal cross-sectional area distribution to minimize transonic drag. The redesigned F-102 had a Coke bottle configuration. Some versions of the story suggest the jets new fuselage design was actually inspired by actress Marilyn Monroes figure rather than a Coke bottle.

The reconfigured F-102 could eventually hit speeds of Mach 1.22, but the jet never really met expectations. Eventually, it was completely designed into a configuration that ultimately resulted in the much more successful F-106 Delta Dart.

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter:

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is not necessarily a bad planehowever, it is years late, grotesquely over budget nor is the aircraft likely to ever deliver what its designers originally promised. The F-35 is a case of massive over ambition to develop one base airframe that can be adapted to replace half-dozen specialized jets. The result is an expensive jack-of-all-trades, but a master of none.

Moreover, the requirements for the F-35 were set at a time when future threats were unclear. The requirements were set to fight in an environment that was less intense than what might be expected had the Soviet Union not collapsed, but more strenuous than what is required for a low end conflict like Syria or Iraq. Those who set the requirements did not anticipate the reemergence of China or the anti-access/area denial threats we are now starting to face .

The result is an aircraft that is not equal to meeting the emerging challenges facing the nation in the Western Pacific.

Dave Majumdar is the former defense editor for The National Interest.

Image: Lockheed Martin.

Read full articleThe Hague (AFP) - What's big, blue, furry and monstrous? For the Netherlands the answer is simple: Brexit.

While the British government has had trouble imagining what its exit from the European Union will actually look like, the Dutch government unveiled its vision in the form of a hairy beast.

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok tweeted a picture of himself with the creature, which is wearing a white t-shirt with the word "Brexit" in red letters, lying on his desk and stopping him from working.

"Make sure Brexit doesn't get -- or lie -- in your way," Blok, who has his arms raised in a gesture of mock frustration, said in the tweet.

"It's a sort of funny way of warning for Brexit, but in a relaxed way," a Dutch government source told AFP, adding that the creature's name was "Brexit".

The government says the idea is to raise awareness among Dutch businesses of the impact of Brexit, especially if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal on March 29.

A picture on the government's Brexit awareness website meanwhile appears to show the Brexit muppet as a pest for the "Me Too" era, sitting on a female office worker's lap and preventing her from reaching her computer.

The same picture features in a full-page advertisement in the Financieele Dagblad newspaper.

The site -- www.brexitloket.nl -- has a special tool where firms can check for the potential fallout for their business.

Around 1,600 people did a "Brexit scan" on Thursday since Blok's tweet -- more than eight times the average daily number since the site was launched in March 2018, officials said.

- 'Waning country' -

The monster campaign also took off on social media, including with Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Hugo de Jonge, who tweeted to Blok: "Stef? Give us a little sign of life so we know it ended OK! (Which of our colleagues is in that suit anyway?)"

The furry mascot is, meanwhile, set to feature in other online spots "literally getting in the way of business" by blocking trucks and conveyor belts, the government has said.

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Television adverts of the big blue Brexit causing chaos are being filmed but will only be shown on Dutch TV in case there is a no-deal Brexit, sources said.

The humourous Dutch take on Brexit belies the fact that the Netherlands is taking the issue very seriously.

The country has made major preparations to deal with the impact on its economy, which is closely linked with Britain.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in an interview published in the Financial Times on Thursday that around 250 businesses were close to a decision to move to the Netherlands from a "diminished" Britain because of Brexit.

Rutte also rounded on Britain as a "waning country compared to two or three years ago" in a separate interview with Spain's El Pais newspaper.

"It is going to become an economy of intermediate size somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean," said Rutte.

The strong comments came as a surprise as he has long been seen as an ally of Britain and was one of British Prime Minister Theresa May's first ports of call when trying to negotiate a Brexit deal.

The Dutch cabinet has meanwhile been granted emergency powers to deal with the impact and has set aside 100 million euros (US$114 million) for preparations, including the appointment of 900 new customs officers.Shamima Begum wants to return to the UK after she travelled to Syria to join Islamic State (Met Police)

The pregnant British schoolgirl who wants to return to the UK after she fled London to join Islamic State in Syria will not be rescued, the security minister has confirmed.

Shamima Begum left Britain when she was 15 to join the terrorist organisation in Syria but, after being tracked down by The Times at a refugee camp in the north of the war-torn country, she now says shell do anything to return and have her baby.

But Ben Wallace said he would not put British lives at risk to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists, adding that actions have consequences.

The pregnant 19-year-old wants to return to the UK to have her child (Met Police)

While refusing to comment on individual cases, Mr Wallace later told the BBC: Im not putting at risk British peoples lives to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed state.

Theres consular services elsewhere in the region and the strong message this Government has given for many years is that actions have consequences.

Now 19 years old and heavily pregnant, Begum, the bride of an Islamic State fighter who is in captivity, has already had two children who are dead.

Stating that I dont regret coming here, she told The Times: Im not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

She also told the paper: The caliphate is over. There was so much oppression and corruption that I dont think they deserved victory.

I know what everyone at home thinks of me as I have read all that was written about me online.

But I just want to come home to have my child. Thats all I want right now. Ill do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child.

Begum was one of three schoolgirls  along with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase  from Bethnal Green Academy who left their homes and families in February 2015 to join a fourth Bethnal Green schoolgirl in Syria who had left London the year before.

They each married an Isis foreign fighter, according to The Times.

Sultana was reported to have been killed in an airstrike on Raqqa in May 2016, while Begum has recently heard second-hand from other people that Abase, and the other schoolgirl who left Britain in 2014, may still be alive.

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When she arrived, Begum was put in a house where jihadist brides-to-be waited to be married, she said.

Begum was tracked down by The Times to a refugee camp in northern Syria (Twitter)

She was married 10 days after arriving in Raqqa in 2015 to a Dutchman who had converted to Islam. She claims her husband was later arrested, charged with spying and tortured.

She left Raqqa in January 2017 with her husband but her children, a girl aged a year and nine months old and a three-month-old boy, both died in recent months. Her son had an unknown illness worsened by malnutrition, The Times said.

Begum said she had a mostly a normal life in Raqqa, every now and then bombing and stuff.

She told the paper: But when I saw my first severed head in a bin it didnt faze me at all. It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam. I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance.

The family went to Baghuz and she left there two weeks ago along a three-mile long corridor east of the town. Her husband surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters allied to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and she has not seen him since.

Begum (right) travelled to Syria with Amira Abase (left) Kadiza Sultana (centre) (Met Police)

What action might she face if she is allowed to return to the UK?

The Home Office said it does not comment on individual cases, although anyone who returns to the UK after travelling to IS territory faces criminal investigation and stricter laws are now in place.

Home Office Minister Ben Wallace has said everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police. This will determine if they have committed criminal offences, and to ensure that they do not pose a threat to national security.

However, Begum was a school pupil when she ran away and Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer who was instructed by the girls families after they disappeared, said that British authorities should be reminded of former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howes position at the time.

Lord Hogan-Howe said that the girls would be treated as victims so long as they had not committed any further offences while in Syria.

Mr Akunjee said: The position of the Metropolitan Police was that they should be treated as victims, so long as they hadnt committed any further offences while they are out there.

Do the girls pose a threat?

Joana Cook, a senior research fellow at KCL who co-authored the study, said the researchers considered the women to be potential security threats based on several factors.

She said: (These include) the physical security roles and related training that women have undertaken in IS-held territory, and the potential to transfer or apply these skills in other locations, or to pass these on to other people including other women and their children.News

Harmony key attribute of UAEs society

Even prior to becoming a part of the United Arab Emirates in 1971, Dubai always attracted expatriates from the Indian subcontinent. Not just skilled people but also non-skilled persons or businessmen from different parts of the sub-continent came here. The father of Praful P Dhakan, a 53-year-old Indian, was among those who reached Dubai on a ship after spending 5 days in the sea. Praful P Dhakan was born in 1969 in Dubai.

SheKnows

Point of fact: Mom-friendly swimwear means something different for a former supermodel than it does to the rest of us. Mom of four Heidi Klum showed us just how different in a series of sexy bikini pics on Instagram, all shots taken by her manly rock star husband of two years, Tom Kaulitz. With a []Brussels (AFP) - Saudi Arabia expressed "regret" on Thursday over EU proposals to add it and six other countries to a money-laundering blacklist of governments that do too little to thwart the financing of terrorism and organised crime.

The move comes amid heightened tensions between Riyadh and European capitals over the murder last year of the columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The European Commission said Wednesday it wanted to add seven countries including Saudi Arabia and Panama to another 16 already on the register -- such as Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Ethiopia and North Korea.

Inclusion on the list does not trigger sanctions, but it does oblige European banks to apply tighter controls on transactions with customers and institutions in those countries.

The proposal must now be approved by the European Parliament and the 28 member states, with France and Britain against the new list.

"Saudi Arabia notes with regret the European Commission proposed revised list of 'high risk' countries," reported the official Saudi Press Agency.

Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan was quoted in the report saying Riyadh's "commitment to fighting money-laundering and terrorism financing is a strategic priority".

"We will continue to develop and enhance our regulatory framework to achieve this goal," he said.

European Commissioner for Justice Vera Jourova said Wednesday the EU had "put in place the highest standards in the world" to counter illicit financial transactions.

"But we must ensure that dirty money from other countries does not end up in our financial system," she told a press conference at the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg.

- Calls for transparency -

Jourova added that money-laundering was the "driving force" behind organised crime and terrorism and urged countries on the list to "quickly remedy their shortcomings".

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A diplomat said objections to the new list from capitals like London and Paris were not linked to a desire to appease Riyadh, following strained relations in the aftermath of the Khashoggi murder.

There is not "an opposition to the addition of a particular country" among European countries, but concerns over the "methodology" used by the Commission, the diplomat said under condition of anonymity.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, was killed on October 2 by Saudi agents during a visit to his country's consulate in Istanbul to obtain paperwork ahead of his wedding.

The murder has plunged Saudi Arabia into one of its worst diplomatic crises.

The kingdom, after initially denying any knowledge of the journalist's disappearance, has acknowledged that a team killed him inside the embassy but described it as a rogue operation that did not involve the crown prince.

MEP Eva Joly, a former investigating judge, welcomed the new money-laundering blacklist but suggested the Commission "publish the country assessments in order to increase the transparency of the process and avoid accusations of political bargaining".

European countries such as Cyprus or the United Kingdom should also be on the list, she said.Samarra (Iraq) (AFP) - Eight members of a militia linked to Iraq's powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr were killed Thursday in a bomb blast north of Baghdad, security sources said.

The roadside bomb exploded when a convoy of Saraya al-Salam drove along a highway near Samarra, one source said, adding that several people were also wounded in the attack.

One of the eight militiamen killed was a commander who took part in anti-jihadist operations in Iraq, said another source.

Samarra -- a Sunni majority region -- is home to a major Iraqi security headquarters and to an important Shiite shrine where a 2006 bombing touched off two years of sectarian bloodletting.

The militia, led by Sadr whose political alliance triumphed in May 2018 parliamentary elections, has been deployed in the Samarra region since 2014 when the Islamic State group swept across Iraq.Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine on Thursday said it had expelled an Orthodox bishop and stripped him of his citizenship little over a week after he met with US lawmakers.

Ukraine's authorities said the Ukrainian-born Gedeon, 58, who also holds US and Russian passports, had arrived in Kiev from Frankfurt and was put on a return flight to Germany.

He has been banned from entering Ukraine for three years because of "anti-Ukrainian activities," said Ukrainian Security Services (SBU) spokeswoman Olena Gitlyanska, without elaborating.

Ukraine's migration service said Gedeon, who is father superior at a renowned monastery in Kiev, gave false information about his other nationalities when he applied for his Ukrainian passport, which was annulled last June.

Gedeon, who was born in Odessa, a Ukrainian port city on the Black Sea, was a clergyman in the Russian Orthodox Church prior to 1999 both in Russia and in the United States.

In a video comment posted on Facebook, Gedeon alleged that his deportation was sparked by comments he made during a February 5 meeting with US lawmakers charging that his Church faced discrimination in Ukraine.New York (AFP) - Amazon abandoned plans for a new headquarters in New York City on Thursday, blaming opposition from community leaders angry at the huge subsidies being offered to one of the world's most successful companies.

The New York neighborhood of Long Island City was one of two locations Amazon selected last year after a long search for a second headquarters or "HQ2."

The online retail giant had promised the sprawling complex in the borough of Queens would create 25,000 jobs in exchange for nearly $3 billion in state and city incentives -- which had riled some New Yorkers.

"While polls show that 70 percent of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project," Amazon said in a statement.

"We are disappointed to have reached this conclusion -- we love New York, its incomparable dynamism, people, and culture -- and particularly the community of Long Island City, where we have gotten to know so many optimistic, forward-leaning community leaders, small business owners, and residents."

Amazon, which is also in cloud computing, streaming media and artificial intelligence, chose the site after a lengthy search, saying it was outgrowing its home in Seattle, Washington.

The company said it would "continue growing" its 5,000-strong workforce in New York.

- No new bidding -

It added that it would not reopen the bidding process but would "proceed as planned" with a site in northern Virginia and a logistics center in Nashville, Tennessee.

The New York plan had been endorsed by Mayor Bill De Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo, but ran into fierce opposition from some local politicians and community activists, including newly elected Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose district borders the New York site.

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"Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon's corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world," she tweeted.

De Blasio sounded bitter about the reversal of a deal clinched after months of negotiations.

"We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity," the mayor said in a statement.

"If Amazon can't recognize what that's worth, its competitors will."

Cuomo meanwhile lamented that "at a small group politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community" to pressure Amazon to withdraw.

He said the state Senate, which appointed an Amazon opponent to a key board, "has done tremendous damage" and "should be held accountable for this lost economic opportunity."

Conservative and liberal opponents have argued that the company led by Jeff Bezos, who tops the Forbes rich list with a personal wealth of $134 billion, does not need what some describe as "corporate welfare."

Critics also voiced concerns that the promised jobs could inflate an already overpriced housing market and strain infrastructure.

Initial reactions to Amazon's decision from the local community appeared mixed.

"I'm relieved because I'm a renter here," said one female resident of the Queens neighborhood who declined to give her name. "I'm not sure these jobs would have been what the people living in this community need."

- Bitter pill -

But others like David Katzen, who owns a construction company in the neighborhood but does not live there, were disappointed.

"It was a horrible decision by the local legislators to oppose it," he told AFP. "It was short-sighted and ultimately what's going to happen here? Nothing. There's no good that came of this."

George Miranda, who leads the local branch of the blue-collar Teamsters union, said after the announcement: "New Yorkers made it clear that Amazon wasn't welcome in our city if it would not respect our workers and our communities. Apparently, the company decided that was too much to ask."

Scott Galloway, a New York University professor and author, said on Twitter after the announcement: "Immunities kick in and NYC finds its testicles. This is good for NYC, and America. Billionaires should not have their hand(s) out."Johannesburg (AFP) - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Thursday denied claims by a former comrade that he sold out fellow anti-apartheid activists to the secret police in the 1970s.

Defending his role in the struggle against white minority rule, Ramaphosa told parliament he had "refused" under "vicious" interrogation to give evidence against struggle companion Mosiuoa Lekota and others.

Lekota, a fellow anti-apartheid activist who later defected from Ramaphosa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) to form an opposition party, told lawmakers Wednesday that the president had given information to the secret police to avoid being sent to jail on Robben Island.

Ramaphosa never went to Robben Island, unlike Nelson Mandela, Lekota, and other anti-apartheid campaigners.

He was detained twice: once held in solitary confinement for 11 months in 1974, and then jailed for six months in 1976.

"I was arrested and transported to Pretoria central prison," Ramaphosa said of his first arrest in 1974.

"They started to interrogate me, which was quite vicious. They wanted me to give evidence against (Lekota). I refused. My neighbour (in prison) went and gave evidence."

Ramaphosa said he told his father, a policeman, that "I am not going to do it -- I will never betray the comrades I was working with."

Ramaphosa added that when he was re-arrested in 1976, police warned he would "go and break rocks on Robben Island like Nelson Mandela."

"I said: 'In the end, I'd rather go and break rocks and I will never, ever betray my people'," Ramaphosa told parliament, to applause from the ruling ANC benches.

Lekota said that Ramaphosa had written to the special branch police to accuse him and others of being communists -- a punishable offence at the time.

"You condemned us... The special branch rewarded you... and they sent you home," Lekota charged.

"We should have travelled together to the island to serve years for the struggle of our people."

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Ramaphosa was born in Soweto and was a student activist before becoming an trade union leader.

He was a key negotiator in talks in the early 1990s between the white minority National Party and the anti-apartheid movement, which led to the end of South Africa's system of legalised racial oppression.

He was widely seen as Mandela's chosen successor but instead became a wealthy businessman before returning to politics.

Ramaphosa became president last year after the ousting of his predecessor, Jacob Zuma, who faces a multitude of corruption allegations.If youre headed to Alaska anytime soon, you might want to make a pitstop in Anchorage. Starting on April 9, the Anchorage Museums Muse restaurant will be managed by none other than Laura Colea Top Chef season 15 alum and three-time nominee for a James Beard Best Chef Northwest award, reports Anchorage Daily News.

Lauras approach to food is about elevating and defining place in a way that respects and reveres its distinct characteristics and people, Julie Decker, Anchorage Museum Director and CEO, said in a statement.

Cole has been a major player in the state for years. She moved to Alaska after college to work at a lodge at Denali National Park, and now, shes the executive chef/owner at 229 Parks Restaurant and Tavern, which also happens to be right outside the park. During our conversation with Cole in 2017, she told us she wished more people knew how many unique foraged ingredients are involved in Alaskan cooking. While there arent many details available yet about what changes Cole may bring to the restaurant (or the menu), we can guess that fresh, local ingredients will be involved. The museum's statement also highlighted a few of Cole's signature dishes, ranging from Alaska bouillabaisse with saffron aioli to reindeer ragu with mint and house goat ricotta. She will continue to work at 229 Parks in addition to Muse, and will bring certain staff members, including the sous-chef and general manager, to Muse, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

If you cant make it all the way out to Anchorage for some elevated museum dining, fear notThe Met will offer rotating seasonal menus all throughout this year in a collaboration with chef John Fraser. We recently got to try the winter menu, and it was definitely worth the trip. If youre interested, reservations can be made here.If youve ever dreamed of working in the aviation industry, nows your chance. All you need to do is move to Wichita, Kansas first.

For the second year in a row, WSU Tech, the largest technical college in Kansas, is looking for interested parties to come and study at one of its two programs to one day work in the aviation industry in the community.

Oh, and theyre willing to pay you to move there and attend school, as well.

WSU Tech is ramping up their Wichita Promise Move scholarship that pays tuition and fees, relocation and cost of living expenses and provides a guaranteed job interview, the program shared in a statement with Travel + Leisure. The program, it further explained, is in response to local aviation companies announcing major job growth in the near future.

Related: This U.S. City Will Pay You $10,000 to Move There and Work From Home (Video)

Wichita, Kansas  known as The Air Capital of the World  is experiencing massive growth in the aviation and manufacturing operations sector. Because of this, WSU Tech is stepping in to help identify qualified candidates, relocate and train them for openings in the local industry.

The goal of Wichita Promise Move is to relocate people who live at least 75-miles outside of the Wichita area to receive training and an employment opportunity at no cost to the student, the statement explained. WSU Tech hopes to attract 50 more individuals to start training as early as March.

Beyond helping fill industry roles, the program is also designed to help people get the training they need to find a new job.

Wichita Promise Move is designed to help break down the barriers that keep individuals from getting trained, Dr. Sheree Utash, President of WSU Tech, said. Whether those barriers are financial, location, time or the fear of failing, we are ready to help anyone get the training they need to get a career in aviation and live, work and play in Wichita."

The training programs include Aviation Sheet Metal Assembly and Process Mechanic Paint. Both programs can be completed in as little as six weeks.

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Beyond tuition and a guaranteed job interview, the program will also pay all relocation costs, provide housing, pay cost of living expenses while enrolled, and even offer a potential sign-on bonus when hired.

According to WSU, the companies offering job interviews include Spirit AeroSystems and Textron Aviation. And, most importantly to note, all 50 students who participated in the program in 2018 received job offers from one of these two companies.

Want to apply? All you need to do is fill out the forms here.They look great, but do they taste great? Five experts looked into it. Photo: Melissa Hom

As with all things in life, it is now possible to buy olive oil thats optimized for Instagram. New companies with an emphasis on high-design bottles have flooded the market with oils that, yes, can be added to a vinaigrette, but that will also look great sitting on your countertop. While these bottles are undoubtedly pretty, Grub Street wanted to know if the olive oils inside were actually any good. So we rounded up a panel of experts  chef Jeremiah Stone from Wildair and Contra; Curtis Cord, an olive-oil expert and editor of Olive Oil Times; our restaurant critic Adam Platt; as well as Donna Lennard and Danny Rubin from New Yorks Il Buco  for a blind tasting. (We also snuck in two widely available supermarket brands, both as a control and to see how these more expensive newcomers can stand up to the mass-market stalwarts.)

Our panel ranked each oil across four categories (aroma and intensity; bitterness/pepperiness; texture; fruitiness and sweetness), awarding zero to five points for each. At the end, we tallied the scores to determine the winners. Heres how everyone stacked up:

No. 1

Brightland Awake 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil $37 $37 Photo: Melissa Hom Aroma/Intensity: 17; Bitterness/Pepperiness: 19; Texture: 15.5; Fruitiness/Sweetness: 6

Total: 57.5 points Within Brightlands tasteful, colorful bottle is a surprisingly serious olive oil. Cord, the olive-oil expert, was especially taken with Brightlands nice, fruity aroma in an oil that still managed to be quite bitter and pungent. (The rest of the panel was put off by that bitterness, but nevertheless ranked this bottle in first or second place.) $37 at Brightland Buy $37 at Neiman Marcus Buy

No. 2

Olive Oil Jones Early Harvest Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Manzanilla Cacerena Olive) $39 $39 Photo: Melissa Hom Aroma/Intensity: 12; Bitterness/Pepperiness: 14; Texture: 13; Fruitiness/Sweetness: 11

Total: 50 points Until quite recently, the founder of Olive Oil Jones, Steve Jenkins, was considered one of the citys foremost cheese experts. But hes found a new love in olive oil that just so happens to be putting out a very respectable product. Cord noted that this particular oil was a little tired with some fustiness, but nicely bitter and had a pleasant mouthfeel, while Stone thought the texture was buttery and rich. This was also one of the only brands with any kind of pepperiness, or the kick, that comes with many a great olive oil. $39 at Olive Oil Jones Buy

No. 3

California Olive Ranch Extra Virgin Olive Oil Every Day $20 for 2 $33 now 39% off $20 for 2 Photo: Melissa Hom Aroma/Intensity: 11; Bitterness/Pepperiness: 9.5; Texture: 7.5; Fruitiness/Sweetness: 6.5

Total: 34.5 points As one of the two supermarket brands we added to the blind test, California Olive Ranch lived up to its reputation as a solid go-to olive oil: Rubin wrote that it had cinnamon notes, a grassy aroma, [and] a spicy finish, though he found that the texture was flat and fatty. Cord, meanwhile, described the texture as greasy and low-quality, though he still gave it points as compared to the string of zeros he assigned to the lower-ranked brands. $20 for 2 at Amazon Buy $20 for 2 at Amazon Buy

No. 4

Colavita Premium Selection Extra Virgin Olive Oil $9 $9 Photo: Melissa Hom Aroma/Intensity: 8; Bitterness/Pepperiness: 3.5; Texture: 6; Fruitiness/Sweetness: 3

Total: 20.5 points This widely available, possibly compromised product seems to have gotten the marks youd expect from a mass-market brand: Lennard of Il Buco described it as bitter with no fruit, while Cord of Olive Oil Times felt that it did have a slightly fruity taste, albeit one of spoiled fruit. Blah, Platt wrote, but not as bad as some of the other disasters. $9 at Jet Buy

No. 5

Mr. Petes Pure No-Nonsense 100% Greek Olive Oil $36 $36 Photo: Melissa Hom Aroma/Intensity: 2; Bitterness/Pepperiness: 3; Texture: 3; Fruitiness/Sweetness: 3

Total: 11 points This Brooklyn-based company specializes in Greek olives harvested in Laconia, in southern Greece, where the co-founders father grew up. The oils low-key, but stylish, label has landed it on at least one list of the prettiest olive oils youll want on display. Unfortunately, the oil inside didnt impress our panel: All five judges thought this particular product tasted rancid, with Il Bucos Rubin comparing it to wet leaves and dirty water. Platt, meanwhile, described that taste as rotten bananas with some paraffin oil. $36 at Mr. Petes Buy

No. 6

ILA Extra Virgin Olive Oil $42 $42 Photo: Melissa Hom Aroma/Intensity: 2; Bitterness/Pepperiness: 2; Texture: 1.5; Fruitiness/Sweetness: 1

Total: 6.5 points Bringing up the rear was this olive oil, sold by a Brooklyn brand specializing in a carefully sourced collection of essential ingredients for your kitchen and home. Unfortunately, three of our five experts gave this oil zeroes across the board. Cord wrote that its taste bore no resemblance to olives, while chef Stone found its aroma to be almost chemical in nature with a gunky texture. $42 at ILA BuyPrince Harry is spending the most romantic day of the year in the chilliest place on earth (besides our stone-cold hearts, of course).

The Duke of Sussex arrived in the Arctic Circle today to oversee troops in Norway, who are undergoing intense training known as Exercise Clockwork.

In his role as captain general of the Royal Marines, Harry attended the extreme-weather training session solo, which makes us wonder how expecting Meghan Markle is spending her Valentine's Day (hopefully with a foot and ankle massage). Although, she's most likely picking out outfits for their royal vacation to Morocco next week (equally as fun).

The duke looked handsome in camo and a green beret as he oversaw the multinational personnel run through survival exercises, learn how to operate and fight in the extreme cold weather and gain experience operating aircraft in severe cold weather and mountainous environments.

Well, at least this will make your first Valentine's Day as a married couple seem that much more steamy when you get back home. (And don't forget to pick up some Arctic chocolate on your way back, Your Highness.)

RELATED: Prince Harry Has 1 Major Concern for Baby SussexSabOlga/Shutterstock

February 13, 2019

If your toddler calls you "Mummy Pig" or "Daddy Pig" and starts speaking in a British accent, don't be alarmed. She's probably been watching Peppa Pig, and you're hearing what one mom has dubbed the Peppa effect.

Janet Manley, a mother of two and Senior Features Editor at Romper, coined the phrase when her 20-month-old daughter started mimicking Peppa's accent following a Peppa Pig-filled flight to Australia. She soon discovered that her wee one wasn't the only child to start pronouncing words like "zebra" and "tomato" with a British accent.

Parents from all across the country have shared their experiences with the Peppa effect on social media.

These little Peppa-isms are adorable, and they're also indicative of how receptive kids are when it comes to language. That's why experts say that the best time to teach a child a second language is actually when they're learning their first one.

"A young child's brain is wired to pick up language naturally," Nancy Rhodes, director of foreign-language education at the Center for Applied Linguistics, in Washington, D.C., previously told Parents.com. "Between birth and puberty, children can learn multiple languages and echo accents easily."

In other words, all the kids picking up on Peppa Pig's accent now are just the right age to start learning another languageeven if it doesn't involve oinking. Being bilingualor even just picking up a few terms from across the pondis a wonderful way to enrich a child's life.

As Karen MacGilvray, director of education at Language Stars, a children's language program based in Chicago, told Parents.com, "Learning early on that an object can be described in more than one way (house, maison, casa), promotes flexibility in thinking and overall creativity."

Keep that in mind the next time your wee Peppa fan breaks into the "baked beans boom" song in the queue!Odua Images/Shutterstock

February 14, 2019

St. Luke's Children's Hospital in Idaho is warning parents about a disturbing new trend: fake car seats. They note that some car seats being sold online under name brands are actually knock-offs.

Car seat technicians spoke with local news station KTVB to show how the knock-offs compare to the real deal. Its pretty terrifying," said St. Lukes Pediatric Education and Prevention Programs car seat technician Brittany Joplin. "There's no way a child would survive a crash in a seat like this."

Joplin was one of the St. Luke's employees to first note the trend. Joplin told KTVB that during a routine car seat check before discharging a woman and her newborn from the hospital, she recognized the car seat as a phony. It had been gifted by a family member who bought it on Amazon.

The reason she knew it was a fake: All of the seat parts are made of plastic," Joplin said. "...the harness doesn't even fit our training baby here properly, the straps come out from way above its shoulders. There's no chest clip, which is an item on all car seats in the United States."

Additionally, the harness adjuster on the counterfeit car seat is situated on a loose piece of metal on the bottom of the car seat. This is the piece meant to hook into the child safety base," she noted while examining the side of the car seat on camera. "You can see it bend here to where it almost snaps with not much pressure. I can also squeeze the thin plastic to where it looks like it can easily snap or break under even the lightest crash force." Seeing just how malleable the materials are proves how unsafe these fake seats are.

Joplin also pointed out that the fraud doesn't come with a manual, a registration card, federal labels, or stickers, all of which are required on car seats. The knock-off just came with one warning label on the chest straps that doesn't make any sense: "Warning: Please use safety belts immediately after your baby can sit by himself."

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You can see all of these troubling differences in KTVB's report.

The faux car seat that Joplin showed KTVB is just one of the two phonies she came in contact with recently. She saw the other while doing a free car seat check event. An expectant mom came in with one fake car seat and a real one. A third knock-off turned up in Tri Cities, Washington, according to St. Lukes car seat technician Jen Ellis who said it had Chinese lettering on every label, it didnt come with a base, and was made of cheap plastic.

It scares me. It scares me for the lives of little children that they have no idea and these are life-saving devices and if they need to work that one time, you need it to work 100-percent, Ellis said. Im concerned these are out in the community, these are only two that we've seen how many more of them are there we have not seen and gotten our hands on.

The technicians said that parents might be able to identify the fakes online if they're sold by a third party vendor or advertised as "buy one, get one free," or any type of discount that wouldn't apply to a real car seat.

Second-hand car seats are also ill-advised, because not only could they be fakes, but they may be expired or damaged. We never suggest purchasing seats off Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace because we just don't know if that seat is going to be safe, or used," Joplin said. "We don't know if its been cleaned and cared for properly, we don't know if it's been in a crash, we don't know if its damaged in any way."

Read reviews and pay attention to language and grammar on the seat's labels. If the English used to explain the car seat or any features is jumbled or doesn't use proper grammar its another big red flag that its likely not a legitimate car seat, Joplin noted.

In the end, they also note that it may be in parents' best interest to avoid buying car seat online and instead head over to Walmart, Target, or another local brick-and-mortar store. By shopping at the latter, consumers can be sure they're getting a safe, legal car seat.The race to find the perfect Valentines Day restaurant is on. And it can be harder than you think.

Valentines Day doesnt have to be a night where you pull out all the stops and drop hundreds on an extra fancy feast, but many couples still want to at least find a nice place where they can lovingly stare into each others eyes over a delicious meal. And finding the right romantic hotel, romantic destination, and especially romantic restaurant can be like looking for a needing in a haystack.

So how does one find the right romantic restaurant that not only has the right ambiance, but also the right food? Well, OpenTable has created a special tool for that.

OpenTables new Matchmaker tool helps you easily filter and search for the best restaurants in your area to take your one and only. The tool uses your location and basic questions like how much you want to spend, your preferred cuisine, and ideal atmosphere. Based on your answers, OpenTable's Matchmaker gives you a personalized list of options that fit your criteria.

Related: This Is the Most Romantic Restaurant in the U.S.

But if youd rather browse through all your options, or find the best of the best in your area, OpenTable has also published its annual list of 100 Most Romantic Restaurants in America for 2019.

Featuring restaurants across 32 states, the list provides an overview of the most romantic restaurants in the country, based on more than 12 million verified diner reviews of over 28,000 restaurants in 50 states and Washington, D.C., according to OpenTable. The list is published in alphabetical order rather than by rank. Ohio has the most recognized restaurants, with nine contenders, followed by Texas, North Carolina, and Virginia.

Some notable restaurants on the list include Majorelle in New York City, Nocturne in Denver, St Martin's Wine Bistro in Dallas, Harvest Beat in Seattle, and Altius in Pittsburgh. While American cuisine seems to be the most popular choice, diners are also looking for French, Italian, Latin, Seafood and Southern fare, according to OpenTable.Priscilla Gragg

It happened four months into Jolynn Baca Jaekel's pregnancy. A slight stumble on an uneven sidewalk, and bam: She went down. "Out of panic, I twisted to avoid falling forward and hurting the baby, and landed on my back," Jaekel of Arlington, Va., says. "I was so shaken up, I started to cry."

Thankfully, Jaekel's story has a happy endingmama only suffered a sprained ankle and gave birth to a healthy baby girl last January. Still, it's a scary-sounding scenario that happens to more moms-to-be than you might think. Almost a third of women fall during pregnancy, according to a study in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.

"Most of my patients have experienced some sort of a misstep," says Sheryl Ross, M.D., an OB-GYN in Santa Monica, Calif. "Fortunately, falls that could send you to the emergency room are not common. Even if you land on your abdomen there's probably not enough force to hurt the baby." (Phew!)

RELATED: Pregnancy Anxiety: The Truth About Your Top Pregnancy Worries

So why are you wobbling? Even before your body starts visibly transforming your ovaries release relaxin, a hormone that softens the ligaments in your pelvis to create space for the growing fetus. Trouble is, relaxin circulates through your entire body, not just the pelvisso ligaments in your hips, knees and ankles can get a little loosey-goosey, too, says Jean L. McCrory, Ph.D., assistant professor of exercise physiology at West Virginia University, who researches pregnancy and balance. Not to mention the changes to your center of gravityfront-heavy much?

But all this isn't a green light to spend your pregnancy parked on a La-Z-Boy. In fact, sitting on your bum all day might actually increase your likelihood of falling, according to a study of pregnant women McCrory published in the Journal of Biomechanics: All of the sedentary participants fell at some point during their nine months, while less than half of those who remained activesay, taking a walk three times a week or doing prenatal yoga once a weekshared the same fate.

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"During exercise, you may be more aware of your changing body and size," McCrory says. "So when faced with balance issues, an active pregnant woman might be more equipped mentally and physically to control her body than one who doesn't work out."

RELATED: The Prenatal Barre Workout You Can Do at Home

Keeping Your Balance Every Trimester

You don't have to have a balloon of a belly to feel unstable.

"My balance started to go by 15 weeks," says Melissa Shevchenko of Jacksonville, Fla., mom to two girls, now 2 and 5. "I never had a full-on fall, but I tripped all the time."

Steadiness varies from woman to woman, so getting in and out of the bathtub might feel like a Cirque du Soleil routine for you, while a further-along preggo friend is balancing on one foot in yoga. Here's how things tend to get wonky, and what you should do at each phase ifworst-case scenarioyou do happen to eat it.

RELATED: 4 Ways to Avoid Falling While Pregnant

Limb-loosening relaxin is always in your body, but it rises during ovulation. If you don't conceive, it drops back down until the next cycle. If you do, the hormone starts circulating through your body in earnest.

If you fall... There's little to nothing to worry about before 12 weeks since the uterus is well protected behind the pelvic bone.

Estimates vary, but one study found that relaxin peaks here, at the beginning of your second trimester.

If you fall... Call your doctor as a precaution. While miscarriage is rare at this stageless than 2 percenta severe fall such as wiping out on a steep stairway could be cause for concern.

Almost two-thirds of tumbles occur during the second trimester, notes a University of Cincinnati study. One possible reason? Your center of gravity is shifting forward, but your brain is still running on pre-bump muscle memory.

If you fall... However you land, call your doctor and ask if you should have an ultrasound to check of (highly unlikely) damage to the placentayou'll rest easier knowing for sure.

You're getting bigger and feeling less mobile and more cautiousso you're less likely to tumble right now. (Surprise!)

If you fall... Your doc may ask you to stay at the hospital for 24 hours to make sure you don't go into early labor. But by the end of your third trimester your womb contains 1 to 2 liters of liquid cushioningyou're more likely to sprain a limb of your own than to harm your little one.

Relaxin is still dropping to pre-pregnancy levels, so your joints may still feel loose for a few months. Stop exercise right away if you feel dizzy. And avoid jumping or jarring moves for the first four months, says trainer Lisa Druxman.

If you fall... do normal pre-pregnancy injury checks: Are you bleeding? Did you hit your head? Turn your ankle? You know what to do.JetBlue is feeling the love for Valentines Day.

On Tuesday, the airline announced it is offering major discounts on one-way tickets both around the nation and to the Caribbean in honor of the lovey-dovey holiday.

Of course, there are a few restrictions for the sale: All bookings must be made by Feb. 13 at midnight and all travel must take place between Feb. 26 and May 22. The sale also comes with a few blackout dates between April 16 and April 24.

Related: These Romantic Valentine's Day Travel Experiences Will Bring Couples Closer Than Ever

But still, if youre looking to score a few cheap tickets for you and your lover this Valentines Day is the time to get booking.

According to JetBlues sale site, you could grab tickets for as low as $49 one-way from Boston to New York, or New York to Boston. If youre looking for a bit warmer of a destination, the airline is also offering tickets from New Jersey to Puerto Rico for just $134 one-way. Those flying out of New Jersey can also get tickets to West Palm Beach, Florida for just $104 one-way, and to the Dominican Republic for $174 one-way.

Those flying from the East Coast can even jump over to the West Coast with flights from Boston to Los Angeles running at $169 and New York to Los Angeles for just $164.

You could even get to Havana, Cuba this spring on the cheap. JetBlue is currently offering flights from Fort Lauderdale to the capital of Cuba for $94 one-way.

This sale also doesnt end at flights. JetBlue also lists its flight plus hotel prices as well, which could offer up even more savings. For example, those New York to Los Angeles passengers could both fly and stay in the sunny Southern California city for $569 for a four day, three-night stay at the Hyatt Regency Orange County.

So, what are you waiting for? Book a romantic getaway for two just in time to surprise your honey for Valentines Day.Natalia Deriabina/Shutterstock

As birth stories go, mine was about as unnatural as they get: I was given Pitocin to speed my labor, then an epidural for the pain and, much later, had an emergency C-section. Fortunately, both baby Robby and I were fine. But because of my experience, I cannot quell other women's labor fears or advise them about the best way to heal a perineal tear.

I can, however, recommend they do this: Bring crossword puzzles to the hospital! When I wasn't dilating-even with the Pitocin-there was really nothing else to do during my labor but concentrate on the double-entendre clue for 46 across.

Childbirth classes like those your hospital offers teach you the fundamentals, but your girlfriends are the people to turn to for advice on what you really need to bring to the hospital and which pain remedies really work. That's why we asked actual moms for pointers to make your experience better in many little ways.

RELATED: New Moms Describe What Labor Is Really Like

Pack these things in your hospital bag:

Cookies When we checked in, we looked like refugees carrying all our worldly possessions: a massive boom box, a week's worth of clothing and toiletries, pillows, magazines, and cookies for the nurses. Everything except the cookies turned out to be useless. - Jenna Coito, mother of two, Santa Barbara, Calif.

CDs Bring whatever sets the right mood for you. I remember my OB-GYN commenting between my pushes that she really liked my Jack Johnson CD. - Stacy Whitman, mother of one, Sun Valley, Idaho

DVDs and a mini player There's plenty of downtime during labor! - Robin Miller, mother of two, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Earplugs We were right near the nursery, so there was lots of noise in the hallway all night long. Wearing earplugs allowed for some solid sleep. - Dana Hudepohl, mother of one, Tampa, Fla.

RELATED: How to Pack Your Hospital Bag

Relieve post-delivery pain like a veteran:

Take your pain meds with food. In the wee hours, the only food I could find to take with my meds was doughnuts a visitor had left. They did help prevent stomach upset, but I would have loved something healthier. - Dana Hudepohl

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Use Dermoplast spray and cold Tucks pads. I tore during delivery and had stitches, so spraying with the Dermoplast and applying the refrigerated pads, along with rinsing with warm water after using the bathroom, felt wonderful. - JoAnne Glenn, mother of one, Tampa, Fla.

Pack a rubber glove with ice. Right after your episiotomy, place it on the painful area, then replace the ice every few hours. - Ellen Meagher, mother of four, New York

Stay in the hospital as long as possible after a C-section. My recovery was much more difficult than I expected. And don't be shy about asking the nurses to help take care of your baby. I found it hard to lift the baby to feed her. - Naoko Halloran, mother of four, Tokyo

Sit on a Boppy pillow. It really relieves the pain from a tear or an episiotomy. - Lynn Evans, mother of two, Naperville, Ill.

RELATED: Labor Tips for First Time Moms

Simplify nursing as a newbie:

Seek input from a lactation consultant. Do this in the hospital, even if you don't think that you need it. I had problems after I got home and had to find someone. - A.J. Young, mother of one, Los Angeles

Bring your breast pump to the hospital. A nurse or lactation consultant can show you how to use it. - Stacy Whitman

Breastfeed immediately after delivering. If you need any help, the nurses are right there! - Robin Miller

Room in with your baby. The nurses put the baby in a little bassinet right next to me. They would come in and wake me up so that I could breastfeed, which helped get nursing off to a good start. It's also nice for bonding. - Lynn Evans

Got two? Get a twin nursing pillow. This is a foam-filled platform that allows you to lay your babies on either side of you and nurse simultaneously. - Louise Kelly, mother of three, Pelham, N.Y.

RELATED: 6 Breastfeeding Tips for Your Hospital Stay

Make everyone happier by taking this advice:

Be nice to the nurses. They can be one of your biggest advocates with a doctor who doesn't have the best bedside manner. One nurse even gave me a back rub when her shift was slow! - Victoria E. Moss, mother of four, Irvine, Calif.

Designate someone to "take everyone to the cafeteria for coffee." Visitors won't be offended if you ask them to leave so you can nap, nurse or just enjoy quiet time with your baby. - Jennifer Buneta, mother of one, Florham Park, N.J.

Bring a toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush and makeup. I wanted to look nice (or at least a little less like death!) when people came to visit. - A.J. Young

Put pains and gripes in perspective. Remind yourself that you are going through all this in order to bring your child into the world. You'll go home with a new lifenothing else matters! - Patricia K. Meyer, mother of one, Santa Monica, Calif.A former Air Force counterintelligence agent has been indicted by a grand jury on espionage charges after she defected to Iran to work on behalf of its intelligence services, Department of Justice officials announced Wednesday.

Monica Elfriede Witt provided the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a branch of the countrys armed forces, with information related to her work on a secret Pentagon program, according to the indictment released publicly Wednesday.

In August 2013, Witt reached out to an individual with ties to Iranian intelligence offering her services. Weeks later, she moved to Iran and began compiling the personal information of her former colleagues into target packages, which the IRGC used to target American intelligence agents.

Witt, 39, served in the Air Force from 1997 to 2008, spending some of that time doing counterintelligence work in the Middle East, before moving to the private sector to work as a contractor. During her time working for the government, Witt had access to classified information, including details of ongoing counterintelligence operations, true names of sources, and the identities of U.S. agents involved in the recruitment of those sources, according to the indictment.

The publication of the indictment coincided with the Treasury Departments announcing a new series of cyber-security related sanctions on a number of Iranian individuals and entities, including the IRGC, which engages in efforts to recruit and collect intelligence from foreign attendees [of various conferences], including U.S. persons, and four associated individuals, according to the a release announcing the sanctions.

Treasury is taking action against malicious Iranian cyber actors and covert operations that have targeted Americans at home and overseas as part of our ongoing efforts to counter the Iranian regimes cyber attacks, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. Treasury is sanctioning New Horizon Organization for its support to the IRGC-QF.

More from National ReviewLocal government won't stop the Assman, who can finally display his name with pride.

A Canadian rear end enthusiast in Saskatchewan tried to get a vanity license plate in tribute to his last name, which just happens to be Assman. But Saskatchewan Government Insurance denied David Assman's request because it was offensive, suggestive or not in good taste, the Saksatoon Star Phoenix reports.

SEE ALSO: The pinching hand emoji will only be used for small dicks

"Well Ive never seen the government respond so quick, I sent my appeal in at 1 this afternoon!" David Assman posted on Facebook. "Of course it was denied in 4 hrs with no name attached to it."

But Assman found a backend. Instead, he had "ASSMAN" printed in bold green letters on his white Dodge pickup's tailgate, imitating the look of an actual Saskatchewan plate. The decal also includes four illustrated bolts and the province's slogan, "Land of Living Skies."

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Pronounced OSS-men, according to the Saksatoon Star Phoenix, the denial is only the latest in a decades-long struggle for Assman to proudly show off his family name in public. He tried to get a vanity plate made in the 1990s, but it was rejected on grounds of "profanity."

Assman's great-great-grandfather brought the name to Canada from Germany, the Star-Phoenix reports. Derived from the Saxon word "ash," or spear, the Assmans descended from ancient warriors.

The name isn't even that uncommon in Canada's prairie provinces; Ancestry.ca found 23 Assmans living in the country. Other notable Assmans in Saskatchewan include Dick Assman, who gained notoriety for his colorful name and used it to advertise his gas station.

Saskatchewan Government Insurance's list of rejected plates is 85 pages long, the National Post notes, as it denies anything that references sex, drugs, politics, and religion.

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In response to Assman's triumph, the agency simply tweeted, "All's well that ends well."

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So at least everyone  even Assman  is satisfied with how it all turned out!Unanswered Questions

A Best Practice

Lack of Consistency

(TNS)  When Houston police took part in the botched raid that killed two civilians and wounded five officers, there was no video from body cameras for investigators to examine.Despite spending millions of dollars on the technology since 2014 and equipping patrol officers and uniformed street crime teams, police management have yet to deploy devices among undercover units engaged in the most dangerous tactical operations.The department hasnt purchased enough equipment or developed protocols for undercover teams  and requires officers to turn off their devices when conferring with undercover officers assigned to an investigative division about a tactical operation or briefing.The practice denies accountability in drug raids and hostage situations, leaves officers who claim their actions were proper undefended, and ignores common-sense best practices even in some of the highest-risk situations, according to criminal justice experts.Thats outrageous, said George Kirkham, a police officer and retired Florida State University criminology professor. The prevalence, the inexpensiveness, the ready availability of them ... Certainly they should be used in situations like this, (so) were not left to guess at what happened; we can reconstruct it with precision.Police Chief Art Acevedo said the lack of body cams on raid teams is about priorities; the department wanted to equip street officers first.Our primary focus on camera deployment has been first on patrol, and next on proactive street crime units, he told theThose are most likely to be involved in use of force cases.The push for body cameras started in 2015 when Houston City Council approved a $3.4 million contract with plans to buy 4,100 devices, but put those plans on pause in 2017 after Acevedo raised concerns about issues with the cameras battery life.The department currently has equipped 2,650 of the departments 5,200 officers with the devices, said Kese Smith, an HPD spokesman. There are an additional 400 devices in reserve.The question of when police should record interactions with the public has come to the fore again in Houston after the Jan. 28 drug bust that ended with two people dead and five officers injured  four by gunfire.Police secured a no-knock warrant after a confidential informant made a controlled buy of what was reported as heroin at the house on Jan. 27, authorities said. The next day, police used that purchase as a key piece of their request for the warrant, laying out their reasons in a three-page sworn affidavit.The informant also warned police of a large quantity of drugs inside, packaged in plastic baggies, and a 9mm handgun, according to the court filing.Undercover narcotics officers burst into the suspected drug den the next day, and a gunfight immediately ensued. By the end of it, the houses residents  Dennis Tuttle and his wife Rhogena Nicholas  were dead. Four officers were shot; two remain in the hospital.After the shooting, police said they found 18 grams of marijuana, 1.5 grams of cocaine, along with several firearms  but no heroin. Friends of the couple disputed assertions by police that they were drug dealers.In the days after the raid, police relieved one officer of duty in light of ongoing questions surrounding the Harding Street bust. His suspension came amid a probe into questions over whether the sworn affidavit used to justify the no-knock warrant may have contained false information, according to law enforcement sources.Monique Caballero, a friend whod known the couple for about five years, said body cams could have helped answer many questions that still remain.The whole reason why police have body cams is to back up that what they did was correct, Caballero said. When you dont wear body cameras, that goes to show that you might do something thats not legal and you have no accountability for your actions.If police are willing to use body cameras in lower-risk interactions on the street, experts said, then it only makes sense to use them in even riskier scenarios such as raids.Its pretty commonly considered a best practice to record those raids, said Scott Henson, executive director of the nonprofit justice group Just Liberty. Its a high-stakes thing. Someone could lose their life  as these two people did in this raid. So you want to dot every i in that situation.Phillip Lyons, dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University, said it seemed odd to forego cameras in high-risk situations  but highlighted a few justifications police might cite.If they have body cameras, then there will be recordings and those could have implications, he said. For instance, police could object to the possibility of revealing tactics.Houston Police Officers Union Vice President Doug Griffith said that while he didnt believe body cameras were appropriate for everyday use by undercover officers, he did support using them during warrant raids and similar operations.He said he was concerned by the possibility of defense attorneys disseminating body camera video and outing undercover officers.Everybody who does a warrant should have a body cam on, he said, adding that he favors laws that would allow the department to blur the faces of undercover officers before giving the videos to defense attorneys. Youre putting your people at risk if you do a search warrant and their faces are seen. Youre asking them to go buy dope from crooks. Thats a problem.Sam Walker, a police accountability expert and professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, downplayed those concerns.A raid is a public event. Youre outing yourself, and certainly the people or person inside is going to see it, he said. Theres going to be courtroom testimony  so I think that outing fear is misplaced.Theres little consistency among law enforcement on bodycam policies and even less when it comes to their use in non-patrol settings.Policies among individual police departments vary widely  and some have ended up getting rid of the devices because of the high costs of digital data storage.The military uses them in some scenarios, and so do prison guards. The Harris County Sheriffs Office doesnt use them for task forces or SWAT teams, but if uniform deputies go along on a tactical raid, then theyd typically wear them. Theres no policy outlining how undercover deputies might use them in tactical raids.Its a conversation that we need to have, said spokesman Jason Spencer, and its part of a larger conversation about equipment needs.The U.S. Department of Justice provides millions in grants to municipal departments to buy and use body cameras but has been far more wary about outfitting federal law enforcement officers with the devices  and in joint operations with local departments, has asked officers not to wear them.Thats another challenge the department will have to sort out, Acevedo said.One question on the table is, What will the impact be in multi-jurisdictional teams or operations? Acevedo asked.About six weeks ago, he ordered his staff to review how other large departments handle body camera policies, particularly regarding search warrants and use by undercover units. He hopes to create a policy to be used in Houston and by other members of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, of which he is the current president.When that review will wrap up is unclear.William Barr sworn in as attorney general, will oversee Mueller investigation originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

William Barr was sworn in as attorney general Thursday in the Oval Office, with Chief Justice John Roberts administering the oath at a ceremony closed to news cameras.

His swearing-in came just hours after the Senate confirmed Barr, President Donald Trump's nominee, by a 54-45 vote.

Barr now will head the Justice Department during a pivotal time, overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference of the 2016 presidential election.

The Senate vote fell roughly along party lines, with a majority of Democrats opposing his confirmation.

Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Krysten Sinema of Arizona, and Doug Jones of Alabama broke ranks and voted in support of Barr.

GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the sole Republican to oppose his confirmation.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has oversight of the DOJ, blasted Barr's confirmation in a statement Thursday.

The Justice Department needs a leader who will be independent of the White House and who is able to stand up to President Trump. Bill Barr hasnt demonstrated that he would be that independent leader," Feinstein said. "His view on executive poweressentially saying the president is above the lawand his refusal to commit to releasing the Mueller report, or protecting other investigations that implicate the presidents interests are especially troubling," she said.

She concluded: While I opposed Bill Barrs nomination, its my hope that hell remember he is the peoples lawyer, not the presidents lawyer.

Judiciary Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham characterized Barr as an "outstanding" pick to head the agency.

He is a steady hand at a time of turmoil and he will bring much-needed reform to the Department of Justice," Graham said in a statement. "I look forward to working with Mr. Barr on the many issues facing the men and women of the Department of Justice and our nation as a whole."

Story continues

PHOTO: Attorney General nominee William Barr arrives on Capitol Hill, Jan. 29, 2019, in Washington, D.C. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images, FILE)

Barr previously served as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush from 1991 to 1993.

It's no surprise that Democrats largely voted against Barr - mostly because he declined to commit to releasing the full report expected from special counsel Mueller.

Unfortunately, Mr. Barr would not commit to providing special counsel Muellers findings and the final report to the Congress, Feinstein said earlier this month in opposing Barrs nomination in committee.

(MORE: AG nominee Barr says special counsel should be allowed to 'complete his work')

Feinstein and other Democrats also raised concerns about a memo Barr wrote detailing his views on a potential obstruction of justice charge against President Trump.

In June 2018, concerning the president's firing of then-FBI director James Comey in May 2017, Barr argued to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that any obstruction of justice inquiry into Trump based on the firing would be "fatally misconceived."

(MORE: Barr confirmation vote delayed after Democrats raise Mueller report concerns)

"I wrote the memo as a former attorney general who has often weighed in on legal issues of public importance, and I distributed it broadly so that other lawyers would have the benefit of my views," Barr said in his opening statement during his confirmation hearing last month, addressing the controversy head-on.

Republicans say that Barr is the right person for the job.

GOP Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said that nobody should think Barr is a "political hack," but instead said that he reveres the law.Parkland students pay tribute to shooting victims through community service originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

The heartache of the 2018 shooting that unfolded at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is present in the halls of so many schools across the country Thursday.

A number of schools in Florida, particularly those close to the scene of the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting, were holding memorial events and moments of silence to remember the 17 students and staffers who were fatally shot in the attack.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas students who decided to attend school on the anniversary will not be sitting in the classroom like normal; they will be working on service projects in honor of the lives that were lost, The Associated Press reported.

Many of the students wore maroon T-shirts emblazoned with the hashtag #MSDStrong -- a phrase shared so often in the wake of the shooting.

(MORE: Parkland shooting 1 year later: Remembering the 17 victims of the school massacre)

A handful of Parkland students who have spent much of the last year advocating for gun reform -- including the student leaders who became national figures based on their organization of the March For Our Lives demonstration -- won't be speaking out.

PHOTO: Devon Fuller places a plant in the ground at a garden setup in memory of those lost a year ago during a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Feb. 14, 2019 in Parkland, Fla. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The student leaders, like David Hogg and Delaney Tarr, noted on Twitter that they would be "going dark" from Feb. 14 to Feb. 17.

(SLIDESHOW: The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and aftermath)

"Please remember the people we're stolen from us that day; they are why we fight for peace," Hogg wrote in a tweet on Wednesday.

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President Donald Trump issued a statement paying tribute to the victims.

(MORE: Security failures in Parkland school shooting included unlocked doors, no PA system)

"One year ago today, a horrific act of violence took the lives of 14 students and 3 educators in Parkland, Florida. On this somber anniversary, we honor their memory and recommit to ensuring the safety of all Americans, especially our Nations children," he wrote in the presidential message issued by the press secretary.

Story continues

PHOTO: Anthony Gonzalez hugs his daughter, Victoria Gonzalez and her teacher Ronit Reoven, right, as they visit a memorial setup near Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Feb. 14, 2019 in Parkland, Fla. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

In the message, he also described the "tremendous strides" that he says his administration has taken to address gun violence in the wake of the tragedy, including his signing of the STOP School Violence Act which allots funds toward prevention efforts and the Fix NICS Act which improves gun registration reporting efforts.

"Today, as we hold in our hearts each of those lost a year ago in Parkland, let us declare together, as Americans, that we will not rest until our schools are secure and our communities are safe," he wrote.

Former President Barack Obama also took a moment to reflect on the work that survivors have done in the past year.

"In the year since their friends were killed, the students of Parkland refused to settle for the way things are and marched, organized, and pushed for the way things should be - helping pass meaningful new gun violence laws in states across the country. I'm proud of all of them," Obama wrote on Twitter.

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Some of the most moving tributes came from the parents of the slain students, including Andrew Pollock, the father of 18-year-old Meadow Pollack. He tweeted that "everyday hurts" and vowed to continue his work to reform gun laws.

PHOTO: People visit a makeshift memorial in front of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in, Parkland, Fla., Feb. 14 2019, on the one-year anniversary of the shooting. (Cristobal Herrera/EPA via Shutterstock)

"Meadow, my life will never be the same without you, but Ive been fighting everyday to make sure this never happens again. I promise you Ill #FixIt," he tweeted.

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Max Schachter, that father of 14-year-old Alex, paid tribute to his son in the form of a message to Alex's mom, Debbie, who died a decade earlier.

"Debbie, I never thought 10 years after I lost you, I would lose our son Alex sending him to high school. Please take care of him. I love you, Max," Alex Schacter wrote on his Twitter account.

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Lori Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter Alyssa died in the shooting, posted a tribute that showed a picture of a symbol that has come to memorialize her daughter: the number 8 that she used to wear on her soccer jersey, turned sideways to symbolize infinity.

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ABC News' Shannon McLellan contributed to this report.(Major spoilers ahead for all of Happy Death Day 2U)Happy Death Day 2U is a fascinating sequel, and surprisingly ambitious for a horror follow-up. Not content simply to do another death-based time loop, it wants to try new things and delve into science fiction for real. But its also frustrating because it doesnt really commit to this new direction.When it comes to putting things like quantum mechanics and time travel in your movie, all that really matters is that they be internally coherent. Like, it doesnt matter how I think time travel or dimension hopping works, because those things are not actually real. What matters is that the movie sets some rules and then lives by them. Otherwise your story just wont work.Take Back to the Future, for example. That series has rules that are sorta silly (specifically the idea that you can change the past so significantly that you erase yourself from existence), but that movie works because it establishes the rules and sticks with them. It doesnt cheat for the sake of a story beat  it set rules that work for the story it was telling.Also Read: 'Happy Death Day 2U' Film Review: Frightfully Clever Slasher Sequel is 2 Cool 2 B ForgottenThe first Happy Death Day kept things very simple. There was no explanation for the time loop, which is fine. The reason for the loop simply didnt matter, as the mechanics of it were intentionally de-emphasized. This whole thing was just a fun twist on the slasher genre.Happy Death Day 2U, on the other hand, actually does explain the time loop, and throws in parallel universes for good measure. But it doesnt really set any rules or operate with consistency around its newly-central sci-fi concept. Instead it continues to treat the mechanics of its gimmick as flippantly as it did when there was no explanation. And thats a problem, because once you try to explain something you have to go all the way.Happy Death Day 2U opens with a new murder loop. The day after the events of the original movie, Ryan (Phi Vu) is murdered and immediately finds himself in the same situation Tree (Jessica Rothe) was in last time around. Why? Who knows? And who cares? If the hook for a Happy Death Day sequel was simply that its happening again, to another person adjacent to the previous occurrence, with no explanation, that would be fine. Not knowing why this was happening worked back then, and it would work now.Also Read: 'Black Mirror: Bandersnatch' Has a Secret Ending With a Crazy Easter EggBut instead of going that route, writer/director Christopher Landon introduced Sissy, a quantum device of some kind that Ryan built as his thesis project. Sissy seemingly turned itself on the night that Trees loop of murder began, and the characters quickly deduce that thats what sparked the events of the first movie.But no one bothers to try to explain how that would start an additional time loop a day later, when Sissy did not power on. Happy Death Day 2U firmly establishes that Sissy only turned on one time. So they really were only providing an explanation for the first time loop, not this new one.So the person who is out to kill Ryan is, uh, another Ryan. Our heroes manage to capture him and interrogate him a little bit  and this new Ryan yells a lot about how Sissy is dangerous and is causing bad things to happen. And I guess hes trying to kill this other version of himself to prevent him from using the machine to do whatever horrible thing this Other Ryan is afraid of.So in response to this, the original Ryan fires up Sissy once again, causing an explosion that hurtles Tree into an alternate universe where shes once again stuck in a time loop. And, presumably, causing whatever bad thing the Other Ryan was worried about and trying to prevent.Also Read: Jordan Peele's 'Us' Trailer Shows a Terrifying New Nightmare (Video)But heres the thing: that Ryan doppelganger is never even mentioned again, nor is whatever bad thing Sissy allegedly caused. In fact, the entire opening segment of the movie is completely forgotten. Tree travels to an alternate universe but there arent two Trees there, just her. The implication being that her consciousness traveled, but not her physical body.The rest of the movie is just about Tree and friends trying to use the machine to make the time loops stop and return her to her home universe, as if the inciting incident in the plot had not occurred. Theres no doppelgangers, no explanation for why Ryan would think travelling to an alternate dimension to kill his other self would help, not even a hint as to how Ryan was able to do that.In other words: everything that the opening segment of the movie established about how this whole thing works is completely ignored the rest of the movie. Happy Death Day 2U spends the first chunk of its runtime kinda/sorta establishing some rules for how this stuff mechanically functions, and then immediately abandons those rules and ignores all of those story beats. Ryans concerns are never mentioned again, much less addressed.From there, the vibe of the movie is very much just fire up the machine and it will affect Tree only. Why does it affect her in the first place? She was not near Sissy when it went off the first time and caused the time loop. And the movie does demonstrate that it can affect others, given the whole Ryan doppelganger situation that the movie conveniently forgets happened.More importantly, why would turning on Sissy affect only Tree? Why would none of the half-dozen people present when the machine went off not be impacted in some way? And how could they know that firing it up again in the alternate dimension would not have consequences for anyone else? Again, Im remembering doppelganger Ryans warning, and the movie is not.Meanwhile, the emotional hook of the movie is that Tree has to decide between staying in this new dimension, in which her mother is alive but Carter (Israel Broussard) is dating her best friend, or returning to her old one where her mother is dead but she is dating Carter. There are a ton of potential metaphysical ramifications to this decision that no one bothers to broach. Such as, what would happen to the Tree who inhabited this new universe if the other Tree stayed? Would this be a sort of body swap situation? We dont really get a chance to even infer an answer to this question because when Tree does return to her home dimension it appears that she returns to the exact moment she left. So nobody is the wiser, and as far as her friends are concerned nothing even happened when they fired up Sissy again.The closest thing we get to an explanation for what happens at the climax of the movie is earlier when the Ryan of this new universe says that what they plan to do is turn on Sissy using a formula that will close the time loop in both dimensions  presumably one of these loops is the one Ryan is in. This explanation does not address the doppelganger specifically.I can speculate a solution to this  though its one I have to infer because the movie does not actually provide evidence of this. My thought is that the doppelganger Ryan who tried to murder the original Ryan was the Ryan from this second universe  the one we spend most of the movie in. So well say Ryan 1 is the one from the original movie and the beginning of Happy Death Day 2U, and Ryan 2 is the one who tried to kill Ryan 1. Ryan 2, in my theory, is the one from the dimension Tree travels to.Ryan 2s plan to murder himself in a different dimension is derailed by Trees arrival and her new death loop. Whatever plan Ryan 2 had concocted never happened because he was trying to solve Trees problem instead. So, essentially, whatever bad thing Ryan 2 was trying to prevent by murdering Ryan 1 also never happened  using Sissy to close the loops and send Tree home ended all the drama, and returned Ryan 2 to his home dimension or simply erased him. Basically: turning on Sissy again undid everything that happened in the whole movie.But, again, thats just a guess. The movie does not tell us any of that. Im just trying to make sense of it the best I can. But, unfortunately, this guess cant account for what happens at the very end.See, Happy Death Day 2U has a bonus mid-credits scene in which all the main characters are rounded up by DARPA, which confiscated the machine but couldnt figure out how to use it. And they want them to help by, yes, intentionally putting someone in a time loop. I can roll with the inference that with Trees memory of all those formulas that they can instigate something like that. But what does not follow is the idea that they could force a specific person of their choosing into a time loop on purpose.At no point in the film do they indicate the machines interaction with Tree is anything other than a freak accident. All we can infer is that it bonded with her for unknown reasons. And its likely that Ryan 2 knew how to make it target a specific person because he made himself travel between dimensions using it. But Ryan 2s knowledge would have been wiped when the good guys ended all the time loops and sent Tree home. Ryan 2, for all intents and purposes, never existed.And, yeah, the mid-credits scene is clearly just a gag that isnt intended to be analysed like this. Nor is the rest of the movie. But, hey, these are the waters you wade into when you try to tell a story like this one. If none of this bothers you, great! Im glad you could enjoy the movie. But that doesnt change the fact that this stuff is a mess. And its a shame, because its an otherwise enjoyable and amusing flick. Its just also one that doesnt really think through its premise.Read original story Heres Why the Plot of Happy Death Day 2U Makes No Sense At TheWrap

(Major spoilers ahead for all of Happy Death Day 2U)

Happy Death Day 2U is a fascinating sequel, and surprisingly ambitious for a horror follow-up. Not content simply to do another death-based time loop, it wants to try new things and delve into science fiction for real. But its also frustrating because it doesnt really commit to this new direction.

When it comes to putting things like quantum mechanics and time travel in your movie, all that really matters is that they be internally coherent. Like, it doesnt matter how I think time travel or dimension hopping works, because those things are not actually real. What matters is that the movie sets some rules and then lives by them. Otherwise your story just wont work.

Take Back to the Future, for example. That series has rules that are sorta silly (specifically the idea that you can change the past so significantly that you erase yourself from existence), but that movie works because it establishes the rules and sticks with them. It doesnt cheat for the sake of a story beat  it set rules that work for the story it was telling.

Also Read: 'Happy Death Day 2U' Film Review: Frightfully Clever Slasher Sequel is 2 Cool 2 B Forgotten

The first Happy Death Day kept things very simple. There was no explanation for the time loop, which is fine. The reason for the loop simply didnt matter, as the mechanics of it were intentionally de-emphasized. This whole thing was just a fun twist on the slasher genre.

Happy Death Day 2U, on the other hand, actually does explain the time loop, and throws in parallel universes for good measure. But it doesnt really set any rules or operate with consistency around its newly-central sci-fi concept. Instead it continues to treat the mechanics of its gimmick as flippantly as it did when there was no explanation. And thats a problem, because once you try to explain something you have to go all the way.

Happy Death Day 2U opens with a new murder loop. The day after the events of the original movie, Ryan (Phi Vu) is murdered and immediately finds himself in the same situation Tree (Jessica Rothe) was in last time around. Why? Who knows? And who cares? If the hook for a Happy Death Day sequel was simply that its happening again, to another person adjacent to the previous occurrence, with no explanation, that would be fine. Not knowing why this was happening worked back then, and it would work now.

Story continues

Also Read: 'Black Mirror: Bandersnatch' Has a Secret Ending With a Crazy Easter Egg

But instead of going that route, writer/director Christopher Landon introduced Sissy, a quantum device of some kind that Ryan built as his thesis project. Sissy seemingly turned itself on the night that Trees loop of murder began, and the characters quickly deduce that thats what sparked the events of the first movie.

But no one bothers to try to explain how that would start an additional time loop a day later, when Sissy did not power on. Happy Death Day 2U firmly establishes that Sissy only turned on one time. So they really were only providing an explanation for the first time loop, not this new one.

So the person who is out to kill Ryan is, uh, another Ryan. Our heroes manage to capture him and interrogate him a little bit  and this new Ryan yells a lot about how Sissy is dangerous and is causing bad things to happen. And I guess hes trying to kill this other version of himself to prevent him from using the machine to do whatever horrible thing this Other Ryan is afraid of.

So in response to this, the original Ryan fires up Sissy once again, causing an explosion that hurtles Tree into an alternate universe where shes once again stuck in a time loop. And, presumably, causing whatever bad thing the Other Ryan was worried about and trying to prevent.

Also Read: Jordan Peele's 'Us' Trailer Shows a Terrifying New Nightmare (Video)

But heres the thing: that Ryan doppelganger is never even mentioned again, nor is whatever bad thing Sissy allegedly caused. In fact, the entire opening segment of the movie is completely forgotten. Tree travels to an alternate universe but there arent two Trees there, just her. The implication being that her consciousness traveled, but not her physical body.

The rest of the movie is just about Tree and friends trying to use the machine to make the time loops stop and return her to her home universe, as if the inciting incident in the plot had not occurred. Theres no doppelgangers, no explanation for why Ryan would think travelling to an alternate dimension to kill his other self would help, not even a hint as to how Ryan was able to do that.

In other words: everything that the opening segment of the movie established about how this whole thing works is completely ignored the rest of the movie. Happy Death Day 2U spends the first chunk of its runtime kinda/sorta establishing some rules for how this stuff mechanically functions, and then immediately abandons those rules and ignores all of those story beats. Ryans concerns are never mentioned again, much less addressed.

From there, the vibe of the movie is very much just fire up the machine and it will affect Tree only. Why does it affect her in the first place? She was not near Sissy when it went off the first time and caused the time loop. And the movie does demonstrate that it can affect others, given the whole Ryan doppelganger situation that the movie conveniently forgets happened.

More importantly, why would turning on Sissy affect only Tree? Why would none of the half-dozen people present when the machine went off not be impacted in some way? And how could they know that firing it up again in the alternate dimension would not have consequences for anyone else? Again, Im remembering doppelganger Ryans warning, and the movie is not.

Meanwhile, the emotional hook of the movie is that Tree has to decide between staying in this new dimension, in which her mother is alive but Carter (Israel Broussard) is dating her best friend, or returning to her old one where her mother is dead but she is dating Carter. There are a ton of potential metaphysical ramifications to this decision that no one bothers to broach. Such as, what would happen to the Tree who inhabited this new universe if the other Tree stayed? Would this be a sort of body swap situation? We dont really get a chance to even infer an answer to this question because when Tree does return to her home dimension it appears that she returns to the exact moment she left. So nobody is the wiser, and as far as her friends are concerned nothing even happened when they fired up Sissy again.

The closest thing we get to an explanation for what happens at the climax of the movie is earlier when the Ryan of this new universe says that what they plan to do is turn on Sissy using a formula that will close the time loop in both dimensions  presumably one of these loops is the one Ryan is in. This explanation does not address the doppelganger specifically.

I can speculate a solution to this  though its one I have to infer because the movie does not actually provide evidence of this. My thought is that the doppelganger Ryan who tried to murder the original Ryan was the Ryan from this second universe  the one we spend most of the movie in. So well say Ryan 1 is the one from the original movie and the beginning of Happy Death Day 2U, and Ryan 2 is the one who tried to kill Ryan 1. Ryan 2, in my theory, is the one from the dimension Tree travels to.

Ryan 2s plan to murder himself in a different dimension is derailed by Trees arrival and her new death loop. Whatever plan Ryan 2 had concocted never happened because he was trying to solve Trees problem instead. So, essentially, whatever bad thing Ryan 2 was trying to prevent by murdering Ryan 1 also never happened  using Sissy to close the loops and send Tree home ended all the drama, and returned Ryan 2 to his home dimension or simply erased him. Basically: turning on Sissy again undid everything that happened in the whole movie.

But, again, thats just a guess. The movie does not tell us any of that. Im just trying to make sense of it the best I can. But, unfortunately, this guess cant account for what happens at the very end.

See, Happy Death Day 2U has a bonus mid-credits scene in which all the main characters are rounded up by DARPA, which confiscated the machine but couldnt figure out how to use it. And they want them to help by, yes, intentionally putting someone in a time loop. I can roll with the inference that with Trees memory of all those formulas that they can instigate something like that. But what does not follow is the idea that they could force a specific person of their choosing into a time loop on purpose.

At no point in the film do they indicate the machines interaction with Tree is anything other than a freak accident. All we can infer is that it bonded with her for unknown reasons. And its likely that Ryan 2 knew how to make it target a specific person because he made himself travel between dimensions using it. But Ryan 2s knowledge would have been wiped when the good guys ended all the time loops and sent Tree home. Ryan 2, for all intents and purposes, never existed.

And, yeah, the mid-credits scene is clearly just a gag that isnt intended to be analysed like this. Nor is the rest of the movie. But, hey, these are the waters you wade into when you try to tell a story like this one. If none of this bothers you, great! Im glad you could enjoy the movie. But that doesnt change the fact that this stuff is a mess. And its a shame, because its an otherwise enjoyable and amusing flick. Its just also one that doesnt really think through its premise.

Read original story Heres Why the Plot of Happy Death Day 2U Makes No Sense At TheWrapWASHINGTON  Paul Manafort, the ostrich-jacket-wearing lobbyist and former campaign chairman for President Trump, took another hit in federal court on Wednesday.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson found that Manafort lied to Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigative team on multiple topics, including his interactions with a former associate in Ukraine with reported ties to Russian intelligence. By doing so, the judge ruled, Manafort violated the terms of a plea agreement he signed last September in which he said he would cooperate extensively with Mueller. Manafort could now face a longer prison sentence.

Manafort is now the fourth former Trump aide to have lied about his contacts with Russia. Michael Flynn, the presidents former national security adviser, pleaded guilty to making false statements about his contacts with the Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign foreign policy aide, admitted to lying about contacts he had with a female Russian national he believed has ties to the Russian government. And Michael Cohen, Trumps ex-personal lawyer and fixer, acknowledged lying about his interactions with Russian officials in connection with the potential development of Trump Tower Moscow.

Muellers office accused Manafort of lying about five different subjects, and Judge Jackson found that the prosecution had sufficiently proven those lies in three of the five instances.

In her ruling, the judge said that Muellers team had failed to show that Manafort had allegedly lied about two subjects: Communications he had with the Trump administration well after he was first indicted, and statements hed made about the role of a man named Konstantin Kilimnik  Manaforts lieutenant during his work in Ukrainian politics  in obstructing justice.

However, Judge Jackson did conclude that Manafort had intentionally lied to Mueller, the FBI and the grand jury about a payment from his consulting firm to a law firm; that he intentionally lied to law enforcement about a separate DOJ investigation (its still unclear what this is about); and that he intentionally lied about his interactions and communications with Kilimnik, who is a Russian citizen.

Story continues

Its that final set of lies about Kilimnik that deserves the most scrutiny. According to a previous filing in the case, Manafort allegedly lied to the government about sharing 2016 presidential polling data with Kilimnik and about discussing a so-called Ukrainian peace plan with him during the 2016 campaign. The FBI has said that Kilimnik has ties to Russian intelligence, and news outlets have reported that Kilimnik has relationships with oligarchs and other powerful Russians who are close to President Vladimir Putin.

One of Muellers top prosecutors, Andrew Weissman, recently suggested that Kilimnik may play a far more central role in the special counsels investigation than previously known. According to a partially redacted transcript of a closed hearing in Manaforts case, Judge Jackson questioned Weissman as to why Manaforts lies about his interactions with Kilimnik were so important.

This goes to the larger view of what we think is going on, and what we think is the motive here, Weissmann told the judge. This goes, I think, very much to the heart of what the special counsels office is investigating.

The heart of what the special counsels office is investigating. With those 10 words, Kilimniks place in the Mueller probe vaulted from obscure bit player to main character.

There are a couple of potential explanations here. Perhaps Manafort lied about his interactions with Kilimnik because he thought he wouldnt get caught, or because lying so often seems to be the default setting for those within President Trumps orbit.

Another theory is that Manafort intentionally misled the government about his interactions with Kilimnik over a supposed Ukraine peace plan because those conversations revealed something more damning about his  and potentially the Trump campaigns  interactions with Kilimnik as the 2016 campaign was underway. That seems to be what Weissman was alluding to in his comments at the recent closed-door hearing.

Earlier this week, NBC News quoted Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), chairman of the Senate intelligence committee which has been investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, stating that there was no factual evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. That may, in the end, be the case. The Mueller investigation, the Senates inquiry and the rebooted House intelligence committee probe now led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), ultimately may not find any direct evidence of conspiracy (except, of course, the evidence hiding in plain sight).

But if weve learned one thing over the course of the special counsels investigation, its this: Mueller is usually a step (or three) ahead of everyone. Every new indictment of his has significantly advanced our understanding of what happened in 2016, who was involved and what their aims were. Weissmans recent comment about the heart of the probe, combined with Manaforts latest setback in court, suggests that theres still much to learn.UPDATED WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump has indicated that he will sign a spending bill to keep the government open, but also plans to issue an emergency declaration to build a wall or physical barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday.

Ive just had an opportunity to speak with President Trump, McConnell said on the Senate floor. I would say to all my colleagues, he has indicated he is prepared to sign the bill. He will also be issuing a national emergency declaration at the same time.

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Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker: 'Mr. Chairman, I See Your Five Minutes Is Up'

After McConnells remarks, the Senate went on to vote for the funding package, passing it overwhelming 83-16. The House passed the spending plan on Thursday evening, in a 300-128 vote. The bill offers far less than Trump demanded to build a physical barrier at the border, and commentators on the right blasted it. Sean Hannity of Fox News called it a garbage compromise.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that Trump would sign the funding bill and that he would take other executive action, including a national emergency, to ensure that we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border.

The president is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country, she said.

But the declaration of a national emergency is likely to face a legal challenge. Speaking to reporters, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that it would be an end run around Congress. She also said that Republicans would regret the presidents action, as it would set a precedent for future occupants of the Oval Office.

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Want to talk about a national emergency? Lets talk about today, she said, noting that it is the first anniversary of the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Just think of what a president with different values can present to the American people, she said.

Some Republicans also have expressed misgivings about an emergency declaration. In a statement, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) called it a mistake that would undermine the role of Congress in the appropriations process; Its just not good policy. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has said that declaring a national emergency could mean that construction of the wall would get bogged down in the courts. McConnell said that he would support the national emergency declaration, even though he previously has expressed skepticism about such an approach.

The funding deal, reached by a bipartisan Congressional conference committee earlier this week, provides $1.375 billion for 55 miles of fencing along the border. Trump sought $5.7 billion for a much more comprehensive, steel barrier project.

Californias Secretary of State Xavier Becerra indicated potential legal action, as did Democrats in other states.

If Trump oversteps his authority and abandons negotiations with Congress by declaring a fabricated national emergency, we wont only call his bluff, we will do what we must to hold him accountable, Becerra said in a statement. No one is above the law.

Subscribe to Variety Newsletters and Email Alerts!A serial killer who claims to have murdered more than 90 people over three decades has hand-drawn portraits of 16 people he says are victims, which were released by the FBI in the hopes of solving decades-long cold cases.

Confessed serial killer Samuel Little told authorities his drawings are the faces of the multiple women he killed during his crime sprees that occurred all across the country from 1970 to 2005. He is currently serving three life sentences in the strangulation deaths of three women in California.

FBI spokesperson Shayne Buchwald told CNN that each drawing, from memory, is marked with a possible city and year in which the murder is believed to have happened.

We are hoping that someone  family member, former neighbor, friend  might recognize the victim and provide that crucial clue in helping authorities make an identification, Buchwald said.

We want to give these women their names back and their family some long-awaited answers. Its the least we can do, Buchwald added.

Authorities noted that Littles drawings have helped identify two women and helped provide breaks in three cold cases.

RELATED: Did a Convicted Serial Killer Actually Murder More Than 90 People Across the U.S.? Police Investigate

Littles multiple slayings occurred in Texas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Illinois, Ohio, California, Indiana, Arizona, New Mexico and South Carolina.

Littles first confession was about the 1994 murder of Denise Christie Brothers in Odessa, Texas.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

Samuel Little

He was arrested at a Kentucky homeless shelter in September 2012 and extradited to California, where he was wanted on a narcotics charge.

Then in 2014, Little was sentenced to three consecutive terms of life in prison without parole for the beating and strangulation murders of Carol Alford, 41, Audrey Nelson, 35, and 46-year-old Guadalupe Apodaca. All three victims were dumped in back alleys in South Los Angeles between 1987 and 1989.

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Though several women testified against him, Little asserted his innocence throughout his trial.

But in November 2018, Ector County, Texas, District Attorney Bobby Bland told PEOPLE that Little confessed to over 90 murders and they have been able to match over 30 [of his confessions to murders].

According to the FBI, Little, who was a one-time competitive boxer, chose to kill marginalized and vulnerable women who were often involved in prostitution and addicted to drugs.

Little is in poor health and will likely stay in prison in Texas until his death, the FBI states.Six weeks after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C. represented a culminating moment. High school students had taken the fear, grief and anger that the February 14th, 2018 shooting forced into their lives and mobilized these emotions, resulting in a full-fledged political movement. The March would not only provide a necessary catharsis for their community of survivors, but signify the Parkland teens mission and give it clarity moving forward. For Americas mass shootings expert, the March for Our Lives was culminating, liberating and offered a potential promise of change.

In the decade since the publication of his 2008 landmark book Columbine, Dave Cullen has become the man to call after events like those in Littleton, Colorado, and Parkland. Hes been tapped by dozens of TV and radio shows, podcasts and documentaries for hundreds of appearances explaining mass shootings and providing guidance to an exhausted and worried national audience. The day of Parkland alone, he was tapped for six TV appearences and a podcast  he calls these days Groundhog Day. During these gauntlets, Cullen is an advocate, educater and town crier. He takes umbrage with the too-common breathless and undisciplined speculation of shooters motives, as well as unrestrained focus on things like body count instead of the survivors.

Id been Cullens researcher when I was in graduate school, and always known him to be devastated after each new shooting, every event bringing back the sorrow of his time with victims in Littleton and the horror of studying the killers. Going on Anderson Cooper 360 and New Day constantly to answer questions about dead high schoolers is a wearisome existence, and it was beginning to wear him down.

But at the march, Cullen was enthusiastic and optimistic. The Parkland students had, in a matter of weeks, threatened to change the conversation around mass shootings, and even Cullen was starting to believe. I was invited to help with additional reporting on a story following a Parkland freshman  Daniel Duff, a survivor  around D.C. for his first political protest. Cullen was reporting on the Parkland kids and their journey from shooting survivors to activists, and had also just agreed to spend the next four to six months reporting and writing Parkland: Birth of a Movement, out this week with Harper Collins.

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The day was more for Cullen than a scene in his upcoming book: It was a celebration of a change in the two-decade story of gun violence in Americas schools. Reported stood in the press row, collecting quotes from Parkland survivors and filing their stories in the press tent, Cullen was out in the audience, exchanging hugs and high fives from MSD students and sharing gossip and anecdotes about the kids on stage with anyone who would listen. We took a walk around the perimeter of the estimated 200,000 in attendance at the rally before Cullen realized the time, rushing us back to the press tent for Emma Gonzalezs now-famous six-minutes-of-silence speech. We have to see Emma! he said, not with the urgency of a reporter, but with the familiarity of a friend. Hopefully, his buddy Emma could pull it off.

Before gunfire was reported at a suburban high school in Colorado in April of 1999, Cullen had thought very little about the psychologies of mass killers or their victims. An army stint led to a career as a systems analyst, where he made enough just money to drop everything at 33 and pursue an MFA in fiction at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Cullens memoir about secretly being a stripper while serving as an Army Private had garnered interest, but his agent told him to hold off on trying to publish. Cullen is gay, and the fear was that no matter the level of success or not, hed become typecast as the gay army stripper guy. At the time, everyone agreed it would be difficult to be a writer known for only one thing.

Columbine was the first mass shooting of its kind, and so it was impossible in the moment to know how quickly coverage would become plagued with bad information. According to early reports, the shooters had been bullied, and were targeting specific students. I felt like the journalists had already decided what the scenario was, says Paula Reed, a teacher and Columbine survivor. If you told a different story, they just ignored you. The perpetrators of the shooting werent loners, and they werent goths, and no one listened to Marilyn Manson. Still, the profile worked as a narrative, and that speculation built a regressive loop. That default understanding of the school shooter became a template.

Cullen, living in Colorado, was sent by Salon because of his proximity to the event, and though the national media soon left Littleton, Cullen stayed. He describes being struck how quickly the survivors grief had transformed to shock. It was a catalyzing moment. Cullen needed to see how everything would play out, but also why it had happened: I didnt know then that I was going to write a book, but I knew it would be years before we had the answer, he says. And I knew I would keep coming back there, because I just needed to know.

His work culminated in a report about the FBI investigation, subtitled Everything you know about the Littleton killings is wrong. It contained the first leaked passages from shooter Eric Harris journals, the first public statements from lead investigator Kate Battan, and struck down popular rumors like the targeting of jocks and Christians by the killers. But debunking the myths had only give Cullen a new puzzle to solve.

The [sub]headline was true  all these myths were wrong, but I didnt really replace them with anything, says Cullen. I finally realized, Im never gonna figure this out. What am I doing? Reporting could only get Cullen so far  he needed to enlist experts. Over the following nine years, authorities like Dwayne Fuselier (the FBIs domestic terrorism head in Denver at the time, whose child was a survivor) and Frank Ochberg (a psychiatrist credited with defining both PTSD and Stockholm Syndrome) welcomed Cullen into their ranks, email lists and conversations as he searched for answers. Cullen describes the experience of writing the book like getting his PhD in killers. I think Dave has an accurate, intelligent appreciation of science, including behavioral science, says Ochberg. He gets it, and thats where truth lies for him.

For almost 10 years, Cullen worked relentlessly on Columbine, developing himself into the expert hed once sought out  not just on shooter psychology, but also on victim psychology. Other people had the access to do it, but nobody had Daves tenacity, says CNNs Joan Walsh, then his editor at Salon, and also his compassion and ability to get people to really open up to him over time. The book is the result of this doggedness, but also of his patience and empathy with the community of survivors. We had been so maligned and presented in a way that I thought was untrue that I was very skeptical, says Reed. I felt like he really got it right.

When Cullen is on television, he is replete with adages and advice, sharpened over the decades. Most school shootings are also planned suicides, so instead of blaming mental illness, he notes, we can screen for teen depression. He cautions hosts against jumping to conclusions, yet when hes asked some variation of, Why do they do this?, his answer never wavers: Almost all killers are men, hell say, humiliated by a failure or loss, all with easy access to guns, and all seeking attention. We cant eliminate men or failure, and so if politicians wont take guns off the table, the least the media can do is not stop glorifying and validating killers with media attention when they murder. The theater, of which hes a part, is the foremost target of his ire.

He doesnt get calls about any kind of good news. He gets calls when the news is terrible, and I think its sometimes a struggle for him to compose himself, says Walsh. Cullen has been diagnosed with secondary PTSD, suffered from years of listening to victims accounts and watching shooting footage, not to mention studying psychological profiles of killers. He has been cautioned by therapists to limit his exposure to specific types of footage, but the Groundhog Day treatment of most events allows for a sad loophole: whether hes seen the coverage or not, his TV advice remains the same.

For two decades, hes also contended with a network of online trolls  admirers of the Columbine shooters who send him threatening videos or messages predating our current landscape of alt-right meme hell, going all the way back to his first Columbine reports. He has to sweep his social media regularly, as theres an unending supply of disaffected young boys and girls in love with the killers and mad at Cullen for telling lies about them. The universe of mass shooting survivors grows yearly and needs people in support roles like Cullen, but nothing had been done by legislators after Sandy Hook, Orlando, or Las Vegas. Cullen was starting to notice his second- and third-day appearances would get cancelled  the news was moving on. Maybe Cullen was ready to move on, too.



After the Parkland New Day appearance, Cuomo told Cullen he had quit doing on-location reporting after shootings  it was too much and too hard over time. Cullen sympathized. Being the mass-shooting guy was finally taking its toll on him. I think Im done after this, he recalls telling a friend. On New Day he went through his typical beats, and while leaving he happened to catch the news, live, in an elevator monitor. I watched David [Hogg] on the elevator down, he says, referring to activist David Hoggs viral first television appearance. And I stayed in the elevator! I stood there and watched the rest of the interview, which Ive never done before. Less than two minutes into his MSNBC interview, Hogg was talking about how people at home could call their Congresspeople and demand action. What the fuck. This is not a first-day survivor, Cullen recalls thinking. This was not the kind of survivor video his therapist has cautioned against viewing. He rushed home and watched more of the kids. They dont act like this!

The Parkland survivors on TV werent crying, or shocked, or shook  they were angry. Brian Williams had Cullen in for the 2 p.m. slot, so he sat with Williams and Nicole Wallace and watched tape of the survivors in real time. Already the kids were echoing Hoggs earlier interview, and a half-hour later, Cullen was on the Nicole Wallace 4 p.m. slot, thinking these kids are crazy, and for the first time, he had something new to say, and about survivors, not shooters motives or lockdown drills. Someone was changing the conversation in real time. He told Wallace: These kids are my new heroes.

It turns out, Parkland actually was different. First, active shooter drills developed after Columbine encourage children to run, hide and fight  in that order  and as a result, most shootings are over in a matter of minutes, not hours. Kids run, get away, process grief, and never spend much time in the emotional space of anger. But because responders werent sure of the shooters identity and so kept the doors locked and the children inside, many of the kids at Marjory Stoneman Douglas were locked into rooms for hours, some next to their dead and injured classmates, communicating through Snapchat and Instagram. Cullen points out in Parkland that because of this, many of these kids rushed through the adrenaline that helps survival and is later connected to PTSD episodes, and instead were left to stew in anger. Parkland also is a large, rich school, with a TV station, AV club, and the exceptionally privileged students that attend such an institution. Talented, angry kids are everywhere, but these ones had the resources to make a statement. Throw in Charlottesville and Trump and the national anger had been brewing, and it was a perfect storm. The shooter hadnt been the focus of all this coverageDavid Hogg, Cameron Kasky and Emma Gonzalez would command the cameras.

Within the week, Cullen was in Parkland, sent by Vanity Fair. I think that it was pretty clear right away that that what was happening was not the familiar depressing aftermath story, says Mike Hogan, his editor. He could see this kind of spark  this electric thing that was happening. Cullen had promised his therapist that while TV appearances were okay, he wouldnt ever report another shooting. This one was different, he told himself. It had been 10 years since hed talked so much to students. His reporting started off clunky  kids only text now, no phone calls, and either Cameron or David had left him a dubious address for a meetup. Cullen had no other leads, so he headed inadvertently to one of Parklands main sites of mourning, with flowers and teddy bears and 17 angels on a pavilion stage. His PTSD triggered an anxiety attack.

I thought, what am I doing? This was stupid. Okay, I have to get outta here. And he almost did. But Hogan was convinced Cullen would have something to offer that nobody else did. Cullen took copies of Columbine  taught in high schools across the country  but handed none out. I didnt want to be an ambulance chaser, he said at the time, before realizing that his book didnt have to be a calling card; it could just be something to maybe help a teenager suffering shock or grief.

Cullen quickly integrated himself again into the lives of the survivors of a mass shooting, but this time no one was looking backward for answers. The beginning of Parkland covers this first trip, where he rode in a gaggle of reporters to Tallahassee, following the kids for their first advocacy mission at the state capitol, but by his second trip, he was comfortable giving copies of Columbine to not just the kids but their parents. Cullen was hanging out backstage at Cameron Kaskys rehearsal of Spring Awakening, and his first interview with David Hogg was followed by an off-the-record, three-hour leisurely hang with Hoggs mom and dad, a retired FBI agent. He said they had lots to talk about. Cullen took a group of freshmen out for mozzarella sticks, an event that both he and now-sophomore Daniel Duff have told me was cool.

Duff was the freshman wed eventually shadow at the March for Our Lives: [Cullen] didnt even really feel like a reporter as much kind of like being seen like he was, says Duff. He was genuinely interested in the things that I was saying as opposed to listening to it all for the story or for what he had to write. Hogans gamble that Cullen would help the community as much as theyd help him was paying off. He has so much authority but also so much empathy, says Hogan.

The need to wait for satisfactory answers following a tragedy is something Cullen has been arguing for since the first week of Columbine, and after two 10-year writing projects and swearing to never write about a shooting again, theres a bit of change in the story of Cullen, too: Parkland was written and reported entirely in the six-month period following the attacks. I thought I was going into this with a big risk says Cullen, and that it might really fuck me up. Its the opposite. It freakin cured me. His panic attacks decreased from three on the first visit, to one, to none. Parkland spends more time on the history of the schools namesake than on the shooter or his motives, and of course doesnt mention him by name. Cullen is a character and participant, and nakedly honest about the prospects of what lies ahead for these victims and the country, and clearly an advocate for change. Says Duff: the organization sees him as a friend because hes done so much for us and hes always been positive and always been there for us.

At the March for Our Lives, I lost Cullen for about 45 minutes before he showed back up with a young girl from Connecticut, Julia Walker from East Lyme High School. Julia was a sophomore, and had snuck in to the press gaggle with a laminated green construction-paper press pass from her high school newspaper, Viking Saga. She would have stuck out in any press tent in the world but the one run by children, and Cullen had spent the better part of the last hour talking to Julia about reporting, inspired by her moxie. He told her he was going to sneak her into the even more exclusive interview tent, and slung his real event pass around her neck, telling her to stick close. Terrified, Julia followed us right to Emma Gonzalez, Delaney Tarr, and the slew of celebrities. Julia didnt have her questions ready, and Cullen assured her it was fine  neither did we! Just ask questions! Be interested! He let her keep the pass, because as Dave Cullen he could come and go, and at the days end she excitedly caught back up with us. Near tears, she let us know shed interviewed David Hogg for The Viking Saga. Of course you did, said Cullen. Youre a real journalist now!London-based Matchbox Films has snapped up U.K. rights to Venezuelan supernatural thriller The Whistler from London and Tbilisi-based film production-distribution company, Alief.

Closed at the EFM, deal comes in the wake of the dramas Best Ibero-American Feature Award at the Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre Fantastic Film Festival in December and best cinematography, original score and screenplay awards from the Caracas Cinematography Critics Circle in January.

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In director Gisberg Bermudezs retelling of a popular Venezuelan-Colombian myth, a father seeks to unearth the origin of the Whistlers curse in order to halt the gradual possession of his daughter by the avenging entity.

Alief has already closed deals for The Whistler with SBP Worldwide for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay; Star Films for Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia; Uncorkd with Dark Star for the U.S. and Canada, and Tema Distribuciones for Spain.

The film had its Latin American theatrical roll out on Dec. 13 after its Buenos Aires win. The Whistler will hit selected North American theaters and European territories in the summer.

Matchbox Films president Murray Dibbs negotiated the deal with Miguel Govea and Brett Walker of Alief.

We are very happy to continue our relationship with Matchbox Films, they are the perfect U.K. home for our film, said Govea who noted that Matchbox had previously acquired Our Evil, executive produced by Alief, in the past.

Alief is planning to co-produce a sequel to The Whistler with the same producers of the original, La Rue Films (U.S.) and Luciernaga Media (VE). Principal photography is slated for the summer with the same creative team: director Bermudez and co-writer sibling Gisyerg Bermudez.

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A rising international player on the Eastern European film scene, Alief is gearing up to co-produce psychological drama Zana by Antoneta Kastrati, with Crossing Bridges Films (Kosovo) and On Film (Albania).

Their first Georgian co-production, Negative Numbers by Uta Beria, winner of the 2018 MatchMaking Forum at Pula Film Festival work in progress award, is finalizing post in Paris in collaboration with partners Wide Management, Magnet and 39Films. Wide is representing the film at Berlins European Film Market

Alief and Happy as Lazzaro co-producer Amka Films also inked a co-production agreement on I Am With You, the semi-autobiographical directorial feature debut of Georgian visual artist Melano Sokhadze. I Am With You is a coming-of-age drama set in 90s Georgia with 2018 European Film Promotion Shooting Star awardee Irakli Kvirikadze attached to star. The L.A.-based Georgian actor will next be seen opposite Anthony Hopkins in Now Is Everything. Principal photography is targeted for Winter 2019/20.

Subscribe to Variety Newsletters and Email Alerts!The debut feature from Colombian filmmakers Cesar Alejandro Jaimes and Juan Pablo Polanco, Lapu, pulled off the lofty Sundance-Berlin competition double this week. After world premiering in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at Sundance, the feature is now competing in the Berlinales Forum.

The film kicks off on a windy night in the northern Colombia territory of Guajira, with no introduction or explanation. Doris, a young indigenous woman has a dream which inspires her to initiate a long-held custom among the Wayuu people. After seeking out guidance from her grandmother, Doris sets out to exhume the remains of a beloved cousin who she believes is not at rest, clean the bones, and re-inhume them to calm the restless spirit.

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Lapu raises, but never outright asks, questions of mortality and existence after death. It documents the almost-hypnotic rituals used by Doris to give a bit of insight into the Wayuu beliefs that the deceased coexist with the living.

The feature is produced by Julian Quintero at Bogota-based Los Ninos Films, a production outfit started by a group of young filmmakers including Jaimes and Polanco. Torontos Syndicado Films is handling international sales.

Polanco and Jaimes talked with Variety about the difficulties in translating an indigenous language, representing marginalized communities through cinema, and eliminating a we-observing-them mentality so frequent among anthropological documentaries.

What were the practical problems you faced in terms of language with this film?

Although the language barrier was present from the beginning, the younger generation of Doris family speaks Spanish, so this facilitated communication. Beyond that, a great deal of our communication was done with gestures or communal activities like sharing a meal, laughing, playing or dancing. As we couldnt understand the words of many of the people in the film, they were able to speak and act freely, without reservation. Once we saw the first subtitled cut it was surprising and beautiful how complex and profound the things they said were. We knew from the beginning that an exact translation would be impossible, so we didnt try to clearly define or explain the Wayuu culture. We didnt want to impose our definitions on their culture. We wanted the ritual left in the shadows.

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How important is it that these communities are represented in the cinema?

The Wayuu cultures presence in cinema is vital for the way in which we relate to them, especially in Colombia. However, its not just about representing this culture on the screen, but about making its people part in the creation of the film. For us it is important not to generalize a paternalistic relationship of we who film them. In Colombia, the limited state presence in the region is cause for a situation in which much of the country ignores it. Globally, representation gives us the tools to define our own cultural identity when examining how different, but also how similar the Wayuu are to our own cultures. Additionally, marginality allows for abuse by paramilitaries and mining industries. So, as with this film, generating ways of organizing outside the democratic state and working for its inhabitants it is very valuable.

Have the Wayuu you worked with seen the film yet? What did they think?

Unfortunately, due to lack of time, we only finished the film a few days before Sundance, we still have not been able to project the film in the Guajira. But, as soon as we return from Berlin we will show it in the house of Doris family. However, Doris saw the film in Bogota a few days before its premiere. She was supposed to go to the screening at Sundance, but unfortunately the U.S. government wouldnt give her a visa. For her the film was at times funny, and at times tough. She was confronted with the moment of the ritual, which brought both sad and joyful memories. She was also happy to see her family, especially her grandmother, who is very old. At the cultural level, it was difficult to see because her family is going through a process of conversion to Christianity, and the film confronted her beliefs and the process of syncretism that she is going through.

What was life like for you while making this film?

It was a very special time for us. For a year of writing we traveled, every two months, to Guajira, and again before filming we spent a month Doris house, without filming and without equipment. This time served to finish sketching out, with Doris and Carmen, the movie we would do. When the whole team was ready we settled into a small house where we cleared an area of forest to make an improvised kitchen. The time in Guajira was difficult. The days were long and the nights eternal.

Can you talk a little about working together?

We grew up together and have been going to the cinema together since childhood. This has been a great privilege in our lives that we now share with the other four members of Los Ninos Films. Several years ago Juan Pablo and I attended a wake in San Basilio de Palenque, a small village on the Colombian Caribbean coast. The experience was something completely different for us. It inspired so many ideas and emotions, and above all raised questions about how we relate to death in the context in which we live. This inspired the question we carried with us throughout filming: How does the relationship that each person has with his funeral rites relate to the way of understanding this life?

Subscribe to Variety Newsletters and Email Alerts!According to a report published by the New York Times, Amazon has pulled out of its proposed plans to build a corporate campus in Long Island City, Queens in New York City.

Read: Matt Taibbi on the Amazon-led Oligarchy

After the location was announced in November, there was fierce opposition from many politicians and local activist groups, including from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Many reacted negatively to one of the richest companies in the world set to receive an estimated $3 billion in tax credits, according to a deal reached by the state and lauded by Governor Andrew Cuomo as the largest economic development project signed in the states history. Last week, the Washington Post published a report stating that Amazon was reconsidering. After Amazon published their statement, Representative Michael Gianaris, whose district includes Long Island City, criticized the company.

Like a petulant child, Amazon insists on getting its way or takes its ball and leaves, Rep. Gianaris told the Times. The only thing that happened here is that a community that was going to be profoundly affected by their presence started asking questions.

This story is developing.

Read Amazons full statement below:

After much thought and deliberation, weve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens. For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term. While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.

We are disappointed to have reached this conclusion  we love New York, its incomparable dynamism, people, and culture  and particularly the community of Long Island City, where we have gotten to know so many optimistic, forward-leaning community leaders, small business owners, and residents. There are currently over 5,000 Amazon employees in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island, and we plan to continue growing these teams.

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We are deeply grateful to Governor Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio, and their staffs, who so enthusiastically and graciously invited us to build in New York City and supported us during the process. Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio have worked tirelessly on behalf of New Yorkers to encourage local investment and job creation, and we cant speak positively enough about all their efforts. The steadfast commitment and dedication that these leaders have demonstrated to the communities they represent inspired us from the very beginning and is one of the big reasons our decision was so difficult.

We do not intend to re-open the HQ2 search at this time. We will proceed as planned in Northern Virginia and Nashville, and we will continue to hire and grow across our 17 corporate offices and tech hubs in the U.S. and Canada.

Thank you again to Governor Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio, and the many other community leaders and residents who welcomed our plans and supported us along the way. We hope to have future chances to collaborate as we continue to build our presence in New York over time.Accurate and current data on violent sex offenders is crucial for law enforcement agencies, but it hasnt always been easy to maintain.State laws require sex offenders to annually register with local authorities, making their name, addresses and other identifying information publicly available. However, lax enforcement of offender registration, often occurring in overworked and understaffed departments, can frequently lead to oversights An audit in Missouri last year, for instance, found that authorities had lost track of some 1,300 sex offenders. Audits in numerous other states like California, Michigan and Massachusetts have found similar lapses, with thousands of offenders sometimes going unaccounted for However, advances in content management, mapping and information sharing are allowing some police departments to move past these bureaucratic stumbling blocks.One company helping in this area is OffenderWatch , an offender registry management tool whose unique business model allows police to collate information on offenders in one centralized record.Mike Cormaci, president of OffenderWatch, fell upon the idea some two decades ago, when the concept of law enforcement using the Internet to solve crimes seemed to many like a far-fetched idea."Back then nobody thought the Internet was going to be that big," he said.As he went about attempting to sell software to sheriff's departments in the early Internet days, Cormaci initially encountered a lot of disinterest, he said.Eventually, of course, police got wise to the utility the Web could serve. Now Cormaci has taken that far-fetched idea and grown it into a company that services over 3,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide, has 17 statewide contracts and holds profiles on more than half a million offenders.OffenderWatch has been especially helpful for agencies in larger cities, where multiple jurisdictions or departments require smooth communication and transfer of information.A good example is Baltimore, where the local police department typically receives close to 400 sex crime cases per year and is responsible for the largest sex offender registry in Maryland  including some 1,400 registered offenders.Maj. Steven Hohman, commander of the citys Special Investigations Section, said that of Baltimore's registered offenders around 150 to 200 will violate the terms of their registration at some point throughout the year  making proper surveillance of them critical. OffenderWatch, Hohman said, has helped his city immensely in its investigations and registry enforcement.Before OffenderWatch, information sharing between different police departments could be a cumbersome task. Police from different jurisdictions would have to call each other or physically meet to compare notes, Hohman said. Now, with the software, police need only type keywords into the OffenderWatch system and all documented offender information can be sent to their fingertips.Previously, agencies were all responsible for creating their own registries and offender profiles. With multiple profiles and often slower, less direct information sharing, the chances of oversights or miscommunication between jurisdictions were always higher.With OffenderWatch, a single, shareable record is created that centralizes all known information about the offender  including photos, fingerprints, listed residence and vehicle make, any case notes from criminal investigations involving them and other details. When an offender moves to a new address, the record is transferred from one jurisdiction to another through the company's system. All record changes are based on the address, which facilitates agency assignment, Cormaci said.For large cities like Baltimore, the use of one unifying system to collate, track and update data on offenders can be hugely effective.Its just a much more efficient and seamless sharing of the information, said Hohman. To us, the ability to get information in real time is huge.Also critical for police is the companys mapping capabilities  a kind of Google Maps for offenders. This software can be a very effective tool during investigations, said Hohman, as it gives officials quick information on offenders who may live within close proximity to a recent crime.Cormaci, who said his company is always looking to innovate, has sought to invest in new and emerging tech trends to enhance law enforcement capabilities moving into the future.As an example, the Baltimore Police Department recently helped pilot a predictive analytics program developed by OffenderWatch called FOCUS. The program uses offender information to analyze risk factors in their personality, thus helping police make better judgments on who deserves careful watching. FOCUS is now a major feature for police departments across the country.As OffenderWatch has grown, the company has been able to secure larger and larger contracts. In the coming months, Maryland will join the more than a dozen states that hold statewide contracts with the company, replacing its current state registry with OffenderWatch and transferring data from their older systems into the company's system, according to an associated contract. The first phase of the project is slated to be complete by June, said a company representative.In the future, Cormaci says he hopes to continue to expand his company's reach and service. "We're constantly innovating," he said.The board of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) has appointed MTA president Laszlo Lovasz to initiate talks with the innovation and technology minister on the governments plans to reorganise the structure and funding of the academys research institutes.

In a statement issued after its Tuesday meeting, the board asked Innovation and Technology Minister Laszlo Palkovics to ensure the basic funding guaranteed by law for academic research centres.

The board also asks the directors-general of the academys research institutes and the directors of its legally independent institutes to submit their tenders for funding to the president of the academy.

The statement said the president should only forward the funding requests to the innovation and technology minister and the head of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office after receiving a written statement from the minister ensuring that the research institutes will receive the funding they are entitled to from the central budget.

Earlier on Tuesday, MTA employees staged a demonstration at the Academys building on Budapests Szechenyi Square to take a stand for the Academys unity and autonomy, and protest against governments proposed changes.



MTI Photo: Jaszai CsabaCHEYENNE  The effort to end the death penalty in Wyoming was unable to get past conservative opposition Thursday in the state Senate.

House Bill 145, sponsored by Rep. Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne, was defeated on its first reading in the Senate on an 18-12 vote. Only the day before, the bill had passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 5-0 vote.

One of the Senate co-sponsors, Sen. Brian Boner, R-Douglas, laid out the arguments for HB 145 during a floor debate Thursday, focusing on the financial cost for the state, the moral issues with giving government that much power over its citizens and the real possibility of executing an innocent person.

This is something we have to get right each and every time. We have an excellent legal system, dont get me wrong. But if you have a death penalty on the books, it should be perfect, Boner said during debate. Since 1973, about 164 (inmates) who have been on death row have been exonerated.

Mr. Chairman, if that number was one, that would be enough to give me pause. But its 164 (people) falsely convicted and sentenced to death.

Other senators who supported the bill tried to focus the debate on both the financial cost of keeping the death penalty bill on the books and the mental cost placed on juries who have to make that life-or-death decision.

The fiscal note for HB 145 estimated the state would save $756,035 in 2020, and in previous testimony, Olsen said he believed it would be even more when other factors were taken into account. Even without anyone currently on the states death row, Olsen said local and state government would be saving by not having to staff attorneys and other experts for the potential of a death penalty case.

Since 1976, Wyoming has only executed one person: Mark Hopkinson, who was put to death in 1992. One inmate, Dale Wayne Eaton, had his death sentence overturned in 2014.

Many opponents of the bill focused their arguments on the need for Wyoming to seek the death penalty to ensure justice is being done for victims and their families. But some arguments against HB 145 centered around the religious component of the death penalty.

The greatest man who ever lived died via the death penalty for you and for me, said Sen. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne. Governments were instituted to execute justice. If it wasnt for Jesus dying via the death penalty, we would all have no hope.

Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, testified Wednesday in committee against the bill and reiterated his view Thursday that the death penalty remains a strong deterrent for crime, something supporters of the bill argued against. He quoted the son of a murder victim who said knowing his fathers killer was put down like a rabid dog gave him some peace.

Bouchard also talked about the push by some to end the death penalty as a way to grow the prison population to benefit themselves financially. The cost of providing care for prisoners is substantial, he said, and he spoke about the potential for having to pay for sex changes for inmates, something that happened in 2017 in California.

Boner said he was disappointed with the result, but pointed out the bill had gotten farther than in any other previous attempt to repeal capital punishment in Wyoming.

ACLUs Wyoming chapter had worked for the repeal and expressed disappointment with Thursdays result.

We are immensely disappointed the Senate chose to keep the death penalty in Wyoming, said Sabrina King, policy director for the ACLU of Wyoming. It is costly, ineffective, and it is disingenuous to keep it part of our criminal justice system, as we cannot execute anyone, even if we wanted to. We will continue fighting and look forward to the day we end this disgrace of a practice in our state.Marguerite Herman, who represents the League of Women Voters, speaks for doing away with the death penalty during a committee hearing on a House Bill 145 on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, at the Jonah Business Center in Cheyenne. The bill made it out of committee and heads to the floor. Jacob Byk/Wyoming Tribune Eagle

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Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.(TNS)  Brown County commissioners approved a quote of $27,986 from Comtech that will enable the dispatch center to move into a more accommodating space in a building the county bought last year.Comtech is the company that has a contract with the state to provide 911 services."Every dispatch center in the state has to use these guys since this vendor has the contract for the 911 services," said Kent Jones, Brown County communications director.Comtech needed the county's approval of the quote to move services and for equipment replacement before it could schedule the moving date.The dispatch center will relocate to the new building at 124 S. First St. from the Brown County Courthouse Annex."We need to get it OK'd to get on their calendar to get it finalized for us," Jones said.Jones explained that the quote for $27,986 is for moving and setting up all of the equipment and replacing some of the equipment. Some of that work has already been done with the help of Chief Information Officer Paul Sivertsen, which could save the county money.Comtech employees will oversee the transfer and replacement of equipment to the new building, Jones said. The soonest that could be done is in 25 days now that the county approved the quote, Jones said.The countys information technology, the dispatch center, Emergency Management and Geographic Information System offices are moving into the new building.Emergency Management Director Scott Meints said the new building is "ready to roll." The county has upgraded a generator for the building and has set up the necessary cables and administrative phone lines for the dispatch center to begin operating in the new building.Only half of the computers and 911 phone lines will be moved at first, so there should be no lapse in emergency call services, Jones said.Correction: Information about 911 services in South Dakota and the contract have been corrected in this story.You must be logged in to react.

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Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0Business Editor Conor Griffith can be reached by at 304-281-3232 or by email at cgriffith@statejournal.com(TNS)  Untraceable plastic guns have yet to become a problem in Rhode Island, and a state lawmaker wants to keep it that way by banning the creation of 3D printed firearms.Sen. Cynthia Coyne, a Barrington Democrat, has introduced a bill that would make it illegal to "manufacture, import, sell, ship, deliver, possess, transfer or receive" any gun that can't be detected by common airport screenings, or one that is made entirely though 3D printing."As we struggle to fight the gun epidemic in this country and make it more difficult for children, criminals and the mentally ill to possess firearms, 3D-printed guns would suddenly make it easier for anyone worldwide to do just that," Coyne said in a news release. "Anyone with Internet access and a 3D printer would be able to make weapons that are undetectable and  since they have no serial numbers  untraceable."A 3D printer produces physical objects from digital files by applying layers of material, most commonly plastic. Plastic 3D-printed guns often use a removable metal firing pin or have other metal parts to get around a federal ban on weapons that aren't picked up by metal detectors.Last summer Rhode Island, under then-Attorney General Peter Kilmartin, joined 18 other states and the District of Columbia suing to block a Texas company from publishing free design files for a 3D-printed gun after the company had settled an earlier objection from the Trump administration. A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction blocking the company, Defense Distributed, from sharing the files until the case can be decided.Coyne, whose husband worked for Kilmartin when Rhode Island joined the suit against Defense Distributed, was a former state police lieutenant.The Rhode Island State Police have yet to seize any 3D-printed guns and have not suspected them in any crimes here, said spokeswoman Laura Meade Kirk, although wire taps used in the investigation of northwestern Rhode Island biker gangs last spring picked up suspects discussing the technology.Anyone caught violating the ban under Coyne's bill, which also prohibits firearms made wholly of plastic or fiberglass, would face up to 10 years in jail or a $10,000 fine."With 3D guns, criminals seeking guns would be able to bypass background checks, age restrictions and gun-licensing rules," Coyne said in the release. "This is a terrifying precedent, a blow to public safety and a huge potential tragedy in the making. We must not wait for the federal government or the courts to solve this problem."Banning 3D-printed guns was one of the recommendations of Gov. Gina Raimondo's Working Group for Gun Safety last fall."The governor hasn't reviewed the specifics of this bill, but she is fully supportive of banning 3D-printed guns," said Raimondo spokesman Josh Block.Raimondo is expected to release a package of gun-control legislation soon.Frank Saccoccio, top lobbyist for the Rhode Island Second Amendment Coalition, said Tuesday said he would withhold comment on Coyne's bill until he had had a chance to read it.Attorney General Peter Neronha supports Coyne's 3D-printed gun ban bill, spokeswoman Kristy dosReis said Tuesday.So far at least, there is no matching House version of the 3D-printed firearm ban in the House.

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Your current subscription does not provide access to this content. If you believe you've gotten this message in error, please Log In.(TNS) - Its been a year since the Valentines Day murder of 17 students and staff members and the wounding of 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.Since then, schools around the country have taken steps to beef up security.In this area, several schools have made great strides to improve the safety of the students and teachers.Many of the improvements deal with how people enter school buildings.The number one thing that weve done: we put a kiosk system in where when you come in you have to bring your [drivers] license in now. We know everybody who comes in and out of our building. So will that stop a shooting? No, but we actually have a better understanding of who is going to be in our building or not, said Mel Rentschler, superintendent at Allen East schools.Everybody wears name badges. We have secure entrances. We have sign-in/sign-out sheets. We walk visitors to and from their destinations. People just cant roam the buildings on their own, said Nate Garlock, director of safety and security at Lima schools.One of the changes that took place after the shooting was we made sure that people could only enter through one entrance at the beginning of the day and not come in all of the different doors that are spread throughout the building so all of our students funnel through one place, said Aaron Rex, superintendent of Wapakoneta schools.Other improvements to security go much deeper.Wapakoneta schools is considering a high-tech notification system.Were going to have someone come and do a walkthrough of the building, and this notification system would have strobe message boards, a software program that brings up a message on your computer that says were moving to a lockdown or theres an active shooter in the building, and that would be on all of your desktops, all of your cell phones and instantaneously those things would happen right away so thats something were looking to spend dollars on for next school year, said Rex.Ottawa-Glandorf schools is also investing in equipment and materials.Weve upgraded our camera system. Weve had 3M safety film put over a number of windows and door glass at all three buildings and were going to finish that project this summer. We are in the process of applying for a couple of grants to purchase additional safety equipment in the way of two-way radios and night lock door locks, said Don Horstman, superintendent of Ottawa-Glandorf schools.Wapakoneta schools also secured their windows.We had a film placed on all of the glass, so if someone were to come and try to break the windows out or even shoot through the windows, you cant break that glass out once that happens so they couldnt just get access to the building, said Rex.Bath schools improved their cameras.Last summer, we actually had our security cameras in our high school and middle school completely upgraded, brand new camera systems in those buildings to align with our elementary systems, so were all on one system and greatly upgraded the vision and what we see in those buildings. We also implemented the Night Lock system device. Its basically a temporary barrier device that we put on every door in our district. When we go on a lockdown mode, we now have a little metal post that basically you put in behind the door and it goes into the ground floor, said Rich Dakin, superintendent of Bath schools.Lima schools also rely heavily on cameras.All of our buildings are equipped with security cameras, and theres not too many spots throughout the entire district that if its on school property we cant see it with a camera, said Garlock.Training of staff and teachers is also part of the mix.Were an ALICE district, so all of our buildings and all of our staff members go through ALICE training. All of our new hires, its required that they do it right at the beginning of their employment, and then we make sure we circle back and we are annually getting people. That way they are never too far away from that training. We dont want people that we train and then they havent had it in 10 years. We try to make sure that within every few years that people are at least getting some sort of refresher training, said Garlock.Weve had all of our staff undergo extensive ALICE training. Weve worked with the Sheriffs Department [and] the Ottawa Police Department. Weve had representatives from the Leipsic and Pandora Police Departments here, as well, working with our staff on ALICE training, said Horstman.In the fall, we did an evacuation drill. We brought in fire departments, sheriffs [and] state troopers. We brought emergency management in. We did a whole mock shooting in our school, and the kids were involved in it, and the sheriffs department did a great job. They walked around and found all of the [security] holes in our building. Like for instance, when we were locked down, there were some windows not covered and you could see into the classrooms and you could still see some kids. We have all of the windows blacked out now. When we have a lockdown, you cant look into our windows anymore. We have monthly drills now where scenarios pop up like an intruder or shooter in the school at different times, different places, so people keep it in the back of their mind monthly, like fire drills, what to do just in case, said Rentschler.In spring of 2018, everybody obviously had a heightened awareness of their district protocol, their emergency operating plans and so forth, and we did a tabletop exercise with local emergency management people all throughout Allen County and even Bath Township, and we went through some exercises here and kind of fine-lined our protocols and processes and looked at some areas, said Dakin.School resource officers also play a role in security for several districts.We have school resource officers in every single one of our buildings. Theyre vital to what we do. They do so many more things than just keep our building secure. They work in the role of mentor, counselor, just somebody kids can confide in, a trusting adult, all of the while making sure that they keep all of the bad things out of the building, said Garlock.We are in discussions with Sheriff Treglia and were trying to get a contract worked out so we can get an SRO out here for us because were on an island out here by ourselves. We dont have any police officers at all. We do want somebody in the building with a gun. Were not comfortable right now in having teachers do it, said Rentschler.We are currently in talks with the board of education about securing a school resource officer for next year. We will be looking at doing that over the next month or two and making a decision to have a resource officer on grounds every day, said Dakin.Funding some of the needed security improvements will be up to voters.In May were running a one mill levy that would create $400,000, and that money would be used to add three additional resource officers. We currently have one, but that one officer travels among the four buildings. So this would put a resource officer in every building. It would give us an additional mental health counselor because as we saw in Parkland, a lot of that goes back to mental health, and we only have one mental health counselor for 3,300 students, so we would like to add an additional mental health counselor. Then the final piece of that levy would pay for additional security upgrades, anything we would like to do with our camera system. We need new servers for that. They could help pay for things like the notification system, so that will be on the ballot May 7, and were hoping that the community sees value in it because the main goal is to just to provide more protection for our kids and our staff. Keeping kids safe is one of the most important things we can do, Rex added.Allen East has also taken the step of eliminating school counselors.Weve gone straight to social workers because were trying to be real proactive and catch kids who have mental problems before they do something thats going to harm all of us. In all of the shootings that youve seen, there are signs that these kids had mental instability and it should have been caught by the school, so we have two full-time social workers on staff here that do a great job working with our pre-K through 12 kids to help them with suicide prevention, help them with mental disabilities and those sort of things, said Rentschler.Reach Sam Shriver at 567-242-0409.2019 The Lima News (Lima, Ohio)Visit The Lima News (Lima, Ohio) at www.limaohio.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  Mississippi lawmakers are advancing a plan to raise public school teacher salaries by $500 a year over two years.

The Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday to advance Senate Bill 2770. It moves to the House for more work, and representatives are working on their own version.

Senators amended the proposal to pay the raise to teachers at one time as a bonus. Republican Sen. David Parker of Olive Branch and Democratic Sen. Angela Turner Ford of West Point argued teachers would appreciate the money more in one lump sum and would think more fondly of lawmakers.

Democrats have been deriding the pay plan as too small, but Senate President Pro Tem Gray Tollison, an Oxford Republican, says that's what the state can afford considering the state's other needs.OXFORD, Miss. (WTVA) - The sentencing of a Tennessee man for his role in The Lyric shooting has been delayed.

Desmond Bowen pleaded guilty last year to being a felon in possession of ammunition during the April 2018 shooting.

Desmond Bowen | Photo: Oxford PD Desmond Bowen | Photo: Oxford PD

Officials said Bowen was at the theater when a fight broke out. That's when he fired a shot.

Bowen was expected to be sentenced on Thursday, Feb. 14, but his sentencing has been reset for March 21.

He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.MATHISTON, Miss. (WTVA) - Police are working to identify two people who are allegedly cashing fake payroll checks at local businesses in Alabama and Mississippi.

The checks, cashed by two men, have been reported in Red Bay, Alabama; Belmont, Mississippi; and Mathiston.

Police are using surveillance footage captured in Red Bay to identify the two men.

One of the latest reports of a fraudulent payroll check cashed at a local business comes from the Gilliland Piggly Wiggly in late January.

"My first thought was, 'Here we go again," said Co-owner Jay Gilliland. "Weve had this before. This is not the first time; it will not be the last, but we take all the precautions that we can without making it hard on the customers.

Police Chief Justin Brown said the two individuals will be charged with uttering forgery when they are in custody.Amazon is ditching its plans to build a new headquarters in New York after facing backlash from members of the community.

'After much thought and deliberation, we've decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens,' Jodi Seth, an Amazon spokeswoman, said in a statement.

In the statement, Amazon noted that 'a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.'

Amazon selected New York City and Northern Virginia in November to split duty as its second headquarters (nicknamed HQ2) after a year-long search. Each city was expected to have more than 25,000 workers over time.

The company plans to move forward with its office expansions in Virginia as well as Nashville, where it is building a new hub expected to employ 5,000 people. There are no plans to 'reopen the HQ2 search at this time,' according to the Amazon statement.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo framed the original announcement as a tremendous job creation opportunity for the entire New York region. It also ignited a frenzy over real estate in both cities.

But critics objected to the massive subsidies New York offered to lure the tech behemoth.

New York State committed to $1.525 billion in incentives, contingent on the company creating 25,000 new jobs with an average salary of $150,000. Protesters took to the streets in Long Island City, criticizing the deal for being bad for taxpayers and the neighborhood.

Those critics got new hope earlier this month when New York State Senator Michael Gianaris of Queens, who is a vocal critic of HQ2, was recommended to serve on the Public Authorities Control Board.

The relatively unknown board weighs in on any financing and land use deals that run through public authorities, which primarily include economic development projects. It's had some success in the past blocking major projects.

Even after initial reports last week that Amazon was reconsidering its investment in New York, top city officials, including New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, expressed confidence that the deal would go through.Back when I was in Officer Candidate School, 51st Company, learning how to lead as an infantry officer, on the riser of the steps in our barracks was printed, "Mission-Men-Me." I thought it was a good statement and I tried to follow it early in my professional officer career. I certainly was all about the mission, I was last, and the men, well  they were part of the mission, right?Being married and having two young children, I began to think about where does "Family" fit into the Mission-Men-Me priorities? At what point, if at all, do they come before the mission or my men? About mid-career, due to circumstances, I finally figured out how to put my wife and kids in the mix of things. It was good I did, since that is the father they remember, not my first nine years of service.Which brings me tostory I shared in my earlier blog post about Brock Long resigning. Within that story there is this quoted element, "In an interview within September, Long called his relationship with Nielsen professional and functional" and added, We both understand what needs to be done." But behind the scenes, Nielsen was irritated with Long for not attending early-morning meetings with top-level DHS staff, and she disapproved of his absences from Washington when he visited his family in North Carolina, an administration official said in September."Which reminds me of another situation I was told about. Fort Sheridan, Ill., where I was stationed with 4th Army was also home to the U.S. Army Recruiting Command. I can't remember the commanding general's name, but he was a bachelor and I was told that he didn't care if you had a family or not. For him, he was married to the Army. I'm reminded of that situation by the fact that I believe that Kirstjen Nielsen is not married and has no "immediate family"  children, spouse, etc. There is no need for balance in her life. Likely she doesn't own a dog or other pets.I have not reason to not believe that Long wanted to spend more time with his family. And, it would be "inappropriate" to say anything about all the crap that he has had to put up with in his resignation letter. He is classier than that.I also noted a Beltway comment instory, "He was good on TV." How about saying he was a talented leader who knew his profession?BRAZIL, Ind. (WTHI)  A local school corporation is set to move forward on a project that's been controversial. The Clay Community School Board meets Thursday evening.

New synthetic turf at Northview High School is on the agenda. Board members will consider starting the advertising process for project bids.

They expect the project to cost about one million dollars.

The board previously voted to use rainy day funds to cover the cost.

There had been concern that the current field is in need of major repair.TURKEY RUN, Ind. (WTHI)- Imagine showing up to school one day and being handed a bow and an arrow. It may seem strange but this is becoming more common in schools across the Hoosier state.

One of these schools is Parke Heritage Middle School. This week some students like Bailey Jeffers had their first PE class learning archery.

"I was shocked because most the people were saying no they wouldn't pass that but they did and I was excited because I never touched a bow in my life before that," said Jeffers.

This activity started at Turkey Run in Parke County before the school consolidation. School officials decided to carry it into the new setting.

Teacher Shane Vandivier says archery covers many different skills. Those include patience and hand-eye coordination.

"Its that they're kind of always in hurry and rushed to do things and they kind of have to sit back, relax and kind of take their time and not rush themselves through it," said Vandivier.

They learn the basics heading to the shooting line with safety the main key. Teachers also want to make sure everyone is involved.

"I've got students who absolutely love it that have not liked anything else. I've seen a real difference in those kids who want to come in and they want to come in all the time and shoot," said Vandivier.

Students in the class hope they can continue to hone in their skills one shot at a time.

"Well for me I hope that many kids will learn how to do stuff like this and enjoy it as much as I do," said Jeffers.

The school says that if more students show a passion for archery they might consider making a team.Three weeks after the January 23rd US-orchestrated self-swearing-in of the right-wing opposition legislator Juan Guaido as interim president of Venezuela, Washingtons regime change operation appears no closer to installing its puppet in the Miraflores presidential palace.

As a result, the White House, the Pentagon and the CIA are steadily escalating threats of US provocations and military intervention.

The current focus of the attempt to oust the Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro is a cynical charade over the delivery of USAID relief supplies across the countrys borders.

Guaido announced at a mass rally in Caracas on Tuesday that February 23 would be the day that food and medicine the US has stockpiled across the border in Colombia would be brought into Venezuela by caravans of volunteers.

Here is a direct order to the armed forces: allow in the humanitarian aid once and for all (and) end the repression, Guaido proclaimed.

The Venezuelan military, however, has shown no inclination to follow the orders of Guaido, a US-trained and funded operative of the extreme right-wing Voluntad Popular (Popular Will) party who was a virtual political unknown before Washington recognized him as Venezuelas legitimate president.

The command of the armed forces issued a statement declaring that it does not recognize any lackey of US imperialism as its leader, much less accept the orders of a cowardly usurper of the constitutional rights of the people. The only commander in chief of the FANB (Bolivarian National Armed Forces) is Nicolas Maduro, elected by the people 

Guaidos postponement of a choreographed provocation on the Venezuelan-Colombian border until February 23 is undoubtedly designed to provide time for US attempts to blackmail and bribe a section of the military command to desert the government and support the regime change operation.

The pretext that Guaido is championing the Venezuelan people by attempting to bring in food and medical supplies trucked in by USAID (an agency that has repeatedly served as an instrument of CIA operations) is obscene. His aim is to provoke a bloody confrontation that would serve as a pretext for US intervention.

The amount of food and medicine that is being stored in a warehouse in Cucuta, Colombia, across the border from Venezuela is less than a drop in the bucket in terms of meeting the needs of the Venezuelan population, whose increasing impoverishment is a result of the global economic crisis and falling oil prices. The crisis has been compounded by US sanctions and the pro-capitalist policies of the Maduro government, which has continued paying off the countrys debt, while defending the interests of international and domestic finance capital.

The supplies on the border are a small fraction of the $20 million worth of aid pledged by Washington as part of the regime change operation. This total amount, meanwhile, is considerably less than the $30 million that the oil embargo imposed by Washington last month is expected to cost the Venezuelan economy each and every day.

The purpose of this embargo is to starve the Venezuelan population into submission, creating such abysmal social conditions as to render the country ungovernable. In this context, the demand to allow in the piddling supplies stored at the warehouse in Colombia is farcical.

Virtually all major aid organizations, including the Red Cross and the Catholic Church-affiliated Caritas, have refused to participate in the US aid provocation, stressing that humanitarian assistance cannot be manipulated for political aims.

This has not stopped the US and Western media, however, from engaging in a relentless propaganda campaign based on the narrative that the evil dictator Maduro is deliberately starving his own people by refusing to accept the aid offered by a beneficent US government.

Leading Democrats have also jumped on this bandwagon, using the aid provocation to justify their support for the Trump administrations regime change operation. Former Vice President Joe Biden issued a bellicose statement, declaring Only a tyrant would prevent the delivery of food and medicine to people he claims to lead. The international community must support Juan Guaido  It is time for Maduro to step aside and allow a democratic transition.

Similarly, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared her support for Guaido, adding, Maduros regime of repression and impoverishment for his personal enrichment continues to gravely violate human rights, and must be condemned ... His recent decision to block bridges and cut off channels of food and supplies imperils the health and futures of the Venezuelan people, and must be immediately reversed.

The supposed decision to block bridges is a propaganda invention. The Tienditas bridge linking Venezuela and Colombia was built in 2015 and never opened because of border tensions between Colombia and Venezuela, with both governments having long ago installed fences and barriers on their respective sides.

It is noteworthy that a corporate media and a Democratic Party leadership that has made relentless and unsubstantiated allegations over Russian meddling the focus of their opposition to the Trump administration have accepted without question the lies of this administration as it engages in a form of meddling that has every possibility of producing a bloodbath in Venezuela.

Underlying this bipartisan unity lie not concerns over democracy or humanitarianism, but rather the strategic interests of US imperialism, in particular the control of Venezuelas oil reserves, the largest in the world, and denying them to both Russia and China, which have extensive trade and investments with the country.

The threat of direct US military intervention in support of these aims has been steadily ratcheted up as the interim president Guaido has proven incapable of asserting control over anything more than the Venezuelan assets stolen by the US government.

Trump Wednesday met at the White House with Colombias right-wing President Ivan Duque to discuss the drive to overthrow the Venezuelan government. He reiterated the refrain that all options are on the table, and refused to discuss the disclosure of a note by his National Security Adviser John Bolton about sending 5,000 troops to Colombia, declaring I never talk about that.

Meanwhile, the head of US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) Adm. Craig Faller, spent two days this week in Brazil meeting with the countrys military brass and officials of government of Jair Bolsonaro, the fascistic former army captain who assumed the presidency at the beginning of this year.

Venezuela was also the central topic in these discussions. Brazil has strongly backed the regime change operation in Caracas, and leading officials have publicly mooted the possibility of a military intervention. On Wednesday, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security announced a 60-day extension of the deployment of Brazilian army troops in the state of Roraima bordering Venezuela, where Brazil has agreed to set up a staging point for the US humanitarian aid provocation.

In Washington, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, James Inhofe, told reporters on Tuesday that the US military would have to intervene in Venezuela if Russia established a military presence in the country.

Youve got a guy down there that is killing everybody, he said. You could have him put together a base that Russia would have on our hemisphere. And if those things happen, it may be to the point where well have to intervene with troops and respond.

Moscow has stated that Venezuela has made no request for military assistance.

In testimony on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, the Trump administrations special envoy on Venezuela, Elliott Abrams was asked whether the US had increased its troop deployments in South America in response to the Venezuelan crisis and responded, I dont believe so. He added that direct US military intervention was not Washingtons preferred route.

Asked by a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee whether the US was funneling arms to Venezuelas right-wing opposition, Abrams said that his answer was a simple and unequivocal no.

The committees Democratic chairman, Eliot Engel, introduced Abrams citing his posts in the Reagan and Bush administrations and his positions in various think tanks. Unmentioned was the fact that he pleaded guilty in 1991 to lying to Congress about the illegal funneling of money and guns to the CIA-backed contras in their terrorist war against Nicaragua and avoided jail only because of a pardon by Bush senior.

One member of the committee, Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar, challenged Abrams, citing his guilty plea in the contra affair, stated, I dont understand why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful. She went on to detail his defense of the El Mozote massacre of some 800 civilians in El Salvador and similar genocidal acts by the dictatorship in Guatemala.

Abrams treated the questioning with contempt, interrupting Omar and declaring that her questions were an attack that did not merit an answer.

That the same kind of operations that Abrams defended in Central America are ongoing in Venezuela was indicated by the Venezuelan governments interception of a shipment of 19 assault rifles, 118 explosive charges, 90 military-grade radio antennas and six latest generation smartphones on a Boeing 767 cargo flight by the 21Air company to the Valencia airport.

This materiel was destined for criminal groups and terrorist actions in the country, financed by the fascist extreme right and the government of the United States, a spokesman for the Venezuelan military charged.

The air cargo company, 21 Air, had previously run flights between US cities, but in recent months had shifted its operations to Venezuela, with stop-offs in Colombia.A lavishly financed political offensive has been launched against students and young people by an alliance of Conservative government hard Brexiteers and the American far-right.

Turning Point UK (TPUK) was founded earlier this year and has branches at the universities of Sussex, Oxford, St Andrews, York, Warwick and Nottingham as well as Kings College London, University College London, the London School of Economics and University of the Arts London.

It has posted five full-time job vacancies for Field Representatives, responsible for managing Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast; Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester; Nottingham and Birmingham; London and Cambridge; Bristol, Oxford, Brighton and Cardiff. Launch eventsdebates on controversial topics are planned for London (March 10), Cambridge (March 11), Sheffield (March 12) and Sussex (March 13).

The organisations purpose is given as educating students and other young people on the values of free markets, limited government and personal responsibility. Their promotion material is a naked defense of the capitalist system, declaring, We seek to defend the structures of society that have both created one of the most competitive economies and oldest, most influential democracies in human history.

This development speaks to the ruling classs profound fear of growing anti-capitalist sentiment among young people. In 2018, a poll of the US population aged 18-29 found more people in favour of socialism than capitalism. A 2016 YouGov poll found the same for the UK. A survey of nearly one million people between the ages of 18 and 35, by the Union of European Broadcasters, found that more than half of young people in Europe would join a large-scale uprising against the present system.

This pronounced shift to the left, driven by the objective crisis of the failed capitalist system, stand in the way of the ruling classs attempts to utilise universities as centres for the promotion of free-market and militarist ideology.

Immense financial and ideological resources are therefore being ploughed into a global right-wing counteroffensive, one which finds its highest expression in the actions of Professor Jorg Baberowski at Humboldt University in Berlin who engages in pro-Nazi apologetics. Recently the far-right Alternative for Germany parliamentarian Marc Jongen utilised Baberowskis arguments in a speech in the German Bundestag (parliament).

TPUK states that it intends to defend its pro-capitalist ideology against a dogmatic left-wing political climate, education system and radical Labour Party

Invoking an imagined persecuted constituency of right-wingers, it asks its target demographic, Sick of snowflakes spouting nonsense? Fed up with Momentum [backers of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn] propaganda on your newsfeed? Let down by the left-wing bias of your university? If youre being silenced for your conservative opinions or entrepreneurial spirit, dont sit down and shut up

This appeal to popular support is a fraud. There is no grassroots movement of young people in favour of the social system destroying their living standards, limiting their life chances and threatening them with war. No one is rallying to the cause of an organisation which tweets such asinine idiocies as Socialism = slavery. Capitalism = freedom.

A cursory check of its leading personnel exposes TPUK as a top-down operation of the Tory right, with the substantial backing of Turning Points US-based parent organisation and its fascistic supporters.

One of TPUKs leaders is George Farmer, a former member of the elitist Bullingdon Club and social secretary of the Oxford University Conservative Association. He is the son of multi-millionaire former Conservative party treasurer and major Tory donor, Lord Farmer, who spent most of his life as a financier in the City of London and its commodities market. Farmer co-founded the Red Kite hedge fund, which by 2017 had about $2 billion of assets under management, specialising in trading physical copper, mine finance and mining equities.

The Telegraph noted that Farmer upped his donations to the Tories under David Cameron to regular cheques of around 250,000 a quarter, when the Tories took seriously proposals from the Centre for Social Justice right-wing think tank that advocated an overhaul of the welfare system to simplify the benefits in a move that it says could save 3.4bn a year.

George Farmer, listed as an employee of Red Kite, paid 50,000 last year to dine with Prime Minister Theresa May and other senior Tories, and has donated nearly 100,000 to the party.

Other leading figures in TPUK are major players in the Brexit campaign: Steve Edgington, Chief Digital Strategist at Leave Means Leave, Darren Grimes, founder of BeLeave and BrexitCentral, and Tom Harwood, leader of the youth wing of Vote Leave. Harwood is also a reporter at the right-wing blog, Guido Fawkes, and helped to spearhead the disaffiliation campaign against the National Union of Students in 2016.

The Twitter account of Dominique Samuels boasts of her part in student politics leading the campaign against Working Class Officers in students unions. She states in a video on the TPUK web site, I dont believe the way to solve the poors ills is class war or seizing the means of production, et cetera.

Vocal political support has been offered TPUK by leading Tory Brexiteer MPs Jacob Rees Mogg and Priti Patel and by former UK Independence Party leader, Nigel Farage. Mogg tweeted, The left has no monopoly on the young, while Patel gushed, A new generation standing up for political & economic freedoms & Conservative values & beliefs. Fantastic!

Fellow Tory MPs Chris Green, Steve Baker, Anne Marie-Trevelyan and Bernard Jenkin followed suit, as did LBC Radio presenter Nick Ferrari and former Army Colonel Richard Kemp. Green participated in a Blairite pro-Zionist rally in Manchester last September, where he declared, If the Labour members of parliament cannot eject him because he was put in his place by the membership, then Labour MPs and councilors must challenge Jeremy Corbyn and eject him. Failing that, we need to have a new party.

Kemp is one of several serving and former Army officers to attack Corbyn as part of concerted and ominous interventions by the military into political affairs. In 2017, in response to Corbyns statements that any use of nuclear weapons is a disaster for the whole world, he said, Quite literally if Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister enacted the policies he describes, he would have blood on his hands he must never be elected to lead this country.

As well as securing funding from their own deep pockets, TPUK can draw on the resources and experience of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), which received $5 million in donations in 2016mostly from Republican-aligned billionaires.

Their activities include running a McCarthy-style Professor Watchlist, targeting academics accused of left-wing bias some of whom have received death threats as a result. According to TPUSAs Heartland Regional Director, a huge part of what Turning Point does is student government races. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been channeled into right-wing candidates for student offices in the US.

Present at TPUKs founding event, hosted at the Royal Automobile private members club in London, were James Dellingpole and Paul Joseph Watson. Dellingpole is the London editor of the fascistic Breitbart News, while Watson is an editor at InfoWars, run by the far-right conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones.

The involvement of these forces marks a step-change in the political fight on the campuses. Just as in Germany, the reactionary aims of the ruling class find concrete expression in the cultivation of the most right-wing forces on campus and a growing intersection between the Conservative and fascistic right.On Wednesday, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) held a national strike against job cuts and chronic unemployment.

The value of the South African currency, the rand, and prices on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange dropped in response to the strike. Tens of thousands of workers participated in the walkout, bringing economic activity to a near standstill across the country.

In speeches before crowds of workers, leaders of COSATU and allied parties made demagogic statements of allegiance to the working class and denunciations of capitalists who exploit workers for profit.

In reality, the call for a national strike is an attempt on the part of the trade union apparatus and its political allies, such as the South African Communist Party (SACP), to bind workers to the African National Congress.

As South Africas largest trade union federation, COSATU is a coalition of 21 unions that comprise workers employed in nearly every economic sector across the country, including mining, education, health care, textile, government, transportation, hospitality, and manufacturing. There are a total of 1.6 million workers represented by the federation. Nationwide, nearly one-quarter of South African workers belong to a union.

The national walkout comes amid a four-day electricity blackout across many areas of the country, with workers employed by state-owned electric utility Eskom participating in the strike. Eskom supplies over 90 percent of South Africas electricity.

Eskom has faltered in recent years under crippling debt due to government cuts. In breaking up Eskom last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa called for bold and decisive action to save the troubled utility. As a prelude to complete privatization of public infrastructure, the president declared, To ensure the credibility of the turnaround plan and avoid a similar financial crisis in a few years time, Eskom will need to develop a new business model.

In announcing the national strike to South African media, COSATU stated, The preparations for the strike against job losses are in full swing and the workers stand ready to fight and defend their livelihoods. Currently, the real unemployment rate is 38 percent, with close to 10 million people struggling to get jobs and over 17 million on welfare. COSATU cynically stated that it will fight the Ramaphosa governments plan to privatize state-owned entities, such as electric utility Eskom.

The union federation also declared that it would call on the ruling ANC government for a significant redistribution of wealth, increased social spending, and better pay and benefits to workers employed in the public sector.

The SACP, a close political ally of COSATU, also participated in the national march in Johannesburg, with SACP General Secretary Solly Mapaila making a speech decrying the mining sectors job cutting.

While making several demagogic denunciations of capitalism and the exploitation of workers, Mapaila told the crowd that the ANCs aim of privatization would be fiercely resisted.

Coinciding with COSATUs strike, today the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU) is conducting a walkout against pay cuts, cuts in funding for public infrastructure, and intolerable working conditions that the entire public sector suffers.

In its announcement, NEHAWU stated it aimed to stop academic and learning activities at all the technical and vocational education and training and community education (TVET) and training colleges across South Africa.

NEHAWU declared the strike would be of an indefinite duration, with NEHAWU general secretary Zola Saphetha telling journalists in Pretoria, The strike will commence at workplaces on the 14th of February in the morning and run indefinitely until all our demands are met by the department of higher education and training.

The claims by COSATU and NEHAWU that they are conducting a fight on behalf of the working class are completely cynical and fraudulent. Over a period of several years, the ANC, in alliance with the trade unions, has presided over the destruction of millions of jobs and the slashing of wages and living standards for the South African working class, as well as gutting social spending.

The social misery experienced by the South African working class is in stark contrast to the obscene wealth amassed by a tiny handful of elites.

In South Africa, with a population of 56 million and the second largest economy on the continent, the unemployment rate has persisted at 27 percent. Among youth, the prospects are exceedingly gloomy, with a jobless rate of over 50 percent.

According to UNICEF, 84 percent of children in South Africa have no health care coverage. The paltry budget for health care in the country is a criminally low 13 percent.

Additionally, according to the Department of Labour, workplace injuries and fatalities in the country are at an all time high, with the construction industry, representing some 12 percent of GDP, suffering an average of two fatalities a week.

The unions are exposed for working in collusion with companies to slash the living standards of their workers, as illustrated by the actions of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in 2012 that culminated in the Marikana massacre.

NUM sought to stop the strike at Lonmin Mines at Marikana that was overwhelmingly approved by mineworkers. Acting on behalf of Lonmin to break the rebellion, NUM deployed armed thugs who assaulted and shot at striking miners.

Escalating matters further, the ANC government under then President Jacob Zuma deployed security forces to Lonmin to break the strike, which resulted in the killings of over 40 miners. The current president, Ramaphosa, was a director at Lonmin at the time of the massacre, and he denounced the strikers in bloodthirsty terms, applauding the massacre.

To soothe the increasing animosity among the South African masses toward the ANC government, during his state of the nation address last week, Ramaphosa, a multi-millionaire and former union boss, cynically promised several initiatives to improve the economy, including the construction of new housing, increased funding for education, and the creation of a national health insurance system.

Contradicting his populist rhetoric, Ramaphosa revealed the true aim of the ANC government of completely privatizing state-owned industries. Clearly speaking to soothe financial markets, Ramaphosa declared that his government would seek strategic equity partnerships with the private sector to rescue ailing state-owned entities. In this, Ramaphosa is laying the groundwork for the complete giveaway of public utilities to private corporations.

The strike comes amid acute worker unrest and growing class struggle across Africa and internationally. Above all, the South African ruling elite fears an independent mobilization of the working class outside of its control.

The strikes in South Africa must be understood in the broader context of the growing international class struggle, as evidenced by the recent strikes by teachers in Zimbabwe, the nurses walkout in Kenya, the anti-government demonstrations in Sudan, to the yellow vests protests in France, teachers strikes across the United States, and the wildcat strike by auto parts and other workers in Matamoros, Mexico.The federal Liberal-National Coalition government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison suffered a blow on Tuesday, when it lost a vote on legislation amending the Migration Act in the House of Representatives. The Senate passed the laws the following day.

However, contrary to the claims of Labor, the Greens and the independent MPs who voted for the passage of the medical evacuation or medivac bill, it will not alleviate the suffering of refugees illegally incarcerated in Australian-operated detention centres on Papua New Guineas Manus Island and on Nauru in the Pacific.

Instead it will entrench the powers of the minister for home affairs and the intelligence agencies to prevent sick asylum-seekers in offshore detention from travelling to Australia to receive necessary medical attention.

Underscoring the crisis-ridden character of the Coalition, Tuesdays vote was the first time a sitting government has lost a vote on a substantial piece of legislation in the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Australian parliament, since 1941.

On Tuesday, Labor guaranteed that the Coalitions defeat would not result in a constitutional crisis or trigger a no confidence motion that could rapidly have brought the government down.

Under Section 53 of the Constitution, the Senate is not permitted to move legislation that allocates federal funds. Labor therefore removed a section of the medivac amendment that provided for fund appropriations that had originated in the Senate. This ensured that there were no money allocations tied to the legislation. Defeat on a so-called money bill in the House of Representatives is regarded as similar to a no confidence vote.

Labors role in preventing a full-scale crisis for the government and the official parliamentary set-up was in line with the sordid character of the backroom maneuvers that led to the passage of the legislation.

The origins of the bill lie in a string of reports last year that hundreds of refugees on Nauru and Manus Island are suffering serious and even life-threatening medical conditions, for which they are being denied adequate treatment by the Australian government and the contractors that it employs to operate offshore detention centres.

In August, for instance, a number of whistleblowing government employees and health workers reported that dozens of refugee children were suffering from resignation syndrome, a condition associated with prolonged imprisonment and trauma that results in a withdrawal from all interaction and activity.

Numbers of detained children were refusing food or water for extended periods. Some as young as 10 had self-harmed, including by ingesting sharp metal objects. It was also revealed that the federal governments immigration authorities were routinely blocking attempts to transport the refugees to Australia for medical treatment.

The exposures triggered anger among broad sections of the population. To head off an emerging movement in defence of refugees and to divert opposition behind the parliamentary establishment, independent MP Kerryn Phelps introduced the Medivac amendment to government legislation late last year.

The Coalition prevented it from being voted on in the House of Representatives during the final sitting day of parliament last year. Over the following months, Labor, the Greens and independent MPs presented the bill as a crucial step towards more humane treatment of refugees, while making clear that it would do nothing to undermine Australias draconian border security regime.

From the outset, the bill did not propose the resettlement of ill refugees to the Australian mainland. Instead it stipulated that, in certain cases, refugees could be transported to Australia for necessary medical treatment, while remaining in incarceration. They would then be returned to the detention camps in the Pacific that damaged their health in the first place.

Over the past weeks, Labor and the independents have done everything they can to ensure that the legislation entrenches ministerial powers. Senior Labor figures and independent MPs have all kowtowed to the intelligence agencies, receiving confidential briefings from them to make sure that the laws did not jeopardise purported national security.

With the changes made by Labor, the final bill allows the minister for home affairs to reject medical transfers proposed by doctors on security or character grounds. Such rulings, which cannot be appealed or overturned, would be based upon secret assessments conducted by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), the countrys domestic spy agency.

The minister can also reject a transfer on the grounds that it is medically unnecessary. This decision will then be reviewed by an Independent Health Advice Panel composed of government doctors. Even if the panel opposes the ministers decision, he can still prevent the transfer by invoking the vague security and character provisions.

Labor, Greens and independent MPs nevertheless hailed the passage of the bill.

Labor representatives stressed, however, that it would not weaken border security, or aid people smugglers, as has been claimed by the government. Labor leader Bill Shorten has repeatedly declared, over the past year, that a government he leads will continue the policy of consigning refugees who attempt to reach Australia by boat to prison camps in the Pacific.

This is in line with Labors central role in the persecution of refugees and immigrants. It was the Labor government of Prime Minister Paul Keating that introduced the mandatory detention regime. In 2012, the Greens-backed Labor governments of Julia Gillard reopened the detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island and decreed that the refugees imprisoned there would never be granted asylum.

The Greens support for the legislation demonstrates that its claims to defend refugees are a sham. The party, no less than Labor and the Liberal-Nationals, upholds the entire framework of border protection and immigration controls, which are used to deny people the right to seek asylum and block their free movement.

Significantly, Greens leader Senator Richard Di Natale admitted on Tuesday morning that Labors changes to the amendment, expanding ministerial powers, could make the situation worse than doing nothing. Di Natale and his party nevertheless ensured the passage of the bill.

For their part, the independent MPs have yet again demonstrated that they have no independence from the official two-party set-up. Their role is to act as a safety valve, diverting growing discontent behind the political establishment and fraudulently presenting a parliament that is uniformly committed to war, austerity and authoritarianism, as a forum of contesting political views and perspectives.

The immediate outcome of the bill is the governments announcement that it will reopen a refugee detention centre on Christmas Island, which has been the subject of class action lawsuits over the mistreatment of asylum-seekers, to shore up border protection.

This weeks events have also left little doubt that the campaign for the 2019 Australian federal election, which is likely to take place in May, will be a chauvinist contest between the major parties over which is toughest on national security and most vicious in persecuting refugees.The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and the Abbotsleigh Estate Workers Action Committee have organised a joint picket near the central bus stand in Hatton town in central hills district on February 17 to oppose the witch-hunt of plantation worker activists.

On December 13, amid the struggle of plantation workers for higher wages, the management of Annfield Estate at Dickoya suspended S. Balasubramaniyam, a worker and the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) branch leader at the St. Leys division of that estate.

The management accused Balasubramaniyam and three other workers, Pathmanathan, Subramaniyam and Krishnan, of blocking the gate to the estate factory and preventing the transport of tea leaves inside. Pathmanathan is the local leader of the CWC branch at the Stamford division of the Annfield estate.

The management also formally complained to the police against these workers and three CWC officials, Arulnayahi, Clera and Sivasami, saying they were also present when the incident took place.

After taking statements from these individuals, the police said that charges would be filed against them in the courts.

In an inquiry by an assistant labour commissioner into a complaint against the companys suspension of Balasubramaniyam, the estate manager accused him of causing a loss of 700,000 rupees (nearly $US4,000) by blocking transportation of the tea leaves.

Balasubramaniyam and the other activists have rejected the accusations made by management.

Such threats, intimidation and witch-hunting were widespread in the plantations during the estate workers struggle for better wages.

In early January, an assistant manager of the Abbotsleigh estate warned the president of the workers action committee, P. Suntharalingam, over his activities. In front of other workers, the assistant manager told Suntharalingam: You have made trouble in the estate by forming the committee. I will take action against you.

These repressive acts on the part of plantation management, with the backing of the government and police, are aimed at intimidating workers who launched a determined struggle for a 100 percent increase in their daily basic wage, which is currently just 500 rupees ($US2.80).

More than 100,000 workers launched an indefinite strike from December 5 to press their demand for a wage rise. The strike was called off by the CWC after nine days, with the backing of other unions, citing a false promise by President Maithripala Sirisena to solve the wage issue.

On January 28, the CWC together with Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union signed a sellout agreement with the Employers Federation of Ceylon, limiting the basic gross daily wage to 750 rupees, and ending other bonuses.

Workers have expressed broad opposition to the agreement by launching strikes and protests. Now, the leaders of the National Union of Workers, Democratic Peoples Front, Upcountry Peoples Front and Joint Plantation Trade Union Centre have begun futile discussions with the government and companies in a bid to defuse workers opposition. Companies have already rejected any further increase.

The witch-hunt in the tea estates is not isolated. In recent struggles, the police and security forces have been unleashed against workers at the Hambantota harbour, Ceylon Electricity Board, and in the petroleum sector and railways. Workers at the British-owned ATG factory in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone (FTZ) are currently on strike to demand the reinstatement of six suspended workers. Similar repressive action has taken place in other countries amid an upsurge of workers struggles internationally.

The CWC has refused to mobilise its industrial strength to defend Balasubramaniyam and other activists. All the other trade unions are completely silent about these attacks on democratic rights. Unions are not defending workers, but are in the service of government and big business.

The SEP and Abbotsleigh Estate Workers Action Committee, in issuing the call for the February 17 picket, have explained that the fight against the witch-hunt in the plantations is inseparable from the struggle to defend democratic and social rights of all workers from the onslaught of the capitalist class and its government. These rights can only be secured in the fight for socialism.Yesterday, after the show trial of Catalan nationalists began in Madrid, Catalan nationalist legislators declined to support the minority Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) governments budget. PSOE Prime Minister Pedro Sanchezs budget failed by 191-158. After meeting with his council of ministers on Friday, he is expected to call elections this spring.

Polls show that if elections were held today, the Popular Party (PP, 23.1 percent), Citizens (Cs, 19.2 percent) and the new anti-Catalan, pro-fascist PP split-off VOX (8.9 percent) together would win a 51 percent majority. PP leader Pablo Casado called yesterday for a common front of these right-wing parties, after they formed a regional governmental alliance last month in Andalucia.

The response of the Spanish ruling class to growing strikes and protests in Spain and across Europe, against European Union (EU) austerity is to build a fascistic regime. Objectively, this faces powerful working class opposition. However, this historically-rooted opposition to the legacy of Spanish fascist dictator Francisco Franco, who conquered Spain in the 1936-1939 Civil War and whose regime ruled until 1978, finds no expression through the existing parties.

The PSOE and its pseudo-left ally, Podemos, are reactionary and bankrupt. Podemos was the key supporter of the PSOE government, trying until the last moment yesterday to secure a deal with Catalan nationalists to approve the budget. Promoting nationalism and populism and pouring scorn on the working classs struggle for socialism, the Stalinist and Pabloite professors leading Podemos have allowed the ruling class to resuscitate Spanish neo-fascism. The fascistic danger is very real.

Podemos brought the PSOE to power last year not through elections, but back-channel talks to assemble a narrow parliamentary majority of the PSOE, Podemos, and the Catalan and Basque nationalists. This coalition then put Sanchez in power, ousting PP Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Podemos General Secretary Professor Pablo Iglesias explained the nationalist perspective underlying his electoral strategy: Were proud to be Spanish, and we will use the words that you use to win in politics. Because if you dont win, you cant change things.

In fact, with a realistic policy taking over conceptions of the nationalist right, Podemos prepared not victory but defeat. Once in power, the PSOEthe main party of capitalist rule in Spain since 1978predictably pursued an agenda indistinguishable from that of the PP, alienating workers and strengthening the neo-fascists. It kept the PPs 2018 austerity budget, poured billions into the army and, critically, continued the PPs repression of the Catalan nationalists.

Tuesday, the trial began of twelve Catalan nationalists arrested after the October 1, 2017 Catalan independence referendum, on charges of rebellion and sedition. The Catalan nationalist parties are reactionary pro-austerity parties, tacitly backing NATO wars and the EU. But this trial is an attack on democratic rights, including freedom of thought and of assembly, and a threat to illegalize all opposition to the state, that is unprecedented since the fall of Francoism. It must be opposed.

Catalan regional vice-premier Oriol Junqueras and Catalan cultural association leaders Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart face 25 years in jail for peaceful political activity: organizing a referendum and calling demonstrations. They have already been in prison for over a year, on charges of organizing a violent uprising. However, the only violence during the referendum was the PPs police crackdown on peaceful voters, sending over 800 to the hospital.

After the referendum, the PSOE supported Rajoys government as it incited anti-Catalan protests at which Francoite songs were sung, and the head of the Spanish army declared Catalan nationalism the greatest threat to our democracy. It is now clear that this campaign, echoing Francoite denunciations of reds and separatists, was an attempt by the entire ruling class, amid mounting social anger after a decade of EU austerity, to shift politics far to the right.

Under the Podemos-backed PSOE regime, prosecutors are making the Orwellian claim that the prisoners are guilty of the violence committed by the state against their supporters. I dont think responsibility for the violence on referendum day can be attributed to Spains law enforcement, but to those who, knowing the law, mobilized thousands of citizens. They acted as human walls impeding the legitimate police operation, prosecutor Javier Zaragoza said at trial yesterday.

VOX has been allowed to constitute itself as a public prosecutor allied to the state, and is demanding prison sentences of over 60 years for the defendants.

At the same time, VOX President Santiago Abascal publicly defended Francos record in the Civil War. We are the voice of those whose forefathers fought in Francos army and who do not want to condemn what their families did, he declared last month. There are those who do not want street names to change just because of the political fanaticism of those who want Spain to have a one-sided memory.

This is a defense of fascist suppression of the working class via state terror and mass murder. Franco led a coup against the Spanish Republic in 1936. After a bloody three-year civil warin which Franco exploited above all the role of the Stalinist and social democratic parties, which suppressed working class uprisings and murdered Trotskyists fighting for revolution in Spainhe cemented his regime with the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of left-wing workers and youth.

Nonetheless, the EU is expressing full confidence in the show trial of the Catalan nationalists. We fully trust the legal system in Spain, European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen said yesterday, adding that this is not a political question. We do not make political statements on the developments.

The sharpest warnings are in order: after three decades of imperialist war since the Stalinist bureaucracy dissolved the Soviet Union in 1991, and a decade of deep EU austerity since the 2008 crash, European capitalism is rotting on its feet.

In every country, unpopular governments are inciting neo-fascist movements against the threat of domestic opposition. While the German Grand Coalition government backs right-wing extremist professors seeking to whitewash Hitlerism to defend their remilitarization policy, French President Emmanuel Macron is hailing fascist dictator Philippe Petain and violently repressing yellow vests. Spain, which pundits sometimes claimed to be immune to neo-fascism due to workers hatred of Francoism, has been added to that list.

An upsurge in the international class struggle is developing. Yellow vest protests in France, mass one-day strikes in Belgium and Germany, and strikes by taxi drivers, port, retail, airport and metro workers in recent months in Spain are all signs of the powerful eruption of the class struggle that is being prepared. However, an outpouring of militancy and social anger will encounter determined opposition in the ruling elite, and the working class internationally faces a political struggle.

The basis for a struggle to defend democratic rights is socialist internationalism and a turn to the working class, through a determined political break with the Stalinist and Pabloite politics of Podemos and similar pseudo-left parties across Europe. This signifies the struggle to build sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) to offer revolutionary leadership to the working class in Spain and in countries across Europe, opposing to capitalism and the EU the fight for the United Socialist States of Europe.Today marks the one-year anniversary of the deadliest high school shooting in US history. Nineteen-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 people, including 14 of his classmates, and injuring 17 more. Some of those killed were as young as 14 years old.

The shooting at Parkland was a harrowing and tragic event, but unfortunately not a unique one. Indiscriminate killings in public schools have, over the last two decades, become frequent occurrences in America.

For the millennial generation, its Parkland was the Columbine massacre in Littleton, Colorado, where two teens went on a shooting spree on April 20, 1999, killing 13 people and wounding more than 20 others before turning their guns on themselves and committing suicide.

According to a tally by the Washington Post, in the nineteen years between Columbine and Parkland, some 150,000 students at primary and secondary schools in the United States have experienced a school shooting on their campuses, with more than 400 deaths.

For young people nowadays, the term school shooting evokes images from television, social media, and, for some, the personal experience of bloodied bodies, heavily armed young men, and teams of SWAT officers with automatic weapons swarming school hallways.

The official response to such tragedies by politicians and media pundits has become routine and ritualized, with hollow calls for unity and remembrance.

In the aftermath of the Parkland massacre, however, the usual responses only compounded the anger, grief and frustration of young people. Not so easily placated, they organized well over a million people in more than 800 demonstrations in all 50 states and 390 of the countrys 435 congressional districts, plus several protests overseas, to demand an end to mass violence in the schools. A mass demonstration in Washington DC under the banner March for Our Lives was one of the largest in the citys history, with more than 800,000 people in attendance.

The movement adopted the slogan Never again as a vow to eradicate the phenomenon of school shootings for the next generation. Students and young people from all over the country interviewed by reporters for the World Socialist Web Site associated mass violence with skyrocketing inequality and student debt, militarist violence and war, mass incarceration and police killings, and the destruction of social services and education.

Hundreds of thousands of youth were motivated to take to the streets out of a profound sense that something was deeply wrong with a society so marred by violence. They rallied with the aim of achieving fundamental change. What changes were required and how they would be achieved, however, was not clear to them.

As soon as the plans for demonstrations began to take shape, the Democratic Party moved quickly to narrowly frame the issue as one of gun control. While both the accessibility of assault rifles and the powerful political influence of the fascistic National Rifle Association are rightly viewed by youth as expressions of the irrationality of American society, the single-minded focus on gun control was designed to evade an examination of the deeper social and political causes of the Parkland tragedy.

Framing the issue around a legislative effort served to funnel the movement back into the safe confines of the two-party system. Within a matter of weeks, the March for Our Lives organizers were traveling the country on a Get out the vote tour aimed at whipping up support for supposedly progressive Democratic candidates who support stricter gun laws.

In the meantime, in schools all over the country, in Democratic- and Republican-controlled states alike, measures were taken to fortify school grounds. A bill passed by the Florida state legislature at the beginning of the 2018 fall semester allocated $58 million toward arming teachers. The state even launched a new app designed to anonymously report suspicious activity in the states schools. The app, FortifyFL, cost state legislators $400,000 to develop and is a further step in an effort to monitor and essentially spy on students 24 hours a day.

Despite the Democratic Party takeover of the leadership of the movement, the sentiments animating hundreds of thousands of young people who participated in the March for Our Lives protests have not gone away.

What is needed to carry forward the struggle of young people against mass violence is an understanding of the roots of the problem, and, on that basis, a clear conception of who their allies are and who are their enemies.

The cause of mass violence in todays society is the capitalist system, which subordinates every question to the dictates of private profit. It is this global socio-economic system that produces the two fundamental causes of mass violence: imperialism and inequality.

The brutality of US imperialism dominates not only the political life of the United States, but its culture as well. The youth involved in the protests have grown up in a country and world dominated by the so-called war on terror, now in its 18th year. In addition to arming local police forces with surplus military-grade weaponry, the governmentunder Obama no less than under Bush and Trumphas carried out unending violence abroad, killing millions and destroying entire societies, from Afghanistan and Iraq to Libya and Syria. It has deliberately sought to whip up nationalism, paranoia and xenophobia.

This state of permanent war and mass surveillance of the population has deadly consequences for the social psychology of the country, as witnessed by the fact that the Parkland shooter, Nikolas Cruz, sported his Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) shirt as he carried out the murder of classmates and administrators.

The trillions spent on militarist violence abroad leaves public services, education and health care starved of resources and masses of working class people struggling to make ends meet, and millions more in poverty. The social crisis in the US has reached depths not seen in decades, producing substantial numbers of severely traumatized and psychologically damaged people. Life expectancy has dropped two years in a row, deaths of despair are on the rise, and a drug epidemic has ravaged large swaths of the country.

It is in this social and political context that the March for Our Lives protest emerged. One year into the Trump administration, amidst a devastating social crisis, the response to the Parkland shooting marked a significant stage in the radicalization of a new generation of youth in the US, as part of a broader radicalization of the working class internationally.

The March for Our Lives protest roughly coincided with a wave of teachers strikes that spread across the US and other countries, and continues to this day. The year went on to witness struggle after struggle by workers all over the world: mass protests of youth and workers in Iran; metal workers, pilots and Amazon workers in Europe; UPS workers in the US; tea plantation workers in Sri Lanka; and the massive Yellow Vest protests in France, among others.

Every significant struggle of the past year has erupted over basic class issues: wages, working conditions, health care, education, police brutality, attacks on immigrants.

This upsurge of working class struggle has struck fear into the global ruling class. The mobilization of workers has been met with censorship and increasingly authoritarian measures by the ruling class of every country.

The response to March for Our Lives protests in the US at the hands of both parties has similarly been to increase the forces of repression: more police, more surveillance cameras, more censorship and more regimentation in the schools. Meanwhile, public education continues to be starved of funds.

The way forward for youth and students seeking to end mass violence is to turn to the decisive revolutionary force in societythe working class. Students must link their struggles with those of teachers, who are involved in a determined fight to defend public education, as well as auto workers fighting plant closures and layoffs and workers exploited by low-wage, sweatshop companies like Amazon and UPS.

They must oppose all efforts to channel their struggles behind the Democratic Party, including so-called progressive Democrats such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It is a party of big business and the military, which has served for more than a century as the graveyard of social protest movementsfrom the industrial unions to the civil rights and anti-war movementsand has done nothing to address the conditions that lead to high school shootings.

There is no answer to the social evils of capitalism outside of a struggle for socialism, based on the united, international mobilization of the working class. It is to this that young people must dedicate themselves, through the building of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality.(TNS)  Mayor Frank Jacksons administration on Wednesday disputed AT&Ts contention that inaction by the city has thwarted the companys efforts to invest millions into a 5G network in Cleveland.The city granted nearly all the permits AT&T requested for new fiber lines, Jacksons interim chief of staff, Sharon Dumas, wrote in a letter to the company that was obtained by cleveland.com Permit requests for small cell antennas needed to help deliver signals to customers were sent to the city just seven days before AT&T sent its Feb. 8 letter accusing the city of a lack of urgency, the letter states.I want to assure you that the Jackson administration has been working, and continues to work, to position the city for the future, Dumas wrote. If AT&T works cooperatively with the city to provide the information that the city requires, the city will be able to assist AT&T more efficiently and effectively to achieve both our goals.You can read Dumas letter here The Jackson administration had no comment Wednesday night on the citys letter.AT&T issued a brief statement."We appreciate the timely response from the mayor's office and are in the process of reviewing the letter, Tina Noel, a spokeswoman for AT&T Ohio, said in the statement. "We look forward to further discussions shortly and to working with the city to bring new technologies that will benefit its citizens.The response is to a letter AT&Ts regional president, Adam Grzybicki, sent Feb. 8 to the mayor complaining that slow action by the city was hindering the companys efforts to make Cleveland the first city in the nation with a 5G, or fifth-generation network, for wireless communication.We look forward to continuing to invest in the people and city of Cleveland, Grzybicki wrote. But currently, most of our investment plans are on hold, due to a lack of urgency from your administration.The dueling letters come at a time when city business leaders, including some with ties to Jackson, are trying to position Cleveland as a technology center with blockchain.AT&T and the nations other large wireless carriers are racing to be the first to build a 5G network. The so-called fifth generation technology promises data speeds 50 to 100 times faster than 4G LTE networks Grzybicki noted in a letter to Jackson last August that AT&T invested more than $325 million over the last three years in technology in Cleveland. Industry experts have predicted that 5G could become a new cord-cutting option for almost 90 million U.S. households that now get broadband, phone and TV via cable or satellite, Bloomberg News reported.In December, AT&T CEO John Donovan told an audience at the Blockland Solutions conference in Cleveland that development of 5G networks could be essential to developing the Internet of Things, a reference to the network of smart devices all connected. Developing 5G could provide the structure for it to run on, he said.In his letter to Jackson on Friday, one that was copied to members of City Council and several key downtown Cleveland business leaders, Grzybicki wrote that fiber permits had yet to receive approval.He also stated that he hoped Cleveland would soon take action on a small cell agreement, and could negotiate a master agreement with AT&T for use of utility poles owned by Cleveland Public Power, a city-owned utility.Among the recipients of the letter were Joe Roman, the CEO of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, and Bernie Moreno, the leader of a grassroots effort to make Cleveland a center for blockchain technology.In her letter Wednesday, which was copied to the same community leaders, Dumas wrote that the city had approved all the fiber permits requested in 2018 and all but one requested for 2019.Permit requests for small-cell antennas were received Feb. 1, one week before Grzybickis letter, and were under review, Dumas wrote.Design drawings needed for a small-cell attachment agreement involving CPP poles were not received until Feb. 5 and were illegible, Dumas wrote. New drawings were not received until Tuesday.There have been no discussions about a master agreement involving use of the poles, Dumas said in her letter. AT&T introduced this concept by [changing] the title of the small cell attachment agreement [to insert] the word master.Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh holds talks with DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho (Source:VNA)



Minh made the remarks during the talks with DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and Ri Su Yong, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers Party and head of its International Department, as part of his official visit to the DRPK at the invitation of Ri Yong Ho from February 12th-14th.

Vietnam stands ready to share its experience in national construction, socio-economic development and international integration with the DPRK at its requests, he said.

Minh also asserted Vietnams consistent stance on supporting dialogues in order to maintain peace, security and stability on the Korean Peninsula, as well as its willingness to actively contribute to the process.

For his part, Ri Yong Ho stressed his hope for stronger relationship between the DPRK and Vietnam as the two nations will celebrate the 70th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2020.

He agreed to exchange measures to enhance the bilateral relationship suitable with the new situation.

The DPRK minister used this occasion to thank Vietnam for its stance and efforts in promoting the dialogue progress for peace, security, cooperation and development on the Korean Peninsula.

The two sides briefed each other about the socio-economic development of each country. They agreed to continue coordinating at international and regional forums such as the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, the ASEAN Regional Forum, as well as international conferences and forums among political parties.

The two sides agreed to enhance the exchange of viewpoints over issues of mutual concern such as the maintenance of peace and stability in the region.

At the talks with Ri Su Yong, Minh conveyed the New Year greetings from General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee and President Nguyen Phu Trong to the DPRKs leader Kim Jong Un.

He affirmed that based on the consistent foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development, diversification and multilateralization of international relations, being friend and reliable partners and responsible member of the international community, the Party, Government and people of Vietnam want to maintain and promote the traditional friendship with the DPRKs counterparts.

Minh congratulated the DPRK people on achievements that they have gained during the cause of national construction and development.

He took the occasion to invite Ri Su Yong to visit Vietnam to enhance the exchange and partnership between the two parties.

For his part, Ri Su Yong emphasised the Workers Party and Governments standpoint of treasuring the traditional friendship between the two countries as well as determination to promote the bilateral ties, which was founded and nurtured by President Kim Il-sung and President Ho Chi Minh, considering it as a valuable asset that need to be preserved and upheld.

He expressed his belief that Minhs ongoing visit will make important contributions to reinforcing and promoting the traditional friendship and partnership between the two parties.

Ri Su Yong spoke highly of important achievements that the Vietnamese people have obtained during the cause of national construction and development and in enhancing the countrys international status. He expressed his hope to visit Vietnam in the near future.

The same day, Deputy PM and FM Minh visited the Vietnamese Embassy in the DPRK./.On February 1, New Zealands Labour Party-led government launched police training courses at three high schools in the greater Wellington region: Aotea, Mana and Kapiti Colleges. Year 13 students are being encouraged to take the Introduction to Police Studies course for academic credits to go towards their National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), NZs high school qualification.

The course was originally announced in November 2017, just days after the formation of the coalition government, as a pilot scheme at two high schools in the working class town of Rotorua. Last year 35 students completed the course, which is now being expanded to the three largely working-class schools in Porirua and Kapiti, near the countrys capital.

At the launch ceremony, a police sergeant said the course would be useful for the recruitment process, such as helping [students] train for the physical entry requirements. It incorporates a 12-week pre-entry course which all police applicants complete as part of their training.

Moving this course into high schools further demonstrates the right-wing character of the coalition Labour-led government, which also includes NZ First and the Greens. Police officers will run the program with the aim of instilling discipline and unquestioning respect for the forces of the state among young peoplethe section of the working class worst-affected by low wages and the social crisis.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern falsely claims to be implementing kind and compassionate policies, while areas such as Rotorua and Porirua remain mired in poverty, with high rates of homelessness, illnesses caused by poor living conditions, and suicide.

Soaring social inequality has fuelled an upsurge of strikes and protests over the past year involving teachers, health workers, transport workers and othersa trend that has alarmed the ruling class. Like governments around the world, Labour is responding to the developing class struggle with authoritarian measuresstrengthening the power of the police, military and spy agencies to suppress popular anger.

In its coalition deal with the right-wing nationalist NZ First Party, Labour agreed to recruit 1,800 more front-line police officersa 20 percent increase on 2016 figures. During the 2017 election the major parties competed to be the toughest on law and order. Labour recruited Greg OConnor, former Police Association leader, as a star candidatea man with a long record of defending killings by police and calling for all officers to be armed with guns.

The plan to roll out Police Studies in high schools, however, was hidden from the public until after the vote. It cannot be found in Labour or NZ Firsts pre-election policy statements or media coverage.

The introduction of the course follows years of the militarys involvement in schools. Dozens of schools now give academic credit for Service Academy programs: military-focused training run by the Defence Force. Several were established under the 1999-2008 Labour government and the number increased under the 2008-2017 National Party government, mostly in poor neighbourhoods. According to the Ministry of Education website, 29 schools now run Service Academies, up from 16 in 2011.

The 2008-2017 National Party government opened several for-profit charter schools, including the Vanguard Military School in Auckland, which prepares teenagers to join the armed forces. Labour has integrated the school into the public system while allowing it to keep its special militarist character.

Throughout the past year there has been a determined recruitment drive for the armed forces and the police. One of the Labour-led governments first announcements was that a six-week military training scheme offered to unemployed youthknown as the Limited Service Volunteerswould double in size, from 800 to 1,600 people per year.

Schools have been flooded with nationalist material celebrating New Zealands participation in the First World War, as part of multi-million-dollar Anzac centenary commemorations. Tens of thousands of young New Zealanders died in the war as part of the British Empires forces in the Middle East and Europe. In the lead-up to WWI, schools were heavily militarised and children were indoctrinated with jingoistic propaganda.

More than a century later, society is once again being militarized in the context of an intractable crisis of the capitalist system and preparations for war by every country, with the United States in the forefront. US imperialism is determined to offset its historic economic decline by seizing resources and markets with military forceincluding against nuclear-armed powers like Russia and China.

New Zealands ruling elite is part of the US-led Five Eyes intelligence network and seeks to advance its own imperialist ambitions through its military alliance with the US. The Ardern government has kept New Zealand troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, called for a greater US military presence in the Pacific, and joined the Trump administration in labelling China and Russia the main threats to global stability.

Despite widespread anti-war sentiment, there is no opposition within the political establishment to the Police and Defence Force programs targeting teenagers and unemployed youth. The Green Party, which is part of the government, the trade unions and pseudo-left groups have remained silent.

Aotea College principal Kate Gainsford, former president of the Post-Primary Teachers Association (PPTA), the secondary teachers union, hailed the Police Studies course, telling the NZ Police website: We found our school values aligned very well with Police values. We dont see it as necessarily a recruitment toolits more about service to the community and opening the door for other possible pathways, including a pathway to Police.

Such statements reflect the anti-working class politics of the unions, which have spent decades working with governments and businesses to suppress workers opposition to wage freezes and the running down of working conditions. It is no surprise that union bureaucrats would feel a close affinity with the police.

The PPTA is currently negotiating with the Ministry of Education in an attempt to avoid strike action, which teachers have voted for, against low wages, understaffing and the lack of classroom aides.

In 2016, the nationalist Daily Blog, which is funded by the Unite union, the Rail and Maritime Transport Union and the New Zealand Dairy Workers Union, promoted NZ Firsts proposal for unemployed teenagers to be encouraged to undergo army training. The blog has also called for a more aggressive and militarist stance against China.

The demand must be raised for an immediate end to military and police recruitment programs in schools and universitiesas part of a broader political and industrial campaign to unite workers, students and parents on the basis of a socialist anti-war program. The struggle of primary and secondary teachers, and other workers, against austerity must be linked with conscious opposition to military spending and law-and-order spending. This requires an implacable struggle against the Labour Party government, including NZ First and the Greens, and a complete break from the trade unions and their pseudo-left allies.

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[25 April 2015]Anger is boiling in the auto factories over GMs announced plans to close five factories, including the Detroit-Hamtramck facility, the Lordstown, Ohio plant and the Oshawa, Ontario factory, as part of a drive to cut 14,000 jobs. Ford has meanwhile announced it is eliminating a shift, 1,000 jobs, at its Flat Rock Assembly Plant south of Detroit.

The demonstration held Saturday, February 9 in Detroit called by the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter and the Steering Committee of the Coalition of Rank-and-File Committees against the GM plant closures was the first response of class-conscious workers aimed at mobilizing broad resistance. It was organized in explicit opposition to the pro-company United Auto Workers and won widespread support among workers in the US and internationally, including the striking maquiladora workers in Matamoros, Mexico.

In reaction against this United Auto Workers President Gary Jones wrote an op-ed column published in the February 10 issue of the Detroit Free Press in which he tried to get autoworkers to believe that the union has their back. Pointing to upcoming contract talks with Ford, GM and Fiat Chrysler to replace the four-year agreements that expire on September 14, Jones claimed the UAW would conduct a major battle at the bargaining table to keep the plants open and save union jobs.

At the same time, Jones resorted to the UAWs stock-in-trade of seeking to deflect workers anger by railing against foreign workers, denouncing GM for expanding production in China and Mexico. Significantly, Jones made no mention of the threatened closure of GMs Oshawa plant outside Toronto in Canada.

The idea that the UAW would fight to defend anything other than the interests of the corrupt union executives would be laughable if the issues were not so serious for autoworkers, their families and the communities facing devastation due to plant closures. Autoworkers have watched over the last four decades as the UAW has negotiated one concessionary job saving agreement after another with the result that hundreds of thousands of jobs have been eliminated, while workers living standards and shop floor rights have been decimated.

As for the supposed pledge obtained by the UAW from newly-elected Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer to oppose GM plant shutdowns, the governor, a long-time shill for big business, didnt even bother to mention the issue in her State of the State address this week.

The contract talks are not a contest between antagonists, but a conspiracy of the auto bosses and the UAW against the workers. What the UAW calls negotiations are behind-the-scenes maneuvers where high-level operatives haggle over what portion of the profits pumped out of autoworkers and stolen from their wages and benefits will be funneled into the bank accounts of the UAW. This is the purpose of the various joint training funds and programs funded by the auto companies and the millions of dollars in bribes paid to top UAW officials, as revealed in the ongoing corruption scandal.

Writing in the wake of GMs plant closing announcement in November, Automotive News called the job cuts a shot across the bow aimed at forcing workers to, in the words of an analyst, focus on jobs and survival in 2019 rather than contract gains. It cynically added, But if any of the plants are saved, union members should read the fine print in the contract. Expect GM to demand untraditional employment practices such as an increase in temporary, subcontracted or outsourced workers.

Both the auto companies and the UAW are determined to purge the factories of older legacy workers, who have higher wages, health and pension benefits, and replace them with low-paid workers who pay dues but have few if any rights. In the 2015 negotiations the UAW agreed to remove limits on the number of temporary part-time workers, who are essentially casual workers who could be disposed of without cost in case of downsizing.

It is also likely that a new effort will be made to relieve the corporations of their health care obligations altogether by establishing a union-controlled scheme to manage medical benefits for active workers, similar to the VEBA retiree health care program, which is funded by billions in auto company stock. Well aware that the UAW had cut benefits to retirees after taking over their health plans, there was near-universal opposition to extending this to current workers. This was a major factor behind the initial defeat of the 2015 UAW-FCA contract, which forced the corporations and the UAW to drop the demand.

There is no time to lose. Preparations must be made now by workers to assert their own interests in opposition to the gang up of corporate management and the UAW. In preparing for a fight, workers must begin with the understanding that in the UAW they face an enemy just as bitter and unrelenting as management. In every factory, workers should elect rank-and-file oversight committees to sit in on all the contract talks and report regularly to workers in the factories. This is the only way to prevent backroom deals that are rammed through against the will of workers.

At the same time, rank-and-file committees, independent of the UAW and Unifor, must be built to mobilize the broadest opposition, including mass demonstrations, strikes and plant occupations, to prevent the shutdown of the GM plants, resist demands for new concessions and to restore all UAW-backed concessions.

Meetings in the factories and on social media must be organized to formulate a list of demands that begins with the needs of workers, not the interests of the corporations and the UAW. This includes a 40 percent wage increase to compensate for the increased cost of living, the abolition of all tiers, the conversion of part-time and contract workers to full-time regulars, and the rehiring of all laid-off and victimized workers. To break the dictatorship of the corporations and their UAW police force in the factories workers must fight for industrial democracy, including workers control over health and safety as well as line speed.

In waging this fight it is critical that workers review the bitter lessons of the 2015 sellout negotiated in secret by the UAW.

The claim by Jones that the UAW is focused on jobs can mean nothing but the imposition of huge new concessions. In 2015 the UAW agreed to a new lower sub-tier wage at three Ford plants, including the Sterling Axle, Woodhaven Stamping and Rawsonville powertrain plants in suburban Detroit. New workers at these plants would max out at a wage about $10 an hour less than legacy workers in 2019. At the Woodhaven plant, new workers can make as little as $9 an hour under a competitive wage structure agreed to by the UAW.

These brutal conditions played a role in the death of temporary part-time worker Jacoby Hennings, who police claimed shot himself after an unexplained dispute with UAW officials at the Woodhaven Stamping plant in October 2017. Another young worker, Davion Rice, died at the Sterling Axle plant last September in circumstances that have still not been fully explained.

In 2010, the UAW attempted to force through an agreement on workers at the General Motors Indianapolis Stamping plant imposing a 50 percent wage cut, claiming it was necessary to keep the facility open under new ownership. After workers voted three times to reject the cuts, the UAW allowed GM to close the plant without opposition.

The February 9 demonstration organized by the Steering Committee of the Coalition of Rank-and-File Committees and the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter laid out the strategy for the coming struggle. First, workers must organize independently of the corporate-controlled unions and fight for the broadest mobilization of not just autoworkers but all sections of the working class.

Second, this is an international fight. It is not possible to fight globally-organized corporations on a national basis. Rank-and-file committees in the US must link up with workers in Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, South America and Africa to wage a common fight to defend jobs and living standards.

Finally, this a fight not just against this or that employer but against the entire capitalist system, which subordinates the needs of the working classthe vast majority of the planets populationto the relentless drive by the corporate and financial oligarchy for more private wealth.

The fight to defend jobs and for industrial democracy raises the question of who should run the factories. The insistence that workers have the inalienable right to a good-paying and secure job is an implicit challenge to the right of Wall Street and wealthy stockholders to own and control giant industries and to close them and destroy entire communities whenever they choose.

The broadest industrial mobilization of the working class against plant shutdowns must go hand in hand with the organization of a political fight based on a socialist program directed toward the transformation of the auto factories into public utilities under the democratic ownership and control of the working class.

Workers interested in learning more about this fight should contact the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter.On Saturday, February 9, the first major national demonstration against the right-wing government of Lega and the Five-Star Movement took place in Rome. According to the organizers, 200,000 participants marched through Rome under the slogan A future for work. The three trade union umbrella organizations CGIL, CISL and UIL had called the protest.

The demonstration was marked by an obvious contradiction. The large number of participants shows that the international class struggle is also awakening in Italy. The march was supported by angry workers, retirees and groups of school students who wanted to fight the governments right-wing course. Some of the banners read: Hands off pensions, Less state [attacks] against social networksmore welfare state, and stop racism.

But the initiators of the demonstrationunion leaders, Democratic Party (PD) representatives and pseudo-left politicianslent the rally a pro-business orientation. They even managed the feat of attacking the ultra-right Lega/Five-Star government from the right.

The Conte government, which took over government in June last year, is the most right-wing Italian government since the fall of the fascist regime of Mussolini in 1945. It is pursuing a chauvinist, xenophobic course, expanding the military and the police state and driving tens of thousands of migrants into illegality.

The government wants to begin paying its so-called citizens income shortly before the European elections in May. However, this is far from providing an unconditional basic income for all, as was promised in the general election campaign. Like the Hartz IV welfare and labour reforms in Germany, the citizens income of 780 maximum, which applies only to Italian citizens, serves the state as a whip to force the needy to undertake any work offered and to lower wages overall. As a result, the government has met with increasing resistance among working people.

The union leaders who spoke at the rally on Saturday criticized the government from the standpoint of that wing of Italian capital that works closely with the European Union and has carried out massive social cuts over the past three decades, supported by the Democratic Party.

They argue like worried business leaders and accuse the government of leading the country into recession with unrealistic projects. For months, the decline in industrial production points to the risk of a recession in Italy, the CGIL said in its call for the demonstration. At the rally, Maurizio Landini, CGIL Secretary-General, called for more investment. The bottom line is investment: without a specific plan of public and private investment, you will not be able to get work done.

Landini, the former head of the metal workers federation FIOM, became Secretary-General of the CGIL in January 2019. In addition to the two other union leaders, Carmelo Barbagallo (UIL) and Annamaria Furlan (CISL), the former CGIL leaders Guglielmo Epifani and Sergio Cofferati marched with him at the head of the demonstration. Both represent a split from the PD: Epifani stands for the party MDP-Articolo Uno, and Cofferati for the Free and Equals (Liberi e Uguali, LeU). In addition, prominent PD politicians, such as current PD chief Maurizio Martina and former head of government and PCI leader Massimo DAlema, also took part in the demonstration.

Together with these union bureaucrats and representatives of former PD governments, employers and a president of the business association Confindustria also participated. Ermanno Bellettini, head of Confindustria in Romagna, criticized the governments halting of several projects, such as oil and gas exploration off the coast of Italy, justifying the collaboration with the unions by saying, We too are equally concerned.

The main speech at Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano was given by Annamaria Furlan, leader of the Catholic CISL. She too, spoke in tune with the national interests of Italian business. The Italian working people love Italy, announced Furlan. But under the current government, industrial production was in decline and economic output was declining, she said. The only thing that keeps growing is the spread, the union president announced. The spread is stock market jargon referring to the interest differential between Italian and German government securities.

Furlan appealed to the government to work with the unions. We have provided important suggestions on how to get the country back on track ... We want economic growth, because without growth there is no work ... without growth there is no future for our country.

These were not the words of a representative of the working class but of the Italian ruling class. The close partnership of the three big trade union federationsCGIL, CISL and UILwith representatives of Italian capital and the PD camp has a long tradition. It made possible the social attacks of earlier governments and paved the way for todays Lega/Five-Star government.

In a TV interview in 2016, former Prime Minister and EU Commissioner Mario Monti confirmed the crucial role the unions played in the introduction of the hated Fornero pension reform, reversing in one fell swoop the old-age security that Italian workers had fought for after the fall of fascism in 1945. When he introduced the pension reform by decree in December 2011, union leaders did not seize the opportunity for social revolt. No other country has implemented such a drastic pension reform so easily, Monti gleefully noted.

The rise of the Five-Star movement from nothing is a result of this class collaboration, which is fully supported by the pseudo-left organizations. For example, Rifondazione Comunista called for support for the demonstration on February 9, without saying a word of criticism about its political line.

A break with these organizations and the trade unions is the most important precondition for fighting social attacks and the rise of the right. As long as they suppress the working classs preparedness to fight and divert it into the dead end of class collaboration, the right-wing can benefit from growing disappointment and anger.

This was shown the day after the demonstration in Rome, in the results of the regional election in Abruzzo, which had been shaken by devastating earthquakes in 2009 and 2016. The right-wing camp won the election with 49 percent and its top candidate, Marco Marsilio of the fascist Fratelli dItalia, is the new regional president.

The Lega, which supported Marsilios candidacy, was the strongest single party, with 27.9 percent. In contrast, the votes of the Five-Star Movement halved. At 19.3 percent, it did not receive half as much as in the last regional election in 2014 (40 percent). The so-called centre-left alliance under the leadership of the Democratic Party (PD) received only 31.2 percent, the PD alone just 11 percent.

A year ago, Beppe Grillos Five-Star Movement had risen to become the countrys strongest single party. It won the parliamentary election in 2018 with almost a third of the vote. But despite claiming to be neither right nor left, it entered a governing coalition with the far-right Lega, who have used it as a stepping-stone for its further advancement. Meanwhile, the Lega is by far the strongest single party.In his state of the union speech last week, American president Donald Trump continued his racist and fascistic rant against oppressed Central American migrants who are seeking asylum in the United States, depicting them as illegals steeped in drugs and violence.

Trumps diatribe won praise from Mexicos president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), who said it is Trumps right, his vision. He was respectful enough of our government and I thank him for that, because we are doing our part.

This week, AMLOs government responded with force when some 2,000 immigrants detained in Piedras Negras, Coahuila rebelled against their jailers from the local police and federal armed forces. For nine days, the Central American refugees have been detained by Mexican police at Trumps behest, right across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas.

According to Univision, migrants were physically repressed by Mexican government forces on Tuesday night when a group attempted to leave the abandoned factory where they are being detained. On Wednesday afternoon, migrants began turning over tables in the facility in protest over the poor conditions in the detention center. The immigrants demanded better access to food and more sanitary conditions. Hundreds of children are among the detainees.

Last month, AMLO agreed to participate in Trumps Remain in Mexico policy, under which asylum seekers are returned to Mexico for the foreseeable future while awaiting a court hearing in the US. AMLOs government has kept silent despite the charge by Amnesty International on February 1 that the US-Mexican policy is not only absolutely illegal, given its aim of deterring asylum seeking by making it inaccessible, but shameful and malicious as well.

If migrants stay in Mexico for an extended time period, this will also allow US immigration to argue in court that asylum in the US is no longer necessary because Mexico has become a safe third country due to the migrants extended stay there.

The Mexican government has cynically cloaked its acquiescence with a policy that allows migrants to register and obtain visitor cards for humanitarian reasons. The cards permit the holder to remain in the country and work for at least a year. According to Mexicos Institute of National Migration, thus far 12,000 visitor cards have been issued.

Yet the High Commission of the United Nations for Refugees says that only 46 percent of those who have applied have been granted the visitor cards. This is despite the fact that, according to the Commission, 63 percent of migrants from the Northern Triangle of Central America, encompassing Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, left their countries because they feared violence, while seven of 10 feared that their lives would be in danger if they returned.

Even if these immigrants could scrape together occasional work in Mexico, they will be paid at the lowest end of Mexicos miserly wage scale. If they manage to escape horrific detention conditions in places like Piedras Negras, they and their children can share the miserable conditions of life in poor, violence-wracked barrios along the US border and be relegated to living in makeshift slums and encampments. In other words, they will largely face the same conditions they fled, in many cases with the same gang persecutors dominating their neighborhoods.

While Lopez Obrador speaks about the need to respect immigrant rights, his new budget proposal for next year includes a 20 percent cut for refugee funding.

As Adam Isaacson of the Washington Office on Latin America told the Financial Times, Youre going to have hundreds of migrants with no resources, no safety net, no system.

In return for its part in these barbaric policies the Mexican government has received pledges from Washington of billions of dollars to permit Mexicos ruling class to develop Mexicos southernmost poor states as low-wage platforms for exploitation by US corporations.Denver teachers were on the picket lines Wednesday for the third day, but the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) and the school district are moving quickly to reach a deal to end the strike. A joint statement released Wednesday night by DCTA President Henry Roman and Denver Public Schools Superintendent Susana Cordova said, We exchanged proposals that are moving us closer and are hopeful that we will get to an agreement soon. However, we need a little more time to resolve the outstanding issues, and we will resume our negotiations tomorrow morning at 10 am at the Denver Public Central Library.

According to the Denver Post, an agreement over base pay has been concluded, with a miserly increase of $2,545 a year or just over $200 a month, before taxes. A recent report by the Economic Policy Institute says that $92,426 per year is needed to support a family of four in Denver, one of Americas most expensive cities, whereas teachers starting pay will only be $45,800.

Since 2005, DPS teachers have essentially been subjected to a two-tier salary and pension scheme. Teachers hired before 2005 have been paid according to the existing salary step and lane system based on academic degrees, years of service and teaching assignments. Teachers hired afterwards were put in a merit-pay system, called ProComp, which is based on arbitrary and discriminatory bonuses modelled after a piecework system at Safelite Autoglass. ProComp was co-designed by the union and implemented in 2005, in keeping with No Child Left Behind and later Race to the Top, subjecting teachers to various punitive accountability measures.

The joint statement said the parties have worked in good faith to find common ground on ProComp, and reports indicate the traditional lane and step system may be partially or fully restored. However, teacher evaluations based on test scores will still be used to determine pay increases, continuing the system that punishes teachers for educational problems caused by poverty, overcrowded classrooms and years of budget cutting. Increases will still be tied to doing after school tasks to earn Professional Development Units (PDU). Under the new agreement, teachers will have to work an additional 45 hours to earn a single PDU.

There is nothing in the proposals about class sizes, tenure rights, and the expansion of innovative schools, the euphemism for publicly funded but privately run charter schools.

Teachers shouldnt trust the DCTA, the Colorado Education Association, the state legislature or the governor, said Seth, a veteran Denver teacher who was forced to move to California in search of a better paying teaching position. They have all sold us down the river. The DCTA is pro-Democratic Party and school district and has not fought for teacher rights or job security or against the closing of schools, like Montebello High School in 2014.

I would say to teachers: Dont be rushed into signing this contract. Since youve been out on strike and sacrificing money, take your time to fully look over the details of the contract, and make sure you have several days to discuss and debate it before any vote.

The strikes in Los Angeles, and before that in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona and other states show that teachers have to have an independent perspective and organize independently of the unions. Denver teachers have to organize independently, whether they are in the DCTA or not. You have to have your own stance and reach out to workers in other industries because the right to public education is being destroyed by big business and both parties, with the help of the unions.

Denver teacher Kristy told the WSWS Teacher Newsletter, Im a veteran teacher with a Masters +60 (more college credits), I have nowhere to move unless I get a doctorate, which I wont ever do. I just want a pay increase, so I dont have to watch my pennies. I dont want to be required to do PDUs (Professional Development Units) to try and get a little bonus money. I want to be able, even in a small amount, get longevity increases as I finish up my career in DPS.

When ProComp was first introduced, I was opposed to the whole idea of it. We don't need incentives to make us try to be better teachers. We're not dogs being rewarded for a trick well done. Ive been on the traditional salary schedule all this time. With this current proposal, we've been told that everyone will be on it.

Sara, a former DPS teacher, said, I definitely dont think Denver is going to be the last of major districts to strike across the nation. For some reason very rich people from both parties seem to think that they know how schools should be run.

Denver and the state government of Colorado have long been dominated by the Democratic Party. The state eliminated teacher tenure, allowing any teacher to be fired for less than effective evaluations. In addition to ProComp, the DCTA also colluded with DPS to create the Leading Effective Academic Practice or LEAP program, which is designed to co-opt a section of teachers by paying them more to evaluate their fellow teachers, creating animosity and division among teachers.

The DCTA is following in the footsteps of the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) by concluding a deal designed to leave their members in poverty and failing to resolve the systematic de-funding of public education in the district.

The UTLA gave educators only three hours to read the contract and vote. When the details of the contract emergedrather than the distorted highlights distributed by the UTLAteachers found that nothing had been won including on the critical demand of reduced class sizes. Teachers must not underestimate the bipartisan forces standing behind DPS Superintendent Cordovaincluding financial behemoths like Eli Broad, Bill Gates and Democrats for Education Reformwhich seek to plunder the education market at the expense of teachers and students.

The national teacher unions, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, have done everything in their power to suppress, isolate and weaken the growing demands of teachers across the country. They have made it their priority to shut down each struggle just as the next round was heating up. This is again the case with Oakland, California teachers poised to strike, possibly within days.

Teachers should reject DCTAs rotten deal and instead organize new rank-and-file committees of teachers, school workers and students to expand the strike and put forward new demands, which actually meet the needs of educators. Frankly, if the cost of living is twice teachers salaries, teachers must see their pay doubled. All incentive schemes should be abolished and adequate incomes guaranteed for all teachers. Charter schools, which divert vast educational resources into the hands of private businesses, must be reconverted to public schools.

The DCTA is tailoring its agreement to what is acceptable to the Democratic Party and Wall Street interests they represent. There can be no doubt that Democratic Governor Jared Polis (a founder and advocate of charter schools) who reportedly was keeping tabs on the negotiations and Democratic Mayor Michael Hancock are working closely with the DCTA in the efforts to quickly end the strike.

Teachers, however, are fighting in defense of a bedrock social right, the right to high quality public education. Their determined militancy has been echoed by workers, parents, fellow school employees and, above all, students. Many of these forces would eagerly join with teachers in the formation of independent rank-and-file organizations were they given a lead. This requires a break with the unions, controlled by privileged executives and aligned with the Democratic Party, who are opposed to any genuine struggle.

East High School senior MJ Sykes told the World Socialist Web Site, I dont think its fair that our teachers should have to invest so much of their time and their personal resources, when they cant afford to live in Denver in the first place. My mom is a teacher. She often has to budget because one paycheck wasnt sufficient, or we dont have the money we need. As students have to pay, for example, $90 for an AP [Advanced Placement] class, $20 a semester for band or $20 for ceramics. We cant often pay those fees.

The general consensus about teachers is that they just dont get enough. Many work more than one job. Honestly, for a person who has to work as hard as a teacher does, staying up many nights late reading over multi-page paper, they should be paid a heck of lot more.

His friend Kouji Yahama also from East High, added, Its astonishing when the administration can be so out of touch. There was some $4 million in bonuses for the administrators and theyre not willing to share.

Its well known for 15 or 20 years that teachers dont get enough. From the student perspective, it feels like the whole curriculums are based on tests. Needless to say, I cant stand it. This is unfair to the teachers and too much after a certain point. Plus, there should be a decreasing in class sizes, because I know classes of 35 or more children, when they are supposed to be capped out at 30 or 32.

MJ added, Ive been in classes with 40 people.Large parts of Belgium were brought to a standstill yesterday, as tens of thousands of workers joined a national 24-hour strike to demand wage increases, and oppose government attacks on pensions and other social entitlements, and growing social inequality.

The strike was characterized by a stark contradiction. On the one hand, it demonstrated the immense social power of the working class, amid seething anger after a decade of deepening social austerity imposed by the right-wing government of Prime Minister Charles Michel and his Socialist Party-led predecessor, Elio di Rupo (2011-2014).

On the other hand, the strike has been called by the three main trade union federations, not to mobilize workers strength in struggle against the government, but to let off steam and keep control over growing working-class opposition. The unions intend on the morrow to continue negotiating austerity with the government and the employers.

This fact was alluded to by the pro-business daily Le Soir. It noted yesterday that the trade unions were all the more determined to proceed with the strike because they were taken off guard by the Yellow Vest movement, which has implicated them just as much as the political establishment.

The unions are fearful of the growing movement of the working class internationally, and growing anger among workers at the unions. In Berlin, 70,000 teachers, social workers and other public-sector employees joined a city-wide strike yesterday, with more than 10,000 joining a rally. The unions were compelled to call this warning strike in response to workers militancy. Other strikes by teachers are ongoing internationally, including in Africa and the United States.

In Belgium, yesterdays strike affected the public and private sectors and covered both the southern Francophone region of the country and the northern Flemish-speaking region. Workers in the major ports at Antwerp and Ghent took part in the strike, blocking shipments and holding up international trade. Workers also picketed in Ghent, while the unions reported that hundreds of nearby facilities in the area had been closed.

All passenger flights both into and out of the country were stopped throughout the day, after the national air traffic authority, Skeyes, announced on Tuesday night that there is no certitude as to the number of employees to occupy a limited number of crucial posts. Brussels and Charleroi airports were closed, while TUI Fly were diverted to other international airports, including Lille, France, and in Germany and the Netherlands. Other international airlines, including Ryanair, were forced to cancel all flights.

Between 80 and 100 percent of buses and trams were cancelled, depending on the region of the country, while metropolitan trains were maintained at only half the total number of scheduled routes, in line with a legal minimum. Hospitals maintained a minimum level of emergency operations or saw patients on a case-by-case basis, with strikes by administrative employees in both the hospitals and fire brigades.

In the private sector, the strike hit more than 600 companies in the metallurgical and textile industries, according to a statement by Belga William Van Erdegehem, the president of the national Christian trade union. Workers also participated in pickets blocking entrances to industrial zones. The Voix du Nord daily reported picketing outside the Comines plant of industrial machinery manufacturer Ceratec. A minority of supermarkets closed across the country: Carrefour reported 44 out of 800 stores closed, and Delhaize 68 out of 650.

Trade union statements made clear that after yesterdays strike, they are proceeding to negotiate cuts with the government and employersas they did after one-day strikes in 2011 and 2014.

The strike was called in January, after negotiations broke down between employers and unions over what limit to place on annual wage increases this year. Under a reactionary, nationalist system supported by both unions and corporations, wage increases in Belgium are limited every year according to a calculation based on wage increases in France, Germany and other countries, in the name of maintaining Belgian competitiveness.

In other words, Belgian workers must compete in a race to the bottom with their class brothers and sisters in other countries, in order to satisfy the endless corporate demands for increased profits. This interprofessional agreement is one component of what is called social dialogue, involving the corporatist alliance of the trade unions, the federal government and the employers against the working class.

Robert Verteneuil, the president of the Belgian General Federation of Labor (FGTB), told Le Soir yesterday, the strike is not against the interprofessional agreement, but for an interprofessional agreement that respects workers. He demanded that Employment Minister Kristiaan Peeters do his job and maintain the social concertation.

Even union leaders official demands would maintain poverty-level wages for thousands of workers. While employers associations are demanding that wage increases be kept at 0.8 percentwhich the unions have themselves noted would amount to a wage increase of 9 per month for a hospitality workerthe unions are demanding 1.4 percent. By the same calculation, this amounts to 15 extra.

This when social conditions, in Belgium, as across the European Union, are explosive. While it is presented internationally in the media as a country of relative prosperity, supposedly emblematic of the social benefits of the European Union, social inequality is rapidly rising while living conditions for broad masses of workers continue to deteriorate.

A report published last October by the European statistical agency Eurostat revealed that 20 percent of the population, or 2.3 million people, is threatened with poverty or social exclusion. Over one in eight Belgians lived in a household with a very low level of employment, a rate that is higher than the European average of 9.3 percent.

In the capital, Brussels, more than one-third of the population lives on an income below the official poverty line, which is set at just 260 a week for a single person, or 546 a week for a family of four. One in five people received social assistance in Brussels. In the southern Wallonia region, one person in four is threatened with poverty; over 20 percent live below the poverty line. For single-parent households, the poverty rate is 46.7 percent.

Following PS austerity cuts under di Rupo, the Michel government which came to power in 2014 has launched a brutal austerity offensive, including 20 percent cuts to cultural and scientific budgets, privatizations, and pension cuts. The governments 2016-2017 labor laws ended the 38-hour work week and tied pension levels more directly to the number of years worked, paving the way for raising the retirement age.

In contrast, Michels 2018 military budget includes a five-fold increase in non-budgeted military allocations, with 9.2 billion spending on military equipment between 2020 and 2030.

For workers seeking to take forward a struggle, the critical question remains taking the fight out of the hands of the pro-corporate trade unions. Workers need their own, independent organizations, rank-and-file committees in every workplace, democratically controlled by and for workers themselves. Such committees would enable workers to reach out and unify their struggle with their class brothers and sisters across Europe.(TNS)  Just when it appeared Madison County, Ind., was going to see a reduction in long-term spending, the Information Technology Department outlined $800,000 in new expenses.The county will finish paying off the $1.2 million matching funds for the Eisenhower Bridge project this year.Lisa Cannon, director of the Information Technology Department, told the Madison County Council on Tuesday that changes being made in Microsoft software will require significant spending by the county.Starting next Jan. 1, Microsoft will no longer offer support or security for Windows 7, and Indiana is recommending the county upgrade to Windows 10, she said.It will require new computers for every county office at a cost of between $385,000 and $425,000.Cannon is exploring a three-year lease to purchase the new computers, increased memory and processing upgrades with a $1 buyout after the end of the lease.The bottom line is security, Cannon said.Microsoft is also changing the way it issues licenses for the software; that will cost the county an additional $87,000 starting in 2020.Were at their mercy, Cannon said of the Microsoft software.Cannon said the county and surrounding public safety agencies need 700 mobile computer terminals at a cost of $147,000.Each public safety agency will be responsible for the cost of the mobile computer terminals, she said.The county did not include any funds for new equipment in the IT Department in the 2019 budget.Cannon requested $50,000 from the countys general fund for equipment needed immediately and to pay outstanding bills.The council approved $40,000.Last year, we spent $192,000 on new equipment, she said. We cant operate IT without a hardware budget.Auditor Rick Gardner said the county has a general fund balance of $6 million, $359,000 in the rainy day fund and $550,000 in the public safety account.You have to be very careful with spending in the general fund, he said. You need to look for reductions in the future for any additional appropriations.Council President Anthony Emery said this year and 2020 will be tight fiscal years for the county.Description

GIS - 14 February, 2019: The opening ceremony of the International Gita Seminar on the theme of Bhagvad Gita- The Epitome of peace and harmony, organised in the context of the International Gita Mahotsav, was held today at the Swami Vivekananda International Convention Centre. The Acting President of the Republic of Mauritius, Mr Paramasivum Pillay Vyapoory, the Minister of Arts and Culture, Mr Prithvirajsing Roopun, the High Commissioner of India to Mauritius, Mr Tanmaya Lal, and several other personalities were present at the event. The opening ceremony of the International Gita Seminar on the theme of Bhagvad Gita- The Epitome of peace and harmony, organised in the context of the International Gita Mahotsav, was held today at the Swami Vivekananda International Convention Centre. The Acting President of the Republic of Mauritius,

In his address, the Acting President expressed his gratitude to the Government of India for choosing Mauritius as partner country to host the International Gita Mahotsav. He highlighted that the seminar will spread the human values contained in the Bhagvad Gita. According to him, the message in the Bhagvad Gita is a treasure to mankind which if righteously understood and acted upon, will act as an important tool to maintain peace and harmony across the world.

As for Minister Roopun, he observed that the International Gita Mahotsav, is being hosted for the first time outside India, while adding that it is a matter of great pride and honour for Mauritius. The event, he indicated, is evidence of the deep bonds that exist between the two countries. He underlined that Mauritius is the ideal country to host the event 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.

For his part, the High Commissioner Lal highlighted that it is important to hold such seminars to transmit the message of peace and harmony as preached by the Bhagvad Gita, which according to him, is a milestone in the philosophical history of the world.The Nore family at a school function to wish Matt Nore good luck on his deployment with the National Guard. From left to right: Diana, Iver, Matt, Arabella, Roslyn, and Edna.

The gym at Evergreen Elementary School was packed as teachers, parents, friends, and students from across the school district congregated last Wednesday to say goodbye to a member of their community. Kindergarten teacher Matt Nore left Wrangell last week with the National Guard, on deployment to Kuwait. This is his fourth deployment with the Guard, Nore said, and he will be gone until February of 2020.

Were going to Kuwait on a law enforcement mission on an Army military base there, he said in an interview. Well just be a police unit for American soldiers. Were not policin...The month of February has been declared "School Board Recognition Month" by the Association of Alaska School Boards. According to a press release, the Wrangell Public School District is joining with other districts throughout the state to take time to recognize "the important contributions board members make to our communities." "Our school board members unselfishly contribute their time and talents towards advancement of public education," said Superintendent Debbe Lancaster in the press release. "They represent a continuing commitment to local citizen control and decision making in educat...Pearl Harbor is a shallow and protected lagoon harbor located on the island Oahu (O'ahu), in the US state of Hawaii. Most of the harbor serves as a US naval base and was the site of a large scale Japanese naval air attack on December 7, 1941, which resulted in the deaths of more than 2,400 Americans. The bombing was intended to debilitate the US Navy and discourage the Americans from engaging in war with Japan. However, the attacked ultimately caused the United States to enter the Second World War. Pearl Harbor is located near numerous cities on Oahu, including Honolulu, Aiea, Pearl, Waipahu, and Ewa.

History of Pearl Harbor

The United States developed an interest in the Hawaiian Islands in the early 19th century due to its strategic location, which could aid in shipping, whaling, and trading activities in the Pacific Ocean. In 1820, an "Agent of the United States for Commerce and Seamen" was chosen to look after American interests at the Port of Honolulu. Between the 1820s and 1830s, several American warships visited Hawaii but could not dock in Pearl Harbor because it was too shallow. In 1841, American politicians advocated for the establishment of a naval base in Hawaii to protect American citizens. Additionally, relations between mainland America and Hawaii became stronger after duty-free markets were established. In 1865, the North Pacific Squadron was created and assigned to the west coast and Hawaii. This naval squad surveyed the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and in the process claimed Midway Island. In 1867, the Secretary of the Navy assigned a permanent warship to the Port of Honolulu to safeguard Hawaiian waters, and in 1868 US Congress approved a $50,000 budget for the expansion and dredging of Pearl Harbor so that larger ships could dock. In 1875, the Hawaiian Kingdom and the United States signed the Reciprocity Treaty, allowing the US to maintain a coaling and repair station at Pearl Harbor.

Naval Presence

In 1899, the US Navy established a permanent base in Hawaii following the coup d'etat and overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii. On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service attacked Pearl Harbor in an attempt to discourage the Americans from joining the Second World War. Although the attack inflicted heavy American casualties and destroyed a significant number of warships, it did not deter the United States from entering the war. On August 21, 1959, Hawaii was admitted to the Union as the 50th US state. The United States expanded the harbor to dock more and larger ships, and it currently serves as the headquarters of the US States Pacific Fleet.The state of Arkansas was once a large apple producer that it was nicknamed The Land of the Big Apple. However, apples are not native to the state as it was introduced to North America by the 16th-century explorers and later by colonialists. Settlers who arrived in Arkansas from other states such as Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia also carried with them apple seeds. A few years later, the apple became a dominant agricultural crop and one of the main economic drivers of Arkansas. In the early 1990s, the state boasted of over 3 million bushels of the crop. Apple was so popular in Arkansas that apple blossom was chosen as the floral emblem for the state. And for more than two decades after the designation as the state flower, apple blossom dominated Arkansas agriculture and landscape.

Designating the Apple Blossom as the State Flower

Apple blossom was designated the official flower of the state of Arkansas in 1901 when apple farming was at its peak in the state. Although Arkansas still produce apples, the production level has greatly decreased. However, the Arkansas apple festival is still a major activity held in the town of Lincoln every year. The events during this festival include the coronation of Apple Queen and colorful floats. Before the start of the 20th century, there was a growing need for a state flower. Arkansas was not the only state championing for a state flower during this period but was one of the several states. When the matter was raised in the General Assembly, the legislators unanimously agreed to make the apple blossom the state floral emblem. A bill was passed into law, declaring it the state flower in 1901. By designating the apple bloom the official state flower, the Arkansas authority hoped that the move would motivate the apple farmers into producing more apples. However, the state crop was severely damaged by frost and diseases, leading to a significant decline in production.

Brief Description of the Apple Tree

Although apples are no longer the main crop produced in Arkansas, apple bloom still remains a popular flower. An apple tree is a well-known tree that grows for about 20 feet high and has rigid, croaked, and spreading branches. The bark is rough and blackish. They require well-drained, moist soil and mainly does well in areas bordering the forests. An apple tree is native to some European countries. Over 1000 varieties of apple trees are planted in the US, all of which have been derived from the wild crab. The leaves are approximately 2 inches long and one inch wide. The flowers, known as the apple bloom, are clusters of pink or white and are very fragrant. The flowers have white petals. The sweet scent attracts bees to the trees where they help in pollination. The flowers bloom between April and May. Once the apple blossom has bloomed and pollination process has taken place, they turn into fruits. The fruits are greenish small and mature mainly in the summer. While these fruits can be eaten, they are largely ornamental and are sometimes used to make jellies and jamsThe Governors Official Program is comprised of a wide range of constitutional and legal duties and ceremonial and community engagements. Each year, the Governor hosts thousands of visitors to Government House to take part in investiture and award ceremonies, Open Days, receptions and meetings, and travels widely throughout Queensland to support the activities of Patron groups. View a chronological record of the Governors daily program below.

On Wednesday, in the morning, at Burnett Heads, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC and Mrs Kaye de Jersey visited Burnett Heads State School, and the Governor presented awards, and addressed students and guests.

Following, at Burnett Heads, His Excellency and Mrs de Jersey laid a wreath at the war memorial at Burnett Heads Memorial Park.

Following, at Bundaberg South, His Excellency and Mrs de Jersey visited Bundaberg State High School, and the Governor presented an award, and addressed students and guests.

In the afternoon, His Excellency and Mrs de Jersey returned to Government House following official travel to Bundaberg.

Following, at Government House, His Excellency received the Ambassador of the State of Qatar to Australia, His Excellency Mr Saad Al-Shareef, and Public Relations Officer, Embassy of the State of Qatar, Mr Abdel Hamid Bouchelouh.Niger is a landlocked country located in West Africa. The country obtained its name from the Niger River, one of the main rivers of West Africa, extending about 2,600 miles. Niger has a land area of approximately 490,000 square miles, making it West Africas largest country. More than three-quarters of the land lies in the Sahara Desert. Niger is a developing country, consistently ranking near the bottom of the UNs Human Development Index. The economy is dependent on subsistence agriculture with a bit of export of raw material such as uranium ore. Niger has one of the rapidly growing populations in Africa. Residents of Niger are known as "Nigeriens."

Demographics of Niger

As of 2017, the country has a population of approximately 20.6 million people compared to only 2.4 million in 1950. The current population growth rate is 3.3%, with an average of 7 children per mother. The high growth rate is a major source of concern for both the government and international agencies. Niger is a multi-ethnic country. Hausa is the largest ethnic group, accounting for 53% of the population. Other major ethnic groups include Zarma-Songhai, Tuareg, Fula, and Arab. French is the official language of Niger alongside ten other languages. The majority of the population is Muslim.

Nigeriens

With such a diverse population, one would wonder how the people from Niger are collectively referred to. Since most countries around the world use their country name with an additional suffix en or -an to refer to its people, Niger is not an exception. For instance, people from Canada are called Canadians, Argentina-Argentinians, Kenya-Kenyans, and so forth. However, people from Niger are referred to as Nigerien and not Nigerian as the latter refers to someone from Nigeria. Though Nigerien is the formal name for a resident of Niger, other sources such as the BBC and Associated Press often refer to the countrys residents as Nigerois to create a clear difference between residents of Niger and Nigeria. The Nigerien Society has been used to describe the long history of the several ethnic groups that lived in a single state.

Nigerien Vs Nigerian-Pronunciation

While there is evidently a difference between Nigerian and Nigerien, the difference is clearer only when the two words are written down. However, the two words almost have the same pronunciation, especially for someone of a different language, dialect, or from a region that neither speaks French nor English. In a speech, the word Nigerien is pronounced like it was in French. It sounds something like nee-ZHER-ia while Nigerian is pronounced as an English word and sounds like NAI-jer-ian. Niger was a French colony and the countrys name is locally pronounced as nee-ZHER. Thus, the people from Niger will automatically be pronounced after the French pronunciation of the name.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How it happened

Funeral services for Brian Simonsen

Seven NYPD officers fired a total of 42 rounds during a chaotic scene outside a Queens cellphone store as they responded to an attempted robbery that left a detective from Calverton dead from friendly fire and his supervisor, a police sergeant from Seaford, with a gunshot wound to the leg, department brass said Wednesday.Det. Brian Simonsen, 42, of the 102nd Precinct, was fatally shot in the chest outside a T-Mobile store on Atlantic Avenue and 120th Street in Richmond Hill Tuesday evening after confronting Christopher Ransom, said Kevin Maloney, commander of the NYPD's Force Investigation Division.Ransom, who police called a career criminal with a long arrest record, raised a weapon and simulated firing at several officers, including Simonsen, a 19-year veteran of the force, and Sgt. Matthew Gorman, Maloney said at a news conference in Manhattan. Authorities later determined Ransom was wielding an imitation pistol that was recovered at the scene.Simonsen and Gorman, who was also shot in the leg by friendly fire, were both in plainclothes and neither was wearing a bullet-resistant vest, officials said. The shooting lasted approximately 11 seconds and occurred less than a minute after officers entered the store."We don't know at this point who shot who," said NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan. "We know there was a lot of shots. It was a chaotic scene . . . The scene is caused by a man charging at police officers. He was advancing quickly at police officers pointing a gun at them."Police are examining video of Tuesday's shooting, which appears to show that Simonsen was shot as he stood outside the cellphone store, a law enforcement official said Wednesday. Maloney said the incident was captured on the body cameras of five uniformed officers.Ransom, who was shot by police multiple times, has been charged with murder, robbery, assault, aggravated manslaughter and menacing, the NYPD said Wednesday.Mayor Bill de Blasio promised a "full review" of the friendly fire shooting, the second of an NYPD officer in recent months. In December, NYPD officer Amir Pali was struck in the left torso by another cop during a confrontation with an intoxicated man wielding a knife in Staten Island."I think it's a very serious issue that needs to be looked at," de Blasio said at a news conference earlier Wednesday.Monahan Wednesday hailed Simonsen as a hero who raced to the robbery scene, even through, as a union delegate, he had been to a meeting in the morning and was not required to go to work that night."He was the definition of a cop's cop," Monahan said. "There was not a person in the 102nd Precinct that didn't know Brian, from the cleaner to the commanding officer. Everyone in that precinct knew Brian and knew him well."The chaotic scene unfolded Tuesday evening around 6:10 p.m. along a commercial district in the southwest Queens neighborhood.Police said they received a 911 call of an armed man, wearing a mask, entering the T-Mobile store. The witness told police that the suspect took two store employees to the rear of the business.Simonsen and Gorman, who were in the neighborhood conducting surveillance on an unrelated robbery pattern, were the first two officers on the scene, followed by six uniformed officers, Maloney said.6:09 p.m.911 call is made about a robbery at a T-Mobile in Richmond Hill. An armed, masked suspect has gathered the employees at the back of the store.6:12 p.m.Sgt. Matthew Gorman and Det. Brian Simonsen, who were nearby in plainclothes, arrive along with six uniformed officers. Gorman and two uniformed cops enter.6:13 p.m.Suspect, identified as Christopher Ransom, runs toward the officers with a gun raised. Gorman and the two officers exit store. As the suspect nears entrance, police outside open fire.Forty-two shots are fired. Simonsen is hit in the chest and later dies. Suspect Ransom is struck several times, and Gorman is shot in the leg.Gorman and two uniformed officers entered the store through the front entrance -- Simonsen stayed outside -- but were confronted by Ransom, who was running in their direction while holding a weapon, he said.The three NYPD officers retreated toward the front entrance when gunfire erupted from both the left and right of the store's front entrance, Maloney said. Seven of the eight responding officers fired 42 rounds, with at least one striking Simonsen in the chest and another hitting Gorman in the leg. Gorman discharged 11 shots at Ransom and Simonsen fired twice. The rest of the shots were discharged by the uniformed officers, Maloney said.Monahan said while officers are trained to avoid crossfire situations, real-life circumstances do not always mimic training."It's great to train but everything happens in a second," Monahan said. "You're reacting within seconds and you're in fear for your life. Your adrenaline is high. We try our best to train and we'll continue to train."Ransom, 27, was taken to NewYork Presbyterian-Queens hospital in Flushing, where he was listed in stable condition. Ransom has 25 prior arrests, many of which are sealed. Eight cases are open, of which some are larcenies, a violation of an order of protection and one case in Brooklyn of criminal impersonation of a police officer.Simonsen was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was declared dead, officials said. Gorman was taken by a civilian passer-by to Jamaica Hospital where he was recovering from non-life-threatening injuries, NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said Tuesday."This is an absolute tragedy," said an emotional O'Neill Tuesday. "The worst outcome any police officer, or the family of a police officer, can imagine."President Donald Trump, speaking at a national law enforcement conference in Washington, D.C., offered his condolences to Simonsen and his family, mentioning him alongside another Milwaukee police officer killed on the job last year."We grieve the loss of these great heroes," Trump said in a speech to the Major County Sheriffs and Major Cities Chiefs Association Joint Conference. "Our hearts go out to their family and to everyone in the NYPD and Milwaukee law enforcement community."De Blasio said he had spoken with Simonsen's mother and widow, and called for a moment of silence."The bravery it takes to go into the unknown in a situation like that is extraordinary -- and he gave his life for us," de Blasio said.De Blasio will leave the city Thursday afternoon for an event at Harvard University in his official capacity, but will postpone his planned nongovernmental travel to New Hampshire Friday, spokesman Eric Phillips said. He plans to attend Simonsen's funeral.Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone each directed flags to half staff on state and county government buildings for Simonsen."Our heart goes out and our prayers go out and condolences to Detective Simonsen's family for the NYPD tragedy, which is just so sad and so painful," Cuomo said Wednesday. "And our thoughts and prayers are with his family. And it just reminds us all how dangerous the job of the NYPD and how many people put their lives on the line to keep us safe."Bellone said Simonsen "chose to serve and protect the people who call New York City their home."Simonsen was appointed to the NYPD in March 2000 and made detective in May 2008, an NYPD official said. He has spent his entire career in the 102nd Precinct.Gorman, an eight-year veteran of the 102nd Precinct, was appointed to the NYPD in March 2010 and made sergeant in April 2017, police said.O'Neill said Simonson first started on patrol with the 102nd Precinct and later went upstairs to join the squad. He was soon elected the squad's Detectives' Endowment Association delegate.In a statement Wednesday, the commissioner called Simonsen "a great investigator held in very high esteem by his co-workers."O'Neill added that "the outpouring of support we are receiving as a police department is simply overwhelming. This is heartbreaking. But we are not alone."The last NYPD officer to be shot and killed in the line of duty was Det. Miosotis Familia of the 46th Precinct in the Bronx in 2017. The 48-year-old mother of three died on July 5, 2017, when a gunman, who police identified as Alexander Bonds, fired on her as she and her partner sat in a vehicle at East 183rd Street and Creston Avenue. Bonds was killed a block away by other officers who fired when he drew a .38-caliber handgun.There will be a wake Monday from 7 to 9 p.m. and on Tuesday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. The Liturgy of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. All services, including the wake, will be held at St. Rosalie Roman Catholic Church, at 31 E. Montauk Hwy., Hampton Bays. Interment will be at the Jamesport Cemetery following the funeral Mass. The DeFriest-Grattan Funeral Home in Mattituck is assisting the family.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.LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)- The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People invites everyone to build relationships with local law enforcement. The organization is holding a discussion panel this Monday, February 18th.

Tippecanoe County Sheriff Bob Goldsmith, Lafayette, West Lafayette and Purdue police departments will be present, among other forces.

During the panel, officers will discuss current issues with guests and also answer questions.

The goal is to develop a healthy relationship between community members and police officers.

The Lafayette-West Lafayette chapter of NAACP is the first chapter to host an event like this.

"How do we make the state of Indiana a better and friendlier community? We need to bridge the gap and have those conversations with our community," said NAACP Branch President Sadie Harper-Scott.

Harper-Scott said it's all about bridging the gap.

"We want to be able to have that voice to call our police chiefs [and] our law enforcement so that we can have that conversation to make sure that what we are doing that is working for our community."

The event starts at 6 P.M. at the Tippecanoe County Library in Downtown Lafayette. Harper-Scott told News 18 the NAACP is already planning a follow-up to the panel.DELPHI, Ind. (WLFI) - It's been two years since the murder of 13-year-old Abigail Williams and 14-year-old Liberty German. Indiana State Police held a press conference Wednesday afternoon to update the public on the investigation into their deaths.

Libertys grandfather Mike Patty attended the press conference.

I was supposed to be teaching her how to drive right now, he said. Liberty would have been 16 this year. There are so many things that I wont get to do for her now.

Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland said he is very confident they will catch the person responsible. However he did not share any specifics about the case.

We want people to know that this is not a cold case, he said. This case is not closed. We are not done with this investigation. There are countless people working on this everyday.

McLeland said investigators are dedicating their lives to find justice for Abby and Libby and their families.

"One minute she's my granddaughter and then next she's a case," said Diane Erskin, who is Abbys grandmother. She reminisced on the time the photo of Abby in her sun hat was taken. She said that it was taken at a bridal shower that was Kentucky Derby themed, where they decorated their own hats in preparation. She said that is one of her favorite memories with her granddaughter.

Memories she wont get to continue to make.

"The goal is the same thing for all of us, said McLeland. To bring the person responsible to justice."

He said they have received more than 38,000 tips since Abby and Libby's death. He added that they still receive a dozen or so tips a day two years later. He said they are anticipating and prepared to receive more tips after this anniversary.

"Information is our main weapon here, he said. Any bit of info that some has should call in and give us. That could be the missing thing we need to solve this thing."

Specific details such as physical description, last known location, and the person's connection to Delphi are important. However, both McLeland and Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter warned people to avoid making their own conclusions on social media, saying that that can hinder their current investigation.

Carter said they have strong support from the FBI.

"The resources the FBI has brought to Delphi have been extraordinary, he said. And the technology and the pieces and parts in maintaining this huge case we've had for two years."

FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Danny Youmara did not give specific details about what kind of resources and technology they are providing.

McLeland is positive they will have someone behind bars. April Tinsleys recently solved murder case was brought up at the press conference. It took 30 years for investigators to find her killer. McLeland and Superintendent Carter both said with technology on their side, the don't think it will take that long to catch Abby and Libby's murderer.

"I'm confident were gonna solve this case, said McLeland. If he or she is listening in or whoever it is, that at some point I'll be sitting across from you in the courtroom."

If you are watching, we are coming, said Carter.

Erskin wants people to speak up if they know something.

"Have courage, have faith, and I pray that when I don't sleep, he doesn't sleep," she said.

Click here to share any information you have regarding the case. The reward for information be be as much as $216,000 according to the Indiana State Police Website.WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Purdue alumnus Capt. Sully Sullenberger, will speak Feb. 24 at Purdue University. Sullenberger is the captain who safely landed a commercial airliner on the Hudson River in New York City in January 2009 and saved the lives of 155 passengers and crew.

The talk, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Elliott Hall of Music. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. and security will check all bags. This Giant Leaps Series event is one of many celebrating Purdues Sesquicentennial, 150 Years of Giant Leaps. The yearlong celebration is highlighting Purdues remarkable history of giant leaps, while focusing on what giant leaps Purdue can take to address the worlds problems.

Sullenberger, a speaker, author and safety advocate, holds a master's degree in industrial psychology from Purdue. In his book, "Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters," he wrote that his study at Purdue prepared him well for the challenges he would face.

In 2009, just after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York City, a flock of Canada geese took out both engines on Sullenbergers US Airways airliner. Sullenberger told his passengers to brace for impact, and he and First Officer Jeff Skiles then set the plane down safely on the Hudson River. With the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop, he stayed on board until the passengers and crew were safely off the plane. The incident became known as the "Miracle on the Hudson."Setting a Precedent

A Risky Proposition

In the legal battle to hold drug companies responsible for the countrys raging opioid epidemic, media attention largely has focused on a national lawsuit set for a late October trial in federal court in Cleveland, Ohio.But it may be upstaged by a lesser-known opioid case: Oklahoma v. Purdue Pharma, scheduled for trial in May in the Cleveland County Courthouse in Norman, Oklahoma.The Ohio case, known as the National Prescription Opiate Litigation, is a consolidated case that includes federal lawsuits brought by more than 1,500 counties, municipalities, hospitals and others, and features a brief from the U.S. Justice Department.But attorneys general in most states have opted to file independent lawsuits against drug companies, rather than share the stage with hundreds of other cases. In total, at least 330 opioid-related cases are pending in lower courts in at least 45 states.Oklahomas case is slated to be the first to go to trial.With similar legal concepts and evidence, the Oklahoma trial could presage many of the arguments the jury may be presented in the national case in the fall. And if the drug companies in Oklahoma offer a settlement, the proposal could precipitate a national settlement, some legal experts said.At a minimum, the Oklahoma trial would for the first time give the press and the American public full access to evidence and arguments aimed at showing that drug companies flooded local markets with opioid painkillers for more than a decade while knowing that the pills were highly addictive.In the case, which was filed in 2017, attorneys representing Oklahoma will present evidence and expert testimony to support the states claim that OxyContin, Vicodin, Percocet and other prescription pain medicines that drugmakers falsely claimed were safe led to the deaths of thousands of Oklahomans.The state also will argue that the drug companies deceptive and misleading marketing campaigns caused a devastating public health crisis in the state, putting an immense financial burden on Oklahoma, its businesses, consumers, communities and citizens, according to the original petition in the case.In previous state and federal lawsuits, Purdue and other opioid manufacturers have noted that the drugs they produced were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and argued that they had a legitimate purpose. They also maintained that the doctors and patients who misused the pills should be held accountable for the addiction and overdoses that resulted.Nearly 218,000 people died in the United States from overdoses related to prescription opioids between 1999 and 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the opioid addiction and overdose epidemic of the last decade has cost the nation an estimated $79 billion a year.The Oklahoma trial will pull the cover off the pharmaceutical companies fraudulent and deceptive marketing practices, Michael Burrage, one of the states attorneys, said in an interview. The case will show that it was all about the money. Thats all they cared about, was the money.Since the presiding judge in the Oklahoma case ruled that television cameras may be used in the courtroom, every detail of what promises to be a dramatic trial could be broadcast to the American public, potentially affecting the outcome of any future opioid trials.Allowing cameras in the courtroom will give Oklahomans across the state and individuals from across the country a firsthand account of the proceedings, Republican Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter wrote in a 2018 press statement. It will also allow individuals to see how these companies maliciously deceived the nation while creating the deadliest man-made epidemic in United States history.The Oklahoma lawsuit seeks to hold Purdue and three other opioid-makers, Allergan, Cephalon and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, responsible for economic damages to the state and its residents stemming from the opioid addiction and overdose crisis.These companies have waged a fraudulent, decade-long marketing campaign to profit from the anguish of thousands of Oklahomans, Hunter said in a 2017 press announcement after the case was filed.Oklahoma was not the first state to sue opioid-makers. West Virginia, Kentucky and the federal government sued opioid-makers in the early 2000s.In 2007, Purdue executives pleaded guilty in the federal case to falsely advertising OxyContin as less addictive and less subject to abuse and diversion than other pain medications. The company agreed to pay $600 million in criminal and civil fines to the federal government, and $20 million to 26 states and the District of Columbia.In the latest round of litigation, nearly all states have filed lawsuits against drugmakers, distributors and retailers. Most of the cases do not have set court dates.Oklahoma wanted its trial to be scheduled sooner rather than later, and the presiding judge agreed. We wanted an Oklahoma judge and an Oklahoma jury deciding these issues, Burrage said. And thats what we got.In the federal opioid case slated for trial in October, U.S. Northern District of Ohio Judge Dan Polster has said he intends to push for a swift settlement. The deal would include money to help treat the more than 2 million people addicted to opioids, and it also would put restrictions on pharmaceutical companies aimed at preventing more people from becoming addicted.Already, doctors are prescribing fewer pain pills, reducing national opioid consumption by more than 20 percent since 2011, according to IQVIA, a company that tracks retail sales of prescription drugs. And last year, Purdue said it would stop marketing its opioid painkillers directly to doctors.Those actions likely stem at least in part from the media attention the litigation already has drawn, combined with the threat of a monetary settlement in the cases, wrote Yale Law School professor Abbe Gluck in a 2018 analysis of the cases.An Oklahoma trial, particularly if televised, could apply even more pressure on opioid-makers. Oklahoma becomes essentially a bellwether trial  as one case goes, so too would you expect the others to go, said Andrew Pollis, a litigation expert at Case Western Reserve University Law School in Ohio.Cleveland County, Oklahoma, Judge Thad Balkman in 2017 denied opioid-makers motions to dismiss the states lawsuit.If I were the defendants attorney, I would push very hard to postpone the Oklahoma trial until after the national litigation, Pollis said. But the judge would have to approve it.By postponing the trial, drug companies could benefit if the opioid crisis begins to ease. Plaintiffs cases  and the publicity surrounding them  also could wane over time.In the meantime, settling the Oklahoma case could be challenging, Pollis said, because the drug companies are unlikely to want to settle with one government while the multidistrict national litigation still is pending.Its a Rubiks Cube with no solution, Pollis said. Judge Polster has no jurisdiction over the Oklahoma case, and the judge in Oklahoma has no jurisdiction over the multidistrict litigation in Ohio.Still, Oklahoma attorney Burrage told Stateline that the trial is intended, in part, to shed light on evidence about the drugmakers marketing schemes that otherwise would remain hidden under a national settlement.We intend to prove that all of the defendants contributed to a public nuisance, he said, and that theyre all responsible for the whole ball of wax.Purdue said in a statement to Stateline, While Purdue Pharmas opioid medicines account for less than 2 percent of total prescriptions, we will continue to work collaboratively with the state toward bringing meaningful solutions forward to address this public health challenge.In January, a judge made public a lawsuit that Democratic Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey filed in 2018 against Purdue and its owners.In the newly released document, Healey alleges that the Sackler family, which owns Purdue, knew that their product was highly addictive and yet directed salespeople to pressure doctors to prescribe higher and higher doses of opioid pain medicines. The petition also alleges that the family had planned to find a way to profit from the treatment of the legions of patients who would become addicted to their drugs.A statement from Purdue called the release of the Massachusetts complaint an attempt to single out Purdue, blame it for the entire opioid crisis, and try the case in the court of public opinion rather than the justice system.Although the Sackler family has sought to remove itself from the national opioid litigation, a judge ruled in the Oklahoma case that the states attorneys could interview family members.The number of opioid painkiller prescriptions dispensed in the United States grew steadily from about 216 million in 2006 to a 2012 peak of more than 255 million and a rate of 81 prescriptions for every 100 people, CDC data shows.With fewer than 4 million residents, Oklahoma ranks 28th in the nation for drug overdose deaths. But its rate of opioid painkiller prescriptions ranks sixth, behind Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana.In 2015, Oklahoma doctors wrote more opioid prescriptions than there are residents, compared with a nationwide rate of about 7 in 10, according to data analyzed by the CDC.But Oklahomas efforts  including a prescription drug monitoring database, strict opioid prescribing rules for medical professionals, and public health warnings  resulted in a more than 30 percent reduction in the rate of pills per capita between 2012 and 2017.That, and the relatively low prevalence of fentanyl in Oklahomas illicit drug market, resulted in the states overdose deaths dropping by 7 percent in 2017, making it one of only a handful of states where mortality rates may have peaked, said Andrew Kolodny, co-director of opioid policy research at the Brandeis University Heller School for Social Policy and Management in Massachusetts.More than in most other states, opioid overdose deaths in Oklahoma are due to prescription painkillers, rather than heroin or fentanyl.In 2016, 322 Oklahomans died from prescription painkillers, compared with 98 who died from fentanyl and other synthetic drugs, and 53 from heroin. Nationwide, more than half of all overdose deaths were from heroin and fentanyl, CDC data shows.In the opioid case, Oklahomas decision not to wait on the sidelines for a potential national settlement puts the state at some risk. It could miss out on a share of what might be a hefty settlement, which could be used for further abatement of the epidemic, said Richard Ausness, a law professor at University of Kentucky who has been following the opioid lawsuits.If Oklahoma loses the case at the highest level of appeal, it would not be eligible to take part in a national settlement, he said.Theres a lot of freeloading going on out there: If a state doesnt want to be bothered trying an opioid case, it can settle directly or hop on to a global settlement, Ausness said. Oklahoma is not taking that route.As in most states, the Oklahoma attorney generals motivation in pursuing the case may have been largely political, Ausness said. As elected officials, attorneys general tend to want credit for cracking down on the bad guys, rather than passively taking part in national litigation.And the outside attorneys representing states typically do so on a contingency basis, so Oklahoma and other states that are suing drug companies arent necessarily losing money by pursuing the cases, he added.Still, if Oklahoma wins its case, it could settle certain legal arguments against drugmakers and push the companies closer to a national settlement.In the tobacco cases of the 1990s, states kept hammering and hammering until enough dirt came out that the companies wanted to settle, Ausness said. If the Oklahoma case goes to trial, which no doubt would turn into a circus, it could have the same effect.Clouds will increase & thicken & winds will once again increase tonight after diminishing somewhat this evening. South-southwest winds may gust to 30 mph overnight-early Thursday morning.

Temperatures will rise tonight from 22-28 to 33-38 by early Thursday morning.

Winds will increase from the southwest tomorrow, sustaining at 15-25 mph with gusts 30-40 mph. Areas of showers & drizzle will develop as cold front & deepening low pressure approaches.

The highest gusts should occur in a band behind the front from the northwest. Gusts up to 45 mph are possible tomorrow eveing- night. An isolated +45 mph gust cannot be ruled out. Winds should then decrease overnight to early Friday morning to gusts of up to 30 mph. Wind chills may still drop to 0 as lows drop to 14-19.

Any showers/drizzle may change to some flurries & a few snow showers before ending. Little/no accumulation is expected. Temperatures will fall from highs of 41-46 to the 28-32 pretty quickly in the evening.

Snow should stay south of our area Saturday with Alberta Clipper. If your travels takes you to southern Illinois, Indiana to Kentucky, 2-4" of snowfall are possible.

However, 3-5" of snow are possible in our area Sunday from Colorado Low storm system. The snow could begin as early as morning & not end until evening. Winds may also be an issue with the system during & after the storm system. East to northeast winds may gust to 33 mph.

Panhandle low is possible late Tuesday-Wednesday of next week. This could bring additional accumulating snowfall to the viewing area.DELPHI, Ind. (WLFI) The hardest moments for Abigail Williams and Liberty German's families come at the simplest times. When they look up and see Libby's empty chair at the dinner table, or hear a song Abby loved to sing and dance to.

Both families said as they focus on moving forward, a piece of them will always be stuck in the past. Living life without Abby and Libby is something they've learned to accept, however it doesn't make the day to day any easier.

Holding onto memories and old photos is the reality Abby's mother Anna Williams, is still learning to live with.

"I wake up everyday wishing it wasn't," she said as she wished for one more minute with her daughter.

"For thirty seconds or whatever the time may be, you can kind of forget that this ever happened and then it all comes back but it happened and it was awful," said Williams.

Mike Patty has the same wish for his granddaughter Libby.

"It doesn't really get easier, that's why people say does it get any easier, no it doesn't get any easier, you learn how to control the pain," said Patty.

It's been two years since 14-year-old Liberty German and 13-year-old Abigail Williams were killed near the Monon High Bridge in Delphi. Two years of ups and downs in an investigation that currently seems to have no end in sight.

"We've tried different avenues, we've approached it from the north the south the east the west someone always asks me well you have to think outside the box. We've been outside the box, we've taken that box apart, we put it back together we destroyed that box," said District Investigative Commander in the case Jerry Holeman.

But he added, the investigation is far from over.

"There's a lot of information that we still have to work with and that's why we don't believe it's a cold case because we are getting tips and leads we're working really hard on this case," said Holeman.

The families understand that.

"Just because we're not hearing something new everyday. I'm not calling everyday, I don't call once a month even because when they said we'll let you know, I know they will," said Williams.

It's a reality that doesn't make things any easier.

"Am I frustrated yes, am I irritated yes. I'm irritated that we aren't further than we are," said Mike Patty.

But the goal is to keep pushing.

"Our effort in trying to continue to live parts of our lives but yet continuing to stay focused on this case," said Patty.

After all, they have a lot to look forward to.

"We still have to find this guy and that's what we're gonna do," said Williams.DELPHI, Ind. (WLFI)  The last two years have taken a toll on the Delphi community and now the families of Abby Williams and Libby German are hoping to bring people together by giving back.

Wednesday's prayer remembrance was also a chance for community members to give back as well

Delphi United Methodist Church played host for the service as the community continued to remember the lives of Abby and Libby.

"Man they were just rays of sunshine," said the principal of Delphi Community Middle School Sarah Gustin. "Just joyous. Just always full of life."

The lives of Abby Williams and Libby German were remembered at a prayer service and it's the third year in a row the Delphi community gathered in pain to pray and reflect on their lives at Delphi United Methodist Church.

But, this time its different.

"This year the question was what do we do to honor and live towards life," said senior pastor Todd Ladd.

The answer to the question was a canned food drive for people and for pets.

Libby's grandfather, Mike Patty, said Libby would have cherished this.

"She would have loved it," said Patty. "She would have been out there giggling. She would have been laughing and she would have been calling people in. She would have been spreading this on social media. That's the way she was"

The way the service worked was that community members grabbed a remembrance bracelet and dropped off their items and spent as much time as needed in the sanctuary.

Even if you dropped off one canned food item that was okay.

"Because one can will feed someone just like one tip may be the right tip," said Ladd.

The night was full of hope, hugs and honor just like one big family.

"It's truly a testament to the community," said Gustin. "That's how Delphi is. It's close knit. It's like a family. Our school is like a family."

"It's been really wonderful to see the community and people and friends," said Patty. "Most of these people have become friends. We've been immersed in this for the last couple of years together."

Together the community stands for justice and stands for the lives of Abby and Libby.

"Abby and Libby...they were our girls," said Gustin. "They could have been anyone's daughters or sisters or friends."Officials in Clark County, Washington, publish a list every day of where people infected with measles have been. Among them: busy spots like Concourse D at Oregon's Portland International Airport on January 7 and the sold-out Portland Trail Blazers' home game four days later. There's also a Costco, a Trader Joe's, numerous schools, day-care centers and churches, a swimming pool and even a trampoline park.

"It is exquisitely contagious," said Dr. Alan Melnick, director of the county health department. "You can be in a room where somebody with measles had left two hours earlier and still get the disease."

Clark County, just across the Columbia River from Portland, is in the middle of a measles outbreak, and Washington's governor has declared a state of emergency. At least 58 people have been infected since the outbreak began in January, according to state and local health officials.

"The thing that keeps me up at night is having a death, you know, a child die from this," Melnick said. Measles kills about 2 of every 1,000 children infected, he said.

Kristen Cheatley discovered that she and her 11-month-old, Steel, were in a doctor's office at the same time as an infected child nearly three weeks ago. Steel is too young to get the measles vaccine. Now, he might be infected and a danger to others. He's stuck at home under quarantine for 21 days while his parents anxiously check for measles symptoms, which start like a bad cold before the telltale rash develops.

Nurses at one medical center are treating and inoculating kids in the parking lot to reduce the risk of contagion in the waiting room.

Measles was eliminated from the United States in 2000. But according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Travelers with measles continue to bring the disease into the US. Measles can spread when it reaches a community in the US where groups of people are unvaccinated."

In 2011, a number of travelers from France brought the virus to this country, according to the CDC. In 2014, nearly 400 people were sickened during a measles outbreak among unvaccinated Amish communities in Ohio. In 2015, one infected overseas visitor to Disneyland in California led to 147 measles cases across the United States. And there is another outbreak ongoing amongst Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn New York, reportedly sparked by a single infected child arriving from Israel.

The CDC claims that the outbreak in the Pacific Northwest began when an infected child from Ukraine came to Clark County over the holidays. And according to Melnick, "we have large unvaccinated populations in Clark County."

As Cheatley said, "for the longest time, I always said, 'well, if they don't want to vaccinate, that's not my problem.' It's become my problem."

Clark County schools have some of the lowest vaccination rates in this country. Before entering kindergarten, kids are supposed to have had two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. But in Clark County last year, fewer than 85% of kindergartners were up to date, well below the roughly 95% vaccination rate required for "herd immunity" to take effect and protect those who are too young or medically unable to be vaccinated.

Vaccination rates in Clark County are low partly because Washington allows parents to opt out of vaccinating their children not only for medical and religious reasons but for "philosophical" and "personal" ones. Lawmakers are debating removing those provisions for the MMR vaccine.

"Hundreds of thousands of people in my community have been involved in this issue and have lent support to this bill," Rep. Paul Harris told the State Assembly last week. He represents Clark County and is sponsoring the legislation.

"They're concerned about our community, its immunity and the community safety."

Bernadette Pajer, co-president of the advocacy group Informed Choice Washington, which opposes mandatory vaccination, told CNN affiliate KOIN, "this bill takes away our freedom and says you have to take this flawed product or your kid can't go to school. That is so wrong,"

Anti-vaccination activists protested outside the State Assembly during a hearing on the bill last week.

"But that is not the majority of the patients who decline," said Dr. Amrita Stark, a Clark County pediatrician. "Many of the patients who decline are from different religious groups. They are actually more conservative. And many of them are in the Russian population that's here, too."

In Portland, the population of emigres from the former Soviet Union is large enough to support five Russian-language radio stations. "I've heard some parents in Portland went to the doctor to get vaccinated, and their kids got 16 shots at a time. And they think that's too much," said Eduard Rusu, who runs a Russian pop station.

Rusu said he had an adverse vaccine reaction five years ago and has not vaccinated his own children, who are 6 and 2. "If you read the fine print, I'm sure somewhere there, it says there is a possible fatal outcome there. Some possible fatal consequences. And that gets you a little worried."

Stark noted, "a lot of people are still afraid, despite all of the evidence to debunk the association with autism."

Andre Dolbinin, the principal of the Slavic Christian Academy in Clark County, which serves the local Russian-speaking community, told CNN affiliate KATU in Portland that he believes his school had one of the first measles cases in the area. He said his staff do not discourage parents from vaccinating. However, some parents believe the vaccination actually causes the measles virus. The school hasn't supplied vaccination data to the state for the past few years. But state records show that at two other former Slavic Christian Academies more than half of students are exempted from the MMR vaccine.

Kaley McClachlan-Burton, who usually works in solid waste management for Clark County, is now working full-time online to monitor mentions of the outbreak on social media and correcting what health officials believe are erroneous rumors. "Like the virus actually being caused by the vaccine," she said. "Something known as 'shedding.' The MMR vaccine does not shed."

Local officials are eager not to blame one specific ethnic group for the current outbreak. Melnick said he may never know who was Clark County's patient zero. He can't say for certain it was a child from Ukraine. But the strain of measles spreading in the Pacific Northwest is the same strain still going around Ukraine, which sickened 50,000 people there last year.

"The virus does not discriminate," Melnick said. "The solution to this is for all us to get vaccinated."

He hopes that fear of the current outbreak -- and accurate information -- will raise vaccination rates. Those rates for January in Clark County were three times the five-year average.

"With this outbreak," Rusu said, "I will definitely think that I need to put it on my schedule soon and get it done!"A member of the West Virginia House of Delegates is facing bipartisan criticism for a string of anti-LGBT statements, but the Republican lawmaker doesn't appear to be backing down.

Delegate Eric Porterfield, who represents West Virginia's 27th district, has a history of anti-LGBT stances. But things came to a head last week during a House meeting over a proposed amendment to an anti-LGBT-discrimination bill.

During the February 6 meeting Porterfield called the bill, which would include LGBT people as a protected class under the state's Human Rights Act, "bigoted," "intolerant" and "discriminatory."

"The LGBT is the most socialist group in this country," he continued, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail. "They do not protect gays. There are many gays they persecute if they do not line up with their social ideology."

Porterfield has previously framed pushes for LGBT protections as a violation of free speech.

Reaction to his comments was swift. On Thursday, House Democrats took turns condemning Porterfield for his comments. On Friday, the West Virginia Democratic Party issued a statement calling for Porterfield to resign.

"West Virginia has no room for someone who expresses such hate," WVDP Chairwoman Belina Biafore wrote.

But Porterfield took the opportunity to double down on his statements. On Friday morning, he called the offices of the Gazette-Mail, which had published an article on the Democratic backlash to his statements.

In the phone call, the news outlet reported, Porterfield called his critics "brutal monsters" and called the LGBT community a "terrorist group." He also compared them to the KKK.

"The LGBTQ is a modern-day version of the Ku Klux Klan, without wearing hoods, with their antics of hate," he reportedly said.

Porterfield's office has not responded to CNN's calls and e-mails requesting comment.

A few days later, the lawmaker continued his line of commentary. During an interview with local TV station WVVA, Porterfield, wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, gave an odd answer when asked what he would do if he had a son or daughter who was gay.

"Well, I will address my daughter first. I would take her for a pedicure, I'd take her to get her nails done, and see if she could swim," Porterfield said while smiling. "If it was my son, I would probably take him hunting, I would take him fishing, then I'd see if he could swim."

"I just want to make sure they could swim," he said when asked to clarify his comments.

Several of West Virginia's Republican leaders have criticized his statements, and on Monday, the West Virginia GOP officially denounced Porterfield's words.

"These comments are unacceptable and we denounce them," West Virginia Republican Party Chairwoman Melody Potter said in a statement. "They have no place in America."

Porterfield took office last month, succeeding retiring Republican delegate Marty Gearheart. The 44-year-old is a Baptist missionary and has been blind since losing his vision in an altercation in 2006.

During his campaign, Porterfield vociferously criticized the Youth Mental Health Protection Act, a bill that failed to pass the state legislature in 2018 despite bipartisan support. Porterfield said the bill, which would have banned conversion therapy for LGBT minors, was a violation of free speech and called its supporters "bigoted and discriminatory."SPEED READ:

Legislatures in Florida, Illinois, New York and several other states are considering or may take up a version of the End Corporate Welfare Act, which would stop the practice of offering tax incentives deisigned to woo certain corporations to relocate.

Supporters say such a multistate compact would end the "race to the bottom" of states trying to outbid one another in corporate giveaways.

The effort is part of a backlash to the $2 billion in tax breaks promised to Amazon by New York and Virginia for its second headquarters.

Are Tax Incentives Worth It?

Amazons yearlong, nationwide contest for its second corporate headquarters netted the internet retail giant more than $2 billion in promised tax breaks from New York state and Virginia. But after mounting public resistance to such "corporate welfare," Amazon announced Thursday that it will abandon its plans for New York City.This, as the End Corporate Welfare Act is circulating in several states, including New York. The bill would essentially call a cease-fire on awarding tax incentives to certain companies by creating an interstate compact of states that agree to end the practice.New Yorks bill is being sponsored by Assemblyman Ron Kim and state Sen. Julia Salazar, who have criticized the state's deal with Amazon for months. We are definitely glad our organizing has paid off, says Michael Carter, a spokesman for Salazar. This is not the first [corporate welfare] deal and it certainly wont be last. But maybe now companies will think twice about pursuing one of these deals in the state of New York.A similar version to New York's bill is also making its way through the Arizona and Illinois legislatures, while lawmakers in other states, including Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts and New Jersey, are considering introducing such legislation.For decades, corporations have pitted states against each other in a race to the bottom, Kim says. Watching mayors and governors fall over each other to throw money at Amazon, a multibillion-dollar company, he says, was the tipping point for a lot of people. Many lawmakers saw this and thought, This is enough. We cant be pitted against each other like this.New Yorks tax incentive package to Amazon, worth $1.2 billion, has been controversial among the regions top Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, even as Amazon has promised thousands of new jobs and several billion dollars in investment. Inviting an anti-union monopolistic enterprise into our city only makes sense if you want to make New York into a city where its impossible for working-class people to live, says Salazar.The bill and vocal opposition to the tax incentive package had led to reports in recent days that Amazon was having second thoughts about its Long Island City headquarters.Opponents of such deals cite data that suggest that tax incentives often arent worth what they cost governments.An Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy study noted that most giveaways simply move pieces on a chessboard, rather than create actual growth. "In the case of retail, as much as 90 percent of the apparent direct benefits of tax incentives are offset by losses among the subsidized retailer's local competitors," the study says. "While this figure is likely to be lower for industries serving a more national market, states constantly run the risk of harming existing businesses within their borders when they attempt to give some companies a competitive edge through the use of tax incentives."In no place, perhaps, is this more clear than in Kansas City , which straddles both Kansas and Missouri. The two states have long competed with each other to woo businesses across the state line. AMC Theaters, Applebee's and JP Morgan Retirement are just a few of the companies that have crossed the border in recent years. So much money is involved that the tax incentives battle has been dubbed the "Kansas City Border War." Over the years, both states have proposed ending their tax credit programs for the region, but have never been able to find a mutually agreeable solution.Given the difficulties the two states have faced in coming to an agreement, it's clear that convincing all states to end tax credits for companies would be very difficult. Connecticut state Rep. Josh Elliott, who is behind an effort to put forward a committee bill in Hartford, acknowledges that gaining national traction among states for banning company-specific tax credits is something that will take a decade or more. Of particular concern for a small state like Connecticut is whether such a pact would really work for the state unless all states in the Northeast are members.I think something like this has a 10- to 15-year window to become reality, and that might have to happen federally, Elliott says. I think its more important right now to start having this conversation than to have specific legislation.Tax incentives are particularly attractive to states that don't have highly developed commerce ecosystems akin to those in Chicago or New York City. Georgia, for example, has the biggest film tax credit program in the country. Last year, the state saw $2.7 billion in direct spending from productions in exchange for $800 million in tax credits , according to state figures.Next door, Alabama has used tax credits over the last two decades to beef up its auto manufacturing industry, making it the " auto capital of the South ."But states like these, Kim says, already have natural selling points of lower taxes and a lower cost of living. By giving away tax incentives, they take money away from more valuable programs. If you want real economic growth, you spend that money on infrastructure, on making cities and states better, he says. We need to build our own talent pool instead of making companies do it for us.UTICA, N.Y. -- The YWCA on Thursday addressed candidate comments they say qualify as victim blaming, made by Dave Gordon.

Gordon is running for the Oneida County executive seat held by Anthony Picente.

On Monday, he held a news conference during which he fired off scathing allegations against three elected officials, but provided no proof or evidence.

During that press conference, Gordon referenced being arrested in 2017 for breaking a cell phone during a situation with his fiancee.

At that time, he made many statements the YWCA Domestic Violence Coalition says are victim - blaming.

The CEO of the YWCA held a press conference Thursday, alongside the Oneida County sheriff and undersheriff, members of the county domestic violence coalition, and representatives of the governor's office.

She calls into question a statement, among others, where Gordon on Monday suggests that his fiancees pregnancy hormones were to blame for his behavior.

"We were then informed that my fiance was in fact six weeks pregnant, and concluded that a contributing factor to this one time occurrence was because of some hormonal changes, said Gordon. "After this, we did a lot of research, concluding that these episodes are very common in relationships when an unknown pregnancy occurs."

"The statements that were made were clearly victim blaming, said Dianne Stancato, the YWCA CEO. To say that someone is hormonal and that's the cause of your bad behavior.

At the conclusion of Stancato's remarks, Dave Gordon read from a statement he says his fiancee wrote.

"I am not a victim. I am not a survivor. I am not an object that you people objectify, magnify for your political gain," read Gordon, from the piece of paper. "I find this press conference to not only be politically motivated by the friends and family organization that continue to plague our community, but also this is a motivated event to try and discredit people like my fiance."

Gordon said his fiancee couldn't be there in person to voice her opinion because she was home with their nine-month-old daughter. NewsChannel 2 left a voicemail on Gordon's cell phone, offering to meet his fiance at a convenient place, if she wanted to personally be heard. Neither responded.

CEO Stancato didn't directly respond to Gordon. At one point during the press conference, she directly addressed all victims of domestic abuse.

"We're here for you, regardless of your story, no matter whether it happened yesterday, last week or 50 years ago. We're here for you, whether you reported the incident or not."NEW HARTFORD, N.Y. -- A local business is celebrating 105 years in the Mohawk Valley, and there was a lot of cake to celebrate.

Utica Mutual, a member company of Utica National, was founded on this day in 1914.

The company is based in New Hartford, and in recent years reached $1 billion in sales.

It was also named a top workplace by "Insurance Business America" Magazine.UTICA, NY-- Thousands of baby boomers are set to retire from education around the same time across the country creating a teacher shortage, including in Central New York, but Utica College is offering a program to help fill the need.

"New York State is now an extremely high demand low supply so the Transition B Program is helping to fill that gap," said Richard Moon, P-12 liasion and coordinator of student teaching at Utica College.

The Teacher Certification Program allows aspiring teachers to secure full-time employment in local schools via an alternative pathway to certification, according to the site.

The program is designed for aspiring teachers who hold a bachelor degree in high-need areas, such as, English, French, social studies, Spanish, biology, chemistry, earth science, physics, mathematics or technology. Students who complete a summer course of study and pass required teaching exams will earn the 'Transitional B Certificate' and will then be able to secure a full-time teaching job. Candidates then have up to five years to finish the remaining master's in education coursework under UC mentorship.

The program may prove to be helpful, during a time when more than a third of the state's 270,000 active Teachers' Retirement System members could be eligible to retire within the next five years, according to New York State United Teachers. The number of people enrolling in teacher education programs has also made an impact, with a dramatic drop in five years by about half, from 79,000 students in 2009-10 to 20,000 in 2014-15.

"You actually come into this program take nine credit hours in the summer and then as long as you've completed those course work credits and have also passed two of the three state exams you're eligible to go out into the classroom in the fall," said John Rowe, executive director of graduate admissions at Utica College.

The Whitesboro Central School District is one of the 42 local school districts that partner with the college.

"A lot of our baby boomers are retiring or their reaching the retirement age, " said David Russo, assistant superintendent for the Whitesboro Central School District. "So it is a good time to start working with some of our pre-service teachers who are completing hours and getting to know them and watch them in the classrooms as potential hires."

The deadline to apply for the next cohort is the end of February.

For more information call the office of graduate admissions, 315-792-3010 or visit: www.utica.eduROME, N.Y. -- After a long day Tuesday plowing and prepping the roads  there was a crash at the Rome DPW yard.

A salt truck that was replenishing the city's supply tipped over.

John Clifford with the Rome Sentinel shot this footage Wednesday morning.

The truck with the bed extended was down on its side.

The windshield popped out, but the driver was not hurt.

The salt at the top of the extended box wouldn't move, and the uneven weight made the truck tip over.

The truck is from Cayuga Crushed Stone in Lansing.NEW YORK (AP) - The governor signed the "Child Victims Act" into law extending the statute of limitations so sexual abuse victims have more time to seek criminal charges against their abusers.

Governor Andrew Cuomo was joined by the survivors of convicted abuser Larry Nassar -- the former doctor to many well-known gymnasts.

In addition to giving molestation victims more time to come forward, the law will also open a one-year window for lawsuits now barred by the statute of limitations.

But the bill, to me, does something else that is frankly more important. This bill brings justice to people who were abused. The bill rights the wrongs that went unacknowledged and unpunished. And that compounded the pain, said Cuomo.

State lawmakers approved the legislation last monthUTICA, N.Y. -- The man who sent a letter to a state Supreme Court justice about shooting up a school was sentenced in Oneida County Court Wednesday.

Claude White sent the note to Justice Norm Siegel, and threatened to shoot up a kindergarten class and then kill himself.

White has been in the Central New York Psychiatric Center since his guilty plea in October.

He was sentenced 1 1/2 to 3 years in prison.Milwaukee, WI (53187)

Today

Thunderstorms. High around 75F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Variable clouds with scattered thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low 66F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.Federal lawmakers are urging FEMA to approve a nearly $4 million grant to help alleviate repetitive flooding along the Sauquoit Creek.

Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirstin Gillibrand, along with Congressman Anthony Brindisi, sent a letter to FEMA to back Whitestown's application for $3.9 million.

If approved, the money would be used to build 12 floodplain benches along a mile corridor of the creek, to protect homes and businesses in an area notorious for flooding.CAMDEN, N.Y. - Camden High School will be offering a Drone Pilot Course to students this Fall.

The class will provide students that are interested in flying drones with employment opportunities after graduation. New York State Senator Joe Griffo stopped by for the Camden board of education meeting Wednesday night to talk a little bit about what this course could mean for students at Camden High School.

The students who take this course will learn to fly drones and receive comprehensive hands on training. At the end of the course, they will receive a certified drone pilot license.

Senator Griffo helped the district receive $50,000 in special state legislative funding. The grant will cover the cost to start up this course. It will include a week-long teacher training program with SkyOp in Canandaigua and the teachers taking and passing their Federal Aviation Administration Unmanned Aircraft System exam for a certification. It will also be used to purchase the drones that will be used, which the students will be able to keep, and there will be an indoor and outdoor drone obstacle course for students to practice on.

With Grifiss Airforce Base, located in Rome, serving as the drone corridor in our area, the Superintendent says this is an educational and economic opportunity for students to work with local companies. He says the drone market is quickly expanding locally and globally in areas of employment such as video, marketing, search and rescue, delivery services, agriculture, and drones are being used for many military purposes.

Senator Griffo and the superintendent say this program has a lot of potential.

What I hope to see is this curriculum grow, great opportunities for students so Im pleased that we were able to provide the $50,000," Senator Griffo said.

The superintendent for the Camden School District says he is ready to get started and prepare students for the 21st century workforce.

So this is a great opportunity to go ahead and get into the education of an industry with drones that is really taking off in this area, Dr. Ravo Root, Superintendent said.

The school is partnering with Mohawk Valley Community College, so students will receive college credits after completing the course, and the Superintendent says within the next couple of years, the school will offer more courses like this one. Students must be 16 by the time they take the test for their certification.NEW YORK (AP) - Amazon's stunning announcement to abandon its proposed campus in Long Island City came just two days after the Cuomo administration's economic development czar repeatedly praised the deal during his three hours of testimony before a joint legislative hearing in Albany on the governor's $175 billion state budget proposal.

Several members of the Senate and Assembly voiced skepticism about the state and city incentives that initially convinced Amazon to choose Long Island City, questioning economic development Commissioner Howard Zemsky about its cost for taxpayers. He responded by focusing on the number jobs and the billions in tax revenues the project was expected to generate over the next two decades.

"There's nothing we can equate this to in the history of the state," Zemsky said Tuesday. "It's the largest economic development prize we've ever had."

Amazon's decision to cancel its planned headquarters in Long Island City reflects poor planning by both the company and state leaders, a leading business location consultant said.

Tom Stringer, managing director at BDO Consulting, said that neither the company nor the state reached out sufficiently to neighborhood leaders to win them over.

"Both of them really did an awful job," Stringer said. Not having local officials "in the process early on is really mind-boggling to me."

The collapse of the deal won't hurt the city's economy, Stringer said, because it is already doing well and the project hadn't moved forward yet. But it damages New York City's reputation for getting deals done, he added.

On the streets of Queens, reaction to Amazon's decision to cancel its headquarters differed among the residents and local businesses.

Andrew Ousley, a resident of one of the new rental high-rises near the site Amazon had considered, applauded Thursday's news.

"I was afraid that having Amazon in our backyard was going to lead to rent hikes and increased prices in stores and restaurants," he said. "Given I both live and operate my business out of LIC, my plan was to move out before they arrived. But now that they're not coming, I'm more likely to stay and see how the neighborhood continues to grow and evolve in a more organic fashion."

But Tom Grech, president and CEO of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, struggled to express his "sadness and dismay."

"An entire generation will look back at these last few months and ask us why," he said in a statement. "I hope those that opposed this Amazon deal have the answers to what we lost today. Queens is one of the best places for a tech firm - for any forward-looking business - to expand into, with our diverse talent pool, entrepreneurial spirit, thriving arts scene and boundless energy. It is a shame to lose the opportunity, investment and jobs that Amazon offered, but there are many more ways for businesses in Queens to thrive, and we will be welcoming them with open arms."

Mayor Bill de Blasio issued an upbeat statement on Amazon's decision, noting that New York City will thrive no matter what.

"You have to be tough to make it in New York City. We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity," the mayor said. "We have the best talent in the world and every day we are growing a stronger and fairer economy for everyone. If Amazon can't recognize what that's worth, its competitors will."

Meanwhile, Governor Andrew Cuomo, who had championed Amazon's plan, had yet to comment on the decision.

An indication that Cuomo was growing concerned over opposition to the Amazon deal and reports of the company having second thoughts was evident in comments he made during an interview Tuesday with a New York City radio station.

"I don't think they're bluffing. I think this is very serious," he then said.

The billions of dollars in tax incentives that Amazon was awarded stirred backlash from a number of activists.

Deborah Axt, the co-executive director of anti-poverty group Make the Road New York, called Amazon's withdrawal a "landmark victory."

"This announcement ... shows the power of the people, even when taking on the world's richest man," Axt said. "Our members and allies stood firm against Governor Cuomo's plan to give away more than $3 billion in taxpayer giveaways so that Amazon could force its empire-building on our neighborhoods.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.5 Secrets to Making Winning Trades (Ad)

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Get the list of all five now.SEDONA, Ariz. and CLARKDALE, Ariz., Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verde Canyon Railroad once declared Liberty Wildlifes Sonora the only train-riding bald eagle in the world. This 13-year-old raptor, a resident of the Wildlife Rescues educational program, has been riding the train every month since July 2010. Permanently injured as an eaglet when her nest was attacked by Africanized bees, Sonora was not able to be released back into the wild. Consequently, she became one of Liberty Wildlifes full-time residents.



Each month this majestic American icon visits Verde Canyon Railroad with volunteer handlers and, in addition to posing with train passengers, shes also able to revisit the wild Verde River scenery of her youth. While on the four-hour train ride, her eyes alert, wings aloft to catch the canyon breezes, wed like to believe Sonora is soaring as nature intended. However, she can no longer wear the title of The Only Train-Riding Bald Eagle.

Recently, the Sisterhood of Train-Riding Bald Eagles has expanded to three! In addition to Sonora, two other eagles from Liberty Wildlife, Laddie and Aurora, have become educational ambassadors on the rails of the Verde Canyon Railroad, sharing amazing photo ops while their handlers espouse fascinating information about Arizonas bald eagle population with all who visit the depot and ride the train.

Laddie, her gender belied by her masculine moniker, was named for the Ladders Nest near Camp Verde, AZ., where she was born. This local valley girl hatched there five years ago, only to be snatched from the nest as a baby by a golden eagle and dropped. Luckily for Laddie, Arizona Game & Fish Eagle Watchers were on duty and witnessed the attack. The fall left Laddie with severe damage to one wing, breaking three bones in 14 places, leading to surgery and even a blood transfusion from Liberty Wildlifes namesake, the grande dame of bald eagles, Lady Liberty.

As with Sonora, the extent of her injuries was too severe and she couldnt survive in the wild. Though Laddie had visited Verde Canyon Railroad several times for educational events on the patio, shed never ridden the rails until autumn 2017 when she joined the Traveling Sisterhood of the Train-Riding Bald Eagles!

Aurora is well known to the Phoenix area, having been a frequent guest in many parades, veterans rides and the Arizona Renaissance Fair with her handler, Joe Miller. She even has her own Facebook page, Friends of Aurora. She is a bit larger than the Arizona girls because she is native to Wisconsin where she hatched in 2001. As an eaglet, Aurora fell face-first into sharp sticks that had comprised the nest, puncturing an eye and causing her parents to abandon her. When her rescue facility in Wisconsin closed, they contacted the esteemed Liberty Wildlife to take Aurora under their wing. In February 2018 Aurora became the third eagle to join the Traveling Sisterhood of the Train-Riding Bald Eagles.

So, while it can no longer be said that Sonora is The Only Train -Riding Bald Eagle in the World, it still may be declared with 100% accuracy that there is still only one train ridden by bald eagles: Verde Canyon Railroad. Raptors at the Rails takes place twice a month, with educational presentations both at the depot and aboard the train. Patio events take place generally on a Wednesday or Thursday, 11:00 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. prior to the trains 1:00 p.m. departure. On dates one of the Traveling Sisterhood of Train-Riding Bald Eagles is onboard the train from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., there also is a short opportunity at the depot at 12:30 p.m. for visitors not riding the rails to see one of these majestic creatures up close and personal. Upcoming dates of Raptors at the Rails events are listed at https://verdecanyonrr.com/events/wild-splendor/

Liberty Wildlife is located at 2600 E Elwood, Phoenix, AZ 85040. They have regular visiting hours open to the public, as well as special events scheduled year-round. Visit www.libertywildlife.org for more information.

As the eagle flies, Verde Canyon Railroad is Just 25 minutes from scenic Sedona and 10 minutes from historic Jerome. For more than 100 years this train has traveled the heart of Arizonas Verde Valley, named one of Lonely Planets top 10 destinations. For more information visit www.verdecanyonrr.net or call 800-293-7245.

Its not the destination, its the journey.

Telephone: 623-374-3185

Email: tpropeck@verdecanyonrr.net

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2e502694-72d5-424e-b528-998fe5eac3e3The following companies are subsidiares of Dominion Energy: 96WI 8me LLC, Alamo Solar LLC, Align RNG Grady Road LLC, Align RNG LLC, Align RNG North Carolina LLC, Align RNG Utah LLC, Align RNG Utah-Milford LLC, Align RNG Virginia LLC, Align RNG Virginia-Waverly LLC, Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC, Azalea Solar LLC, BrightSuite Distributed Solar Holdings Inc., BrightSuite Home LLC, BrightSuite Inc., BrightSuite Solar LLC, Buckingham Solar I LLC, CEA Americus LLC, CEA Clovis LLC, CEA Dairy RNG Colorado LLC, CEA Dairy RNG Georgia LLC, CEA Dairy RNG Nevada LLC, CEA Dairy RNG New Mexico LLC, CEA Greely LLC, CEA Mason LLC, CID Solar LLC, CNG Coal Company, CNG Power Services Corporation, Carolina Gas Transmission Corporation, Catalina Solar 2 LLC, Clean Energy Asset USA LLC, Clean Energy Enterprises Inc., Clipperton Holdings LLC, Consolidated Natural Gas Company, Correctional Solar LLC, Cottonwood Solar LLC, Cove Point GP Holding Company LLC, Cove Point LNG Limited, DE Fluvanna Solar LLC, DE Hanover Solar LLC, DE King William Solar LLC, DE Powhatan Solar LLC, Dairy RNG Holdings LLC, Dominion ACP Holding Inc., Dominion Alternative Energy Holdings Inc., Dominion Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC, Dominion Bridgeport Fuel Cell LLC, Dominion Brine LLC, Dominion Capital Inc., Dominion Cogen WV Inc., Dominion Cove Point Inc., Dominion Cove Point LLC, Dominion Energy BTM Inc., Dominion Energy Carolina Gas Services Inc., Dominion Energy Carolina Gas Transmission LLC, Dominion Energy Cove Point LNG LP, Dominion Energy Field Services Inc., Dominion Energy Fuel Services Inc., Dominion Energy Gas Distribution LLC, Dominion Energy Gas Holdings LLC, Dominion Energy Generation Marketing Inc., Dominion Energy Inc., Dominion Energy Kewaunee Inc., Dominion Energy Marketplace LLC, Dominion Energy Midstream GP LLC, Dominion Energy Midstream Partners LP, Dominion Energy Nuclear Connecticut Inc., Dominion Energy Overthrust Pipeline LLC, Dominion Energy Payroll Company Inc., Dominion Energy Questar Corporation, Dominion Energy Questar Pipeline LLC, Dominion Energy Questar Pipeline Services Inc., Dominion Energy RNG Holdings II Inc., Dominion Energy RNG Holdings Inc., Dominion Energy Services Inc., Dominion Energy Smart Home LLC, Dominion Energy Solar CA LLC, Dominion Energy Solutions Inc., Dominion Energy South Carolina Inc., Dominion Energy Southeast Services Inc., Dominion Energy Technical Solutions Inc., Dominion Energy Technologies II Inc., Dominion Energy Technologies Inc., Dominion Energy Terminal Company Inc., Dominion Energy Transmission Inc., Dominion Energy Wexpro Services Company, Dominion Equipment III Inc., Dominion Equipment Inc., Dominion Fairless Hills Inc., Dominion Fowler Ridge Wind LLC, Dominion Gas Projects Company LLC, Dominion Gathering & Processing Inc., Dominion Gathering?& Processing Inc., Dominion Generation Inc., Dominion Greenbrier Inc., Dominion High Voltage Holdings Inc., Dominion High Voltage MidAtlantic Inc., Dominion Investments Inc., Dominion Iroquois Inc., Dominion Keystone Pipeline Holdings Inc., Dominion Keystone Pipeline LLC, Dominion MLP Holding Company II Inc., Dominion MLP Holding Company II LLC, Dominion MLP Holding Company III Inc., Dominion MLP Holding Company LLC, Dominion Modular LNG Holdings Inc., Dominion Mt. Storm Wind LLC, Dominion North Star Generation Inc., Dominion Nuclear Projects Inc., Dominion Oklahoma Texas Exploration & Production Inc., Dominion Oklahoma Texas Exploration?& Production Inc., Dominion Person Inc., Dominion Privatization Florida LLC, Dominion Privatization Georgia LLC, Dominion Privatization Holdings Inc., Dominion Privatization Kentucky LLC, Dominion Privatization South Carolina LLC, Dominion Privatization Texas LLC, Dominion Privatization Virginia LLC, Dominion Products and Services Inc., Dominion Projects Services Inc., Dominion Resources Capital Trust III, Dominion Retail Gas Holdings Inc., Dominion Solar Construction and Maintenance LLC, Dominion Solar Gen-Tie LLC, Dominion Solar Holdings I LLC, Dominion Solar Holdings II LLC, Dominion Solar Holdings III LLC, Dominion Solar Holdings IV LLC, Dominion Solar Projects A Inc., Dominion Solar Projects B Inc., Dominion Solar Projects C Inc., Dominion Solar Projects D Inc., Dominion Solar Projects I Inc., Dominion Solar Projects II Inc., Dominion Solar Projects III Inc., Dominion Solar Projects IV Inc., Dominion Solar Projects V Inc., Dominion Solar Projects VI Inc., Dominion Solar Projects VII Inc., Dominion Solar Services Inc., Dominion Solar?Gen-Tie ?LLC, Dominion State Line LLC, Dominion Voltage Inc., Dominion Wholesale Inc., Dominion Wind Development LLC, Dominion Wind Projects Inc., Eagle Holdco Solar LLC, Eagle Solar LLC, Eastern Shore Solar LLC, Enterprise Solar LLC, Escalante Solar I LLC, Escalante Solar II LLC, Escalante Solar III LLC, Farmington Properties Inc., Four Brothers Solar LLC, Fremont Farm LLC, Granite Mountain Holdings LLC, Granite Mountain Solar East LLC, Granite Mountain Solar West LLC, Greenbrier Marketing Company LLC, Greenbrier Pipeline Company LLC, Greensville County Solar Project LLC, Hecate Energy Cherrydale LLC, Hecate Energy Clarke County LLC, Hope Gas Inc., Imperial Valley Solar Company (IVSC) 2 LLC, Indy Solar Development LLC, Indy Solar I LLC, Indy Solar II LLC, Indy Solar III LLC, Innovative Solar 37 LLC, Iron Springs Holdings LLC, Iron Springs Solar LLC, Iroquois GP Holding Company LLC, Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas, Maricopa West Solar PV LLC, Moffett Solar 1 LLC, Moorings Farm 2 LLC, Mulberry Farm LLC, Mustang Solar LLC, NE Hub Partners L.L.C., NE Hub Partners L.P., NiCHe Storage Solutions LLC, Niche LNG LLC, North Star Generation LLC, PSNC Blue Ridge Corporation, PSNC Cardinal Pipeline Company, PSNC Southgate LLC, Pavant Solar LLC, Phone House, Pikeville Farm LLC, Prairie Fork Wind Farm LLC, Public Service Company of North Carolina Incorporated, QPC Holding Company, QPC Holding Company LLC, Questar Corporation, Questar Energy Services Inc., Questar Field Services LLC, Questar Gas Company, Questar InfoComm Inc., Questar Southern Trails Pipeline Company, Questar White River Hub LLC, RE Adams East LLC, RE Camelot LLC, RE Columbia LLC, RE Columbia LLC, RE Columbia Two LLC, RE Kansas LLC, RE Kent South LLC, RE Old River One LLC, Rev LNG SSL BC LLC, Richland Solar Center LLC, Ridgeland Solar Farm I LLC, SBL Holdco LLC, SCANA, SCANA Communications Holdings Inc., SCANA Corporate Security Services Inc., SCANA Energy Marketing Inc., SCANA Energy Marketing LLC, SCANA Pharmacy LLC, SCANA Services Inc., SRFI LLC, Sappony Solar LLC, Scana Corporation, Scott-II Solar LLC, Scott-II?Solar LLC, Seabrook Solar LLC, Selmer Farm LLC, Siler Solar LLC, Somers Solar Center LLC, South Carolina Electric?& Gas Company, South Carolina Fuel Company Inc., South Carolina Generating Company Inc., Southampton Solar LLC, Summit Farms Solar LLC, TA - Acacia LLC, TA ? Acacia LLC, TWE Myrtle Solar Project LLC, The East Ohio Gas Company, Tioga Properties LLC, Tredegar Solar Fund I LLC, VP Property Inc., Virginia Electric And Power Company, Virginia Power Fuel Corporation, Virginia Power Nuclear Services Company, Virginia Power Services Energy Corp. Inc., Virginia Power Services LLC, Virginia Solar 2017 Projects LLC, Wakefield Solar LLC, Wexpro Company, Wexpro Development Company, Wexpro II Company, Wilkinson Solar LLC, Wrangler Retail Gas Holdings LLC, and roquois GP Holding Company LLC.SociAtA GAnArale SociAtA anonyme provides financial services in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Oceania, Africa, and France. The company offers retail banking services, including deposits and loans, vehicles and asset management, corporate finance, insurance, payments, investment, and online brokerage and financial information services; Internet, mobile, telephone, and service platforms; and online banking to individual and professional customers, businesses, non-profit associations and local authorities under the Societe Generale, CrAdit du Nord, and Boursorama Banque brands. It also provides international retail banking and financial services, comprising of deposit and loan products; consumer finance and car finance; mortgage facilities; corporate and investment banking; infrastructure, renewable energies, and agribusiness financing; life, retirement savings, and personal protection insurance products; vehicle leasing and fleet management services; and vendor and equipment finance services to corporate and individual customers. In addition, the company offers capital market services, such as fixed income and currencies, equities, and securities services; mergers and acquisitions, advisory and other corporate finance advisory services, and corporate banking and investment banking, as well as capital raising solutions for debt or equity, financial engineering, and hedging for issuers; transaction and payment services, comprising of cash management, trade finance, cash clearing and correspondent banking, supply chain finance, and foreign exchange services; and export finance, aircraft finance, shipping finance, real estate finance, and structured solutions and leasing. Further, it provides financial engineering and wealth management solutions; structured products, hedge funds, mutual funds, private equity funds and real estate investment solutions; and asset management solutions. SociAtA GAnArale SociAtA anonyme was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

Read More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.Picking the right investment of the decade can transform your life Today, the Wall Street legend who picked the last investment of the decade months (even years) before his peers will finally reveal his new #1 pick for the 2020s. Its not 5G, artificial intelligence, EVs, or clean energy. The answer will surprise you.

Ryder System, Inc. operates as a logistics and transportation company worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Fleet Management Solutions (FMS), Supply Chain Solutions (SCS), and Dedicated Transportation Solutions (DTS). The FMS segment offers full service leasing and leasing with flexible maintenance options, as well as maintenance services, supplies, and related equipment for operation of the vehicles; commercial vehicle rental services; and contract or transactional maintenance services of trucks, tractors, and trailers, as well as fleet support services. This segment also provides access to diesel fuel; offers fuel planning and tax reporting, cards, and monitoring services, and centralized billing; and sells used vehicles through its 59 retail sales centers and Usedtrucks.Ryder.com website. The DTS segment offers equipment, maintenance, drivers, administrative, and additional services, as well as routing and scheduling, fleet sizing, safety, regulatory compliance, risk management, technology and communication systems support, and other technical support services. The SCS segment comprises distribution management services, such as designing and managing customer's distribution network and facilities; providing e-commerce services; coordinating warehousing and transportation for inbound and outbound material flows; handling import and export for international shipments; coordinating just-in-time replenishment of component parts to manufacturing and final assembly; and offering shipments to customer distribution centers or end customer delivery points, as well as other value added services, such as light assembly of components. This segment also offers transportation management services, such as shipment optimization, load scheduling, and delivery confirmation services through technological and web-based solutions; and knowledge-based professional services. Ryder System, Inc. was founded in 1933 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.

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Pembina Pipeline Corporation provides transportation and midstream services for the energy industry. It operates through three segments: Pipelines, Facilities, and Marketing & New Ventures. The Pipelines segment operates conventional, oil sands and heavy oil, and transmission assets with a transportation capacity of 3.1 millions of barrels of oil equivalent per day, ground storage of 11 millions of barrels, and rail terminalling capacity of approximately 145 thousands of barrels of oil equivalent per day serving markets and basins across North America. The Facilities segment offers infrastructure that provides customers with natural gas, condensate, and natural gas liquids (NGLs), including ethane, propane, butane, and condensate; and includes 354 thousands of barrels per day of NGL fractionation capacity, 21 millions of barrels of cavern storage capacity, and associated pipeline and rail terminalling facilities. The Marketing & New Ventures segment buys and sells hydrocarbon liquids and natural gas originating in the Western Canadian sedimentary basin and other basins. Pembina Pipeline Corporation was incorporated in 1954 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Read MoreBristol-Myers Squibb Company discovers, develops, licenses, manufactures, and markets biopharmaceutical products worldwide. The company offers products in hematology, oncology, cardiovascular, and immunology therapeutic classes. Its products include Revlimid, an oral immunomodulatory drug for the treatment of multiple myeloma; Opdivo for anti-cancer indications; Eliquis, an oral inhibitor indicated for the reduction in risk of stroke/systemic embolism in NVAF, and for the treatment of DVT/PE; and Orencia for adult patients with active RA and psoriatic arthritis, as well as reducing signs and symptoms in pediatric patients with active polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis. The company also provides Sprycel for the treatment of Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia; Yervoy for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma; Abraxane, a solvent-free protein-bound chemotherapy product; mpliciti for the treatment of multiple myeloma; and Reblozyl for the treatment of anemia in adult patients with beta thalassemia. In addition, it offers Onureg for the continued treatment of adult patients with AML; Zeposia to treat relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis; Vidaza for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome subtypes; Baraclude, an oral antiviral agent for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B; and Breyanzi, a CD19-directed genetically modified autologous T cell immunotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma. The company sells products to wholesalers, distributors, pharmacies, retailers, hospitals, clinics, and government agencies. It has collaboration agreements with Pfizer, Inc.; Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; Nektar Therapeutics; AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Huyabio; and DarwinHealth, Inc. The company was formerly known as Bristol-Myers Company. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Read MoreNorthrop Grumman Corporation operates as an aerospace and defense company worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Aeronautics Systems, Defense Systems, Mission Systems, and Space Systems. The Aeronautics Systems segment designs, develops, manufactures, integrates, and sustains aircraft systems for strategic and tactical intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions; and long-range strike aircraft systems, tactical fighter aircrafts, and airborne battle management systems. The Defense Systems segment offers weapon and mission systems for the U.S. military and civilian agency customers. Its principal products and services include integrated battle management systems, weapons systems, information technology services, and intelligence operations. This segment provides command and control and weapons systems, including munitions and missiles; precision strike weapons; propulsion, such as air-breathing systems; and gun systems and precision munitions. It also offers life cycle service and support for software, weapons systems, and aircraft; security services, including information and cyber operations; intelligence analysis and support; and IT infrastructure, such as cloud. The Mission Systems segment offers command, control, communications, and computers ISR systems; radar, electro-optical/infrared, and acoustic sensors; electronic warfare systems; communications and network systems; processing systems; navigation; and maritime power, propulsion, and payload launch systems. This segment also provides airborne sensors and networks; cyber and intelligence mission solutions; maritime/land systems and sensors; and navigation, targeting, and survivability solutions. The Space Systems segment offers satellites and payloads; ground systems; missile defense systems and interceptors; launch vehicles and related propulsion systems; and strategic missiles. Northrop Grumman Corporation was founded in 1939 and is based in Falls Church, Virginia.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Molina Healthcare: Aetna & Humana - Medicare Advantage, Affinity Health Plan, AmericanWork Inc., Better Health Network, Camelot Care Centers Inc, Children's Behavioral Health Inc., Choices Group Inc., College Community Services, Dockside Services Inc, Family Preservation Services Inc., Family Preservation Services of Florida Inc., Family Preservation Services of North Carolina Inc., Family Preservation Services of Washington D.C. Inc., Family Preservation Services of West Virginia Inc., Florida NetPASS LLC, Hclb Inc., Magellan Complete Care, Maple Star Nevada Inc., Maple Star Oregon Inc., Mercy CarePlus, Molina Clinical Services LLC, Molina Healthcare Data Center Inc., Molina Healthcare of Arizona Inc., Molina Healthcare of California, Molina Healthcare of Florida Inc., Molina Healthcare of Georgia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Illinois Inc., Molina Healthcare of Iowa Inc., Molina Healthcare of Louisiana Inc., Molina Healthcare of Maryland Inc., Molina Healthcare of Michigan Inc., Molina Healthcare of Mississippi Inc., Molina Healthcare of Nevada Inc., Molina Healthcare of New Mexico Inc., Molina Healthcare of New York Inc., Molina Healthcare of North Carolina Inc., Molina Healthcare of Ohio Inc., Molina Healthcare of Oklahoma Inc., Molina Healthcare of Pennsylvania Inc., Molina Healthcare of Puerto Rico Inc., Molina Healthcare of South Carolina LLC, Molina Healthcare of Texas Inc., Molina Healthcare of Texas Insurance Company, Molina Healthcare of Utah Inc., Molina Healthcare of Virginia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Washington Inc., Molina Healthcare of Wisconsin Inc., Molina Holdings Corporation, Molina Hospital Management LLC, Molina Information Systems LLC dba Molina Medicaid Solutions, Molina Medical Management Inc., Molina Pathways LLC, Molina Pathways of Texas Inc., Molina Youth Academy, NextLevel Health Illinois, Pathways Community Corrections Inc., Pathways Community Services LLC, Pathways Community Support of Texas Inc., Pathways Health and Community Support LLC, Pathways Human Services LLC., Pathways of Arizona Inc., Pathways of Delaware Inc., Pathways of Idaho LLC, Pathways of Maine Inc., Pathways of Massachusetts LLC, Pathways of Oklahoma Inc., Pathways of Washington Inc., Providence Community Services, Providence Human Services, Raystown Developmental Services Inc., The Game of Work LLC, The RedCo Group Inc., Total Care Medicaid plan, Transitional Family Services Inc., Unisys -Health Information Management, and YourCare Health Plan.Some people binge watch Netflix Huluor HBO shows. And some people turn their downtime into cash. James made $2,275 in just 19 minutesall thanks to something called The 15 Minute Workday. The average trade makes 12% in just 5 days (factoring winners and losers) which is out of this world.

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. The company primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals, as well as oil and gas. Its assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Tyrone and Chino in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile. The company also operates a portfolio of oil and gas properties primarily located in offshore California and the Gulf of Mexico. As of December 31, 2020, it operated approximately 165 wells. The company was formerly known as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and changed its name to Freeport-McMoRan Inc. in July 2014. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.

Read MoreThe National Gaming Board Uganda, under section 4 of the Lotteries and Gaming Act No. 7 of 2016, is mandated to issue licenses for Lotteries, Casinos, Gaming and Betting in Uganda. The mandate includes Licensing, Supervision, Enforcement and dispute resolution.

The Board has powers to conduct investigation, examination, inspection and issue guidelines, directives or instructions for the proper management of the industry.

In relation to the above mandates, National Gaming Board is currently in Ntungamo district enforcing against illegal slot machine operators.

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So far over 50 machines have been impounded and will be destroyed within a months time.

NGB is also mandated by law to supervise and regulate the establishment, management and operation of lotteries, gaming betting and casinos in Uganda, and to protect the citizens from the adverse effects of gaming and betting in Uganda.

The Board would like to therefore call upon the general public to report any illegal gaming operations in their neighborhoods, municipalities and towns to NGB (toll free 0800100090 or email to info@ngb.go.ug).Since 2016, Teeka Tiwari has trumped the stock market. His investment recommendations have each averaged 281%. Thats 17 times the S&P. And 112 times the average investor, according to JPMorgan! However, one investment Teeka just uncovered could top them all It involves former President Biden, billions of dollars, several large banks, and a super-rich family. As well as a MAJOR potential upgrade to our credit cards. Teeka, who ended up correctly picking the last investment of the decade, is declaring this his top pick for the 2020s.

United Technologies Corporation provides technology products and services to building systems and aerospace industries worldwide. Its Otis segment designs, manufactures, sells, and installs passenger and freight elevators, escalators, and moving walkways; and offers modernization products to upgrade elevators and escalators, as well as maintenance and repair services. The company's Carrier segment provides heating, ventilating, air conditioning, refrigeration, fire, security, and building automation products, solutions, and services for commercial, government, infrastructure, residential, and refrigeration and transportation applications. This segment also offers building services, including audit, design, installation, system integration, repair, maintenance, and monitoring. Its Pratt & Whitney segment supplies aircraft engines for commercial, military, business jet, and general aviation markets; and provides aftermarket maintenance, repair, and overhaul, as well as fleet management services. The company's Collins Aerospace Systems segment provides electric power generation, power management, and distribution systems; air data and aircraft sensing systems; engine control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems; engine components; environmental control systems; fire and ice detection, and protection systems; propeller systems; engine nacelle systems; aircraft lighting, seating, and cargo systems; actuation and landing systems; space products and subsystems; avionics systems; flight controls, communications, navigation, oxygen, and training systems; food and beverage preparation, and storage and galley systems; and lavatory and wastewater management systems. The company offers its services through manufacturers' representatives, distributors, wholesalers, dealers, retail outlets, and sales representatives, as well as directly to customers. United Technologies Corporation was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut.

Read MoreBT Group plc provides communications services worldwide. Its Consumer segment sells telephones, baby monitors, and Wi-Fi extenders through high street retailers, online BT Shop, and Website BT.com; and offers home phone, copper and fiber broadband, TV, and mobile services in various packages. The company's EE segment offers 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile network services; broadband, fixed-voice, and TV services; and postpaid and prepaid plans, and emergency services network. This segment also sells 4G mobile phones, tablets, connected devices, and mobile broadband devices from various manufacturers. Its Business and Public Sector segment provides fixed voice, mobility, fiber and connectivity, and networked IT services to retailers, utilities, public sector, healthcare, sports, construction, finance, and educational sectors. The company's Global Services segment offers business communications and ICT services comprising BT Connect, BT Security, BT One, BT Contact, BT Compute, BT Advise, and BT for financial markets. This segment serves approximately 5,500 customers in 180 countries. Its Wholesale and Ventures segment enables communications providers and other organizations to provide fixed or mobile phone services. Its ventures provide mass-market services, such as directory enquiries and payphones; and enterprise services comprising BT Fleet and BT Redcare. This segment also provides broadband and Ethernet, voice, hosted communication, mobile virtual network operator, managed solutions, machine-to-machine, roaming, and media services. The company's Openreach segment engages in the provision of services over the local access network; and installation and maintenance of fiber and copper communications networks that connect homes and businesses. The company was formerly known as Newgate Telecommunications Limited and changed its name to BT Group plc in September 2001. BT Group plc was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

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(No Credit Card Required... Limited Time Only)Insperity, Inc. provides human resources (HR) and business solutions to improve business performance for small and medium-sized businesses. The company offers its HR services through its Workforce Optimization and Workforce Synchronization solutions, which include a range of human resources functions, such as payroll and employment administration, employee benefits, workers' compensation, government compliance, performance management, and training and development services. It also provides Insperity Premier, a cloud-based human capital management platform that offers professional employer organization HR outsourcing solutions to its clients; various personnel management services; and employer liability management services, as well as solutions for middle market. In addition, the company offers MarketPlace, an e-commerce portal that offers a range of products and services; and Workforce Acceleration, a human capital management and payroll services solution; time and attendance; performance management; organizational planning; recruiting; employment screening; retirement; and insurance services. As of December 31, 2020, the company operated through 70 offices in the United States. The company was formerly known as Administaff, Inc. and changed its name to Insperity, Inc. in March 2011. Insperity, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Kingwood, Texas.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Sealed Air: AFP (Shanghai) Limited, AFP Inc. (Branch), AFPTOH LTD, Aconcagua Distribuciones SRL, Air Ride Pallets Hong Kong Limited, Austin Foam Plastics Inc., Auto-C LLC, Automated Packaging Systems, B+ Equipment, B+ Equipment SAS, Beacon Holdings LLC, Biosphere Industries, BluPack (New Zealand), Blue Dot Packaging Pty Ltd., CPI Packaging Inc., CPI Packaging Systems Inc., Cactus (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Cactus Shanghai Trading Co. Ltd., Ciras C.V., Ciras C.V. - Luxembourg Branch, Ciras C.V.  Luxembourg Branch, Cleanwise Inc., Cryovac (Malaysia) SDN. BHD, Cryovac (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Cryovac Brasil Ltda., Cryovac Chile Holdings LLC, Cryovac Holdings II LLC, Cryovac Inc., Cryovac International Holdings Inc., Cryovac LLC, Cryovac Leasing Corporation, Cryovac Londrina Ltda., Cryovac Packaging Portugal - Embalagens Ltda., Cryovac Packaging Portugal Embalagens Ltda, Cryovac Sweden AB, Cryovac-Sealed Air de Costa Rica S.R.L., DELTAPLAM Embalagens Industria e Comercio, Deltaplam Embalagens Industria e Comercio Ltda, Diversey, Diversey Australia Pty. Ltd., Diversey Austria Trading GmbH, Diversey B.V., Diversey Belgium BVBA, Diversey Brasil Industria Quimica Ltda., Diversey Canada Inc., Diversey Centroamerica S.A., Diversey Danmark ApS, Diversey Hungary Acting Off-shore Capital Management Limited Liability Company, Diversey J Trustee Limited, Diversey Trustee Limited, Diversey Ceska republika s.r.o. clen koncernu Diversey, Entapack Pty. Ltd., Fagerdala (Chengdu) Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Chengdu) Packing Co. Ltd. (Chongqing Branch), Fagerdala (Chongqing) Packaging Co. Ltd. (Branch), Fagerdala (Huiyang) Packaging Co. Ltd, Fagerdala (Huiyang) Packaging Co. Ltd. (Branch), Fagerdala (Shanghai) Foams Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Shanghai) Polymer Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Shenzhen) Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Suzhou) Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala (Suzhou) Packing Co. Ltd. (Hefei Branch), Fagerdala (Thailand) Limited, Fagerdala (Xiamen) Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala Leamchabung Limited, Fagerdala Leamchabung Ltd., Fagerdala Malaysia Sdn Bhd., Fagerdala Mexico S.A. de C.V., Fagerdala Mexico S.A. de C.V. (Chihuahua Branch), Fagerdala Mexico Supply Chain S.A. de C.V., Fagerdala Packaging Inc. (Indiana), Fagerdala Shanghai Foams Co. Ltd., Fagerdala Singapore Pte Ltd, Fagerdala Singapore Pte Ltd (Branch), Fagerdala Singapore Pte. Limited, Fagerdala Singapore Pte. Limited (Taiwan Branch), Fagerdala Singapore Pte. Ltd., Fagerdala Suzhou Packaging Co. Ltd., Fagerdala Suzhou Packaging Co. Ltd. (Hefei Branch), Fagerdala Thailand Ltd., GEIE VES, Getpacking.com GmbH, Indonesian Rep Office of Sealed Air Hong Kong Limited, Invertol S. de R.L. de C.V., JCS Sealed Air Kaustik, JSC Sealed Air Kaustik, Kevothermal LLC, Kevothermal LLC, Kevothermal Limited, Nelipak Holdings, Pack-Tiger GmbH, Packaging C.V., ProAseptic Technologies S.L., Producembal - Producao de Embalagens Ltda., Proxy Biomedical Ltd., Reflectix Inc., SLD Air Packaging Paketleme Malzemeleri Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Saddle Brook Insurance Company, Sealed Air (Asia) Holdings B.V., Sealed Air (Barbados) S.R.L., Sealed Air (Canada) Co./CIE, Sealed Air (Canada) Holdings B.V., Sealed Air (China) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air (China) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air (China) Limited, Sealed Air (China) Ltd., Sealed Air (India) Limited, Sealed Air (Israel) Ltd., Sealed Air (Korea) Limited, Sealed Air (Latin America) Holdings II LLC, Sealed Air (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sealed Air (New Zealand), Sealed Air (Philippines) Inc., Sealed Air (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Sealed Air (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Sealed Air (Thailand) Limited, Sealed Air (Ukraine) Limited, Sealed Air Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Sealed Air Africa (Pty.) Limited, Sealed Air Americas Manufacturing S. de R. L. de C. V., Sealed Air Argentina S.A., Sealed Air Australia (Holdings) Pty. Limited, Sealed Air Australia Pty Ltd., Sealed Air Australia Pty. Limited, Sealed Air B.V., Sealed Air Belgium N.V., Sealed Air Central America S.A., Sealed Air Chile S.P.A., Sealed Air Colombia Ltda., Sealed Air Corporation (US), Sealed Air Denmark A/S, Sealed Air Embalagens Ltda., Sealed Air Europe Holdings C.V., Sealed Air Europe Holdings LP, Sealed Air Finance B.V., Sealed Air Finance II LLC, Sealed Air Finance II LLC (Sucursal Mexico), Sealed Air Finance Ireland Unlimited Company, Sealed Air Finance Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Finance Luxembourg S.a.r.l. Luxembourg (L) Root Finance Branch, Sealed Air Finance Luxembourg S.a.r.l. US Finance Branch, Sealed Air Funding Corporation, Sealed Air Funding LLC, Sealed Air General Trading LLC, Sealed Air Global Holdings C.V., Sealed Air Global Holdings I C.V., Sealed Air Global Holdings I LLC, Sealed Air GmbH, Sealed Air Hellas S.A., Sealed Air Holding France S.A.S., Sealed Air Holding France SAS, Sealed Air HoldingS I LLC, Sealed Air Holdings (New Zealand) Pty. Ltd., Sealed Air Holdings I C.V., Sealed Air Holdings LLC, Sealed Air Holdings South Africa Proprietary Limited, Sealed Air Hong Kong (Jakarta Indonesia Branch), Sealed Air Hong Kong Limited, Sealed Air Hungary Ltd., Sealed Air International Holdings LLC, Sealed Air International Holdings LLC , Sealed Air Investment and Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air Investment and Management Co. Ltd., Sealed Air Japan G.K., Sealed Air Korea Limited, Sealed Air LLC, Sealed Air Limited, Sealed Air Luxembourg (I) S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Luxembourg (II) S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Sealed Air Management Holding Verwaltungs GmbH, Sealed Air Multiflex GmbH, Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) I B.V., Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) II B.V., Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) II B.V. - Deutsche Zweigniederlassung, Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) II B.V. - Deutsche Zweigniederlassung, Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) III B.V., Sealed Air Netherlands (Holdings) III B.V., Sealed Air Netherlands Holdings V B.V., Sealed Air Nevada Holdings Limited, Sealed Air Norge AS, Sealed Air OY, Sealed Air Packaging (India) Private Limited, Sealed Air Packaging (Shanghai) Co. Limited, Sealed Air Packaging (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Sealed Air Packaging LLC, Sealed Air Packaging Materials (India) LLP, Sealed Air Packaging Materials (India) LLP, Sealed Air Packaging S.L.U., Sealed Air Paketleme Malzemeleri Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Sealed Air Peru S.A.C., Sealed Air Polska Sp. Zoo, Sealed Air Pty Limited, Sealed Air S.A S., Sealed Air S.A.S., Sealed Air S.r.l., Sealed Air South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Sealed Air Svenska AB, Sealed Air Taiwan Limited, Sealed Air US Holdings (Thailand) LLC, Sealed Air Uruguay S.A., Sealed Air Venezuela Corporation, Sealed Air Verpackungen GmbH, Sealed Air de Mexico Operations S. de R.L. de C.V., Sealed Air de Venezuela S.A., Sealed Air s.r.o., Shanklin Corp, Shanklin Corporation, Soinpar Industrial Ltda., TART s.r.o., TART s.r.o. Joint Venture, TTS-Ciptec, TXAFP Asia Pacific Ltd., TXAFP GP LLC, TempTrip LLC, Trigon Industries, and Vietnamese Rep Office of Sealed Air Hong Kong Limited.Everest Re Group, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides reinsurance and insurance products in the United States, Bermuda, and internationally. The company operates through Reinsurance Operations and Insurance Operations segments. The Reinsurance Operations segment writes property and casualty reinsurance; and specialty lines of business through reinsurance brokers, as well as directly with ceding companies in the United States, Bermuda, Ireland, Canada, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. The Insurance Operations segment writes property and casualty insurance directly, as well as through brokers, surplus lines brokers, and general agents in the United States, Canada, Europe, Ireland, and Switzerland. The company also provides treaty and facultative reinsurance products; admitted and non-admitted insurance products; and property and casualty reinsurance and insurance coverages, including marine, aviation, surety, errors and omissions liability, directors' and officers' liability, medical malpractice, mortgage reinsurance, other specialty lines, accident and health, and workers' compensation products. In addition, it offers commercial property and casualty insurance products through wholesale and retail brokers, surplus lines brokers, and program administrators. Everest Re Group, Ltd. was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Read MoreDTE Energy Company engages in the utility operations. The company's Electric segment generates, purchases, distributes, and sells electricity to approximately 2.2 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers in southeastern Michigan. It generates electricity through fossil-fuel, hydroelectric pumped storage, and nuclear plants, as well as wind and other renewable assets. This segment owns and operates approximately 698 distribution substations and 445,800 line transformers. The company's Gas segment purchases, stores, transports, distributes, and sells natural gas to approximately 1.3 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers throughout Michigan; and sells storage and transportation capacity. This segment has approximately 20,000 miles of distribution mains; 1,308,000 service pipelines; and 1,305,000 active meters, as well as owns approximately 2,000 miles of transmission pipelines. Its Gas Storage and Pipelines segment owns natural gas storage fields, lateral and gathering pipeline systems, and compression and surface facilities, as well as has ownership interests in interstate pipelines serving the Gulf Coast, Midwest, Ontario, and northeast markets. The company's Power and Industrial Projects segment offers metallurgical coke; pulverized coal and petroleum coke to the steel, pulp and paper, and other industries; and power, steam and chilled water production, and wastewater treatment services, as well as supplies compressed air to industrial customers. It also owns and operates 5 renewable generating plants with a capacity of 139 MWs; 22 gas recovery sites; and 10 reduced emissions fuel facilities. Its Energy Trading segment engages in power, natural gas, and environmental marketing and trading; structured transactions; and the optimization of contracted natural gas pipeline transportation and storage positions. The company was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan.

Read MoreCoreLogic, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides property information, insight, analytics, and data-enabled solutions in North America, Western Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Property Intelligence & Risk Management Solutions (PIRM) and Underwriting & Workflow Solutions (UWS). The PIRM segment combines property information, mortgage information, and consumer information to deliver housing market and property-level insights, predictive analytics, and risk management capabilities. It also offers proprietary technology and software platforms to access, automate, or track the information and assist its clients with decision-making and compliance tools in the real estate and insurance industries. This segment primarily serves commercial banks, mortgage lenders and brokers, investment banks, fixed-income investors, real estate agents, MLS companies, property and casualty insurance companies, title insurance companies, government agencies, and government-sponsored enterprises. The UWS segment combines property, mortgage, and consumer information to provide comprehensive mortgage origination and monitoring solutions, including underwriting-related solutions, and data-enabled valuations and appraisals. This segment also provides proprietary technology and software platforms to access, automate, or track the information and assist its clients with vetting and onboarding prospects, and meeting compliance regulations, as well as understanding, evaluating, monitoring property values. It primarily serves mortgage lenders and servicers, mortgage brokers, credit unions, commercial banks, fixed-income investors, government agencies, and property and casualty insurance companies. The company was formerly known as The First American Corporation and changed its name to CoreLogic, Inc. in June 2010. CoreLogic, Inc. was incorporated in 1894 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.

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See how this tiny, unknown gold company secured a prime land package right next door to the worlds two largest gold producers in Nevadas famed Carlin Trend where 84 Million gold ounces have already been extracted. Best of all, investors can still get in well below US$0.50 per share.Since 2016, Teeka Tiwari has trumped the stock market. His investment recommendations have each averaged 281%. Thats 17 times the S&P. And 112 times the average investor, according to JPMorgan! However, one investment Teeka just uncovered could top them all It involves former President Biden, billions of dollars, several large banks, and a super-rich family. As well as a MAJOR potential upgrade to our credit cards. Teeka, who ended up correctly picking the last investment of the decade, is declaring this his top pick for the 2020s.

PPG Industries, Inc. manufactures and distributes paints, coatings, and specialty materials worldwide. The company's Performance Coatings segment offers coatings, solvents, adhesives, sealants, sundries, and software for automotive and commercial transport/fleet repair and refurbishing, light industrial coatings, and specialty coatings for signs; and coatings, sealants, transparencies, transparent armor, adhesives, engineered materials, and packaging and chemical management services for commercial, military, regional jet, and general aviation aircraft. It also provides coatings and finishes for the protection of metals and structures, such as metal fabricators, heavy duty maintenance contractors, and manufacturers of ships, bridges, and rail cars; paints, wood stains, and purchased sundries for painting and maintenance contractors, and consumers for decoration and maintenance of residential and commercial building structures; and thermoplastics, pavement marking products, and other technologies for pavement marking. The company's Industrial Coatings segment provides coatings, adhesives and sealants, and metal pretreatments, as well as services and coatings applications for appliances, agricultural and construction equipment, consumer electronics, automotive parts and accessories, building products, kitchenware, and transportation vehicles and other finished products; and on-site coatings services. It also provides coatings for metal cans, closures, plastic tubes, industrial packaging, and promotional and specialty packaging; amorphous precipitated silica for tire, battery separator, and other end-uses; TESLIN substrates for labels, e-passports, drivers' licenses, breathable membranes, and other loyalty and identification cards; and organic light emitting diode materials, displays and lighting lens materials, and optical lenses and color-change products, as well as photochromic dyes. The company was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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Heres what to do now.Peabody Energy Corporation engages in coal mining business in the United States, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, and internationally. The company operates through Seaborne Thermal Mining, Seaborne Metallurgical Mining, Powder River Basin Mining, and Other U.S. Thermal Mining segments. It is involved in mining, preparation, and sale of thermal coal primarily to electric utilities; mining bituminous and sub-bituminous coal deposits; and mining metallurgical coal, such as hard coking coal, semi-hard coking coal, semi-soft coking coal, and pulverized coal injection coal. The company supplies coal primarily to electricity generators, industrial facilities, and steel manufacturers. As of December 31, 2020, it owned interests in 17 coal mining operations located in the United States and Australia; and had approximately 3.0 billion tons of proven and probable coal reserves and approximately 450,000 acres of surface property through ownership and lease agreements. The company also engages in direct and brokered trading of coal and freight-related contracts, as well as provides transportation-related services, which involve financial derivative contracts and physical contracts. Peabody Energy Corporation was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

Read MoreCOPT is a REIT that owns, manages, leases, develops and selectively acquires office and data center properties. The majority of its portfolio is in locations that support the United States Government and its contractors, most of whom are engaged in national security, defense and information technology (AITA) related activities servicing what it believes are growing, durable, priority missions (ADefense/IT LocationsA). The Company also owns a portfolio of office properties located in select urban/urban-like submarkets in the Greater Washington, DC/Baltimore region with durable Class-A office fundamentals and characteristics (ARegional Office PropertiesA). As of December 31, 2020, the Company derived 87% of its core portfolio annualized rental revenue from Defense/IT Locations and 13% from its Regional Office Properties. As of the same date and including 17 properties owned through unconsolidated joint ventures, COPT's core portfolio of 179 office and data center shell properties encompassed 20.8 million square feet and was 95.0% leased; the Company also owned one wholesale data center with a critical load of 19.25 megawatts that was 86.7% leased.

Read MoreSix Tech Stocks That Could Double (Ad)

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Click here to get your free report today.Next Tuesday, Feb. 19,, Wisconsin voters in some municipalities and school districts will have the opportunity to narrow the field of candidates for school board seats and other local offices on their April 2nd Spring Election ballot.

You can find out right now if you have a Spring primary election in your municipality by entering your address here on the MyVote Wisconsin website.

Why show up for a local election?

Because school and local government officials represent you and your neighbors  and the decisions they make can have a direct and profound impact on your local community.

If there is a primary in your area, don't miss this chance to make your voice heard at the ballot box! Take some time now to look over the information below to ensure you have what you need to vote next Tuesday.

When you vote, you will need to present one of the acceptable forms of photo ID. (Click Common Cause Wisconsin to see acceptable forms.)

If you already have a Wisconsin driver license or one of the other acceptable forms of ID for voting, then you're "ID ready." Just remember to bring it with you when you head to your polling place!

What if you don't have an acceptable ID for voting on Election Day?

You can ask for AND vote with a provisional ballot. But, for your ballot to be counted, you MUST either come back to your polling place with an acceptable form of ID before it closes at 8:00 pm on Tuesday OR bring your ID to your municipal clerk's office by 4:00 pm the Friday after the primary election (February 22nd).

For more information about voter photo ID  and how to get a free ID if you don't have an ID acceptable for voting  see our downloadable voter ID fact sheet. Or visit the Wisconsin Election Commission's voter photo ID website: Bring It to the Ballot.

If you don't have an acceptable ID for voting and need help getting one, contact one of these Voter ID Hotline #s: 608/285-2141 or 414/882-8622.

Are you a college student planning to use your student ID for voting?

If you do not have one of the other forms of photo ID pictured above, and you are a college student hoping to use your student ID and a proof of enrollment document as your "voter ID," look up your school NOW on the appropriate list linked below to see if your current student ID is an acceptable form of ID for voting. If your student ID cannot be used for voting, you can find out if a separate school-issued "voter photo ID" is available and how to get one.

University of Wisconsin  4-Year Schools

University of Wisconsin  2-Year Schools

Wisconsin Private Universities & Colleges

Wisconsin Technical Colleges

Are you registered to vote?

Check to see if you are registered to vote at your current address. If you are not, be sure to bring a proof of residence document (hard copy or electronic on your cell phone or tablet) when you go to the polls on Tuesday so that you can register there.

Where is your polling place?

To find out where to go to cast your ballot, visit the "Find My Polling Place" page on the Wisconsin Election Commission's My Vote Wisconsin website and type in your address.

What's on your ballot?

Visit the Wisconsin Election Commission's "What's on My Ballot" page and type in your address to see a sample ballot.

Remember: EVERY election is important. Don't miss this opportunity to have a say in who represents you at the local level!

Go to Common Cause WisconsinAn Iowa man faces a ninth drunken driving charge after authorities responded to a report of a potentially impaired driver at a Pardeeville bar last week.

Charles J. Raggo Jr., 59, of Hampton, Iowa, faces a ninth charge of operating while intoxicated and a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to a criminal complaint, a Columbia County sheriffs deputy responded to a report Feb. 7 of a possible impaired driver at Caddy Shack Bar in Pardeeville.

A witness reported seeing an impaired driver leave the bar in a blue Chevy Silverado with distinct lettering on the rear, the complaint said.

Upon arrival, the deputy reported seeing a vehicle matching the description traveling on Highway P and conducted a traffic stop, the complaint states. The deputy reported the drivers eyes were very glassy, and a strong odor of intoxicants was coming from inside the vehicle.

Raggo allegedly told the deputy he drank two Stellar beers over a shrimp basket meal and one beer before eating. According to the complaint, Raggo stated he had two pocket knives and a one-hitter marijuana pipe in his possession.The schools teacher application asks candidates whether they will abide by the code of personal conduct. It also asks them whether they are in complete agreement with Augustines statement of faith, which dictates that Adam and Eve were made to complement each other in a one-flesh union that establishes the only normative pattern of sexual relations for men and women.

The statement further proclaims men and women are not simply interchangeable, nor is gender subject to ones personal preferences.

Students could be dismissed if their parents have gay sex or otherwise violate the code of conduct, such as drinking excessively, viewing pornography, making lewd comments or consuming illegal drugs.

On the campaign trail, Brian Hagedorn has asked voters to trust he will set aside his strongly held homophobic beliefs, One Wisconsin Now executive director Analiese Eicher said in a statement. His actions tell a different story.

In a statement, Hagedorn spokesman Stephen Thompson described OWNs criticism as an attack on Hagedorns faith, smearing him for bettering the lives of children.According to the DNR, groundwater samples from around the ponds have shown concentrations of boron above state groundwater quality standards and elevated levels of arsenic and sulfate.

Wisconsin law does not require testing for mercury at coal ash landfills.

There are no wells within a half-mile radius that arent owned by Alliant, but Wannier said if contaminated groundwater finds its way into surface water Alliant should be subject to DNR authority.

Bill Skalitzky, Alliants manager of environmental services, said the company is in the preliminary phases of exploring dry-ash handling for Columbia. He said a dry-ash system will need to be in place by 2023, when Alliant must stop using the settling ponds to comply with a different set of federal rules.

Alliant estimates there is up to 1.1 million cubic yards of ash and wastewater stored in the main settling pond and a second inactive pond, according to the companys plans for closing the ponds.

Skalitzky said while dry ash handling systems cost more to install they also have advantages, including less down-time for boilers. Alliant has installed dry-handling systems at two of its plants.

But Wannier said without enforcement by the DNR theres no guarantee that Alliant wouldnt continue handling the ash with water and transporting it somewhere else for treatment.We had a neighbor boy that used to come to us to eat at our house, Barr said. He was kind of lost in the shuffle at his house and thats kind of what sparked my interest. (Thinking) there must be other kids like him.

As one of the WFAPA boards chairs, Barr will focus on delivering the network and training resources she once received to other prospective foster parents.

Ill be able to help with trainings through WFAPA and Ill be able to have a voice to the state, Barr said. My chair will be particularly for training foster parents and being at conferences and then using my voice when the state representative comes to the conference.

WFAPA hopes to increase membership in 2019 and broaden the organizations outreach.

Barr recommends prospective foster parents attend a conference to get acquainted with the organization, its members and the resources it offers.

The next WFAPA conference will be held April 5-7 in Milwaukee. More information can be found at www.wfapa.org.

You can reach Jake Ekdahl on Twitter @JakeaEkdahl or contact him at 608-697-6353

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.For the past several months, all Juneau County Libraries have banded together in a shared literary experience by organizing the first ever Juneau County Reads. The novel The Hearts of Men by Wisconsin author Nickolas Butler was chosen, and all area residents were encouraged to read the book and discuss it in library book clubs, living rooms and coffee shops across the county. As a culmination of the program, Nickolas Butler will appear at the Mauston High School Auditorium at 6 p.m. on Feb. 21, to discuss his books, his inspirations, what led him to a life in writing and to answer audience questions. This event is free and open to all members of the public.Johnson School Bus Service, a family-owned business for more than 77 years, is turning over the keys to a new owner.

The company is being sold to Landmark Student Transportation  a privately owned company based out of Canada, with U.S. headquarters in Dousman.

Landmark operates individually branded school bus companies in Idaho, Missouri, Oregon, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario. In Wisconsin, Dousman Transportation and Stratton Bus have been part of Landmark since 2015.

The sale is expected to be finalized by months end.

The Johnson family said it was a difficult decision to turn the reins over.

In a letter sent to area school districts and employees, the family wrote It has been our lifes work to provide safe, efficient and quality transportation to the children in the communities we serve.

Landmark will retain the Johnson Bus name, and the employee teams of office, shop, drivers and support staff are expected to continue in their current capacities at each location.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}Part of the rationale for this proposal was to offer an alternative to new Gov. Tony Evers proposal for a middle-class tax cut. Touted during his campaign for governor, Evers sought to give tax relief of a similar amount. How to arrive at that tax cut is where the proposals differ significantly.

Instead of a decrease in the amount of taxable income, and taxes withheld, Gov. Evers proposal, outlined in a Feb. 5 Associated Press story, would create a new 10 percent nonrefundable tax credit for single filers making less than $80,000 and for married-joint filers making less than $125,000, (and) expand the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which applies to low-income working filers, for families with one or two children. It further stated Democrats, who have slammed Republicans for planning to use the states budget surplus to pay for their tax plan, did not immediately say how they would pay for theirs.

Evers proposal includes gutting the popular Manufacturing and Agriculture Tax credit, now at its fully implemented 7.5 percent reduction in tax rate, keeping the credit in place for farmers, but eliminating the credit for manufacturers. The Associated Press story stated the increase in revenue to the state would be about $518 million the first year.Things arent looking good for the Daley Farms proposed feedlot expansion.

The Lewiston-based dairy plans to increase its herd from 1,728 cows and calves to 4,628, but before it can break ground, the farm needs to obtain a variance and conditional-use permit to exceed Winona Countys animal unit cap.

However, according to county staff in a report published Wednesday, Daley Farms may not be eligible for a variance. While the county staffs report certainly doesnt bode well for the Daley Farms planned expansion, the final decision falls to the Winona County Board of Adjustment, which is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, at the Tau Center on Winona State Universitys west campus. The Tau Center is located on the corner of Hilbert and Howard streets.

The petitioner has not demonstrated the variance request satisfies all of the approval criteria, county staff concluded, adding that the farms petition failures to meet four of the eight criteria listed in the finds of fact.

In his application, Ben Daley, a fifth-generation farmer whose family has run the Lewiston dairy for more than 100 years, made the case that a variance was in fact in harmony with the intent of the ordinance and the countys 2014 comprehensive plan.ST. PAUL  A bipartisan bill that would provide school districts across the state with a reimbursement for feeding students healthy, local foods through farm-to-school initiatives was introduced in the Minnesota Legislature Wednesday.

Sen. Mike Goggin, R-Red Wing, and Rep. Todd Lippert, DFL-Northfield, are the chief authors of the bill, which would also provide technical assistance to growers seeking to sell to schools.

In my hometown of Red Wing, 50 percent of kids depend on free or reduced-price meals for their lunches, said Goggin, whose district includes parts of Winona County. We need good food for those kids to eat. Local foods are fresh and taste better, and kids who get to eat local are much more interested in eating healthy. Those healthy eating habits stick with them for the rest of their lives.

According to a 2017 study, more than 1.6 million Minnesotans lack access to healthy food. Farm to School programs provide children with more opportunities to eat locally grown, healthy foods, which promote growth, nutrition and positive lifelong eating habits.Speakers and topics selected for the Cardinal Virtue presentations have been chosen to create thought-provoking dialogue. Vogler, the David B. and Clara E. Stern Professor of Philosophy and Professor in the College at The University of Chicago, is also the principal investigator on Virtue, Happiness, and the Meaning of Life, a project funded by the John Templeton Foundation. She has authored two books, John Stuart Mills Deliberative Landscape: An Essay in Moral Psychology (Routledge, 2001) and Reasonably Vicious (Harvard University Press, 2002), and essays in ethics, social and political philosophy, philosophy and literature, cinema, psychoanalysis, gender studies, sexuality studies and other areas. Her research interests are in practical philosophy (particularly the strand of work in moral philosophy indebted to Elizabeth Anscombe), practical reason, Kants ethics, Marx and neo-Aristotelian naturalism.Members of two WSU jazz groups, The Modern Jazz Combo and Jazz At First Sight, will perform at a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 18 at Cafe Congo, located at the First Congregational Church of Winona, 161 W. Broadway.

As with all Cafe Congo events, admission is by free-will donation with all proceeds going to Habitat for Humanity. The students selected Habitat for Humanity as their cause, an organization that "brings people together to build homes, community and hope."

It also operates the Habitat ReStore at 77 Laird Street. Led by their teachers and well-known local jazz musicians Rich MacDonald and Larry Price, the groups will each play a 45-minute set featuring favorite jazz standards and a few surprises.

Now in its fifth year, Cafe Congo presents talented young musicians "playing it forward" for good causes; it's a social action initiative of the First Congregational Church. Refreshments will be served. The church is handicap accessible at the canopied Johnson Street entrance. Doors open at 6:45.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0The monthly Jazz Jam at Island City Brewing Company will take place from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 17. This month, the H3O Jazz Trio is proud to sponsor a freewill donation to support Winona students traveling to Misato, Japan, later this spring as part of Winonas Sister City program.

H3O began hosting an annual fundraiser for Misato students in 2013. Bassist Max Heukeshoven traveled to Misato that year as a student. In 2016, Eric Heukeshoven and saxophone great Dr. John Paulson lead a group of student jazz musicians on a special visit to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Winona and Misatos connection.

Now in its second year, the Island City Jazz Jam is an Open Mic night ... for jazz. Whether you play an instrument or sing, the Jazz Jam is a chance for anyone to sit in with a professional rhythm section. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to perform some of their favorite jazz standards.

Interested jammers can choose from a wide selection of jazz tunes. Players can choose music from Hal Leonard Real Books, bring their own, or ask the trio if they can play their favorite. Simply sign up on the clipboard and get ready to jam.

Island City Jazz Jam is the place to be on the third Sunday of each month. The event is free and open to everyone  young and not so young. And if youre not quite ready to sit in, come and enjoy a great evening of jazz.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0WASHINGTON - Congress lopsidedly approved a border security compromise Thursday that would avert a second painful government shutdown, but a new confrontation was ignited  this time over President Donald Trump's plan to bypass lawmakers and declare a national emergency to siphon billions from other federal coffers for his wall on the Mexican boundary.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 14/2/2019 (861 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, file photo, President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington. The Senate resoundingly approved a border security compromise Thursday that ignores most of President Donald Trump's demands for building a wall with Mexico but would prevent a new government shutdown. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

WASHINGTON - Congress lopsidedly approved a border security compromise Thursday that would avert a second painful government shutdown, but a new confrontation was ignited  this time over President Donald Trump's plan to bypass lawmakers and declare a national emergency to siphon billions from other federal coffers for his wall on the Mexican boundary.

Money in the bill for border barriers, about $1.4 billion, is far below the $5.7 billion Trump insisted he needed and would finance just a quarter of the 200-plus miles he wanted. The White House said he'd sign the legislation but act unilaterally to get more, prompting condemnations from Democrats and threats of lawsuits from states and others who might lose federal money or said Trump was abusing his authority.

FILE - In this Jan. 3, 2019, file photo, a woman takes a snapshot by the border fence between San Diego, Calif., and Tijuana, as seen from Mexico. The immigration spending Congressional leaders on Thursday, Feb. 14, released details of a compromise on border and immigration enforcement that gives President Donald Trump just a sliver of the money he wanted for his border wall with Mexico. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza, File)

The uproar over Trump's next move cast an uncertain shadow over what had been a rare display of bipartisanship to address the grinding battle between the White House and lawmakers over border security.

The Senate passed the legislation 83-16, with both parties solidly aboard. The House followed with a 300-128 tally, with Trump's signature planned Friday. Trump will speak Friday morning in the Rose Garden about border security, the White House said.

Trump is expected to announce that he will be spending roughly $8 billion on border barriers  combining the money approved by Congress with funding he plans to repurpose through executive actions, including a national emergency, said a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly. The money is expected to come from funds targeted for military construction and counterdrug efforts.

House Democrats overwhelmingly backed the legislation, with only 19  most of whom were Hispanic  opposed. Just over half of Republicans voted "no."

Graphic shows existing border fence and barriers built and apprehensions by border sector; 3c x 4 1/2 inches; 146 mm x 114 mm;

Should Trump change his mind, both chambers' margins were above the two-thirds majorities needed to override presidential vetoes. Lawmakers, however, sometimes rally behind presidents of the same party in such battles.

Lawmakers exuded relief that the agreement had averted a fresh closure of federal agencies just three weeks after a record-setting 35-day partial shutdown that drew an unambiguous thumbs-down from the public. But in announcing that Trump would sign the accord, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also said he'd take "other executive action, including a national emergency,"

In an unusual joint statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said such a declaration would be "a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desperate attempt to distract" from Trump's failure to force Mexico to pay for the wall, as he's promised for years.

"Congress will defend our constitutional authorities," they said. They declined to say whether that meant lawsuits or votes on resolutions to prevent Trump from unilaterally shifting money to wall-building, with aides saying they'd wait to see what he does.

Democratic state attorneys general said they'd consider legal action to block Trump. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello told the president on Twitter "we'll see you in court" if he makes the declaration.

Despite widespread opposition in Congress to proclaiming an emergency, including by some Republicans, Trump is under pressure to act unilaterally to soothe his conservative base and avoid looking like he's lost his wall battle.

The abrupt announcement of Trump's plans came late in an afternoon of rumblings that the volatile president  who'd strongly hinted he'd sign the agreement but wasn't definitive  was shifting toward rejecting it. That would have infused fresh chaos into a fight both parties are desperate to leave behind, a thought that drove some lawmakers to ask heavenly help.

"Let's all pray that the president will have wisdom to sign the bill so the government doesn't shut down," Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Thursday's Senate session opened.

Moments before Sanders spoke at the White House, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took to the Senate floor to announce Trump's decisions to sign the bill and declare an emergency.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters there were two hours of phone calls between McConnell and the White House before there were assurances that Trump would sign.

McConnell argued that the bill delivered victories for Trump over Pelosi. These included overcoming her pledge to not fund the wall at all and rejecting a Democratic proposal for numerical limits on detaining some immigrants, said a Republican speaking on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

In a surprising development, McConnell said he would support Trump's emergency declaration, a turnabout for the Kentucky Republican, who like many lawmakers had opposed such action.

Democrats say there is no border crisis and Trump would be using a declaration simply to sidestep Congress. Some Republicans warn that future Democratic presidents could use his precedent to force spending on their own priorities, like gun control. GOP critics included Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who said emergency declarations are for "major natural disasters or catastrophic events" and said its use would be of "dubious constitutionality."

White House staff and congressional Republicans have said that besides an emergency, Trump might assert other authorities that could conceivably put him within reach of billions of dollars. The money could come from funds targeted for military construction, disaster relief and counterdrug efforts.

Congressional aides say there is $21 billion for military construction that Trump could use if he declares a national emergency. By law, the money must be used to support U.S. armed forces, they say.The Defence Department declined to provide details on available money.

With many of the Democrats' liberal base voters adamantly against Trump's aggressive attempts to curb immigration, four declared presidential hopefuls opposed the bill in the Senate: Cory Booker of New Jersey, New York's Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kamala Harris of California. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota voted for it, as did Vermont independent Bernie Sanders, who is expected to join the field soon.

Notably, the word "wall," the heart of many a chant at Trump campaign events and his rallies as president, is absent from the compromise's 1,768-page legislative and descriptive language. "Barriers" and "fencing" are the nouns of choice, a victory for Democrats eager to deny Trump even a rhetorical victory.

The agreement, which took bargainers three weeks to strike, would also squeeze funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in an attempt to pressure the agency to detain fewer immigrants. To the dismay of Democrats, however, it would still leave an agency many of them consider abusive holding thousands more immigrants than last year.

The measure contains money for improved surveillance equipment, more customs agents and humanitarian aid for detained immigrants. The overall bill also provides $330 billion to finance dozens of federal programs for the rest of the year, one-fourth of federal agency budgets.

Trump sparked the last shutdown before Christmas after Democrats snubbed his $5.7 billion demand for the wall. The closure denied paychecks to 800,000 federal workers, hurt contractors and people reliant on government services and was loathed by the public.

With polls showing the public blamed him and GOP lawmakers, Trump folded on Jan. 25 without getting any of the wall funds. His capitulation was a political fiasco for Republicans and handed Pelosi a victory less than a month after Democrats took over the House and confronted Trump with a formidable rival for power.

Trump's descriptions of the wall have fluctuated, at times saying it would cover 1,000 miles of the 2,000-mile boundary. Previous administrations constructed over 650 miles of barriers.

Associated Press Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro and reporters Padmananda Rama, Lolita Baldor and Matthew Daly contributed.OTTAWA  Political staff, journalists and MPs from across Canada tuned in Tuesday to watch Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus response to a minister crashing out of cabinet. They instead saw Mayor Brian Bowman talk about the importance of fast-closing bus doors in a cold climate.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Political staff, journalists and MPs from across Canada tuned in Tuesday to watch Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus response to a minister crashing out of cabinet. They instead saw Mayor Brian Bowman talk about the importance of fast-closing bus doors in a cold climate.

It wasnt the only bizarre moment from the press conference, which was originally scheduled to focus on upgrades to Winnipeg Transits Fort Rouge Garage.

At the podium, Trudeau and Bowman hailed inter-governmental co-operation, but Premier Brian Pallister hadnt even been invited. This was on the same day when Pallister's office chided the mayor for "pursuing negotiations through the media", after the mayor said the premier refused to meet with him.

TREVOR HAGAN / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Mayor Brian Bowman and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speak during a transit funding announcement at the South Winnipeg Transit garage on Tuesday.

The press conference illustrates a personality clash that is entrenching disagreements between the federal, provincial and municipal governments, which could risk Winnipeg losing out on badly needed infrastructure upgrades, according to Christopher Adams, a University of Manitoba political scientist.

"Its seems to be a conflict of personalities as well as priorities," said Adams, with a province focused on belt-tightening, a federal government doubling down on debt and a city angling to get the most of that cash.

"Theres two different narratives going on," Adams said.

Despite the absence of the premier, the news conference would have been rather benign. However, earlier in the day Jody Wilson-Raybould, veterans affairs minister and a once rising star in the Trudeau cabinet, resigned in the wake of the government's handling of the growing SNC-Lavelin scandal.

MP Jim Carr, the sole minister from Manitoba in the federal Cabinet, said he strives for collaboration, but admits that isnt always what happens.

"Their relationship is not bad; it could always be better," he said Wednesday.

"I dont think that Manitobans are particularly happy when governments are not working together to advance the interest of all the people who live in this province."

Pallisters office wasnt caught off-guard by Tuesdays press conference; his staff had to approve the citys ability to receive the funding under the federal Public Transit Infrastructure Fund. The province had already spent $14.35 million for the Fort Rouge Garage improvements.

Bowmans office also downplayed allegations hes trying to make the premier look bad.

"Government funding announcements dont typically include governments who dont have money involved," wrote city spokesman Jonathan Hildebrand.

He noted the province has done announcements with federal officials within Winnipeg without the city being involved. "Its a fairly standard practice."

Yet the three levels of government have clashed before over cost-shared infrastructure projects. In fall 2017, city council shelved eight roadway projects, including a pedestrian-bike bridge over Pembina Highway, after the cash-strapped province restricted its spending.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES MP Jim Carr, the only minister from Manitoba in the federal Cabinet, says of the province's relationship with the federal government: Their relationship is not bad; it could always be better.

"We missed an opportunity because the federal government was looking for projects. We put the money on the table; it [was] available." Liberal MP MaryAnn Mihychuk said last week.

"We needed the province to come in, and they haven't wanted to dance since we got elected."

But Adams said its not that black-and-white. While the Liberals "have been more generous with the public purse," the former Conservatives spent heavily to bring the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and numerous infrastructure projects to life in Manitoba.

Cities tied to provincial whims OTTAWA  Canadas mayor have been angling for more of a say in how Ottawa makes major funding decisions, citing a rapidly urbanizing country. But Christopher Adams, a University of Manitoba political scientist, said thats not likely to happen any time soon, given Canadas constitution. "This is not a new problem, said Adams, noting that there are only two formal levels of government. Experts refer to cities as creatures of the province, a term that came about when the Ontario government drastically reduced Torontos city council last summer. click to read more OTTAWA  Canadas mayor have been angling for more of a say in how Ottawa makes major funding decisions, citing a rapidly urbanizing country. But Christopher Adams, a University of Manitoba political scientist, said thats not likely to happen any time soon, given Canadas constitution. "This is not a new problem, said Adams, noting that there are only two formal levels of government. Experts refer to cities as creatures of the province, a term that came about when the Ontario government drastically reduced Torontos city council last summer. Adams noted that the Manitoba PC governments budget restraint impedes Winnipegs yearning to beef up transit spending, because cities have much fewer powers to levy taxes. On Wednesday, responding to criticism from Mayor Brian Bowman, the office of Premier Brian Pallister touted its decision to lower taxes, and slagged the taxes, fees and rate hikes he is imposing on his ratepayers. Mayors have cited such criticisms in pushing for more powers. Last month, when the mayors of Canadas biggest cities gathered in Ottawa, they pushed for an agreement to have permanent meetings with Ottawa, and possibly more funding that doesnt go through provinces. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has hinted at leaning on mayors for outright support in this falls election, calling out "provinces that dont really have quite the same attitude regarding investing in a tangible way in their communities and big cities." Mayors have also decried the federal government for only nudging provinces to allocate some of the tax revenue from legalized cannabis toward cities, instead of compelling them to do so. They decry having to pay most of the policing costs associated with legalization. Pallister dismissed the idea of sharing that revenue at a meeting last November of Manitoba mayors: Dont ask for a share of profits when there arent profits, he said. Dylan Robertson Close

The Pallister government also matched Ottawas $100 million for regional roads within Winnipeg.

His office accused Bowman of "engaging in inaccurate and counterproductive public positioning" by whipping up negative media coverage, despite progress between bureaucrats at both levels.

Bowmans office did note that a meeting with Pallister last December scheduled for a half-hour was so productive it ballooned to two hours.

"But when there are discrepancies that have not seen progress through the usual channels, an elevated response from the leader of government is required," Hildebrand wrote.

Adams said regardless of ideology, civil servants rarely come into conflict with colleagues at other levels of government.

"We sometimes get over-fixated by the relationship between elected ministers, premiers and prime ministers," he said. "There's this functional thing happening beneath the surface."

In fact, sources within the federal government  both Liberal-appointed and longstanding bureaucrats  say they actually have a good sense on where Pallister agrees and disagrees, and that surprises have been much less common than the other Prairie premiers.

Some infrastructure projects have gone stagnant, giving Liberal MPs less chances for photo opportunities ahead of this Octobers federal vote.

Just over a year ago, Carr proposed three-way meetings between himself, Bowman and the PC government, citing "constant bickering." Its unclear whether those meetings bore much fruit.

Similarly, a trilateral task force on methamphetamines took three months to get off the ground, despite police saying the drug's created a crisis situation.

When media honed in on the project's scant progress, sources pilloried Ottawa for choosing MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette, deeming him hard to work with. Federal officials found that petty, given the extent of the meth crisis.

"On a number of levels, there seem to be issues of personality," Adams said.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.caHey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/2/2019 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cases are moving through Manitoba's provincial courts faster and at a higher volume, recent data shows.

But two years after the Supreme Court set strict timelines for criminal cases, 1,973 cases took longer than 18 months to complete.

According to previously unreleased statistics, Manitoba provincial courts dealt with 48,808 cases in 2017-18 -- a nearly six per cent increase in case volume over the previous year. With courts under pressure to reduce delays, those cases were resolved slightly more quickly than in previous years. Across the province, about four per cent of cases took more than 18 months to wrap up, compared with five per cent of cases in 2016-17.

The statistics show provincial-court caseloads increased in every jurisdiction in Manitoba except for Portage la Prairie, which saw 53 fewer cases compared with the previous year.

The numbers are an indication Manitoba has adopted the "cultural changes" on court timelines that the Supreme Court called for in its Jordan decision, said Chris Gamby, spokesman for the Criminal Defence Lawyers Association of Manitoba.

"Speaking with some senior counsel, it has been a significant shift in the way they practice law to be able to do this. It's like a conveyor belt. So I think maybe the hard part's over now and this is just a new reality that we're living in -- the conveyor belt is moving a little bit faster, but that's OK," he said. "That adjustment period is the hard part."

In July 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada released its ground-breaking Jordan decision, which set an 18-month deadline for provincial courts, from the date of arrest to the end of a criminal trial. Manitoba's court statistics don't capture the full effect of the Jordan decision -- they measure the entire length of a case, not just to the end of a trial, and they include all cases handled by provincial courts, not just criminal cases. Before the Jordan decision, the proportion of cases that spent more than 18 months in provincial court was between six to seven per cent in Winnipeg. Outside of Winnipeg, between four and 10 per cent of cases took longer than 18 months, according to provincial court statistics from 2014-15.

One of the lawyers who took the Jordan case to the Supreme Court said he's cautious about interpreting court-time data. Tony Paisana, legislation and law reform co-ordinator for the Canadian Bar Association, represented Barrett Jordan in the B.C. case. He said it's important to remember that just because a case goes beyond the 18-month deadline doesn't mean it violates the Supreme Court's rules in that case. Cases can be extended for exceptional circumstances, and any delay caused by defence lawyers doesn't count toward the Jordan timelines.

"Its hard to look at those statistics and come to any realistic sense of how many cases are actually in danger (of being thrown out), but thats not to ignore the fact that court delays are always an issue and we should be striving to make sure that the numbers are as low as reasonably possible," he said.

Paisana said the Jordan decision has "fundamentally altered the criminal justice system from almost every area" and prompted concern about cases being rushed through court without giving lawyers access to proper police and prosecution disclosure and leaving them without enough time to prepare. Gamby echoed those concerns. But both said it's clear courts are working to become more efficient.

Despite fears that thousands of criminal cases would be thrown out of court if they languished and exceeded the Supreme Court's deadlines, that hasn't happened in Manitoba. Only six cases have been stayed because of unreasonable delay in the province. Since the Jordan decision, defence lawyers have launched 85 delay motions seeking stays of proceedings.

Some data in other parts of the country shows fewer of those legal challenges have been brought to court after Jordan than before, Paisana said, adding he tries not to focus on cases being thrown out.

"Once you get lost in the shuffle of someone getting off or otherwise because of delay, what some people fail to appreciate is that the rule is meant to protect the accused because the accused is suffering at a time when they have not been convicted of anything," he said.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemayWith apologies to C.W. McCall for paraphrasing the lyrics to his song Convoy: Get ready, Winnipeg, we got a great big convoy coming this way Friday.

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With apologies to C.W. McCall for paraphrasing the lyrics to his song Convoy: Get ready, Winnipeg, we got a great big convoy coming this way Friday.

A group of about 160 semi-trucks and other vehicles will roll into the Winnipeg area around 1 p.m. Friday as it hauls its pro-pipeline message to Ottawa.

Called the United We Roll Convoy For Canada, the convoy left Red Deer, Alta., this morning with plans to arrive in Ottawa to hold rallies Tuesday and Wednesday on Parliament Hill. The focus at the rallies will be the need for pipeline building and other concerns in Canada's oil and gas industry.

"This is all about uniting Canada. Farmers, vets (veterans), oil workers, anybody that's got an issue with the current government, we're going to unite and have a big rally to show our displeasure with the current government," organizer Glen Carritt said in a telephone interview Thursday, as he travelled in the convoy.

He said the convoy will stop overnight in Regina today. The group will decide Friday morning if the convoy will travel through Winnipeg or take the perimeter around the city.

"We may bypass it (Winnipeg). Depending on weather and if we have a little bit of extra time, we might roll through there (Winnipeg)," said Carritt, operations manager of Oilfield Paramedics Fire and Safety Inc. in Innisfail, Alta.

More participants are expected to join the convoy as it passes through Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.

He said he expects a large turnout of people -- possibly "thousands" -- at the Ottawa rallies.

"The purpose is to show our concern to the current government that we oppose bill C48 and C69. We are in favour of pipelines to move our products in the oil and gas sector to the rest of Canada as well as the rest of the world. We are opposed to the current format of the carbon tax as well as the UN impact on Canadian borders," the group's website states.

Bill C-48 is the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act which bans large-capacity oil tankers from loading and unloading in ports along an extensive stretch of Northern B.C. coastline. Bill C-69 is the Impact Assessment Act which will impose new environmental assessments on Canadas resource sector.

Carritt said the convoy is "a peaceful movement" and changed its name in an attempt to remove any affiliation with the yellow vest movement, although some participants were photographed wearing yellow vests. A number of movements linked to yellow vests in Canada and world-wide have become violent and turned into platforms for hate speech.

"It was a few weeks ago, it (the convoy) was Yellow Vest but there was some unprofessionalism in just that particular group so we moved into United We Roll Convoy For Canada which includes everybody. Everybody that's peaceful can join."

He said the United We Roll Convoy For Canada won't be disrupting traffic as it travels and will allow for space on the highway for vehicles to pass.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.caOTTAWA  First Nations leaders are accusing the Pallister government of imposing changes to child welfare they dont want, as both sides await a delayed federal shake-up of child and family services.

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OTTAWA  First Nations leaders are accusing the Pallister government of imposing changes to child welfare they dont want, as both sides await a delayed federal shake-up of child and family services.

"Theres still no control. Were still being dictated to, and managed by somebody else," said Swan Lake First Nation Chief Francine Meeches.

Echoing comments by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Meeches argued that the province did not adequately consult with First Nations about a pilot project she claims has gone awry, while not ending a clawback of the federal baby bonus.

On Monday, the Pallister government announced it would soon expand block funding to all CFS agencies, meaning it would provide a baseline of funding that isnt pegged to the number of cases the agency handles.

Indigenous advocates have long decried a perverse incentive in Manitoba, where most funding doesnt kick in until a CFS worker apprehends a baby. They argue that leaves agencies overworked and unable to help undercut poverty and other problems that brought a family onto a CFS agencys radar in the first place.

'They didn't even have the decency, the common courtesy, to contact our agency and say 'Did it work for you?'  Swan Lake First Nation Chief Francine Meeches

The Pallister government has long touted Sandy Bay First Nations CFS workers, after they found a loophole and bought a family an air conditioner instead of apprehending a baby for living in a house that was so hot it had become unsafe.

The government argued block funding could help agencies undertake those moves, which keep families together and ultimately save taxpayer costs.

But Meeches said the idea isnt working. Her tribal council was part of the provinces year-long pilot project on block funding for child welfare, and she said officials found tight rules didnt actually allow them to reallocate funding and prevent apprehensions.

"They didnt even have the decency, the common courtesy, to contact our agency and say 'Did it work for you?," said Meeches. "Seriously, they need to think before they try to announce something like this."

The Free Press requested an interview with Families Minister Heather Stefanson, and was given a written statement from a "non-attributable" provincial spokeswoman.

The province said the pilot allowed agencies to take unused dollars from their general care budget and put it into prevention. "Regular reporting by participating agencies has shown increased flexibility to redirect those savings and reduced administrative burden," the spokeswoman claimed.

She said details on the changes in funding wont come until next months budget, "the Indigenous Leadership Council will be consulted throughout this process."

"It is our intent to provide predictable three-year funding that doesnt incentivize bringing children into care," the spokeswoman wrote. "Block funding will provide the flexibility to allow authorities and agencies to invest in more positive supports for families and children."

The province is also planning to move the Childrens Special Allowance  a payment similar to the Canada Child Benefit  from provincial coffers to the actual CFS agencies. For 12 years, Manitoba has clawed back that cash into general revenue.

Meeches worries that cash wont actually help prevent apprehension, given the restrictions around block funding, which was ostensibly meant for agencies to allocate as they wished.

Manitoba has had one of the highest rates of child-welfare apprehensions on the continent, and almost 90 per cent of children taken into care are Indigenous.

The provinces, Meeches and numerous advocates are all watching to see what the federal Liberals will table, after promising imminent legislation on child-welfare reform.

The bill is being drafted through a committee of Indigenous people  an exceptional move in crafting law. A Lakehead University professor whos been part of that process told the CBC this week that the drafted legislation "doesn't change a whole lot, as far as I can see."

Multiple sources like Manitoba regional chief Kevin Hart said the bill only lets Indigenous groups craft their own laws with the consent of Ottawa and a province.

That would be a slight change from Manitobas semi-devolved system, which sees Indigenous groups run agencies under provincial laws and a mix of federal and provincial budgets (which have long been deemed insufficient). But its likely not going to be enough for the AMC, which drafted its own bill last year.

Indigenous Services Minister Seamus ORegan wrote in a statement that the bill is coming "shortly" but wouldn't comment on what it looks like. "The best interests of Indigenous children must come first, and that is our driving force in getting this right," he wrote.

Meeches was audibly angry at both the federal and provincial governments for what she deems a patronizing set of rules.

"Im sick and tired of it, I really am. This is what communities have had to go through since we signed a treaty," she said, referring to an 1871 agreement.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca

With files from Jessica Botelho-UrbanskiJames Burns may have been a modern-day captain of industry, heading Great-West Life Assurance, living in other major North American cities at times and sitting on numerous board across the country, but Winnipeg was always home to him.

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James Burns may have been a modern-day captain of industry, heading Great-West Life Assurance, living in other major North American cities at times and sitting on numerous board across the country, but Winnipeg was always home to him.

Burns died on Feb. 11. He was 89.

Jim Carr, minister of international trade diversification and the former president and CEO of the Business Council of Manitoba, said Burns' death is a great loss.

"It's a loss for our community, but it is time to reflect on his wonderful contribution to his city and country," Carr said Thursday.

"His legacy will live on for a very long time."

Carr said he met Burns in 1974, when he was hired to be executive director of the Manitoba Arts Council, and that conversation created the foundation for a friendship which lasted for decades.

"Winnipeg benefitted from his love of the city... he was a leader who led by example, and he really was a terrific guy."

Premier Brian Pallister said in a statement that "we are saddened to hear of the passing of James W. Burns, a proud Winnipegger and a great Manitoban.

"Jim contributed immensely to making life better in our province, each and every day. My deepest condolences to his friends and family."

Burns was born in Winnipeg to Dr. Charles Burns and his mother Gladys, and grew up in Tuxedo. His brother, Charles, was a medical doctor who was one of the founders of Canada's trauma system.

After graduating from Gordon Bell High School, Burns went to the University of Manitoba and graduated with a bachelor's degree in commerce. He went to the Harvard School of Business and began working with the Great West Life Assurance Co. as soon as he graduated with a master's degree in business administration in 1953.

Nineteen years later, Burns was president of the company. He also served as deputy chairman of Power Corp. of Canada  GWL's parent company. He served on myriad boards and organizations, including chairman of the Conference Board of Canada, founding director of the Council for Business and Arts in Canada, chairman of the prime minister's advisory committee on executive compensation in government, and Honorary Colonel of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders.

Burns also was a philanthropist who was instrumental in founding the Manitoba Museum, CentreVenture, and the skateboard park at The Forks.

Burns was honoured by receiving the Order of Canada, the Order of Manitoba, and being inducted into Manitoba's Business Hall of Fame.

Through the years, Burns never forgot his local alma mater and the university never forgot him. The James W. Burns Executive Education Centre there is named after him. Burns himself created history, nursing and graduate studies awards for students as well as naming the Barbara Burns Food Innovation Laboratory after his late wife in 2006.

"Jim Burns was a great friend to the University of Manitoba," David Barnard, the university's president and vice-chancellor, said in a statement.

"I was privileged to have spent time in personal conversation with him, and his consistent pride in this university, and commitment to helping it do more, and be better, never failed to inspire."

Burns was predeceased by his wife in 2003, and is survived by two sons, one daughter, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.caTwo members of the Bear Clan Patrol just didn't accept bravery awards for their heroic actions when they saw a fellow Winnipeg Transit passenger being threatened -- they used their moment in the spotlight to encourage other heroes in society.

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Two members of the Bear Clan Patrol just didn't accept bravery awards for their heroic actions when they saw a fellow Winnipeg Transit passenger being threatened -- they used their moment in the spotlight to encourage other heroes in society.

Jonathan Meikle was awarded the Royal Canadian Humane Association's silver medal of bravery while Matthew Shorting received the bronze medal for stepping in, scuffling with, and overpowering a knife-wielding man last November.

"They went above and beyond to protect passengers on a bus," Lieut. Governor Janice Filmon said during the medal ceremony on Wednesday at Government House.

"Tonight we are formally thanking them."

But when Meikle stepped to the podium, he not only expressed thanks for the recognition, he said there are many others in society that can be thanked.

"It doesn't take something bad to happen to be a hero," he said, noting that just 15 months ago he spent a month in jail followed by residential treatment for addiction.

"Walking with the Bear Clan, I see them all the time. The hero is the teacher willing to work with the troubled student. The cop that has the heart to heart with the kid in the back seat. The probation officer.

"The hero is the person who stops and has a simple conversation with the homeless person on the street ... heroes save people and a good one is one that can save a person before the bad occurs."

Meikle even spoke about the man who was charged with several offences for what happened on the bus.

"(Devon Evan Charles) Henderson needed a hero," he said. "Back before the 'where did it all go wrong?'

"Think of that when you go home."

Meikle and Shorting were on a transit bus in the downtown area just after midnight on Nov. 4, when they heard a passenger hurl racial slurs at a black passenger and threaten to stab him in the neck.

When the passenger being threatened got up to leave the bus, and the suspect followed him, that's when Meikle and Shorting stepped in. The pair dragged the suspect off the bus and Meikle battled to get the knife away from him, getting stabbed in the leg during the scuffle.

The pair held the suspect until police arrived.

Henderson, 23, was later charged with several offences including robbery, assault with a weapon, and possession of a weapon.

Meikle said the stitches were removed from the back of his thigh a week after the incident and he is back to 100 per cent.

When Shorting spoke, he gave a shout out to youth in care because he said he himself was one from the time he was two months old to 18.

And, noting it is Black History Month, Shorting pointed to the racial taunts he heard, which started the incident on the bus, and said "no person should be treated as inhuman."

James Favel, executive director of the Bear Clan, said he was "super happy" for the pair getting the medals.

"This is well deserved," Favel said. "It is nice they are getting the recognition they deserve. They were off duty when this happened.

"It's just fortunate they were there."

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.caOTTAWA - As he lays the groundwork for the Liberals' last budget before the fall election, federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau has been highlighting two themes for a national drug plan: the twin drives for lower costs and wider access.

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Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau looks on at a press conference at the Delta Ocean Pointe in Victoria, B.C., on Friday, February 8, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

OTTAWA - As he lays the groundwork for the Liberals' last budget before the fall election, federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau has been highlighting two themes for a national drug plan: the twin drives for lower costs and wider access.

Drugs are the fastest-growing component in health spending in Canada, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. New drugs have made it possible to live much longer with conditions such as diabetes and even cancer, and improve patients' quality of life with afflictions such as arthritis. But unlike hospital care and doctors' visits, most people's medication needs aren't covered by public health insurance.

The Liberals have assembled a team of advisers, led by former Ontario health minister Eric Hoskins, to consult the public and study options for a national pharmacare regime. The committee is to publish its final report this spring, but it's unclear whether it will arrive before the budget, which is now widely expected to land the week of March 18.

Late last week, Morneau told a business crowd in Victoria that the Liberals want to address a rapid rise in drug costs that has made them more expensive in Canada than in other countries.

The other challenge on his mind is ensuring people can afford the pharmaceuticals they need most, he said.

"I'm not sure how far we'll get in terms of the budget," Morneau said during an event hosted by the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce. "But I'd watch those two issues. We need to deal with the cost (and) we need to deal with the coverage as two really important issues that are on our agenda."

Canada now has drug plans administered by provinces (mainly for children and seniors and people on welfare or disability benefits), by the federal government (for Indigenous people, members of the military and the RCMP and veterans), and private insurance filling in gaps for some.

Morneau has said he'd like to preserve parts of Canada's existing drug plans rather than abandon them in pursuit of a new, country-wide program, and Hoskins' committee is to look at how best to do it.

"We've got an advisory committee that's going to present to us options on how we can move forward and, yes, to your question we will inevitably need to have some negotiations with the provinces to make sure we get this right because this is going to be a shared area of jurisdiction," Morneau said in an interview this week with Zoomer Radio. "So there is going to be some discussion of this, I hope, in the budget."

In the lead-up to this year's election, the Conservatives and New Democrats will also offer voters their visions for pharmacare.

This week, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said if elected his party would bring in a universal, public, comprehensive pharmacare system. Singh also accused the Liberals of being focused on a limited, industry-friendly model of pharmacare.

Last April, an all-party House of Commons committee agreed in a report that publicly funded prescription drugs, under a universal pharmacare program, would provide better health care to Canadians at a lower cost than the status quo.

The cost of national pharmacare is expected to be steep.

An analysis by the parliamentary budget officer estimated a broad coverage regime would carry a $20-billion-a-year price tag. Former federal budget watchdog Kevin Page has said that with provincial and federal treasuries all facing challenges, he believes tax hikes would likely be necessary.

The current government has taken steps to lower drug prices, which could allow Ottawa to create a pharmacare regime with less of a burden on taxpayers.

In late 2017, Health Canada proposed changes to the regulations governing patented medicines  newer drugs that, at their best, bring breakthrough health benefits, but that can be very expensive because they're legally protected from attempts to copy them. The government regulates prices to try to balance pharmaceutical companies' incentives to develop new drugs and patients' ability to get them.

These would be the first major update to those rules in more than two decades. The potential amendments included an expanded list of countries Canada can use when comparing patented drug prices as well as new factors the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board can take into consideration when assessing whether a drug is overpriced.

The effort to bring in the reforms has been unexpectedly sluggish, the board acknowledged in its newsletter last fall.

"Progress on the issues under discussion has been slower than anticipated, owing to the complexity of the subject matter and conflicting views of participants on the merits of the underlying policy," the document said.

When it announced its proposals, the government said only the United States and Mexico had higher patented-medicine prices than Canada, when compared with the 35 members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The government said the amendments could save consumers about $12.6 billion over 10 years.

 Follow @AndyBlatchford on TwitterWELLINGTON, New Zealand - A Papua New Guinea police superintendent on Thursday was hot on the trail of one of the many high-end cars he's trying to recover after an international summit.

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In this Nov. 17, 2018, photo, a selection of Maserati cars, part of the 2018 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum transportation, are seen in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. About 270 cars are missing after the Nov. 2018 event or overdue. All 40 of the Maserati models have been accounted for. (Mick Tsikas/AAP via AP)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A Papua New Guinea police superintendent on Thursday was hot on the trail of one of the many high-end cars he's trying to recover after an international summit.

About 275 cars are missing or overdue in the impoverished Pacific nation since it hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November. Many denounced the country at the time for buying 40 expensive Maseratis to ferry around world leaders, cars which it later planned to sell.

Although the Maseratis are accounted for, other cars are not.

When The Associated Press spoke to police superintendent Dennis Corcoran by phone, he said he was heading to pick up one of the missing cars, which somebody had tried to sell.

The thief had disappeared. "The driver absconded," Corcoran said. "But we got the vehicle."

Corcoran wasn't eager to elaborate much on his operation due to the "delicate" sensitivities around his work, referring further comment to Finance Secretary Ken Ngangan, who couldn't be immediately reached.

Since the summit finished, soldiers and police have blockaded government buildings and stormed Parliament in an ongoing pay dispute over APEC security work.

With so many pressing needs in the nation of 7 million people, many were dismayed at the amount of money spent on the summit, hosting leaders that included U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Corcoran is heading a new unit in the police tasked with recovering all the state assets purchased for APEC in the three years leading up to the summit.

In a statement this week announcing the formation of the unit, Corcoran said he would address "the ongoing misuse and abuse of state assets that were bought using the people's money."

He said the goods had been purchased by government agencies and then "claimed by certain individuals through unlawful means." He asked people to return the cars and other assets immediately and for the public to provide information to help the police.

Police also announced this week that they'd arrested one APEC officer who had used his position to enter the Port Moresby wharf to pry open the fuel caps of parked APEC cars and siphon gasoline from them.

Port Moresby, the capital, has been described by the World Bank as among the world's most violent cities due to high unemployment and brazen criminal gangs known as "raskols." Basic medicines are scarce in Papua New Guinea and polio, eliminated from most countries, has returned.TORONTO - Shares of New Gold Inc. closed down about 26 per cent Thursday after the company released weaker than expected guidance for the year.

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TORONTO - Shares of New Gold Inc. closed down about 26 per cent Thursday after the company released weaker than expected guidance for the year.

The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says it expects to produce between 300,000 and 335,000 ounces of gold this year at an all-in sustaining cash cost of between US$1,370 to $1,470 per ounce for its two mines.

The forecast is smaller and costlier than the 336,000 ounces at $1,022 per ounce expected by GMP Securities.

New Gold has struggled with production issues at its Rainy River mine in Ontario. The company estimated at the start of last year that it would produce about 431,000 ounces in 2018, before slashing its forecast for Rainy River by about 100,000 ounces midway through the year as it encountered grade and recovery issues.

The company says it lost $727.7 million or 1.26 per share in the fourth quarter, which included a $671-million impairment loss on its Rainy River mine.

Adjusted net income from continuing operations for the quarter was $22.7 million or four cents per share, compared with a loss of four cents per share a year earlier.

Shares in the company closed down 43 cents or 26.4 per cent at $1.20 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Companies in this story: (TSX:NGD)OTTAWA  Federal International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr is urging Manitoba businesses to take advantage of Canadas leg up in a trade deal with Asia-Pacific countries.

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OTTAWA  Federal International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr is urging Manitoba businesses to take advantage of Canadas leg up in a trade deal with Asia-Pacific countries.

"There are opportunities we havent seen a very long time," Carr said after presenting to local firms Wednesday at the Delta Hotels Winnipeg.

Dubbed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the bill drops tariffs on imports and exports with a large swath of the region. For Manitoba, that means more selling animals, grains and machines at more competitive prices, Carr said.

The agreement came into force in January, and as one of the first six signatories, Canada gets a special tariff cut when trading with countries such as Japan and Australia.

"The trade deal is immediately impactful for Manitoba producers," Carr said. "The tariff reductions over time will pretty much reach to zero."

Processing company HyLife is Canadas largest pork exporter, especially to Japan, while other agriculture firms have started exports to countries with growing middle classes, like Malaysia and Vietnam.

"Theyre very keen to take advantage of it now, before other countries accede to the CPTPP," Carr said.

Carr met with Winnipeg-based Duha Color Services on Wednesday; the firm plans to ramp up its presence in Asia under the deal.

The ministers main interest now is getting other firms to export beyond the United States, with Manitobas trade overwhelmingly reliant on the United States, especially small and medium-sized businesses.

Manitoba sold just under $9 billion in goods to the U.S. in 2017, accounting for 71 per cent of its exports.

The Liberals recently boosted spending on trade commissioners, who are largely stationed at embassies and consulates abroad to assess local markets, help with paperwork and promote Canadian firms.

"There is this opportunity to access expertise from trade commissioners across the world, at no cost to the exporter," Carr said, saying they provide "very practical ways, on the ground, that these networks can be explored."

The former Harper government kicked off the negotiations for that deal, which is partially aimed at balancing Chinas overwhelming economic sway in the region. The Trudeau government saw the deal ratified last October, with a much longer title.

Carr said the deal could help Manitobas producers get their canola to market. The federal government has pushed to remove barriers in exporting the grain to China, where theres a high demand but also political pushback against Canadas detention of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou.

Carr also noted that because Japan is part of the deal, Canada is the only G7 country with free-trade agreements with all other members of that group.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.caOSHAWA, Ont. - Sting told autoworkers at General Motors in Oshawa, Ont., that he stands in unity with them as they fight the planned closure of their local plant.

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Sting and the cast of his musical "The Last Ship" take a bow after performing in support of General Motors workers in Oshawa, Ont. on Thursday, February 14, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

OSHAWA, Ont. - Sting told autoworkers at General Motors in Oshawa, Ont., that he stands in unity with them as they fight the planned closure of their local plant.

The singer joined thousands of GM employees who gathered Thursday to hear him perform a free acoustic concert as a gesture of support.

The British musician played two songs by his former band, The Police  "Message in a Bottle" and "Every Breath You Take"  as well as selections from his musical "The Last Ship," about a shipyard that closes when it's deemed not profitable enough.

"We are telling your story and it's important that your story is heard.... This can't be buried under the political carpet," he said in a press conference after he wrapped a concert at a local community centre.

"Canada needs to get behind you."

Autoworkers lined up outside the venue, some holding signs of support or wearing shirts that read "Save Oshawa GM," before they were ushered in for the hour-long performance. The cast of "The Last Ship" joined Sting in delivering a line-up of rousing numbers from the show, which is being held at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto.

When Sting hit the stage the crowd jumped to their feet to give him a hearty welcome.

"Good luck with your fight," Sting told the crowd as the performance finished. "We're with you."

Songs from "The Last Ship" were written by Sting based on his experiences growing up in an English shipbuilding town roiled by the collapse of its main industry. The singer drew parallels between his tale of labour strife and the plight of Oshawa autoworkers as they face off with GM executives.

His musical is set in a town that's under siege by economic policies introduced by Margaret Thatcher, who served as Britain's prime minister from 1979 to 1990.

"There's nothing there now," Sting said of his hometown in Wallsend, England.

"There's some heavy industry coming back, but the town was devastated for a good 30 years by one industry just failing, and not being supported by the government."

Sting addressed the relationship between GM and its Canadian employees, saying the company has a duty to support a community that's worked hard for it.

"It should be a mutual support system. It's about loyalty. These workers have loyally given their lives to the company. It's a two-way street  you can't just walk away," he said.

Unifor president Jerry Dias says with Sting drawing more attention to what's happening in Oshawa, he anticipates the pressure on executives will intensify.

"GM right now is sitting there and my guess is they're not drinking champagne behind their desks  there's no question we've gotten their attention," he said

"They are hoping we'll go away but the chance of that is zero.... Ultimately GM can fix this. They can change their mind."

Follow @dfriend on Twitter.BEIJING - U.S. and Chinese negotiators began trade talks Thursday that President Donald Trump says will help decide whether he escalates a fight over Beijing's technology ambitions by raising tariffs on $200 billion of imports from China.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/2/2019 (861 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, left, gestures to journalists as he leaves a hotel to attend a new round of high-level trade talks with Chinese officials in Beijing, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

BEIJING - U.S. and Chinese negotiators began trade talks Thursday that President Donald Trump says will help decide whether he escalates a fight over Beijing's technology ambitions by raising tariffs on $200 billion of imports from China.

Businesspeople and economists say the two days of talks are unlikely to resolve the battle that threatens to drag on weakening global economic growth. They say Chinese negotiators are trying to persuade Trump they are making enough progress to postpone a March 2 deadline for the duty increase.

The chief American envoy, Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, and his Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He, shook hands at the start of the meeting at a government guesthouse but said nothing to reporters.

There are few signs of movement on the thorniest issue: Washington's demand that Beijing scale back plans for government-led creation of global competitors in robotics and other technologies. China's trading partners say those violate Beijing's market-opening obligations and some American officials worry they might erode U.S. industrial leadership.

Trump agreed in December to postpone more tariff hikes while the two sides negotiate. That expires March 1. The following day, a 10 per cent tariff imposed in July on $200 billion of Chinese imports would rise to 25 per cent.

On Tuesday, Trump said while he is not inclined to extend the deadline, he might let it "slide for a little while" if talks go well. Earlier, the White House called March 2 a "hard deadline."

Business groups see the decision by the top trade envoys, Lighthizer and Liu, to take part in person as a sign the negotiations are making progress. Thursday was their second meeting following negotiations last month in Washington.

The U.S. delegation also included Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and David Malpass, a Treasury undersecretary who is Trump's nominee for World Bank president.

Companies on both sides have been battered by Washington's tariffs and retaliatory duties imposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping's government. The stakes are rising as global economic growth cools.

Trump hiked tariffs on Chinese goods over complaints Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology. The dispute has spread to include Chinese industry development, cyberspying and the countries' lopsided trade balance.

Chinese leaders have offered to narrow their multibillion-dollar trade surplus with the United States. But they balk at making major changes in development plans they see as a path to prosperity and more global influence.

Chinese officials reject complaints that foreign companies are required to hand over technology. But business groups and foreign governments point to rules they say compel companies to disclose trade secrets or share technology with state-owned partners.

Chinese officials also are balking at U.S. pressure to accept an enforcement mechanism to monitor whether Beijing carries out its promises.

Beijing has tried to deflect pressure by emphasizing China's growth as an export market. It has announced changes over the past year to open finance and other fields, including allowing full foreign ownership in its auto industry for the first time.

Regulators have announced plans to improve protection of foreign patents and copyrights.

It is unclear whether that will satisfy Washington and other governments that complain the system is rigged to extract technology from foreign companies and to use official industrial standards to shield Chinese enterprises from competition.

AP journalists Christopher Bodeen and Emily Wang contributed to this report.NEW YORK - Amazon abruptly dropped plans Thursday for a big new headquarters in New York that would have brought 25,000 jobs to the city, reversing course after politicians and activists objected to the nearly $3 billion in tax breaks promised to what is already one of the world's richest, most powerful companies.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 14/2/2019 (861 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEW YORK - Amazon abruptly dropped plans Thursday for a big new headquarters in New York that would have brought 25,000 jobs to the city, reversing course after politicians and activists objected to the nearly $3 billion in tax breaks promised to what is already one of the world's richest, most powerful companies.

"We are disappointed to have reached this conclusion  we love New York," the online giant from Seattle said in a blog post announcing its withdrawal.

The stunning move was a serious blow to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had lobbied intensely to land the project, competing against more than 200 other metropolitan areas across the continent that were practically tripping over each other to offer incentives to Amazon in a bidding war the company stoked.

Cuomo lashed out at fellow New York politicians over Amazon's change of heart, saying the project would have helped diversify the city's economy, cement its status as an emerging tech hub and generate money for schools, housing and transit.

"A small group politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community," he said.

But Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City's new liberal firebrand, exulted over Amazon's pullout.

"Today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers and their neighbours defeated Amazon's corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world," she tweeted, referring to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

The swift unraveling of the project reflected growing antipathy toward large technology companies among liberals and populists who accuse big business of holding down wages and wielding too much political clout, analysts said.

"This all of a sudden became a perfect test case for all those arguments," said Joe Parilla, a fellow at the Brooking Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program.

Amazon ultimately decided it did not want to be drawn into that battle.

Amazon announced in November that it had chosen the Long Island City section of Queens for one of two new headquarters, with the other in Arlington, Virginia. Both would get 25,000 jobs. A third site in Nashville, Tennessee, would get 5,000.

The company planned to spend $2.5 billion building the New York office, choosing the area in part because of its large pool of tech talent. The governor and the mayor had argued that the project would spur economic growth that would pay for the $2.8 billion in state and city incentives many times over.

After Amazon backed out, De Blasio, who according to his press secretary learned of the decision an hour before it was announced, criticized the company for not doing more to try to win over New Yorkers, saying: "You have to be tough to make it in New York City."

In pulling out, Amazon said it isn't looking for a replacement location "at this time." It said it plans to spread the technology jobs that were slated for New York to other offices around the U.S. and Canada, including Chicago, Toronto and Austin, Texas. It will also expand its existing New York offices, which already have about 5,000 employees.

Amazon faced fierce opposition over the tax breaks, with critics complaining that the project was an extravagant giveaway  or worse, a shakedown  and that it wouldn't provide much direct benefit to most New Yorkers.

The list of grievances against the project grew as the months wore on, with critics complaining about Amazon's stance on unions and some Long Island City residents fretting that the company's arrival would drive up rents and other costs.

Opposition to the deal was led in the Democrat-controlled state Senate by Michael Gianaris, the chamber's No. 2 lawmaker, whose district includes Long Island City. Initially among the politicians who supported bringing an Amazon headquarters to the city, Gianaris did an about-face after the deal was announced, criticizing the secrecy surrounding the negotiations and the generous incentives.

Earlier this month, Gianaris was appointed to a little-known state panel that could have ultimately been asked to approve the subsidies.

The City Council probably would have had to file a lawsuit to scuttle the deal, which was structured to avoid the land use review process that most projects undergo.

In recent weeks, City Council members held hearings at which they grilled Amazon officials about such things as the company's contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to provide facial recognition technology.

One City Council leader tried to get Amazon officials to agree to remain neutral in the face of any potential union drive. But an Amazon executive would not give such a commitment.

A Quinnipiac University poll released in December found New York City voters supported having an Amazon headquarters 57 per cent to 26 per cent. But they were divided over the incentives: 46 per cent in favour, 44 per cent against.

Construction industry groups and some local business leaders had urged the public and officials to get behind the plan.

Eric Benaim, a realty executive who gets most of his sales and rentals in Long Island City, had led a petition in support of Amazon, drawing 4,000 signatures.

"I woke up this morning and I had no clue this would happen. Zero. This news is a shock, and I'm devastated," he said.

Andrew Ousley, a business owner who lives near the proposed site, said he had been considering moving out before Amazon moved in.

"Now that they're not coming, I'm more likely to stay and see how the neighbourhood continues to grow and evolve in a more organic fashion," he said.

Associated Press Writers Verena Dobnik, Karen Matthews, Kiley Armstrong in New York; Chris Rugaber in Washington; and Chris Carola and David Klepper in Albany, New York, contributed to this story.

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SubmitThis is a guest post from Eric Van Rythoven. Eric Van Rythoven recently finished his PhD at Carleton University studying emotion, world politics, and security. His work is published in Security Dialogue and European Journal of International Relations.

The Trudeau government is in crisis. Yesterday morning Jody Wilson-Raybould, Canadas former Attorney General recently demoted to Minister of Veterans Affairs, resigned from cabinet. The resignation comes on the heels of a Globe and Mail report that someone in the Prime Ministers Office allegedly attempted to influence Wilson-Raybould in her decision to prosecute SNC Lavalin.



A politically connected and influential engineering firm based in Quebec, SNC Lavalin is currently mired in charges of fraud and bribery in relation to its work in Libya. As recently as Monday night Trudeau expressed full confidence in Wilson-Raybould, saying that her continuing presence in cabinet should speak for itself.

By itself the allegation of political interference in a criminal prosecution has the potential to be a major domestic scandal. But this scandal could come with serious international repercussions, especially given Canadas increasingly troubled relationship with China. To understand why, we need to step back and think about the role of brand failure in the politics of embarrassment.

How states manage their public image is a longstanding concern of International Relations. During the Cold War competitive behaviour was commonly attributed to a desire for status and prestige (Jervis, Gilpin). Following 9/11 interest in public diplomacy surged as Western countries sought to rehabilitate their public image in the Middle East through cultural outreach and savvy social media (Gilboa, Snow & Taylor).



This literature overlaps with a broader interest in national branding and brand command focused on how states manage their public image in an increasingly informationally-dense environment (Potter, Marland). One could also add to this list the study of international activists using naming and shaming tactics to pressure governments on human rights (Hafner-Burton, Risse, Ropp, and Sikkink).

While these literatures are certainly useful, they can also lead to an overly optimistic view of image management. Whats missing here are how attempts to craft a positive public image are often marred by struggle, ineptitude, and occasionally failure. For Irving Goffman its precisely these situations when an actor presents conflicting public images that moments of embarrassment begin to emerge. More than a hypocritical mismatch between words and deeds, or the shame of failing to abide by ones moral ideals, embarrassment is most evident when an imagined competency is never delivered.

When embarrassment occurs, Goffman recognized that some audiences would be merciful and help the embarrassed party conceal their failures. Others, however, would exploit cracks in a fractured public image for gain. The latter would lead to a struggle to regain and maintain composure over self-imagewhat we can call the politics of embarrassment. Embarrassed parties and their allies look repair or minimize the apparent damage; political opponents look to make the embarrassment all the more pronounced.

We can think of the dynamics of embarrassment as a play in three acts: the brand, the break, and the blame. The brand refers to a period of branding repertoires which projects a distinct image of competency. The break captures the period where a previous public image, and the competency it promises, comes into question through moments of off-brand behaviour. The blame comes when a break becomes apparent and actors formulate strategies to respond. Here is when we can see various composure strategies, such as denial or deflection, are employed by the embarrassed subject and their allies to repair their public image. By contrast, discrediting strategies, such as sensationalizing, are employed by political opponents and aim to widen and deepen the appearance of a break. When taken together the brand, the break, and the blame capture how the politics of embarrassment represents a struggle to regain and maintain composure over self-image.

The Brand

Why does this matter for Canada? Because the Trudeau government has worked very hard to project a specific brand rooted in respecting the rule of law. As Canadas Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland argued in her signature June 2017 foreign policy speech: our values include an unshakeable commitment to pluralism, human rights and the rule of law.

Freeland is not alone in this branding exercise. Trudeau himself regularly cites the rule of law whether in discussing the shared values of the Commonwealth, in speeches at the UN, and even in pipeline decisions.

Last December this messaging took on a new urgency as Canada became involved in a serious diplomatic dispute with China. At the request of the United States government Canadian authorities arrested Meng Wanzhou, the CFO of Chinese flagship technology company Huawei, while she was traveling through Vancouver. With the extradition of Wanzhou to the United States pending, the Chinese government has exerted immense diplomatic pressure and retaliated by arbitrarily detaining two Canadians and revising the criminal sentence for a third Canadian to the death penalty. Throughout the dispute Trudeau has steadfastly maintained that Canada values an independent judiciary and the rule of law. He even went so far as to criticize China for arbitrarily revising the third Canadians criminal sentence to the death penalty.

The Break

Yet now the Trudeau governments rule-of-law brand appears to be suffering a decisive break. The first signs of the break came when the Canadian Ambassador to China interfered in the Wanzhou case by suggesting Chinese-language media that she had a strong case against extradition. Citing President Trumps comments on using Wanzhous case as a bargaining chip in ongoing US-China trade negotiations, McCallum made the case that Trump may have unfairly politicized the process. McCallums assessment about Trump may prove true, but its not the place for an Ambassador to weigh in on legal disputes unfolding in an independent judiciary. McCallum was fired to protect the rule-of-law brand.

The break only deepened on news of allegations that someone from the Prime Ministers Office allegedly attempted to influence Wilson-Raybould in her decision to prosecute SNC Lavalin. And although the SNC Lavalin and Wanzhou cases are unrelated, they both signal moments of off-brand behaviour where the Trudeau government failed to deliver on its promised commitment to the rule of law.

The Blame

What this leaves is the question of the blame. We can already see composure strategies aimed at steadying the governments image: McCallums firing sent a clear signal that he was off message, and Trudeau himself has denied his office directed the Attorney General in any prosecutorial decisions (though the clarity of this denial is in dispute). These are complemented by a range of discrediting strategies ranging from modest proposals for an ethics investigation to the more sensationalist declarations of a coverup by the Trudeau government. The efficacy of these strategies, including what they reveal and conceal, will determine the severity of the break in the governments public image and how long it lasts. Both of these are crucial questions given the looming Federal election in the Fall of 2019.

Finally, perhaps the most important lesson we can take from this moment of crisis is that political branding is never a risk-free proposition. Off-brand behaviour at home can have effects on foreign relations abroad. As one columnist recently noted, after the Jody Wilson-Raybould affair China might be right to wonder if Canadian justice can be bought. When the fragile tethers of a public image begin to slip, other states may be right to question who we really are.Florida yoga studio shooter planned attack for months and had 'lifetime of misogynistic attitudes,' police sayDavid McCovery, 61, had been missing for years before he met a couple who helped him reunite with his family.At stop lights or freeway on and off ramps, youve probably seen people holding signs and asking for money. It can be tempting to hand over your spare change, but next time you may want to think twice.State Sen. Will Haskell, D-Westport, has submitted two new bills to the General Assembly intended to improve Metro-North train service.

If enacted, these proposals would provide wireless internet access on trains operating on the New Haven line and provide relief to riders boarding the train in New Canaan. Haskell also highlighted his determination to reduce travel time and improve reliability.

The New Haven Line supports near-record numbers of riders today, with more than 40 million total trips taken in 2017, and yet the experience of riding the train has deteriorated in several important ways,a said Sen. Haskell. aFrom Amtrak to Megabus to most commercial airlines, travelers have come to expect Wi-Fi while commuting. On one of the busiest commuter networks in the country, its crucial that we make the daily trip economically efficient for those traveling to and from work. This bill would provide commuters an opportunity to work while riding the train.

Senate Bill No. 163, An Act Concerning Wireless Internet Availability on the New Haven Line of the Metro-North Commuter Railroad, would require Metro-North to provide high-quality, complimentary wireless Internet access to riders of the New Haven train line.

When Bostons commuter rail service supports Wi-Fi service, Connecticut is placed at a competitive disadvantage. Employers tell us that improving our outdated infrastructure is crucial to revitalizing our economy. Realtors tell us that potential buyers look closely at the commuting experience before investing in our community. We cannot afford to allow Metro-North to remain stuck in the past,a said Sen. Haskell. Connecticut commuters deserve better than to be forced to rely on frankly unreliable phone service.

Senate Bill No. 448, An Act Authorizing Bonds of the State for the Construction of a Canopy Covering The Platform at the Talmadge Hill Train Station in New Canaan, would authorize state bonds to provide a grant-in-aid to construct a canopy to provide protection against the elements at the Talmadge Hill Train Station in New Canaan.

We cannot in good faith encourage public transportation while asking commuters to wait in the rain for their train, said Haskell. I hear constantly from both Democrats and Republicans in New Canaan that the experience of commuting to Manhattan must improve in order to bolster New Canaans real estate market. Most other Metro-North train stations offer canopies that prevent riders from getting soaked. Im working hard to have one built for my constituents in New Canaan.

As a member of the transportation committee, Haskell is ready to work with Fairfield County legislators from both sides of the aisle to modernize infrastructure and provide commuters with greater reliability.

Its simply unacceptable that the train from Westport to Grand Central has gotten slower since 1950, not faster, said Haskell. Now that weve passed a transportation lockbox, its time to make long-term investments in our infrastructure that will allow us to speed up trains and reduce daily delays. The New Haven-Grand Central line is a crucial economic corridor for the state of Connecticut, and investment in these commuters is long overdue.Kimball Police Department community service officer Tammy Rutt, KPD Chief Andy Bremer and Christy Warner of Kimball County Transit strike a pose with Kimball Head Start kids after a discussion about the Child Passenger Safety Law.

Changes in the Nebraska's Child Passenger Safety Law that became effective Jan. 1 were discussed Tuesday, Feb. 12, at Kimball Head Start.

Christy Warner of the Kimball County Transit, Kimball Police Chief Andy Bremer and Tammy Rutt. KPD community service officer, participated in the session.

The new law states that children must ride in rear-facing seat up to age 2 or until they reach the upper weight or height limit allowed by the car seat manufacture.

Children up to age 8 must ride in a correctly installed car seat or booster seat. They also must ride in the back seat, as long as there is a back seat with a seatbelt that is not already occupied by other children under age 8. Youths ages 8 to 18 also must ride secured in a seatbelt or child safety seat.

Bremer said the changes followed an analysis of police reports throughout Nebraska.

"Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children in Nebraska," said Judy Martin, deputy director of public health for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

"As children get older, their risk increases because they're moved from a safety seat to a seatbelt only too soon, or they're allowed to ride in the front seat where an airbag could cause injury.

"That is why it's so important to choose the right seat and know the law to help keep your child safe at every age and every stage."

Bremer offered help.

"Any questions about this new law or your child's current safety seat, please feel free to bring it down to the police department," Bremer said. "We will do our best to answer any questions."SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- An oxygen tank explosion has led to a mans death in Springfield. Fire and police officials said the tank exploded Tuesday morning on Knox Street in the city after it was tampered with.How to make the most of Porto

Please note: travel restrictions remain in place owing to the coronavirus pandemic. Be sure to check the latest travel advice and explore current covid rules and regulations by country.

Porto has emerged from the shadow of Portugal's capital in recent years, impressing all who visit with its many historic and scenic attractions, not to mention tasty traditions (and we're not just talking fruity fortified wine and creamy custard tarts).

The landmark Luis I Bridge in Porto - photo courtesy of the Porto Convention & Visitors Bureau

This charming, laidback city has a notably down-to-earth vibe with plenty going on from sights within its UNESCO-recognised centre to the easy-to-reach wine region of the Douro Valley.

Getting to Porto: if you're planning to discover the delights of this riverside Portuguese city, why not arrive in style with Marella Cruises? Browse itineraries and see the latest offers* to book your berth online for less.

Here, we look at some of the most exciting and memorable ways to get stuck into this riverside city and see how to really make the most of any visit, no matter how long or short.

Dive into the city's cultural heritage

Spend a morning wandering through the heart of the city, a collection of landmarks and architecture that has been designated a Portuguese national monument. Stop off at the Clerigos Church and Tower and the city's austere looking cathedral.

Several of Porto's buildings feature ornate Art Nouveau facades, including the A Perola do Bolhao delicatessen and Livraria Lello bookstore, which is worth peeking inside to see the stylish staircase and decadent wooden shelving.

Intricate woodwork in the interior of Livario Lello bookstore - photo courtesy of the Porto Convention & Visitors Bureau

The riverside Ribeira district is characterised by cobbled lanes and pastel-fronted buildings, plus there are plenty of cafes to pause for a coffee or ice-cold beer between the sights.

For views of the River Douro, head to the Elevador da Lada, a lift that cuts the effort out of descending to the waterfront. Strolling along the quayside offers fine views of the arching Dom Luis I Bridge that links Porto with neighbouring Vila Nova da Gaia.

Step inside the old prison-cum-gallery

The Portuguese Centre of Photography is housed within a former prison less than 10-minutes from the Praca da Liberdade - meaning 'Liberty Square' - the de facto heart of Porto.

The place of detention was constructed in the 18th century, and prisoners were held within its cells until Portugal's Carnation Revolution of 1974. The ground floor tells the story of the building's past and hosts temporary photography exhibitions.

Azulejo tiles on the walls of Sao Bento Railway Station, Porto - photo courtesy of the Porto Convention & Visitors Bureau

On the upper floors you can peer over Porto's iconic terracotta rooftops from windows bearing metal bars that attest to the building's former purpose. Historic cameras and photography equipment are also displayed, as well as how early photography was used to document inmates.

Be dazzled by azulejo tiles

Traditional blue and white azulejo tiles can be spied adorning several of Porto's great buildings. It's worth pausing to admire the details of the artwork on these tiles; look closely and you'll see lives of saints depicted on the walls of the Capela das Almas, whose name translates as the 'Chapel of Souls'.

Azulejo tiled wall, Church of Santa Clara, Porto - photo courtesy of the Porto Convention & Visitors Bureau

Azulejos also deck the Church of Santa Clara, which warrants entering for its ornate Baroque sculptures. Look up within Sao Bento Railway Station also and you'll see more than 20,000 tiles on which artist Jorge Calaco depicted key scenes from Portuguese history.

Enjoy a dose of modern art

The Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art displays temporary exhibitions of artworks in a minimalist building designed by Alvaro Siza, the Pritzker Prize-winning Portuguese architect.

The Serralves Foundation's collection focuses on works created since the 1960s, encompassing pieces by the likes of Anselm Kiefer, Paula Rego and Andy Warhol.

Art Deco Villa at the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art - photo courtesy of the Porto Convention & Visitors Bureau

The gallery is set within a landscaped park featuring woodland, a pond and a farm on which cattle roam. The grounds were formerly a summer retreat of the Count of Vizela, who had an Art Deco villa built. Today, it hosts exhibitions while jazz sessions are held in the park during summer.

Hear tales behind local delicacies

Porto is a city with a hearty traditional cuisine, and if you stop to dine at Tripeiro or A Cozinha do Manel, you're guaranteed to sample regional and national dishes.

Locals have long been nicknamed 'tripeiros', meaning 'tripe eaters'. The term reputedly dates from the early 15th century, when Portuguese ships were built on the banks of the River Douro. When the fleet sailed to conquer Ceuta, ships were well-stocked thanks to local generosity that left only offal for Porto's residents.

Tripas a Moda do Porto is the local delicacy - photo courtesy of the Porto Convention & Visitors Bureau

Making lemonade from lemons, so to speak, a new national dish was created: Tripas a Moda do Porto, made with beans, smoked sausage and onion, is dedicated to this time when Portugal was propelled into its Age of Discovery.

Not a tripe fan? For a filling lunchtime sandwich, order a Francesinha. Said to be inspired by sandwiches eaten by expat Portuguese in France, it's topped with melted cheese, filled with slices of meat and sausage, and dripping with a tomato-based sauce - stodgy yet delicious.

Take a trip to the Douro Valley

Porto is well-situated for venturing into the beautiful, steep-sided Douro Valley, the home to some of Portugal's most highly regarded wine estates.

As a wine-producing region, the Douro Valley was demarcated in 1756, making it the oldest in the world. Generations of work went into terracing the hillsides of the Alto Douro region, another UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Vineyards in the Douro Valley - photo courtesy of Visit Portugal

The Museo do Douro in Peso da Regua tells the story of wine-making and how boats, known as rabelos, transported wine down the River Douro to make port.

Potter in Gaia's port wine cellars

Vila Nova de Gaia, known locally as Gaia, occupies the south bank of the Douro. Its waterfront offers handsome views of Porto's colourful Ribeira district. Descend from the Dom Luis I Bridge in the Gaia Cable Car for panoramas over the terracotta-topped buildings in which port wine is made.

Guided tours of Gaia's port cellars give insights into a lengthy production process, which involves adding a strong spirit to fermenting juice.

Guides lead you through cool, shaded rooms holding wooden barrels stocked with maturing wine into cellars where bottles of the vintage port are stored. Tours end with tastings and opportunities to buy a bottle or two to take home.

Port tasting in the cellars of Ferreira - photo courtesy of the Porto Convention & Visitors Bureau

Each of the cellars has a history of its own, so it can be interesting to go on more than one tour. For insights into how port was pitched and sold to the people, the Sandeman Cellar is interesting. Meanwhile, Taylor's Port has a museum circuit and can also arrange private tours.

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*affiliate links: find out how we are funded and why this helps us remain free to use.Canadian business leaders are confident that there will be a flattening or decline in global economic growth in the coming years.

While 62% of Canadian CEOs were downbeat about global growth (vs. 57% globally), they do have a strong vision of how to position their business for the changing economic landscape.

The Global CEOs Survey from PwC found that shifting geopolitics, trade uncertainties and increasing protectionism are all challenging growth and requiring a new mindset.

For example, 88% of Canadian business leaders felt that the US was the most important market for growth; and while their interest in most international markets has flatlined, there was a rise in those selecting Mexico.

However, the domestic market is key.

"As Canadian CEOs increasingly look inward for growth opportunities against a tough global economic backdrop, the pressure to transform their businesses has never been greater," says Nicolas Marcoux, CEO and Senior Partner, PwC Canada. "The shift away from China and the US creates a golden opportunity for Canadian businesses and governments to collaborate in order to enhance our country's attractiveness for investment. Coming together to get upskilling right is a key step in a multi-pronged approach to help us secure a greater piece of the global economic pie  for the benefit of all Canadians."

Choosing transformation

With Canadian CEOs looking at domestic growth, they accept that they will need to transform and will look at introducing more operational efficiencies; a large proportion of Canadian CEOs (84% vs 71% globally) will focus on organic growth and a little more than half (59% vs 37% globally) are focused on new M&A activity.

Artificial intelligence is seen as a key transformer for financial services and is also viewed that way for business leaders across industries. But most Canadian CEOs are concerned about a skills gap, while also acknowledging that AI is likely to disrupt the job market.

Worryingly, Canadian business leaders are more likely than their global peers to believe that the skills gap will be addressed by educational institutions rather than investing in upskilling their existing workforce.

"As business leaders, we simply can't sit on the sidelines and wait for our business schools, colleges and universities to deliver graduates with the in-demand skills of the future," adds Marcoux. "Closing the talent gap to make sure we have the skill sets needed to create value will be critical to Canada's success."Volunteers to search for Savannah Spurlock this weekend in Garrard Co., Ky.Washington: President Donald Trump will sign legislation that would avert another government shutdown and declare a national emergency to get more money for a border wall from other parts of the federal budget.

"President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action - including a national emergency - to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

After getting word from the White House, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate will vote on the plan at 3:30 on Thursday Washington time. The House is set to vote later in the evening.

Democrats threatened to challenge an emergency declaration by Trump in court and some Republicans had sought to steer the president away from such an action by shifting money in other accounts. But McConnell said he "indicated to him I'm going to support the national emergency declaration."Jerusalem: Officials in Israel say a deputy cabinet minister is being investigated for ethics violations over the extradition case of former Melbourne school principal Malka Leifer, who is accused of child sex abuse.

Malka Leifer in court at an earlier hearing. Credit:Gabrielle Weiniger

Israeli media reported on Thursday that the inquiry involved suspicions that Deputy Health Minister Yaacov Litzman obstructed justice by trying to prevent the extradition of Leifer to Australia.

Litzman's office confirmed that police summoned him for questioning on Thursday.

Israel's state prosecution says Leifer is feigning mental illness to dodge extradition.Prime Minister Scott Morrisons response to the 11th annual Closing the Gap report has had a mixed response from Indigenous leaders, with some saying his plan to grant HECS relief to teachers in remote areas should be extended to nurses, health workers and other frontline workers.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison delivers the Closing the Gap speech. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Some also criticised the way the plan was announced, saying it was the kind of top-down decision-making Mr Morrison had promised to avoid, given hed pledged to make First Nations leaders equal partners in redesigning refreshed targets.

In speeches delivered to Parliament on Thursday, Mr Morrison and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten acknowledged the failure of the Closing the Gap process to make real strides in addressing Indigenous disadvantage.

But beyond agreeing that Aboriginal and Torres Strait leaders needed to be made equal partners in repairing the process, the two speeches diverged in tone and content, with Mr Shorten playing up Labors commitment to achieving recognition in the Constitution while Mr Morrison was silent on that topic.One Nation staffer James Ashby has been banned from Parliament House following a fight with United Australia Party senator Brian Burston.

Senate president Scott Ryan told the Senate on Thursday that the pass of Pauline Hanson's chief of staff had been revoked, which will prevent the staffer from entering Parliament House "for the time being".

Senator Ryan, who is responsible for security in the building, made the decision after reviewing video footage of a physical altercation between the senator and Mr Ashby after a minerals industry dinner at Parliament House on Wednesday night.

Senator Ryan said the video showed "inappropriate behaviour of a pass-holder towards a senator".NSW is on track to have warmer than average days and nights in the coming months, the Bureau of Meteorology says.

The prediction comes off the back of two record-breaking summer months, with February also looking to record mean above-average temperatures.

The Bureau of Meteorology says there is high chance it will be warmer than average in autumn.

Climatologist Felicity Gamble said there was an 80 per cent chance that most of the country would experience hotter temperatures through autumn.

The average daytime temperatures for Sydney are 24.8 degrees in March, 22.5 degrees in April and 19.5 in May. Overnight average temperatures are 17.6 degrees, 14.7 degrees and 11.6 degrees for those months respectively.Bad Mothers is a catchy title that implicitly and deliberately raises the question: what makes them bad? But just as the "desperate housewives" from the hit series that arrived on our screens more than a decade ago weren't exactly desperate, the bad mothers of this eight-part Melbourne-based series aren't really bad. The hope, says actress Jessica Tovey, who plays Danielle, is that they're "relatable"; familiar as suburban mums struggling to meet impossible standards and, inevitably, sometimes falling short.

While the women of Desperate Housewives were linked by living in Wisteria Lane, the mothers of Bad Mothers, like the parents in Big Little Lies, have children at the same primary school. As a reaction to the public impression of perfection conveyed by the members of the Bedford Mothers' Club, Danielle and her sister-in-law, Maddie (Mandy McElhinney), and single mum Bindy (Shalom Brune-Franklin) have formed their own breakaway group which they jokingly refer to as the Bad Mothers' Club. The official and dominant pack, led by the impeccably groomed Charlotte Evans (Melissa George), is fashionably attired, affluent and possessively engaged in school activities. Charlotte dismissively regards Danielle and her pals as "losers".

Jessica Tovey plays the energetic Danielle in Bad Mothers. Credit:Scott McAulay www.scottmcaulay.com

Actress Brune-Franklin describes the Bedford Mothers as "the well put-together amazing mothers who seem to have it all and do it all. They wear heels to pick up their children".

Addressing the series' title and the name adopted by Danielle and her pals, Tovey says, "To me, the main reason for that name is because women often feel that they are bad if they're not perfect at everything. That if they can't have a career and be a perfect wife and get to the gym all the time and be a great friend, that somehow they're failing at being a woman, which is completely unfair and ridiculous. So these women have taken ownership of that name and gone, 'Great, we're not perfect, so we're the bad mothers. The perfect women are over there and we're just gonna frolic in being terrible'."The state government has rebuffed calls from the Greens to evaluate the safety of upstream tailings dams in Western Australia after a dam burst in South American iron ore miner Vales Brumadinho operation on January 25.

Tailings dams are storage facilities for often toxic waste as a result of mining operations. Upstream dams are made larger by sequentially adding to the crest of the dam wall.

Residents survey the damage after the dam burst in Brumadinho. Credit:Victor MoriyamaBloomberg

The Vale disaster inundated Brazilian villages with sludge, killing 150 people with hundreds still unaccounted for.

The disaster is the second in Brazil in four years after a dam at a Vale BHP joint venture burst in 2015 killing 19 people.Please Enable Cookies

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Please enable cookies on your browser and try again.Managing Editor

Delphine Luneau is a veteran journalist with more than 20 years of experience. She was the editor of Suburban Life Media when its flagship was named best weekly in Illinois, and she has worked at papers in South Carolina, Indiana, Idaho and New York.Up for debate:

Live legislation tracker

Check out the latest developments on bills pending before state lawmakers in four key topics.Thank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.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.Duterte is best known for his bloody war on drugs, which has resulted in about 5,000 deaths in police operations. However, up to an estimated 20,000 people have been killed in what the state calls deaths under investigation, which human rights watchdogs say include summary executions. Rappler has been at the forefront of this coverage of the human cost of Dutertes war.Trump reversed course on his initial statement in December that U.S. troops would withdraw immediately, later saying that the exit depended on liberating the final pocket of territory controlled by the Islamic State. This week, hundreds of people poured out of the area as it became increasingly clear the militants were facing defeat.The uncertainty is much greater than usual and the consequences of getting things wrong are much greater than usual, he said. Normally, if youre trying to ratify a new treaty and you dont ratify a new treaty, then life goes on as before. This is not the case with Brexit. If we dont get a deal ratified, the world changes very dramatically for the E.U. and in particular for the U.K., he said.Barr has long been a proponent of giving the president broad authority, and in private practice he sent a memo to Justice Department leaders critical of what he saw as Muellers legal theory of how the president could have obstructed justice. But he has also vowed to let the special counsel conclude his work and said he considers Mueller a friend. The two men worked together when Barr was last in the Justice Department.The clip  and journalist Scott Pelleys description of what else he and McCabe talked about  suggests the onetime top official plans to pull back the curtain on law enforcements response to the new president as he promotes his book  The Threat  that is set to released next week. Pelley said that McCabe, in addition to talking about his interactions with Trump, described conversations officials had about using the 25th Amendment to oust the president.Speaking to reporters at the close of the session, Shanahan sought to reconcile his statements of support with those of his commander in chief, whose America First instincts have fueled friction with allies and made mayhem the new normal at global gatherings. At a NATO summit in July, Trump stunned heads of state by demanding a massive boost to defense spending and suggesting he might go his own way if members did not increase contributions. His refusal to consistently express support for mutual defense obligations has become a troubling backdrop to alliance consultations.Whitaker, who is likely to leave the job this week with the expected confirmation of William P. Barr as attorney general, sparred for hours with the committees Democrats, often exasperating them with his refusal to detail his conversations with the president. He told the committee that he had not influenced Muellers inquiry in any way and had not spoken to Trump about the investigation since his appointment.But today, just a year before the events 330-plus major policy changes are scheduled to be completed, the Third Plenum symbolizes the gap between Chinese promises and performance. It also shows how Trumps hopes of winning genuine structural changes in Chinas economic model are colliding with the entire thrust of Xis rule, which has been all about bolstering Beijings role in the economy while preserving Communist Party control.About 15,000 Soviet soldiers were killed in the conflict, along with at least 1 million Afghans. Initially, the war was kept hidden from the Soviet publics view, and draftees were sometimes unaware of their final destination until they arrived in Afghanistan. Once soldiers bodies started returning home, a wave of hysteria gripped young men and their mothers across the country.He also said that she had no regrets, she was calm and composed but she was also in a state of shock  she had just come out of a battlefield, nine months pregnant, many of her friends dead through airstrikes and all the rest of it  so I wouldn't want to rush to judge her too harshly. We must remember she was a 15-year-old schoolgirl when she left the U.K.The passage of the amendments came despite outrage by critics who feared that the measures will give unprecedented dictatorial powers to Sissi, whose term is supposed to end in 2022. The proposed amendments would extend the presidential term from four to six years while allowing Sissi to run for two additional terms. Many pro-democracy activists and critics fear that Sissi will now be able to remain president almost indefinitely. Even though weeks of discussions will take place before Sissi's path to remain in power is cleared, few expect the vast majority of lawmakers beholden to the Sissi regime to work against him.The contradictory signals about the possible Pakistan meeting led to conflicting reports Thursday about its genesis. One was that the United States was behind it, hoping that Pakistan would pressure the insurgents to accept talks with the Ghani government. Some media reports here, though, cited Taliban officials saying that the visit marked a success for them, because it signified Pakistans official acknowledgment that they were the true representatives of their country.Then one of the men, who said he had connections within the Chinese Communist Party, told her she should go work with them in China and that they could arrange a visa for her. He showed her a picture of them with the Chinese ambassador to Sweden, Gui Congyou. She politely declined, she wrote.A statement issued Thursday by Indias Foreign Ministry pointed the finger at the countrys neighbor. The leader of Army of Mohammed has been given full freedom by the government of Pakistan to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity, it said. A spokesman for Pakistans government said on Twitter that it strongly rejected any insinuation linking the attack to Pakistan without investigations.He said he had no connection to the government and was motivated by a sense of anger. Many of the other students were in fact disappointed that their embassy did not speak up forcefully to condemn Turdush, he said, adding that Chinese students should rationally express our point of view and let our embassy know this event exists.Welcoming newcomers: When someone moves in, there is a greeter family that pays them a visit, supplies them with community information and interviews them for an article in the upcoming edition of the newsletter. We were greeted when we moved there in 2006, and it helped us feel welcome immediately, said Jodie Burns, who became a greeter herself. Recently, a family moved in, so Burns hosted a wine-and-cheese party at her house, and many of the surrounding residents attended.Harris recounted the history of lynching in the United States and the 1955 lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till in rural Mississippi. Till, who was visiting from Chicago, was murdered after he was accused of whistling at and making sexual advances toward a white woman. The teen was kidnapped Aug. 28, 1955, and was tortured and shot. His mangled body was found days later in the Tallahatchie River.I like her a whole lot, Clyburn told CNN. I think she was very sincere in her apology, and I wish we would just go on and stop beating up on people when they make a mistake. All of us have misspoken at one time or another.Michael Bloomberg put in $54 million into the campaign just in the last couple of weeks in 24 districts, McCarthy said. All I was pointing out was money that Republicans and Democrats were spending to defeat one another. . . . This had to do about party and a campaign.Little did I know how blessed we would be when the one government leader who first stepped forward to help us just happened to have the backbone of an army and, when necessary, the stubbornness of a mule, Gruber said.For now, most of the 2020 Democratic presidential contenders are largely avoiding the subject. Four of the five senators running for president voted against a measure proposed by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that would allow state and local governments to refuse to do business with companies that support the pro-Palestinian boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, or BDS.The first set of debates will be broadcast in June by NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo, followed by CNN-sponsored debates in July. Both sets of debates will be broadcast on weeknights in prime time. They will be streamed online free, with no more than 10 candidates onstage at any one time.80,000 pounds of food was delivered to Long Beach Tuesday and distributed to 28 pantries in the Long Beach region, thanks to donations from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.But these are misleading figures, and the groups that purvey them often overlook some important facts: Salary comparisons arent useful because federal workers tend to be older, more educated, and more concentrated in professional occupations than private-sector workers, according to the Congressional Budget Office. There are also comparatively few part-time workers in the government. Some federal employees make more, and some make less, than private-sector workers, but when comparing apples to apples, only federal employees with just a high school diploma make more than their private-sector counterparts, while professionals with advanced degrees usually make less, according to the CBO. This may bode well for Ross: He traded in his congressional salary for one as a lobbyist at one of Floridas top-earning law firms.But this has nothing to do with socialism as a political theory or form of government. American socialism cannot be applied piecemeal because it requires coercion by the government to a degree most of us simply will not accept. Whether you call the ideology democratic socialism or social democracy, the end goal is state socialism. Other advanced nations, particularly the Nordic nations, are fondly referred to as social democracies. They are not. They are capitalist democracies that use social and economic intervention by government to promote social and economic fairness. We do the same but to a far lesser extent. We can and should do much more. That should be the discussion, not the promotion of socialism in any guise.I ran into to him a few months later at a party and asked him how it went. She shot me down, he said. I was, of course, contrite for having inadvertently led him to being rejected. But he wasnt angry; rather, he thanked me. I would have wondered about that my whole life, he said. Now I know. And you know what? Im not afraid anymore. It occurred to me that this is exactly how a good entrepreneur thinks: Failure is likely  so face it, learn from it and get stronger for next time.Bringing balance to Americas relationship with the Peoples Republic of China is the geopolitical challenge of this century. That the United States is now in a position to deliver on the challenge is impressive. The opportunity shouldnt be wasted by focusing on a handful of individual trade matters that do little to address structural imbalances. An improved U.S. trade surplus in soybeans would not be enough.The GND has no practical importance but much significance. First, it underscores the rise of the politics of gestures that are as flamboyant as they are empty: President Trump has his wall, the left has its GND. Second, it reprises the progressive desire to militarize everything but the military, to conscript everyone into vast collective undertakings that supposedly justify vast excisions from personal liberty and the setting aside of pesky constitutional impediments. See President Franklin D. Roosevelts call in his first inaugural address for power as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.First, it will undermine recent efforts to offer second chances to young adults convicted of crimes. Last year, the D.C. Council wisely expanded the scope of the citys Youth Rehabilitation Act. Under the new law, those who commit crimes before their 25th birthday have a chance to clear their records and start fresh. If they do everything the judge told them to do  for example, participating in counseling and other programs, getting a job and not committing another crime  they have a shot at asking the judge to set aside the conviction. Once the conviction is set aside, it will no longer haunt them every time they apply for a job, seek housing or attempt to serve on a jury. As the D.C. Council committee report endorsing the legislation said, the act was designed to provide a fresh start to young adults, an age group highly susceptible to emotional and behavioral growth and development.Some argue that this is a better outcome than war and perhaps the best we can manage when dealing with an evil yet rational regime that knows how to use its leverage. After all, our own intelligence agencies assess it as unlikely Kim that will ever give up his nukes, so long-term containment, continued deterrence and some ongoing pressure may be where we are headed anyway.



[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE THE WORLD IS SQUARE on Bandcamp SAN DIEGO - February 14, 2019 - Scarlet Moon Records is excited to release THE WORLD IS SQUARE, a Valentine's Day tribute to Squaresoft JRPGs from the SNES and PSX eras lovingly arranged by producer and videogame remixing pioneer Mustin. Mustin--best known as the co-founder of OneUp Studios and The OneUps--arranges fan-favorite tracks from Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy VI, and Final Fantasy VII in a series of smooth ballads including live violin and guitar. Each track is dedicated to a special girl in Mustin's life, making a perfect musical accompaniment for Valentine's Day. THE WORLD IS SQUARE is licensed and available today: THE WORLD IS SQUARE on Bandcamp THE WORLD IS SQUARE on iTunes THE WORLD IS SQUARE on Spotify "I spent countless hours as a kid playing through these games," notes arranger/ and producer Mustin. "Adulthood didn't seem to hinder me in any way seeing as how I have bought every release and remake of Final Fantasy IV. Every one of these themes is a time travel device that takes me back to my youth - sharing the emotions of these characters on my screen. I hope the listeners share my nostalgia!" The full track listing for THE WORLD IS SQUARE is as follows: 01. Fear of the Heavens (Secret of Mana) 02. Main Theme of Final Fantasy IV 03. Theme of Love (Final Fantasy IV) 04. Forest Butterflies ["Secret of the Forest"] (Chrono Trigger) 05. From the Bottom ["Bottom of the Night"] (Chrono Trigger) 06. Coin Song (Final Fantasy VI) 07. Lonely Girl ["Terra"] (Final Fantasy VI) 08. Serenity ["Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII"] Digital purchases on Bandcamp and iTunes include a sleek digital booklet with artwork, track credits, and liner notes. A limited physical edition CD is also available on Bandcamp to enjoy the lovely cover illustration by Scarlet Moon graphic designer Connary Fagen in all its pixelated glory. About Mustin Mustin a multi-instrumentalist and music producer based in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He's credited as being a pioneer of the videogame music remixing scene with early contributions to OverClocked ReMix and Project Majestic Mix before founding one of the first videogame music record labels, OneUp Studios, and one of the first videogame music cover bands, The OneUps, who still perform regularly at conventions such as PAX, MAGFest, VCON, and more to this day. Mustin has been featured on CNN and MSNBC, remixed for MC Frontalot and Freezepop, and has worked with the likes of brentalfloss, Mega Ran, and more. Learn more: https://www.mustinenterprises.com Follow Mustin on Twitter, Facebook, SoundCloud, and YouTube About Scarlet Moon Records Scarlet Moon Records has been releasing original game soundtracks and unique arrangement albums since 2013. Working with composer and musicians around the globe to publish soundtracks that publishers have no interest in releasing and also working with that same global talent to produce refreshing arrangement albums with our their unique spin, they're best known for their flagship album series, Prescription for Sleep: Game Music Lullabies. Learn more: http://www.scarletmoonrecords.com Follow Scarlet Moon Records on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube ### Arranger/producer Mustin is available for interview. A press kit containing the album for review is available upon request. Media Contact Jayson Napolitano, Scarlet Moon Promotions [email protected]  2019 Scarlet Moon Records. Original compositions are  Square Enix Holdings, Ltd. Mustin and Scarlet Moon Records are in no way affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected to Square Enix with respect to this album. Musical compositions are used with permission. Mechanical licensing facilitated by re:discover, Inc. d/b/a Loudr. All rights reserved.AFGHANISTAN

Taliban: Talks with U.S. set for Monday

Taliban negotiators will meet their U.S. counterparts Monday in Pakistans capital, Islamabad, as part of accelerating diplomacy to end more than 17 years of war in Afghanistan, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said Wednesday.

But a U.S. State Department representative said in a statement that the United States had not received a formal invitation to any talks.

The talks would come a week ahead of previously scheduled negotiations between the two sides in Qatar on Feb. 25. Mujahid said in a statement that the Qatar talks would still take place as scheduled.

Mujahid said his side would also meet with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to discuss Pakistan-Afghanistan relations.

While he said the Taliban delegation would meet with the U.S. team, he did not specify any meetings with the team head, U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who is due in Pakistan ahead of the Qatar talks as part of a six-country swing through Europe and the Middle East as he tries to build support for efforts to end the Afghan war.

 Reuters

MIDDLE EAST

Israel rejects U.N. visit to Palestinian enclaves

Israel has refused to allow the U.N. Security Council to visit the territory that the Palestinians claim for a future independent state, U.N. diplomats say.

Last week, the council authorized its current president, Equatorial Guineas Anatolio Ndong Mba, to consult the Israeli and Palestinian ambassadors about such a trip.

Riyad Mansour, the ambassador of the Palestinian observer mission to the United Nations, immediately responded, saying a council visit would be viewed in the most positive way. But Kuwaits U.N. Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi said Ndong Mba reported to a closed council meeting Wednesday that Israel categorically refused the council visit, though Israels U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said the government would welcome visits to Israel by individual ambassadors.

A council visit requires support from all 15 council members and approval by the countries concerned. Several other members confirmed Danons rejection. There have been multiple requests for the Security Council to visit the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as their capital. All have been unsuccessful.

 Associated Press

Venezuelan assembly appoints board for state oil company: Venezuela's opposition-controlled National Assembly named a transitional board of directors for the state oil company, in a bid by assembly chief Juan Guaido to gain control of an industry that is the economic backbone of the country. Guaido, who has declared himself interim president in a push to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro, said the board will also oversee PDVSA's U.S. subsidiary, Houston-based refiner Citgo.

U.S. delivers rockets to Lebanon's army: The United States has delivered laser-guided rockets valued at more than $16 million to Lebanon, demonstrating what it called its "firm and steady commitment" to the country's army. The United States has supplied the Lebanese military with more than $2.3 billion in aid since 2005, aiming to support it as "the sole, legitimate defender" of a country where the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group holds major sway.

Spain could face snap election: Spain's parliament has rejected the government's 2019 draft budget, pushing the country to the brink of a national election. Sources in the government and the Socialist party of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he would call a snap election if the draft was rejected, with April 14 or April 28 the most likely dates. His decision is expected Friday.

Instagram account removed after Indonesia protests: An Instagram account displaying comic strips depicting the struggles faced by gay Muslim men was removed after officials labeled it "pornographic" and threatened to block the platform. Indonesia's Communications Ministry said Instagram took down the account, under the name @Alpantuni, at its request.

Saudi Arabia added to E.U. blacklist: The European Commission added Saudi Arabia, Panama, Nigeria and others to a blacklist of nations seen as posing a threat because of lax controls on terrorism financing and money laundering. The move is part of a crackdown on money laundering after several scandals at E.U. banks.

 From news services



[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.]

Paris, February 14, 2019  Gameloft, leader in the development and publishing of mobile games, announced that Modern Combat Blackout, from the mobile FPS defining franchise, is now available on the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo Switch. With unparalleled graphics, nine unique classes to master, loads of customizable skills and weapons, thrilling 12-player online battles, and a story mode that pits players against terrorists around the world, Modern Combat Blackout brings an unbridled action to Nintendo Switch including: CHOOSE YOUR FAVORITE CLASS: Find the playstyle that suits you among nine customizable classes that players can level up across single and multiplayer, including Assault, Heavy, Recon, Sniper, Support, Bounty Hunter, Sapper, X1-Morph or Kommander.

HIGH-POWERED MULTIPLAYER: Deploy for epic clashes in Team Battle and Free-For-All matches online.

INTENSE SOLO CAMPAIGN: Play the challenging Spec-Ops missions for a real adrenaline rush. Fast-paced story missions with various challenges will take players from Tokyo to Venice.

UNIFIED PROGRESSION: Character progress in any mode carries over to the others, so play solo or multiplayer and watch abilities expand.

PERSONALIZED CONTROLS: Intuitive, highly customizable controls allow players to battle just the way they want for a true console experience. Modern Combat Blackout is available for $19.99, exclusively on the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo Switch. Download Modern Combat Blackout now here . The Modern Combat Blackout trailer can be viewed here. ### About Gameloft Leader in the development and publishing of mobile games, Gameloft has established itself as one of the top innovators in its field since 2000. Gameloft creates games for all digital platforms, two of which are featured in the Top 10 Games by All-Time Worldwide Downloads from App Annie. Gameloft operates its own established franchises such as Asphalt, Order & Chaos, Modern Combat and Dungeon Hunter and also partners with major rights holders including Universal, Illumination Entertainment, Disney, Marvel, Hasbro, Fox Digital Entertainment, Mattel and Ferrari. Gameloft distributes its games in over 100 countries and employs 5,400 people worldwide. Every month, 114 million unique users can be reached by advertisers in Gameloft games with Gameloft Advertising Solutions, a leading B2B offering dedicated to brands and agencies. Gameloft is a Vivendi company.Trump, who vowed during his campaign to help the coal industry, set up a clash with the TVA with his call to keep open the Paradise 3 unit, which buys much of its coal from a mining company chaired by Robert E. Murray, one of the presidents major donors and supporters. Murray said in a statement that he was extremely disappointed in the TVA decision.weather

Powerful winter storm

batters Western states

More rain, snow and wind hit the West on Wednesday, flooding roads, toppling trees and cutting power while raising threats of debris flows from wildfire scars.

Mandatory evacuations were in effect near a burned area of the Santa Ana Mountains southeast of Los Angeles, where officials said the risk of debris flows was high.

The tempest, which hit California and southern Oregon and barreled toward Nevada, was feeding on a deep plume of moisture stretching across the Pacific Ocean to near Hawaii, the National Weather Service said.

Storm warnings were posted in the snow-laden Sierra Nevada, where the forecast says up to seven feet of new snow could be dumped at elevations above 9,000 feet. A backcountry avalanche warning was issued throughout the Sierra.

 Associated Press

Ohio

Fake weapons found hidden in state prison

State authorities confiscated three fake handguns, drawings of handguns, and a fake explosive device at a maximum-security prison in what they called a very serious and unique situation.

The first item found Tuesday night at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville was a phony explosive device built of grout shavings, copper wire from ear buds, batteries and a small radio, said JoEllen Smith, spokeswoman

for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

The devices that resembled handguns were made of bars of soap, pieces of eyeglasses, battery casings and carbon paper, she said.

Events leading to the search began when an inmate called the Associated Press, warning of a potential hostage-taking plot. The AP contacted the State Highway Patrol, which investigated along with prison authorities.

The inmates involved were placed in restrictive housing, and the facility was back to normal Wednesday, Smith said.

Prisoners with fake weapons can pose the same kind of threat as robbers who claim to have guns in their pockets, whether real or not, said Richard Lichten, a jail and police practices expert.

 Associated Press

New York

Detective killed in police shootout

A New York City police detective died in a hail of police gunfire as officers faced off with a robbery suspect who had a fake gun and a long rap sheet, authorities said Wednesday.

Detective Brian Simonsen was struck once in the chest Tuesday night. He and six other officers fired 42 times as Christopher Ransom charged them and simulated firing his imitation handgun, police said.

Another officer, Sgt. Matthew Gorman, was shot in the leg. The shooting started as he and two officers retreated from a store when Ransom, 27, came at them, Chief of Department Terence Monahan said. Gormans condition was stable.

Ransom was wounded, and his condition was stable. He has been charged with murder, aggravated manslaughter, robbery, assault and menacing.

 Associated Press

Caged children placed in Texas foster care: Four malnourished siblings, all age 5 or younger, have been placed in foster care after authorities found them in a North Texas barn, two locked in a dog cage and the others smeared with excrement, authorities said Wednesday. The three boys and a girl were released from a hospital Tuesday evening, an official from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said.

 From news servicesThat language echoes statements Northam has made while defying calls for him to resign over the scandal. He has said he wants to remain in office to work on racial reconciliation. Northam initially took responsibility for the 1984 yearbook picture, which shows one person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe, but he later said he was not in the photo. At the same time, he revealed that he had darkened his face that same year to dress as Michael Jackson for a dance contest.Coordination is also going to be a problem, as candidates all over the state usually rely on top officeholders to help with the logistics of campaigning. Party officials say theres no sign of lingering animosity between Northam and the Democratic machine over the calls for resignation but that they cant count on the governor being healed enough by then to provide the usual support.Gamasutra is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.After much thought and deliberation, weve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens, the company said. For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term. While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.After receiving a bachelors degree in 1940 from the University of Georgia, she won a public policy internship through the Rockefeller Foundation. That brought her to Washington, where she worked in a congressional office and later for the League of Women Voters. She encountered activists who had helped win passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 guaranteeing women the right to vote.President Trump signaled Thursday that he would sign a bipartisan agreement on border security to avert another shutdown. But Maryland lawmakers say they want a contingency plan in place to assist up to 22,000 federal workers from the state who could be expected to work without pay should that agreement evaporate, or in case of a shutdown sometime in the future.In her order, the judge agreed with Manaforts defense and said the government had failed to show he lied when he denied having ongoing contact with Trump administration officials since they took office in January 2017 and failed to show he lied about Kilimniks role in the obstruction-of-justice conspiracy over witness tampering in which Kilimnik was accused and Manafort pleaded guilty.The Journey Down Trilogy finally launches on Switch as a 3-in-1 next week!





[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.]

Join Bwana on a breathtaking point-and-click adventure saga, in the full The Journey Down Trilogy. Barcelona  14th February 2019  As you may remember, The Journey Down saga hit the Nintendo Switch last year thanks to the collaboration between indie developer SkyGoblin and BlitWorks, an established video game porting studio from Barcelona. After receiving many requests, they have now announced the Trilogy will be available as a pack on February 21st. Fans of bundle packs will have the chance to get this 3-in-1 pack, which includes The Journey Down: Chapters 1, 2 and 3 at a discount! The Journey Down is a critically acclaimed point-and-click series with an Afro-Caribbean twist. Inspired by their love for the classics of the genre SkyGoblin has created a game that really stands out on its own, making it a must have for fans of graphic adventure games. Press kit: http://www.thejourneydown.com/TJD_Presskit.zip Ask for a press copy: [email protected] Release date and price on Nintendo Switch: The Journey Down Trilogy - February 21st - $39,99 And if you already own The Journey Down: Chapter One, you get a 25% discount on the Trilogy! *** You can now get the bundle on Switch & save money!*** The Journey Down Trilogy Uncover secrets and reveal plots on a journey that spans from the sprawling metropolis of St. Armando to the ancient jungles and temples of the mythical Underland. This bundle includes The Journey Down: Chapter One, Two and Three. The adventure starts in a shady corner of Kingsport Bay, at the outskirts of St Armando, where Bwana and his trusted sidekick Kito struggle to make ends meet at their run-down gas station. Little do they know that they are about to be thrown into a spine-tingling adventure that will take them far from home and right into a twisting plot of corruption and danger. Get ready to embark on an epic journey of laughs and brain-teasing adventure! Features A twisting tale of intriguing adventure

Tons of hand-painted environments

An all original jazzy reggae soundtrack

A fully voiced cast (English)

HD art and animations

English and German subtitles Chapter One US trailer: https://youtu.be/PiGuw6xwEAk Chapter One EU trailer: https://youtu.be/_2vqvOf2bs0 About SkyGoblin SkyGoblin is a Gothenburg, Sweden based independent developer and publisher of computer games. Since the founding of the company in 2005, SkyGoblin has been involved in several different game projects ranging from mobile, downloadable and web advergames to a full scale 3D MMO. SkyGoblin specializes in game design and production, but throughout the years, the studio has also engaged in various types of consultancy work, including visualization, education, animation and software development. http://www.skygoblin.com/ About BlitWorks Based in Barcelona and founded in 2012, BlitWorks is a porting and digital publishing studio notorious for the outstanding quality of its ports. Recent works include the conversion of acclaimed games such as Sonic CD, Jet Set Radio, FEZ, Spelunky, Bastion and Dont Starve to all brands of consoles and mobile platforms. For more information and updates about BlitWorks please visit www.blitworks.com and follow http://www.twitter.com/blitworksResidency fraud has been an ongoing problem but came under increased scrutiny this past year after a city investigation alleged that more than 30 percent of students at Duke Ellington School of the Arts  more than 160 teenagers  lived outside the city and were not paying tuition. But in October, administrators and parents at the school said the city had determined at least 90 of the accused students live in the District.Passengers are also concerned about the practicalities of screening. Customer satisfaction with airports was up last year, according to the latest report from J.D. Power, a market research company. Overall passenger satisfaction rose to 761 on a 1,000-point scale, 12 points higher than the previous years results. That included a jump in passenger satisfaction with security screening, mainly attributable to improved communication and cooperation between airport and TSA staff, according to J.D. Power. But passengers say theyre still far from happy with the screening process and see plenty of room for improvement.This weeks best travel bargains around the globe.

Land

With Frontiers International Travel, save 20 percent on a fly-fishing vacation at the Madison Valley Ranch in Montana. The five-night package costs $3,088 per person double, a savings of $772, and includes accommodations; all meals, including a four-course dinner with beer and wine; and guided drift- and/or wade-fishing outings with gear. Travel April 19-25 and April 27-May 10. A fishing license ($53 or $78, depending on length of time) and $13 lodging tax are extra. Info: 800-245-1950, frontierstravel.com.

Party like its Mardi Gras 2019 with 30 percent savings at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. Rooms start at $149 a night and include Mardi Gras beads and masks, two king cake martini cocktails at the Public Belt lounge, two breakfast vouchers for Le Croissant and taxes. Book by April 30; stay by May 1. Use promo code P3. Info: 504-561-0500, www.hilton.com.

The Caribbean island of St. Lucia is celebrating 40 years of independence with discounts of up to 40 percent at select hotels. For example, a night at the Stonefield Villa Resort starts at $187, plus $38 taxes, for stays May 1-Aug. 1. The usual rate is from $312. The deal includes airport transfers worth $200 per couple and 40 percent off select spa services. Book-by dates and other restrictions vary by property. For Stonefield, book by March 1. Info: stlucia.org/specials.

Sea

Cruise and Maritime Voyages is offering a discounted around-the-world cruise, with prices starting at about $100 per night per person, plus receive $500 to $3,000 in shipboard credits per cabin. The 120-night cruise aboard the 1,400-passenger Columbus starts at $12,699 per person double, including port charges. The cruise sails round trip from Londons Tilbury cruise terminal, departing on Jan. 6, 2020, and returning on May 5, 2020. The ship stops at 40 ports of call and traverses the Panama and Suez canals. Credit amount is based on cabin category. Book by March 30. Info: 855-206-4897, cruiseandmaritime.com.

Princess Cruises is offering up to $900 in shipboard credits and free specialty dining on select cruises around the world. Credit amount is based on cruise length and cabin category. For example, an interior cabin on the seven-day Southern Islands cruise, which departs Kobe, Japan, on May 25, starts at $809 for the first two passengers and $599 for the third and fourth passengers. The first two travelers receive $100 each in credits; the second two earn $50 each. All four passengers sharing a stateroom can dine at a specialty restaurant at no additional charge on one night. Add $114 in taxes and port fees per person. Book the All Aboard! Sale by Feb. 28. Info: 800-774-6237, princess.com.

Air

Southwest has a sale on nonstop domestic flights for travel through May 22. For example, round-trip air from Reagan National to Providence, R.I., starts at $118, with taxes; fare on other airlines starts at $279. Fly Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Twenty-one-day advance purchase required. Book by Feb. 21 at southwest.com.

Package

With American Airlines Vacations, save an additional $175 on already discounted packages in Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean and Rome. For example, a mid-April trip with round-trip air from BWI Marshall to Cancun and six nights at the all-inclusive Secrets Capri Riviera Cancun starts at $2,525 per couple, down from $2,998. Five-night minimum required. Travel through Nov. 17; several blackout dates apply. Book by Feb. 20 using promo code ROMANCE at aavacations.com.

 Carol Sottili, Andrea Sachs

Prices were verified at press time Thursday, but deals sell out and availability is not guaranteed. Some restrictions may apply.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What would Senning do if, during a dinner at his house, a friend were spending too much time looking at their phone? Senning says he would not call out the person at the table. I would probably take note of it and say something before we all sit down together the next time, Senning says. Id say something like, I heard your phone going off during dinner, it would be great if you could silence it while were at the table. And anyhow, we could all stand to start this story fresh, with facts taking precedence over the hoots and hollers that dominated media coverage at the time. The first hour is mostly taken up with recollections of the immediate aftermath: Johns bloody trip to the hospital; the discovery by still-blushing law officers of his penis in the grass; the surgical expertise that restored it to full function; a nation reeling from infinite grimaces (men) and attagirls (women) as the story caught fire.These features were on display at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday night in the orchestras regular appearance  every two or three years  with Washington Performing Arts. But things were a little different this time round. The Concertgebouw has also toured with great conductors, notably the incomparable Mariss Jansons, its former chief conductor. The current U.S. tour was to have been with conductor Daniele Gatti, who took over in 2016. Gatti, however, was dismissed last summer in the wake of sexual harassment allegations first reported in The Washington Post, and the orchestra had to hastily find fill-ins. Daniel Harding, 43, a former conducting wunderkind encouraged as a teenager by some of Europes greatest composers, with a solid if not stellar career, was chosen to lead the tour  seen as a sign that hes in the running for the now-vacant post.Kahlo became a celebrity when she was just 22, after marrying the already-famous Diego Rivera. She spent the rest of her life in his shadow. The conclusion Ive drawn, she later wrote to him, is that all Ive done is fail . . . I live with you for ten years without doing anything in short but causing you problems and annoying you. I began to paint and my painting is useless but for me and for you to buy it, knowing that no-one else will.To do that, rockets need an enormous amount of propellant. The Saturn V rocket that took the Apollo astronauts to the moon was a towering behemoth. At 363 feet, it was taller than the Statue of Liberty. But mostly, it was propellant. As it stood, fully fueled, on the launchpad, 85 percent of its mass was propellant. Same with the space shuttle. In fact, most rockets are shells to hold the fuel needed to generate the enormous energy to get to orbit. By contrast, only about 4 percent of a cars mass is fuel.McConnell has been warning against an emergency declaration publicly and privately for weeks, but on Thursday he told senators he had informed the president he would support the move. According to two officials with knowledge of the exchanges who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, Trump had been leaning against supporting the congressional spending bill but relented after several conversations with McConnell, who then announced his agreement to go along with an emergency declaration.Much of the investors revenue comes from residents who, while they often own their homes, must pay rent for the home lot. At Florence Commons, rent has risen by 4 percent or more a year, residents said. Most have little choice but to pay up because of a practical reason: They cant move. The dwellings are called mobile, but they are costly to transport and sometimes owners are contractually forbidden to move them.Rome to compile list of tourists "guilty of crimes against the city."

Rome mayor Virginia Raggi is working on a proposal to prevent "barbarian tourists" from returning to the capital, according to Italian news agency ANSA.

Raggi is reportedly seeking the help of Rome's embassies in compiling a list of tourists "guilty of crimes against the city" before issuing the offenders with a so-called daspo or ban from returning to the city.

The duration of the ban is also up for discussion. To make the idea a reality, Raggi will seek a meeting with Italy's interior minister Matteo Salvini, ANSA reports.Decatur, IL (62521)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. Low 71F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near an inch..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. Low 71F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near an inch.A rough estimate of cost for the project was $2.8 million.

Shimerdla reminded the city the plans were still in very early stages, with the majority of design details still to be fleshed out. But, he said he wanted to offer at least an initial cost estimate.

Its a planning level number for now, so you guys arent surprised, he said.

Mayor Mike Werner said the plan was to have this early information in hand now, so there was time to plenty of time to think about whether the city wanted to proceed with the project.

While there was no rush to make a decision, he said it couldnt sit on the shelf too long either.

If the city wishes to proceed, discussion could come later this year.

We have to give this serious consideration at budget time, Werner said.

Shimerdla estimated that if there was a desire to proceed, the project could be completed by 2020. He said it could be done in phases, so that businesses could maintain access during construction.Maly agreed.

We are on target for those unique little touches, he added.

Long-time Starlite patrons, for example, will notice the booths have been removed. They have been replaced by more up-sale high top tables. The new lighting works on dimmers. And, tomato juice will be on the gun at the bar. Wifi will now be available, as will an automatic teller machine.

Starlite Event Center Treasurer Jim Woita said these updates, as well as the overall effort to keep Starlite open, is to meet community needs.

That is what we are wanting to do for the community. That is what is important to all of us, he said.

It has also been important to keep a tradition going with music bookings.

Polka dances will continue to be on the schedule, as will other dances that have drawn a local crowd.

But, new events are being added too. For example, plans for a rib festival are underway.

Starlite Event Center Member Jennifer Woita has been handling the scheduling and said the calendar is already filling up.

We have weddings and events scheduled through the end of the year and some for 2020 too, she said.To Hebrews only?

In his column Which Ten Commandments? of Feb. 1, Bruce Wells is wrong to claim the ordinances found in the Bible were not meant for everyone. According to the narrative, the commandments were given to the Hebrew people through Moses, but this does not preclude them being for all people. Exodus 19:5-6 does say God chose Israel of all the nations of the earth as a treasured possession and that they were to keep these commandments as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. God does make a covenant with Israel, thats true. But its worth noting that other portions of the Bible, particularly Isaiah 49, suggest God chose Israel as a light to the nations, and that through their witness and work all people could experience salvation. Christians believe God has fulfilled this promise through Jesus.Most of us love our community and want the best for it. Its our home. Its where we live, work, learn, play and raise our families. And yet its easy to go about our daily lives without ever stopping to think: What can I do to make my community better?

I get it. Were all busy. And its easy to assume that someone else will do what needs doing. But if theres one thing Ive learned from my work with communities across the United States, its this: We are all owners.

We dont need an official title. We dont have to be assigned a task. We dont have to be wealthy. We all have gifts to share and the ability to make a difference in the lives of others.

My dream is that, in honor of Valentines Day, every citizen would do just one small thing to make their community better. We all know that random acts of kindness have positive ripple effects that reach far and wide, often unexpectedly so. Could you imagine the amazing results if everyone took part in a mass outpouring of love and positivity?

Im not talking about big, complicated improvements. If youre a homeowner, you know something as simple as a fresh coat of paint can be a quick fix that makes a huge difference in how a room looks (and how you feel living in it). The same is true of a community.Bobbie Jean Edmonson Kelly, 83, of Waco, Texas, passed away Tuesday, February 6, 2019.Celebration of Life will be at 11 a.m., Saturday, February 16, at Toliver Chapel MBC, with The Rev. Dr. Jimmy D. Hunter officiating. Visitation will be one hour prior to service, beginning at 10 a.m. The Wake will be from 5 to 7 p.m., Friday, February 15, at Lake Shore Funeral Home.A local physician was arrested Thursday for allegedly beating a woman and causing her to chip a tooth during an assault earlier this month, Woodway police said.

Woodway officers arrested Daniel Augustus Smith III, 47, of Woodway, on a second-degree felony charge of aggravated assault. A woman reported to police Feb. 7 that Smith, a doctor affiliated with multiple local hospitals, had assaulted her at her home two days earlier, according to an arrest affidavit.

She told police Smith was unable to have sex because of his level of intoxication, according to the affidavit. She reported he became aggressive and stomped and kicked the woman, chipping a tooth, the affidavit states.

"He also left deep bruising on her neck and chest area from continuing kicking and stomping," the affidavit states.

The two have been in an ongoing relationship for several years, according to the affidavit. Woodway Public Safety Capt. Larry Adams said the two have had reported fights, and police have been called to their residences multiple times in 2015 and 2017.The Brazos River Authoritys state headquarters on Cobbs Drive again is battling moisture, and the latest corrective action has employees working from home and could soak the operation with a $3 million bill.

The $5.5 million, 40,000-square-foot building, with its distinctive stone exterior, opened with much fanfare in September 2002. Texas Gov. Rick Perry attended ceremonies for the authoritys new nerve center for controlling water use, dam construction and flows in the Brazos River Basin.

Having spent $7.2 million to remedy a black mold infestation in 2012, the Brazos River Authority now appears poised to almost double its initial investment.

Work crews have been active at the site for at least two months, replacing its heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system, spokeswoman Judi Pierce said. She said the project will wrap up in a week or two, allowing dozens of staffers who have been working remotely to return to their offices.

She estimated 82 staffers have been barred from their offices during the work, though not lab employees.

We were having constant condensation water leaks on the drop ceiling and outages in areas of the building as a result, Pierce wrote in an email response to questions.A federal grand jury handed down a six-count indictment Tuesday against a man arrested last week on charges that he shot a Hewitt police officer while trying to escape after robbing PointWest Bank at 420 N. Hewitt Drive.

The indictment charges Dallas Scott Bohanan, 25, with three counts of bank robbery and three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Police previously said Bohanan confessed after his arrest to robbing banks in Waco and Temple in 2016 and to last weeks bank robbery in Hewitt.

He used a .22-caliber rifle inside the Hewitt bank; an AK-47 rifle in the robbery of Temple Santa Fe Community Credit Union, 1750 W. Avenue A in Temple; and a 12-gauge shotgun in the robbery of Chase Bank, 320 N. New Road in Waco, according to the indictments.

He remained in federal custody Wednesday without bond. His court-appointed attorney, Russ Hunt Jr., of Georgetown, said he visited with Bohanan Wednesday about the indictment.Maciel, who has been in jail since 2014 on an aggravated assault charge and a parole violation, testified he and McDonald were housed in cells next to each other in the jails segregation unit. They talked to each other through the walls and doors, and Maciel earned McDonalds trust by giving him advice on his case and how to file a grievance against his attorney.

Maciel has served prison terms for aggravated assault and felony DWI. He said McDonald told him details about his case, many of which echoed the testimonies Tuesday of two women who were in the apartment at the time of the shootings and who identified McDonald as one of two men who killed the cousins.

In other prosecution testimony Wednesday, Michael McNeill said he engaged in a shootout with McDonald and Olivarez about four hours before the pair reportedly were involved in the double homicide at the Grim Avenue apartment.

McNeill testified he was at his former home at 2325 Morrow Ave. when McDonald and Olivarez came over. He said McDonald told him to give him a gun, and when McNeill refused, McDonald pulled a gun and ordered him to go get it. He said he tried to talk him down, before telling McDonald he would go into another room and get it.Developers showcased pedestrian safety, landscaping and the principles of urban design Wednesday night at a meeting addressing the public-use elements of the first phase of the Brazos Promenade riverfront project.

Catalyst Urban Development co-founder Paris Rutherford told some 75 people at the Texas Life Annex downtown about the potential for the Waco Downtown Farmers Market space in the development and six blocks of University Parks Drive from Franklin Avenue to Interstate 35.

Its diversifying the offerings of downtown, but its all consistently urban, which is good, Rutherford said.

Construction on the project is scheduled to start in September or October. Once all phases are complete, the development on land leased from the city is slated to also include a full-service hotel and restaurant, a destination restaurant and music venue, mixed-use residential space and more amenities.

The farmers market area could include a dog park, a kids play area, a food truck space and an event lawn for informal gatherings, Rutherford said. Work on the farmers market area is expected to last two years.

On non-market days, the space would be open for weddings, car shows and other events.Rene Almeling, associate professor of sociology at Yale University, will give a lecture titled GUYnecology at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in Room 152 of the Draper Academic Building at Baylor University, 1420 S. Seventh St. Almeling is the author of the award-winning book Sex Cells: The Medical Market for Eggs and Sperm.

The event, hosted Baylors sociology department, is free and open to the public.

Almeling specializes in research on gender and medicine. She is writing a new book, GUYnecology, on the history of medical knowledge-making about mens reproduction and its consequences for individual men.

MCC blood drive

McLennan Community College will host a blood drive from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday in the student commons area of the Michaelis Academic Center, 1400 College Drive.

For more information, call Claudette Jackson at 299-8465.

Archeology Society meets

Central Texas Archeology Society will have its regular monthly meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Mayborn Museum, 1300 S. University Parks Drive.In Reginald Roses famous television play 12 Angry Men, the source for an even better known 1957 movie starring Henry Fonda, jurors debating the merits of a murder trial end up far from where they started as their individual perspectives and biases come into play.

That jury, however, was all men and largely middle-aged. What would happen if that jury had women represented? Some ethnic diversity? Or a greater age range?

Thats the premise of Sherman Sergels adaptation of the play into 12 Angry Jurors, which Jubilee Theatre will stage in a three-performance run beginning Friday.

For director Trent Sutton, the drama fits within one of the Jubilee Theatres missions: to present plays that address social concerns in the community. In this case, its the question of how prejudices of ethnicity, class or gender can affect justice.

(12 Angry Jurors) still holds tremendous relevance in how it looks at the way the criminal justice system works, Sutton said.An Athens man has bonded out of jail after his arrest for indecent exposure.

Police say Robert Hill exposed himself to a woman at a traffic light last week.

That woman got a picture of his tags and police were able to arrest him, but that's not how these cases always end, and it can be traumatizing to a person when it happens.

WAAY 31 spoke with one woman who still feels violated after she witnessed something she never asked to see.

I was at work at Kmart. I was on my break and I had gone to my car to get something, and I was walking between cars to go back into the store to go back to work, and I happened to glance over and I see this guy with his penis out, just going to town," Quannah Southard said.

Southard says she still tries to avoid looking in peoples cars after she was scarred by a stranger about two years ago.

Im not a prudish person, but theres a time and place for that, and in broad daylight, in a parking lot, across the street from a school, is not the place for it," she said.

Southard says she went to police the very next day with a picture of the car the man was driving and its tag number, but, unfortunately, the man was never arrested.

Just disgusting," she said about the incident. "It was definitely disturbing and it definitely bothered me for quite a while.

When Southard learned of Robert Hill's arrest this week, she was glad to learn another woman's story had a better outcome than her own.

I was happy to see that they went after the guy and actually caught someone for something like this," she said. "I hope police will take it a lot more seriously, since they know it happens a lot.

Police tell WAAY 31 that if you find yourself in a situation like this, don't approach the person. Instead, try to get a good description of what they're wearing and the car they're driving, and get their tag number, too, if possible.UPDATE: (4:40 p.m.) The suspect is 38-year-old Marius Moore. He was booked in the county jail on Alabama State Trooper charges for attempting to elude and reckless endangerment. He will be served with a Madison County Sheriff's Office warrant for possession of marijuana second-degree.

Huntsville police had six active warrants on Moore, prior to the crash. They say hes been arrested by the department 21 times. Around half of these arrests are traffic-related.

In one instance in 2004, he fled a domestic violence scene Huntsville police responded to and almost hit an officer. He had a separate gun and drug charge in 2018.

The Madison County Sheriff's Office had an active felony warrant on Moore, prior to the crash.

Sarah Bensinger lives just down the road from where the chase ended. Law enforcement not calling off the chase concerned her, because of her family's experience of being victims of high speed chases,"My mom was involved in one. She was just driving. She was sideswiped, she was injured," said Bensinger.

The Alabama State Troopers were the lead agency in the chase. They are not releasing their high speed chase policy because this chase is under investigation. The Madison County Sheriff's Office was also involved. They told WAAY 31 they call off a chase if it is deemed to dangerous to the public.

"I think 30 minutes is a long time. I think you should gauge it at 'are we going to endanger other people in this process,'" said Bensinger.

Adrian Taylor of Huntsville doesn't have a problem with how long the chase took. He would have liked to see different tactics used, "If they had air support. That's the main thing the runner's lookin' for is police behind them and if they don't see police behind them then maybe they'll stop somewhere," said Taylor.

Bensinger would like to see the high speed chase policy change for both agencies involved, "I definitely think they should definitely use this as what to do and what not to do next time. Hopefully there's not a next time," said Bensinger.

----

The Madison County Sheriffs Office says four cars collided at Pulaski Pike and Mastin Lake when three of them got caught up in a high speed chase.

The sheriffs office said Alabama State Troopers were trying to stop a Lexus SUV for a traffic violation. At one point during the chase, a female got out of the vehicle. The sheriffs office continued the chase, leading to the collision. The female was not injured and is not facing charges.

Troopers say the chase started on Wall Triana Highway at about 1:30 p.m. It ended about 10 miles later at Pulaski Pike and Mastin Lake.

At least two people have been transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Law enforcement officials say they wont release the name of the suspect driving the car until after he is booked in the Madison County Jail.

The sheriffs office says the suspect had a total of six warrants out for his arrest: one felony warrant from them and five from the Huntsville Police Department.

He was out on probation but had it revoked, according to the sheriffs office.

----

From earlier:

The intersection of Pulaski Pike and Mastin Lake is shut down after multiple cars were hit during a police chase.

Huntsville police and fire, the Madison County Sheriffs Office and Alabama State Troopers are all on scene.

Avoid the area if possible. Be careful if you cannot.

Check WAAY 31 on air and WAAYTV.com online for updates.

* The surveillance footage is from the Sunoco Gas Station at 3421 Pulaski Pike NW in Huntsville.On February 12 around 5 p.m., Moulton police attempted to stop a vehicle with a tag that had been reported stolen. When the driver refused to stop, police began a vehicle pursuit.

The Lawrence County Sheriffs Office was called to assist, and the chase ended at the intersection of Alabama 157 and County Road 506.

Hank Letson, 24, from Moulton was charged with two counts of first-degree assault, six counts of reckless endangerment, two counts of first-degree criminal mischief, attempting to elude, switch tag, speeding and failure to stop.

The Moulton Police Department requested that the Lawrence County Sheriffs Office conduct the investigation.WASHINGTON (AP) -

4:45 p.m.

U.S. active-duty troops from dozens of units around the country are flowing to the southern border, as part of the latest plan to send 3,750 new forces to beef up surveillance and install more wire barriers.

As of this week, the military had installed about 105 miles of wire barriers along the border, and plans to put in another 140 miles of concertina wire. The bulk of that will be in California and Arizona, in locations between ports of entry that are identified by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as vulnerable.

Many of the troops who have been serving on the border mission are going home. As of Monday, there were a bit more than 2,000 active-duty forces there. That number is expected to go up to more than 4,300.

___

4 p.m.

President Donald Trump says the wall he envisions in some places along the southern border would be harder to scale than Mount Everest.

Even by Trump standards of exaggeration, that's a huge leap.

The estimated height for some proposed barriers runs as high as 30 feet. Mount Everest stands nearly 30,000 feet high.

Trump made the claim during a speech Wednesday to a conference of the Major County Sheriffs and Major Cities Chiefs Association.

He says the wall is "very, very on its way" and says people will have to be in extremely good physical shape to scale it. He says migrants trying to cross illegally "would be able to climb Mount Everest a lot easier."

___

1:05 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he and his aides will be "looking for land mines" when they review the final text of a border security agreement. The deal would keep the government open, but provide just a fraction of the money Trump has been demanding for his border wall.

Asked by reporters whether he planned to back the deal, Trump said Wednesday he would be taking "a very serious look," but declined to tip his hand.

He says, "we're going to look at the legislation when it comes and I'll make a determination."

Still, Trump reiterated his desire to avoid another government shutdown, following the 35-day partial closure that left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks, saying another closure "would be a terrible thing."

Trump is also insisting that, no matter what, "We're going to have a great wall."

___

12:10 a.m.

President Donald Trump says he's not expecting the government to shut down again, a signal that he's leaning toward accepting a budget deal that denies him most of the money he's sought for a southern border wall.

Trump says he isn't happy with the compromise and has yet to say he will sign the tentative deal if it passes Congress as expected. A budget bill must be signed into law by midnight Friday to avoid a second shutdown this year.

Lawmakers from both parties have reached a deal that would provide nearly $1.4 billion for border barriers. That's about one-fourth of the money Trump demanded for a wall separating the U.S. and Mexico.

Trump says he's looking to supplement border wall funding with money from other parts of the government.The Marshall County Commission is the latest in North Alabama to show support for a hike in the state gas tax. If it passes, residents could see a 6 to 10 cent increase.

The issue will dominate the legislative session that starts in less than a month.

One Marshall County resident, Katie Gummerman, said it's a bumpy drive around the county, but she's not so sure a gas tax is the answer.

"I have to remember to count the potholes, so I don't hit the ones before you get into McDonald's," said Gummerman. "I don't know about a gas tax. Maybe tax something else."

The state gas tax is currently 18 cents per gallon, a number that has not changed since 1992.

"If we don't get some type of gasoline tax or revenue coming into the county, we can't really keep up with the roads and bridges like we need to do," said James Hutcheson, the Marshall County Commission chairman. "We've got school buses, firetrucks and all of that. We've got a lot of issues we have to take care of."

Marshall County commissioners aren't the first to show their support. Morgan County adopted a similar resolution this week. Limestone County commissioners say future projects can't be completed without the increase, and the Association of County Commissions of Alabama says it's been too long since the state raised the gas tax.This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.Marshall County Sheriff's Office deputies recently seized $100,000 worth of narcotics in a traffic stop in the Grant area of Marshall County.

A powdery substance was found on the shirt the suspect in the vehicle, Destiny McClendon, was wearing. A narcotics agent was called to the scene, and the substance was identified as Heroin.

McClendon was arrested and charged with trafficking meth, after approximately  lb of methamphetamine was found in her possession, officials say.

Agents from the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation and Marshall County Drug Task Force assisted in the case. McClendon was booked in the Marshall County Jail on Wednesday with a $1,000,000 bond.

Officials say more charges are expected.A British teenager who joined ISIS in 2015 says she wants to return home.

Shamima Begum, who left the UK with two of her classmates from east London when she was 15, was found in a refugee camp in northern Syria by UK newspaper The Times.

Now 19, and nine months pregnant, Begum told the paper that she "just want(s) to come home to have my child."

Begum said she had no regrets about coming to Syria, but told the paper that "the caliphate is over."

"They're just getting smaller and smaller and there's so much oppression and corruption going on that I don't really think they deserve victory," she said.

Begum said she had two other children who died in infancy from malnutrition and illness.

Two weeks ago, Begum said, she decided to flee from ISIS' last stand in the front-line village of Baghouz in eastern Syria, citing fears for her unborn child.

"In the end, I just could not endure any more," she told the Times. "I just couldn't take it. Now all I want to do is come home to Britain."

Begum said her 27-year-old husband, a Dutchman who had fought for ISIS, surrendered to Syrian fighters allied to the US- supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) weeks ago and that she hadn't seen him since.

Begum told the paper that she was aware of "what everyone at home thinks of me as I have read all that was written about me online."

"But I just want to come home to have my child. I'll do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child," she said.

From east London to eastern Syria

In February 2015, Begum left London's Gatwick Airport with her classmates Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase. The young women, all from the Bethnal Green Academy in east London, were to join another classmate who had traveled to Syria months earlier.

When the trio first crossed into Syria, Begum said, they were held in a couple of houses because they were suspected of being spies.

Shortly after, they arrived in Raqqa, where, Begum said, she was placed in a "house for women." Here, she said, she applied to "marry an English-speaking fighter between 20 and 25 years old."

Ten days later, she married Dutch national Yago Riedijk, she said.

The other three young women also married a foreign-born ISIS fighter, according to the Times.

Begum described her first years in the then self-described capital of the caliphate, like a "normal life, like the life that they show in the propaganda videos.

"But when I saw my first severed head in a bin it didn't faze me at all. It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam," she told the Times.

In May 2016, Sultana was reported to have been killed in an airstrike in Raqqa.

In January 2017, Begum and her husband left the city, moving southeast along the Euphrates valley as SDF forces advanced, the Times reported. The couple eventually landed in Baghouz.

Begum told the Times that she left Baghouz two weeks ago as the SDF's final offensive to oust ISIS loomed. She said she walked along a three-mile-long corridor east of the town, adding that she was "weak" to have left the group as they faced death and "saluted" the women who stayed.

Now in a Syrian refugee camp of 39,000 people in al-Hawl, Begum told the Times that she had recently heard from other women that the other two young Londoners were still alive in Baghouz.

"But with all the bombing, I am not sure whether they have survived," she said.

A homecoming uncertain

It is not clear how Begum's wish to return to Britain will be received by the UK Home Office, which has strict laws for citizens wishing to return after traveling to ISIS territory.

Without directly commenting on Begum's case, UK security minister Ben Wallace said on BBC's Radio 4's Today program Thursday that "actions have consequences."

Wallace said UK nationals choosing to come back to the UK after traveling to ISIS territory should expect to be "prepared to be questioned, investigated and potentially prosecuted for committed terrorist offenses."

"We recognize that there are children involved in this who had no choice about being out there, but ultimately what we have to do is protect the public.

"People who went out there often as amateurs are now professional terrorists or professional supporters of terrorism, and we have to make sure we mitigate that threat should they come back." he said.

Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer for the families of the teenagers, told the UK's Press Association news agency that British authorities should remember the position that the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner took when the girls first went missing.

"The position of the Metropolitan Police was that they should be treated as victims, so long as they hadn't committed any further offenses while they are out there," Akunjee said.

Mubaraz Ahmed, an analyst at the Tony Blair Institute, says that Begum's "self-confession paints the picture of a young woman that has been desensitized to barbaric violence, considered life under a tyrannical theocracy to be normal, and appears to continue to hold on to some notion of a 'deserved victory' against the enemies of Islam."

"For Begum, it was not wrong to join the caliphate, but rather that the caliphate she willfully joined started to get things wrong," he said.

Ahmed argues that it is important for the British authorities to "resist impulsive decision making," saying that the UK should not only take responsibility in investigating and prosecuting its nationals under the law, but that it needs to provide proper support structures to facilitate rehabilitation.

"With any foreign fighter, as a starting point, an admission of guilt for supporting or belonging to a proscribed terrorist organization should allow authorities to immediately begin the process of ensuring that ISIS returnees receive the justice they deserve," he said.

"Justice need not be exclusively about punitive action," Ahmed said.

A new Pentagon report says the US government is encouraging other countries to accelerate efforts to repatriate foreign ISIS fighters to their home countries for prosecution. Progress has been difficult, though, due to political concerns and the challenges of gathering legal evidence to support prosecutions once they have returned.

But many European countries have been reluctant to accept ISIS members. In fact, only a handful of countries, such as Russia, Indonesia, Lebanon and Sudan, have allowed ISIS followers to return. Previously, captured ISIS members have been processed under Iraqi law, but the EU does not trust Syria's judicial system to do the same.Photo: Warner Bros. Picture

I think I literally said these exact same words the last time someone released a romantic-comedy spoof, but here goes again: The world certainly doesnt need another romantic-comedy spoof. Its the easiest of targets, so much so that some of the genres classics already have a gently parodic quality. (Think: My Best Friends Wedding, or Theres Something About Mary, or The 40-Year-Old Virgin.) And weve already had several clever spoof attempts  albeit relatively under-seen ones  such as the surreal They Came Together, and the acerbic The Baxter. Besides, why kick the rom-com when its down? It has been in steady decline ever since its 1990s heyday, and now seems on the verge of extinction; to point out its cliches and reveal its hypocrisies today feels like an exercise in obviousness.

But all that also gets at the charm of Isnt It Romantic, which nestles a playfully meta rom-com satire inside what appears to be another rom-com, and in its deconstruction of the genre hides the suggestion that, maybe, such movies still have their place. Its the Inception of rom-coms. Sort of.

Rebel Wilsons protagonist Natalie in this sense could be a stand-in for the film itself, a born romantic who uses cynicism as a form of avoidance. We see her in the opening scene as an awkward, plus-sized teen (played by Alexandra Kis) back in Australia, enthralled by Pretty Woman on TV, while her beer-swilling mom snipes at her to forget any delusional fantasies about finding true love. If someone like her showed up in a movie like that, mom tells the wide-eyed Natalie, theyd have to sprinkle Prozac on the popcorn. People would kill themselves.

Fast-forward to the present, and Natalie has become a mid-level architect at a big firm who gets easily pushed around, has little to no ambition, and (surprise!) even less self-esteem. In other words: She is a classic romantic-comedy heroine  even before she finds herself literally trapped in one.

That surreal, high-concept development occurs after Natalie is mugged on the subway, and, in true klutzy rom-com protagonist fashion, accidentally slams her head into a column in the station. Suddenly, she finds herself enthralling all sorts of hunky men  including Blake (Liam Hemsworth), her firms strapping, billionaire client, who had previously thought that she was just a coffee girl. (In a subtle sign that the movie secretly is the thing it appears to be pretending to be, this supposedly fantasy version of Blake has an Australian accent, which is of course Hemsworths own accent.)

Despite all the telltale signs, it does take a while for Natalie to realize whats happening to her: She has to first notice that New York doesnt smell like shit anymore; that her crowded, scuzzy neighborhood is now festooned with bridal shops, bakeries, and independent bookstores; that her surly neighbor has become her flamboyantly gay best friend; and that her kindly cubicle-mate Whitney (Betty Gilpin) is now her bitchy, be-stilettoed office rival. Only then does a furious Natalie finally scream out, Im trapped inside a f**king romantic comedy! Also, she cant say fuck anymore, so when she utters that word, a truck suddenly starts to back up near her. F**king PG-13! she then yells. (Isnt It Romantic, in case you were wondering, is PG-13.)

Wilson can be an acerbic presence on screen  a little too quick and prolific with put-downs and one-liners that never quite sound as sharp as they should be  but here, the actress nicely balances Natalies submerged sweetness with her ongoing bewilderment and outrage at her predicament. She hates this too-sweet, pastel-colored world shes stuck in  she cant curse, she cant have sex, and, curiously, she seems lonelier than ever  but she soon realizes that the only way out is to embrace her role in it. A male friend from work who might have secretly been in love with her all along is getting married, and she has to stop the wedding. It helps, of course, that our heroine actually has an encyclopedic knowledge of the genre  and that she has longings of her own toward this friend.

Isnt It Romantic has plenty of fun toying with various familiar elements and sensibilities, but its deconstructions also feel like resurrections. Theres something comforting about such banalities, especially in an age when rom-coms arent crowding our screens anymore, and the love the movie has for its target can be seen in the confidence with which director Todd Strauss-Schulson deploys the cliches: the impromptu sing-alongs (that turn into full-on musical numbers) and the limo rides and the trips to the Hamptons. Like a gorgeous suitor about whom we may still have lingering doubts, the film wants to win us over. And while Isnt It Romantic is unlikely to bring such movies back from the dead, in its have-it-both-ways attempt to simultaneously undermine and indulge the romantic comedy ethos, it reminds us of why they existed in the first place.Funeral Announcements A daily list of current funeral annoucements as heard on KXRA 1490 AM/100.3 FM

News Updates The daily news, sports, and events delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria.



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Upcoming Events This email is the events of the area delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria.

Breaking News The big news. Sent only as it happens.Carol Guensburg

Anita Powell

Nigerians go to the polls Saturday to choose a president and legislature for Africas most populous country, returning two weeks later to pick state governors and local representatives.

Voters in the West African nation must decide whether to grant a second term to President Muhammadu Buhari.

The 76-year-old former military leader won office in 2015 on promises to improve Nigeria's oil-dependent economy, fight rampant corruption and quell insecurity  especially in the northeast plagued by Islamist extremists.

Buhari's main challenger  in a field of at least 60 contenders  is Atiku Abubakar, a 72-year-old businessman and former vice president campaigning on a similar platform.

But another issue looms over the vote: election-related violence. Last Sunday alone, five people were fatally shot near the southeastern city of Warri in what local police attributed to political divides, the AFP news agency reported. The shootings had followed clashes between young supporters of Buhari's ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition People's Democratic Party fronted by Abubakar.

"Violence is the major problem of every election," said Patricia Onoja, a 60-year-old retired nurse in Abuja, the capital. She told VOA she counsels young people to resist any thuggery  a mission undertaken by other Nigerian parent groups, too.

Human Rights Watch says that more than 800 people died in 2011 election-related violence. But voting in 2015 brought the comparatively peaceful handover of power from Goodluck Jonathan to Buhari.

WATCH related video:

Now, the country will be tested on whether it "can successfully conduct two consecutive, credible elections," says Oge Onubogu, a Nigerian-born Africa program officer with the United States Institute of Peace who closely follows the elections.

Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it's prepared for Saturday's vote, despite troubles such as a suspected arson fire at its annex in the Middle Belt city of Jos.

Clement Nwankwo, a lawyer and convener of the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, said that umbrella group has built "a good relationship" with the INEC. Nwankwo said the Situation Room has trained monitors and will relay any concerns  from missing elections materials to allegations of abuse  so INEC can address problems quickly. "We're able to intervene," he said.

Here's a closer look at the campaign issues:

Security

Buhari, in a late-December interview with VOA at the presidential villa in Abuja, said Nigerian security troops had reduced the amount of territory controlled by the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram in the country's northeast.

"Now you can check in the northeast that Boko Haram is not holding any local government, per se," he said.

But a decade after their emergence, the Boko Haram militants have kidnapped hundreds of people  most notably girls from a school in Chibok, many of whom still are missing. They've also killed tens of thousands and displaced millions. And now an offshoot group, the Islamic State West Africa Province, has added to the destabilization.

Another threat comes from increased conflicts between herdsmen and farmers over land use in the so-called Middle Belt. The International Crisis Group reports more than 1,300 related deaths since January 2018.

Abubakar blames the Buhari administration for what he calls Nigeria's "worst insecurity.  It was confined to the northeast" when Buhari took office but now has spread.

John Campbell, a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria and a senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, edits the CRF Nigeria Security Tracker. It maps reported violence around the country.

He said he sees "no new ideas from either candidate about how to deal with Boko Haram, no real discussion about the much more broad-based security issues which now cover the entire country."

Economy

Though oil-rich Nigeria has one of Africas leading economies, its still recovering from the 2014 plunge in crude prices. Poverty is rife in the country of nearly 200 million, with an estimated 87 million (44 percent) who are desperately poor, according to the World Poverty Clock.

In interviewing Nigerians late last spring, the Gallup World Poll found the highest level of food insecurity in 13 years. Three out of five respondents  71 percent  said they lacked enough money for food at times during the previous 12 months.

In terms of having money for food and shelter, things are as bad as theyve ever been for Nigerians, said Jay Loschky, the polls regional director for English-speaking Africa.

Buhari has said that, if granted a second term, he would focus on boosting job creation and completing infrastructure projects.

Abubakar  who worked in customs and the oil sector,and founded the private American University of Nigeria  says he has the business acumen to help guide the economy and encourage job creation.

In an interview with VOA last month in Washington, Abubakar derided the Buhari administration for Nigeria's jobless rate, which officially rose to 23 percent in 2018's third quarter, up from 19 percent the previous year. That translates to more than 20 million unemployed. "Twenty million is no joke," he said. "It is a time bomb.

Job creation is critical, especially given Nigeria's huge and underemployed youth population.

Obadiah Tohomdet, a 63-year-old communications consultant in Abuja, said his son graduated from university five years ago and still has not found work except for odd jobs.

"The private sector is not expanding.  I think that's the greatest problem we have in Nigeria," Tohomdet told VOA. "And the youth, of course, are frustrated." And vulnerable, he added. "They can be subject to manipulation and they could be used for antisocial activity.  It's not that they are not ready to work. The atmosphere is very tough."

Corruption

Buharis supporters call him the incorruptible man. But critics accuse Nigerian military officials of corruption and say Buhari's administration has looked the other way.

Last month, the president also drew condemnation  domestically and from abroad  when he suspended Nigeria's chief justice from the position where he would have a key say in resolving any election disputes.

The trial for Walter Onnoghen  who allegedly made false claims about his assets  is pending.

Abubakar has encountered clouds of suspicion over time. As the BBC pointed out in a candidate profile last week, he was accused in 2006 of diverting public money toward "his business interests" while serving as vice president. A 2010 report from the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations also alleged that Abubakar was involved in bringing "suspect funds into the United States" through the bank account of his American wife.

He was linked to another case: the bribery conviction of a U.S. congressman, William Jefferson, a Democrat from Louisiana. Identified by the U.S. government as a corrupt foreign official, Abubakar was barred entry to the country.

But he never faced any charges.

"Nobody has brought any evidence of corruption against me, Abubakar said during his interview at VOAs Washington headquarters.

His two-day January visit to the United States  his first in more than 12 years  dispelled the Nigerian rumor that he would be arrested upon arrival. Instead, the candidate met with some members of Congress, the State Department and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Abubakar was able to obtain a U.S. visa through the intervention of American lobbyists, Bloomberg news reported last week.

He also has said he would consider an amnesty program to encourage looters of public funds to voluntarily return the money.

Improved confidence in voting

Nigerians view the approaching elections with modest but improved confidence in the process, according to a Gallup poll released last week. Based on polling conducted in mid-2018, it found that roughly a third of respondents  34 percent, up from 13 percent in 2014  have faith in "the honesty of elections."

By comparison, 49 percent of respondents in sub-Saharan African countries polled last year expressed confidence in their respective elections, said Gallup's Loschky. He also said 37 percent of Americans voiced confidence in U.S. elections.

VOA contributors to this report include Grace Alheri Abdu of the Hausa Service, from Abuja; Peter Clottey of the English to Africa Service, from Lagos; Anita Powell, from Johannesburg; and Carol Guensburg, from Washington.U.S. President Donald Trump insists the wall on the border with Mexico will be built even if Congress does not approve the funds he wants for it. U.S. congressional leaders said Tuesday they have agreed on the foundation for a federal budget deal and are urging the president to sign it.WHITE HOUSE - A top White House economic adviser is expressing confidence in the current U.S.-China trade negotiations in Beijing.

"The vibe in Beijing is good," National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told reporters Thursday at the White House.

Kudlow provided few details but said the U.S. delegation led by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is "covering all ground" ahead of their expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping tomorrow.

"That's a very good sign and they're just soldiering on, so I like that story," Kudlow said, "And I will stay with the phrase, the vibe is good."

Negotiators are working to strike a deal by March 1, to avoid a rise in U.S. tariffs on $200 million worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent. President Donald Trump suggested earlier this week that if talks are seeing signs of progress, that deadline could be pushed back.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, left, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, left, and Chinese Vice Premier and lead trade negotiator Liu He shake hands before the opening session of trade negotiations at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Feb. 14, 2019. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, left, and Chinese Vice Premier and lead trade negotiator Liu He shake hands before the opening session of trade negotiations at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Feb. 14, 2019.

When asked Thursday if there would be an extension, Kudlow said, "No such decision has been made so far."

Analyst William Reinsch, a former president of the National Foreign Trade Council and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says the talks are complicated by the three main areas under negotiation.

"Market access, which I think is well on the way to completion. Some Chinese offers on intellectual property, which I think they are not going to offer what we want.  And some compliance in enforcement matters," he said.

Reinsch told VOA's Mandarin service that U.S. negotiators are specifically seeking ways to hold China accountable for the commitments it makes in any deal.

Munich Security Conference

While American and Chinese negotiators continue talks in Beijing, both countries are setting up for another potential faceoff in Europe.

The U.S. and China are sending large delegations to Friday's Munich Security Conference in Germany, a high-level conference on international security policy. Vice President Mike Pence leads the U.S. delegation while Politburo member Yang Jiechi will be the most senior Chinese official.

eii iii e eeiei 9i ii FILE - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, right, joined by Chinese Politburo Member Yang Jiechi, speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, Nov. 9, 2018. FILE - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, right, joined by Chinese Politburo Member Yang Jiechi, speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, Nov. 9, 2018.

Yang Jiechi is heading the largest-ever Chinese delegation to the conference traditionally attended by the U.S. and its European allies. He is pushing back against Washingtons campaign pressing Europe to exclude Chinese tech giant Huawei from taking part in constructing 5G mobile networks in the region.

U.S. officials say allowing the Chinese company to build the next generation of wireless communications in Europe will enhance the Chinese governments surveillance powers, threatening European security.

Although the technology behind 5G is complex, Brad Setser, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Treasury Department, said the decisions for European countries is simple.

Given the nature of modern telecommunication, countries do have to make a choice about whether or not they believe that Huawei, given its relationship, not an ownership relationship, with Chinese government, can be trusted to provide the backbone of their future telecommunication system.

FILE - A woman browses her smartphone as she walks FILE - A woman browses her smartphone as she walks by a Huawei store at a shopping mall in Beijing, Dec. 11, 2018. FILE - A woman browses her smartphone as she walks by a Huawei store at a shopping mall in Beijing, Dec. 11, 2018.

Both Pence and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned allies in Poland and other Central European countries this week on the dangers of closer ties with Beijing and collaboration with Chinese firms. In Budapest, Hungary, on Monday, Pompeo said American companies might scale back European operations if countries continue to do business with Huawei.

Huawei has repeatedly denied its products could be used for espionage.

U.S. prosecutors have filed charges against Huawei, including bank fraud, violating sanctions against Iran, and stealing trade secrets. The company refuted these accusations and rejected charges against its chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who is currently on bail in Canada following her arrest in December.

This year's Munich Security Conference topics include the "great power competition" between the United States, China and Russia. Conference organizers have listed U.S.-China tensions as one of their top 10 security issues of 2019.CAPITOL HILL - The U.S. Senate voted 54-45 Thursday to confirm President Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, William Barr, who will now oversee special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russian election meddling and contacts between Moscow and members of Trump's inner circle.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, speaks during a news Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Dec. 19, 2018, on prison reform legislation. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Dec. 19, 2018, on prison reform legislation.

"He is an excellent nominee, extremely competent and experienced," Senate Judiciary Committee member Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said. "The Justice Department needs good, effective leadership."

Barr begins his second stint as America's top law enforcement official. He served as attorney general during the George H.W. Bush administration, having been unanimously confirmed by the Senate in 1991.

This time around, most Democrats opposed his nomination. While praising Barr's resume, they decried his expansive views on executive authority, alleging he would provide an inadequate check on the Trump White House and could undermine the special counsel's investigation.

Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Sen. Dia Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., speaks to the media about the FBI report on sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, on Capitol Hill, Oct. 4, 2018 in Washington. Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., speaks to the media about the FBI report on sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, on Capitol Hill, Oct. 4, 2018 in Washington.

"There's no question that Mr. Barr is qualified," the Judiciary Committee's top Democrat, Dianne Feinstein of California, said. "The question is whether Mr. Barr is the right choice at this time with this president, when there are currently several active investigations that implicate this president, his campaign, his advisers and his inner circle."

Democrats pointed to an extensive memo Barr wrote to the Justice Department last year arguing Trump should be insulated from possible obstruction-of-justice charges stemming from the Mueller probe.

"His memo embraces an exceptionally broad theory of executive power that could threaten not only the special counsel's investigation but a lot of our current understanding of the scope and reach of executive power," Delaware Democrat Chris Coons said.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham gestures as he spea Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham gestures as he speaks to reporters in Ankara, Turkey, Jan. 19, 2019. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham gestures as he speaks to reporters in Ankara, Turkey, Jan. 19, 2019.

Republicans said such concerns were unwarranted.

"I can promise you that Mr. Barr will make sure that Mr. Mueller can finish his job without political interference," Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said. "I know he will be fair to the president, but he'll pick the rule of law over anything or anybody."

Barr sought to reassure senators at his confirmation hearing last month.

"I believe it is vitally important that the special counsel be allowed to complete his investigation," Barr told the Judiciary Committee. "If confirmed, I will not permit partisan politics, personal interests or any other improper consideration to interfere with this or any other investigation."

Three Democrats voted to confirm Barr, while one Republican opposed his confirmation.

FILE - U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) talks to re FILE - U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., Jan. 19, 2018. FILE - U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., Jan. 19, 2018.

"He is well-qualified and I am confident that he will faithfully execute the duties of the chief law enforcement officer of the United States of America," West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin wrote on Twitter.

"I have too many concerns about the record and views of this nominee," Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky said in a statement. "Bill Barr was a leading proponent of warrantless surveillance, and his overall record on the Fourth Amendment [constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures] is troubling to me."

Barr's confirmation was never in serious doubt in the Republican-led chamber, a fact some Democrats tacitly acknowledged before the vote.

"I hope he [Barr] will prove me wrong," Coons said. "I hope he will demonstrate to the American people of all parties and backgrounds that he will put the interests of our democracy above partisan priorities. And I hope he will prove to be a terrific and solid and reliable steward for the ongoing investigation special counsel Mueller is leading."U.S. lawmakers are expected to vote Thursday on a funding deal to avert another government shutdown, while providing money for barrier construction and other security measures at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Members of Congress and their staff worked late Wednesday to finalize the legislation that came from a bipartisan committee tasked with finding a border security agreement.

That committee was the compromise solution to end a record 35-day partial shutdown last month as Republicans and Democrats stood divided on President Donald Trumps demand for $5.7 billion for work on a southern border wall.

The new funding bill does not fulfill Trumps request, instead providing $1.37 billion for barriers along about 90 kilometers of the border. It also includes technology upgrades for screening at border entry points, more customs officers and humanitarian aid.

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y., Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y., center, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., center left, leave a new conference following a Senate policy luncheon after House and Senate negotiators worked out a border security compromise hoping to avoid another partial government shutdown. Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y., center, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., center left, leave a new conference following a Senate policy luncheon after House and Senate negotiators worked out a border security compromise hoping to avoid another partial government shutdown.

?Product of compromise

As with all bipartisan agreements, its a product of compromise, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said. Each side gave a little, each side got a little.

Congress must pass and Trump must sign the bill before midnight Friday or funding runs out for about one-quarter of the U.S. government. Ahead of the last shutdown, Trump was expected to sign a short-term funding measure to keep the government open while border security negotiations continued, but he changed his mind.

The president must not repeat his mistakes of the recent past. President Trump, sign this bill, Schumer said.

Trump said Wednesday he had not yet made his decision.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office o President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Feb. 13, 2019. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Feb. 13, 2019.

?Looking for land mines

Well be looking for land mines [in the bill], but we have not gotten it yet, Trump said in response to reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with Colombian President Ivan Duque.

The president, however, indicated he was pleased with preliminary figures in the deal, saying, total funding is almost up to $23 billion, its about 8 percent higher.

He said he does not want to see another shutdown and reiterated that his administration is looking at other ways to find funding to complete a border wall.

Trump told a conference of law enforcement officials that the wall is very, very on its way.

As we review the new proposal from Congress, I can promise you this, I will never waiver from my sacred duty to defend this nation and its people, he said.

The Capitol is seen with the Reflecting Pool cover The Capitol is seen with the Reflecting Pool covered in ice and snow, in Washington, Feb. 1, 2019. U.S. lawmakers are expected to vote on a deal to provide money for border security and avert a government shutdown. The Capitol is seen with the Reflecting Pool covered in ice and snow, in Washington, Feb. 1, 2019. U.S. lawmakers are expected to vote on a deal to provide money for border security and avert a government shutdown.

?Take the deal or national emergency

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he expects the president to work with the legislation.

If you can use the money the way he envisions for barriers and there is no limit on bed space in reality, hed be inclined to take the deal and move on, Graham, who said he spoke to Trump on Tuesday night, told reporters.

Graham said if the deal moves forward, Trump was very inclined to declare a national emergency to get the border wall funds.

Using other government money for wall construction without express authorization from Congress would invite a legal challenge from opposition Democrats and other groups.

Under Trump, Congress has not authorized any funding for a wall, one of Trumps prime pledges during his successful 2016 campaign for the White House. But wall repairs and replacements for deteriorating sections along the 3,200-kilometer border have been ongoing.Ugandas junior minister for tourism this month sparked controversy by suggesting that curvy women could be promoted as a tourist attraction. Uganda earns billions of dollars off of wildlife tourism but, the idea of adding women to that list has generated heated debate about objectifying women.

Ann Mungoma was a judge at two pageants that showed that being slim should not be equated with beauty  Ms. Curvy Africa 2016 and Ms. Curvy Nigeria 2017.

So, here we are giving a chance to the ladies and telling them, please, youre most welcome," she said. "God created you that way, bless him for the way you are shaped, your size, come, we are giving you a platform to show the world that this is how we are. This is how Ugandan ladies are designed.

But Mungomas plan to bring the well-rounded contest to Uganda this year has  well  hit a curve.

Godfrey Kiwanda, Ugandas junior minister for tourism, sparked debate at the pageants launch. He said curvy women should be counted among the countrys tourist attractions  such as wildlife.

Uganda's Minister for Tourism Godfrey Kiwanda (2-L Uganda's Minister for Tourism Godfrey Kiwanda (2-L) poses next to participants during the launch of the Miss Curvy beauty contest in capital Kampala, Feb. 5, 2019. Uganda's Minister for Tourism Godfrey Kiwanda (2-L) poses next to participants during the launch of the Miss Curvy beauty contest in capital Kampala, Feb. 5, 2019.

Kiwanda said Ugandas tourism industry is facing stiff competition and should diversify.

Tourism is not just about animals, its about our food, the way we walk, the way we were created, our curves, he said.

Uganda Lures World Investors to Boost Conservation Tourism Home to half the worlds Mountain gorilla and 50 percent of world bird species, conservation tourism marketing remains a challenge for Uganda. In a first ever conservation Finance Giants Forum, Uganda also known as the Pearl of Africa, Friday, got an opportunity to market its beauty in a bid to lure more investors and tourists into the country. Uganda held the first ever Conservation and Tourism Investment Forum Friday, gathering senior business figures from around the world. Home to half the worlds Mountain gorilla and 50 percent of world bird species, conservation tourism marketing remains a challenge for Uganda. In a first ever conservation Finance Giants Forum, Uganda also known as the Pearl of Africa, Friday, got an opportunity to market its beauty in a bid to lure more investors and tourists into the country. Uganda held the first ever Conservation and Tourism Investment Forum Friday, gathering senior business figures from around the world.

Ugandas womens rights activists called Kiwandas objectifying womens bodies a gross insult.

Some called for the Ms. Curvy Uganda beauty pageant to be canceled.

Rita Aciro, the executive director of the Uganda Womens Network, has been fighting for women and girls rights for the last 18 years.

She demanded the junior tourism minister apologize.

He should stop using womens bodies as sex objects. We are not. Not Ugandan women, not any African woman, not any woman in the world," she said. "Our bodies are not sex objects. We have equal brains, we have equal abilities, we just need equal opportunities.

In the media and on the streets of Kampala, Ugandans had mixed views on the controversy and if the curvy contest should continue.

WATCHL Uganda's Controversial Curvy Women Tourism

Some insulted women who would take part in the beauty pageant while others defended them.

University student Georgia Nakyonza said she would join the contest if she qualified.

Its not bad, it doesnt mean that if you go for Miss curvy you are a protest, you are selling off your body. Actually, the way they put on is just the way models put on, she said.

Ugandas Tourism Board has distanced itself from the Ms. Curvy pageant, saying it will concentrate instead on promoting the countrys current attractions.Fort Hood, TX (76544)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. High 94F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low near 75F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.White House officials say U.S. President Donald Trump will warn of "the dangers of socialism" in a speech Monday in support of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is recognized by the United States as the South American nation's interim president.

Trump will make remarks at Florida International University, as his administration continues to speak out against Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro.The school is in a Miami neighborhood that has the largest concentration of Venezuelans in the U.S.

While Trump has refused to rule out a U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, Congressman Eliot Engel, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said during a congressional hearing Wednesday that lawmakers would not support such a move.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Elio House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Eliot Engel D-N.Y., speaks during the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on Venezuela at Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 13, 2019. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Eliot Engel D-N.Y., speaks during the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on Venezuela at Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 13, 2019.

"I do worry about the president's saber-rattling, his hints that U.S. military intervention remains an option," Engel said. "I want to make it clear to our witnesses and to anyone else watching: U.S. military intervention is not an option."

Trump was among the first of 51 world leaders to recognize the head of the nation's national assembly, Guaido, as the interim president. Guaido declared himself the country's leader following mass protests against Maduro.

Venezuela suffers from the worst inflation rate in the world, along with food and supply shortages. Three million refugees  about 10 percent of the country's population  have fled the country.

In Wednesday's testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, administration officials told lawmakers the United States is researching all options to get aid to the Venezuelan people.

U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams testifies before the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on Venezuela on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 13, 2019. U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams testifies before the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on Venezuela on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 13, 2019.

The administration's special representative to Venezuela, former Reagan and Bush administration official Elliott Abrams, said U.S. sanctions against the Maduro regime are working. Abrams also refused to rule out the possibility of U.S. military intervention.

Democratic lawmakers question Abrams's credibility to serve as the U.S. representative in the region, citing the convictions he received  and eventually was pardoned  for his role in the Iran-Contra affair in the 1980s.

Abrams told lawmakers the solution to Venezuela's political crisis was ultimately not up to the United States.

"It's not for us to choose the next president of Venezuela. It's for Venezuelans. We can help, as a lot of other countries can help, in facilitating a free election," he said.

Venezuela Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza, Venezuela Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza, speaks during a press conference, is surrounded by supporting diplomats from 16 countries including Russia, China, Iran and Syria, at U.N. headquarters, Feb. 14, 2019. Venezuela Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza, speaks during a press conference, is surrounded by supporting diplomats from 16 countries including Russia, China, Iran and Syria, at U.N. headquarters, Feb. 14, 2019.

At the United Nations on Thursday, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza addressed reporters, flanked by diplomats from a dozen countries, including Russia, China, Iran, Syria, North Korea and Cuba. He announced that the nations are forming a coalition to defend international law and the principles of the U.N. Charter, including the non-intervention in the domestic affairs of member-states and the duty of all states to not threaten others with the use of force.

"We believe these principles are being violated, putting at risk the right to peace and security of our peoples," Arreaza said. "In the next few days, we will begin a series of actions to raise awareness around the dangers that our peoples currently face, particularly the case of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela."

"It is not just about [the] Maduro government," said Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia. "It's about defending international law and the U.N. Charter."WASHINGTON - I will build a great wall, declared Donald Trump in announcing he was running for president in June 2015. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.

A wall at the U.S.-Mexico border became Trumps signature promise -- a call and response at all of his campaign and post-campaign rallies, a symbol of his contempt for illegal immigrants and the centerpiece of his draconian immigration policies.

Yet, as much as the billionaire former New York real estate investor says he wants it, there is still no trace of the towering, gleaming, all-encompassing border wall he originally promised.

More than two years into his first term, all Trump has to show is eight wall sections erected on a dusty plot of scrubland near San Diego. This month, previously planned construction begins on 9.5 kilometers of levee wall in the Rio Grande River Valley in Texas, marking the first wall construction during the Trump presidency.

The president's insistence on $5.7 billion of U.S. taxpayer funds for the wall over Democrats objections and tepid public support led to a 35-day partial government shutdown in December and January, and another one threatened for February.

The spending deal finally struck by Democratic and Republican negotiators -- and expected to be approved by Trump -- was an unmistakable setback for the president. It provided $1.375 billion for 88 kilometers of fencing, only a quarter of the money he sought, and a fraction of the 322 kilometers of new wall he demanded.

Trump said he was not happy with the compromise, but was unwilling to torpedo the agreement and trigger another shutdown. Instead, he hinted at seeking executive action to shift funding from other accounts to supplement the cost of a wall.

In this Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, photo, a new barri 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. 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.

??Actual wall and...

Currently, some kind of barrier exists on 1,127 kilometers of the U.S.-Mexico border, about a third of the 3,145-kilometer boundary.

While Trumps focus on building a wall has not changed, the wall itself -- or his idea of the wall -- has steadily contracted.

What started out as a concrete barrier along the border from sea to shining sea has devolved into something see-through or built with metal slats, constructed where there are no natural barriers. Recently, Trump resolved to "just call them walls, and stop playing political games, as if the term were merely a label that could be affixed to anything.

The symbolism is more important than the reality, the National Review's Jonah Goldberg wrote in December. Immigration policy itself is something of an afterthought.

Pundits have speculated on the symbolic meaning of Trumps wall. Shielding America from outside threats and uncertainty. Trumps neediness. His presidency. Proof that the government is listening. And ruin.

Big, beautiful wall

Five days after he was sworn in as president, Trump issued an executive order authorizing the wall and earmarking whatever federal funds could be found to pay for it, to combat a surge of illegal immigration."

'Wall' shall mean a contiguous, physical wall or other similarly secure, contiguous, and impassable physical barrier, the order specified, to be built all along the southern border.

A month later, Customs and Border Protection announced it would accept design concepts from construction companies and award contracts after reviewing their bids.

By now, spurned by Mexican officials, Trump had abandoned his fantasy that the Mexican government would pay for it.

CBP didnt have the money. Its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, could only find $20 million in existing funds for the wall, which it estimated would cost $21.6 billion.

Document: Trump Administration Has Found Only $20M in Existing Funds for Wall President Donald Trump's promise to use existing funds to begin immediate construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border has hit a financial roadblock, according to a document seen by Reuters.The rapid start of construction, promised throughout Trump's campaign and in an executive order issued in January on border security, was to be financed, according to the White House, with "existing funds and resources" of the Department of Homeland Security.But so far, the DHS has identified only $20 million President Donald Trump's promise to use existing funds to begin immediate construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border has hit a financial roadblock, according to a document seen by Reuters.The rapid start of construction, promised throughout Trump's campaign and in an executive order issued in January on border security, was to be financed, according to the White House, with "existing funds and resources" of the Department of Homeland Security.But so far, the DHS has identified only $20 million

?The money would cover only eight prototypes -- with nothing left over for actual wall construction.

Trump vowed to renew the fight when the fiscal year (FY) 2018 budget was discussed in September, and if necessary, shut down the government -- a threat that would become a refrain until it became a reality.

either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%. Our country needs a good "shutdown" in September to fix mess!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017

?In defeat, double down

During the next two budget cycles, Trump exhibited a pattern: big demands, lots of posturing, and when rebuffed, an even bigger demand.

On Oct. 1, 2017, when the new budget would have taken effect, the government was operating on money provided by a short-term funding bill, the first of five that would keep the government running through March 2018, with the exception of two brief shutdowns.

In his original budget request, Trump asked for $1.6 billion as a down payment on the wall. This was approved by the Republican-dominated House of Representatives in July. But it wouldnt pass the Senate, where the majority needed Democratic votes to clear parliamentary hurdles in passing spending measures.

Yet in early December, Trump pushed for $25 billion in wall funding.

Why had he so greatly increased his request, when Congress was already deadlocked?

A key issue at the time was the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which sheltered young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation and allowed them to work.

FILE - Supporters of the Deferred Action for Child FILE - Supporters of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA chant slogans and carry signs while joining a Labor Day rally in downtown Los Angeles. FILE - Supporters of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA chant slogans and carry signs while joining a Labor Day rally in downtown Los Angeles.

?Trump was ending DACA in March unless Congress acted to save it. Democrats badly wanted a fix for the DACA program, which also allowed recipients to work and go to school. An obvious deal would be for Trump to support a legislative extension of DACA in return for Democratic support of wall construction.

Threes a charm?

In the first three months of 2018, Trump had three chances to obtain full wall funding. He rejected them all.

The First. In mid-January, with the third short-term spending bill set to expire in hours, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York met with Trump over cheeseburgers to head off a government shutdown. Schumer reportedly offered $25 billion for the wall over 10 years in exchange for a path to citizenship for DACA recipients. Reports say he left thinking he had a deal. But White House Chief of Staff John Kelly later called and quashed it. A 69-hour shutdown followed.

Three days later, Trump introduced his Four Pillars" immigration reform plan: No deal without wall construction. An end to family-based migration. An end to the diversity visa. A solution for DACA.

The Second. In mid-February, Democrats and some Republicans introduced a bill that included $25 billion for the wall over a 10-year period, and DACA. While it contained additional immigration provisions, it did not address the other pillars.

The next day, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders put out a statement threatening a Trump veto because the bill would produce a flood of new illegal immigration.

The bill subsequently failed in the Senate.

The Third. In March, with another funding deadline looming, Democrats offered $25 billion for the wall in a flat exchange for citizenship for DACA recipients. Republicans countered with a 2.5-year extension for DACA. Democrats rejected that offer as unbalanced because it called for permanent funding for the wall but only a temporary fix for DACA.

By this time, the courts were keeping DACA going while its constitutionality was tested. There no longer was an urgency to preserve the program through congressional action.

When the budget was finally signed on March 22, lawmakers had approved only $1.375 billion for border security, none of which included construction of a border wall.

In a tweet, Trump threatened to veto the bill. But he signed the measure, vowing never to do it again.

I am considering a VETO of the Omnibus Spending Bill based on the fact that the 800,000 plus DACA recipients have been totally abandoned by the Democrats (not even mentioned in Bill) and the BORDER WALL, which is desperately needed for our National Defense, is not fully funded.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2018

Big fight

If there was a silver lining to not getting wall authorization, it was that Trump could use the issue to whip up voters in advance of the 2018 midterm elections.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., spea Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 29, 2019. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 29, 2019.

?His depiction of escalating danger at the southern border was the core of his campaign stump speeches for Republican House and Senate candidates.

While chants for the wall were vehement as ever at campaign rallies, no big constituency showed up at the polls. Republicans won a few additional seats in the Senate, but Democrats swept the House and set up a new dynamic: a divided government.

In September, outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin had promised a big fight over wall funding. A few weeks after the election, here it was. Trump showed his hand: DACA and the other pillars had fallen away. All he wanted was $5.7 billion for the wall. Earlier, Congress had given tentative approval to $1.6 billion.

Ryan: 'Big Fight' Coming Over Border Wall After Election House Speaker Paul Ryan on Monday promised a "big fight" over border wall funding after midterm elections as part of a commitment he made to President Donald Trump. Ryan said he and others in Congress did not think a funding fight made sense ahead of the midterms. Trump wants three times the $1.6 billion Congress has tentatively agreed to provide this year for the border wall with Mexico. The president threatened to force a shutdown over the issue, but instead signed legislation funding some parts House Speaker Paul Ryan on Monday promised a "big fight" over border wall funding after midterm elections as part of a commitment he made to President Donald Trump. Ryan said he and others in Congress did not think a funding fight made sense ahead of the midterms. Trump wants three times the $1.6 billion Congress has tentatively agreed to provide this year for the border wall with Mexico. The president threatened to force a shutdown over the issue, but instead signed legislation funding some parts

"I am firm," Trump said. Politically speaking, that issue is a total winner.

Trump Blasts Spending Bill With No Border Wall Funding President Donald Trump accused Democratic lawmakers Thursday of blocking money for his proposed border wall in a spending bill and suggested his fellow Republicans were to blame for letting it happen. I want to know, where is the money for Border Security and the WALL in this ridiculous Spending Bill, and where will it come from after the Midterms? Dems are obstructing Law Enforcement and Border Security. REPUBLICANS MUST FINALLY GET TOUGH! Donald J. President Donald Trump accused Democratic lawmakers Thursday of blocking money for his proposed border wall in a spending bill and suggested his fellow Republicans were to blame for letting it happen. I want to know, where is the money for Border Security and the WALL in this ridiculous Spending Bill, and where will it come from after the Midterms? Dems are obstructing Law Enforcement and Border Security. REPUBLICANS MUST FINALLY GET TOUGH! Donald J.

?In a bizarre, mid-December squabble with Nancy Pelosi, the presumptive new House Speaker, and Schumer at the White House, Trump declared, I am proud to shut down the government for border security. ... I will take the mantle. ... I won't blame you (Schumer) for it."

Trump, Democrats Clash in Oval Office The Democratic leadership and U.S. The Democratic leadership and U.S.

?As a result, he owned the 35-day partial shutdown that followed, leaving 800,000 government employees without paychecks, curtailing government services and costing the economy billions of dollars.

The high-profile political clash ended where it began: the president insisting on $5.7 billion for the wall, and Pelosi firmly declaring, There's not going to be any wall money.

As another government shutdown loomed this week, a bipartisan committee of 17 Senate and House members agreed on a compromise that Trump has reluctantly agreed to sign.

Negotiating downward

Two years. Two budgets. Two prolonged fights over funding for the wall. In each case, the final compromise fell short -- not only of what the president was demanding, but also short of what he could have had if he'd just taken what was initially offered.

In both FY2018 and FY2019, the White House began by seeking $1.6 billion for border security. After an exhaustive six months of posturing, negotiating and shutting down the government, lawmakers agreed to less in both years, and only 88 kilometers (or 55 miles) of fencing in all.

It was almost as if Trump -- long touted as a master deal maker -- were reverse negotiating.WASHINGTON - As a yearlong project aimed at helping Somaliland develop its trade relationship with Ethiopia winds down, top leaders hope more assistance will bolster the countrys economy and strengthen its standing in the Horn of Africa, a region that experienced rapid change in 2018.

The London-based organization behind the initiative said Tuesday that consultations with Somalilands economic leaders would soon end.

The Trade and Investment Advocacy Fund seeks to help the worlds poorest countries develop beneficial trade relationships. Since early 2018, theyve worked with leaders from Somaliland to develop economic agreements with Ethiopia.

The consulting resulted in workshops, draft trade and transportation agreements, and a database of relevant resources.

Somaliland and Puntland map Somaliland and Puntland map Somaliland and Puntland map

?International ties

The efforts, part of a total program fund of $18 million, focused on modernizing the Port of Berbera.

In the 1970s, the former Soviet Union made extensive use of the port. But new deals with Russia arent officially on the table, Somaliland Foreign Minister Yasin Hagi Mahmoud Hir told VOA.

There hasnt been any formal discussions or contacts on those issues, Hir said.

On the other hand, Somaliland has enjoyed a warm and productive relationship with the United Arab Emirates, Hir said, which operates a trade hub from Berbera and is the majority stakeholder in the project.

In May, Ethiopia took on a 19 percent stake in the project, as well.

FILE - President Muse Bihi Abdi was a candidate, N FILE - President Muse Bihi Abdi was a candidate, Nov. 134, 2017, when he spoke to the media after casting his vote in the presidential election in Hargeisa, in the semi-autonomous region of Somaliland. FILE - President Muse Bihi Abdi was a candidate, Nov. 134, 2017, when he spoke to the media after casting his vote in the presidential election in Hargeisa, in the semi-autonomous region of Somaliland.

Osman Sheikh Ahmed, the economic adviser to President Muse Bihi Abdi, told VOA that Somalilands economic relationship with Ethiopia is excellent.

The trade relationship is very strong, and it is to Ethiopias advantage, to a great extent, Ahmed said.

Somaliland exports $600-$700 million worth of goods a year to Ethiopia, he added.

Both Ahmed and Hir emphasized the significance of Somalilands independence to all discussions about economics and security.

The international community has not yet recognized Somaliland as a sovereign state. But for nearly three decades, Ahmed said, the people of Somaliland have lived a different reality.

It is a fact that Somaliland has been separate from Somalia for 27 years, Ahmed said. This is not a new reality.

Many countries are now realizing, Hir said, that recognizing Somaliland as an independent nation is inevitable.

They have seen the realities in the region, he added. They have seen the realities in Somaliland.

In December, Hir and Ahmed visited diplomats in the United States to update important government bodies on developments from within the country and define a role for the U.S. that, so far, has been vacant.

A farmer works in an irrigated field near the vill FILE - A farmer works in an irrigated field near the village of Botor, Somaliland, April 16, 2016. A severe El Nino-related drought hit in 2015 and 2016. FILE - A farmer works in an irrigated field near the village of Botor, Somaliland, April 16, 2016. A severe El Nino-related drought hit in 2015 and 2016.

?A whole lot more

Hir said that Somaliland needs support for economic development and help resolving its differences with Somalia.

But he added that caution was needed when approaching any new bilateral relationship.

There are many countries who are scrambling to come to us and approach us for their own interests, Hir said. In the end, Somaliland must decide whats in its own best interest, he added.

Despite what Ahmed called a vibrant private sector and ongoing support from the diaspora, a devastating drought in 2017 killed 70 percent of livestock and deepened the countrys poverty.

Some international assistance has been provided, and the country is grateful, Hir said. But they hope to get a whole lot more, he added, to bring back the economic base.

But a lack of recognition of statehood continues to impede economic assistance, Hir said.

Along with the United Nations, the African Union also does not recognize Somaliland as a state.

Many countries channel their money to Mogadishu, hoping that some of it can find its way back, Hir said.

But it doesnt work that way, particularly when the two countries are in contention.MOSCOW - Tensions appear to be surfacing between Russia and Turkey just hours into a three-way summit on the Syrian conflict being hosted in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.



According to Kremlin spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Russia has told Turkey it lacked authorization to create a "safe zone" inside Syria without the express consent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Russia Lobbies for Syria to Rejoin Arab League Russia is lobbying the Arab League to re-admit Bashar al-Assads Syria as a member, say diplomats based in the region. Russia is lobbying the Arab League to re-admit Bashar al-Assads Syria as a member, say diplomats based in the region.

"The question of the presence of a military contingent acting on the authority of a third country on the territory of a sovereign country, and especially Syria, must be decided directly by Damascus," she told reporters during a press conference. "That's our base position."

FILE - In this Dec. 11, 2017, frame grab made avai FILE - In this Dec. 11, 2017, frame grab made available by Russian Presidential TV Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, right, greets Russian President Vladimir Putin upon his arrival to the Hemeimeem air base in Syria. FILE - In this Dec. 11, 2017, frame grab made available by Russian Presidential TV Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, right, greets Russian President Vladimir Putin upon his arrival to the Hemeimeem air base in Syria.

While Russia and Iran, whose president also is participating in the summit, are close allies of Syrian President Bashar al-AssadTurkey, like the United States, which already is beginning to withdraw equipment from the country as part of a recently announced troop withdrawalsupports differing Syrian rebel factions.

Turkey, Russia at Odds Over Syria Ahead of Key Summit 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 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

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has long insisted that Syria's territorial integrity will be compromised so long as U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish YPG militants, whom Ankara considers terrorists, remain in the area.



All three countries have made efforts to coordinate military forces on the ground, but contradictory military objectivesand competition for natural resources in Syria's oil-rich northern regions, has created friction between Moscow and Ankara in particular.



President Donald Trump's surprise announcement of a U.S. troop withdrawal has been welcomed by Russia, Turkey, Iran and Syria, though the sudden shift has left Astana trio leaders unclear about how to reconfigure their objectives in the absence of U.S. forces.

Russia, Turkey, Iran Poised to Map Syria's Future The leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey are meeting in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi Thursday to discuss the conflict in Syria for the first time since the United States announced its troop withdrawal.Although the Kremlin hasn't divulged details, a number of observers say questions about the strategic implications of a U.S. The leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey are meeting in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi Thursday to discuss the conflict in Syria for the first time since the United States announced its troop withdrawal.Although the Kremlin hasn't divulged details, a number of observers say questions about the strategic implications of a U.S.

Some high level U.S. officials have anticipated that diplomatic differences between Ankara and Moscow could undermine progress at the summit.



Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday the three presidents would discuss the formation of a committee that would be tasked with drafting a postwar constitution for Syria.



Lavrov did not discuss whether Syrian officials would be involved in that process.



Pete Cobus is VOA's acting Moscow correspondent.ISLAMABAD - The Taliban is lauding U.S. President Donald Trump for recognizing the insurgent group as the other side in the prolonged U.S.-led Afghan war, saying it could help ongoing peace talks with Washington.

In a reaction posted on its official website Thursday to Trumps State of the Union (SOTU) address, the Taliban described it as positive and realistic for acknowledging ground realities in Afghanistan.

During his SOTU speech Donald Trump called the Islamic Emirate (Taliban) as the other side, and the use of this term by a U.S. president showcases the deep change in the U.S. political narrative from which a positive outcome can be expected in the negotiations, the Taliban noted in a statement.

U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan, Zalma U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, center, speaks during a roundtable discussion with Afghan media at the U.S Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan Jan. 28, 2019. U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, center, speaks during a roundtable discussion with Afghan media at the U.S Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan Jan. 28, 2019.

The Trump administrations special reconciliation envoy, Afghan-born veteran U.S. diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad, has engaged the Taliban in direct talks since last fall to purse a political solution to what Trump described in his Feb. 5, 2019, speech as the long and bloody conflict, now in its 18th year.

I have also accelerated our negotiations to reach a political settlement in Afghanistan. The opposing side is also very happy to be negotiating, Trump told Congress. The president was unclear whether an agreement will be achieved but he emphasized the hour has come to at least try for peace. And the other side would like to do the same thing. It is time.

President Donald Trump delivers his State of the U 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, Feb. 5, 2019. 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, Feb. 5, 2019.

The Taliban noted in their statement that unlike his predecessors George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who would denounce the Taliban as terrorists and hurled irrational accusations against them in their SOTU speeches, Trump has refrained from doing so and it can have a very positive impact on the negotiations.

In their last meeting in Qatar in late January, Khalilzad and Taliban envoys agreed on a framework for a possible U.S. troop withdrawal in exchange for Taliban counterterrorism guarantees, saying they would set up two working groups to flesh out the details.

Though most of the meetings until now have taken place in the Qatari capital of Doha, U.S. and Taliban negotiators will hold their next meeting on Monday in Pakistan for the first time. Leaders in Islamabad take full credit for arranging Washingtons dialogue with the Islamist group.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announced in a statement on Wednesday that the upcoming meeting was the outcome of a formal invitation from the government in Islamabad and that insurgent delegates would also meet with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Pakistans Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry confirmed Thursday that his country would host the U.S.-Taliban meeting. He did not share further details.

A State Department spokesperson in Washington told VOA that the department had noted the Talibans public announcement but had not received a formal invitation to talks.

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, second from Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, second from right, applauds during the talks in Moscow, Feb. 6, 2019. The Taliban has so far refused to negotiate with the government of President Ashraf Ghani. Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, second from right, applauds during the talks in Moscow, Feb. 6, 2019. The Taliban has so far refused to negotiate with the government of President Ashraf Ghani.

The spokesperson added that the United States supported all steps that would lead to genuine intra-Afghan dialogue that includes the Afghan government, the Taliban and other Afghans and encourages all countries to support this peace process.

We are not going to negotiate in public. This is the beginning of a long process which we continue to work through private diplomatic channels.

The Taliban refuse to engage in talks with the Kabul government, dismissing it as an illegitimate entity, but an insurgent delegation did travel to Moscow earlier this month for a two-day intra-Afghan peace meeting with dozens of prominent opposition politicians from Afghanistan led by former President Hamid Karzai.The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote Thursday on the confirmation of U.S. President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, William Barr.

Barr, who served as attorney general under President George H. W. Bush, was selected by Trump to succeed Jeff Sessions, whom the president ousted over his recusal from oversight of the Russia investigation.

During his confirmation hearings last month, Barr came under scrutiny by Senate Democrats for a memo he wrote last year criticizing special counsel Robert Mueller for examining whether Trump tried to obstruct the investigation.

Senate Panel Approves Barr Attorney General Nomination The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved President Donald Trump's attorney general nominee, William Barr, and sent his nomination on to the full Senate for a final confirmation vote. The committee voted along party lines. Republicans praised Barr as well qualified, while Democrats who voted against him said they were concerned he might not make public the findings from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. A corporate lawyer who previously served as attorney general The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved President Donald Trump's attorney general nominee, William Barr, and sent his nomination on to the full Senate for a final confirmation vote. The committee voted along party lines. Republicans praised Barr as well qualified, while Democrats who voted against him said they were concerned he might not make public the findings from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. A corporate lawyer who previously served as attorney general

Barr testified that memo was "narrow in scope" and that he'll allow the special counsel to complete his investigation without any interference.

Many Democrats are expected to oppose Barr out of concern he might not fully make public any findings Mueller may produce. But Barr's confirmation is virtually assured in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Barr is widely expected to back many of Trump's tough immigration policies.MOSCOW - The leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey are meeting in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi Thursday to discuss the conflict in Syria for the first time since the United States announced its troop withdrawal.

Although the Kremlin hasn't divulged details, a number of observers say questions about the strategic implications of a U.S. pullout and differences between Moscow and Ankara on a political settlement in northern Syria are likely to predominate.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Monday made an unexpected visit to Ankara, where he met with Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar to resolve several issues ahead of the so-called Astana trio gathering  particularly recent developments in Syrias northwestern Idlib province, which borders southern Turkey.

WATCH: Russia, Turkey, Iran Discuss Syria's Postwar Future

Russia and Turkey cut a deal in September to establish an Idlib demilitarized zone to avert a Syrian government offensive, but the agreement was imperiled last month when al-Qaida-linked Hayet Tahrir al-Sham militants took control there from Turkish-backed rebels.

While Russia and Iran are close allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey, like the United States, supports differing Syrian rebel factions.

Earlier this week Turkey and Russia jointly called for decisive measures to retake control of Idlib, though the statement contained no specifics.

Turkeys foreign minister recently said Ankara might agree to a limited Russian-backed Syrian offensive to seize Idlib, but that would prove a strategic setback for Ankara, which seeks to capitalize on the U.S. troop withdrawal by retaking oil-rich northeastern provinces held by Kurdish fighters, whom Ankara considers terrorists.

Turkeys long-term plan to create a buffer zone on the Syria-Turkey border, which has long been bolstered by the U.S. forces, would now require Russian support to enforce.

In the Idlib region where Hayet Tahrir al-Sham has expanded its reach, any kind of massive military assault would likely mean large-scale civilian casualties and a refugee exodus into Turkey.

A family that returned to live in their apartment FILE - A family that returned to live in their apartment inside a heavily damaged building hang their clothes on a balcony in the Bab Dreib neighborhood of Homs, Syria, Jan. 17, 2018. FILE - A family that returned to live in their apartment inside a heavily damaged building hang their clothes on a balcony in the Bab Dreib neighborhood of Homs, Syria, Jan. 17, 2018.

?Reconstruction investments

On the premise that an unstable Syria will only increase migrant flows to northern Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin began soliciting postwar reconstruction investment from European counterparts in late 2018.

Rebuffed by European leaders who are unwavering in their conviction that Syrias estimated $250 billion postwar reconstruction bill belongs solely to Assad, Putin, according to Oxford University analyst Samuel Ramani, has been looking to Saudi Arabia and China as potential investment partners, a move that would put Moscow at financial odds with Tehran, with whom it is militarily partnered in Syria.

Concerns about competition between Russian and Iranian businesses involved in the reconstruction of Syria came to a head in February 2018, when Moscow beat out Tehran for a major 50-year deal in Syrias phosphate industry, he recently wrote in a think piece for the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for Peace.

Although their mutual interest in safeguarding Assads rule may allow Tehran and Moscow to see past financial differences throughout the Sochi talks, he wrote, tensions could flare up between Russia and Iran once their joint military operations in Syria come to a close.

Senior Iranian figures last week called Syria a top foreign policy priority and a situation where American troops should have no role whatsoever.

On Sunday, Tehrans Deputy Defense Minister Reza Talai-Nik warned that all U.S. bases there are within the range of our cross-border weapons, and if these fail, well strike them from within Iran, according to a report by the semi-official Tasnim News Agency.

FILE - In a frame grab made available by Russian P FILE - In a frame grab made available by Russian Presidential TV, Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, greets Russian President Vladimir Putin upon his arrival to the Hemeimeem air base in Syria, Dec. 11, 2017. FILE - In a frame grab made available by Russian Presidential TV, Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, greets Russian President Vladimir Putin upon his arrival to the Hemeimeem air base in Syria, Dec. 11, 2017.

?Moscow as sole broker

As the Astana trio impatiently awaits a full U.S. withdrawal from Syria, some observers say the absence of American boots on the ground may prove a complicating factor for Moscow, which has long sought to assert itself as a broker of global affairs.

The first question in Sochi is likely to be, who replaces the American presence? said Alexey Malashenko of the Moscow-based Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute. And here, there is a misunderstanding between Russia and Turkey, because Turkey has repeated several times that this American place must come to be occupied by Turks, and Russia is against this. So, from that point of view, I think the meeting in Sochi will be very, very difficult for both of those countries.

Asked if the Astana leadership is even confident in White House plans for withdrawal  President Donald Trumps statements on the U.S. pullout, which contained no timetable, have been contradicted by members of his own Cabinet  Malashenko said it doesnt matter.

Regardless of the specifics, just the possibility of an American withdrawal creates additional problems for Russia, he said. In the Kremlin they constantly speak about America as an adversary that creates problems in the Middle East. But if Americans withdraw, what will Russia do? Because for Putin and the Kremlin, the situation with the American presence was at least more or less clear. Now this situation is becoming more and more unclear by the day.

In his assessment, a sustained U.S. presence would only benefit the Kremlin.

Maybe its a paradox, yes, but I think thats the case, he said, adding that a U.S. pullout also leaves Moscow to act as an on-the-ground arbiter between Iran, Syria and Israel.

Before last year we spoke a lot about the multipolar situation of Tehran, Ankara and Moscow, he said. But now it seems that triangle is becoming more and more fragile.

Putin approval ratings in the balance

Russias ability to stabilize Syria in the wake of a U.S. withdrawal also has potential consequences for Putins domestic approval ratings, which have been at a low point since late 2018.

Thursdays summit will start just three days after a survey released by Moscows independent Levada Center polling organization showed that more than 50 percent of Russians say top officials are lying to them about the true state of affairs in the country.

Less than a week ago, Reuters published an investigation alleging that the Kremlin covered up mass casualties on the ground in Syria at a time when it is expanding its military activities in the Middle East and Africa.

The Higher School of Economics in Moscow recently published data showing that disposable income has decreased since 2014 and is predicted to drop further this year, which marks the fifth anniversary of U.S. and European Union sanctions resulting from Moscows annexation of Crimea.

Several rounds of negotiations over recent years have failed to end the fighting, which has claimed the lives of more than 400,000 people, displaced millions, and devastated many historic sites across the country.

President Trump has received criticism from Republicans, Democrats, and some foreign officials for what they have called a hastily planned withdrawal of the 2,000 U.S. troops, with many saying it leaves Kurdish allies at the mercy of the Turks and hands a victory to Russia and Iran.

Turkey has threatened to attack the United States Kurdish allies fighting Islamic State militants in Syria. In January, Trump threatened to devastate Turkey economically if Ankara attacks the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces.

Thursdays talks will be 12th conference organized by Moscow, Ankara and Tehran, including nine held in Astana. The trio last met in November.WASHINGTON - As Islamic State faces pressure in its final stronghold in Syria's Deir el-Zour province, the group could be hiding a mountain of gold it smuggled out of other Syrian provinces and neighboring Iraq, a rights group told VOA on Wednesday.

Rami Abdulrahman, head of the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), told VOA that it had confirmation from the ground that IS was holding 40 tons of gold bars in Syria.

"These quantities of gold were held by the IS group since late 2017, specifically in its eastern Syrian pocket" of control, he added.

Rami said his organization's "confirmed reports" indicated the gold, along with millions of dollars, was stockpiled in Deir el-Zour province.

raqis try to persuade a US soldier to enter the ce FILE - Iraqis try to persuade a U.S. soldier to enter the central bank in the northern city of Mosul during a protest, July 27, 2003. FILE - Iraqis try to persuade a U.S. soldier to enter the central bank in the northern city of Mosul during a protest, July 27, 2003.

But it was unclear to SOHR whether the gold bars were buried in Baghouz village, hidden in tunnels on the Syria-Iraq border or hidden in areas recently captured by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

"This gold was stolen from the Central Bank of Mosul, from the economy in Syria that was under the control of IS, and from the selling of Syrian and Iraqi antiquities, like smuggled antiquities from Palmyra that were sold to smugglers and traders through Turkey," Abdulrahman of SOHR said.

The U.S.-led coalition, which is supporting the SDF fighters in their last push against IS in eastern Syria, said it was not aware of such reports.

The coalition's spokesperson, Col. Sean Ryan, told VOA via email Wednesday that they were investigating the claims.

The Islamic State terror group has been holding firmly to Baghouz since Saturday, when the SDF forces launched their final push to end the jihadists self-proclaimed caliphate. SDF officials estimated there were about 3,000 IS jihadists, mostly foreigners, who were determined to fight to the death.

The SDF says its progress has been slowed by land mines, suicide attacks and the extremists' use of civilians as human shields.

WATCH: A new strategy for Islamic State

Nabil Hassan, the administrator of al-Hol camp in al-Hasakah governorate in Syria's northeast, told VOA that over 23,000 people left their homes last week amid clashes and that more were expected to flee as fighting continued in the region.

The jihadist group's self-styled caliphate once sprawled across large parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq. According to the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the group made millions of dollars through the control of banks, oil and gas fields, taxation, extortion and theft of relics.

In 2014, IS stole nearly $450 million and vast quantities of gold bullion from Mosul's central bank, according the International Business Times.

IS currency

The Syrian group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently reported in June 2015 that IS went as far as minting its own gold "Islamic dinar" coins. The group then posted photos showing what appeared to be gold sovereigns bearing IS inscriptions.

The U.S.-led coalition over the years has aggressively campaigned to target the group's finances, particularly through shrinking IS territory, conducting airstrikes on IS money reserves and disabling the group's oil fields. U.S. military officials in early 2016 said a U.S. airstrike on an IS cash distribution site in Mosul destroyed millions of dollars.

Iraqi and Kurdish officials say the group has turned to other sources of income that are more difficult to trace.

Iraqi and Kurdish officials told The Washington Post last December that IS leaders had laundered tens of millions of dollars by investing in legitimate businesses throughout the Middle East over the past year. They reported large caches of gold and currency were also buried in the Iraqi desert.

Insurgency

According to Colin Clarke, an expert on terror financing with the Soufan Group, IS could be hiding gold and money reserves to help finance its insurgency actions across the region once its physical caliphate is gone.

"After the territorial caliphate falls, it is possible that small cells of militants will rely on the group's remaining war chest to rebuild core capabilities and recruit new members. Additionally, IS will rely on its money while also pursuing new revenue streams or rejuvenating prior links to trafficking and smuggling," Clarke told VOA.

He said the group's determined fighters had already hoarded weapons to use later.

"What the group has left will be able to last, especially as IS is no longer paying to maintain a state. Its revenues are less, but so are its operating costs," he added.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that the United States and Europe could still work together on Iran, despite differences over what the United States calls the world's "leading state sponsor of terror."

Pompeo, speaking at a diplomatic conference in Warsaw, said "there was not a defender of Iran in the room," which he called proof that Europe and the U.S. still shared concerns about Iran's nuclear activities.

Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said Europe and the U.S. agreed that Iran was a threat to international security but were arguing over what to do about it.

Earlier in the day, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence accused Britain, France and Germany of trying to circumvent U.S. sanctions on Iran. He said the European nations "have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up (U.S.) sanctions."

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a confere U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a conference on Mideast peace in Warsaw, Poland, Feb. 14, 2019. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a conference on Mideast peace in Warsaw, Poland, Feb. 14, 2019.

Pence called the improvised barter system that allows countries to avoid direct financial transactions with Iran "an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the [European Union], and create still more distance between Europe and the United States."

Pence's harsh words followed disputes over trade and international security that have chilled relations between the U.S. and Europe.

The United States withdrew from an Iran nuclear deal and reimposed economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. The agreement had lifted sanctions in exchange for Iran's stopping its nuclear weapons work. Other signatories (Iran, China, the EU, France, Russia, Britain and Germany) remain in the pact.

German Deputy Foreign Minister Niels Annen told reporters that Germany wanted to combine pressure on Iran with international cooperation in the effort to end Iran's nuclear arms program.

Author and Heritage Foundation scholar Peter Brookes said supporters of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement had hoped the country would change its international behavior in exchange for access to the international economy, which could benefit the Iranian people.

Speaking to VOA Persian, he said, "It [Iran] has not done that."

Other objectives

Brookes said the deal loosened some sanctions on Iran's economy, easing problems. But instead of spending its new money on infrastructure and citizens' needs, the cash went for missiles, a military buildup and "adventurism" in Yemen and Syria.

He said concerns about Iran go far beyond nuclear weapons, including two recent terrorist plots aimed at targets in Europe, worries about its energy policy, human rights and maritime security.

Representatives from about 60 nations attended the Warsaw meeting, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. There were no representatives from Iran, Russia or the Palestinian territories.

As Iran commemorates the 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution this week, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters in Tehran that the conference was "dead on arrival." He dismissed the meeting as "another attempt by the United States to pursue an obsession with Iran that is not well-founded.".  :          

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While mass shootings in the United States became more controversial when 20 first-graders were gunned down in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, it was last years mass shooting at a Florida high school that has altered the conversation over gun safety and gun rights.

In the year since a shooter with an AR-15 killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school in Parkland, Florida, young voters have mobilized protests nationwide and exerted their power at the polls, showing up in record numbers to vote in the 2018 midterm elections.

Students celebrate at the end of the March for Our FILE - Students celebrate at the end of the March for Our Lives event in Washington, D.C., March 24, 2018. FILE - Students celebrate at the end of the March for Our Lives event in Washington, D.C., March 24, 2018.

Though the teenage Parkland activists who organized the March for our Lives protest  which drew about 500,000 protesters to Washington, D.C., last April  increased attention to gun control and school safety, they also focused on voter registration and encouraged young people to become politically active.

It worked. Thirty-one percent of voters ages 18 to 29 cast ballots in the 2018 midterms, a 21 percent increase from 2014, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University in Massachusetts. CIRCLE partially credits the gun control movement after the Parkland shooting for the increase in civic participation among youth.

If u text CHANGE to 97779 it helps u find ur polling place :-) pic.twitter.com/NpMKra9Klx  Emma Gonzalez (@Emma4Change) October 30, 2018

Gun safety is one of the top reasons millennials say they cast ballots. Gun control and Second Amendment issues were listed as the top concerns for 12 percent of likely voters in a Harvard Institute of Politics poll conducted before the midterms, falling closely behind the economy, jobs and immigration.

From the end of 2017 through the first half of 2018, concern over gun-related issues and immigration have grown in importance for young Americans, said John Della Volpe, the IOPs director of polling.

As attention on North Korea settles, young Americans will turn to the White House and Congress, demanding action on both of these issues that often disproportionately impact young people.

According to a Quinnipiac University poll, 97 percent of Americans support universal background checks for gun buyers, the highest percentage in five years. Young voters have greater confidence in universal background checks than other voters.

When asked if they believe expanding background checks would be effective in reducing gun violence in the U.S., 72 percent of respondents 18 to 34 said yes, compared with 61 percent of people 35 to 64, and 57 percent of people older than 65.

Democrats introduced a bill weeks into taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives last month to mandate universal background checks, but the bill is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled Senate.

Angry that Congress isnt taking Gun Violence Seriously?Give them a piece of your mind & support #HR8 today!https://t.co/d2v5wdZ72z  March For Our Lives (@AMarch4OurLives) February 12, 2019



Some politicians, overwhelmingly Republican, were criticized in the gun safety debate after the Parkland shooting for accepting donations from the powerful National Rifle Association. Sen. Marco Rubio, whose Florida district includes Parkland, has been criticized by its students for accepting more than $3 million in political contributions from the NRA. Rubio has said he believes the issue of mass shootings cannot be solved with gun laws alone.

FILE - Sen. Marco Rubio (Republican-Florida) arriv FILE - Sen. Marco Rubio (Republican-Florida) arrives for a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, March 7, 2018. FILE - Sen. Marco Rubio (Republican-Florida) arrives for a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, March 7, 2018.

A Pew study conducted in October 2018 shows no significant differences in expressions of views on gun policy by age or gender, but instead saw clearer divides by gun ownership and partisanship.

But a year after the shooting, which drew national and international attention, no nationwide legislation on gun safety or school safety has been passed.

In the past year since the Parkland shooting, more than 1,200 Americans 18 and younger were killed by gun violence, according to a yearlong data project between news outlets The Trace and the Miami Herald. The project employed student journalists to tell the stories of each individual killed in shootings, but did not receive national attention.

A Pew study conducted in April 2018 showed that a majority of teenagers are worried about a shooting happening at their school.

While young people have been mobilized nationwide to fight for gun reform legislation, parents and teachers in the Broward County school district that includes Marjory Stoneman Douglas, stand divided on local and Florida state laws on how to secure their schools.

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission released a 400-page report last month about the shooting, and recommended the expansion of a program that allows teachers and staff members to carry concealed firearms to defend students in the event of an active shooter.

Parkland Pushes Back Against Arming Teachers Parents, teachers and students are pushing back on a report released recently in Parkland, Florida  the site of a mass shooting at a high school last February  that recommends arming teachers to secure schools.I dont agree we should arm teachers, said Lori Alhadeff, whose 16-year-old daughter, Alyssa, was shot and killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.We need to train our law enforcement to actively engage a threat! Parents, teachers and students are pushing back on a report released recently in Parkland, Florida  the site of a mass shooting at a high school last February  that recommends arming teachers to secure schools.I dont agree we should arm teachers, said Lori Alhadeff, whose 16-year-old daughter, Alyssa, was shot and killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.We need to train our law enforcement to actively engage a threat!

The recommendation was opposed by some parents of victims, as well as teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, who say that despite their intimate knowledge of the school and its needs, they were not consulted for the report.Power-strapped North Korea is exploring two ambitious alternative energy sources, tidal power and coal-based synthetic fuels, that could greatly improve living standards and reduce its reliance on oil imports and vulnerability to sanctions.

Finding a lasting energy source that isnt vulnerable to sanctions has long been a priority for North Korean officials. Leader Kim Jong Un used his New Years address last month to call on the country to radically increase the production of electricity and singled out the coal-mining industry as a primary front in developing the self-supporting economy. For the longer-term, he stressed the importance of atomic, wind and tidal power.

Since further development of atomic energy is unlikely anytime soon, the power-scarce country is developing technology to gasify coal into substitute motor fuels. It also is looking into using huge sea barriers with electricity-generating turbines to harness the power of the oceans tides.

FILE - Young joggers pass by as smoke billows from FILE - Young joggers pass by as smoke billows from the stack of the Pyongyang Power Plant in Pyongyang, North Korea, Dec. 15, 2018. FILE - Young joggers pass by as smoke billows from the stack of the Pyongyang Power Plant in Pyongyang, North Korea, Dec. 15, 2018.

?Coal and hydropower

Coal and hydropower are North Koreas main energy resources. The North imports nearly all of its oil and petroleum products from China. Solar panels are visible just about everywhere, from urban balconies to rural farm buildings and military installations. Wind remains a very minor energy source.

The Norths renewed focus on oil alternatives underscores what some foreign observers believe are two of its long-term best bets.

Kims late father, Kim Jong Il, tried to get international support for developing nuclear power in the 1990s before the North ultimately opted instead for nuclear weapons. That brought some of the most intense sanctions ever applied by the United Nations against the country, making its energy situation even more precarious.

But coal is something North Korea has in abundance.

Its used to supply thermal power plants and factories, to heat homes and to make fertilizer and even a kind of cloth, called Vinylon. Slow-running, smoke-belching trucks that use a gasification process with firewood are common in the North Korean countryside. Coal isnt generally seen as a good oil-product substitute because converting it to a liquid form is inefficient and expensive  coal gasification was last used on a large scale in Nazi Germany to keep its cars and trucks moving.

Efforts paying off

Given North Koreas limited options, its a technology that appears to be paying off.

The output from one gasifier unit reportedly destined for the North Sunchon Chemical Plant, north of Pyongyang, could yield synthetic fuel amounting to about 10 percent of the Norths recent petroleum supply, according to a recent study for the Nautilus Institute by David von Hippel and Peter Hayes, two of the foremost experts on the issue. The study cited as one of its sources a Wall Street Journal report from December that tracked the unit to a Chinese exporter.

The facility is believed to be a center of C-1 technology, which uses coal to make a kind of gas used to produce synthetic fuels, industrial chemicals and fertilizers.

Now that China has reduced its coal imports from the North in line with the sanctions, theres more available for gasification.

The project appears to provide a significant benefit to the DPRK, in terms of supplying fuels to compensate for petroleum product imports that run afoul of United Nations Security Council sanctions passed in the last two years, although the project will not completely replace all lost imports on its own, they wrote in the report.

DPRK is short for the Norths official name, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.

A North Korean man looks out to the sea as he stan A North Korean man looks out to the sea as he stands on the West Sea Barrage in Nampo, North Korea, Feb. 2, 2019. North Korea's coast is a rich tidal power resource, one European official said. A North Korean man looks out to the sea as he stands on the West Sea Barrage in Nampo, North Korea, Feb. 2, 2019. North Korea's coast is a rich tidal power resource, one European official said.

?Power from the tides

The Norths interest in tidal energy also reflects a practical desire to exploit existing resources.

Glyn Ford, a former member of the European Parliament with extensive experience with the North, said he has had several discussions with North Korean officials regarding tidal power and even helped arrange a study tour to a facility in the UK a decade ago. He said they have tried to invite experts to the North.

The country is perfectly situated for tidal power.

The bulk of the Korean Peninsulas west coast is a rich tidal power resource, Ford said in a telephone interview with The AP. There are some detailed studies of the potential in South Korea and the same resources are there to be exploited north of the Demilitarized Zone.

The worlds largest functioning tidal power plant is near the South Korean city of Ansan. It opened in 2011 and produces about enough power to support a city of 500,000.

Kim Jong Un has shown a strong penchant for mobilizing his million-man military on big projects. And the North has shown it can build something like a tidal power plant.

A guide stands next to a model of the West Sea Bar A guide stands next to a model of the West Sea Barrage in Nampo, North Korea, Feb. 2, 2019. North Korea is exploring alternative energy sources. A guide stands next to a model of the West Sea Barrage in Nampo, North Korea, Feb. 2, 2019. North Korea is exploring alternative energy sources.

One of North Koreas proudest accomplishments is the gigantic West Sea Barrage, which was completed in 1986 at a cost of $4 billion. The huge seawall near the city of Nampo, a port about an hours drive from the capital, crosses the mouth of the Taedong River and helps control flooding and reduce the amount of salt that seeps in from the ocean, increasing the amount and quality of arable land.

The attraction is that, apart from the turbines, it is all a gigantic earth-moving project, Ford said. Thats ideal for the Korean Peoples Army skillset.The state of New Jersey has awarded $1.63 million in financial aid for higher education to more than 500 undocumented students, new government data showed Wednesday.

New Jersey's Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA) reported that 513 students received the aid to cover university and college expenses starting with the 2018 fall semester.

"This financial assistance offers these New Jersey students a life-changing opportunity," David J. Socolow, HESAA's executive director, said in a statement.

"The successes of these first 513 students, who are now attending county colleges, state colleges and universities, and independent institutions around the state, will have a positive impact on countless additional lives."

To be eligible for the financial assistance, students must have attended a New Jersey high school for at least three years and graduated from one, or received the equivalent of a high school diploma in the state. They must also file an affidavit stating that they have filed or will file an application to legalize their immigration status.

Male applicants are also required to register for selective service.

FILE - New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy speaks in O FILE - New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy speaks in Oceanport, N.J., June 14, 2018. FILE - New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy speaks in Oceanport, N.J., June 14, 2018.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed the controversial measure into law last May, making New Jersey the 10th state to provide state aid to undocumented college hopefuls. The students are recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program implemented in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama. DACA allows immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children without proper immigration papers to stay in the country legally and work or attend school.

Though DACA recipients are protected from deportation and can enroll in U.S. colleges and universities, they are not eligible for federal financial assistance. States, however, can issue financial aid.

Opponents of the law have argued that state funds should go to U.S. citizens struggling to fund their college educations.

Some 1,500 New Jersey "Dreamers" applied for education assistance last summer, and 655 were approved for state aid. Of those, 513 students enrolled in New Jersey colleges and received their grants, according to data released by HESAA.

Students seeking financial assistance are required to apply through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). New Jersey Dreamers file a separate application that does not require a Social Security number, but proof of income.

Some of the applications were rejected because students made too much money to qualify for Tuition Aid Grants  the program that accounts for the overwhelming majority of the financial aid.RENO, NEVADA - The longtime director of the international center at the University of Nevada in Reno is the latest woman to accuse Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias of sexual misconduct.

Carina Black said in interviews this week that Arias boxed her in against a wall inside an elevator at the university in 1998 and then tried to kiss her. She said it happened after she spent a day escorting Arias to meetings and an evening speaking engagement at the university.

"I just smacked him in the face and pushed him away," Black said. "Then the elevators doors opened, and I left."

Arias, 78, met with prosecutors in Costa Rica on Wednesday to give a statement in two criminal complaints against him alleging sexual assault and sexual abuse, but he has declined to provide any specific public comment since he denied the initial complaint last week.

At least six women have made accusations against him ranging from unwanted advances to alleged assault. The Associated Press interviewed three people Black told about Arias' behavior shortly after she said it occurred, including her husband.

Black was 31 at the time and new to her job at the Northern Nevada International Center she helped found. She recalled struggling throughout the day because of what she described as Arias' overly intrusive demeanor leading up to the misconduct in the elevator.

Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias Sanchez address FILE - Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias addresses journalists outside Lisbon, Nov. 30, 2009. FILE - Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias addresses journalists outside Lisbon, Nov. 30, 2009.

Now 52, Black said he repeatedly tried to hold her hand and invited her to visit him in Costa Rica but that she tried to ignore the moves she found offensive, not wanting to be rude, because the 1987 Nobel laureate had been invited to the university and was a guest of honor.

"I was constantly trying to be polite because he's a person of authority," Black said.

Criminal complaints

Arias was twice elected Costa Rica's president and received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end protracted and bloody civil wars in Central America.

Black said she decided to come forward to support the woman who launched the first criminal complaint last week against Arias in Costa Rica.

Arias on Wednesday appeared at the Costa Rica prosecutor's office with his lawyer and told reporters he has always answered questions during 50 years in public life but declined to do so, saying "on this occasion my lawyer has requested I not make statements."

In the first criminal complaint filed, Arias is accused of groping, kissing and penetrating a female peace activist with his fingers at his home in 2014. A former Miss Costa Rica lodged a second complaint, saying Arias grabbed, groped and kissed her against her will at his home in 2015.

"We almost always think that it is our fault that we encourage these kinds of situations," Black said. "Unless we come out and say something to the contrary, this will continue to happen to other women."

Arias denied wrongdoing after the initial complaint, saying he "never disrespected the will of any woman" and has fought for gender equality during his career. As more allegations emerged, his lawyer Erick Ramos has declined to comment further.

Decision to speak out

Black said she became aware of the allegations Arias faces last week when a friend at the U.S. State Department with whom she had given a presentation on sexual harassment sent her a news article about the initial accuser.

"I feel so much sympathy for this woman in Costa Rica. She went to all these lawyers who apparently told her they won't take her case because he is so powerful," she said. "I'm protected by both distance and the rule of law here in the United States, so I don't have as much to fear as all of these women who are in much closer proximity to him."

FILE - A woman holds up a sign with a line drawing FILE - A woman holds up a sign with a line drawing depicting Costa Ricas ex-President Oscar Arias and a message that reads in Spanish: WANTED: Oscar Arias Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Violator, during a protest by women activists under the slogan "Yo te creo," or "I believe you, in San Jose, Costa Rica, Feb. 8, 2019. FILE - A woman holds up a sign with a line drawing depicting Costa Ricas ex-President Oscar Arias and a message that reads in Spanish: WANTED: Oscar Arias Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Violator, during a protest by women activists under the slogan "Yo te creo," or "I believe you, in San Jose, Costa Rica, Feb. 8, 2019.

University of Nevada spokeswoman Kerri Garcia confirmed Black was working at the university when Arias visited on April 6, 1998. Black helped found the center that year to facilitate visits for prominent international figures like Arias. He was one of her first official guests, who also included Desmond Tutu.

She said she kept a photograph album of a banquet for Arias attended by other dignitaries, including then-U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan and then-Nevada Gov. Bob Miller, as well as photos of Black and Arias posing together.

Looking at it for the first time more than 20 years later "just made me gag," she said.

A student adviser who helped organize the event, Josefine Durazo, said in an interview that Black called her shortly after the Arias event and said, "You're not going to believe what happened."

Black told her what Arias did in the elevator and "was really upset at the time, infuriated," said Durazo, who now works for the World Bank in Washington, D.C.

Richard Siegel, a retired university political science professor who appeared in a picture with Arias at the banquet, said Black told him about it a day or several days later.

"I remember her telling me what happened, her version of it  being accosted on the elevator," Siegel said in an interview.

Black's husband, Greg, said his wife told him after she returned home from the event that night.

Greg Black said he encouraged his wife to speak out to set an example for their four daughters, to lend credibility to Arias' first accuser "and let her know she is not alone."

Costa Rica's National Liberation Party last week announced Arias was leaving the party pending an outcome of the first criminal case.Aung San Suu Kyi is unlikely to win any big changes to Myanmars military-drafted constitution, despite launching her boldest challenge yet to the generals entrenched role in politics, analysts have said.

Her civilian National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which dominates parliament, last week comfortably won a vote to set up a committee to amend the charter  but observers say thats about as easy as its going to get.

Myanmar Parliament Approves Step Toward Charter Change Myanmar's parliament voted Tuesday to create a committee to propose amendments to the country's military-enacted constitution, which grants the armed forces the power to block any change. The proposal to form the committee was presented by a member of the ruling National League for Democracy party of leader Aung San Suu Kyi, which took power in 2016 after more than five decades of military or military-backed rule. The 2008 constitution gives the military control of national security ministries and Myanmar's parliament voted Tuesday to create a committee to propose amendments to the country's military-enacted constitution, which grants the armed forces the power to block any change. The proposal to form the committee was presented by a member of the ruling National League for Democracy party of leader Aung San Suu Kyi, which took power in 2016 after more than five decades of military or military-backed rule. The 2008 constitution gives the military control of national security ministries and

Amending the constitution

The roughly 200-page document guarantees soldiers a quarter of all seats in parliament, giving them the ability to veto any constitutional changes, which require 75 percent of the vote to pass.

That means the NLDs super majority from a landslide 2015 election win is effectively useless when it comes to striking down clauses that bar Suu Kyi from becoming president and allow the military to control key ministries.

Lawmakers of the National League for Democracy par FILE - Lawmakers of the National League for Democracy party (NLD) and Military representatives leave the parliament after attending a regular session of the Union Parliament, Aug. 25, 2016, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. FILE - Lawmakers of the National League for Democracy party (NLD) and Military representatives leave the parliament after attending a regular session of the Union Parliament, Aug. 25, 2016, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar.

The constitution came into force following what is regarded as a sham referendum in 2008, held just a few days after a devastating cyclone killed around 140,000 people.

The death of Ko Ni

Hopes of reform dampened after the assassination in early 2017 of Ko Ni, a top constitutional lawyer and close advisor to Suu Kyi.

Supporters carry the coffin of Ko Ni, a prominent FILE - Supporters carry the coffin of Ko Ni, a prominent member of Myanmar's Muslim minority and legal adviser for Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy, after he was shot dead, in Yangon, Myanmar, Jan. 30, 2017. FILE - Supporters carry the coffin of Ko Ni, a prominent member of Myanmar's Muslim minority and legal adviser for Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy, after he was shot dead, in Yangon, Myanmar, Jan. 30, 2017.

The NLD appeared to be signaling those hopes were still alive when it used the second anniversary of Ko Nis death to announce its plan to form the committee last month.

Myanmars Dignity Rests on Outcome of Murder Trial, Says Slain Lawyer's Daughter 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 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

Power of the military

Making the charter more democratic was a key NLD election pledge, but the committee appears to be less about making good on that promise than trying to show voters that they tried, and were hamstrung by the generals.

They already know very well that if they cannot get the military to agree, they cannot change the constitution, said Ye Myo Hein, an analyst with the Tagaung Institute of Political Studies, a Yangon-based think-tank.

With the next election in 2020 looming ever larger, he added, they want to send the message to the people that the NLD is always trying to fulfill its campaign promises.

But using the military's legal veto as an excuse for failure might ring hollow, said Soe Myint Aung, founder of the Yangon Centre for Independent Research.

Changing the charter would require an imaginative political solution to win concessions from the generals, he added; simply suggesting changes they are bound to vote down wont be enough.

I dont think the NLD is really in a position to put the blame on the military if the amendments do not happen, he said. The constitutional amendment question is really about political will. It's not really about the legal matter.

The NLD has tried to harness popular support to amend the constitution before, but that was before they came to power.

Mandalay demonstrations

And while hundreds of demonstrators rallied this week in the city of Mandalay to support changes, drawing on the power of the public to pressure the generals may not be the best strategy for the NLD this time, said Ye Myo Hein.

In the near future they will be very busy with the election. I think it is very risky and also they would have to invest a lot of time and energy to mobilize, he said.

While key clauses that preserve the militarys power are off limits for now, there are some less significant changes that the NLD may be able to make ahead of the next general election to show it has made progress.

Some change possible

Scrapping section 261, which gives the president a key role in appointing regional chief ministers, is plausible because the military would not see that as a threat, says Ye Myo Hein.

They will allow constitutional reform that cannot damage their role in politics, he said.

Decentralizing some power to Myanmars conflict-torn borderlands in this way might even serve the militarys interests, he added, allowing them to pressure ethnic armed groups to participate in politics rather than taking up arms.

The question is whether or not the NLD itself would want such a change; the party has been accused of using the clause to get the upper hand while in power.

The committee could be seen as an opportunity for Aung San Suu Kyi to win back some of the trust she has lost amid criticism she is unwilling to negotiate with ethnic parties.

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi listens to the ope FILE - Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi listens to the opening speech at the Leaders Plenary during ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, March 18, 2018, in Sydney. FILE - Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi listens to the opening speech at the Leaders Plenary during ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, March 18, 2018, in Sydney.

Rather than using it to try to push through the changes they already want, the government should open a wider dialogue, said Melissa Crouch, an expert on Myanmar constitutional law.

I think there's a lot the NLD could do around transparency and public participation in this process, she said.

That will be a precarious path to tread, said Soe Myint Aung: The worry is that the NLD will not be able to please anyone, and this will just be seen as a political ploy.NAIROBI - A judge in Kenya has found five top police commanders "culpable" for the death of a six-month-old in 2017. The little girl died as police tried to control election-related protests in Western Kenya. The country's director of public prosecutions may now file charges against the commanders.

Magistrate Beryl Omollo ruled that the five commanders are "culpable" for the death of Samantha Pendo.

Pendo was a six-month-old girl killed in August 2017 as police tried to quell protests in Western Kenya, after President Uhuru Kenyatta was named the winner of the country's presidential election.

Witnesses said anti-riot police stormed into the home of Joseph Abanja and Lencer Achiengs in the town of Nyalenda and clobbered baby Samantha on the head. She died while undergoing medical treatment.

The public prosecutor's office ordered an inquiry after investigations by Kenyas Independent Policing Oversight Authority failed to determine who killed the little girl.

Omollo read out her decision in court Thursday.

I have evaluated the entire evidence as presented before me, and I am satisfied that the deceased baby Samantha Pendo did not die as a result of natural consequences, but due to severe head injury caused by blunt force trauma inflicted on her by members of the National Police service, Omollo said.

The magistrate also ordered the director of the public prosecutions office to investigate 31 more officers who might be linked to Pendo's death.

Pendos mother, Lencer Achiengs, told to VOA after the decision that it provides some relief.

Today I am happy at least some people have been held responsible. Even if they did not find the culprit, at least some of the officers have been held responsible for what happened to my daughter. It should be a lesson, even if elections are being held, let nobody shed blood because of elections. Elections come and go," Achiengs said.

According to a 2017 report by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, at least 33 people were killed by police as they protested the outcome of Kenya's general elections.

Demas Kiprono, Amnesty International's campaign manager for safety and dignity, said today's ruling supports the group's previous findings.

This means that atrocities happened during our last election and we need to come up with elaborate steps to ensure police accountability so that whenever they are interacting with members of the public in any situation, they are guided by their standing orders and international human rights law regarding the use of force and policing assemblies, Kiprono said.

The courts have forwarded Pendo's case to the public prosecutor's office for a decision on what charges the police commanders might face. The timing and seriousness of the charges are still to be determined.WASHINGTON - A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Paul Manafort intentionally lied to investigators and a federal grand jury in the Russia probe.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in an order that there was sufficient evidence that Manafort lied in breach of his plea agreement.

The decision hurts Manafort's chance of receiving a reduced sentence next month.

Manafort was accused of lying about several matters, including his discussions with a longtime associate the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence. Special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors have said the discussions between Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik about a Ukrainian peace plan go to the "heart" of the Mueller probe.

Manafort was also accused of lying about sharing polling data with Kilimnik during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Manafort remains jailed while he awaits sentencing.BRUSSELS - The European Union will give Ireland some leeway to establish new border arrangements with Northern Ireland in case of a no-deal Brexit, sources in the bloc's political hub Brussels said.

But they said Dublin would soon have to come up with a plan to ensure the integrity of the EU's single market or face checks on its own goods coming into the rest of the bloc.

"Ireland can get transition periods or some temporary opt-outs on the border in the worst-case scenario," a senior EU diplomat said.

"But soon enough it will have to face up to the fact that either there is a border on the island or a border between Ireland and the rest of the EU," the person added.

EU diplomats and officials dealing with Brexit admit it is impossible to set up full border controls overnight as should theoretically be the case if the United Kingdom leaves the bloc without a divorce settlement on March 29.

The issue of a "hard border" on the island of Ireland has hung over Brexit negotiations from the start and is threatening to sink the divorce deal put together over months of painstaking EU-U.K. talks as the British parliament opposes the Irish "backstop" part of it.

The "backstop" is meant as a last resort, a way to prevent full-blown border controls on goods crossing between EU-state Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland.

But without a U.K.-EU free trade deal, yet to be negotiated, that would tie the latter to the bloc's trade rules  anathema to hardline pro-Brexit supporters in Britain and British Prime Minister Theresa May's Northern Irish allies who say it would weaken the province's links with the rest of the country.

Many in Britain, Ireland and the rest of the EU also fear the return of border checks could reignite violence and make checkpoints a target.

In 1998, Britain and Ireland made the Good Friday Agreement to end 30 years of sectarian violence over whether Northern Ireland should remain British or join the Irish Republic. With both states in the EU, checks along the 500-km (300-mile) land border ended.

FILE - EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker FILE - EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar meet in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 6, 2019. FILE - EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar meet in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 6, 2019.

"The Irish-Irish border is a European border. The Brexit issue is not a bilateral question between the Republic of Ireland and the U.K. It's a European issue," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said after talks with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in Brussels this month.

Asked to comment on the matter in the Irish parliament Thursday, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said: "Deal or no deal, there is an obligation on the Irish and British governments, and the EU to try and work together to find a way of avoiding physical border infrastructure on this island."

Hard choice

But an EU official familiar with the bloc's preparations for a no-deal Brexit said: "In a no-deal scenario, Ireland would have to choose between setting up a physical border with Northern Ireland and de facto leaving the single market.

"If there is no physical border, the customs checks would have to take place on all goods coming from Ireland."

The EU has made a point of publishing contingency plans for areas from transport to social benefits to university exchanges as the risk of an abrupt split grows. But it has kept silent on the Irish border.

Varadkar's stark warning last month that the army may have to be deployed to the border "if things go very wrong" highlighted the risks.

The threat that Ireland could lose at least some access to the EU market is not lost on Varadkar who in Brussels spoke of Dublin's readiness to protect the bloc's common economic area.

"It's core to our economic and industrial strategy, core to our prosperity," he said standing side-by-side with Juncker, promising Ireland would not become a "back door" to the EU.

But while Ireland is promising the EU it would implement border checks, Varadkar also said: "We are making no preparations, no plans for physical infrastructure on the border."

EU and Irish sources say the only way to ensure customs controls while avoiding border infrastructure is the backstop.

It envisages that many checks would be carried out away from the actual frontier  in market places or production sites.

"It is not possible to erect a border. It's just impossible and a different solution needs to be found," said a second EU official dealing with Brexit. "The backstop is our template. It is a solution that is ready and it works."Iran says a female member of a group of eight conservationists on trial for spying has been absent from the courtroom this week as a prosecutor continued reading charges that rights activists say are bogus.

Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that the female defendant was absent from the third and fourth sessions of the closed-door trial, held in Tehran on Tuesday and Wednesday. The report did not name the defendant or cite a reason for her absence. But it said a prosecutor continued reading a more than 300-page-long indictment to the other seven defendants and would complete the process later.

An Iran researcher for U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), Tara Sepehri Far, told VOA Persian that her sources named the absent defendant as Niloufar Bayani.

Another U.S.-based group, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), has said much of the indictment is based on forced confessions from Bayani. CHRI has quoted its own source as saying Bayani interrupted the trial's opening Jan. 30 session several times, accusing investigators of extracting confessions from her under mental and physical duress, and saying she has since retracted those statements.

This image, published by the New York-based Center This image, published by the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, shows eight Iranian environmentalists who went on trial in Tehran, Jan. 30, 2019, on suspicion of being spies. This image, published by the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, shows eight Iranian environmentalists who went on trial in Tehran, Jan. 30, 2019, on suspicion of being spies.

Iran's state-controlled Fars News Agency has referred to the six male and two female defendants as "individuals accused of spying on the country's military installations." Besides Bayani, the other conservationists on trial are Taher Ghadirian, Houman Jowkar, Sepideh Kashani, Amir Hossein Khaleghi, Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, Sam Rajabi and Morad Tahbaz.

Ninth defendant died

Iran detained the eight defendants in January 2018 along with a ninth member of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, Iranian-Canadian dual national Kavous Seyed Emami, who died in custody the following month in what officials termed a suicide. Family members disputed that assertion and called for further investigation into how Iranian authorities treated him.

International human rights organizations have called on Iran to release the environmentalists and investigate allegations that authorities have mistreated them.

Iran's former deputy environment chief, Kaveh Madani, in a Jan. 30 interview with VOA Persian, praised the detained members of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation as experts in their field with good reputations nationally and internationally.

Madani, an American-educated water management expert now based at Yale University in the U.S., served as deputy head of Iran's Department of Environment from September 2017 until April 2018, when he fled the country under verbal attack from conservatives who also accused him of spying under cover of environmental activism.

A group of 369 international conservation practitioners and scholars have added their names to a November 2018 open letter to Iran's Supreme Leader, saying they believe the detained Iranian environmentalists are innocent.

"All of the conservationists in question have dedicated their lives to the conservation of wildlife in Iran, including the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah," the letter said. "We are convinced that their work and research had no second means or objectives."

This article originated in VOA's Persian Service.WASHINGTON - The Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives rebuked President Donald Trump on Wednesday and voted to cut off U.S. military assistance to the Saudi coalition fighting in Yemen.

The vote was 248 to 177 and marked the first time the House has used the War Powers Act.

The measure now goes to the Senate, which passed a similar measure late last year, setting up a possible showdown with the White House.

Trump Objects to Measure Ending US Support for Saudis in Yemen War 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 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

The United States has been providing mainly intelligence and logistical support to the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The conflict has killed thousands of civilians since 2014 and has made a dire humanitarian crisis in one of the worlds poorest nations even worse.

Saudi-led airstrikes aimed at the rebels have obliterated entire neighborhoods, destroying schools and hospitals.

U.S. lawmakers from both parties are not only disgusted by the carnage in Yemen, but many are also angry over what they see as Trumps tepid reaction to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., speaks at a news confere Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 30, 2019, on a reintroduction of a resolution to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 30, 2019, on a reintroduction of a resolution to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.

"This is their (Congress) opportunity to send a message to the Saudis that their behavior on Khashoggi and their flagrant disregard of human rights is not consistent with the American way of doing business and not in line with American values," Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California said.

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., questions U.S. Ambassa Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., questions U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley as she testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 27, 2017, before the House State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs subcommittee budget hearing. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., questions U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley as she testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 27, 2017, before the House State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs subcommittee budget hearing.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee, another California Democrat, called the U.S. involvement in the war in Yemen shameful, saying it helped create a humanitarian crisis.

Congress passed the War Powers Act in 1973 after the United States disastrous involvement in Vietnam.

It gives Congress the authority to pull U.S. forces out of an undeclared war.

The White House said U.S. assistance to the Saudi coalition in Yemen does not fall under the War Powers Act because U.S. forces are not directly involved in hostilities.

If the Yemen resolution also passes in the Senate, the White House has threatened a veto.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to view it offline.MADRID - Spain is caught in the political crosswinds as a Supreme Court trial of 12 Catalan independence leaders gets underway this week against the backdrop of a congressional defeat for socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who may be forced to call snap elections.

Government spokesmen said Wednesday that a date for elections would soon be announced, following the defeat of the budget proposed by Sanchez, who lost the support of regional parties whose handful of parliamentary votes were crucial for his minority government.

Conservatives have been demanding Sanchez hold elections since he assumed office last year through a parliamentary censure motion against conservative Popular Party (PP) Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Sanchez had the backing of Catalan nationalists seeking to punish Rajoy for dismantling their independence bid.

Sanchez abandoned

The Catalans are now abandoning Sanchez as he submits his socialist budget with significant tax increases for parliamentary approval. While he showers Catalonia with promised public spending, separatists balk at his slow progress in meeting their demands for self-determination and the trial against their leaders, which spokeswoman Elsa Artadi calls shameful.

Sanchez has been unable to withstand the torrents of pressure from the right, said a parliamentary representative for the separatist Catalan Republican Left party during Tuesdays congressional debate, in which he urged a vote against the government.

People protest against the Supreme Court at Catalu People protest against the Supreme Court at Catalunya Square in Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 12, 2019. Signs read, "Freedom for political prisoners." People protest against the Supreme Court at Catalunya Square in Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 12, 2019. Signs read, "Freedom for political prisoners."

Conservative opponents gathered 200,000 people in the center of Madrid last Sunday to denounce attempts by Sanchez to establish formal negotiations with Catalan leaders through an international mediator.

PP leader Pablo Casado and Albert Rivera of the Ciudadanos party called Sanchez a traitor and demanded his resignation before the flag-waving multitude, including invited celebrities such as prize winning author Mario Vargas Llosa.

Suggestions for an international mediation of the conflict were included in a 21-point proposal that Catalan President Quim Torra handed Sanchez at a meeting in Barcelona last month, according to government officials.

WATCH: Catalonia Trial Reopens Spain's Painful Debate

Some senior socialist figures such as former Prime Minister Felipe Gonzales joined conservatives in their storm of criticism about treating Catalonia like a de facto foreign state. Sanchez caved and announced last Friday that dialogue with the Catalan government was suspended.

PP spokesmen have also warned the government not to interfere in the trials by negotiating pardons or reduced sentencing, as proposed by some officials close to Sanchez, such as leaders of the Catalan branch of the Spanish socialist party.

Government attorneys are trying to drop the charge of rebellion filed against former Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras and other officials who organized an October 2017 independence referendum, which the Spanish government had declared illegal.

The attorneys have argued that the disobedience of central authorities actions did not constitute rebellion because no violence was used. But the motion has been opposed by leaders of the far right VOX party who are gaining much media exposure as public accusers in the trial where they are pushing for a 74-year prison sentence for Junqueras.

VOX has a strong grass-roots base among patriotic Spaniards viscerally opposed to regional nationalism.

We are playing politics with the trial the same way that the Catalans are, said VOX lawyer Pedro Fernandez.

During his testimony Thursday, Junqueras testified that he considers himself to a "political prisoner."

Trial to last months

The courtroom drama is expected to last at least three months, during which about 500 witnesses will be called, including former Prime Minister Rajoy and King Felipe.

The newspaper El Pais observes that the Catalans are basing their defense on a political offensive to undermine the trials legitimacy. Torra called a press conference after the first days session in which he said that the proceedings were an attack against democracy and human rights and should never be taking place.

Fugitive Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont addresse FILE - Fugitive Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont addresses the media in Brussels, Belgium, Jan. 24, 2018. FILE - Fugitive Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont addresses the media in Brussels, Belgium, Jan. 24, 2018.

He has threatened to take the case before European courts, which have blocked Spanish efforts to arrest Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, who led the 2017 independence bid and fled to exile in Belgium.

The budding Catalan government has been trying to cultivate support abroad through a network of embassies, which Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Borrel accuses of promoting a black legend about Spain.

German authorities have joined Belgium in rejecting rebellion charges against Puigdemont. But analysts say its doubtful that EU institutions would lend any significant support to Catalan separatists at a time when cementing the blocs unity takes priority in order to confront Brexit.

VOX leader Santiago Abascal has told VOA that he has also lobbied populist movements elsewhere in Europe to shun Catalan separatists after they received some initial backing from parties forming part of Italys governing coalition.CAIRO - The Egyptian parliament voted overwhelmingly Thursday to approve draft amendments to the country's 2013 constitution, putting an end to presidential term limits and potentially allowing incumbent President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to remain in office until 2034. The changes will need to be ratified in a popular referendum in the next several months.



Egyptian state TV reported that parliament voted heavily to approve constitutional amendments that would end term limits and potentially allow incumbent President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to be re-elected several more times until 2034. Egypt Lawmakers Approve Extending President's Term Limits Egyptian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to extend term limits for President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi until 2034, part of a package of constitutional amendments also set to further enshrine the militarys role in politics that will now face a national referendum.Of the 596-seat Parliament, 485 lawmakers backed the amendments, which could see the former general ruling for the length of four U.S. Egyptian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to extend term limits for President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi until 2034, part of a package of constitutional amendments also set to further enshrine the militarys role in politics that will now face a national referendum.Of the 596-seat Parliament, 485 lawmakers backed the amendments, which could see the former general ruling for the length of four U.S.

Opinion on the street was mixed, with many young people expressing reservations about the changes, while older Egyptians appeared more accepting of open-ended presidential terms, as has been the case since the country's 1952 revolution, which overthrew the monarchy.



President Gamal Abdel Nasser, one of the instigators of the 1952 revolution, remained in office from 1954 until he died in 1970, while his successor, Anwar Sadat, was president from 1970 until he was killed by Islamic extremists in 1981. Sadat's vice president, Hosni Mubarak, succeeded him and ruled for nearly 30 years until he was ousted in a 2011 revolution.



Political sociologist Said Sadek tells VOA that many Egyptians are worried about instability in the region and are looking to the president for stability and security.

"Egypt is surrounded by failed states: Libya, Sudan and Hamas in Gaza. All the neighboring countries are in trouble. There is also tension in the Gulf, so [many] people are looking for a strong, powerful leader," he said. "They look at Sissi as someone who has delivered security and they want him to continue the stabilization."

Egypt's Parliament to Vote on Extending President's Term Egypts Parliament began deliberations Wednesday over constitutional amendments that could allow President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to stay in office till 2034  12 more years after his current, second term expires in 2022.The development comes amid concerns that Egypt is slipping back into authoritarianism, eight years after a pro-democracy uprising ended autocratic President Hosni Mubaraks nearly three-decade rule. Egypts Parliament began deliberations Wednesday over constitutional amendments that could allow President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to stay in office till 2034  12 more years after his current, second term expires in 2022.The development comes amid concerns that Egypt is slipping back into authoritarianism, eight years after a pro-democracy uprising ended autocratic President Hosni Mubaraks nearly three-decade rule.

Sadek argues that if President Sissi were to suddenly disappear from the political scene, "Egyptians would probably choose another person from the military-political class, rather than a civilian, who might not be able to cope with the regional instability."



Hilal Khashan, who teaches political science at the American University of Beirut, points out that Arab rulers, across the region, have a tradition of remaining in power for long periods of time.

"In Egypt and the rest of the region, elections are about endorsement. You don't really elect, you simply ratify the existing order," said Khashan. "In the Arab tradition, people have no reason to question authority. The ruler expects obedience ... and of course, we have a fascination for authority and the application of power."



Sadek points out that "democracy across the world has been in regression for the past 15 years," according to a report by U.S.-based Freedom House.



Hilal Khashan, however, says the Arab world has never really undergone the fundamental changes seen in Europe, as democracy evolved.

"What made democracy happen in Europe is first the "Age of Reason," the "Renaissance," and then the industrial revolution, which broke the old system and put an end to the segmentation of society, creating a new political community based on interests," said Khashan. "The key to the establishment of a democratic order is to have a political community that believes in working together ... something that has never happened in this region."



Arab media reported Egypt's proposed constitutional changes without major criticism, while many Western news outlets appeared to express outrage at the proposed changes.



Both Sadek and Khashan point out that Arab rulers across the region have traditionally governed for long periods of time, among them the Sultan of Oman (from 1970 to the present), former Syrian President Hafez al Assad (from 1970 to his death in 2000), former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi (from 1969 until he was ousted in 2011), former Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh (from 1978 to 2011) and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (from 1989 to present).YAOUNDE - Cameroon's President Paul Biya Wednesday celebrated his 86th birthday with supporters organizing lavish parties and opponents calling on him to resign.

Biya is the oldest president in sub-Saharan Africa and one of the longest-serving, but critics say his long rule has put the country in a bad position.

Supporters of Biya wished him a happy birthday Wednesday at a party attended by thousands in the capital, Yaounde.

Fadimatou Iyawa Ousmanou, president of Cameroons National Youth Council, said they bussed in Biyas young supporters from all over the country to show respect and gratitude.

"You can see more than two thousand and five hundred Cameroonian young people that came to celebrate that birthday, and we came here to tell the head of state we are willing to work with him. We are encouraging him for what he is doing for the Cameroonian young people and also to promote our patriotic and civil behavior so that we can help in the building of a peaceful Cameroon," Ousmanou said.

Young supporters, many bussed in from other parts Young supporters, many bussed in from other parts of the country, mark President Paul Biya's birthday, at Yaounde Conference Center, in Yaounde, Cameroon, Feb 13, 2019. Young supporters, many bussed in from other parts of the country, mark President Paul Biya's birthday, at Yaounde Conference Center, in Yaounde, Cameroon, Feb 13, 2019.

While supporters wished Biya divine guidance and a long life, he did not attend the celebration at the Yaounde Conference Center. He organized a private, and reportedly lavish, party at his home village of Mvomeka in southern Cameroon.

While Biyas supporters celebrated, the opposition Renaissance Movement Party held a protest march in Yaounde calling on Biya to resign and for their leader, Maurice Kamto, to be freed.

Kamto, who claims Biya stole the October 7 presidential election, is under arrest and facing charges including rebellion for protesting the election results.

Thirsty for change

Kamto supporter Clement Metuge said he has known only one leader  Biya - since he was born. He condemned the large birthday celebrations for the president.

"We have constraints economically in Cameroon to deal with Boko Haram, our resources are not even enough for us to manage. All of us are sensitive about the fact that it is not just about his willingness to be in power, it is also about the performance, his age and everything. There is need for change and Cameroonians are thirsty for that change, Metuge said.

In 2008, Biya revised the constitution to remove presidential term limits. Critics called the move authoritarian and have long accused his government of rigging elections -- allegations that officials deny.

Youths sit during celebrations marking President P Youths sit during celebrations marking President Paul Biya's birthday, at Yaounde Conference Center, in Yaounde, Cameroon, Feb 13, 2019. Youths sit during celebrations marking President Paul Biya's birthday, at Yaounde Conference Center, in Yaounde, Cameroon, Feb 13, 2019.

University of Yaounde political analyst Christophe Tiennteu said Biya has ruled with an iron fist for too long. Cameroon, he said, is plunging into an indescribable chaos with incoherent governance and democratic practice. Faced with these challenges, he said, and while craving for change and an end to domination by one man, people are distancing themselves from moves by Biya and his followers that go against Cameroons interests.

If something were to happen to the 86-year-old president, said Tiennteu, Cameroon could face a very difficult transition.

While the constitution stipulates new elections if the office of president becomes vacant, Biya is not known to have prepared a successor.WASHINGTON - The legal limits of the broad press freedoms granted under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution may be tested by recent allegations of extortion and blackmail leveled by the worlds richest man against a national gossip newspaper .

Jeff Bezos, the worlds richest man, who owns both the Amazon online shopping site and The Washington Post newspaper, recently claimed that the publishers of the National Enquirer newspapers parent company, American Media Inc. (AMI), threatened to publish intimate photos of Bezos unless he halted an investigation into the tabloids aggressive coverage of his divorce.

The Amazon founder, who is reportedly worth $136 billion, said he would spare no expense to investigate how the Enquirer obtained his private text messages that were published in a story alleging an extramarital affair with former news anchor Lauren Sanchez before announcing his divorce from his wife of 25 years.

WATCH: Amazon Blackmail Allegations and US Press Freedom

?Legal liability

AMI has denied the charges and maintains it acted lawfully in its reporting.

It absolutely is not extortion and not blackmail. What happened was the story was given to the National Enquirer by a reliable source that had given information to the National Enquirer for seven years prior to this story. It was a source that was well-known to both Mr. Bezos and Miss Sanchez, said Elkan Abramowitz, an attorney representing AMI.

There have been media reports speculating that Michael Sanchez, the brother of Lauren Sanchez, may have provided the Bezos texts to the Enquirer.

In this Jan. 31, 2014 photo, David Pecker, Chairma FILE - David Pecker, chairman and CEO of American Media, addresses those attending a Super Bowl party in New York, Jan. 31, 2014. FILE - David Pecker, chairman and CEO of American Media, addresses those attending a Super Bowl party in New York, Jan. 31, 2014.

?Legal hot water

However, AMI chairman and CEO David Pecker and the media conglomerate could be in legal jeopardy if Bezos blackmail allegations can be proved, or if the Enquirer is found to have been directly involved in stealing private text messages.

I dont quite understand why AMI and its lawyers engaged in activity that potentially violates federal extortion laws and state criminal laws involving coercion. And potentially, depending on how they got the information, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which is an anti-federal, anti-hacking law, said Tor Ekeland, a federal criminal defense lawyer.

Last year, Pecker admitted that before the 2016 election, AMI paid $150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal to silence her allegations of an affair with Trump. The publishers avoided prosecution by agreeing to cooperate with federal prosecutors investigating campaign finance violations. Prosecutors are now looking into whether the alleged extortion effort made public by Bezos violates that deal, which was conditional on AMI not committing further crimes.

FILE - A protester holds a poster with a picture o FILE - A protester holds a poster with a picture of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, outside Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 25, 2018. FILE - A protester holds a poster with a picture of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, outside Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 25, 2018.

?Partisan press

The Bezos investigation is also looking into the possible political motivations behind the Enquirers extensive coverage, which according to the Enquirer entailed sending reporters to follow Bezos and Sanchez across five states and 40,000 miles, and tracking them in private jets, swanky limos, helicopter rides.

Bezos suggested he may have been targeted by the Enquirer in retaliation for The Washington Posts critical coverage of President Donald Trump, and of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans alleged involvement in the killing of Saudi dissident and Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Trump has often criticized Amazon, The Washington Post and Bezos on Twitter, calling the newspaper the Amazon Washington Post, and its owner, Bozo.

Pecker, a longtime friend of Trump, reportedly also has ties to leaders in Saudi Arabia.

The White House and Saudi officials have denied any knowledge or involvement in the Enquirer coverage.

FILE - The cover of an issue of the National Enqui FILE - The cover of an issue of the National Enquirer is shown, featuring President Donald Trump at a store in New York, July 12, 2017. FILE - The cover of an issue of the National Enquirer is shown, featuring President Donald Trump at a store in New York, July 12, 2017.

Press freedom

Bezos may find little legal recourse against charges he is being politically targeted by a media organization aligned with Trump.

The Enquirers salacious reporting on Bezos alleged affair, even if done for overtly partisan reasons, would likely be protected under the First Amendment.

I have to separate out the sleaze here from the principle I think were trying to protect, which is, journalists have a right to publish what they know, said Gene Policinski, director of the Freedom Forum Institutes First Amendment Center.

And news organizations in the United States have a long history of political partisanship, of aligning with political parties and targeting opposition groups with more critical coverage.

Political partnership, again, is part of our marketplace of ideas. It is part of what weve always accepted in the idea of, if you dont like it, you can publish your own. Government stays out of the way, Policinski said.

Bezos could also pursue a civil suit against AMI, but public figures have to cross a higher threshold to prove defamation in U.S. courts.Unionists in Cambodia have warned that officials attempts to downplay the importance of trade ties with the European Union are not taking seriously the impact that the impending withdrawal of preferential trading arrangements will have on workers.

The EU announced this week that it had set in motion an 18-month process to withdraw Cambodia from its Everything But Arms (EBA) trading scheme, which allows the worlds least developed countries tariff-free access to EU markets.

The government has responded by playing down its dependence on EU trade, despite warnings from the industry and workers associations.

The EU can withdraw countries from the scheme if they breach a number of international conventions.

Moeun Tola, executive director of Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL), said losing Cambodias EBA membership would be devastating for workers.

When our economic growth keeps rising, we may perhaps be able to pay tax or reduce corruption. When our competitiveness is improved, it means we can stand on our own, he said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has responded by saying that Cambodia must break free from its reliance on foreign aid, which has underwritten the Cambodian economy since the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979.

In January, Vongsey Visoth, a secretary of state at the finance ministry, was quoted in local media as saying that the inevitable withdrawal of the EBA meant Cambodia must conduct widespread economic reforms to attract foreign businesses.

He said Cambodia could remain competitive despite having to pay tax on its EU exports.

But Tola said Cambodia would struggle to compete against others in the region due to its reliance on imports of raw materials.

So its difficult for investors to reduce production costs, he said, suggesting this could lead factory owners to reduce wages, which in turn could lead to social unrest.

Pav Sina, president of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers (CUMW), said allowing the EBA to be withdrawn would create a change but lose another.

If we keep what we have and create another chance, it means that will doubly profit, he said.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.

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.Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Wednesday warned local authorities in Cambodia not to use armed forces to violently disperse protesters.

The statement came after mixed security forces attacked demonstrators in Preah Sihanouk and Kratie provinces, leaving at least one seriously injured with a gunshot wound.

In his role as interior minister, Kheng oversees Cambodias Unified Command structure, which coordinates the security forces response to public order incidents such as those in Kratie and Preah Sihanouk. Each Unified Command is presided over by the provincial governor, who reports directly to Kheng.

Kheng said: Now we have to be clear about who is the administration and who is the law enforcement. They used authorities to enforce the law, in that case, police and military police are proper. But they used the military. Its wrong. We do not use military forces to carry out court orders.

He went on to question whether the provincial administrations understood the law.

A member of each provincial Unified Command is the relevant military region commander.

A land dispute in Prey Nop district, Preah Sihanouk province, boiled over in January, leading authorities to deploy soldiers, police and military police, who used live ammunition on protesters.

The shooting prompted a group of former opposition politicians to write an open letter to the EU outlining the events.

In a separate incident last year, at least three locals in Snoul district, Kratie province, were shot and many others were beaten when security forces attacked demonstrators there.

Meas Ny, a social commentator, said the security arrangements in place relied on having a powerful person as a backbone in each region rather than adhering to government policy.

He said if the government did not take steps to review the use of force by the military against protesters, this will create injustice and more violence in the future, and more anger from the people.Click here to log in and see all of our other subscription options for the Mesabi Tribune, including online only & auto-renewal subscriptions.Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (left) and Deputy Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish leave a hotel with members of a negotiation team in Beijing. (GREG BAKER/AFP)

Pressure to seal an accord ahead of a March deadline lessened before the talks as US President Donald Trump indicated on Tuesday in Washington he was open to extending a trade truce, depending on progress in Beijing.

Trump in December put on hold sharp tariff hikes on US$200 billion of Chinese imports to allow time for negotiators to work out a resolution to the thorny spat.

The two countries have already slapped tariffs on more than US$360 billion in two-way trade, which has weighed on their manufacturing sectors and shaken global financial markets.

US officials including US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will meet with China's top economic czar Liu He and central bank governor Yi Gang as the two sides aim to build on progress made in Washington last month.

Lower level officials arrived earlier for what the White House called preparatory meetings starting on Monday.

Expectations for a trade deal have grown as China faces pressure from slowing economic growth and swooning global markets rattle Trump and his economic advisors.

Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to meet with top US officials in Beijing this week, a report in the South China Morning Post said on Wednesday, bolstering hopes for the talks and markets in Asia.

Trump also said he expects to meet with Xi "at some point" to clinch a trade deal.

"Markets will continue to watch - and react - closely to the ups and downs of the negotiations," said Trey McArver of Trivium Research.

"But Sino-US relations are all about the two leaders, and it will ultimately be up to Xi and Trump to come to a deal -- or not," he wrote on Wednesday in a newsletter.

The two sides said major progress was made in talks last month in Washington, but a wide gulf remains on some issues.

The US is demanding far-reaching changes to Chinese practises that it says are unfair, including theft of US technology and intellectual property, and myriad barriers that foreign companies face in the Chinese domestic market.

Beijing has offered to boost its purchases of US goods but is widely expected to resist calls for major changes to its industrial policies such as slashing government subsidies.

The International Monetary Fund warned on Sunday of a possible global economic "storm" as world growth forecasts dip, citing the US-China trade row as a key pivot point.Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

According to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment, the firms mainly operate in production, waste treatment and environmental protection, energy and seaport development, construction and refrigeration electromechanics.

Deputy Director of the department To Ngoc Binh said the localitys investment attraction has shown positive signals thanks to measures implemented by local authorities to improve the competitiveness index and promote administrative reform, and support enterprises.

Apart from activities to call for more investment, they have also enhanced trade promotion and helped local firms join trade and industrial fairs in neighbouring localities.

Through activities to assist businesses, Tra Vinh has developed 27 new small- and medium-sized enterprises with a total registered capital of 815 billion VND (nearly 35 million USD) so far this year, 2.5 times higher than the figure in the same period of 2018.By Nguyen Xuan Hoai Director, AI Academy

In the 4.0 era, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been applied in every nook and cranny of life and business, and is ready to replace humans if they do not do their utmost to improve their knowledge, skills, and confirm their position in society.

AI is no longer a strange, distant concept. There are a great number of definitions of AI, but to put it simply, AI, sometimes called machine intelligence, is intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence displayed by humans and other animals.

AI in all of life and business

Numerous companies use AI to draw peoples attention to their newly-launched products, as well as to demonstrate that they are leading the technology trend. Particularly, a great deal of AI has been applied in smartphones. For example, the camera now automatically recognises the face, while there are also voice control capabilities, virtual assistants, and AI built into Facebook apps.

In business, AI, which is changing all the concepts, mindset, and operations, will be able to create a new business model in relevant industries. For example, the Grab and Uber apps have integrated AI technology to manage and operate a large number of drivers, locations, and decide which driver is chosen for which journey. AI could even suggest the most favourable location for drivers to get more clients.

AI can now be found everywhere in every business sector. Currently, most people know about chatbots, a famous application of AI, like Apples Siri, and Amazons Alexa. They could answer simple questions, make appointments, and manage other smart devices. Thereby, instead of paying for any up-to-hundred-member customer care team, they need only 20-30 per cent of the staff and a chatbot (question-answering systems) to operate.

In the customer relationship management (CRM) system of Salesforce, an American cloud-based software company based in San Francisco of California, AI can detect issues with clients automatically, and then compose a well-written email to the relevant clients. Even in Gmail, when a user is typing an email in English, the system immediately suggests the next words that are likely to follow.

Human resources recruitment is also a sector that has greatly integrated AI. Only half a year ago, a Russian robot was launched to use AI to recruit and hire people for major multinational corporations. This virtual recruiter can screen over 1,500 candidates a day and send follow-up emails. Since then, 200 companies have started using this robot, which means the software conducts about 50,000 interviews a day. This robot reduced both the time and cost of recruitment by at least a third. She can connect to several job sites, where she can scour resumes and cover letters. If a match occurs, she calls the candidates and makes an interview on the phone or video call using a script provided, lasting around eight minutes.

People even said that AI is the future of the marketing sector. But not only in the future, most marketers already use AI every day. For example, Google uses an AI application named RankBrain to guess users intentions when they type into the search engine. Besides, AI also supports programmatic advertising, in-image advertising, targeting customers, lead nurturing, and dynamic pricing, which suggests the best price for goods and services based on the things that clients were ready to pay for in the past.

In every sector, AI supports human activities substantially, especially in repeated and routine activities, such as reviewing loan applications, assessing the credit score of borrowers, as well as exploring all the information related to borrowers such as job, income, relationship, and financial status. All of this information will be collected automatically, analysed, and evaluated in a few hours by AI, while human personnel used to spend days or a week on the task.

The age of AI is upon us, in many ways, it is engulfing humanity. AI has relieved people of a lot of the boring, routine, mundane tasks they do not want to do, from increasing efficiency in our personal lives, like Siri ordering a pizza for people online to rifting through mounds of data and analysing it to produce results. AI has made human lives significantly better. With the advent of advanced technologies like self-driving cars, AI systems will also relieve people of frustrating realities like being stuck in traffic, and instead provide us with more leisure time. Moreover, AI is likely ready to replace humans even in highly professional positions, like lawyers, doctors, accountants, and strategy consultants.

Melding machines and humans

There are two types of AI, including General AI (also known as Strong AI), where an (machine) entity could think and have full awareness as a human or even more than a human. General AI can successfully perform any intellectual task that a human being can. This is the sort of AI in movies like Her or other sci-fi movies in which humans interact with machines and operating systems that are conscious, sentient, and driven by emotion and self-awareness. However, it is very far for General AI to become true, and people are still arguing about whether General AI could replace humans or not.

Unlike General AI, Narrow AI (Weak AI) is not conscious, sentient, or driven by emotion the way that humans are. It operates within a pre-determined, pre-defined range, even if it appears to be much more sophisticated than that. Every sort of machine intelligence that surrounds us today, all those wonders mentioned above, is Narrow AI. Some might assume that these tools are not weak because of their ability to interact with us and process human language, but the reason that they are called Weak AI is that they are nowhere close to having human-like intelligence. They lack the self-awareness, consciousness, and genuine intelligence to match human intelligence. In other words, these machines cannot think for themselves.

While doing business, Business Intelligence (BI), a technology-driven process for analysing data and presenting actionable information, will help executives, managers, and other corporate end-users to make informed business decisions. If they do not care about AI and its application, corporations will surely fail.

That is why even the owner of the leading seafood export company in Vietnam and over the world has to pay attention to AI. In the last days of 2018, the biggest Vietnamese seafood corporation signed an agreement with AI Academy to provide technical consultancy on AI applications in its business such as the automation of several processing stages in their factories. They need 7,000 workers in every factory to provide many stages of manual work and are always short on hands. Thus, the company intends to utilise AI to reduce costs and to cope with labour shortage.

Like any other technology, AI is a double-edged sword. We should co-exist with AI in a world where machines reinforce human abilities, help people to accomplish tasks with high performance, create more added value, and become a motivation for people to improve themselves.

According to the latest Talentnet-Mercer Salary Survey, over one third of skill groups of all sectors will use skills that have never been mentioned in current job descriptions. Thereby, people need to improve knowledge and skills like coding, agility, cognitive flexibility, emotional intelligence (EQ), and logical thinking, as well as improve their international exposure and become ready for leadership.

In addition to removing a lot of jobs, AI will also create some new jobs like building and labelling massive data sets to train AI, AI engineering, robot repair and maintenance, and Big Data engineering.

There is no way around Industry 4.0. Each business and the country as a whole should prepare, plan, and build strategies for adaption. Every member of the society needs to change their mindset, strengthen links, and invest more into technology in order to enhance their competitiveness and affirm their position in this playground.Can you tell us some of Nestles achievements from Vietnam last year? How has Nestle contributed to Vietnams economic growth?

We can proudly say that 2018 has been a very good year for us, as many of our business achievements are above industry average. In 2018, we have expanded our business, notably through a new Nescafe Dolce Gusto factory in the southern province of Dong Nai. The factory will process an expected amount of 2,500 tonnes of coffee per year, using high-quality coffee beans from Vietnam. We believe that this volume will increase in the coming years.

To us, growth is very important because it allows us to contribute directly to the Vietnamese economic development. For example, Vietnam is the worlds second largest producer of coffee and Nestle happens to be the biggest buyer of Vietnams coffee products, with an annual purchase volume of 20-25 per cent of the total coffee production output.

With growth, we will be able to continue buying a substantial amount of agricultural products in Vietnam, and contributing to other aspects of the Vietnamese society.

In 2018, we were also proud to receive a certificate of merit for excellent tax compliance. We are among the top 100 taxpayers in Vietnam, and tax transparency is at the core of our business.

In Vietnam, we have a large portfolio that can meet different consumer needs and target groups. Our five biggest brands here in 2018 were Milo, Nescafe, Maggi, NAN, and the Nestle brand itself. We believe in building the business in continuous small steps, and within these five umbrella brands, we are proud to have more product line-ups that can meet the needs of consumers.

Nestle is also an active participant in Vietnams social development. What are the most notable programmes you have conducted in Vietnam so far?

We always strive to practice what we preach, reflecting our role as the worlds leading nutrition, health, and wellness company and living up to our Creating Shared Values motto. To us, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not just a one-time donation to a charity  it is part of our day-to-day business. Overall, as we have pledged to be a long-term partner of Vietnams socioeconomic development, we have deployed various programmes in terms of rural development, nutrition, and water usage. For instance, our Nescafe Plan has helped 20,000 rural farmers in Vietnams Central Highlands implement the best practices of coffee farming and reduce fertiliser usage. We see this programme as a win-win situation, because farmers can get a better life and improve their income by 30 per cent, while Nestle benefits from high-quality coffee products.

I recently took part in the Vietnam Economic Forum 2019 in Hanoi, where I talked about how the government and market participants can collaborate to ensure Vietnams sustainable development. Our public-private partnerships have been highly praised for enhancing Vietnams coffee supply chain.

In terms of nutrition, we have worked with related authorities to promote a healthier lifestyle for Vietnamese people, especially children. Our Active Vietnam programme, for example, encourages children to take part in physical activities. The Nestle Healthy Kids programme includes a software for nutrition learning at schools, while The First 1,000 Days project offers guides to new mothers.

Last but not least, we are very mindful of our water usage in Vietnam, and our factories have no direct discharge to the environment. Our waste is treated inside the manufacturing plant and the right processes are all in place.

How is Nestle responding to Vietnams changing demographics and the rising impact of technology in Vietnamese society?

Our challenge, and also opportunity, is to keep up with the increasing demand of consumers in Vietnam. We have to understand and recognise the needs of different consumer groups, because Nestle strives to be a multi-brand, multi-channel, and multi-category business. Our goal is to offer a product portfolio that covers the entire lifespan of Vietnamese consumers.

On top of that, we see a big increase in younger Vietnamese consumers, whose aspirations and expectations can be different from their parents. Using our own research and insights, Nestle wants to make sure that we can give them the right product with the right proposition. To add another layer of complexity, both ends of the nutritional spectrum are present in Vietnam: In rural areas, people are still not given the right nutrition to develop, and their height is still below average, while in big cities, obesity is gradually becoming a problem. So as more food is readily available in Vietnam, our mission is to provide consumers with the right nutrition and promote a healthier lifestyle.

Regarding technology, people often focus on Industry 4.0 in manufacturing and industrialisation. However, I want to emphasise that our use of Big Data, robotics, and automation extends to the commercial stream. Our sales function is already automated, and every salesman carries handheld devices to measure productivity and provide transparent data, which will help with our upstream planning.

In future years, we are digging deeper to see what these data can do for us in terms of predictive forecasting and business analytics. There is still a long way to go.

What is your plan for 2019 and the years ahead?

Our growth priority remains, and our 2019 activities will continue our long-term strategy that is set for 2017-2020. We want to introduce new products that solve new consumer needs, and CSR will always remain a big driver of our goals to create shared values. Once again, as the world top conglomerate in nutrition, health, and wellness, we aspire to take a holistic view of our product offers. This means we must improve our recipe to increase good nutrients, while reducing fat, sugar, and salt. At the same time, we want to promote a healthier lifestyle towards our Vietnamese consumers and Nestle looks forward to more collaborations to fulfil this mission.

Overall, we are proud of our product quality and ensure that our products offer the best value to consumers. As Vietnam moves towards urbanisation and industrialisation, we believe that consumers should have a wide range of options for their nutritional needs. Nestle is striving to provide the best possible choices for our consumers.

Box

On January 17, the Vietnam Economic Forum (VEF) 2019 took place in Hanoi, chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and head of the Party Central Committees Economic Commission Nguyen Van Binh.

At the high-level policy dialogue on Private sector development and enhancing links between domestic and FDI firms, Ganesan Ampalavanar called for concerted efforts by numerous economic sectors, based on the principle of Creating Shared Value.

Notably, in Ampalavanar's opinion, it is necessary to find a shared voice between policymakers and economic actors for mutual benefit and sustainable economic development.

No business can do everything on its own. Organisations are therefore required to enhance win-win co-operation with distributors, suppliers, and farmers, as well as with state-owned businesses.

As a global brand with a local identity, Nestle Vietnam has pledged long-term investment for sustainable development across Vietnam.

The company has worked to ensure successful operations in tandem with making social contributions when doing business in the country. Ampalavanar added that the company has helped more than 20,000 coffee growers improve productivity and income by applying advanced cultivating techniques via its Nescafe Plan alone.Maria Sharapova was beaten by Ashleigh Barty in the Australian Open last 16. (AFP/OLGA MALTSEVA)

The 31-year-old Russian star has been struggling with a right shoulder problem which forced her withdrawal from the Saint Petersburg tournament last month.

Organisers of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells announced on Wednesday the same problem had prompted her withdrawal from the Mar 4-17 event in California.

Sharapova's place in the main draw will be taken by Germany's Mona Barthel, organisers said.

Sharapova has been struggling back to top fitness since watching from the sidelines during her 15-month doping ban that ended in 2017.

The former world number one missed out on a place in the Australian Open quarter-finals last month, but insisted she still believes she can increase her tally of five Slam titles.The capital city has granted management account codes to nearly 2,000 agricultural product enterprises to boost the use of QR codes to trace product origins. - Photo hpa.hanoi.gov.vn

The codes are an effective way for consumers to trace where agricultural products in Ha Noi originate. They can also help improve the control and management of product lines, market research and e-commerce.

Departments and agencies have also worked to link enterprises and production co-operatives in the city with the Centre for Integration and Development Enterprises to apply authentication processes for their goods.

At the same time, they also encouraged consumers to shop at modern places that allow shoppers to use personal electronic devices to scan QR codes to learn about product origins, prices and instructions for use.

Earlier, the Ha Noi Department of Industry and Trade issued a plan to promote the use of QR codes for online tracing of goods in the city.

Organisations, individuals and consumers can use these codes to determine origins and monitor the circulation and distribution of products.

The city can use them as a basis for developing policies for the management and development of specific goods and groups, especially for food products.

QR codes can also limit commercial fraud and the trading of products of unknown origins.

It also can help introduce and promote reputable and branded enterprises which comply with all production and business activity laws.

Online newspaper vietq.vn quoted Dao Ha Trung, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City High Technology Association, as saying that in the age of Industry 4.0 technology, product traceability is indispensable.

Traceability serves consumers, state management agencies and supply chains, he said.

More importantly, farmers can access technology quickly, and business prestige is also protected.David Duong, president and CEO of Vietnam Waste Solutions

What are you the most satisfied about after a decade of investment in Vietnam?

People keep asking why I chose the garbage business. I felt it was my destiny. Indeed, I built a business out of trash to earn a living in the United States. Meanwhile, I made an investment in Vietnam with a view to contributing to a cleaner, greener, and healthier environment.

After a meeting with Ho Chi Minh Citys leaders in 2003, I returned to my homeland to implement a project. As of present, VWS has become the citys leading waste treatment company using US technologies to handle 5,000 tonnes of garbage a day. This is my most satisfying achievement.

Is there anything you are not satisfied about?

There are still many projects to contribute to the development of the city. However, we need the support of the local authorities and agencies to implement them.

For instance, VWS is committed to creating more local jobs once we put into operation the waste sorting lines using new technology at Da Phuoc Solid Waste Treatment Complex. However, the project remains stagnant as the city has not succeeded in separating waste at the source.

An additional issue is that while the company is prepared and more than willing to plant trees surrounding the project, the city is running behind schedule with the site clearance.

In 2018, Ho Chi Minh City made great progress in sorting waste at the source, especially at some of the central districts. How do you see this?

I have been keeping a close eye on this progamme because it reflects the citys efforts to create a more civilised and healthy environment. In fact, waste classification at the source may ease many problems related to garbage in the city. At present, the city folk have started to separate organic and inorganic waste into different garbage bins. However, garbage collectors still mix the sorted waste all up. This makes it difficult to convince more people to begin selectively collecting their waste.

Besides media activities, it is also necessary to develop a more efficient waste collection system from vehicles to transfer stations.

VWS handed over six custom-built garbage trucks to the southern provinces of Vietnam

In 2018, VWS imported eight garbage trucks meeting US technological standards and fuelled by compressed natural gas (CNG). The company has donated six of the trucks to Ho Chi Minh City, Long An, and Kien Giang provinces. What stands behind this obviously costly move?

I always want to apply cutting-edge technologies in Vietnam and do the best for my homeland. A few years ago, a delegation of Ho Chi Minh City leaders paid a working visit to California and made a field trip to California Waste Solutions (CWS). After seeing the modern garbage trucks at CWS, the leaders expressed their hope that we would bring this truck model to Vietnam. To fulfil their wish, I have invited experts specialising in garbage truck manufacturing to conduct a feasibility study and develop specialised trucks tailored for Vietnam.

Each truck can carry 10 tonnes of garbage. The vehicles are powered by clean energy and are equipped with a waste compression compartment and a sewage leachate container to prevent effluents from running onto the street. The vehicles boast a system of cameras, thick steel frame, suitable colour and lights, in addition to an automatic atomiser to give off a fragrant smell whenever they stop. The modern garbage trucks are environmentally-friendly and safe to use in Vietnam. Each of the special-use truck costs some $500,000.

I hope Vietnam can gradually replace obsolete garbage trucks. Thus, VWS is looking for potential partners and car-makers to produce customised garbage trucks using state-of-art technology in Vietnam.

Do you have any other plans to improve waste collection in the city?

Besides garbage trucks, I also want to invite manufacturers to design environmentally-friendly bins meeting the conditions in Vietnam. In 2019, I will tie up with some industry experts to produce customised garbage bins for the city centre. In addition, we will study a system to convey waste from the alleys to waste transfer stations with a view to making the city more civilised and cleaner.

VWS plans to invest in new waste treatment technologies for Da Phuoc Solid Waste Treatment Complex in 2019. Could you tell us more about this project?

VWS has submitted the plan for the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee for approval. The estimated budget for the project is quite large, but I believe it will bring enormous benefits.

After 10 years of waste treatment in Vietnam, VWS gained a deep understanding of the garbage characteristics in the country. It is mainly mixed waste without classification from its sources. Therefore, the complex needs cutting-edge technology to process mixed waste as well as convert it into value-added products for the city and the country. Some of these products are electricity for household consumption, microbial fertiliser for plants and crops to contribute to a clean and sustainable agriculture, as well as CNG for zero-emission vehicles like new-style garbage trucks.

If 500 garbage trucks were fuelled by CNG, it would bring significant economic and environmental gains. I am looking forward to the citys approval of the project to update the waste treatment technology in 2019.

How is the progress at the Green Technology Park in the southern province of Long An?

The Green Technology Park is an environmentally-friendly waste treatment park in Long Ans Thu Thua district. After completing the road infrastructure, we are ready to implement the next phase of construction, once green-lighted by the local authorities. I have a vision to develop the Green Technology Park into a waste treatment centre for the key southern economic zone. I always try my best to help alleviate environmental pollution for the country.An online fundraising drive has brought in in more than 117,000 euros ($134,000) towards Dettinger's legal costs. (Photo: AFP)

Christophe Dettinger, 37, an ex national light-heavyweight champion, was caught on camera on Jan 5 throwing a flurry of punches at an officer during clashes on a footbridge over the river Seine near parliament.

The footage, which was played repeatedly on TV and social media, also showed the 1.9-metre (6.3-foot) tall Dettinger kicking another officer on the ground.

The scene caused widespread outrage, with the government describing it as a prime example of the violence that has characterised the yellow vest demonstrations since they began in November.

One of the injured officers was treated in hospital for his injuries.

Dettinger, nicknamed "The Gypsy From Massy" during his days in the ring in reference to the town south of Paris where he began his career, turned himself in two days after the incident and has been in custody ever since.

Some French people have hailed him as a hero for taking on the police.

AN ANGRY 'ORDINARY CITIZEN'

The yellow vest movement - so-named after the luminous safety vests worn by the activists - started over fuel tax hikes and quickly grew into a broader rebellion against the economic policies and leadership style of President Emmanuel Macron.

The number of people taking part in weekly protests has fallen significantly since the start of the year, but the heat has still not gone out of the movement, with the demonstrations regularly ending in rioting.

Six people were arrested on Tuesday suspicion of having used a forklift truck to ram open the doors leading to the office of government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux, on the same day as Dettinger's attack on the police.

On Friday, a leading figure of the yellow vest movement, 33-year-old truck driver Eric Drouet, will also be tried on charges of illegally organising a demonstration in Paris.

He faces up to six months in prison if convicted.

Since the start of the protests, 1,796 people have been sentenced in court, mainly for destruction of public property and attacks on the police.

Another 1,422 are still awaiting trial, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe told parliament on Tuesday.

In a video posted on YouTube a day after his outburst, Dettinger described himself as an "ordinary citizen" acting out of anger with what he called the repressive tactics of the police.

At his first court appearance the married father-of-three, who has no previous convictions, apologised for his actions.

His case has elicited widespread sympathy among the yellow vests and their supporters, with an online fundraising drive bringing in more than 117,000 (US$134,000) towards his legal costs before being shut down.

In another sign of support, street artists painted two giant black-and-white portraits of the boxer, one showing him punching the policemen, on a wall in northern Paris.

Some yellow vests argue that Dettinger's punches were just retribution for the police, who have been criticised for their liberal use of rubber bullets and stun grenades which have left dozens seriously injured.

But the police have also drawn sympathy, with a fund for the injured officers garnering over million euros in donations.

Around 10,000 people taking part in a rally in Paris last month to condemn "yellow vest" violence, during which the police were applauded.Digitisation as a competitive edge in consumer finance

Duong Nguyen, leader of Financial Service Organisations and IT Advisory Services at EY Vietnam, once noted that what technology can do to consumer finance companies will go beyond risk management and lending process to emerge as a stand-alone channel to reach out to potential customers who are young and tech-savvy. Given that over 60 per cent of the 94 million population in Vietnam is aged 35 or less, and 54 per cent of these are Internet users, leveraging new technology in the consumer finance market can thus help players expand their network and bolster their competitive advantages over traditional banks, whose strength is based on their physical branch network.

Investment in technology, especially those that help improve procedures, as she stressed, can minimise or eliminate human errors and data loss while enhancing the efficiency of the lending system.

What is more, according to Nguyen, investment in tech will provide consumer finance companies a platform to reach out to remote areas to secure a bigger slice of the market and maintain their growth in the years to come.

By partnering with some of the best fintech companies around the world, FE Credit has exploited disruptive technologies to develop an end-to-end digital lending platform as part of an attempt to help it deliver the best customer experience and achieve its corporate mission of delivering Fast and Easy Credit.

According to FE Credits chief marketing officer Basker Rangachari, FE Credit realised the importance of digitisation to enhance customer experience, as it updated its 5-year strategy plan during 2017. In early 2018, the FE Credit team decided to deconstruct its existing business model to identify key elements in building credit history or credit profile for the customers to make a decision. The firm then searched for the optimal digital solutions that are available around the world to aid it in constructing a brand-new platform to deliver customer experience, starting from the first contact where the customer touches a sale channel, right through to loan approval, and ongoing servicing of the customers loan.

We essentially deconstructed our existing model, researched, acquired, and deployed the best of digital technologies, and then customised them for our purposes. We built a holistic digital lending platform, which can be considered the most efficient and complete lending platform conducting customer onboarding from end to end, said the CMO in an interview in Ho Chi Minh City.

This process requires zero human intervention. Where human intervention is required to support a customer who is facing difficulty in continuing with the lending journey, we provide the right human touch to help complete the journey, he noted.

Basker Rangachari, FE Credits chief marketing officer

Today, technology is transforming the way data is collected and used to improve lending outcomes for both consumers and businesses. This integration of technology within consumer lending has enabled consumer finance companies to re-think their policies to originate a loan and adapt the workflows used to deliver an efficient, frictionless lending experience.

According to FE Credits deputy CEO cum sales division director Nguyen Huu Ai, a few years ago the process of applying for personal financing was archaic. Customers required assistance from sales staff and had to manually fill out intimidatingly long paper forms which took up to 30 minutes per customer and could wait weeks for a response  that is, lending was completely irrelevant for the growing e-commerce market.

At FE Credit, our focus is to digitise the customer journey in order to deliver Fast & Easy services to our customers. With this in mind, we had studied, compared, and evaluated a range of solutions providers to help us enhance customer service and our customers satisfaction. For example, we have integrated a sales productivity solution that uses AI technology and process automation in order to improve sales productivity, drive higher conversions among sales teams, reduce loan disbursement time, and improve collections, said Nguyen Huu Ai.

FE Credit is not alone in its quest to make use of digitisation to enhance customer experience. Some of its rivals like Home Credit, for instance, has also embarked on this journey with its mobile app to help its customers manage their cash loans. The Czech-based consumer finance firm is also set to launch its online cash loan mobile application in the near future.

Lotte Finance, a new Korean player who has just entered Vietnam, has introduced Lotte Cards Hand Pay, which allows customers to pay using an individuals distinct vein pattern on the palm as identification to maximise convenience because customers now can pay without cash or physical credit card, or even smartphone.

Cracking the code

On Vietnam Insider, Dr Nguyen Thi Thanh Van from the Banking Academys International Business Faculty, has said that orienting the development of digital technology in the sector is essential as technology can facilitate the use and accessibility of financial services.

Ho Thi Nhu Ha, FE Credits deputy CEO cum operation division director, added, The challenge faced by consumer finance companies in Vietnam is rather unique as most of them require physical documents in the lending process and there is currently no centralised digital data available for those paper-based documents. FE Credits digital $NAP App successfully overcame this challenge as it utilises Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) to verify customers identity and authenticate documents submitted by customers using their smartphone cameras.

Ha elaborated that the company is having a good automatic customer screening system and using SMS text alerts without much call, reducing people interaction in the collection process and operation costs. Customers can stay updated with alert services, free-of-charge SMS service which offers the convenience of receiving alerts on customers critical account specific events, for instance Payment due, Past due reminder, and Transaction alerts. Customers no longer need to keep track and worry about the little details, as they can get such information easily on-the-go.

Ho Thi Nhu Ha, FE Credits deputy CEO cum operation division director

Traditionally, businesses have been relying heavily on credit scores to drive decisions, but very different borrowers who might have been lumped together under the same credit score  say a college graduate with almost no credit history and a borrower with bad credit  can now be identified and offered personalised loans through the application of Big Data. And it is exactly what FE Credit does for their data system in order to quickly identify customers and enhance the accuracy of the underwriting process.

Rangachari further highlighted that $NAPs selfie-based face recognition, meanwhile, acts as a biometric software for automated credit assessment and enhance the Know Your Customer (KYC) process. It uses applicants selfie photos to query their data and process credit assessment accordingly.

FE Credit strives to bring a world-class customer experience and financial inclusion to all Vietnamese consumers

The customer is at the centre of our universe. We not only launched our digital lending platform, which is only one example of our customer-centricity, we also digitised our human-assisted sales and service channels with digital tools and platforms to drive productivity and enable our front-line staff to make the customer lending experience faster, easier, and better. Bringing a world-class customer experience and financial inclusion to all Vietnamese consumers is our goal and our DNA, said Basker Rangachari, CMO of FE Credit.Support local journalism

Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution.A poster issued by the Kansas State Board of Health, outlining good infant care.

This poster, issued by the Kansas State Board of Health, informs parents about the danger and treatment of Infantile Conjunctivitis and how to avoid needless blindness in children.

This poster, issued by the Kansas State Board of Health, includes information on good baby care.

This poster, issued by the Kansas State Board of Health, illustrates how to bathe a baby.

This poster, issued by the Kansas State Board of Health, informs parents how to safely insure their baby has fresh air for his health.

This poster, issued by the Kansas State Board of Health, compares the costs of bottle feeding the baby and breast feeding the baby.

This poster issued by the Kansas State Board of Health shows important factors for ensuring safe milk for children.

This poster, issued by the Kansas State Board of Health, outlines ways persons can help keep babies healthy.

This poster issued by the Kansas State Board of Health describes how a community can help keep babies healthy.

Kansas State Board of Health, outlines what the nation can do to help with healthy babies. The message is sponsored by the Children's Bureau of the United States Labor.

This poster, issued by the Kansas State Board of Health, outlines state responsibilities and programs for healthy babies.

This poster, issued by the Kansas State Board of Health, informs parents about Infantile Conjunctivitis and how to prevent needless blindness.

When it comes to childrearing advice, weve come a long way, baby.Modern parenting isnt easy. Childcare books and blogs are filled with so much contradictory advice, it makes you want to throw your own tantrum. But theres good news: You dont live in centuries past, when baby advice wasnt merely contradictory; it was also bizarre and borderline criminal.Below are some baby care guides from the Kansas State Board of Health from between the 1900s and 1920s:(Images: Kansas MemoryThank you for reading!

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The College of Southern Nevada will soon host its Spring 2019 Career Fair, where dozens of employers will tap the local talent pool to fill hundreds of job opportunities and internships. The Career Fair is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 13th on CSNs North Las Vegas Campus in the June Whitley Student Lounge located just inside the main entrance.

The open forum of the Career Fairs allows applicants to mingle with recruiters, learn about job openings and gather information about potential employers. Applicants should dress in interview attire, bring resumes and be prepared for on-the-spot interviews.

We hold these career fairs throughout the year to help ensure that our students not only graduate, but that they are able to prosper once they leave CSN, said Bradford Glover, director of the Career Services & Reentry at CSN. Students and other job seekers get a chance to meet potential employers face to face, so theyre great networking opportunities. Theyre also an excellent way for job seekers to learn more about some of the regions premier employers.

The wide array of organizations planning to attend include MGM Resorts International, Amazon, Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas, the House of Blues, Nike, the Clark County School District, Lowes and many more. For more information or to host an employer booth contact CSN Career Services at 702-651-4700.A transcript of Pope Francis conversation with members of the Society of Jesus on 27 January in Panama has been published by La Civilta Cattolica magazine.

By Linda Bordoni

During Pope Francis recent apostolic visit to Panama to celebrate World Youth Day, he took time on the sidelines of the event to meet with his brother Jesuits of the Central American nation.

The meeting took place behind closed-doors but, as reported by the Jesuit-run magazine La Civilta Cattolica headed by Father Antonio Spadaro, the conversation centered on the example of martyrs, on the vocation of those belonging to the Society of Jesus and on ministering to young people in a fluid world.

According to La Civilta Cattolica some 30 Jesuits were present at the meeting including 18 novices, and all of them were able to participate in an informal conversation with the Pope.

Topics touched upon included the witness provided by Saint Oscar Romero and by Romeros close friend, the Jesuit priest Rutilio Grande who was assassinated in 1977, a tragedy that led to Romeros own mission and martyrdom.

Romero and Rutilio

I am very close to Rutilio, the Pope reportedly said, revealing that he treasures a scrap of bloodied fabric from Romeros vestment and a catechesis notebook belonging to Rutilio. He spoke of them as two prophetic figures highlighting how the martyrdom of Rutilio converted Romero, and he reflected on how misconceptions and confusion regarding liberation theology almost halted the canonization process for the Salvadoran saint. The important thing, he said, is not to be overwhelmed by ideology but to follow Rutilios example who never wavered but did what he had to do.

At the root of the current cultural crisis

Pope Francis then answered a question regarding the culture of encounter. He mentioned a book by Polish philosopher Zygmunt Bauman, who died two years ago, which delves into the issues faced by the new generations whom the Pope called children of a virtual world that helps to create contacts, but does not foster encounter. He called it a rootless generation because, he said, the crisis of encounter today is a crisis of roots meaning that young people are immersed in a ephemeral culture without solidity and often to do not even have help from their parents, some of whom, he noted, even try to compete with their offspring. Its the grandparents who give roots to young people today, the Pope said, highlighting the value of intergenerational relationships.

The Jesuit vocation

Pope Francis and his brother Jesuits reportedly spent much time speaking about issues regarding the Society of Jesus. Offering young Jesuit novices some personal advice, he recalled the years between 1972 and 1973 when he was Master of novices, telling them of the importance of having clarity of conscience because, he said, there is no place amongst the sons of St. Ignatius for the devious. This, he said, applies in particular to those charged with formation who must know how to discern, instill courage and not be afraid or else the bond of brotherhood will be broken.

The Pope also spoke with gratitude of the vocation of religious who are not Jesuit priests, but who have chosen to serve. And to those who are preparing to make their vows in an age in which the provisional prevails over the definitive, Pope Francis advice is to put their lives into play and be available for whatever God wants from them.

Inculturation and identity

Pope Francis also dwelled on the relationship between inculturation and identity. He found inspiration in an anecdote that tells of a young graduate who returns to his simple parents peasant home after years of study: he is lost and confused; he has to ask his father even for the names of the most basic agricultural tools, and awkwardly steps onto a rake that swings up and strikes him in the face. Its an anecdote, the Pope said, that reflects the experience of a young Indian woman he had just shared lunch with at WYD, saying she was tied to her traditions but had become a teacher. One must inculturate oneself to the end, the Pope said, without ever becoming a snob, and this, he said, pertains specially to religious who are tempted to think their consecration has elevated them to a more educated category. So, he quipped, those who forget their culture risk being struck in the face by a rake!.   11   ,    ,   ,   .     ,       1%,    ,   ,       ,         ,    10    .      ...San Francisco, CA (UroToday.com) The utilization of advanced imaging techniques and molecular biomarkers for staging and risk-stratification in prostate cancer has increased significantly over the last several years. As part of the prostate cancer session at the 2019 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, CA, Felix Feng, MD from the University of California, San Francisco discussed both the benefits and limitations of advanced imaging techniques and molecular biomarkers in the prostate cancer space. He believes that advanced imaging and biomarkers may allow for better tailoring of therapy through better detection of occult disease, improved risk stratification, and eventually by allowing predictions about treatment response.He first focused on the use of PET imaging in prostate cancer and showed data that highlighted the recent utilization trends of fluciclovine F18 (Axumin), and PSMA PET imaging. These have both become much more frequently utilized in the last 3 years, particularly as Axumin imaging is now FDA-approved in the setting of post-treatment biochemical recurrence to detect metastatic and/or locally-recurrent disease with a higher sensitivity than prior imaging modalities. He showed additional data that suggests that the ability of advanced PET imaging to detect occult metastatic disease increases with a patients biochemically recurrent PSA value. Those with higher PSA values have a higher probability of finding metastatic disease with these advanced imaging techniques.Feng acknowledges that advanced imaging has produced several achievements in the management of prostate cancer, including better detection of disease that may lead to changes in clinical management of patients, as well as the definition of a new disease state  oligometastatic prostate cancer. There remain some unanswered questions about advanced imaging, however. There is no present data to suggest if improved disease detection leads to improved outcomes. Furthermore, we are still uncertain about the possible clinical benefits of advanced imaging. Finally, the optimal treatment approaches for treating the newly-defined oligometastatic prostate cancer is not yet defined. As more patients undergo these advanced imaging techniques, and as we collect more data about outcomes in prostate cancer, the role of PET imaging in prostate cancer will become better defined.Dr. Feng also focused on the currently available molecular biomarkers that are presently available. He focused on the three commercially available tests, including Oncotype DX, 4Kscore, and Prolaris. He showed data that suggests that the addition of these tests to clinical features can help increase prognostic values, in appropriately selected patients. He notes that at present, these tests are mainly helpful for risk-stratification of patients, but one day may be utilized to help predict treatment responses. Feng carefully defined the difference between a prognostic biomarker, which provides information on outcomes independent of the treatment received, versus a predictive biomarker which specifically identifies response or resistance to a particular therapy. He believes in the future, predictive biomarkers will be evaluated to help tailor therapy for patients based on the genetic and epigenetic mutations driving their prostate cancer. There are several clinical trials that are currently accruing patients that will incorporate the use of these predictive biomarkers to help determine treatment type and intensity, but this data is not yet available.Dr. Feng concluded that advanced imaging and molecular biomarkers can potentially help personalize therapy for patients with prostate cancer. He feels that as more prognostic and predictive biomarkers are validated, treatment options will be more individualized to each patient to optimize outcomes. He is excited to see the results of the clinical trials incorporating advanced imaging and biomarkers once the data is more mature.Presented by: Felix Feng, MD, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology; Urology; and Medicine, Vice Chair for Faculty Development and Director of Translational Research, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California, San Francisco, CaliforniaWritten by: Brian Kadow, MD, Society of Urologic Oncology Fellow, Fox Chase Cancer Center at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, (ASCO GU) #GU19, February 14-16, 2019 - San Francisco, CA(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Russian diplomats visited pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko at a US correctional facility where unrest occurred, the Russian Consulate General in New York said in a statement

NEW YORK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2019) Russian diplomats visited pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko at a US correctional facility where unrest occurred, the Russian Consulate General in New York said in a statement.

"Following the request made by K. Yaroshenko, diplomats from the Russian Consulate General in New York visited him again at the Danbury correctional facility in Connecticut, where a prison riot took place earlier," the consulate said on Wednesday.

Yaroshenko stated that his health condition is satisfactory, however, he still has several health complaints related to pre-existing conditions, the release said. His involvement in the recent unrest Yaroshenko strongly rejects, the consulate added.

Yaroshenko confirmed that he will petition about transferring him into another US prison in order to improve his living conditions.

In June, Yaroshenko was transferred from the Fort Dix prison in the US state of New Jersey to the Danbury correctional facility in Connecticut.

Russian diplomats last visited Yaroshenko in November amid reports that his health was worsening.

Yaroshenko first complained of health problems in early 2014 at the Fort Dix prison. The detention facility allowed a health check only after numerous requests by his lawyers and the Russian authorities.

In January 2016, Yaroshenko underwent an unscheduled surgery and could barely walk afterward because of severe pain. A US doctor later said the surgery was botched. The pilot had another surgery in December of 2017 that went well, according to his wife Victoria.

The Consulate General said they would continue defending Yaroshenko's legal rights, including the right to adequate medical care.

Yaroshenko was captured in Liberia in 2010 and sentenced the following year in the United States to 20 years in prison on charges of conspiring to import drugs. In 2016, the New York Court of Appeals refused to revise his sentence.A provocation against Caracas, possibly involving casualties, is being prepared in the northeastern Colombian city of Cucuta under the guise of the delivery humanitarian aid to Venezuela, Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said on Thursday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2019) A provocation against Caracas, possibly involving casualties, is being prepared in the northeastern Colombian city of Cucuta under the guise of the delivery humanitarian aid to Venezuela, Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said on Thursday.

"Let us not delude ourselves  a provocation, involving victims, is being prepared in the city of Cucuta under the guise of a humanitarian convoy [to Venezuela]. And it is needed as a pretext for a forceful operation [against Venezuela] from abroad," Zakharova told a briefing.

Earlier in February, the United States has delivered the first batch of humanitarian assistance for Venezuela to the aid collection center in Cucuta. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, however, refused to allow the convoy into the country, slamming at as "show."The Moldovan Foreign Ministry asked the Cabinet on Wednesday to recall country's Ambassador to Russia Andrei Neguta, ministry's spokesperson Alexandr Roitman told Sputnik

CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th February, 2019) The Moldovan Foreign Ministry asked the Cabinet on Wednesday to recall country's Ambassador to Russia Andrei Neguta, ministry's spokesperson Alexandr Roitman told Sputnik.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration today sent a request to the government for recalling Andrei Neguta from the post of ambassador to the Russian Federation," Roitman said.

The ministry did not provide any details regarding the move.

Neguta was appointed the Moldovan ambassador to Russia in 2017. In December of the same year he was recalled for consultations and returned to work in March 2018.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Moldovan President Igor Dodon told Sputnik on Wednesday he would not recall the Eastern European nation's ambassador to Russia after a demand from his Foreign Ministry.

CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2019) Moldovan President Igor Dodon told Sputnik on Wednesday he would not recall the Eastern European nation's ambassador to Russia after a demand from his Foreign Ministry.

"Only a president can recall ambassadors. You cannot get around this exclusive right. I will not sign the decree," Dodon said.

The president added he hoped that the government would not back the the ministry's request.

Andrei Neguta was appointed Moldova's top diplomat in Russia in spring 2017.

He was pulled back for consultations in December of that year and returned to Moscow last March.

The Moldovan Foreign Ministry declined to explain the reason for its demand but said it was not connected to two Moldovan pilots freed from 3.5 years of Taliban captivity in Afghanistan.

The ministry handed a note of protest to the Russian envoy in Chisinau on Wednesday after its delegation could not meet the pilots who are staying in a Moscow hospital after Russia helped release them.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that the United States' intention to pull its forces out of Syria, where they have been operating without Damascus' permission for several years, is "good news" but stressed that Washington's promises could not be trusted.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2019) Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that the United States' intention to pull its forces out of Syria, where they have been operating without Damascus' permission for several years, is "good news" but stressed that Washington's promises could not be trusted.

Rouhani made his remarks at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport before departing for the Russian resort city of Sochi to participate in the Russia-Turkey-Iran summit on Syrian political settlement.

"If a country is present in Syria not based on the invitation [of the] legitimate government of the country, it must leave the country. Especially Americans, who have been on the Syrian soil against international regulations since the beginning .

.. of course, they have recently announce that they wish to leave Syria, which is good news if it is right. Of course, we can never trust the vows and words of Americans," the president said, as quoted in a statement released on his official website.

The United States has been operating in Syria at the helm of an international coalition since 2014 without securing approval from either Damascus or the United Nations Security Council. Syrian President Bashar Assad has accused Washington of trying to overthrow the Syrian government and providing support to armed militants.

Late last year, US President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of US troops from Syria, but no official deadlines have been set so far.Two Moldovan pilots are receiving medical care in Russia, which helped free them from captivity in Afghanistan, a Russian diplomatic source told Sputnik on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2019) Two Moldovan pilots are receiving medical care in Russia , which helped free them from captivity in Afghanistan , a Russian diplomatic source told Sputnik on Thursday.

Their release was announced on Monday by Moldovan President Igor Dodon, who confirmed that Russia played a major role in ending their three-year ordeal at the hands of the Taliban.

"The freed Moldovan citizens are recovering after a trying period in their lives. Russia is giving them necessary assistance ... As soon as they say they are ready to see visitors and go home this will be organized," a Russian Foreign Ministry source said.

The Moldovan Foreign Ministry has recently summoned the Russian ambassador in Chisinau to demand that Russia give access to the two men, who President Dodon said were likely to be flown home within a week.

The pilots were captured in November 2015 when a helicopter they were flying on a mission for the Afghan security forces was downed in a Taliban-controlled territory. A third Moldovan crew member was killed in gunfight. His body was brought back to Moldova the following month.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2019) Death toll in a terrorist attack in the Chanali area of Khash-Zahedan road in southeastern Iran has risen to 41 people, local media reported.

According to Fars news agency, the number of victims in the attack increased to 41 people, including military personnel and civilians.

Earlier on Wednesday, the IRNA news agency reported, citing an informed source, that a bus with a number of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) personnel was blown up in an attack by a suicide bomber causing at least 20 members ofIRGC killed and 20 others injured.(@rukhshanmir)

Damascus strongly condemns the recent deadly terrorist attack in the southeast of Iran and believes that the tragedy indicates a close link between terrorists and a number of powers and the United States seeking to destabilize the region, the SANA new agency reported on Thursday, citing a Syrian Foreign Ministry source.

DAMASCUS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2019) Damascus strongly condemns the recent deadly terrorist attack in the southeast of Iran and believes that the tragedy indicates a close link between terrorists and a number of powers and the United States seeking to destabilize the region, the SANA new agency reported on Thursday, citing a Syrian Foreign Ministry source.

On Wednesday, Iranian media reported that an individual in an explosive-laden vehicle targeted a bus carrying a number of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) personnel in Sistan and Baluchistan province. According to the latest data, 41 people, including the military and civilians, were killed in the attack.

The Jaish ul-Adl extremist group, linked to the al-Qaeda terror organization (banned in Russia), has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry source claimed the "coward attack" proved the "organic" link between such Islamic terrorism and powers led by the United States, which seek to destabilize the region.

"The Syrian Arab Republic condemns in strongest terms the heinous terrorist attack which targeted a bus transporting members of the Iranian added," the source added, as quoted by the agency.

The source also extended deep condolences to the families of victims and wished speedy recovery to the injured.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Argentinian President Mauricio Macri and his Uruguayan counterpart, Tabare Vazquez, have agreed at a meeting that a democratic solution, which would include holding an election, should be found in order to settle the continuing political crisis in Venezuela, Macri's press service said

BUENOS AIRES (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2019) Argentinian President Mauricio Macri and his Uruguayan counterpart, Tabare Vazquez, have agreed at a meeting that a democratic solution, which would include holding an election, should be found in order to settle the continuing political crisis in Venezuela, Macri's press service said.

"The analysis of the political and social situation in Venezuela was among the topics discussed during the meeting. Both parties have called for finding a democratic solution, including holding free trustworthy elections under international control," the press service said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to it, both presidents also addressed the situation at the Southern Common Market, also known as Mercosur, during their talks. Macri and Vazquez agreed it was important to energize the process of the regional integration and modernize it, taking into account the prospects and ways of concluding commercial contracts with states beyond Mercosur, as well as other regional blocs.

Venezuela is facing the escalating political crisis.

In January, Juan Guaido, the opposition leader and the National Assembly speaker, proclaimed himself the country's interim president, contesting President Nicolas Maduro's re-election last May, until the presidential election is held in Venezuela.

Both Argentina Uruguay were among the states that backed Guaido while Maduro was supported by China, Russia and a number of other countries.

A number of EU member states have also individually recognized Guaido as Venezuela's interim president after the Venezuelan authorities failed to organize a new presidential election in the country within an eight-day period set by the EU states. EU countries were also expected to issue a joint statement recognizing Guaido, however, Italy vetoed the motion.

Maduro has lashed out on Washington, which supported Guaido, over its policies toward Caracas, suggesting the United States thought to take control over Venezuela's oil assets. Maduro also accused Guaido of acting at the instructions from Washington.There was some error handling your request. Please refresh your browser and try again in a while.February 12 2019

Drinks giant Diageo has stepped up plans for a nationwide network of visitor attractions with the submission of plans for a hub attraction on Edinburghs Princes Street.

The Johnnie Walker visitor centre would occupy all seven floors of the former House of Fraser department store at 146 Princes Street, which will be sensitively restored and updated by Simpson & Brown Architects to include a sensory display detailing the history, art and science behind the brand.

Also included in the mix would be a flexible events space, bar academy for training hospitality workers, a rooftop bar and ground floor retail.

Tony Hordon, MD of property investment firm Parobola which is working with Diageo, said:At Parabola we feel like the custodians of a beautiful piece of Edinburgh real estate and we have taken great care to consider its future. 146 Princes Street represents an opportunity to deliver our core values: place, quality and destination.

With Diageo and their vision, we believe we have a use which will not only protect the building for many years to come, but it also celebrates the building, its history, and its heritage.

Other recent Diageo projects include the new distilleries at Port Ellen, Glenkinchie and Islay.

February 12 2019

Edinburgh Airport could play host to a new 200-bed hotel following submission of a proposal of application notice to construct new accommodation adjacent to Ingliston Road.

The Aviator Hotel would include its own double-height restaurant, bar and conference facilities and would be distinguished by a top floor conning tower with glazed walls from which to view airport activity in comfort.

In a statement the applicant Flowpearl wrote: The top-level Aviator Club is designed as a derivative conning-tower, with glazed walls and roof. A viewing tower for aircraft against the backdrop of the sky. The glazed and illuminated roof service structure together with the Aviator Club are composed to provide the 5th elevation as a recognisable portal to Edinburgh for air travellers.

The hotel would slot into a wider masterplan for the Royal Highland Centre with construction expected to get underway by 2020.

Concept designs have been prepared by Jones Design Consultant.

February 4 2019

Glasgow City Council is to launch a public consultation into draft plans for a linear river park along both banks of the River Clyde through the Broomielaw district.

Launching on Friday the park consultation forms part of a wider waterfront masterplan for the city centre which seeks to establish a high-density riverfront neighbourhood flanking the Kingston Bridge, negating some of the pollution, noise and physical disconnection associated with the motorway link.

By introducing attractive green spaces it is hoped to improve east/west connectivity and create a more pedestrian and cycle-friendly environment. Key to this approach will be the active encouragement of high-density residential development to boost the city centre population.

The Broomielaw district is the second of nine areas of the city centre to be subject to its own District Regeneration Framework (DRF) led by Austin:Smith-Lord and MVRDV. Current live proposals for the area include a 200,000sq/ft office block at Carrick Square and a 498-home PRS build immediately adjacent to the M8.

Council leader Susan Aitken, said: These ambitious plans will help the council and our partners to bring Broomielaw to its full potential and allow the area to take its proper place in the life of the city. This is a part of Glasgow that has enormous scope to influence the future development of the city centre and the river corridor.

Upon conclusion of the consultation on 5 April and council approval the final DRF its guidelines will be formally embraced as a material consideration for all subsequent planning applications across the district.January 30 2019

Glasgow City Council has published concept visualisations of a proposed cable-stayed swing bridge connecting the communities of Partick and Govan, complete with a 63m long openable main span to allow the passage of vessels.

Part of the Waterfront and West End Innovation Quarter the project will create an active travel route between the Queen Elizabeth University hospital and the University of Glasgow with new homes and businesses encouraged along the route.

Ground investigation work has already been completed at the site ahead of development of a finalised design over the coming six months, prior to a formal planning application next summer.

In a statement the council wrote: The Bridge will span from Water Row in Govan on the south bank to an extended quay wall on the north bank of the river adjacent to the Riverside Museum - a crossing of approximately 110 metres.

The V-shaped pylon design compliments the architecture of Zaha Hadids Riverside Museum and forms a new gateway between Govan and Partick. A forward inclination of the pylon takes inspiration from the historic riverside cranes which once lined the quayside.

Construction tenders will be issued by the end of the year with work expected to begin by spring 2020 for completion by summer 2021.Dundee City Council has showcased the first tantalising visualisation of how a possible Eden Project could transform a former gasworks into a biodiverse attraction..

Page\Park Architects have completed a 1.25m refurbishment of a C-listed Bishopbriggs church, originally designed by Gillespie Kidd & Coia..

A consultation has opened into proposals to build 79 double-banked private rental apartments on industrial land at 148 Wishart Street overlooking Glasgow Necropolis towards the Cathedral..

Linkwood Primary School located in South Elgin, is a new build school on a greenfield site located within a wider masterplan for the expansion of Elgin..

A B-listed mews home in the heart of Edinburgh's New Town Conservation Area is to be extended at the hands of DS Architecture, replacing a stone-built garage with two floors of additional accommodation..

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Sadly though, we have to talk about it. We are moving towards yet another crunch week in UK parliament. And although there are politicians on all sides trying to block a no-deal exit, the work to plan for one has taken on a new seriousness both in government and in the university sector.



The future of the UKs participation in the Erasmus+ program is a case in point.



At the end of January the UK government issued a technical note on the Erasmus+ programme in the case of a no-deal Brexit. The good news is that students on current placements will be able to continue, and receive funding, to their end.



However, although the government has said they would like to stay in the Erasmus+ programme for future calls if the EU will agree, it is now clear that if they dont succeed in securing this, there will be no national alternative to enable students to study abroad in Europe. If we lose Erasmus, there will be no scheme to replace it.

In addition to our direct engagement with relevant ministers and officials, we have responded by launching the #SupportStudyAbroad social media campaign to highlight and amplify public support for study abroad, and encourage the government to commit to funding study abroad programs in the event of a no deal Brexit.



We invite you to join us by tweeting your support for study abroad and highlighting the positive impact it has on young lives. Were particularly keen to hear the stories of students and alumni who have studied, worked or volunteered abroad.



I simply dont know what the position will be on March 29, but I do know that two days earlier Ill be meeting with 400 international higher education colleagues at our annual gathering of those who lead on international strategies in the UKs universities, joined by counterparts from around the world.



Deal or no deal we will have plenty to talk about. We have gathered a panel of some of the leaders of our European counterpart organisations  from Norway, Poland, Spain and Austria  to discuss how we will make the hand we have been dealt work for education and research. If it is no-deal well talk about how universities on both sides of the channel are preparing themselves. How will we protect the interests of our students who are abroad  either UK students in Europe, or European students with us? How will we overcome new bureaucratic hurdles, like immigration rules; changes in legal status and the challenge of re-establishing old partnerships on a new basis?



If there is a deal, well be talking about how to make the transition work; and what prospects there are of securing the UKs longer-term participation in European programmes. Well be discussing whether, despite all the good will across Europe, wed be naive to think that we can carry on as before, at the heart of the European research and education landscape.



Either way well hear from a major ESRC-funded research project on how UK universities have been preparing themselves for the challenges ahead. And perhaps most importantly of all, over coffee, in the margins of the conference, well be providing opportunities for our universities to share their own experiences, plans and strategies with each other.



So, although I am heartily sick of talking about Brexit, I am glad we have the opportunity to take stock at this critical moment in our history. I hope you will join us.





Notes

The International Higher Education Forum will take place on 27 March at Imperial College London, with a drinks reception on the evening of March 26.

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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 * Username

This is the name that will be displayed next to your photo for comments, blog posts, and more. Choose wisely!The man is high-ranking Russian military intelligence (GRU) operative.

Following a four-month joint investigation with The Insider (Russia) and Respekt (Czechia), Bellingcat has revealed the true identity and background of a third suspect in the Salisbury poisoning of an ex-Russian spy Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

This is a GRU officer who operated internationally under the cover persona of Sergey Vyachaeslavovich Fedotov. His actual name is Denis Vyacheslavovich Sergeev, a high-ranking GRU officer and a graduate of Russias Military Diplomatic Academy, Bellingcat wrote.

Bellingcat previously confirmed that a third GRU officer was present in the UK during the time Sergey and Yulia Skripal fell into a coma, after what the UK authorities said was a deliberate poisoning with Novichok. In addition, Bellingcat established that this same officer traveled multiple times to Bulgaria during 2015, including a trip days before a Bulgarian arms trader and his son were severely poisoned with a yet-unidentified poison.

Denis Vyacheslavovich Sergeev was born in Usharal, a small militarized town in what was at the time Soviet Kazakhstan, near the Soviet-China border. Both Denis Sergeev and his cover identity Sergey Fedotov were born on 17 September 1973. He served in the army in the southern Russian city of Novorossiisk in the Krasnodar Region.

At some point between 2000 and 2002, he was transferred to Moscow and enrolled at the elite Military Diplomatic Academy, popularly known in Russia as the GRU Conservatory. The facility churns out 100 elite intelligence officers each year, ranging from spies in diplomatic and military attache covers to illegals.

It is known that recruitment into the Academy takes place among military officers with the minimum rank of captain who have excelled at their military service, traditionally in Spetsnaz or navy units. Like all other graduates, Sergeev would have finished the Academy with a minimum rank of lieutenant-colonel. While there is no confirmation yet of his current military rank, the time served and the nature of his assignments since graduation indicate he currently holds a minimum rank of full colonel, and possibly major-general.

Denis Sergeev is married and has an adult daughter.

From 2004 to 2012, the period which possibly overlapped with his last years at the Military Diplomatic Academy, Denis Sergeev, under his real identity, served as shareholder and/or managing director of eight Russian companies. These companies, all of which were liquidated between 2007 and 2012, were sham corporations with names mimicking names of other large companies registered in Russia. In most of the companies, Sergeev was the sole shareholder, while in two he was co-shareholder with other people, some of whom we also identified as GRU officers.

During 2009, Denis Sergeev obtained a personal loan from a Russian bank in the amount of just over one million USD. The allocation of such a large loan to a person who  as seen from his credit record (obtained from a leaked Russian credit history collection)  had no real estate and no personal vehicle  is extraordinary. The loan appears to have been extended on the strength of Denis Sergeevs personal income in his declared role as specialist working for a company called Loreven Style Ltd specializing in consulting services.

In 2010, Denis Sergeev received his alter ego, Sergey Vyacheslavovich Fedotov. A new, valid passport was issued under this name, by the same 770001 passport desk in Moscow that issued cover passports to Mishkin, Chepiga other GRU operatives, and VIP citizens, as previously detailed by Bellingcat.

Fedotov was given a birth date matching the one of the actual person Denis Sergeev. His place of birth was moved from Kazakhstan to the village of Apushka in the Ryazan region of Russia. As in the case of the other undercover passports issued to Mishkin and Chepiga, the reason for issuance of the new passport was stated as unsuitability for use of the previous passport. As in the other cases, the previous passport listed never actually existed.

Fedotovs itinerary shows extensive travel to destinations across Western and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East. In the period of 2012-2013, his destinations included Ukraine and Tajikistan.

In 2014, Fedotov traveled to Czechia, Italy, and Switzerland. Notably, during his first trip to Prague at the end of January 2014, he traveled alongside Alexander Petrov, the cover persona of Dr. Alexander Mishkin, one of the key suspects in the Skripal poisonings. The two stayed in Prague eight days, until 2 February 2014, when they flew back to Moscow. Bellingcats investigative partner Respekt has established that during this trip, Fedotov and Petrov stayed at the four-star Best Western Meteor Plaza Hotel, where they shared a room.

On a separate note, Bellingcat writes that over the last two months, Russian authorities have taken the unusual measure of erasing any public records of the existence of Denis Sergeev, as well as of Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin, the main two suspects in the Skripal poisoning. These unprecedented actions cannot plausibly be taken without direct involvement of the Russian state, and add further credibility to the UK governments assertion that the Skripal poisoning operation, and the subsequent cover-up, were coordinated at a state level.The expert stressed that Belarus is more vulnerable to Russia than Ukraine is.

The Belarusian armed forces are in fact part of the Russian army while a swarm of Russian agents has been operating in the country, says Mykola Bielieskov, an analyst with Institute of World Politics.

He stressed that Belarus is more vulnerable to the Russian Federation than Ukraine is, according to Obozrevatel.

They have smaller population and smaller armed forces. The degree of infiltration of Belarusian army, their security and defense sector by Russian agents is much greater, said Bielieskov.

The expert added that the situation is worse for Belarus due to the country's isolation. Belarus should not hope to receive support from the West.

Read alsoBelarus Putin's No. 1 target  ex-advisor

"Lukashenko is facing a huge dilemma because, on the one hand, he seeks to remain the leader of Belarus as an independent state, and on the other hand, to preserve economic preferences, he must give up on sovereignty, but there is nothing left to give up on," the expert suggests.

"To them, the threat, I'd say, is bigger than it is to Ukraine. On the one side, there's Russia with relevant interests and aspirations, and on the other side Belarus is isolated. While Ukraine can hope for some support from the West  loans, political assistance  Minsk doesn't have any of this," concluded the analyst.Germany's BND foreign intelligence service sees the European election as a "good opportunity for Russia to further destabilize the West and exploit national problems in a targeted way."

Germany's domestic spy agency is examining Russia's ties to far-right parties, including the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), the RND group of newspapers on Thursday cited intelligence sources as saying.

The BfV federal intelligence agency decided on the move with its regional branches on Tuesday, amid concern that Moscow may try to influence European elections in May and three regional votes in eastern German states this year, Euronews reported citing Reuters.

RND said that was the result of a meeting between the BfV intelligence agency and representatives of the regional offices that took place on Tuesday.

Read alsoUkraine's Foreign Intel Service: Russia to spend US$350 mln for meddling in Ukraine elections

Potential Russian influence over Western elections is a widespread concern. U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and Moscow's possible collusion with the Trump campaign. Russia has denied interfering in the election and Trump has called the probe a witch hunt.

Authorities in Ukraine are up in arms to repel Russian meddling efforts ahead of presidential elections scheduled for March and parliamentary elections set to be held this fall.

A group of experts will be set up in Germany to investigate the issue in the coming months, the report said.

Read alsoPutin sees Ukraine elections as "general battle for our state"  Poroshenko

RND said the meeting had included discussions on links between Russia and both the AfD - Germany's largest opposition party - and right-wing party "The Right". It cited security sources as saying Moscow sees right-wing parties as possible allies in its attempt to destabilize the West.

At the meeting, a 2017 trip to Moscow was discussed by Frauke Petry, then leader of the AfD, who held talks with Russian officials ahead of a German federal election, including with an ultra-nationalist ally of President Vladimir Putin.

Germany's BND foreign intelligence service sees the European election as a "good opportunity for Russia to further destabilize the West and exploit national problems in a targeted way," RND said, without citing its source.

The main aim is to "weaken trust in electoral processes", the report cited BND sources as saying.The claims that he spied for Russia appeared in a letter by a Belgian counterintelligence officer.

The head of Belgium's counterintelligence service has been suspended amid claims that he spied for Russia, according to reports.

The intelligence chief, Clement Vandenborre, denies the allegations, Radio Poland reported citing pravda.com.ua.

According to Belgian daily De Morgen, Vandenborre has worked for the Belgian counterintelligence service for 40 years.

Read alsoEstonian army officer, father jailed for spying for Russia  media

The claims that he spied for Russia appeared in a letter by a Belgian counterintelligence officer.

The officer reportedly alleged that, during a special operation in Serbia in 2016, Vandenborre provided the Serbs with access to classified information. His contact most likely worked as a double agent for Russia, according to reports.

Vandenborre has been suspended from his duties pending an internal investigation.Zakharova said Australia and the Netherlands, without waiting for the outcome of the investigation, had accused Russia of involvement in the downing of MH17 and demanded a consultation.

Spokesperson for Russia's Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova has dubbed reports about Russia's readiness to plead guilty to the downing of Malaysia's MH17 in eastern Ukraine a "dishonest fantasy."

"A loose interpretation of the statement by the Foreign Ministry as if Russia, by giving consent to consultations [with the Netherlands and Australia], demonstrates readiness to plead guilty to the Malaysian Boeing crash  these are just a dishonest fantasy. The same applies to reports about the possibility of discussing some compensation as a way to atone for the guilt. These are fakes," she said at a briefing in Moscow, according to an UNIAN correspondent in Russia.

She said Australia and the Netherlands, without waiting for the outcome of the investigation, had accused Russia of involvement in the downing of MH17 and demanded a consultation as an ultimatum.

Read alsoMH17 tragedy: Largest class-action lawsuit filed against Putin

According to Zakharova, the representatives of those countries intended to talk about the legal consequences for Russia, which arise from this "unfounded accusation."

"Let me stress once again  I want some clarity on this issue. Russia agreed to conduct those consultations, when The Hague and Canberra officially, in a diplomatic note, confirmed their readiness to discuss the full range of issues related to the case of the downed Boeing," she said.

According to her, these are questions of Ukraine's responsibility as a state in whose airspace the catastrophe occurred, as well as the use of "data" transferred by Russia to the Joint Investigation Team.

UNIAN memo. Malaysia Airlines' MH17 Boeing 777 heading from Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur was shot down on July 17, 2014, over militant-occupied territory in Ukraine's Donetsk region. All 298 people on board who were citizens of 10 countries were killed in the crash. The majority of the victims, 196, were citizens of the Netherlands.

The Dutch Safety Board October 13, 2015, issued a report on the causes of the accident. It was revealed that the plane had been shot down by a Buk anti-aircraft missile system. The Joint Investigation Team in its report published on September 28, 2016, confirmed that the plane had been downed by a Russian-made Buk brought to Ukraine from Russia.

No suspects have been named, though Dutch Chief Prosecutor Fred Westerbeke said his office had identified 100 "persons of interest" in the investigation, including those who organized the arrival of the rocket and oversaw its transportation from Russia to Ukraine and back.

The criminal investigation into the tragedy is carried out by the Joint Investigative Team (JIT), which includes representatives from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and Ukraine. The countries participating in the MH17 investigation agreed not to create a separate tribunal and decided that the perpetrators would be brought before the Dutch court.

On July 7, 2017, Ukraine and the Netherlands signed an agreement on the establishment of legal grounds for the consideration of the said case.

On May 25, Australia and the Netherlands formally accused Russia of being responsible for downing the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet in 2014.U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson found there was a "preponderance" of evidence that Manafort lied on three different topics,

U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort breached his plea agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office by lying to prosecutors about matters which are material to its Russia probe, a judge ruled on Wednesday.

The ruling concludes weeks of wrangling between Manafort's lawyers and the special counsel over whether he had intentionally lied to prosecutors, impeding their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, Reuters said.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is overseeing the Manafort case in a Washington court, found there was a "preponderance" of evidence that Manafort lied on three different topics, including his communications with his former business partner Konstantin Kilimnik, whom prosecutors say has ties to Russian intelligence. Kilimnik has denied such ties.

Read alsoWashington Post: Manafort continued Ukraine work in 2018, prosecutors say

Jackson cleared Manafort of allegations that he intentionally lied on two other subjects Kilimnik's role in an obstruction of justice charge and statements Manafort made about his contacts with members of the Trump administration.

Nevertheless, the ruling will almost certainly dash Manafort's hopes of avoiding significant time in prison, as Mueller's prosecutors are now released from their obligation to support a lighter sentence. Sentencing experts have said Manafort, 69, could face a decade in prison.

Michael Zeldin, a former federal prosecutor, said one possible reason Manafort chose to lie was because he was hoping for a presidential pardon  echoing speculation raised by one of Mueller's prosecutors at a court hearing last week.

"Why he lied is a great mystery unless he is covering up something of significance," Zeldin said. "Unless he is pardoned he is going to spend the rest of his life in prison."

The judge found that Manafort lied about his interactions with Kilimnik including about the sharing of polling data on the Trump campaign and their discussions over a "Ukrainian peace plan," a proposal that envisioned ending U.S. sanctions on Russia  long an important objective of Russian President Vladimir Putin's government.

A court transcript released last week showed that Mueller's team believed those lies to be "at the heart" of their investigation into potential collusion, which Trump and Russia have both denied.

In a court filing ahead of Wednesday's ruling, Manafort's lawyers repeated their argument that their client never intentionally lied to prosecutors and stressed that he corrected any mistakes once they were pointed out to him.

Manafort struck the deal with Mueller in September when he pleaded guilty in Jackson's court to conspiracy against the United States, a charge that includes a range of conduct from money laundering to failing to register as a lobbyist for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine, as well as conspiracy to obstruct justice for his attempts to tamper with witnesses in his case.

Manafort also faces sentencing in a separate case in Virginia where a jury in August convicted him of financial crimes including failing to pay taxes on some $16 million he pocketed for his political work in Ukraine.The SMM continued to monitor the withdrawal of weapons in implementation of the Memorandum and the Package of Measures.

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission says three self-propelled howitzers and five "Grad" MLR systems were spotted in the occupied part of Donbas, Eastern Ukraine.

The SMM continued to monitor the withdrawal of weapons in implementation of the Minsk Memorandum and the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements, as well as its Addendum, according to the Mission's spot report covering the period from 19:30 Feb 12 to 19:30 Feb 13.

Read alsoUkraine: Russian proxy forces brazenly planting mines along contact line

In violation of withdrawal lines, in non-government-controlled areas, an SMM mini-UAV on February 12 spotted "three self-propelled howitzers (2S1 Gvozdika, 122mm) in a training area near Sofiivka (formerly Karlo-Marksove, 40km north-east of Donetsk).

On February 13, the SMM saw "five multiple launch rocket systems (BM-21 Grad, 122mm) on the northern edge of Khrustalnyi (formerly Krasnyi Luch, 56km south-west of Luhansk) and a mortar (type undetermined, 120mm) near Molodizhne (63km north-west of Luhansk)."Two invaders were killed and another two were injured, intelligence reports say.

Russia's hybrid military forces in the past 24 hours mounted 10 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as wounded in action (WIA).

Read alsoUkraine army in Donbas conducts drills to defend airfield from potential adversaries' assault force (Video)

"One Ukrainian soldier was wounded in the past day. According to intelligence reports, two invaders were killed and another two were 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 14, 2019.

Russian occupation forces opened fire from 120mm mortars, anti-tank missile systems, weapons installed on infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers of various types, heavy machine guns, and small arms, attacking the defenders of the town of Avdiyivka, and the villages of Vodiane, Lebedynske, Pavlopil, Krymske, Novoluhanske, and Travneve.

"Since Thursday midnight, Russian-led forces haven't attacked Ukrainian positions yet," the report said.Thus, the court ruled to cancel the previous decision of February 5, 2019.

Kyiv's District Administrative Court has ruled to reinstate Ulana Suprun as Acting Health Minister of Ukraine.

Read alsoSuprun: Court exceeds authority, intervenes in work of executive branch

The relevant decision was announced by judge Serhiy Karakashian on February 14, according to Ukrayinska Pravda news outlet.

Thus, the court ruled to cancel the previous decision of February 5, 2019.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on February 5, a Kyiv-based court partially satisfied a claim filed by Radical Party MP Ihor Mosiychuk and forbade Suprun to fulfill her duties as acting head of the Ministry of Health. At the same time, the court did not ban the official from fulfilling the duties of a deputy health minister. A representative of Ukraine's government appealed the court ruling.

On February 13, the Cabinet of Ministers on Wednesday partially unblocked the work of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

Suprun was appointed acting Health Minister on August 1, 2016."Election observation is one of most transparent and accountable ways to support democracy."

The first waves of Canadian election monitors have arrived in Ukraine, as fears rise over Russian meddling in the March 31 presidential ballot.

The observer missions are crucial to preserving Ukraine's ability to conduct a democratically sound election in the face of Russian efforts designed to portray the country as poorly run and corrupt, CBC News reported.

The crisis dates back to the Kremlin's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and its backing of Russian separatist militias in eastern Ukraine.

Canada and its NATO allies consider Russia's actions, backed by President Vladimir Putin, to be a breach of Europe's borders, and have shored up the 28-country alliance's military forces in several eastern European countries.

Read alsoUkrainian official: Hacking intensifies as election nears  AP

Now with a pivotal presidential election campaign swinging into high gear, the Trudeau government is following in the footsteps of previous Conservative and Liberal governments in sending a bilateral Canadian-led observer mission, organized between Canada and Ukraine, while also contributing to a multinational mission led by the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe.

The OSCE monitoring missions are widely considered the gold standard in international election monitoring. But Canada's decision to send separate observer missions is unique and has generated controversy over the years.

Numerous internal government assessments have said the missions were either problematic or too expensive.

That has not stopped Liberal and Conservative governments from supporting the missions, sparking concerns that they were simply playing politics to win the support of the estimated 1.3 million Canadians of Ukrainian descent.

"Election observation is one of most transparent and accountable ways to support democracy," Adam Austen, spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, told The Canadian Press in an email.

"That is why Canada is proud to support Ukraine's upcoming elections through a range of actions, including a bilateral election observation mission and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) election observation mission."

The last of 58 long-term Canadian observers arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday, officials said.

That includes 50 people who are part of the Canadian-led bilateral mission that will eventually include an additional 100 short-term observers.

Another eight observers also arrived recently as part of Canada's contribution to the multi-nation mission led by the OSCE. Canada will be sending 14 more short-term observers to that mission in the coming weeks.

They are among 100 long-term and 750 short-term observers from 13 countries serving on the OSCE mission. Two proposed Russian observers were rejected by Ukraine and the Kremlin withdrew their request to serve on the mission, said Thomas Rymer, spokesman for the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

"The Ukrainian authorities made it clear that they would not accredit observers from the Russian Federation, and Ukraine's parliament then passed a law supporting this position," Rymer said in an emailed response to questions. "After it became clear that the Ukrainian authorities would not accredit the Russian observers, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that it had decided not to send the observers, citing security concerns."

Canada fully supported that decision to prevent Russians from taking part in the multilateral mission, said a senior Canadian government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.NATO warships will enter the Black Sea in the coming days to take part in naval drills.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has noted that the Alliance is looking into strengthening its presence in the Black Sea region to support Ukraine.

Speaking at a Brussels press conference following a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers, Stoltenberg said: "We had a very good discussion with Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak where all Allies expressed their very strong support to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. NATO Allies have of course clearly stated that Russia's aggressive actions against Ukraine are unacceptable. The illegal annexation of Crimea, the continuing efforts to try to destabilize Ukraine through its efforts and presence in Donbas, and also, of course, the totally unjustified seizure of the Ukrainian ships near the Kerch Strait."

Read alsoGeneral Staff: Ukraine Army shifting away from Soviet-style training routine

He added that the Allies strongly support Ukraine politically and practically.

"We are now looking into what more we can do," said the NATO chief.

He elaborated that that various trust funds had been set up in support of Ukraine, in particular, to help in command and control issues, cyber, and organizing security and defense institutions.

Besides, a number of Allies have been training Ukrainian troops.

"We are looking into whether we can increase our presence in the Black Sea and in the near future, in a few days, we'll have NATO ships in the Black Sea, participating in an exercise. So we have significantly increased our presence at sea but also in the air and on land in the Black Sea region. All of this is also part of our support to Ukraine," said Stoltenberg.

He has assured that the Alliance will "continue to support" the country.Geneva/Jackson Hole, WY/Montreal/Nairobi/New York  Judges and organizers of the World Wildlife Day 2020 Film Showcase have unveiled the finalists of this years contest, highlighting 57 outstanding films, picked from a total of 345 entries. The seven final laureates will be announced on 3 March, during the World Wildlife Day celebrations at a high-level event at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The festival was organized by Jackson Wild, the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), along with film professionals. It was announced last November and is the fifth of its kind.

The Showcase is anchored in the theme of this years World Wildlife Day: Sustaining all life on Earth, which aims to celebrate wild fauna and flora as essential components of the worlds biodiversity, to highlight its immense benefits to humanity as purveyor of resources and livelihoods, and to raise awareness about the threats it currently faces.

The theme also underlines the importance of sustainable use of natural resources, as research continues to shed light on the scale and speed of the biodiversity loss crisis the world is facing, and the role that overexploitation of wildlife, habitats and ecosystems plays in accelerating it.

The judges  professional filmmakers, biodiversity experts and stakeholders from around the world  selected the finalists in eight categories:

 Science, Innovation and Exploration;

 Issues and Solutions;

 People and Wild Species;

 Stories of Hope;

 Global Voices;

 Web of Life;

 Short; and

 Micro.

The full list of finalists can be found below.

Winners and finalists will be showcased extensively at events across the world to raise awareness of the importance of conserving the worlds biodiversity and sustainably using wildlife, their habitats and the ecosystems they are a part of. They will also be part of the communications around what has been dubbed the biodiversity super year, as the year 2020 will witness numerous high-level events organized by UN system organizations, States, relevant Conventions and civil society, during which biodiversity and the challenges it faces will be brought to the forefront of the sustainable development agenda with the aim of adopting a new global biodiversity framework for the future.

CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero said: We are grateful to all filmmakers who submitted their entries on this crucial and complex topic surrounding our worlds wildlife. The stories and images they recorded will be incredibly powerful tools to help raise awareness of the genuinely grave crisis that is biodiversity loss. With nearly a million species currently threatened with extinction in the near future because of unsustainable human activity, it is time for humanity to reshape its relationship with nature, including wild plants and animals. For this years World Wildlife Day celebrations, we want to push for a more sustainable use of all the precious and  though we sometimes forget it  limited resources of the biosphere. These wonderful films will help us do just that.

As noted by Midori Paxton, Head of Biodiversity for UNDP: Wildlife and biodiversity are under tremendous threat from unsustainable production and consumption, urban expansion and population growth. If were to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, we must reverse this trend now and put nature at the center of development. We need to scale up what is already working and advance more innovative solutions through partnerships that help shift how our societies think, feel and act about Nature. This years Film Showcase is an example of how a dedicated network of practitioners, experts and advocates can raise awareness and catalyze urgent action needed to protect biodiversity and wildlife which provides a global safety net for all life.

Global biodiversity is declining faster than at any time in human history, with one million plant and animal species currently threatened with extinction. 2020 is a critical year for transformative change to lay the groundwork for a decade of nature conservation and restoration. The World Wildlife Day 2020 Film Showcase will inspire action by capturing real stories about the irreplaceable benefits that nature provides to support human well-being, said Susan Gardner, Director for Ecosystems for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

This years selection of finalists are incredibly moving and powerful," agreed Lisa Samford, Executive Director of Jackson Wild. They will inspire the critical action necessary to protect and restore our planets biodiversity.

The World Wildlife Day 2020 Film Showcase serves as a wonderful way to highlight the importance of sustaining all life on Earth, said Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Acting Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). As governments prepare to negotiate the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, increasing the sustainability of wildlife use and management is a priority. We know the stakes are high. We must strive to conserve and use biodiversity sustainably to ensure wildlife keeps sustaining all life. The awareness raised by these films will no doubt serve to enlighten many people about the critical importance of bending the curve on biodiversity loss.

World Wildlife Day 2020 Film Showcase finalists:

Science, Innovation and Exploration:

A Song for Love - An Ape with an App

A co-production of Terra Mater Factual Studios, Mark Fletcher Productions and Colorful Nature Films.

Nature: The Serengeti Rules

A Production of HHMI Tangled Bank Studios and Passion Planet in association with Sandbox Films, Thirteen Productions Llc and WNET

Serengeti: Natures Living Laboratory

Day's Edge Productions for Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Issues and Solutions:

Gorillas of Gabon

Earth Touch, Smithsonian Networks

Our Gorongosa

A Gorongosa Media and HHMI Tangled Bank Studios Production

Watson

Local Hero, Participant Media, Terra Mater Factual Studios

People and Wild Species:

Grasslands - North Americas Hidden Wilderness

A River Road Films production in association with CBC and Terra Mater Factual Studios

Kingdom of the White Wolf: Episode 103

Nat Geo Wild

Sharkwater Extinction

Sharkwater Pictures

The Serengeti Rules

HHMI Tangled Bank Studios/Passion Planet

Stories of Hope:

Europe's New Wild: Episode 103

Nat Geo Wild

Rare: Creatures of the Photo Ark: Episode 1

WGBH Boston and So World Media, LLC in association with National Geographic Channels

Silent Forests

House Tiger Productions

Global Voices:

Mundiya Kepanga, The Voice of the Forest

Muriel Barra/ LatoSensu productions

Okavango - River of Dreams - Episode 1: Paradise

A Terra Mater Factual Studios / Wildlife Films production in co-production with Thirteen Productions LLC, Doclights/NDR Naturfilm in association with PBS, CPB, Arte France / Unite Decouverte et Connaissance, National Geographic Channels and SVT

On the Front Line, The Rangers of Gorongosa National Park

Gorongosa Media

Queen without Land

Artic Light in association with NRK, NDR/Doclights, ORF, France 3, Smithsonian Channel, SVT

Web of Life:

Borneo - Earths Ancient Eden

A production of Terra Mater Factual Studios

Epic Animal Migrations: Mexico

Earth Touch, Smithsonian Channel

Lost Kings of Bioko

Gulo Film Productions for NDR Naturfilm / Doclights, NDR, WDR, ARTE, ORF, Smithsonian Channel, SVT

The Elephant Queen

An Apple Original and A Deeble, Stone and Oliff Production

The Sanctuary: Survival Stories of the Alps

Boreales / Winds, France Televisions, Terra Mater

Short (under 15 minutes):

How to Save Our Planet

Silverback Films

Hunting the Helmeted Hornbill

Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Geographic Magazine and Rangkong Indonesia

Nigerians Fight to Protect the World's Most Trafficked Mammal

Coral and Oak Studios, National Geographic

Last Wild Places: Gorongosa

National Geographic Society

MY 25: The Ocean Between Us

Inka Cresswell, University of the West of England - MA Wildlife Filmmaking

(Re)Connecting Wild - Restoring Safe Passage

NineCaribou Productions, LLC

Micro (under 5 minutes):

Breathe

Pioneer Studios

How to Raise Baby Corals

Exposure Labs, bioGraphic

#NatureNow

A @tommustill Film for Gripping Films

Ocean Farmer

Silverback Films

The Story of Cabo Pulmo

Silverback Films

Uncle Elephant

Wild Earth Allies and Emic Films

What is Biodiversity?

Silverback Films

Honorable Mentions, General:

Tree Climbing Lions

Nat Geo Wild

Okavango - River of Dreams - Episode 3: Inferno

A Terra Mater Factual Studios / Wildlife Films production in co-production with Thirteen Productions LLC, Doclights/NDR Naturfilm in association with PBS, CPB, Arte France / Unite Decouverte et Connaissance, National Geographic Channels and SVT

Fantastic Fungi

Moving Art, Artemis Rising, Diamond Docs

Walking Thunder

Last Stand Films

Tigerland

Produced for Discovery by RadicalMedia

Gerdab

Wildlife Pictures Institute

Honorable Mentions, Short:

Beyond The Fence

Tessa Barlin in association with the Nature, Environment & Wildlife Filmmakers Congress (NEWF)

Sounds of Survival

Katie Garrett, bioGraphic

1 MILLION Species Could Go Extinct... Heres Why. | Its Okay to Be Smart

Spotzen, PBS Digital Studios

The Flying Gold of Arabuko

John Davies, National Film and Television School

Mexico City and its Sacred Salamanders

Katie Garrett, bioGraphic

The Firefox Guardian

Gunjan Menon, University of the West of England

Mud, Sweat, and Fears: Episode 2 of 'Last Call for the Bayou'

Encompass Films

Where Life Begins

Coral and Oak Studios, The Wilderness Society

Honorable Mentions, Short:

Ay Santa Ana

Pongo Media

Gajah Borneo

Shervin Hess, Oregon Zoo

Meet The Real Wolf

Grizzly Creek Films

Spider Monkey for Sale

An Ateles Films production by Michael Sanderson and Ana Luisa Santos

A Constituency for Conservation | Ndoki at 25

Wildlife Conservation Society

Second Chances

Eilidh Munro

The Birdman of Chorao

Shashank Bhosale

The Burrowers

Yasmine Ellis

For more information and to arrange interviews, please contact:

CITES Secretariat: Francisco Perez, +41 22 917 1447, francisco.perezgonzalez@un.org

United Nations Environment Programme, Keisha Rukikaire, +254 722 677747, rukikaire@un.org

United Nations Development Programme, Sangita Khadka, +212906 5043, sangita.khadka@undp.org

Jackson Wild: Abbey Greene, +1 307 200 3286 ext. 700, abbey@jacksonwild.org

To arrange free community screening events, please contact:

Melanie Judd, (307) 200-3286 ext. 4, melanie@jhfestival.org

About CITES

With 183 Parties (182 countries + the European Union), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) remains one of the world's most powerful tools for wildlife conservation through the regulation of trade. Thousands of species are internationally traded and used by people in their daily lives for food, health care, housing, tourist souvenirs, cosmetics or fashion. CITES regulates international trade in over 36,000 species of plants and animals, including their products and derivatives, to ensure their survival in the wild with benefits for the livelihoods of local people and the global environment. The CITES permit system seeks to ensure that international trade in listed species is sustainable, legal and traceable. CITES was signed in Washington D.C. on 3 March 1973 and entered into force on 1 July 1975.

About Jackson Wild

Jackson Wilds programs promote public awareness and stewardship of wildlife and wildlife habitat through the innovative use of media. For over 28 years, the Jackson Wild Summit has grown a reputation for hosting an extraordinary convening of scientists, conservationists, innovators and media where collaboration and innovation thrive, ideas are launched, and strategic partnerships are forged as participants work together to address critical conservation and environmental challenges facing our planet. The 2020 Jackson Wild Summit will be hosted in Austria: 28 Sept-2 Oct. in the famous Neusiedler See - Seewinkel National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

About the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.

About UNDP

UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in nearly 170 countries and territories, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations.

About the United Nations World Wildlife Day

On 20 December 2013, the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 3 March as World Wildlife Day to celebrate and raise awareness of the worlds wild fauna and flora. The date is the day of the signature of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1973. World Wildlife Day has quickly become the most prominent global annual event dedicated to wildlife. It is an opportunity to celebrate the many beautiful and varied forms of wild fauna and flora and to raise awareness of the various challenges faced by these species. The day also reminds us of the urgent need to step up the fight against wildlife crime, which has wide-ranging economic, environmental and social impacts.| By Becky Ceraul

On Feb. 12, 2019, Andrew Coop, PhD, professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) as part of a hearing titled Managing Pain During the Opioid Crisis.

His testimony emphasized the need for alternative pain management treatments and examined how pharmacists can help ensure that patients who use opioids do so safely and effectively.

Coops remarks focused on his research to develop UMB 425  an opioid painkiller with the potential for no abuse liability  and the role that pharmacists can play in helping to alleviate the opioid crisis.

Andrew Coop, PhD, professor and associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, speaks with Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Courtesy of Senate Photographic Services

Coop provided written and oral testimony during the hearing and participated with other panelists in a lengthy question-and-answer session.

To view his oral testimony, go to the HELP Committee website. His written testimony is available below.

Testimony of Andrew Coop, PhD, before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions



Managing Pain During the Opioid Crisis

Chairman Alexander, Ranking Member Murray and Committee Members, I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify today on a matter of critical importance to this country, and I applaud this Committee for continuing to seek to better understand alternatives for pain management that will not lead to opioid addiction. I am Dr. Andrew Coop and I am a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. As many of you know, the school is located at the University of Maryland, Baltimore in the City of Baltimore  a densely urban area of this country which has its share of the many challenges U.S. cities face. The scourge of opioid addiction continues to be particularly prevalent in Baltimore despite many relatively successful efforts to lessen its impact. The University, where I have worked for 20 years, is deeply involved in this fight for our citizens lives. I was trained in England by John Lewis, a name that is not known to many; he was the person who developed buprenorphine, and I have followed him in my personal research efforts, focused on developing non-addictive, non-opioid alternatives for pain management to help diminish the number of individuals addicted to opioids due to chronic pain.

With this background, I want to briefly outline the current state of research in finding effective, non-addictive pain compounds, discuss the promise and to offer suggestions on strengthening the administration of pain management compounds. In the interest of transparency, I want to disclose that one of the compounds I will discuss is being developed by ALT Pharmaceuticals of which I am the co-founder along with a colleague from the School of Pharmacy, and I serve as its chief scientific officer.

Let me begin by saying that individuals who suffer from severe and chronic pain deserve our sincere sympathy. Their discomfort is debilitating and even life threatening in some cases, and their addiction to relief brought on by opioids is not by choice in most cases. We owe these individuals a better solution  one that does not come with its own complications and one that, while not curing the condition that brings the pain, enables them to return to a fuller life.

The number of individuals with chronic pain addicted to opioids is significant according to recent data. According to the CDCs National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), an estimated 20.4 percent of U.S. adults  some 50 million people  had chronic pain and nearly 20 million had high-impact chronic pain  pain that frequently limits life or work activities.

Make no mistake, opioids are an outstanding class of drugs for treating pain when used appropriately. All currently approved opioids interact with and activate certain receptors in the brain which gives rise to analgesia (pain relief), and are a gold standard in treating pain when used appropriately. Unfortunately, they also give rise to all the associated side effects, including addiction and respiratory depression  it is the respiratory depression (slowing of breathing) that is the major cause of death on overdose. In my work and those of others in the field, we are searching for a compound that will treat the threshold of pain like opioids, but without the dependency of opioids. I attempt to avoid the term addiction due to the fact that it is often interpreted differently by different people, and therefore does not allow a scientific approach to the development of new opioids lacking such an effect. If we dont know what our goal is, we will never get there. We need to define terms that can be measured biologically, namely dependence and reinforcement. They are different and have different mechanisms.

Dependence: Chronic administration of an opioid causes adaptations in the brain  specifically to the mu receptors, where they now function as if the opioid is present. On discontinuation of the opioid, the receptors are suddenly functioning without the drug that they adapted to, and this leads to withdrawal. This effect occurs no matter the reason for taking the opioid (for clinical reasons or for recreational reasons), so a patient who has received chronic administration of an opioid to treat pain will have withdrawal just as much as a person taking illicit opioids. The withdrawal effects are severe (like a bad case of the flu) and leads to patient seeking opioids to prevent withdrawal. Both prescription and illicit opioids would attenuate the withdrawal effects (as both work through mu receptors), leading to a life of drug use.

Reinforcement: In addition to analgesia, opioids also give rise to euphoria  commonly referred to as a high, an acute and instant effect. This effect leads to drug seeking for recreational purposes, and the drugs are usually administered through snorting or by injection for optimal reinforcement Overtime, as the individual takes opioids chronically, they develop dependence, and drug seeking turns to preventing withdrawal, rather than for reinforcement. As stated, all opioids act through the same mechanism, so prescription opioids are often diverted for recreational use due to their reinforcing properties.

My research, along with that of several others is focused on the development of an opioid lacking both reinforcement (like the abuse deterrent formulations) and dependence. Approaches include biased agonists, opioids that do not enter the brain (peripheral opioids), as well as my approach of designing a drug that activates both mu receptors and an additional biological system that prevents the side effects from mu. Many are in development in both academic and industrial laboratories, and it is critical that this research continue to be funded. The FDA has a critical role in the approval of such opioids, as we need an approach that will be both rapid in getting the drug to patients, but ensure that the new opioids are indeed safer than the current clinically approved ones. For instance, the drug developed in my laboratory appears to lack dependence in animal tests, but is reinforcing in larger rodents. Thus, although this compound (UMB 425) appears promising it is not a panacea, is only half-way to the optimal analgesic, and would almost certainly not be approved by the FDA, due to the potential for illicit use through its reinforcing properties, something that has happened recently for other new opioids.

An example of effort to create a drug for pain management without the complications of reinforcement is loxicodegol under development by an industrial laboratory.

The efforts to design a drug that would treat the same level of pain as a traditional opioid but would lack both dependence and reinforcement characteristics continue in laboratories across the US, but may take a number of years to reach the prescribing market. Like you, I wish this were not the case, but the research is intense and hopeful. A more rapid approach would be the use of drug combinations, where a lower dose of opioid is combined with another approved drug leading to lower doses of opioid required.

Research is also ongoing to find ways to potentially reduce recreational use of opioids, which is of concern to policymakers and the nation as a whole as the drug crisis continues. One approach is to focus on the use of abuse-deterrent formulation. For example, we can use tablets that prevent removal of the opioid to be diverted for recreational use and injected or snorted, but when taken orally will have the desired analgesic effect. The same is true for using a patch for transdermal drug induction. Taking a drug orally or transdermally leads to less reinforcing effects, as it is the rate of increase in levels that is correlated with reinforcement. Abuse deterrent formulations are strong step towards the optimal opioid, but, however, do not prevent the development of dependence as that is due to chronic, long-term action of opioid on the brains mu receptors  so not yet perfect.

As noted above, opioids should continue to be available to patients for the treatment of severe pain, as they are unsurpassed in their ability to treat chronic pain. That said, we need to ensure patients who require opioids are able to have them prescribed. However, their use should be reduced to a minimum, with education of patients on appropriate use and misuse. This requires a multi-faceted approach to pain management, including education of both patients and prescribers that pain is to be managed, rather than eliminated. This requires a team-based approach, where one size does not fit all. We all have experienced pain of some sort, and the first line of defense is to use aspirin, ibuprofen, acetaminophen or naproxen. When these and other over-the-counter medicines fail to relieve our symptoms, we turn to our physicians who may suggest alternative or complementary approaches such as exercise, physical therapy, weight loss, acupuncture, or cognitive behavioral therapy. There are local anesthetics and nerve blockers that are effective for surgical pain, but cost is often an obstacle. Topical capsaicins work well in many cases. Medical cannabis, controversial as it is, has potential, but well-designed studies are lacking. However, these potential sources of relief may not suffice especially for those with high-impact chronic pain and many require more patience and dedication than a pain sufferer can manage, and we ask for more. Many patients have come to expect a prescription of opioids that unrealistically totally eliminates pain when the appropriate goal is to reduce pain to a manageable level. Patient education, counseling, and follow-up care are critical to minimizing the risk of addiction.

I cannot stress enough the importance of prescriber education on opioid prescribing and would hope that this Committee and other interested bodies would continue to push for reducing the number of potentially unneeded opioid prescriptions written. Further, I suggest that patients need to take more personal responsibility for managing their pain before asking ones physician for something stronger.

If I might turn to my own adopted profession and how pharmacists can contribute to reducing addiction. We are behind the counter when a prescription is filled and our prescription records often tell an important story about a particular patient. We are on the front line when opioids are the choice. The opioid epidemic requires an all hands-on deck inter-professional team approach to truly combat opioid-related deaths and adequately treat opioid use disorder. Adding to the complexity, mental illness and substance use disorders are often concurrent chronic disorders. We want to make you aware of the unique expertise that specialized pharmacists can bring to this effort. Pharmacists are medication experts and one of the most accessible health care professionals, yet they have been underutilized in fighting this epidemic. Expanding the prescribing of medications like buprenorphine/naloxone to include pharmacists would optimize treatment access and patient care.

Pharmacists are routinely making a difference every day by dispensing medications like naloxone and educating the public about this lifesaving antidote for opioid overdose. They receive years of training to educate patients, manage and monitor medications, including for side effects and drug interactions, and, in some cases, prescribing and administering medications. Allowing pharmacists to practice at the full extent of their education expands access to care. When pharmacists gained the authority to administer influenza vaccine and other vaccinations, immunization rates significantly increased. As a result, 280,000 pharmacists are trained to administer vaccines. Pharmacists also receive specialized training in various practice areas. For instance, psychiatric pharmacists are uniquely qualified to work with opioid use disorder patients and are experts in medication use and abuse/diversion. Psychiatric pharmacists receive graduate pharmacy degrees and post-graduate residency training in psychiatry and substance abuse. They are eligible to become board certified psychiatric pharmacists (BCPP) by completing required prerequisites and a rigorous national exam.

Most states allow pharmacists to prescribe or adjust patient medications and monitor medication effects in collaboration with a physician through laws permitting collaborative drug therapy management (CDTM) agreements. Patients with substance use disorders and mental illness often require complicated medication regimens. Collaboration between prescribers and pharmacists helps to optimize medication selection, improve safety, and expand access to care, especially in areas with a shortage of health professionals.

Buprenorphine/naloxone is an effective treatment for opioid use disorder. Unlike other medications, including prescription opioids, buprenorphine/naloxone can only be prescribed by a DATA-waivered prescriber, which limits treatment availability. Lack of institutional, mental health and psychosocial support has been cited as significant barriers to prescribing buprenorphine among primary care providers. Pharmacists are not currently eligible to apply to become DATA-waivered. We ask your support and petition for federal legislative changes which would allow pharmacists participating in CDTM agreements to prescribe buprenorphine/naloxone collaboratively with physicians to further expand access to care and improve treatment outcomes. I strongly recommend that we allow pharmacists to prescribe buprenorphine as part of an overall management of care for opioid use disorder, and gain reimbursement from Medicare. We need a long-term solution to the opioid crisis, but we also need to ensure that current patients have optimal access to medication-assisted treatment.

In conclusion, we must continue to allow access to opioids for those individuals with significant pain while we search for alternative medicines to control pain. Alternatives to opioids are within reach and research funding into such medications must not be threatened if progress is to be made. Policies designed to stem illicit drug use must not jeopardize appropriate health care. Greater efforts into the development of safer opioids are warranted. Prescriber and patient education on the use, and possible misuse of opioids for chronic pain conditions must continue and be strengthened. Teams addressing the opioid crisis should include pharmacists.

Thank you.The Cabinet of Ministers has terminated for Ukraine the effect of the agreement on the creation of a consultative economic working commission at the governing bodies of the CIS, the press service of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine has reported.

"On February 13, the government supported the initiative of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and terminated for Ukraine the effect of the agreement, under which the consultative economic working commission was created under the Council of Heads of State and the Council of Heads of Government of the CIS in 1992," the report says.

Following a joint analysis by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the relevant agreement lost its practical meaning in 1992 due to the creation of the CIS coordinating and consultative committee that terminated its activities in December 2000.

The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs jointly conduct an analysis of 236 agreements concluded as part of the CIS. Over the past few months, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has denounced six irrelevant and outdated treaties.Warsaw and Washington argue against the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project, which jeopardizes the security of the continent.

The relevant statement was made at a joint press conference of Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Warsaw, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"We argue that the Nord Stream 2 project damages the energy security of Europe. We consider it to be unsuccessful and even harmful project for the energy security of the continent," Czaputowicz said.

As the minister noted, Poland and the United States supports in this matter the "pro-European stance", which the European Commission holds. In his opinion, those, who oppose the initiative of the European Commission on this project, are acting against the interests of the EU.

Czaputowicz also added that both countries condemned Russia's aggressive actions, especially against Ukraine. In this context, he called the actions of Russia in the Sea of Azov "unacceptable", and detention of Ukrainian sailors captured in the Kerch Strait "unreasonable."

In turn, Pompeo confirmed that the United States opposed the construction of Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

"It could strengthen the Russias superiority and make European countries dependent on Russian supplies," the U.S. Secretary of State said.The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission must be provided with free, safe and unhindered access throughout Ukraine, including the territory of Crimea and along the Ukrainian-Russian state border.

The EU said this in a statement on the security situation in and around Ukraine, delivered during a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

The SMM continues to be deprived of safe, unconditional and unimpeded movement throughout Ukraine, including Crimea and along the Ukrainian-Russian state border, the EU delegation to the OSCE said.

We condemn any interference with the SMMs work and its technical equipment, occurring predominantly in the areas controlled by Russia-backed armed formations. Over the last week (28 January - 3 February) the SMM was restricted on 11 occasions in its freedom of movement - all in areas controlled by Russia-backed armed formations, including at checkpoints near Zaichenko and Bezimenne, where the Mission has encountered consistent restrictions since the middle of 2018, the EU noted.

The armed formations also continued to restrict the SMMs access near the border with the Russian Federation in areas not under government control. The EU strongly condemns these attempts to blind the Mission, especially in the context in which the Russian Federation opposes any significant expansion of the observation of the uncontrolled Russian-Ukrainian state border.

We call on Russia to immediately stop providing financial and military support to the armed formations. The ceasefire must be respected. All Minsk-regulated weapons must be withdrawn. All foreign armed formations, military equipment and mercenaries must be removed from Ukraine. Re-establishing full Ukrainian control over its state border is essential, the statement noted.

ish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.OKLAHOMA CITY  Gov. Kevin Stitt has appointed Steven L. Buck as his Cabinet secretary for human services and early childhood development.

Buck is executive director of the Office of Juvenile Affairs.

As Cabinet secretary, he will be responsible for 34 agencies, boards and commissions.

He previously served as health and human services secretary.

Before Joining the Office of Juvenile Affairs in 2016, Buck was deputy commissioner for communications and prevention with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

He holds a bachelors degree in agricultural economics and a masters degree in administrative leadership.

Senate confirmation is required.

Barbara Hoberock 405-528-2465 barbara.hoberock@tulsaworld.com Twitter: @bhoberock

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."You don't want things so convenient that you don't even know when fraud might be occurring, but on the other hand you don't want it so secure no one can vote," the state election board secretary says.The University of Oklahoma is paying one of the largest law firms in the world to investigate former President David Boren, sources have confirmed.

Investigators with the Jones Day law firm have asked whether Boren sexually harassed male aides, sources said.

Boren, a former Oklahoma governor and U.S. senator, retired last year after nearly 24 years in charge at OU. Through an attorney Wednesday, Boren, 77, denied any misconduct.

"This is not an objective search for the truth. It is a fishing expedition," attorney Bob Burke told The Oklahoman. "President Boren emphatically denies any inappropriate behavior or unlawful activity. He has been a dedicated public servant for more than 50 years and his life is an open book in Oklahoma."Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar called for a review of the Indian Health Service following an investigation that revealed the agencys mishandling of a pedophile doctor.

The investigation, by The Wall Street Journal and "Frontline," detailed the career of Stanley Patrick Weber, a pediatrician who in 2018 was convicted of sexually assaulting Native American boys. The IHS transferred him from one agency-run hospital to another after officials concluded he was molesting children in 1995, and he continued working for the federal agency for 21 years.

The news organizations documentary about the doctor, "Predator on the Reservation," premiered Tuesday.OKLAHOMA CITY  The Oklahoma Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would ban the use of vaping products on school campuses and events.

Senate Bill 33, drafted by Sen. J.J. Dossett, D-Owasso, was passed by a 45-1 vote. It now heads to the House for consideration.

Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, cast the lone dissenting vote.

Dahm said he voted against the measure because it is already being handled locally.

In addition, it applies to adults and vaping products that do not contain nicotine, he said.

It is just government overreach, Dahm said.

Dossett said that while most schools ban the products in policy, putting it in state law elevates it.

Vaping involves inhaling a vapor created by the heating of infused liquid in a small, battery-powered tank. Many products contain nicotine.

Dossett said school districts are seeking something stronger than a policy in an effort to reduce vaping.

He said there has been a rapid increase in the number of students using the products.OKLAHOMA CITY  A Senate panel on Thursday advanced a number of alcohol modernization bills.

The bills head to the full Senate for consideration after securing passage in the Business, Commerce and Tourism Committee.

Senate Bill 804 would allow patrons to purchase and carry beer during games on college campuses. Oklahomas switch to strong beer necessitated the measure, said Stephanie Bice, R-Oklahoma City, the author of the bills.

In addition, it would allow municipalities to approve licenses for festivals to serve strong beer to patrons, she said.

Senate Bill 813 would allow vendors who provide a service to seek a complimentary beverage license to serve free spirits during the service. The limit would be two drinks, Bice said.

For example, there may be a barber shop in Tulsa that caters to men and they may be offering, while cutting your hair or trimming your beard, a tasting of Scotch to enjoy while you are receiving your services, Bice said.

Sen. Greg McCortney, R-Ada, asked if the state would be giving up potential tax revenue because the beverages are not being sold and therefore not taxed.Sen. Ron Sharp, R-Shawnee, said the measure failed to define what is appropriate and inappropriate.

Standridge said state employees and those paid with taxpayer dollars should be an example for children and others to follow.

Children are learning negative behavior from adults, Standridge said.

Senate Minority Leader Kay Floyd, D-Oklahoma City, said the measure limits a persons right to free speech and could open the state to lawsuits.

She said the measure will not change behavior because it is unconstitutional. She said she did not know how to fix the measure.

Standridge said he was willing to work with critics of the measure to improve the language.

Sen. Standridges heart is in the right place, but the bill will probably face some serious First Amendment and employment law hurdles, said Mark Thomas, Oklahoma Press Association executive vice president. To be honest, its sad we even need a bill to instruct adults to behave appropriately when using social media.

Sen. Jason Smalley, R-Stroud, offered and then withdrew an amendment to name the measure the Paul Scott Social Media Standards Act. Paul Scott is a Republican senator from Duncan who made headlines for his social media activity.

Barbara Hoberock 405-528-2465 barbara.hoberock@tulsaworld.com Twitter: @bhoberock

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.While some may not pay a lot of attention to lying on gun purchase forms, it is a big deal to us, said Jeffrey C. Boshek II, special agent in charge of the ATFs Dallas Field Division.

Thats why we are prosecuting these cases, Boshek said. Its important to make sure that the public understands that we are not going to tolerate this anymore.

Were not going to let people come out and lie on these forms or use their spouses or friends and acquaintances to purchase firearms for them. Its illegal, and its going to help to put a dent in the violent crime and the serial shootings and everything else thats happening in this country.

Shores said four of the five defendants already arrested have multiple felony convictions, while three of the five are also charged with possessing firearms as felons.

Brannon is one of those charged with both possessing firearms as a felon and making a false statement in connection with a firearms acquisition.

According to an arrest affidavit filed in connection with the complaint, Brannon pawned a shotgun July 24 at Grove Ice & Iron, a licensed gun dealer in Delaware County.Tulsa police arrested a woman Wednesday on complaints of obstruction and parking on the sidewalk after an altercation at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center in downtown.

Officers were called to the equality center at 621 E. 4th Street after a woman came reportedly came in and began throwing things around the office, all while videoing the situation.

In a news release, Oklahomans for Equality stated the incident resulted from a "disagreement between individuals on social media."

"We regret that the incidents of today were deemed newsworthy," the release stated. "We know this has left our constituents concerned and confused. Oklahomans For Equality is committed to an internal and organization-wide examination of leadership and programs to address any bias."

Stetson Payne 918-732-8135 stetson.payne@tulsaworld.com Twitter: @stetson__payneAnderson is thought to have been sequestered there for three days with at least one gunshot wound, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Anderson reportedly had called Stambeck during the pursuit and told her that he had been shot and was being chased by law enforcement officers, according to an affidavit.

Deputies forcibly entered the residence with a warrant after no one responded to their commands, and they located Stambeck and Anderson inside.

Shelby states her fiance  was shot twice, deputies state in an affidavit. Shelby stated they had been at (the residence) for a few days.

Deputies were told that Anderson was immobile.

I think I saw some bandages on him, but I dont think he had any access to professional medical care, Walton said.

The sheriff described the residence as a mix of a barn, shop and house. His deputies told him the residence had been fortified in the front and back.

The Sonata driver was not identified until the day after the pursuit, when Stambeck reportedly contacted the Rogers County Sheriffs Office.These tax credits are vouchers in disguise, she said.

The measures funnel money out of all public school budgets and into private schools, she said.

More than 90 percent of Oklahoma students attend public schools, she said. What parents want are well-funded public schools.

Bills like this further hinder proper funding for all kids while benefiting an elite few, she said.

The Oklahoma State School Boards Association on Tuesday put out an urgent legislative alert, calling the measures tax-credit voucher expansion.

Sen. J.J. Dossett, D-Owasso, said the state needs to properly fund public education before the program is expanded.

Philip Abode, is executive director of Crossover Preparatory Academy, a Christina private school in Tulsa. The school does not charge tuition because it believes a great education should not be dependent on the ability to pay, he said.

This bill will make it easier to raise money to fund our school, Abode said.

The scholarship does not use state funds, said Larry Parman, Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs chairman.Instead of a hunt, perhaps a community could have a photo contest and offer cash prizes for the most photogenic live, free red fox or coyote. Lets put respect and understanding over outmoded traditions and questionable customs, such as the sport of competitive killing. What does that teach children? And what does it say about the state of humanity in those living close to the last of the wild?

One great statement for the animal kingdom: We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein do we err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: They are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.  Henry Beston, The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod.The husband of a Tulsa County Court Clerks Office employee accused of being a member of the Ku Klux Klan described the allegation as inaccurate on Wednesday.

The website HateTrackers.online posted a story on Feb. 4 accusing Bondell Bonnie Kukla and her husband, Stephen Kukla, of being white supremacists and longtime members of the Ku Klux Klan.

They travel to various Klan chapters throughout the South preaching, speaking, and entertaining through song, according to the HateTrackers article.

But Stephen Kukla on Wednesday denied HateTrackers assertion that he and his wife are KKK members.

There are a lot of inaccuracies in that (story), and that is one of them, he said.

Kukla added that he would not be making any other comments on the article.

For me to even get into it is going to complicate the situation even further, so I have no comment, Kukla said.The research is clear; a school calendar doesnt automatically promote student success. Over the past three years, we have made dramatic changes to make our schools better. We have added many security measures in all of our schools, invested in one-on-one technology for all middle school and high school students, purchased new curriculum, built a new STEM lab at our high school, established a mentoring program for all new teachers ... and the list could go on and on.

Harris said it's his opinion that the state is getting back at teachers for walking out last April. One bill filed makes it unlawful for teachers to leave work for a walkout or making a group deposit of $50,000 if they want to rally at the Capitol.

Harris also pointed to the academic success of the 2018 graduating class. The 155 graduates received $1.7 million dollars of scholarship money.

We will collect data and submit the necessary reports to the State Department of Education to try and remain a four-day week, Harris said.

Time will tell for the fate of Wagoners four-day week and others in Oklahoma that are doing the same.

Editor's note: This story was edited after publication to include a list of area districts on the four-day schedule. Contact news@tulsaworld.com with questions or concerns. Provide handouts for those unwilling to work

Should we build a new White House, Supreme Court, and U.S. Capitol? Get rid of cattle as they produce methanea greenhouse gas? Eliminate water vapor, the most abundant greenhouse gas, despite it being harmless? Force every American to drive an electric vehicle? Send all of our manufacturing jobs overseas to countries like China, who do not care about their carbon emissions? Provide higher education to individuals who dont want itor dont plan to use it to positively contribute to our society?

Of course not.

Meanwhile, in California, the Democrat Governor called a high-speed train from San Francisco to Los Angeles unrealistic, saying the plan would cost too much and, respectfully, take too long. Senator Mazie Hirono, a Democrat from Hawaii responded, That would be pretty hard for Hawaii, when asked recently about the implications of cutting down on air travel as a part of the Green New Deal. Even members of her own party are speaking out about the ridiculous proposals in Ocasio-Cortezs plan to save the world.

Democrats response on how the U.S. ought to pay for it is as priceless as the idea to get rid of cows because they fart: The question isnt how well pay for it, but what we will do with our new shared prosperity. In reality, the Green New Deals is set to cost taxpayers trillions of dollars. Initial estimates range from $3 trillion to $50 trillion. Turns out, their socialist plan that promises a lot of free things is actually pretty pricey.

Follow me on Twitter @SkiatookJournal. E-mail lindsey.chastain@skiatookjournal.com

Catch the latest in Opinion Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.My other three bills are awaiting consideration in their committees. SB 126 (occupational licenses) was assigned to the Business Committee. SB 128 (state employee on-call pay) is in General Government. SB 390 (property assessments and ad valorem exemptions) was assigned to the Finance Committee.

Its amazing what all is happening on a daily basis at the Capitol. Besides the 149 legislators, Capitol staffers, state officials and other agency reps running from meeting to meeting, there are also hundreds of guests and tourists who come to watch the legislative process in action or to advocate for particular issues.

Last Wednesday was Rose Day at the Capitol. The prolife event is in its 28th year. This years speaker was Jen Bricker, an incredibly talented young lady who was left at the hospital after being born with no legs but she didnt let that keep her from becoming a state champion in power tumbling and an accomplished acrobat and aerialist. Look her up on YouTube. Amazing story!

Tuesday was Oklahoma Higher Education Day at the Capitol. We welcomed university and college representatives and students from around the state. I got to have lunch with a group of Northeastern State University students. I also visited with Northern Oklahoma College and Northwestern State University in my office.The House of Representatives today passed a measure that would allow citizens to carry a firearm without a permit.

House Bill 2597, by state Rep. Jon Echols, would allow anyone age 21 or over to carry a firearm without a permit. It would permit veterans and active duty and reserve military personnel age 18 or over to carry without a permit. The measure would prohibit felons and those with domestic violence convictions or who have been adjudicated as having a mental illness from carrying a firearm. The bill does not affect current federal law requiring a background check for the in-store purchase of a firearm.

In places where carrying a firearm is currently prohibited, the bill allows those private property owners and college campuses to continue to set their own policies regarding the carrying of firearms on those premises.

This bill solidifies the Second Amendment rights of Oklahomans while protecting private property rights, said House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka. We worked with private businesses, schools and college campuses to ensure that their rights are protected.

There are 15 states that currently allow some form of permitless carry, including Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas.The Oklahoma Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would ban the use of vaping products on school campuses and events.

Senate Bill 33, drafted by Sen. J.J. Dossett, D-Owasso, was passed by a 45-1 vote. It now heads to the House for consideration.

Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, cast the lone dissenting vote.

Dahm said he voted against the measure because it is already being handled locally.

In addition, it applies to adults and vaping products that do not contain nicotine, he said.

It is just government overreach, Dahm said.

Dossett said that while most schools ban the products in policy, putting it in state law elevates it.

Vaping involves inhaling a vapor created by the heating of infused liquid in a small, battery-powered tank. Many products contain nicotine.

Dossett said school districts are seeking something stronger than a policy in an effort to reduce vaping.

He said there has been a rapid increase in the number of students using the products.

He said he is doubtful that someone could find one administrator who says it is not a problem.Hahaha! It depends on where you are from and what generation. For example, I pronounce it Missouree, but my grandmother pronounces it Missouruh. When I tell people Missourians dont have an accent, Im constantly told I am wrong.

4. What are your favorite parts about Tulsa thus far?

What I love about Tulsa is that it felt like home almost instantly. When I mention Im a new resident in conversation, Im also greeted with Well, welcome to Tulsa! If you need help finding a doctor, hair salon, vet, grocery store, favorite BBQ place, etc., I can help you with that! Everyone has been extremely welcoming. But honestly my favorite part is that it literally takes no more than 20 minutes to get places. I am not sure I could get anywhere in 20 minutes back home.

5. How do you unwind?

Before I unwind I make a good old fashion to-do list so I can get my mind off things and actually unwind. Self-care is important because you cant pour from an empty cup.

Lately, my therapy is my dog since he was kind enough to make the move with me while my husband and my kids finish up school in Missouri. Watching my kids grow, learn and accomplish things allows me those precious moments where I can just focus on them. My son is an amazing athlete, and I actually crave the thrill I get by watching him play. I enjoy kickboxing, so if anyone can recommend a good kickboxing gym, I am all ears.

Rhett Morgan 918-581-8395 rhett.morgan@tulsaworld.com Twitter: @RhettMorganTW

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The business news you need With a weekly newsletter looking back at local history. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.- Miguna was deported twice in 2018 for being in Kenya illegally

- The lawyer and politician holds Kenyan and Canadian passports

- His woes started when he presided over Raila's mock swearing-in ceremony

- Miguna denied claims he renounced his Kenyan citizenship as alleged by the government

Self-styled deported National Resistance Movement (NRM) general Miguna Miguna could be back in the country if the latest revelation is anything to go by.

Based on a court order issued by the Milimani Law Courts in February 2018, the firebrand politician confirmed to his followers on Wednesday, February 14, he would return in April 2019.

READ ALSO: Govt finally surrenders Miguna Miguna's passport to Court

His tribulations with the Jubilee government started when he presided over coronation of National Super Alliance leader Raila Odinga. Photo: NASA coalition/Facebook.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Govt sharply protests High Court ruling declaring Miguna Miguna deportation illegal

"Pursuant to rights vested upon me by God, my mother, the Constitution of Kenya 2010, all applicable laws and orders issued by Justices Mwita, Kimaru, Odunga, Aburili and Wakiaga, I hereby announce that I will return in April 2019 on a date to be announced," he said.

His tribulations and woes with the Jubilee government started when he presided over the 'highly treasonous' coronation of National Super Alliance leader Raila Odinga as the Peoples' President on January 30, 2018.

The government declared him persona non grata and he was quickly deported to Canada on February 6, 2018, after a back and forth coupled with arrest and detention.

Despite sneaking back, Miguna was forcibly bundled into a Dubai bound plane in the evening of March 2018 despite protests from his lawyers.

In the emotional message later the following day, the combative barrister claimed he was drugged and he woke up only to find himself in Dubai in the company of state officials who had traveled with him.

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

Miguna Miguna's return: Chaos at Jomo Kenyatta Int. Airport (JKIA) | Tuko TV

Source: Tuko.co.keThe latest report by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows Nairobi county's economy is bigger than that of Nakuru, Kiambu, Mombasa and Machakos counties all put together.

The county contributes over 21% of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is three times more than that of Nakuru county, the second largest county economy.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: IMF, World Bank sharply differ on Kenya's projected growth rate

KNBS: Nairobi contributed approximately 21.7% of GDP on average between 2013 and 2017, followed by Nakuru (6.1%), Kiambu (5.5%) and Mombasa (4.7%). Photo: Siegfried Modola/IRIN.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Nairobi ranked 6th globally as World's most dynamic city

The KNBS report seen by TUKO.co.ke on Wednesday, February 13, showed Nairobi's Gross County Product (GCP) between 2013 and 2017 averaged 21.7% followed by Nakuru, Kiambu and Mombasa respectively.

"Nairobi takes the lead, contributing approximately 21.7% of GDP over the period, followed by Nakuru (6.1%), Kiambu (5.5%) and Mombasa (4.7%)," KNBS noted in the Gross County Report 2019.

READ ALSO: Importance of agriculture in Kenya economy 2018

Meru and Kisumu followed with average GCP of 2.9%, then Nyandarua (2.6%), Kakamega (2.4%), Uasin Gishu (2.3%) and Bungoma (2.3%) closed the list of top 10 biggest county economies in that order.

The smallest county economy according to the KNBS report was Isiolo county which had average GCP of 0.2% followed by Samburu (0.3%), Lamu (0.4%) and Marsabit (0.5%).

"Nonetheless, many of the counties with a small share to GDP are growing at a faster rate, signifying potential for catch-up but also due to the base effect. Counties with a lower base have a greater potential for faster growth relative to counties starting at a high base," KNBS noted.

READ ALSO: Kenya's public debt to increase by KSh 2 trillion in next 4 years

The KNBS report further showed at least 17 counties recorded a faster growth in their real GCP relative to the average growth in all the counties.

Out of the 47 counties, 28 had below average GCP growth.

"Generally, the leading counties are associated with large populations and where major urban centers are located. In addition, counties associated with thriving economic activities such as agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, financial, real estate and wholesale and retail trade took lead in the ranking by GCP," the Bureau noted.

The Bureau's Director General Zachary Mwangi said they have been working with the World Bank to compile the GCP report with the aim to provide up to date and relevant information.

The GCP, Mwangi explained, is a measure of how much each county contributes to Kenyas GDP and can also be referred to as the County GDP.

"The overarching objective of the GCP estimates is to provide a picture of the economic structure and relative size of the economy for each county. The estimates are expected to be instrumental in informing economic growth and supporting county level decision making and economic planning," Mwangi said.

"It is envisaged that the GCP will be useful in informing county economic development plans; estimation of revenue potential for each county; an indicator for potential for private sector investment; and informing economic progress at the county level," he added.

Below is the list of the top 10 biggest county economies and how much they contribute to Kenya's GDP:

1. Nairobi (21.7%)

2. Nakuru (6.1%)

3. Kiambu (5.5%)

4. Mombasa (4.7%)

5. Meru (2.9%)

6. Kisumu (2.9%)

7. Nyandarua (2.6%)

8. Kakamega (2.4%)

9. Uasin Gishu (2.3%)

10. Bungoma (2.3%)

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Kenya's Former Gangsters Now Cleaning Nairobi City - Kenya Untold Stories - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko NewsHow the Tucson brewery and business community helped their ownCommentary

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Education

'No One Eats Alone' at Watervliet Elementary School

'No One Eats Alone' at Watervliet Elementary SchoolThe puerile exchanges between the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader marks another low in the tawdry politics of T&T.

Anyone looking on from the outside would find it hard to believe that this country is in a declared state of emergency, struggling with a pandemic that is fuelling daily Covid-19 deaths along with infections by the hundreds, with an economy marked by an increasingly burdensome foreign debt, job losses, collapsed businesses and biting poverty for a growing number of people.BAIL has been denied to three men accused of raping a woman earlier this month.

One of the men was the womans ex-husband and the father of her children.

The three appeared virtually before Port of Spain Magistrate Maureen Baboolal-Gafoor yesterday and were remanded into prison custody.

Based on provisions of the Bail Amendment Act, the three will have to remain in custody for at least 120 days.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.President of the Trinidad and Tobago Copyright collection Organising (TTCO) Dr Vijay Ramlal wants the NCC to pay his organisation $475,000 in royalties on behalf of several mas bands.

Ramlal said this at a press conference held yesterday at TTCO office, Queens Park Savannah, Port of Spain, to make clarifications into issues pertaining to all aspects of Carnival intellectual property and in particular costumes in Carnival. The press conference was held jointly with the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival Bands Association (TTCBA). Ramlal said that monies was owed to the bands for intellectual property for the years 2018-2019.

NCC has not discussed 2019 payment for works of mas as yet. It must be noted very clearly that NCC is the organisation responsible for carnival coast to coast in this county so they have a major responsibility in making sure that our laws are protected when it comes to copy right. They are the body we have to go to when we going to protect copyright, Ramlal said.

When the Express contacted NCC Chairman, Winston Gypsy Peters he said he was not aware of the outstanding feels and therefore he was not in a position to comment at this time.

Ramlal said that photographers, videographers and broadcasters or anyone who intends to capture any aspect of mas practitioners for use in any commercial intent directly or indirectly must obtain an NCC accreditation pass, which must be stamped by the TTCO as the only official copyright management organisation administering such rights in Trinidad and Tobago and approved by the TTCBA.

Penalty for copyright infringement include ten years imprisonment or 250,000 fine. Ramlal said under the Works of Carnival intellectual property rights many carnival practitioners still are not aware of their rights. Today we have to deal with the issue of mas. Works of Mas are to be protected under intellectual property rights. What is happening is that we have not had enforcement of the copyright laws and from this year we hope to start gravitating to that level because we understand that a lot of people, bands and bandleaders, are not aware of the protection they have, Ramlal said.

What we are doing in Trinidad and Tobago, we want to apply this same control for works of mas internationally, so when our designers and mas players have to go to other countries, we are hoping that this protection through the initiative of TTCO, we can work with those other agencies out there to protect that similar right in all these international carnivals and in the Caribbean as well.

One of our greatest loss is Peter Minshall with Tan Tan and Saga Boy. This has been one of the greatest loss in the country and globally because you have seen the proliferation of that all over the world in different forms and fashion and Peter got nothing for it, Ramlall said.

TTCBAs Chairman Gerard Weekes said his organisation has been disenfranchised by the lack of support for Words of Mas aspect of copyright. The intension of the TTCBA for 2019 and beyond is to do what we can to right the wrong that has happened in the past, when the mas fraternity has not been able to benefit from copyright issues that have plagued the fraternity for too long. We have been in a situation where we see all of our artwork and designs being produced in magazines and being photographed and streamed and the stakeholders and the mas practitioners have not benefited, Weekes said.

TTOC Seeking to Protect Works of MasThe House of Representatives will debate a motion of no confidence in Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh at 1.30 p.m. today.

The Opposition motion is filed in the name of Caroni East MP Dr Rishad Seecheran. The Health Minister is expected to speak.

The motion is unusually short. It reads, Whereas the Minister of Health has persistently demonstrated his inability to effectively undertake his duties in the health sector for the welfare of our citizens, be it resolved that this House express its lack of confidence in the Minister of Health and call for his immediate resignation.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.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.rchopra@tribunemail.com

Washington, February 14

The US has urged its citizens to reconsider their travel to Pakistan mainly due to terrorism and risks to civil aviation operating within or near the country.

The Federal Aviation Administration, in a notice issued on Wednesday, said terrorist groups continued plotting possible attacks in Pakistan.

Reconsider travel to Pakistan due to terrorism, the State Department said in a latest travel advisory.

It asked Americans not to travel to Balochistan province and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, including the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), due to terrorism, and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir area due to terrorism and the potential for armed conflict.

Terrorist groups continued plotting possible attacks in Pakistan, it said, adding that terrorists might attack with little or no warning, targeting transportation hubs, markets, shopping malls, military installations, airports, universities, tourist locations, schools, hospitals, places of worship and government facilities.

Noting that terrorist attacks continued to happen across Pakistan, with most occurring in Balochistan and KPK, including the former FATA, the State Department said large-scale terrorist attacks had resulted in hundreds of casualties over the last several years.

India and Pakistan maintain a strong military presence on both sides of the border. The only official Pakistan-India border crossing point for people who are not citizens of India or Pakistan is in the province of Punjab between Wagah, Pakistan, and Attari, India, the advisory said.

Urging its citizens not to travel to PoK, the State Department said militant groups are known to operate in the area.

The threat of armed conflict between India and Pakistan remains. Indian and Pakistani military forces periodically exchange fire across the Line of Control, it added. PTIpardeepdhull@gmail.com

Washington, February 14

A former US Air Force counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran despite warnings from the FBI has been charged with revealing classified information to the Tehran government, including the code name and secret mission of a Pentagon program, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The Justice Department also accused Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, of betraying former colleagues in the U.S. intelligence community by feeding details about their personal and professional lives to Iran. Four hackers linked to the Iranian government, charged in the same indictment, used that information to target the intelligence workers online, prosecutors said.

Witt had been on the FBIs radar at least a year before she defected after she attended an Iranian conference and appeared in anti-American videos. She was warned about her activities, but told agents that she would not provide sensitive information about her work if she returned to Iran, prosecutors say. She was not arrested at the time.

Once a holder of a top secret security clearance, Monica Witt actively sought opportunities to undermine the United States and support the government of Iran  a country which poses a serious threat to our national security, said FBI executive assistant director Jay Tabb, the bureaus top national security official.

Tabb said she provided information that could cause serious damage to national security, though he did not provide specifics.

Witt remains at large in Iran, as do the four hackers, who prosecutors say were acting on behalf of the powerful, government-linked Revolutionary Guard. That group, a branch of Irans armed forces, has previously been designated by the U.S. government as terrorism supporter.

The indictment was unsealed the same week as Iran celebrates the 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution and as the country denounced a Middle East security conference in Warsaw co-hosted by the U.S. and Poland. Officials said the indictments timing was unconnected to the meeting.

Witt served in the Air Force between 1997 and 2008, where she was trained in the Farsi language and was deployed overseas on classified counterintelligence missions, including to the Middle East. She later found work as a Defense Department contractor.

The Texas native defected to Iran in 2013 after being invited to two all-expense-paid conferences in the country that the Justice Department says promoted anti-Western propaganda and condemned American moral standards.

The Treasury Department on Wednesday sanctioned the New Horizon Organization, which organized the conferences Witt attended and hosts events that American officials say promote Holocaust denial, conspiracy theories and serve as a platform to recruit and collect intelligence from attendees.

Witt first traveled to a Hollywoodism conference in 2012, when she appeared in Iranian television videos in which she was identified as a former U.S. service member with critical views of America. She was then warned by FBI agents that she was a potential recruitment target for Iranian intelligence.

She chose not to heed our warning that travel to Iran could potentially make her susceptible to recruitment, Tabb said. She continued to travel. Later that year, she was hired by an individual who is not named in the indictment but who professed to have ties to high-level officials to help in the filming of an anti-American propaganda commercial.

She returned to another Hollywoodism conference in 2013. This time, with free housing and computer equipment, she went to work for the Iranians, supplying information about a classified Defense Department program and assembling into target packages research she conducted into the lives, locations and missions of former colleagues, the indictment said.

The accused hackers exploited that research, contacting Witts former colleagues through imposter Facebook and email accounts. Their goal was to induce the targets to click on links and attachments containing malicious software that could the compromise their computer and networks.

The case was unsealed soon after the Justice Department freed from custody an American-born Iranian television anchorwoman whod been detained for days by the FBI as a material witness in an unspecified criminal investigation in Washington, where the Witt indictment was filed. Marzieh Hashemi works for the Press TV networks English-language service. She has not been charged with any crimes. Justice Department officials wouldnt say if the investigations were connected.  APmonicakchauhan@gmail.com

Washington, February 14

The US has charged a former Air Force officer with spying for Iran in an operation that targeted her fellow officers, according to an indictment unsealed in a federal court.

Monica Witt, who was also a former counterintelligence officer for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, defected to Iran in 2013, according to the indictment on Wednesday.

She remains at large, CNN reported.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says that Witt, 39, was last seen in southwest Asia in July 2013.

According to the Department of Justice, Witt was targeted and recruited by Iran and after she defected, she allegedly revealed to Tehran the existence of a "highly classified intelligence collection programme" and the identify of a US intelligence officer, "thereby risking the life of this individual".

Witt is accused of sharing the US government secrets, including the name of agents and specifics of operations, with Iran as early as January 2012. In a charging document, investigators said she was deployed by the US to locations in the Middle East to conduct classified counterintelligence operations.

Four Iranian citizens were also charged with attempting to install spy software on computers belonging to Witt's colleagues.

"It is a sad day for America when one of its citizens betrays our country," Assistant Attorney General John Demers said.

Prosecutors said that Witt had been granted the highest level of US security clearance and worked in the US Air Force from 1997 to 2008.

The US Department of Treasury also sanctioned two Iranian companies - New Horizon Organization and Net Peygard Samavat Company - for their role in the plot.

Officials say that she sent a message to her Iranian contact in 2012 saying: "I loved the work, and I am endeavouring to put the training I received to good use instead of evil. Thanks for giving me the opportunity." Witt, according to investigators, was recruited after attending two conferences hosted by New Horizon Organization, which was working on behalf of the Iranian National Guard's Quds Force to collect intelligence on attendees.

The FBI had earlier stated in its missing persons poster that Witt was working as an English teacher in either Afghanistan or Tajikistan, and had lived overseas for more than a year before vanishing.

While in Iran, she allegedly converted to Islam during a TV segment after identifying herself as a US veteran and delivered several broadcasts in which she criticized the US. IANSEditors note: This is the full text of Diane Nauss Biernes story of her parents, Jerry and Sherry Nauss that spanned 64 years. Staff Writer Amy H. Peterson condensed the story as told to for the Feb. 14 edition of the Estherville News.

I have a love story for the record books! It is one that I have watched my entire life; one that I have marveled at and admired from afar. However, this beautiful story of true love and unparalleled devotion is not my own personal love story, rather it is the love story of my parents. Their love story is no secret. If you live in Estherville, chances are you know this story quite well. It is one that many people have watched over the years and have admired from a distance. It is a remarkable union of two souls. It started out quite typical, like most love stories do, with two teenagers falling in love. However, it would develop into a rare expression of unwavering love, compassion, and commitment that would encompass 64 years of marriage and overcome many trials and tribulations. Its scope was measured on a level that very few people get to experience, that most of us only dream of. So, just what makes their story unique and unlike any other? Let me explain.

It all started at Mokes, a popular high school hangout back in the 50s. Dad was sitting in a booth when Mom walked in with some of her friends. Dad was instantly enamored and thought to himself, I kind of like her. Shes pretty sharp. Mom was in eighth grade and Dad was a junior. They soon began dating, and Dad would pick Mom up in his little black Studebaker. They did a lot of roller skating together at the skating rink which was located at the present-day bowling alley. Dad still has his skates with the pom poms on them, and they are still in the aluminum skating case from back in the day. Across the top of the case, you can see where Dad painted Sherry. They continued to date for a couple of years, but it didnt take long to see that they were meant for each other, that this relationship was something special. Knowing full well that this was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, Dad took Mom over to Mason City and they picked out their wedding rings together. That Christmas they got engaged. To ensure that nobody would try to stop them or attempt to convince them that, perhaps, they were a bit too young to make such a long-term commitment, they kept their plan, of getting married on New Years Eve, a secret. Initially, only Moms sister, Vernice, and Dads cousin, Weldon, were aware of their confidential intentions. In fact, this unspoken knowledge put Vernice in a bit of a predicament. She was afraid that if she didnt tell her mom that Sherry was planning to get married soon, her mom would be mad at her. On the other hand, if she did tell her mom, then Sherry would be mad at her. In the end, her loyalty stayed true to her sister. For surely if others knew of their scheme, they would try to convince them that they would be better off to wait a few years and allow their relationship to mature. But these young hearts were so in love, and so certain of their intense feelings for one another that at the age of 16 and 19, Mom and Dad eloped. Pretending that they were going to a New Years Eve dance, Mom and Dad were dressed in their finest attire and looking sharp! In fact, David Clemenson commented to them, You look like you are going to a wedding! Due to their age, they were previously denied a marriage license in both Spirit Lake and Worthington; however, they were able to secure one in Blue Earth, MN. So, at 7 oclock on New Years Eve, 1954, Mom and Dad were united in marriage at the Methodist Church in Blue Earth as Dads cousin, Weldon, and his wife, Marlys, stood up for them. After the wedding, Mom and Dad set sail on their honeymoon which would take them to Mason City, Cedar Rapids, and their final destination of Chicago where they would spend a couple of days with moms brother, Bob, and his wife, Joyce. Meanwhile, Weldon and Marlys returned to Estherville and told Dads father, Fred, about the elopement that took place earlier in the evening. Even though he didnt drink, that night Fred made an exception as he broke out the Mogen David Wine and made a toast as this, certainly, was a cause worthy of celebration! For now, it was official. Now their union was complete. Now they could continue to explore and build upon the foundation that would enable them to find out exactly what true love entailed. Some people said it wouldnt last. Those people were, oh, so wrong.

Over the years that followed, Mom and Dads love would continue to flourish. They initially lived with Moms parents for the first 14 months of their marriage. Her dad bought them a lot upon which they built their very first home. Then on St. Patricks Day of 1956, they moved into their brand-new house that Dad helped to build. They would live in this same home for the rest of their years together. Dad was a cabinet maker by trade, and Mom did not work outside the home until their children were all grown. To her, there was no greater calling in life than raising the four children that God had entrusted to her care. Through it all, it became quite evident that their relationship was synonymous with true love. For at the heart of its essence, true love is caring. True love is commitment. True love is devotion. True love is putting somebody elses needs before your own because you love that person to the core, and you treasure their inner being. Its giving your entire existence to someone who means the world to you. Mom and Dad had all these things. The love that they shared was something beyond special. Yet, the thing that makes their love story so extraordinary wasnt fully noticed in their youth; rather, it would not come to fruition until many years later.

Fast forward to 2002. That is the year that Mom was first diagnosed with Alzheimers. That is the year that would begin a life altering journey for all of us. It was a journey that was filled with heartbreak and challenges, but a journey that was still overflowing with love. When love is encompassed by illness, the strings of devotion take on a whole new meaning. They require a whole new level of commitment. Essentially, these heart strings are tested to their inner core. In this case, they were frayed, tattered, weathered, and torn, but never once broken. In fact, they became intertwined with a greater and stronger sense of unity. It merely served to make their relationship that much stronger and their love story that much more beautiful. It created an everlasting bond that was gracious in love and embraced in righteousness and purity. Despite adversities and hardships, Dads love for Mom was unwavering, and the challenges brought great strength and renewal. He never left her side, and he was bound and determined to be her primary caregiver until the very end. Piece by piece, bit by bit, Mom eventually slipped into her own world of isolation as Alzheimers trapped her in a mental prison and made its merciless attack on human life and human dignity. Although it got to the point where we could no longer carry on conversations with her, I know that she sensed our presence. Deep down inside, she was still there. Still listening, still loving, and still spreading joy to all of those around her. Even when she no longer knew us by name, she knew us by heart. And she held on to Dads heart the very longest. Even in the midst of confusion and forgetfulness, she still remembered Dad and would often ask for him and call him by name. Jerry. Wheres Jerry? she would ask. Theirs was a once in a lifetime love story. They always did everything together. The two of them were inseparable. When Mom broke both of her shoulders and had to be in the nursing home for five weeks, Dad spent every day from 5 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. beside her side, and he fed her every single meal. He set an example of true love and commitment that would bear witness until Moms last breath. And as their Keeper of the Stars theme song clearly expresses, it certainly was not an accident nor simply by chance that Mom and Dad found each other all those years ago and then went on to share their lifetime of devotion. Surely it was part of Gods plan right from the very beginning, long before any of us knew that such a beautiful love story would unfold. And for that, all glory be to God, for as their song states, He sure knew what He was doing when He joined these two hearts.

But just what was it that allowed Mom to beat the odds and continue this life of love? Why were we blessed with all those extra years with her while millions of other Alzheimers patients facing the same plight succumbed to this dreadful disease much earlier? Was it her fighting spirit? Perhaps. But more than anything, I think it is plain to see that it was love! The love and care that Dad gave to her was extraordinary and beyond measure. We all watched it. We all were amazed by it. We all were inspired by it. Their love for each other was something very unique. Mom once wrote this tribute as she spoke fondly about Dad: My mind hurtled back through time and space to those young, glorious days with Jerry, days that had been the happiest of my life. Wed been so in love, Jerry and I so madly, crazily, terribly in love. It was a love that can only come once in a lifetime, a miracle that is granted only to some and granted only once. So, there you have it. That explains it fully. The reason Mom lived so long was because of her love for Dad and the love that Dad gave her in return. It didnt matter if they could no longer do the things that they once loved such as country western dancing or traveling down to Florida to see me. As long as they could be together, they were just as content to sit side by side holding hands while watching television. Some peoples golden years are marked by travel and fun adventures. Alzheimers robbed my parents of that opportunity. But one thing it could never take from them is their love and devotion for one another. No matter what obstacle they faced or how hard days became, Dads love for Mom was steadfast. He always had an answer, and he was bound and determined to keep her at home because 1.) He couldnt stand to be without her, and 2.) He knew that this is where she would thrive and receive the best care. But as Moms illness progressed, it was more than Dad could handle alone. He needed some help to ensure that this love story could continue on the same path that he envisioned. So, to make this happen, he brought in a phenomenal group of caregivers who would come to the house on a daily basis and help him tend to Moms every need. Dad and this team of support that he created was, without a doubt, the reason that Mom was able to live long beyond the typical life expectancy of a person with Alzheimers. Dad was with her day in and day out. Even though the heavy lifting took a toll on his own health, he continued to care for her with unselfish, unbridled, and unconditional love. Despite two knees that were bone on bone and in desperate need of knee replacement, Dad refused to have surgery because that would mean that he could no longer help take care of Mom, and she would, inevitably, then have to go into a nursing home. So, without hesitation and without regret, he continued on with this vital mission. Along the way, he would unknowingly be touched by faith and the grace of God that would give him the hope, renewal, and strength to carry on and complete this labor of love. Throughout this journey, we all were reminded to trust The Master Weaver and place our faith in God, for in Him, all things are truly possible. Through Him love knows no boundaries. Through Him love bears all things and endures all things even through lifes greatest hardships.

On January 20th, 2019, at 10:45 a.m., after 17 years of battling Alzheimers, Mom finally went to her forever home. Fittingly, she took her last breath in the very home where Mom and Dad had created and stored all those years of love. Essentially, this was the house where they had spent their entire life together. Naturally, Dad was sitting right beside her the whole time and continued to hold her hand until the last possible moment. While he would eventually have to let go of her hand, he will forever hold on to her heart. She is now in her final resting place with the Lord, God our Savior. Defining years and Alzheimers may have taken Mom from this earthly world, but they cannot take away the memories and the love that Mom and Dad shared and that, ultimately, defined their relationship of true love. Now Mom can rest easy. Now she is at peace. Now her job on Earth is done. Now she can dance and play the piano and do all the things that she once enjoyed. She can do them to her hearts content. She can do them with all those loved ones who have been waiting for her with open arms up above. At last her spirit is free, and her mind is uncluttered once again. Now she can enjoy her new-found freedom.

But where does that leave Dad? After a lifetime of unrivaled love and incomparable devotion, now he is left alone to persevere and pick up the broken pieces of an empty, devastated, and heavy heart. How can he possibly be expected to walk this life alone without his one true love and soulmate, the one person who made his life complete? While it will not be easy, I promise, it will be worth it. There is still so much to live for. So many more wonderful memories lie in store. Life will continue, and life will be beautiful once again. Give it time. Give it peace. Give the shattered heart a chance to heal. Sit in silence and listentruly listenMom is still there. Still watching. Still loving. Still caring. Her legacy lives on in the hearts of all those who love her. She has already sent us many signs. We have already been blessed with divine intervention and Godwinks that let us know that her spirit is ever present. Surely Mom will continue to speak to Dads heart and care for him, just as he so diligently cared for her. Although nobody can fill the void or erase the emptiness that plagues his heart, Dad definitely will not have to walk this journey alone. Granted, nobody will ever be able to take Moms place of distinction, but he can rest assured that we will get through this together. Thankfully, the memories and the love that Mom and Dad created over the years of this enchanting love story will help to sustain Dad and get him through the difficult days ahead and the most trying time of his life. Yes, the pain is great and at times even unbearable, but the pain is merely a reflection of how deeply his heart has loved. In the end, I am certain that despite his great loss and the heart-wrenching ending to this beautiful, alluring love story, Dad would, without a doubt, go back and do it all over again while proudly proclaiming along the way, If you want to see, how true love should be, then just look at us.shalender@tribune.com

Colombo, February 13

Maldives former President Abdulla Yameen, who is accused of using money stolen from state coffers, was charged with money laundering on Wednesday, according to a local media report.

The case stems from an allegedly shady deal to lease islands for tourist resort development and the discovery of $1 million in his bank account.

The case has been filed at the criminal court, the Prosecutor Generals office tweeted on Wednesday. Yameen, who lost the presidential poll to Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in September 2018 after a five-year rule, is accused of using money stolen from state coffers, police said last week, after wrapping up probe, The Maldives Independent reported.

Under the 2014 anti-money laundering law, the offence carries a prison sentence between five and 15 years or a fine of up to $64,850. Separate charges were sought over alleged false testimony to the anti-graft body during its probe into the theft of $90 million from Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation. Yameen was questioned over $1 million deposited to his account by SOF, a firm that was used to funnel resort acquisition fees paid to the MMPRC. He denies any wrongdoing.  PTIpardeepdhull@gmail.com

Strasbourg, February 14

The European Commission added Saudi Arabia, Panama and four US territories to a blacklist of nations it considers a threat because of lax controls on terrorism financing and money laundering, the EU executive said on Wednesday.

The move is part of a crackdown on money laundering after several scandals at EU banks, but it has been criticised by several EU countries, including Britain, that are worried about their economic relations with the listed states, notably Saudi Arabia. The United States has also disapproved.

The Saudi government said it regretted the decision in a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency, adding: Saudi Arabias commitment to combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism is a strategic priority.

Panama said it should be removed from the list because it recently adopted stronger rules against money laundering.

Despite pressure to exclude Riyadh from the list, the commission decided to list the kingdom, confirming a Reuters report in January.

Apart from reputational damage, inclusion on the list complicates financial relations with the EU. The blocs banks will have to carry out additional checks on payments involving entities from listed jurisdictions.

The list now includes 23 jurisdictions, up from 16. The commission said it added jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing regimes.

Other newcomers to the list are Libya, Botswana, Ghana, Samoa, the Bahamas and the four United States territories of American Samoa, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam.

The US Treasury said the listing process was flawed and rejected the inclusion of the four US territories on the list.

The other listed states are Afghanistan, North Korea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and Yemen.

Bosnia, Guyana, Laos, Uganda and Vanuatu were removed.

Bad for business?

The 28 EU member states now have one month, which can be extended to two, to endorse the list. They could reject it by qualified majority. EU justice commissioner Vera Jourova, who proposed the list, told a news conference that she was confident states would not block it.

She said it was urgent to act because risks spread like wildfire in the banking sector.

But concerns remain. Britain, which plans to leave the EU on March 29, said on Wednesday the list could confuse businesses because it diverges from a smaller listing compiled by its Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is the global standard-setter for anti-money laundering.

The FATF list includes 12 jurisdictions - all on the EU blacklist - but excludes Saudi Arabia, Panama and US territories. The FATF will update its list next week.

London has led a pushback against the EU list in past days, and at closed-door meetings urged the exclusion of Saudi Arabia, EU sources told Reuters.

The oil-rich kingdom is a major importer of goods and weapons from the EU and several top British banks have operations in the country. Royal Bank of Scotland is the European bank with the largest turnover in Saudi Arabia, with around 150 million euros ($169 million) in 2015, according to public data.

HSBC is Europes most successful bank in Riyadh. It booked profits of 450 million euros in 2015 in the kingdom but disclosed no turnover and has no employees there, according to public data released under EU rules.

The UK will continue to work with the Commission to ensure that the list that comes into force provides certainty to businesses and is as effective as possible at tackling illicit finance, a British Treasury spokesman said.

Missing washing machines

Criteria used to blacklist countries include weak sanctions against money laundering and terrorism financing, insufficient cooperation with the EU on the matter and lack of transparency about the beneficial owners of companies and trusts.

Five of the listed countries are already included on a separate EU blacklist of tax havens. They are Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago and the three US territories of American Samoa, Guam and US Virgin Islands.

Critics said the list fell short of including several countries involved in money-laundering scandals in Europe.

Some of the biggest dirty-money washing machines are still missing. These include Russia, the City of London and its offshore territories, as well as Azerbaijan, said Greens lawmaker Sven Giegold, who sits in the European Parliament special committee on financial crimes.

Jourova said the commission will continue monitoring other jurisdictions not yet listed. Among the states that will be closely monitored are the United States and Russia. Reutersgspannu7@gmail.com

Moscow, February 14

When the last Soviet tanks rumbled back home across a bridge on the border with Afghanistan 30 years ago, the withdrawal was hailed as a much-anticipated end to a bloody quagmire.

Since then, Moscows view of the war has changed radically. As Russia prepares to mark Fridays anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal, many see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavour.

Just like the ongoing Russian campaign in Syria, the Afghan war is widely perceived as a legitimate action against US-backed militants.

And in a twist of history, Russia also has emerged as an influential power broker in Afghanistan, mediating between feuding factions as it jockeys with Washington for influence in a country where a US-led coalition has been fighting for more than 17 years.

Ata Mohammad Noor, a former warlord who fought Soviet troops and served as governor of the northern Balkh province from 2004-2018, attended a meeting last week in Moscow that brought together former Afghan officials, opposition figures and the Taliban.

I dont think that Russia would like to repeat what it did in the past. Its totally different today, Noor said in an interview with The Associated Press.

On the other side, there have been 40 years of war in our country, and the Afghan people are all tired of war. People would support any country that would step forward to bring peace.

The statement carries particular weight coming from a man who played a key role in defeating the Soviet army, was badly wounded in combat, and proudly recalls how his mujahedeen fighters destroyed countless Red Army tanks and dozens of warplanes.

After the long US involvement, Afghans are deeply critical of the coalition forces.

Even those who fought in the 1980s give grudging credit to Moscow for leaving a legacy that outshines Washingtons. They point out that Russians left behind a strong and disciplined army and a 400-bed military hospital that is still among the countrys best health facilities.

Some note that while communist President Najibullahs government was ruthless, it was not wracked by the widespread corruption that has plagued Afghanistans US-backed government.

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, driven by fears that the US could try to establish a foothold next to Soviet republics in Central Asia after losing Iran in the Islamic Revolution.

Moscows initial plans for a quick operation were derailed by fierce rebel resistance, and in the years of fighting that followed, the Soviet Union lost more than 15,000 troops, according to official data.

Estimates of civilian casualties in that period vary widely, from more than 500,000 up to 2 million.

The Soviet intervention drew strong international condemnation and imposed a heavy burden on the struggling Soviet economy.

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ordered the pullout amid his efforts to conduct liberal reforms and end confrontation with the West. Afghanistans communist government held for three more years, collapsing shortly after the December 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.

Nikita Mendkovich, a Moscow-based expert on Afghanistan, said Russias economic meltdown after 1992 resulted in the abrupt termination of fuel supplies to Afghanistan, triggering the fall of Najibullah.

The tragedy of Afghanistan was one of many other tragedies caused by the Soviet breakup, he said.

Mendkovich emphasised the changing public perception of the war, saying that its now widely seen as painful, but necessary and even inevitable.

Many Russian officials and lawmakers argue that the US performance in Afghanistan has been far less successful than that of the Soviet Union.

The army trained by the Soviet Union could stand alone for three years, said Zamir Kabulov, President Vladimir Putins envoy for Afghanistan.

As for this one trained by the Americans, you listen to the Afghans. They arent sure about even one month. He acknowledged that the Soviet Union made many errors in Afghanistan, driven by communist dogmas and ignoring local conditions.

The Soviet leadership has become hostage of its own decision, he said.

They wanted to look at Afghanistan as a new socialist state. That was a mistake.

In one example, he recalled how Soviet advisers stubbornly tried to conduct a socialist-style land reform, distributing tracts that belonged to tribal leaders to farmers, who then turned it back to original owners.

Kabulov charged that the US ignored the Soviet lessons and made the same mistake in trying to foster the creation of a Western-style democracy in Afghanistan.

Its a pity that our American colleagues dont learn history; they prefer to make history, Kabulov said with a sardonic smile.

He noted that the US support for the mujahedeen played a key role during the Soviet war, adding that the US later paid the price for backing insurgents like Osama bin Laden who was among those who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan.

They (the Americans) were obsessed with building Vietnam for the Soviet Union, Kabulov said.

They believed everything is good to crush bloody Russians, so they got it back now. Afghanistan veteran Sergey Zhidkov recalled that in the early stages of the Soviet war, clashes were rare and roads were relatively safe, but the rebels quickly strengthened and ambushes became routine.  APeditorial@tribune.com

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 13

The Opposition, comprising Aam Aadmi Party, Lok Insaaf Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), today cornered the government over the issue of police lathicharge on teachers and Ludhiana gang rape during the Question Hour and Zero Hour.

Attacking CM Capt Amarinder Singh over the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, LIP MLA Simarjit Singh Bains said if the CM was too burdened with other works, he should give the charge of Home to some other minister.

AAP Jagraon MLA Sarabjit Kaur Manuke claimed that crime against women had been rising. She said, Had the Mullanpur Dakha police acted upon information provided by the victims friend, the incident could have been averted. The government must sack the erring cops.

AAP MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan said the government had been ignoring the issue of teachers. The SAD and AAP separately raised slogans against the government over lathicharge on teachers and later walked out of the House. AAP accused the CM of continuing the legacy of the SAD-BJP government, when it comes to dealing with the teachers.

CM: Will seek speedy trial in rape cases

Responding to the Opposition charge, the CM claimed that the law and order situation had in fact improved in the state and he was ready for a debate on the issue. He, however, assured the House that he would meet the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to ensure speedy trial in rape cases. He stressed the need for prompt dispensation of justice to the victims, besides exemplary punishment to the convicts in such acts as a deterrent for others. The CM informed the House that of six accused in this heinous crime, three had been arrested and the remaining would be nabbed soon.gspannu7@gmail.com

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 14

Three armed robbers shot at a local jeweller in his shop situated in Gali Sarafan Wali of the local Tehsil Bazar in Tarn Taran here on Thursday.

One of the robbers, who was identified as Jaswant Singh Jassa, of the local Mohalla Noordi, was nabbed by the jewellers son and the shop employees on the spot.

The victim, Raj Kumar (50), has been admitted at the local Guru Nanak Dev Super Specialty Hospital where his condition was said to be improving.editorial@tribune.com

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 13

Replying to the Governors address Dakha legislator HS Phoolka today said when the state government has failed to table the action taken report (ATR) on judicial inquiry into the killing of four persons in Nakodar in 1986 till date, what can we expect about its seriousness into finding the truth behind the Bargari police firing incident of 2015.

Phoolka was referring to a letter by AAP MLA Kanwar Sandhu to the CMin October 2018, saying he had published a report in The Tribune on March 24, 1987, about the judicial inquiry into police firing on people protesting against the burning of birs in a Nakodar gurudwara on October 31, 1986. As many as four persons had died and eight injured. An inquiry was conducted by Justice Gurnam Singh and the report submitted on October 31, 1986. Speaker Rana KP Singh said the report was tabled in the House in 2001. He, however, did not confirm any ATR on the issue.

Phoolka said: It is more than six months now when the House had decided that a case needs to be made against the then DGP Sumedh Singh Saini and former CM Parkash Singh Badal. The government has not given any statement on the matter. He said the PM, in a reply to his letter, had written that the SGPC had completed its tenure in December 2016.

Congress MLA Harminder Gill said the police had arrested 24 people involved in different incidents of sacrilege.rchopra@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, February 14

A poem on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by acclaimed Punjabi writer Nanak Singh which was banned by the British after its publication in 1920 has now been translated into English.

Singh was present at Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919. He was 22 at the time. As the British troops opened fire on the unarmed gathering protesting against the Rowlatt Act, killing hundreds, Singh fainted and his unconscious body was piled up among the corpses.

After going through the traumatic experience, he proceeded to write Khooni Vaisakhi, a long poem that narrates the political events in the run-up to the massacre and its immediate aftermath.

The poem was a scathing critique of the British Raj and was banned soon after its publication. Its manuscript was subsequently lost.

After long years, the poem has been rediscovered and now translated into English by the authors grandson and diplomat, Navdeep Suri. It will be published by HarperCollins India next month to mark the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Featuring the poem in translation and in original, the bilingual edition is accompanied by essays by Suri, HS Bhatia and by Justin Rowalatt, whose great-grandfather, Sir Sydney Arthur Taylor Rowlatt, drafted the Rowlatt Act.

Singh (1897-1971) is widely regarded as the father of the Punjabi novel. With little formal education beyond the fourth grade, he wrote an astounding 59 books and received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1962. PTIamansharma@tribunemail.com

Ludhiana, February 14

Three more persons, including a juvenile, were held on Thursday in connection with the gangrape of a 21-year-old woman near Issewal village here, taking the total number of those nabbed in the case to six, police said.

All six accused involved in the gangrape have been arrested, Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta told the media here Thursday.

Of the three held on Thursday, one is a juvenile studying in class 11, the DGP said, adding that he was nabbed from New Basti Changran in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir.

The other two accused, Saif Ali and Ajay alias Lalan, both residents of Tibba village in Punjabs Kapurthala district, were arrested in Talwandi Naubad village here, he said.

Sadiq Ali, Jagroop Singh alias Rupi, and Surmo are the three accused arrested earlier. A Ludhiana court on Wednesday remanded them for seven days in police custody.

The DGP said all the accused are either friends or relatives of the woman.

The probe would be completed within seven days and police would try to put the case before a fast track court, he said.

The DGP further said the womans medical report confirmed rape and sexual assault.

The woman was gangraped last Saturday near Issewal village on the banks of Sidwan canal, about 15 km from Ludhiana, after the car she was travelling in with her friend was stopped and she was dragged out.

The incident rocked the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday with opposition Aam Aadmi Party and Lok Insaaf Party trying to corner the Congress government over deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh told the House he will take up the matter with the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High court for ensuring speedy justice.  PTIgspannu7@gmail.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 14

The US Embassy and the Embassy of the Russian Federation in India condemned the terrorist attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy at Lethpora along the Srinagar-Jammu highway which left at least 39 personnel dead.

The US Mission in India strongly condemns todays terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir. We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. The United States stands alongside India in confronting terror and defeating it, the statement said.

The Embassy of the Russian Federation in India also condemned in the strongest terms the horrific terrorist attack.

We denounce terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and reiterate the need to combat these inhuman acts with decisive and collective response without any double standards, it said in a statement.

May we express sincere condolences to the grieving families of the deceased and wish a speedy recovery to those injured, it added.

Nepal also strongly condemned the terrorist attack and said such heinous acts of terrorism cannot be justified on any ground.

The Government of Nepal strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir today that has resulted in the loss of many precious lives, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement here.

It extended heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims as well as the Government and people of India.

In line with its principled position, Nepal unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and believes that such heinous acts of terrorism cannot be justified on any ground, it said.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmirs three decades of militancy, a suicide bomber from the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district on Thursday, killing at least 39 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.  With PTIToday, 11th February, is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Today, like every other day at the ESRF, women participate in enabling the scientific progress that takes place in our institute. Meet Isabelle, Sandrine, Marie, Anne-Lise and Blanka, five of our women engineers.

Today, their work is closely related to the Extremely Brilliant Source, or EBS, the worlds first high-energy 4th generation synchrotron under construction at the ESRF.

The inside of the storage ring tunnel is unrecognisable. In the short space of time since dismantling started in January, cables and cooling circuits have been disconnected and removed, and the girders and vacuum chambers lifted out. Its a busy scene and the hundreds of different tasks involved in the dismantling is organised with almost military precision. The woman conducting the troops is Isabelle Leconte, a job she shares with colleague Pascal Renaud.

Isabelle was originally trained in chemical engineering before specialising in vacuum and cryogenic techniques. She joined the ESRF vacuum group in 1991. After 20 years developing her skills in this area, she moved to the operation group to coordinate the maintenance works during shutdown periods and follow-up machine operation and reliability. Since October last year, she has been assigned 100% to the dismantling of EBS.

Isabelle Leconte (left) and Sandrine Rigotti inside the original storage ring tunnel. ESRF/S.Cande

Ive always worked in a predominantly masculine environment and its one that suits me well. I really enjoy the hands-on part of the job. Its a great way of learning new skills on a daily basis and, for me, its been the best way to build solid work relations and team spirit.

Further inside the tunnel, we reach one of the cells that houses the radio-frequency cavities. These large copper vessels boost the energy of the electrons at each turn in the storage ring. Sandrine Rigotti, from the ESRFs Buildings and Infrastructure group, is working with external contractors to install a new waveguide network for the radio-frequency system.

Sandrine studied civil engineering in Grenoble and holds a Masters in construction engineering and management. Its not a problem to be the only woman in the team. We discuss, the work gets done, simply and respectfully.

Adjacent to the storage ring tunnel, the Chartreuse experimental hall is currently housing some of the girders, mounted with the different magnets, vacuum chambers and diagnostics devices that make up EBS.

Marie Spitoni joined the ESRF in August 2018 after a PhD thesis on fluvial geomorphology. As a metrology engineer specialising in topography and geomatics, she spent the last couple of years studying the water flow, channel shape and underlying earth of French rivers to assess their state of health. So how does her experience relate to her new position as metrology engineer at the ESRF? Marie is involved in the ultra-precise alignment of EBS, which means each element has to be aligned to within 50 m of each other, over a distance of almost 1 km. Her work also involves anticipating future deformations of the storage ring linked to the geological environment of the ESRF and setting up protocols to counter eventual alignment issues.

The ESRF brings together all the aspects that I sought when entering the field of metrology: plenty of field work, being part of a team and a wide scope of tasks. I also like having to work with the constraint of extremely low tolerances on our measurements and at the ESRF everything is very precision-sensitive.

Marie Spitoni prepares the alignment tools on the pre-mounted girders for EBS. ESRF/S. Cande Anne-Lise Buisson on ID29, one of the four new flagship beamlines of EBS. ESRF/S. Cande

In parallel to the construction and installation of EBS, the ESRF is also building four new flagship beamlines designed to exploit the enhanced properties of the source, which will complement the ESRFs already extensive beamline portfolio.

Anne-Lise Buisson is currently working on two mechanical engineering projects for BM18 and ID29, two of the new beamlines that will be built as part of the facility upgrade related to EBS. Both projects involve the motorisation and movement of either mirrors or lenses used to focus the light beam.

The two projects are different in that one beamline studies very small samples of around 0.5m, while on the other we are looking at large samples, fossils for example, that can reach sizes up to about 2 metres. There are many constraints to take into consideration, for example the high precision to which the beam must be focussed, the ultra-high vacuum environment, the heating of the motorised elements, and also the confined space available in which to fit the device. It makes for challenging and mind-stretching projects!

On top of the four new beamlines being built for EBS, the ESRF is pursuing its continuous improvement of the facility by refurbishing existing beamlines to prepare them to better exploit the new performances of the source.

Blanka Detlefs inside the experimental hutch of ID26. ESRF/S. Cande

Blanka Detlefs trained as a scientist before turning towards beamline instrumentation as Beamline Operations Manager on ID26 and ID20. During operation, she spends most of her time working with both scientists and technical staff, making sure the experiments work and acting as local contact for the different user groups. With the 20-month shutdown, her tasks have changed.

Since the shutdown, Ive had more time to work on instrumentation, and to prepare a bigger beamline project: the refurbishment of the ID26 optics for operation with EBS. We will be installing a new monochromator and we need to think through the different options of how to integrate it into the existing optics while improving the performances of the beamline.

Text by Kirstin Colvinrajivbhatia82@gmail.com

Tribune News Service

Russian President Vladimir Putin and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres were among the world leaders who have condemned the Pulwama terror attack.

In his condolence message, Putin wanted the perpetrators and sponsors of this attack to be duly punished. He reiterated Russian readiness for further strengthening counterterrorist cooperation with Indian partners.

The US, France, Russia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives had assailed the attack yesterday itself. They were joined by more nations, including Canada, China and Pakistan.

China condemned the terror attack saying it was deeply shocked over the incident and firmly opposed to terrorism.

Pakistan issued a statement late on Thursday night calling the attack a matter of grave concern but rejected any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations.

In the US, over 40 senators condemned the attack while its mission here said the US stood alongside India in confronting terror and defeating it.

Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wikremesinghe in a Twitter post also voiced similar sentiments while Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli made a telephone call to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to condole the deaths.

Bhutans Foreign Ministry said it was shocked and saddened to hear of the dastardly terrorist attack in Kashmir, which has resulted in the loss of 30 precious human lives. We strongly condemn this heinous attack and express our solidarity with the families of the victims, and the people and Government of India.

Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid expressed deep shock and horror" and offered to work closely with India, and the international community in eliminating this global menace.

The French foreign minister Yves Le Drian condemned the attack in India and expressed his profound solidarity with the government and the people of India. He called on all states to fight effectively against terrorist networks and the channels of finance and also prevent the cross border movement of terrorists like the Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Israeli ambassador Ron Malka also strongly condemned the terror attack in #Pulwama as did the US House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Republican Eliot Engel.

Pakistans reaction comes after the Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement to say Pakistan has given full freedom to Masood Azhar and Jaish-e-Mohammed to operate on its soil.

MEA had earlier said: "JeM is led by global terrorist Masood Azhar, who is given full freedom by Pakistan to operate and expand his terror infrastructure."

The MEA added in its statement, "India condemns Pulwama terror attack; heinous, despicable act perpetrated by Pak-based Jaish-e-Mohammed. We demand Pakistan should stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from its territory and dismantle terror infrastructure."

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place about 20 km from Srinagar.amansharma@tribunemail.com

Srinagar, February 14

Chronological list of all major terror attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir in the last two decades:

August 26, 2017 -- Three Jaish terrorists storm District Police Lines Pulwama, killing eight security force personnel, before the assailants were shot dead.

November 29, 2016 -- Three terrorists storm Army artillery camp at Nagrota in Jammu, killing seven soldiers, before the assailants were eliminated.

September 18, 2016 -- Four Pakistani terrorists storm an Army camp at Uri in Baramulla district, killing 18 soldiers, most of them were in sleep. The assailants were also killed. The incident led to reprisal surgical strikes inside the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir by Indian Army.

June 25, 2016 -- Terrorists open indiscriminate firing on a CRPF bus, killing eight jawans at Pampore on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

June 3, 2016 -- Terrorists target a CRPF bus at Pampore, killing two personnel before taking refuge in a government building. Two-day encounter ends with killing of three soldiers including two officers and the two assailants. One civilian was also killed.

December 5, 2014 -- Six heavily-armed terrorists storm an Army camp at Mohra in Uri. Ten soldiers were killed in the gun battle with the intruders, who were all shot dead.

June 24, 2013 -- Terrorists ambush a bus carrying unarmed Army personnel at Hyderpora in Srinagar. Eight soldiers were killed in the attack.

July 19, 2008 -- Ten soldiers were killed when terrorists triggered an IED planted by the roadside at Narbal on Srinagar-Baramulla highway on the outskirts of the city.

November 2, 2005 -- A suicide bomber blew up his car at Nowgam, near the private residence of then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, killing three cops and six civilians.

July 20, 2005 -- A suicide car bomber blew his vehicle by ramming it into a vehicle of security forces. Three security force personnel and two civilians were killed.

June 24, 2005 -- Nine army soldiers were killed in a car bomb triggered by terrorists on the outskirts of Srinagar.

August 4, 2004 -- Nine CRPF jawans were killed in a terrorist attack on their camp at Rajbagh in Srinagar. One terrorist was also killed in retaliatory action.

April 8, 2004 -- 11 persons were killed in a grenade attack by terrorists on a PDP rally at Uri in Baramulla district. The PDP was demanding opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road.

July 22, 2003 -- Eight soldiers, including a Brigadier, were killed in a terrorists attack on their camp at Akhnoor. Several other senior Army officers sustained injuries in the attack.

June 28, 2003 -- 12 soldiers, including an officer, were killed in a suicide attack by terrorists on Sunjwan Army camp. Two terrorists were neutralised.

May 14, 2002 -- In one of the biggest strikes on an Army installation, 36 persons were killed by three terrorists who stormed the Kaluchak Army Cantonment in Jammu. The assailants were also killed.

November 17, 2001 -- Terrorists storm a security forces base in Ramban (then part of Doda district), killing 10 security forces. Four terrorists were also killed.

October 1, 2001 -- Terrorists trigger a car bomb outside the old Legislative Assembly Complex in Srinagar. 38 persons were killed while three assailants were also eliminated.

August 10, 2000 -- Terrorists hurl a grenade at Residency Road in Srinagar. As the security officials assembled at the spot, they triggered a car bomb, killing 11 persons and a photojournalist.

April 18, 2000 -- The "human bomb" was used for the first time in Kashmir insurgency. Two soldiers were killed in the suicide car bomb at the Army headquarters at Badamibagh area in Srinagar.

November 3, 1999 -- Terrorists storm the Badamibagh Army headquarters, killing 10 soldiers including Defence Public Relations Officer Major Purshottam.  PTIeditorial@tribune.com

Ravi S Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 13

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the motion of thanks on the Presidents address, the Interim Budget as well as five Bills, salvaging itself of an ignominy of a total washout of the Parliament session, the last before the next General Election.

The completion of business was a result of a thaw between the floor leaders of Opposition parties and the government at a meeting convened by House Chairman Venkaiah Naidu.

The hustle of the House helped jack up its overall productivity of the 10-day session to 4.79 per cent, about which the Chairman made a reference in his valedictory speech, terming the Budget session as a wasted opportunity.

During the 10 House sittings, 39 hours 51 minutes of the available 48 hours were lost in disruptions. The agenda was accomplished in a jiffy in the context of all through adversarial stand of the Opposition parties against the government resulting in a washout of the House proceedings.

Among the Bills passed were Personal Laws (Amendment) Billseeking to remove leprosy as ground for divorceand the Constitutional (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Third Amendment) Bill.

Naidu, who took the initiative of presenting a Report Card on the Houses five-year performance, said since June 2014, the Rajya Sabha productivity (time available and that utilised for legislative business) was only 60 per cent.

Key Bills cleared

Constitution (124th Amendment) Bill, 2019 providing 10% quota for economically weaker section

Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 for introduction of GST and nine other related Bills

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes ( Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bills, 2015 and 2018 to overturn apex court order injecting safeguards on arrests

Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 to prevent sexual abuse of children

Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018

Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2018amansharma@tribunemail.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 14

In the wake of the dastardly terror attack on the CRPF convoy in Pulwama, NIA team with suitable forensic component is leaving on Friday morning for Kashmir to assist the J&K Police in forensic evaluation of the scene of crime.

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has cancelled his visit to Bihar scheduled for Friday. He is now expected to travel to Kashmir tomorrow, details of which are being worked out.

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba who was in Thimpu in Bhutan for the secretary level talks also cut short his visit to rush back. Following the attack, the Ministry of Home Affairs is closely monitoring the situation.

In a series of tweets condemning the suicide attack claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Rajnath Singh wrote, "Today's dastardly attack on crpf in Pulwama (J&K) is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured."

The Home Minister also dialled Jammu and Kashmir governor Satyapal Malik and held conversations with DG, CRPF, and Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba who are apprising him of the situation.

Senior intelligence and CRPF officials are also briefing National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, said sources.

Earlier calling the attack as despicable Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on twitter, "Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly."

In a pre-recorded chilling video message released by JeM, the alleged suicide bomber Adil Ahmad, reportedly a resident of Pulwama, is seen confessing his plans to carry out the strike while bragging about other attacks perpetrated by the Jaish, including one on the Parliament in 2001 and the Uri and Pathankot strikes.

Jaish remains a banned terrorist group designated by the UN Security Council. However, India-led proposal and supported by majority members to ban the Jaish supremo Masood Azhar continues to be blocked by a veto wielding China. Diplomatic sources told the Tribune that at the moment a fresh attempt in moving the proposal again is unlikely as China will continue to advocate the old argument demanding of terror links traced directly to Azhar and not just JeM.amansharma@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, February 14

The Government of India has condemned the cowardly terrorist attack on security forces in Pulwama.

This heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries. This terror group is led by the international terrorist Masood Azhar, who has been given full freedom by Government of Pakistan to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity, Ministry of External Affairs said in a release.

The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to take all necessary measures to safeguard national security. We are equally resolved to fight against the menace of terrorism. We demand that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries, it added.

The MEA said, We strongly reiterate our appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM chief Masood Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan.

We express our sincere condolences to the family members of our fearless security personnel who have made the supreme sacrifice.  Agenciesgspannu7@gmail.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 14

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the Opposition leaders will meet tentatively on February 26 or 27 to decide on the common minimum programme for the putative pre-poll alliance.

The decision on the alliance was taken at a meeting of Opposition leaders yesterday.

Escalating her tiff with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, Banerjee said Rafale and demonetisation are the biggest scams of the country, and issued a dire threat of necessary action after the change of government at the Centre, which, she added is a certainty.

Even if opposition parties would contest against each other in states due to compulsion of local politics, there will a pre-poll alliance at national level to defeat the BJP in the coming general elections, she said.

She pitched for dominant parties in the states in taking the lead to defeat the BJP.

With regard to the prime ministerial candidate of the united Opposition, she said it will be decided post-election.rchopra@tribunemail.com

Jabalpur, February 14

A schoolteacher convicted of raping a four-year-old-girl has filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against his death penalty, a prison official said on Thursday.

Mahendra Singh Gond (28) filed the SLP in the Supreme Court on February 11, challenging his death sentence in the rape case, Jabalpur Central Jails law officer Ashok Singh told PTI.

A trial court in Satna had earlier this month issued a death warrant against Gond after the Madhya Pradesh High Court confirmed his death sentence on January 25, he said.

The trial court had sent the death warrant, fixing his execution for March 2, through an e-mail to the Central Jail earlier this month.

The convict has other remedies also as he can file a mercy petition before the President, Singh said, adding that the death warrant would be executed only after all the available legal remedies were exhausted.

The trial court had sentenced Gond to death under the recently-introduced Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 376(a)(b) (raping a minor under 12 years of age).

Gond was also found guilty under IPC Section 363 (kidnapping), for which he was awarded seven years rigorous imprisonment, besides being fined Rs 5,000, Singh said.

According to the prosecution, the convict had raped the minor girl after abducting her from her house on July 1, 2018 and later dumped her in the bushes.

The girl received severe injuries in the incident and was admitted to a Delhi-based hospital.

Gond was later arrested and a chargesheet was filed against him.

Madhya Pradesh was the first state to enact a law in December 2017, providing for death penalty for rapists of girls below 12.

The Centre had brought an amendment in the IPC to punish the rapists of girls below 12 with death last year. PTIamansharma@tribunemail.com

Bhopal, February 14

A senior IPS officer in Madhya Pradesh is administering Ayurvedic treatment to his father even a month after a local hospital declared him dead.

Rajendra Kumar Mishra, Additional Director General of Police (ADG) posted at the police headquarters here, claimed on Thursday that media reports about his father being dead were false.

A few local newspapers reported earlier this week that Mishra, who lives in the 74 Bungalows locality which has official residences of ministers and senior officers, was administering his father Ayurvedic treatment long after a local hospital declared him dead.

K M Mishra (84), the IPS officer's father, was admitted to Bansal Hospital here on January 13 and he died at 4 pm on January 14, hospital spokesperson Lokesh Jha told PTI.

He suffered from malfunctioning of kidneys, lungs and the heart and died due to a cardiac arrest, and the hospital also issued a death certificate, the spokesperson said.

However, in a statement on Thursday evening, ADG Mishra asserted that his father was alive.

He said after the hospital told the family that it cannot treat his father further, he consulted Ayurvedic doctors, who "checked the pulse and found that there is life in him".

"They have told us that our father is with us but in unconscious state....we have given him immediate oxygen support and also gave Jadi-Booti (herbs) which is traditional Indian medicine and about which there is a lack of knowledge.

Our father is responding to the treatment," he claimed.

"There are (precedents of) such situations in our Indian system and people have revived," Mishra asserted. - PTIharinder@tribunemail.com

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 13

They had the option of staying in cushy jobs and making a killing. But 50 IIT alumni from across the country decided to quit their profession for a larger vocation. The result: India got its first political party driven by educated young people who promise to make politics accessible to the youth and find lasting solutions to complex local problems.

The Bahujan Azad Party (BAP) will contest at least 100 seats across 11 states in the Lok Sabha elections.

In Punjab, the BAP proposes to fight all 13 parliamentary segments. In Jammu and Kashmir too, the core committee members of the party have appointed a state coordinator, besides establishing contact with Shah Faesal, the young Kashmiri boy who recently quit the IAS to join politics. We are here to challenge the status quo and lay the foundation of a brand new politics, says BAP president Naveen Kumar, who studied textile technology at Delhi IIT and is now creating models whereby aspiring young politicians can contest elections without spending huge money.

Naveen has a spirited team of young and some not so young IIT alumni. One of BAPs core committee members Jagvir Kumar recently wound up his roaring business to contribute to the partys new vision.

Asked why they used the term Bahujan in their party description, the BAP members said the choice of the word was deliberate. The idea is to stand with the marginalised by drawing upon Indias immense youth potential, Kumar added, pointing to BAPs poll symbol a slate.

The symbol speaks volumes about where the BAP leadership is from. The idea of floating a party originated a while ago when 50 IIT alumni, including Naveeen Kumar, Jagvir Kumar and their friends, decided to broaden their mission.

Asked why anyone should vote for them, the BAP members said because we will devise technological solutions to health and education problems of India. Thats what matters the most and thats what no one is talking about.

The BAP also has on board Prof Arun Choudhry, a long-time aide of late Dalit icon Kanshi Ram. The party, which insists its no replica of Aam Aadmi Party, is preparing to contest the LS elections in Bihar, UP, JK, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra, MP and Punjab."Today, we welcome 280 participants. We've received 80 posters and we have 26 oral presentations from our users. That's quite a feat given the exceptional circumstances in which the meeting is held this year," said Michela Brunelli on opening the plenary session of the 29th ESRF User Meeting, held from 4-6 February in Grenoble.

In front of a full auditorium, Michela recalled the very high number of experiments conducted at the ESRF in 2018, a total of 2544, with users right up until the beam was switched off, for the very last time in the original storage ring, on 10th December 2018.

She gave a brief overview of this year's programme, which has been tailored to reflect the main concepts of EBS: higher energy, brilliance and coherence of the X-rays, plus lower emittance.

Day 2 of the User Meeting. The plenary session opens for keynote talks, directors' report, poster clips and the Young Scientist Award. ESRF/P. Jayet

Paul Shearing from University College London (UCL), opened the keynote talks with a lively presentation on "The use of synchrotron radiation for operando studies of performance and failure of advanced batteries". With more than 4 billion lithium ion batteries produced worldwide every year, and the increasing presence of batteries in our everyday lives from smartphones to cars, the question of robustness of design, plus the ability to safely store and convert energy over extended periods of time, is of major importance.

"The ESRF is an unparalleled toolbox for the evaluation of batteries and new materials. We have a huge opportunity to embed these techniques inside the materials optimisation process and to ultimately accelerate the commercialisation of new batteries." - Paul Shearing.

The morning session continued with second keynote speaker, Helena Kack from AstraZeneca, Sweden, with a talk on "Synchrotron Radiation in drug discovery". She discussed the use of structural information in drug discovery projects and the importance of access to synchrotron radiation sources to determine high resolution protein structures.

Poster authors wait in line to promote their work during the poster clips. ESRF/P. Jayet

The morning was punctuated with poster clips as an invitation to visit the posters displayed during the evening's poster session.

In the Director's report, ESRF Director General, Francesco Sette underlined the two very exceptional years - 2018 and 2019 - for the ESRF, with the final moments of the world's first third generation synchrotron in December, and EBS, which is ready to be installed inside the new storage ring, with first beam scheduled in December 2019. Harald Reichert, ESRF director of Research presented an update of the EBS experimental programme, that will offer new opportunities for Users, for new Science: 4 new flagship beamlines, a high power laser facility, many refurbishments, an instrumentation programme and a strong "data analysis as a service" strategy.

The afternoon session was dedicated to two further keynote talks by Pierre Thibault of the University of Southampton, on "Phase retrieval with Ptychography and X-ray speckles" and Liu Hao Tjeng from the Max-Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Germany, on "Core-level non-resonant inelastic x-ray scattering: an extremely powerful method to determine the local ground state wave function".

Best Poster Prize

Later in the evening, Mark A.Levenstein, from the University of Leeds, School of Mechanical Engineering and School of chemistry, was awarded the prize for best poster at the User Meeting dinner. His poster presents research on "Evaluation of Nucleating agents with a microfluidic serial powder diffraction technique". According to Mark Levenstein and his colleagues (Clara Anduix-Canto, Yi-Yeoun Kim, Carlos Gonzalez Nino, Manfred Burghammer, Nikil Kapur and Fiona C.Meldrum), "there is a tremendous interest in understanding and controlling crystallization processes, where the ability to trigger nucleation on-demand with a nucleating agent or "nucleant" could be a huge advantage".

They show that Droplet Microfluidics-coupled x-ray diffraction (DMC-XRD) is better for studying crystallization than previous continuous-flow microfluidic-systems and is analogous to recent injection-based serial crystallography techniques.

Their findings suggest that bioactive glasses and NX illite clays are efficient nucleants for calcite and that surface chemistry and topography are both important to a nucleant's effectiveness. They carried out experiments at ESRF ID13 beamline, and benefited from the support of the partnership for Soft Condensed Matter (PSCM) during ESRF beamtimes.

Mark A.Levenstein during the poster session. ESRF/C. Argoud.

What else has been happening at the User Meeting?

Monday, 4th February: The first day of the ESRF User Meeting was dedicated to tutorials, with nine different topics open to the 131 participants who had signed up for the workshops (see the full list).

In the session dedicated to X-ray spectroscopy simulations using Crispy and Quanty, the goal was to familiarize the participants with the simulation of core-level spectra using semi-empirical multiplet approaches. This new method was developed by ESRF scientist, Marius Retegan, who led the tutorial. After a short introduction of the theoretical aspects, the participants focused on hands-on training, which included examples of simulating X-ray absorption (XAS) and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) spectra for transition metals and rare earths.

This tool is fundamental for me to understand the spectra that I take at a synchrotron, says Lucia Amidani, an ESRF user since 2011 and post-doctoral fellow on the ROSSENDORF CRG beamline (ROBL).

ESRF's Marius Retegan leads the tutorial on Crispy and Quanty, and participants train with hands-on exercises during the session. ESRF/C. Argoud.

For Anna Volkova, from the Moscow State University and a first-time participant at the ESRF User Meeting, the tutorial is a step towards the work she will be doing at the ESRF this summer. I will be working in Kristina Kvashninas group on the ROBL beamline this summer and she suggested that I follow this tutorial. Its useful and totally new to me. The lecturer is friendly and helpful and because the participants have varied backgrounds, the questions they raise make it easier to understand how to use the software.

Discussions during the tutorial on "Coherent X-rays: a unique tool for structural and dynamic studies." Photos: ESRF/C. Argoud. ESRF's Sakura Pascarelli introduces participants to XAS and EXAFS during the tutorial "EXAFS data analysis."

Later in the morning, the roundtable on Gender Parity in Science gathered a wide audience. Giovanna Fragneto, Large Scale Structures Group Leader at the ILL and Nedjma Bendiab, lecturer at Universite Grenoble Alpes and scientist at Institut NEEL, animated the roundtable which aimed to debate on questions such as: "Do women and men have equal opportunities in scientific research and academia? How traditional gender roles hold back female scientists? How long until women and men are equally represented in science?"

Guest speaker Cornelius Gross, Deputy Head of the EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory) in Rome, presented the actions implemented at the EMBL. Eva Pebay-Peyroula, former Director of the IBS (Institut de Biologie Structurale, Grenoble) compared the situation in education and research over the last decades and questioned the role of models. The invited guests at the roundtable, Christiane Alba-Simionesco, CEA, former LLB Director, Brigitte Plateau, former General Administrator of Grenoble-INP and "Directrice Generale de l'enseignement superieur et de l'insertion professionnelle" at the French Ministry of Higher Education, and Sine Larsen, former ESRF Director of Research, each gave an example of their own experience or actions in favour of gender parity.

During the tutorial on gender parity in science. Photos: ESRF/C. Argoud Some of the invited guests, left to right: Cornelius Gross, Sine Larsen, Brigitte Plateau and Christiane Alba-Simionesco.

ESRF User Meeting 2019 welcomes 41 different nationalities

Monday, 4th February, 2019

The snow never lasts long in Grenoble, and today the sun was shining once again on the User Meeting marquee. ESRF/C. Argoud

This morning, the ESRF opened its doors to welcome almost 300 participants to the 2019 User Meeting. The annual event, which will span three days, draws together scientific users from institutes in 20 different countries. With the ESRF in shutdown to make way for EBS, the Extremely Brilliant Source, this year's User Meeting focuses on the future and the scientific possibilities opened with the new capabilities of the new source.

From 4-6 February 2019, the User Meeting is dedicated to the ESRF user community. It provides users and staff the opportunity to learn about, discuss and experience the science and cutting-edge research made with ESRF synchrotron light. The three-day programme includes tutorials, keynote lectures, dedicated symposia, poster clips and social events.

The ESRF User Meeting aims to attract young users and to inform and train them in more detail about synchrotron techniques and data treatment through a range of tutorials, but also to offer them the opportunity to talk about their research and present their data to the community at the user-dedicated microsymposia. In this 2019 edition, it is important that we use the meeting to keep close links with our user community during the EBS shutdown period, so that their ideas can bear fruit quickly with the capabilities of the new source, says Joanne McCarthy, head of the User Office.

Welcome users! The User Office staff are ready to welcome users for three days of interaction, exchange and rich discussions. From left to right: Stephanie Monaco, Joanne McCarthy, Sonya Girodon, Agnes Carlet and Fabienne Mengoni. ESRF/C. Argoud.

The plenary session, on Tuesday, 5 February, includes a session dedicated to the latest news from EBS. The four keynote speakers will give insight into some of the cutting-edge research which can be carried out at the ESRF with EBS, as follows:

Paul Shearing, University College London, Chemical Engineering, London, UK

"The use of synchrotron radiation for operando studies of performance and failure of advanced batteries"

"The use of synchrotron radiation for operando studies of performance and failure of advanced batteries" Helena Kack, AstraZeneca R&D Molndal, Structural Chemistry Laboratory, Molndal, Sweden

"Synchrotron radiation in drug discovery"

"Synchrotron radiation in drug discovery" Pierre Thibault, University of Southampton, School of Physics and Astronomy, UK

"Phase retrieval with ptychography and X-ray speckles"

"Phase retrieval with ptychography and X-ray speckles" Liu Hao Tjeng, Max-Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden, Germany

"Core-level non-resonant inelastic X-ray scattering: an extremely powerful method to determine the local ground state wave function"

In the afternoon, the ESRF User Organisation will announce the winner of the 2019 Young Scientist Award. The announcement will be followed by a talk from this year's recipient.

Throughout the day, students will promote their posters in the form of short clips before the poster session scheduled in the evening.

On Monday, nine tutorials will cover a wide range of subjects. The day will conclude with the traditional wine and cheese bistro evening.

On Wednesday, participants can choose between three dedicated micro-symposia on the following subjects:

ID29: Tunable past and time-resolved future

X-ray microscopy in biology: recent applications, challenges and opportunities

Exploiting coherent X-rays at ESRF: robust tools for imaging and dynamics

Get the full programme on the User Meeting web pages.

Follow the activities of the 2018 ESRF User Meeting on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

If you are participating in the meeting and tweeting, dont forget to add the hashtag #UM2019rchopra@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, February 14

On Valentines Day, Google doodled the star-crossed iconic character from Mughal-E-Azam, Anarkali, made indelible in movie lovers mind by the effervescent Madhubala who would have been 86 on Thursday.

The Marilyn Monroe of Bollywood as the Google blogpost said was raised in the slums of Bombay. She started supporting her family as a child star at the age of nine, before becoming a leading lady known for her elegance on screen.

Born in Delhi on this day in 1933, Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi was raised in a town located near the Bombay Talkies film studio, said Google alongside her iconic Pyar kiya to darna kya dance mudra doodle created by Bengaluru artist Muhammed Sajid.

Madhubala appeared in her first film as Baby Mumtaz. In 1947 she landed the lead role in Neel Kamal, then just 14, taking her moniker that made her famous.

As her familys main breadwinner, she worked tirelessly to support her parents and four sisters. In 1949, she appeared in nine films, including blockbuster Mahal opposite Ashok Kumar, when she dazzled with a spell-binding breakout performance.

Her breathtaking appearance earned comparisons to Venus, although Madhubala flourished mostly in an understated style well suited for comedies, dramas and romantic roles alike.

She fell in love with Dilip Kumar, her co-star in the 1951 romance Tarana, which changed the course perhaps forever for the young girl, whose father-cum-manager interfered and made it a star-crossed pattern for the woman, who was yet to blossom.

The epic historical drama Mughal-E-Azam directed by K Asif remains one of the most popular and expensive movies in Bollywood history; the Dilip Kumar-Madhubala chemistry was undeniable and unforgettable.

With a tragically brief career Madhubala was billed The Biggest Star in the World in 1952 by Theatre Arts magazine. She died on February 23, 1969 at the age of 36 after prolonged illness.

In 2008, she appeared on a commemorative postage stamp in India, where she is remembered by many as one of the greatest to ever grace the silver screen.

She had acted in over 70 films over the course of a tragically brief career. Her film Chalak opposite Raj Kapoor remained incomplete as she did not have the strength to continue. IANSrchopra@tribunemail.com

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 14

Even as the US-made Chinook heavy-lift helicopters have started arriving in India, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), while pinpointing several infirmities in the procurement process, has observed that the necessary infrastructure required for operating and maintaining the machines would not be available till March 2021.

Revealing that the IAF had aligned its technical specifications to suit Chinooks and had modified its requirements five times, the CAG pointed out that the sanction for infrastructure at the designated airbase was accorded by the defence ministry in March 2018 whereas the contract for procurement of the helicopters was concluded in September 2015, thus leading to delay in the initiation of works procedure worth Rs 145.98 crore. CAG had tabled a report of capital acquisitions by the IAF in Parliament on February 13.

US Aerospace major Boeing was contracted for procurement of 15 Chinook helicopters to support combat operations of the Army by transporting troops, artillery guns and other equipment to combat locations. The first four helicopters in semi-knocked-down condition arrived by sea in Gujarat last week, where they are being re-assembled by an American team. After acceptance trials they would be based in Chandigarh.

The Chinooks would replace in the IAF the Soviet-origin Mi-26, which is the worlds heaviest helicopter. The IAF had four Mi-26 based in Chandigarh since 1986. One crashed a few years ago and of the remaining three only one is operational. Both these helicopters were evaluated by the IAF to meet its new requirements.

The airlift capability of the Mi-26 is roughly double that of the Chinook. The Mi-26 can ferry 20 tonnes of load and 82 troops as compared to Chinooks capability of 11 tonnes and 45 troops, implying that Chinooks would require two sorties to carry the same load as that of one Mi-26.

On the other hand, the total cost of acquisition for Chinook worked out to be Rs 8,845 crore, which was about a third of Rs 28,074 for the Mi-26. Similarly, the operating cost of the Chinook, which consume lesser fuel, was Rs 1,742.97 crore as compared to Rs 3,152.29 crore for the Mi-26.

Pointing out that the air staff qualitative parameters (ASQR) were revised five times between 2006 and 2009, CAG said, The ASQRs were being drafted in consultation with the vendors or, in other words, were being modified according to what was offered by them rather than the user need.

During field evaluation trials it was noted that Chinook did not meet eight critical ASQR parameters while the Mi-26 did not meet five ASQR parameters. Thus, despite these non-compliances, both MI-26 and Chinook were cleared based on the assurance of the vendor to rectify the ASQR non-compliance before delivery, CAG remarked. Though the Army had projected the requirement for heavy-lift helicopters, Army representatives were not associated with field trials.

CAG has also questioned the defence ministrys contention that not only Chinook has low-operating cost, its compact size also gives it an added advantage of landing in small helipads and narrow valleys, thus giving more flexibility in its operational requirement as compared to Mi-26 helicopter. However, the IAF had been using Mi-26 helicopter since 1987 for heavy lift at high altitude in hilly regions. Second, for transporting loads to small helipads and narrow valleys there are other helicopters that include Mi-17, the CAG observed.monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 14

A day after the oppositions UPA-3 pitch, BSP chief Mayawati dealt her first blow to grand alliance teams by taking of the Congress and the BJP in the same vein and making it clear that her fight is against both.

Mayawati cited the recent slapping of NSA on Muslims by the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh and the charges of sedition against 14 Aligarh Muslim University students by the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh to say both governments are terrorising Muslims. Let the people decide who is what.

Mayawatis comments came a day after Congress president Rahul Gandhi announced plans of the opposition to stitch together a common minimum programme, which means there will be a pre-poll alliance for 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

TMC chief Mamata Banerjee also said a pre-poll alliance will be formed.

Right after that Gandhi ruled our immediate alliances in Bengal and Delhi triggering AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal to admonish the Congress to think about the nation or else the nation will teach the Congress a lesson.

The opposition meeting on Wednesday was attended by NCP chief Sharad Pawar who, NC chief Farooq Abdullah, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu among others.

Leaders had said they will speak to BSP and SP also, but Mayawatis snub will make the oppositions unity run hard.

Mayawatis tweet was indicative of her plans to go alone on Thursday as she wrote Congress govt in MP like BJP slapped atrocious NSA against Muslims for cow slaughter.

Now the UP BJP govt booked 14 AMU students under notorious sedition charges. Both are example of state terror & condemnable. People should decide what is difference between the cong & BJP govt?

Congress govt in MP like BJP slapped atrocious NSA against Muslims for cow slaughter. Now the UP BJP govt booked 14 AMU students under notorious sedition charges. Both are example of state terror & condemnable. People should decide what is difference between the cong & BJP govt?  Mayawati (@Mayawati) February 14, 2019

This is also Mayawatis first reaction after AICC General secretaries UP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia took charge of their roles.pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Bengaluru, February 14

French aerospace major Dassault Aviation flew to India three Rafale fighters to participate in the 12th edition of Aero India 2019 air show from February 20-24, an official said on Thursday.

Three Rafale aircraft have come on Wednesday to participate in the air show at our base here. Two of them will be on flying display and one on static display on the tarmac margins at the event, an IAF official told IANS.

The biennial international expo is being held at the Yellahanka base of the Indian Air Force (IAF) near the Bengaluru international airport.

The advanced fourth generation medium multi-role combat aircraft are in the service of French Air Force.

Two of them will fly for practice from Thursday to Sunday in the afternoon, for rehearsals on February 18-19 and for business visitors and public from February 20-24 before noon and afternoon, said a defence exhibition official.

India is buying 36 of the twin-engine, delta wing multi-role Rafale to replace the ageing Russian-made MiG-21 fleet of the IAF over the next four years.

Besides Rafale, military and civil aircraft of different types have flown into the city for the mega event from the world over, including the US.

About 60 aerospace firms, including the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), IAF, DRDO-ADA, Army Aviation, Airbus and Boeing will showcase their aircraft for flying and static display.

Global aerospace majors, including, Boeing (US), Lockheed Martin Corp (US), Russian Aircraft Corp MiG (Russia) and Saab (Sweden), will be among the exhibitors at the event.  IANSvinaymishra188@gmail.com

Special feeling Ruslaan Mumtaz

Valentines Day is all about love and I love my work. I had to cancel a Maldivian outing, as I am going to be shooting that day. My wife and I plan to make it up by going to dinner, post the shoot. For those who dont know, I got married on Valentines Day!

Name game Akanksha Puri

I believe love should be celebrated every moment of every day. Having said that, this years Valentines Day is special for me as my love, Paras, has given me my gift already. He got my name inked on his wrist and I am feeling on top of the world.

Being together Ashi Singh

Last year, I made a card for my mother. This year, I might hold a dinner with my family. Talking about Valentines Day plans of my on screen character, I dont think Sameer and Naina need a special day to celebrate Valentines Day!

Beyond gifts Rehaan Roy

Honestly speaking, I feel Valentines Day has become a cultural event these days where people feel that they have to spend money to express their love. I mean it should not be about money and gifts. Love should be beyond gifts and candies; it should be celebrated every day.

Matter of heart Adaa Khan

I dont think you need a day for love, love is forever. Its a day, which is celebrated all over the world and to each their own. Love is the matter of the heart; one can express love in many ways. I believe what you get from your parents is true love, nothing can beat that!editorial@tribune.com

Rifat Mohidin

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 13

Saima Ayoub, 15, of Falah-e-Millat School in Narbal village of Pulwama district had returned to her class around 2 pm after the lunch break when the floor under her feet suddenly shook.

Unable to comprehend what had happened, she saw she was injured and bleeding from her legs and arms. She was finding it difficult to move.

Saimas classmates were also injured and there was blood all around.

A mysterious explosion had ripped through Class X, where 37 students were studying English. Sixteen students were injured in the blast and shifted to various hospitals. Ten students with grave injuries were shifted to Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital (SMHS) Hospital in Srinagar.

Saima was also admitted to the emergency ward of SMHS Hospital, the major tertiary care hospital in the summer capital, due to the serious nature of her injuries.

Chaos reigned at the school after the explosion. The exact nature of the blast is, however, not known but the students describe the scenes as horrific.

Another student, Sumaira, from Hakaripora, Pulwama, who has also been admitted to SMHS Hospital with leg injuries, said she saw everyone bleeding.

According to students, something exploded under the benches. Most of the students have received injuries in the legs.

Chandan Kohli, Pulwama SSP, said: Around 2 pm, a blast took place at Falah-e-Millat School. The police rushed to the spot. Sixteen students have been injured. The investigation is in progress and we have filed an FIR.editorial@tribune.com

Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 13

Under scanner for corruption charges, it has now come to the fore that the cost of constructing two head race tunnels at 1,000-MW Pakal Dul hydroelectric project in Kishtwar district was inflated by 40 per cent that led to the cancellation of contract by Governor Satya Pal Malik in October last year.

The project, being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 8,112.12 crore, is one of the major power venture being constructed by State Power Development Corporation, NHPC and Power Trading Corporation of India along with the Chenab Valley Power Projects Private Ltd (CVPPPL).

The Pakal Dul project is being executed under three packages  building a power house, dam for storage and tunnel package. The tunnel contract has been cancelled by the Governor because its cost was inflated by 40 per cent, a senior officer of NHPC, recently disclosed at a seminar at the Jammu University. The officer, however, didnt share more details about the contract but dropped enough hints it was being awarded at a higher cost.

According to the global e-tender floated by the CVPPPL, the bidders were asked to deposit earnest money of Rs 10 crore indicating that the total cost of the contract was around Rs 500 crore.

While the executing agencies remained tightlipped over the issue, the Chenab valley projects had cancelled the tendering process for design and construction of two circular shaped head race tunnels of 7,350 m each to be excavated by two new independents tunnel boring machines and associated works on November 6 last year.editorial@tribune.com

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 13

Taking serious note of the non-submisssion of the status report by the state on its stand on the recovery of property in Gulmarg whose leases or licences have expired, the J&K High Court has now sought the details of the action taken by the authorities in the matter.

The High Court also expressed its displeasure over the lackadaisical approach adopted by the authorities for the recovery of such property in Gulmarg, observing that exchequer money worth crores of rupees was involved.

These orders and observations were passed on Wednesday by a division bench of the High Court, which is hearing a PIL on the protection and preservation of the Gulmarg resort.

As the state authorities failed to file a status report on the recovery of property whose leases or licences have expired in Gulmarg, the High Court on Wednesday directed them to furnish the details of the action taken in the matter, a lawyer.

However, the state authorities on Wednesday submitted the first phase of the Gulmarg Master Plan to the High Court, which the bench directed to be uploaded on the official website of the Gulmarg Development Authority. The court also directed the authorities concerned to file the status report with regard to the second phase of the master plan on the next date of hearing.

In October last year, the J&K High Court had directed the state government to file a status report within eight weeks, indicating its stand on the recovery of property in Gulmarg whose leases or licenses had expired.

As per SRO 580, the maximum time for which a lease could be granted was 40 years and no extension beyond that period was permissible. However, most of the leases granted to people in Gulmarg had already expired.

During the proceedings on October 16 last year, the Advocate General had informed the bench that that the first phase of the exercise (recovery of property) would be taken up by October-end and the second phase would be taken up by June 2019. However, a counsel appearing for the state on Wednesday informed the bench that the matter for the renewal of leases or licenses was already before the committee concerned but it had not been able to meet.gspannu7@gmail.com

Srinagar, February 14

The scene of devastation and destruction caused on Thursday by the suicide car bomb attack that killed at least 39 security personnel sent chills down the spine of unsuspecting locals who witnessed the blood bath in Pulwama districts Awantipora area, about 20 km from here.

The explosive used in the attack was so strong that the blast was heard from 10-12 km away, including some parts of Srinagar adjoining the Pulwama district, locals said.

Body parts of the terrorist, identified as Adil Ahmad, and the CRPF personnel killed in the attack were strewn on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, where the incident happened.

Some of the bodies were so badly blown up that officials feel it may take some time to identity them.

This was the first suicide car bomb strike in Kashmir since the 2001 attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly that left 41 persons, including three suicide attackers, dead.

More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when the suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a bus carrying 39-44 jawans, officials said.

There was nothing at the scene of the incident to suggest which type of vehicle was used to carry out the attack except the mangled heap of iron of the bus that was the target.

As soon as the explosion took place, people started running for safety. The shopkeepers at Lethpora market, which is less than 300 metres from the scene of the attack, downed their shutters and fled.

The scene of the incident is not very far from the Commando Training Centre at Lethpora, which was stormed by Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists on December 31, 2017, killing five CRPF personnel.

The Jammu-Srinagar highway has been witness to several terror attacks on the security forces.

CRPF bore the brunt of an attack at Pampore, less than seven kilometres from Lethpora, in June 2016, losing eight jawans while 22 others sustained injuries.

Terrorists had attacked a CRPF convoy in Pampore area in February that year as well, before taking refuge at a government building.

The operation against the holed up terrorists lasted more than two days and resulted in death of nine persons, including three Army men and three ultras.  PTIpardeepdhull@gmail.com

Majid Jahangir & Suhail A Shah

Tribune News Service

Lethpora (Pulwama), Feb 14

In the deadliest attack of the last 30 years of militancy in Kashmir, a suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bus at 3.15 pm today, killing 42 jawans and injuring a dozen others along the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway in Pulwama. However, the CRPF officials have confirmed 37 deaths so far.

The lone Kashmiri suicide bomber of Jaish-e-Mohammad drove a vehicle laden with 250-kg explosives into a CRPF convoy which was on way from Jammu to Srinagar.

A CRPF bus and another vehicle bore the brunt of the blast at Latoomode in Lethpora, a police officer said.

Such was the impact of the blast that body parts were scattered at least 500 metres from the site of the blast.

Due to the blast, glass panes of several houses in the neighbouring areas were smashed. Other vehicles which were part of the convoy also suffered huge damage. Immediately after the blast, the CRPF men opened fire. At least 78 vehicles of the CRPF were part of the convoy.

It was gut wrenching and gruesome. As guns stopped roaring and we peeked outside, we could see body parts strewn around, mixed with the damaged parts of the vehicle, Abdul Karim, a shopkeeper, said.

Pakistan-based militant group JeM, formed in 2000 by Masood Azhar, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack took place despite a Road Opening Party (ROP) being in place. There was the ROP the convoy was coming and there was an explosion. The nature of the explosion, how did it happen are all subjects of investigation, IGP, Kashmir, SP Pani, said.

A medico said there was utter chaos after the blast.

Todays attack is the deadliest in the history of Kashmir insurgency till date.

On September 18, 2016, 19 soldiers were killed when a group of fidayeen stormed an Army base close to the LoC in Uri in north Kashmir.

HM visit today; NSG, NIA on way

HM Rajnath Singh will hold review meetings with security officials in Srinagar on Friday

NSG commandos and NIA sleuths are being sent to the state to join probe

A 78-vehicle convoy with 2,500 CRPF men had left Jammu for Srinagar around 3.30 am

An explosive-laden SUV rammed into one of the buses triggering a blast at 3.15 pm at Lethpora

Gunshots were heard after the explosion as security forces blocked road, diverted traffic

Major terror strikes

June 25, 2016: Eight CRPF jawans killed as bus targeted at Pampore on the Srinagar-Jammu NH

June 3: Two CRPF men killed in attack on bus at Pampore. Three soldiers die in subsequent encounter

June 24, 2013: Eight soldiers killed after an Army bus ambushed at Hyderpora in Srinagar

July 19, 2008: Ten soldiers killed in an IED blast at Narbal on Srinagar-Baramulla highway

July 20, 2005: Three jawans killed when a car bomber rams into their vehicle

June 24: Nine Army men killed in a car bomb blast on Srinagar outskirts

April 19, 2000: Two soldiers died in the first human bomb attack in the Valley when Army headquarters were targeted at Badamibagh in Srinagar

"Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack," Modi tweeted.

Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 14, 2019

Home Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to visit Jammu and Kashmir on Friday after cancelling his programme in Bihar, officials said.

Todays dastardly attack on crpf in Pulwama (J&K) is extremely painful and disturbing. I bow to each and every CRPF jawan who has sacrificed his life in service to the nation. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured: HM Shri @rajnathsingh   , HMO India (@HMOIndia) February 14, 2019

Condemning the attack, Union minister Arun Jaitley tweeted, "Attack on CRPF in #Pulwama, J&K is a cowardice & condemnable act of terrorists. Nation salutes martyred soldiers and we all stand united with families of martyrs. We pray for speedy recovery of the injured. Terrorists will be given unforgettable lesson for their heinous act."

Attack on CRPF in #Pulwama, J&K is a cowardice & condemnable act of terrorists. Nation salutes martyred soldiers and we all stand united with families of martyrs. We pray for speedy recovery of the injured. Terrorists will be given unforgettable lesson for their heinous act.  Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) February 14, 2019

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti condemned the attack. "Terrible news coming from the valley. A number of CRPF soldiers are reported to have been killed & injured in an IED blast. I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved," Abdullah tweeted.

Terrible news coming from the valley. A number of CRPF soldiers are reported to have been killed & injured in an IED blast. I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My prayers for the injured & condolences to the families of the bereaved. #Kashmir  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 14, 2019

"Disturbing news coming in from #awantipura . Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several have been injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?" Mehbooba tweeted.

Disturbing news coming in from #awantipura . Twelve of our security personnel have been martyred and several have been injured. No words are enough to condemn the gruesome terror attack. How many more lives will be snuffed out before this madness ends?  Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 14, 2019

Several other mainstream politicians took to social media to condemn the attack.

Rahul condoles CRPF personnel's death; Cong targets Modi govt

Congress president Rahul Gandhi condoled the killing of CRPF personnel in a terror attack in Pulwama and said it had left him "deeply disturbed".

"I'm deeply disturbed by the cowardly attack on a #CRPF convoy in J&K in which many of our brave CRPF men have been martyred and a large number wounded, some critically. My condolences to the families of our martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured," he tweeted.editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 13

Two Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in a gunfight with security forces on Wednesday in central Kashmirs Budgam district, the police said.

The militants were killed following a gunfight at Gopalpora village of Budgam. They have been identified as Hilal Wani and Shoaib Lone, both residents of south Kashmirs Kulgam district, the police said.

The police in a statement said the two slain militants were involved in several terror attacks and arms and ammunitions were recovered from their possession.

The police said Hilal was a senior commander and had been categorised as an A++ militant  signifying that he was in the list of most-wanted militants and also carried a bounty of Rs 12.5 lakh.

The gunfight erupted at Gopalpora when the security forces received information from reliable sources about the presence of militants in the village following which a cordon and search operation was launched.

A senior police officer said the search was launched late in the night and contact with militants was established early on Wednesday morning. When we were conducting the searches, militants fired from a house which was retaliated, the officer said.

The firefight continued for several hours and concluded at 7 am with the killing of both the militants, the official said, adding that the militants were planning to carry out an attack in the area even as the specifics of it were not immediately known.

The bodies of the militants were later handed over to their families after medico-legal formalities.

Hilal Wani was A++ ultrauttara@tribuneindia.com

Srinagar/Anantnag, February 13

At least 16 Class X students were injured in a mysterious explosion inside a classroom at a private school in south Kashmirs Pulwama district today.

Pulwama SSP Chandan Kohli said the explosion occurred at Falah-e-Millat school in Kakapora and its cause could not be ascertained immediately.

Sources said though all the injured were in a stable condition, seven of them had been referred to Srinagar.

A teacher accompanying the injured to a Srinagar hospital said 37 students were present in the class when the explosion took place. There was a deafening sound and then the wailing of students. We all rushed to the class and saw the students lying wounded, he said.

The school, as per police reports, was holding special classes even as most institutes in Kashmir valley remain officially shut during the winter season.

The explosion comes a day after a gunfight in nearby Ratnipora village where a militant and a soldier had died.

Following the blast, the police carried out preliminary investigation. We are yet to get a clear picture. Details will be shared as and when something concrete emerges, the SSP said.  TNS

Probe team attacked

The police team that visited the school for investigation was pelted with stones while its members were leaving the area. The police had to use teargas shells to disperse the stone-pelting crowd.editorial@tribune.com

Shimla, February 13

The Congress today staged a walkout in the house over the issue of denigration and weakening of the institution of the MLA even as Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur accused the Congress of trying to unnecessarily rake up an issue over a trivial matter.

Raising the issue through Point of Order, Congress legislator Harshwardhan Chauhan said post dated cheques had been issued to three people of his constituency by SDM Paonta Sahib. I had extended relief to three people of my area from the MLA Discretionary Fund and the SDM has issued post dated cheques whereas the money has to be given from this financial years discretionary grant, he pointed out.

He said this appeared to be a deliberate attempt to denigrate and weaken the institution of the MLA and lower its dignity. He said he had given notice to the Speakers office for Privilege against the official.

Replying to the issue, the CM said that it was a typing error and it is but natural for anyone to err. I dont think Congress should make such a big issue out of a mere typing error, he said. He later informed the house that two corrected cheques had been issued today by the SDM after the issue was raised in the Assembly.

The issue generated a lot of heat as Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri pointed out that the private company setting up the Food Park in Una was pressurized to get new invitation cards printed to drop the name of the local MLA. It is a very unfortunate trend which must be put to an end if we wish to protect the dignity of the institution of the MLA, said Agnihotri.

Former CM Virbhadra Singh objected to the manner in which names of MLAs were not being mentioned in the foundation or inauguration stones. It is very unfortunate that such a trend is catching up and I would term it as cheap politics of denying the sitting MLA his due, he remarked.  TNSeditorial@tribune.com

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 13

Triple talaq may have been a matter of intense debate inside and outside political and religious circles throughout the nation, but the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) has allegedly parted ways with clarity on the issue. The commission found itself facing legal proceedings following alleged discrepancies in the options it gave to a question on triple talaq during judges examination held in December.

The petition against it was disposed of on Wednesday after a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed declaration of revised result of a candidate, who had questioned this and other.

The detailed judgment by the Bench of Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain and Justice Harnaresh Singh Gill on the petition filed by Snehil Sharma against the State of Haryana and other respondents is not yet available.

But Vishal Garg Narwana, petitioners counsel, said the court was not satisfied with the options offered to the candidates on triple talaq and another question. Sharma was just .80 marks short of success in the Haryana Civil Service (Judicial Branch) preliminary examination.

It was held in December 2018 for filling up the posts of Civil Judge (junior division) after an earlier test conducted in pursuance to an advertisement issued in June 2016 was scrapped by the High Court following allegations of paper leak. Bringing the alleged incorrect answers under the judicial scanner, Sharma, through Narwana submitted that the question was about Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriages) Ordinance, 2018. The first option was whether it declared instant triple talaq illegal and criminalised it; the second was whether it made declarations of talaq a non-bailable offence; the third was whether a husband declaring talaq could be imprisoned for up two years along with a fine; and the last was whether it entitled Muslim women against whom triple talaq had been declared to seek subsistence allowance from her husband for herself and for her dependent children.

Narwana averred the first, second and the last options were correct, whereas the first and last options were mentioned as correct in the answer keys. In an attempt to substantiate the contentions, the petitioner also enclosed a copy of ordinance.

In all, Narwana submitted that the final answer keys to seven questions were incorrect. Another five questions were wrongly deleted. Seeking courts indulgence to protect him, the petitioner has added he was suffering due to Haryana Public Service Commissions fault. If the mistakes are not rectified, the same will cause an irreparable loss to the petitioner, it was added.

.8 mark short of clearing examlaxmi@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 13

The Haryana government has decided to grant reservation to the extent of 10 per cent each to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in case of direct recruitment to Group A, B, C and D posts in all departments, boards, corporations and local bodies and in admissions to all educational institutions to those with a family income that is less than Rs 6 lakh.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the state Cabinet here today.

Those who fulfil the criteria and are not covered under the existing scheme of reservation for Scheduled Castes/Tribes and Backward Classes  A and B in case of Haryana  will be eligible for the EWS benefits.

This means that the Jats and five other castes  Jat Sikhs, Rors, Bishnois, Tyagis and Mulla Jat/Muslim Jat who were granted reservation as BC (C) in Haryana will be eligible for the EWS quota till their ongoing court case for Backward Class status is decided.

Family for this purpose will include the person who seeks benefit of reservation, his/her parents, spouse and children and siblings below the age of 18 years. The income will include that from all sources  salary, agriculture, business and profession and it will be for the financial year prior to the year of application.

Also, persons whose family owns or possesses any of the following assets will be excluded from being identified as EWS: 5 acres of agricultural land and above, residential flat of 1,000 square feet and above, residential plot of 100 square yards and above in notified municipalities, residential plot of 200 square yards and above in areas other than the notified municipalities and any immovable property worth more than Rs 1 crore.

IN CONTENTIONvinaymishra188@gmail.com

INDIAN politics is no stranger to the rampant abuse of power to settle scores with rivals. The latest example of this high-handedness was witnessed at the Lucknow airport on Tuesday, when Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was stopped from taking a private chartered flight to Allahabad (Prayagraj). Yadav was scheduled to attend a students union event at Allahabad University. Officials turned back the SP leader, citing the administrations apprehension of a law and order problem if he were to visit the campus. CM Yogi Adityanath said Yadavs visit could have triggered violence between student groups, while unconvincingly claiming that the government had acted on the universitys plea. Ironically, violence broke out nonetheless as irate SP workers clashed with the police in Allahabad and other parts of the state.

Quick to back her new-found ally, Mayawati accused the BJP governments at the Centre and in UP of resorting to anti-democratic methods to curb the SP-BSP alliances political activities. Yadav also received support from West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who said the country had never witnessed such a dangerous situation wherein opposition parties were being barred from holding their programmes. Its apparently a case of the pot calling the kettle black as the wannabe PM had herself been accused of indulging in chopper politics last week. Helicopters carrying Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath and other BJP stalwarts had been denied permission to land for them to address rallies in West Bengal. Ruling out political interference, Mamata had claimed that the saffron party leaders belatedly sought the go-ahead from the respective district administrations. She even made a counter-allegation that helicopter companies were being forced to cancel bookings by her party (Trinamool Congress) for campaigning.

As the Lok Sabha battle nears, its obvious that clipping ones foes wings, literally, is the mantra for the powers that be. It would be no surprise if they use every trick in the book in the coming weeks to fix their enemies. However, as the Yadav episode has shown, such actions can easily boomerang on the oppressors.Rasheed Kidwai

Rasheed Kidwai

Senior journalist & author

Alot has been written and said about Priyanka Gandhis forays into politics, Mission Uttar Pradesh and the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The crucial point is whether Priyanka can trigger an aa ab laut chalen moment among the Indian middle class, women, the youth and the Congress erstwhile vote bank consisting of Brahmins, Dalits and Muslims.

Cynics, critics and Congress baiters are unanimous that Priyankas formal induction is a case of too little, too late. Pitted against a belligerent BJP under Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanaths leadership and a caste-based arithmetic alliance comprising the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal, Priyankas task of reviving the grand old party in eastern Uttar Pradesh looks formidable and insurmountable. Given the state of the Congress organisational set-up, the dearth of winnable Lok Sabha candidates, lack of resources and roots in society are some other significant challenges.

But there is a bright and promising side of the Congress story which is missing from the current narrative. Voters in India tend to be highly volatile; therefore, there is every possibility that they will throw up an unexpected verdict. This is the basic premise on which the Congress is positioning itself, counting heavily on Priyankas charisma, spontaneity and leadership style.

In any electoral contest, the anti-incumbency factor weighs heavily. In Uttar Pradesh, the bulk of the state MLAs and MPs belong to the BJP. Theoretically, there is a strong chance of this double anti-incumbency working against a majority of BJP MLAs and MPs even if Modi and Adityanath continue to have a reasonable popularity quotient. If voters are indeed disillusioned and looking for an alternative, Priyanka has the potential to showcase herself as a harbinger of hope and score over Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav.

Priyankas roadshow showed glimpses of her prowess as TV news channels went berserk. Almost all of them had four units or more, prime-time anchors and correspondents stationed strategically in Lucknow, bringing the Priyanka show live, every minute and second. Pictures of her kissing a kid, sitting atop a bus, holding on to a kulhar (earthen tea cup) were lapped up.

It is common knowledge that TV news coverage is inseparably linked to TRPs. One may recall 2012 and 2013 when Arvind Kejriwals press conferences forced news channels to even sacrifice commercial breaks, fearing loss of TRPs. Ditto was the case with Modi throughout 2013 and the early part of 2014, when he was the prime ministerial candidate. The subsequent electoral success of Kejriwal and Modi showed that the TRP madness does reflect a trend. This is where Priyanka scores over her brother and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.

The Congress is underplaying this aspect of the Gandhi sibling ratings. It remains to be seen whether the party will continue to adopt an ostrich-like approach or use Priyanka optimally. On social media, too, Priyankas debut has been both stylish and grand. Without a tweet, her followers have swelled up to over 1.6 lakh.

Uncertainty looms large over the Hindi heartland and the outcome of the Lok Sabha battle. The Congress calculations are interesting to explore. It has a strong urge to eject PM Modi from the high office just like any other non-NDA political outfit. But that is all. The grand old party is almost obsessed with its historic role in getting the country freedom and playing a pivotal role in nation-building. It also fancies its ideology and political thinking to be nearly identical with the idea of India. Instinctively, the party does not relish prospects of backing a ragtag coalition as a replacement for the Modi regime. Even if the coming together of regional parties becomes inevitable, the Congress wants to hold leverage and improve upon the United Front (1996-98) experiment that was ugly and a certain put-off for the Indian middle class. In order to showcase its good governance model, the Congress is aware that more parliamentary seats in its kitty will help it earn the offices of the Prime Minister, Finance, Defence or Home Minister in the next government. Such is the prospect of a post-poll mahagathbandan that the Congress cannot go public with its line of thinking. In Priyanka, the party is confident of achieving its short-term and long-term goals.

One issue that should be bothering Priyanka and the Congress is Robert Vadra and his alleged involvement in corruption cases. Priyanka may have stood by him and dubbed the allegations as politically motivated, but these have the potential of upsetting the Indian middle class. The latter tends to have a rather unforgiving and punishing attitude, often failing to make a distinction between a mulzim (accused) and a mujrim (convict). Can she overcome that hurdle too?editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 13

The growing importance of the legal profession and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act were debated at the Coordinators' Meet, organised by The Tribune Group of Newspapers here on Wednesday.

The session was attended by representatives from more than 110 schools in the city. Psychiatrist Dr Simmi Waraich and AB Education Director Gaurav Bhatara were the guests of honour, while former Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge MS Chauhan and Additional Advocate General Amar Vivek were guest speakers.

The event commenced with an inaugural session by Senior Associate Editor of The Tribune Roopinder Singh wherein he discussed negative and positive aspects of teaching. He said there was a need to curb the unethical practice of plagiarism by students.

Bhatara said, "With India being the second largest source of Foreign Direct Investment and the sixth largest economy in the world, there is a dire need of lawyers in the country. We need 15,000 judges to clear more than 2.5 crore pending cases in courts. Also, only 7% of the total seven lakh engineers find jobs after clearing exam every year and more than 50,000 out of two lakh law graduates join the legal profession after completing their degree."

He said, "The countries that top the Rule of Law Index also top Happiness Index. So, there is a need to strengthen our judicial system."

Detailing about law being a promising career option, Justice Chauhan, said, "Law is not just about rules and regulations, but it is also about rights, justice and understanding of human behaviour and society. A career in law is intellectually challenging, financially rewarding and personally fulfilling. One-third of the Union Council of Ministers in India have law degrees and 25 of the 44 presidents of the US have been advocates. Lawyers can represent the underprivileged, free the wrongly convicted, change the laws, empower groups of people, or even influence the functioning of governments."

Justice Chauhan, who also heads the Police Complaints Authority (PCA), said everyone in the city, including children, should be made aware of the fact that a regulatory authority existed in the city to look into allegations of 'serious misconduct' against police personnel. Complaints could be either suo motu or from a victim, state human rights commission, police or any source.

On child sexual abuse, he said, "Violence violates the dignity and rights of children and robs them of the joys of childhood. The issue of child sexual abuse is widespread in India, impacting children of all ages, socio-economic classes and genders."

"According to a report released by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, 2007, half of our country's children face some form of sexual abuse, with 21% having to face severe sexual abuse. Boys account for around 53% and girls for 47% of all children reporting abuse."

Meanwhile, Waraich explained to the gathering how to educate children on sexual abuse and its signs and symptoms.

She said, "Children who face abuse may develop anxiety, sleep disturbances, flashbacks and intrusive thoughts. The impact of violence can be such that children who experience violence before the age of 11 are three times more likely to develop psychiatric symptoms than those who experience such trauma as teens."

"Children should be taught not to keep secrets. Ask them what they play with other kids, ask them if an uncle or aunt touches their private parts. Culturally, Indians are taught to be less assertive. However, children should be taught to say 'no' to things they are uncomfortable with."

"Parents tend to think that boys can be left unsupervised, but boys face equal incidence of sexual abuse. As far as POCSO is concerned, having consensual relations with an underage girl can also bring teenage boys into trouble under the law. POCSO sensitisation is a must and a cognisable offence should be reported to the police," she added.

Children should be taught not to keep secrets. Ask them what they play with other kids, ask them if an uncle or aunt touches their private parts. Culturally, Indians are taught to be less assertive. However, children should be taught to say 'no' to things they are uncomfortable with.  Dr Simmi Waraich, psychiatrist

Teacherspeak

Students in schools should have a comfort level with their teachers and parents should be able to give and get the best, thereby, benefiting society at large.  Parvinder Kaur, Govt Model Sr Sec School, Sector 35

It was a great programme. Helping children in choosing the right career, understanding their problems and being accessible to them was beautifully discussed.  Naresh Handa, St Xaviers School, Sector 44

Education should be looking beyond classroom. We, as teachers, should guide children to the right path and help in shaping their career.  Muniya Khan, St Stephens School, Togan

Interest, aptitude, personality and ability are core aspects that should be kept in mind to bring about a clear perspective in students impressionable minds.  Monia, Mount Carmel School, Chandigarh

Unique perspective for problems being faced by students and teachers were discussed. Discussion on the POCSO Act and legal profession was really helpful.  Shashi Sharma, PML SD, Sector 32

Youngsters have a tendency to change. They just have to be given shape and moulded as per their aptitude & abilities.  Harpreet Kaur, Satluj Public School, Panchkulaeditorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 13

Come April, the domestic traffic from the Chandigarh international airport is all set to increase by 30 to 35 per cent. Information to this effect was given to the Punjab and Haryana High Court during the resumed hearing of a petition filed in public interest for making the airport fully functional.

A Division Bench hearing the matter was also told about an Air India flight between Chandigarh and Delhi that would eventually enable passengers to hop on to connecting flights to Europe. At the onset, Assistant Solicitor-General of India Chetan Mittal told the Bench of Chief Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Arun Palli that there would be 112 to-and-fro movements from the airport from April 1, indicating an increase of more than 30 per cent in the domestic traffic. The submission came in response to a court query on domestic traffic from the airport.

Mittal added that the new flight would depart from Delhi at 5.45 am and arrive at Chandigarh at 6.30 am. It will leave the city for Delhi at 7 am and arrive there at 7.50 am. Referring to a communication, Mittal said landing at Chandigarh was not permitted before 7 am as of now. However, Chandigarh was expected to become functional 24X7 after March 31. As such, Air India had requested the commencement of operations with effect from April 1, subject to approval of the competent authorities.

A status report placed before the Bench said manpower had been allocated for 24X7 operations vide a letter dated February 5. The Bench was also told that additional lights would be procured for being installed on the runway. It was added that non-installation of the lights was in no way a hindrance for night operations at the airport.

It was added that the issue of handing over the old terminal building to the Indian Air Force was being deliberated upon between officials of the airport authority and the Indian Air Force and the outcome of the deliberations would be placed before the High Court.

The High Court, on a previous date of hearing, was told that several new flights from Chandigarh to Delhi, Mumbai and the Middle East were on the cards. The flights to Mumbai would further connect to international destinations such as London, Manchester, Paris and Amsterdam.

A report by amicus curiae or the friend of the court ML Sarin, based on a high-powered meeting, was also placed before the Bench. Among other things, senior advocate Sarin said representatives of Jet Airways informed him that the summer schedule had already been fixed and they were planning to start three new flights from Chandigarh to Delhi and Mumbai. The Chandigarh to Mumbai flight would further connect to international destinations.

It was also pointed out to Sarin that Jet Airways had a code-share agreement with 18 other airlines.

112 to-and-fro movements from April 1

Assistant Solicitor-General of India Chetan Mittal told the Bench of Chief Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Arun Palli that there would be 112 to-and-fro movements from the Chandigarh international airport from April 1, indicating an increase of more than 30 per cent in the domestic traffic. The submission came in response to a court query on domestic traffic from the airport.vermaajay1968@gmail.com

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 13

Agriculture and allied sectors of Punjab and Haryana will have a lions share in banks total advances in the next fiscal year. Given the dominance of agriculture sector in these two states, more than 60% of the lending potential by the banks has been dedicated to the sector in 2019-20. This will ensure credit access to farmers from institutional finance.

To augment production and productivity in agriculture sector in these two states, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has assessed the credit potential at Rs 2.23 lakh crore out of total credit potential of Rs 3.53 lakh crore.

For Punjab, Nabard has estimated credit potential of Rs 1.42 lakh crore for agriculture and allied activities out of total outlay of Rs 2.28 lakh crore during 2019-20. Other loans include MSME loans, export credit, educational and housing loans.

The share of crop loan is estimated at Rs 97,577 crore  43% of total estimated potential. Loan for agriculture infrastructure is estimated at Rs 6,490 crore, agriculture ancillary (Rs 14,963 crore) and agriculture term loan (Rs 23,407 crore).

We have prepared the State Focus Paper to identify the interventions and probable credit disbursement to enhance the farmers income so as to achieve the national goal of doubling farmers income by 2022, said JPS Bindra, CGM, Nabard (Punjab regional office).

A senior official blamed low growth in income from farming due to increased cost of production for high indebtness in Punjab. Moreover, the absence of digitised land records, multiple financing by banks, stress of short-term crop loan instead of asset-creating term loan and unproductive use of credit by farmers, have aggravated the situation. Also, the existence of non-institutional financing channel in villages has created high indebtedness in the state which is matter of grave concern, the official said.

Bindra emphasised on the need for capital formation in agriculture and advised the banks for providing financial assistance to farmers for investment activities.

For Haryana, Nabard envisages credit potential at Rs 81,022 crore for crop and term loan and for agriculture allied activities, around 62% of the total credit potential. Overall, the state has a credit potential of Rs 1.30 lakh crore under priority sector for 2019-20.

The state credit plan is an aggregation of potential-linked plans prepared for all districts of a particular state by Nabard in consultation with state government, banks and other stakeholders and forms the base for the preparation of annual credit plans by banks.Terre Haute, IN (47803)

Today

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 72F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 72F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%.You have permission to edit this article.

Edit CloseOnce a centrally located piano practice space, it's been converted into a comfortable little apartment with the help of some smart space-saving strategies.

Many cities all over the world are experiencing a shortage of housing affordability as more people are moving in to be closer proximity to work and other amenities. That partly explains the growing interest in more affordable housing alternatives like cohousing and coliving communities -- as well as projects that renovate disused urban spaces into new micro-apartments.

In the bustling capital of Taipei in Taiwan, A Little Design (previously) transformed a centrally located old piano studio into a 189-square-foot (17.6 square metres) flat for a client who travels often for work for extended periods of time, and who wanted to have a smaller second home base when visiting Taiwan in between these periods of being away, rather than purchasing a larger apartment and being saddled with a mortgage.

 Hey! Cheese

As lead architect Szumin Wang explains on Dezeen what the original apartment was like:

Although the owner does not need a big flat, before it was redesigned, the 17.6-square-metre unit was too small to fit both a queen-size bed, living space and sufficient storage. In addition, the bathroom was relatively big compared to the small square footage of the whole space, and the kitchen lacked practicability  it was even too small to fit a fridge.

 Hey! Cheese

The firm's goal was to maximize the available space by rearranging the layout, and incorporating space-saving ideas like built-in transformer furniture. Besides these constraints on room, there is an existing concrete beam running across the space that had to be integrated into the new scheme. The redesign has swapped the location of the kitchen and bathroom, so that kitchen is now spatially part of the entryway. The concrete beam now serves to delineate between the flat's living and utility spaces, and the space underneath has now been filled with storage cabinets, now adjacent to the minimalist staircase, which leads up to the sleeping loft.

 Hey! Cheese

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 Hey! Cheese

The living room sofa sits on a platform that hides pipework. The sofa has been designed as part of a built-in shelving unit, and can be converted into a single guest bed. There is also some built-in cabinets right across from it, which include a flip-up table, perfect for working or eating on.

 Hey! Cheese

In the kitchen, appliances like the washing machine and refrigerator have been placed under the counter, to save space. The high ceilings here mean that there is space for cabinets higher up, for items that aren't needed so often.

 Hey! Cheese

 Hey! Cheese

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 Hey! Cheese

The bathroom is now located where the kitchen used to be, where there is more light. A frosted sliding door lets more light in, while a sliding mirrored door inside the bathroom covers up built-in shelving along one wall.

 Hey! Cheese

 Hey! Cheese

As many have rightly pointed out, though micro-apartments and other small spaces are fascinating (and fun) to look at, they aren't necessarily the best solution to the housing affordability crisis and socioeconomic inequality we are now seeing in so many places. But as Wang notes, better policies and larger-scale solutions may be slow in coming, and smaller, better-designed living spaces can be a temporary way to cope with these forces:

The prevalence of micro-flats is not our answer for the high-housing-price issue in Taipei City, but is the result of living issue's long-term evolution and the task the clients bring to us. We hope the attempt of design could provide some schemes and possibility for this living type.

To see more, visit A Little Design.Why and How to Grow Pulses in Your GardenEmporia, KS (66801)

Today

Partly cloudy and windy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 96F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy and windy this evening then becoming cloudy after midnight. A stray severe thunderstorm is possible. Low 74F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph.At the Nissan USA stand at the Chicago Motor Show we had the chance to see a rather surprising and intimidating truck called the Nissan Titan K2 Rocky Ridge Concept. It is a lifted Titan truck, engineered by Rocky Ridge, specialists in making big bad lifted trucks with more than 30 years of experience. Although revealed in concept guise, let me tell you that the Rocky Ridge Titan K2 is ready to pounce. The Georgia-based truck magicians made sure of it with a comprehensive set of additions that made this Titan K2 Rocky Ridge Concept as tough and as terrifying as possible. This is what we learned about it at the Show.

Exterior

20-inch wheels with Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ P3 tires

$1,300+ worth of additional LED lighting

6-inch lift over the stock Titan for an Intimidating look

I think you know best that the intimidating factor of lifted trucks is achieved through the lift kits and tires. But before all that jazz (K2 is really generous about that actually), the Georgia-based customizer chose a few really interesting additions to give the Titan a somewhat sophisticated feel. The details I like the most are the color-keyed pocketed fender flares and the black ceramic exhaust tips. The official Rocky Ridge website also mentions further modifications to the lifted Titan that include:

304 Stainless Steel Dual Exhaust

Flowmaster Super 40 Muffler

K2 Door Emblems

K2 Tailgate Emblem

Rocky Ridge Windshield Banner

While all of this sounds cool, I cannot stress enough the importance of the right lighting for a machine like this. And, the Titan Rocky Ridge Concept does not disappoint here either.

Ive done some research and found out that Rocky Ridge integrated LED light bars from Rigid and from Zroazd. In total, you are looking here at, at least, $1,300 worth of LED lights.

Small units at the edges of the bumper are actually Rigid Industries units. The clear ones are LED Hypersports Pro units, while the other is actually an LED Fog Light. Two pairs cost close to $600.

Move to the middle of the Titan Rocky Ridge Concept, and you will be treated with the $440, 20-inch Rigid Industries Light bar on the bumper and the $260, 20-inch Zroadz light bar on the grille. All of this can light up quite a bit.

While on the grille, you can see that the one on the Rocky Ridge Titan K2 Concept actually has a completely redesigned mesh compared to a stock unit. Obviously, the bumper is all new too. Its edgier, sharper in its appearance, and provides an even better approach angle.

Now, apart from the six-inch lift kit that jacked up the Titan K2 just right, the 20-inch wheels are shod in nifty, 20-inch Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ P3 tires. If you are wondering, these go for $350 per tire.

Now, I am writing the prices for a reason - to entice you to try this yourself on the Titan. It is somewhat possible, but I doubt you could ever do as meticulous of a job as what Rocky Ridge can. After all, theres no chance you could ever match this astounding paint scheme. What is more, Rocky Ridge drizzled the Titan K2 with the:

Power Side Steps

Black Off-Road Steps

Matte Finish

Vengeance Front Bumper

Premium Bumper Set

Interior

* Embroidered Rocky Ridge logo on the headrests

* Black theme thanks to Midnight Edition package

* All leather seats

I guess that with the intimidating exterior look of the Titan K2 Rocky Ridge Concept youd be OK with a stock interior setup. Yet, Rocky Ridge did drizzle it with some cool touches.

First of all, be advised that this Titan is based on the Midnight Edition, and this means it comes nicely equipped with black leather on the seats and some other darkened pieces in the cabin.

To make a mark on it, Rocky Ridge embroidered its logo on the headrests. Just so you know that this isnt yet another standard truck. To prove the point, zoom through the drivetrain improvements Rocky Ridge did to make the Titan K2 better than ever.

Drivetrain

6 Rocky Ridge Suspension Lift Kit

Available with the Cummins V-8, Or the gasoline V-8

2.0 Nitrogen Charged Rear Shocks

With their colorful description of the K2, Rocky Ridge says that this lifted truck package is built to climb any mountain, go anywhere, and make you feel unstoppable in the process. Well, we have already established that it does make you feel unstoppable just by looking at it. Thats the magic not many vehicles actually have.

As for the other part of Rocky Ridges claim, the Titan K2 has to accomplish what no one has so far - climb any mountain and go anywhere.

I dont know if it can really do that, but I do know that it can do a lot of off-road thanks to the following upgrades over the stock Titan:

6 Rocky Ridge Suspension Lift Kit

2.0 Nitrogen Charged Rear Shocks

E-Coated Front and Rear Cross-Members

E-Coated Full Front Skid Plate

E-Coated Front Strut Tower Extension

Compression Struts

Brake-Line Relocation Bracket

20 Black Off-Road Wheels

3512.50R20 All Terrain Tires (that Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ P3s)

Rocky Ridge Caliper Covers

Four Wheel Alignment

Road Force Balancing

Hypertech Calibration

I mean, this list alone says a lot about the Nissan Titan Rocky Ridge K2 Concept.

Bear in mind that this is not the first Rocky Ridge-built truck. Nissan has cooperated for years with this Georgia-based company, and one of its best works was the 2018 Nissan Titan XD K2 with a Cummins diesel engine under the hood. Just to show you what price ballpark were discussing here - the Cummins powered Titan XD K2 costs just north of $70,000. Now, this one in Chicago is still a concept, but I am sure that Rocky Ridge can actually make it possible in no time. The price is unknown at this point.

Final Thoughts

What can be said about a truck of this stature?

It is freaking awesome with a six-inch suspension, a Cummins or gasoline V-8 (I believe you will be able to order either of the two), and those all-terrain tires. True, it is expensive, but dont think for a second that the Titan K2 isnt worth it. It is. For sure. After all, do you really think that Nissan would allow anything short of exceptional to appear at their Auto Show stand? Of course not. Save for the Versa, of course!

Further reading

Read our full review on the 2018 Nissan Titan.

Read our full review on the 2018 Nissan Titan XD.The Ford GT that once belonged to John Cena is back in the news again for the same reason its appeared in the news so many times before. As improbable  maybe even impossible  as it sounds, the Liquid Blue Metallic Ford GT is back up for auction for the third time in the last two years. This time, the GT will once again go through Mecum Auctions , which, coincidentally, handled the supercar the last time it went up for auction at its Dallas eventfour months ago. Say what you will about the Ford GTs appeal, but its hard to imagine what kind of jinx this GT is carrying thats turned it into the supercar equivalent of a hot potato.

John Cenas 2017 Ford GT is Up for Auction Again

Weve seen this song-and-dance number before, havent we? What is it about this Ford GT that was originally owned by John Cena that leaves owners wanting to sell it soon after buying it? If youve been living under a rock and you dont know the whole story of this GT, then heres the background of how its become one of the most infamous supercars in recent memory.

Back in 2017, Ford sold a $500,000 GT to John Cena as part of a selection process that included evaluating the potential buyers interest in cars, ownership of other high-end vehicles, and their social reach.

Since Cena arguably one of the most popular athletes in the world by virtue of his work in the WWE, Ford offered the GT to him with certain clauses in the purchase contract, including the inability to re-sell the GT for 24 months after its initial delivery. None of this would be an issue if Cena still owned his Ford GT to this day.

But, no. Mr. Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect decided that he didnt want his GT a month after taking delivery of it. So he sold the supercar with only 30 miles on the meter to a 78-year-old Californian farmer who was an avid Ford fan who has an impressive collection of F-Series pickups and the original 2005 Ford GT. The price of the transaction? $1.54 million.

Needless to say, Ford was none-too-pleased about that transaction, and it voiced its displeasure by suing Cena breaching the no-sale contract. A dramatic legal battle ensued between both sides before the two parties reached a settlement. Think thats the end of it? Nope. Were just getting started.

The 78-year-old farmer owned the GT for eight months before selling it at a Russo & Steele auction in August 2018.

Apparently, back issues made it difficult for him to drive the car so instead of keeping it, he decided to sell it through New Autos during Montereys Russo & Steele auction. At this point, the GT had 625 miles on the meter so, at the very least, the Californian farmer spent a good deal of time in it and put some miles on the GT. The GT ultimately sold a second time for an impressive $1.7 million to a new owner  lets call him Owner No. 3 - who ended up keeping the car for one month before deciding to sell it at the Mecum auction in Dallas last September. The GT had 626 miles on the meter at that time, so if your math skills are working, then you can surmise that Owner No. 3 never even bothered to drive it.

Remarkably, the GT still sold for $1.32 million at the Mecum auction to a man who will forever be remembered in these pages as Owner No. 4. Its been five months since Owner No. 4 received the keys to the Ford GT, and according to Mecums listing, the supercar now has a grand total of 635 miles on the meter! Math wizards, you know what that means, right? Owner No. 4 drove the GT for a whopping total of nine miles(!) since purchasing the car back in September.

Mecum didnt indicate if theres a reservation price to the Ford GT, so its going to be interesting how much it sells for in two months time.

Is the notoriety going to affect its value negatively, or has all the controversy surrounding the car turned it into a golden idol? Were going to find out soon enough as Mecums auction is scheduled to take place in Indianapolis, Indiana from May 14 to 19, 2019.

Im a bit curious, too, to see what the folks from Fords ivory tower in Dearborn, Michigan think about all of this. Im sure it never intended the GT supercar to get passed around like a you-know-what (let your imaginations run), but all of this is keeping the GT in the news and, subsequently, relevant in the eyes of a lot of people.

On the one hand, its a shame that this particular Ford GT cant seem to find eternal happiness in the arms of an owner wholl keep it for at least a year. Its not like its been cursed to high heavens after its initial celebrity owner decided to flip it for financial reasons. Remember, this is still a Ford-freakin-GT with 647 horsepower and 550 pound-feet of torque on tap, and the ability to hit 216 mph without even batting an eyelash.

Since it only has 635 miles on it, the break-in period hasnt even finished yet.

On the other hand, maybe there is something to this specific Ford GT. Is it possible that well see this in a sale setting yet again this year? Time is gonna be the judge of that, though based on the supercars history, time hasnt been kind to it either.

Further Reading

Read our full review on the 2017 Ford GT.

John Cenas 2017 Ford GT is Getting Passed Around Like a Dirty Diaper

John Cena Sells his new Ford GT; Gets Sued by Ford for $500k

Source: MecumAudi has released a handful of teaser renderings of the Q4 e-Tron Concept, an electric compact crossover study. The concept, which will make its debut at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, finally unlocks the mystery on when Audi plans to use the Q4 name, the last holdout to the automakers Q-family of crossovers and SUVs. Teasers notwithstanding, details about the Q4 e-Tron Concept are scarce at this point, but since its carrying the e-Tron name, we can at least confirm that this concept will be of the electric persuasion. The Q4 e-Tron Concepts information mother lode drops in Geneva, which starts on Thursday, March 7, 2019.

Whats the 2020 Audi Q4 All About

Teaser renderings can be tricky, at least compared to teaser photos. With the latter, you dont get to see much of the vehicle thats being teased, whereas, with the renderings, automakers can show you the whole concept, but theres still room for the imagination to run. Audis teaser renderings of the Q4 e-Tron Concept falls along those lines. Were actually looking at the concept in all its glory, but we still dont know if the live concept does justice to its renders. Its hard to even see the dimensions of the concept because its really drawings at this point. By this measure, the Q4 e-Tron Concept looks huge, but we also know, at least based on Audis previous statements about the model, that its pegged as an entry-level electric crossover thatll sit below the e-Tron SUV thats only starting to roll into the market.

Theres a huge discrepancy between the size of the concept in the renderings and Audis actual plan for the model. No more is that clear than in the concepts wheels, which look like theyre at least 22 inches in diameter. Perhaps this is simply a case of an artist going a tad overboard with his drawing, but those wheels - as big as they are already  make the Q4 e-Tron Concept look a lot bigger than the actual concept that well see in Geneva in less than a months time.

Im actually not complaining, for what thats worth. I look at the Q4 e-Tron Concept renderings and see a visual tour de force of Audis electric SUV plans. We already saw a glimpse of what this lineup could turn into with the arrival of the e-Tron SUV.

Sure, the e-Tron SUV looks a lot tamer than the Q4 e-Tron renderings, but concepts are aesthetically over-the-top by default. Its one of the sure-fire ways an automaker can get the publics attention.

And if the actual Q4 e-Tron Concept looks as aggressive as its rendering suggests, Audi might have a showstopper in its hands.

The concepts front fascia, for example, looks stunning. The layered LED headlamps are striking in their shape and composition. The (fake) front grille is ridiculously huge, too. Ditto for those air intakes that are also probably fake because of the EV powertrain sitting underneath the massive body. Even the front bumper has a bit of superior quality going for it. Theres an audacity to the renderings thats hard to ignore. Throw in those bulging body panels, sharp creases, and large wheels, and it certainly looks like the Q4 e-Tron Concept is primed and ready to take center stage at the Geneva Motor Show.

The interior has concept SUV written all over it, too.

The dashboard is cut in three-ways, separating the massive infotainment display with the entire steering wheel apparatus, digital cluster included.

The doors look far from traditional, as well. And unless my eyes deceive me, is that a floating control panel in the center console? At this point, Im prepared for anything that Audi brings to Geneva. Theres a good chance that the real concept doesnt look anything like the renderings the automaker just released, but theres also a good chance that it looks exactly the same as how its visualized on paper.

As far as powertrain goes, I expect the Q4 e-Tron concept to carry the same powertrain as the e-Tron SUV. Itll be detuned, of course, but the two electric motors  one on each axle  should carry enough juice to produce somewhere in the vicinity of 300 horsepower. Itll be well short of the 400-odd horsepower of the e-Tron SUV, that much Im sure of. Thats naturally by design since this new concept is pegged as the e-Tron SUVs little brother.

Speaking of familial love, Im actually more curious about Audis strategy for this new crossover/SUV concept.

Simple sensibilities dictate that this model will sit below the e-Tron SUV as Audi continues to build its EV lineup, but its also carrying the Q4 name.

Is that a hint that hybrid or ICE versions (internal combustion engine) are also in the works? If were going to speculate on the concepts name, it is reasonable to suggest as much.

Thats a question that only Audi can answer at this point. Fortunately, it should have a lot of opportunities to do just that when it unveils the Q4 e-Tron Concept at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show this March.

Further reading

Read our speculative review on the 2020 Audi Q4.

Read our full review on the 2014 Audi TT Offroad Concept.KANSAS CITY RETURNS TO LEVELS OF HISTORIC VIOLENCE!!! WE'RE BACK ON PACE FOR A DEADLY 2019!!!

BEST LINK & WARNING: KANSAS CITY STUDENT GANG WAR UNDERWAY!!!

Anti-violence activists angered by teen's slaying say KC schools have gang problem Anti-violence activists, angered by the slaying of a 15-year-old girl outside the Central Academy of Excellence Tuesday night, say the killing may have been connected to an ongoing dispute between rival groups."This is no more than retaliation. We know it in the streets and we see it every day.

Sister Shares Tragedy

KCMO Homicide Testimony

Religious leaders, gun-violence survivors call for end to cycle of violence Relatives of homicide victims joined pastors and social workers Wednesday to talk about young people and violence.They said there needs to be a better way to reach young people, adding that they want to focus on education and outreach for vulnerable youth and adults.Many at Wednesday's news conference have had homicide affect their own lives.

Authorities suspect a rare statistical anomaly in the latest Kansas City homicide - Girl on girl gun violence.For the most part, females don't shoot each other. Morever, African-American women are more likely to fall victim to violence and abuse of every sort inflicted by men. And not just R. Kelly.However, the latest local killing puts homicide and crime back on the forefront of the local agenda. Accordingly . . .KCMO has now recorded at least. This number competes with the 2017 year-to-date total which was the most violent year recorded since 1993 when a gang epidemic inspired violence across the nation and resulted in the most murders in KCMO history.Sadly, the topic of solutions to address violence isn't the focus of upcoming elections. Candidates are more interested in spreading around taxpayer subsidies to both the urban core small biz and corporations in order to try and create a false "equality of outcome" that's at the root of every misguided socialist manifesto.Accordingly, here's a quick roundup of local violence that seems to be getting worse this year already . . .Developing . . .It's no secret that Nvidia isn't selling as many RTX graphics cards as it hoped. The company revised its revenue guidance in January in response to weaker-than-expected sales that were at least partly blamed on how much Turing architecture GPUs cost. Enter rumor, after rumor, after rumor about Nvidia planning a 1660 Ti product that would allow Turing to reach bargain hunters. Today's rumor arrives courtesy of VideoCardz, which shared images of what it said were an MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Ventus XS and the TU116 GPU around which it was built. We haven't confirmed the veracity of these images, but at this point, it's harder to imagine a future in which Nvidia doesn't release a (relatively) low-price Turing GPU than one where it does.

VideoCardz said there are two versions of the Ventus coming, the XS and the not-XS, with the former sharing a PCB with MSI's GTX 1660 Ti Gaming X. The publication didn't share other details about these particular cards, so it's not clear when the MSI cards are expected to debut or at what price.

Image 1 of 3 Image 2 of 3 Image 3 of 3

Album credit: VideoCardz

Yet, VideoCardz did offer some alleged information about the GTX 1660 Ti itself, as well as some images of what it said is its TU116 GPU (above). The GTX 1660 Ti is reportedly set to debut on February 22 with a non-Ti version arriving "probably next month." That lines up with previous reports indicating that Nvidia planned to reveal the GTX 1660 Ti in mid-February, as does the claim that these cards will feature 1,536 CUDA cores and 6GB of GDDR6 memory. VideoCardz also claimed the 1660 Ti will lack ray tracing support.

Is the GTX 1660 Ti Real?

All of these factors could allow Nvidia to release a mid-price Turing product to appeal to all those people who can't afford the RTX cards that debuted in late 2018. With fewer people upgrading their systems at the moment, especially amid the drought of Intel processors, having a lower-priced offering could help Nvidia persuade hesitant buyers.

Still, the company has yet to officially confirm that it's even making the GTX 1660 Ti. But over the last few months we've gone from "this might exist" to "we might have the specs" to "we're pretty sure we have the specs" to "yeah, it'd really be a surprise if these weren't the specs." At this point, alleged products from EVGA, Palit and MSI have reportedly leaked, as have have plans for a 3GB variant.

Meanwhile, the company's financials already don't look as good as shareholders would like--even before the realization that Nvidia might actually be underplaying its reliance on cryptocurrency miners--and its biggest investor recently sold its entire stake.

Releasing the GTX 1660 Ti could help, though, especially if people start buying more parts for their PCs again. At the very least it would allow Nvidia to compete in the lower-end of the market instead of letting AMD dominate with its RX 400 and 500-series cards. Combine that with all the leaks, and it's not hard to imagine there's something to these rumors.Google has big plans for 2019.

The company plans to unveil a number of upgrades to its most popular hardware, according to a report from Nikkei Asian Review citing "industry sources."

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Per Nikkei, we can expect a cheaper version of the Pixel 3 later this year, to compete with Apple's $749 iPhone XR. Previous reports have indicated that this product, known as the Pixel 3 Lite, will ship with 10GB of RAM, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 1-nanometer 670 chipset and 32GB of storage.

This would make it significantly less powerful than its premium Pixel 3 counterparts, but could indicate a drastically lower price as well. It's rumored that we'll see this device later this Spring.



Smartphones aren't the only Google hardware on the horizon. The tech giant also plans to release a new smart security camera, according to Nikkei, citing "one person with direct knowledge of the matter." This isn't a surprise: Alphabet (Google's parent company) has owned smart-camera giant Nest since 2015, but folded the company into Google last February.



MORE: Pixel 4 Rumors: What to Expect From Google's Next Phone



Look out, as well, for an updated version of the Google Home smart speaker. This is an upgrade that's long overdue. While Google's smart-home rival Amazon has been steadily rolling out second and third upgrades to almost its entire Echo lineup over the past few years, the original Google Home has remained the only model to its name since its release in late 2016.



Finally, the report claims we're finally going to see a Google-branded smartwatch, which could be the Pixel Watch. However, rumors about this device have been untrustworthy in the past. Many reports indicated that Google planned to release such a watch last year, but the company confirmed in August that it wasn't coming.



When it comes to smartphones and smart watches, Google has made great strides in the past few years, but hasn't come close to dethroning Apple. This year, however, it appears to be zeroing in on hardware like never before.You have reached a premium content area of TOL. To read this entire article please login if you are already a TOL subscriber.



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[February 14, 2019] Discover Financial Services to Present at KBW Cards, Payments & Financial Technology Symposium

Roger Hochschild, chief executive officer and president of Discover, will present at the KBW Cards, Payments & Financial Technology Symposium in New York on Thursday, February 28, 2019, at 9:30 a.m. EST. A link to the listen-only live audio webcast will be posted on the day of the conference to Discover's corporate website at http://investorrelations.discover.com/. A replay will be available for 90 days after the conference at the same website address. About Discover



Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) is a direct banking and payment services company with one of the most recognized brands in U.S. financial services. Since its inception in 1986, the company has become one of the largest card issuers in the United States. The company issues the Discover card, America's cash rewards pioneer, and offers private student loans, personal loans, home equity loans, checking and savings accounts and certificates of deposit through its direct banking business. It operates the Discover Global Network comprised of Discover Network, with millions of merchant and cash access locations; PULSE, one of the nation's leading ATM/debit networks; and Diners Club International, a global payments network with acceptance in 190 countries and territories. For more information, visit www.discover.com/company.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005940/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Rasmussen College Launches Professional Nursing Associate's Degree Program to Orlando to Meet Community Needs

Rasmussen College, a regionally accredited private college, today announced the expansion of its Professional Nursing Associate's degree (ADN) program to its new Orlando campus.1 The Rasmussen College ADN program, which can be completed in as few as 18 months, prepares students to sit for the NCLEX-RN national certification exam to earn the licensure needed to become a registered nurse (RN).2 As an off-campus instructional site to the Ocala campus, the Rasmussen College Orlando campus's ADN program is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) and is now available with classes beginning in April.3 This program is also offered with the ADN Mobility Bridge Entrance Option, which is designed for students who are already licensed practical nurses (LPNs) committed to the nursing profession and eager to launch their careers as quickly as possible. The ADN Mobility Bridge Entrance Option allows students to advance their education in as few as 12-18 months.2 "We are thrilled to expand our Professional Nursing Associate's degree program to Orlando - an area that continues to see the need for highly qualified nurses to fill workforce shortages," said Karen Guty, area dean of the nursing associate's degree program at Rasmussen College. "As the number-one educator of Professional Nursing Associate's degree students in the country in 2016 and 2017, our ADN program is designed to give students the skills, knowledge and attitude to confidently care for divese clientele and confidently sit for the NCLEX-RN exam. We are proud not only to expand our School of Nursing into Orlando to positively impact the health care needs of the community, but also to provide a strong curriculum that will train our students for success in increasingly complex and demanding healthcare environments."



The ADN program, which is taught by experienced nurse educators, is available with Flex Choice, allowing students to combine traditional online coursework and self-directed assessments to receive credit for what they already know. High Demand for RNs

The time is right for Rasmussen College to expand its School of Nursing into the Orlando market as there is an extraordinary need for healthcare and nursing professionals across the United States, and specifically in Florida. The American Nurses Association estimates the United States will need to produce more than 1 million new registered nurses by 2022 to fulfill the country's healthcare needs. According to the Burning Glass Program Insight tool, demand for registered nurses in Florida is expected to grow by more than 25 percent over the next nine years (2018-2027). "With an increased emphasis nationwide on preventive care, the growing rates of chronic conditions, and demand for healthcare services from the baby-boomer generation, everyone is feeling the need for hiring highly competent nurses," said Dr. Joan Rich, vice president of nursing at Rasmussen College. "Our ADN program is taught by experienced faculty who bring practical day-to-day applications into all of their Nursing courses. With immersive clinical opportunities in a variety of settings, Rasmussen College students are fully prepared for the scenarios they'll encounter in the workforce." New Nursing Simulation Labs The Orlando instructional site includes two new nursing simulation labs to provide an enhanced and safe learning experience for its ADN students and prepare them to enter today's growing healthcare field. The technology rich simulation labs will serve as both classrooms and simulation spaces for students and faculty. School of Nursing faculty and students will have access to the following: Six hospital bed stations where students perform learned tasks in a realistic patient care experience. Each station is stocked with additional equipment to provide an authentic experience.

Simulation equipment includes six new high-tech mannequins such as a Simulation Mom that faculty can control from an observation room. The mannequins provide the student nurses the opportunity to experience and practice patient care scenarios in the safety of a laboratory setting.

Ample classroom space for briefing and debriefing to support deeper learning with the simulation experience. Students interested in learning more are encouraged to attend a nursing information session at the Orlando campus. Contact the campus for details or visit: rasmussen.edu/nursing-session-form/. 1 Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. hlcommission.org | 800-621-7440 2 Completion time is dependent on transfer credits accepted and courses completed each term. 3 The Rasmussen College Professional Nursing Associate's degree program in New Port Richey/West Pasco and Ocala (with an off-campus instructional site in Orlando), Florida; Kansas City/Overland Park (with an off-campus instructional site in Topeka), Kansas; Bloomington, Mankato, Moorhead and St. Cloud, Minnesota; and Green Bay and Wausau, Wisconsin, is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN). ABOUT RASMUSSEN COLLEGE:

Rasmussen College is a regionally accredited private college that is dedicated to changing lives and the communities it serves through high-demand and flexible educational programs. Since 1900, the College has been committed to academic innovation and providing the highest standard of education while empowering students to pursue a college degree. Rasmussen College offers Certificate and Diploma programs through Associate's, Bachelor's and Master's degree programs online and across its 23 Midwest and Florida campuses. A pioneer in online education, the College is helping lead advancements in innovations such as competency-based education and comprehensive student support services that help working adults advance their careers. The College is also committed to providing a positive impact on society through public service and a variety of community-based initiatives. For more information about Rasmussen College, please visit rasmussen.edu. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005931/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] National Geographic Premieres In Their Own Words Featuring Ripped-from-the-Headlines Events

On February 17, from 8-11 PM ET, National Geographic premieres its three-part series In Their Own Words from Emmy and Peabody- Award winner Tom Jennings ("Diana: In Her Own Words," "Challenger Disaster: Lost Tapes"). The series recounts the inside stories of three true headline-making stories that sent shockwaves across the world: the DEA Agents who brought down Pablo Escobar's Narco empire; Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme and the Deepwater Horizon oil-rig disaster. A groundbreaking documentary series with a unique format, In Their Own Words recounts incredible headline-making stories that are told moment by moment and in first person without using any narrators nor talking heads. Combining never-before-broadcast audio and video recordings with meticulously researched archival images and cinematic recreations, the series allows viewers to experience these incredible events as intimately as the people involved lived them. "There's no better way to tell a story than to hear it from the people who lived it, and with In Their Own Words, we hear directly from those involved, getting a detailed, moment-by-moment account of what actually happened," says executive producer Tom Jennings. "In Narco Wars, DEA Agents Steve Murphy and Javier Pena candidly speak about how they brought down the world's most notorious drug kingpin. The surviving crew members of the tragic Deepwater Horizon oil-rig disaster vividly recount what is was like to be at the center of a fiery hell on Earth, and the infamous Wall Street pariah Bernie Madoff openly discusses how he pulled off the financial crime of the century." Each hour of the three-night event features a captivating true story that's told with a completely fresh perspective: Narco Wars: In Their Own Words

February 17, 8/7c

Narco Wars: In Their Own Words presents the inside story of how DEA agents and the Colombian National Police brought down the most vicious drug cartel in the world. This program combines never-before-broadcast recordings with rare archival footage, photos and interpretive re-enactments to tell the story of how Pablo Escobar's massive billion-dollar drug empire was taken out. Bernie Madoff: In His Own Words

February 17, 9/8c

Ten years after Bernie Madoff's arrest, Bernie Madoff: In His Own Words presents the story of the largest financial fraud in history as told by those who were there: victims, employees, family members, FBI agents and Madoff himself. This program pairs excusive audio recordings, rare photographs and a never-before-broadcast of Bernie Madoff's deposition interview in prison to tell the story of Madoff's massive $65 billion Ponzi scheme.



Deepwater Horizon: In Their Own Words

February 17, 10/9c

Deepwater Horizon: In Their Own Words presents the harrowing story of how a crew of workers escaped a massive oil-rig explosion and inferno in the Gulf of Mexico. This program combines never-before-broadcast recordings with rare archival footage and photos to tell a gripping moment- by-moment story of survival against the odds. In Their Own Words is produced by 1895 Films for National Geographic. For 1895 Films, Tom Jennings is executive producer and director. For National Geographic, Bernadette McDaid is executive producer and commissioning editor.

About National Geographic Partners LLC National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 129 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers  and reaching millions of people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005926/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] "X-Care EV Protection" - First 3rd Party Service Agreement for Tesla

FRISCO, Texas, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Xcelerate Auto, LLC, in partnership with Endurance Dealer Services and AmTrust Financial Services, announces "X-Care EV Protection", the first 3rd party vehicle service agreement that covers battery electric vehicles with a focus on Tesla Model S, Model X and Model 3. X-Care is the only 3rd party vehicle service contract designed to fit Tesla's existing, innovative, and nationwide automated service process. Similar to the manufacturer's warranty, X-Care covers parts and labor with the exception of the high voltage battery and drivetrain in attempt to mirror the factory bumper-to-bumper warranty. Eligibility extends from current model year to ten years old with up to 125,000 miles at the time of contract purchase. Purchasers of X-Care will only pay the $100 deductible for a covered repair. The coverage also includes emergency 24/7 roadside assistance along with trip interruption if anything were to occur when you are far away from home. Keith Gimbel, the founder and Managing Partner of Xcelerate, specializes in 3rd party commercial leasing for Tesla vehicles along with other battery electric vehicles and has been in the Auto Leasing industry for the last 20 years. "While working closely with Tesla vehicles for the past several years by providing vehicle finance, commercial lease options to Tesla buyers, and seeing the collective service repair data for our consumer and commercial clients, we saw the acute need for a specialty vehicle service contract designed from the ground up for the unique attributes of electric vehicles. Endurance Dealer Services worked with us and their insurer to completely reimagine the vehicle service contracts for EVs and to meet the unique and automated process that Tesla is headed towards." Dealers that sign on with X-Care are able to bundle in these extended service contracts with the sale of their pre-owned inventory. Current owners or customers who just took delivery and looking for extended coverage, can purchase directly on Xcelerate Auto's webste. "Knowing the buyer and vehicle technology, we wanted to approach this offering with that same type of tech mindset. With that in mind, we developed an online experience where you can enter in your vehicle information and our instant quote tool will tell you the coverage options and pricing. You can then simply proceed with your information and purchase with a credit card," states Milad Davoodi, Xcelerate's VP of Sales and Sales Ops who is an ex-Tesla employee that was with the company for nearly 7 years and helped launch their Global Trade-in and Used Vehicle operation.



The Tesla claims process was specifically designed to work around the manufacturers direct service model. As Tesla is focusing on automating the scheduling and service process, Xcelerate and Endurance knew that they had to work around their existing and future model. Endurance, being one of the nations largest providers of vehicle service contracts, will administer all claims calls directly from the customer to ensure that the customer experience is maintained at the highest level, as well as starting the claim. Xcelerate sees X-Care as being a significant value add option as it represents a major step of maturity in the electric vehicle space and the advancement of consumer confidence in the pre-owned EV industry.

About Xcelerate Auto  Xcelerate Auto is a Texas based company founded in 2014 that offers a completely transparent vehicle sales and leasing experience to consumers and businesses nationwide. Our clients receive unlimited access to all industry analytics as well as the true costs of our vehicles and services all while receiving a no pressure, technology driven, no nonsense approach to their purchase or lease. Our sales staff brings over 20 years of experience in the auto industry and knows the market inside and out. For more information about Xcelerate Auto visit: https://www.xcelerateauto.com. About Endurance - Founded in 2006, Endurance is the nation's premier provider of extended vehicle protection. Endurance Dealer Services is the administrator and obligor of Endurance vehicle protection plans and programs, enabling us to customize our products to meet the ever-changing needs for dealers and their customers. Endurance is one of the largest providers of vehicle service contracts in the nation and backed by AmTrust, an A.M. Best "A-" rated insurance company. To-date, we've paid more than 100 million dollars in claims and continue to be the industry's fastest growing top-rated vehicle service contract provider. Agents and dealers nationwide make the move to Endurance Dealer Services every day to provide their customers with top quality products backed by the best customer service in the industry, and consumers have come to trust the Endurance name will provide them with the best protection for the road ahead. For more information about Endurance Dealer Services visit: https://www.enduranceds.com. CONTACT: Milad Davoodi, milad@xcelerateauto.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/x-care-ev-protection---first-3rd-party-service-agreement-for-tesla-300796275.html SOURCE Xcelerate Auto, LLC

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Equinor Submits Bid to New York to Provide Renewable Energy from Empire Wind Project

Equinor Wind US today submitted a bid to provide New York state with a significant, long-term source of renewable energy from its Empire Wind lease site located offshore New York and New Jersey. Equinor's bid comes in response to the 800MW New York State Offshore Wind Power Procurement, the state's first formal solicitation targeted to the newly developing U.S. offshore wind industry. The state is expected to announce chosen supplier(s) later this spring. The company secured the 80,000-acre lease in a federal auction in December 2016. The site is located between 14 and 35 miles south of Long Island in the New York Bight, with a potential capacity of up to 2GW of renewable power. "Submitting this offer to provide New York with a steady supply of offshore wind is both a major step forward in the development process of the Empire Wind project and an important milestone for New York's transition to renewable energy. Our project can make a major contribution toward fulfilling New York's robust renewable energy goals, and the emissions reductions and economic impacts of our bid provide a clear benefit to New Yorkers. We look forward to working with the state as we turn that potential into a tangible asset that the people of New York can rely on for energy well into the future," says Christer af Geijerstam, President of Equinor Wind US. New York poised to harness offshore wind potential New York is a leader in the U.S. in its commitment to renewable energy, and to using offshore wind t help achieve its ambitious renewable energy goals. The state has excellent offshore wind conditions that make it well-suited to the development of this promising new source of energy. Because offshore wind is a relatively new technology and a new industry in the U.S., New York will benefit from the infrastructure that will be developed to support offshore wind in the state and region. The state's strong maritime workforce and port infrastructure assets will also play an important role in the growth of the industry. Over the life of the project, Empire Wind will generate savings of around 1 billion dollars in reduced wholesale energy costs in New York.



Equinor has already undertaken considerable work to bring offshore wind to the New York area, gathering detailed information about the seabed conditions, grid connection options and wind resources throughout the site for nearly two years. The company recently deployed a specialized buoy known as a Floating LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) to measure wind speed, wind direction, wave conditions and other factors that inform the resource potential and eventual development of the wind farm. Equinor's growing offshore wind portfolio

The Empire Wind project marked the first stage of Equinor's commitment to take a leading role in renewable energy development in the US. The company is developing a separate project in the lease area called Boardwalk Wind geared to New Jersey, and submitted a bid in response to that state's offshore wind solicitation in December 2018. That same month, Equinor acquired a second lease area in the US east coast wind market, a 128,000 acre site offshore Massachusetts. In total, Equinor's US offshore wind portfolio now has the potential to power more than two million homes with renewable power. "We firmly believe in the long-term potential for offshore wind as a major local source of renewable, reliable and cost-effective energy in the region. The US northeast is a key component of our growing commitment to develop offshore wind resources around the globe," said Pal Eitrheim, Equinor's Executive Vice President for New Energy Solutions. Building a material position in renewables Equinor is building a material position in renewable energy, particularly in offshore wind. Equinor now powers more than 1 million European homes with renewable wind power from five projects in the United Kingdom and Germany. Equinor commissioned the world's first floating offshore wind farm in 2017, off the coast of Scotland. Equinor is also developing offshore wind in Poland, as well as solar energy in Brazil and Argentina. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005872/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Davenport University Names New Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs

Davenport University announced today that it has named Dr. Gilda Gely as its new provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. Gely will begin the new role in July bringing nearly 30 years of leadership experience in higher education to Davenport University. She most recently served as the provost and vice president for academic and student affairs for Cambridge College in Massachusetts. "Dr. Gely is a proven leader in higher education," said Dr. Richard J. Pappas, president of Davenport University. "She will be instrumental in helping Davenport University further its mission of transforming the lives of our students by preparing them for the world's fastest growing careers." Gely's accomplishments include leading efforts for strategic planning, design and development of proposed and new academic degrees, and other academic initiatives. She also has a proven track record of advancing partnerships with other educational institutions including community colleges and public school systems. Gely is replacing Dr. Linda Rinker, who is retiring in July after serving as the provost and executive vice president of academic affairs for Daenport University for the last eight years.



Prior to joining Cambridge College, Gely served as executive vice president and provost at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan and as provost and executive vice president at Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC). Additionally, Gely served as interim dean of academic affairs at the University of Puerto Rico, Humacao and has held positions as the vice chancellor and director of the languages department at the Universidad del Este, Carolina in Puerto Rico. Gely has held numerous leadership roles within the community including sitting on the board of the Grand Rapids Public Museum, Board of Art and Museum Commissioners for the City of Grand Rapids and the World Affairs Council. Her many accolades include being awarded the Distinguished Woman in Higher Education Leadership Award by the Michigan ACE Network in 2011.

Gely earned a doctorate in Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a master's in Spanish from Middlebury College and a bachelor's in broadcasting and Spanish from Kansas State University. About Davenport University: Founded in 1866, Davenport is a private, non-profit university serving about 7,500 students at campuses across Michigan and online. With tuition among the lowest of all private universities in the state, Davenport provides high academic quality, small class sizes, conveniently located campuses, faculty with real-world experience and more than 60 dynamic undergraduate and graduate programs addressing in-demand careers in business, technology, health professions and urban education. More information is available at www.davenport.edu. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005710/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Insight Schools of California Now Accepting Enrollment for 2019-20 School Year

High school students looking for an alternative to brick-and-mortar school are invited to enroll in Insight Schools of California (ISCA). The full-time online public charter schools are now accepting enrollment applications for the 2019-20 school year. ISCA serves students in grades 9-12 who reside in many counties in California, including Alameda, Amador, Calaveras, Contra Costa, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Orange (News - Alert) , Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, Tulare and Ventura. "At Insight Schools of California, we are committed to helping students turn struggle into success," said ISCA head of school Kimberly Odom. "We offer academic, social, and emotional programs and resources that meet students at their point of need and give them the support they deserve." Experienced state-certified teachers and professional school counselors at ISCA assess where students need the most academic support. Then, they work closely with them and their families to create personalized learning plans that reflect each student's unique academic neds, interests, and future goals.



In addition to the academic focus, ISCA also offers a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) program, which helps students build their self-confidence and hone their interpersonal skills. During the school year, students meet twice a week in online advisory sessions to discuss the barriers that inhibit their success. The goal is to create a sense of belonging and equip students with the skills they need to make responsible choices. Students can also take advantage of ISCA's quarter-system model. The program enables students to concentrate on just three courses each quarter (typically a nine-week period) and often helps students get back on track to graduate from high school on time.

For more information and to see a complete list of in-person and online information sessions, please visit http://ca.insightschools.net. About Insight Schools of California Insight Schools of California (ISCA) are full-time online public charter schools for students in grades 9-12 who are behind in their education or need additional support to graduate from high school. The schools are available for students in Alameda, Amador, Calaveras, Contra Costa, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, Tulare and Ventura counties. ISCA uses the curriculum provided by K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's leading provider of K-12 proprietary curriculum and online education programs. Families do not pay tuition for a student to attend an online public school. Common household items and office supplies like printer ink and paper are not provided. Our enrollment consultants can help address your technological and computer questions and needs. Learn more at http://ca.insightschools.net. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005065/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Payment Alliance Assists Law Enforcement to Stop ATM Fraud

Payment Alliance International (PAI), the nation's largest, privately-held ATM provider, is collaborating with the United States Secret Service and local law enforcement agencies to thwart man-in-the-middle attacks at ATMs. Using proprietary real-time reporting software, PAI is able to alert officials of potential attacks while they occur, enabling criminals to be apprehended on the spot. PAI recently identified a Central Florida attack in progress, aiding law enforcement officials in apprehending the suspects while they were fleeing with an undisclosed amount of cash and the device used to carry out the crime. Three individuals were arrested for emptying an ATM entirely of its vault cash. They are allegedly responsible for similar fraud activity at numerous ATMs across Florida. In recent months, ATMs across the country have come under siege. With man-in-the-middle attacks, criminals place a foreign device between an ATM and its wireless communication box, altering vital settings so cash is dispensed incorrectly. It is unknown how many attacks have occurred nationwide or the amount of vault cash stolen, but certainly tens of thousands of dollars have been lost. "Nobody in the ATM industry has the capabilities we hae developed to stop ATM fraud like man-in-the-middle attacks and I couldn't be prouder of our team," said PAI CEO Neil Clark. "Our customers can sleep well at night knowing we have sophisticated tools to help identify, track and stop fraud," added Clark.



Customers with PAI wireless communications can remotely update settings with the company's proprietary eRMS program to prevent this type of fraud. Operators of ATMs that are internet capable and using wireless devices for transaction communication can take these steps to mitigate man-in-the-middle attack risk:

Program ATMs with TLS 1.2 and enable certificates to ensure the proper encryption standards are being utilized to communicate directly with processors

Ensure software versions are up-to-date with all new security features enabled

Inspect ATMs for tampering and confirm wireless units are secure with no foreign devices present

Get access to technology that detects fraudulent activity as it's happening Interested parties may telephone PAI at (877) 271-2627 extension 4526 to learn more. About Payment Alliance International (PAI) Payment Alliance International (PAI) is the nation's largest, privately-held ATM provider and offers processing and maintenance services, equipment sales and support, and unique ATM branding opportunities. PAI also offers industry-leading, revenue-generating, value-added solutions and customized partner programs that increase customer profitability, reduce operational expense and maximize uptime. Payment Alliance International is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, with offices around the country. For more information, please visit GoPAI.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005684/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Avetta and BROWZ Combine to Form One of the World's Leading Providers of Supply Chain Risk Management

Avetta and BROWZ, two leading providers of SaaS (News - Alert) based supply chain risk management software, today announced they have combined to form a new, market leading organization focused on delivering the best in supply chain risk management services to companies worldwide. The transaction further solidifies Avetta's position as a world-class organization, innovator and thought leader, expanding the company's global network to 85,000 customers in over 100 countries in the fast growing $14 billion global marketplace for supply chain risk management solutions. Avetta and BROWZ combine more than three decades of experience in making industries safer, more sustainable and compliant by vetting and qualifying the suppliers that support their global clients. Avetta and BROWZ's 450 combined clients include blue chip companies in industry verticals such as energy, chemicals, manufacturing, utilities, construction materials, facilities management, communications, transportation, logistics & retail, mining, aerospace & defense and food & beverage. These industry leaders require better visibility into supply chain risks, such as workplace health & safety, sustainability, modern slavery, data privacy, anti-bribery & corruption, regulatory and insurance compliance. Together, the companies' market-leading technology platform and products strengthen sustainable connections between clients and suppliers, while streamlining and simplifying the engagement process for both parties. Avetta and BROWZ share a common vision of putting customers first and a belief that the solutions offered to their clients should be configurable to address the specific needs and requirements of their client base across industries and geographies. John Herr, CEO of Avetta, will lead the combined company, which will retain the Avetta name. Mr. Herr stated, "Together, Avetta and BROWZ create a simplified supplier management solution designed to elevate safety and sustainability in workplaces around the world. The streamlining of solutions in this market sector is one of the most common requests we hear from the customers we serve. Our customers will be delighted to learn about the benefits this combined global network will create for them. Our combined expertise of 30+ years in the industry will help both clients and suppliers achieve the highest standards of quality and safety." Of utmost importance, Herr added, is the role Avetta's solutions play in reducing the risk of workplace accidents. "Companies within our network significantly outperform industry averages in safety and sustainability statistics. We are proud of the social and economic impact we have created through the promotion of safe and sustainable workplaces and mitigation of environmental risks. We help our clients make informed sourcing decisions to create safer work environments. That, in turn, helps people get home safely to their families at night." According to Tom Cecich, past president of the American Society of Safety Professionals, "The use of technology-based prequalification tools such as those provided through Avetta and BROWZ is a proven way to mitigate risk, save money and drive safety and sustainability outcomes that are nearly impossible to achieve with an in-house, manual process. The combination of these two great companies makes the decision to use a third-party safety platform simpler and easier." Peter Sturm, past president of the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering and leading industry expert in health, safety and risk consulting, added, "Avetta's supplier qualification platform has long been an industry leader in helping great organizations manage the risk in their supply chains. They have made a positive difference in achieving safer workplaces in Canada. The addition of BROWZ will make them even stronger." Elaine Beitler, CEO of BROWZ, said, "BROWZ joining Avetta will strengthen and enhance capabilities for BROWZ's customers and employees. Our industry was created to provide a simpler process for managing supply chain risk. This combination furthers our ability to provide an easier way for suppliers to share their compliance information, and a simpler, larger network for our customers. e will bring our technical expertise and customer service excellence to lead the industry at Avetta. This is a great combination, and we're very excited about the future."



According to Val Hale, executive director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development for the State of Utah, "It is exciting to have two of the world's most innovative supply chain risk management software companies unite in Utah's Silicon Slopes. Utah's business friendly climate has allowed Avetta to flourish, and in return its success has elevated the state's technology industry. Headquartered here in Utah, this innovative company continues to save lives and prevent workplace accidents." The combination was financed through investments by Avetta's three major shareholders: Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS), who remains the majority owner; Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV); and, Norwest Venture Partners (NVP). BROWZ's existing shareholders, Melkonian Capital and Long Ridge Equity Partners, are rolling over a portion of their investment into the combined company.

Christopher Hooper, General Partner at WCAS, said, "We believe this strategic combination of Avetta and BROWZ allows both organizations to better serve their global blue-chip clients and the expansive network of over 85,000 suppliers and contractors. We and our fellow institutional investors are all highly supportive of the Company's ambitions to bring technology and software to bear to improve safety, sustainability and compliance outcomes across industries and geographies." Financial terms were not disclosed. Advisors Evercore acted as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to Avetta. FT Partners served as the exclusive financial and strategic advisor to BROWZ. Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP served as legal advisor to BROWZ. About Avetta Avetta helps the world's leading organizations effectively manage supply chain compliance through prequalification, document management, auditing, employee-level qualification & training, insurance verification and business intelligence. Using configurable, cloud-based technology and expert insights, Avetta simplifies supply chain compliance by cost effectively improving processes and mitigating risk for our customers. Avetta is trusted by many of the largest blue-chip companies across the globe, such as Verizon (News - Alert) , CEMEX, BP, BASF and Huntsman. With coverage in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific, as well as the industry's highest customer satisfaction, Avetta is a leader in the $14 billion global supply chain risk management solutions marketplace. Visit www.avetta.com for more information. About BROWZ BROWZ ensures that supply chains are safe, qualified, and socially responsible by delivering a comprehensive solution to prequalify, assess, and monitor supply chain compliance based on the unique needs of each client's business. BROWZ provides comprehensive assessments using patented, configurable technology and expertise, resulting in the site operator's confidence of a safer work environment for clients and supply chains around the world. The BROWZ solution addresses global supply chain needs related to qualifying contractors and suppliers for leading clients in industries such as mining, transportation, construction, chemicals, aerospace, pharmaceuticals and many others. About Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe WCAS is a leading U.S. private equity firm focused on two target industries: technology and healthcare. Since its founding in 1979, the Firm's strategy has been to partner with outstanding management teams and build value for its investors through a combination of operational improvements, internal growth initiatives and strategic acquisitions. WCAS has raised and managed funds totaling over $26 billion of committed capital. For more information, please visit www.wcas.com. About TCV Founded in 1995, TCV provides capital to growth-stage private and public companies in the technology industry. Since inception, TCV has invested over $10 billion in leading technology companies and has helped guide CEOs through more than 115 IPOs and strategic acquisitions. TCV's investments include Airbnb, Altiris, AxiomSL, Dollar Shave Club, EmbanetCompass, EtQ, ExactTarget, Expedia, Facebook, Fandango, GoDaddy, HomeAway, LinkedIn (News - Alert) , Netflix, OSIsoft, Rent the Runway, Sitecore, Splunk, Spotify, Varsity Tutors, and Zillow. TCV is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, with offices in New York and London. For more information about TCV, including a complete list of TCV investments, visit www.tcv.com. About Norwest Venture Partners Norwest is a premier multi-stage investment firm managing more than $7.5 billion in capital. Since its inception, Norwest has invested in more than 600 companies and partnered with over 140 active companies across its venture and growth equity portfolio. The firm invests in early to late stage companies across a wide range of sectors with a focus on consumer, enterprise, and healthcare. Norwest offers a deep network of connections, operating experience, and a wide range of impactful services to help CEOs and founders scale their businesses. Norwest has offices in Palo Alto (News - Alert) and San Francisco, with subsidiaries in India and Israel. For more information, please visit www.nvp.com. About Melkonian Capital Founded in 2001, MCM focuses on investment opportunities in private equity, real estate, and public markets. Through employing a bottom-up, research-driven investment approach, MCM targets well vetted investment ideas to assemble a concentrated portfolio of high-conviction holdings. For more information, please visit www.melkoniancapital.com. About Long Ridge Equity Partners Founded in 2007, Long Ridge is a private investment firm focused on the financial services and business services sectors. Leveraging deep sector knowledge and an extensive network of industry resources, Long Ridge serves as a value-added partner to high-growth businesses. Long Ridge's principals have sponsored some of the most successful growth companies in the financial and business services sectors, providing strategic resources and capital to drive profitable expansion. Long Ridge manages over $400 million of committed capital. For more information, please visit www.long-ridge.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005624/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP Announces Investigation on Behalf of Molson Coors Brewing Company Investors

Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP ("GPM") announces an investigation on behalf of Molson Coors Brewing Company investors ("Molson Coors" or the "Company") (NYSE: TAP) 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 February 12, 2019, Molson Coors announced that it would restate its financial statements for fiscal years 2016 and 2017 after the audit committee found errors in Molson Coors' financial reporting. On this news, Molson Coors' share price fell $6.17, or more than 9.4%, to close at $59.19 per share on February 12, 2019, thereby injuring investors.

If you purchased Molson Coors 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/20190214005187/en/[February 14, 2019] Transcontinental Inc. - Annual General Meeting of Shareholders and Release of First Quarter 2019 Results and Conference Call

MONTREAL, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On Thursday, February 28, 2019, Transcontinental Inc. (TSX: TCL.A TCL.B) will hold its Annual General Meeting of shareholders at 2:00 p.m. at the Saint James's Club, 1145 Union Avenue, in Montreal. For those who are unable to attend in person, a webcast of the meeting (audio only) will be accessible as of March 1 in the Presentations and events page of the Investors section of the Corporations website at www.tc.tc

In addition, Transcontinental Inc. will release its first quarter 2019 results and host a conference call for the financial community at 4:15 p.m. The conference call will be broadcast live (audio only) on the Investors homepage of the Corporations website at www.tc.tc , and will be archived for 30 days. The financial results will be made public in a press release that will be issued on the newswire prior to the conference call as well as in the Managements Discussion and Analysis that will be posted on the Corporations website. Q1 2019 Results Conference Call Date : Thursday, February 28, 2019 Time : 4:15 PM Dial-in numbers : 1-647-788-4922 or 1-877-223-4471 Live audio webcast : www.tc.tc/investors



Conference Recording Playback

Availability dates : February 28 (7:30 PM) to March 8 (11:59 PM) Access telephone numbers : 1-416-621-4642 or 1-800-585-8367 Access code : 8781324 The following is the conference call calendar for the 2019 fiscal year, for your information:



2019 Calendar 2nd quarter : Thursday, June 6 3rd quarter : Thursday, September 5 4th quarter : Thursday, December 12 For further information:

Mathieu Hebert

Corporate Treasurer

TC Transcontinental

Telephone: 514-954-4029

mathieu.hebert@tc.tc

www.tc.tc

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]Zimperium Dominates Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) Space in 2018

Zimperium, the global leader in mobile threat defense (MTD), concluded a record year in 2018 with industry-leading results and triple digit growth, far exceeding industry growth rates. Zimperium's strong performance parallels the accelerating demand for mobile security and MTD solutions; in fact, according to BCC Research, the mobile device security market is poised to reach $37 billion, globally, by 2022.

"It's impossible to not look back at our stellar 2018 results without getting excited about what 2019 will bring," said Shridhar Mittal, chief executive of Zimperium. "Organizations now realize mobile devices are an unprotected endpoint with access to or containing all of the information of a traditional endpoint. And while there are some overlaps in what you protect - email, calendars, etc. - the way you solve the traditional endpoint security problem is completely different than how you solve the mobile security problem."

"The Zimperium platform leverages our award-winning, disruptive and patented machine learning-based engine, z9, to protect mobile data, apps and sessions against device compromises, network attacks, phishing attempts and malicious apps," Mittal continued. "To date, z9 has detected 100 percent of zero-day device exploits without requiring an update or suffering from the delays and limitations of cloud-based detection or legacy security architectures - something no other mobile security provider can claim."

2018 Business Highlights Include:

Corporate Momentum

Record 140 percent increase in year-over-year growth in total billings;

Record 132 percent increase in new customer acquisitions;

Joined the prestigious Microsoft Intelligent Security Association;

Acquired application analytics company mi3 Security;

Hired renowned international executive as chief revenue officer and increased headcount by almost 50 percent;

Disclosed approximately 20 Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) by zLabs, Zimperium's research group, in multiple platforms (iOS, Android, and IoT) -- more than all MTD competitors combined; and

Detected multiple, critical vulnerabilities in Amazon FreeRTOS, controlling everything from thermostats to nuclear submarines.

"In 2018, we launched a new version of zIAP, our industry-leading, machine learning-based mobile security solution developed specifically to embed as an SDK into existing mobile apps," Mittal said. "We are at Internet scale with a brand-new user experience supporting hundreds of millions of devices and functionality targeted at the needs of app developers."

Product Enhancements and Integrations

Developed and launched the NYC Secure app, a free, New York City-provided mobile solution that detects and alerts on threats to residents' mobile devices with the primary focus on user privacy;

Further developed the integrated protection inside the MobileIron Threat Defense agent, providing instant protection for all managed devices without any user interaction;

Provided the underlying mobile security technology for the world's largest device to cloud security company;

Launched comprehensive and rivacy-friendly phishing protection for iOS and Android mobile devices;

Earned "Co-Sell Ready" Status in the Microsoft One Commercial Partner (OCP) Program;

Created an easy-to-use, optional configuration setting that ensures advanced mobile device security is General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)-compliant;

Enhanced threat remediation actions for BlackBerry Dynamics-enabled apps in a mobile application management (MAM) deployment;

Became available for sale in Azure Marketplace (and the only MTD capable of running on Azure Cloud);

Management console deployment became available in Google Cloud (the only MTD capable of running on Google (News - Alert) Cloud);

Launched Zimperium Splunk App, the first MTD dashboard app in the Splunkbase marketplace;

Expanded mobile device management (MDM) support with the integration of IBM MaaS360 (News - Alert) ; and

Expanded Samsung KNOX remediation actions providing administrators granular actions upon threat detection.







Awards and Recognition

"We are primed and ready to tackle the critical security gap challenges today's enterprise organizations and government agencies are facing with employees performing business on or through their own or company/government provided mobile devices," Mittal said.

Zimperium will be attending the RSA (News - Alert) Conference in San Francisco, March 4-8. Join Zimperium at Exhibitor Booth 4410 (Moscone North) for more information on the latest mobile threats and solutions.

About Zimperium

Zimperium, the global leader in mobile device security, offers real-time, on-device protection against Android and iOS threats. The Zimperium platform leverages our award-winning machine learning-based engine, z9, to protect mobile data, apps and sessions against device compromises, network attacks, phishing attempts and malicious apps. To date, z9 has detected 100% of zero-day device exploits without requiring an update or suffering from the delays and limitations of cloud-based detection-something no other mobile security provider can claim. Headquartered in Dallas, TX, Zimperium is backed by Sierra Ventures, Samsung (News - Alert) , Telstra, Warburg Pincus and SoftBank. Learn more at www.zimperium.com or our official blog at https://blog.zimperium.com.

Zimperium, the Zimperium name and logo, Powered by Zimperium, zIPS, zIAP and z9 are registered trademarks or trademarks of Zimperium, Inc. in the US and other countries.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005186/en/[February 14, 2019] Zixi Partners With Digistor in ANZ Region

WALTHAM, Mass., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Zixi, the industry leader for enabling dependable, live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced a reseller agreement with Digistor for the ANZ region. This will allow Digistor customers to quickly adopt the Zixi transport, management and analytical offerings that are being used by the world's biggest players in OTT, broadcast and cloud video delivery. Digistor, the respected provider of technology solutions to the VFX, post-production, broadcasting and digital media industries, provides product, design, installation and technical support to companies including the ABC, Disney, Foxtel, Warner Brothers and Endemol Shine across Australia and New Zealand. The Asia Pacific video streaming market offers great growth potential, with a substantial 25% year-on-year increase. The new partnership with Digistor will build on Zixi's expanding presence in the APAC region, where it is already seeing significant customer adoption, and will help to bring its powerful video over IP technology to a broad range of broadcasters, content creators and distributors. "Digistor's long history and reputation as a knowledgeable and trusted technology solutions provider made this partnership an easy decision," said John Wastcoat, SVP Allianced and Marketing, Zixi. "Their market familiarity and technical expertise will bring Zixi offerings to customers and technology partners across the ANZ region, empowering them to deliver video via any IP network reliably and securely." "Zixi's ability to deliver live broadcast quality content over IP gives our customers a very simple and cost-effective way to share their content around the world," said Andrew Mooney, Managing Director, Digistor. "We are very pleased to partner with Zixi and are already seeing the potential that this opens up for our clients." About Zixi

Zixi provides a cloud based and on-premise software platform that enables broadcast-quality video delivery over the IP. The company offers the Zixi Platform for broadcasters, enterprises, over-the-top video providers, and mobile service providers around the world. The Zixi Platform makes it easy and economical for media companies to source, manage, localize, and distribute live events and 24/7 live linear channels in broadcast QoS, securely and at scale, using managed and unmanaged IP networks. Zixi provides enhanced control in large complex networks with ZEN Master, a cloud-based platform that provides visual tools to configure, orchestrate, and monitor live broadcast channels and events across industry protocols. Since 2007, the Zixi Enabled Network (ZEN) has grown to grown to over 30 OEM and service providers and we serve well over 350 customers representing most of the top media brands around the world with thousands of channels delivered daily. zixi.com







For more information, contact:

Dawn Bochenski

Bubble Agency Zixi LLC dawnb@bubbleagency.com info@zixi.com +44 (0)1753 656 548 1-877-494-9426

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/zixi-partners-with-digistor-in-anz-region-300795911.html SOURCE Zixi

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] OneDigital Health and Benefits Acquires Veritas

OneDigital Health and Benefits, the nation's largest company focused exclusively on employee benefits and HR, has acquired Veritas Risk Services (Veritas) located in Downers Grove, Illinois. Managing Principal Doug Truax, Principal Bob Walsh and Regional Vice Presidents Sharon Schlenker, Greg Hopkins and Kathy Smith will continue to work alongside their teams serving the Firm's clients throughout the Midwest region and across the country. Veritas works with clients across a range of industries and sizes, emphasizing exceptional service and utilizing a strategic approach to provide clients with innovation in the employee benefits and retirement space. By joining OneDigital, the firm's clients will gain added resources such as an in-house ERISA attorney, HR consulting expertise, custom benchmarking and human resources information solutions (HRIS). "Veritas and OneDigital are a winning combination. OneDigital shares Veritas' culture of providing exceptional consulting and service to employers," said Managing Principal Doug Truax of OneDigital Chicago. "In addition, they give us a national footprint and the additional employee benefits, group retirement and HR services resources to become the leading benefits firm for the middle market in Chicago." OneDigital's comprehensive advisory services and market-leading solutions are offered in over 80 offices throughout the country. The firm has a well-established track record of doubling and tripling the size of operations in new markets and is seeking additional firms to join this team over the next 12-24 months. "Expandig our team in the Chicago area is an exciting step for OneDigital," said OneDigital's EVP of Sales and Operations Bill Carew. "Not only do Doug and his team at Veritas have a strong reputation for building and advising on employee benefits in the area, but culturally they are the ideal fit for our organization. We are excited for the strategic direction and leadership Doug and his team will provide. This key expansion is a true testament to OneDigital's growth momentum for 2019."



About OneDigital Health and Benefits OneDigital Health and Benefits, the nation's largest company focused exclusively on employee benefits and HR, combines people and technology to power business growth. Serving companies of all sizes, OneDigital offers employers a sophisticated combination of strategic benefit advisory services, analytics, compliance support, human resources management tools and comprehensive insurance offerings. Headquartered in Atlanta, OneDigital's more than 1,500 employee benefits and human resource strategists serve the needs of more than 44,000 employers across the nation and manages over $5.8 billion in premiums as a result. OneDigital has been named to the Inc. 5000 List of America's fastest-growing companies every year since 2007. Currently listed as 13th in EBA's Top 50 Brokers in the Large Employer Group, OneDigital's experience offers a fresh thinking and strategic perspective that will improve all aspects of plan design and performance.

About Veritas Risk Services Veritas Risk Services (Veritas) works with organizations looking to challenge the status quo when it comes to employee benefits and willing to take a strategic, proactive approach and try innovative solutions where appropriate. They are the firm for employers who want to take control of their benefits through strategic planning and innovative solutions. Veritas leverages its expertise and rigor, partnership and service, and passion in order to help organizations determine their optimal benefits offerings and implement and manage it effectively. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005146/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] New Podcast, "The Solar Maverick," Launches With Great Success Blending Industry Insights and Entrepreneurial Advice

JERSEY CITY, N.J., Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- "The Solar Maverick," a new podcast about solar and renewable energy debuted in November 2018 and is heading into 2019 as one of the most popular podcasts in solar, and with a growing international audience. This weekly podcast from Benoy Thanjan, founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, features in-depth interviews with solar and renewable energy executives, providing expert analysis of the industry. Benoy has over 15 years of energy experience, including Project Finance at SolarCity which merged with Tesla, Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche in their Energy Structured Finance practice. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and solar-plus-storage developer. Additionally, Reneu sources financing for solar projects, assists with energy and SREC hedging, and advises companies which are looking to go solar. "I've always wanted to share my love of working in the solar industry with others in an accessible way," said Benoy. "Much of my journey in this field ties in with my yearning to be a business owner, so my podcast interweaves industry commentary and tips on entrepreneurship. The goal is to offer a chance for those outside of the industry to learn more about this thriving field and introduce key players within solar to those already working within the space." Some popular episodes include: Podcast Episode #1: In te first episode of the series, Benoy Thanjan and Li Wang introduce themselves and tell us what we can expect to learn about the Solar Industry and how the world around us is changing for the better. Benoy talks about his background and how he started in the solar industry. He discusses the benefits of solar power and the services his company provides. Benoy talks about his experience as a 9/11 Survivor and how that shaped his life as an entrepreneur. The podcast provides tips on how to run a business, add value to customers, build strong relationships, and learn from failure.

and introduce themselves and tell us what we can expect to learn about the Solar Industry and how the world around us is changing for the better. Benoy talks about his background and how he started in the solar industry. He discusses the benefits of solar power and the services his company provides. Benoy talks about his experience as a 9/11 Survivor and how that shaped his life as an entrepreneur. The podcast provides tips on how to run a business, add value to customers, build strong relationships, and learn from failure. Podcast Episode #3: This podcast features guest interviewee Abinash Tiwari , CIO of BlueFlame Energy Finance, a California startup focused on financing energy projects for commercial building owners. Abinash speaks from 15 years' experience, creating innovative ways to finance solar energy projects and navigate the dynamic nature of working in a relatively new industry. He has worked on projects totaling 250 megawatts of solar energy and invested over a Billion dollars in solar PV, storage and other Distributed Generation projects while he was at Constellation NewEnergy.

, CIO of BlueFlame Energy Finance, a startup focused on financing energy projects for commercial building owners. Abinash speaks from 15 years' experience, creating innovative ways to finance solar energy projects and navigate the dynamic nature of working in a relatively new industry. He has worked on projects totaling 250 megawatts of solar energy and invested over a Billion dollars in solar PV, storage and other Distributed Generation projects while he was at Constellation NewEnergy. Podcast Episode #4: Guest interviewee Alex Rivera , senior vice president of business development for Vanguard Energy Partners, talks about working with commercial and industrial clients on solar array projects, as well as strategies to get companies on board with Solar. He discusses the changes facing the solar incentive program in New Jersey , the growth of solar energy in the state, and looks ahead to the industry's future.



For more about Reneu Energy, visit: http://www.reneuenergy.com

Contact:

Li Wang

Director of Marketing at Reneu Energy

917.225.3693

209324@email4pr.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-podcast-the-solar-maverick-launches-with-great-success-blending-industry-insights-and-entrepreneurial-advice-300794993.html SOURCE Reneu Energy

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] University of Minnesota First in U.S. to Offer New Targeted Therapy for Recurrent Brain Tumors

University of Minnesota Health (M Health) is the first health system in the United States to begin offering GammaTile Therapy, a new approach to treating recurrent brain tumors. GammaTile Therapy is an FDA-cleared, surgically targeted radiation therapy (STaRT) that is designed to delay tumor regrowth for patients with brain tumors. The first patient was treated by University of Minnesota Physician, Clark C. Chen, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School. "At University of Minnesota Health, our mission is to advance new, safe, and effective therapeutic options for the many brain tumor patients who did not respond to the standard-of-care therapies," Chen said. "Moreover, the University of Minnesota Medical School's Department of Neurosurgery has a long-standing history of contribution in radio-biologics. To be the first institution in the U.S. to offer the GammaTile Therapy is particularly satisfying in this context." Aggressive brain tumors tend to be resistant to current treatments and nearly always recur. Outcomes for patients with brain tumors have improved very little over the past 30 years. GammaTile is FDA-cleared for patients with recurrent brain tumors. GammaTile consists of a bioresorbable, conformable 3D-collagen tile embedded with a Cesium radiation source. GammaTile is placed at the time of surgery so that it immediately begins to target residual tumor cells with radiation while limiting the impact on healthy brain tissue. "I am optimistic that GammaTile will impact the clinical outcome for our brain tumor patients, particularly when combined with appropriate medical therapy," explained Chen. GammaTile Therapy offers some advantages over other treatments for patients undergoing surgery for recurrent brain tumors. A course of External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT), for example, requires daily treatments for up to six weeks; in contrast, patients treated with GammaTile Therapy require no additional trips to the hospital or clinic. Additionally, many patients may not be candidates for EBRT at the time of tumor recurrence because the risk of additional EBRT outweighs the potential benefits. Finally, those patients who may be candidates for EBRT typically have to wait four weeks or more for surgical wound healing before beginning treatment, allowing residual, microscopic tumors to grow during this waiting period. Dr. Chen has conducted research tht supports the efficacy of radiation treatment immediately after resection. Published in the Journal of Neuro-Oncology, Chen's study showed that patients with glioblastoma, the most common form of primary brain cancer in adults who received immediate postoperative radiation exhibited improved survival relative to those who did not.



"I am pleased to be able to offer a more targeted radiation therapy to my patients," said Kathryn E. Dusenbery, M.D., head of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Minnesota Medical School. "With GammaTile, we apply radiation therapy exactly where it is needed, without harming surrounding tissue, and patients do not need to come back for ongoing radiation treatments. In addition, this new targeted approach may help reduce the burden of ongoing radiation treatment and help my patients and their caregivers experience a better quality of life." Additional data supporting the efficacy and safety profile of the therapy for patients with recurrent, previously treated meningiomas were published last month in the Journal of Neurosurgery (JNS), the official journal of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. Clinical data from other types of tumors will be presented at the AANS Annual Scientific Meeting in April.

"We are honored to be working with the brain tumor specialists at the University of Minnesota - given the health system's deep expertise and leadership in brain tumor treatment and neurosurgery - to deploy GammaTile Therapy for the purpose of improving the lives of patients with brain tumors," said Matt Likens, president and CEO of GT MedTech. "We are excited to begin expanding the availability of GammaTile Therapy to other leading brain tumor treatment centers across the U.S." About University of Minnesota Health University of Minnesota Health represents a collaboration between University of Minnesota Physicians and University of Minnesota Medical Center. Working together, we provide exceptional care in a wide range of specialties at our hospitals, clinics and in community-based facilities throughout the region. Visit: www.mhealth.org. About GT Medical Technologies, Inc. Driven to overcome the limitations of current treatments for recurrent brain tumors and raise the standard of care, a team of brain tumor specialists joined forces and formed GT Medical Technologies with a purpose to prevent disease progression and improve quality of life for patients with recurrent brain tumors. GammaTile Therapy received FDA 510(k) regulatory clearance for the treatment of all types of recurrent brain tumors in July 2018 and has an established CMS code for Medicare reimbursement. Extensive clinical expertise informed the design of GammaTile Therapy, and deep medical device experience guides the company. The company is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. For more information, visit https://www.gtmedtech.com/. About the University of Minnesota Medical School The University of Minnesota Medical School is at the forefront of learning and discovery, transforming medical care and educating the next generation of physicians. Our graduates and faculty produce high-impact biomedical research and advance the practice of medicine. Visit med.umn.edu to learn how the University of Minnesota is innovating all aspects of medicine. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005486/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Blueberries Medical Corp Enters into Letter of Intent With El Manantial Medical Centers for Rapid Product Commercialization & Patient Acquisition; To Build Two Pharmacies to Support JV

TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blueberries Medical Corp. (CSE: BBM) (the Company or "Blueberries"), a leading Colombia-based licenced producer of medicinal cannabis and cannabis-derived products, has entered into a letter of intent (the Letter Agreement) dated February 13, 2019 for a joint venture (the Joint Venture) with Harmony and Life S.A.S., operating as El Manantial medical centers (El Manantial).

The Joint Venture will further the development and commercialization of Blueberries medicinal cannabis products through El Manantials rapidly growing patient base and collaboration with El Manantials team of physicians, pharmacists and technicians with deep expertise in a variety of medical areas. It will also provide a direct distribution channel to an established and rapidly growing patient by selling exclusively Blueberries cannabis-derived products. The Company has also set out to build two BPE (Good Elaboration Practices) certified pharmacies in support of the initiative which will provide additional sales channels for Blueberries products. Blueberries and El Manantial will also develop a treatment-focused medical education program designed to assist physicians in prescribing cannabis-based treatment plans to patients. "Our joint venture with El Manantial provides an outstanding opportunity for Blueberries to develop medical products and acquire patients in the Colombian market", stated Christian Toro, Chief Executive Officer of the Company. El Manantial is a respected leader in Colombia, and their focus on equitable access to medicine and patient care aligns with our goal of providing treatment to a broad spectrum of patients. The Joint Venture emphasizes communication with prescribing doctors and education of both doctors and patients which is expected to ensure that Blueberries is developing treatments that the medical community needs, and that a streamlined process is developed for the company to reach its patients. El Manantial is among the fastest growing networks of medical centers in Colombia, currently representing over 7,000 patients and expected to grow to over 50,000 patients over the next 36-month period as four new centers are projected to come online. This is an important development in Blueberries strategy to acquire patients and develop treatments with cannabis products, positioning Blueberries as a leader in the Colombian medicinal cannabis product market. This transaction will allow us the opportunity to work with the Blueberries team to develop new cannabis products and treatments, which can in turn be rolled out to our medical center network, offering patients the best possible care, stated Dr. Andres Vidal, founder of El Manantial. We plan for our prescribing physician education program to be an important step in supporting the widespread adoption of cannabis treatments in Colombia and globally. Dr. Vidal, who has control and direction over El Manantial, is also a director of Blueberries. Pharmacy Build-Out

Blueberries will make a strategic investment of up to C$400,000 in the construction of specialized pharmacies that are BPE (Good Elaboration Practices) certified. In addition to the pharmacies owned and operated by El Manantrial, the Company-owned pharmacies will also sell cannabis and cannabis-derived products exclusively from Blueberries. Completion of the build-out of the Companys pharmacies is expected to occur during Q3 2019. Letter Agreement Terms Collaborate on the research, development, and commercialization of Blueberries cannabis derived medicinal products.

Blueberries to be exclusive supplier of cannabis and cannabis-derived products to El Manantial for research and sale through their medical center network and pharmacies.

Blueberries will make a strategic investment of up to C$300,000 for the development of educational programs for the medical community to deliver to patients. The program will include certification for physicians obtained through comprehensive training, and it is expected to come online in Q2 2019.

Blueberries will invest up to C$100,000 for medical center facility upgrades to expand capacity in order to accommodate the rapidly growing patient base.



About El Manantial

Founded in 2013 by Dr. Andres Vidal, El Manantial offers its patients the best of conventional medicine, and the best of alternative and complementary medicine, guaranteeing the best possible patient care. A diverse team of physicians and technicians of various specialties of conventional medicine, family medicine, nutrition, aesthetic medicine, homeopathic medicine, and natural medicine, bacteriologists, paramedics, pharmacists make El Manantial a leading center of medical expertise in Colombia. As one of the fastest growing medical center network in Colombia, the goal of El Manantial is to generate equitable access for all Colombians to medical treatment. The centers are actively engaged in the research and development of new and cutting-edge treatments to meet the needs of patients. For further information about El Manantial, please visit https://centromedicoelmanantial.co/.

About Blueberries Medical Corp.

Blueberries is a Colombia-based licensed producer of naturally grown premium quality cannabis with its primary operations ideally located in the Bogota savannah of central Colombia. Led by a specialized team with proprietary expertise in agriculture, genetics, extraction, medicine, pharmacology and marketing, Blueberries has received all licenses required for the cultivation, production, domestic distribution, and international export of CBD (cannabidiol) and THC (tetrahydrocannabinol)-based medical cannabis. Blueberries combination of leading scientific expertise, agricultural advantages, and distribution arrangements has positioned the Company to become a leading international supplier of naturally grown, processed, and standardized medicinal-grade cannabis oil extracts and related products. Additional information about the Company is available at blueberriesmed.com. For more information, please contact: Camilo Villalba, Chief Operating Officer

Tel: +57.313.483.0131

Email: cvillalba@blueberriesmed.com Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as expects, or does not expect, is expected, anticipates or does not anticipate, plans, budget, scheduled, forecasts, estimates, believes or intends or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results may or could, would, might or will be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward looking statements relate, among other things, to: completion of satisfactory due diligence by each of the Company and El Manantial, the entering into a definitive agreement with respect to the proposed Joint Venture, internal expectations, expectations regarding the research, development and commercialization of the Companys products, the ability to attract and retain new customers, the ability to access and successfully utilize El Manantial distribution channels, and future expansion plans including incurring of any optional expenditures related to the proposed Joint Venture. These forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time such statements were made. Actual future results may differ materially as forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to materially differ from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors, among other things, include: fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets; expectations regarding the size of the Colombian and international medical cannabis market and changing consumer habits; the ability of the Company to successfully achieve its business objectives; plans for expansion; political and social uncertainties; inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; and the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on cultivation, production, distribution and sale of cannabis and cannabis related products in Colombia or internationally; and employee relations. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law. Additional information regarding the Company, and other risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's business are contained under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Listing Statement dated January 31, 2019 filed on its issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] BioTime Provides Business Update Including Information on AgeX, OncoCyte and Asterias

ALAMEDA, Calif., Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioTime, Inc. (NYSE American: BTX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on degenerative diseases, today provided a business update which included information on AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. (AgeX) (NYSE American: AGE) and BioTimes two affiliated companies, OncoCyte Corporation (OncoCyte) (NYSE American: OCX), and Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. (Asterias) (NYSE American: AST).

In the past five months, BioTime has made rapid progress toward its commitment to become a leading cell therapy company by focusing on clinical-stage cell therapy product candidates with promising human data and supporting their development in part through targeted transactions among its affiliated companies, stated Brian M. Culley, Chief Executive Officer of BioTime, Inc. An early accomplishment was to sell approximately half of our shares of AgeX, which we had created to develop BioTimes preclinical regenerative medicine assets, to Juvenescence Limited for a total of $43.2 million. Cash payments totaling $21.6 million were received in 2018 and the remaining $21.6 million, along with interest, is due no later than August 2020, or may be converted at BioTimes option into Juvenescence common stock if Juvenescence becomes a public company before that date. Most of the remaining AgeX shares owned by BioTime were then distributed to BioTime shareholders in late November, launching AgeX as a public company. BioTime has retained an equity position in AgeX Therapeutics of 1.7 million shares, or approximately 5% of AgeXs common stock. As of February 13, 2019, the value of BioTimes AgeX share position was approximately $7.1 million. We next announced an exclusive collaboration with Orbit Biomedical for the use of Orbits proprietary injection technology to deliver our lead product candidate OpRegen, for the treatment of dry age-related macular degeneration. The Orbit device delivers cells to the sub-retinal space via a suprachoroidal route as opposed to standard of care delivery directly through the retina. We are moving quickly to enroll our first patient in the Orbit portion of our ongoing Phase I/II study in the next quarter and we anticipate reporting additional clinical data from the study in the first half of this year. We also intend to close our proposed acquisition of Asterias assuming approval by the respective shareholders of BioTime and Asterias during the respective shareholders meetings on March 7th, 2019. This acquisition would broaden our pipeline with clinical-stage cell therapy assets in spinal cord injury and oncology. Last month, Asterias announced top line 12-month data from a Phase I/II study of its OPC-1 program in severe spinal cord injury, which included early evidence of cell engraftment and improved motor function in nearly all treated patients. The UK clinical trial of Asteriass off-the-shelf allogeneic immune-oncology cell therapy product, VAC2, has enrolled four patients to date. Finally, our affiliated company OncoCyte recently reported positive results from an R&D validation study of DetermaVu, their non-invasive liquid biopsy test intended to facilitate clinical decision making in lung cancer diagnosis. Following a recently completed $40.25 million public offering by OncoCyte at a price of $3.75 per share, BioTime owns approximately 14.7 million shares, or approximately 28% of OncoCytes common stock. As of February 13, 2019, the value of BioTimes OncoCyte share position was approximately $56.6 million. We are pleased with the continued progress at BioTime. In addition to advancing OpRegen and the proposed acquisition of Asterias, two public companies, AgeX and OncoCyte, have been launched with assets which originated from within the BioTime laboratories. Looking ahead, we believe that we are delivering on our stated plans to streamline BioTimes corporate structure and reduce expenses in a prudent manner, while focusing on creating value from our most compelling clinical opportunities and selectively converting assets created within BioTime into cash or other forms of value on attractive terms. We believe that our continued efforts will increase our visibility, support our growth, and help drive our success in 2019 and beyond, concluded Mr. Culley. Select Upcoming BioTime Events

Special Meeting of BioTime Stockholders on March 7, 2019 at 9:30 am PT to vote on the proposed acquisition of Asterias. The closing is expected in Q1 2019 after the approval by the respective shareholders of Asterias and BioTime.

Dosing of the first patient with the Orbit proprietary injection device in the ongoing Phase I/II clinical study of OpRegen  for the treatment of dry-AMD is planned for Q2 2019.

for the treatment of dry-AMD is planned for Q2 2019. Completion of patient enrollment in the ongoing Phase I/II clinical study of OpRegen  for the treatment of dry-AMD is anticipated in 2H 2019.

for the treatment of dry-AMD is anticipated in 2H 2019. Decision on BioTimes CE Mark application for Renevia, an investigational medical device being developed as an alternative for whole adipose tissue transfer procedures, is dependent on European regulatory authorities. About BioTime, Inc.

BioTime is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapies for the treatment of degenerative diseases. BioTimes pipeline is based on two platform technologies which encompass cell repacement and cell/drug delivery. BioTimes lead cell replacement product candidate is OpRegen, a retinal pigment epithelium transplant therapy in Phase 2 development for the treatment of dry age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the developed world. BioTimes lead cell delivery clinical program is Renevia, an investigational medical device being developed as an alternative for whole adipose tissue transfer procedures. BioTime common stock is traded on the NYSE American and TASE under the symbol BTX. For more information, please visit www.biotime.com or connect with the company on Twitter , LinkedIn , Facebook , YouTube , and Google+ . To receive ongoing BioTime corporate communications, please click on the following link to join the Companys email alert list: http://news.biotime.com .



About Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc.

Asterias is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing cell-based therapeutics to treat neurological conditions associated with demyelination and cellular immunotherapies to treat cancer. Asterias is presently focused on advancing three clinical-stage programs which have the potential to address areas of very high unmet medical need in the fields of neurology and oncology. OPC1 (oligodendrocyte progenitor cells) is currently in a Phase 1/2a dose escalation clinical trial in spinal cord injury. VAC2 (antigen-presenting allogeneic dendritic cells) is an allogeneic cancer immunotherapy. Asterias research partner, Cancer Research UK, has commenced a first-in-human clinical trial of VAC2 in non-small cell lung cancer. VAC1 (antigen-presenting autologous dendritic cells) is an autologous cancer immunotherapy with promising efficacy and safety data from an earlier Phase 2 study in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Asterias is also sponsoring pre-clinical work in two conditions with a demyelinating component: Multiple Sclerosis and White Matter Stroke, and is evaluating other cancer indications where its immunotherapy platform could provide therapeutic benefit. Additional information about Asterias can be found at www.asteriasbiotherapeutics.com . About OncoCyte Corporation

OncoCyte is focused on the development and commercialization of novel, non-invasive blood (liquid biopsy) diagnostic tests for the detection of cancer. Oncocytes diagnostic tests have the potential to improve health outcomes, reduce the cost of care, and improve patients quality of life. Liquid biopsy diagnostic tests like those OncoCyte is developing may reduce the need for costlier and riskier diagnostic procedures such as invasive biopsy procedures. OncoCyte is focusing its efforts on developing DetermaVu as a non-invasive confirmatory diagnostic test for lung cancer. Additional information about OncoCyte can be found at www.oncocyte.com.

About AgeX Therapeutics, Inc.

AgeX is focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapeutics for human aging. Its PureStem and UniverCyte manufacturing and immunotolerance technologies are designed to work together to generate highly defined, universal, allogeneic, off-the-shelf pluripotent stem cell-derived young cells of any type for application in a whole host of diseases with a high unmet medical need. AgeX has two preclinical cell therapy programs: AGEX-VASC1 (vascular progenitor cells) for tissue ischemia and AGEX-BAT1 (brown fat cells) for Type II diabetes. AgeXs revolutionary longevity platform named induced Tissue Regeneration (iTR) aims to unlock cellular immortality and regenerative capacity to reverse age-related changes within tissues. AGEX-iTR1547 is an iTR-based formulation in preclinical development. HyStem is AgeXs delivery technology to stably engraft PureStem cell therapies and slowly release iTR molecules in the body. AgeX is aggressively developing its core product pipeline for use in the clinic to extend human healthspan, and is seeking opportunities to form licensing and partnership agreements around its broad IP estate and proprietary technology platforms for non-core clinical applications. For more information on AgeX, please visit www.agexinc.com or connect with the company on Twitter , Facebook and YouTube . Additional Information and Where to Find It

This communication is being made in respect of the proposed business combination involving BioTime, Inc. and Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. In connection with the proposed transaction, BioTime and Asterias filed documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC), including the filing by BioTime of a Registration Statement on Form S-4 containing a Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF BIOTIME AND ASTERIAS ARE URGED TO CAREFULLY READ THE FINAL JOINT PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC BY BIOTIME AND ASTERIAS BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors and security holders may obtain free copies of these documents and other documents filed with the SEC at the SECs web site at www.sec.gov and by contacting BioTime Investor Relations at (510) 871-4188 or Asterias Investor Relations at (510) 456-3892. Investors and security holders may obtain free copies of the documents filed with the SEC on BioTimes website at www.biotimeinc.com or Asterias website at www.asteriasbiotherapeutics.com or the SECs website at www.sec.gov . BioTime, Asterias and their respective directors and executive officers may be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies with respect to the proposed transaction. Information regarding the interests of these directors and executive officers in the proposed transaction is included in the Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus described above. Additional information regarding the directors and executive officers of BioTime is also included in BioTimes proxy statement for its 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which was filed with the SEC on March 29, 2018, and additional information regarding the directors and executive officers of Asterias is also included in Asterias proxy statement for its 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 30, 2018, respectively. No Offer or Solicitation This document does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this communication, including statements relating to the Merger Agreement, the Merger and the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, uncertainties as to the timing of the closing of Merger, including due to failure to satisfy or delay in satisfying the conditions to such closing; anticipated closing of OncoCyte public offering and further development and potential of the product candidates, including enrollment and timing of the results of our clinical trials; and expectations related to BioTimes CE Mark application for Renevia are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 giving BioTimes and Asterias expectations or predictions of future financial or business performance or conditions. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties which change over time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and we assume no duty to update forward-looking statements. In addition to factors previously disclosed in BioTimes and Asterias reports filed with the SEC and those identified elsewhere in this communication, the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements and historical performance: the ability to meet closing conditions to the Merger, including requisite approval by BioTimes and Asterias stockholders, on a timely basis or at all; delay in closing the Merger; the ultimate outcome and results of integrating the operations of BioTime and Asterias and the ultimate ability to realize synergies and other benefits; business disruption following the Merger; the availability and access, in general, of funds to fund operations and necessary capital expenditures. More information on potential factors that could affect our results is included from time to time in the SEC filings and reports of BioTime and Asterias, including the risks identified under the sections captioned Risk Factors in BioTimes quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on November 8 and Asterias annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017 filed with the SEC on March 15, 2018, and Asterias quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, filed with the SEC on November 9, 2018. BioTime Inc. IR

Ioana C. Hone

( ir@biotimeinc.com )

(510) 871-4188 Solebury Trout IR

Gitanjali Jain Ogawa

( Gogawa@troutgroup.com )

(646) 378-2949

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Digimarc's Retail Tech Featured in Microsoft Booth at EuroCIS

BEAVERTON, Ore. and DUSSELDORF, Germany, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --







WHAT: Digimarc Corporation, inventor of the Intuitive Computing Platform (ICP), featuring Digimarc Barcode, will be attending EuroCIS, the premier retail technology tradeshow in Europe. Digimarc will be exhibiting with long-standing partner Microsoft. Among several demonstrations, Digimarc will highlight its Smart Store Associate solution in conjunction with the Microsoft Surface Go. Digimarc and Microsoft have a history of working together to improve retailer operational efficiency while increasing consumer engagement. The two companies previously announced the integration of Digimarc scanning software directly into Windows 10.





Additionally, Digimarc will have a number of demonstrations on display that showcase the benefits of Digimarc Barcode for retail, including easy checkout, improved inventory management and comprehensive track-and-trace abilities with a serialized packaging printing solution with Link from HP Inc.



WHEN: February 19-21, 2019



WHERE: Messe Dusseldorf, Microsoft Booth #F39/Hall 9, Dusseldorf, Germany



WHO: Digimarc's Aimee Arana, EVP, Sales & Business Development; Burcin Sezgen, Territory Manager Europe; Claudius Jaeger, Sales Director Europe; Dave Wheat, Director, Global Alliances, Platform & Product Strategy; and Carolien Bastiaans, Sales & Marketing Coordinator will be in attendance.

About Digimarc

Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRC) is a pioneer in the automatic identification of everyday objects such as product packaging and virtually any media, including print, images, and audio. Based on the patented Intuitive Computing Platform (ICP), Digimarc provides innovative and comprehensive automatic recognition technologies to simplify search, and transform information discovery through unparalleled reliability, efficiency and security. Digimarc has a global patent portfolio, which includes over 1,100 granted and pending patents. These innovations include state-of-the-art identification technology, Digimarc Barcode, as well as Digimarc Discover software for barcode scanning and more. Digimarc is based in Beaverton, Oregon, with technologies deployed by major retailers and consumer brands, central banks, U.S. states, film companies and professional sports franchises, among others. Visit digimarc.com and follow us @digimarc to learn more about The Barcode of Everything. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/digimarcs-retail-tech-featured-in-microsoft-booth-at-eurocis-300795500.html SOURCE Digimarc Corporation

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] MEA Cybersecurity Market to 2023 - Increasing Demand for Cloud-Based Data Protection Solutions

DUBLIN, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "MEA Cybersecurity Market by Solution, Service, Security Type, Deployment Mode, Organization Size, Vertical, and Country - Forecast to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This report expects the MEA cybersecurity market size to grow from USD 15.66 billion in 2018 to USD 31.82 billion by 2023, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 15.2% during the forecast period.

The rising sophistication level of cyber-attacks, increasing government compliances and regulatory requirements, and growing proliferation of smart city and digitization projects in the region have led enterprises to adopt cybersecurity solutions and services for detecting and responding to advanced cyber threats and data breaches. Moreover, the Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are adopting cybersecurity solutions at a large scale, as they are more vulnerable to cyber-attacks and data breaches. With the adoption of cybersecurity solutions, organizations can effectively maintain and secure their critical information from data breaches and respond to cyber incidents more efficiently. The cybersecurity solutions help organizations optimize employees' productivity, protect sensitive data and applications, and comply with stringent regulations.



Cybersecurity solutions include Identity and Access Management (IAM), risk and compliance management, encryption, Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Unified Threat Management (UTM), Firewall, Antivirus/Antimalware, Intrusion Detection System (IDS)/Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), Security and Vulnerability Management, Disaster Recovery, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Mitigation, Web Filtering, and Others (Application Whitelisting and Patch Management).

The IAM segment is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period and estimated to have the largest market size in 2018. The encryption solution would play a key role in changing the MEA cybersecurity marketspace. As a result, the encryption segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The encryption solution enables enterprises to hide their critical data from unauthorized bad actors.



The IT and telecom vertical is expected to be the fastest growing vertical, as it has to meet stringent legal and regulatory compliances associated with information security. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) continue to deploy cybersecurity solutions, as they are facing security concerns and cyber-attacks, such as Denial of Services (DoS) attacks, virus, worms, Trojan horse infections, illegal inside activities, and cyberespionage.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights



5 Maret Overview







5.1 Introduction

5.2 Market Dynamics

5.2.1 Drivers

5.2.1.1 High-Intensity Cyber-Attacks Expected to Induce Growth in the MEA Cybersecurity Market

5.2.1.2 Increasing Government Compliances and Regulatory Requirements

5.2.1.3 Rising Enterprise Mobility Trend Across Organizations

5.2.1.4 Proliferation of Smart City and Digitization Projects in the Middle Eastern Region

5.2.2 Restraints

5.2.2.1 High Cost of Innovation for Security Technologies and Budget Constraints for SMEs

5.2.2.2 Easy Availability of Free and Pirated Cybersecurity Solutions

5.2.3 Opportunities

5.2.3.1 Increasing Demand for Cloud-Based Data Protection Solutions

5.2.3.2 Increase in Iot-Focused Cyber Threats

5.2.4 Challenges

5.2.4.1 Lack of Awareness Regarding Advanced and Sophisticated Cyber Threats

5.2.4.2 Shortage of Security Skills Among Security Professionals and Lack of Preplanning Among Enterprises

5.3 Regulatory Landscape

5.4 Best Practices in Cybersecurity

5.5 Use Cases

5.5.1 Anomaly Detection Solutions Adopted By an Electric Power and Gas Company

5.5.2 Dependence of A Leading IT and Telecom Company on DDOS Protection and Mitigation Solutions

5.5.3 Large-Scale Adoption of Email Encryption in A Financial Organization

5.5.4 Need for the Best-In-Class Data Protection Solutions for A Healthcare Organization

5.5.5 Adoption of Disaster Recovery Solutions By A Retail Company

5.6 Innovation Spotlight

5.6.1 Corero Network Security

5.6.2 Deep Instinct

5.6.3 XM Cyber

5.6.4 Cyberbit

5.6.5 L7 Defense

5.6.6 Seceon

5.6.7 Sekur Me



6 MEA Cybersecurity Market, By Component





6.1 Introduction

6.2 Solutions

6.3 Services



7 Market By Solution



7.1 Introduction

7.2 Identity and Access Management

7.3 Risk and Compliance Management

7.4 Encryption

7.5 Data Loss Prevention

7.6 Unified Threat Management

7.7 Firewall

7.8 Antivirus/Antimalware

7.9 Intrusion Detection System/Intrusion Prevention System

7.10 Security and Vulnerability Management

7.11 Disaster Recovery

7.12 Distributed Denial of Service Mitigation

7.13 Web Filtering

7.14 Others



8 MEA Cybersecurity Market, By Service



8.1 Introduction

8.2 Professional Services

8.2.1 Design and Implementation

8.2.2 Risk and Threat Assessment

8.2.3 Consulting

8.2.4 Training and Education

8.2.5 Support and Maintenance

8.3 Managed Services



9 Market By Security Type



9.1 Introduction

9.2 Network Security

9.3 Endpoint Security

9.4 Application Security

9.5 Cloud Security

9.6 Others



10 MEA Cybersecurity Market, By Deployment Mode



10.1 Introduction

10.2 On-Premises

10.3 Cloud

10.4 Hybrid



11 Market By Organization Size



11.1 Introduction

11.2 Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

11.3 Large Enterprises



12 MEA Cybersecurity Market, By Vertical



12.1 Introduction

12.2 Government and Defense

12.3 Energy and Utilities

12.4 Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance

12.5 IT and Telecom

12.6 Healthcare

12.7 Retail

12.8 Manufacturing

12.9 Others



13 MEA Cybersecurity Market, By Region



13.1 Introduction

13.2 Middle East

13.2.1 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

13.2.2 Egypt

13.2.3 Israel

13.2.4 United Arab Emirates

13.2.5 Rest of Middle East

13.3 Africa

13.3.1 Algeria

13.3.2 Morocco

13.3.3 Nigeria

13.3.4 South Africa

13.3.5 Rest of Africa



14 Competitive Landscape



14.1 Overview

14.2 Competitive Scenario

14.2.1 Partnerships, Agreements, and Collaborations

14.2.2 New Product Launches

14.2.3 Mergers and Acquisitions

14.2.4 Business Expansions



15 Company Profiles



15.1 Introduction

15.2 IBM

15.3 Symantec

15.4 Fireeye

15.5 Check Point

15.6 Cisco

15.7 Trend Micro

15.8 Sophos

15.9 Rapid7

15.10 Mcafee

15.11 Micro Focus

15.12 Microsoft

15.13 DXC Technology

15.14 Imperva

15.15 Splunk

15.16 F5 Networks

15.17 Proofpoint

15.18 Trustwave

15.19 Kaspersky Lab

15.20 Oracle

15.21 Fortinet

15.22 Palo Alto Networks

15.23 Cyberark

15.24 Forcepoint

15.25 Darkmatter

15.26 CA Technologies

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/km22zk/mea_cybersecurity?w=5 About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



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 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mea-cybersecurity-market-to-2023---increasing-demand-for-cloud-based-data-protection-solutions-300795802.html SOURCE Research and Markets

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Turkish fashion products on AliExpress have attracted buyers from more than 90 countries and regions

HANGZHOU, China, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- AliExpress, a global online retail marketplace under Alibaba Group, began helping Turkish merchants to sell goods from Turkey to global markets. Trendyol, one of the largest Turkish distributors of clothing and fashionable dresses, who recently launched a wide range of products on AliExpress, has delivered impressive results by leveraging Aliexpress' resources to sell globally. In a few days after the start of business, Turkish goods from Trendyol have been sold to more than 90 countries and regions across all continents except Antarctica, and Israel ranked second in terms of orders, only after Russia. Sweaters, light coats, and blouses have becme the most popular products of Trendyol among the Israeli consumers. The most expensive order was $120 worth of 6 pieces of goods.



The average shipping time from Turkey to Israel is five days, thanks to the logistic infrastructure Aliexprss has built up in Turkey. Israel is constantly included in the list of the most active markets for AliExpress - it ranks top 10 in terms of orders, ahead of many European countries.

Helping small and medium entrepreneurs from more countries and expanding the range of products from new markets is one of the key areas of development for AliExpress. The company is actively developing system and services for local merchants in more states, representing a further move in Alibaba Group's globalisation strategy and reinforcing its position as a trusted partner of choice for businesses, brands and merchants willing to leverage digital technology to expand their presence.

"The first sales results confirm our customers' interest in new products - Israelis have an established demand for Turkish brands. The success of small and medium Turkish manufacturers shows the direction in which we will be able to expand our range and find how we will work with sellers from different countries," says Wang Mingqiang, the General Manager of AliExpress. SOURCE AliExpress

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Canada Goose Reports Results for Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2019

Canada Goose Holdings Inc. ("Canada Goose" or the "Company") (NYSE:GOOS, TSX:GOOS) today announced financial results for the third quarter ended December 31, 2018. The Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis and Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Statements for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2018 will be filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, the EDGAR section of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission website at www.sec.gov and posted on the Company's website at investor.canadagoose.com. "Fiscal 2019 is shaping up to be another year of impressive results. In our peak selling season we continued to deliver when and where it matters most, while also strengthening our foundation for future success on the global stage." said Dani Reiss, President & CEO. "We have successfully entered new markets, introduced new product, and increased capacity to meet growing demand in both channels. We remain deeply confident in the long runway we have ahead." Third Quarter Fiscal 2019 Results (in Canadian dollars, compared to Third Quarter Fiscal 2018): Total revenue increased by 50.2% to $399.3m from $265.9m, or 49.0% on a constant currency basis (1) . Across our business, a higher proportion of customers purchased product earlier in the second half of fiscal 2019 relative to the same period last year, which positively impacted our growth in the quarter.

50.2% to $399.3m from $265.9m, or 49.0% on a constant currency basis . Across our business, a higher proportion of customers purchased product earlier in the second half of fiscal 2019 relative to the same period last year, which positively impacted our growth in the quarter. DTC revenue increased to $235.3m from $131.7m. The increase was driven by incremental revenue from five new retail stores and one new e-commerce site, as well as the strong performance of existing retail stores and e-commerce sites.

Wholesale revenue increased to $164.0m from $134.2m. The increase was primarily attributable to higher order values from existing partners, coupled with earlier shipment timing relative to last year. Favourable foreign exchange fluctuations and incremental revenue from the acquisition of the business of Baffin Inc. ("Baffin") also contributed positively.

Gross profit increased to $257.3m, a gross margin of 64.4%, compared to $169.1m, a gross margin of 63.6%. The increase in gross margin was driven by a greater proportion of DTC revenue.

DTC gross profit was $179.0m, a gross margin of 76.1%, compared to $100.7m, a gross margin of 76.5%. The decrease in gross margin was due to sold inventory manufactured at higher labour costs due to the onset of Ontario's minimum wage increase at the start of the 2018 calendar year.

Wholesale gross profit was $78.3m, a gross margin of 47.7%, compared to $68.4m, a gross margin of 51.0%. The decrease in gross margin was due to changes in product mix, profit which would otherwise have been recognized on sold Baffin inventory due to a fair value markup at acquisition, and manufacturing labour cost increases, which had a more significant impact in the channel due to the difference between wholesale and retail selling prices. For the nine months ended December 31, wholesale gross margin was 49.2% compared to 48.2% during the same period last year.

Operating income was $139.9m, compared to $89.9m. The increase in operating income was driven by revenue growth and gross margin expansion, partially offset by SG&A growth investments.

Unallocated corporate expenses were $61.3m, compared to $44.0m. The increase was primarily due to investments to support growth in marketing, corporate headcount and IT, including Greater China operations. Professional fees and other costs relating to public company compliance also increased.

Unallocated depreciation and amortization was $5.3m, compared to $2.4m, driven by the retail store opening program.

DTC operating income was $141.4m, an operating margin of 60.1%, compared to $79.1m, an operating margin of 60.0%. The benefit of strong sales productivity across the channel was partially offset by incremental SG&A fees to operating partners in Greater China.

Wholesale operating income was $65.1m, an operating margin of 39.7%, compared to $57.2m, an operating margin of 42.7%. The decrease in operating margin is attributable to the decline in wholesale gross margin described above, partially offset by lower SG&A as a percentage of sales.

Net income was $103.4m, or $0.93 per diluted share, compared to $63.0m, or $0.56 per diluted share. The increase in net income was due to higher operating income and a lower effective tax rate.

Adjusted EBITDA (1) was $151.1m, compared to $94.7m.

was $151.1m, compared to $94.7m. Adjusted net income(1) was $107.2m, or $0.96 per diluted share, compared to adjusted net income of $64.5m, or $0.58 per diluted share. (1) See "Note Regarding Non-IFRS Financial Measures". Revised Fiscal 2019 Outlook Based on the strength of reported financial results for the nine months ended December 31, with significant contributions from both channels, as well as current trends in the business, the Company has revised its outlook for fiscal 2019, which was previously provided with the release of second quarter fiscal 2019 results on November 14, 2018. For fiscal 2019, the Company currently expects: Annual revenue growth in the mid-to-high thirties on a percentage basis, compared to at least 30%

Adjusted EBITDA margin (1) expansion of at least 150 basis points compared to fiscal 2018, unchanged

expansion of at least 150 basis points compared to fiscal 2018, unchanged Annual growth in adjusted net income per diluted share(1) in the mid-to-high forties on a percentage basis, compared to at least 40% Key assumptions underlying the fiscal 2019 outlook above are as follows: Wholesale revenue growth in the mid-to-high teens on a percentage basis, compared to high-single-digits, due to sales outperformance in the channel year-to-date

SG&A growth investments in infrastructure and people including IT and the establishment of a country office in Greater China to lead market development efforts

SG&A fees to operating partners on DTC sales in Greater China

Capital expenditures of approximately $70 million including investments in new retail stores, IT and manufacturing capacity

Weighted average diluted shares outstanding of 112.1 million

Effective annual tax rate approximately in-line with fiscal 2018 Within the meaning of applicable securities laws, this outlook constitutes forward-looking information. Actual results could vary materially as a result of numerous factors, including certain risk factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. See "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements". (1) See "Note Regarding Non-IFRS Financial Measures". Change in Fiscal Year-End Effective as of fiscal 2020, the Company's fiscal year will end on the Sunday closest to March 31. Further details are included in Management's Discussion and Analysis for the third quarter of fiscal 2019. Conference Call Information A conference call to discuss third quarter fiscal 2019 results is scheduled for today, February 14, 2019, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Dani Reiss, President and Chief Executive Officer and Jonathan Sinclair, EVP and Chief Financial Officer, will host the conference call. Those interested in participating in the call are invited to dial (844) 579-6824 or (763) 488-9145 if calling internationally. Please dial in approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of the call and reference Conference ID 8698664 when prompted. A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available online at http://investor.canadagoose.com. About Canada Goose Founded in a small warehouse in Toronto, Canada in 1957, Canada Goose has grown into one of the world's leading makers of performance luxury apparel. Every collection is informed by the rugged demands of the Arctic and inspired by relentless innovation and uncompromised craftsmanship. From Antarctic research facilities and the Canadian High Arctic, to the streets of New York, London, Milan, Paris, and Tokyo, people are proud to wear Canada Goose products. Employing more than 3,400 people worldwide, Canada Goose is a recognized leader for its Made in Canada commitment, and is a long-time partner of Polar Bears International. Visit canadagoose.com for more information. Non-IFRS Financial Measures This press release includes references to adjusted net income, EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, and adjusted net income per share and per diluted share. The Company presents these measures because its management uses these as supplemental measures in assessing its operating performance, and believes they are helpful to investors, securities analysts and other interested parties, in evaluating the Company's performance. The measures referenced above are not measurements of financial performance under IFRS and they should not be considered as alternatives to measures of performance derived in accordance with IFRS. In addition, these measures should not be construed as an inference that the Company's future results will be unaffected by unusual or non-recurring items. These measures have limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider such measures either in isolation or as substitutes for analyzing the Company's results as reported under IFRS. This press release also includes reference to constant currency revenue. The Company presents this measure because we use constant currency information to provide a framework in assessing how our business segments performed excluding the effects of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations and believe this information is useful to investors to facilitate comparisons of operating results and better identify trends in our businesses. The constant currency measure is calculated by translating the prior year reported amounts into comparable amounts using a single foreign exchange rate for each currency calculated based on the current period exchange rates as measured by the Bank of Canada. The Company's definitions and calculations of these measures are not necessarily comparable to other similarly titled measures used by other companies. These non-IFRS financial measures are defined and reconciled to the most comparable IFRS measures in the tables at the end of this press release. A reconciliation of projected adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income, which are forward-looking measures that are not prepared in accordance with IFRS, to the most directly comparable IFRS financial measures, is not provided because we are unable to provide such reconciliation without unreasonable effort. The inability to provide a quantitative reconciliation is due to the uncertainty and inherent difficulty predicting the occurrence, the financial impact and the periods in which the components of the applicable IFRS measures and non-IFRS adjustments may be recognized. The IFRS measures may include the impact of such items as non-cash share-based compensation, revaluation of the carrying value of our indebtedness, amortization of intangible assets and the tax effect of such items, in addition to other items we have historically excluded from adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income. We expect to continue to exclude these items in future disclosures of these non-IFRS measures and may also exclude other similar items that may arise in the future (collectively, "non-IFRS adjustments"). The reconciliation also includes the calculation of adjusted EBITDA margin. This is equal to adjusted EBITDA for the period presented as a percentage of revenue for the same period. The decisions and events that typically lead to the recognition of non-IFRS adjustments are inherently unpredictable as to if or when they may occur. As such, for our fiscal 2019 outlook, we have not included estimates for these items and are unable to address the probable significance of the unavailable information, which could be material to future results. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements The foregoing financial information as at and for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2018 are unaudited and subject to quarter-end and year-end adjustments in connection with the completion of our customary financial closing procedures. Such changes could be material. This press release includes forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, our revised fiscal 2019 outlook. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "expect," "plan," "could," "may," "will," "believe," "estimate," "forecast," "goal," "project," and other words of similar meaning. Each forward-looking statement contained in this press release is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statement. Applicable risks and uncertainties include, among others, our ability to achieve our expectations regarding our performance, changing industry trends, our ability to execute our business plan and growth strategies, including our plans for expansion into Greater China, our expectations regarding seasonal trends, our ability to keep pace with changing consumer preferences, our ability to maintain the strength of our brand and protect our intellectual property, the key assumptions underlying the fiscal 2019 outlook described above, as well as the risks identified under the heading "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018, and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), and the securities commissions or similar securities regulatory authorities in each of the provinces and territories of Canada ("Canadian securities regulatory authorities"), as well as the other information we file with the SEC and Canadian securities regulatory authorities. We caution investors not to rely on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release when making a decision to invest in our securities. You are encouraged to read our filings with the SEC, available at www.sec.gov, and our filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities available at www.sedar.com for a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any of these statements. Our business is subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, including those referenced above. Investors, potential investors, and others should give careful consideration to these risks and uncertainties. Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Income and Comprehensive Income

(unaudited)

(in millions of Canadian dollars, except share and per share amounts)







Three months ended

December 31 Nine months ended

December 31 2018 2017 2018 2017 $ $ $ $ Revenue 399.3 265.9 674.3 466.4 Cost of sales 142.0 96.8 259.9 197.0 Gross profit 257.3 169.1 414.4 269.4 Gross margin 64.4 % 63.6 % 61.5 % 57.8 % Selling, general and administrative expenses 112.1 76.8 217.1 139.2 SG&A expenses as % of revenue 28.1 % 28.9 % 32.2 % 29.8 % Depreciation and amortization 5.3 2.4 12.3 6.9 Operating income 139.9 89.9 185.0 123.3 Operating income as % of revenue 35.0 % 33.8 % 27.4 % 26.4 % Net interest and other finance costs 3.9 3.4 11.1 10.1 Income before income taxes 136.0 86.5 173.9 113.2 Income tax expense 32.6 23.5 39.3 25.2 Effective tax rate 24.0 % 27.2 % 22.6 % 22.3 % Net income 103.4 63.0 134.6 88.0 Other comprehensive income (loss) 1.9 (1.7 ) 3.7 (0.4 ) Comprehensive income 105.3 61.3 138.3 87.6 Earnings per share Basic $ 0.94 $ 0.59 $ 1.23 $ 0.82 Diluted $ 0.93 $ 0.56 $ 1.20 $ 0.79 Weighted average number of shares

outstanding Basic 109,717,345 107,442,446 109,234,744 106,980,180 Diluted 111,729,981 111,612,786 111,754,074 111,058,977 Other data: (1) Adjusted net income 107.2 64.5 141.6 84.1 Adjusted net income per share $ 0.98 $ 0.60 $ 1.30 $ 0.79 Adjusted net income per diluted share $ 0.96 $ 0.58 $ 1.27 $ 0.76 EBITDA 146.3 93.2 200.3 132.6 Adjusted EBITDA 151.1 94.7 209.2 127.4

(1) Adjusted net income, adjusted net income per share and per diluted share, EBITDA, and adjusted EBITDA are non-IFRS financial measures. See "Reconciliation of Non-IFRS Financial Measures" for a description of these measures and a reconciliation to the nearest IFRS measure. Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Financial Position

(unaudited)

As at December 31, 2018 and 2017 and March 31, 2018

(in millions of Canadian dollars) December 31 December 31 March 31 2018 2017 2018 Assets $ $ $ Current assets Cash 102.3 62.1 95.3 Trade receivables 97.5 78.4 11.9 Inventories 217.8 124.8 165.4 Income taxes receivable - - 5.1 Other current assets 28.4 17.5 23.3 Total current assets 446.0 282.8 301.0 Deferred income taxes 8.8 6.8 3.0 Property, plant and equipment 82.2 57.1 60.2 Intangible assets 150.9 135.2 136.8 Other long-term assets 9.1 0.5 2.1 Goodwill 53.1 45.3 45.3 Total assets 750.1 527.7 548.4 Liabilities Current liabilities Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 137.5 96.1 109.6 Provisions 15.2 15.8 6.3 Income taxes payable 20.3 15.7 17.7 Total current liabilities 173.0 127.6 133.6 Provisions 13.7 11.3 10.8 Deferred income taxes 15.1 13.9 13.3 Revolving facility - - - Term loan 147.1 132.6 137.1 Other long-term liabilities 12.6 6.6 10.0 Total liabilities 361.5 292.0 304.8 Shareholders' equity 388.6 235.7 243.6 Total liabilities and shareholders' equity 750.1 527.7 548.4 Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Cash Flows

(unaudited)

For the three and nine months ended December 31

(in millions of Canadian dollars) Three months ended

December 31 Nine months ended

December 31 2018 2017 2018 2017 $ $ $ $ CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING

ACTIVITIES: Net income 103.4 63.0 134.6 88.0 Items not affecting cash: Depreciation and amortization 6.4 3.3 15.3 9.3 Income tax expense 32.6 23.5 39.3 25.2 Interest expense 3.7 3.3 10.8 9.9 Unrealized foreign exchange (gain) loss 3.4 1.1 2.9 (8.6 ) Share-based compensation 1.1 0.7 2.7 1.4 150.6 94.9 205.6 125.2 Changes in non-cash operating items 104.5 88.3 (86.9 ) (24.4 ) Income taxes (paid) received (5.3 ) 0.5 (35.9 ) (4.9 ) Interest paid (3.2 ) (2.5 ) (8.4 ) (7.7 ) Net cash from operating activities 246.6 181.2 74.4 88.2 CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING

ACTIVITIES: Purchase of property, plant and equipment (12.3 ) (10.7 ) (21.4 ) (19.9 ) Investment in intangible assets (5.6 ) (3.1 ) (13.6 ) (6.6 ) Business combination (33.4 ) (0.1 ) (33.4 ) (0.6 ) Net cash used in investing activities (51.3 ) (13.9 ) (68.4 ) (27.1 ) CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING

ACTIVITIES: Net repayment on revolving facility (124.9 ) (118.9 ) - (8.9 ) Deferred financing fees - - - (0.4 ) Exercise of stock options 0.3 0.4 2.5 0.6 Net cash from (used in) financing activities (124.6 ) (118.5 ) 2.5 (8.7 ) Effects of foreign currency exchange rate

changes on cash (0.6 ) - (1.5 ) - Increase in cash 70.1 48.8 7.0 52.4 Cash, beginning of period 32.2 13.3 95.3 9.7 Cash, end of period 102.3 62.1 102.3 62.1 Reconciliation of Non-IFRS Measures The tables below reconcile net income to EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted net income for the periods indicated. CAD $ millions (unaudited) Three months ended

December 31 Nine months ended

December 31 2018 2017 2018 2017 Net income 103.4 63.0 134.6 88.0 Add (deduct) the impact of: Income tax expense 32.6 23.5 39.3 25.2 Net interest and other finance costs 3.9 3.4 11.1 10.1 Depreciation and amortization 6.4 3.3 15.3 9.3 EBITDA 146.3 93.2 200.3 132.6 Add (deduct) the impact of: Transaction costs of Secondary Offerings (a) 0.6 - 1.8 1.5 Transaction and other costs of the Baffin

acquisition (b) 2.1 - 2.1 - Unrealized foreign exchange gain on Term

Loan Facility (c) 1.4 1.1 1.3 (8.5 ) Share-based compensation (d) 0.5 0.3 2.3 0.7 Pre-store-opening costs (e) 0.2 0.1 1.4 1.1 Adjusted EBITDA 151.1 94.7 209.2 127.4 Adjusted EBITDA Margin 37.8 % 35.6% 31.0 % 27.3 % CAD $ millions (unaudited) Three months ended

December 31 Nine months ended

December 31 2018 2017 2018 2017 Net income 103.4 63.0 134.6 88.0 Add (deduct) the impact of: Transaction costs of Secondary Offerings (a) 0.6 - 1.8 1.5 Transaction and other costs of the Baffin

acquisition (b) 2.1 - 2.1 - Unrealized foreign exchange gain on Term

Loan Facility (c) 1.4 1.1 1.3 (8.5 ) Share-based compensation (d) 0.5 0.3 2.3 0.7 Pre-store-opening costs (e) 0.2 0.1 1.4 1.1 Amortization on intangible assets acquired by

Bain Capital (f) - 0.3 - 1.4 Total adjustments 4.8 1.8 8.9 (3.8 ) Tax effect of adjustments (1.0 ) (0.3 ) (1.9 ) (0.1 ) Adjusted net income 107.2 64.5 141.6 84.1 (a) In connection with the Secondary Offerings completed in November 2018, June 2018 and July 2017, we incurred expenses related to professional fees, consulting, legal, and accounting that would otherwise not have been incurred. (b) Represents transaction costs in connection with the acquisition and the impact of gross margin which would otherwise have been recognized on inventory recorded at net realizable value less costs to sell. (c) Represents non-cash unrealized gains on the translation of the Term Loan Facility from USD to CAD, net of the effect of derivative transactions entered into to hedge a portion of the exposure to foreign currency exchange risk. (d) Represents non-cash share-based compensation expense on stock options issued prior to the IPO under the Legacy Plan and cash payroll taxes paid by the Company of $0.3m and $1.7m in the three and nine months ended December 31, 2018 respectively, on gains earned by option holders (compensation) when stock options are exercised. (e) Represents non-cash lease amortization charges during pre-opening periods for new store leases. (f) In connection with Bain Capital's purchase of a 70% equity interest in our business on December 9, 2013, we recognized an intangible asset for customer lists in the amount of $8.7m, which had a useful life of four years and was fully amortized in the third quarter of fiscal 2018. The table below reconciles revenue as reported to revenue on a constant currency basis for the periods presented: For three months ended $ Change % Change CAD $

millions December

31, 2018 December

31, 2017 As

reported Foreign

exchange

impact In

constant

currency As

reported In

constant

currency Wholesale 164.0 134.2 29.8 (1.6 ) 28.1 22.2 % 20.9 % DTC 235.3 131.7 103.6 (1.4 ) 102.3 78.7 % 77.7 % Total revenue 399.3 265.9 133.4 (3.0 ) 130.4 50.2 % 49.0 % For nine months ended $ Change % Change CAD $

millions December

31, 2018 December

31, 2017 As

reported Foreign

exchange

impact In

constant

currency As

reported In

constant

currency Wholesale 365.4 306.2 59.2 (4.9 ) 54.3 19.3 % 17.7 % DTC 308.9 160.2 148.7 (1.7 ) 147.1 92.8 % 91.8 % Total revenue 674.3 466.4 207.9 (6.6 ) 201.4 44.6 % 43.2 % View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005288/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Mutual Underwriters Goes Live with CodeObject's InsuranceEnterprise in the Cloud for Managing Business Owners and Commercial Property Products

CodeObjects Inc. announces that Mutual Underwriters, LLC. a company dedicated to the development and distribution of commercial lines, personal lines, and niche business insurance products, is the latest company to launch InsuranceEnterprise as a strategic insurance platform to help grow their business. InsuranceEnterprise gives Mutual Underwriters the benefits of streamlined policy processing from quote to renewal, and a powerful rating and rules engine that enables complex products to be deployed and maintained allowing them to capitalize on emerging revenue opportunities. Mutual Underwriter's strategy to rapidly grow their business by managing products for multiple insurance carriers in multiple states presented major challenges when searching for a core system platform. "Many of the existing core insurance systems are unable to offer the agility we needed to pursue these opportunities. The cost to modify products and enhance the systems was much too large and required significant operating expense. We needed a solution supporting our goal of running a lean organization," said Sean Murray, Managing Director of Mutual Underwriters, LLC. "InsuranceEnterprise in the cloud maximizes our operating efficiencies and improves speed to market. By virtue of being fully cloud-enabled usin Amazon Web Services (News - Alert) , InsuranceEnterprise reduces our IT infrastructure and management costs. In addition, the CodeObjects team is very knowledgeable and is as dedicated to our success as we are," said Murray.



CodeObjects cloud solutions are designed for business users with rules-based framework that enables flexibility, configurability and efficiency for better, more profitable business. The configurability allows updates and new product launches across multiple jurisdictions to meet the changing needs of the marketplace. "Customers like Mutual Underwriters are under increasing market pressure to launch products and provide efficient and compliant solutions while controlling costs," said Anil Annadata, CEO of CodeObjects. InsuranceEnterprise is built to optimize processes. The solutions allow customers to leverage data across a dispersed set of integrated endpoints to implement a consistent, repeatable approach to product management and policy processing. Rules based workflows, product inheritance, rate testing harness, and a library of ancillary services bundled with the solution, are just a few of the components that allow customers like Mutual Underwriters introduce process improvements on a continuous basis. "We are very pleased with the results of our work with Mutual Underwriters and look forward to helping them continue to grow their business."

About Mutual Underwriters, LLC. Headquartered in Noblesville, IN, U.S., Mutual Underwriters was formed by insurance veterans with the purpose of bringing together all the elements needed to assist the mutual insurance community with the development and distribution of personal lines, commercial lines, and program or niche business - from underwriting support to state-of-the-art technology, strategic creativity, and capital strategies. About CodeObjects CodeObjects is a P&C insurance software provider with the mission of leveling the competitive playing field for mid-size insurance carriers. CodeObjects offers configurable insurance process management solutions running in the cloud, enabling quick and easy deployment. CodeObjects' process management solutions support the insurance enterprise by going beyond the core of policy, billing, rating and claims, and also delivering built-in business intelligence and all the ancillary touch points. For additional information on CodeObjects and its product and service offerings, visit http://www.codeobjects.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005230/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]Tango Networks Unveils Kinetic Cloud Mobile-X, Industry's First Global Private Mobile Network Service for Enterprises

Tango Networks today announced Kinetic Cloud Mobile-X, the industry's first communications service that creates a private mobile network exclusively controlled by an enterprise for maximizing productivity of its distributed workforce.

Available today in select regions and demonstrated this month at Mobile World Congress 19 in Barcelona, Kinetic Cloud Mobile-X enables enterprises to bring mobile services into the control of their own existing call control platforms.

In the past, mobile voice, messaging and data have been under the exclusive control of mobile operators. With Kinetic Cloud Mobile-X, these services can now be controlled together with internal communications applications by the enterprise IT department.

The new service creates a Global Private Mobile Network (GPMN) that is exclusively controlled by an enterprise, even when it has a presence and vendor solutions in many different countries. It features:

One consistent mobile subscription for all of a customer's employees the world over, regardless of location or network used.

Native communications on employee mobile devices driven directly by the enterprise's unified communications platform, without requiring hard-to-use, poor quality VoIP apps.

Complete control over compliance, recording, security and communcations costs for all mobile voice, messaging and data used by the enterprise's employees.

Advanced authentication and security in a mobile offering that is a foundation for migration to 5G and Private LTE (News - Alert) .







Enterprise customers using Kinetic Cloud Mobile-X will be able to maximize distributed workforce productivity while embedding mobility control that enhances communications flexibility, security and compliance.

"Mobile devices are overwhelmingly the tool of choice for business communications today," said Andrew Bale, General Manager of Cloud Services for Tango Networks (News - Alert) . "But mobile services remain stubbornly consumer-focused, mired in the same mass-market offerings operators have had for 20 years. Even major enterprises use the same mobile services and features sold to video-streaming teenagers."

Because mobile communications services are almost universally consumer oriented, enterprise CIOs supporting mobile workforces face fundamental challenges:

Fragmented patchworks of inconsistent mobile services across regions yield unreliable access and application performance.

Mobility controlled by mobile operators, not enterprise IT staff, makes it hard to enforce policies, security, recording compliance and cost control.

Integrating mobile communications with IT applications is very difficult.

Kinetic Cloud Mobile-X solves these issues by creating a single point of policy, security and compliance administration and control enforced globally on all of an enterprise's mobile communications.

Covered by more than 65 granted patents, Kinetic Cloud Mobile-X utilizes a unique cloud-based communications control plane in tandem with an MVNO communications transport layer. The result is a fabric of voice, messaging and data applications communications that is accessible anywhere in the world by employees on mobile devices and managed directly by the enterprise IT staff.

About Tango Networks

Tango Networks empowers enterprises to maximize the reach, impact and value of their communications systems by extending their applications to any mobile device. Tier 1 operators and global enterprises rely on Tango Networks' superior workforce mobility solutions, built over a decade of successful innovation. Tango Mobility Solutions include rich Unified Communications on any mobile phone; mobile voice and text recording for compliance; mobile usage control preventing distracted driving; and automatic application integration. www.Tango-Networks.com or @TangoNetworks or on LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005277/en/[February 14, 2019] HomeServe Establishes Joint Venture in Japan as Part of Global Partnership Strategy

HomeServe plc ("HomeServe"), the international home repairs and improvements business, has signed an agreement with Mitsubishi (News - Alert) Corporation ("MC") to establish a joint venture ("JV") in Japan. To be called HomeServe Japan Corporation, the joint venture will be 50:50 owned by HomeServe and Mitsubishi Corporation. HomeServe Japan Corporation will build a business to provide home emergency and repair services in electrics, plumbing, gas, heating, ventilation and air conditioning. The business will be based on a membership model and will also offer on-demand services to residential customers. Japan is the world's third largest economy with 53 million residential households. Recent liberalisation of the gas and electricity markets, together with access to the water market for private concessions, has created a positive environment for HomeServe's utility branded home assistance model. The move is part of HomeServe's global partnership approach to provide successful strategies for utility companies to improve their connection with customers and strengthen and lengthen their relationships. Utility companies are facing unprecedented challenges. Regulatory change, new innovative players, higher consumer expectations and rapidly evolving technology are putting pressure on revenue and encouraging customer churn. According to Stephen Phillips, HomeServe's Global CEO of International Business Development: "Utilities need to move beyond providing basic services and re-evaluate their business models to embrace the opportunities which are opening up in this new landscape. Customers have become used to effortless online experiences in areas such as retailing and smart tech, and now want the same convenience from their utility providers. "Customers want providers to help them monitor, manage and maintain their homes. By offering their customers targeted, value added products that can be integrated into larger smart home systems, utilities have the opportunity to become more relevant in their customers' lives."



Home services propositions and technologies can support a utility's positioning as a one stop shop for home and energy management solutions. Research shows that customers view their utility as the logical provider of such services, and that such offerings have a positive impact on customer relationships. In HomeServe USA's white paper, 'Natural Gas Utilities: Securing the Future, June 2017', analysis of utility customers who bought a home assistance plan showed an increase in customer satisfaction of more than 60% amongst electricity customers after enrolling. Enrolled gas customers were more than 75% happier with their provider than those who were not signed up.

The paper also links customer satisfaction to a better return on equity (ROE) and increased profitability. On average top quartile utilities earned 10.7% ROE, whereas bottom quartile utilities earned 10.1%. Similarly, electric utilities in the top quartile of customer satisfaction typically report profits 3-4% higher than utilities in the three lower quartiles. Other research (Eneco btg.org 2015 and Centrica Capital Markets Day 2017) shows 60% less churn when customers have committed to additional products such as smart home offerings and that customers in the highest value segment have a high propensity to hold multiple products and are 20% less likely to switch to another provider. Stephen Phillips comments: "Partnering is an effective way for energy providers to keep up with the frenetic pace of change, to transform their customer facing services and to extend their reach into customers' homes. But utilities need to pick their partners carefully. Thanks to our extensive experience, HomeServe understands the key elements of successful partnerships. Most important are alignment of culture, sharing the same values, and common vision and goals. HomeServe works with over 600 utility partners who understand and can deliver customer centric offerings, valuable benefits, ease of access, exceptional levels of service at the points of interaction and effective communications." About HomeServe HomeServe is an international home repairs and improvements business which provides people with access to tradespeople and technology to run their homes more easily. HomeServe is listed on the London Stock Exchange, with a market capitalisation of c. 3.2 billion. More information about HomeServe's international partnership strategy can be found at www.homeserveglobal.com. About Mitsubishi Corporation Mitsubishi Corporation is a global integrated business enterprise that develops and operates businesses across virtually every industry, including industrial finance, energy, metals, machinery, chemicals and daily living essentials, having wide-ranging relationships with public and private utilities in Japan. ENDS View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005319/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Arcadia Acquires ISO Certificate

GDPR triggers pursuit for information security guarantees LONDON, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In the wake of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that came into force on May 25, 2018, companies are now looking to secure certifications such as ISO 27001, to demonstrate an audited and controlled level of security management. GDPR was designed to modernise laws that protect the personal information of individuals, whilst ISO 27001 information security standard, published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), specifies an information security management system (ISMS) with 114 controls to manage risks, with annual audits to ensure compliance with the standards. The ISMS is a framework of policies and procedures that includes all legal, physical and technical controls involved in an organisation's information risk management processes. Information and cyber security are on the top of the list of priorities. The main reasons for companies to obtain ISO 27001 certification is to bolster business integrity with customers, investors, partners; reducing the occurrence of risks associated with the threat to information security and increasing confidence n the services provided. In the UK it is increasingly becoming a prerequisite or a closer for securing contracts, a practice adapted from public to private sector, from small companies to worldwide corporations.



Certification is key, especially for outsourced service companies, as it demonstrates the maturity of the company, its understanding of the importance of business continuity, and guarantees the safety of customers' intellectual property.



Tech industry in particular cannot afford to ignore something so integral to their operations. Arcadia, a multi-million pound company working extensively with Fortune 500 companies designing and building custom software, recently acquired the ISO certificate. For a company specializing in complex web solutions, big data, AI and machine learning, it is a natural move.

Natalia Elfimova, Managing Director at Arcadia, explains the importance: "With 30% of Arcadia's business being in the UK, we felt it was important to get certified specifically by British Standards Institute (BSI). As a leading outsourced custom software provider across several security critical industries such as pharmaceuticals, education, transport, etc., the ISO 27001 certification ensures the reliability of our information security management system." High level of competency in protecting and managing the clients and company data is undoubtedly the key to success in the modern world. www.softwarecountry.com For more information about Arcadia, contact

Dmitri Adov, Technical Director

dmitri.adov@arcadia.spb.ru

+44-127-401-9741

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Quod Financial Announces That Aspect Capital (Aspect) Has Deployed Their Data-driven Execution Management System (EMS)

LONDON, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Quod Financial today announced that Aspect Capital, the $6.7bn systematic investment manager, is implementing Quod Financial's EMS, a multi-asset trading system across its range of quantitative investment solutions. Quod Financial provides Aspect with a flexible and scalable execution architecture with the benefits of improved efficiency and reduced execution costs. This project will aim to consolidate Aspect's execution technology across multiple asset classes (including FX, Futures and Equity derivatives) and over 20 banks, brokers and venues. This is complemented by real-time and post-trade analytics. Alexis Blair, Director of Trading - Aspect Capital, said: "We are delighted to be working with Quod Financial to implement their Financial EMS. As we continue to diversify our product range, Quod's innovative platform and long-term exprtise in execution management make them the ideal partner to scale our execution capabilities in a cost effective manner."



Medan Gabbay, Chief Revenue Officer - Quod Financial, said: "Aspect Capital started this project to use our well established technology to enhance their own execution. Their scientific and technology focused approach to trading made our advanced execution platform a clear choice. Our tight collaboration with Aspect Capital, as with all our clients, provides a foundation for continued innovation in bringing data-driven trading to the mainstream market." About Aspect Capital:

Aspect Capital Limited (Aspect) is a UK-based systematic investment manager with offices in London, Stamford (CT) and Hong Kong. Aspect applies a systematic and quantitative approach to investment management, with the aim of generating high-quality and diversifying alpha for its clients' portfolios. The company currently manages US$6.7bn, in a variety of investment solutions spanning four broad categories: managed futures, alternative risk premia, multi-strategy and currency solutions.

About Quod Financial:

Quod Financial Limited (Quod) is an award-winning Trading Platform provider, specialising in Multi-Asset Trading for FX, Equities and Derivatives. The Quod Adaptive Execution Platform is a comprehensive tool to address the tectonic shift in the buy-side industry. The suite of products improves execution outcomes, automates core trading, provides insight into executions, reduces costs and reuses data to create intelligence in real-time. https://www.quodfinancial.com/ Media enquiry: Matt Siredzuk, matt.siredzuk@quodfinancial.com , +44-207-997-7020 Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/821743/Quod_Financial_Logo.jpg

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] LexisNexis Expands Data as a Service offering with OpenCorporates legal entity data

RALEIGH, North Carolina, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- LexisNexis Legal & Professional, a leading provider of information and analytics, and OpenCorporates the largest open database of companies in the world, are today announcing a new collaboration which adds OpenCorporates legal entity data to the Nexis Data as a Service portfolio. OpenCorporates is the leading source of global legal entity data, with information on more than 165 million companies in more than 130 jurisdictions. OpenCorporates legal entity data is standardized, giving a consistent view of all registers, and provenanced, providing direct line of sight to the original source i.e. the company registry itself. Chris Taggart, CEO and Co-Founder of OpenCorporates, explains, "Legal entities are the building blocks of business all around the world, having the power to enter into contracts, and have assets and liabilities, and thus this data is essential for business." Providing Crucial data to Risk Management professionals Identifying the legal entity is a crucial component of Know Your Customer (KYC), anti-money laundering (AML) and anti-bribery and corruption (ABC) programs. Without universal access to official company records (including registries) de diligence is not only more expensive and difficult, but may not satisfy regulatory requirements.



"Legal entity data tells us the core facts for a company  most importantly does it exist, what's the type and status when was it incorporated, who are the directors and what other companies have they been directors of," notes Taggart. Helping Companies to enrich data and improve AI

Legal entity data can help companies to gain more valueand business insightsfrom big data initiatives and the legal entity provides a strong foundation. Taggart explains, "When you've got skewed, bad, opaque or incomplete data going into a technological system, the chances are low of AI, deep learning or machine learning making sense of it and coming out with useful algorithms or insights." When combined with other datasets, such as PEPs and sanctions lists, Legal entity data can help enhance compliance risk management and find connections within the data. Legal entity data can also improve the value of the data that companies hold, by providing additional context. Increasing visibility of financial crime The global nature of OpenCorporates data allows journalists, law enforcement, asset recovery lawyers and others to uncover patterns, relationships and anomalies that indicate tax evasion, immigration fraud and other illegal or unethical activities. Working for transparency Todd Larsen, President of Nexis Solutions, a division of LexisNexis Legal & Professional, says, "We are delighted to join forces with OpenCorporates because their trusted, provenanced, official company data allows us to solve more problems for our clients." He adds, "If legal entity data is widely accessible, it supports transparency, trust and the rule of law across the world, which fits strongly with the ethical ambitions of LexisNexis and the RELX Group." OpenCorporates is a public benefit organization that makes company data open and accessible to all. This activity is overseen by the OpenCorporates Trust. Chris Taggart, says, "We are particularly pleased with this relationship, not just because it will expand the number of entities using OpenCorporates but because our values around public benefit, trust and transparency are so closely aligned with those of LexisNexis." Learn more about Nexis Data as a Service About LexisNexis Legal & Professional LexisNexis Legal & Professional is a leading global provider of legal, regulatory and business information and analytics that help customers increase productivity, improve decision-making and outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world. LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which serves customers in more than 130 countries with 10,000 employees worldwide, is part of the RELX Group. The Nexis Solutions division of LexisNexis Legal & Professional serves organizations across the globe, offering premier news, corporate information and public records through a portfolio of solutions, including the award-winning Nexis. About OpenCorporates OpenCorporates is building the global map of company data, collecting all the world's official public information on companies, and using it to build a company dataset fit for the modern data-driven world  standardized, accurate, provenanced and open. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/821439/LN_cmyk_h_pos_ID_98f6a600c1c3.jpg

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Industry Leaders to Converge in Hong Kong to Discuss Digital Assets and Blockchain Applications at the HashKey International Digital Asset Summit 2019

HONG KONG, Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The HashKey International Digital Asset Summit 2019 (HIDA2019), hosted by HashKey Group, Wanxiang Blockchain Labs and co-organized by Cyberport and ZA International, will be held on 21st March, 2019 at The Four Seasons Hotel, Hong Kong. Joining the event will be over 400 delegates from banks, asset management firms, technology firms, family offices, hedge funds, venture capital firms, financial regulatory institutions and industry associations in Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul. HIDA2019 will be the first summit in Asia aimed at increasing global awareness of digital assets and blockchain applications and follows the Global Blockchain Summit that has been hosted by Wanxiang Blockchain Labs for the last four years. At the event, industry experts and key opinion leaders from investment, finance, blockchain and market regulatory fields will be presenting and participating in various panel discussions. With the theme, "Digital Assets: From Frontier to Mainstream", this year's event will help to educate institutional investors about this new asset class and will explore several key topics relating to digtal assets and blockchain technology such as market infrastructure, portfolio management, research and valuation, case studies of successful blockchain applications, secured custody, banking services, AML/CFT tools, trading ecosystems, accounting and auditing, regulatory clarity and security tokens.



Key opinion leaders will deliver keynote speeches on the following issues: What is the current market structure of digital assets, and how does this compare with other asset classes?

What are the opportunities and risks for the industry?

What are the emerging use cases for blockchain technology?

How should we classify digital assets across digital tokens, digital currencies, tokenised securities and commodities, and security tokens?

What professional research, trading, and valuation tools are available?

How are companies dealing with AML/CFT requirements?

How are institutional investors thinking about this asset class today?

What kind of regulatory frameworks are emerging? To purchase tickets, please visit: https://www.hashkey.com/#/hk. Early bird tickets are available before 28th February, 2019.

To apply to be a sponsor of the event, please contact: contact@hashkey.com. About the HashKey Group HashKey Group (HashKey Digital Asset Group Limited) is a leading Fintech group established in Hong Kong in 2018. Set up by a group of Fintech veterans, the group is focused on the development of the blockchain and digital asset industry with a commitment to build a global ecosystem in this field. About Wanxiang Blockchain Labs Funded by China Wanxiang Holdings, Wanxiang Blockchain Labs is the first non-profit research institution focusing on Blockchain technology. Wanxiang Blockchain Labs gathers industry professionals to provide support for research, entrepreneurship, development and applications in the industry, and also provide reference information for regulatory bodies, dedicating itself to the promotion and application of Blockchain industry, and to explore how the technology will be contributing to the development of the economy and the society. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/industry-leaders-to-converge-in-hong-kong-to-discuss-digital-assets-and-blockchain-applications-at-the-hashkey-international-digital-asset-summit-2019-300795601.html SOURCE Wanxiang Blockchain Labs

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Leidos Innovations UK to support the 2021 Census for England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Leidos Innovations UK technology to ensure all England, Wales and Northern Ireland households can contribute to the UK's most important questionnaire LONDON, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos Innovations UK, a subsidiary of Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), a FORTUNE 500 company, has been awarded a contract with potential value of up to 65.1m to join a team of suppliers in supporting the 2021 Census in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. As Census completion moves to being predominantly online, Leidos Innovations UK's role will be to enable those households who are unable to complete the census using this method to take part by providing and managing a paper-based alternative. Working with the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Leidos Innovations UK will prepare and dispatch up to 16 million paper questionnaire packs, and then securely manage, capture and digitise the responses for te 2021 Census in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland and the rehearsal in 2019.



Leidos Innovations UK will use the latest technology to drive cost efficiencies in accurately coding the paper-based responses to the Census, which will provide the most accurate population estimate of all people and households. The census helps inform vital public services, underpinning local and national decisions on provision of education, housing and healthcare, as well as many other policy areas. Matt Wiles, Leidos Innovations UK Chief Executive, said: "The Census is a vital insight into the population of the UK and will be of benefit for generations to come. It is a capability that Leidos Innovations UK is proud to support and modernise as the ONS moves towards a fully digital census."

Leidos Innovations UK Limited is a technology services company providing government and commercial organisations with solutions throughout the UK. Customers include central government, and UK regulatory bodies, with the ultimate parent company being Leidos. Leidos is a global science and technology solutions leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defence, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company's 32,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $10.17 billion for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2017. Leidos UK has more than 1,200 employees servicing defence, public services, transportation, and logistics clients. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com U.K. Media Relations Contact

Robert McNeill

+44 7970 365 258

robert.mcneill@leidos.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/4662/leidos_logo_4817_21071_.jpg

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 13, 2019] Brits Carry upto 1.2b Worth of 'Ex-cess Baggage', eBay Reveals

And it's generation X who find it hardest to let go LONDON, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- With the most romantic time of year just around the corner, new research from eBay.co.uk has revealed that one in six (16%) of Brits are carrying up to 150 of 'stuff' from past relationships into love nests with someone new  that equates to a staggering 1.2billion[1] worth of 'ex-cess baggage'. 42% [2] of Brits admitted they not only cling to old memories, but also to physical objects from past loves when they move in with a new partner

of Brits admitted they not only cling to old memories, but also to physical objects from past loves when they move in with a new partner And this 'ex-cess baggage' causes arguments for one in six of us when we set up home with someone new

Far from being the cosy nesting period most new cohabitants expect, over half (52.9%) of those surveyed by the online marketplace admitted to spending the moving in period arguing

And one in ten (11.6%) said they'd had more than five rows about how to combine their past lives Yet it's the supposedly innocent items that can cause the biggest bust ups. Home decor such as cushions and candles (12%) was most likely to cause trouble and strife followed by big ticket tech items (11%). While Glasgow is the 'excess baggage' capital of the UK  with nearly three quarters (67.5%) of inhabitants saying they moved with more than the memories - it's lovelorn Generation X who find it hardest to let go of old mementos  possibly inspired by the romantic films of their era such as When Harry Met Sally andReality Bites.



eBay Director of Consumer-to-Consumer Selling, Nikin Patel says, "When a couple move in together, it appears that stuff from past relationships is not only taking up floor, but also head space for their new partner. Moving house is an expensive and stressful time. With more than 179 million active buyers on eBay, getting rid of your 'ex-cess baggage' before you move in could be the way to avoid unwanted tiffs and give you the cash to make new memories." About eBay

eBay was the first online marketplace. Today, it's a household name. A regular feature in lists of best loved brands, it connects millions of buyers and sellers, helping customers to find the item they're looking for from its 1.2 billion listings. With 179 million buyers in 190 markets, trade is fast. The UK website sells a car part every two seconds, and last year the online marketplace saw must-have items like LEGO Harry Potter flying off the virtual shelves every ten seconds. This incredible interest directly benefits the small businesses who trade on eBay, giving them access to an audience once unthinkable for a small shop on the high street. Throughout its history, eBay has helped many thousands of small businesses to succeed. Small British firms regularly rank in the top five grossing sellers on eBay.co.uk's biggest trading days like Black Friday, and over one thousand British sellers who started with a shop on eBay are now running million-pound businesses, providing jobs to people in their communities. By partnering with sellers in this way, eBay.co.uk has helped hundreds of thousands of British entrepreneurs over its 23-year history. As a hub of retail in the UK, the marketplace also continues to welcome top brands to the site  including Adidas, Currys, Halfords, Canon, BooHoo and more. eBay also makes it easy for customers to give to charitable organisations. Using eBay for Charity, sellers can donate a portion of their sales and buyers can shop while supporting their favourite causes  adding to the funds that eBay.co.uk has raised for UK charities to date. Did you know? eBay has 179 million active buyers around the world. In the UK, eBay serves 25m Brits a month. Social media @ebay_UK https://www.facebook.com/eBay.co.uk/ https://twitter.com/eBayUK_news References: [1] Taken from ONS data based on UK adults aged 20+ [2] Survey carried out with 1,082 respondents with a partner by Opinion Matters, 01.02.19  05.02.19

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 13, 2019] Talk To A Malaysian Doctor While Travelling Abroad - DoctorOnCall collaborates with Tune Protect to launch AirAsia Tune Protect Travel Protection Policy

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2006, it was estimated that there were 11.9 million international travels made by Malaysians and it is anticipated to increase to 14.2 million in 2021. Travelling has been one of the popular activities enjoyed by Malaysians especially the younger generation. Part of this phenomenon is contributed by an increase in the number of no-frills carriers and affordable accommodations that are operating in this region. Falling sick would be an undesirable situation for any traveller, especially those travelling to a foreign land. In addition to being away from their home country and unfamiliarity, there is also a possibility of language barrier and an unpredictable cost of getting a medical consultation. In medicine, good communication is key. Good communication established between a doctor and the patient will ensure the correct diagnosis with the right medication dispensed. Good news! Tune Protect has partnered with DoctorOnCall.com.my, Malaysia's first telehealth service provider that offers online medical consultation with board-certified doctors via chat, phone call or video call. Through this collaboration, AirAsia Tune Protect Travel Protection policyholders will receive complimentary medical consultation services for free while travelling.



DoctorOnCall is an online platform that provides medical consultation with more than 70 Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) registered doctors with valid Annual Practicing Certificate (APC). Patients will be able to speak to a doctor with regard to common ailments such as cough, flu, fever, skin conditions and consultation for long term disease management such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Patients just require either a phone or an internet connection to be connected to a doctor. AirAsia Tune Protect Travel Protection policyholders can now obtain free medical consultations during their international or domestic travels. In the event that the doctor prescribes any medications, domestic travellers will enjoy free medication delivery directly to their doorsteps. This is important as majority of medications for ailments such as diabetes, hypertension and migraine requires a prescription.

"Now travellers can speak directly with a MMC-registered and APC-holder doctor regardless of where they are around the globe. Getting a medical consultation has never been easier" said Maran Virumandi, Co-founder and Managing Director of DoctorOnCall.com.my. With AirAsia Tune Protect Travel Protection, travellers have the option to choose its annual travel protection plan starting from 50 cent per day or a one time travel flying with AirAsia starting from 80 cent per day. For further details about the partnership between AirAsia Tune Protect Travel Protection and DoctorOnCall please head over https://www.tuneprotect.com/airasia/en/doctoroncall/. For further enquiries about DoctorOnCall, visit www.DoctorOnCall.com.my or dial 03-84082000 for further information. Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20190211/2371357-1 SOURCE DoctorOnCall

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 13, 2019] Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP Announces Investigation on Behalf of Bristow Group Inc. Investors

Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP ("GPM") announces an investigation on behalf of Bristow Group, Inc. investors ("Bristow" or the "Company") (NYSE: BRS) 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 February 1, 2019, the Company disclosed that it "did not have adequate monitoring control processes in place related to non-financial covenants within certain of its secured financing and lease agreements." The same day, the Company announced that it had terminated its agreement to purchase Columbia Helicopters, Inc. On this news, the Company's share price fell $1.22 per share, or nearly 40%, to close at $1.84 per share on February 12, 2019, thereby injuring investors.



If you purchased Bristow 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, 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/20190213005735/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 13, 2019] Victory over Gilead! California Court Rules HIV Drug Personal Injury Cases May Proceed

HIV/AIDS patients and advocates are celebrating a California court ruling that allows personal injury cases against Gilead Sciences Inc. over the drug company's years-long promotion of its TDF (News - Alert) -based HIV/AIDS medications that cause permanent damage to kidneys and bones, to proceed. In a ruling issued earlier today, the Honorable Carolyn B Kuhl, Judge of the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles rejected all but one of Gilead's arguments in its demurrer seeking to have all the HIV/AIDS patients' legal theories dismissed. Judge Kuhl's well-reasoned opinion held that Plaintiffs' allegations were sufficiently pled to move forward with all their tort claims, aside from strict liability. In May 2018, California patients living with HIV filed a personal injury lawsuit against Gilead Sciences Inc. seeking to hold the Bay Area drug maker accountable for actions around its promotion of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate's (TDF's) drug formulation, knowing a safer alternate, tenofovir alafenamide (TAF), existed; failure to warn patients of the damaging side effects of TDF; and active misrepresentation of TDF's efficacy and risks. The legal actions, prepared by HIV Litigation Attorneys and Rutherford Law, were fild in May 2018 in Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles, [Case No. BC702302, Personal Injury Claims; and Case No. BC 705063, Class Action Status], and each demands a jury trial. AHF is funding the litigation and will not receive any financial recovery from the lawsuit in excess of its actual costs.



The cases also assert that Gilead deliberately and maliciously suppressed from the market its alternate and newer formulation of the drug, TAF, in order to extend the patent life-and sales-of its existing medications that included TDF. Gilead earned over $18 billion in net profit in 2015. "This ruling is a tremendous victory for HIV/AIDS patients in their quest for justice regarding the life-threatening physical harm that Gilead has caused and we thank Judge Kuhl and the court for allowing these cases to proceed," said Arti Bhimani of HIV Litigation Attorneys, attorney for plaintiffs.

"Gilead's perverse motive of outsized profits and increased market share is not in line with patient health and safety and we are grateful that patients will now get their days in court," said Liza Brereton of HIV Litigation Attorneys, attorney for plaintiffs. "Gilead has shown a disregard for its patients' health in order to reap outsized profits from its TDF medications. I am happy the judge has allowed our case against Gilead to proceed," said Plaintiff Michael Lujano. Anyone interested in joining this lawsuit should visit www.hivlitigation.com or call HIV Litigation Attorneys at (323) 860-5230. About AIDS Healthcare Foundation AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over one million 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 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190213005884/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 13, 2019] Anaqua Receives Major Investment from Astorg

Anaqua, the leading provider of innovation and intellectual property management solutions, today announced that the business will receive a significant equity investment from Astorg, a leading European private equity firm. As part of this transaction, Astorg will become the controlling shareholder of Anaqua, replacing Insight Venture Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners, both of which have been investors since 2013. The transaction will accelerate Anaqua's global organic growth and acquisition strategy. This announcement follows the recent launch of AQX, Anaqua's leading-edge software platform. With the integrated AQX platform, Anaqua's customers can seamlessly access analytics and tech-enabled services to transform their IP assets into business success. Astorg is exclusively focused on investing in global B2B niche market leaders with a clear vision and demonstrated ability to drive growth, create value and enjoy long-term relationships with their clients. "Astorg will be a great partner going forward and this strengthens Anaqua's capacity to pursue strategic growth initiatives," said Bob Romeo, CEO of Anaqua. "This is a clear vote of confidence in Anaqua's direction, products, services, people, and clients." "From our initial interactions with the Anaqua team, we recognized a unique ability to consistently deliver innovative market-leading, differentiated solutions," said Francois de Mitry, Managing Partner of Astorg. "Anaqua's unique partnership with its clients combined with a clear vision to transform IP into business success will be a game-changer for the IP industry," said Michael Beetz, Director of Astorg.



"Since our investment in 2013, we have enjoyed partnering with Anaqua to drive exceptional growth as the company has become a leader in the Intellectual Property industry," said Richard Wells, Managing Director of Insight Venture Partners, Anaqua's current controlling stakeholder. "We wish the company and the management team well as they enter this next phase of scaling." The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions.

William Blair & Company, LLC served as financial advisor and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP served as legal advisor to Anaqua. Evercore Inc served as financial advisor and Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal counsel to Astorg. About Anaqua Anaqua is a premium provider of integrated, end-to-end innovation and intellectual property (IP) management solutions, serving 50% of the top 25 U.S. patent filers, 50% of the top 25 global brands, and a growing number of the most prestigious, forward-looking law firms. The company's global operations are headquartered in Boston, with offices across Europe and Asia. Anaqua's IP platform is used by nearly one million IP executives, attorneys, paralegals, administrators, and innovators globally. Its solution suite merges best practice workflows with big data analytics and tech-enabled services to create one intelligent environment designed to inform IP strategy, enable IP decision-making, and streamline IP operations. For additional information, please visit Anaqua.com. About Astorg Astorg is an independent private equity group with over 8 billion of assets under management. Astorg seeks to partner with entrepreneurial management teams to acquire global companies and create value through the provision of strategic guidance, experienced governance and adequate capital. Astorg enjoys a distinct entrepreneurial culture, a long-term shareholder perspective, and a lean decision-making body enhancing its reactivity. Though not specialized, Astorg has gathered valuable industry expertise in software, healthcare, business-to-business professional services and technology-based industrial companies. Astorg has offices in London, Paris, Luxembourg, Frankfurt and Milan. About Insight Venture Partners Insight Venture Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high growth technology and software companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight currently has over $20 billion of assets under management and has cumulatively invested in more than 300 companies worldwide. Its mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on growth expertise to foster long-term success. Across its people and its portfolio, Insight Venture Partners encourage a culture around a core belief: growth equals opportunity. For further information about Insight Venture Partners: www.insightpartners.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190213005883/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]Freehand Los Angeles Buyer Alert: Non-Union Freehand Workers Organize as Los Angeles Union Hotel Workers Make Historic Gains

Potential Freehand Los Angeles buyers should be aware of a labor dispute and worker organizing at the property, which opened in June 2017. Although thousands of UNITE HERE Local 11 members work within blocks of the hotel, Freehand workers do not have union representation.

This could soon change.

Workers at the Freehand hotel have sought to exercise their legal rights in response to poor working conditions, low wages, and possible wage theft. By contrast, workers at the Westin Bonaventure, J.W. Marriott and other downtown hotels recently won a historic contract that will raise minimum hourly pay to over $25 per hour, improve health care coverage, strengthen a defined-benefit pension plan and bolster protections against sexual harassment and abuse.

According to Freehand workers, after they began to organize, hotel security threatened and sought to intimidate them. Local 11 has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that hotel security and management engaged in unlawful surveillance of their organizing activity, in violation of federal labor law.







Furthermore, on January 30, around 100 workers, LGBTQ activists, and community allies protested at the Freehand hotel after an incident in which a hotel security guard allegedly made offensive remarks referencing the Westboro Baptist Church to a group of clergy and LGBTQ activists advocating on behalf of hotel workers.

Potential Freehand buyers should ensure their due diligence process assesses headline risks, legal risks and other risks posed by worker organizing at the hotel.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190213005882/en/Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP Announces Investigation on Behalf of CPI Aerostructures, Inc. Investors

Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP ("GPM") announces an investigation on behalf of CPI Aerostructures, Inc. investors ("CPI" or the "Company") (NYSE American: CVU) 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 February 8, 2019, CPI announced that its previously issued financial statements for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 should no longer be relied upon due to an error related to the Company's billing process which caused an overstatement of revenue.

On this news, CPI's share price fell 8.5% to close at $6.34 per share on February 8, 2019, thereby injuring investors.

If you purchased CPI 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 888-773-9224, 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/20190213005879/en/[February 13, 2019] FASTSIGNS International, Inc. Hosts Community Giveback Project

CARROLLTON, Texas, Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- FASTSIGNS franchisees and their employees, vendors and FASTSIGNS International, Inc. corporate staff participated in a "FASTSIGNS Community Giveback" by assembling 17,000 meals for local children and their families with the organization, Feeding Children Everywhere. This event occurred during the 2019 FASTSIGNS International Convention held January 16-19 in Orlando, Florida. "Through our FASTSIGNS Community Giveback Projects, our meeting attendees and vendors come together to support a local cause and make a positive impact in the cities that host our events," said Tracy Lake, Director of Events at FASTSIGNS International, Inc. "We are so grateful for organizations that work to end hunger. With the help of our partners in giving, we were honored to join Feeding Children Everywhere to help make a dent in hunger for Orlando and the surrounding areas." Under the direction of Feeding Children Everywhere leadership, attendees measured, weighed, packaged and boxed 17,000 meals by forming 14 assembly lines. This was accomplished in 30 minutes during the FASTSIGNS Community Giveback Breakfast with a Purpose event. "Our partners not only provide meals, they provide hope," said Sarah Davila, Public Relations Manager at Feeding Children Everywhere. "Our event with FASTSIGNS created the opportunity to impact hundreds of families struggling with hunger in Orlando. Together we were able to provide 17,000 meals to children and families in need." This event was also made possible by the generous support of the FASTSIGNS Community Giveback sponsors including Vista System, swissQprint, peerhatch, Ornamental Post & Panel, Click2Sell, Digital Designed Solutions, Banner Ups, Computerized Cutters, Inc. and N. Glantz & Son. ABOUT FASTSIGNS: FASTSIGNS International, Inc. is the global franchisor of FASTSIGNS sign and graphic centers. We are a business-to-business franchise with over 700 independently owned and operated franchise locations in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Chile and Australia (where centers operate as SIGNWAVE(R). Locations will be opening in Malta and Spain in 2019.



FASTSIGNS locations provide comprehensive sign and graphic solutions (custom signs and visual graphics) to help businesses and organizations - including manufacturers, schools and universities, retailers, construction companies, healthcare facilities and many other industries - solve their visual communications challenges such as building brand awareness, increasing location "findability", promoting a product or service, helping people find their way around a facility or campus, hosting an event, communicating with employees, improving workflow, meeting safety and compliance regulations, etc. FASTSIGNS centers provide custom signs and graphics, including architectural and interior decor graphics, fleet vehicle graphics, digital signs and digital signage content, event graphics, displays, banners, posters, ADA signage, safety and identification signs and much more, as well as handle everything from design to installation.

To learn more about sign and visual graphic solutions or to find a location, visit fastsigns.com . Follow the brand on Twitter @FASTSIGNS , on Facebook at facebook.com/FASTSIGNS or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/fastsigns . Watch a video at https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialFASTSIGNS . For information about the FASTSIGNS franchise opportunity, contact Mark Jameson (mark.jameson@fastsigns.com or call 214.346.5679) ABOUT FEEDING CHILDREN EVERYWHERE: Feeding Children Everywhere, based in Orlando, Florida, is committed to providing healthy meals to those in need, sustainability and making contributions matter. Creating a hunger-free world will be possible if we have an awareness of our impact on the world around us. Feeding Children Everywhere has implemented sustainability goals to reduce their carbon footprint to eliminate the utilization of harmful plastics as well as helping to create self-sufficient and sustainable communities throughout program areas. Financial efficiency and meaningful impact are the pillars of their commitment as they believe that financial transparency combined with a high-energy, tangible impact volunteer experience is the key to a contribution that makes a meaningful difference. Contact:

Leah Edwards

FASTSIGNS Corporate Communications

214.346.5792

leah.edwards@fastsigns.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fastsigns-international-inc-hosts-community-giveback-project-300795312.html SOURCE FASTSIGNS International, Inc.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] TPT Global Tech's Latin American Partner New Orbit Technology Signs Deal to Launch First 5G Network in Central America

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TPT Global Tech (OTCQB:TPTW) announced today that its Latin American technology licensing and JV partner, New Orbit Technologies Central America (NOTCA), completed a deal with Antonio Safie, owner of SALNET Telecommunications El Salvador (www.salnet.com) to launch the first 5G network in Central America. SALNET currently owns the 3.5Ghz frequencies or spectrum, owns and operates 500 miles of fiber optics, and a wireless network infrastructure throughout El Salvador. Once the 5G network upgrade has been completed in El Salvador, utilizing the current existing frequencies, fiber and wireless infrastructure, SALNET and NOTCA will offer to its customers unlimited bundled TV, voice, data and mobile services operating on TPT Global Tech's 3D smartphone, media content, telco network and SaaS technology platforms. TPT Global Tech and NOTCA will share revenues generated in Central America pursuant to the licensing agreement between the two companies.

Antonio Safie was the recipient of the 2016 National Tourism Award, for his long history in the hotel industry, boosting the tourism industry and creating green tourism projects by converting the Sheraton Presidente Hotel into the first green hotel through the use of solar panels to produce energy and promote environmental conservation. In 2017 he received the "El Quijote" Award from the National Association of Industrialists of El Salvador for Rayones de El Salvador, his textile factory, in business for 54 years. Mr. Safie is the Honorary Consul of Cyprus in El Salvador. Mr. Safie and his family own over 12 companies in El Salvador with well over 1000 employees, most relevant to mention: Rayones de El Slvador, a textile company producing natural and synthetic fiber, Seguros del Pacifico, an insurance company (leader in bonds), Megavision Group, which has 6 television channels (15, 19, 21, 61, 63, 65), 2 national radio stations (97.3 FM and 107.7 FM), and 6 local radio stations, Sheraton Hotel Presidente, BOSH Investments a real estate development company, FERSA a manufacturer of ribbons for shoes and elastic bands and SALNET Telecommunications. Mr. Safie is currently developing a $75 million real estate project which will offer office space and a shopping mall in the city of San Salvador.



"Executing this deal with Mr. Safie, such a prevalent figure in Central America, positions TPT Global Tech, NOTCA and SALNET to be the first to bring 5G Technology to Latin America. At the same time, validates our business model and demonstrates how our multiple technology sectors vertically integrate to help our technology partners, domestically and internationally, compete in any market across the globe," said Stephen J. Thomas III, CEO of TPT Global Tech. "I have known and done business with Stephen since 2000 when he and his US Company were the first to bring new VOIP convergent technology to Central America. I am very pleased and excited to partner with Stephen again 18 years later to be the first to bring a new 5G convergent technology to Central America. Our SALNET team is looking forward to working with the TPT Global Tech and NOTCA teams to launch this new 5G technology platform in El Salvador," said Antonio Safie, owner of SALNET.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of various provisions of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, commonly identified by such terms as "believes," "looking ahead," "anticipates," "estimates" and other terms with similar meaning. Specifically, statements about the Company's plans for accelerated growth, improved profitability, future business partners, M&A activity, new service offerings and pursuit of new markets are forward looking statements. Although the company believes that the assumptions upon which its forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these assumptions will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking statements should not be construed as fact. The information contained in such statements is beyond the ability of the Company to control, and in many cases the Company cannot predict what factors would cause results to differ materially from those indicated in such statements. All forward-looking statements in the press release are expressly qualified by these cautionary statements and by reference to the underlying assumptions. About TPT Global Tech

TPT Global Tech Inc. (OTCQB:TPTW), based in San Diego, California, is a technology/telecommunications media content hub for domestic and international syndication, and also provides technology solutions to businesses domestically and worldwide. TPT Global offers Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), cloud-based Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS) and carrier-grade performance and support for businesses over its private IP MPLS fiber and wireless network in the United States. TPT's cloud-based UCaaS services allow businesses of any size to enjoy all the latest voice, data, media and collaboration features in today's global technology markets. TPT also operates as a master distributor for nationwide Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) and Independent Sales Organization (ISO), as a master distributor for pre-paid cellphone services, mobile phones, cellphone accessories and global roaming cellphones. For more information, please contact: Richard Eberhardt

702-556-7096



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Three Executives Added to the 2019 Inmar Analytics Forum Speaker Lineup

Winston-Salem, NC, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today Inmar announced that three keynote speakers have been added to the already stellar list of executives presenting at the 5th annual 2019 Inmar Analytics Forum taking place March 25 - 27, 2019 in Winston-Salem, NC. This years conference features industry-leading speakers representing a wide array of sectors to the keynote stage, to provide insight into their experiences for CPG, Retail and Healthcare professionals in attendance.



The three new speakers and their presentation titles include: John Linehan, President and Chief Strategy and Planning Officer at Kings Hawaiian: Strategic Planning Made Simple & Powerful - John Linehan has over 30 years of leadership experience in consumer goods and related industries. John began his career at Procter & Gamble where he advanced through the sales management organization primarily selling food products. He then joined the Clorox Company where, for seventeen years, he held positions of increasing responsibility in sales, marketing and general management across numerous product categories. In 1986, he founded Linehan Consulting; a business that was intended originally as a vehicle for his personal growth and learning through work with smalle companies in his spare time. Allen Nance, CMO at Emarsys: Revolutionizing the Marketers Role - Allen Nance is an entrepreneur, investor and director. From a rented house in 2000, he founded a company that became one of the worlds largest email marketing firms leading it to three Inc. 500 awards representing the fastest growing private companies in the United States before its acquisition. Today, he is an active technology investor and advisor to a set of companies that generates over $500 million a year in revenue and employs over 3,000 talented individuals. He is a graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology and a member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO). Rishad Tobaccowala, Chief Growth Officer of Publicis Groupe: "Too Much Data, Too Little Meaning - Rishad Tobaccowala is the Chief Growth Officer of the Publicis Groupe. In his current role, Rishad is responsible for supporting the leaders of the largest global clients of Publicis Groupe to help them grow in a transformative time and drives the global business development efforts of the firm. Over his 35-year career, Rishad has worked to incubate brands such as Starcom IP, Play, Giant Step, SMG Search and Denuo. He was named by BusinessWeek as one of the top business leaders for his pioneering innovation and TIME magazine dubbed him one of five Marketing Innovators. He is in the Ad Age Interactive Hall of Fame and has received a lifetime achievement silver medal award from the Chicago Ad Federation. Rishad holds a bachelors degree in mathematics from the University of Bombay and an MBA from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago with which he remains closely involved.



The 2019 Inmar Analytics Forum expects to attract more than 500 attendees to learn how to implement data-driven strategies for improving consumer and patient outcomes. The registration deadline is March 26, 2019.

For more information, and to register, please visit https://inmarforum.com/. ### About Inmar We reimagine everyday business challenges through market-driven commerce, analytics and technology solutions that are built to solve some of industries biggest obstacles to growth. Inmars customer-centric approach is evident through our success helping companies dynamically engage audiences, build brand loyalty, create efficiencies and drive profitable growth. Our solutions, such as prescriptive analytics, shopper and patient engagement, activation technologies and e-commerce platforms, are inspired by a new age of digital and technology-savvy consumers with changing expectations and behaviors, illuminated through advanced analytics and behavioral economics. We help leading Fortune 500 companies and emerging brands grow while providing their consumers with personalized and precision-driven tools to save money, improve health and safety, and more conveniently go about their lives. For more than 35 years, we have served retailers, manufacturers, healthcare providers, government and employers as their trusted intermediary and helping them redefine innovation. For more information about Inmar, please follow Inmar on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook, or call (866) 440-6917.

Sharon Joyner-Payne Inmar, Inc. (336) 631-7663 sharon.joyner-payne@inmar.com

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Telit Partners with Boatrax to Create a First-of-its-kind Smart IoT Boat Monitoring Solution

LONDON, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Telit, a global Internet of Things (IoT) enabler, today announced its successful partnership with the vessel tracking company Boatrax. With Telit's deviceWISE IoT Platform and cellular IoT communication modules, the Miami, Florida-based company created the Boatrax Box, a first-of-its kind monitoring and diagnostic solution that aggregates important data about boat performance and owner behavior in real-time. Launched in October 2018, the Boatrax Box brings boat owners peace of mind with a smart-boat experience that gets smarter the more it is used. With proprietary algorithms that adapt to the boat operator's behaviors, it delivers critical information such as location, predictive maintenance alerts and engine diagnostics to ensure top efficiency. Engineered with the MultiTech SocketModem Cell that leverages Telit's XE910 family of modules, the Boatrax Box is easy to mount and simple to use, while delivering the most comprehensive set of connectivity features in a compact form factor. "Creating the Boatrax Box was born out of a need for effectiveness and simplicity. During the prototype stage, it was clear we needed an IoT technology partner with device-side capabilities and expertise,'' said Arturo Malave, CEO and Co-founder, Boatrax. "Telit not only enabled us to design a cloud-based plug-and-play solution that allows owners to monitor and protect their boats remotely but also reduced our time to market." "Partnerships are key for providing businesses with best-of-breed IoT solutions that meet their unique needs and goals. With Telit's technology, Boatrax has a number of different communications networks to pick from, now and in the futurea key characteristic for a traking solution meant to be mounted on something as mobile as a boat," said Dennis Kelly, Senior Vice President Sales, Americas, Telit. "It also allows Boatrax to focus on their core competency and powerful differentiator of delivering end-user value.''



Boatrax will be on hand to demonstrate the capabilities of the Boatrax Box at the Miami International Boat Show, which takes place February 14-18, 2019, at the Miami Marine Stadium Park & Basin, Virginia Key, Florida. A live demonstration will be in tent C, booth C452. For more information on the Boatrax use case, visit: https://www.telit.com/resources/case-studies/boatrax/.

About Boatrax

Boatrax is a unique IoT platform capable to connect boat owners to their vessels in real-time using a proprietary IoT gateway that reads and stores all data coming from the engine devices and sensors connected to the boat. The company services boaters who want to streamline their vessel management. With two main categories including boat clubs/charter owners who are renting their boats, and private owners who want more control over maintenance and usage reporting of their vessel, Boatrax redefines IoT for the recreational boating industry offering OEM solutions to manufacturers and dealers who want to transform and create a innovative statement within the industry. About Telit

Telit (AIM: TCM), is a global leader in Internet of Things (IoT) enablement, with an extensive portfolio of wireless connectivity modules, platforms, virtual cellular IoT operator services, and professional services, empowering hundreds of millions of connected 'things' to date, and trusted by thousands of direct and indirect customers, globally. With nearly two decades of IoT innovation experience, Telit continues to redefine the boundaries of digital business, by delivering secure, integrated end-to-end IoT solutions for many of the world's largest brands, including enterprises, OEMs, system integrators and service providers across all industries, enabling their pursuit of enterprise digital transformation. Copyright  2019 Telit Communications PLC. All rights reserved. Telit and all associated logos are trademarks of Telit Communications PLC in the United States and other countries. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Media Contacts Leslie Hart

Telit

919-415-1510

Leslie.Hart@Telit.com Gaby Lechin

Valerie Christopherson

GRC for Telit

+1 949 608 0276

telit@globalresultspr.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/telit-partners-with-boatrax-to-create-a-first-of-its-kind-smart-iot-boat-monitoring-solution-300795373.html SOURCE Telit

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] NatureWorks Announces 100 Percent Third-Party Certified Sustainable Feedstock by 2020

A new initiative at NatureWorks will ensure that by 2020 100 percent of the agricultural feedstock for Ingeo biopolymers and Vercet performance chemicals will be certified by the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification System (ISCC) to the ISCC PLUS standard of best practices in agricultural production. NatureWorks was the first biopolymers manufacturer to become certified to the new ISCC PLUS standard in 2012 and currently has more than 40 percent of its agricultural feedstock certified. At full capacity, more than 90 farms will be involved in the program by 2020. The ISCC PLUS certified crops are grown within 50 miles of the NatureWorks' Blair, Nebraska, production facility, which has an annual production capacity of 150,000 metric tons of Ingeo biopolymer. Every farm entering the program receives training in adhering to the ISCC PLUS certification's principles, which are the following: Protect highly biodiverse and high carbon stock areas. Implement best agricultural practices for the use of fertilizers and pesticides, irrigation, tillage, soil management, and the protection of the surrounding environment. Promote safe working conditions. Comply with human, labor, and land rights. Comply with laws and international treaties. Implement good management practices and continuous improvement. "New materials innovation is being driven by the tenants of the circular bioeconomy, and as we seek to decouple plastics from fossil feedstocks, we remain committed to feedstock diversification and to critically assessing the sustainability of each and every feedstock we use," said Rich Altice, CEO and President of NatureWorks. ISCC PLUS is an independent third-party sustainability certification system developed in a multi-stakeholder initiative. The comprehensive program certifies the sustainability of agriculturl feedstocks used for biobased products, including both the environmental and social aspects of agricultural production. Site specific audits and certificates ensure full traceability and chain of custody along the supply chain, ensuring that the total volume of Ingeo received by the final user of the product can be traced back (and documented through a mass balance system) to the equivalent amount of certified, sustainable crop produced. ISCC certification has been adopted by global brands and is supported by non-governmental organizations.



"We are very happy about NatureWorks' commitment to sourcing sustainable agricultural feedstock," said Gernot Klepper, Chairman of the ISCC Association. "Agricultural producers have both a responsibility and a tremendous chance to contribute to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Certification with ISCC PLUS enables farmers to move toward more sustainable agricultural practices, thus supporting ecologic and social, as well as economic sustainability in agriculture and rural areas." As part of NatureWorks' commitment to renewable, sustainable feedstocks and materials, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation recently announced that NatureWorks, along with other global brandowners and manufacturers, have signed the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment. As a signatory, NatureWorks committed to the following in support of sustainable agriculture for bioplastics:

By 2019, 60 percent of the company's feedstock will be certified as sustainably and responsibly managed via ISCC PLUS.

By 2020, 100 percent of feedstock will be certified as sustainably and responsibly managed via ISCC PLUS.

By 2025, 100 percent of new feedstocks for additional manufacturing capacity will be certified as sustainably and responsibly managed via an independent third-party administered program. Follow NatureWorks on Twitter (News - Alert) (@natureworks) for the latest updates. For more information about NatureWorks and Ingeo, visit www.natureworksllc.com. About NatureWorks

NatureWorks is an advanced materials company offering a broad portfolio of renewably sourced polymers and chemicals. With performance and economics that compete with oil-based materials, naturally advanced Ingeo polymers are valued for their unique functional properties and used in products from coffee capsules and appliances to tea bags and 3D printing filament. NatureWorks is jointly owned by Thailand's largest ASEAN leading integrated petrochemical and refining company, PTT Global Chemical, and Cargill, which provides food, agriculture, financial and industrial products and services to the world. www.natureworksllc.com; follow NatureWorks on Twitter @natureworks About ISCC

ISCC (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) is a globally leading sustainability certification system. It is applied by more than 3,300 companies in 100 countries. ISCC is an independent multi-stakeholder system used to verify compliance with strict sustainability, GHG and traceability requirements. The certification is carried out by independent third-party organizations. ISCC is a high-level standard, widely recognized by authorities and industry initiatives. It is governed by the ISCC Association comprising 115 Members. A key objective of ISCC is to support the development of a sustainable bioeconomy. Find out more at: www.iscc-system.org View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005701/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Making better embryos - CRCHUM researchers have made a breakthrough related to infertility

MONTREAL, Feb. 14, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - One out of every six Canadian couples experiences infertility. Some resort to in vitro fertilization. But the embryos obtained through this technique often have defects. In a study published today in the journal Current Biology, researchers from the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) succeeded in reducing the number of defects in mouse embryos in the laboratory. In the medium term, this unprecedented discovery could improve infertile couples' chances of giving birth. About half of the embryos generated during in vitro fertilization fertility treatments contain cells with an abnormal number of chromosomes. This abnormality, called aneuploidy, is well known in reproductive biology and is considered a major cause of infertility. https://we.tl/t-5hhq2PCuLE "In our study, we explain at least one of the reasons why this occurs. We found that it's due to a defect in a mechanism called the "spindle checkpoint." We also show that if we manipulate this checkpoint in mouse embryos by using asimple drug, we can reduce the chances of error by about half," explained Dr. Greg FitzHarris, CRCHUM researcher and professor at the Universite de Montreal.



By administering the right dose of this synthetic substance called proTAME, researchers observed that a larger percentage of cells of each of the mouse embryos had a normal number of chromosomes. In mice, a normal oocyte (ovum) contains 20 chromosomes, whereas in humans it contains 23. Hope for humans?

Making the best possible embryo is one of the keys to success when it comes to in vitro fertilization.

This discovery is still at the basic research stage, being conducted in the laboratory on mice. Greg FitzHarris emphasizes that it's very important to be cautious about its application to humans. "The potential for transferring the technique to humans is clear. And I'm sure that fertility clinics would really like to try it in the hope of creating 'better embryos.' However, it would be very irresponsible to implement this concept clinically at this point, before safety tests have been successfully carried out," emphasized the researcher. The results of this study were the subject of a provisional patent application US 62/729,090 entitled "Method of reducing chromosome segregation error in cells of the early embryo" filed September 20, 2018. The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Fondation Jean-Louis Levesque. To read: "Cell size-independent spindle checkpoint failure underlies chromosome segregation error in mouse embryos" par Cayetana Vazquez-Diez et al. in Current Biology. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.12.042 Information and statistics on fertility: Public Health Agency of Canada website About the CRCHUM

The University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) is one of North America's leading hospital research centres. It strives to improve adult health through a research continuum covering such disciplines as the fundamental sciences, clinical research and public health. Over 1,861 people work at the CRCHUM, including 542 scientists and 719 students and research assistants.

chumontreal.qc.ca/crchum

@CRCHUM SOURCE Centre hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal (CHUM)

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] James A. Gash Named Eighth President and CEO of Pepperdine University

James A. Gash, associate dean for strategic planning and external relations and professor of law at the Pepperdine School of Law, has been named the eighth president and CEO of Pepperdine University. Gash is a renowned education administrator, legal scholar, global justice advocate, and attorney. He was selected by the Board of Regents Wednesday afternoon and will succeed Andrew K. Benton on August 1, 2019. Benton announced last March that he planned to step down at the end of the 2018-2019 academic year after 19 years as president. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005775/en/ James A. Gash, newly named president-elect of Pepperdine University. (Photo: Business Wire) "The board's selection of Jim Gash to serve as the next president of Pepperdine is an auspicious moment in the history of this remarkable university," said Ed Biggers, chair of the Board of Regents. "Throughout his venerable career at Pepperdine and beyond, Jim follows in the footsteps of Pepperdine presidents before him who have demonstrated the kind of inspiration, integrity, strength, and measured leadership that have made this university into the elite academy it is today. We will be fortunate to have Jim's guiding vision for Pepprdine as we write our next chapter and continue to be a leading university in Christian higher education."



Biggers also praised the robust participation from the Pepperdine community throughout the search and the work of the Presidential Search Committee, which was led by regent Dale Brown ('64) and committee vice chair Harold Smethills. "For the past year, the Presidential Search Committee along with the Board of Regents have worked tirelessly to identify the next chapter of Pepperdine leadership," said Biggers. "I'm grateful for the commitment and support of each of these groups, which have done an exceptional job gathering and listening to community feedback and carefully deliberating the qualities of each candidate."

As president, Gash will have the primary responsibility for the strategic leadership of the institution. In the coming years, he will lead the University through major initiatives to support the University's Christian mission and reputation, strengthen student learning and scholarship, enhance faculty research and recruitment, and develop new resources that advance its vision to become a premier, global, Christian university. The first alumnus to assume the University's presidential mantle, Gash will be formally introduced as president-elect to the Pepperdine community at 9 AM on Monday, March 4 at a special community event in Elkins Auditorium on Pepperdine's Malibu campus. As the associate dean for strategic planning and external relations, Gash provides operational oversight for many of the School of Law's signature development initiatives. As professor, his areas of focus are torts, evidence, global justice, and international human rights. He also serves as the director of the esteemed Sudreau Global Justice Program at Pepperdine Law, is a Special Advisor to the High Court of Uganda, and was recently named chancellor of LivingStone International University in Mbale, Uganda. Since 2010 Gash has visited Uganda more than 25 times with Pepperdine students to support the Ugandan judiciary and assist the country in its justice reform efforts. In 2016 he published his first book, Divine Collision, which chronicles how his life and the Ugandan criminal justice system were dramatically changed as a result of meeting a Ugandan teenage prisoner during Gash's first visit to Uganda. The following year, Revolution (News - Alert) Pictures released the award-winning and highly acclaimed documentary Remand about the Sudreau Global Justice Program's transformative work in the developing world. "Pepperdine has always been a story of unbridled progress and never more so than under the leadership of Andy Benton, who has propelled this university to the highest echelons of Christian higher education in the United States," said Gash. "I am both humbled and thrilled to have the opportunity to build on his administration's legacy of growth and excellence, fueled by the imagination, innovation, and creativity of Pepperdine's talented faculty, staff, students, and alumni around the world." Prior to joining the faculty at Pepperdine, Gash worked for the litigation firm DeSimone & Tropio before serving as a law clerk to the Honorable Edith H. Jones, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He later joined Kirkland & Ellis, focusing on civil and appellate litigation, until he joined Pepperdine as an associate professor of law in 1999. Gash is also the recipient of the prestigious Elizabeth Beckman Mentor Award and the Warren Christopher Award, which recognizes the State Bar of California's international lawyer of the year. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the US District Court for the Central District of California. Gash received his bachelor's degree in finance, summa cum laude, from Abilene Christian University in 1989 and his JD, summa cum laude, from the Pepperdine School of Law in 1993. He is married to Joline Gash ('92), and together they have three children, Jessica ('18); Joshua, a Seaver College junior; and Jennifer, a Seaver College first-year. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005775/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] GC&E Systems Group to Host 2019 Converged Security Summit

GC&E Systems Group, Inc. (GC&E) will host Atlanta's premier security event at the 3rd Annual Converged Security Summit ( CSS (News - Alert) ) on February 28, 2019 at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. CSS 2019 focuses on the convergence of information, cyber, and physical security systems and the criticality of viewing them as an integrated platform to be protected from evolving vulnerabilities and risks. With the Internet of Things driving the connectivity and integration of an ever-growing number of devices to our networks; the proliferation of IP-based physical security devices such as cameras and access control systems; and the storage of access lists, policies, and procedures on our systems, avenues of attack aimed at a multitude of enterprise assets is expanding at an alarming rate. Reliance on technology alone is not enough to secure these assets, and corporate executives are finding that responsibility for cyber security compliance falls squarely on their shoulders. Viewing information, cyber, and physical security as separate organizational or operational entities almost guarantees an organization's inability to secure any of them. What must an organization do to protect its valuable data, systems, and people? CSS 2019 brings together three thought leaders within the information, cyber, and physical security industries to provide their perspectives, insights, and recommendations regarding the best means to protect our organizational assets (information, intellectual and physical property, customers and employees). Additionally, more than 40 nationlly-recognized, best-in-class security and IT vendors will be in attendance to demonstrate and discuss their unique products and service offerings.



CSS 2019 is the not-to-be-missed security event of 2019 providing practical information that can be applied to your business or operations immediately while providing the opportunity to network and speak first hand with industry-recognized, subject-matter experts, and best-in-class vendors. Speakers Include:

Mike Howard , Former Chief Security Officer at Microsoft (News - Alert) Corporation, will discuss the digital transformation Microsoft has taken as a physical security organization by creating one of the best-in-class integrated Global Security Operations Centers (GSOCs) in the world to now transforming into a Virtual Security Operations Center (VSOC). He will elaborate the need for end-to-end security governance in an enterprise and will also touch on the leadership traits he believes will be integral for a security leader in today's and tomorrow's era of digital transformation.

, Former Chief Security Officer at Microsoft (News - Alert) Corporation, will discuss the digital transformation Microsoft has taken as a physical security organization by creating one of the best-in-class integrated Global Security Operations Centers (GSOCs) in the world to now transforming into a Virtual Security Operations Center (VSOC). He will elaborate the need for end-to-end security governance in an enterprise and will also touch on the leadership traits he believes will be integral for a security leader in today's and tomorrow's era of digital transformation. John Gomez , CEO at Sensato Cybersecurity Solutions, will engage the audience in a highly interactive and dynamic session of cybersecurity defenses, strategy, and operations. John will lead 2 teams through a table-top exercise of attacks and defenses in real-time so you can examine real-world attack methods employed by Russian cyber attackers. He will challenge you to become aware of your own assumptions and practices related to cyber and physical security.

, CEO at Sensato Cybersecurity Solutions, will engage the audience in a highly interactive and dynamic session of cybersecurity defenses, strategy, and operations. John will lead 2 teams through a table-top exercise of attacks and defenses in real-time so you can examine real-world attack methods employed by Russian cyber attackers. He will challenge you to become aware of your own assumptions and practices related to cyber and physical security. SPO Thomas Sutton Jr., Technical Manager of Integrated Video Support Unit at Atlanta Police Department, will share lessons learned in APD's CCTV preparation for Super Bowl LIII. Additionally, he will elaborate what the APD Operation Shield is and how the nearly 11,000 cameras throughout metro Atlanta are integrated into the Video Integration Center (VIC) to help APD prevent and solve crimes. There is no cost to attend and parking at the Georgia Aquarium is complimentary. Breakfast and Lunch are included. For more information and to register, visit www.gcesg.com/CSS or email at CSS@gcesg.com. About GC&E Systems Group Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, GC&E Systems Group, Inc. is a Veteran Owned systems integrator providing diverse IP-based electronic security, information assurance, IT, and telecommunications services and solutions. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005763/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] Flexpoint Sensor Systems, Inc. Receives Substantial Orders as it continues to Expand Its Global Medical and Medical IoT Wearables Market Presence

DRAPER, Utah, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Flexpoint Sensor Systems, Inc. ( FLXT ) is pleased to announce it continues to receive production Purchase Orders from award-winning client/partners such as South Korea-based Neofect . This relationship, originally established in 2015/2016, brought to market smart, innovative, medical glove-based technologies, featuring the Flexpoint Bend Sensor.

Neofect produces the RAPAEL Smart Glove, a 2018 CES Innovation award winner. Neofect has continued their market expansion globally with their FDA approved RAPAEL Smart Glove rehabilitation support technology. They have further successfully expanded their product lines to meet the unique/specialized demands of patients of different ages and needs, continuingto find applications where the Bend Sensor makes a difference. Flexpoint has received multiple purchase orders of increasing size and volume from NEOFECT which have been delivered.



According to Paul Sexauer, Flexpoint Vice President Sales and Marketing, This is the type of client relationship we look to establish, nurture and grow. We are pleased to see the success of Neofect as they have become a part of our growing client/partner base, and were honored to have the Bend Sensor designed into these innovative technologies. The glove-based wearables (medical and VR/AR) market continues to be very exciting for us and one where we are clearly differentiated. Flexpoint has already received two orders from Neofect during 2019 totaling over $40,000. Beyond these production orders, Flexpoint anticipates order volume attributable to Neofect and many others to continue to increase in 2019 and 2020 as they expand their market reach and their overall product offerings. Sexauer added, We continue to support these strategic relationships in every way possible to extend the use of their technology solutions in these expanding global markets.

Please visit http://www.flexpoint.com/ for more information. Neofect is an award winning rehabilitation medical glove company whose awards include the 2017 Popular Science Best of Whats New Award, the 2017 AARP Innovation Award, the Minister of Science Award and the 2017 and 2018 CES Innovation Award among others. Their clinical partners and customers include the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Banner-University Medical Center, which is affiliated with the University of Arizona, and a number of international partners. https://www.neofect.com/en/ About Flexpoint Sensor Systems, Inc. Flexpoint Sensor Systems, Inc. (FLXT) is an innovative technology firm specializing in developing products that feature the Company's patented Bend Sensor and related technology. The Bend Sensor is a groundbreaking sensing solution that is revolutionizing applications in the automotive, safety, medical and industrial industries. The Bend Sensor single-layer, thin film construction cuts costs and mechanical bulk while introducing a range of functions and stylistic design possibilities that have never before been available in sensing technology. Flexpoint's technology and expertise have been recognized by the world's elite business and academic innovators for over 17 years. The company is setting a new standard for sensing solutions in the "smart" age of technology. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that certain statements in this release are "forward-looking statements" and involve both known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Such uncertainties include, among others, certain risks associated with the operation of the company described above. The Company's actual results could differ materially from expected results. Contact Information: Flexpoint Sensor Systems

Clark Mower, President

801-568-5111 Brokers and Analysts

Chesapeake Group

410-825-3930

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] China.org.cn: A taste of Chinese food culture - The story of Xiaozhan Rice

BEIJING, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report by China.org.cn on the story of Xiaozhan Rice: Rice is a staple food at the Chinese dining table. Many people associate plump-eared rice with happy lives. A popular quote by ancient Chinese poet Xin Qiji goes - "The air is thick with the fragrance of rice, promising a bumper year." Rice is planted all over the north and south in China, and has many varieties. Xiaozhan Rice, a variety from Tianjin, has grown into a national favorite over the past few hundred years. Local people love Xiaozhan Rice very much. They describe that the "fragrance from one house's cooking (Xiaozhan Rice) spreads over the entire neighborhood." The name of Xiaozhan Rice originated from Xiaozhan Town in Tianjin. Small as it is, the town has been a place of strategic importance since ancient times because of its location  it faces the Bohai Sea and guards the national capital and its surroundings. The heavy military presence in the town and the history-changing "Xiaozhan Troops Training" made the place very famous and it was included on world maps drawn by European and American cartographers in the 19th century. The original Xiaozhan Rice was planted by soldiers as early as in China's Liao and Song dynasties. The rice became a special offering to the imperial families in the Qing Dynasty. In the 1950s, it was sold to Japan, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and Cuba as a high-quality agricultural product. Today, Xiaozhan Rice has been integrated with new technologies. Dozens of high-quality and high-yielding varieties have been bred, all marked by distinctive features including resilience to diseases and pests, drought and salinization. In addition to this, modern rice producion also utilizes machines and automated devices. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are now widely used for ecological protection. As a result, production efficiency has been greatly improved.



With the country's rapid economic development, Chinese people are increasingly pursuing higher-quality lives. They need not only a full bowl of rice, but a full bowl of tasty, nutritious rice. To fulfil these needs, entirely new breeds of rice have been created. "Jinchuan No. 1," "Tianlong 619" and "Jindao 919" - are all new varieties which have been judged by experts to be of equal quality with Japan's "Koshihikari" in terms of color, fragrance and taste. This shows that China has become a global leader in rice-breeding. With great wisdom, farmers have successfully used their shallow-water rice fields to let fish, ducks, crabs and rice coexist, building a virtuous cycle. And that reflects the philosophy of "harmonious coexistence" in traditional Chinese culture.

For China, agriculture is the foundation of the country. The breeding of Xiaozhan Rice uses a combination of traditional agricultural techniques and new technologies. It has, in a new way, brought about greater prosperity and better living conditions in rural areas and increased wealth of farmers. China Mosaic

http://www.china.org.cn/video/node_7230027.htm A taste of Chinese food culture - The story of Xiaozhan Rice

http://www.china.org.cn/video/2019-02/14/content_74463936.htm About China.org.cn Founded in 2000, China Internet Information Center (China.org.cn/China.com.cn) is a key state news website under the auspices of the State Council Information Office, and is managed by China International Publishing Group. We provide round-the-clock news service in ten languages. With users from more than 200 countries and regions, we have become China's leading multi-lingual news outlet introducing the country to the outside world. We are one of the country's authoritative outlets for government press releases and are authorized to cover various major events. "Live Webcast" is our online webcasting service to present State Council Information Office press conferences in both Chinese and English languages. We are reputed for timely and accurate delivery of news and information, and wide interactions with audiences. In addition, we are authorized to publish and live broadcast major events and press conferences of ministries, local government agencies and institutions as well as enterprises.

In the era of mobile internet, we endeavor to create an array of products for mobile devices headed by the multilingual WAP platform and the mobile APP. We also use Chinese and international social media to publish information for different user groups.

In the future, CIIC will continue to offer authoritative information about China, tell China's stories, voice China's opinions, and introduce a vivid, panoramic and multicultural China to the world through multi-language, multi-media and multi-platforms. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chinaorgcn-a-taste-of-chinese-food-culture---the-story-of-xiaozhan-rice-300795718.html SOURCE China.org.cn

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] California Virtual Academies Invites Students to Enroll for 2019-20 School Year

California Virtual Academies (CAVA), nine independent online public charter schools throughout the state, are currently accepting applications for enrollment for the 2019-20 school year. The California Virtual Academies use the K12-powered online curriculum to offer a personalized learning experience that meets students at their point of need. The nine CAVA schools, which are located in Fresno, Kings, Los Angeles, Maricopa, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Sonoma and Sutter, serve students in transitional kindergarten through 12th grade. Reference the chart below to see which school serves your county.







School Counties Served CAVA @ Fresno Fresno, Madera, Merced, Mono, San Benito CAVA @ Kings Kings, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Tulare CAVA @ Maricopa Inyo, Kern, Santa Barbara CAVA @ Los Angeles Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura CAVA @ San Diego Imperial, Orange (News - Alert) , Riverside, San Diego CAVA @ San Joaquin Alameda, Amador, Calaveras, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Stanislaus CAVA @ San Mateo San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz CAVA @ Sonoma Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Solano, Sonoma CAVA @ Sutter Butte, Colusa, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo, Yuba

Families of all backgrounds choose to enroll at CAVA to help their kids reach their full potential. Athletes or performers may be looking to balance a full schedule. Advanced learners can take Advanced Placement courses or enroll in college-level courses through CAVA's dual enrollment program. Online school also provides a one-on-one learning environment for students who need additional academic support. "At CAVA, teachers, school leaders, and administrators strive to support the unique needs of each and every student," said CAVA head of school April Warren. "We are dedicated to providing our families with the education their children deserve." Students attend both live and recorded class sessions that are accessed online, which helps students and teachers engage and interact as if they were sitting together in a traditional brick-and-mortar classroom. Each student is supported by a state-licensed teacher who monitors progress and provides guidance and instruction. Teachers communicate with students via phone, email and in-classroom chat sessions. The CAVA school's rigorous curriculum includes core subjects, as well as art, music and world languages. In addition to academics, students may participate in online clubs, and teachers organize numerous field trips and social activities where students have the opportunity to meet their teachers and classmates in person. Moreover, CAVA @ Los Angeles, CAVA @ Maricopa, and CAVA @ San Joaquin offer a program called Community Day, which combines the best of online learning with weekly face-to-face interaction. On Community Days, students receive instruction from teachers in math and language arts and participate in various other educational activities, such as physical education and science fairs, while parents receive support and network with other parents. All of CAVA's academic and extracurricular resources are designed to set students up for career and college success. CAVA will host several online and in-person informational events to help parents learn more about the program. For a list of events and more information about California Virtual Academies and the application process, please visit http://cava.k12.com. About California Virtual Academies California Virtual Academies are nine independent online public charter schools that use the curriculum provided by K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's leading provider of proprietary curriculum and online education programs. The California Virtual Academies are: CAVA @ Fresno, CAVA @ Kings, CAVA @ Los Angeles, CAVA @ Maricopa, CAVA @ San Diego, CAVA @ San Joaquin, CAVA @ San Mateo, CAVA @ Sonoma and CAVA @ Sutter. Families do not pay tuition for a student to attend an online public school. Common household items and office supplies like printer ink and paper are not provided. Our enrollment consultants can help address your technological and computer questions and needs. For more information about CAVA, visit http://cava.k12.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005075/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] AscendantFX Proudly Co-Sponsored the Federation des Tonneliers de France (French coopers) Congress, Held in the United States for the First Time

TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AscendantFX, a leading technology-based payments solutions provider for over 800 wineries, co-sponsored the Federation des Tonneliers de France (French coopers) Congress held in Napa Valley, California on February 1st, 2019. It was the first time the Congress was held outside of France in order to acknowledge and pay tribute to the American partnerships that are essential to their success in the export barrel market, and to show gratitude to local clients in the United States.

Left to Right: Ed Casey, Vice President, Global Payments at AscendantFX, Joseph Krief, Senior Currency Dealer at AscendantFX at Robert Mondavi Winery



Over one hundred French coopers, American agents and sponsors in the wine ecosystem flocked to the Congress at the Silverado Resort and Spa. Fifty-three businesses from Frances leading wine regions gathered to mingle with local partners and clients at the private event, packed with conference sessions and informal discussions. The Congress culminated in a black tie gala event at the prestigious Robert Mondavi Winery. Ed Casey, Vice President, Global Payments at AscendantFX states, We are honured to have the opportunity to co-sponsor this years Congress. We have been helping wineries, beverage importers and suppliers in the wine and beverage industry for nearly 30 years with international payments execution, and our expertise in this space made us a natural partner to work with the Federation des Tonneliers to host this vibrant event.



AscendantFX works closely with American wineries and agents to simplify their international payments to French cooperages. Kris Conemac, Accounting Director at Bouchard Cooperages states, Both we and our partners receive payments from AscendantFX quickly and easily. Im not sure how I would run my business today without the ability to use AscendantFXs services for foreign exchange transactions.

AscendantFX provides wineries with a fast and inexpensive solution to pay cooperage Euro invoices, streamlining and strengthening international supply chain relationships. About AscendantFX Capital Inc. AscendantFX marries the worlds of technology and international payment delivery to provide award-winning, technology-based payment solutions for financial institutions. The solutions are innovative, customer-focused, and backed by over 250 years of combined experience in the corporate foreign exchange, international payments and FX exposure risk management markets. AscendantFX currently services over 2,000 financial institutions in North America as a trusted international payment provider. About the Federation des Tonneliers de France The Federation des Tonneliers de France brings together 53 businesses located in the leading wine regions of France. In 2017, these businesses produced 615,385 units, accounting for sales of 429 million euros. 68% of this production was exported, mainly to the United States, Spain, Australia, and Italy. French cooperages continue to be a standard and world leader because of the quality of the raw material used and the expertise evidenced through a combination of ancestral craft skills and highly innovative techniques. About Bouchard Cooperages Bouchard Cooperages is a global barrel brokerage company representing a portfolio of highly skilled manufacturers of premium French, Eastern European, Hungarian and American oak barrels and French oak alternatives. This fine collection of Coopers includes Tonnelleries BILLON, DAMY, MAURY, MASTER COOPERS, EUROPEAN COOPERS HUNGARY and the oak alternatives supplied: CANADELL. Non oak related, Bouchard Cooperages also imports Italian eggs made of cocciopesto and concrete from DRUNK TURTLE, amphorae made from Impruneta terracotta from MONTECCHIO and sandstone or "gres" jars from VIN ET TERRE. For further information, please contact: Irene Lo

Magnolia Communications

irene@magnoliamc.com

604.306.1015 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at //www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e15bde5a-3c96-4c29-8184-f0fadf8e541d

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] 22 Startups Selected for Batch Four of the Supply Chain Innovation Program at Plug and Play

The Plug and Play Supply Chain Program hosted its Batch Four selection week in Silicon Valley from February 4 to February 7, 2019. Selection week culminated with 22 startups being selected to participate in the 12-week Supply Chain Innovation program at Plug and Play, the world's largest end-to-end supply chain innovation platform. The 40 startups that attended selection week had been narrowed down by the Plug and Play Supply Chain team from almost 500 initial startup entries. The participating startups came from around the world, representing countries such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Israel, and Singapore. Each startup pitched its company proposal to over 20 corporate partners during section week. Corporate partners had the opportunity to ask questions directly to each startup's representatives and learn more about their objectives. Startup representatives and corporate partners also participated in workshops and networking events as part of the selection week programming. The following 22 startups have been selected for Plug and Play's 12-week Supply Chain Innovation program: Arviem,Atollogy, Autobon, Boxbot, Descartes (News - Alert) Labs, Fitter, FleetUp, Hopstack, InOrbit, InstaDeep, Jackfruit Systems, Kinema Systems, LogiNext, MonoLets, The Morpheus Network, NextQuestion, Parsyl, Platform Science, Project Cosimo, SnapSupport, and Zorroa.



"We are excited to have this world class cohort of startups with us for the next few months. We are confident that they will succeed, and we can't wait to see them reach new milestones," said Farzin Shadpour, Managing Director of Plug and Play Supply Chain. The selected startups will further develop their businesses as they work alongside Plug and Play Supply Chain's corporate partners. These corporate partners include AddVentures by SCG, ArcelorMittal, BASF, Braskem, CMA CGM, DHL, Ericsson, ExxonMobil, Geodis, L'Oreal, Lufthansa Cargo, Panalpina, Panasonic, Prologis, PVH Corp., Ryder, Swiss Post, TJX, Union Pacific, USPS (News - Alert) , and Yamato Transport.

Startups and corporate partners will work together during the 12-week program to evaluate pilot projects and investment opportunities. The program will culminate with a week-long exposition in May 2019. About Plug and Play Supply Chain Established in 2017, Plug and Play Supply Chain is the world's largest end-to-end supply chain innovation platform. The program works with over 30 corporate partners and has helped hundreds of startups build their businesses and connect with major corporate clients. For more information, visit: https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/supply-chain/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190214005306/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 14, 2019] 2019 Ezra Jack Keats Mini-Grant Program Call for Proposals

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, dedicated to supporting arts and literacy programs in public schools and libraries across the country, is encouraging qualifying educators to apply for a 2019 Ezra Jack Keats Mini-Grant. Applications are currently being accepted, and the deadline for submissions is March 31, 2019. Approximately 70 grants, up to $500 each, will be awarded to teachers and librarians whose proposals demonstrate creativity and a desire to make learning fun. Decisions will be emailed to all applicants in May, allowing educators to plan for the 2019  2020 academic year. "For over three decades, it has been our privilege to support the vision of the most innovative teachers and librarians, who inspire students to read joyfully, think creatively and support one another with generosity," says Deborah Pope, Executive Director of the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation. Since 1987, the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation has provided over $1,000,000 in support of EJK Mini-Grant programs spannin the 50 states and U.S commonwealths. The Foundation welcomes Mini-Grant proposals focusing on any subject or discipline. To learn more about EJK Mini-Grants, and to see the criteria for application, visit Ezra Jack Keats Mini-Grants .



"With the deadline fast approaching, I encourage all creative educators who want to put their new ideas into action to go online and apply for an EJK Mini-Grant now," adds Pope. Following is a description of an outstanding 2018 Ezra Jack Keats Mini-Grant program, an exciting example of the work supported by EJK Mini-Grants:

An EJK Mini-Grant made it possible for Native American students from three different schools in Lincoln County, Oregon to meet together to carve personal totems during Ghas-Tv-Xvm (Deeni language for "The Places We Go.") This special event, led by Crystal Taylor, Lincoln County Indian Education coordinator and Liz Fox, IB Research & Curriculum Assistant at Newport High School, resulted in the carving of 22 separate clay totem pieces, which were assembled into four totem poles, each standing almost six feet tall. Taylor and Fox are working on the installation of the totem poles with the tribal headquarters along the Oregon coast. Says Fox, who is a potter, "It was amazing to see how quickly the students caught on to sgraffito, an ancient carving technique. Clay is such a great vehicle for expression and their totems are a beautiful reflection of their native culture." "The EJK Mini-Grant enabled us to make the connections between our native community and art in a very public way, and to buy the supplies and tools we needed to make this happen. The students worked collaboratively on tasks while also expressing their individuality with a focus on how the totem collection would present an overall theme to the community." About the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation Founded by Ezra Jack Keats, one of America's greatest children's book authors and illustrators, the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation fosters children's love of reading and creative expression by supporting arts and literacy programs in public schools and libraries through the EJK Bookmaking Competition and Mini-Grant program; cultivates new writers and illustrators of exceptional picture books that reflect the experience of childhood in our diverse culture through the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award; and protects and promotes the work of Keats, whose book The Snowy Day broke the color barrier in children's publishing. The Snowy Day was adapted by Amazon as a holiday special, which earned two Daytime Emmys, including Outstanding Preschool Children's Animated Program; and was used as the subject of a set of Forever stamps issued by and still available from the United States Postal Service. To learn more about the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, visit www.ezra-jack-keats.org .

Keats. Imagination. Diversity. For more information, please contact Sheree Wichard, wichard.pr@gmail.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2019-ezra-jack-keats-mini-grant-program-call-for-proposals-300796066.html SOURCE Ezra Jack Keats Foundation

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]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)State Police charged two men with multiple drug crimes on Tuesday.

Police did not provide many details on the circumstances surrounding the arrests.

Troopers charged Johnathan Reyes, 33, of Lakeland, Fla. and David Martin, 42, of Manhattan with five drug felonies and two drug misdemeanors, including possession and intent to sell, and a misdemeanor weapons possession charge.

Both were arraigned in Malta town court and sent to the Saratoga County jail. Reyes' bail was set at $50,000 and Martin's at $25,000.SCHENECTADY  In 2012, Jeanne Marron and other alumni of Notre Dame Bishop Gibbons High School received a letter from the national office of the Irish Christian Brothers.

The letter, Marron recalled at a press conference Thursday, "said if you were sexually assaulted by any of our people you have until such-and-such a date to come forward."

Marron came forward.

It had been more than 30 years since she had allegedly been sexually abused by Brother James Vincent Hanney, a former teacher at Bishop Gibbons.

Marron learned that she wasn't alone. "It was very quickly after that that I learned that my sexual assailant, rapist and exploiter ... was actually not just preying on me way back when, but that he was a simultaneously a serial sexual assailant of other, both male and female, teens."

Marron and four others shared their accounts of sexual abuse by religious leaders in New York as they announced a lawsuit against the Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men, an organization of priests and religious brothers. The lawsuit alleges that the group concealed the histories and identities of members who had been accused of sexually abusing children.

"In order to protect kids, we need to know about those hundreds  thousands  of pedophiles that are out there, that are assaulting kids," Marron said. "They are being protected by being moved around, by information being kept hidden and by not being appropriately disciplined, treated or anyway dealt with."

According to information provided by Jeff Anderson, the lawyer representing Marron and the four others in the suit, Marron was sexually abused by Hanney between 1977 and 1980 when she was a student at the Schenectady school.

Marron said the abuse began when she was 15.

Based on Bishop Gibbons yearbooks from the '70s, Hanney was a teacher there. Anderson said he was also a counselor.

Anderson alleged that Hanney "manipulated" Marron during counseling sessions, abused her at school and on camping trips to Maine.

Marron suspects more victims are out there. "This is also about being there for all those other survivors that haven't had the ability to step up yet, that were abused by him," she said.

Anderson said that in 1971, Bishop Gibbons students allegedly found a picture of a photograph of Hanney and two young men sitting on a picnic table naked. The students brought the photograph to the then-principal, who "reportedly took no action against Brother Hanney, instead allowing him unrestricted contact to Ms. Marron and other students."

Bishop Gibbons High School is now operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. At the time of the alleged allegations, it was operated by the Irish Christian Brothers, said Mary DeTurris Poust, the director of communication for the Albany Diocese.

"In light of this, any allegations of abuse would have been reported to the Irish Christian Brothers, not to the Diocese," DeTurris Poust said. "The religious order would maintain any records of employment and abuse allegations."

The Irish Christian Brothers website did list that a James Vincent Hanney had also worked at Briscoe Memorial School in Kent, Wash., in 1963 and 1964. That school has been embroiled in its own decades-old abuse scandals.

"He was moved numerous times," Marron said. "There was information that was provided to the order. ... It was known that it was a problem and nothing was done."

Marron said she has spent years trying to track down Hanney; she believes he is now teaching at a school in the Philippines.

She hopes this lawsuit will help reveal his whereabouts.

"It's about finding out where he is," Marron said. "Who is he hurting right now? How many more kids?"

The lawsuit calls for the Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men to release all the identities and information about priests and brothers accused of sexual abuse.

Mark Lyman, a local man who was sexually assaulted as a boy by a former associate pastor at Troy's St. Anthony of Padua Church, also spoke at the conference. Lyman was one of three people from the Capital Region who had their abuse claims vindicated when the Rev. Frank Genevieve admitted 10 years ago in a Massachusetts court that he sexually assaulted them decades ago during repeated trips from Troy to the Bay State.

Lyman lives in the Capital Region and for years has been prominent for his work as the Capital Region director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.

The filing of the lawsuit Thursday coincides with Gov. Andrew Cuomo's signing of the Child Victims Act, which sets a one-year period for alleged victims of sexual assault to file a lawsuit against their abusers or any organization or individuals that may have facilitated the abuse.

The lawsuit is not being filed under the new law, but as a separate legal action.

"These guys don't stop until they are dead, usually  or stopped by some system," Marron said. "They need to be stopped."COXSACKIE -- The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision is investigating after an inmate died at Greene Correctional Facility.

Anthony Myrie, 24, died on Monday, according to DOCCS website.

He arrived at the prison in November and was serving a sentence for an attempted drug sale in New York City.

The state told News10, the ABC affiliate in Albany, that Myrie died following an incident involving several inmates.

But Myrie's wife and brother have posted on Instagram saying that he was on the phone with his wife that day when correctional officers came to take him to a solitary housing cell, informally known as "The Box."

According to their posts, the family member of another inmate got in touch with Myrie's wife and confirmed he had been sent to solitary. When she called the prison they told her he was in general population.

Around 4:30 p.m. the prison called her back and said that he was in critical condition and a second phone call around 5:20 p.m. saying Myrie had died.

The family says they have not received any information on what lead to Myrie's death.

Thomas Mailey, a spokesman for DOCCS, said the agency was making no comment on the death and would not say how Myrie died.

Myrie was serving a 7-year sentence after being convicted of attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance in Manhattan. He started his sentence on Nov. 15, 2018.

Myrie's body is currently at the Albany County Medical Examiner's Office, according to News10. Myrie's family have said on Instagram they have not been able to locate his body.

Their posts caught the attention of Grammy winning rapper Cardi B, who shared her own story of allegedly seeing friends abused by correctional officers at the prison.

In 2016, the Times Union published a story about systemic abuse of inmates by prison officers, including a case at Greene Correctional Facility in Coxsackie where several officers faced discipline for an incident in which a gang member was put into the cell of an Albany man, Matthew Thornton, and told by a sergeant to "take care of business." The gang member, Raffi Mata, then attacked Thornton.

Thornton, who died in 2016 at the age of 37 after being released from prison, told the Times Union that officers sent Mata into his cell as payback for complaints, including formal grievances, he filed against officers. In another incident, Thornton said guards attacked him in a prison van, pulling a bag over his head to prevent him from breathing as they threatened him for filing grievances.

The inspector general referred Thornton's case at the Greene County prison to the U.S. Attorney's office in Albany, but that office took no action even though two prison officers were fired and an arbitrator found them responsible for Thornton's beating.Washington

Asserting congressional authority over war-making powers, the House passed a resolution Wednesday that would force the administration to withdraw U.S. troops from Yemen, in a rebuke of President Donald Trump's alliance with the Saudi-led coalition behind the intervention.

Lawmakers in both parties are increasingly uneasy over the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and skeptical of the U.S. partnership with that coalition, especially in light of Saudi Arabia's role in the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Passage would mark the first time Congress has relied on the decades-old War Powers Resolution to halt military intervention. It also would set up a potential confrontation with the White House, which has threatened a veto. The House voted 248-177 to approve the measure, sending it to the Senate, where a similar resolution passed last year.

"We have helped create, and worsen, the world's largest humanitarian crisis," said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Ca., during the debate. "Our involvement in this war, quite frankly, is shameful."

Chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee, Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said the vote represents "Congress reclaiming its role in foreign policy."

Senate approval would set up a showdown with the administration over Trump's shifting approach on foreign policy.

Lawmakers are quick to point out that Trump wants to withdraw troops from the wars in Syria and Afghanistan as part of his "America First" approach, but he has shown less interest in limiting the U.S. role in Yemen.

The White House says the House resolution is "flawed" because U.S. troops are not directly involved in military action in Yemen, where the coalition is fighting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. Since 2015, the administration says, the U.S. has provided support to the coalition, but it has not had forces involved in "hostilities."

Congress has not invoked the War Powers Resolution, which requires approval of military actions, since it was enacted in 1973. Lawmakers approved more sweeping authorizations for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that some argue are being used too broadly for other military actions.

Newly emboldened Democrats in the House, eager to confront Trump on foreign policy, and Republicans in both chambers have shown a willingness to put a legislative check on the president's agenda.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who drafted the legislation with independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, said there's an emerging bipartisan alliance that's skeptical of military intervention without congressional oversight. "It's not just about Yemen. It's about the Congress taking a stand and every future president having to think twice about whether to authorize a military intervention without congressional approval," Khanna said in an interview.TROY  Detective Aaron Collington had an opportunity Wednesday to bring an end to allegations he stole $6,200 from the police union he once led, and avoid prison time.

Instead, he'll take his chances and risk being convicted of a grand larceny charge that could put him behind bars for up to seven years.

The 50-year-old officer retired less than a day before turning down the plea deal in Rensselaer County Court on Wednesday. The decision sets the stage for an April 29 trial.

"When there's a plea deal offered, it's the client's decision to make," said Collington's attorney, Joseph Ahearn.

The plea offer from Special Prosecutor Linda Griggs would have spared Collington any time behind bars in return for his guilty plea to grand larceny, a felony, and a promise to complete 250 hours of community service.

The felony would have been reduced to petit larceny, a misdemeanor, if he had completed the community service and stayed out of trouble for a year.

Collington appeared headed toward taking a plea deal after he retired from the Troy Police Department on Tuesday. In earlier hearings before before County Court Judge Jennifer Sober, the defense said he would retire before making a plea.

Griggs declined to comment on Collington's decision.

The detective was arrested in October 2017, but aside from an initial suspension he remained on the job and hit the 20-year threshold to qualify for a full pension.

Collington had appeared on Sober's court calendar several times since he qualified for retirement in late 2018. When the court appearance was delayed past Jan. 1, Collington picked up six new weeks of vacation time he'll be paid for now that he is retired, a fact confirmed by several city officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Collington was indicted last summer for allegedly stealing from the Troy Police Benevolent Association while he was its president. The bargaining unit represents 118 patrol officers, detectives and sergeants.

He used the money to pay rent, according to the police complaint. Collington made $79,926 in 2017, according to seethroughny.net, a website that lists government payrolls in New York. Collington has been free without bail since his October 2017 arrest.

Officer Nick Laviano, the current PBA president and Collington's successor, attended the hearing Wednesday. Laviano declined to comment on the case.

Colington has repaid the money he allegedly took.

Griggs was assigned the case by Albany County District Attorney David Soares after he was named as a special prosecutor. Then-Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel E. Abelove asked that his office be recused from the case.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.Washington

A former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran despite warnings from the FBI has been charged with revealing classified information to the Tehran government, including the code name and secret mission of a Pentagon program, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The Justice Department also accused Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, of betraying former colleagues in the U.S. intelligence community by feeding details about their personal and professional lives to Iran. Four hackers linked to the Iranian government, charged in the same indictment, used that information to target the intelligence workers online, prosecutors said.

Witt had been on the FBI's radar at least a year before she defected after she attended an Iranian conference and appeared in anti-American videos. She was warned about her activities, but reassured agents that she would not provide sensitive information about her work if she returned to Iran. She was not arrested.

"Once a holder of a top-secret security clearance, Monica Witt actively sought opportunities to undermine the United States and support the government of Iran  a country which poses a serious threat to our national security," said FBI executive assistant director Jay Tabb, the bureau's top national security official.

Tabb said "she provided information that could cause serious damage to national security," though he did not provide specifics.

Witt remains at large in Iran, as do the four hackers, who prosecutors say were acting on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, prosecutors said. That group has been designated by the U.S. government as promoting terrorism.

The hackers, using imposter Facebook personas, then targeted those same officials and were even able at one point to join a private Facebook group composed primarily of retired government workers, the indictment says. The hackers sent the targets messages and emails that purported to be legitimate but instead contained malicious software that, if opened, would have given them access to the officials' computer and network.

Witt, a Texas native, served in the Air Force between 1997 and 2008. She was trained in Farsi  the predominant language of Iran  and was deployed overseas on classified counterintelligence missions, including to the Middle East. She then found work as a Defense Department contractor.

She defected to Iran in 2013 after being invited to two all-expense-paid conferences in the country that the Justice Department says promoted anti-Western propaganda and condemned American moral standards.

She was a Defense Department contractor at the time.

Officials would not elaborate on why the indictment was brought six years after her detection.ALBANY  An action plan unveiled by federal officials on Thursday offered a murky timeline for setting national limits on PFOA in drinking water.

But the announcement from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency only states it will seek authorization to regulate the toxic chemicals by the end of the year  a half-step that received sharp rebuke from environmental groups and the mayor of Hoosick Falls, a community that has for several years grappled with PFOA contamination in its drinking water.

In light of the ambiguous timetable from federal officials, advocates urged state officials to impose the nation-leading limits for the chemicals that were proposed in December by an advisory panel.

In 2015, Hoosick Falls was found to have high PFOA levels in its drinking water, and similar contamination was later discovered in nearby Petersburgh and other communities. The discovery set off a broader examination of the contaminants in New York's drinking water.

Perfluorooctanoic acid is a manmade chemical that was used for decades to manufacture industrial and household products such as non-stick coatings and heat-resistant wiring. The chemical is a specific subset of polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which the EPA acknowledges "can lead to adverse human health effects."

A peer-reviewed report on the health effects of PFOA, commissioned in connection with a class-action lawsuit in the Ohio valley, concluded the chemical has a "probable link" to cancer and other maladies.

The EPA's plan, which follows a national summit in May and is based on input from around the country, includes enforcement activities, new monitoring steps, additional research and the creation of risk assessment tools to help local communities. The effort will include multiple agencies, states, municipalities, water utilities and manufacturers, according to an EPA statement.

"We are moving forward with several important actions, including the maximum contaminant level process, that will help affected communities better monitor, detect, and address PFAS," acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a statement.

Hoosick Falls Mayor Rob Allen said he is "extremely disappointed" with the EPA's proposed solution, describing it has "high on rhetoric and short on action."

Allen said he was particularly frustrated with the agency's delay in implementing maximum contaminate levels for drinking water. "They are still years away from doing anything tangible," he said.

Allen and Michael Hickey, a village resident who discovered the PFOA in the village's water system, raised these concerns during a phone briefing on Thursday with federal officials.

Susan Bodine, an EPA compliance administrator, responded that the agency's regulatory process is codified in law, which prevents faster action.

"We don't control the regulatory timeline," Bodine said.

Allen said the federal government's system for regulating dangerous chemicals was "broken," and called on Congress to pass a law regulating the contaminants immediately.

Liz Moran, environmental policy director for New York Public Interest Research Group, said Thursday's announcement is further proof that the EPA is "no longer serious about protecting public health."

"EPA already has everything it needs to begin a rule-making to set an enforceable drinking water standard for PFOA and PFOS, but still won't commit to taking action," Moran said in a statement.

But she also faulted New York officials for failing to deliver on Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's promise to establish drinking water standards for PFOA and PFOS.

"EPA's repeated inaction underscores the urgency for New York to lead," Moran said. A maximum contaminant level for PFOA and PFOS "that protects New York's most sensitive populations must be set and statewide testing must begin immediately."

Allen said he expected the state to adopt drinking water levels "in a couple months."

"In a lot of ways we're leading the country," he said. "We're light years ahead of the EPA right now."

Judith Enck, a former EPA former regional administrator for New York, said the agency's plan is "short on action" and lacks "urgency." She contends it should have included new drinking water standards, additional enforcement actions and a requirement that polluters fund health-monitoring costs.

'The announcement revealed that on this issue, EPA is either incompetent or indifferent in addressing this pressing public health issue," Enck said in a statement.

She did credit EPA with adding PFOA to the list of hazardous substances.

Companies began phasing out their use of PFOA more than a decade ago amid growing international concerns about the chemical's health and environmental effects. In 2006, the EPA reached an agreement with DuPont and other manufacturers to stop producing or using PFOA, although DuPont continued producing it because the agreement did not require a shutdown in production of the chemical until 2015.

David.Lombardo@timesunion.com - 518.454.5427 - @poozer87

ALBANY  With Democrats in control of state government, the end of cash bail in New York appears inevitable. The final legislative discussions, observers say, will likely be over how much leeway prosecutors will have in advocating for keeping some defendants in jail.

The District Attorneys Association of New York endorsed a report Tuesday that recommended the state end cash bail for defendants in most misdemeanor and some nonviolent felony cases, and that they be released on their own recognizance.

Under the task force's proposal, defendants charged with crimes that carry life sentences or certain nonviolent felonies that carry mandatory prison terms  or conspiracy to commit any of those offenses  would not receive presumptive release.

The task forces recommendations differ slightly from proposals made by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Assembly and the Senate on the scope of crimes that would qualify for that release.

In addition to removing cash bail in some cases, the report from the New York State Justice Task Force also recommended that prosecutors be given the opportunity to argue against presumptive release if they believed the defendant posed a threat to individuals or groups.

Negotiations will come down to balancing how the state protects victims, such as those in domestic violence cases, and the desire to make a significant change in the number of people in county jails who have not been convicted of a crime.

Albany County District Attorney David Soares said Wednesday that the district attorneys association, which he currently leads, believes there needs to be a carve-out in some cases, such as those involving exploitation or predatory sexual behavior, in which prosecutors can argue against releasing defendants without bail.

We dont believe that a person who is charged with a non-violent crime  should suffer the collateral consequences that people have with the current bail system, Soares said. We believe if the Legislature takes a look at the quality and classes of cases weve identified, allowing district attorneys to make that argument is what a fair and balanced system looks like.

Nick Encalada-Malinowski, the civil rights campaigns director at VOCAL-NY, criticized the district attorneys group, saying they had been lobbying to kill the bill and other criminal justice reform measures.

Every day we dont pass this, more people are going to jail who shouldnt, Encalada-Malinowski said. We seen broad public support for these bills.

Soares said the association had raised what it saw as logical concerns with bail reform, including concerns over victim safety and how it will impact rural counties.

What were articulating is not resistance to the reform, were articulating the regional differences and how whatever legislation we pass should be able to be implemented regardless of your ZIP code, he said.

The district attorneys association endorsed the state task forces other recommendations, which include additional training for judges and funding for pretrial services.

Pretrial services, or how the court ensures defendants return for their next court date, have been another sticking issue in bail reform legislations. Advocates fear that courts and prosecutors will rely heavily on restrictive methods like ankle monitors.

Soares said pretrial services could range from measures such as letters and texts to electronic monitoring. There is also debate on which crimes will qualify for any level of supervision.

Soares warned that without a state investment in additional infrastructure to support bail reform, the reforms might not as effective as intended.

Any time the legislature can pass legislation under the guise of reform without investing a penny, theyre going to do that, he said. You can call it reform, but if theres no check coming in to the counties to ensure that overall goal of the reform is realized  then you really havent changed peoples circumstances.ALBANY  It was not a common sight, even at the state Capitol: A man dressed as Jesus lugging a cross as he's whipped by another performer portraying Gov. Andrew Cuomo while a third man, dressed as Satan, howls his approval.

The lurid scene was enacted multiple times in Schenectady and Albany on Thursday as the anti-abortion activist Randall Terry swung through the region to demonstrate against the recent passage of the Reproductive Health Act, which codifies Roe v. Wade in state law.ALBANY  Americans still want tougher gun laws but there is less urgency a year after the high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., according to a poll released Thursday from Marist College and the NPR/PBS News Hour.

In the immediate aftermath of the Feb. 14, 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, 71 percent of Americans said they thought laws covering firearm sales should be stricter. That fell to 51 percent a year later, according to the poll, which queried 880 adults via landlines and cell phones.

Another 10 percent, up from 5 percent a year ago, said they believe the gun laws should be less strict, the poll found. Thirty six percent said legislation governing the sale of guns should remain the same, up from 23 percent previously.

Serious concern about gun violence and contrasting perspectives about how to deal with it persist in the United States, concluded the pollsters.

The Valentine's Day shooting in Parkland, where 17 were killed and 17 injured when a former student opened fire, was the nation's worst on a high school campus since the 1999 mass shooting at the Columbine High School in Colorado.

The massacre galvanized high school students, both from Parkland and across the nation, including the Capital Region, prompting marches and protests demanding tougher gun control measures.

Many of the protests were aimed at Congress as well as the National Rifle Association, which has consistently opposed stricter gun controls.

The latest poll, though, shows that the sense of urgency for Congress to act has faded in the last year. While 52 percent in April 2018 said gun control should be an immediate priority for Congress, that number fell to 42 percent in this poll.

The outcry against gun violence has lessened from what it was immediately following the shooting at Parkland, said Marist poll Director Lee Miringoff.

Still, a majority, 58 percent, said it is more important to control gun violence than to protect gun rights.

And 53 percent of those polled worry that a mass shooting could occur at a local school. Women worry about that more than men, by a rate of 63 percent to 43 percent.

In New York, lawmakers in January passed a so-called Red Flag law that allows court orders prohibiting people from purchasing or possessing firearms if they are deemed to be a threat to themselves or others.

The student demonstrations after Parkland, dubbed March for Our Lives, did have an impact on the state level.

The Giffords Law Center, which tracks gun laws nationwide, found that a total of 67 new gun safety laws in 26 states and Washington D.C. were passed and signed in 2018.

Those included a gun ban in Vermont school buildings, as well as tougher background checks in a number of states.

rkarlin@timesunion.com  518-454-5758  @RickKarlinTUAlbany

Donald Trump and Andrew Cuomo met at the White House this week, presumably so New York's governor could gripe about the federal law capping deductions on state and local taxes.

But what did Trump and Cuomo actually discuss? Happily, dear readers, I have acquired a transcript (not really):

Cuomo strolls into the Oval Office, where Trump awaits, standing. They shake hands.

Trump: My governor! Welcome. It's good to see you.

Cuomo: Donny, my friend. Good to see you, too. Things are good?

Trump: Great, great. Just had a big rally in El Paso, you probably saw. Huge crowd. Huge. 14,000 people. Beto had, like, 100. It was sad, very sad.

Trump and Cuomo sit at a table piled high with Big Macs.

Cuomo: That's great, Don. And this looks delicious. Listen, I wanted to talk to you, one Queens kid to another, about that cap on taxes in the Republican bill ...

Trump: You ever had a crowd that big, at a rally?

Cuomo: I've had big crowds.

Trump: It was 15,000 in El Paso. You ever have one that big?

Cuomo: I dunno. I'd have to think about it. Listen, about that tax...

More Information Contact columnist Chris Churchill at 518-454-5442 or email cchurchill@timesunion.com See More Collapse

White House photographer wanders into the room, puts camera to his face.

Cuomo: NO PICTURES! Donny, we agreed no pictures.

Trump waves photographer away.

Cuomo: Anyway, about that tax ...

Trump: We go way back, you and me, am I right? You ever watch that tape I sent you, the one for your bachelor party? It was good, right?

Cuomo: I remember it, yeah. Fun stuff. So this deduction cap, it has to go. It's soaking the rich.

Trump: That's terrible. Those are my friends. They've been asking me to do something, so I'm open to it. They say it's been severe on them.

Cuomo: That's right. They're leaving New York! They're moving to Florida and South Carolina and even Texas!

Trump: Well, you've treated them very badly with your taxes. Very badly. They should go elsewhere. By the way, I saw the poll from Siena. You're very unpopular in upper New York, 61 percent unfavorable. They love me up there.

Cuomo: You're 54 percent unfavorable.

Trump: FAKE NEWS! Those are my voters. I've had some very good rallies there, big ones. Did I mention we had 16,000 in El Paso?

Cuomo: I think you did, yes.

Trump: The rally happened right near the wall on the border. It's a beautiful wall and we're going to make it even bigger and more beautiful. Nobody builds walls better than me, believe me.

Cuomo: We need bridges not walls, love not hate. I don't want to hear anything more about walls. I'm an immigrant.

Trump: I thought you were born in Queens.

Cuomo: I'm still an immigrant, undocumented. As a New Yorker, I'm also Muslim and Jewish. I am black. I am gay, not to mention L, B, T and Q. I'm a woman seeking to control her health and her choices.

Trump: What the hell are you talking about?

Cuomo: In America, which was never that great, you can be whatever you want to be.

Trump: That's right! You can even pretend to be a successful business tycoon and nobody's the wiser! Don't claim to be an Indian, though, or I'll call you Pocahontas. And don't tell Pence about the gay thing. It gets him worked up.

Photographer wanders back in.

Cuomo: GET OUT!

Photographer scurries away.

Cuomo: Anyway, so this SALT deduction thing. It's hostile to New York. I'm asking you to help out because ... is that Kim Jong Un?

The president walks over to his desk and picks up a framed photo.

Trump: Sure is. He signed it for me at the summit. We fell in love, just like with Putin, and a lot of people say we'd be at war with North Korea if I wasn't president. You have to give him credit. His people admire him and fear him. He's very strong. President for life.

Cuomo: Strong is good. I like strong.

Trump: Me too!

Cuomo: People used to fear me. They would scurry like rats when I walked around Albany. Now there's no fear and no respect, not even from the Democrats in the Legislature. I don't know what happened.

Trump: Are you on Twitter? You can really scare people there. And rallies. You should hold rallies. Did I tell you about El Paso? Beautiful crowd. They loved me. We had 17,000 people show up.

Cuomo: You don't say.

cchurchill@timesunion.com  518-454-5442  @chris_churchillWhen Samuel Delany began writing science fiction in the late 1950s and early '60s the genre was characterized by mostly optimistic hopes for the future, amazing scientific gadgets and stories filled with white heterosexual heroes living exciting adventures in space or on alien planets.

"My characters were mostly outsiders," said Delany. "Many of them weren't white and their sexuality was often bisexual or even gay."

Opening up the sometimes tight confines of traditional science fiction has made Samuel Delany one of the giants of American literature. He is the winner of four Nebula Awards and two Hugo Awards, given annually to the best science fiction writing of the year. He was also named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, and since 1962 he has written dozens of books that have become science fiction classics.

He will speak locally on Thursday as part of the New York State Writers Institute's visiting writers series, with his appearance cosponsored by the Opalka Gallery at Sage College of Albany in conjunction with their exhibition, "In Place of Now."

"As a teenager I became interested in reading science fiction because they were good stories," said Delany. "They were filled with clever ideas and usually written very clearly, which made them easy to visualize. Some of them were even remarkably well-written, especially those by Theodore Sturgeon, Alfred Bester and Katherine MacLean."

Born in 1942 in Harlem, Delany began writing science fiction in his teens because they were the stories he read. In 1961, he married a poet named Marilyn Hacker who worked at Ace Books, a major distributor of science fiction and fantasy paperbacks. She slipped one of his manuscripts into the publisher's slush pile, and it became his first book, "The Jewels of Aptor." His career was off to a fast start.

Reading and writing as a child was challenging in its own right for Delany. He was dyslexic, and he said he had plenty of tutors.

Delany is often referred to as the first African-American science fiction writer. "I might be the first to come up through the traditional commercial way, but I'm sure there were other African-American writers that tried to write science fiction. It's the rare American writer that doesn't try [to write science fiction] at least once. Some of the best science fiction writers today are black and many of them are women."

His novels and stories often take place in outer space and in the future, but his plots are speculative and often deal with issues like racism and poverty. Some of his books have become essential reading in the genre, and are often taught in universities around the country. Major books include his 1968 novel "Nova," which describes people being plugged directly into computers, and "Dhalgren," published in 1975, which follows the exploits of a character called the Kid in a post-apocalyptic urban wasteland. These stories startled readers with their graphic sexuality and contemporary themes not often covered in the genre.

"What I was writing was what I saw around me, and what I hoped to see. It all came from fine observation."

He drew from personal experience in his nonfiction, including the 1999 book "Times Square Red, Times Square Blue." Part of the book is an autobiographical account of his life as a gay man in New York City in the 1970s and '80s and his sexual encounters in movie theaters in Times Square.

He has also had a long career as a teacher of writing and literature. "I think you have to learn how to write. Some people learn by doing it over and over. A major question is, often, can writing be taught? I know I did my best teaching of writing when I was teaching literature because I taught my students how to read slowly and carefully. That's the best way to study writing and see how an author created a story or a novel."

He last taught at Temple University in 2015, but he has ties to local academia. He was a writer-in-residence at SUNY Albany back in 1978, and he's looking forward to his return. "I was there for a couple of weeks. The only memory I have is enjoying the classes, and I also remember that great underground tunnel beneath the campus."

Jack Rightmyer is a regular contributor to the Times Union.Temperatures dipped below zero on New Year's Eve 2017. For most locals, it was just another blast of winter easily forgotten. But that particular spell of frigid temps remains frozen in the memories of Sophia Subbayya Vastek and Sam Torres, who were visiting from Baltimore for a few days. By the time the calendar turned to 2018, they'd decided to move to Troy.

"It was dead cold, negative whatever. And there's no one around at all on the streets," recalls Vastek with a laugh. "But we just had a good feeling about it. People we know in the area had only good things to say about Troy."

The couple moved into a downtown apartment in April and brought with them talents aplenty. Vastek, 31, is a pianist and concert producer while Torres, 25, is a composer, saxophonist and audio engineer. They met at the Manhattan School of Music; Vastek was working on her master's degree and Torres was an undergrad. He subsequently completed his master's at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore.

"We liked the idea of moving north and thought this was a good comfortable place in terms of cost of living," says Torres. "Troy's an up and coming city with a lot of interesting music and arts, but not so much that there wasn't room for us to do more. New York City is so saturated now."

Music projects brought them here initially. Torres came to work on audio with the group Yarn/Wire at EMPAC. Vastek made several visits for concerts and workshops at Arts Letters & Numbers, an arts incubator space in Averill Park.

Once the pair settled in and the mercury started rising, they ventured out to various springtime arts happenings and were struck by how friendly and approachable folks were, including prominent institutional leaders. Vastek found Jon Elbaum, executive director of the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall to be "a warm open person, and that says a lot about the culture of the region." At the ASO's American Music Festival, they met conductor David Alan Miller. "He seemed genuinely interested in meeting us and I'd never met a conductor of a major orchestra," says Torres. "Things like that have happened a lot."

Beyond the spontaneous networking, Torres and Vastek have taken deliberate steps to find opportunities. Vastek made a connection at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, where she's now teaching classes in music fundamentals. She also has about a dozen private piano students.

She emailed St. Paul's Church in Troy asking if she could perform at its Music at Noon series. The monthly free concerts in the Tiffany-designed sanctuary launched in 2000 and was most recently run by parishioners Sharon Roy and Eugene Tobey. But after many years of service, the two volunteers had grown weary and decided it was time to wrap things up.

"I replied that there were no plans for a series this year since the organizers had retired and no one had stepped up to take their place," recalls Roy. Rather than shrugging and moving on, Vastek offered that she had some experience with producing. In particular, she told them about Music of Reality, an interdisciplinary series in Boston that she co-founded and still co-directs. Soon the parties had a meeting and the St. Paul's series was back in business under new leadership.

"We were immediately impressed with Sophia's enthusiasm, her resume and talent," says Roy. "She saw it as an opportunity to make connections and at the same time using her talents in a way that would benefit the community at large."

"It seemed like such a shame to not have any more concerts," says Vastek. "So I jumped in. I love giving opportunities to other artists."

The 2018-19 season at St. Paul's launched in the fall with the Musicians of Ma'alwyck, followed by solo recitals from guitarist Peter Griggs and percussionist Colleen Bernstein. On Tuesday, Vastek and Torres will perform as part of a mixed septet, billed as Organ Colossal, made up mostly of new friends from the region.

"I've always been interested in establishing a musical community or collective and in Troy we have the time and the space," says Torres. "I'm excited to meet and work with composers and performers and create something that's not strictly classical or strictly jazz."

"I'd love for it to grow and incorporate all kinds of people  folk, rock, classical," continues Vastek, "and to go beyond just performing together and producing concerts but also be a means of supporting musicians in their lives."

Organ Colossal made its debut at Troy Night Out on Jan. 25 at the Arts Center of the Capital Region where the band drew a sizable crowd. "It was one of the busiest January Troy Night Outs I've seen," recalls Joseph Mastroianni, director of programming at the Arts Center. He's had extensive conversations with Vastek and Torres who came ready to help give music a stronger presence at the institution. "When I first met them, we clicked," says Mastroianni. "They were real, passionate and honest about what they want to achieve."

Vastek and Torres also recently started a seven-week workshop in ensemble music at the Arts Center, welcoming all comers to join in learning and performing compositions for open instrumentation. As with the new collective, the emphasis is on collaboration and inclusion.

"We're going to do a lot of listening exercises and practice creating a group sound," explains Vastek. "Musical technique doesn't have to be too high. It's for as many people as possible."

On top of all this, on Feb. 8 Vastek performed at The Linda in Albany. The concert, with Boston composer David Ibbett on live electronics, inaugurated the venue's new surround-sound system.

But it's not just at arts venues that Vastek and Torres are tuning in with the local vibe. They're regulars at the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market and have dined at most of the eateries in the downtown restaurant scene. A favorite is Nighthawks Restaurant and Bar, located just a couple of blocks from their place. "It's brilliant," says Vastek.

More Information If you go Organ Colossal Contemporary works performed by Sophia Subbayya Vastek, piano, Sam Torres, saxophone/bass clarinet, Max Caplan, piano, Zan Strumfeld, voice, Aaron Moore, narration, Louna Dekker-Vargas, flute, and Ledah Finck, viola/violin When: 12 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19 Where: St. Paul's Church, 58 3rd St., Troy Admission: Free. See More Collapse

"I love food and one of my first impressions of Troy was the good food," says Torres, who cites a fondness for the Troy Kitchen, DeFazio's and Ali Baba. "Troy's been more welcoming than I could have imagined," he adds.

"Troy's feeling really good," says Vastek. "It's such an interesting scene."

Joseph Dalton is a freelance writer based in Troy.UPPER MERION

Night to Shine a crowning achievement

Tim Tebow Foundations 5th annual event for people with special needs crowns 100,000 Kings and Queens of the promSecurity video stills of shoplifters who assaulted security at Boscov's in the Plymouth meeting Mall Jan. 24.Washington, MO (63090)

Today

Partly cloudy. A stray severe thunderstorm is possible. High 87F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening followed by scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 74F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.You are the owner of this article.Thomasville, GA (31792)

Today

Some passing clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some passing clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.POTLATCH  With scorching temperatures expected in the next week and above-normal temperatures possible the rest of the summer, the new splash pad at Potlatchs Scenic 6 Park is likely to be the citys most popular attraction.

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| 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Man Who Picked Tesla, Bitcoin Makes Next Pick of the Decade" (Ad)

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Click To See This #1 Pick.Could This Be the Biggest US Gold Discovery in Years? (Ad)

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Details Here.Airbus is scrapping the world's largest commercial jet, putting up to 3,500 jobs at risk over the next three years.

About 200 people face job uncertainty in Britain, with thousands more across the world as the aircraft is phased out by 2021.

The move comes just 12 years after the double-decker superjet first took to the skies as the UK's challenger to US company Boeing.

The A380 model has never turned a profit and sales have slowed dramatically as airlines favour smaller, more nimble aircraft - and Boeing's 787 Dreamliner enjoyed greater success.

Critics of the A380 argue the double-deckers are too large, leaving airlines with an impossible task of filling seats for commercial flights.

Analyst Richard Aboulafia of Washington-based Teal Group said its demise 'was inevitable', adding: 'For Boeing, it has been a very long time since they needed to worry about the A380 as a competitive factor.'

Rolls-Royce, which makes the model's engines, has tried to reassure the industry amid the uncertainty by saying that it is unlikely to affect its workers - but the British firm failed to rule it out.

The world's largest commercial jet (pictured) will be scrapped due to falling sales, Airbus has confirmed, putting thousands of jobs at risk

The lavish bar inside the huge A380, which critics say was too large to guarantee a profit

The plane struggled to fill seats due to its massive size and today Airbus confirmed that this was end of commercial jets of this size

The double-deckers featured bedrooms for long-haul flights - this one is a Singapore Airlines luxury class suite

The red dots above show the places in which the A380 is constructed, with the blue dots showing where logistics operations are undertaken

Airbus announced the 'painful' decision to scrap the A380 after Emirates, its biggest customer, slashed its orders by about a quarter - as the manufacturer faced a lack of orders with other airlines.

Last month Airbus had garnered 313 firm orders for the passenger version of the aircraft. Just 234 of those have been delivered and the firm's original sales target was 700 planes.

The wings for the A380 are made in Broughton, Flintshire, in Wales. Pictured is a wing travelling on a barge on the River Dee

Emirates became the second airline to fly the aircraft. It now has over 100 A380s in its fleet, making it the biggest customer. Pictured is the first Emirates A380 after rolling off the production line in 2008

Following a review of its operations and in light of developments in aircraft and engines, @Emirates agrees with Airbus to

 reduce its A380 order book by 39 aircraft

 order 40 #A330neo & 30 #A350

As a result, A380 deliveries will cease in 2021

Release: https://t.co/hCyvPElB1O pic.twitter.com/S8t2KI3Ge4  Airbus PRESS (@AirbusPRESS) February 14, 2019

The A380, which is produced by Bristol-based Airbus UK, is made across Europe in Spain, France, Germany and Britain.

Why did the A380 fail? The aviation industry has shifted away from huge jets that emphasise luxury in favour of more economical aircraft. That shift has left the A380, with its spacious interiors and flashy in-flight bars, struggling to compete. Smaller jets with wider bodies have become the norm in the 12 years since the A380 first took off. Boeing was considering plans for a superjumbo, but it scrapped it in favour of the 787 Dreamliner, which has outperformed the A380. Airbus was hoping to overhaul its superjumbo jet, but the lack of orders on its current one means it doesn't have the funds. After the A380 relying heavily on a Middle Eastern market, Emirates cut its order of the model from 162 to 123. The airline cited a 'review of its operations, and in light of developments in aircraft and engine technologies'. The UAE carrier, like most of the industry, now favours more nimble flyers. It is buying more of the smaller A330-900 and A350-900 aircraft from Airbus, netting 40 and 30 respectively. By January this year Airbus had 313 orders for the passenger version of the A380. This was well short of its original sales target of 700. And of the 313 ordered, Airbus has only delivered 234 so far. Advertisement

The wings are made in the Broughton, north Wales, and Filton, near Bristol, then shipped to Toulouse, France, where the planes are assembled. Landing and fuel systems for the A380 are also worked on at Filton.

Outgoing Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said the decision to scrap the model was 'painful' and echoed critics who believe to plane is too big to ensure profits.

'What we're seeing here is the end of the large four-engine aircraft,' he said. 'There has been speculation for years that we were 10 years too early, but probably we were 10 years too late, or more.'

On the impact on British jobs, Mr Enders said: 'It needs to be evaluated. It's clear we make a lot of wings in Britain and a few wings for the A380.

'Hopefully we can redeploy a significant number of our employees there and re-use also the infrastructure.'

Mr Enders said he was a 'little more optimistic' on the government reaching a deal with the European Union after it was reported that Airbus is making contingency plans in case the UK leaves the bloc with no deal.

He added the firm intends to 'plan for the worst as much as we can and hope for the best' and said Airbus is making contingency plans for a hard Brexit, including stockpiling certain components.

Incoming chief executive Guillaume Faury said: 'We will work on securing the phase-out and we will do this in close co-operation with our social partners and in a very responsible manner.'

Airbus confirmed it hopes to redeploy a 'significant' number of impacted staff to other aircraft programmes.

Mr Faury said: 'We are in the phase of analysing the situation and will have consultations with our partners.' But he said contingency planning would 'always be insufficient'.

While the A380 was doing its best to compete with Boeing, the US maker was busy dominating with its 787 Dreamliner

Airbus A380 versus 787 Dreamliner Boeing's 787 Dreamliner stats: Cost: 226,374,000 ($290million) Seating: As few as 300 passengers in its typical layout Range: Up to 12,964km Airbus A380 superjumbo jet stats: Cost: 315,284,340 ($403.9million) Seating: 525 in the model's typical three-class cabin layout Range: Up to 15,700km Advertisement

He added that stockpiling 'works for weeks or months, but certainly not beyond that'. Unions have expressed 'bitter disappointment'.

Unite, which represents workers at Airbus sites in Broughton, North Wales, and Filton, near Bristol, and those in supply chain companies such as GKN, said it would be seeking assurances on jobs and future work.

What is Rolls-Royce's future with Airbus? The A380's engine-maker Rolls-Royce failed to rule out job losses at the British firm today. With Airbus set to cancel the model, thousands of jobs across Europe could be hit, with hundreds of those in the UK. A source close to Rolls-Royce said scrapping the superjumbo jet is 'unlikely' to result in job losses, but would not rule it out. 'We assemble the engines in Derby but we make fewer than one-per-week,' they told City AM. ' 'In terms of the impact on jobs in the UK, it's a small programme and we can reallocate people to other engine programmes so it's unlikely there will be any.' It came as Rolls-Royce announced it will build engines for 70 new, smaller Airbus planes. The firm will build 80 engines for the A330neo models and 60 for 30 A350 planes. Advertisement

Unite national officer for aerospace Rhys McCarthy said: 'Unite will be seeking urgent assurances from Airbus that there will be no job losses because of the decision to end production of the A380.

'We are of the firm belief that with a full order book in single-aisle planes, such as the A320, that our members affected can be redeployed on to other work in Airbus.'

Nearly 240ft (73m) long and with space for more than 500 passengers, the A380 stole the title of world's largest passenger jet from the Boeing 747 when it took its maiden commercial flight from Singapore to Sydney on October 27 2007.

The giant aircraft's first commercial flight to Europe  a Singapore Airlines service  arrived at Heathrow on March 3 2008.

According to Airbus, the plane has flown more than 500,000 revenue flights and carried over 190 million passengers to date, with more than 300 commercial flights a day.

However concerns over the future of the superjumbo began to appear and in 2016 Airbus announced a drastic cut in production, reducing the build rate by half.

Emirates cut its order of A380s from 162 to 123 aircraft following a 'review of its operations, and in light of developments in aircraft and engine technologies'.

Meanwhile, the UAE carrier is buying more of the smaller A330-900 and A350-900 aircraft, purchasing 40 and 30 respectively.

The Emirates order for the A330-900 and A350-900 is worth 21.4 billion US dollars (16.6 billion).

A source close to Rolls-Royce, which makes engines for Airbus, said scrapping the superjumbo jet is 'unlikely' to result in job losses, but would not rule it out.

'We assemble the engines in Derby but we make fewer than one-per-week,' they told City AM. 'In terms of the impact on jobs in the UK, it's a small programme and we can reallocate people to other engine programmes so it's unlikely there will be any.'

A British Airways Airbus A380 aircraft on the runway at Londons Heathrow Airport

Buzzing the pyramids, flying with the Red Arrows and the most glamorous cabins in the sky: The amazing story of the A380 told through incredible pictures

By Jennifer Newton for MailOnline

The A380 ushered in a new era of glamour at 38,000ft, with carriers using its cavernous interior to install suites, showers and bars.

But now Airbus has sounded the death knell for this golden age of travel with the announcement, less than 12 years after its first commercial flight, that it will cease production of the superjumbo after 2021.

Here we look back at the aircraft's remarkable history through fascinating pictures, from flying with the Red Arrows and buzzing the pyramids to peeks at the most luxurious cabins the aircraft offers.

The early days of the A380

In 1994 Airbus announced it was to develop a very large double-decker airliner, called the A3XX, the previous name for the A380. Pictured is an early rendering by Airbus of the aircraft

Construction finally began in 2002. Pictured is a large section of fuselage being transported by road to the jetliner's final assembly plant in Toulouse, France

Parts for the A380 are produced across four European countries before being brought to Toulouse to be assembled. Pictured is a section of A380 being loaded on to a ship in Pauillac, France

A380 fuselage and wing sections are put on a freight ship ready to be shipped to Toulouse in October 2004

A barge carries an A380 central fuselage down a river in the French city of Bordeaux in April 2004, during the development and construction of the first superjumbos

A fuselage section for the A380 is moved to the double-deck jetliner's final assembly facility in Toulouse in October 2004

It was more than 30 years ago in 1988 when the idea for a super-sized 500-seat airliner was first mooted at Airbus. The aim? To directly challenge Boeing's extremely popular 747.

By June 1994, Airbus announced it was to develop a very, very large double-decker airliner, called the A3XX.

And six years later the $8.8billion (6.8billion) project to develop the plane, renamed the A380, began in earnest.

After the design of the huge new aircraft was finalised, construction finally began in 2002.

A section of fuselage is unloaded off a ship in Paulliac. A380 parts arrive by ship in Paulliac in France before being loaded on to barges to take them through Bordeaux to a dock at Langon and then by oversize road convoy to the assembly plant

A section of the first A380 fuselage arrives at the final assembly plant in Toulouse in January 2005, just months before the A380's maiden flight

Inside the Toulouse Airbus plant in January 2005, showing the first three A380s side by side as they are constructed

One of the construction milestones came in January 2005, when the first A380 Rolls-Royce engine was assembled

The first A380 passenger airliner is moved between hangars at the Airbus factory in Toulouse

Team effort: The forward and centre fuselages are made in France, the horizontal tail plane made in Spain and the tails fins and rear fuselages built in Germany

Workers gather in front of the nose cone of an Airbus A380 at the opening ceremony for the new final-assembly plant at Airbus's Toulouse factory in 2004. At that time, Airbus expected to sell more than 1,000 A380s. Total orders in the end totalled just over 320

The parts for the plane were built across Europe. The wings were constructed in Wales, the forward and centre fuselages made in France, the horizontal tail plane made in Spain and the tails fins and rear fuselages built in Germany.

They were then brought by sea, air and road, to the production plant in Toulouse to be assembled. Roads around the plant had to be widened in order for the huge new plane parts to be transported in.

The maiden flight

Airbus finally unveiled the first five test A380s in Toulouse in 2005 and the first maiden flight took place on April 27 of that year.

The giant plane touched down to applause after a flight of just under four hours. Nearly 30,000 spectators watched the behemoth take off and land.

In April 2005 the first A380 was moved from the assembly plant across a busy road to Airbus's flight test centre at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport

The A380 touches down in Toulouse after its maiden flight on April 27, 2005. The giant plane landed to applause after a flight of just under four hours

Airbus staff and media gather around the A380 after its maiden flight. During the first flight it recorded measurements for 150,000 separate parameters and beamed real-time data back to computers on the ground

The crew on the maiden flight took no chances - they donned parachutes and a handrail was installed inside the test plane leading from the cockpit to an escape door that could have been jettisoned had the pilots lost control. The plane was jointly captained by Claude Lelaie, Airbus' Senior Vice President Flight Division, and Chief Test Pilot and Vice President Jacques Rosay

Once testing of the aircraft was complete, the A380 went on a world tour. It first came to Britain in 2006 when it appeared at the Farnborough Airshow and flew alongside the RAF's Red Arrows

In March 2007, the A380 touched down on US soil for the first time, during its world tour. It is pictured landing at New York's JFK Airport

After landing at JFK, the world's largest passenger plane was honoured by the New York Fire Department, which sprayed water over the aircraft

While travelling around the US on a world tour, the A380 also made a pit stop in Washington DC. The aircraft is pictured flying across Capitol Hill and the Washington Monument

The A380 flies past the high rise buildings of Hong Kong during its world tour in 2007

THE AIRBUS A380 Overall length: 72.72m Cabin length: 49.80m Wing span (geometric): 79.75m Height: 24.09m Typical seating: 544 (4-class) Max seating: 853 Range: 15,200km Max fuel capacity: 320,000 litres Average list price (2018): $445.6million (323.22million) Advertisement

The on-board equipment recorded measurements for 150,000 separate parameters and beamed real-time data back to computers on the ground.

The crew snapped souvenir photos in flight and after touching down.

They also took no chances - donning parachutes for the first flight. A handrail inside the test plane lead from the cockpit to an escape door that could have been jettisoned had the pilots lost control.

But problems were soon afoot when later that year, customers who had ordered the aircraft were warned of a six-month delay due to wiring problems.

The first trans-Atlantic flight, from France to Colombia, took place in 2006 before cold climate testing in Canada and approval from both the European Aviation Safety Agency and the United States Federal Aviation Administration.

Comfort testing began in late 2006, before Airbus warned of yet another delay to its first delivery.

The first passenger services

The inaugural customer was Singapore Airlines, which received its first A380 in October 2007.

The first commercial flight was from Singapore to Sydney that month.

The first customer to have an A380 delivered for service was Singapore Airlines. Pictured is the carrier's first plane leaving the Airbus assembly plant. The first commercial flight was from Singapore to Sydney in October 2007

Singapore Airlines revolutionised air travel on its A380s by introducing first class suites. Sharmala Huey Yuen, a Singapore Airlines flight attendant, prepares the double bed in the luxury class suite in September 2009

The Singapore Airlines suites feature sliding doors and window blinds, an armchair hand-stitched by master Italian craftsmen, a standalone bed and a 23-inch wide LCD screen. Pictured is the recently revamped suite

Passengers wanting to travel in the first-class suite on Singapore Airline's A380 need to fork out five figures

A flight attendant arranges a business class seat of a Singapore Airlines A380 in December 2017

In the battle to fill their seats with high-fliers, the world's top airlines rolled out evermore luxurious options for top-tier travelers on A380s

The first class bar on the upper deck of an Emirates A380. The Dubai-based airline is the largest operator of the huge aircraft

Following Singapore's lead, Emirates created lavish cabins, with first class ticket holders given showers and private suites

Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad, which operates 10 A380s, also has luxurious private first class cabins with beds

Singapore Airlines revolutionised air travel on its A380s by introducing first class suites featuring sliding doors and window blinds, an armchair hand-stitched by master Italian craftsmen, a standalone bed and a 23-inch wide LCD screen.

Almost a year later in July 2008, Emirates became the second airline to fly the aircraft. It now has over 100 A380s in its fleet, making it the biggest customer.

Following Singapore's lead, it created lavish cabins, with first class ticket holders given showers and private suites.

Australian flag-carrier Qantas was third to take delivery of the A380 while British Airways received its first A380 in 2013. No US carrier has ever ordered an A380.

Problems arise

Despite being launched to much fanfare and receiving orders from 13 different airlines, the A380 has been beset with issues.

In November 2010, Qantas Airways and Singapore Airlines temporarily suspended flights of the A380 after an engine failure forced an emergency landing in Singapore.

In November 2010, the Airbus A380 test aircraft flew a special flight over the Pyramids in Egypt following airport compatibility tests carried out at Cairo International Airport to confirm the airport was capable of handling A380 operations

British Airways received its first A380 in July 2013 and on its arrival at Heathrow, BA staff greeted it with Union flags. BA has 12 A380s in its fleet

And by July, 2016 Airbus announced that it was cutting production of the A380 in half, going to just one jet a month by 2018.

By 2018, Airbus said it would have no other choice but to halt the costly A380 programme if Dubai's Emirates airline, its biggest customer of the A380, did not place another order.

Last year Emirates Airlines struck a $16 billion (12.3 billion) deal to buy 36 A380s, but it is now switching some orders to the smaller A350.

Analysts have pointed to customers demanding flights directly to their destination rather than following Airbus's model of taking a long haul journey from hub-to-hub followed by a short hop on a smaller plane.

The 100th A380 was bought by Malaysia Airlines and delivered in March 2013

A special celebration was held at the Airbus factory in November 2017 when the 100th A380 for Emirates was handed over

In late 2018, All Nippon Airways placed an order for three A380s each with a special livery depicting sea turtles native to Hawaii. They will be among the last A380s to roll off the production line

When it was launched, the A380 boasted highly customised interiors to help airlines promote a luxury feel, but the cost of replacing such bespoke fittings is now seen as a handicap.

Also, airlines began favouring smaller twin-engined models, which are easier to fill and cheaper to maintain.

Today the firm said Emirates had chosen to reduce its order of A380s from 162 to 123 aircraft following a 'review of its operations, and in light of developments in aircraft and engine technologies'.

Meanwhile, the UAE carrier is buying more of the smaller A330-900 and A350-900 aircraft, purchasing 40 and 30 respectively.

'As a result of this decision we have no substantial A380 backlog and hence no basis to sustain production, despite all our sales efforts with other airlines in recent years,' Airbus chief executive Tom Enderss said.

'This leads to the end of A380 deliveries in 2021. The consequences of this decision are largely embedded in our 2018 full-year results.'

Airbus will produce 17 more of the planes including 14 for Emirates and 3 for Japanese airline All Nippon Airways.Humbled entrepreneur Luke Johnson has suffered a 183m loss after his scandal-hit cake chain Patisserie Valerie was rescued by an Irish private equity firm.

The company, left reeling after an alleged fraud by its former finance director, was sold by administrator KPMG to Causeway Capital following talks that lasted until 3am yesterday.

Around 2,000 jobs have been saved, and 96 Patisserie Valerie cafes will stay open.

Hit hard: Humbled entrepreneur Luke Johnson has suffered a 183m loss

But it is a devastating blow for executive chairman Johnson, 57, most of whose 260m fortune was tied up in Patisserie Valerie.

He had a stake worth 170m on the day the fraud was revealed to the market in October, leading to an immediate suspension of trading in its shares.

Chris Marsh, who was finance director at Patisserie Valerie at the time the scandal erupted, was arrested shortly after and subsequently released on bail. The value of Johnson's stake has now been wiped out, rendering stock worthless. He also ploughed 10m into the business to keep it afloat, and an extra 3m to pay staff their January wages after it had to call in administrators.

It is thought little of this money will be recovered. The wipeout means Johnson may have lost almost two-thirds of his wealth.

KPMG raised 13m from the rescue deal, which will be used to repay creditors.

Dublin-based Causeway, which owns BB Bakers and Baristas  with around 65 sites in the UK and Ireland  has taken on all Patisserie Valerie stores that remain open.

Another 21 Philpotts cafes which also belonged to the collapsed group, have been rescued by retail and wholesale firm AF Blakemore & Sons, which owns 280 Spar stores across the UK.

And the group's five London-based Baker & Spice stores have been sold to the Department of Coffee & Social Affairs for 2.5m.

Johnson's other investments include Brighton Pier Group, where shares have more than halved in a year, and luxury hospitality firm Elegant Hotels.

He is also chairman of Risk Capital Partners which owns bakery chain Gail's.

Johnson said last night: 'I'm pleased that Patisserie Valerie has been saved and the cloud of uncertainty lifted for its 2,000 employees. While I'm naturally deeply disappointed at the events that led us to this point, I wish the company well.'

It is a dramatic reversal of fortune for the Oxford graduate, one of Britain's best-known entrepreneurs and a former chairman of Pizza Express, Royal Society for Arts and Channel 4.

A self-proclaimed business guru, he has pontificated extensively on the subject of fraud.Barely has the dust settled on Restaurant Group's takeover of Wagamama and its chief executive Andy McCue is heading for the exit.

Shares in the Garfunkel's and Chiquito owner tumbled 12 per cent in early trading as news of the boss's 'untimely' departure triggered a sell off.

McCue broke the news to shareholders today that he will step down from his post because of 'extenuating personal circumstances'.

Restaurant Group tabled a bid for Wagamama last October - a move that stunned investors

He will remain at the company until a successor is found.

The resignation swiftly follows the group's 559million acquisition of Japanese food chain Wagamama, which raised eyebrows when it was first announced last October.

It came at tough time for the eating-out sector, with many firms axing branches and making cuts to help fend off a slowdown in consumer spending.

Although the acquisition was green lit by investors, just under 61 per cent of shareholders supported the deal.

McCue acknowledged the unfortunate timing of his exit.

'While I recognise that this decision is untimely, it is the right one for me and my family. We have a strong team in the business and a clear plan which we are focused on delivering,' he said.

Chairwoman Debbie Hewitt said: 'Whilst we are clearly disappointed that he will not be able to provide the long-term leadership for the business, we understand and respect the decision he has made purely on personal grounds.'

The Wagamama deal formally completed in December, bringing almost 200 branches into the group's portfolio.

'What an unfortunate outcome for Restaurant Group,' said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

'Losing its chief executive at such a crucial point in its recovery story is devastating for shareholders who have already gone through hell over the past few years.

'While we don't know the full story as to why Andy McCue has resigned beyond it being for personal reasons, the news will rock the ship once more at Restaurant Group,' he said.

Last month the firm said its sales had taken a dip, despite efforts to revamp menus and speed up service.

'Whoever takes the top seat will definitely need some bright ideas to get this one-time leisure sector superstar back on track,' Mould added.Delayed: The boss of UK Finance, Stephen Jones, told MPs the system would be delayed

A system designed to better protect banking customers from authorised push payment scams that cost them nearly 150million in the first six months of 2018 will not be ready until next year, the head of UK Finance has admitted to MPs.

Stephen Jones told the Treasury Select Committee that the Confirmation of Payee system - which will alert anyone making a payment if the recipient's name does not match their bank account number and sort code - would be delayed.

Regulators opened a two-month long consultation into the proposed system last November and wanted it to be rolled out by July.

However, Mr Jones told MPs it would not be ready until 'sometime next year'.

He said that it was because the system was a complex change in banks' IT and processing systems, rather than because it had dropped down their list of priorities.

Currently the recipient's name is ignored by the bank when making a payment, as only the account number and sort code are used to determine where a payment is sent.

The new system is designed to act as a check against APP scams, where customers willingly transfer money into the account of a scammer.

Pay.UK - which operates BACS and Faster Payments has worked on the system, which is designed to help clamp down on authorised push payment fraud

Figures show that 145million was stolen through APP scams in the first half of last year, but only 31million was recovered.

Mr Jones also added that for the first time victims would be reimbursed when neither the bank nor the victim were to blame for the fraud.

His admission was in line with rule changes proposed in a draft code published by the Authorised Push Payment Scams Steering Group, which was met with scepticism and opposition by some of Britain's biggest banks.

However, officials admit that fraud victims whose banks refuse to refund their losses face up to seven months of limbo when they appeal.

The 215-day average wait for those taking their case to the Financial Ombudsman Service was blamed on the volume of complaints. Campaigners say it is 'not good enough'.

Those scammed by fraudsters must first appeal to their bank to have their money returned, which can itself take up to eight weeks.

If the bank decides the victim was at fault and refuses to give back their cash, they can then appeal to the ombudsman.

A spokesman for the Payments Service Regulator said: 'We want to see Confirmation of Payee brought in as soon as possible and also make sure that when it is introduced, it is an effective way to stop this crime taking place.

'As it stands, we are still working through the responses to our consultation and so no decisions on timing have been made.'

A UK Finance spokesperson said: 'The industry is supportive of the PSRs Direction on confirmation of payee.

'However, there needs to be sufficient time to allow the new service to be introduced in a way that delivers an effective customer experience across the entire retail payments market.

'At the same time, the industry will continue fighting fraud on every front, investing millions in advanced security systems to protect customers and to support law enforcement in combating the organised criminal groups responsible for fraud.'Westerly, RI (02891)

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Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

By Larry Elder , Feb . 14 2019





The "blackface scandal" proved beneficial for two things. It displaced the frenzy over Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's support for a law lifting many restrictions on late-term abortion. It also took away headlines and news print space from the commonwealth's Democratic lieutenant governor, who faces two sexual assault allegations.





But the blackface controversy has legs.





Northam's 1984 medical school yearbook page depicted a photograph of someone in blackface and someone in a KKK outfit, both apparently holding cans of beer. At first, Northam apologized for the pictures, arguing that they do not accurately reflect his character. The next day, he said that, upon review, he is neither the person posing in blackface nor the one in the KKK outfit. Nor did he know how the photos ended up on his yearbook page. He admits that he once learned the moonwalk and applied black shoe polish to his cheeks to appear as Michael Jackson for a dance contest. When a reporter asked Northam if he could still do the moonwalk, Northam's wife stepped in, calling the request "inappropriate." Maybe she had seen him do it and was not impressed.





A page designer of that yearbook explained the process. Each student, he said, submitted the pictures to appear on the student's page. This means, whether or not Northam is the person in blackface or in the KKK outfit, he nevertheless selected the photographs. The page designer doubts the pictures somehow got mixed up. Still, Northam insists he will not resign. "I have thought about resigning," he said, "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, and it will be very positive."





But there's more. Turns out there are two Virginia blackface scandals.





Democratic Virginia Attorney General Matt Herring admits that he, too, wore blackface to a party to imitate "rappers we listened to ... like Kurtis Blow." Herring was 19. In his statement of apology, he said, "the shame of that moment has haunted me for decades." The "shame" of wearing blackface on one occasion to a party to impersonate a rapper Herring listened to "haunted" him "for decades"?





Virginia Democratic lawmakers demand Northam's resignation, as have many Republican members of the Virginia legislature. Hillary Clinton tweeted: "This has gone on too long. There is nothing to debate. He must resign." Presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., tweeted, "The governor of Virginia should step aside so the public can heal and move forward together."





But wait. Blacks, the group presumably the most offended by blackface pictures, want the governor to stay in office. A new Washington Post-Schar School poll asked, "Considering everything, do you think that Northam should step down as a governor of Virginia or not?" While Virginians as a whole are split evenly on whether Northam "should step down," 58 percent of black Virginians want him to stay, with 37 percent disagreeing, a 21-point margin in favor of the governor. Apparently, blacks in Virginia have resisted the call to hop up and salute the flag of victimhood.





Critics of President Donald Trump accuse him of coarsening "race relations," of creating an atmosphere through the use of "racist dog whistles" to "normalize" racism. But according to Gallup polls since 2001, non-Hispanic whites' ratings of "relations between whites and blacks" as "very good" or "somewhat" good peaked at 75 percent in 2007, during the George W. Bush administration. It declined steeply during the presidency of Barack Obama, reaching a low of 45 percent in 2015. For blacks, ratings of "very good" or "somewhat good" race relations also peaked during the Bush administration, at 70 percent in 2001. As recently as 2013, the number for blacks stood strong at 66 percent, but by 2016, it had dropped to 49 percent. The drop in those perceiving "race relations" as "very good" or "somewhat good" occurred well before Trump descended the elevator at Trump Towers to announce his candidacy for president.





Get out the magic wand, wave it over America and remove the racism, along with any blackface makeup.





Nearly 70 percent of black kids are born to unwed mothers. The dropout rate in some urban high schools approaches 50 percent. Of those who do graduate, many cannot read or do math at a 12th-grade level.





The No. 1 cause of preventable death for young white men is accidents, such as car accidents. The No. 1 cause of preventable death for young black men is homicide, almost always committed by other young black men. In Chicago, a city approximately one-third white, one-third black and one-third Hispanic, blacks accounted for nearly 80 percent of homicide victims in 2018, and most of these cases remain unsolved. According to a 2017 report by the Centers for Disease Control, a black child is almost 10 times more likely to be a victim of a gun-related homicide than a white child.





But let's talk about 35-year-old blackface pictures.





Larry Elder is a best-selling author and nationally syndicated radio talk show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an "Elderado," visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on Twitter @LarryElder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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PUNE, India, February 13, 2019/PRNewswire/ --

BLAZE- Igniting Ideas, its flagship start-up summit brings together a stellar group of successful entrepreneurs, Investors and business leaders to support deserving start-ups

Invites applications from start-ups with less than five lakhs revenue seeking to fund and scale their ventures

Announces business competition to incentivize students with game changing ideas to pursue entrepreneurship as a career choice

FLAME University, the pioneer of liberal education in India, will bring together a stellar group of successful entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders at BLAZE- its flagship start-up summit on March 1-2, 2019 at its campus in Pune. Designed with the aim of supporting and growing start-ups, the summit will be led by Darshan Doshi, Director of the FLAME Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (FCEI).







(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/522127/FLAMEUniversitylogo_Logo.jpg )



Making the announcement, Professor Dishan Kamdar, Vice Chancellor, FLAME University, said, "BLAZE is an initiative by FCEI at FLAME that envisions to bring together thought leaders, entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders on a common platform to support deserving entrepreneurs. We will provide them the opportunity and incentive to reach their potential and hope that they build ventures that will create jobs and wealth in the future."



The theme of BLAZE is to understand the challenges faced by innovators and startups in their journey to scale through workshops, talks and panel discussions with trailblazers in this space and give aspiring entrepreneurs an opportunity to grow through the new venture competition. As a part of this, FCEI will select 15 truly amazing new ventures and business ideas from applicants across India to present their business-pitch to an 'Investor Panel', comprising of eminent names from the industry and the start-up world.



Outlining the value-add that BLAZE will provide to start-ups and idea stage ventures, Darshan Doshi, Director of FLAME Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (FCEI) at FLAME, said, "BLAZE will play the role of a catalyst in accelerating the growth of entrepreneurship across the country. What differentiates BLAZE is that it offers a multifold ROI to the promising ideas and selected ventures. We will partner with the entrepreneurs to identify their growth areas, solve their challenges and hand-hold them till they are ready to go to market. We will also connect them with prospective customers and Investors for potential funding support and provide them the much needed boost to grow and scale their ventures confidently."



The agenda for the two-day summit and the speakers who are expected to speak at the summit is as follows:



Friday March 1, 2019 (1pm - 8pm)



Opening address by Dr. Dishan Kamdar, Vice Chancellor, FLAME University

'Startup Opportunities from the eye of an investor' by Pranav Pai, Partner 3one4 Capital

'Scaling & Exiting a Fintech Startup' by Patanjali Somayaji, CTO, Capital Float and Co-founder, Walnut App

Investor Panel Discussion: 'What Investors want to see in Startups' with Pranav Pai, Vaibhav Domkumdwar, Sachin Oswal, Abhishek Prasad

DEMO Day - Eight Early-stage startups Pitch to Investors



'Building a Brand in India' by Riya Shah, founder, The Quick Wok

'Indian Startup Ecosystem: Deriving benefits from events, incubators, accelerators' workshop by Praveen Dorna, Co-founder, StartupByte

Product Showcase - Student Exhibits across FLAME Campus

Saturday March 2, 2019 (9am - 6pm)



'How to Build Scalable Global Startups from India' by Tarun Davda, Partner & MD, Matrix Partners

'RealLives to Real Life - Training Youth in Empathy, Sustainable Development & Change making' by Dr. Parag Mankeekar, Ashoka Fellow, Leader - RealLives Global Scaling, Founder Director - NeetiMr. Bennychan Solutions, Founder - YoungChangeMakers Conference

'Enterprise AI Landscape and Data Science General Practices' by Rohit Pandharkar, Head of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at Mahindra Group

BLAZE New Venture Competition - 15 Selected Startups Pitch to Investors



'Changing Global Trends in Media Consumption' by Tapas Sen, Co-founder & CPO RadioMirchi

'Working with Legends in the Indian Music Industry' by Shameer Tandon, Founder, Music Boutique

'Should I Startup | Succeed not Fail' workshop by Vikas Kumar, serial entrepreneur, investor and founder, LoanTap

Key Initiatives at BLAZE - Igniting Ideas:



New Venture Competition - Startups with less than INR 5 lacs in annual revenue as well as game-changing new business ideas from students from universities, technical and management schools across India are eligible to apply before February 22, 2019. Top three winners will receive INR 85,000 in cash prizes while 15 startups selected to pitch to the investors will receive an opportunity to incubate their ideas at the FLAME Incubator Program to achieve next stage of growth. New Venture Competition Application Link: https://www.flame.edu.in/research/centres/centre-for-entrepreneurship-innovation/blaze-igniting-ideas

FLAME Origins Program Demo Day - FCEI's startup accelerator initiative, the FLAME Origins Program, has accelerated eight early stage startups across India over the last five months. These startups will make their business pitch to prominent angel investors and venture capitalists.

Product Showcase - Over 30 FLAME entrepreneurship undergraduate and postgraduate student groups will display a range of products created over this academic year.

Workshops, Speakers and Networking - Aspiring entrepreneurs and students can attend the two-day event for free upon registration and get the opportunity to network with prominent business leaders, investors, entrepreneurs and talented students. Individuals interested to attend BLAZE startup summit can register here: https://www.townscript.com/e/blaze-igniting-minds-204341

About the FLAME Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (FCEI):



The vision of FCEI is to build an 'entrepreneurial village' that helps talented individuals launch and scale successful ventures. FCEI runs multiple initiatives to meet the need of various stages of venture growth.



FLAME Origins Program is a startup accelerator program that helps early stage startups scale up through a structured mentorship program over 5 months

FLAME PathBlazers is a series of workshops and talk where we invite entrepreneurs, business leaders and investors who have positively impacted the world

FLAME Incubator Program helps idea stage or product ready startups achieve next stage of growth over 6 months

FLAME BLAZE is the flagship startup summit that brings together the Indian startup ecosystem.



About FLAME UNIVERSITY:



FLAME University is the pioneer of liberal education in the country. It aspires to be the most reputed and respected university in India and among the top-ranked universities across the world. FLAME envisions itself to be the University of Choice for students, faculty, industry, academia, government and the larger community by creating an impact through its teaching and research. Since its inception, FLAME has been successful in setting benchmarks - unparalleled education experience with its best faculty- student ratio, faculty with great global credentials, association with some of the top international universities, close industry connect, support of an illustrious Board, and creating a strong alumni network. All these are ably supported through the world - class infrastructure and facilities nestled in a picturesque 60 acre green and sustainable campus situated in a valley in Pune.



FLAME University has been established as a state private university vide the FLAME University Act 2014 (Maharashtra Act No. II of 2015) of the Government of Maharashtra. The University is recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC) under Section 2(f), and degrees awarded by the University are recognized under Section 22 of the UGC Act, 1956. Through its four schools-FLAME School of Liberal Education, FLAME School of Business, FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of Fine & Performing Arts-the institution is committed to develop individuals who value creativity, innovation, determination and enterprise.



For more information log on to: http://www.flame.edu.in







Source: FLAME University PWR

PWRHe will next be seen in The Big BullDealt a blow by the Supreme Court that ruled against his government's plea for powers of transfer and posting of officials, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made it clear that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will demand full statehood to Delhi, a major poll plank for the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Terming the judgment a grave injustice to the people of Delhi, Kejriwal said the solution to the issue lay with the people and appealed to the Delhi public to elect AAP candidates in all seven constituencies of the capital.

There is only one solution to the problem, and it is with the people of Delhi. I want to appeal to the people of Delhi, in this Lok Sabha election, elect AAP in all the seven seats of Delhi. I have full confidence that in the coming five years, we will force whoever forms government at the Centre to give Delhi full statehood, Kejriwal told reporters.

Expressing disappointment with the court's verdict, he said, If a government can't even transfer its officers, how is it supposed to function? The party that has 67 seats does not have the rights, but the party that won three seats has the rights.

He remarked that the chief minister who got elected with a thumping majority does not have the power to transfer even a single peon. How will he run the government after this judgment? he asked.

On the court's decision that the Anti Corruption Branch falls under the union government, Kejriwal said that for the past 40 years, the ACB has been under the Delhi government. If someone comes to me with a complaint regarding corruption, what should I do as chief minister? Do I ask the Opposition? Should I ask the BJP to then do something about it?

Reacting to former chief minister Sheila Dikshit having welcomed the judgment, he claimed that his government does not have even ten per cent of the powers that the Dikshit regime enjoyed.

On the possibility of the AAP and the Congress allying in Delhi for the Lok Sabha polls, Kejriwal said the national party has nearly said 'no', even as he indicated his party's keenness for a poll tie-up.

The whole country wants the Modi-Shah duo to be defeated in the 2019 elections. For that, it is very important that wherever there is a BJP candidate, only one candidate from the opposition camp should stand. The anti-BJP votes should not get split. In Delhi, if two candidates stand against the BJP, it will benefit from it. In Uttar Pradesh, if another candidate besides the SP and BSP contests, the BJP will gain from it, Kejriwal said.At least 40 CRPF men were killed after a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into the 55-seater bus they were travelling in at Lethpora, Pulwama in South Kashmir.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh will reach Srinagar to take stock of the situation arising out of the single deadliest attack ever on security forces in Kashmir.

The CRPF convoy of over 2000 personnel were coming to Srinagar from Jammu after the highway opened for one way traffic after several days of closure due to heavy snowfall and landslidies.

According to sources the bomber struck around 3.15 pm. He was driving a Mahindra Scorpio packed with explosives. The blast turned the bus and the car of the suicide bomber into a mangled heap of metal. So powerful was the explosion that, body parts of the dead were strewn across the road amid smoke billowing from the targeted vehicle.

Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the attack and identified the suicide bomber (fidayeen) as Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama, who had joined the Jaish-e-Mohammed in 2018.

The Jaish also released a recorded video message of the suicide bomber. In the 44 second video, the suicide bomber is seen sitting in front of a bunch of AK 47 magazines and holding an AK 47 rifle, reciting Islamic poetry and exhorting the people to stand up and asking them to join Jaish-e-Mohammad.

A National Investigation Agency team is expected to reach Srinagar to collect the samples of material used in the attack for forensic analysis.

CRPF spokesperson Sanjay Singh said the CRPF batch that was attacked was travelling from Jammu to Srinagar. They had halted at Qazigund. The bus was hit by the car which was laden with explosives, he said. We cannot tell anything about the casualties as we are still trying to ascertain the details.

The J&K police in a statement said that it has began investigations into the attack and will soon get to the bottom of the plot hatched by the Jaish to target the security men.

The injured are being treated at the Army hospital in Srinagar. The toll is likely to go up as the condition of some of the injured is stated to be critical.

The attack has happened at a time when security forces gained an upper hand on the militancy by killing more than 250 militants last year.

The suicide attack was first carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammad in 1999 when Afaq Ahmed Shah, a Srinagar boy, tried to ram an explosive-laden Maruti 800 into the entrance of Army's 15 Corps headquarters in Srinagar.

The Army soldiers, however, challenged the attacker and forced him to detonate the explosives prematurely.

The Jaish carried another suicide attack the next year at the same place which was also foiled.

In 2001, the group then detonated a Tata Sumo filled with explosives outside the gate of the old assembly building at Srinagar's Jehangir Chowk in which more than 12 people were killed. After the explosion, three to four Jaish militants barged into the assembly complex and were later killed in a long gunfight.

Thursday's attack comes on the heels of the 2017 attack by Jaish fidayeens on CRPF camp at Lethpora in which five CRPF men were killed. Two of the fidayeens were local boys including the 16-year-old Fardeen Khandey from Tral. The fidayeen had for the first time used steel tipped bullets for maximum impact.Indian politics is in interesting times with foes turning friends, a grand alliance in the making and arch-rivals praising each other. The latest in the series is Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mulayam Singh Yadavs new-found love for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The SP patriachs speech in Parliament on Wednesday hailing PM Modi, virtually took everyone by surpsrise. It was more shocking as it came soon after his son and former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who was on his way to Allahabad, was stopped by the Yogi Adityanath government at the Lucknow airport. The matter hogged huge lime light.

READ: Narendra Modi should become PM again, says Mulayam Singh



Though praising one's rivals is not unheard of in politics, Mulayam's praise for PM Modi has a different undertone. It shows his unhappiness and disappointment with Akhilesh's move of forging an alliance with Mayawati's BSP. Mulayam had not only turned down the alliance with the BSP, but also clearly stated that the opposition, would not be able to get a majority like the BJP.

There are many reasons for Mulayam's pain. First, he was 'dethroned' by his son. Then came the alliance between the SP and the BSP. The SP had maintained a distance from the BSP for long. Akhilesh diluted that stand, too, and joined hands with the BSP. In addition, Akhilesh's policies also led to straining of ties between the party and Shivpal Yadav, Mulayam's brother. Shivpal was also Mulayam's right-hand man at one point of time.

Meanwhile, Mulayam's praise for PM Modi came as a big jolt to the SP-BSP alliance. Some SP leaders said, on condition of anonymity, that Mulayam was hurt because of Akhilesh's policies regarding the SP, a party raised by the former with much labour. They said the senior leader has been sidelined in the party.

Second, the CBI inquiry into the disproportionate assets of Mulayam and his family members had been virtually "lying in cold storage". The CBI had probed Mulayam and his family members on Income Tax returns filed between 2000 and 2005, and had found that their real income was more than the declared one. The CBI has not even filed any petition in the court to close this case, too, which means the case is very much "alive" against Mulayam. However, interestingly, there has not been much headway into it in the past five years.

Also, it is to be noted that this was not for the first time that Mulayam has shown his penchant for Modi. Earlier, he had invited him for the marriage of his nephew Tej Pratap. Modi attended the wedding in Mulayams village Saifai. In 2017, Mulayam had attended UP Chief Minister Adityanaths oath-taking ceremony and had sat beside the prime minister on the podium.In most states, the BJP and the Congress are in competition with each other, either directly or in alliance with a regional party, for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, in Andhra Pradesh, both national parties are floundering, fighting hard to avoid hitting rock bottom. The BJP faces mass desertion of cadre. Despite the saffron partys best attempts to convince people that they have not neglected the statethe issue of special category status comes to the forevoter anger is clearly directed towards the Centre. Having assessed the ground situation well, party leaders are gearing up to shift loyalties. In the 2014 elections, the BJP, in alliance with the TDP, won four assembly and two parliamentary seats. The Modi wave, along with transfer of TDP votes, seemed to have helped the party in the last elections. This time, the party has neither of these factors to pull them out of the rut.

Reportedly, a majority of MLAs and MPs are in talks with other regional parties. Former BJP president and Visakhapatnam MP, K. Hari Babu, is known more as a TDP sympathiser than a hardcore BJP worker. Ever since TDP walked out of the NDA, Babu has been treading cautiously and has refrained from aggressive attacks on the TDP. Babu, who belongs to AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidus community, is known to be close to him. Since there is no strong contender for Vizag from TDPs side, speculation is rife that he will switch sides at the last minute. If this does not happen, it is highly likely that he may not contest. The second BJP MP, Gokaraju Rangaraju, is an industrialist representing Narasapuram constituency. It is learnt that his son may contest next time, but not on BJP ticket. According to sources, the father and the son are already in talks with the YSR Congress Party.

Among the four legislators, one MLA, Akula Satyanarayana, joined actor Pawan Kalyans Jana Sena last month. Another leader, Vishnu Kumar Raju, MLA of Vizag North, is looking towards either YSRCP or Jana Sena. According to BJP sources, it is only a matter of time before he jumps ship. Former state minister Kamineni Srinivas, the MLA of Kaikalur, has already declared that he is not keen on continuing in politics. Srinivas is known to be in good terms with Naidu and it is unlikely that he will contest on behalf of the BJP. There are also rumours that, if asked, he is ready to join TDP. The only MLA who has been vocal about the saffron partys stand is Manikyala Rao, a long-time BJP activist.

The BJP never really had a base in Andhra Pradesh. Whatever little vote share they had also went down because of the negative impression that was created against it. The leaders know that it is difficult to win even one seat in the present circumstance, so they are looking to save their careers, said an analyst, who had recently done an extensive survey in AP on behalf of a political party, who wished to remain anonymous.



The Congress is now groping in the dark after their decision to part ways with the TDP for the upcoming elections. They had brought their campaigns and publicity drives to a grinding halt after the TDP showed interest in forging a friendship. Till the Telangana results were declared, the AP state Congress was of the impression that there will be seat-adjustment with the TDP. However, things did not work out as planned.

For 175 Assembly constituencies and 25 Parliament seats, around 1,300 applications have been received. The local Congress leaders are clueless about how Chandrababu-Rahul friendship will be perceived by the local voters, and if it will even help.

For now, there is friction between senior leaders, junior leaders, the state unit and the Congress high command. In the Dharma Porata Deeksha organised by the TDP government in Delhi, not a single senior Congress leader was seen.

Senior leaders and former MLAs of our party were happy with the TDP tie-up as they felt they stood a better chance at winning. The youngsters were not happy at all because they would be denied tickets since majority would go to the TDP. Now, the situation has reversed. The senior leaders are worried whereas first-time contestants are happy, said a senior leader of state Congress.

The grand old party will hold Pratyeka Hoda Bharosa Yatra from February 19 to March 2. Congress president Rahul Gandhi is expected to participate in the programme in Rajahmundry, and Priyanka Gandhi is also likely to make her presence felt.

The local Congress leaders have decided that they will criticise the TDP on local issues and lack of transparency in the administration, and go after the BJP on national policies.

The Congress, like BJP, is also not aiming for the moon. All they want is to open an account in assembly and parliament from this region.Chronological list of all major terror attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir in the last two decades:

* 26 August 2017 -- Three Jaish terrorists storm District Police Lines Pulwama, killing eight security force personnel, before the assailants were shot dead.

* 29 November 2016 -- Three terrorists storm Army artillery camp at Nagrota in Jammu, killing seven soldiers, before the assailants were eliminated.

* 18 September 2016 -- Four Pakistani terrorists storm an Army camp at Uri in Baramulla district, killing 18 soldiers, most of them were in sleep. The assailants were also killed. The incident led to reprisal surgical strikes inside the Pakistan occupied Kashmir by Indian Army.

* 25 June 2016 -- Terrorists open indiscriminate firing on a CRPF bus, killing eight jawans at Pampore on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

* 3 June 2016 -- Terrorists target a CRPF bus at Pampore, killing two personnel before taking refuge in a government building. Two-day encounter ends with killing of three soldiers including two officers and the two assailants. One civilian was also killed.

* 5 December 2014 -- Six heavily-armed terrorists storm an Army camp at Mohra in Uri. Ten soldiers were killed in the gun battle with the intruders, who were all shot dead.

* 24 June 2013 -- Terrorists ambush a bus carrying unarmed Army personnel at Hyderpora in Srinagar. Eight soldiers were killed in the attack.

* 19 July 2008 -- Ten soldiers were killed when terrorists triggered an IED planted by the roadside at Narbal on Srinagar-Baramulla highway on the outskirts of the city.

* 2 November 2005 -- A suicide bomber blew up his car at Nowgam, near the private residence of then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, killing three cops and six civilians.

* 20 July 2005 -- A suicide car bomber blew his vehicle by ramming it into a vehicle of security forces. Three security force personnel and two civilians were killed.

* 24 June 2005 -- Nine army soldiers were killed in a car bomb triggered by terrorists on the outskirts of Srinagar.

* 4 August 2004 -- Nine CRPF jawans were killed in a terrorist attack on their camp at Rajbagh in Srinagar. One terrorist was also killed in retaliatory action.

* 8 April 2004 -- 11 persons were killed in a grenade attack by terrorists on a PDP rally at Uri in Baramulla district. The PDP was demanding opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road.

* 22 July 2003 -- Eight soldiers, including a Brigadier, were killed in a terrorists attack on their camp at Akhnoor. Several other senior Army officers sustained injuries in the attack.

* 28 June 2003 -- 12 soldiers, including an officer, were killed in a suicide attack by terrorists on Sunjwan Army camp. Two terrorists were neutralised.

* 14 May 2002 -- In one of the biggest strikes on an Army installation, 36 persons were killed by three terrorists who stormed the Kaluchak Army Cantonment in Jammu. The assailants were also killed.

* 17 November 2001 -- Terrorists storm a security forces base in Ramban (then part of Doda district), killing 10 security forces. Four terrorists were also killed.

* 1 October 2001 -- Terrorists trigger a car bomb outside the old Legislative Assembly Complex in Srinagar. 38 persons were killed while three assailants were also eliminated.

* 10 August 2000 -- Terrorists hurl a grenade at Residency Road in Srinagar. As the security officials assembled at the spot, they triggered a car bomb, killing 11 persons and a photojournalist.

* 19 April 2000 -- The "human bomb" was used for the first time in Kashmir insurgency. Two soldiers were killed in the suicide car bomb at the Army headquarters at Badamibagh area in Srinagar.

* 3 November 1999 -- Terrorists storm the Badamibagh Army headquarters, killing 10 soldiers including Defence Public Relations Officer Major Purshottam.After an eventful visit to Kochi in Kerala that drew massive crowds and brought traffic to a standstill, Sunny Leone fans in the state were eagerly waiting her next visit. Sunny Leone was supposed to perform at a special Valentine's Day event in Kochi. However, in a major disappointment to fans, Sunny Leone shared on social media on Wednesday that she will not be attending the event on Thursday.

She said she was backing out of the event due to disagreements with the promoter. Taking to Twitter, she crossed out her image on the poster of the event.

In her tweet, she mentioned she will be in Kochi for another event on March 2.

Sorry everyone I will not be attending this Cochin Valentines event due to promoter defaulting on their commitments!



Cant wait to see you all at the Vanita Awards March 2nd on stage! Back in Cochin!! pic.twitter.com/qOsWqH3MjN  Sunny Leone (@SunnyLeone) February 13, 2019

She had earlier visited Kochi to inaugurate a mobile phone showroom,. The massive turnout of fans on one of the major roads of the city, just to catch a glimpse, took even the police by surprise. Hundreds of male fans clambered over barricades and even metro pillars to catch a glimpse of Sunny Leone. The police had to resort to lathi charge to restrain frenzied fans.

Floored by the response, Sunny Leone posted a picture of the crowd and captioned it: No words...Can't thank the people of Kochi. Was so overwhelmed by the love & support. Never will forget Gods own Country Kerala! Thank you(sic).

At the time the state was reeling from floods, she had made a generous donation for the state. @dirrty99 (Daniel Webber) and I hopefully will able to feed a few of the many people in Kerala that need a warm meal with 1200 kgs of rice and daal. I know its not a dent in what actually needs to be sent and I wish I could do more, (sic.) Leone wrote in the Instagram photo-caption.The Logistics Officer is responsible for theoverall Logistics Management of the Kotido Office. In charge of the KotidoLogistics department, the Logistics Officer will make sure that all programs inthe field are fully supported timely and accurately in all type of logisticsneeds. The Logistics Officer is the key person for all the Kotido Logisticsarrangements, coordination and also serves as Local Security Focal Point. Inaddition this position will be required to perform other program supportlogistical duties, such as arranging flights, transportation, lodging, etcas the need arises.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What constitutes a national emergency?

This is a question that has been debated a lot this past month, ever since President Trump announced that he may invoke his presidential powers to obtain funds to build a wall across the southern border.

Is illegal immigration a national emergency? I dont know. I guess a situation has the most urgency when it affects you personally. Although illegal immigration is a problem, I dont think it qualifies as an emergency.

I do think the United States could face a very real national emergency in the future. We should spend our resources on preventing and/or planning for these threats.

This past January, our intelligence agencies gave their annual Worldwide Threat Assessment report to the Senate Select Committee. FBI Director Christopher Wray, CIA Director Gina Haspel, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and several other agencies all gave testimony on threats facing our country.

The experience of these experts spans decades and they are all highly respected. They also have very dedicated and skilled professionals working alongside them, making our intelligence agencies the best in the world.

While immigrants crossing the border was not mentioned, many other threats were covered in the 42-page report. Among them were North Koreas failure to dismantle its arsenal of nuclear weapons and the erroneous conclusion that ISIS has been defeated.

One of the most disturbing declarations was that Russia and China both have the capacity to launch cyber attacks against our critical infrastructure, knocking out electric grids for days or even weeks. They could also target our natural gas pipelines and our banking sector. This is not a someday scenariothis could happen today. Russia has already used cyber attacks against Ukraine.

Imagine what would happen if the power was knocked out in our northern states during weather like we had last week with temperatures below zero. How many lives would be lost? Think of the damage to virtually every home and business due to frozen pipes and flooding. What if our banking systems were shut down for weeks? Gas pumps shut down or refineries. The what ifs are endless.

I use to laugh at Doomsday Preppers hoarding food and watereven toilet paper. Im not laughing now, not after listening to our intelligence experts lay out the dangers that keep them awake at night.

A cyber attack or a nuclear attackthat is an emergency. Extreme climate changes that affect food productionthats an emergency. Immigration at the border is something that needs a solution, but lets put it into prospective and use our resources wisely.

Mary Ann Compton

BrightonALTON - Dane C. Tannler, 36, of the 300 block of Dry Street, Alton, was charged Feb. 8 with unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon.

He allegedly possessed a ViperTec stun gun on Thursday after having been convicted of manufacturing or delivering between one and 15 grams of cocaine in 2011. Bail was set at $50,000.

WOOD RIVER - Christian L. Cofer, 23, of the 4800 block of Clifton Terrace, Godfrey, was charged Wednesday with residential burglary.

He allegedly entered a home in the 300 block of Hillview Drive, Wood River, with the intent to commit a theft. Bail was set at $85,000.

ALTON - Robin L. Slow, 31, of the 100 block of Willard Street, Alton, was charged Tuesday with unlawful possession of a controlled substance.

He allegedly possessed less than 15 grams of heroin on Monday. Bail was set at $15,000.

ALTON - Jose A. Ixtepan-Chagala, 25, of the 3800 block of Western Avenue, Alton, was charged Tuesday with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, reckless discharge of a firearm and unlawful possession of a stolen firearm.

He allegedly shot a 9 mm handgun next to the head of a victim on Monday. He was also accused of possessing a stolen firearm. Bail was set at $80,000.

WOOD RIVER - Tyler S. Mason, 24, of the 300 block of First Street, Benld, was charged Tuesday with two counts of unlawful possession of a controlled substance.

He allegedly possessed cocaine and hydrocodone on Monday. Bail was set at $15,000.

LIVINGSTON - Dilynn J. Schehl, 27, of the 800 block of Veterans Memorial Drive, was charged Wednesday with aggravated battery and misdemeanor domestic battery.

He allegedly struck a victim in the hand with a pitchfork on Monday. Bail was set at $20,000.

EAST ALTON - Brittany R. Gresham, 30, of the 200 block of Haller Drive, East Alton, was charge Monday with two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon and a count of unlawful possession of a controlled substance.

She was accused of possessing an LCP Ruger on Sunday after having been convicted of unlawful possession of a controlled substance. She allegedly possessed a .22-caliber long rifle on Sunday after the drug conviction. She also allegedly possessed a prescription sedative. Bail was set at $30,000.

EAST ALTON - Chad L. Evans, 46, of the 100 block of Tomlinson Street, East Alton, was charged Wednesday with unlawful possession of methamphetamine.

He allegedly possessed less than five grams of the drug on Tuesday. Bail was set at $20,000.

ALTON - Morgan N. Selhim, 21, of the 800 block of Washington Avenue, Alton, was charged Wednesday with aggravated battery.

He allegedly spit in the face of an Alton firefighter Monday while the firefighter was performing his duties. Bail was set at $50,000.

ALTON - Samuel T. Carter, 28, of Alton, was charged Wednesday with residential burglary and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon.

He allegedly entered a home in the 3800 block of Oscar Street on Tuesday with the intent to commit a theft. He was also accused of possessing a loaded magazine after having been convicted of unlawful possession of a controlled substance in 2015. Bail was set at $100,000.JERSEY COUNTY  An 18-year-old Brighton woman was flown to a St. Louis area hospital in critical condition late Wednesday after she was hit by a car on U.S. Route 67 outside of unincorporated New Delhi.

At approximately 7 p.m. Wednesday, a 2015 GMC utility vehicle driving northbound on U.S. Route 67 hit the woman, who Illinois State Police say was in the roadway. The crash happened north of Hillside Lane in Jersey County.Toulouse, France

To passengers, the A380 feels immediately different  spacious, smooth and oddly elegant for a jet so gargantuan. Yet to Airbus, it's become a burden so super-sized that the European manufacturer is ending its production for good.

The A380 is simply too big to sell. With funereal faces, Airbus CEO Tom Enders and other executives made a stunning yet long-anticipated admission Thursday that it was the wrong product at the wrong time, created to feed a demand for 800-seat jets that never materialized.

Less than 14 years after its maiden flight, barely a decade after it started carrying passengers, the A380 is being mothballed.

Just 17 more of the planes will be completed, wrapping up in 2021. Emirates, its last and most loyal customer, said Thursday it's switching to smaller planes instead.

Distraught fans  even within Airbus' own ranks  decried the decision. Unions in Britain, Spain and France fear for the 3,500 jobs Airbus says it might threaten.

One of the jetliner's first test pilots took a more philosophical view. While he's "feeling a bit sad" about the news, Claude Lelaie says the giant plane will be remembered for pushing the barriers of aviation, like the supersonic Concorde.

"Both made history and allowed progress, technological progress," he told The Associated Press from the southern French city of Toulouse, the cradle of Airbus' worldwide operations. "That's business  you have to ensure the success of the company."

This isn't how things were supposed to pan out for the world's biggest passenger jet.

Development talks for the plane began in 2000, meant to be Airbus' 21st-century answer to rival Boeing's 1960s-era 747, and one of the most ambitious endeavors in aviation. Its Rolls Royce engines were quieter than ever, far out on the extra-long wings. Carbon-fiber technology was used for the body to make it lighter and easier to maneuver. Its double-decker construction allowed room for bars, duty-free shops and even showers.

Lelaie was a co-pilot aboard the maiden flight of the superjumbo in 2005, 101 years after the Wright brothers' first flight.

Despite its huge size and weight, he called the A380 a "very nice aircraft to fly"  even on special low-speed flights when they deliberately stalled the plane to test its reactions.

Then French President Jacques Chirac hailed the plane as "a symbol of what Europeans can do together." Airbus' then chief salesman, John Leahy, called it "game-changing" for the industry.

Yet to detractors, the A380 smacked of hubris, a vanity project by managers who saw bigger as better despite an uncertain market for a plane so huge that airports had to modify their runways and gates.

It faced repeated production setbacks and cost overruns. Order cancellations led to a restructuring at Airbus and thousands of job cuts.

One emblematic problem: a standoff between German and French engineers over which software to use to design the cockpit. The company lost a quarter of its market value in a single day in 2006 when the resulting delays became public.

Enders says the A380 wasn't a flight of folly but a carefully studied gamble.

"We didn't stumble into it," he said. "Little did we know how the world would look in 2010, in 2019."

Airlines in fact seemed more interested in mid-size planes for regional routes, notably in Asia, where travel within the region has boomed in recent years. Even on longer routes, airlines seemed to prefer smaller planes that were easier to fill.

Salesman Leahy spent much of the 2000s trying to persuade customers not to cancel orders. The last major order was in 2013, from trusted Emirates.

Enders said he was "knee-deep" in the A380, and personally suffered from its failures, but the only way to get out of this "trap" was to say good-bye.

"The 380 may have just been too large of a step for the market to handle," said Rob Watts, CEO of aviation consulting company Aerotask.

The end came Thursday, as Airbus and Emirates announced that the airline had decided to transfer existing orders for A380s to smaller A350s and A320s.

The chairman and CEO of Emirates, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al Maktoum, said: "While we are disappointed to have to give up our order, and sad that the program could not be sustained, we accept that this is the reality of the situation."

The A380 has been the backbone of the Emirates fleet, based out of Dubai, the world's busiest airport for international travel.

The pall of grief at Airbus headquarters was tinged with a hint of relief, after years of straining to keep the A380 alive.

Airbus quietly prepared for the decision a year ago, building in the 463 million euros ($522 million) in losses the A380 cost the company last year into its 2018 financial results, announced Thursday. The company posted a jump in profit and upbeat forecast for the coming year despite a slew of challenges, including Britain's pending exit from the European Union without a new trade deal.

Even though the A380 wiped billions off Airbus profits in its development phase, Chief Financial Officer Harald Wilhelm says the company is expecting to break even on the overall program before it's scrapped.

Airbus, which has some 130,000 employees worldwide, is focusing on its many other planes, made in facilities from Mobile, Ala., to Tianjin, China.Groton, CT (06349)

Today

Cloudy with a few showers. Low 59F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Cloudy with a few showers. Low 59F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod  facing calls to resign after a group of behaviour analysts said she warned them of four long years after they refused to publicly support changes to the autism system  has issued an apology for her comments.

Its been an emotional time, she said via Twitter around dinnertime Thursday. Throughout this process, my focus has always been on the 23,000 children who were abandoned under the previous governments plan. This is an issue I take very personally and I apologize if my comments made anyone feel threatened or uncomfortable.

Earlier in the day, Premier Doug Ford expressed his full support for MacLeod, saying he had not spoken to her yet, but he had no intention of asking her to step down.

I would never ask Lisa MacLeod  shes an absolute all-star, Ford told reporters Thursday at a news conference in Woodbridge. I would never, ever  I want to repeat that  ask Lisa to resign. Shes done an incredible job.

MacLeod was accused by the group of acting in a threatening manner at a January meeting, saying if they didnt provide public praise in support of the autism overhaul, the next four years would be rocky and that her office would characterize them as looking out for themselves.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, as well as the head of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, accused MacLeod of bullying representatives of the Ontario Association for Behaviour Analysis.

Horwath said MacLeods job is to work with parent and advocate voices to deliver results for them. Instead, shes threatened them ... in light of (her) actions, Ontarians cannot be expected to have confidence in her as a minister.

OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas said he was disappointed in MacLeod and urged her to leave.

On social media, #ResignLisaMacLeod was trending on Twitter all Thursday afternoon.

But the Ottawa Citizen reported that MacLeod has no plans to do so, telling a reporter at an event in the capital that shes not going to get distracted by partisan games by the NDP.

I have a job to do and my job is to protect the children within my ministry. So Im going to continue to do that, and Im just pleased that our government and our premier are aligned with me on how best to do that.

The autism issue has become so heated that MacLeod has received death threats over it in recent days, sources say.

The controversy over changes to the autism system continues as parents stage protests around the province to get the attention of Progressive Conservative MPPs, including one last Friday in the Ottawa area  when MacLeod waded into the crowd to address their concerns  and another planned for Friday in Kitchener at Amy Fees constituency office.

(Fee, who has two children diagnosed with autism, is MacLeods parliamentary assistant and a long-time autism advocate.)

The Ford government is overhauling the Ontario autism program, promising to clear a massive wait list of 23,000 children in need of therapy, as well as another for children awaiting diagnosis.

Under the changes, children with autism up to age 6 will receive a maximum of $140,000 until age 18, while older children will get $55,000. Funding will be targeted to lower-income families, and those earning more than $250,000 will no longer qualify.

While the changes received public praise from a number of service providers and hospitals, parent support group Autism Ontario said it neither proposed nor endorsed the revamp despite government claims it had.

Critics have said the PC plan is flawed because it is based on age, not need, and will leave families  who can spend $80,000 a year alone on therapy for a child with severe needs  without adequate services.

In light of the controversy with the behaviour analysts, Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said MacLeod needs to come forward and clear the air.

Representatives from ONTABA, the behaviour analysts group, met with MacLeod and her staff Jan. 29. In an email this week to members, they say they were asked to provide a quote of support, without (being provided with) full details on (the revamped) program, and indicated that failure to do so would result in four long years for the organization.

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It went on to say that the minister also indicated that if a quote of support was not forthcoming, a communication that behaviour analysts are self-interested would be released from her office ... In spite of the implied risk, the organization refused.

The organization has been seeking more oversight for behaviour analysts, but said the governments plan for an online registry of providers falls far short.

One analyst in attendance told the Star the ministers conduct was unbecoming for an elected official, saying it was more akin to meeting with a mob boss.

However, a senior government source with knowledge of several meetings between the government and ONTABA, says the group previously indicated they would publicly support the changes. But at the Jan. 29 meeting, three new representatives arrived and the tone changed, the source said.

In a statement released Wednesday, MacLeod spokesperson Derek Rowland said despite collaborative dialogues that took place over six months of consultation, ONTABA was unwavering in their desire to self-regulate and unwilling to work with government to open up the sector to provide parents more choice in support services for children with autism.

Kendra Thomson, the incoming president of ONTABA, said her organization is not a self-interested lobby group, but a non-profit that represents a number of professionals, as well as parents, and promotes evidence-based therapies.

She told the Star ONTABAs representatives left that final meeting feeling very disappointed, as she and others had at previous meetings.

On Thursday, Ford said he had yet to speak to MacLeod about the controversy, but would.

MacLeod, he added, has one of the most difficult files anywhere in our government ... it might not be the largest file, but I can deal with the finances, I can deal with the sectors and the ministries, but do you know what my kryptonite is? My kryptonite is when you talk about children, when you talk about children with autism.

That is a tough, tough file.

OPSEUs Thomas noted that in 2014, when Ford was a city councillor, he said an Etobicoke residence for teens with autism had ruined the community, and told a father who launched a complaint about his comment to go to hell.

During last years election, Ford said at a debate he would support families of children with autism 1,000 per cent, adding you wont have to be protesting on the front of Queens Park like you did under the previous Liberal regime.

Meanwhile, parents who feel they are winning the communications war in their battle with the Ford government are now obtaining permits to protest at Queens Park as early as the first week of March, said Ontario Autism Coalition president Laura Kirby-McIntosh.

Read more about:Even for a government that seems like a series of sideshows in search of a plot, Premier Doug Fords attacks on campus student organizations has a jump-the-shark feel.

This week, he looped back to a perplexing storyline about how undergrads have been held hostage by Marxist student government unions that allegedly impose extortionist fees and levies.

Its bizarre to watch Ford attempt to convince voters in the Peoples Republic of Ontario that he has a mandate to eliminate not just student government, but also the campus newspapers that hold those dues-collecting student groups to account.

As The Varsity, the University of Torontos student newspaper, revealed last week, the Tories have now set out the rules that give students the right to opt-out of paying levies for campus clubs and organizations, among them student newspapers.

During last springs election, Ford talked frequently about bringing accountability to government and restoring free speech on university campuses. But Fords student choice initiative, as this policy has been dubbed, may well achieve the opposite.

In fact, it is conceivable that undergrads on some campuses may opt to continue funding student unions while defunding campus media organizations  a result that could allow those organizations to operate with little or no scrutiny.

The notion that a provincial government would have a hand in snuffing out campus journalism is not just ridiculous, but also unprecedented. Even more troubling is the fact that student news organizations are the only media that systematically cover university administrations, faculty and staff unions, and governing councils.

Its a big file. Ontario spent $6.6 billion on university and college operating costs in fiscal 2017-2018. The post-secondary sector absorbs billions more from tuition and fundraising revenue streams, as well as vast research grants from the federal government. These institutions, moreover, are enormous employers and serve as the stewards of professional education in the province.

Yet the mainstream medias coverage of this vast and costly sector is slim. Most news organizations have stopped systematically covering university spending and labour relations, except during strikes. Research breakthroughs and large philanthropic gifts generate hits of coverage. In the main, only campus news organizations have the mandate and the contacts to provide thorough coverage, some of which becomes raw material for the daily press.

Case in point: a series of recent investigative stories by Ryerson Universitys Eyeopener about thousands of dollars of alleged spending irregularities by members of the student union executive. The Star has picked up the story, reporting last week about the unions move to approve a forensic audit of $700,000 in spending.

Its hardly the only such example. The University of Ottawas Fulcrum last year broke a story about a fraud probe involving senior student union officials. In 2017, The Varsity dug up the findings of an audit of secret slush fund maintained by the Canadian Federation of Students, a secretive umbrella organization.

Its also worth noting that campuses such as York University are as large  in population terms  as small- to mid-sized cities. They experience crime and addiction-related crises and contend with controversies over development and investment plans. Such topics are only grist for campus media, yet find audiences among the students and faculty.

With a few universities, independent student news organizations have sought to offer alternatives to fee-financed campus papers. But given the precipitous decline in ad revenue, it seems unlikely that privately run campus media can fill the void left when student newspapers lose their levy funding.

Its possible that university administrators will step in to fill the funding breach. But the arrangement is less than ideal. After all, student journalists covering university presidents, governing councils or influential deans may wonder if hard-hitting coverage will jeopardize their funding.

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Fords strange digression through the world of campus organizations may produce less light where more is required or create a scenario in which student journalists are subtly discouraged from doing precisely what the premier claims to want, which is holding expensive public institutions to account.

Then again, for a government that launched a fake news channel to broadcast propaganda about itself, maybe this big campus chill is precisely the desired result.

Urban affairs journalist John Lorinc is a senior editor of Spacing and a former Varsity staff reporter (1984-1987).

Read more about:SEATTLE - A research vessel funded by the late Seattle billionaire Paul Allen has discovered the wreckage of an American aircraft carrier sunk in the South Pacific during World War II. It is the latest in an ongoing effort to discover sunken vessels.

Allens Vulcan Inc. announced this week that an autonomous submarine sent by the crew of the research vessel Petrel found the USS Hornet nearly 17,500 feet (5,400 metres) deep near the Solomon Islands.

The Hornet was best known for its part in the Doolittle Raid in April 1942, the first air attack on Japan. It also participated that June in the decisive Battle of Midway, which helped turn the tide of the war.

The Hornet suffered severe damage from Japanese dive-bombers and torpedo planes during the Battle of Santa Cruz Island in October 1943, and U.S. ships then unsuccessfully attempted to sink it because it was beyond saving. The Hornet finally went down when two Japanese destroyers fired torpedoes the next night.

Most of the crew of 2,170 men had abandoned the ship by the time it sank, but 111 were killed.

The Vulcan project has located about 20 vessels to date. Allen, who co-founded Microsoft will Bill Gates, died Oct. 15 in Seattle from complications of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

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, Robert Kraft, director of subsea operations for Vulcan, said in a news release. Paul Allen was particularly interested in historically significant and capital ships, so this mission and discovery honour his legacy.CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelas chief prosecutor said Thursday he has launched an investigation into opposition leader Juan Guaidos appointment of a transitional board of directors for the state oil company.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab said the appointments by Guaido and his National Assembly are part of an illegal power grab backed by foreign governments. He also said that ambassadors of Guaidos self-declared interim government are being investigated as part of the probe.

Clearly, this legislative body through criminal means pretends to seize national powers, Saab said in a news conference broadcast on state TV, calling the move part of a circus.

Guaido declared last month that he has a constitutional right to presidential power as head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, calling President Nicolas Maduros election in May a sham. Guaido currently has support from the U.S. and about 60 countries which are urging Maduro to step down.

Saab said hes looking into the board members who were designated on Wednesday to oversee PDVSA and its Houston-based subsidiary Citgo.

These people will of course suffer legal consequences, as will the person who declared himself (president), he said.

Magistrate Juan Mendoza of Venezuelas pro-Maduro Supreme Court later read a statement in a televised address, nullifying the appointments and accusing the National Assembly of overstepping its constitutional powers.

Guaidos representative in Washington, Carlos Vecchio, previously said the National Assemblys decision to name a new board of directors was taken to prevent Citgo from being plundered by the dictatorship.

The standoff in Venezuela could come to a potentially violent head on Feb. 23, when Guaido says he will try to run caravans of U.S. humanitarian aid across the Colombian border into Venezuela. The United States and other countries have also said they will send supplies through Brazil and the Caribbean island of Curacao, while billionaire Richard Branson entered the fray and announced a benefit concert in the Colombian town of Cucuta.

Maduro has blocked the emergency food and medicine from entering and says that the intervention is part of a U.S. coup attempt.

But the situation now puts both leaders in a tight situation: Guaido could use successful efforts to bring in aid to regain momentum, while Maduro could be perceived as bowing to pressure if he allows the assistance to come through.

An oil-rich nation, Venezuela was once among Latin Americas wealthiest and politically stable nations. However, oil production has collapsed to one-third of historic output, which critics blame on two decades of socialist rule.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump recently lodged sanctions against Venezuelas oil sector that it says could further cripple Maduros government by cutting off an estimated $11 billion in cash-flow this year.

On Thursday, the White House said Trump will also travel to Florida International University in Miami to warn of the dangers of socialism in a Monday speech in support of Guaido.

But nearly three weeks after the Trump administration backed an all-out effort to force out Maduro, the embattled socialist leader is holding strong and defying predictions of an imminent demise.

In New York, Venezuela Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza announced the formation of a group that believes the U.N. Charters commitment to non-interference in another countrys affairs is being violated, particularly in the South American nation.

Surrounded by diplomats from 16 countries including Russia, China, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba and Nicaragua, he said the group will begin a series of actions to raise awareness around the dangers that our peoples currently face, particularly in Venezuela.

He would not disclose the actions being contemplated. But Russias U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia later told reporters in Russian that Venezuela is considering an international conference on the rule of law and support for the U.N. Charter, which also opposes the threat or use of force.

For his part, Branson, a British music mogul who founded Virgin Group, said he would throw a livestreamed concert to raise $100 million for suffering Venezuelans.

Branson released a video announcing support for Guaido and said the concert would feature regional and international artists.

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We must break this impasse, he said of Maduros refusal to let in humanitarian aid. Or soon many Venezuelans will be on the verge of starvation or death.

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Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this story.

Take Five - This is your final free article during this 30 day period. Stay in touch with all of the news.

Sign up today for complete digital access to The Daily News-Record.CONCORD, N.H. - The Latest on Gov. Chris Sununus budget address (all times local):

12:30 p.m.

Republican legislative leaders say Gov. Chris Sununus proposed budget builds on their partys good work, while Democrats say they dont appreciate what they heard as a bullying, threatening tone.

The Republican governor told lawmakers Thursday that his budget is free of politics, though he devoted part of his address to expressing concern about legislation making its way through the Legislature, which is now controlled by Democrats. He criticized lawmakers for proposing billions of dollars worth of new spending without viable ways to pay for it and urged them to stand with taxpayers.

Democratic leaders said they were disappointed by the accusatory tone and said it insulted lawmakers hard work. Republican leaders praised Sununus plan, saying it hits on important programs that made past Republican budgets successful.

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12:10 p.m.

Republican Gov. Chris Sununu has proposed a two-year, $13.1 billion budget he says prioritizes New Hampshires needs while living within its means.

Sununu told lawmakers Thursday his plan is fiscally responsible, invests in children, creates equal opportunity for all and ensures vulnerable citizens dont fall through the cracks. It includes adding more than $27 million to the states Rainy Day Fund, bringing it to an all-time high of $137 million.

Other highlights include legalizing sports betting, increased funding to help victims of domestic and sexual violence, and the creation of a Department of Military Affairs and Veterans Services.

Two years ago, the Republican-led Legislature ultimately approved an $11.7 billion plan after the House failed to pass a budget for the first time in decades. Democrats now control both chambers.

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10:50 a.m.

Gov. Chris Sununu says with his proposed budget and other executive actions coming soon, New Hampshire can achieve two-thirds of the goals outlined in the states new 10-year plan for mental health in just two years.

In his budget address Thursday, Sununu called for spending $40 million to build a new facility on the grounds of New Hampshire Hospital so patients who need secure treatment but have committed no crimes are no longer held at the state prison. He also proposed new psychiatric beds around the state to alleviate a growing crisis of patients waiting in emergency departments.

Sununu said he hopes hospitals will partner with the state to build their own psychiatric units.

Democrats have proposed legislation along those lines, using surplus money. Sununu had said he had concerns about using the money that way.

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10:40 a.m.

Republican Gov. Chris Sununu says hes heavily investing in education with his two-year budget plan.

Sununu got a standing ovation Thursday when he announced that he wants to spend $63.7 million in one-time, surplus funds to provide school building aid for property-poor districts. His budget also includes increased funding for special education to $26.5 million, the highest level since 2012, and increases tuition and transportation aid to its highest level ever.

That money $8.6 million will help students get to community colleges under the New Hampshire Career Academy initiative he announced last month.

Sununu also called for $32 million for a new loan forgiveness program to encourage college graduates to work in the state.

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9:30 a.m.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is outlining his spending priorities for the next two years in a budget address to lawmakers.

Sununu, a Republican in his second term, is speaking before the Legislature on Thursday morning. In excerpts of his speech released by his office, Sununu says his budget is free of gimmicks, politics or new taxes. Highlights will include providing more school building aid to needy communities, student loan assistance initiatives and putting more money into the states Rainy Day Fund.

The budget also will continue scheduled business tax cuts that Democrats have been trying to stop. Sununu says tax relief has boosted the economy and the states economic competitiveness.

Unlike two years ago, Sununu now faces a House and Senate both controlled by Democrats.AUSTIN, Texas - Texas embattled election chief has apologized over an inaccurate list of 95,000 people on the voter rolls flagged as possible non-U.S. citizens, and a Senate committee postponed a vote Thursday on his nomination  a signal his job could be in jeopardy.

Secretary of State David Whitley had previously refused to acknowledge mistakes in the three weeks since his office gave election fraud prosecutors a voter list that included tens of thousands of U.S. citizens who were wrongly flagged .

Whitley was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott but is still awaiting confirmation from the GOP-led Senate. Uproar over the botched rollout has cast rare uncertainty over whether Whitley will survive confirmation.

The voter list was released in January and suggested that of the 95,000 possible noncitizens on the Texas voter rolls, as many as 58,000 may have illegally cast ballots since 1996. President Donald Trump seized on the reports out of Texas to renew unsubstantiated claims of rampant voter fraud, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office prosecutes election fraud cases, sent a campaign fundraising email to supporters with the headline, VOTER FRAUD ALERT.

In a letter to lawmakers sent late Wednesday, Whitley said his office could have been communicated better and that more time should have been devoted to vetting the names.

I recognize this caused some confusion about our intentions, which were at all times aimed at maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the voter rolls, Whitley wrote. To the extent my actions missed that mark, I apologize.

The letter was first reported by the Texas Tribune.

The apology went further than Whitleys defence during a rocky two-hour confirmation hearing last week, when he told Senate Democrats that the data is what the data is. Days prior to the hearing, when asked by an Associated Press reporter whether his office had made mistakes, Whitley responded no.

Whitleys confirmation is in the hands of the Republican-controlled Texas Senate but he will likely need more than GOP votes. Democrats have sharply criticized Whitley but have so far not said they will try to block his nomination.

Texas officials say they matched registered voters against records of noncitizens with state IDs. But they failed to exclude scores of people who legally cast ballots only after becoming U.S. citizens.

The ACLU and other civil and minority rights groups have sued the state in an effort to stop counties from using the list to try identifying noncitizens. The first federal court hearing set for next week.

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Follow Paul j. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweberWASHINGTON - The ranking Democratic on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday called on the Trump administration to turn over all documents related to the killing of Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requesting records about whether any senior Saudi official or member of the royal family, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was responsible for his death.

Despite international outrage, Trump decided not to impose harsher penalties on the crown prince over the October death and dismemberment of The Washington Post columnist inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. The columnist, who lived in Virginia, had written articles critical of the kingdom, but Saudi Arabia insists the crown prince did not order the killing.

The Trump administration pushed back Monday against allegations that it was trying to cover up the killing when it failed to send Congress a report determining who was responsible for his death.GREENVILLE, N.C. - Friends and colleagues of the late U.S. Rep. Walter Jones Jr. remembered him Thursday as a man of integrity and deep Christian conviction who fought for constituents and what he believed was right.

Hundreds of people, including Gov. Roy Cooper and current and former members of Congress, attended the funeral Mass for Jones at a Catholic church in Greenville. The 3rd Congressional District representative died Sunday on his 76th birthday.

Like his father before him, Jones served for more than 20 years on Capitol Hill representing eastern North Carolina. He was a fiscal and social conservative who initially supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He later reversed course, becoming a leading critic of military action there and incurring disfavour from fellow Republicans.

The Very Rev. Justin Kerber, who was the churchs pastor until 2013, said Jones had shared his anguish over the Iraq war with him.

He said, Father, I want to do what God wants me to do. Pray with me that Ill always have the courage to do what is right, Kerber said during the sermon, adding later that I always looked on him as a man of absolute integrity. Whether you agreed with him or not, he was faithful.

Jones opposition to the war came after he was among the House members who led a campaign when the French opposed U.S. military action that resulted in the chambers cafeteria offering freedom fries and freedom toast  instead of French fries and French toast.

Beginning in 2003, Jones sent personally signed letters to the families of thousands of servicemen and women killed in action. He called it penance for voting yes for the Iraq war in 2002.

Connie Gruber of Jacksonville told the crowd that Jones never stopped working to absolve her late Marine Corps husband of wrongdoing for an Osprey crash in April 2000 that killed him, another pilot and 17 other service members. She said Jones fought for 14 years until a Defence Department official released a letter in 2016 citing causes for the crash that cleared both Maj. Brooks Gruber and Lt. Col. John Brow, the other pilot.

In addition to my late husband, Congressman Jones became the other hero in my life, for the honour he worked so diligently to restore, Gruber said.

Jones, who had served in Congress since 1995, had already announced his 2018 campaign would be his last. He 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 previously served in the legislature for a decade as a Democrat. Cooper got to know him there when the future governor joined the House in the late 1980s. Cooper, a Democrat, said even then Jones caused bipartisan angst among political party leaders because of that fierce independence.

He didnt toe any political line but his own, doing what he thought was right for the people of North Carolina, for our state and for our country, Cooper said.OKEECHOBEE, Fla. - Some students have difficulty trusting classmates outside their circle. Parents say interactions with school staff are more impersonal. Teachers worry that added security detracts from learning.

The Parkland massacre a year ago upended school life across Florida. In the year since a gunman fatally shot 14 students and three staffers, school districts have reshaped the K-12 experience, adopting new rules for entering campus, hiring more police and holding frequent safety drills. Some districts trained teams of armed employees to confront attackers.

You cant really trust other students. They all have different mindsets, said Allen White, a senior at the lone high school in the central Florida farming town of Okeechobee.

Reflecting at a skate park near campus, White and four friends said their schools atmosphere changed after Feb. 14, 2018. Only last month, suspicious social media posts put Okeechobee High on alert, prompting many students, including White, to stay home.

I dont really feel safe. It has become a real-life epidemic, he said. He attributed school violence primarily to bullying and mental health and said schools need to better address those issues.

Okeechobee is one of at least 24 Florida districts that have started training and arming non-instructional personnel.

On a recent afternoon, four school staffers met secretly at a grassy basin dug into the fertile land that borders Lake Okeechobee. They grabbed ammunition from a military-style container and loaded a handgun while standing by a picnic table. For hours, they practiced shooting at silhouette targets with sheriff deputies.

Authorities keep the identities of these guardians secret, citing security reasons. One of the women practicing said the 140 hours of required training adds to a busy schedule, but she feels compelled to do it just in case.

Protecting the childrens safety is first, she said. They wont know that I am one of their guardians. But I will be prepared.

In Miami, parents say some schools  even preschools have lost a sense of community since Parkland. Once-mundane morning drop-offs, for instance, have turned into a regimented affair.

Some schools previously allowed parents to drop off students directly with their teachers. Now children as young as 4 or 5 must be dropped off outside and walked inside by staff, cutting off opportunities for informal interactions.

We are treated like we are criminals, said Karilyn Bacallao, a former teacher who now has two elementary school children. The last time I heard the news, it has never been the parent who comes to shoot.

Bacallao says she worries about how the new measures are affecting her 7-year-old daughter, who came home from class in tears one day in December.

She starts telling me, There was blood in the bathroom, our teacher wasnt there, and there was a bad guy with a gun, she said.

Bacallao learned later that the school was on lockdown because of a nearby robbery. The kids were gathered in the cafeteria with a school counsellor who turned the lights off and told them to draw in the dark. She said children heard sirens outside. Nobody explained the blood in the bathroom. Her daughter later found out it was nothing more than a nose bleed.

Teenagers are increasingly getting used to hearing about guns on campus.

Terezie Roberts is a member of Moms Demand Action, a non-profit that fights to reform gun laws. She has two children in high school who now talk more about threats, but it is often unclear whether they are rumours or real.

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My son told me that he and his friends always talk and say that they could be the next target. It almost feels like a game to them, Roberts said.

Ivy Schamis, who was teaching Holocaust studies at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when her classroom came under attack, says more students now ask to visit the schools wellness centre. The teacher whose classroom was across the hall from hers on the day of the shooting did not return to school this year, she said.

Schamis said it was preposterous that students have to come to school thinking what may happen as opposed to what they are learning.

Its absolutely disrupting education, she said.

A 2016 study published in the Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis journal analyzed the effects of 36 high school shootings on math and English tests in 12 states over three years. It found that in these schools, enrolment declined among 9th grade students, and test results dropped significantly compared to other schools in their districts.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and GOP state lawmakers want to expand the existing guardian program so more teachers can have guns. Senate Republicans filed the proposal last week.

Before the shooting, Schamis said, she would have felt that only military and law enforcement should really carry guns. But now I keep going over it in my head.

She shared the story of the schools athletic director, Chris Hixon, a Navy veteran who was shot in the legs as he ran toward suspect Nikolas Cruz.

Had he had a gun, he might have been able to take the shooter down before any more damage was done. So now, I am not sure.

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Find all The Associated Press coverage marking one year since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, at https://apnews.com/ParklandFloridaschoolshootingKODIAK, Alaska - A Kodiak chiropractor appointed last month to the Alaska Workers Compensation Board by Gov. Mike Dunleavy has been charged with multiple felonies.

Christopher Twiford, 45, was arraigned Tuesday on three counts of felony assault, the Kodiak Daily Mirror reported . Hes also charged with misdemeanour counts of assault and possession of a weapon while intoxicated.

Online court records do not list Twifords attorney. Messages left Thursday at Twifords practice were not immediately returned. The Kodiak city jail lists Twiford as free on bail as of Wednesday.

Dunleavy appointed Twiford to join the Workers Compensation Board on Jan. 25. The three-year appointment was to take effect March 1. The board reviews labour regulations and resolves disputed benefits claims. Dunleavy spokesman Matt Shuckerow did not immediately return an email requesting comment Thursday.

The criminal complaint stemmed from the report of a doctor. A physician called Kodiak police on Feb. 3 to report that a patients injuries were likely caused by an assault, including strangulation.

Police contacted the patient. She showed investigators a bruise on her head that she said was caused when Twiford hit her in the head with a pet food dish, knocking her to the floor.

She told police that when she tried to stand, Twiford hit her again and pushed her back down. He retrieved a revolver and pointed at her chest, the woman told police.

When Twiford put the gun down, she said, a scuffle began. She said Twiford tried to strangle her, climbed on top of her, put all his weight on her chest and made it difficult for her to breathe. She said she bit him on the chest.

The woman said Twiford had been drinking continuously over 24 hours and that she had consumed shots also.

She was diagnosed afterward with a concussion. Officers photographed bruises on her arms, shoulders, back and head.

The woman told police that Twiford in November had pointed a gun at her face after an argument and threatened to shoot her if she dated someone else.

Twifords bail was set at $3,000. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 21.

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Information from: Kodiak (Alaska) Daily Mirror, http://www.kodiakdailymirror.comFRANKFORT, Ky. - Kentucky lawmakers heard the beating heart of a womans unborn baby Thursday as they advanced a bill that would ban most abortions in the state once a fetal heartbeat is detected.

The state Senate voted 31-6 to pass the measure, continuing an aggressive push to restrict abortion since Republicans consolidated their hold on Kentuckys legislature starting in 2017.

Earlier Thursday when a committee reviewed the bill, a pregnant woman let a roomful of people hear the heartbeat of her unborn baby via an electronic monitor. The woman, April Lanham, who lives in the district of the bills lead sponsor, was at the witness table in the committee room.

That child in her womb is a living human being, Republican Sen. Matt Castlen, the bill sponsor, said later. And all living human beings have a right to life.

With Senate passage, the bill now heads to the House. The measure would require anyone seeking an abortion to first determine if a fetal heartbeat is detectable. If it is, the abortion would be banned. A fetal heartbeat can be detected about six weeks into pregnancy.

Kentucky is among several states where lawmakers are considering similar bills. Abortion opponents are pushing such proposals in an effort to challenge the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that established a nationwide right to abortion.

Anti-abortion groups believe their cause has been strengthened by President Donald Trumps appointment of conservatives Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

Abortion-rights supporters warned Kentucky lawmakers Thursday that enacting the fetal heartbeat bill would trigger yet another legal fight over abortion.

Each of you took an oath to uphold the Constitution, Kate Miller, with the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, told the Senate panel earlier Thursday. This law is patently unconstitutional. The second it is signed, the ACLU of Kentucky will file a lawsuit. And much like the other laws you have passed, we expect that you will be held up in litigation unsuccessfully for years.

The state already is defending three abortion-related laws in federal court.

Senators opposing the bill also warned the state would be stuck with another expensive legal tab in defending another measure they predicted wont pass constitutional muster.

Senate President Robert Stivers, a Republican who supports the fetal heartbeat bill, responded that lawmakers should avoid making such legal prognostications.

Who sits on the Supreme Court determines whats constitutional or not, he said.

During the committee hearing Thursday, an obstetrician-gynecologist said the fetal heartbeat bill would essentially eliminate abortions in Kentucky. The measure would provide narrow exceptions for abortions, such as when the mothers life is endangered. The doctor, Susan Bornstein, said the bill also would impose unnecessary political interference in the practice of medicine.

No woman intentionally becomes pregnant in order to have an abortion, she said. The decision about whether to end a pregnancy or become a parent is one of the most important life decisions that we make. However, circumstances do occur under which women feel that they need to terminate their pregnancies. And history has shown that they will do so, whether its legal or not.

Nicole Stipp, who also testified against the bill in committee, said it would be forcing women back into the shadows for back-alley abortions that will kill them.

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The most powerful moment during presentations by the bills supporters came when Lanham came forward to allow people in the packed committee room to hear her unborn babys heartbeat. Lanham said afterward she did so because the heartbeat would be a powerful noise for lawmakers to hear before the vote. She said her pregnancy is 18 weeks along.

Every life matters, she told reporters.TOPEKA, Kan. - Kansas abortion opponents are as eager as ever to impose new restrictions but arent sure of their options because the states legal climate is uncertain. So in the meantime, theyre putting their energy into condemning New Yorks new law protecting abortion rights.

The Kansas Senate adopted a resolution Thursday decrying the New York law as harmful to both unborn children and women, sending it to the House, where its approval also is expected. The Senate vote Thursday was 27-13 , reflecting exactly the number of sponsors for the measure, all but one of the chambers Republicans.

Abortion opponents across the nation have criticized the New York law as allowing abortions up to the moment of birth, with one resolution introduced in South Dakota calling it barbaric. The law permits women to end their pregnancies after 24 weeks for health reasons, when the states previous law said a womans life had to be at risk.

But in Kansas, the public condemnation also highlights abortion opponents anxiety over what the future holds in their state. The Kansas Supreme Court is considering whether the state constitution protects abortion rights in a lawsuit that threatens to upend nearly a decades worth of restrictions and stymie new ones. The court hasnt ruled  thwarting work on a response.

Why are we sending this message to New York? One important reason is because we want our Kansas Supreme Court to know that we would find this abortion mentality in our state as depraved and totally unacceptable, state Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, a conservative Kansas City-area Republican, said Thursday in explaining her yes vote.

Republican leaders were so eager to send the message that they dispensed with committee hearings in the Senate and set its vote three days after the measure was introduced.

The New York law was designed to codify protections for a womans right to obtain an abortion granted by the U.S. Supreme Courts historic 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and other court rulings a time when abortion-rights backers fear a more conservative high court might strike down Roe. It replaces a 1970 state law legalizing abortion.

Opposition from people who are anti-choice isnt surprising, said New York state Sen. Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat and a longtime supporter of the legislation.

Lies and attacks are not going to intimidate New York from standing up for womens rights, said Mike Murphy, a spokesman for New York Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Yonkers Democrat.

In Kansas, Democratic senators are likely to send their own statement to counter their states formal resolution, which would be sent to New Yorks governor and all its legislators. Because the GOP resolution would express the Legislatures views, it would not go to new Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly  a strong abortion-rights supporter.

Sen. David Haley, a Kansas City Democrat, told his colleagues during their debate that New York really doesnt care that Kansas legislators oppose the law.

Criticism of other states laws can spill over into formal action. A handful of liberal states have restricted travel by government employees to states with laws viewed as discriminatory against LGBTQ individuals. Kansas is on a list of nine states targeted by California.

In Missouri, a resolution introduced this week in the state Senate urges GOP Gov. Mike Parson to boycott New York and other states with similar abortion laws and prevent state workers from travelling there except in emergencies.

Many, many of my constituents have reached out to me and said, What can we do about this? Well you know, sorry, theres not a whole lot we can do about it, said the resolutions sponsor, Sen. Paul Wieland, a conservative St. Louis-area Republican.

Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle, a conservative Wichita Republican, said New Yorkers celebration of their new law just made a lot of people cringe.

We believe in Kansas in a culture of life, and most people in America believe in protecting life, Wagle said during the debate on her states resolution.

In other red states, officials have condemned the New York law as theyve pursued new abortion restrictions.

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Supporters in Arkansas of a proposed trigger law to ban most abortions if Roe is overturned mentioned New Yorks policy. In Iowa, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds mentioned it as an impetus behind a proposed state constitutional amendment meant to overturn an Iowa Supreme Court decision last year protecting abortion rights.

In Kansas, legislators have adopted the approach of the anti-abortion group Kansans for Life in seeking incremental expected to survive federal court challenges. The group is pursuing legislation this year to require providers to tell women using medication to terminate their pregnancies that the process still can be reversed after the first of two pills.

But work on any legislation is clouded by the case before the Kansas Supreme Court, which heard arguments from attorneys nearly two years ago.

Abortion opponents havent introduced a proposed constitutional change yet, arguing that they need to see how the court actually rules. And Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, said abortion opponents also could have an easier time building support for an amendment after a ruling than before it.

Meanwhile, abortion opponents acknowledged that its helpful to keep abortion issues visible by highlighting opposition to the New York law. Haley said the resolution creates a test vote on abortion issues to help GOP leaders in lobbying for other measures.

There are other shoes to drop, Haley said. By no means at all do I think the discussion regarding abortion is done.

___

Associated Press writers David Klepper in Albany, N.Y.; James Nord in Pierre, S.D.; Summer Ballentine and David Lieb in Jefferson City, Mo; Andrew DeMillo in Little, Rock, Ark., and David Pitt in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.

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Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna .HARRISBURG, Pa. - A man who says he was unlawfully detained on his wedding day by a Pennsylvania judge who wrongly suspected he was in the United States illegally filed a federal lawsuit Thursday, alleging violations of his constitutional rights.

Alexander Parker sued Camp Hill-based District Judge Elizabeth S. Beckley, two court entities and an unidentified court officer who, Parker says, told him he was not free to leave.

The federal lawsuit claims Guatemala-born Parker and his fiancee went to Beckleys court office to get married in May 2017, but Beckleys suspicions prompted her to call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

He had provided a valid identification issued through the Guatemalan consulate, but Beckley told him that was not sufficient, the lawsuit said.

Parker, now 22, says that after hours of being detained, federal investigators arrived and confirmed he is a lawful permanent resident of the United States.

Beckley told the couple she was sorry Mr. Parker had been detained, but she immediately insisted she was justified in suspecting that Mr. Parker was not lawfully present in the United States, according to the lawsuit. Beckley subsequently married the couple. The couple learned they were expecting a daughter days after they married.

Beckley did not return messages seeking comment.

The lawsuit said the court officer, who was armed and in uniform at the time of the wedding, will be named once Parkers lawyers obtain his identity. The other defendants are Beckleys district court and the wider state court system judicial district in which it is located. A spokeswoman for the state court system offered no immediate comment.

The Parkers now live in Kissimmee, Florida, where Parker works in landscaping, lawn care and debris removal.

Parkers lawsuit said he felt disrespected and diminished and was offended and disturbed that Beckley thought he was subject to deportation because he is Latino, dark-skinned and was born in Guatemala.

Parkers complaint says his mother gave him up for adoption as an infant, and he was brought to New Jersey as a prospective adoptee. He has never returned to Guatemala and does not speak Spanish.

During his teen years, the couple that had intended to adopt him relinquished their custody, and by the time he graduated from high school, he was in the custody of Bucks County Children and Youth Services, the lawsuit said. The couple, whom Parker said never formalized their adoption of him or two other children, did not obtain an ID card for him confirming his legal status, the lawsuit said.

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Because of that, he said, he could not acquire a Pennsylvania-issued photo identification, so with the help of his Bucks County caseworker, he obtained a consular ID card from the Guatemala consulate in April 2017.

Parker is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, fees and costs.NEW YORK - A judge refused Thursday to stop a death penalty prosecution against a man in a New York City bike path attack that killed eight people, saying theres no proof President Donald Trumps words affected the Justice Departments decision to seek death.

U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick said the government seemed to have followed usual procedures in deliberating whether to seek death against Sayfullo Saipov if they win a conviction at a trial scheduled for October. Prosecutors announced their intention in September.

Saipovs lawyers said Trump irrevocably tainted the legal process when he tweeted in all capital letters a day after the attack that Saipov SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!

Broderick said the defence offered no evidence that Trumps remarks impacted the decision to seek death.

In an email, David Patton, executive director of the Federal Defenders of New York, declined comment on the ruling.

Saipov, 31, originally from Uzbekistan, was arrested immediately after the attack on the afternoon of Halloween 2017. Hes pleaded not guilty.

In ruling, Broderick noted that then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions had categorically renounced other provocative remarks made by the president and insisted that the Justice Department would not be affected under his watch.

The judge also rejected a request by defence lawyers that he appoint an independent prosecutor to determine whether the government should seek the death penalty.

Authorities say Saipov told them after his arrest that he was inspired by Islamic State videos and had used a truck in the attack to inflict maximum damage against civilians.

Saipov moved to the United States legally in 2010. He lived in Ohio and Florida and worked as a commercial truck driver before living more recently with his family in Paterson, New Jersey.

If Saipov is convicted, the jury will be asked to decide in a second phase of the trial if he should be executed.

In 2001, just weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks, a jury in Manhattan federal court declined to impose death on two men convicted in the deadly bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.ATHENS, Ohio - The family of an Ohio college student who died after pledging a fraternity is accusing the fraternity of extensive physical and mental hazing.

A lawsuit filed Thursday in Athens County Court says Ohio University student Collin Wiant was beaten with a belt, pelted with eggs, deprived of sleep, and forced to take drugs and drink a gallon (3.8 litres) of alcohol in an hour.

The suit, seeking at least $25,000, names both the local chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity and the fraternitys Lebanon, Tennessee-based national office.

The lawsuit says the 18-year-old freshman from Dublin died Nov. 12, 2018, of asphyxiation due to the ingestion of nitrous oxide provided to and forced on Wiant by fraternity members.

Jonathan Frost, Sigma Pis executive director, declined to comment on the complaint.NAMPA, Idaho - An Idaho woman who refused to report her husbands yearslong sexual abuse of young relatives and instead prayed for the demon to leave him was ordered Thursday to spend a year in a prison treatment program.

Judge Christopher Nye said that if Sarah Kester, 51, fails to successfully complete the program, she will serve at least four and up to 10 years in prison, the Idaho Press reported.

Prosecutors say her husband, Lester Kester Jr., molested five children over two decades. He pleaded guilty in October to five felony charges of lewd conduct with a minor in exchange for prosecutors not pursuing charges of possession of child pornography.

The couple is affiliated with the Followers of Christ Church, whose members eschew medical care for themselves and their children in favour of faith healing because they believe that prayer and rituals can sufficiently treat even catastrophic illnesses.

The church has a prominent following in parts of southwestern Idaho and Oregon, and the congregation has been accused of allowing dozens of children to die from a lack of basic medical care. Idahos child injury law, however, includes a religious exemption that has long allowed church members to act without state intervention.

After Sarah Kesters July 11 arrest, she said she had known of the abuse for the past 17 years, according to the Canyon County Sheriffs Office.

Sarah Kester told detectives that she didnt report the abuse because it was against her belief system to involve agencies such as law enforcement, child protection services, or counselling services into personal matters, the agency said in a press release. Instead, she said she attempted to protect ... children through praying for the demon to leave Lester and attempting to keep him busy with other tasks.

Sarah Kesters defence attorney said at sentencing that her client grew up in an isolated community and experienced her own trauma.

She did everything that she knew to do to take care of them, attorney Bethany Harder Haase said.

Sarah Kester cried as she addressed the court.

I shouldve paid attention to all the rumours going around, she said. I feel so devastated. I shouldve got out of marriage right there and then.

Three of the victims, now in their teens and 20s, also gave statements, saying Sarah Kester called them offensive names and blamed them for her husbands actions.

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The Associated Press isnt identifying the victims or their relationship to the Kesters.

Sarah Kester entered in October a modified guilty plea, in which she maintained her innocence but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict her. Lester Kester is set to be sentenced Feb. 26.DES MOINES, Iowa - Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet plans to travel to Iowa this month to meet with Democratic activists in the early presidential caucus state as he considers entering his partys 2020 White House field, his aides said Thursday.

The soft-spoken moderate plans to visit working-class Dubuque and nearby towns in northeast Iowa, the heart of territory won by Democrat Barack Obama in 2008 and by Republican Donald Trump in 2016.

Michael is planning a trip to Iowa to engage with voters as he considers whether to enter the race for president, said Craig Hughes, a Bennet political adviser. The visit is scheduled for Feb. 22-23.

Bennet, a two-term senator, had downplayed interest in a presidential candidacy late last fall but has recently suggested his background could resonate in the fast-developing but wide-open Democratic presidential campaign.

I think that Ive got a different set of experiences than the other folks in the race, Bennet said Sunday on Meet The Press. And I think having one more voice in that conversation thats focused on Americas future I dont think would hurt.

Bennet has kept a low public profile, though he sits on the influential Finance and Intelligence committees.

However, he had a notably explosive moment last month on the Senate floor when he blasted Republican Sen. Ted Cruz for backing a bill to pay Coast Guard members during the partial government shutdown but not reopen the government. Bennet said Cruz once led a 16-day government shutdown in a failed bid to derail funding for the Affordable Care Act at a time when Colorado was experiencing catastrophic flooding, delaying relief efforts.

When the senator from Texas shut this government down in 2013, my state was flooded, Bennet shouted. People were killed. Peoples houses were destroyed. Their small businesses were destroyed, forever.

Bennet accused Cruz of crying crocodile tears this time around.

Five of Bennets Senate colleagues are among nine Democrats who have formally launched campaigns for president.

But Bennet is among an emerging group of 2020 prospects with more centrist profiles than many of his would-be rivals such as New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, California Sen. Kamala Harris and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who announced her candidacy Sunday, and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who plans to travel to Iowa on Friday, are portraying themselves as pragmatic Democrats who can win in competitive states.

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And Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who also is weighing a 2020 candidacy, is visiting swing-voting and rural parts of early-voting states to talk to voters in regions that Democrats lost to Trump in 2016.

Bennet is also expected to visit Winterset in rural Madison County in southwest Iowa known for its series of century-old covered bridges that inspired the book The Bridges of Madison County.WASHINGTON - The chemical compounds are all around you. Theyre on many fabrics, rugs and carpets, cooking pots and pans, outdoor gear, shampoo, shaving cream, makeup and even dental floss. Increasing numbers of states have found them seeping into water supplies.

Theres growing evidence that long-term exposure to the perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl compounds, or PFAS, can be dangerous, even in tiny amounts.

The Environmental Protection Agency released a plan Thursday that includes moving toward setting a maximum level for PFAS in drinking water nationwide.

At hearings around the country last year, local and state officials said such an action would be needed to stop contamination and hold polluting parties responsible.

But environmentalists, Democratic members of Congress and state officials said the agency wasnt moving quickly enough to address the issue.

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WHAT ARE PFAS?

Industries use the chemicals in coatings meant to protect consumer goods from stains, water and corrosion.

DuPont says its scientists invented the earliest form of the nonstick compound in 1938. They were impressed with how water and grease slipped off the new substance and how it seemed never to break down  winning it the name forever compound. Various types soon were on the market, first in Teflon products. Thousands of variants have been produced since then, for a host of uses.

By the 1970s, manufacturers conceded that PFAS were building up in the bodies of employees who worked with them. Recent scientific reports have estimated that nearly all people in the U.S. have some PFAS chemicals in their blood. Studies of workers exposed on the job and people who drank contaminated water, in addition to lab analyses of animals, have pointed to ties between some PFAS types and human illness.

Industries have phased out two of the most-studied versions of PFAS. Manufacturers say newer forms are safer and dont remain in the human body as long as older types. Some researchers say too little is known about them to be sure of that.

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WHAT DOES THE SCIENCE SAY?

DuPont agreed to a court-supervised public health study after a farmer in Parkersburg, West Virginia, brought a lawsuit blaming runoff from a PFAS facility for the deaths of his cattle. The 2005-2013 study monitored and tested nearly 70,000 people who had been drinking water tainted with PFOA, one of the two kinds of PFAS since phased out of production.

The study found probable links between high levels of PFOA in the body and excessive cholesterol levels, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, testicular and kidney cancer, and problems in pregnancies.

The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry said last year that medical studies pointed to associations between the industrial compounds and those ailments, and also to liver problems, low birth weight and other health issues.

The federal toxicology report also says EPAs advisory level of 70 parts per trillion of PFOA and PFOS  the two older, phased-out versions  in drinking water is too weak. Before the report was released, a White House email disclosed by Politico called it a potential public relations nightmare.

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HOW WIDESPREAD IS EXPOSURE?

EPA-mandated testing of about 5,000 of the roughly 150,000 public water systems in the U.S. that was completed in 2016 found dangerous levels of the same two PFAS compounds in 66 systems. Local and state testing since then has identified high levels in scores of additional systems.

Contaminated materials are disposed of in landfills and sewage treatment systems. Firefighting foams are sprayed on the ground. The chemicals seep into soil, waterways, sediments and groundwater; some are incinerated, generating air pollution.

Many states arent waiting for the EPA, particularly regarding groundwater and, more recently, drinking water.

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New Jersey and Vermont are among those that have set standards more stringent than the EPAs; New Hampshire may join them.

New York is considering the toughest standard yet. In December, a state drinking water commission recommended a maximum limit of 10 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS. That follows revelations of widespread PFAS contamination in several communities.

Other states are trying to determine the extent of the contamination, according to the National Conferences of State Legislatures. North Carolina lawmakers approved money for monitoring and treatment. Washington states health department plans to test hundreds of water systems for any trace of the chemicals.

Legislation in other states has proposed things such as banning use of PFAS in food packaging and prohibiting its use in firefighting foam.

Dozens of military installations have been affected. Tests found drinking water contamination exceeding the EPAs health advisory for a lifetime of exposure for two PFAS compounds, PFOS and PFOA.

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WHAT ABOUT WILDLIFE?

Unsurprisingly, the chemicals have turned up in a variety of wildlife species, including fish, bald eagles and mink.

Michigan agencies plan to sample a variety of wild game, such as ducks and other waterfowl, for the chemicals. They already test fish and deer. The state issued a do not eat advisory last October for deer taken near a marsh polluted with PFAS  probably from a former Air Force base  after one of the animals registered 5,000 parts per trillion in its body.

Michigan, Minnesota and New Jersey include PFAS chemicals in fish advisories, warning people to limit consumption of such popular game species as bass, walleye and brook trout.

If its affecting human beings, it will be affecting wildlife as well, said Cheryl Murphy, a Michigan State University biologist.

The harm to wildlife is unclear, partly because PFAS chemicals dont necessarily accumulate in animals the way other chemicals do, she said. Older, larger fish have higher levels of mercury and PCBs because those contaminants are passed up food chains, from smaller species to bigger ones. But high levels of PFAS are being found in medium-sized fish such as bluegill.

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Casey reported from Concord, New Hampshire, and Flesher reported from Traverse City, Michigan.CHICAGO - The wife of a Chicago police officer who was convicted of fatally shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald demanded on Thursday to know why her husband was transferred from an Illinois state prison where he was kept from harm to a federal prison in Connecticut where he was assaulted and where she fears he is still in danger.

I dont need people to go into his cell and attack him, said an emotional Tiffany Van Dyke at a news conference. The next time this could happen, they could kill him. I cannot bury my husband.

The Illinois Department of Corrections confirmed Thursday that Jason Van Dyke was moved to federal custody but would not say why. Asked about the attack on Van Dyke, the federal Bureau of Prisons said in an email that it could confirm an assault resulting in minor injuries occurred on Feb. 7. The bureau declined to provide additional information, citing privacy concerns.

Van Dyke, who is white, was convicted in October of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery for shooting McDonald 16 times in 2014. He was sentenced last month to six years and nine months in prison.

Van Dyke was attacked by another inmate after his transfer to the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, appellate attorney Jennifer Blagg said in an interview Thursday. Blagg said Van Dyke was not severely injured and has since been placed in a segregated unit away from most inmates as a precaution.

Blagg said she learned of the attack when she and another attorney were on the phone with Van Dyke talking a request the states attorney general filed asking the Illinois Supreme Court to review Van Dykes sentence.

We were explaining to him what it meant ... when he said another inmate had jumped him and landed a few punches, Blagg said.

Blagg didnt appear at a news conference Thursday with Tiffany Van Dyke and trial attorneys Dan Herbert and Tammy Wendt, who expressed concern that Jason Van Dyke had been placed in the prisons general population with other inmates. They said former police officers would be particularly vulnerable to attack from other inmates  something Tiffany Van Dyke and others told a judge about during her husbands sentencing hearing. While imprisoned in Illinois, Van Dyke had been kept in a segregated unit.

It was as if he was led like a lamb to slaughter, said Wendt of the attack that she said occurred within four hours of Van Dykes arrival to the general population unit.

Van Dyke is the first Chicago police officer in a half century convicted of murder in an on-duty shooting. He was sentenced in January to six years and nine months in prison  a sentence that angered activists. This week, the states attorney general and the special prosecutor who handled the case and asked the judge to impose a sentence of 18 to 20 years asked the Illinois Supreme Court to review the sentence.

Absent a new sentence, Van Dyke will likely serve only about three years, with credit for good behaviour.

Tiffany Van Dyke said the assault was a realization of her worst fears and noted the widespread media attention his case has received in explaining why her husband might still be in danger even though hes imprisoned several states away.

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My husbands life, my familys life is national news, she said. At the basic minimum, they were supposed to keep him safe.

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For the APs complete coverage of the Jason Van Dyke case: https://apnews.com/tag/LaquanMcDonaldWASHINGTON - Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort intentionally lied to investigators and a federal grand jury in the special counsels Russia probe, a judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jacksons decision was another loss for Manafort, a once-wealthy political consultant who rose to lead Donald Trumps 2016 campaign and now faces years in prison in two criminal cases brought in special counsel Robert Muellers investigation.

The four-page ruling hurts Manaforts chance of receiving a reduced sentence, though Jackson said she would decide the exact impact during his sentencing next month. It also resolves a dispute that had provided new insight into how Mueller views Manaforts actions as part of the broader probe of Russian election interference and any possible co-ordination with Trump associates.

Prosecutors have made clear that they remain deeply interested in Manaforts interactions with a man the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence. But its unclear exactly what has drawn their attention and whether it relates to election interference because much of the dispute has played out in secret court hearings and blacked out court filings.

In her ruling Wednesday, Jackson provided few new details as she found there was sufficient evidence to say Manafort broke the terms of his plea agreement by lying about three of five matters that prosecutors had singled out. The ruling was largely a rejection of Manaforts attorneys argument that he hadnt intentionally misled investigators but rather forgot some details until his memory was refreshed.

The judge found that Manafort did mislead the FBI, prosecutors and a federal grand jury about his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik, the co-defendant who the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence. Prosecutors had accused Manafort of lying about several discussions the two men had including about a possible peace plan to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict in Crimea.

Read more:

Prosecutor: Manafort meeting with Russian at heart of probe

Judge sets hearing behind closed doors in Manafort case

DOJs Whitaker says Russia probe close to being completed

During a sealed hearing last week, Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said one of the discussions an Aug. 2, 2016, meeting at the Grand Havana Room club and cigar bar in New York went to the larger view of what we think is going on and what we think the motive here is.

This goes, I think, very much to the heart of what the Special Counsels Office is investigating, Weissmann said, according to a redacted transcript of the hearing. He added: That meeting and what happened at that meeting is of significance to the special counsel.

The meeting occurred while Manafort was still in a high-ranking role in the Trump campaign. Rick Gates, Manaforts longtime deputy and also a Trump campaign aide, attended. And prosecutors say the three men left separately so as not to draw attention to their meeting.

Weissmann said investigators were also interested in several other meetings between Kilimnik and Manafort including when Kilimnik travelled to Washington for Trumps inauguration in January 2017. And Manaforts attorneys accidentally revealed weeks ago that prosecutors believe Manafort shared polling data with Kilimnik during the 2016 presidential campaign.

On Wednesday, Jackson found that in addition to his interactions with Kilimnik, there was sufficient evidence that Manafort had lied about a payment to a law firm representing him and about an undisclosed Justice Department investigation.

But she found there wasnt enough evidence to back up two other allegations. The judge said prosecutors failed to show Manafort intentionally lied about Kilimniks role in witness tampering or about Manaforts contacts with the Trump administration in 2017 and 2018.

Kilimnik, who lives in Russia, was charged alongside Manafort with conspiracy and obstruction of justice. He has yet to appear in a U.S. court to face the charges.

Manaforts sentencing is set for March 13. He faces up to five years in prison on two felony charges stemming from illegal lobbying he performed on behalf of Ukrainian political interests.

Separately, he faces the possibility of a decade in prison in a federal case in Virginia where he was convicted last year of tax and bank fraud crimes. Sentencing in that case was delayed pending Jacksons ruling in the plea-deal dispute.

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Read the order: http://apne.ws/NFRmWXy

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This story has been corrected to show the name of the club is the Grand Havana Room, not the Grand Havana Club.Denver teachers went on strike to improve their pay, but the fight wasnt that simple.

Emboldened by teacher activism nationwide and struggling to live in a rapidly growing city, Denver educators challenged one of the nations oldest incentive pay systems, which was originally endorsed by the teachers union and education reform advocates.

The system known as Professional Compensation, or ProComp, allows teachers to add on to their base salary by earning bonuses of up to $3,000 a year for working in a hard-to-staff position or high poverty school or if their schools improve.

Administrators and teachers on Thursday reached a tentative deal for better pay that ended a three-day walkout. But the union compromised on a $3,000 bonus for teachers who work in the districts most challenging schools that it said wasnt helping keep educators in those schools. Both sides agreed to study teacher turnover and revisit whether to eliminate that incentive.

Teachers say the bonus system is complicated and can leave them guessing at what their earnings will be.

Sarah Olsen, a third-grade teacher at Maxwell Elementary School, said she was already living on a tight budget when she lost a chunk of her paycheque. The number of students getting free and reduced-price lunch  a measure of poverty  dipped below the threshold for getting an incentive for a school ranked as hard to serve.

She also said the district cut the promised bonus to teachers at the school for improved test scores.

Theres just no consistency with the incentives, she said Wednesday. They can be taken away at any time. They can be reduced.

With the use of incentive pay rising among districts and states, heres a look at the discussion:

IS INCENTIVE PAY WIDELY USED?

Weve seen a tremendous increase in the number of schools, districts and states that are experimenting with incentive pay programs across the country, said researcher Matthew Springer, who has studied the widely varying programs for 20 years.

Springer, distinguished professor of education reform at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said an influx of federal funds through programs like Race to the Top and the Teacher Incentive Fund have encouraged more states to explore the idea.

Most states now allow for some sort of incentive pay, whether its offering bonuses to teach in high-needs schools or subjects or basing raises on student or teacher performance.

Nine states require districts to consider performance in teacher pay and at least 11 states allow it, according to the non-profit National Council on Teacher Quality, a research and policy organization. A majority of states incentivize pay for high-needs schools and subjects.

WHAT DO TEACHERS DISLIKE ABOUT IT?

Market-driven recruiting and retention bonuses are generally accepted, but bonuses linked to student and teacher performance are more controversial. Teachers say its not fair to pay them based on standardized test scores that are affected by factors beyond their control, like poverty.

Teachers also say they are self-motivated and not driven by bonuses the way a salesperson may be, for example. Many would rather see funding used to increase the base pay of all teachers, not awarded in a way that can create friction and competition within a school.

Performance pay has become just another way of nickel-and-diming educators because erratic bonuses are no substitute for sustainable living wages, especially as costs keep rising, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said. This just injects more instability into a profession thats becoming ever more precarious.

In Denver, the main sticking point over bonuses was how much extra to pay teachers who work in high-poverty schools and in one of 30 struggling schools. The district sees those bonuses as key to helping improve the academic performance of low-income students. It says it also needs to honour the will of voters to spend tax revenue worth about $33 million a year on incentive pay.

There is not one school district in the country that is going to look at Denver and think, Oh, I think Ill try that, National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia said after joining picketing Denver teachers this week.

THEN WHY USE IT?

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There are a lot of reasons for incentive systems, Springer said, including the idea that teachers should be compensated for results in the classroom, not just years of service.

One of the things that I think is important about these systems, particularly well-designed ones, is its getting us to a point where we can pay our highest-performing educators a six-figure salary, Springer said. And I think our best and brightest educators deserve a six-figure salary. But unfortunately, the single salary schedule is never going to let us get there.

An incentive pay program also may be less expensive than a general pay raise and an easier sell for districts in need of taxpayer support, he said.

DO BONUSES FOR TEACHERS HELP STUDENTS?

A 2017 analysis of more than 30 studies on merit pay found that it has a modest positive effect on student test scores. The academic gains were roughly equivalent to adding three weeks of learning to the school year, said Springer, who co-led the study while a professor at Vanderbilt University.

An unpublished University of Colorado study of ProComp that compared test scores in Denver with those of nearby districts between 2001 and 2016 found the bonuses may have helped increase student achievement.

The study by assistant professor Allison Atteberry, which is being peer-reviewed, also found that the district retained teachers at higher rates who were rated as more effective based on their students test score growth than those ranked as less effective since the incentive system began.

The study did not find evidence that the bonuses caused teachers to transfer into high-poverty or top-performing schools. But there was some indication that the rate of teachers leaving hard-to-serve schools slowed.

WHERE ELSE IS THIS BEING DISCUSSED?

Floridas teachers union contended in a 2017 lawsuit that the states bonus program is discriminatory. It relies in part on college entry exam scores. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis this month proposed reforming the program, and no longer tying it to exams. He said nearly 45,000 highly effective teachers would be eligible for bonuses exceeding $9,000.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott won applause in his State of the State address when he raised the idea of rewarding successful teachers with incentives that could help them earn a six-figure salary. But union leaders said the state test shouldnt be the measure of teacher success.

The governor gives offence to Texas teachers every time he and his education commissioner claim to want more pay for the so-called best teachers, Louis Malfaro, president of the Texas AFT union, said in a statement. The implication being that the hundreds of thousands of women and men who teach and support the 5.4 million students in Texas public schools are unworthy of being paid decently for the hard work they do every day.

___

Thompson reported from Buffalo, New York.DALLAS - One of the 17 black women elected as Houston-area judges last year as part of a Black Girl Magic campaign has died at age 57.

Judge Cassandra Hollemons daughter, Brandy Hollemon, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that her mother died Monday, about a week after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Hollemon said her mother, who presided over the Harris County Criminal Court at Law No. 12, started feeling ill in mid-December but kept going to work until she was hospitalized on Jan. 23.

She was an awesome, very strong woman, Brandy Hollemon said.

Brandy Hollemon said her mother loved being part of the Black Girl Magic campaign during last years election . The campaign debuted over the summer with a viral photo that featured the 17 women and two other sitting Harris County judges inside a courtroom. Although those two judges lost their bids for seats on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, they retained their local judgeships.

Brandy Hollemon said that her mother was still mourning the December 2017 death of her own mother as she campaigned last year.

The other judges would have to console her on the campaign trail, but she wouldnt stop, she kept going  just endless hours, up late at night at different functions, campaigning and speaking. She just wouldnt stop, Brandy Hollemon said.

The Harris County Democratic Party put the Black Girl Magic campaign together as part of an effort to broaden the diversity of the areas judiciary. The victory by the 17 black women 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 countys top elected office.

The Harris County Democratic Party said the election increased the number of black female judges in Harris County from eight to 25.

Brandy Hollemon said her mother gave birth to her at the age of 15 and married her father. She said when her father died in 1992, her mother, who was going to law school, became a single mother to her and her brother.

She continued to go to law school and she studied endless nights. She had a table she would sit at with a little lamp and just study all night long, and she was working a full-time job, said Brandy Hollemon, who said her mother then practiced law for more than 20 years.

Cassandra Hollemons funeral is set for Saturday.

The Harris County Commissioners Court will appoint someone to fill her spot, said Douglas Ray, a special assistant Harris County attorney.BEIRUT - U.S.-backed Syrian forces are clearing two villages in eastern Syria of remaining Daesh militants who are hiding among the local population, and detaining others attempting to flee with the civilians, the U.S.-led coalition said Thursday.

The clearance operations are taking place in the villages of Shajalah and Baghouz, near the border with Iraq, a coalition statement said, hours after scores of militants from the Daesh group  including many foreign fighters  surrendered to U.S.-backed fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces on Wednesday night.

The developments brought the Kurdish-led force closer to taking full control of the last remaining area controlled by the extremists, a Kurdish official and activists said.

Ciyager Amed, an official with the Syrian Democratic Forces, confirmed that a number of Daesh fighters who had been holed up in the village of Baghouz gave themselves up, without giving numbers. He said most of those remaining were Iraqis and foreigners and that few civilians remained in the tiny sliver of land still in Daesh hands, although women and children are continuing to trickle out of the enclave.

The capture of Baghouz and nearby areas would mark the end of a devastating four-year global campaign to end the extremist groups hold on territory in Syria and Iraq, their so-called caliphate which at the height of the militant groups power in 2014 controlled nearly a third of both Iraq and Syria.

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.

A coalition official, however, reiterated on Wednesday that Daesh continues to pose a threat to the security of the region even if their hold on territory is ending.

While ISIS (Daesh) is on the verge of collapse, and the end of the physical caliphate is at hand it does not signal the end of this campaign, said U.K. Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, using another acronym for IS. We will pursue them until that threat is eliminated.

The coalition statement said SDF forces are detaining Daesh militants who are attempting to escape among the civilians fleeing the fighting in Baghouz. Those arriving to be screened are the wives of ISIS fighters, some of whom sustained gunshot wounds while fleeing from ISIS, Ghika said.

Mustafa Bali, an SDF spokesman, said hundreds of women and children came out Wednesday. He said the fighters who remained appeared to be among the Daesh elite who have lots of experience and are fighting fiercely.

They also dont have other options. Either to surrender or die, Bali said.

Amid the exodus of people from the last pocket of territory held by Daesh, scores of foreign women married to Daesh militants have come out, including French, Canadian and other nationals. They are being held in SDF-run camps in eastern Syria, which have been overwhelmed with newcomers and lacking enough food, water and medical care.

Among those is a British teenager, Shamima Begum, who ran away from Britain four years ago to join the Islamic State extremists. The 19-year-old was found by The Times newspaper in a refugee camp in northern Syria. According to the story published Thursday, she is nine months pregnant and worried about the health of her unborn child.

In the end, I just could not endure anymore, she said, describing the death from illness and malnutrition of her first two children. Now all I want to do is come home to Britain.

Meanwhile, the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran are meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Thursday for talks hosted by Vladimir Putin about the latest developments in northern Syria.

Russia, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad, is getting increasingly impatient about militants in Syrias Idlib province.

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Russia and Turkey, which supports the Syrian opposition, had brokered a cease-fire for Idlib, the last remaining rebel stronghold that averted a major government offensive but that deal has been strained as al-Qaida-linked militants seized towns and villages in Idlib.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says Russia is going to raise its concerns at the talks about the presence of terrorists there.DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The former U.S. Air Force intelligence analyst, her brown hair now hidden underneath a mandatory hijab, stood before an Iranian ayatollah as a television camera filmed behind her.

It was 2012 and Monica Elfriede Witt offered Ayatollah Hadi Barikbin the pledge of faith all Islam converts must recite: There is no god but God and Muhammad is His messenger.

Yet amid congratulations for her conversion, Witt  who once held a top secret security clearance  allegedly had a dark secret: She was being recruited by Irans Revolutionary Guard to betray her country, according to federal prosecutors.

The 39-year-old El Paso native has since defected, disappearing into the Islamic Republic, allegedly to support the Guard with her counterintelligence knowledge to target American military officials. The unveiling of federal charges this week now links her to hackers with alleged ties to the Guard, a powerful paramilitary force within Iran answerable only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Years before the charges became public, however, Witts own journey into Iran became the subject of television segments and news articles.

The image Iran offered of Witt changed over time, a function of the funhouse-mirror coverage prevalent among Irans state-run broadcasters and news agencies linked to its intelligence services. They initially described her as an Occupy Wall Street activist, a left-wing protest movement linked to an encampment at New Yorks Zuccotti Park. Iranian state media, always eager for anything highlighting social problems in the U.S., trumpeted the demonstrations.

Witt, who had left the Air Force in 2008 and later worked for a defence contractor, arrived in Iran in February 2012 to attend the New Horizon Organizations Hollywoodism conference. The group at the time described the conference as calling into question Hollywoods representation of Iran and Muslims. However, the Anti-Defamation League has referred to the conference as promoting classical anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Jews and Israel while giving legitimacy to a rogues gallery of conspiratorial anti-Semites and anti-Zionists.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned New Horizon, accusing it of being a front for the Guards expeditionary Quds, or Jerusalem, Force. Nader Talebzadeh, a cultural activist and one of the conferences organizers, told the semi-official Fars news agency the sanctions came only because America was angered by the summits guests, which included whistleblowers.

State television also that year appears to have quoted Witt as a former consultant for the U.S. Department of Defence on sexual harassment in the American military.

The boys club atmosphere is reinforced with a false belief that men are allowed to act inappropriately and that the command is condoning their behaviour, state TVs English-language Press TV quoted her as saying.

State TVs Young Journalist Club in 2012 also referred to her as an American soldier in the Iraq war. Witt served in the Air Force between 1997 and 2008, where she was trained in the Farsi language and was deployed overseas on classified counterintelligence missions, including to countries in the Middle East.

I understand how the Western media are trying to show an unrealistic image of Iran and Islam after seeing the clear realities of Iran and Islam by myself, she was quoted as saying.

She also told the semi-official International Quran News Agency that a friend encouraged her to come to Iran and embrace Shiite Islam.

I was a Christian, though I was not a religious person and never went to church. . During my mission in Iraq, I decided to learn more about the peoples beliefs and religion, she reportedly said. I believed it would help me to better confront the enemy. I got a copy of the Quran and started reading it.

It remains unclear who encouraged Witt to travel to Iran. Federal prosecutors in her indictment refer only to that person as Individual A, who they describe as a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen who served as a spotter and assessor on behalf of the Iranian intelligence services. The person also hired Witt to work as an assistant on a film later aired in Iran.

The description could fit Marzieh Hashemi, a dual national who works as a PressTV anchorwoman and was recently detained for days on a material witness warrant in the U.S. That warrant involved the same judge assigned to Witts case. Hashemi also reportedly had a role in organizing elements of the Hollywoodism conferences.

Hashemi, who since her testimony was released and allowed to return to Iran, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday from The Associated Press.

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Since disappearing after defecting to Iran, Witt allegedly has received free housing and computer equipment from Iran. Prosecutors allege she supplied Iran with information about a classified Defence Department program and has assembled target packages research she conducted into the lives, locations and missions of former colleagues.

She has not appeared on television recently, as she did during his conversion some seven years ago. She took the name Narges, or daffodil, in Farsi.

I congratulate you because you have chosen the religion of Islam, and I must say when you chose the name of Narges for yourself, now you should follow the Islamic rules, Barikbin, the ayatollah, told her then.Swarthmore, PA (19081)

Today

Clear to partly cloudy. Low near 55F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low near 55F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.BAGHDAD - A few steps from Baghdads cultural heart and its famous book market on al-Mutanabi Street lies the Iraqi capitals latest tourist attraction: a war museum glorifying the sacrifices of thousands of mainly Shiite militiamen who died fighting the Islamic State group.

The museum is meant to honour the fallen but it also underscores the Iran-backed militias growing clout in the country. Their political and military might soared after they helped the government defeat IS  so much so that they are now accused by some of seeking to build a parallel state within Iraq.

Housed inside Baghdads historic, Ottoman-era al-Qishla building, the museum displays rocket launchers, drones and cannons from the four-year fight with IS. Visitors can browse through the war booty and other memorabilia from the front lines, as well as personal belongings fighters left behind on battlefields across the country.

I feel the spirits of the martyrs floating around this space. I feel that Iraq exists because of them. ... They are the pulse of Iraq, said 55-year-old teacher Umm Hassanin al-Oukeily on a visit to the museum this week.

The mainly Shiite militias  known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces, or Hashed al-Shaabi in Arabic  emerged following a call in June 2014 by Iraqs top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, for volunteers to fight against IS.

At the time, Islamic State militants had overrun the northern city of Mosul, Iraqs second-largest, and much of northern and western Iraq, coming dangerously close to Baghdad and Shiite shrines farther south as Iraqs military and security forces collapsed in the face of the onslaught.

Tens of thousands heeded the clerics call, enlisting in multiple militia factions, many of which had existed for years and even fought American forces in Iraq. Sanctioned by the Iraqi government, the militias played a key role in the war against IS.

That made the Iran-backed militiamen an indirect ally to the American forces, who returned to Iraq in 2014 at the invitation of the government to help battle IS. A U.S.-led coalition provided crucial air support as Iraqi forces regrouped and drove IS out in a costly campaign.

The militias lost about 7,000 fighters in the war. They included some Christian, Yazidi, and Sunni militias but were dominated by Shiite groups with close ties to Iran. They came out of the war with the image of an almost holy force protecting Iraqs Shiite Muslim majority.

That kind of popular aura has helped enshrine the militias as a major political and paramilitary player in post-IS Iraq. Militia factions are present in almost every Iraqi province, in many cases deeply embedded in local governance and rivaling state institutions. Posters of dead fighters adorn shop windows in Baghdad and elsewhere.

There are no words to describe my feelings right now, said al-Oukeily, the teacher, tears in her eyes as she made her way around the museum with her daughter.

Outside, in the al-Qishla garden, families were gathered to enjoy the sun as music played in the background. Inside the building, sombre military music accompanied the exhibits.

In 2018 parliamentary elections  the first after the victory over IS  the militias coalition won 48 seats, making it the second-largest bloc in Parliament and guaranteeing the militias a say in formal politics. Under the new budget, militiamen are for the first time being paid the same salaries as soldiers.

The mix of arms and political power is a dangerous dynamic for Iraq, a country with a history of bloody sectarian strife. Iraqs Sunni minority and also some in the military and the government fear the Shiite militias will dominate Iraq the way the powerful Revolutionary Guard does in Iran or the militant Hezbollah group in Lebanon.

The Shiite militias are building economic empires, taking control of state reconstruction companies and projects, and developing into economic organizations, said a Western diplomat in Baghdad who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Iraqi politics.

The more than 50 militias in Iraq have up to 140,000 fighters, according to some estimates and the Popular Mobilization Forces itself. They are backed by tanks and weapons, and have their own intelligence agency, operations rooms and court of law.

In an interview with The Associated Press last month, the leader of one of the most powerful of the militias, Qais al-Khazali, said their existence compliments that of the Iraqi military and suggested that disbanding them was not in the cards as long as theres an ongoing military threat to Iraq.

At the museum, images of the fallen militiamen hang down from the ceiling, printed on light bulbs. Boots, watches and eyeglasses are displayed next to flowers that honour the martyrs.

Visitors walk around life-size replicas of militia outposts, complete with real sniper rifles, sandbags and camouflage nets from the field.

They pose for photos next to two mannequins, one depicting a bearded militant in IS black uniform, a knife protruding from his abdomen, lying on the ground. The other, a militiaman towering over the body, has his boot pressed against the militants head.

This is the fate of every Daesh traitor in the land of the prophets in the great Iraq, reads the sign next to the exhibit, referring to IS by the groups Arabic acronym.

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Museum manager Ali Al Shawky, who was a volunteer doctor with the militias during the war against IS, said the idea behind the museum was to preserve the memory of the fallen and personify their heroic deeds.

The Ministry of Culture, he said, was at first hesitant to give up the landmark al-Qishla building and its gardens on the banks of the Tigris River  long a hub where Baghdads intellectual and artists gathered  to the museum, but later relented and gave them the top floor.

We wanted to say something to the martyrs with this museum, Al Shawky said. We will never forget you.WARSAW, Poland - The Latest on the Middle East meeting taking place in Warsaw (all times local):

7:50 p.m.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia says Moscow didnt participate in the Middle East security meeting in Warsaw co-hosted by Poland and the United States because we dont see a value added in the conference.

He told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that to build coalitions against somebody, against countries, and in this case particularly against Iran, will not help to solve numerous issues which confront the Middle East.

Nebenzia said: This is the wrong way to do it.

At Thursdays close of the conference, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Polish counterpart Jacek Czaputowicz both noted differences of opinion over policies toward Iran. But, they said all participants agreed on the threat posed by the country.

___

7:30 p.m.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office has released a video from a closed session at the Warsaw security summit in which Bahrains foreign minister says Iran is a bigger threat to Mideast security than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In the video, Bahrains foreign minister, Khalid Al Khalifa, tells an audience that he grew up believing that the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is the most important issue in the region. But later, he said, we saw a more toxic one, in fact the most toxic in our modern history, which came from the Islamic Republic, from Iran.

Netanyahu often boasts of warming behind-the-scenes ties with Arab leaders. But very rarely are they seen in public.

It was unclear whether Bahrain Thursday agreed to leak the video, which bore the insignia of Netanyahus office.

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6:50 p.m.

Polands foreign minister says the European Union shares the view of the United States that Iran currently plays a negative role in the Middle East but have differences on what should be done about it.

Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said Thursday at the end of an international Middle East conference Poland co-hosted with the United States that Iran wasnt the focus of the event.

But he said it became clear during debates the EU and the United States share their diagnosis of the situation, see Middle East problems in a similar way, including - lets say it openly - the negative role of Iran. but came up during debates.

Czaputowicz says where EU members and the U.S. differ are the appropriate mode of action to contain any threat Iran poses, especially 2015 Iran nuclear deal the Trump administration withdrew from.

He said he hoped the conference would lead to a Middle East peace process.

___

3:20 p.m.

The Trump administration says it will unveil its much awaited Deal of the Century after the Israeli election on April 9.

Trumps senior Middle East adviser, son-in-law Jared Kushner, briefed participants at a Mideast conference in Poland Thursday about the plan. A diplomat who saw the presentation said Kushner wouldnt go into details but said the plan would be released sometime after Israels election.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity according to protocol.

The diplomat quoted Kushner as saying that Trump had given him the Israeli-Palestinian file to give the long-elusive goal of a peace agreement a shot. Despite the long odds, he said he believed privately, people are much more flexible.

The Palestinians have preemptively rejected the plan, saying the Trump administration is biased toward Israel.

--By Aron Heller

___

3:05 p.m.

U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have laid wreaths at the monument to the heroes of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to pay tribute to the Jewish fighters who opposed German Nazi troops.

They were accompanied Thursday by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, as Poland and the United States were co-hosting an international conference in Warsaw on security in the Middle East.

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In April 1943, hundreds of young Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto took up arms against the Nazi German army and fought for their dignity but also to liberate Poland from the occupying Germans.

The revolt ended in death for most of the fighters, yet left behind an enduring symbol of resistance.

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2:45 p.m.

Polands prime minister says the Middle East security conference that Poland is co-hosting with the United States will be a success if participants openly discuss their views on how to bring peace to the region and if it produces a working group that will be further addressing the issues.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Thursday addressed participants at the conference in Warsaw that the sponsors say is aimed at promoting peace and security in the Mideast but appears to be mainly focused on isolating Iran.

Morawiecki said he will consider the meeting a success if it brings together governments that do not agree on all things and if it becomes a place of open debate and exchange of arguments for peace for the region.

He said he hoped it will start a working group that will be addressing all issues mentioned here today.

The issues included fighting extremism, including cyberattacks, forging an approach toward Iran and stopping conflicts in the region that are driving millions of people from their homes.

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1:15 p.m.

U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence is calling for Americas European allies to join it in withdrawing from the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal and stop efforts he said are designed to evade U.S. sanctions.

Speaking at a Middle East conference in Poland, Pence accused Iran of being the worlds greatest state sponsor of terrorism. He lamented that Britain, France and Germany created a special financial mechanism that Washington believes is aimed at breaking tough U.S. sanctions on Iran. Those sanctions were eased by the Obama administration under the terms of the nuclear deal but were re-imposed after President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement last year.

U.S. and European divisions over Iran led France and Germany to opt against sending their top diplomats to the Warsaw conference.

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8:55 a.m.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the world cant achieve peace and security in the Middle East without confronting Iran.

Pompeo spoke Thursday before the opening session of a Middle East security conference in Warsaw. Appearing next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pompeo says pushing back against Iran is central to dealing with all the regions other problems. Several high-profile Arab dignitaries are also attending.

The U.S. and Poland are sponsoring the conference, which they say is aimed at promoting peace and security in the Mideast but appears to be mainly focused on isolating Iran.

Iran has denounced the gathering as an American anti-Iran circus. Russia has said it will not attend, and the European Unions foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, is also skipping the event.WARSAW, Poland - President Donald Trumps senior Middle East adviser, son-in-law Jared Kushner, said Thursday that the Trump administration would unveil its much-awaited Mideast Deal of the Century after Israeli elections on April 9.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Kushner briefed participants at a security conference in Poland about the anticipated plan but would not go into details for fear of it leaking. Netanyahu told reporters that he looked forward to seeing the plan once it is presented.

Netanyahu said he heard nothing new from Kushner besides a reference to a 2002 Saudi Peace Initiative, which offered full Arab recognition of Israel in return for a withdrawal from territories it captured in the 1967 Mideast war. Netanyahu said Kushner said the plan may have made sense at the time but was no longer relevant.

It is not appropriate for today. The reality has changed, Netanyahu said.

He wouldnt comment on any concessions Israel would have to make under any U.S.-backed proposal.

A diplomat who watched Kushners presentation quoted him as saying that Trump had given him the Israeli-Palestinian file to give the long-elusive goal of a peace agreement a shot. Despite the long odds, he said he believed privately, people are much more flexible than their public positions, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity according to protocol.

The Palestinians have pre-emptively rejected the plan, accusing the Trump White House of being unfairly biased in favour of Israel. The apparent rejection of the Saudi peace plan is likely to deepen their belief that the plan will fall far short of their longstanding goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

There will be no peace and stability in the Middle East without a peaceful solution that leads to a Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as a capital, said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Palestinians skipped Thursdays conference and asked Arab countries to boycott or downgrade their representation. Some 60 countries took part in the gathering, including five Arab foreign ministers that made a rare public appearance alongside Netanyahu.

Kushner has been working on an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan for close to two years but has yet to release any details, and the release of his plan has been repeatedly delayed.

U.S. officials had said Kushner would make some comments in Warsaw about the conflict. But Netanyahu said ahead of time he didnt expect any discussion of the peace plan, with the focus of the conference on participants shared concern over Iran and its growing influence in the region.

The diplomat quoted Netanyahu joking at some point to Kushner that having this file is a tough one.

But, if you are crazy enough, and I think you might just be, you can come up with new ideas, he quoted Netanyahu as saying.

Netanyahu also urged all interested parties, particularly the Palestinians, to wait for the plan to come out before reacting to it or rejecting it.

U.S. officials have signalled the plan will be heavily focused on Palestinian economic development. They also have refused to endorse the concept of a Palestinian state  a goal that has enjoyed wide international backing for the past two decades.

The U.S. recognition of contested Jerusalem as Israels capital, along with the cancellation of hundreds of millions of dollars in American aid to the Palestinians, have prompted the Palestinians to cut off ties with the White House and pre-emptively reject the peace plan.

While facing Palestinian resistance, the plan could also run into Israeli opposition.

Netanyahus governing coalition is comprised of religious and nationalist hardliners who oppose serious concessions to the Palestinians. With Netanyahu seeking re-election and pledging to form a similar coalition if he wins, it is unlikely that he would make any concessions, particularly before the April 9 vote.

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Kushner, according to the diplomat, said the history of the Middle East had shown that pessimists about Israeli-Palestinian peace were usually right. But he stressed that its the optimists that bring the change.

With the Palestinians sidelined, Netanyahu has tried to use the Warsaw conference to get closer to other Arab nations aligned with it against Iran.

Netanyahu has long boasted of clandestinely developing good relations with several Arab states, despite a lack of official ties. Bringing such contacts out into the open would mark a major diplomatic coup and put a seal of approval on his goal of improving Israels standing in the world, and particularly with Arabs.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu met with Omans foreign minister, Yusuf bin Alawi, and they issued a joint video statement. At Thursdays opening session he was seated next to the foreign minister of Yemen, Khaled al-Yamani, as representatives of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and others looked on.

Asked on the sidelines of the conference if Netanyahu could expect an invitation to his country, Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid Al Khalifa: I will leave matters to when it happens.

Briefing reporters later, Netanyahu declined to say whether he had met any other Arab leaders or what was discussed. But he did say the atmosphere at Thursdays gathering was unfathomable as far as the like-mindedness of the participants involved. He said when he spoke, the Arabs in the room listened intently, with some expressing very similar sentiments regarding the threat posed by Iran.

Something amazing is happening here, he said. There is a real change here ... we spoke about Iran, Iran, Iran.

Even as Gulf Arab states have dropped some of their traditional antipathy toward Israel, it remains unlikely they will fully normalize relations with Israel without some progress on the Palestinian front.

I never said wed reach a peace agreement with the Arab countries before we solve the Palestinian issue. But I have said that the policy I am leading will move toward normalization, Netanyahu said. We can wait for the Palestinians from here till tomorrow, but I dont condition that on normalization with the Arab world.

____

Follow Heller at www.twitter.com/aronhellerapSRINAGAR, India - Indias prime minister warned of a crushing response to the suicide bombing of a paramilitary convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 41 people and was the deadliest in the divided regions volatile history.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi placed the blame for Thursdays bombing squarely on neighbouring Pakistan, which India accuses of supporting rebels in Kashmir.

Our neighbouring country thinks such terror attacks can weaken us, but their plans will not materialize, he said Friday, adding that government forces have been given total freedom to deal with the militants.

Security forces have been given permission to take decisions about the timing, place and nature of their response, he said.

Pakistans ruling party rejected Modis allegation, saying Indias governing party was blaming Islamabad for political gains in the upcoming national election.

The Indian allegations against Pakistan over yesterdays incident are part of the election campaign, said Naeemul Haq, a senior leader of the Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which came to power in last years parliamentary election. He said the violence in Kashmir was the result of the brutalities of Indian occupied forces in Kashmir.

The attack has ratcheted up already high tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours, who both administer parts of the disputed territory but each claim it entirely.

Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced Friday that New Delhi was withdrawing the most-favoured nation trade status given to Pakistan and would take all possible diplomatic steps to ensure the complete isolation from international community of Pakistan of which incontrovertible evidence is available of having a direct hand in this gruesome terrorist incident.

Indias Foreign Ministry also summoned the Pakistani ambassador to protest the attack.

Pakistans Foreign Ministry said the country condemns acts of violence anywhere in the world and denied any involvement. We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations, it said in a statement.

Rebels, many of whom want Kashmir united with Pakistan, have been fighting Indian control since 1989. But the Muslim-majority region has experienced renewed attacks and repeated public protests in recent years as a new generation of Kashmiri rebels, especially in the southern parts of the region, has challenged New Delhis rule with a mixture of violence and social media.

About 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian crackdown. Last years death toll was the highest since 2009, with at least 260 militants, 160 civilians and 150 government forces killed.

In Thursdays attack, a local Kashmiri militant rammed an explosive-laden van into a bus travelling in the paramilitary convoy. In addition to the dead, the attack wounded nearly two dozen other soldiers, Indias paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force spokesman Sanjay Sharma said.

Police said the bus was destroyed and at least five other vehicles were damaged.

The Greater Kashmir newspaper reported that militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility. A pre-recorded video circulated on social media sites showed the purported attacker in combat clothes and surrounded by guns and grenades.

Authorities imposed a security lockdown in the southern Kakapora area to stop people from assembling at the home of the militant who allegedly attacked the convoy. Still, hundreds of people were able to reach his home by crossing rice fields and orchards, and offered prayers there.

Authorities suspended security convoys in the Kashmir Valley on Friday and Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Srinagar to review the security situation. He said civilian traffic would be stopped during the movement of convoys in Kashmir.

Meanwhile, three top Kashmiri leaders known as the Joint Resistance Leadership who challenge Indias sovereignty over Kashmir said they regretted the killings. They said in a statement that Indias muscular military approach to counter an essentially political and human problem is wreaking havoc in Kashmir, especially on the next generation.

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Those who are here to execute this policy are also under stress and paying a price with their lives, they said.

The attack has raised tensions elsewhere in Hindu-majority India. Hundreds of residents carrying Indias national flag in Hindu-dominated Jammu city in the Muslim-majority state burned vehicles and hurled rocks at homes in Muslim neighbourhoods, officials said. Authorities imposed a curfew and appealed for restraint.

Some people were reported injured in the mob attacks.

Nearly 100 protesters chanting slogans such as Pakistan down, down! and Attack Pakistan, Attack, burned an effigy of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in a park close to Indias Parliament in New Delhi. They later dispersed.

The U.S. singled out Pakistan in a statement condemning the attack.

The United States calls on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region, the statement from the White House press secretarys office said.

It said the attack strengthened U.S. resolve to bolster counterterrorism co-operation with India.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947 and regularly exchange fire along their highly militarized border in Kashmir.

___

Associated Press writers Ashok Sharma in New Delhi and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

___

Follow Aijaz Hussain on Twitter at twitter.com/hussain_aijazCULIACAN, Mexico - U.S. officials are hailing the conviction of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman as a victory for the Mexican people, but in the drug lords home state of Sinaloa, cradle to his powerful cartel, many residents say they dont expect violence and trafficking to abate.

As news that the Sinaloa Cartel kingpin will likely spend the rest of his life in a U.S. prison headlined Wednesdays newspapers in the state capital of Culiacan, most people took it in stride  though Guzmans family members in the mountains were said to be angered by the verdict.

For the crimes he committed, life in prison seems pretty fair. ... I mean, its not going to end the problem of narco-trafficking, said Mario Rodriguez, adding that he feels very unsafe in his city.

Sinaloa regularly posts homicide rates among the highest in Mexico, including 43.89 killings per 100,000 residents in 2017  well above the national average. The violence is often localized and often involves conflicts between rival gangs over street-level drug dealing.

I think this is going to continue with or without him, Rodriguez said. I think there are certain kinds of people, with a certain way of dressing, with certain kinds of vehicles that one avoids, because even though it seems like prejudice, they could be involved in something like that.

Guzman gained notoriety in Mexico and abroad for twice pulling off brazen escapes from maximum-security prisons in Mexico, presumably with the help of corrupt officials. Ballads known as narco-corridos were composed extolling his exploits as he evaded Mexican justice for years.

But many in Culiacan reject the outlaw myth associated with Guzman.

El Chapo is not a persona. He is a criminal, said Tania Venegas, also from Culiacan. Thats why drug trafficking will always exist, people see it as the easy path.

Guzman now stands to spend decades behind bars in a supermax prison south of Denver, and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador saw in him a cautionary tale.

Let this serve as a lesson to show that money doesnt buy true happiness, Lopez Obrador said Wednesday at a news conference. He mused that happiness is having a clear conscience and being at peace with ones self and others.

Lopez Obrador, who took office Dec. 1, says his anti-cartel strategy will not focus on hunting down kingpins, and he has launched a campaign aimed at persuading people not to break to the law. Its slogan is: Were all going to behave.

On Thursday, Lopez Obrador said he would visit Guzmans home municipality of Badiraguato to announce the creation of a university specializing in the promotion of forestry activity and a planting program that he says will generate some 20,000 permanent jobs.

He said his administration is also committed to finishing a highway that would connect Badiraguato with Guadalupe y Calvo in the state of Chihuahua, becoming the only paved road through a region where drug cartels hold sway and farmers grow opium poppies.

Meanwhile, in the Sinaloa mountains where Guzman was born and which he long used as a stronghold and hideout, news of the conviction spread quickly even in remote communities.

Here there is no cellphone signal in many places, much less internet, said Pedro Cazarez, a resident of Temeapa, Sinaloa. I heard about it when I got home. But by word of mouth, its already known everywhere.

Miguel Angel Vega, a journalist for the publication Riodoce who visited the mountains recently, said the news had reached Guzmans family members.

I have been in contact with some of his relatives and they tell me they are outraged by the verdict, Vega said.

In Badiraguato, home to about 31,000 people and nestled in the drug-producing Golden Triangle region of northwestern Mexico, its practically impossible to find anyone who hasnt had direct contact with Guzman or knows someone who has.

El Chapo is known to have provided jobs in the community, and locals say the municipalitys economy has collapsed since his most recent capture in 2016 and subsequent extradition.

Very little movement of money ... you see a lot of poverty, said Jaime Laija, who runs a small kitchen on the main highway between Culiacan and Badiraguato.

Vega said Guzmans sister confirmed to him that last week people in and around the town of La Tuna were organized to pray for an acquittal. In 2014, hundreds of people marched in Culiacan to urge Mexico not to extradite Guzman to the United States, but there was no similar protest this week.

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Sinaloa police chief Joel Ernesto Soto noted Guzman has been out of the state and in custody for several years, saying his conviction will not directly have repercussions for us.

An initial succession battle involving Guzmans sons and a rival faction is said to have fizzled with the arrest of the factions father-and-son leaders, but in Culiacan, resident Javier Bastidas still worries.

The people closest to (Guzman) are going to be angry, Bastidas said. For as many as they catch and catch, more criminals appear.Toronto police have released newly-obtained photos of a man wanted for allegedly targeting women in a series of knifepoint robberies at ATMs across Scarborough. The most recent incident occurred Wednesday night, police said.

Officers responded to a call for a robbery at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, near Lawrence Ave. E. and Birchmount Rd. A woman was depositing money at an ATM, when a man threatened her with a knife and demanded she hand over the cash, police said in a news release Thursday.

They were involved in a physical altercation, before the man took the money and ran, police said. The woman was not seriously injured.

Police said the man had been lingering at the entrance before he followed the woman inside.

A similar incident took place on Feb. 1 near Victoria Park and Van Horne Aves. 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 demanded cash. Once the victim complied, he ran to a waiting vehicle and fled, police said.

Investigators believe he is responsible for five other similar robberies at ATMs in the area bounded by Victoria Park Ave., Markham Rd., Sheppard Ave. E. and Lawrence Ave. E., police said in the release on Thursday.

He seems to be violently targeting women in this area, said Toronto police Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook.

Police describe the man as six-foot, of medium build and a light complexion. He was last seen wearing a black hooded jacket with the hood up, a black-and-grey toque, grey pants and black shoes.

Police advised that members of the public should not approach him, but call 911 immediately.

Investigators would like to remind the public to remain alert and to be aware of their surroundings, particularly when using ATMs.

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Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-4100 or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).

with files from Emerald BensadounA grassroots attempt to overturn the Ford governments decision to kill the basic income pilot project has failed.

In a unanimous decision Thursday, Ontario Superior Court said the applicants made clear and cogent submissions on the importance of the experiment and the harm participants endured when the government cancelled the anti-poverty initiative last July.

However, the pilot project is a government funding decision which does not give rise to individual rights enforceable on judicial review, the three-judge panel wrote.

This court has no power to review the considerations which motivate a cabinet policy decision, the justices said in their 10-page ruling dismissing the case.

Courts do not have authority to order government to spend money, which would have been the inevitable effect of an order to quash, they added.

The four Lindsay-area participants who launched the court action last fall are also applicants in a class-action lawsuit for breach of duty of care and breach of contract. Thursdays decision has no effect on that separate court action, the judges noted.

Read more:

Humans are suffering: Axing of basic income pilot project leaves trail of broken dreams

Ontarios basic income participants gear up for court battle

Justices spar with Ford government lawyers over cancellation of basic income pilot

The participants lawyer Mike Perry said his clients are understandably disappointed with todays decision.

But they respect the court and the legal process and have asked me to thank the court for its consideration of their application, he said Thursday.

Perry had argued in the case, heard in Toronto Jan. 28, that courts can step in when governments act irrationally, in bad faith and in breach of ethics.

The group will not be appealing the decision as it is focused now on its class-action lawsuit, he added.

Although Thursdays ruling was disappointing, applicant Dana Bowman, 57, said the case put a human face on the governments actions.

I felt heard by the justices, said Bowman, who was living on Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) payments due to chronic physical and mental health challenges when she enrolled in the pilot project last winter.

I cant thank them enough, she said.

The other participants in the legal challenge included Grace Hillion, Susan Lindsay and Tracey Mechefske.

Under the three-year experiment launched by the previous Liberal government in April 2017, about 4,500 people in Hamilton, Thunder Bay and Lindsay were to receive up to $16,989 annually.

Couples were to get up to $24,027, while individuals with disabilities were eligible for a $6,000 top-up.

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The goal was to see if regular payments with no strings attached would improve health, housing and employment outcomes for people living in poverty.

The project was also testing whether a basic income would be a simpler and more economic way to deliver social assistance, a program mired in rules and bureaucracy.

Under the Ford governments plan to scrap the experiment, participants will receive their last payment in March, a year before the pilot project was set to end. Apart from intake surveys, which showed participants were experiencing stress, struggling to pay rent and having trouble affording healthy food, no followup research was conducted on the impact of the extra income.

As news of the decision trickled out on social media, participants in other communities also expressed their dismay.

Tracey Crosson, 47, of Thunder Bay said she was disappointed, hurt and confused, by the ruling.

I honestly dont know what to do. I cant live off of $1,168 a month. I am disabled. I cant do it, said the grandmother, who has relied on ODSP on and off for almost 20 years due to an accident.

Crosson moved to Toronto a month ago for medical treatment and was in court for the hearing. She says her basic income payments allowed her to cover her $950 monthly rent, buy nutritious food and focus on her health.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is attacking the vulnerable and he is winning, she said, her voice breaking with emotion. This is unfair. When will they realize what they are doing to the vulnerable is wrong?

The decision was not entirely unexpected  having listened to the very technical legal arguments, said Sheila Regehr, chair of the Basic Income Canada Network, who also attended the hearing.

In this very particular judicial review circumstance, it didnt meet the test, she said. But it is still cruel, immoral and very callous. It just doesnt make any sense.

Despite the legal setback, Regehr said her network, which has been pushing for a national basic income for almost 20 years, will keep up the fight.

The groundwork has been laid by the former Ontario government in getting this designed and getting payments out there, she said.

The world is still looking at this and still thinking this was quite a remarkable achievement and theres still lots to learn from it. she added. Its just harder now.

Read more about:Mary and Nick Pascale have always told their children about the summer day, nearly 50 years ago, when a newspaperman snapped their photograph on Corso Italia.

In 1970 they had just started dating. Nick was 19, welding in a factory by night and studying at the Marvel Beauty School by day. Mary was nearly 16  in high school, working part-time at Mr. Textile on St. Clair Ave. W., the place where Italian ladies shopped for imported silk, wool and Crimplene, that miraculous stretch fabric.

It was a Saturday in July when Mary and Nick decided to meet on St. Clair. Mary had lived in Canada for about four years, and the street felt like home with all the Italian voices. Money was tight, and if she wanted the latest fashions, she sewed them herself. Nick can still remember the softness of the jersey knit fabric of her red paisley minidress. He was about two years in Canada then, by way of Milan, and he lived with his sister in Toronto, where fashion was zero.

A Star photographer named Bob Olsen was walking along both St. Clair W. and College St. that summer, taking pictures of Torontos growing Italian community.

According to the 1971 census, there were 270,000 Italians in Metro Toronto, many having arrived after the Second World War. Men found jobs in the construction industry, and many Italian women worked in factories. More than 90 per cent of Italian families owned their own homes or were planning to buy them, according to a survey by Corriere Canadese, the citys Italian-language newspaper.

Italians had changed Toronto forever, and it wasnt just the cement verandas. The towns cosmopolitan flavour, due in large part to the Italian influence, is several kilometres removed from the homburg-and-briefcase, roast-beef-sandwich Toronto of the early 1950s, Star reporter Trent Frayne wrote in 1970, noting that Italians had worked hard for a good life in Canada, but faced challenges. Children learned English in school, but the language divide was hard on adults.

On St. Clair Ave. W. in 1970, photographer Bob Olsen asked Nick if he would pose for a photo, then he saw Mary walking toward them and changed his plan slightly.











Olsen asked Nick if he would pose for a photo, then he saw Mary walking toward them on the south side of St. Clair, east of Lansdowne Ave., and changed his plan slightly. He didnt know that Nick and Mary were an item ever since theyd met at La Rotonda, a restaurant and dance hall on Dufferin St., where every Sunday afternoon Italian teens danced to live bands. Southern Italian parents were especially strict so Mary pretended she was going to the library, but her dad knew better.

One Sunday, Nick was there. He ordered a Coke, and held a cigarette to look cool. He saw Mary in her red leather skirt and white blouse, turning down every guy who asked for a dance. Whats she here for if she doesnt want to dance? he thought. He walked over to her, prepared to make a point, but he asked her to dance instead. She had already noticed him when he walked in, handsome in beautiful Italian clothes.

They danced all afternoon.

They were both born in small towns in Calabria, the sun-drenched southern region where the air was fragrant with sage, rosemary and oregano, and a faint smoky smell from the small fires that always seemed to be burning.

At the dance, someone had a car, and a group of them went to Vesuvios Pizzeria in the Junction. Nick passed her a family business card for a painting company. Call me, he said. The Long and Winding Road by the Beatles was playing on the radio.

Olsen didnt know any of this when he snapped their photo in front of a small grocery store on St. Clair. The story about the Italian community ran that fall, but not their photo, which was filed away in a plastic box of slides in the newsroom. The couple married four years later. Mary sewed the blue silk bridesmaid dresses. Three children followed. She worked at COSTI, an organization that had been founded to help Italian immigrants adjust to life in Toronto. (As the city became more multicultural, the organization widened its focus.) Nick became an in-demand hairstylist in Yorkville.

In 1993, they opened a gourmet grocery shop near Yonge and Eglinton, with Italian deli, cheese and imported food. All the while, they wondered about the photo. It became a family legend, and even this past Christmas they were talking about it. Their daughter Cinzia always wanted to see it. Her parents didnt have a lot of money then, and cameras were expensive. There werent many photos.

Toronto Star visuals producer Kelsey Wilson, who runs the @TorontoStarchives account on Instagram, recently found the box of Ektachrome slides in the newsroom. She posted the photos online in January, and one of the most arresting images was a woman in front of a St. Clair grocery shop, a young man beside her, with a child in an apron holding an orange. People recognized her face.

Not long after, Mary was at the back of Pascale Gourmet when a customer came in waving her phone: Is this you?

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Mary saw the sunny Saturday of 49 years ago on the screen. She screamed. She jumped up and down. She drove home, where Nick was busy making dinner. He shrugged it off at first, and then he really saw it.

It was the photo. The photo.

I had tears, he says. I really had tears.

At their shop, where you can buy sandwiches named for customers, or try The Mary or The Nick, they hold up the slides to the light and Mary reflects on how they grew up together. The Long and Winding Road was on the radio this morning, she says. Its been the song of their life.

Weve had our ups and downs, but were still together. Thats what I find is amazing, she says. Here we are 50 years later  still very much in love the way we were then.GO Transit has failed to meet the on-time performance target for its network in each of the past six months, according to figures provided by Metrolinx, the provincial agency that oversees the regional rail service.

GO aims to have 94 per cent of its trains arrive within five minutes of their scheduled time. But in the six months between August and January, the closest it came was in December, when 93.9 per cent of trains across its seven rail corridors hit the target.

In other months, the agency didnt fare nearly as well. Between August and November, on-time performance hovered between 90.5 and 91.3 per cent, while preliminary data show just 89.6 per cent of trips were on time in January.

Those numbers exclude delays caused by factors Metrolinx considers out of its control, such as extreme weather, police investigations, track fatalities or increased traffic on rail corridors GO shares with freight and passenger operators.

Riders experience those delays just as keenly as those within Metrolinxs control however, and if theyre factored in, GOs on-time performance was significantly worse in the past six months, ranging from a low point of 86.3 per cent across the network in September, to a high of 92.2 per cent in December.

In a statement, Metrolinx chief operating officer Greg Percy acknowledged the agency isnt meeting expectations.

Read more:

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You would be gobsmacked. GO, TTC lost-and-found offices filled with treasure ranging from bizarre to mundane

We know our customers have been disappointed with our recent on time performance, and quite frankly, so are we, he said.

Although the recent blast of wintry weather has affected GO service, on-time performance was actually lowest in warmer months, falling below 87 per cent in both August and September.

While frigid conditions can cause delays such as when ice jams up switches, hot weather presents its own set of problems. GO often issues slow orders for its trains during heat waves because tracks can warp when the temperature exceeds 30 C, a phenomenon known as sun kinks.

Metrolinxs numbers show some lines are harder hit by delays than others. Trains on the Lakeshore West line, which is the busiest on the network, were on time for an average of 89 per cent of trips over the six-month period.

The best performing line was Richmond Hill, which is GOs least-used corridor and had a monthly average of 95 per cent on-time trips. The worst performing was Lakeshore East, which had an average of 85.5 per cent. Those numbers include delays Metrolinx considers beyond its control.

While noting many causes of delays are out of Metrolinxs hands, regardless of the reason, we know we can do better for our customers, Percy said.

This is a top priority for Metrolinx and we have teams from every part of our business working on addressing these concerns.

Top causes of delays that the agency considers within its control are problems like failing signals and switches, and construction its performing to upgrade the GO network.

Share your experience

To tackle delays, Metrolinx has implemented an on-time performance improvement program that Percy said includes heavily investing in our rail infrastructure. The agency has also set an ambitious stretch target of 95 per cent on-time performance in 2019.

Work the agency is doing to achieve that goal includes employing crews to continuously inspect and replace switches.

Misfiring train doors, which can stop service if theyre unable to properly close, are also being addressed through motor upgrades, and Metrolinx has a communications campaign to remind riders not to pull train alarms or emergency brakes unless they absolutely need to.

The recent delays have come as GO has ramped up service and attracted more riders. In the last quarter of 2018, GO completed 18 per cent more train trips than the same period the year before, and ridership was up seven per cent.

The rail network carries almost 60 million riders a year, and GO operates nearly 1,900 train trips every week day.

A Metrolinx spokesperson said the agency doesnt believe having to manage more trips and passengers has contributed to the poor performance.

Since 2012, GO has had a policy that says if a train is late by 15 minutes or more, the agency will credit customers what they paid for the trip. Between August and January, the agency received more than 122,400 claims under the policy, and paid out roughly $703,000 in credits.

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As she exited her train at Union Station Wednesday, Patricia Lackie, 58, said she would give GO a passing grade for its on-time performance, even though it falls short on occasion.

Shes been riding whats now the Kitchener line for 23 years, since it only went as far as Georgetown, and said its gotten a lot busier over the years.

In the past six months, the Kitchener line has averaged an on-time performance of 85.7 per cent.

Even though GO consistently misses its own targets for the corridor, I look at it as still being better than the TTC, Lackie said.

Lackie has noticed recent problems however, and wasnt letting GO off the hook for some major delays she encountered last month.

It took me four hours to get to work two weeks ago, she said.

Her message to GO: In this day and age they need to be better, Lackie said. They need to add more trains and better communication.

Not everyone is disappointed with GO service.

When shown the delay numbers while waiting for his train from Ajax to Union, Michael McHugh, 58, said he was surprised.

The performance is significantly better than 10 years ago, he said.

McHugh has been riding the Lakeshore East line for more than 20 years and using GO services since the 1970s.

Its heading in the right direction, he said. There has been some delays but they dont seem to be as frequent.

Kyle Scott, 32, provided some perspective as a rider who has used both the Milton and Lakeshore West lines.

Near the end of my time using the Milton line, there seem to be quite a few delays, and other people that take it echo that point still, he said.

Milton averaged an on-time performance of 86.2 per cent over six months.

Scott now frequently uses the Lakeshore West route, which performed better.

The majority of the time things run smoothly, he said.

Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpurr

Read more about:Sidewalk Labs, the Google sister company proposing a high-tech neighbourhood on Torontos waterfront, has hired a former city councillor to explain and sell the vision to Torontonians.

Mary-Margaret McMahon, who retired from politics last fall after representing Beach and East York residents for eight years on council, confirmed Wednesday that on Tuesday she becomes Sidewalk Labss director of community for the controversial project slated for Queens Quay and Parliament St.

Since 2017 when Waterfront Toronto announced Manhattan-based Sidewalk Labs as its preferred partner on Quayside, a hyper-connected test zone for urban tech, proponents have faced tough questions over privacy, data protection, land ownership and more.

My role is basically getting Sidewalk Labs known across the city, especially areas where they arent known now, and hearing peoples thoughts and concerns about the project that well all know more about, with release of a master innovation and development agreement this spring, McMahon said.

Sidewalk needs a Toronto face  they havent had that 100 per cent and so I think thats part of hiring me, on a contract until the end of 2019, said the former environment committee chair.

I have worked well with everyone across party lines and in all different parts of the city and communities. There are a bunch of hoops to jump through and Im up for the challenge.

Read more:

Who will reap the benefits of Quaysides smart city data?

Sidewalk Labs reveals plans for housing in Quayside district on citys waterfront

Toronto Public Library should control data collected at Quayside, Board of Trade says

Under the citys cooling-off provision, McMahon is not allowed to lobby council members or city staff for one year from her November departure from city hall.

On council McMahon was known as a progressive ally of right-leaning Mayor John Tory, championing bike lanes, tree protections and also term limits for municipal politicians.

She joins the urban innovation arm of Google parent company Alphabet Inc. and its local workforce of about 20 people working out of an open-to-the-public office and experimental workspace at 307 Lake Shore Blvd. E. McMahon is among four locals being added to the mix of Canadians and Americans.

Sidewalk Labs also hired: Pino Di Mascio, a former partner at Urban Strategies, as director of planning; Ryan Guptill, a former federal Conservative political staffer, as associate focused on government relations; and Zak Abdulle, a former Toronto Community Housing program co-ordinator, Muslim Fellow in Mayor John Torys office and unsuccessful 2018 school trustee candidate, as project management associate.

Micah Lasher, head of Sidewalk policy and communications, said in an interview McMahon was hired for her deep commitment to the city and ability to get things done.

If this project is successful, it will be because it drew on the insights and lived experiences of people from every neighbourhood in this city and it will generate innovation and ideas that can improve life in every neighbourhood in this city, he said. We hope to be part of this citys future for a very long time to come.

Waterfront Toronto, an agency representing the city, provincial and federal governments, has been working with Sidewalk Labs on the draft master agreement spelling out plans for data collection and retention, revenue generation, housing and development guidelines, and more.

After public consultations and any resulting changes, the document is to go to the government partners and Sidewalk Labs for final ratification. If no agreement can be reached, Waterfront Toronto is free to seek a new development partner.

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Bianca Wylie, co-founder of the advocacy group Tech Reset Canada who has criticized secrecy around the Quayside process and a private companys role in shaping city space and policies, said Wednesday that local hires should not be the firms priority.

Sidewalk Labss priority should be defining how they will make a graceful exit from Toronto, she said, including how they will thank the citys residents for the privilege and opportunity they were given to do their research and product development here over the past 15 months.

Correction  February 14, 2019: This article was updated to reflect the fact that Micah Lasher did not move to Toronto to head Sidewalk Labs communications team.

David Rider is the Star's City Hall bureau chief and a reporter covering Toronto politics. Follow him on Twitter: @dmrider

Read more about:Production makes it hard to 'Never Look Away' from art movie

Movie Review: The production values make it hard to 'Never Look Away' from art movieHong Kong: James Lau promotes HK in Dublin

Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury James Lau attended the fourth European Financial Forum in Dublin to promote Hong Kong's strengths as an international financial centre.

Mr Lau attended the forums opening session and gave a closing keynote speech.

He spoke about how Hong Kong has evolved from being a centre for investment flows and financial services to facilitate the Mainland's reform and opening up to a broader role that encompasses leadership in innovation and technology, sustainable trade and finance, and regional connectivity and development in the context of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Mr Lau also held an onstage conversation with Irish Minister for Finance & Public Expenditure & Reform Paschal Donohoe to discuss how both places can further financial development.

During a fintech roundtable, he met representatives from key fintech companies in Dublin.

He was pleased these companies are seeking to leverage Hong Kong as a platform to expand their businesses to Hong Kong, the Mainland and Asia.

He later met Central Bank of Ireland Governor Philip Lane and exchanged views on the impacts of Brexit, trade friction between the Mainland and the US as well as fintech advances in the context of global economic development and financial stability.

Additionally, Mr Lau spoke with Standard Chartered Banks aviation financing experts about boosting aviation market development in Ireland and other places.

He also met the Chinese Ambassador to Ireland Yue Xiaoyong.

Mr Lau will visit the Irish Stock Exchange before concluding his visit.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.RTHK: 'No politics in killing of Donald Trump the dog'

A Minnesota sheriff says a dog named Donald Trump wasn't shot and killed over a political rivalry, despite false claims circulating on social media that have spurred "violent threats" against some county residents.

The Jackson County Sheriff's Office concluded the person who shot Donald Trump the dog on Sunday was "legally protecting their livestock" on private property. The shooter has not been identified.

"Facts have been misrepresented on social media sites," the sheriff's office said in a statement about the dog's death. "Unfortunately, people are now posting multiple threats of violence towards citizens in the area and justifying the threats based on these inaccurate posts on social media."

The dog's owner, Randal Thom, is an avid supporter of the president and has been featured in dozens of news stories for frequenting his rallies. Some social media users claimed a neighbour, who they believed to be a Democrat, intentionally killed Thom's dog.

Thom's supporters have also started a crowd funding campaign in his support.

Neighbours have lodged 14 complaints about Thom's dogs running loose, killing animals and attacking a person, according to the sheriff.

Thom was convicted on a petty misdemeanour of "dogs and cats at large" in 2015, according to Minnesota court records. He could not immediately be reached for comment.

Jackson County is about 250 kilometres south of Minneapolis. (AP)

This story has been published on: 2019-02-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.